The Gardens of Nibiru (The Ember War Saga Book 5) (23 page)

The anchorage expanded as ships on the outer edges broke away. The cruiser punished by Elias’ target exploded in a brief sunburst, destroying the ship it had collided with in the process. Blasts of energy sprang from a pair of cruisers and struck one of the dreadnoughts, wrecking an energy cannon and sending it hurtling through space.

More Toth ships opened fire on the dreadnoughts and each other, turning the anchorage into a veritable knife fight of a fleet engagement.

“Good job, boys,” Kallen said.

“Now the hard part,” Elias said. He looked to where the cloaked
Breitenfeld
should have been and triggered an IR directional beacon. The ship rematerialized seconds later, and four Eagles spat from the open launch bay.

“Iron Hearts, this is Gall. Stand by for mag-lock recovery,”
Durand said.
“De-cloak. We run into you and that won’t be any fun.”

“Roger, Gall. We’re ready for pickup,” Elias said. He cut his cloak and extended his left arm out ahead of him.

The four Eagles overshot the now visible armor soldiers and flipped around.

“Elias, this is Manfred. You’re my pork back,”
the Dotok said through a private channel.

“You mean piggyback?” Elias asked.

“I thought that was for children to store currency.”
Manfred’s Eagle flew parallel to Elias. Tiny adjustments from the fighter brought its relative speed almost equal to Elias’. The Dotok glanced between Elias and his control panel several times before slowly approaching Elias. Manfred pointed to the left of his cockpit.

“That’s the connection point. Got it,” Elias said.

Manfred’s fighter inched toward Elias, and the Iron Heart could see sweat on the pilot’s brow as the two neared. Elias activated the magnetic locks in his forearm and reached to the Eagle. He pressed his arm against the hull and felt the magnets in his armor and the fighter grip together. Elias gave Manfred’s canopy two pats.

“Too easy,”
Manfred said.

“Bogies in bound!”
Durand called out.

“What were you saying, brother?”
Lothar asked.

Elias looked back to the battle raging behind them and saw flashes of light emerge from one of the dreadnoughts as its fighter bays emptied. Most broke toward the scrum with the Toth ships, but dozens angled toward the
Breitenfeld
.

“It’s going to be real hard to dogfight so long as we’ve got the armor on our back,”
Lothar said.

Elias powered up his forearm cannons.

“How long until they get here?” he asked.

“Couple minutes,”
Durand said, her tone dark.
“They’ll reach us before we can get within the ship’s defenses. She’s moving all out to make a pickup on the civilians from the surface. The whole flight deck is empty.”
Elias heard the thump of her fist against her control panel over the channel.

“Let them come,” Elias said. He felt a tug against his arm as Manfred gunned his engines.

****

Hale ran into the shuttle’s cockpit just as it flew through the hole in the blast shield. The surrounding ocean was tranquil, but a few tall storm clouds were on the horizon, each bleeding dark sheets of rain.

“We have to go back,” Hale said. “Rohen is still there.”

Egan did a double take at his lieutenant.

“Sir.” Standish stood in the cockpit’s doorway. “This thing in my head hacked into the Toth networks…they got Rohen.”

“Alive? Dead?”

“Alive is my guess. Mentiq got on the line himself and ordered Rohen brought to him,” Standish said as he face fell. “Not much they could learn from him if he’s dead, is there, sir?”

“Mentiq is still alive…” Hale turned around and looked back at the city. More and more shuttle craft spat through the escape hatch, like wasps trying to escape a damaged hive. Most angled upwards, heading for orbit. Their shuttle couldn’t have made it through the traffic if they tried.

Rohen had his mission. Hale knew this, but the thought of leaving the Marine behind to that fate broke his heart.

“Sir, what’re your orders?” Egan asked. “The shuttles Lafayette slaved together will be at the village soon. If we’re not there to help get them on board, I—”

“Get us to the village,” Hale said quietly.

“But what about Rohen?” Standish asked.

“We can’t save him.” Hale shook his head slowly. “It’s not fair but there’s no choice.”

“He’s one of ours!” Standish shouted. “You know what they’re going to do to him.”

