“You’re ready to depart, Dr. Donovan?”
“As ready as we’ll ever be. Does my fleet meet with your approval, Administrator?”
“Of course,” Saladin said. “And we both know I couldn’t stop you anyway. Take care of my people, Marcus.”
“I’ll bring them back to you, sir.”
“Good luck and God speed.”
The administrator ducked his head and the hologram vanished. An instant later, the walls of the bridge went into crystal mode, revealing the endless sea of stars and a particularly bird-like cruiser doing barrel roles in space.
“Should I inform Phoenix we’re ready to get under way?” Mason asked.
“No,” Marcus said with a grin. “Faulkland’s a big boy. He’ll figure it out.”
He told Legacy it was time, and she did the rest. The starscape lurched out of position as the ship came about, then she launched toward Earth, accompanied by the feeling of falling.
Sarah Park checked her instruments and reported, “Reading zero obstructions between here and our destination. Hollow-drive at ninety percent output. Linear gravitational accelerators running at maximum efficiency. Current speed is .108 C, Earth relative. ETA in forty-three minutes.”
“Good,” Marcus said, but he didn’t mean it. Forty-three minutes was too long. A minute would be too long, but Legacy was still running on a single hollow-drive, which limited her to less than a fifth of her maximum speed and prevented the use of her instantaneous traversal system altogether. That also meant they were confined to a single star-system until they could somehow crack the hollow-drive’s secrets.
With only one drive, the ship was always riding on the razor’s edge of failure. Legacy was a mind-bogglingly powerful ship, but she was crippled compared to her former glory. And worse, overdrawing could destroy the one remaining drive, and Legacy would simply die.
Without access to new hollow-drives, she also couldn’t construct sentient vessels like herself. The fleet was instead composed of hybrid vessels, which bent Eireki technology to human designs. They were human ships with alien aftermarket parts.
Rao had made some headway in his study of hollow-drive technology, but it was slow going. He theorized that the device used a gravitational lens to distort the fabric of space, warping probability and producing a fountain of exotic particles at its center. It basically generated a near-infinite supply of energy out of thin air. Or maybe it sucked power out of another dimension, or out of magical pixy farts for all he knew.
That power came at the price of durability. The slightest crack in the hollow-drive’s casing would cause it to self-destruct and collapse in on itself, rendering it permanently useless. There was no repairing it or salvaging its remains. There was no way to take it apart and study its insides. A hollow-drive was either whole and functioning, or destroyed beyond all recognition.
They were designed that way to prevent the Nefrem from replicating the technology, but it had drawbacks the designers hadn’t foreseen.
The forty-three minute trip passed in tense silence, and then the bright blue Earth appeared and filled the bridge crew’s view. The Phoenix had already arrived ahead of them.
Legacy briefly flashed a memory through Marcus’ head of the Earth—Garden, as she still called it—eons ago when she first arrived. The planet’s beauty hadn’t dimmed at all with age, and it was a precious, shining gem among a cold and distant universe.
The silence was filled with prayers. The crew were in the presence of something divine, something that still had the power to take their breath away and inspire their imaginations. In a few moments, they were going to stain it with blood.
Marcus floated higher into the air, took a deep breath and spoke. As he did, his voice echoed through every inch of Legacy, as well as the many smaller ships contained within her. “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome home.”
The glowing Earth filled his eyes. “We stand on a precipice; victory is finally within our grasp, yet the possibility of failure still haunts us. Let this be a moment of quiet reflection before the storm. We look into our hearts for the strength to steel our resolve, and make our will unassailable. Our fury unstoppable. In just a few minutes, we will descend through the heavens and bring fire down upon the enemy. We will crush him where he stands and strike a blow for freedom, and through this conflict forge a new destiny from our blood, sweat and tears. Here above the clouds, I can finally see one thing clearly, and you should see it too. We are the future, a new humanity, and the time has come for us to take back our world. So I ask you, are you ready?”
