“We did. It was heavy.”
“Almost crippling damage,” Venturi corrected. “We voyaged close enough to take the video you see up there. Then the aliens attacked in unbelievable swarms. The craft darted with amazing speed, taking G-annihilating turns no Lokhar could sustain. Ships three times the size of one our fighters beamed a graviton ray, slicing through our shields and ripping hull armor. Indomitable barely fought free of the first wave. Then explosions occurred unexpectedly within our ship, the aftereffects of graviton beams. The outer engines took hard hits and the power cells drained one after another. Luckily, we had sufficient energy reserves to open a rip, escaping from hyperspace back into our own universe. The attempt to reach the planet cost me more than half my crew. That meant millions were dead…millions.”
If the admiral wanted me to feel sorry for him, I didn’t. I was glad these aliens had torn the Lokhars a new one. Strike one against the Earth killers.
“Look how his eyes shine with hatred against us,” Venturi told the doctor. “These humans are thorough savages, made for war. I wonder at the oracle’s wisdom. We should destroy them and be done with it.”
My right hand strayed to my Bowie. If he was going to order us dead, I’d take him with me.
“I would love to hear the end of the tale, Lord Prince,” Sant said.
Venturi didn’t correct the doctor this time. The tiger prince looked wearily at the holoimage spheroid. “If you would have known what your folly would unleash, I wonder if you would have been so quick to follow Jelk orders.”
Was he talking to me? I didn’t have much choice at the time. Besides, I still didn’t see what the hubbub was about, bub. So a few aliens had graviton rays—big deal, why should I care?
“Did Shah Claath know what would happen to the artifact?” Venturi asked no one in particular. “I cannot believe he did. No, he must have believed he could capture the Altair Object. Then again, maybe his sexual drive to split into two overrode all precautions in him. Maybe he couldn’t have stopped himself if he’d wanted. I do not know.”
The prince-admiral clicked the baton once again. One of the glowing areas near the planet opened like a flower. Within it swirled a black void. Out of the void drifted vessels shaped like giant snowflakes. From the snowflakes rained particles, drifting down onto the portal planet.
“You are witnessing the aliens, Kargs,” Venturi said in a soft voice. “Before you belabor me with your chatter, I will explain the Kargs to you. My knowledge comes from the last transmission with the centurion. Their adept had found amazing databanks over ten thousand years old. The rest of our knowledge comes from the oracle. Have you heard of it before this?”
“No,” I said.
“The oracle is the supreme Lokhar marvel of all,” Venturi said, proudly. “It is a product of the greatest adepts of the ages.”
“A gift from the Creator,” Doctor Sant said.
“Perhaps that is so,” Venturi said. “Its centerpiece also belonged to the First Ones. That is clear.”
“A marvel of marvels,” Sant whispered.
Several of the honor guards made what I took to be religious gestures, much as a Catholic would have done making the sign of the cross.
“The Kargs are a devouring species even more rapacious than the Jelk,” Venturi told me. “They inhabit a much smaller universe than ours, with fewer planets per star. Those planets they have inhabited. When that became too little space, they demolished the planets and used the matter to create Dyson spheres around the various suns. They annihilated all other life forms but their own. They are xenophobic to an intense degree. It seems the First Ones visited the small universe eons ago, barely escaping with their lives. The Kargs know about multiple universes and it has driven them into a frothing rage to cross over and devour us. Given enough time—if the portal planet remains operative—they will come with billions upon billions of starships to conqueror our galaxy and then our universe. Clearly, the Jade League would never survive such mass and firepower. Maybe the Jelk would perish as well. Maybe the Jelk will escape and journey to a safer universe. I do not know. What I do know is that we must destroy the portal to the Karg universe and that means returning to the planet in hyperspace.”
I stared at the fuzzy holoimage. “So…”
“Speak,” Venturi said. “This time, I will allow you to ask me your questions. The time has finally come.”
