A lieutenant in the back corner of the command deck said, “Launching a dozen probes, sir.”

  Twelve torpedo tubes opened alongside the body of the brigadier’s Hellship, which was located in the very middle of the array of other Round Table vessels. Each tube sent forth an elongated projectile with fins and a radar beacon attached to its end.

  The twelve probes each headed for different portals. After reaching the fields of light, they disappeared. Immediately, each of the twelve probes appeared from other portals, six to the left and six to the right side of the battlefield.

  “Keep sending them through. I want the entire field of portals mapped so we know where each one leads.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Desttro turned and saw a holographic map forming in the middle of the command deck that showed lines between the various portals to signify which energy fields were connected.

  The probes had only mapped thirty-six of the portals before the wall of energy, which might as well have been thought of as the Juggernaut’s shield due to its encompassing sphere around the vessel, vanished and the mighty ship came back into view. In the time the portals had blocked it from sight, the Juggernaut had closed much of the distance between itself and the Round Table’s flagships. Desttro’s gut twisted. His stomach churned with anxiousness that he refused to let his officers see.

  A moment later, the portals burst into fields of light again and the probes began vanishing into them once more.

  “Uh, sir.”

  Desttro turned and looked at the lieutenant standing in front of the three dimensional map that was being formed. “Yes?”

  “The portals have all been reset.”

  “Reset?”

  “Yes, sir. The probes are no longer appearing out of the same portals they had before the deactivation and reactivation.”

  Good to know, Desttro thought as he nodded to the officer. “Open comms again” he said to the ensign.

  “Comms open, sir.”

  A light above the main viewport window confirmed that any word he said would be broadcast out for the Hannibal to hear.

  “This is Brigadier Desttro of the Round Table forces. You are passing through space protected by our fleet. If you turn around right now, we will let you leave without firing upon you.”

  He stared out the viewport at the brilliant array of circular energy fields that obstructed his view of the enemy. With the portals at varying distances and in staggered lines, all he could see was a wall of brilliant and glowing white discs.

  For a minute, there was no response, only silence.

  “Sir, sensors indicate four new objects originating from the Juggernaut.”

  “Four more portals?”

  “I don’t think so, sir.”

  “This is Brigadier Desttro of the Round Table forces,” he said for the Hannibal to hear. “You are—”

  He was cut off by a message that was projected as a hologram in the middle of the command deck for all to see.

  WE ARE HANNIBAL. JUDGMENT IS UPON YOU.

  “Ensign, close comms.”

  But it wasn’t the ensign who replied, it was the officers at both the navigation and radar consoles. “Sir, incoming!”

  The Hannibal did not unleash a volley of cannons or squadrons of fighters. Instead, four enormous mechs appeared, each from a different portal, each with their weapons drawn and ready to fire.

  “Cannons,” Desttro said.

  But the Hellship and the two vessels beside it—a Solar Carrier and an Athens Destroyer—only managed to unleash a few blasts each before the four mechs retreated to safety behind the nearest Hannibal portals.

  They’re using them as shields, he thought.

  While also protecting the Juggernaut and their mechs, the portals were drifting closer and closer to his fleet.

  “Release the Helljets.”

  “Releasing the Helljets, sir.”

  A sequence of three prolonged sirens let the brigadier now the Hellship’s hangar doors were opening.

  “Move us away from the portals,” Desttro said.

  As he watched, not only did his flagship and the ones to his side engage their aft thrusters in order to move away from the approaching portals, squadrons of Helljets—each one sleek and curved, a lone ion cannon underneath the middle of the fighter to accompany a pair of small laser cannons on either side of the cockpit—raced past the command deck and began swerving in between the gaps formed by the circular portals so that groups of three or four Helljets could attack each mech from different angles.

  The battle had begun.

  97

  “Arc-Mi-Die, I’m coming for you,” Lancelot yelled.

  The metal corridor leading away from the hangar had no identifiable doors. With each step along the path, the sensors in her helmet worked to identify possible booby traps and threats. A visual inside her visor showed an overlay of where a pair of false panels were located. She jabbed a Meursault into them, cutting apart the hidden blasters before they had a chance to pop out and target her.

  A buzzing noise got louder as she approached the next turn in the hallway. A pair of combat bots flew around the corner, each with a grenade ready to drop. She drove her vibro lances through them, then tilted the weapons to her side so the combat bots were on one side of the hallway intersection and she was on the other. With her back pressed to the wall, she took a deep breath. A wave of heat and fire flashed around the corner, leaving her unscathed. After the explosion subsided, she peered around the turn and saw a section that was charred and black. The only trace of the combat bots were small pieces of plastic and rubber that had been deep inside the machines.

  “You’ll have to do better than that,” she called, so Arc-Mi-Die would know she was having fun while hunting him.

  A few paces ahead, a sliver of space ran the entire width of the ceiling. A trap was there and she knew it, but with only one direction to go she continued ahead anyway. After two more steps, a metal slab dropped from the ceiling and landed directly behind her. It was the width and height of the metal corridor and effectively created a wall behind her. Another ten feet further ahead, another panel dropped from the ceiling and slammed to the floor. On all sides, she was surrounded by nothing but smooth metal, a rectangular enclosure with nowhere to go.

