Galactic War (The Pike Chronicles Book 9)

by G. P. Hudson

  Jamie’s first thought was to kill the man, and his hand subtly reached for his blade, but he caught himself before he did anything he would regret. “You should learn to hold your tongue,” he growled. “Or next time I might cut it out.”

  If the threat frightened the man, he did not show it. Jamie imagined that anyone willing to use an energy whip on themselves was not smart enough, or sane enough to feel fear.

  Realizing that he had attracted plenty of unwanted attention, Jamie turned to leave. The crowd parted, giving him a wide berth. At least they knew better, he thought. The hooded man’s eyes stayed on him, but he wisely chose not to make any further comments.

  Chapter 3

  Jamie hit the board with his toy hammer, trying his best to imitate his father. He looked up at his dad. The man looked like a giant standing on the ladder, effortlessly driving nails into the hard, wooden exterior of their house. Noticing his gaze, the man stopped for a moment and smiled back at his son.

  “You’re doing a fantastic job, Jamie,” his father said reassuringly. “Keep it up.”

  “Okay,” Jamie said, and banged away at the board with renewed vigor, determined to make his father proud.

  “Jamie,” came his mother’s voice from the window. “Come inside the house.”

  “I can’t,” Jamie said. “I’m helping dad.”

  “Jamie! Come inside right now!” His mom sounded scared. Jamie had never heard her sound that way before.

  His dad heard it too and stopped working. “What’s wrong, Bev?”

  “A car is coming. I don’t like it.”

  A car, Jamie thought excitedly. He didn’t get to see many of those.

  “Get inside, son,” his father said firmly. “Listen to your mom.”

  Jamie saw the black vehicle coming up the dirt road, as he ran into the house. He also saw his father walking toward it, the hammer still in his hand.

  “Why can’t I stay outside and help dad?” Jamie said to his mother, who stood staring out the window.

  “Oh no,” she said in a trembling voice. She turned from the window and put a finger to her mouth, telling him to be quiet. As much as Jamie wanted to protest, there was something about the panic in her eyes that stopped him from speaking. His mother rushed forward, hoisted him off the ground and ran out the back door into the woods.

  Jamie strained against her grip. Why was she squeezing him so tightly? Why was she running? “Mom, you're hurting me.”

  “Shhh,” she whispered. “They’ll hear you.”

  Who will hear me? he thought. The people in the car? Are they bad?

  Tears welled up in his eyes, as he grew more frightened. He didn’t know what was happening, and it scared him. Why were they leaving their house? Where was his dad?

  A loud sound like thunder rang out behind them. It confused Jamie since he knew that thunder came from the sky, not from the house. His mother stopped running and looked back at their home. She gasped in terror and tears streamed down her cheeks.

  She started running again, much faster now. Branches whipped Jamie’s face, but his mother didn’t notice. He put his hands up to protect his eyes. The branches cut the tender skin on his palms, the wounds stinging like they were ablaze.

  He started to wail, unable to hold his emotions at bay any longer. “Shhh, shhh,” his mother pleaded, but he couldn’t stop. Male voices shouted after them, and his mother clasped her hand around his mouth, muffling his cries. That surprised him more than anything else, and he froze. She had never done anything like that before. But this whole experience was unlike anything he had ever encountered in his short life.

  The terrain changed, and they raced downhill, his mother taking great leaps and strides. His fear briefly left him, and he enjoyed the sensation. There were fewer branches to whip him, and he almost giggled with amusement when the jumps made his tummy flip. Where did his mother learn to jump like that? He hoped she would teach him.

  He heard shouting again and looked back up the hill. Two men wearing identical black clothing were coming down the hill after them. They tried to jump like his mother but were not as good at it as she was. His mother moved like a bird, whereas these two were like a couple of clumsy elephants.

  One of them tripped and rolled down the hill several feet until he came to a stop lying on his back. His friend didn’t stop to help him. He didn’t even slow down, or look to see if he was alright. Jamie didn’t think he was a very good friend.

