‘I have to question how many human societies would actually do that when they pick up a Signal, or pulled the enclave location from a onemind,’ Yirella mused. ‘I mean, if your closest neutron star is a hundred and fifty lightyears away . . . why bother? Leave it to someone else. You probably wouldn’t get there in time anyway.’
‘Irrelevant,’ Ainsley said. ‘The corpus humans are going to strike in another twenty-three minutes.’
‘They’re already out there?’ Dellian asked in surprise.
‘Oh, yeah.’ Ainsley produced a disconcerting grin. ‘They used portals to send ships through behind the Olyix. Now they’re accelerating at about a hundred gees to catch them while the Resolution ships are decelerating.’
‘And they’re stealthed?’
‘Let’s just say they’re quite hard to detect. We don’t know the absolute capabilities of the Resolution ships, but Immanueel is quietly hopeful.’
‘You destroyed all the Resolution ships at Vayan,’ Dellian said. ‘I’m sure the corpus humans can do the same here.’
‘No question about it, kid. It’s just how fast they can kill them. Think of this as a big trial of the corpus armada’s capabilities before we get serious and go visit the enclave.’
‘But the sensor station is going to know they’ve suffered a momentous defeat,’ Yirella said. ‘Once the wormhole generators are destroyed, the wormholes will collapse. All eleven wormholes collapsing together will tell the Olyix that humans have developed something formidable out here – especially after Vayan and whatever Lolo Maude did to the Olyix at the other Signal star.’
‘Bring it on,’ Ainsley said.
‘I want to actually watch what happens,’ Dellian said. In a way I can understand – but he didn’t say that out loud.
‘Popcorn’s ready and waiting at the congress hall,’ Ainsley said.
Dellian used his databud to request a portal. Within seconds, one dropped down onto the path and expanded.
They walked through it into the hall. Immanueel’s strikingly lofty body was already there, along with a good number of fleet humans who’d accessed the news. The wooden chairs had gone, leaving everyone to stand as they watched a big tactical display that was projected into the air before the central column. Today the prismatic light inside the crystal was noticeably subdued as the corpus humans concentrated on the approaching Resolution ships.
Dellian and Yirella made their way over to Immanueel.
‘How’s it going?’ Yirella asked.
‘No deviation in the Resolution ships’ trajectory,’ they replied. ‘We believe they haven’t detected our forces, yet.’
Dellian studied the big display. The graphics were easy enough: a clump of eleven scarlet icons with violet course vectors crawling towards the glittering emerald dataclump that was the neutron star. Behind them, arrow-shaped formations of violet attack cruisers were racing after the Resolution ships. It took a moment for him to grasp the scale; the eleven Resolution ships were occupying a bubble of space more than an AU in diameter. The cruisers were already travelling at point four lightspeed, and accelerating hard.
‘What are you going to attack them with?’ he asked.
‘First barrage will be simple kinetics,’ Immanueel said. ‘The cruisers can fire them at relativistic velocity. There will be no plasma exhaust or gravity wave emission for the Resolution ships to distinguish. Once they become aware of our assault, we’ll switch to active weapons. That should come between ten to a hundred milliseconds after detection.’
Dellian’s instinct was to make an incredulous grunt.
‘We need to be fast,’ Immanueel said. ‘Given enough time, the Resolution ships can simply close the wormholes around themselves and fly back down them to the sensor station, or wherever the other end is. That, if you remember your history, is what Alpha Defence forced the Salvation of Life to do above Earth, once the Avenging Heretic was safely on board.’
‘Yeah. But . . . how long do you think they’ll need?’
‘We are working on one to one point five seconds. As they approach the neutron star, they will be very alert for our response. That would include an immediate escape trigger. It’s what we would do.’
He couldn’t even imagine how many factors the corpus humans were incorporating into their attack scenario. ‘You don’t really need us at all, do you?’ he said quietly.
‘This is just basic orbital mechanics,’ Immanueel said. ‘Simple maths. The enclave will be a lot more complicated.’
‘Huh.’
‘If you do not wish to join us on FinalStrike, we will understand.’
‘Oh, we’re coming with you, all right,’ Yirella said as the display’s projection light sent faint strokes of colours playing across her face. It heightened how intent she was – a determination that always captivated and unnerved Dellian.
He exchanged a knowing glance with the white android, which raised a whole new level of questions. Is Ainsley actually looking through those blank eyes?
When it happened, the attack was completely anticlimactic. The scarlet icons simply vanished. That triggered some cheering and clapping across the hall, but otherwise people just accepted the outcome tamely. Dellian was almost resentful they had no immediate sensor coverage; it took several seconds to get a visual image of the Resolution ships exploding. Even then it was just white-sphere-on-a-black-background – nothing really to indicate the true violence of the spectacle, the success they should feel.
‘Did the wormholes collapse?’ Yirella asked urgently.
Immanueel nodded. ‘Yes. The Olyix will not be able to return here for sixty-seven years. So the sensor station will believe – until we arrive there.’
Dellian watched the tenuous white plasma blooms diminishing. The tactics in play here were too much like a horribly advanced chess game that he could never quite fathom, making him thankful that his own part was just going to be storming an arkship and killing quint – nothing complicated. Destroying the Resolution ships’ wormholes had been a misdirection by the corpus armada, intended to keep the Olyix concentrating on the enigma of whatever dwelt at the neutron star. They’d be desperate to return – in force – to confront the challenge. In reality, thirty-four years ago the corpus humans had launched
