He hesitated.
You could just back off and throw a grenade, Hunter suggested.
Tebrey shook his head. No, I need to conserve our resources.
He stepped around to the front of the plane so he could look in through the shattered cockpit. The pilots were dead in their harnesses. The gunner was pinned by a piece of metal that had pierced her chest. She gave up struggling when she saw Tebrey. She didn't try to fight back or draw a weapon. She knew death when she saw it.
He stood and stared at her for a minute.
"It's okay," she said softly in Normarish, her accent thick. "I forgive you, and thank you for the mercy." She closed her eyes and waited.
Tebrey shot her in the head and looked away. He was sickened. In a civilized war, he should have been able to offer aid to wounded soldiers, not just the mercy of a quick death.
There is no such thing as civilized warfare, Hunter thought to him.
No, there isn't. Tebrey shook himself. We need to get moving.
Chapter Forty-Four
"Commander Tebrey?"
Tebrey was so startled by the voice on his com that he missed his landing and slid down the rocky slope, grunting in pain.
"This is Lt. Commander Tebrey," he answered. "Who is this?" He didn't recognize the voice or the accent in the transmission.
"Just a moment, sir."
The voice was replaced with another one. This one was a soft tenor with an even stranger accent. "This is Captain Torenth of the Concord battle cruiser Arcadia. We're in the system rendering assistance to the Centaur. Frankly, we didn't think that you'd survived the nukes."
Nukes? Tebrey thought.
They detonated a few minutes after you were knocked out, replied Hunter. The ones aimed at the base. The pulse is what knocked out your suit.
Oh, yeah. Tebrey had forgotten about those. You could have reminded me.
It was over and done with, Hunter thought pragmatically.
Tebrey sighed.
"Commander?"
"Sorry, Captain, I was discussing something with my companion."
"One of my weapons ratings detected the aircraft being destroyed on the surface, and we couldn't think of who else it could be down there still fighting."
"Yeah, that's really great, Captain. I'm happy for him, give him a medal even, but do you think you could send a shuttle down to pick us up before somebody decides to lob a few more nukes our way?"
"We're ferrying wounded over from the Centaur and the Hrimfaxi right now, Commander. The terrain you're in isn't the best for landing, either. Do you think you could make it a few more kilometers to the south? The ground is flatter there."
"Sure, what the hell. What's a few more kilometers when injured, right? Do you have an ETA on an extraction?"
"We'll let you know when you get there."
"Of course you will."
Twenty minutes later, Tebrey was exhausted and gasping. Running over the uneven ground was beginning to take its toll on his battered body. He was certain that most of his ribs were broken, and a few of his vertebrae. He felt sharp, grating pain with every step, and he could taste blood. At least the suit was able to keep his circulating volume high enough, despite him bleeding internally.
I wonder why we haven't been attacked again.
Maybe they just ran out of planes, Hunter suggested. Even his thoughts sounded tired. Hunter didn't have powered armor to help him through the rocky terrain. His injuries weren't as bad as Tebrey's, but he was still bruised and battered.
More likely, they decided we weren't worth the effort. They're probably just waiting to knock out the retrieval shuttle.
What is it with you? Hunter thought irritably. You didn't think we'd make it this far. Have a little faith.
That's funny, Tebrey replied. Just what I would expect from a two-year-old. You know, it occurs to me that you're hardly more than a toddler.
Watch it, Hunter growled.
Come say that to my face.
They were far to the south of the base now. The terrain had changed from rocky lava beds to shifting cinder cones and small calderas.
It looks like we might actually make it, Tebrey thought.
Lightning flashed inside a crater to their right, accompanied by a wave of frighteningly familiar nausea.
You had to think it, Hunter thought. Now we have a fucking Theta to deal with.
Now who's being cynical? Tebrey asked. Come on. Something isn't right about this. Why would one of them be here? And why would it give itself away like that?
