Inherited War 3: Retaliation (34 page)

“What triggered it this time?” Cole asked.

“A few things, but the main trigger was ‘how do I blow up a star.’ There are some other issues to discuss here as well,” Jarrod responded.

“I failed, didn’t I?” Cole asked suddenly.

“No, why would you say that?” Jarrod looked taken aback.

“I haven’t found half of the secrets you left for me, I haven’t unlocked all of the knowledge yet in my DNA, and I seem to be winning battles but losing the war.”

“Plans change. We tried to foresee all possibilities and in doing so, we may have over planned. Remember this all happened a few thousand years too soon. Your hand has been forced through most of this and you have done well with what you have. Right now, you have the means to finish this once and for all. I will let you in on a small secret. I was being guided the same way you are.”

“What?” Cole almost shouted. “By who?”

“A being of such immense power and knowledge that we all look like mindless animals compared to him.”

“God?” Cole asked.

“Who can say? He knew enough that I would consider him omnipotent, but not in the way of your planet’s God. His knowledge was based on math. Math so complex I cannot even begin to wrap my mind around it. Math so precise and accurate he could predict events and prepare for them. Prepare me for them. Whether he was immortal, I couldn’t say. He is probably still kicking around somewhere; this is his battle after all. I can’t see him bowing out before the end.”

“What do you mean, ‘His battle’?” Cole asked.

“This war, this whole galaxy, was created by him and another. Two immensely powerful beings with the power to create a galaxy decided to use lesser beings to settle a dispute between the two,” Jarrod said.

“The being, the one I could never see in the Esii’s memories. Was that the other one?” Cole asked.

“Probably, yes. They created the galaxy and seeded life everywhere. There is life out there on planets thought dead. Life so vastly different from our own, we failed to recognize it as life at all. They watched and waited. Billions of years they waited, then they chose. Neither is good or evil, but both have a viewpoint and they chose their champion races based on that viewpoint.”

“He chose the Esii then warped them to his purpose,” Cole said softly.

“Indeed,” Jarrod replied.

“You chose humans,” Cole stated and looked at the man.

“Bravo, you finally saw through my deception,” Jarrod bowed to Cole.

“Why?” Cole asked, a simple question with unimaginable answers.

“Why hide the truth from you or why in general?”

“Try both,” Cole said.

“Time is short now. In the beginning you didn’t need to know; now you do. It’s that simple. As to the why in general, myself and the other came here from a very different existence. Our home is one of pure energy, of light and order. We came here and created this to settle a dispute once and for all.”

“Will you leave us alone after this is over?” Cole said with venom in his voice.

“It depends on how this ends.”

“If I win?” Cole asked.

“To a point yes, but there are other factors involved. Things that need to be decided that can only be done here in this setting. Factors that cannot be predicted by any form of math or science in existence. For now, none of that matters, and in fact, though you will remember this conversation, you will not speak of it or even dwell on it.” Cole’s eyes glazed over for a moment, and when they regained their focus, he nodded his head in acceptance.

“So why am I here, now?” Cole asked.

“Quite simple my boy. You asked how to blow up a star. The technology is located in your base and is ready to use. Your ancestors used it only once and that was to hide their mission to move an entire planet. They figured if everyone thought it died in a supernova, then no one would miss it, so they hid their theft of the world in its supposed destruction. There is one more thing. This will end soon and your people will need aid. I am going to unlock much of the most important information in your DNA. You can connect to the base computer and download it, but it will take hours so do it right away.” Jarrod walked over and held out his hand. They had never touched before. Cole had always assumed that none of this was real, that it all took place in his mind. He wasn’t so sure now.

He held his hand out and felt the warm soft skin of the other man’s hand. Jarrod helped Cole to his feet and they shook hands.

“For eons I have worked to shape the outcome of this quest to my benefit and have worked with many millions of interesting beings. You, by far, have been my favorite.” He smiled at Cole and faded away. Cole stood for a moment in his memory of home, and then a split second before he left, he winced at the pain he would be in upon waking up.

Cole screamed as he came to. His mind was scrambled and his nanites were off, because nothing was blocking the pain ripping through his skull at the moment. Seconds passed that felt like an eternity before his nanites kicked on and blocked the pain. Cole lay with his head on Sky’s lap, his breathing was labored and fast, and the room was filled with other humans. Cole held up his arm and tried to wave people away.

“I’m,” he gasped, “okay.”

“Calm down, Cole,” Sky said as she stroked his hair. “I explained what was going on. They are just here to find out what you learned.”

That gave Cole a sense of relief. He had been worried that people might blame Sky for his condition.

“I need,” he was still panting for breath,” base computer.”

“I am here, Cole, and ready to help” the AI sounded.

“No, need to bond with it,” he said trying to stand. Sky and two others helped him to his feet and got him back into his chair. Sky placed his hand on the connector built into the chair, and then sat in her own chair and joined him inside the computer. When she got there, he was already downloading his brain. She was agog at the vast amounts of information pouring from Cole into the storage banks of the base.

“Cole, what is all of this?” she asked.

“Everything. He unlocked it all this time. He told me to bring it here and leave it for my people. He didn’t want them to lose it if I don’t make it back from Nixa,” Cole said. Sky opened her mouth with a retort but closed it again. He was right; none of them might come back and it would be a true loss to have all this science, math, engineering, medical, and whatever else was in Cole’s mind, be lost for all time.

“He also showed me this.” Cole diverted his attention from downloading for a moment and brought up a 3D image. There was a bright sun floating in front of them, and then a ship appeared. It deployed a giant device, then turned and ran. Fast-forward, and the device opened and millions of smaller devices came out of it and began to encircle the star. They spread out and formed a grid pattern that circled the whole thing. They powered on for a brief second. That was all the time they had because as soon as they reached full power, a shimmering sphere surrounded the star and it instantly went nova.

