The Xaros Reckoning (The Ember War Saga Book 9)

by Richard Fox

  “Thank you, sir. Means a lot to me.”

  “If you’re as good a husband and father as you are a corpsman, you’ll do just fine.”

  “I wouldn’t mind a little less practice. If you don’t mind, sir.”

  “I promise nothing.”

  Hale handed the rifle back and went to Bailey. She wore a felt slouch hat with the left side pinned up by the Strike Marine emblem. Australia had made a number of demands before its military was integrated into the Atlantic Union; preserving their traditional headgear had been a demand, not a request. Hale wasn’t positive the bush knife against her thigh was within regs, and he really didn’t want to find out otherwise.

  Three Excalibur rounds glowed slightly through pouches on her belt.

  “You get enough range time with those?” Hale asked.

  “They’re a pain in the arse to fire. Too light, like I’m shooting a damn spitball. Torni says they’ll rip the shit out of those big nasties. That’s all I need.” She smacked her gum. Her eyes went wide with shock and her head snapped to Cortaro.

  The first sergeant’s face went red.

  Hale cleared his throat and Bailey swallowed hard.

  “We are not done,” Cortaro said, jabbing a knife hand toward the sniper.

  Hale stepped around Bailey and went down the line to Lieutenant Jacobs.

  ****

  Elias gripped his Excalibur blade and slashed the air at chest height. Torni had adjusted the balance point to three inches forward of the guard, just as he’d asked. He looked down the length of the crystal-clear weapon, admiring the filigree wire lattice within. The weapons were specifically designed to disrupt the photonic bodies of the Xaros masters. He’d used an Excalibur to kill the General on Earth; he hoped for a similar opportunity on the Apex.

  The clash of metal on metal rang across the flight deck. Suited Ar’ri, holding a mock-up of the Excalibur, sparred with Adamczyk wielding a kopia spear. Vladislav and Ferenz practiced thrusts with Xaros-killing versions of the Hussars’ traditional weapon. The Hussars had refused to go to battle with something so mundane as a sword and insisted Torni make them proper weapons. That Torni had taken the time to accommodate the Polish armor almost made up for the time she saved Malal from Elias’ grasp.

  Almost.

  “Sir, what’re they doing?” Caas motioned to where Carius and his two Templar companions were each on one knee, facing into a circle. They held their Excalibur blades point-down on the deck, the guard pressed against their helms. The sounds of Latin spoken in unison came from the Templars.

  “Tradition. They recite the Psalm before battle, then receive the chaplain’s blessing.”

  “We don’t…do that?” she asked.

  “Every team is different. They do what they desire. No business of mine or ours. Gott Mit Uns is enough.”

  “You have so many ways of worship on this ship. I’m surprised everyone can get along so well. The Dotok were like that, but differing theologies led to…issues on the generation ships. The high listers discouraged religion to keep the peace. I wonder if we lost too much for the sake of harmony. My family held to the tradition of the one creator. Maybe that’s why we were so low list. The creator would give out blessings to those that asked…but I’ve forgotten the words.”

  Chaplain Krohe walked onto the deck in his full vestments, carrying a small bronze cup.

  “Do you think Krohe would bless my weapon?” she asked. “I don’t think the creator would be too upset if I go through a human ritual. In Dotok religion, it’s the thought that counts.”

  “He might not, but he doesn’t know who’s inside this armor, does he?” Elias hit his fist against his chest twice, summoning Ar’ri.

  The Templars broke out of their circle and knelt in a line facing the chaplain. The Hussars fell in beside them. Elias and the Iron Hearts finished the line. The ten armor soldiers knelt to one knee, blades and spear tips down, weapons pressed to their helms.

  Chaplain Krohe said a prayer then made the sign of the cross. He dipped his fingertips in holy water and flicked drops onto Carius’ weapon.

  Carius put both hands on the hilt.

  “Non nobis, Domine, non nobis sed monini Tuo da gloriam,” the colonel said.

  “Elias…do I have to say that?” Ar’ri asked through a private IR channel.

  “Just stay quiet,” Elias said.

