Homeworld (Odyssey One) (37 page)

Not to mention cascading nukes that have got to
violate
the laws of frigging physics.
Eric scowled at the thought, every scientifically trained neuron in his brain offended by the display of power he’d seen the Priminae ships show in the last engagement the
Odyssey
had participated in at Ranquil.

“Stealth settings engaged. All systems showing nominal.”

“Alright. Now we get to play the game.” Eric allowed himself a small smile.

Daniels and Waters glanced at each other, smirking slightly. It was pretty clear that the captain was enjoying this a little too much.

The ship minds barely noted the target as it vanished. They’d been expecting it. Records showed that it was following what appeared to be its common pattern, and so they adjusted as well. The four ships broke formation, spreading out to avoid being caught in a single barrage from the ship’s known weapons.

It was clear that this ship was an agent of the red band, possibly one of the original carriers of the infestation. It had to be destroyed, but so far was proving resistant to the normal methods of the swarm. That was a serious problem, because if
there was one like this then there could—in fact, there almost certainly
would
be more.

There was a procedure for this event, however, as it had happened before and the creators knew that it could happen again.

It was with that procedure in mind that the ships set out to put their newfound enemy to the test.

Priminae Warship
Posdan

“All signals have gone quiet, Captain. They’ve apparently reached their destination.”

Kian nodded absently, eyeing the yellow star showing on their long-range systems. Already they were picking up stray signals, now that they were looking for them. That indicated civilization and high technology. It didn’t take much analyzing to recognize them as Terran modulation, so at the very least she expected they’d located one of the Terran colonies, if indeed they had any.

At worst, or best, depending on how one looked at things she supposed, it was their homeworld itself.

The world and the system were of secondary importance, however, given that she was quite certain that somewhere between her two warships and the system there were unknown numbers of Drasin lying in wait.

It is odd that they have gone silent. Drasin don’t sneak up on systems. They fly in with a complete lack of anything resembling caution or common sense. Why did we detect them all going dark well outside the system?

It seemed unlikely, but another stray thought struck her.

Are they actually
afraid
of the Terrans?

That thought was just inconceivable.

The Drasin were the monsters of children’s stories. They didn’t fear. They
were
fear. That was one of the things that made them so terrifying, the fact that they had no fear, no respect, no caution at all. They simply came on and on in an endless wave of destruction until they were finished.

Why, then, are they behaving so atypically now?

That was a question that was beginning to obsess her, and Kian knew it. Something told her that whatever it was that was changing the way they behaved was quite possibly the solutions to the entire crises the Drasin had engendered. She had to figure it out.

“Slow us. Transmit to the
Nept
to match our pace,” she ordered. “Make our speed one-third thrust. Do
not
excite trans-light particles.”

“Yes, Captain. One-third thrust, no trans-light excitation.”

The
Nept
and the
Posdan
slowed their approach, adjusting their warping of space-time to minimum to maintain speed while avoiding the broadcasting of their presence to anyone with a trans-light scanning system.

Ahead of them, a yellow star beamed out of the black, and the enemy awaited.

IMPERIAL DESTROYER
DEMIGOD

“COMMANDER, WE’RE GETTING some unusual feedback from telemetry systems linked to the drone ships.”

Ivanth glanced over, irritated by the distraction.

The ships of the flotilla had been slowly edging closer to the system, moving slowly enough not to form any detectable signatures that could be seen by trans-light scanners. They just weren’t close enough to get a reasonable view of the tactical situation within the system, and he didn’t want to be distracted by minor maintenance issues.

“Send the readings to the control departments,” he said. “Whatever it is, I’m sure they can work it out.”

“Commander, I have, but this is very odd. We don’t have anything in our briefs about these sorts of feedback issues.”

Ivanth sighed, feeling put upon, but turned from the screens he was viewing and started to walk over. “Alright, let me have a—”

“Commander! The unknown ship has employed stealth!”

Ivanth twisted back, eyes lighting on the place where the ship had been on his screens. He bared his teeth, then waved in the direction he’d been heading. “Just put a higher priority on it and tell the control department to figure it out. I’m busy.”

“Yes, Commander.”

N.A.C.S.
ODYSSEY

“WE’VE LOST TRACK of Bandits Three and Four. They split from the group and have reduced thrust, gone dark, Captain.”