Target: Earth (Extinction Wars Book 5)

by Vaughn Heppner

  “Like what?” I asked.

  “Suppose they knew about your stealth ship. I could see that, given what happened when they woke you up. Suppose they’re watching the dust and debris, their predictive computers wired to alert them about anomalies. How long have they been watching?”

  “Oh,” I said, beginning to perceive her point.

  “Weeks, maybe,” Ella said. “Even alert tigers become dull after a time. Yet what just happened? The first shot struck the GEV dead on. Even with radar-lock-on that doesn’t always happen. And I know you’re not going to say they got a lucky hit.”

  “So what are you suggesting?”

  Ella pinched her lower lip. “They must have advanced targeting gear.”

  “Maybe,” I said, unconvinced. “They spotted me before I spotted them. Even with advanced tech that shouldn’t have happened, as I have the best sensors around here.”

  “Their first strike suggests you don’t.”

  “Okay. If you’re right, why aren’t they firing on us now?”

  “I don’t know.”

  I scowled as I studied the main screen. The cruisers surrounded two areas, shuttles slowly moving within the enclosed zones.

  Eleven cruisers were too many to just sit around and wait for the Ambassador. Six would have been too many. There was something going on I didn’t understand.

  “We could slip away,” Ella suggested.

  “Shhh,” I said. “I’m thinking, and we aren’t going to slip away. We need Lokhar ships, remember? We have to reach Acheron sooner rather than later.”

  Still, I thought about Ella’s ideas. A Lokhar vessel had targeted and struck the stealth ship before I’d seen it. My superior alloy hull had foiled the attack, and my quick action together with the probes had allowed me to slip out of sight. No other enemy ship had hit the GEV since then.

  I manipulated my board, pinpointing the ship that had fired and struck mine. It was a heavy cruiser, and it hung back from the others surrounding the selected zones.

  I wanted to board that ship and find out what had allowed it to spot us.

  “Okay,” I said softly.

  I began typing.

  “What are you planning?” Ella asked.

  “To play hardball with the Lokhars,” I said. “They’re in the Tau Ceti System, far too near our homeworld. They mean to exterminate us.”

  “That’s an assumption.”

  “It’s what Purple Tamika tried to do to humanity last time they were in charge. I don’t see why they’ll have changed their hearts this time around.”

  “You could be right, but what are you suggesting?”

  “I thought you knew me better than anyone.”

  Ella studied me and paled as she bit her lower lip. Maybe she did know me after all.

  I continued to type, sending a subtle message to each emitter, reconfiguring the commands. An emitter was small: the size of an old Mac computer. That still gave it plenty of space for special effectuator tech.

  The minutes ticked away as Lokhar shuttles began collecting emitters. One by one, the various shuttles roared back to their cruisers.

  I took careful note of which shuttle went into which cruiser. Finally, the last shuttle landed in a bay, and the warships began maneuvering back toward the dwarf planet.

  The same heavy cruiser as before hung back from the others. That seemed to become more important and more ominous the longer I observed it.

  “Might as well get started,” I grumbled.

  “Start what?” Ella asked. “Why won’t you tell me?”

  I tapped keys.

  The emitters on the various cruisers started secretly probing their hosts electronically. Proximity would make it easier for them to crack the various tiger computers.

  At the same time, I began the same procedure that I’d practiced against the three heavy cruisers that had woken me from long-journey stasis sleep; I sought to gain control of their main weapons systems.

  “You know,” I said, as I worked. “This isn’t really fair. I have the best code hacking AI in the galaxy. My trick is a basic one. Against better-protected computers it wouldn’t work. Out here in the galactic fringe, it’s like running up, plucking an ice cream cone from a two-year old and slurping it in front of the crying sap. You have to have the right mindset to enjoy something sick like that. It’s not my preference, but Earth is outclassed, and I can’t leave any enemies behind to hurt humanity.”

  “What are you talking about?” Ella asked.

  “Get ready. Get set. Go.”

