Surface Detail

While I remain unable to discuss operational matters of this nature, your information will be both taken into account tac tically and command up-chained.

∞

xPS Falling Outside the Normal Moral Constraints

o8401.00 Partial Photic Boundary

Right. Spiffing having this little talk. Want to come out to play? Help blow up some smatter?

∞

x8401.00 Partial Photic Boundary

oPS Falling Outside the Normal Moral Constraints

I am unfortunately unable to re-dispose myself in such an extemporisational manner, especially with regard to the overtures of a non-NR entity; however I am cognisant of the positive intention I deem to be behind said invitation.

∞

xPS Falling Outside the Normal Moral Constraints

o8401.00 Partial Photic Boundary

Steady.

“Bettlescroy. Happier?”

The little alien, shown in rather better definition on the main screen of Veppers’ hired flier – though the amount of signal scrambling was still obvious – was back to looking as calm as usual.

“The first wave seems to have done what was required of it,” the Legislator-Admiral conceded. “The pursuing element of the Culture capital ship has also continued on past Sichult and appears set on hunting down all the ships; they won’t be returning.” Bettlescroy shook its head, smiled. The image broke up a little, struggling to cope with such dynamism. “There is going to be a lot of space debris around the Quyn system, Veppers. Far less than in the Tsung system, of course, but more troublesome due to the higher amounts of day-to-day traffic around Sichult.” The Legislator-Admiral glanced at another screen. “You’ve already lost numerous elements of your soletta, some important satellites – actually, almost all your satellites, both close and synchronous have had their orbits altered at least temporarily by the gravity wells of the passing ships – and at least two small manned space vehicles including one carrying a party of twenty-plus college students would seem to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time when the ships went past. I hope you’ve been watching the skies; should have been quite a pretty display.”

Veppers smiled. “Happily I own most of the major space-debris-clearing, satellite- and ship-building and soletta-maintenance companies. I expect many lucrative government contracts.”

“I imagine my sorrow for your loss will prove containable. Are you on your way to your estate house? The latest estimates have the second wave arriving between forty and fifty minutes from now.”

“Nearly there,” Veppers said. “Think we saw the last of the missiles landing, close in, a few minutes ago.” He watched Jasken’s side of the screen, where a dark, only half-familiar land-scape was still unrolling towards them, slowing as the flier braked. On either side of the aircraft what looked like gigantic black hedges kilometres high rose up, still growing, into the evening sky. At their bases, spattered wavy lines of craters, some still glowing, were surrounded by the remains of smashed and burning trees, blackened, still smouldering fields of crops, smaller copses, woods and forests just catching alight, and the occasional wrecked and burning farm building. The smoke appeared to hem the flier in and rise even higher, the closer they got. They had seen various ground vehicles on the estate roads, all sensibly fleeing towards the perimeter. Veppers had thought he’d recognised at least one of them after catching a fleeting glimpse of a sleek yellow blob heading away fast along the estate’s main access road.

“That’s my fucking limited edition ’36 Whiscord,” he’d muttered, watching the slim shape disappear behind them through the smoke. “I don’t even let myself drive it that fast. Thieving bastard. Somebody’s in a lot of trouble.”

On the comms, there was silence. Jasken had been trying to contact people at the house since they’d set out, but without success. Elsewhere, it was chaotic; a combination of the disturbed satellites, electromagnetic discharges and pulses associated with the energy weapons, hyper-velocity kinetics tearing through the atmosphere and nukes had left the area around Espersium in utter communicative disarray and sent a systems-deranging shock through the comms of the whole planet.