Sword of the Gods: Agents of Ki (Sword of the Gods Saga) (58 page)

"Let's get you home," Pareesa whispered. "I do not wish to lose you, too."

~ * ~ * ~

Battle is the most magnificent competition

I
n which a human being can indulge.

It brings out all that is best; it removes all that is base.

All men are afraid in battle.

The coward is the one who lets his fear

Overcome his sense of duty.

Duty is the essence of manhood.

--General George S. Patton--

Galactic Standard Date:  152,323.12 AE

Former Third Empire: Jehoshaphat

Supreme Commander-General Abaddon

Abaddon

The
Jehoshaphat
trembled beneath his hand from the strain of jumping through hyperspace with the magnetic field of one engine thrown out of alignment thanks to damage in the exhaust port of her ramjet. All around him, crewmen scurried, their eyes wide with fear. He could smell it oozing out of their pores at the oh-too-real prospect of the command carrier shaking herself to pieces in the bitter emptiness of subspace.

"Just a little bit further,
gorm beag
," Abaddon crooned. "I know what it's like to fly with an injured wing. Just a little bit further, love. You wouldn't want the other ships to hunt without you now, would you?"

A sub-audible hum caused his pinfeathers to stand on end. The Mantoids, with their enhanced ability to
feel
that vibration through their hard, green exoskeletons, clamped their limbs over their ear-holes.

Ow!
Damantia!
Shay'tan's foot that hurt! Talk about rattling your teeth!

Abaddon stuck his tongue over a tooth he'd been meaning to have the ship's dentist take a look at. He'd delayed doing so because the younger Angelics rarely suffered from maladies caused by advancing age. It felt like betrayal that his body had forced him to slow down due to aching knees and muscles that took far longer to recover than he'd like to admit. He had a wife now, a
younger
wife, and he intended to live many more years swapping hunting stories and begetting as many offspring upon her as his aging loins would sire.

"Drop time in T-minus-one minute," said acting second-in-command, Lieutenant-Captain Shzzzkt. The Mantoid's mechanical-sounding voice range enhancement box was unable to keep the fearful warble out of the insect-man's voice.

"Lieutenant Valac," Abaddon barked at his Angelic weapons officer. "I want those pulse cannons fired at the biggest Sata'anic ship you can get a lock on the instant this ship materializes on the other side. You got that?"

"Shouldn't I…"

"That order was not up for interpretation, Lieutenant!" Abaddon growled before the man even had a chance to finish saying '
fire a warning shot across the bow.
'  This wasn't Hashem's war against Shay'tan any longer, but
his
war.
Their
war. The hybrid's war, the war they waged to preserve their right to continue existing as a species
.
Shay'tan had found something and Abaddon intended to take it.

He glanced at the holographic image of the planet the scout drones had sent back, a bright blue world obscured by clouds. Around the planet circled
eleven Sata’anic naval carriers and 42 assorted smaller naval vessels, less than an armada, but a sizeable battalion to defend a planet. He'd only mobilized enough ships to take on the Sata'anic fleet, wary of leaving the inhabited Third Empire planets they'd just liberated completely undefended. The inhabitants of those planets had celebrated their liberation by picking up arms and shooting at their Alliance saviors.

No
wonder
Lucifer had handed them over to Shay'tan…

Abaddon caressed the floor beneath his palm and grimaced. He would only burden the ungrateful bastards just long enough to determine whether they had information about his wife's homeworld, and then they could go rot in Hades for all he cared! So far none of the prospects looked promising, but he'd be damned if he'd disgrace the memory of the men and women who'd lost their lives ripping those planets out of Shay'tan's claws by handing them back over to the old dragon.

Who knows? Maybe Parliament would hand them right back again as a peace offering before the old dragon got himself worked up enough to
really
go after them. Abaddon frowned.
Something
wasn't right about Shay'tan's response to
any
of this. The Sata'anic navy should have assigned far more ships to defend his border.

"We're about to exit hyperspace, Sir," Lieutenant-Captain Shzzkt said. "Ten … nine … eight …"

Abaddon closed his eyes and pictured he pushed his
own
strength into the
Jehoshaphat's
wounded 'wing.'

"Just a few more moments,
gorm beag,
" Abaddon whispered to his ship. "Just hold together until we get out the other side, and then we'll use your impulse engines and your wing won't hurt you anymore."

The
Jehoshaphat
trembled like a virgin about to be deflowered. The jump out of hyperspace was always the most dangerous moment, even for a ship that
didn't
carry considerable damage to her starboard engine. Even if they missed the obvious targets such as planets, suns, and other ships, the tiniest space debris, too small to pick up on a long-range scan, could tear through the hull and cause far more damage than even a Sata'anic torpedo. He caressed the deck with his long, strong fingers, reassuring her, this ship which had been his first great love.

"Five … four … three … two … one," Lieutenant-Captain Shzzkt said.

The deck of the bridge buckled as the ship exited hyperspace. For a moment it felt as though the
Jehoshapat's
wounded hyperdrive would tear right out of her back, but then the sensation subsided.

The entire crew let out their breath.

