Beyond the Shroud of the Universe Page 17

  “I do not know what you are talking about,” the Efreeti said. “We are at the end of our communications chain; we are unaware of any conflict prior to you appearing and attacking us.”

  “Well, that’s something for the higher-ups to discuss later, I guess,” O’Leary said. “As of right now, I just want to get the two foreigners you have.”

  “I would love to give them to you,” the Efreeti replied; “however, there has been a problem.”

  “A problem, eh?” Lieutenant O’Leary asked. “Why does that not surprise me?”

  The Efreeti hissed. “This is not a problem of our making, but of yours. The person you asked for killed five of our soldiers, including my captain, and escaped. Had you not come here, my captain would still be alive.”

  “Oh yeah? Well the little cookie maker took my commanding officer hostage. I’ve got my own score to settle with him.” O’Leary paused. “Where would he run to on this planet? Where could he get aid?” A thought struck him. “Where is his damn ship?”

  “I will ask,” the Efreeti said. He spoke into a circular box on his uniform. “He maintains a house in town, but his ship is at the far end of the starport. Let’s go; we can be there in five minutes.”

  The Efreet and the Terrans set off toward the end of the landing area, but had only gone halfway when a familiar silver shape rose from a building in front of them. It rose several hundred feet into the air and disappeared.

  “Mother fucker…” Lieutenant O’Leary muttered. “I am so going to kill that little tree hugger when I get my hands on him.” He switched to his comm. “Vella Gulf, Nightsong just lifted off and jumped back into our universe.”

  “We saw him go. The CO says to get back here ASAP so we can go after him.”

  “Don’t wait for us; go get him! You can come back and get us afterward.” O’Leary looked at the Efreeti lieutenant and decided he would probably be okay until the Gulf got back. They now shared a hatred of a common enemy as a bond. And the Terrans had better weaponry, if it came to that.

  “You don’t have the ability to get back to our universe on your own. Shag ass to the shuttle and get back here ASAP.”

  “On our way!” O’Leary turned to the Efreeti. “We’ve just been called back to our ship, but I’m sure we’ll be back.”

  “I’m sure of it too. You said you wanted the other person with the Aesir. I understand he is still back at the Aesir’s house although he is not in very good shape.”

  “What?”

  “It appears the Aesir was operating on him; he has been cut open.”

  “Take us there. Right now!” O’Leary switched back to his comm. “Vella Gulf, disregard our previous intentions. Lieutenant Commander Hobbs is still here on-planet. We are going to try to rescue him. The Efreeti here says Nightsong was experimenting on him, and he is in bad shape. If he’s bad enough the Efreet can recognize he’s messed up, we’ve got to get him now!”

  “Roger, the CO says to get Lieutenant Commander Hobbs. We’ll wait.”

  The Terrans followed the Efreeti lieutenant at a jogging pace out of the starport and into the city. The Efreeti “run” involved a lot of side-to-side swaying that would have been humorous under other circumstances. As it was, O’Leary just wished they could run faster.

  After about half a mile, O’Leary could see what had to be the Aesir’s house; it was surrounded by Efreet in combat gear who were obviously guarding it. As the Efreeti lieutenant leading them slowed to a pace not much more than a walk, O’Leary sprinted past him.

  He immediately slowed as all the Efreet in sight leveled their weapons at him. “Seemed like a good idea at the time,” he muttered.

  After a couple of seconds, they lowered their weapons, and O’Leary sprinted the rest of the way to the house. Not knowing what he’d find inside, he kept his weapon ready as he entered.

  The first room was some sort of sitting room. He gave it a quick scan and continued on as the rest of the platoon followed him through the door. The second room was equally unimpressive, a bedroom, and he continued into what had once been the kitchen. Now, however, it was some sort of weird lab, with a number of apparatuses and monitors along the walls. The object of his search was strapped down on the room’s sole piece of furniture, a bed in the center of the room.

  The Efreeti had been right; Lieutenant Commander Hobbs was a mess. His stomach was cut open, and all his organs were exposed. At least he was unconscious as the pain would have been excruciating.

