by M. R. Forbes
There was a small beep from the comm link, and then a new voice filtered into the cockpit.
“Lieutenant Cage,” General Kett said. “I was planning on coming to you, not the other way around.”
“Tough shit,” Abbey replied. “I don’t like playing by other people’s rules.”
He laughed. “I gathered. Well, if what you said about Thraven is true, then it’s a good thing you’re here. I’m sending you the updated coordinates to Azure. I’m looking forward to meeting you. Kett out.”
The link dropped.
“A man of few words, isn’t he?” Bastion asked.
“Compared to you, everyone is,” Jequn said.
“I don’t talk that much.”
“Yes, you do. Ten hours, and your lips barely stopped moving the entire time.”
“I was sleeping for two of those.”
“You were talking in your sleep.”
“How would you know?”
“The doors on the sleeping quarters aren’t that thick. I believe you might have been dreaming about Queenie.”
“I don’t want to know,” Abbey said.
“And then you were singing in the cleanser,” Jequn added. “And then you were talking to yourself while you ate. And then you came back to the cockpit and started talking about your father the botanist for two hours.”
“I had a good relationship with my father, and botany is more fascinating than you would think. Sorry, I’m not from a broken home.” A new tone sounded from the comm system. Bastion leaned back and flipped a couple of switches. “We’ve got the coordinates.”
“Set a course.”
Bastion transferred the data to the FTL computer. “Ten seconds.”
“See you on the other side, Queenie,” Captain Ness said. The fighters vanished from beside them, shooting into FTL.
The faster-than-light ride was only a dozen seconds long, dumping them out some ten-thousand AU from their original drop point. It was close enough that they didn’t have to go to FTL to get there, but it certainly sped things up. With any luck, even once Thraven did arrive in-system it would take him days to find the exact location.
The planet Azure appeared to be gray from space, owing to a massive amount of cloud cover that seemed to hover over ninety-percent of the mass. In the few clear spots, Abbey could see blue and green and brown, suggesting a comfortably habitable Earth-like planet beneath. If she had to guess, she would have said it was in the late stages of terraforming, but she didn’t see any of the telltale signs of the activity in the cloud patterns below.
As it was, there was no way to guess at the size or formation of Kett’s forces from orbit. There were no starships waiting above the planet, no assets too large to bring into the atmosphere and to the ground. No orbital stations, regardless of size. They didn’t even possess any other tracking satellites. It was obvious Kett wanted passerby to think the planet was uninhabited and uninteresting, and not the home to a rebellion against a war that hadn’t even truly started yet.
“Faust, this is Captain Ness. I’m going to paint the landing track for you on my descent. Follow me in.”
“Roger,” Bastion said.
The starfighter moved into position ahead of the Faust. It was about a tenth the size of the star hopper, bulky and angled, with a large ass to house an FTL engine in addition to normal thrusters, and a deep hull that could hold an assortment of munitions inside. It had wings for atmospheric flight, but they were thick and short, relying more on anti-gravity to help with lift, though they packed half a dozen pulse laser cannons in total.
“Have you ever flown a Daedalus?” Abbey asked.
“Me?” Bastion said. “Nah. I only flew dropships before Hell.”
“You were pretty impressive with the Imp and with the Faust,” Abbey said.
“Instinct,” Bastion replied. “I have a good feel for what these hunks of scrap metal can do, and how to push them to the limits. I don’t know why. Maybe because it’s just so damn fun.”
The Faust entered the atmosphere, trailing the fighter as it sank into clouds and vanished, leaving only the painted sensor line behind. Bastion followed it smoothly, dropping into stormy clouds that knocked them around a bit with turbulence and filled the viewport with lightning.
“This storm is nearly ten kilometers thick,” Bastion said. “That’s no joke.”
“The good news is that I don’t think Thraven could bombard the planet through this even if he wanted to.”
“The site wasn’t selected by accident,” Jequn said.
“You’ve never been here before?” Abbey asked.
