A Pale Dawn Read online

  When no one else had any suggestions, Sansar motioned to it. “You found it, Jacobs, let’s see what’s under there.”

  “Uh…yes, ma’am,” the trooper said, sounding like she didn’t want to know anymore. She approached the raised, 10-meter square area cautiously, then reached down, plunged her hand into the dirt, and pulled it away, scooping off the dirt as she went. After a few more scoops, her hand went clunk! and she scooped off the dirt and detritus to reveal a patch of metal.

  “Why don’t you give her a hand,” Sansar said to the other two members of the squad who were standing around. They jumped in and, between the three of them, soon had about a quarter of the area cleared.

  “Does that look like some sort of lid?” Mun asked as they scraped around the edges.

  “Yes, it does,” Sansar replied. “Call the troops and tell them to halt the advance while we investigate this.”

  Mun called for a halt and brought several other troopers over. With six CASPers working on it, they excavated a large metal lid, about six centimeters thick, that seemed to be sitting on top of a large metal square of…something.

  “What do you think?” Mun asked. “Want to see what’s under it?”

  “I’m not sure,” Sansar said. “Whatever it is, it’s been sealed off a long time. There’s no telling what’s under there.” She paused, looking at the giant lid, then came to a decision. “On second thought, I do want to know. If it goes down, maybe there are tunnels or something we can use to sneak up on the city.”

  “All right,” Mun said. “Jacobs and the two private Enkhs, grab hold of the lid on this side. When I tell you, lift it up. Everyone else, be ready to shoot whatever jumps out of there.”

  “Uh…jumps out of there, First Sergeant?” Jacobs asked. She had bent over to grab the lid but stood back up.

  “I don’t know what’s under the lid,” Mun said, “but I don’t want something to jump out and surprise us.” She chuckled. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.” Jacobs muttered something Mun’s pickups didn’t quite catch. “Okay, Privates,” she said in a louder voice, “let’s lift this off. On three. One, two, three!”

  Nothing happened, except the straining of gears; the lid didn’t move. “Okay, stop,” Jacobs said after about five seconds. She stood up. “Nothing, First Sergeant. It didn’t even shift. We’re just going to burn out our servos.”

  “What do you think?” Sansar asked.

  “I don’t know,” Jacobs said. “Maybe it’s rusted shut. I would have thought we could have lifted it, but it didn’t move.”

  Mun leaned forward to look at it more closely. “I don’t think it’s rusted,” she said. “There isn’t a trace of rust on the entire thing, at least as much as I can see, and it’s been buried here in the dirt for—” She waved to the big piles of dirt that had been excavated, “—a long time.”

  “Metal that doesn’t rust,” Sansar said, more curious now. “Let’s all give it a try.”

  The eight CASPers standing by the lid all lifted, but once again, couldn’t even make it shift, much less lift it.

  “What do you think, ma’am?” Mun asked.

  “It’s almost like something is keeping it shut,” Sansar said. “Maybe suction, maybe…something else. I’d love to know what’s under that, but we have colonists to save and HecSha to kill. We’ve wasted too much time with this already; let’s get headed toward the city.”

  Sansar began walking again but kept the metal lid on one of her displays as long as she could see it. It never moved.

  * * * * *

  Chapter Five

  Council of Guild Masters, Mercenary Guild, Capital Planet

  “My queens are starting to get restless,” the MinSha representative said to the closed council meeting. “You promised this war would be quick and cheap. So far, it has been neither.”

  “Which is exactly what I warned you of,” the Goltar representative interjected. “My race has had…closer dealings with the Humans than perhaps you’ve had. While you have treated them as antagonists, we have seen them as partners, and our profits have grown.”

  “Shut your beak,” said Leeto, the Speaker of the Council. “When we want your opinion, we’ll ask for it. But that won’t be any time I’m in charge of this council.”

  “This has become much more expensive than we were led to believe,” the Oogar representative roared. “You said this would only last a couple of weeks—a month at the outside—and yet we do not seem to be any closer to victory. The Humans even captured Golara, for entropy’s sake!”

