The Gatekeepers (The Survivors Book Eight)

by Nathan Hystad

  “It’s going to delay the building by a good six months, maybe a year,” Leslie said.

  “Better to do it right and be safe.” We stopped, and I stepped out, walking over to a crater in the ground. It was at least forty feet deep, and I shook my head in awe. I couldn’t believe some unknown entity had come to Haven attempting to destroy our school.

  “That’s it. We wanted you to see it. If you need to go, we won’t keep you any longer. Set up the portal, and we’ll keep in contact with each other. We need you on board with what we’re doing here, Dean. Maybe you can come stay on Haven full time?” Leslie asked, her voice hopeful.

  Mary and I had been talking about moving from our place on New Spero, but I couldn’t commit to anything quite yet. “We’ll see. All I know is we’re going to miss Karo, but part of me is okay with hanging up my portal-hopping boots. I’ve seen more than enough excitement for ten lifetimes,” I said with a smile.

  “We can make a real pencil-pusher of you here, Dean,” Terrance said, grinning widely.

  “Ah, the good old days,” I said.

  “Let’s take you to the lander,” Leslie said. “Karo, we’re going to miss you too.” He’d spent a good chunk of time living with Leslie and Terrance after we’d first found him alone on his home world, and they’d grown close. Karo had that effect on anyone he was around. He was so affable, and he made a mean dinner too.

  “You have been gracious hosts, and what you’re doing here on Haven is not only admirable, it’s inspiring.” Karo hugged them each, and we settled into the cart.

  Seconds after we started driving to the front of the school, alarms blared out around us, and I caught Terrance looking up to the sky. “You have to be kidding me,” he said.

  “What is it?” Karo asked.

  “They’re back. And they brought friends.”

  Twenty-Three

  “What’s happening? How many?” I asked, wishing I had more information.

  Leslie tapped her earpiece, nodding her head to words I couldn’t hear. “Twenty enemy vessels have approached Haven. Our defenses are ready, the orbital team is in place. We’re under attack,” she relayed to us. She pushed the cart to the limit as we raced toward the parked ships.

  “You guys can take the lander and leave. Go do what you need to do, and Karo, be safe. Take care of Ableen, and yourself for that matter!” Terrance shouted over the sirens and gusting wind. Small flakes of snow began to fall around us.

  Karo and I exchanged a look at the same time, and he spoke for us. “I think not. We’re taking the Kraski ship and joining the fight.”

  Leslie slammed on the brakes, and we skidded to a halt beside our lander. “Are you sure?” she asked.

  “We’re sure.” I hopped off and opened the Kraski ship from the outside, running up the lowering ramp. The four of us entered the ship, and I was glad for the reprieve from the looming winter storm. I had the feeling we were about to enter a different kind of storm, one far more deadly than falling flakes.

  I ran to the bridge and was startled to see a familiar face.

  “Hello, Captain. Are we joining the defense?” Dubs asked from the pilot’s seat.

  “Hey, W. Great to see you,” I told him. “Take us up!”

  We gathered on the bridge, and Terrance took over the weapon helm position. The gray sky raced toward us, and seconds later, we burst through Haven’s atmosphere. I checked the radar to get the lay of the land. Twenty red triangle icons were heading for the world, and we only had five green squares in line to defend against their arrival.

  “Can we stop them?” I asked, not knowing what kind of weapons systems the enemy held.

  “Captain, I’m intercepting a transmission,” Dubs said, and I cringed at his casual use of the title Captain for me.

  “Play it,” I told him.

  “Haven, this is Admiral Yope of Starbound. We are on the way but won’t arrive until twenty minutes after the attackers do. Stand firm and we’ll cover you,” Yope said, and I had to smile. I hadn’t seen the man in a long time. I recalled the way he looked at me the first time we’d met. He sure hadn’t liked me for some reason.

  Now he might be our saving grace. “We only have to deflect them for twenty minutes. How hard can that be?” I asked.

  “They’ll try to spread out, enter the atmosphere. They won’t know about our suborbital defense systems, so we should be able to blast them out of the sky upon entry if they make it that far,” Leslie said. Her eyes half-closed, as if she was calculating a complex math problem and on the verge of a breakthrough.

