Mirrors of infinity, p.34
Mirrors of Infinity, page 34
More enemy ships poured off of the space station. The Alliance now faced a fleet of nearly two dozen enemy ships, but by now the enemy faced an Alliance fleet of a few dozen ships of varying sizes and capabilities, not counting the swarms of fighters and drones.
The battle that ensued was not without its danger or fatalities. More than one Alliance fighter ship was either damaged or destroyed. The large Alliance attack vessels had taken minor damage, but shields were holding.
As part of the plan, they allowed their enemies to believe they were slowly retreating, farther and farther from the space station. In the meantime, their attack formation became slowly bowl like, drawing the Inseni fleet farther and farther into their midst. Additional ships and drones continued to emerge from the launch bays. This was a bit risky as there was a bigger chance that a stray shot might miss an enemy ship and instead hit an Alliance ship. But it also made it much harder for the Inseni ships to get behind the Alliance fleet.
At one point, in the heat of the battle, Brendan began to wonder if all of their preparations were going to be enough. The Inseni were mostly planet busters, more suited to conquer those on the ground than a dog fight with equal or superior forces in space. But the Alliance force had not been used for combat in living memory. The only reason they had any experienced commanders now was because the Alliance had recruited commanders such as Brendan, who had flight and combat experience on their own planets.
There was an abundance of “dastardly alien tech” in the ships, and the MDP delivery system meant that they had nearly unlimited supplies and equipment available. There was even a “hospital ship” that could receive a damaged ship into an MDP and get the repairs they needed to return to the battle. This definitely gave them an edge, but the Inseni captains were holding out remarkably against the numbers the Alliance had been able to put into the field, and now small agile fighter ships began to emerge from the Inseni’s launch bays.
Alliance ships tried to pick them off one by one as they came out, but they didn’t get enough of them to prevent the Inseni from evening the odds somewhat.
Now the fighter pilots had two things to worry about, the battle ships and the fighter ships. Dogfights ensued with ferocity on both sides. It was time. They were fully engaged and far enough away from the space station to implement the second stage of the mission.
The fourth ship would, at this moment, be cruising from behind the asteroid and heading for the space station to destroy it. Without the station, the enemy fleet would be greatly hampered, unable to do repairs, refuel or restock their ships. Unless they had a technology unknown by the Alliance, it was unlikely they could land easily on a planet from space.
This would mean there would be one less destructive arm of the Great Insenium that Gall and his minions would have at their disposal.
From where they were now fighting, the space station was a small glowing dot in a sky filled with stars. Brendan’s tactical officer was directing the shipboard weapons crew, and his team was directing the drones and the fighter ships. The launch bay continued to pour out new drones at irregularly spaced intervals. Brendan wasn’t entirely sure how many they had at their disposal, but he was grateful Bob had started production of these soon after he had been given the go ahead by the Alliance Chief Council.
They had engaged several off-dimension factories that had been cranking them out day and night ever since. As a result, part of what Juan’s team was doing was constantly replenishing the fleets of them waiting in the MDPs issued to Brendan’s launch bay crew.
Most of the drones were pre-programmed to recognize Alliance ships and to only fire on anything that was “not Alliance”. Not all the drones were autonomous, however. Many of the drones were also being directly manipulated by pilots stationed inside the ship based on the strategy put forth by the fleet officers’ tactical plan.
Brendan continued to watch the view screen, squinting to see the little dot of light. It was already at maximum magnification, so he couldn’t zoom in any closer. There was a lot to keep track of, but his team was on top of it. They had drilled so hard over the last few months that Brendan sometimes felt a little extraneous. So he watched.
Occasionally his view was obscured by the flashes of light caused by a direct hit on one side or the other, but he kept focused on the tiny light. He knew he couldn’t see the fourth ship approaching, and he wondered what defenses the space station had, if any.
He didn’t like working with as little intel as they had on this situation, but he trusted everyone to do their best. The destruction of the space station was crucial. By now the approaching ship would have disgorged a number of smaller ships as the first three had done, and they were a small fleet bearing down on the station. But a small fleet of camouflaged drones that had issued from each of the approaching ships were the real menace. Each of them was actually a small but powerful bomb.
They would attach themselves to vulnerable areas of the hull of the station and explode simultaneously. This should even be visible from this far away. As before, the fleet of spaceships was simply a red herring, intended to draw attention away from the real danger.
Nearby, the battle raged on. Brendan knew that the real test of their fleet hadn’t come yet. They still didn’t know if the cavalry was on the way and their instructions were that even if they destroyed all the enemy ships, they were to remain in place for at least 24 hours to be sure there weren’t more ships out there.
And there it was! The tiny light burst into a bright corona like a very miniature exploding sun. The bridge crew cheered, and Brendan was sure that the others would have celebrated as well, if it weren’t for the fact that they were still in the heat of an intense battle for survival.
Now the commander of the fleet sent a message on all frequencies: “Attention Inseni fleet! Your space station has been destroyed. We regret the necessity, but your government has given us few options to protect ourselves. We now demand your surrender before we summon our reserves. As you have seen, our resources are vast and your fleet is diminished. Surrender and you will be treated fairly.”
