Interra (Awakened Series Book 5)

by Harley Austin

  The halfblood Apostle nodded, offering the beautiful goddess his chair next to Julia.

  “Sit down; everyone. I know what all of you must be thinking. Believe me, I know what I’m doing. The truth is, we have a new enemy. Someone who likes us even less than the Seven. Amethyst is in just as much danger as the rest of us now.”

  “Cry me a river,” Kari glared at her. “Carson! Have you any idea how many people she’s murdered?”

  “Not half as many as the Dominion.” Amethyst quipped.

  “In wars your side started!” Kari fumed.

  “Enough.” Carson raised his voice slightly.

  Kari sat down, still holding the deadly charge in her mind, ready at a moment’s notice to fry the witch.

  “The truth is,” Carson continued, “Amy, Brenda, and Lisa all came to me. They’ve been working with the Kir to analyze the threat. And it’s formidable, I’m afraid.”

  Julia turned to Amethyst sitting next to her. “What kind of threat?”

  Amethyst’s typical banter was all but absent as the woman was suddenly all business. “We’ve all known the prophecies. None of the clans survive the Great War. They’re a little upset about that. So, they’ve taken matters into their own hands, and built their own armies. They plan on marching against the gods and ending the war between the Seven and the Sentinels themselves, once and for all.”

  “Don’t they realize,” Keith began, “that by building an army they’re fulfilling prophecy, not ending it?!”

  “They don’t care, Keith.” Amethyst agreed. “They think the prophecies are broken anyway and their intention is to shatter them apart completely. The fact is, I’ve been playing both sides against the middle here, acting as a double-agent with them, trying to learn as much as I can about what they’re planning. They reason that if they can destroy one side, or both, the war will end sooner than later, and all of them will survive.”

  “How do we know you’re not a double-agent working for them against us?” Dark scowled. The only reason he wasn’t filling her full of holes right now was because Carson needed her for some aspect of the mission. When her usefulness was done, there was going to be one helluva payback.

  “You don’t, Dark. The truth is, I’m more of an, independent agent, in this mess all of you have created.”

  “We created?!” Kari fumed. “You killed my parents!”

  “Sorry. Wrong again, Kar-Kar.” Amethyst returned her gaze with a polite sarcasm. “The Wraith are the ones who murdered your parents, not the Seven. Drones? Missiles? Please. Not exactly Rigel’s style.”

  “The witch has a point,” Francesca agreed, moving into the conversation.

  “Ooh, the lawyer is calling me a witch; that’s rich.”

  “Francesca, Amy, Kari, and the rest of you, I’m not going to say this again. Save it for later,” Carson reined in once again.

  “Carson, this is nonsense. The Wraith are street thugs, alley-cats, drug dealers—”

  “—flying SRF-91 Black Raptors.” Brenda finished.

  “Raptors?” Dark’s gaze narrowed. “How?! Those aren’t exactly cheap.”

  “With ion torpedoes,” Serena spoke up. She wasn’t exactly sure what those were, but everyone in the room was now staring at her. “At least—that’s what Rion called them.” She finished a little quietly. Everyone was looking at her for some reason.

  “Serena,” Carson spoke first among the room of gape-jawed stares. “Are you sure that’s exactly what Rion said?”

  She nodded. “Positive.”

  “Holy fuck—” Kent breathed. “They must have salvaged another mining vessel from somewhere. Amy, did you—”

  “Don’t look at me, Kentworth. Rion toasted the only vessel we acquired from the Australian. And I know for a fact he’s not helping anyone but himself these days.”

  “I’ll vouch for that, guys,” Gage added. “Rowan’s been working with us. If the Wraith have open ionic weaponry, there’s a good chance they’ve found and modified something ancient. My guess would be it’s somewhere in and around the Grand Canyon. They appear to have a well fortified installation there.”

  “That needs to go away,” Dark glared.

  “I agree,” Gage offered. “The Kir could try to take them out, but right now we need intel. We don’t know what we’re up against. One of those ancient vessels took out the Leviathan. With as few people as we have, I’m not risking anyone on a mission without knowing that we can come out unscathed.”

