After the centurion reached the next defensive position, serpent medics began to work on his injury. As soon as the Slones saw what was happening, they immediately moved forward to help with the rearguard. Marshal had trained his serpent troops well. When the Slones arrived, they could see the serpent leaders taking over command and placing the troops in front of the lava tube. They formed three lines 50 serpents wide and three deep. The tube itself was empty but clear for retreat. Most of the troops had their backs against the wall, since the exit tube was only wide enough for three abreast. This meant there would be no retreat until the center of the line pulled back and the ends fill towards the center. This is a very difficult maneuver, especially when in combat. From the enemy’s point of view, there was no way to surround and flank the defenders. However, they could now leap, since this was a high ceilinged cave.
The vipers followed their cutting machine into the cave, but rather than rush to the attack, they stopped and waited for more troops to enter. Christopher and Alaya were in the rear of the serpent forces, and could not see around the bends in the lava tube. They wished Tavia were with them, since they could not understand the alien chatter of the defenders. Suddenly there were loud whistles from the front and the unmistakable sound of combat. Worst than waiting, was waiting blindly for what might come around the corner. Sly moved up to the Slones and told them her forces were reporting heavy fighting at the other end of the tube. There were no cameras in the area in which they were fighting, so no way to see what was happening. Word was starting to filter back that the defenders were taking heavy casualties. Just at that moment, Centurion Marshal came forward, held up between two serpents. There was no way to splint a broken hip and the serpents had no surgical facilities that could repair human bones. If this final area was breached, Marshal was on his own. The sounds of battle intensified and the tunnel ahead of the Slones became more densely packed with defenders. It was obvious they were losing ground and slowly moving towards their center and the opening of the lava tube. Marshal told his commanders to pull their troops back and form around the exit of the lava tube the way they had discussed. He then had himself taken back to the slight elevation where Sly stood near the entrance to the egg chamber. Several hatchlings were standing around ready to do what they could to fight. While in the egg, serpents are infused with DNA that is pre-programmed with all of the basic knowledge needed to fit into serpent society. This saved all of the primary education and meant they could function in society from day one. Now they were called upon to defend the very nursery they just left.
The defenders began coming out of the tunnel and forming a semicircle around the exit with each new defender being allowed to move to the rear of the semicircle. This allows those coming directly from the fight to rest and refresh. To Marshal’s dismay only half of those defending the other end of the tube retreated through it. They formed a semicircle as planned and waited for the enemy to charge through. The centurion was propped against a console with his gun out and his shield up. Next to him were Sly and the Slones. The area they were in was small and they were tightly packed. It was all hands on deck with even the hatchery personnel armed and ready to defend. This would be their last stand. If they had to fall back into the hatchery, they would have to fight among the eggs. In that case, what they were trying to protect would be lost.
The rear guard must have stung them badly in the last chamber, since they did not race out of the lava tube. Instead, they sent armored males forward with railguns and started firing at the shield wall formed by the defenders. They made little progress against the heavy shields, but once they saw Sly and the Romani standing on a slight elevation, they raised their aim and started firing on them. The Slones were standing a bit away from Sly and the centurion. The enemy concentrated their shots at Sly and Centurion Marshal saw this and immediately covered her with his shield, as the Slones ran up to add their shields to the protection. Just as the Slones arrived, several slugs hit the shield held in front of Sly. They did little damage, but three other slugs were aimed at the centurion, and they hit him square in the chest. Two were stopped by his armor, but a third found an area that had been hit several times in the previous fights and penetrated into the right chest, lodging in the lung. Centurion Marshal immediately fell back and serpent medics again ran to minster to his wound. The Slones knew it was bad and without human medical facilities, this was a fatal wound. They covered Sly with their shields, but to her credit, she told them to cover themselves.
The firing from the tunnel suddenly stopped and with a high-pitched whistle, the clan females came charging out of the tunnel and hit the shield wall with a few leaping into the air, only to be gunned down by the Romani. After a few jumpers went down, the leaping stopped.
Alaya turned to Christopher, “How many rounds do you have left?”
“Two full clips for the rifle and one clip in the pistol.”
“I am almost out on the rifle, but have two for the pistol, one in and one on the belt.”
“Well it will be a short fight then when they break through; and break through they will. This is our last stand, let’s make it count.”
Alaya looked over to Sly and saw her standing on the top of the platform oblivious to any danger. She was maintaining a constant stream of serpent speech to exhort her tired troops to hold out as long as they could. She was still Queen of the Mountain. As the fight at the shield wall continued, there was a sudden, deep rumbling coming through the mountain. The rumbling carried through the floor and into the very center of the human’s bodies. Alaya found herself thinking a volcanic eruption was all they needed now.
