Fortress Earth (Extinction Wars Book 4)

by Fortress Earth (epub)

  I found myself staring at the Super Fleet. It had regrouped, moving as one toward the next jump gate. It would appear Abaddon was still headed for Earth.

  As I watched, my attention kept going to a particular snowflake vessel, to one moth-ship on it. I stared at that ship, and faintly felt Abaddon.

  The screen shimmered once more, and I saw into a vast room. Abaddon sat on a throne addressing several larger-than-normal Kargs. The First One grew still until he raised a hand. He looked up, gazing at me.

  “Commander Creed,” he said.

  I noticed that Abaddon’s lips moved. That was good to know, as I realized it wasn’t mind-to-mind talking, which I would have avoided with extreme prejudice. We spoke person-to-person this time.

  The First One had a rich, strong voice. The intelligence of his features added to the nobility of his appearance. He smiled sardonically at me, and his eyes shone.

  “You took something of mine,” he said.

  I found it difficult to speak, impossible to tear my gaze from his.

  “Ah…” he said. “You are in the Museum. Have you gone groveling to the old fool there, asking for a new weapon?”

  Finally, I forced my lips apart. “What are you?” I said in a rusty voice.

  “Your only hope,” he said.

  “I…almost…killed you.”

  He peered at me before spreading his arms and slapping his massive chest. “Do I look hurt to you?”

  “No.”

  “No,” he said. “I am Abaddon. I am the rightful ruler of this galaxy. Long ago, the others grew afraid of me. Surely, you realize that by now.”

  “Afraid?” I asked.

  “I was too bold, too strong and willful. I dared to go where others feared. I learned more and grew stronger than they did. That is as it should be, as he who dares wins. I dared more than any other. Finally, I went to investigate the Karg Universe. The others were my anchor stone. Foolishly, I still trusted them. Do you know what happened, Commander? The old fool you call the Curator backstabbed me. He cut the connection between my anchor and me. He stranded me in the Karg Universe, hoping to be rid of his chief competitor.

  “But I am Abaddon. I am the last of the true First Ones. I learned lessons that no creature should have to learn. The Kargs thought to tame me. The more fools them. I tamed them. First, I had to learn the hard lessons, become greater than I had ever believed possible.

  “Oh, how I planned, Commander. How I readied the Kargs for the great and glorious conquest. I knew my day would come. I had merely to survive the eons. While doing so, I had to keep my fierce will alive. This, I have done. That old fool trying to use you has a reason to fear me. I will find him, and I will teach him lessons—”

  Abaddon stopped in mid-speech. He stared at me as the hatred seemed to drain out of his eyes.

  “You understand revenge, do you not?” Abaddon asked.

  I nodded.

  “Yes…” he said. “You have thwarted some of my ambitions, Commander. Very few in this life have done so. I suppose you believe that you are safe with that old schemer?”

  I didn’t know what to say.

  Abaddon stroked his right cheek. He smiled, nodding as if with understanding benevolence.

  “Commander,” he said in a smooth voice. “What is it you seek?”

  “The survival of my race,” I said.

  “I can give that to you.”

  “I want my people, too, Dmitri, Ella and Jennifer,” I added.

  I noticed movement to his left. A tall woman with dark hair raised her head. Her eyes burned with wrath.

  “Jennifer?” Abaddon asked. “You want Jennifer, even after she has been my prize for so many years?”

  “Yes,” I said.

  “She hates you.”

  “I don’t blame her for that,” I said. “She trusted me and I failed her.”

  “You failed her miserably,” he said. “You left her behind. You said you loved her, yet you fled in safety without trying to rescue her.”

  “You know I couldn’t. I was trying to save a galaxy from you.”

  “And look what happened,” he said. “Here I am.”

  “Yes,” I said. “You’re here much weaker than otherwise. If it wasn’t for me, you’d have trillions of Kargs and billions of starships. You returned with barely enough to hold off the Jelk until you tricked them.”

  His features become perfectly still. “That was then,” he said.

  “The past is the past?” I asked sarcastically.