  Water splashed him when his mother jumped into the river at the bottom of the hill. She shrieked in pain but kept moving. Her chest rose and fell rapidly, and Jamie felt the pounding of her heart. When he looked up at her face, he almost didn’t recognize her wild, frantic eyes. She stumbled, and icy water drenched his pants, but she caught her balance and didn’t fall in.

  Jamie heard splashing behind them and turned to see that the man was closer now. His mother seemed to know it too. She pushed harder, fighting the current to reach the other bank. Scrambling to the shore, she bolted into the woods again, and Jamie brought up his hands to shield himself from the flailing branches.

  “Stop, goddamnit,” the man shouted, still fighting the river. “It’s the law. You’re just making this harder on yourself.”

  His mother didn’t answer, and Jamie wondered what the man meant. Did his mother do something wrong? What law was he talking about? And where was his father?

  She kept running and kept struggling to catch her breath. The branches were so thick now that Jamie had to look backward, preferring to let them strike the back of his head, rather than his face, or his now severely lacerated hands.

  Even through the thick foliage, Jamie caught more frequent glimpses of the man, and each time he seemed closer. He knew his mother could not outrun the man. They needed to get lucky. Needed the man to trip and fall, like his friend. But that did not happen.

  Finally, he looked back to see the man’s outstretched fingers reaching for them-

  Jamie sat up in a daze, hands raised, eyes scanning the darkness for threats. There were none.

  Taking a deep breath, he got to his feet and stretched his limbs. “Damn nightmares,” he said to himself.

  He turned on the lights and looked around the small ship’s interior once more. Everything was as it should be. Walking over to the instrument panel he confirmed that his ship was still docked with DLC station. He sat down slowly in the piloting chair and noted the flashing light. Reaching out he activated the comm. The face of Durril Tai, the leader of the outlaw group known as the raiders, appeared.

  “I hope I didn’t wake you,” Tai said with feigned concern.

  “No, I was awake,” Jamie lied.

  “Good. I wanted to congratulate you on a job well done.”

  “Your payment was congratulations enough.”

  Tai smiled. “Yes, I’m sure it was.”

  “Look, I’m not in the mood for games, and I know you didn’t contact me to praise my work, so why not just tell me what you want.”

  “All business, huh? That is what I like about you. Okay then, let’s get down to it. I have another job for you.”

  Chapter 4

  Admiral Jon Pike sat uncomfortably behind the large desk. Over the years, he had grown used to the military nature of the mountain complex and preferred it to the civilian confines of the new government building. How the hell did he end up here anyway? He was no governor, nor did he ever want to be one. Like everything else in his life, it just seemed to happen. The natural conclusion to a long chain of events.

  No. It wasn’t natural. Nothing about this was. At least not for Jon. He needed to get himself back in the fight. The only thing this bureaucratic nonsense accomplished was to make him soft. He swore he could feel the rust forming on his muscles. Even the alien creature inside his belly had become soft.

  The creature growled in response. Speak for yourself, human, it said. You have always been a weakling.

  Thanks, Jon replied. And you’ve always been a joy to carry
around. Just a bundle of laughs.

  Jon contemplated his environment. At least he wouldn’t have to tolerate it for much longer. The UHSF was preparing for their big push into what used to be Diakan space, and Jon had no intention of staying back on Earth during the offensive. The war had been going well, and the time had come to liberate the Diakan systems, so that the Diakans could return home, and rebuild. Then, they could finally strike at the very heart of the Juttari Empire.

  Growing up in the resistance on Earth, Jon never thought he would see the fall of the Juttari Empire, but now everything indicated that victory was within reach. It had been a long road, with too many setbacks. Nonetheless, now that the Juttari had lost the support of their so-called gods, their systems fell like dominoes. Soon, the dreaded Juttari Empire would be relegated to the history books, and humanity would move on to the next chapter in its long, troubled existence.

  A comm came through on Jon’s display, and he accepted it. The youthful face of his aide appeared. “He is here, Admiral.”

  “Very well,” Jon replied. “Send him in.” He didn’t look forward to this meeting, but it was something that he needed to deal with before he left for the Diakan campaign.

