Ajax examined a strange craft before him. It looked very much like what would happen if a ship was built entirely out of pieces of other ships, most of them destroyed violently. "This is a functioning spacecraft?" he wondered, as much to himself as to anyone who might answer.
"It's the best thing we have," Mel said. "Well, on paper."
The King turned to Kiv, who stood with a kind of embarrassed pride next to the robot that was his copilot. "The name is the Halcyon Dawn," he said. "It's the fastest ship in its class. Ask around anywhere, you will find people who've heard of it."
The King nodded guardedly. He did not doubt the second boast. As for the first, he supposed it was technically true, if only because it was by all appearances a class of one. He finally begun to consider the parts. At the rear, accounting for a third of the length and surely at least half the mass, was a boxy bank of engines. At the front was a bridge, composed of two truncated cones joined at the base, with a cylindrical docking tower filling out the front. In between was a spindly mass seemingly built around a wasp-waisted hull that bore a twin-cannon battery, a turret with three smaller guns that appeared to double as an escape pod directly below, and two hemispherical defensive turrets at either end of a cylinder that spanned the waist. "It does appear well-armed," he said.
"Too well-armed to ignore," Mel said. "Now, let's take a look at the others."
They went to the parasite craft, now redubbed Hippomenes after the most gallant cheater of lore. Daffy waved from the ball cockpit. "No," Ajax said immediately. Hector came to his side.
"We finally managed to get the weapons fully armed," the High King said. He waved to his Queen. "I can work the controls, but Daffy really is the best at flying it."
"No," Mel said reluctantly. "The best the two of you could do in that thing is make Prince Robert an orphan. But keep working on it. It could be good for something…"
They came to Xaja's saucer, seemingly the most substantial craft on hand. He slid down a rope to meet them. "I am afraid my ship is inadequate for war," he said. "But we do have certain surprises. Like this." At his signal, the triangular bridge detached itself with an explosive bang. Cerasa blew a kiss from what had become the cockpit.
"Now this might have some promise," Mel said. They had come to the robots' craft, designated the Pegasus. The name perhaps fit its shape, which vaguely resembled a horseshoe. Otherwise, it looked like a cross between a flying saucer and a stealth bomber, with the nacelles Ajax had learned to expect at the ends of its V-shaped wings. Inside the open bay, the feminoid robot was making the final touches on her companion, held inside one of a pair of tanks.
"We saw him, it, destroyed," the King said. "What happened? What are they, really?"
The feminoid turned to him. "I have told you, I am Infra," she said. "He is Ultra. Together, we are one."
"Like a hive mind," Ajax said. "Only, a hive of two instead of many.
"I cannot say," the feminoid said. "You try to describe with the words that have meaning to you. We only are what we are."
"But what is this?" Ajax wondered. "Is it Ultra rebuilt?
"It is a new body which she will upload him into," his Queen explained. "It has happened many, many times before. Every time Ultra falls, she receives his memories and core personality. Then she transfers everything to a new body."
"That's… kind of beautiful," Ajax said. "And horrible."
"Only if you think about it," Mel said.
"So, that gives us five ships," the King said.
"No," his Queen said. She brought him to one more craft, covered by a tarp. A trio of Olive Men pulled it off. They revealed a craft shaped vaguely like an arrowhead, bristling with weapons. "When I cashed in the mining stake, I used it for a payment on this. It's an Orion-class fighter. I registered it under the name Alexander."
"My Queen," Ajax said, "you should not have. I am not experienced with such a craft, nor do I have time to learn…"
"Sure you do," Mel said. "It has the same base controls as the Amphion. The handling is a bit different, but you've practiced in the simulators."
"Yes," he said, "perhaps." He thought of Hector humoring Daffy.
"Now," Mel said, "time for the briefing…"
She stood before the screen again. This time, it showed the Geryon, 281 Royal Cubits long, both whole and divided into its separate parts. Mixed in were their own ships, shown to scale. "This is the Geryon and its three parts," she said. "They are called the Pandora, the Demons of the Curses of the gods upon mortal men. It is the only ship of its kind, and I'm going to tell you all there is to know about how to kill it. The first thing to know is, there isn't much."
She pointed to the rear section. It was as long as the other two combined and even wider yet graceful in its lines, with a huge hangar bay at the front of its ventral side. Engine nacelles, weapons and docking ports for smaller craft were held in wings that ran the length of the fuselage, flaring outward at the rear. "This is the engineering section," she said. "Its name is Pandorum Limos, the Desolate Fields. It will be the first order of business. It holds the primary stardrives plus the main fission and fusion reactors. As long as the Geryon has all three operational, it's Aeacus' choice whether to stand and fight or run. The real weakness is that those wings are also radiators for the reactors. If you can get enough solid hits, they will have take the whole thing offline one way or the other. After that, the only way to get out of the gravity well is to separate the rest of the ship."
