by Richard Fox
“Hull integrity normal.”
“We’re at high anchor over a planet.” Geller looked up from a screen, a smile on his face. “It’s…it looks a lot like Earth.”
“Any word from the Ruhaald?” Valdar asked Ericson.
“Nothing yet, sir. Most of their ships are still coming through. No sign of the Forever Tide,” she said.
“Stay frosty, everyone. They haven’t rolled out the welcome mat for us just yet,” Valdar said. A video feed opened on a screen attached to his armrest. A world of deep blue oceans and long bands of green continents appeared. A pair of hurricanes roiled near the equator. A slice of the world was at night and thick patches of city lights clung to unseen coastlines and harbors.
“Sir,” Utrecht said, waving to the captain, “three cruiser analogues on an intercept course with us. Coming in fast.”
“Put it in the tank.” Valdar unbuckled from his captain’s chair and went to the holo tank where his ship appeared as a blue triangle. Green icons of Ruhaald ships arriving from Earth popped up several hundred kilometers away. Three red arrows followed a dashed-line path toward his ship.
Stacey struggled out of a chair bolted to the wall and joined Valdar at the tank.
“This isn’t right,” she said. “The Ruhaald ships were supposed to come through first…and we were supposed to be a lot closer together.”
“We can figure out the screwup later.” Valdar zoomed the tank in on the three approaching cruisers, all studded with weapons batteries. “You’re the diplomat. Get them to back off before they learn what rail cannons taste like.”
Stacey swiped fingers over a forearm screen. “Septon Jarilla, this is the Breitenfeld. Request you tell the welcoming party we’re friendly and to stand down.” There was no answer. She reached into the holo tank and zoomed in on the Ruhaald ships that’d come from Earth. The Forever Tide was missing.
She bit her lip and double-tapped a battle cruiser, the Endless Depths. A working icon popped up next to it, then switched to an error.
“Why can’t I open a channel to the Ruhaald ships?” Stacey called out to the bridge crew.
“All their ships are radio silent,” Ericson said. “Want a wide-band transmission to the three ships on their way over here?”
“They’ll enter weapons’ range in five minutes,” Utrecht called out.
Stacey looked at Valdar and shrugged.
“Hail the cruisers,” Valdar said. “Tell Gall she may have to launch into hot space. Helm, take us forward at half speed. No reason to be a sitting duck if we have the choice.”
“Aye aye.” The commo officer tapped out commands on her workstation.
The cruisers adjusted their intercept course immediately. Two long minutes passed as the Breitenfeld’s hails went unanswered.
Then, a green dot appeared next to the center cruiser. A screen popped up with a Ruhaald floating in a sapphire-blue tank of water. More of the Ruhaald aquatic caste swam in the background.
Bubbles and squeaks came through channel.
Stacey tapped the Qa’Resh translation box on her shoulder and said, “This is Stacey Ibarra, chief diplomat of the Atlantic Union delegation. From Earth. There seems to be some technical difficulty. Our mission is peaceful. Please adjust your course.”
The Ruhaald leaned toward the camera.
“You speak Daeadalla. I do not care for their words. I am Scion Ciuul of the Berilla. You must be the first of the slaves. Power down your weapons and prepare to be boarded,” the alien said.
“There’s been some misunderstanding,” Stacey said. “The Daeadalla reached a settlement with Earth. We are not slaves. Septon Jarilla will explain that to you,” she said as she looked at the fleet of ships that had come through the now-shrinking wormhole, “once he arrives. Which will be any moment now.”
Ciuul pulled back from camera. Limbs tipped with flippers swung between its body.
“The Daeadalla promised slaves. Your ship holds a jump engine. I claim it for the Berilla. You will stand by to be boarded. Resistance will be punished.” The channel cut out.
“No, no, no,” Stacey repeated the word and tapped her forearm screen rapidly, trying to reopen the connection.
“I knew this was a mistake.” Valdar shook his head. “Engine room, prep an immediate jump back to Earth.”
