Alabaster Noon Page 29

 

  Elizabeth snarled in frustration. Trushista was falling past the new arrivals, uncontrolled and trailing a rapidly dissipating cloud of debris. The deadly looking spear-shaped ships accelerated at more than twenty Gs toward New Era, sweeping the way clear of the ships in their path. She felt her stomach tighten. Where had Peepo come up with them?

 

  “How do I defeat them?”

 

  The Biruda ships didn’t bother destroying all the screening ships after wrecking Trushista, they just continued onward toward the dreadnought.

  “We are sorry, Admiral Galantrooka,” Elizabeth transmitted.

  “Do not be sorry, Commander Stacy,” the Bakulu admiral replied. “This is a disaster entirely of Peepo’s making. We seem to have underestimated her, even in the end. I was her chief admiral and knew nothing about these ships.” On the Tri-V, the dreadnought was rocked by explosions as the Biruda ships targeted it.

  “The enemy fleet is reforming and attacking ahead of the Biruda ships,” Evie said.

  “Egleesius to the front,” Elizabeth ordered. “Screening vessels fallback.”

  “Enemy has launched a wave of missiles,” TacCom reported.

  “Charge spinal mounts and stand by,” Elizabeth ordered. On the Tri-V, the missiles raced at the five Egleesius. “Wait for it…wait…Engage deflectors!”

  TacCom brought up the deflector shields developed by Sato. In the three days before the fleet left for Earth, the Geek Squad had added them to all five Egleesius-class battlecruisers. The missiles exploded on target, and their energy deflected away from the ships with very little power required.

  “I could get used to this,” Evie said.

  “Me, too,” Elizabeth agreed. “Advance at best speed. Inform the rest of the fleet to prepare to withdraw if we can’t damage the Biruda ships.”

  The mixed enemy fleet was obviously confused by the deflector shields, just as they had been when Sphinx employed them for the first time during the Battle of New Warsaw. They responded the same way, concentrating their fire on the deflector-equipped ships.

  “Power consumption is in line with established norms,” engineering reported.

  “Continue on course. Prepare to target the Biruda ships.” On the Tri-V, she watched the strange new ships devastating the dreadnought.

  “A ship just appeared out of nowhere!” SitCon reported. “It looks like a Steed-class, but it’s different!”

  Elizabeth used her pinplants to access the view and saw the ship between the Hussars and the Birudan ships. The ship looked different, with multiple bulges around its Egleesius-reminiscent cigar shape. As she watched, the ship accelerated and began to spin.

  * * * * *

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  CIC, Dusman Attack Cruiser Hippogriff, Approaching Earth

  “We’ve emerged on target.”

  “Good,” Sly said. “Verify targets?”

  “Confirmed, there are four Biruda Maester-class assault frigates.”

  “I told you,” Seldia said. “I saw this. It is why we have returned to the galaxy, and why Splunk did what she did.”

  “Enough,” Sly snapped. Seldia gave a little smile at the rear of the CIC. “We’re here because you’ve been in communication with our scouts on the Human ships, and they alerted us the Biruda were here.”

  “As I foresaw there would be,” Seldia said with same half-smile.

  “The Biruda have taken out most of the Bakulu ships and are advancing on the dreadnought,” the TacCom said, then he turned to look at Sly. “The Humans Egleesius are moving up and appear to have been equipped with deflectors.”

  “Interesting,” Sly said. “I thought that one cruiser was an experiment. It seems I was wrong.” He looked at the Tri-V and verified their course. “Let’s deal with the Biruda first. Spin up, prepare to launch the first Losc!”

  The CIC quickly flooded with suspension gel as the ship spun up and began to maneuver radically. Sensors picked up a meson attack, which missed. A moment later the first Losc was launched.

  The missile, made from one of the stolen Hussars’ Crown-class cruisers, was mostly engine and power plant. It accelerated at hundreds of Gs toward the four Biruda ships. One of them fired on it and hit. The meson penetrated the hull and exploded inside the solid-nickel iron nose of the missile, doing no damage.

  The Biruda ship tried to maneuver, but the Losc was mostly engine and skillfully piloted from the safety of Hippogriff. It hit the hull of the Biruda ship, shattering the molecularly hardened biological armor plates, as well as the magnetic bottle in the missile’s nose. Several grams of antimatter met the tons of solid metal in the missile’s nose and exploded with hundreds of megatons of force. The Biruda ship was obliterated.

  “Clean kill,” TacCom said.

  “Excellent, fire on the other three.”

  The remaining three Losc were cast free and accelerated away. A second later, the Biruda ships flashed as they activated their shunts and were gone.

  “I was hoping to get at least half of them.” Sly frowned. “Safe the Losc and clear the engagement field. Once again, we’ve given the Humans an opportunity; let’s see if they can exploit it.”

  CIC, EMS Shadowfax, Just Outside Earth Orbit

 

  “Holy shit,” Elizabeth exclaimed as the first Biruda ship was annihilated. Not exactly a ship’s commander sort of thing to say, of course. She’d been pretty pissed when she realized the Dusman had stolen one of her merc company’s battlecruisers, even if it had been temporarily out of operation. Then it showed up, arriving from hyperspace right in the middle of the fight like Pegasus was able to do. When it started launching cruiser-sized anti-matter missiles, which appeared immune to the meson weapons, her anger changed to amazement.

