Alex. He didn’t have to ask, for he knew it in the way one soul knew another. He smiled to himself, then belatedly realized Mia was staring at him expectantly, waiting for an answer on the fate of one she loved.
He thought about the condition he’d left the Marines in and decided she couldn’t benefit from the messy details. “He’s fine, but there are a lot of wounded on the ground. We need…we need a way to get them up here. The aliens, at least—our people can handle standard medical evac on their end, for the most part, but they don’t have the equipment or the knowledge needed to treat aliens who are badly injured.”
He nodded, decision made. “Tell Nisi he’s about to have a full medical suite, and he needs to do whatever is necessary to expand its capabilities. Then go to the break room down the hall. That’s the largest, most open space I can think of on Satus. I suspect we’re going to require your help.”
Mia went to work without asking any questions. Being highly adaptive as well as levelheaded in a crisis were only two of her many excellent qualities.
He checked Felzeor’s cot again, but all he was able to determine was that work was being done, so he teleported back to Alpha and into the midst of the maelstrom.
Alex, I need you.
15
CHIONIS
ANARCH POST ALPHA
* * *
THE SIYANE MATERIALIZED MID-DESCENT thirty meters above the ground. Though Caleb had been tracking its approach since it entered the atmosphere and knew when the ship neared, its abrupt appearance still made for a startling sight, and a beautiful one.
He kept partial attention on two active clashes, though for now they remained some distance away. He’d chosen a location near one of the Marines’ forward operating bases, where a number of injured anarchs had been taken for shelter and eventual evacuation, but not so close as to be inside its defensive perimeter. If the enemy advanced on this location, dispatching the attackers might be up to him.
The Siyane settled to the ground, the hatch opened, the ramp descended and Alex strode purposefully down it.
He did a double-take. Her eyes and glyphs shone so brightly they created a halo effect in the snow falling around her. Her gait was more controlled and measured than was typical for her, but she didn’t seem injured. What had happened to her?
An old dread he’d believed long buried stirred in his gut. What had she become?
She walked straight over to him and grasped his hands in hers. “I’m here. What are we doing?”
Though she was surely looking at him, her eyes were like stars, radiating a blazing white that consumed her pupils and any hint of her irises. He could discern no focus in them. He had no idea what to say, where to begin…so he squeezed her hands in response, almost surprised they were real and tangible and present on this plane of existence.
She held something in her palm, something interfering with her touch. He reflexively glanced down, and she opened her palm to reveal a thin, four-centimeter long module of some sort. “It’s so I can maintain my connection to the ship while I’m out here.”
His eyes shot back up to her otherworldly ones. “Your…” the dread shed the remnants of slumber and readied itself for action “…what kind of connection?”
She smiled. “It’s okay. Valkyrie’s off finding survivors, and it’s so important to her that I couldn’t ask her to return. I needed direct access to the quantum circuitry in the Siyane in order to harness the energy from the Caeles Prism to open and traverse a wormhole on my own. To blow up the Imperium, which is a thing I did. This was the way.”
He brought a hand up to caress her neck and pull her closer. “Oh, Alex.”
She relaxed easily into his embrace. “I know you’re worried, but everything’s different now. I’m different now. I can control this power without it controlling me.”
He drew back and tried to find the heart of her gaze within the blinding irises; he wasn’t certain he succeeded. But her touch and her voice carried the truth of her words, so he would believe them until that changed. “If it gets to be too much, don’t hide it. I’ll be here for you, no matter what happens.”
“I know you will. But right now, I’m here for you. What do I need to do?”
He blinked and shook off the spell she’d cast. “We need to move wounded anarchs to Post Satus, and maybe some of our people, too. Mia has set up in the break room near the medical suite there to receive incoming, and the medical staff is expecting more patients. If you have her precise location, can you open a wormhole to it, and hold it open and stable for a while?”
“I can, but I won’t be able to do much of anything else while I am. Between keeping a tear through the space-time continuum open in a neat little person-sized oval and cycling the Caeles Prism on and off in nanosecond bursts so it doesn’t overload and explode—oh, and walking and talking—I’ll be fairly taxed.”
“That’s fine. More than fine.” He squeezed her shoulder affectionately, letting his fingers run over the dancing light of the glyphs along her neck for a single second. “I’ll take care of everything else. You just stand there and…blaze like the sun.”
She grinned impishly and stepped into the open space beside the Siyane.
Caleb Marano (mission): “All ground forces, to the extent you are able, bring any injured civilians you discover to my broadcast location for immediate medical evacuation. Forward Base 1 remains the preferred initial destination for injured AEGIS personnel, but anyone with life-threatening wounds should be brought to the evacuation point as well. If you’re unable to reach this location or face enemy resistance in doing so, alert me and I’ll provide assistance.”
A lone Marine trudged down the hill with a Novoloume draped limply across his shoulders. Caleb couldn’t say which of them looked worse—both were bleeding in several places and coated in snow turned dirty by more than grime.
He met the Marine halfway and eased the injured alien off his shoulders. The Novoloume was unconscious, so together they carried it the last few meters.
The Marine considered the shimmering oval warily. “Why can’t I see through to the other side?”
