Of Fire and Night - Kevin J. Anderson [28]
If his team could just make a breakthrough or two, Swendsen was sure all the pieces would fit neatly together. The EDF was waiting for anything he could announce.
16
ROSSIA
The Grid 5 battle group--a flagship Juggernaut and eleven escort Mantas--patrolled the starry wilderness. On the bridge of the Eldorado, Rossia touched his treeling, shifting uncomfortably in the polymer chair. The green priest was supposed to remain at his station for another several hours, in case Admiral Kostas Eolus should need his services for telink communication. He longed for the treetops of Theroc, despite the dangerous flying predators up there.
Rossia was one of the handful of original volunteers who'd joined the rigid structure of the military. He limped because of his scarred leg, his large eyes bulged as if he held his breath too often, and he talked to himself. But green priests were rare enough in the EDF that eccentric behavior was tolerated.
Reassigned from his old position with Admiral Willis, Rossia now served as a communications link for gruff Eolus. The Grid 5 admiral had curly black hair, heavy brows, and a strong chin with deep lines around his mouth. Eolus had never learned how to speak in a quiet voice. With the Admiral watching over his bridge like a wyvern in search of a tender meal, Rossia bent to his duties.
A flurry of messages and concerns caught his attention when he sent his mind out through telink. Something was happening out there. He sensed a deeply troubling flood from other green priests, primarily comrades who served aboard EDF ships. The most urgent message came from Clydia aboard Admiral Stromo's Manta, which was currently searching for the rammers at Qronha 3. Through the worldforest mind, Rossia could hear her thoughts, see through her eyes, and experience her surroundings. After he had received her shocking news, his discomfort on the hard chair disappeared:
Clydia had seen Soldier compies murder two crewmembers on Stromo's bridge. Now she caressed her treeling, both to reassure the plant and to take guidance from the worldtree mind. No one knew how serious the situation might be. Clydia slipped away and headed for her quarters. Perhaps in that sanctuary, she could dim the lights and sit with her treeling, to recover her peace by communing with the worldforest. Alarms thrummed through the Manta.
As she hurried along, the corridor intercom bubbled with a stew of brusque reports and anxious voices. "Admiral, something's wrong with the compies. They won't obey standard--"
"I already ordered you to shut them down!"
She heard a strange sound--a muffled scream?--then thumps, a scuffle, a shot before the intercom was cut off. Clydia could smell death and shock in the air. Three uniformed crewmen ran past her, obviously frightened. She pressed herself against the wall so as not to get in their way.
From adjacent passages and open hatches came a confusing barrage of echoes--shouts, the clatter of metal, an explosion. Clydia flinched at the crackle of twitcher beams, but she couldn't tell which direction the noises had come from. She moved faster, hounded by ricochets of sound. Her potted treeling felt heavy in her arms, but she held it tightly. It was her only link to the green priests, to the worldforest. They all had to know what was going on. . . .
Aboard the Eldorado, Rossia jerked upright, astonished and at a loss for words. He blinked furiously, trying to focus his thoughts and his eyes.
Admiral Eolus saw him jump. "What got you, green priest? Does your tree have a biting bug?"
Rossia stared at his treeling in disbelief. "Something terrible is happening. Soldier compies are attacking the crew aboard one of the EDF Mantas, I think."
Eolus let out a gruff laugh. "Don't be ridiculous."
"No . . . I don't think it's ridiculous at all. Let me--" He plunged his thoughts back into telink, seeing through Clydia's eyes again, watching her run barefoot through the