A few tigers stood on the roofs with heavy machine guns and handheld RPGs. The rockets flew as slugs and beams struck us. They took out several cycles. Then we closed, slaughtering the Lokhars on the roofs.
We landed and killed every tiger we saw on the ground. It became a massacre. The warehouses stood several stories high. Each held military hardware, much more than we could carry away on our cycles.
I made a call. Haulers rose from the spaceyard and landed here. On the double, troopers loaded the grounded spaceships. We packed the cargo holds, raced to the next warehouse and emptied it as well.
For me, time sped up. Several hours passed in a flash. There was so much to do and no time to do it.
Then, tiger tanks rumbled out of the city. The cannons on Holgotha put on a laser light show, destroying them all. Death from above, baby.
Later, power-armored tigers tried to surprise us, bounding like maddened grasshoppers, desperately trying to close. The artifact-perched lasers hit them too. By that time, three captured Lokhar pinnaces joined the fun. They slid above like air-sharks. Particle beams destroyed tiger combat cars sweeping from the west.
We were the Star Vikings. We smashed the local tiger forces and filled up hauler after hauler. Each one rose up to Holgotha, waiting to leave.
Those who remained on the surface went to another spaceyard fifty kilometers away. There, we repeated the sequence. At that point, the resistance on Sanakaht ended, although we didn’t know it yet.
Could we have looted the entire planet? It’s possible. A surprise against us halted our operations.
After a solid seven hours of fighting, looting and laughing, I called up to N7. A soldier had told me they really wanted to speak with me.
“Commander Creed, where you have you been?” N7 asked.
“Just tell him,” Ella said in the background.
“Tell me what?” I asked. From where I stood, I watched troopers entering a hauler, stowing away hardware as if they were African army ants.
“We have to leave Sanakaht, Commander,” N7 said. “A flotilla of Lokhar warships is headed from the heavymetal moons toward us. They’ve already wiped out our space-drones. The Demar hauler is heading back to Hol—” N7 almost spoke the artifact’s name. “The hauler returns to—” He probably realized he shouldn’t call it the artifact either. Not if Lokhars could hear him.
“I understand,” I said.
“We must leave, Commander,” N7 said. “The approaching warships will have the high ground against us. We can send up five patrol boats, but we still haven’t shaken down our own cruisers and missile-ships. If the enemy attacks us from orbital space…”
“Okay,” I said. “Start packing. I’ll talk to Rollo. We’ll lift up to…the platform. I want you to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice.”
“Someone will have to go see our pilot,” N7 said.
“Roger,” I said. “I’m coming upstairs.”
Our android meant I should go see Holgotha in the inner chamber. It was time to let my troopers finish their tasks and scram. Rollo and Dmitri could take care of things down here. I had to get the artifact ready to transfer back to the solar system before the dreaded Lokhar cavalry arrived on the scene.
***
My air-cycle used the last of its power source to climb upstairs. Stolen Lokhar cruisers, missile-ships and patrol boats hovered around the artifact. Seeing them made me feel good inside.
From the direction of the faintly appearing stars, I saw the Demar hauler descending. What had N7 told me? The approaching Lokhars had already destroyed the hauler’s space-drones.
Yeah. It was time to go.
I grounded the DZ9 on Holgotha’s metallic surface. Sprinting to a waiting locker, I threw it open. Yanking the heavy vacc-suit inside, I put it on. Afterward, I jumped onto the cycle again and floated toward the inner curve. Halfway there, the cycle shorted out. I would have to hoof it the rest of the way.
After ten minutes of walking, my headphones crackled. I chinned a response.
“Commander,” N7 said. “I have a message from the Lokhar flotilla admiral.”
“Why would I care?” I asked.
“He wishes to speak with you. He asked for you by name, Commander.”
“Come on, N7. Did you forget to turn off your video when you addressed him?”
“I followed procedures, sir. He demanded to speak to Commander Creed.”
“Do you personally know the Lokhar admiral?”
“No,” N7 said.
