Is this the same bay I entered when I made my escape the first time?
A clang and a shudder told him they’d landed.
“Ready?” he asked.
Jana and Yang nodded. Both of them had Vomag pistols strapped to their sides. Each wore a helmet. They would protect him with their lives. It made him feel strange. Without him, everything would falter. If he lived, Fenris humanity could come out equal and possibly even on top.
Maybe I am taking a big risk coming here like this. I have to start the Bo Taw rebellion, though. We need the psi-adepts to make this work.
The agreement between Dagon Dar and him included the immediate release of the Earth captives.
Cyrus exited the ship, walking down a ladder. On the deck, he found himself face-to-face with three tall Bo Taw and a squad of Vomags behind them.
The oldest Bo Taw stepped forward. He wore a purple robe and a scarlet band around his head. He bowed in a formal manner with his hands hidden in the folds of his long sleeves.
“Where are the Kresh?” Cyrus asked, glancing around. The place looked deserted.
“They tasked me with the meeting,” the Bo Taw said. “We will—” The older man squinted, and the two other Bo Taw began mentally testing Cyrus with harsh mind probes.
The former gang member from Milan grinned, blocking what he now considered their feeble attempts. The old Cyrus Gant could never have done this. Swiftly, Cyrus practiced psi-judo, turning the assault around. He saw the love conditioning in their minds, and he dialed the emotion to a new setting. He didn’t make them hate the Kresh, but love the idea of human freedom more.
He wasn’t sure he could have done this so quickly if they hadn’t tried their little assault. That was interesting to know. Would he have to provoke attacks in the future?
The lead Bo Taw blinked, and he massaged his cranium. The man studied Cyrus as if seeing him for the first time.
“You . . .” the Bo Taw said, his tongue seemingly becoming too twisted to continue talking.
“Be careful before you speak,” Cyrus cautioned. “Think it through first.”
The three Bo Taw exchanged glances with each other. The oldest one faced Cyrus, asking, “What did you do to us?”
“Gave you a new perspective on things. What do you think?”
“I . . . I would like a berth on one of your dreadnoughts,” the oldest Bo Taw said.
The others murmured their agreement.
“You have a task here first,” Cyrus told him. Mentally, he showed the Bo Taw how to influence his friends in a similar manner as he’d been affected.
“I understand,” the Bo Taw said. He smiled, showing perfect teeth. “Thank you, Cyrus Gant. I think for the first time in my existence I feel as if I’m doing something noble.”
“Good. Now how about taking me to my friends?” he said.
“A splendid idea, my lord,” the Bo Taw said. He clapped his hands. The Vomags stood straighter, saluting the man from Earth. “Come,” the Bo Taw said, “follow me.”
The door to the first cell opened. Argon sat on a pallet. The giant had lost a lot of weight. He looked gaunt, and fear made him flinch.
What have they done to you to make a Highborn do that? Cyrus wondered.
Instead of waiting for a greeting, Cyrus used telepathy. He saw exactly what had happened. In mind-numbing horror, he saw each proceeding torment. The callousness of Argon’s treatment infuriated Cyrus. The Kresh thought they were moral, huh? It seemed inconceivable to Cyrus now. Although he didn’t want to, he made a small adjustment to Argon’s memories. He psi-pushed the Chief Monitor back to the man he used to be.
For a moment, Argon looked confused. Cyrus could see it in the Highborn’s eyes. Then the Chief Monitor straightened. “Cyrus,” he said, in a deep voice. “Why are you here?”
“I’ve come to take you away, Chief Monitor.”
“Away to where?” asked Argon.
“First, to my dreadnought,” Cyrus said. “In time, you will captain the Teleship back to Earth.”
Argon frowned. He glanced at the Bo Taw behind Cyrus. Then he scowled. “You just adjusted me, didn’t you?”
“I’ve grown in abilities,” Cyrus said, instead of answering.
Argon truly looked at him then. The Chief Monitor nodded. “Yes. I see. Thank you, Special. I-I believe they broke me.”
