Shadows Bear No Names (The Blackened Prophecy Book 1) (36 page)

Chapter FIFTY

HOME: PART IV

“All right people, we have our orders!” the bearded man said, wiping the dirt from his face with an equally smeared worn-out cloth. “Set the coordinates, take the shuttles and head for the flagship.”

“I worked my rump off to earn
Lula,”
another man protested over the radio. “She’s my bread-and-butter!”

Several others agreed, none-too-enthusiastic about letting their hard-earned livelihoods be used as artillery shells.

“Look out the window Gary, you fool!” the man shut down the complaints. “Do you think that thing will let you mine the shines? God knows you’ll be food before the next payday.”

Gary couldn’t argue the logic and fell silent. They were all paid by the Weiner-Johnson Mining Company in Berlin, Earth. “All right, I get it Mike,” he said reluctantly. “No Earth, no salary.”

“Good, now set the coordinates and get your tail off that rusty boat of yours! We survive this, they’ll call us heroes. You can have five
Lulas
then!”

The hundred and twenty mining craft stood on the far side of Earth, watching the battle from a distance with their holds full of highly volatile, raw niobium.

Their orders were to set their ships to jump near the enemy fleet, and then abandon ship by any means necessary. The captains had no choice in the matter—it was coming from the top—but most of them lent a hand willingly when they saw the situation.

“All right, there she goes,” Mike said, pushing off from the
Apple Juice
in a small shuttle craft. “See you on board that big girl.
Deviator
was it?”

A few minutes later, the whole mining fleet was a ghost town, ships awaiting their jump timers finishing countdowns. One by one, the mining craft disappeared with small bright flashes, to reappear randomly near the enemy fleet.

The explosions were blinding. The SAM sites over the Moon targeted the abandoned ships, firing their missiles at the fuel-loaded craft. When the first ship exploded, it took out three unsuspecting Baeal destroyers, scattering debris in every direction. One of the ships’ husks changed its course with the power of the blast and ended up crashing into a fourth one, crippling it, the merciless mortar fire from the
Garrett
finishing the job.

“Yee-haw! You saw my
Lucy
take down that thing?”

“And my
Jack-O-Lantern
!”

Soon, the enemy fleet flashed with bright orange explosions, chain reactions caused by the raw niobium burning the enemy fighters and bombers alike, like flies caught in bug zappers.

***

“Admiral, the miners have started their run,” Lieutenant Jong informed Rebecca.

“On screen.”

The blasts looked marvelous to her eyes. Each mining craft hit by a missile had a punch much more powerful than what the Kronos warheads could bring. As she expected, it wasn’t enough to penetrate the Worm’s shields but the strategy proved sound, delivering a serious blow to the enemy ranks.

“How is the evacuation going?” she asked, not addressing anyone in particular.

“Seven hundred liners took off so far,” a female officer answered. “Close to three million people, ma’am.”

Rebecca closed her eyes. Earth’s population had come somewhat under control since colonization of other planets became feasible, but over twelve billion people still lived on the rock.

“How much more can the civil fleet launch within the next hour?” Rebecca asked.

“Five thousand or so, ma’am,” the woman said.

Rebecca shook her head slowly in acknowledgement. It was the hard truth; they had a chance to evacuate one in every five hundred citizens and then, the planet-killer would be close enough to take down their home or the Worm would be in range to do whatever it had come to do.

“How many mining ships jumped so far?” She looked at Ga’an.

“Twenty-seven,” the Ancient answered, keeping his eye on the tactical map.

“Reprogram the rest to jump near the planet-killer and ignore the mother ship. If we cannot take the Worm, let us take down the next ugliest thing.”

Ga’an bowed his head, passing the orders through the console before him. “We must retreat to Grid Two.”

“That is too close to the planet.”

“There will not be anyone left alive to care about it, Admiral Conway.”

Rebecca nodded in defeat. “Do it.”

Each grid was two thousand kilometers in length squares and grid one was Earth’s higher orbit. The fleet was battered. More than two-thirds of the dreadnoughts had been destroyed and they had just over two thousand fighters and bombers left. The defense drones were doing their part, but their firepower was no match for the enemy craft, only creating a distraction for the Consortium pilots to get a better shot. Still, it was something.

“
Deviator
, this is the
Galileo,”
a man’s voice echoed through the speakers. “How can we assist, Admiral Conway?”

Rebecca gave a relaxing sigh. “God, I am so glad to hear your voice, I could kiss you, Thomas.”

