by Jack Halls
Takomi’s face was inches above the page. “I suppose these are Mayans? Maybe Olmec?”
Gideon took a step back from the desk. “Why does my dad have a book about aliens pretending to be gods? What the hell is going on here?”
“That’s what I was about to say.” The new voice made both Gideon and Takomi jump. They looked up to see Commander Devereux scowling at them in the doorway.
“Commander,” said Gideon, nearly stuttering, “we... um…”
Devereux strode forward and reached over the desk, slamming the book shut. “Suits off. Now.”
They took off their suits faster than they ever had in training. Devereux picked up the book and walked over to the shelf, putting it back in its place among the other volumes.
“Leave the suits and come with me.” The commander didn’t wait for them to respond before he marched out the door.
Gideon looked at Takomi, who was as wide-eyed and pale as he felt. He swallowed hard, then the two of them scrambled to catch up to Devereux.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Starry Cavern
WITH EACH NEW barrage, the shield dome above the transportation hub sizzled and cracked. It wouldn’t be long before the shields would fail and a rain of metal and plasma would turn this part of the world into a sea of glass. Tloltan came to a portal with an archway ten times wider than any other along the alley. The words “Orbital Delivery” were written over it, and as she passed through, the air became hot and thick. The archway opened up into a vast cavern lit by thousands of points of light embedded in the granite ceiling. The effect had given the delivery area the nickname Starry Cavern generations ago. She was now deep below the mountains at the planet’s equator.
Monstrous machines stretched away from the portal in rows until they disappeared into the distance. They each gave off an electric hum due to the vast stores of energy they possessed, fed by the heat of the planet’s core. Dozens of tubes extended out from each machine at a steep angle up into the roof of the cavern.
Over the hum of the machines came the dull roar of thousands of voices — tens of thousands — coming from the Luzariai that had gathered here from each corner of the globe. Young and old, male and female, dozens of dialects, cultures, and customs. A cross-section of the entirety of the Luzariai race.
The voices closest to Tloltan went quiet as she entered, and like the ripples in the pond, the silence spread throughout the crowd until the only sound was the hum of the machines. The crowd parted around Tloltan as she moved through it, their eyes frightened. She had to put on a brave face for their sake, but it was all she could do to keep from breaking down. If only she could spend a little time getting to know each one of them, learn their names, learn about their family, and most of all, learn why they had volunteered.
A full legion of Koramoa Warriors formed a square in the center of the cavern. Though their golden armor was an imitation of true Koramoa Armor, it was still breathtaking to behold an entire legion of warriors in formation, each regiment with its own symbolic headdress depicting one of the ancient gods.
The crowd parted as Tloltan faced the rows of warriors. The Koramoa Warriors turned in unison to face her, then slammed their fists to their chests in salute. The sight of them lifted her spirits, and she returned the salute. Their arms came back down to their sides, and the cave was once again silent in anticipation.
A small platform sat on the ground in front of the formation, and Tloltan stepped onto it. The platform rose into the air above the crowd, and Tloltan rotated slowly, not only to look at them, but also to be seen.
You’re going to need my help if you want them to hear you.
Tloltan waited, allowing them to see her as one of them a moment longer. When she’d looked upon the entirety of the volunteers, her gaze fell again upon the rows of Koramoa below her. Each one looked up at her with anticipation, and with a thought, she gave the command.
Heat filled the golden bracer on her wrist, and it unfolded rapidly in a cascade of gold. The living metal ran up her arm, across her chest, then over the rest of her body. As it covered her head, it formed into the iconic headdress of Koramoa Tloltan, a terrifying mask with a demonic face baring its pointed teeth.
The Koramoa Warriors assembled before her shouted in salute to their leader. The masses cheered, their roar echoing through the chamber, and the atmosphere changed instantly from one of fear to that of defiance. Tloltan gave them a few more seconds, then raised her hands over her head. The cheers died away, replaced by a tense silence.
