by Sean Robins
“So you do it the same way you interfered in our election?” I asked.
Tarq’s poker face betrayed him for a fraction of a second before he said, “I do not know what you are talking about.”
I looked at Kurt. “We’re so going to find a way to remove that thing from orbit as soon as we go home.”
“Be quiet for a second,” said the king. “I cannot hear myself think with all this noise.”
We all looked at him and waited. He pulled his beard with the same gesture I could swear was in imitation of Kurt; then he looked at Maada, who nodded in agreement.
“OK. You have got yourselves a deal,” said the king.
And just like that, it was all over. All the fighting. The bloodshed. The pain. The heartache. The terror.
Well, almost over.
There was no rest for the weary.
That evening, Maada was having dinner in his favorite restaurant when he heard the king’s “voice” in his mind. “What a day, no?”
Maada wiped his lips with a napkin. It certainly was eventful, Your Majesty.
“What do you think about the treaty?” asked the king.
I see it as a win for us, Maada answered. We can expand even faster than before, at no cost to us. To be honest, I had gotten tired of all the bloodshed, especially since I lost my only real friend in our last campaign. Speaking of, are you sure you do not want to bring Mushgaana back?
“Do not start,” answered the king. “I agree with you, and I was not so sure future confrontations with the humans would turn any better than the past ones. But what if they do not keep their words? That Commander Tarq fellow did not strike me as the trustworthy type.”
Maada smiled wolfishly. He certainly isn’t, which is why our plan B is in full swing.
Right before the Earth fleet appeared in Kanoor’s orbit, Maada, who expected them to show up, had filled a few transport ships with every piece of Akakie technology (military or civilian) they could find and sent them to Tangaar—they had ended up with some kitchen appliances that way, but they did find a lot of tech with military applications. Moreover, he had had several teams hack into Akakie databases and copy anything they could find in order to sort them out later. At that moment, the Xortaag scientists were busy going through the treasures they had found on Kanoor. Maada was very pleased with the results of this part of the operation, especially given the fact that one major objective of the campaign was allowing the Xortaags to put their hands on Akakie advanced technology.
If nothing else, this peace treaty will buy us some time, and if things do go sideways, well, our people tell me they have found the blueprint to build an actual planet buster, added the General. I was hoping for something like this when I accepted Tarq’s proposed truce during the battle over Kanoor. Imagine the look on the insects’ faces if we destroy their planet using one of their own weapons.
I’d just bitten into my burger when Xornaa joined Kurt and me in Indomitable’s mess hall. She put her tray down and sat on the empty chair in front of Kurt with her back towards the entrance. “I still can’t believe we pulled that off.”
Kurt, playing with his grilled salmon, said, “You can say that again.”
He had called her and invited her to join us for dinner. The mess was exactly the same as the one in Invincible, only bigger, and with Akakie food. They ate a variety of creatures resembling worms and snails—still alive and wiggling. Just looking at it was enough to make one lose his appetite. Fortunately, we’d brought our own chef.
I checked to see if I had a message, then put my PDD on the table, trying to hide my excitement. Xornaa couldn’t read my mind without touching me, but she was an astute observer. “And for once, we came back from a mission without bloodshed,” I said casually. Just having a conversation. Everything was normal. Nothing to worry about.
Don’t even think about reading my mind, you bitch.
“Just make sure she doesn’t accidentally touch you,” said Venom.
“Darlaan died,” Xornaa pointed out.
“I meant we lost no one. Plus, Maada broke Darlaan’s neck, so no blood was split.”
“I’m at awe at what we pulled,” said Kurt. “But you know what bothers me? Maada got to massacre millions of humans and billions of other species and walk away scot-free.”
“Small price to pay for intergalactic peace,” I said, chewing.
“You know what I can do?” said Kurt. “I can come back here on an invisible spy ship, go dirtside and put a bullet in his brain from a mile away. Nobody will even know I was there.”
