"So few ships," said Rachel, looking at the Rg'Tkeen fleet. "And most are damaged."
"We have enough," said William confidently. "We've confirmed that the Kaitians have distributed their forces to defend their colonies. We can wipe them out one by one."
"But what if they scramble their forces to defend their colonies under attack?" said Rachel. "We don't have enough forces to fight all of them."
"Good question," said William. "We must be swift in our attack. I sent a message to Bruce to keep an eye on the Kaitian movements and he'll warn us if they start to counter-attack. And keep in mind our role--as we discussed with Milton and Mr. Grey, while the fleet fights the Kaitians, we'll sneak to deliver the weapon."
"Commander," interrupted the computer. "Advisor Milton calling."
"We are ready," said Milton. "The first colony is one hour away."
As he spoke, the fleet started to disappear into hyperspace and soon all were on their way.
***
Two dozen enemy cruisers defended a Kaitian agriculture colony. As planned, the Rg'Tkeen attacked as the first wave and it seemed to William they wouldn't need a second wave.
The Rg'Tkeen ships entered normal space simultaneously from a dozen exit points and destroyed half of the Kaitian ships. The rest recovered from the surprise quickly and managed to destroy two Rg'Tkeen frigates before they, too, were destroyed.
William and Milton were in orbit of the colony, ready to deploy the weapon.
"No turning back," said William.
"No," said Rachel. "Not anymore."
"Milton," he called. "Ready to deploy in three . . . two . . . one . . ."
"Bomb released," said William and Milton.
The screen showed the two bombs on opposite sides of the planet, slowly falling toward the planet.
The bomb had three compartments for the weapon, each programmed to open at different layers of the atmosphere. Depending on the weather, the nanoviruses would spread to entire planet in just a few days.
"Commander," called Mr. Grey. "Leave a ship or two to monitor the situation and to destroy any ships attempting to escape from the planet."
"Already done it," said William.
He'd assigned the Sea of Boston to the task.
"Excellent," said Mr. Grey.
"Victory is at hand! Let's move on!"
The Coalition fleet entered hyperspace and only the Sea of Boston remained in the orbit of the soon-to-be-dead Kaitian colony.
***
"Sir," said Marya. "I detect increased comm traffic."
"The fleet must've made their first attack," said Bruce. "What are the Kaitians doing?"
"So far, nothing but talking on the comms," said Marya.
"They're debating what to do. Stay here or go to help other colonies." Bruce nodded. "Let's monitor the situation and inform the fleet if they leave."
"When should they attack here?" asked Marya.
"I don't know, they didn't tell me," he said. "But we are quite close to the border, so I don't think we need to wait for long."
"I hope so," she said. "I don't like just standing here."
"Heh." Bruce smiled. "It's option of standing here or there. The Rg'Tkeen fleet is attacking first; from what I understand, they have formidable forces, even though it was heavily diminished after their battle against the Kaitians."
"But still, Admiral," she said. "It would be better there than here."
"Maybe so," said Bruce thoughtfully. "Maybe so."
"The comm traffic has ceased," said Marya. "And they are still here. Looks like they decided to defend this colony after all."
"Send a message to the fleet," said Bruce and added. "And tell them to hurry here."
***
"It's too easy," said Rachel after they deployed the bomb to yet another Kaitian colony.
Rg'Tkeen forces had been effective in destroying the colony defenses and they were ready to move to the next target.
"The Kaitians haven't really realized what we're doing," said William. "Otherwise they would launch a counter-attack."
"And they'd fight desperately," said Rachel. "All or nothing."
"Right," said William. "But we're ready for them."
"I hope so," she said.
William ordered one of the human frigates to stay behind and monitor the situation on the planet before going after the Coalition fleet to the next target.
***
"That's William," said Nick, monitoring the Coalition fleet coming from hyperspace near the Kaitian colony and seeing the unmistakable unmarked corvette sneaking up.