  “You fail to see the image through the pixels,” Leeto replied. “We make progress every day toward the successful conclusion of this campaign. Their world has been taken. Their colonies have been taken or destroyed. The only base they have left—the Winged Hussars’ base in New Warsaw—we expect to have locating data on any day now. Once this base is wiped out, there will be nowhere for them to run and nowhere for them to hide.”

  Leeto turned to the Goltar representative. “Nowhere to hide, that is, unless some of our members are assisting them.”

  “We have done nothing to assist the Humans. We have followed the will of the council. Even when you brought Sansar Enkh here for your sham of a trial, we agreed to convict her.”

  “You had to!” the Tortantula representative exclaimed. “She was guilty of uplifting a race that wasn’t ready.”

  “That is true,” the Goltar representative replied, “which is why we voted to convict her. Some of the other evidence, though, was as see-through as an open portal, and just as leaky.” His body twitched. “That said, the Oogar representative is correct—this has become a very costly endeavor.”

  “Have we heard anything from the Izlians?” Leeto asked, hoping to change the subject. “If they returned, we would have overwhelming forces to use against the Humans.”

  “No, Speaker, we have not,” the Flatar representative noted. He also served as the council’s secretary and dealt with the council’s correspondence. “Our messages to them have been ignored, as have the emissaries we’ve sent to them. The only thing they’ve said is that they are in a period of mourning for Admiral Omega.”

  “Have they said when it will end?”

  “No,” the Flatar replied. “Only that it will end when it’s over.”

  “Stupid Izlians,” the Besquith representative growled. “Perhaps we should remind them of their responsibilities once we have dealt with the Humans.”

  Leeto smiled. She could always count on the Besquith to take the path of greatest destruction.

  “You probably just want to eat one,” the Goka representative said.

  “So what?” the Besquith asked, sneering. “Even if I do, what’s it to you?”

  “Besides the fact that they’re poisonous, nothing,” the Goka relied. “On second thought, go ahead and have one. We’d probably be better off without you.”

  “Okay, that’s it,” Leeto said. “Let’s try to remember we’re all on the same side here.”

  “Are we?” the Goltar asked.

  “Yes, we are,” Leeto replied firmly. “We are all on the side of profit, regardless of our points of view on the war. Now, I know this conflict has been divisive, but it is rapidly coming to a conclusion. General Peepo has nearly pacified Earth and is starting to meet her recruiting quotas. There are only a few places the Humans can run and hide, and they are rapidly disappearing. Once we destroy New Warsaw, the war will be over, and we can go back to maximum profiteering.”

  That brought out smiles from around the table, even from the Oogar, and she quickly brought the meeting to a close.

  Afterward, she hurried back to her chambers so she could draft a message to her mother. There was a courier ship leaving for Earth later that day, and she still had time to get it aboard.

  Dear General Peepo,

  My apologies that I didn’t send something sooner; I haven’t been feeling well lately.

  We just concluded a council meeting, and there are cracks ev
ident in our alliances. Some are whining about the cost and length of the operation against the Humans, and it is becoming hard to keep them all in line. The Goltar representative does his best to cause discontent, like always, but I am used to that. If they didn’t have…never mind, but at some time, we need to look at getting rid of the Goltar for good. Especially with what we have coming, we all need to be swimming in the same direction.

  Speaking of which, the Sooloo have sent a second operative to make up for the failure of the first. They expect to have the information you are looking for very soon. They wouldn’t say how, just that they would report to you soon.

  Good luck in your continued campaign. I hope it all comes to a successful completion soon.

  Your daughter,

  Leeto

  * * *

  EMS Pegasus, Between Emergence Point and Frost, Asyola Star System

  “Captain Thibodeau on Manticore confirms all 120 drones are in the black,” Hoot said. “They are handing over control to us.”

  “Roger that,” Alexis said. “Drone Control, you may commence operations.”

