Heirs of the New Earth (31 page)

Feeling otherwise helpless, Kirsten nodded and stepped into the kitchen where she began gathering plates and glasses and placing them into the cleansing unit. She then turned her attention the rest of the living room and kitchen area, looking for plates that had been neglected. As she did, she chewed her lower lip and wondered whether this was the wisest way to try to attract the Cluster.

When Mark hadn't raised his head in five minutes, Eva knelt down and checked his pulse. She lifted his head with her finger and looked into his eyes. His breath caught as he saw her and it started coming rapidly. Afraid he was going to hyperventilate, Eva stood to get her medical kit. Mark reached out, grabbed her wrist and pulled her close. Wrapping her in a bear-like embrace, he drove his lips into hers, forcing his tongue into her mouth.

Kirsten turned and gasped. The plate she was carrying fell from her hands and shattered on the hardwood floor.

G'Liat returned to Tim Gibbs’ apartment within a matter of minutes carrying a case. Swan recognized it as the same traveling bag that the warrior had in the apartment before. He opened the bag and revealed an almost perfectly smooth machine, shimmering like mother-of-pearl. Without looking at the humans, he started making adjustments.

"What's going on here?” asked Maria looking from one Rd'dyggian to the other. “We're trying to stop the Cluster. If we don't there's going to be a shock wave that's going to destroy all life in the galaxy—Rd'dyggians included. You should be helping us, not stopping us."

G'Liat spun on his heel and inclined his head. “Our aims are the same, young woman,” said the warrior. Swan noticed that his Rd'dyggian accent was more pronounced than before. He took a step toward the couch, his hands clasped behind his back. “However, your plan will, at most, delay the Cluster for a short time—and I suspect will have rather devastating consequences. If successful, my plan will rid us of the Cluster permanently, and no one will have to be harmed."

"What exactly do you plan to do?” asked Swan. He looked from one warrior to the other, trying to find an opening—some way he could attack the one without being blind-sided by the other.

"You shall see soon enough,” said G'Liat.

Maria inclined her head as she started receiving reports from other resistance cells. She put her hand to her mouth and shook her head. “What's the matter?” asked Swan.

"They're dying,” she said. “All those people that have been injected with Proxom—they seem to stir into consciousness for a short time and then they die. Its as though they have no will to live any longer."

G'Liat sneered smugly. “Then it would seem quite likely that I saved your friend's life,” he said, gesturing to the unconscious form of Gibbs. “Let's just his hope his mind is still alive inside the Cluster.” The warrior turned and began to make more adjustments to the brain scan device.

Captain Ellison Firebrandt held onto the
Legacy's
wheel console and watched a set of numbers floating in the holo tank as they slowly increased. They were putting distance between themselves and the Cluster, but not quite fast enough for his liking. “Mary, can Junior give me any more power at all?"

"Any more, and he says she'll blow apart,” said the technician, “especially with the hull rupture."

"Captain, we may have a problem,” called Roberts. He changed the display at the front of the battle deck so it displayed the Cluster in ultra-violet light. Several of the orbs were glowing a bright purple at that wavelength. “They're either getting ready to pursue or fire. I don't know which."

"Any suggestions,” called the captain. “We're running from them as fast as we can and I don't think there are any evasive maneuvers that will do us any good."

Roberts put a plot up on the viewer. “There's an old satellite debris field twenty-two degrees from our present course.” An arc appeared from the plot of the
Legacy
to the position of the debris field. “If we get in there and shut off our engines, they may lose us."

"You don't sound too certain,” said the captain as he began making the course adjustment.

"I'm not,” said Roberts, matter-of-factly. “But, it's the best option we've got."

The numbers that showed the
Legacy's
distance from the Cluster continued to increase while a second set of numbers that showed their distance to the debris field appeared and began decreasing. “I'm shutting down the engines,” said Firebrandt. “We should drift right into the debris at this point. We'll just need a slight reverse nudge to stop."

"Oh my God,” said Anne McClintlock. “They've fired."

