Star Clusters: New Arrivals (17 page)

“So how do we get rid of that much power without a big bang?”

“Perhaps another hyperspace bomb?”

“Wait a second - are you suggesting blowing it up? Hatos, that’s the craziest idea I’ve heard from you. Not entirely original, either - but it could just work.”

“We don’t know what’ll happen if we open a hyperspace window in a planet’s atmosphere, though,” Fanra noted.

“I’m guessing it would suck. Still, what’s a little bit of Petra’s atmosphere when we’re saving the planet?”

“You’re probably right. We could probably reconfigure the bomb to take itself and its capacitors into hyperspace for a few seconds - conventional explosives should be enough to detonate the capacitors once it emerges, and because the planet - and the star, for that matter - won’t keep applying gravity to it, it’ll just fly off in a straight line, reaching a safe distance. It’s sort of what happened when they detonated the bomb, except the bomb was probably deliberately misconfigured and shattered itself and whatever it took with it. I’d have to come along with you, though - we don’t want to send half of the city into hyperspace - or worse.”

“Should we not bring a ship or two?” Zeshaira asked.

“I do not believe that will be necessary. Whoever constructed the time machine probably constructed the Carthan outpost as well; with the right equipment, our transporters can send objects to other star systems, and they may have been derived from technology similar to that on Cartha Three. It is not at all inconceivable that their technology was more advanced. Furthermore, to my knowledge, Lanis’ counterpart did not use a ship to reach Tarhedia.”

“Besides,” Lanis said, “starships will be far too conspicuous. We can’t avoid detection, but the later it happens, the more likely we are to get the job done. I think Zeshaira, Fanra and myself should try to disarm the bomb while you contact your people. We’re all either good fighters or indispensable to the mission, and if anyone can convince the Tarhedians to act, it’s you.”

“Yes, that should work,” Hatos answered. “If, of course, everyone agrees to do it.”

“I’m definitely going there if I can, and there’s no point in doing it at all without Fanra, so that leaves Zeshaira.”

“I will come with you,” Zeshaira said.

“Excellent. Now we can prepare everything for the attack.”

“I’ll go pack enough explosives to detonate the bomb’s capacitors.”

“I guess I’ll prep the Eagle for the attack…”

“I will simply prepare what I can for the battle,” Zeshaira said.

Some eight hours later, the combined Terran-Petran-Tarhedian fleet emerged from hyperspace at the edge of the Daserus system, led by the Tarhedia and the Sothar. On the other side, a small Xargan force awaited. Though they did not entirely anticipate this attack, the Xargans were apparently alert - it took only a few moments for them to react to the fleet’s arrival.

“It would appear the Xargans are outnumbered,” Kanet said.

“That,” Hatos answered, “is a very welcome change. All ships, jump into weapons range and scramble fighters. We may be able to destroy the Xargan garrison before their reinforcements arrive; if that were to be the case, the rest of the operation would become a mere formality.”

The fleet briefly entered hyperspace, performing a microjump similar to the ones used by Poteran and his fleet in the battles of Vaanle, Lieproi and Petra and emerging just within firing range of the Xargans. Within a matter of minutes, the defending force was overwhelmed, and the Interdictor powered up its hyperspace disruptor. Unfortunately, the Xargan force on the planet surface could not be defeated as easily - their position in the ruins made it prohibitively difficult to safely bombard them from orbit. Because of this, an invasion force was sent to the edge of the Xargan perimeter using a combination of transporters, drop pods and dropships.

An invasion force whose inability to use some of their heavier weapons made it nearly impossible to break through. “This is bad,” Lanis commented, monitoring the situation from the Eagle, “real bad. Any bright ideas, anybody?”

“A strafing run, perhaps?” Zeshaira suggested from the Eagle’s ventral turret.

“Too risky - one stray shot and we could end up breaking whatever the key’s supposed to access.”

“We don’t have any other options - this system will be crawling with Xargans soon, and if the ruins aren’t ours by then, this whole operation will be a waste of effort,” Jackson told him. “Try it - we’ll send some of our fighters to make a strafing run of their own. Focus your fire on the bigger ones; without them, the defense might fall apart.”