The rally cry of fifteen-hundred eager soldiers echoed back, and Marcus smiled.
“Mason, transmit on all known frequencies.”
“Ready, sir.”
“Attention alien invaders. This is Marcus Donovan, commander of the Eireki starship Legacy. Make peace with your gods. End transmission.”
“Channel closed, sir.”
The rapid assault carriers emerged from the hangar bay and descended toward the planet with Faulkland’s Phoenix trailing behind.
Legacy spun, took aim and spat out the five Hoplite troop transports, which streaked out and became shooting stars as they touched the upper atmosphere.
The dice were cast. There was nothing left but to watch, wait and pray.
***
Hoplite Alpha tore through the stratosphere at several times the speed of sound. The hexagonal pod glowed white-hot, but the chamber inside was comfortable and quiet. A hundred soldiers were packed inside, shoulder to shoulder in rows facing outward, each encased in MASPEC Mk-2 armor. The suits were the color of dried blood, except for the clear half-domes of their helmets.
The Mk-2 was a more elegant and refined design, which stripped away the rough edges and mechanical look of the original, and replaced them with a more biological, rounded appearance. The new model incorporated a host of Eireki technologies that improved on human technology in every conceivable way, making the armor smaller, more agile and nearly three times as strong.
Amira Saladin had literally outdone herself. As her drop pod rapidly approached the ground, she hoped it was enough.
The Hoplite’s gravitic accelerator came to life at the last possible moment, slowing the pod as it met the ground, and giving the soldiers little more than a soft jostle. The vessel’s walls rotated outward and its canopy lifted, transforming it into an instant fort. Guns mounted atop it opened fire, their loud roar filling the air.
The walls finished reconfiguring and revealed the world outside in the dim light of early morning. The ground was scorched and covered in still smoking cinders, and a few hundred meters beyond lay the jagged line of alien outposts.
Her docking clamp released with a clank, and Sal prepared herself.
“You ready?” Kazuo asked beside her.
She grabbed her long Nikola rifle from its storage hook overhead, and said, “Let’s do this.”
The rapid assault carriers above fired fighter jets out like bullets, while armored soldiers streamed out of the Hoplite and into the smoking field. Once outside, the MASPEC troopers split into squads and advanced in leaps and bounds, assisted by small thrusters on armor’s back and legs. Their movements had a strange grace, and combined with their choreographed advances, the rush became a ballet.
Sal and Kazuo led the pack, bracing themselves at each landing before firing their rifles into the alien horde. The weapons ejected heavy metal rounds at nearly five kilometers a second, and hit their targets like tank shells. Soft targets were torn into arcing ribbons and mist, while hard targets buckled and shattered under the impact.
It only took a few moments for the aliens to react to the new threat, and their shining metallic shields slid around to protect them, but by then, the MASPEC troopers were among them and engaged in hand-to-hand.
In her armor, Sal felt unstoppable. She’d become a war machine, an angry titan, faster than the small furry aliens, better armored than the large grey ones, and stronger than anything else in t
he field. The aliens mobbed her but she plodded on with grim determination, feeling bones crunch beneath her armored fists, while Kazuo battled nearby with considerably more zeal.
Meter by meter, her squad thrashed through the opposition, littering the ground with shredded corpses. It wasn’t long before the enemy building was cleared, and they took the roof, gaining an open line of fire on their entrenched enemy.
Operations were carried out with surgical precision all along the perimeter, and the battle line was broken. Squads of MASPEC troopers stormed the forts, while their protean jets clashed with alien craft overhead. The Phoenix and its coterie of assault carriers hung in the air just above the Ark, raining down beams of burning energy on whatever remained.
With a thought, a tube on Sal’s shoulder launched a bright green flare into the air, signaling an all clear at her position. Then she and her squad hunkered down behind the battlements and opened fire.
***
Jack and his team sat atop a low ridge more than two kilometers out beyond the line. Human and Oikeyan alike watched the battle from relative safety, filled with disappointment, sadness and hopelessness. The one thing Jack was sure of was that he’d failed. The thought turned his stomach.
