It had been a long and uncomfortable trip aboard the courier and Admiral Absen felt much better as he stepped onto the bridge of the Hippos’ mobilized fortress Kritak despite being dwarfed by the scale of everything around him. The creatures themselves stood nearly three meters tall and massed a thousand kilos, bulky as sumo wrestlers. Their grey skin, wide mouths and blunt teeth showed why the humans gave them the nickname they did.
He raised a hand in greeting to the decorated officer that stood before him. “General Khrom,” Absen said, “I greet you. What is the status of the unknown ship?”
The general responded in English, “Ship has appeared inside orbit of Enoi, at rest. Now it begins to fall onto Koio. Also it spins. Sad it is that the Weapon now faces outward.”
The Hippo’s voice held no accusation, but Absen blamed himself anyway. He had ordered the moon rotated so that the enormous ground-based laser they had captured, powerful enough to destroy a warship at a range of ten million kilometers, aimed itself away from the planet instead of toward it.
The Weapon had been the sword the Meme held above the Hippos’ heads to ensure they did not rebel, therefore it had seemed utterly sensible to fix powerful fusion engines on the surface of the moon and slowly, over the course of the last three years, rotate it. Now the laser faced in a direction that simultaneously assured it would not be used against the planet and improved its apparent usefulness.
Absen never thought he would now face a situation where an enemy ship would use an unknown high-technology drive system to bypass the allied defenses and appear above Afrana, within the moon Enoi’s orbit, like magic.
If I’d have just left the weapon as it was, we could blast the thing.
He wondered then whether this was another reason the Meme laser had been pointed inward rather than outward – a last-ditch defense against Ryss ships that would use their super-fast drives to get in close to Meme planets, fire their weapons, then run away? His tactical mind had been running through scenarios for the last several hours, trying to figure out how such a drive system could be used in combat.
The possibilities were staggering. No wonder the Ryss had given the Meme fits; his intelligence experts were now of the opinion that the new aliens must be the so-called Species 447, which had fought a bloody war and caused the Bite to come into being.
Dragging his mind back to the Hippo officer in front of him, Absen said, “The past cannot be changed. Let us deal with the present. How soon until this ship will be in weapons range of the bogey?” Absen hoped the general understood that term.
It appeared he did. “Bogey is presently four standard hours from primary engagement range. Sorry I am that this fortress can accelerate at no more than two standard gravities.” He meant Earth gravity units, since the Hippos used a different system entirely. “We do have one hundred experimental nuclear missiles available.”
Based on human designs, Absen knew Hippo ships and installations were being fitted with guided drones and missiles, but only a few as yet. The Meme had denied their subject races such powerful long-range weapons, limiting them to beams only.
“Can you launch missiles but hold them away from their target under positive command?” Absen asked.
“Yes, we can. But to do so, the missiles will be, how do you say, ‘sitting ducks’ for counterfire. They give up all speed of launch. The farther away they wait, the longer the reaction time, but the faster they will be going in terminal phase.”
Absen nodded. “I would suggest several layers of perhaps ten missiles each, to take up positions around it. Then you will also have a reserve to fire when the time comes.”
“I am happy to carry out your orders, Admiral.” The general cocked his head slightly at the emphasized word, and Absen wondered again at the political undercurrents the Hippos sometimes saw fit to reveal. Why would the general want him to have given an order rather than a suggestion? Perhaps he was trying to avoid responsibility for failure? But in his experience the Hippos did not seem to have that foible. A very straightforward and matter-of-fact people, the Sekoi.
“Fine, then make it so.” The crew of the battle-station’s bridge turned to their consoles as one, and soon fifty icons curved out and took their places on the main display, surrounding the bogey. He could order those nukes to attempt to destroy that ship whenever he wanted, but for now, they had time.
“How long before the bogey impacts the planet?” Absen asked.
Khrom turned to his staff to ask a question, then replied, “About three standard hours.” All “standard” measurements meant human measurements. Apparently the Hippos felt no resentment about this, seeming to regard it as the just desserts of conquest – or alliance.
Absen nodded. “I got a sketchy report relayed from my Marine assault sleds before I came aboard. My forces are trying to disable the artificial intelligence that controls the ship. I have told them that if they cannot, they are to evacuate as many people as they can on the sleds a half hour before it hits atmosphere. That should give us enough time to destroy it with your nuclear missiles.”
The general nodded, a gesture he had learned to use in the presence of his allies. The Hippo version consisted of ear-flicks in a certain pattern; the human nonverbal was much simpler. “And if it counterfires all the missiles?”
