by Larkin, Matt
Of course, Rachel had never expected the Aluf’s summons for a peace summit, but David had leapt at the chance. The moment they could leave space dock he’d take the Sephirot toward the Triangulum galaxy.
And she couldn’t blame him. If Asherah stood alongside the NER instead of against it, they could finally bring down the Angels. Maybe force them to compromise. Raziel had already been trying to get them to see reason—maybe with a united humanity against them they would finally stand down. If not, David would be forced to destroy the Ark. He had already proved the Sephirot could handle one of their lesser ships. With the entire armada of mankind behind it, she was pretty sure they could take on the Ark—high though the cost might be.
In all her visits to Asheran space, she had never come to Asherah itself. The world was dark, its atmosphere clogged with thick clouds of pollution and charged electrical storms. Even from far away, her scanners picked up the massive cities. Or not cities, but city, as though a single entity covered almost the entire planet. A nested web of metal and wire and constant light.
A fleet of leviathans protected the system. Perhaps they were here primarily to guard against the Ark, should it resume its attempt at genocide. Of course, the Sephirot’s reputation no doubt preceded it. She could assume some of the extra precautions were there because of the peace summit.
The whole crew was nervous. It filled the air and seeped into her pores like a miasma of doubt, threatening to choke and drown her. Her eyes itched with it, and she fought the urge to fidget at her console.
“That’s seven leviathans and twice as many cruisers,” she said.
“It’s all right, lass,” David said. He pulled the Sephirot into orbit. “Leah, you have the bridge. I’m heading down to the summit.” He walked over close to Rachel and put a hand on her shoulder.
“I should be going with you.”
He kissed her cheek. “You know they only want me. I’m speaking for the Synod here.”
Frankly, she was jealous of the chance to see Asherah. So few Mizraim citizens ever got to see it. It was frightening, of course, but exciting, too.
She kissed David back, and he left for the hangar.
Rachel drummed her fingers on her console. Of course she knew the Asherans had no reason to invite her, but still … It hurt to be left out. She was the one who started all this. She should be there when mankind finally made peace. And now she’d become just another Sentinel. Nothing special to the Aluf.
Her comm buzzed. “Lieutenant Jordan?”
“Yes?”
“Prisoner Caleb Gavet is asking to speak with you.”
Fine. It would give her something to do. Maybe she’d even have to see about having the poor man released. He’d been through enough. Though she couldn’t read his emotions, her heart told her Caleb was no longer her enemy. He was no longer much of anything. Rebekah and Apollyon had broken him.
She strolled down to the brig and found Caleb pacing his cell, covered in sweat.
“What happened to you?” she asked.
“Rachel! I just heard we’ve come to Asherah.”
“Yeah, we’re in orbit of their homeworld. It’s beautiful, in a sinister kind of way.”
“You can’t trust them, Rachel. We have to leave.”
She snorted. “Weren’t you already in bed with them? Weren’t you the one who urged me to turn to them?”
He slapped both palms against the smart glass and Rachel jumped back. “I was wrong! Don’t you understand? They’re working with Apollyon! They’re cyborgs, Rachel. They’re going to serve him in the end whether they want to or not.”
“What are you—”
Her comm flared. “Suzuki to Jordan. Get to the bridge! Now!”
Leah?
Rachel took a last glance at Caleb then ran back toward the lift. The ship jerked from a sudden impact, and then two more, seconds later. Missiles? God, the Asherans were shooting at them. The summit couldn’t have even started yet. What the void?
She dashed onto the bridge and rushed toward Leah, who sat in the captain’s chair.
On the screen, a missile streamed toward David’s shuttle. It impacted and an antimatter explosion engulfed it. The shuttle’s fusion cell detonated and it vanished in a wave of light.
Rachel tripped and fell to the deck.
That was impossible.
David could not … That was … David?
“Target the lead leviathan,” Leah said. “Full pulse barrage.”
David was … Not possible. No, he had to be fine. He was her husband. Billions had died in this war, but not him …
“There’s too many ships!” the ensign on weapons said.
“Fuck …” Leah mumbled. “Uh … The ion cannons. Can we fire the ion cannons?”
Rachel yanked her from the chair. They needed a Psych pilot for this. “Full spread. Fire everything! Missile barrage on the leviathans, MAGs on the cruisers. Kill them! Kill them all!”
Hundreds of missiles streamed over the view screen. Rachel dove the Sephirot low, breaching the planet’s atmosphere. Let them fire on her now. Let them ignite their own planet. Yes. Let the whole fucking planet burn.
She directed pulse fire on the city below. Buildings evaporated in clouds of ionized gas as the pulse fire ripped away whole kilometers at a time. The Angels weren’t the only ones who could destroy a planet. She wasn’t sure the Sephirot could actually destroy the world, but she could render it lifeless in a matter of minutes. And she aimed to do so.
“Prep the antiproton cannons,” she said. “Target that leviathan.”
The Asherans kept shooting at her, but as she expected, they limited themselves to MAGs. They’d never risk antimatter explosions or plasma fire over their own cities. She didn’t have that problem.
David.
The moment the missile tubes were reloaded she sent out another barrage.