The arrival of strange warships and armored soldiers left them all baffled.
“You’re even better than I thought,” Kai said. “I really believed you didn’t have a fleet.” He trailed off with his weird laugh.
“We didn’t,” Jack said. “I don’t know who they are. Are those Nefrem forces?”
“No. I mean, there’s a resemblance but it’s superficial. Whoever they are, they’re good, though. Very, very good.”
“So that’s it,” Charlie said. “The cavalry arrives and we win. No offense to your alien buddies, but I’m not exactly heartbroken. We should have a beer and call it a day.”
Kai shook his head. “You think the legion will be routed? You expect them to just pack up and leave? They haven’t even begun to fight yet.”
He pointed out into the distance, where the adolescent city Yuon Kwon was only a thin, hazy silhouette. “This will escalate, I promise you that. Armored Alarhya will come out of the city, and airborne reinforcements are already on their way. Expect carpet bombing if things don’t look up soon.”
“So who’s going to win?” Nikitin asked.
“I honestly can’t say,” Kai said solemnly, “but the one thing I can guarantee is more needless death. Deadlocks are never good for either side. In a war of attrition, there are only losers.”
“So, how do you break a deadlock?” Jack asked of no one in particular.
“Give one side an advantage,” Charlie said.
“Or present both sides with a bigger threat,” Kai added.
Then, right at that moment, Jack was struck by an idea. It was, without doubt, the worst idea he’d ever had. It was perhaps the most terrible idea anyone had ever had in the grand and illustrious history of bad ideas.
That was how he knew it was going to work.
Chapter 50:
Right In Two
Kai sprinted out across the open steppe, the immense strength in his legs driving him nearly as fast the fighter jets above. Each stride covered tens of meters, and he hadn’t even worked up a sweat yet.
He would soon enough.
As he came to the human side of the battle lines, he accelerated, and in several large leaps, moved from one embankment to the next, bypassing the soldiers completely and continuing into the scarred no-man’s land beyond. Strange weapons exploded all around, blasting soil hundreds of meters into the air, but Kai was too fast. Too agile. He danced through the field, analyzing thousands of barking weapons, and calculated the safest path through. He was built for this task.
A continuous hail of hot metal surrounded him, but he weaved through it. He was in his element, and no creature on the battlefield could match him. He wasn’t there to fight, though. This was just an obstacle course on the way to his objective. A warm-up.
He engaged his camouflage as he approached the Oikeyan side and became a ghost. The effect was imperfect, but combined with his fantastic speed and the chaos of battle, it made him virtually undetectable.
Hidden in broad daylight, he launched himself high into the air and used the fighting Yuon Kwon as terrain, leaping from the armored shell of one to the next. This part of his mission was so easy it was practically a game.
Then he came to the charred remains of the human settlement, which had burnt brightly throughout the night but was now reduced to smoking cinders. He sprinted at top speed, ignoring the ruins under foot and the human drop pods spitting fire over his head. He cut a path straight for the Ark.
As Kai came to the final stretch, he dug down deep, found the last reserve of extra power lurking inside him, and charged. He charged with everything he had. His feet ground deep into the ruined soil and the wind howled as he blasted through the thick air. He coiled his fist back and exploded through the titanium-steel door.
The metal groaned and buckled inward. Massive hinges on either side sheared under the force.
He was inside. His mission was half-complete.
***
Jack and Felix raced through the clotted skies, while a desperate air battle went on all around them. Cuttlefish and the strange transforming fighters chased each other in every direction, burping fire at one another as they careened about and fought for position.
Charlie and Lisa were understandably uncomfortable in the vehicle, while Nikitin was—beyond all sense or reason—having the time of his life. Behind them, Ferash and Dojer held their weapons at ready in case of unwanted followers. It was anyone’s guess how effective their weapons would be, but Dojer’s cannon was better than nothing at all.
