by Richard Fox
“What is this…besides uncomfortable? Very uncomfortable,” Durand said.
“We don’t have lips for saliva exchange,” Manfred said.
“We will miss you,” Lothar cooed.
“If you two don’t stop the others will make some very wrong assumptions about our relationship,” Durand pulled away from the brothers. “You two have earned the right to live good lives. Promise me you’ll do that.”
“Little by little,” Manfred said, “we birds will make our nest.”
“You learned some French?”
“We wanted to know what you were saying when you were angry with us,” Lothar said.
“Everything I said was meant to make you better pilots. Come here,” Durand gave both Dotok a kiss on their cheeks. “Take care of each other.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Manfred picked up his pack, gave Durand a salute, and walked away with Lothar.
****
The conduit holding Stacey’s time-locked body lifted out of the floor. Marc Ibarra paced around it, never looking directly at his bloody granddaughter. The probe floated down and followed a few steps behind.
“There has to be something more we can do, Jimmy,” Ibarra said. “We set up a full surgical suite and bring her out. We drop the temperature to near cryogenic levels, have robots do the surgery. Tell me another angle. We saved the entire god damn galaxy. Don’t tell me we can’t save my granddaughter.”
“Her physiology isn’t entirely human. A necessary trade-off to access the conduit. This creates complications. Her nervous system suffered severe damage in the attack. Even if her body was repaired, there is the risk of significant loss to her memory and cognition if you attempt a transfer to a normal human body. Utilizing a heavily modified procedural body to mimic her post-human neurology and receive her has the highest probability of success and is a short-term solution. I do not understand your reticence.”
Ibarra kicked a workstation, leaving a dent in the side.
“You know how hard we worked to engineer her before she was even born. Now we have to re-create that process to make something that can even hold her mind. Even then, the bodies don’t grow without a consciousness. We have to manage two miracles: a completely new body and we have to procedurally generate a consciousness to make the body grow. That means there will be a soul inside that body. If Stacey takes it over, that’s murder. I tried playing god with Shannon—you see where that got us.”
“You will find a solution.”
“We will find a solution.”
“No. When the Qa’Resh departed the galaxy, they ordered a full system shutdown to all probes through our quantum links. Too many units have been compromised. Our continued existence leaves the probability that our base functions will be exposed and reveal the blueprints for jump engines and other forbidden technology. I have fulfilled my final directives from the Qa’Resh. I must leave you.”
Ibarra whirled around and shook his head rapidly. “No, you can’t leave. We’re a team, Jimmy! You called me, a damn-fool college kid, in middle of the damn night and got me to join your impossible scheme to save the planet—save everything! We’ve been together for decades. You can’t just…leave.”
“I must. The decision has been made. Our success was in doubt many times during our time together. You exceeded my expectations of you on several occasions. Will you…miss me?”
“You’re a son of bitch, Jimmy, but you are the truest friend I’ve ever had.” Ibarra passed his fingers through the glowing tear of the probe’s shape.
“The Crucible is yours. The omnium reactor is yours. You and Stacey know how to operate them both. The odds of you living long enough to find the ascension gate and join the Qa’Resh are exceedingly low, but if there’s anyone in the galaxy that can do it, it is you, Marc Ibarra. I hope you will join us.”
“To hell with me, what about Stacey?”
“When I was compromised by the Naroosha, you saved the Crucible and millions of lives on Earth with nothing more than a blinking light and good ideas,” the probe said. “You will find a way to save her. Do so quickly…she was not meant to live like this. Now, hold out your hand.”
“Stay a little longer, please.”
“If it means anything, Marc, I am proud of you.”
Ibarra lifted a palm to the probe. The probe shrank down to a few inches in length and floated over Ibarra’s hand. The light faded to nothing and a clear needle fell into Ibarra’s fingers. Ice crystals grew over the surface and then, with a tink of breaking glass, the needle crumbled to dust.
“Good-bye, old buddy.” Ibarra went to Stacey’s frozen body and pressed his forehead against the conduit.
“I’ll save you, darling. You have my word.”
Chapter 24
15 YEARS LATER
Colonel (retired) Hale always came to Armor Square in the early morning. The way the first rays of sunlight caught the ten marble statues tempered the emotion that rose as he walked across the bricks engraved with names of those that died during the Ember War.
The ten life-sized statues—Iron Hearts, Hussars and Templars—stood in a circle, weapons ready against an unseen foe. A shudder went through Hale’s body. The fear and adrenaline of that battle still woke him up in the years since the war ended.
Hale stopped at Elias’ statue, which was complete down to the charred remnants of Xaros wolves, the Iron Heart badge on his breast and the nicks and dents from countless battles. Hale placed a hand against the statue and concentrated on the feel of the cool marble against his skin. This would be the last time he came here, but he could bring the memory with him.
He walked between the armor to stairs leading to a raised platform. A woman stood at the top, her hands gripping a rail as sunlight glinted off her skin the same way it reflected from the statues. Hale chuckled and climbed the stairs to join her.
