Scattered Suns - Kevin J. Anderson [7]
A huge shadow crossed the fields like the black shape of a vulture passing overhead. The three of them looked up and Crim squinted to get a better look. “What the hell is that?”
Nikko recognized the profile of an enormous warship drifting in front of the solar mirror array, blocking the reflected sun. “It’s an Eddy battleship! I saw them hit Hurricane Depot—”
As if to reinforce his claim, the silhouetted vessel launched a volley of explosive projectiles into the gossamer mirror array. The artillery punched bright blossoms of fire through the reflective film, which sent dazzling ricochets of light in all directions. The tether cable snapped, and the mangled reflectors drifted, twirling like tissue blown in a high wind. The greenhouse dome was plunged into shadow, illuminated only by starlight and uncertain glints from the tattered mirror.
Alarms sounded throughout the dome, and relay messages came from the artificial storage stations and satellite asteroids. Marla shouted, “Get an oxygen mask. Tell everyone to suit up if they have time—”
Her instructions were cut off by an announcement from the EDF battleships over the dome’s intercom systems. “This is Admiral Lev Stromo of the Earth Defense Forces. By order of King Peter, this facility has been seized by the Terran Hanseatic League. All assets are forfeit to the war effort for the protection of humanity.”
“Oh, piss off,” Crim grumbled.
“Roamers have been declared hostiles. Therefore, all inhabitants of this facility will be taken away and processed. Our ships will accept your surrender. Any resistance will be considered grounds for immediate and decisive retaliation.”
Jumpsuited agricultural workers scrambled to their meeting points, as they had been drilled to do, but an overwhelming force of Earth military vessels already loomed above the greenhouse complex. They were bottled up here.
The emergency lights cast strange shadows among the growing plants, and flickering alarms added to the nightmarish quality. Without the sun mirror, the temperature inside the dome was already dropping. Because they had no official military branch, Roamer security depended on secrecy and rapid dispersal of their ships.
In direct defiance of the admiral’s order, one small cargo ship accelerated like a bullet down from a food storage satellite. The greenhouse intercom picked up the pilot’s transmission over a private Roamer channel. “I’ll keep them busy while the rest of you get away! Everybody better evacuate immediately.”
“It’s Shelby. That idiot—what the hell does he think he’s doing?”
The cargo ship flew in like a matador provoking a bull. Shelby launched one tiny potshot directly at the lead Manta cruiser.
Nikko and his parents made their way to the nearest emergency station and grabbed masks, tugging the straps to secure them firmly over mouth and nose. Hands on his hips, Crim grumbled through the mask, “Even if he did manage to distract them for more than a nanosecond, none of our evacuation ships could outrun those EDF vessels.”
True to his word, Admiral Stromo responded with deadly force. Two jazer beams lanced out from the Manta, played across the small ship’s hull, and ripped it open.
“Shelby,” Crim mumbled in disgust as his wife moaned. “The man wasn’t fit for recycling. Now he’s made it worse for all of us.”
Nikko grabbed his mother’s arm. “I’ve got the Aquarius. It won’t take many people, but we can still—”
Marla turned an intense, determined look on her son. “You’ve got the wentals aboard, Nikko. You have to get away. Think what the Big Goose might do if they got their hands on something like that.”
“Probably pour them down the drain,” Crim said with a snort.
Incensed by Shelby’s ineffective harassment, the EDF invaders fired a single jazer pulse at the main greenhouse dome. It was probably meant to be a warning shot, but the beam ruptured the armored glass.
The wave of explosive decompression sent a thump through the dome. A hurricane of escaping atmosphere ripped plant trays and hydroponics