  “Medic!” he commed as he started taking off his suit.

  “Holy shit!” Corporal Shaun ‘Lucky’ Evertson exclaimed as he arrived in the kitchen. He switched to his comm. “Everyone stay the fuck out! I don’t know if the germs here will infect him, but I know ours will, and he is extremely susceptible right now!”

  “Stay with us, skipper,” he said as he gently closed the flap and sprayed some liquid skin over it to hold it in place. Without looking up he said, “We need to get him into your suit ASAP, sir, and back to the Gulf even faster. Is there any way we can get the shuttle closer?”

  “I don’t know,” Lieutenant O’Leary replied, “but they’re damn well gonna try.”

  Cockpit, Shuttle 01, Anti-Domus, Unknown Date

  “Roger that,” the shuttle’s WSO, Lieutenant Neil ‘Trouble’ Watson, replied. “They found Lieutenant Commander Hobbs, but he is pretty screwed up. Lieutenant O’Leary wants us to move closer so we can get him back to the Gulf ASAP.”

  “I don’t know how well that’s going to work,” replied Lieutenant Jeff ‘Canuck’ Canada. “I didn’t see a lot of open space in the city when we came in.” His suit twitched as he shrugged. “Bring the ramp up and we’ll go take a look.”

  Nightsong’s Abode, Anti-Domus, Unknown Date

  “There’s no place to set down,” Trouble commed. “There are houses for a good quarter mile in all directions.”

  “We don’t have much time, sir,” Lucky said. “The suit just went into stasis mode to try to keep the Skipper alive as long as possible, but even the suit has limits. We’ve got to get him back now.”

  “Let me see what can be done,” Lieutenant Contreras said. “I used to be a forward air controller, and making landing zones was part of the job.” He ran out and surveyed the houses around them.

  No matter what he did, he wasn’t going to make any friends with the Efreet. The houses were all built with something that looked like adobe; when he dropped one of the houses, the others around it were probably going to sustain severe damage as well.

  If it were a choice between the Efreeti houses and the life of the Skipper, though, it wasn’t a choice at all.

  He waved over the Efreeti lieutenant. “See that house over there?” He pointed to one a couple doors down and across the street. “I need to level it so we can get our shuttle in here. The ones on both sides will probably be destroyed too. You have two minutes to clear the occupants.”

  “Over my dead body,” the Efreeti said, seething. “I forbid it.”

  “Your death can easily be arranged,” Lieutenant O’Leary said, coming out to supervise the process. His weapon was once again almost-aimed at the Efreeti. As O’Leary glanced around, he saw the Efreet who had been guarding the house were now also holding their weapons in the same position. The platoon outnumbered the Efreet and had better weapons and armor; it would be a slaughter.

  “We are wasting time,” Lieutenant Contreras said. “I am sure our government will reimburse the occupants for what they lose, but let me make one thing clear. We are going to blow up that building. If you want to add your death and the deaths of all your men to the list of people who got killed today, then so be it. I have done my part to warn you; I don’t care. Are you going to go evacuate those buildings, or should we kill you first?”

  Contreras watched as the Efreeti looked at the forces arrayed against him. Not only did the Terrans outnumber his forces, but Contreras also guessed the Efreeti had no idea how capable the Terrans’ weapons were. The Terrans
also held the planet’s orbitals so Contreras was pretty sure the Efreeti would come to the correct conclusion.

  “We will evacuate them,” the Efreeti said in capitulation.

  “Thank you,” said Contreras with a sweeping bow. It never hurt to be gracious in victory.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Medical, TSS Vella Gulf, Anti-Domus Orbit, Unknown Date

  Calvin opened his eyes a crack and tried to focus. Bright lights. White walls. Everything else stainless steel. He had seen this vista too many times. He was in medical, again. Then everything flooded back, and his eyes sprang wide open. Being in Medical was good!

  “How’d I get here?” he asked, hoping the computer would answer since he didn’t see anyone in the area.

  Master Chief leaned into his vision. “Welcome back, sir,” he said. “It was touch and go with you for a while. That bastard Nightsong really did a number on you.”

