by Barry Kirwan
“When did you become a telepath?”
“Kill her now, Micah,” Kat said.
Louise raised her voice. “Nchkani, Level Sixteen, changed to Qorall’s side exactly a week ago. Their warships are impregnable except against Tla Beth Grazers, Level Seventeen Goliath Class ships, none of which have been seen since the Anxorian rebellion fifty thousand years ago. Nchkani warships are known colloquially as Shredders; they have kilometre long spines protruding from their hulls. One of their ships can take down an entire planet in a matter of minutes.”
Micah moved in front of her, so he could see her eyes, and watch for lies. “Where is the Spider? Is it alive?”
She looked at him directly, though her head was bent slightly toward the floor. “Four kilometres deeper than we are now, a shielded chamber. It’s dead.”
Kat joined Micah. She put three fingers under Louise’s chin, a Mannekhi gesture Micah had heard about, and lifted Louise’s neck back against the wires at the base of her head, razor-slicing the flesh there, making Louise blink and take in a sharp breath. Micah didn’t intervene.
“Did you kill the Spider as easily as you did Tarish and the rest of the Mannekhi crew who had served you so well?” Kat’s fingers weren’t particularly steady.
“We tried to study it, I guess it knew what we were doing, and it just shut down, though not before it killed one of my aides. I thought they were supposed to be pacifist? Anyway, when we arrived here, as we exited Transpace, we found it was already dead; I’m a little hazy on the details.” Her voice softened. “I had planned to save you, Kat. You know that, don’t you?”
Micah stored the intel that a Spider had killed, for later. It seemed unlikely, but if true it was a positive development; the Spiders could finally join the war effort. Micah saw Kat ease off the pressure, then remove her fingers from Louise’s chin. He didn’t know what exactly had happened between Kat and Louise during the two years Louise had kept her prisoner on board the Q’Roth Marauder. He guessed it was complicated; he didn’t want to know more, and he didn’t want to judge. But the clock was ticking. He changed tack.
“How do we get out of this, Louise?”
Louise spat a drop of blood onto the floor. “Tricky. I knew Kalaran would send someone, because of the Spider. So I contacted Qorall as soon as I could, said I would bring it to him. Evidently he has other plans.”
“We can’t give them the Spider, there must be –”
“You don’t get it, do you?” Louise shouted. “If we don’t give them the Spider immediately, they’ll destroy this planet, and they’ll make us pay first. They believe in crushing an enemy’s spirit, their entire culture, before annihilation. They will destroy our defence infrastructure from orbit, then they will send a single soldier down to tear us apart, piece by piece, after they flood these tunnels with fire. They will leave nothing: no memory, no DNA, not a single artefact. They eradicate their enemies from history, Micah, consigning them to oblivion. We have to give them the Spider.”
He could tell she was sincere. “Not going to happen, Louise. Qorall gets the Spider, the Kalarash plan fails, and we lose the galaxy.”
“Your opinion. Change sides, Micah, you’ll see it differently. I’m serious, you set me free, and I’ll tell them humanity helped. They’ll leave you alone.”
Micah laughed in disbelief. “You’ll say anything, won’t you?”
“Think about it, Micah, it’s all you’re good at, but that’s okay because in this universe it’s all that matters. Hellera won’t be able to stop Qorall alone, and then –”
“Kalaran –”
“IS DEAD!” Spittle dripped from Louise’s lips. “You don’t even have good intel, do you? He’s gone, Micah, and Hellera is on the run. You want to save humanity? You’d better think really fast, because one of Qorall’s Orbs is on its way to Esperia. Either way, your species is joining Qorall.”
It was a reflex. He told the resident to silence her, and the wires gripped her lips, forcing them closed. Micah’s hands shook. Kat took one of them.
“Micah. She’s telling the truth.” Kat’s voice was fragile, like he’d never heard her before. “I just deciphered an info flash sent to Louise two days ago. She’s still one of Qorall’s spies, it seems, and… Kalaran was killed in a battle with Qorall, and… Hellera has left Esperia.”
