by M. R. Forbes
And so was Arluthu. By killing him, Caleb could save Earth. And the Seeker’s powerful weapons systems would give him what he needed to do it.
Failure wasn’t an option.
He dipped the front of the ship, beginning his approach. The air rumbled around the craft, turbulence shaking him up and threatening to overcome the technology that kept him anchored to the seat. He wasn’t sure exactly where he was in relation to the Seeker. He knew from his general sense of the Relyeh that he was close. But his plan didn’t rely on being precise.
It relied on being aggressive and unpredictable.
The ship dropped through the cloud ceiling, leaving him only half a kilometer above the planet’s surface to work with. The remains of the broken city-ships surrounded him, their spires rising high into the air in ancient glory. Ahead and to the right, a single ship was lit up, the glow of both interior and exterior lighting giving it away.
Caleb banked hard, coming out on a direct vector toward it and increasing his thrust.
They’re going to blow us out of the sky.
“You should already know what I’m planning, shouldn’t you?”
It isn’t going to work.
“I think you’ve said that at least a dozen times since I tried to kill myself.”
This time I’ll be correct.
“Not this time. Maybe next time. Do they know I’m not a friendly?”
It doesn’t seem like it. They haven’t started shooting at us yet.
“So far so good.”
I hunger, Caleb.
“You’ll have your chance. I promise.”
The fighter closed on the Seeker, the ship looming ever larger ahead. He could make out the defenses soon enough, in the form of portable heavy gun batteries and Abominations.
“Submit your orders for processing.”
The voice came into the control mind through the comm. The mind tried to respond and tell the enemy it had no orders, but Caleb cut it off. He didn’t reply, still coming in on the ship.
“Submit your orders for processing,” the voice repeated. “Or you will be destroyed.”
Caleb scanned the valleys ahead, quickly marking out four positions and passing them to the other fighters.
“This is your last warning. Submit your orders for processing or be destroyed.”
“Sorry for the delay,” Caleb said. “Here you are.”
He pulled back on the thrust and changed his vector, the other Relyeh ships passing above his head. They altered their vectors, each of them diving toward one of the marks.
The portable batteries turned to aim. The Abominations came alive.
Caleb watched and waited. He needed to time it perfectly.
He felt the slight change in pressure the moment the first Relyeh craft slammed into the deck and the gun battery beneath it, wiping itself and the gun out in a massive fireball. He immediately reached out through Ishek for the control mind of the Abomination closest to the others. It was more challenging to subdue it, but he knew when he did.
“Ishek, you need to enter it.”
I am not strong enough.
“I’ll keep it under control, but I can’t fly the ship and use the Abomination at the same time.” Already, the pressure in his head was starting to cause him pain. “You said you hunger. Knuckle-up, take control, and do some damage.”
Ishek’s laughter coincided with the Abomination turning and beginning to rush toward one of the portable gun batteries. The Advocate guided the hybrid machine’s tendrils into the weapon, smashing it beneath iron claws. The action drew the attention of another Abomination, which headed for Ishek’s Abomination.
The Advocate met it gleefully, charging headlong into the fight. Tendrils from both machines snapped out at one another, while mounted weapons systems started to fire. It didn’t matter which Abomination won the battle, and Ishek seemed to know it. It let the enemy machine inflict massive damage while inflicting heavy damage of its own.
Then Ishek was back with him, his Abomination going static. Caleb swooped in toward the still-fighting enemy machine, strafing the heavily damaged Relyeh and bringing it down.
“Are you ready for another round?” he asked.
I hunger.
Chapter 57
Caleb circled the tower, keeping an eye on the fighting below. Ishek’s Abomination was the last one standing, and it tore into the group of soldiers who dared come out to fight it, claiming the outside of the Seeker as its own. He reached out to the trife queen, searching for her in the mountains nearby and finding her already closer than he expected.
The first part of his plan had gone perfectly. The outer defenses were gone, and he had a clear path to the hangar below. He opened his eyes for a moment, slightly disoriented to be back inside the Relyeh ship. He needed to get a break from it, to ease the pressure in his head. He only stole a few seconds before returning to the control mind.
Making the switch was getting easier and easier as though either he or Ishek—or both of them—were becoming more comfortable with one another and more powerful together the more they relied on one another. A symbiotic relationship. It made sense.
He guided the fighter out a short distance and then banked hard to come around on the hangar. He would go in fast, hit the floor hard, drop the ramp and get to work.
He noticed movement out of the corner of his vision. He focused on it, able to watch as the outer shell for one of the fixed gun batteries folded away, revealing the giant cannon.
It was already pivoting in his direction.
“Shit,” he cursed as a heavy blast of blue energy exploded toward him, huge and bright. He tried to get out of its way, but it was too big to avoid at this range.
He swung the craft to the left, away from the Seeker. The bolt tore through the side of his ship, burning a hole along the flank. Smoke and the smell of burning organics and electronics filled his physical senses, while the pained scream of the control mind echoed through his head.
