"Who do you think I am?" Drake growled.
Another presence appeared to his left.
"Let him go," the being snapped.
Drake glanced at the being wearing the shape of a man. The being pointed an unfamiliar pistol at his head. Drake wasn't, to his chagrin, wearing his helmet.
"Back off, Mo'Ceri," Drake commanded in the ancient tongue.
The being flinched, but his aim didn't waver. "I'll not let you harm him."
Drake laughed. "I am the one wronged, and yet you come to his aid." He paused to consider for a moment. "I'll let him go if he answers my question." He turned to meet Brennen's eyes. "Well?"
"What?"
"Who do you think I am?"
"I know who you are. You're Drake."
"You're half right," he replied. "But that is only part of a name."
"Agar," Brennen spat.
"Agarwaeth," Drake replied. He’d wondered when that was going to come around and bite him. "Although that was not his true name. His name was Galuchin, before he threw it away. He was my brother. I am Daerandir, and I killed him to stop him from opening the stasis tombs." He left Brennen go and walked back toward his horse. "I died stopping him."
"Wait!" called Brennen. "What do you mean?"
"You saw what I have become," Drake replied. "Am I the darkness you feared?"
"It wasn't you?" Brennen seemed badly shaken.
Drake spun on his heel and flared again. "What do I have to do to convince you I am not the Enemy?"
Brennen stood still in the road. The Mo'Ceri had lowered his pistol, and looked ashamed.
"Would killing me make you feel better?" Drake asked. "I’ll allow you to try if you still wish, but stronger men than you have tried."
"No," Brennen replied. "No, I don’t think I do. I'd heard that you were Drake. I knew of a Drake who had tried to destroy us all. When you attacked us on Aurora..."
"Must I remind you again that you attacked first?" Drake said. "Do you doubt that I could have killed many of the Mo'Ceri, had I wished?"
"No," said the Mo'Ceri. "None of us doubt that, although we were uncertain as to why. I am Onyx, by the way."
"You weren't the Enemy," Drake said. "Why would I need to kill you?"
Onyx just nodded.
"I've been wrong before," Brennen said. "I was wrong here. Why didn't you just reveal yourself? It would have saved us all a lot of pain."
"I have only recently come back to the realm of the living," Drake said. "Then, my mind was still full of fog. I didn't remember all of who I was until much later. For all I know, I still haven't remembered everything."
"I know what that's like," Brennen muttered. Then, "So what are you doing now? Why are you here?"
"Are you my keeper now?"
"No, but I feel like I may owe you an apology. Could you use a hand in whatever it is you are doing?"
"Or two?" Onyx added.
Drake stopped his automatic refusal. If he was ever going to heal the breech between their two peoples, it had to start someplace. Also, the Enemy here were powerful. Allies would be a nice change of pace. "I'm trying to stop the Enemy's plans for this world. Come along if you wish."
Chapter Forty-Eight
Admiral Macklin called the meeting to order.
Tebrey felt uncomfortable in a meeting with the high command of the Sentient Concord. He was here as the new highest ranking officer from Internal Security, and he didn't like it at all. Commander Jennings from Fleet Intelligence gave him a sympathetic grin, and he nodded back. He'd met the commander a few times socially, but didn't know her well. Certainly not well enough to gauge her reactions at a time like this. The room was psionically shielded to prevent spying, but that also put Tebrey at a disadvantage. He was accustomed to being able to pick up surface thoughts. Here, he'd have to rely only on what his normal senses told him.
"I'd like to take a moment to introduce Commander Tebrey," Macklin said. "Most of you know of him, even if you haven't met him before now. I asked him here to fill in for the loss of Admiral Shadovsky. I'll let him begin with what he's pieced together of the events that culminated on this unprecedented attack on Dawn."
"Thank you, Admiral," Tebrey began. "For several months, we've been tracking reports of something the Empire was calling Jotnar. We didn't know much about it, except that it was a weapon of some kind. However, we eventually came to realize that the only way we were going to get enough information about it was to assault an Empire base and extract the information from their computers."
