“Want is the wrong word, Majesty. I think it would be prudent to help Star Watch destroy the Swarm. Then, because we are there, we can force or persuade the submen to allow the captured star cruisers to remain with us.”
“Go on,” the Emperor said.
“Perhaps we could save two-thirds of Drakos’s flotilla. Those crews would owe us a debt. The Throne World would also spare precious warships. We could also assess Star Watch and learn even more about them. In that way, when the grand invasion of the Commonwealth finally begins again—if it happens in our lifetimes—we will be more likely to win ourselves an empire.”
The Emperor looked away, saying nothing for a time.
Ural waited. It was harder to make the great decision than to give advice to the one who had to choose. He respected the weight and duress of authority, having known it as the invasion commander.
“If I send star cruisers to aid Star Watch, how many do you suggest I send?” the Emperor asked.
“There is always a possibility the submen wish to ambush the Throne World. Thus, we should hold back a powerful protective fleet.”
“We can make one powerful fleet, but not two,” the Emperor said, “especially during a time like this when superior is pitted against superior.”
“That is why Lord Drakos must die.”
“Yes,” the Emperor said, with fire in his eyes. “Drakos must die.” The fire burned brightly, but disappeared as the Emperor hooded his rage. “You still haven’t answered me. How many star cruisers should we send?”
“Twelve, at least,” Ural said.
“No. That is too few.”
Ural smiled. “You already have a number in mind, Majesty. You do not need my number.”
The Emperor noted the Sunburst Star on Ural’s uniform. It indicated great guile during war or battle. Many of the beauties in the Emperor’s harem had come directly from his cousin’s brilliance. The successful kidnapping still grated on many people in Star Watch. The submen considered it an outrage, not realizing how lucky the women were, how proud they had become realizing that superior men wanted them. Now, many of the beauties had already helped sire strong young sons.
“You think few are better?” the Emperor asked.
“I do.”
“I was pondering sending thirty,” the Emperor said.
Ural barely kept himself from stiffening.
The Emperor must have noticed anyway. “Why would thirty have been too many?”
“Are thirty crews and their captains truly on our side?”
“Do you believe any would dare to turn against you during battle?”
“Sire, you are sending me as the commander?”
“Do you refuse the post?”
“No, Sire. It is a great honor.”
“Does that change how many you want with you?”
Ural shook his head. “A few good men who believe in their cause are better than many who haven’t given their whole heart to the venture.”
“I agree to a point, cousin, also believing that having many disrupter cannons is better than having too few. Let the submen see our strength.”
Ural dipped his head.
“How many captains will fight wholeheartedly in the cause?” the Emperor asked.
“Twenty-four by my latest count,” Ural answered.
“So few as that?”
“I’m afraid so, Sire.”
“Twelve is half.”
Ural nodded.
“Half with you, half with me?” asked the Emperor.
“Half with me as I solve the Drakos problem for good. Half with you to bolster the halfhearted who will remain here guarding the Throne World.”
“I will send five of those with you. Make these bear the brunt of the fighting.”
Ural nodding, saying, “Seventeen star cruisers then, Sire?”
The Emperor nodded.
“Do I join the Star Watch fleet?”
“You are allied with them, but you must retain independent command. I also charge you with saving as many of Drakos’s star cruisers as you can. Kill Drakos. He must die out there, but bring me back the misguided captains. We will need them in the coming days.”
“I hear and obey, Sire.”
The Emperor fixed Ural with a steady gaze. “Whatever else happens, do not lose your warships in a battle of annihilation with Lord Drakos. That would be a disaster. We are the best, but at present, there are still too few of us in the universe. We must remain strong, or the weak will gather and overwhelm us before we’re ready to dominate the universe.”
Ural stood at attention, saluting his cousin.
The Emperor lowered his gaze, and he seemed worried. “I wonder upon Lord Drakos. How will he convince Thrax to fight for his cause?”
“It would be good to know,” Ural said. “By your leave, cousin, I must begin preparations.”
