by Larkin, Matt
“Rachel!” he shouted. “Rachel, are you all right?”
She rose from the floor. By now, she had her helmet up too, but he could hear her coughing from beneath it. She must have taken quite a lungful of smoke.
“Seems like your bro missed you,” Knight said.
Rachel cleared her throat, then knelt beside Jeremiah. She sighed. “It’s hardly a surprise the Redeemers would pledge themselves to the Angels. I just wish …”
“It doesn’t matter what you wanted for him. He made his choice, and that explosion would have killed you.”
“I’m sure he didn’t know I was here, or standing so close to the door.”
“Does that matter?”
She rolled Jeremiah over, then hissed at the state of his knee. Bastard deserved it. “Of course it matters, Knight. He’s my brother.”
Phoebe was right. Knight really didn’t understand family. The only reason he could see not to kill Jeremiah was so they could interrogate him. But he was Rachel’s brother, so he’d let her decide what to do with the punk.
Knight examined the wreckage. Four Sentinels had died, including the one caught in the initial blast. Jacobs, he thought. Fifteen Redeemers were dead, six captured.
Almost twenty people dead in seconds. Humans killing each other was nothing new. Knight had been doing it all his life. It had been the very reason for his existence. And yet, every human he killed was one less to stand against the Angels. Humanity’s real threat had been revealed.
And maybe Rachel was right. If they couldn’t find a way to put differences behind them and stand united, they would fall. Did that mean he should be more careful about killing so wantonly? Perhaps. But the Redeemers had sided with the Angels. So perhaps the best he could do for mankind was to wipe out such people as swiftly as possible.
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-ONE
February 10th
I keep thinking about what Raziel said. Did he mean I was leading us toward hell with my good intentions, or that he had already set that path in motion? Unfortunately, I now find more pressing concerns in the present.
Rachel had paid far too many visits to the brig on the Wheel of Law. The Sentinels on duty nodded at her with familiarity, and she returned the gesture. It was getting to the point she should ask their names. She sighed and moved down the hall to her brother’s cell.
Since a conversation with Miah was about as much fun as sticking her head in a Singularity Drive—and about as productive—she’d put this off as long as she was able. Still, the man was her brother. And part of him, however buried, still cared about her. She knew he did … in his own twisted way.
She tapped the smart glass, revealing herself to him.
He leapt up from his cot and ran toward the glass, stopping only to slam his fist against it. Despite herself, Rachel jerked back from his fury. It seeped out of the cell and clogged her mind, choking her thoughts in the blind oppression of rage. All the little things she planned to say to win him over slipped from her mind.
“What the void were you thinking, Miah? You attacked a room full of Sentinels. These people are trying to save us and you’re lucky to be alive at all.”
“I would gladly give my life to bring down such traitors. Such khapiru. They stand against the Angels. And you have become a living blasphemy.”
A blasphemy? Because she had taken the Ark? Was that how he saw her now? Was that what her father thought of her? It didn’t matter what either of them thought. It shouldn’t matter what they thought. They were her family … but they had turned their backs on her. Or she had turned her back on them. Either way, she shouldn’t care.
“Your precious Angels have rained destruction on fourteen planets. Fourteen that we know of. They have destroyed well over a thousand Sentinel ships. I cannot even begin to measure the lives they have taken. These creatures have become the new Adversary, Miah.”
Her brother sputtered, a wave of paroxysm filling the air between them, and pounded on the glass as if he could even dent it. “How … How dare you! To compare our saviors to … Such things would see you burn in hell, Rachel!” Her brother ground his teeth and shook his head, then looked up at her. “Repent your blasphemies and let us wash your sins. It may be the last hope for your soul. Please, sister, you have been led astray.”
Rachel scoffed. She would willing let them wash her sins—destroy all she was with their brainwashing—about twenty years after the heat death of the universe. “Have you heard nothing else I said? The Angels are engaged in genocide.”
“You have given them no choice. They must punish those who have broken the Covenant. They must make an example of the ones who failed them, so others can be led back to the righteous path. Think, Rachel. Think of the things Father tried to teach us as children.”
This was pointless. She’d hoped to get through to her brother. She’d always hoped to somehow reach him or her father. Like an abused girlfriend she kept running back for more, always somehow convinced this time could be different. She’d fooled herself into thinking the right words would lift the veil from Miah’s eyes and mend all that had been broken between them. But the man didn’t hear her words. All he saw was his blind faith in the Angels. Even in the wake of their destruction, the evidence of their terrible wrath, he fell in line without question.
All he had ever seen was the Angels. Their every word was gospel, and he was a willing recipient.
She would never change him.
And the thought that she had truly lost him forever, that her brother would have to spend the rest of his life in a cell because of his convictions … God, how could she allow that? She pressed her hand to the glass, somehow hoping to still the tremble in her chest.
“I’m so sorry, brother.” She’d launched a crusade to save the universe, and only managed to further hurt those who mattered the most.
“So you admit you were wrong? Good, Rachel. Good. That’s the first step toward redemption.” He returned her gesture, pressing his hand opposite hers. “Just open this cell, and we can go from here. Together.”
