The Gardens of Nibiru (The Ember War Saga Book 5) (16 page)

“The human nervous system wasn’t designed for what we created. He knows. We told him as soon as he came out of the tank. Gave him the option to live out his days peacefully on the Crucible or go with you to Nibiru. He made his choice.

“Rohen has…maybe thirty days until he dies from neurological failure. There’s nothing medical science can do to stop that. Help him fulfill his purpose. Accomplish your mission at less risk to you and the
Breitenfeld
. Good luck, son.” Ibarra turned to the side, then looked back into the camera.
“Gott mit uns.”
His image vanished.

Hale let his arm fall to his side.

“It’s true,” Rohen said. “Everything. Though I don’t think I have thirty days. The tremors are getting stronger and more frequent. Let me go with the kadanu when they arrive. They’ll take me straight to Mentiq. He’ll…” Rohen touched his forehead, “and that will be that.”

“This is wrong, Rohen. I don’t believe a word Ibarra said. He must be lying to you about-about what you are. A trick to get you to throw your life away. I’m not going to order you to just…offer yourself to Mentiq!” Hale got to his feet. His hands opened and closed and his breathing became shallower as anger rose from his heart.

“No! I will not lose another Marine because of Ibarra, you understand me?”

Rohen stood up slowly.

“I’m willing, sir,” Rohen said. “I came out of the tube a Marine, ready to accept an order that would result in certain death.”

“I don’t order my Marines to die. I tell them it is time to fight and lead them into battle. These are different things, Rohen.”

“Not for me, sir. I will die. Very soon. My body is falling apart and I would rather my death serve a purpose, a grand purpose that will keep Earth safe from the Toth. I’d rather that than lying in some sick bay on Titan Station.”

“That’s Ibarra talking. He must have loaded your head with this garbage, not given you a choice but to embrace this mission. We will get you back to the Crucible and…I don’t know, make him put your mind in another body. Something. Anything.” Hale put his hands on his hips and turned around.

“It doesn’t work that way, sir. The others told me about Torni. How she gave up her spot on a transport so more civilians could make it off world. They said if you hadn’t been unconscious and about to bleed to death, you would have been the one left behind.”

“Of course,” Hale said.

“I’ve got the same choice: my life for other Marines. My life is forfeit either way. I choose to spare the rest of you. We don’t know what’s waiting for us in Mentiq’s city. Let me go by myself. I’ll get their attention and our mission will be complete,” Rohen said.

“No.” Hale turned around and pointed a finger at Rohen’s chest. “That’s the easy way out. The coward’s way. We’re going to that city and we’ll kill that bastard with bombs or bullets and get you back to the Crucible. There must be something Ibarra can do for you. I refuse to accept that you come with an expiration date.”

Rohen ran his hand along his rail rifle.

“That’s your decision to make, sir. I’ve spent a lot of time on the range…would be a waste not to put that practice to good use.”

“I’ll tell the rest of the team. They’ll—”

“Sir. Think about it. If things go south and the Toth get their hands on all of us…if the overlords get to anyone else first, they’ll know I’m a time bomb. Then I’m useless. Leave the option open. Like Ibarra said, a fail-safe,” Rohen said.

Hale worked his jaw from side to side.

“But
I
know,” Hale said.

“Don’t let them take you alive,” Rohen shrugged. “Not that any of us have a chance if we’re captured.”

“Fine. We’ll keep this to ourselves. But I don’t want you trying to sneak off and make yourself a martyr. Understand?”

“You have my word, Lieutenant.”

****

Orozco ducked into the large hut from where the three geth’aars emerged. The matriarchs sat cross-legged on a reed mat. An adolescent sat back-to-back with the eldest geth’aar and supported her as she leaned back for comfort.

Steuben squatted down across from the matriarchs and motioned for Orozco to sit next to him.

“Who’re your friends? The children say they’re human,” the eldest said to Steuben. “We kill any kadanu foolish enough to come to our island. Mentiq only sends his warriors or the Kroar now.”

Orozco took off his helmet and smiled, and the matriarchs bared their teeth at him.