Caleb shrugged. “I don’t know. But I do know that on the other side is safety and medical help.”
“Your retinas can’t process the nonspatial dimensions flowing between here and the other side, so of course they can’t resolve what’s beyond them.”
They both turned to Alex, albeit wearing wildly different expressions. The Marine grimaced. “Nonspatial dimensions?”
Caleb clasped him on the shoulder. “It’s perfectly safe. Dozens have gone through so far, and I’ve confirmed they arrived in no worse shape than they left in.”
“All right. Thanks for the help. I can take the alien.”
Caleb stepped back. “Get yourself looked at, too.”
“When I can.” The Marine gathered the unconscious Novoloume up in his arms, stepped into the wormhole and vanished.
They’d moved the injured anarchs gathered at Forward Base 1 to Satus in the first few minutes. After that, survivors had arrived in twos, threes and fours, limping, bleeding and often in the arms or on the backs of others. He’d dispatched three stray Ch’mshak who’d tried for the wormhole and another five who’d attacked survivors en route. It felt as if they’d been at it for hours, but a quick time check asserted it had only been twenty-one minutes.
Alex leaned in a falsely casual stance against the Siyane’s hull, and he wondered if it was to lessen the effort required to stay standing. When she moved, it was in an oddly stilted manner, as if each flexion and extension of muscle required conscious direction. But she was moving and talking, even while maintaining a wormhole which crossed more than a thousand parsecs. Even while inhabiting the ship.
God how he hoped she came out the other side of this crisis well and whole. She didn’t deserve to suffer that nightmare a second time.
She caught him staring at her, and the corners of her mouth curled up. “I can see through to the other
side. But I’m cheating.”
“That’s not the word I would use to describe what you’re doing.”
The scuffle of approaching survivors cut off any response—he hoped it would have been a smartass one—and he hurried to help them cross the final meters. Walking wounded all, two Barisans sported numerous cuts, a broken arm and a busted eye. Behind them trailed a diminutive humanoid alien with iridescent teal skin. One of the exobiology lab refugees?
The two Barisans stumbled into the opening without hesitation, but the smaller alien scurried backward when it saw them disappear. Caleb scanned the perimeter for trouble then went over and crouched in front of it. “Hi. Come on, I’ll help you.” He offered a hand, and after studying it suspiciously for a few seconds, the alien placed its hand in his.
He checked Alex over the head of the alien. “Be right back.”
She started to nod—then whipped around to stare at the sky behind the Siyane. The edges of the wormhole wavered. “Fuck me.”
He quickly followed her stare to its destination. On the horizon, a Machim heavy frigate skidded over the peak of one of the towering mountains. The collision slowed but didn’t stop it, and it now careened out of control toward them, smoke and flames pouring out from multiple hull breaches. The vale that had protected the anarch post wound narrowly between two mountains, which meant no matter where the vessel impacted, it was going to be catastrophic.
He spun to shove the small alien through the wormhole, but it was already sprinting into the opening. His eyes returned to the sky as the shadow of the looming vessel reached them.
The frigate veered jerkily all the way down, as if someone was trying to fly it to the very end, which came two seconds later when it crashed onto the slope no farther than eighty meters past where they stood. Tremors raced across the ground from the impact, and the wormhole vacillated precipitously as Alex stumbled. She hurriedly backed up to brace herself against the hull of the Siyane, but he reached her first and grasped her shoulders protectively.
Colliding with the ground hardly slowed it either, and the ship barreled through rock and snow and sediment, kicking up massive plumes of earth in its wake. Chunks of hull ripped off to tumble down the hillside, where thankfully only Ch’mshak bodies and a crater holding the former transport vessel remained.
It finally thudded to a stop another two hundred meters from where it first crashed when the bow section smashed into the solid rock of the western mountainside cliff. The rear bucked upward then slammed back down to the ground, sending another shudder outward from the impact point. The port side of the frigate settled atop the fringes of what had been the southern perimeter fence of Post Alpha.
A Marine he didn’t know jogged to a stop beside them. “Holy shit.”
“No kidding.” Caleb exhaled and surveyed the situation. Alex blinked a couple of times and rubbed at her jaw, but she seemed coherent. To the east and north, survivors who had been making their way to the evacuation point stood frozen in shock. He’d understand if this was one disaster too many for them, but they weren’t in the clear yet.
He leaned in close to Alex’s ear. “Are you all right?”
She managed a winded laugh while squeezing his hand. Then she stepped away, faced the open area and reformed the wormhole.
They had better make good use of it. He raised his voice, cupping his hand around his mouth for added effect. “Okay, everybody. We need to get you moving and out of here before that happens again.”
It took a few seconds, but most snapped out of their stupors and began proceeding onward.
“Caleb….”
The warning in her voice sent him instantly to her side once more. “What’s wrong?”
She didn’t respond for a second, but even with the blinding irises it was obvious her gaze was locked on the flaming wreckage of the frigate. She inhaled sharply. “The superluminal engine core has ruptured. It’s going to blow.”
“Shit. How long?”
Her face screwed up in concentration. “Fifty seconds, a minute at most.”
