The Unbelievable Mr Brownstone Omnibus 3

by Michael Anderle

  20

  James tossed his coat and holster on the desk in the barracks room. There was no reason to bring a gun to fight the Purifier.

  Shay sat on the edge of the bed with a frown on her face. “I still wish I could help you.”

  “Some fights a man has to undertake by himself,” James replied. “They’re going to come here in a few minutes to get me to the helicopter. I’m sure if I asked Johnston, he could airlift you out of Los Angeles.”

  Shay snorted. “No fucking way.” She smirked. “You just want an excuse, don’t you?”

  “Huh? An excuse? What are you talking about?”

  Shay hopped off the bed and pointed at him. “An excuse to lose.”

  James grunted. “I’m not looking for an excuse to lose. I just thought it’d be safer for you.”

  “No. I’m not going anywhere. I don’t want, even for a second, some part of your mind to think you have an out. If I’m gone, you might think, ‘Hey, I can always fall back.’” Shay shook her finger. “That goes for the wish, too. That’s Alison’s. Don’t be a pussy and steal it just because the Purifier gets in a few good hits.”

  “If I have to use the wish to survive, the fight would just end with him kicking my ass a second time anyway.” James shrugged. “I’ll take him out without it.”

  In truth, the only time he’d even thought of the wish lately was when he was talking to Shay about fighting the Drow. She was right. Any fight he approached thinking he might have a backup or a reset for was a fight he was already losing mentally. That might not be a problem normally because he outclassed almost everyone he ran into, but going up against another Vax, he would need to go into battle thinking there were only two choices: victory or death.

  Shay walked up to him and put her hands on his cheeks. “You just win, damn it. You pound this fucker into tiny little pieces until no one can even figure out what he originally was, and then you come back to me. Because I love you, and I didn’t love anyone before I met you. Shit, I didn’t even love myself. Don’t make me fucking regret that, and don’t think I can’t figure out a way to chase you into the afterlife to harass you for fucking this up.”

  James grinned. “Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind.”

  Shay pressed her mouth to his for a deep kiss, and its heat blew out the few other worries James had. He reluctantly pulled away.

  “I love you too, Shay,” James replied, the low bass of his voice almost a growl.

  Someone knocked on the door. “Mr. Brownstone, the helicopter’s ready for you.”

  Shay reached into her pocket and pulled out three small rings. She offered them to him in his palm. “All magic. Mostly glorified night lights, but I always carry a few on me in case you need a little boost. You know what you need to do.”

  James scooped up the rings and put them in his pocket.

  It was time. He reached under his shirt and removed the spacer.

  The pain of the bonding was like a distant dream as James’ thoughts focused on everything he had to defend: his church, his city, his woman, his daughter, his planet. He had been born a Vax, but he had lived his life as a human, and it was time to prove his loyalty.

  Not only that, it was time to prove who was the toughest son of a bitch on the planet.

  Initiation, Whispy sent.

  It’s time to achieve the primary directive. It’s time to waste another Vax symbiont.

  Yessss, Whispy hissed in satisfaction.

  “That’s all well and good, Angus,” the President explained over the phone, “and winning against both sets of aliens sounds at least possible, but we still have to consider the aftermath and how it might change things. It does us no good to solve this situation, only to have planetary riots the next day.”

  “Yes, sir,” Senator Johnston replied as he marched down the hallway. An open portal stood at the end, four wizards from the PDA standing to either side. “I’m well aware of that, but I can assure you we not only have our top magical personnel on the issue, but the Oricerans have been very generous in terms of providing additional magical resources for all the illusion magic we need.”

  The President sighed. “I still don’t understand. Won’t people know because of what has happened on Oriceran? Your reports have been unclear on that.”

  “That’s the funny thing. They’re not so keen to advertise what’s going on either, and Ambassador Yona assures me they’ll take care of everything on their end. The truth is, strange, powerful beings aren’t as much an oddity there.” Senator Johnston adjusted his phone slightly for comfort. “So, yes, the attack will be discussed, but as long as we win here, they can write it off on their end with a cover story about sending the enemy to the World in Between. It’s not like they have websites blasting news 24/7 over there. In some ways, it’s easier to manage the spread of information there despite all the magic.”

  The President sighed. “And what about satellites?”

  “Right now, one of the most impressive illusions in probably hundreds of years is covering greater LA area. It’s not like we can hide that magical signature, but the Broken Wand excuse gives people a reason to understand why they might sense it. We’ve also initiated warding and other techniques to keep the truth to people on a need-to-know basis.” Senator Johnston slowed to a stop in front of the portal. “If all goes well, no one who doesn’t need to know will ever find out what happened. Yes, there will be conspiracy theories for years, but they’ll never figure it out. Who could even believe the truth? Different aliens, Brownstone being an alien? Hell, I barely believe it, and I know it’s true.”

  “And if it goes wrong?”

  Senator Johnston laughed. “Well, that’s what I’m for, now, isn’t it? Don’t worry, sir, we’ve got this handled. I’ve got to get going. It’s time for me to go meet our other new friends.”

