Fall of shadows, p.14
Fall of Shadows, page 14
part #7 of Steven Gordon Series
Steven thought it over, ‘Maybe, kinda. Anyway, how goes the war?’
‘Stalled. We reached the Albany home system and have hit a brick wall. We are trying to destroy the moon that they use to build their fleets.’
‘I have seen pictures of that. How can I help?’
‘Did we deliver that chunk of rock to the Evolka yet?’
‘Wait.’ He listened to Babes for a second. ‘We sure did. About three weeks ago.’
‘We did retrieve the rockets?’
‘Of course. They should be on their way home. Why?’
‘I want to get my hands on them.’
‘What for?’
‘One of the Modloch officers here reckons it would take something travelling at light speed to penetrate the shields of that base. I want to try firing one at it.’
Steven visibly paled, ‘You can’t do that Charlie!’
‘How no!’
‘You could obliterate the whole solar system!’
‘We are going to run simulations Stevie. No one has any intention of destroying an entire solar system. In fact, we need some sizable chunks of it to toss at the Albany home world.’
‘No, absolutely not. I will have no part in this. I’m sorry Charlie. You can’t have the rockets.’
‘Can’t we discuss it, can you discuss it with the experts here?’
‘No Charlie, I’m sorry.’
‘Alright, I will go give Rannalld the bad news. See you later.’
Steven sat back with a big sigh when the screen went blank.
‘Can you believe that?’
Komoru kissed him on the forehead. ‘I need to go freshen up. Catch you in a short while.’
‘Alright.’
Komoru went straight through her apartment and onto Ico. She retired to her personal quarters. She had already sent a text to Charlie through Ico. She received a reply.
‘Let me know when you are alone, I will call you on a secure line.’
Komoru stepped straight into a shower and dressed in a silk dressing gown when she came out. She cut communications with Babes, and sent a text to Charlie.
Across the other side of the galaxy, Rannalld came in to check on how Charlie was getting on.
‘What is happening brother?’
Charlie shook his head, ‘Steven said no. He thinks it will wipe out the whole solar system.’
‘That isn’t good.’
‘I have had a signal from Komoru, she wants to talk.’
‘His mate?’
‘Aye.’
‘What can she do?’
‘You don’t know her Rannalld. It could be that she wants to make a deal with me.’
‘What will it cost us?’
‘It will cost you nothing, but it may cost me more than I want to pay.’
Rannalld thought it over, ‘She will give us the rockets?’
‘More than likely.’
‘Darrick warned me about her once. Told me never to underestimate her.’
‘You are about to find out why.’
‘Do you need privacy for this call?’
‘Yes please.’
‘Let me know how it turns out.’
‘I will.’
It wasn’t too long before he received a message and he put through the call.
Her face appeared on screen, she bowed a little, ‘Good evening Charlie.’
‘Midday here. How are you?’
‘Fine thank you. Let us get to business. You want the rockets. I can get them to you. You know what I want in return.’
‘You have miscalculated Komoru, I don’t give a damn. The Modloch are the ones fighting this war, they will just build their own eventually.’
‘But giving you the rockets will expedite the war, correct?’
‘Of course.’
Komoru’s eyes closed, ‘My therapist told me that to repair relations with you, I would need to compromise. I am ready to compromise.’ She stood up and the robe fell to her feet. She turned slowly. Her eyes opened. ‘As you can see, I took your advice.’
Charlie almost fell out of his chair. He took a deep breath, ‘I think your therapist meant to find common ground. Compromise by giving each other a little wiggle room, forgiving each other’s past transgressions Komoru, not compromise yourself.’
‘Oh!’
‘Please huh!’
She swiftly pulled the gown back on, ‘I don’t know what to say.’
‘You are an idiot.’
‘I’m an idiot.’
Charlie shook his head, ‘Never mind. You know I have recorded all of that and can show it to Steven at any time. This is what is referred to as leverage Komoru. As I now have leverage, I feel that I trust you now not to reveal to anyone what happened to me on my leave.’
Komoru grasped her gown tighter, her own embarrassment forgotten. She sat and listened as Charlie told her everything. It left her stunned.
A thousand different thoughts seemed to cascade through her mind.
‘Was it really that bad?’
‘Of course it was bad, it was horrific, disgusting, the thought of it makes my guts churn. I was barely able to keep food down for a week.’
