SECTION 18
There are several other planets in immediate danger, but no one world is as important as Baal. The key planet of the sector, with its large population and major trade links with other key planets, Baal is the obvious next choice for a Ka’slaq assault if they know anything about the League. The assault on Endymion suggests that the Ka’slaq knew, presumably from records or captives aboard the lost Discovery at S.C. 170, that Endymion was the nearest Legion port and base.
Convinced that Baal is the best choice for the Ka’slaq, Ulnar knows it will take both luck and speed to win the race and bring the Ninth Squadron to the defense of Baal. The Ka’slaq are closer, but if they linger around Endymion, the Legion ships might just reach the planet in time to block the enemy advance. No time can be spared; Ulnar issues the orders that will set the squadron in motion at last with scarcely a pause to consider the dangers of the situation.
Accelerating out of orbit, the Ninth Squadron gathers speed as the great geodyne engines run up to their maximum output. Using their power to distort the very fabric of space itself, the ships slide past the speed of light to velocities no human mind could grasp, and shape their course for Baal. But even at these awesome speeds it is an eleven-day journey from St. Germaine to Baal, and that leaves plenty of time for plans, doubts, and second thoughts.
The fleet is cut off from any but the briefest of contacts with the worlds of the sector. Ultrawave transmissions between planets are easy enough because the coordinates of each are well-known and relative motions comparatively low, but the uncertainties of speed and distance between moving ships make communications difficult. Even an error of a degree or two in antenna alignment can cause a transmission to miss the intended recipient by trillions of miles. Except at fairly short ranges or under unusual circumstances, it is almost impossible to broadcast substantial messages to or from a moving ship in interstellar space.
Thus, Ulnar has very little to go on as he lays his plans during the voyage. Except for Larno’s first message, he has no information on events at Endymion and no way of knowing what to expect at Baal. But as the squadron finally draws near its destination, it makes contact and begins updating information relayed over the past eleven days from the base at St. Germaine to Baal. as well as news gathered locally.
The word from Endymion is grim. None of Larno’s ships escaped, but a few merchant vessels on the fringes of the system were able to watch what happened before they fled. The Ka’slaq onslaught was fast, utterly ruthless, and totally devastating. There were at least one hundred ships (Larno’s original estimate, and probably the most accurate), although some reports speak of several hundred, all identical in size, speed, and bearing incredibly powerful weapons. The ships swept into the system at a speed no human ship would have dared maintain (not because human ships couldn’t move that fast, but because human pilots couldn’t handle the precise maneuvers and sudden vector changes the invaders evidently regarded as routine), and closed in on Endymion almost before anyone was aware of their presence. Their actions made it clear that the Ka’slaq knew every detail of the Endymion colony and its defenses.
According to the reports, the large body of enemy cruisers was followed by one other object, which ultrapulse scans reported as a huge, slow-moving structure the size of a planetoid or small moon. Larno’s scanners must have picked up the same data, because the last reported act of the tiny garrison force was a headlong rush into the heart of the enemy fleet, aimed straight at the huge object. The threat was enough to draw off some of the Ka’slaq ships, which closed in on Larno’s force with inhuman accuracy and wiped out all the ships before they could either reach the large target or break off and flee. But the slackening attack didn’t die away for long; soon the aliens were back in force. There was nothing left to stand in their way.
The Ka’slaq didn’t just overawe the helpless colony—they systematically devastated it. Endymion’s cities and towns were reduced from orbit without the slightest trace of mercy or a single offer of acceptance of quarter. One town was apparently destroyed even as the inhabitants sent a panic-stricken message of total surrender. Ka’slaq weapons, more powerful than the best vortex guns in the Legion’s arsenal, picked off inhabited areas one after another, from the largest town to the newest homestead. It was clear that the aliens had a detailed summary of human habitation on the planet, which made it even more likely that the Ka’slaq had cracked the computer files aboard the captured Discovery. A few lucky colonists escaped in merchant ships, but no human escaped from the holocaust at Endymion.
