by Nick Braker
“It has shields, heavy armament and weaponry,” Mira said. “Life signs indicate 805,000 beings. My god, its huge. We have no chance to get around it or fight our way through. We have to go with the wormhole plan.”
“Zara,” Seph said, “you are with me.”
The two left the bridge heading down the ramp and to the new launch bay. Grep and Seph had re-engineered the airlock to house and launch the PB. It no longer functioned as an airlock.
“You two have 9 minutes and 40 seconds before I estimate we are in range of their weaponry.” Mira said.
“Plenty of time,” Seph said.
“Shit,” Mira yelled, “they just launched small fighter jets from their capital ship.”
Like hundreds of angry bees leaving their hive to defend it, Mira watched as small single-man ships launched from all sides of the starship. The ships grouped together and formed a hexagonal wall as they approached. They concentrated layer upon layer of jets along their ship’s flight path to Kron. The jets had not yet jumped to light speed but it wouldn’t matter, Miracle One would have to go through them or try to go around them. Their shields would likely not hold up against the volume of ships that would pelt their shields down in seconds.
“They are unmanned drones,” Mira said. “I’m reading no lifeforms. We’re facing 1,215 drones.”
“More like bombs,” Jules added. “That is what I would do. Send everything at us and focus on our shields and then incinerate the ship.”
“Do the math,” Seph yelled from below. “I need to get within two light minutes at maximum speed to form the portal and come out close enough to Kron.”
Mira entered the variables into the system. “The first wave will reach us before we can enter the portal. We will need forward shields at maximum power to have any chance to survive. I think.”
“You think?” Jules asked.
“I have no information on what kind of explosive power these ships have. One of them might be enough to destroy our shields.”
“Par for the course in our lives,” Jules said.
“Start a countdown, Jules,” Mira said.
“Starting countdown to maximum portal distance. 6 minutes, 12 seconds,” Jules replied.
The minutes ticked by as they plunged closer to the capital ship. The tiny fighters tightened their virtual wall in direct response to the distance between Miracle One and the jets.
“Seph,” Mira said over the intercom. “We are very close. Are you ready?”
“Yes,” Seph said, “just adding something special.”
Zara’s console beeped.
“Mira, did you hear that?” Jules said.
“Patching Zara’s station to mine,” Mira answered.
“What is going on?” Zara asked over the intercom.
“The Kron are attempting to contact us,” Mira said.
“What the shit’h?” Zara replied. “Seph, what are you doing?”
“I am automating this,” Seph said, “in case any of us are hurt or disabled. Hand me that spanner wrench.”
Mira cut the intercom system to Seph and Zara’s feed.
“Jules, I am going to answer this. Maybe we can delay them.” Mira said.
Jules nodded. Mira took a deep breath and exhaled. She tapped the button, answering the Kron’s signal.
“This is Captain Cule of the Miracle One. To whom am I speaking?”
“Mira, this is Magnus. Abort your mission.”
“Magnus!” Jules yelled, “is it really...,” she took a breath, “...really you?”
“It is,” Magnus said. “Sounds like you are happy to hear from me for once.”
“Oh, my god,” Jules started crying, placing her hands over her mouth. “If there is a god, thank you.” She reached her hand down to adjust the ship’s course and speed.
“Jules,” Mira yelled, splaying her hand out in front of her, “it could be a trick. Think about it. It might be Magnus. I will give you that, but we have to know it is him.”
“Mira,” Magnus said, “you have less than a minute before I will no longer be able to stop them from destroying you. Stand down. The Kron are reading a massive energy buildup on your ship. They know what you are planning. We don’t have time for this shit. I’m working on an alliance with Earth... and Kron and this attack is straining that relationship.”
“Mira,” Jules said, tears still flowing down her cheeks, “I know it’s him.”
“Jules,” Mira said, “you promised me. Let me ask him some questions. We still have 35 seconds according to him.”
Jules nodded, keeping her hands over her console. Mira knew Jules would stop the ship the moment Magnus proved his identity or she fell for their ruse. If they were wrong, all of Earth was doomed.
“What can we possibly ask him that the Kron would not know?”
“Listen,” Magnus said, “I get it. You have a job and you need to be sure. So, let me try... Jules you bought an expensive bottle of wine for me for our first night together.”
“Kron would know that,” Mira said.
“Zara is in love with Brock and when she first met him at the sorority, she had designs for him already planned out.”
“Kron would know that,” Mira repeated.
“Seph, you still sort of hate me for my bitches comment outside of DOM and, for the thousandth time, I wasn’t even referring to you.”
“The Kron would know that, too,” Mira said.
“Damn it, Mira. Humanity and Kron are... wait, I got proof,” Magnus said, “this is personal and I’m sorry. Mira, you are the hardest because we never really spent much time together but you are secretly in love with me and have been since the day you saw me at your sorority. You have suppressed your feelings and have never told me because you are deathly afraid of the person you would become if I spurned your love. You have demons in your past from the Aliri augmentation. They once consumed you and you fight to keep them in check every day.”