"Get that flagship in your sights!" Abaddon shouted at Valac. "Fire the moment you get a weapons-lock on it!"

He pointed at the hologram as the old image disappeared and it began to build a new image based on what the
Jehoshaphat
could see outside her bow in real-time.

"Not yet … not yet … not … THERE!" Valac shouted. The weapons officer hit the launch button moments before the holographic table had even finished building the image.

All around them, two more command carriers and dozens of battle cruisers materialized out of hyperspace and opened fire on the Sata'anic ships orbiting the planet. Several ships on the holographic table blinked out of existence. Others were still there, but he could see fires shoot out and become extinguished as explosive decompression sucked out all the oxygen they needed to burn.

He counted the seconds he'd computed they'd have to launch a surprise attack before the Sata'anic lizards could launch a retaliation. Six … seven … eight seconds. Abaddon frowned.

"They're firing back at us, Sir!" Lieutenant-Captain Shzzkt shouted.

Abaddon's lips curved up into the sinister grin of an Angelic in the throes of bloodlust. Just a minor delay. Two seconds. Nothing to be worried about. A Sata'anic naval carrier pulled out of the pack of damaged ships and turned towards him, nose-to-nose the way two warriors were
meant
to fight. Good. Most lesser admirals ordered their fleets to get the hell out of there the moment they realized they were facing down the
Jehoshaphat,
but Hashem had kept the
Judgment of God
in her nest too long. The lizards had gotten bold. It was time to remind them there was a
reason
the Alliance had maintained Hashem's half of the galaxy even after their god had abandoned them to fend for themselves.

"This ain't no chew-and-screw," Abaddon said to the Sata'anic naval carrier which turned to engage the
Jehoshaphat
.

"It's the SRN
Besat
, Sir," Lieutenant-Captain Shzzkt said.

"I thought that ship was decommissioned?" Abaddon asked.

"Looks like he's throwing everything he's got at us, Sir," Shzzkt said.

The
Besat
was one of the older models of Sata'anic naval carrier, built, as the
Jehoshaphat
was, in that era when the two empires had waged constant battles for territory. Last he'd heard the
Besat
had been acting as a transport vessel to bring trade goods to the colonies bordering the Tokoloshe Kingdom, but from the shiny new rail guns mounted alongside her hull, either the Free Marid had fed Abaddon a bunch of crap, or Shay'tan had pulled the vessel out of mothballs and retrofitted her.

Why? Why was the old dragon pulling old ships out of retirement when all of their intelligence said the Sata'anic Empire was flush with Alliance 'free trade' cash?

The
Besat
jolted him out of his uneasy musings with a full barrage of her brand-new shiny rail guns.

"Polarize the hull plating!" Abaddon shouted. "Aft engine reverse, three-quarters power. Starboard…"

He hesitated. How badly
was
the starboard engine damaged from his risky trip out here? They were using impulse power, but part of the apparatus was housed in that exact same wing.

Screw it. Better to be bold than dead.

"Starboard engine, forward, full speed," Abaddon finished barking orders. "Re-route everything from the inertial dampeners and hang on! It's going to be a rough ride!"

The ship lurched as one engine firing forward, the other backwards, caused her to spin and, at the same time rear upwards as though she was a falcon readying herself to leap off a cliff. Sata'anic weapons-fire slammed into the hull, but most of the impact was absorbed by the polarized hull plating which reversed the magnetism and slowed down its velocity much the way two magnets pushed each other apart.

The
Besat
came after them; bold, hungry, eager to collect the bounty the old dragon had put on Abaddon's head. Abaddon laughed and grit his teeth in a smile akin to a predator about to attack as he ordered the volleys back and forth. He relayed orders for the two other command carriers in his group to go after the other naval carriers which surrounded the planet they were here to see.

"Fire at will, fire at will!" Abaddon shouted. Everywhere on his ship, men and women representing every species in the military made sure the robots which kept the rail guns filled with shells kept loading fresh ammunition. The rail guns fired. The
Jehoshaphat
shuddered like his sweet Sarvenaz whenever he brought her up to ecstasy.

“Sir … a second naval carrier has broken out of the pack and is moving to join the
Besat.
" Lieutenant-Captain Shzzkt shouted. "They've got about a dozen destroyers in their heels."

"Where's my other ships?" Abaddon shouted.

"They're busy, Sir," Lieutenant-Captain Shzzkt said.

"Bring the pulse cannons back online," Abaddon ordered. "It's time to remind the lizards why this ship is named the
Judgment of God
."

Pulse cannons took several seconds to recharge from the engines after a full discharge. It felt like an eternity as the ionization in the air dropped as the weapons rebuilt their power by drawing power from every non-critical function on the ship except for the oxygen they breathed.

"They second ship is armed with a laser weapon,” Lieutenant Valac shouted. “Sir! They're targeting our hyperdrives!"

"Focus on that flagship!" Abaddon jumped up out of his captain's chair.

"But the second ship…"

"Focus on the
Besat
, damantia!" Abaddon shouted at the man. "Use the railguns to hit the second ship. Engineering! Reverse thrust, fifteen degrees to port!"