Star Viking (Extinction Wars Book 3) (23 page)

In that moment, I knew I had him. Hiding my excitement, I took a step closer.

“Would you know our great secret?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“We will fight the Emperor’s fleet a jump before the solar system. We will mass such numbers of ships that he will pause in bewilderment.”

“Can you know what route the invasion fleet will take?” he asked.

“I won’t have to,” I said. “Starkiens are the Orion Arm’s greatest scouts. They will seek the Emperor’s fleet and report back so our mass can intercept them.”

“Who told you we are the greatest scouts?”

“It’s obvious,” I said. “You’re the nomads of space. Back on Earth, our nomads always made the best light cavalry.”

“This is not Earth.”

“But you are nomads,” I said. “Your existence relies on speed and knowledge. If you had to fight at the other races’ whims, the Starkiens would have already been dead. That you have survived this long shows me you know how to maneuver out of the way of stronger forces. That implies speed.”

“You are cunning,” Baba Gobo said. “And it is true. None can match us as scouts. Yet we speak about the Purple Tamika of the Lokhars. They are fierce soldiers, enjoying head-to-head battle. Few dare to stand in the path of a Lokhar battlefleet.”

“That’s not my plan. We’ll raid the crusading fleet the entire distance, striking like Plains Indians of the American West.”

“I do not perceive your meaning.”

“Hit and run,” I said.

“That I do understand. We might bloody them, but it won’t stop the Lokhars.”

“You’re going to buy us time,” I said.

“In order to do what?” he asked.

I grinned. “The Star Vikings are going to save the day by producing the soul of Purple Tamika.”

“Who are these Vikings?” Baba Gobo asked. “What do you mean soul of the Lokhars?”

“Star Vikings,” I said, thumping a hand against my chest. Then, I bowed at the waist.

“You?” he asked. “How can you acquire the soul of the Lokhars?”

“You weren’t listening close enough,” I told him. “I’ll bring the soul of the Purple Tamika Lokhars to the battlefield. There, they will not dare to risk its destruction.”

Baba Gobo scratched his baboon chin. “If you can do as you say, I fail to see how that will win the Starkiens their redemption.”

“I want to save the solar system. If I achieve that, I’m not worried about who gets the credit for stopping the Lokhar Crusade. If the Emperor races to Earth, and then he and his fleet reels back in defeat, people will demand to know how that happened. I will say, ‘The Starkiens outfought the Purple Tamika Lokhars. They did it to defend Holgotha, the Forerunner artifact. As Holgotha’s spokesman, I will say the machine has forgiven your old mistake. This is a new era where Starkiens have honor.”

Baba Gobo scowled. “We already have honor.”

“No you don’t.”

Several of the elders hooted with outrage.

“Hey,” I said. “Get real. I’m the one who walked alone onto your flagship. I did it without assurances. You must have wondered how I could have been so foolish.”

Baba Gobo glanced at the elders. Several nodded. “Yes,” the old baboon said. “We wondered why you’d taken leave of your senses.”

“Clearly, I had a plan. You even like my plan. It turns out that I knew exactly what I was doing.”

“So it would appear,” Baba Gobo admitted.

“I’m the man who told you the name of Holgotha. I asked for nothing in return.”

“Yes,” Baba Gobo said. “That is strange.”

“I’m Commander Creed,” I said. “I do things my way, and I kick ass. If you want a piece of the Purple Tamika Lokhar, you have to listen to me, and you have to learn to trust me.”

“Trust is not the Starkien way,” Baba Gobo said.

“And look where that’s gotten you,” I said.

“We have survived the ages.”

“Yeah, on the run, hated and despised by all. Oh yeah, that’s really impressive. In case you can’t tell, I’m being sarcastic.”

Behind me, N7 poked a warning finger in my back.

“Look, Baba Gobo,” I said. “Prince Venturi of Orange Tamika came to me for Earth troopers. He wanted the best fighters in order to save our universe. Well, the prince didn’t survive. But I did. We smashed Abaddon and defeated his Kargs on the portal planet. I have a track record of defeating whoever faces me. If the Starkiens want in this time, join up and reap the rewards.”