“This is Sergeant Orozco. He is human but not of the kadanu. He is a Marine, from their home planet’s warrior caste. The other is Lafayette, also a Marine,” Steuben said.

One of the matriarchs clicked her claws together and a child came over to Orozco and handed him a crude wooden bowl full of writhing grubs.

“Oh boy.” Orozco looked at the bowl then to the matriarchs, all of whom had their eyes glued on Orozco.

“Eat one, then pass it to Steuben,” Lafayette said.

“What if…they’re poisonous to me? Yeah, that’s it.” Orozco held the bowl to Steuben, who didn’t move.

“Eat. It. Or I will tell Cortaro you are a giant cat,” Lafayette said.

Orozco picked up a single grub, then tossed it into the back of his mouth. He swallowed hard and fought against a gag.

“I think it’s still moving,” he said as Steuben took the bowl from him. Steuben distended his jaws and swallowed the entire bowl.

“I haven’t had
chiqi
in a long time,” Steuben said.

“I am Guilan,” the eldest said. “This is Naama and Cuibo.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Orozco said.

“Where have you been, Steuben?” Guilan asked. “We’ve waited a long time for your Centuria to find us.”

“We were in Alliance space when we learned of the Toth betrayal,” Steuben said. “When we reached our home world…there was nothing left. All we found were bodies on the spaceport’s landing fields. Our ships were wrecked. There was no sign of another Karigole on the planet…just the bodies from where the Toth gorged—”

Guilan held up a hand.

“We held out hope for a time. We managed to capture a Toth vessel off Vulkaaren and interrogate the crew, but they were adamant that no Karigole made it off our home world alive. Then Kosciusko made us take an oath to
ghul’thul’ghul
. We would survive as long as we could, make the Toth pay for what they did to us. We worked with the Alliance, hoping to find allies willing to take the fight to Mentiq, but none took up our crusade. The threat of the Xaros was too great and we…” Steuben shrugged, “we became little better than mercenaries helping train races in the Xaros’ path. Most of us died trying to capture a Xaros drone on some backwater planet.”

“The humans accepted your crusade?” Naama asked. Orozco felt Lafayette stiffen next to him as the matriarch spoke.

“We ran into the Toth on Anthalas,” Orozco said. “We didn’t get along. Then the lizards attacked Earth. It didn’t end well for them.”

“Stix,” Steuben said and spit on the ground, “the arch-traitor, he met his end at Rochambeau’s hand. I and—sorry, just me—I killed another overlord with my bare hands. Kosciusko gave his life to prevent one of Mentiq’s chosen overlords from escaping the battle.”

“And you are the only one who remains from the Centuria?”

“I am the only one that lives,” Steuben said.

“Stix.” Guilan ran a claw across her throat. “Stix kept us three geth’aar and a few adults alive, hidden away on his ship during the cull. Mentiq’s orders. The overlords have little self-control once they start to feed, but they have enough discipline to obey their master. To displease him is to die. They all know that.

“Mentiq put us on one of the larger islands, gave us adequate shelter and food for a time. Our numbers grew.” Guilan put her hand against her stomach as the baby inside kicked. “We thought we were kept as some sort of science experiment, to see why we are so long-lived compared to most other races. We were left alone. Then a shuttle landed and the kadanu demanded we give up an adult and three children for Mentiq. That’s when we realized that we were nothing but food for Mentiq and Mentiq alone.

“We fought, and lost. Mentiq took more away. After that we sent adults to the other islands, trying to convince the other species that we are nothing but animals waiting for the slaughter. We had some success, but our revolt had no chance. The Lan’Xi were purged completely. We were banished to this little island and forced to live like savages.”

“Where are the other adults?” Steuben asked.

A juvenile went to a reed carpet and rolled it up. He brushed dirt aside, revealing a stasis tube with a Karigole inside that looked like Steuben, but with gray edges to his scales.

“All are kept asleep until one of us are ready to conceive,” Guilan said. “Then a male and female are awoken at random. Once we catch, they must return to their tubes. We debated refusing to go on…”

“But we are the lineage,” Naama said. “As much as we detest our existence, we can’t stop. Who would care for the children? So long as we three live, the Karigole are of value to Mentiq. We die and the rest will go to the blocks.”

