Shadows Bear No Names (The Blackened Prophecy Book 1) (35 page)

Chapter FORTY-EIGHT

HOME: PART III

The platform had landed over a dozen Kronos missiles on the Baeal mother ship. The warheads’ blast radius was huge, damaging anything within the explosion’s proximity. So far, the warheads had been unsuccessful in penetrating the alien leviathan’s shields but in the process, they had destroyed three spiders that hadn’t reacted in time to avoid the blast zone.

“Concentrate the artillery on grid five!” Rebecca barked. “Tell Captain Nelson to pull back into position near the Kappa group and change his target to the second spider!”

Rebecca remembered the fireworks her father had taken her to at the annual city fair in New York. She’d watched the dancing lights in the sky, laughing and screaming in joy. From the ground, what she saw now would look like fireworks in space, but this time, someone died onboard the ships with each flare.

As if they weren’t demoralized enough already, the radio buzzed and filled with a deep, mechanical warning siren whenever the Worm fired its main battery; a huge cannon bigger than the size of a dreadnought itself, coming from the mouth of the ship, appearing from the mist to fire and disappear as fast as it emerged. So far, the tech teams hadn’t been able to isolate the signal, no matter what they tried, and it was wearing on the personnel. “It is as if it resonates from within the ship,” the engineer tried to explain. It didn’t matter how; each siren meant they’d lost another ship.

“Patch me to
Garrett
actual!” Rebecca bellowed with frustration.

“This is Admiral Yun!” The background noise full of yelling and panic was unbearable, almost dimming the admiral’s voice.

“Kim, you have to move back to the third grid,” Rebecca ordered, ignoring formality, “You are blocking our line of fire!”

“Rebecca, we are having problems with the navigation,” the man yelled, his voice interrupted by static, “Someone sabotaged the helm controls!”

“The depths of seven hells!” she cursed under her breath; the very idea of humans helping the aliens to eradicate their own kind disgusted her. Humans had been completely blind all this time to this pest breeding right under their noses. “All right, switch power to weapons and focus on taking down that shield!”

Admiral Yun acknowledged the order and cut the connection. Rebecca looked around the bridge, assessing the damage. The control panel blinked red on decks twenty through twenty-five. The
Deviator
was powerful enough to resist the enemy’s main cannon with its armor and shield combined but each time it hit, the thing took out a few of the decks.
And shield strength.
They had already lost over two thousand personnel and sooner or later, it would be over.

“Admiral, another ship has appeared on sensors,” Lieutenant Jong called.

“Lieutenant, you are bleeding badly. You working with one eye less is already troublesome. I cannot risk you blundering at tactical. You are relieved. Let the junior grade take your post.”

“I’m fine, Ma’am. I can hold on.”

“How many morphine shots you have already?”

“None, Ma’am.”

“Are you crazy! Man, you had a rail drilling your face an hour ago!”

“I’m an eye less, Ma’am, but I’m still alive. I’ll fight as long as I can.”

Rebecca looked at her officer in admiration and respect. She nodded and let the man work. The medic on the bridge had patched Jong up but even with proper surgical help, the chance of restoring his vision was low without an implant. In truth, it was a miracle he had survived the trauma and was able to do his job. Rebecca had literally watched the rails hitting his eye at high speed.

“The ship on the sensors, is it friendly?” Rebecca asked, already knowing the answer.

“No ma’am,” the man said, “The signature matches the one we encountered near Pendar.”

The planet-killer had arrived, appearing in the distance. The ship didn’t look as intimidating as it did before, now that Rebecca had seen the Worm but it gave her a real idea about the intentions of the Baeal.

“What is the heading?”

“The Moon.”

“I do not believe they are here to destroy Earth,” Ga’an said, breaking his silence.

“How can you be so sure?” Rebecca asked.

Ga’an observed the map for a while before speaking. “This is a battle formation. The enemy is clashing head on, making their way to the planet. If I wanted to destroy a planet, I would have jumped the planet-killer right on top of it and fired. This strategy does not fit.”

Rebecca nodded. “Invasion?”

“More likely.”

“But destroying the Moon would alter everything about the planet. Its orbit, the seasons. You name it. It does not make sense.”

