A Forest of Stars - Kevin J. Anderson [246]
“Today, we all become immortal in the Saga of Seven Suns. ”
At the heart of the Qronha system, not far from Ildira, a small yellow star orbited so close to a red-giant primary that the larger star’s gravity siphoned gases from its companion. Qronha 3—the system’s only gas giant—had been home to the oldest cloud-mining factory ever established by the Empire. Though human Roamers had taken over the skymining industries elsewhere, the giant Qronha 3 ekti complex had remained a symbolic bastion for their race. When the hydrogues had chosen to destroy the facility and kill thousands of workers, they had declared war on the Ildiran Empire as well.
Now it was the Solar Navy’s turn to mount a surprise attack—right where the conflict had begun.
The gas giant swelled like a blister before them as the maniple decelerated, ready for battle.
“The hydrogues are down there somewhere,” Kori’nh said. Qul Bore’nh stood beside him, ready to give the standard operational orders. The septars controlling each grouping of seven ships prepared their weapons.
“We must find them and hurt them. We will show the hydrogues, and our own people, that it can be done,” the Adar continued. “No commander has ever had a more important duty.”
Kori’nh took a deep breath, focusing his thoughts. Without thism, the emptiness still echoed in his mind. Once Jora’h reconnected the thism, Adar Kori’nh could no longer act for himself. He knew there was little enough time. His battleships needed to strike now.
Kori’nh ordered the ships to drop through Qronha 3’s outer atmosphere and proceed into warmer, thicker depths. During the first battle here, the Solar Navy had achieved only one partial victory…but it had shown the way.
This time, the Adar intended to achieve more.
As his warliners drove forward, Kori’nh thought of a great battle from Earth history: the defeat of an inspired, but ultimately unsuccessful, general named Napoleon. Waterloo.
“Stand alert and steady.”
The maniple sliced through rust-colored cloudbands, veils of gray and yellow mists. Sonic booms from the rapid descent echoed across the high skies.
Kori’nh instructed his warliners to transmit forceful, intimidating messages: “Hydrogues, we reclaim this planet for the Ildiran Empire. We demand your immediate departure from this world.”
Qul Bore’nh turned to him in the command nucleus. “Adar, do you expect to prompt a surrender from our enemy?”
“Not at all.” Kori’nh looked at him, his face stony. “I intend to provoke them.”
Cruising through the atmosphere, he ordered all forty-nine ships to remain in formation, but at maximum standard separation. Scout streamers spread out through the vaporous winds, broadcasting their reconnaissance.
When the warglobes finally appeared, Kori’nh was prepared, even relieved. Now we begin. “Engage the enemy!”
Ildiran warliners fired a dizzying barrage of kinetic missiles and high-energy cutting beams that peppered the alien globes. Ionization flashes and spreading clouds of smoke transformed the cloudy battlefield into a confusing patchwork of signals and targets. The sensor feedback began to blur.
The hydrogues retaliated quickly, warglobe after warglobe lashing out with volleys of blue electrical force.
Kori’nh allowed the firefight to continue for several minutes, luring more and more hydrogues from the depths. But when the aliens’ weapons damaged the engines of one warliner, he knew the time had come to change tactics.
“Time for the culmination of our part of the great story,” the Adar broadcast to the rest of the ships. “We have a full maniple of warliners, each one ready to strike a crippling blow against the enemies of the Ildiran Empire. How much of a victory can we buy? We will show what can be done.” He turned to the subcommander beside him. “Qul Bore’nh, issue the order.”
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