Harbinger

by Ken Lozito

  Connor looked at Samson. “We’re going to make a camp right here. Contact the other teams and let them know our status. They are to proceed as ordered.”

  Samson walked away to convey Connor’s orders.

  “I’ve never seen ryklars look so calm,” Dash said.

  “Neither have I. What did you think about what he said?” Connor asked.

  “It confirms the history we suspected. But we don’t have detailed records. We don’t know if this is where they live or how many of them there are.”

  Connor nodded and glanced at Cerot and the others. The Ovarrow were speaking to each other. “Brashirker wouldn’t even speak to them.”

  “He thinks they’re Krake sympathizers who went into stasis,” Dash replied.

  “It’s more than that. Whatever happened to them, that dedication or commitment to those beliefs might’ve formed the foundation of their society. Don’t look at me like that; I paid attention. What I don’t know is whether I can convince them to help us.”

  Dash was quiet for a few moments while he considered what Connor had said. “So, you want to find the Krake's home universe and stop them there? That’s the first time I’ve ever heard this.”

  “That’s where we need to get to. If the Krake find us first, it'll be a lot worse for us.”

  “It took months to convince the Ovarrow that we were trying to help them when they came out of stasis. I think you took them by surprise. Maybe they just need some time,” Dash said.

  Connor’s eyebrows raised. “I’m sure they didn’t plan on us showing up here.”

  “I mean beyond that. I don’t think they expected you to say the things you did. Considering that they might’ve been aware of our presence, they’ve never interacted with us. Darius often told me not to underestimate the small steps. They can add up,” Dash said.

  “Let’s hope so,” Connor said, and meant it.

  13

  Connor had sent a few teams out to patrol the surrounding area. They were camped in the main cavern and they could see the Ovarrow soldiers across the way, but he had no intention of letting his guard down. He wasn’t going to give them the opportunity to sneak around his team. Dash seemed surprised by this because he still had a certain amount of naiveté about the world. He was a very capable young man, but he was still young enough to retain some of youth’s innocence.

  “This has to be rough on them,” Samson said and gestured toward Cerot and the other Ovarrow. “They came all this way on the hope that they were going to meet more of their own kind, only to find out that their own kind wants nothing to do with them. It’s like the Ovarrow have no concept of hospitality.”

  Connor barked a laugh and shook his head. “Did you forget the last time Diaz and I went to your camp?”

  Samson shrugged, his features impassive. “That’s how I welcome everyone.”

  “What happened?” Dash asked.

  “Let’s just say that Samson has a gift for making people feel unwelcome. His camp had a lot of traps, and Diaz got caught up in one of them,” Connor said and drank some water.

  Dash’s gaze darted to Samson and then back at Connor. “So, that’s why Diaz . . .”

  Connor nodded. “Yes, that’s about right.”

  “He’s only mad,” Samson said, “because he wasn’t paying attention.”

  An image of Diaz strung up by his feet, dangling above the ground and shouting curses appeared in Connor’s mind. He exhaled softly and glanced over at Cerot. He was speaking with Esteban, Joe, Felix, Luca, and Wesley. They’d followed the conversation with Brashirker, probably better than Connor had. They understood what—

  He stopped that train of thought and looked at Cerot. Dash had been watching and activated the Ovarrow translator.

  “Were you able to understand what Brashirker said?” Connor asked Cerot. He knew it was an obvious question, but he couldn’t afford to take too many chances on an assumption.

  “I could understand him. Vitory and Senleon are aware of the Krake worshippers,” Cerot said.

  Connor regarded the Ovarrow for a few seconds. Cerot was the warlord’s second-in-command, known as the warlord’s First. Connor had no way of knowing if any of the Ovarrow he'd brought with him were Krake insurgents. Connor looked at the others. It was so hard to get an idea of what they were thinking. Cerot seemed to sense that Connor wanted more of an explanation.