Micah felt he was losing his grip, as if everything was suddenly spinning out of control. He yanked a chair towards him, sat down and gripped Kat’s hands. “How, Kat? We… we were so close. How can he be dead?”
Kat crouched in front of Micah, the strength in her voice returning. “Micah, whatever we decide, we have to act quickly. What do you want me to do?”
He recalled his one and only meeting with Kalaran, who had said they would not meet again. Micah had assumed that was because he would not make it back from Savange. But perhaps Kalaran knew of his own imminent demise. And if he did, then there was still a slim chance. Micah clung to it, because the alternative was something he couldn’t face. At least Hellera was still around. But if Qorall got the Spider… Kalaran had told him to prevent this at all costs. Micah could only see one way out. Blake wouldn’t do it, Vince would have in a second, Ramires… probably not. But he reminded himself he needed to do whatever it took to save humanity, to step up to the task. He made his decision.
He stood, and gave the command to his resident. The wires began loosening from Louise.
“Micah, what are you doing?” Kat backed off from Louise, aiming a weapon at her. Micah turned to Kat, his back to Louise, and mouthed a single word. Wait.
“It’s okay, Kat. Louise, you guarantee our safety?”
Louise staggered out of the bonds as they fell to the floor, rubbing her neck.
“Agreed.”
“However, I don’t trust you, as I’m sure you understand. So, the only way out of this is if I tell the Nchkani the location of the Spider.”
Louise bristled, her claw raising until a wave of Kat’s pistol made her lower it again.
“They are expecting to talk to me.”
“They are expecting to receive the Spider, and they will find they have a new ally standing alongside you, an already-trusted one.”
Louise eyed him. “I don’t trust you either, Micah. Why the change of heart?”
“All the things you said. Kalaran told me it needed two Kalarash to take down Qorall. Hellera will desert us. I don’t want to return to Esperia and find nothing but Qorall’s golden minions. I just freed the captives, but why bother if there’s nowhere for them to go?”
The sound of an explosion echoed down the corridor.
“Not very patient, your Nchkani friends, are they?”
Louise looked tenser than Micah had ever seen her, breathing fast.
“I want your word, Micah; you’ll hand over the Spider.”
Micah kept his gaze level. “You have it.”
“Say it. I need to hear you say it.”
He felt he’d passed the point of no return, and hoped he was doing the right thing, or at least the wrong thing for a good enough reason.
“I give you my word, Louise. I’ll hand over the Spider to the Nchkani.”
Louise turned to Kat, and spoke a nine-digit code. “Enter it and you’ll find the location.”
Kat handed Micah the pistol, which he kept trained on Louise.
“Found it,” she said.
Micah ramped up the power rating to maximum on the pistol. It hummed.
Louise glared. “What are you doing?”
“Kat,” Micah said, “Is there a failsafe bomb in the same location? I’m betting there is, in case anyone tried to steal the corpse.”
“Yep. A small anti-matter device. Won’t leave anything.”
“Micah,” Louise said, taking a step forward, “Don’t do this. I know the Nchkani, they’ll destroy my people, all of them. And for what? You must hand over the Spider. The war’s already lost!”
Micah didn’t take his eyes off Louise. “I have t
o believe it isn’t. I’m sorry, Louise. I’m breaking my word, which I don’t do lightly, but I already promised Kalaran. Kat, detonate the device.”
Louise’s eyes went wide. She screamed “NO!” and leapt forward towards Kat. Micah fired. Louise used her claw to take most of the pulse round’s energy, and was thrown backwards against the far lab wall, next to an open hatch. The floor shuddered, a dull boom like a deep gong resonating until it was silent. Louise was on the floor, but conscious. Three sharp cracks announced more explosions topside.
“It’s done,” Kat said. She turned to Louise. “Finish her, Micah.”
Micah stared at Louise, raised the pistol, his finger on the trigger.
“Kill her!” Kat shouted.
