The Dark Between The Stars

EIGHTY-NINE
GENERAL NALANI KEAH

Along with the Kutuzov, General Keah decided to bring three battle groups to the next round of exercises with the Ildiran Solar Navy. To lead them, she chose three of her Grid Admirals, specifically the ones most fond of their desks. She called those men the “Three H’s”—Admirals Handies, Harvard, and Haroun. She figured they needed the practice.

True, the Three H’s were skilled in the administrative complexities of the Confederation Defense Forces. Admiral Handies had made his mark managing the Grid 0 portion of the fleet, which encompassed Earth, the Lunar Orbital Complex, and the Mars military base; Haroun and Harvard, who managed Grids 6 and 11, respectively, were also adept at paperwork. While Keah wasn’t one to wax poetic about the glories of combat, she did need to pry the three admirals away from their offices and give them some real experience.

Adar Zan’nh had promised to share new information his people had uncovered about the legendary Shana Rei and the possibility of their reappearance. Keah was skeptical of scary stories about bogeymen that lived in the shadows, but she herself had seen the dark nebula that swallowed the fleeing black robot ships, and she had viewed the images of the blackness vomiting up from the clouds of Golgen. Something sure as hell was going on.

She and the Adar both saw the enormity of the potential threat, and the CDF and the Solar Navy were stepping up the intensity of their war games until they figured out what they were dealing with. Zan’nh was bringing an entire maniple of warliners this time—seven septas, or forty-nine ships.

It should be a good challenge.

Keah realized that standard space battle routines would be useless against an intangible enemy like that shadow cloud at Dhula. Nevertheless, the exercises would give her CDF personnel hands-on practice and would keep them on their toes.

She flew the Kutuzov out to the Plumas system for the exercises, though her role in this case was just to observe. The Three H’s had Juggernauts and Mantas, and would be responsible for their own movements. Keah was anxious to see how they interacted.

The CDF ships arrived early in the system, and not by accident. Even though these were scheduled war games, General Keah never took anything at face value. She trusted Adar Zan’nh for the most part, but she had been there at that terrible battlefield in Earth orbit twenty years ago. She had witnessed the astounding treachery when supposed allies had turned against the human military in their last stand. She didn’t intend to be fooled again—ever.

The CDF battle groups appeared over the frozen moon of Plumas, a water-refueling station and deep ice mines still run by the Roamer clan Tamblyn. Ron Tamblyn, the current manager of the water mines, was not overly pleased when informed that the CDF and Solar Navy would engage in complicated exercises in the vicinity. He complained that the activity would disrupt his usual business, until Keah reminded him that many of the participating ships would need to take on large loads of water—at full price. Mollified, the Roamers kept their heads down, remaining in the grotto beneath the Plumas ice sheets.

When all CDF ships were in position and waiting for the Solar Navy to arrive, Keah grew impatient. She suggested to the three Grid Admirals, “Why don’t you loosen up, run some flight patterns?”

“Good idea, General,” acknowledged Admiral Harvard, as if the thought had never occurred to him. The other two H’s joined in.

“But I thought we were running an exercise against the Ildirans, General,” said Admiral Haroun. “What sort of flight patterns do you want us to run?”

Keah sighed. If they got into a real space battle, Keah hoped she wouldn’t have to look over their shoulders and tell each one where to point the jazers and when to push the firing buttons. “The problem with the Solar Navy is that they’ve been too set in their ways, but now they’re trying to be more nimble and adaptable. You can do the same.”

The Three H’s directed their ships into separate groups, as if this were a formal military parade. Hoping to show these desk admirals how it was done, she sent out a fleet of her own Remoras. Maybe she’d pretend to launch a turncoat attack, just to rile them up.

Then a real threat intervened.

Out at the fringe of the system, her Remora patrols discovered a disturbance—an emptiness like a tear in space that began to spew out a thunderhead of dark dust. General Keah felt a chill when she saw the emerging shadow cloud: she had seen this before.

She sent an emergency signal to all ships. “No time for practice. This is real.” She ordered the Kutuzov’s systems to be powered up. “I am assuming control of the battle group. We head out to see what we can do against that shadow cloud.”

Admiral Handies transmitted back, “General, the Ildiran Solar Navy isn’t here yet. Shouldn’t we wait?”

“No, dammit!” When she and the Ildiran warliners had pursued the black robot vessels, that shadow cloud had taken them by surprise. As part of their preliminary training, she had required all the crews on every CDF vessel to review the briefings on that previous encounter. “I want to figure this out, but keep a good distance.”

