Lee stopped his hand from shaking by placing a blunt finger on their current position on the south side of the Rappahannock in Virginia. Without saying a word he slid the finger to the west and then north, up the Shenandoah Valley, through Harpers Ferry, into Pennsylvania and then eastward toward Philadelphia and southward to Baltimore and then Washington.
“Gentlemen, I propose we bring the war to the Union.”
Lee saw Ewell and Hill glance at Longstreet, a subtle acknowledgment that the senior corps commander should be the first to comment on the proposal.
“And Richmond?” Longstreet asked. They all knew that Jefferson Davis and the pack of politicians who ran the Southern government would complain if Lee moved the army too far away from the capital and left the Army of the Potomac sitting in Virginia.
“Hooker is beaten for now,” Lee said. He’d known · Hooker at the Military Academy and he did not fear decisive action from the man. “It would take something very great to get him to move. Leaving a proper feinting force in place along the river, I believe we could be in Pennsylvania before he even knows we’re gone. And then he would not advance on Richmond, but rather turn to the North after us. He has no daring, and the newspapers of the North and their politicians would not allow him that daring even if he had it.”
Longstreet nodded while stroking his gray beard. “True. But Philadelphia is fortified. As are Baltimore and Washington.”
“Philadelphia might or might not be our objective,” Lee said with a shrug. “My main goal is to draw the Union Anny out into the open. Destroy it. And then our options are open. Perhaps the Union will sue for peace.” Unsaid was the acknowledgment that European support was no longer a possibility. Not since Lincoln had issued that blasphemous proclamation. For Lee, the war was not at all about the issue of slavery. It was about state’s rights. But not everyone saw it that way.
“The Union might want to sue for peace,” Longstreet said, “but not Lincoln. That’s a hard man.”
Lee had met Lincoln and he would never admit out loud that he admired the Union president. The man had an air about him that Lee, who had the same air, understood. Lincoln was a leader. A man who would do whatever it took to achieve his goals. Fortunately for Lee, Lincoln had yet to find a general in the same mold.
“They have a congress in the North,” lee said. “Lincoln may be president but he is not all powerful. They’ve had draft riots in New York City. There are many in the North who grow weary of the war and the casualty rolls.”
Lee felt a spasm of discomfort and pain ripple from his stomach to his lower intestines. He had been ill now for several days and it was not getting any better. The soldier’s curse. “Gentlemen, we don’t have much time. Prepare your corps for movement.”
The abrupt order startled all three commanders. “Sir” — Longstreet protested — “this is a bold and — ”
He was cut off as lee headed for the door. “Gentlemen, please do as I requested.” And then Lee was gone.
Within six hours, the Army of Virginia began to move North.
EARTH TIMELINE — XIV
Southern Africa, December 1878
“I am Shakan, daughter of Shaka Zulu.”
King Cetewayo, ruler of the Zulu people and their allies, stared at the tall old woman who stood in front of his throne, so proudly proclaiming to be direct kin to the founder of their nation. It had been fifty years since Shaka was assassinated by his half-brother Dingane with no apparent Successor.
Cetewayo was the latest king in a line of ruthless men who had seized the throne of the most powerful nation in Africa. He pondered whether to have this upstart who had managed to find an audience with him immediately executed or tortured. She wore a black robe that went from her neck to the dirt floor. Her dark curly hair was sprinkled with gray and was cut close, with just barely a quarter inch left. Her skin gleamed in the torchlight with high cheekbones and dark eyes that bore into the king. She was a woman to be reckoned with, of that he had no doubt. Few looked him in the eye so steadily.
They were in his lodge, set in the center of his kraal. He had over a thousand warriors close at hand. His principal war chiefs sat on lesser benches to either side of his throne. They had been discussing the latest problems with the British when the old lady who called herself Shaka’s daughter had made her appearance, making her way to the middle of the lodge before anyone even knew she was there.
“Great King of the Zulu,” Shakan continued, “I know you think me foolish to be in front of you claiming the bloodline of Shah, but I do not come here to claim a throne or power. I come to warn you of the British.”
Cetewayo’s laughter was echoed by those of his council of warriors. “I know of the British. I do not need an old hag to come here and tell me anything. And a woman can never claim the throne or gain power.”
The British in neighboring Natal were indeed a problem, of that there was no doubt. The previous year, two wives of one his senior warlords, Sirayo, ran away with their lovers to Natal and were pursued by Sirayo’s sons demanding justice, because adultery was a capital crime in Cetewayo’s kingdom. The wives were captured, returned. And executed as decreed by Zulu law. However, this precipitous pursuit had violated the boundary of British claimed land. The British governor had demanded that the culprits, along with five hundred cattle, be handed over as a fine; instead Cetewayo apologized and offered the British five hundred pounds as restitution, a price he felt most fair but had not really appeased the British.
