by Matt Larkin
“Prep the antiproton cannons,” she said. “Target that leviathan.”
The Asherans kept shooting at her, but as she expected, they limited themselves to MAGs. They’d never risk antimatter explosions or plasma fire over their own cities. She didn’t have that problem.
David.
The moment the missile tubes were reloaded, she sent out another barrage.
A cruiser imploded, sucked into its own singularity. A second was pulled in. The antiproton cannons streamed, engulfing a leviathan, and it too imploded.
Hundreds of damage flares lit up her console. Rachel ignored them.
David was dust.
They would pay. They would pay! “I’ll kill you all!” she shouted at the remaining ships.
“Rachel!” Leah grabbed her and shook her. The weight of Leah’s pain and grief, barely controlled, punched through Rachel’s own. For a moment.
An explosion rocked the bridge, and a console blew. A Sentinel fell, plasma burns disintegrating his face.
“Rachel! We have to get out of here!”
“They’ll die first!” Rachel tried to shove the woman away.
Leah yanked her from the chair. “Stop this. Is there another prophet pilot on the bridge?” she shouted.
“Me!” someone else cried.
“Take the chair. Get us the void out of here.”
“No!” Rachel said and pushed Leah away.
The rahab bitch grabbed her. Rachel punched her in the face. Or tried. Leah caught the blow on her arm, spun Rachel around, and sent her to her knees with a twist. The impact stung, for a second. Leah’s arm wrapped around her throat. She struggled against the Sentinel, but Leah was stronger and had leverage. Damn Sentinel training was …
Damn Leah … the bitch …
Things began to fade.
David was … Rachel had to get him …
Because …
20
“273.4c: No Sentinel is to be left, dead or alive, at the conclusion of a mission. The mission includes the retrieval of all Sentinel personnel and equipment. There are no exceptions.”
Sentinel Holy Mandate
ASHERAH, TRIANGULUM GALAXY
Blinding lights shone into David’s eyes, and it took several moments of blinking to clear his vision. Magnetic restraints bound him to what appeared to be an operating table.
Bloody void. The EMP had shut down his shuttle. The Asherans must have hit him with some kind of knockout attack after he lost control. Now, men and women in lab coats circled him. Surgical masks blocked his view of their faces.
Someone jabbed an IV into his arm.
“What the void have you buggers done with my suit? Why are you doing this?”
The doctor jerked back, as if shocked he’d woken. The man moved to adjust a dial attached to the IV. David lunged against his restraints, jerking the whole table but not even budging the mag locks.
“Release me! I am acting ambassador for the NER. Release me, and we will show leniency.”
A man in Asheran battle armor strode over and gently pushed the doctor aside. The soldier’s faceplate popped open, revealing Aluf Mishma Lamport.
“Welcome, Captain.”
“Get buggered.” This man—this machine—had called him here for peace negotiations. David had come in good faith. Blind faith, as the case appeared. “What do you want with me?”
“We want you, of course. You’ve become a symbol to your government. Your fall will demoralize the remaining Sentinels.”
David laughed. The man was a fool. “Sentinels don’t leave people behind, aluf. Whether today, tomorrow, or the next day, you’re going to have a bloody fleet of battleships descending on this planet. You can’t even imagine the box of flaming shite you just opened on your own doorstep.”
“No, Captain. They aren’t looking for you. Because to them, you’re dead. A hologram of your shuttle exploding was all they saw. Congratulations. You’re a martyr. Or you will be, until you’re ready to serve us.”
Hologram? Bloody void. If the aluf spoke the truth, Rachel would be … devastated. Broken.
David roared at the man and strained against his restraints again. The shriek of metal on metal echoed through the room as the table moved a few centimeters. “I will never serve Asherah. You’re totally off rotation if you think—”
“You won’t have a choice, Captain.” He stood aside and waved the doctor over.
The man slid a table on wheels to David’s bedside, revealing an assortment of metal-pronged devices. Cybernetic implants.
“The Beast is coming for you,” the aluf said, then put a hand on David’s shoulder. “Just as it came for me. Don’t fight it. Soon, you will become a symbol of the new order.”
21
“Life, if it is found on a wild world, ought to be preserved unless it is anathema to human life. Flow around it, like the river around a rock.”
The Codex, Book of Cambriel, on terraforming
MARCH 15, 3097 EY — ANDROMEDA GALAXY
The void had swallowed her alive. Rachel couldn’t breathe, couldn’t understand why her heart was still beating. She woke in her room, her head aching, her vision foggy. It cleared, but she still could not believe what had happened. The universe could not be so cruel … David was … he wouldn’t go down like that. Blown away on a shuttle …
All she had been fighting for meant nothing.
She slumped from her bed onto the floor. She tried to push herself up, but her muscles wouldn’t work. Nothing worked. The holy universe was malfunctioning. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. She wasn’t meant to live without …
Her chest trembled, then shook. Sobs wracked her, and she fell over, unable to control them. Why should she? Why should she do anything?
It was enough.
Too much. She had done too much.
The price.
Her fault.
She had created all of this. Her pride. Her refusal to accept the universe as it was. Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind, the Codex said. And Rachel had never listened.
