Beyond the Shroud of the Universe Page 20

  Jackson crashed down, his head striking the wooden floor with a heavy thud. Stunned, he began rising groggily, but Night was on him before he could shake off the concussion, plunging his knife into Jackson’s chest.

  Night fell forward onto the dead man, breathing heavily. He took several seconds to catch his breath, then pushed off with his good arm and got to his feet. Turning, he saw Yokaze with his hands up; Arges had some type of small rifle trained on him.

  “Bravo, Captain Train,” the Psiclops said. “That was well done. He was the best killer I could find. Now, I’d appreciate it if you would come over and join Sergeant Hanzo. Please do not try anything stupid.”

  “Why’s that?” Night asked. “I’m known for doing stupid things.”

  “You may not recognize this weapon, but it is a disintegrator.” Brontes gasped, mouth open, from behind Arges. “As you can guess from my wife’s reaction, being shot by a disintegrator is something you really don’t want to do.”

  Bridge, Aesir Ship Shimmering Falls, Gliese 221, October 24, 2021

  “Uncontrolled fire aft of the galley,” the damage control officer said. “Repair parties do not believe they can extinguish it before it reaches the magazine. We also have smaller fires around what’s left of Missile Mount 17, aft berthing and the machine shop. All starboard laser and missile batteries are out, and port laser batteries are out too.”

  His voice sounded abnormally metallic, thought Captain Caelerian. Probably because they were operating on emergency power drawn from the one remaining engine.

  “Five more torpedoes inbound from the Efreeti cruiser!” the sensor officer called.

  Captain Caelerian had heard enough. “Comm, send my apologies to Fleet Admiral Valendil, and let him know we are abandoning ship.” She switched to the ship-wide communications system. “All hands, this is the Captain. Abandon ship! I say again, abandon ship! It has been my honor to serve with you. Captain Caelerian out.”

  She had hoped to never see the red lights on her ship, but they began flashing as the damage control officer gave the signal to abandon ship. She looked around the bridge. None of the crew had moved; they all continued to do their duties, fighting the ship to the end. She couldn’t be any prouder of them.

  “What are you waiting for?” she asked. “Abandon ship!”

  Her heart sank as she looked at the tactical display one last time. She had waited too long. As the bridge crew began racing to their lifeboats, the next volley of torpedoes struck the Shimmering Falls, including one centered on the bridge.

  Chateau de Arges, Beckenried, Switzerland, October 9, 2021

  “A disintegrator?” Night asked. “Sounds like fun. What is it?”

  “It is a product of Aesir technology,” Arges said.

  “Illegal technology,” Brontes interrupted.

  “Yes, it was outlawed,” Arges agreed with a smile as he watched Yokaze down the barrel of the weapon. “When fired, it shoots a round loaded with Aesir nanobots. These are special nanobots; their only purpose is to disassemble whatever they come in contact with, down to the molecular level. It was made illegal because having your body parts disassembled is quite a painful process, I understand, especially if part of you is left to feel it.”

  Night walked over to Yokaze. “Okay, I’ll bite. Why haven’t you shot him yet?”

  “A couple of reasons,” Arges said. “First, even if I hit him, I know Sergeant Hanzo is extremely fast. He might not be completely disabled, and he might have a chance to kill me before I can fire a second shot. Also, these weapons were made to use at long distances outside. When I shoot him, some of the nanobots may spray around the room; I would rather not get hit by any wayward disassemblers.”

  “That makes sense,” Night said. “So what are your intentions?”

  “I intend to get out of here alive,” Arges replied, “and I am willing to make a deal. As it turns out, I need a new head of security. My old one was not up to the job.”

  “I don’t think so,” Night said. “You make my stomach turn, and I don’t think I could deal with that on a daily basis.”

  “I am in a position to make you a very wealthy man,” Arges argued, “well beyond your wildest dreams. I have money hidden in places no one will ever find. You want millions? Billions? They are yours. I will also drop the charges against you so you don’t have to live your life on the run.”

