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“We’re stronger than the Poles were in their horrible situation,” I said firmly. “I
have no intention of being crushed within days by a surprise attack from both sides.”

Everyone looked at me seriously, but no one said anything. I wasn’t sure if they believed
me or not.

“The key is in the timing. The Blues are holding back. With luck, Crow thinks they
are holding up their end of the bargain and still advancing. Instead of being hit
on both sides and being forced to split our defenses, we’ll stop Crow cold, then worry
about the  Macros, if they come at all.”

For once, no one argued with me. We broke up the meeting and went our separate ways.
There was a mountain of organizational details to attend to. Many hours of hard work
followed, and about a day later, the time to test our theories finally came.

“Sir,” Miklos said, “the Earth fleet has reached the ring. We’ve snuck through a few
scouts to check on them over the last few hours. They’re about to enter the Eden system.”

I reviewed the holotank, which showed both systems in detail. The Imperial fleet was
dauntingly huge. There were so many red contacts the holotank was having difficulty
displaying them all.

“Speed and course?” I demanded.

“They’re heading directly toward the ring, but they’re still slowing down. It’s my
belief they intend to come through slowly in an organized fashion. This is an opportunity,
Colonel.”

“Explain.”

“They’re moving so slowly, we can throw space marines in front of them and allow direct
boarding.”

I frowned at the boards and the holotank. As I watched, the enemy fleet flickered
from red to orange. This meant their positions were now theoretical again. Our scouts
had retreated to our side of the ring and we could no long see the enemy directly.
It was either that, or they would have been destroyed.

Our own green line of ships had been arranged in a parabolic pattern a good distance
from the ring. We had a few mines out there, but hadn’t bothered to overdo it with
static defenses. I’d noted that over recent battles, those weapons hadn’t yielded
much in the way of enemy casualties.

“No,” I said firmly. “I don’t want to commit any assault groups yet. They’re worried
about our mines, which means they’ll put some big defensive ships in the lead. Those
are the worst class of vessels for our marines to assault: heavily-protected ships
with thick hulls and a lot of point-defense cannons to detect and shoot down mines—or
other small targets.”

Miklos nodded, but looked unhappy. I could tell he wanted to commit the marines anyway.
I understood his logic. The marines had trouble when assaulting any ship that was
moving too fast. They had to be at close to the same relative velocity to operate,
and right now the enemy was gliding slowly through the ring. This represented the
perfect opportunity for landing on the enemy vessels instead of splatting upon them
due to a huge difference in relative velocities.

“Don’t worry Captain,” I assured Miklos, “our troops will get more than their fill
of combat today. Instead of throwing them at the first Imperial ships we see, we’ll
hold them in reserve. We’ve got our gunships in a line at maximum effective range.
The moment they come through, wallowing and slow, we’ll bombard them with everything
we’ve got. They all have to wriggle out of that ring, remember. Just a few ships at
a time will be appearing.”

“As you say, Colonel,” Miklos said. He sounded miffed.

I glanced at him and thought:
too bad
.

A few minutes later, it began. As I’d expected, the most monstrous ships with tons
of forward armor came through in groups of three. I was reminded of ancient battling
rams. These ships had been built for this purpose. They were intended to absorb punishment
so the lighter vessels behind them didn’t have to.

Now that we were much closer, we could see the details on the enemy vessels with our
long-range optics. The forward section of these ships had an interesting series of
design elements. I was intrigued, and studied them intently, zooming in as closely
as I was able. I saw a series of dark, textured masses moving in front of each vessel.

“What the hell are they holding in front of them?” I asked.

“Shields, sir,” Miklos said. “Probably made of asteroid rock, rather than metal. They’re
pushing big chunks of thick stone in front of them, like bulldozers hiding behind
their lowered blades.”

