by T. R. Harris
Surprisingly, Tidus was silent for a moment; Adam had been expecting an emotional outburst, with his sizeable deposit being the main topic. Instead: “What the hell,” he said. “After the beating they’ve taken, I would not have received any refund. Yet won’t the facility’s defenses counter such an attack?”
“They’re aimed above the surface,” Riyad said. “We’ll send it zipping along the surface. They won’t know what hit them.”
“Then why not send it into the control building?”
“We still don’t believe the blast would be large enough beyond crumbling some walls and damaging a few of the systems, things that can be easily repaired. And then the towers would still be standing. We didn’t come with a plan to take them down. This should do the job.”
“Very well,” Tidus conceded. “And what of the mercenaries?”
“We carry through with the main plan,” Riyad said. “You’ll take up covering posts while we Humans move inside the control building in all the confusion of the attack on the towers, taking with us the packet bombs. The defensive forces will think it’s only us and will leave their rear uncovered. At the right time, you guys come in and blast the crap out of them. Then when we set off the bombs from the inside, the strength of the building will be to our advantage, trapping all the explosive force within.”
“We shall be prepared.”
“Good. Adam…give us fifteen minutes to move into position. I’ll join you at your present location and control the missile with my ATD.”
“Roger that. Initiate…the clock is ticking.”
Adam didn’t see where Tidus and his mercs were set up, but he was glad when Riyad and Monty slipped in beside him and Coop, carrying six backpacks with a supply of compact explosives. They were behind a small berm, lying in the shadows on their stomachs, watching the activity at the back of the control building about fifty feet away. When the time came, they could cover the distance in just a couple of seconds.
“You up for the sprint, master chief?” Adam asked. “You spend a lot of time on a planet with a lighter gravity than Earth.”
“Give me some credit, captain,” Monty growled. “I know I have to spend as much time as possible in the Mustang Sally with the gravity cranked up. I’m every bit as strong as you runts…sir.”
“Glad to hear it. Tidus…get ready,” he said over the comm. “Riyad will be sending the ship over your heads any time now.”
The interior of their helmets were still blacked out and deep in shadow, keeping the expressions of the other three Humans around Adam from being visible. But still he noticed the nods. They were ready, weapons firmly in their grips and back packs attached to the spacesuits.
“Let her rip, Riyad.”
The small starship was still on the other side of the hill from the TD array. Riyad tapped into the controls through his artificial telepathy device, thankful that the Bandon-Noc used the ubiquitous Formilian control devices in all their electronics. He got it up and moving, slowly at first, steering it over the mound until there was a direct path to the huge trio of towers.
Unlike the movement of living beings in the spacesuits, the appearance of the starship immediately activated the security measures for the site. Lights flashed everywhere, while Adam suspected alarms were sounding in the helmets of the workers. Everyone reacted, rushing for emergency stations.
Adam was impressed. The repair crews and security personnel of the Olypon were well-drilled. Word had probably gone out about Earth’s rash contact with the Olypon government, asking about the facility. Although they’d lied about its purpose, the natives were ready for any assault against the array.
Any assault except one coming at them fifteen feet above the surface and going five hundred miles per hour.
The fifty-foot long starship/missile scraped the dusty surface as Riyad had trouble maintaining a constant altitude as it picked up speed. The Olypon were reacting, they just didn’t know to what at the moment.
And a moment later it was over.
The missile reached the base of the towers and Riyad mentally detonated the explosives rather than let the impact do the job. This way he could control when and where the bomb was set off.
There was a trace amount of oxygen in the Mon-Sim atmosphere, enough to cause a flare along with the massive concussion from the explosion. The blast was substantial, yet against the thick base of the triple towers, it was surprisingly muted. There was damage, considerable damage. One of the red-painted towers began to sway, half of its wide support legs blown away. Unfortunately, if fell from the others and in the opposite direction from the control building. A four-hundred-foot-high tower would have done an admirable job on the building, saving Adam and his people the trouble of blowing it up. But that was not to be. Instead the ground rumbled as the huge metal structure crashed to the surface, falling slower and with less impact than Adam was expecting, a result of the one-third gravity of Mon-Sim.
But at least the facility was offline again. Now he needed to make sure it stayed that way.
The Olypon to the rear of the control building had disappeared, many running into the fortified structure at the first sound of the alarm. Adam and the other Humans moved, sprinting the distance to the airlock door, leaving trails of dust in the soft surface.
Adam gained control of the operating system to the doorway with his ATD, following internal connections that would activate the panel. He looked briefly to Monty, watching the big master chief’s reaction as the door opened without anyone touching the controls. They moved inside a moment later, with the pressure door closing silently behind them.
The Olypon had moved inside the building, seeking what protection they could find from a potential attack within its strong structure. The room cycled through, adding air and pressure, before Adam activated the internal door.
There were Olypon on the other side, startled by the opening of the airlock door. Seeing the four figures in spacesuits, they at first figured these to be stragglers, only now reporting to their emergency station. But then they noticed these were not Olypon suits. For the five aliens in the outer room, that was the last thing they ever noticed.