  I began to manipulate my controls. This time, with the emitters in some of the cruisers, it was an even easier takeover than before.

  On two light cruisers, outer bay doors everywhere opened. No interior hatches closed, either. That meant the atmosphere aboard the ships blew out into the vacuum of space. Soon, squirming Lokhars tumbled into the black, dusty void. None of them wore suits. They died almost right away, meaning those two cruisers were empty.

  Four heavy cruisers trained their graviton cannons at each other. Red beams slashed out, cutting into hull armor. I’m certain onboard tigers tried to raise their electromagnetic shields—force fields. They all failed, as I’d shut down key generator stations on each warship.

  Several light cruisers detonated with explosive results, sending hull plating, coils, engine pieces, shredded tiger parts, water vapor and plenty of other debris flying like shrapnel at nearby vessels, with deadly consequences.

  Ella stared in disbelief at the easy mayhem, muttering profanities. Finally, she said, “This is wrong.”

  “I’m the Effectuator,” I said. “This is what I do.”

  The mayhem went on for a time, the heavy cruisers cutting into each other, killing each other’s crews and ship systems.

  The surviving vessels were going to need massive repairs before I could use them on the main mission. The point was I would have Lokhar ships or the skeletons of ones, anyway.

  Only one vessel resisted my computer hacking, the heavy cruiser that had initially beamed the GEV.

  I opened intra-ship channels. “Assault troopers,” I said. “Put on your suits and get your weapons. We’re going into combat in less than five minutes.”

  “Creed,” Ella said, after I’d clicked off the comm. “Fifty troopers to take out a heavy cruiser?”

  “The tigers aren’t going to expect a T-attack. You’re staying on the GEV, though.”

  “Forget about that,” she said, hotly.

  “What I’m planning isn’t like the Ronin 9 T-Suit,” I said. “This is simply a higher version of the T-missiles, although my teleportation is more accurate, as I’m using galactic-core boarding equipment and procedures.”

  “Why should I stay back?”

  “I need someone here in case something bad happens that I haven’t foreseen.”

  “Like what?” Ella asked.

  I snorted. “If I knew, you wouldn’t have to stay, now would you?”

  In lieu of an answer, she stared at me.

  I went to my bio-suit container. After ten years, I was finally going to lead assault troopers into battle again. I could hardly wait. Now, maybe, I could find out what was going on with these Lokhars.

  -34-

  The GEV T-pad was small. I’d used it during missions, sending myself over, sometimes one other person as well. By standing shoulder-to-shoulder, five assault troopers could pack themselves on at a time.

  I went on the first sortie, having the most technical trooper stay behind to run the pad.

  The AI ran the coordinates, which could get tricky with two moving vessels. This wasn’t like the Ronin 9 Suit, as I’d told Ella. The suit had done all the thinking for the teleportation. This was much harder and had to be more precise.

  “Ready?” I said through my helmet comm.

  The tech asked another question. It made me pause. Could he even run this thing while I was gone? I gave him the answer, and he brightened.

  “Got it, Commander,” he said.
“This should be easy.”

  It was already supposed to be easy. As I thought about telling him that, we dematerialized—and appeared at the edge of the heavy cruiser’s main bridge.

  It was large, and the grossest creatures I’d yet seen huddled at various control panels. Those didn’t look like any Lokhar controls I’d ever seen before. I didn’t think the alien creatures were Plutonians, but maybe the books I’d read in the library hadn’t gotten their descriptions right.

  The first alien was—I don’t know how to say it—a giant blob standing, or sitting or crouching at some controls. The thing was big like a mottled red-and pink gelatin piano and sported a host of rubbery tentacles like an octopus. There were a trio of eyestalks that wavered, the eyeballs on the end twisting around to peer at my four troopers and me.

  We had improved pulse rifles, firing what seemed like sizzling blue sparks.

  There were six of the giant blob creatures working the various heavy cruiser controls.

  I suspect the sight of the alien monsters froze my troopers. It had the opposite effect on me. The instant I saw these monsters, I opened fire, realizing this could be an elaborate trap.