“No. The Ophanim were on Drune for a long time, until we had to leave.”
“Where are the rest of your group now?”
“Scattered. Waiting. One of them delivered me to you on Anvil.”
“You have ships, then?”
“Four Seedships.”
“From the Shardship?”
“Yes. You remember.”
The storm finally broke away, leaving them only a kilometer from the surface. The rain was falling in torrents, a wide, raging river visible on the ground below. The Daedalus banked into a canyon, following the river toward a waterfall so high that it vanished into the clouds.
“Wow,” Bastion said. “That’s fragging impressive. I’m taking bets the base is behind the waterfall. That’s the best place for a secret base.”
“This isn’t an action vid or the Construct,” Abbey said. “It doesn’t work that way in reality.”
The fighter kept going, into and through the waterfall.
“Ha!” Bastion said. “I was right about something for once. And, can you believe it, you were wrong, Queenie.” He laughed.
“It does happen sometimes,” Abbey said. “Hopefully Thraven thinks more like I do.”
Bastion guided the Faust into the flow and through. The cavern behind the waterfall was massive, easily large enough to allow the ship to enter. There was light on the other side, two kilometers distant. They kept going, exiting the rock and finding themselves in a large, open canyon surrounded by high rock formations to the sides, and clouds above. The surface of the canyon was littered with barracks, warehouses, starships, starfighters, including Shrikes, mechs, and troops, too many to easily count.
“That’s pretty impressive, too,” Bastion said.
Abbey stared down at the force. She had to agree.
But was it enough?
“Faust, this is Captain Ness. A beacon is lighting up at your landing pad. General Kett will meet you on the tarmac. Enjoy your stay.”
“Thank you, Captain,” Abbey said.
Bastion guided the Faust to the beacon that appeared on the HUD, landing her between two larger armed haulers. Abbey could see an entourage waiting beneath one of them, keeping out of the rain. She wasn’t sure which one was Kett.
“Meet us outside,” Abbey said, putting her hand on Bastion’s shoulder. “Jequn, come on.”
“Aye, Queenie,” Bastion said, tapping controls to wind down the ship.
Abbey made her way down the ladder to the bottom level, and then over to the hatch. She descended the ramp ahead of Jequn, finding a smaller man waiting front and center at the bottom, his face already soaked by the rain.
“Lieutenant Cage,” General Kett said, saluting her.
“Not anymore,” Abbey replied, not returning the salute. She put out her hand. “General Kett, I assume?”
He smiled, taking her hand. He had a firm grip. “Welcome to Azure.” He looked past her. “Jequn. It’s good to see you again.” He moved around Abbey, hugging the Ophanim.
“Dad,” Jequn said.
Dad? She had read Kett’s file a million times. It had never mentioned a child.
“I can see you’re confused,” Kett said. “I’ll try to answer all of your questions if you can answer all of mine.”
“I’ll do my best,” Abbey said.
There were three other people with Kett. Jequn went to the woman with hi
m, giving her the same hug she had given her father. Abbey’s eyes got stuck when they landed on her. She was beautiful beyond description. Ethereal.
“My wife, Charmeine. Yes, she’s a Seraph. One of the few full-bloods that remain. This is Colonel Brink and Lieutenant Siddrah.”
Abbey froze again when her eyes landed on Siddrah.
“I know you,” Abbey said.
“I know you, too,” Siddrah said. “From Gradin.”
The two men she had seen in the corridor. Siddrah was one of them. Which meant the base they attacked had been Kett’s, not the home of some Outworld thieves. She turned toward Jequn. She had said the mainframe was stolen. That clearly wasn’t the case.
“You lied to me about Gradin,” she said. “You lied to me about having never been here, too. Didn’t you?”
Jequn lowered her head. “I did. I’m sorry.”
Abbey clenched her fists, feeling herself getting angry. “Why?”
“Abigail,” Kett said. “It wasn’t her fault. I told her to do it.”