“Yes, go,” the Emperor said. “It is time to roll the dice of fate once more in battle. I find that exhilarating.”
Ural clicked his heels together, turned smartly and marched for the doors. This would be a grand adventure indeed.
-3-
Lord Drakos and his escort moved briskly through the upper level domain of Supremacy Thrax’s colony world.
The company of superiors wore special synthetics, like padded silver uniforms. They were unique combat suits with hidden processers and servomotors that augmented their already great speed and strength. The suits would allow Drakos and his escorts augmented fighting abilities, and the suits held hidden batteries for their hand weapons.
Drakos understood the risk he was taking agreeing to meet down here. Thrax might order an ambush. With the special suits, he and his men would also fight like heroes, slaughtering many more Swarm than Thrax would expect.
Sometimes, one had to risk greatly to win greatly. It was a maxim Drakos believed and accepted.
The entire flotilla of star cruisers orbited the Earth-sized moon orbiting the gas giant 15 AUs from Mira B, the hot white dwarf. The missing six star cruisers had rejoined the others.
According to a secret report from Nar Falcon, who had remained aboard the Agamemnon, Thrax had one hundred and eighteen attack saucers. Nar Falcon had no reason to believe that Thrax had any more. That was a far cry from one hundred and sixty. Drakos hoped Nar Falcon had miscalculated in this.
The new Swarm colony world was effectively hidden from any prying scout ships. The colony was entirely underground, a true bug fortress, as Thrax’s minions continued to churn the soil and dig deeper. Interestingly, the attack saucers lurked under the moon’s highest clouds located in the stratosphere. Presently, the only visible vessels in the Mira Binary System were the twelve star cruisers in orbit around the moon.
The underground corridor they moved through was massive, consisting entirely of stone, with only intermittent lighting on the high ceiling.
Earlier, Drakos had received an extended tour, seeing many heating units powered through nuclear energy centers. The centers had greatly interested him, even though nuclear power was less efficient than antimatter plants.
Today, he had agreed to tell Thrax the secret to gaining a queen. Today, Drakos hoped to cement the relationship and alliance with the hybrid Swarm creatures. The signs and slights here told him he would likely have to convince Thrax that it would be wiser to work together than for the bugs to try to storm his star cruisers and take them for their own.
Yes. Drakos was becoming quite certain that Nar Falcon had miscalculated the one hundred and eighteen count. He hadn’t expected there to be one hundred and sixty attack saucers. But surely Thrax had more than one hundred and eighteen. Where were the extra attack saucers hiding? Drakos was certain they would find out today.
The stocky superior nodded to himself. He hoped Thrax attempted his inevitable double-cross now, and learned the folly of doing so. Did the bug lord believe him—Lord Drakos—foolish enough to put his head in a noose without having a plan? Likely, the bug lord did. The more time he’d spent
with Thrax, the more Drakos had come to believe that the hybrid Swarm creatures had an unreasonable belief in their superiority over mammals.
Drakos snorted softly. The fact that Thrax could believe such foolishness showed that the bug lord lacked true reasoning power. The hybrids were “show-me” sentients, it would seem, and today, Drakos intended to show Thrax the true situation.
***
Bug guards—hybrid soldier Swarm—began to pour out of nearby access points. Soon, Drakos and his escort moved through the corridor with hundreds of soldier bugs around them.
Twenty men versus hundreds of Swarm creatures. Drakos shook his head. Could Thrax believe these were enough Swarm soldiers to disarm him and his men? If Thrax could miscalculate that badly…
Remember the original invading Swarm fleet, Drakos told himself. The 80,000 warships had menaced humanity with their sheer numbers. Yet, only Thrax’s attack saucers had had star-drive-jump maneuverability. If the bug lord was stupid enough to misjudge him, it would likely be easier to use Thrax and his bugs. Using the attack saucers correctly meant—
“Sir,” the escort chief whispered. “There is commotion ahead.”