‘You managed though.’ She knew she had made a huge mistake the moment the words were out of her mouth.
‘To manage, I had to turn my hormone levels up to a point that they almost drove me insane. To a point where I had to, whether I wanted to or not.’ He leaned forward, ‘Is it just because I am a guy? Why is it that’s the first thing that comes into a woman’s mind? He has a dick, of course he wanted to do it, wouldn’t have managed it otherwise. What is wrong with you! If the Modloch Emperor suddenly decided you were the perfect vessel for his next child and blackmailed you into having sex with him, many times a day until you were impregnated, what would you call that?’
She took a deep breath, ‘Rape of course. I am sorry.’
‘The day I took you by the throat, I suppose you want to know what that was about?’
‘Yes.’
‘That was the day she sent me one of those wee videos. The day she told the galaxy she was pregnant. There it was, a video of my first child, a foetus. At that size it even looks Human. My first child, a son, in the womb of a bloody alien. A son I will never see, never touch, and would never want to anyway.’
‘Oh Charlie! I am so sorry…’ tears began to stream down her face. ‘No wonder you were angry. I can’t imagine what you have been going through.’
Charlie calmed down a little at the sight of her tears.
‘Hey, you want to hear the best bit?’
She dried a tear, ‘What?’
‘She was so loved up, she wanted me to marry her and become king of the Gisha race.’
‘No!’
‘Afraid so. I politely declined.’
‘Do you think she will come back?’
‘No need to. She fertilised a dozen eggs. Three had the gene she was looking for. The best of them she chose for her first. The others are frozen. She is planning on having two sons with two daughters in between. They aren’t to have the gene, only the oldest son.’
‘How did they find the gene?’
‘Wasn’t hard. They had hair samples from all of you lot when you were staying there.’
‘Are you saying they took hair samples from us and mapped the Human genome?’
‘That’s exactly what they did. They also manipulated the child’s DNA to make sure it looked Gisha and not part Human.’
‘So no one will know.’
‘Exactly.’
‘I won’t tell anyone Charlie, I promise. I will also have those rockets redirected to you. In fact, they are at the Modloch city ship right now. They have been stored there. The freighter was required for something else. It is supposed to do a drop off and pick them up again in a few weeks. Could you arrange to have them picked up? I will send permission.’
‘I think I can do that.’
‘Charlie?’
‘Aye.’
‘Don’t blow up the whole solar system.’
‘If we do that, then the whole Federation will go to war with the Modloch Empire. We aren’t planning on it.’
‘Alright. Let’s get it arranged.’
‘I’m on it.’
Komoru shut off the device then flopped back. She covered her face with her hands, squealed loudly and drummed her heels.
‘Are you alright my heart? Steven wants to know what you are doing.’
‘Tell him I’m not feeling too well now. I want to be alone.’
‘Yes my heart.’ There was a slight delay. ‘He says get well soon, will see you in the morning.’
‘Thank you.’
‘Are you embarrassed by what you did?’
‘Of course I am. I feel so humiliated.’
‘You are the architect of your own embarrassment my heart.’
‘I know, but it isn’t like he has never seen me naked before. At least this time he never made any derogatory remarks. Still, that was harder to do than I thought it would be.’
‘Are you happy now you know what happened to him?’
‘Happy and sad Ico. I put him through a lot. I was so stupid.’
‘How can anyone who is as intelligent as yourself make so many simple mistakes when it comes to relationships my heart?’
Komoru thought it over. ‘This is the first time I have ever had to deal with situations like this Ico. I had a very sheltered upbringing. I never had any real friends until I came here. I am still trying to find my way around all these complicated relationships.’
‘That can be a hindrance to social development my heart. I understand better now.’
‘We need to make arrangements to hand over those rockets to the Modloch.’
‘Yes my heart. I presume you do not want our mates to discover this?’
‘Of course not Ico. Send all the details to Charlie.’
‘Yes my heart.’
Across the other side of the galaxy, Charlie was giving the news to Rannalld.
‘She has bigger balls than her mate,’ was his conclusion. ‘Are you sure she will go along with this?’
‘Positive. She did ask us not to wipe out the whole solar system though.’
‘The consequences would be disastrous, you know that?’
‘Of course.’
