“Abaddon is coming. A First One has not been in the galaxy for a long, long time. Perhaps it is the fabled reordering. It is best to keep an open mind in these situations.”
“Abaddon is going to die,” I said.
“No. Not even the little killers can achieve that.”
“Did you think Dmitri and I could wreck you?”
“Not as you have been doing. I have prepared a surprise for you if you continue to insist on this madness.”
“Listen up, bud. I’m done talking to you. Either you hand over your transfer scanner, or I’m going to rip you down one crystal and one wobbly pod at a time.”
“I cannot give you the T-scanner, as you call it. That would leave me blind.”
“I only need it long enough to kill Abaddon.”
“The scanner cannot help you in that.”
“Oh, but it can,” I said. “I’m going to transfer…I guess I won’t tell you how I’m going to do it. I want to borrow your T-scanner and then I’ll return it once this is over.”
“No.”
“That’s too bad, Holgotha. You’re about to die, as I told Ella to attack you if I don’t reappear in fifteen minutes after leaving the Santa Maria.”
“I will transfer you to Abaddon myself,” Holgotha said.
“Sorry, but I don’t trust you anymore.”
“I will give you my word, Commander.”
“Your word stinks to me. I’ll stick to my own plan, if you don’t mind. I want your transfer scanner, and I want it now or you and I fight to the death.”
“It is too late for you, Commander,” Holgotha said. “Baba Gobo has surrounded the moon-ship. His weapons are primed—” He stopped abruptly and remained silent for a long moment.
“You were saying?” I asked impatiently.
“The Starkien has practiced treachery,” Holgotha said. “He is surrounding your moon-ship to protect you. He—I will see the Starkiens erased from galactic memory. How did I ever let you talk me into trusting them before?”
“It’s a tough universe,” I said. “Now, about that dampening field…”
“I have to wait on that,” Holgotha said. “If I release it too soon, the antimatter explosions will destroy me. That is the only factor keeping me from transferring out of this foul star system and away from you humans. I would have to release the dampening field and that would release—”
“We have to work together to cap the antimatter bombs,” I said, interrupting.
“Alas, that is true,” Holgotha said.
“Then if I were you, I’d hurry up and get that scanner into my hands. Until I have it, the antimatter grenades stay as they are.”
“What if I decide to kill us both?”
“Do what you gotta, Holgotha, because that’s how I’m playing the game.”
It took several seconds. Then the artifact said, “I no longer have any doubt. You are the little killers. You are morbid in your desire to deal death. Yes, you can borrow my scanner, but I expect it back if you survive this madness.”
“A deal’s a deal, Holgotha. I’m a man of my word. Now, get me the scanner before I change my mind about you.”
-28-
It took a day to hook the T-scanner to our various systems, which included computing and power.
During that time, Baba Gobo and Diana tried to talk to me. I didn’t have time for either. It seemed that it was one thing after another. Finally, I found a moment to myself. Maybe ten minutes later, my hand communicator buzzed.
I scowled at it, my mood having turned sour some time ago.
“What is it now?” I said.
Rollo stared out of the tiny screen. He looked worried. “Forerunner object,” he said.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“One just appeared,” he said. “You’d better come up here. I have a bad feeling about this.”
My scowl deepened.
“When was the last time you heard about a Forerunner artifact just showing up with another?” Rollo asked.
He had a point. I ran to the bridge and knew it was bad by the way everyone hunched over their monitors.
“Look,” Rollo said, pointing at the main screen.
I saw two new artifacts, not just the one he’d been talking about. The first was a gigantic cube, pulsating with a green glow. The other looked like one of those twisted metal puzzles kids used to try to maneuver apart. That one had a black hole in the center just like Holgotha did.
“I’ve launched interceptors,” Rollo told me. “Baba Gobo doesn’t want to get anywhere near them, though. The Prime Minister is freaking out.”
I could see some of our space fighters using afterburners, racing from the hangar bays toward the artifacts. The Starkien fleet hung well back, having moved away from Ceres. Clearly, Baba Gobo didn’t want anything to do with the artifacts.
As I watched, another appeared. This one was like an old-fashioned gyroscope, with its interior wheels spinning too fast for my tastes. Perhaps as ominous, this artifact was twice the size of the others.
“Why are they doing this?” Rollo said. “Are they getting ready to attack us? Maybe we should attack them before they start.”
I watched the artifacts in silence.
“Can’t pick up any radio chatter between them,” Rollo said from his panel.
“No…” I said. I watched a little longer. “What are they doing, in your opinion?”
“Right now?” Rollo said. “Nothing special, but that doesn’t mean anything. They’re probably making plans.”
A fourth new artifact appeared. Like the others, it maneuvered beside Holgotha. It struck me then what was going on.
I turned to Rollo. “You know what I think?”
The First Admiral shook his head.
“Did you ever watch nature shows back in the day?”
“A few,” he said.
“I remember one about musk oxen. They were shaggy bovines living in the Arctic.”
“I know what musk oxen are, or were,” Rollo said.
