Warrior Chronicles 5: Warrior's Curse Read online

  “Yes, sir.”

  “There’s one more thing, Liz.” Cort looked at the comm officer. “I’m not going to order you not to tell anyone because I know it wouldn’t work. There is always scuttlebutt, and everyone you talk to for the remainder of the mission will question you about this.”

  “Sir, I won’t say a word. I understand how important this is.”

  “I can’t take that chance, Ensign. So I have to take action.”

  “Sir…” The ensign began.

  “Don’t worry, Ensign, I’m not going to space you. You are taking the West. You will hold position here and relay signals. Inform our people on the other side what has happened, and keep station on the wormhole. If anyone shows up, let us know, and hide. If you have to, run. But keep both sides of the wormhole apprised of what’s happening.”

  The junior officer was obviously relieved. “Yes sir.”

  Liz added, “But let me be clear Ensign. If you disclose anything to anyone on this side, I will space you.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I’ll have a message for my wife that is to be sent before anything else,” Cort said. “You’ll get it by the time we leave.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  --

  “Hey honey. I’ve got good news and horrible news,” Cort began. Kim was watching the message almost two months later. “We’ve made it and George knows exactly where our people are. We’re going to get them now.”

  Kim knew the horrible news was about to drop. She recognized Cort’s tone and knew the look in his eye. “Kim, we’re in another universe. Not another galaxy; another universe. We have a route back, but time doesn’t move the same here. In fact, it’s about a hundred times faster. If we are here for a month, over eight years will have passed for you.”

  Cort paused in the message, clearly waiting for Kim to absorb what he had said. After nearly a minute, he went on. “Kim, I don’t expect you to wait for me.”

  Cort’s eye was bloodshot, filling with tears. “I’ve never gotten to say goodbye to anyone I loved Kim. Not in this time or my old one. I’ve gotten to say goodbye to you twice. You lifted my curse. Kim, you are my soul.”

  Another long pause as tears streamed down Cort’s face. He finished his message to her with, “The rest of this message is for Dalek and George. George has already seen it I am sure, but you decide when to show it to Dalek. I love you.”

  Kim watched the message Cort left for the boys then went outside. She stood on the catwalk above the base with her wolf at her side and looked up at the stars. Angry at the expanse over her head, she said, “He loves me more than he does you. He’s mine and you can’t have him.”

  Then she went back to their quarters and began to plan.

  Ten

  “What the fuck is that?” Cort asked.

  The ships had finished the jump to the source of the tachyon signals. In front of them was the largest sphere Cort had ever seen. Nestled between two impossibly close black holes, Cort suspected the structure was at least the diameter of the Earth’s orbit around its sun. Combined, the sphere and the two black holes perpendicular to it vaguely reminded Cort of a tie fighter from Star Wars.

  “It appears to be a spherical Dyson construct, Father. It is approximately three hundred and fifty million kilometers in diameter, and based on my measurements of its mass and tachyon scans, it is completely hollow with an unmooned, human-habitable planet at its center.”

  “A Dyson sphere?” Liz asked from her bridge. “You mean like the thing sci-fi writers put around stars?”

  “Yes. While we don’t know of any such construct, theoretically they would be used to trap and harness the energy of a star.”

  “So what’s it doing around a planet?” Cort asked.

  “Unknown, but our people are inside.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, Father. I am picking up seven of the Jaifan beacons transmitting from the planet. The other two have stopped transmitting.”

  “Liz, punch a hole in it.”

  “Sir, there must be ways in and out. Let’s look for them.”

  Cort tapped his wrist in a gesture the others clearly didn’t recognize. Gods but I’m old. “Time, Liz.”

  “I understand sir, but think about it. Do you want to fight your way from Earth to the Sun, or do you want keep our presence a secret until the last possible minute?”

  “I want to get hom… Nevermind. You’re right. Find us a quiet way in. In the meantime, George, learn everything you can about it.”

  “Yes, Father.”

  Cort couldn’t shake the thought that each passing day took Kim over three months further away from him. George was in a Derringer, spending every moment jumping around and analyzing the sphere, while Liz had the other ships mapping every square meter of the massive shell.

  If his math was right, it was Dalek’s birthday for about fifteen minutes that morning in another universe. Cort both celebrated and mourned the passing time while drinking coffee and eating breakfast. Then he met with his command staff. Liz Thoms and Quinn Faulks both stood and saluted as he walked into his office aboard the Kalashnikov, but George remained sitting in a posture Cort recognized as him being linked to the ship or ships of the fleet.

