Beyond Death (Perimeter Defense Book #2) (2 page)

I called General Savasss Jach, who heard out this bizarre mission with surprising tranquility. The huge insect wriggled his antennae for some time, then Bionica translated his answer:

"Ten thousand Alpha Iseyek assault troops should be enough. But first you'll need to secure a path for them by clearing all the
Behemoth
's drones and collecting information about the enemy ship. And he'll need around two standard hours to wake the soldiers from a state of suspended animation."

Katerina heard out the general's answer with me and said with satisfaction:

"Great! Now I'll have a two-hour gap between my reports. I'll do a series of broadcasts and interviews with various officers and commanders of your fleet. I'll give information in small portions. Let the viewers stay on the edges of their seats under the impression that the space battle is raging on. Then, I'll give a live broadcast from the landing troops' chambers. But Georg, it would be really great if we could have someone taking part in storming the Alien ship other than the praying mantises, like people too. Otherwise, there won't be any viewer involvement, and they won't sympathize with us."

Admiral Kiro Sabuto also supported the idea.

"My Prince, your cousin is right. Today we shall write a new page in the history of human resistance against the Aliens. This battle is sure to be included in all tactical textbooks and even school history books, and it is very important that people be the most active participants in the capture of the Alien battleship. All of our ships have a boarding team. We can gather more than two thousand soldiers from the whole fleet."

Popori de Cacha suddenly forced his way into the conversation and said with a bow:

"My Prince, I ask that you include two Chameleons from your bodyguard team in the assault force. For my kind, the Ravaash, it is also important to feel that we are taking part in this historic moment."

"Alright. I order human assault troops and Chameleons to get prepared as well. You have two hours. These divisions will also be commanded by General Savasss Jach, and Bionica will provide coordination and translation."

I turned to my assistant Nicole and asked about the
Behemoth
. The girl, without taking off her headphones, frowned in dissatisfaction:

"The pilots are getting tired from the long battle, and it’s starting to show. They have begun to make errors:
Pyro-22
scratched itself at high speed against a turret tower, and
Pyro-25
ran into an enemy drone. Both ships left the battle with broken armor and no shields and have gone for repair. We’re getting the impression that the
Behemoth
has an infinite supply of drones. We've already taken down a hundred thirty-two, but new flocks of them just keep squirming out. Are they making them in there or something?"

"Nicole, don't worry. I'll send the pilots out a fresh team. Pick someone to change them out. Your mission is to hold the
Behemoth
another two hours while the praying mantis assault troops unfreeze. If you get tired, I can take your place."

"I appreciate your concern, Prince, but I do not need any help. It's the first time I've been entrusted with such an important mission, and that is its own reward."

* * *

"The flamethrowers are lighting the way. We have cleared a corridor to the cannon tower, and group
Blue-Three
is moving out to capture it. There are two hundred Swarm assault troops."

"
White-Eight
here. We’ve cleared another path into the third section! We'll take the winding corridor toward the tactical marker. Serious resistance. A vacuum does nothing to stop these shrubs. They still fight, even without atmosphere."

"Thick fire! We have to get back to the spiral staircase. Only four soldiers remaining of thirty in
Yellow-Four
. The praying mantises that were covering our exit have already all gone down. We need support immediately. Aaaaaa!"

Katerina pointed at the screen and shook her head:

"We'll have to cut that part out."

"You will do no such thing! The viewers have to see that this isn’t child’s play. Everything is serious. There's a war on, and the soldiers are paying with their blood so the rest of humanity may live.”

Despite the fierce resistance, the assault divisions systematically cleared the huge ship. More and more groups of soldiers snuck inside the
Behemoth
through the holes we were cutting into its chassis. The assault troops' losses turned out to be significant. The Aliens forced us to pay a heavy price for every foot of the winding corridors we took. Bionica, wearing a pair of huge headphones, was frantically picking division markers on the screen and nonstop translating messages and commands from human to Swarm language and back. Katerina even shot a separate report on the android girl so viewers from the whole Empire could watch my wonderful translator work in real life.

"
White-Three
here. We have met up with
Yellow-Five
. Enemy resistance has been suppressed. We have captured what looks like a reactor installation. Let the experts figure it out.”

"
Green-Ten
here. Mission accomplished. The superstructure is under our control."

"
White-Six
here. We have cleared the hall of automatic defense systems. Less than a third of our praying mantises survived. We're detecting intensive radio signals and long-distance communication systems further down this hallway. It seems we've found the headquarters."

I asked the opinion of General Savasss Jach, who was leading the assault. The Gamma Iseyek agreed that we had finally uncovered the true source of the enemy teams that had been coming up against our divisions. The previous two centers, which we had taken as command points, turned out to be nothing more than signal retransmitters. The general said that over eighty percent of all internal spaces on the starship had already been captured, the resistance was noticeably weakening, and it would all be over in ten or fifteen minutes.

After hanging up with the general, I turned to the officers and asked them to bring the paralyzed Truth Seeker to me immediately. And then, when two men had gone to fetch her, I demanded that the communications officer put me directly through to the Emperor as soon as he's received a confirmation that the capture of the battleship is finally complete. For the first time in my memory, I had to repeat an order two times.

"Do you think August will want to talk?" asked Katerina with a large degree of doubt in her voice.