  “Captain, I’ve set the countdown timer according to the message,” Dubs said, and I observed the top right corner of the viewscreen. The digital numbers ticked silently. It showed eighteen minutes and thirty-seven seconds now.

  “How long before they’re within firing range?” Karo asked.

  Terrance ran the numbers. “Three minutes.”

  I had an idea. I wasn’t sure we could fend off this many vessels with only five of our own, and even if the suborbital weapons worked, they might not be able to counter all of the enemies in time. We couldn’t afford for the school to be destroyed, or even worse; an attack on our cities would be devastating. No other races would set foot on Haven again if that occurred. We had to take a risk.

  “Dubs, fly us out. Move to the side of them… here.” I pointed at the radar, and he nodded.

  “Dean, are you sure? Maybe we should stand firm,” Leslie said.

  “Trust me. We’ll be able to divert a few of them.” I almost laughed, thinking about Slate’s erratic flying while being chased around New Spero when we’d first arrived. “And worst case, they don’t veer off, but we have a clear line at their cluster from behind.”

  “It’ll work,” Terrance agreed, and Dubs started forward. The red icons were blinking nearer, especially as we raced away from orbit.

  Terrance opened the line to the other allies and advised them of what we were doing. The Padlog ship took our lead and accelerated away from the rest of the defenders, moving to flank the enemy from the opposite side.

  The clock continued its descent. It was at sixteen minutes and counting. “Almost in range,” Terrance said, and he fired toward the enemy with a pulse cannon as soon as his screen flashed green. He let loose another five volleys, and as luck would have it, one of the red icons vanished from the radar. “I was trying to surprise them. But I’ll take it,” he said.

  “I think that made them angry.” I pointed at the viewscreen, where Dubs had zoomed the thousand kilometers to see the vessels. Five of them veered off toward us. Another five were moving toward the Padlog ship a thousand klicks the other way, leaving nine moving toward Haven.

  “It’s working,” Leslie said. She grinned until the realization hit her. “They’re coming for us. We can’t fight five of them.”

  “You’re forgetting something,” I told her.

  “What?”

  “Dubs, engage the cloaking shield,” I told the robot in the pilot’s chair.

  “Engaged, Captain.” Our image blinked out on the radar, and the five vessels kept moving toward our previous location.

  “Let’s position ourselves behind them,” I ordered, and Dubs swung our vessel around, letting the enemy ships pass through before following the vessels. “We only have one shot at this. Once we fire, they’ll know where we are.”

  I took a look at the ships through the viewscreen. They were triangles, almost like the stealth bombers I had models of in my room as a child. My dad and I had bought the kits, and after hours of gluing and painting, we’d each sported a bomber. He’d let me keep both of them.

  These enemy ships were black as midnight, sleek and pointed. They moved quickly, efficiently, and I wondered what kind of creature lay behind the controls.

  “I have a lock on two of them,” Terrance said.

  I glanced at the radar and noticed one of the red icons was gone from near the Padlog, but the insectoid ship was in full fleeing mode, four
enemy ships right on its tail. I silently wished our allies luck.

  The timer was down to nine minutes. Terrance’s nostrils flared as he waited for the go-ahead.

  “Fire!” I shouted, and he tapped the console.

  As soon as the cannons were off, Dubs arced the ship away, leaving the remaining three vessels scattering.

  “They’ve arrived. We’re going to hold them off…” The message from the Bhlat ship cut off as the nine enemies neared Haven. Two of them snuck past our defenses, moving toward the atmosphere.

  Leslie was on her earpiece. “Take them down! Take them down!”

  Dubs had another enemy in sight, and Terrance fired, hitting the glowing shield once before penetrating the defenses and blasting it to nothing. Then there were two.

  “Captain, the Padlog vessel has been destroyed,” Dubs said solemnly, and I saw the remaining four enemy ships change trajectory as they moved to join their initial cluster around Haven.

  “Damn it!” I yelled. “We have to join them. Take us there.”