Adam figured they couldn’t stay hidden for long, and he was right. The building was packed with Olys now, many armed and posted in corridors, waiting for an outside attack, if that had been the reason for the alert. When their comrades fell, the flash of the bolts lit up the room and flared beyond the point of contact. Already on guard, the Olypon reacted.
Adam, Riyad and Coop did their best to disarm all the enemy flash weapons they could with their ATDs, but except for Adam, the other two were having trouble firing at a beehive of aliens while also seeking out firing control circuits with their minds. They couldn’t do both things at the same time. They chose the old fashion way of killing aliens…one at a time and with level-two bolts to their frail bodies.
Adam was better with his ATD than the others, able to locate and defuse the Olypon flash weapons while sending deadly streams of plasma fire from his own bolt launcher. For his part, Monty was chewing up alien troops with particular glee. Adam figured he hadn’t seen any real combat in years, so he was enjoying himself. He didn’t have time to worry about why some of the Olypon weapons didn’t fire while others did. He just killed anything that wasn’t Human.
Pretty soon, the enemy troops were in retreat, moving farther into the building and taking up defensive positions in other corridors and side rooms. Soon Adam and his team came to the conference room where they had sat only two weeks before with the site’s administrator. Adam couldn’t remember his name at the moment; it wasn’t important.
“Start setting the charges,” he ordered through the comm system. They hadn’t removed their helmets, not knowing if a breach of the building’s outer wall would happen prematurely or not. Riyad and Coop reached into the backs of their partner’s packs and pulled out small, breadbox-size paper-wrapped packages. Adam and Monty did the same, neither man bothering to remove the packs fro
m their backs.
After setting four of the charges around the area, mostly hidden in overheads, they continued into other rooms, blasting aliens along the way.
They made it to the main control room, where Panur had helped open the initial link with the lost universe, setting all the events of the past two weeks in motion. They placed the rest of their charges here, hiding them as well, although they knew they would not give the Olypon time to locate and disarm the explosives. When this was done, they headed for the front exit to the building.
As expected, word had spread of the invaders in the control building. Outside a small army of Olypon waited, their full attention focused on the building. What they didn’t see was Tidus and his five mercenaries move into position within the fallen framework of the array tower. They had Xan-fi rifles and even a few grenade launchers, something the Humans had brought with them.
Adam activated both airlock doors, after he and his team secured themselves against the incredible rush of air escaping the building. Any Olypon in the structure without spacesuits would be dead in less than thirty seconds in the thin atmosphere of Mon-Sim.
From both sides of the doorway, Monty and Adam opened fire. A breath later, answering bolts streaked into the interior of the control center. The rate of fire quickly died off as Adam, Riyad and Coop methodically deactivated the Olys weapons. And that’s when Tidus and his troops opened up, aiming at the unguarded backs of the enemy defenders.
The battle only lasted a few seconds before the surviving Olypon, realizing their weapons were useless and they were caught in a crossfire, ran off in all directions into the stark and inhospitable landscape of the planet.
Tidus met Adam and his Humans at the entrance to the control center.
“Well done, Tidus,” Adam said. He looked at the menagerie of mercenaries. “And you, as well. Very well executed. Now let’s move away and light this candle.”
“Forgive?” said one of the mercs.
Tidus put a hand on the alien’s shoulder. “He means he is ready to set off the charges. We must reach a safe distance.”
Beyond the huge tower array was a low-ridged crater. The team moved to it and hunkered down along the interior slope. All the detonators were linked. He sent a mental command to the firing controls.
Monty was watching him, waiting for Adam to finger a trigger, or do something other than just sit there. When the building went up in a spectacular geyser of flame, dust and debris, his attention was averted. But he would revisit the questions he had at some future date.
After the falling shrapnel stopped landing nearby, the team climbed to the edge of the crater and gazed over, looking at their handiwork. It was impressive. Two of the side walls of the control center remained and only cracked and crumbling versions. The rest of the structure was gone. The combined strength of the explosives had been confined to the interior by the strong outer walls, magnifying the effect. When a critical mass was reached, the building shattered, forming into a fountain of debris.
It was done. The tower array was seriously damaged and the control building was no more. Adam rolled over on his back and looked into the dark sky. They’d done it. Kracion was trapped, along with the mutants. He sighed. So it must be, he thought. Lila would outlive him and Arieel anyway. That was as it should be with your children, although Lila would outlive them in spades.
Yet Adam had no illusions that he could keep Kracion out of the Milky Way permanently. But at least he’d bought them time, time to convince a war-weary galaxy that they had to gear up for another battle. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long enough.
A thin white line appeared in the blackness of space, growing in length and intensity. Adam could clearly see it in the distance above him. The rest of the team was still entranced by their destructive handiwork and didn’t notice. And then the line split down the middle and began to spread apart.
“Hey guys…we got problems,” Adam said, barely heard through the din of cheers and congratulations. “Listen up!” he finally yelled. All eyes turned to him.