  Carson dumped his pen onto the table and got up out of his chair. He was suddenly in a catch-22. Gage was right, the Kir could lay waste to the whole installation, no doubt, but they were so few right now, losing even one of them could spell disaster for their survival.

  “How do we get Rion back?” Serena asked, half pleading.

  “That’s what all of this is about, Serena. If we can get you into Interra, we may be able to find a way to have you reset the Masters’ failsafe and restore the knowledge of the gods. Then we, in the Dominion, will take care of the Wraith. Trust me.”

  “That’s still one helluva long shot, Carson. Serena’s not an engineer,” Kent stood up as well. “She doesn’t even read or speak Ra at this point, let alone anything technical. I’m the closest thing we have to a Master right now and I’m not even sure what to do—or not do, as the case may be.”

  “True. But the rest of the sun gods do have your knowledge, some of it anyway.”

  Kent shook his head. “You really don’t want to know the odds here, Carson,” Kent cautioned.

  “You have a better idea?”

  Kent pursed his lips.

  “Amy, where are the Wraith holding Rion?”

  “Lake Powell, on the Utah-Arizona border. One of a number of their desert installations. Whatever’s down there, Carson, is deep. I saw legions of halfbloods training. They make your little hidey-hole here look like a cheap roadside motel. And they have a few newbloods working for them as well.”

  “Let me guess, Spencer,” Dark bemoaned.

  “Agent Spencer?” Serena asked.

  “The very same, Serena, Sweetie. Not a good person to get to know. You leave him to me when the time comes.” Amethyst had no little amount of venom in her voice.

  “Get. In. Line.” Kari countered. “If he was the one responsible for murdering my parents, we’ll take the bastard out together.”

  “Careful, Kar-Kar; Karma frowns on revenge.”

  “I’m sure you would know,” Kari glared.

  “People, I don’t want any of us to be surprised.” Carson looked into their faces. “From what Amethyst tells me, the Wraith have been torturing Rion, badly, trying to extract the information they need to break into Interra. Their goal is to destroy the city.”

  “Lovely.” Dark frowned. “Any more good news, Carson?”

  “In our present weakened state, we’re not going to be able to break into their Lake Powell installation. I’m pretty sure that would be suicide.”

  “How do we rescue, Rion?” Jake asked.

  “We don’t.”

  “What?” Serena’s eyes were suddenly filled with fear.

  “We let the Wraith rescue him for us.”

  “I don’t like what you’re thinking, Carson,” Dark countered again.

  “Again, you have a better idea for getting Rion out of a deeply fortified installation? And into Interra?”

  “Not at the moment,” Dark lamented, frowning.

  “I’ll take full responsibility. Amy, get back to Lake Powell as quickly as you can. Tell Spencer and his ilk that you know how to breech the defenses of Interra. They need Rion there, personally. He’s their key.”

  “And then what do you do for an encore, Greg, once the Wraith thugs are inside and have taken complete control of the most powerful city on Earth?” Amy asked with a raised brow.

  “I don’t know. All of you will need to assess the situation as best you can once you’re on the inside. With any luck, the Wraith will stop torturing Rion and kee
p him alive long enough for us to rescue him. Once inside the city, my hope is that whatever ghosts are there, are much more friendly to us than they will be to the Wraith. Dismissed.”

  42

  B lack helicopters flew in tight formation at high-speed over the tree tops making barely a sound. Serena sat across from Elle and two other halfblood Dominion Guard, no more than two of the sun gods to a chopper, in case of an attack.

  “The Goddess of Love?” Serena made a telepathic connection to Elle.

  “Is that a problem?” Elle smiled.

  “No. I was just wondering.”

  “How I got the title? It’s not what you’re thinking. I don’t sleep around, Serena. Truth be told, I’m practically celibate compared to most of the gods.”

  “Really?” Serena gave her smile.

