The Dark Between The Stars

ONE HUNDRED AND ONE
KING PETER

Unannounced, the Kutuzov and part of the CDF battle group careened into the Theroc system so swiftly that the verdani battleships prepared to defend against an attack.

General Keah broadcast on the emergency frequency, requesting an immediate meeting with King Peter. “This can’t wait, Sire. It seems we’re at war, and we didn’t even know it. Wait until you see these images.”

CDF warships filled the skies above the worldforest, many of them battered and damaged. Her flagship Juggernaut and fifteen Manta cruisers had managed to limp back from the disastrous confrontation at Plumas that should have been a simple war game with the Solar Navy.

King Peter was deeply disturbed to see the wounded battle group. “General, what happened to the rest of your ships?”

On the screen, Keah wiped a hand across her brow. “I sent many of them directly to Earth for full refit and repairs, Sire. Admirals Handies, Harvard, and Haroun escorted the ships to the LOC, but I won’t lie to you—we lost a hell of a lot of ships in that mess.”

His brow furrowed. “We’ll need your report, General, as soon as you can get down here.”

Queen Estarra contacted governmental staff throughout the fungus-reef complex, calling Roamer clan representatives, Confederation delegates, and any planetary ambassadors who happened to be on Theroc. Inside the throne-room chamber, technical officers scurried to rig the image-relay screens, unrolling and applying them to the soft fungus walls. Everyone was still abuzz with questions when General Keah’s shuttle arrived. A Roamer man in a clean, but well-worn jumpsuit accompanied her: Ron Tamblyn, who had escaped from the Plumas water mines with nothing more than the clothes on his back.

Keah spoke without being introduced, without calling the meeting to order. “We were attacked, Sire. For the test exercises, I had three full battle groups, plus the Kutuzov—and we still barely made it out alive.” She shook her head as the techs powered up the relay screen. “Without Adar Zan’nh, I wouldn’t be making this report—you’d be wondering why you lost fifty of your best ships.”

The wallscreens displayed images of the attacking black robot ships, and Peter felt a chill to see them again. “Those are more black robots than you chased at Dhula.”

“Worse than that,” General Keah said. “The bugbots have allied themselves with the Shana Rei. Creatures of darkness straight out of Ildiran legend.” The dramatic images showed the boiling shadow cloud that opened up like a stain in empty space, disgorging first the robot ships and then enormous hexagonal cylinders.

Keah looked uncharacteristically agitated. “We didn’t know how to fight them. Our weapons did nothing.”

Estarra asked, “We understand that the Klikiss robots have a grudge against us, but we’ve never encountered the Shana Rei. How did we become their enemies?”

“I don’t have a molecule of an idea. One of the robots communicated with us, said that their combined goal was to exterminate all intelligent life, all vestiges of civilization.” The listeners in the room fell into a stunned silence. “In my opinion, your Majesties, that doesn’t leave much room for negotiation.” Keah switched to another file. “Watch these images of Plumas. The Shana Rei just crushed the whole ice moon!”

Ron Tamblyn stepped forward. “My clan lost everything—the Plumas water mines, our trading operations, fifteen tankers. We’re still counting the number of casualties.”

Sheri Sandoval, the Confederation’s representative from the Roamers, looked shell-shocked at the task before her. “How many survivors do you have, Mr. Tamblyn? Our ships can take you to Newstation.”

“That’s exactly where I want to go,” Tamblyn said. “I’ve got family there. My cousin Jess is at Academ.”

Peter said, “We’ll make sure your refugees get the help they need.”

Estarra sat straight in her ornate chair. “General Keah, we’ll want a full report on the damage to your ships and which weapons were most effective. How do we fight these things that have declared war on us?”

“In my professional assessment, Queen Estarra, our jazers and relativistic projectiles did squat. We destroyed quite a few bugbot ships, but no matter how evil the robots are, I believe the Shana Rei are far worse. They consider the robots nothing more than cannon fodder. Whenever our ships got close to those giant Shana Rei hexagon vessels, our systems started to malfunction and break down. Adar Zan’nh sent me information the Ildiran rememberers retrieved from their old historical records. Apparently, the Shana Rei are composed of entropy itself, chaos. Even physics doesn’t work right in their vicinity.”

The dour representative from the planet Ramah said, “Then what hope do we have of fighting them?”

A small smile curved the edges of Keah’s lips. “There is a bit of a silver lining. The Solar Navy found some ancient weapons designs and tested out their prototypes. Laser missiles and sun bombs—they both showed some promise. The Solar Navy will share the designs with us, and we’d better get them into production yesterday.” Keah crossed her arms.

King Peter rose from his chair, and Estarra stood beside him. “Now, more than ever before, the Ildiran Empire and the Confederation need to work together as allies. Prince Reynald is currently a guest in Mijistra, but it’s time that the Queen and I go there to meet with the Mage-Imperator. This is a crisis.” He glanced at Estarra. “We’ll depart for Ildira as soon as possible.”