A cruiser imploded, sucked into its own singularity. A second was pulled in. The antiproton cannons streamed, engulfing a leviathan, and it too imploded.
Hundreds of damage flares lit up her console. Rachel ignored them.
David was dust.
They would pay. They would pay! “I’ll kill you all!” she shouted at the remaining ships.
“Rachel!” Leah grabbed her and shook her.
An explosion rocked the bridge and a console blew. A Sentinel fell, plasma burns disintegrating his face.
“Rachel! We have to get out of here!”
“They’ll die first!” Rachel tried to shove the woman away.
Leah yanked her from the chair. “Stop this. Is there another Psych pilot on the bridge?” she shouted.
“Me!” someone else cried.
“Take the chair. Get us the void out of here.”
“No!” Rachel said, and pushed Leah away.
The Amphie bitch grabbed her. Rachel punched her in the face. Or tried. Leah caught the blow on her arm, spun Rachel around, and sent her to her knees with a twist. The impact stung, for a second. Leah’s arm wrapped around her throat. She struggled against the Sentinel, but Leah was stronger and had leverage. Damn Sentinel training was …
Damn Leah … The bitch …
Things began to fade.
David was … She had to get him …
Because …
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED FIFTY-SIX
A thousand times I ran over the event in my mind. A thousand times I saw the end of the world.
Blinding lights shone into David’s eyes and it took several moments of blinking to clear his vision. Magnetic restraints bound him to what appeared to be an operating table.
Bloody void. The EMP had shut down his shuttle. The Asherans must have hit him with some kind of knockout attack after he lost control. Now, men and women in lab coats circled him. Surgical masks blocked his view of their faces.
Someone jabbed an IV into his arm.
“What the void have you buggers done with my suit! Why are you doing this?”
The doctor jerked back, as
if shocked he’d woken. The man moved to adjust a dial attached to the IV. David lunged against his restraints, jerking the whole table but not even budging the mag locks.
“Release me! I am a senior officer of the Sentinels. Release me and we will show leniency.”
A man in Asheran battle armor strode over and gently pushed the doctor aside. The soldier’s faceplate popped open, revealing Aluf Mishma Lamport.
“Welcome, Captain.”
“Get buggered.” This man—this machine—had called him here for peace negotiations. David had come in good faith. Blind faith, as the case appeared. “What do you want with me?”
“We want you, of course. You’ve become a symbol to your government. Your fall will demoralize the remaining Sentinels.”
David laughed. The man was a fool. “Sentinels don’t leave people behind, Aluf. Whether today, tomorrow, or the next day, you’re going to have a bloody fleet of battleships descending on this planet. You can’t even imagine the box of flaming shite you just opened on your own doorstep.”
“No, Captain. They aren’t looking for you. Because to them, you’re dead. A hologram of your shuttle exploding was all they saw. Congratulations. You’re a martyr. Or you will be, until you’re ready to serve us.”
Hologram? Bloody void. If the Aluf spoke the truth, Rachel would be … devastated. Broken.
David roared at the man and strained against his restraints again. The shriek of metal on metal echoed through the room as the table moved a few centimeters. “I will never serve Asherah. You’re totally off rotation if you think—”
“You won’t have a choice, Captain.” He stood aside, and waved the doctor over.
The man slid a table on wheels to David’s bedside, revealing an assortment of metal-pronged devices. Cybernetic implants.
“The Beast is coming for you,” the Aluf said, then put a hand on David’s shoulder. “Just as it came for me. Don’t fight it. Soon, you will become a symbol of the new order.”
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED FIFTY-SEVEN
May 17th
Oblivion is mercy.
The void had swallowed her alive. Rachel couldn’t breathe, couldn’t understand why her heart was still beating. She had woken in her room, her head aching, her vision foggy. It cleared, but she still could not believe what had happened. The universe could not be so cruel … Mac was … he wouldn’t go down like that. Blown away on a shuttle …
All she had been fighting for meant nothing.
She slumped from her bed onto the floor. She tried to push herself up, but her muscles wouldn’t work. Nothing worked. The holy universe was malfunctioning. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. She wasn’t meant to live without …
Her chest trembled, then shook. Sobs wracked her and she fell over, unable to control them. Why should she? Why should she do anything? It was enough. Too much. She had done too much. The price. Her fault.
She had created all of this. Her pride. Her refusal to accept the universe as it was. Reap the whirlwind.
She cried until her head felt ready to split open. Until her sides stung. Until she had no moisture left in her eyes.
When she woke, she was still on the floor. A thick dryness filled her mouth, like chewing on sawdust.
Her body ached when she sat, and the room spun around her. For a moment she steadied herself, then made her way to the washroom. She popped a sanitizer tab in her mouth and tried to savor the minty fizz. A shower. A hot shower.
She stripped and stood under the spray for a long time. As if the past could be washed away so easily. As if the loss of the future could be cleaned with water and heat and soap.
Her spine cracked as she stretched. Sleeping on the floor … bad for the body. Just keep going. Just for today.
She had to. She had to see the Asherans punished. It was all that remained to her. She would bring the Sephirot back and destroy them. All of them. The wrath of God would descend upon them.
