Some captains asked permission to test the graviton cannons and various missiles. Others said that was a terrible idea. We could give ourselves away.
Admiral Sparhawk finally came on an open channel. “We will make tests,” the old man said. “We must know the capability of our weapons if we’re going to make wise combat decisions. We will direct the tests toward the light, assuming the enemy is not in that direction.”
It was smart thinking, as far as it went. We really didn’t know enough, though, to be sure what was best. Yet, Sparhawk was right. We weren’t going to win if we didn’t know anything.
N7 tapped my shoulder.
I got up and let the android take my place. He was going to test the atmosphere—the void.
I went to other controls. I felt tense, but I’d felt tense many times on effectuator missions. This was different. This was personal.
I thought back to the expedition to the Karg space-time continuum. That had been a shrinking universe. This one was a pocket universe. What did that mean in actual terms? Was the pocket universe round? Could one come in “behind” the planet by first traveling to the star? How hot did the gases heat up near the star? I’d guess plenty hot.
I shivered. I didn’t like this place. I didn’t like Plutonians. I dreaded facing fifty-plus Abaddon clones. There weren’t sixty anymore, as I’d slain a few already.
“There,” N7 reported.
Graviton beams fired. They did not go far before dissipating. That was interesting, and possibly lethal to us. Would the Plutonian beams fire farther? I would bet so.
That meant we had to rely more heavily on our missiles and torpedoes.
“Has any captain tested torpedoes?” I asked.
N7 made some manipulations on his board. “Yes, two,” he said. “The propellers are useless in the gas.”
“That’s just great.”
“But,” N7 said. “One of the captains suggested we use them as mines.”
I cocked my head, soon nodding. At least we could get some use out of the torpedoes.
“Sir,” N7 said. “Admiral Sparhawk is on the comm. He wants a word with you.”
“Sure,” I said.
The android vacated the seat and I sat down again. Sparhawk came on. He was older with white hair, blue eyes and an intense way of staring straight at you.
“Sir?” I asked.
“I’d like some recommendations, Commander.”
“Bore in and attack,” I said. I told him my thoughts concerning the graviton beams and how missiles might have jumped in importance for us.
“Attack just like that?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said.
“And if it’s a trap?” he asked.
“We fight our way through it with a relentless willingness to trade lives and ships to destroy the enemy. We have one chance, sir. We have to nail them hard and fast. We have to destroy Holgotha if possible. We don’t have time to finesse this.”
“I thought you were going to soften up the enemy for us with your phase suits.”
“That’s just for the PDS,” I said. “First, we have to take out the fleet. We have to take out Holgotha.”
“If I were Jennifer, I’d keep Holgotha behind the PDS.”
“Yeah,” I said. “So would I. We’re hoping she makes a mistake.”
“And when the Abaddon clones strike at us?”
“Frankly, if you want my advice, sir, you blow the battlejumper the second teleporting clones appear in it. You don’t give them any hint about what you’re doing.”
“And take all those thousands of Earth Force personnel with the Abaddon clones?” Sparhawk asked.
“The crew is likely dead if the clones appear on their battlejumper anyway. This way, they take the enemy with them.”
“Ruthless and bloody,” the Admiral said.
“Do you have a better idea…sir?” I asked.
Those bluest of blue eyes stared into mine. Slowly, the older man shook his head.
“Any more questions?” I asked.
He opened his mouth as if to ask one, and then reconsidered. “That’s it,” he said. “Anything you want to tell me?”
“Yes,” I said. “We’re expendable as long as we can win.”
“We’re agreed there, son,” he said.
I almost did a double take. I hadn’t expected that. Instead of showing my surprise, with everything in me, I kept a calm demeanor, waiting.
The Admiral’s eyes narrowed.
I kept waiting.
“Well?” he said.
“Well what, sir?” I asked.
“You seem agitated.”
“You’re right there,” I said. “This place gives me the willies.”
“Do you still agree we should bore in and attack?”