  Cort took comfort in the salutes, and he suspected both Liz and Quinn knew he would. Liz hadn’t saluted him in months. Not since she returned in the Lincoln from the first modified warp test. With all his personal loss, the comfort of military regimen was all he had. Thirty hours have passed there since breakfast. Will Kim wait for me?

  He returned the salutes and told the two women to sit down. Then he asked what they had for him as he walked to a sideboy.

  George remained silent while he worked, so Liz began. “It’s very well kept. They have automated maintenance systems that constantly repair impact and other damage. If the laws of physics hold true here, which they seem to, the sphere is at least three to four million years old. Those are the oldest materials we have found on it anyway. But even those may have been replaced a hundred times. We just don’t know.”

  Pouring his third cup of coffee of the morning, Cort asked, “How hard will it be to get in?”

  “Getting in is easy, General. I can blow a hole big enough for the fleet in a single salvo from the Remington. The trick is getting in quietly.”

  “And we still don’t know who or what is waiting for us inside,” Quinn added.

  “Yes we do, Colonel,” Cort said as he sat down. “Our missing people are in there waiting for us. We have to go get them.”

  George spoke. “I have a solution, Father.”

  “Go ahead.”

  “There are access ports facing each of the black holes. Every time the wormhole is active, the nearest port is open.”

  “How can you know that, George?”

  “The wormhole was traversed seventeen minutes ago, Admiral. At the same time, the port in question was opened.”

  “Did they get anyone?” Quinn asked quickly.

  Liz said, “They shouldn’t have, Quinn. Before you were brought to the project, we took precautions to prevent additional abductions.”

  “Then why did the port open if nothing was coming through?”

  “I can answer that, Colonel Faulks,” George said. “An Ares Federation ship traversed the wormhole causing it to open. It is probable that the two actions are linked. The port closest to the wormhole opens every time something comes through. I do not yet know how they facilitate the abductions.”

  Cort narrowed his eyes as he leaned toward George. “Back up. What ship came through the wormhole?”

  George looked at Quinn then back to Cort.

  “It’s okay. This is a need to know.” Turning his head toward Quinn, Cort said, “George now has the ability to command link to any AF ship within reasonable tachyon range. His parameters are very strict as to when he can do so. He also has the ability to battle link fallen CONDORs and HAWCs.”

  “I see. Thank you, sir.”

&nb
sp; “So what ship came through, George?” Liz asked.

  “It was the Mare’s Leg. She entered our univ…”

  Cort exploded from his chair. The Mare’s Leg had become the family’s personal ship. Since Cort usually traveled on the Kalashnikov for official trips, that meant someone in his family was on the Leg. “Wait! Kim’s here?”

  “Yes, Father. Mother is on the ship. So is Dalek.”

  --

  As Cort held his son and Kim hugged George, he thought of armies past and their camp followers. Family members following medieval armies provided material and services support for soldiers. From mending garments to cooking meals, those human supply trains often meant the difference between victory and defeat. More importantly, they boosted morale. He was feeling that boost himself, and wondered if warfare had advanced enough to allow for it again.

  Kim looked up him, then kissed his lips. “Don’t be mad at me, baby. You’ve already been gone too long over there, and I wasn’t going to let another day pass without you.”

  “I’m not mad. I’m thankful. I thought I had lost everything again.”

  “You aren’t getting rid of me. I own you, Cortland Addison.”

  “Yeah you do.”

  It was another twenty minutes before Kim knew everything they had learned in and about the new universe. When she did know everything, she immediately became a part of Cort’s command staff. Late in afternoon on the day she had arrived, everyone met again.

  “According to our records from the other universe, the next abduction attempt occurs in just under two hours. We’re going in then.”

  “What about your family, General?”

  Cort realized neither Quinn nor Liz had saluted him when they entered the room. Bitches! he thought, smiling inwardly. Before he could respond to her question, Kim did.

  “Colonel, I travelled to another universe to be with my husband. We are staying.”

  “But you will be staying on the Remington,” Cort interjected. Before Kim could protest, he turned to Liz and added, “And Admiral, you will keep your coil guns spun up. If it hits the fan in there, you will blast a hole in the sphere and get out. I’m not going to order you to leave the universe, but you will get the ship out of immediate danger and reassess the mission. Am I clear?”

  Looking from Kim to Cort, Liz seemed to weigh her options before replying. Finally she said, “General, you would not leave our people here, and neither will I. If a single human is alive in there, even one of the people who killed Dar, I won’t leave.”

  Kim smiled. “Damned straight.”

  Emboldened by Kim’s clear approval, Liz went on. “One single heartbeat, sir. I’ll protect your family, but I won’t leave our people here.”

  Cort realized Liz was saying exactly what he would in her shoes, so he couldn’t argue with her. But he did say, “No. You won’t stay for the people who killed Dar. Other humans, okay, but those fuckers deserve whatever they get.”