  The chaplain moved down the line, repeating the blessing until he got to Elias.

  “I haven’t seen you in a while,” Krohe said. “We’ve missed you.”

  Elias touched a palm against his breastplate. “No one has seen me for a long time. Would you say a prayer for me?”

  “Of course.”

  “Ask Him to witness me.”

  Krohe nodded and blessed the Excalibur blade with a splash of holy water.

  ****

  Valdar reached into the holo tank and zoomed in toward one of the Crucible’s many thorns. A single drone, Torni, worked feverishly on the last few incomplete sections of the immense gate.

  His senior officers crowded around the tank along with three VIPs, a moniker Valdar disliked using for them, but it was apt.

  “Torni? How much longer?” Valdar asked.

  “I’ll have the last of it down in the next few seconds. It’ll take a few minutes to cure, then we’re good to go.”

  “We’ll have a short window of opportunity before the Xaros realize we’re inside their network,” Stacey said. “That door swings both ways, so once we get to Sletari, the probe within our Crucible will break the connection. We won’t be able to come back through our gate unless we send an all clear through the probe we’re bringing with us.”

  “This is what it was all for, wasn’t it?” Valdar looked at Stacey, then to the “Ranger” standing next to her. “The Xaros came through, wiped out the Earth, and almost finished the Crucible before we took it from them. All of that, and everything that followed, for one shot at their holy of holies.”

  “The Alliance would have brought a grand fleet for this moment.” Stacey shook her head.

  “I’ll take a small force united in purpose over a giant mess of separate actors out for their own good,” Valdar said, zooming the tank out to show the entire Crucible. Nearly a hundred human warships clustered around the supercarrier Constantine and the Dotok Vorpral. Two Ruhaald fleets filled up much of the rest of the jump gate’s center. “Although…the Ruhaald aren’t my first choice for allies.”

  “Needs must, Captain,” Stacey said.

  “Speaking of…” Valdar swiped a hand through the tank and a static model of Sletari came up. The Key Hole orbited the planet at a distance slightly farther than the moon from Earth. A different Crucible gate, more like the one over Ceres, held position over the alien world. A half-dozen holographic captains appeared around the tank.

  “Task Force Gabriel,” Valdar said, “we are the main effort for this operation. Once we’re through the Crucible, we will make for best speed to the Key Hole. One of our mission specialists,” Valdar said, looking at the disguised Ibarra, “will accompany the boarding party from the Breitenfeld and seize control of the target’s command center. Once that is secure, the payload will go through final assembly and we will send it on to the Apex.”

  “Why the wait?” asked Captain Howser of the Wyvern. “Have the bomb ready before the gate to the Apex opens.”

  Valdar looked at the third VIP, Malal disguised as a lanky man in plain work overalls. Valdar hesitated, unsure if he wanted Malal to speak.

  “It’s a bomb that can destroy the galaxy,” Stacey said. “Best not to arm it until we’re absolutely sure the target is ready. The Little Boy atomic bomb dropped onto Hiroshima had its final assembly done on the way to the target…fun fact. In case anyone was interested.”

  “It cannot be stopped,” Malal said. Stacey recoiled from him, startled by his words. “Activating the device will create the tear. The annihilation wave will form within minutes.”

  “Let me remind
you all that the freighters Nugget and Stugots are carrying omnium that is a vital part of the bomb’s payload,” Valdar said. “We’ve rehearsed the void assembly, but those ships must be protected at all costs. Every other ship on this mission will do whatever it takes to get us to the Key Hole and then we must deliver the bomb. Failure is not an option.”

  A video feed from the ship’s flight deck appeared in the holo tank. A drone flew through the force field and morphed into Torni. She looked up at the camera and gave a thumbs-up.

  “Almost time,” Valdar said. “Earth, all we’ve lost, all we might ever be, depends on this mission. Gott Mit Uns.”

  Chapter 13

  The Engineer descended through bedrock, past striations marking geologic ages, and through the compacted remains of a city lost between continental forces. There, in a small void between the fault lines, a relic survived.