Christopher turned to his wife with a bit of a smile and said only one word, “Bombardment.” And that brought a smile to Alaya’s face. Just then, the communications console chirped.
Chapter 9 – Transit to the Viper’s Nest
The NR Longinus and the NR Invicta reached Rubicon station at the time the Mountain Clan was building its beachhead on the Sea Clan Island. The Invicta’s escort vessels were resupplied and waiting at the outbound slipstream to serpent space. The advance rescue fleet now consisted of four destroyers, two cruisers and two dreadnoughts. In the captain’s chair on the bridge of the Invicta sat Paul McMann. Tom Gardner, at the communications console, turned to acting captain McMann and reported the Longinus gives the Invicta the honor of entering serpent space first. Tom acknowledged and ordered his destroyers into the slipstream. The destroyers deployed their sails and vanished as they accelerated into faster than light travel. Next, it was the Invicta’s turn.
“Helm, take us into the slipstream and deploy the sails,” McMann ordered.
The navigator responded by moving the ship to the start of the slipstream and deploying the slipstream sails. Navigation was Paul’s normal station so he closely watched how the helm responded. When the sails were deployed, one frill behind the bridge and one frill amidships, with the push sail aft.
“Polarize the sails,” Paul ordered and the ship gave a slight shutter then rapidly sped up to light speed. “What speed and transit time?”
The navigator did some calculations. “Slipstream speed is two light years per hour and transit time is 6 hours.”
“Very well. Set the slipstream watch and put the ship at rest for the next five hours. Full crew back at stations in five hours.”
Tom Gardner transmitted the orders throughout the ship and the slipstream crew took their places. Paul McMann left the bridge with his fellow bridge officers, Tom and Diana Gardner. The friends went to the nursery to check on the Gardner’s son, Allen and the Slone’s daughter, Olivia. There were also other children there in a sleep cycle. They would be attended to by nursery personnel during the trip. The older children attended school and learned the rudiments of combat as they travel. The Gardners had to get used to the Romani tradition of keeping military families together, even facing combat with their children aboard. However, in time they came to see the wisdom of it. This way they did not have to le
ave their child behind and they could share in the growing up years. They also fought harder when their children were at risk. The children’s quarters were in the center of the ship in an area that was self contained and heavily armored. Even if the ship disintegrated around them, they would be able to survive until rescue arrived. The education and nursery personnel lived in the children’s quarters and protected them in combat. After saying good night to the toddlers, the Gardner’s went up to their quarters on the bridge deck. Paul McMann also went to his quarters. He preferred his quarters to temporarily moving into the captain’s quarters. Once in their quarters, the Gardner’s discussed what to expect. They were entering serpent space and they knew there was a war ahead of them. Their friends were in danger, along with their serpent allies. They had thoroughly examined the serpent ship the Consul came back with and determined that it was no match for their capital ships, though enough of them could make it difficult for destroyers. The serpent captain Artok assured the Romani that the warships of the serpents were only the type that brought Tavia, Consul Lorenzo and Scout Raul Cortega back to Nova Romae. Their railguns could only penetrate the skin of a destroyer, but not cruisers or dreadnoughts. Their missiles could do damage, but only if they got through the point defenses. What bothered the officers of the fleet was what captain Artok told them about the planetary defenses. The serpent world had planet to space missiles that could be fired and then detonated close to the fleet. They would then send out large, metal spheres at high speed similar to a nail bomb. These large pieces of shrapnel could shred the armor of a ship. They were working on a way to deal with them, but they were now down to two weeks transit time and still no ideas. The Gardners fell asleep in each other’s arms thinking about those missiles and worrying about the children.
When the fleet entered the serpent free trade system, they found the trade station deserted, as it had been when the Draco passed through and the Cold Death on their escape. The serpent aboard the Invicta, named Hister, reported no indication of any invisible ships in the system. In consultation with captain Artok, it was decided to retrace the route taken while escaping the serpent world. This would bring them back through the system where the attack against Cold Death occurred. They planned to revisit the mining base where they had been attacked before. They wanted to make sure there were no more attacks and the base computers would have information on the home world planetary defenses, at least the specifications of the defense missiles. Captain Artok’s ship did not contain planetary defense information. The mining base was too small to mount the missiles, but the serpents assured the Consul that all of the computers shared the same information, kept current by data capsules transmitting updates. Due to slipstreams going only one way, it took a little longer to get back to the mining base than it took to Rubicon from the mining base. However, as a benefit, it would take only three days to reach the serpent home world from the base. They finally came out of the slipstream into the multi-star system that held the base. Tavia, Hatch, and Captain Artok worked the consoles on the serpent ship carried by the Invicta. Hister was at her station on the bridge maintaining the ship’s invisibility. The fleet entered the system invisible in case there was any danger.