“Just to be clear,” I said, “I’m thinking that you’re suggesting the Forerunner artifact powers the portal planet.”
“Ah…” Venturi said in a mocking manner. “That was logically deduced, savage. It also happens to be correct—such the centurion informed me. The Forerunner artifact is the key to opening the portals to other universes. The rest of the spheroid is the engine. The oracle has decreed that we must remove the Forerunner artifact from the center of the constructed world. It is the one piece of irreplaceable equipment, the one thing the Kargs cannot duplicate.”
“So…how big is the world exactly?” I asked.
“Slighter larger than your Earth,” Venturi said, “and with a bit more mass.”
“And the Forerunner artifact is somewhere in the center of that?”
“Not somewhere in the center,” Venturi said, “but in the exact center.”
“Journey to the center of the metallic planet,” I muttered. “Okay. I’m not sure what you’re expecting from me, but the answer seems easy enough. Take all your dreadnoughts, whatever other war-craft you can into hyperspace, and return there. Defeat the Karg fleet and annihilate the planet. That should close the portal and end of story.”
“How much firepower would it take to destroy your Earth?” Venturi asked.
“You’ve already destroyed it,” I said.
“The nuclear warheads were less than pinpricks to the planet,” Venturi said. “The bio-terminator was meaningless.”
“Not to billions of humans!” I shouted.
The guards aimed their rifles at me and seemed eager to fire.
“Put those down,” Venturi snapped.
The rifles smoothly returned to their sides, and the tiger guards stared straight ahead.
“You are failing to understand me,” Venturi said. “You humans lived on the surface of the Earth. How many nuclear devices would it take to split the planet open and destroy the core?”
“Oh,” I said. “I don’t know.”
“Notice the holoimage,” Venturi said. “Those craft coming through the rip in time and space are giant Karg warships. The particles falling from them are titanic landers. It is likely that millions of Karg soldiers are already garrisoning the spheroid.”
“Wait a minute,” I said. “I think I’m finally getting this. You lost millions of legionaries when the Kargs blasted your dreadnought. Now you need replacements. You mean for us to do your dirty work, don’t you?”
Admiral Venturi growled, with his facial fur bristling. “You have a high opinion of your soldiery worth. We are the Lokhars. We are the guardians of the holy objects. We will right this wrong you have started with the Altair system attack.”
“Why did your oracle tell you to come to me?” I asked. “If you can take care of this, why are you here talking to me instead of getting ready to return to hyperspace.”
“Have a care, human,” Venturi warned.
“I don’t think so,” I said. “Your oracle says you need us. Can you image the gall? You obliterated ninety-nine percent of humanity. Now you want the last one percent to save your ass. That’s rich.”
“Vain primitive,” Venturi said. “Your attack into the Altair system started this. Don’t you have any appreciation for what you’ve done?”
“Not a whit,” I said. “We were doing well enough on Earth on our own. Then you Lokhars showed up and nuked us.”
“We did it in order to save you from the ignobility of Jelk slavery,” Venturi said.
“Is that the party line?” I asked. “It doesn’t impress me. Why didn’t you bring some stars
hips and dreadnoughts and help us defend our planet from the Jelk?”
“You were not part of the Jade League.”
“That’s it?” I asked. “That’s your excuse? So instead you murdered my father and—”
“Please,” Sant said. “Accusations won’t get us anywhere now. The Kargs are as dangerous to you, Commander Creed, as they are to us.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Is that what you think? My planet smolders below as a radioactive wasteland you created. The last humans are hightailing it in crappy junk freighters. We’re almost kaput as it is. Now you’re crying because you might be in the same boat as us. Phht! I don’t care what happens to you.”
“If we die,” Venturi said, “you die.”
“You don’t listen very well, Prince. We’re already dead.”
“The freighters still carry humans,” Venturi said, softly. “They carry millions of your kind. You are not yet extinct, although you could be in short order.”
I stared at him. I got his point: no help from us, no more freighters for humanity. “Let’s get down to it then,” I said. “What are you willing to offer me in order for us to do what exactly for you?”