“Right… Okay, Zeshaira, this run’s yours. Just… try not to hit anything that isn’t a Xargan,” Lanis said, sending the ship in closer and flying over one of the weaker points in the Xargan defense. Zeshaira calmly targeted one Xargan after another, putting a laser bolt into each one of them; the tougher ones received several shots each. However, this maneuver barely dented the enemy lines, and there was no time to whittle them down with such attacks.

“This is Keeler - I’m losing men down here. We simply can’t keep up the pressure.”

Another wave of Tarhedians transported down to the surface, catching Lanis’ eye.“Pressure…” He suddenly started laughing. “Oh, this is gold. Pure gold. We’re trying to beat them using conventional tactics when the answer’s practically being
thrown
into our faces.”

“What are you getting at?” Jackson asked.

“We’re beaming troops down to the surface. What’s to stop us from beaming Xargans
from
the surface?”

“Nothing,” Hatos realized; while the Tarhedia’s crew was aware of the futility of using transporters against the Xargans, someone on the other ships had clearly not been informed of this. “Unless they have adapted their jamming technique to make beaming individual organisms impossible.”

“Well, it’s worth a shot. Use the fleet’s transporters to get them out of the way.”

Within a few moments, the Xargans started disappearing in large groups, only to reappear in the middle of the fleet - in the vacuum of space. As they didn’t know for sure if any of them could survive in the harsh environment, some of the ships opened fire, tearing them apart. By the time the first Xargan ships started emerging from hyperspace at the edge of the system, most of the force on the planet surface had been removed, and Hatos was already on the surface with the key.

“They’re here!” Jackson said.

“Hold them off as long as you can - we
must
succeed,” Hatos told him.

“Give us a bit more time,” Keeler requested. “We’ve got the upper hand; if they can bring down reinforcements, they could stop us again.”

“Lanis here - I’m taking the Eagle down into the ruins. It’s time to finish this, one way or another.” The Eagle descended from the sky and landed in a small clearing with all guns firing; the Xargans there fled deeper into the ruins, followed closely by Keeler’s forces. Lanis, Zeshaira and Fanra disembarked, and were quickly met by Hatos.

“You got the key?” Lanis asked.

“Yes - and a small explosive device attached to it to make sure it does not fall into the wrong hands,” Hatos replied. Suddenly, he felt a foreign entity touch his mind. “A telepath… I suppose I should not be surprised, Xargan,” he responded mentally. For a while, the environment around him faded out of focus as he concentrated on the intruder.

“How did you know?” Lurvat surprisedly asked.

“Simple. A Tarhedian would have been more direct - they would have said something instead of covertly probing my mind. What do you think you will find?”

“Answers. Some are becoming obvious, but there is one that we must know. And even with all your power, you will not be able to deny us access - me, certainly, but not all of us at once.”

“What--” As he tried to respond, he felt the full force of the Xargan hivemind assault him; some parts causing pain to distract him, others searching his memories and thoughts for an explanation for this last-ditch attack on Daserus. Amidst this cacophony of voices, there was nothing he could do but try to weather the storm and
maybe
hide the information they wanted. Still, he saw an opportunity. And as Zeshaira realized what was going on and attempted to assist him, he took it.

“What’s going on?!” Lanis asked; Hatos had leaned on a nearby wall upon detecting the telepathic intrusion. This wasn’t part of the plan - not by a long shot. He was certain something was going to go very wrong, very fast.

“I do not know,” Kanet answered from the Sothar, “but it is likely connected to the Xargans.”

“Keeler here - the Xargans have… turned on each other?”

“Our sensors indicate that the approaching Xargan fleet is also suffering from poor friend-or-foe identification.”

“What are we waiting for, then? Hit them hard and fast before they recover!” Jackson ordered. Both on ground and in space, the Xargans found themselves under attack - from themselves as well as their enemies.

As with all good things, though, this did not last long. “Clever,” Lurvat told Hatos. “We may have underestimated you, but now we know. You will not use the time machine.”