Drakos craned his neck to look. He was shorter than his escort and couldn’t see over them. He didn’t like that, not one bit. “What do you see?” he snapped.
“Laser batteries, lord,” the chief said. “We’ve marched toward them.” The chief looked around. “The Swarm soldiers have closed around us, hemming us in.”
“Are they going to just murder us?” Drakos asked in disbelief.
“Maybe,” the chief said.
It galled Drakos that bug stupidity could ruin everything.
“Ah…lord,” the chief said. “There is a bug clothed in scarlet. Do you see him?”
Drakos looked where the chief pointed. He did see the bug. The creature was climbing the laser batteries. Was that Thrax up there? The bug had the praying mantis form.
The bug raised a horn to its mandibles, clicking the speaker unit. “Lord Drakos,” it called.
“Here we go,” Drakos whispered. “Do you have a loudspeaker?”
“Here, lord,” the chief said, handing one over.
Drakos took it, putting it before his mouth and activating it. “Is that you, Supremacy?”
The praying mantis-like bug waited before raising his speaker again. “I am the Supremacy’s mouthpiece. It is time to bargain.”
“Are you saying that as Supremacy Thrax?”
“I am.”
“Is this not a strange place to bargain?” Drakos asked.
“No,” the bug said. “It is the perfect place, for it outlines the real situation.”
“What might that be?” asked Drakos.
“You are surrounded,” the bug said. “Your star cruisers are surrounded. You are at our mercy.”
“I’m going to call our star cruisers to confirm your statement.”
“By all means do so,” the bug said. “Since you are in the inferior position and we have the advantage, there is nothing you can do about it.”
“Don’t bet on that,” Drakos said quietly, handing the loudspeaker to the security chief. He took out a communicator, knowing the bug techs would be madly trying to hack in. That was fine. Let them hack. Let them listen. It would confound Thrax even more later.
“Lord, Drakos,” Nar Falcon said in an elevated voice via com. “I’m glad you called.”
“Steady, man,” Drakos said. “Are attack saucers attempting to surround the flotilla?”
“They succeeded, lord,” Nar Falcon said. “They’ve been using a jammer, or I would have already alerted you.”
“You tried and failed to burn through the jamming?”
“Yes, lord.”
“Interesting,” Drakos said. “How many attack saucers do you count?”
“Thirty-one, lord.”
“This makes an additional thirty-one saucers?”
“You were right, lord. They had more.”
“Good news then,” Drakos said. “One hundred and fifty attack saucers is a potent fleet.”
“Begging your pardon, lord, but I think Thrax means us harm.”
“No, no,” Drakos said. “This is a demonstration, nothing more.”
“I won’t ask you if you’re sure—”
“Quite sure,” Drakos said, interrupting. “Say, in ten minutes.”
“It shall be as you say, lord.”
“Excellent,” Drakos said. “Carry on then. Don’t be alarmed. This will work out for the best.”
“You are the commander. We obey.”
Drakos shut down the communicator. Nar Falcon knew his task. Thrax was tricky. Now was the moment to cement the alliance along the proper lines. Yes. This should all turn out just fine.
-4-
“Have you spoken to your ships?” the Thrax lookalike asked from atop the laser batteries pointed at Drakos and his escort.
“I have,” Drakos said through his loudspeaker. “Is there a reason for your demonstration? I refer to the attack saucers around my star cruisers, the jamming and the laser batteries presently pointed at me.”
“There is, Lord Drakos,” the bug said, using the speaking unit. “Supremacy Thrax demands you give him the secret to creating a docile Swarm queen.”
The escort soldiers around Drakos stirred, not liking such affrontery directed at their lord. If they weren’t so strictly trained, if they weren’t already superiors, Drakos might have been worried that one of them would go off half-cocked like a subman. But these were the greatest soldiers in the universe.
A surge of racial pride swelled in Drakos’s chest. It was good that such men were his followers. It was good to fight, and possibly die, in the company of real soldiers, warriors bred to the purpose.
