Cults of the Dragon Gods

by Brian McGoldrick

  I chuckle and toss her six slave collars. "You take care of it. Make sure you keep them under control."

  "Yes, Master!" Angelique's grin is like a morning sun. She hops to her feet and runs to the other end of the room.

  "I cannot believe she is the same girl I first saw in the colony town." With an appreciative look, Valcrit's eyes follow Angelique. Other than an almost reverent appreciation for Elan, this is the first time I have seen any real interest for a girl from him. The only two women he seems to have any interest in are mine. Will this become a problem?

  Deciding to put off any worries about Valcrit till a later date, I draw more of the Light Od and channel it into the wounds on my chest. Over the course of less than twenty minutes, I watch my wound heal from the inside out. The bones visibly regrowing takes the longest, and then, flesh and skin cover over the naked bone at a much more rapid pace.

  I join Dacbold at the door to this compartment. He is occupied with examining the door, and after glancing at my chest, a frown is the extent of his reaction.

  I extend my awareness into the metal, as well. The walls and door are made from a steel alloy that is nothing uncommon for Earth. The problem is the thickness of the thickness of the door. Visually it was only about a foot thick, but when I try to probe it with my awareness, I cannot feel the far side of the door or wall. If I did not know better, I would say that it was at least a dozen feet thick.

  "This hatch opens outward, and I can't find the hinges." Dacbold's words are spoken in a soft voice. He seems to be trying to not let the others hear, but what is the point in that?

  I frown. "I can't detect the other side, either. My guess would be that closing the hatch changed the dimensional laws that are warping this compartment. This is a bit annoying."

  Valcrit, are you in any condition to dig into the minds of Tie Quan's sluts? My question is voiced in the raid channel to keep the said sluts from hearing me.

  No, Master. If they are not immediately thinking about something, I lack the strength to dig it out, but I can pick up their surface thoughts. As long as you can get them to think about what you want to know, I will get it.

  While I was healing myself and examining the door, Angelique collared and tied up all six of the women. The way they are tied is a complex wrapping on their upper bodies that resulted in a hexagonal pattern and and a loop front and back to link them together in a coffle. I do not know why Angelique had so much rope with her or tied them that way, but the with ropes binding them like that, they are more attractive than simply being naked.

  "Do any of you understand English?"

  All six of them look around in apparent confusion, but the emotional state of one of them is different. She understood me, but is pretending not to. Like the rest, she is Asian. Her skin has the pallor of never being exposed to sunlight, and she has small tits with her loose hair just barely reaching her nipples. Not looking like she could be much over twenty years old, she is in the prime of her youthful beauty.

  I stare at the one that understood me. "It's obvious you understand me. If you don't want me to hurt you, don't play games."

  "I understand you guilao." The girl is acting defiant, but she is filled with fear and disgust. Her accent is terrible.

  Guilao is an insult, Master

  I figured as much.

  Angelique slaps the girl hard enough to knock her to the deck and leave her with a cheek that is already starting to swell. "If you insult Master, I'll be the one hurt you. I know more about how hurt and humiliate a woman than Master does."

  They all have blemishes from vaccinations, Master. They're nothing but Earth whores. It will be easy to break them.

  Just don't knock her out. It will slow us down.

  Angelique grins at me. Yes, Master!

  I squat next to girl sprawled on the floor. Tied the way she is, she cannot get back to her feet. I smile and she shivers.

  "I'm curious, how did Tie Quan close the hatch after I disabled him?"

  The girl looks away from me. "I don't know."

  There is switch on the arm of the throne. Tie Quan used telekinesis to flip it. I am sorry, Master. I was completely unable to detect his use of Power.

  Feeling annoyed, I snort. When he wanted to conceal it, I couldn't detect him using Power, either. He was working toward the Fourth Circle of Coalescence and he was a Trinary.

  Rising to my feet, I move to the throne and inspect it. There are thirty five recessed controls in the arms.

  Do you know which one?

  Following Valcrit's directions, I flip one of the switches and the hatch opens again.

  With the hatch open, I probe it with my awareness, and its thickness is only about a foot. The walls still seem to be too thick for me to find the far side.

  Dacbold sighs. "I can't see what they did, forget how they did it."

  "Yeah, neither can I. No matter how much knowledge I acquire, I think there will always be new things to learn."

  "Probably."

  Elan, can you hear me?

  Yes, what happened? The relief is audible in Elan's voice.

  I just killed someone that called himself a Dragon Blood.

  I have heard of them. They are supposed to be humans or Alfar with Dragons ancestors within a few generation. Since the Dragon blood is supposed to breed out very quickly, they are said to be extremely rare.

  Since he's dead, it doesn't matter. I'm going to see if we can take control of this sub and make it surface.

  Returning to the level where we entered the submarine, I get the location of the control room out of the girl that speaks English. The side passage running most of the length of the vessel takes us right to it.

  I have no idea what the control room for a submarine is supposed to look like, but this room makes me think of something I would expect on a space ship. Besides the obvious captain's throne, there thirteen other stations. There are keyboards, switches, and LED gauges and displays at each station that mean absolutely nothing to me. All the keys and controls on the stations are labeled in Chinese, and all the computer displays are showing Chinese characters, as well. Everything appears to be completely automated, and there is no sign that anything but the throne has ever been used.