She rounded on Kett. “Why? For what purpose? I’m sick and tired of these fragging secrets, these damn games. People died on Gradin. Your people.”
“I know,” Kett agreed. “It couldn’t be helped. The Republic knew I was operating there and was going to send a team regardless. This damn game is a dangerous game, as you well know. The wrong move could doom us all. Come inside, have something to eat. I’ll explain everything.”
29
“Gradin was a risk,” Kett said.
He was sitting at a table across from Abbey, with Charmeine and Jequn on either side of him, and his commanders on the ends. Bastion was beside Abbey, digging into the variety of prepared foods that had been waiting for them when they arrived.
“This is so fragging good,” he said, taking a bite. “It’s been years since I had real food. If I dided right now, I would die a happy man.”
“A calculated risk,” Kett continued once Bastion stopped talking. “But a risk all the same.”
“You set me up,” Abbey said. She had given the facts a check while they had crossed the tarmac to the bunker dug into the side of one of the cliffs that surrounded them. “You knew what was going to happen to me.”
“We’ve known for some time now that we can’t stop Thraven,” Charmeine said. “Not on our own. The Seraphim who arrived with the Shard are nearly gone. With Phanuel’s passing, there are only a handful of us left. The Nephilim’s Gift is too powerful. Their technology too great.”
“I didn’t set you up, specifically,” Kett said. “Thraven learned about the mainframe on his own. He arranged the drop with his cronies in the Republic. The only thing I did was pull some strings to requisition a Breaker for the mission. It could have been any Breaker.”
“Bullshit,” Abbey said. “Do you know how many Breakers go into the field? She raised a hand, and then lowered one of her fingers. “Four, including me.”
“Then there was only a twenty-five percent chance you would be the one, Abigail,” Kett said. “I’m sorry if you’re bothered that it was you. We saw an opportunity to enlist someone with the Nephilim’s Gift. Someone who could fight back against Thraven and his Evolents.”
“I was in Hell, General,” Abbey said. “How the frag did you know Captain Mann was going to get me out?”
“We didn’t,” Charmeine said. “We expected you to go with Thraven. To train under him. To become stronger than him, and then hopefully betray him.”
“That’s not a risk, that’s a fragging miracle.”
“It may be” Kett said. “But we’re at the point where it may be the only thing that will save us. We knew our best chance to gain a Nephilim to our cause would be to have Thraven give the Gift to someone whose loyalty to their people was stronger than their personal desire for power. I know from experience that Breakers tend to fit that mold quite well. If that were the case, it isn’t unthinkable that such a person might betray their master.”
“Did you just call me a Nephilim?” Abbey said.
“That’s what you are, isn’t it? You have their blood in your veins. Their version of the naniates. Their Gift and power.”
“I’m not like them,” Abbey said. “I’m human.”
Charmeine shook her head. “You were human. Now you’re becoming a Nephilim. A demon.”
“Demon Queen,” Bastion said.
“Thraven said I can’t stop it without the other half of the Gift. But I can’t get the other half without joining him.”
“The Blood of the Font,” Charmeine said. “And the Serum.”
“What is that?”
“The other half of the Gift.”
“How do you know?”
“I’m over ten-thousand years old, Abbey. I know many things.”
“How can that be possible? How are you immortal?”
“I’m not immortal.”
She reached up and moved her hair aside, turning to show Abbey the back of her neck. There was a small disc there, similar in look to the teleporters that Jequn had used on Anvil.
“It’s a regenerative device. It requires power of its own. The power of the Shard.”
“Naniates?”
“Yes. We have a few tricks of our own. But our naniates are in limited supply. They won’t reproduce without the Blood of the Shard, and every time we collect them from the Focus we lose more of it. There isn’t much remaining.”
“So you know where the Focus is?”
“On the Shardship.”
“And you know where the Shardship is?”
“I do.”
“So why don’t you use it against Thraven?”