  It took him time, but he nodded.

  “How come I don’t believe you?” I asked.

  He stared at me. Finally, he smiled. It was full of malice, full of hatred.

  “You don’t believe me because you know that for you, there is no forgiveness. Jennifer loathes you with a bitterness you cannot understand. She will cut open your belly and pull out your guts, laughing the entire time.”

  “That’s nice,” I said, feeling myself beginning to get angry.

  “I have taught her things, Commander, wicked and evil things that have seared her innocent nature. She knows what it is to hate. You humans, you think you know how to hate, but you have little idea. It takes someone like me, a powerful, long-lived entity to truly grasp the concept. Too often, hate weakens a human. I have taught Jennifer the hatred that gives strength. It is like unto my strength.”

  “You hate me?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Abaddon hissed. “I hate you, Commander. I will wreak a fearsome vengeance upon you. You are already starting to realize this. I have taken your friends one by one. I will take more. They will all spit on your groveling form in time. Do you know, Commander Creed, that I shall kick your mewling form from one of my ships to another? There is nothing you can do to change this fate.”

  “I don’t want to change it,” I said. “I want you to hate me with everything you have. I thwarted you, Abaddon. I stopped your great plan of vengeance. I made sure you entered this space-time continuum as a weakling compared to how you could have entered as a conquering god. I did that to you, me, Commander Creed.”

  His eyes began to swirl with power.

  I forced myself to laugh. “That’s right, big shot. A mere human thwarted your will. You call yourself a First One. You’re a fool. You’re a dull-witted strategist. I didn’t even do any deep thinking. I just showed up and, boom, everything you planned to do for countless centuries vanished.”

  “Bring them!” he shouted to his minions. “You!” he said, pointing at me.

  I slapped my chest. “That’s right, me, Commander Creed. I’m the guy who did you in, Abaddon. I’m the guy who shot you with the disintegrator, made you feel pain. And you know what? I’m going to make you feel pain again and again.”

  “I don’t think so, mortal.”

  “I bet that’s what you thought heading for the portal planet the first time. You told yourself how you could hardly wait to get back to my space-time continuum and kick some serious butt. How did it feel knowing the portal had closed on all your vast ambitions? Do you remember how you raged at me for that? Do you recall the sinking feeling in the pit of your pathetic gut?”

  “Bring me his people!” Abaddon roared.

  Abaddon had a volcanic temper. At this point, I didn’t care. I hated him. I realized my helplessness to save my friends. I thought, I suppose, deep in my heart, that if I goaded him enough, he would kill them cleanly before they had to suffer a lifetime of torturous agony.

  -43-

  Suddenly, the wall screen shimmered again. It felt as if Abaddon’s rage had grown so hot that he’d lost some of his mental control over the process.

  The Curator instantly reappeared, almost as if he’d been waiting for this to happen. He dropped a bundle onto the floor, and he gave me such a look that I knew fear and trepidation.

  I noticed something odd, too. He had a long handle stuck in his belt.

  “We have little time,” the Curator said. “I guessed right concerning you and him. Abaddo
n wants to torture you, Commander, almost as badly as he would like to do so to me. I am the one who cut his anchor, of course. I’m sure you’ve divined that by now.”

  I nodded.

  “Do you willingly agree to become my effectuator?” he asked.

  “I don’t know what that means.”

  “Yes you do. Decide this instant, or it will be too late.”

  Strangely, I had a feeling I did know what he meant. He wanted me to become his errand boy, his troubleshooter. I’m not sure how long I was supposed to do that or in what capacity. I had a feeling it was going to take me away from the assault troopers and from Earth…possibly for the rest of my life.

  By agreeing, I would buy an opportunity to kill Abaddon and free humanity from extinction. How could I say no? And yet, this would be a grave responsibility. I didn’t seem like the right person for the job, not even the right kind of person.

  “Yeah, I’m in,” I said.

  “You swear this?”

  “I swear it.”

  “We must hurry, as we have seconds to do this. Put that on,” he said, indicating the bundle on the floor.