“I’m surprised to see you here, Torni. Don’t you have a Crucible to run?” Hale shook her hand. Her shell could pass as human at first glance, but the slight reflection and hairline fractures across her surface gave her away as something different.
“The next scheduled coming or going is your ship, sir. I figured I might catch up with you here. The calm before the storm.”
“I was a bit skeptical when they announced this monument,” Hale said. “Ibarra didn’t want a monument centered on a device that could wipe out the galaxy. Called it morbid and fatalistic, said it would damage the drive to colonize the galaxy. The Armor Corps wouldn’t agree to anything but this. Replacing the bomb with this viewing stand was a decent compromise. Visitors get up here, see the armor around them…they feel protected.”
“President Garret wanted all of us in the monument. Thank you for fighting against that.”
“We’re not the ones that died that day.” Hale looked over the statues to the sprawling city of Phoenix. Skyscrapers gleamed in the morning light, dwarfing Camelback Mountain and blocking his view to the peaks to the east.
“Will you miss this?” Torni asked. “You’re about to take a one-way trip to Terra Nova. Well, probably one way. If you build a new Crucible, there’s a chance the gravity tides will allow back-and-forth travel every few decades. But you’ll be no spring chicken by then.”
“My knees and back remind me of my age every morning, thank you very much.”
Torni’s control over her broken drone form had improved over the years; she still looked like the woman that died on Takeni.
“Will you still be in the Crucible when that day comes?” he asked.
“I’ve taught a few others to control the wormholes, navigate the network, but no one has my innate…advantages. It’s good, meaningful work. I’m not going to steal a fleet and vanish like the Ibarras did.”
Hale’s shoulders fell. “It didn’t have to end that way.”
“The rest of the galaxy felt threatened by the procedural technology, especially after other races brought their Crucibles online and found us on a thousand planets utilizing alien technology
that you recovered. We had the choice between war with a thousand different species across the Crucible-linked worlds or giving up the proccie tech and colonizing worlds at a more…fair…pace. Marc Ibarra had the right to object, not to risk war with what he did.”
“We’ve disavowed him. He and Stacey are on their own, wherever they—and the proccie tubes they stole—are,” Hale said.
“Stacey…I wish we could have done more for her. She and I are in a similar predicament. I found a silver lining to being nigh-immortal. I think something went wrong when she got stuck into that body.”
Hale looked up at the Crucible in orbit around Ceres, remembering Stacey’s pleas to him before she vanished through the jump gate. He knew Stacey suffered from a broken heart more than anything else.
“I might make it back,” Hale said, “but I’m content if this is the last time I see Earth. This isn’t the home I knew, or remembered. I’ll catch up with my brother, see what he’s been up to. Help him build Terra Nova into a something great.”
“Marie and your boys are good with this?”
“They spent almost their entire lives in spaceships or on planets other than this. Elias and Jared don’t have a real connection to Earth. Marie has too many bad memories from the war. Getting away will be good for her. Will you do me a favor?”
“Anything.”
“Keep an eye on my Marines. Take care of them. Especially Standish.”
“Our favorite problem child is doing pretty well for himself, but I’ll do that for you, sir.”
A message arrived through Hale’s data slate, beeping several times to announce its importance. He groaned and skimmed over the contents.
“Problem?” Torni asked.
“Forty thousand people and eight ships are about to leave for Terra Nova,” Hale said. “There will always be problems. I think Valdar took the Breitenfeld on the expedition to rescue the Dotok colony ships in deep space just to get away from all the paperwork of running a fleet.”
“You got to see him before he left? The Breitenfeld’s not due back for years.”
“We had some time together. He knows I’m leaving and why, bit easier than when we got back and Jared was gone. Thank you, Torni. I’ll miss you, but I know the Crucible is in good hands.”
“Semper Fidelis, sir.”
“Semper Fidelis, Marine.”
Massive starships moved toward the Crucible, ready to carry humanity to Terra Nova and the stars beyond the galaxy.
Chapter 25
Dear Colonel Hale,
You asked that I keep an eye on your Marines. I figured an annual update of goings-on would be best for you when you (or whichever Hale comes back from Terra Nova) return to Earth. I may not sleep anymore, but my memory is the same as it ever was. I admit this is as much for me as it is for you.
Dr. Yarrow set up his practice on New Eridu. He still sends me pictures with each logistics push. He and Lilith are expecting their fifth child any day now. Most of the Akkadians we rescued from Nibiru settled there, and their architecture is something special.
Sergeant Major Cortaro is finally out of uniform. He took a position with the firm terraforming Venus. They’ll be working on that miserable place for decades, but he and his family seem happy in the orbital habitats. The macro cannons and fighter wings stationed over Venus had a thirty percent rise in efficiency after he showed up. I doubt that’s a coincidence.
