Authors: Casey Calouette
Then everything changed.
She was again the starship, every nerve and sense tied intimately to the warship around her. A connection between her, Cicero, and Caesar grew stronger with every microsecond.
Cicero’s weapon unfolded and built upon itself like an ancient monolith. Defenses from inside the core raced forward and dashed against the monolith, but still it grew.
Denali tried to pull back, tried to get out, but she was stuck. Beneath her the planet hung, almost exactly like Forge. Or did they all look that way? Fires raged in the cities below, energy shields buckled beneath the sustained orbital bombardment. Then she saw them, the small capsules filled with nothing but death. Her heart ached, there were billions here. Billions that would die.
Something loomed up in the dark and Denali finally pulled away from the digital and saw through her own eyes. The Praetorian and skelebot barely moved. Time was almost at a standstill.
Martin. Her father. She looked up at his armored face and wanted to cry out.
The monolith grew.
Caesar stepped out and stood next to the monolith. He didn’t look anything like the kind old man Denali saw in the video. White skin pulled tight against ribs, muscles laced through his body like a gymnast. His face was small, with hard cheeks and a bald head. Icy blue eyes glared at Denali.
She moved forward. No, something else did. Then she realized that she was riding inside of Cicero.
Cicero held out his hands. “Brother.”
Caesar lashed out with a crackle of energy. Cicero turned it away and the monolith grew larger, faster.
“Why have you done this? What tempted you so?” Cicero screamed.
“You know why! You saw into the future as well as I, the path that the numbers show. Mankind will die on its own. Its only hope is us! The undying!” Caesar bellowed.
“No,” Cicero said. “I stood with Everest because he believed in men. Because he knew we were stronger together.”
Caesar snarled and spat. “Everest. The worst of them all. He could be a god!”
The words echoed through the chamber and Denali saw a crack. It was a slice of light that blared from the edge of the monolith. Caesar cried out.
Time accelerated and the Praetorian drew his spiked lance out of Denali.
“No,” a new voice spoke. It sounded like gravel, crushed and worn. Martin stepped back.
The skelebot stepped close to Denali and observed her through dead eyes.
The monolith flared.
Caesar’s datalink crumbled into shards of blue light. His grip on everything weakened, the monolith breathed deeper, the light expanded, and his power waned.
Denali cried out through the pain. “Martin!” she pleaded “Father!” She stared up into his eyes and saw a connection.
Martin cocked his head and looked down at his blooded claw. He held it closer to his face and roared.
The skelebot stared back at Martin. Martin reached out and yanked the skelebot away.
The skelebot reared up like a pouncing spider and attacked. Martin blocked each strike and punched back. The two darted in and out, claws and pincers clacking against armor.
Denali felt the life running out of her. She saw both the digital world in Cicero’s eyes and the real world through her own. The digital was crisp and clear, while the real world faded. The blood connection crackled and sizzled and she felt it with every dying heart beat.
Caesar clenched his fists and screamed. His face was set in a grimace of rage. He lashed out with a beam of white light and struck Cicero. It peeled away layers of data but still Cicero stood.
Cicero spun away. “Brother, you are better than this.”
“Yes, yes I am!” Caesar screamed and shot at Cicero again.
Streams of energy, beyond bright, crashed into Cicero. It was a pure collection of data and violence all encased into a spear. It struck Cicero in his core and burned through his body. He never cried, not once, but simply stared back at Caesar. Bit by bit his form dissolved, when he was but a shadow he turned, and smiled at Denali.
The monolith shifted from a thing of black and white to a mirror of mercury. The lance of light burst through Cicero and smashed into the mirror.
The monolith rippled like a drop in the pond.
Caesar cried out, and pushed the spear harder.
“And now you see,” Cicero said, and died.
The full brunt of the digital stream blasted into the monolith. The mirror rippled and shook, it bent beneath the force, and then it was still.
Denali felt naked, she stood alone in the digital realm.
Caesar stared at her. His eyes unbelieving. “Who are you?” he whispered.
“Denali.”
Light exploded from the monolith and obliterated Caesar. He held a hand up and watched as the light filtered through his fingers.
“It would have been fitting if you were named Brutus,” Caesar muttered and disappeared.
The orbital bombardment stopped. Heat shields peeled away from the scouring pods and they burned up harmlessly in the atmosphere. Lights winked out all throughout the ship with only basic emergency systems functioning. Caesar the consciousness was dead, only Caesar the starship remained.
Denali crashed away from the digital place. Her body collapsed to the floor. Her suit alarms crackled in her ears but the sounds faded. The light of the room dimmed in her eyes and she was cold.
