by M. R. Forbes
Stone was silent for a few seconds. His voice was meek when he replied. “Thank you, Sergeant.”
John walked over to Klahanie and tapped his shoulder, leaning over and whispering. “Can you get Stone off the comm?”
Klahanie nodded, tapping a few controls. “Done.”
“General Jax,” John said. “I’m suiting up. I’ll meet you in the hangar.”
“Sergeant?” Klahanie said, turning around.
“I just made a promise, and I’m going to keep it. I can run things from the field.”
“What if you die?”
“Then you’re in charge, Deputy. Do what you need to do.”
“Yes, Sergeant.”
“Good man,” John said, clapping him on the shoulder. Then he hurried from the bridge. He was going to get into some armor.
And then he was going to stop the Relyeh from getting close enough to get even a sniff of Metro.
Chapter 59
Caleb stopped at the edge of the corridor. His Intellect Skin was picking up a contact nearby, walking briskly in his direction.
He leaned out slightly, just enough to get a quick look. A squad of Inahri soldiers was moving through the passage, sweeping the area.
He does not have an Advocate.
Caleb quickly switched his projection to the Norg he had scanned back in the Relyeh City. Gripping his rifle, he stepped out into their path.
They weren’t surprised there was something there. Only that it was a Relyeh. They paused and bowed their heads.
“Commander,” the sergeant said.
Caleb moved closer to them. Ishek was laughing in the back of his head. “Have you seen anything?” he asked in deep-throated Inahrai.
“No, Commander,” the Sergeant replied.
“I believe the attacker was destroyed by the cannons,” Caleb said. “I went outside. There is no debris. His ship was vaporized.”
“Yes, Commander.”
“Report back to your platoon leader. Tell him the threat is eliminated.”
“Yes, Commander.”
The squad turned around with their heads still bowed. Caleb walked behind them, following. The teleporter he wanted was nearby, and they all arrived at it together.
“I will go first,” he said. “Move aside.”
The soldiers moved out of his way without question. He quickly entered the coordinates to the teleporter closest to the QDM housing.
“Uh, Commander,” the sergeant said behind him.
Caleb spun around. “What is it?”
“The housing is on lockdown. Nobody is allowed in except the engineers and General Ogg.”
“Are you questioning me, Sergeant?” Caleb barked.
The Inahri looked like he was trying to gather his nerve.
I don’t like this.
Caleb didn’t like it either. He brought his rifle up, firing into the soldiers at point-blank range. He dropped all five of them before they could shoot back.
And you say you aren’t becoming more like me.
“That was a solid tactical decision, not an urge to kill.”
The teleporter activated behind him. He backed up through it, coming out into the housing area. He quickly reset the machine to new coordinates. He had to do it quickly, before the soldiers he’d killed were discovered and alarms started shrilling.
He moved out into the corridor. There were no guards, but the door wouldn’t open for him. Locked down, just as the soldier had said.
“Can we get into his head without him knowing?” Caleb asked.
No.
“Shit. Well, we need to get into his head.”
This might hurt.
Caleb steadied his breathing. Once he entered Ogg’s mind, the general would know he was there. Could Caleb keep him out if he tried to reverse the effort?
“Let’s do it.”
Caleb fell to his knees as the pressure on his mind closed in, leaving his head feeling like it was about to explode. He clutched it with his hands, dropping the rifle to the floor. Memories flickered through his mind. He learned more about General Ogg than he ever wanted to know. The way the Inahri rose to power within Arluthu’s command structure was through the Kuu. The Relyeh means were much more subversive and sinister, and Ogg was especially accomplished.
He pushed the memories back out, his body shaking. He coughed up a small amount of vomit and blood, spitting it on the floor. He didn’t have time to be weak. He jumped to his feet, picked up his rifle, and quickly entered Ogg’s command code before the general had a chance to change it.
The door to the housing slid open. There were a few engineers inside. Caleb didn’t hesitate to kill them all as he raced across to the QDM.
Energy arched out of the top and bottom of it, through the containment fields and into the repaired collectors above and below. He used Ogg’s code to shut the whole thing down, thick alloy plates snapping shut to prevent the link between the modulator and the bowls. He reached for the energy unit. He didn’t have a choice but to hold it directly.
It reached out to him, binding to him. He felt its power spreading through the Intellect Skin. He smiled when it seemed to remain on the surface, his body protected by the Skin. He didn’t know what direct exposure to the device would do.
He held it tight, rushing back toward the teleporter. Behind him, the door on the other side of the room slid open. He raised the Skin’s shields at his back, catching two bolts before escaping from the room.
There was no audible alarm, but Caleb was sure the whole place was now on full alert. With any luck, the Relyeh believed he had come to steal the modulator and make a run for it. Hopefully, they would focus on the exits instead of where he was actually headed.
He reached the teleporter, activating the device and climbing onto the platform. A flash of light and he was somewhere else.
The small teleporter room led into a larger space beyond it. A raised platform rested in the center. According to the memories he had captured, this was where the Inahri were sent to challenge the trife.
