“Yes . . .” Cal’as hesitated for a moment, unsure. “Sir.”
“Stick with Chandrian for now,” he smiled. “We’ll be leaving this world soon; you’ll be coming with us and have an opportunity to learn our new tongue.”
The face of the warrior fell at the news.
“We will be coming back, Cal’as. That I can promise you.”
He was about to dismiss them; he had wounded to check on, including Stant’ala.
“That’s not all, sir.” Gor’nas’s thumb jerked over his shoulder towards the tower. “Legrasi has been radioing this fort since the morning. They want to know why no one is answering.”
“Can we answer?”
“We don’t know the proper watchword.” The Gemendi nodded out to the harbor. “If it was written down anywhere, it would have been on the message ship we destroyed. The code words are sent by ship or by land, never by the long . . . by the radio.”
“Very well,” Audy dismissed them, and rubbed at the rough beard that had grown over the last few days as he glanced at the seawall. What would Lord Madral send to investigate? If Jake had been successful taking out his ships, what could the Kaerin lord send? They could hold here if they had to, but more and more, he didn’t want to. If they could get back to Eden, they could return with the numbers needed to stay.
*
Jake couldn’t have known that Audy was looking at the same sunrise as he was. His focus was taken up with the same issue that had ordered his last twenty hours. It was time to bail water out of the bottom of the rotting, worm-eaten rowboat . . . again. During the night, he’d known it was time to bail when he could feel the water sloshing above his ankles as he rowed the tiny boat. “Paddled” would have been more accurate as one of the oarlocks had disintegrated three hours into the trip. He’d stolen the only boat he could find that wouldn’t be missed. Since then, he’d been paddling the rotting, hot-tub-sized coffin from one knee that he just knew was about to punch through the bottom of the boat.
He was starting to worry less, and starting to wonder if he should just slip on his fins and abandon his driftwood; his destination was in sight. He’d just made it past the larger island that had been the site of Arsolis’s village. The small, forested rock in the sea that had been their original insertion point was in sight. He was going to make it. He needed sleep desperately, was hungry, thirsty and generally pissed off - but he was going to make the island. He had no plans, other than sleep and maybe, finally, to get in some fishing.
And a fire, he thought. He smiled at the thought that if he could dry the piece-of-shit boat out, it might actually burn. The thought was probably just bad timing on his part, but the universe was not done feeding him the shit sandwich that he’d been chewing on for the last day and night. A leak that he’d long since identified at the point where the keel of the boat began its blunt sweep upward towards the bow chose that moment to become something more. Within a minute, the dark blue Baltic was burbling up through the bottom of the boat.
“Oh, come on!!” he shouted at the world. “I didn’t mean it!” The boat wasn’t listening. He was sitting in a bathtub of frigid water by the time he had slipped his swim fins on and cinched up his rifle’s sling. The boat’s gunwales were nothing more than a circle of wood on the surface of the water. A moment later, it disappeared beneath him and he was swimming.
*
South Pacific, Chandra
“And that’s that.” Jeremy looked up from his laptop at Dr. David Jensen. He raised his hand to block the intense glare of the South Pacific sun that seemed to laugh at his sunglasses. “Doc?”
Doc Jensen was staring down at the beach below them, where the Carlisle brothers had been arguing; they were now wrestling in the sand. Jeremy could see that Josh looked to be winning, but one wouldn’t have known that, listening to the stream of invective that Danny was spewing.
“We have our confirmation. We can go.”
Jensen just shook his head. They’d been on Chandra, on what would have been called Pitcairn Island on Earth, for ten days. They’d identified the quantum nexus they needed to get back to Eden the day before. They’d been working all morning to confirm the data.
“We could say they went swimming,” Jensen mumbled without taking his eyes off the wrestling match. “Sharks.” He nodded to himself. “We could say they were eaten by sharks.”
Jeremy knew what Doc Jensen was suggesting. “We can’t leave them, Doc. Those two would find a way off the island, make it to civilization, and cause us all sorts of problems.”
“Think of the problems they’d cause whoever found them . . .”
