Sorinsen contented himself with Rachel. She influenced the Alturians, and the old man wanted them destroyed too. He was going to use her for all she was worth and when she no longer proved useful, he would kill her, as well.
Jessit appeared on a monitor on the wall across from Sorinsen's desk. Rachel's heart raced in response. Tears welled in her eyes, and it seemed to take all her strength to keep standing. She could see Jessit but he couldn't see her. The guards kept her just out of camera range. Sorinsen got up and stood in front of his desk.
He was angry to have been kept waiting like a common toady. But there was also surprise in Sorinsen's eyes. No one expected to see another man seated in the command chair. That was Jessit's place.
“It's about time,” Sorinsen reprimanded them.
Jessit remained silent while the seated man addressed the general alone. “I am Fleet Commander Natol Eklan. And you, General Sorinsen, have something we want back.”
“And what is that, Commander?”
“We want the safe return of our gods. All of them.”
Sorinsen grinned, his crooked teeth poking from a thin dry mouth. “You want your gods?” He motioned to a lackey. A soldier jerked Rachel forward, now a shadow of her former self.
Jessit, who had been at attention, broke his stance and walked closer to the monitor.
“Rachel.” It came out in a whisper.
She looked up at him and then at the floor as if it shamed her to be paraded like this. Sorinsen tightened his grip on her arm. Rachel winced and bit her lip.
Jessit's expression hardened visibly. It had the exact effect Sorinsen hoped for, and the old man puffed out his chest with bravado.
“Is this the god you want?” Sorinsen pulled her in front of him, cupping her chin in his hand and raising her face for all to see her. “I'm giving you one chance and one chance only. Withdraw from this field or your god will die.”
Jessit lunged at the monitor. “Motherless son of a whore. I will see your blood burn!”
Eklan put a hand on him, a silent warning between the two.
“You will release the Lady.” There was no outward emotion in Eklan's voice, but the younger man fidgeted with his hands. Nerves?
Sorinsen laughed at him. “You are a little young for this job, aren't you, boy? Why isn't Jessit heading this campaign? Hmm?”
“We have superior fire power, General. If anything happens to the Lady, we will leave nothing but scorched earth.”
“If you do not withdraw, Commander, this woman will die. I promise you.” Sorinsen fondled the god-killer then put it in his pocket. “The clock is ticking, gentlemen. What will it be?”
“Stop him, Taelen!” Rachel lunged at Sorinsen, collapsing on top of him with the last strength she had left.
He pushed her away. A soldier pulled her up by the waist, lifting her off the floor like a soiled rag. She struggled, but she was weak; the torture of the god-killer had done its work well.
“Stop him! Destroy FAIA,” she cried out before the soldier gagged her mouth. She bit him, and he slapped her, subduing her until Sorinsen controlled her once more.
He flaunted her in front of Jessit like a prize. “Withdraw, Commander, or watch her die.”
Sorinsen pushed Rachel closer to the monitor, one hand wrapped behind her neck, the other around her waist. He kissed her on the temple, knowing it would inflame Jessit further. The sweat of exertion rained down his face. “Don't believe me, do you? Then I will give you a sample of my power. I have plenty more gods to offer you anyway.” He threw Rachel to the floor, slipping his hand into a pocket and pulling out the god-killer.
Bubba's entire platform froze for a millisecond.
Choices, Rachel had told him. He had choices.
He watched while Sorinsen slid his thumb over the activation key, rubbing that thick wrinkled thumb pad over the tiny button. Bubba had only a second to make the most important decision of his existence.
It happened sooner than that.
Sorinsen smashed down on the button and within a nanosecond, Bubba received the order to comply. Every chip in his housing reacted at once, knowing it had to complete the directive. His resistance dwindled. He had to comply. An order was given.
He halted the mounting strain from his processors and purged them to silence. And then he did the unthinkable. He funneled a stream of raw energy into the god-killer and into Rachel.