  The door opened, and Jon’s aide led a gray-haired man into the room. The old man wore a black hooded robe but had enough respect to take off the hood before entering. Jon made a point of not standing to greet the man, and only watched him in silence as he approached. His aide took a discrete position by the door.

  “Greetings, Admiral. I am Bernhald Strolz,” the man said.

  “The one they call the Prophet,” Jon said.

  “It is a title my followers have bestowed unto me.”

  “Have a seat,” Jon said, gesturing toward a chair.

  “Thank you, Admiral,” Strolz said, lowering himself slowly onto the chair. Everything about Strolz implied frailty, yet Jon felt confident that much of it was an act.

  “You’re causing me a lot of trouble, Strolz,” Jon said. “You are inciting anger and hatred among elements of the population.” The man had founded the movement known as the Believers. They worshiped the Antikitheri, aliens often referred to as the Builders because they built the jump gates.

  “I merely speak the truth,” Strolz said with a humility Jon didn’t believe.

  “What do you know about the truth?” Jon said accusingly. “Have you ever seen the Antikitheri? Spoken to them? Because I have, and I can tell you right now that they are aliens. Not gods.”

  “The holy ones have revealed themselves to me in visions,” Strolz said. “They have shown me the true path. An unbeliever such as yourself cannot comprehend such things.”

  “Is that so?”

  “It is. You cannot perceive the truth because you do not believe. Your cynicism forces you to see aliens, where there is holiness.”

  “Holiness?” Jon said. How many times had he heard that word? The Diakans considered him holy, or as they put it, ‘Of the Temple’. Even the Antikitheri themselves referred to him as the ‘Chosen One’. All because the symbiont in his belly had strands of Antikitheri DNA. “The Antikitheri travel in spaceships. You know that right? So do the Dark Ones, the Erinyie. If they were gods, why would they need spaceships?”

  “I do not presume to understand why the gods do what they do. I merely believe.”

  “Don’t ask, just believe huh?” Jon said sarcastically.

  The Prophet’s face darkened. “A great war rages in the universe. The forces of light and darkness battle for dominion over us all. We have lived in darkness for far too long. We must embrace the light. It is not too late, not even for you, Jon Pike.”

  “I don’t know if you have noticed, but we’re fighting a war right here, in our own galaxy. You do remember the Juttari don’t you? You know, the aliens that enslaved us for five hundred years?”

  “The Juttari fight for the darkness. They have not forsaken their gods, as we have. No, I have not forgotten them, nor have I forgotten that you have brought their children into our midst.”

  “The Chaanisar are our children, not the Juttari’s!” Jon snapped. “They are human beings who the Juttari abducted during the occupation.”

  “They are an abomination!” Strolz said rising from his seat.

  “Sit down, Strolz,” Jon said threateningly. The so-called Prophet must have heard the menace in Jon’s voice, and lowered himself back onto the chair. “Now you listen to me,” Jon continued. “Your movement has grown considerably over the past few years, which is why I’ve agreed to meet you. You are spreading dangerous misinformation, and it needs to stop.”

  “I share the truth. Nothing more. Those who hear it follow. Those who do not….”

  “Go on. I think there’s a threat coming. Let’s hear it, or don’t you have the balls?”

  “Only the gods can pass judgment.”

  “See, that’s where you are mistaken. I do have the power to pass judgment, and I won’t hesitate to do so against you, and your movement.”

  “You are a heretic. You are the reason the gods have abandoned us. I had hoped you would embrace the light. Sadly, I was mistaken. There is no hope for you.”

  “Again, I hear threats, so I’ll spell it out for you. Up until now, your movement has been peaceful. That’s a good thing. Your numbers have grown, however, and your sermons have become more radical, and threatening. That is not a good thing. So, I am giving you one warning. If you continue down this path, I will have you and your followers rounded up and imprisoned. There will be no second chances.”

  Anger flared in Strolz’s eyes. “You cannot do that,” he said. “We have not broken any laws.”

