“Look!” Vox pointed at the viewport.
The giant cube - ALF’s housing unit - was moving in front of the Vanguard, physically blocking the barrage of streaking gold missiles. Explosions on the other side of its hull faded against the backdrop of the star, but blue missiles could be seen leaving the cube and intercepting the Vanguard’s smarter weapons, which veered around the cube in an attempt to destroy the fleet.
Li’ara clenched her fists until it hurt. “Come on Kalian…”
Arriving inside the Vanguard was painful and chaotic, not in the least because of the increasing holes in its hull, exposing its insides to space. Kalian was forced to shut down his nerve endings and think fast before the light of the sun vaporized both Malekk and himself. The nanocelium in his armour grew over his face and head, as well as his hands before he floated in front of a gash in the bronze hull. The light streaming through the hole burnt everything and set his arm alight, turning the black into a glowing orange.
The only sound came from his laboured breathing, inside his helmet. He should have thought of all this before jumping; the Vanguard was obviously not going to have gravity or life support inside.
Using telekinesis, Kalian reached out and pulled Malekk back towards him. The sudden tug sent the Terran’s right arm flying out to the side, where the ray of sunshine reduced it to ash.
Malekk woke up.
Kalian’s concentration had lapsed just enough for the infection to take a hold again. Now with only one arm, Malekk launched his body at Kalian and sent the two careening into the interior hull. With no gravity, the pair silently floated in a tangled mess, kicking and grabbing as they bounced around inside the belly of the beast. More than once, Kalian was forced to shield Malekk from the sun - he still needed him in one piece, or at least enough of a piece to spread the infection.
Esabelle’s face flashed inside his mind with every fist he slammed into Malekk’s head. He let just enough of his rage out to enjoy himself for a second. He was so much stronger now, far superior to Malekk’s grasp of Terran abilities.
“Enough!” Kalian’s shout went no further than the inside of his helmet.
Malekk was frozen in place, a metre from Kalian’s outstretched hand. The Terran pushed against Kalian’s telekinetic grip as if he were an animal snared in a trap. Being careful to avoid the beams of light, Kalian guided Malekk’s body towards the nearest wall and shoved him into it.
“Time to go back where you belong…” Kalian mentally flipped the switch on the connector, activating the nanocelium within.
Malekk’s mouth opened in silent rage, but his body was already being fed through the connector and into the growing tendrils, which even now dug into the Vanguard’s hull. Every molecule of his body was being pushed into the bronze hull, where it would reconnect with its master program. Kalian wasted no time in sending a signal to the fleet. By the time their missiles found the Vanguard, the infection would have caused enough internal chaos to stop it from healing.
He hoped.
Malekk’s body was almost gone, a twisted expression of pain and defeat stuck on his pale face. There was nothing left of the real Malekk now, though his fate had been sealed from the moment the nanocelium entered his system.
Kalian braced himself, visualising the path he was about to carve out through the Vanguard’s ship on his way out. He would be sure to do as much damage as possible. Before any action could be taken, however, an alien hand, large enough to encompass Kalian’s torso, gripped his shoulder and threw him into the wall. It took a moment for Kalian to regain his senses and examine the thing which had attacked him.
It was definitely alien, but no alien of the Conclave.
In the same way that ALF appeared as something not quite organic, so too did this alien. It stalked into the space on six pincer-like legs, each entwined in nanocelium and tubes. Its body was somewhere between that of an insect and a bipedal creature. It had long lost its colour, the flesh now a pale tapestry draped over black veins. Four bony arms protruded from its elongated torso and came at Kalian with sharpened fingers.
As it came closer, using its pincer legs to dig into the hull, Kalian could see the thick bundle of tubes and wires that connected it’s back to the ship, out of sight. This alien had once been a native of some distant planet, chosen by them for harvesting and picked by the Vanguard to be its avatar. A fitting predatory creature for its new master.
