Hero to the End (The Hunter Legacy Book 13)

by Timothy Ellis

  "You may celebrate while you relocate," said Sariel.

  "Thank you," the twins said together.

  "The Mages will take you where you need to go," said Kali. "There, the three of you will split up, each going to a different battle fleet. You can hear each other across the vastness of this galaxy, and co-ordinate three battles as if they were one. For this was your link with each other established."

  "Talk to your new companions," commanded Ganesha. "They have skills and assets for you to utilize. Talk to their leaders. Between you all, there is finally a chance to contain the Darkness."

  "Now rest," said Kali.

  And we were back where we were. No-one seemed to have noticed us being gone.

  "That’s just fucking marvelous," I muttered.

  "What is?" asked Dick.

  "Nothing." I rose, with Angel jumping off my lap. "Good night all. See you in the morning."

  "At training," said BA.

  "In your dreams BA, in your dreams."

  I walked through into my bedroom, waited there for Angel and Aline to follow me, and closed the door on the rest.

  We quickly changed for bed, made love missing the normal view of the stars this room normally had, and dropped off to sleep.

  I dreamed I was six, and assembling my first computer. Cables plugged in all over the place, without making any sense to me. There were too many cables. I pulled half of them out until only four remained. The computer refused to start. I pulled another one, and circled it around on itself, plugging one end into the other. It shouldn't have worked since they both had the same plug type, but it did. I pulled the next two and did the same. The computer still refused to start. I pulled the three cords apart, and threw them away. The last cord came out as well, and this one also connected end to end. The computer started.

  Sixty

  I woke refreshed and fully rested, at breakfast time the next morning. Aline was lying there beside me just watching me, and Angel stirred as I moved.

  We did the bathroom dance, and my parents and the twins joined us for breakfast in my dining room.

  There was an itch I couldn’t scratch at the back of my mind, but I tried to ignore it. After breakfast, I headed for the Hunter CCC. Janice gave me a sitrep.

  The Outback sun had stopped expanding, its outer limit having swallowed over half the system. As red giants go, it was pretty wimpy, but its size didn’t matter. What mattered was the Gaia jump point was so far within the sun, it would never be found by the aliens. They would jump in from Nexus, find a red giant system with very little else in it, and go away again. It would have been nice to have them jumping into a sun and blowing up, but there wasn’t really any need for killing anymore. At least here.

  The as yet unnamed Cube was under power, and heading further away from the Outback system. The balancing of shields and power distribution was complete. This was a fully operational Battlestation now. Its shield generation capacity was staggering. And when I saw exactly how much firepower it had, I was completely staggered.

  If only I’d been able to take this station to Pestilence. The whole war could have been prevented there. We'd have effortlessly destroyed the Battleship asteroid, and whatever backup they had for getting across the Death system.

  If only. Que the sigh.

  Everyone had found somewhere to sleep the night before. And during the night, droids had set to collecting all the gear left behind by the station's evacuation. Maintenance work was being done to ships. People were exploring their new home. Resources collected from planets, and not taken to Gaia, were being unloaded and cataloged as they were stored in Haven's vast storage areas.

  The itch wouldn’t go away.

  I moved into my Ready Room, and had Janine request the two magicians join me.

  We discussed the nature of what they could do. How far could they transport how much? How far could a rift go? What else could each of them do?

  Finally, I looked at Tanith.

  "Can you put a force bubble around yourself?" I asked him.

  "Sure. What does it need to protect me from?"

  "I'm just pondering ideas, but how about if you were floating in space. Could you put a bubble around yourself, and hold enough air in to survive?"

  "I don’t know. I've never tried such a thing. Possibly. Why?"

  I ignored the question and looked at Syrinx.

  "What do you join a rift to?"

  "What do you mean join? I create a door circle on each end of where I want to leave from and go to, and simply link them."

  "Can you do that while standing in space?"

  They both looked surprised.

  "Why would I want to?" I didn't answer her. "I guess I could. It doesn’t need gravity or anything. Just a place at each end."

  "Could you link it to something?"

  "Like what?"

  "Say an existing door. So instead of creating a circle like I saw you step out of, you use a real doorway."

  "Oh sure. I've done that. It actually takes less energy to do."

  "What do you need energy wise?"

  "It depends on how big. With the ones I usually do, the energy comes from me initially, and after creation, the rift supplies its own."

  "So you can open one, and leave it open indefinitely?"

  "Yes. What's this idea of yours?"

  I ignored the question again.

  "Tell me about these three battles we're heading for."

  "How do you know about them?" asked Tanith.

  "Doesn’t matter. I know there's three, and I have three main ships. So one each to a battle. Why do they need to be fought at the same time?"

  "The warriors would be able to tell you better," said Syrinx.

  "Humour me."

  "You want me to tell you a joke?"

  "Sorry. I mean, tell me what you know."

  "Not much. Do you understand block points?" asked Tanith.

  "Yes."

  "Well the Darkness is approaching three of them, along separate vectors. If we can contain them there for long enough, we have a chance of bringing up enough fleet assets to hold them indefinitely."

  I doubted it, but I could see why they wanted to try.

