Warrior Chronicles 5: Warrior's Curse

  Warrior’s Curse

  Book Five of The Warrior Chronicles

  by

  Shawn Jones

  A lot of life is dealing with your curse,

  dealing with the cards you were given that aren't so nice.

  Does it make you into a monster… ?

  Wes Craven

  Contents

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  One

  Earth

  It felt surreal to Cortland Addison anytime he found himself back on Earth. Born there over three and a half centuries before, he left the planet to find peace on Mars, only to be dogged by war. War; it seemed to run in his veins like the blood his life depended on. As he walked beside Dar Sike, the civilian Superintendent of the Ares Federation, Cort thought about the path his life had taken. Some part of his mind listened to Dar. Another part of him felt lonely inside the fifteen meter circle of their Marine security team. Cort almost wished the protesters were closer so he wouldn’t feel quite so alone. Looking up at the reflection of blue sky on the glass of the geodesic building they were approaching, he thought, But I was alone when this mess started three centuries ago.

  A United States Marine, he abandoned society after the deaths of his wife and daughter. He lived a life of solitude with his wolf Sköll until being asked to take part in an experiment that sent the two of them three hundred years into the future. Since he had been in this century, he had helped the Mars colonies assert their independence from Earth, founded the Ares Federation, conquered enemies, discovered life, and most recently, exterminated an entire species.

  It was that last part, at least in part, that had brought him back to Earth on this day. Because Cort had shown mercy to previous enemies, voices on Earth had not said much when he vowed to make the ape-like Tapon extinct. But when he followed through with the threat, humanity was horrified. And when he accepted a hundred million year old artificial intelligence as part of his inner circle, fundamentalists on Earth went into a frenzy. Dar Sike asked Cort to visit Earth with him to try to quell the discord among their native species. That visit wasn’t going to go quite as planned. In fact, it would go nearly as wrong as it could have.

  “Cort,” Dar argued, “I am not defending them, but look at it from their standpoint. You wiped out an entire species because they kidnapped your son. Dalek may be a prince to the H’uumans, but to humans, he is just a boy.”

  “Fuck them. I’ve turned my back on humanity before, and I won’t hesitate to do it again. I’m going to have the trustees begin selling off Addison assets on Earth. I’m also locking down Ares tech. If those fuckers want to fight me, it damned sure won’t be with my own weapons.”

  “Calm down, Cort. You are overreacting. They are not taking up arms against you, they just want you to stop acting unilaterally.”

  “I’m a military dictator, Dar. That’s what I do. You run all that other crap, and I kill our enemies. Who the enemies are, and how they should be dealt with, are in my purview. If any species in the federation questioned me, I would react the same way.”

  “Would you, Cort?”

  Cort turned to Dar and stared at the older man who was, in reality, his tenth great-grandson. The glare coming off the water made it hard for him to hold Dar’s gaze, but he wouldn’t look away. “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “You give other species every chance to fall in line. Sure you push them, but you give them an out. You found a loophole to keep from destroying the H’uumans. You welcomed the Nill back into the fold after they seceded from the Collaborative. You even forgave Lap’s people.”

  “No I didn’t. I made them integrate into the H’uuman culture. Had they not done so, they would have become my enemy.”

  Dar sounded exasperated when he said, “Cort, do you remember when I first met you? When Clare brought me to the cavern?”

  Clare. Cort remembered Dar’s granddaughter dying in his arms on Mars. Yet another death because of me. “What’s your point, Dar?”

  “You pointed a weapon at my head and told me that my next words would determine whether you killed me or let me live.”

  “Yeah?” Cort turned and began walking again. “Still waiting on your point.”

  “You did that to me, and that’s fine. Now you are doing it to entire species. Cort, you only have one way to deal with any problem. Brute force is not always the answer.”

  Cort took a deep breath. “Dar, it was my son. A species that spent millennia planning revenge on a single planet took my child and tried to kill Kim and me. Don’t forget that they killed the First Queen of the H’uuman Empire in the process, and that my son is their Prince by virtue of Heroc’s Law. That wasn’t a just personal attack on my family, Dar. It was an aggressive act against three different species of the Collaboration. And the H’uumans were going after the monkeys whether I did or not. They would have gone after them even if Kim and I had died that day. They would have gone to war with us to get Dalek back.”

  “I know that Cort. That is not my point. You used the same technique against Earth when you founded the Ares Federation. No negotiation, no discussion, no alternatives. It had to be your way or their annihilation.” Dar put his hand on Cort’s arm and turned toward him. “Cort, listen to me. Really listen to me. Earth, humanity, is afraid of you. And humans do stupid things when they are afraid.”

  “You don’t have to tell me that. I watched the KKK march in holiday parades when I was a kid.”

  “What is the KKK?”

