by Matt Larkin
8
“The Conduit, as the human might conceive it, is a passageway. Its walls are gossamer. Those gifted by our kind with the ability to navigate must never touch those walls. The Conduit is a gift greater still, and it must be respected.”
The Codex, Book of Barachiel, on the Second Commandment
FEBRUARY 16, 3097 EY — PEGASUS DWARF GALAXY
The Balaam had spent too long in the Conduit. Caleb’s mercenaries looked the worse for wear, as he himself felt. And the more time he spent in there, the more he felt the alien presence in his mind. Maybe Apollo could feel him. Maybe the chip in his brain was more than a chance to read his thoughts … maybe it allowed the bastard to track him. Which likely meant no matter where he went, the Sons of Cain would follow. There was nowhere safe left in the universe, and this ship was not equipped to fight pirates.
Caleb had lost.
He had gambled everything for money and power. And he had lost it all.
Ayelet had burned away in an explosion that took out their entire floor. His children were … Caleb wiped a tear from his face. He sat in his quarters, staring at old vids of them, as he had done from the moment they jumped into this system.
There was nothing here, of course. No terraformed worlds. No signs of life. Caleb still felt something watching him. Rumors claimed aliens could be found in the Expanse. Caleb knew better. The only alien life in the universe was the angels themselves. They were parasites who fed on mankind’s hopes and fears.
On the vid, James was only four, and he chased his sister through a sprinkler system in the park. Like most trees on Sepharvaim, the leaves were cerulean. They blew in the wind as James ran, laughing.
Caleb looked down at the MAG in his lap. If he … if he had the guts, he could end the pain. Maybe he would be with them all again. Maybe in heaven … except he wasn’t destined for heaven.
Not with all he’d done.
He tossed the gun on the floor. It wasn’t courage.
He had lost. But he couldn’t let Apollo win. The bastard would unmake the universe before he was done. Even angels were better than that.
“Mazzaroth,” he said. “Contact Rachel Jordan.” Maybe Caleb couldn’t do anything more himself. And maybe it was sad he could think of no one else to stand up to Apollo. But she was his last hope.
After a few minutes, Rachel flashed onto the screen. “Caleb Gavet. I thought you … well, after your last transmission cut off, I thought you were dead.”
“No, I—not yet. Soon, probably.”
“Where are you?”
“In the Expanse. That doesn’t matter now. Listen to me, Rachel. There are things you need to know about the angels and the Adversary. I’m not sure how much time I have left. I’ve made some terrible mistakes. There’s a scientist who worked for Jericho. He’s taken over the company now, but he’s not a man at all.”
The ship lurched from a sudden impact, and the screen cut off. An explosion rocked the hull and Caleb fell to the ground. Someone was shooting at them.
The ship had lost all communications in the first barrage.
“Jordan!” Caleb shouted at the dead screen. “Damn it! He’s working for the Adversary!”
Caleb pushed himself up, grabbed his MAG, and ran for the bridge.
More explosions echoed down the corridor before he reached it. MAG rounds punched through the hull right behind Caleb. He looked over his shoulder at the multiple breaches. Jets of oxygen sucked out of the ship with stomach-turning hissing.
He kept running but stumbled when he reached the bridge as another explosion shook the ship.
“It’s the Serpent,” the captain said. “They’ve launched docking cables. We’re being pulled in.”
So the pirates intended to board them rather than blow them away. Caleb wasn’t sure whether that was better or worse.
“Get your men to the hold with MAG rifles. When they try to come aboard, take them down.”
“Sir. Even if we could defeat the boarding party, we cannot escape.”
“We can if we turn the tables and take their ship. Get down there now!”
The captain nodded, then ordered his men down.
Caleb followed behind them. He was no expert shot with a MAG, but he’d go down fighting. How hard could it be? For years, he’d employed idiots to use these things.