“You cannot stop us on this end anymore, and you do not know where the device itself is located. It is over.”

“We know what you know. What you suspected. The outpost on Cartha Three will be destroyed, and your last hope will be extinguished.” With that, the Xargans broke the connection; Zeshaira and Hatos could now focus on the task at hand.

“We must hurry - if my suspicions are correct, then the time machine is in the Carthan outpost. If that is the case, the Xargans will soon destroy it,” Hatos explained to Lanis and Fanra.

“‘Slot behind the waterfall’... It should be over there!” Lanis said, pointing at a small waterfall near the Xargan lines. The four of them ran along the river, covered by Keeler’s forces until they jumped through the waterfall and into a small cave similar to the one on Cartha Three.

“I will place the explosives and set them to detonate once we leave,” Zeshaira said.

“Twenty seconds should suffice,” Hatos noted, placing the key in its slot. “It is likely that we will be beamed to our destination once the device is activated; if this is not the case, or the explosives are sent with us, we will have enough time to disarm them.”

“The explosives are in place, countdown is beginning… now.” Zeshaira reported a few seconds later.

“Lanis Baltor,” Hatos said loudly, and there was a bright flash of light. Shortly afterwards, the bomb detonated, destroying the contents of the cave and collapsing it.

Chapter 12

Tempus Fugit

When the light subsided, the group found themselves in a chamber similar to the ones in the facility on Cartha Three. As was the case when they arrived in the outpost, the room slowly came to life as computer displays - oddly enough, in perfectly readable English - powered up.

“Greetings,” a voice said, trying to sound as friendly and useful as possible. “It is good to see you again.”

“See who again?” Hatos asked.

“And how can you speak English?” Lanis added.

“I have seen you enter my less-secure sections several days ago. Some of you are known to me - directly or indirectly - from previous encounters as well, as I have retained memories of every time travel event I have facilitated, and the changes they caused to the observable environment around me. What you are perceiving as English, Mister Baltor, is in fact being selectively broadcasted in various languages to your minds using a complex technique I do not have the time to explain. A sort of mechanical telepathy, if you will. Your companions are hearing the same messages in Petran or Tarhedian, and reading my displays in the same languages. You see, my translation matrix has extracted your languages from your minds and is processing them.”

“Then why didn’t it work last time?” Fanra asked.

“Because my orders prohibited it. With the exception of temporal incursions or, as the directive was later amended, entry via the key Mister Baltor and I devised, of course.”

“That makes sense - nudging the timeline as safely as possible,” Lanis commented. “So what exactly are you?”

“Ah, yes, of course. I am the primary computer of the facility on the world you know as ‘Cartha Three’ and custodian of the time machine. Unfortunately, I cannot disclose much more, partly because of damage to the associated data units, but also because of potential unintended ripples that may cause in the timeline. You can call me Varren or ‘computer’, depending on personal preference.”

“Alright, Varren, can I ask you a couple of questions?” Lanis asked.

“You can ask as many questions as you like. It’s just that I may not be allowed or able to answer them all to your satisfaction.”

“Where are the Xargans?”

“I should expect the Xargans are in a lot of places,” Varren plainly answered, provoking an irritated sigh from Lanis. “However, to answer your question more precisely, the Xargans will be here in a few minutes.”

“Then we should hurry,” Hatos noted, “or we risk failure.”

“Yes, I am already preparing a data module for your incursion. I should point out, though, that the facility’s shield generators should provide more than enough time for me to answer the second question.”

“You said you saw us enter the facility last time. There was an exposed power conduit near one of the doors - probably the one leading here. Why were you trying to route power to whatever the conduit was supposed to be attached to?”

“To fool you into thinking I was less intelligent and less capable than I was, of course. That way, the rest of my seemingly stupid behavior - like failing to activate my translation matrix - would not be so surprising.”

“But we didn’t even know you had one?” a confused Fanra told him.

“I could not be absolutely certain you would not learn that I had it, could I have? Reactively feigning stupidity would only make me seem smarter, furthering any doubts seeded by various events. This was the best course of action.”

