Extinction Wars: 02 - Planet Strike Read online

  “Because we’re human,” I said.

  “You’re the history buff,” Rollo said. “You gotta know there were plenty of killers in the past who didn’t give a damn about something like this. This was our job, folks. If we’d failed…ah…I don’t know. Commander, permission to leave the bridge.”

  “Where are you going?” I asked.

  “I want to get drunk,” Rollo said. He tugged at his collar, which was tight around his thickly muscled neck. “I think I earned that,” he added.

  “You did,” I said, “but not just yet. We have a bigger crisis afoot. Our laser will do no more against the dreadnought than my dad’s radio beam did a year ago. N7. Put the Lokhar vessel on the main screen.”

  The massive dreadnought appeared against the backdrop of stars.

  “I don’t understand,” Ella said. “How can it be so big?”

  “Is that a serious question?” N7 asked. “They used large construction techniques and—”

  “I understand that part,” our Russian scientist said. “Think of what it takes to build a warship hundreds of kilometers in depth and width. Think of the sheer mass. It must be like moving a very large asteroid.” Ella shook her head. “Are there millions of Lokhars in there? Do you know, N7?”

  “I have no idea,” the android said.

  “A legion of lost Lokhars—” Ella stopped speaking before adding, “That’s a pinprick compared to how many must be in that ship.”

  “What did Naga Gobo say?” I asked. “The Lokhars don’t use the dreadnoughts in fleet actions, but in exploratory adventures. That seems backward to me. They should us those things in battle and send smaller ships out as scouts.”

  “There is logic to your words,” N7 said. “That implies a mystery concerning the dreadnoughts.”

  One of the engineers entered the control room with a tray of steaming cups of coffee. He put one in a holder near N7’s panel. The android snipped. He liked his coffee scalding hot and black. It always seemed to me as if N7 drank oil. He was an android, not a human. Why did I have to keep telling myself that?

  “Okay,” I said. “We’ve taken care of the first threat. We don’t have to worry about the Starkiens anymore. Now we have to figure a way to deflect the dreadnought. There’s no way our freighters can beat Indomitable to the Sun—not unless the tigers begin braking.”

  “We can do nothing to deflect the dreadnought,” N7 said.

  “I don’t accept that,” I said.

  “You would have surprised me if you did,” N7 said, finishing his coffee, handing the cup back to the engineer and taking another. “I am curious what you suggest we do. We do not possess any T-missiles this time to invade within the targeted vessel.”

  “Maybe we don’t need T-missiles,” Rollo said. “Let’s pack the assault boats and follow the battlejumper as it rams the dreadnought. Whoosh, we fly inside and take control.”

  Ella laughed sourly. “We have approximately one hundred and fifty assault troopers left. Can that number defeat tens of millions of legionaries?”

  “No,” I said. “At this point, all we have left is our honeyed tongues. We have to talk our way out of trouble.”

  “The Lokhars strike me as creatures of action,” Ella said.

  I clapped my hands together and pointed at her. “Not only are they creatures of actions, but they appear to admire honor and courage. Rollo, tell the engine techs to get ready for propulsion.”

  “What are you planning?” N7 asked.

  “Do any of you happen to know the story of David and Goliath?” I asked.

  I received blank looks of incomprehension.

  “It’s in the Old Testament,” I said. “A giant named Goliath from an army of Philistines threatened the ancient Israelites. He was like a Homeric champion, as in Achilles and Hector of Troy. Goliath boasted of his skills and demanded King Saul sent out a champion to face him. Whoever won the fight, the other side’s host would have to surrender. As you can imagine, the Israelites quaked in their sandals, dreading the idea of facing the warrior giant. Finally, a young shepherd boy around sixteen or seventeen showed up. He told the others God would help him defeat the giant. David used a sling and ran out to fight the hardened warrior. He asked for God’s help and twirled the sling, hitting old Goliath in the forehead. The giant fell, and David used the champion’s own sword against him, chopping off the Philistine’s head.”

  “And that’s what we’re going to do to the Lokhar dreadnought?” Rollo asked dubiously.