Caleb struggled against it, trying to get the ship back on course. The other batteries were beginning to come alive, their protective shields lowering to let them fire. The Seeker was coming online, reserve power banks fully charged and the systems starting.
The fighter continued to smoke and sink. Caleb could see his target ahead. They would never make it. He opened the side hatch, heart pounding. “Ishek, I hope you can fix me.”
This is a bad idea, Caleb.
He stood and moved to the back of the craft, opening his eyes just long enough to grab his rifle and get to the open hatch.
Now. Jump now.
Ishek’s voice was panicked. Caleb took the last two steps and threw himself out.
The cold air around him turned hot a moment later when a second blast sizzled past him, hitting the damaged ship. There was no debris from the direct strike, only a wave of hot, ionized air as the craft was utterly obliterated.
Caleb snapped back to himself, eyes open in time to see the ground fast approaching. The Intellect Skin would protect him to an extent, but the landing was going to hurt. The Advocate had proven it could heal fatal wounds. Could it pull him back together before it was too late?
Otherwise, it was already too late.
He dropped between two of the mounds and into a valley. He tucked himself as he hit, doing his best to relax his body. The impact was the most painful part, all of his momentum slowing in an instant. He heard his bones crack as he bounced off the dark alloy, rolling nearly twenty meters before coming to a stop.
Everything hurt so much he couldn’t catalog it all.
“Ishek, are you okay?”
I am fine. Your body absorbed the impact.
“Can you fix it?”
I’m releasing agents into your bloodstream. You should stop feeling pain now.
The pain vanished. It was a neat trick.
Don’t try to move. Your bones are still broken. I will require nutrients after this.
“What do Advocates eat?”
> I will feed through you. I will take what I need from what you have. But you must survive first.
He rested face down on the surface of the Seeker, letting Ishek do its work.
This wasn’t part of the plan.
“No. It was going too smoothly anyway.”
Try to stand.
Caleb gathered his legs. They were sore, but he could move them, and they supported his weight when he got back to his feet. It was like magic.
There’s nothing magical about it. You’re a sack of organic material that adheres to a strict set of universal laws. Understanding those laws makes such things trivial. Arluthu mastered them long ago.
“Well, humankind isn’t quite there yet. Do you want to tell me how inferior we are?”
As I am dependent on you for my life, I would hesitate to go that far.
“Is it just me, or are you turning into a little less of an asshole?”
It’s a result of the bonding. You are becoming more like me, and I am becoming more like you.
“I don’t feel more like you.”
Ishek responded with a laugh.
You lost your rifle, and we didn’t make it to the hangar. How are we going to overcome Arluthu’s Might now?
“When the going gets tough, Marines get tougher. We’ll have to improvise until the cavalry arrives.”
Cavalry?
Ishek scanned his mind.
I see.
Caleb looked back the way he had come, spotting the Relyeh gun a few meters away. He hurried over to it, picking it up and quickly checking it for damage. It was made of tough stuff, the damage limited to a few minor scuffs along the stock.
At least he hadn’t lost his gun.
Had the enemy sensors captured his escape from the Relyeh ship before it was vaporized? He didn’t know, and couldn’t afford to linger. He had to get inside and…
And what? The Deliverance was under attack. He couldn’t afford to wait for the trife to arrive. His original plan was to land in the hangar, clear the area and haul ass to the bridge, which was much closer to the hangar than it was to his current location. When he got there, he would use his new mind trick to overpower General Ogg and lock down the bridge. When the trife reached the ship, they would swarm the defenses and leave the Seeker under Earther control.
That wasn’t happening now. Ten seconds. That’s all he had needed to get the ship into the hangar. Ten seconds that might become the difference between winning and losing.
For everybody.
You wouldn’t have been able to overpower the general. You aren’t strong enough.
“Bullshit. I pushed Arluthu out. I thought you were done telling me what I can’t do? It doesn’t work out for you.”
You’ll never reach him now anyway.
“I will. I have to.”
How?
Caleb rechecked the position of the trife. General Jax had come through and bought him more time, but it wasn’t enough. He needed minutes he didn’t have, and there was nowhere to get them.
Face it, Caleb. You have lost.
“You know what I love about you, Shek?” Caleb said. “It’s your positive attitude.”
Shek?
Maybe he could wait for the trife to arrive. It was better to win late than to fail. But he couldn’t shake the thought of what Harai and the Relyeh Inahri would do to the colonists, and now to Tsi and the other Free Inahri if they lost before he finished. Being late wasn’t an option.
He needed something he could use. There had to be something.
Sarge, you should know, the Seeker has trife on board. Some pretty nasty ones. They killed Paige.
Ishek sent the memory to him, reminding him of what Washington had said.
“Shek, you’re a genius.”
You can’t control them.
“No, but I might not need to. Do you know how to get to them?”
Look deep for the answer. We have gained knowledge from many Inahri over the ens.
