Homeworld: A Military Science Fiction Novel (11 page)

Feeding The Birds

Drake took up position on the edge of a flat rooftop of a plastisteel tenement building near the giant hospital Rachel’s tanks currently encircled. It was an ideal location as it allowed him a large field of fire and the buildings wall reached three feet above the rooftop offering both cover and concealment.

As he had cleared the building on his way to the roof, he was content that he had not encountered any civilians or hostiles. Whoever had occupied this building had apparently had the sense to evacuate it before the ground attack began.

His P-220 was slung over his shoulder as he dug his remaining tank buster rounds out of his vest and placed them on the rooftop to the right of his position.

Holding the last round in his hand, he considered that the round’s name was a bit of a joke. Though it was of a high grade, armor piercing caliber, such a round would have little effect on the explosive reactive armor of a real tank of either Republic or Coalition design.

However, it could still slice through the minimally armored side of any APC, or reduce a combat car to jagged scraps of burning metal with a well placed hit. Placing it next to the others, Drake doubted he would need to fire them today, but his own rather unique personal history had taught him that it was always best to err on the side of caution.

While he had no doubt Rachel’s tanks could certainly handle anything the crippled Mars Defense Forces could send at them, he knew the chances the Defense Forces would send the very thing he had failed to prepare for, were all too likely.

Almost as if on cue, he heard the screaming engines of a fighter coming in from the South.

Before he could so as much as blink, the Brightside’s anti-aircraft systems sprang into action. Red tracer rounds intermingled with the blazing white streaks of normal rounds shrieked across the sky above him to intercept the fighter.

Drake rolled onto his back, his M-220 aimed at the clouds, his finger resting squarely on the trigger of the AT-40. As the fighter swept over the seven-story rooftop he was on, he simultaneously identified the fighter as a hostile, adjusted his aim and gently caressed the weapon’s trigger.

His timing was perfect as the flight of the tank buster round intercepted the fighter and flew straight and true into the thin skin of her underbelly.

It dug a watermelon-sized hole in the fighter as it made contact. Drake imagined the rather larger exit hole it would leave as it punched its way through the other side of the fighter craft with a very satisfied grin.

Taking the time to congratulate himself was a mistake though. As the pilot had been flying nape of the earth the wash from the fighter’s engines pushed his armored body over the rooftop like a pebble in a hurricane.

Drake made a desperate grab for the edge of the parapet as he skidded over it. His fingers found purchase, snagging the edge itself as his M-220 fell from his grasp, spinning end over end, towards the street far below.

He held on as his body snapped back into the side of the building, his armor clanging against its plastisteel wall as his breath was jarred from his lungs. Drake clutched the edge of the parapet with white knuckled hands as he struggled to breathe. His legs flailed for a moment that seemed to last an eternity into the open air trying desperately to find something to use as a foothold.

The motivation of not wanting to join his M-220 in a free fall down seven stories helped Drake recover quickly and he had been able to swing a leg up over the edge, hauling himself back onto the rooftop. Rolling over onto his back, and gasping for air, he could clearly see the effect his shot had on the fighter.

From the trail of black smoke spiraling into the sky, he figured the pilot had pulled back hard on the stick to gain altitude upon impact from the tank buster. The slowly dissipating column of black smoke shot straight up for a thousand feet before folding over on itself, hurtling towards the earth at a forty-five degree angle.

Like some kind of macabre rainbow, the black streak of smoke disappeared behind the hospital, and joined with a larger column of black and grey smoke that was being licked by flames from ground level.

Drake allowed himself a smile as he rose to his feet, and gathered up his remaining tank busters, placing them back in his vest. “Just goes to show you’ll never know,” he whispered to himself. Drawing his sidearm, he raced back into the building towards the stairwell that led to the street.

With his sidearm up and ready to fire, he quickly cleared the stairwell and hallways he had to traverse, just because they were clear the first time around didn’t mean they would be the second, he raced to ground level and around the side of the building where his weapon had taken the plunge.

Recovering his M-220 from the street, he checked it over carefully for damage. He had to pause and give credit where credit was due, the Coalition made a damn fine main battle rifle. There was only a slight scuffmark on its black stock to show that it had just taken a seven-story dive.