“Will there be others beside us to fight the Purple Tamika Lokhars?” Baba Gobo asked.

“Of course,” I lied, hoping I could find others. Where was Doctor Sant? “This is the Holgotha Crusade,” I said. “We’re going to gather the biggest fleet ever seen and smash the heretics who thought to stamp out humanity and ostracize the Starkiens. You’re going be in the limelight, my friend.”

“That isn’t the Starkien way,” Baba Gobo muttered. “We have worked from the shadows for a long time.”

I nodded vigorously. “Can you imagine how many Starkien flotillas there are?”

“No Starkien ever wonders about that,” he said. “Once, we had many fleets. Now, only seven remain.”

“Okay. That’s your first assignment. You gather the Starkien remnants into one place. I’ll grab the Orange Tamika Lokhars and snatch the soul of the Purple.”

Baba Gobo stared at me for a time. “Would you wait outside, please, as we confer on this?” he asked.

“With pleasure,” I said.

Together, N7 and I walked into the corridor. The hatch closed behind us and the elders must have begun to talk.

“I don’t understand how you hope to achieve your goal,” N7 whispered.

“How can you say that? You’ve been with me the entire time?”

“The Starkiens have never done as you suggested.”

“Right,” I said. “That’s what I’m bringing to the table: new ideas. Haven’t you learned yet that’s the most powerful thing in the universe?”

“I am learning,” N7 said.

We could hear their voices through the sealed hatch, but not their individual words. Traveling up the corridors to us were internal ship clangs and hisses. There was a surprising amount of those noises.

“There is a thing that troubles me,” N7 said.

“Yeah?”

“Why does Baba Gobo listen to you? I would not have believed it unless I saw it.”

I grinned. “I gave him something incredible for free. That baffled him. It threw him off his normal pattern. That made him susceptible to my confidence.”

“Why would this be?” N7 asked.

“Because he can’t understand the source of my confidence,” I said.

“Neither can I,” the android said.

I made a soft sound and frowned down at my boots. “It’s called balls to the firewall.”

“I lack human reproductive organs.”

I nodded.

“Why would testicles make the difference?” N7 asked.

“Smoke and mirrors,” I said, “fast-talking and atomic self-assurance. That persuades people. Besides, I’ve been lucky a few times. People start to wonder about that. They figure there has to be a reason for my successes. What could be the reason? It baffles them. Finally, they figure, ‘He must be something special, maybe a battle genius or something.’ Now, I don’t believe that myself. This entire episode began in Antarctica when I grabbed a rifle and stormed a space lander. Basically, I’ve been doing the same thing only on a grander scale each time. The gall throws people off.”

“Extraordinary,” N7 said.

“Maybe,” I said. “Growing up, I used to read about a guy called the Charles the XII of Sweden. He was the Berserker Knight-Errant, constantly fighting three to one, five to one and even eight to one odds battles and winning.”

“Charles could do anything?” N7 asked.

“No. In the end, he lost the Swedish Empire. The king was crazy and his lopsided battles finally caught up with him on the field of Poltava.”

“Did he die there?”

“No. He escaped to the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, waging war against Russia from the court of another ruler.”

“What happened to the Berserker Knight-Errant in the end?” N7 asked.

I took my time answering. “At a siege in Norway, he was shot in the head, from behind. Most commentators speculate that one of his own troops finally had enough of his endless wars.”

“Is that what will happen to you?” N7 asked.

“I don’t see how it couldn’t,” I said, shrugging, pretending I didn’t care. “But it doesn’t matter. I plan to be the Berserker-Star Viking, doing whatever I have to in order to give humanity its place among the stars.”

The hatch opened before N7 could respond. The smallest elder beckoned us within.

In silence and under the starting eyes of Baba Gobo and his elders, N7 and I walked before them.

“Commander Creed,” the white-maned baboon said.

I dipped my head in acknowledgment.

“We are impressed with your courage,” Baba Gobo said. “And you are a cunning military officer. But we cannot agree to face the might of a Lokhar crusade, one bent on destroying humans. The Starkiens will sit out this battle and war.”

“What?” I said. “But, but…”
What had I done wrong? I’d been sure they would agree to my plan.

