"I don't do it intentionally, Admiral. I just have a knack for it."
"I've got three different civilian organizations clamoring for your head."
"Admiral, we needed that technology. This is the first time we've encountered Thetas using armor and weapons. The interdiction technology alone could save hundreds, if not thousands, of lives. My people need to have priority over local law enforcement. We have to be able to hunt these things down and protect our people."
Macklin sighed. "I don't disagree, Commander, but there are rules, protocols. You can't just barge into a crime scene and take what you want. It hasn't even been determined if those devices are alien in origin."
"What else could they have been, Admiral? And who's qualified to make that determination? In the opinion of Lt. Riksen, and by my own observations, those devices are alien. The account my wife and Commander Harris gave says the Thetas that attacked were wearing armor, and they used an interdiction device to prevent long-distance apportation. If we had devices like that, we could stop most of the attacks against our ships."
"Most?"
"Some attacks would still occur, Admiral. Many of the enemy are capable of shapeshifting and therefore infiltrating our ships anyway. We've taken to using entropic scanners to try to prevent this."
"Commander, I won't pretend to understand half of what it is you people do, but that doesn't give you the right to assault an officer of the law and remove items from a crime scene."
"In all fairness, Admiral, I didn't assault her. I stopped her from drawing her weapon and disarmed her. She wasn't harmed. You and I know there was no crime scene. Thetas, aliens, attacked my house and tried to kill my wife and daughter. I judged the alien technology left behind to be a danger to civilians and called in a crew to clean it up."
"You put a good spin on it, I'll give you that," said Macklin. "All right, carry on with your research. I'd avoid going down to the planet until we can get this all cleared up. You'd probably be arrested. If that happens, I want your word that you won't resist or try to escape custody."
"I won't resist or attempt to escape as long as I deem it is not a danger to my family or the Concord for me to be detained."
Macklin sighed again. "It'll have to do."
"Admiral, you know I wouldn't have gone down there if I hadn't thought it was necessary."
"I do, and I trust you, Commander." Macklin shook his head. "Just don't do it again."
Θ
Drake and his companions had to fight through deep snow and high winds to reach the cavern containing the Waypoint. Drake had been here once before, a long time ago, with his friend Jason, so he knew he was in the right place once they made it into the cave. There was a faded phoenix, ashen grey against dark, dull verdigris, painted on the granite wall of the cavern; it had been placed there long ago to help jog Jason's memory, no matter how much time passed between visits.
"Is this it?" asked Brennen.
Drake nodded. "It's been a long time, but I recognize the place."
"I feel the Waypoint," Onyx added. "Deeper in the cave."
"I tried to open it once, when I was here before."
"To what purpose?"
"My friend Jason is from the world on the other side. He was trapped here when the Waypoint closed behind him. I was trying to get him home."
"I would have thought you'd take him there directly," said Brennen.
"I tried that first, of course. That universe is sealed."
"Sealed?"
"I couldn't get in. As far as I could ascertain, the only way in or out is through the Waypoint."
"I've heard of such things," Onyx said. "The First were said to have made such places near the end of the War."
"That's what I discovered, also," said Drake. "Like your own people, the people on the other side are descended from my ancestors."
"You people really got around," said Brennen.
"They are your ancestors, too," Drake replied.
Brennen sighed. "We prefer to forget that."
"I'm sure."
"So why do you think you can manipulate this Waypoint now, when you couldn't before?" asked Onyx.
"I've learned much since then. I met some… people… while I was Ascended. I gained much knowledge about the way things were during the War."
"Gained knowledge?" Brennen asked. "How? It just appeared in your brain when you Ascended?"
"No, actually. They had a library; I read a lot."
"A library?" Onyx asked, fascinated.
"No, I don't know where it is, if that's what you want to know. I didn't know then, either. It was accessible through a Waypoint, but I don't know how to find it now." The truth was, he'd acquired the information from Hephaestus' databanks, but he wasn't going to tell them that. He didn't want these two to know about Hephaestus, much less the knowledge he had access to.
"So you know what to do now, right?" asked Brennen.
Drake smiled and walked over to where the Waypoint awaited. He held the eidolon of the Instrumentality in his mind and called for the controls to the Waypoint. He heard a gasp of surprise behind him as the glowing control panels slid out of the pocket dimension where they had been hiding for a million years.
He quickly checked the console. The symbols were almost unreadable. His knowledge of the ancient language of his people was mostly verbal, but he was able to understand enough to find the section of the controls he was looking for. The system was incredibly complex and sophisticated. It was no wonder his ancestors had developed the Instrumentality to make life easier. It was true that not many people survived the initiation to the Instrumentality, but the power it made available was worth the risk. One did not need to learn to control complex machines to use the Instrumentality. It took care of everything, out of sight. All one had to do was to form a clear mental image of the task or item desired, and it was made true.
"What are you going to do?" Brennen asked.
"I'm setting it to be locked for a hundred years. I'm encoding access to the controls to my bio-signature."
"What if you die?"
"I'm rather hard to kill, and I tend not to stay dead."