“Do you hear my words, Lord Drakos?” the bug asked.
“I heard,” Drakos said through his loudspeaker. “I’m still trying to understand how my ally, Supremacy Thrax, feels he can demand such a delicate thing. It’s one of the ingredients to our alliance. Why, I would almost suspect he is trying to blackmail me with threats.”
“What do you deem as a threat?”
“A gun to the head,” Drakos said.
“Yes. That is correctly reasoned. Supremacy Thrax is holding a gun, as it were, to your fleet.”
“Oh. So he does think of these actions as threatening to me?”
“Your continued existence is at stake,” the bug said.
“Lord,” the chief said to Drakos. “This is unbearable. Please, give the word, and we will kill all these bugs and destroy the laser batteries.”
“Chief,” Drakos said sternly. “Who is in command here?”
“You, lord,” the chief said. “If you will allow me, I will retract my statement.”
“Good, good,” Drakos said, “I do allow. Thus, I won’t shoot you for your impertinence.”
“You are gracious, lord.”
Drakos nodded, although his mind wasn’t on that, but on Thrax’s reasoning. He raised the loudspeaker, clicking the trigger, saying, “I will give the secret to his Supremacy, but only in person.”
“Do you wish then to become a prisoner?” the bug asked.
“What an odd statement. I must have misunderstood you. Probably, it is the difference between our two species.”
“Prisoner, chained, powerless, in our custody,” the bug said through his speaker.
“How remarkable,” Drakos replied. “You are suggesting that. I am quite disappointed in Thrax.”
“He is Supremacy Thrax.”
“No. He is just plain old Thrax when he dares to threaten me, and after I have come to bring him so much.”
“One word, lord,” the bug said, “and your star cruisers will yield their crews to us, and Supremacy Thrax will take the warships for the hive.”
“That would be a fatal mistake for all of you.”
“Is that a threat, lord?”
“Well, let us wait and see,” Drakos said.
“I’m waiting for your—”
A rumble of sound and an earthquake, perhaps, shook the massive corridor and interrupted the bug. The bugs glanced around in alarm.
“I can make that stop,” Drakos said through the loudspeaker.
“What are you talking about?” the top bug asked.
Ten seconds passed. Then another rumble sounded, and the shaking resumed.
“Do you claim to be causing this?” the bug demanded.
“First, I suggest you find out what ‘this’ is. Call Thrax. I would assume he would know by now.”
The bug appeared agitated. He spoke into his com. As he did, another, more distant rumble sounded, and the shaking was less than before.
“Lord Drakos,” the bug called with its loudspeaker.
“At your service,” Drakos said through his.
“Those were nuclear reactors exploding. Thousands of workers have died hideously. Tunnels have collapsed and much equipment was lost.”
“My, that’s terrible,” Drakos said.
“You caused three nuclear reactors to blow?”
“Ah, yes, I suppose I did.”
“How did you do this?”
“That is the question isn’t it? Would you like me to detonate more?”
“You will die if you do,” the bug said.
“Then, your entire hive will cease to exist, including Supremacy Thrax. Do you truly desire this? Because if you do, I can give it to you.”
“You will die too in that case.”
“Yes,” Drakos said. “I will die, but most gloriously while killing my enemies.”
Several of the escort chuckled in appreciation of the boldly spoken threat.
Drakos smiled. It was good to battle wits in the company of such fine powerful soldiers. It was an honor. He loved being a superior. He loved being the best. Life was good and could only get better.
Two minutes passed. During that time, the bug on the laser batteries must have been speaking to Thrax.
“Lord Drakos,” the bug finally called. “Supremacy Thrax desires to meet with you. He asks that you come alone—”
Drakos raised his loudspeaker. “No. While I’m in the hive, I will remain in the company of my escort. Any effort to separate me from my soldiers will result in the destruction of your hive. Do I make myself clear?”
The Lost Swarm Page 21