“All right,” I said. “Patch him through to my HUD.”
I trudged along Holgotha, using my magnetic boots at full strength. I didn’t want to fall off. As I walked, an old tiger appeared on one half of my HUD. The other half let me see where I was going.
The old guy had a wide face for a Lokhar with too much white fur. This tiger had jowls like a bulldog. I’d never seen that before on one. I suspected he was fat. He wore a heavy purple garment with a fringed purple robe. His eyes were bright orange. I wondered if drugs had caused the color.
Naturally, I kept my face from his sight.
“You wanted to talk to me, so talk,” I said.
“Commander Creed?” he asked in a rich voice.
“Don’t know who that is,” I said. “But it’s true I lead the expedition.”
“You are the one known as Creed,” he said with finality.
“Is this Creed a legendary space pirate?” I asked.
The tiger snarled. It brightened his already orange eyes. It also made the white fur stand out. “Do you not realize who you address?” he asked.
“Nope,” I said. “Don’t have any idea.”
“I am the Emperor of the Lokhar.”
Oh, I thought to myself. You’ve got to be kidding.
“I am Felix Rex Logos,” he said. “I have heard of you, savage. Know, the Imperium of the Lokhars shall hunt you down to the ends of the galaxy. There is no place you can hide.”
“The worst part is that I bet you think that’s an original threat,” I said.
He snarled again, spraying spit.
“Got a bit of an anger issue, do you?” I said.
“You have bitten off more than you can swallow, beast. You have awakened my wrath against your species.”
“Turn that around, and you’ll get some idea of how I feel about you, Mr. King-bro.”
“I accept your declaration of war,” Emperor Felix told me.
“Great,” I said. “I accept as well. Destroy these others you speak about as I laugh all the way to the bank.”
He leaned toward me with his eyes widening. “You consider yourself clever by hiding your visage, beast. Yet, I know it is you, Commander Creed. We have images of the Forerunner artifact in Sanakaht’s skies. All aboard my flagship know it as the Altair Object. I know every mark on the holy relic.”
For a moment, I closed my eyes. I hadn’t thought about that. “I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about, King-bro,” I said.
He snarled a laugh. “Do you not realize yet? Once, during the reign of my mother, I commanded the Lokhar Fifth Legion as it guarded the holy artifact in the Altair star system.”
I scowled. If he’d led the Fifth Legion once…
“I served the artifact and gazed upon its beauty,” the Emperor said. “Many times, I walked upon it as I considered the holiness of the Creator. You, beast, attacked the Fifth Legion. You and your Starkien scum used nuclear weapons to kill my brothers in arms. I know you, Creed-beast. In an arcane, vile fashion, you have suborned the noblest of the artifacts. It sickens me. Yet I have heard you know the relic’s name. How this can be so is a mystery. But for your reckless killing on Sanakaht—”
“Hey, you know what, Mr. Big Shot,” I said. “Why don’t you shut the Hell up? You ordered my Earth destroyed. You tried to take humanity down.”
“Yes. I knew from the beginning that you were savages beyond the pale of civilization. I indeed ordered your species’ destruction. My only remors
e was that some of you survived the attack. Orange Tamika has much to answer for in failing to do as I bid them.”
“That’s it,” I said. “By your own words you’ve sealed your fate.”
“No. You have sealed yours.”
I almost told him, “No way, man. I said it first.” But this wasn’t a pissing contest. This was the game of races.
As I trudged across Holgotha, I considered what the Felix Rex Logos Purple Tamika Emperor had just told me. He’d once been a legionary of the Fifth. I’d helped slaughter the legion. He knew Holgotha by sight. Yeah. I could see this was bad.
Instead of a Star Viking raid so humanity could grab some extra stuff, I’d just ensured we were in a war to the death with the largest battlefleet around. The Jelk didn’t seem to be interested in this part of the Orion Arm just now. They had their own problems. Instead of improving mankind’s situation, I’d just made it a whole lot worse. Great.
