Jason swung the butt of his multi-gun into Granger’s solar plexus, forcing him to double over and gasp for air. He reached out and grabbed Granger’s throat and tightened his grip. Bringing him up onto his tiptoes, he pushed him against the bulkhead. Jason’s mind replayed the devastating events occurring over the previous month caused by this deceptive alien shit, and he continued to squeeze. As life started to fade from Granger’s wide, terrified, eyes—Jason released his grip and let him fall to the deck.

  It was several minutes before Granger could talk. The assault team, having secured the deck, stood alongside Jason, staring down at Granger.

  Unsteadily, Granger got back to his feet. He rubbed at his throat and swallowed with a wince. “I suppose I had that coming.”

  “No, I should have killed you. That’s what I should have done,” said Jason.

  “Captain, I made the mistake of trusting the Craing. Understand, my intentions were quite honorable in the beginning. The technology I’ve given you is beyond anything your society would have advanced to in a thousand years. But in the end, the Craing had far more to offer. The Allied worlds, including Earth, were to be ours: a new home for wayward Caldurians, such as myself.”

  “Planets for you to rule over? To subjugate? Hell, you’re no different from the Craing.”

  Billy, who’d lit up a stogy sometime in the last few moments, moved closer to Granger—their faces inches apart. “I would have killed you. I want you to know that. I would have ripped your fucking head off your shoulders and shoved it up your freaky alien ass.” Billy stayed put, and let the smoke from his cigar rise and cloud around their faces. “Someday, I’m going to make that happen, and that’s a promise from me to you.”

  Granger returned his stare as Billy stepped back. “Captain,” he said, “I’m afraid you have far worse problems than me.”

  Jason waited for him to continue.

  “Lom, soon to be elevated to full-fledged Emperor of the Craing Empire, and who already commands fleets of warships extending to the far reaches of the universe … is fearful. You, your actions over the past year, have greatly contributed to that. I speculate he dwells on them to the point of distraction. He’s infatuated with the prospect of his own immortality. His impending transformation of eternity is only effective if he keeps safe, here in Craing space.”

  “Is there a point to all this or are you going to ramble on indefinitely?” Jason asked him, looking bored.

  “It’s why the Caldurians fled in their Crystal City ships. It’s why, after uncovering their plan, I ceased providing any meaningful, technical assistance to them. Captain, you’ve seen it yourself—the massive accumulation of Craing forces. It’s all part of Lom’s secret plan, the Great Space.”

  “The Great Space? I don’t get it … what does that even mean?”

  “It means that Lom no longer wants to control and subjugate the planets in this sector, the sector where the Craing worlds reside. No, he wants to empty it—completely clear the sector of anything and everything. Every star system within hundreds of light-years of where he resides will no longer exist. Captain, it’s already begun.”

  “And you gave him not only the Minian, but the phase-synthesizer as well. Perfect. All he’ll need to make this Great Space bullshit of his come about that much quicker.”

  “I knew the Craing, Lom, was ruthless. I didn’t know his insane plan. I wouldn’t have …”

  “Well, it’s too late now for woulda-coulda-shouldas. The question is: What can you do to help?”

  “Take a look around, Captain. Hundreds of dreadnaughts, spread out thousands of miles, surround this planet, this ship. The only vessel that could possibly prevail against them is the Minian, and she’s half torn apart.”

  “Where’s the phase-synthesizer?” Jason asked.

  “It’s here, on the platform. But it’s protected.”

  “How?”

  “Battle droids, Caldurian designed; one is unbeatable, five’s overkill.”

  “So there are five battle droids patrolling the platform. There has to be a way to bring them down. You’re Caldurian … you can help us figure it out.”

  Granger nodded but didn’t look overly confident. “One question, Captain. How did you get here? How did you get past the dreadnaughts, without alerting the Craing?”