  An opaque dark portal ripped open over a sidewalk near the corner of Jefferson and Vermont. Any other day, hundreds of witnesses have would been present to gawk at the unusual sight. That day, only a few stray dogs across the street jerked their heads up from their bountiful feast to check out the strange phenomenon. The evacuation had left local garbage cans laden with delicious treats for the hungry animals.

  The metallic silver-green armored leg of the Purifier emerged through the portal, followed by the rest of his body. The dogs whimpered and fled, sensing the murderous intent of the new arrival. The portal closed behind the Vax.

  A few drones circled overhead, relaying their information to the military. They lasted for a few more seconds before the Vax blasted out energy bolts that ripped through them, reducing them to falling chunks of melted metal and plastic.

  The Purifier’s loud roar sent the birds in nearby trees into the sky in a huge mass. The Vax didn’t bother firing at them. Instead, he turned toward a cement and brick apartment complex nestled in some trees nearby.

  The deadly alien channeled energy through both his arm blades and appendages. He released the built-up energy as one massive blast that screamed through the trees and struck the side of the apartment building. The massive explosion blew half the building apart, the shockwave knocking down several nearby trees.

  The Vax invasion of Earth had begun.

  21

  Commander Laralan strained against his seat straps. It was a bad habit from his younger days whenever a battle was approaching. An orbital bombardment might not constitute a true battle, but it was close enough for his heart and brain.

  The command center was a large triangular room with a half-dozen stations nestled in the heart of the ship. Most of the dark chairs didn’t look impressive, other than a few adaptive displays and controls on the armrests, but they all sent data feeds directly to ocular implants or generated active displays directly in front of the crew member manning the station. Virtual displays made it easy to customize the individual stations for missions.

  Commander Laralan didn’t see why they needed so much non-functional empty space, but from what he had read, Alliance ps
ychological research had indicated that it was helpful for successful integration of the various different species who might serve on an Alliance ship. Not every species liked to be close to one another, and the ones who did, also didn’t mind the opposite.

  The commander tried to push the trivia out of his mind. It wasn’t long until their deadly mission. He’d participated in orbital bombardments before, but never against a target where so many civilians were still in place.

  He was also surprised. Despite all the bluster of the human authorities, there was no indication they would have trouble engaging the target zone. The humans had somehow cloaked the area to hide the presence of the Vax, but from what the Alliance could make out from their probe, there was no actual defensive shields extended over the city. Commander Laralan wasn’t sure if humans could achieve something like that, even with magic.

  “Massive energy surge above the planet, sir,” reported the sensor operator, a blue-skinned member of the commander’s own species—another person who would atone for the previous Shepherd’s failures.

  Commander Laralan frowned. “What’s going on?” His restraints kept him in place when he instinctively tried to stand. This wasn’t the time for pacing. He tapped his AllBand to bring up a status display.

  “I don’t know, Commander. These readings are similar in some ways to Vax portals, but the scale of the energy involved is massively different. There are also numerous phase differences.”

  “Comms, signal the fleet, high alert, maximum defensive posture.” Laralan watched the overlay on his display depicting the position of the ships, along with a new symbol representing the energy surge. “I doubt the Vax have suddenly learned a new trick and are going to spit out a ship at us.” He tapped on the graphic floating in front of him to obtain a magnified visual. “This means the natives are up to something.”

  A swirling portal sat above the Earth in the image. Bands of shimmering colors pulsed across the strange hole in reality. “It doesn’t look like a Vax portal at all. It also doesn’t look like the ones we’ve been briefed on, even before considering the size.” Laralan narrowed his eyes. “All ships, prepare for attack. I don’t think this is the Vax. I think the humans are being clever. I’m guessing they’ll launch missiles or magical attacks from the surface through this portal. Ready active defenses.”

  Laralan shook his head, glad the fleet hadn’t launched any fighters. He could respect the human forces for trying to defend their planet, even if their plan was feeble, doomed, and desperate. Some of their larger nuclear weapons might stand a chance of breaking through at least some of the ships’ defensive fields, but there was no way the fleet would let the primitive projectiles get close. Point-defense beams would tear them to pieces well outside the blast radius. It would be a glorious light show, but nothing more. The scale of magical attacks available to them wouldn’t be a problem either.

  “The readings are changing, Commander,” the sensor operator reported. “I think… Wait. Something’s coming through.”

  “Impress me, humans,” the commander muttered. A few seconds later, he magnified the visual again, confused. “What is that?”

  Laralan expected a swarm of nuclear missiles to emerge or even a swarm of high-speed railgun rounds. A mass of magical fireballs wouldn’t have surprised him. Nothing like that came out of the portal.

  A strange new arrival floated out of the portal, an island of stone covered by a glowing translucent orb. Terraced towers with curved, tiled roofs in a myriad of colors lay in concentric circles around a central golden ziggurat. A faceted dome of blue crystal lay at the summit.

  “What’s the size of that thing?” Laralan barked, still having trouble understanding what he was seeing. His mind strained to find a point of comparison.

  The sensor operated rattled off some numbers. The strange object was about half as long as one of his ships, and much wider.

  That was exactly what it had to be—a ship, despite its bizarre appearance. This was the true threat of magic, one he had underestimated.

