Metal Swarm - Kevin J. Anderson [143]
The Klikiss responded as Sirix's dropships returned to their battle group in orbit. Even before the landers had docked with the main warships, hundreds of boxlike ships launched from ground bases below in a shower of individual Klikiss fighters.
Considering the size of the enemy force drawing together with remarkable speed, the breedex must have been preparing to launch a vigorous swarm war. And Sirix had blundered into a subhive that was far more prepared than it should have been. He ordered the Juggernaut's jazers to open fire, targeting individual Klikiss component ships, but there were too many, and they were too widely separated.
The flurry of small ships ascended into space, firing at the EDF ships like stinging gnats, then drew together like iron filings pulled toward a magnet. The individual vessels interlocked into a configuration Sirix recognized as a Klikiss swarmship - with enough combined firepower to peel away the armoured hull of an EDF battleship.
His robots had encountered a similar conglomerate vessel at Scholld, but this swarmship had an unexpected capability. The interlocking components shifted like a puzzle, rearranging themselves, until half of the swarmship configured itself into a bizarre cannon with a gaping barrel large enough to swallow a small asteroid. Sparkles of energy jumped among the multiple components, engaging linkages, powering the central weapon.
The cannon's mouth glowed orange, then blazed a searing blue-white. A geyser of barely controlled energy vomited out and disintegrated one of Sirix's Mantas. Within two seconds, the swarmship pivoted in space and acquired another target as it recharged. Before the second Manta could accelerate out of the way, the weapon discharged again, ripping it apart.
Sirix knew his Juggernaut would be a prime target. 'More speed from our engines.' Descending to extremely low orbit, the battleship clawed its way through the fringes of Llaro's atmosphere, trying to skip over the horizon and dodge the weapon's line of fire. The moment he reached the planet's shadow, Sirix altered course and headed out into the system. The hardened robots could not withstand the crushing acceleration. PD and QT lost their balance, tumbled, and rolled across the deck until they banged together against a bulkhead.
Even so, the Juggernaut could not get out of range of the pursuing Klikiss swarmship fast enough. From too far away, the giant weapon spat a gout of destructive energy, which fortunately dissipated too widely to vaporize the Juggernaut outright. Many of the bridge's control panels sparked and smoked before going dead, but the big ship kept moving.
One of his fellow robot-controlled ships came back around, looped over the planet's south pole, and rose up to open fire on the swarmship. Multiple jazer blasts splintered off more than a hundred of the small Klikiss component craft, but the myriad ship recoalesced and formed its exotic weapon again - this time with the gaping barrel pointing toward the annoying Manta. The robot ship was vaporized in a single blast.
The Juggernaut continued to flee, while back at the planet the swarmship continued to hunt down the scattering EDF Mantas. PD strained against the continuing brutal acceleration to force himself into a sitting position. 'That ship sacrificed itself for us. Why would a robot do that?'
Still pinned to the deck, QT said in a distorted voice, 'Unexpected… and illogical.'
Sirix did not acknowledge the sacrifice. Each black robot was unique, theoretically equivalent. It made no sense that some of them would allow themselves to be destroyed to protect him, their de facto leader. The very idea was disturbing, but he could not allow himself to focus on the anomalous behaviour. Instead, he calculated the consequences of the attrition. Three Mantas lost, and the Juggernaut's engines damaged. Hundreds of black robots wiped out.
Enduring thrust far beyond the ship's design specifications, they hurtled out of the Llaro system. A failed mission. His dreams of grand conquest were fading into static. Gathering