War Of The Four Worlds

by Michael Anderle

  He was also surprised. Despite all the bluster of the human authorities, there was no indication they would have trouble engaging the target zone. The humans had somehow cloaked the area to hide the presence of the Vax, but from what the Alliance could make out from their probe, there was no actual defensive shields extended over the city. Commander Laralan wasn’t sure if humans could achieve something like that, even with magic.

  “Massive energy surge above the planet, sir,” reported the sensor operator, a blue-skinned member of the commander’s own species—another person who would atone for the previous Shepherd’s failures.

  Commander Laralan frowned. “What’s going on?” His restraints kept him in place when he instinctively tried to stand. This wasn’t the time for pacing. He tapped his AllBand to bring up a status display.

  “I don’t know, Commander. These readings are similar in some ways to Vax portals, but the scale of the energy involved is massively different. There are also numerous phase differences.”

  “Comms, signal the fleet, high alert, maximum defensive posture.” Laralan watched the overlay on his display depicting the position of the ships, along with a new symbol representing the energy surge. “I doubt the Vax have suddenly learned a new trick and are going to spit out a ship at us.” He tapped on the graphic floating in front of him to obtain a magnified visual. “This means the natives are up to something.”

  A swirling portal sat above the Earth in the image. Bands of shimmering colors pulsed across the strange hole in reality. “It doesn’t look like a Vax portal at all. It also doesn’t look like the ones we’ve been briefed on, even before considering the size.” Laralan narrowed his eyes. “All ships, prepare for attack. I don’t think this is the Vax. I think the humans are being clever. I’m guessing they’ll launch missiles or magical attacks from the surface through this portal. Ready active defenses.”

  Laralan shook his head, glad the fleet hadn’t launched any fighters. He could respect the human forces for trying to defend their planet, even if their plan was feeble, doomed, and desperate. Some of their larger nuclear weapons might stand a chance of breaking through at least some of the ships’ defensive fields, but there was no way the fleet would let the primitive projectiles get close. Point-defense beams would tear them to pieces well outside the blast radius. It would be a glorious light show, but nothing more. The scale of magical attacks available to them wouldn’t be a problem either.

  “The readings are changing, Commander,” the sensor operator reported. “I think… Wait. Something’s coming through.”

  “Impress me, humans,” the commander muttered. A few seconds later, he magnified the visual again, confused. “What is that?”

  Laralan expected a swarm of nuclear missiles to emerge or even a swarm of high-speed railgun rounds. A mass of magical fireballs wouldn’t have surprised him. Nothing like that came out of the portal.

  A strange new arrival floated out of the portal, an island of stone covered by a glowing translucent orb. Terraced towers with curved, tiled roofs in a myriad of colors lay in concentric circles around a central golden ziggurat. A faceted dome of blue crystal lay at the summit.

  “What’s the size of that thing?” Laralan barked, still having trouble understanding what he was seeing. His mind strained to find a point of comparison.

  The sensor operated rattled off some numbers. The strange object was about half as long as one of his ships, and much wider.

  That was exactly what it had to be—a ship, despite its bizarre appearance. This was the true threat of magic, one he had underestimated.

  Commander Laralan wouldn’t have cared if lightning or fire had come through the portal. Generating understandable attacks using forces known to normal physics through unusual means didn’t confound him, but how was he supposed to respond to the temple island in front of his fleet? It wasn’t like he’d trained for this. Even the Vax didn’t behave in such an absurd manner.

  “Does it have anything that might be a weapons system?” Laralan asked.

  The sensor operator’s hands continue to fly over the virtual controls. “I can’t tell, Commander. The outer energy field is disrupting most of the sensor readings, and there are no obvious external launchers. The object is moving at a minimal relative speed. There is no sign of active propulsion.”

  The stone island floated away from the portal. Once the island cleared it completely, the portal vanished.

