Crucible of Empire by Eric Flint & K.D. Wentworth

Author:Eric Flint & K.D. Wentworth
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Science fiction
ISBN: 1439133387
Publisher: Baen Books
Published: 2010-03-01T05:00:00+00:00

"The Ekhat are still battling the intruder," Jihan said, hunched over her instruments.

"But it is so outnumbered!" Hadata leaned over Jihan's shoulder. Lliant got to his feet and joined them.

Like the Lleix, Jihan thought. The universe seemed to produce more Ekhat than any other species. "Two of the Ekhat ships followed it into the sun, but did not return. They have either fled the system or been destroyed. Now the newcomer has resurfaced from the sun's photosphere, sheathed in plasma, and closed with the remaining three Ekhat ships so that they are all inside the plasma ball."

"Such ships are designed to withstand contact with plasma," Hadata said. "It cannot defeat them that way."

"Their weapons will burn it into slag!" Lliant said, his fingers gripping the back of Jihan's much patched chair.

"Perhaps not." Her aureole flared with excitement. The strategy in this strange battle was so different from anything she had come across in the historical records. The newcomer could not possibly be another Ekhat faction, and neither could it be their despised lackeys, the Jao. Everything, the design of the monstrously huge ship, the strange armament, the peculiar tactics, all pointed to some species never before encountered.

She detected an explosion, then one of the Ekhat ships drifted out of the plasma back toward the star, wobbling eccentrically, clearly not under power. "Only two left!" she said, her voice a hoarse excited whisper. Two out of five, when even one of the monstrous vessels was enough to destroy an entire planet. Were the long-lost guardian spirits looking after the Lleix, after all?

"That cannot be!" Lliant said, turning away.

She gazed across the cramped cabin at him. He was elegant and educated, his robes perfectly draped, his manners precise, but his mind was closed. "It is just possible that we do not know everything about the universe," she said. Lliant stiffened, but resumed his station and did not turn around. "At one time, before the Ekhat rained destruction upon our many worlds, murdering our future, we knew more than we do now. One only has to walk the colony and view deserted house after house to comprehend how very much we have lost through the long years of our exile."

"Jihan!" Hadata said, slumping in amazement at the Jaolore's effrontery.

Exasperation flooded through Jihan. "What I said is true," she said, "and pointless avoidance of the facts will not make them any less valid." She stiffened her aureole, sitting up straight to make the most of her meager height. "And there is no reason to look so shocked. I have not broken sensho by saying any of this." She gazed into Hadata's lovely upswept black eyes. "I am an Eldest. No one else here can say that for themselves."

"Eldest of a pack of dochaya fools!" Lliant said under his breath.

Hadata lowered her head and returned to her pilot's seat. "Indeed," she murmured, "not that such things will matter once the Ekhat dispatch this newcomer and turn their attention to Valeron."

It might not come to that, Jihan thought with just a trace of hope.

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