  The former Hippogriff began to dodge with the agility of a missile. How can it even be manned at those acceleration numbers? She knew the surviving Biruda ships must be firing at it and missing. Either that, or the former Hippogriff was invulnerable to meson weapons?

  Ghost corrected.

  “So that’s what those ship/missiles are?”

 

  “What would a high conversion rate yield?”

 

  Elizabeth mentally whistled. “Why so inefficient, then?”

 

  “So, they were expecting the Biruda, but didn’t have anything in their arsenal already prepared to deal with them?”

 

  Elizabeth was even more impressed. These must be the Dusman.

  “They’re firing three more of those missile/ships,” TacCom announced.

  “Those missile/ships used to be the Crown-class cruiser hulls which were incomplete,” sensor operators said. The Tri-V showed images of the ship/missiles with an overlay of a Crown-class cruiser. The lineage was obvious.

  “The Dusman really helped themselves, didn’t they?” Evie asked.

  Elizabeth nodded. History was full of stories of the Dusman, most of which people believed were anecdotal. After all, the last time the Dusman were active was 20,000 years ago. She wondered if these really were the storied race which participated in a galactic war before man learned to write. Watching the ship, she realized they had rebuilt it in days, and t
hey had given it the ability to tear apart ships which, only minutes before, had seemed invincible. This argued in favor of the stories’ veracity. The Dusman’s arrogance did as well.

  The three additional missile/ships rocketed away at hundreds of Gs of acceleration. Enhancements of the weapons’ launches clearly showed parts of the former cruisers’ hulls shearing away from the acceleration. The builders hadn’t wasted the time to cut away unnecessary components.

  Before the ship/missiles were halfway to their targets, the three surviving Biruda ships flashed out of existence in an unmistakable shunt-initiated hyperspace jump.

  “That was anticlimactic,” Evie said. “They just ran?”

 

  “For once we seem to agree.”

  “The Dusman are disengaging,” TacCom said.

  “You’d think they’d have more to offer,” Evie said.

  “Well, they got rid of the Biruda,” Elizabeth said and shrugged.

  “The enemy fleet is attempting to exploit the damage done by targeting the dreadnought.”

  “See what support we can give,” Elizabeth ordered. “This isn’t over yet.”

  * * *

  Merc Guild Detention Facility, Ubatuba, Brazil, Earth

  “There’s your distraction,” Buddha said over the radio.

  “It will suffice,” Splunk replied. “Shall we go?”

  “One question first,” Buddha said. Silence greeted him so he asked it. “Why didn’t you tell anyone you were a Dusman until now?”

  “I will tell you what, Buddha. If we survive this, I’ll tell you whatever you want.”

  “Deal,” Buddha said, and gestured. “You first.”

  The tiny powered armor suit took off with a hushed hiss of miniature jumpjets, followed immediately by four others.

  “Come on,” Buddha said to his squad, “let’s go!” He fired his jumpjets and the seven other members of his squad followed.

  They cleared the defensive perimeter in a second. The five miniature armored figures disabled the fence’s weapons with deadly pinpoint fire. A few of the turrets fired on them, and the Dusmans’ armor dodged with surprising speed.

  “Holy shit,” Corporal Solberg said. “If I hadn’t watched them build those suits from parts in just an hour, I’d never have believed it.”

  “Dude, they’re the Dusman,” Private Lynch said.

  “Yeah, but…”

  “Cut the chatter,” Buddha ordered. “Follow them. We have to stop that shuttle.” With some difficulty, they followed the five racing suits of armor.

  * * *

  “These Konar suck,” Ryft said as the five of them bounded into battle.

  “What do you expect?” Dante asked, firing his micro-lasers at the defenses. “We made them from Human tech.”

  “Why didn’t Sly bring any real ones with him?” Peanut asked.

  “Because he knew we might not live through this,” Dante said. “Besides, we don’t have any fitted for Humans. They’re all too damned big and have four arms.”

  Splunk dodged one of the slow perimeter defense lasers and took it out with her own micro-laser. The shuttle was only a hundred meters ahead. Her hushed jumpjets hissed as she set down and began to run. Jim was being rushed aboard. Entropy, we’re too late! The shuttle’s ramp was just visible on the far side as it began to retract.

  “Buddha,” she commed.

  “I see it,” he replied. The shuttles engines began to spin up. “We can’t stop it from taking off.”

  “Distract them for a minute?” she asked.

  “Go,” he said as a laser beam from the shuttle lashed out and bisected a jumping CASPer. It dropped lifeless to crash on the tarmac. Buddha cursed. “Make it count, Splunk!” Laser fire flashed around Buddha’s squad, and they dodged the powerful ship-based weapons as best they could.

  “We will,” she said, rebounding lightly in the armor. I’m coming Jim. The shuttle’s ascent engines roared, and it began to climb away.

  “We’re not going to make it!” Dante yelled.

