“Ah. I see. The conveniently-destroyed-proof excuse. I thought better of you. Does your son’s life mean so little?”

  “It means everything. He’s all I have left.”

  “For two more minutes.”

  Bonju reached for the slightest credible morsel.

  “Captain, I was listening to Cromartie. The Chief said the drivers had INP lock and saw the graviton anchor. That’s good news. It detected our origin point across the divide. The tether works.”

  “It does? Hmm. Then why do I still see the Cromartie?”

  “There must be something I missed. A simple fix. If you give me time to review the system logs, I’ll figure out why the aperture won’t open. I’m ninety-nine percent sure it’s connected to the graviton beads. If I can …”

  “If. If. If. I am a soldier, so I follow orders. However, I’m not a blind servant to my masters, and I know when someone tries to manipulate me. From the moment I set foot on your island and saw you waiting on the beach with your son, I felt as if this entire scheme was orchestrated to achieve another outcome.”

  “Captain, I don’t understand your implication.”

  “I think you do.”

  “I’m trying to save my family, so I gave the Swarm this gift. There’s no other motivation.”

  “But the gift doesn’t work, and you knew it all along. I wonder what it feels like? If I ordered one of those FGs to let go …”

  “No! Please.”

  “Here’s my theory, Mr. Taron. You have been stalling. You believe every extra minute you gain here is valuable. Why?”

  “Captain, if you’re stranded here, so am I. I’ll never see my family again. The last thing I want is a delay.”

  “But you spent an hour interviewing someone you claim has great influence on this planet. That doesn’t sound like a man in a hurry.”

  “I can fix this.”

  Chinois did not reply. Bonju stared at the holo and begged for his son’s forgiveness. How terrified he must be.

  “The Cromartie is prepared to try again in thirty seconds,” Chinois said. “I’m monitoring. I’ll open a channel for you to speak directly to your son, in case you have any final words.”

  “No. You won’t do this.”

  Bonju knew he would.

  “Twenty seconds, Mr. Taron.”

  “What can I say to convince you?”

  “Nothing. But you can persuade me.”

  “How?”

  “Ten seconds.”

  “Anything. I will give you anything. Do not kill Moon.”

  The volume returned on the broadcast from Cromartie.

  “Worm drivers have confirmed INP coordinates and locked on to the original beacon. They see the graviton anchor. All systems are nominal. Five seconds.”

  Chinois said nothing.

  “Two, one, jump to worm.”

  The awkward seconds passed. The aperture did not open. Cromartie held position.

  “Aperture disconnected. We have lost INP lock. Captain, the tether effect has failed.”

  Chinois entered the broadcast.

  “Capt. Felixx, stand down. We will examine the system logs and reassess options. Chinois, out.”

  I’m sorry, Son. I should have listened.

  “Please, Capt. Chinois. I beg you.”

  “Begging is the province of the defeated. Soldiers, release the boy on my command.”

  “One hour, Captain. If I haven’t repaired the tether in one hour, I won’t ask for anything else.”

  “Thirty minutes.”

  “I might need that long to analyze the logs. I’ll …”

  “You said the fix would be simple. Thirty minutes. If my people discover the problem first, I kill you both.”

  “Fine. Thirty minutes. Please, pull him back in.”

  No one moved on the other hangar. The silence crushed Bonju.

  “Soldiers, bring the boy in. Escort him to Hangar 4. Bonju, meet him at the lift. You’ll have two minutes to say your goodbyes. If I did not have a son of my own, yours would already be splattered far below.”

  “Thank you, Captain.”

  “Be brief. The clock has started on your thirty minutes.”

  Bonju didn’t argue. He suspected the source of the problem. The answer lay inside the logs. He’d spot the issue in five minutes. His fix might take no longer or it might never happen.

  The officers gave Bonju room when the lift opened, and Moon rushed out into his father’s embrace. Bonju wanted to say so many things, starting with a long list of apologies.

  I forced you to be a man too soon.

  Bonju said none of it. He didn’t have time.

