The Ashes of Worlds - Kevin J. Anderson [117]
“Yes, Admiral.” He sounded strained. “One last round to finish the job. I’ll have the Thunder Child follow you in.”
Willis was confident this last bombardment would eradicate one more deadly breedex from the Spiral Arm. Best of all, Lanyan might actually learn a lesson in brotherly cooperation.
The EDF ships followed her on the bombing run, as she’d hoped. The smoking, cratered landscape directly below showed that the insect city had been reduced to complete ruin.
The Jupiter dumped its full load of surface armaments. No sense in being stingy now, she thought. The destruction was absolutely glorious, giving her a childlike thrill. Hot, intense waves scoured the surface, obliterating every last speck of the hive structures below. Behind her, the loaded Confederation ships dropped their weapons, slamming deeper, shattering the crust.
“Nobody’s going to want to settle down there for a long, long time,” Willis said. “Better take Pym off the Colonization Initiative list.”
Three of the EDF Mantas also made a final bombardment, even though it seemed redundant. There was absolutely nothing left on the surface.
“I think that’s a job well done, Admiral Willis,” Lanyan said.
Suddenly, from behind her, the Thunder Child and two EDF Mantas began to open fire on her, targeting the Juggernaut’s engines.
“What the hell?” She slammed her fist down on the comm panel. “General, you’re either a bad shot or more boneheaded than I can describe.”
“I am acting on behalf of the Earth Defense Forces. You are deemed as great a threat to human civilization as the Klikiss are. Now that the Pym subhive has been eradicated, I plan on taking care of the second threat.” He called upon the Thunder Child to open fire again.
Willis ordered her ships to take evasive action. Disgusted, she did not keep her opinions to herself. “That man has three testicles, and one of them is in place of his brain.” The EDF ships kept firing on her Juggernaut. “Get us out of here. Pym has lost its charm.”
As Lanyan’s ship closed in to fire upon the Confederation vessels, one of the Mantas flew directly between the Thunder Child and the Jupiter. For a moment Willis thought it was one of her own ships, but then she clearly saw the EDF chain-of-stars logo.
Conrad Brindle spoke over the channel as his Manta took heavy damage by intercepting shots fired by Lanyan’s weapons officers. “Robb, Admiral, you’d best get out of here. You’ve helped us pound the Klikiss, but if you stay any longer this isn’t going to end well.”
Willis glowered down at the smoldering remains of the hive city, then sounded a call for retreat across her battle group. “You heard the man. Pack it up and save your bacon while you can. We’ve done our part here. General Lanyan just never learned how to play well with others.”
* * *
82
Tal O’nh
Even without his eyesight, Tal O’nh could sense the mass and geometry of the structures around him — the sounds, the vibrations, the solidity of the big shipyard complex.
The Solar Navy construction yards had been abandoned since the return of the faeros. When the fireballs had burst out of the dead sun of Durris-B and swarmed to Ildira, construction teams had evacuated the facility. The spacedocks, fabrication lines, administrative hubs, and skeletal frameworks of four incomplete warliners hung together above the planet’s atmosphere. It was a ghost town, a massive junkyard in space.
O’nh knew what to do with it.
Though corrupted by the fiery elementals, Rusa’h still thought like an Ildiran. He still believed, in some distorted way, that he was a guardian of his people. He would not be able to conceive that any Prime Designate could order something so drastic, so unspeakable. No Ildiran could — until now.
Though he had no eyes, the old commander knew the controls by touch. Aided by his few obdurate assistants, he had already activated