The Ashes of Worlds - Kevin J. Anderson [151]
Tasia Tamblyn came sprinting back, her face flushed. “Kellum, do you have a green priest on the skymine? I can send a message to Osquivel — call for Confederation reinforcements.”
Frantic Roamer ships were launching from the lower decks, and the sky was filled with a chaos of unfiled flight plans. More craft streaked away from nearby skymines. Kellum sprinted to an intercom and demanded a report, though his people had little more information to give him. “Even I didn’t think the Eddies would come back with cojones that big. We are in deep poop.”
“We’re in deep something,” Tasia said. “I’m surprised the Eddies have any ships left after the debacle on Pym.”
Kotto Okiah, standing perplexed next to them, furrowed his brow and stared at the numerous distant shapes that had begun to appear at high altitude. “Let’s not jump to conclusions. That’s way too many ships, and they’re not behaving like Eddy raiders.”
Descending through the sky in a great parade with colorful solar sails deployed, hundreds of Ildiran warliners approached the skymining levels. The ornate alien ships reminded Kellum of the frilly angelfish he had once kept in his aquariums. Behind the first wave came another, and another.
“It looks like the whole Solar Navy.” He let out a long breath. “By damn, what are we supposed to do against this?” He sprinted toward the lift with the others following. He had to get to the ops center and at least pretend to be in charge. He was in charge, and people would want him to make decisions.
The warliners had broadcast no message. As soon as he reached the control room, Kellum sent a loud message to the incoming ships, as well as his own. “Don’t shoot! There’s no need for any weapons fire. We have no beef with the Ildiran Empire.” On the outer tactical screens, he saw hundreds more warliners locked in orbit, forming a full cordon around the gas giant. “This is Del Kellum, chief of this skymine complex. And I’d very much like some explanations.”
On the screen an image formed, showing a proud and ornately dressed Ildiran male with a long braid that hung over one shoulder. Mage-Imperator Jora’h. “Do not be concerned, Del Kellum. We also have no quarrel with the Roamer clans or the Confederation.” The alien leader’s smile seemed compassionate and genuine. “We request temporary sanctuary here on Golgen.”
* * *
104
Rlinda Kett
After leaving the Klikiss before the One Breedex could complete its fissioning, Rlinda wanted to pilot the ship, feeling sharply the loss of the Curiosity. Although BeBob adored her, he also adored his new Blind Faith, so they compromised by taking turns.
Margaret Colicos had asked to be taken back to Earth, where her son, Anton, lived. While they were on their way, she continued to ponder what might be happening on Llaro. “Now that all the Klikiss subhives have consolidated themselves, I don’t know how much information the One Breedex acquired and retained from all the humans the domates incorporated. Or from Davlin himself.” She looked at them, obviously trying to get Rlinda and BeBob to hear the significance of her words. “The hive mind definitely understands something about humanity. What if the One Breedex decides it wants to control the human race, too? What if the Klikiss sweep across all of our colony worlds?”
“This lady is just full of fun ideas,” BeBob said with a loud groan.
“We’ll be at Earth soon,” Rlinda said, though she did not actually feel much optimism at the prospect. “Everything will be fine — you’ll see.”
But when they arrived, they found that Earth had suffered the greatest devastation in human history. Rlinda was stunned by what their screens showed. “I stay away from here for a month, and the whole solar system falls apart?”
Fragments large and small, many still glowing with residual thermal heat, spread out from where the Moon should have been. A small planet’s worth of rubble had dispersed into a hot cloud, most of it spreading out along its former orbital path, though numerous