Had they been within an atmosphere, Kalian was sure he would have heard the alien scream or growl or whatever it did, but in the vacuum of the ship, there was only silence as the monster charged towards him.
Kalian was connected to everything now, his Terran senses detecting everything around him. To that effect, he could feel the individual shells of the approaching missiles. He counted sixty-three warheads, two of which were certainly World Breakers if their chemical composition was anything to go by. The Vanguard had delayed his departure just enough to put him in range of the explosions, which were now moments from impact. The alien almost froze when Kalian dropped into his mind, where everything moved so much faster.
He was going to die in a few seconds, but he would be damned if he was going to leave this life without looking at Li’ara Ducarté one last time. She would be safe with the Gomar, and it wouldn't hurt having Roland North looking out for her as well. Kalian knew he could leave her and she would be taken care of. He laughed to himself, thinking what Li’ara would do if she heard such thoughts. The red-head didn't need anyone looking out for her; she was a force to be reckoned with all by herself.
Kalian would die, destroying the Vanguard and giving the Conclave time to prepare for the rest of them - there was no denying their existence now. This was all he had to give and he was content with his sacrifice. Li’ara would lead them against the coming army and he knew she would find a way to stop the harvest.
The vault door was swept aside and Kalian looked upon the one person he loved the most. Li’ara was braced against a console on the Rackham, staring out at the cube, eclipsing the Vanguard beyond. She was so close he could smell her perfume and the scent of her hair. Her smooth skin called out to him and he was desperate to kiss her one last time. Without thinking, he stepped forward and reached out for her.
Had he been struck by lightning, the experience would not have been as jarring as the next moment. Kalian felt the familiar pop in his mind when he emerged back into reality without meaning to. The white room was gone and so too was the Vanguard’s interior. He now stood beside Li’ara, who had yet to notice him, watching the great plume in the distance. ALF’s cube moved away, revealing an explosion that eclipsed the distant sun. The Vanguard had been disintegrated in a burning flash of light, with an intensity powerful enough to knock out the viewport completely, dropping them into the glow of the bridge’s holographics.
Li’ara made a noise somewhere between a gasp and a scream at the sight of Kalian, but he barely registered it through the searing pain, which erupted in his gut and chest. Blood was already dripping from his ears and nose, filling his mouth with the taste of copper. The edges of his vision blurred, softening the hard lines and fogging the clarity of his environment. He was on the floor in the blink of an eye, with no memory of how or when he fell.
“Kalian!” Li’ara was over him now, her red hair draped over his chest.
The Gomar approached from all around and the world slowly went dark. Kalian had expected to fall back into his mind, where he could potentially figure out what had happened to him, but reality continued to fade away until a numb, lifeless void took a hold of him.
Epilogue
First, there was sound… then light in all its painful glory. Kalian couldn't make sense of any of it. It took his brain a few extra seconds to translate the muffled words and track their origin.
“He’s waking up!”
The woman standing over him had a featureless face, but the outline of red was unmistakable. Kalian blinked hard and Li’ara’s exquisite face came into focus,
though it was marred by concern. A Laronian, Kalian didn't recognise, hurried into the room and immediately swept a hand-held scanner over his body. There were words ready in his mouth, but the lack of saliva made it impossible to form anything coherent.
“His vitals are perfect…” the Laronian said. “I’ll alert the doctors.”
“No,” Li’ara called. “Tell Roland to bring Garrion.”
Garrion?
It took Kalian longer than he was accustomed to recall the name, but eventually, his mind traced the name to one of the Gomar. Why would Li’ara ask for him?
“What’s going on?” Kalian croaked.
Li’ara smiled. “You’re alive…”
“I already figured that part out.”
Kalian lifted his hand to rub his eyes and found his arm to be connected to multiple tubes, each attached to a bag of colourful fluids. Holographics ran across the bare skin on his forearm, listing his vital signs and oxygen saturation. Li’ara practically jumped on him, in the bed, and wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed.