  “General Gates, the only thing I can tell you is that we are aware of the issue and are working to deal with it.”

  “Cerot, you know there was Ovarrow involvement in the bridges that collapsed in your city. You have a group that seeks to undermine the authority of your leaders. We’re aware of this too, and we understand that none of this has been easy for you.”

  “I appreciate your understanding. Your partner saved my life. This is a debt I would like to repay, which is why I chose to come with you.”

  “Did you know there were Ovarrow who weren’t allowed into bunkers with stasis pods?” Connor asked.

  Cerot was quiet for a few long moments. Connor waited him out. “We knew. I knew about it. We didn’t expect anyone to survive. The effort was to preserve our species. We knew we couldn’t save everyone.”

  Connor considered this for a few moments, thinking about the video message recorded by his son while the Vemus were storming the bridge of the Indianapolis. Those brave souls on Earth had given the colonists a chance to survive the Vemus. They'd sacrificed themselves, but he did wonder whether there were pockets of humans who had somehow survived the Vemus back on Earth.

  “I’m not here to judge you, Cerot, or the rest of the Ovarrow. What I’d like to do is understand. You’ve been given a second chance. But it may take them some time to accept the fact that you’re here,” Connor said, gesturing across the cavern where the descendants of the Ovarrow who hadn’t gone into stasis stood guard.

  “I don’t think they will ever accept us,” Cerot replied.

  “They might not, but don’t give up so easily,” Connor answered.

  The soldiers who were standing watch opened a comlink to report that Brashirker and the Ovarrow soldiers had returned and were waiting at the edge of the bridge. This time they didn’t bring the ryklars with them. Connor and a group of soldiers walked to the middle of the bridge and waited. Brashirker met them halfway. Cerot and the other Ovarrow stayed behind so as not to stress the situation any further.

  Brashirker had been gone for almost twenty hours. He couldn’t have gone far to have returned so quickly. Dash activated a communications drone and sent it over to Brashirker with the Ovarrow interface engaged.

  “Our ancestors have used the arch in the past. They sought, as you do, to find the Krake home world by exploring different universes. They were not successful. Eventually, they abandoned those efforts and instead disabled all the arches on this planet to prevent the Krake from coming here. They weren’t able to find them all,” Brashirker said.

  “We’ve also explored other universes, both from here on this planet”—Connor gestured above him—“and from beyond.” He knew the Ovarrow weren't a spacefaring race, and he wasn’t sure how acquainted they were with the Krake's capabilities. “Do you have any records of when your people explored other universes that you could share with us?”

  Brashirker was silent for a few moments and then looked at Connor. “We only have the historical record that our ancestors did do these things. But the specific things that you are asking for have been destroyed. Even if they hadn’t, I wouldn’t share them with you.”

  “Why not?”

  “You believe you know the extent of what the Krake are capable of. You don’t. They are too powerful. Our people will make preparations to find another location. We would advise you to do the same.”

  Connor clenched his teeth for a moment. “Hiding and hoping that the Krake won’t find us isn’t a long-term strategy. You were lucky the first time. There's no guarantee that will happen again.”

  Brashirker met his gaze. “I
t is the only strategy.”

  “I urge you to reconsider. We have powerful weapons. We can help each other,” Connor said.

  Brashirker made a show of looking at the CDF soldiers gathered on the opposite end of the bridge. “We’ve observed your machines, and we know their capabilities are beyond what we have. You don’t take any steps to hide your presence here. This is a foolish mistake. You believe that you are powerful, but you’ve never fought a war with the Krake. This isn’t a fight that you will face on a single battlefield. If you persist in antagonizing the Krake, this war will be fought among you, and it’ll be fought among your allies,” Brashirker said and gestured toward the small group of Ovarrow that waited among the CDF soldiers. “The Krake will study you—your reactions, your behaviors, your vulnerabilities. And when they’re done studying you, they will crush you.”