His men had formed up behind crates and doorways only seconds before the airlock blew. Pirates streamed from the breach, MAGs in hand. Caleb stayed low, peering around a corner into the hold. Best leave the fighting to the professionals for as long as possible.
Shots rang out all around. A pirate vaulted over a crate and shot one of Caleb’s men. Caleb tried to shoot the bastard, but his shots went wide. The pirate dove behind cover, and Caleb heard a man scream.
Shit.
It was so hard to tell what was going on in the chaos, but it didn’t look good.
“Fall back!” he shouted.
A handful of his soldiers did, slipping back into the hall with him. Caleb didn’t have enough men to do this. He retreated farther and farther, but the Sons of Cain just kept coming. The man beside Caleb fell to a MAG round through his chest.
Rebekah stepped around the corner. She wore a nanomesh vest like the pirates and carried a MAG.
Caleb leveled his own MAG at her chest. From this range, even he could hit her. “You’re going to pay for what you’ve done, bitch.”
She twisted her hand, and his MAG jerked out of his grasp as if she’d reached five meters and grabbed it.
Caleb’s jaw fell. She was … telekinetic? She was a psych?
“I’m much more than that, Caleb,” she said.
She opened her vest and let it fall to the floor, then slipped out of her shirt. Did she think to seduce him still? Did she think he would stoop so low?
Rebekah arched her back and metal wings erupted from her body.
9
“When facing absolute darkness, what choice remains to us save to turn to soldiers of light? Failing to find such, we then take the next step—their creation.”
Sefer Raziel, translated by Dr. Rachel Jordan
FEBRUARY 20, 3097 EY — PEGASUS DWARF GALAXY
All his life, Knight had lived on the edge of the Expanse. He’d heard the stories. It was filled with pirates and monsters and aliens and the Adversary itself. It was the end of civilization and the beginning of the void. Appropriate enough, considering the nature of Gehenna, though he’d never put too much stock in such stories.
Still, he’d not thought to visit the place himself. It was forbidden, even had he had a way off Gehenna.
In a way, that was reason enough to do it. Never be where the enemy expected. The first principle of the Gibborim.
Besides, Rachel had insisted. And, to Knight’s surprise, David had agreed to bring the Sephirot here, looking for Gavet.
Knight walked the halls as they jumped from system to system, searching. The crew said almost nothing, but Knight caught the looks they gave each other. Fear. Even Sentinels were afraid to tread here. They were the ones who walked the black of space to protect mankind from any threat. And they were scared of the Expanse. Was that superstition, or did they know something he didn’t?
Rachel had tried to help him develop empathic abilities. She seemed to think as nephil he’d have those. Knight wasn’t sure he wanted to share the emotions of those around him.
He slipped onto the bridge, and a few crewmen turned to look at him, as if startled by even the sound of the doors. Phoebe blew him a covert kiss, and he smiled back at her. She was the strangest person he’d ever met. And amazing.
Despite his rank, Knight was always a bit out of place on the bridge. He was most at home with a sword—or gun—in his hand, in the midst of a firefight. He’d learned the operations of the ship, but he had no specific role up here, and David had made no move to assign him one. Even the captain seemed to realize Knight was most useful leading a strike force, not running any ship systems.
; “I’ve picked up a scanner shadow darting around the asteroid field,” Rachel said. “Other scanners might not even read it.”
“Aye, then let’s have a closer look,” David said.
Whatever Gavet had to tell Rachel, Knight hoped it was worth the trip and the endless scouring of this desolate place.
Knight folded his arms and leaned against the back wall. Best to just stay out of the way until he was needed. It would be soon.
The asteroid field came into view on the screen as David flew closer.
“That’s definitely a ship,” Rachel said. “Flexible segments joined together. Unusual design.”
“Anyone out here is like to be up to no good,” David said. “So let’s say hello.”
Asteroids flashed by as the captain accelerated, weaving in and out of them. The ship on-screen took off, fleeing deeper into the field. It was agile, apparently able to easily change directions.
