at one of these locations, the battleglobes of our fleet will encircle him in all dimensions and destroy him. We will lose starships. Perhaps most of a fleet. But the Human and his ship will be destroyed. And that is the prime Task assigned to me by High Commander Brrzeet.”
“And who will lead the fleet assigned to Alkalurops, my commander?”
Chai smiled in his mind even as his long tail thumped the moving floor and his whiskers stiffened. “My old academy mate Yorkel of the Brokeet species. He already leads a fleet of ten. The promotion to lead twenty Nova-class battleglobes in pursuit of this deadly Human will be the assignment of a lifetime!”
High Captain Yorkel viewed the tachlink message from Sector 14 Intelligence, as amended with a note from his old enemy Chai. The Spelidon had lost his own battleglobe in the first battle against this biped who called himself a long series of word sounds.
That battle was something Sector 14 Intelligence had required every captain of a battleglobe, whether a fleet commander like himself or the leader of a single ship, to view and study. The later battles conducted by this alien made use of a starship of alien design with nearly magical abilities. To his amazement, it was able to spread a flat sheet of Alcubierre space-time to one side of itself, thereby absorbing any energy or matter attack from that direction! And it possessed the Bethe Inducer and antimatter cannons that were the prime weapons of any battleglobe. It was rumored that in the battle at Megadeen the alien starship had used the stellar collapse function of the Bethe Inducer to turn Megadeen’s star into a nova. And some other weapon had reduced the moon Megadeen to whisps of stellar vapor.
Yorkel s ighed through his thorax spiracles, wondered just what trap Chai was setting for him with this promotion, then looked around the Bridge of his battleglobe. His upper arm pair touched lightly the Alert surfaces that lay to either side of his Captain’s Booth.
“Shipmates, fellow battleglobe commanders! We are assigned a task worthy of our abilities,” he whistled in blunt Belizel. “Our ten-group, and another ten-group assigned to me by Sector Intelligence, have been tasked to mount a defense of the planet Megil of the C component star that is located in the Alkalurops trinary star group. We are to protect the Flesh Markets there, and to pursue the renegade starship that belongs to a soft-skinned biped named Dragoneaux. Tactics for dealing with this biped’s dangerous ship will be discussed at the midday repast in my central arboretum. Live food is on the menu! And all battleglobe captains are required to attend. Return to work!”
Yorkel spread his sensing antennae, noting the pheromones emitted by the fifteen lifeforms who made up his Bridge crew. Most were other Brokeet like himself, so commands supplemented by pheromone emissions worked well in non-combat times. But in combat they must all be in tachlink with the Tactical AI and CPU of his ship. Only combined action with diverse movements stood any chance of defeating the arrogant biped who had declared war on the Anarchate. While the Human was soft and lacked a decent outer skin like the tough chitin exoskeleton of the Brokeet, it possessed a starship of remarkable abilities. As documented in the many battles recorded by the Observer Globes that Sector 14 Intelligence had required every battleglobe to emit upon entry into a new star system. That was an idea of his old enemy Chai. Which made sense in view of the series of defeats suffered by lesser captains. His fleet would do better. It had to do better. He had no intention of dying just so Chai could blame his failure on those at the battle front!
Suzanne sensed the deep darkness of interstellar space as the many sensors of Lorelei spoke to her in numbers that computed how close to absolute zero the outer vacuum was, how many cosmic rays now passed through the ship, the local sources of
“And who will lead the fleet assigned to Alkalurops, my commander?”
Chai smiled in his mind even as his long tail thumped the moving floor and his whiskers stiffened. “My old academy mate Yorkel of the Brokeet species. He already leads a fleet of ten. The promotion to lead twenty Nova-class battleglobes in pursuit of this deadly Human will be the assignment of a lifetime!”
High Captain Yorkel viewed the tachlink message from Sector 14 Intelligence, as amended with a note from his old enemy Chai. The Spelidon had lost his own battleglobe in the first battle against this biped who called himself a long series of word sounds.
That battle was something Sector 14 Intelligence had required every captain of a battleglobe, whether a fleet commander like himself or the leader of a single ship, to view and study. The later battles conducted by this alien made use of a starship of alien design with nearly magical abilities. To his amazement, it was able to spread a flat sheet of Alcubierre space-time to one side of itself, thereby absorbing any energy or matter attack from that direction! And it possessed the Bethe Inducer and antimatter cannons that were the prime weapons of any battleglobe. It was rumored that in the battle at Megadeen the alien starship had used the stellar collapse function of the Bethe Inducer to turn Megadeen’s star into a nova. And some other weapon had reduced the moon Megadeen to whisps of stellar vapor.
Yorkel s ighed through his thorax spiracles, wondered just what trap Chai was setting for him with this promotion, then looked around the Bridge of his battleglobe. His upper arm pair touched lightly the Alert surfaces that lay to either side of his Captain’s Booth.
“Shipmates, fellow battleglobe commanders! We are assigned a task worthy of our abilities,” he whistled in blunt Belizel. “Our ten-group, and another ten-group assigned to me by Sector Intelligence, have been tasked to mount a defense of the planet Megil of the C component star that is located in the Alkalurops trinary star group. We are to protect the Flesh Markets there, and to pursue the renegade starship that belongs to a soft-skinned biped named Dragoneaux. Tactics for dealing with this biped’s dangerous ship will be discussed at the midday repast in my central arboretum. Live food is on the menu! And all battleglobe captains are required to attend. Return to work!”
Yorkel spread his sensing antennae, noting the pheromones emitted by the fifteen lifeforms who made up his Bridge crew. Most were other Brokeet like himself, so commands supplemented by pheromone emissions worked well in non-combat times. But in combat they must all be in tachlink with the Tactical AI and CPU of his ship. Only combined action with diverse movements stood any chance of defeating the arrogant biped who had declared war on the Anarchate. While the Human was soft and lacked a decent outer skin like the tough chitin exoskeleton of the Brokeet, it possessed a starship of remarkable abilities. As documented in the many battles recorded by the Observer Globes that Sector 14 Intelligence had required every battleglobe to emit upon entry into a new star system. That was an idea of his old enemy Chai. Which made sense in view of the series of defeats suffered by lesser captains. His fleet would do better. It had to do better. He had no intention of dying just so Chai could blame his failure on those at the battle front!
Suzanne sensed the deep darkness of interstellar space as the many sensors of Lorelei spoke to her in numbers that computed how close to absolute zero the outer vacuum was, how many cosmic rays now passed through the ship, the local sources of
Similar Books