  Chapter 24

  Granger would stay alive as long as he continued to be of use. After that, Jason assured him, Billy would be happy to rearrange his body parts. So far, Granger was doing everything asked of him, and more. He’d resealed the forward outside hatch and was now being led to the bridge to help Ricket.

  Jason remembered he’d promised to check on Gaddy and phase-shifted to the corridor outside Medical. Even before entering, he knew something was wrong. Gaddy was yelling:

  “Get out of my way!”

  “Get out of my way!”

  “Get out of my way!”

  “Get out of my way!”

  “Stop repeating what I say!”

  “Stop repeating what I say!”

  “Stop repeating what I say!”

  “Stop repeating what I say!”

  To Jason’s utter surprise there were four Gaddys, all identical to one another. They looked the same, with identical clothing, and they sounded the same. Positioned around the forward Medical compartment, they turned their four faces toward him as he entered the room.

  It was easy to see which one was the real Gaddy. She was the first to say or do anything. The other three Gaddys lagged a second or two behind her.

  “Shoot these fucking things!”

  “Shoot these fucking things!”

  “Shoot these fucking things!”

  “Shoot these fucking things!”

  Jason couldn’t help but laugh out loud. For some reason, perhaps due to the stress of the last few days, he lost it. Now laughing uncontrollably, Jason had to hold onto the closest MediPod while he regained his breath. Gaddy, followed by the other three Gaddys, stood with her arms crossed over her chest and her head tilted to one side. Straight faced, she saw nothing funny about the situation, and that made him laugh all over again. She started tapping a foot and soon there was a chorus of foot tappings.

  Jason raised his multi-gun and pointed it at the closest of the impostors. “Okay, fun’s over. Why don’t you get back into your enclosures?”

  All three smiled and hurried off toward the back of the compartment. One by one, they morphed back into their original forms. Octopus-like, with multiple arms, having hundreds of suction cups, they jittered up the sides of three glass enclosures and dropped into the clear liquid within.

  “How did you do that? I’ve been standing here for an hour trying to get through to them,” Gaddy asked incredulously.

  “I’ve had contact with those little devils before. I think they’re harmless.”

  Gaddy was already striding out of Medical. “Well, I’m glad you found this all so funny.”

  Jason was being hailed.

  “Go for Captain … what’s your status, Gunny?”

  “We’re three thousand feet off your port.”

  “Any problems?”

  “Quite a few close calls. Came within eight feet of a dreadnaught. All in all, Betty did a great job navigating us through that maze of ships.”

  “Good to hear it. Have Her Majesty sit tight, right where she is. I need you over here. Seems we have another—unplanned—mission that will require your expertise.”

  “I’m on my way, Cap.”

  * * *

  The alarms sounded as Jason entered the bridge. Their presence was no longer a secret. “Well, it was only a matter of time,” Jason said. “I suppose fifty of the emperor’s security forces gone missing would be anything but subtle.”

  Gaddy, standing next to Ricket, still looked perturbed.

  Jason noticed things were looking better—more like an actual bridge, with several consoles now seeming operational. Similar to The Lilly, the overhead three hundred and sixty degree display was presenting them with a magnificent view of space beyond the ship. One by one, the encircling dreadnaughts were coming alive—thousands of small lights winking on in a matter of seconds.

  “Oh good, Captain, you’re back.” Ricket looked up at Jason. “I’d like to jump back to The Lilly to get several components manufactured on 4B. Granger has offered to help. It would save us some time.”

  “Granger doesn’t go anywhere without an armed guard in tow.” Jason nodded toward Sergeant Jackson, who was standing off by himself. “Sergeant, don’t let him out of your sight. If he tries anything, shoot him in the head.”

  Granger made an unpleasant expression, but kept his mouth shut. Ricket put a hand on Granger’s wrist, as well as one on Jackson’s: “I’ve got this.” In a flash, the three were gone.

  “Captain,” Orion said from the far side of the bridge, while Billy and Petty Officer Woodrow were huddled in front of a console. “Granger’s provided us with the specs on the battle droids. I’ve never seen anything like this. Hold on.”