Why do we care? We could just go around, thought Hunter. I know – never leave an enemy, and all that crap. Can we please just skip this one?
I need to know, Tebrey replied. That is what we're here for, you know. Another, brighter flash accompanied his thought.
Tebrey climbed stealthily up the slope of the crater, being careful not to dislodge any rocks and give away his position. The flashes were more rhythmic now, punctuated by psionic pulses of despair and disorientation. Hunter stayed near him, unwilling to venture completely to the top but not wanting to be far from Tebrey.
Tebrey edged over the lip and looked into the crater.
Clouds of steam filled the crater. The flashes of light seemed to hide more than they revealed. Something moved within the steam. It was as if a battle was taking place. Two things hurtled blasts of lightning and waves of darkness at one another.
Two? Hunter thought, baffled. We've never seen two of them together. What, are they fighting over who gets to kill us or something?
Come up and look for yourself, Tebrey said. They seem too preoccupied to bother with us, and I need your opinion.
What is there to think about? Toss some plasma grenades down there and let's get out of here. Hunter didn't like the idea of lingering, but he crept up the slope until he could see over the lip.
I don't think they're the same, thought Tebrey. I don't think they are both Thetas.
The Theta's form changed from moment to moment: a medley of demonic limbs and animal shapes never quite fully forming, all of them terrible to behold. The other creature in the crater was harder to see. It shifted form, too; the glimpses of it were not terrible, but rather strangely beautiful. Tebrey had never seen anything like it.
Neither of them is human. Remember the thing on Cedeforthy? It had a strange and terrible beauty, too. Shoot first and ask questions later. Isn't that what you said on Serendipity?
That was different, Tebrey replied. We just had the one to deal with. I don't sense anything malevolent from the other thing, just pain. I think it's fighting the Theta. I think we should help it.
The enemy of my enemy? Hunter thought with trepidation.
Exactly, thought Tebrey. Besides, it looks like it's losing. It's injured and weakened. If it turns out to be a problem, I can always shoot it later.
You hope that will work.
Enough, Tebrey said forcefully. I'm going in. Be prepared.
Hunter sighed. Aim for the head.
Which one? Tebrey thought as he raised his plasma rifle.
Rho'Nyo was fighting for his life, and losing.
His opponent's attacks were relentless, not letting up even for a moment, and Rho'Nyo was weakening. He had tried to escape and paid a frightening cost in terrible burns. He wasn't sure which was worse, the thought that he would actually die the final death or the knowledge that he had failed his mission. Certainly the consequences of that failure could be far worse.
For once, the Circle had been wrong. They had directed him to be at this place, at this time, but there was nothing here, no one to meet. And then it had showed up. It wasn't P'Sahk'Na, but it seemed to be the local equivalent, or something else. It was certainly more powerful than had been anticipated. It was also more powerful than he had thought possible, perhaps even one of the ancient ones he'd heard about but hoped never to meet. If he had realized that in time, he might have summoned assistance before the thing closed the access point.
It str
uck with fire again, but Rho'Nyo had anticipated that, and had already shifted his battered flesh to something resistant to the dark flames. He struck back with the lightning once more, draining the last dregs of static potential from his environment. It was the only thing that seemed to hurt the creature. Soon Rho'Nyo would be unable to fight back effectively. Then it would only be a matter of time.
If he was lucky, it would finish him quickly, but he knew that was a forlorn hope. If there was one trait that was common among the things, it was that they liked to play with their food.
A blast of blinding star-fury pierced the heart of the darkness before him, causing the creature to break off its attack. Blast after blast struck the thing, wounding it and binding it to a material form. Its dying psionic screams echoed through Rho'Nyo's mind, sending him reeling.
The last thing he saw before he passed out from pain was a humanoid form hurling itself down the slope onto the creature. His enhanced senses saw it as a blaze of white light.
He wondered which of the Circle had come to his aid, and how they had known.
Chapter Forty-Five
The corpse was already beginning dissolution.