"I think he will. Thanks to your reports, the whole Empire has been following the events in the Hnelle system for three hours now. The viewers' interest is simply rabid. I have already grown tired of closing messages about personal and faction relations improving, and there are over seven hundred people waiting on hold to talk to me right now. You hit all the right note
s–
worry, fear, then a timid hope, compassion, and finally pride for the brave Fleet Eight soldiers, who saved a star system from invasion. I have no doubt that the Emperor was told about the Alien invasion immediately. If I were in August's place, I'd want to talk to the heroes."

The long-awaited confirmation came in from the general, and I ordered to be put through to the Throne World. More than a minute went by before the screen lit up. I bent down on one knee and said:

"My Emperor, this is a report from Sector Eight Fleet Commander Crown Prince Georg royl Inoky. The battle in the Hnelle system has just finished. The enemy fleet has been completely defeated. For the first time in history, we have captured an Alien ship, and what's more, it's a battleship. Many valuable specimens have been collected for study, both biological and technological."

"Georg royl Inoky, order your people out of the room. I need to speak with you privately," August grumbled, slightly upset. "No, they can stay. Just make sure they don't talk much about this conversation afterwards. So, I thought you were supposed to be on your way to the Throne World... It's strange to see you in the Hnelle system."

"My Emperor, there was a serious risk that the Aliens would try to attack the Hnelle system again, as the Aliens never give up attacking a system until they’ve captured it. I would be overjoyed to see your Imperial Highness personally in the Throne World three weeks from the time of the previous meeting, but my first mission is still to defend Sector Eight, and that is precisely what I intend to do."

The Emperor furrowed his brow:

"Or maybe the Green House's accusations were more serious this time and really did have a basis to them? What do you say, grandson?"

I waved it off with ostentatious carelessness.

"My Emperor, what kind of credibility could these accusations possibly have, if even the main accuser, Katerina ton Mesfelle, recognized that they were absolutely hopeless and came over to the side of the accused?! If Duke Paolo's son refused his right to my system, and the Duke's nephew defected as soon as given the chance?! The only thing the accusers were counting on was that the head of the Orange House would not support me, and instead go over to their side. I have evidence of a shameful agreement between Duke Paolo royl Anjer and the Green House to that effect. It is more than enough to raise the issue of non-confidence in the head of the Orange House. The rest of the accusations are utterly foolish, like the last time. What is it on the list? The tragic death of two members of the Green House? This issue has already been looked over in great detail, and all investigators admitted that the deceased alone were at fault. The peace treaty with the Gamma Iseyek? What can I say? First, in that I did not have the authority for such a decision, the head of the Orange House himself confirmed this peace, so all questions are to Duke Paolo royl Anjer. Second, it is only thanks to the great Gamma Iseyek leader, General Savasss Jach, that today's victory was possible. My android? You could see her working as a translator with your own eyes. And again, my opponents have nothing but spy logs. And as far as I’m concerned, using an android translator’s confidential logs to spy on a crown prince is nothing but another shameful episode in the Duke’s already fairly disgraceful biography. There are no more accusations against me, as far as I know."

The Emperor did not agree with that:

"There's also turning off the warp beacons. Interfering with the functioning of the transportation network is a very serious crime, Georg."

"I didn’t turn them off. I put them into 'by request' mode. Imperial ships are free to pass, but Alien ships find it a bit harder to make their way through. And that measure has completely justified itself!"

"We'll allow it," agreed August after some time in thought. "Though I am interested in the technical side of the issue. How did you do it, Georg?"

"It couldn't have been easier: I sent mixed teams of people and androids to uninhabitable automatic beacons. It's still more androids – they can work for a long time on nothing but electricity until the cosmic greenhouses are up and running. This isn't an invasion, after all. I intend to develop and support these distant settlements to the best of my ability. Freight starships have been sent to all of them with materials for building docks, residential spaces, greenhouses, repair shops, moorings and defensive structures. I have financed the development of these remote Sector Eight systems on my personal money for humanity's sake, so real stations and new populations could grow there. Humanity needs to expand further in space, and I was helping our race make the next step forward into the cosmos.”

"Good on you, Georg, really. I wasn't expecting it. On the whole, I have nothing left to say, and I really do not see a reason for us to meet so frequently, tearing you away from important matters. My only condition is that you must resolve your issues and come to an agreement with the Head of the Orange House. Your conflict is completely unacceptable to me. I give you one hundred days. Do it however you like, grandson, but the conflict must be resolved. And now give an order to your people to turn on the recording, and let's start our conversation over from the beginning, but for the whole Empire to see."

* * *

I watched carefully as the recording of my conversation with Emperor August made for the wider public played on screen. The commander, kneeling humbly, made a report about an unprecedented victory over a large Alien fleet, and the haughty Emperor, majestic in the extreme, graciously accepted the report from his loyal servant. Then came a short eloquent speech on this battle’s significance as a turning point in the history of humanity’s struggle against the Aliens, followed by the unexpected awarding of medals. Though soldiers from Great House divisions were normally not given orders and medals, August decided to make an exception and gave out five Emerald Stars for service to the Empire. The fortunate recipients of Imperial orders were the Admirals Kiro Sabuto and Kheraisss Vej, General Savasss Jach, the captain of the heavy cruiser
Emperor August
, Bayazid Krom, and Bionica, the android translator.

There were no medals given to me, but I didn't get worked up over it. My reward was something else entirely: giving medals to Bionica and General Savasss Jach spoke to everyone about the fact that the Emperor was putting an end these issues once and for all and was not interested in hearing any more accusations. One hundred days to make peace with the Duke... Not an especially short time frame, but I still wasn't even close to imagining how I could carry out the Emperor's order.