“I fought the Baeal for forty cycles, Admiral Conway. I cannot dare say I understand their reasoning or tactics.”

Rebecca sighed. “Well, now would be a good time to figure out what the hell they are up to.”

***

“I can’t see a thing! None of the modes work!”

“Same here, Carter. Fly by instinct and try not to dive into that cloud.”

Easier said than done. The fog covered the huge worm-shaped mother ship, extending several kilometers from the ship’s hull. The dogfighting was intense and sooner or later, they’d had to carry the chase into the dense, black fog. Two times now, Carter had pulled up hard to avoid collision with the worm’s hull. The enemy seemed unaffected by the cloud, flying in and out freely and hunting down the blinded Avengers like confused birds trying to figure out which way was
up.

Carter chased a Crab into the fog again, cursing. She was bursting her guns to the point of risking overheating, but she didn’t care. She hit the thing several times and smoke bloomed from its right wing. Still, she needed to deliver a killing blow.

The Crab rolled several times inside the fog, trying to use its own smoke as a shield. Carter admired the tactic but it also gave her the chance to chase its trail. She tried to lock on the enemy fighter but each time she was about to get a clear shot, the Crab changed direction completely, as if it sensed the lock-on signal.

“All right, that did it,” she muttered, turning off the locking computer. “Reading my mind? Read this!” She fired two rockets without setting up a target and turned her locking system back online immediately after sending the warheads. She targeted the nearby one and fired on her own warhead with the Avenger’s guns.

After a few rounds, one of her shots hit the missile and it exploded with a tremendous blast, taking the unsuspecting enemy ship caught in its fire.

She rolled to her left and pulled up, avoiding the debris and allowing herself to breathe. Carter looked into the pilot mirrors and saw a faint yellow dot behind and to her right, breaching the dense fog with its pale beam.

“Sun,” she murmured and the hair on her arms rose in fear. “If I can see the sun at my back…Oh Lord! Back, back, back!”

She killed the engines and made a fast turn, kicking in the landing thrusters, then screamed in pain, trying to resist the sudden change in g-force. Abruptly, the fog disappeared and she saw one of the matte black shells of the Worm’s armor from the corner of her eye. The light of the Sun behind her was the only warning she was about to crash into the Worm’s hull.

“Proximity alert.”

“I know!” she yelled, hitting the main thrusters.

“Warning, ten meters,” the dull male voice said. “Five meters.”

“I said I know!” Carter closed her eyes, gripping the flight stick tight as she grimaced.

“Two meters. Warning, jet blast damage.”

She expected to hear the crashing sound of metal hitting metal but nothing happened. Carter dared to open one of her eyes and looked at the flight screen. The proximity warning was off, showing the distance as ten meters and increasing with each second.

“Yes!” she screamed. “Suck it, you—”

A damaged Eye appeared right before her, coming out of nowhere through the fog and hitting the Avenger hard on the right side, breaking off a wing, before it hit to the hull of the Worm. Carter’s fighter rolled uncontrollably on its axis. Alarms rang over the deafening engine noise of the unstable fighter, madly begging her to abandon the craft. The flight information panel flickered with static and whenever the image of her Avenger appeared, every system was marked in red.

Carter ignored the alarms and the swirling clouds around her, fixing on the flight control computer, but the screen flickered and died. She looked into her left mirror and caught a glimpse of her thruster disappearing into the black fog through the cracked glass. Now, her only hope was to be recovered by a friendly craft.

“Mayday, Mayday!” The ship cleared the fog, and Carter tightened her lips and slowly sank back into her seat.

She was headed toward one of the Spiders a few kilometers away, filling her whole vision like a hulking nemesis. No one would be able to reach her in time this close to another ship. Long before that, she would either be shot down or she would crash into the enemy capital.

Carter closed her eyes and thought of her home down in Los Angeles; her family enjoying the sunny day in the yard with her Labrador running around and her father heating up the barbecue. She dreamt of having a cold beer and chatting about how boring her day had been on the base.

She smiled.

Chapter FORTY-NINE

TRUTH HURTS

Ray jumped from the rails to the second platform under the service bridge. His left arm burned like the fireplace they had back home—when he still had one—but he endured the pain and followed the trail of Caius’ blood all the way to the engine room. Shortly after he left the crew quarters, the
Deviator
came out of hyperspace and everything went havoc. The ship shook like a wild cradle and Ray heard explosions and deep
thumps
. He guessed it had been an hour.
I must be close.