Following that incident events along the border escalated. What Cetewayo found particularly galling were the missionaries who entered his territory without permission, seeking converts. The white man’s religion he saw as being very dangerous because it subverted the iron-clad discipline of the army, which was the backbone of the Zulu nation. There were missionary stations all around the border, and even over the border, of his lands. He had ordered his warriors to refrain from attacking these representatives of the white man’s god because he suspected there might be a deliberate ploy by the British to draw him into war. Still. There was only so much he would tolerate, and the British were pushing him harder and harder. Then there were the Boers, who fought with the British. The blood feud between Zulu and Boer went back at least a generation.
Cetewayo began to raise his hand, to indicate for his guards to take the woman away and slit her throat, when Shakan took a step forward and knelt, hands upraised in supplication. “I have the Sight as my father had the Sight.”
All the men present went silent, eyes shifting from Shakan to Cetewayo, The Sight was a powerful thing and it had been years since any of the Zulu had been able to show they had it. Some believed it was not real and that Shaka had simply been a master warrior who had a string of luck in battle until he was assassinated by Dingane. Then there were the whispers that Shaka had had the Sight, but lost it in the insanity of his later years. Still, there was no record of Shaka ever having a child by any of his wives.
“Who was your mother?” Cetewayo demanded.
“Takir.”
Cetewayo’ s senior adviser leaned forward and whispered in his ear, informing that Takir had indeed been a wife of Shah, but she had disappeared just before the Zulu king’s assassination.
“What does your Sight show you?” Cetewayo asked, waving for his guards to stand back for the moment.
She pulled open the neck of her robe, revealing a glittering crystal on a leather thong tied around her neck. “I have been to a strange place where I received this,” she laid, indicating the crystal. “And I have seen in my visions strange things. I have seen three columns of men dressed in red along with Boer and native levies invading during the next cycle of the moon. One column along the coast to the Nyezane River. One to the south. And one in the center headed straight for this place. The other two columns will also turn and head here with the plan to bring three spear thrusts directly at you.”
The dispute with the British was serious, but not at that level yet, Ceteway
o knew. Or so his spies told him. But before he could say anything, she continued.
“The center column is the key. It will encamp at Isandlwana Mountain.” Shakan raised her eyes to Cetewayo’s · and her voice took on a deeper tone. ‘’There you will meet the British in battle. A great victory will be yours.”
Cetewayo smiled. Predicting a victory in battle was always a smart move. But still —
“However,” Shakan continued, “while you will win that battle, you will eventually lose the war with the British.”
Several of his senior warriors leapt to their feet, brandishing their iKlwas. Predicting defeat in war was not a smart move for a seer, but Cetewayo waved the warrior’s back to their places, intrigued by both her bravery and her prediction. “Why do you tell me this?”
“Because great glory will unfold,” Shakan said, “and in our defeat we will sow the seeds of a greater victory.” She stood. “So I have seen.”
* * *
At the very top of Isandlwana the black bole opened once and three VaIkyries appeared. The two guards took up their flanking position while the center one placed the green tube on the ground, watching the display on the other end.
All had developed as planned deep underneath Isandlwana, over 98 percent of the diamond lattice-field was now connected with a low level of power.
It was just about ready to be harvested.
EARTH TIMELINE — III
Antarctica, July 2078
Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain IV was the latest · in a long line of warriors. Over three hundred years earlier his ancestors had fought in the American Revolution, then the War of 1812, then the little known Aroostoock War of 1839 with Canada and most famously, his great-great-great grandfather, Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain I had made his mark in the American Civil War.
Chamberlain IV had been a second lieutenant, fresh out of West Point, when the Shadow made its last assault, stripping his timeline of its ozone, most of the fresh water, and causing great devastation around the Pacific Rim as it Grew power from the core of the planet, destabilizing the Ring of Fire. In desperation, military forces from various countries made forays into the black gates through which the Shadow attacked, but no one ever returned from any of those attacks. Still they continued to assault as the situation grew more dire. Chamberlain was with the Eighty-second Airborne Division onboard an aircraft carrier that was preparing to go into the Bermuda Triangle Gate when all the gates abruptly closed, leaving behind a dying planet.
Chamberlain then participated in the evacuation of · Washington, DC, as it flooded when the ice caps melted. Then he fought in the brutal food riots of 2062 and 2063 and helped restore law and order to what remained of the United States. When the call came for volunteers for the First Earth Battalion he didn’t hesitate, even though the unit’s mission was classified and no one really knew what it was.
He’d been here fourteen years, rising through the ranks until he took command the previous year. They trained constantly, always ready, for exactly what, though, no one was quite sure. There had been encounters during the Shadow War with Valkyries and some of the suits had been captured. They were the basis for the combat suits Chamberlain and his soldiers now wore. Their weapons were designed to penetrate the Valkyrie armor, something scientists had been able to develop only after the war was over and the gates shut.
Chamberlain was currently on board an MH-90 Nighthawk heading toward the coast of Antarctica. The First Earth Battalion was not the only group of people who were waiting, and he was on his way to visit the other critical component in their readiness.
The coastline of the seventh continent was not much different-unlike the coastlines of the other six continents-despite the rise in ocean levels with the melting of both ice caps. Antarctica had actually had the most interesting transition of all, as the mile-thick layer of ice that had covered it had melted. The land beneath. Freed of the massive weight, had actually risen as the ocean levels around the world also rose.