“My ancestors used this technology to destroy a star to hide the theft of a planet. The galaxy thought the whole system was destroyed, and the humans wanted it that way. The device is here. In fact, there are two of those in storage here.”

“How does it work?” she asked in awe.

“When all the devices are in position and they power up, they reverse gravity inside the sphere,” Cole said.

“So instead of the mass of the sun pulling everything in, it suddenly explodes out,” she finished for him. She looked at Cole. “There is something else, isn’t there?”

“I can’t say. Not that I won’t say, but I can’t,” he replied cryptically. Sky knew him well enough that she didn’t push the issue. She stayed with him for the six hours it took to download his brain. There wasn’t a number that came close to describing how much information he downloaded that day; infinite came close though. When Cole was done, they disconnected and Sky swiveled her chair to look at Cole. Some of the people had remained in the room, watching and waiting. Cole rose and addressed the room.

“Everything I know, all the knowledge of our ancestors, is now in the memory banks of the base computer. It will take months, maybe years, for it to process and catalog it all, but regardless of what happens in the near future, you will have it to make your lives in the galaxy. Now,” Cole held out his hand to help Sky up, “let’s go find some allies.”

Cole sat behind his desk. His suit was shiny new and he had a fresh haircut. He smiled at the 3D camera pointed at him and spoke in a firm, confident voice.

“My name is Cole McLeod, and I am the leader of the human race. We are the ancestors of the ones you knew of as the ancient humans. We need your help—badly. Currently what remains of the Esii are with the Roche, and have invaded the Nixa homeworld. I plan on rooting them out and finishing them off for good. Our plan, however, requires more ships and soldiers than we currently have. I don’t ask lightly for help, and also do not expect charity. We have many wondrous items and technology at our disposal, things never before seen in our galaxy. Things I will trade for your aid. I will negotiate personally with all nations that come to our aid. Oh, and first come, first served. A rally point will be set up for you to come and meet with us. You have three days to decide, and betrayal will be dealt with—severely. I know to whom all that this message is going to, and if we survive this attack and I find out one of you betrayed me to the Esii, my next war will be with you. Three days, be there.” The recorder stopped and Cole looked to Sky.

“Send it,” he said, and Sky relayed the message to the small but fast ship designated to carry it to the galaxy.

Two days later, Cole was connected to
The Resurrection
and located deep in the vastness of space. He currently had a point-to-point established with the Home Base AI, and was running a refined plan through the simulator. His ship was powered down and waiting in stealth mode at the rally point. Tomorrow, he hoped, would bring the necessary allies, but for today it was just himself and Sky. He had wanted the time alone with her. Not because he was afraid of the future, but because he had lost so much time with her already. They had done their best to christen every part of the ship. Now, well, he was physically exhausted, and running the plan in simulation over and over.

More than anything, he was waiting. Waiting to see if anyone answered his call and came to his aid. He had shown up early to see if any came before the appointed time to ambush him. So far nothing. He hoped that was a good sign. Before he had left, he had arranged his people’s and the Worlders’ order of march. Shield generators and power supplies were loaded on Worlder transports, along with nearly one hundred thousand Worlders and his small security team of fellow humans. The rest of his people were manning the ships. He had crewed every ship ready for battle at the base, and had his people and Worlders that were equipped with the right nano tech to access the equipment. Leaving his commanders to figure out the small details, he had given them their orders and told them to meet him at the stepping off point in three days. Hopefully he would be there with more ships, but if not, the plan he had just finished would work with what he had—he hoped.

Suddenly, and with only a slight blurring of reality, ships began reentering normal space from warp. Three hundred ships materialized in the area around Cole’s small ship. Big bastards too, ships of the line. The computer identified the biggest ones as Archones Warships with a few small heavily armored strike cruisers.

Over the next few hours, ships of every size and type appeared in the suddenly not so very empty area of the cosmos. Thrashodon heavy cruisers, Malik swift boats, Quinn blaster boats, and a half dozen other races and cultures came with their war fleets—nearly a thousand in all. Sitting quietly and listening to their conversations, Cole detected no trickery, and when his three-day time limit expired, he broke silence.

“Thank you all for coming. I have prepared a list of everything I am prepared to offer your people for aiding mine. I will transmit each individually to your commanders and expect an answer in one hour.” Cole sent out the list of technologies he was willing to trade.

“Is it worth it?” Sky asked. “It’s still five to one, at least.”

“That tech is better than what they have, by far, but still less than what we keep for ourselves. It’s a good deal. They will be rich when this is over.” It didn’t even take the full hour. Every single nation agreed to the terms. Cole had one final caveat to tell the fleet.

“I need you to turn control of your ships over to me until we have entered the system and I have us formed up.” A wave of questions and anger poured over the open com channel. Cole waited until everyone quieted down to continue. “As some of you may know, betrayal is all too common in this war. Be it from ancient history or from within the last year. I will not allow it again. For us to win, this has to be as near perfect as possible, and I need to trust each of you. We need to be able to hold out for one hour, and I need each of you to do their part. We will not be in danger when we arrive and will have time to form up. After that, I will release control of your ships back to you with the full battle plan uploaded and the part each of you is to play. I swear that me and mine will be in as much or even more danger than you and yours. In fact, I plan on using mine to protect yours. So now the question is…can you trust me, with your ships and lives? I fault no one for backing out now.” Cole waited, five minutes, then ten. No one left. “Good, thank you all. Prepare for jump. Cole out.” Cole cut his com and watched as the AI’s loaded into the extra computer storage took a hold of Cole’s new fleet.