  The cold words appeared completely dispassionate on the Ovarrow translator, but the look on Brashirker’s face was one of absolute certainty. He believed that the best choice was to hide.

  “We won’t hide from the Krake. Since you’re so convinced that they’re coming here, aren’t you concerned they’ll find you? Don’t you want to take steps to protect your people?” Connor asked.

  “When the Krake come here, they will be preoccupied with you. They won’t care about us. We’ll be around to observe the aftermath,” Brashirker said.

  Connor inhaled explosively and then tried to clamp down on his rising temper. He’d never met a group that was so determined to hide from a problem. Some people throughout history might’ve endured a tyrant until such time that they could rise and overthrow him, but these were the ancestors. And they wouldn’t even consider fighting the Krake.

  “This is a mistake. Your ancestors made those decisions because they were probably the best decisions they could make at the time. This is different. You should be different.”

  “We are different, but we study our history. We learned from their mistakes. We won’t repeat them. I have spoken with other leaders, and none of them will consider helping you,” Brashirker said.

  Connor clenched his teeth. Thoughts raced like wildfire in his mind. Brashirker had said they didn’t have the records from when they used the arch. If that was true, then what history did they study? What if Brashirker was lying? Or what if someone else was lying to Brashirker?

  “I have given you an answer to your question,” Brashirker said.

  “Well, your answer sucks,” Connor said. Chances were that the Ovarrow translator didn’t have a symbol that would translate his colorful metaphor of the situation, and he didn’t care. Connor took a few steps toward Brashirker. “You came here with your display of force using the ryklars. You were posturing so we would know what your strength was. You haven’t been to the other worlds. You think you can hide from this and you’re wrong. You don’t believe me because you have your precious history. But I’ve seen other worlds where the Krake have been. I've seen worlds they’ve destroyed. They’ll come here and do the same. Then you can record your precious history of how you just hid in a cave underground while the world burned around you because that’s the best your people could do. Well, that’s not who we are. So hide. Stay here and hide underground like a rodent and dream of the past because you won’t have a future as long as you stay here.”

  Connor stood for a few moments and waited for Brashirker to finish reading the message. He intended to look this bastard in the eye so Brashirker would know just what Connor thought of him. He was a coward—a coward dressed in wolf’s clothing.

  Connor spun on his heel and walked off the bridge. “Captain, we’re leaving.”

  “Understood, General,” Samson replied.

  14

  Connor slipped into a cold fury as they followed the network of tunnels to return above ground. He called off all the search efforts. Samson saw to the details of organizing the withdrawal as Connor walked ahead at a brisk pace. Even Dash didn’t ask him any questions.

  At first, he just needed to calm down, and then he kept going over his exchange with Brashirker. Cerot and the other Ovarrow had been given a transcript of the exchange with Brashirker, but he hadn’t offered to leave Brashirker a way to contact them. He supposed someone like Darius Cohen, a lead diplomat, would’ve handled things differently, but he was just so furious. There were so many people who questioned his objective of gaining any kind of intelligence about the Krake from the Ovarrow. It had been one of the main drivers for the effort to assist the Ovarrow in coming out of stasis, and now they'd found a completely different group of Ovarrow who'd never gone into stasis—Ovarrow who'd survived for the past two hundred years through an ice age and a superior enemy force hunting for them. But he couldn’t understand how a group like that wouldn't want to defend their homes.

  He heard the high-pitched whine of troop carrier engines as they flew overhead to the designated egress points. They were leaving, and he wasn’t leaving anything behind except a whole lot of regret. As far as he was concerned, there was nothing left there for him or any other colonist.

  He walked up the loading ramp of the troop carrier and headed for the command area so he could be alone. The soldiers aboard hushed their conversations as he stormed by. They knew things hadn’t gone well, and by now the news of his failure had probably spread. He was going to have to write a report and submit it to Governor Wolf’s office. Although, if he was following a strict protocol, he’d have to send it to Nathan first, who would then send it to Governor Wolf’s office. The price of his previous actions had come with a demotion.