“What the hell happened?” He willingly accepted a cup of water and relished in the cold liquid, as it swirled around his dry mouth.
“We were all wondering the same thing.” Li’ara stroked the dark hair from his eyebrow. “After Naydaalan’s surgery, he shed some light on the particulars of your return, though his official report states differently. According to him, ALF activated a Starforge and brought you back, after hacking into some ancient cube he’s been hanging onto.” She bent down and kissed his forehead. “But that’s not how you got back, is it?”
“Not exactly…” Kalian could feel his strength returning with every breath.
“We’ll talk about it with fewer ears around.” Li’ara put a finger to her lips. “You’ve only been out of the medder for a couple of days.”
“Days?” Kalian sat up, against Li’ara’s protests.
“Well, you’ve been in the medder for a month…”
Kalian blinked, hard. He had no recollection of being anywhere inside his mind for that time, as he should have. How could he have been unconscious for so long?
“What happened, Li’ara?”
“After you jumped onto the Rackham, you collapsed. You were in a bad way. Your organs weren't just in the wrong place, they were badly damaged. You had a bleed on the brain, as well. The doctors say it was a bad one; you’ve been cared for by the best Laronian surgeons in the Conclave. Apparently, our physiology is similar. You needed multiple surgeries and a long time inside a medder tank. For the last couple of days, we’ve just been… waiting.”
Kalian gripped Li’ara’s arm. “No one can know about this, about the jump. The Conclave fear us enough as it is; if they learned of what we were really capable of, we’d never get membership.”
Li’ara replied with a warm smile. “While you’ve been asleep, Captain Fey and Captain Holt have been in talks with the Highclave.”
“Captain Holt?”
“The Paladin. Naydaalan said that ALF caught you up with his super-creepy perving powers.”
“He did,” Kalian shared her infectious smile. “You know ALF could have healed me in half the time?”
“Naydaalan said the same, but it was left to me to decide, and I-”
“Don't trust the AI,” Kalian finished. “I know. Wait...” Her tone and smile pulled at his suspicions. “What talks?”
Before any answers could be had, Roland and Garrion entered the room. Unusually, Roland was without his long coat or even his black and gold, armoured vest; he was simply attired in… clothes. Garrion, of course, was wearing his usual suit of nanocelium, which constantly worked against the Harness fused to his nervous system, granting him the powers of a Terran.
“You look like shit, kid!” Roland beamed.
Kalian almost matched his expression. “And you look like… a person.”
“I wasn’t born with guns strapped to my legs.”
“Shouldn't you be out, bounty hunting or something?”
“Len thinks so, but I figured I’d stick around for a bit. I get the feeling things are about to get exciting around here.” Roland wrapped his knuckles against Garrion’s armoured chest. “Do your thing, tin-man.”
Garrion’s dark complexion and long dreadlocks loomed over Kalian, a serious expression etched across his face. The Gomar slowly waved a hand over Kalian’s body and closed his eyes.
“He is back to health,” Garrion announced. “And I detect no traces of nanocelium.”
Kalian didn't say anything, but that should have taken the Gomar a fraction of the time to conclude. If Garrion possessed the finer skills among the remaining Gomar, Kalian would have his work cut out.
“That’s good to hear.” Kalian made a quick telekinetic tug at the IV lines and monitoring devices, pulling them all free of his body.
“Take it easy,” Li’ara warned. “You were practically dead by the time we got you any real help, though if it wasn't for the Gomar we would never have got the armour off you.” She looked at the small triangular device beside his bed, with the apex removed.
Kalian resisted the urge to place the device under his navel and adorn the exo-suit, his second skin. Instead, he replied with a reassuring smile and hooked a red curl behind Li’ara’s ear. He had a hundred questions but knew the quickest way to get them wasn't through words. At the speed of thought, Kalian expanded his awareness and took in his unseen surroundings.
The revelation took his breath away.