He took a breath, imagined Earth’s charred corpse, a Q’Roth transport carrying two thousand humans flown into a sun, Hannah’s head rolled onto the floor in front of him, Vince killed back on Esperia, Chahat-Me vaporised during the struggle on the ship during the attack only six weeks ago. He squeezed the trigger, felt a tiny recoil.
Electric blue arcs skittered around Louise, leaving her undamaged. She didn’t blink.
“Shit, her shield is working again,” Kat said.
Micah fired several more times, with the same result. Kat picked up the laser scalpel.
Louise struggled to her feet, weakened from the pulse strikes. “I have to go now, try to save my people. But I’ll be back, for both of you. And like the Nchkani, I’ll cause as much pain as possible before I eradicate humanity once and for all. On that, you have my word.”
Kat advanced with the scalpel, but Louise ducked through the hatch and sealed it behind her. More explosions and the sound of weapons fire echoed down from the surface.
“What now?” Kat said, slumping back against the ledge of a table.
Micah couldn’t believe he’d let her escape again. The repercussions could only be bad. But the autopsy of his leadership decisions would have to wait.
“We’re not safe here. The Nchkani will send down soldiers or drones for sure. I’d rather take our chances topside.”
They made their way along the corridor until they found an exit leading to a drop shaft, a tiny pinprick of sunlight way above them. After his lie to Louise, possibly sentencing Savange’s population to death, he felt as if the surface way above him was who he’d been just minutes earlier, and now he had fallen far from the morals that had guided his entire life. He felt worse for it, though he couldn’t see what alternative he could have taken. He’d destroyed the Spider – primary mission achieved – and most of the hostages had gotten away. He began climbing the ladder, wanting not only to escape, but to return to who he was, even if only for the short time he had left.
Micah wondered if, by destroying the Spider, Kalaran’s plan – whatever it was – was still salvageable by Hellera. Logically, the planet Savange, including him, Kat and Louise, would be destroyed by the Nchkani, but the escapees still had a fighting chance if they could make it back to Esperia. He hoped Ramires and Sandy had escaped and found Aramisk; he didn’t want to think about losing anyone else. Yet he had a gnawing hunch that Louise would somehow survive, and do her utmost to make good on her promise to make him and mankind pay.
Defence was going to be a nightmare. Petra, dwarfed by Vasquez, Kilaney and Brandt, surveyed the holo of the terrain surrounding Esperantia and Shimsha. It stretched far beyond the Acarian mountain range, all the way to Lake Takamaka, two hundred kilometres distant, and included the tiny outlying settlements currently being evacuated. The residents there had not wanted to move, but the quartet leading the defence had all agreed they could not defend such a wide area. A few of the residents had refused, and so remained, or had fled to the caves. Petra already considered them lost. She nudged a control and the holo zoomed in to focus on a zone with a five-kilometre radius.
“General, walk us through the aerial defences again.” They’d been through it three times already with nothing new emerging, but she was evaluating her chiefs of staff, looking for cracks that could splinter her leaders at crucial moments when the attack came.
Kilaney looked weary, a heaviness around his chest and shoulders, the way he leant on the table for support, eyes hooded; he was holding himself together with brute force of will. But this man had will by the bucket-load. Part of his fatigue was no doubt due to Blake’s condition, unchanged since the experiment. It made it worse for Kilaney to know that the real Blake was trapped inside, screaming to get out. As for the general’s genocidal choice back on the Zlarasi homeworld, she guessed that was a burden that would never leave him. But he was a born commander, and knew how to channel every emotion into cold professional logic. She interrupted him.
“At what point will you give up on the aerial defence and join the ground battle?”
The others all looked at her. She was implying they would lose. If it came to a ground assault, the invading hordes would be unstoppable.
Kilaney smiled. “Back on Earth, Petra, I’d have recruited and groomed you to replace me. You’re right, of course. There will come a decision point when I’ll have to either order my men to run suicide attacks on the inbound vessels until we are no more, or enter the atmosphere and strafe as many as we can until we are shot down.”
Petra stared at the image of Esperantia, her home her entire life.
“At what point will you land, General?”
