Star Viking (Extinction Wars Book 3)

by Vaughn Heppner

  “He leads Crimson Tamika?” I asked.

  The tiger’s eyes narrowed. “We have allied with Purple Tamika. That is true. Yet I wonder about you. Where did a simple trader come to learn about the Lokhars in such detail?”

  On my chair, I cringed before him. “Please, my lord, all know about the mighty Lokhars. You are a valorous race, defending the artifacts with your blood.”

  He nodded, but still seemed suspicious. I had to distract him with something else. What could I say, though? Then I thought I had it.

  “I see your medals, lord. You must have an amazing war record.”

  His eyes narrowed even more tightly than before. “I understand your tactic. Flattery will not help you, trader. We are guarding the league from all possible contact with the Earthlings. Prepare your ship for boarding. My soldiers will search your cargo and check your logs, insuring you have not secretly aided the targeted savages.”

  “Please, Great One. Have mercy on me, a trader. I fear your soldiers will pilfer my rich goods. Perhaps if you came yourself, lord…”

  I felt N7 watching me closely.

  “I would gladly honor your visit by gifting you with precious gems from my rarest collection,” I said.

  From Ras Claw, Ella had learned about the Lokhars’ love of jewelry. I was testing that lust.

  Senior Razor Dagon, the Lord Inspector of Crimson Tamika, regarded me closely. A crafty smile slid across his face.

  “Yes, I think I shall make this a personal inspection,” the tiger said. “You will of course, as a matter of protocol, send your highest-ranking officers aboard my flagship.”

  “But of course, Great One. We will honor you in whatever way you deem necessary.”

  “We will make the exchange in three hours,” the Lokhar said.

  I smiled in the oiliest manner I could summon. Then the screen went blank as he broke contact.

  “I do not understand, Commander,” N7 asked. “Once the Crimson Lord Inspector boards our ship, he will realize you’re human. Then he will kill all of us.”

  “Tell Dmitri and Rollo they’re going over to the tiger flagship,” I said.

  “What are you thinking, Creed?” Ella asked me.

  I glanced back at N7 before studying Ella. “We’re going to have to work fast,” I said. “You brought the Jelk mind probe, right?”

  “What?” Ella said. “I don’t know what you have in mind. I would need hours to prep him and study his psychology before I could begin to tamper with his mind. That is what you’re thinking, isn’t it?”

  “That’s right,” I said. “We’ll subdue him once he’s on board and put him under the machine. You’ll have ten minutes to condition him.”

  “Didn’t you just hear me?” Ella asked.

  “I did. That’s why I’m telling you that you have ten minutes.”

  “That will be long enough to scramble his brains, nothing more,” she said.

  “If you don’t succeed,” I said, “Dmitri and Rollo will die, along with all of us under Lokhar lasers. That will mean the Lokhars win the crusade against Earth.”

  “This is a rash plan,” Ella said.

  I spread my hands. “Under the circumstances, I don’t see what else I can do. Senior Razor Dagon strikes me as an arrogant pretender. Our only hope is to get him to come aboard ship where we can condition him. At least we knew they love gems, so we were able to entice him with a bribe.”

  “I am surprised he is so foolish,” N7 said.

  “I’m not,” Ella said. “He has all the warships. He knows he can order our destruction with a snap of his fingers. Such a situation often makes humans overconfident. Creed’s guess was to believe it would do the same thing for Lokhars.”

  “We don’t have him yet,” I said. “So let’s get ready.”

  ***

  Three hours later, I shook Rollo and Dmitri’s hands before watching them enter a hatch. They would board a three-man flyer and head to the Lokhar flagship. I wondered if I’d ever see either of them again.

  I hadn’t expected anything like this. The Emperor had moved quicker than I’d thought he would. It appeared that he had ordered a blockade around our region of space. It seemed like a wide and rather porous net. I wondered on the Emperor’s reasoning. I knew too little regarding the many factors an Emperor would have to take into account for his crusade. Maybe the wide blockade had more to do with halting the efforts of Orange Tamika than catching humans. Maybe catching humans was simply a pretext for the flotilla being here. That made more sense.