“It ends,” Steuben said. “It ends now. I will get us all out of here—I swear it.” Steuben slammed a fist against his chest plate.

“You must have come in a ship. The oceans are full of those damn krayt,” Guilan said.

“We did, but it is too small for us all…” Steuben glanced at Lafayette.

“We would need at least four more Mules from the
Breitenfeld
. Or two Toth shuttles,” Lafayette said. “With the large number of humans that need to be evacuated, this will be challenging.”

“And the adults?” Guilan looked at the stasis tank. “The seals are connected to our pheromone levels. How do we get them out?”

“Leave that to me.” Lafayette bowed his head slightly. “I can hack the Toth systems with enough time.”

“I’ll speak with Hale, the human leader,” Steuben said. He gently put his hand against Guilan’s swollen belly. “I will not leave this planet without you.”

He stood up and turned to Lafayette. He switched off his voice box and spoke in English.

“Brother. I know what she means to you. But do not speak with her yet,” Steuben said.  Lafayette nodded. “I return to the Mule to confer with Hale. You find a way around the stasis tubes.”

Steuben ran from the hut and into the night.

“What was that all about?” Orozco asked.

Lafayette switched off his voice box.

“Naama,” Lafayette said. “She’s my birth geth’aar, my mother.”

Hale’s gauntlet vibrated with an incoming message. He sat up and wiped sleep from his eyes.

“Ten whole minutes,” he said as he checked the timer on his gauntlet. “That’s enough rest for one day.”

He opened the channel and Steuben’s face came up on the inside of his visor.

“Hale, I have news.” The Karigole brought Hale up to speed.

“That’s…incredible, Steuben. I’m happy for you.” Hale looked to the night sky. The mass of ships in the anchorage and the circling Toth dreadnoughts were visible against the distant nebula. “That’s also really tricky. We’ve got the same problem in both villages. Lots of people, not a lot of air lift.”

“Lafayette says he can slave together Toth shuttles. He flies one…more will follow his lead in a swarm. Egan can do the same back to the human settlement,” Steuben said.

“We should have a ride into Mentiq’s city by daylight…it might look suspicious if we swing by your island,” Hale said.

“Unnecessary. A shuttle will arrive at dawn to pick up two Karigole children. We will commandeer the vessel, like pirates from your old videos. Lafayette will work with Egan once we arrive,” Steuben said.

“There’s still the matter of killing Mentiq and figuring out how to get off this spitball of a planet,” Hale said.

“One problem at a time.”

“Yeah, sounds like a plan. Do you think we’ll ever set foot on a planet and have everything go smoothly?”

“If that happens, it’s a trap,” Steuben said. The line cut out.

Hale considered going back to sleep, then opened an IR line. “Egan. Cortaro. Come see me. We have to work out some new details.”

****

Sunlight glinted off the Toth lander as it flew a few feet over the ocean’s surface, leaving a wake of disturbed water behind it. It arced over wave-lapped rocks and tall trees before it circled around the landing zone where three robed figures knelt along the outer edge.

Landing gear extended from the craft and it landed gently, jets of compressed gas hissing out of the pneumatic landing gear as it settled. The nose of the craft hung over the robed figures’ heads.

A seam appeared along the smooth surface of the craft’s underbelly and a hatch lowered. Jaundiced yellow light spilled out of the lander and onto the landing zone.

Two men in gold-colored scale armor carrying long hooked poles came down the ramp, their skin and hair coloration the same as the villagers, silver circlets wrapped around their foreheads. They stopped at the edge of the ramp. One wore heavy gold necklaces and bracelets.

“Check,” the more decorated man said, “make sure these are the right ones.”

The other went to the first kneeling villager and pushed the hood back. Lilith looked at the ground, her brow covered in sweat. The man waved his palm across her face, and a small holo with paragraphs of Akkadian script appeared on the back of his hand.

“This one is on the roster,” he said. “Pretty. Think the Primus will let us have a go at her? She’s so drugged up she won’t remember a thing.”

