Crossroads of Fate (Cadicle #5): An Epic Space Opera Series (24 page)

Drawn by the immense energy of the forming rift portal, he drew himself to its center in open space. He drank in the energy, using it to feed the power coursing through his body.

It is a part of me,
his consciousness called, from somewhere that was not his former self. The tendrils of the natural energy grid resonated with him, drawing him in. Twisted darkness from the Bakzen’s attempts to warp the fabric of space tried to push through the natural energy web, but the light emanating from Banks held it at bay.

Banks released himself to the light. The natural grid rippled as the energy tendrils solidified into unbreakable bonds. No more could the structure be twisted. The rift corridor was sealed.

Energy swelled around the former portal, gathering along the ancient energy corridors beneath the fabric of reality. The natural grid flexed around the marring corridor that the Bakzen had started to rip through the fabric, snapping the energy pathways back into their proper forms and dislodging the Bakzen forces within to endlessly drift within subspace.

With a flash, the concentration of energy dissipated, as though nothing was ever out of place.

Only a single, empty transport shuttle floated in the blackness. One sentinel, watching over Earth below.

Wil leaped to his feet and gripped the handholds at his command pedestal.
“Jump on my mark…”
he ordered.
“Now!”

In an instant, the first wave of TSS ships within the Kyron belt disappeared into the blue-green cloud of subspace.

The Conquest shuddered as the cloud lifted around them at their destination, revealing a battle already unfolding.

Eight heavily armored enemy cruisers and two carriers were positioned at great enough distances from H2 that there was no way to surround the Bakzen forces. Two cruisers occupied each quadrant around the central TSS target and the two Bakzen carriers were on the opposite side of the battlefield from the TSS carrier the Vanquish was escorting. Bakzen assault jets from the cruisers and carrier swarmed around H2 in triangular formations of six—raining shots before arcing away to avoid counter-attack blasts from H2. The less nimble carriers, however, already showed signs of damage where H2’s rail guns had sliced through the outer hull shielding.

Between each set of jet attacks, the Bakzen cruisers took two rapid shots targeted at the connection point between the rotating central ring and the rest of the structure—the greatest weak point for the transformed facility. The armor was rated for five minutes of constant fire, but Wil couldn’t be sure the exposed mechanical mechanisms would hold out for half that long. They needed to offer immediate relief.

Unfortunately, the Bakzen’s positioning was exactly what Wil would have done, were the roles reversed. He searched for any possible weakness in the formations, but none stood out. However, inaction would get them nowhere.

Wil gripped the handholds of his pedestal and slipped into a state of simultaneous observation. A cross-section of the planes appeared around him as only ethereal echoes of the places and objects in each until he focused in on just one. With the overall image relayed through the Conquest’s neural interface, his officers in the Command Center had a clear image of the battle on all fronts. Their telepathic commands to the rest of the fleet flitted through Wil’s mind with instantaneous precision.

“Focus your fire on each of the cruisers,”
Ian commanded to his tactical teams.

“Surround the Bakzen ships,”
Michael ordered the fleet commanders.
“Don’t let any stray too far. We need to keep them contained.”

Curtis contacted the flight leaders for the fleet of TSS jets,
“Separate the Bakzen formations and pull them out of pattern. Thin them out.”

“Gamma Squad,”
Ethan said,
“take out the shield on the cruiser docking bay so they have nowhere to run. Watch out for the Detno!”

Each order was accompanied with the tactical specifics through a combination of telepathic imagery and computer inputs on their consoles. A fluid tapestry of battle plans overlaid on the rendering of the space around the Conquest on the Command Center’s spherical viewscreen. Flight paths and targets illuminated in a rainbow of colors that would seem like complete chaos to any outsider, but all their training and drillings had been building to that moment. They were in control.

With his men focusing on the minutia, Wil extended himself to get a broader picture of the battle zone.
They were clearly expecting us. That can’t be all their ships.
Then, he spotted the second wave charging on three fronts.

“Incoming!”
Wil warned in the minds of his officers.

The Bakzen fleet surged forward through the rift. On the final approach, a wave of jets poured out of the hangers of a dozen new cruisers and three additional carriers. The jets fanned out before winking out of view.

In response, Wil stretched himself in an elevated state of simultaneous observation so he could maintain a broad vantage across all planes. His team rallied around him, but there was hesitation without having Saera there as an extra anchor.
“We have this. Hang on,”
Wil tried to assure them as he pressed further.

