The Genevian Queen: The Complete Series, page 47
They also answered to Hammond, not Yara.
He connected to Major Fennel.
Below, the pandemonium had finally settled enough for Yara to resume addressing the crowd.
“You all know this to be true. What Nietzschea needs right now is strong leadership. Military leadership. The high councilor cannot give that to you. He’s far more concerned with petty power struggles than the clear and imminent threat that faces us.
“As your empress, I will restore us to our glory days, end the Genevian rebellion, and bring order to the empire. When we once again are in a position of strength, I’ll work toward an accord with the Scipian Alliance, one that will benefit the interests of the empire. But first, we must deal with those who would weaken us further.”
Yara turned to the soldiers standing over the twelve councilors seated at the upper table, and nodded.
Hammond drew in a breath as he rose to stand at the edge of the balcony, staring down in mock horror at what was about to happen.
Poulos was screaming unintelligibly, as were a few other councilors. Some of those in the lower chamber attempted to rush the central dais, only to be fired on by the soldiers, concussive pulse blasts cutting into the cacophony.
Amidst that, Yara raised her hand, about to give Hammond everything he wanted, but before it could fall, an alert went out over Valhalla’s emergency channel.
For a moment, he thought the announcement was referring to the coup, but a second later, that perception changed.
Hammond glanced at Major Fennel and gave a slight nod.
The soldiers on the upper balcony shifted their weapons from the ceremony’s attendees to Yara and the upper council.
The high admiral’s eyes met Hammond’s and she mouthed, ‘I’ll kill you for this’.
A second later, all hell broke loose.
MAD DASH
STELLAR DATE: 06.15.8950 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: GMS Marauders’ Lance, near Capitol
REGION: Pruzia System, Nietzschean Empire
Heather gripped the edge of the holotank as lightly as possible, her gaze fixed on the eighteen dropships and one starcrusher boosting out of the Marauders’ Lance, closing the gap between the super dreadnought and Kalimar Station.
They’d brought the ship in close, tight enough that the Lance’s stasis shields nearly brushed against an antenna array at one point. The assault teams only needed to cross a kilometer of space to reach the station, but that stretch was filled with beamfire.
“They’re going to get hammered,” she muttered. “Suggestions?”
Heather turned to Garth. “You got that?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Shields swapped,” Ona announced, her four limbs stretched across two consoles. “I have stasis on to starboard.”
“Here goes,” Garth said a moment later, as the ship eased to port, the powerful grav shields extending all the way to Kalimar’s outer hull.
Antennas and smaller perturbances were crushed by the maneuver. Heather could only imagine how much the station must be groaning inside. Not that she cared; the goal was to cripple the Nietzschean High Command and capture its leadership.
Smushing the station didn’t hamper those goals.
“On it,” the chief replied.
“All ships down, the starcrusher is right behind them,” Ona said. “Aaaaand there it is. All teams made it. Kalimar Station is about to become a Genevian territory.”
Heather snorted. “Don’t get too carried away, Ona. I don’t think we want to hold anything here in the long-term.”
“Oh stars,” Garth muttered. “I just realized that, someday, we might need to have a consulate in Nietzschea. Calling ‘not it’ on that duty.”
“Seriously, people. Let’s focus. We need to pick a juicy target that will get the fleet on our tail.”
“Shit,” Heather whispered. “Who? No, don’t tell me yet. Targets, people?”
“There’s a repair yard out at geo sync,” Ona said. “Should be minimal casualties.”
The colonel pursed her lips. “I think we need something more serious. What about that small moon at L5?”
“Looks like it’s mostly automated mining,” Ona said. “Might take two shots.”
“Let’s find out,” Garth said. “Should I adjust vector?”
“Yes,” Heather replied. “Ona, advise the fleet. We’ll hit that moon, then the shipyard for good measure.”
“Once we hit these two targets, we’ll come about and punch through that fleet before we shift vector and make for the star.”
Heather brought up the ascended woman’s position. “Looks like she’s still in the Starkiller, flying around the planet, wreaking havoc.”
“More power to her,” Ona said. “Keep the heat off Rika.”
“Do you think she needs help?” Garth asked, a note of concern in his voice.
“You met Tangel,” Heather said. “Do you think she needs our help? She floated right through our hull and manhandled our pet blackhole into position.”
“Well, there we have it.” Heather squared her shoulders. “Our vector is good. Ona, fire on that moon.”
The power output indicators on the main display spiked into the red as mass dropped into the blackhole, increasing the compressed matter’s angular velocity, relativistic beams blasting out of its poles, their energy harnessed by the ship to blast the full-spectrum energy at the target.
The moon was just over six hundred kilometers in diameter, an oblong lump that was relatively uniform except for a few sections that had seen extensive strip mining.