I nodded. “Or like Greek hoplites hiding behind their interlocked tower shields while
they steadily advance. In a way, I’m proud that Old Earth could put together a force
like this. It’s comforting. If we lose today gentlemen, we can be confident that our
species will still prevail in this cosmos.”

My staff looked less than thrilled with my analysis. I guess that with their own deaths
so near and so likely, they weren’t interested in the theoretical survival of the
species as a whole. I could understand that, but I still watched closely, enthralled
by the majesty of the approaching vessels. It was going to be a crime to destroy them.

“Fire!” I shouted, ordering my line of gunships to begin pounding the advancing enemy.

Hundreds of crackling blue balls rolled forward, converging on the newly-emerged monsters.
The battle I’d always expected but never wanted was here. I found it impossible to
look away, even for a second.

General Kerr’s vanguard of heavy battleships had been built to take punishment, but
they had their limits. Tiny, needle-thin beams flashed out from their nose sections,
stabbing at the scattered mines and the incoming storm of projectiles. But the defensive
fire couldn’t save them. The big ships flared their engines, making emergency evasive
maneuvers. But it was too little, too late.

Still wallowing at low velocity, they were picked apart by lashing fire. Volley after
volley of thundering balls of force rained down on them. To me, they resembled mounds
dirt melting in a tropical downpour. When the first one broke apart, less than a minute
after it had arrived in the Eden system, I straightened my shoulders and tossed a
salute toward the holotank which faithfully depicted their demise.

“There goes a fine, brave crew,” I said. “Don’t forget what we do here today, people.
Those are our own ships we’re firing upon. If we get a chance at mercy, we’ll take
it.”

Every eye flicked to me, then back to the grim carnage on the screen.

“It’s not over yet, Colonel,” Miklos said.

“Unfortunately, you’re right. They’ll send in faster, lighter, more heavily armed
ships next. Unleash thirty companies of Centaurs, Captain. Order them to assault the
enemy formation. Let’s see how our new troops do out there.”

Miklos worked the boards, and Sarin helped him relay the command. Soon, the scene
on the screen changed dramatically. The Earth ships were still pressing forward, almost
eager in their search for destruction. They kept coming and coming, and the count
on the corner was a grim reminder of our efficiency. When the count of big ships stood
at sixty, and the count of dead hulks showed thirty-five, I put my hand to my chin
and rubbed the stubble there. The joints of my gauntlet caught at my beard, and I
winced as hairs were plucked free.

“Is this all they have, Kyle?” Sandra said. “Are we just going to slaughter thousands?”

As if in answer to her question, the second phase of the invasion began. These new
ships resembled silver torpedoes. They darted through the ring at a higher velocity,
no doubt certain that the big front-liners would have removed the minefield by this
time.

I imagined the shock each crewman experienced when he saw the debris in front of him.
Floating chunks of the behemoths leading the charge were now so numerous they presented
an entirely new threat to the second wave. Still, they kept coming and they wisely
flew out of the immediate maelstrom of blue fireballs and dying ships.

From the twenty or so that broke free, a storm of smaller traces appeared.

“Missiles, sir,” Sarin called out. “Each one is firing a barrage.”

“Project the targets. Have the cruisers prepare for defensive fire. If they’re going
for our transports in back, order each targeted ship to unload all their troops immediately.”

“No sir, I don’t think…” she stopped and pointed to the screen. “The missiles are
all converging on the center of our forward line.”

I frowned, taking a step toward the holotank, trying to divine the enemy strategy.
Miklos figured it out before I did.

“It’s us, sir. The missile boats just fired everything they have—at this ship.”

Stunned, I examined the data. There it was, as our brainboxes computed the trajectory
with increasing accuracy every second. They’d fired over a thousand missiles at my
ship. We had just minutes left before impact.

-28-

General Kerr had always managed to compliment me in a backhanded way. I really knew
he thought a lot of me at that moment. He’d gone out of his way to take me out. As
close as we could figure in the minute or so we took to confirm the attack, the missile
barrage and the entire first play of his battle strategy was aimed at one thing: destroying
my command ship.

