Inherited War 3: Retaliation (38 page)

The other commanders of the landings were reporting that they were linking up with local groups and heading for the safety of the underground. They no longer had to protect the shields. If the Roche took them down, they would die instantly. Even a few days—maybe even months, later. No one knew what was just beyond that shield now and if the Roche risked it, they would pay. Cole counted on the Esii keeping them from doing any harm to the shield generators.

He would find out when would be safe to turn the shield off when, and if, his ships returned. Until then, he had a ground war to fight.

Cole quickly found his way to the makeshift command center for this block’s defense. He was amazed by the level of preparedness Thalo had left behind. The sheer planning it had taken to achieve this size of defense was more than he thought Thalo had in him. Cole felt a slight twinge as he thought of his friend. He wasn’t sure how long it would be before he could think of Thalo without sadness clouding his vision. He was glad that on more than one occasion his helmet hid his eyes.

Cole had debated on finding Jeth, but had been informed that the medical staff had sedated him and was keeping him unconscious for the time being. No one knew what the big alien would do when he awoke from his healing sleep, and they didn’t want to take any chances. Cole spent the next few hours being brought up to date on the city’s status. Personnel, supplies, and everything else that goes along with running an army. Seeing that everything was well in hand and only making some slight adjustments, Cole sent out a call to his Worlder counterpart that had made planet fall and subsequently taken over commanding the Worlders in the city.

Cole exited the building and moved down the street to a small park. He thought it was a park—it was completely paved over but there were benches and potted plants here and there. Taking a seat near the middle of the park, he waited for the Worlder General to arrive. He didn’t have to wait long.

“General,” Cole said rising to his feet and holding out his hand. The General took it and they shared a handshake.

“Commander,” the general replied.

“I’m sure you have heard the news by now.” Cole waved his hand towards the bench and both beings sat together as equals.

“Yes, the story spread like wildfire amongst my men. It is a grave day for our people. We lost a great hero here,” the general replied.

“Yes, Thalo, well simply put I would not be here if it hadn’t been for Thalo on many occasions. But more to the point, I wouldn’t be here without Jeth either. What should we do, if anything?” Cole asked with pain in his voice.

“Nothing,” the General said. “It is the greatest fear of my people, to suffer the death of a bond mate. It is better to have never been bonded than lose one who completes you. It will be up to Jeth whether or not he comes back from this or if it ruins him forever. I was told that the Nixa had him in a chemically induced coma.”

“Yes that was the report I received from Sky,” Cole replied.

“Good, keep him that way. The best thing we can do for him now is to win this and get him home. We have people dedicated to working with survivors and they will have the best chance to keep Jeth amongst us.”

“Is suicide common?” Cole asked.

“Yes, unfortunately it is, especially if the survivor is cut off from his own people. Me and my men just don’t have the time to spend on helping him the way we should. He was lucky he didn’t die when he left the shield.”

“That was thanks to the Nixa. If they hadn’t followed him out there, he would have been captured and killed as well. Thank you, general; I will relay what you said to Sky. If we find any chance at all to get him off planet, we will do it as soon as possible.” Cole rose and held his hand out to the Worlder. The general took it and Cole aided him to his feet.

“To be honest, I was expecting this talk but knew you were busy. In fact, you are about to get even more busy, I take my leave.” The general gave Cole a salute, turned, and jogged away.

Cole turned to look behind him and saw what the Worlder had been talking about. A large group of Nixa were heading down the street towards his location. None were in combat suits, none had weapons, and they all looked mad. Cole groaned inwardly but kept his face calm and clear of emotions. He had expected this sooner. He knew the Nixa and how they governed. He knew some would not like his course of action. Then he noticed there were a few in the group who did have combat suits on as well as weapons, restraints, and other police paraphernalia.

“West,” Cole whispered into his mic.

“Way ahead of you boss. They came here looking for you, and I sent them to the park. You’re welcome.” Cole could almost see the smirk on his friends face but he let him continue. “I knew you would want to handle this nonviolently if you could, so we waited until they left, went invisible, and followed them at a distance. We are going to take positions up around the park to cover your ass should it need it.”

“Thanks,” was all he was able to get out before the retinue came to a halt in front of him. Both sides sized each other up and the leader of the Nixa was about to open his mouth when Cole spoke first.

“No problem,” Cole said. The would be speaker snapped his mouth closed and stared blankly at Cole. That lasted about ten seconds before he finally found his words.

“For what?” he asked.

“Oh, I assumed you were here to thank me for coming to your aid,” Cole said.

“What? No. That is, well, I mean…” he stammered off into silence.

“What he means to say,” a voice spoke from within the crowd. “We are not here to thank you so much as arrest you.” The speaker didn’t move forward.

“I’m sorry, am I loitering?” Cole asked. “I didn’t see any signs and figured since this was a bench, I would sit for a bit.”

“No, that’s not what I mean,” he began when Cole cut him off.

“No, it isn’t. I know what you mean. Come out from behind there Fire and speak to me face to face.” Cole had recognized the Nixa’s voice instantly. He remembered hearing it when he was a prisoner on Esii. He would never forget that voice. Fire slimed his way forward. He was in a nice suit and zero restraints.

“I thought you were a traitor to your people, yet here you are up and walking around like a normal person,” Cole said.