  She reached out and let the tips of her gauntlets run across the impromptu cell. A troubling thought crossed her mind: Arc-Mi-Die wasn’t trying to trap her so he could kill her; he had trapped her so he could get away before she could find him and make him pay for his crimes. The thought made her bring the Meursaults down in a pair of vertical slashes, followed by a pair of horizontal slashes. A square was cut into the metal. She slammed a shoulder against the panel and the section fell away with a loud, echoing boom. Facing the wall in front of her, she repeated the motion. In a matter of seconds, a trap that would have been an indefinite prison for whoever else triggered it was now an open corridor once again.

  “You’re disappointing me, Arc-Mi-Die,” she said, having no idea if he could hear her but liking to think that he could.

  At the next corner, she heard a high-pitched buzzing. With the blunt side of a Meursault to act as a mirror, she kept herself safely behind the corner and looked down the next turn in the passageway. A pair of fully charged heavy cannons, each sitting atop a tripod, were positioned roughly fifty paces down the next stretch of corridor. Her wrist moved slightly, making the Meursault glide down through the air. Both cannons swiveled to adjust their aim.

  “Automated,” she said under her breath, trying to figure out how to get down there without being torn apart by lasers.

  She thought about waiting for as long as it took another mercenary to be sent out to get her. She would easily be able to disable him and use him as protection as she made her way down the hallway. There were two problems with this, however. The first was that the cannons wouldn’t discriminate. Anything that attempted to make its way down the tunnel was going to be obliterated. Even with one of Arc-Mi-Die’s henchmen as a shield, she would only get five feet closer before the lasers shredded his body and she was once again left out in the open. The other problem was that if she waited too long, the warlord might get away.

  Then it hit her—she was making this more difficult than it had to be.

  “Not good planning on your part,” she said.

  Only a few feet behind her at the previous obstacle was a pair of thick metal panels that were supposed to have trapped her. Instead, they were going to be her cover. The slabs would be blast proof because it would help keep Arc-Mi-Die safe and because he would get a tremendous amount of satisfaction seeing someone accidently kill themselves from a ricocheted laser blast.

  She knelt down and, with her remaining shorter arm, heaved the first panel into an upright position. Even in her Carthagen suit, it felt heavy.

  With her makeshift shield propped up in front of her, she began forward again. Because of how wide the metal sheet was, the automated cannons would only have the option of shooting at her front feet or at the edge of her fingers as they gripped the blast-proof panel. Every other part of her was hidden behind Arc-Mi-Die’s own trap wall.

  As soon as she turned the corner, the automated laser cannons erupted. The force of the first volley against the section of metal knocked her back a step, and she had to lower her base and plant her back feet to keep from getting pushed further backward as the laser continued to hit the blast panel. Although she couldn’t see them, she could hear each blast deflect off the metal shield she was holding and zip back down the hallway at the very cannons that were firing at her.

  She was only ten feet down the corridor when an alarm signaled inside her helmet. The panel she was holding was getting so hot from the constant stream of lasers hitting it that it was going to start melting. When it did, it would take her armored gloves with it. Without time to waste, she dropped and swiveled her shoulders back and forth. The sound of cannon blasts echoed in a continuous roar, then popped and went quiet. Silence filled the hallway. Jabbing her shoulder forward, she let the blast panel, glowing red from the heat, slam to the ground in front of her. Both automated cannons had been struck by their own deflected blasts.

  “I’m still here, Arc-Mi-Die. I’m still coming for you.”

  She walked down the rest of the corridor, then stepped over the wreckage of the blasters.

  Finally, she was presented with options of different possible doors to take. The first three doors were open. Two seemed to lead to auxiliary hallways. A third led to a storage room. The fourth door was sealed shut.

  The metal knuckles of her armored gloves rapped against the door. “Knock, Knock, Arc-Mi-Die.”

  There was no response.

  Again she used her Meursaults to slash a square section into the steel door. With her four feet planted, she slammed her shoulder into the area she had cut. Most of the door fell forward and slammed to the ground, offering her an opening large enough to step through. However, on the other side was a pair of armored Woghort guards with ion axes. Both snorted and snarled at her. Behind them, on the other side of the room and safely behind a containment field, was Arc-Mi-Die.

  98

  “For liberty,” Cash said with reverence, looking down at the body of General Reiser. “For freedom.” His voice grew louder when he added, “Tyranny is dead.”

  Hector withdrew the ion knife from Julian’s back and released his hold on it. The energized blade sparked against stone when it hit the ground. He drew himself up and turned to face Cimber and Cash. Both representatives moved a step away when they saw the look on Hector’s face.

  He didn’t lash out, though. Instead, he stared down at his friend’s body and said in a near whisper, “Ambition’s debt is paid.”

  When Hector was young, he had decided to go out amongst the stars for no better reason than craving adventure and yearning for prestige and honor. It had cost him his legs and the lives of many of his officers. If he had to explain to Portia what had just happened, and he was sure he would have to very soon, he would say that it was that same ambition that had just cost Julian a great deal more than his ability to walk.