Without warning, Kalian jumped up from the bed, wearing only a pair of loose-fitting pyjamas, and made for the door. He ignored the calls and protests and quiet alarms from his room. He needed to see this.
The balcony, attached to the corridor, automatically opened up after detecting his presence. Glorious sunshine washed against his skin, shining down from a sky of pure blue. He tentatively approached the edge, already aware of the scene beyond. He just needed to see it with his eyes.
Make-shift buildings and houses had been set up to form a street, with Kalian’s building at the head. Hundreds of people, humans all, walked through the streets in couples and families. The general hubbub was music to his ears and he soaked it up, allowing a single tear to breach his eye.
“They did it…” Kalian said to himself.
“You did it, Kalian.” Captain Fey appeared at the door behind him. “The Vanguard was irrefutable proof that they exist, and they mean us all harm. You arrived, as you always do,” Captain Fey added with a proud smile, “and saved us all. Uthor pressed upon the Highclave, that had the Vanguard wiped us all out, it would have no doubt targeted Arakesh next.” She took a step closer. “They’re taking this seriously now, they’re taking us seriously. Naydaalan told us of the impending invasion, the harvest, but there are many who wish to hear it from you. Apparently, you, experienced it?”
Kalian had seen through ALF’s mind what was coming, but he doubted there would be a lot of trust when the AI was yet again their only source of information. He wanted to answer and tell them everything, but he was drawn back to the new landscape. Their landscape! He noticed Li’ara give Captain Fey the faintest of head shakes. They were giving him time to process it all, despite the fact that his mind was now capable of taking in so much more than before. He was glad of it, though, if only so he could enjoy the moment.
“This is our world?” he asked. “It’s not temporary?”
“It is indeed your world.” Telarrek and Naydaalan appeared behind Roland. Garrion was missing from the group, but Kalian had already detected his absence and even tracked his unique signature back to the other Gomar, deeper inside the building.
“Greetings of peace!” Kalian wrapped arms with Naydaalan first, mentally scanning his leg and happy to find synthetic bones.
“You have my thanks, for returning my son, Kalian.”
“He kept me alive just as much as I did he.” Kalian patted the younger Novaarian on the arm, affectionately.
Once again, he fo
und himself leaning over the balcony and taking in the sight of a hundred thousand humans, just going about their lives under a real sky. There were even a few aliens mixed in, apparently helping the humans with various pieces of technology.
“There will be more, in time.” Telarrek joined him by the railing. “Right now, every human and family has their own home.”
Kalian couldn't stop smiling. “It’ll grow...”
He turned back and found a lot of expectant faces. They had the bare bones from Naydaalan’s recounting, but he had the details. They all wanted to know the truth about ALF, the reason for the Gomar and the real origin of mankind. Kalian had quite the story to tell.
“Gather the Gomar and anyone else who needs to hear everything. I’m only going to say it once and then I want some time…” he looked at Li’ara and failed to hide his smile, “alone.”
It was dark by the time he had finished telling of his time in the Terran Empire. The Gomar had retreated, together, with a lot to discuss between them. Kalian decided he would approach them tomorrow after they had taken the time to get to grips with everything. Their lessons would have to begin immediately.
Captain Fey and Holt had dropped into serious conversation with the council and Telarrek, while Naydaalan had apparently been taken in by Roland and the Raiders, who were basically a team of miniature Rolands. It was clear that a rapport had been built between the bounty hunter and the soldiers, just as it had between those of the Paladin and the seven thousand survivors.
Kalian kicked his legs against the side of the building, which was apparently a makeshift hospital come council headquarters, and looked up at the stars. Both he and Li’ara sat on the lip of the roof with a Raalakian ale in hand.
“So…” Kalian said aloud.
“So…” Li’ara repeated.
“You have an artificial leg.”
The statement flustered Li’ara for just a second. “Yes, I do. Blowing up the Protocorps cube came with a price. Thankfully, Sef was there, being you I suppose.”
The Terran Cycle Boxset Page 128