She wept until her head felt ready to split open. Until her sides stung. Until she had no moisture left in her eyes.
When she woke again, she was still on the floor. A thick dryness filled her mouth, like chewing on sawdust.
Her body ached when she sat, and the room spun around her. For a moment, she steadied herself, then made her way to the washroom. She popped a sanitizer tab in her mouth and tried to savor the minty fizz.
A shower. A hot shower.
She stripped and stood under the spray for a long time. As if the past could be washed away so easily. As if the loss of the future could be cleaned with water and heat and soap.
Her spine cracked as she stretched. Sleeping on the floor … bad for the body. Just keep going. Just for today.
She had to.
She had to see the Asherans punished. It was all that remained to her. She would bring the Sephirot back and destroy them. All of them. The wrath of God would descend upon them.
And it would wear her face.
She turned off the shower and flipped on the evaporator. In a rush of heat, all the water on her skin turned to steam. She pulled her uniform back on. David had made her a Sentinel. Like he was. So now one Sentinel would avenge another.
And for a thousand years, all mankind would remember the price of betrayal.
“Mazzaroth on,” she said. “Contact Ezekiel Knight.”
Seconds later, he appeared on screen, shirtless. The network of scars crisscrossing his chiseled muscles no longer entranced her. She felt nothing.
“What the void, Rachel? I’ve called twice.”
“I was … indisposed. Something has happened.”
When she didn’t speak, Knight spread his hands. “ … And?”
“Asherah betrayed the peace summit.” Her throat was so dry her voice sounded like a whisper. “They destroyed the shuttle David was on.”
Knight’s mouth opened a second, then shut. “I’m sorry,�
� he said at last.
Phoebe stepped into view. “God, Rachel. I’m so sorry.”
She nodded. There was nothing else to say on the matter. “Is Raziel with you?”
“No,” Knight said. “He still hopes to communicate with the angels. He told me they built seven seals and that five are now gone. They made the Adversary to fight some kind of aliens called the Lotan, but they lost control of it. If the seals break, the Adversary has a whole armada to send against the angels. Most likely, they’re falling back to defend them now.”
“Are you still on Gadara?”
“Nope,” Phoebe said. “Hannah wanted to take the Wake back to Eden.”
“Phoebe … You’d be the captain of the Sephirot now. But you’re not here.”
“Yup, yup … So who did David leave in charge?”
Rachel glowered. “Leah.”
“She’s a doctor.”
“Yeah. Send the signal. Name me acting captain.”
Phoebe twirled her hair. “Uh … Rachel, I don’t know about that …”
“I aim to make them pay for what they’ve done.”
Phoebe shook her head. “All the more reason you’d be compromised. Command is a huge responsibility.”
“I commanded the Ark itself! Think how you would feel if it were Knight.”
The icie glanced at Knight, who stood silently by her side. “I … uh … Okay, Rachel. But promise me you won’t throw your life away. Promise me you won’t waste the lives of the crew.”
Rachel shut her eyes. Maybe part of her wanted to do just that. To fly the Sephirot straight back to Asherah and blast them to smithereens, no matter the cost. But Phoebe was right. That was not the legacy David would want. No. He’d want his crew protected. She would have her vengeance but not through a suicide mission.
“I promise.”
“Then I’ll send the signal.”
“What about us?” Knight said.
“Stay with Hertz. I’ll rendezvous with you when I’m able. Mazzaroth off.”
Rachel strode from her quarters toward the lift. Before the attack, Caleb had been trying to tell her something. Void, he’d been trying to warn her about Asherah. What had he said? That they would serve Apollyon whether they wanted to or not. What did that mean?
Before she exited to the brig, another triangle insignia appeared on her uniform. Lieutenant Commander. Phoebe must have made the call. “Computer,” she asked. “Who is in charge of this ship?”
“Acting Captain Rachel Jordan.”
Good.
Leah might be pissed. Let her be.
Rachel hurried through the brig to Caleb’s cell. The man sat with his head in his hands, trembling. He mumbled to himself like some off-rotation freak. Or … like a psych during an ascension. But Caleb was no psych. Whatever Apollyon had done to him was driving him mad.
Rachel tapped the controls to open the door and stepped inside.
“What did you mean? They would serve him whether they wanted to or not?”
Caleb looked up. His eyes were red, lined with dark circles. His cheeks showed nail marks, like he had clawed at them. Scratching his own damn face off. The poor bastard was going to need to be sedated. But before that, she needed answers.
“Caleb!”
He shook himself. “The … uh … the cybernetic implants, Rachel. It makes them vulnerable. Somehow, with machines in the body, the Adversary can touch you. It … it haunts. It forces you to … there’s no peace, Rachel. Not even in sleep. An endless waking nightmare.”
The implants. Cybernetics …
Rachel shuddered and put a hand on Caleb’s head. He suffered too much. More than even he deserved.
Cybernetics.
“Can it be removed?” Rachel asked.
Caleb swallowed. “Even if you had someone with the skills to program nanobots that precisely … I’d be blind. Besides, part of it is hooked right into my brain.”
