Sirens blared, making her twist in her chair.
“Sub-Strategist!” the
“Explain your statement,” Circe said sharply.
“Look up at the screen,” the officer said.
She did. Long-range teleoptics showed a big ship. “Is that an SU battleship?” she asked.
“No. It’s bigger.”
“Where did it come from?” Circe asked.
“There was a flash, Sub-Strategist, and then it just appeared.”
“Attention!” Circe said, as she slapped an intercom button on her chair’s armrest. “Warm the lasers and target the enemy ship. It is a cyborg vessel, the most dangerous one in existence. We must attack it with extreme prejudice.”
“Are you sure it’s a cyborg vessel?” the weapons officer asked.
“Destroy it,” Circe said, “or we’re all doomed.” She had studied Chief Strategist Tan’s information about a Fuhl Event. The cyborgs must have finally ironed out the flaws and now used this ship to attack each fleet piecemeal. It was a brilliant strategy. The thought she had endured so much to fall prey to yet another secret cyborg project—
“Annihilate it!” Circe hissed. “Annihilate it before its beam or missiles destroy us.”
“Engage the Fuhl Mechanism!” the Prime messaged the cyborg crew. “We must leave this place.”
“We need time to adjust and recalibrate the black-hole pods, Prime,” a cyborg radioed its master.
“Then accelerate the ship away from those vessels!”
Several seconds later, the Prime experienced the building Gs as thrusters roared with life.
The Prime focused its sensors on the three meteor-ships. They were battered-looking.
Even as the Prime thought this, the three meteor-ships fired their primary lasers.
“Use the mechanism! Jump us out of here!”
“We need time, Prime.”
“Do it now or I will die!”
The lasers burned into the starship’s hull. Then the four nodes swirled with power. The Fuhl Mechanism started up, and the vessel began to crumple in upon itself. Its own gravitational forces destroyed the Solar System’s first experimental starship.
As the Prime Web-Mind of Neptune perished, torn apart by black-hole gravitational forces, Commissar Kursk tapped her communications screen. A face appeared on the module.
“It’s Marten Kluge,” Hawthorne said.
“Greetings,” Marten said. “I have just taken control of the Sun Station. I realize my time here may be short, so I have made some hard decisions. The first was the destruction of the Sun-Works Factory. I gave the Commandant the option to leave and head for Luna. He could not agree, so I destroyed the Factory before he could use it against me. I have just demolished Triton and I am about to target Luna and destroy the Highborn base there. In the days to come, I will target all cyborg concentrations of strength in each planetary system.”
Marten Kluge took a deep breath. “I have lived under many political systems, and I have found them all repugnant. Therefore, the Solar System is going to try a new way for a time—my way. Those who cannot agree to try it, I will target. My way is called freedom, giving people a choice.”
Marten’s taut features broke into a grim smile. “I’m going to build a bigger station, a bigger defensive bulwark around the Sunbeam. And I’m calling it a Star Fortress. It gives me veto power over anything I find repugnant. Remember that as you begin instituting freedom throughout the Solar System. That is all for now. Marten Kluge out.”
From the author: Thanks Reader! I hope you enjoyed Star Fortress. If you enjoyed the Doom Star Series and want to see more books like it, please put up a review. Let me know how you feel and let other readers know what to expect.