“What are you doing in the Sanakaht system anyway?” I asked.
“Vain beast, I shall capture you.”
It was time to throw him a curve ball. “Are you going to do it with the Shi-Feng?” I asked.
On my HUD, the Emperor recoiled. “How have you come to learn the holy name?” he asked in a higher voice.
“Secrets, secrets are no fun,” I answered. “Secrets, secrets hurt someone.”
He gnashed his teeth and sprayed more spit. “Know, you foul beast, that I shall begin a holy crusade against humanity. You will not be able to hide among the Jelk. No. You cannot run far enough to escape my wrath. I will track you and slice your belly open myself. Then, I shall pull out your intestines and feed on them to my court’s delight.”
“I’m not that fancy, King-bro. I’m just going to blow your head clean off and piss down your neck.”
“Enough!” he roared.
“That’s right,” I said. I clicked off the connection. I’d had enough of his royal majesty.
I stalked across Holgotha, getting angrier by the moment. This was just great. This—I had to warn the others.
“N7,” I radioed.
Static answered me. Our radio equipment didn’t seem to be as good as what the Lokhar Emperor possessed. I’d have to wait until I was farther away from the black hole to communicate with the others.
Why was the Emperor in the Sanakaht star system? I shook my head. It didn’t matter how Felix Rex Logos had come to be here at this time. I wondered if Holgotha had known. Would the artifact even care? Maybe.
I began to wonder why the artifact had agreed to my request to transfer to Sanakaht. Had Holgotha computed the present situation between the Lokhars and us? At this point, did he wish to see humanity gone forever?
If true, that had ominous implications.
Shaking my head again, I realized I couldn’t worry about any of that now. We needed to get out of here before the tiger flotilla reached its operational range. Surely, they would have T-missiles.
I increased my pace across Holgotha.
An eternity later, I stood before the wall of the building. It looked different in daylight. I’d never realized before how pitted the surface was. Raising my right gauntlet, I curled the fingers, getting ready to strike the wall with my knuckles.
“You are ready to return to the solar system?”
“Yes,” I radioed.
“You do not need to come inside. Instead, return to your people. I will transfer in thirty of your minutes.”
“How about doing it right now?” I said.
“That would kill you. Knowing that, do you still wish for me to leave instantly?”
“Can you sense the approaching Lokhar ships?”
“I am aware of them, of course. I have been the entire time.”
“Can they attack us within thirty minutes time?”
“No.”
“Then give me those thirty minutes to get out of the black hole’s range.”
“Good-bye, Commander Creed. Do not ever attempt to speak with me again. I find myself sullied by today’s murders.”
“Why would you care? It is the way of the universe, things dying out. You told me so yourself.”
“Heed my words, Commander. I am sick of your voice, your thoughts and your ways. Do you seek to speak with me again. I will finish my analysis in your solar system. Then I will leave.”
“That gives us eighteen more years, right?” I asked.
“You are deluded. Your species does not even have three years left. The Purple Emperor will annihilate every human in existence before the triple years run their course.”
I didn’t know what to say to my own private oracle preaching doom. So, I turned around and headed back toward the outer surface.
Thirty-nine and a half minutes later, the vertigo struck again. Everything blurred and the Forerunner artifact transferred from the atmosphere of Sanakaht back to the middle of the Asteroid Belt.
We returned to the solar system with our captured starships, patrol boats, missiles, container-loads of small arms and bio-terminator scrubbers. The Star Viking raid proved a smashing tactical success and a bitter strategic loss.
Now what were we going to do?
-18-
Due to our form of travel, we had some time to decide on our next maneuver.
Felix Rex Logos Purple Tamika Emperor raced in a warship within the Sanakaht star system. That happened to be three hundred and thirty-seven light years away from the solar system. Even with his fastest scouts, it would take time for the news to travel throughout the star lanes.
Before we did anything, though, we needed to count losses and gains.
The Star Viking raid onto Sanakaht cost us one hundred and seven dead. The wounded hardly mattered because we could heal them back to full health in the Jelk tank.
