Part 27 (1/2)
”Republic s.h.i.+ps, sir, ” called someone from the bridge staff, proving her wrong. ”Definitely Republic, and they're taking a hammering, sir. No other visible combatants, but there may have been launches from the ground. ”
Darth Chratis grinned, and Ax grinned with him. The Republic had made its move and was being rebuffed. How much easier, then, to swoop in as the savior and ”liberate” the planet, right into the Emperor's arms!
”Take us in, Colonel Kalisch, ” Darth Chratis said. ”Launch all fighters and prepare for battle. ”
”At this distance, our fighters would not be able to break free of the black hole's gravitational pull” Kalisch said, smoothly countermanding the order. ”The moment it is safe, my lord, I will launch them. ”
”Very well, ” hissed the Sith Lord. ”That will have to do. ” He wasn't used to anything as lowly as physics standing between him and his wishes.
”Full power, all engines, ” Kalisch ordered the fleet. ”Lock courses and prepare to engage!”
The Imperial fleet came about, straining to reverse the considerable momentum it had already gained just by being in the black hole's powerful gravitational field. The Paramount's engines roared and rumbled, casting a bright blue light across those s.h.i.+ps coming up in its wake. The lighter cruisers fared better than the ma.s.sive bulk cruiser and its heavier support vessels. They caught up and began to draw ahead.
It soon became abundantly clear that Kalisch's original advice had been sound. Instead of picking up velocity as they whipped around the singularity's event horizon, propelled by freely available gravity, they would struggle to gain every drop of delta-vee, wrung out of the engines at great expense. Their progress was painfully slow. Ax could feel her Master's impatience growing-redoubled because he knew he could say nothing, threaten no one. This was his decision and his responsibility alone. The crew worked around him in perfect efficiency and with maximum effort. All knew that Darth Chratis would vent his frustration on the first person to fail him in the slightest possible way.
Ax watched the long-range telemetry closely, eager to learn anything she could about the planet's forces. What she saw puzzled her deeply. There were no s.h.i.+ps apart from those belonging to the Republic. Furthermore, there was no obvious a.s.sault being conducted from the ground. It looked like the Republic fleet was fighting nothing at all.
Even stranger, the Republic s.h.i.+ps appeared to be attacking one another. Half the fleet appeared to be retreating, while the other half either did nothing or actively impeded the rest. As she watched, one small cruiser suddenly switched its drives to full, propelling it wildly into another s.h.i.+p, disintegrating both. It was as though something had infected half the fleet, driving it mad.
Darth Chratis studied the same data with a deeply suspicious expression. Ax wondered if he thought it was a trap. But to what end? The Republic couldn't possibly benefit from the destruction of its own s.h.i.+ps.
”Would you like me to hail either party?” the colonel asked.
”No, ” said Ax.
Darth Chratis and Kalisch both turned to her in surprise.
”Master, I advise against explicitly indentifying us as servants of the Emperor, ” she said. ”Remember that we are the enemy in Lema Xandret's eyes. ”
”Perhaps the traitorous harridan will change her mind, ” said Darth Chratis, ”now that these weak-willed fools have found her. ”
With a blinding flash, the Republic's capital s.h.i.+p exploded, casting debris in all directions. Ax s.h.i.+elded her eyes against the glare.
”They're certainly not putting up much of a fight, ” she said. Half the Republic s.h.i.+ps had been destroyed or crippled. The rest were regrouping and recalling their fighters.
”Regardless, the situation is clear. Sebaddon is no longer a secret. Xandret must choose to bow to the Emperor's will or face the consequences. ”
”She'll never agree to her own execution. ”
Darth Chratis studied her with cold eyes. ”Naturally I will say nothing of the fate in store for her. Cease your questioning of my orders. Colonel Kalisch, announce our presence to the citizens of Sebaddon and advise them that we will be taking possession of their world once we have cleared the skies of this Republic rabble. ”
”Yes, my lord. ”
Ax went back to studying the viewscreens. The firing pattern of the Republic s.h.i.+ps looked wrong to her, although she couldn't quite put a finger on what disturbed her about it. Still no launches from the ground, although infrared showed numerous sites of activity. Cities and factories, Ax a.s.sumed, that would be bombed for certain if Xandret resisted. Ax's instincts told her that victory wasn't going to come as easily as an announcement of the Empire's intent to annex the world, but at the same time she couldn't see how a small, ground-based civilization could hope to prevail against the high ground of s.p.a.ce. Even if they did have a mysterious weapon that drove s.h.i.+ps and their crews crazy...