  Cort sighed, thankful yet again that humans had moved beyond another cold shadow in its past. “Never mind. So they’re afraid of me, huh?”

  “That would be my guess. Think about it, no one is safe from you. As far as Earth is concerned, you killed a senator’s son because he teased Speral.”

  Cort took a deep breath. “I’m going to let that one slide, Dar. You weren’t there. Those boys were going to rape her while forcing Jeff to watch. I’d have killed Rand for the same thing.”

  “Settle down, Cort. I know what happened. Everyone does. But the press is still the press and some of them do not like you.”

  “So what do you suggest?”

  “When we get in there, tell the truth. But tell it my way. Make sure they know you would have done the very same thing for any of their loved ones. Make sure they know you are going to do everything you can to bring the abducted humans back. Make sure they know how long the Tapon had harbored their grudge against the Nill. Make sure they know that every single person on this planet is safe from you. Make sure you coddle them.”

  As one, the pair and their living security barricade turned and walked toward the entrance to the massive Formvar-covered arena. As guards held the doors for them, Cort grumbled, “Did I ever tell you how much I hate politics? In my time, politicians were the only people I never regretted killing.”

  Dar laughed. “That would be a good thing to tell them. Not even politicians like politicians.”

  Cort entered the arena to boos and screams. He stood silent at the podium for almost two minutes before the jeers began to die down. The arena was filled with politicians from all over the world. There were a dozen security agencies represented, but outside all of them, a hundred CONDOR-clad Marines were monitoring every single weapon in the room, and the people who might wield them. After another minute, the crowd had settled enough for Cort to speak. />
  “It occurs to me that for the rest of humanity, it’s a toss up as to who they would rather be rid of, all of you, or me…”

  Behind him, and unknown to Cort, a massive screen began showing images of his son Dalek playing with wolves, Nill, another little boy, the octopod Bazal, and riding three meter tall insects like they were horses. There was even video of the boy hand feeding a small dinosaur on Solitude. When Cort started talking about the war with the Tapon, the images changed to the toddler alone in a filthy cell, with two Tapon warriors guarding him. The footage had been taken from Jane Munroe’s HAWC when she tore the roof off of the building. No human in the arena was unmoved by the video of Kim carrying Dalek into the shuttle that would take the boy to safety. Cort left on the heels of a standing ovation.

  --

  Late the next morning, Dar and Cort were in Dar’s office. While they waited for Detective Thorn to arrive to discuss the information he had gathered about the missing humans, Dar was reviewing the latest details with Cort.

  “Twenty thousand people are gone now, if you include the Marines we lost last time. The H’uuman Marines were untouched. Lee Pan thinks whatever is taking the people is tuned to human DNA, so if it is not physically attached to humans, it does not transition.”

  “Transition? You mean like I did coming to this time?”

  “Pan thinks so. He says…” Dar’s comm sounded in his ear. He held up his hand as he said, “Send him in.”

  Detective Thorn walked in as the two men stood. A tall man for his time, though thinner than most, he was in what Cort suspected was his best suit, which wasn’t saying much. Tall as he was, Thorn still had to look up to Cort. They both had close-cropped hair, but like all modern humans, Thorn’s skin was flawless. He immediately held out his hand, saying, “It’s good to finally meet you, General Addison.”

  “It’s good to meet you, too, Detective. Call me Cort. I brought something for your wife, I believe.” While Thorn shook Dar’s hand, Cort picked up a glossy cedar humidor bearing the Ares Federation seal on the lid.

  They all sat down as Thorn took the box and Cort explained, “The cigars are a new blend from the H’uuman homeworld that was made especially for me. I really enjoy them. Your wife should as well.” Cort’s size made most chairs a little uncomfortable for him, but he knew the meeting was going to be brief, so he didn’t move to the couch that was against one wall.

  “Thank you, sir. I am sure she will. I saw your speech yesterday. It was very effective.” Turning to Dar, Thorn added, “It is good to see you as well, sir. I wish we had better news though.”

  “What have you found, Detective Thorn?”

  “Just call me Thorn, Cort. I am sorry I have lost your Marines. We have done more scans of the areas affected and it seems that anything attached to a body goes. Anything that is not physically attached stays.”

  Dar’s eyes narrowed. “Where are you heading with this, Thorn?”

  “Sir, we might be able to send some sort of weapons with the next group. Internally. They would have to cut them out of their bodies once they get there, but they would be armed.”

  Cort briefly considered Thorn's idea and started typing on his flexpad. “Okay, I have people who will do that. I’ll have Weapons and Research start working on small sidearms. How long until the next abduction?”

  “Sir... Cort,” Thorn said after a sigh, “I am not sure they are abductions, but I have to operate on that assumption. To answer your question, we have three days.”

  “Fuck. We can’t respond that quickly. When is the next one after that?”

  “Three months.”