“Love to, Captain, but there’s a fluctuation in the quantum field that’s driving the engines batty,” Lieutenant Commander Levin said through the IR. “Get us a couple hundred thousand miles from the planet and we’ll be good to go.”
“Helm, turn us about. Engines at best speed.” Valdar pointed a finger at Stacey. “You tell those other squids that they have exactly thirty seconds to break off before I start shooting.”
“I would if I could, sir, but they’re actively jamming every frequency I try using.”
“Gall, this is Valdar. I want your fighters to run interdiction until we—”
A pair of jagged bolts of red energy snapped past the bridge.
“Guns!” Valdar slapped a red button on the holo tank and his command chair turned around and slid forward on rails. “Target the engines on the center ship and fire when ready.”
Bursts of light splashed across the Breitenfeld’s hull, as if a thunderstorm raged high above.
Two of the threatening icons in the holo tank blinked. A red X appeared over them both as the two destroyed ships veered off course.
“Guns, belay that order,” Valdar said.
A massive Ruhaald ship sped past the Breitenfeld’s prow, disgorging arrowhead-shaped fighters by the dozen from hangars spread across its centerline.
“Captain Valdar,” Septon Jarilla said as he appeared in the holo tank, “there is a blood feud between the Berilla and my people, one that’s gone on for many centuries. Your arrival and mission are not going to plan.”
“You don’t say.” Valdar’s pounding heart and adrenaline-tense muscles didn’t relax as more Daeadalla ships from the septon’s fleet formed a protective cordon around the Breitenfeld.
“My queen is in contact with the synod now,” Jarilla said. “The negotiations for your presence on the surface shouldn’t take much time.” The alien’s image vanished.
“We have to negotiate to negotiate,” Stacey said. “Wonderful.”
“Why is this a surprise to you? Also, why didn’t you mention all these blood feuds before we arrived? If there’s something affecting the safety of my crew and my ship, I expect to know about it long before the shooting starts,” Valdar said.
“I know the basics about the Ruhaald through their ambassador on Bastion. The probe back on Earth didn’t carry any information on them—a security precaution in case the probe was ever compromised. Can’t hack data that’s not in a system. But Darcy—”
“Darcy?”
“Their ambassador. I can’t pronounce her name without gills so I called her something else. Don’t judge me. Darcy mentioned the political situation on her home world was complicated, but we never got into specifics. We spent most of our time trying to figure out the Xaros problem. None of the ambassadors talked about home that much. Kind of a faux pas.”
“How are you going to negotiate if you don’t know anything about the Ruhaald?”
“We know enough. They’re terrified. Terrified of the Xaros drone maniple heading straight for them that’s less than a decade away. That’s why they sided with the Vishrakath plot to extort the proccie tech from us even though I told Darcy we’d fight beside them once their fleets helped defend Earth.” Stacey tugged at her bottom lip. “Of course, we also know they can’t be trusted.”
Valdar grunted. “I’m glad you and Ibarra are here. If this blows up in our faces, you’ll be sure to see it.”
“Captain?” The communications officer waved a hand in the air. “Incoming transmission from the planet.”
“In the tank.”
“It’s for Ms. Ibarra, sir.”
“Tank, please.” Stacey rubbed her gloved hands together
. “Progress!”
The grainy image of a Ruhaald with overly long feeder tentacles and a light-pink sheen to its skin formed in the tank.
“I render appropriate greetings, Stacey Ibarra,” the alien said.
“Are you…Thrakkorzog? No, Lakkidivog. Wait—”
“Darcy. I am glad you escaped Bastion. The implications of your arrival are already spreading across the planet. The peace I brokered between the queens to face the Xaros is falling apart. There will be a full-scale war between most of the factions by nightfall,” she said.
“Just because we showed up?” Stacey asked, her face falling into a despondent frown.
“Why is Forever Tide’s jump engine missing? That was our only hope of escape from the Xaros. The other queens will be furious when they learn of this,” Darcy said.
“Back up—how can we stop the war? We didn’t come here to pick sides or shoot anyone.”
“I can use what little influence I have left to call a synod. I will send you the coordinates. You may bring a single shuttle. Come unarmed.” Darcy’s transmission cut out.