  The gears turned inside my mind. A half formed idea took better shape.

  "How far could you send a rift, given unlimited power to create it?" I asked Syrinx.

  "Unlimited power? A fair way across the Galaxy. But I’d need to skry it first."

  "No, you wouldn’t."

  "Why not?"

  "Can you do a telepathic link?"

  "Not myself, but I've been part of one set up by another."

  "Good."

  "What are you thinking of?" asked Tanith.

  I told them.

  Sixty One

  After lunch, I assembled the team and everyone with a star, in the main briefing room. I included Miriam and Greer as well. Our four guests were there, and I'd demanded Thirteen be there as well.

  I looked at the two warriors.

  "As I understand it, there are three choke points where you think you can contain the Darkness, and you want our help to do so. Yes?"

  "Yes," said Hobbes.

  "I think we can do one better than containment."

  Surprised faces became silent.

  "Let's look at what we have to work with. We have a magician who can put a force bubble around a person standing in space, and move that person a fair distance. We have another magician who can create a door between two places and leave it there permanently. We have three people with a telepathic link. And I have the Sceptre of Kali."

  "No-one said you were a Being of Power," said Roo. "The Sceptre is a myth, but the myth states if Kali wields the Sceptre then everything is destroyed. If a mortal being wields it, that being becomes a Being of Power. Such a thing has not been heard of since the beginnings of our species."

  "How do you think he made a sun go red giant," said Dick quietly.

  I stood, stepped back behind my chair, held my hand ou
t, and the Sceptre appeared in my hand. I changed it to a sword, its sheath appeared on my back, I slid it in, and it vanished. I sat back down again.

  They were both visibly shocked. For the first time, they deliberately looked at each other, and back at me.

  "My Lord," said Hobbes. "When we return to our people, we will tell them of all the species in the galaxy, Kali chose a Human to wield her Sceptre. Because it is known your people let loose the Darkness on the whole galaxy, humans are not held in high regard. But this will change."

  "We will tell everyone a Human is a Being of Power," added Roo, "but we will not tell them who it is. Your people will be respected everywhere you go."

  "That won't be necessary," I said, "but thankyou anyway."

  "What is it you're planning Jon?" asked Bigglesworth.

  "It's fairly simple actually. And for once, should be completely safe. Tanith will put a force bubble around himself, Syrinx, Thirteen, and myself, and move us out into space. Thirteen will provide Syrinx with the location of the first block point, and she will open a rift, which Tanith will take us through. At the block point, Syrinx will create a rift the size of the jump point using energy channeled from the Sceptre, with its end point on the other side of the same jump point. It will be left there permanently. When the Darkness jump through, they will find themselves back where they started from. We move to the next block points, and do the same thing there. The Darkness is contained for good within the space they now hold."

  "Not quite for good," said Thirteen. "The genie is out of the bottle, as they say. At some time in the future, they will find a way to cross interstellar space. But it won't be any time soon. In the meantime, it gives everyone a chance to find a better solution."

  The itch was starting to drive me nuts. There was something missing.

  "When will you do this?" asked Walter.

  "We can start now if you want," said Tanith.

  "Do we need to go anywhere first?" asked Annabelle.

  The two magicians looked at each other.

  "Actually no," said Syrinx. "We thought we would need other help for the original idea, but we can do this ourselves, and we can do this from anywhere. I suspect it will take us a while to get the first one right, but there should be enough time."

  "I can solve any time issue," said Thirteen. "I can move the bubble containing you all back a day or so if need be. All three block points could be done at the same time."

  BINGO!

  The itch exploded in my mind. I leaned back, and put my hands behind my head, as the idea took shape in my mind.

  "He's got that look again!" said Agatha.

  I could feel the Cheshire Cat grin taking over my face. I examined the idea from every angle looking for flaws. There were none. There was a pretty big downside, but it wasn’t a flaw.

  I put my hands down onto the table and clasped them together.

  "Thirteen, get One and Kali here now, please."

  He vanished.

  And the three of them appeared. Except it was four of them, as Ganesha was with them.

  The four guests took one look at Kali and Ganesha, and prostrated themselves on the deck.

  "You may rise, children," said Kali, smiling gently.

  They did so, and took their seats, as did Thirteen. One sat next to him. The next two chairs vanished, to be replaced with small thrones.

  Everyone had a stunned look on their faces, as if not believing what they'd just seen.

  I made the introductions.

  "Summoned, I come, young Jon. This is not something I do. Thirteen tells me it is necessary. Is it?"

  "How can higher beings like you be so stupid, and not see the blindingly obvious."

  Kali and One were actually shocked by my words. Ganesha though, thumped the table hard with two fists, leaving large dents. I smiled at him. His expression darkened.

  "Tell me why we can't go back in time and stop the Darkness from being created," I demanded, before anyone else could say something.

  "Forbidden," said Kali.

  "Why?" I asked.

  "It is a fixed point in time, created by freewill."

  "Yes. And so is locking the Darkness away in their prison system. Other than the jump points, how secure is that system?"

  "Completely. On both sides are systems with lethal Pulsars."

  "What about the other directions?"

