Caleb clenched his teeth. He knew they were in the middle of a dogfight, but what good would winning do if all of his teammates were killed?

  The ship banked left and right, having maneuvered itself into position behind the enemy ship. A slight upward tilt brought the opposing craft into view. It was similar in size, shape, and material, though it had a few cosmetic differences that made it appear more menacing.

  Was it an Axon ship?

  Caleb had still never seen an Axon. He got the impression they were humanoid because their Intellects were humanoid, but he had no proof of that. For all he knew, an Axon could be like an amoeba or a t-rex. But the only other option was that Inahri was fighting Inahri .

  Was that so far-fetched? Earthers fought one another all the time. The Guardian had said the struggle for freedom had made the Inahri more violent and unpredictable, and with the Axon gone and no way off the planet, it seemed almost logical that they would start taking their aggression out on one another.

  The dogfight didn’t last much longer. The enemy craft tried a bold maneuver, attempting to flip over and fire on the chasing vessel. The move took too much of its momentum away, and it left half a second where it was upright in the air on its way over, offering a full target for the pilot. Caleb watched the Inahri ’s hands shift, thumbs tapping the air and the weapons firing in response. The rounds hit the enemy ship, tearing through it and breaking it into pieces, which were pulled toward the surface in a smoldering mess of debris.

  The pilot whistled with joy, and the other Inahri matched the sound, whistling back. The transport banked again, returning to its southeasterly heading and climbing back to a reasonable altitude.

  Caleb grabbed the device on his lap, tapping the same spot Za Tsi had hit. It powered off, falling onto his legs, surprisingly heavy. He moved it aside and stood up, half expecting the Inahri soldiers to shove him back down. They didn’t. They let him go to the Guardians. He grabbed Washington’s arm and pulling him off Dante. Then he leaned in over her, feeling for her pulse. She was alive.

  He whipped his head back toward Za Tsi. “If any of them are hurt, you’ll be next.”

  She didn’t understand the words, but she understood the tone. She glared back at him, unhappy with the way he was talking to her, but also accepting it. Whether it was because he had stood up to them or whether it was something else, they seemed to have a level of respect for him.

  He checked on Kiaan and Paige, making sure their pulses were strong and steady as well. Then he sat each of them up, arranging them more comfortably. He picked up the inertial dampening device and brought it to Dante, putting it on her legs and turning it on. Then he held up three fingers.

  Za Tsi said something to the other soldiers, and three of them deactivated their devices and passed them back to him. He secured the Guardians, and then returned to his seat. Za Tsi stared at him as he sat there, studying his expression.

  “I wish we could communicate better,” Caleb said.

  She kept staring at him in silence. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes again. As if the Axon, trife, Relyeh and a unified Inahri weren’t enough to contend with, there had to be multiple factions engaged in some kind of civil war.

  Caleb never would have imagined that would come next.

  He wished he was back on Earth.

  Chapter 9

  There were nine enemy soldiers in all. They wore identical battle armor, large and bulky, with oversized helmets and large faceplates. The faces behind them were human, but not exactly human. Their eyes were a little too big. Their chins were a little too narrow. Everything about them seemed slightly exaggerated. Jackson found their looks both terrifying and beautiful at the same time.

  Their leader was the tallest of the group, and even he didn’t reach two meters. He had wispy light hair on his head and a small ring of scruff around his mouth that was just thick enough to cast a soft shadow. He spoke with a raspy, quiet voice in a tight cadence of language the Governor couldn’t begin to understand.

  What he did understand was that he was a prisoner, and Metro belonged to the aggressors. It had taken only nine of them, with superior weapons and far superior training, to kill almost two hundred Deliverance Defense Force soldiers, break through the seals, and lay claim to the city.

  When Jackson surrendered, he surrendered for everyone. Second Platoon had come up the engineering passage from South Park, and he had ordered them to stand down and drop their weapons. It hurt his pride to do it, but there was no choice. As soon as the soldiers’ rifles left their hands, their lives were saved.