Firebrandt looked up in time to see a red beam emerge from the Cluster. At the same time, something slammed into the back of the ship and threw him headfirst over the wheel console. The last thing he remembered were all the lights going out and the sound of screams from throughout the battle deck.

As soon as the
Nicholas Sanson
jumped into Earth's solar system, Simon Yermakov ordered Natalie to activate the holo viewer. All they saw was a distant view of the Earth. Laura Peters activated thrusters and accelerated to full speed. Right behind the
Sanson,
dozens of black, cylindrical war ships jumped into normal space and activated their own thrusters. Almost unnoticed in the pack was a silver egg-shaped craft piloted by Arepno.

"Simon,” said Natalie, looking back toward the command chair. She saw Simon Yermakov in the captain's chair with Suki Firebrandt next to him. “I'm detecting one Cluster in orbit and ... I think there's an Earth ship running away from it."

"Let's see it.” As Simon stood from the command chair, Manuel Raton emerged from the captain's office at the back of the deck.

"I'm picking this up on a satellite relay,” explained Natalie as the view in the holo tank suddenly shifted. Instead of seeing Earth from a distance, it now appeared that they were in near-Earth orbit. They could make out a black ship silhouetted against the blue of Earth moving away from one of the Clusters.

Simon stepped closer to the tank and pointed to a fuzzy patch that didn't seem well-resolved in the view. “What's that?"

"I think it's a satellite debris field,” said Laura, squinting at the tank from her station.

Fire stood and stepped next to Simon, her head inclined. As she studied the ship, her eyes grew wide. “That ship's called the
Legacy
,” she said, reading the name from the hull. “That's the name of my father's old privateer vessel."

Manuel moved up next to Fire, also studying the image. “I think that
is
your father's old privateer vessel.” He stepped into the tank and pointed to patterns of light and shadow on the hull's surface. “You can see where the adobe part of the homestead discolored the Erdonium hull."

"It can't be,” said Fire.

Just then, there was a bright flash of red and Manuel threw his arm up over his eyes and staggered backward out of the tank. The beam came from the Cluster and caught the
Legacy
on its EQ generator and sent the ship into an end-over-end spiral.

"Oh my God!” called Fire. She reached out toward the tumbling hologram, as though she could stop the ship by stopping its holographic image.

"I've got a fleet-wide signal,” said Natalie. “I'm putting it on speakers."

"This is Commodore MacPhearson of the
Astrolus
,” came a gravely voice from the intercom. “We have a ship in trouble near the Cluster. I want the
Bismarck
and
Yamato
to get in there between the Cluster and that ship right away.
Sanson,
you're the third fastest ship, do you have medical personnel?"

Simon nodded to Natalie who responded, “We don't have any doctors, but we have two emergency medical techs."

"That'll do,” said MacPhearson. “Get in there, get that ship stabilized and help out anyone that's injured. All other ships, prepare for attack plan delta..."

Simon made a cutting motion across his neck and Natalie turned off the speakers. He nodded to Laura who adjusted course for the spiraling
Legacy.
He stepped back to the command seat and Fire followed on his heels. As he sat, he ordered the EMTs to the launch.

"May I go over there with them?” asked Fire.

Simon rubbed his hands together and looked at his console, deliberately avoiding Fire's gaze. “We don't know what we'll find over there."

Fire knelt down and looked up into Simon's eyes. “I have a pretty good idea my father's over there—alive or dead. Either way, I've got to go over."

"Well someone's alive over there,” said Laura.

Grateful to look away from Fire's eyes, Simon looked up at the holo tank. Fire turned and stood to watch as well. They saw that the
Legacy
was firing thrusters, slowing her spin. As the ship straightened, two star cruisers blasted by the wounded ship and positioned themselves in front of the Cluster. Fire sighed relief.

"We'll be in range to send out the launch in two minutes,” said Laura.

Simon ground his teeth, then looked up at Fire. “You and Mr. Raton get down to the launch bay and see what you can do to help."

"Thank you,” said Fire, as she sprinted toward the elevator with Manuel hurrying to catch up.