  “How do I know you’re going to follow through on that and not have me killed once you’re free?”

  “I’ll give you my word on it,” Arges replied.

  “I think I’ll pass,” Night said. “What else have you got?”

  “How about this?” Arges asked. “If you let me go, you will still get the money. I’ll transfer the rest of my money into something that’s easily convertible, and I will move to another system, far from here, so our paths never cross again.”

  “While it might be fun to be rich, I still don’t have any guarantee you’ll actually do what you say. How do I know you won’t call the police as soon as we leave and make up a story about what happened?”

  “You’ll just have to trust me.”

  “Still not gonna happen,” Night said. “Got any other options?”

  Arges sighed theatrically. “My only other option would be to kill you. I was really hoping we could avoid that.”

  “I’m not a fan of that one, either,” Night said. “How about you give yourself up and let us take you in? You could get a fair trial. Heck, with your money, you’d probably buy all of the judges and never spend a day in jail.”

  “I don’t think so,” Arges replied. “I built this shitty world, and I am not going to let it put me on trial.”

  “Well, then I guess we’re just going to have to find out how good a shot you are with that weapon.”

  “I guess so.” Arges started to pull the trigger. “Ahhh!” he cried, as Brontes shot him in the back with her laser pistol, causing his aim to go high. The round struck the ceiling and detonated, throwing disassemblers into the air above Arges’ desk. Yokaze and Night dove backward, away from the cloud.

  Brontes screamed, and the Terrans watched as the arm holding the pistol began to come apart, dissolving in front of their eyes.

  “Arges…was a good man…once,” Brontes said, tears streaming down her face. Taking the pistol in her other hand, she held it up to her head and pulled the trigger. She fell backward onto the desk, which was slowly collapsing in upon itself. Brontes began dissolving with it.

  Night walked over to Arges, carefully avoiding a hole that had opened in the floor. He looked down and saw the hole went through the basement floor below, as well, and down into a sub-basement. He took the disintegrator and rolled Arges over.

  No taunting was needed; Arges was already dead.

  “Captain Train?” Yokaze asked from behind.

  Night turned to find Yokaze looking through the hole in the floor. He looked down and saw the sub-basement had a number of pallets with something shrink-wrapped on them. The nanobots had eaten through the shrink-wrap on one prior to deactivating. Green pieces of paper could be seen through the hole.

  “I believe we have found one of Arges’ money stashes.”

  Fleet Commander’s Office, Fleet Command HQ, Lake Pedam, Nigeria, October 10, 2021

  “Sir?”

  Admiral Wright looked up from a classified after-action report. “Yes?” he asked his aide.

  “There are two men here to see you, a Mr. Diederich and a Mr. Haywood. They say they are part of Arges’ security detail and need to talk to you. Would you like to speak with them?”

  This ought to be interesting, the admiral thought. “Yes; please show them in.”

  The two men walked in, and the aide closed the door. The taller one’s right arm was strapped to his midsection. Both men had a number of cuts and bandages on them.

  “This may be a dumb question,” the admiral said, “but before we start, are either of you Sergeant Hanzo?”

  “Hai!” the shorter
of the two exclaimed, coming to attention. “I am, sir!”

  The admiral looked at the other man. “And you are?”

  “Captain Train, sir.”

  “So…you aren’t dead anymore?”

  “No sir. Reports of my demise were greatly exaggerated. Reports of Arges’ death, when they come, however, are going to be spot on. And it’s a damn good thing too.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “When we looked around his house, we found several sub-basements. One had an enormous amount of money…and another had a half-assembled transporter. It looked like he was setting up a way station in his castle to the Jinn Universe, sir.”

  “I take it the transporter has been rendered…non-functional?”

