Lyon's Pride (36 page)

“The scouts are.”

“But her missiles are missing although…Sir, Ensign Upland is of the opinion that the detonation of those missiles could cause shock waves almost as dangerous to scout ship hulls as a direct hit.”

“My compliments to Ensign Upland,” Ashiant said, nodding his head briefly in acknowledgment of the information. Then, under his breath, he muttered: “When I get those two Talents, I'll skin 'em, I'll keelhaul them.” Thian and the nearer bridge officers heard him. “But they
are
managing to deflect incoming rockets. Tikele, how soon before we are in range of the Sphere?”

“Twenty-two minutes.”

“Why doesn't Ktpl use the ones it's got on the
KLTS?
”

“I believe the captain's maneuvering her into position now, sir,” Tikele responded. “And two of our scouts are protecting her. She's got to be on target, on those fuel tanks, and in range…she's…she's fired both, sir.”

Unbelievably one of the Hiver's scouts managed to get between the Sphere and the missiles, which penetrated it, sticking out port and starboard.

“Like a scurrier skewered on arrows,” Thian murmured.

Then the blast occurred, an orange-red eruption of force which hurtled the
KLTS
backward like a leaf in a storm. Somehow the flanking scouts had peeled away, and although they were scudded further from their original positions, they did not appear to have taken much damage. The
KLTS
patently had. As 'Dini ships still did not carry pods, it was impossible to estimate how many of its crew survived.

ROJER! CLANCY! FOR THE LOVE OF HEAVEN, ANSWER ME
, Thian roared, catching the gestalt of the
Washington
's generators to reach his targets.

I'm okay, Thian. But I had to bounce missiles. Just like Granddad did when the Hiver attacked Deneb
.

Not the same at all, Rojer! CLANCY?

I can hear you, I can hear you. Over the ringing in my ears. Were we ever lucky! Kloo's a damned fine pilot
.

“Thian?” Ashiant called urgently. “Can you get in touch with either of your Talents and ask them to check the status of the
KLTS?
The other destroyers must hold their positions to contain the Sphere.”

“Yes, sir.”
Rojer, you've 'Dinis. Ashiant's ordering Vergoin and the
Revere
to aid the
KLTS
and assess their condition. You do the liaising…

Clancy's ship better come with us—the Hiver scouts are moving in for the kill and we'll have to bounce some more…

That that was what the two
Washington
scouts were doing was obvious, while the three destroyers slung medium-sized missiles on the two remaining Hiver scouts, all the time inching closer to the Sphere.

“We've just reached the maximum range of the new missiles, Captain,” Vandermeer announced.

“Signal the Galaxy-class ships to assume Formation C and begin firing as soon as they are in maximum range. The Sphere must be distracted from the destroyers.”

She's some mother, this one
, Thian distinctly heard someone say. It could have been any one on the bridge, even Ashiant, dropping his mind shields in the excitement of battle.

The first of the new missiles the
Washington
launched was not that far off its target but exploded on contact with a large fragment of the Hiver's scout. The next three, one from the
Washington
and the others from the
Solidarity
and the
Athene
, penetrated the Sphere as easily as a sharp knife cuts through soft fruit.

“One, two,” began Ashiant under his breath,
“three,”
and he was joined by Vandermeer, “FOUR,” and it was practically a chorus. No one got to “five.” The Hiver disintegrated by quadrants, like skin being peeled off a round fruit from top to bottom. Then the fireball blossomed and its furnace expanded, melting all in its white hot circle.

The
KLTL
peeled off to follow one Hiver scout and the
Franklin
went after the other.

With ordinary communications opened again now the enemy was routed, Captain Ktpl was able to send its regards to the
Washington.
Its voice was shaky but proud of being aboard the ship that had fired the first missile against the enemy. The
KLTS
had taken a lot of damage from the blast concussion: many 'Dinis were dead and injured. Some compartments had had to be closed against the vacuum without knowing if they had been occupied.