“We’re going to lose them if they keep that up,” Rachel said.
“Aye. Get their attention, Phoebe. MAGs only.”
“Yup, yup. One slap in the face, coming up.”
The MAG cannons reported, blowing through asteroids and splitting them into thousands of smaller ones—ones too small to cause much damage to the hull as long as the kinetics held. Some of the shots caught the fleeing snake-ship, and it vanished from the screen.
“What was that?” David said. “I meant scare them.”
“I, uh …” Phoebe said. “They just disappeared.”
“No,” Rachel said. “I’ve got them off the stern, slinking away. They’ve got stealth tech similar to Raziel’s ship. That must have been a hologram you shot.”
They could do that—create a hologram of an entire ship? Was that Asheran tech? If so, it would likely be a problem.
“Cute,” David said. “Cut them off. Light pulse cannon fire.”
The Sephirot came about. A few pulse blasts obliterated the asteroids separating the two ships. Pulses grazed the pirates, scorching their hull without breaching it. Phoebe was a damn fine shot.
Apparently they got the message, because the ship turned about and held position.
“Phoebe,” David said, “Lead a party. Take them alive if possible.”
“Yup, yup. Come on, ninja boy,” she said. She tapped her comm and ordered several Sentinel assault units to the hangar.
“Do we expect resistance?” Knight asked Phoebe, as they rode the lift.
“Probably. Pirates don’t generally like being boarded. They prefer to do the boarding. And plundering. Not that we’ll be plundering, of course.”
Knight fingered the hilt of his kyoketsu. David wanted these pirates alive. Best to do this without weapons, then.
They met the other troops in the hangar and filed into shuttles and boarding pods.
Knight strapped into a shuttle beside Phoebe. “Hey,” he said. “Be careful.”
“Awww. That’s so sweet. Darling all looking out for me, pretending I’m not a total badass.”
“Last time you got shot.”
She snorted. “Yup, well, those were Sentinels. We were all badasses, all right?”
And seeing her like that had been the scariest moment of his life. But she was a soldier, and she was right. He couldn’t go into this worrying about her.
She winked at him, then formed her helmet. Knight did the same.
Phoebe waved open one of the shuttles, and Knight strapped in beside her.
“You ready for this?” she asked.
Knight snorted.
10
“The cowardly prey upon the weak. The righteous upon the cowardly.”
The Codex, Book of Zaqiel
PEGASUS DWARF GALAXY
The pirates opened the hangar for the shuttle. Convenient. Knight supposed they realized refusing would just result in them blowing out hull breaches.
Phoebe glanced at him.
Knight nodded, and she popped the hatch. He dove out and rushed forward.
MAG shots reported around the hangar in an instant. Knight rolled to the side, kicked off the floor, and jumped to the wall. From there, he kicked again and landed in the midst of a trio of pirates. They tried to level their MAGs at him. Not fast enough.
He swept a man’s legs and caught a woman in the jaw with an uppercut at the same time. Both went down. Before the third man could level his gun, Knight kicked it, pinning it to the wall. Then he leapt in the air and back-kicked the man with his other leg, sending him flying. Knight dropped down and punched the man he’d tripped.
Three incapacitated. None dead.
He turned to check on Phoebe. She rolled forward, evading fire, then came up shooting her pulse pistol. Blasts took out attackers, one in the shoulder, the other in the leg. She rose, running straight at another group. MAG rounds ricocheted off her armor.
A pirate swung a pipe at her when she neared. She caught his arm and dropped him with a chop to the ribs, grabbed the falling pipe, and slammed it into another man’s knee. She continued her momentum, caught a man around the shoulder and flipped him, flinging him hard onto the ground.
Knight nodded at her. Not bad.
“See?” she said with a shrug. “Now which one of us is more badass?”
Knight snorted and continued down the hall. “Not even a question.”