The echoing forms of the overlapping planes came into view in his mind’s eye. He cycled through the rift, subspace and normal space, trying to locate all the Bakzen vessels. They were all changing planes at different times—Wil would have to keep track of all three at once.

It’s too much.
His vision slipped, craving the simplicity of the physical world.

Michael caught him.
“Don’t give up.”

Wil took a deep breath and focused on the jets. He studied their movements, looking for patterns across the planes. As he watched them, three groups emerged. One group was headed for H2, one was going for the main TSS carrier, and the last was headed straight for the Conquest.

“Curtis, send a team to intercept the group heading for H2. Michael, have the Vanquish move into position to defend the carrier,”
Wil ordered.
“Get the rest of our fleet here!”

His men relayed the telepathic commands to their counterparts in the field, transmitting the mental image Wil was routing through the Conquest. The TSS forces moved seamlessly into place through normal space, ready to strike when the moment was right.

Wil tracked the enemy forces, waiting for their flight pattern to loop back to when the greatest number of ships were all within the rift where the Agent pilots were strongest.
“Jump!”

The TSS fleet moved at once, opening fire even before the ships were fully clear from subspace.

Bakzen jets banked to the side, some slipping back into subspace to avoid the stealth attack. But the TSS ships were waiting there, too.

Wil and his officers herded the Bakzen ships back toward the main fleet where the two dozen cruisers opened fire on the cornered Bakzen ships just as the TSS jets would slip out of harm’s way.

The reserve TSS contingent emerged from the subspace cloud around the Bakzen forces, immediately opening fire on the newest cruisers and carriers. Two TSS tactical warships under Ian’s command made a run for a new Bakzen carrier—disabling the launch bay before any more jets could emerge. A TSS cruiser moved into position to assist the smaller tactical vessels, overwhelming the Bakzen carrier until it buckled. The TSS ships pulled back just in time to avoid the explosive decompression blast from the ruined Bakzen carrier. Three Bakzen cruisers occupied with an assault on H2 were caught in the blast, charring their hulls and disrupting their fire.

More Bakzen jets were destroyed with every pass of the TSS jets looping through the battlefield, weaving through the planes using the relayed map from Wil. The damaged vessels were dealt swift deathblows, leaving a field of debris floating around the fractured former TSS space dock and scarred H2 structure.

Empowered by Wil’s vision across the spatial planes, the TSS was waiting to counter every Bakzen move. For every TSS ship damaged, four Bakzen ships were completely destroyed.

Wil kept a vigilant eye on the Bakzen command ships as the battle progressed. One, in particular, was holding back.
“Are you there, Tek?”
Wil asked across the distance, not expecting a reply.

But a voice did respond.
“Well played.”

Before Wil could react, the ship jumped away—stranding all its jets in a hopeless battle against the superior TSS forces.

He tightened his grip on the handhold, anger boiling in his chest.
Next time, I won’t let him get away. All the destruction over the years, Cambion, the wedge he drove between Saera and me… Tek needs to die.

“They’re retreating!”
Ian exclaimed to the group.

Another Bakzen cruiser jumped away, but seven more floated helplessly on the battlefield—their jump drives disabled in the tactical team’s precision strikes.

“It’s not over yet,”
Wil reminded his team.

He spotted a group of Bakzen jets that were still making a desperate run for H2 through the wreckage.
“The armor can’t take much more. We need to end this.”

“I’m on it,”
Ethan said, and began doling out commands to the jet squadrons.

Wil watched the IT-1s weave through the planes with expert precision, corralling the Bakzen jets before they knew they were surrounded. The IT-1s jumped into the rift in one fluid motion, bombarding the Bakzen vessels with a deadly barrage. In an instant, the dozen enemy jets exploded in fiery bursts that quickly extinguished in the vacuum of space.

Only one mobile Bakzen carrier remained—making a suicide run for H2.

“Take it out!”
Wil ordered, even though the TSS fleet was already targeting everything they had left at the ship. Easily two-thirds the size of H2, the mass of the craft was simply too great to be shifted from its course.

“We need to do something!”
Michael pleaded.

Only one other weapon remained. Wil pulled out of simultaneous observation to focus on the rift, solidifying his connection to the ship and its systems. Around him, he felt his men following his lead, gripping their handholds tighter as they began to feed pure telekinetic energy into the neural link pathways. The energy coursed through the ship, gathering along the amplifier ring around its perimeter.