  “No,” I said. “I don’t see that we even have a sling-stone of a chance fighting them. But we can show courage by charging the Lokhars.”

  “What does that achieve?” N7 asked.

  “Not a whole heck of a lot,” I admitted. “But at least it will feel better than cowering in fear.” I glanced around the control room. “This is it, though. I’m not going to order you to your certain death. If you want to use an assault boat to go down to Earth and join Diana, that’s your choice.”

  “Commander,” N7 said. “The Lokhar admiral is calling. Do you want to speak with him?”

  “Of course,” I said. “Put him on.”

  The same tiger as before regarded me. The same time lag of lip and sound gave the conversation a surreal feeling.

  “You destroyed the Starkiens,” he said.

  “They were my enemy.”

  His yellow eyes seemed to glow. “I have recordings of the battle of Sigma Draconis. During my voyage here, I have watched them. I know you, Commander Creed. I am aware of your bloodthirstiness toward my people.”

  “Do you think I might have a reason for that?” I asked softly.

  “I am uninterested in your reasons,” he said. “Here are my terms. You must leave the battlejumper, you and every one of your personnel. I do not care where the rest of your people go, but you must come to me.”

  “Go on,” I said, feeling a knot tightening in my chest. “Tell me the rest.”

  “I give the orders,” he said. “You are in no position to order me to speak.”

  “That’s true to a point,” I said. “I do have one card I can still play.”

  “That is incorrect. You have nothing.”

  “I can destroy the battlejumper, blow it up.”

  His eyes widened. “No! You must not do that.”

  That was an interesting reaction. “Admiral—”

  “High Lord Admiral,” he said promptly.

  “High Lord Admiral,” I said. “You haven’t yet given me a reason why I should comply with your request.”

  “I give orders, not requests.”

  “I’m not under your orders. I don’t fear your threats. That makes it a request. If you want the battlejumper, then I’m inclined to destroy it.”

  “If you do,” he said, “I will slay every human in the solar system.”

  “So what?” I said. “You’re already going to do that.”

  “Incorrect,” he said. “My orders call for me to pick up every human here, not kill them.”

  The knot in my chest twisted into something cold and hard. What kind of vile experiments did the Lokhars wish to perform on the last humans? I had a feeling I would be doing everyone a favor by destroying the battlejumper. Better a dead man than a shrieking tortured man soon to be dead.

  “What is your reason for wanting to pick us up?” I asked.

  “I am not in the habit of explaining my actions to inferiors,” he said.

  I was already tired of the arrogant admiral and found it impossible to control my every reaction. “Well, you’d better start getting in the habit pretty quick,” I told him. “Otherwise, you’re going to lose the battlejumper.”

  “You are obstinate and unreasonable. I do not understand why you wish to die.”

  “I don’t wish it,” I said. “But I’d rather pass honorably in battle than face torture at Lokhar hands.”

  He stiffened and his left hand-paw opened and closed spasmodically. I noticed the tips of his claws appearing and disappea
ring. “Have a care, Earthling, how you address a High Lord Admiral of the Pride.”

  Why did aliens always act so strangely? “I’m curious,” I said. “Could you explain what I said that just made you so angry?”

  He glared at me, finally saying, “We of the Pride do not torture anyone. We slay honorably in battle and treat our prisoners with dignity. However, you will not be prisoners.”

  “What will we be?”

  “Detainees for a time,” he said.

  “And then?”

  He seemed to become uncomfortable. “It will depend on several factors.”

  “So…you’re saying you want me to come to you? Is it to discuss terms?”

  “Indomitable will soon be in orbit around Earth,” he said, ignoring my question. “Then you can come to us. Then you must come to us and formerly surrender.”

  “I’m supposed to surrender to the Lokhar who personally murdered my father?”

  A voice broke in on his side, and a second Lokhar quite unlike the admiral appeared. This tiger was taller and thinner, with a different type of uniform. He spoke rapidly with hisses and snarls.

  The admiral raised a heavy paw as if to strike the new Lokhar. That one stiffened, as if waiting for the blow to fall. Finally, the admiral lowered his arm.

