Stars of Blood and Glory (21 page)

I could have been
planetborn,
Abaqa thought to himself, shuddering in horror at the
thought.
I
could have been weak and dishonorable like these people.

But how weak were they, really? He had to
admit, he didn’t think any of his brothers would be able to win in
hand-to-hand combat with the old cyborg. And their captain—she’d
treated him not as a prisoner, but as an honored guest. It almost
made him feel ashamed for the way he’d talked back to her.

Honor and glory are not the
only virtues in this universe,
his mother’s words came to his mind. He’d used to
blow that off, but now, things didn’t seem so simple
anymore.

* * * * *

Rina suppressed a yawn as she watched the
scanner for any sign of incoming Hameji ships. She tried listening
to the background radio noise for any stray transmissions to hint
at their presence, but this far out into deep space, there was
nothing but ancient static.

“
The younger soldiers do not
understand,” said Roman, sitting in for the captain. “They think
that our enemy is the Hameji. They do not realize that our spirit
was broken long before they scattered us.”

“
Indeed,” said Zura, sitting in
for Yuri. He took a puff of his cigarette and rolled it between his
fingertips. “The thing they fear most is being lost. They cling to
this war because it gives them a focus, something to live for.
Without an enemy to fight against, what is the point of living in
exile?”

What
is
the point?
Rina wondered. She had to admit, she
didn’t know.

Roman grunted and nodded. “They do not know
what it is to live under occupation. They are soft and do not
understand.”

Zura offered him his cigarette, as if to
console him. Roman took it and drew in a long, heady breath before
handing it back. The two men enjoyed a moment of silence, one which
Rina had no desire to interrupt. In a way, she was almost jealous.
She’d lost her homeland, too, but unlike them, there was no one she
could turn to.

“
Still,” said Roman, “I would
gladly die for them.”

Zura raised an eyebrow. “You would?”

“
Of course. What else would I do?
We have no country, no homeland—only ourselves. Everyone must die
someday—better to die with dignity than live as
machine.”

Interesting.

“
You’re a good man. But me, I’d
like to think I still have something worth living for.”

Roman chuckled. “Like the whores waiting for
you at New Vela?”

“
Not just New Vela, my friend,”
said the old corporal with a grin. “When my time comes, I aim to be
missed.”

A flash on the display snapped Rina out of
the conversation. She narrowed her eyes at the scanners and
frowned. Moments later, an alert tone sounded across the
bridge.

“
What is it?” asked
Roman.

“
Three marks, approximately five
thousand kilometers out,” she said. “Accelerating on our
position—they appear to be Hameji gunboats.”

“
Oh, mother,” said Zura. “They’ve
found us.”

“
How long until primary jump
drive is charged?” Roman asked, his voice cool and
steady.

“
We’re almost at ninety percent,”
said Zura. “I would say, oh, perhaps thirty minutes.”

“
They’re accelerating fast,” said
Rina. “I don’t think we have that much time.”

“
Then we have no choice,” said
Roman, his expression grim. “Zura, do you have jump coordinates
set?”

“
I do, Sergeant.”

“
Good. Engage.”

Rina took a deep breath and held it, gripping
the edge of her armrests. If the Hameji interdicted them with
another jump beacon, it would be almost thirty minutes before they
could make the next jump—and five or six hours for the one after
that. Unless they managed to escape into deep space where the
Hameji couldn’t track them, they were as good as dead.

An almost inaudible hum sounded in her
enhanced ears, coming through the bulkheads. The reactor was
engaging the primary jump drive. Her skin crawled, and her stomach
flipped. She closed her eyes and still felt as if the universe
around her was collapsing. The sensation grew until she felt she
couldn’t take it—and then, a sudden flood of relief told her that
they were through.

She allowed herself a short gasp before
hastily checking the scanners. The three marks were gone, leaving
the display completely empty. Outside, the milky white light of
millions of undimmed stars shone through the forward window, silent
and cold.

“
Well?” said Roman, looking at
her intently. “Any sign?”

“
None,” she said. “No Hameji
beacon in this sector. It appears we’ve evaded them.”

“
Yes!” said Zura, pumping his
fist. He reached under his flight suit and pulled out an ornate
silver cross, which he kissed.

“
Triangulate our position, then,”
said Roman. “Fix our coordinates, and prepare to set course for New
Vela.”

New Vela,
Rina thought as she stared out
across the ancient starlight. Now that they’d escaped, it was a
race to see who could get to New Vela first: the
Tajji Flame,
or the
Hameji.

Chapter 12

“
Sir, the evacuation order has
been given for the planetary defense stations,” said the
communications officer, glancing wide-eyed over her shoulder. “The
Federation ships are jumping out—it’s over.”

Katsuichi clenched his teeth and
gripped the armrests of his command chair. Through the windows
overhead, bright yellow tracers arced downward towards the
cloud-speckled surface of New Vela II, while soundless pink
explosions flashed in the distance near the horizon. As he watched,
two of the sleek Rigelan cruisers shot past on a lower orbital and
intercepted a squadron of incoming Hameji gunboats with projectile
fire, forcing them away from the
Divine Wind.
It was chaos out there—absolute chaos,
with the Federation in shameful retreat as the last civilian
stragglers tried desperately to flee their doomed world.

“
Sir,” said the pilot, “Colonel
Webb has withdrawn his forces higher up the gravity well. We’re the
only ones left protecting the evacuees.”

“
Incoming Hameji battle group,”
said the gunnery officer, his eyes glued to his screen. “Moving to
intercept—they’re coming in fast!”

“
Accelerate to a higher orbital
and prepare to retreat to the rendezvous point,” said Katsuichi,
letting out a long breath. “But keep everything orderly.”
Let it not be said
that our forces were routed.