“What was broken has been mended. You’re back. I’m taking everyone who survived with me.”
“How can this be possible?” Argon asked.
“Do you want to remain in your cell? Or do you want to come with me to my ship?”
Argon rose to his towering height. Anger began to smolder on his face. He flexed his big hands. “The things they did to me—” He took several steps toward the nearest Bo Taw. There was murder in the big man’s eyes.
“Don’t do it, Chief Monitor,” Cyrus said. “They’ve learned some new things as well. They’re on our side now.”
The words made the Chief Monitor pause. He seemed to consider what Cyrus had said. “Yes,” Argon muttered in a thick voice. “I want to get back to Earth where I belong.”
Cyrus could have told him there wasn’t any place safe in this universe. But he didn’t think Argon needed to know that just yet. It was time to get Argon, Mikhail, and the rest of Discovery’s crew out of there and to an all-human zone.
After all this time, they were going to go home to Earth.
EPILOGUE
With the defeat of the first cyborg invasion, Dagon Dar strengthened his position as FIRST among the Kresh. With the announcement of human equality, the Glegan Kresh repudiated him.
No plea or warning of what was coming up out of Glegan convinced the third planet Kresh of their impending doom.
“We must aid them,” Dagon Dar said. “We cannot afford to lose their ships or their persons.”
“Aid them how?” asked Cyrus.
“Use the intersystem shift ability of your dreadnoughts. Lob missiles at the approaching Chirr.”
“I don’t have enough crewmembers yet to even run one of my vessels.”
“Let the Kresh board them then. We’ll know what to do soon enough.”
“Your word is golden,” Cyrus said, “but these are human vessels now. Give me free rein of High Station 3, and I will be able to recruit more crewmembers quickly.”
“Is your word golden?” Dagon Dar asked. “Our Bo Taw are deserting us there. What did you do to them?”
“They’re human,” Cyrus said. “They’re on our side now. I told you what I was going to do.”
“Yes, but—”
“You’re betting your Race’s existence on my word,” Cyrus said. “I realize that. What you must also understand is that we’re going to need each other if we’re going to defeat the Chirr. That as much as anything else means I’ll keep my word. Despite your belief that humans are inherently chaotic, I am rational.”
“Defeating the Chirr, yes; that is why we need the Glegan Kresh. Can’t you understand my logic?”
“Oh, I understand it all right,” Cyrus said. “Before I can help you with the Glegan Kresh, I need more people. That should be as clear as a bell to you.”
Dagon Dar swished his tail. Finally, he said, “I will consult with my consort on your proposal.”
Later, Red Bronze agreed to the idea of a mass influx of humans to the dreadnoughts. That included the Resisters on High Station 3 and the humans on Jassac and elsewhere. Unfortunately, the Chirr reached Glegan before the first vessel became fully operational with its human crew.
The battle started right away. The Glegan Kresh had seeded the system with hidden thermonuclear warheads. They took a dreadful toll of the advancing Heenhiss Chirr. Then the Glegan bugs launched a hidden fleet from under the surface.
The Kresh had a plan for that, too, and it came close to working p
erfectly. Chirr subterranean lasers made the difference. From their superior orbital height, the Kresh dropped asteroids on the third planet. The raining rocks took out half the Chirr vessels before they could leave their docking bays. The underground beams broke up enough asteroids to let the rest of the Chirr spacecraft reach orbital height.
Afterward, one of the bloodiest space battles in the Fenris System took place. The Glegan Kresh performed excellently, but it wasn’t enough against the Chirr masses.
The bugs destroyed everything in their path. A hammer-ship and five Battle Fangs made it out of the Glegan gravitational system, but that was all. The remaining Chirr smashed all the habitats until only their craft remained around the planet.
“Your people did better than I thought they would,” Cyrus said later.
“I mourn for our losses,” Dagon Dar said. “We are ruined.”
“No, we’re not. It’s time we decided on our allied plan to destroy the Chirr.”