We lost a little over double that number in air-cycles.
The reward went beyond my fondest hopes. We reaped five patrol boats, four cruisers and three missile-ships, along with a good supply of missiles and planetary particle beam cannons. That didn’t include a horde of small arms, mortars and grenades.
We had newer and more modern starships compared to the ones we’d lost. We also had patrol boats. They could enter a planetary atmosphere or race through the jump gates and watch.
If I kept everything together in one group, humanity possessed a modest flotilla. True, it couldn’t face Baba Gobo’s fleet or Admiral Saris’, but it was a beginning.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough assault troopers to man all the spacecraft and have a viable ground fighting force.
Therefore, I summoned Diana and Murad Bey to Mars Base. They brought their sole cruiser together with an armed escort of bodyguards. The guards cooled their heels in a holding area under the dome, far away from the meeting chamber.
In the conference room, Diana studied me and Murad Bey tried to smile.
He was a square-shouldered giant of a Turk. Even after eight years in power, he had the blackest hair I’d ever seen. These days, I had the feeling he dyed it. Murad Bey combed the mass straight back. Plastic surgery had taken away an old burn scar on his neck.
As the two Earth Council members listened, I gave them a rundown of the raid, including my conversation with the Emperor.
Diana grew pale. Murad Bey’s jaw muscles, the ones hinging them, bulged out and in.
“It is to be a war to the death,” Murad Bey declared in his slow voice.
“No,” Diana said. “If the Lokhar Emperor comes to Earth, it means extermination for us and nothing bad for them.”
“By Allah,” Murad Bey said, his dark eyes shining. “It will not be so.”
I’ve said it before, and I think it bears repeating: the humans left were the tough, willing to scrap against anyone. It didn’t matter from what race or religion our enemies came. The last one percent were the rawest sons and daughters of bitches our planet had ever borne.
“Do you have a plan?” Diana asked me.
“Not yet,” I admitted.
The Amazon Queen put her hands on the table, staring at me. “Your madness gave us our chance. Now, your insanity has taken it away again.”
“We have options,” I said.
“I would dearly like to hear them,” Diana said.
Standing, glancing at Ella, who pretended to take notes, I strode toward the viewing screen. It showed the asphalt of Mars Base, our empty sidewalks.
Staring out of the viewing port, I said, “First, we could do a Starkien.”
“Leave our solar system?” Diana asked.
“It is the optimal choice,” I said.
“No. We need a home base,” Diana said. “You may have patterned your troopers off the Mongol nomads. The rest of us need a place to call home. Otherwise, we’ll become demoralized.”
“I do not know if I agree,” Murad Bey said. “The Prophet Mohammad journeyed from Mecca for a season. Perhaps we must emulate his example.”
My head snapped around. I’d been staring at Zoe Artemis as she walked on a sidewalk outside.
“What did you say?” I asked Murad Bey.
He had a wooden face with almost no expression. The skin looked leathery.
“In the beginning,” the big man said, “the people of Mecca did not believe the Prophet’s words. Thus, he took his followers and traveled to Medina. There, he gained more servants of Allah. With them, he raided his accusers. Unable to bear this, the merchants of Mecca gathered an army to do war against them. Allah granted the pagan army into the hands of the true believers, giving them to Mohammad. The rest you know, as Islam spread throughout the world.”
The Amazon Queen glanced from Murad Bey to me. “What are you thinking, Creed?”
“What?” I asked, lost in thought again.
“I know that look,” she said. “You have an idea. You’re not really considering following Mohammad’s example, are you?”
“Doctor Sant did,” I said softly.
Diana blinked those big eyelashes at me.
“Think about it a moment,” I said. “I know the artifact’s name. I rode it from the portal planet to the solar system. Seven years later, I rode the artifact again. This time, I did it to chastise the Lokhars. I did it in the system where the Purple Tamika Emperor happened to be.”
Star Viking (Extinction Wars Book 3) Page 17