“Progress,” she said to Valdar with a quick nod.
“I can’t risk this ship for you,” the captain said. “The jump engine is vital to the attack on the Apex. If things go south down there or the Ruhaald make another play for the Breitenfeld, we are leaving. With or without you.”
“I understand, and I don’t blame you,” she said. “I might have a few hours to discuss things with Jarilla before—” A pulsating beacon appeared on a coastline adjacent to a narrow sea, along with a timer promising only a few hours until zero. “Or I can run down to a Mule and leave right now. I’m not going to catch a break today, am I?”
Chapter 10
The Mule’s ramp lowered onto a beach of pale yellow sand. Hale held a hand over his visor to block the powerful rays coming off the twin suns low in the sky. Thunderstorms raged in the distance, the roof of the storm clouds stretched into anvil-shapes by high altitude winds. An ATMO beacon blinked against his faceplate.
The ramp bit into the sand and Standish ran past Hale. In full combat armor, the Marine’s boots stomped against the ramp with a clang then thumped into the loose ground. He kicked up a spray of tiny crystalline granules.
“Woo! Private First Class Standish is the first human to step foot on Planet Squid.” He banged a fist against his chest. “Let’s see them edit that out of the history books. First man to greet the Karigole. First man on Anthalas. Now Squid Town.”
“Should we leave him behind?” Cortaro asked Hale.
“Tempting…” Hale went down the ramp and grabbed Standish by the back of the neck. The young Marine stopped celebrating instantly.
Stacey and Cortaro joined them on the beach. Sapphire-blue waves crashed against the surf for miles up and down the coastline. Mountains rose behind them. A meandering road cut a line across the range, the glint of sunlight off scattered dome-shaped structures offered another sign of civilization.
Hale glanced at a map on his forearm screen.
“This is the place,” he said. “Made it with a couple minutes to spare.”
“Doesn’t really look like a place to have a nice sit-down discussion, does it?” Stacey asked. She wore a light, skintight vac suit instead of combat armor like her Marines escort. She didn’t want to look threatening to the Ruhaald but the rest of the shore party needed to convey the threat of violence if pressed, even if they didn’t carry any weapons.
“Atmo pressure is good, same with gravity,” Cortaro said as he swiped his screen. “Way too much CO2 in the air, barely any free oxygen. We can breathe this stuff, but still suffocate.”
“So much for opening a resort on this place,” Standish said. “Plus, I doubt the natives are friendly.”
Stacey put her hands on her hips. “I’m not a Ruhaald synod but from what Torni and the Iron Hearts saw of that queen on the Forever Tide, I was expecting something a bit more…regal. And then…there’s something in the water.”
She pointed to the waves.
Hale’s hands flexed, wishing for his absent rifle. He stepped in front of Stacey as a pale shape the size of a small fishing boat sped just beneath the waves toward them. A chill bit through his upper arm. He glanced back and saw Stacey cowering behind him, her hands gripping him just above the elbow. Her touch was uncomfortable even through his armor, but he didn’t pull away.
A submarine with a pearl and ivory hull reared out of the water and slid onto the beach. A membrane slid open as seawater poured down the exterior. A stoop-shouldered Ruhaald with pink skin came to the opening and gestured at Stacey.
“That’s Darcy.” She let Hale go and removed her helmet, shaking her heavy hair out with a swish of frost.
“Whoa, wait a minute.” Standish reached for her and caught the helmet when she tossed it to him.
“Hard to show sincerity behind a helmet,” she said. “Plus, I don’t need to breathe when I’m like this. Do you want to come, Standish?”
“No, he doesn’t.” Hale put a hand against Stacey’s back and gave her a slight press forward. He turned to Cortaro and said, “You get the recall from Valdar, you don’t wait around. Got me?”
“Sir, I don’t know how we could even find you once you get in that thing. Other than that, we’ll squat and hold until you two get back,” Cortaro said.
Hale gave him a nod and caught up to Stacey.
“Thanks for coming, Ken,” she said as they walked toward the waiting vessel. “I feel a lot better doing this with you here.”