“You want to risk Lord Mentiq coming across anything like that? He’ll feed all of us to the menials if we spoil her. You know how long he cultivates them for just the right taste? Decades. This one…might be a special order for another overlord,” the leader said. “Get to the other two.”

“Shame.” The kadanu grabbed Lilith by the chin and lifted her face up. “I wouldn’t mind keeping this one for the barracks.”

Lilith’s chin quivered and she pulled back from his grip.

The kadanu let her go and moved to the next villager. He tossed the hood aside and found Hale looking up at him.

“Now!” Hale grabbed a fistful of the man’s armor and stood up. The kadanu looked at the armored Marine with a mix of shock and disbelief. With his other hand, Hale swung a hook into the man’s slack jaw. The power armor lent more force to the blow than an Olympic boxer could have ever managed and his armored knuckles crushed the man’s face.

Teeth and blood spat out onto the tarmac. Hale pushed the guard to the ground with a slight shove.

The decorated guard turned around and got two steps before the other cloaked villager, Standish, tackled him. Standish’s weight came down on the guard and knocked the air out of him. Standish grabbed the guard’s hair, pulled his head back then slammed him into the ground with a sickening crunch.

The sound of footfalls raced up the ramp as cloaked Marines stormed the shuttle. Hale heard muffled shouts and the slam of bodies against metal from inside.

He turned his attention to the guard he’d laid out. The man groaned, a puddle of blood forming beneath his wrecked jaw. Hale jammed his knee into the small of the guard’s back, grabbed his head with both hands and pulled. There was a pop as the spinal cord severed from the base of his skull. Hale let the body flop to the floor, limbs twitching.

“Clear inside,”
Cortaro said.
“Got six tangos down.”

“Egan, can you fly this thing?” Hale asked.

“Wait one, sir. Bit of a mess to clean up first,”
Egan said.

“The clock is ticking. We need to—”

A high-pitched scream came from behind Hale. He whirled around, drawing his gauss pistol.

Lilith had blood on her fingertips. Her gaze went from the guard’s dead body to the bright blood, her skin pale and eyes wide open. She recoiled from the corpse and got up to run away.

Yarrow de-cloaked and caught her. He put a hand over her mouth and turned her away from the body.

She struggled and hit Yarrow’s chest with a balled hand. Her face twisted in pain as her hand bounced off the armor.

“Calm down, calm down,” Yarrow said. “It’s going to be all right. You’re safe now.”

She twisted her face away and her gaze caught on the body.

“What did you do to him? What happened?” she asked.

“We killed him. Had to,” Yarrow said.

Lilith became calm and Yarrow let her go. She approached the corpse slowly, then looked at the blood on her fingertips. She wiped them against her cloak, spreading a red stain.

“That’s…death?” she asked.

“What? You’ve never seen a body before?” Yarrow put a hand on her shoulder.

“No one’s ever died in the village,” she said. “Everyone that’s sick or old goes to the temple. I’ve never…”

“I’ve gotten used to it,” Yarrow said. “I hope you never do.”

Cortaro dragged a pair of dead kadanu down the ramp, their heads twisted to fatal angles.

“We’ve got graves already dug, sir,” Cortaro said. “Want them all in there now?”

“Strip off their uniforms. We may need them once we’re inside,” Hale said. “Dump all but three in the wood line.”

Yarrow guided Lilith around the body and turned her away from the ramp as Rohen brought more dead out of the shuttle.

****

The cockpit of the Toth transport had a single seat with controls bolted into the center of the wide, flat room. Toth warrior pilots lay on their stomachs and used their four upper limbs to control aircraft. This one had been outfitted to accommodate a human-sized pilot with only two limbs and no tail to sit on.

Egan pointed to displays labeled in Toth script, grids interspersed with dots, his lips moving as he read. The view through the cockpit glass was clear, but looking around the ship allowed a semi-opaque view of the surroundings. Hale, wearing kadanu armor, looked down and saw the ground a few yards beneath his feet. The rest of the shuttle wasn’t like this, and he hoped Egan wouldn’t have any trouble flying the craft.