No one knows what happened there; the Ka’slaq might have remained, or they may have moved on to new conquests.
They have not yet taken Baal, although patrol ships operating away from the colony in the direction of Endymion have sent in some disturbing reports. Ultrapulse scans have picked up fuzzy images at the very limit of detection range on a course toward Baal. Some kind of previously unknown ultrawave band static has also been detected in that direction, prompting the captain of the battlecruiser Defiant to follow up the reports with a personal reconnaissance. Evidently, Ulnar has arrived in time, but just barely . . . if, indeed, these reports are of enemy ships and not more refugees or some other anomaly unconnected with the Ka’slaq.
By the time the squadron makes orbit around Baal, the static reported by the patrols is noticeable to everyone and has begun interfering with communications and ultrapulse scans. The scanners still work, but they aren’t very reliable. Several blips have appeared swooping toward the planet, but the distortion makes it hard to gather more than the most basic ideas of speed, headings, and size. Two ships—the destroyer Anthar and the battlecruiser Defiant—are overdue and still out of contact, and everyone in the squadron is growing increasingly concerned about the situation.
“Ultrapulse reports two friendly ships at the limit of detection range,” an officer announces.
Ulnar, feigning calm by sipping from a mug of coffee, hands it to a steward and swivels his seat to command a view of Valiant’s tactical planning tank, where ultrapulse data is translated by computer to readouts. Moving at maximum speed, the two yellow blips are identified as a battlecruiser and a destroyer. Ulnar watches as the computers update the information and transponder signals identify the two vessels: Defiant and Anthar, as everyone hoped.
A ragged cheer starts from the crewmen on the bridge, but it dies away quickly. Ultrapulse scans show a whole phalanx of blue-covered lights, representing unknown and presumably hostile ships, closing fast on the two Legion vessels. Ulnar needn’t see more to know that the Ka’slaq have arrived.
“Defiant on line, Admiral,” the communications technician reports.
“Put it through.” Ulnar turns to face the microphone and comm screen on the Flag command console. The screen flickers to life, broken up by static but revealing the strained features of a young captain with a scorched uniform collar and a bleeding gash across one cheek.
“Flag, this is Defiant. Enemy ships pursuing. They’ll reach your position soon. Too many for us to stop.” The captain rubs at the blood on his face. “There’s more of them than anyone thought. We took a grazing hit, with one geodyne damaged and fifty men killed or wounded. Flag, Admiral, we can’t fight them . . .”
The captain begins to ramble, his confused words and dazed expression making plain his anguish and fear. Defiant’s captain knows his ship is doomed.
“Energy pulse from target 027,” a voice calls out from somewhere behind the battlecruiser’s captain. “That means they’re—” With a flash of light and the sound of melting electronics, the battlecruiser is hit again.
“Pax External,” someone on Valiant’s bridge mutters. Ulnar drops his eyes to the planning tank, where the symbols that represent Defiant as a battlecruiser under power are fading out. Something there still returns a faint ultrapulse echo amidst the lifeless hulk drifting silently through space.
Almost as if an afterthought, an anticlimax following the death of the Defiant, the smaller dot that represents the destroyer winks out a few moments later. The Ka’slaq destroyed the smaller ship so thoroughly that no trace remains to bounce back ultrapulse signals.
Ulnar stares at the tank for a long minute, watching thirty blue symbols creep toward the squadron, and, behind the Legion’s protective shield, Baal. Two more ships are gone, and the implacable aliens continue their remorseless advance. Ulnar wonders for a moment if it would be better to fight and die or flee and face the shame of running without a fight.
Then, as he stares down at the planning tank, Ulnar feels a dawning resolve. He knows what he should do and how to make it work. All that remains is to give the necessary orders.
If Ulnar decides to attack the Ka’slaq fleet, go to Section 33.
If Ulnar decides to remain near Baal to defend it from attack, go to section 37.
If Ulnar decides to abandon Baal, go to section 41.