All Our Tomorrows

by All Our Tomorrows (epub)

  Dropping a cluster of Rima Grenades on the Rasu ground forces would go a long way toward taking care of the problem, but doing so would also transform a quarter of the city into a crater. In the old days, Casmir would not have sought clarification before doing exactly that without hesitation, but this wasn’t the old days, and no Concord commander was ready to go scorched earth quite yet.

  They were trying to make up ground lost due to the Rasu’s surprise appearance here. The enemy had inflicted significant damage in the opening minutes, but Casmir’s snap assessment led him to believe they were already gaining the upper hand on the enemy. Hopefully, they would be aided soon by the activation of a planet-wide Rift Bubble. If nothing else, it should cap the number of Rasu in-atmosphere, permanently dividing the battlespace into manageable chunks and turning a battle of attrition into a winnable proposition.

  He followed the hovertank regiments’ progress as they landed and moved into attack formations, but solely via the tactical combat feed. Once upon a time, he’d have been able to slip into the mind of any one of the soldiers and experience the ground combat first-hand from the safety of his bridge. But the integrals were all but gone, useful only for consciousness backup and regenesis purposes. Anaden minds were now sacrosanct.

  He didn’t disagree with the change, of course, but it did make commanding battlefields considerably more challenging. He had to trust his men to do their jobs using skill and wits—and he did. Anaden society was evolving more rapidly every day, and it wasn’t always clear into what. But for now, Machim soldiers were still bred and honed for a single purpose: to wage war.

  IRELTSE

  The massive frame of the Rasu mech filled Diya’s vision like a devil sent up from the abyss to drag him into Hell. He gripped the Rectifier with both hands and fired—and the abyss came for the Rasu instead.

  Diya stumbled backward in a hurry, as he didn’t want tendrils from the negative energy vacuum to snag any of his limbs.

  Then the Rasu and the abyss were gone. The entire encounter had lasted less than five seconds.

  Captain Harris: “Need backup at my coordinates!”

  Diya shook off the adrenaline rush and directed one of the drones to the captain’s location, feeding the visuals to the rest of the squad. Harris and Chacko were pinned down by five—no, six—Rasu that had transformed themselves into giant, six-legged crawlers.

  He might get his chance to return the favor for Chacko today after all. He rushed forward, Rectifier drawn, and zig-zagged across the open road to reach a vantage where he wouldn’t take out his teammates along with the Rasu. Here. He slammed to a stop and fired above the trapped Marines and into the Rasu.

  The top half of two of the Rasu were instantly atomized, but their legs and torsos kept moving. He blinked, and a canonized weapon morphed out of the top of one of the torsos. Damnable creatures!

  Chacko hurled a frag grenade straight into the wide barrel of the cannon, and the next second Rasu bits were flying in every direction. The other mechs continued advancing, and one of those he’d shot reformed itself with a long blade for a fifth appendage.

  Chacko grabbed Harris by his uniform material and dragged him backward, out of the reach of the stabbing blade, while Viyan fired a SAL into the mechs at nearly point-blank range. Two Rasu staggered and lost a step, and Diya quickly fired the Rectifier again. This time the whole bodies of both vaporized, buying Chacko and Harris another five or ten seconds.

  As his teammates cleared the pile of rubble where they’d been hunkered down, he realized Harris’ left leg was a mangled mess—hence Chacko dragging the man. God, did he know how that felt!

  Lieutenant Diya (Ireltse Sub-mission Channel 12): “Need medical assistance at Captain Harris’ coordinates. And air support. Air support would be great.”

  A low rumble, akin to a growl, blasted his eardrums, and Diya’s heart sank. What was next, a platoon of Godzilla-sized Rasu come to trample them into oblivion?

  Through the omnipresent haze caused by rampant explosions and falling buildings, the profile of an avenue-wide line of hovertanks appeared from the east. Their design said they weren’t AEGIS. Anaden? They had to be.

