Point of Origin (War Eternal Book 4) (43 page)

"Roger," Kathy said. "I can jump her closer in."

"Do it."

Mitchell caught the conversation as he dropped the S-17 in close to the Tetron. He could feel the presence of the intelligence from the distance, and feel the energy pouring off the structure. He fired a dozen amoebics into the same area as Germaine's lasers, gritting his teeth as he watched the blue energy crackle and shatter in a small space around it.

A space just big enough for him to fly through.

He shot through the gap only seconds before it closed, finding himself inside the Tetron's defenses. He could almost sense its displeasure as dendrites began to move, breaking away as tentacles that reached out for the starship.
 

"Ares? Frigging hell you are crazy," Germaine said, seeing the maneuver from the outside.

Mitchell didn't hear him. His entire being was focused on navigating the Tetron form, getting the fighter through the maze of dendrites and cell bodies toward the core. He recognized only vaguely when the Goliath vanished from the grid, reappearing a few seconds later between the two forces. There were over two hundred ships through the wormhole so far, more than half their force. Every single one of them opened fire on the three Tetron, forcing them to the defensive and preventing further attack.

"Come on, you son of a bitch," Mitchell said. The S-17 rolled and swung, making swift vector changes that would be impossible in an atmosphere, and difficult for a lesser pilot to manage. He pushed deeper into the structure, firing on dendrites that blocked his path, or that reached out to touch the ship.

Then he was through, the core coming into clear view. He dropped a handful of amoebics, sending them spinning toward the dense bundle of nerves.

It exploded behind the S-17. Mitchell continued maneuvering, diving and rolling through the suddenly darkening structure of the Tetron. His focus was complete as he blasted through and out the other side at nearly the same time as the blue shields dissipated for good. The S-17 launched out into space in a straight line toward the second Tetron, which was already dying.
 

"That one was mine, Ares," Bayone said. "Even these things will die with enough nukes in their sides."

"Roger," Mitchell said, checking the grid. Germaine was leading the drones around the third Tetron, ganging up on it in conjunction with Major Long and the upgraded Rigger ships. Amoebics pounded the shields, breaking them down to nothing. A follow-up warhead from the Carver made a direct path through the hole, blowing the core apart.

Three Tetron had fallen, and their forces had yet to suffer any heavy losses. It was better than he had hoped.

He checked the grid, finding Goliath a million kilometers distant. Kathy had fired a plasma stream at one of the bombarding Tetron, burning it to nothing. It forced the others to stop their attack on Earth, and they were repositioning to respond to the new threat.

"I've got their attention," Kathy said. "Now what?"

"Lead them back," Steven said. "Bring them into us. We'll spread out and converge on them from the outside."

"Roger. Coming back your way."

 
Mitchell looked out through the carbonate, able to see the Goliath in the distance. A spear of blue energy appeared in the stern as Kathy guided the starship back to the fleet. He expected that Watson and the other Tetron would give chase, eager to put an end to him and the Riggers before they continued with their decimation of the planet.

He was surprised when they didn't. As the Goliath retreated to them and the final Tetron sent to attack the incoming force fell, the nine remaining Tetron that were bombarding the Earth vanished.

 "What the hell?" Steven said. "All stop. Cease fire. Stay alert."

The entire fleet came to an abrupt halt, ships firing reverse thrusters to bring them to a stop. The Tetron were gone, and they had left their slave fleet behind.

"Did we win?" Germaine asked, his voice hopeful.

"They ran?" Major Long said. "Ha! They realized they couldn't beat the heat of the fleet."

"Don't get happy just yet," Steven said.

"I don't trust this," Kathy said over the private channel.

Mitchell kept the S-17 headed toward the Goliath. "Me neither. What do you think they're up to?"

"Ares, I'm getting a hail from the Alliance Battleship Poseidon," Steven said. "Admiral Bixby. He's confused as hell."

"This is Bayone. I'm getting hailed from the Federation cruiser Hakai. It looks like the slaves are free."

"That means the Tetron left the area," Mitchell said. "Doesn't it?"

"Not necessarily," Kathy replied. "They may have released the slaves to confuse us."

"It's working."

"Everyone stay on high alert," Steven said. "They could come back at any time. Bayone, have your people shut down their receivers. Alliance forces are doing the same."

"Affirmative, Admiral," Bayone said.

Mitchell waited in the cockpit of the S-17, tense minutes passing in radio silence as Bayone and Steven communicated with their nation's fleets.

"All ships, we'll be regrouping under Plan Alpha," Steven said. "Follow procedure. Assembled Alliance and Federation forces will be integrated with the defense formation."

"This doesn't make sense," Kathy said. "Why would the Tetron give up their slave fleet?"

"I don't know," Mitchell replied. "Maybe they wanted to get wherever they went faster? Maybe they decided it's better to return and attack a larger force that they can quantify and simulate ahead of time?"

"That would be a logical conclusion."

"Do you have any other ideas?"

"Not up front, but since Watson was involved, I still don't trust it."

"Keep your shields up. Don't lower them for anything."

"Steven didn't order that, and it isn't in Plan Alpha."

"I know. Forget what I told you before." Mitchell opened a direct channel to Steven. "Steve, I have a bad feeling about this."