Mira fell back into her chair covering her mouth with both hands. Tears welled up and fell from her eyes, flowing like a river as Magnus’ words echoed in her heart and mind.
He knows how I feel and respected my decision. He never said a word. He knew all along.
“Power down,” Mira said through her tears. “Abort the mission.”
Jules executed her order and instructed the ship to come to a stop. It did not respond.
“Jules, cut power,” Mira ordered.
“It’s not responding,” Jules yelled.
A portal in space opened in front of them and the ship slipped inside.
“Mira, Jules,” Magnus yelled, “what are you doing? Shit. Someone shut that bomb down.”
In an instant, the tiny Earth ship disappeared as it slipped by the deadly capital ship through a hole in space. It reappeared inside Kron’s atmosphere, plunging toward its surface. Billions of particles pelted the ship’s shields as its engines slowed their descent. Alarms sounded over the intercom. Seph and Zara struggled to reach the top of the ramp as they fought the slight changes in gravity. The ship’s gravity well, the planet’s gravity and the assault on the shields was shaking the tiny vessel apart.
“Mira?” Seph asked, “Mira!” Mira didn’t answer. “Shit, Jules,” Seph said, screaming over the alarms. “Why did you cut the intercom? I tried to tell you, I automated the launch sequence. You will have control as soon as the PB is launched. What the hell is going on?”
“Dear god,” Magnus said. “Katerra, I’m sorry.”
Chapter 32
KRON
Kron - Citron
Wednesday, December 9, 1987 - 12:00am
Magnus
Magnus woke to the sounds of an alarm. In addition to the rooms’ normal lighting, a bright red light flashed overhead. It was generated by the embedded lighting from the entirety of the ceiling. Yaren entered the room, standing in the doorway.
“Follow me,” she ordered.
Magnus checked his arms finding the medical cuffs were gone. He started tow
ard the door. His muscles were stiff but they responded easily.
“What the hell is going on?” Magnus asked, following her at a run.
Yaren led him through Citron’s corridors as scores of other Kron moved with them. Every single Kron, even their physically feeble males, moved in sync with each other as they navigated the maze of turns.
“We are under attack,” Yaren said. “Katerra has ordered you to join her on the Mammon. Stay right behind me at all times. Keep up and do not lag. All of our lives depend on you moving with us in sync.”
Magnus understood what she was asking. The Kron were at war and had been for centuries. This was part of their training. They must be moving to a safer place on Kron though he had no idea where that would be.
“Okay,” Magnus said. “What the hell is a mammon?”
“You have much to learn, Magnus of Earth. The Mammon is our capital ship in orbit around Kron. It is an evacuation ship capable of holding every single member of our race.”
The attack must be serious. What could possibly threaten Kron on their own turf?
“Who is attacking us?” Magnus asked.
“I don’t know,” Yaren said, “but I can assure you, this is not a drill. Your life depends on getting to the Mammon.”
They turned left down one of the corridors and started across one of their transparent connecting tubes to another building.
“Is that building our destination?” Magnus asked.
“Yes.”
The building’s shape was an elongated pyramid similar to most he had seen in Citron. He couldn’t see its peak through the black ash but by the angle of the wall ahead, it had to be quite tall. It was strange to Magnus, no one panicked and the only noise was his conversation with Yaren and the sounds of their feet running along the semi-hard floor. Why this building? He started to ask Yaren that very question when he saw a streak of light to his right through the transparent material of the walkway. It began from the ground and shot upwards into the sky. The black ash quickly smothered the light but it reminded Magnus of a bottle rocket launch on Earth and then it hit him.
“Is this building a spaceship?” Magnus asked.
Yaren glanced back, nodding. Magnus followed her deeper into the building, navigating their way through another set of maze-like corridors. Yaren knew where she was going and Magnus stayed with her, keeping up as she had ordered. He glanced back. There were more Kron following behind him than he could count and still they moved through the building with ease. She led him into a room with a glass wall on the far side. They filed into the room and took their positions.
“Magnus,” Yaren said, “Here.” She pointed to a spot next to her which was along the glass wall.
Blip.
The computer had made a sound and then had spoken something to them.
“Magnus, sit.” Yaren said.
Magnus followed her orders. Everyone around him sat too, pulling their knees up to their chests. He barely got his legs in place when the building launched. The surface of Kron fell away and the blackness of its atmosphere obscured everything above and below.
“Gravity well, too?” Magnus asked.
“Yes, if I understand what you are asking,” Yaren said.
Seconds later, stars twinkled through the thinning blackness, growing brighter. Magnus marveled at the beauty. He hadn’t seen their stars in months and from the sounds of awe from the people around him, they hadn’t seen them their entire lives.
“That is the Mammon,” Yaren said, pointing to a spaceship coming into sight to the left.
Magnus remembered this ship from Katerra’s wall monitor but now that he saw it in person, he understood the immense size of this craft. Each floor of the Mammon was revealed by its internal lights. There were thousands of them. As he drew closer, he watched another of the pyramid-like ships dock with the Mammon. The base of the building would rotate and land upright on the top of it. He started to watch another one repeat the process when his building rotated in space and, seconds later, it landed, too.