One by one, they looked into the sky. Members of Adam’s original team knew what they were looking at; not so the others, including Monty.
“What the hell is that?” he asked.
“That, my friend,” Riyad answered, “is our worst nightmare.”
It had taken four days to rig the auxiliary control in generator building alpha. Three more Klin sacrificed their lives to Kracion’s temper, frustrated at the lack of skill and speed by which they worked. He knew the Leadin Gendius Valin was terrified of him; his recent fits of impatience only made it worse.
The Aris didn’t care, although he did admit to a strange sense of satisfaction he found within the fear others had for him. He already had absolute power, but it was even more satisfying to know others knew it as well. This was one of the reasons he’d told the Human Adam Cain that he would accept no surrender from the defeated peoples of the home galaxy, at least not initially. They had to know what he was capable of, and that he wouldn’t hesitate to exterminate entire races on a whim. Besides the joy in experiencing their fear, he also wanted to drive home the fact that he had created most of their species, and just as easily, he could destroy them.
Although he wouldn’t eliminate them all, he did plan on exterminating a significant portion of the first races he encountered to make his point. Other than that, it wouldn’t pay for him to rule over a dead galaxy.
And now the portal was open, yet unlike even the temporary twenty-two-minute duration of a single-sided link, this one would only last nine minutes. He had his small fleet of Klin and Olypon vessels in queue, ready to make the quick transition. The Olypon would bring up the rear. Whether all—or any—of them made it through was immaterial. They were not vital to his initial plans. They would have to wait until the array complex on the Klin side was rebuilt. That would take time. But depending on the extent of the damage to the array on their side, they might be able to return sooner.
Again, it mattered not. Kracion would have his twenty-one specially armed Klin vessels to lead the way. Besides, this initial foray into the home galaxy was of limited purpose.
117
Coric Son Kal Sorum was visibly shaking when Lead Scientist Sindus entered his office. Coric was the Pleab of the planet Olypon, a term the natives had appropriated centuries ago from their Klin occupiers, a variation of the Klin’s Pleabaen title for their leaders.
Sindus had just arrived on the planet from the transport facility on Mon-Sim, where he was supervising repairs to the array.
“You say the facility will be operational again within a day?” Coric barked at the scientist, dispensing with any greetings or formality. “Is this so?”
“Yes, Coric.” The two Olypon were on familiar terms when in the privacy of the Pleab’s office. They were relatives and of comparable age. “The damage was minor, primarily to the focusing towers. All repairs are proceeding on schedule. Has something occurred?”
“You may not be aware, yet after damaging your facility, Adam Cain and his team managed to escape the Void.”
“How…when?”
“They passed through the Shield eight days ago.”
“Are the mutants with him?”
Coric recoiled. “I do not know; why is that important?”
“Just a matter of curiosity. We are assuming the transfer frequencies are still correct and that we can regain contact with the other dimension once the system is operational.”
The sentence had a profound effect on the Pleab. He pressed back in his chair, the dark tone of his skin turning a shade lighter.
“What has happened, Coric? You are in distress.”
“Distress! Yes, I am in distress. Are you not?”
“The array will be functioning again soon.”
“Shall I summarize for you, Sindus? We had two brief exchanges of information before your facility was damaged, verifying the existence of the Aris Kracion, as was relayed in the ancient documents. This was good. Yet
the news of a massive colony of Klin was not. For eight hundred years the Olypon were under the control of the Klin. Yet they are now gone, and the Olypon control our own destiny. That destiny was to include an affiliation with the Aris, one which would lead us to power and glory within the galaxy. Now we learn that the Klin have been partners with Kracion for all this time. Yes, he will surely accept our assistance, yet in what capacity? Subservient to the Klin once again?”
“That will have to be negotiated,” Sindus replied. “Once contact is reestablished, we will receive the honor we deserve for freeing the Aris from his prolonged exile. It is a feat not easily dismissed. Not even the Klin—either here or in the other universe—could accomplish such a task. We will be rewarded.”
Coric was not placated. He was shaking his head. “And with that recognition was also to come protection, protection against the forces of the galaxy who would see Kracion—and us—as a threat. At this point, there is so little we know of the Aris and his powers. We were to learn of that before exposing ourselves. Now with the array inoperable, we are at a loss.”
“Of course, yet this is only temporary.”
“Even so, we may not have time. Adam Cain has already alerted the Union, and as a consequence the Expansion, of our intentions.”
Until this point, Sindus had been standing before the governing desk. Now he sat in a chair to relieve his weakened legs.
“How do you know this?”
“I received a link from Earth.”
“Directly? What did they say?”
“They asked about your facility, knowing it to be a trans-dimensional portal.”
“They…they….”
“I told them they were mistaken; that it was a communication array of considerable complexity due to the location of Olypon within the Dysion Void.”
“Did they believe you?”
“The CW signal was routed through Mon-Sim, yet I very much doubt they are believing. Adam Cain would not let them accept such a deflection.”