‘I really would like to see what would happen if we hit something with a rocket at faster than light speed though.’
‘Wouldn’t that be something!’ Their stupid grins turned to laughter.
Chapter 32
Tension rippled around the command centre. It had taken a couple of weeks for the rockets to arrive. Komoru had stuck to her word. There was a splash of light against the moon’s shields. The telemetry began to come in.
A young officer read out the results. ‘The rocket punched through the first two shields and was destroyed when it hit the third.’
Rannalld nodded to the officer, ‘Proceed.’
The command centre wasn’t only filled with officers, it was also filled with scientists. When Darrick realised what they were up to, he had swiftly put safety measures in place to make sure they didn’t wipe out the whole solar system. The scientists took ten minutes to decide what speed to launch the next one at. The tension began to mount again. The second rocket was fired. Again the rocket splashed against the third shield.
This time there was a growl of impatience in Rannalld’s voice.
‘We only have another six rockets.’
The lead scientist turned and bowed low, ‘Please don’t worry your Royal Highness. I predict this one will impact the moon’s surface. We will be able to measure the damage done and work out just the exact speed required to convert the mass of the rocket into a nice big explosion for you.’
‘Proceed.’
True to his word, the third rocket hit the moon’s surface. The scientists were very pleased with themselves. There was a lot of self-admiration going on in that corner of the command centre. The soldiers passed pained looks between each other. Rannalld had to cough quite loudly before they got on with the task in hand.
The fourth rocket hit the moon and went straight through the other side, without it seeming to do much damage. A streak of light appeared and lasted for a few seconds.
Rannalld eye-balled the lead scientist. ‘I am going to presume that streak of light that just passed through this whole solar system was the rocket breaking up.’
‘Ah! Yes sir. We require it to hit something more solid. It seemed to pass straight through a more hollow part of the moon.’
‘Can you find a less hollow part of the moon?’
‘I will need to check.’
‘Then please do so.’
After studying the data the scientists eventually thought they had found a section of the moon that hadn’t been hollowed out. It took another hour to reposition the next rocket. By now they were being bombarded by calls from the Albany, begging them to cease what they were doing and that they ready to talk terms. Rannalld ignored them. Only a direct order from the Emperor would stay his hand.
An operator slid a tablet in front of his eyes. Rannalld frowned heavily.
‘Scientists, you have approximately two minutes to fire that rocket, or you are heading out the nearest airlock.’
The lead scientist smiled, ‘On your word of command sir.’
‘Now! Fire it!’
‘Launching.’
Rannalld typed rapidly onto the pad and handed it back. ‘Send a message to all ships. Prepare to move back one hundred thousand miles. Expect a Federation task force to appear within the next two minutes. They are calling for a cessation of hostilities. We will comply with their wishes. Start falling back by divisions immediately, by order of division. The command element shall remain behind.’
He was so busy he almost missed it. The moon seemed to bloom for a second. Then it disintegrated.
‘Put out a general warning to all traffic in the area, say that the moon has exploded and to keep as far away from it as possible. Relay that to the incoming Federation fleet. Tell the Captain to get us out of here, but launch probes to view the expansion of that moon.’
Seconds after the probes were launched they jumped out of harm’s way. The first wave of Federation ships appeared right in the way of debris from the exploding moon. Three didn’t escape in time, disintegrating as they were caught in the path. Rannalld fought hard to hide a smile. Just after they reached their rendezvous point, a message came from the Emperor to cease all hostilities. Rannalld talked to him on a secure line. He roared with laughter to hear the fate of some of the Federation forces.
As debris from the moon expanded, defences on the Albany home-world went to high alert. It took a few hours for the first debris to reach their planet. In outer space, the Federation forces had regrouped and were now attacking the larger chunks of debris. There was so much of it they couldn’t hope to stop it all. There wasn’t a single piece that could cause an extinction level event, but collectively the falling debris almost did. Hundreds of thousands of Albany died during the event; millions more would perish in the following months. Within the galaxy, the Albany were no longer a force or a race to be reckoned with.
Chapter 33
Darrick found himself up in front of the supreme council. The political fallout was still vibrating throughout the Federation. It had been centuries since a Federation member had so completely and utterly destroyed another Federation member’s home world, not to mention their whole support system. He had legally managed to cause catastrophic destruction on the Albany home world. The Albany were now in danger of being unable to fulfil their obligations to the Federation. If they lost Federation status, they would be in danger of becoming extinct.
