Bombardier - The Complete Trilogy

by SD Tanner

  Ark Three was still gone and he contemplated going through the wormhole, but he didn’t know how to find him on the other side. Maybe Ark Three would find the source of the critters or even a way to destroy them. There was no way to know, but the situation had gotten a lot worse since he’d left.

  “I don’t think I can defend two planets.”

  Casey raised her eyebrow in surprise. “Can you even defend one?”

  “I don’t know, but I do know I can’t stop a wall of critters.”

  “So, there’s no way to stop them reaching our planets?”

  “Nope.”

  “Should we get Ark back?”

  “We don’t know where he is.”

  “That’s great. The critters have a new tactic we don’t know how to defeat and our boy Commander has buzzed off on a clueless mission.”

  Her sarcasm wasn’t lost on him, but he shook his head. “He’s right to look for the source, no matter how hard it is to find. It may be our only chance.”

  “Are you saying you think we might lose?”

  He waved his hand around the room. “You only know this world, but I was here before the critters came. We were an advanced civilization with over seven people billion people. By the end of their attack, ninety-eight percent of us were dead. We barely survived and now they’ve gotten smarter.”

  Reaching out her hand, she took his. “It’s not like you to worry about a war.”

  Thinking about their last attack on Earth, he looked down at the table. Almost everyone he’d known had died, leaving him with a new family that he’d also lost thanks to Dunk. “You don’t understand. I should have died during their first attack and I’ve never understood why I didn’t. We weren’t prepared for the critters. Dunk cobbled together the nav tech and Ark used every trick in the book to save what was left. Thanks to them we made it, but only just.”

  “You don’t think we can beat them, do you?”

  “I don’t think they sent their best weapons last time, but they have now. Ark Three was right when he said we couldn’t afford to lose any troops to a civil war.”

  “Think aggressively, Tank. You might believe we’re going to lose, but that doesn’t mean we have to lay down and die.”

  “We can’t defend one planet much less two.”

  “Do you think we need to move everyone to Earth?”

  “If we move out as a large convoy we might have a chance of making it home.”

  “What about the wormhole?”

  “We can only move the Scorpions and Bombardiers that way. We can’t send the navs through it. Do you really want navs piloting rigs without Boms?”

  She shook her head. “No, they’d never make it back.”

  “Then we evacuate Tracha and take everyone home.”

  Sighing, she gave him a disappointed look. “I thought our son would be safe here.”

  “Nowhere is safe anymore.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT:

  Boms Away

  (Granger)

  “Becoming a Bombardier is no longer just an honor. We need more of them just to survive. The critters are coming for us and we have to shore up our defenses. I urge every able man and woman to report to CaliTech. Add your name to the list. Agree to be transformed. Defend our home. Defend our planet. Save your families.”

  Looking away from the camera, the technician gave him the thumbs up. “You’re clear.”

  Leaning back into his chair, he let out a long shuddering breath. When Ark Three asked him to become President of the United Guild he hadn’t know what he’d let himself in for. Now he was a politician, forever trying to persuade people to do the right thing. Ark Three had asked him to transform as many people as he could, but few were willing to give up being human. For the past month, he’d given the same plaintive speech every day, begging people to transform into Bombardiers.

  He supposed he could order them to change, but that would involve rounding people up and pushing them into chambers at gunpoint. That wasn’t anything he was willing to do. Tank had told him how they used to let people vote for their leaders. It wasn’t anything he’d heard of before, but it sounded fair to him. If they survived the impending critter attack then he wanted to try his hand at democracy.

  Joan walked into what had once been Dunk Two’s office holding his son. “How did it go today?”

  Taking Charlie from her, he kissed the top of his head. “The usual.” He glanced across at Parker. “What are the numbers today?”

  “Fifty-two.”

  That meant fifty-two more people had transformed into Bombardiers, giving them a total conversion of fifteen thousand. It wasn’t anywhere near enough. The United Guild had a population of thirty million and he now had equipment to transform up to five hundred people a day.

  “Why don’t they care?”

  Sitting down in the chair opposite his desk, Joan tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. Her once brassy blonde hair was now a soft brown. Dressed in the grey tunic of a government worker she made a classy First Lady. Since their dramatic rescue, he’d acknowledged she was now the mother of his children and had married her. Vela was still playing on his mind, making it impossible to commit to Joan in the way she deserved. In the past, she’d worked as a shaker, so she’d only ever been a mistress to powerful men. It wasn’t the most romantic situation, but she seemed content playing second fiddle to a dead woman. Although he wanted to love her, all he could give was a heartfelt appreciation for her kindness and loyalty.

  “It isn’t that they don’t care and more that they don’t understand. No one has ever seen these critters so we don’t really know what they did.”

  “But we’ve shown them footage.”

  Joan shrugged. “Some people think it’s a hoax, that the footage was faked.”

  “Why would we do that?”

  “Why did the Dunks do anything? You’re following in their footsteps and they weren’t credible.”

  Looking across at Parker, he said, “You did it and you seem fine.”

  “Maybe you should do it too. It would give more weight to your argument.”