  She transferred the spec sheet, with a detailed vid-image, to a segment on the main display above. Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at the menacing-looking battle droid. What caught Jason’s attention first was the highly reflective nature of the thing. Every aspect of the droid was like a mirror reflecting itself.

  “That’s about its actual size, Cap,” Orion said.

  It was no taller than the average man but much wider, with four squatty-looking legs, a barrel-like torso, four arms, and a circular turret of a head. Every surface was covered with thin, razor-sharp plates that constantly moved, not unlike old-fashioned push-mower blades.

  “So what makes this thing so hard to kill?”

  “For one thing, Cap, it utilizes the Minian’s same phase-shift tech. Individual sections, as well as the whole construct, can phase-shift into the multiverse and back at will. Fire a plasma bolt, or a micro-missile, or throw a rock at it, and it will phase-shift away. It possesses a wide array of offensive weaponry. Try to touch it, anywhere, and you’ll be sliced into bits with those constantly moving mower blades. It has three small integrated plasma cannons on the torso and the equivalent of a turret-mounted rail gun … it’s right there, that thing that looks like its head. Oh, and this battle droid is completely autonomous, with its own highly advanced AI.”

  Jason looked back at Orion blank faced.

  “It’s beyond badass, Cap. Did I mention there are five of them?”

  “Yes, I think so. Work with Ricket and Granger. I want a course of action for defeating those things within the hour.”

  “Cap, there’s just no—”

  “Within the hour, Gunny.”

  Jason held up a hand to Gunny; he was being hailed.

  “Go for Captain.”

  It was McBride on The Lilly. “Captain, it’s the admiral. You’re needed over here—something’s happened to the rhino-worlds.”

  * * *

  Jason told McBride to transfer the connection to his ready room. Sitting at the conference table, Jason hardly recognized his father’s face on the display. His eyes were red-rimmed and he hadn’t shaved in several days.

  “They’re both gone, Jason. The rhino-worlds.”

  Jason stared at the screen and let that sink in. “You’re saying Mangus and Trumach have been attacked?”

  “They’ve been fucking annihilated! Don’t you understand English? We’re talking space dust.”

  “What happened?”

  “The same thing that happened to the other five planets and almost to Jhardon. A fleet of six huge black vessels, believed to be dreadnaughts. They move into some kind of formation around a planet and pound it and pound it and pound it until it disappears.

  Jason closed his eyes and nodded his head.

  “You knew about this?”

  “Not the specifics. Not that it was the rhino-worlds. But yeah, I know what’s happening.”

  “Do tell.”

  “It’s something the Craing call the Great Space … I heard that it had already begun, at least to some degree.”

  Jason proceeded to bring his father up to speed on what had occurred over the past twenty-four hours. By the time he’d relayed the news regarding the Minian’s deconstructed condition and the battle droids protecting the phase-synthesizer, the admiral looked downright suicidal.

  “It’s all falling apart, Jason. The Alliance is a joke. We’ve lost more than half our fleet, and now you’re telling me the Craing are going to create an empty space-like mote around their worlds that will destroy Earth, along with all the Allied planets.”

  “We’ll think of something,” Jason said.

  The admiral inhaled and almost smiled.

  Jason changed the subject. “Tell me, have you heard anything from Nan?”

  The admiral brightened. “In fact I have. She’s the one bright spot in all this … taken her post to a level none of us expected. She’s the conduit for the masses, Jason. Earth is no longer kept in the dark regarding events happening in space. She’s downright beloved—approval ratings beyond any president’s, living or dead. Son, Earth stands behind what we’re doing. Enrollment into the military is off the charts.”

  “That’s wonderful, Dad. I always knew Nan was destined for great things.”

  “She told me to remind you that she needs to talk to you. It’s something important.”

  “I will. Just as soon as things aren’t so crazy.”