Darrick scowled fiercely at the gathered members.
‘I am here, you called. Now what do you want?’
Every member shrank inside at his tone. They may have held the ultimate power; however the effectiveness of the Modloch campaign had shaken them all to the core.
The presiding member spoke first.
‘Emperor, we wish to discuss your recent war with the Albany: what brought it on, and its implications.’
‘You all know damn well what brought it on. If you don’t, you must be a bunch of imbeciles. Three direct attacks on my Royal household by the Albany is what brought it on. A direct attack by an assassin on my children, then the abduction of the Lady Mya and the attempted abduction of my brother Lord Noch Man Drich.’
The presiding member held up a placating hand, ‘Please do not get upset Emperor Darrick. We are merely establishing the facts.’
‘The fact is that this little campaign has changed the balance of power within the Federation, and you lot are all shitting yourself that I will try some kind of takeover. Admit it. Go on, grow a pair. Admit it.’
‘Of course we are worried. The Haspsopot, the Catataracs and now the Albany. Three Federation members all reduced to servitude at your will, their forces almost completely gone, and now one race almost wiped out.’
‘I did not start this. They drew first blood. The Catataracs and Albany conspired together to kill my family. The Haspsopot curried their help to attack my Empire once they had fought the Ambatta. I had every damn right. As for the Albany home world, that was collateral damage.’
‘Deliberate collateral damage.’
‘So what! I did nothing illegal, nor did any of my forces. We did not aim anything at the Albany home world, it all happened naturally. That moon was a genuine military target, and you know it.’
‘We asked you to stop.’
‘I did. The moment you asked, I sent out the order. The moment my Grand Commander received it, he withdrew. Where is your problem?’
‘We sent a signal to your Grand Commander to withdraw. If he had done so then, this catastrophe would never have happened.’
‘You have no damn right to order my Grand Commander to do anything, only I have that power.’
‘Oh enough! Please!’ Queen Wiola Maleck sat back, heavy in pregnancy, trying to get more comfortable.
Darrick smirked at her, ‘Hi Wiola, I see you finally managed to get yourself Royally stuffed.’
‘Stalled. We reached the Albany home system and have hit a brick wall. We are trying to destroy the moon that they use to build their fleets.’
‘I have seen pictures of that. How can I help?’
‘Did we deliver that chunk of rock to the Evolka yet?’
‘Wait.’ He listened to Babes for a second. ‘We sure did. About three weeks ago.’
‘We did retrieve the rockets?’
‘Of course. They should be on their way home. Why?’
‘I want to get my hands on them.’
‘What for?’
‘One of the Modloch officers here reckons it would take something travelling at light speed to penetrate the shields of that base. I want to try firing one at it.’
Steven visibly paled, ‘You can’t do that Charlie!’
‘How no!’
‘You could obliterate the whole solar system!’
‘We are going to run simulations Stevie. No one has any intention of destroying an entire solar system. In fact, we need some sizable chunks of it to toss at the Albany home world.’
‘No, absolutely not. I will have no part in this. I’m sorry Charlie. You can’t have the rockets.’
‘Can’t we discuss it, can you discuss it with the experts here?’
‘No Charlie, I’m sorry.’
‘Alright, I will go give Rannalld the bad news. See you later.’
Steven sat back with a big sigh when the screen went blank.
‘Can you believe that?’
Komoru kissed him on the forehead. ‘I need to go freshen up. Catch you in a short while.’
‘Alright.’
Komoru went straight through her apartment and onto Ico. She retired to her personal quarters. She had already sent a text to Charlie through Ico. She received a reply.
‘Let me know when you are alone, I will call you on a secure line.’
Komoru stepped straight into a shower and dressed in a silk dressing gown when she came out. She cut communications with Babes, and sent a text to Charlie.
Across the other side of the galaxy, Rannalld came in to check on how Charlie was getting on.
‘What is happening brother?’
Charlie shook his head, ‘Steven said no. He thinks it will wipe out the whole solar system.’
‘That isn’t good.’
‘I have had a signal from Komoru, she wants to talk.’
‘His mate?’
‘Aye.’
‘What can she do?’