Baba Gobo shook his head. “We are decided on this. Yet, I have this to say. For your gift of the name Holgotha, we grant you your life. Good-bye, Commander Creed. May the Creator have mercy on your soul and on the lives of your people. I do not think any of you have long to live.”

Depressed, I returned to Patrol Boat
Achilles
. This should have worked. If all the Starkiens had gathered their warships and used their speed, we could have harried the Emperor’s fleet.

“They lack courage,” I told N7 as we took off our helmets in the patrol boat’s locker room.

The android nodded. I wondered if he thought I lacked foresight. I’d been so sure Baba Gobo would join us. It had been obvious to me.

After leaving the Epsilon Indi system, I sat morosely in my cabin. The odds against humanity had turned horribly long again.

Several hours later, I stalked through the corridors into the cargo hold. There, I wrapped my fists. I began to smash the heavy bag, thudding blow after blow.

What do you what to hear? I bet I know—
Zoe Artemis came to talk to me, we made passionate love, everything cleared up in my head and I saved the day
. No such luck, I’m afraid. Real life doesn’t often work like that.

I hammered the heavy bag until my arms hung at my sides. Sweat soaked my t-shirt. My hands ached.

Standing in front of the swaying bag, I realized this was
our
problem. Humanity had to gather its paltry number of ships and hightail it elsewhere. For a time in his life, Genghis Khan had done exactly that.

No. That wasn’t quite right. He’d become a sneaky young man, but he’d kept the nucleus of his Mongols on their ancestral lands. Some things were worth dying for. Ras Claw had shown me that. The tiger strangled himself rather than reveal the location of the Purple Tamika Hall of Honor. Or had our Shi-Feng captive slain himself out of shame? Maybe he had given us the right location though.

Raising my fists, I whacked the bag another few times. Then, I stood flat-footed and began to wail on it. I did so until I staggered backward and slammed down onto my butt. I sucked down air. Sweat dripped from my face.

Slowly, my breathing evened out.

The Shi-Feng had started this mess. The exploding tigers had tried to take me down in Wyoming. I closed my eyes, listening to my heart thud.

Maybe that’s how this one had to go down. We were in a game of commando raids. The Lokhar Emperor had used the Shi-Feng. I planned to hit back with the Star Vikings. I’d done it once already, and it had given us more ships, more guns and more information through Ras Claw. It had also given us a more direct problem: a genocidal Lokhar holy crusade.

Climbing to my feet, I began to unwrap my hands. Maybe I’d lost my touch. How long could someone continue to pull a rabbit out of the hat? I wasn’t a stage magician, but a combat soldier.

No, you’re a Star Viking now. If one avenue fails, you try another one. The Starkiens aren’t going to help you. That means everything rests on raiding the Hall of Honor
.

Grabbing the bandages, using a forearm to wipe sweat from my eyes, I headed for the exit. It was time to closet myself in my room and come up with a better plan.

***

A week later, I sat with Rollo, Dmitri, N7 and Ella around a dinner table in Ceres Asteroid. We ate steak kabobs with rice pilaf and pineapple slices. Afterward, we watched an old Avengers movie in the next room.

The credits finally played and I said, “Lights.”

We sat in big easy chairs, sipping our favorite alcoholic beverages.

“It’s time to decide,” I said.

“Do you mean what to do against Purple Tamika’s Hall of Honor?” Ella said.

“That’s right.”

“You realize Ras Claw may have given us false directions?” she said.

“That’s coloring my idea on how we should attempt this,” I said.

“Oh?” she asked.

I rattled the ice cubes in my glass and sipped the last of the Scotch whiskey. “I don’t know if Horus is the Lokhar planet of origin or not,” I began.

“I don’t believe it is,” Ella said. “But for reasons we haven’t divined yet, the planet Horus is important to Purple Tamika.”

“What can you tell us about it?” I asked N7.

The android shrugged.

“You don’t know?” I asked him.

“I do not, Commander. I am sorry.”

“I’ve discovered a little,” Ella said. “While under the Jelk machine, Ras Claw gave away a few hints. Horus is a swamp world, dismal with thick fogs and giant snake-creatures. Vast trees grow there. Chopped down and cured, the wood is almost as tough as steel. From what Ras Claw said, the hall is fashioned from such lumber.”

