70.Extermination

Icarus and Daedalus execute their final attack on GL 877, releasing relativistic projectiles at the star from opposite poles to trigger a catastrophic thermonuclear explosion. The two ships escape at near-light speed as the star destroys itself and obliterates the Others' entire system.

Icarus approaches GL 877 at extreme relativistic velocity while maintaining communication with Daedalus, who approaches from the opposite direction. At five light-days out, Icarus broadcasts a warning to all local Bobs to evacuate the area. As the star grows visible, both ships reach their final approach vector, perfectly synchronized to arrive simultaneously from stellar north and south. At the six light-hour mark, Icarus separates from its payload—a Mars-sized planet—and accelerates away from the incoming collision point. Daedalus does the same from the opposite side. The two planets strike GL 877 at its poles at near-light speed, each impacting with relativistic force equivalent to half Jupiter's mass. The impacts penetrate deep into the star and trigger cascading fusion reactions, transforming dormant and active fusion zones alike. Helium fuses to carbon and oxygen, with fusion cascading through to iron. Within minutes, GL 877's energy output increases by several hundred times, obliterating the balance between outward pressure and inward gravity. The star explodes outward at half light speed, taking three hours to consume the entire system and half that time to sterilize everything with radiation. Both Icarus and Daedalus flee at near-light speed, needing to maintain high time acceleration for several light-years before it becomes safe to decelerate. The chapter ends with Icarus reflecting that this destruction is retribution for the Others' extermination of the Pav and other unnamed species.