Sins of Angels (The Complete Collection)

by Larkin, Matt

  As they approached the battleship, its skin shifted. A hatch opened, and a tube extended from the ship. When they stood beneath it, a gravity wave picked them up and carried them like a lift. It tingled, and David twitched a little. He was used to being caught by a grav-net, not hoisted by one.

  The net pulled them inside, into an airlock. It buzzed open.

  “Is this ship sentient, like the Ark?” Rachel asked.

  “No. The crew on the bridge merely saw me and extended the grav-lift.”

  Just as well. David had seen what bonding with the Ark’s intelligence had done to Rachel. He had no desire to repeat that.

  “Very impressive,” he said. “Is this thing operational?”

  “Yes. It’s ready for its maiden voyage, and it will serve as a better staging ground than the Wheel of Law.”

  “No shit,” Knight said. “What kind of weapons does it have?”

  “Mostly the same as a Tribulation-class warship,” Raziel answered. “We’ve replaced two of the four ion cannons with antiproton cannons. It also features two extra pulse cannons, and ten extra defensive laser batteries. More importantly, its kinetic shields have been greatly enhanced. Combined with the self-repairing skin and extra laser batteries, the defensive capabilities of this ship are significant. You should be able to take down any ship save the Ark itself.”

  “Yeah, well, that’s the thing we actually want to take out,” Knight said.

  “I do not. I have no desire to see the extinction of my own kind. This ship, however, will aid you in defeating the Ark’s allies.”

  Meaning David’s people.

  They reached the bridge. The ship featured a skeleton crew of QI employees. He’d need to replace them with Sentinels from the Wheel. Those he could trust the most. Which meant he needed Phoebe. He supposed he’d have to find someone else to give command of the Wheel. Probably Kennison.

  He strolled through the bridge, running his hand over the sleek consoles. Everything here spoke of speed and efficiency. Raziel was right—Sentinels would have bought this line. And would have paid almost anything for it. He suspected the organic skin was not part of the original design. Raziel must have had that added when he realized they would have to fight the Ark.

  “Aye,” David said. “Aye, I’ll take it.”

  CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-SIX

  March 15th

  Sometimes all of us take meals together. Myself, David, Leah, Phoebe, and Knight. We sit and drink and eat, and tell stories about the things we’ve lost. No one speaks of the things we’ve found—no one has to. I see it in the way David looks at me, from the corner of his eye. I see it when Phoebe holds Knight’s hand under the table, when she thinks no one is looking. And I see it in myself—when I rise from bed and put on this uniform, despite the fall of civilization all around us.

  The Flame of Heaven had never looked so inviting. After so many weeks aboard the serpentine pirate ship, Caleb suspected any ship would have looked appealing.

  “I suppose you’ll be heading back to the Expanse?” he asked Ezra.

  “Apollo has asked us to remain in Triangulum. He says he has more work for us soon, so we’re to shadow the Flame.”

  And the Asherans were going to allow that? Pirates in the heart of their Confederacy? But then, why not? Apollo seemed to have both factions in his pocket. Along with Jericho Corp.

  The Jericho ship sent a shuttle to retrieve Caleb. On the other side, Rebekah was waiting for him.

  She tossed her fiery hair about her shoulders and winked at him. “Did you miss me?”

  God, it had been too long since he’d had a woman. He felt ready to burst with need, and sick for wanting her. And by the look on her face, she knew it.

  “I missed you.”

  Rebekah smirked and led him back to his quarters. He needed to call Ayelet. He’d been gone so long, and she’d be worried about him. Besides, he needed to see her face. He couldn’t picture it in his mind. He needed to see James and Miriam. He needed …

  As soon as the door was shut, Rebekah tore open her shirt, letting her tight breasts jiggle in front of his face.

  Ayelet. Ayelet.

  But he couldn’t stop staring at the girl’s pink nipples.

  Damn her.

