New Contract (Perimeter Defense Book #3) (37 page)

The upshot was that we needed no less than ninety heavy freighters to transport the docks without disassembling them, and two months to attach the huge assembly, calibrate our thrusters and actually transport the thing. I stroked the bridge of my nose in contemplation.

"As for ships, let's say I find them. It would be much harder to guarantee secrecy though. Hiring that many heavy transport ships in the Empire or Swarm wouldn't go unnoticed, and any analyst would start to think about why such a strange contract was drawn up. It would also be hard to keep the thousands of civilians from the tug crews quiet, even using some fairly radical methods..."

Ayna walked up with three sets of tableware. We waited for the girl to set the table, and continued our confidential conversation.

"Cousin, there is one issue still tormenting me. That dock was found only by coincidence.
Joan the Fatty
, with its sensitive scanning systems, was next to it for a long time, and it wasn't until the second day that we noticed any anomaly in our instruments' feedback. How many such objects did we miss in previous Alien systems?!"

I froze with a spoon full of soup half way to my mouth, greatly alarmed by my cousin’s deduction. I mean, it really was possible that there were dozens of such hidden complexes, and maybe even hundreds. Now I would have to undertake a much more thorough scan of all the systems we'd already captured. I said my thought out loud, but Bionica calmed me immediately:

"There couldn't be too many of these docks. One, two at most. The main problem in building superheavy ships isn't docks, it's the tantalum concentrate it takes to build the ships. Today, when visiting the docks, I tried to calculate the amount of material needed to build one
Mammoth
. It would take millions of tons of tantalum concentrate. Tens of millions, in fact. The Aliens use similar materials for the armor plates on their ships. The demands for starship body material, having to withstand warp tunnel jumps, are just too specific, so there's nothing surprising in the fact that all different races have scientifically determined similar solutions to this universal technical problem. In the Aysar Cluster, there aren't any traces left of the Alien armada we blew up; they collected everything very carefully for meltdown. And also, here in Alien space, the tantalum armor plates have been removed from every space battle site. The Aliens would have to have destroyed thousands of enemy ships to scrape together the material to build just one
Mammoth
!"

I started thinking on my cousin's words and laughed:

"Now I understand why the Aliens are so interested in the Iseyek, and also why the Aliens moved through Swarm space so unhurriedly. The Iseyek, having been soundly decimated in the first few battles, were afraid of the military might of the enemy and began building giant ships to evacuate billions of eggs to a safe location in all their systems. This must have actually made the Aliens quite glad. Seeing this, they must have decided to simply allow the insects time to gather the ore in one place. Every unfinished Iseyek ship could be used by the Aliens to make new
Behemoths
and
Sledgehammers
."

Katerina agreed with me.

"It was good that you ended this by bringing Nai Igir to power then. It was apparently not very beneficial to the Iseyek. As far as I heard, the Swarm Queen ordered the transport ship construction halted everywhere except in the Dekeye capital system."

"Yes, that is true, cousin. How do you think the Swarm built so many combat ships in the last year? Meanwhile, the ship in the Dekeye system is already ready. I was told that not long ago by Advisor Triasss Zess. The insects finally finished the evacuation ship, and even loaded it with billions of eggs, but have yet to launch it."

"What are they waiting for?" Bionica asked in surprise. "They spent so long building it, they rushed to finish, throwing all their resources into the project..."

I obligingly explained to my assistant:

"First of all, they are waiting for Nai Igir to lay her clutch in order to also save Iseyek Prime eggs. Second, the situation has changed: we came with an offer to begin a combined counterattack, and the Iseyek now have a glimmer of hope that the evacuation of eggs might not even be necessary."

We spoke a bit about the docks, ores and unfinished
Mammoth
, then Bionica changed the topic:

"Crown Prince Georg, with the Alien
Queen
's departure from Himora, isn't it a good idea to send Unatari landing ships there to capture the station and take control of the system?"

"It is, of course. But every Alien station assault leads to thousands of victims and we have a very severe problem with manpower, especially in that region. Our allies, the Iseyek, have a different problem: there aren't enough landing ships. All eleven
Trias
are now dashing about the galaxy, supporting terrestrial operations in twenty-three star systems with fresh forces. That is why I suggest we give the honor of liberating Himora to a certain comely commander in our enemy's ranks."

"Nicole?" asked my cousin, immediately realizing my intention, her eyes lighting up. "Alright then, that sounds fine. But make sure it looks good. Tell her about it in person, but first, let's gather all her old friend's here in this cabin. It would be an excellent reason to show our warm feelings to her, and to get her to think about what side of the Unatari-Orange House conflict she should be on."

* * *

"I need you, Miya!!!"

As always, I didn't actually see Miya's arrival. All I saw was a vague motion with the corner of my eye. I then turned sharply to see my beauty, sitting cross-legged in a deep armchair wearing a white track suit, her fire-red hair pulled back into a bun and concealed beneath a hat. In Miya's hands, there was an armful of red maple leaves.

"You pulled me out of an autumn day’s walk through the park with Deia. What immediate help did you need this time?"

Autumn? Impossible! My second contract began in late autumn, already bordering on winter. The leaves had almost totally fallen off the trees already. Miya couldn't have been gathering maple leaves with her daughter unless a whole year had already passed. Also, did that mean little Deia was all alone in the park?

"Don't worry about our daughter. My servants will take her home. And as for autumn, as you may have noticed before, the passage of time in
Perimeter Defense
is not strongly correlated with that of the real world."

Miya wasn't even trying to hide the fact that she was flagrantly reading my thoughts, trying to suss out all the facts as quickly as possible. Another few seconds later, her face stretched out in surprise.