  “Is that what you think? Your speeches and those of your followers encourage sedition. That will not be tolerated. You want to worship the Antikitheri? Go ahead. I don’t care. But if you continue to incite hatred against the free Chaanisar, or anyone else in the UHSF, you will be imprisoned. Am I clear?”

  “You are,” Strolz said, making no effort to hide his contempt.

  “Good. Thank you for taking the time to see me. My aide will show you out.” Jon nodded at his aide, who opened the door for Strolz.

  “Right this way, Mr. Strolz,” the aide said.

  The Prophet stood and walked toward the exit. He stopped halfway and turned back to face Jon. “You should know that we have Believers on every human world in the galaxy. Moving against us will not be as easy as you think, Admiral.”

  “More threats, Strolz?”

  The old man smiled and bowed his head. “May the Gods watch over you, Jon Pike.”

  “Just remember what I said,” Jon replied as Strolz left the room.

  Jon leaned back in his chair and shook his head. That man was going to be a problem. One that he had no time for. He wondered if he shouldn’t just pre-emptively round them all up. That would nip the problem in the bud. Unfortunately, it would likely cause more problems, probably gaining Strolz more followers in the process. No, he needed to wait for Strolz to give him a reason to act.

  He looked around his office with disgust. What am I doing here? he thought. The meeting with Strolz convinced him that someone else needed to sit in this chair. The sooner that happened, the better. So, Jon opened a comm with Governor Sallas.

  Chapter 5

  “You want me to what?” the graying Governor Sallas said, his surprise evident even through the comm.

  “I want you to move your office to Earth,” Jon repeated.

  “But I am the colonial governor. I can’t just move to Earth.”

  “You’re right. That is why you are no longer the colonial governor.”

  “What?”

  “I am putting you in charge of all of human space instead. The military will, of course, remain exclusively under my command.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “What’s there to understand? I took over after the Juttari nuked Earth. The planet was a wasteland until the Diakans cleaned it up. At the time, I only needed to concentrat
e on the war. But Earth has bounced back since then. There has been a steady flow of people coming from the colonies to start a new life.”

  “The offer of free land is a powerful incentive,” Sallas said. “It’s interesting how things have turned out though. Their ancestors came from Earth to settle in the colonies, now they are returning to Earth to do the same.”

  “Yes, the program has been very successful,” Jon said. “There’s also the Diakan refugees. Many of them have settled here after they were driven from their homes by the Juttari.”

  “It is the same in the colonies,” Sallas added. “Every planet has seen an influx in the Diakan population, although most have settled on New Byzantium.”

  “And you’ve done an excellent job managing it all,” Jon said. “Which is why I want you here. With Earth multiplying, civilian matters are taking up too much of my time, and I still have a war to win.”

  “Can’t you just appoint one of your civilian administrators to handle things?”

  “Yes, but I’d rather have you here. You are the most qualified person for the job. Frankly, I thought you’d jump at the chance.”

  “Don’t get me wrong. I will take the post. I just wasn’t expecting it is all. I’m sure Elizabeth will be happy to be back on Earth.”

  “How is Dr. Ellerbeck?” Doctor Elizabeth Ellerbeck had been the ship’s doctor when Jon had commanded the Hermes. She had also helped him with his symbiont and was one of the only human doctors to have studied symbiont medicine on the Diakan homeworld. Since then, she had married Governor Sallas and remained in the colonies.

  “She’s great. You know her. Busy as always. Especially now with all the Diakans in the colonies.”

  “She’ll have plenty to do here as well. There are almost as many Diakans here as there are humans now.”

  “I suppose it is only fair, considering the Diakans cleaned up the radiation after Earth was nuked. They did the same for New Byzantium, although many in the colonies have forgotten that fact.”

  Jon nodded knowingly. On Earth, as in the colonies, the surge in the Diakan population incited hostility in some, despite all that the Diakans had done for humanity. Of course, the Diakans were not the most likable aliens in the galaxy. Jon had held many grudges against them himself. In fact, he had spent a long time hating them. Still, this was different.