  “I love you, Moon. I never said it enough.”

  “I know, Father. I love you, too.”

  “He gave me thirty minutes to solve the tether. After that …”

  “We’re out of time. I understand, Father.”

  “I wish …”

  Moon whispered.

  “Don’t do it, Father.”

  “I have to. It’s our last chance.”

  “Don’t give them the tether. It’s not worth it. They can’t have these planets.”

  “We’ll die, Son.”

  “It has to end. Maybe Royal kept his promise. It won’t be for nothing, Father.”

  “If we leave them stranded here, they’ll be vicious. These ships can destroy cities. They …”

  “Maybe not. I tried to help. I contacted my counterpart.”

  “MC?”

  “I told him to warn the government. I explained about the Swarm. They’ll call for help. It will give them a fighting chance.”

  “My clever boy. When I spoke to Park Doon, he talked about the Alliance having warships, but he said nothing of their whereabouts.”

  “We can hope, Father. You need to go. They’re looking at us like they suspect we’re up to something.”

  Bonju pulled out of the hug and caressed Moon’s cheek. He spoke loud enough for the others to hear.

  “Moon, I am immensely proud to call you my son. I will find a way to fix this, for everyone.”

  “I know you’ll make the right decision, Father. I love you.”

  Moon wiped away the glistening water in his eyes before it turned into tears. He stepped aside and nodded to the FGs. The lizard-green soldiers swooped in, while the officers ordered Bonju into the lift.

  He managed one final glimpse before the door slid shut. Still, Moon did not cry.

  On the command bridge, the officers led Bonju to Chinois, who escorted him down to the control circle.

  “You’ll work with Lt. Stafford. Once you decipher the problem, you’ll dictate all specific program changes to him. You have twenty-five minutes. Do not leave us stranded here.”

  “Where did they take Moon?”

  “Focus on your work. Time is short.”

  He joined Ajax’s Chief of the Nav at the man’s station, with every screen dominated by wormhole algorithmics from the Cromartie logs leading up to and during the failed attempts to tether.

  “Where do you want to begin?” Stafford said.

  “The problem has to be connected to the graviton anchor. It’s the only variable.”

  “But I thought the anchor was a fixed point out of necessity.”

  “It is, but we are not. We arrived at the far end of the string and continued traveling. That throws off the relationship by nanoseconds. If we calculate the difference successfully and program the adjusted position through the Splinter, we’ll reestablish a clear path home.”

  Bonju steamed as he glanced up at the Captain’s perch, where Hoija and Chinois watched the interview with Park Doon. She was so confident, so very much in her element. If two Tarons were meant to die, he’d make damn sure a third one joined them.

  “It almost sounds too easy,” Stafford said of Bonju’s plan.

  “I know. That’s what worries me.”

  21

  Beta Universe

  T HE ATTACK BEGAN SEVEN MINUTES into their twenty-minute jump. Royal wondered what gas they’d use. It would have to be clear, odorless, and not trigger the shuttle’s sensors. He set the air-quality nodes inside his helmet to detect the first sign of change in the cabin mix. He didn’t recognize the chemical compound the ops team released, but he knew enough to take his position. Book and Lucian did the same.

  He was proud of the kids. They obeyed by remaining silent inside their vacuum helmets. Bonju and Dyna ran a disciplined household.

  Chastain did not put up a fuss either. Lucian sat beside her, a pistol pressed in her side. Royal made himself clear: He didn’t need her alive anymore. Though he didn’t want to execute her in front of the children, if she squawked one time …

  It had to happen quickly. If heavy weapons missed their targets, collateral damage might follow, creating a true vacuum emergency. Inside a wormhole, they wouldn’t have a chance.

  “They won’t be Imperial Guard in flimsy armor,” he warned his men. “Focus on the neck collar, point-blank if you can.”

  Royal killed dozens of Swarm in hand-to-hand, but always on a battlefield or along city streets. He wished he had more experience with good, old-fashioned ambushes. For this to work, he needed the attackers to believe, and to assault the cabin together.

