Through half his reign, Var of Kloomiria had nursed his hatred of the
humans into a holy mission. It was eighty years since his visit to
Cathay, when the colonists' children had run screaming from him,
shouting that he was a monster, but time had only sharpened the memory.
He had covered his too-human body under a multitude of robes and had
gloried in the alienness of his head, with its fringe of breathing
tentacles and the two lobster-like claws that concealed his tiny mouth.
Year after long year, he had built and prayed for the war of vengeance
that must come.
Almost, it had passed him by. With the threat of help from Earth for
Cathay, he had been forced to delay while larger fleets were built. His
reign had been drawing to a close and he had almost resigned himself to
the law that would turn the rulership over to his eldest son. Then the
boy had died in an explosion less than a week from the change of rule,
and almost simultaneously Earth's timidity had won again, and the
protection had been denied her colony.
Now Var's waiting was finished. He stood in the cabin of his flagship,
heading back to Kloomiria after the opening raid of the war, savoring
the sweetness of the damage he had done Cathay. Life was sweet.
Behind him, the door dilated softly and his aide came in, carrying a
roll of paper. "A message from Cathay, magnificence," he announced.
Var opened the message and studied it. Then he read it again,
uncertainly. He was sure of his knowledge of English, but the note was
senseless gibberish. Again he read it, this time aloud:
"Yours of the fourteenth ultimo received and contents noted. We are
pleased to inform you that we are in a position to fill your entire
order and that shipment is going out at once by special messenger. We
trust that you will find our products superior in every way. We believe
that you will find our terms completely reasonable."
It made no more sense aloud.
The aide sighed apologetically. "Deliberately misapplied archaicism is
sometimes regarded as humorous by Earthmen, magnificence. I suspect
this is a warning that they are retaliating."
"Bluff!" Var read the words again, but he could make no other meaning
from them. Did the fools expect him to believe their flippancy spelled
confidence, or were they deceiving themselves? And the hint of
surrender terms was sheer stupidity. It must be an offer, though the
wording seemed to indicate _he_ should surrender!
He threw the message into a waste receptacle in disgust and went over
to look at the screens where Kloomiria was showing. The humans of
Cathay might try a return raid, but he was unworried. Cathay's fleet
was pitiful, and she had no heavy ships from which to launch planet
bombs. Of course, there were spy reports of vast numbers of what seemed
to be guided missiles, but they could never get through the
confusion-signals that blanketed Kloomiria.
As he watched, a signal blinked. He opened the circuit and the face of
his admiral looked out. "We've received indications of a swarm of small
ships, magnificence," the man reported. "High speed and piloted. It may
be a suicide squadron."
"Suicide!" Var spat the word out. "Whoever heard of the human cowards
risking their necks?"
The aide touched his shoulder apologetically. "They are mentioned in
Earth books, magnificence. And there was Djamboula."
Var stared at the screen as the flight was relayed to him, snarling.
Definitely, they were one-man ships, not guided missiles. His defenses
had never been built to handle suicide squadrons.
"Up, surround them, blast them!" he ordered. A few might get through to
the ships or to the planet below, but quick action would wreak havoc
among them and discourage further attempts.
* * * * *
The Kloomirian fleet opened into a circle and began rising. Now the
swarm of little ships began breaking apart, fanning out and attempting
to turn. Var hissed. Not even the courage to go through with it after
they were discovered! They--
He leaped to the screen, cursing at what he saw.
Where the little ships had opened a hole, a monstrous bulk was hurtling
through at fantastic speed. The tiny ships had screened it, but now it
outran them, boring straight toward the opening in the Kloomirian
fleet. Atomic cannon began running out of enormous hatches, like the
bristles jutting from a tendril brush.
"Blast out!" Var screamed into his engine phone. His flagship leaped
away at full drive, while the enemy seemed to grow on the screen. Then
it diminished as they began drawing away from the fleet.
There was nothing Var could do about the horror that followed. The
great vessel bored through the fleet with cannons spitting out hell. If
countershots were fired, they had no effect.
"Sugfarth!" the aide screamed in his ears. "A ship from Sugfarth!"
Var remembered the pictures he had seen, and they matched, though none
had suggested such a size. It was impossible. The race of Sugfarth were
aliens--warriors who had fought humanoids as few races had done. They
would have fought with him, not against him!
The ship drove down toward the planet, braking fiercely now. From it,
two bulky objects fell. While the planet bombs dropped, the behemoth
began to rise again. It came through the shattered ranks of Kloomiria's
fleet, blasting again, and headed toward the tiny ships that had
screened it, new hatches opening to receive them.
Half of Var's fleet was in total ruin. On the planet below, two
horrible gouts of flame leaped up through the atmosphere and beyond it,
while all of Kloomiria seemed to tremble as half a continent was
ruined. Var stared down at the destruction, unmoving.
The aide coughed, holding out another roll of paper. "Cathay is
broadcasting an appeal for us to surrender without reprisals,
magnificence. And the Estate Governors are demanding fleet protection."
Var crushed the paper in his hands without reading it.
It would take half the remaining part of the fleet to give even token
protection to Kloomiria. His plans had never been based on holding back
the seemingly weak forces of Cathay.
"No answer," he said. His hand reached for the communicator switch and
he began issuing orders. "The fleet will regroup and return to base for
immediate repairs and rearming. Commanders of _all_ ships will prepare
to take off against Cathay within six hours!"
Somehow, the humans had to be crushed completely before they could
destroy Kloomiria. After that, if any of his race survived, there would
be a mission for all future generations.
Only the power of Earth could have sent the alien ship from Sugfarth,
loaded with cannon and bombs, to fight against fellow aliens. Earth had
declared neutrality, and then struck! For such a villainy, a million
years was not too long to seek vengeance!