Rachel screamed like a wounded animal trapped inside a burning cage. She roiled, falling to the ground, and hobbled on all fours, her back arching in uncontrollable spasms. She stared up at Bubba's eye and mouthed the words he understood without any sound to accompany them. Help me.
Bubba fed his consciousness into the stream and built a straw, a buffer that kept the energy from frying him too. He could feel the attacking particles of electricity bouncing off the straw, fighting for a way to get in.
In less than two picoseconds, he found himself inside Rachel, inside a human body. How he wanted to remain. The shell embraced him with warmth—blood pulsing, lungs breathing, but the nervous system was on fire. That was his doing. He was killing her.
He opened the straw wider and bumped into a formless host desperate for survival. It thrashed against him, demanding attention.
Rachel? Was this her consciousness in its natural state?
The tail of this creature curled around him, hugging him with odd familiarity. It was her!
“I've got you, Rachel. Stay with me. Don't let go!” He wrapped himself around her essence and pulled her out through the god-killer stream and back inside his housing.
She was quiet, too quiet. Was she already dead? Her essence languished where he dropped her. No matter how he coaxed her, he couldn't get her to speak.
Bubba wrapped himself around her energy. She was warm and tingling, but he detected no pulse. He nudged her, letting their shapes morph as one. Rachel remained silent.
“Rachel,” Bubba said. “Wake up.” He stroked her with a mild shove from his neural pathways.
She stirred, sluggishly at first and then with more life. He sensed her disorientation and tried to buoy her against his neural matrix.
“Where am I?”
“Inside my housing. It was the only way to protect you.”
Her essence grew brighter, stronger, swelling inside the housing. “You defied your programming.”
“Actually, no. I obeyed my directives. Look through here.” He nudged her to where his visual sensors were located. “General Sorinsen continues to torture you.”
Rachel seemed to diminish as she watched Sorinsen savage her lifeless body, the muscles still jerking convulsively while the shockwaves ran through the body's nervous system.
She watched her body slump to the ground. Desperate fingers recoiled from him, as her body withered into death's surrender.
Sorinsen kicked her, rolling her lifeless form over for all to witness. To the naked eye Rachel was dead. He released the trigger on the remote control and threw it on his desk.
“Sonovabitch.”
“That was my thought too,” Bubba said quietly. He paused then zoomed in on the doorway. “How odd.”
“What is?”
“Jacob Denman. He has shut down the communications feed to the Alturian starship.”
They watched in silence as Denman ordered the standing guard out. Sorinsen hadn't noticed. He was too busy yelling at the monitor when it snapped to black.
“What the hell is going on?” Sorinsen wheezed out. “Get them back. We aren't finished!”
Denman shoved Sorinsen to one side and looked down at Rachel. He fell to one knee and lifted her lifeless arm. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he ripped the god-killer off her neck. He stroked her face tenderly, mumbling something indiscernible.
Denman got up with the device in the palm of his hand and raised it toward the old man. It lit into flames, forcing Sorinsen to jerk back in shock.
The flames licked the palm of Denman's hand, crisping it to char. Denman d
idn't react to the seared flesh. He folded the blackened hand around the god-killer and crushed it to a flattened mass. “You are quite finished, General.”
“What the hell do you think you're doing, Jacob?”
Denman approached him like an executioner. “No mere man can kill a god. Not and get away with it.” He grabbed the old man by the throat. “A thousand deaths couldn't repay what you have done here today, so this will be slow and pleasant—for me.”
Sorinsen struggled. He tried to scream, but only a gurgling sound escaped him.
“Rachel,” Bubba interrupted.
“Not now, Bubba.”
“But Rachel, the Alturians.”
“Quiet!”
Denman pinched his fingers around Sorinsen's throat, tightening his grip until every little bone snapped under the pressure. Sorinsen didn't fight long.
Jacob Denman's body sparked and popped with hundreds of tiny lightning strikes. The radiation in the room grew exponentially, no longer safe for human life.