  Wide beams streaked out from three of the leading hovertanks to cut into the remaining Rasu mechs in dramatic fashion. The Rasu that retained enough appendages to move pivoted to engage the approaching vehicles, and three of his teammates rushed in to help Chacko evacuate their captain to safety.

  Diya breathed out in relief. Thank God the Anadens were their allies today.

  3

  * * *

  KATASKATOUSYA SUPERDREADNOUGHT

  Ireltse Stellar System

  The eerie darkness of the superdreadnought’s interior wrapped Alex in a blanket of haunting emptiness. Only the narrow white streams of operating code racing along the hull provided any light in the cavernous space, and the far reaches were cast in inky, foreboding shadows.

  Valkyrie murmured in her mind. The welcome has not improved since the last time we visited.

  She chuckled to try to break the spell, then reflexively jumped as the sound echoed around her. No, it hasn’t.

  Beside her, Caleb looked somewhat disconcerted. “Your description of the interior of these ships did not fully convey the reality of how it feels to be inside one.”

  “What words could?”

  “Fair point.”

  It is only a machine, and one not designed to host organic beings. What does it matter how it ‘feels’?

  Alex blew out a breath and shifted toward the swirl of pinpoint lights materializing beside her. “None at all, Mesme. Where’s the Rift Bubble?”

  Loaded into a launch tube and ready for deployment. We merely need to maneuver through the Rasu forces until we are close enough to the planet to ensure its safe arrival.

  The hull jerked sideways beneath their feet. This not being a vessel designed to host organic beings, there was neither artificial gravity nor inertial dampers, and only their mag boots kept them rooted to the floor.

  Which we are now in the process of doing.

  “I can tell. Are we stealthed?”

  It seems prudent.

  The Kats didn’t often bother to cloak their vessels, but they were capable of doing so effectively when needed. She and the other Noetica Prevos had learned all about the effectiveness, and the weaknesses, of their stealth technology during the Metigen War. In the middle of a pitched battle, the Rasu would be busy with all the ships they could see, so it shouldn’t take much stealth for even the giant superdreadnought to slip through the front lines unmolested.

  You do not need to be present for the deployment, either of you. I assure you, I will take care in securing and activating the device.

  “We know you will. It’s just that we have a special interest in seeing this particular planet saved.”

  Very well. Mesme’s presence pulsed as it meandered along the empty hold. It is…ironic, I believe is the appropriate word. Today, we—the Katasketousya—are saving the Khokteh, when once we were manipulating their self-inflicted destruction. This is your doing.

  Caleb smiled. “And yours. You’re the one who convinced the Idryma to accept our conditions, preserve the Khokteh and ally with us.”

  You made a compelling case—all I did was endorse it. And thus here we are today.

  “Here we are today.” Alex rubbed at the material of the environment suit covering her arms. The chill was all in her head, for the suit kept her body temperature regulated, but she felt cold nonetheless. She was trying to focus on the battle proceeding outside and the actions they’d committed to seeing done today, but memories of her last visit to a superdreadnought churned to the forefront of her mind. It had been the first time she’d properly delved hidden dimensions and higher-order code, and in doing so sabotaged an entire enemy fleet. But more significantly for her, it had been the first time she’d heard her father’s reborn voice in her head. These days, she’d all but forgotten what it was like for him not to be in he
r life, flesh and blood. But right now—

  The floor lurched again, and she and Caleb pitched forward to land roughly on their hands and knees on the frigid floor. “Mesme!”

  Incidental glancing fire. We are beyond it now.

  “Great.” She rubbed at her left elbow, which had suffered the brunt of the landing.

  Caleb placed a hand on her shoulder. “Are you all right?”

  “Yeah.” She nodded a tad sluggishly, and they climbed back to their feet.

  Mesme was now behind them, so she lifted her mag boots and rotated around. “Is it time to launch yet?”

  Thirty-five seconds until we reach a position I have deemed safe for deployment. Recall, the Rift Bubble device possesses minimal defenses of its own while in transit, so we do not want to leave it exposed for longer than is necessary.

