Star Viking (Extinction Wars Book 3) (6 page)

“He does not,” Ella said. “And that troubles him. It appears to trouble many in the Jade League. Unrest between allies has risen.”

“Jade League allies?” I asked.

Ella nodded.

“Okay. I understand that part. What’s this decision you had to make?”

“I let Doctor Sant go,” Ella said.

“You did
what
?”

“He’s back on Ceres among his warriors.”

“That’s crazy, Ella. The tiger shot me. He tried to kill me. Now, the Orange warriors will take up arms against us. We can’t afford that.”

“You must relax, Commander.” She scowled. “Frankly, your words are insulting. Do you think I’m an idiot?”

“Of course not,” I said.

“Surely you understand that I used the machine on him,” Ella said. “I erased his memories of my questioning. I erased his memory of shooting you. Naturally, I also blotted out mention of the Shi-Feng.”

“The machine can do that?”

“On Lokhars,” Ella said, “not on humans, though.”

“Sure,” I said. “That’s okay, then, I guess. Do you really trust the machine that much? He could end up remembering. I’m not sure it was worth the risk.”

“Don’t we want him to spread unrest among the tigers?”

“That’s a good question,” I said.

“There is something else,” she said. “I added something more to Doctor Sant. He is more disposed toward us now. He’ll go out of his way to help us any way he can.”

I sat in my bed, envisioning Doctor Sant pumping those seven shots into me with the needler.

“I hope you’re right about the Jelk machine,” I said. “They’re a tricky race, Ella. Who knows what you really did to Sant’s mind.”

“I’ve been experimenting with the machine for years,” she said. “You shouldn’t worry so much. I know what I’m doing.”

Talk about your famous last words.

“From what you’ve learned, do you think the Shi-Feng will attack me again?”

“I do.”

“Great,” I said. “Well, we’re going to have to think of ways of catching them before they do it. This time, I don’t want to give them the element of surprise. This time, we’re going to get it over them.”

The days merged into weeks. The lingering aftereffects of Doctor Sant’s poisons refused to let me go.

I stayed in Mars Base for over two months, slowly recuperating. In that time, I only gained five pounds.

In the third month, we received another automated factory. If the industrialist-captain of the freighter flotilla was surprised to see me, she didn’t show it.

This factory went to Australia, near Melbourne. It took five hundred and seven shuttle flights to bring everything down. After the freighters left, a team of guardians under Rollo searched the premises for a week. They found nothing.

Five months after Sant shot me, I returned to duty aboard the
Aristotle
. The old Lokhar cruiser ran smoothly. I took it out to the Asteroid Belt, paying a visit to Doctor Sant on Ceres.

We spoke face-to-face in the Lokhar reception center. He wore his orange toga. I kept to a regulation uniform. Sand shifted across the floor. Hot wind blew through the vents. Sunlamps blazed down on us. This was a vaulted room with a high ceiling.

Doctor Sant looked thinner than I remembered. His shoulders stooped more. I gazed into his eyes. Something haunted them. When I stepped close, I no longer smelled the familiar cinnamon odor. I couldn’t figure out why.

“How do you feel, Doctor, really?” I asked.

He raised a long arm and flicked his fingers. “I dream more than usual.” He glanced down at me. “You’re in many of them.”

“Oh?”

“I am ashamed, Commander. In my dreams, I shoot you with my needler. I cannot decipher the meaning. I believe your life may be in danger. Not from my hands,” he added hastily.

I debated saying the name “Shi-Feng” to see his reaction. I had a good idea what that reaction would be. Instead, I said, “Thanks for the warning.”

“You must not dismiss it so easily,” Sant said. “I recognize your ways, Commander. You are too trusting of others.” He stooped lower as his voice dropped an octave. “Events stir on the border. Jade League members recall old feuds. There is a time of troubles approaching.”

As I stood there with him, I didn’t detect any duplicity in Sant. I found myself marveling at Ella’s skill with the Jelk mind machine.

“Are you well?” Sant asked later, as I made ready to leave.

“Yes, fine,” I said. “Why do you ask?”

“You seem tense. I hope it isn’t anything I’ve said or done.”

“Don’t worry, Doctor. I’ve had…things on my mind lately.”

“Yes,” he said. “Don’t we all?”

An hour later I headed for my ship, little knowing that nothing was going to be the same again.

***

Three days later, I sipped black coffee on the bridge of the
Aristotle
. The crew sat on tall seats so they could reach their control panels. The ship had been built to tiger-scale, but it was ours now.

