"And the dinosaurs?" Stannark demanded.
"We have clone stock for replacements, but it will take time to decant them, force-grow them to maturity, install the enhancements... At least a week before we are back even to minimum complement."
Stannark ground his teeth. "This is a serious setback. We need our ground units to pacify the spire, to remove the arthropods.... I need another approach. Suggest something! You are my intelligence analyst, analyse some intelligence for me!" He turned and stamped irritably back and forth across the command deck.
"It would be helpful to have more intelligence," said Karzis. His dry tone was back. "I suggest we open negotiations."
Stannark turned to face him. "What?"
"To gather intelligence." Karzis tapped one of his ocular implants. "My facial expression categorizer and voice stress analysis software is adequate to determine the truth or falsehood of any primate's statements.... Let us talk to them, ask them questions... and receive, whether they will or no, truthful answers. Once we have a fuller picture of their capability, we can tailor our strategy to suit."
Stannark stood still, considering. "Certainly, we need to know what accommodations they have reached with the Solanae arthropods.... Very well. The Starfleet primates are supposed to be in favour of negotiation over conflict. Supposed to be.... Set it up."
"I will pre-empt some of the spire's comms channels and open a video link," said Karzis. "I will need to see the primate's face." His taloned fingers rattled on his console. "This is more difficult than it should be. The spire's systems are engaging countermeasures - antivirus protocols, firewalls to block our software probes. It is... annoying." Stannark said nothing. Karzis worked at the console for several minutes, then leaned back in his seat. "Transmitting a signal with comms channel information and a request for parley. It is now a matter of waiting, while they decide if they want to parley...."
"Starfleet claims to be peaceable," said Stannark. "More to the point, their own position is hardly secure... they should welcome the opportunity."
"What proposals do you intend to make to them?"
"I will give them the opportunity to withdraw peacefully from the spire. I may offer more... for the sake of appearances... but the only outcome I will accept is complete victory for us."
"Well," said Karzis, "our ground losses are only a setback, after all -" A light pulsed on his console. "I have a response."
"On screen." Stannark turned to face the bridge viewscreen.
The face that appeared on it was pale, with green eyes and red-brown hair. Stannark could see Solanae walls and consoles in the background. "This is Admiral T'Pia. You have indicated a desire to communicate. I am glad to oblige you in that."
Stannark took a ponderous step forwards. "I am Gavron Stannark, commander of the Gendratis, responsible for the Voth mission to pacify and control this facility. I require you and your remaining Starfleet forces to withdraw from this area."
"I see," said T'Pia. "It is not possible for us to comply with your request. There are several reasons for this, which, if you will permit me, I will enumerate. Firstly, the spire is properly the home territory of its Solanae occupants. Secondly -"
"The Solanae are parasites! They are - they are squatters, occupying Voth property!"
"That may be Voth Doctrine, but it is not accurate," said T'Pia. "Secondly -"
"You dare to challenge Doctrine, you - you mammal?"
"Secondly," T'Pia continued, "it is contrary to our interests to allow you to take control of a military facility which you would use against us - have, in fact, already used against us, inflicting considerable loss of life."
"Justified," Stannark snarled. "We destroyed the primate Fallon, who had taken many Voth lives with deliberate malice! We are entitled to destroy those who oppose us!"
"I had the opportunity to observe Rear Admiral Fallon's methods," said T'Pia, "as did my colleague Admiral M'eioi, who was disturbed by them. Such behaviour is often found in times of war, however. Realistically, therefore, it is one more sound reason to bring the conflict between our cultures to a peaceful, negotiated conclusion."
"Peace? Peace can be attained simply and readily," said Stannark. "Merely leave the sphere to us, its rightful occupants! Simplicity itself."
"Again, I must question your species's Doctrine in this respect," said T'Pia, "and, again, military reality precludes such an arrangement. Your experiments with the sphere's Omega particles pose a danger which we cannot accept."
"Our scientists know what they are doing!"
"That assessment is inaccurate. Also, we have of late had direct experience of the military potential of a fully-armed enemy Dyson sphere. It is not an experience which we are anxious to repeat. A negotiated settlement - which must, now, include the Solanae - might set up a joint administration and research project, to investigate the sphere and examine its technologies safely. Both we and the Voth would gain much from such an arrangement."
"We do not need you! Your people are a distraction, an annoyance -" Stannark broke off. He took a deep breath, forcing himself back under control "In any case - this is broad policy, and not an area where either of us can make commitments. Here and now, Admiral T'Pia, I must arrange for the departure of your forces from this spire."