  “Yes sir, it has. Arges also had a weapon called a ‘disintegrator,’ which pretty much does exactly as the name implies. Apparently, it was created by the Aesir, but was outlawed as it completely disassembles the target down to its component atoms. A couple of rounds were…inadvertently fired at the transporter, and large pieces of it were completely disassembled, including the control mechanism and anything else that looked important.”

  “Good,” the admiral replied. “What about Arges?”

  “For the record, neither of us killed Arges; in the end, Brontes shot him rather than let him disintegrate us. She then killed herself when she got splashed with the disintegration round. Both of the Psiclopes’ bodies were disintegrated, so the crime scene is going to be very hard to put together.”

  “So, what are the police going to find when they get there?”

  “They are going to find a lot of security force bodies and holes in the floors, but no Psiclopes. It will be impossible to determine what happened, as his computer and all the security camera footage was also disintegrated somehow. What they will find is a partially disassembled transporter, which is illegal and will make Arges a criminal, and millions of dollars in cash, which I’m sure will look like ill-gotten gains. I don’t know the rules, but I would bet a case could be made for calling him an outlaw and impounding all his possessions…including his courier ship.” Night smiled. “That might be a nice addition to the fleet, especially for senior executive travel between here and Domus.”

  “Indeed it might,” Admiral Wright, who had always hated traveling, replied. “So what do we do with you?”

  “Well, we sort of have a problem,” Night said. He turned to Yokaze. “Tell him.”

  “Hai! Unfortunately, I do not have enough nanobots to turn us back to ourselves. Until we can get to the Aesir home world, we are stuck like this.”

  “Arges had several stacks of Aesir currency,” Night said. “We kept those so we could purchase more nanobots for the team. The only problem is getting there. We kind of need a ride to Golirion.”

  “That is actually something I can arrange,” Admiral Wright said. “With the Iranian and Efreeti alliance taken care of, I have convinced the government to send the dreadnought Thermopylae and the battleships Hood and Yamato on a shakedown cruise. The Vella Gulf was trying to chase down Nightsong; sending the other three ships to Golirion may provide them additional assistance along the way. My guess is Nightsong is headed to Golirion although I don’t know what he intends to do there. The Aesir may need the assistance. We are also sending a delegation there to discuss diplomatic relations with the Aesir; I’m sure the Thermopylae must have room on it somewhere for a couple of extra emissaries named Diederich and Haywood.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Night said. “It will be good to rejoin the unit…and even better to do it as myself again.”

  “One last thing,” the admiral said as the two soldiers turned to leave. Both turned back around.

  “The press got hold of your exploits on anti-Earth,” continued the admiral, “and they are making you all out to be heroes for ‘saving the Earth.’ Despite the fact that most of your unit is under threat of criminal prosecution for the first assault on Arges’ house, I have been ordered to give you all medals for the operation.”

  “Really sir?” Night asked. “It wasn’t much of a battle; the Efreet were way outmanned and outgunned by us.”

  “I don’t know how the press could come to such a conclusion, myself. Maybe there is something romantic about parachuting in on an LCAC and using it to attack a fortified castle…regardless of how poorly it was actually fortified. In any event, you’re all heroes, or at least you will be when the Arges thing gets put to rest. With all the positive media coverage you’re about to get, I have a feeling the Swiss police will quietly drop the charges, too, especially after they see his house. You should be able to return, whenever you want, without having to worry about anything…awkward.”

  “How did the press get that information?” Night asked. “Wouldn’t that still be classified?”

  “I’m sure I have no idea how information like that could have gotten out to the press,” Admiral Wright said. “Maybe my aide mumbled something in his sleep. I think he’s dating a reporter.” He smiled. “Who knows?”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  CO’s Conference Room, TSS Vella Gulf, Epsilon Indi System, November 7, 2021

  “I thought it would be good to do a little planning before we jump into the HD 69830 system,” Captain Sheppard said, “especially since Lieutenant Commander Hobbs has now returned to a duty status again. Ops?”