  Commander Laralan wouldn’t have cared if lightning or fire had come through the portal. Generating understandable attacks using forces known to normal physics through unusual means didn’t confound him, but how was he supposed to respond to the temple island in front of his fleet? It wasn’t like he’d trained for this. Even the Vax didn’t behave in such an absurd manner.

  “Does it have anything that might be a weapons system?” Laralan asked.

  The sensor operator’s hands continue to fly over the virtual controls. “I can’t tell, Commander. The outer energy field is disrupting most of the sensor readings, and there are no obvious external launchers. The object is moving at a minimal relative speed. There is no sign of active propulsion.”

  The stone island floated away from the portal. Once the island cleared it completely, the portal vanished.

  Laralan ordered the fleet to hold position. The island might be some sort of magical bomb, but there was no way the humans could hope to take out his entire fleet. The distances were just too vast. That was the problem with primitive species who wanted to play in space; their intuition failed them when they tried to analyze it.

  A wavering image winked into existence near the front of the commander center, as if someone were projecting a picture on flowing water. The image depicted a stone wall filled with inscriptions in some language Laralan didn’t recognize.

  He was about to ask who had brought up the odd display when an elderly human in a suit stepped into frame, an easy and disarming smile on his face. The commander recognized the man from the reports Shepherd 8224 passed along: the American senator, Angus Johnston.

  The fleet commander tapped his AllBand to activate real-time translation, still frustrated that the humans had taken him so thoroughly by surprise.

  Senator Johnston’s smile broadened. “Well, now, this is quite nice.” He looked around “They said it’d be like looking right into your ship, and it’s just like that, but they might have made a mistake, so before we continue, I need to establish that I’m talking to whoever is in charge of the Alliance Fleet. The magicals tell me the spell is supposed to open up to whoever is most important, but that’s such a relative thing. For all I know, this is your religious ship or the man who supplies all the food.”

  “I am Fleet Commander Laralan, and I’m in command of these four vessels.” The commander frowned. “While we talk, a Vax is laying waste to your city. I don’t know what sort of trick this is, Senator, but any delay that costs a human life will be your fault.”

  “That’s very much true, and trust me, it’s weighing heavily on my mind.” Senator Johnston shrugged. “But the Vax is blowing away empty buildings right now. Not sure if we’ll be able to fix it, but I’ve got some ideas about that.” He shook a finger. “You don’t worry about that ornery fellow. I’ve got my own ornery fellow who will be handling him soon enough.”

  “What is this…thing you’ve deployed?” Commander Laralan asked, venom is his tone. He didn’t like the human’s flippant attitude. “A bomb?”

  “Now that’s the other problem with your Alliance. All that fancy technology, but not a drop of magic. I get why you’re so scared, but the smart play would have been not to piss us off rather than to threaten us.” Senator Johnston gestured toward the inscriptions in the wall. “Your lack of magic means you don’t get cool toys like this—one of the most powerful of the ancient vimanas. That’s what this thing is called, by the way.” He sighed. “I’ll tell you one thing: when I was a boy, I never thought I would ever fly around in a magical castle in space chatting with aliens. The world has changed.”

  “You’re on it, then?” Commander Laralan was impressed that the human leader would risk himself, but disappointed by how foolish the man had been by revealing the fact. If the fleet took out the vimana, Earth’s anti-Alliance faction would be in disarray.

  Senator Johnston nodded. His image wavered so much he was hard to discern for a few seconds, but the
n it settled back to normal. “Now, I’m not going to spend time lying to you because you’ve got that little spy on our planet who hears things, so let me be very clear about this, Commander. Right now, I’ve got the full magical might of the elite magicals who serve the United States, along with more than a few friendly Oricerans fueling this thing. I don’t want to have to give you a good, old-fashioned whupping, because I understand that you think you’re doing the right thing. But so are we.”

  “One magical ship won’t be able to stop this fleet, but if you fire on us, we will defend ourselves. I’ve also read the Shepherd’s reports, and I’m well aware that magic is weaker once you leave the planet. Your tricks might have been useful if we were intending to land ground forces, but our current mission will continue. I doubt your magical toy even has the necessary offensive capabilities to destroy any of our ships.”

  Senator Johnston looked impressed. “Sadly, you’re correct. For all the fancy magical wards and glyphs and whatnot inside this thing, it doesn’t actually have any weapons. I figured it’d at least have a nice lightning beam or something like that.”

  Commander Laralan frowned. “You’re attempting to turn my fleet back with an unarmed vessel? I admire your courage, Senator, even if it’s wasted in this pointless endeavor. We don’t have time for this farce. If you don’t have anything useful to add to our conversation, then we’ll continue on our way to save your planet from the monster now ravaging it.”

  Senator Johnston shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I can’t allow that. You see, there are plenty of different ways to stop strong foes. It’s a big thing in Earth culture for all sorts of different traditions. In my country, a lot of people grow up hearing about David versus Goliath. You know that story, Commander?”

  Commander Laralan shook his head. “I’m a military commander, not a Shepherd or a diplomat. I’m not an expert on Earth culture.”