He saw the engineering teams in the core chamber, trying to contain the damage from the enemy cannons but for each patch they completed, five more ruptures appeared. The sudden jump into the fire zone had caught the crew off guard.

Ray tried to ignore the screams coming from around the ship. He saw a marine trapped under a fallen rail, two levels below him, but there wasn’t time or a way for him to reach the poor kid. If he’d had a gun, he’d end the marine’s pain there and then. Instead, he sent a bitter prayer to whatever god was watching this farce and asked mercy for the marine’s soul, focusing back on the trail. His own arm hung awkwardly but he knew Caius was hurt as well.
Please let it be an even fight.

Ray approached one of the ventilation shafts. Huge fans spun tens of meters below him, throwing off his balance in their wind. He grabbed the right railing and something stuck into his palm. He raised his hand and saw the red fluid dripping on the sidewalk.

A sudden spike of pain hurled him face down and he hit his nose hard on the metal floor. Ray ignored the pain and instinctively rolled to his side. The sound of metal meeting metal rang in his ears a moment later, the fierce blow scattering sparks.

Caius held a metal pipe in his hands, bloodied by his grasp. His right leg had been torn apart by the bullet Private Meadows had landed, but somehow the man was still standing. He looked at Ray with maddened eyes and jumped.

Ray pushed his legs against Caius’ chest, catching him off guard and throwing off his balance. The agent dropped his weapon and it bounced once on the platform before falling into the huge fans below, which trashed it into tiny pieces.

Ray tried to stand up and take the advantage but the agent hit Ray in the stomach with a powerful kick with his healthy leg, holding the rails to prevent himself from falling. The heavy impact made Ray throw up.

Caius firmed his grip on the metal baluster and pulled himself to his feet, looming over Ray. “You think you are the hero!” he screamed, spitting out each word. “A shining beacon of salvation!” he kicked Ray again, ignoring his balance.

“At least,” Ray choked out between coughs, “I can look myself in the mirror, buddy.”

“Hah!” Caius wiped the blood off his face with the back of his hand and stood up again, “What do you know of honor?” He tried to keep his balance as the ship trembled with yet another blast. “What do you know of sacrifice!”

“You call killing an eighty-five-year-old man ‘honor’?” Ray snapped. “If there was a sacrifice, it was him doing it, not you.” He was hissing with every breath and coughing blood.
This is over.

“He was a sacrifice,” Caius said, his eyes glowing with tears. “One of many.” He raised his head and looked around the huge turbine, his torn cloak waving in the wind. “I served for years. Years!” he cried out. “They took everything from me and asked for more. And for what!”

Ray saw the madness in Caius’ eyes. The man’s soul was shredded. Ray didn’t know his story—not that he cared at this point, but the man’s words and actions were of different worlds. “You don’t have to do this,” he tried to reason.

“Oh, Mr. Harris, but I do,” Caius replied. “Sometimes, to save one, you have to sacrifice a million.” He kicked Ray and whispered “I am sorry.”

“You’re—” Ray coughed blood. “…kidding, right?” He tried to wipe the blood from his mouth. “Buddy, you’re really in la-la land.”

“She was laughing,” Caius whispered and kicked Ray in the stomach again and again, crying out “I am sorry Marianna,” with each hit.

Caius kicked with both his legs, seemingly unaware of the pain. His right one worked more like a flail than a leg but he looked like he didn’t care. He grabbed Ray by the throat and raised him into air.

“He said he would save her,” Caius whispered, staring into Ray’s eyes with a bitter smile. “He said he would. I trusted him and I saw her laugh again!”

“I…” Ray felt the lights dimming. He clawed the air for a breath but his vision was already turning black and white. Caius was still mumbling about some promise he’d been given but his words were slow motion moaning in Ray’s ears. With a final effort, he tried to break free but the assassin had inhuman power in his arms and Ray was already at the edge of death.

“He never told me of the price and I never asked. I did not care, Mr. Harris. She was all I had.” Caius smiled, “And she laughed!”

This is over.