The North was just behind the battle cruisers and had nowhere to go. What should have been a fleet in retreat was instead right on her.
“C’mon baby,” Jakob said.
A dozen bursts of flame rose up from the shadowed craters of the moon.
Jakob blinked and groaned. They were all headed right for the North.
How did the marines miss those Qin bases? Good God, we swept that whole moon!
He closed his eyes just before the moment of impact.
The Air Group Commander yelled out orders to all of the bombers and fighters. His voice, reassuring so often, still howled to get moving.
Finally Jakob looked. The missiles were flaring past the North.
“Yah, baby!”
The Qin fleet disengaged, punching out long-distance rounds that all went for the only ship left on the field, the North.
Jakob hurriedly laid out the plot and ran at low velocity so that his thrusters could match speed with the one working jet. Nothing but wreckage was on his path. Two of his bombers fell in line. A pack of fighters swooped in and covered him.
The Qin fleet was on its way out of the near pull of the moon.
Jakob watched the plot and saw their destination. This wasn’t a ruse or a probe—they were headed right into orbit.
“Everyone get on the deck and reloaded! The Qin are headed in. It’s on like Donkey Kong.”
He looked up at the North. She wasn’t dead yet.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Gavin stood and took the moment in. Where would it end? What other atrocities could his grandfather commit? He started to walk away and stopped himself. It was his family. His burden to know.
The anger simmered beneath and he exhaled. A cloud of frosty breath shot out across the room. Did he redeem himself? Could he judge Erik yet, without knowing the rest of the story?
Onna tapped on the door frame and half leaned herself in. “Hey, you should come see this.”
“What?”
Onna cleared her throat. She glanced down at the console and then back up to Gavin. “The Qin are entering low orbit. The fleets are engaging.”
Gavin looked down. “I’m almost done.”
She left him alone. Gavin sat down again, his hands over the keys. Only a few entries left.
July 11, 2710
Rob and Claire are both so big now. It still amazes me how quickly a child can grow. I don’t see them as often as I like. Rob is progressing in command school. I try not to pry, but I can’t help but see. He’s brilliant.
Claire is a shrewd tactician with a wild streak. She’ll make a fine commander, but not as good as Rob. Where she knows the proper tactic, Rob invents a new one.
We have roughly a hundred thousand troops serving off planet. The population was slow to enlist until the first batch came back. And, surprisingly, most of them survived. They came with stories and tales that were nothing but victory. Now we have the skills we need.
I had a vision. When the Qin finally subdue their neighbors, what then? I see humans on the ground, enslaved. They are the iron fist that strikes for the Qin. We would be enforcers. We would be slaves. What path leads us to freedom and independence?
August 14, 2710
We will bring the Terran Union to war.
If we destroy them here, as I know we will, then they will simply retreat, and it will be a slog of Qin in the stars and us on the ground. We are too few. Eventually, we will fail.
Now our tacticians are laying the groundwork for a way to end it, bring peace, and ensure that there is a balance. Those other alien races are a counterbalance. I must find a way for man to be a balance as well.
First, we will let the TU land, to bring in the bulk of the invasion force. We will use subpar troops and lull them into thinking they will win. They will have to corral themselves where the orbital defenses can’t strike. This will allow the Qin fleet to pocket them up and destroy the fleets.
Only then will we release our elite soldiers and drive them back.
Then we must stop the war. We will beat them so soundly. So terribly. So truly. They will have no option but to halt. Then, a negotiated peace.
We will liquidate the officer corps. This will ensure that war can’t continue. The TU can’t sustain a loss that massive.
It is terrible. Horrible? But think of the genocide in the stars that I will stop.
Will the Qin halt? I think so. It buys them time elsewhere.
I told Rob. He sees the logic in it. Even at ten years old, he sees so much.
What I haven’t told him is we are building a fleet. When the time is right, then we will make a niche for ourselves. He’s too young for that secret yet.
December 1, 2718
Damn him.
The bloody fool. Everything I have planned for is being ruined by that foolish child.
Rob departed and served on foreign deployment for five years. The troops with him were fanatical. They fought against the Toolish race in the deep cities on Ash VI, years of close-quarters urban combat and terrible casualties. He led them to victory and molded them into his own troops.
A warlord? A revolutionary? He is not content to wait.
His forces attempted a coup. They held the capital, the starport, and most of the cities. But when it came to it, they couldn’t take the orbital defenses. They were too few.
Claire led the forces that brought him in. She had no issue executing most of his troops.
I pleaded for his life to be spared. W’liinz, the lawgiver, finally relented.
They don’t understand how my own grandson would try to murder me. Twice now, I’ve been shot. This time I might not survive.
Someday, Claire will know what to do. For now, we must follow our terrible plan and end this war swiftly. Only then can we be free.
Gavin clicked off the console and stared at the black screen. What was his brother? His grandfather was a monster, his sister an officer in the enemy he was sworn to fight, but what was Rob? Did he truly seek to end all of this?
He left the admiral’s office and made his way through the dead starship. He pushed back the plastic and stood in the center of the room.
