The Ashes of Worlds - Kevin J. Anderson [213]
The dispersed swarmships began to open fire, and his own vessels could not withstand the barrage from thousands of components.
In the face of imminent destruction, Sirix took scant satisfaction from knowing that his own final plan would cripple the Hansa. Chairman Wenceslas was not the only one who had schemed to take his enemy/ally unawares.
The booby-trapped explosives his robots had planted in the repaired EDF battleships were tied to a “dead man” switch inside himself. In the event of Sirix’s destruction, those bombs would all be triggered. It was cold comfort, though. Either way, he and his robotic comrades would be destroyed.
Though PD, QT, and a few of the original robots remained at their weapons consoles, the Klikiss continued to blast the robot vessels. They did not cease firing until nothing remained but shrapnel and stardust.
* * *
148
Robb Brindle
Frozen in place over Earth, nothing moved — not the EDF vessels, not the Confederation ships, not the nine remaining Klikiss swarmships. The other two swarmships had hunted down the escaping black robot fleet, and flashes of distant weapons discharges indicated an intense space battle occurring somewhere far above the ecliptic.
Though announcements about Peter reclaiming the Whisper Palace had been widely broadcast, no one had heard a word from Chairman Wenceslas inside the main swarmship; no one could guess what the breedex had done to him. In addition, Robb’s father, in command of the EDF ships, had refused to acknowledge the King’s return to power.
Right now, even though they all faced the swarmships, the Goliath and more than a hundred EDF military vessels could just as easily point their weapons toward the Confederation fleet. Robb couldn’t be sure his father wouldn’t do that if the Chairman gave him a direct order. But the Chairman was no longer around.
Rising from the Palace District, Admiral Willis’s warliner raced up toward the human ships that hovered in two distinct defensive lines against the Klikiss. Her weapons were ready to fire, pointed at the swarmships charging in like the cavalry.
One of the EDF ships suddenly exploded. The eruption took everyone by surprise. Flames and shrapnel hurtled outward in an expanding, roiling ball where the Manta had been.
Robb yelped. “Who opened fire?”
Like a chain reaction, a second Manta erupted in flames, its fuel tanks bursting. A Thunderhead went next, then one of the two newly repaired Juggernauts, the pride of the reconstituted fleet.
Taking his own initiative, the Jupiter’s weapons officer shouted, “Targeting main swarmship! They’re firing on us — ”
“Don’t shoot!” Robb hadn’t seen the Klikiss clusters initiate any action at all.
“We have to help them!” Estarra cried.
Sarein looked dismayed. “But I don’t see any weapons fire.”
Another Manta exploded. The comm channels were filled with frantic, angry chatter. In a tumultuous reaction, the EDF battle group scrambled, powering their engines up, pulling their vessels into a defensive formation, ready to open fire.
Robb jumped to his feet, letting the command chair spin behind him. “Sound General Quarters — all alarms! Everybody prepare for attack from any direction. Dammit, what’s causing those explosions?”
Another Manta cruiser broke apart in a gush of flames. The succession of explosions continued all along the EDF line. Admiral Willis veered her own ship away from the debris.
General Conrad Brindle’s face appeared on the communication screen, yelling at Robb. “What the hell have you done?”
Robb frantically searched for the comm button on the Jupiter’s command chair. Even before he opened a response channel, he was already yelling, “It’s not us! We didn’t do it!”
“You have attacked the Earth Defense Forces. With our backs turned! We trusted you, but Chairman Wenceslas warned me — ”
He cut his father off. “I never gave the order. Check your readouts — we’re not firing.”
Admiral Willis bellowed from the bridge of her Manta. “Mr. Brindle, you’d better have a damned good explanation for this.” Robb couldn’t tell if she was