StarFight 1: Battlestar Read Online Free PDF Page A

sensor devices?”
    “You may do so,” Hunter agreed with the release of a calming pheromone. He then followed the scent words with a brief territorial pheromone to remind the Servant that he, the Leader of all Swarmers aboard the Colony Nest, controlled their futures, their lives and their destinies. “Send an identical scent to the Fighter Leaders in our flying nest. It is time for the attack stations on this nest to become fully occupied. The moment of attack may come sooner than any hard shell expects.”
    “Sending,” the Servant scented back to him with a strong aggregating pheromone as a signal of his loyalty.
    Hunter settled down on his bench. It was elevated above the device boxes and tubes that ran along the chamber’s floor and across the ceiling above. His flying nest was a poor imitation of his home shelter in a deep hole in a rock face that fronted a cool lake and meadow. Like every Swarmer in the twelve flying nests that made up their colonizing effort, he felt bereft of home. Such loss was a sensation that sent some Swarmers into chaotic behavior despite the pheromone scents of their leaders. Only Swarmers who could stand a long separation from the home nest, or home shelter, took duty aboard the flying nests that sought out new homes for the millions of new eggs produced by the Matron caste. Hunter was one of those who could handle such isolation from the familiar. But he did not pretend the loss did not affect him. Only the awareness of finding new home nests kept his inner gut at equilibrium.
    Breathing deep through his spiracles, he focused his three simple eyes and two major eyes on all the perception imagers that filled his Flight Chamber. Unlike other hard shell groups on Nest, every Swarm member had trichromatic vision. They could see from the dark purple through blue, green, yellow and orange. Servants who studied distant sky lights said there were other colors beyond dark purple to orange, which their native Soft Skins could perceive. No matter. The Swarm’s trichromatic vision had been a vital aid in defeating half-aware flying hard shells. Now, that vision told him much. Several imagers depicted the ten invading nests. Their shapes glowed in ultraviolet reflected from the local sky light. As did the many monitor devices dispersed by the invaders.
    How would the Soft Skins on those nests react to the loss of their leaders, their guides, their givers of order and coherence? Chaos should fill those flying nests as the Workers, Fighters, Servants and Matrons left leaderless became confused and fearful. When the ten flying nests showed erratic movements, that would be the moment to strike hard. The twelve nests of the Swarm would fly in and englobe the Soft Skins, overwhelming any artificial stingers possessed by such strange lifeforms. A mass englobement had always been the method by which any Swarm cohort overcame an opposing Swarm cohort. Surely the same would now happen with the Soft Skins.
     
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    Daisy scanned the ship deck and status holo as she waited for Jacob’s friends to arrive. Her friend’s order to change ship status made total sense to her in view of the failure to contact any senior officer from the battle group. Something strange was going on at the meeting site. They had to know what was happening. The Cloud Skimmer would bring them imagery and sensor data once it arrived at the site, in another twenty minutes. Until then, the Lepanto and the other ships had to prepare for possible conflict. Which meant she had to confirm every deck on the Battlestar was in combat alert status with people manning the vital stations involved in operating, fueling and fighting the giant warship. The holo drew her gaze.
    She saw that the left and right side outrigger pods were now at Weapons operational status. The carbon dioxide lasers on the nose and tail of each pod were powered up and ready to unleash green hell against any target out to 10,000 kilometers. In the middle