I grabbed him. “Get up,” I said.
“I got you out,” he replied, panting. “Isn’t that enough?”
“Not yet.”
I slipped behind him and aimed the gun at his head. He didn’t even bother to raise his. I wasn’t sure he could. With his adrenaline waning, the wound through his shoulder had his arm hanging slack and his eyes bloodshot. Even my Ringer muscles were strong enough to keep him at bay.
“You won, kid,” he said. “Is that what you want to hear? I don’t have anything left.” All the vim fled his voice. One final push to keep me alive for her sake, and now both his body and soul were failing.
“You have her.”
“Thirty years. That’s how long I worked for that man, and I shot him. How many more have to die before your vengeance ends?”
“We don’t get to choose when it ends.”
“Tell that to the man you sent me to kill. You chose when Orson’s ended. They chose when Cora’s ended. Who’s next, kid?”
The lift opened into the Undina Mining Facility proper, and I squeezed Malcolm’s neck harder. A line of Pervenio security officers awaited us, rifles pressed against their shoulders and aimed at us.
“Step away from Mr. Graves!” their leader barked.
I ducked to make sure Malcolm’s stout body covered most of mine and held my gun firmly against his head while we slowly trod forward. A Cogent could have made the shot, but not this lot of tired officers. There wasn’t one of them that looked like he hadn’t recently woken from a nap.
“Just put down your guns and get out of here,” Malcolm grumbled. “This change has been coming a long time, and none of you are going to stop that.”
“What are you talking about?” the officer said. “Don’t move another step, or we will fire.”
“Don’t throw your lives away for him.”
“Stop!”
Bullets tore into the officers from behind. Their bodies danced like they were being worked by invisible puppeteers before they dropped, blood pooling in all the air pockets mottling the rocky floor.
“Lord Trass, are you all right?” My guards rushed over to help me with Malcolm. They tore him from my arms and checked to make sure I wasn’t wounded.
“Get your Ringer hands off me!” Malcolm snapped. One of my armored men punched him in the gut. He folded, but another kept him from going down so he could take another blow to the side of the face.
“Enough!” I ordered. “Luxarn is dead, thanks to him.”
“He’s gone?” The youngest of my guards could barely get the words out. There was a sense of relief to my guard’s tone, like when the pressure exerted from a launch off Titan suddenly gives way to weightlessness, and all the fear of burning up goes away. It was then that I knew for sure I’d made the right call to chase Luxarn, and that Rin was wrong.
“For good this time,” I said. The young man was so floored, even though the news was expected, that he dropped Malcolm. “It’s time to go.”
“What about the collector?” asked another Titanborn.
“Cuff him and bring him too.”
“You made a promise, Kale,” Malcolm snarled. “Remember that. You made a damn promise!”
I turned to him, grabbed the barrel of his pistol, and ripped it out of his hands. “And I intend to keep it, but you’re not going to want to miss this.” I waved more men over.
“Put a bullet in my head like a fucking man,” Malcolm said.
Another bout of curses echoed through the mines when he was seized. With my men’s powered armor on, his Earther strength was no match. They wrenched his arms behind his back and got him moving. His bullet wound had him moaning in pain, which only inspired my men to yank harder.
“The Fusion Pulse Engine has been installed,” the youngest of the Titanborn addressed me as we turned and set off through Undina’s barren tunnels. He had to raise his voice so I could hear him over Malcolm’s incessant grousing. “The rest are back on board the Cora, and we have a clear path.” Bodies were strewn haphazardly in our path, some armed like officers, others no more than miners. We couldn’t risk anybody making a bold move.
“Any complications?” I asked.
“None. Basaam’s instructions were all accurate. The coward gave in right away. It’s anchored into the asteroid’s crust just outside the hangar, and we used his equations to set it at the proper angle.”
“Tell them to begin activating the engine and open a com channel from the Cora to the USF headquarters on New London. Now.”
“Yes, Lord Trass.”
