SECTION 12
Reports on the fall of Endymion begin to filter in within hours of Larno’s original report. A few merchant ships and other private vessels on the fringes of the system were able to escape, but none of Larno’s outnumbered garrison had a chance. Ultrawave messages, traveling faster than light but still slow over interstellar distances, only gradually unfold the story of the Ka’slaq onslaught.
They came in fast and in force. Some reports speak of hundreds of ships, each of them identical in size, speed, and devastating weapons. Sweeping into the system at a speed impossible for any human-built ship to match—not because of engineering problems, since geodyne drives could tear up the light-years that separate the stars, but because no human pilot could have handled the precise maneuvers and sudden vector changes these invaders took as routine—the Ka’slaq descended upon Endymion without even pausing to get their bearings. Their every action made it plain they knew every detail of the colony and its defenders.
Larno’s tiny squadron did its best, but it was a handful of ships against a horde that easily outnumbered and outgunned the Legion’s defenders. No accounts of his actual attack on the main body of the Ka’slaq fleet reach Ulnar’s flagship. An ultrapulse scan picked up a single large object the size of an asteroid or small planet in the heart of the enemy fleet, and Larno plunged into the midst of this overwhelming force. Before all contact was lost, Ka’slaq systems all over the star system broke off their attacks for a time, but it wasn’t long before they returned with even more ruthless energy than ever.
Endymion was not just attacked, it was devastated, systematically and without the least mercy. Each city, each town, each homestead was blasted by weapons more powerful than the strongest Legion vortex gun. The ruthless campaign of destruction targeted the human colonists with a precision that could only have stemmed from total familiarity with the computer files captured on board the Discovery. One report records that the Ka’slaq annihilated one town as its terror-stricken inhabitants were in the middle of a message of surrender. Except for a few lucky ones in fleeing ships, no one in the Endymion system was spared.
And again the aliens, having overwhelmed their opponents, have disappeared from view. Are they still around Endymion? Or have they decided to strike at some other colony? A destroyer operating out of Baal picked up ultrapulse blips on his long-range scanners between Endymion and Baal, but was this the enemy fleet or some natural phenomena? The fate of Endymion makes clear the total inhumanity of the Ka’slaq, and Ulnar is well aware that their campaign of terror has to be stopped before they destroy another hapless planet. But where will they go next? Where should he try to bring them to battle? And is there any hope for his squadron even if he does meet up with this implacable foe?
If Ulnar chooses to remain at St. Germaine even after these new reports, go to section 45.
If Ulnar chooses to go to Endymion, go to section 20.
If Ulnar chooses to go to Baal, go to section 50.
If Ulnar orders his squadron to S.C. 170, go to section 30.
If Ulnar chooses to go to any other destination, go to section 44.
Roll one die and add the number of days shown to the time already spent at St. Germaine.