“That’s culture as well.”
“Amy moves like you.”
“I’ve heard she was raised by the Seven.”
Tanner nodded. “I wonder what happened to her? She missed the ship leaving.”
“It’s just as well. She’s dangerous. It’s better for us not having her around.”
“She has ability; like me. I felt it.”
“You’re going to need to learn to use some of those abilities, Tanner. Sooner than later.”
“I know what I can do, Kira. Some of it anyway.”
“You have to be careful, Tanner. People like Amethyst are ancient and well trained. Youth and power are no match for age and cunning. That witch is dangerous. Remember that.”
“I can be dangerous.”
“I didn’t—I mean, I wasn’t trying to diminish you.”
“I know.” He pulled her close.
59
G age sipped some coffee from a kind of metal travel mug while staring at a number of screens in the cockpit as their ship drifted aimlessly on the solar wind. With the Kir vessel in full stealth mode, it was more than just invisible for their orbital stakeout. Both dressed in Kir flight suits, Kirin entered the cockpit with some breakfast in hand for the two of them. Gage watched him briefly standing next to him between the dual captain’s chairs. The ultrathin material always hid nothing of Kirin’s ample endowment beneath the suit. He always seemed to be able to grab Gage’s notice when the two of them were together like this. He watched the hunky guy slip elegantly into his chair.
“I ran a check on the armaments. We’re locked and loaded. Just in case.”
“One of us is—” Gage smirked to himself pulling his eyes away from Kirin’s suit.
“Huh?”
“Nothing. I thought the Kir didn’t build warships?”
“We don’t.” Kirin handed him a Krispy Kreme wrapped in a napkin he’d replicated from the galley.
Gage took a bite. “You could have fooled me,” he said with his mouth still full. “ I saw the checklist you were scrolling through. You could take out a small sun with this baby.”
Kirin winced at the exaggeration. “Not.”
“Hello? Reflex core torpedoes? Who builds that shit?”
“The Kir are simply prepared, Gage. We didn’t know what the war would bring. We made sure we could defend ourselves. Besides, none of those have ever been used.” He took a bite of his own doughnut. “Hmmm. Oh, Jeeze.” Gage watched as Kirin become elated over the mouthful of pastry. “Who knew humans could ever cook like this?”
“Well, they’re not exactly vegan.”
“You’re a bad influence, Gage.” Kirin smirked taking a sip from his coffee mug. “How long are we going to be out here?”
“I’m not sure. I’m still trying to figure out what that anomaly was we saw yesterday.”
“Eddies in the solar wind are common, Gage. Especially on the dark side of a planet.”
“It just seemed to be a little too symmetrical, that’s all.”
“I still can’t believe you even saw that.”
“I guess hanging around Rowan is rubbing off on me. I notice a lot of things I never used to.”
“I think you notice Paige too.” Kirin grinned with a quick flash of his eyebrows.
“What’s not to notice?” Gage grinned. “She’s supposed to be a halfblood, but she’s practically goddess material.”
“Ah, hello? She is goddess material, what are you talking about?” Kirin munched another small bite from his doughnut.
“You’re attracted to her,” Gage smirked.
“So? Aren’t you?”
“A little.”
“More than a little.”
“She’s okay.”
“Just okay?” Kirin corrected. “She’s fucking hot. I might have to ask her out.”
“Better ask Rowan first.”
“Why? Are they dating?”
“No. I just know Rowan. He’s a little old-fashioned.”
“Great. It’s bad enough I’m attracted to her, now I have to ask permission?” Kirin copped a pretty good Australian accent, “‘Hey, Rowan, mate, you don’t mind if I root your sheila, ay?’”
“Yea, don’t ask him like that. Bad idea.” Gage chuckled.
“Maybe I’ll just ask for forgiveness instead of permission.”
“It’s your life, buddy.”
“Gage—look. Look at that!”
