Star Viking (Extinction Wars Book 3) (9 page)

“Well how about that, Doc,” I said, my gun-hand rock steady.

He drew himself to his full height, and it seemed he might curse me. Then, suddenly, the claws slid back into their sheaths. His shoulders sloped like normal and he nodded. Was that a result of Ella’s protocols at work in his mind?

“I was an Alien Contact Officer before I became an acolyte,” he said. “You humans are different from us, Commander Creed. I feel sorry for you, not because you will not give me the name. You are correct. I sought to trick the name from you. It was unworthy of me and unworthy of you. I am sorry, Commander.”

“So am I, Doctor Sant. Whatever happens, I wish you luck.” I put away the .44.

“May the Great Maker guide your way,” Sant said. “You are going to need all your courage and guile to keep your artifact. A time of troubles is upon us. If the Jelk Corporation splinters or falls into civil war, I doubt the Jade League or the Lokhar Empire will survive it. That will mean every race for itself. You Earthlings are too few to last in such a state.”

“Yeah, well, we’ll see about that,” I said.

Doctor Sant held up a hand in a salute. Then he turned away, heading for a hatch that would take him to the Orange Tamika warship. I wondered if I’d ever see him again.

I heard a hatch clang shut. I knew I had to talk with Diana. If things were starting to fall apart out there, we needed a plan. We couldn’t just hang on anymore. We had to begin building a fully defensible solar system.

After Doctor Sant and his Orange Tamika Lokhars left, we had the solar system all to our lonesome. For the first time since the aliens had shown themselves, we were the only beings here.

Despite his galling nature, Baba Gobo had taught me a valuable lesson. Actually, he just affirmed what I’d already known and then forgotten. To every alien we’d met, men were beasts at worst and barbarians at best.

The Lokhar Emperor had refused to admit us to the Jade League. He’d thought about letting the Forerunner Guardians join, a backdoor for humans, so to speak. Even that had been shot down in the end.

It left us in a precarious spot. Baba Gobo had probably backed down to Doctor Sant for another reason, one worth considering. The might of the Lokhar Empire had stood behind Sant. What stood behind us? Not a damn thing.

I sipped wine at a candlelight dinner with Diana. Doctor Sant had left two months ago. Since then, three voyagers in three different alien vessels had entered the solar system. Each had claimed pilgrim status, wishing to view the Sol Object. Each had left a bad taste in my mouth. They’d felt like conmen casing a joint, studying the security systems for a future heist. In seven years, we’d had six pilgrims. Now, we’d had these three in quick succession.

As we ate, I told Diana about my worries.

We were in a special dining area of Mars Base. A ceiling window showed the stars. Side screens showed the lonely rock formations of Mars at night. To cap it, the Amazon Queen had worn sheer silks to the meal. Even after all these years, she had to play her predator’s games. I could see her breasts under the fabrics, her rouged nipples. She’d caught me staring several times, and it made her smile. A shark couldn’t have grinned with more malice as a morsel swam toward its jaws.

Most of me said to go ahead and roll in the sack with her. It would be well worth it. A smaller voice warned me she was a honey trap meant to bury me deep. I had no doubt Diana knew sex techniques that would leave me gasping. She also had a monstrous ambition to run everything.

Was this how she’d taken care of Loki?

There had been three members on the Earth Council before I’d left for hyperspace years ago. No matter how hard I tried to find out, no one could tell me what had happened to the ex-Swedish billionaire. He had simply disappeared one day.

I realized that Diana had no qualms about using whatever tool she needed to achieve her ends. Understanding that, I tore my gaze from the peaches under her silks and found her licking her lips.

“We don’t have to be adversaries, Creed,” she purred.

In lieu of answering her, I sipped wine. The candlelight in the center of the table flickered, causing shadows to shift along the walls. I don’t know why, but it reminded me of everything the coming of the aliens to Earth had permanently stolen from us. There would never be movies in San Francisco with a hot date or pizza and beer on a Friday night after sweaty games of basketball with my friends. That Earth had died. Despite all our automated factories attempting terraforming, we possessed a poisoned planet with bitter survivors hanging on by our fingernails.

“We have to do something new,” I said.

“That sounds erotic,” she told me.

I clunked my wine goblet onto the table and leaned back in my chair. “Do you remember Demetrius?”