“I don’t have my rifle, my sidearm or my grenades. This armor can swim as well as an anchor. Not sure what good I can do for you,” he said. “Least I’m not completely useless.” He gave his right arm, the one with the Ka-Bar combat knife in the forearm housing, an exaggerated swing. “You should have brought armor to escort you.”
“The Ruhaald specifically forbade the armor from coming along. I think they’re afraid of Elias.”
“You didn’t see what he did to them on Earth.” A shiver went through his body as the memory of crushed alien bodies and Elias’ gore-covered armor came back to him. Hale had never seen armor that shied away from battle, but sometimes he feared that Elias actually enjoyed the carnage.
“Ken, just so you know,” Stacey said through his IR earpiece, her lips didn’t move as she spoke. “I have an override code for the Ruhaald’s probe that might work. If it takes, the probe will shoot straight for the Breitenfeld. With only one probe we can’t attack the Apex without leaving the Earth vulnerable to the Xaros opening a wormhole right on top of the planet. The override code is our last resort down here. I transmit it and things will go very bad for us down here.”
“You might have mentioned this sooner,” Hale said.
Stacey stopped a few steps away from the submarine.
“Mentioned what?” Stacey said out loud as she waved to Darcy.
Darcy’s bulbous head turned from side to side, looking at her with each wide black eye.
“You are different than I remember,” the Ruhaald said.
“This is my simulacrum body, from Bastion. I escaped the Xaros attack with the Qa’Resh after Wexil and his bunch of traitorous scum locked Pa’lon and I in the transfer chamber.” A sneer went across Stacey’s face.
A small ramp extended from the opening into the sand. Hale went up first. He got through the opening…and found himself standing on a bare deck with Darcy and nothing else. He reached out and touched an invisible wall.
“Projection screens,” Darcy said. She was two feet taller than Hale and almost twice as wide. As she sidestepped away from him, Hale caught a glimpse of sucker pads beneath her feet as she moved.
Hale reached back and helped Stacey up by the hand. His bones stung with cold, like he’d forgotten to wear gloves during a winter’s night.
“Well, this a neat trick,” Stacey said as she looked around.
“The synod is waiting for us.” Darcy went to the fore of the submarine
and wiggled the tips of her long tentacles in a holo field. Deep gashes ran down her back, each filled with a ruby-red substance that looked like coral.
“You’re hurt,” Stacey said.
The submarine shifted forward with the barest hint of inertia and slipped beneath the waves. Light played through the wavy ceiling and glinted off a school of rainbow-colored fish the size of Hale’s finger. A pack of crustaceans with pearl shells skittered across the sea floor.
“The queens are agitated,” Darcy said, “some more so than others. It was not easy to get this audience.”
“You owe me an explanation,” Stacey said. “You promised the Ruhaald would help fight off the Xaros, not stab us in the back the first chance you got. What happened?”
“I made that agreement in good faith with you, and the Naroosha, on Bastion. But when I came back home, the Naroosha fleet was already here. Their leader, this Ordona, promised the synod their own Crucible gate, their own procedurally generated humans who would fight without compulsion or regard for their own safety. I pleaded with the synod to refuse, to trust in your promise to fight alongside us when the time came.”
“Then your synod chose humanity to be their slaves instead of their friends,” Stacy said, her words tinged with hatred.
“We are not a unified race,” Darcy said. “Warring against each other is essential for a queen’s brood to grow stronger. The procedural humans were something they could count on. It is not in the synod’s nature to trust each other. They agreed to the Naroosha’s, and the Vishrakath’s plan. Then our probe, my companion for so long, was compromised. I couldn’t go back to warn you.”
“Bastion is gone,” Stacey said. The water darkened as the sub sank deeper and deeper. “The Xaros aren’t afraid to use their own wormhole technology anymore. They could be here any time they choose.”
“We received a garbled warning from the Vishrakath through the probe. Our attempts to disrupt quantum space through our probe are evidently useless,” Darcy said.
“So that’s why our jump-in system went haywire.” Hale squinted at a distant shadow moving through the darkness.