“Damn straight.” She trotted after him. “Hey, wait. You did mean me, right?”
More pirates tried to hold them off. Knight kicked around the rails and walls, using the environment as a shield to close in. There was always a way in. He slammed a man’s head against the wall. Telekinetically, he reached out and snatched two pirates’ guns.
A hori with an eye patch came up, MAG readied. Knight caught his arm and twisted, and the gun clattered away. He turned, pulling the man to his knees. The hori screamed as his joint pressed the wrong way.
“Ezra?” Phoebe said.
What? Her brother? Her parents had mentioned the man had gone pirate. Damn. Knight shoved the hori toward Phoebe.
She caught him, looked him in the eye, and shook her head. Knight couldn’t see her face because of the helmet. Phoebe socked her brother across the jaw, and the young man fell.
“Knight, bring him back to the Sephirot.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll help secure the rest of the ship. Won’t take long.”
Knight shifted his weight. Debating her was pointless. But letting her walk into danger without him … no. She was a highly trained spec ops Sentinel. He had to trust her.
He slung the unconscious man over his shoulders and carried him back to the shuttle. He locked Ezra in the back.
Ten minutes later, Phoebe returned.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
She tapped her suit to release the helmet and turned to look at him, her eyes red. Had she been crying? God, what should he say? He’d never had brothers or sisters. How was he supposed to manage for her?
He removed his own helmet and took over control of the shuttle. He was no expert pilot, but he was learning, and she was clearly not in any shape to fly.
“So … he was really out here, huh?”
“I guess.”
“I’m sorry, Phoebe. I know it must be hard to find him like this.”
“I think that’s a cybernetic patch.”
Knight had seen that too. “Yeah. You know … they’re not all bad. Asherans with implants, I mean. They’re just people who abandoned the Covenant. They can still be … they’re still people.”
She rubbed her face, and Knight flew the shuttle back toward the Sephirot.
“Hey, Knight,” she said after a minute. “Thanks.”
“For what?”
“Oh … everything.”
“So I’m not an ass anymore?”
She smiled. “I didn’t say that. But I love you. I was thinking maybe we … Maybe we should have some babies.” She turned away at that and ran her fingers through her pink hair, as if embarrassed.
Knight felt a bit flush too. He’d wanted children for so long. And then Rachel had made him question whether he wanted it just because he was told to. But it didn’t matter why he wanted it. What mattered was he did now, in each moment. And Phoebe was the one. He knew that now, without any doubt. Sometimes he’d thought about what he might have had with Shirin had she lived. Maybe they would have escaped and raised a family together. But that was another lifetime, a distant memory. A sadness that might never completely fade but had been filled with a warmth he’d never known.
“You mean that?”
“Yup, yup. I … um …” She turned back to him and smiled, her teal eyes shining.
“You mean now?”
“Uh, think we’d better wait until we get back to one of our quarters, big guy.”
“Right.” Of course. Obviously. Not like they’d never had sex on a shuttle. Just not with her brother locked in the next room.
Knight reached over to take Phoebe’s hand.
11
“The investigation into the pirate raid on the Avernus Penal Planet has failed to reconcile the number of dead bodies with the number of inmates. Typically, over time, penal planet populations rise due to births among inmates. Deaths are reported as they occur. However, in this instance, the body count has failed to settle the matter of the whereabouts of former Cadet Ezra Dana.”
Sentinel Academy Judicial Committee official report
PEGASUS DWARF GALAXY
David had insisted Caleb be restrained in the brig. Rachel didn’t really blame him. Caleb Gavet had been their enemy a lot more often than he’d been their ally, if he even was now. The man was duplicitous, lecherous, and a prick. But he knew things, and if he was willing to share, she needed that information.
They’d taken the entire crew of the Serpent prisoner, which apparently included Phoebe’s own brother. Leah was now seeing to injuries some of the pirates had sustained.