There was no reply, so the Alliance fleet continued to fire. As planned, the ships that had destroyed the space station were now closing fast on their position. The enemy fleet had been effectively surrounded.
Afterwards, Brenden would never be able to quite say what happened. All of the Inseni ships went silent. Perhaps they were going to surrender after all? But no...Brendan’s ship was rocked suddenly by the huge blast created when every single Inseni ship exploded. The Alliance ships careened out of control into the blackness of space. The battle was over, but they weren’t out of danger yet.
Chapter 41: Reflections
The walk around Miriha’s garden had refreshed Jenny, as she and Miriha had discussed the implications of what they had seen so far. When they had returned to the pool, Jenny had requested to check in at Sanglarka, the main base for her team. A goodly number were out there risking their lives and in the situation room at the lodge Jenny knew that Lova and Arvid would be anxiously watching for reports to come in.
Miriha had reminded Jenny that she would not be able to communicate directly.
“I don’t really care about that right now. They know where my unconscious body is. I just thought maybe we could get a broader picture of what the outcomes have been so far with our people.”
“Very well,” Miriha said, patting the stone seat beside her. “Let us reach out.”
She took Jenny’s hand and nodded toward the crystal pool.
Immediately a picture formed. She was riding along with Lova and could hear Arvid reading aloud from a report: “Gariel has reported in with a surprising outcome to their assault on the main training camp of the Norgoth. As you know, they took some heavy casualties, but they finally defeated the Norgoth who surrendered the training base and the surrounding city.
As they rounded up the citizens to sort out the civilians from the military and to prepare to transport the Norgoth military to the new colony, they heard an interesting report. Scouts were sent to verify.
When they returned to the camp, they had with them the mayor of a slave village that lay through a narrow valley that formed a pass behind the training city. The slave village had been created as a farming community to provide food for the military base.
Get this...this farming community was made up of the people from Miriha’s village. Tarafau must be notified! He had sworn he would return her people to their home. From this report, it appears that most of them survived the Groga attack on their village and were transported to this remote planet to serve the Norgoth.”
Lova clapped her hands, tears dripping down her face. “Oh, Arvid! I had lost hope that he would ever see that promise fulfilled. Good news indeed. I mourn for the loss of our Alliance comrades in this battle, but if there was ever anything that would ameliorate it, this would be it. Thank the Creator of All Things.”
Arvid bowed his head briefly in agreement and reverence.
Jenny looked away from the pool momentarily. Miriha had her hands clasped to her heart, looking upward, and Jenny knew that she too was thanking the Creator of All Things for the rescue of her people. She decided not to interrupt that communion and instead returned her gaze to the pool. Arvid was saying:
“According to Liliath, a number of Daringi have been assigned to begin transporting Miriha’s people to their planet, bypassing the gateway. When Jenny recovers, she can unseal the gateway. We will send volunteers to help them reestablish themselves.
After these main assaults are completed and the gate is re-established, we will want to choose a new guardian for their gate,” he continued. “That is the end of this report, except to say that all is proceeding peacefully. The rest of the former slaves will be given possession of the planet after Gariel’s troops have surveyed it to be sure there is no further danger to them from the Norgoth.”
“But is there a potential danger from space?” Lova asked, wiping her eyes.
Arvid shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Evidently a crying woman was difficult for him to deal with, so he immediately answered her question, pretending he hadn’t noticed.
“I think not, considering Brendan’s report.”
“How did that turn out?” she asked, sniffling.
“It’s hard to say, the report cuts off in mid-sentence, but from what I can gather, they were successful in destroying the space station and were holding their own against the enemy fleet. Then, something about ‘self-destruct’ on the enemy ships. We haven’t heard from any of the fleet since then. But I retain hope.”
Lova nodded somberly. She had dried her tears and had calmed herself. The breathing exercises Lova had taught Jenny and which all of the agents and guardians of the Alliance practiced along with their physical exercise and self-defense were used more than just for protection.
“They are well equipped and competent,” she agreed. “I expect they will come out of it better than their enemies appear to have done.
What about the Science and Technology team? I was very much against them going into a combat situation, but Bob had already proven himself in the Brazil campaign and had been in the military. Not all the scientists on that team had combat experience, however.”
“They are returned safe and whole to Alliance Headquarters. Bob says that after they have been debriefed, he will take great pleasure in coming back to us for a good meal and the telling of the tale.” And Arvid grinned wickedly. “I understand that “dastardly alien tech” won the day. They’re all feeling a bit smug about the whole thing if I understand it correctly.”
Lova smiled and nodded.
“Oh, and a report that came in while we were eating lunch,” Arvid said swiping to a new page on the tablet in his lap. “This one applies to Earth.”
“How so?” Lova said, leaning forward. Her brows were puckered with concern. “Not more about the blackout? And I thought we quashed that incursion into the Puerto Rico gate. Is there something I didn’t know about?”