  The enemy rounded up the discarded weapons, stacking them near the seal. It took a few minutes of back and forth for Jackson to understand what was expected, but he wound up sending the soldiers back to their homes and families. It didn’t take long for him to understand that the attackers had come for a specific reason, and the more he cooperated, the smoother everything would run.

  They knew he was important. He guessed it was the only reason he was still alive, out of all the people who had been on the lift and beyond the city seals. The enemy had seen how the soldiers defended him and tried to get him to safety, and they knew he had power and control. He was just thankful Beth had gotten away, escaping down the passage and into Metro proper before the enemy arrived. The soldiers would bring her to Doctor Rathbone, and hopefully she could alleviate her shock and return her to some level of calm.

  He had so many other things to worry about, but he couldn’t stop thinking about his wife. She had already been through too much in too little time. He worried that witnessing so much violence would push her over the edge and she would never come back.

  He was drawn out of the thought when the enemy leader barked something at him. Jackson sat up stiffly against the bulkhead, looking up at the man. Despite the city’s surrender, their conquerors didn’t seem to have any interest in going deeper into the ship or even entering the populated areas at all. Jackson had seen at least twelve run down the hill, but there were only nine here now. Had his people managed to kill the others? Or were they already busy searching the rest of the Deliverance for whatever it was they wanted?

  Probably the latter. He had seen the enemy walk right through a plasma stream unharmed. There was nothing they had that could hurt them.

  “I don’t know what you’re saying,” Jackson said. Of course, the enemy knew that. But they had to get his attention somehow. It was better to be yelled at than kicked.

  The soldier spoke again, this time to the two others flanking him. They took his arms and held them out to his sides. He shifted in the armor, and then manipulated something inside so that it clicked and spread open from the front, allowing him to climb out of it.

  Leaner than Jackson had expected, he was dressed in a simple tunic and pants that seemed out of place inside the armor. The material was light and loosely woven, transparent enough that Jackson could see the outline of flesh pulled tight against muscle and bone beneath it.

  The two soldiers moved the armor back, folding it in such a way that it remained upright when they let go. The leader stepped toward him, reaching into one of the folds of his tunic and removing a small cube from it. He crouched in front of Jackson, offering the cube.

  Jackson took it between his thumb and forefinger. As soon as he did, a hologram appeared above it, offering an image of a sphere crackling with energy.

  “What is it?” Jackson asked. “Other than what you came here looking for.” The man motioned to the sphere and then pointed at Jackson, who shook his head. “I don’t know what it is.”

  The man seemed to understand the head shake. His expression soured, and he grabbed the cube and stood up straight. Then he said something to the other soldiers before beckoning Jackson to stand. He pointed to himself, then the cube, and then Jackson, repeating the process multiple times.

  “I don’t know what it is,” Jackson said again.

  The man pointed down. Then he pointed at the cube. Then Jackson. It was obvious he was insisting that the sphere was on the Deliverance.

  Jackson’s thought about the armory. Was the object of their attention hiding down there, and they just hadn’t found it yet?

  “Who are you?” Jackson asked. He was sure of one thing. These aliens weren’t the same as the alien that had left with Sergeant Card. That one had wanted to get out, and they wanted to get in. How were the two related, if at all? Were they enemies? Was that something he could use?

  The man pointed at Jackson again and then the cube. He activated the hologram again, giving the Governor another look at the sphere.

  “This is called a Quantum Dimensional Modulator,” the man said suddenly, in perfect Earth English. “It was created by a race called the Axon. It is a power plant. The highest density power plant in the universe. Our sensors have detected one of them somewhere on this vessel. You will turn it over to me. In exchange, I will allow your civilization to continue breathing my air.”

  Jackson stared at the man. He had spent the last two hours making hand gestures to communicate, and now, all of a sudden this man was speaking fluent English, a language he had probably never heard before today?

  “How are you speaking my language?” Jackson asked.