“Of course,” she said. “He was a good man.”

“He was a rugged son of a bitch,” I said, “an ex-SAS trooper who died on the portal planet. He gave his life so we could keep on living.” He had been Diana’s bodyguard in the early days when the freighters had been grounded on Earth. The man had joined me on the expedition to save the universe. He’d given his life so the rest of us could live. I thought about Demetrius, how I had to turn his sacrifice into something lasting.

“Okay,” Diana said, frowning.

“You’re not tracking my thoughts,” I said. “This—” I waved my hand to indicate the room and everything it entailed— “is our responsibility. You and me, Diana, we’re running the show. Mankind lives or dies on our decisions and actions. We don’t have time for games.”

“If we don’t live, are we really alive?” she asked. “There’s no point to existing if we don’t enjoy ourselves sometimes. Take a break tonight, Creed. You’ve earned it.”

I snorted. “If I genuinely believed you cared a whit about me as a person, I might find your seductive ways alluring. As it is, I realize you’re just trying to manipulate me so you can gain more power.”

Something hardened in her eyes, reminding me of a boa constrictor squeezing its prey. That disappeared a moment later, and she smiled. The sexual wattage pouring out of her almost made me reconsider the offer. As I debated with myself, the tip of her tongue slowly dragged across her lower lip.

I admit it, my groin stirred. The lady was sexy. I had to do something, or I was going to rip off her clothes and do her on the table. So, I laughed, stood and swept the wine goblet off the tablecloth, letting the glass shatter against the video of Mars at night.

Diana flinched in surprise.

“Wait here,” I said. In three swift strides, I opened the door and moved into the hall, shouting for N7.

The android opened a different door, giving me an inquiring glance. He looked like a choirboy with soft blond hair. He wasn’t that, but one of the most dangerous beings on our side. He wore a naval uniform and cap. He’d been with me in the artifact’s inner sanctum, meaning that N7 also knew the object’s name. No one thought to ask him, though. Lokhars in particular had an aversion to treating androids as people. Did androids lack souls? I suppose so because the Jelk built them to order. Even so, N7 had become one of my brothers in arms.

I told him my needs. N7 retreated and returned shortly with a heavy coat.

“Thanks,” I said. With the coat, I returned to my dinner date with Diana. “Here,” I said, tossing the long garment across the table. “Put this on.”

The coat draped carelessly across Diana as she lounged in her chair, messing her hair. She studied me, finally lifting the coat and running her fingers through her hair.

“You’re making a mistake,” she said.

“Yeah, how?” I asked.

“You should treat me with greater respect.”

“If you want respect, give respect.”

“What do you think I did by wearing this gown for you?”

“The gown is your teeth, Diana. You’re trying to sink your claws into me. I’m interested, but not enough to give you an edge.”

“The great Commander Creed is afraid of me?” she asked in a mocking tone. “Is that what you’re saying?”

“Call it what it you want.”

“This is ridiculous,” she said. “But if this is what you’re
ordering
me to do—” She slid the gown off her left shoulder. I imagine she planned to strip in front of me.

My gaze locked onto that shoulder. Maybe I
was
being ridiculous. I don’t know. Ever since I’d had the nightmare of Abaddon, I’d begun missing Jennifer all over again. I had an ache, and Diana tempted me. Sex and love were powerful facets of human behavior. People toyed with them at their peril. If I slept with Diana—

No! That’s not going to happen
. But in order to stop that from occurring, I had to change the dynamics. A man can resist sexual allurement for a time. If he remains where the enticement is, though, eventually he’ll give in. I had to retreat from the enticement, or it would overwhelm me. Some things are simply too hard to resist over time.

I know. That sounds weeny. A tough guy was supposed to be able to bed any beauty without a thought. To screw like a dog supposedly proved a man’s virility. I happened to disagree with the principle. I’d always believed in choosing one woman and committing to her alone.

Jennifer was my woman. Why otherwise did I have nightmares about my abandoning her? Even after the intervening years, the guilt tore at me was why. I refused to dally with Diana while Jennifer—

As Diana removed her silk gown, I turned my back on her.

“Really, Creed?” the Amazon Queen asked.

“I’m going to leave,” I told her.

After a short pause, Diana said. “It’s safe, Mr. Boy Scout. You can turn around now.”