Tavia was the first to speak, “Captain Artok. I’m not picking up any signals from the base.”
“Sss. I also do not see any telemetry. I am concerned.”
Tavia activated her communicator. “Captain McMann, there are no signals coming from the mining base.”
She heard Paul McMann’s voice over the communicator, “Hister reports the same. I have notified the Consul and we are to proceed with caution. He would like you and Captain Artok to take the Cold Death down to the base and report on conditions there. The fleet will lag behind an hour.”
“Yes, Captain. Tavia out.” Tavia then turned to Captain Artok who had filled her crew with volunteers from the Nova Romae serpent population. “Captain, the Consul would like us to go down there and investigate. The fleet will slow to give us an hour to investigate before they reach the base.”
Captain Artok acknowledged and ordered her crew to prepare the ship for departure. Tavia asked for clearance and the Cold Death departed the hangar of the Invicta, bound for the mining base. As the small ship left the hangar, it vanished from sight. The rest of the fleet slowed slightly and remained invisible. The Cold Death still had an eleven hour 8 minute transit to the planetoid, which housed the mining base. They decided to remain awake and alert during the passage. Human food had been put aboard the ship for Tavia, who was considered one of the crew, not just the human representative. Captain Artok and her crew had come to see her as a member of the clan. They stayed on the bridge for the entire transit and then stopped above the planetoid, over the base. From above, it looked like it did before. The ships of the attackers from their previous visit were still there along with the two damaged by the missiles Tavia had fired. The blast doors were open and the hangar force field was again in place. There was no mining activity and no electronic emissions.
“Sss. Lady Tavia,” Captain Artok said, formally, “I think the mining base is deserted.”
“How can that be, Captain? We left them with prisoners and the lights are still on.”
“Sss. We should proceed with care.”
They planned to land outside the hangar entrance, and then exit the ship using space suits. They would land near the enemy ships and lose invisibility. They hoped this would make their ship look like one of those left outside. They suited up and left armed. The serpents had rail guns and Tavia wore her standard scout body armor under her space suit. Her pistol and sword were strapped to the outside of her suit. She had her standard helmet slung over her shoulder for later use inside.
Tavia hated going into vacuum, though she had to do it quite often in her capacity as a mining scout. Many humans were born in space. Many spent their lives there. They called themselves children of the void. Her friends, the Slones and many of the ship crews, legionaries and marines fell into this category. However, Tavia did not. She grew up on the jungle planet of New Wales and loved the outdoors and the smell of fresh air, as much as she loved her life in space. One of the space related activities she hated the most was wearing a space suit. They were confining and only a few millimeters of synthetic material separated her from sudden death. She did not fear death from combat, but she didn’t want to die as the result of a stupid tear in her suit from some minor bump against a sharp object. She looked at the display on her helmet visor and saw that the outside temperature was four hundred and fifty degrees Celsius, due to the intense light from the triple suns inside the orbit of the asteroid belt.
Captain Artok, her crew of four and Tavia walked from the ship to the opened hangar. It was decided to leave Hatch on the ship to open and prep it in case of a hasty departure. That is what she told Hatch but the truth is they did not have a suit to fit her. As they approached the hangar force field, they could look inside and saw only the ships that were there when they last visited. There was still some damage from the firefight but the hangar had been cleaned up and some of the ships had been moved. What was missing was any indication of life. It had been over a month since they were here last and yet nothing changed in the outside position of the enemy ships. Since all of the ships were still in the hangar, where are the serpents? They walked through the force field and entered the hangar. Tavia breathed a sigh of relief and was about to remove her helmet when Captain Artok, who was standing next to her suddenly, pulled her hand away from the helmet latch.
“Sss. Lady Tavia, look at the display.”
Tavia looked at the readouts of the external conditions and gasped. The hangar was depressurized. She nodded her head in the direction of the Captain as a thank you. She then noticed that all of the doors leading out of the hangar were open. The implication was clear. Tavia looked at Captain Artok, “The base is depressurized. Hatch, connect me to both the Invicta and the Longinus.”
Serpents and Vipers Page 15