"That's something I wanted to bring up," Admiral Torres interrupted. "I mean no disrespect to the late Admiral Shadovsky, but I think Internal Security has been overstepping its bounds for some time now. I call for an amendment to restrict their powers."
"This isn't the time," Macklin snapped.
"It's as good a time as any," said Torres. "May even be the best time."
"Let Commander Tebrey finish," Macklin said. "Then we'll discuss it."
Tebrey waited for a nod before beginning again. "With the permission of Fleet Command," he said, "we took a taskforce under the command of Captain Maxwell to the Chi Orionis system, where we encountered six Empire vessels. Those vessels had recently come under attack from Theta entities, and there were no survivors. The base on the planet had suffered a similar fate. We were, however, able to recover a substantial quantity of much-needed intelligence, which we have handed over to Commander Jennings."
"Commander Tebrey doesn't mention that he and his team were badly injured fighting five Thetas within the base, and that he went back down, alone, and recovered the data," Jennings said.
Tebrey squirmed a little in his seat. He had never liked being praised for doing what had to be done. He preferred to just do it and move on. He didn't want people to tell him was brave to do his job, or that he was a good man because of it. He'd had to do too many horrible things to ever think that what he did was right. What he did was necessary. There was a big difference.
"Was it worth provoking a war with the Empire?" asked Torres.
"With all due respect, Admiral," Jennings said carefully, "as Commander Tebrey said, Jotnar had been in planning for months, if not longer. The deployment of the weapon against Dawn had nothing to do with the attack on Vesuvius. After that attack, we would have been at war anyway."
"If I may," John French said, "what was the exact nature of the attack on Dawn? Some kind of radiation bomb?" French had recently been appointed the Minister of Defense by the new President of the Concord.
"Perhaps Commander Tebrey could better answer that question," said Jennings.
"The Jotnar was a merchant vessel, registered to the Empire. Jotnar was the mythical home of the giants in Norse folklore." Tebrey was reminded of his father's warning about giants. "The vessel had been retrofitted with armor. All we knew at that time was that it was a weapon said to be able to destroy a planet. When Admiral Shadovsky realized what the ship was, he took command of the Arcadia in attempt to destroy the Jotnar before it could deploy its weapon."
"Why was he aboard the Arcadia in the first place?" Torres asked.
"According to the city MI, the admiral apported to the Arcadia," said Tebrey.
"Okay, but what was the weapon?"
"We don't know everything about what happened, Admiral," Tebrey answered. "We may never know everything. What we do know is that the device acted as if it was a naked singularity, the center of a black hole. Once the device was activated, it formed an event horizon and imploded the Jotnar. As it fell, it absorbed matter. When matter is compressed to those densities, it releases x-ray radiation. It hit the city of Macao, where radiation killed hundreds of thousands of people. It then fell through the planet and exited through the city of Serowe, killing hundreds of thousands more. We think Admiral Shadovsky ordered the Arcadia to intercept the singularity before it could fall back through the planet again. We know the Arcadia made a short jump to the other side of the planet, where the singularity exited. The sing
ularity impacted the Arcadia, and the ship jumped away in that exact instant. It made it almost forty light-minutes before the singularity destroyed the ship, resulting in the collapse of the void shield and the explosion as that energy translated back into realspace. All hands were lost, including the admiral."
"How could the Empire get their hands on a weapon like that?" asked French.
"Well, that's one of things we need to discover."
"Commander Tebrey failed to mention that, at the time of the attack by the Empire ship, Thetas attacked his home in an attempt to kill his family," Jennings said. "We can't consider that a coincidence. Admiral Shadovsky was convinced that the Empire was working with Thetas. This proves it, in my mind."
"Well, it's actually a little bit worse than that," said Tebrey. "Since the raid on Vesuvius, we have proof that something much more sinister is at work. The Empire has figured out how to make people into Thetas."