  Damn him for wanting her. He deserved all the things Apollo had done to him. He was a lecher and an adulterer and a thief. He’d lied and cheated and stolen his way to the top of a megacorp—because, of course, that was the only way to get to the top. And he’d told himself he was doing it for his family, all the while soaking his own bloated ego on the power and fucking any girl who came along.

  Rebekah pulled off his pants and began to fondle him.

  He deserved it all. Because he was a sick bastard.

  He threw her onto the floor and yanked off her trousers. And he buried himself inside her until he wept from relief and guilt.

  The moment he was spent, he rolled off her and fled into the washroom. He slammed the door and locked it. God. What had this girl done to him? Had she become more than any of the others? Any of the endless parade of women he had taken advantage of—had betrayed Ayelet with? He could not … he could not allow himself to fall for Rebekah. Or had he let her fall for him?

  When he’d left her here, it had hurt her. But thank God he had left her behind. All those weeks alone on the pirate ship with her, and she might well have convinced him to leave his wife or some other off rotation shit like that.

  Leave his wife? Where had that thought even come from? He would never leave Ayelet. Not in a million years.

  Outside, Rebekah snorted. “How long are you going to take in there, Caleb?”

  He turned on the water and splashed it over his face, as cold as it got. The icy shock helped focus him. Maybe he had led her on? Had turned her into this … harlot. He needed a way to get free of Apollo, and he needed it soon. And maybe the only way that could happen was if he could bring down the Ark and stop the Angels. He could never live in peace—never live at all—as long as they were still out there. Damn Angels and their damn Commandments.

  What the void was so wrong with cybernetics, anyway? Angels wanted to be better than humans. They wanted to be the only ones with genetic engineering and cybernetic technology. And they were willing to commit genocide to ensure they were. Well, now he’d give everything to Asherah. Including all his hopes.

  He opened the door to find Rebekah sitting on the floor, leaning back on her hands, legs spread. And despite it all, he felt himself start to rise again at the sight.

  He shut his eyes and turned away. But the image ran through his mind again and again. Her nubile body, her luscious breasts, and the soft glimpse of heaven between her legs. He tried again and again to conjure Ayelet’s face. Somehow, Rebekah’s body kept intruding.

  “What news?” he managed to asked.

  Rebekah sighed. “The Asherans have used the cybernetics data we gave them to create super soldiers. They’re calling them the Zuzim. They’re planning a strike against the Ark soon. They think if they can get the Zuzim on board, they might be able to overpower the Angels.”

  Overpower the Angels, indeed. Caleb sincerely doubted it. These were beings who had created and mapped the Conduit. They had built a station on the edge of the Great Attractor. Their knowledge and power spanned galaxies far beyond anywhere humans had ever trod.

  The attack might be doomed, but he could do nothing to stop it. After all, it was his best hope, as well. He needed them to strike and he needed them to win. Void, everyone needed it. The Angels were wiping out entire planets as if simply to prove they could. They’d killed more people than the Adversary ever had. They had declared war on humanity and Caleb had to do everything in his power to stop them.

  In the end, it was the only way he could ever go home to Ayelet.

  “You should go,” he said, still looking away.

  He felt her slink up behind him. She slipped her hands around his waist and let them explore his abdomen, then drift lower. �
�You don’t really want that. I’m sure you have a lot of pent-up frustration from your long trip away.”

  He shuddered.

  God, he couldn’t stop himself.

  CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-SEVEN

  March 17th

  Last night, I invited Raziel to join us for dinner. To my surprise, he accepted. I didn’t think the Angel even ate. He didn’t seem to need food in all the time he was in the brig. The Angel complimented Leah on her choice of salmon, and the Amphie blushed like God himself had praised her.

  The Conduit streamed around him as David steered the Sephirot through bend after bend. There was no time. Word had come from advance scouts that Asherah planned to stage a massive strike on the Ark. If the experience with the Sentinel fleet was anything to judge by, the Angels would oblige. They seemed eager to corral their opponents in one place and make an example of them.