  Cort stood and went to a sideboard where he poured three glasses of fruit juice. Passing them around, he asked, “Do we know how many we will lose?”

  Dar considered the question as he took a sip of the juice. “No. The number varies each time a group is taken, and we cannot find a pattern.”

  “Dar is right. We have no idea how many will be taken, only that if there are no humans in the target area, the phenomenon increases in diameter until it reaches some unknown threshold.”

  “And we still have no way to track them?”

  “No, but I have been thinking about it. The medallion you had that brought the Nill here. Do you have access to any of those?”

  Cort remembered the medallion. One like it had been used to facilitate his jump in time, and he had taken another to Mars. “Yes, but the system which controlled them was destroyed on the Nill homeworld.”

  Dar thought of his nephew Lex. One of Cort’s generals, Lex was lost when an ancestor of the Nill destroyed the artificial intelligence that facilitated jumps and communications. After the pain of the memory passed, he asked, “What do you have in mind, Thorn? We have a similar system, but we will have to bring in a H’uuman scientist to use it.”

  “If we could put one of those things inside someone who is taken, we might find out where they are going.”

  Cort was on his feet before Thorn finished his answer. He touched his ear and said, “Ares to Weela.” After a moment, he spoke again. “Weela, this is Ares. I have a question for you. How good are your trackers?”

  Cort listened to Weela’s reply. “Get me some of them. Maybe ten. I need them fast though. Can you get them to Earth in the next thirty hours? Better yet, get them to Phobos. I’ll handle the rest. Thank you.”

  When he disconnected, Cort turned back to the others. “Thorn, that was Weela, a H’uuman diplomat. She is going to get me ten of the trackers they use. I’m going to ask for some volunteers from the Phobos security corps to undergo emergency surgery to have the trackers and some small weapons put into their bodies. If they get taken, we should be able to track them anywhere in the universe.”

  Thorn smiled bleakly. “I cannot tell you how much I wanted to hear that, General.”

  “Wolfpack One is the alert fast response battalion right now. I’m going to let them know what’s going on so they can have the H’uuman transports ready to jump. Do you have anything else, Dar?”

  “No. We have a meeting with Governor Nikolas in two hours.” Turning to Thorn, he added, “In the meantime, would you like to join us for lunch, Detective Thorn?”

  “I would be honored, thank you.”

  A few minutes later, in the warm sun of early afternoon, the three men walked through the square to an upscale restaurant. As one of Dar’s bodyguards opened the door for the trio, the front of the building exploded.

  --

  Cort opened his eyes to see a Marine standing over him. His left hand rested on the cold tempered concrete of the square, while his right hand was surprisingly warm. As he struggled to gain his bearings, he realized he was seeing the short, blonde woman out of only one eye. Godsdammit! Not again. Beyond the young woman there was a ring of Marines, both CONDOR-clad humans, some with wolves at their side, and insectoid H’uumans, all looking outward to scan for other threats. The COmbat Nanotube Defense OpeRations suits were always menacing, but two dozen of them standing between three meter tall roach-like insects, all with weapons drawn, kept even the most aggressive reporters at bay. No one had any doubt the Marines would shoot first and ask questions later if they were pushed. And everyone had seen H’uuman wings in action.

  “What happened?” Cort gasped. The words were mangled because his left cheek was torn from the corner of his mouth to his cheekbone.

  “Bomb, sir.”

  “Dar? Thorn?” Cort’s ears were still ringing but he could hear the screams and moans around him.

  “Mr. Sike is dead, General. Thorn is hurt pretty badly, but it looks like he was behind you so your FALCON protected you both. The superintendent’s security guards died as well. All told, there are about thirty dead and fifty wounded. The dead are mostly civilians, the wounded mostly our people.”

  Cort tried to look at his armor, but could only raise one arm easily. The Flexible Armor Light COmbat Nanotube suit was intact, but clearly damaged. Several of its augmented muscle pads were cut open,
and its passive camouflage system was malfunctioning, making Cort look twice to verify his body was intact.

  “Kimberly?” Cort used the corporal’s arm for balance and pulled himself into a sitting position. He saw blood and flesh all over his uniform. As he sat up, Dar’s finger, still wearing the ring that marked his marriage to his long-dead wife, fell from Cort’s stomach to the ground between his legs.

  “She is fine, sir. She and your son are both safe. All of Solitude is on alert. Earth residents are being removed from the planet as we speak. No one is going to get near them.”

  Cort picked up the finger and tried to stand, but the Marine held him in place. “Wait for the medics, sir. They are coming down now.”

  “Get a security team to Thorn’s wife. Protect her.”

  “Yes, sir.” The woman touched her ear and spoke to someone. Cort assumed it was either the Kalashnikov in orbit or its shuttle. Through the din around him, he heard her say, “...and get Rand Gaines secure. Until further notice, he is Primary Command.”