Stars Rain Down (38 page)

That endless supply of power came at the price of durability. The slightest crack in the hollow-drive's casing would cause it to self-destruct and collapse in on itself, rendering it permanently useless. There was no repairing it or salvaging its remains, no way to take it apart and study its insides. A hollow-drive was either whole and functioning, or destroyed beyond all recognition.

They were designed that way to prevent the Nefrem from replicating the technology, but there were consequences coming due that the designers hadn't foreseen.

The forty-three minute trip passed in tense silence, and then the bright blue Earth appeared and filled the bridge crew's view. The Phoenix had already arrived ahead of them.

Legacy briefly shared a memory of the Garden (as she still referred to it) eons ago when she first arrived. The planet's beauty hadn't dimmed at all with age, and it was a precious shining gem among a cold and distant universe.

The crew filled the silence with quiet prayers. They were in the presence of something divine, something that still had the power to take their breath away and inspire their imaginations. And in a few short moments, they were going to stain it horribly with blood.

Marcus floated higher into the air, took a deep breath and spoke. As he did, his voice echoed through every inch of Legacy, as well as the many smaller ships contained within her. "Attention all Legacy Fleet personnel... welcome home."

The glowing Earth filled his eyes. "We're standing right on the edge of destiny, people... victory is down there waiting for us, and this moment... this is the quiet before we bring the storm.

"I want you all to look into your hearts and see the strength of your resolve. That's what brought us here across a sea of hardships and despair. It's our unbreakable spirit, which we must now stoke into an unstoppable fury.

"In a few minutes, we will descend through the clouds and bring fire down on our wing. We will crush our enemy where he stands and strike a decisive blow for our world... and we will grasp our destiny back from his clutches.

"We'll win because we are the future... a new humanity forged in fire and quenched in blood... and our time has finally come. So I ask you, are you ready?"

The raucous rally cry of fifteen-hundred soldiers echoed back and Marcus smiled.

"Mason, transmit on all known frequencies," he said.

"Ready, sir."

"Attention alien invaders. This is Marcus Donovan, commander of the Eireki starship Legacy. Make peace with your gods. End transmission."

"Channel closed, sir."

The smaller assault carriers split off from the pack and swooped down toward the planet, with Faulkland's Phoenix trailing behind. Meanwhile, Legacy spun, took aim, and spat out five
Hoplite
troop transports, which streaked out and became shooting stars as they touched the upper atmosphere.

The dice were cast. There was nothing left to do but wait, watch, and pray.

***

Hoplite Alpha
tore through the stratosphere at several times the speed of sound. The hexagonal pod's shell glowed white-hot but the interior was comfortable and quiet. A hundred soldiers were packed inside, shoulder to shoulder in rows facing outward, and encased in
MASPEC Mk-2
armors. The suits were the color of dried blood, except for the clear half-domes of their helmets.

The Mk-2 was a more elegant and refined design than the original, which stripped away the rough edges and mechanical look of the original, and replaced them with a rounded, more biological shape. The new model incorporated a host of Eireki technologies that improved on human technology in every conceivable way, making the armor smaller, more agile and nearly three times as strong.

Amira Saladin had literally outdone herself. As the Hoplite carrying her rapidly approached the ground, she hoped it would be enough.

The Hoplite's ion thrusters came to life at the last possible moment, slowing the pod as it met the ground while giving the soldiers little more than a soft jostle. Once it was down, the vessel's walls rotated outward while its canopy lifted, transforming the pod into an instant fort. Guns mounted on top opened fire, and their loud roar filled the air.

Doors opened to reveal the world outside in the dim light of early morning. The ground was scorched and covered in still smoking cinders, and a few hundred meters beyond lay the jagged line of alien outposts.

Sal's docking clamp released with a clank, and she prepared herself.

"You ready?" Kazuo asked beside her.

She grabbed her long
Nikola
rifle from its storage hook overhead and said, "Let's do this."

