The Golden Viper
Page 11
All the Latoors could do was wait helplessly for the death and destruction coming towards them. Couples kissed each other goodbye, parents hugged their children one last time, and siblings cried in each other’s arms. There were thousands of hurriedly arranged marriages between people who wanted to spend the remainder of their lives, however short, as husband and wife. Many sought out whoever they’d wronged in the past, requesting forgiveness.
Then things took a turn for the worse. A few million people decided to go out on their own terms and killed themselves, and millions more thought now that they were going to die, it was time to take revenge on whoever they had considered an enemy for whatever reason. Mass suicides happened all over the planet, coupled with anarchy, vandalism, looting, and rape. Brothers killed brothers over a small dispute, and spouses murdered their better halves due to the slightest misunderstandings. Hospitals quickly filled with people who were injured in an unsuccessful suicide attempt or a vicious attack by a desperate soul. A lot of people killed their loved ones—and then themselves—to spare them from the horror that was coming. A father shot his wife and four children, but when his own turn came, his energy weapon malfunctioned. He ended up cutting his throat with broken glass and bleeding to death. A renowned religious leader prompted his followers to beat the members of another religion to death with the promise of a happy afterlife. Another clergyman locked his congregation inside their place of worship and burned it to the ground. The poor started attacking the residents belonging to the rich, hoping to find a private spaceship to get off the planet, and those who did were blown out of the sky by the Black Fleet. The Latoors were decimated even before the asteroid entered orbit.
Everyone else just waited.
The Vox threw the asteroid onto the planet, watched Mantux burn from orbit, and celebrated their first victory against the carbon-based aliens.
Vengeance, at long last. And this was just the beginning.
8
Earth
Standard Galactic Date: 055.03.5073
(Earth Date: 27/04/2049)
“Why are you in fleet uniform?” I asked Lilly.
“Some commander of the fleet you are!” She laughed. “I’m with the fleet now. Turns out my particular skill set is super handy on a starship bridge or a command center.”
“Starship bridge! You’re what, nineteen?” I scoffed.
“And a computer genius.” she grinned.
Kurt and I had invited her for lunch. We would’ve taken her to a fancy restaurant, but these days the two of us couldn’t appear in public without a legion of fans following us asking for selfies or autographs, and after Talmak, there was another group who kept trying to pour pig blood on our heads. I had somehow ended up getting blamed for that catastrophe even though, in reality, I was the only person who tried to stop it. If Tarq wanted to make me project an image of a ruthless and bloodthirsty maniac, he’d certainly succeeded.
We met in the Marines’ base in New York. The place had a separate restaurant for the officers. It wasn’t a five-star establishment, but the food wasn’t bad.
“About that terrible business in Talmak,” she said, “I just wanted to say my father would’ve understood.”
Somehow, knowing that the Butcher of Macao would’ve agreed with what we’d done wasn’t much of a comfort.
“He would, wouldn’t he?” Kurt agreed.
“Liz wouldn’t. She would’ve kicked our butts for even considering it. But let’s talk about something else before I lose my appetite.” I bit into my steak.
“You aren’t going to believe who came to see me the other day,” said Lilly. “My mom. She said she was proud that I was part of the group that saved humanity. Also, I ran into Liz’s sisters the other day.”
“That reminds me: I should go visit them while I’m here,” I said.
“I saw you guys on TV during the ceremony, by the way,” said Lilly. “I thought you looked amazing.”
Jackson had arranged for a grandiose public ceremony to commemorate the anniversary of the Xortaag invasion on April 13th. Kurt and I were invited, and the president pinned a few ostentatious-sounding medals on our chests. He made a speech, during which he had the nerve to say, “Unfortunately, I wasn’t in Winterfell, but I’d like to think if I were, I’d have done something heroic to save humanity.”
“I hated every minute of it,” I said, rubbing my wedding ring. “I kept wishing I could punch Jackson in his big fat mouth. I would’ve, but Kurt pulled me back.”