  “Orders confirmed,” Drone Control replied. The 120 drones from Manticore suddenly changed course and swarmed over to join the 30 drones from Pegasus. The new force, 150 strong, then formed up into three groups of 50. Over the course of a few seconds, each group assumed a tight formation then followed the fleet, just behind the battleship Byczyna. “Ready.”

  “Enemy has initiated drone launch,” Xander said. “Approximately 300 drones in the black.”

  “Profile suggests Asha-class Izlian drones,” Abby said.

  “Slow and uncreative,” Paka said.

  Alexis smiled in reply. “Intel says the fleet is commanded by Zuul,” she said. The Zuul didn’t do a lot of space navy operations. She was certain the three carriers were loaners, while all the rest of the ships belonged to the Zuul merc company. The Izlians still hadn’t recovered from Alexis turning their beloved Admiral Omega into dissociated atoms. The floating gas bags would have had the drones in the black the minute she came out of hyperspace. So much the better.

 

  “In part or completely?” Alexis asked.

 

  “Nothing comes without risk,” she replied. Alexis watched the tactical board for a minute and hissed between her teeth. That god-damned battleship. The Bakulu crew had Byczyna accelerating at maximum, producing a scorching 1.9 Gs of thrust. It was ironic the ship’s crew was 90% Bakulu, one of the most G-tolerant races in the galaxy. She imagined the huge mollusks were laughing and playing cards under that modest thrust.

  “Enemy has commenced missile launch,” Abby said.

  “Inform Glamdring and Cherry to prepare for screening operations,” Alexis ordered. She wished she hadn’t sent their third escort frigate, Excalibur, to the stargate, but it had to be done. She could well end up missing Secretariat as well before this day was over. “Cruisers, fall back; have the frigates move up to provide additional laser fire.” The Sword-class frigates only had a single 100-megawatt laser; it wasn’t designed for anti-missile fire. That was purely for show, anyway. She strongly suspected she knew what the missiles’ target was. The missiles and the hundreds of drones came at them like a cloud of angry hornets.

  “Enemy missiles and drones in coast,” Abby said. “Estimate the missiles to enter terminal boost in two minutes. Byczyna standing by with countermeasures.”

  Alexis merely nodded. She felt completely out of place behind the massive round bulk of the battleship, with the five cruisers ringed around it for defense. I hope this new doctrine works, she thought. The new fleet assignments kept her from getting much sleep on the jump to Asyola. Should she have taken both battleships? Should she have sent both with Cartwright and kept more battlecruisers instead? She was driving herself crazy with second guessing before the battle even began.

  The clock ticked down as the missiles and drones coasted. After missiles expended their first stage they coasted, making them all but invisible unless you used active radar. If you did that, you’d find a few, and the rest would see your radar and use it to target you. The drones used a similar principle, though they were somewhat bigger targets and usually didn’t use expendable boosters. The Tri-V showed the fleet in formation as the clock reached zero.

  “Missile plumes,” Flipper said.

  Instantly the escorts opened up with their lasers. The Legend-class escort frigates mounted three 100-megawatt lasers on their sides so they could be used fore and aft. Being able to screen against missiles while retreating was often just as important as doing it while advancing. The lasers each possessed beam splitters and fired at a high rate. They could effectively engage twenty missiles a second with each laser. The single, newly-acquired Maki escort frigate, a Seed-class, possessed five lasers, though with lower output.

  All five cruisers let loose a salvo of anti-missile missiles. The Tri-V tactical display showed a dizzying wave of crisscrossing beams as the two remaining escorts also tried to take out as many missiles as possible. The battleship’s own anti-missile lasers fired as well, and it had 240 of them. Only 100 could fire in the same direction at once, but that was still enough to tear massive holes in the accelerating missiles. The space between the enemy fleet and the Hussars became a field of blossoming explosions and flashing lasers. The interceptor missiles, low yield nuclear weapons, added to the maelstrom.

  “Now,” Alexis sent.

  Ghost replied.