“If a pack of wolves showed up, the adult musk oxen surrounded the calves just like we’re seeing those artifacts doing with Holgotha. The adults all faced forward with their curved horns. I think that’s what the artifacts are doing, protecting the blind one.”
Rollo rubbed a cheek. “Seems like we should talk to Holgotha and make sure that’s the case. I don’t trust them, Creed.”
“Me neither,” I said with a shrug. “What good does talking do now, though? If they mean to double-cross us, they’ll lie to us, right?”
Rollo glared at them.
“If there’s a change in their behavior, call me,” I said, heading toward the exit.
Rollo nodded, clearly unhappy.
I went to a washroom, rinsing my face with hot water. That helped my aching eyes a little. Soon, I was back in the T-scanner chamber. I stood to the side as N7 and his team arc-welded the last sections of the viewing plate to the power couplings. I know that sounds old-fashioned—viewing plate—but that’s what it looked like, a blank piece of modified steel.
According to what Holgotha had said earlier, once this was hooked up, we could view our teleport destinations on the modified metal.
I didn’t hear Ella come in behind me, but I heard her say, “Abaddon knows we’re coming.”
At first, it was just more noise. Then I played back in my mind what she’d said. To make sure, I asked over my shoulder, “Did you say something?”
When she didn’t respond, I glanced back. Ella looked beat-up, her normal elfin hair in disarray, and with black circles around her puffy eyes. It looked like she’d been sobbing.
“Ella,” I said, reaching for her.
She backed away as if I were a rapist, her eyes widening with fear. That was weird.
“Are you okay?” I asked, worried now.
She shook her head.
“You can relax,” I said. “You’re with friends.”
She inhaled as tears welled in her eyes. I
’d never seen her like this. What had happened? I’d thought she’d said several hours ago that she was going to get some sleep.
“Did you say something about Abaddon?” I asked.
She nodded miserably. “He…he came to me in my sleep, Creed. It was awful.”
The memory of when that had happened to me was still vivid. It had felt real, too.
“Tell me exactly what happened,” I said.
“It was horrible. He…he threatened me, and he showed me what he does to those he conquers. Creed, Jennifer—”
Ella’s words choked off.
A hollow feeling filled my chest. “You saw Jennifer?”
“What she’s become,” Ella whispered.
“Is she his assassin?” I asked, remembering a threat from long ago.
“Abaddon has lengthened her bones,” Ella said. “She has artificially-powered muscles. Her eyes…” Ella swallowed audibly, shaking her head.
Jennifer had been with me in the old days when I’d been a simple assault trooper for the Jelk Corporation. She’d been a sweet girl, the opposite of me. I don’t know what she’d ever seen in a scoundrel like me. I know what I’d seen in her, though—the goodness I lacked. I’d left her behind on the portal planet in hyperspace. I couldn’t have gone back for her or I’d risk freeing Abaddon and his trillions of Kargs into our universe. The bastard had made it over anyway. Part of me had died that day, a part of me that might have had some decency. Yeah, I was a heck of a soldier. But I’m not sure I was much in terms of a good human being.
“Abaddon knows we’re coming,” Ella repeated. “He told me we’d fail, and I believed him. But he said he’d show humanity mercy if we made a deal with him. He’ll accept us in his hierarchy, giving us high command. That will ensure human survival instead of our coming extinction.”
He’d made me an offer long ago too. Maybe that’s how he’d swayed others in the past.
“Did you believe him?” I asked.
“I do,” Ella said in a small voice. “If we don’t accept his offer…” She looked away as renewed fear twisted her features.
I had an idea of what was going on. “You weren’t supposed to say anything about what he told you, were you?” I asked.
She kept looking away. Clearly, Abaddon had freaked her out. Maybe he’d gotten stronger since the last time he’d tried that with me. I wondered… Could Abaddon have implanted post-sleep commands in her?
“Do you feel him using you to watch us?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe—not like he can see you right now, but that he’ll come back and force me to tell him in my sleep.”
“How can I trust you then?” I asked.
Ella hugged herself, beginning to shiver. “Commander, we’re defenseless against him. How do you fight someone like that in your sleep, in your dreams?”
She had a point. The Curator should have given me a defense against that. The old man should have—
I laughed out loud. I had the answer.
Ella turned sharply, giving me a reproving stare.
“I know how to short-circuit Abaddon’s dream attacks,” I said. “Look. The T-scanner is almost in place. Once it is, we’re going to use it to find the right place to start our attack. That means you have to stay awake until I’ve killed Abaddon. At that point, he can’t bother you anymore, and that’s when you can sleep again.”
Ella stared at me, finally asking, “How long can I stay awake with stims?”
“Several days, at least,” I said. “That’s all we’re going to need. By that time, we’ve won or we’re dead. So, you don’t have to worry about Abaddon anymore. He can’t ever threaten you in your sleep again.”
Ella bit her lower lip. “I want to believe you.”
“So do it,” I said. “Now, tell me exactly what he told you.”
Ella did. It had been cruel and ruthless, but didn’t add anything to our fund of knowledge about Abaddon.
By the time I’d finished with Ella, N7 had put away his tools. “The scanner is ready, Commander.”
