Clusters of ships rose away from the landing fields on the Moon to join the crowded warliners in low orbit. Sullivan was amazed at the speed of the frantic mass exodus. The whole operation was astoundingly efficient.

While the Solar Navy retrieved its personnel from the Moon, the outer ring of warliners remained ready to intercept the first reinforcement battleships that were en route from Earth. From start to finish, Adar Zan’nh’s lightning strike and his near-bloodless rescue of the Mage-Imperator lasted no more than two hours.

Once all personnel were aboard, the first septas of warliners streaked away toward a prearranged rendezvous point. Sullivan and his family followed the Mage-Imperator and Nira into the command nucleus of Adar Zan’nh’s warliner. Jora’h and Nira’s young daughter Osira’h greeted her parents with hugs. Sullivan wasn’t sure if he belonged there, but none of the Ildirans complained.

Warliners continued to streak away, one by one, as soon as their crews returned. While waiting for the rest of the evacuation, the remaining Solar Navy maniples clustered in a defensive formation, prepared to depart once they had finished guarding the retreat. Though his primary mission had been to rescue the Mage-Imperator, Adar Zan’nh insisted on remaining there until all ships had gotten safely away.

When the last cutters and troop transports landed aboard the flagship, he looked at the Mage-Imperator’s warliner, which had been seized by the EDF, still in a parking orbit over the Moon. He seemed to be weighing options, deciding whether or not he had time to retrieve it.

A new set of alarms shrieked throughout the command nucleus. “Adar, incoming vessels! They are on their way to the Moon from outside the system. A. vast number.”

“It’s probably the EDF chasing you,” Sullivan said, trying to stay out of the way. “But I didn’t think they had that many ships left outside of the solar system.”

Zan’nh stood with his father, staring at the main projection screen. “These are not Earth vessels. In fact, these are not truly vessels at all. ”

Moving so swiftly that the sensors had difficulty tracking them, bright lights drove forward like flashes of fire from deep space. It looked like a frenzied cluster of stars shot into the solar system, flaming ellipsoids too numerous to count.

“If the faeros knew to come here, then apparently Rusa’h was not killed in the destruction of Mijistra, as we hoped,” Zan’nh said.

In the command nucleus, Osira’h touched her father’s hand. “Rusa’h thinks you are still on the Moon.”

Adar Zan’nh snapped quick orders. “Move our remaining ships to the far side of the Moon. We will take advantage of the blocking shadow to finish loading our last cutters and transports.”

“If the faeros are coming for us,” Jora’h said, “they will find us.”

The last few warliners dove below the cratered horizon, swiftly finishing their lockdown procedures. “No, Liege. I promise you, we will escape.”

Behind them, like an inconceivably powerful meteor shower, the faeros armada headed straight toward the Earth’s Moon.

98

Captain Branson Roberts

When he discovered the damn fool thing Rlinda had done by chasing off to “save” Davlin Lotze, BeBob packed up theBlind Faith and went after her.

He’d come back to the shipyards, pleased with how well theBlind Faith had operated. The trip to the forestry colony of Eldora had been a successful run, not traumatic like the debacle at Relleker. When he disembarked, he had expected a particularly large hug (and other physical celebrations) from Rlinda. But she was gone. She hadn’t done BeBob any favors by leaving him that explanatory message. He couldn’t decide if he was more upset that she would pull such a crazy stunt, or that she would have gone without telling him.

And now he had to go rescue her.

BeBob took less than an hour to pack his supplies, top off the ekti tanks, and head out again, muttering to himself all the while. On his approach to Llaro, he flew casually, calling no attention to himself. He’d read the reports submitted by Tasia Tamblyn and Robb Brindle about this place, had talked at great length with Orli Covitz and Hud Steinman during their escape flight from Relleker. He had some idea what to expect. He wished Rlinda had. Once he saw the immensity of the hive city, he couldn’t believe she would have willingly stepped foot into that. What a mess!

He felt sick with revulsion and anxiety. “Why did you go without me, Rlinda?” His instruments were blurry, and he swiped away tears.

The insect colony was a nightmare of towers, tunnels, and incomprehensible organic shapes. BeBob couldn’t begin to estimate the number of bugs that inhabited the place. Every scrap of ground was covered by Klikiss, from the free-form rock towers, to the canyons, to the desolate flatlands that had once been agricultural fields planted by hopeful colonists. Crowds of bugs — millions to be sure — marched around in a maddening blur of colors, sharp-jointed legs, and armored crests. They all seemed extremely agitated. The comparison to a stirred-up anthill was too easy.

Orli had told him, in vivid detail, about the horrific slaughter of the trapped Llaro colonists when the breedex decided it was time to fission. He wondered if that could be happening now. and who the next group of victims would be.

In the heart of the city, a large trapezoidal stone slab towered many meters high, ringed by coordinate tiles. The transportal was continuously active, and rank after rank of Klikiss poured forth from the gateway, thousands more every minute, flooding to Llaro.

“Oh, Rlinda, what have you gotten yourself into?”

And how was he supposed to get her out of it?

Then his continuous sweeps picked up theCuriosity ’s ID beacon. No voice, no transmission — just the locator. Nevertheless, his heart started pounding. At least the ship wasn’t utterly destroyed. Definitely a good sign. He descended recklessly toward where Rlinda had landed.

It didn’t matter if Rlinda had landed her ship safely — the bugs would have gotten her. He realized that if he had any common sense, he would just turn around and race away before the Klikiss came after him. But he couldn’t bring himself to alter theBlind Faith ’s course. Not until he knew.

Some rescue this had turned out to be.

Finally, he spotted theCuriosity, a dark speck landed amidst the gray-brown structures, right in the middle of the maddening flow of insects. He increased magnification, ran a set of scans (silently thanking Orli for having shown him how to work all the new computer systems), and soon saw how much damage theCuriosity had suffered. The engines were blasted; several holes had been torn through the hull; dark smoke stained the metal plates.

Definitely a crash, then. And it didn’t look like an accident.