  As Alexis expected, the missiles all went for the biggest, juiciest target—the battleship. With only a pair of highly capable screening ships, she’d kept them aside, seemingly inviting a strike on the shiny new war machine. The Merc Guild happily obliged.

  Missiles by the hundreds slammed into the battleship’s massively powerful shields. Shields which were focused on facing the attack they expected all along. Just as the missile storm was spending it’s fury, all the other Hussars ships surged forward as one.

  Races that commonly used battleships employed them as mobile assault platforms. Ships used their shields and bulk to protect themselves in order to get closer to the enemy, at which point those ships would use their own weapons, supplemented by the battleships’, for maximum firepower. The Hussars weren’t other races.

  The enemy fleet commander, a Zuul admiral with no major actions under his belt—and none against the Winged Hussars—floated in his CIC, muzzle hanging open as the battleship simply ate the missile storm and kept coming. The shields were nearly breached, but nearly isn’t good enough on a battleship. Captain Chigasoolu, schooled in the best way to use his new ship to help the Hussars, cut thrust and rotated his battleship to a new shield facing, and redirected power to those fresh shields. He couldn’t thrust toward the target anymore, but he still had the velocity he’d gained from the initial advance. Battleships fought better during coast, anyway; it gave them more options.

  The Zuul admiral continued to stare in amazement as fourteen Winged Hussars warships raced around the bulk of the battleship and straight at his formation. He was caught completely off guard, and Zuul didn’t improvise very well. When he was informed the battleship was in range of the drones, he stuck with Izlian battle tactics—take out the battleships first.

  He split the next missile wave between the advancing enemy fleet and the battleship, not completely able to ignore the fourteen enemy ships racing toward him. He outnumbered them nearly two to one, and even more in throw weight. However, they were coming at him awfully fast.

  The Zuul drones flew through the Hussars formation without engaging in even a passing barrage. A few were spotted by the Human ships and ignored. Those were their orders. His ships had firing solutions on the advancing Humans. They began to exchange weapons fire.

 

  “Excellent,” Alexis replied, “feed
that data to Flipper.”

  “Captain!” Flipper yelled. “I have the enemy command ship pegged.”

  “Afeeko, match bearings. Xander, charge the main gun, fire on charge. Full power!”

  Pegasus rocked as three enemy missiles made it through its laser defenses. None penetrated her shields. Ships throughout the Hussars’ fleet were hit randomly. The missile barrage which could have done serious damage to several cruisers, or even crippled Pegasus, was instead not directed at any select targets. Alexis’ lips skinned back from her teeth in a feral grin as she felt the vibration of the ship with all three power plants thrumming at maximum output.

  Overpowered thrusters fired, changing the ship’s heading by several degrees. Large flower-petal doors opened on her bow and exposed the already glowing muzzle of Pegasus’ main offensive weapon.

  “Firing!” Xander called.

  The ship’s lights dimmed slightly for a moment as a 40-terawatt, 50-millisecond pulse from her particle accelerator lanced out. The enemy command ship, a KL-class Bakulu-designed battlecruiser, was struck by the pulse, slightly off center. Her shields shorted out in less than three milliseconds, and 90% of the beam’s energy laced through the target. The KL-class battlecruiser was sliced nose to fusion nozzle as the direction of Pegasus’ rotation carried the beam up and away. The effect was like impaling a watermelon with a sword and ripping the blade up and out; huge chunks of molten deck plates flashed off, careening off the enemy frigates’ shields like fireflies dancing in the moonlight.

  The command ship had been under 2.5 Gs of thrust in preparation for a devastating passing attack on the Hussars. One of her three fusion plants lost containment, its safeties blowing the baffle plates clear, and most of the plasma jetted out the side of the crippled ship. The two other engines continued thrusting at full power as the command pathways were gone. Not that it would have mattered—the particle beam had cut the CIC neatly in two, and the million-volt electrical plasma discharge of its passing had killed the command crew instantly. The engine thrust was enough to make the compromised hull fold in on itself, turning the battlecruiser into a macabre origami parody of its former greatness.