“And jeopardize everything we’ve achieved in the process?” I said. “Didn’t you and your dad spend all your lives trying to achieve world peace? It’s just like that, only a million times bigger.”
“If it makes you feel any better,” said Xornaa, “Maada might be permanently out of our way. I implanted the idea that he’s gotten old and should retire in his mind.”
I was astonished. “Will that work?”
She shrugged. “We’ll see.”
Eight Marines entered the mess while we were talking. Six of them sat between us and the entrance, talking and laughing loudly. The other two went to the buffet and started picking up food, apparently for everyone.
“By the way, have you realized we didn’t need to kill the poor Arshans after all?” I asked Kurt.
He blanched. Food got stuck in his throat, and he started coughing into a napkin.
Xornaa suddenly tensed and sat up straight. She put her fork down and narrowed her eyes. “Kurt?”
He put down the napkin. “Yes?”
“Why are the six Marines behind me packing?”
She hadn’t looked behind her even once. I wondered if she had eyes in the back of her head on top of the telepathic powers. The Xortaag woman was full of surprises.
I touched my PDD. The Rains of Castamere echoed in the room. Kurt and Xornaa gave me confused looks.
“At what point are you going to get tired of making references nobody understands?” asked Venom.
That’s half the fun.
“They aren’t the only ones,” said Kurt. He moved his hand, and the unmistakable sound of a gun being cocked came from under the table.
An incredulous look crossed Xornaa’s face. “You weren’t armed when I walked into the room.”
“I’d taped the gun under the table.”
Xornaa leaned back and studied him with cold eyes. “I bet I can still take you.”
“Perhaps.” I cocked my own gun, also under the table. “Hello, Greedo.”
“If Oksana were here, she’d say checkmate, or however you say it in Russian,” said Kurt.
“Ukrainian. It’s a different language,” I corrected him, proud of my savoir-faire.
“Potayto, potahto,” responded Kurt.
Xornaa’s shoulders slumped. “What do you want?”
“We’re going to sit here, eat, and have a civil conversation until the person we’re waiting for calls us,” Kurt answered.
“We caught Mata Hari. Can you believe it?” I told Kurt.
“Can you turn that music off? It’s depressing,” he said.
I feigned horror. “It’s a masterpiece!”
“I can cry for help,” said Xornaa.
I looked around. There were some twenty Akakies in the mess. “From these guys? Don’t make me laugh.”
My PDD beeped ten minutes later. It was General Maada. “The king has finished interrogating his sons. Your suspicions are confirmed.”
I exchanged a tired look with Kurt.
“I have a message for Xornaa,” said the General. “Tell her the king said, ‘Well played, granddaughter.’ ”
“I take it your king doesn’t care what we do with her, does he?” I asked.
“He does not, but I do,” said Maada. “Throw her out of the closest airlock.”
The screen went blank.
“Looks like you’ve been holding out on us,” Kurt told Xornaa.
She shoo
k her head. “I can’t tell you anything. Tarq has planted a bomb under my skull, and he’s itching to blow my head off. But it seems to me you have enough to go on without me.”
“Just tell me one thing,” I said. “Did you have to sleep with your own father?”
She rolled her eyes.
“Really? That’s what you’re focusing on right now?” Kurt asked me.
Ten minutes later, Kurt and I approached Tarq in Indomitable’s ready room. It was a replica of his office back in Winterfell. Big chairs, big desk, everything white. He looked up from his PDD and smiled. “How can I help you in this lovely, peaceful day?”
He saw the grim look on our faces, and his smile disappeared.
We didn’t sit.
“What were you doing talking to Darlaan and his brothers before the attack on Earth?” asked Kurt.
Tarq paled, but just a little. It was almost imperceptible.
“Let me tell you what we think,” Kurt said calmly. “We think you used Xornaa to persuade Mushgaana to attack Earth instead of Kanoor. That’s how you knew Earth was their next target to begin with. Then you came to Earth, set up your trap, used us as freaking expendable pawns, and waited.”