“I may keep you to your word after this, Rebecca,” the man chuckled. “We received your message at the edge of Carpathian Nebula. Came as fast as we could.”

“Better late than never. How many wings do you have?”

“The standard twenty squadrons of fighters and two squadrons of bombers,” the man replied. “Oh, and the Blade will be here shortly.”

“I will
definitely
keep my promise. Position the
Galileo
near grid three, together with Admiral Ashton, and follow our targeting solution.”

“Roger that,
Galileo
out.”

It probably wasn’t enough to turn the tide, but two additional super-dreadnoughts would give them time to evacuate more of the planet’s inhabitants.

“Ma’am, the mining ships are near the enemy planet-killer.”

Rebecca gestured to show it on screen. A few of the mining fleet had jumped to the old coordinates—the captains had disembarked and were already warming up their jump drives when the override coordinates were sent—but more than eighty craft were near Pendar’s destroyer.

One of the SAMs reached a nearby mining ship and the niobium on board flamed with a massive explosion. The chain reaction made the whole fleet of mining ships flare bright white, illuminating the darkness of space like a bonfire. For a second, it looked like Armageddon as the flames grew to match the size of the dark cloud surrounding the Worm, even challenging the bright light of the Sun.

The flames died down a few seconds later and Rebecca felt the cold sweat running down her chest, freezing her heart when she saw the planet-killer standing in one piece.

“Mr. Jong?”

“Nothing’s happening!” Lieutenant Jong reported.

“Come on,” Rebecca whispered. “Come, on.”

“Ma’am, nothing—”

The sudden brightness filling the bridge was blinding. The huge arachnid ship’s legs separated forcefully from its hull and towering flames erupted at the junctions. The massive parts scattered, hitting the other Baeal craft at random, damaging everything on their path like rogue bullets in ricochet.

“Yes!” Rebecca screamed. The crew watched the destruction of the planet-killer in joy, trying to live the moment as best and as long as they could. Some hugged each other, some smiled. Some had tears shining on their smiling lips. Even Ga’an had shown somewhat of a reaction, narrowing his eyes.

Their excitement was short-lived; the deep, mechanical warning sound of the mother ship firing its weapon reverberated on the bridge and a second later, another bright flash, much closer to the super-dreadnought, filled the main display.

“Report!” Rebecca barked, holding on to a nearby rail as the ship shook with the force of the blast.

“Ma’am, it was the
Garrett
,” Lieutenant Jong said.

Rebecca’s head dropped. With every positive step they managed, Baeal returned with five more.

“Ma’am, it is Chief Simmons,” an officer called.

“What is it, Chief?”

“Ma’am, I have Captain Samir and Sarah Davis here,” the man said. “They arrived on a transport under
Garrett
’s banner. His team is in real bad shape but he says the package is safe.”

“Roger that, send him to the bridge.” She ended the call. At least, they had the stone and she sent a silent prayer to whatever god was listening.
I do not think any are, but still…

A violent explosion rattled the ship. The emergency lights went down, leaving the bridge dark. Cables hung from the ceiling, their ends flaring with rogue sparks, and several terminals were on fire, filling the bridge with smoke. Cries came from every corner of the bridge but it was impossible to see where.

Rebecca found herself on top of a staff sergeant, his neck broken. The man looked like he’d been crouching when she landed on his back.
Such a young face.

“Report!” she tried to say but started coughing blood, the smoke surrounding her making her eyes water.

Two large hands came out of the smoke and pulled her up. Ga’an carried her to the far end of the bridge where it was least-damaged. She saw at least a dozen still bodies. The door of an elevator had burst outward as if they’d blown up a grenade inside. Rebecca saw one of the cartographers—Lieutenant Commander Morris—almost split into two, trapped in a collapsed walkway, hanging by his chest from the upper platform.

“What happened?” she asked after another spasm.

“We were hit by the mother ship,” Ga’an said. “The Blade tried to cut the beam and took the main blow, saving us.”

“The Blade?” Rebecca asked but Ga’an simply shook his head. “All right,” she tried to lean against the wall, coughing blood, “we need…a game changer, Mr. Ga’an.” Rebecca coughed blood. With a last effort, she grabbed Ga’an by the collar. “Find…Mr. Harris!” her words dying in her mouth as she could no longer keep her eyes open.

Chapter FIFTY-ONE

YOU DIE WITH YOUR CHOICES

One of the turbines below the platform exploded with a deafening sound, flames rising to where they stood and the force of the blast throwing them apart.