“Yea,” Gage nodded watching their passive sensor screen. “That’s no anomaly. What the hell is that?”
“Small ship maybe. It’s really well hidden.”
“Yea, well, not well enough.”
“Look at their trajectory.” Kirin pointed with the doughnut still in his hand at one of the displays.
“What about it?”
“They’re staying on the dark side of the planet. Look where the moon is. On the other side.”
“You’re right. Like they’re avoiding it.”
“I guess Luna is armed.”
“Probably. They’re not moving very fast; they’re tying to float out on the solar wind like a piece of driftwood. We should follow them.”
“How far?”
“You want to find out who they are, don’t you?” Gage asked.
“It’s your stakeout. You’re in the pilot’s seat. I’m just along for the doughnuts.”
The Kir vessel slipped silently across the solar wind and then shadowed the anomaly as it sped away into blackness.
60
T he evening waters of the Pacific churned and swirled. Smoothly, something resembling a tilted black spire lifted from beneath them. Points of light soon appeared, as if the spire were growing out of the sea like an angled skyscraper with randomly lit windows. Thirty miles away, another similar but shorter spire lifted out the sea as well. Within minutes the waters between the masts began to lift in a massive tidal swell as something long dormant began to erupt from beneath the seas. Close to a half-mile wide and three miles long, the dorsal fin-looking observation bridge burst through the surface of the waters in a fantastic midnight spray that reflected the bright full moon’s light in a colossal mist of lunar-lit rainbows.
Dark stood on the observation bridge with Kari beside him. Beau and Ian along with Elle watched with wide eyes as the enormity of the vessel they now stood within began to take shape across the seas.
“Take us all the way out, Perry.” Dark addressed his new captain who had his mind fully merged seamlessly with the massive vessel’s empathic helm over the continuum. “Keep it slow and steady. We don’t want to create any tsunamis.”
“Aye, Admiral. Eight minutes before we clear the aquatic atmosphere.”
The mile-high spire-like fin of the observation bridge had cleared the waters, but this was not the main hull. Thirty miles ahead they could now see the bow of the forward munitions array. Scores of aggressive looking weapons, each one the size and scale of the two main guns harbored by their recently destroyed flagship, Leviathan, ringed the vessel like cannon battlements. The waters rushed and cascaded off the guns, dripping from the turrets in spectacular waterfalls hundreds of feet tall.
And still the vessel continued to rise from the depths.
“Six minutes to clear aquatic atmosphere,” Perry spoke again.
All of them listened to their new bridge crew as others spoke out in a symphony of random communications.
“Reactors coming online now, Admiral.” An ensign called out connected to his engineering systems via the vessel’s continuum.
“Thank you, Adam. Reflex status?” Dark ordered.
“Main Reflex cores at stand-by and operational, Admiral.” Mira stood next to an engineering empath station.
Sixty miles in the distance ahead of them—and forty miles behind them—the epic vessel’s main hull was now breaking the surface of the seas, lifting the waters into flowing waves as if Creation itself were refilling the oceans with billions of new gallons of sea-life-filled waters.
&nb
sp; Slowly, the hundred-fifty-mile-long vessel lifted from the depths like a small continent, glistening black and wet under the bright moon.
“Tiburion has cleared aquatic atmosphere.” Perry reported.
“Tiburion?” Beau stepped up beside Dark. “What does that mean in Ra?”
Dark brandished a half smirk then met eyes with Beau. “It’s the Kraken.”
“Jesus,” Beau breathed, feeling a chill of goose bumps crawl over his skin with the way Dark had responded.
“This is the ancient warship of the Sentinel Masters. Built long before any of us were ever alive. It was a gift to the Sentinels just before they supposedly died out. A hundred and fifty miles long, eighty miles in breadth, and thirty miles deep.”
Beau look out at the miles and miles and billions of tons of vessel that now floated, as if effortlessly, out of the sea and began lifting quickly into the moonlit night sky. He wasn’t going to argue the name.