“Luzariai.” Her golden armor both distorted and amplified her voice so that it was clearly heard at the far end of the cavern. “We stand before the precipice with nothing but an awful choice. I won’t shame you by asking you to be brave, because you have already proven your courage. It is my great honor to stand here this day, before the gates to eternity, among the greatest generation of Luzariai. You already have my respect, but more than this, you will save countless worlds. We may be a defeated people, but even in defeat we defy our enemies.”
An eruption of applause echoed through the cavern. It was a short speech, but there was no time for anything more elaborate. Tloltan raised her fist in the air as she looked upon the faces in the crowd, wishing that she could somehow etch them all into her memory. More than anything, she wished she could promise them they would succeed, but they all knew the odds. It would only serve to remind them that they weren’t going to survive.
A Koramoa Warrior waited on the ground as she came back down. “Koramoa Tloltan, we’re ready on your command.”
“Thank you, Captain Neeza. Have your soldiers move into position and inform me the moment we’re ready to commence.”
The captain saluted, and turned to execute Tloltan’s orders. Every Luzariai in the cavern moved to their positions at the machines.
The Orbital Defense Corps is in position. They’ll hold out as long as they can.
Tloltan made a mental response and gave her instructions. She looked up to see two Koramoa Warriors standing at attention in front of her. The taller one was named Ukte, and he wore the headdress of an ancient bird god, with sharp eyes and a sharper beak. The other, a fierce young warrior named Itzau, wore a headdress depicting a draconic elder god covered in scales, with a long snout and rows of sharp teeth. They were her two best soldiers, hand-picked to accompany her. Itzau saluted with a fist to her chest. “Your ship’s components are ready for launch, Koramoa Tloltan.”
“Very good. Let’s move.” She waved for them to follow, and the three of them marched to the appropriate machine. Massive doors were opening on each of the machines to reveal racks of large, bullet-shaped pods. The Koramoa Warriors posted at each machine helped the Luzariai climb into the pods through a round hatch at the bottom. This first group would probably only last a few minutes. The bravest of the brave.
The voice of her captain sounded in her ear. “Koramoa Tloltan, we’re ready for the first wave.”
The Orbital Defense is also ready.
“All right, Captain,” said Tloltan. “Send the first wave. After that, launch continually as pods go online. We can’t let up for even an instant. I leave Starry Caverns in your hands.”
The captain confirmed and signed off. Soon after, the sound of the machines changed from a low hum to a high-pitched whirring sound, and the first pods were away. Magnets accelerated the pods up through the roof of the canyon, through twelve kilometers of solid rock, and out the peaks of the equatorial mountains. They’d blast out of the tube through the thin alpine air and enter orbit moments after that.
A Koramoa Warrior stood next to a set of special pods, waiting for Tloltan. As she approached, the warrior saluted and turned to open the pod doors. Superficially, these pods looked the same as the others being loaded into the tubes, but on closer inspection, they were slightly larger, longer, and filled with instrumentation.
Tloltan walked up to her pod, stepped over the edge, and lowered herself down into a chair. A harness system un
folded around her body and strapped her in as her two companions entered their own pods. The attending Koramoa waited patiently by the launch controls.
Tloltan looked up at the warrior once more. “Launch when ready.”
The warrior gave a salute before the doors closed. Darkness engulfed Tloltan with a hiss of pressurized air. With the aid of her armor’s night vision, she was able to see as warm gel filled the dark cockpit. The world went quiet as the gel rose over her head and filled the space around her.
The pod moved as soon as it was filled to the proper pressure. It wasn’t the first time she’d been launched into space this way, but despite her experience, her muscles tightened when the pod came to a stop.
Before she could take a breath, the pod shot forward and pinned her to the back of her seat. Without the armor and the dense gel that surrounded her, the acceleration would have killed her. Many of the civilian Luzariai volunteers wouldn’t survive the launch, not that it made much of a difference. Those that survived the acceleration would only be blasted out of the sky.
