Blood of the Cosmos (57 page)

Rusa'h was gaunt, but appeared as hard and straight as an iron rod. The guards held their weapons ready, but the man ignored them. He stepped up to the Mage-Imperator and the Prime Designate and faced them for a long moment before placing a fist to his sternum in the traditional sign of respect. It seemed almost a lazy gesture for him. “Liege, there are important matters we must discuss. We both know it.”

Oblivious to the tension between these men, attender kithmen offered Rusa'h the same array of colorful refreshments, which he also ignored.

Jora'h drew out the tense silence as he faced the man who had sought to destroy the Ildiran Empire, the man who had set Mijistra aflame. “Sit down,” the Mage-Imperator said.

Rusa'h obeyed. He let out a disappointed sound. “We have all heard the news of Ulio Station, and there are probably other Shana Rei attacks we do not know about. They will continue to destroy us.” He held his words, then said, “I see that I must remind you of history and of your obligation.”

“I need no reminders from you, Rusa'h.”

“And yet, you compel me to speak. I saw the destruction our enemies inflicted at the Hiltos shrine. We have received reports from the green priest about what Adar Zan'nh discovered at the Onthos home system. What would prevent the shadows from englobing Ildira the way they exterminated that system? We cannot fight the Shana Rei with our current capabilities, any more than the Ildiran Empire could defeat them the last time they preyed upon us. Not alone.”

The Mage-Imperator said, “We are not helpless. We have laser cannons. We have sun bombs. We have our alliance with the Confederation Defense Forces, and they have promised to provide even more powerful sun bombs.”

“Insignificant and insufficient,” Rusa'h said. “You know it, brother.
Liege
. In ancient times, Mage-Imperator Xiba'h also understood the stakes. He made a terrible, difficult choice—and saved the Empire.”

Prime Designate Daro'h frowned. “Mage-Imperator Xiba'h? Is he the one who—?”

Jora'h kept his gaze locked with his half-brother's. “That is not an acceptable alternative. And the faeros are not acceptable allies. Osira'h and Rod'h already tried to convince them. They will not fight with us. They are afraid of the Shana Rei.”

“A Mage-Imperator should not be afraid to pay a price to save his people!”

Jora'h did not respond with anger, but kept his voice cool. “It is not the immolation that I fear. It is the alliance with the faeros, who have already proved to be nearly as destructive as the Shana Rei.”

The mad Designate was not swayed. “And what about the shadows inside all of us? Ildiran sun bombs and laser cannons have no effect on that.”

Jora'h suspected the insidious darkness had woven its way through the
thism
strands that connected to him. Perhaps the only way to cleanse that was with fire and light. If he did set himself aflame in a spectacular bonfire, his agony might be sufficient to wrench the attention of the faeros. Could that in itself be enough to purge the shadows from the Ildiran race?

Probably not.

And there was no guarantee the faeros would help the Empire, rather than destroy it.

Even as he sat on top of the Prism Palace drenched in bright sunlight, Jora'h still felt—or imagined?—the shadow inside him. Maybe one day he would be driven to sufficient despair that he would be willing to do anything, take any chance, to cleanse that darkness.

But not today …

 

CHAPTER

96

ADAR ZAN'NH

After a week at the englobed Onthos system, Adar Zan'nh decided that the research teams had gathered sufficient information, and he was anxious to return to Ildira. The horrific attack on Ulio Station worried him. It seemed far more ambitious and destructive than the Shana Rei strike on the small Hiltos shrine. What if it was the start of an expanded war on the Spiral Arm?

The impenetrable black sphere made his Solar Navy crew very uneasy, demonstrating an inconceivable power. This absolute Shana Rei victory over the Onthos race and an entire star system made Zan'nh realize that their enemy was even more deadly than the hydrogues and faeros from the Elemental War.

After the ships finished exploring the interior of the gigantic shell, they found their way back to the small opening they had blasted through the hexagonal black plates. As the warliner and the
Kutuzov
approached the opening, the darkness of normal space appeared bright because of its scattering of stars.