“More than ever, sir,” I said. “I want to finish this as fast as I can.”
“Fine,” he said, his manner softening. “You know, I just had a thought. I’d like to talk to you in person.”
“When, sir?” I asked.
“Now, if you can.”
“Not yet,” I said. “If you could give me a few hours first.”
“We might be fighting in a few hours.”
“I doubt that,” I said. “I want to make a few tests here first.”
“Very well,” the Admiral grumbled. “In three hours, then.”
“Yes, sir,” I said. “Three hours it is.”
With that, we cut communication.
I stood and faced N7. “Get Rollo,” I said. “We’re going to don our phase suits.”
“For what reason?” the android asked.
“Because I think our Admiral is an imposter,” I said. “Now quit jabbering and summon Rollo on the double.”
-74-
The three of us traveled through the void while out of phase. We used heavy thruster packs, passing through and passing by one battlejumper after another.
The Admiral’s battlejumper was in the center of the formation, theoretically, the best-protected vessel.
The fleet as a whole had stopped while the captains assessed the results of the various tests. This state of affairs would not last long. Once the battlejumpers started accelerating again, they would leave us far behind.
I had the Abaddon force axe. The others hefted state-of-the-art Fortress of Light weaponry. Both Rollo and N7 moved deftly. They were almost as good thruster-pack pilots as me.
Saul was in the battlejumper that kept my GEV. I hadn’t alerted Ella about the clone’s possible connection to this. I wasn’t sure Saul was in on the game.
The three of us had donned phase suits because the last word, “son,” had given it away. No one but Ifness had ever spoken to me like that. The idea that Jennifer had nabbed Ifness to substantiate his statements seemed like a super-elaborate trick to lure the bulk of Earth Force’s battlejumpers into an annihilating trap in the pocket universe.
Think Hannibal Lightning and the Battle of Cannae. Think of any of a number of U.S. Cavalry raids against Indian camps while the braves were away.
How had Ifness done it, though? Did the enemy possess hundreds of phase suits? Had the notion that Abaddon clones couldn’t teleport too far out here been a fat lie?
I wanted to thrust faster and get to the Admiral’s battlejumper sooner. Had Jennifer tricked me all along the line? It would have been easy for Ifness to fake his beating. Yet, why leave Saul behind?
Soon, I motioned to my companions. We ghosted up until Rollo pointed at the Battlejumper Quebec. N7 and I nodded.
We went fully out of phase again, applied thrust, soon rotated around and braked hard. A few minutes later, there was an abrupt jar. We stopped floating and had to walk. We’d reached the Quebec. We were under gravity again.
Once more, we ghosted up to faint beings. We all shed our thruster packs in a storage compartment. Then, we began to run up one level after another, heading for the bridge.
Finally, without anyone noticing our faint passage, we entered the last bulkhead and eased to the ot
her side of it. Through the edge of the bulkhead, each of us watched the Admiral. Was that Ifness in disguise, or had the hitman taken control of the Admiral in some nefarious fashion?
I gave Rollo and N7 the signal for “stay here.” Then, I went fully out of phase and walked to the back of the Admiral’s chair, counting out the steps. I’d become very proficient at judging distances through years of practice as the Galactic Effectuator.
When I reached the estimated position, I ghosted up to the faintest possible degree. The Admiral was barely visible to me, as was the rest of the bridge. I could see them much easier than they could see me, as I knew they were there. It was harder to spot a “ghost” when you weren’t looking for it.
I studied the Admiral’s scalp. It told me nothing.
I unhooked a device from my belt and brought it up to my eyes. It was like an old-fashioned magnifying glass. This one didn’t magnify anything, but it made the Admiral ordinarily visible to me instead of staying faintly ghostly. I used the device to search his scalp and neck.
There was nothing out of the ordinary. It did not seem like a flesh disguise, either. Was Ifness a shape-shifter?
I silently debated the idea.