  “Understood. I’ll let Mom and Pinchu know it’s almost ready.”

  Mom, Ireltse should have an active Rift Bubble in the next ten minutes.

  Not a minute too soon, either. Can I ask you to stay safely distant from the ground until we remove the Rasu there? It’s unpleasant on the surface.

  A corner of her lips curled up. You can ask, but you know I have a compulsion to help the Khokteh.

  So I do.

  She sent a similar message to Pinchu and received a grunt in response.

  Mesme vanished for barely a second, then reappeared. The launch has been initiated.

  “Excellent. The same landing coordinates as we discussed earlier?”

  Correct.

  She took Caleb’s gloved hand in hers and opened a wormhole in front of them, relieved to be leaving the tomblike superdreadnought behind. On the other side of the tear in space-time, the deceptively quiet and peaceful Ireltse steppes awaited. They walked through.

  IRELTSE

  They stood at the bottom of a cliff, in a wide, dusty canyon lined with topaz and vermilion boulders. No structures were visible in either direction to the horizon, but the topography was nonetheless familiar. Have we been here before, Valkyrie?

  We are situated around fifty kilometers northwest from where Pinchu and Cassela’s home stood before it was destroyed in the Nengllitse attack.

  Ah. I can see the geographic similarities now.

  Alex collapsed her helmet and breathed in deeply, taking a minute to remember.

  “This is truly gorgeous, Cassela. Your planet is beautiful.”

  The fur around Cassela’s neck fluttered. “We find much peace here when times become difficult. I encourage Pinchu to find more, but leaders must bear the burdens of their shikei .”

  She still wasn’t opening the connection to Valkyrie for fear of the reaction it might cause, but she could always talk to her.

  “Valkyrie, there isn’t a translation for that word?”

  ‘ ‘People’ would suffice for a translation, but the term encompasses a broader notion of clan, as well as history and future—their ancestors and the children yet to be born. It is a compelling word.’

  Alex sighed wistfully, for the concept made her think of her mother. She hoped the burdens she had left her mother with were lighter than those which had come before, but suddenly she wasn’t certain. No matter their weight, she had no doubt Admiral Miriam Solovy could bear them, but it was tragic she had to bear them alone.

  “At least Pinchu has you to give him comfort.”

  “Mey, and comfort I do provide. But enough of sentimental poeticism.”

  “Yet you have a precise translation for ‘poeticism?’ ”

  ‘It is an accurate interpretation. I stand by it.’

  Cassela gestured to Alex’s forearm. “What an enchanting bracelet—there is much beauty in simplicity.”

  She ran fingertips over the curves of the smooth, onyx metal, smiling to herself. “Thank you. It was a gift from Caleb—the first gift he ever gave me, in fact. It…well, its origin is a long story, but it holds a lot of meaning for me.”

  “As it should be for such treasures. Come, let us rejoin the others.”

  Alex stole a last look at the fading rays of sunlight beyond the canyon then trailed Cassela inside.

  The Khokteh had lost a fierce, extraordinary warrior the next day, and Pinchu had lost the greater part of his heart. He’d recovered in time, at least to outside observation, but he’d never quite seemed whole again. He was far too busy for her to ask him right now, but if asked, she suspected he would simply say that he was glad Cassela was not here to witness the destruction being inflicted upon her beloved world by the Rasu.

  But they were about to bring that destruction to a swift end. A few meters away, the protective casing surrounding the Rift Bubble fell away. The next instant the extradimensional power source at its center flared to life, and a few seconds later the dimensional barrier exploded outward to encircle the planet in its sheltering embrace.

  Relief flooded her mind, and the tension in her muscles eased.

  Mom, the Rift Bubble is active.

  Wonderful. We will switch strategies accordingly.

  She smiled graciously at Mesme, who undulated nearby. “Thank you, again. We’ll take it from here.”

  Of course. I understand there is a rapidly increasing demand for these devices, so I will check in on their production. Its lights, pale and washed-out against the vermilion clay backdrop, swept off and vanished.