  The man smiled, his expression going from sour to dark and causing the Governor to shrink back slightly. “The Relyeh speak all languages. Yours is one of the simplest of them all. Welcome, Earther, to Arluthu’s World.”

  Chapter 10

  “Arluthu’s World?” Jackson said. “You mean Essex?” He swallowed hard. Riley Valentine had brought them here to fight something. Was that something standing right in front of him?

  The alien soldier’s eyes twitched before he spoke again. “Arluthu needs a Quantum Dimensional Modulator. There is one on this ship. We’re certain of it. Was this a matter of good fortune, or was its delivery planned?”

  The only thing that was planned was a war that would never happen. For the second time in the last hour, Jackson wondered if they would have been better off had Valentine gotten what she wanted.

  “If you could speak English this whole time, why didn’t you say so earlier?”

  “I didn’t want to, but gestures will only get us so far.”

  Jackson was expecting a logical answer. Such a simple, emotionally driven response made him more uneasy.

  “You’ve come from another planet,” the man said. “You have interstellar travel. But you aren’t Relyeh. You aren’t Axon or Inahri or Gusht. You aren’t an Intellect. Where did you come from?”

  “Earth,” Jackson replied.

  “Earth. We are not familiar with that world.”

  “What do you mean? Didn’t you send the trife to Earth?”

  “Trife? Ah, you must mean uluth. Yes. Arluthu sent the trife to Earth. I remember it now. But you shouldn’t be here. Your kind has no starships, and you couldn’t have survived long enough to build them. The Inahri virus should have killed many of you, and the uluth the rest.”

  “Inahri virus?”

  “Yes. Developed from our own blood. We aren’t so different, you and I. We both had our genesis on Earth.”

  “So you’re human,” Jackson said.

  “Taken from our home by the Axon many thousands of years ago as subjects under their rule. Manipulated and used to build an army to fight the Relyeh. To challenge the Might of the Universe. As if the Relyeh can be challenged.”

  “Who are the Relyeh?”

  “They are what is, what was, and what forever will be. The Might of the Universe. The Spreading Darkness. The Hunger. The Call. Those are some of their names, given by those they have conquered, cried out in horror at their coming, or in begging for their mercy. The Axon believed they could stop the advance. But it cannot be stopped. The only way to survive is to serve. If you serve, if your people serve, then they will survive too.”

  “And we can start by finding this Quantum Dimensional Modulator?”

  “Yes.”

  Jackson was silent for a moment. Then he stuck his hand out. “I’d rather serve and survive. I think my people would agree. My name is Jackson Stone. I’m the Governor of Metro.”

  “I am Za Harai, leader of Shing Harai.” He didn’t take Jackson’s hand, instead motioning to the other soldiers. “This is my unit.”

  “You’re soldiers.”

  “Yes. Arluthu ordered us here after the orbital defense was destroyed.”

  The orbital defense. The one that had killed Orla. Jackson tightened his jaw. “That was five days ago.”

  “We have been observing you, hidden from your machines.”

  “I still don’t understand how we’re speaking the same language.”

  “I told you, the Relyeh speak all languages. Their eyes are everywhere. Even places where none have heard of the Relyeh, or where the Relyeh are treated as myth or legend. Even among the Axon, though they believe they’re too superior to be deceived. Their arrogance only makes them easier to fool. All of this knowledge is shared across the Hunger.”

  Za Harai lifted the arm of his tunic, revealing something dark and moist wrapped around his arm. It shifted slightly in response, gripping the arm tighter and revealing that it was alive.

  Jackson felt nauseous. “What is that?”

  “This is a Relyeh Advocate.”

  “Advocate?”

  “It’s a link between the Relyeh and me. A symbiote. It understands your language, and is tranlating for me even now.”

  “Do all the Relyeh look like that?”

  “No. This is a minor creature made to serve its masters, like the uluth.”

  “And like you?”