  “Yes sir,” Liz conceded.

  “So I want all our ships, including the relay ship, in position to drift through the open port. Can you have us drifting toward the opening, with warp drives ready to jump in case it doesn’t open or we have to get out in a hurry?”

  “Absolutely. But I need to get back to my ship if that’s the case. We have to be ready.”

  “Okay. Kim, have your personal effects transferred to the…”

  “We can’t,” Kim interrupted. “George is there.”

  “Cort looked at the avatar of his son and said, “What do you mean?”

  “We built a tank and filled it with his memory gel. His entire consciousness was duplicated and loaded onto the Mare’s Leg. His tank draws power from her drives, so it can’t be transferred that quickly.”

  Cort looked at the avatar. “George?”

  “My entire memory is intact on the ship, Father. My core was duplicated.”

  Cort thought about the implications for a moment. With an entire George available to him, his immediate plans didn’t change, but his long term ones might, depending on what happened after the rescue mission was completed.

  “Okay. George, I want you to transfer there and link to the ship. She’s yours for the duration of this mission. You have the same command parameters as in the other universe.”

  “Then Mother and Dalek should stay with me. I can protect them more easily if they are with me.”

  Cort looked at Kim and said, “It would have been nice if you had shared this sooner.” Without allowing her to reply he added, “Get back to the Leg. I want you to stay there for the duration of the rescue.”

  Cort could tell Kim wanted to have another outburst like the one she had had years ago over him taking a sample of a crystallized planet. This time though, she didn’t have a leg to stand on. The safest place in this universe for her and Dalek would be under George’s care. And everyone knew that if Kim was safe, Cort would stay focused. I do lose focus when it comes to her. I wasn’t that way with Angela. That’s bad. She is my Achilles heel. That’s really bad.

  “Liz, your orders remain the same. Am I clear?”

  “Yes, sir. If we are taking all the ships in, I think we should leave a tachyon relay outside the sphere. We can use it as beacon if necessary, as well as to send signals back to the federation.”

  “Good thinking. Do it.”

  --

  A fleet of thirteen Ares Federation ships were less than one kilometer from the portal when it opened. They drifted inside with tachyon scanners pinging everything around them.

  On the inside surface of the sphere, there was a section that looked like a star, pushing light toward the planet in the center, just as if it were a normal solar system. Optic sensors showed that the inside of the sphere reflected an accurate map of the stars outside it, minus the two black holes. It was almost as if the entire inside surface of the sphere was a vidscreen.

  From the Mare’s Leg, George said, “The sphere draws power from energy plumes of the black holes, feeding that energy to the inside of the sphere. This creates a safe but accurate environment for the planet inside. I now believe the sphere is designed to protect the planet from the black holes. However, I am still not sure how the alignment of the three was achieved.”

  Cort asked, “Liz, is there any indication they have detected us?”

  “No sir. There is no suggestion that they are aware of our presence. We cannot pick up any indication that they even operate off-planet. There seem to be no communication satellites around the planet.”

  Kim said, “Cort, if the planet’s inhabitants look up at the stars, they might see us pass in front of them.”

  “She’s right, General. George, plot a course for each ship that will keep them from passing in front of stars from the planet’s perspective.”

  It was the first time Liz had ever given George a direct order. Cort knew she was asserting her command over the fleet, but he wondered how George would take it. Until that moment, only he or Kim had given George commands.

  “Yes, Admiral. I am sending the course corrections now.”

  Very good, Son. Cort thought.

  Liz continued, “Begin monitoring the planet.”

  “Take us in slowly, Admiral. I want to know their language before we get there.”

  “Yes, General.” Liz replied from her bridge.

  --

  As the fleet approached the planet, probes had been sent ahead to monitor any kind of communications and help learn more information about the presumed enemy. What the probes learned forced Liz to halt the fleet far short of planetary orbit.

  “Can they sense us?” Cort asked.

  “We don’t think so,” Liz said from the Remington. “After first contact with the Threm, Admiral Bazal suggested all ships be telepathically shielded during first contact and combat operations. If their telepathy is anything like his, they shouldn’t be able to get in our heads.”

  “So we can’t use FALCONs either, sir.” Quinn was standing beside Cort on the Kalash
nikov. She absentmindedly bent down to pet her dire wolf, whose head was just above her knee now. “It’s the old-brood Jaifans, CONDORs and your HAWC only. Not even the wolves can go in.”

  “Not yet anyway,” Cort replied.

  Quinn straightened up. “Sir, if even one of the telepaths is still alive down there, we can’t… Oh. I understand.”

  “You might be starting to, Colonel.”