CHAPTER 5
There were hundreds of kreussa factions, spread all around the Dominion. Some of them allied with us, some with the Scourge, some supposedly neutral. None of them to be trusted.
Standing on Huynar’s bridge, I couldn't tell who were the ones currently approaching us. I wouldn’t be surprised if they belonged to a clan claiming to be allied with the Dominion. It didn’t really matter.
My crew consisted of precisely one adept. Ortens Sen Galahad had stubbornly refused to leave my side, while the rest of the survivors fortified the hatch against any of Krestellar’s crew still alive and willing to storm the bridge. Not that I expected many traitors left.
“My Queen, I’m yours to command.”
When fighting in space, the Sen’Haillar always respected a basic rule: ‘never handle eka alone, always do it in pairs.’ The reason for this was simple. The more destructive power was thrown towards the enemy, the more the adept’s inner balance was affected. Until her mind could no longer cope with the stress and shattered. Many powerful adepts had ended up this way, mad with power and eventually destroyed by their own side. There was nothing more dangerous in a fight than one of your own losing control. It was the one thing that really scared us, for the capacity for destruction was limitless.
Problem was, Ortens and I made a poor pairing. Oh, it wasn’t because of our earlier clashes or any lingering dislike we may harbour. Proper pairs involved adepts with matching affinities. Chaos and Order. Life and Oblivion. Fire and Frost. That’s why my usual anchor was my sister queen. Reith Sen’Dorien, the Mistress of Order.
I could balance Ortens’ use of Frost, that wasn’t an issue. All adepts could wield the entire spectrum of aspects, yet only one is dominant. Mine was Chaos, but as a queen, I could handle enough Fire to counter Ortens’ Frost. But there was no one around to balance me, something the Resident knew all too well. She couldn’t gather enough Order to keep me straight if the need occurred. Nobody could, except for Reith. Let’s hope it wouldn’t come to that. After all, we weren’t facing a Scourge assault, but only a bunch of pirates.
The second reason adepts fought in pairs was priorities management. From capital ships to single pair interceptors, stronger offensive talents were always coupled with defensive ones. It made sense for us to do the same. Ortens was a decently strong defender against both energy and kinetic weapons, despite her failure to block the monomolecular net attack. Frost adepts usually were, as their job often was to act as shields for their Fire brothers and sisters.”
“Protect the station, Ortens, and let me focus on our dear guests.”
Said guests chose this particular moment to make themselves known by sending a wide-band broadcast, addressed both to the station and to the planet beyond. I guessed they had no way to know their allies’ status, though clearly had been in contact with them recently enough.
“Snake Heart to the planet Caldeor. You are under attack, and your defence capabilities are severely damaged. As a steadfast ally of the Dominion, the White Claw clan comes to your support in this hour of need.”
My earlier musings must have been closer to the truth than I thought possible. Last time I checked, White Claw was indeed listed as a nominal ally of the Dominion and a friend of the House Dorien. Unless they planned to switch sides from the very beginning, I doubt the lizards’ original intention was to openly declare their identity. It would have been a quick hit and run, pirates and conspirators murdering anyone not involved in this robbery and disappearing with the funds. By the time the planetary authorities would have realised something was wrong, the credits would have already been transferred away by the very people entrusted to manage them.
Right now, somebody in the kreussa fleet, most likely the White Claw chieftain himself, was quick on his feet and modified the plans to fit the change in circumstances. Specifically, me ruining the station and inadvertently rendering the original scheme useless. By now, Caldeor’s authorities were alerted that something odd was happening upstairs and no funds were coming.
The unnerving station alarm started to blare suddenly and markings indicating an external threat came to life on a newly opened partition on the screen. Incoming torpedoes.
I projected my mind swiftly outwards, on the way checking that our Frost shields were indeed adequate to deal with the incoming threat. I threw an eka net, the easiest way to identify powered objects in space.
There. A second wave of ships was approaching Caldeor on a different vector. The newcomers had just declared their intention by firing a random salvo, a warning shot more than anything else.
Apparently, White Claw were planning to portray themselves as the saviours, defending the helpless planet against the incoming aggressors, no doubt the same people who sabotaged Huynar. For a small fee of course, at the minimum equal with the spoils expected from the original heist.
No doubt, for this scenario to work Huynar needed to be destroyed during the upcoming battle between Caldeor’s valiant defenders and the unknown marauders, no doubt another kreussa clan. Or even a second White Claw fleet for that matter, as bringing an ally in would have meant splitting the spoils.
I didn’t usually have much sympathy for the bandits attacking my fiefs, and today even less so. The second fleet was clearly involved in a hostile action against the Dominion and, the Accords’ response to this act of war was unequivocal.
I raised a wide curtain of eka in space, an invisible wall seconds away from the incoming warships. The most passive use of Chaos I could imagine. The least obvious use of eka and also the most economical one. No, I wouldn’t face any risk of losing my balance today.
The aggressor fleet slammed into the Chaos barrier and disappeared. There were no explosions in space. There were no last moment warnings between the invading vessels. No desperate manoeuvres to avoid their fate.
One moment the kreussa fleet was there, the next it was gone, simply vanished never to be seen again. Chaos was indeed the most devastating aspect a Haillar can wield, the very definition of total annihilation.
I turned to the screen and responded calmly, moments after the chieftain’s message.
“White Claw, thank you for your warning, but no assistance in this matter is needed. The raiding force had been dealt with. There are no enemies left in Caldeor’s space.”
Silence reigned supreme for an interminable moment.
“What? How? Who are you, Haillar representing Caldeor?”
“I am Ellandra Ashar Sen’Dorien, The Suzerain Queen.”