Emergence: Book One of the Dark Tide Trilogy Page 9

  “Not without a working shadow antenna, sir. It is too far for our ship comm array to reach.”

  “Damn. We need to let Tar Ebon know.”

  “The Independence could return to Eligar II and use their shadow array while the rest of the fleet regroups.”

  “No. I’m not splitting up the fleet while the remnants of the Krai’kesh fleet are floating around out there. Once search and rescue and salvage operations finish the entire fleet will go to Eligar II.”

  “Of course, sir.”

  Shadow portal proximity warning sirens blared. “Incoming shadow portal, sir,” Zigana reported.

  “Order battle stations. Raise shields and ready weapons,” Captain Rigsby ordered.

  Sirens wailed on the bridge.

  “What have we got?” he asked after a moment.

  “It appears to be a transport, sir,” Zigana said. “Federation identifier code is verified. They’re hailing us. Audio only.”

  “Put them through.” A green light showed the comm channel was open. “Unidentified transport, this is Captain Rigsby of the FSS Independence. You have entered a Federation combat zone. Identify yourself and your purpose here.”

  “My name is Lieutenant Ululaya Mansour, Captain. From the Eligar system.”

  “A transport, alone? How did you make the shift?”

  “I have a shifter with me. I have an important message, sir.”

  “Go on.”

  “The Eligar system is under attack by an unknown alien race. They have destroyed much of the defense force and eliminated our shadow antenna. We are requesting that the eighteenth fleet return home.”

  “Of course. We will depart immediately. Dock aboard our ship.”

  “Inbound now, sir.”

  The captain cut the link. “Zigana, get every Marine, transport and fighter aboard in the next ten minutes. Get the shifters ready. Anyone not aboard by then will be left behind. We’re going home.”

  Chapter 10 - Traitor

  The assault gunship Kimberly rode in neared the mountains of Serpentis III. Explosions flashed in the distance and the mountains loomed over a large structure. Isabelle and a dozen Shadow Watch Guards sat with her. “They’re in the mountains?” she asked.

  “Yes, they have a compound here buried deep beneath this mountain. They’re putting up a bugger of a fight.”

  The gunship landed in a clearing in the forest. The team exited and moved toward the sound of explosions while the gunship rose and headed in the same direction.

  They reached the perimeter of the siege. The large structure Kimberly had seen towered in the distance, constructed of gray stone and metal.

  Atop the wall of the fortress, human combatants launched explosives and used automatic laser weaponry. A missile streaked toward a gunship, deviating off course only at the last moment due to flares deployed by the gunship. A second missile struck home, however, and the gunship plummeted to the ground.

  Streams of heavy laser fire bombarded the ground around Marines and security forces hunkered in makeshift trenches and foxholes. The Federation forces fought back with their own portable laser machine guns.

  “How did this place go unnoticed?” Kimberly asked.

  “Official records showed it as a ‘mining operation.’ Nobody checked into it. Stupid.”

  “Are the Krai’kesh here?”

  “Not that we’ve seen yet. But they could be inside the compound.”

  Somebody destroy that wall! Isabelle ordered through the combat link.

  A Marine stood up from the trench and fired a missile. A barrage of return laser fire killed him. The missile struck home, taking out a machine gun nest.

  Mechs inbound, a Marine reported. Four mechs clumped through the forest, firing arm-mounted laser guns and launching missiles. Two mechs fell to a hail of laser and missile fire in retaliation.

  “Did someone see Richard enter this compound?” Kimberly asked.

  “We tracked his implant to this location before he deactivated it. We don’t think he’s dead, he was just too stupid to deactivate it sooner.” Isabelle sighed. “Come on, let’s use this distraction to slip around them.” She extended her hand. “Guards, help the Marines and security forces with the assault. We’ll be back.”

  “Understood,” one of the Guards said.

  Kimberly took Isabelle’s hand. An instant later they were in the shadow realm. The gray landscape brought back memories of Galatia IV where the two had first met. Blink. She was on the slope of the mountain, Isabelle at her side. Blink. They were inside the compound, on top of a building. An inky darkness pulsated in front of them.