Chamberlain looked over the pilot’s shoulder and saw the remains of Mount Erebus directly ahead. As part of its assault along the Pacific Rim, the Shadow had made numerous volcanoes become active, Erebus one of them. Half the mountain was gone, blown away during its initial eruption. Long strands of dark, cold lava stretched from the volcanic cone to the sea.
As they got closer, Chamberlain could make out a cluster of pod buildings on one of the strands that poked out into the ocean, just above the pounding surf. A wharf extended out onto the ocean with a tower at the end. New Delphi was the name of the station and it had been established just before the First Earth Battalion was formed. Indeed. It was the place where the concept for the First Earth Battalion had been launched.
The craft flared to a landing on the edge of the small center, and Chamberlain exited. He wasn’t in battle gear, wearing a one-piece pale blue jumpsuit and full headgear to protect his skin and eyes.
A woman waited for him, dressed in a similar outfit. Although he could not see a single square inch of her skin, he knew exactly what she looked like underneath the protective clothes. Chamberlain acknowledged her salute with a touch of his right hand to his protective visor.
“Anything, Captain Eddings?” He knew it was a stupid question, because if there was any news, he would have heard about it already. Thus he was momentarily stunned at her answer.
“Yes. We’ve had activity.”
“What? What happened?” After all these years of nothing.
Eddings put a hand on his shoulder. “Easy. Colonel.” She turned toward the pier. “Come with me and see for yourself.”
They walked along the steel decking out to the tower, Eddings punched in her access code to the door, and it slid open revealing an elevator. They entered and then immediately descended over fifty feet to the underwater headquarters of the Oracles.
The doors opened and they entered a circular chamber, completely enclosed in blast-glass, the ocean pressing against it in all directions. A dozen high-backed chairs were evenly spaced around the chamber, facing outward. Eleven of the chairs were occupied. Chamberlain knew the twelfth was Eddings’. She was the liaison between the Oracles and the First Earth Battalion. She’d also been his lover for the past year. In the very center of the chamber, less than five feet from the elevator entrance, on a black throne, sat the High Priestess Oracle.
Eddings went to one knee in front of her superior. “Colonel Chamberlain is here.”
The Oracles had a very different system than the military and Chamberlain had long ago learned the truism of when in Rome do as the Romans. He also went to one knee in front of the old lady occupying the throne. “High Priestess,” he said, bowing his head.
“Colonel. Captain. Please stand. Are your warriors ready?”
Chamberlain pulled off his helmet, tucking it under one arm as Eddings did the same. “Yes, ma’am. Always.”
The old lady fingered a crystal charm that hung around her neck. “The time we have waited for is coming.”
So they had said yean ago, Chamberlain thought. He glanced around the chamber. “What has happened?”
The old woman raised a hand and pointed a bony finger past him, just over his shoulder. “Look. Sentinels.”
Chamberlain turned. Two orcas — killer whales — swam into view and came to a stop just inches from the glass, their black eyes peering in. When the Shadow had conducted its final assault, the Valkyries had not been the only force coming through the gates. Strange, mythical creatures had come through the gates on land. And kraken had poured into the oceans from the sea gates, killing all they encountered. Similar to giant squids, but possessing mouths on the end of each tentacle, they were horrible creatures, who had homed in on killing dolphins for some strange reason that none of the scientists had been able to figure out.
The sentinels had been the answer. Orcas, trained by the U.S. Navy to do recovery work, had been unleashed to fight the kraken. The most amazing thing was that only a half-dozen orcas
had been in the Navy program, but those six had spread out and immediately swam to their fellow whales and gathered them. In the dark depths of the world’s ocean, terrible battles were fought. Kraken versus dolphin and orca. The carcasses of the dead washed up on shores all over the planet, most of the bodies being dolphin.
The orcas were the vicious cousin of the dolphins. The largest member of the dolphin family, they were more widespread in the world’s oceans than dolphins. Males could grow to over thirty feet in length. They ate pretty much anything they ran into and could catch including blue whales and squid.
Like dolphins, they also used echo-location to check out their surroundings and locate prey. They also could communicate among themselves with high-speed clicks that sounded like rasps and screams. However, when they needed to be quiet to draw in prey, they could remain silent for days on end.
The strange thing about orcas though, was that once mated, male and females stayed together for life. A remarkable display of fidelity for a species with the moniker “killer.” Mothers bore their young for over sixteen months and then nursed them for another year and a half. They were a strange combination of lethality and love.
By the time the Shadow closed the gates, all of the world’s dolphins were dead, but the orcas finished off the last of the kraken left behind. And then the Oracles found something most fascinating. Even though all gates were closed, the orcas were picking something up, something from beyond this timeline.
It was the Sentinels, through the Oracles, who delivered the message to form the First Earth Battalion from the Ones Before. And to be ready. That they would be needed and have one last chance to avenge the slow death of their planet.
“What are the Sentinels sending?” Chamberlain asked.
It was Eddings who answered. ‘’Nothing specific. Just a sense of”- she searched for the word-“anticipation.”
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