“I have a bad feeling about that guy,” said Kurt.
We ate, talked and laughed. Lilly told us about her new life. She’d started dating a Canadian boy who happened to live right next door to her. He was probably lucky Allen was dead. We told her about life on a starship. She giggled when we told her the story of what Xornaa had tried to pull and how Tarq had retaliated. “Typical Tarq, to mess with her like that,” she said.
I pointed at Kurt. “This one is dating too, by the way.”
She looked surprised. “Seriously?”
Kurt threw up his hands in the air. “Why is everyone so shocked when they hear that?”
“My dad was kind of your step-father, remember? I had to listen to him complain he was worried you’d decided to become a Catholic priest for two long years.”
Kurt gave her a hurt look.
“Minus the child molestation part, obviously,” she clarified.
“Stereotype much?” I said, fully aware of the irony.
“How’s your love life, Jim?”
I stared at my wedding ring. “Still too early for me.”
Lilly smiled. “So now Kurt goes on dates while you are single? How the mighty have fallen.”
“I’ve made new friends though. Two of Kurt’s Marines. I saved their lives on Talmak, and now they follow me around everywhere I go. I’ve also found a squash partner, but she’s in space right now.”
There was a lightness in my heart, which was hard to describe. It was as if heat were radiating through my chest. For the first time in a very long while (not counting the rendezvous with Xornaa, which was nothing but an illusion), I was carefree and content. It was probably because being here with Kurt and Lilly reminded me of my teenage years, a simpler time, when Allen used to bring Lilly to our birthdays. The fact that after all these years we were still together told me there was life beyond this galactic war we’d gotten sucked into, and some day, when this was over, maybe I could be happy again. I could even settle down and have a family. This wasn’t an insult to Liz’s memory in any way; she knew how much I wanted a child. Still too early, but maybe one day. That thought made me feel so good that I sighed with contentment. While listening to Lilly excitedly asking a million questions about Patricia and Kurt doing his best to answer, I placed my hands behind my head, closed my eyes for a second, and imagined a better future. One without the war, the Xortaags, and the constant sorrow I’d always felt deep in my heart since Liz had been killed. I couldn’t see the smile on my face, but I bet it was dreamy.
I will survive.
“Why do you look so happy?” Kurt asked me.
“This is the most delicious steak I’ve had in my life,” was all I could think of saying. Discussing my emotions had never been easy for me, even with my best friend, and especially in front of Lilly. It wouldn’t have been very manly.
My PDD started vibrating. I wanted to enjoy the few minutes of peace that I had, so I ignored it. But Kurt pulled his out, and his eyes widened after looking at the screen. Lilly’s PDD started beeping to, and so did everyone else’s in the restaurant.
Looking a bit pale, Kurt turned to me. “Kanoor has fallen.”
Someone up there must’ve really hated me.
I looked heavenward. You keep this up, and I’m going to become an atheist. You’ll see.
When Tarq’s shuttle landed, Kurt, Oksana, and I were waiting for him on the landing pad. Despite everything that was going on, it felt good to see him. I resisted an urge to hug the little
alien. Mr. Macho Man, that was me.
He was carrying a baby Akakie in his arms. “Guys, meet my granddaughter, Varma.”
The small creature he was holding had huge black eyes, a small mouth, and rows of shark teeth. Its nose-less, ear-less and chin-less face was an image straight from a nightmare. The Akakies really had to come up with a hologram especially for their infants. Or at least cover their heads with a plastic bag or something.
“Jesus Christ, she’s ugly,” said Venom.
Shut up, she’s cute, I told him; then I threw up a little in my mouth.
“I didn’t know you were a grandfather,” said Kurt.
“I was not. We had recently put one of my daughter’s eggs in an incubator.”
I smiled and offered my hand. “I guess congratulations are in order.”
Tarq looked at me with incomprehension. “For what, Jim? Having to raise a larva? I am going to drop her off with an Akakie diplomat stationed here on Earth; then I have a meeting with President Jackson.”