  If I want to do anything with this submarine, I will need to infect it with the Delphi virus. Taking out my Delphi control tablet, I try to connect with the subs network through a wireless data port on the captain's throne, but there is no response.

  With my pattern sight, I am able to see the Delphi virus attempting to infect the system, but there is an energy screen that is blocking it. It is a ward that appears to have been created with the braided Power of a Coalescent and is barely keeping Delphi out. Every time Delphi butts against it, there is a small electrical discharge. If I could disrupt the ward without destroying the components that it protects, would that be enough to let Delphi infect the system?

  I draw out a very slender thread of Trinity and use it to probe the ward with my awareness. As my Power touches the ward, the electric shock that I receive would not hurt even your normal Earth sheople, and I do not back off. As I carefully examine it for a minute or, the flow of electricity remains constant. There is no change or increase in the voltage or amperage. This is not the Amalgamate version of Lightning affinity Power. The ward is separating the Elemental Power of Lightning from the Trinity, and releasing it. It is an interesting approach that seems to be specifically designed to block the Trinity based virus that is Delphi.

  Even though the ward is constructed from all three parts of the Trinity, it is not a defensive ward meant to block attacks, but rather it is a simple barrier against external penetration. If I want to disrupt it without damage to the electronics, I will need to use a very limited amount of Power. The pattern behind the ward is constantly shifting, much the same as the Delphi virus. Trinity should be able to rip apart the ward like tissue paper, but I need to block any backlash from reaching the electronics.

  Angelique, how skilled are
you at grounding out Power?

  I'm better than anyone else in the Damned, but the Mistress was probably farther ahead of me than I am ahead of the Damned.

  There is a ward blocking the Delphi virus from entering the computer systems on this sub. I need you to dissipate the unleashed power when I break it. If the backlash damages or destroys the electronics, it will be a waste of time to break the ward.

  Angelique straightens her back and puff out her chest, but she has still not shaken off her nervousness and insecurity. I won't let you down, Master.

  Let me know when you're ready.

  Angelique weaves the patterns for six spells and places them around the throne. I'm ready, Master.

  I condensed my Trinity into a needle of Power and slowly force it through the ward. Even though the intensity of the electricity does not increase, its area of effect spreads rapidly, but Angelique's spells dissipate it harmlessly.

  My needle of Trinity makes contact the surface of the captain's throne, and I expand it so that it becomes hollow in the center. With a clear channel through the ward, the Delphi virus makes contact with the electronics inside the throne and begins to replicate within the hardware. The ward appears to treat the entirety of the submarine as a single object, and Delphi begins to spread unchecked throughout the subs electronics.

  As Delphi spreads and alters the electronic hardware in the submarine, more and more data becomes accessible with my tablet. Even though the submarine's computer systems use the Chinese language for their interfaces, everything shows up in English on my tablet.

  The submarine's computers contain the complete outline for their nuclear attack. In total, there are eight of these submarines, and each one will launch six missiles. Each of the missiles will target a different state and has ten warheads. Considering the differences in the sizes of the states, some will be turned into nothing but scorched-earth, and others will only suffer damage to their major cities. Washington DC is not being directly targeted, but with the strikes in Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia, it will be destroyed as part of the collateral damage.

  The missiles and the reentry vehicles for the warheads have their own wards that will be activated upon launch. In addition to defending them against Delphi, these are combat wards with the strength to stop all modern Earth antimissile weaponry. The Power crystals can maintain their wards for a period of several hours to several days, depending on how much fire they come under. Once they are launched, there is no way to change their target or order a self-destruct.

  After the nuclear strikes, an invasion by over a hundred thousand troops will be launched. The initial wave will be more fifteen thousand paratroopers dropping on the US West Coast, with a second and third wave coming twelve and twenty-four hours later. The remaining troops will be landed by sea in a week.

  Except for reducing the flight time, there is no reason for the submarines to be this close to the US coastline. The nuclear missiles have over a twelve thousand mile range. The thoroughness of the Celestial Court's lackeys' plan makes me smile, but there is nothing in their plan to respond to a retaliatory nuclear strike. A number of the targets are labeled as missile launch sites, but the site in South Dakota that Special Agent Jones told me about is not on the list. The lackeys of the Celestial Court do not appear to be aware of its existence.

  This submarine has sixty nuclear missiles, but only six are being used. That is such a complete waste of good resources. Just this once, I will have to give the Celestial Court a hand. With Delphi's control over the submarine, I program the remaining fifty-four missiles for launch and set their targets for South America, Europe, and the Middle East.

  As long as there are retaliatory strikes, I will not have to take any further action.

  "If that doesn't start World War III, I don't know what it will take." Dacbold has been reading my table over my forearm.

  "If we can avoid going to South Dakota, it will make things simpler. Now, you have to retrieve Thorrin and Pancho the feathered snakes."

  Dacbold frowns. "Do you think Tie Quan was lying when he said there might be a dragon on Santa Rosa Island?"