“Well?” Hale asked Egan.

“I think I’ve got it, sir. Most of this is automated but their overrides are a bit tricky. The controls are similar to what we found in the Toth ships but then it’s like some lazy engineer redid the layout and the translated Toth into Akkadian isn’t quite right—”

“How long until we’re airborne?” Hale asked.

“We can go now,” Egan said.

“Strap in!” Hale yelled behind him. “If our cover’s blown, can this thing reach the
Breit
or the Karigole island where our Mule’s waiting for us?”

“Let’s check the fuel.” Egan hit a switch and the lights inside the shuttle powered down. “Not that one.” Egan hit another switch and his control panel came to life. He read over the display and clicked his tongue. “We can make it back to the city…and that’s about it. They hobbled her. Just enough juice for a trip out and back.”

“Mentiq doesn’t like his people sightseeing. Figures. Let’s go,” Hale said.

“Cycling the engines.” A loud whine filled the cabin as Egan pushed a lever forward. The shuttle rose off the ground and cleared the tops of the surrounding trees.

“Here we go.” Egan grabbed a control stick set over his lap and pushed forward.

The shuttle shot backwards. Hale kept his footing thanks to his grip on the pilot’s seat. The tall trees surrounding the landing zone grew closer, their branches thrashing in the blast from the ship’s engines.

“Egan!”

The shuttle slowed, but the tail of the craft thumped into the trees. Trunks snapped in half loudly enough that Hale heard the crack through the hull. The shuttle rose into the air and wobbled toward ocean.

“Think I’ve got it now, sir,” Egan said.

Hale watched as the upper half of a broken tree tumbled down branches of its neighbors, sending a cloud of pollen and needles flying into the air.

“Any takeoff you can fly away from, right, sir?” Egan asked.

“Just figure out how to land this thing with a bit more finesse,” Hale said.

“No problem. Probably. Thirty minutes until we reach the city.”

Hale gave Egan a pat on the shoulder and went back into the cargo hold. All his Marines but Rohen and Bailey wore kadanu uniforms. Standish worked a brush against a bloodstained loin cloth.

Lilith, sitting on a bench with her knees pulled in to her chest, glared at Hale as he went over to Cortaro.

The lieutenant sat next to his senior NCO, leaned his head against the wall and shut his eyes. His nerves felt taut, like he was walking along the edge of a deep chasm. His hands went to his gauss pistol tucked into his stolen robes. His mind reran the final moments of the kadanu he’d killed.

“First time, wasn’t it, sir?” Cortaro asked.

“For what?” Hale didn’t open his eyes.

“Ending someone—Toth and Xaros aside. They’re different. Not the same as another person like you and me,” Cortaro said.

“He was a collaborator. Hostile. It was a legitimate kill,” Hale said curtly.

“No argument from me on that one. These kadanu
pendejos
know exactly what they’re doing, not like they’re some poor conscript on the wrong side of the battlefield,” Cortaro said.

Hale rolled his head to the side and looked at the gunnery sergeant. The Atlantic Union Marine Corps had fought low-intensity conflicts against the Chinese across the Pacific Rim since the end of the last world war. Most Marines in service at the time of the Xaros invasion had their combat action ribbon from one conflict or another. Combat meant killing, but it was rare that any Marine ever spoke about the experience…at least not to someone who’d been there with them or seen that same elephant on another battlefield.

“You sound like you’ve got a few,” Hale said.

“Yes, sir. First one was a Chinese infiltrator trying to plant a bomb on a runway in Guam. Hit him from two hundred meters with my rifle. He bled out before we could get to him. Then there’s that mess on Indonesia. Bunch of untrained shitheads armed with AKs that thought they could rush my squad…I still have dreams about that.” Cortaro’s fingers went to his side where Hale’d seen an ugly mass of scar tissue.

“Do you ever forget about them?”

“No. At least I don’t. Some guys I knew lost count, but I think they’re lying. Thing like that’s going to stay with you. The Xaros are pure murder and the Toth want to eat us, but at least they’re not human. Makes taking them down a lot easier for me,” Cortaro said.