The young city Yuon Kwon loomed in the distance, reminding Jack of the flying saucers in every old, cheesy horror movie. The last thing he ever expected was for aliens to show up in actual saucers, yet there they were.
A cuttlefish burst into flames above them and plummeted out of the sky, leaving a trail of burning debris in Felix’s path. It reminded Jack this wasn’t a movie; it was real life, and he was in the middle of a very real battle.
“I know I’ve put you through a lot, but if you could go just a little faster, I’d really appreciate it,” he whispered to his mount.
Felix picked up speed, with a jitter that showed he was straining against his limits.
“Thank you.”
They approached the flying city, a smaller version of the twenty-kilometer monstrosities which had taken up residence at the Earth’s equator. This young one was just over a kilometer in diameter, and was an even more vibrant blue-indigo than its older kin, but was otherwise identical. His interior was only opened a crack, through which damaged cuttlefish returned and fresh ones came out.
The surface of the massive alien creature bristled with cannon banks spraying blue fire, while patches of liquid metal slipped across it to deflect incoming attacks. These were the defensive membranes Kai had mentioned, and their speed was startling.
Pilots in bony Yuon Kwon battle armor came flying out of the ship as Felix approached, and the stream of them never stopped. The six-armed creatures headed off to join the battle, and Jack could only imagine what they must be like in combat.
Luckily, they paid Jack and his team no mind. No one did. To everyone’s surprise, Felix was ignored by both forces equally, and they managed to slip inside without incident.
Even more surprising was the interior of the city Yuon Kwon, which was much different than Jack expected. The stalagmite-like buildings were nowhere to be found, replaced by row upon row of short, squat hangars. That wasn’t the most drastic change, though. The generator towers were opened up like flowers in full bloom, revealing the large and furiously burning stars within, connected to one another by arcing bolts of golden lightning. Each tower was surrounded at the base by an arena-like structure, filled with the silver robed Sey Chen monks, all focused on the miniature stars
above them.
With the easy part of the journey out of the way, Jack steered Felix toward the thick nerve bundle at the heart of the Yuon Kwon, and prayed for the best.
***
Kai navigated the maze of tunnels, and even at his unnatural pace, progress was tedious. His less than stealthy entrance triggered alarms that howled throughout the Ark. Emergency bulkheads closed, creating all new dead-ends and pointless cul-de-sacs. Every corner presented another set of guards with itchy trigger-fingers he had to avoid. They spent more time firing at their own shadows than at Kai, who blew past like a fierce wind.
He missed the days when he was allowed to kill indiscriminately. It made his job a lot easier.
Level by level, he penetrated deeper into the mound, running on walls as often as the floor. Each corridor was warmer than the last, and more packed with heavy tubes and pipes. That meant he was getting close to his target. So did the slow throbbing of his radiation detector.
***
Two burning blue rounds streaked past Felix, and the tiny flyer juked hard to the side. “We’ve got company, Jack!”
“Really,” he said with as much sarcasm as he could pack into the word, “I hadn’t noticed, Nik. Maybe I should try to evade them.”
Jack and Felix zoomed down toward the hangars and began weaving through the streets where the larger cuttlefish was too large to follow. It stayed above and took pot shots every few seconds.
Nikitin and Ferash opened fire with their rifles, but the rounds plinked off the alien ship’s armor without effect.
“-Are you planning to shoot any time soon, Dojer?-” Jack asked in Mirresh.
The rhino’s deep voice sounded nervous. “-Not a good idea.-”
“Dojer!”
The Rozom put his autocannon away and brought out his artillery weapon instead, aimed at the cuttlefish and fired. It thumped three times, and the tiny flyer rocked under the vicious recoil, nearly flipping over in the process.
Jack and Felix struggled to stay upright. “Whoa!”
Roiling balls of smoke erupted along the cuttlefish’s exterior, only to be swept away by the onrushing wind a moment later. The ship’s hull was unmarked.
Stars Rain Down (Biotech Legacy) Page 30