We were halfway across the station’s galley when my orders went through. A tremor shook Undina, like an earthquake, only from outside, not within. My bones chattered. Then another came, even more violent. It sent me stumbling into Malcolm and over an overturned table. My men were able to keep their balance in their armor and plucked me off him.
“What the hell was that?” Malcolm asked.
“M-Day,” I said.
Before my men grabbed him again, I watched his eyelids go wide like he’d had an epiphany. I’d wondered how long it would take him to realize that every Earther’s biggest fear was about to come true. That Basaam Venta’s Fusion Pulse Engine, invented to propel an Ark Ship the size of a small asteroid across Sol, were being used to do it.
Three and a half centuries ago, a meteorite inspired Darien Trass to send thousands of Earth’s finest men and women to Titan. He intended for them to start a new civilization. The most brilliant minds, free of all their worldly shackles—free to create a new paradise for man. Now a second meteorite would see my people freed from the survivors of Earth who refused to die and took that from us.
Acceleration from the engines third nuclear pulse had Malcolm’s and my unarmored bodies soaring across the lobby like we were weightless. The pressure building up around my eyes was excruciating. My men snatched us out of the air before our spines cracked against the wall.
“Sorry, Lord Trass,” the Titanborn guard who caught me said. “We have to go.”
He slung me over his shoulder and took off across the lobby. Inertia fought him every step of the way, but with powered armor and mag boots, he got me to the hangar.
The Cora’s landing gear kept her planted firmly on the floor. The group trudged toward the ramp, struggling to battle the pressure despite their suits. I’d never endured sudden acceleration at this level. Even plummeting into the depths of Saturn on that luxury cruiser couldn’t compare. I couldn’t even part my lips to speak.
Pressure around my eye sockets built to the point to where they felt like they were going to burst. I could tell we were ascending the Cora’s ramp but was slowly losing vision.
“Get him in his suit, now!”
Hands fumbled across my body. I was tilted and bent until I heard the gentle hiss of a helmet sealing around my head. By the time I could focus my vision again, I found myself seated in the back of the Cora’s command deck. Judging by the stars through the viewport, we had departed Undina and were already in space.
Aria sat at the controls, two guns aimed at her head. I glanced back and saw Malcolm sat slumped against the wall in the corridor to the sleep pod chamber, cuffed and gritting his teeth. He too was under the gun. And last, in the copilot’s chair, sat Basaam Venta, watching through the viewport for the first time as his beloved invention functioned.
A pulsating light as brilliant as the sun glowed on the back of Undina. Even though the asteroid was a furrowed sphere of rock, it was being propelled out of its orbit onto an unnatural course toward Earth like a ship accelerating faster and faster.
“It really works,” Basaam marveled.
“Quiet!” One of my men smacked him.
I stood and made my way to the controls. “Aria,” I said. “Are you all right flying?”
“We forced her to take two g-stims,” one of my men said. “One for each of them.”
She regarded me, tears filling her eyes, then looked to her injured father. “You have to he
lp him, Kale,” she said. “Please.”
“Keep pace with Undina,” I ordered. “If you do exactly as I say, we’ll help. You two can leave together and be done with us.”
“That wasn’t the deal,” Malcolm groaned. “Luxarn dies; she gets out. Nothing in between.”
“And now you’ll get to join her, Collector.” I laid my hand on Aria’s shoulder, but she squirmed out from under it. Even after everything, watching her reject me made my chest go tight. I fought so long defending her, pretending she understood our plight.
“Just fly, Aria,” I growled.
“Coms are open to the USF Assembly, Lord Trass,” one of my men said.
The face of Talos Gaveren, Voice of the Assembly, appeared on the center control panel. Others ran frantically around the room behind him, but the old man tried his best to seem composed. His lips parted as he prepared to speak, but I beat him to it.
“Luxarn Pervenio is dead,” I said. “By now, you’ll have realized the activity of the Undina Mining Facility is not natural. Utilizing the Fusion Pulse Engine invented by Basaam Venta for your Ark announcement ceremony today, we have affected its orbit. In a few hours, it will slam directly into New London.”
