Yes, the allies now possessed many ways to fight that they had not previously used against the flaming elementals.
Rusah is still searching for me, the Mage-Imperator said. No doubt he will go back to Ildira. That is where he expects me to go.
Then Ildira is where we will confront the faeros, Cesca said. We can bring all of our allies together and fight with everything we have.
Adar Zannh seemed hungry. I have more than a thousand warliners ready to engage in the battle.
Kotto, who had been scribbling on a touchpad throughout the discussion, spoke up from where he sat at the far end of the table. Sure, but you cant just keep crashing your ships into things thats not the way to win. He shook his head. Ive designed some exciting new wental weapons, though I havent had the opportunity to test them yet.
Thank the Guiding Star for that, muttered Boris Goff.
I would like to consider these weapons, the Adar said. Can they be adapted to our warliners?
Kotto shrugged. The wentals were perfectly happy to shape their water however we like. If you provide me with specs for your warliners projectile launchers, Ill see what I can do. He glanced down at his touchpad, made a note, then looked up at Jess. But the wental water you gave me was only enough for about a hundred frozen artillery shells, which I already delivered to the Roamer ships in the vicinity. If were going to attack the faeros on a large scale, well need thousands more. Tens of thousands!
Weve got to be smart about this, Tasia interrupted. No half-assed measures. If we go to Ildira, itll likely be our last, best chance against the faeros. We need to make it count.
The clouds of Golgen are laden with moisture, all of which is infused with wental energy, Cesca said. We can draw on some of that water to make new frozen shells, and we can bring water from other wental planets to build up a large stockpile. Yes, well be ready for the faeros at Ildira.
The wental water here is holding the hydrogues in check, Jess pointed out. We dont dare deplete too much of it.
The young girl Osirah had remained quiet beside Nira, but now she spoke with a strange, obsessive look in her large eyes. And what about the hydrogues? They hate the faeros more than anything.
Del Kellum gave a loud, angry retort. Even more than they hate humans? After all the destruction they caused, all those skymines wrecked, thousands and thousands of Roamers dead?
Including my brother, Jess said.
Mage-Imperator Jorah looked at his daughter. The hydrogues cannot be trusted. They destroy. They betray. I made that mistake once, and we are not that desperate.
But if the faeros are so powerful, we need equally powerful allies to defeat them, Osirah insisted.
We have the wentals, Cesca pointed out, and that ended the discussion.
111
Nikko Chan Tylar
Even though he had been stranded and miserable for weeks, Caleb Tamblyn didnt seem to be in any hurry to leave Jonah 12. He fussed and dithered inside his makeshift shelter, gathering his few possessions, although Nikko couldnt see anything worth keeping among the bits of wreckage.
Even the wentals seemed enthusiastic and impatient to depart, thawing themselves from the chunks of ice and flowing voluntarily into the cargo hold of theAquarius. The whole icy planet was by now infused with them, and they were strong and eager to fight the faeros.
Finally, Crim put his foot down and told Caleb, Enough of this, man. Get aboard theAquarius weve got places to go, wentals to deliver, wars to win!
After boarding the ship, Caleb took one last look at the rough, frozen landscape, and sealed the airlock hatch behind him. Nikko raised theAquarius from the ice, keying in the next set of coordinates. Following their timetable, all the water bearers were supposed to rendezvous back at Theroc. Thanks to Jess and Cesca, the water elementals now held a spark of courage and determination as they rallied to stand against the faeros in ways they had never fought before.
Caleb hunched behind the two seats in the cockpit, relieved and excited now that they were finally on their way. Nikko accelerated away from the small frozen planetoid and headed out of the system.
You sure you set the right course? his father asked.
I double-checked the nav calculations while we were waiting for Caleb to gather all his things.
Oh. So you had plenty of time then.
Caleb made a sour face at him.
They hadnt gone far, though, before the wentals on theAquarius began to churn. Thrumming through the deck and bulkheads, straining inside the hold, the living water sent out a wordless signal of alarm. Nikko knew what it meant. He quickly sent out a sensor sweep.
Nine swollen fireballs shot toward them from the outskirts of the Jonah system. Having sensed the water elementals inside the ship, they meant to destroy theAquarius and its precious cargo.
Calebs voice turned into a squawk of anger and fear. I bet those are the same bastards that got my water tanker.
Nikko frantically reversed course and looped around, squeezing everything he could from theAquarius s engines. The sudden acceleration smashed him and his father back against their seats, while Caleb stumbled and fell to the deck.
The ship raced away and the fiery ellipsoids rushed after them. Nikko tried to guess the limits to which he could push the hybrid vessel. I cant engage the stardrives yet.
Then just dodge the fireballs, boy! his father said.
Sure, Ill get right on that. Nikko made another radical course change and dropped back down into the Jonah system. He could sense the wentals boiling and angry, and suddenly he knew what he had to do. The watery entities made him realize it. Im heading back to the planetoid.
Caleb yelped, Where are you planning to hide down there?
Were not going to hide. The wentals want me to go there. Theyre extremely agitated right now.
No kidding. Crims teeth were clenched tightly together. I thought you said you couldnt communicate with them.
Not entirely, and not clearly, but. I canfeel that its what they want. He felt the anger of the wentals onboard, a pounding sense that was entirely different from their previous passivity.
The nine faeros poured after them, trailing fire. Nikko dodged like a maniac, but he didnt see how the pool of wental water aboard his ship could fight off the fireballs pursuing them.
Nikko hurtled toward Jonah 12, which looked like no more than a speck of cosmic lint in the vast black emptiness. The planetoid glinted, its icy surface reflecting the distant sunlight. At the wentals insistence, Nikko calculated an orbital vector, swinging low. He would practically scrape his underbelly on the crater rims and the frozen mounds of low mountains. It was going to take some fancy flying.