  I dashed to it, finding a jangling garment with metallic bands on the sleeves. I put it on, sealing the front against me, finding it much too big. Then the suit molded itself to my form almost like bio-skin until it fit from neck to toe like a leotard.

  “What is this?” I asked.

  “It is like your bio-skin in many ways, but it is more advanced and many times more powerful. You are going to need it in a moment.”

  Before I could ask more, the Curator took the handle out of his belt, handing it to me.

  I accepted it. The handle had several buttons on it.

  “That is possibly the last weapon I possess that might be able to slay Abaddon,” he said. “Nothing else I have is as powerful. It is a Forerunner artifact, possibly more deadly than Holgotha. You depress the buttons in a selected sequence. A force blade of unbelievable magnitude will flow outward.”

  “This is a sword?”

  “It is more than any sword, I assure you.”

  I stared at it as a feeling of awe made me shiver. “Is this like the flaming sword the angel waved while guarding Eden from Adam and Eve?”

  “Your weapon has mythic properties,” the Curator said. “Which is as it should be, as you will face a mythic foe. Do the two not suit each other?”

  “I guess so.”

  The Curator breathed deeply. “Listen to me, my boy. The way is going to open soon.”

  “The wall screen is more than just a screen?” I asked.

  “Yes.”

  “You’re going to teleport me through to kill Abaddon?”

  “Are you willing to do this?”

  “Can I actually slay him?”

  “You have the tools,” the Curator said. “Whether or not you have the ability, even I do not know.”

  “Can you pull me back if I start to lose?”

  “Not through the one-way teleporter,” he said. “If I had more time—I am beset by the Ve-Ky. The Kargs haven’t exited the Survey Vessel yet—”

  He stopped talking, as the shimmering on the screen lessened.

  “Good luck, Commander Creed. I bid you go in the Creator’s name. Kill this upstart First One, and I can begin to repair the damage he wrought millennia ago.”

  “What if Abaddon kills me and grabs these Forerunner items?”

  The Curator frowned as his shoulders slumped. “Then, I’m afraid, that I will never defeat him. In time, he will reach and kill me. This is it, Commander. This is the moment of decision. If you win, it is likely you can save your friends. Lose, and I’m afraid that Abaddon will take humanity and turn them into his chief servants.”

  “Do you have any last words of advice?” I asked.

  “The combination to the force blade is two-two-three-one,” he said.

  “Got it,” I said.

  “Do not let him into your mind.”

  “How do I stop that?” I asked.

  “By becoming so angry that your rage acts as a shield against his thoughts,” he said.

  Something must have caught his attention. The Curator glanced sharply at the wall screen. “No! The way is clearing too soon. I had hoped to surprise him. You have goaded him as only you can do, Commander. Ready yourself. Don’t unleash the force blade until you’re on his ship.”

  The Curator waved his arms, bringing a ghostly control before him. He tapped wildly as the wall screen became clear.

  Abaddon was standing. Dmitri and Ella stood before him. Jennifer was to the side. Thirty big Kargs were in the chamber with them.

  Abaddon peered at me, and shocked filled him as he glanced at the Curator. “You!” he cried.

  The Curator kept manipulating his ghostly screen.

  “What are you doing, brother?” Abaddon shouted.

  Brother? Were Abaddon and the Curator brothers? What was going on here?

  “Go!” the Curator shouted at me. “It is time, and I can’t keep the way open long.”

  “Open?” Abaddon asked.

  I gripped the handle, gathered my resolve and shouted at the top of my lungs. Then, I raced toward my probable doom. This seemed like insanity. I dashed at the wall, jumping, and I felt myself flowing through. It felt as if I stretched longer and longer. I—

  Stumbling into the great chamber on the moth-ship, I faced Abaddon. I could smell the Kargs as I began to press the buttons on my Forerunner artifact handle: two-two-three-one.

  -44-

  A pure force of energy grew from the Forerunner artifact handle. It radiated an intense bar of light about a meter in length while making a faint humming sound.