Jeremy considered that. “You might have a point.”
Jensen glanced at the phone booth, the new-and-improved version. It was almost twice the size of the original. Much of the extra space was taken up by a complete second set of batteries. They’d arrived on Chandra with the juice to turn and go home, but it had taken them ten days to locate and then confirm the quantum “address” for Eden. By his way of thinking, they could now mathematically predict where Eden was in relation to Chandra. Now, they could truly go home, switch out the batteries for two more sets that had been charging on Eden, and go check on Jake and Audy. He was anxious to get back to Eden, and put to test some other ideas he’d been working on while lounging in the shade of palm trees and doing his level best not to commit murder.
“Alright, let’s go.” Jensen turned towards the phone booth and then stopped looking down the small hill to the beach. He withdrew the sidearm that Kyle had insisted he take with him. He fired twice into the ground at his feet, his eyes never leaving the Carlisle brothers, who had, to their credit, scrambled to their feet looking for a threat.
“You two idiots have five minutes to get that sand washed off, and then you jackasses had better be inside the telephone booth, or I’m leaving you here.”
“What’s up his ass?” Danny waved back at him, trying and failing to whisper.
“I can hear you!” he screamed at them, wondering for a split second if an accidental discharge, two of them, well aimed, would be believed. No, he thought, shaking his head. It would be understood, but no one would believe it.
“Sorry, Doc!” Josh nodded apologetically on behalf of his brother.
The telephone booth popped into the massive translation chamber housed in New Seattle. By using the infrastructure here, they could now send the phone booth to anywhere on Chandra without draining one of its two battery charges. By the time he exited the translation chamber with an armful of laptop hard drives, Kyle walked in, using a cane. He’d been on crutches when they’d left.
“Damn good to see you, Doc!” Kyle beamed at him.
He ignored the greeting and walked over to set down his invaluable data.
“You are dead to me.”
“What’d I do?” Kyle answered him, with a sick smile playing on his face.
“That was freakin’ awesome!” All heads turned to see a well-tanned Josh and Danny, in cowboy boots, swimsuits, and sunglasses emerge from the phone booth, each carrying cases of equipment under each arm.
He turned back to face Kyle, who was wearing a shit-eating grin.
“I told you, Doc. Paybacks are a bitch.”
He could remember letting Kyle believe they’d been conducting body cavity searches on him and his buddies. Somehow that practical joke didn’t seem on par with the hell he’d just endured. He couldn’t help but laugh it off now.
“Give the computer a couple of hours to render a coordinate map for Chandra, and we’ll be ready to go. In the interim, we’ll have time to switch out the batteries we just drained. We’ll hit Chandra with two full charges.”
*
Kyle could see the dim glimmer of light from the small fire that Dom was signaling towards. He’d left his cane in the phone booth and was already wishing he hadn’t. His leg was well on its way to making a full recovery, but it still hurt like hell to put his weight on it. The small island was empty, or as near as. He’d left the s
ix-man fire team with Carlos back at the phone booth with Doc Jensen. They maneuvered a little bit closer and could see the empty sleeping bag.
“You Army broke dicks couldn’t sneak up on a frat party.”
Kyle smiled, and turned at the voice behind him.
“The insertion give us away?”
Jake stepped out of the darkness, grinning. His friend walked forward and grasped his hand, shook it once, and pulled him into a hug. “I’ll deny it, but the concussion damn near gave me a heart attack. I was sound asleep. It’s good to see you guys. You wouldn’t have a dip on you, would you?”
Kyle handed his tin over and laughed at the orgasmic look on his friend’s face as he loaded up.
“Jake? Where’s Audy?”
“Gotland.”
“Gotland?”
“It’s a long story, but it was getting a little cramped around here, and the local clan has just had their war host called up.”
“Because of you guys?”
Jake gave a shrug. “Not that it matters, but we aren’t sure.” Jake took a moment to spit to the side.
“You inserted to the same cords as we did originally?” Jake asked.
“Yeah.”
“We need to get the telephone booth covered up. When the sun comes up, it’ll be visible from one of the neighboring islands.”