*   *   *

Thian did not have time to find either Rojer or Clancy to give them the dressing down they so richly deserved for disobeying orders in spite of the life-saving success of that violation. By the time he spotted them, some of his anger had dissipated. They were across the
Washington
cargo hold, which had been turned into an auxiliary 'Dini sick bay, doing much the same sort of emergency use of telekinesis he was: “lifting” the injured into beds, onto gurneys. Rojer was helping Medic Sblipk among the 'Dinis injured, with Gil and Kat rushing about on errands. Clancy was working among the Human wounded.

We'll all have a little talk, later, Rojer, Clancy
, Thian said in a cold voice.

Sure thing, bro. When there's a little more free time
…

Don't get cocky with me, Rojer Raven-Lyon!

Who? Me? Cocky? After what I just went through, bro? That was almost…
almost
worse than the
KTTS,
Thi
.

His brother's words, unrepentant though they were, cooled Thian still further but he'd have to tell Earth Prime about their escapade. He was responsible for all the Talents on this expedition and somehow he had failed to make them obey orders they
knew
they mustn't ignore. If he'd had to tell his mother and father that Rojer had…

“Hey, Thi,” said a soft voice in his ear, and he felt a touch on his shoulder, “you need rest, honey.” Greevy looked up at him, her blue eyes anxious, though her face was as tired as his. He and his 'Dinis had been working with her, using kinesis to help her use her healing skills.

“If I rest, you do, too, Lieutenant Senior Grade,” he said sternly.

She glanced over the now orderly ward, where 'Dinis were immersed in tubs of restorative fluids, or wrapped in bandages of various colors, repairing damaged tissues, wounds, burns and breaks. 'Dinis endured discomfort better than Humans did, Thian thought, and wondered if that was a species differentiation, rather than stoicism.

“Ah, here comes the new watch,” Greevy said with relief that came out close to a sob.

Thian leaned back against the nearest support and “listened” for his brother. Rojer was asleep—Thian couldn't tell where—and so was Clancy. He'd get them both tomorrow…when he'd had enough sleep.

“Thian,” and Greevy caught him by the hand and pulled him around the corner. “You got enough energy left to 'port us to my room?”

He put weary arms around her, his head resting on hers, and 'ported them to her quarters on the level below. She palmed the door lock and they collapsed in each other's arms onto the bed, asleep almost before they had stretched out on the horizontal surface.

*   *   *

“You realize that that Hiver ship, even with its three scouts, hadn't a chance,” Rojer said, blithely tucking into a huge meal in their quarters late that next afternoon. “Operation Overkill, that's what it was.”

“Need I remind you how many 'Dinis died in the
KLTS
?” Thian said, glaring at his brother.

He had read the riot act to both Rojer and Clancy for “endangering” their lives which were far too valuable to be risked. He could also point to the minor cuts and contusions which both had suffered when their respective ships had maneuvered abruptly or suffered concussive buffeting: those could as easily have been mortal wounds.

“I'm not that slow, Thian,” Rojer replied indignantly, “even if I didn't manage to keep my balance through all the bumps and grinds the
Revere
did. But you should have seen some of the others. I 'ported when I could.”

“I got most of mine,” and Clancy fingered the long pro-skin dressing down one side of his face, the splint on his left arm, the sealed wound on the right, and managed a benevolent expression, “buffering someone else's impact.”

“Besides which, big brother,” Rojer said, hands on his belt and an intense frown on his face, “if either of us
had
made use of the escape pods, you'd really have had bad news to send home. It only occurred to me when I was stuck in it that the damned pod was the most dangerous place to be!
I
was at Xh-33, remember, and I
watched
the queens' pods get blown out of the sky the way we'd pick off avians! Any one of the Hiver scouts could have made a real killing…of
pods!”

“We also saved both the
Revere
and the
Franklin
from being made into sieves,” Clancy reminded Thian, “or smashed flat. Shielding the ships shielded
us
and it's really only a very minor variation of our standing orders from Uncle Jeff.” He grinned engagingly. “Just a larger escape pod.”