They'd waited in Kaitian space after they'd left the Kaitian home world, knowing that the Coalition would launch an attack after the destruction of the Kaitian home world.
"And Advisor Milton there." Louis pointed to another sneaking ship.
"The Rg'Tkeen are quite effective. They already destroyed the Kaitians defenders."
"Look!" said Nick suddenly, as more ships exited from hyperspace. "The Kaitians!"
The Kaitian ships went directly toward the planet, trying to intercept William and Milton before they could deploy the bombs. But the Rg'Tkeen were vigilant and went to intercept them together with the rest of the Coalition fleet.
"They are desperate," commented Nick after watching the battle for a while.
"I'm not surprised," said Louis. "Did you see what William and Advisor Milton did?"
"No," said Nick. "What did they do?"
As an answer, Aileen showed a recording that displayed how two bombs fell to the planet.
"What happened there?" said Nick. "There's no explosions."
"No," said Louis. "But the bombs opened three times in the atmosphere--in different layers of atmosphere."
"So?" asked Nick, but realized as he spoke. "Ah. The genetic weapon."
"Exactly," said Louis.
Nick sighed. "They're finishing what we started."
"No," said Louis, shaking his head. "Not us. William is finishing what he started. We're just delivery boys here."
Nick said nothing, watching the battle. The Kaitians were losing the battle, and each time they lost a ship, their desperation increased, but no one could do anything to help them. Their species was already doomed.
"Let's follow William," said Nick when the corvette entered hyperspace with Milton. "Let's see how this ends."
***
The end of the Kaitians was methodically executed.
Mr. Grey, Milton, and William equipped all the Coalition ships with the nanovirus bombs and sent them across Kaitian space to hunt down any remaining ships and colonies.
William and Rachel were part of a task force that found the final Kaitian colony in the most remote corner of the galaxy.
Captain Kould of the Kaitians defended the small agriculture colony and destroyed three ships, but failed to stop William from dropping the nanovirus bomb to the planet. He could only watch the bombs opening; he knew what was inside them was the virus brought by the cursed Godless Others, and that it would kill all the people on the planet.
The last of my people, thought Kould. And the thought stopped him. Until now, he hadn't realized what it meant, that his people were now an extinct species.
Knowing in his heart that he was the very last of the Kaitians in the universe, Captain Kould went insane.
"Stop that!" shouted William and pointed at a small fighter he recognized, It was the fighter that had caused them heavy losses in the war; he was curious to see who the pilot was.
Two Rg'Tkeen frigates accelerated toward Kould, but he was too fast--and seemingly protected by dumb luck. He destroyed one frigate before entering hyperspace . . . and so the last Kaitian disappeared.
"Damn!" cursed William. "Any traces of where it went?"
"No, Commander," said the computer.
"How many Kaitians were on that fighter?" he asked.
"Just one," said the computer.
"One?" asked Rachel. "Are you sure?"
"Yes," said
the computer. "And based on the sensor readings and the erratic maneuvering of the ship, I suspect the Kaitian pilot suffered a mental breakdown."
"What do you mean mental breakdown?" asked Rachel.
"He went insane," said the computer.
"Well." William smiled and took a deep relieved breath. "That's then the end of the Kaitian war. We won."
41
"I hate this job," said Jeffery, standing on a hill after a long climb from the landing site. They'd seen a town surrounded by hills from the orbit, but hadn't been able to find a space to land nearer the town.
"You volunteered." Ellen smiled, holding his hand.
"I know," he said. "That's why I wouldn't be anywhere else but here."
Jeffery and Ellen were one of many expeditions that had been sent to Kaitian space after the war had ended--a year earlier. Their mission was to investigate any Kaitian colonies they found and find any habitable planets or resources for the Coalition. The Coalition empires, including humans, were eager to find out what the Kaitians had had, and to expand the empire to new territories.
Jeffery had volunteered for the mission, after he had been granted a leave of absence from the Human Empire Navy. He'd wanted to resign, but he wasn't allowed to do that.