Standish continues as the CEO of Standish Liquors. I still don’t know how it happened, but he’s got the omnium patent for every decent bottle of spirits that comes out of the reactor. The Terran Supreme Court tried to break up his monopoly, but the order was overturned after he sold off his Earth-side distilleries and breweries. He’s complained to me on every occasion since then about how he built his own competition. That he became the richest man in the solar system after the sale doesn’t seem to make him happy. He refuses to explain where he got the start-up money.
I wandered into one of his stores in Las Vegas recently. There was a giant statue of Standish in the entrance, no way to miss it. Seems he’s got that same statue in every one of his stores with a plaque listing all his “accomplishments” while in uniform. His several arrests and numerous demotions are absent, I should add.
He bought the rights to The Last Stand on Takeni, that ridiculous propaganda piece starring all of us. Standish redid the film, playing himself and replacing Franklin. His acting left something to be desired, but the movie is more accurate now. Customers at Standish Liquors receive a free digital copy with every purchase.
Orozco is the spokesman for Standish Liquor. I see his face plastered all over the web and on dirt-side ads. He should be filthy rich, but most of his money goes to paying child support from forty-two (and counting) paternity suits.
Bailey owns a bar in Sydney named The Bloke where she has a reputation for serving as the bar’s bouncer on busy nights. It’s run terribly, according to the online reviews, and should have gone out of business several times, but Standish Liquors provides her alcohol stock at no cost. She does not answer my emails or calls.
Egan went with the Breitenfeld to search for the lost Dotok colony fleet. I don’t expect contact with them for several more years.
The Karigole migrated to a new planet. The few skirmishes we had before the treaty with what’s left of the old Alliance spooked the gethaar, Steuben tells me. We set up automated orbital defenses and have a rapid reaction force one gate away guarding the colony on Quebec. Steuben’s cyborg augments were replaced with vat-grown organs, and the gethaar allowed him to marry. He sent me a skull of some predator species to announce the wedding. It was weird.
We’ve had no contact with Stacey or Marc Ibarra. The few scout ships we sent looking for them and their stolen fleet returned with finding a trace of their whereabouts. As the Crucible’s resident immortal, I firmly believe we’ll find them again. But I fear that day will not be peaceful.
Earth thrives. I love seeing children everywhere. The fleets are larger than ever and I pity any race foolish enough to try to attack us again. You should see the lights on the night side of Earth and the moon. They’re brighter than what I remember from before the war.
I continue on as matron of the Crucible, shepherding ships through the network. I’m sure this is the Xaros metal talking but I feel at home here. That I may live on for centuries in my flawed shell is…acceptable. My work makes humanity stronger, protects us from enemies known and unknown. I cannot ask for anything more meaningful.
I will update this letter every five years. I pray that Terra Nova is a safe and uneventful place. You’ve had enough adventure in your life.
Gott Mit Uns,
Torni
THE END
FROM THE AUTHOR
This is the final chapter of The Ember War Saga, but not the last I’ll write in this universe. Thank you for reading The Xaros Reckoning and staying with the characters through the thick and thin. I promise to bring you more of the same action, adventure and thought provoking tales in my next series, The Exiled Fleet.
If you’d like to share what stories from The Ember War you want to read in the future, drop me a line at [email protected].
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Also By Richard Fox:
The Ember War Saga:
1. The Ember War
2. The Ruins of Anthalas
3. Blood of Heroes
4. Earth Defiant
5. The Gardens of Nibiru
6. The Battle of the Void
7. The Siege of Earth
8. The Crucible
9. The Xaros Reckoning
The Exiled Fleet Series:
1. Albion Lost (Coming January 2017!)
IRON HEARTS
IRON HEARTS
Elias, soldier of the Ir
on Hearts and pilots of a mechanized suit of armor, lies comatose in a hospital. His mind trapped within the prison of his failing body. With no other option but to watch their friend wither away, his fellow Iron Hearts concoct a dangerous plan to save him.
VENT RATS
Chief MacDougall hunts a Toth loose aboard the Breitenfeld with the aid of Steuben and Lafayette. Can the Karigole set aside their hatred to catch the infiltrator alive?
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THE QUEEN OF SIDONIA
Princess Cosima will be queen, if she survives to her eighteenth birthday.
In a galaxy controlled by massive corporations, few worlds are truly free. When explorers find a priceless wormhole near Sidonia, the hostile attention of the Aquitaine Corporation focuses on the small, backwater kingdom.
To protect their world, Sidonia’s royalty rush seventeen year old Princess Cosima into an arranged marriage, one that will guarantee a treaty and shield Sidonia from Aquitaine’s clutches. But Cosima never asked for the honor of becoming the next queen to a man she doesn’t love.
With the fate the planet in the balance, a team of deadly assassins targets Cosima. The best killers money can buy will see the Princess dead before her wedding day. Cosima will need her wits to uncover the identity of the assassins targeting her, and her courage to stay alive in the middle of an interstellar power struggle.
If you like space opera novels with intrigue, a fast-paced plot and a tale of survival against impossible odds, then read The Queen of Sidonia today!