Andreï in command on the bridge of the Alké, Judea on the Deimos.
"Tohil, you're someone autonomous who takes initiative," Andreï had said. "I want you on the Frigate that will dive onto Caliban. On the Deimos, I need someone absolutely servile."
He had nodded, lips tight, but after all, Andreï was now Admiral of the Stellar Fleet.
Almost in a murmur, he had breathed to the helmsman:
"Now."
And the two Endymions Drifted into the Caliban system, two kilometers from the Hecatonchire, a formidable cruiser, old, with an experienced crew. The Drift exit angle was perfect: perpendicular to the ship.
"To the Fleet gunners, unleash a deluge of fire onto the target, hold nothing back."
The Alké and the Deimos discharged several million tonnes of asteroids collected in the Oort cloud using the Endymions' ionic acceleration.
"Release the communication Exocet. Return Drift."
The beacon was launched, and immediately afterward, the two Endymions of the Resistance Fleet returned to the fringes of interstellar space.
"Activate communication. Place us on the HS Drift communication network. Refill the asteroids. Send our coordinates to Sweet Sun."
On the bridges of the two cruisers, the orders were repeated. They aligned themselves with clusters of asteroids collected by the Ravens and the Ozys, ready to strike again. The calculation Xenos, networked but centralized by Sweet Sun, were establishing a new Drift toward another sector of Caliban's orbit.
On the screen, the espionage Exocet showed the Hecatonchire, pierced through and through, spurting sprays of sparks, sinking into Caliban's atmosphere, ejecting in panic hundreds of escape pods.
The communication Exocet connected to the HS and LE protocols. Using high-level military code, it transmitted a pre-recorded message everywhere. One could see Andreï staring into the camera, standing on the bridge of the Alké, with officers in the background.
"This is Admiral of the Stellar Fleet Andreï. The Stellar Fleet is currently conducting an assault on Caliban against the forces rallied to Aleph. This message is addressed to humans and to Xenos of good will who believe that the acts of Aleph and the army that follows him are unworthy of our civilization and must be stopped as soon as possible. If you have a ship, armed or not, whatever it may be, we ask you to join us in retaking control of Caliban, and then of Earth. We are waiting for you!"
Petra, a woman with olive skin, very elongated eyes, the other officer assigned to communications, called out to the Admiral:
"Incoming communication from Admiral of the Stellar Fleet Gulmira, from the Gilgamesh, my admiral.
- I'll take it. It saves us a few seconds."
The tightly shut face of Gulmira, usually falsely smiling, appeared on the screen. She sighed, then sharply declared:
"Captain Andreï, what is this madness? Three hundred dead on the Hecatonchire, and a capital ship scuttled.
- The first of your entire fleet if you do not surrender immediately.
- Captain, she said, narrowing her eyes with anger and emphasizing the word captain, I give you ONE MINUTE to surrender, you and your two Endymions, and I guarantee you will not be sentenced to exile or to re-education in virtualization. For God's sake, do you really think…"
The gunner had turned toward Admiral Andreï and, with a gesture of the hand, indicated that the Endymions were loaded. Andreï cut the communication and ordered the second Drift.
Another sector of the planet, this time the Astrapé, again a perfect angle. Again the deluge of fire. Again the immense six-kilometer ship being pushed into destruction toward the planet.
That's it, Andreï thought, glancing at the positions of the other enemy cruisers from the corner of his eye. They're starting to move, all of them.
Again in Drift, into the Oort cloud. No more communication. The espionage Exocet's data and the communication Exocet's data were abruptly cut: annihilated by Tygers.
Right now, Andreï told himself, the military AIs are anticipating our next move. I still have one attempt left and after that, we'll need to adapt. And indeed, another jump, another attack on the Dian Wu, brand-new. But this time, it was facing them, and also launched its attack head-on-which fortunately passed between the two Resistance cruisers. They returned to Drift just before another grapnel sped toward them.
The officers of the Alké were smiling. The impossible battle was turning into a flawless performance for them, and Andreï deserved his reputation-hard to imagine-of a superior mind. Yet he knew these were only the opening moves of a chess game he was beginning. He had the white pieces, and only two pieces total.
He sighed softly, requested a Drift to the same sector as the Hecatonchire, blindly. The AIs had more or less anticipated it and had suggested to the HS Stellar Fleet captains that they cluster into small back-to-back groups to protect not the planet anymore, but themselves.
By the time they understood the angle and structure of their defense, they had already fired. Andreï ordered a Drift, but for some unknown reason, the other Endymion, the Deimos, did not enter Drift: the helmsman declared with surprise that his controls were blocked. A river of grapnel missiles raced toward the Endymion, which was about to perish-Andreï, with a neutral but firm voice, ordered all the small ships inside the Deimos to leave the vessel and dive toward Caliban.