  With a stiff bow, the taller Lokhar retreated out of view.

  The admiral cleared his throat and turned to me. “I am…” He snarled quietly, as if to himself. Then he looked up, glaring into the screen. “The Alien Contact Officer has…informed me of, ah, forgotten protocol. You will not officially surrender. Instead, we will—”

  The admiral snarled with obvious frustration. He pointed a clawed finger at me. “You will board my ship, Commander Creed or your humans will perish. If you are so foolish as to reject this offer—”

  “No,” I said. “I’m going to come. If this is a setup, it’s well done on your part. Still, getting to see you squirm, in person no less…I wouldn’t miss that for the world.”

  The admiral glared a moment longer before the connection ended.

  “Are you crazy?” Rollo asked. “You plan to go onto his dreadnought?”

  “There’s something weird going on,” I said. “And we really don’t have many options left. Besides, I want to understand these tigers. They’ve killed our planet but we’ve beaten them in battle each time as assault troopers. The Alien Contact Officer interests me. And I’m curious about the dreadnought being an exploratory vessel.”

  “What about us?” Ella asked. “What should we do?”

  That was a good question. “I think the rest of you should head down to Earth,” I said. “Join Diana in her freighter. If this is a trick and the Lokhars mean to torture us, better that just one go than all of us.”

  “I will join you,” N7 said.

  “Me, too,” Rollo said. “I’m not going to let you do this alone. I didn’t the first time. Why would I now?”

  “I will also come with you,” Ella said. “I might see connections you would miss.”

  “While I appreciate the offers,” I said, “this time I’m going alone.”

  “That’s madness,” Rollo said. “You need at least one of us with you. Two are better than one.”

  He had a point. One man by himself usually didn’t act as bravely as two men would. The reason was easy to understand. If someone you knew watched your actions, it helped stiffen your spine. As a youngster in prison, I wanted to be like a leopard or hawk, a creature who stalked through live independent and alone. I since came to understand that man was social. He needed the company of his own kind. He wasn’t a leopard and seldom did well if completely isolated.

  “You have a point,” I told Rollo. “N7, you will come with me. I want you others to stick together somewhere on Earth. If you don’t hear from me after several hours, then take the assault boats and go as deep as you can in an ocean or lake. Maybe a few of you can survive Lokhar treachery.”

  “I don’t see how playing submarine will help us if the Lokhars kill everyone else,” Rollo said.

  “I’ll tell you how,” I said. “You wait a week, lift off afterward, take the assault boats through a jump point and go to a planet with starships. Board one, capture it and then—I don’t know, give the aliens hell for as long as you can.”

  Rollo snorted, shaking his head.

  “You are the most bloodthirsty, one-tracked man I know,” Ella said.

  Before I could reply, Rollo asked, “Are you sure about this, Creed?”

  “No, despite what Ella believes, I’m as uncertain as can be. This mess…” I squinted at the screen, watching the approaching monstrosity from the stars. “Ever since they hit Earth the first time, I’ve wanted to get onto the Lokhar killer. This is my chance. If I’m lucky, who knows, maybe I can plant my Bowie knife in that big admiral bastard’s chest. Give him my piece of tin, so to speak, as his reward for what he did to my dad.”

  There was more arguing, and it took another thirteen hours before Indomitable reached Earth. But I was crossing my Rubicon.

  For those of you who slept through history class, the Rubicon was the name of the stream Julius Caesar splashed across before starting the Roman Civil War. The senators had told him to stay out of Italy with his legions, but J.C. didn’t like to listen to others. He waded across and had his run of victories against Pompey and company. In the end, though, all the war gained Caesar was a legend and a chest full of senatorial daggers as he choked to death on his own blood. I had no idea what crossing my Rubicon would win me. I just hoped I could be courageous no matter what happened next.

  -10-

  Everyone left the battlejumper, but not before the engineers rigged the vessel to self-destruct. I gave Ella the trigger device: it looked like an old gym locker, the kind you dialed back and forth. Her trigger had a four-sequence number. The self-destruct would give her, and maybe me, one last bargaining chip with the admiral.