  “Yeah, I remember him turning off his nanobots and then the pain hit. I’ve never hurt that much in my life; I must have passed out. How did I get here?”

  “Well, that’s kind of a long story, but the bottom line is we figured out you had been taken by Nightsong, and we followed you to anti-Domus from Earth. We even got a little help along the way from some old friends.”

  “Hi, sir,” Second Lieutenant Contreras said, leaning forward into Calvin’s line of sight.

  “Wait a minute,” Calvin said, finally recognizing the silver bars on O’Leary’s uniform; “you’re a first lieutenant now?”

  “Yes sir, I…uh…sort of got promoted.”

  “What, I’m out of it for a little while, and everyone starts getting delusions of grandeur? What’s Contreras now, a lieutenant colonel?”

  “No sir,” Contreras said, “I’m still a second lieutenant.”

  “And it’s a damn good thing we had him, too,” O’Leary said. “He leveled an entire block in the Efreeti city so we could get a shuttle in to rescue you.”

  “Si,” Contreras said, lapsing into Spanish. “I hadn’t blown up anything in a while so I was sort of out of practice and, you have to admit, those houses really weren’t built that well.”

  “No, they weren’t,” O’Leary agreed; “however, you still used too much antimatter.”

  Contreras shrugged. “We were in a hurry. Better too much than not enough.”

  “So,” Calvin said, “back to the point. Please tell me you guys caught Nightsong.”

  “No,” Lieutenant O’Leary replied; “however, I did recover this for you.” He held up the Progenitor’s Rod he had found at Nightsong’s house.

  “That one’s Nightsong’s, but since he destroyed mine, I’ll be happy to claim it. Seriously, you didn’t catch him?”

  “I wish,” O’Leary said. “When I get my hands on him, he’s going to tell us everything. And then I’m going to kill him.”

  “Hey,” Calvin said, looking around. “Where’s Night?”

  “I’m sorry to have to be the one to tell you this,” O’Leary said, “but Night got killed leading the attack on Arges’ house.”

  “You attacked Arges’ house?” Calvin asked. “Geez, I missed everything. How did you find out they were together?”

  “Some of the things Nightsong said about him didn’t ring true. We went to confront him, and fought with his security forces.”

  “And Night got killed? Wow, I thought he was indestructible.”

  “No one is indestructible, sir,” Lieutenant O’Leary replied, “although Captain Train’s tougher to kill than most…”

  Lieutenant Salo’s Room, Bachelor Officer’s Quarters, NAS Oceana, October 6, 2021

  “I think it will work,” Night said, leaning over a chart laid out on the table. He straightened and met the eyes of the other members of the team. “What do you think?”

  “I agree with you,” Sergeant Hattori ‘Yokaze’ Hanzo said. “If nothing else, it is our best chance for success.”

  “My part’s easy,” Lieutenant Kenyon ‘Bucket’ Salo, the team’s pilot, said. “I don’t have to do anything difficult, just fly you guys there. If you two are crazy enough to try it, I’ll drive the bus.”

  “Yeah, Bucket’s right,” the shuttle’s WSO, Lieutenant James ‘Jamming’ Miles, added. “Our part’s easy. And I’ve already been there once, so I know the area. If you really want to try it, we’ll take you there. What’s the worst they’re going to do? Throw us in jail?”

  “No,” Night replied, “if this goes badly, I imagine Arges will try to find you and kill you so no one knows this mission ever happened. Megalomaniacs aren’t known for ignoring people who are threats to their supremacy.”

  “Then I guess you’d better not fail,” Jamming replied. “I’m pretty sure my mum would be annoyed if you got me killed.”

  “I can do this by myself, Captain Train,” Yokaze said. “Actually, I can probably do it better that way. There is no need for you to go.”

  “And miss out on killing Arges?” Night asked. “I don’t think so. The little piece of shit tried to kill me; it’s payback time. Besides, this is a two-person mission; you need someone to watch your back. Especially if anything unexpected happens.”

  Night turned to the last man in the room, Lieutenant Sam ‘Cashman’ Casher. “Can you arrange for the tech we need?”

