Spheres of Influence (Edge of Imperium Book 1) by Peter Nealen

Author:Peter Nealen [Nealen, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2024-08-24T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 25

The first sergeant led him to one of the Zolarian hovercraft first. The ramp was down, giving him a clear view of the carnage inside, light coming in through the neat holes punched in the front glacis. Each one was about the size of a fist, and judging by the devastation inside, whatever had made them had been moving fast. It hadn’t gone all the way through, though, so it had dumped all its energy into the occupants of the armored air-cushion vehicle.

Bannon could feel the Zolarian’s eyes on him. The first sergeant was looking for intel just as much as he was, and from what he’d said, these were his vehicles, so the dead men and women were his as well. It stood to reason that he would watch Bannon’s reaction, looking for any sign that he was lying and that the Corvanites had indeed conducted a weapons test of some sort here.

Bannon merely took in what he saw. He’d witnessed far too much bloodshed since he’d stepped off the agoge field and onto his first interstellar deployment to be too bothered by blood and gore, no matter how extreme it might be.

It was disturbing, however. He knew of no weapons in the Corvanite arsenal that would do this. Not without completely destroying the vehicle. This reflected an eerie combination of precision and firepower. There had been attempts to develop such weapons ever since the World Wars back on Earth. The laws of thermodynamics, along with the simple practicalities of combat weaponry, had precluded it for centuries.

Someone appeared to have found a way.

He thought of that dark, silent craft gliding past overhead. He could believe that anyone who could field a ship like that could probably do this.

“When did this happen?”

The first sergeant didn’t move to check a chrono, but he probably had a display inside that helmet visor. “I received the distress call about forty minutes ago.”

Bannon nodded. That tracked, based on the projected flight path of that strange craft.

“This ship.” The first sergeant was still watching him, though his eyes were hidden behind his visor. “What did it look like?”

“Dark. Strange texture on the hull. A narrower front section, rounded, and a wider, flatter drive section. Not much in the way of wings, but it seemed to have plenty of lift.” That had been the other strange part, in addition to its total silence, and the correlating phenomenon of the blue flash and the thunder that he’d noticed in the north. Humans and aliens had been trying to achieve antigravity for centuries, with no one getting any closer.

“Really.”

Something about the way the Zolarian said the word drew Bannon’s attention. “You’ve seen something like it?”

“I haven’t, but I’ve heard some old spacer tales about something like it.” The other man sounded pensive, despite the faint distortion of his helmet. “Interesting.” His head tilted slightly, as if he was listening. “This has all been fascinating, Lieutenant, but our reinforcements are getting close, and you’ll have a much harder time convincing them that your people weren’t behind this.

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