‘You don’t know her Rannalld. It could be that she wants to make a deal with me.’
‘What will it cost us?’
‘It will cost you nothing, but it may cost me more than I want to pay.’
Rannalld thought it over, ‘She will give us the rockets?’
‘More than likely.’
‘Darrick warned me about her once. Told me never to underestimate her.’
‘You are about to find out why.’
‘Do you need privacy for this call?’
‘Yes please.’
‘Let me know how it turns out.’
‘I will.’
It wasn’t too long before he received a message and he put through the call.
Her face appeared on screen, she bowed a little, ‘Good evening Charlie.’
‘Midday here. How are you?’
‘Fine thank you. Let us get to business. You want the rockets. I can get them to you. You know what I want in return.’
‘You have miscalculated Komoru, I don’t give a damn. The Modloch are the ones fighting this war, they will just build their own eventually.’
‘But giving you the rockets will expedite the war, correct?’
‘Of course.’
Komoru’s eyes closed, ‘My therapist told me that to repair relations with you, I would need to compromise. I am ready to compromise.’ She stood up and the robe fell to her feet. She turned slowly. Her eyes opened. ‘As you can see, I took your advice.’
Charlie almost fell out of his chair. He took a deep breath, ‘I think your therapist meant to find common ground. Compromise by giving each other a little wiggle room, forgiving each other’s past transgressions Komoru, not compromise yourself.’
‘Oh!’
‘Please huh!’
She swiftly pulled the gown back on, ‘I don’t know what to say.’
‘You are an idiot.’
‘I’m an idiot.’
Charlie shook his head, ‘Never mind. You know I have recorded all of that and can show it to Steven at any time. This is what is referred to as leverage Komoru. As I now have leverage, I feel that I trust you now not to reveal to anyone what happened to me on my leave.’
Komoru grasped her gown tighter, her own embarrassment forgotten. She sat and listened as Charlie told her everything. It left her stunned.
A thousand different thoughts seemed to cascade through her mind.
‘Was it really that bad?’
‘Of course it was bad, it was horrific, disgusting, the thought of it makes my guts churn. I was barely able to keep food down for a week.’
‘You managed though.’ She knew she had made a huge mistake the moment the words were out of her mouth.
‘To manage, I had to turn my hormone levels up to a point that they almost drove me insane. To a point where I had to, whether I wanted to or not.’ He leaned forward, ‘Is it just because I am a guy? Why is it that’s the first thing that comes into a woman’s mind? He has a dick, of course he wanted to do it, wouldn’t have managed it otherwise. What is wrong with you! If the Modloch Emperor suddenly decided you were the perfect vessel for his next child and blackmailed you into having sex with him, many times a day until you were impregnated, what would you call that?’
She took a deep breath, ‘Rape of course. I am sorry.’
‘The day I took you by the throat, I suppose you want to know what that was about?’
‘Yes.’
‘That was the day she sent me one of those wee videos. The day she told the galaxy she was pregnant. There it was, a video of my first child, a foetus. At that size it even looks Human. My first child, a son, in the womb of a bloody alien. A son I will never see, never touch, and would never want to anyway.’
‘Oh Charlie! I am so sorry…’ tears began to stream down her face. ‘No wonder you were angry. I can’t imagine what you have been going through.’
Charlie calmed down a little at the sight of her tears.
‘Hey, you want to hear the best bit?’
She dried a tear, ‘What?’
‘She was so loved up, she wanted me to marry her and become king of the Gisha race.’
‘No!’
‘Afraid so. I politely declined.’
‘Do you think she will come back?’
‘No need to. She fertilised a dozen eggs. Three had the gene she was looking for. The best of them she chose for her first. The others are frozen. She is planning on having two sons with two daughters in between. They aren’t to have the gene, only the oldest son.’
‘How did they find the gene?’
‘Wasn’t hard. They had hair samples from all of you lot when you were staying there.’
‘Are you saying they took hair samples from us and mapped the Human genome?’
‘That’s exactly what they did. They also manipulated the child’s DNA to make sure it looked Gisha and not part Human.’
‘So no one will know.’
‘Exactly.’
‘I won’t tell anyone Charlie, I promise. I will also have those rockets redirected to you. In fact, they are at the Modloch city ship right now. They have been stored there. The freighter was required for something else. It is supposed to do a drop off and pick them up again in a few weeks. Could you arrange to have them picked up? I will send permission.’