The carriers above spat out jets out like bullets, while armored soldiers streamed out of the Hoplite and into the smoking field. Once outside, the MASPEC troopers split into squads and advanced in leaps and bounds, assisted by small thrusters on their armors' back and legs. Their movements had a strange grace, and combined with their choreographed advances, the rush became a ballet.

Sal and Kazuo led the pack, bracing themselves at each landing before firing their rifles into the alien horde. The weapons ejected heavy metal rounds at nearly five kilometers a second, and hit their targets like tank shells. Soft targets tore into arcing ribbons and mist, while hard targets buckled and shattered under the brutal impact.

It only took a few moments for the aliens to react to the new threat, and their shining metallic shields slid around to protect them, but the MASPEC troopers were in the enemy fort and engaged in hand-to-hand by then.

In her armor, Sal felt unstoppable. She'd become a war machine, an angry titan that was faster than the small furry aliens, better armored than the large grey ones, and stronger than anything else in the field. The aliens mobbed her but she plodded on with grim determination, feeling bones crunch beneath her armored fists, while Kazuo battled nearby with even more zeal.

Meter by meter, her squad thrashed through the opposition and littered the ground with shredded corpses. They cleared the building quickly and took the roof, where they gained an open line of fire on the entrenched troops below.

Identical operations were carried out with surgical precision all along the perimeter, and the battle line was broken. Squads of MASPEC troopers stormed the forts, while their agile jets clashed with alien craft overhead. The Phoenix and its coterie of assault carriers hung in the air just above the Ark, raining down beams of burning energy on whatever remained.

With a thought, Sal's armor thumped a bright green flare into the sky, signaling an all clear at her position. Then she and her squad hunkered down behind the battlements and opened fire.

***

Jack and his team sat atop a low ridge more than two kilometers from the battle. Human and Oikeyan alike watched there from relative safety, filled with disappointment, sadness, and hopelessness. The one thing Jack was sure of was that he'd failed, and that thought turned his stomach.

The sudden arrival of unfamiliar warships and armored soldiers left them all baffled.

"You're a better liar than I thought," Kai said. "You actually had me thinking you didn't have a fleet." He trailed off with his weird laugh.

"We
didn't,
" Jack said. "I don't know who they are. Are those Nefrem forces?"

Kai said, "No. There's a resemblance but it's superficial. Whoever they are, they're effective, though. Very effective."

"So that's it," Charlie said. "The cavalry arrives and we win. No offense to your alien buddies, but I'm not exactly heartbroken. Let's have a beer and call it a day."

Kai shook his head. "You think the legion will be routed? You expect them to just pack up and leave? They haven't even begun to fight yet."

He pointed out into the distance, where the adolescent city Yuon Kwon was only a thin, hazy silhouette. "This will escalate, I promise you that. Armored Alarhya will come out of the city, and airborne reinforcements are already inbound. Expect carpet bombing if things don't look up soon."

"So who's going to win?" Nikitin asked.

"I honestly can't say," Kai said solemnly, "but the one thing I can guarantee is more needless death. Deadlocks are never good for either side. In a war of attrition, there are only losers."

"So, how do you break a deadlock?" Jack asked of no one in particular.

"Give one side an advantage," Charlie said.

Kai said, "Or present both sides with a bigger threat."

Then, right at that moment, Jack was struck by an idea. It was without doubt the worst he'd ever had... perhaps the most terrible idea anyone ever had, in a grand and illustrious history of bad ideas.

That was how he knew it was going to work.

Kai sprinted out across the open steppe, the immense strength in his legs driving him along at nearly the same speed as the fighter jets above. Each stride covered tens of meters, and he hadn't even worked up a sweat yet.

He would soon enough.

As he came to the human side of the battle lines, he accelerated, and moved from one embankment to the next in several large leaps, bypassing the infantry completely and continuing into the scarred no-man's land beyond.

Strange weapons exploded all around, blasting soil hundreds of meters into the air, but Kai was too fast. Too agile. He danced through the field, analyzing thousands of barking weapons, and calculated the safest path through. He was built for this task.