He didn’t hesitate to move into the room. There were only two ways out of the area. One was through the teleporter he had just used. The other was a hidden door on the other side, at the base of the platform.
He checked his HUD. No sign of trife. But he knew they were here. Washington said as much.
He looked up.
The trife were looking back down at him. So many they covered the entire top of the space. He knew what came next.
He sprinted toward the platform, getting up enough speed to scale the side of it and jump to the top. He rolled onto his knees, already swinging the Relyeh rifle like a club. As the first of the trife landed beside him, he cracked it in the head, knocking it off.
He clubbed two more, activating the Skin’s shields just in time to deflect a trife claw that came at his shoulder. Electricity coursed through the demon, burning it from the inside out.
He hadn’t expected that.
Another one hit him and suffered the same fate. Then he looked at the floor on the other side of the platform. He froze when he saw the armored soldier there, helmet off and a gunshot wound in her forehead.
Paige.
He jumped down, spinning back toward the platform and the hidden door. A trife landed behind him. He didn’t need to turn around to sense how big she was, but he turned around anyway.
The trife queen opened her mouth, screaming at him in violent threat. Caleb held up the modulator.
“You want this,” he said. “I know you do.”
She slashed at him. He ducked the blow, knowing his shield would stop the sharp claws from tearing through his Skin, but it wouldn’t prevent the force of the blast from knocking him halfway across the room.
He spun, lowering the shield to get his hands on the door control. He had to back away again as her claws came at him, leaving a gash in the wall over his head.
Another trife tried to sneak up on him. He fired his rifle one-handed, blasting it back.
“Come on,” he said. “Let’s play a game.” He activated the shields, ducking another blow and bringing his forearm up into the back of the queen’s head. The shock caused her to cry out and take a step away from him. “It’s called, kill everything on the Seeker except me.”
He turned back to the door control, quickly tapping the Inahri symbols to open it. It led to a stairwell that dipped into a long, narrow corridor. Caleb rushed out, quickly taking the steps down. He looked back at the trife queen, who was hesitant to follow. The area was new to her. Caleb held up the modulator. The queen could feel the energy from it. She would want it for her nest.
“Come on,” he said.
He sprinted down the corridor, the queen and her brood deciding to give chase. He had to get far enough ahead that she couldn’t track the modulator.
The corridor led to a sealed blast door. Caleb tapped in the same code on its controls, opening it. It fed into another long hallway, but this one had transparent alloy on either side. He could see the lab equipment through it. On one side were the chairs, tables, tools and devices the Axon had used to manipulate the original trife and turn them into the demons behind him. On the other side was the matching equipment used to make the Inahri better soldiers.
What the hell?
Caleb almost froze when he saw that side of the room wasn’t empty. A figure stood near one of the machines, a tall, lean form wrapped in robes and a cloak that completely hid its face. Only its narrow fingers were visible, tapping on a control surface.
The figure didn’t look at him. Caleb wasn’t even sure it was real. Was there an Intellect down here? Or was this something else? He didn’t have time to worry about it. There was another sealed door at the end of the corridor. He went to it to activate the controls.
Only there were no controls.
He spun around. The queen and her followers were coming.
The door opened behind him. Caleb glanced to where he had seen the figure, but it was gone.
He broke through the hatch, into a large containment pen. There was one door left between him and the rest of the Seeker. He reached it, quickly searching for and finding the door controls. He entered the code, and the blast door slid open.
The trife were free.
Chapter 60
Caleb ran half a kilometer before his Skin picked up the first contacts ahead. He ducked into a secondary passage, projecting the Norg just in case. He didn’t know if the queen had passed until he heard screams from outside and watched the targets on his Skin’s HUD vanish beneath the demonic swell.
The queen had lost track of the modulator, and she probably wasn’t pleased about it. Caleb heard her screaming in the main corridor, and he waited a couple of minutes for her to continue the hunt before projecting the trife he had scanned and returning to the area.
The trife were gone. A squad of Inahri soldiers was on the floor, bloody and broken. He passed them by, following the deck for a hundred meters before peeling off into a teleportation room. He entered the coordinates to the one closest to the bridge. He switched his projection back to the Norg before activating it and stepping through.
There were two squads of guards stationed outside, facing the unit. They only hesitated a moment as he stepped through, his disguise no longer effective. They knew who he was.
Caleb raised the Skin’s shields, bolstered by the power of the modulator. They fired on him, their rounds sinking through the projection and hitting his defenses—pouring almost uselessly into him.
Ishek was gleeful at the outcome.
We are unstoppable.
His Skin was, but his gun wasn’t. Caleb dropped it as it sparked and exploded, hit by a number of bolts. It didn’t matter. He walked toward the soldiers, dropping the projection. He could see how the energy arced along his hands and arms, his entire body swirling with the modulator’s power. He activated his weapon system, thrusting his palm at the first soldier. A beam of energy lashed out, cutting through the armor and killing the Inahri inside.
He waved his hand across the room, the beam slicing along it, undaunted by the Inahri in its path. It cut through them too, the sheer amount of energy destroying both squads.
I am thankful I selected you. If we die today, I will have lived fulfilled by such food.