  A ship formed into an elongated teardrop glowed in a cave, its bottom half buried in shattered stone.

  The Engineer looked over the vessel, examining it down to the molecular level. A hand formed out of his clockwork shape and gently touched the ship’s surface.

  +What are you doing?+ Keeper sent from beyond the surface.

  +The species that left this behind…their craftsmanship is superb, far greater than anything else we’ve encountered here. Wrought omnium. We spent centuries mastering the technique, then we abandoned the effort for photonics. Yet there is more here. I see the touch of many craftsmen, not all of the same race.+

  +Why? No species that approached our glory could tolerate a peer competitor. No advanced species bothers with lesser beings.+

  The Engineer marveled at his perfect reflection against the ship’s hull.

  +We were the first to walk the stars in our galaxy. We destroyed all other intelligences before they could ever pose a threat to us. If we had shepherded some of them along as slaves, perhaps they could have made some contribution to our civilization,+ the Engineer said.

  +Heresy. Your time away from the Apex has affected your essence. None possess our purity or perfection. None will be allowed to sully our existence. The lower castes will shift through the ashes of this galaxy, then we will purge them from our ranks.+

  +I admire your dogmatism.+ The Engineer felt a ripple through the fabric of space-time.

  +That you even entertain other thoughts would put you up for censure. But we are both operating beyond our remit. I will forget this conversation ever happened.+

  +Do you feel that?+ The Engineer left the ship and melded into the rock, returning to the surface quickly, like he was underwater and short on breath. The sensation grew stronger…emanating from one of the system’s Crucible jump gates.

  +Feel what?+

  The Engineer broke through the surface and continued to space, toward the many-ringed jump gate leading to the Apex.

  A Crucible gate over the once-inhabited world flared to life, and hundreds of ships poured through. Their design told of two different species acting in concert…with one oversized vessel boasting weapons of yet another race.

  +Impossible!+ Keeper snapped across the void and took up residence within the center of the Apex gate.

  +Yet they are here. Secure the pathway to the Apex. That is your remit. I will deal with the intruders.+

  +You must stop them. If the others even learn that this system was ever threatened…+

  +I know the penalty. Do your job.+

  The Engineer returned to Sletari. He summoned drones to defend the world and destroy the invaders. Their ships did not matter; only one specific passenger was of any significance. The Engineer took a position high over the world’s North Pole, and waited for the rendezvous signal from Malal.

  ****

  Valdar snapped out of his chair and went to the holo tank as telemetry data from the rest of the fleet flooded into it. The surface of Sletari reformed, updating from the Qa’Resh’s millennia-old image. Malal and Ibarra were already at the tank, all looking intently at the Crucible gate the fleet had come through.

  “The Xaros are realigning the gate,” Stacey said. “We need to knock it off-line before almost every last drone in the galaxy comes through after us. Course, we break it too badly and we’ll never get home.”

  “I don’t have any plans for tomorrow,” Valdar said. “Guns, mass rail cannon fire on a single point in the Crucible’s structure and—”

  “Wait…” Malal touched four firing points on the Crucible’s shifting thorns. “Strike there. The damage will take the gate off-line for hours.”

  “Utrecht?”

  “Helm pitch fourteen degrees to port after first volley,” the gunnery officer called out.

  White light flashed through the bridge as the rail cannons fired. Two of the points on the Crucible blinked red; the others followed suit soon after. All the Crucible’s thorns froze in place.

  “It will repair itself,” Stacey said. She held up a hand and a tiny sliver of light glowed from her palm. “Our probe says it won’t have a problem getting us back home, so long as we don’t break that Crucible any more than we already have.”

  “Valdar?” Admiral Garret appeared in the holo tank. “We’ve got a problem.”

  Sletari grew in the tank. Hundreds of ruby threat icons appeared over the surface, all streaming toward a single point over a snow-covered patch of a mountain range. Valdar zoomed in; each icon was a single drone.

  “We knew there’d be a Xaros garrison,” Valdar said. “With all the firepower we’ve got, this should be a quick fight.”

  “Sletari is chicken feed compared to what’s coming off the second moon,” Garret said.