  “Like most of the nonsense around here, you can usually trace it back to Sevrin. He started calling me that decades ago because I was the only one who apparently didn’t have a date to one his dinner parties. Afterward, he kept trying to hook me up with everyone, including Rion.”

  “Did you and Rion date?”

  “A couple of times.”

  “Only a couple? You’re beautiful.”

  “We’re, very similar people, Serena. Rion and I are both type A, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

  “I noticed.”

  “You want to know if we slept together—”

  “Just curious.”

  “Unless he’s improved in the last fifty years, it wasn’t anything to write home about.” Elle grinned.

  “Fifty years ago?”

  Elle nodded imperceptibly. The age differences were beginning to really sink in with Serena now. Elle had been with Rion apparently a long time ago. Odd how they’d shared the same guy and now each other.

  “You and I seem to have clicked,” Serena offered.

  “Yea, that’s a bit out of the ordinary for me.” Elle smiled looking away out the chopper window.

  “I like how you feel.”

  Elle looked back at her. “Yea?”

  Serena nodded imperceptibly.

  “You’re a little surprising to me too. I’m usually sleeping with a few guys. Not another woman.”

  “A few?” Serena’s eyebrow lifted. “At once?”

  “Sure. Don’t you?” Elle’s smile was mischievous.

  “How do you sleep with more than one guy?”

  “You’ll see. One of these days, soon enough, I’m sure.”

  Serena visibly bristled at the thought. “I—don’t think so. Besides, I’m married to Rion now.”

  “Not.”

  “Huh?”

  “You might be married, Serena, but that is not Rion’s culture. Just saying. You may be in for a bit of a rude awakening, pun intended.”

  “Is that why everyone keeps referring to me as his ‘consort’?”

  “Consort. Partner. Concubine. Mistress. The gods don’t marry, Serena; we’re not like Humans. When you live as long as we do, relationships become much more complex. Especially with attraction the way it is.”

  “Rion and I talked about the whole attraction thing. I just—I guess I didn’t realize …”

  “How potent it is?” Elle smirked.

  “Yea. I’m definitely attracted to you, Elle.”

  “Oh, you think?”

  “You’re ridiculously hot; and beautiful.” Serena complimented.

  “Pot, meet kettle.” Elle smiled beautifully again.

  “That’s not exactly a millennial kind of phrase. Rion’s over a hundred. How old are you?”

  “Don’t you know it’s rude to ask your lover her age? I’m younger than Rion.”

  Serena nodded. “The sun gods are all really nice looking.”

  “So you noticed that? What a surprise.”

  “We’re all attracted then? The sun gods, I mean?”

  “It’s our curse.”

  “Are they attracted to—each other, like you and I?”

  “What do you think?”

  “I think I’m in trouble. Ian is really cute.”

  “I thought you said you were married?”

  “I see what you mean now.” She frowned, looking away.

  “Serena—”

  “Hmm?” She looked at Elle again.

  “Rion really loves you. He would destroy this world and everyone on it, including himself—to save you. Remember that.”

  “Really?”

  Elle nodded. Then looked away out the window, a series of snow-covered mountain tops quickly approaching in the distance.

  * * * * *

  Their convoy of stealth choppers set down on the midnight shores of a high mountain lake. No sooner had Serena stepped off the aircraft with Elle than she felt suddenly nervous, uneasy. Elle grabbed her hand as all of them began running quickly for the frozen shore. Serena could see their choppers vacating the clearing, lifting off quickly as other jets began to buzz the airspace above them at low altitude.

  “Here’s where fun begins,” Serena and the rest of the sun gods heard Elle in their minds.

  Jerrod and Amethyst ran ahead of their troop. Suddenly the thick ice of the frozen lake began to crack and splinter, then shatter as if ripping itself apart and out of the way, revealing the frigid dark water beneath it. Then Serena saw something she wasn’t sure was real or a dream. As the ice shattered, breaking apart, the water beneath it parted as well. They were now quickly moving down hill, on the dry rugged ground of the lake bed. Soon the icy waters swirled softly all around their small team. Above her, Serena could see muted flashes of light through the churning water and thick ice. She felt rumblings with each flash, like bombs going off above them. A huge flash shown above them and a small quake shook the ground beneath their feet causing wave-like ripples in the watery bubble all around them.