  Pulses erupted from my rifle and struck the first blob creature.

  Warbling cries that grew higher in pitch emitted from the thing. Quivering blobs like melted jam sloughed off from its main bulk as sparks hit it. The jam-like substance oozed from the open sores and onto the deck.

  Each of the blob creatures reached down by the floor, picking up what looked like weapons.

  “Grenades,” I shouted. “Use grenades.”

  I dropped my pulse rifle and ripped a grenade from the belt around my second-skinned waist. Clicking a button with my thumb, I heaved the grenade, lobbing it as if trying to shoot a free throw in basketball.

  The grenade sailed over the nearest blob-creature so it ignited on the other side of it. A powerful and very hot blast struck the creature and its control panel.

  The alien blob shrieked and quivered violently, and whole sections melted away from it. A different trooper landed a grenade on it. The explosion caused our visors to turn dead black, while our second skins absorbed the radiation and shock.

  The next few seconds produced horrible carnage. The blob-creatures got off a few shots. The second skins absorbed those, although one skin shuddered, meaning it was hurt.

  More troopers appeared on the bridge.

  “Use grenades, but lob them over the creatures,” I said in as controlled a fashion as I could over my open-channel helmet-comm.

  Then it was over as five grenades sailed at the last of the alien things, causing it to melt and spread across the deck like thick and sluggish slime.

  “What are those, Creed?” Rollo said over a helmet comm.

  “Damned if I know,” I said.

  “Those aren’t Plutonians?”

  “What part of ‘damned if I know’ don’t you understand?” I asked.

  “Roger,” Rollo said. “They’re a bad surprise. What are your orders?”

  Luckily, my old friend recognized my surliness it for what it was. I was surprised.

  I switched comm channels. “Ella,” I said.

  “Here, Creed.”

  “Scan the destroyed cruisers,” I told her. “Tell me if the dead are Lokhars or some other kind of alien?”

  “I’m on it,” she said.

  “Saunders,” I said. “Secure the bridge. Make sure there aren’t secret explosives in here.”

  “Yes, Commander,” Saunders said.

  “Rollo,” I said. “Take half of the troopers and start killing everything you come across in the rest of the ship.”

  “Roger, Creed.”

  Rollo roared orders. Twenty-four troopers split into their squads and lined up. With Rollo at their head, they blasted open a hatch. I half-expected murderous enemy fire to mow them down. Nothing of the kind happened. The corridor outside was empty.

  Okay. It looked like we’d really caught these things by surprise, whatever they were.

  I went to the nearest control, examining it. Except for some modifications, these seemed like ordinary Lokhar ship controls.

  That was comforting. This was an actual Lokhar heavy cruiser, not some alien vessel disguised as one.

  “We’ve found Lokhars,” Rollo radioed me.

  “Marines, ship personnel or techs?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Rollo said. “All three. They’re dead now.”

  Lokhars on the heavy cruiser. That made the presence of the blob creatures even more confusing.

  “Creed,” Ella said on my helmet comm. “The dead out there are Lokhars.”

  “Any other aliens?” I asked.

  “Negative,” she said. “And I checked for that.”

  “Saunders,” I said, pointing at him. “Take two squads and head in a different direction from Rollo. We need to clear the cruiser fast.”

  “Yes, Commander,” Saunders said, hurrying through the destroyed hatch.

  I kept searching the bridge. Maybe the better thing would be to crack the computer and download all the data.

  Suiting thought to action, I took a control device from my belt and began punching in instructions. Aboard the GEV, my AI began hacking the heavy cruiser’s computer. I checked. Something was resisting a quick hack. That meant something greater than regular Lokhar computer equipment had been installed here.

  That didn’t surprise me.

  “Commander,” a trooper shouted.

  I looked up, and the man blew apart, his pieces raining everywhere.