“We’ll be long gone by then.”
Jake’s surprised look went from him, to Dom, and back. “I thought it would be a week or so, charging.”
“Jensen’s made some improvements,” he added with a grin. “It’ll be ready by the time we pack your shit up.” He looked around the rough campsite. “I take it Audy took the rest of the supplies with him?”
Jake grabbed his rifle and motioned to the two boxes of uneaten MREs, his camp stove, and assorted gear. “Let’s just get all the stuff that goes boom, not like they aren’t going to know we’ve been here.”
“Jake?”
“I’m going to let Audy explain it to you.” Jake smiled. “I should probably just plead the Fifth.”
Jake was looking at him with an innocent expression. “I noticed you’re limping; you have some fun in Idaho without me?”
Kyle, Jensen, and Jake accomplished the return trip to Chandra via Eden in a little less than five hours. The two quantum “travel” events had been instantaneous, but it had taken some time to switch out the phone booth’s depleted battery pile when they arrived back at New Seattle. Jensen thought they could get the battery switch-out process down to four hours or so, and as long as they had enough pre-charged sets in Eden, they could keep up a fairly regular shuttle process.
Ten minutes into his conversation with Audy, Kyle realized that wouldn’t be needed, at least in the near term.
“Colonel Pretty was correct,” Audy admitted. “We need to scout out a location we can defend and more important – develop.” Audy looked at Jake and grinned. “Then we’ll start some shit.”
“I’m certain I said the same thing.” Kyle couldn’t help but get a dig in.
“You may have.” Audy waved away the comment. “I don’t remember.”
“Well, Jensen has his map of Chandra now. We can hop back to Eden whenever and from wherever we want.”
“I’m thinking Britain,” Audy said. “Jomra will decide in the end, but I think it offers several advantages as a base to begin with, and hopefully, as a new home for the Jema.”
“Now you’re talking,” Jake added.
Kyle was a little shocked. “The Jema have a home, Audy.”
Audy agreed with a smile. “We do, but I think your term is that we are ‘renting.’ This is our home, Kyle. With your help, we can see to it that Eden has at least one good neighbor.”
Kyle looked around at the aftermath of Audy’s attack on the Kaerin fort. “I don’t know . . . you people look like you throw wild parties.”
Audy turned to some of his troops and barked in rapid-fire Chandrian. Kyle was surprised that he had picked it up. They all watched as the Jema brought down the green banner that had been flying. It took a moment to locate its replacement, but within a few minutes, the Jema eagle, black on a white field, was flying over the fort.
“You sure about this?” he asked.
“I think if I want to have any chance of getting these Jema war . . . soldiers back to Eden, we need to leave the Kaerin no doubt as to who did this.”
“They’ll know about you . . .” Kyle warned. “Might make what you want to do that much harder.”
“The Kaerin already know we survived. They also know we allied with you.” Audy flashed a grin and turned to Jake. “Don’t they, Jake?”
Jake was waving two hands in front of his face. “To be fair, I didn’t tell them. Some Strema made it back from Eden to report. They spilled the beans.”
“What’d you do, Jake?”
“I may have made contact with the local resistance, who we think got his ass arrested.”
“Oh, shit . . .”
“Actually, we now know he wasn’t arrested.” Audy smiled and let Jake off the hook. “I’ll tell you all about it when we get back.”
Kyle just stared at Jake.
“What?” Jake protested. “I was in a tight spot. I thought to myself, ‘What would Kyle do?’”
Kyle couldn’t wait to hear that story. “Alright, the new-and-improved machine can take twenty troops at a time. It can make two trips back in the time it takes to load it up; then we’ll be delayed for four or five hours, before we can make another two trips. We should be able to get everyone and all the gear back in about thirty hours. Let’s leave nothing for them to find.”
*
Chapter 27
Sy’rane Garrison, Chandra
“Prelate S’kaeda.” Lord Madral delivered the greeting, facing his own feet in a deep bow. The powerful Kaerin lord, the holder of the estate that included this rocky outpost in a frozen sea, had met him as he stepped onto the stone quay leading to the fort crawling with Lord Madral’s warriors.