  “I hope they don’t have anything bigger than that one,” Aramis mumbled.

  “They do,” Elle assured him. “Those were Russian Migs above us.”

  “Do you think the pilots got out okay?” Beau asked, quickly moving deeper to the bottom of the lake within the bubble Jerrod was holding around them.

  Elle said nothing. She squeezed Serena’s hand.

  Within a few minutes they were now clearly at the bottom, standing together on the lakebed. Jerrod’s eyes were lit like soft candles as the waters churned quietly round them. “There’s an ancient lava tube about a quarter mile beneath us. Amy—show time. And I hope you’re half as bad as that vile reputation of yours purports.”

  “No worries, Jerrod, Darling. It’s much worse, I assure you.” From a long side pocket on the thigh of her fatigues, Amethyst produced a long, slender shimmering crystal, more than an inch thick at the base where she held it and coming to a not so thin point, like a multi-faceted pointed obelisk a good 15-inches long. The flawless crystal lit their bubble with an unworldly luminescence.

  “Take hold and make a wish, everyone.”

  The blast was massive. The lake exploded into a ball of fire, lighting up the night sky into a flaming mushroom cloud rising hundreds of feet into the air. For several moments the surrounding forest became day, snow melted instantly and evergreens all around the shore burst into hot flame setting the snowy forest briefly ablaze.

  “Target hit dead center, command. Direct hit. Over.”

  “We see it, Eagle Five. Fall back. Marines and Rangers are moving in now.”

  43

  I t’s been days, Carson. We can’t just sit here and do nothing!”

  “Of course we can.”

  “No. We can’t.”

  “Do you know what your problem is Dark—?”

  “Many and varied.” He glared.

  “I mean specifically.”

  Dark let out an annoyed sigh.

  “You micromanage too much.”

  “So says the king of micromanagement.”

  “Exactly. I recognize it when I see it. Which is why I try to avoid it. Especially with people I know I can trust. Like you, for
instance.”

  “I don’t flatter, Carson.”

  “I wasn’t being flattering. This is not your mission. Let it go.”

  “You just put six kids in-charge of rescuing the world from what is quickly revealing itself as a clandestine global superpower.”

  “Only five. Elle’s an adult. Almost.”

  “You forgot about Amethyst. That witch is evil—to the core.”

  “Evil has its usefulness, Dark.”

  “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear you say that.”

  “Pretend what you like. This is not the first mission Amethyst has run for the Dominion.”

  Dark’s mouth almost fell open. “You’re not serious.”

  “Shocked?”

  Dark glared at him. “A little.” His sarcasm thick.

  “She can be a little unruly. But when push comes to shove, she’s a lot like you. Resourceful.”

  “Did you sleep with her too?”

  “No need to get personal.”

  “You know you’re quite the piece of work, Greg.”

  “I have my moments.”

  “How long are we going to wait here before we do something?”

  “The fortifications around the Olympics are huge, Dark. They’ve mobilized for D-Day. We can’t successfully engage those U.N. fleets or air forces. Not directly. We need to allow the Wraith time to get Rion to the Olympics, past their forces and into Interra.”

  “Then what?”

  “Then we wait some more.”

  “This is insane. Wait for what?”

  Carson’s gaze met his. “For them to enter the City of the Gods.”

  44

  E lle saw a light. The light felt warm and she moved toward it. She could hear a whisper, like someone calling her name. ‘Elle’, the whisper echoed softly as it grew less faint. As she moved into the light she heard the distant voice of someone familiar; someone hovering over her. Her vision cleared from a blur of the soft light to the crisp visage of Serena in front of her holding Amethyst’s crystal, the light of the shimmering rod illuminating a tube-like cave. She was laying against the almost smooth curved wall.