“We go back and we all die.” Hale pointed to the city. “What do you think Mentiq or the rest of the Toth will do to the village? They’ll be wiped out if we don’t get them off this planet. We can’t save everyone, Standish. We can’t.”

Standish turned his head away from Hale.

“Your call, sir.” The Marine went back to the cargo area.

“I’ve got eyes on the extraction birds,” Egan said. Five Toth shuttles flew low over the ocean in a line toward the human enclave.

“Any pursuit from the city or from orbit?” Hale asked as he looked over Egan’s controls.

“I think they’ve got more important things to worry about than our little jailbreak,” Egan said, pointing straight up.

High above the clouds, red streaks of dying ships burned through the upper atmosphere. Flashes of explosions and Toth weapon’s fire spoke of a fearsome melee at the anchorage.

“The captain promised us a distraction,” Hale said. “Looks like we’ve got one.”

Rohen drifted in and out of consciousness. He remembered the sky blocked out by ugly armor, the claws of a warrior ripping his weapon—and several fingers—off of him. Broken bones in his legs and arms jolted him back to wakefulness with an avalanche of pain every few minutes. The concussion from the blow that knocked him out kept his mind foggy, like everything that was happening to him was some sort of half-remembered dream.

All he could see through his one remaining eye was the cobblestone streets of the city. A heavy warrior’s hand pressed against his neck and tightened around his throat every few minutes to choke him until his vision darkened and he almost passed out. Blood dripped from his face onto the pavement, red breadcrumbs for whoever might be foolish enough to follow him.

Don’t be stupid, Hale. Don’t be brave,
he thought.

His view shifted to richly veined marble floors then to red carpet with golden thread. His captors dropped him to the floor.

This is it,
he thought.
Remember the sequence.
He tried to close his jaw to concentrate, but shattered teeth sent agony through his head. He pictured an owl in flight and felt warmth spread through his body. He imagined the owl landing on the Marine Corps Memorial near the Pentagon and every injury in his body lit up like a plasma torch as his mind went into overdrive.  He remembered Admiral Garrett pressing a coin into his hand and saying something…

“For the brave,” Rohen whispered.

“Such a weak creature,” the words were in Toth, a language Ibarra had given to him.

A massive scaled hand grabbed him by what little of his armor remained and lifted him into the air. Mentiq twisted Rohen from side to side, examining him with his bulbous eyes.

“Like what you see?” Rohen spat from split lips.

“It speaks?” Mentiq asked an alien creature Rohen didn’t recognize.

“Nonsense words, my lord, but its vitals are unusually strong for one so injured.”

It has to be now,
Rohen thought.

Rohen brought his head back, then spat a glob of bloody spit on Mentiq’s face.

The Toth barked out a curse and hurled Rohen to the ground. He felt his shoulder dislocate and his broken femur stab through his leg.

“Come on.” Rohen turned his head to Mentiq and watched as he floated toward him. “Do it.” Mentiq grabbed Rohen by his injured shoulder and lifted him into the air. Rohen let out a pained scream and looked into Mentiq’s face.

“Do it!” Rohen could see every detail of Mentiq’s features as his overcharged mind raced to process every sensation screaming through his mind. 

“Let’s see what you have to offer,” Mentiq said.

Mentiq wrapped his glove around Rohen’s skull and sank his feeder wires into the Marine’s brain. Mentiq held Rohen out at arm’s length and laughed as Rohen twitched and spasmed in the air. He dropped Rohen’s dead body to the ground and floated back toward his throne.

“Much…much to process,” Mentiq said. His head shot to the side and his teeth clicked together over and over again as his jaw worked. “Not like other human meat…what is this?”

Mentiq pressed his hands against his skull and whimpered. He slapped a palm against his head as his forked tongue shot out of his mouth and twitched. His jaw clamped shut and his severed tongue fell to the floor.

“Fellerin!” Mentiq let out a scream of pain. “Get my…my…” Mentiq’s claws dug into the false flesh over his skull and tore bloody canyons down his face.