She shook her head. She had failed him, but not the way he thought. She’d failed to save him … because he would have never heard her. He was so blinded by tradition, by … Angels.
Angels.
He believed only in Angels.
“Miah … There’s someone I want you to meet.”
Her brother sighed and sat back down on the cot. “I am in no position to refuse.”
“I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
She ran down the hall, past the Sentinel guards, and took the lift up toward the executive suite David had given Raziel. The quarters were normally intended for Imperators or ambassadors aboard the ship, and it was the finest he could have given the Angel. Rachel wasn’t sure Raziel slept or much cared what kind of chambers he had, but it seemed to matter to David. And to the crew. In a way, they were all almost as devout as Jeremiah. Thirty-one centuries of tradition had led them to worship Angels like gods. And now, even fighting against the Angels, forced to stand against their gods, the spirits of the crew seemed buoyed by having an Angel on their side.
She felt it, the subtle shift, the increase in confidence permeating any room Raziel walked into. She wouldn’t put it past the Angel to augment the effect with his own psionic powers. Perhaps that was how Angels inspired such fervent loyalty—by enhancing the emotions humans already felt in their presence.
She moved to buzz his door, but it opened before she could. The Angel stood before her, wings folded behind his back, hands at his side. He wore his hood up, as he often did. She could only assume it was a deliberate decision to add to his mystique, a choice to enhance the impression he made in the minds of the crew.
As long as he was on her side, he could have his affectations.
“I need your help.”
“Indeed.”
“I mean, I want you to talk to my brother.”
“Yes, Ms. Jordan. You have been broadcasting your thoughts, your needs, fr
om the moment you stepped off the lift.”
Oh. So he’d been reading her mind this whole time. She’d known he could, of course, it was just … eerie to think of him in her head without her even realizing it. But then, he said she’d been broadcasting. Meaning she was so fixated on an idea, an idea involving the Angel, he probably would have picked it up without trying.
“You’ll help me?”
Raziel motioned for her to lead the way. She did, guiding him back to the brig. As they returned, every Sentinel stood at attention for their passing. Raziel gave no acknowledgement, but Rachel felt a slight trepidation drifting off him. Was it possible the Angel, who had been so long imprisoned here, actually felt anxiety in returning? She kept her eyes studiously forward, trying to give no hint she had picked up the too-human emotion from her companion. Before this, she had almost never felt anything coming off him. She had thought maybe Angels had no emotions, or emotions simply too different from humans for her to pick them up. But perhaps it was just that Raziel was so guarded in his feelings. And the thought that he felt something, that coming here made him even the least bit uncomfortable—and he did it anyway, for her—somewhat endeared the Angel to her.
Maybe humans and Angels were not so very different.
The Angel snorted. He’d heard that thought, hadn’t he? Well, let him. If there was to be peace, it would only come when Angels stopped seeing themselves as above humans.
Raziel stepped in front of Jeremiah’s cell, and her brother rose, only to fall to his knees before the Angel. Awe and fear and adoration so filled the brig, Rachel almost did the same. Jeremiah sat with bent knees and head, as if awaiting orders.
“Stand up, human.” Raziel extended his wings, clearly intending Jeremiah should revel in his glory. Rachel had to admit, the shimmering razors were impressive. “Your motives may be pure, but your actions are misguided. My brethren have taken the wrong path. Be careful you do not follow them down it.”
Her brother stood as ordered, standing rapt at attention, as Raziel began to speak of the wrongs done in the name of Angels. And Rachel watched as Miah’s face fell. She sensed it, as his convictions faltered, and as he felt as if the ground beneath him gave way, to suck him into a singularity.
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-TWO
February 12th
Raziel said the Angels had once considered leaving humanity on their own as an experiment. He said that was part of why he didn’t wake them. In the end, he seemed disappointed in us … But then, he seemed disappointed in the Angels too.
Under the circumstances, David had feared having an Angel on the bridge would divide the crew. The Sentinels were at war with them, after all. But Raziel’s presence had the opposite effect, it seemed. No one questioned it. They moved as if the Angel were a captain himself, or an Imperator, even.
David had seen Raziel in battle, and he was glad the Angel was on his side. With a little luck, that would last. Releasing his former enemy from the brig had been a leap of faith—one born of desperation. And David was desperate.
So desperate, he had agreed to allow Raziel to liaise with Quasar Industries to create an alliance with the Sentinels. They waited on the edge of an uninhabited system in the Phoenix Dwarf galaxy. He supposed everyone would be praying, as was he, the Angels didn’t know what they were up to or where to find them.
Rachel shot him a look he suspected was meant to reassure, and David nodded at her. She might not be able to do much in this situation, but her mere presence on the bridge did as much for him as Raziel’s did for the rest of the crew.
Or at least, the crew save Knight. The Gehennan moved around the Angel like a cat stalking prey, never taking his eye off Raziel. Always watching. Waiting for a betrayal. David couldn’t fault Knight, considering what Raziel had put him through.
“A pair of QI ships just exited the Conduit,” Rachel said. “No, make that four ships. Three cruisers and a battleship.”