That set off an uproar, and Macklin had to pound the table to a few times before he could bring the meeting back to order.
"You don't seriously believe that Thetas were once human, do you?" asked Torres.
"It isn't a matter of belief, Admiral." Tebrey used his datalink to dim the lights in the room and initiate the playback of the recording Tonya had discovered. He was still troubled by how familiar the man who died looked to him.
Stunned silence greeted the presentation.
"We've known for some time that a certain percentage of the attacks came from the Empire. We've also known that some of the Theta entities were once human."
"Some?" Admiral Macklin asked.
"Yes, sir. Some. We aren't sure about the specifics, but we know most species can and do produce natural – if that's the right word – Theta entities from time to time."
"He speaks the truth," growled Admiral Gnarr. The Rhyrhan admiral looked as if he'd rather be talking about something else, anything else. There was a long tradition of silence within his culture of not speaking about the enemy. Only the Council of the Eldest coming out and talking about had made it acceptable, but it was still difficult for him. "We have known this for a long time. We did not know that they could be made, however."
"It certainly hasn't helped me sleep any better, knowing it," Tebrey said. "Lt. Riksen, from our experimental division, thinks the device wasn't originally meant to do that, but that the Thetas tampered with it."
"Any idea why the Thetas would do that?" asked Macklin. "I wouldn't think they'd like the competition."
"Well, our allies, the Aurorans, have stated that they thought the behavior of these Thetas to be wildly different from what they had seen in the past, and they have long memoires. We think the device induces madness. The person using the machine is stuck between life and death, between matter and energy, reality and hyperspace. As they go insane, their body is consumed. Most of the subjects died, according to the data we retrieved. The recording you saw was the first test of the device, with a volunteer. Later tests were performed on criminals."
"How does this fit in with what the Aurorans told you?"
"The madness," Tebrey said. "Most Thetas are cunning and intelligent. They know exactly what they're doing. They are selective, killing only to feed. They prefer less obvious predation, such as driving nations to war so they can feed on the pain and fear, rather than indulging in mass murder directly. The entities created with the Engine are insane. We think the other Thetas are controlling them."
"You think?" said Torres.
"Yes. It's only speculation at this point, though, unless you can think of a way to capture a Theta and ask him."
Macklin interrupted Torres before he could respond. "Do you have any recommendations, Commander?"
Tebrey nodded. "We need to neutralize the threat from the Empire. The data we captured indicated that the Empire had built fifty-seven of these devices. They were marked for destruction, but we know at least one of them was smuggled out; we have one we acquired from the Federation. We don't know the disposition of the others, and we need to. We also need to know if they have any more of the devices they used against Dawn. We got lucky this time – we could have lost the entire planet."
He let that sink in.
"If it was up to me, Admiral, I'd take the fight to them. The Empire loosely controls a little over a dozen systems. They lost six ships at Chi Orionis. That had to hurt them. We need to conquer them, fast."
"I agree," Admiral Gnarr said unexpectedly. "An attack like this must be answered."
"I thought Rhyrhans didn't go in for that sort of thing," said Torres. "You certainly were vocal enough after the last attack on Dawn."
"The first attack on Dawn was the act of a rogue commander and his minions," Gnarr said. "This attack was carefully thought out. It was planned and executed with precision. They knew exactly what they were doing. We need to show everyone that there is a price for such behavior. We must make them afraid to attack our civilians."
"In the past, we have talked about cutting back on the powers of Internal Security," said Admiral Alia Zagiri. Tebrey hadn't met her, but knew she had something to do with finances for the Fleet. "I don't think that would be wise. I fact, it may be a good idea to make Commander Tebrey's taskforce a more permanent thing."
"Commander Tebrey?" Macklin asked. "Do you have thoughts on this?"
"I do, Admiral. I've been thinking about it quite a lot. Admiral Shadovsky was Internal Security. I'd like to see internal security handled by Fleet intelligence, under Commander Jennings. I think the Archangel taskforce should be rolled into the Fleet proper. Make it a new branch of service, like Special Operations."