The acceleration seemed to last much longer than the few seconds it actually did, but eventually it stopped as her pod shot out of the mountaintops and into open air, ejecting the gel behind it. Soon the cockpit was clear and Tloltan could move freely again.
“Show me the others.”
Are you sure?
Tloltan set her jaw, took a deep breath, and nodded. “Do it.”
A glowing display appeared in front of her, filled with small shapes shooting across the image. Hundreds of pods streaked up out of the mountains and into the vacuum of space. Dozens of large triangular shapes, representations of the Luzariai ships in orbit above the planet, circled above. One by one, they were blinking out as swarms of huge oblong blobs, enemy ships, surrounded the orbital defenses.
There was nothing Tloltan could do to hold back her tears as she watched the wholesale slaughter of her people at the hands of the Maodoni. Though she desperately wanted to look away, she owed it to them to witness their last hour. The Maodoni ships would now be registering the swarm of pods flying out of the atmosphere, each one with a living body inside. The cloud of pods surrounding Tloltan had one purpose, to distract the Maodoni long enough to allow her to escape.
The line held by the Luzariai orbital defenses collapsed as the pods reached the gap. The Maodoni capital ships struck out at the swarm of pods, incinerating one after another at an alarming rate.
It’s going to be close.
Tloltan nodded. Despite the carnage, the sheer number of pods traveling at high speed allowed for a few of them to break through. Only a handful of Luzariai ships remained, and were now commencing their suicide runs at the largest of the Maodoni ships. Tloltan knew many of the captains and officers of the Luzariai Orbital Defense Forces, and could no longer force herself to watch as they sacrificed their ships and crew. With her eyes shut tight, she pinged Itzau and Ukte in the pods closest to her own. “Ready.”
The two young Koramoa acknowledged her order, and her pod shook as small rockets moved it into position. She opened her eyes and updated the screen to show dozens of pods around her moving together. Various popping and humming sounds filled the cockpit as the pod transformed, and loud clangs indicated that the magnetic grapplers were pulling in the surrounding pods.
Tloltan monitored the display as the pods coalesced and took shape. The image was starting to look like a ship when an alarm sounded.
Looks like they noticed us. The Maodoni are coming our way.
“Take care of it.”
Already on it.
Hundreds of pods all around them suddenly fired powerful rockets, altering their trajectory on collision courses toward the enemy ships. Instead of carrying Luzariai, these pods were filled with suspended anti-matter, and as the Maodoni turned their weapons on them, the pods exploded in dazzling bursts of blue light. There were too many of them for the Maodoni to stop them all, and one by one the pods slammed into the hulls of the enemy ships, blasting massive holes right through them.
A grim smile came to Tloltan’s lips as she watched makeshift missiles tear the Maodoni ships to shreds. “Captain Neeza,” she said, radioing down to the surface. There was a slight delay before she heard a response.
“Yes, Koramoa Tloltan?” The signal from the captain was weak as it passed through solid rock.
Tloltan hesitated. She closed her eyes, trying to find the inner peace necessary to complete her next order. Even so, her voice shook as she spoke. “We’re nearly ready. Please execute the final stage.”
After a long delay, Captain Neeza answered in a hushed tone. “Yes, Koramoa Tloltan. The spirits of the Ancients be with you.”
More tears, and Tloltan had to breathe deeply for several seconds. “And with you, my friend. It has been my great honor, Koramoa Neeza.”
“The honor is mine. Be sure our sacrifice is remembered.”
There was nothing more to say. Tloltan cut the signal and spoke to her honor guard. “It is finished. Itzau, man the rear guns and cover our retreat. Ukte, open the tunnel and keep it tight. We don’t need a capital ship tailing us on the other side. Prepare for travel sequence.”
The pods were now fully transformed, and the newly formed ship’s gravitational drive was running at full capacity. The small ship, sleek as an arrow, and the same golden color of the Koramoa Armor, shot away from the battle at top speed.
