Alien Conquest Read online

  "We're in for it." Lidon's tone held some alarm, getting Tranis' attention fast. "The diversion wing is reporting the Earthers are scanning for activity near the portal."

  "They've finally figured our plan out," Tranis said. "Now the fighting gets really ugly."

  "Diversion wing is deploying to the portal. As soon as the grid is down again they'll defend - what are the Earthers doing?"

  His stunned expression was so unsuited to his face, it was almost comical. After a second's silence, Tranis prompted, "Report, Commander."

  "Captain, several Earther battle cruisers are separating from the main group. They're heading back to Earth at high speeds."

  "On main vid," Train ordered.

  Indeed, a large number of Earther ships were peeling away from the main group, heading in two directions. A moment later, Lidon confirmed what Tranis saw. "Some of the ships are also rushing for the portal."

  Suddenly, several ships in the Earthers' main defense opened fire. Gasps rang out on Tranis' bridge.

  "Did those battle cruisers just fire on their own ships?" Osopa gaped.

  Indeed, the main phalanx of Earth's defenders was attacking the ships retreating towards Earth. Stunned silence reigned.

  Lidon broke the quiet to report. "Security grid is back down. Oh - have they all gone insane?"

  Tranis watched openmouthed as several Earther fighters and half a dozen of their battle cruisers bolted towards the Kalquorian fleet. He winced as two fighters and one cruiser smashed into a Kalquorian destroyer, detonating a conflagration that pained the eyes. The Earthers were suicide attacking. The Kalquorian destroyers were forced to evade the huge vessels.

  "The Earther fleet is in chaos, Captain." Lidon stared at the main vid.

  Tranis shook his head in an effort to break the spell of horror. "They're in complete panic. The moment they realized we were using the portal, the commanders lost control of the fleet. Thoughts, Lidon?"

  "I haven't the slightest idea. Surely they left some on-planet defenses in case we broke through?"

  "They must have. What is going on?"

  No one had an answer for him.

  * * * *

  Cassidy peeked in various cabins as she made her torturous way through the maze of the ventilation system. At last she found what she wanted: a vicious dagger, carefully placed on a table next to a mussed bed. Making sure no Kalquorian waited to capture her, she snuck into the room and grabbed the blade. She took a moment to power up the computer she found in there and check her position.

  Good. She was almost to her goal.

  Holding the serrated-edged dagger in her hand, wondering if it had ever been used to kill someone (there was no other use for such a brutal weapon she thought), she crawled back into the vent. This time she replaced the cover. She didn't want some young gung-ho Nobek tracking her down to reclaim his property.

  Five minutes later that felt more like five years, Cassidy located the vent opening she'd been looking for. She crept to it as quietly as she could and peered out into the brightly-lit brig.

  A short corridor ran between two rows of containment cells. Three cells were on each side, and Cassidy detected movement in the middle one on her right. At the end of the corridor opposite her position, three Kalquorians stood near a computer workstation. Their unintelligible conversation was quite animated, their youthful faces bright with excitement. Cassidy swallowed. She hoped they were as inexperienced as they looked. Only surprise and her status as the captain's Matara would keep her from harm.

  She eased the vent cover off, watching the three men as she did so. The cover came off silently, attracting no attention thus far. As soon as it was free, she braced herself.

  Cassidy sprang into the corridor, flinging the vent cover to the side as she dropped to the floor. She landed in a crouch, getting the dagger into position and glaring at the startled Kalquorians.

  * * * *

  The hum of the opening door announced Degorsk's entrance to the bridge. Lidon glanced at him as he stopped short at the sight of the disordered Earther fleet, several of which were burned hulks. Another exploded as he watched.

  "I guess we aren't doing too badly," he whispered, his expression stricken.

  "The Earthers did it to themselves," Lidon answered.

  "The ones that aren't running in all directions are using themselves as weapons against us or self-destructing." Tranis faced Degorsk, turning his back on the vid. Lidon didn't blame his Dramok. The sight was stomach churning.

  Degorsk stared at them in turn, his mouth hanging open. "Why?"

  Tranis could only shrug. He asked, "You left Cassidy alone?"

