A Forest of Stars - Kevin J. Anderson [183]
He didn’t exactly pass out then, but seemed to drift out of awareness.
She squeezed water into his mouth. Pulling him into her pod and climbing back into her seat, Zhett opened a general channel to the Roamer scavengers. “Returning to main complex. I’ve snagged some salvage that needs tending to.”
All told, the Roamer scavengers rescued only thirty survivors from the EDF battleships, along with two other soldiers from lifetubes. The Osquivel crews salvaged dozens of still-functional compies that could be repaired and reprogrammed for Roamer uses, including some of the new Soldier models. All in all, it was a good haul.
Zhett tended Patrick Fitzpatrick, using the first-aid supplies they kept at each shipyard station. Kellum stood beside his daughter, frowning but resigned. “I knew this was going to be a problem. I don’t like having these Eddies here, but I suppose we have no choice but to care for them.”
Zhett said, “Would you rather I had just let him drift until he died?”
“It wouldn’t have taken long,” Kellum said. She scowled, but he raised his hand in a placating gesture. “I was just teasing, my sweet. But you do realize the quandary we face as soon as they’ve recovered?”
“Most of the Eddie refugees seem healthy enough,” Zhett said. “They don’t require medical attention beyond what we can provide here.”
Del Kellum looked pointedly at her. “Yes, but that’s not the problem. If we mean to keep our Roamer secrets, we can’t possibly let these soldiers return to Earth. Not ever.”
96
KING PETER
In his reign of six years, Peter had never been aboard the bridge of an active-duty Juggernaut; but after the news of the Osquivel disaster hit the populace like a punch in the gut, he had to keep up appearances. Even with the Hansa maintaining control of how the reports were slanted, they could not hide the magnitude of what had happened. And people were angry.
The new battleship joined five Manta cruisers in orbit over Earth, ready to be deployed on another pointless mission to gain intelligence and reconnaissance data on the enemy hydrogues. Peter wouldn’t be surprised if the enemy aliens disintegrated them on sight.
This trial run of EDF ships would be crewed by the new Soldier-model compies, another proof-of-principle test after the military robots had performed so well at Osquivel. Basil had decided that the new exploration group’s responsibility was clear, with little room for discretion, and the modified Klikiss programming was capable of handling routine operations. Human commanders would serve only as figureheads to make snap decisions in unorthodox situations; the Soldier compies could handle everything else.
Still, Peter could not shake his misgivings about the new-model compies.
Standing placidly next to him, Basil wore a business suit that fit him like a glove. “Just smile and nod approvingly, Peter. Give this mission your blessing, and we can be finished here.”
“Just as King Frederick did for the maiden launch of the Goliath, ” Peter said, then muttered, “for all the good that did.”
With the Chairman hovering close, King Peter dutifully delivered the words the Hansa speechwriters had scripted, inane congratulatory phrases and good wishes. The six human officers—a major to command the Juggernaut and five captains, one for each Manta, stood on the bridge beaming with pride.
Their assignment was to investigate Golgen, site of the first recorded hydrogue attack against a Roamer skymine and also the target of a shotgun blast of comets launched by renegade space gypsies. The survey team would try to assess what damage had been done by the cometary bombardment, and further test the peripheral capabilities of the new Soldier compies. It was a way to foster optimism after Osquivel.
Just as his royal wedding would be, soon.
The six figurehead officers bowed, the media crews dispersed on schedule, and Basil hurried the