  A glimmer of light behind Cimber caught Hector’s attention. An android was at the very end of the path. As soon as it was noticed, it dashed away. Cash started to go after it but Hector stopped him.

  “You’ll never catch him. None of us would.”

  He had no doubt the android either belonged to Julian or had been sent by Octo and Winchester to keep an eye on their proposed emperor. Either way, news of what had happened in the stone alleyway would soon get to everyone in CamaLon.

  “We have to let the people know they have nothing to worry about,” he told Cimber and Cash. “All the citizens and representatives need to understand why this happened.”

  Cimber turned off the energy to his ion knife. The blade lost its glow and went back to looking like a metal dagger. He wiped the blood off the blade and slipped it back under his robes.

  “Go to the Great Hall, Hector. You too, Cash. I’m going to find the few other representatives that were as worried about Julian as we were and get them to accompany us.”

  Hector moved aside so Cash could pick up the knife that he himself didn’t want to touch again. As his friend cleaned the blade, Hector nodded in the direction of where the android had disappeared.

  “We’re already found out. All we can do is let everyone know they’ll be safe.”

  “There’s something else,” Cash said, his knife back under his clothes. No one spoke while Cash forced the next words out. “Julian’s son.”

  Hector’s voice lowered to a near growl. “What about him?”

  “The son of General Reiser could rally the people and the military against us. We can’t let him—”

  “Talbot hasn’t done anything,” Hector said, hovering closer to Cash. “Why not kill Margaret then as well? Why stop there? Let’s murder everyone Julian ever spoke to.” He shook his head. “I’ll die before Talbot does. Do you understand me?”

  Cash’s face shriveled to a deep frown. He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again. When he did finally speak, all he said was, “I understand, Hector.”

  “You too?” Hector asked, turning to Cimber.

  The other man sighed and said, “Hector, he’s a spitting image of Julian, only twenty years younger. If we did kill him, it would—”

  Hector hovered toward Cimber. “Don’t say anything else. Not a word. Death is not a benefit. It’s not a thing to deliver like a present. And damn you for talking like this while Julian lays in front of you.” His voice lowered. “He was a true friend.”

  “I’m sorry, Hector...” Cimber said, unable to look his friend in the eyes, his voice trailing off.

  Cash stepped forward and placed a hand on both men’s shoulders. “What we’ve done here today will be talked about for ages, but we have to hurry if we want to be remembered as the men who preserved the Round Table’s liberty and not as assassins.”

  99

  Brigadier Desttro watched as packs of Helljets raced around and through the collection of Hannibal portals in an attempt to catch the four mechs. With hundreds of possible circles of light to escape through, the mechs had little difficulty evading the Round Table’s fighters. Instead, squadrons of Helljets raced after a mech in one direction, only to see it disappear into the nearest energy field, then reappear from a portal behind them.

  “Send a cluster of gravity mines in front of the middle portals.”

  The weapon’s officer turned and asked how many.

  “How many do we have?”

  “One hundred and twenty Type II gravity mines, sir.”

  “All of them. One each in front of a different portal. Make sure the Helljets know exactly where they are so they don’t run into them by accident.”

  His flagship would send the coordinates of every mine in the battlefield to the fighters so the locations were permanently displayed inside each cockpit and the crafts would force the pilot away from them if he didn’t notice them himself.

  “Yes, sir. Dispersing now.”

  The brigadier watched as the projectiles rocketed toward the general vicinity of the portals before splitting into various directions. Each one had a counter burst that stopped its momentum, bringing it to a halt directly in front of a portal. He didn’t like using his entire supply of any type of weapon, not so early in the battle, but he knew the disadvantages were outweighed by the advantages. Yes, he was out of gravity mines, but six other vessels in his fleet also had them if needed. It was also true that the vast majority of portals were still unobstructed. But with how often the mechs were jumping from one spot to another, he was curious to see if they would completely avoid the area with mines. Really, the gravity mines were a test. Desttro wanted to see how the mechs would respond and if the Juggernaut or portals would react to the threat laid out before them.

  The Juggernaut, after coming into sight during its initial approach, was still hidden behind the array of portals. Because the portals were tiered in overlapping rows and curved around the Juggernaut, it looked like the Round Table fleet was facing a dotted sun more than a traditional invader. All they could see in front of them was bright white energy coursing in swirls.

  “The mines are all in place, sir,” his weapon’s officer said.

  “All of them added to the Helljets’ radar?”

  “Yes, sir. Posted to each fighter’s navigation.”

  Outside the viewport, the Helljets raced back and forth across the perimeter of portals, he saw one of the mechs, the reddish brown one, appear in front of an oncoming squadron of fighters. In the blink of an eye, the mech, which was larger than the ships racing toward it, brought its ion sword down with such speed that it looked as if lightening had struck in the middle of space rather than a long blade crashing through a vessel. Two of the four Helljets broke into tight turns so they could come around and offer a counter attack. The other two were cut clean in half. The front half of both fighters continued in a straight line without any navigation. The rear halves, where the reactor and weapons were, exploded in a pair of bright bursts. The mech moved backwards, disappearing again into the portal behind it, before the rest of the fighters could target it.