He was still shocked by what the Coalition had done to the Kaitian species. His ship had remained behind and watched the first colony killed by the nanovirus bombs; it was an experience he would never forget.
They'd made the mistake of monitoring the effects of the nanovirus. He still had nightmares about it. The first nanovirus that had been deployed to the ships at the battle of the Ooktian home world had cut the signals from brains and the Kaitians dropped dead, but the new one had been more disturbing. It was designed to attack the cells it infected by destroying the walls of the cells, releasing the water held by them.
"Don't think about it," said Ellen, who'd wanted to be with Jeffery and had resigned from the Marines after the war. She saw that Jeffery was again thinking what he'd seen on the Kaitian planet. He'd never told to Ellen what he'd seen, but she knew it was really bad. And since they were standing in a Kaitian colony, looking at the empty town ahead, it was no wonder Jeffery was thinking about those who'd died.
"I'm sorry," he said. "The images just came to my mind."
He shook his head, trying to shed them.
"Let's go and see what we might find.” This was the part he enjoyed enormously, exploring the unknown.
They walked toward the town hand in hand. They'd already been on several colonies and always they'd found something new. As per their contract, they were allowed to take anything they found and the only limit was the size of their ship. Fortunately, their corvette was big enough.
Both felt rising excitement as they entered the empty Kaitian town.
"I love this job." Jeffery smiled.
***
Jiao stood beside the mountain wall where there had been an entrance to factory of the sentient machines. Now there was nothing but solid rock.
She'd been on the planet for six months with archeology teams and scientists from all the Coalition empires. Everyone wanted to know more about the factory and the sentient machines who'd built it. Jiao had said that there was no entrance to the factory anymore and she'd warned them about the black veil inside it, but her warnings had been ignored.
The teams had combed the entire planet trying to search out another entrance, but nothing had been found. They'd found more evidence about the sentient machines, including debris on a battle field on the other side of the planet. But who they had fought against was unclear; it had happened five million years ago.
Jiao knew that the entrance had been directly where she was looking; she could imagine the long corridors inside, and the black veil that guarded the factory. She sighed; she had lost lot of soldiers then.
"Admiral," called Caleb. He had volunteered to go with Jiao on the mission. Like Ellen, most of the Marines in his squad had resigned from the Marines and went on their own ways, but Caleb had decided to stay with the Marines.
"Yes, Caleb," she answered. "What is it?"
"The Miccvans finally penetrated the mountain wall," he said. "They're ready to deploy the spiders."
The autonomous spiders had been adopted from military reconnaissance bugs to more include scientific functions.
"Finally," she said. It'd been surprisingly difficult to penetrate the mountain wall. They'd analyzed the rock to conclude that it was far from natural. The entire mountain, and the large area surrounding the mountain as well, was artificial.
Caleb and Jiao walked to the Miccvan team, who were eager to send in the spiders.
"Admiral," said the Miccvan team leader. "We're ready."
"Do it," said Jiao.
The team leader went to the hole and sent a dozen spiders inside.
"We're receiving images," said a Miccvan scientist. "And measurements. Everything is okay, they are going through the hole."
Jiao and Caleb watched the incoming images with the scientists. The spiders used optical, infrared, and ultrasonic sensors to map the surroundings.
"They're through," said the scientist, after they heard a bump.
"What was that noise?" asked Caleb.
"The spider apparently dropped to the floor," the scientist said, smiling.
"All are in. They are scanning."
The combined sensors of the spiders showed the entrance hall of the factory.
"Does that look familiar?" asked Jiao.
"Yes, ma'am," said Caleb. "That's the entrance."
"Moving in," said the scientist, and all the spiders moved in line, mapping the interior.
"What's that? A wall? Where did it come from?"
Before anyone could say anything, the wall had surrounded the spiders and they lost the feed.
"The black veil," whispered Caleb.
"It's real?" asked the scientist.
"Of course it's real!" said Caleb. "What did you think?"