  “What is that?” she asked.

  “Magic nullification field. I can’t shift inside of it.” Isabelle shifted them back to reality behind a ledge. “We’ll have to breach it the old-fashioned way.”

  They crept toward the door at the top of the building, which led to a staircase. It was empty. They reached the ground floor, encountering no cameras along the way, and peeked through a set of glass doors. A huge asteroid towered inside the massive room beyond the doors. Excavating equipment sliced or chipped off pieces of the asteroid.

  “No sign of Krai’kesh,” Isabelle whispered. She pushed one door open and they crept inside and along the wall. Dim light drifted from artificial lights on the ceiling.

  The two made their way around the room, unnoticed by the machinery excavating the asteroid. Two guards defended a door at the far end of the chamber.

  Isabelle crept along the wall to the side of one guard in the dim light. She drew her dual daggers and lunged. Her first strike slit the throat of the first guard. Her momentum carried her into striking distance of the second guard, who raised his rifle halfway before he took a dagger to the throat and crumpled to the ground.

  Kimberly grabbed a key card from the corpse of the first guard. She swiped it and the door to the building slid open with a hiss. They entered, ducking behind a wall. Kimberly peeked around the corner. Inside, plush accoutrements littered the area. It belonged in a penthouse, not in a building inside a mountain.

  Richard Segwyn sat in a chair. A vid screen on the wall displayed a view of the battle outside the fortress walls. A half-naked woman sat on his lap. Two guards stood flanking a far door, dressed in Shadow Watch Guard attire. She got the sense two more stood against the wall Isabelle and Kimberly now stood behind.

  I will use a smoke grenade, Isabelle said direct to Kimberly through her implant. As soon as I do, you take the guards against the wall. I’ll get the other guards. Whatever you do, don’t let Richard escape.

  Understood, Kimberly replied. She withdrew a dagger from her belt and her laser pistol from her thigh holster. Ready.

  Isabelle tossed the smoke grenade. It exploded, filling the room with smoke. Go, she said, suiting action to words and sprinting out into the haze.

  Kimberly took advantage of the guards firing at Isabelle’s silhouette to stab the first guard standing against the wall in the back. She then grabbed him by the throat and used him as a human shield.

  The second guard turned and fired, but the body of his companion absorbed the shots.

  Kimberly took aim and fired, hitting him right in the face. He dropped.

  The young woman who had been on Richard’s lap tried to run. Kimberly switched her pistol to stun and shot her.

  Across the room, cries of death and dying showed Isabelle’s success.

  Richard remained where he was, looking between the two women as the smoke cleared. He clapped. “Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in.” He turned to Kimberly. “Here to kill me?” he asked.

  “No, you have crimes to answer to, asshole.”

  He covered his chest with his hand. “You wound me.” He turned toward Isabelle. “And who is this pretty thing?”

  “The woman who wants to gut you like a fish,” Isabelle said.

  “You must catch me first, dearie,” he said. He withdrew a remote from his pocket and hit a button. A panel on the wall s
lid aside and four Krai’kesh skitterers entered the room.

  “Allow me to introduce you to my pets. Have fun.” He waved and ran into the room the four Krai’kesh exited. A shot from Kimberly missed. The panel slid shut.

  Shit. Kimberly said.

  Go after him, I got these, Isabelle said through the link.

  Are you sure? Without your powers, you…

  Can still handle four of these things, she finished the statement. Go, Agent Hague. That’s an order.

  Yes, ma’am. Kimberly exited the room as the creatures in the room with Isabelle roared in anger.

  Kimberly gagged upon entering the “den” of the Krai’kesh. Piles of bones littered the ground. Across the room a security door crept closed. She raced toward it and slipped through just before it slammed shut.

  A natural corridor lay beyond the security door. Darkness engulfed her. Her suit emitted ultraviolet radiation, causing a dim illumination that the night vision activated by her implant took advantage of.

  Distant footsteps echoed through the stone subterranean corridor. Kimberly raced ahead in pursuit.