Caleb reached into Ishek’s mind, connecting to the Relyeh knowledge share and searching for answers. He found it there, in memories of Inahri who had lived through the Axon experiments. Who had been freed from Axon torture by an entity who wasn’t as benevolent as they believed.
“I’ve got it,” Caleb said.
Then what are we waiting for?
Chapter 58
John watched the feeds on the bridge’s primary display. Out of nearly thirty Daggers that had taken to the skies, only a handful remained. And of that handful, only a few still had enough power or ammunition to continue the strafing runs that were keeping the Relyeh soldiers on their toes.
The Free Inahri had arrived with little fanfare but a lot of excitement, their surprise assault and advanced weaponry quickly shifting the momentum of the fighting and putting the defense of the colonists back onto more even footing.
The whole battle might have been a disaster otherwise, over before Caleb could even make it past the mountains to the city-ship he needed to seize. Alone. Well, not alone. He had an army of trife. John knew how effective that could be.
His comm was patched into General Jax, as well as the reduced units still fighting on the ground. The battle had split into two parts. One-half of their remaining forces were near the edge of the jungle, doing their best to keep the Relyeh away from the colonists who had made it into the trees. Sergeant Tsi was part of that defensive, now being run by one of the Free Inahri Colonels. He had heard her chatter through the comm and understood she had managed to connect with Caleb’s Relyeh servant, Lia. More, it seemed she was the woman’s mother. Crazy. He was glad Lia had made it past Harai and out of the Citadel, but she hadn’t mentioned Oni. Was the older breeder woman dead?
He had been glad to hear Kiaan wasn’t. The young pilot had carried Jax into the fight and was on the ground with the Inahri leader, part of his retinue. It was a big step up for the kid, and John was proud of him.
The other half of their defense was focused on the Deliverance. Caleb had planned to get everyone out into the jungle, but that plan had fallen apart with the initial assault. About four thousand of the non-combatant population had turned back, fear among both them and their guides leading to a return to Metro. Governor Stone had greeted them there and was busy organizing a new line of defense by making sure they all had rifles and were taking high-ground positions in the blocks.
The Relyeh had initially been equally split while continuing the offensive. An hour later, the Free Inahri momentum swing had faded and the battle had become more pitched. Like Caleb predicted, the jungle defense was more successful, the spread-out nature of the battlefield offering the colonists more avenue of escape and more places to hide. The Relyeh recognized that. They also realized they could be more patient hunting down the exposed colonists, and had begun fortifying their efforts to get into the Deliverance.
“Sergeant,” Deputy Klahanie said. “We’ve got a breach in lander one.”
“Blow the tube,” John replied without hesitation. Of course, they had prepared the lift for the eventuality. While they couldn’t destroy the lander, they could make it much more difficult to climb.
“Triggering,” Klahanie said. “Tube blown.”
“Sergeant Wash,” General Jax said. “We’re falling back to the hangar. The enemy is regrouping and preparing a full assault.”
“Roger,” John replied. “We need to pull the jungle fighters back to the ship. We can get the Relyeh caught in a crossfire.”
“I’ve already sent the command, but they’re pretty spread out.”
“Sergeant,” Governor Stone said, sharing the channel with John and Jax. “I think we need to consider plan B.”
“Plan B?” Jax said.
“The Deliverance can get out of the atmosphere and back into space,” John explained. “Governor, I think it’s a little premature. Once we lift off, we won’t have the power to land again. And we’d be leaving most of the colony to fend for itself.”
“We might be saving most of
the colony,” Stone said. “Our allies can focus all of their efforts on the single force, and provide for the ones who are left behind.”
“We can do that just as well with you here,” Jax said. “In fact, getting the Relyeh in the middle of the two sides might work out in our favor.”
“Can you kill them all before they get into the ship?”
“No, Governor. There are too many entry points. But if we can handle the bulk of the assault, we can loop back to take care of the stragglers. The enemy can’t get the people they stunned back out without a complete victory.”
“I don’t want them getting into Metro,” Stone said.
“You have four thousand armed civilians in there,” Washington said. “You should be able to handle them.”
“With our weapons? Come on, Sergeant. You’ve seen how ineffective they are.”
Governor Stone had a point. The battle would be over already if not for the Free Inahri. “We’ll keep them out,” John said.
Governor Stone hesitated. “No. General Jax, get your people off the Deliverance. We need to initiate plan B. We won’t have another chance. Not once the Inahri are all inside.”
“Governor—” Jax started.
“No! This is my ship. Those are my orders.”
“With all due respect, Governor,” John said. “You put Caleb in charge of the defenses. You named him General. He named me Sergeant and put me in charge of the ship. I get it. You’re afraid of the Inahri getting close to your wife again. You think if she sees more fighting she’ll never come back. I’ve been through worse than that with the woman I still love. They won’t breach Metro if I have to go down to the seal and hold the damn thing myself. I’ll keep them out.”