Kilaney moved back a pace and sat down heavily in a cushioned chair. He gazed at the map of the town, and pointed, speaking in a low voice. “If I am not dead, and my ships are of no more use in space or above ground, and the invaders have breached the outer perimeter, and if you give me no further order, I will land and stand next to Blake, and I will make sure they do not take him alive.”
Silence hung in the room after those tombstone words. This was what Petra had wanted. To know the absolute truth, where their devotions lay. “Good. That is what I was hoping you would say.”
Kilaney looked up at her, studied her a moment, then got up again, and continued detailing his battle strategy with more vigour in his voice.
The rest ran smoothly. Vasquez would have men and automated defences in the mountains and outlying terrain, Brandt’s Youngbloods would patrol the outer perimeter and the town itself. At Council, she had been outvoted on the idea of self-annihilation rather than being absorbed into Qorall’s ranks. She had to admit that knowing Blake was somehow still alive on the inside had weakened her position. Maybe even if they were all converted, if Hellera, against the odds, defeated Qorall, they could be restored. But that felt like clutching at straws. She carried a vial of fast-acting poison in her pocket, as did Kilaney and Vasquez, and a number of others. Freedom of choice for individuals, in case they were overwhelmed.
A single ship had almost left Esperia to flee the system. But few had signed up for it, and in the end it had been too late, the enemy already inbound, nearing the system. Any humans on a refugee ship would be picked up early, and become part of the invading force. All of them were in this together now. She’d expected recriminations, anger at her for not organising something earlier. But people understood. While Hellera had been in orbit, they’d seemed protected here. Her unannounced departure had changed the game, with little time to react. Petra berated herself for not seeing that one coming, but for now she had to focus. It helped that everyone seemed determined to fight, and she knew why.
When Earth had fallen, it had come as a surprise attack, most people not even grasping what was going on until it was too late. This time, if nothing else, they could prepare, and put up a fight, even if futile. And Genners like her, born on Esperia, also wanted to fight, carrying the scars of the previous generation in their hearts. They were angry, a new breed of humanity whose chance at life was about to be snatched away from them. But Genners channelled their emotions as Kilaney did. She knew they would all fight and die well.
They were done, and Kilaney and Vasquez left to go over the fine details, countless contingencies, and
final preparations with their lieutenants. Brandt stayed behind. During the meeting he had stood upright, like the Genner warrior he was, second only to Gabriel. She knew Brandt had feelings for her, and like all Genners he was under-equipped to deal with or even express them. Now the others were gone, his posture was hunched over, accentuated by his size. He somehow looked like a giant child, who knew he couldn’t have what he wanted. She reminded herself they were all still so young, she just eighteen, Brandt sixteen. For Genners, that meant the intellectual equivalent of a forty-year-old professor at his peak. Emotionally, though… that was a different story. Still, she did not want to lose her focus. Eventually he broke the silence.
“The Youngbloods are ready.”
She nodded. Part of her wanted to dismiss him, before he could say more. But another part held her tongue. She thought about Gabriel, how long she’d loved him from afar, unable to tell him how she’d felt, not until the very end. So she understood this particular pain. Brandt seemed to read her mind.
“What did you say to him, Petra, at the end? Did he know?”
Now she wished she’d dismissed him. “Not fair, Brandt. Anyway, I said nothing, Micah spoke.”
Brandt was very still, unlike his usual boisterous self. He looked her in the eye.
“What did he do when he realised how you felt about him?”
She looked away, remembering how Gabriel had held her on the disintegrating ship, embraced her, and kissed her while she wept like a little girl. Most nights she fell asleep thinking about those moments. “That’s between us.”
“Of course.” Brandt got up, and headed for the door.
“Brandt, I need to know I can rely on you. Are we okay?”
He opened the door, and stood framed there, blocking most of the daylight, his back to her.
“Yes, Madam President.”
She watched the door close with a soft click. Petra thought she’d feel relief, but instead, those words stung. Dammit! She got up to go after him. Midway to the door, the radio crackled into life.
“Petra, it’s Bill. Xenic is here. You’d better come.”