  His sensors followed their body heat up the aft maintenance hatch. They entered through the galley. From there, five meters past the latrines and prayer room they’d reach the wide hatchway into the main cabin. They’d take stock of what lay ahead.

  Nine passengers sat in the first three of the ten rows. The team would zoom in on Chastain’s beacon. Next, they’d look for the men in gold, no doubt following heat signatures also. Where had the gas knocked out the kidnappers? They’d go after those kills first then move to save the Empress, execute the Tarons, and take the ship.

  If so, they’d know a kidnapper lay slumped in a latrine, knocked out by gas while doing his business. They’d anticipate another villain unconscious in row nine and a third collapsed in the aisle.

  Royal needed these assholes to be predictable. Each must want his pound of flesh. No one must be greedy. Behave like Swarm.

  They paused shy of the latrine. The leader then pressed on toward the cabin. Number two followed suit. The third stopped outside the latrine. Royal did not budge. If the attacker suspected …

  When the door slid open, Royal lunged, his blade fixed on the centimeter-thick neck collar. He knew where his thrust would do the most damage. The Swarm never solved the problem of the armor’s weak spot.

  Royal took point-blank blasts in the chest, absorbed and tossed away by phase-shifting armor. He plunged the blade with his right hand as the FG raised a left to block it. Too late by a tenth of a second but enough to disrupt. The blade’s tip smashed into the collar itself.

  The lizard green soldier was a stone beast. He threw Royal back but lost his own footing as he slammed into the opposite latrine. What Royal would have given for a Force Drum! Instead, he advanced again, this time with a pistol in his left, firing a steady barrage into the collar, a technique he learned for disrupting the synaptic interface. The technique was akin to bare-knuckle fists trying to pummel a punching bag, but it forced the SI to disable the helmet’s holo sensors, creating a fog. The beast came at him with a dagger of his own, but he lost precision aim, as Royal predicted.

  He took advantage of the opening and, like so many times before, plunged at the sweet spot a millimeter beneath the collar not once, twice, five times, or seven times. He lost count. When the blood sprayed, the rest was easy.

  The FG retracted his helmet to avoid drowning inside, an instinctive move. Royal thrust his blade into the left eye until nothing remained but the hilt. He followed the enemy to the ground and watched the life disappear.

  He retracted the blade and repeated his battlefield mantra after every kill:

  “One down. Million to go.”

  Book and Lucian put their General’s training to good use. They didn’t take down the enemy as efficiently, but the fights ended without laser fire damaging the ship in a meaningful way. Royal raced forward, stepping over the corpses to make sure crossfire or ricochets didn’t hit anyone up front.

  The kids were fine. Terrified but unhurt.

  Royal enjoyed Chastain’s condescending glare. He was happy she survived; he wanted to show her something special.

  “OK, kids,” he told his captive audience. “Here’s the deal. Keep your helmets on until we scrub the air and clear out the gas. After that, you’ll be good to go. Well, unless you have to go to the bathroom. We’re doing some cleanup back there. Oh, and you can talk to each other now. No worries.”

  He bent to a knee in front of the three-year-old.

  “Sela, I’m gonna borrow your mother for a minute because I need to talk to her. She’ll be right up front with me. Is that OK?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  Dyna Taron followed him to the forward consoles.

  “Here’s the deal. We’re leaving worm in seven minutes. The second we do, they’ll know exactly where we are. We’ll have a few minutes lead, but that’s it. We can’t keep jumping. Transponder hide and seek won’t last. The second jump has to be the last.”

  “Where will you take us?”

  “Alpha universe. Bonju and Moon have crossed by now.”

  “They’ve what?”

  “There’s gonna be time to explain, but this ain’t it. You folks get a chance to start over, but we’re not there yet.” He swung around. “Put your hands around the lump on my back.” She hesitated. “Do it. The damn thing is fragile. Don’t drop it.”

  “What? OK. Is it some kind of tank?”

