A Forest of Stars - Kevin J. Anderson [87]
Expert medical kithmen rushed into the shuttle bay, studied Rusa’h‘s injuries, and also treated the wounds of the evacuees aboard the rescue craft. Thor’h remained anxiously beside his bleeding and unconscious uncle. The Hyrillka Designate clung to life, though he had not moved or moaned.
Adar Kori’nh issued a command to his crew. “Withdraw! I want all streamers to flank and protect this ship. We must protect the Prime Designate and his son. I…can do nothing else to save the rest of these people.”
The flagship warliner pulled away, increasing its distance from the alien spheres, which continued to destroy the lush Hyrillkan landscape. But then the crystalline spheres incomprehensibly broke off their attack, for reasons of their own. Ignoring the Solar Navy, the alien globes climbed into the sky without looking at all hurried.
Watching from the command nucleus of the battered flagship, Jora’h said, “Why? Why would they cause so much destruction and then simply…leave?”
Kori’nh stood like a petrified tree, struggling to hold his emotions inside. “Perhaps they did not find what they were searching for.”
Without a word of explanation or celebration of victory, the hydrogue warglobes departed from Hyrillka and vanished into open space, leaving the once-peaceful pleasure planet smoking and in ruins.
43
JESS TAMBLYN
Borrowing a two-man grappler pod from Osquivel’s construction yards, Jess went to meet Cesca Peroni on her descent from the cometary-extraction clouds. He worked hard to hide his boyish anticipation, though it hadn’t been very long since the last time they had seen each other.
Over an open channel, he transmitted, “Speaker Peroni, allow me to escort you. A dozen more nebula skimmers are ready to be launched, all packaged up in their ballistic cocoons. It’s quite a sight to see.”
“I’ll drop her off with you, Jess,” Del Kellum said; his image wore a secret smile, as if he suspected something. “I’ve got business to attend to.”
“Right, I think your angelfish need feeding. They’ve been snapping at some of the Roamer children when they walk by.”
Electric with sweet eagerness, Jess docked his grappler pod. Air locks engaged, and Cesca came aboard, looking beautiful…but confused and troubled. He immediately understood that something was wrong.
“Take good care of her, Jess,” Kellum called from the other cockpit. “She’ll be wanting to go back to Rendezvous soon.”
Jess couldn’t take his eyes from Cesca’s forlorn face, but he said nothing until he sealed the hatches and disengaged. As the two ships drifted apart, Cesca draped an arm over his shoulder and hugged him silently. He did her the favor of not asking for details yet; he just kissed her on the forehead, then at the corner of her eye, and finally full on the mouth.
She drew him tighter with a desperate need, then slumped into the cockpit seat beside him. When Jess looked at her with an unspoken question, she finally said, “Reynald is about to be crowned the new Father of Theroc, and he has proposed an alliance between our peoples. He…asked me to marry him.”
Jess felt as if she had struck him a physical blow. His entire world had revolved around the time until they could be wed. In the blink of an eye, that anchor dissolved like a tiny ball of puff-sugar in a cup of pepperflower tea.
Cesca didn’t need to explain the political advantages of a marriage to Reynald. Jess knew the tight situation of the scattered Roamer clans: missing ships, supply shortages, lost ekti shipments. Many families doubted the drogues were responsible for everything, believing instead that the greedy Eddies had resorted to piracy.
Jess said in a hoarse voice, “He’s right. A union of Roamers and Therons might be strong enough to help us ride out this war and keep the Big Goose away. Yes…I suppose it makes good business sense.”
They both stared at each other, gradually feeling the numbness of shock fade into the pain of reality. Jess felt as if the deck had dropped out beneath him. Cesca looked at him with helpless