I did. She sat in her chair with the coat buttoned all the way to her throat. The silk gown lay on the floor beside her. After all my interior moral posturing, I still managed to wonder if she was naked under the coat. I couldn’t believe it. I found myself wanting to rip off the coat and lay her down on the table.

“Just a second,” I said. I stepped into the hall again and shouted for N7. He showed up. “You’re coming with me to take notes,” I said.

The android frowned. “I have no need of taking notes, Commander. I can remember everything said. My brain core has a computer’s total recall.”

“Fine,” I said. “Sit and listen then. Come with me.”

Diana looked annoyed when I returned with N7. I thought she might protest. Finally, she shrugged, tossing her luxurious hair.

As N7 sat in a corner, I talked for a time about our military situation, finally adding, “Our nearest neighbors have bigger fleets than we do and industrial bases. They also have planetary populations. If the two power blocs splinter, it’s going to become a grab what you can type of galaxy. How can we compete in that kind of environment?”

“We have our Forerunner object,” Diana said. “The solar system has become holy ground.”

“Yeah, maybe,” I said. “But we just saw the Starkiens trying to grab our artifact. Sure, we can stop a pirate in his spaceship from hijacking the relic. Our ten starships are too many for a lone operator. What can we do against a planet-based foe with a military fleet?”

“The obvious answer is that we have to find our own allies,” Diana said. “We have to become enmeshed with others so we’re too big to attack.”

“I agree,” I said. “But who’s going to ally with animals?”

“They can’t really mean that about us,” she said.

N7 cleared his throat.

I laughed sourly. “He’s going to tell you they mean it, all right.”

N7 nodded. “The Commander is correct.”

“Are you saying we won’t be able to find allies?” Diana asked me.

“Not as we are now,” I said. “Either, we have to change how the aliens think about humans, or we have to seriously strengthen our star system’s defenses.”

“We need to trade, then,” Diana said.

“Will others trade with beasts?” I asked.

“If it’s to their benefit I think they would,” Diana said.

“Okay. What will we trade?”

“We’ve been buying these automated factories with fissionable materials and works of art,” Diana said. “Why not use those items on the open market?”

“Well, first,” I said, “the Lokhars have traded with us because they owed us for the one hundred thousand assault troopers lost in hyperspace. We haven’t paid tit-for-tat. If we’re going to really trade with others, we’ll need mining equipment.”

N7 squirmed on his chair.

“Do you want to add something?” I asked him.

“Indeed,” N7 said. “At the moment, we possess no mining equipment.”

“On Earth we do,” I said.

“We have the one operating mine,” he said. “As you know, most of the metallic objects on Earth have badly rusted.”

“Well…how about extracting ores from our asteroids?” I asked.

“We lack the needed equipment to do that,” N7 said.

“We lack pretty much everything,” Diana said. “And it seems like we have no way of getting a starter kit, as it were. The automated factories we received from the Lokhars barely produce enough to keep the freighters running. Most of their hardware works on restoring the atmosphere. As it is, we’re scraping by.”

Nodding, I said, “It’s as I thought. Humanity is in a hole. We bought our few starships with the lives of one hundred thousand assault troopers. The Lokhars were supposed to be grateful. Now, they’re onto the next thing, conveniently having forgotten about our sacrifices.”

“Commander,” N7 said. “I have a thought.”

“Go ahead,” I said.

“Doctor Sant told us the Saurian fleets have retreated,” N7 said. “Their hasty reassignment likely means certain Jelk Corporation worlds are unprotected.”

“What are you suggesting?”

“Perhaps you could send a ship or two to a mining world,” N7 said. “You might be able to land and take what you need, along with mining androids to work the machines.”

Diana laughed throatily. “That’s very clever, N7. You want to us to free your kind, is that it?”

“It has crossed my mind,” the android admitted.

“Vikings,” I said. “You want us to go a-Viking.”

Both N7 and Diana turned to me.

With the flat of my right hand, I slapped the table. It made Diana start and caused cutlery to jangle against the plates.

“We’ll be Star Vikings,” I said, liking the idea more and more. “We don’t have anything to trade, at least not yet or in any real quantity. All the aliens think of us as animals anyway. Therefore, we use the one thing we were able to buy, our ten starships.”

“There’s a problem with your plan,” Diana said. “If those ships are raiding the space lanes, what will protect the freighters back here?”