The Republic forces must have been taken by surprise. So she was forced to a.s.sume. Colonel Kalisch would be sure not to make the same mistakes they had.
No response came from the ground to the Paramount hail. Apart from garbled transmissions on Republic frequencies, the bands were empty.
”They ignore us, ” said Darth Chratis, ”at their peril. ”
”Launching fighters in two minutes, my lord, ” said Kalisch.
Ax was already heading for the exit from the bridge. ”Ready my interceptor, ” she called behind her. ”I'm going to take a closer look. ”
It took her a minute to descend from the bridge to the hangar deck, but it felt like forever. Her Mk. VII advanced interceptor had been s.h.i.+pped from Dromund Kaas with the rest of Darth Chratis's materiel and kept fully fueled in case a fast launch was required. The ground crew had it warming up and ready for her by the time she got there. Its familiar jutting vanes rea.s.sured her in a way that no amount of deceptive diplomacy could. Forgoing a full flight suit, she slipped a helmet over her dreadlocks, climbed aboard, and activated the internal navicomp. It showed her the projected course for the many wings about to launch around her. She switched that off and mapped out her own trajectory.
The hangar crews retreated as fighters began to stream out of the cruiser. The launches were clean and well timed, despite their pilots' eagerness to engage. Ax slipped into their formation with ease, a sleek black predator surrounded by willing but lesser packmates. She listened to the comms as she monitored the fleet's disposition, but didn't respond.
Wave after wave of angular black ISF interceptors streamed away from the Paramount and its ancillary vessels. They were easily a match for the XA-8 and PT-7 starfighters the Republic had launched. s.h.i.+p-mounted cannons selected targets and prepared to fire on the Republic craft. The range was slightly long, but the still-stately pace of the capital s.h.i.+ps ensured a solid base to fire from. A lucky shot or two wasn't impossible.
Ahead, the vast field of wreckage left by the destruction of the main Republic cruiser was spreading at speed. Only as she neared it did Ax realize what had troubled her about the Republic s.h.i.+ps' behavior.
The surviving s.h.i.+ps were firing into the cloud, not at their own renegade vessels.
She peeled away from the wing she had been shadowing and headed directly for the cloud.
”Your primary targets are the damaged vessels” came the orders from the Paramount. ”Enemy fighters secondary. We will engage the rest. Fire at will. ”
The sky lit up as a smaller Republic s.h.i.+p exploded.
Against that cruel light were silhouetted thousands of floating objects, suspended in s.p.a.ce. Some were spinning circles; others were edge-on lines. All were instantly recognizable as hexes, the droids Ax had fought on Hutta, their regular hexagonal bodies identical and faceless apart from the utter blackness of their sensory pods. As she flew among them now, they reached for her with spider-like legs, firing bolts of plasma from their hand weapons to propel them forward.
In that instant, she understood.
”Paramount, recall the fighters immediately. Get them away from that debris field. It's full of hexes!”
She fired as she flew, destroying one hex with every pulse from her fighter's ion cannon. For every one she killed, however, three more appeared in her scopes.
”They're only droids” came back the reply from the Paramount. ”What harm can they do against starfighters?”
”Put me through to Darth Chratis, ” she snapped. Someone's head would roll for this. ”Master, the Republic s.h.i.+ps have been infected with hexes. That's why they're self-destructing and turning on one another. I don't know how the infection occurred, but the debris field is full of hexes. Our targeting priority should be them first, then the fleeing s.h.i.+ps. ”
”You want us to abandon a golden opportunity to rout the Republic in order to play target practice against a handful of machines?” Darth Chratis's reply was full of contempt. ”Colonel Kalisch's orders stand. ”
Ax heard one of the bridge crew call out in the background: ”Launches!” She looked at her telemetry and saw what the Paramount had detected.
Four missiles were rising from the surface of Sebaddon. Full of hexes, she bet, not conventional explosives. Plus, all of the infected Republic s.h.i.+ps still capable of controlled flight were abandoning their chase of the others and coming around to ram the Imperials.
The colonel's imperious broadcast to the citizens of Sebaddon hadn't been ignored at all.
”Move the fleet, ” she told her Master. ”You'll be caught between them if you continue on that course. ”
The Paramount neither responded nor changed course. A wave of anti-missile fire was streaking out to intercept the ascending threats. She could only hope it would be enough.
Around her, hexes swarmed and clutched at the Imperial fighters. Some had linked arms to form wide nets and webs across the sky. Any s.h.i.+p that strayed too close was bound up and crushed. Other hex groups formed whips capable of slinging individual hexes to incredible speeds. Ax herself missed two such wriggling projectiles by only small margins. Other pilots weren't so lucky.