"Tell the launch crew to wait for Dr. Ellis and Mr. Raton—but have them launch as soon as they're aboard and secure,” ordered Simon.

Natalie carried out the orders and on the screen, they saw the Cluster fire again. This time the beam hit one of the two ships that had positioned itself between the Cluster and the
Legacy.
They saw a burst of fog-like atmosphere that indicated that the ship's hull had been breached, but the military crew locked down the breach almost as fast as it appeared.

"The launch says that Suki and Manuel are aboard. They can go any time,” said Natalie.

Laura nodded ascent. “We're in good position, they can go across to the
Legacy
when they're ready."

"Tell them to launch,” said Simon. He put his hand on the back of Laura's chair and continued to watch the holo tank.

More ships began to form up between the Cluster and the
Legacy.
The Cluster fired again at the ship it had first hit. The ship spun away from the others and exploded. Two ships moved in and filled the gap made by the lost ship.

The
Sanson's
launch could be seen on the screen, making its way to
Legacy.

The Cluster fired again at two other ships. Simon stepped closer to the tank and looked carefully. He was pretty certain those ships had sustained damage also. The Cluster continued to fire as more Alliance and Colonial ships formed up. Another Earth ship exploded in a blinding flash.

"The launch reports it's docked on to
Legacy.
Someone opened the airlock for them,” said Natalie with a faint smile.

Simon nodded, not taking his eyes from the holo tank. “Put on the fleet signals again,” he said, almost dreamily.

"All ships in position,” came one voice from the speakers.

The Cluster fired at another ship.

"This is the
Witch of Endor,
we've sustained heavy casualties and may have to withdraw."

"Stick with us for a few more minutes."

"All ships report target lock."

"This is Commodore MacPhearson. All ships ... Fire!"

Natalie quickly dimmed the intensity of the holo tank as all of the ships in the fleet simultaneously opened fire on the Cluster. The Cluster got off another shot and the ship that had identified itself as the
Witch of Endor
vanished in a flash. It fired again and destroyed another ship.

"Maintain firing solution,” called MacPhearson.

Simon reached back and gripped Laura's console. The pilot looked down and noticed that her own knuckles were white. She looked down at the display. “The
Legacy
has moved into the satellite debris field."

"I think we better take cover there as well,” said Simon, his voice cracking at the end.

Laura set the course and began moving the
Sanson
closer to the
Legacy.

Within the tank there was a blinding flash of light that overwhelmed the dampers that Natalie had set up. Simon quickly looked away and found himself blinking at spots that had appeared before his eyes. When he looked back up at the tank, he noticed that it was empty. “Where's the signal?” he asked.

"Our sensors have been overloaded,” reported Natalie. “We're blind."

"We got it,” came a voice from the speaker. “The Cluster's been destroyed!"

Within moments, the speakers were abuzz with the sounds of cheers and congratulations. In the midst of it all was the authoritative voice of Commodore MacPhearson trying to gain control of the fleet. Laura was on her feet and Simon turned and the two embraced. Natalie sat trembling at the communication's station, a lone tear running down her cheek.

Just as G'Liat stepped toward Timothy Gibbs with the brain scan device, the technician's eyes flew open. He looked around the room, confused by the sight of two people sitting on his couch, held at gunpoint by a Rd'dyggian and another Rd'dyggian coming toward him, wielding a strange machine. “I'm back,” he said, startled.

G'Liat lowered the device and studied him for a moment.

Swan jumped toward Rizonex, but the warrior was too fast and simply pushed him back onto the couch with his free hand.

"Oh,” said Gibbs, just as suddenly. “Guess this was a short break.” He slumped back into his chair—eyes closed and jaw slack.

"What the hell just happened?” asked Maria Gonzalez.

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And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.

Revelation 14:18

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Fire gasped when the airlock door opened and she found herself face-to-face with Junior Kimura, the best hover tractor and laser plow repairman from New Des Moines on Sufiro. She restrained the urge to ask what he was doing there when she looked beyond him and saw that the ship he stood in was, in fact, the house she had grown up in. How her father had managed to get the ship into space again was beyond her.