“I'll have to
tell
him what you did!” Thian was not about to let them get away without reprimand.

“Go right ahead!” Clancy said, his grin broader, “but
I
heard that both Spktm and Ashiant are mentioning our defensive action as the main reason casualties were minimal. Although I do now appreciate why the Mrdinis had to consider suicide attacks! There can't be much room on those scouts with all those heavy missiles they fire off. And that Sphere wasn't going to give up short of total destruction!”

Thian could never stay angry long, not in the presence of Clancy, though he continued to feel an irritable frustration, especially as the two young heroes tossed off their actions as nothing out of the ordinary for Talents of their abilities. That almost annoyed Thian more.

“I think,” Greevy told him when they met for a quiet meal in the medics' mess room, “that you're a little jealous, maybe, Thian, that you weren't in on the action?”

“Me? Jealous?” He regarded Alison Anne, startled. He'd never thought of himself as a jealous person for any reason.

Her blue eyes twinkled up at him. “Jealous of things or people, no, Thian. But jealous, a little perhaps, of prestige.”

“Are you sure you're still T-5?”

“Probably not,” she said airily with a delighted sigh, “but I
am
an empath and very empathic for you.” She reached across the small table and stroked the back of his hand lightly, a contact that conveyed more than empathy. “I've picked up as much from you Talent-wise as I have about treating 'Dinis from Medic Sblipk. More perhaps,” and her eyes laughed at him over the rim of her cup. “You had the hard part—watching, waiting, hoping. Do Talents pray?” This was said with such an ingenuous expression that Thian felt his aggravation and frustration dissolve. “Besides which,” she went on, teasing him, “you saw action long before they did, on the Great Sphere.”

Thian made a face at her. “
That
little fracas was not against live Hivers.”

“The difference is immaterial, Thian. And it was far more dangerous than what your brother and cousin did.”

*   *   *

Thian faithfully forwarded Captain Ashiant's detailed report of the encounter and decided, when he could not help but “feel” Jeff Raven's furious reaction to the heroism of Rojer and Clancy, that he could safely leave any further discipline to Earth Prime and Callisto Prime, and possibly both Aurigaeans. Righteous anger often ripened with waiting.

Thian was called back by Earth Prime later to receive the official commendations and replies from the Alliance and High Council as well as new orders.

The Fleet was now to join Squadron D, using all available Talent to make the 'portation, and track down the third Sphere with all possible speed. There was great weight being given to the theory that the three spheres had been looking for a particular G-type star, as close a replica to the one which had turned nova as possible. The High Council did not care to wait until the remaining Sphere found such a star and a new homeworld planet.

Once that Hive Sphere had been dealt with, the Fleet was to return, making in-depth surveys of all potentially habitable planets and disabling Hiver colonies, using the
Genesee
ploy whenever possible to remove Sphere ships from use.

“What's the High Council after, might I ask?” Ashiant inquired of Thian in an agitated fashion. “A fleet of Sphere ships? We've got more than we need right now. We should blow 'em up. Save time and effort.”

“Use 'em as decoys?” Thian threw out as a possible solution.

“I think this ‘know your enemy and you can defeat him easier' is going a bit too far.”

“Perhaps I misinterpreted, sir,” Thian said, running over the wording in his mind. “Disabling the Hiver colonies could merely mean making certain they had no further space capabilities. Shall I reconfirm?”

“Please do.”

I doubt the High Council meant to bring more Spheres back
, Jeff Raven said, but his tone was uncertain.
But with 'Dinis you'd never know, would you? I'll get back to you
.

When he did, he was chuckling.
Seems the 'Dinis would like to have an intact Sphere for each of their colonial worlds as trophies. Admiral Mekturian pointed out that the two operational ones presently in our possession could be displayed wherever necessary. I will never understand 'Dini logic or honor. The Admiral is more sensible and repeats that the Fleet is to destroy Hiver space-travel capabilities until other remedies can be effected to prevent their colonial aggrandizement
.