  “No problem,” Cashman said, who was on leave from Department X. “I can tell anyone who asks I’m doing some off-site testing. I am, after all, to a certain way of looking at it.”

  “So that just leaves acquiring the transportation,” Night said. “I’ve got some ideas on where we can…borrow…a shuttle. Hopefully, no one will notice it’s missing before we bring it back.”

  “With all due respect, sir, I have a better idea,” Yokaze said. “We don’t need to steal one; I know someone who will let us have one.”

  “You do?” Night asked. “Can they keep it quiet? We can’t allow any word of this to get out, or Arges will figure out we’re coming.”

  “No, the person I know is very good at keeping a secret. There will not be a problem.”

  “Okay, you’re in charge of getting the shuttle then.” Night looked around the table. “There’s one last thing I need to make sure everyone is aware of. We can never let anyone know about this mission. Ever. If we fail and get caught, we’re going to jail. Probably for a long time. But we’ll never see the end of it because something unfortunate will happen to us. We are going after the richest person in the world. Probably the richest in the universe. If we piss him off, he won’t rest until we’re dead, and he can finance any number of unpleasant ends for us. If you want to back out, now is the time to do it.”

  “I am in,” Yokaze said. “The man has no honor and needs to die.”

  “I’m in,” Bucket said. “Just don’t screw it up, okay?”

  Night smiled. “Just for you, I’ll try not to.”

  “I’m in,” Jamming said. “Remember, my mum will be angry if you get me killed.”

  “I’m in, as well,” Cashman added. “Arges helped the Iranians, just for fun. There’s no telling what he’ll do next. He needs to die.”

  “We’re agreed, then,” Night said. “Arges must die.”

  Fleet Commander’s Office, Fleet Command HQ, Lake Pedam, Nigeria, October 7, 2021

  Admiral Wright looked up as his door opened, and a janitor in dirty white coveralls came in. He recognized the black man as one of the floor’s usual cleaners.

  “Thanks, but I don’t need anything today,” the admiral said.

  “Yes sir,” the janitor said as he approached the admiral’s desk.

  Admiral Wright recognized the automatic way he replied. The man had to be prior military. Probably Nigerian army, as the man obviously didn’t speak English well enough to understand him.

  “I’m sorry,” Admiral Wright said. “I don’t need any cleaning today, and I’m in the middle of something.” He indicated the pile of paperwork on his desk with a motion of his hand. It was the last chore he had to
complete prior to leaving the Terran Navy.

  “I’m sure you are, sir,” the man said, his English flawless; “this, however, is more important.” He held out several sheets of paper to the admiral.

  As Admiral Wright automatically reached for the offered papers, he noticed the hand holding it wasn’t black. His eyes jerked upward in surprise to find the man had changed. No longer was the janitor African, he was now Asian…probably Japanese…and a good six inches shorter than he had been previously.

  “What is the meaning of this?” Admiral Wright snapped.

  “Please, sir, just read the note,” the man replied. “It will explain everything, and I don’t have much time.”

  Admiral Wright took the letter and began reading. After the first sentence, he looked up in surprise. The man looked at the letter in the admiral’s hands, indicating with his eyes that the admiral should keep reading.

  Admiral Wright read another two sentences and looked up again. “Who are you?” he asked.

  “I am Sergeant Hattori Hanzo of Lieutenant Commander Hobb’s platoon,” the Asian man replied. “I am now on…detached duty…for a special mission.”

  The admiral nodded once. “I’ve heard of you,” he said and went back to reading. This time he finished the letter. When he looked up again, a feral grin suffused his face. It was the first time he had smiled all week. “What do you need from me?” the admiral asked.

  “Only a signature,” Yokaze said, pulling a second set of papers from the inside of his coveralls.

  “What is this?” Admiral Wright asked as he took the papers.

  “Just a set of orders for a crew to requisition a shuttle to fly up to the moon and pick up a piece of equipment for delivery. It is all above board and totally legitimate, sir.”

  Admiral Wright signed the papers and handed them back.

  “Thank you sir,” Yokaze said. He turned to leave.