  Whatever the real reason for the warships, it showed me that at least one other Tamika had joined the crusade. It showed, too, the Emperor had kept good on his threat. He meant to wipe us out.

  Standing in the reception area, I exhaled. Zoe and Ella waited with me.

  “I hope you know what you’re doing, Creed,” Ella said.

  “Don’t I always?” I asked.

  Ella snorted softly.

  On a hand monitor, I noticed the arrival of the Lord Inspector Senior Razor Dagon. He came in a rakish shuttle with several star fighters flying guard. The procession reminded me of a parade more than a military exercise.

  Soon, outer locks clanged and pressure gages hissed.

  “Remember,” I said. “We’re traders. That means we cringe and act awed toward them.”

  “I just want to kill,” Zoe said.

  “Finesse,” I said. “It’s all about finesse.”

  “I like that coming from you,” Ella said.

  “Good.”

  A louder hiss told me it was time. I straightened, pasting a fake smile onto my face. I wore a red silk shirt, fluffy green pants, a green cape and boots. It made me feel like a Christmas ornament.

  The hatch opened and three big Lokhar guards stepped forth. They wore body armor but lacked exo-skeleton strength. Good. They underestimated us. Each guard cradled a big machine gun, looking as if he wanted to unload his weapon into our bodies.

  Another impressive Lokhar stepped up. He wore gaudy red garments and swept the floor with a broom. The last Lokhar appeared, Senior Razor Dagon. His fur had good color, but he stooped. That meant he was older than I’d realized. I suspected the Lord Inspector used fur coloring.

  Stepping forward, I went to one knee, bowing my head.

  “You are the trader?” Senior Razor Dagon asked.

  “I am, lord.”

  “Rise,” he said. “Show me to your storeroom and these precious gems you spoke so highly about. I am eager to select my gift.”

  I stood, keeping my head bowed before him. “Would you like to see the rest of the vessel first, lord?”

  “No,” he said, sounding irritated. “I told you my desire. Now attend to it.”

  “Yes, great lord. I obey.” Turning, I swirled the cape and pointed at Ella. “Hurry wench, open the hatch for the mighty Lokhar of Crimson Tamika.”

  Struggling to keep from rolling her eyes, Ella tugged the hatch open. I strode through. Next, the three guards followed, the other with his swishing broom and finally Senior Razor Dagon.

  As he moved through the corridor, the chief Lokhar sniffed aloud. “I detect a taint of oil in the air,” he said. “On the outside, this looked like a new vessel. Within…I am displeased at the state of the recycling unit.”

  “I will beat the chief engineer, lord. Of this, I assure you.”

  “Never mind about that,” he said. “Let’s hurry to your storeroom.”

  I took them on a long walk through the corridors. As I’d guessed, the chief Lokhar wasn’t in as good a condition as the guards. Soon, he panted. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him open his snout to complain about the length of our trek.

  “We’re almost there, lord,” I said.

  Senior Razor Dagon nodded brusquely.

  “There, wench,” I said, pointing at the selected hatch. “Hurry, open it for his magnificence.”

  Ella opened the hatch.

  “Out of the way,” I said, pushing her onto the deck plat
es. “This way, lord. This is my inner sanctum of gems.”

  I jumped through. The three Lokhar guards followed, each of them ducking his head.

  I spun around, having slipped a sap from my pants pocket and into my right hand. As the first guard straightened, I swung. The sap connected against his forehead. He dropped hard onto the deck. The second guard I caught under the chin. His fangs clicked together, his head lifting. On the next swing, the sap caught him on the left temple, and he, too, dropped onto the deck plates. The last guard got off a single shot. The bullet smashed against a bulkhead. I swung. He blocked with his rifle, catching my forearm.