Hrothgar Tebrey sat panting on a small bolder, watching as the body quickly rotted away. He was completely out of ammunition. He had used up his plasma rifle, and then the remaining energy for his antimatter pistol, making sure the thing was dead. He'd even resorted to hacking at it with his combat knife when it had tried to reform. All he had left were a pair of plasma grenades. His whole body ached from being so close to the monster. At least he was sure it was dead.
He felt drained of life.
Hunter was searching for the other entity. It had been falling even as Tebrey attacked the Theta. He hoped that it – whatever it was – was still alive and that he would be able to communicate with it. He had a feeling that it was going to be very important.
Got it, Hunter announced. I think it's awake. It looks different. Hunter's mental tone was tinged with unease.
Tebrey eased himself up and walked, limping, over to Hunter. The entity had been hidden from view by a pile of large fallen rocks. Hunter was standing guard near it, radiating a sense of paranoid caution. He didn't like being so close to something that was so similar to a Theta. He wanted to move on to the retrieval point and get away from this nightmare of a planet. Tebrey did, too.
The entity was awake and sitting up. Tebrey was amused to see that it now looked human. It was badly burned and bleeding from dozens of wounds, but it wore the form of a young human male, maybe twenty or so years in age, nude. I suppose I should think of it as he, then, Tebrey thought. The illusion wasn't perfect; his hair and eyes were an unnaturally intense, deep green.
"Are you human?" the entity asked in flawless Normarish.
Tebrey blinked and glanced at Hunter. The cat gave him the mental equivalent of a shrug. He hadn't expected communication to be that easy.
"Near enough," Tebrey replied. "Good try, by the way. Most people would be fooled."
"Fooled?" the man asked.
"You're not human," Tebrey said. "I don't know what you are, but I saw you fighting the Theta." He felt curiously at peace, despite his pain.
"Is that what you call them?" the man asked, not bothering to deny the obvious. Then, "We should move. Such things are rarely scared off for long."
"Scared off?" Tebrey chuckled. "I don't think that's going to be a problem."
"What do you mean? I'm guessing from your knowledge and tone that you've encountered these things before."
"I have," said Tebrey. "I killed it."
All by yourself? Hunter snickered.
I didn't see you down there getting your paws dirty, Tebrey said.
"Killed?" the man asked, incredulous. "You killed it?" He pulled himself painfully to his feet.
"Is that so odd? Want to see it?" asked Tebrey. "It is right over here, what's left of it. Maybe you could answer a few questions for me while you're at it."
We don't have much time, Hunter interjected.
"Is he with you?" the man asked, gesturing at Hunter.
"Yes, we work together."
"Interesting," he murmured. The man stood and looked down on the body of the dead Theta.
"I hate to rush you, but we don't have time to wait here," Tebrey said after a minute. "There's a ship in orbit ready to send down a shuttle, and I really don't want to wait here any longer than I have to. I need to get to the flats a bit farther south."
"I'm not up to traveling. If fact, I'm not completely sure if I'll recover from my injuries."
"You're barely singed," Tebrey said. "Listen, if you can't move fast, I can carry you. We need to get away from here."
"Okay." The man seemed amused by the thought of being carried.
Tebrey picked him up as gently as possible. He seemed a little heavier than his size suggested, but that weight was no burden for the woven carbon-nanotube muscles of Tebrey's powered armor. Tebrey followed Hunter out of the crater and along a narrow canyon.
The man suddenly began to laugh softly.
"Are you okay?"
The man laughed louder. "I'm as well as can be expected. I certainly didn't think I would be alive at this time."
"Who and what are you?" asked Tebrey.
"My name is Rho'Nyo," the man said.
"Row-what?"
"Call me Emerald."
"Right…," Tebrey drawled. "You didn't answer my question, though."
"I'm not human," Emerald replied, stating the obvious. "My people fight against the things you call Thetas. Isn't that enough?"