“No! No!” Mentiq’s head exploded. Hunks of brain matter splattered against the golden throne. His body toppled off the palanquin and flopped to the ground.

Overlords stood in shock as Mentiq’s body bled into the carpet.

Fellerin backed away, then ducked behind the throne.

Pandemonium broke out as the overlords devolved into chaos. Some attacked their rivals, others tried to break through the doorways, and more than one made a dash for the empty throne.

Ranik broke away from the crowd and found an open doorway behind the throne, one large enough for her tank to fit through. She couldn’t let this crisis go to waste.

****

Fellerin ran through a dank passageway, fixated on a glowing doorway well ahead of him. Mentiq’s death was never supposed to happen. As the right hand of the Toth that had led the species to such awesome heights, he knew how the overlords would rather devolve into anarchy than allow one of their peers to ever gain absolute power.

Mentiq’s hold had been the only thing that kept them unified. It would be anarchy. The city would burn in the fighting, the gardens of invaluable stock plundered. The Toth home world would descend into civil war.

There was a shuttle for him to inspect the gardens. He could escape to the Haesh compound, perhaps broker a deal with an overlord to keep his family alive.

He tripped over his robes and fell into a puddle. Fellerin got to his feet and heard the sound of metal on stone from behind, a sound that grew louder with each strike. He scrambled forward and felt his legs get knocked out from under him. He fell face-first into the same puddle.

Claws grabbed him by the arms and flipped him over. An overlord loomed above and extended its feeder arm from the base of its tank.

“Hello, Fellerin,” Ranik said. “I have a proposal. You give me access to the tank codes and work for me.” The feeder arm lowered to rest just above Fellerin’s nose. It opened with a click and filaments reached for the Haesh’s face.

“Or I’ll just rip the knowledge out of your mind. I can be a kind and generous master, at times. What will it be?”

Hale stood at the edge of the shuttle’s open ramp as it lowered into the village’s main square. Hundreds of people lined the perimeter, their hands up to protect against the blast of air from the shuttle’s engines. Children clutched their parents and looked up with fear and awe at the once-mythical craft.

Back in his armor, Hale leaned over the side of the ramp and saw the shuttle’s course. “Egan, watch out for the statue in the middle of—” The edge of the ramp clipped the golden statue and knocked its head clean off.

“Oops,”
Egan said over the IR.

“I can’t tell if you’re that good, or that bad, of a pilot to pull off that oops,” Hale said.

“Probably a bit of both, sir. Touchdown in thirty seconds.”

“Marines, get to your assigned transport and get these people loaded up,” Hale said.

The shuttle settled against the ground and Hale ran down the ramp. He saw Idadu standing in front of the meditation room holding a giant blue flag over his head. A group of older villagers stood behind Idadu, each holding a different colored flag. Hale ran over to them.

“Everyone ready to go?” Hale asked.

“Our rapture awaits!” Idadu waved his flag above his head and walked to the waiting shuttle, Hale at his side. “Hale, what are you going to tell them once we’re on this
Breitenfeld
of yours?” Idadu asked quietly.

A square of villagers broke off in orderly columns and followed Idadu with parade ground precision.

“We’ll start with the truth, I guess,” Hale said.

“They all think we’re going to the temple to be one with Mentiq,” Idadu said. “We aren’t a violent people, but I think some will get angry enough to figure out how to rip me to pieces once the truth comes to light.” He gave Hale a pat on the shoulder. “They’re all yours after that.”

“Wait, what? Me?”

“Yes, I told them that the great high priest Hale brought this message to us. Which you did.” Idadu stopped at the edge of the ramp and looked inside. “How long I’ve dreamed of this moment…the final destination isn’t quite what I imagined.”

Idadu swung the flag from side to side.

“Inside, blue group, everyone inside!”

Hale stood impassively as villagers with blue strips of cloth wrapped around their heads hurried up the ramp.

The other transports landed nearby. An elder with a flag ran to each as their ramps hit the ground and groups of villagers moved to the waving flag matching the color they’d been sorted into before Hale arrived. Marines ran to the shuttles and helped herd the villagers into the waiting shuttles.