The Conquest buzzed with the charge, an audible hum filling the air as the energy mounted—but there was no time to wait for a complete charge. The ship was mere seconds from impact.

Wil released the energy beam, striking the front third of the Bakzen cruiser on the starboard side. The ship splintered apart in a blinding flash as a ball of energy billowed out from the impact site—nearly enveloping H2.

A feedback spark shot back through the Conquest’s neural relays, forcing Wil to release the handhold on his pedestal. His officers around him shook their hands with surprise as the shock reached them.

He gazed at the surrounding viewscreen to assess the damage while the energy sparks in the pedestal dissipated. Except, there wasn’t anything left to see.

“Where’s the carrier?” Ethan asked.

“Completely vaporized,” Wil stated. Remarkably, H2 appeared unscathed aside from the blackened shielding where the first Bakzen wave had their short advantage.

“That wasn’t even a full charge…” Curtis breathed.

“I guess that’s what the combined force of five powerful Agents can do,” Wil murmured.
Or me alone. This is one way I never wanted to use my power.

On the viewscreen, the rest of the TSS fleet opened fire on the disabled Bakzen cruisers, erupting each into a quickly extinguished fireball as the ships decompressed.

Wil and his men smiled at each other. “We did it.”

A comm chirp sounded in the Command Center.

“It’s the Vanquish.” Rianne announced.

“Accept,” Wil said, looking to the front of the dome.

An image of the Vanquish’s Command Center appeared with his parents at the center. “Are there any more Bakzen ships waiting in subspace?” Cris asked.

“No, that was the last of them,” Wil confirmed.

His father slumped in his command chair. “I guess we won the battle.”

“That went a lot better than I expected,” Wil admitted with a grin.

Cris didn’t share his enthusiasm. “I’m afraid there was another development. I’m coming over. We need to talk.”

Wil sat in quiet contemplation in the Conquest’s Strategy Room, waiting for his father to arrive. An in-person meeting almost certainly meant his father brought bad news.
What could it be? I hope Saera—

The door slid open with a hiss and his parents entered. Their mouths were drawn and even with their tinted glasses he could see the loss in their expressions.

“What is it?” Wil asked.

Cris and Kate walked to him, stopping an arm’s length away. Wil stood.

“The Bakzen took our bait,” Cris began, “but they had another plan of their own. While we were busy here, they sent another fleet for our home Headquarters.”

An icy chill washed over Wil.
Earth is completely defenseless! Did they…?

“They were constructing a spatial rift corridor,” Cris continued before Wil could speak. “The sensors around Headquarters saw it forming, fortunately, so there was time to act. Banks—” his voice caught, “Banks did what any great commander would do and stopped it.”

“How?” Wil stammered.

“The same way the Bakzen make the rifts,” Kate said. “The power to destroy and the power to rebuild.”

Wil choked on his breath as knives stabbed into his heart. “He’s gone?”
The war was never supposed to touch our home.

Cris nodded and pulled Wil into an embrace. “But we’re safe. Our home is safe.”

“Saera?” Wil asked into his father’s shoulder.

“She’s fine. The Bakzen never made it through,” Kate assured him, rubbing his back.

Wil stepped away from his father. “They’ll come back.”

“The nav beacon is destroyed,” Cris stated. “The only way to get there is with a true independent jump drive.”

Wil leaned against the conference table, his breath ragged. “I never should have left it so exposed.”

“We needed every ship we had,” Cris tried to comfort him. “No size fleet would have guaranteed Earth’s safety. Sealing the rift corridor was the only way.”

“We should have taken out the beacon sooner. Something!” Wil exclaimed.

“It’s done now,” his mother murmured.

I can’t believe he’s dead…
Banks was always more family than commander. Beyond the loss of an exceptional leader, there would be a hole in Wil’s life. Mentor, surrogate grandfather, protector—Banks had always looked out for Wil even through the most difficult moments of his life. As much as Wil despised the manipulation and deceit, he knew in his heart that he would have been in a far worse place were it not for Banks’ guidance. No words felt fitting to express the loss, and so he remained silent.

“Saera is in command,” Cris stated. “Headquarters is still in lockdown.”