  Dubs shot us around, and raced toward Haven with the cloak activated. The two remaining vessels wandered around aimlessly, expecting to be attacked by a ghost.

  By the time we were within firing range, the clock was at three minutes, and there were twelve ships left.

  “The ground defenses are working. Another is trying to break through,” Leslie said.

  I spotted the Bhlat ship in the viewer now, and it bombarded the incoming fleet with everything it had, but there were too many of the enemies. Terrance shot at them, destroying one, then two more of the black triangle ships, but it wasn’t enough to save the Bhlat. Their vessel exploded, a small piece at first, which escalated into a million fragments.

  We were left beside an Inlorian warship and a Keppe vessel, neither of which had enough firepower to stop the coming vessels. Terrance continued firing, but our friend’s shields were being decimated.

  “Captain, they’re here.” Dubs veered us away, and I smiled grimly as Starbound arrived. The larger than life exploratory vessel fired ten beams at once, each striking its target with ease. Blue spheres shot out from the ship’s underbelly, and seconds later, there were no more enemy ships around.

  The Keppe ship and the Inlorian vessel were intact.

  “Dubs, connect to the Starbound.” I stood at the viewer, and Yope appeared on the screen.

  “I don’t know if I should be surprised to find you here, Dean Parker,” Yope said with a smile.

  “You saved our bacon today, Admiral. Thank you,” I told him.

  “Lucky timing. We were returning from our mission, and I decided to stop by this Haven I keep hearing everyone talk about.” A Keppe woman marched over to Yope and whispered in his ear. “It looks like the Inlor need some help. Their life support and thrusters are inactive. We’ll send help. See you on the surface?” Yope was being far more friendly than usual. Maybe the time exploring the universe again had given him a new outlook on life.

  “See you there,” I told him, and Dubs cut the line.

  One of the black vessels was intact, and it sat there lifelessly in space. “Let’s beam and board. We need to know who we’re up against,” I said, and Dubs flipped the cloak off and activated the tractor beam.

  “Commencing lock,” Dubs said, and we all collectively breathed a sigh of relief. No one had been harmed on the surface, and we’d suffered some casualties. Between the Padlog and Bhlat ships, I guessed that thirty or so of our finest had perished today, and those numbers were unforgivable. Any life taken was unforgivable in my books.

  ____________

  Snow fell in droves now, covering our lander as we emerged from the ship. The enemy ship had sat there idly for two hours while ground teams cleared it. They claimed nothing was alive on board, but we weren’t taking any chances. I was in an armored EVA, and so was Karo.

  “One last day of adventures for us, right, Dean?” Karo took long strides as he advanced toward the ship we were about to enter.

  “For old time’s sake,” I told him. I’d called Mary to let her know what happened, and she understood the delay. She agreed we needed to see the inside with our own eyes, so we stuck around. On the plus side, I was able to spend a few more hours with Karo before the inevitable happened.

  Terrance met us at the entrance to the ship. It was smaller than I’d initially thought. Seeing things zoomed in on the viewscreen in space as you’re racing the opposite direction often gives the wrong impression.

  Still, it stood about twenty meters from top to bottom, and at least a hundred meters from nose to thrusters. The entrance was at the side, near the belly, and a half-dozen armed Bhlat stood at the doorway, waving us inside.

  “They’re not messing around,” Karo said as we stepped past them.

  “Nope.” I set foot into the ship, and felt like I’d been transported to a distant world. Everything was matte black inside: the walls, the floors, the ceiling. My boots clanked over the dark metal grates that made up the corridor, and Karo was granted enough head room inside here to not have to duck like he was used to.

  “Where are they?” I asked a Bhlat inside. He pointed to the hall and tilted his finger to the left. “Thanks.”

  I took the lead, Karo close behind, and Terrance was after him, taking his time as he examined his surroundings. We stopped at a computer integrated into the wall, but the ship’s power was off.

  “I can’t wait until we can dissect this and find out where they come from,” he said. “We’re bringing in a secondary power source today to see if we can’t breathe some life into the ship.”