  Laralan ordered the fleet to hold position. The island might be some sort of magical bomb, but there was no way the humans could hope to take out his entire fleet. The distances were just too vast. That was the problem with primitive species who wanted to play in space; their intuition failed them when they tried to analyze it.

  A wavering image winked into existence near the front of the commander center, as if someone were projecting a picture on flowing water. The image depicted a stone wall filled with inscriptions in some language Laralan didn’t recognize.

  He was about to ask who had brought up the odd display when an elderly human in a suit stepped into frame, an easy and disarming smile on his face. The commander recognized the man from the reports Shepherd 8224 passed along: the American senator, Angus Johnston.

  The fleet commander tapped his AllBand to activate real-time translation, still frustrated that the humans had taken him so thoroughly by surprise.

  Senator Johnston’s smile broadened. “Well, now, this is quite nice.” He looked around “They said it’d be like looking right into your ship, and it’s just like that, but they might have made a mistake, so before we continue, I need to establish that I’m talking to whoever is in charge of the Alliance Fleet. The magicals tell me the spell is supposed to open up to whoever is most important, but that’s such a relative thing. For all I know, this is your religious ship or the man who supplies all the food.”

  “I am Fleet Commander Laralan, and I’m in command of these four vessels.” The commander frowned. “While we talk, a Vax is laying waste to your city. I don’t know what sort of trick this is, Senator, but any delay that costs a human life will be your fault.”

  “That’s very much true, and trust me, it’s weighing heavily on my mind.” Senator Johnston shrugged. “But the Vax is blowing away empty buildings right now. Not sure if we’ll be able to fix it, but I’ve got some ideas about that.” He shook a finger. “You don’t worry about that ornery fellow. I’ve got my own ornery fellow who will be handling him soon enough.”

  “What is this…thing you’ve deployed?” Commander Laralan asked, venom is his tone. He didn’t like the human’s flippant attitude. “A bomb?”

  “Now that’s the other problem with your Alliance. All that fancy technology, but not a drop of magic. I get why you’re so scared, but the smart play would have been not to piss us off rather than to threaten us.” Senator Johnston gestured toward the inscriptions in the wall. “Your lack of magic means you don’t get cool toys like this—one of the most powerful of the ancient vimanas. That’s what this thing is called, by the way.” He sighed. “I’ll tell you one thing: when I was a boy, I never thought I would ever fly around in a magical castle in space chatting with aliens. The world has changed.”

  “You’re on it, then?” Commander Laralan was impressed that the human leader would risk himself, but disappointed by how foolish the man had been by revealing the fact. If the fleet took out the vimana, Earth’s anti-Alliance faction would be in disarray.

  Senator Johnston nodded. His image wavered so much he was hard to discern for a few seconds, but then it settled back to normal. “Now, I’m not going to spend time lying to you because you’ve got that little spy on our planet who hears things, so let me be very clear about this, Commander. Right now, I’ve got the full magical might of the elite magicals who serve the United States, along with more than a few friendly Oricerans fueling this thing. I don’t want to have to give you a good, old-fashioned whupping, because I understand that you think you’re doing the right thing. But so ar
e we.”

  “One magical ship won’t be able to stop this fleet, but if you fire on us, we will defend ourselves. I’ve also read the Shepherd’s reports, and I’m well aware that magic is weaker once you leave the planet. Your tricks might have been useful if we were intending to land ground forces, but our current mission will continue. I doubt your magical toy even has the necessary offensive capabilities to destroy any of our ships.”

  Senator Johnston looked impressed. “Sadly, you’re correct. For all the fancy magical wards and glyphs and whatnot inside this thing, it doesn’t actually have any weapons. I figured it’d at least have a nice lightning beam or something like that.”

  Commander Laralan frowned. “You’re attempting to turn my fleet back with an unarmed vessel? I admire your courage, Senator, even if it’s wasted in this pointless endeavor. We don’t have time for this farce. If you don’t have anything useful to add to our conversation, then we’ll continue on our way to save your planet from the monster now ravaging it.”