Looking at the black smoke still billowing from behind the hospital, he considered that he had done all he could from here. It was time to regroup with Flint and the others before they got into too much trouble without him.

The Offer

Xarn looked up from the stack of holo-cords piled on the small, low mahogany tables surrounding his richly appointed divan as the door to his gracefully adorned office hissed gently as it slid open. As the Earth Republic’s Ambassador Kal entered, the smell of desperation exuding from his every pore soured the subtle smells of the incense provided by the warmers spread throughout the room. The human ambassador was rubbing his hands together in the way humans call “wringing.”

“It’s true then?” Xarn hissed as he offered Kal a comfortable seat amongst a pile of large crimson pillows, with golden embroidered patterns, made of a supple human material called silk. Which, as he understood, were made from the excretions of a worm indigenous to Earth.

Kal practically fell into the pillows which forced the air quickly out of them making a sound like a deep sigh. The Earth Republic Ambassador had met Xarn’s eyes and Xarn could see clearly that the human had not slept in many cycles as Kal gave a pained nod. “Mars has fallen to the Coalition.”

“Does this surprise you?” Xarn asked in the most soothing purr that he knew how to utter. “What chance did your people on Mar’s have after your fleet left orbit in order to protect Earth?”

Kal shook his head. “No, we fully expected to lose Mars,” he admitted, “but not this quickly. From what I have managed to glean from the reports, the Coalition didn’t try to occupy Mars so much as outright massacre its civilians.” A small almost unnoticeable, except to the most trained of eyes which Xarn still possessed, spark of hope flickered in the ambassador’s eyes as he said, “I have heard rumors that those citizens surviving have formed an armed resistance movement.”

“And now your plans of defending Earth are crumbling.” Xarn leaned his ears forward and twitched his whiskers in a Darian display of sympathy. “I am sorry for your people, Kal. The needless massacre of any sentient is a hard thing to stand.”

Xarn paused as the human ambassador looked down for a moment before nodding slightly in acknowledgement and gratitude. Xarn continued,” I have to ask why you are here however. We Darians have carefully remained neutral in this war from the beginning.” Xarn’s tone made the statement sound like a question.

Kal met his eyes and Xarn was surprised that in Kal’s red-rimmed hazel eyes the traditional almost instinctual guarded look of a diplomat was gone. He was seeing into the soul of the human in front of him, perhaps for the first time.

“Our races have no doubt had their share of differences Xarn but surely your government must know what will happen if the Coalition wins this war.”

Xarn’s ears rotated backwards flat against his well-groomed and silver furred head. From his reclined position, he leaned in close to the human and whispered “Unofficially, my human friend, it would not be the outcome we hoped for.”

“Then do something about it before it’s too late, Xarn.” pleaded Kal as the pheromones the human released altered subtly and Xarn detected a hint of hope. If Earth falls, the Earth Republic will fall with it. Certainly some of the outlying colonies will continue to fight, perhaps they may even last a few years, but without Earth as a rallying point, they are doomed to fail.

Kal adjusted his position on the luxurious cushions and leaned in closer to the Darian he had come to consider a friend if not an ally. “Let me ask you this, Xarn. When the dust settles and the bodies are counted, what do you think the Coalition’s first move will be?”

Xarn closed the outer lids of his eyes and took a long breath in through his nose and let it out calmly and slowly through his mouth before answering, “Their attention will shift to the Darian Empire. I am well aware of that fact, Kal.”

Xarn extended and retracted his claws, bringing his knowledge of the Ka to bear in order to control his emotions at the thought of his own home world in flames.

“It would take a fool not to realize that. There are factions of our Defense Force who would like nothing more than to go straight for the Chief Executive Officer of the Coalition’s throat right now. But despite the belief amongst certain of my people that we are superior in the ways of combat compared to your own species, those in power, like myself, know all too well that we cannot bring the resources to bear fast enough for a prolonged war against the Coalition.