  "She wanted to sleep. She had a major breakthrough." At their raised eyebrows, he glanced at the rest of the crew. "We'll discuss it later."

  Lidon hoped the news on his Matara was good. He could use something positive. His com beeped. "Containment to Commander Lidon."

  "Now what?" he growled. The last thing he wanted to hear was something had happened to General Hamilton. "Go ahead."

  The voice of one of Hamilton's guards was pitched high with concern. "Sir, your Matara is here. She snuck in through the ventilation system and is holding us off with a blade."

  Tranis and Degorsk froze. Lidon didn't know whether to laugh or scream at his underling. "A little Earther girl is holding off three Nobeks with a knife?"

  "She's threatening to stab herself if we don't stay back. I think we can disarm her without letting her come to harm -"

  Lidon was already running from the bridge. "Stay away from her! I'm on my way."

  As he raced down the corridor, he heard Tranis shout, "Alert me to any changes, Simdow."

  Tranis and Degorsk ran past him as the entire clan rushed to the brig, and Lidon pushed his bad leg as hard as he could.

  * * * *

  All the Nobeks' ferocity had drained from their faces the instant Cassidy pressed the point of the dagger to her belly. One begged, "Matara, please drop the blade."

  Cassidy slowly advanced. "I just want to talk to the general. Stay back and I won't hurt myself."

  The three big aliens fell back. She went to the cell where her grandfather stood waiting, his hands crossed before his nakedness to protect his modesty. He smirked.

  "You always were too smart for your own good."

  Cassidy stared at him, searching herself for the old fear of the man. Instead, she found rage, unimpeded by an orphaned child's terror. "Is that why you took me out of school, so you could stunt my intelligence? You're a pathetic worm."

  Shock crossed his expression. "You can't talk to me that way, girl."

  "I can and will. You stole my mother from me, you bastard."

  There was no sign of regret, no hint of conscience. "She was a harmful influence who didn't know how to keep her place, a wanton, lustful creature who threw herself at that man-"

  "Who was ready to kill me! She gave herself to save me even though she knew what it meant!" Cassidy wanted the invisible barrier between them to come down, so she could bury the Kalquorian dagger in his black heart. "Then you brainwashed me into testifying against her. You made me hate her!"

  "To save you from yourself." His nose raised imperiously in the air. "I knew she wasn't good enough for my son and how she'd ruin my only grandchild."

  Spittle flew from Cassidy's mouth as she snarled, "The only ruin in my life was you. Because of you my brave, selfless mother died thinking I despised her."

  "Cassidy, put the blade down." Tranis' voice was soft behind her.

  "He's not worth your life," Degorsk added.

  "No. He never was." Her stare remained on the general. "But he owes a life. He murdered her through me, and I will have justice.

  Degorsk's hands gripped her shoulders. "I fear you'll regret killing your last living relative, no matter how justified it may be. I won't have you adding to your sense of guilt."

  "He doesn't deserve to live!"

  Lidon gently tugged at the dagger. "You are right that he shoul
d die for his crime. But you are also angry and not thinking clearly right now. If you still want him dead a week from now after you've had a chance to think it through, I will be honored to carry out your wishes."

  Cassidy hesitantly relinquished the blade and stepped back to be enfolded in Degorsk's arms. She took hateful joy in the way Hamilton's eyes widened. "Shameless whore," he whispered.

  "Man lover."

  He blanched, staggering back a step. Cassidy saw the truth of what the clan had told her in the guilty way his gaze faltered. "What would Earth do if they knew your perversions, General?"

  He said nothing. He stared at the floor.

  She pressed on, taking strength from her clan clustered about her. "Fortunately for you, you'll never stand trial for your crime. The maniacs who run our world will soon be out of power. Or has the invasion failed?" she asked Tranis.

  His voice was careful, his face expressionless. "Earth's defense force is in shambles. Our invasion party will exit the portal in moments."

  Hamilton's head came up. His lips trembled and his eyes shone with sudden tears even as he smiled with triumph. "'And the devils were cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.' Now both our species will disappear into extinction. You didn't really think we'd let you take us alive?"