  Senator Johnston shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I can’t allow that. You see, there are plenty of different ways to stop strong foes. It’s a big thing in Earth culture for all sorts of different traditions. In my country, a lot of people grow up hearing about David versus Goliath. You know that story, Commander?”

  Commander Laralan shook his head. “I’m a military commander, not a Shepherd or a diplomat. I’m not an expert on Earth culture.”

  “The more you know about a culture, the more you know about how they might fight back. I won’t bother you with the fine details of the story, other than to note that a weaker man defeated a stronger man when the stronger man had every reason to expect he would win.”

  Commander Laralan looked to his side, where a smooth-headed, spindly, pale, silver-eyed female humanoid sat. She was his comms officer.

  This was what the humans didn’t understand. The Alliance fleet didn’t represent a single planet or race, but nine different species who had come together over the centuries to be stronger and better. The Vax were one of the few true threats to their continued cooperation and advancement. The commander couldn’t let human stubbornness allow a major threat to escape, even if he had to earn some enmity.

  “Comms, notify the fleet to prepare to enter orbit and prepare for bombardment,” Commander Laralan barked. “This human is just stalling for time.”

  Senator Johnston laughed and clapped. “Yes, my alien friend, I was in fact stalling for time.”

  Commander Laralan glared at the human. This situation was serious, and Senator Johnston was acting like it was an amusing game to him. The human’s own people were about to die, and he was showing no respect. Disgusting.

  “You’ve accomplished nothing,” Commander Laralan explained. “Again, I’m sorry for what we have to do. It brings me no pleasure, not that it seems to bother you.”

  Senator Johnston clucked his tongue. “You won’t be getting anywhere near Earth. You’re going to stop and fly back to the moon until James Brownstone is done introducing a little liberty and justice for all to that Vax. If you don’t, I’m afraid we’re going to have to destroy your fleet.”

  “I don’t know much about Earth or American culture, Senator, but it’s hard to make threats when you already admitted you don’t have weapons. On my planet, you don’t make threats you can’t back up.”

  “I never said I didn’t have weapons. I just said this vimana doesn’t have any offensive weapons. It’s useful in a different way.” Senator Johnston’s annoying grin returned.

  “And what’s that?”

  Senator Johnston glanced to his side and nodded at someone off-screen. “For one thing, it’s a nice big collective relay for magical power. The great part about it is you don’t even have to have all the magicals on the damned thing to relay their power.”

  Commander Laralan frowned, unsure if he should order the fleet to destroy the vimana or bypass it. If the vimana could act as a bomb, as he suspected, the humans might be channeling magical power into it for a suicide attack.

  “Comms, order the fleet to—”

  Two portals appeared in different corners of the bridge. Before Fleet Commander Laralan could get off a command, wizards and witches in dark fatigues rushed out, their wands up, glowing magical forcefields spread out in front of them.

  The bridge’s security guard pulled out a pulse pistol and aimed at the closest invader. He fired off a blast, a bright crackle of white energy, but it struck the shield and disappeared in a flash. The commander yanked out his own pistol and pointed the weapon at another intruder.

  A single American Marine in an exoskeleton emerged from each of the portals with a railgun in hand. A third Marine appeared with no weapon, holding up a large black metal box with the help of the exoskeleton. He set it down. “This is Eagle Four. The Roman Candle has been delivered, Sky Castle.”

  “Get more security up here!” Commander Laralan ordered. He glared at Senator Johnston. “This was your brilliant plan? Use magic to send a few troops and take the bridge? This mission will continue even if you kill me and the other commanders.”

  Senator Johnston shook his head. “No, you misunderstand. This isn’t about killing you. This is about obliterating your entire fleet. Let me lay it out for you: on each of your four ships, there is now a similar team. The last man who entered is carrying what we call on Earth a suitcase nuke.” He scoffed. “Of course, we need a Marine in an exoskeleton to easily carry the thing. Anyway, I’m guessing that all your fancy technology might help you survive a nuke if we fired it from the outside, but it probably won’t do much if we set it off on the inside.”

