Warrior Chronicles 5: Warrior's Curse Read online

  I told you to do this?

  No, Cortland. You told me to be here with you at this moment, and to keep your secret, now and until you return.

  Return? Cort thought. Where am I going?

  I cannot say.

  Cannot or will not?

  Cortland, this is to protect us all. Please accept that.

  The doors to the lift opened and the two lesser priests stepped out and to the side, followed by Wwayle. It was then that Cortland Addison, country boy, warrior, ruler of the known galaxy, realized he had somehow became a god to a species he’d just met.

  Rising before Cort was a statue of himself that was nearly half a kilometer high. He was in a FALCON with Bane at his side, and his mask had been peeled back to reveal the crescent shaped scar that defined his face. He held his bastard sword in one hand, its blade resting on Bane’s neck, and in the other was a long exoskeleton that reminded him of seahorse.

  What the fuck?

  Cortland, remain composed. You must not act as anything but a god to these people. Regardless of your feelings, to them you are a deity. Act as one.

  What does a deity act like, you godsdamned sneak?

  Cortland, think about what you just called me.

  Cort did. Goddamn you. When we leave here, I want answers.

  I’m sorry, but your answers will have to wait until you return from the rescue mission.

  Why?

  Because you ordered it so.

  Wwayle broke Cort’s focus on Bazal. “Does it please you, War God?”

  Cort stopped himself from answering at first. He took a deep breath, and then another. “It pleases me, High Priest. How long did it take you to build?”

  “As we built the city you commanded, we carved it from the living rock as tribute to your wisdom.”

  “Wwayle, why do Ttanda and the others not know me?”

  Wwayle looked to the statue. “Only the priests know of your return. Just as you ordered, the knowledge you brought has been kept safe. It will not be brought to light until we once again live on the surface. Then this city and others like it will become shrines. The shrines will become open to our people that they may know. For that reason, we will hasten your journey to the black star, that your return will also be hastened. Then we will finally meet your Queen and the Child Gods.”

  Cort’s mind was spinning. These people had made him a god, and he had no idea why. Worse than that, Bazal wasn’t going to help him figure it out. At least not yet. He spoke without consulting the octopod. “Wwayle, keep my return secret a bit longer. But you may begin to move back to the surface as soon as you wish.”

  “Yes, War God. It will be done as you ask. When you return from the black star, we as a people will welcome you.”

  Cort considered renouncing the title of god, but decided to let the situation rest. He needed to think. “I look forward to seeing your people under the sun when I return, Wwayle. But for now, there is much to do. I’d like to return to Ttanda and begin the work.”

  As they returned to the others, Cort considered his options. He had already agreed to help the Threm with harvest, and he needed this planet. But now, more than ever, he also had an obligation to make sure he didn’t harm them in his efforts to rescue to the abducted humans.

  “Ttanda, now that I understand your people a little better, I think we have to limit our contact. Your species is unique among those I have met. So unique, that I believe contact with any of our species would be harmful to you.”

  “Do you intend to harm us?”

  “Not at all. But knowing us, and knowing our desire for conflict, could change you. I don’t want that.”

  “Then choose not to change us, Ares.”

  Bazal, help me out here.

  A minute later, Ttanda said, “I understand now. To us, your species could be like a disease. If you were to infect us with your violence, it would be harmful to us.”

  “Yes. I have an idea that could help, but need some time to work on it. Will you meet me back here tomorrow at dusk?”

  “If I must. But we are behind on harvest. That is paramount to us.”

  “Just tell my people where you want your harvest stacked, and we will have it ready for you to take underground tomorrow.”

  “You have so many?”

  “Yes.”

  Ttanda looked at the building that housed the gravity train. “At every farm there is a building like this one. If the harvest is near them, we can transport it easily.”

  “How do we know what crops are ready?”

  “The crops you have picked this night are what is ready. The other crops won’t be ready this season.”

  Cort relayed Ttanda’s instructions and said goodbye to her. Then he and Bazal took the shuttle back to the Kalashnikov.

  So I’m sure I cannot talk to anyone about this.

  Bazal thought, George knows about it. He always has.

  Anyone else?

  No one you have met yet.

  If a thought could have a tone, Cort thought Bazal’s sounded hopeful. So I can’t speak to Kim about it?

  You shouldn’t even speak to George or me about it until we tell you it is safe to do so.

  Safe for who?

  The universe, Cortland.

  Eight

  It was late evening when the ship arrived in orbit around Solitude. Kim was waiting for Cort when he stepped off the shuttle at Bergh Station. Even though it was late, the base was a hive of activity, with Marines and wolves preparing for the jump through the wormhole. As soon as he cleared the shuttle it was loaded with fighters and equipment, and by the time he and Kim were home, the craft was lifting off again.