  I shake my head. "No, he was telling the truth. If these snake fuckers decide to make a fight out of it, we will have a hard time."

  As I look around the control room, that feeling of strange emptiness assails me. The destruction of the Earth is ready to begin. I expected to feel elated or satisfied, at the very least, but I do not feel anything. Maybe, it is because I do not care about the deaths of anyone left on Earth. This is no different than flushing a morning shit down the toilet.

  "There's no point in staying here any longer. Let's get back to the Night Raven."

  *

  After bringing the new slaves back to Night Raven, I separated and interrogated them. I had Elan force feed them the English language, which seemed to leave each one off-balance and scared. It made the interrogations easier. From what Valcrit managed to pluck out of their surface thoughts, this plan came directly from one they call the "Heavenly Emperor" that appeared only a few days ago.

  With the help of Elan, Angelique, and Dacbold, I am corroborating what I could through Delphi, and I am fairly certain that I understand more of less what is happening. Using Elan's collection of notebook computers, we are gathered in the captain's cabin.

  It seem that because America started selling nearly all of its military assets to Islamic nations five years ago, and now, nearly all of the remaining conventional armaments produced by America over the past one hundred and fifty years were moved to Europe and the Middle East. The World War II era ships and tanks have been refit with modern weaponry. After being refurbished, everything was collected on the Arabian Peninsula.

  There is a teleport gate in the Persian Gulf large enough to move aircraft carriers, and from the satellite footage I accessed, it is currently being sent through that gate. I do not know if it is all being sent to the world where the Swamp of the Lost is or someplace else, but Woden is obviously banking on using Earth technology on other worlds.

  Taereun and the worlds within Yggdrasil may not even be the destination for all or even most of it. The ships have been broken up into squadrons and convoys, and between each group of ships moving, the teleportation gate is closed and reopened. If everything has the same destination, there should be no need to close the gate at all.

  The Chinese, under the real ruler of China, probably a dragon from the Celestial Court, started a serious buildup of China's military assets about four years ago. The groundwork for this attack on America has been in the works since then, but they only started to mobilized when I helped recover Yggdrasil's drive for Boran. The purpose of the invasion is to take over the southwestern part of America, in specific everything west of the Mississippi River.

  There was an asteroid strike in the Gulf of Mexico that is thought to be the cause of the extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs, but it seems the Celestial Court's representative on Earth thinks it is at least some of the wreckage from the Dragon spaceship.

  Dacbold passes me his computer. "Brand, take a look at this. I think most of the people on this list are in the know about Woden and Taereun. From these travel arrangements, they are being gathered in Fresno and South Dakota, and everything looks like it's rushed. They started moving the day that the Celestial Court ordered the attack on America."

  The information on Dacbold's notebook shows that more than just the personnel are being moved. There are also equipment transfers, primarily weapons that are not supposed to exist in modern America. From the reassignment notifications, they are destroying all the records and equipment that are not being moved. The location in South Dakota is the gate where I first left Earth, and there are three other locations where they are being transferred to. I have an immediate suspicion about what is happening.

  "You're the one that worked for the government. What does this look like to you?"

  Dacbold frowns. "I served in the military. That's not working for the government, b
ut this looks like a bureaucratic pullout from a post when it's being abandoned. Fresno and that South Dakota location both have rift gates. Do you suppose the Illinois, New York, and Georgia location do, as well?"

  "I would bet on it."

  Dacbold frowns. "The rats are deserting the sinking ship. It looks like Woden is only taking what he thinks is valuable from Earth. Since Woden throws away anything he thinks is useless, he must have a use for all these people. They would be a perfect cadre for the management an Earth styled infrastructure to support those weapons."

  I am confused. Because of what I had learned from Boran, which Life seemed to confirm, I had thought that Earth was nothing but an experiment for Woden. If it was just an experiment, he would have abandoned all the Earthborn humans along with the world, but he did not. He is taking modern Earth weaponry and people who understand the culture and infrastructure that built it, but they are nothing but a bunch of Earthborn sheople. What the fuck use would they be on a world like Taereun or inside the brutal unending war zone that exist inside Yggdrasil?

  Using Delphi, I change the target locations for the warhead in the missiles targeting the states where the gates are.

  If I am going to retrieve both Delphi and Thorrin, time is running out. I may have to abandon one or the other. If we retrieve the patterning equipment first, we will not be nearly at ground zero for the Fresno nuclear strikes. Even with airbursts, those ten warheads are going to leave quite a crater.

  *

  As the setting sun tints the clouds overhead with pink, we watch the submarine sink below the surface of the ocean from the deck of the Night Raven. I still have access to this sub's computer systems through Delphi, but the wards on the other seven Chinese subs are preventing it from spreading.

  I hope that nothing interferes with the launch of this submarine's nuclear missiles. As long as Delphi keeps sending the correct automated response, no one should think anything is wrong. From what I could find in the computers, Tie Quan and those like him on the other seven submarines are little more than glorified baby sitters. There is only a little over half a day until the missiles are launched, so with luck, no one form the Celestial Court will notice he is missing.