“You must gather your personnel for your dreadnoughts,” Dagon Dar said.
The Chirr fleet remained around Glegan for six weeks more. During that time, the Heenhiss planetary-bound Chirr began surface assaults against the polar regions.
Cyrus decided the dreadnoughts could use some veteran Vomags as human marines. Several cyborg AI-brain shift mechanisms still worked. With Argon and the space marines manning the dreadnought, Cyrus used a shift opening to slip ten heavy landers from High Station 3 into orbit around Heenhiss.
The vehicles screamed down through the atmosphere, the thrusters shaking the rocky ground where they landed. Using telepathy, Cyrus brought Timor Malik and five hundred survivors of the equatorial army to the landers. Everyone boarded. The heavy vehicles promptly roared for space, and soon another shift opening appeared in Heenhiss orbit.
The ten shuttlecraft raced through as Chirr vessels lifted from the other side of the planet. The opening closed behind the last lander, and they found themselves near High Station 3. The new Fenris space navy received a draft of five hundred marines, fresh from the horrors of Heenhiss.
The true test came two months later. The Glegan Chirr split their space fleet, sending one quarter of the swarm back to Heenhiss.
Dagon Dar and Cyrus waited until the vessels were three-quarters of the way there and beginning to decelerate.
Then Cyrus used his best dreadnought, creating shift portals. Instead of a few missiles, the entire Kresh fleet jumped into position before the bugs. A swift battle of annihilation began, the Chirr caught by surprise.
It was the most lopsided victory to date. It also began the great exodus from Heenhiss of Kresh and Vomags alike. The Chirr were too strong for them to think of remaining on the planet. Eventually, the main Chirr fleet might return. The majority of the Heenhiss survivors moved to Jassac. From there they separated, each species leaving for its own territory.
A year later, Teleship Discovery left the Fenris System, heading back to Earth, with Argon as captain. Five former Bo Taw would power the newly constructed discontinuity window AI.
Every dreadnought had its allotment of human crew. No Bo Taw served under the Kresh. The two species had separated, each to its own half of Jassac.
Fear kept them together; fear of the deadly Chirr and the even more dangerous Eich Empire that waited out there in the center of the galaxy.
Cyrus Gant had become the guarantor of the Fenris humans, with new habitats under construction in the outer asteroid belt. The Kresh and humanity rebuilt at a furious pace, readying for another cyborg invasion. In the meantime, they kept watch of the Chirr, readying an invasion fleet of their own to wrest Heenhiss back from the bugs. Afterward, they would seal the Chirr on Glegan for the next several hundred years.
The first interspecies alliance had taken form. As interesting, after a solid year of cooperation, they remained at peace with each other. Considering all the bad blood between them, that was a fantastic achievement.
Cyrus wondered what Premier Lang of the solar system would make of all this. The guarantor of the Fenris System awaited the next Teleship, knowing that this was only the beginning of a new era for humanity and their Kresh allies.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thank you, David VanDyke, for the first round of editing. Many thanks to Jennifer Smith-Gaynor for her excellent editing advice. She always made me think. I’d also like to thank my copy editor, Jon Ford, for his hard work. As always, I’m very thankful to the 47North Team, a great group of people who are a pleasure to work with. I want to give a special thanks to my beautiful wife, Cyndi Heppner, and to Madison and Mackenzie, two super, young ladies. Lastly, but most importantly, thank you, Lord God, for letting me publish my work.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photo © 2013 Cyndi Heppner
Vaughn Heppner is the author of many science fiction and fantasy novels, including the Invasion America series and the Doom Star series. He is inspired by venerable sci-fi writers such as Jack Vance and Roger Zelazny, as well as by The Nights of the Long Knives by Hans Hellmut Kirst. The original Spartacus movie and its themes of slave rebellion color much of his work. Among his contemporaries, Heppner counts B. V. Larson’s military science fiction novels as the most akin to the Fenris series. Canadian born, Heppner now lives in Central California. Visit his website at www.vaughnheppner.com.
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