“Great. Let’s figure out how to target this thing.”
“I already have,” N7 said. “The T-scanner will automatically ‘look’ at any place we set the transfer coordinates to.”
“So it self-targets the locations?”
N7 nodded.
I considered that, glanced at Ella—she ran her fingers through her hair—and finally said. “Let’s see where the Super Fleet is. We want to attack as soon as we can.”
When N7 engaged the viewing plate, the lights in the chamber dimmed. Through the bulkheads, I could hear the main engines throbbing. Fortunately, N7 acted fast, cutting the connection. If he hadn’t, the T-scanner might have blown the main engine core. That would have ended the game plan right there.
It turned out that the T-scanner took fantastic amounts of energy to use. Holgotha might have told us that, but clearly, the artifact had figured we could learn about it ourselves. This would limit our ability to search.
The excessive need for power made sense, but it was another complication we didn’t need. I questioned whether I could really keep my promise to Ella. She might have to stay awake longer than just a few days.
This was just great.
-29-
After further preparations, Ella, N7 and I readied ourselves to view the enemy fleet. The Santa Maria’s engines thrummed at full power. Normally, they would only do so while transferring or attempting hard maneuvers. Now, long-range scanning was added to the list.
Dmitri was in the main engine control chamber. Rollo was on the bridge to make sure the team put in the exact coordinates we wanted.
Given the amount of time that had elapsed, I expected the Super Fleet to have passed through Epsilon Five. Now, they should be in the Tau Beaux System.
“Do it,” I said.
With a tap, N7 engaged the viewer.
The plate shimmered. A moment later, I saw a large terrestrial planet in what I assumed was the Tau Beaux System. Unfortunately, I didn’t see any spaceships, enemy or otherwise.
“Did the Super Fleet take a different route?” N7 asked.
“It’s too soon to say,” I told him. “The T-scanner only shows a small portion of a star system. Let’s look near the jump gate to Epsilon Five.”
“Wait,” Ella said. “We should do this systematically instead of bouncing around in a system.”
N7 tapped a panel. The viewing plate shimmered once more, becoming dull metal a few seconds later.
Ella went to a different console and pulled up a Tau Beaux System map. She began typing, plotting a straight course from the Epsilon Five jump gate to the Beta Sigma gate. That was the most probable course the Super Fleet would take as it traveled through the Tau Beaux System for the Solar System.
“If they’re not in that travel lane,” I said, “it might mean that Abaddon took a different route through other star systems.”
Ella gave me a troubled glance.
“Hey,” I said. “If he’s not here, it’s not your fault.”
“He used me,” she said. “He must have picked my brain for data. That means it would have to be my fault He would have learned about our grabbing Holgotha’s T-scanner through me.”
“Even if that’s true,” I said, “how could you have stopped him?”
“He never pumped you for information in your sleep.”
“That was different.”
“Because I’m a woman?” she said.
“Why can’t it be because he’s learned how to do the sleep attack better since he did it to me?”
“Abaddon has lived a long time, Creed. I don’t think he’s learning new things these days. That doesn’t seem logical.”
“I am inclined to agree with Ella,” N7 said. “That being said, instead of it being a male-female difference, perhaps there is another explanation.”
“Like what?” Ella demanded.
“What is different between the dream talk you had from the one the Commander had
several years ago?” N7 asked. “What has changed?”
“Proximity!” I said.
They looked at me.
“Abaddon is closer to us than he was before,” I said. “When Abaddon spoke to me through my sleep, he was a thousand light years away in the Jelk core worlds. Now, he’s much closer. That might make his power stronger.”
“That is logical,” N7 said.
“What are his powers exactly?” Ella said. “That can’t be the extent of it: these dream attacks. We know his presence causes fear. What else can a First One do?”
I didn’t want to worry about that just yet. Ella had felt his aura, however. Abaddon had stung her by what he’d done. Thus, her thoughts about him were more focused.
“Do you have the sensor sweep worked out yet?” I asked.
Ella opened her mouth—I’m not sure what she would have said. Then she closed her mouth, making several more taps on her screen before nodding.
“Let’s do this,” I said.
N7 turned on the T-scanner, and we looked at a new location in the Tau Beaux System. Like the first time, no ships appeared. We took twenty-seven minutes to quick-scan the probable path between jump gates. No battlejumper or Karg moth-ship appeared.
“Shut it down,” I said.
After N7 did, Ella asked, “Now what?”
I began to pace. According to my former calculations, the Tau Beaux route was the optimum path from the Super Fleet’s last known location to Earth. Would Abaddon really have switched routes because of what he’d found from Ella? What other route made sense?
I told Ella, “Put up a stellar jump-route map of the general region.”
After she did, we studied it.
“He could have taken the Ross 17 detour,” N7 said.
“Agreed,” I said. “What star system would he be at now if he’d done that?”
N7 made some rapid calculations. “The Cantor System seems like the obvious choice.”
Ella tapped her board, bringing up the Cantor System. Soon, she had a sweep pattern lined up.
“Let’s do this,” I said.
Fortress Earth (Extinction Wars Book 4) Page 17