"We have lost the Deimos," declared Demetrios Hopcyn with emotion at the map relay. "Half our fleet," muttered an anonymous officer on the bridge. "Noted," replied Andreï. "Refill the asteroids. Is there… a technician… Pallas!" "Yes, my admiral!"
She was in the shadows, at his side.
"Can the Stellar Fleet block our Drifts?
- Not to my knowledge…
- Let's hope it's a malfunction… otherwise we're dead.
- My admiral, Petra resumed, "uh… I have Captain Milovan Zarko of the Amaterasu who wants to speak to us.
- I'll take him.*"
Milovan was an Android returned from the After to continue his service. Military Androids kept a slightly robotic appearance so as not to deceive humans, but this one had carefully crafted joints. Out of vanity, he was chrome-plated, as they did a hundred years ago. On his shoulder, a small Xeno creature, which Andreï recognized as a Titus cat.
"Admiral of the Stellar Fleet Andreï, I just drifted from the other side of the star. Give me Drift coordinates so I can join you. Christ, where were you all these months? Me and my men, we can't stand that bastard Aleph!"
In the background, a voice rose:
"This is a disgrace, Milovan! Under the code…"
But the Captain of the Endymion pulled an automag and fired. A loud scream was heard.
"Welcome to the Resistance fleet, Milovan. We'll send you coordinates. Petra, do it.
- Milovan," said Tohil on another communication channel, "I was there when the president of the HS refused you promotion because you were in the After. To me, you're a valiant man, and you just proved it.
- I'm not doing this out of revenge. I'm doing it for the Xenos.
- Avoid shooting your own men though," added the Admiral of the Fleet. "We're not many.
- That idiot will live. Win us this battle, Andreï, so I can drag him before a war tribunal."
The Amaterasu, a venerable old ship but a few hundred meters longer than the Alké, moved into position within the field of satellites and began its maneuvers.
With terror, the officers of the Alké realized that another Endymion had just Drifted into their position. Andreï did not want to believe in betrayal, but his hand tightened on the command railing.
Petra opened an incoming communication, and a young woman appeared on the screens, her skull shaved, tattooed with a prisoner's matriculation from Dante.
"Ippolita, Captain of the Ptah. I follow in Milovan's footsteps.
- Yes, I gave her the coordinates as well. Ippolita doesn't look like much, but she's a little war genius. She likes challenges, so she decided to join you.
- Admiral Andreï, I reject Aleph and his project. I am under your command."
Andreï declared:
"Our fleet has just tripled. Perhaps you will be the example that convinces others.
- If you knew what Gulmira is screaming at us right now on the screen…" Milovan exclaimed.
- Let's stay focused. Excuse me-can the Stellar Fleet block the Drift of other ships? I lost the Deimos that way. - Yes, Milovan admitted. You have to be within range, and it doesn't always work. It's their secret weapon, and they briefed us urgently after your first assault. I'm transferring the unlock protocols.
- Defeat came close. Ippolita, you have two minutes to follow the path we're giving you and load up on asteroids. We will have three Drift coordinates given by our Xenos and will attack on three flanks.
- That's a bad idea, my captain-uh, my admiral, said Ippolita. We reduce to zero our chances of destroying a ship by doing so.
- It is precisely because it's a bad idea that they won't be ready. We'll harass them. Ippolita, Milovan, I'm sorry, but if you're in my Fleet, you obey me blindly. No more interruptions."
And he was interrupted; Petra again:
"Incoming communication from the Endymion Kukulkan, Captain Solstice. - She survived, would you look at that… declared Andreï, glancing sideways at Pallas. I'm taking it. Everyone, prepare for imminent Drift."
Solstice stood straight and proud in her blue-and-gold uniform, her copper hair in a braid. On the left side, her face bore the scar of reconstruction.
"Andreï, I'm joining you. Send me the Drift coordinates and I'm coming.
- At this rate, we'll be more numerous than them, shouted a voice somewhere on the bridge.
- Last I heard, your last ship sank into an ocean of Booz. And Aleph gives you another?
- His cardinal value is…*"
Sol swallowed, confronted with her contradictions.
"…loyalty. All the better-our surprise effect will only be greater.
- Thank you Solstice for yet another change of sides, Andreï said with some humor. We'll give you our coordinates."
Pallas sent telepathically, forcing a little: she is lying to us, to which he replied aloud:
"I know. Send her the coordinates of column B on Judea's board. To everyone! Drift!"
The Alké, the Amaterasu, the Ptah, and, far from there, the Kukulkan, plunged into the frozen swell of the Drift.
The first three ships each arrived in front of a cluster of Endymions ready to defend themselves, and there was an exchange of large asteroids in space, the massive chunks scraping metal in the icy silence of the void, then volleys of missiles that were, weapon by weapon, countered by AI-piloted drones.
They are no longer protecting the planet, but the Fleet. The landing window is close, Andreï thought.