Perhaps the megacorp was wary of a trap. Or perhaps they merely sent as much as they were able. He hoped the former—if QI couldn’t muster a bigger fleet than this, their effect on an alliance would be limited.
Raziel’s form flickered and his wings vanished. He’d returned to the Galizur disguise. So QI didn’t know he was an Angel, and he wasn’t ready to reveal it, just yet.
“What is that, holograms?” he asked.
“Yes, captain. Holograms and telepathic suggestion. We can use such things to pass for human.”
“How many Angels are out there, apart from the Ark?” Rachel asked.
“I don’t know. But chances are good most of them will not be our allies. Hail the lead ship.”
Before David could even pass on the order, his crew opened hailing. He wasn’t sure he liked them following the Angel’s orders without checking with their captain first. He supposed he’d have to forgive them. It was less an act of defiance than an instinctual reaction he knew all too well.
A holo display popped up, showing a QI businessman in a sharp suit. “Director Blake,” the man said. “We were relieved to hear from you. The Chairman feared you’d been lost.”
“Hardly,” the Angel said. “I was delayed. Has the Chairman agreed to my proposal?”
“Yes sir. We’ll place the full QI fleet at Sentinel disposal to stand against the Ark. I’m in communication with a number of other ships. We can have up to a hundred destroyers here within the hour.”
“Good. Coordinate with Captain McGregor.”
Aye, that was his cue. David stepped up to the display. He’d had as many Sentinel ships watching for the Ark as possible, trying to track its movements. With the added QI ships, maybe they could stage an ambush the next time the Angels decided to destroy a system. They’d have to move fast, which meant making sure the fleet was at least in the right galaxy. Last he heard, the Ark was spotted back in Triangulum—Asheran space. It gave them a little time to plan.
“How many battleships can you bring to the edge of the Asheran border?” he asked.
“Given a couple of weeks …”
“One week.”
The QI suit grunted, and looked down at a tablet for a minute. “Forty, at most,” he said at last. “Maybe a few less.”
Well, forty wasn’t bad. Combined with the Sentinel fleet, they might have a chance. “All right, make preparations. Remember, no one engages without my signal. If the Ark is spotted, relay the message and get the void clear.”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Mac,” Rachel said, “we’ve got an incoming Mazzaroth signal from the Wake of Stars.”
That was Hannah Hertz’s ship. She was supposed to be gathering as many Sentinel ships to the cause as possible. He prayed to God for a little good news.
“Bring it up,” he said.
Hannah’s face flickered on the screen. Sparks shot around her bridge, and a trickle of blood ran down her forehead.
“Bloody void! Hannah?”
“David …” She wiped the blood from her brow. “We were staging in the Andromeda III Satellite when the Ark jumped in. Someone must have tipped them off.”
Shite. He should have known, even among Sentinels, some would hold so much loyalty to Angels they would act against their own captains.
“How bad was it, lass?”
“Bad. We tried to hold them off. They were between us and the Gate. I’ve … I’ve never seen anything like it, David. Ships dropped off the screen as fast as drones. A few of us escaped past them into the Conduit. I think … I think they let some of us escape. Hoping we’d serve as a warning.”
A chill settled over his chest, and he felt lightheaded. The look on her face told him all he needed to know, but still he had to ask. “How many … how many Sentinels did we lose?”
“I don’t know. Too many to count. We had massed nearly a thousand ships, David. I’d guess no more than ten escaped.”
A murmur ran through the bridge. Void, he should have had this conversation in private.
“Did she say a thousand
?” the QI suit’s hologram asked. David had forgotten the man was even still on the line.
“Carry on with the plan,” David told him, then waved for Rachel to cut the call.
“Hannah, get whoever you can. Stay in communication, but don’t congregate. And get back to Andromeda.”
The Andromeda III Satellite galaxy put the Angels in far too easy striking distance of the central Andromeda galaxy, the core of the Mizraim Empire. Even with New Rome lost, there were many densely populated worlds in Andromeda.
A thousand ships. That was almost ten percent of all the Sentinel ships in the universe, lost in a single battle. Such a thing was unthinkable. Gathering a fleet that large again would leave countless systems unwatched and unprotected. It would …
David felt lightheaded.
“Hannah, I’m sorry. I’ll be in touch. Mazzaroth off.”
He took a breath to steady himself. The crew needed that. They needed to see him strong, while they felt the universe crumbling beneath them. They needed him to be the beacon in the night. And they couldn’t afford to see him falter.
So he wouldn’t falter.
He would protect what they had left.
“Take us to Andromeda.”
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-THREE
February 15th
I’d be a fool not to consider Raziel might still be a spy for his brethren. And yet, he truly seems repentant for their actions. Did six hundred years living as a human change the Angel?
At long last the Serpent escaped the Conduit, jumping back to normal space. Time had bled away in the endless journey and Caleb felt numb, as if the last weeks had been spent sleepwalking. The ship’s Psych pilot seemed even more on edge, jumping at every shadow during the short reprieves Captain Dana gave him from the Conduit.