The Juggernauts and Manta cruisers raced toward the edge of the system. The dark, shapeless mass looked like an amoeba made entirely of midnight. She kept her eyes open, studying it.

A message came over the comm from Ron Tamblyn at Plumas. “General Keah, what’s going on up there? Is this part of the simulation?”

“Better if you just stay where you are, Mr. Tamblyn. We have a problem.”

On the bridge, her green priest sat shivering next to his potted treeling. Nadd was always cold aboard the Kutuzov, and now he seemed nervous as well. “General, shall I inform the worldforest network what’s happening?”

“Go right ahead. But nothing’s actually happened—yet.”

As soon as she said the words, Keah knew she had spoken too soon. From within the folds of the ever-expanding black nebula, three gigantic shapes appeared, composed of a different, more solid type of darkness. A trio of long hexagonal cylinders thrust like blunted knives out of the dark nebula.

Then, like buckshot, dozens of smaller ships streaked out of the shadow cloud, accompanying the black hex cylinders. Keah immediately recognized the design of the smaller vessels. “Those are bugbot ships!”

Admiral Harvard transmitted from his Juggernaut. “General, should we send a liaison ship forward? Try to communicate with them and ask their intentions?”

The black robot ships roared toward the CDF ships in attack formations.

“No, Admiral Harvard, we will not. Shields on full, prepare to fire jazers.”

Her crew aboard the Kutuzov reacted more swiftly, since they had experienced this before. She could only imagine the confusion aboard the other three Juggernauts, and she hoped her Grid Admirals would learn and respond quickly. There wouldn’t be time for on-the-job training.

The black robot ships opened fire first, and Keah heard the impacts against her shields, saw the flares on the display screens. “Return fire, Mr. Patton! Hit them with everything, and then hit them again.”

“My pleasure, General,” said the weapons officer.

The order was transmitted across the battle group. Though out of practice, the other CDF warships unleashed such an enthusiastic flurry of jazers that dozens of shots hit the robot ships, destroying one by dumb luck. The angular vessels spun and reeled, changed course, and raced forward again at accelerations too intense for any biological form to survive.

“Can’t say if any of those are the same bugbot ships that escaped from Dhula, General, or if they’re fresh ones,” said Sensor Tech Saliba.

“We know what the bugbots are capable of. Best solution is to wipe them all out—just to be sure.”

“Trying to do just that, General,” said Patton.

Looking lethal, the huge hexagonal cylinders continued to glide out of the shadow cloud. The hex ships displayed no lights, windowports, engines, or apparent control systems—no vulnerabilities. The Kutuzov’s bridge screens flickered, her systems faltering.

“Shields are losing their integrity, General!” called Tactical Officer Voecks.

“Open fire on those hex things. That’s what’s causing the problem.”

Retargeting, the flagship Juggernaut launched an intense jazer volley, but the jacketed energy beams struck the obsidian cylinders and reflected harmlessly off the angular surfaces.

The Kutuzov’s bridge began to shake and rattle as more internal systems failed. Meanwhile the robot ships harassed the CDF vessels. One of Admiral Haroun’s Mantas accelerated toward the nearest hex ship, shooting repeated jazer blasts and a fusillade of railgun projectiles. But as it neared the black vessel, the Manta trembled, then began to tumble wildly. The Manta captain transmitted a distress signal. “We’ve lost control! All systems have gone haywire.”

The unfortunate Manta struck the nearest hexagonal cylinder. It crumpled, ricocheted off, and exploded. The fires and shock waves from ignited ekti chambers slammed against the black hull and were absorbed.

Keah seethed. “Now would be a good time for Adar Zan’nh to show up with his warliners.” She picked four Remora pilots and sent them an urgent message. “Head out of the system at top speed along the Ildiran inbound vector. Intercept the Solar Navy ships, inform them what’s happening—and tell them to haul ass. They’re probably planning some fancy arrival parade.”

Her green priest clutched his treeling and continued to report. As she listened to the tangled, overlapping transmissions from other ships, Keah heard an increasing edge of panic in the reports. Their weapons seemed to be having no effect whatsoever on the hex vessels.

“Keep firing as long as our systems hold out,” she told her crew. “Target the damned bugbot ships—at least we can blow them up.”

They fired additional rounds, but even the Kutuzov’s weapons began to fail. The targeting was misaligned, and numerous shots misfired. Two more black robot ships were destroyed, but Keah knew she didn’t have much time before her entire battle group fell apart.