“As I’m sure Jequn told you, the Focus doesn’t have enough power remaining.”
“That’s why we needed someone like you,” Kett said.
Abbey stared at him, her mind working.
“You think I can fight Thraven. You think I can kill him.”
“That was the original goal,” Kett said. “Captain Mann fragged it up when he rescued you from Hell. You’re strong, Abigail. Stronger than most. But without the rest of the Gift you’ll never be strong enough to fight Thraven.”
“Then why lead me to Drune? Why save me at all, if you’re so sure I can’t stop him?”
“Because we aren’t the One,” Charmeine said. “The possibility remains that we might be wrong.”
“Tell me more about the Font.”
“The Font is a source of the Nephilim’s Gift, as the Focus is to ours. It is a breeding ground for the naniates, where the ancient blood of the Seraphim is mixed with drops of blood from the Shard. When you receive the second part of the Gift, you are permitted to drink from it. To gorge on the naniates within. Some drink too heavily and are killed by the influx. Others drink too lightly and don’t gain the power needed to earn the Serum. Thraven either allows them to change or kills them outright.”
Abbey licked her lips absently. How much power could she gain by drinking from the Font? Not that she wanted to drink blood ever again, but if it would mean the difference between victory and defeat? She would never say never.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Charmeine said. “You can’t drink from it. Not because it would harm you, but because the naniates in the Font are his.”
“His?”
“Thraven can control them from anywhere in the universe. They’re linked. Networked.”
“Frag,” Bastion said.
“Where is the Font?” Abbey asked.
“Wherever Thraven is, the Font will go with him. He bathes in it to keep his strength up. He too is thousands of years old, and requires it to stay alive.”
“Then the Font must be on the Fire. If we capture or destroy the Fire, the Font will be destroyed with it, and Thraven will die.”
“There is one large difference between the Focus and the Font,” Charmeine said. “There is only one Focus.”
“So there are multiple Fonts?”
“But not here. Thraven would need to go ba
ck to the Extant to get another, and he would need to petition one of the other Gloritants to give it to him. Or he would have to win it from them.”
“Other Gloritants? The Extant?” Abbey didn’t like the sound of either of those things.
“Did you think Thraven was the only one?” Kett asked. “He’s the spearhead. Maybe the most intelligent. He isn’t alone.”
“The Extant is the galaxy where the Nephilim reside. It is beyond the reach of your ships, but not of his.”
“Can the Brimstone reach it?”
“Most likely.”
“You know what powers the Brimstone, don’t you?”
“Yes. All of the Nephilim’s technology was once this way, until we destroyed most of the life in this galaxy. It’s the only thing that has held them back this long.”
“It’s fragged up, is what it is,” Bastion said. “Queenie, tell them about the gate.”
“Gate?” Kett said.
“Eagan Heavyworks wasn’t just working on the Fire and Brimstone,” Abbey said. “I found evidence that they were also researching how to build an Elysium Gate.”
“They can’t,” Charmeine said. “Only the Focus.” She paused. “We can’t allow Thraven to get his hands on the Focus.”
“Well, thanks to your amazing plan, Thraven got those hands on your mainframe, and now he knows where you’re hiding.” Abbey didn’t try to mask her anger with the whole shitty deal. “There’s a really good chance he’s on his way here right now.”
“Even if he comes to Bain, it will take him weeks to find Azure,” Kett said.
“You’re not going to be here for weeks,” Abbey said. “In fact, you have about forty-seven hours to mobilize.”
“Forty-seven hours?” Kett said. “Impossible.”
“You’d better make it possible, General. I’ve got a team prepping to assault Thraven’s base on Kell, and you’re damned well going to be part of that assault.”
“I don’t think so,” Kett said. “You should have stayed with your team, Abigail. You wasted your time and your resources coming here if you think I’m going to help you with that. Show me we have a chance to win this war, win the opening battle, and then I’ll get involved. We’ve worked too hard for too many years to throw it all away on day one.”