“Oh, this is much more interesting. Earth is digging out surprisingly well from the fallout resulting from the blackout. And Luz and her team did indeed contain the Norgoth, and after their interrogation, we sent them to the Norgoth colony, but this involves the Groga.”
“The WHAT? How could they affect us now? They are either on their own home world or under the thumbs of the Insenium. What does that have to do with Earth?”
“Do you recall the Groga we had housed in that little facility in the U.S.? Well, the Council decided that now that the Groga home world is pacified and the Norgoth have been, um...discouraged from bothering them ever again, the Alliance decided it was time to wake the Groga held in the facility who have been sleeping like the little beauties they are, attended by competent medical personnel.
As part of that process, they were transferred to Alliance Headquarters by some helpful Daringi before bringing them back to consciousness. Several Groga leaders were on hand to greet them as they were awakened. They explained the current situation and offered them a choice, either return to the service of the Insenium or retire to the Groga home world.
Without exception, they all chose to go home. One of them, however, the Groga-ha of the forces in the swamp, cried out as the Daringi entered the infirmary: ‘Please STOP! You must find it! It will destroy them!’
When asked to explain what he meant by that, he told them that the reason they were in that swamp was to monitor something (he didn’t know what) that had been placed on the moon of Earth. He told them it was set on a timer to go off and he was to monitor Earth communications to be sure they didn’t launch another moon exploration venture before that happened. If they had, it was his job to communicate to the Brazil contingency to notify the Fleistians, so the Fleistians could notify the Insenium.
It turns out that the device that caused the power blackouts on Earth was planted there by the Insenium as far back as 3 years ago. However, by the time the timer went off and the thing created the blackout, they were focused elsewhere. The blackout was to have preceded a full on invasion by the Insenium.”
Lova sat there, her eyes wide, obviously dumbfounded. Then she straightened and went straight to the core of it.
“What about the main Insenium planet? How long before we can mount an assault on Gall himself?”
“When all the teams have been debriefed and intel collected from the various raids, we will plan that assault with the entire force. However, we have been getting some rather confusing reports from the Mookookie spies among them. It appears that something odd is happening on the planet that the Mookookie aren’t quite sure how to describe; something about spaces being torn and bad guys blowing up. It almost sounds like a civil war of some sort.”
“And so, we wait.”
With that, Jenny disconnected, and the crystal pool went blank, reflecting only the garden foliage and the violet blue sky above her and Miriha.
Miriha had composed herself. She held out both hands to Jenny.
“We have much to be grateful for in all of this. I would take time now to celebrate, but there is one more thing you need to see. This will be uncomfortable for you, but it is important. We will do this a little differently. We are going to do something we never do without permission. In this case, however, permission would be a moot point. Do you trust me?”
Jenny was taken aback. Trust her?
“Of course, I trust you, Miriha. You have never lied to me nor would you lead me astray.”
“We are going to enter someone’s mind. We will have no power to do anything but experience what they are experiencing. We will be able to hear their thoughts and feel what they feel. We cannot communicate, and we cannot influence them in any way. A choice is about to be made and it is vital that what happens next be entirely by that individual’s choice. Do you understand?”
“Not entirely, but I do trust you, Miriha. Let’s do this.”
Suddenly what she was seeing in the pool wasn’t through her own eyes, as usual, but this time she could hear the thoughts of...
Chapter 42: The Cost of Redemption
Sam stood in a line of servants. The chatelaine of the fortress was a tall, stout, stern woman; her hair wound around her square face in a thick braid, her clothing grey and simple as were all clothing worn in the Great Insenium Empire. This didn’t really bother Sam much, as she had grown up with monotone clothing, but at least there had been some actual style to her personal wardrobe.
But today she wasn’t Sam. She was Kinney, a servant of the court. Her long mousy hair was knotted at the nape of her neck and her face was plain. She was built like all Norgoth, solid and strong. She had managed to work her way up in the ranks of the servants very quickly by showing diligence and alacrity and going out of her way to be especially helpful. She knew how servants were supposed to behave, she had plenty of her own...she USED to have plenty of her own, at any rate. She had simply pictured in her mind the chief of her family’s servants and went to work to be that person.
This little assembly happened daily as the chatelaine made the assignments for the day; mostly it was pretty routine. She inspected each servant like a general with her troops. Invisible specks of lint were flicked away, and collars were tweaked. When she was satisfied, or at least as satisfied as she ever got, she stood before them, calling their names and issuing their assignments.
When she got to Sam, she gave a nod of approval...a rare thing. “Kinney, you have been promoted to the inner court. You will be serving Overlord Gall and his staff. You will report to Sir Nanion. You may leave.”
At last! This was the assignment she had been working for. She had done so many distasteful and demeaning chores without a murmur, executing each command with exactness. She had bowed and scraped and kowtowed with an outward appearance of humility and obedience.
However, she knew that this assignment was not considered a reward for excellence. It was a test and a dangerous one. Gall had a tendency to go through servants at an alarming rate; alarming because any servants that didn’t meet his approval were disintegrated.