‘I think I can do that.’
‘Charlie?’
‘Aye.’
‘Don’t blow up the whole solar system.’
‘If we do that, then the whole Federation will go to war with the Modloch Empire. We aren’t planning on it.’
‘Alright. Let’s get it arranged.’
‘I’m on it.’
Komoru shut off the device then flopped back. She covered her face with her hands, squealed loudly and drummed her heels.
‘Are you alright my heart? Steven wants to know what you are doing.’
‘Tell him I’m not feeling too well now. I want to be alone.’
‘Yes my heart.’ There was a slight delay. ‘He says get well soon, will see you in the morning.’
‘Thank you.’
‘Are you embarrassed by what you did?’
‘Of course I am. I feel so humiliated.’
‘You are the architect of your own embarrassment my heart.’
‘I know, but it isn’t like he has never seen me naked before. At least this time he never made any derogatory remarks. Still, that was harder to do than I thought it would be.’
‘Are you happy now you know what happened to him?’
‘Happy and sad Ico. I put him through a lot. I was so stupid.’
‘How can anyone who is as intelligent as yourself make so many simple mistakes when it comes to relationships my heart?’
Komoru thought it over. ‘This is the first time I have ever had to deal with situations like this Ico. I had a very sheltered upbringing. I never had any real friends until I came here. I am still trying to find my way around all these complicated relationships.’
‘That can be a hindrance to social development my heart. I understand better now.’
‘We need to make arrangements to hand over those rockets to the Modloch.’
‘Yes my heart. I presume you do not want our mates to discover this?’
‘Of course not Ico. Send all the details to Charlie.’
‘Yes my heart.’
Across the other side of the galaxy, Charlie was giving the news to Rannalld.
‘She has bigger balls than her mate,’ was his conclusion. ‘Are you sure she will go along with this?’
‘Positive. She did ask us not to wipe out the whole solar system though.’
‘The consequences would be disastrous, you know that?’
‘Of course.’
‘I really would like to see what would happen if we hit something with a rocket at faster than light speed though.’
‘Wouldn’t that be something!’ Their stupid grins turned to laughter.
Chapter 32
Tension rippled around the command centre. It had taken a couple of weeks for the rockets to arrive. Komoru had stuck to her word. There was a splash of light against the moon’s shields. The telemetry began to come in.
A young officer read out the results. ‘The rocket punched through the first two shields and was destroyed when it hit the third.’
Rannalld nodded to the officer, ‘Proceed.’
The command centre wasn’t only filled with officers, it was also filled with scientists. When Darrick realised what they were up to, he had swiftly put safety measures in place to make sure they didn’t wipe out the whole solar system. The scientists took ten minutes to decide what speed to launch the next one at. The tension began to mount again. The second rocket was fired. Again the rocket splashed against the third shield.
This time there was a growl of impatience in Rannalld’s voice.
‘We only have another six rockets.’
The lead scientist turned and bowed low, ‘Please don’t worry your Royal Highness. I predict this one will impact the moon’s surface. We will be able to measure the damage done and work out just the exact speed required to convert the mass of the rocket into a nice big explosion for you.’
‘Proceed.’
True to his word, the third rocket hit the moon’s surface. The scientists were very pleased with themselves. There was a lot of self-admiration going on in that corner of the command centre. The soldiers passed pained looks between each other. Rannalld had to cough quite loudly before they got on with the task in hand.
The fourth rocket hit the moon and went straight through the other side, without it seeming to do much damage. A streak of light appeared and lasted for a few seconds.
Rannalld eye-balled the lead scientist. ‘I am going to presume that streak of light that just passed through this whole solar system was the rocket breaking up.’
‘Ah! Yes sir. We require it to hit something more solid. It seemed to pass straight through a more hollow part of the moon.’
‘Can you find a less hollow part of the moon?’
‘I will need to check.’
‘Then please do so.’
After studying the data the scientists eventually thought they had found a section of the moon that hadn’t been hollowed out. It took another hour to reposition the next rocket. By now they were being bombarded by calls from the Albany, begging them to cease what they were doing and that they ready to talk terms. Rannalld ignored them. Only a direct order from the Emperor would stay his hand.