  With a yell—my forearm bone throbbed—I ducked. He swung with the butt of his machine gun. The hard wood swished over me. Charging him, I hit his midsection with my shoulder and hammered his back against a wall. He grunted, dropped his weapon and struck my head with the bottom of his fists. That staggered me so I stumbled away from him. The guard growled, picking up his fallen machine gun. I hurled the sap. It hit his face and gave me a moment’s grace. I whipped out a force blade and thrust. The powered knife hissed as it cut through armor and buried into his chest. Blood jetted from the wound and he gaged on the gore bubbling in his mouth. I barely moved aside fast enough to escape most of the blood and his falling body that thudded onto the deck.

  I found myself staring into the eyes of Senior Razor Dagon. Ella had taken down the sweeper.

  “You’re mad,” the tiger said in a hoarse voice. “All of you are as good as dead.”

  First flicking off the force blade, I jumped through the hatch and wrestled the old Lokhar around.

  “Unhand me,” he demanded.

  He’d have been better off fighting instead of jabbering. In seconds, I had his arms pinned behind him. Ella snapped plastic ties onto his wrists. Forcing his head down, I pushed him into the room with his deceased guards.

  “You are dead,” he said. “You’re all as good as dead.”

  “Give me a hand,” I told Zoe.

  She rushed in. Together, we manhandled the protesting Lokhar into a chair, strapping him into place, immobilizing his head with steel bands.

  “This will never work,” Ella told me. She slid a lead curtain out of the way, revealing the refrigerator-sized Jelk machine.

  “What is that?” Senior Razor Dagon asked. He was stretched out belly-first like a pinned butterfly in a boy’s collection, with his chin resting in a groove.

  With a grunt, Ella rolled the machine closer. Then she opened a slot and took out the lampshade-shaped focusing device. Fiddling with it, she aligned it with the tiger’s forehead.

  “You aren’t from Alpha Centauri, are you?” Dagon asked.

  “Don’t answer him,” Ella said. “It will only make this more difficult.”

  She clicked on the device. The main machine hummed with an obscene sound. A light appeared between the tiger’s eyes. She adjusted the dot of light.

  “He’s right about one thing,” Ella said. “This is madness.”

  I backed away, pulling Zoe with me. Once outside the room, I shut the hatch.

  “You killed the Lokhar guards,” Zoe whispered.

  “I didn’t want to.”

  “It can’t work now, can it?” she asked. “Dagon will have to go back without his guards. How can he explain that to his officers so we’re not blasted out of space?”

  I looked into Zoe’s eyes. “Give it a little while and we’ll find out.”

  ***

  Fifteen minutes later, the hatch opened. Through the opening, a dazed-looking Senior Razor Dagon peered quizzically at me.

  “Hello,” he said.

  “Don’t speak to him,” Ella said from out of sight.

  Senior Razor Dagon cocked his tiger head. He appeared more confused than before.

  “Get out of his way,” Ella said.

  I backed against a bulkhead. Zoe did likewise.

  “Aren’t you going to speak to me?” Senior Razor Dagon asked.

  I stared at the floor.

  A moment later, the tiger stepped through the hatch. “I must return to my ship,” he said to no one in particular.

  Ella appeared behind him. She looked haggard but determined. She didn’t say anything more.

  Slowly at first, the Crimson Tamika Lokhar headed back the way he’d come. When he turned the wrong way, Ella called out to him.

  The Lokhar stopped. In slow motion, he faced her.

  “Commander Creed,” Ella said. “Show the great lord the way.”

  “A moment,” the tiger said.

  Glancing at Ella, I saw her nod. Therefore, I faced the Lokhar.

  “You are the notorious animal, Commander Creed?” he asked.

  “Don’t answer that,” Ella warned.

  I expected Senior Razor Dagon to glance at her. He did not. Instead, the most puzzled expression of all appeared on his furry face. Finally, he motioned for me to walk ahead of him.

  I did, all the way to the exit.

  He donned his spacesuit. Without a word good-bye, he entered the airlock and closed the hatch.

  I whirled around to Ella. “What did you tell him?” I asked.

  “A form of the truth is always the easiest to sell,” she said. “I told him this ship carries the notorious Commander Creed. We’re on a secret mission in regards to the crusade.”

  “That’s a big risk?”

  “Do you think so?” Ella asked.