I had a new thought. I pushed the “magnifying glass” through his skull and peered at his—
Whoa. I saw a wire right away. It was like a neon signal. Yeah. That made more sense. Now, who was operating the Admiral? Why had the oldster called me “son?” Did Ifness have a way to speak through Sparhawk via brain wires?
I withdrew the “magnifying glass” and went fully out of phase. What would I do if I were Ifness controlling the admiral of an enemy fleet? Where would I hide so no one found me? I’d have to have access—
I snapped my fingers. I knew where I’d hide. Now, it was time to see if I were right or not and if a hitman truly thought like an effectuator.
-75-
While in ghost mode, the three of us went from one assault shuttle to another in the battlejumper’s hangar bays. Each of the shuttles was empty of people and filled with—
Wait a minute. It was possible someone would board one of these for any of a number of reasons. In an emergency, personnel would race onto the shuttles.
I signaled Rollo and N7. We sprinted across one huge hangar bay after another, racing through the intervening bulkheads. Finally, I slowed as sweat poured down my face. The suit’s conditioner unit worked overtime, difficult to do in ghost mode.
We neared big drones. I studied them. None of them looked different from another.
The last one, I thought. That’s where I’d hide.
We hurried there. The last one looked no different from the others. Its only uniqueness was its rank for launching; last.
I turned to N7 and Rollo. I took my longish handle from my side and held it up, shaking it.
They got the message. Rollo grabbed his Globular Blaster, a heavy pistol that ejected balls of disintegrating force. N7 had a long rifle that fired a purple disrupter ray. They flanked me. I nodded.
Together, we pushed through the drone’s hull and entered living quarters.
We glanced at each other.
My chest tightened. I couldn’t believe this. Admiral Sparhawk had almost led us into the ambush we’d feared all along. A lone word had given it away.
I took the lead and crept in ghost mode through the living quarters, through a restroom and into a control chamber where Ifness sat at a panel, speaking into a unit.
I hesitated, thinking about this.
Ifness stiffened and jerked around.
I acted immediately, phasing in, lunging at him. His eyes widened, and he yelped with surprise. That only lasted a second. He fast-drew a gun, aimed it at me—I was still too far from him to use the axe—a purple ray speared the gun. The metal melted into a molten lump, dripping to the deck.
Ifness yelled this time, snatching his hand away from the disrupted weapon. Before he could do more, I hit him square in the face, smashing him back against the controls.
He bounced off the controls, wobbled and tried to grab something else. I hit him again. He went down. I released the inactivated axe, dropped on him and used a cage-fighting technique, hooking his legs with mine and pinning his arms behind his back. I wore a phase suit, so it was harder to do. He’d taken two shots to the face and must have been woozy or stunned, at least, so that helped.
Rollo and N7 had phased in like me. The android covered Ifness with his rifle while Rollo started searching the man. Ifness was like a joker with a thousand weapons and devices on his person. Rollo kept taking another and another item from him and dumping it onto the deck.
“This is crazy,” Rollo said. He spoke past his lowered visor.
I’d also lowered my visor. “Hello, Ifness,” I said.
He struggled and did not stop struggling to get away from me.
“It’s useless, Ifness,” I said. “We have you.”
The interstellar hitman panted and tried to twist around to peer at me.
I gripped him tighter. “Why did you do it?” I asked.
“It was the ‘son,’ wasn’t it?” Ifness asked me.
“Yes,” I said.
“I knew it as soon as the Admiral said it.”
“You can speak through him?”
“Of course,” Ifness said.
“This was all an elaborate trap?” I asked.
He laughed hollowly.
“Was this your idea or Jennifer’s?” I asked.
“Mine, you idiot,” he said. “But it doesn’t matter. You’re all dead. You’re all going to die. The Plutonian Fleet will annihilate you. I beat you, Effectuator.”
“Why do it like this?” I asked.
“To prove to Jennifer that I’m five times the man you are.”
“I don’t understand,” I said.
