Star Force 12 Demon Star Read Free Page B

didn’t know how to get back to Earth, they at least might be interested in learning about a twin planet in the same galaxy. As soon as we’d affected repairs, we’d head to their world.
    I spent the next fifty minutes examining Ellada in detail. A fleet of at least a hundred cruiser-sized and larger ships occupied the Trojan point retrograde from their moon. The area was a natural parking lot, a stable place where only the tiniest of station-keeping corrections were needed to prevent an orbit from decaying. I presumed these vessels were warships as freighters or passenger liners would be constantly shuttling around rather than simply waiting.
    In fact, we’d detected plenty of commercial traffic to and from Ellada’s moon and among several asteroids parked in orbit. When our sensors were repaired, I was pretty certain we’d find shipyards on those natural satellites as well.
    The Whale planet, designated Trinity-9, was like most gas giants. The massive world was circled by dozens of moons. Three were substantial, and the rest were the size of asteroids. The big ones had installations of some kind on them, and some of the small ones did too, probably for resource collection and defense.
    Because Trinity-9 was much closer to us and the Whales built things bigger, I easily found a fleet of perhaps two hundred warships in orbit there too. These weren’t “probable” as I could clearly see weapons on them in the imagery.
    I found it interesting that both inner races had substantial military forces. I wondered whether they were enemies or allied against the monstrous race we’d begun to call Demons who lived on a planet near the brown dwarf. It seemed intuitive to believe that the Demons would covet the inner planets and their resources.
    Most alien races, I’d found, seemed to want to dominate their neighbors and take their stuff if they could. Not so different from humans, I supposed.
    Unfortunately, the brown dwarf was so far away that we could barely see the main planet that closely orbited it. What we could make out was a world larger than Earth by half, with smaller seas.
    “Translation complete,” Valiant said, startling me out of my thoughts.
    “Run it.”
    Text appeared on-screen:
    Friendly and peaceful greetings, visitors, in the name of the (untranslatable—name—rendered as “Whales”) Combine. We have many questions and answers to exchange with you. Unfortunately, this star system is in a state of war. We and the (Elladans) are threatened by a race of insectoid creatures we call (Demons), driven by their mad god to attack all within their reach. Take defensive measures to guard yourselves. Depart your current location before nineteen days seven hours pass. We await your reply with open skulls.
    I pondered this for a few minutes. “Well, if the Elladans look like Greek gods, I know what to call the brown dwarf. Valiant, designate it as Tartarus. That’s the Greek mythological Hell.”
    “Stellar subsystem designated.”
    I was about to schedule an officers’ conference to discuss the message when the ship’s voice spoke again.
    “Weapons fire detected.”
    It always struck me as strange how dispassionate the computer could be when describing its own possible doom. Valiant was pissy when asked to juggle resources, but when she announced a coming battle, she was as a smooth as glass.
     
     
    -3-
     
    I rushed to the holotank, putting my hands on the cool walls of it. I stared at the shifting lights, but I couldn’t pick out the source of the launch against us. The computer wasn’t showing any trace-lines back to the point of origin.
    “Where’s this attack coming from?” I demanded.
    The watch-standers on the bridge sat forward and began querying their consoles, but no klaxons wailed, so I forced myself to wait calmly, doing my best to display the proper bearing of a captain.
    The image zoomed in until the ninth planet and its moons filled the holotank. Icons appeared—yellow for Whale ships