An operator slid a tablet in front of his eyes. Rannalld frowned heavily.
‘Scientists, you have approximately two minutes to fire that rocket, or you are heading out the nearest airlock.’
The lead scientist smiled, ‘On your word of command sir.’
‘Now! Fire it!’
‘Launching.’
Rannalld typed rapidly onto the pad and handed it back. ‘Send a message to all ships. Prepare to move back one hundred thousand miles. Expect a Federation task force to appear within the next two minutes. They are calling for a cessation of hostilities. We will comply with their wishes. Start falling back by divisions immediately, by order of division. The command element shall remain behind.’
He was so busy he almost missed it. The moon seemed to bloom for a second. Then it disintegrated.
‘Put out a general warning to all traffic in the area, say that the moon has exploded and to keep as far away from it as possible. Relay that to the incoming Federation fleet. Tell the Captain to get us out of here, but launch probes to view the expansion of that moon.’
Seconds after the probes were launched they jumped out of harm’s way. The first wave of Federation ships appeared right in the way of debris from the exploding moon. Three didn’t escape in time, disintegrating as they were caught in the path. Rannalld fought hard to hide a smile. Just after they reached their rendezvous point, a message came from the Emperor to cease all hostilities. Rannalld talked to him on a secure line. He roared with laughter to hear the fate of some of the Federation forces.
As debris from the moon expanded, defences on the Albany home-world went to high alert. It took a few hours for the first debris to reach their planet. In outer space, the Federation forces had regrouped and were now attacking the larger chunks of debris. There was so much of it they couldn’t hope to stop it all. There wasn’t a single piece that could cause an extinction level event, but collectively the falling debris almost did. Hundreds of thousands of Albany died during the event; millions more would perish in the following months. Within the galaxy, the Albany were no longer a force or a race to be reckoned with.
Chapter 33
Darrick found himself up in front of the supreme council. The political fallout was still vibrating throughout the Federation. It had been centuries since a Federation member had so completely and utterly destroyed another Federation member’s home world, not to mention their whole support system. He had legally managed to cause catastrophic destruction on the Albany home world. The Albany were now in danger of being unable to fulfil their obligations to the Federation. If they lost Federation status, they would be in danger of becoming extinct.
Darrick scowled fiercely at the gathered members.
‘I am here, you called. Now what do you want?’
Every member shrank inside at his tone. They may have held the ultimate power; however the effectiveness of the Modloch campaign had shaken them all to the core.
The presiding member spoke first.
‘Emperor, we wish to discuss your recent war with the Albany: what brought it on, and its implications.’
‘You all know damn well what brought it on. If you don’t, you must be a bunch of imbeciles. Three direct attacks on my Royal household by the Albany is what brought it on. A direct attack by an assassin on my children, then the abduction of the Lady Mya and the attempted abduction of my brother Lord Noch Man Drich.’
The presiding member held up a placating hand, ‘Please do not get upset Emperor Darrick. We are merely establishing the facts.’
‘The fact is that this little campaign has changed the balance of power within the Federation, and you lot are all shitting yourself that I will try some kind of takeover. Admit it. Go on, grow a pair. Admit it.’
‘Of course we are worried. The Haspsopot, the Catataracs and now the Albany. Three Federation members all reduced to servitude at your will, their forces almost completely gone, and now one race almost wiped out.’
‘I did not start this. They drew first blood. The Catataracs and Albany conspired together to kill my family. The Haspsopot curried their help to attack my Empire once they had fought the Ambatta. I had every damn right. As for the Albany home world, that was collateral damage.’
‘Deliberate collateral damage.’
‘So what! I did nothing illegal, nor did any of my forces. We did not aim anything at the Albany home world, it all happened naturally. That moon was a genuine military target, and you know it.’
‘We asked you to stop.’
‘I did. The moment you asked, I sent out the order. The moment my Grand Commander received it, he withdrew. Where is your problem?’
‘We sent a signal to your Grand Commander to withdraw. If he had done so then, this catastrophe would never have happened.’
‘You have no damn right to order my Grand Commander to do anything, only I have that power.’
‘Oh enough! Please!’ Queen Wiola Maleck sat back, heavy in pregnancy, trying to get more comfortable.
Darrick smirked at her, ‘Hi Wiola, I see you finally managed to get yourself Royally stuffed.’