A small crystal emerged from one of the walls. “As per my programming, I will send you back to the past and into this room so that you can provide me with this data module. With it, I will retain a detailed log of various events so that I may react accordingly to them. Once the module is installed, you must simply tell me where to send you - but it would be best if you disseminated as little information about this timeline as possible, focusing on the intended effects and only the intended effects of your incursion. Once the process is complete, I will self-destruct to prevent my technology from being taken by the Xargans.”

Hatos took the crystal out of its slot. “Is everyone ready?” he asked.

Zeshaira simply nodded. “As ready as I’ll ever be,” Lanis said.

“I guess so,” Fanra answered.

“Very well. Varren, begin the process.” Once again, there was a bright flash of light as the team vanished. A few moments later, a reactor overload consumed the facility in a large explosion, leaving nothing behind but a smoldering crater on the surface of Cartha Three.

Around the time the Meerte Manev joined the battle for Petra, Varren powered up the time machine chamber’s computer displays. “Right on time. Everything is ready - I will send you into the Petran capital; by approximating the location of the Xargan hyperspace device as accurately as I can, I may drastically reduce the amount of time you spend looking for it.”

“Where’s Hatos?” Fanra asked.

“He has already arrived in a prior point in time with the data module. If my calculations are correct, you will arrive within a range of one hundred meters of the device. It is likely that it and its capacitors will be in a large chamber - probably in a large, spacious structure like a warehouse or a mock factory.”

Having said that, Varren beamed the three of them into a small, relatively concealed alley in Melraas. “So… where to?” Lanis asked once they got their bearings.

“Well, Varren’s right - the only other option is an underground bunker, which would be a lot less inconspicuous,” Fanra explained. “I think there might be something in that direction,” she said, heading down the alley.

“No rush, we have a whopping twenty minutes…” he answered as Zeshaira followed her, then did the same.

“I sense something,” Zeshaira said a few moments later. “Probably a group of Xargans, but I cannot be certain.”

“Well, it’s better than just wandering the streets, hoping to run into the bomb,” Lanis said. “Come on.”

A couple of minutes later, the three of them were near the entrance to a large, heavily guarded warehouse. “The guards do not appear to be aware of what they are protecting - they are Petrans.”

“Right - you take the two on the right, I’ll take the ones on the left. Try not to hurt them, and make it quiet. Fanra, you just stay here.”

Zeshaira concealed herself and headed towards her targets, while Lanis aimed his pistol at the other two, waiting for the attack to begin. Suddenly, her wristblade slashed across her two targets - which, to Lanis’ surprise, simply fell to the ground, unconscious. Before he could act, Zeshaira telekinetically pushed the other two into a wall, stunning them. After that, she levitated all of them to a safe distance.

“Show-off,” he told Zeshaira as she returned, and they all went inside. Once inside, they saw the crystalline capacitors;
relatively
inconspicuous when compared to the hyperdrive they powered, they truly contained a lot of energy. On the other side of the building, they saw what appeared to be a control room.

“Over there,” Fanra said. “I might be able to access the drive controls - or at least get schematics for the facility - from there.”

Lanis turned around, surveying the environment. “We must be careful - there is no way of knowing when the Xargans will detect us,” Zeshaira said.

“Speaking of which… I think I know when,” Lanis answered, pointing at a surveillance camera which was looking right at them. “Should have thought about that one,” he added as he fired a shot at the camera, an action which, due to the makeup of the camera and the building as a whole, proved as fruitless as he expected.

“They’ll probably lock down the control room, but if I can get close enough, I
might
be able to bypass the door locks.”

“Alright, we’ll cover you.”

Fanra ran off to the control room door; as expected, it was locked, so she took out her tools and started working. Meanwhile, several guards - Lanis wasn’t sure if these were Xargans in disguise or genuine Petrans anymore - charged into the room and opened fire.

“How long do we have to hold them off? These aren’t exactly great odds, you know!”

“Just give me a minute or two to override the controls!”

“How come you could vent yourself into space in five seconds, but you need
two minutes
to get past a locked door?!”

