Metal Swarm - Kevin J. Anderson [7]
He reviewed the tallies of his remaining weapons and resources: out of thousands of ships, he still had three Juggernauts (one severely damaged), one hundred seventy-three Manta Cruisers, seventeen slow-moving but heavily armed Thunderhead weapons platforms, more than two thousand Remora small attack ships, and enough stardrive fuel to grant them reasonable mobility from system to system, provided the engines operated at peak efficiency. They had standard-issue weaponry, explosives, even sixty eight atomic warheads. It would be enough. Soon, when the rest of his robots completed their tasks on Maratha, they would have an invincible predatory force.
Soldier compies operated the Juggernaut's relevant consoles, though many stations were unmanned and unnecessary - life-support systems, science stations, communications centres. Dried bloodstains caked the floor and diagnostic panels. Admiral Wu-Lin himself had died here, fighting the rebellious Soldier compies with his bare hands after his weapons gave out. Nineteen human bodies had been removed from the bridge, more than six hundred humans had been hunted down, trapped, and executed on other decks. Sirix had no interest in keeping prisoners. They were not relevant to his plans.
Given time, the bloodstains would degrade, and so long as the systems functioned, he cared little for hygiene or cosmetic appearances. Such things had never been of concern to his insectoid creators either, and the Klikiss had programmed their behaviour traits into the robots.
The lift doors opened, and llkot walked onto the bridge on his clusters of fingerlike legs. He communicated in a staccato flash of coded electronic signals. 'According to the ship's database, Wollamor has been claimed by the humans as part of their colonization initiative.'
'It is a former Klikiss world, and all Klikiss worlds are ours.' Sirix studied the screen, pinpointing the bright star and the mottled brown, green, and blue planet in orbit around it. Though diminished, his battle group was more than sufficient to crush the unwanted human presence below and take possession of Wollamor.
This was a near-forgotten outpost from ancient times, former home of a subhive whose breedex had been slaughtered in the interminable Klikiss wars. Sirix himself had been persecuted on Wollamor thousands of years ago. This time, though, his arrival would be far different.
Soldier compies working the key bridge stations alerted him to an incoming transmission. The extended sensors of the colony's satellite network had picked up the group of ships. 'EDF, where have you been? We've waited six months for relief supplies!'
A second voice came on the comm. 'We've been cut off here - no news, no green priests. What's happening out there in the rest of the Spiral Arm? We thought you'd written us off.'
Sirix contemplated various fictions he could disseminate. Using snippets from stored log recordings, he could compile a convincing conversation and dupe these anxious colonists. But why bother? I decided that the benefits of such a ruse would not justify the effort necessary to convey veracity. 'Maintain communications silence.'
Sirix sent a group of Manta cruisers forward to attack. He observed through external imagers while the cruisers plunged down like broad spearpoints, tearing through wispy clouds on their way to the rugged and cracked landscape. He easily spotted the primary colony settlement the humans had built around the old Klikiss ruins and the transportal gateway.
After deciphering how the ancient technology functioned, these human vermin had rushed through transportals, spreading like pernicious weeds across numerous pristine worlds. Klikiss worlds. Planets that by right belonged to Sirix and the black robots.
Sweeping low over the clustered buildings, the first group of Mantas readied their jazer banks and explosive-projectile batteries. They had plenty of firepower. In the streets below, emerging from colourful prefabricated buildings, the Wollamor