Raziel had said the angels could no longer live without them. But … because of them they were at war with themselves. What had he said exactly?
And so we live in continuous torment, at war with ourselves, trembling before the passage of the Beast. And some of us fell.
Rachel had thought he meant civil war between angels. And there had been that. But Raziel meant … the Beast.
That was what Caleb was suffering.
The Beast was some kind of possession, through cybernetic implants. Because of the machines, the Adversary could touch the angels’ minds, even from another universe.
Raziel was literally at war within his own mind. A war to retain his own free will. Some of the angels fell … to the Beast. They became servants of the Adversary.
She backed away until she bumped into the cell wall.
Many of the angels themselves broke under the strain. The fallen were the ones who fell in the war—and became possessed by the Beast.
And Asherah … the entire Asheran military was cybered.
22
“Regulation 201.78—regarding lateral fraternization. Sentinel personnel are encouraged to follow the admonitions of the Third Commandment in regards to their fellow Sentinels. However, all fraternization must take place without either party serving in a command capacity to the other. This means that such liaisons must be between Sentinels of equal rank or with sufficient lateral separation by unit that neither is directly above the other in the chain of command. If work or duty schedules conflict between eligible partners, commanding officers are instructed to make all possible accommodations in scheduling compatible daily routines upon written request from both parties.”
Sentinel Handbook, fraternizing with fellow soldiers
MARCH 17, 3097 EY — EDEN SYSTEM, MILKY WAY GALAXY
Knight worked through forms. The suite Hertz had given him and Phoebe was no dojo, but it had just enough room for training. Sometimes it was good to practice in tight spaces. Most real fights happened in cramped quarters.
“Looking good, big guy,” Phoebe said from where she sat on the kitchen counter. “Keep it up, and you’ll be almost as good as me.”
Knight quirked a smile but didn’t look at her. Focus.
“Well, I mean, not really,” she said. “But you could be second best.”
“Whatever.”
“Shit, Knight. With that attitude, you won’t even make second best. Keep working hard. I wanna see some sweat.”
Focus. He could keep the focus under any … almost any circumstance. The hori did tend to test his limits.
The Mazzaroth chimed with an incoming call. Rachel Jordan.
Now he spared a glance at Phoebe.
She shrugged. “Maybe they’re arranging a rendezvous.”
“Receive call.”
Rachel appeared on the screen and looked him up and down. “Why are you half naked every time I call?”
Knight shrugged.
“Reasons vary,” Phoebe said and hopped down to stand beside him.
“Uh, huh.” Rachel nodded. “Knight, you said the angels fought some kind of aliens … real aliens besides the Adversary?”
“The Lotan,” Phoebe said. “Dark matter beings, or so Raziel claimed. Kind of hard to wrap my mind around that.”
No shit. Phoebe had explained that dark matter was undetectable by normal means. It emitted no light. Which meant, without specially calibrated scanners, if these Lotan were out there, people could have flown right by them and never known. It would explain how humans had spent more than three thousand years in space and never found the creatures.
“I had a thought,” Rachel said. “The angels forbade travel into the Expanse of Nod.”
“So?”
“So why open thirty galaxies to us and forbid us one expanse in one of the galaxies?”
Knight shrugged again. How the void would he know that? Angels were unfathomable nowadays. He didn’t need to analyze choices they made millennia back.
“You think that’s where these Lotan live?” Phoebe asked.
O
h. Well, that made sense.
“Yeah. And I think you need to go find them.”
Knight looked to Phoebe. “Can you calibrate the scanners to detect this dark matter?”
She folded her arms. “I could.”
“Great,” Rachel said. “Do it. Contact me when you find them. Mazzaroth off.”
The screen went dead. Knight kept his focus on Phoebe.
He knew that look.
This wasn’t going to be good.
“What?”
“What the void do you mean, what?” She spread her hands as if to invite an explanation. Of course, he didn’t know what the problem was this time. She shook her head. “You’re just going to go looking for aliens now? For her. Again!”
“Technically, this is the first time I’ve gone looking for aliens.”
“So not the point right now! Once again, she asks you to do something, and you act like her eager lap dog.”
Not this shit again. He threw up his hands. “I thought we were past this.”
“Yup, yup. All well and past it. Just flew right by. Never mind that you just agreed to go looking for fucking aliens, Knight. Aliens powerful enough to threaten the angels.”
He was pretty sure that was Rachel’s point. If these Lotan had warred with the angels, maybe they would make good allies for mankind. It was worth a shot. “We have to try, Phoebe. If there is even a chance we could put an end to this war, don’t we have to risk it? People are dying … whole worlds vanishing.”
“You are putting our baby at risk!”
“Our … what?” Void, she was pregnant? He took a step toward her, reached a tentative hand to her abdomen. “You mean … really?”
“Yup, yup.” Her face softened a little bit. “We’re going to be parents. Little baby Knight running about on his own little ball of ice.”
Holy universe … him. A father.
Finally.
His face felt like it would split apart from grinning. He grabbed her in his arms and spun her about with a whoop. She laughed, and he kissed her on the cheek. “Thank you.”