“I have to override the locking mechanism or it’ll just slam shut the instant I start opening it, and the fact that I’m being shot at isn’t helping!” Fanra answered.

“Could we not cut through it?”

“It’d either regenerate or absorb the energy, depending on whether you had a kinetic weapon or an energy weapon - and we’d have to find a drill capable of actually getting through. It’s one of the nasty things about Petran crystals, and probably the reason none of these stray shots are doing anything to the capacitors,” Lanis explained.

“That, and the fact that they’re armored,” Fanra added just before receiving a direct hit to her back and collapsing to the floor.

Somehow, Lanis didn’t feel as bad about it as he probably would have under different circumstances, remembering the fact that this was a suicide mission from its inception. “Wonderful, there goes the mission,” he said, before rising from cover to empty his pistol’s power cell into one of the guards who - thinking he could take advantage of his kill - had tried to move to a more advantageous position. “Now what do we do?” he asked while replacing the power cell.

“The only thing we can do,” Zeshaira answered, disappearing as she said it. About fifteen seconds later, she reappeared near the door the guards had come from - right behind one of them. Before anyone realized what was going on, the guard had been stabbed in the back - even his shield was useless against such an attack. Now, the rest of them were caught in a crossfire, and it didn’t take long for the fight to end.

Suddenly, Fanra got up and opened the door. “I hope you didn’t think I was dead,” she told them. “The shot knocked me down, and I just thought I’d take advantage of my ‘death’ to work without worrying about whether or not my shield was still working.”

“Well, that’s certainly a relief,” Lanis said, walking into the control room.

Fanra inspected the displays. “Uh oh…”

“What’s wrong now?”

“I should have seen this coming - these aren’t the only capacitors, they’re too small. There’s a few more facilities like this one scattered throughout Petra, linked to each other by custom-made power conduits capable of handling the power output and feeding it into the bomb. If any of those were to be detonated, it’d blow a sizable chunk out of the planet instead of outright destroying it like we thought.”

“Then how do we get rid of them all?”

“I’m not sure yet. On the bright side, I think I can hack into the bomb’s control systems from here, and it doesn’t look like there are any guards left.”

“Perhaps we can still reconfigure the bomb?” Zeshaira suggested.

“Maybe… I might be able to get it to open a hyperspace window in empty space instead of the planet. It’ll take a few minutes, though.”

“Do we have enough time?”

“I don’t know, but it’s our best shot.”

*** Earlier, on the new Tarhedian homeworld ***

Hatos appeared in the Tarhedian government building. Varren had assumed - quite correctly - that he had to be sent further into the past to accomplish his objective, and his current situation was a consequence of this. He could feel that the Council was in session; he hurried towards the council chambers, telekinetically opening the doors in his path.

As this was taking place, Kanet was presenting an argument. “We all know the story behind the stranger’s key. Why it was given to us. The disappearance of the Tarhedia may be the beginning of the disaster referenced in the instructions that came with it, and if this is the case, we cannot waste any time. We
must
take action.”

“Calm yourself, Kanet,” one of the older council members told him. “It could just as easily be our hasty action that makes the key necessary. Without more information, I cannot approve of this ‘rescue mission’ you are proposing.”

Suddenly, the door to the chamber was telekinetically forced open. “Then I shall give you the information you seek, Garsal,” Hatos said, entering the room to the great surprise of his fellow Tarhedians. “I have come from the future to tell you what must be done. First, we must abandon this world. Perhaps I am wrong in this, but if that is the case, we can easily return. Second, we must access the data module that came with the key, for if my suspicions are correct, it will allow us to win the coming battles. Third, we must take the entirety of our fleet to these coordinates,” using the holoemitters at the center of the council chambers, he displayed a map of the galaxy and indicated the location of the Vaanle system on it, “fully prepared for war. There is little time and much to do, so we must begin our work at once.”

“But we cannot access the module without--”

“The name is Lanis Baltor,” he interrupted Garsal. “I would not be here if I did not know it, for the key allowed my arrival. Kanet was right in his requests, but he could not persuade you to allow his expedition in time, nor did you have the resources required to change our fate. Perhaps this time there will be hope.”