I sat in the center with the other consoles facing inward toward me. That way, the personnel could see exactly what I did or said at all times. It was the Lokhar method, not ours, but we had to live with it. Before me on the bulkhead was the main viewing screen.

From the outside, our cruiser looked like a wedged-shaped slice of pie. The bridge was inside the back third area, buried under many decks and protected by the outer armor. The vessel was fast, boasting a heavy electromagnetic shield in front and a weaker one in back—tigers didn’t believe in running away. For main armaments, we had medium-strength laser cannons. This was a shoot and scoot vessel, not a big toe-to-toe fighter like the battlejumper we’d once stolen from Shah Claath.

On the view screen in space gleamed the giant, donut-shaped Forerunner artifact that we guardians supposedly protected.

I took another sip, savoring my coffee.

“Commander,” Ella said from her station. “The beacon near Neptune is reporting.”

“Yes,” I said.

Ella studied her board before her head snapped back up. “I’m detecting starships, over twenty of them, so far. More are coming through the jump gate every minute.”

I put the cup into its holder, sitting up. “Put it on the main screen,” I said. I had to work to keep the bite out of my voice. Twenty starships—I didn’t like the sound of that. The next automated factory wasn’t due for another three months.

Ella complied, and I found myself looking at shark-shaped vessels of varying dimensions. The gate shimmered yellow. Blue Neptune hung up at the corner about fifty thousand kilometers from the gate. The yellow intensified as another Great White-shaped vessel slid through. According to the scale symbol on the edge of the screen, some of the ships were bigger than several city blocks. The big ones looked to be larger than Manhattan Island.

“Those must be Starkiens,” I said.

“I agree,” Ella replied.

We’d had our share of run-ins with the Starkiens. In size, shape and disposition, they were baboon-like aliens. They were private contractors without any planetary abode to call home. They roved the star lanes, practicing piracy wherever they could get away with it. As a rule, the other races sneered at the Starkiens, driving them away as squatters. We didn’t have the hardware to sneer.

I wondered what they doing in the solar system.

“I count thirty vessels now,” Ella said.

The shark-shaped vessels kept pouring through the yellow jump gate. That was the main way the aliens moved between star systems. Long ago, the First Ones had laid down jump lanes. How they did this, no one knew. The stellar maze was like a giant connect-the-dots puzzle with various lanes linking different star systems. Some believed the Forerunners had used the artifacts to make the routes.

“Make it forty-five ships now,” Ella said.

“Have they tried to hail us yet?” I asked.

Ella shook her head.

Neptune was light-hours away from us, making two-way talking difficult. We’d get a message hours after a Starkien had sent it. Then, we’d send ours after a similar delay. That made distance arguments difficult. Still, as a matter of courtesy, the Starkien in charge over there could have informed us of his presence. That he didn’t hail us implied hostile intentions.

“I’m counting sixty Starkien warships,” Ella said.

This was starting to look bad. “Is there any sign of Jelk or Saurians among them?” I asked.

“Negative, Commander,” Ella said.

I drained the rest of my coffee, tossing the cup to an ensign. After a time, I drummed my fingers on the armrest of my chair.

“Eighty vessels,” Ella said. “They’re all Starkien so far, sir.”

“Yeah,” I said. “It’s time to talk to Diana.”

Ella frowned. “Earth Council warships aren’t going to make any difference against these many Starkiens, sir.”

“More is better,” I said. “Put me through to Diana.”

“Yes, Commander,” Ella said, tapping her board.

The Lokhars had some nifty tech. One of their coolest was T-missiles. The “T” stood for
teleport
. The concept was simple enough. The missile popped out of existence and reappeared hundreds of millions of kilometers closer to the target. It did this in the proverbial blink of an eye. We’d used a T-missile in the Sigma Draconis system to attack Shah Claath’s battlejumper. Six and a half years ago, Lokhars had tried to use a similar trick against us in the solar system. I’d been ready for it, though, and had exploded nuclear warheads in the reappearing zone, killing the elite Lokhar legionaries that had ejected from the T-missiles against us.

The Lokhars had also perfected a communications system that implemented the teleporting principle. It allowed fast two-way communication without the hours of time lag that speed-of-light talk would have taken between the Starkiens and me.

“Diana is ready to speak with you, Commander,” Ella said.

“Put her on the main screen.”

A moment later, Diana appeared.