She then pointed to the midsection. It had the same elements of the rear in a proportionately compact package, complete with nacelles and launch racks for escort fighters and landing craft. "This is the command and control section," she said. "Its name is Gello, the Empty Cradles. It holds the primary weapons, the main sensor arrays and the main command center." She pointed to a protruding conning tower that anchored an intricate assembly of sensors. "A proximity detonation with a gamma bomb will be enough to disable it, and that will cripple coordination among both the ship's own weapons and its escorts. Another thing, this is powered solely by a fusion reactor that depends on external input. It has to stay attached to either the rear or front section, or it's dead weight once the capacitors are used up."
She pointed, finally, to the front section. "This is the forward command section," she said. "Its name is Moira, the Inevitable Doom. It is tradition for the Chief to command the vessel and fleet from here. It looks small, but it's heavily armed and armored with its own fission reactor. Naam and the Prince will definitely be here. Aeacus' endgame will be to separate so we cannot fire on him without killing the hostages. There are options for disabling the craft, but the only good one is to make sure it can't separate."
Reports came in swiftly. "Fighting has stopped except in the White North, which is where the Myrmidons have the least involvement," Hector said after conferring with the Marshals of the Navy. "There, the expeditionary force of Azure leads a counteroffensive to reclaim territory the Biarmamen have occupied. The Biarmamen seem content to hold their ground."
"Only because they expect a more decisive action soon," Ajax said. "What of the Myrmidons?"
"As far as we can tell, their fleet has withdrawn in truth," his brother said. "The Geryon will not withdraw its fighter screen, but what remains is a squadron of interceptors. Their ground troops have assumed the role they claimed all along They advise the leaders of the rebellion, and maintain a guard around them."
"There will be more ships on hand, but not many more," Meliboia opined.
"It is as good as we could have hoped for," Ajax said. "Has there been any reply to our demands?"
The High King sighed. "We were told to expect a broadcast," he said. The Attendants brought a monitor hooked to a receiver on the Amphion. Within minutes, a transmission began. Aeacus appeared on screen.
"I am Aeacus, chief of the Myrmidons," he said. "We hold Naam, Emperor of Arzai, and Robert of Papadopoulos, Prince of the Aquamarine Isles and heir of Hector, the High King of the Mushroom Realms. This will be the final offer of terms for their release. The throne of Alcaraz will be resigned to Lemmia, daughter of Empress Hama of Savai. The Far Steppes of the White North are to be ceded to the Khan of Biarmaland. The Brown Realm is to be granted autonomy, and dominion over the Baronies of the Low Plains and the Silver Mountains. Finally, the child of Lady Diantha shall be designated as heir to the throne of the Red Realm. 36 standard hours will be granted to accept these terms. If they are rejected, then a general advance supported by the full armament of the Geryon will begin."
The signal ended. "I do not need time," Ajax said.
"Neither do I," Hector said. "The terms they ask would leave the whole Minor Peninsula defenseless."
"Then we strike now, if they do not strike first," Mel said. "You can guess which is more likely."
As she spoke, an Attendant ran in, puffing. "Your pardons, Lords and Lady!" he said. "We have a situation!"
They came to the cabin of the Amphion, where the Wishing Mirror hung. Cerasa stood before the Mirror, beside Pruna, looking very unhappy. Ajax was about to ask her what was amiss when he took a closer look at the black dress. "You are not my Cerasa," he said. "But I know you. You come from the Mirror World. You finally found your way here. And you survived…"
"It wasn't that hard, once we figured out that there was meddling from outside," the dark Empress said. "And we finally got Lemmia to look at the Mirror. Hold on, we have a few more coming." The Mirror shimmered. Out came the Mirror Hector, heavily bandaged, followed by his Queen in Lindormess form.
"You?!" Ajax exclaimed.
"Yeah, me," the Mirror Hector answered. He pointed at his Queen. "What, did you think she never tried to eat me before?"
Xaja entered, with the red Cerasa. He froze, and then blushed. "Ah, my Lady," he said. "I thought we had an understanding."
"Understanding?" the black Cerasa said. "You threatened to kill me if I followed you! Now what do you have to say?"
"Enough," said another. The Mother Pruna emerged from the Mirror. "We have not come here to settle your score, but to save their world and ours! As it happens, there is one more…"
A final figure came through, in armor of glossy black and gold trim. The newcomer removed her helmet. Of course, it was Meliboia's double. Her hair was teal blue, and more jarringly, her skin was pale as ivory. "Oh, all Hells," the Queen said, "you got the bleach job?"
"You didn't dye the hair?" her Image countered.
"We are preparing for a great battle in the sky above," King Ajax said. "We need ships, not people. But I suppose any help will do…"
Again, an Attendant raced in. "Your Majesties!" he said. "Another ship approaches! It appears to be even larger than the Geryon! In fact, much larger…"
"Yeah," Mel said, "that is our seventh…"