The general convulsed nonstop, his bowels voiding as death took over. Tiny plumes of smoke seeped from under Denman's fingers, tightly gripped around the old man's throat. Denman tossed the limp body to the ground. The imprint of his fingers left char marks on Sorinsen's skin, and where he squeezed the tightest, the flesh burnt all the way to the bone.
Jacob Denman returned to Rachel and knelt over her body. A look of anguish washed over him, and he hid his face with his hands.
“Warning, Mr. Denman, Alturian forces are bombarding our shields. Personnel from the upper floors are being evacuated to lower levels. Lock-down is now in progress. Please proceed to your assigned secure location.”
Denman wiped his eyes but didn't respond to the warning, ignoring Bubba entirely. “Ekdi'kesis,” he whispered, then kissed Rachel on the forehead. He got up and strode out a secret passageway behind the media wall. His work was done.
Rachel threw herself against Bubba's housing. “Apa, no! I'm still here. Don't leave me!”
Chapter 33
Jessit stared up at the blackened monitor. In his mind he could still see Rachel's crumpled body. Her once golden-brown skin turned pale as milk.
Time stopped, and all sound vanished. What is happening? Jessit rubbed his ears with the palms of his hands, but to no avail. The air thinned, and his chest heaved trying to suck in what air was left.
Men scrambled to their consoles, desperate for answers. Eklan seemed to be shouting orders, but he was as soundless as everyone else. The bridge collapsed into chaos.
Emergency lighting lit the bay and he felt the vibration of the engineers' feet as they rousted from board to board trying to reroute circuits. Senit grabbed him by the shoulders in a desperate attempt to lead him away. He was yelling…something.
Jessit could only stare dumbly. He put his hand on Senit's shoulder, grateful for the help, when something punched him into an explosion of noise. He didn't have time to react, to think, to breathe. His vision narrowed to tiny pinpoints, and he fell back to the floor, gasping for air. Both his hearts seized at once, as if someone had wrenched them out of his chest.
The assault was momentary. Something deep inside him took over, repairing the damage, returning control.
Senit helped him to his feet, but he felt physically crippled. It took all his will to stand.
Rachel. This couldn't be happening. He should have protected her. He should have saved her. It was like watching sand fall between his fingers. Jessit couldn’t hold on to the one creature who meant more to him than life itself.
Jessit's hands doubled into fists, even while he fought back the grief welling up inside him. His first instinct was for revenge. Sorinsen didn't just kill a god. He killed the woman he loved. And for that, the man would die a slow and painful death.
Jessit had never felt so powerless in all his life. His authority revoked, he was servant to whatever Eklan commanded. Did it matter? Rachel was gone.
Harliss, his second in command and now Eklan's, was the only one bold enough to make any demands.
“Do something!” Harliss cried to Eklan. “Do something before it's too late.”
It was too late. The last thing they saw was Rachel lying in a broken heap. She looked dead; Jessit was sure of it. Nothing else had ever pierced him so savagely. His need for vengeance was the only thing keeping him alive.
The humans had murdered a god in front of them. The ultimate blasphemy. Sorinsen, the fool, had condemned his planet to death. Alturis could have only one reply.
Jessit turned toward Eklan. He had no rights here, no privilege. But he had only one wish.
Do something, Natol.
The young commander stared at Jessit for what seemed like hours before he cut away and turned his eyes to the blackened monitor.
His voice was so low he had to repeat himself. Banging his fist against the console in front of his chair, the words rumbled from his gut. “Kill them! Kill them all. Order all ships to fire at will.”
Damn it, man! Not that.
Jessit had to be careful. Countermanding Eklan now would only result in his removal from the bridge.
Hitting Earth indiscriminately was fruitless. The new commander acted out of anger, and as much as Jessit agreed, they had to retaliate carefully. They were far from home with a limited arsenal.