  The others rode two assault boats and various air-cars down to Earth. I watched them fade into the distance, with central Africa in the background. The last I saw were dark pinpricks against the most beautiful planet in the galaxy. Maybe Diana could use them…provided the Lokhars told the truth and weren’t here on an extermination mission.

  Yet if the aliens told the truth and the Starkiens really had been working for them, why had the android assassin first shot me with toxins?

  I sat up in my control chair—I took the last assault boat out to meet the Lokhars. Most of the androids had used lasers against us. Against me, the plastic killer had used drug-laced needles. Did that mean the android hadn’t been trying to kill me, but capture my butt?

  Naga Gobo said he was supposed to bring me back as a captive. Why would the Lokhars want me that badly? Did they see me as a war criminal and want me before a people’s tribunal? If that were true, why bring a dreadnought to capture me? Surely, the vessel had vast operating costs. What were the Lokhars looking or exploring for, using something so massive? Was the sought item so dangerous that they actually needed a ship of such size?

  “There,” N7 said, “Dreadnought Indomitable.”

  The asteroid-sized ship must have dumped gravity waves. On our screen, I could see it brake into a stationary position, but I didn’t see a long exhaust tail. So how was it doing that?

  While nervously chewing on a lip, I engaged the boat’s thrusters. Both N7 and I were pressed against our padded chairs as the assault boat headed toward destiny.

  Our N-series android didn’t wear symbiotic armor. The stuff didn’t take to his kind. He wore cyber-armor, the mechanical skin molded to fit him. Our helmets were nearly identical, though.

  “I think Rollo’s right,” I said. “This is the craziest thing I’ve ever done.”

  “Negative,” N7 said. “That would be using the teleportation bomb to appear inside the battlejumper. I still find myself amazed we are alive. Perhaps that is the reason the admiral wishes to capture you. The Lokhars are a conservative military race. You used on
e of their weapons in an interesting way. Learning about the new tactic might be worth the price of bringing Indomitable to Earth.”

  “That’s an interesting thought. But I don’t think that’s it.”

  “Neither do I,” N7 admitted. “Their actions are most perplexing.”

  It nearly took a half hour for us to journey to them. Finally, we slowed our velocity, and soon the monstrous dreadnought came in visual range.

  I swallowed hard staring out the viewing port. Indomitable brought back painful memories. It looked too much as it had a year ago in orbit around our world. How wise was it to head in to meet the arrogant dick of a tiger admiral who had blown away my dad and my world?

  “Interesting,” N7 said, as he leaned forward in examination.

  He didn’t have to point. I saw it. The dreadnought had taken damage, heavy pounding. The part we’d seen through our teleoptics hadn’t shown the shredded side of the vessel. Now, as we brought the assault boat in for a landing, I saw jagged rents in the armored hull. It took a moment for that to register. The rents were kilometers in width, and sometimes, places glowed in there and then quit glowing.

  “Have they been in a battle?” I asked.

  “It would appear so,” N7 said.

  “Did someone mange to get nuclear warheads close enough?”

  “I do not know,” he said.

  “Wonder what the other guy looks like?” I asked.

  “A prudent question,” N7 said. “Yes, that would reveal much if we knew.”

  I couldn’t help but grin. Seeing the giant vessel damaged felt good. Someone had hurt them at least. I would have liked to shake their hand or tentacle and buy them a beer.

  A Lokhar hailed us on the comm-unit. He appeared to be a functionary to guide us to the correct portal.

  “Perhaps I should pilot us in,” N7 said. “You have much on your mind and need to maintain a high energy level.”

  That sounded like good advice, so I took it. I’d thought about wearing my symbiotic armor to the historic meeting. If the tigers planned to capture me, I’d fight to the death. But if that were true—the capturing—why was I coming into the den of lions in the first place? No. I was playing a hunch, I suppose. I had come to believe the tigers kept their word. That meant the second skin wouldn’t make any difference, so why bother with it?