Hidden Empire - Kevin J. Anderson [201]
Guided by Qul Aro'nh in a formal wedge formation, the forty-nine warliners and escorts had made a circuit of the Qronha 3 system. The battleships would impress upon Ildiran workers and potential enemies alike the awesome might of the Solar Navy. From high orbit above the gas giant, the maniples dispatched cutters and streamers to patrol the skies for any alien intrusion.
Adar Kori'nh took an escort down to the floating skymine city. As supreme commander, it was his responsibility to be visible, standing tall and brave in order to reassure the ekti harvesters.
The long-established Qronha 3 colony had a place in Ildiran lore, mentioned no fewer than a thousand times in the Saga of Seven Suns. Riding high above the thick vapors and cloud banks, this was an enormous facility. Huge structures, distillers, and reaction chambers protruded in all directions. Its industrial systems were outdated and inefficient by now, but processing of the hydrogen allotrope continued.
The ekti factory held enough inhabitants to qualify as a genuine splinter colony. The Ildirans, though isolated from their planet, were crowded enough for their comfort. And because of their proximity to Ildira, the Qronha 3 miners often received furloughs to return home, as soon as replacement crews came to continue their work.
Still, as Kori'nh saw the size of the Qronha 3 facilities and the sheer number of workers required to maintain the population at its critical density for the thism, he understood how the Roamers, given their willingness to live and work with skeleton crews, could be far more efficient.
Five other cutters landed on the docking platforms after the Adar had stepped out. The ekti-harvesting crews and their extended families greeted the military with a grand reception. Kori'nh could see that the Qronha 3 workers were also nervous about unseen aliens lurking within the clouds below, though they had never witnessed any sign or threat in their many centuries of operation here. Despite their uncertainty, the Solar Navy gave them all the confidence they needed.
The fleet had been settled in for less than a day when the attack occurred.
Without warning, dazzling acid-bright lights appeared in the clouds beneath the giant industrial city. Kori'nh's ever-vigilant patrol streamers noticed the change almost immediately and sounded the call to arms. After reviewing images the Earth Defense Forces had retrieved from Oncier and the destroyed skymine at Welyr, the Adar knew how such an attack would begin. His soldiers had drilled sufficiently and reacted with due speed.
Even so, they could not be prepared enough.
Kori'nh summoned an emergency brigade of escort ships to drop down onto the large harvester complex and evacuate all personnel. Alarms rang throughout the industrial city, and Ildiran workers scrambled to their emergency checkpoints, queuing up in preparation for escape.
Leaving a Septar to manage the on-site evacuation efforts, Adar Kori'nh boarded the first outbound cutter. "I need to get back to my fleet," he said, concerned about Qul Aro'nh's lack of ingenuity in the face of a crisis. He would have to take command of the maniple himself.
As his cutter rose above the last wisps of atmosphere and into the indigo of space, he looked down to see the first of the fearsome diamond warglobes emerge from the depths of Qronha 3. Broken electrical arcs crackled from the blunt spikes protruding through its hull. Crewmen shouted from the deck; the cutter's pilots engaged emergency thrusters. The Adar could only stare in awe for several seconds until he finally grabbed for the communications systems.
Old Qul Aro'nh was already broadcasting angry threats to the emerging deep-core aliens. "Leave our facility unharmed or risk grave consequences."
Adar Kori'nh knew that such warnings would do no good. The aliens had always refused