I stared at Tarq, hoping against hope that he’d deny it. All this could still be some complicated ploy by the Xortaags to drive a wedge between us.
Instead, he shook his head and said, “I always knew this day would come.”
I didn’t see what he did. Maybe he pushed a secret button with his feet, or he’d finally decided to use a brain interface. The next thing I knew, several hidden panels behind him opened and six cartoonishly big energy weapons appeared, aiming at our heads.
“Take a seat,” he said. “We need to have a word.”
“You are going to need bigger guns,” I said automatically. Cracking wise to fight mental anguish had become a knee-jerk reaction for me.
My shoulders drooped, and there was an ache in my chest that wasn’t there a second ago. My insides twisted, and the world started spinning. So this was how being stabbed in the back felt. I didn’t want to believe it. I loved Tarq. I really did. More importantly, I respected him. Hell, I held him in awe. What he did—running around the galaxy, making species rise or fall—was bloody God-like. His betrayal hurt more than the bullet wound I’d suffered back on Earth, and all the affection I felt for him was replaced by bitterness. Hatred, even.
How had he pulled the wool over my eyes all this time? It was my damn fault. I shouldn’t have put so much faith in him. At the end of the day, everyone was just out for their own species.
“Cordelia?” I whispered.
The AI’s voice resonated in the room. “You two-faced, conniving, deceitful, backstabbing, treacherous son of an alien whore!”
The guns turned and pointed at Tarq. His face turned as white as everything else in his office. I wondered if he could use that as a camouflage.
“For a species who’s so scared of AIs,” said Kurt, “you’re very bad at protecting yourselves against them.”
“The Marines, aided by Cordi, are taking over Indomitable,” I said, too dejected to be angry. “After that, we’re going to pay a visit to Kanoor. They have to answer for the seven hundred million dead men, women, and children who perished because of you. Maybe it’s time we have our own colonies.”
Tarq opened his mouth but couldn’t talk. He grabbed his chest, his eyes rolled back into his skull, and he fell off the chair.
“Your fake heart attack doesn’t work either,” I said flatly. “We’ve researched your anatomy. We know both your hearts are stronger than a bull’s. Plus, Cordelia is monitoring your vitals.”
He rose from behind his desk and gave me a hurtful look. “I thought we were friends.”
“I thought we were brothers,” I said, bitterness oozing from every word.
White gas started pumping into the room.
“Compliments of General Maada,” said Kurt. “The Xortaags have developed a chemical weapon that doesn’t hurt us but paralyzes and eventually kills your people.”
I wagged my fingers at him. “Goodbye, insect.”
Watching the intense terror that appeared in Tarq’s eyes was satisfying. His knees buckled, and he had to lean on his table to keep himself from falling. “You cannot do this,” he yelled, eyes bulging. “The Xortaags would have eventually come for you anyway, and what would you have done without me? I saved humanity. I saved the galaxy!”
“Yes, we know,” I said sadly.
He blinked at me in total incomprehension.
“We talked it out, and you are right,” said Kurt. “They would’ve attacked Earth after conquering Kanoor, and we wouldn’t have had a chance against them without your help.”
I continued, “Still, the fact of the matter is you were more than willing to sacrifice us and our loved ones to save your own people.”
“You w-would have d-done the same,” Tarq stuttered.
“Maybe. It’s a hypothetical situation, so we’ll never know for sure,” I responded. “But you actually did it. You used us as bait to defeat the Xortaags, which makes you responsible for our friends’ and families’ death: Liz, Keiko, Oksana, Matias, Josef, Allen… you got them killed.”
“So here’s the deal,” announced Kurt. “We don’t want to see you, Barook, and Xornaa ever again. If you need something done, make contact through official channels.”
“You’re dead to us,” concluded Cordelia.