  The Triangulum galaxy was over half a million light years from Andromeda, but David was determined to make the journey in record time. The Sephirot handled well, and David was born to fly. In the Conduit, confidence was everything.

  Unfortunately, intergalactic space featured fewer Conduit routes—which meant less opportunity to rely on intuition. There were only so many ways to travel between galaxies. Ahead, though, he could feel the maze coming upon him. They were approaching Triangulum. His prescient senses tingled with anticipation of the new routes. He had spent so little time in Asheran space, these paths were fresh—like a new dish savored for the first time.

  The holo display on his console showed his intended coordinates, the Moab System. You always had to know where you were going. It was up to the mind of a Psych to navigate, to find the way, but you had to have a destination in mind. There was no memorizing routes, because they unfolded in limitless, seemingly changing ways. A rainbow wall of shimmering possibilities. And without ESP, a maze with no escape.

  Time lost meaning in here. He thought it might have been hours, but it was so hard to tell. At last he felt the Moab System coming up. He saw it in his mind, unfolding before him. Two more twists, and he felt the Gate approaching. He pushed the Sephirot through and it jumped back to normal space.

  David shook his head, trying to fight past the sudden deadening of his psionic senses. Rachel brought up the system on the main display. For a brief moment, a heartbeat, he thought they had the wrong place. This was no armada, it was an asteroid field.

  But those weren’t asteroids. That was debris from ships. And planets.

  “How many planets were supposed to be in this system?”

  “Seven,” Phoebe said.

  David saw only four.

  “There,” Rachel said, shifting the screen. “It took me a minute to find them.”

  The Ark popped up, tearing through a last Asheran destroyer with a plasma beam.

  The entire Asheran fleet was gone. Void, half the planets in this system were gone. The Ark was wounded, that was plain. Atmosphere vented from hull ruptures. But the blasted thing was still flying.

  David twisted the Sephirot, setting a course straight for the Ark. Now was their best chance. He had to drive home the attack while they were already weakened.

  “What the void are you doing?” Rachel said.

  “We were too late to help any of these people. I won’t let their sacrifices be in vain.”

  “They already are! An entire fleet couldn’t stop the Ark. You think we can?”

  David nodded. He had to. The Angels were flitting about the galaxies, decimating the human population indiscriminately. “This is the most advanced ship in the universe and they’re already damaged. Now’s the time.”

  Rachel stepped over to the pilot’s chair and grabbed him. “Mac. It’s the second most advanced ship in the universe. The first is right there, and you’re going after it alone.”

  “I’m tired of running! I’m tired of backing down from these Angels. It’s time they bled!” Like they had done to New Rome. Like they had done to Hazaroth. To an entire Sentinel fleet. They had killed his brothers-in-arms, his father, his friends. They slaughtered without thought or mercy, as if some alien virus had swept through the population. They were a disease, weren’t they? These beings he had once worshipped had become a scourge on all mankind.

  “I agree. But we’re going to need more forces. They might be wounded, but we still can’t fight them alone.”

  “Sir,” Phoebe said. “Rachel is right. Also, the Ark is coming for us. And I’d love to bloody their lips … And noses … And possibly other parts of their anatomy. But I don’t want to die for nothing.”

  She was right. The Ark had spotted them and was moving in. He had a few seconds to decide, then they would be in firing range. Would a pair of antiproton cannons be enough? Somehow, he doubted it. Raziel had admitted he didn’t want David to destroy the Ark, only disable it and stop the slaughter. David wasn’t sure that was still an option.

  “Bugger me,” he mumbled, and spun the Sephirot around. “I’ll be back for you wankers.”

  He dove back into the Conduit. They might try to pursue, but he was confident he could lose them. He twisted around a bend, then doubled back in a loop. Sure enough, the Ark had entered the Conduit behind the Sephirot.

  “Guess our ship intrigued them,” Phoebe said. “Because, you know, they’re looking for us. Which is probably bad.”