Rob looked back at him with his hands on his hips. “You know.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Vince started to speak, and Onna silenced him with a hiss.
“What would I say? Our grandfather is a madman who has to be stopped before he assists the Qin in genocide? Or that our sister will follow any order regardless of the outcomes? I told you the TU will lose here; they’ll get shit-kicked so bad that they’ll have to sue for peace.”
Gavin studied his brother. His wounds were almost completely healed, the burns totally gone. “What do you intend to do?”
“Help me,” Rob said. He stepped up a pace away from Gavin and held out his hand. “Help me end this.”
They clasped hands and Gavin pulled his brother tight. The one man he could truly trust on the planet. The only other anywhere nearby was in orbit, his father. “I’ll do it. But how?”
“We need to get to the ocean. The Qin headquarters is there. By now, they’ve transferred the command systems. It’s the only place that we can take control of everything.”
“Just us?” Gavin said.
A confident smile grew on Rob’s face. “I still have loyal troops. We could even use TU forces to regain control.”
Jack burst through the screen. His lip were blue. Frost crested on his eyelashes. “I’m done!” he said through chattering teeth. “It’s ready.”
Gavin stared straight at Rob and clenched his hand tight. “Let’s end this.”
Rob returned the grip. “As brothers.”
“Can I just warm up?” Jack said. He collapsed onto a heap of blankets.
“Vince, Onna, help Jack. We’re headed outside to mark the landing area,” Gavin said. He threw back a pile of blankets and handed Rob his pistol. “You might need this.”
Rob holstered it and left the room.
Onna drew her pistol and gave it to Gavin. “And you’ll probably need this. Now, let’s get the hell out of here.”
####
A single burst of energy blasted out from the half-wrecked radio array of the starship Mackinac. It parted through the clouds, past a wing of Qin interceptors, and finally breached into orbit.
The destroyer Hawaii picked up the signal. It came across as an emergency signal on a frequency that hadn’t been used in twenty years. The ship’s computer processed it as a distress call. It wasn’t encrypted. The data was simple.
Lieutenant Milosh looked up from his screen and leaned back. “Cap, uh, we’ve got something.”
Captain Gardener was completely focused on the space around him. “Watch that wing! If the Poland pulls back, we have to as well.” He turned to Milosh. “Now, what is it?”
“Distress call.”
Gardener waved him off. “There’ll be plenty of those, son.”
“It’s the Sky Marshall’s son, sir.”
Captain Gardener looked up, wide-eyed, from his display.
####
It bounced off a thousand starships and fighters. The signal was a bright beacon that friend—and foe—received.
Admiral Moss burst through the office door. The marine sentry didn’t even have a chance to stop her. “Kane! They’ve got him!”
Kane McCloud looked up from his consoles; star fleet battles raged on each one. “Who?”
“Gavin! He’s alive!”
Kane brought a hand to his face and barely touched his chin. “Gavin…”
“He’s alive. He’s at the Mackinac. We’ve got it on satellite image. Permission to—“
“Send out the spec ops teams now! Full cover! I want every asset that we can spare down there now!”
Admiral Moss saluted and rushed out with a grin on her face.
Kane sobbed gently and the marine closed his door.
####
Commander Marie Lacroix rushed out of the command area. A trio of marines let her pass without a word or a glance.
She pushed an ensign out of her way and sprinted down the corridor. Time. She had no time. “Make way! Make way!”
Sailors and officers, busy themselves but understanding of a serious mission, stepped away and let her pass. Her eyes were wild, her arms pumped at her side.
Out of breath, Marie burst into her quarters. At her rank, she had the privilege of a private berth in a very crowded ship. It didn’t hurt that she was Admiral Billings’s aide.
Her hands shook with excitement. She opened up her sea chest, pulled aside a false bottom, and revealed a harmless-looking wooden box. Its edges were worn from time, and crayon stained one side. One dainty hinge was broken.
“Please,” Marie whispered over and over. She folded back the lid and revealed a Qin transmitter.
Blue lights blinked and finally went steady. It connected to the Qin network and then pulsed gently. Waiting.
She gave one glance over her shoulder but knew no one was watching. She’d done this same thing a hundred times now. Will it be enough?
“Kane’s son and the locksmith are at the site of Mackinac. You need to hurry! They’re launching dropships now to retrieve them. Hurry! Oh God! Hurry!”
The door exploded. It bounced off the far wall, and before it landed, the breach team was in.
A man in black armor stormed inside with a stubby gun. “Down, down, down, down!”
Blaring sirens rang out. More soldiers plowed into the room right behind.
Marie lunged for the sea chest and the pistol inside. Her fingers just grasped it when a hundred thousand volts blasted into her. Every nerve seized. Every muscle spasmed.
General Dinah Amit stepped her heavy boot onto Marie’s pistol. She squatted down and plucked up the Qin cube.
“Marie? Marie?” a man’s voice called from the device.
General Amit turned it over in her hand. She gave a sideways glance at Marie and shrugged. “Marie isn’t here.”
Tears rolled down Marie’s face. “My daughter. My daughter.”