“It’s huge,” Beau lamented. “He’s Sixth Era?”
Dark chuckled. “And then some. The ancient Masters were like gods to us, Beau. They weren’t bound by our eras. Only they knew what Tiburion really is. Most of this ship has never even been explored. We just run things from this observation bridge. I’ve only ever been on the main bridge a couple of times.”
“Usually we cloak,” Kari added, walking up as they cleared the seas.
Dark nodded. “Not this time. If the Seven are going to begin advertising that the gods are dangerous, then it’s time we sent the Seven and Humanity a message. The gods have returned—armed and dangerous.”
From islands all over the South Pacific, camera’s flashed and video rolled as the colossal vessel lifted high into the night sky, it’s hull illuminated in light, almost fully obscuring the full moon with its silhouette.
The ominous vessel appeared to float effortlessly skyward, it’s lazy course taking it barely a mile over New Zealand and then well within plain sight of an early dawn over Australia.
Several squadrons of Australian fighter planes made yet another pass of the massive vessel that cast a vast midnight shadow over the early morning dawn of Sydney as it passed just a few miles above it.
“How long do you think they’re going to keep that up?” Beau asked Dark, watching the fighter squadrons rocket past a safe distance from their hulls.
“Probably until they figure out we’re not really a threat to them.”
“What if they start shooting at us?” Ian asked.
Dark lifted his eyebrow.
“Never mind,” Ian chuckled at his own question.
* * * * *
“Go easy on that stuff, Harlan. Happy Hour’s over.” Frank discouraged.
“Happy Hour?! The whole world is over!” Harlan walked over to the Oval office’s television screen waving his hand in front of it. Australian newscasts were now showing images of the ominous vessel as it floated over central Australia. “Do you fucking see this?! The beast that rose out of the sea! This is end times stuff, Frank! God man! You’re just too stupid and too educated to realize it!” he slurred.
“Too stupid and too educated?”
“Yea.” Harlan took another drink.
“Knock it off you two,” Diane chided. “Brett will be back from his briefing with the Joint Chiefs in a few minutes.”
Almost as soon as she said it the door of the office opened and the president entered. “Oh, good. You’re all here. That’s enough booze, Harlan. I need you sober.”
Harlan frowned and then put his glass away.
“So what’s the skinny?” Diane asked.
“Apparently it’s a vessel of the Ra. We’ve translated the name inscribed on the hull as ‘Kraken’.”
“More lore of the gods bubbling to the surface?” she mused.
The president nodded taking the seat behind his desk.
“Where is it going?” Frank asked.
“If its current course continues, it’s will buzz the coast of India, then directly over the Middle East, Europe and then northern Canada by tomorrow morning.”
“So it’s their parade.” Diane folded her arms.
“That’s exactly what some of the Joint Chiefs were thinking as well.”
“Parade?” Harlan half belched.
“Harlan, are you drunk?” the president scowled.
“Almost.”
“Get some coffee.”
He nodded.
“So that’s their gig,” Frank began. “We’re gods. Don’t mess with us or we’ll squash you like a bug?”
“Exactly. Speak softly and carry a really big stick.”
“That ship is a pretty big stick, Brett.”
“No doubt. And it’s not the only one. Dozens of vessels have been recorded now rising up out of the seas all over the world. None of them quite as big as this one, but a helluva lot bigger than anything we ever thought of building.”
“This is my fault,” Diane admitted.
“How so?”
“I was the one who thought about the PR gig.”
“No, no. I did this. I’m pretty sure showing the world Kent Levi blowing apart that spaghetti restaurant was the catalyst here. But thanks for the offer of responsibility, Diane. Nice try.”
“What are we going to do?”
“Change strategies, obviously.”
“Like what?” Diane asked.
“Honestly, I haven’t got a clue.” The president motioned toward the muted television. “This display of arms is making all kinds of people really upset. We can’t possibly challenge that kind of power. Compared to them, we’re like—”
“Aborigines,” Frank offered.