And it would wear her face.
She turned off the shower and flipped on the evaporator. In a rush of heat all the water on her skin turned to steam. She pulled her uniform back on. David had made her a Sentinel. Like he was. So now one Sentinel would avenge another.
And for a thousand years all mankind would remember the price of betrayal.
“Mazzaroth on,” she said. “Contact Ezekiel Knight.”
Seconds later he appeared on screen, shirtless. The network of scars crisscrossing his chiseled muscles no longer entranced her. She felt nothing.
“What the void, Rachel? I’ve called twice.”
“I was … indisposed. Something has happened.”
When she didn’t speak, Knight spread his hands. “ … And?”
“Asherah betrayed the peace summit.” Her throat was so dry her voice sounded like a whisper. “They destroyed the shuttle Mac was on.”
Knight’s mouth opened a second, then shut. “I’m sorry,” he said at last.
Phoebe stepped into view. “God, Rachel. I’m so sorry.”
She nodded. There was nothing else to say on the matter. “Is Raziel with you?”
“No,” Knight said. “He still hopes to communicate with the Angels. He told me they built seven seals, and that five are now gone. They made the Adversary to fight some kind of aliens called the Lotan, but they lost control of it. If the seals break, the Adversary has a whole armada to send against the Angels. Most likely, they’re falling back to defend them now.”
“Are you still on Gadara?”
“Nope,” Phoebe said. “Hannah wanted to take the Wake back to Eden.”
“Phoebe … You’d be the captain of the Sephirot now. But you’re not here.”
“Yup, yup … So who did David leave in charge?”
Rachel glowered. “Leah.”
“She’s a doctor.”
“Yeah. Send the signal. Name me acting captain.”
Phoebe twirled her hair. “Uh … Rachel, I don’t know about that …”
“I aim to make them pay for what they’ve done.”
Phoebe shook her head. “All the more reason you’d be compromised. Command is a huge responsibility.”
“I commanded the Ark itself! Think how you would feel if it were Knight.”
The Icie glanced at Knight, who stood silently by her side. “I … uh … Okay, Rachel. But promise me you won’t throw your life away. Promise me you won’t waste the lives of the crew.”
Rachel shut her eyes. Maybe part of her wanted to do just that. To fly the Sephirot straight back to Asherah and blast them to smithereens, no matter the cost. But Phoebe was right. That was not the legacy David would want. No. He’d want his crew protected. She would have her vengeance, but not through a suicide mission.
“I promise.”
“Then I’ll send the signal.”
“What about us?” Knight said.
“Stay with Hertz. I’ll rendezvous with you when I’m able. Mazzaroth off.”
Rachel strode from her quarters toward the lift. Before the attack, Caleb had been trying to tell her something. Void, he’d been trying to warn her about Asherah. What had he said? That they would serve Apollyon whether they wanted to or not. What did that mean?
Before she exited to the brig, another triangle insignia appeared on her uniform. Lieutenant Commander. Phoebe must have made the call. “Computer,” she asked. “Who is in charge of this ship?”
“Acting Captain Rachel Jordan.”
Good.
Leah might be pissed. Let her be.
Rachel hurried through the brig to Caleb’s cell. The man sat with his head in his hands, trembling. He mumbled to himself like some off rotation freak. Or … like a Psych during an Ascension. But Caleb was no Psych. Whatever Apollyon had done to him was driving him mad.
Rachel tapped the controls to open the door and stepped inside.
“What did you mean? They would serve him whether they wanted to or not?”
Caleb looked up. His eyes were red, lined with dark circles. His ch
eeks showed nail marks, like he had clawed at them. Scratching his own damn face off. The poor bastard was going to need to be sedated. But before that, she needed answers.
“Caleb!”
He shook himself. “The … uh … the cybernetic implants, Rachel. It makes them vulnerable. Somehow, with machines in the body, the Adversary can touch you. It … it haunts. It forces you to … There’s no peace, Rachel. Not even in sleep. An endless waking nightmare.”
The implants. Cybernetics …
Rachel shuddered and put a hand on Caleb’s head. He suffered too much. More than even he deserved.
Cybernetics.
“Can it be removed?” Rachel asked.
Caleb swallowed. “Even if you had someone with the skills … I’d be blind. Besides, part of it is hooked right into my brain.”
Raziel had said the Angels could no longer live without them. But … because of them they were at war with themselves. What had he said exactly? And so we live in continuous torment, at war with ourselves, trembling before the passage of the Beast. And some of us fell. She had thought he meant civil war between Angels. And there had been that … But Raziel meant … the Beast. That was what Caleb was suffering. The Beast was some kind of possession, through cybernetic implants. Because of the machines, the Adversary could touch the Angels’ minds, even from another universe.
Raziel was literally at war within his own mind. A war to retain his own free will.
Some of the Angels fell … to the Beast. They became servants of the Adversary.
She backed away until she bumped into the cell wall.
Many of the Angels themselves broke under the strain. The fallen were the ones who literally fell in the war—and became possessed by the Beast. And Asherah … the entire Asheran military was cybered.