In the past, I’d referred to her as the Amazon Queen. She was a tall woman with wide hips, large breasts and handsome features. She had thick dark hair and usually oozed cunning and sexual power. She ran the Earth Council together with Murad Bey.

For six and a half years, Diana had remained in control. During that time, she had solidified her position among the freighter-living humans. More than once, she’d tried to persuade me to put the Forerunner Guardians under her jurisdiction using a variety of power plays. The lady simply didn’t know how to quit trying to amass more authority.

This would be a good moment to remind you that the last one percent of humanity was the troublemaking kind: the hard-cases, the gamblers, the lucky and tough-as-nails survivors. That made the Earth Council members the cream de la crème of dangerous.

“Commander Creed,” Diana said on the screen. “This is a pleasant surprise. It’s been too long.” She unbound her luxurious hair, running a brush through the strands. It looked as if she took the call from her bedroom aboard her cruiser, a small room with silks and lace hanging everywhere.

“You’re in Earth orbit?” I asked.

“Of course,” she said.

“A Starkien armada is coming through the Neptune jump gate,” I told her.

Diana set down her brush, giving me a thoughtful study. “How many warships have you detected so far?”

I glanced at Ella.

“One hundred and thirty,” Ella told me.

I repeated the number to Diana. The Earth Council leader whistled.

“It’s time for a show of strength,” I told her.

“Meaning you want the Earth Fleet to join you at Ceres?” Diana asked.

“I do,” I said.

Diana glanced elsewhere as if thinking. Idly, she resumed brushing her hair with long strokes. “No,” she said finally, setting down the brush for the second time. “One hundred and thirty is too many alien ships for us to defeat.”

“They’re going to have more than that,” I said. “So I want you to bring your warships and every freighter we have. We’re going to show them our solidarity.”

Diana didn’t feign her surprise this time—it was real. “Are you crazy? You want to put the last humans in harm’s way?”

“No,” I said evenly. “I want to keep the Starkiens from destroying us.”

Her brow furrowed. “You think they’re here as slavers?” Diana asked.

“Possibly…”

“Commander,” Ella said, interrupting our conversation. “I think you’re wrong about that. There’s only one reason why the Starkiens could have come to the solar system.”

“Just a minute,” I told Diana. Clicking a switch on my armrest, I muted the Amazon Queen. Then I turned to Ella, raising an eyebrow.

“They’re here for the Forerunner object,” she said. “From what we know, the other artifacts are heavily guarded. Surely, the Starkiens think we’re too weak to hold onto ours. We’ve always known this day would come, just not that it would be Starkiens.”

“Why have they chosen
this time
to make their attempt?” I asked.

“Remember what we learned about the Saurian fleets?” Ella asked.

“A
few
Saurian fleets pulled back, you said.”

Ella Timoshenko glanced at her board. I saw her lips moving. Soon, she said, “I count two hundred and ten Starkien vessels. The last two are off the scale for Starkien ships. I suspect those are base ships, Commander. They must hold the young and serve as storage craft and repair yards for the other vessels.”

That made sense. The Starkiens fleets were nomadic. As usual, Ella had cut to the heart of the matter.

“They’re beginning acceleration,” Ella said, as she stared at her board. “Since this information is over several hours old, they’ve been moving for some time already. By their heading, they appear to be aimed at our artifact.”

I muttered under my breath. This was just what we needed. First Shi-Feng, now Starkiens.

With a
click
, I reopened channels with Diana. “The Starkiens have over two hundred vessels and are headed for the Forerunner object. I need your warships here pronto.”

“We can’t defeat that many enemy ships,” Diana protested.

“I’m not asking you to do that,” I told her.

“What then?” she asked.

“If it comes to battle, you’re going to cover my ship as I attack the artifact.”

Diana shared at me in horror. “You plan to destroy it?”

“If I have to,” I said.

“How does that help us, Creed?” the Amazon Queen asked. “If the Starkiens have come for the artifact, once you’ve destroyed it, they’ll kill all of us in retaliation.”

“Is that how you play poker?” I asked.

Diana stared into my eyes. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Creed.”

I grinned to mask the fact that I didn’t. The one thing I’d learned in life was to show a brave front. I needed Diana. So, she had to believe I had a workable plan.

Yeah, a workable plan
. Over two hundred Starkien vessels against our paltry ten starships and accompanying star fighters—I was going to have to pull the biggest bluff of my life. If I failed, the human race would likely perish within the next few days.