“I am offering you the opportunity to save your universe,” Venturi said.
I shook my head. “You’re going to have to give me something tangible.”
“I am a prince of Orange Tamika. Our color is not ascendant.”
“Maybe you’d better explain that,” I said.
“Purple Tamika rules,” Venturi said, curtly. “We are presently outcasts, awaiting our chance for glory.”
“The colors are factions?” I asked.
“He speaks so crudely,” Venturi told Sant.
“He is a primitive,” Sant replied.
“Yes, true enough.”
“Are you finished slapping yourselves on the back?” I asked. “If you can’t offer us anything concrete because you lack the power, maybe you should take me to Purple Tamika and I’ll talk to them.”
Venturi stiffened and his slit pupils widened in what I assumed was outrage.
“My prince…” Sant said.
“No,” Venturi whispered, “no. I have taken my last insult from this primitive.”
“Remember the oracle, my prince,” Sant said. “We must bargain with them despite their vulgarisms.”
Prince Venturi remained motionless for several seconds. Finally, he said, “His words are incredibly demeaning. I desire to rip him apart and put his head on a spike.”
“Yeah, and I’m the savage,” I said.
Venturi roared louder than I’d ever be able to yell. It hurt my eardrums and I felt my body tighten. Was that an ancient atavistic dread on my part? He exposed his fangs and I could look down into the blackness of his throat. His bearing transformed with startling swiftness into something feral. With catlike speed, he rushed me and swung his baton at my head.
I’d already shaken off my dread, and I reacted like a trooper. Using the neuro-fibers in my muscles, I dodged the blow and grabbed the offending arm. He was big and heavy, and I felt the coordination in him. Just the same, using a combat move, I took the admiral down onto the deck plates. He grunted painfully. I drew my Bowie knife, deciding to slash his throat. He might keep his heart in a different place than a human would.
“Creed,” N7 shouted, “don’t do it!”
The battle madness departed me as swiftly as it had come. I dropped the knife. It clattered on the deck. I released the admiral. Looking up, I saw the guards aiming their rifles at me.
“High Lord,” Sant said, rushing to the fallen admiral.
“No,” Venturi said, brushing aside the doctor’s hands and standing on his own. He looked down at me. “Impressive,” he said. “I’d heard about your battle speed. It is not regular human reflexes, is it?”
I shook my head.
“Stand,” Venturi said.
I did so, wondering how he could become so calm so fast.
He bent his head, growling to himself. Finally, he regarded me, and the shine no longer radiated quite so powerfully from his eyes. “You are a warrior race, an ancient project, I believe.”
What did that mean?
“I know about the neuro-fibers,” Venturi said. “No Lokhar would have allowed such sacrilege to his body. Nor would we don your filthy bio-suits, living tissues wrapping over our body like a cocoon. Our honor is too great.”
I bent down and retrieved my Bowie. No one objected, so I sheathed it. Maybe I should have cut his throat after all. I was sick of his boasting.
“You are right in a few particulars,” Venturi told me. “We lost many shipboard legionaries in our brief contact with the Kargs. Those legionaries were elite soldiers, among our best. But the problem goes deeper than that. Lokhars find it difficult enough to operate in hyperspace. It would be even worse for our individual legionaries.”
“Why don’t you just say it?” I asked. “You want us to fight for you. See, it’s not so hard.”
Venturi raised a heavy paw. “Let me finish, I implore you. We do not have time to quarrel. You hate me and I loathe you. That is clear enough. Sometimes, however, enemies join forces to defeat a worse evil.”
“You can talk,” I said, “and I can listen. Agreeing is another matter.”
“Of course,” Venturi said. He turned away, and he studied his baton. Soon, he pointed it at the ceiling. The fuzzy holoimage faded. In its place appeared a sharp metallic cutaway of a different spheroid. He hefted the baton before regarding me.