"Yeah, I know this feels off. It was too easy, right?"

"Much too easy."

"I've been thinking the same thing. Except I wonder. We've never fought the Tetron completely on our terms before. Maybe they aren't so powerful against our numbers and upgraded weapons? We're so used to losing, and to tricks, that even when we win we can't accept it."

"You think we've won?"

"It looks to me like we won. We destroyed five of them with barely any losses. The ships they had under their control have all shut down their receivers, so they can't come back and claim them again. It seems we caught them with their pants down."

Mitchell considered it. It certainly did seem that way. "Maybe you're right. Maybe the back and forth is making us paranoid. How bad is the damage on Earth?"

"According to Bixby, New York is a ruin. So are most of the other largest cities. I won't say we didn't take massive losses on the ground, but we saved billions."

It wasn't the best news, but it would have to do.

"And the fleet?"

"We've got over two hundred new ships to add to our forces. They haven't seen any combat, so they're fully armed and operational. It's enough of a military that we can probably leave a defense force here for when the Tetron come back, and head to the Federation homeworld."

"What about the Council? What about General Cornelius?"

"Cornelius is missing. So is half the Council. It's like all the Tetron made themselves disappear all at once."

"And you trust this?" Mitchell asked.

"No. Not completely. I won't deny the Tetron are up to something, but all logic points to them regrouping to try again, or maybe shifting their focus to Federation space. They weren't expecting the resistance they met; I'd bet my life on that."

"Would you bet Laura's?"

Steven paused at the question, leaving the channel silent while he thought about it.

"Yes," he replied at last. "I would. We can't keep chasing ghosts, Mitch. We can't keep looking for reasons why we can't win. We need to accept that maybe we did, in part because of that crazy ass maneuver you pulled. I've never seen flying like that before."

"Thanks. Maybe you're right. Maybe we won this battle. It isn't over."

"No. Not over. It's a start. I don't think the Tetron expected you to pull together a fleet like this."

Mitchell looked out of the starfighter to where the fleet was moving into formation. The wormhole had closed behind them, and they were bypassing the Goliath to arrive in orbit around Earth. As they did, the former slave ships began dispersing, joining the formation in the pattern Steven and Bayone had arranged them.

Mitchell closed his eyes. He wanted to believe they had won the battle. He wanted to have hope that they had a real chance at defeating the Tetron and for the first time winning the eternal war. He wanted to agree with his brother, in part because he knew he would go insane if he didn't, just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

He needed to find a way to accept it and to help them move on. From here to Jingu, and then from Jingu to the rest of the universe. If the Tetron had retreated to regroup, they had to do everything in their power not to give them a chance.

"Yeah, okay," Mitchell said to Steven, letting out a long-held breath. "They ran, right? We won. Hell, we won more one-sidedly than I ever expected we would. "

"That's because we're the frigging Riggers," Steven said.
 

Mitchell laughed. "You've been spending too much time with Cormac."

"Yes, I have. I'm going to send a message out to the fleet."

"Okay," Mitchell said.

Steven closed the private channel. His voice came out over the fleet-wide channel a moment later.

"Riggers. This is Admiral Steven-"

His words vanished in an instant, the Poseidon exploding directly alongside the Carver, the shrapnel tearing its sister ship apart.

Every other slave ship detonated with it.

"Nooooo," Mitchell shouted, his blood turning cold at the sight of the hundreds of explosions, and the massive volume of shrapnel that tore into the fleet. Most had lowered their shields to conserve energy, and they vanished under the onslaught.

Nine signatures appeared on his overlay then. Nine Tetron arranged in an almost-sphere around the Goliath.
 

"Kathy, get out of there," Mitchell yelled.

"Already moving."

She would have thirty seconds to escape while the Tetron overcame hyperdeath. Escape to what? To where? Mitchell blinked his eyes frantically, trying to clear the burst of tears. Steven was gone. His brother dead in an instant, along with thousands of others. Their victory had turned into a massacre in the blink of an eye.

Who would have expected the Tetron had rigged the starships to blow? How would they have guessed at, or overcome, that? Should they have blasted all of the former slaves, the suddenly free humans, from space just in case? Should he have known better?

Of course, he should have.

"Germaine, with me," Mitchell said, pushing the flood of doubts aside.
 

He threw the S-17 forward at full thrust, heading toward the closest Tetron. It had no shields during hyperdeath. No way to defend itself or fight back. He and the drone squadron hit it with everything they had, pounding it with lasers and amoebics. It was a broken mess within seconds.

Kathy was bringing the Goliath away from the circle, having targeted the Tetron at the closest exit point. She blasted it with amoebics, blowing it to dust as it attempted to regain control. A flare of blue energy from the stern pushed the Goliath away from the trap.

"Riggers, if you're still active form up with me," Mitchell said across the channel. "Fire on the Tetron."

"Roger, Ares." Mitchell heard Ming's voice aboard the Kemushi. A moment later missiles began slamming into the Tetron forces. More projectiles followed, but they were far too few.

Mitchell checked the grid. Only fifty of their fleet's ships were still registering enough power to be counted. Fifty out of over two-hundred. Against seven Tetron, who were beginning to regain their systems.

"Damn it," Mitchell cursed. "Kathy, you need to get away. You need to jump."