“Traitor is all point of view. I have my supporters and now that they see what happens when you don’t deal with the Esii, well, let’s just say less think of me as a traitor these days.” He smirked at Cole.

“You still are a traitor, Fire,” a voice boomed from behind Cole. “However you bribed and bullied these citizens into releasing you and bringing you to the surface, it ends here.” The Nixa Prime came to a stop on Cole’s right side.

“No Prime, in fact it does not. I am, as we speak, preparing to go forth, meet with the invaders, and work out a peaceful solution to this conflict. We have lost our fleet; hundreds of thousands of Nixa have died. Millions of Roche have perished and our entire solar system may very well now be uninhabitable thanks to this man. If we had just accepted their demands at the beginning, we would not find ourselves in this predicament.” Fire was nearly shouting at the end.

“You would have us surrender, turn over allies? Capitulate to these monsters. You are worse than a traitor; you are a coward and a criminal,” the Prime roared back.

“Besides,” Cole interjected, “I am in command of your armies. And I have a feeling they would rather follow me than you.”

“Follow you!” he screamed in rage. “Once they know the extent of your depravities, they will take your head themselves.  You, who may have just killed us all by blowing up our sun. You have trapped their armies here with us, and this the people will know.” Fire’s supporters edged away from him a little at a time. Down in the dark of the underground, his stories and promises sounded grand. Up here in the cold light of day, they started to change their minds.

“This ends here Fire.” The Prime straightened his back and stood tall and proud. “By the powers of the War Act, I hereby decree that former Colonial Administrator Fire is guilty of treason and sabotage.”

“What’s the sentence for those?” Cole asked from the side of his mouth.

“Death,” the Prime said and suddenly Fire was alone in the park.

“Good,” Cole replied, drew his pistol, and shot the Nixa in the head right between the eyes. His eyes crossed as if he was trying to see the wound, then his knees buckled and he collapsed face first on the ground.

“Was that the asshole that you told us about?” West asked over the com.

“Yeah, that was him.” Fire’s body jerked and danced a few more times as rounds from West’s rifle drilled into him.

“Asshole,” West repeated. Cole turned to look at the Prime. The older Nixa was staring at the body of the dead Administrator as it bled out in front of him.

“There will be questions and accountability over the outcome of this war and how it was fought,” he said in a low voice.

“Well, your people can have whatever is left of me when the Worlders get through with me. For now, I plan on winning this war for your people, no, not just yours but for everyone. The Esii need to be cleansed from this galaxy once and for all, and if the Roche choose to join them, so be it.” Cole turned and walked away.

A few hours later Cole found himself back in the command center starting at the 3D map of the city and the surrounding countryside. It was rendered beautify. He felt like a God looking down from Mount Olympus, but with less power. He felt a hand slide onto his shoulder.

“How are things here?” Sky asked.

“Not great, how about below?” he said and lay his hand on top of hers.

“The news of Fire’s death has spread like wildfire. More are lauding your actions than not. Father is upset with you for doing it, mainly because he wanted an execution. “

“And reaction on me blowing up your sun?” Cole asked.

“That’s mixed right now. Those who have lost loved ones or felt the sting of this invasion more than others seem to be behind you, but most are outraged. They think we could have won without such a drastic move. A lot are pointing out the fact that you saved our sun from being destroyed once, that you could have found another way. I’ve been reminding everyone that the Esii had planned on using the sun to destroy the whole planet.”

“Don’t,” Cole said.

“Don’t, what?” she asked.

“Don’t defend me to your people. I don’t need to be explained or examined. I don’t need you being ostracized by your own people for the moves I make. What’s done is done, no take backs.” They both let the silence and their thoughts have the moment.

“Were does that leave us now?” she asked in a quiet voice.

“We need time, as much time as we can buy. Yet, we also have to keep pressure on them. We need to keep attacking them around the world to keep them from piling up here. We need to keep them out of the city as much as we can, but we need to hurt their numbers here. I have to work on the assumption that the fleet can’t make it back, so we have to deal with them on the ground. If the fleet comes back, we go underground and let them pound the Roche into dust. We have to walk a fine line and make them pay as much as possible. If this becomes a war of attrition, we lose by default.”

“There is a way to attack without lowering the shield, if that’s what you’re looking for.”

“What, how?” Cole asked as he sat forward to peer more intently at the image. Sky leaned forward and grabbed the view control. She did some quick movements and entered something into the computer. The image of the city and its local surroundings rose up into the air and hovered about two feet off the holo table and a wire frame depiction of the underground tunnels appeared. Cole saw a few going to buildings he knew about and the main one in the governmental building, but there were a few more. Some went into the ruined parts of the city others went further out. Four went to the cardinal points and kept going out of range of the 3D image.

The underground complex was massive. Cole knew it was if it could house millions of Nixa but he hadn’t been able to see that in his mind’s eye. He gave out a low whistle and walked slowly around the table taking it all in. He called for his Nixa liaison and the Worlder General’s aid. They both arrived at about the same time.

“Send men down all of these tunnel offshoots. I want them checked for accessibility and their exit points reconnoitered to make sure they work. No one, and I mean no one, attempts to open them up though. If they are still there and accessible, I need them kept secret for now. Pass the word on to your commanders and have them send out teams now. I want to know each of these tunnels statuses in the next few hours. Dismissed.”

“You have that look in your eye,” Sky said.