Overhead, hundreds of warliners crisscrossed the sky in tight, impressive formations. Upon witnessing the arrival of such a great military force, all the skymine chiefs were alarmed, despite the Mage-Imperator’s reassurances. Kellum summoned his fellow managers so that Jora’h could address them and explain the true situation.

Nira and Osira’h accompanied the Mage-Imperator, and after due consideration, he decided to bring Sullivan Gold as well, since the Hansa manager’s story would astonish the Roamers. Sullivan looked shell-shocked as he described how Chairman Wenceslas wanted him to take over the Golgen skymines and run them as a Hansa subsidiary.

Kellum gaped. “By damn, the gall of the man!”

Anotherr skymine chief, Bing Palmer, snorted. “I almost wish the Eddies would try another pirate raid while the Solar Navy’s here, just so I could watch them turn around and run home with their tails between their exhaust pipes!”

One facility chief named Boris Goff brought his own green priest to the conclave, who delivered a spare treeling to Nira, much to her delight. With a pleased smile on her face and trembling fingers, Nira touched the delicate fronds and reconnected through telink. In a burst of words and thoughts, she described all the recent horrific events, including the destruction of the Moon by the faeros. Although she was telling the story, Nira seemed to have a hard time believing what she herself had witnessed. Her fellow green priests relayed the disturbing information to King Peter.

Kellum rested his elbows on the table, leaning forward as he considered the Ildiran leader. “And what, exactly, do you need here, Mage-Imperator? I’ll take you at your word that the Solar Navy isn’t a threat to us. How can we help the Ildiran Empire?”

“Like you, I am angered and offended by what Chairman Wenceslas has done,” Jora’h said. “But our most powerful enemies are thefaeros. The Solar Navy is eager to face them, but Adar Zan’nh needs to make repairs, restore our weapons, and pull together our ships in preparation for a victorious return to Mijistra. We must also attempt to find effective ways to fight the faeros and make a battle plan.”

Kellum smiled. “It just so happens we’ve got a Roamer scientist here who may be able to help you with some new weapons.”

As the gas giant’s sunset painted the clouds a rainbow of colors, Jora’h found Osira’h standing alone on an open deck outside a large landing bay. Precariously close to the edge, she gazed down into the restless, hypnotically layered atmospheric ocean.

Nearby sat the small diamond-walled hydrogue derelict, empty and ominous. Kotto Okiah had moved it here from his laboratory chamber, perhaps intending to run tests, but Osira’h didn’t look at it; instead, she concentrated on the deep soup of misty gases.

He stood behind his daughter, just watching her, thinking about all Osira’h had accomplished. yet this was still a child, one who had been forced to grow up and become somethingmore than any normal girl during her encounter with the hydrogues. He didn’t want to disturb her, but he could not hide from Osira’h.

Without turning around, she spoke. “The clouds seem so peaceful, but I know what they hide.”

Father and daughter gazed into the swirling, cottony emptiness. Jora’h couldn’t fully understand what the girl had endured when she had plunged down in a containment chamber, much like the small transparent derelict here, to parley with the hydrogues. Though they were incredibly powerful entities — arrogant, destructive, and cold — she had made them bow to her will.

Osira’h seemed wistful and disturbed. “They’re down there, you know. The hydrogues may be quiet for now, but they are still here.”

107

King Peter

The moment King Peter learned of the Moon’s destruction, he made up his mind to offer all the aid the Confederation could put together — and immediately. Not long after Nira sent the news via telink, traders arrived on Theroc, bringing eyewitness accounts of the catastrophic event.

When he and Estarra watched the images of slow-moving celestial fragments heading inexorably toward Earth, Peter knew that the real disaster was only just beginning. If a big enough chunk burned through the atmosphere, the shockwave would kill every living thing on the planet.

In addition, there were numerous other dire consequences. Peter had looked at the initial reports: Earth’s climate was going to suffer significant upheavals. The disruption of the tidal cycle would cause immense shifts in weather patterns and even the seasons, depending on how evenly the lunar mass distributed itself across the orbital path. Marine migrations, coastal flooding, storm fronts. and those were only the first-order effects.

“Good thing the human race doesn’t have all its eggs in one basket anymore,” Estarra said, thinking like a true Theron. “The Confederation will survive.”

But Peter had been born and raised on Earth. “I might despise Basil Wenceslas, but I will not abandon the rest of Earth’s population when they need us so much.”

Not everyone was happy with the idea of offering help, particularly people from orphaned Hansa colonies or Roamer traders wronged by EDF bandits. But Peter was adamant, and Queen Estarra supported him. Green priests in attendance sent the King’s message to their counterparts across the Spiral Arm.

“It doesn’t matter that the Hansa turned its back on Theroc and all of its colonies. It doesn’t matter that the misguided EDF struck Roamer facilities. I will not stoop to such pettiness in the face of such tragedy.” He indicated the tangle of computed orbits on the screens. “Look at the projections!”

“No matter what path others take, we in the Confederation must do what is right,” Estarra added.

Once convinced, the Roamers tackled the problem with all the enthusiasm and ingenuity Peter expected. He put out a call for anyone experienced in space construction, asteroid-field analysis, and complex multibody orbital projections.

Peter had already summoned Admiral Willis’sJupiter and all ten of her Mantas. He intended to lead the procession himself. Understandably cautious after General Lanyan had turned against her during the battle on Pym, Willis warned, “I would approach this mission of mercy with extreme caution, sire.”

“We’ll be cautious, but we will also show the people of Earth who we really are. Basil has painted us as monsters and villains for too long. When we take the high road, our actions will speak louder than his words.”

Even so, Peter had no intention of being anywhere near Basil Wenceslas without a lot of firepower at his side. He had already sent the first wave of Roamer engineers to Earth to offer their services, and he knew that no reasonable person would turn down the help.

No reasonable person.

108