“Show me the planet.”
I wouldn’t recommend…
“Show me.”
Her display changed to a live feed of the planet behind them, quickly shrinking into the distance. At least ten Maodoni ships — hideous brown blobs covered in rows of curved spikes — had maneuvered to pursue them. Itzau opened fire on the closest ship, roasting its hull with a powerful plasma cannon, but it was never going to be enough to stop them. Tloltan’s ship was designed for speed, and could never face off against even a single Maodoni capital ship, let alone ten of them. But it wouldn’t have to.
Cracks formed across the surface of her planet. Bright lights leaked out from these cracks like rays from a new sun, and a moment later, a bright flash signaled the destruction of her home world. Captain Neeza’s last duty was fulfilled, and within seconds, searing plasma engulfed the slowest of the Maodoni ships and continued racing toward them. “Quantum tunnel open,” said Ukte. “Entering in three, two, one... now!”
Tloltan didn’t even have time to register her sorrow before the familiar sensation of a quantum jump seized her, as if every molecule in her body vibrated violently. Everything around her stretched for a moment before returning to normal as they entered quantum space.
Ukte’s strained voice sounded in Tloltan’s ear. “Tunnel is closing. We’re through.”
Tloltan let out a sigh, but then Itzau’s voice sounded in her other ear. “An enemy ship made it through. It’s small. Looks like a scout ship.”
So close. They had almost gotten away, despite the odds stacked against them. Tloltan put her head in her hands. “We’ll have to deal with it on the other side. Nothing we can do about it right now.” She removed her harness. “You’ve both made me proud today. We all have a lot to contemplate, so get some rest.”
Tloltan stood, walked to the back of the cockpit to an open space, and knelt on the ground. The golden armor melted away, back down to the bracer on her wrist. With her hands on her knees, she closed her eyes and breathed deeply as tears ran freely down her face.
The weight of the stone around her neck seemed to pull her down, and she reached up and held it in her fist. At least for now the Zaer was safe, though it had cost the lives of millions of Luzariai.
What will we do about the scout ship?
Tloltan opened her eyes. “We’ll fight, of course. What else can we do?”
We can’t win. This ship isn’t built for direct combat.
“We have enough firepower to disable its quantum drive. That’s our only hope.”
There’s always the chance we’ll have
help when we arrive.
Tloltan’s shoulders slumped, and she dropped her head to her chest. “Even if the humans are there, I’m afraid they’re not prepared for this. We’ve kept too much from them, and now we’ve doomed them too.”
They’re a tenacious species. I wouldn’t underestimate them.
“I wish I had your optimism, my friend. The Maodoni, too, could be described as tenacious.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
The Order
GIDEON AND TAKOMI spent the next hour worrying about their fate inside Commander Devereux’s office. The commander had told them to stay put and left without another word. They hadn’t dared to check, but they were pretty sure he had locked them in.
When the door finally opened, Devereux was accompanied by Hiro Tsukamoto. Gideon had never seen him look so angry.
Hiro stopped and glared down at them. “I can’t believe you two. What in the world were you thinking?”
Takomi stared at the floor. “We’re sorry, Dad. We were just...”
“Just what? Just breaking every rule you could think of? First Dr. Marcus’s house, and now Admiral Killdeer’s office? Have you both gone crazy?”
“It was my idea, sir,” said Gideon. “I convinced Takomi to come with me. It’s not her fault.”
“I don’t care whose idea it was. Both of you are completely out of line. Admiral Killdeer’s busy right now, but before any of us get any sleep tonight, you’ve got a lot of explaining to do.”
Takomi shot a dark glare up at her father. “We’ve got a lot of explaining to do? What about you and Mom? You’re all keeping secrets.”
“Enough.” Hiro pounded his fist down on Devereux’s metal desk. “Both of you, go back to the house and wait in Diana’s office until you’re told you can leave. Nobody knows what to do with you right now, but I can tell you this much: you won’t like it. You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourselves into.”