“I was going to say ants, but that’s not far off, Frank. Exactly. Thank you. There probably isn’t a conventional weapon we have that can even scratch the surface of that thing. It’s apparently made from the same glass or whatever it is we found up in Washington State.”
“What about nukes?” Frank asked.
“Totally off the table. We discussed that at the meeting. The U.N. would have a cow. They don’t like the gods but the Ra also haven’t attacked anyone. And I doubt they will, even if attacked. Whoever does will just be wasting their munitions.”
“People are drawn to strength,” Diane lamented. “Especially if that strength is benevolent. These Ra gods are Boy Scouts. This is a PR nightmare now.”
“It could be. The media are running polls now as we speak. We need to keep our fingers on the pulse of the American people and see which way that wind blows.”
“And if it looks like the public are okay with the new superpower, what then?”
“Who knows, Diane? I haven’t heard anything from Rigel or Amy in weeks, which is a little surprising, considering the circumstances.”
“You think the Ra scared them off?”
“It’s looking that way. So, right now,” the president pointed at the television, “I’m doing everything in my power not to piss them off.”
61
S o this is what it feels like to move at the speed of light?” Beau stood watching with Ian from the upper observation dome that extended from the top most dorsal tower of their vessel, just above the observation bridge. The space was lavishly adorned and looked more like the interior of a five-star hotel than a ship built for war.
“I think I need someone to pinch me. I keep thinking I’m going to wake up. This whole thing is like a dream.”
“It’s no dream, gentlemen.” Dark ascended the wide ornate stairs watching the beauty of the stars as they passed all around them and overhead.
“Says you, you’re part of this crazy dream.” Ian grinned.
“I just wanted to let you know we’re about eight hours from the edge of the heliosphere.”
“What’s that?” Ian asked.
“The edge of the sun’s solar wind,” Beau offered.
Dark nodded. “It’s the outer edge of the solar system, where the sun’s outermost atmosphere and deep space come together. Once we clear the heliosp
here we’re going to make a small jump to the outer edge of the cloud. There are few large planetoids in the region we can hide behind just to scope things out before we jump to Orion.”
“If you say so,” Ian shrugged. “Honestly, Dark, I’m still trying to figure out why you wanted us to come along? We’re not exactly being much help here. Neither of us are pilots.”
“We didn’t bring you along to pilot a vessel, gentlemen.”
“So why are we here?”
“Because I don’t like witches.”
“Amethyst.” Beau nodded his understanding.
“She’s made herself available to the Imperium. I don’t want them having access to her and I don’t want her dragging any more of you into their grasp.”
Beau’s mind and feelings met Dark’s. Despite the psionic dampening that the Admiral’s ring provided, the sun god could still feel the Admiral’s thoughts. Dark didn’t just want Amethyst captured. Beau could feel what she’d done to the man. He wanted her dead.
“She’s not worth it, Dark.”
“No?” Dark’s eyes met Beau’s. “Tell that to everyone she’s murdered over the past ten thousand years.”
The admiral turned and walked away.
* * * * *
The door of their small quarters opened as two of the crew motioned for the young couple to come out. Kira and Tanner followed the guards to a small bridge where Captain Zaer stood with other officers in uniform.
“Ah, Tanner, I wanted you to see the view of your new home.”
Kira could feel Zaer’s animosity toward her now. He clearly wanted nothing to do with her at this point.
“Sub-light in fifteen seconds, Captain.”
Their ship hummed softly as if engines were being pulled offline. The small vessel dropped smoothly into a braking velocity as they approached a massive field of herculean ships and vessels that spread across this region of space like a slowly moving swarm of massive and tiny locusts as far as Tanner’s gifted vision could see.
“Ohhh—my god,” Tanner breathed softly, his eyes wide.
Paradisus (Awakened Book 6) Page 23