Kurt and I turned to leave the ready room. At the door, I turned to look at Tarq one last time. He was leaning against the wall, desperately trying to cover his nose and mouth with his hands. Memories flooded back. The day he saved us from under the SCTU executioners’ nose and later pranked us into believing we were dead and in heaven. The day he faked his own death. The day we teamed up to pull a prank on Winterfell’s clergies.
The happiest day of my life, when he married Liz and me.
I blocked them all.
One more loved one I’d lost to this vicious galactic war.
I nodded at the “gas” and said with a heavy heart, “That’s just steam, idiot.”
Then I left my alien brother. Forever.
Epilogue: Voltex
Standard Galactic Year: 5266
(Earth Year: 3200)
Vox Commander Kavmar impatiently waited for the order to start their operation.
He was but a baby when the carbon-based aliens attacked Voltex, so he had no recollections of the war. What he did remember was growing up being hungry all the time in a planet ravaged by famine, caused by the economic embargo imposed on them by the enemy. He remembered losing friends and family by the dozens. He remembered all the heartache, the misery, and the hopelessness.
But, above all, he remembered the constant collective desire for revenge.
He was honored that his grandfather, Fartaz, had designed the technology that would enable them to destroy the aliens. Fartaz and his brother, Supreme Leader Shartan, were the engineers of this escapade. Sadly, Supreme Leader had not lived long enough to see the result of his efforts. He had died a few days ago due to old age. Given that malnutrition had undoubtedly played a major role in his poor health, it was as if the carbon-based creatures had killed him. But Grandpa Fartaz was here, accompanying the warriors into battle. Kavmar was eager to prove himself to his grandfather, who was now a legend for his people.
And now, it was time for the aliens to pay. For his father, his uncles and aunts, his siblings, his friends, and billions of others who had died during the war or because of the ensuing famine.
The strike order finally arrived.
Kavmar addressed his troops, “Hear me, brave Vox warriors. The time you have waited for all your lives is upon us. We have suffered. We have lost. We have yearned for justice. But now, our time has come. Today, the aliens will pay for what they did to us, to our parents, to our brothers and sister. We will kill every single one of them, and when they are gone, we will dance on their ruined planets. Today is j
udgment day.”
I almost pity the carbon-based aliens, thought Kavmar.
He hovered onto the funnel.
Two hundred thousand Vox warriors followed him.
THE END
The Black Fleet
(The Crimson Deathbringer Trilogy Book Three)
In The Crimson Deathbringer, an alien race conquered Earth, and humanity faced extinction. The stakes were high.
In The Golden Viper, the Xortaags occupied Kanoor, planning to annihilate all their enemies—starting with the humans—using the weapons they would have found there. The stakes were higher.
Could things get any deadlier?
Yes!
In The Black Fleet, an armada with two hundred thousand ships travels back a millennium in time to obliterate all sentient beings in the galaxy by hurling asteroids at their planets. This is nothing like what Jim, Kurt, and Tarq have faced before—this is nothing like anyone in the universe has ever faced before.
“Let me make this perfectly clear: if we have to sacrifice a few billion humans in order to save a hundred trillion people in the galaxy, that is exactly what we are going to do.”
Commander Tarq
This is ENDGAME.
Author’s Note
I have a confession to make: I wasn’t initially planning to write the sequel to my first book so soon. I had this cool idea about a time-travel story, so I started working on that. Then The Crimson Deathbringer ended up selling a few thousand copies, and everyone kept asking me about the sequel (which I had teased at the end of the first book). I gave in to popular demand and, I must say, it turned out much better than my time-travel project.
See, here’s the thing: some writers work in a very structured way. They write outlines from the beginning and stick to it. I don’t. My characters are actually alive in some alternate universe, and they do their own thing. Do you remember it was revealed in The Crimson Deathbringer that Tarq, the little funny alien who kept pulling people’s legs, was behind the attack on Earth? I was as surprised as anyone by that. Similarly, Jim, Kurt, and Tarq took The Golden Viper to places I didn’t know the story would or could go, but I am happy it did.