Jackson wanted to send an official delegation to meet Tarq, but we’d decided to keep it informal and friendly. When we got into my car, I said, “Max, meet Commander Tarq, whom you already know by reputation.”
“It’s an honor meeting you, Commander,” said Max. “I’m a big fan.”
“You know how much I hate AIs,” Tarq whispered to me.
“The AI can hear you,” said Max, “and it can kick you out of the car.”
During the ride, we asked Tarq what had happened in Kanoor.
“Maada cut through our fleet like it did not exist. It was like Alora all over again, but ten times worse. Their new space fighters are as good as ours. After that, the Xortaag transport ships, carrying millions of troops, landed all over the planet.”
Just hearing Maada’s name made my skin crawl away and hide under the car seat. That bastard was responsible for the bloodbath on Earth. He’d murdered my wife, set up the trap that wiped out almost a third of the pilots under my command, and very nearly killed me—twice. Keiko had given her life to get rid of that monster. And despite all our sacrifices, after everything we’d lost, now he was back. Burning anger raged inside me, so hot that I felt the heat dried my skin.
“So now Xortaags can clone people?” asked Kurt.
“Apparently,” said Tarq.
“There are twenty billion of your people living on Kanoor, and you told me most of them keep weapons at home”—he had made a joke about having that in common with “you Americans”—“so why couldn’t you stop them?”
“Kurt once asked me a similar question the first time we met in Winterfell, remember?”
I rubbed my forehead. “Yeah. I remember. Pussies.”
“Hey!” Tarq protested, covering what I assumed was the baby Akakie’s ears with his hands. “We are just not made to fight.”
“Mushgaana’s back too?” I asked.
“Yes. They are both back, and you still have not heard the worst part. Do you remember how the Xortaags became a galactic superpower?”
“Yes, by reverse-engineering the stuff they found in—oh shit!”
“Stop using bad words in front of my granddaughter! She has just started developing her sense of hearing, and she absorbs whatever she hears like a sponge.”
“Please tell me you don’t have more of those planet busters lying around,” Kurt said anxiously.
“We do not. That was a prototype, and the only one. But the Xortaags might eventually find the blueprints, both for the planet busters and other weapons you do not want to know about. In fact, any piece of Akakie technology they can put their hands on will help them improve theirs significantly.”
The news about Kanoor was so shocking that I hadn’t considered its long-term consequences. The Xortaags had just got themselves a war chest full of the most advanced weaponry in the galaxy, and I had no doubt they’d be coming for us soon. It was a terrifying thought. “Congratulations,” I said bitterly. “You people have offered the universe to the Xortaags on a silver platter.”
“Not if we can take Kanoor back before they have the chance to reverse-engineer our technology or find the blueprints for the planet busters and the other secret weapons we were developing. I have a plan, but we need your help, which is why I am going to meet President Jackson to ask him to send your fleet to Kanoor.”
Half an hour later, Max pulled over in front of the government headquarters. It was the same building that was used as the United Nations HQ a few decades ago—a forty-story structure with ninety-degree façade angles and grid-forming windows running in broken horizontal rows. Some twenty armed guards in full tactical gear stood in front of the building, and an Apache attack helicopter was hovering over it. The four of us got out of the car and walked towards the building, but one of the guards, a beefy man with a broken nose, approached us and saluted. “Colonel Harrison. Colonel von der Hagen. I’m sorry, but the president wants to meet Commander Tarq alone. He’ll see you later on.”
That was weird. Why would Jackson want to see Tarq alone?
“How come?” asked Kurt.
“I don’t know, sir. Just following orders,” answered the guard.
“That’s what Hitler said,” I pointed out.
Oksana gave me a hard look.
“Excuse me a moment.” Tarq took a few steps away and started whispering something, probably talking to his ship.