  “I could also die and then who would be President?”

  “No one is indispensable, Granger. I don’t see why anyone else will do it if you won’t.”

  Lightly resting his chin on his son’s head, he knew why he hadn’t transformed. He might die and then who would protect his children? His son was still sick and the Trachans couldn’t help him. All the CaliTech medics could suggest was that he transform into a child Bombardier. It was a stretch to believe it would heal his son. No one had ever transformed a child before, so he didn’t know what might happen, but Charlie didn’t have long to live if he didn’t.

  Joan leaned forward at the table, giving him a worried look. “I think you should do it. You go through first and then you can decide about Charlie.”

  “What about you?”

  “I’ll do it too. We’ll become a family of Boms.” When he hesitated, she said firmly, “It may be Charlie’s only chance so you’ve got no choice.”

  “And you’ll follow me.”

  “Always.”

  Hearing the quiet commitment in her tone, he wished he could love her as much as she did him. Tank had sent word they were moving everyone to Earth, which wasn’t good news. Critters were coming and he had to ramp up the transformations. If that meant becoming a First Family of Bombardiers then that’s what he would do.

  “Let’s make it happen.”

  CHAPTER NINE:

  Mirror, Mirror

  (Dunk Three)

  “Dunk?”

  The technician in front of him couldn’t tell, but his heart was pounding heavily in his ears while sweat trickled down his spine. There was no reason for it. An air-conditioner was blasting above his head and the room was quiet. Technicians and engineers were working at consoles or using handheld devices next to the black domed wormhole. Unlike their previous unit, this one almost filled the large hangar. Tank had told him to speed up th
e build of this latest wormhole and he was simply doing as he was asked.

  Touching his arm, the technician asked, “Are you ok?”

  Was he ok? What a stupid question. Both his originator and clone were dead. Dunk Two died by his own hand, and Dunk was killed in his cryogenics chamber during a firefight between the renegades and Navigators. He checked his thinking. There were no renegades anymore. Ark Three had appointed their leader as President of the United Guild without bothering to ask his opinion. It wasn’t right. They were supposed to jointly lead, but as soon as Ark Three had control of the army, he’d pushed him aside like yesterday’s trash.

  “I’m fine and don’t touch me.”

  Hastily withdrawing his hand, the technician took a step back. “We can get it working, but we need to shore up the interior otherwise we can damage the walls just by driving a BattleRig inside.”

  “How long will that take?”

  “Umm, well, it’s sort of new so we’re not really sure.”

  That answer wouldn’t be acceptable to Tank. The man would cross-question him until he was forced to admit he didn’t know. Just thinking about talking to Tank made his heart beat even harder. The lights in the room seemed to sharpen, making him look up in surprise.

  “What’s wrong with the lights?”

  Following his gaze, the technician asked, “What do you mean?”

  “They’ve gotten brighter.”

  “Umm…have they?”

  Frustrated, he spun on his heel. “I want it working within the week.”

  It was a stupid order and he knew it. The engineers weren’t wasting time and it would take however long it took. Leaving the row of consoles next to the wormhole, he walked through the hangar doors, striding across the park. Behind him, a two-person transport followed. He was in a park at least a mile away from the walls around CaliTech, which was why they’d brought him by transport. Deciding the fresh air might help clear his foggy brain, he continued walking until he heard a voice next to him.

  “Not easy being me, is it?”

  “Go away.”

  “I can’t. You killed me so now you’re stuck with me.”

  Turning his head slightly, he caught sight of Dunk Two’s bloodied face. Blood was trickling slowly from the hole in the middle of his forehead, leaving a bright red stain on his pale skin.

  “What do you want?”

  “To warn you. Ark Three will kill you.” In a singsong voice, he warbled, “There can only be one.”

  “Go away.”

  “Make me.”

  Dunk Two wasn’t really walking through the park with him. He was only a figment of his fevered mind. One part of him knew that was true, but another worried it might not be. That was the problem with insanity, one part of you was always a little saner than the rest. His intellect was working as well as it ever did, but his emotions were a mess. Riddled with guilt over killing his clone, he didn’t know how to extinguish the grief. He’d made a choice and now he didn’t know how to live with it.

  “You’re not here. You’re a manifestation of my guilt.”

  Putting his hands behind his back, Dunk Two’s bloodied face took on the sincere look of a therapist. “So, tell me what you’re feeling guilty about?”

  Stopping on the road beyond the park, the transport behind him also came to a halt. Turning, he faced the man no one else could see. “Look, it was your own fault. You were the one that made it a choice between you and my brother.” His face creased and tears threatened to fall. “I love my brother, but you were me so…I had to choose and I didn’t choose me.”

  “In other words, you don’t think you’re worth as much as Ark.”

  “No, no, that’s not it. I…I didn’t want Ark to die.”

  “So, you think you’re worth less than he is?”

  “I suppose…no, no I don’t. I think we each have our strengths, they’re just different.”

  “When are you going to stand up for yourself? Ark is treating you like a fool. Now that you’ve handed over the tech to the Trachans he doesn’t need you at all.”