  At the same time, my suit vibrated, filling me with strength and vitality. I felt light, as if I floated on the deck. I glanced down to see if that was the case. No. I stood just as I had been. Yet, my feet had a halo glowing around them. That must have been from the suit and obviously indicated something.

  “Kill him,” Abaddon said slowly, as if he had trouble mouthing the words.

  I looked up as the big Karg leaders with their metallic tentacles leveled heavy slug-throwers at me. One after another, they fired, making garbled sounds. To my amazement, I could almost see the slugs flying through the air—they were streaks of motion. The astonishment almost froze me. I barely shook off the reverie in time, sidestepping the first bullet.

  Was that right? Was that what I was doing? Everything seemed to slow down for me the longer I looked. Maybe it took a few seconds for the suit to fully power up. The Kargs moved sluggishly, Abaddon spoke in a garbled manner and my friends stood frozen in shock.

  I sidestepped more slugs. It was becoming easier as they were no longer blurs in the air but actual moving bullets I could see.

  I considered that as I slid to the left and right again and again. I didn’t glance back to see where the bullets went. I was too focused on moving forward.

  I’d speeded up. That was the only explanation that made sense. As I realized that, I wondered how long I could do something like this. I suspected this would tax my muscles and maybe my bodily systems. Once I took off the suit, would I ache for weeks, for months? Maybe I’d have a heart attack due to over-straining myself.

  I gave a short bark of laughter. If this was it—a trade—my life for Abaddon’s death and the life of my friends—I had no problem with that.

  Let’s get it straight. I didn’t want to die. I yearned to live in those moments more than I ever had. I wanted to walk the Earth again. I wanted to free Jennifer from the horrors Abaddon had twisted in her mind. I wanted her to forgive me for leaving her behind those many years ago. At the very least, I wanted to tell her I was sorry for doing that.

  I’m sure that might be hard for some of you to believe. I imagine that by the way I’ve told my life’s story, more than a few of you think I was a self-indulgent jerk. Maybe that was true. Maybe I’d acted too harshly along the way, but that’s what the situations had called for. Sa
ving mankind hadn’t been a task for a nice guy with nice manners.

  My hand tightened around the Forerunner handle. I wanted to live. That’s what you have to believe. But the old rage had ignited on the Fortress of Light. I burned with a desire to kill Abaddon. I’d goaded the big bastard. I wanted him to seethe with the desire to defeat me. That way, if I won, I could laugh in his face, and it would torment him immensely.

  I was going to chop off his head if I could. I’d read the story of David and Goliath before. The shepherd boy David had used his sling to conk Goliath on the forehead. The big bad Philistine had crashed to the earth. That’s when the shepherd boy scampered to the mighty champion and drew the giant’s massive sword. With it, David had hacked off the head. According to the story in the Good Book, David had held Goliath’s bloody head by the hair while he’d spoken to the Israelite King Saul.

  That’s what I wanted to do to Abaddon. I wanted to go back to the Fortress of Light and show the Curator—

  A different thought struck. Abaddon was the Curator’s brother. Maybe the old man in the center of the galaxy would take it ill if I showed him his brother’s severed head.

  I kept slip-sliding closer to the throne, closer to the Kargs, who ever so slowly shoved new magazines into their slug-throwers.

  Dmitri had begun shouting my name. Ella’s eyes were still wide at the sight of me.

  I had become the avenger. I bore weapons of light against the monster of darkness.

  Abaddon stood. He did it quicker than anyone else had moved in the chamber. The meaning of that hadn’t dawned on me yet. I was too focused on my thoughts of holding his severed head.

  The first faint flickering of his mind power touched my thoughts. It was an intrusion, like that noise in the night that made you wonder, made you frown and think about whipping off the covers so you could go check it out. The floorboard creak became like footsteps. Then it turned into a shout and an outline of a stalker in your bedroom, cradling a shotgun as he threatened to tie you up and rape your wife in front of your eyes.

  I suppose any of a number of things could have happened at that moment. The suddenness of Abaddon’s mind assault might have frozen me. That would allow the Kargs to riddle my body with slugs.