One of those was where the beam hit, raw energy pounding into the regolith with the ferocity of an entire space force. Five seconds later, the rock glowed red for a hundred kilometers around the impact site, cracks in its surface spidering hundreds of kilometers further.
“Hit it again,” Heather said.
With Tangel’s improvements, the ship was able to fire again within a minute, and this time, the moon cracked in half, each side slowly spinning in the opposite direction after grinding against one another and spraying debris every which way.
“Come about,” the colonel said. “Hit that shipyard.”
“Vectoring, ma’am,” Garth replied.
Heather studied the platforms in question. Both were diamond-shaped defensive orbitals. Initially, she’d thought they only sported beams, but they’d shifted to aim their long points at the Undaunted, rail slugs firing at a rate of fifty per minute.
“Shit, yeah, that’s a problem. Garth?”
“Coming about more,” he said, lips twisting with concentration. “Ona, why did I ask you for helm this shift?”
“Because you were all excited to fly the Lance when she wasn’t…what did you call her? A ‘death pig’?”
Garth glanced back at Heather. “Uh…I didn’t mean it like that.”
She snorted. “Just bring us to bear on that first platform,” she gestured at the closest target. “And you weren’t wrong. It was a death pig. Still is, it’s just more likely to take out the enemy than us.”
Ona laughed. “Can we rename her the ‘Death Pig’?”
Heather couldn’t help a smirk. “Feel free to run that past Rika.”
The chief’s face fell. “Something tells me she might not like that.”
“You never know,” the colonel said as Garth brought the ship into alignment with the first platform. “She just might go for it. If it were up to me, I would. Fire when ready.”
Ona activated the DMG, firing at a lower power level than they’d used to destroy the moon. One shot was all it took to vaporize half the platform.
“Now hit that other angry diamond,” Heather ordered.
The second rail platform stopped firing moments after the first was destroyed, escape pods blasting away from it a minute later. Heather let them get clear before she ordered Ona to fire again. By that time, the enemy fleet that had been at Capitol’s L2 was nearly in range, and she sifted through their formations on the holotank.
“Trying to figure out which is their flag,” she said. “There are seven of this newer dreadnought model I’ve not seen before. I’m guessing it’s one of those.”
“Could be,” Heather nodded. “There are ten thousand ships, it’s not like this monster would have just one head. Garth, coordinate with Ona, come around on the first one to starboard. The instant we’re lined up, fire. Then pick another target. I’ll trust you to coordinate.”
“Then keep going, Colonel?” Ona asked.
“No,” Heather shook her head. “We’ve dallied long enough. Once those two shots are made, we boost for the star.”
“What about that shipyard?” Garth asked.
A grim smile formed on Heather’s lips. “We’ll boost right through it.”
ON THE MOVE
STELLAR DATE: 06.15.8950 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Valhalla, Capitol
REGION: Pruzia System, Nietzschean Empire
At first, Rika was surprised to find most of the level they were on all but empty. It was only ten below the council chamber, and she’d expected it to be bustling with bureaucrats, all scurrying about as they did the work of running the empire.
But as the two teams advanced on the location Niki had flagged as most likely to hold a comm node, they’d only come across three people, all civilian.
Ben’s fireteam was in the lead, and he rounded the bend first, with Whispers in tow. Kim and Harris stacked up at the corner, ready to provide backup if needed.
Rika had been following Ben’s feed, and when he stepped into a mess hall, complete with a half-eaten cake on one of the tables, she couldn’t help but laugh.
she said.
The AM-4 sent a perturbed grunt and walked out of the breakroom to open the door across the hall.
Rika nodded and glanced over her shoulder to see Crunch in the breakroom.
His shoulders drooped a modicum.
Rika gave Chase a grateful nod.
Kelly snorted.
Shoshin’s shoulders heaved with silent laughter.
Kelly said.
Chase gave her a thumbs-up.
Keli didn’t have a chance to reply before Niki gave a triumphant shout over the combat net.
Rika closed the network closet door and nodded in the direction of the lifts.
The group moved out, Kim and Harris covering the rear, with Rika and her guard in the lead. It only took a few minutes to reach the lift foyer. There, they found the other three mechs standing over a pair of dead Nietzschean soldiers.
Chase nodded.
Rika chuckled as she let Crunch’s team move toward the stairwell.
Rika pulled his feed and didn’t bother to suppress her laugh. She grabbed one of the fallen soldiers’ rifles and walked to the doorway, gesturing for her companions to stand back. Once they were clear, she tossed the rifle inside.
Beams lanced through the shaft, originating from both above and below, slicing the weapon to ribbons.
Crunch rolled his shoulders.
Niki said.
Kelly scoffed.
* * * * *
Leslie turned back to Tex.
Leslie pursed her lips as she flipped through all the security channels that should be showing feeds from the outer chambers, and then the council chamber floor itself.
The cameras were all dead.