  He glared at the bulkhead of the troop carrier for a few moments. He just wanted to unleash his rage, to slam his armored fists against it and obliterate it while howling in fury. The Ovarrow had been a thorn in his side ever since he’d woken one up out of a stasis pod. He lowered his chin and clenched his teeth. Why wouldn’t they listen? These Ovarrow had survived for two hundred years through an ice age. They’d come up with a way to control the ryklars for protection and had made them immune to the ryklar control signals. These feats were not inconsequential, but if they weren’t willing to take the next step and fight the Krake when the time came for it, what good were they? They would become fodder for the Krake or maybe even seek an alliance with them against the colony.

  Lars Mallory had posited that the Ovarrow couldn't be trusted, and he'd gotten all the intelligence he could by torturing them. He'd used their fear against them. When Connor first learned about it, he'd thought it was wrong and that Lars had been severely misguided to do those things. They were better than that. But the more he thought about it, he wondered if perhaps he’d been the one who was wrong. The lives of the colony were at stake. Should he have been the one to lead those efforts? Would he be in a different position now if he’d done what Lars had done? Would he have the knowledge he sought from the Ovarrow if he’d been more ruthless? Connor squeezed his eyes shut, shook his head, and a soft growl escaped his lips. He could’ve done it. He could’ve ordered it and explained it in such a way as to perhaps convince someone like Governor Wolf that it was necessary. Maybe she would’ve even believed him.

  He inhaled deeply and sighed, thinking about his home. He thought about Lenora, who was home right then with Lauren. He thought of his baby girl, staring up at him with the intensity of someone trying desperately to make sense of the world around them as quickly as possible. One day, when she became a woman, she'd judge the man he was. Could he ever explain the actions he was considering to her? Would she hate him if those horrible actions might be the only way she could live? Could he live with himself?

  Connor drew in a deep breath and sighed again. He wanted to hold his daughter right then and there, feel her soft cheek up against his face and breathe in her scent. She had an easy smile, and her eyes were a deep blue like her mother’s. And when she looked at him, he melted . . . The thought of her calmed him like splashing soothing, warm water on his face, and the tension evaporated. No, he wouldn’t torture the Ovarrow to
get the information he needed. He wouldn’t become that.

  Dash cleared his throat from nearby. Connor hadn’t even heard him approach.

  “Excuse me, Connor. I’m sorry to interrupt, but Cerot has a request I thought you’d want to hear.”

  Connor rubbed his brow, releasing the tension, and sat down. He leaned back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling for a few moments, then looked at Dash. “What does he want?”

  “They'd like to see one of our cities. They’ve only seen images of them on a holoscreen. I think it might be good for them to see it, and we do have a unique opportunity since they’re already here with us.”

  Connor frowned in thought. For a few moments, he thought about the bureaucratic red tape he'd be required to go through to facilitate Cerot’s request. Then he decided he didn’t care.

  “We’ll bring them to Sanctuary. Are you okay with babysitting them for a little while longer? I’ll assign protective details to accompany you because they’ll need escorts,” Connor said.

  Dash’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “I’m fine with staying with them. I’ll even show them around. Cerot, in particular, is keen to keep the lines of communications open between us.”

  “I appreciate that. I am . . . I can’t think about this right now,” Connor said and shook his head. “I don’t know what time we’ll reach Sanctuary, but show them around and we’ll meet up after. I just need a few moments to myself.”

  Dash took a step back, raising his hands in front of his chest. “I understand. I’ll take care of it and send you an itinerary of where we’ll go. I just wanted your approval. I’ll leave you alone now.”

  For the duration of the trip back to Sanctuary, Connor was alone. Samson hadn’t come back to check on him, which probably meant that Dash had warned him to stay away unless it was absolutely necessary.