  Caleb squeezed her hand. “We should let Pinchu know the tide will be turning soon.”

  “We should. Want to tell him in person?”

  “If we can get his attention for two seconds, absolutely.”

  “Mom said he was overseeing the planetary defense from the Center.” She extended her arm and the onyx bracelet encircling it, and a new wormhole opened in front of them.

  CAF AURORA

  Ireltse Stellar System

  Miriam scrutinized each of the three tactical screens with a studied eye. Reports from Navarchos Casmir, Colonel Odaka and Lt. Colonel Grenier indicated the ground forces were still having a difficult time of it on the planet below. She ordered a twenty-percent increase in personnel and ships across the board, then refocused her attention on the battle outside her viewport, where they were making more progress.

  Now that the Rasu knew about the effects of a Rift Bubble, if not the cause, the Aurora was no longer able to bait Rasu vessels to the barrier and into its trap, which was a shame. That particular trick had been rather satisfying.

  On the other hand, with an active Rift Bubble, they no longer had to concentrate on protecting the planet below and could direct their efforts to permanently destroying as many Rasu in their sights as possible.

  “Thomas, shift to TP-Sweep 2.”

  ‘Executing.’

  Field Marshal Bastian (AFS Leonidas)(Ireltse Command Channel): “AEGIS Fast-Attack Regiments D1-4 have arrived and are heavy.”

  Commandant Solovy (CAF Aurora)(Ireltse Command Channel): “Excellent. Have them concentrate on obliterating the Rasu debris we’ve created before it reforms.”

  The resupply of negative energy missiles the regiments carried was a timely addition, as these battles inevitably devolved into a race between their dwindling stock of the weapons and the number of Rasu willing to commit to the fight.

  Her mind briefly drifted to the trillions, or perhaps more, of Rasu controlling hundreds of galaxies just beyond the cosmic horizon. They remained on the sidelines of this war thus far, but for how long?

  IRELTSE

  Pinchu spotted them the instant Alex and Caleb emerged through the wormhole. He shoved his way past a circle of advisors then threw his long arms around them both, trapping them against his large, barrel chest. “My friends! Tell me you bring good news.”

  “We do.” It came out breathy and winded, and Alex carefully extracted herself from his embrace while Caleb did the same. “The Rasu on the ground and in the sky at this moment are the most there will ever be.”

  “The Rift Bubble is active?”

  “It is. Do you need more weapons?
Rima Grenades?”

  “Ah.” He gestured to his left in the direction of a tangerine-furred Khokteh in full military attire pacing by the war table. “I’m told we received ten large crates of the Asterions’ grenades and launchers minutes ago. They are being distributed to our rooftop snipers as we speak.”

  “Excellent.” Caleb clasped Pinchu on the upper arm. “We won’t keep you from your crucial duties. Go get your planet back.”

  “I like that spirit. Yes!” Pinchu spun and shoved his way back into the inner circle, issuing orders all the way.

  Alex laughed, grateful he was now headed toward a happy ending today. There were losses, obviously, but in comparison to what could have befallen Ireltse if not for the Rift Bubble, if not for Concord….

  She wandered toward the opening in the far wall to gaze out across the city, and her buoyant mood took a nosedive. ‘Losses’ didn’t begin to cover the destruction consuming the landscape.

  To the east, the competitive arena where young Khokteh men proved their worth in hand-to-hand combat was now a ragged impact crater. To the north, almost two kilometers away, a Rasu beam had turned a city block into a pile of crumbled stone. A little farther away, the largest road leading out of downtown had been shorn in two and upended, as if by an earthquake. On the western horizon, half a dozen Rasu frigates were having their way with warehouses and factories. To the left of the factories, dozens of Machim hovertanks moved against what might have once been Rasu bipedals, but now resembled twisted creatures from a nightmare. The enemy had risen to the occasion and combined their forms to match the hovertanks in size and firepower.

  And everywhere the streets were visible, there were bodies.

  She sensed Caleb press in behind her. “Damn. This is bad.”