“Get the ramp down.” He grabbed her hand and tugged her toward the Siyane’s airlock.
Caleb Marano (mission): “All personnel on the ground or in low altitude on Chionis, clear the area immediately. If you can reach the evacuation site in thirty seconds, do so. Otherwise, move as far away from the crashed Machim vessel as you can, right now.”
Next he yelled in the direction of Forward Base 1. “Marines, that means you! We are all leaving!”
Alex stopped at the base of the ramp and refocused on the wormhole as evacuees began arriving in renewed waves. He left her there and went to usher battered and bleeding aliens along as rapidly as possible. When they were through, he looked up to see another group of Marines, far up the hill and only now emerging from the northern ruins.
Jenner, get your people down here now.
I heard your directive. We’re about to start heading toward the transports.
No time. You won’t make it.
He teleported to their location. Instantly a bubble of diati expanded out to encompass everyone, which turned out to be a lot of Marines—grace willing, all the Marines. But now the bubble covered too large an area for him to teleport them directly to Post Satus or, reliably, any ship above the planet. Not and guarantee they all ended up safely inside.
Jenner frowned. “What are you—?”
And now they were beside the Siyane. He pulled the diati in and gestured at the wormhole, internally taking note that moving them all hadn’t been much more taxing than moving himself. The limits of his power still lay somewhere off in the distance.
“We’ll get you all to the fleet once this is over. Just go!”
Jenner was again frowning like he wanted to protest, but Harper limped up and started shoving her squadmates through the wormhole, at which point Jenner sighed and motioned his people ahead.
Caleb scanned the area a final time—and spotted three stragglers stumbling toward them from the west, left behind by their comrades in the rush to reach safety. He frantically waved them forward. “Come on! You have to get through now!” Two sped up, but the third, a Naraida, collapsed to their knees.
“Alex?”
“Twenty seconds. Maybe.”
He teleported forty meters, scooped the Naraida up and teleported back. He handed the injured alien off to her companions, who were now reaching the evacuation site, urged them all forward until they disappeared, and spun around.
Alex stood at the top of the ramp like a goddamn avenging angel. The image burned indelibly into his mind, ensuring he would never forget it.
“Shut it down. Let’s move. Valkyrie?”
“She’s secure, but offline for a few minutes.” Alex backed into the cabin as he sprinted up the ramp. They lifted off the instant he cleared the airlock, before the ramp had retracted—and before she had reached the cockpit. She was controlling it all with her mind.
A booming roar erupted from the south to roil the hull and throw him into the cockpit. “Go now!”
His body forcibly slammed down into his chair as the Siyane shot upward and the first shock waves from the explosion roared over the ship. A new wormhole opened in front of the bow, and they hurtled through it.
PART III:
THE HARSH LIGHT OF NIGHT
“Between stimulus and response there is a space.
In that space is our power to choose our response.
In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
— Viktor E. Frankl (attributed)
16
TARACH
ANARCH POST DELTA
PEGASUS DWARF GALAXY
LGG REGION VI
* * *
“—WORSE THAN WHAT I FEARED could happen—”
“Is that so? Because a whole lot of lives were saved thanks to the efforts of—”
“I should not have trusted your people with our secrets, and now my mistake has cost us dearly.”
David took two step
s toward the Sator. “Our people are the only reason you didn’t lose every single anarch on Chionis.”
“Excuse me, but who are you, and what gives you the right to be present in this room?”
Richard almost laughed, though he also withdrew deeper into the corner of the tension-filled room in an effort not to be noticed. Hell of a question that was, and the answer defied reason.
The collective leadership of AEGIS and the anarch resistance was gathered at yet another of the anarchs’ secret locations. This one they called Post Delta, and the planet it called home was a hellhole compared to what he’d seen of the previous two locales, but that was neither here nor there and irrelevant at this particular moment.
Richard wasn’t clear on why he was present in the room, other than that he’d been in the previous room with Miriam and the others when Sator Nisi had called them to this meeting post-haste. At Miriam’s urging he’d tagged along, but on arriving he’d positioned himself near the wall and stayed quiet. The better to watch and learn, for often interpersonal dynamics played a larger role than hard intel in the success or failure of an enterprise.
David wasn’t so much on board with the staying quiet. In fact, he’d clashed with the Sator almost from the Anaden’s first words. In one respect, Richard understood why—his friend had never harbored a second of patience for smooth, charismatic politicians who concealed more than they revealed and whose fallback answer to any question was evasion. No surprise they weren’t getting along.
But the situation now teetered on legitimate ugliness.
Miriam had stepped outside to review several urgent updates on post-combat fleet status and to issue the orders inevitably following from them. It meant she wasn’t here to diffuse the building acrimony or to answer Nisi’s consequential question.
Caleb looked around, then, presumably noting her absence, stepped up beside David. “He’s a valued military advisor on the AEGIS Council, and he’s in the room because he deserves to be. Look, the simple truth is, no one but a Kat or a powerful Inquisitor could have detected the tracker, and only at very close proximity. You could not have detected it until you were standing next to it, and possibly not then.”
Requiem: Aurora Resonant Book Three (Aurora Rhapsody 9) Page 14