“
Yes, sir,” said the pilot, the
relief in his voice completely undisguised. The bridge briefly
filled with light as a nuclear explosion flashed only a few hundred
kilometers off the
Divine Wind’s
bow.

“
Sir,” said the communications
officer, “we’re being hailed by one of the civilian
transports—the
Blue Dolphin.
They say their jump drive has malfunctioned, and
they need protection until they can get it operational
again.”

Katsuichi frowned. “How far are they?”

“
On a parallel orbital roughly
two kilometers below us. Coming up in just a few
minutes.”

“
Sir,” said the gunnery officer,
“the lower orbitals are swarming with Hameji warships. If we go
down there, we’ll come under heavy fire and suffer severe
casualties. I don’t see how we can save the transport and hold
formation at the same time.”

Katsuichi sighed and rubbed his
temple with his fingertips.
What would you do, Father?
he wondered desperately to
himself.
I
can’t pay back our debts to the Federation—not like
this.

“
Hold our position, but lay down
as much covering fire as you can,” he said, looking wearily up. “It
might not be enough to save them, but it’s all that we can
do.”

“
Yes, Your Imperial Highness,”
said the pilot and gunnery officer in quick unison. They turned to
their posts and began to execute the order.

Katsuichi stared out the forward
window as the battle raged around him. Dark clouds of smoke mingled
with the pristine white clouds of the planet, debris flashing like
so many hundred meteors across the glassy atmosphere. On the
horizon, a glittering point came slowly closer. Tracers and plasma
bursts arced as the Hameji swarmed to it like sharks to a sinking
carcass. It was the
Blue Dolphin,
no doubt—the lines of projectile fire streaming
from the Rigelan ships confirmed that.

“
Stars of Earth,” said Kenta,
standing in his customary position behind the command chair. “Would
you look at that.”

“
What?”

“
That warship just turned on the
one beside it—look.”

Katsuichi leaned forward and squinted, but
all he saw was a mass of glittering starships and flashing points
of light. Frowning, he hit a button on his armrest. A holographic
projection from the sensors blinked into existence in front of him,
showing dozens of little red points for the Hameji ships and one
blue point for the transport.

“
Tactical officer,” he said,
staring intently at the projection. “What’s going on?”

“
It appears that the Hameji ships
are attacking each other, sir,” said the tactical officer. “Perhaps
they’re fighting over the spoils?”

“
Sir,” said the pilot, “we have
incoming Federation ships dropping through our orbital. Request
immediate permission to alter course and avoid
collision.”

“
Federation ships?”

“
Sir, collision is
imminent!”

“
Evasive action,
then.”

The floor shuddered and the planetary vista
pitched and swerved as the sublight engines roared to life.
Outside, a ship passed less than a kilometer away, hurtling
downward at breakneck speeds. Several officers gasped, while one
technician fell to the floor shaking.

“
Collision averted,” said the
pilot. “Regrouping.”

“
What was that?” Katsuichi
shouted.

“
The
California,
sir,” said the gunnery officer.
“They’re in our line of fire—breaking off bombardment.”

“
It appears that Colonel Webb is
dropping down to save the transport.”

Sure enough, the blue dot on the holographic
projection representing the Colonel’s flagship dropped down into
the fray, scattering the smaller Hameji ships and engaging the
larger capital ships at close range. One of them broke apart and
began the long fall to the surface.

Katsuichi clenched his
fists.
What’s that bastard doing now?
he wondered.
Trying to steal our honor? Where was
he when we needed him?

“
Sir, the
Blue Dolphin
is climbing up the
gravity well. They’ll be trailing us in just a short while
now.”

“
Establish a perimeter and try to
ward off any incoming attack,” he ordered. “Once the transport is
out, give the order to retreat and regroup at the rendezvous
point.”

“
Sir.”

Dark clouds loomed on the ever-approaching
horizon, covering the surface in thick gray ash. Kenta peered
forward and frowned, while several technicians rose to their feet
and stared in horror. “What is that?” Katsuichi asked, switching
off the holographic projection to get a better view.

“
Sir, it—it’s the Hameji. They’ve
brought in their mass accelerators, and …”

The pilot’s words hung unspoken in the air,
punctuating the grim silence that soon fell across the entire
bridge. As Katsuichi watched, half a dozen cannon-shaped ships,
each more than two kilometers long, took up position above the
blue-green world. A giant chunk of space rock shot away from the
nearest one, sending a bright cloud of black debris upward into the
atmosphere as it impacted on the surface. The cloud slowly formed a
teardrop shape as the ash and dust hit the upper atmosphere.

Katsuichi’s stomach fell. It was like Gaia
Nova and Tajjur V all over again. In just a few hours, every soul
on the surface of that world would be dead.

“
Sir, the
California
and the
Blue Dolphin
have jumped out. We’re the last of
the Federation ships still in orbit.”

“
Take us out, then,” he said,
dropping back into his seat. A deep, sinking feeling of despair
overtook him, drowning out all other emotion. With the Federation
forces in a rout, his fleet was the only thing standing between the
Hameji and Shinihon.

* * * * *

Hikaru walked slowly down the dark, narrow
corridor to the captain’s quarters, dragging her feet as she went.
Things had become rather boring in the last couple of days, which
probably meant that they were almost home—and that much closer to
returning her to the Imperial Palace.

She palmed the door open and stepped into a
remarkably well furnished room. The wood-paneled floor reminded her
of her old bedroom, and a lump rose in her throat in spite of
herself. The painting on the opposite wall portrayed a desert
landscape as unlike her homeworld as she’d ever seen. Everything,
from the faded leather of the couch and chairs to the archaic
printed volumes sitting on the bookshelves, seemed strange and
exotic.