  “Yes, we are!” Splunk shouted and made a final jump. All five improvised Konar leaped, their miniature jumpjets screaming, as they strove to catch the shuttle.

  * * *

  Buddha controlled his tumbling CASPer just enough to avoid crashing face first into the tarmac as the shuttle roared into the sky. Between the wild laser fire from the escaping shuttle and the pitched battle against the alien forces a short distance away, his battlespace was a complete mess. He had no clue if the Dusman in their mini-CASPers had accomplished their objective. He was too busy trying to stay alive after one of the shuttle’s lasers had clipped his CASPer and knocked out one of his jumpjets.

  Private Lee Gann was gone, shot through twice with shuttle lasers, as was Private Peter Lugt. Private Chris Kadish was out of action as well. He was alive, but his suit had taken a hit in the computer/power supply and was inop.

  Buddha rolled over and checked the monitor one more time. The shuttle was two kilometers up and climbing. Nothing more could be done. He checked the battlespace near the command building. Bravo and Charlie Companies were, as Hargrave used to say, knee deep in the shit. He had four men left, though, and they might be able to make a difference.

  “Let’s go,” he said, and highlighted an approach through the squadnet. A pair of Tortantulas with Flatar riders were working around a nearby building, trying to flank Alvarado’s command squad. “Time to smash some spiders!”

  * * *

  Merc Guild Headquarters, Ubatuba, Brazil, Earth

  “Deep night!”

  Although Sunshine had been traveling with Tsan for months now, it was still unnerving to hear her voice come from what appeared to be thin air. Still, she sympathized with the Depik as she watched the shuttle lift. It was the second shuttle they’d seen launch since they’d moved into position. They had no idea if Peepo had been on either—they couldn’t see the back of the hacienda—but if things were still going badly, the odds continued to mount that she would be leaving soon.

  It had taken the other forces longer than expected to get into position, and Sunshine had learned several new words from Tsan in that time. She had thought that she’d learned every curse possible growing up in the slums of Monrovia. She’d been wrong.

  The men at the gate turned and began running for the hacienda.

  “Attack!” Tsan ordered.

  Sunshine charged the gate, firing her MAC at it as she raced forward. At least one round hit the locking mechanism, shattering it, and she lowered a shoulder to burst through the gate. The two scouts they’d been given from Cartwright’s Cavaliers, Private Keenan Seeley and Private Teal Bridgestone, landed beside her in the courtyard, their weapons firing.

  She winced involuntarily as she fired on the running Varangian Guard troopers. Jumping the gate probably would have been easier. She still had much to learn about operating a CASPer in combat, she realized—the Korps hadn’t done much in the way of three-dimensional maneuvering. She hit two of the fleeing soldiers in the back, and they cartwheeled to a stop in the dirt.

  She wondered momentarily where Tsan was, then saw the front door of the big house open on its own. “Let’s go!” she yelled to the troopers. “She’s going into the house.”

  Sunshine raced forward again, barely slowing for the front door, which was ajar. She smashed through it, knocking it from its hinges and launching it through the air. She also caught the door jamb, shattering it, but then she was through and standing in a huge foyer. Two more dead Varangian Guard troopers lay in puddles of their own blood, their throats cut.

  “Follow me,” Tsan said. “And watch where you’re firing.”

  Sunshine looked around. “It would help if I could see you.”

  “Gah,” the Depik said. “Here.” Two invisible feet splashed into the blood puddles from one of the troopers, and created a trail to a door, which opened. “Her lair will be in the basement.”

  “How do you know?” asked one of the Cava
liers.

  “Because she’s a Veetanho.” There was a pause, the “duh” strongly implied, then she added, “Well, are you coming?”

  Sunshine ran forward, knowing the Depik would keep out of her way. Sunshine smiled as she looked at the fading paw prints. Tsan was already down the stairs. Hoping the stairs would hold the weight of the CASPer, Sunshine worked her way down them, with the other troopers closer behind her than she would have liked. The stairs groaned under the weight but held.

  A passage ran down to the basement, with two doors on both sides and a single door at the end opposite the stairs. The first doors on both sides were open, and she advanced to check them out. They both held lots of computer equipment and monitors; they looked important, but no one was in either room.

  She walked down the passageway as the next two doors opened. One looked like a place to have meetings—there was a big table with many chairs and a Tri-V viewer, anyway—and another room with more computers. These were also unoccupied.

  The door at the end of the hall opened as large engines went to full power nearby, shaking the ground.

  “Deep night!” Tsan exclaimed. “Back upstairs!”

  Sunshine felt Tsan land on her CASPer and then push off again. She turned to find the Cavaliers troopers in the way.

  “Go, bass!” she yelled. “Back upstairs!”

  The troopers turned slowly—they had obviously never operated with Depik before!—and finally went up the stairs. She chafed as she waited for her turn to go up. While she waited, the sounds of the motors faded.

  Sunshine finally made it up the stairs and ran to the back of the house where the other CASPers stood. A space-yacht was just disappearing into the sky.

  “Peepo got away,” Private Seeley said.

  “No, she didn’t,” Sunshine said. “Tsan is super fast. I’ll bet she caught her before that ship lifted. She’s probably tearing her way into it right now.”