  Kimberly found herself back where she started. “It’s a damn maze,” she muttered to herself.

  She made two more attempts before stopping and consulting her implant. Her implant identified two likely paths she hadn’t tried. She had to pick one.

  An oxygen level alarm interrupted her deliberation. Her suit and implant reported diminishing oxygen levels within the caverns. She had to find fresh air soon.

  “Eenie, meenie, miney, mo,” she muttered, remembering a phrase Isabelle had used before. She highlighted the second route. “Here goes nothing,” she said louder. She followed the directions leading to the second route.

  The second route was the path - she exited high above an underground lake. Fresher air filled her nostrils. A path wound from the height to where a submersible ship sat. She spotted Richard at the bottom of the path as he entered the submersible.

  Kimberly had no choice. She activated the helmet on her suit and, before it could cover her head, leapt. She straightened her body and hugged her arms to her chest, pressing her legs together to minimize her impact.

  Her muscles contracted and constricted her throat as she hit the icy water. Jolts of pain shot up her leg from the force of impact. Her suit activated heating resistors and warmth flooded her, while her implant suppressed pain receptors in her brain. She surfaced and oriented herself.

  Richard’s escape vessel sat to the right of her, perhaps a hundred feet away. No one appeared to be aboard the vessel, and no weapons fire, which suggested her splash had gone undetected. The engine wasn’t running.

  She swam toward the vessel and activated the electromagnet pads in her suit. She clamped onto the side of the ship. Feeling like a lizard scaling a tree, she ascended the side. She reached the top and crouched behind a gun emplacement, assessing her surroundings.

  Richard was fiddling with the controls in the pilot house. The engine roared to life beneath Kimberly.

  He has a boat in an underground lake, Isabelle. I’ve just come aboard. How’s it coming? she sent to Isabelle.

  So much for intel. THAT would have made things much easier for us to infiltrate, Isabelle replied. I’m fine, just … fighting … the last two … now, the silences in the transmission punctuated her words much like the grunts would punctuate verbal speech. Can you get to him?

  Yes. He appears to be alone.

  Be careful. I don’t like it.

  I will.

  Kimberly crept closer, remaining in Richard’s blind spot.

  “I see you,” Richard said, looking up at an angle but not turning around.

  Kimberly froze.

  “I have you in my sights. At last I will destroy you.”

  Kimberly whipped her head around searching for threats or cameras, muscles coiled to propel her to safety.

  “For too long you have thought yourself safe … invincible. How else do you think I could conduct this operation without your knowledge?”

  Kimberly frowned but still did not answer. Invincible? she thought to herself.

  “But your hubris will be your undoing, deputy director. Enjoy your tomb.” He poised his finger above a button on the control panel.

  Kimberly shivered. He wasn’t talking to her…

  Isabelle, get out, now! She stood up and ran to the pilothouse door. She withdrew her pistol and sighted on Richard.

  At last he turned. “Kimberly?” he exclaimed.

  Kimberly fired, multiple times. A bolt of blue energy erupted from her pistol, followed by two more bolts. The beams slammed into Richard, causing him to jerk like a rag doll and stutter “wh—wha … what?” before he slumped to the ground. She wasted no time moving to where he had been standing.

  The vid screen showed the room Isabelle and Kimberly had been in. The corpses of three Krai’kesh lay scattered around the room and the video showed Isabelle fighting the final Krai’kesh. She stabbed them in the face. What’s wrong? Isabelle asked.

  Kimberly breathed a sigh of relief. Nothing, now. I stunned Richard before he could bury you.

  The link was silent for a moment. I owe you one, Isabelle said, at last.

  An Eternal owes me? She thought to herself. Who would have thought?

  To Isabelle she responded, Do you want to come down here, ma’am, or shall I come up there?

  I’ll come down there, Isabelle said. Our forces are mopping up outside and I’ve disabled the nullification generator so we can shift out of here.

  Were there any more Krai’kesh found?

  No. It seems like his pets were the only one remaining here. Shifting now.

  Moments later Isabelle appeared in front of her, her body forming from black mist. She held out her hand. “Ready?”