  Cassidy heard her own sudden fear in Lidon's voice. "What do you mean?"

  "According to the official history, when all Earth's governments surrendered to the North American bloc, the remaining nuclear warheads were shot into space and detonated."

  Cassidy remembered the illicit writings in her reader. "Dissidents of the time said it wasn't true. That the warheads were stockpiled somewhere."

  Hamilton nodded. "They were right. The weapons were placed below several major cities; New York, London, Moscow, Rome, and so many more. The places most likely to foment revolution. The list is long, my dear. Hundreds of cities sitting right on top of Armageddon. All that destruction, just waiting to be triggered."

  Cassidy went cold all over. "They wouldn't dare."

  His smile was vicious. "When the wormholes were discovered, we knew another race might use the portals to subjugate us. That can't happen, not to God's children. We're better off dead."

  Cassidy felt a fine tremor run through Tranis. Her Dramok said, "Who is tasked to set off the warheads once we get through?"

  "It's in God's hands now. No fallible humans required. All Earther ships are encoded to clear the wormhole, but if anything else comes through without clearance, detonation is automatic."

  Cassidy screamed. "Tranis!"

  Tranis and Lidon were already running out of the brig, the captain shouting desperately into his com in Kalquorian.

  * * * *

  Lidon was right behind him as Tranis reached the bridge. He yelled into his com, "I repeat, if breached by our ships, the portal's exit is rigged to trigger nuclear blasts on Earth's major cities!"

  Admiral Piras voice was grave. "We are sending retreat messages on all frequencies to the invasion force. Distortion in the magnetic waves is blocking our efforts."

  Lidon was at his station, grimly scanning readouts. "Only the last dozen destroyers to enter the portal are acknowledging receiving the message. No response from the rest."

  Degorsk and Cassidy arrived on the bridge as Simdow said, "ETA to portal exit on Earth's side, thirty seconds."

  "Maybe it's a bluff," Degorsk said hopefully. "There might not be any explosives."

  Looking at the vid of self-destructing Earther ships, Tranis knew better. The fanatical rulers of Earth had chosen a path he couldn't imagine.

  They had been speaking in Kalquorian, but Tranis knew Cassidy could read their worried faces. "Please Tranis," she begged. "Don't let this happen."

  Tranis could only listen to the desperate communications from Admiral Piras as he tried to call the fleet back. Degorsk hugged Cassidy close.

  "Another seventeen destroyers have received the message and are returning," Lidon reported to the silent crew. "The first into the portal have not responded yet. Too much magnetic interference."

  "Twenty seconds."

  Piras' voice was strained. "We're continuing to broadcast retreat messages, Captain Tranis. How certain are you of this threat?"

  Tranis glanced at Cassidy's terrified face. "I have no doubt our invasion will result in severe destruction and massive loss of Earther life."

  "Ten seconds." Simdow looked gray with worry.

  Tranis looked at Lidon. The Nobek shook his head. "No further response from the invasion force. They may have gotten the message but interference keeps us from receiving their acknowledgment."

  Simdow's voice was so quiet Tranis had to strain to hear. "If they didn't, they'll be breaking through any moment now."

  Silent seconds passed, broken only by the frantic retreat messages. As the time passed, Tranis allowed hope to creep in. The fleet had heard them. They'd turned back, and Earth was saved. It had to be.

  "Oh no." Lidon's groan came a moment before communications exploded with horrified reports from the invasion force. They'd broken through to Earth, never having received the new orders.

  "NO!" Cassidy screamed. She collapsed, Degorsk catching her before she could hit the floor.

  Simdow's expression went blank, stunned beyond comprehension as he stared at his station's vid. "First images are being transmitted from the invasion fleet. Shall I bring them up, Captain?"

  "No." Tranis stumbled towards Cassidy who sobbed piteously as Degorsk held her. The two men's gazes locked. "I did this," he told his Imdiko.

  "You didn't know how insane their rulers truly were," Degorsk said. His chest hitched with emotion as he stared at the main vid where more Earther ships self-destructed. "How could anyone have ever anticipated this?"