Onyx laughed, and Brennen glared at him.
"There, that should do it," said Drake. He banished the controls.
"So what now? You heading out west to find your daughter?"
"No," Drake replied. "She's fine, and she isn't there anymore anyway."
"What do you mean?"
"She was staying with a family that had dimensional travel technology while she went to school here."
"Dimensional travel technology at this tech level?" Brennen asked.
"The Institute has offices throughout this whole cluster of universes."
Onyx nodded. "I've heard of them."
"Why haven't I?" Brennen demanded.
"You never seemed interested," Onyx replied. "When you first came to us, you were convinced that only your people could travel the universes, remember?"
Brennen growled a response.
"In any case, I suppose we should…" Onyx trailed off, his eyes unfocused. "Snow is outside."
That seemed apparent to Drake. He wondered what it meant, but he'd had his share of visions over the years and knew better than to interrupt it.
He felt a slight sensation of displaced air, and then another Mo'Ceri was in the cavern with them. This one was also male and had white-streaked, pale orange hair. Onyx greeted him.
"Snow? What are you doing here?"
"What am I doing here? What are you doing here? We've been trying to reach both of you. And why couldn't I apport closer to you here? I had to walk for kilometers to reach this place."
"There is an interdiction field in place around the Waypoint," Drake said.
"You could have told me," Onyx scolded. "I had no idea you had access to that kind of technology."
"What the hell is an interdiction field?" Brennen said. "And why does no one tell me anything?"
"Why were you trying to reac
h us, Snow?" Onyx asked, ignoring Brennen.
"Lyra and David were badly hurt."
"What?" Onyx and Brennen said together.
"They were visiting your son," Snow said to Drake. "There was an attack by several powerful Dark Ones."
"Was my son injured?" said Drake.
"Not that I heard. His wife and daughter are fine, too. I don't know any more than that.
"Where are they now?" Brennen asked.
"They're on the capitol planet of the Concord."
"Why aren't they back on Aurora?"
"Leander thought the medical technology of the Concord was better. Lyra was very badly hurt."
"We need to go there now!" Brennen said. He tried to apport away and then staggered as if he'd been hit.
"I told you there was an interdiction field in place," said Drake. "Give me a moment to drop it." He sent a mental command to Hephaestus and felt the field fade away a moment later. "Okay, we can go now."
"We?" Brennen asked.
"I'm going, too. I want to make sure my family is all right."
Brennen shrugged acquiescence.
"We'll have to apport in stages," Snow said. "I don't know that place well."
"Fine, let's get on with it," replied Brennen.
Drake felt Snow's mind brush gently against his, and then they were whisked away though the apport.
Chapter Fifty-two
Alarms screamed through the Jaernalith ship as it transited into the GL 570 system. The ship lurched with a powerful impact, and Ragnar was thrown to the deck. He stumbled up and staggered to the bridge.
"What's going on?" he demanded.
"We were targeted and fired on as soon as we jumped in," Caedmon answered. "We came in under full stealth. They shouldn't have been able to detect us. I don't understand it."
"What hit us?"
"Bomb-pumped gamma-ray laser. We think it was a mine. The particle shielding deflected most of the energy, but our drive is damaged. We can't jump out, and there are sixteen ships closing in on our position. They are hailing us. What do you want to do? We may be able to apport to the planet from here, but it will be difficult, since we have never been there."
"Surrender."
"What?"
"Surrender, while we still can," Ragnar said. "Do you want me to do it?"
Caedmon exchanged nervous thoughts with the bridge crew, too quickly for Ragnar to intercept. "If they see you, they will fire on us."
"They will see me when they board us, Caedmon, and they will fire on us if we don't talk to them. Open the channel for me now."
"As you wish."
The air screen resolved to show a human woman in an armored spacesuit. She swore in Normarish when she saw Ragnar, but regained her composure quickly. He was impressed.
"This is Captain Josephine Maxwell of the CSS Vigilant to alien vessel. You are in violation of Concord space. Surrender and prepare to be boarded."
"We surrender," Ragnar said in Normarish. He'd only just realized he knew the language.
"We'll be alongside in a few minutes. Any attempt to leave, and you will be fired upon. Any resistance when we board, and we'll kill everyone. Is that understood?"
"Perfectly."
"Good, and you should know we have weapons that will kill even one such as yourself."
"We will offer no resistance."
"Be sure that you don't."
Θ
Captain Maxwell shuddered as she closed the com link. She'd never imagined that she would be talking to one of those things. She'd read the reports, seen the videos. All of her instincts were telling her to fire on the ship with antimatter, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. They had surrendered, and the Concord needed to know why they had come to the system.
"Get me Commander Tebrey," she ordered.
"My assault team is in position, Captain," Tebrey said as the screen lit up.
"Commander… They just surrendered."
"Good," Tebrey replied. "Who are they?"
"Thetas."
"What?"
"I think that's what it was, anyway," Maxwell said. "It was wearing a spacesuit, but no helmet. Those eyes…" She shuddered again. "I can't think of what else it could be."
"And it surrendered?"