“This is a diagram,” he said. “We do not know what the portal planet contains. The centurion suggested it had many failsafes and guardians. Likely, it also now possesses millions of Karg soldiers. I will take Indomitable to our great space dock for speeded repairs. Meanwhile, our leadership will summon the other two dreadnoughts. Once ready, the flotilla will return to hyperspace, with Indomitable leading the way. The plan is simple but desperate. We don’t know how many Karg vessels will have reached the rip into our hyperspace. Whatever the number, the three dreadnoughts will fight their way to the planet. Then we will launch legionaries in a vast space assault.”
Venturi clicked a button. A shimmering shield appeared, protecting, it would seem, the cutaway planet.
“The assault ships will have to travel slowly enough to slide through the defensive screen. If they have too high a velocity, the shield will stop them. Our ships will deposit ten million Lokhar legionaries onto the surface. Their task will be to fight downward toward the center of the construct.”
“Ten million?” I asked. “Is that what you said?”
“That is the extent of our three dreadnoughts’ carrying capacity, along with the assault ships and fighter protection they will need. The Kargs will no doubt attempt to stop us. It may already be too late, but surely the oracle would have said as much if that was so.”
“Ten million,” I said.
“I doubt ten million legionaries will be enough,” Venturi said. “In fact, by its words, the oracle indicates it won’t be. This will not be a classic assault, as perhaps you’re envisioning. We already know that ten million is far too few for such an attack. We would need one hundred million to launch a full scale attack and win our way down into the portal planet’s center.”
“So what kind of attack are we talking about then?” I asked.
“This will be a commando raid.”
I laughed. “You’re joking, right?”
Venturi’s eyes glowed. “I have told you once already, I do not kid or joke.”
“Okay, okay, a commando raid with ten million legionaries. I doubt you’ve ever made a regular attack with so many soldiers.”
“You are correct. We have not.”
“But you want to call it a commando raid, huh?”
“The ten million legionaries will not be making the raid,” Venturi said. “The oracle intimates that they would not be skilled or hardy enough to reach the Forerunner artifact.”
“For that,” I said, “you n
eed us, right?”
“Yes,” Venturi said, softly. Unconsciously, it seemed to me, he stroked the teal-colored medal pinned on his uniform. It glittered darkly after his touch. “For that, we need one hundred thousand assault troopers with neuro-fibers and symbiotic suits.”
I stared at the bastard, and things began to click into place.
“That’s why you want our captured Jelk battlejumper,” I said. “It has the neuro-fibers and surgery centers. And it has the genetically engineered bio-suits.”
“Yes,” Venturi said.
“Do the symbiotic suits work better in hyperspace than powered combat armor?”
“That is an intelligent question,” Venturi said. “And the answer is yes.”
“How about that,” I muttered. “There’s something I don’t understand then. Why did you unleash the androids against my ship? Why start out trying to kill us if you need us?”
“Naga Gobo did that on his own volition,” Venturi said. “He did not do so at my orders. He did it as a Starkien, a double-dealing pirate.”
I wondered if I could believe that. Maybe it didn’t matter anymore—if what the prince told me was true.
“One hundred thousand Earthers,” I said. “Supposing I agreed to this madness, it would take time to get that many people ready. At present, only one hundred and fifty of us are trained as troopers.”
“I will aid you, of course, “Venturi said. “Even so, you would have two, perhaps three weeks.”
I laughed. “That’s insane.”
“No, that is desperation. If we wait any longer, it will be too late. The Kargs have unimaginable numbers. We must destroy the portal planet before they move those numbers into position. I would think the opening has also caught them by surprise.”
“Once we do all that, how do we escape from the portal planet?”
Venturi shook his head. “This is a one-way mission. There will not be any escape for any of us. The Kargs will surely realize what we’re attempting to do. They will pour everything they have into stopping us. It will be a nightmare. But with the Great Maker’s blessing, we just might be able to succeed.”
Extinction Wars: 02 - Planet Strike Page 13