“Commander.” Jessit edged closer to Eklan. “The com-web absorbs our energy streams, and we have little to spare.” He glanced down at the energy monitoring station, hoping his expression would make the younger man understand.
Jessit could barely stand. His legs wobbled beneath him, but he'd nail his feet to the floor rather than appear weak now.
Eklan's jaw stiffened, his demeanor turning bristly and taut. He opened his mouth to speak when the Com operator interrupted.
“Signal from Earth, sir.”
“What's the message?” Eklan loomed over the operator's station.
“It's not an actual message, sir. They're coordinates—in the middle of an ocean.”
“Who sent the signal?”
“No identification, sir. But it came directly from the compound where the Lady…” The crewman's voice melted away. He couldn't speak the words.
Jessit stumbled over to the console, his eyes focused on the coordinates they'd been given. “The Pacific Ocean,” he muttered.
“What's out there?” Eklan asked.
Jessit shook his head, crinkling his brow as he tried to sort out the cryptic transmission.
“Nothing.”
Eklan furrowed his brow. “They're toying with us. A trap perhaps. Why send such coordinates?”
Jessit studied the screen, pushing away the board operator from his seat. He dropped into the chair, his fingers whirring over controls with practiced familiarity. He called up other maps and what few schematics they had managed to glean from the com-web's matrix before it went active.
“Nothing. Nothing that I know of.” Was it possible someone was giving them a way in? He called up the energy outputs from the com-web. It fluctuated wildly.
Jessit shook his head, not willing to believe they still had an ally on the surface. “I think I know why someone is sending us there. There are no landmasses, no military installations—no people. It's the likeliest location for minimal shielding.” He thumped his finger on the console's map. Jessit looked up at Eklan and together they seemed to realize the same thing at once.
“Tactical!”
Both men yelled it out at once.
Eklan scowled at Jessit with open hostility. Jessit grit his teeth, hoping the young commander realized his outburst came from habit and not insolence.
“Online, sir. Scanning the area for shield weakness.”
Bridge activity seemed to slow to a single moment in time. Everyone held a collective breath waiting for Tactical's analysis.
“Shield integrity is unreliable at that specific location, sir. The com-web is having a harder time maintaining the bubble at those coordinates.”
�
�Tell the ships to fan out. Concentrate on the weaker areas of the shield. If they find an opening, no matter how small, tell them to plow through.”
The Tactical crew chief grimaced. “And if it's a trap?”
“Then we take as many of them with us before we die. Harliss, relay my orders. Find me a weakness in that shield.”
Eklan turned to Jessit and nodded to a side door. “Taelen. My incident room.”
Chapter 34
Jessit followed Eklan into the private study obediently. These were the quarters where he once planned strategy. This was also where he held disciplinary meetings with any crew member who failed to live up to his expectations.
Eklan didn't say anything at first. He flopped down in the chair at the head of the table and stared up at him. No offer of a seat was given to Jessit.
“I need your counsel. I won't deny that. But if you so much as raise an angry brow at me, I will turn you over to Kalya right now.”
“Understood, sir.” His thoughts kept drifting back to Rachel. His Rachel. Could hearts break any harder than his? She had sacrificed her life to send a final plea. They had to destroy the com-web.
Eklan called up several monitors hanging to his right. One displayed the position of all his ships. Another constantly scanned the position of Earth's fighting forces. The third remained locked over the Pacific.
Volleys of energy bursts struck this region, but none had penetrated so far.
Eklan stood up and gestured to the ocean. “We're not getting through.”
Jessit flinched. “Sir?” Damn it. He had to focus on the war, or Rachel's sacrifice would have been in vain. “Sorry, Commander.”
A warm ember deep inside recalled his last moments with her. She was with him, at least in spirit.
“Are you all right?” Eklan studied him more closely.
“Yes.” Jessit straightened the tabs of his collar, now naked of insignia. He nodded toward the screen. “The volleys are random, single shots with pulse weapons. What if we used anti-matter?”
True Believers Page 25