"I suppose you'd want control of this branch of service?" Torres asked.
"By no means," Tebrey replied. "I'm much more use to you fighting. I was actually thinking that Lt. Commander Muerta K'Liva should be put in command. She should have been promoted after the battle at Steinway. She has the experience, and she understands what we're trying to do."
"I'd have expected you to suggest Commander Harris," said Macklin.
"I would have, but I know she doesn't want that. She and Ghost are also two of our best hunters. We can't afford to have them sitting at a desk."
"A change like that would have to be voted upon by Congress and approved by the president," French said. "You're asking for a major change in Fleet organization."
"I don't think we can afford to marginalize this," said Tebrey.
Macklin nodded. "I think it's a good idea." He put it to a vote. Only Torres dissented, which wasn't unexpected.
"If you'll write up a proposal, I'll present it to the president," French said.
Tebrey datalinked him the file.
French laughed. "I see you were prepared."
"I haven't lived this long by not being prepared," Tebrey replied.
"I'm meeting with the president later today," said French. "I'll discuss it with her. If she goes for it, then I'll present it to Congress tomorrow. They'll probably want to fiddle with it, but I think we could get an answer by next week."
"Thank you." Tebrey hadn't expected anything to come of it when he'd written up the proposal.
"Thank you for keeping those things at bay," French said. "The way I see it, we need to get this formalized so you can get more people trained to deal with these things. Right now, if something happened to you, we'd be practically defenseless."
"Now that we have that out of the way," Macklin said, "what are we going to do about the Empire? I expect Congress will approve the declaration of war tomorrow."
French nodded.
"So, how do we take the fight to the Empire?" asked Macklin.
"Carefully?" Gnarr suggested.
Everyone laughed.
"Actually," Tebrey said, "I think I may have a suggestion there as well."
"Oh?"
"Well, there are six Empire warship sitting in orbit around Vesuvius…"
Chapter Forty-Nine
Ana looked up in surprise as the lift opened.
A slender Thyrna-Shae woman, no taller than Ana herself, stepped out and looked around. She was wearing a Concord Fleet uniform, but Ana didn't recognize her. Ghost stood and stretched, revealing her claws. She was ready to defend Ana if the woman tried anything. Hunter and Ghost had been very protective since the incident back at their home in Mozambique. Hunter and Hrothgar had both been opposed to her returning to work, but she wasn't injured, and there was a lot of work to catch up on. It also helped her cope with the grief at the loss of the admiral. He'd been very kind to her.
"Can I help you?" Ana asked. Relax, she thought to Ghost. She couldn't have gotten up here if she wasn't supposed to be here.
"You must be Ana Tebrey, and Hunt... no, Ghost," the woman said. "I'm Commander Muerta K'Liva. I've been assigned as the head of the new Archangel taskforce."
"Then you know my husband, Commander K'Liva." Ana said.
"I do. Commander Tebrey recommended me for the position." The woman looked uncomfortable. "Look, I know I can't fill the void left by Admiral Shadovsky. I don't even want to try. Did you get new orders from the Admiralty?"
"I'm not a part of the military," said Ana.
"Ah. Well, Internal Security is being shut down. The Archangel taskforce has been re-designated as a separate military entity with full power under the laws of the Concord to hunt down and neutralize Theta activity. And please, call me Muerta."
Ana sighed. "Okay, Muerta. I suppose that means you can't hire civilian contractors."
Muerta shrugged. "I don't know. I don't see why not, if you're still willing to work for me. To tell you the truth, I have no idea what I'm doing here. I was just told to come here and take command during the transition."
Ana stood and shook the woman's hand. Muerta was smaller-boned than Ana, with sharper features. It seemed a common trait among Thyrna-Shae. The late Captain Torenth had looked very similar. Ana wondered if they had been related. She led Muerta into Mandor's office, as she would always think of it. Muerta sat behind the desk, and Ana sat across from her.
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