"No," said Tebrey. "Not really. The shuttle coming to pick us up is from the Sentient Concord. You'll have to give me a reason not to just hand you over to them."
"And yet you seem to want a reason," Emerald said. "Could it be that not every one of your people knows of the things you fight? Are these Sentient Concord people not your own?"
"No," Tebrey growled in frustration, "not everyone knows. The Concord knows about them, though, and fights them when they can. I'm with the Earth Federation, but our two governments are sort of at war. Kind of. We have an uneasy truce at the moment. At least I hope we do. I haven't decided what to do with you yet. If you represent a species working to fight the Thetas, then I would be inclined to let you go your own way. I can't afford to be wrong, though. How do I know that you aren't just as bad as they are?"
"I think you know the answer to that. You wouldn't have saved me back there if you didn't already believe that I'm different."
"Fair enough," Tebrey replied. "So where are your people located? What star system? Do you have contact with the Concord?"
"I can't answer that," said Emerald. "And I really don't know of this Concord you speak of."
"If you won't tell me where you're from, how can I trust you?"
"You misunderstand me, friend. I cannot answer your question because it has no relevance here. I don't even know where this world is."
"How...?" Tebrey stopped. "Well, that puts an odd spin on things." He wasn't sure why he trusted the strange man. There was something about him, though, that Tebrey liked. Maybe it was simply the camaraderie of another being who had fought against the darkness. "Okay, how do you speak Normarish?"
"I don't," Emerald said. "Your mind is just good at translating. You must've had practice."
That gave Tebrey pause for a moment.
I really don't like this, Hunter said.
"Do you speak English?" Emerald asked in that language, and Tebrey could tell a difference now.
He shook his head in wonder. The man's English was clipped, archaic, and oddly accented, but just barely understandable. "I do," he replied. "How is it that you do?"
"Some form of it is spoken in many places. How many times have you encountered these things before?" Emerald asked. His tone made it clear he was speaking of the Thetas.
"Four times," said Tebrey. "Counting this one."
"You seem remarkably... intact, for a hum
an," Emerald said. "Most do not survive such encounters with mind and body whole."
"Yeah, well, I died the first time I encountered one," Tebrey said absently, scanning the horizon for landmarks.
"Maybe I should revise my estimate of your humanity," Emerald said. "Are you sure you're human?"
"As far as I know, but don't underestimate the wonders of modern medical technology. I had to be extensively rebuilt."
"Cyborg?"
"Not in the way I sense you mean," Tebrey replied. "I have implants, but I'm mostly flesh and blood, same as before. Tissue regeneration. In my line of work, I tend to spend a lot of time in Medical. How did you get here? And why were you here?"
"I traveled," Emerald said softly. "It may be that you are the one."
"Listen," Tebrey said, "how did you fight that thing?"
"How did you?" Emerald countered.
"Are you ever going to answer my questions?"
"I am trying. I'm bound by certain rules, though. You asked me earlier why I was here."
"Yes?"
"I know now that I was sent here to meet you."
"Really?" Tebrey found that hard to believe.
Emerald told him why he had come to this planet. "So, you see, it must have been for you."
"I'm not sure how I feel about that. But before we get into it, we need to figure out what we're going to do with you."
"What do you mean?"
"I won't be able to explain you, the way you look now. You can assume different forms, right?"
"I am a shapeshifter, yes."
"Can you take a form from my mind?"
"I think so," Emerald said. "Yes, I can do that."
"Then do it."
They conversed mentally while they waited. Tebrey watched the retrieval shuttle come down through the ashen sky and wondered how his life was ever going to be the same. Emerald had confirmed his suspicions about the dark menace threatening the Federation. Tebrey hoped that he would live long enough to tell someone about it. If Admiral Meleeka was correct, and Emerald said she was, then the entire core of the Federation had been infiltrated by the Thetas.
If they knew about Tebrey as Emerald had said, then he was as good as dead. Hunter and Ana, too, and that was not acceptable.
The Fallen Page 24