I can assist you in accessing it, OX said.
Willis dispatched five soldiers to escort the Teacher compy, Patrick, and Zhett to the comm center. Their exuberant message went out on every public channel, where it was seen by the people glued to their update screens for news about the Klikiss invasion. The Chairman didnt have a ghost of a chance of wrangling his way back into power.
Just then, Robb Brindle called on the emergency channel, Admiral! Is the Kings position secure? The Klikiss are on their way! We cant stop them. Images played across the small communications unit showing the monstrous swarmships charging toward Earth. We sure could use some help up here every Manta counts.
Peter wasted no time. Return to your ship, Admiral. Go defend Earth.
I cant leave you here unprotected, sire! What if the Chairman tries to pull something?
The King frowned. Admiral, if the Klikiss get through, there will be no one left to protect. Leave a dozen soldiers behind with me, but take your Manta and go! Im counting on you to protect Queen Estarra.
Willis raced out of the throne room, yelling into the comm unit, Prepare for immediate liftoff! Our days not over yet not by a long shot.
145
Adar Zannh
Shielded by gauzy cocoons of wental water, the Solar Navy warliners raced toward Ildira. Adar Zannh was ready to take back his world. At last, he had the weapons he needed to battle the faeros.
All of his surviving warliners flew in perfect formation, and the Confederation ships traveling with them were loaded with cylinders of frozen wental water. Those ice projectiles had destroyed the fireballs far more effectively than his sacrifice of whole warliners had, and now the Solar Navy also had hundreds of the artillery shells. Numerous water-encapsulated treelings from Theroc flitted like small pearls around the wental sphere flown by Jess and Cesca.
Yes, this would be a battle to be remembered in theSaga of Seven Suns.
Sullivan Gold stood at the edge of the command nucleus. Quiet until now, the old man let out a gasp as the long-range images sharpened on the screen. My God! Is thatallof the faeros?
Space around Ildira was clogged with a blizzard of fireballs, an incandescent storm of new faeros that Rusah had created by consuming the soul-fires of helpless Ildirans.
We will defeat them. Zannh allowed no doubt whatsoever to dilute his words.
His helmsman suddenly let out a surprised cry. We are accelerating, Adar. I am no longer in control of this warliner. He lifted his hands helplessly. We are being pulled along.
Zannh understood. Yes by our allies. The wentals are leading the charge now. He did not try to hide his anticipation. Prepare for the first clash.
The water elementals propelled the Solar Navy ships forward like huge spearpoints, hundreds of battleship-sized projectiles. The faeros gathered, as if curious but unconcerned about this charge. Some swept toward the wental-swathed ships, while others ricocheted away like sparks on a wind.
Two anxious Confederation pilots shot several wental-ice shells in a preemptive flurry. Even though their panicked targeting was poor, the projectiles swerved of their own volition and plunged into a group of faeros, snuffing them out in a combined misty explosion.
The Solar Navy warliners accelerated as the warrior wentals raced to find targets. Zannh gripped the rail, forced to do nothing more than watch the battle because he could not control the movement of his own ship. As Adar, he was used to making the strategy and giving the orders.
One blazing fireball careened directly into their path, wreathed in huge arcs of fire. The flagship plunged directly toward it.
Adar! the helmsman yelped.
The mist-cocooned warliner hurtled into the inferno and passed entirely through. When the scrabbling flames tried to catch at their scrolled hull ornamentation, deadly water vapor snarled around the faeros, tearing it apart. As if poisoned, the flaming creature writhed and flickered. The flagship soared away from the scraps of flame, its anodized hull plates smoking but undamaged.
Zannh felt an electric crackle of enthusiasm through thethism. Again directed by the wentals, the big warliner shifted course and headed after another faeros.
The Adar took his own initiative. Port and starboard gun batteries, shoot your wental artillery shells. Make every projectile count. The Solar Navy soldiers were eager to comply. He watched on his screens, pleased to see the white streaks fly out like sunlit arrows to strike fireballs. Meanwhile, commandeered by the wentals, his warliner charged from one faeros to another like the maddened mount of an Ildiran jouster.
The bulk of the Solar Navy followed, commencing similar attacks of their own. Behind them flew a wave of disorganized Confederation vessels, seeking out and extinguishing ellipsoids, firing their frozen projectiles into any incandescent target.
Zannhs chest swelled with pride and triumph feelings that had been too long absent in him. So far, hundreds of fireballs had been snuffed out. After regrouping, the allied ships dove in again, seeking other targets, and now the faeros swiftly retreated to avoid the new threat.
Never thought Id see that theyre actually running away! Sullivan said.
Osirah stared, unblinking. They are starting to realize what we have brought against them. Rusah should begin to fear.
The command nucleus received several transmissions from outlying Solar Navy scoutships that fought on the perimeter of the solar system. Liege! Something is happening in the suns. The faeros have opened more transgates.
On the relayed image, the seven stars of Ildira had become gateways from hell. Thousands of fireballs emerged from the stellar furnaces. Traveling through solar transgates from the numerous suns they inhabited across the Spiral Arm, the faeros all came rushing toward Ildira.
146
Prime Designate Daroh
Even without the Prism Palace, even without Mijistra, the Ildiran Empire remained alive. The Empirewas still alive! Prime Designate Daroh encouraged everyone to remember that.
When the crashing spacedocks had obliterated the wondrous capital city, the blow might have crushed the Ildiran spirit, but Daroh held on to certitude for his entire race. As Prime Designate, that was his responsibility.
After Designate Ridekh had returned to tell his story, exhausted but alive, the boy seemed stronger now, and his eyes wore a different look. He had faced the faeros incarnate, expecting to be incinerated. He had not known Niras half-breed children could shield him. Now, back in their shelters deep in the mines, the Prime Designate, as well as Osirahs siblings, accepted his survival as another sign of Ildiran fortitude.