“Did you learn anything more?” I asked.

“After that, no, nothing concrete.”

I tilted the glass to my mouth, sucking on an ice cube. After crunching it, I said, “Tell us what you surmise about the place. What seems likely?”

Ella swirled the wine in her goblet, staring at it. “There will be war-pickets in orbit and surely ceremonial guards on the surface. I suspect the Shi-Feng will guard the hall. They will no doubt prove deadly.”

“This is going to be a commando raid,” I said. “That means stealth is going to count for as much as hard fighting.”

“How many assault troopers and ships will you use?” Ella asked.

“One transport,” I said, “along with one hundred Star Vikings.”

“Why so few?” Rollo asked.

“We’re not going to fight our way down because I think we’d fail if we tried it like that. We have to slip into the hall, steal what we can carry and run away as fast as we can. That’s why we’re taking a patrol boat along.”

“Won’t that look suspicious?” Ella asked.

“The patrol boat will be in the transport. After the strike, we unship it and run back for Earth as fast as we can.”

“Patrol boats are fast,” Dmitri said. “But that’s about all they are.”

I nodded.

“I want in,” Rollo said thoughtfully.

“Me too,” Dmitri said.

“You’ll need my expertise,” Ella told me.

I pointed at each of them in turn and said, “No, no and no. Someone has to stay here in case my plan backfires.”

Rollo scowled in an angry way. In the old days, I wouldn’t have cared. These days, the big guy had become scary. “You’re not thinking this through,” he said. “In the past, you’ve grabbed the dice of fate and placed everything on one wild gamble. And you’ve won big.”

“I know,” I said. “That’s why you’re staying back this time. Sooner or later, the dice are going to roll against me. Look at what happened aboard the Starkien flagship. I failed. If I fall on my face out there, I want you people to carry on back here.”

“You’re wrong about this, Creed,” Rollo said. “We’re staking everything on grabbing the articles in the Hall of Honor. If we fail, humanity has to run away from the solar system. Practically speaking, we’ll have to flee to the Jelk Corporation and hide there.”

“That would probably mean the end of our freedom,” I said.

“Which is why I’m coming along,” Rollo said. “If this is our only chance, we have to front load the dice.”

“I’m going too,” Dmitri added. “On this, my mind is made up.”

“I already lost Jennifer,” I said. “I don’t want to lose any of you too.”

“That is touching,” Ella said. “It is also uncharacteristic of your decision making. You cannot use your heart in this. You need us because we have worked as a team for a long time. No one is better than the five of us together.”

“She has a point, Commander,” N7 told me.

Maybe the whiskey did the thinking. Maybe I didn’t realize how beat down the Starkien refusal had left me. I didn’t have enough fight left to disagree with the four of them.

“Okay,” I said. “You’re all in. It’s probably just as well. I have a feeling we’re going to have to do a lot of on-the-fly-thinking if we’re going to pull this one off.”

“I have a question,” Ella said.

“Shoot.”

“Do we have enough time to reach Horus, loot the hall and return to Earth before the Emperor’s fleet arrives in the solar system?”

I snorted quietly. That was yet another problem. Even if we got the needed articles, we might not make it back in time to save humanity.

“I don’t know,” I said. “Let’s call it a night so we can start first thing tomorrow morning. We should have left a week ago already.”

***

Storing
Achilles
in the transport took longer than I expected. Then I had to choose the one hundred Star Vikings.

I debated skimming the heroes from each zagun. Soon I realized that was the wrong way to do it. I studied the records and decided on one of Dmitri’s zaguns. It had the best combat record. Unfortunately, it only had eighty-seven effectives. Still, they would be the commandos, the Star Vikings I used for the strike.

Zoe would have a zagun of troopers to run the transport. Dmitri’s led the assault team. I wanted a unified battle group where the members implicitly trusted one another. A well-led combat team became greater than the men and women in it.

Three days later, the
Peru
jumped through the Neptune gate, beginning our expedition against Purple Tamika’s Hall of Honor.