Hale had been part of more than one emergency evacuation, and this one was more orderly than most airports he’d ever been to.

“Idadu, how did you get this so organized so fast?” Hale asked.

“We are bred for our intelligence and obedience, young one. Were you expecting something with more screaming and terror?”

“A bit, yeah,” Hale said. The last villagers onto the first transport carried baskets full of glowing crystals. Hale gave Idadu a quizzical glance.

“The library from our college,” Idadu said, “seemed a shame to let all that knowledge go to waste.” He gave a kind wave to a small child as she skipped up the ramp with her parents, the last of the blue group.

“Sir, I’m maxed out on personnel,”
Egan said.
“Permission to button up?”

“Go. I’m on the last shuttle out,” Hale said.

“I won’t go far, got to keep line of sight with the rest of the shuttles to keep them slaved
,” Egan said. The ramp closed and the shuttle lifted into the air, blowing a cloud of dust around Hale.

As the dust settled, Hale saw a single villager kneeling next to the damaged statue, holding the broken head. The villager didn’t wear a headband.

Hale ran over. “Miss, which shuttle are you—”

Lilith looked up at Hale, tears streaming down her face.

“It was a lie,” she said. She rolled the statue’s head up and looked inside the hollow skull. “They told me this statue was solid gold. Another lie, just like everything about my home, my purpose, my life.”

She tossed the head into the dust.

“What do you really have waiting for us on your ship? Is Earth really there or is this all just another elaborate hoax for me and my people?” she asked.

“Earth is real. I promise. Life will be different there, but it has to be better than what’s waiting for you once the Toth sort themselves out,” Hale said.

“Lilly!” Yeshua called out. The boy, wearing a black bandana, ran over and nearly knocked her to the ground with a bear hug.

“They said you went to the temple. What’s it like?” Yeshua asked.

Lilith pushed a tuft of hair away from the boy’s face. She opened her mouth to answer, then frowned.

“I’ll go with you on the shuttle. We’ll see it together,” she said. She stood up and led her brother away by the hand.

Hale watched as the final shuttles filled up. The last one, white flag and headbands, was half-full. Hale walked over to the golden head lying in the dirt, raised his boot, and slammed it into Mentiq’s face.

****

Toth dagger fighters closed in on the Iron Hearts. Six fighters were several minutes ahead of a mass of several dozen more Toth ships racing toward them.

Elias painted target icons on the nearest ships for the other Iron Hearts.

“You fly—I’ll shoot,” Elias said. “Soldiers, scatter shot on nearest target. My lead.” Elias let off four shots. Gauss cannons flashed from Bodel and Kallen.

The Toth fighter jinked to the side to dodge Elias’ shots, but a bullet clipped the engine and sent the fighter into a corkscrew before exploding.

“Mine,” Bodel said.

“Piss off with your ‘mine’ and start shooting!” Kallen shouted.

The five remaining Toth fighters broke formation and loosed burning white lances of energy through space. Elias lined up a perfect shot but had it ruined when Manfred banked to the side. A Toth energy blast seared past Elias’ helm.

“Sorry!” Manfred yelled.

“Doing great, kid.” Elias let off a chain of shots that forced a dagger ship to break off an attack run on Kallen and her ride.

“Splash two!” Durand announced. “Manfred, you’ve got two on you. Go high and tight!”

“What does that—” Elias didn’t get to finish before Manfred raised his ship’s nose and gunned the engines. The sudden acceleration slammed Elias against the mag lock holding him to the fighter. Sympathetic pain burned through his left shoulder as the strain threatened to tear his suit’s arm out of the socket.

A Toth ship cut across Manfred’s nose and the Dotok twisted his ship to the side, whipping Elias around like a rag doll. Durand zipped past Elias, her gauss cannons blazing.

“Nine o’clock! Nine o’clock!”
Manfred screamed.

Elias looked over and saw another Toth fighter diving toward them. He fired his firearm cannons on full auto. Bullets ripped into the Toth as it powered its energy cannons. The fighter exploded in a gout of white flame, overloading the buffers on Elias’ helm.