"Where are we? Where have you dragged the fleet off to this time?"

"The D56KT system. It isn't on Imperial maps. This is Alien space."

"Ugh, I thought I asked you not to take risks like this after your first raid through Alien space!" Miya tried raising her voice, but I put her in her place:

"Let's leave the fleet movement and war strategy to the experts, not the aristocrat who traded five fearsome battleships for a pleasure yacht."

My spouse opened her mouth to speak, but met with my gaze and stayed silent.

"Miya, the Aliens' main fleet is in the next system over charging energy to jump here to us. There are a great many enemies, but that shouldn't worry you. Space battles are my concern. Your mission is to restore as much energy as you can after the jump into the game. You'll be helped in that by a team of Beta Iseyek. They will feed you energy. And, in approximately six hours, you need to be ready for a strike on the Alien
Queen
together with some other Truth Seekers."

"Who else will be participating?" my spouse asked in a business-like tone.

I numbered off the Truth Seekers who would be taking part in the attack. Miya nodded contentedly:

"An impressive cast. Especially Krista. To be honest, her and I don't really get along."

"What do you mean?" I wondered, curious.

"It's a very old story. She was my teacher in a school for psionics on the Throne World..."

"Don't tell me it was you that caused the whole mess that closed her school down a century and a half ago."

It was basically just a joke, though the unmistakable horror that appeared on my spouse's face was evidence enough that I had guessed right. A Truth Seeker cannot lie to her master, and is obliged to answer honestly, even if it is a difficult question. Miya admitting to it could have very serious consequences; she would be heard by the invisible Chameleons, Phobos and Rosss, and perhaps some others as well. So, I hurried to add:

"Don't answer that. It was just a joke."

The fear and gloom on the woman's face were replaced with a good-hearted smile, and Miya nodded thankfully.

"Thank you. There are many ears here that shouldn't hear that. I would have been forced to kill all your bodyguards."

I tried to change the difficult topic:

"Miya, once again, you should be ready in six hours. Go to your chambers, change into something more befitting of a Queen."

"Very funny. You could first explain where my chambers are on this massive ship. After all, I don't have interactive implants, so I can't just call up a map."

"I'll call Ayna right away. She'll take you to your cabin. By the way, why don't you have implants? They don't get in the way of psionic abilities, after all."

"That's a strange question, Georg. Did you see an interactive guide pop-up on Krista or the Dark Mother? I was also born before those chips started getting implanted into all people, and never wanted one. Have you seen the 'achievements' Marian Sabati has? And now, imagine what a long list would be hanging over me for all to see, like a shameful brand that could never be washed off. Ancient Creature, Cannibal, Dirty Whore, Childkiller, Artifact Looter... And those are just from the war with the Swarm. There have been plenty of unflattering episodes in my biography since then, too. I will never agree to get electronic implants, Georg."

* * *

My speech to our soldiers had been composed by Katerina. I only changed a few sentences in it to draw attention to the fact that the forthcoming battle was important not only to humanity, but to all free races. I also emphasized the fact that we were the only thing standing between the Aliens and the Swarm Capital, and the last serious obstacle keeping the Aliens from capturing Perimeter Sectors Nine and Eight.

"You did an ideal job, Georg!" My cousin told me after I finished the speech. "Even I was impressed by the significance of the moment, and stood to applaud. That's how good your speech was. I should clarify the details with the Communications Ministry, but it seems very likely that we just set a record for the largest audience ever for an interstellar broadcast. The direct broadcast was made to four hundred star systems and twenty-five intelligent species! And in twelve minutes, a direct broadcast of the most grandiose space battle in human history will begin. The viewers are in such a frenzy that even the Antagonists have asked to watch."

I dried my sweat-covered forehead. During the speech, I had to totally close the faction and personal relationship change system, because it was impossible to concentrate with so many lines of text flashing by. Instead, I just looked at my own information:

Georg royl Inoky ton Mesfelle, Crown Prince of the Empire, Ruler of the Unatari State, Swarm Five-Star-Admiral

Age: 48

Race: Human

Gender: Male

Class: Aristocrat/Mystic

Achievements: Elder Chameleon Female, Discovered Arites, Got through Alien Blockade, Researcher of the Unknown, Imperial Land Grabber, Ex-Fleet Commander for Sector Eight, Malingerer, Denied Paternity, Respected by the Swarm, Dekeye Champion of No Rules Fighting, Defender of Humanity

Fame: 65

Standing: +12

Defender of Humanity? That was a new one. And also, the dubious achievement "Abandoned Friend" had disappeared, though that may have happened earlier. My standing had jumped a lot, and was finally in the positive. Now, ignoring faction, fame and standing, I turned to my work seat. My assistant Max Gregor sounded off immediately:

"Commander, we have finished setting the mines. There's one every half-mile from the warp beacon on a straight line for twenty-five hundred miles. We weren't greedy with the bombs, either. The enemy is sure to end up in the blast zone after coming out of the warp tunnel."

"Good, though it is like hitting an elephant with a pebble, for the big ships, at least. Though if we do reduce the amount of small ships, that would also be good. There's far too many of them. Has Krista come out of the woodwork, yet?"

"The Blue House told us that their Truth Seeker would be joining us a few minutes before the enemy appears. Another message came in, from Duke Takuro royl Andor: the Purple House is also providing a group of psionics to take part in the attack."

"Excellent. So, everyone, stand by in five minutes. Disconnect all data terminals not necessary for battle from the network. Check all the systems once again. Are the cloaked bombers ready to attack?"