  I didn’t like the look in her eyes. She seemed frazzled. “What about his dead guards?” I asked. “How is he going to explain them and the sweeper?”

  “They’re to remain here and ensure our success,” Ella said.

  “Do you think the Jelk conditioning will hold once he’s back on his flagship?”

  “I give that a fifty percent chance of success,” she told me.

  I thought about that. “Well, it’s better than what we had when he first hailed us. All right, you two did well. Let’s get back to the bridge.”

  ***

  Like many of these affairs, the ending proved anticlimactic. Ten minutes after returning to his flagship, Senior Razor Dagon sent Rollo and Dmitri back. Twenty minutes after his return, the Lokhar hailed our ship. He spoke to Ella.

  “Do you require an escort to the next jump gate?” he asked.

  “No,” Ella said. “You must treat us as a regular trader. That will arouse the least suspicions regarding us.”

  “I understand,” he said. “And yet…it feels as if I’m forgetting something vital.”

  “Don’t you remember?” Ella asked. “The Emperor himself will reward you once this is over.”

  “Ah…” he said. “Good. This is good. Good-bye, and may the Great Maker bless your enterprise.”

  Ella nodded. The screen went blank.

  I sucked in air several times before I managed to say, “Head for the next jump gate at full acceleration. I want to get the hell out of this star system as fast as we can.”

  -24-

  It would have been so much easier if Holgotha had simply transferred us to the planet Horus. We could have completed the mission already and returned home to drink beer.

  Instead, the days merged into weeks. The farther we left the border region behind, the easier the receptions became toward us. Once we left Ilk territory far behind, it became like moving through the old United States. A few border guards asked a question at some crossings. At others, a sign told us we entered a new state.

  Finally, the weeks merged into a month and a half. Shipboard life had become monotonous. We drilled to remain sharp, but I believe we lost some of our skills.

  This wasn’t like the attack upon the portal planet. We’d had space on the Lokhar dreadnought. The Peru proved cramped, and I began to wonder if I should have brought half the number of troopers along.

  The sheer size of the Jade League began to dawn on me. It was one thing to study a star chart. It was another to actually make jump after jump, heading ever deeper into league territory.

>   The extent of the league and the number of different races caused me to wonder why the aliens cared so much about Earth. How had an emperor come to worry what the Jelk did with us?

  In ancient times, had our ancestors been active in space? Was there some terrible, lingering memory that propelled the aliens against us?

  I’ve always thought it strange how human history just appeared almost full blown onto the scene. The greatest culprit in that regard had been Ancient Egypt. Even the early pharaohs had pyramids, while the culture had math, skull-drilling medicine, all kinds of technology including batteries. It seemed as if everything had simply leapt from Horus’ brow full grown instead of painfully climbing through stages.

  I happened to remember that some of earliest Ur had roomier and richer houses than later Ur. That’s what archeologists had dug up. It meant the first ones on the scene had been wealthier than the latter. Just like in Ancient Egypt, Sumer also seemed to have simply begun with a high culture as if the people were colonists from a different time and place.

  Could the story of Noah and the Flood, Gilgamesh and the Deluge have cosmic implications? Maybe old Noah had been a spacefarer kicked out of the void. Maybe the aliens had conveniently forgotten to tell us the true history of humanity. Then it would make sense why human history just seemed to pop up with advanced technology. Why did recorded history only date back to around 4000 B.C.?

  I’m not talking about prehistoric times, but written, historical events. If modern Homo Sapiens had been around for one hundred thousand years as some of my teachers had taught, you’d expect to find ancient civilizations fifty thousand years old, thirty thousand. No. It never worked out like that. Around 4,000 B.C. everything seemed to appear as if with the snap of someone’s fingers. Was that when the other aliens had driven humanity from the stars?

  I had no idea. But the size of the Jade League daunted me. Why would an emperor start a crusade to wipe us out? Why not just bring several hundred warships and get the job over with? Why make such a production out of it?

  Even after eight years in space, I knew far too little concerning the aliens, the Forerunners and their artifacts and our place in all of this.

  ***