  “Felt like I was carrying one around. I’m going to phase-shift my back to release it. Ready?”

  “Yes.”

  In a blink, Royal felt twenty pounds lighter. Dyna held one of her husband’s Splinter navigation adapters against her chest. Bonju gave one to Royal when they devised the scheme. He grabbed the device.

  “Keep your family company. We’ll be there soon.”

  Dyna glanced at the other passenger.

  “Is that really her? Empress Chastain?”

  “I wouldn’t recommend introducing yourself. She’s a bit cranky.”

  “How did you pull this off? No, no. Let me guess. There will be time to explain.”

  “When we’re free of these assholes.”

  Royal opened the case. He placed his Splinter inside the web-like containment cage. Now he had to install it directly into the nav’s interstellar compass and allow the Splinter’s power to join with the shuttle’s AI. From there, it would generate galactic coordinates to the correlating system in Alpha universe. He hoped this old ship’s integration did not pose a special challenge. Royal had neither the time nor the patience. He opened Bonju’s installation instructions from his helmet’s data storage and threw open a holo. He laid on his back to open a panel beneath the consoles and discovered the ship’s nav.

  “Please fit. I don’t have time to hunt down spare parts.”

  The SVs finished cleanup and returned forward.

  “We’ll dump them out an aft utility when we land,” Book said.

  “Good. I don’t want the kids to see.”

  “The scrubbers have cleaned the air,” Lucian added.

  “How close to aperture?”

  Lucian checked the holo.

  “Fifty seconds.”

  Royal crawled out from underneath.

  “That’s all I can do for now. I can’t make the final hookup until we’re in normal space.” He tossed Bonju’s holo to Lucian. “I’ll leave that up to you. It’s one connection.”

  “Why me?”

  “When we land, there’s something I need to do. It won’t take long, but we’ll have to high-tail it. Book, take care of the bodies.”

  “Yes, General.”

  “OK, everybody,” he told the passengers. “We’re coming up on a pit stop. After we’re down, you can take off your helmets but don’t leave your seats. Understand?”

  The shuttle lurched when it exited the wormhole. Royal took stock of the coordinates and opened the ship’s nose windows.

  Yep. This is the place.

  “Set her down, Lucian.”

  Royal took a seat beside Chastain. He detached the helmet brace and lifted it over her head. He swiped away his own helmet.

  “Sorry for the inconvenience. I didn’t know what the gas was gonna be, and you being ancient … well, would’ve been a shame if it killed you. Dumbass Admiral didn’t think this shit through.”

  “You’re a clever little cunt,” she said.

  “Coming from you, that’s high praise.”

  “I didn’t give you enough credit. Will that be my fatal error?”

  Royal shrugged.

  “Don’t know. Your friends will catch up pretty soon. I want to show you something before I let you go.”

  “You’re going to hand me over after all you’ve done?”

  “I didn’t do any of this shit because of you.”

  “Them? Saving one family? Who are they to you?”

  “Not much. I met them a few days ago. I ate the food they cooked. I drank their wine. I reckon that’s enough.”

  The shuttle touched down.

  “Open the egress, Lucian.” When the orange glow of a sunset entered the cabin, Royal stood. “Come on, your Holy Highness. Unless you want me to carry you?”

  She popped up like a young lady and straightened her headdress.

  “My legs work.”

  Royal waved to the Tarons.

  “I’ll be back in a few. Lucian, close the egress behind me. Install the adapter and run the nav calculator. Book, take care of the other business aft.”

  Chastain stumbled when she leaped off. Royal picked her up and brushed the gray dust off her skirt. She took one look at the expanse in front of her and twisted her nose.

  “What is this place?”

  “Just over the hill about ten kay, that’s Sanghoo. That’s where I joined the fight. It was Converted about two years ago.”

  “So, your people lost.”

  “The Talons retreated and remobilized. Sanghoo’s not important. I want you to think about everything between here and that hill.”

  The land was scarred gray. A few naked tree trunks stood like ghastly silhouettes in the dying light of the sun.