Magnus looked around, expecting the procession of Kron to repeat itself in reverse. He blinked, realizing no one had moved from their spots.
“Magnus,” Yaren said, “I don’t understand but we’ve not been given the signal to board the Mammon. This is unusual to—”
The doors to the room opened and two Kron guards walked in. They motioned Magnus to follow them. He looked at Yaren for confirmation.
“Go,” Yaren said, “those are the queen’s guards. She awaits.”
Magnus half rolled his eyes, standing. He navigated his way through the people seated on the floor. Some stared at him in awe while other’s glared at him with hatred. What was going on and why would Katerra summon him?
Magnus followed the two guards. A few minutes later, he was completely lost. Magnus knew he was on the Mammon after descending through a large hatch in the floor of the building but, after several minutes of walking, had no idea where he was.
The two guards stopped him in front of a large bulkhead door. It opened and the noise of chatter, computers, and Katerra giving orders assailed him. He was on their bridge. The near silence of the last few minutes was blasted away by the frenetic pace of activity in the room.
Katerra sat in a chair in the center of the bridge several feet above the rest of the floor. The room measured a hundred feet in diameter with computer stations lining the walls and four more stations directly in front of Katerra. Each station had a Kron female operating it. A large forward view screen covered the wall in front of Katerra stretching over sixty feet wide and twenty feet tall. It currently displayed a single, saucer-shaped ship traveling toward them. Magnus’ heart leapt into his throat.
“Status of the drones,” Katerra ordered.
“Two minutes and ten seconds to intercept.”
Magnus rushed Katerra. He made it twenty feet when the two guards tackled him from behind, taking him to the floor. He didn’t fight them. He knew another ten would be there to stop him from reaching their queen. Katerra planned to destroy the ship. She would not take chances. She had said so during their first meeting.
“Katerra,” Magnus said. “Let me help.”
Katerra descended the steps to the floor, shifting to Ryikoda. She stood in front of him looking down.
“Help?” Katerra whispered. She raised her voice. “You want to help?” Katerra pointed at the ship on the screen, glaring down at him. “That is your ship approaching us and our sensors warn of a massive power build up on board. It is the energy signature of a bomb capable of destroying planets.” She grabbed him by his shirt and forcefully lifted him to his feet. “Was this all a lie? A ruse to make us complacent? That ship is from Earth. Your ship, Magnus.”
Katerra’s eyes burned through him. Her guards stood ready to kill him if he attacked her.
“What did you expect them to do?” Magnus asked. “I don’t know what’s going on but I understand why they are here. You offered the alliance to me but they don’t know that. Let me talk to them. I can get them to stop their attack.”
Katerra paused thinking about his words. Earth didn’t know that an alliance was in the works. Magnus had laid near death for days.
“Katerra,” Magnus said. “I fought for you. I killed for you. Did I do all that just to trick you into obtaining your confidence in me? The truce between our worlds can still happen. They just need to know it.”
“The Aliri helped your people to get here,” Katerra said. “They are working together. I diverted several ships to intercept an asteroid field that entered our space just hours ago. Tell me, do you think that was a coincidence? Do you think Earth could pull that off alone?”
“No,” Magnus said, “it’s not a coincidence. The Aliri duped us all but we can still win this. I believed you when you told me what the Aliri had done. Now believe me when I tell you I can get them to stand down. Trust me as I have trusted you. Give me a chance to talk with them.”
Katerra’s eyes softened. She
had decided to give him a chance. She put her claws on Magnus’ throat.
Holy shit. This could go bad.
“You have one minute,” Katerra said, “and if anything comes out of your mouth but the words to make them stop, I will cut your throat wide open.”
Katerra forced Magnus to one of the four computer stations in front of her command chair. She pushed his face into the console, keeping her claws on his neck.
This could go really bad.
“Open a channel to that ship,” Katerra ordered.
“The Earth ship finally answered, channel open, my queen.”
“This is Captain Cule of the Miracle One. To whom am I speaking?”
“Mira, this is Magnus. Abort your mission.”
“Magnus!” Jules yelled, “is it really...,” she took a breath, “...really you?”
“It is,” Magnus said, his face still pushed against the communication console. “Sounds like you are happy to hear from me for once.”
“Oh, my god,” Jules said, crying. “If there is a god, thank you.”
“Jules,” Mira yelled, “it could be a trick. Think about it. It might be Magnus. I will give you that, but we have to know it is him.”
“Mira,” Magnus said, “you have less than a minute before I will no longer be able to stop them from destroying you. Stand down. The Kron are reading a massive energy buildup on your ship. They know what you are planning. We don’t have time for this shit. I’m working on an alliance with Earth... and Kron and this attack is straining that relationship.”
He tried to adjust his footing and pull his face up a little from the console. Katerra pushed her claws harder against his neck. They punctured the skin.
“Mira,” Jules said, still crying, “I know it’s him.”
“Jules,” Mira said, “you promised me. Let me ask him some questions. We still have 35 seconds according to him.”
Magnus knew he had to think of something that only he and the girls would know but everything that came to mind seemed worthless as proof.