  The holo zoomed over to a lush green planetoid surrounded by gigantic brass-colored rings. A Crucible gate, smaller than the one the allied fleet came through, was alive, spewing out drones and larger constructs.

  “That wasn’t in the Qa’Resh intelligence,” Stacey said. “That’s not supposed to be there!”

  Course projections and an estimated time to contact traced away from the Xaros’ active Crucible to the fleet. Valdar felt a cold pit form in his stomach.

  “There’s not enough time,” he said. “I can’t get to the Key Hole and deliver the bomb before we’re up to our neck in drones.”

  “We didn’t come all this way to quit now,” Garret said. “Continue your mission. I’ll hold them off as long as I can.”

  “The planet’s defenses still function,” Malal said.

  “What are you talking about?” Valdar asked. “The Xaros would have wiped out every trace of the Mok’Tor when they conquered the planet.”

  “The Xaros preserve the remains of long-lost civilizations,” Stacey said. Her doll face stared at Malal and Valdar swore he saw her gears turning.

  “The Mok’Tor came to Sletari to plunder the remains of an older race, a race that slipped the bonds of mortality and left monuments to their glory for lesser beings to behold,” Malal said.

  “This is one of your planets,” Valdar said.

  “Correct.” Malal reached into the tank and it zoomed in on the mountain range where the garrison drones massed. As the holo zoomed toward what Valdar thought was a glacier, a city of tall crystalline spires and ivory bridges appeared. “Bring me here. I can access the world spirit and take control of the defenses.”

  Valdar pointed at Stacey. “Go. Get him to the flight deck.”

  Chapter 14

  Hale grabbed a handle next to the Mule’s ramp. Cortaro slapped him on the shoulder twice, telling him the ribbon-chute on his back was in place and ready to go.

  The gauss cannons in the ship’s defense turrets sent shivers through Hale’s feet as they fired on Xaros drones.

  “Landing zone is hot,” Jorgen, the pilot, said through the Mule’s IR. “I can still make the drop but you’ll have to vector in.”

  “Give us a green light and we’ll handle the rest.” Hale looked over his shoulder at his Marines as they did final checks on each other’s ribbon-chutes. Stacey and Malal sto
od toward the back of the compartment; neither had a ribbon-chute.

  “Stacey, we can strap you to—”

  “We’ve got it covered.” She waved a hand at Hale.

  The ramp lowered with a thunk and light flooded the Mule. Snowy mountain peaks swept past as Jorgen dipped the Mule lower. A blast of wind nudged Hale back as tiny flecks of snow and ice invaded the compartment.

  “Air pressure nine thousand feet equivalent,” Cortaro called out. “Winds ten knots north-northeast.”

  Hale tapped the information into his forearm screen and a bright green arrow appeared on his visor pointing toward the landing zone.

  A warning horn sounded three times and a strobe light activated just above the lip of the open ramp.

  “First one to make landfall drops the rendezvous beacon,” Hale shouted over the gale winds. “After we form up, get Malal to the control room.”

  The horn and strobe light went steady.

  “Jump! Jump! Jump!” Hale ran down the ramp and launched himself into the air. His world went almost silent as he fell, angling himself facedown.

  The city lay a few miles up the valley. The crystalline spires looked as if they were carved from deep-blue ice mined out of ancient glaciers. The base of the city was bare rock—rock that tapered down to a column of stone that disappeared into a cloudbank hundreds of yards below.

  Hale took his attention away from the impossible feat of engineering and twisted around. He counted each of his Marines in the air…but saw no sign of Stacey or Malal.

  “Damn them. Chute! Parafoil!” His earpiece beeped twice as his ribbon-chute acknowledged his command. He slapped a palm against the release and the ribbon-chute unfolded into an arch shape. As it caught air, the risers snapped taut, sending a quake through his entire body. He looked up to check the canopy had formed correctly.

  The flash of weapons fire crisscrossing the sky above and brief fireballs testified to the still-raging battle in the void. Hale steered himself toward the city, a tailwind buffeting him from side to side as it pushed him ahead.