After exploring the dead Onthos planet, Rod'h and Gale'nh were galvanized, and the Adar was pleased that Tal Gale'nh was confident enough to shoulder leadership responsibilities again. To demonstrate his confidence, Zan'nh granted Gale'nh command of one of the warliners in the septa. The tal was at first taken aback by the reward, then straightened with determination. The Adar thought he saw a glint in the young man's eye. Gale'nh accepted the transfer of command with grace, and Rod'h formally requested permission to join his brother aboard his new ship.

Zan'nh considered. “If that would be acceptable to you, Tal Gale'nh?”

“It is.”

After his flagship emerged into unconfined space again, Zan'nh stared in wonder at the infinity of stars. The universe had never seemed so bright. He experienced a collective sigh among his Solar Navy soldiers, like a rejuvenation of the combined
thism
.

Meanwhile, the rest of the warliners that had continued to explore the outer Dyson sphere in greater detail had discovered an important artifact drifting loose high above the obsidian shell. Over numerous centuries, it had floated away, but a careful combing of nearby space had spotted it. The relic was as chilling and as fascinating as the dead hydrogue warglobes they had found trapped inside.

Septar Dre'nh transmitted to the flagship, “Adar, we have found a verdani battleship. It appears to be very ancient, very large. It is lifeless.”

General Keah broke in on the command channel. “I was ready to go home, Z, but we should have a look.”

All eight ships rendezvoused high above the Dyson sphere, converging on the verdani battleship, a huge organic craft created from an uprooted worldtree in a symbiotic relationship with wental water. Deep inside the heartwood, an ancient pilot—one of the Gardeners, surely—would have fused his body to guide the hybrid ship.

Skeletal boughs sprawled outward, great thorny arms large enough to embrace an asteroid. Its primary trunk was an armored cylinder bigger than several warliners.

“That one's larger than any of the newer verdani battleships currently orbiting Theroc,” General Keah transmitted. “I'm glad the verdani are on our side. I wouldn't want to go up against that thing.”

“Even that gigantic ship lost its battle with the Shana Rei,” Zan'nh pointed out.

Tal Gale'nh transmitted from his new command nucleus. “Adar, my brother wishes to take a scout ship and collect samples. It could be useful information. Theroc will certainly want to know.”

The Adar's brow furrowed. “I can send an entire team, along with guards.”

Rod'h appeared on the screen beside his pale half-brother. He spoke with an edge to his voice. “I can do this more quickly and efficiently than a large group, Adar. I'll be back within several hours, before you could even put together a larger expedition.”

General Keah chuckled over the comm. “I wouldn't disagree with him, Z.”

Rod'h didn't seem to be asking permission, and Adar Zan'nh had unclear authority over Nira's other halfbreed son, who was not part of the Solar Navy. “Be cautious, Rod'h,” he said, to give the appearance of assent.

As if to prove how fast he could move, Rod'h's scout vessel emerged from the warliner's launching bay in less than half an hour and darted toward the briar patch of threatening branches. He transmitted images as he flew along. “This is massive—and impressive. If the verdani could create hundreds more of these, they would be tremendous allies.”

In the flagship's command nucleus, the Adar continued to watch the screen as Rod'h flew his tortuous path. The mammoth verdani warship was breathtaking.

The screen flickered, and General Keah's face overrode the scout ship's images. “Z, something's going on out here! You better have a look—we've got company.”

At the same time, alarms came in from the other warliners. The panoply of stars that had looked so vibrant now shimmered, distorting one large patch. A slice of black darker than the rest of the universe opened up, and a roiling smoke of shadows emerged. The inky cloud swelled and swelled.

Zan'nh shouted across all comm circuits. “Battle stations! Activate weapons systems. Prepare our sun bombs.” He drew a breath. “This is going to be a fight.”

General Keah responded, “You got that right, Z.”

The shadow cloud blossomed like petals of night, and titanic Shana Rei hex ships slid out of their twisted dimension and loomed above the star system they had already swallowed.

Zan'nh had no idea what the creatures of darkness wanted here, but he had no intention of letting them have it. He would fight back.

On the comm, Keah actually sounded eager for the confrontation. “Ready when you are, Z.”