  Looking at his heartbroken Matara, Tranis felt the weight of guilt smothering him. Clutching Degorsk and Cassidy as if for dear life, Tranis guided them off the bridge.

  ?

  Chapter Nineteen

  The week that followed was filled with tears and pain for Earthers and Kalquorians alike. The loss of life on Earth had been staggering, beyond anyone's ability to comprehend. All member planets of the Galactic Council were sending aid to the stricken world with Kalquor at the forefront of the rescue mission. The invasion fleet was now faced with containing the nuclear fallout as best it could until evacuation ships arrived.

  Cassidy thought of old school friends and the people she'd known back on Earth. Her home had not been near a major city, so she had reason to hope most had survived. But Earth's infrastructure had collapsed, and the Kalquorians' best attempts to feed and shelter the remnants of humanity couldn't begin to address the crisis that continued. Fortunately the stable Dragon's Triangle portal would get about half of the rescuers to Earth in a matter of days instead of weeks.

  As the first devastating shock gave way to aching grief for her home planet, Cassidy found small moments of joy peeking in from time to time. She felt guilty about those pockets of happiness, but she also understood she couldn't mourn forever. Her life continued on, and she would live it in the company of men who loved her.

  She was enjoying one such lighthearted moment when Tranis and Lidon entered their sleeping room aboard the Earther transport. The two men stopped when they saw Degorsk hanging the mold of his buttocks on the wall. Cassidy giggled, unselfconscious of her nudity as she stood in the middle of the room, directing the Imdiko.

  "A little more to the left. Not so high or I can't grab it when I want to."

  "At least you aren't hanging it over my altar," Lidon sighed. He winked at Cassidy when Degorsk wasn't looking.

  "Are we going?" she asked, flopping on the bed. It had been a long week, and she was impatient to get away from Earth space, away from the reminders of what had once been a thriving planet. Sorrow, never too far away, crept over her once more.

  Tranis nodded. "We're under way for Kalquor. My promotion to admiral is now offic
ial and Lidon starts his new assignment with Global Security as soon as we get home."

  Degorsk made one last adjustment to the mold and stepped back to admire it. "Meanwhile, I have nine months to figure out what I'll do on Kalquor. I'm considering taking up psychological studies. This mission has given me a taste for it."

  Cassidy welcomed a wave of contentment that pushed heartache back as she considered the future. She looked forward to pursuing her own studies. Degorsk's aptitude tests had put her intelligence scores in the ninety-six percentile and sent the clan scrambling to find the best possible instruction on Kalquor to continue her education.

  That they took her needs so seriously only added to the allure of her new life. "We'll help each other cram for exams," she told Degorsk.

  "Cram?" Degorsk looked at her in confusion.

  "Never mind. It's an Earther thing. It involves no sleep, lots of coffee, and in my case eating pizza all night. You'll probably want to skip it."

  He tweaked her nose. "In that case, you'll be skipping it too." He pulled a face and shuddered. "Pizza."

  Lidon grimaced, but it wasn't because of Cassidy's love affair with grease and cheese. "Nine months of boring travel. Just thinking about it makes me want to hit someone."

  "We'll make a few stops along the way." Tranis smiled at Cassidy. "It's dangerous to keep Nobeks cooped up in a ship for too long. They get what I think you call cabin fever and start beating up each other for entertainment."

  Lidon seemed cheered a little. "Is Kiwbris along our flight path? I'd love a hunt in the jungle."

  "Our first stop. I also want to set up a game of kurble on the Manrus Plain while we're there, so start thinking about our team's strategy. I'll accept nothing less than decimation of Osopa's squad this time." Tranis' smile faded as if he'd been reminded of something. "You know, there was another containment breach just before we left. Heavy radioactive fallout on the Asian continent."

  Degorsk frowned at him, and Cassidy felt her own anxiety at Tranis' continued self blame for Earth's fate.

  Lidon's tone was mild. "Those fields aren't meant for such large areas. Breaches are going to happen." In a move contrary to his Nobek nature, he squeezed Tranis' shoulder. "We came to invade and occupy, not rescue. It's going to take awhile to get the proper equipment here, so continued loss of life is only to be expected."