####
The meager message travelled on a narrow-band Qin frequency that rippled through the low orbit. It passed the wreck of the York just after it made its last stand. Had the York not sacrificed herself, the special-ops teams would have died in orbit.
The signal struck the atmosphere at the same moment the TU dropships headed down toward the Mackinac.
####
Claire watched the radio indicators and replayed the event. Her tech officers didn’t have any other word for it. A massive radio burst had gone off somewhere on the continent, somewhere close, but it wasn’t where any of the TU or Coalition units were. Worst of all, they didn’t get a good fix on it.
“Get to Qin Command see if they can help us,” Claire said. She looked up and saw Davos walking in with Lacroix at his side. She didn’t have any patience for the traitor, not now.
Davos came into the cell and crossed his arms on his chest. “Lacroix is demanding to speak with you.”
“The Qin are fighting the fleet battle. Tell him to talk to them,” Claire said. She turned back to her console without even looking at Lacroix.
Davos grabbed Lacroix and pulled him away.
“I know where they are!”
Claire turned. “Who?”
“The locksmith and the officer, Kane’s son.”
Claire stopped. “The officer? Kane who?”
“Kane McCloud, his son is Gavin McCloud. Now—“
“Shut up.” Claire felt goose bumps grow on her arm. No one had told her who she was chasing; it was just another TU officer and his lackey. Lacroix never told her about Kane McCloud.
The moment struck her like a brick. Her father was above. Her brother, the enemy, on the ground. She pushed away sentiment, memories of a little girl, everything, and focused on the mission. Find the locksmith. Find the officer. Kill Rob. Beat the Terran Union. My only family is here.
The final key was still fresh in her mind. Earn our freedom.
“Where?” Claire said.
Lacroix looked at Davos and then back to Claire. “I want my daughter.”
“Where are they?” Claire shouted. She pulled out her pistol and held it at her hip. “Where!”
“Give me my daughter! That was the deal! They caught my wife. She’s going to die up there. You bastards promised us our daughter back!”
Claire tapped the pistol twice against her thigh. “Davos, get her.”
Davos narrowed his eyes just a fraction of an inch. Then he turned and walked away in silence.
“Now tell me.”
“At the wreck of the Mackinac.”
Lacroix turned and watched where Davos was headed. He strained to see, stood up on his toes. Every part of him was taut.
Claire took a step closer, raised the pistol, and shot Lacroix in the back of the head. Lacroix’s body fell in a heap.
“Everyone and everything to the Mackinac, now!” Claire shouted.
Officers stood in the cells around her. Some looked to the others, not quite understanding what was happening.
“Everyone, NOW!”
Davos came into cell. “What ever happened to his daughter?”
“She died years ago, fighting for the Qin.”
Davos shook his head.
Claire turned and stormed off. “Davos, take command of that op. Bring the locksmith and Gavin McCloud to Qin command when you have them. We’re going to end this.”
####
The moment that Jacques Lacroix’s heart stopped beating, a tiny radio transmitter fired a relay and sent off a signal. Two floors down, his transmitter cube clicked on and a recording beamed itself up into orbit. This time it passed a brawl of epic proportions.
The radio transmission, in a fraction of a millisecond, passed the most terrible battle site in history. The Qin fleet, shaped like a wedge, was driving right into the center of the TU defenses. But for every ship the Qin knocked out, they lost two of t
heir own. Mankind had learned how to fight the Qin. For if there was one thing man excelled at, it was war.
The other, betrayal.
General Dinah Amit moved aside when Sky Marshall Kane McCloud stepped into the room. The Sky Marshall studied the surroundings, the cube, and finally looked at Marie.
“Why?” he asked her in barely a whisper.
Marie answered in a croak of someone who’d been crying too long. “To get my daughter back. I’d have done anything. They took her twenty years ago. You, of all people, should understand.”
Kane didn’t answer. He studied her face and then turned to walk away.
The Qin cube whistled twice in a dull tone.
Two soldiers immediately raised weapons. A third grabbed onto the Sky Marshall and moved to push him out of the room. No one knew if it was a bomb.
Jacques Lacroix’s voice spoke slowly. “If you’re hearing this, I’m dead.”
Marie sobbed loudly.
“I don’t know much, but if you can still fight, get away from the oceans. The Qin have submerged missile batteries that will engage as soon as the fleets fight. It was a trick, it was always a trick, to get the Terran Union into close orbit.”
Kane looked up at General Amit. A moment later, ship-wide alarms sounded. Prepare for impact.
“You can’t escape from them in orbit. Get out. Flee. Marie, I love you.”
####
The missile batteries were a thousand meters deep underneath a briny sea.
The Qin had evolved on a planet that was mostly water. Should history have been different and they’d had no land, then it was unlikely they’d have learned to smelt iron, alloy steel, and reach the stars.
Instead, they sought to master the stars.
The first arrays of missiles broke the surfaces. A thousand strong, they rose up through the air and punched out of the atmosphere. The Terran Union fleet was right above them, soaring above the blue seas; they had no idea the death that came from below.
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