At that same moment, the Kukulkan exited Drift by unloading all its onboard missiles to destroy the Resistance Fleet by surprise. Alas for Solstice and her crew, the coordinates provided made them emerge two hundred meters above the vast, unique ocean of Caliban. The missiles crashed into the motionless waters as the immense mass fell, so fast that the air already carved a hole in the waveless sea. The gravity-control AIs adjusted the internal parameters to absorb the shock, but everyone was thrown to the floor. Solstice was in shock, so her second officer was the one to scream: "All hands to the escape pods!" The HS Fleet had just lost another ship.
"Wait for their second missile volley, then go into Drift," Andreï announced from orbit. "We must save our countermeasures.
- My admiral, Ippolita interrupted, look in high orbit, near the Shareplace, right in front of the Ptah!"
Another Endymion had just arrived in Drift from who knows where, accompanied by twelve Alexandrites who were reducing the uninhabited Shareplace to rubble so the monster-cruiser could swallow it.
"It's the Perun, from the League of Antioch," Andreï declared. "Petra, communication link as fast as possible…"
Petra nodded, and the Perun opened a communication to everyone: more than a resistance, it was here for political motives:
"Alké, Amaterasu, Ptah, duly noted, you are among us," responded energetically Constantin Szandra, an old fellow with an intense gaze who seemed to be gambling his life. "To the HS Fleet! To the stupid servants of Aleph! This is the flagship cruiser of the League of Antioch! The League officially demands that you withdraw from Caliban, frontier post of the League! The League has endured for too long the autocratic, senseless, racist and speciesist regime of the HS which has lost all common sense! You have nothing human left! All of you, as many as you are, come back to reason or we will destroy you!"
Andreï allowed himself a faint smile… yet another surprise secession from the League… but it served his purposes. The Perun was a massive piece, carrying a vast escort and unparalleled firepower-Gulmira had to know that.
And yes, Gulmira knew. She had summoned Aleph and the Hyperion urgently, and had also requested the recall of the entire Fleet dispersed throughout the universe, but obviously the HS was going through a period of temporary unpopularity, and no one, absolutely no one, was answering her call. Endure, she told herself, before ordering all ships to unleash heavy fire on the Perun:
"Captain Constantin, here are Drift coordinates. We fall back to the border and… - Alké, I'm not interested in your strategy. We are here to fight to the death. You have no idea how determined our men are, nor what our ship is capable of. One Antiochian is worth ten men…"
…and a hundred if he survived Dante, Ippolita thought…
"…and we have eight thousand, yes, eight thousand on board, all with rifles, grenades, but also nuclear fusion bombs and pressure suits, each one capable of boarding every ship in the Fleet and blowing it up! Does the HS have eight thousand Endymions, Gulmira?"
Gulmira, efficient, did not respond to this madness verbally: more than fifty cruisers were converging at full speed toward the Perun. If they couldn't annihilate it with their charges, they could crush it with their hulls alone. Should it be abandoned to its fate?
"Amaterasu, Ptah, grapnel behind the cruisers heading toward the Perun and see if you can take down one or two."
Andreï was psychically linked to Pallas, who was linked to the ship's Xeno Alpha and to Sweet Sun.
"I want Drift coordinates to get in front of the Perun," he said. "My admiral, I'm at my limits in terms of calculation.
- I know. Give them to me as soon as you have them. And… if you have some secret trick to compute even faster, now's the time to use it."
Sweet Sun worked some magic, because they arrived ten seconds later. All those years lost with Leonardo…
An Endymion is elongated like a cannon. Like a cannon, it is formidable from the front, but from the side, it is vulnerable. Gulmira, not wanting to take any risk, was rushing her cruisers across 180 degrees. Part of them were directly exposed to the devastating fire of the Antiochian cruiser, but the others were about to destroy it.
Ippolita had managed to blow a massive breach in the Ceto, whose crew was abandoning the ship, sector by sector, as it succumbed to decompression. Better yet, she was picking up drifting fragments from the Ceto to reload the destructive power of her cruiser. She seemed ravenous to destroy as many as possible, as if the challenge weren't to survive, but to kill them all as fast as possible. Formidable indeed, Andreï thought.
The Alké emerged from Drift beside the Perun, positioned itself perpendicularly to it, and discharged all its munitions. Facing it: ten cruisers-same for the Perun. With their backs to the wall, there was nothing left to do.
The missiles shot off like millions of comets from both sides, turning the black of space into a cloudy landscape. The work of a thousand billion men over years vanished in seconds. Seconds after which thousands of other men were going to die.
The missiles had not yet reached their targets when Andreï declared:
"Now, Tohil. With the Anicroche and everyone else, reach Caliban and follow the dispersion plan. Do not look back, but straight ahead."
And Tohil ordered the helmsman, as well as the meagre fleet of Ozys, Ravens, Tygers and Alexandrites, to dive toward the planet of eternal clouds.
Not to look back, so as not to see the others die.