The Ashes of Worlds - Kevin J. Anderson [76]
With hissing, clacking sounds, four of the ominous-looking warriors stepped closer. Behind them towered two larger creatures, gigantic forms whose shells were striped with black and silver. They clicked and whistled, but Diente received no translation from the device, although it appeared to be functioning properly.
“Can you understand me?” He gathered his courage and continued. “There is no need for conflict between our races.” He waited; again no answer, but more bugs crowded toward the shuttle. The guards behind him muttered nervously. “If there has been any trespass, it was inadvertent. In the interest of cooperation between our races, we offer to withdraw from any former Klikiss worlds.”
The warrior insects raised their sharp limbs. The EDF soldiers unslung their weapons and held them defensively. Diente did not feel he was getting through to the Klikiss. “Please, this is an overture of peace.”
Without warning, large ground-based artillery tubes belched fire from the tops of hollow turrets in the hive city. Enormous energy projectiles rolled upward like solidified comets and slammed into the Manta that cruised low overhead.
“Stop!” Diente shouted.
“Holy shit!” Screaming in terror and fury, the twenty-eight guards opened fire on the nearby Klikiss, mowing them down.
Above them, the Manta was ripped open, its engines destroyed. Huge chunks of flaming debris fell out of the sky like meteors, before the hulk itself hurtled downward. It crashed into the outskirts of the hive city and erupted in a huge fireball that flattened half a kilometer of the insect structures. The Klikiss didn’t seem to care.
“There is no need for this!” Diente shouted into the translator. He glanced at the Klikiss translation device and came to the sick conclusion that the hive mind didn’t understand the very concept of peacemaking or negotiation. The Klikiss had no interest in coexisting with another species.
With continuous fire from their weapons, his guards massacred hundreds of bugs. But they were in a nest of millions.
Tears streamed down the Admiral’s face as Klikiss warriors marched forward. Diente doubted that Chairman Wenceslas would ever realize the extent of his folly here. At least, though, there would be no further reason to hold his family hostage.
He felt an odd sense of release, maybe even a feeling of relief, as the tension of these past months reached a culmination. He drew his sidearm and faced the oncoming insects. Yes, at least his family would be free.
* * *
53
Orli Covitz
At Osquivel, many storage domes, laboratory complexes, and admin centers were scarred and blasted from the recent EDF depredations. Busy Roamer workers flew about in construction pods rebuilding domes, sealing habitats, and linking damaged structures together.
On her way through the shipyard complexes to the new lab chamber Kotto Okiah had set up, Orli stumbled upon the Governess compy UR, whom she remembered from Llaro. UR had been courageous in defending the Llaro children from Klikiss attacks, losing her left arm to a vicious insect scout. Once the Llaro refugees had returned to Osquivel, Roamer engineers had not taken long to find a donor arm from a previously decommissioned compy. The colors of the polymer skin did not match — the new arm was blue and orange, in contrast to the more sedate indigo and gray of the Governess compy’s body — but UR seemed quite pleased with it.
The compy was surrounded by students ranging in age from five to nine. On the coated stone floor, she had spread a colorful mat divided into squares overprinted with a lush yet confusing pattern of writhing snakes — vipers, cobras, pythons — meshed with a spray of arrows that flew in various directions. The snakes and arrows connected squares on the game board. While UR gave calm advice on strategy, the children threw dice and moved their pieces.
“What are you doing?