A continuous hail of hot metal surrounded him but he weaved easily through. No creature on this battlefield could match him, but he wasn't there to fight; this was only the warm-up course on the way to his objective.

He engaged his camouflage as he approached the Oikeyan side and became a ghost. The effect was imperfect, but combined with his fantastic speed and the chaos of battle, it made him virtually undetectable.

Hidden in broad daylight, he launched himself high into the air and used the fighting Yuon Kwon as terrain, leaping from the armored shell of one to the next. This part of his mission was so easy it was practically a game.

Then he came to the charred remains of the human settlement, which had burned brightly throughout the night but were now reduced to smoking cinders. He sprinted at top speed, ignoring the ruins under foot and the human drop pods spitting fire overhead, then sliced a path straight for the Ark.

As Kai came to the final stretch, he dug down deep to find the last reserve of power lurking inside himself, and charged forward. His feet ground into the ruined soil and the wind howled as he blasted through the thick air. Then he coiled his fist back and exploded through the titanium-steel door.

The metal groaned and buckled inward. Massive hinges on either side sheared under the force.

He was inside, and his mission was half-finished.

***

Jack and Felix raced through the clotted skies while a desperate battle surged in the air around them. Cuttlefish and the unknown fighters chased each other in every direction, burping fire at one another as they careened about and fought for position.

Charlie and Lisa were understandably uncomfortable in the vehicle, while Nikitin was (beyond all sense or reason) having the time of his life. Behind them, Ferash and Dojer held their weapons at ready in case of unwanted followers. It was anyone's guess how effective their weapons would be, but Dojer's cannon was better than nothing at all.

The young city Yuon Kwon loomed in the distance, reminding Jack of the flying saucers in antique horror movies. The last thing he ever expected was for aliens to show up in actual saucers... yet there it was.

A cuttlefish burst into flames above them and plummeted out of the sky, leaving a trail of burning debris in Felix's path. It reminded Jack that this wasn't a movie; it was real life, and he was in the middle of a very real battle.

"I know I've put you through a lot already, but if you could go just a little faster, I'd really appreciate it," he whispered to his mount.

Felix picked up speed with a jitter that showed he was straining against his limits.

"Thank you," Jack said.

They approached the flying city, a smaller version of the twenty-kilometer monstrosities which had taken up residence at the Earth's equator. This young one was just over a kilometer wide, in an even more vibrant blue-indigo than its older kin, but was otherwise identical. His interior was only opened a crack, through which damaged cuttlefish returned and fresh ones came out.

The surface of the massive alien creature bristled with cannon banks spraying blue fire, while patches of liquid metal slipped across its skin to deflect incoming attacks. These were the defensive membranes Kai had mentioned, and their speed was startling.

Pilots in bony Yuon Kwon battle armor came flying out of the ship as Felix approached, and the stream of them never stopped. The six-armed creatures headed off to join the battle, and Jack could only imagine what they must be like in combat.

Luckily, they paid Jack and his team no mind. No one did. To everyone's surprise, Felix was ignored by both forces equally, and they managed to slip inside totally unharmed.

Even more surprising was the interior of the city Yuon Kwon, which was much different than Jack expected. The stalagmite-like buildings were nowhere to be found, replaced instead by row upon row of short, squat hangars.

That wasn't the most drastic difference, though. The generator towers here were opened up like flowers in full bloom, revealing the large and furiously burning stars within, connected to one another by arcing bolts of golden lightning. Each tower was surrounded at the base by an arena-like structure, filled with the silver robed Sey Chen monks, all focused on the miniature stars above.

With the easy part of the journey complete, Jack steered Felix toward the thick nerve bundle at the heart of the Yuon Kwon, and prayed for the best.

***

Kai navigated the maze of tunnels, and progress was tedious even at his breakneck pace. His less than stealthy entrance had triggered alarms that howled throughout the Ark, while emergency bulkheads closed, creating dead-ends and pointless cul-de-sacs.