“I am ready now, General. Prepare to attack.”

 

CHAPTER

97

GENERAL NALANI KEAH

General Keah hadn't expected to fight a battle in a dead system out in the middle of nowhere, but she was ready for it. “About damn time.” She turned to her weapons officer. “Mr. Patton, time to prove the CDF's investment in your training was worthwhile.”

The gigantic hex cylinders emerged from the shadow cloud like objects from a nightmare toolbox, thrusting into real space above the black Dyson sphere.

Her comm officer split the screen so Keah could address Adar Zan'nh while maintaining her watch on the Shana Rei. “Every second we delay is a second that we could be opening fire, Z. Unless you plan to talk with those things, I say we hit them with everything we've got.” Their best shot was to hit first and hit hard, and worry about justifications later on when doing the paperwork. “No warnings, no negotiations. Why dink around with half-measures?”

“I concur completely, General. I have already given battle orders to the entire septa.”

Keah hunched forward in her command chair and spoke to the bridge crew, letting them see her half smile. “Not to put too fine a point on it, but I'm anxious to use up some of our old sun bombs—Dr. Krieger will get us more once we're back home. Set a course directly toward the shadow cloud, Mr. Tait.” The
Kutuzov
pulled ahead of the Ildiran warliners. She thought of it as leading the charge, rather than presenting herself as cannon fodder. “Give me a full sensor sweep.”

Lieutenant Saliba rushed to provide the requested data. Weapons techs brought the laser-cannon batteries online, preparing for a constant, sequential recharge as they had done in a thousand drills. In a full-scale engagement, the cannons would be depleted faster than they could be recharged.

On the weapons decks, tactical crews scrambled to load in the arsenal of sun bombs. Keah wished even more fervently that she had the new enhanced weapons, after what she had witnessed in the rings of Saturn, but the original Ildiran devices packed a hell of a punch anyway.

Keah glanced at the nervous green priest, who clung to his treeling. “Mr. Nadd, I'll rely on you to send reports back home. Let Theroc know … whatever happens.”

Nadd swallowed hard. “I will do my best.”

“Mr. Tait, prepare for evasive maneuvers and conventional weapons as soon as the bugbot ships show up—and you know they're going to. They'll harass us like mosquitoes in a swamp.”

The
Kutuzov
charged toward the monstrous-looking Shana Rei ships. The seven warliners followed close behind.

Saliba enhanced the image. “General … still no sign of robot ships.”

Keah was puzzled. “But they always use bugbots to do their dirty work.”

As the ships closed in, entropy waves from the Shana Rei began to scramble their targeting computers. Lights flickered on the
Kutuzov
's bridge. “Better open fire while we still can, but don't rely on targeting computers—use manual systems when you have to.”

“You got it, General,” said Patton. “If we can't hit a target that big, then we'd better go back to basic training.”

Keah nodded. “Point and shoot.”

The first laser-cannon barrage tore across the flat side of one of the hex cylinders, slicing through the solid black material like a knife gutting a fish filled with smoke. Static burst across the comm lines like an angry cry of disruption. The nearest Shana Rei ship began to turn, as if reeling away.

Keah liked that.

The Solar Navy warliners added their laser cannons to the bombardment, and the hex cylinders shuddered. Large sections of obsidian material flaked away, the same flat plates that had assembled to form the nightshade over Theroc—the same type of material that formed the black Dyson sphere around the Onthos system.

“Score!” Patton yelled. The rest of the bridge crew hooted and cheered.

Keah smiled. “What are you waiting for, Mr. Patton? We've got a lot more damage to do.”

Her weapons officer launched another laser fusillade, surprising her with how much damage he inflicted on the Shana Rei. “We don't normally catch the shadows with their pants down like that. What—” She caught her breath. “Ah, they weren't expecting to find us here at all!”

She contacted the Solar Navy flagship with her urgent realization. “Z, the shadows must have come here for their own reasons. They weren't planning on a battle. That's why they haven't launched any robot fighters.” Keah needed to take advantage of how much her crew was itching for a fight. “Good thing
we're
prepared.”