  “This is a trick,” Commander Laralan shouted, still pointing his weapon at a nearby stone-faced witch.

  “Do some fancy alien scan if you don’t believe me.” Senator Johnston snorted. “Also, let me introduce another Earth concept to you: a dead man switch. There’s a spell on the devices. If everyone on one of those teams dies, boom. If the vimana gets taken out, boom. We can die together, my alien friend, but no one has to.”

  The commander lowered his weapon, looked at his sensor operator, and nodded.

  The sensor operator swallowed as his hands flew over the virtual controls. He grimaced and returned the nod.

  Commander Laralan’ eyes bulged. “Do you understand what you’re doing, human? Do you have any concept? There are thousands of Alliance personnel on these ships.”

  Senator Johnston’s smile vanished, replaced by a mask of rage. “And you’re threatening to kill thousands of Americans, civilian and military,” he shouted, his face reddening. “Don’t you dare lecture me about killing people unnecessarily when you’re sitting above my planet with warships, ready to raze one of our cities.”

  “No, we’re going to protect your planet. Some sacrifices are necessary for the greater good.”

  Senator Johnston scoffed. “You back the hell up and let Brownstone do his thing, or you’re going to have to make the ultimate sacrifice for your mission.”

  The human and the alien stared at each other, both wearing their anger openly.

  “Your people would die too,” Commander Laralan noted.

  “Yes, they would.” Senator Johnston’s expression softened. “Which is unfortunate, but they’re all volunteers who knew what they signed up for. They’re willing to do what they need to protect their country from your particular foreign threat.”

  The magicals and Marines stood tall, their wands and weapons at the ready. One of the Marines gave a curt nod to Commander Laralan.

  Even if the alien didn’t understand everything about Earth, he knew the look of a warrior ready to die to defend his homeland. Some things were universal.

  “Send an order to the fleet,” Commander Laralan began. “We’ll pull back to the moon and let the humans sacrifice unnecessary lives while they place their trust in a remorseless killer.”

  Senator Johnston’s fake smile returned. “No, we’re placing our faith in a flawed but go
od man. Don’t worry, though. It’s not like we don’t have a few cards left to play.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “Sir.” The pilot of the helicopter spoke through his headset to James. “We’ve got eyes on the target. It is currently near Jefferson and Vermont, about five minutes away. Target has demonstrated anti-air capability and taken out all the drones in the area, but they still have it on stationary local cameras.”

  “Jefferson and Vermont?” James chuckled. He was strapped into a seat in the back of the small utility helicopter. The concrete and steel jungle zoomed past below him. “So the Oricerans were right and the fucker is near USC. I wonder if Shay will be happy if we bust up her rival school.”

  “Sir?”

  “Don’t worry about it,” James replied. “You can’t get too close. He’ll take you out, and this thing is a lot larger than a drone.”

  “We’re going to stay low, sir. I’ll get you in nice and close. Hold on tight.” The helicopter banked and dove, passing between two high-rise buildings.

  James growled. “Fuck that. You make sure you’re out of the line of fire. Just get me a few minutes closer, and I’ll bail from there. I can move pretty fast once I start. The area’s clear, right? Because if I need to let loose, I don’t want to have to worry about random people wandering in.”

  “Far as I know, sir.”

  Engage and kill primary enemy, Whispy demanded.

  Yeah, we’re gonna do that, but I’m not gonna sacrifice this pilot on the way.

  Plumes of smoke rose from all over the city, most having nothing to do with the alien. The Vax might have begun his assault, but the passive damage from millions of people fleeing for their lives had already been done. The helicopter waggled back and forth to avoid buildings and smoke.

  Military vehicles roamed the streets, and the occasional squad of soldiers on foot rushed up a road a hundred feet below the helicopter. A smattering of civilian vehicles screamed down the empty streets. Even rarer, some people stepped out of a building to watch the skies.