  “Yes sir,” the operations officer, Commander Dan Dacy, said. “We are about two hours from the jump into the Aesir’s home system. Nightsong made the jump about 10 hours ago, so he will have half a day’s head start on whatever he intends to do there. All of our weapons systems are operational.”

  “Are we expecting to jump into a combat situation?” Calvin asked. “Have we heard anything from the Aesir?”

  “No, we haven’t,” Captain Sheppard replied, “and that has me a little worried. I know the Aesir aren’t the galaxy’s biggest communicators, but I kind of expected to see at least a ship or two of theirs in transit. So far, however, nothing.”

  “So, for all we know,” Calvin said, “the Jotunn and their new allies, whoever they are, may already have taken the Aesir’s home world of Golirion.”

  “That is correct,” Commander Dacy said.

  “That would make following Nightsong…dangerous…if the Jotunn and their allies are in the system,” Calvin said, “especially if he has worked out some sort of alliance with them.”

  “Yes it would,” Captain Sheppard agreed. “If any of the Jotunn ships are in the system, they will probably outclass us, making combat with them problematic, especially if they can jump between universes.”

  “I wonder…” Calvin started, before trailing off.

  “You wonder what?” Captain Sheppard asked.

  “Well, sir, I’m wondering if the Jotunn’s allies have shared the secret of their jump modules with them. When we last saw the Jotunn, they didn’t do any jumping between universes; they just let their allies do all the work for them. If the Jotunn had the capability to jump, they wouldn’t have gone through everything they have. They would have just gone to Golirion and blown it up, or captured it or whatever they intend to do.”

  “That makes sense,” Captain Sheppard said, “but I wouldn’t want to bet our safety on it. If they do have them, and we get too close to one of their monster spaceships, we will be destroyed. No ifs, ands or buts. We’ll be dead.”

  “Yes sir, I understand that,” Calvin replied, “but let’s look at it from the Jotunn’s ally’s perspective. The giants are enormous and have enormous spaceships with correspondingly large weapons. The ally’s ships, however, seem to be more our size, if not smaller.” He looked at Captain Sheppard and raised an eyebrow. “Would you want to give the Jotunn the ability to come into your universe if they were your allies, or would you rather keep them in their own universe where they couldn’t get at you?”

  “I’d rather keep them at an arm’s length.”

  “Yeah, I would too. I can’t think of anything the Jotunn have that they coul
d use as leverage to make their ally give them the secret, either. If the ally didn’t like what the Jotunn were doing, they could always just run back to their own universe where the Jotunn couldn’t get them.” He shrugged. “They could always attack them, too, like they did the Aesir. It would take longer to destroy a Jotunn ship than an Aesir ship, but if you were determined enough, you could certainly do it.”

  “But what if the Jotunn were the ones that developed the jump modules and gave them to their allies?” Commander Dacy asked.

  “If the Jotunn had developed them, wouldn’t they have gone straight at the Aesir like we already discussed?”

  “Yeah, I guess they would have,” the operations officer admitted.

  “So, the ally has the jump module and meets up with the Jotunn somehow,” Captain Sheppard said. “They decide to work together for some reason and strike up an alliance. Then, the Jotunn convince the ally to help them with the Aesir, their long-time enemies. The ally probably thinks, ‘sure, that will be easy,’ especially after the first combat or two with the Aesir go their way. They think it will be easy for them to help the Jotunn, and they’ll get whatever reward the Jotunn have promised them.”

  “Then we show up and destroy their ship,” Calvin said.

  “Yes, and that may have called for a re-evaluation of their agreement. All of a sudden, the ally is taking losses. Their leaders may not have liked that. If nothing else, they probably don’t like us. And, if we show up again in the Gulf, they might go out of their way to destroy us. They certainly didn’t seem to have a problem destroying the Aesir ships or attacking us with no warning.”

  “Whatever code they fight by,” Lieutenant O’Leary said, “it ain’t chivalry.”