He switched to his IR cameras…and saw a hunk of the Toth ship heading right for them. Elias grabbed Manfred’s Eagle with both arms and fired his jet pack. The two went tumbling end over end through space—a split second before the wreckage would have smashed them to bits.

Elias heard the Dotok yelling in his own language as the pilot struggled to regain control.

“Yes, you’re welcome,” Elias said.

“We’re clear,” Durand said. “At least for a few more minutes.”

Elias’ UI filled with target icons as the next wave of Toth fighters approached.

****

Valdar and Ericson hunched over the tactical holo tank, watching as the Toth ships tore each other apart. Red icons of more Toth fighters broke off from the scrum. A dashed line of their projected course traced to Mentiq’s city, then angled over the planet’s surface and intersected with the rendezvous point between the
Breitenfel
d
and the shuttles full of escapees.

Valdar traced lines in the holo tank from the
Breitenfeld’s
current position to the rendezvous point and let out a curse.

“We turn around for the Iron Hearts and we lose the shuttles,” Ericson said. “We maintain course and we’ll lose the Iron Hearts.”

Valdar hated this kind of battlefield math. The armor soldiers and his best pilots against the lives of his godson and hundreds of civilians. As the ship’s captain, the choice was his alone.

“Conn,” Valdar said, looking away from the holo to his bridge officers, “maintain course.”

“Sir, the Iron Hearts are some of the last few armor soldiers Earth has left.” Ericson’s words were a firm whisper, meant only for Valdar and not the crew. “There are no more in the pipeline. Ibarra can’t make proccies that can wear the suits. You have—”

“We’re being hailed!” Ensign Erdahl called out. “It’s coming from Nibiru and they’re asking for the captain.”

“No harm in talking,” Valdar said. “Send it to me.”

A Toth overlord appeared on Valdar’s forearm screen, Mentiq’s wrecked throne room in the background.

“Valdar. Thief ship
Breit-en-feld
. I am Ranik, Chair of the Tellani Corporation. I wish to barter. Consider it an honor, meat,” Ranik said.

“Commander Utrecht, lay guns on the city. Fire on my mark,” Valdar said.

“Aye aye, Skipper!” Utrecht yelled, loud enough for Ranik to hear through Valdar’s link to her.

“Wait!” Ranik’s nerve endings twisted in frustration. “Mentiq’s death has left a power vacuum, and I have seized a significant amount of leverage over the other overlords. The fighters closing on your ships are doing so under
my
order. I will pull them back and let you escape, but there’s something you must do for me.”

Valdar held up a hand to Utrecht.

“I’m listening,” Valdar said.

“There are several shuttles leaving the city as we speak. Each contains significant members of my rival’s corporate leadership. Destroy them. Their death by human hands will significantly lower my acquisition costs when it comes time to claim their assets.” The brain inside Ranik’s tank floated toward the glass in anticipation.

“You want me to do your dirty work for you,” Valdar said.

“I care for results, not labels. My fighters will reach you very soon, meat. Make your decision.”

Valdar glanced up at the tactical plot. The mass of Toth fighters bore down on the Iron Hearts and Durand’s fighters.

“Pull your fighters back. Now. Then we have a deal,” Valdar said.

“Excellent.” Ranik’s tentacles twitched and the Toth fighters slowed. “I’ll keep them close. They’ll return once you’ve delivered.”

“And I will keep my guns aimed at the palace until they’re gone,” Valdar said.

“As the eventual head of the Toth Conglomerate, I hope this is the last transaction between your people and mine.” Ranik backed away from the camera.

“It had better be, for your sake.” Valdar made a slashing motion across his neck and Ranik vanished. “Guns, are we tracking those transports it mentioned?”

The holo zoomed in toward the city. Dozens of shuttles, many bedecked in jewels and elaborate designs, rose through the atmosphere.

“Set for airburst, sir?” Utrecht asked. “I’ve got VT rounds loaded in the dorsal turret.”

“Yes. If we trigger a few earthquakes or a tidal wave, that might void the agreement. You may fire when ready.” Valdar zoomed out. The Toth fighters had pulled back farther but were still a threat.