Talos swallowed hard. “What do you want, Mr. Trass?”
“I want what we asked for on Mars. You will demand the full retreat of the PerVenta fleet back to Jupiter, along with the captives we so graciously handed over to them. Then you will formally sign over the properties of the Ring to the Children of Titan, with no ancillary conditions. No matter whose possession they are under.”
“Mr. Trass, you have to understand. There are dozens of companies we will have to contact to gain legal permissions. It could take days. Weeks.”
“Do as we ask, and the asteroid will miss your capital. Fail to meet our demands and you, and all the millions around New London, will know M-Day again. This will be our only conversation until you transmit the contracts. Goodbye, Earther.”
I ended the transmission, and Basaam Venta immediately lunged at me.
“This isn’t what they were made for, you lunatic!” he screamed. My men grabbed him before he could hit me, and slammed him to the floor. “This is insanity!”
“Get him out of here,” I ordered. They obliged, and as they carried the flailing Earther out of the room, I heard Malcolm cackle.
“They’ve been preparing for another meteorite for centuries,” he said. “They’re going to blow Undina out the sky. Luxarn already hollowed her out for them with his mining. It’ll be a cinch.”
My men went to silence him, but I stopped them. “Do you ever feel like things happen for a reason, Malcolm?” I asked. “That this vessel, designed by the most brilliant visionary your people ever had, fell into our hands? And that you, for so many reasons, drove Aria to us, the most gifted pilot I’ve ever met?”
“Lord Trass,” the Titanborn behind Aria said. “They didn’t waste any time. They’ve targeted Undina with the full complement of their thermonuclear anti-meteor arsenal on Luna. It’s enough to reduce Undina to pebbles before it hits.”
“Earthers.” I sighed. “Always in a rush. Aria, take us on a full burn ahead of Undina. Use everything. Shoot their missiles down on approach so that they have no choice but to free us.”
“No,” Aria said, incensed. “No, I won’t.”
“You will.” I drew my pulse pistol and aimed it at the top of Malcolm’s head. “If any of those missiles get through, your father dies. If they don’t, like I said, you’ll both walk out of this together. This is what you brought us to Mars for, Aria. Well get everything we wanted, and then you can be done with us like you wanted.”
“I didn’t want it like this.”
“Then you didn’t want peace at all!”
“I’m not worth it, Aria,” Malcolm said. “Shoot the damn engine off of that rock and end this.”
“Destroy the missiles, or I’ll make him suffer like an Earther deserves.” I knelt and wrapped my armored fingers around Malcolm’s throat. As I did, I pressed my pistol into his wound. He writhed beneath me, but now I had my armor on, and putting the Earther in his place was even easier.
“Do it!” I bellowed.
“Fine!” Aria answered. “But I swear, this is it. I thought your people were worth helping. I thought you were worth it... but you’re just as bad as they are.”
She threw our engines into full burn, zipping over Undina. Based on Basaam’s calculations, the Fusion Pulse Engine provided such powerful thrust using controlled nuclear explosions, it’d eventually be moving well beyond our ability to catch up, but Undina was massive in comparison, even for a relatively small asteroid. Engines had been used to generate faster spins for asteroid colonies to help with pseudo-gravity, but never to literally alter their trajectory at such a measure. Undina being almost entirely excavated by miners helped, but it was still incredible to see.
I raised Malcolm by the throat, planted him in one of the chairs, and locked him in. Then I held on to the back of Aria’s chair, magnetizing my boots so that the g-forces of our burn didn’t throw me around the command deck. Dozens of thin blue trails raced away from Luna, an arsenal developed specifically to keep another meteorite from hitting Earth. We knew about it thanks to data found on Pervenio Station after we took over, and we also knew that the warheads, while immensely powerful, had been developed before the Great Reunion ever happened. They were intended to neutralize a rogue asteroid by using a drill on the tip to burrow into the crust before detonating, but they weren’t prepared to stop an asteroid from being hurled at Earth on purpose, or a ship like the Cora.