Absen answered the question with one of his own. “Are there any other forces that can reach the bogey in time to attack it?”
“The cruiser Klel is under construction in the orbital shipyards. It has no weapons, but can be rammed into the enemy.” The Hippo crossed his arms and looked away, as if embarrassed at his people’s helplessness.
“That won’t do much, as I suppose you know. Is there any indication where the bogey will impact? And how much energy it will release?”
A map of Koio-Afrana appeared on the main screen. “Here,” the general said, pointing to a large blue icon near a Hippo port city. “We estimate ten million casualties up and down the coastline, though we are evacuating now. The Klel’s impact may knock it farther out to sea, but that will only reduce problem. Many still die.”
“We must destroy the ship and all on it before we let that happen, General,” Absen promised. “Hundreds against millions: there is no other choice.”
“Even though your troops die?”
“That’s their job, General.” Absen held the Hippo’s eyes until the other looked away.
A bleeping sound caught his attention, and the general received a report in his own language. “The ship has begun its fusion drive,” Khrom said. “It is accelerating toward Koio at one-half standard G.”
“How long until planetfall?” Absen snapped.
“If acceleration continues, now one hour.”
“Please open a channel on the following frequency,” Absen requested, and relayed the details. In a moment he was speaking with the chief of the assault sleds, the only section of the assault he could reach. “Flight Warrant Butler, what’s going on?” There was transmission lag of a dozen seconds between each side of the conversation.
“Admiral, the Marines got control of most of the interior and they’re trying to disable the AI, but the vault where the computer lives is well defended. Gravity’s variable and the ship’s spinning up slow. No matter; we’re trained for all this.”
“Butler, listen. The ship’s fusion drive just came on and you’re accelerating toward the planet: impact in about an hour if that engine keeps firing. It’s only generating one-half G. Think you can fly out and attack the drive with breaching charges and lasers?”
Silence reigned for a moment on the comm, then the answer came back. “No problem, sir. Aerospace will get the job done.”
“As expected. As soon as you do, prep for evac. If we have to, we’re going to blow that ship to kingdom come before it impacts the planet.”
“Ah. Sir, what about the Ryss?”
“Bring as many off as you can, Butler. Stuff them in like sardines if you have to. All you’ve got to do is get away from the nukes when they hit and have enough air for an hour or two. We’ll be there to pick you up as fast as we can.”
“Yes, sir, will do. I’ll pass the word to the major and the commander.”
By his voice, Absen thought Butler was holding back. “Something else, Chief?”
“Aw, not really sir. Just we fought so hard to take this thing over; got a bunch of good men killed. Now we’re jumping ship.”
“No choice, Butler. The bogey is heading for a hard landing that’s going to kill a few million allied civilians. We can’t let that happen.”
“Roger sir. Oh, by the way, the Ryss call this ship Desolator. Butler out.”
On the screen Absen watched the long-range optical feed of the bogey – Desolator – spinning slowly along its main axis, the clear white glow of its fusion engine at the tail. Abruptly that light expanded in brightness, then winked out.
“Can we get more magnification?” Absen asked, and the image jumped to fill the screen. “I don’t see any sleds maneuvering around it. Why did the drive turn off?”
“Not known, Admiral,” the general rumbled. “No sleds detected.”
“Get me the channel again. Butler,” he said when he had it, “the drive is out. Do you know why?”
“No, sir,” Butler’s voice came. “We felt a shock, though, a big one. Maybe the Marines or the Ryss destroyed the drive.”
“Well no matter how it happened, that bought us time.” Absen turned to Khrom. “How long until planetfall, now that there is no acceleration?”
“Two hours twenty minutes,” he replied.
“You hear that?” Absen’s voice rose in intensity, and he enunciated clearly. “Tell Bull and Johnstone they have exactly two hours until you launch those sleds into space to evacuate. After that, Desolator will be nuked, rammed, or beamed until there’s nothing left. Got it? Be clear to them, Butler; I’m not going to sacrifice ten million people on the planet to save a few hundred troops and Ryss. You have to get them out on time.”
“Got it, sir, five by five. My boys will take off on time, with or without them.”
“Good man.” Then why does it feel so bad? Absen asked himself, but he’d made harder choices three years ago when they’d take the system. Still, it never got any easier. Some ancient warrior, he couldn’t remember who, had said it best: “To command, you must love. To command well, you must be able to kill what you love.”