He’d seen the damage to the seawall as his steamer had pulled into the harbor. Lord Madral, he knew, would be at a loss to explain what had happened. S’kaeda thought he might know the answer. He could find no comfort in the knowledge. The enemy had moved more quickly than he had imagined they would or could.
“Lord Madral, I’ve read your report.” He silenced whatever the Kaerin lord was about to say. “I’d like to investigate the interior of the fort myself, before we speak of it.”
“Of course, my Lord.”
It had not taken him long. The massive rents blown through the land wall left no doubt as to how the enemy had overrun the defenders. The damage to the seawall seemed to have been diversionary, although the number of Kaerin dead along its face and lying in the gravel at its base made a firm statement as to how effective the diversion had been. The spent brass cartridges from the enemy’s rifles were everywhere, and in numbers that lent credence to the reports the surviving Strema had made as to the incredible rate of fire these Shareki were capable of.
He found Lord Madral in the small office that had belonged to the bastelta who had commanded here. The Kaerin lord was leafing through piles of paper scattered on the desk.
“Lord.” The man reached behind his back and pulled out a tightly wrapped bundle. “This was flying above Sy’rane when we arrived?”
Staring at the banner spread out atop the desk, it was easier than he thought it would be to feign surprise. The Jema eagle. He had not thought they would be such active participants in what had just become a war of survival for the Kaerin.
“I cannot remember the last time I have seen one of those.” Lord Madral was shaking his head. “Eight years ago, perhaps. The Jema were called to participate in the Tre’ant campaign. I’d heard the Strema had ended them on the Shareki campaign.”
Noka S’kaeda found himself nodding. “That was indeed the story. The truth is somewhat different, my friend.”
“How different?” The tone of the question
bordered on what he could allow. He was about to bring this man into his confidence, part of a steadily growing list of Kaerin lords that he had no choice but to trust if they were going to survive what was coming.
“Before I share that with you, explain to me why it took you four days to discover what had happened here, and why there are Hatwa sailing vessels and crew in this harbor.”
He listened to the explanation, amazed at the coordination shown by the Shareki. To have destroyed Madral’s capability to respond before the attack on the fort demonstrated a strategic nuance that he could not, in any mood, attach to the Jema or any subject clan. It was clear the Shareki had been with them.
“We thought it an accident,” Lord Madral explained. ‘A boiler explosion that ignited the powder stores and took out its sister ship as well. Then we discovered strange foot tracks about the same time as calls to Sy’rane were going unanswered. I pressed some Hatwa crews for transport, to get my troops here, thus their ships and crews in the harbor. We had no reason to believe the two events were connected until we arrived.”
He couldn’t fault Madral’s thinking. “Be certain that no Hatwa who has seen or heard what happened here lives to see the sun set. Your High Blood warriors who have come here will man this fort and repair it. I will leave some of my own people to control all communications to and from this place. Am I understood?”
He thought Lord Madral did well in hiding his anger, with a bow of his head. “Who did this, my Lord?”
He met the man’s questioning glare with what he hoped was one of resolve. “An enemy unlike any we have ever faced.” He nodded to himself. “That is a blade with two edges, Lord Madral. They don’t know who we are, but they will.”
***
Some notes:
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this story. If you have, please leave a review on amazon. Reviews go a long way determining the success of an individual book or the continuation of a series.
I had a lot of fun writing this book as I knew it was going to have to set the stage for book four, and hopefully books five and six, which as you’ll no doubt realize by now is going to be focused on the battle for Chandra. That said, the necessity of tying up the story line on Earth (for now) and hopping between worlds was a challenge. There were a lot of plot lines and people to bring together so they can be free to take it to the Kaerin. I hope you stick with me for the ensuing struggle to free Chandra (maybe I should put out a bumper sticker – “Free Chandra!”). As always, you can sign up to my mailing list for first alerts of new releases at www.smanderson-author.com
New Shores: The Eden Chronicles - Book Three Page 38