Ray clung to a pole, desperately trying to catch his breath. The sudden oxygen filling his lungs dizzied him, returning his senses in a flash. The blast had broken one of the support chains, and the platform teetered.

Below the metal grills, one of the fans was broken, the smoke filling the floor. The flames washed up the levels like waves of an angry ocean, crisping everything up to the level below the one they stood on. He saw the trapped marine two levels down, drowning in the orange wind, burning in pain. Eventually, soot would cover the whole turbine and they would run out of oxygen anyway.

Ray turned his head to locate Caius. The agent hung by his hands from the end of the rail, trying to pull himself up.

Ray crawled toward the assassin but a screeching sound stopped him; the other chain holding the platform was coming off as well. Ray looked for a way out but he was too far from the door. He heard the chain crack, yielding to the weight it carried and the platform tilted wildly, turning ninety degrees on its axis.

Ray grabbed the pole again with his right arm, trying to find somewhere to put his legs that could support his weight. Caius had somehow pulled himself up with his powerful arms and staggered toward him.

“Don’t you ever give up?” Ray shouted over the noise of the flames below. Smoke burned their eyes. “Man, you
really
need a hobby.”

“I…have…to!” Caius raised his hand to grab Ray.

Another explosion shook the ship and the agent lost his grip; slipping to the edge of the metal bridge, catching a half-bent railing at the last second. Ray saw the metal bars Caius held on were breaking at the edges. Soon, the thing would come down altogether and Caius would fall into the flames, probably followed by the whole platform.
At least I’ll watch him fry first.

Ray saw the man of sorrows appear again behind the murderous veil.

“I am sorry, Marianna,” the dark man whispered.

“You have to know when to quit,” Ray quoted the agent’s words.

“I had to,” Caius babbled. “The hope of saving her…”

“You killed thousands!”

Agent Caius didn’t look like he was listening. “When I lost him, she was all I had left. I had to do something, Mr. Harris, for each day that passed, she dwelled more in the abyss.”

“Do you even know who do you serve?”

“You would never understand, Mr. Harris!”

“I understand!” Ray screamed. “I too lost my son! I lost my family, my daughter doesn’t even want to see me and I’ve no idea where my wife even is. I understand, but it doesn’t make me go on a killing spree!”

Caius looked at Ray and Ray saw the real man behind the wall of death for the first time. “Then you are a better man than I am, Mr. Harris.” Tears rolled down the dark figure’s cheeks. “Could you feel the coldness, the freezing reality calling us?”

“You brought the blizzard into your soul yourself, Caius. In the kingdom of hope, there is no winter.”

Agent Caius nodded with a smile and let go, flying into the black smoke, his arms wide open.

Ray watched him disappear. He didn’t have time to feel sorry for the man—he was about to share the same fate if he couldn’t find a way off this platform.

He pulled himself toward the service door. Each centimeter he covered sent aches through his spine. Ray could no longer feel his left arm, and he found himself thinking how it would be to live with one arm.

“Maybe I should get one of those robotic arms and a head cannon.” He was in pain. “Maybe the cannon first.” The augmentation process was much smoother than it had been decades ago and he could easily adapt to a mechanical arm. The cannon would be useful if he ever met with another freak like Caius. With tremendous effort he reached the door, stupid ideas about implant operations and prosthetics whirling in his mind all the way to the exit.

“Damn it!” he looked helplessly at the keypad, located on the other side of the doorframe. The ramp in front of the door was broken and there was a huge gap, putting him and the wall-mounted controls on opposite sides. “I guess it…it would be too much to ask for another keypad on my side. Damn it!” He could no longer see through the smoke. Ray closed his eyes and afforded a smile. Even in perfect health, Ray knew he couldn’t have jumped the gap without falling into the burning turbines below.

“I’m sorry, kiddo,” he whispered, reaching for the locket on his neck. “I tried.”

The door hissed and two powerful arms grabbed him with astounding force.

“I got you, Raymond Harris.” Ga’an pulled him into the service way and closed the door behind them, laying Ray on his back to let him breathe. “Are you all right?”

Ray tried to answer but nothing came out of his mouth. He nodded instead.

“How...?”

“By chance. The fate is surely shapes around you, Lohil.”

“Yeah... whatever.” Ray battled to keep his burning eyes open.

“Your presence is required on the bridge,” Ga’an lifted Ray to his shoulder without waiting for a further reply and dashed toward the elevators.

“W—What’s happening?” Ray blurted, bumping on Ga’an’s shoulder with each step.

Ga’an’s tone was indifferent, as usual. “We are losing the war.”