I waited a few seconds, in case the whole thing was just some kind of ruse. The missiles
could be targeting my ship first to force us to abandon
Nostradamus
, then divert and spread to their real targets.

The few seconds passed, and hope faded. It wasn’t going to happen that way. I heaved
in a breath, and gave the only command I possibly could: “All hands, abandon ship!
Fly to the nearest friendly vessel for pickup. Avoid the
Nostradamus
, give her a berth of a hundred miles. Scatter in a random pattern from the impact
point.”

The lights on the bridge changed, going to blood-red. Almost immediately, the red
was striped by flashers of spinning yellow. Klaxons whooped and screamed. Everyone
who wasn’t fully suited-up struggled to get into something air-tight that could fly.

I marched at the head of my staff toward the aft sally ports. Miklos, Sandra and Sarin
were all right behind me. Fortunately, Sloan and Kwon were with the transports, coordinating
the assault forces. If we all died, at least those two would be left to continue the
fight.

We entered the dark hold and I reached up to hit the emergency bulkhead release. The
door shot open, and the immediate depressurization rocked my armored body. I clamped
a gauntlet onto the nearest steel rung and grabbed Sandra with my other hand. In turn,
Sandra held onto Miklos and Jasmine, who were wearing crewman’s nanocloth with power
packs and trying to get their feet onto those flying skateboard things I’d designed
long ago. They now served every ship as both invasion equipment and escape pods.

After the door was sucked away by the escaping gasses in the hold, a square of velvet
black pierced by intense white lights appeared. Space hung outside, in all its glory.
From this angle, I could see nothing but brilliant stars.

When I was about to give the final order to dive out into vacuum, something else grabbed
me. I looked down to see a black tentacle encircling my right calf.

“Excuse me, Colonel Riggs,” Marvin said politely into my com-link. “I’m having a conflict.
I find my standing orders to be unclear.”

I glanced back and saw him, looming over us. He was clinging to the spine of the ship.

“Sorry Marvin,” I said. “I forgot about you. I’m hereby changing your orders. You
can fly in emergency situations. In order to survive, you’re allowed to use any means
of propulsion you can find. Do you need us to provide you with—?”

I never finished the sentence. Marvin shouldered us all aside and shot out into space,
taking the lead instantly. Under his body, a set of four skateboards were arranged
in a diamond pattern. He leaned into it as I watched him, directing himself onto a
new course. He shrank to a dot in a few seconds.

I chuckled and dove after him. I dragged everyone with me, as they were all holding
onto each other. I didn’t know where Marvin was headed, but I was certain he had a
destination clearly in mind, and it didn’t involve hanging around at the epicenter
of a massive barrage of nuclear missiles.

Choosing a random angle and accelerating for all we were worth, my tiny group flew
with grim determination into the cold silent ocean which we call space. As always,
I reflected upon the shockingly sudden nature of life and death in this incredibly
harsh environment. When in space, you simply didn’t have all the protection afforded
by a planetary body. You were exposed to radiation and particles of matter flashing
around at insane speeds. Even in serene moments the environment was inherently deadly
to human flesh. The temperature in most of the great void was usually freezing, or
occasionally scorching hot. There was no breathable air, and the vacuum alone could
turn you inside out if you let it.

Still, for all its deadliness, there was beauty too. The sun was yellow-white and
too bright to look upon without the autoshades in our visors. It glared upon every
helmet giving the scene a stark clarity. Some of the worlds that orbited that steady
star were visible with the naked eye. In a direction that appeared to be to our left
now, I thought I saw two bodies, appearing as gray-white disks. One had to be Eden-12,
the planet of the Blues. Like Jupiter back home, it was one of the most visible things
in every world’s night sky in this system. If I had to guess, I’d say the other one
was Eden-11, which was scheduled to orbit fairly close to the Helios ring this time
of year.