“I do,” Rollo said heavily. “The fool is in love with Jennifer.”
I looked up at the man I held on top of me. I asked in his ear, “Is that true, Ifness? Do you love my girl?”
“Your girl,” Ifness sneered. “She hates you, Creed. But she hates you with such loathing that it proves she loves you more deeply than is decent. You failed her. I would never fail her. She’s going to see that.”
“She loves me?” I asked, softly, in amazement.
Ifness tried to twist around as he said, “Can’t you understand a damn thing? I said she hates you.”
“Yes. Hates me so much it proves she actually loves me. Hate isn’t the opposite of love, indifference is.”
Ifness cursed me.
“What about Saul?” I asked.
“Forget about him,” Ifness said. “Let me go, and I’ll help you escape this realm.”
“The Holgotha-launched attack before, when the hell-burners slaughtered millions—”
“That was my idea,” Ifness said, interrupting. “It gave the deception a real feel of authenticity.”
A cold feeling of rage swept over me. With a heave, I hurled Ifness off me. I scrambled to my feet afterward. He did the same and whirled around.
I picked up the force axe, activating it. Ifness produced a small gun Rollo hadn’t found. I lunged. Ifness fired. The pellet failed to penetrate my phase suit. The force axe sheared through the hitman. He toppled in two bloody halves, pumping blood everywhere.
Rollo aimed and fired the Globular. A glowing ball burned the two halves in a sizzling discharge. Ifness was no more.
-76-
Rollo, N7 and I phased in on the bridge of Flagship Battlejumper Quebec, startling everyone. In short order, I convinced Admiral Sparhawk to take a medical exam.
The results proved my allegation. Sparhawk had wires in his brain.
Soon, space marines tore into the fake drone. They found living quarters, food and banks of controls. Technicians confirmed the worst. The controls directly stimulated the Admiral. A test proved that a controller could actually speak through the Admiral.
“This is outrageous,” Sparhawk whispered.
&nb
sp; The old man seemed to have aged ten years or more. He sat in the Officer’s Lounge on the Ninth Deck. The evidence was clear. The Quebec’s captain and chief medical officer were in attendance, together with General Briggs and his Master Sergeant Marine bodyguard.
Sparhawk looked to Briggs. “I don’t know what to do.”
“When could this have happened?” the Quebec’s captain demanded. His name was Laval and he had a squat, bulldog body with a flat face.
“It doesn’t matter when,” I said. “It happened. Nothing else counts. The fleet is in terrible danger.”
“We must retreat,” Sparhawk said. “There’s no going on now.”
I glanced at Briggs.
The General looked away, shaking his head.
“The Admiral is right,” Captain Laval said. “We must return to Earth.”
“Begging your pardon,” I said, “but how do we know that’s what the Admiral really thinks?”
Sparhawk stared at me openmouthed as the realization donned that someone else might be controlling him.
“That’s uncalled for,” Captain Laval growled at me.
“No,” Briggs said. “It is called for. We’ve been duped. Ifness’s data has become meaningless.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” I said. “So far, everything he told us about the pocket universe has proven true.”
“He must have lied about something,” Briggs said.
“That does not hold,” N7 chimed in. “The key is the fleet. A spy led it. Clearly, Ifness meant to lead us to our destruction and the Commander’s capture.”
“That means the Admiral is correct,” Laval said. “We must retreat back to Earth.”
“The Admiral is not correct,” I said. “Everything he suggests is suspect. He has wires in his brain. Maybe they tampered with his brain. Maybe he has fail-safes installed in case anyone discovered the wires.”
“He’s the Admiral,” Laval said.
“Are you that dense?” I demanded. “Admiral Sparhawk is the unwitting tool of Ifness, the hitman for Jennifer. We cannot trust anything the Admiral suggests.”
“Until the wires come out?” Briggs asked.
“No,” I said. “Ever. The enemy has tampered with his brain. Don’t you see what that means?”
Target: Earth (Extinction Wars Book 5) Page 28