Horizon Storms - Kevin J. Anderson [119]
At their next stop, Tasia and her crew sat back in awe to see the system’s main star completely under siege. The gas giant itself was dark and cold, burned out long ago. Now the hydrogues were targeting the much larger central sun.
In a furious battle, ellipsoidal faeros fireballs swarmed upward, clashing against literally millions of warglobes that lunged in like piranhas. Bolts of incredible energy lashed back and forth, while the hydrogues drove their diamond spheres through the fringes of the hot corona and skated over the outer layers of plasma, unleashing titanic weapons from above.
Tasia had seen a similar battle at the test site of Oncier, but that ignited gas giant had been only a small dwarf star—this was a full-size sun, a vastly larger battleground on which the hydrogues and faeros fought each other. Giant loops of solar flares rose upward, spewing plasma flames that curled back around, falling into the roiling sun like blood spurting from a severed artery.
Warglobes pressed closer, swarming in space. The faeros defenders crashed into them, fireballs engulfing the diamond spheres so that both were obliterated. Volley after volley of hydrogue ships streamed in from outside the system, enough glinting reinforcements to blot out the star.
“Take your readings and let’s get the hell out of here,” Tasia said. “Shizz, look at those blasts!”
A column of dense ionized gas rocketed up from the surface of the sun to engulf a flurry of warglobes, shattering the enemy vessels. Tasia wondered if the faeros themselves had tinkered with the mechanics of the star, altered its physics to use the flare as a weapon.
“What the hell are we doing in this war?” Sergeant Zizu said, his voice no more than an awed whisper.
More warglobes arrived, unleashing retaliatory strikes. Because a hydrogue gas planet in this system had been snuffed out by the Klikiss Torch long ago, Tasia wondered if the deep-core aliens bore a grudge. Were their memories long enough to harbor revenge for ten thousand years?
Of course they were.
Flares continued to shoot up like cannon blasts. Tasia slumped back in her command chair, once again feeling incredibly small in this enormous and ancient conflict.
“On the bright side,” she muttered, “with the faeros and the hydrogues kicking each other’s butts, they’re too busy to come after us.”
Chapter 59—KING PETER
Chairman Wenceslas has called another high-level Hansa meeting in secret,“ OX reported to King Peter. ”You asked me to inform you whenever I learn of such an appointment.“
“Thank you, OX. I think I’ll attend.”
Dressed in a Prussian-blue military outfit, his “serious business attire” instead of the ceremonial robes he donned for public appearances, Peter arrived at the private conference room even before the Chairman and his cronies. When Basil entered with the pale and hairless Deputy Cain, he frowned to see the King sitting there, but did not otherwise acknowledge Peter’s presence.
General Lanyan arrived with a shadow of stubble on his cheeks that showed he was several hours past his scheduled shave, followed closely by Admiral Stromo, who carried a portable datascreen as well as hardcopy summary printouts. Deputy Cain sat next to the Chairman and they all waited in silence, flicking glances at Peter, who remained quiet, behaving himself.
Basil finally spoke. “Direct your attention to me, please. I called this meeting, not the King. General Lanyan, your summary of the Roamer problem?”
The military commander cleared his throat, collecting his thoughts. “As you know, Mr. Chairman, for some time now our intel teams have had standing orders to gather any information on Roamer ship movements and possible hidden settlements. I’ve updated the analyses I compiled more than five years ago.” He looked down at his notes.
“I’m sorry to say the situation has only grown worse. I am convinced that the rebellious clans have stockpiled stardrive fuel and other resources that, by rights, should have gone into the Terran war