Deathstalker 08 - Deathstalker Coda

grumbled, “to face off Lewis and his treacherous fleet. Tell me there’s some good news, Joseph, if you like having testicles.”
    “The evacuation is going . . . better than expected,” Joseph said carefully. “But still very slowly. We were relying on Shub to send many more automatons, but they never turned up. We know why now, of course. And the human technicians can’t be allowed to leave until the very last moment. We’re holding their families under guard, to . . . concentrate the minds of the technicians on their work. Everyone is very motivated—and those who aren’t get turned into examples of why not being motivated is a very bad idea. But . . . eventually, we’re going to have to let them leave. We’re going to need their expertise, afterwards. They will of course have priority for the evacuation ships. The rest of the population is expendable, though of course no one’s told them that.”
    “Not really good news, but a brave effort,” said Finn. “I had hoped the new tech we confiscated from the humbled alien worlds would come in handy, but we haven’t really come up with anything worth the having. I always assumed the shifty alien bastards were keeping things from me, because that’s what I would have done, but apparently not. No major weapons kept in reserve, no secret doomsday devices; I’m disappointed in them, I am really. And what little new tech we have grabbed, my scientists, my supposed brilliant experts, are having trouble even deciphering. Only one piece of information really came up trumps: an entirely theoretical plan for transforming a sun into a supernova, and channeling its energies as a weapon. My people are building it even as we speak.”
    “You mean . . . something like the Darkvoid Device?” said Joseph, when he could trust his voice again.
    “Not really on that scale, unfortunately. Basically, the idea is we use the device on one of Usher Two’s binary suns, turn it into a supernova, and then direct all the energy produced into one single blast aimed at the Terror’s herald, as soon as it comes in range. My people aren’t entirely sure the energies can be controlled, or even aimed properly, but . . . nothing ventured, nothing gained. I’m sure it’ll be very pretty to look at. As long as you’re not actually on Usher Two, of course.”
    “A poor man’s Darkvoid Device, that we’re not even sure we can aim properly?” said Joseph. “Finn . . .”
    “As long as we can turn it on and off, that’s all that matters. Don’t flap, Joseph.”
    “But even if the weapon works, we still won’t be able to save Usher Two. There’s no way it could survive having one of its suns go boom.”
    “As long as it stops the Terror, I really couldn’t give a damn,” Finn said cheerfully. “Still, in the event the weapon does work as planned, but still doesn’t stop the Terror, we’re going to need a backup plan. And that’s where you come in, Joseph. Have you moved the transmutation engines into position, as I ordered?”
    “They’ll be in orbit around Usher Two by the end of today. All hidden behind sensor shields, of course. They’ve been preprogrammed to transmute the entire planet and everything on it into the most appalling mess our scientists could conceive. The planet will be poisonous on every level, highly radioactive, and possibly even unstable on the quantum level. Theoretically, the Terror shouldn’t be able to consume Usher Two without being poisoned itself. However, I feel I should point out that if the Terror decides to simply avoid the planet, and keep on going, that entire quadrant will be a no-go area for thousands of years afterwards. Maybe even hundreds of thousands.”
    Finn sighed. “Do I really need to explain the concept expendable to you again?”
    Joseph nodded stiffly. “Since use of the transmutation engines will inevitably mean the death of Usher Two’s population, the plan is being kept strictly need-to-know. It’s a pity we can’t salvage some of the factory tech first, but that would rather give the game away.”
    “You worry far too much about things that don’t matter, Joseph,” said Finn. “Perhaps . . . if we were to destroy Usher Two before the Terror got to it, and then kept on destroying every other planet in its path, the Terror might die of starvation. Or at the very least take the hint and go somewhere else.”
    “I think we’d probably run out of planets before it ran out of hunger,” Joseph said