"For all the courage of our warriors, they are simply too few. Even before this new second fleet revealed itself, we knew that was true. Their ships outnumber our own by a margin of no less than four to one, perhaps maybe even more. Who knows what else is lurking deep inside Coalition space waiting for the right time to reveal itself? The Coalition’s industrial capacity is a frightening monster,” Xarn shrugged, “To be truthful, Kal, I am surprised they waited so long to come for Earth. They’ve had your military fighting a defensive war since the end of the first year of conflict.”

Kal’s face muscles contracted in what Xarn had learned was a human expression of genuine honesty and was not the mask that Kal had worn so often at the conference table. Xarn twitched his ears forward to hear what the Earth Ambassador would say next better.

“First Partas Xarn of the Darian Ka’tta, as the official Ambassador of the Earth Republic and with the signed authorization of our President Benedict Stripling, I hereby inform you that the Earth Republic is prepared to offer back to your people all the territories that were taken in the Darian Contact War; more if you come into this war on our behalf.”

All three sets of Xarn’s eyelids blinked involuntarily.

“All of it? What of your established colonies and your citizens on those worlds?” Xarn asked truly astonished.

“We’ll pull them out, by force if necessary,” Ambassador Kal said in an earnest tone. “A formal alliance with Earth would likely go a long way in bringing an end to your border skirmishes with the Ra-tids.”

Xarn hissed in anger, but it was not directed at Kal. “I doubt that. As for the Ra-tid’s, they will continue to test us until they sense weakness and then they will move in force to eradicate our entire species for the sheer joy they will get in doing so”

Kal slowly nodded, acknowledging the truth when he heard it. “However with the alliance we propose, the Earth Republic Fleet would readily extend its presence into any Darian systems your government felt they were needed in. With the extra ships at your disposal, your systems would be better protected than they have been from both pirates and the Ra-tids alike since the unfortunate war between our races.”

Xarn was silent for several long moments as he mulled over the more than generous offer being laid out before him. It came with much danger, but if Earth won the war. . .

Ambassador Kal recognized the hesitation in his friend’s alien features. Xarn had a way of stroking his left whiskers when he was in doubt. Kal decided it was time to play his last card. “The President has authorized me to also extend the offer of sharing our knowledge of the newly developed technology that we use to protect the Null points around Earth herself”

Xarn was again caught off guard by such an offer and not even his decades of devotion to Ka could stop a smile of avarice spread across his face. “That is indeed very generous of you.”

This new technology that the humans had rather suddenly developed without Xarn’s agents being aware of until it was activated for the first time a week ago, allowed the Earth Republic to manipulate the fabrics of Normal and Null space at the same time. This effectively prevented any ship from Nulling into Earth orbit without the technology first being manipulated. This meant that any aggressor fleet would have to travel by standard sub-Null Drive from another Null point in the Sol system to Earth. Neither Xarn nor the finest minds on Dar knew how such a technology worked.

When Xarn had first informed the Ka’tta about this, the Emperor himself had ordered him to use all the means at his disposal to acquire the technology only holding back the methods that would lead to another war with the Earth Republic. It had been a delicate operation, subtly planned and in action since the order left his Emperor’s mouth but so far it had come up with nothing. Not even a whisper of the names of the humans involved in its development.

Indeed this was a mighty offer. Perhaps it would help the Darians defend their own home world if the Coalition next turned their sights on Dar, even if the Earth Republic fell.

“I will make your offer directly and immediately to the Emperor myself.” Xarn spoke in his normal measured tone, recovering some of his momentarily lost self control.” Ambassador Kal nodded and began to rise from his reclined position when Xarn held up a hand to stay his motion. “You should know, Kal, I can promise you nothing except that he will hear the offer you have made and that I shall try to get his Imperial Highness to accept. I can do nothing more for you or your government than that.”

Kal stood and nodded, his face set with the grim determination of a brave man looking at the gallows. “Thank you my, old friend, I could ask nothing more of you.” Kal straightened his attire that had become slightly ruffled from reclining in the Darian fashion as he said, “You should know, if you do not already, that we expect the Coalition fleet to arrive in approximately two weeks’ time. If our two governments fail to form an alliance, I would ask, as a personal favor, that you leave well before then. There is no need for us both to burn here. We do not have much time.”

Xarn curled his lips and showed his teeth in a smile of both pity and frustration. “No, Kal, I suppose we don’t.”