"I see. Such a departure could only take place if we were convinced that the Solanae's rights would be respected by you, and that the spire's military potential would not be deployed against us. I assume that you are not willing to make binding promises in respect of these matters. We must, therefore, continue to work to counter your efforts."
Stannark glared. The creature looked soft, scaleless, noisome, with that mop of reddish fibres over the naked membrane of its face.... Its whole face looked like an open wound. "You cannot win," he ground out. "I have the full resources of a Bulwark-class battleship. It will take time, it will be tedious, but I will gain control."
"My colleague, Admiral M'eioi -"
"I do not wish to know about your pet!"
"Admiral M'eioi is in consultation with the Solanae authorities," said T'Pia, "and together they are able to deploy the resources of the spire against your forces - and those resources exceed those of your battleship by an order of magnitude. It is true that our control is, as yet, incomplete. Nonetheless, I feel confident that we will achieve our ends."
"I can bring in other resources! I can call in a fleet!"
"So can I," said T'Pia. "I have access to Joint Command, and you cannot create your biolytic fields while we dispute with you over the spire's control systems. If you wish for a massively destructive conflict, it can be arranged. You will, of course, recall that Voth military superiority in such conflicts is by no means guaranteed."
Stannark bared his teeth. "You expect me to negotiate, to reach a compromise, to make concessions," he growled. "Well, I will not! I speak for Voth Doctrine, and our Doctrine is inarguable fact! You will be defeated, and I will make you pay for your insolence!" He rounded on Karzis. "Screen off!"
Karzis touched a control, and the viewer went blank. "Interesting," he commented.
"What did you get?" Stannark demanded.
"T'Pia is a Vulcan, and that species of primate is culturally predisposed towards accuracy," said Karzis. "I am reasonably confident, I am afraid, that she is telling the truth about her ability to reach Alliance Joint Command." His voice sharpened as he turned his head towards his commander. "Would High Command send a support fleet if you asked for one?"
"Doubtful," said Stannark. "Not in the face of a full-on counterattack by the primate forces, certainly. That is alarming." His face worked as if he were tasting something foul. "To know that my threat is hollow, where hers is not...."
"She is on less certain ground in some things," said Karzis. "She speaks of the Solanae authorities, and of working with them... but either the authorities, or Starfleet's alliance with them, is considerably more tenuous than she wishes us to think. Possibly both. She does not have mastery over the spire's systems." He shook his head. "But she is confident that she will have it... more confident than I would like."
"Anything else?"
"She speaks of her colleague, M'eioi.... I gather that she regards the creature as a capable partner, absurd though the idea might seem to us. However, the way in which she said it...." Karzis's tone grew pensive. Stannark could see data flashing on his ocular implants.
"Tapiola is wrecked, her crew sheltering in the sphere's infrastructure. Timor is still on the docking platform," Karzis said. "I think that both T'Pia and M'eioi are detached from their commands. That they have only their own resources, and a very uncertain friendship with the Solanae, to rely on. In which case...."
"What?" snapped Stannark.
"If either one were removed from the equation," said Karzis, "Starfleet's position would be significantly weakened. Now, M'eioi is with the Solanae in their command centre, and hidden behind shields and security barriers that are still proving obdurate. But T'Pia... T'Pia used the resources of the docking station against us. She is in the control room for the docking platform, and she is alone there, I am reasonably sure of that. She must keep her position in that room, or she sacrifices several of her few advantages."
"She is isolated, and pinned down to a specific location," said Stannark. "She is vulnerable."
"Quite so," said Karzis. "And I am, again, reasonably certain that I know her location, and it is within reach of our troops. Shall we despatch an assault team to take her?"
"No," said Stannark. "No, I am tired of this. It is more than time that I took a personal hand." He turned, and strode to the bridge doors. "Prepare my Dacentrus."
---
The mammals called the exosuits battlemechs; ridiculous, Stannark thought. The metal and electronics of the Dacentrus were not like a vehicle, not even like a suit of armour... they meshed with him, they were an extension of himself....
And in the Dacentrus, he was strong, and powerful, and fast again, as he had not been fast in a long time. He raced down the spire's corridors, his mighty footsteps booming as he went, and he felt his pulse quicken in anticipation of the hunt.
"Local mapping complete. We have the location of the docking controls," Karzis's voice sounded in his ear.
From the outside, the Dacentrus presented a face of implacably blank metal armour; the holo-systems in the interior made that as transparent as glass. Now, the readouts drew a map in the air before Stannark's eyes, showed him the path, identified his destination.
"Not far now," he muttered. A twitch of one finger readied the exosuit's armaments.
