The Ashes of Worlds

He couldn’t imagine what the wentals had in mind, but he trusted them implicitly.

With the faeros careening in its wake, theAquarius whisked like a swift-moving shadow across the rugged landscape. His father and Caleb were so frightened they didn’t even criticize his flying, and Nikko’s terror helped keep his concentration as focused as a laser. He didn’t know how much longer he could fly like this.

The relentless fireballs pressed ever closer, and curtains of heat rippled out, melting the surface wherever they touched.

Then, as theAquarius cruised over the wide melted crater from the reactor explosion, the trap was sprung. Emerging from where they had been locked in the ice, wentals erupted as great, gushing geysers.

The faeros could not back away or change their course swiftly enough from the cannon blasts of charged water. Like watery volcanoes, the surge of liquid struck the nine ellipsoids. More living water streamed from the thick ice and engulfed the faeros, who could not fight back. The warrior wentals snuffed out the elemental fires.

A surge of exhilaration rushed through his bloodstream as Nikko raced away in theAquarius.

“Neat trick,” Caleb said, “and a very auspicious start to this big battle you keep talking about.”

The three laughed out loud with relief. Nikko’s father clapped both of the others on the shoulders. “Now let’s head to Theroc and get on with it.”

112

Robb Brindle

Days after their arrival, Robb stood with Fleet Admiral Willis aboard theJupiter, gazing out at the Earth with feelings as jumbled as the scattered chunks of lunar debris. This place had been Robb’s home, where his parents had been stationed throughout his youth, where he had first filled out the forms to join the EDF, eager to go out and fight the hydrogues.

Robb felt a great hollowness in his chest each time he saw the rubble field of the Moon. Nothing left but shattered rocks flying in all directions. He had undergone his initial training at the EDF base there, the same base where he’d met the cocky Roamer recruit Tasia Tamblyn. He wished Tasia could have accompanied them on this mission, but she had flown off with Kotto Okiah to Golgen and points unknown, hoping to help him test his Klikiss Siren.

No, coming back to Earth to face this extraordinary disaster — that was his own job.

He hadn’t seen his mother in years, and he and his father had parted under difficult circumstances when Robb chose to remain loyal to King Peter rather than to the Hansa. It shouldn’t have been a choice that either one had to make. At Pym, though, Robb had seen some hint that his father might be softening his position, maybe understanding the rot in the command structure.

Today there could be no avoiding General Conrad Brindle. The new commander of the Earth Defense Forces was coming aboard theJupiter to discuss the situation with Admiral Willis. Robb had no doubt that would be an interesting meeting.

When the huge group of Confederation ships had arrived at Earth, the EDF met — or confronted — them, led by the ominousGoliath and a far greater number of repaired ships than they had ever expected to see. After a few tense moments, the Confederation ships had grudgingly been allowed to get to work.

Despite their diligence, the EDF ships had been managing to catch only about one percent of the Earth-intersecting objects. It was impossible to detect and deflect all of them, but with so many additional experienced helpers, Robb hoped to increase that success rate to at least ninety percent.

Still, it took only one extinction event.

Admiral Willis had dispersed her ships and the Roamer privateers, and they plunged into the task with dogged determination. Showing off, the clan volunteers worked like hyperactive ants repairing a damaged colony. The Admiral was initially flustered by the independence of the Roamer pilots, who did not fall neatly into her guidelines, adhere to the chain of command, or use standardized procedures. However, when they spread out in their mishmash of unique craft, they worked just fine without oversight.

Thousands of clan ships — mostly cargo vessels and scout flyers — accompanied the orderly squads of Confederation-marked Remoras. They flew wide and thorough search patterns with their sensors attuned for any faint readings. Each time they found a questionable object, they planted a small pinger to broadcast the rock’s location so larger battleships could intercept it in time. Roamer craft reported back to theJupiter,dumping their navigation logs to provide the Confederation with an ever-growing database of celestial hazards. Computers projected a bird’s nest of orbital lines, and Robb’s mind reeled at the huge number of significant objects — with many more waiting to be found.

“Never thought I’d say it,” Willis commented, lounging back in her command chair, “but this looks like a job too big even for the Roamer clans — and those people are insane!”

“Insane? Or desperate?”

“One often leads to the other.”

Emergency crews had to prioritize which fragments posed the largest potential danger. Using concentrated jazer fire, powerful explosives, and some of Willis’s stockpiled nukes, the Confederation ships broke the largest objects into chunks small enough to theoretically burn up in the atmosphere. Some giant fragments were far enough away that carefully planted explosions deflected them into safer orbits, easing the problem at least temporarily.

Experienced Roamer scouts quickly showed the stodgier EDF pilots how it was done. Squadrons of ships combed the nearby volume of space all day long, searching the emptiness and back-calculating the projected paths of lunar rubble.

Several more repaired EDF ships had been released from the robot construction complexes to join the scout fleet. Every new vessel helped. Even so, Robb didn’t view the black robots too kindly. After being held prisoner inside a gas giant by hydrogues and black robots, knowing how the robots had betrayed Tasia, and how they had hijacked much of the EDF fleet, Robb remained suspicious.

On the main screen on theJupiter ’s bridge, he saw the large open-architecture vessels that Sirix and his comrades were building for themselves, right in view of Earth. The alien configurations had been adapted from old Klikiss plans. Why would Chairman Wenceslas allow them to do that? It defied belief.

Willis’s executive officer reported to the bridge. “The EDF command shuttle has just docked, ma’am. General Brindle will be here momentarily.”

She looked at Robb, knowing full well what she was asking. “Would you please escort him up to the bridge?”

Robb’s stomach was in knots, but he forced a smile that fooled no one. “Sure, Admiral. I’d be happy to.”