Wil nodded slowly. “I should call her.” His parents glanced at each other, no doubt still perplexed by why Wil had sent her away in the first place.

“We have a lot of cleanup to begin,” Cris said at last. “Take some time to recover.”

“No.” Wil stepped forward from the table. “We need to go after the Bakzen now, before they have time to regroup.”

“We’re in no shape—” Cris started to protest.

“We’re in better shape than them for the moment,” Wil countered. “We need to cut off the rest of their supply lines so they can’t rebuild. We have to act fast, before they expect it.”

Kate sighed. “All right. I’ll get the ships that are still able to fight ready to go.”

“We’ll leave in an hour,” Wil instructed. “They’ll go for Tararia next. We’ll head them off.”

“Okay,” Cris agreed. “And please do check in with Saera.”

“Yeah.” Wil took a few minutes to gather himself after his parents departed. Banks’ loss would leave a deep scar.

He took a resolute breath and initiated a call to Headquarters on the viewscreen, where the communication automatically routed to Saera’s location. An image of her resolved on the viewscreen against the backdrop of the High Commander’s office. “Hey,” he greeted.

“Hi,” she replied. Her normal radiance was absent, as though she was just a shell of herself.

I did that to her. I sent her away, abandoned her. I destroyed myself to save her and then gave up the very thing I wanted to protect.
His chest ached. “I’m so sorry.”

“You heard about Banks?” Saera asked after a moment, her voice shaking.

“My parents just told me. Are you okay?”

“I should be asking you that. You knew him way better than me.”

Wil’s shoulders rounded.
This is too much to process right now.
“I thought you’d be safe there.”

“Apparently, nowhere is safe from the war,” Saera murmured. “I still don’t understand what happened—why you sent me back here.”

“I was shortsighted,” Wil admitted.
I did exactly what the Bakzen wanted—played right into their hand. I should have seen all of it coming, but I lost focus.
“It’s all my fault.”

“We’ve all just been doing the best we can under the circumstances.”

Wil leaned against the conference table. “I’ll make things right again, Saera. Somehow.” He let out a long breath. “How are you holding up?”

Saera wiped a tear from beneath her tinted glasses. “I feel like everything’s falling apart.”

“Not everything.” Wil pushed off the table and stepped close to the viewscreen. “I’m going to end this war, and we won’t have to live in fear anymore.”

“I’d rather live in fear than continue being apart from you like this.”

“It won’t be for much longer,” Wil told her, hoping it was true.

“Let me come back!” Saera pleaded. “Let me help.”

Maybe if Banks were still there.
“There’s no time for transport now. Besides, Headquarters needs you. Make everyone feel safe. It’s almost over.”

“What about you?”

“I’m fine,” Wil insisted.

Saera shook her head. “No, you’re not. Going a week without talking to me… What’s been going on?”

I can never tell her about Cambion. No one can ever know.
“That’s something I still can’t share. Try to accept that—I can’t lose you.”

“Then stop pushing me away.”

“I never should have,” Wil said, hanging his head.
I let the enemy get to me.

Saera bit her lower lip. “I will always be here for you. But I can’t help if you don’t let me.”

“Right now, the best help is staying safe and looking after our home. I’ll come back to you as soon as I can.”
If there’s anything of me left.

“You better.” Saera ventured a smile.

Wil smiled back through the pain. “I love you.”

“Love you, too. Now go get the bad guys.”

*       *       *

Cris looked over the ship manifest Kate had gathered. They were in better shape than he expected. Unfortunately, they had no indication of the Bakzen’s reserve forces.

“Do you really think they’ll make a run for Tararia?” Kate asked.

“That’s been their goal all along,” Cris replied. “Eliminate all Tarans and make the Bakzen the prominent race.”

Kate examined the viewscreen. “Based on this manifest, we do have sufficient numbers to blockade each of the subspace corridors heading for Tararia.”

“It’ll be thin, but the Bakzen can’t be in much better shape by this point,” Cris agreed. “All the targets are within close jump range, so we can redistribute once we know where they’re coming from.”

Kate crossed her arms. “There has to be a better offensive strategy.”

“If only there were a way to collapse the corridors…” Cris mused.

“Maybe there is!” Kate exclaimed. “Wil’s ship. Destroying or collapsing portions of the rift takes more energy than one person can handle and it burns them out. However, sharing the load across five people and running it through the amplifier…”

Cris lit up. “That just might work.”