“How do I operate the weapons systems?” the Titanborn who took the copilot’s chair asked.
Aria smacked his hands. “I’ll handle it.” The sudden movement made her wince and grab at her bulging stomach. I couldn’t imagine that handling these g-forces while in her condition was easy, even with g-stims in her system, but we needed her. Our son’s future needed her, just this last time.
“Let her,” I ordered.
The Titanborn leaned back, and Aria transferred all controls to her station. Her fingers darted across the screens with such grace, it was as if she were dancing. The Cora raced up over Undina, the rocky surface rushing beneath us. Aria targeted the first wave of thermo-nukes and hit one with a missile. It detonated in a flash of blue so dazzling, I had to shield my eyes, taking any other nukes in the vicinity with it.
The Cora quickly spiraled downward, the viewport coming within meters of scraped Undina as we escaped the glowing cloud of plasma from the explosion. Then Aria whipped us back around and took aim at another wave. All the vastness of space and her targeting abilities made it seem small. She was shooting only using scanners, no visual of the nukes—blind.
The warheads came from silos all over Luna, so they were staggered. Aria wove us in and out of nuclear shockwaves, just barely scraping by, with Undina barreling onward in our wake. With every nuke she disabled, she was forced to push the Cora faster. Basaam’s engine had Undina accelerating exponentially.
We reached the same orbital range around Earth as the moon, closing fast. Aria fired all the Cora’s missiles in a perfect line, detonating them to form a wall of shrapnel. A handful of nukes got caught in it, releasing a destructive wave of energy like I’d never seen. She whipped the Cora downward, pushing our engines to their max.
Even my magnetized boots and armor couldn’t hold, and I slid back across the floor. I nearly crushed Malcolm on my way toward thumping into the wall. Then Aria leveled us off, skirting beneath the wave of atomic death.
Two warheads continued their path toward Undina, closing fast. Aria’s fingers trembled now as she worked the targeting array. I could hear her breathing heavily. She got a lock and fired. The missile clipped one in its engine and sent it sputtering on the wrong path, but she missed the other. A last-minute spray of flak wasn’t enough to stop it. It struck Undina, burrowing through the surface before a brilliant flash of blue blew a chu
nk off the asteroid.
Aria held her breath as we watched the newly-hewn miniature asteroid spin off into the void. It was a sizable portion of Undina, but the rest of it remained intact, and now more warheads en route. It had enough mass left to level New London and nearly every settlement along the planet’s Euro String out toward Old Russia.
“That’s all of them,” Aria exhaled.
She laid off the throttle, and I immediately got up and rushed forward. I craned my neck to look through the viewport at Earth, now front and center. The clouds coating its surface grew in detail. String-like settlements running across portions of the planet that remained above the ocean were now thin black lines extending for hundreds of kilometers. After the Meteorite, that was how Earthers built their cities, in long stretches rather than clumps so that they were safe from single explosions. Safety from extinction drove everything they did.
The largest protuberance in the Euro String was the city of New London, where the USF Assembly and so many other corporate headquarters sat. And if I could look down and see them now, it meant that all the millions of people gathered for celebration could look up and see Undina crashing toward them like a fireball. It meant that they feared judgment again.
Twenty-Two
Malcolm
As I watched from my position at the back of the command deck, I couldn’t help but be impressed with a man I’d grown to hate. Kale Trass was an insufferable freedom fighter with a weak constitution who couldn’t see beyond his own nose to know what he already had. Yet he’d played his hand perfectly all the same.
He’d traveled to Mars to give a face to the rebellion and kidnap the genius they needed. He used Aria, Rylah, Orson Fring, me, and so many others to get exactly what he wanted, to fuel his people’s anger or stoke Earth’s fear. Maybe I’d lost a ton of blood and was disappointed he’d forced me off Undina alive, but a man like me, who’d spent his life chasing rebels, had to admire his relentlessness and curse myself for ever thinking his aunt was in control.
Children of Titan Series: Books 1-4: (A Space Opera Thriller Box Set) Page 107
