Eyes of Tomorrow (Duchy of Terra Book 9), Glynn Stewart [reading well .TXT] 📗

“Sir, we have an update from the Wendira,” her com officer reported grimly. “It’s…bad.”

“There’s not much we can do, Commander,” she told the Yin. “Forward it to my quarters. I’ll review and see if we need to change our plans.”

“Yes, Division Lord,” the junior officer confirmed.

By the time Morgan had her uniform on and the lights up in her cabin, the system on her desk was blinking with a received message. She told it to play, activating the holoprojector.

The image of a Wendira Warrior appeared above her desk, his wings drooping in exhaustion as he faced the recorder. It was not, she realized immediately, Ronoxosh. The officer had the insignia of a Fleet Commandant instead of a Royal Commandant like Ronoxosh.

“This is Fleet Commandant Icenar of the Ninth Battle Hive,” the Warrior said crisply. “Royal Commandants Ronoxosh, Toramon, Kalrite, and Somar are all dead. The Shakol System has fallen to the Infinite.

“We have been forced to withdraw from the system in disarray. Our fighter strength has been reduced by over ninety percent, and we have lost over two hundred star hives and six hundred star shields.”

Morgan exhaled as if she’d been punched in the gut. That was basically the entire fleet the Wendira had brought to Tohrohsail—and so far as she knew, the Wendira hadn’t been significantly reinforced.

Icenar’s flat report spoke of the deaths of millions of Wendira Warriors.

“We are falling back per the contingency plan, but we were badly outmatched by the enemy,” he continued. “They are in possession of what appear to be biotech-derived interface-drive missiles equal to our own.

“Somehow, they knew where our anchorage was located and emerged within fifteen light-seconds of the position of the Fifteenth Battle Hive,” he said. “There are no survivors of the Fifteenth. The Infinite have deployed hyperfold cannons in massive numbers with a range that exceeds ours by at least two light-seconds.”

He paused.

“They have also demonstrated the use of what appears to be either hyperfold-transmitted or otherwise instantaneously relocated microsingularities. Our star hives are not armored against that kind of attack.”

Morgan closed her eyes in horror. The singularity projectors had been the most terrifying of the Infinite’s weapons—but she’d also feared that the Six-As had possessed Alavan teleporter weapons.

It seemed her fears hadn’t been imaginative enough.

“I do not have direct control of all surviving units,” Icenar admitted. “But I am in command of thirty star hives and two hundred star shields. We have escaped Infinite missile range, but a major component of the swarm is in pursuit of us. I hope to lure them into hyperspace after me, as per the contingency plan.

“We will enter hyperspace within a few minutes of this transmission and will reach the contingency system within seventy-two hours.”

There was a long pause as Icenar stared blankly at the recorder. Finally, the recording froze and was replaced with another strange Wendira.

This was an ancient male Royal-caste Wendira, a massive creature with Royal Commandant’s insignia who appeared to have lost his wings at some point in his youth.

“Fleet Commandant Icenar’s report is being forwarded to all of our allies unedited,” the Royal said. “We have been assembling a reinforcement fleet, but we did not expect Royal Commandant Ronoxosh’s fleet to be completely destroyed.

“If the contingency plan works, Swarm Charlie should be removed as a strategic factor. If it does not—and I neither have certainty in the plan nor permission to share it—a major joint operation will be needed to eliminate the swarm and secure our worlds.

“I formally request that all of our allies provide forces to assist in neutralizing Swarm Charlie and resecuring the Shakol System.”

That part of the message wasn’t for her. Morgan closed it and stared blankly at the wall. There’d be technical downloads she needed to review, of course, but it looked like her mission had just increased in priority.

Singularity cannons were bad enough when their projectiles had to pass through space at lightspeed to reach their targets. Teleported black holes?

More than ever, it had become critical that Morgan’s fleet remain undetected.

Chapter Fifty-Five

“Well, that’s that, isn’t it?” Rin told a virtual conference of his senior people and Princess Oxtashah. “How long ago was the message transmitted?”

“Thirty-seven hours,” Oxtashah told him. “We do not yet have Fleet Commandant Icenar or the Swarm on our long-range anomaly scanners. I have ordered Likox to send the escorts into hyperspace and maintain a watch there.

“That should give us a half-cycle or so of warning before the swarm arrives.”

“Lawrence, Mok.” Rin looked to his subordinates. “That means we’ll probably see them in about twenty to twenty-five twentieth-cycles. We have fifteen tenth-cycles at most.”

“Are you ready?” Oxtashah asked. “Can you destroy the Swarm?”

“The scanners and targeting software are ready,” Rin said after a moment’s consideration. “Or close enough, anyway. A few more linkages and a couple more hours of code. Targeting will be ready, but…”

“But?” Lawrence asked.

“Our ability to protect friendly ships is poor,” he admitted. “We’re going to be able to set up a link for Zokalatan and her escorts shortly that should protect them, but we can’t do it for the fighters.

“I need an active hyperfold link to any ship we’re protecting, and we can only shield a few. Maybe fifty?”

“The plan calls for the fleet to cut their interface drives on arrival in Skiefail,” Oxtashah told him. “If we can allow a portion to maneuver under the shield of the weapon, that may change the odds.”

“If the weapon is working,” Rin said. He looked at the other two. “Lawrence?”

“We’re there,” she said. She looked exhausted, like she hadn’t slept in days. “The first teleporter will be online in the next tenth-cycle. The second will be about a cycle after that, and we’re hoping to have one of the partial stations online. We may have that done by the time the swarm arrives, but it’s not likely.”

“Two teleporters,” Rin said grimly. “So, a thousand shots?”

“Roughly. We have to hope for one-shot kills, because I don’t think the bastards will be bringing less than a thousand bioforms,”