  Maybe. But right now, they were behind the Ark. And it was time to send a message. If they couldn’t stop the Ark, they needed to at least make sure the Angels knew they could hurt it. They needed to make sure they would think twice before assaulting a human fleet.

  “Phoebe, prep the antiproton cannons.”

  “Er, you want to engage them in the Conduit?”

  “Aye, lass. Prep the cannons.”

  From the corner of his eye, he saw Knight approach Rachel. “What’s wrong with firing in here?”

  “People never fire weapons in the Conduit for fear of breaching the walls. The Second Commandment.”

  “We’ve cast aside the Angels and their Commandments,” David said. “Open fire.”

  He drew the Sephirot up right behind the Ark. Lights dimmed as the antiproton cannons drew enormous swaths of power from the Singularity Drive. The beams traveled at relativistic speeds. There was no evasion. Antimatter explosions rippled along the Ark’s hull. A massive blast tore out a chunk of the aft section, and an Angel was sucked out into space. The poor bugger ricochetted off the Conduit and vanished from David’s view.

  The Ark careened wildly, reeling like a beast in pain. It slammed into the Conduit wall, and a seam tore. Blinding light of every imaginable color poured from the rupture. David couldn’t see anything.

  He tried to steer the Sephirot away, but tidal forces seized them. His psionic nerves fried and he couldn’t see the Conduit in his mind. His ship crashed into the wall and for a heartbeat of pure terror he felt semi-solid resistance, like jelly. Then the Sephirot popped through and slammed to a stop.

  Phoebe had been right. He was a fool.

  They had breached the Conduit.

  His vision cleared, somewhat, enough to see the display. His scanners must be out of whack, everything was distorted. They were in no system he could see, but a red-tinted space, filled with swirling vortices of dark plasma.

  “Wha …” Phoebe said.

  God help them. It was another universe, wasn’t it?

  Rachel screamed and fell to the deck, clutching her head. She sobbed, weeping uncontrollably.

  And then David knew why. Something out there was alive. It was awake. And angry, filled with a hatred spanning eons and consuming entire galaxies.

  The Sephirot was wedged into the walls of the Conduit, not wholly punched through. He kicked the thrusters into reverse. The wall resisted his attempts to punch back through. He jerked as hard as he could on the joystick, but the Conduit held fast, like he was trying to fly through elastic. It gave rather than broke.

  A purple and black vortex drifted toward them. Lightnin
g coruscated all around it. It was coming for them. Coming to see what pathetic life-forms had invaded its universe. It was going to devour them body and soul. Nothing would be left to escape to heaven.

  David’s chest trembled and cold sweat built on his forehead. He had damned them all. He had.

  He glanced around. Most of the crew were transfixed, frozen in horror, eyes locked on the approaching nightmare.

  They needed him clear. He shut his eyes and jerked the joystick left and right, trying to wiggle the ship free. And then, with a pop, it slipped back into the Conduit. The Sephirot careened backward and bounced off the Conduit wall, tearing the ship’s skin and knocking out kinetic shields. Back and forth it bounced before he was able to reverse the thrusters again.

  He tried to steer them away, anywhere. But the ship was out of control. It crashed again into the Conduit wall. His psionic nerves began to cool, and he saw a Gate in his mind. It didn’t matter where it led. They had to escape the Conduit.

  He jumped them free.

  CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-EIGHT

  It all only serves to remind me how little I truly understand Raziel or the other Angels. The truth is, even I don’t know why they did they things they did.

  The door to Caleb’s room opened, and Apollo stepped in. Bastard couldn’t knock?

  Caleb rose, not bothering to hide Rebekah lying naked in the bed, nor the fact he wore nothing himself. She rolled over, pulling the blanket up around her, and watched Apollo without a hint of fear. More bravado than he could muster.

  Caleb pulled on his pants. “What are you doing here?”

  Apollo strode over, never even glancing at Rebekah. Any man who didn’t even notice a beautiful naked woman in bed a meter away … Well, Apollo wasn’t a man, as far as Caleb was concerned.