"Shh!" said Jiao as she heard something. Then she felt it.
The ground was shaking.
"Everybody! To the safe zone!" shouted Jiao. "Now! Move! Move!"
After they'd found out that the mountain and its surroundings were artificial, she'd practically forced the scientists to agree on a safe zone that was beyond the artificial area. Now they all ran toward it.
The mountain and the surrounding area shook until they were all in the safe zone. Then it stopped.
"Look!" shouted a human scientist and pointed to the wall. "Something's coming!"
It was the spiders, thrown through the hole in the wall with a force enough to break the arm of one scientist who happened to stand in their way.
"Damn," said Jiao. "Everybody stay here! I'm going to investigate. Caleb, come with me."
They carefully walked toward the mountain but as soon as they set a foot on the artificial surface, the ground started to shake again.
"Is it my imagination," said Caleb, "or was that more powerful than before?"
Jiao had thought the same and stepped again on the artificial surface. The shaking was now clearly more powerful.
"Whoa!" said Jiao after stepping away. "I guess it doesn't want us near the mountain anymore. Send a flyer."
"Why?" asked Caleb.
"I have feeling that it's not only the ground that's off limits," she said.
Caleb nodded and fetched a flyer. He programmed it to go around the mountain and then return.
But Jiao's feeling was correct. As soon as the flyer entered above the artificial surface, the ground started to shake. The flyer didn't care and flew toward the mountain.
But it didn't go far--it suddenly shattered to pieces.
"What happened?" asked Caleb, surprised.
"Something came from the mountain," said Jiao. "I barely saw it. Looked like a black filament."
"Admiral," said a voice from behind her.
"Yes?" she said.
"A message from the S
ea of Boston," the Miccvan team leader said. "They monitored the planet and they say that over one-third of the planet was shaking, and they lost contact to other teams."
Jiao feared the worst. "We evacuate now. Everyone to the shuttles!" she shouted. The scientists didn't need to be told again; they gathered all equipment they could and left the planet in a hurry.
Once aboard the Sea of Boston, Jiao's fear was confirmed. All the other teams had been killed and further analysis determined that that nearly half of the planet's surface was artificial. Jiao cursed--yet again she'd lost men and women under her command.
"You couldn't have stopped it," said Caleb in a sad voice. "Besides, before the black veil showed itself, we were only guarding the scientists. Not leading them."
"Perhaps," she said. "But . . ."
"No buts, Admiral," interrupted Caleb. "What are your orders now?"
Jiao glanced at Caleb and nodded. She was no longer only guarding the scientists. The events on the ground meant that scientific mission had become a military mission.
She ordered the officers and senior scientists to the conference room and told them she intended to leave and place the planet under military quarantine.
"But, Admiral," said the Miccvan team leader, "We can't leave now. We still have much to learn."
Jiao shook her head. "Too dangerous."
"But, Admiral," continued the team leader. "We have invested a lot of resources. You do realize the entire Coalition is waiting on our report here and they expect to hear good news."
"I understand that," said Jiao coldly. She didn't like when her orders were second-guessed.
But she also knew the Miccvan was correct so she proposed, "Let's send a probe to surface. Just one. And if the probe is not destroyed, we can stay and investigate the planet from orbit."
She raised a hand to stop objection from the team leader.
"But if the probe is destroyed, I'll place military quarantine on this planet and we leave back to Coalition space," she said.
The scientists could only agree and reluctantly prepared the probe.
The reluctance changed to disbelief and silent thanks when the probe was destroyed as soon as it had entered the atmosphere.
"Let's get out of here," said Jiao. The Sea of Boston entered hyperspace and went back to Coalition space.
They didn't see it, but at the moment Sea of Boston entered hyperspace, a black filament rose from the planet surface and followed the ship.
***
Nick and Louis were beyond Coalition space, far west from Earth as seen in the galaxy map, on a mission to find out about the sentient machines. They'd encountered many marvels of the universe--even a semi-sentient species on one of the earth-like planets.