"I have no readings on local defences," said Karzis's voice, "but we must assume there are some -"
"I will be equal to them," growled Stannark. "More than equal. The primate cannot use her tractor arrays in here."
The first barrier confronted him now - a simple closed door, one which refused to open at his approach. Another twitch of his finger - and blasts of scarlet light from his arm cannons smashed the door into flaming flinders. He rushed through without breaking stride.
"Security alert level has risen at your location," said Karzis.
"Obviously," Stannark snarled back. He was already taking aim at the next closed door.
"You are approaching the -"
"I can read a map!"
The next door exploded. A short, curving corridor lay on the other side. Stannark thundered down it, cannons blazing.
"It is likely that she has prepared -"
"She cannot prepare for this."
The Dacentrus's indirect-fire cannon belched, once. There was a moment's pause, and then the explosive shell detonated at the end of the corridor. Stannark fired again. This time, the shell hurtled through the smoke and wreckage to explode in the room beyond.
Stannark charged through the open doorway, and into the docking control room. The exosuit's motion sensors were jangling, but the movement of a living body was easily distinguishable from the falling of wreckage. Antiproton blasts lashed out from the arm cannons, leaving a trail of devastation across the opposite wall.
"She is moving fast," Stannark muttered.
"I do not have a positional fix -"
"I do. Now, silence." Stannark looked around the control room. His weapons had left consoles shattered and sparking, and there were ominous creaking sounds coming from the structure. He trod cautiously around the transparent panel at the centre of the room. The exosuit could take a fall - it was rated for insertion via sub-orbital drop - but it would take a weary time to climb back up from the docking platform, and he would lose his target in the process.
The overlay display flickered and changed. Karzis was sending additional mapping data. Wisely, he was doing so without comment. Stannark could make out a fleeing, moving point, an object which could only be T'Pia -
There was other movement. Stannark snarled.
The first security swarmer emerged from a panel on the ceiling, firing immediately. Its antiproton beam splashed harmlessly off Stannark's shields, and his return fire blew it to smoking ruins. But another was behind it, and another. Stannark muttered an oath. "This will require finesse," he said to himself, and he crouched and leaned forward.
The swarmers fired, swung around in a swirling of tentacles, fired again. Stannark ignored them. His eyes narrowed as he judged the angles. "Now," he muttered, and triggered the indirect-fire cannon.
The explosive shell flew on the exact trajectory Stannark had planned, and he allowed himself a smile. The round passed through the ceiling panel and detonated inside the access channel the swarmers were using. The control room shuddered and rocked with the explosion. "That will slow them down," Stannark said with satisfaction, and he swung his arms, cannons blazing, to cut down the swarmers in mid-air.
"Reacquiring main target." The blip that was T'Pia was further away, now, but nowhere near out of range. Stannark moved forwards. One console in the control room still seemed to be functioning; as he passed it, he lashed out with one clawed steel foot, reducing it to ruins.
"I have her," he announced. "Oh, I do not have a visual, yet, but I have her."
In the exosuit, he was fast and tireless. He could thunder down the tubular corridors all day, at speeds no organic could match. T'Pia was moving, was dodging down side passages, attempting to lose herself in the maze of corridors - and it would do her no good, could do her no good.
He was closing on her. She had to know that. The Vulcans were supposed to suppress their emotions, he knew, but the fear of death had to be rising in her, now - would rise further, with every stride he took.
"You are approaching the outer wall of the spire," Karzis's voice said.
"She is looking for an exit, perhaps. She will find none." The motion sensors showed her closer, now, only a few twists and turns ahead. "She is running out of options."
His sensors were on high alert, but there was no sign of any more attacking swarmers. No sign, either, of T'Pia deploying weapons. She had a personal shield, that much he could see, but it would be useless against the power of the exosuit's cannons.
He rounded another corner, charged down the next passage. Only a little further now -
And then there was a round doorway before him, and a room beyond, and light, sunlight falling in through narrow arched windows in the opposite wall. The slight, black-clad figure of his target was silhouetted in the sunlight. Stannark slowed to a halt. He raised his weapons - then he cut in the suit's external speakers.
"Admiral T'Pia. Let me show you why you should not question Doctrine." He took aim.
And T'Pia turned, and flung herself bodily out of the window, into the empty air beyond.
Stannark stared. He checked his maps. There was nothing below, no outcropping of the spire's structure - only the surface of the sphere, many kilometres below. And he could see T'Pia's signal on the motion detectors, dwindling into the distance as she fell....
He switched back to internal comms. "This is Stannark. The primate T'Pia has destroyed herself. I am returning to the ship."
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