  I would be long gone by the time that arrived. I took the first left doorway and saw the aliens. Two of them lay on the ground, dead. “What killed them? I don’t think the life support could have failed that quickly.”

  They were wearing all black; thick padding covered their bodies. Their heads… that was where it became troublesome. I staggered back as white dots speckled my vision.

  “Dean, what is it?” Karo asked, stabilizing me.

  “Look.” I pointed at one of the aliens, and Karo’s eyes jumped open.

  “They’re…”

  “They look human,” I said. I knelt between the bodies. One was a woman, her black hair shorn short. She had a tattoo under her eye: three dark lines curving like a saber. The man had the same tattoo. He was scruffier, his hair shaggy, his face unshaven.

  “Dean, remember, we look human too, but the hybrids aren’t, fully,” Terrance said from the doorway. He was right, but it bothered me that the attackers seemed so much like us.

  “We’ll find out soon enough. I take it there’s a DNA sample being analyzed?” I asked.

  Terrance nodded. “Already on it.”

  We toured the dark ship, our suits giving us the light we needed to see. We found twenty more dead bodies, none showing signs of trauma, leaving me to think their deaths were by choice. “I think an autopsy will find they took their own lives with some sort of pill.”

  Karo nodded. “Likely.”

  After seeing all of these tattooed-faced human lookalikes, I needed to get off the ship and out of the EVA. My breaths were coming quick and shallow.

  I left the other two behind, moving past the Bhlat guards and outside into the night. Snow fell harder now, and I recognized a man waiting in a lander nearby. Admiral Yope waved me over.

  I entered the small ship and he shut the door. “Cold as ice.” He outstretched his hand, and I shook it after popping my helmet off and setting it on a bench. “Dean Parker. I’d say it’s good to see you, but under the circumstances…”

  “Same here. You were gone a while,” I told him.

  “Yes. We saw some wonderful things, but I think it’s time I retire from the stars. There are more pressing matters at home,” he said wistfully.

  I met his gaze. “Like Kimtra?” I asked, mentioning the smart woman he used to be involved with.

  He nodded. “Like Kimtra. Very astute of you.”

&
nbsp; “Before I go, I wanted to throw something at you, Admiral,” I said.

  “Please.”

  I told him about the exploration ship we wanted to build, and advised him that Magnus would be taking the helm. I wasn’t sure if Magnus had actually believed me, but I was going to make it a reality.

  “We can help expedite that project for you. Do you want to build it here?” he asked.

  “Haven would be best.”

  “The Keppe will happily trade the supplies needed, as well as leave you our blueprints. From the sounds of it, you have a few ideas of your own. Our base models are quite adaptable,” he said.

  Even after the crazy day of loss and victory, I was excited by this prospect. I sat down, and Yope joined me.

  “Dean, you look tired,” he said.

  “I’ve been through a lot recently.”

  “I heard about you finding Magnus and Fortune out there. Thank you for bringing our people home,” he said.

  “It’s more than that.” I told him about the Gatekeepers, and the portals failing. Yope was surprised to hear it, and he almost stood up when I described the altercation at the prison world, then the shapeshifting animal that had taken Magnus’ daughter.

  “You have been through a lot. I think time on an exploratory ship is exactly what you and your family need,” he said.

  We chatted for a few more minutes, but eventually, I had to see Karo off. After a quick goodbye to Yope, I found Karo waiting for me in our lander.

  I greeted him, and he forced a smile. “Ready to go?” he asked.

  I wasn’t, but I pushed the worry about the future aside for the moment. I shoved away the fear of seeing human faces on the strange new enemy’s ship, and focused on the task at hand.

  “I’m ready. What a day. We weren’t expecting this.” I laughed, and he joined me, the sort of hysterical sound you could only emit after too many hours awake.

  By the time we arrived at the portals, we sat silent. They’d programmed the lock remotely to my DNA so I could gain access, and the door opened to my touch. I headed for the portal room, Karo beside me, and I paused in the doorway, placing my pen-sized device from Fontem’s collection on the ground. The light emerged from it, sealing against the walls and ceiling before vanishing from sight.