“We relied mainly on our shields for defense. And…we made attempts to communicate with it. To make peaceful contact.”
Qui’hibra gave a curt, squawking laugh, the first hint of humor he’d ever evinced in Riker’s knowledge. “Branchers are not interested in discourse with their meals. They are gluttonous beasts, needing much energy to sustain their life processes, to power them into warp. Sources of bio-energy are sparse in the void, so they must take whatever they can find, and there is no talking them out of it. It is instinct, the overriding need to survive and grow. If you survived your encounter with this brancher without killing it, then it must have only recently fed and been sated enough not to press its attack. We will not be so fortunate today.” He gestured to the screen, where two of the Entities were ganging up on a skymount, bombarding it from both sides until its hull ruptured at last. Other ships were systematically blasting away at them, breaking off snowflake chunks and pounding them into fragments, but they were only small pieces of the whole. Once the skymount was inert, the Entities made short work of it, disintegrating it until only a diffuse cloud of dust remained. Qui’hibra’s timeworn crest drooped, but his voice remained level. He had just lost family, Riker realized, but it was a loss he knew from long experience how to bear. “See how they coordinate their efforts. They must have only recently split off from each other, to be so inclined to cooperate rather than vie for advantage. Mitosis depletes their energy, so they will be ravenous. More of my clan will surely die today. But we will make sure the branchers die as well.” He stepped away, issuing more instructions into his communicator.
If anything, Riker thought, it seemed the Fethetrit ships had the edge over the Pa’haquel, since they had shields, and their torpedoes rivalled the skymounts’ plasma stings in power. But the Entities’ blasts wore away at their shields until they started to give way. The viewscreen tracked one ship as its shields gave out entirely and the feeding beam played across it. The ship, being inorganic in construction, did not explode or vaporize, but once the beam had passed, it appeared to coast along on momentum alone. “Zero life signs registering aboard,” Jaza reported. “Even the polymers have been disintegrated.”
“Tactical, assessment of the Fethetrit shields,” Riker ordered.
Kuu’iut was at Tactical, since Tuvok was still confined to quarters. “Inferior to ours, sir,” the Betelgeusian replied. “Perhaps fifty to sixty percent of our shields’ power at maximum, and at least seventy percent less energy-efficient.”
“Fethetrit prize attack over defense,” Qui’hibra said. “Look at them. See how they throw themselves headlong into battle, no caution, no judgment, just berserker fury. See there!” He gestured as a Fethetrit ship accelerated headlong into a feeding beam until its shields flared out, then continued as a ballistic projectile until it slammed into the Entity and exploded, fragmenting it into three large chunks and thousands of shards. “They throw their lives away at every chance, it seems. Yet they seem to like it that way. And better for us, perhaps, that they keep their numbers low. Still, we commend their souls to the Spirit just the same, though Spirit only knows whether It would want them.”
“I take it that the fragments are still a threat?” Riker asked.
“It will only take them a moment to adjust to the separation, and then their hunger will drive them again. But they are smaller now, and weaker. And the more of them there are, the more chance there is of one slipping through our lines. Keep your weapons hot, Riker.”
In quick succession, two more Fethetrit ships were wiped clean of life, and one skymount had a chunk sliced off its edge and quickly digested by the beams. It continued to move under intelligent direction, though; presumably it had a means of sealing off the damaged section. “Have them retreat to station defense,” Qui’hibra ordered his huntsmaster. “Send out mount Ieq’Fha to take their place.”
“Is it wise to send organic ships up against these things?” Riker asked. “It just gives them more sustenance, more energy to fight back with.”
“Only if they catch us. And we are taking more from them than we are giving up.”
Indeed, the two remaining intact Entities were significantly smaller than before, their branches robbed of symmetry as though trimmed by a blind-drunk topiarist. But they continued to fight cannily, and Riker realized one was using its beams to herd the last Fethetrit ship toward the other. “Order them to veer off!” Qui’hibra instructed his people, but apparently the Fethetrit were not inclined to listen. “Rrraa.All their fellows have died and they are jealous. At least tell them to die usefully!” he added into his communicator.
But his huntsmaster apparently had other ideas. Qui’hibra’s own mount—Riker realized he was starting to be able to tell them apart—swooped in and fired a barrage of stings at the Entity’s core, snapping it in two. Coordinating with the Fethetrit, they proceeded to dissect the halves further, rather than chipping away at them from the outside as before. “Let us cut them down to harmless size first,”came the huntsmaster’s voice. “We can then crush the fragments at our leisure.”
But the Fethetrit were not as careful in their aim and were less successful in breaking off fragments. And one that they did break off, given momentum by the Entity half’s rotation, flew right into them, the collision damaging their shields and leaving them vulnerable. They dove almost eagerly into a kamikaze run, but the Entity dodged and took only a glancing blow. The impact was enough to destroy the last of the Fethetrit, however. “Useless fools,” Qui’hibra cursed-but he muttered a prayer for them anyway.
It seemed the Entity half was retreating now, perhaps spooked by the efficiency with which Qui’hibra’s mount was chopping up the rest of its former self. But the remaining Entities—one large, three small—continued to keep the rest of the Pa’haquel fleet at bay. One of the small ones managed to slip through the line and made a dash for the station. “Block it!” Riker ordered Lavena. “Tactical, fire a warning shot, try to scare it off.”
“You cannot think that will work after what you have seen?” Qui’hibra demanded.
“Unlike you, I’m not willing to kill what might be a sentient being without trying the alternatives first. Is there any way to incapacitate it?” he went on, not allowing the elder to argue the point. “Any sensory organs we can blind, weapon emitters we can cripple?”
“No, they are too redundant. Blow away one node and they shunt the beams to the next.”
Riker had a memory from the Farpoint mission. “Jaza, can you calibrate the deflector array to emit the kind of energy it feeds on? Maybe we can satisfy its hunger for now—or at least lure it away from the station.”
“On it, sir.”
“Your sentiment is foolish, Riker,” Qui’hibra said. “Know that even if you drive it away alive, we will hunt it down and pulverize it if we can. More likely it will outrace us and escape, and another planet may die because of your ‘mercy.’ ”
Riker took a moment to absorb that. “That may be,” he said. “But the bottom line is, Titanis a science vessel, not a warship. I’m just playing to our strengths.”
“The deflector is ready, sir,” Jaza announced.
“Activate the beam.”
The viewscreen showed a false-color wash of light illuminating the Entity. It paused, rotating uncertainly in place, and then changed course toward Titan.“Helm, thrusters aft full. Lead it away from the station.”
“Thrusters aft, aye.”
But the Entity’s propulsion system, whatever it was, packed significantly more punch than thrusters. In moments, it was upon them, bumping up against their shields, backing away at the sting of them and then trying again. “The beam isn’t sating it,” Jaza said. “I think we’ve just whetted its appetite.” Now the feeding beam fired, battering against the shields, and the Entity continued to push against them physically, making the ship shudder. “I’d say that’s definite.”