  Kimberly grabbed Richard’s hand and nodded. They would get their answers. “Ready.”

  Chapter 11 - Headquarters

  “We’ve arrived, sir,” Zigana reported.

  “Sound general quarters. Raise shields and activate weapons upon shift. Prepare to shift on my order.”

  “Yes, sir,” Zigana replied. Sirens and automated warnings sounded across the bridge, carrying throughout the ship, and ordering the crew to prepare for battle.

  “All ships reporting readiness, sir. The zone is clear.”

  Martin took a deep breath and exhaled. “Shift.”

  Zigana relayed the command and moments later a portal filled the viewport of the Independence. A portal would, at that instant, be appearing in front of every ship in his fleet. The Independence moved forward and through, shifting from the ephemeral shadow realm to the physical realm. A rich darkness replaced dull gray as the fore of the Independence transitioned.

  “Contacts?” Martin asked.

  “Multiple contacts at bearing zero-nine-zero.”

  “Friendlies?”

  Zigana shook his head. “A mixture sir. Krai’kesh fighter signatures mixed with Federation capital ship and fighter signatures.”

  “Where is the Shield of Selucia?”

  Zigana frowned. “I am not picking up any signature for the Shield, sir. There is a great deal of debris…”

  Martin pushed aside thoughts of Admiral Kimber’s flagship. “Where are the Krai’kesh capital ships?”

  “Further out, sir. I am detecting five capital ships. There’s something different about them.”

  “Five? Only two retreated from Serpentis. Damn it, they’re between the Federation fleet and the planet. All right, send our fighters, the frigates and corvettes in to assist with combatting the enemy fighters. Move the rest of the fleet to an angle where we have clear railgun fire solutions.”

  “Yes, sir.” Zigana fell silent as he orchestrated the fleet maneuvers.

  ***

  “Prepare for launch in five, four, three, two, one,” the system announced. Floor catapults hurled Selene’s fighter, along with the rest of the squad, into the void. She checked her sensor readout. A lot fewer fighters
being deployed this time around. No time to dwell on that, though. “Raptors, stay tight on me,” she ordered.

  The Federation fighters streaked toward the cloud of flashing lights and debris that represented the fleet’s attempts at fighting the Krai’kesh fighters.

  Selene reviewed her instrument panels and HUD as she flew past the corvettes and frigates moving toward the cluster. Her upgraded targeting computer had compensated for transit time of projectiles fired from her main guns, while her ship now sported two coilguns beneath the cockpit instead of lasers. The flight crews had removed the laser power supplies and added ammo boxes and recoil adapters. She and the other pilots each sported 1000 rounds of 40mm shells. Her trigger was calibrated to launch a barrage of ten shells per press, but there was a re-energization time between each burst, leaving her vulnerable during those six seconds. There was a reason this tech was replaced, she thought.

  Replaced. Her thoughts drifted to the two children she had rescued only hours earlier, Clemence and Ben. Clemence was ten, while Ben was seven. When Selene broke the news to them that their parents were dead, they both broke into tears, hugging one another and her. How could they ever replace their parents, especially in a time of war? The good parents die, while the bad ones … she pushed aside the image of her father’s face.

  “Twenty seconds to contact,” she said over the squad channel. “Conserve your ammo: once you’re out, you’re defenseless. Return to base if you exhaust your shells.”

  Selene’s HUD highlighted targets and a ding several seconds later showed minimum effective range achieved. She locked onto the nearest Krai’kesh fighter.

  The enemy did not evade, it flew on as if it could not be hurt. Well, our lasers haven’t been able to hurt it so … yeah … I can see why they would think that. Time for a wakeup call, bastards. Selene triggered her dual coilguns. Ten shells, five from each barrel, hurtled out of the barrels at tremendous speed. Seven of the ten bullets passed through where the void shield of the enemy existed with slight distortion and slammed into the enemy ship. It shattered like a pock-marked rock hit by a sledge hammer as the force of seven coilgun projectiles releasing their potential energy into such a small area tore it apart.