  Later, Cort was telling Kim what he could about the Threm and what Bazal had read from them. It weighed heavily on him to keep such a secret from her. Worse, he didn’t even know the whole truth, and neither George or Bazal would tell him. Apparently by my own orders. “I don’t know how I keep getting pulled into stuff like this. We need that planet, but the Threm are special. They don’t have a word for war.” Except my name. “Even struggle is a foreign concept to them. They simply accept everything at face value. It is what it is seems to be their motto.”

  Kim’s head was on Cort’s chest, while she absentmindedly ran her finger up and down the length of the long scar on his chest. “We can’t integrate them, baby. It would be like leading lambs to slaughter.”

  “I know,” Cort replied. “We have to keep our people completely separate from them. Most likely, we are going to be drawing a lot of attention to them, too. We have to use that planet, though. I’ve already told Siella that protecting them is second only to our own safety.”

  “Do you really think increased magnetic fields will prevent abductions?”

  “It makes sense. Strong magnetics screw with tachyons, and Pan says that tachyons are how the enemy controls whatever it is they are doing to grab us. If I can take the tech from them, and we can reverse it, rapid deployment would become instant deployment. I’d like that a lot.” That also started this whole mess. Ben wanted to be able to instantly deploy troops anywhere. I’ll bet he wasn’t thinking on a galactic scale though.

  “I know you’re still going. You have to if there is even a chance at saving our people, but now that we can stop it, why can’t you just send someone else?”

  Outside their door, George asked, “Mother? Father? May I come in?”

  “Just a minute, honey.” Kim reached over Cort and picked up his shirt. Pulling it over her head, she said, “Come in, George.”

  George sat down on the bed. “I have a way to test the wormhole. I mean I can make sure you are able to come back to us, Father.”

  “How?”

  “Remote control. Once Siella sends the probe through the wormhole it will begin transmitting to us via tachyon carrier wave. If we are transmitting a carrier wave as well, the probe will be able to hear it, either from another black hole, or through our own space time. If that happens, you will be able to come back, either
through another wormhole, or with our new engines.”

  “Is it a sure thing?”

  “Once we have the tachyon loop established, we can send a Derringer through and back by remote control. It will just take some reprogramming of the ship’s computer.” George took a deep but unnecessary breath. “In fact, I have added processors to my avatar to allow me to leave the planet, so I can make the test flight.”

  Cort was frowning as he pushed himself into a sitting position. “Will disconnecting from your core present any problems?”

  “I won’t have my personality, but I can emulate it with programming. When I return, I will sync with my core again. There will be no long term effects.”

  “You’re sure of that, honey?” Kim asked.

  “My core will not be damaged. The worst case would be that my avatar is damaged, but it is about to be replaced anyway.”

  “Okay George. You can do it,” Cort said. “But do not risk your core under any circumstances. Do you understand me?”

  George smiled. “Yes, Father. Thank you. How soon can I leave?”

  --

  Cort looked at his vid screen the next morning. Each of the eight sections was filled with the face of someone in his government, and he had had enough.

  “This is stupid. I’m adjourning this meeting until tonight. We have a proven, uninterruptable jump tech now, and can get to each other in less time than it takes to travel to a moon. I want to complete the move of the government to Solitude today. Each of you are to be in residence here by the time I serve supper.”

  “Sir...”

  “JJ, we agreed to it when we formalized our ties to the Jaifans, but you’ve all been dragging your feet. That ends today. Solitude is the government planet of the Ares Federation, yet only two of us live here. That’s stupid. Gather your personal things and be here in ten hours.”

  “Sir…”

  Cort heaved an exasperated sigh. “Yes, JJ. You can bring your puppy dog. I haven’t seen the crooked little geologist in a while, anyway.”

  Jade Jones looked down from her screen and said, “Thank you, sir. I’m sure Doctor Black will be happy to see you too.”

  “But he lives here now, too. I’m not going to have my people splitting their time between planets.” Looking at Jaif’s section of his screen, Cort added, “It goes for you too, Jaif. You and Laypa are moving here today. You will take Heroc’s quarters until a more suitable structure can be built. Assign a planetary supreme to Heroc’s World.”

  Jade felt vindicated when Jaif replied, “Yes, Pledge Father. Does this mean we will have to listen to you and Kimberly mate the way Queen Heroc had to?”

  Cort didn’t hesitate. “Yep.”

  Eleven hours later, Cort and his council were finishing supper. “I cannot believe that after a decade in this damnable time, I haven’t smoked tri-tip for you heathens.”