"So it claimed," said Maxwell. "Honestly, I'd like to know how they survived."
"What do you mean?"
"Their ship jumped in next to a graser mine. The beam hit it full down the primary axis."
"That kind of beam would kill a Theta."
"As far as we can tell, the ship only suffered minor damage."
"How is that possible?"
"My weapons chief thinks they have some kind of particle shielding. I've ordered antimatter warheads loaded. Just in case. We're closing into final range now."
"I guess we'd better get over there and try to figure this out then," Tebrey said.
"Commander, I don't need to remind you to be careful."
"I won't take any chances, Captain.
Θ
Tebrey met up with his team in the shuttle bay. It was good to be back together with Hunter again.
I love you too, brother, Hunter thought to him, amused.
Geoffrey and Pt'kar stood by, ready.
"I hope this will go easily, but we have at least one Theta over there. Sensors show several other human-sized life forms, as well. We don't know who they are or what they're capable of. Keep your guard up and be ready for anything."
"Is it true that they surrendered?" Geoffrey asked.
Tebrey nodded. "It is, but I don't trust it."
He gestured them into the shuttle and helped Hunter lock in before finding his own harness. He was feeling a strange anticipation. They'd never had one of the enemy try something like this before. It could be a trap, but if it wasn't… If it wasn't, then one of the enemy was going to be available to question about how they were orchestrating this war.
For the first time in a long time, Tebrey felt as if they had a chance to end it.
Don't get your hopes up, Hunter thought.
I can hope all I want. You don't have to worry – I won't let my guard down.
I didn't think you would. I just wanted to remind you of what's at stake.
I haven't forgotten what they tried to do to you, Ana, and Amanda. What they did to Lyra and Ghost and Tonya. I just think that this could really be a good thing for us. I think we could finally get some answers.
Tebrey swayed as the shuttle departed the Vigilant and internal gravity took over. On the screens, he could see the alien ship ahead. It was like nothing he'd ever seen before, a short, black cylinder covered with spiny projections. I reminded him a bit of Nurgg scout vessels, although much smaller. He wondered what culture had developed such a ship.
"The alien ship has a standard docking collar on its airlock," the pilot announced. "Docking complete in fifteen seconds."
Tebrey nodded, and his team unlocked their harnesses. Pt'kar unstrapped Hunter while Tebrey checked Geoffrey's weapons.
"You good?" Tebrey asked him.
"I hope so," Geoffrey replied. He sounded shaky, but Tebrey wasn't sure. He couldn't get a read on Geoffrey's emotions.
The shuttle locked into the alien ship with only a slight bump.
Tebrey unslung his plasma rifle and stood in front of the lock. He could sense Pt'kar's irritation with him, but he wanted to go through first. He knew the sergeant was right, he should let her go first and make sure it was safe, but he couldn't send her into harm's way when he knew a Theta was on the other side of that door.
He cycled both of the shuttle airlock doors and was faced with the hull of the alien ship.
"Lt. Garber," Tebrey called to the pilot over the com. "Hail the alien ship and tell them to open their airlock."
"Acknowledged."
The airlock slid open in front of them. It was big enough for all of them, barely. Tebrey ushered everyone in and pressed the button he hoped would cycle the lock. The door slid closed behind th
em, and air hissed as the pressure equalized. The door slid open, revealing the interior of the ship.
The corridor was curved and was painted a utilitarian grey. Multiple handholds dotted every surface, and the gravity was off. Tebrey gestured unnecessarily to the others to follow him and moved out into the ship.
There was no sign of anyone aboard. Tebrey led the way toward the forward part of the ship and reached another door. This one had straightforward looking controls next to it, and opened at a touch.
The bridge was filled with Jaernalith – and a Theta.
It took all of Tebrey's control not to open fire when he saw them. But they hadn't done anything to violate the terms of the surrender, and they didn't appear to be armed. The Theta looked familiar, a dark form made of oily smoke with red eyes.
Serendipity, Hunter thought. It's the one that almost killed you there.
You're certain it's the same one?
Yes.
"I'm Commander Tebrey," he said. "What's this all about?"
The Theta stepped forward, and Pt'kar raised her plasma cannon. Tebrey gestured for her to stand down.
"Tebrey?" it asked. Its voice was much as Tebrey remembered, but somehow not as… evil as it had seemed then.
"That's right," he replied. "We've met before."
"I remember."
"What do you want?" Tebrey asked.
"For myself? Redemption. For my companions? Help."
Tebrey wasn't sure what answer he'd expected, but that wasn't it.
"My name is Ragnar," the Theta added.
"I didn't know your kind had names."
"My kind? What kind is that?" it asked. "I was a man once – I remember that. I also remember that I didn't choose to be like this."
"What do you mean?"
"You know it as the Engine. The Empire developed the device. I was the first to volunteer to use it. It had worked on inanimate objects. We had no reason to think it would do this to a man."
"But they kept using it," Tebrey said.
"I know, but I don't know why. It wasn't what they wanted to do. I think they were forced to do it."
Tebrey shook his head. "You said you needed help?"
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