  “He won’t hurt me.”

  “Maybe not, but he won’t show you any respect either. You’ve merged the capabilities of Tracha and CaliTech for him. What use does he have for you now? He’ll cast you aside. You’ll be nobody in the game.”

  Dunk Two’s words cut through his foggy thoughts like a blade. The one thing he feared most was becoming irrelevant. When Dunk Two had been alive his position had been guaranteed, but now he wasn’t always the smartest kid on the block. The Trachans were clever, using mechanical engineering in ways CaliTech had never explored. What if Ark Three didn’t need him? Having power was more important to him than he’d realized. In killing Dunk Two, he’d probably killed the goose, making him no more special than any other feeble-minded human.

  The driver of the transport climbed out of his vehicle looking at him worriedly. “Who are you talking to?”

  “Myself.”

  “Is everything alright?”

  He shook his head, feeling the sweat trickling down his back again. “No, we don’t like one another.”

  Taking him gently by the elbow, the driver guided him towards the transport. “Why don’t I take you back to the main building? You seem overtired. Perhaps some rest will set you right again.”

  CHAPTER TEN:

  Atlantis

  (Ark Three)

  “Wow.”

  Cardiff’s softly spoken word didn’t do the sight justice. It was more than wow. It was unbelievable. The city emerged from the land like a statue. Windowless structures reached for the sky. Curved and domed at the top, they were a gold so deep they could have been bronzed. All at different heights, they merged at the base, forming a fifty square mile platform supporting the taller buildings. On the sides of buildings were ridges and boxes at seemingly random points. With each being a similar color and style, they must have been built at the same time.

  Dropping lower, they began flying between the tall buildings. The closer view did nothing to explain what he was looking at. The ridges and boxes appeared to be molded into the walls. They looked metallic rather than organic, making him doubt that this was the critter’s home planet. The platform beneath the buildings was equally as uneven, covered in similar ridges and boxes.

  “Is anything alive down there?” Samson asked.

  “I don’t know. I can’t see inside it.”

  “Has anyone sighted an entrance?” Cardiff asked.

  No one had so he flew lower still, tipping the Scorpion on its side to get a better view of the platform supporting the buildings. His visor couldn’t see through whatever it was made of, offering nothing more than he could see with his Bombardier vision.

  “Maybe we should drop a droid,” Samson suggested.

  A BattleDroid could probably punch a hole through the platform and get inside, but given his visor wasn’t working, it meant the droids cameras might not be accessible.

  “I don’t think that’ll work. We’ll probably lose signal once it’s inside.”

  “And maybe we shouldn’t declare war as our first act either,” Cardiff added dourly. “Look how well that worked out last time.”

  Traveling to a new galaxy was certainly giving him a fast and sharp education in good manners. Agreeing with Cardiff, he said, “Let’s fly around the city and look for an entrance.”

  Their mule was still orbiting the planet and the three Scorpions flew no more than ten feet from the ground. The city was sitting on what appeared to be a desert. It wasn’t the only structure on the planet, but this one was at least twenty times the size of the others. There were no seas or obvious waterways anywhere on the surface, but the furthest points north and south of the planet were covered in what looked like thick ice. It meant the planet had water only it was probably underground.

  The platform was two hundred feet high. The entire wall surrounding the enormous city was deeply grooved. He couldn’t see a pattern in the deeply cut ridges until he
was over half a mile away. It was a complex pattern, intricate and delicate from a distance. Perhaps the pattern had a purpose or maybe it was only a vanity. From a distance the buildings stood tall and proud from the engraved base, glowing gold in the fading sunlight. The complexity and size of the city made CaliTech look like a dusty small town.

  “Wow,” Cardiff said again as her ship joined his facing the city.

  Wow indeed, he thought. Where he’d once assumed Tracha and Earth were the most advanced planets, now he felt small and insignificant. Whoever had built this city didn’t do anything by halves.

  “We need to get inside.”

  “Hell yeah, we do. There’s gotta be some cool shit in there,” Mex replied.

  “Or it’s a death trap,” Cardiff added.

  Being windowless there was no way to learn what lie behind its walls unless they went inside. So far, they’d entered the planet’s atmosphere and flown around its cities without any problems. It meant there were no defenses, making him hopeful they just could just walk inside.

  “Did anyone see anything that looked like an entrance?”

  “Maybe we should just knock,” Cardiff suggested.

  “On which bit?” Lace asked.

  What they were doing was dangerous, but his excitement grew. Anything could be inside of the city and curiosity was getting the better of him.

  “Let’s go back to the top of the base. Maybe we can break open one of the boxes.”

  “How will that help?” Cardiff asked.

  “I don’t know, but we have to start somewhere.”

  Once the Scorpions were parked on a flat space between the buildings, he slid through the hatch to the bronze colored surface. According to his sensors, it was over two hundred degrees with low levels of oxygen. If he were still human the planet would kill him, but he wasn’t. Flicking up his faceplate, he sniffed at the air. It had a metallic smell so strong, it left a coppery taste in his mouth. The heat was burning, tightening the exoskeleton covering his face.