Caleb closed his hand. He didn’t like killing the soldiers. It was his duty, not his pleasure.
He crossed the corridor from the teleporter to the bridge. The hatch into the ship’s control room was already open, inviting him in.
He stepped across the threshold. The room looked different than the last time he had seen it. A dozen Inahri were standing amid the holographic control stations, but without the modulator, there wasn’t much for them to do. They stared at Caleb as he entered.
So did General Ogg. The Norg commander was near the back of the room, his four-meter height leaving him towering over Caleb. It was impossible to judge his expression or emotional state beneath the writhing tendrils over his mouth or through his small black eyes. He seemed calm.
Caleb reached up and pulled down his mantle. He wanted Ogg to see him.
“It’s over, General. Surrender the Seeker to me.”
Ogg made a huffing noise almost like a laugh. Caleb felt the pressure in his mind, the general trying to attack him through Ishek. Caleb held fast, staring at the Relyeh and resisting the effort. A few seconds later, Ogg retreated.
“I will never surrender,” he said in Relyeh.
She is here with her army.
Caleb smirked.
“There’s an army of trife running around your ship, General,” he said. “Killing all of your soldiers. I’m sure you know that.”
“I will never surrender.”
Caleb opened his hand. “And I have your modulator. The Seeker isn’t going anywhere.”
“Backup power is fully charged. She will fly.” The hatch behind Caleb closed. “With the bridge sealed, the uluth will die. We will not. You have done well, Sergeant, and you have earned my respect. I bow my head to you for your success.” Ogg nodded his head. “But it’s over.”
“How do you figure that?” Caleb asked.
“Because I’m here.”
Caleb whipped his head around as Lieutenant Harai moved toward him, no longer cloaked by his Intellect Skin. He brought his hand down hard on Caleb’s wrist, striking the nerve and forcing him to drop the modulator. It hit the ground, rolling a few meters to a stop, energy arcing around it and into the Seeker’s deck.
Caleb backed up as Harai pressed the attack, continuing to throw punches that dug hard into his ribs and side. It took almost too long for him to recover. Finally blocking a punch, he turned Harai aside and got in a blow of his own. It was caught by the Skin’s shield, and Harai was quick to grab Caleb’s arm, bringing it down on his knee and breaking it.
Caleb rolled away from the fight, ignoring the pain. Ishek started repairing it immediately.
“You embarrassed me, Caleb,” Harai said. “You made me look like a fool. I took you in. I told Arluthu you could be useful. That you had value.”
“You were stupid to think I would ever join you.”
“I never thought you would. I thought Ishek would control you. But you turned on me too, didn’t you, worm? You betrayed me.”
I had no choice.
“He didn’t have a choice. I tricked him. It was either that or let us both die.”
Harai charged, hands glowing with energy. Caleb raised his Skin’s shields, eying the modulator nearby. Ogg was heading for it.
“No,” Caleb said, pushing through Ishek to the general’s mind. Ogg collapsed, roaring in sudden pain.
The distraction left Caleb open, and Harai drove the attack, striking him in the sides, trying to punch through the shields. He couldn’t manage Ogg and Harai at the same time. He refocused on the Inahri, deflecting his blows and landing a few of his own. He needed Ishek to keep Ogg from grabbing the modulator.
I’m not strong enough. I’m only an Adv
ocate.
“Do I have to do everything?” Caleb hissed, kicking out and catching Harai in the chest and knocking him back.
I can fight Harai. You can stop Ogg.
Switch places? It was an interesting idea. But there was no way Caleb trusted Ishek not to throw the fight.
I will not. I cannot. We are bonded, Caleb. Too closely for me to betray you. I will defeat Harai. I promise it. I hunger.
Caleb looked over at the general. He was too close to the modulator.
“Fine,” he said.
The switch sent a tingle down Caleb’s spine, and he suddenly felt cold and slimy. He realized he had entered the Advocate’s mind, and in some ways had become the wormlike Relyeh. He tried to ignore the sense of disgust, focusing on the link between Ishek, the Collective and Ogg.
He pushed into Ogg’s mind, dropping the general again. He was only vaguely aware of Ishek’s actions as the Advocate confronted Harai.
“I never wished to destroy you,” Ishek said through Caleb.
“I don’t want to kill you either. My new worm is nowhere near as much fun. End Caleb now and we can be reunited.”
“I cannot. We are fully bonded.”
“Already?”
“He is strong. Stronger than you will ever be.”
“Then you both have to die.”
Harai came at Ishek. The Advocate was ready. It blocked every strike, avoided every blow. It knew Harai so well, it knew what he would do before he did it. It went on the offensive, hitting Harai in the chest, the side, the head, kicking his legs out from under him and leaving him on the ground. It spun him around, getting him in a chokehold and dragging him to the floor.
“It doesn’t have to end this way,” Ishek said. “You can join us. You don’t need to be a slave to Arluthu.”
“Arluthu is our god and master. You are betraying him.”
“I have seen the truth. Arluthu is nothing. Even to the rest of the Hunger, he is nothing.”