“You look familiar,” Kurt told Broken-Nose. “I think I’ve seen you before. On the other side of my sniper rifle’s scope. Did you once work for SCTU?”
The man blushed. “In another life.”
I pointed at the other guards and asked Kurt, “How about those?”
“Yeah, I know three of those too.”
Oksana put a hand on her sidearm. “Jackson is hiring SCTU goons now?”
“That doesn’t sound suspicious at all,” I added.
“In his defense, everyone else who is capable of fighting has already joined the Marines,” said Kurt, but I could see anger in his eyes.
I was getting a really bad vibe. I took out my PDD and asked Cordelia, “Are you following this?”
“You know I am,” she said.
“Can you please come here a second?”
“On my way.”
Tarq gestured us to go to him. “My people have just scanned the building. They say there are some five hundred armed soldiers inside. What is more alarming is it appears they are trying to stay out of sight. Is this normal?”
“Not even a little,” replied Kurt.
Broken-Nose called out, “I’m terribly sorry, but I have to insist Commander Tarq come with us. President Jackson is waiting.”
I was alarmed. “It’s a trap,” I told Kurt. “I can’t explain it, but something is way off.”
Kurt turned towards the guard. “And if Commander Tarq doesn’t want to go with you?”
The man nodded to the other soldiers, who stepped closer, assault rifles at the ready. “I’m under orders to take him to the president. No one said he had to come voluntarily.”
“Stand down,” Kurt growled.
“Sorry, Colonel. Orders.”
I’d never thought a day would come when I had to face SCTU soldiers again. The memory of our last encounter, when they very nearly killed Liz and Kurt, rushed back to me. A vein started pulsing in my forehead, and my whole body tensed. I stepped forward and stood by Kurt, planting my feet wide, trying to stare down twenty armed-to-the-teeth men.
The sound of a space fighter’s engine filled the air, and my golden Viper appeared in the sky. She shot a laser bolt at the Apache that missed the gunship by a few inches. The chopper pilots put its nose down and ran away as fast as they could. Then my Viper descended vertically and hovered in the air, about ten meters behind us, facing the guards.
A Viper was a beautiful ship, but not so much if her laser cannons were pointed at you.
“Step aside or I’ll break your other nose,” I told the guard. I didn’t raise my voice or try to
sound threatening in any way. There was no need.
“What does that even mean?” asked Oksana. I let her figure that one out on her own. That would teach her to stop throwing incomprehensible literary quotes at me.
After the guards retreated, Tarq asked, “Are we sure we want to go in there?”
Kurt and I exchanged a look.
When we entered the conference hall, Jackson yelled, “What is the meaning of this?”
He was sitting at a conference table with a bunch of his top people around him. Five armed security guards stood behind him, not that it would do him any good. The hall windows were all shut. Maybe he was worried Cordelia might shoot him through the windows.
Juan and Li followed us into the hall. They were in full tactical gear, but instead of their assault rifles, they carried huge hand cannons provided by Tarq. The weapons were silver, bigger than a bazooka, with three barrels each. Jackson’s guards looked at the cannons, then at their own guns, and looked like they were ready to run away from the room.
“I’m getting reports saying my building is surrounded by thousands of Marines!” Jackson continued.
“Don’t forget the Vipers flying overhead,” I said cheerfully. “Speaking of, Cordi, you think you can open a couple of these windows without blowing up the whole building? With President Jackson sitting right in front of me, this whole place stinks of bullshit.”
Two windows were blown inwards.
Good girl.
I enjoyed the look of horror on Jackson’s face.
“Relax,” said Kurt. “It’s not a coup. But we wanted to talk to you, and your people wouldn’t let us through. Things got a bit tense.”
“You’re here, so let’s get this over with,” said Jackson. “Sit down.”
We sat on the other side of the table.
“President Jackson,” said Tarq, “on behalf of the Akakie government, I am here to officially request—”
Jackson cut him off. “I know why you are here. Your request is denied.”
Oksana and I shouted together, “What the hell?”