  A heavy chuckle focused my attention. Abaddon stood by the ruined hatch, with a bazooka-like tube resting on his left shoulder. With it, he swiveled and fired again, sending a harsh beam against another assault trooper, blowing that person apart as well.

  “Creed,” Abaddon boomed in a powerful voice, a debilitating voice. “How does it feel knowing you are about to die?”

  -35-

  I couldn’t believe this. “I saw you die,” I told him.

  Abaddon scowled at me.

  He was huge, five times more massive than a man would be. He wore a dark suit and had skin the color of clotted blood. His features were classically handsome and his eyes swirled with power, with evil. He was like some dark Greek god and seemed intelligent and forceful beyond anything I’d known. Just like last time, his appearance called to mind fictional vampire princes or the way I imagined Satan would look.

  Yet, in that moment, I realized something else. I peered into his eyes and did not feel the overwhelming power I’d felt before.

  He aimed the bazooka-like weapon at me.

  “Are you an image?” I asked.

  “You fool, Creed,” he said. “She said that you were cunning and dangerous. But you’re neither of those things.”

  “Who said? Who is she?”

  “Are you really that dense?” he asked in his booming voice.

  The other assault troopers had regained their equilibrium. They fired a massed volley of pulses, which struck Abaddon and did something unexpected: they staggered him, causing him to cry out as golden ichor dripped from his dotted chest.

  He must have fired the weapon as the volley struck him. A sinister gout of energy flashed like lightning from his tube. Fortunately, the pulse-shots had upset his balance. The gout of power flashed over my head and blew apart a section of a bulkhead behind me.

  Abaddon shouted with such volume that I staggered backward. So did other troopers. Several fell down. The rest fired at him again. I picked up my pulse rifle and did likewise.

  The volley of blue-sparking pulses struck him a second time, causing more anguish and more golden ichor to drip from his chest like blood.

  “Again,” I said. “Pour it on.”

  With a blink, Abaddon teleported away.

  This changed everything. “Rollo, Saunders,” I said over the comm, “bring your people back to the bridge. We’re getting out of here.” I waited. “Do you copy that?”

 
There was no answer.

  “Rollo?” I asked.

  “Here, Creed. Keep your pants on. I’m coming back. Is something wrong?”

  “I’ve spotted Abaddon.”

  “What? That’s impossible.”

  “Get back here!” I shouted. “Saunders, do you copy?”

  A comm clicked on. I heard a scream over it like a man hit from a beam fired from a bazooka-like weapon.

  “Follow me!” I shouted. “We have to help Saunders. Rollo, fix on my signal.”

  “How is this possible?” Rollo shouted over the comm. “Can Abaddon travel through time?”

  “No,” I said. And I knew then what had to have happened. Jennifer must have made a clone of Abaddon. That’s why the being had lacked his father’s majestic sense of evil and raw power. He was a stripling compared to the old Abaddon.

  Yet, how had he become full-grown, an adult Abaddon? That was a mystery. What was he doing out here?

  I roared with frustration even as I heard pulse-rifle fire down a corridor.

  “I’ve found him,” Rollo said over the helmet comm. “It’s Abaddon, Creed, and he’s murdering assault troopers.”

  “Hit him hard and fast,” I said. “We can hurt him if we hit him. Use everything. I’m homing in on your signal. He might teleport and come in behind you—”

  “He just did, Creed. Damnit! Hurry. He’s mowing us down like flies.”

  I lowered my head, and I began to sprint. Could he teleport at will, or did it take a certain kind of energy he had to build up first? I had no idea.

  Seconds turned into ten and then a half minute—I heard firing and saw Abaddon teleport behind a clot of assault troopers.

  Without thinking it through, I grabbed a grenade, clicked the button and heaved. It sailed at the monster, who used his bazooka-like weapon to kill two troopers at once.

  He laughed as if enjoying himself.

  I raised my rifle and began firing. A few of the troopers who had followed me did likewise. We hit him with blue pulses in the back.

  Abaddon whirled around just in time to take the full blast of the grenade. It lifted him off his feet and hurled him backward.