*       *       *

The shadow of High Commander Banks’ death had left a sober mood in the Conquest’s Command Center, despite the former excitement of their battle victory. Michael made no effort to cheer up his comrades, knowing that everyone processed loss in their own way. The news would be kept need-to-know for the time being, but he was grateful for the certainty that Earth was safe.

As soon as he heard about the attack, he’d messaged Elise. She had only had time for a short reply, but it sounded like Saera was holding things together for the time being. Michael wished he could be there to comfort his friends, but they had more pressing issues to worry about in the field.

Little time remained to make repairs in preparation for the next assault. The last hour had been a flurry of communications and system checks. They were almost ready, but their leader had yet to show himself.

“Any word from Wil?” Michael asked Ian, who was working at his adjacent console.

“No. I’m surprised he isn’t here,” Ian replied.

“We need to talk strategy.” Michael reached out with his mind, searching for Wil. It only took a moment to identify that he was in the Strategy Room.
“We’re prepared to head out on your order,”
he told him. No response. Michael sighed. “I’ll be right back.”

Michael exited the Command Center and stepped across the hall to the Strategy Room. He hit the buzzer on the door but immediately stepped inside.

Wil was at the back of the room staring out the window at the salvage ships beginning to clear the scrap from the battlefield. H2 was still in its transformed state, and a series of shuttles were examining the armor plating for critical damage.

“Hi,” Michael greeted. He stepped inside and the door automatically closed behind him. “Are you ready to head out?”

Wil slumped against the back bulkhead
.
“I’m really not, but we need to.”

Michael approached the table on the opposite side from Wil. “I know you lost a close friend today, but the rest of us are counting on you. You were great in the battle—exactly how we always hoped we’d be together.”

“We still lost twenty percent of our forces,” Wil replied.

“And took out about ninety percent of the Bakzen. I’d say those are pretty good margins.”

Wil scoffed, shaking his head.

“We’re all tired, Wil. We both almost had our home destroyed. We just need to push through and end this.”

“I know. Even still… I can feel myself slipping away,” Wil murmured. “When we vaporized that carrier, I was reminded of the kind of destruction my power could bring—it wouldn’t even take this ship as an amplifier. I have no right to decide who lives and dies, but that’s exactly what I’m doing.”

“It’s what we’re all doing. But right now, we have an opportunity to prevent even greater losses,” Michael said. “Your parents had an idea.”

“To use the ship to restore the rift corridors to the natural energy grid?” Wil asked.

“Yeah…”

“I’ve been thinking about that, too. It never occurred to me before, but I’m still not sure it’ll be enough.”

Michael shrugged. “We don’t know until we try. It’s the best shot we have right now to seal off Tararia from a Bakzen stealth attack, without sacrificing more lives.”

“Or we just go straight for the Bakzen homeworld.”

“That still leaves Tararia exposed.” Michael placed his palms on the tabletop and leaned forward. “I don’t like what we have to do, either, but running away from your abilities won’t help matters. Let’s just get this done, and then we can find some way to atone.”

Wil swallowed. “There’s no atonement for what I’ve done and what I’m about to do.”

“Is stopping here any better?”

His friend hung his head.

“Come on,” Michael said, trying to sound upbeat. “We’re finally making headway. We can’t stop now.”

Wil took a slow breath and nodded. He silently stepped around the table toward the door.

“Look, Wil, I know things have been tough.” Michael met him by the door and placed his hand on his shoulder. “We’re all here for you.”
Including Saera, even if it is from a distance.

“Thanks.”

They returned to the Command Center across the hall and took their stations at the pedestals.

“All right, where do we get started?” Wil said as he pulled up a star map around the domed viewscreen. He activated an overlay of the rift corridors.

“Tararia is the most logical Bakzen target,” Michael suggested.

“That has always been Tek’s prize. We just spat in his face and he’ll be looking for payback.” Wil examined the pathways around Tararia, zooming in with his hands. “Here.” He pointed at three rift corridors extending almost to Tararia. “They’ll use these. It follows with the rest of their strategies.”

“So we collapse the pathways?” Ethan asked.

“That’s the idea, anyway,” Wil confirmed. “It looks like this corridor is the main route to the nearest Bakzen base.” He pointed along the pathway with his finger across the ceiling. “I say we try collapsing that one first.”

“Sounds good to me,” Curtis agreed with a shrug.