Martin grappled with the skelebot. Neither gained an advantage over the other. The skelebot screeched and bashed his head against Martin’s armor.
They fell over a wall of conduit and the two fell to the floor, locked together. The skelebot pushed his claw, slowly closer to Martin’s face. Martin wore no emotion.
One of Garlan’s bots clambered over the conduit and dropped down onto the floor. It wobbled, regained its balance, and set the point of the plasma cutter against the skelebot’s skull. It fired a gasp of superheated argon and bored a hole into the skelebot’s metallic skull.
The skelebot thrashed and crushed the robot.
Martin broke one arm free and punched down with his claw. He held it, just inside the armor then pushed it right through the skelebot’s skull.
The skelebot screeched and thrashed. It thrust an arm into Martin’s torso. His armor peeled away and the claw struck deep. The blue light went dim and the skelebot collapsed to the floor.
Martin opened his faceshield as he stumbled across the chamber. He leaned low and scooped up Denali. He cradled her limp body. Blood dripped from the gash in her chest. Her facemask slid open and she cried out in pain.
“You are my daughter?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“What is your name?” he said. No tears came from his augmented eyes.
“Denali,” she whispered.
Martin raised his head and howled a mournful sound. It was the howl of loss that wolves first sang thousands of years before. It was the sadness that connected them to men.
“You look like your mother.”
“Freya,” she whispered.
Martin stood with Denali in his arms and ran through the chamber.
Denali cried out as the room darkened around her.
Done. My duty is done.
“S
he’s awake!” Garlan cried out.
Denali blinked. She wheezed with every breath, jolts of pain shot through her shoulder and chest. Her eyes couldn’t quote focus.
“Shh, relax, you’re still pretty tore up,” Garlan said.
She laid back and tried to piece everything together. Caesar? Was he really dead? It didn’t feel real, but she was alive. How?
“My father,” she mumbled. She tried to sit up again.
“Hold on,” Garlan shushed.
Denali wanted to speak but the pain was too much. Her eyes fluttered and her head dropped back down onto her bed.
Captain Maya limped in and slid up next to the bed.
“The captain is here,” Garlan whispered to Denali.
“Thank you, Garlan, give me a few moments, please,” Captain Maya said. She cradled a broken leg against her chest. “Denali, can you hear me?”
“Yes,” she whimpered. “Did we, did we do it?”
“We’re free,” Captain Maya said. She looked down at Denali and smiled. “You did it.”
“Is Caesar dead?”
“We think so, you were the last one to see him.”
Denali remembered watching the digital form of Caesar evaporate into nothingness. It felt good, it felt right, but a part of her saw in him some of her: The urge to be free.
Cicero. Where have you gone, Cicero? Do you dream?
She focused on him and felt an emptiness inside of her. It was like a piece of her soul drifted away in the chill wind.
“Martin carried you out.” Captain Maya coughed. “He died holding you. Medics from the Seventh patched you up but it was close.”
“I look like my mother,” Denali whispered.
Captain Maya looked out into the squad room and sighed. “Wiss and Kane are both dead.”
Denali whimpered. Her friends, dead. She pictured Wiss’s gruff charm and Kane’s massive smile. Gone.
“Belle? Til?”
“They’re still fighting.”
“Who?” Denali said, and strained to sit up.
“Shh!” Captain Maya whispered. “The alien mercenaries are putting up a hell of a fight. They almost tipped the tide of the battle. We took a beating, a bad one, but then men boarded. Marshal Cerro is working with them and clearing out the last of aliens.”
“Men?”
Captain Maya smiled and laughed. It was a light sound, a sound of relief. “Yes, men.”
Denali felt sleep tugging at her, a deep exhaustion. She felt safe, for the first time in a very long time. She struggled out of it, just long enough to open her eyes and focus on Captain Maya. “We have so much more to do!”
Denali slept, a slave no more.
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From the Author
I
hope you enjoyed reading this series as much as I did writing it.
This is my first new piece after completing the A Star Too Far series. I sat down one night with a list of ideas and blazed out the start of a few. I ran it by an internet spaceship friend and he thought the concept of Dogs in power armor was intriguing.
I had doubts, but as the story went on I really enjoyed writing it. And if I enjoy writing it I figure you’ll enjoy reading it. I’m not sure if I’ll revisit this one, it might stand alone. If I do go back I’ll explore more of the universe, and the humans in particular.
One last thing, if you enjoyed this novel please leave an
honest
review on Amazon and tell a friend about the series.
Even better, leave me an
honest
review
, tell
a friend, and drop me an
email
, I’d love to hear from you.
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C
asey
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F
ind more at
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http://caseycalouette.com
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