  "It’s a cluster. No amount of shielding would last long enough to get past in normal space. It only worked for them because they could jump out first. All they had to travel was the other side. Your shield technology was enough."

  "Fine. But once the Darkness was locked away in their prison, all time after that is open. Yes?"

  "Yes. But I do not understand what you are getting at."

  "We can end this. Make it so it never happened. And we don’t need to violate freewill or fixed points in time to do so. It can end. Right now. Never to be a problem again."

  "How?" asked Dick.

  "We use what we were going to do, but with one extra element."

  "You go back in time first?"

  "Yes."

  "Explain," said Ganesha.

  "Thirteen or One takes myself and the two magicians back in time to just after the prison is closed on the Darkness. We go to the jump points inside their system, and at each, we create a rift which joins both sides of the jump point to each other. Any ship jumping in will arrive back where it started from. Any ship jumping out will also be turned back to where it started from. Nothing can get in. The Darkness can never get out."

  I looked at the stunned looks around the table.

  "The Darkness doesn't get loose. The war never happens. Billions of people on both sides of the Darkness system up and down the arm and into the core, never die."

  For the first time since all this started, I felt my spiritual side had finally provided an answer my warrior side could not. It felt good. It felt right.

  I sat back and waited for reactions.

  "Can it work?" asked my father.

  He was looking at me with an incredibly sad look on his face, so maybe he understood what I’d said, where most of them didn’t.

  "I understand now," said One.

  "What?" said Thirteen.

  "Why nothing we ever tried worked. We lacked what we needed to see the solution."

  "What was that?" asked Aline.

  "Him."

  "Nothing special about me," I said, and half the room actually laughed.

  Kali wasn’t laughing. She was looking at me, a sad expression on her face.

  "You understand the cost?" she asked me.

  "I do."

  "And you will pay it?"

  "To save billions of lives? Of course I'll pay it."

  "Jon?" Aline sounded scared. "What are you talking about? What cost?"

  "Will you ask them to pay it as well?" Kali asked me.

  "Yes."

  "Then you better ask them. For only with freewill can this be done."

  "Jon?" said Amanda. "Talk to us."

  "It's quite simple. If the Darkness can never escape their prison, the timeline will revert to before the highers started changing things to try and stop them."

  "Oh," said Dick. His pause was only for a moment. "Yes."

  "Your Mother says yes," said my father. "So do I."

  "Angel says yes," said Jane. "I say yes."

  "What the hell are you yessing about?" demanded Amanda.

  "Tell them Jon," said Aleesha. "And yes."

  "If the time line is reset, a lot of things won't happen. Thirteen?"

  He sighed.

  "Everything I've done over the last six hundred and fifty years, will not happen. The Hunter's will all die when a bomb explodes on Galactica at the moment of its launch. The original Alpha team will die down on the Earth, when the habitat walls implode before they can close their ship's airlock. The exploration of the upper arm happens a completely different way. The nature of the sectors which form will alter radically. The r
ipple effect will be major."

  "So?" demanded BA. "Spelt it out for fucks sake."

  "None of us will exist," I said. "We never get born. We never existed. We will simply cease, and our souls will take a different path through completely new unrelated lives. Some of the others here may well exist, and maybe even with a similar life to what they've had, only without the Midgard war, and no Darkness war. Walter for example will probably be struggling to cope with pirates who just took out most of his squadrons. But we can't know for sure. And no-one will know anything different happened. Because it won't have."

  My cheeks were wet. Aline was openly crying. So was Alison.

  "Yes," said Annabelle.

  "Yes," said BA.

  "Yes," said Agatha.

  "Yes," said Alana.

  "Yes," said Abigail.

  "Yes," said George.

  "Yes," said Annette.

  "Yes," sobbed Alison.

  "Yes," cried Aline, and broke down fully.

  BA rose and hugged her.

  Amanda looked at them both, looked at her sister, and said "Yes."

  "Yes," said Amy. "I don’t know what happens to me, but it’s the right thing to do."

  "Ditto," said Melissa.

  "I agree," said Miriam. "I can't imagine a world without Jon in it, but to save so many? It must be done."

  Greer beside her, just nodded.

  "Yes," said David.

  "Yes," said John Slice.

  "What if I say no?" asked Grace.

  "Then we go back to plan A," I said. "And we take the risk the Darkness might someday escape through normal space. We all live. Tens of billions do not."

  I’d tried to keep my voice neutral, but it quivered a few times.

  I wasn’t sure I could live with a choice which put my own wellbeing above that of tens of billions of others. I’d never agreed with the saying, 'the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one'; but in this case, it applied. The many was the one. But for one to ignore the many was ego, and this wasn’t me. It wasn’t any of us.

  "Yes," said Grace.

  "How many more need to say yes?" asked Susan Bentley. "This affects more than just those here."

  "Is there anyone here who will say no?" asked Kali.

  We all looked at those who hadn't yet voiced a choice. No-one spoke. Both magicians looked down at the table so no-one could catch they eyes. Hobbes looked me in the eyes, and nodded. I looked at Roo, and he did the same. I suspected both thought they too would cease to exist. Thirteen and his kin had obviously been busy across the whole galaxy.