  Za Harai didn’t like the comment. His face showed his anger, and Jackson shrank back from him. “That was the Axon plan for us, which Arluthu in his kindness revealed. We turned away from the Axon when we learned what they did and why. With Arluthu’s aid, we overthrew the Axon. We gained our freedom. Except…”

  “Except what?”

  “The Axon made the Intellects. The Intellects exploited a weakness in our technology and forced us out of our homes. They would have destroyed us if we hadn’t run. They held the only Quantum Dimensional Modulators, and have prevented us from leaving this planet.”

  “If this is Arluthu’s World, why do you want to leave?”

  “To continue the work we started. To destroy the Axon. Every one of them, in Arluthu’s name.”

  “You have ships, then?”

  “Yes. We had a fleet of ships, but only one survived the rebellion. An Intellect defends it. We can’t go near it without losing our minds and having all of our equipment shut down.”

  Jackson’s mind turned to the alien that had left with Card. An Intellect, then. Card had said it wanted to come to this planet. But why? He looked up at Za Harai, considering whether or not to tell him what had happened.

  “We saw the Intellect examine your ship,” Za Harai said before he could speak. “And we saw one group of your people leave with another Intellect, as though they were companions. Did you come to aid the Axon? Is that why you’re here?”

  “No,” Jackson replied, maybe a little too forcefully. “Like I said, we’d rather serve and survive. To be honest, we didn’t bring ourselves here. Like you, we were brought against our will. Like you, we were supposed to fight the Relyeh.”

  Za Harai laughed. “You? You couldn’t even kill one of my Shing.”

  “My point exactly. We aren’t warriors. The people who surrendered their weapons to you, they were the best of what we have.”

  Za Harai’s expression shifted. He looked dismayed. “That is the best you have to offer? Arluthu accepts those who serve, but they must have something of value.”

  “We have the Quantum thing. I’m not sure where, but if you say it’s here, then I believe you. The people that brought us here, Space Force Command and Riley Valentine, they kept a lot of secrets.”

  Za Harai pursed his lips and nodded. “That might be enough. What of the group that left with the Intellect? What of the group that followed after? Your actions don’t match your explanation.”

  “They were Space Force Marines. Part of the group responsible for us being here. I don’t know if they were working with the Intellect. I told you, they kept a lot of secrets. All I know is that the thing killed a dozen of my people and helped them escape. The second group, I sent them after the Marines. Their mission was to kill them.”

  Za Harai raised his eyebrow. “Not as spineless as I had guessed. Tell me, how many are on this vessel?”

  “Twenty-six thousand.”

  “A good number. The Free Inahri have less than twenty-thousand.”

  “Free Inahri ?”

  “There is a faction of Inahri that broke from Arluthu. They believe the Relyeh are no better than the Axon. They’re hiding somewhere in the temperate zone. We engage them on occasion, but they are too small in number to be of any significance. Even so, I’m certain adding your group to ours would be of value to Arluthu. If we could more rapidly expand our population, that would be of great value indeed.”

  “Expand our population? You mean interbreeding?”

  “We’re the same, your people and mine. Divergent only because of our different planets. There should be no difficulties. But we’ll need to fix your weaknesses. Arluthu demands all subjects are prepared for the days to come.”

  Jackson’s breath escaped him again. He didn’t like the sound of that. “What do you mean, days to come?”

  “When the Quantum Dimensional Modulator is found, then our attack can begin. We’ll need more soldiers than we can yet provide.”

  “You want us to become soldiers? Space Force Command brought us here to fight. But we don’t want to fight.”

  “Governor Jackson Stone, one way or another, you will have no choice but to fight. The only decision you can make is who and what you will fight for.”

  Chapter 11

  Caleb opened his eyes when he sensed the transport slowing again. He turned his head left to look past the pilot, recoiling in a momentary panic that shoved him against Za Tsi. She put her hand on his shoulder, steadying him with her calm as the craft prepared to crash into the side of a cliff and the waterfall pouring down from it.