Звезда Пандоры

The CST station on Wessex actually beat the navy’s detector network in alerting Nigel to the wormholes opening above that planet. When he switched his attention there he was immediately aware of Alan Hutchinson’s command programs flooding through the Wessex cybersphere as the founder of that particular Big15 world took charge of its defenses. Multiple force fields came on around Narrabri, its megacity. The planet’s small tactical defense brigade was ordered to deploy around the perimeter, activating their ground-to-air interceptor batteries. Squadrons of combat aerobots launched from their silos to patrol the skies above the force fields.

Alan Hutchinson’s face flittered across Nigel’s consciousness, grinning savagely. Three of his aerobots fired their atom lasers, taking out incoming Prime projectiles as they hit the upper atmosphere.

“Good shooting,” Nigel said.

“Makes a decent change from finance reports,” was the gruff Aussie’s hearty comment.

Another salvo of projectiles shot out of four wormholes. They were answered by a battery of firepower from the planet below.

“Thank Christ for that,” Alan said as molten radioactive debris scudded down across the ocean. “We can hit back at the bastards.” Data coming back from the other afflicted Commonwealth worlds was depressing. Other than cities protected by force fields and aerobots, they were woefully unprepared.

“You can knock out a few missiles,” Nigel said. “But at this rate we’re going to lose. They have a thousand times our resources.”

“Well give me the good news, why don’t you.”

Both of them paused to observe the Second Chance fly into action above Anshun.

“Go, Tu Lee, go,” Nigel whispered out loud. He tried to suppress the anxiety he felt for his young descendant. Emotional distraction was the one thing he couldn’t afford right now.

Hundreds more projectiles were fired down at Wessex. Alan didn’t have enough aerobots to cover the more remote areas. Towns scattered across the continent-wide farmlands were wiped out as the Prime projectiles fell freely. “Motherfuckers,” Alan growled. “What threat did those people ever make?”

“Can you see an attack pattern in this?” Nigel asked the SI. “Is there a strategy? Or are they just trying to wipe us out?”

“The planets selected imply a double target approach,” the SI said. “The twenty-three outer worlds are a strong foothold into the Commonwealth. The acquisition of Wessex, with its gateways to phase two space planets, would allow them to occupy a huge proportion of territory, effectively eliminating the Commonwealth as a single entity, especially if they managed to occupy Earth as well.”

“They’ll never get the Narrabri station,” Nigel said harshly. “I’ll make quite sure of that.”

“They can’t know our exact response,” the SI said. “This is as exploratory for them as it is for us. The goal of securing Wessex is a logical one. They can afford to lose the venture, yet if they do obtain the gateways at Narrabri station they will have a back door into sixty developed worlds.”

“What the hell for? What do they want with us?”

“Judging by the projectile targets, we would infer they want to obtain as much human infrastructure as is practical. They are happy to eliminate the smaller civic areas to earn the larger ones. Even if they were to be repelled immediately, most of the surviving population from the twenty-three worlds under attack would have to be evacuated. The land around the cities is radioactive slag, crops are ruined, the climate has been disrupted. They are in danger of losing their H-congruous status without a huge amount of very expensive retro-forming.”

“Son of a bitch,” Nigel grunted. “You’re talking genocide.”

“Possibly.”

“Oh, Christ,” Alan exclaimed. “They’ve got her.”

Nigel watched with radar and optical sensors as the Second Chance valiantly accelerated out of orbit, struggling to shake off the surrounding Prime wormholes. Then the starship’s brilliant plasma rockets were extinguished behind a nuclear furnace of elementary particles that inflated out across five hundred kilometers.

“Son of a bitch,” Nigel barked.Tu Lee, you did a magnificent job. I’m so proud. And I will hear your laugh again.

“Goddamn,” Alan said. “I’m sorry, Nigel.”

“We can’t just sit here and take this kind of punishment,” Nigel said. “We have to show them we can fight back.”

“Admiral Kime has ordered the warships to rendezvous,” the SI said.

“I bet those alien bastards are quaking in their fucking boots. Whoa, three ships are heading their way.”

Wessex aerobots destroyed another salvo of projectiles. The Primes seemed to have stopped targeting the small towns dotted over the rest of the planet. Narrabri and its external districts were on the receiving end of just about every deluge now.