  Rand looked up and spoke through bulging cheeks, “Don’t include me in that. You’ve been feeding me this way since you found me on Mars.”

  It was a working dinner. The group had gone over George’s plan as well as what had been learned from and about the Threm.

  Jane Munroe was concerned. “General, we don’t really need them, do we? I mean we could leave the planet alone now and jump straight to the wormhole.”

  “Sooner or later, someone will find them. We have to protect them,” Rand said through another mouthful of food.

  From across the table Lee Pan agreed, “We have to protect them if they do not even have a concept for war. I am surprised they have been able to evolve to this stage without having the ability to defend themselves. Regardless, we must protect them. It is both scientifically vital and morally required of us.”

  It was the first meeting with Cort’s War Council for the Director of Sciences, and Cort was glad to see the man asserting himself.

  “No it isn’t,” JJ disagreed. “We’ve already done more than we are obligated to. Siella reported today that all of the harvest has been removed from the surface, including the rations we added to meet their food shortages.”

  “And we can shield their planet from the abductions now,” Jane added, “So they can return to their previous level of civilization.”

  “But if they cannot protect themselves,” Pan protested. “they will be vulnerable to any species who happens across them.”

  Mike shook his head. “That’s not our problem, Doctor Pan.”

  “Yeah, and the great big, giant field generators we are putting in orbit won’t attract anyone.” Rand stabbed the air with his empty fork. “These people were willing to help us. Even if we don’t need them now, we still owe them.”

  Turning toward Cort, Mike said, “They are of no use to us, General. We have our priorities and they will drain resources that should be allocated elsewhere.”

  “Jaif?” Cort asked. “What’s your opinion?” None of your opinions matter, but I have to go through the motions.

  Jaif looked at Mike. “You used to think the same of my species, General Rage.” Turning toward Cort, he added, “We are obligated to them. And I believe we can make use of their system. The moons of its gas giants, as well as its asteroids, would provide us with the resources necessary to build a defense network around the black hole. That is clearly necessary. We have to control the access point, for our security.”

  JJ said, “That’s getting way ahead of ourselves, Jaif.”

  “Is it, Admiral?”

  Jane asked, “Liz, how big a warp field can you generate with the new engines?”

  “We are only limited by the side of the drive parabola. The bell at the end of the drive focuses the PSRs. By changing its diameter and shape we can increase or decrease the size of the field. Theoretically, if we could generate enough PSRs with the drive cannon, we could….”

  Liz realized where Jane was going with her question. “My gods! We could move entire planets!?”

  Cort looked at Liz with a stunned expression that was reflected on the faces of nearly everyone in the room. “We can move planets?”

  Liz started tapping on her flexpad. “Not yet, sir. But we will be able to. If I can build a big enough PSR cannon, I can wrap an entire planet in a warp field. Doctor Pan?”

  “Theoretically, yes. We could even move a star. But that is very far ahead of where we are right now. Though with George’s help, we are able to do things today that were only theoretical months ago.”

  Cort said, “Well, that certainly changes things for us.”

  Jane’s voice trembled with something between awe and fear as she said, “We could build solar systems. We would literally be gods.”

  “What about the Threm?” Rand asked. “We are still obligated to them.”

  “They do not matter,” Mike said bluntly.

  “I’ll never understand what Dave saw in you, Mike. He cared about others.”

  Cort remembered Rand’s cousin Dave Gaines. The man died defending the Addison base on Mars. More than once, Cort’s family had called Mike out about Dave, knowing that the man Mike had become was not the man Dave had loved. But Cort also knew how losing someone you loved could change you.

  Mike began, “You can...”

  “That’s enough!” Cort interrupted. “Mike is thinking about us. He’s in the same state of mind I was in when I first came to this time. We take care of ourselves first. Period.”

  “Thank you, sir.” Mike glanced toward Rand with a triumphant look on his face.

  Cort held up his hand to stop Rand’s response. “But you’re wrong, Mike. We’re obligated to the Threm, if only because they are so close to the wormhole.” That and the fact that I am their godsdamned god.

  Looking around the table, he continued, “I don’t like it anymore than some of you do, and I’d much rather leave them alone. Looking forward though, we have to protect any habitable systems, any usable systems, in that area. We can’t let some other species wipe them out just to establish a foothold in our neighborhood. When we find the other wormhole th
at will bring us back here, we have to protect its neighborhood, too. Since the Threm cannot protect themselves, we have to.”

  “We don’t have the resources, General. And it’s hardly our neighborhood.”

  “Well then, JJ, we will have to find the resources, even if it means leaving systems we are in now. Because the minute we picked up the signal from our abducted people, it became our neighborhood.”

  “We are growing too quickly,” Jane said to no one in particular.