  Chapter 25

  After cutting the connection with the admiral, Jason decided he needed a shave, and he definitely needed a shower. He had a feeling there wouldn’t be many such opportunities in the coming days. There was only so much time before the emperor’s security forces would figure a way to breach the Minian’s hull. He removed his battle suit and padded his way into the head where he got the water going. As soon as he stepped beneath the steaming hot spray, he felt the tension in his shoulders start to relax. Jason willed his rambling thoughts to cease—his brain to shut down, even for the few minutes he stood beneath the shower’s heat; he’d needed this short respite.

  By the time Jason returned to his ready room, he saw a video message from Mollie. He sat back and pressed play.

  Mollie was smiling, looking cute with a mouthful of braces, and her hair pulled into two lopsided ponytails at the top of her head. “Hi, Dad. Mom said she didn’t know when you were coming home. I miss you. Mom’s always busy lately, doing her new job for the president. She’s on TV a lot.” Jason saw her smile fading away and she began to look melancholy. “I wish I’d stayed on The Lilly with you, Dad. I’m going to school in Washington, D.C., and I hate it. Anyway … I’m looking forward to seeing Boomer. And Raja, and Alice, and Dira, and everyone. Mostly you, though. Come back soon, okay?” The video ended and froze with Mollie looking into the camera, wearing the same scolding expression her mother had also exhibited countless times in the past. He continued to look at his little girl and wondered if he’d ever see her again. Would Earth soon fall to the Craing as so many other worlds had of late?

  * * *

  Jason left his cabin and walked The Lilly’s corridors, moving from one department to the next. He stopped and talked to the crewmembers—listened to them, querying about their issues and fears … big and small. Being seen among them, one of them again, Jason was doing more than building ship morale—he was letting them know he hadn’t given up. Enemies had underestimated The Lilly and her crew before—a mistake that often led to their own demise.

  By the time Jason made it to Engineering, he was feeling better about things. Truth was, nothing had really changed. The Craing were amassing a contingent of ships beyond comprehension—worlds were being extinguished in the Craing’s Great Space pursuit. But, surprisingly, there was evident hope here, among the crew of The Lilly. They certainly hadn’t given up—and there was the expectation that their captain would lead them to victory, as he’d done so many times before.

  Engineering was quiet. Chief Horris sat at his desk, feet propped up, reading a paperback

  book. Startled, he nearly fell backward off his chair when Jason entered his small office. “Captain …”

  “Don’t get up, Chief. Enjoy some free time while you still have it. Soon enough, The Lilly will be back in open space.”

  “Aye, Captain. Truth is, I’m going a bit stir crazy with so much down time.”

  “You know … last I heard the Minian’s propulsion system was still offline. Maybe you can help Ricket. I’m guessing he’s a bit overwhelmed.”

  Chief Horris jumped to his feet, moving fast for a man of his robust size. “Aye, Captain. You know, the Minian’s antimatter drives are not so different from The Lilly’s. If Ricket’s having a problem getting them initialized, I could probably give him a few pointers.”

  “Well, then, I think it best you head over there, first thing.”

  Jason watched Chief Horris scurry about Engineering, grabbing several portable test equipment devices before heading out of the department—presumably to get himself fitted with a phase-shift belt.

  Jason had one more stop to make. Entering HAB 17, Jason was accosted by sudden darkness. As his eyes adjusted, nighttime stars, and two distant quarter moons, helped illuminate his long walk toward the rhino-warrior camp. Several miles in, off in the distance, a campfire blazed—a flittering amber glow danced upon nearby domes.

  Three rhino-warriors sat upon wide tree stumps, each seemingly immersed in his own thoughts. As Jason took a seat in front of the fire, he assumed Traveler had watched his movements into the camp. He could see that the dire news he’d come to deliver was unnecessary. They already knew.

  The fire crackled and popped. What does one say at a time like this? Finally, Jason said, “I’m very sorry.”

  The three rhinos pulled their eyes away from the fire and leveled their gaze upon Jason.

  Traveler shifted his weight and let out a labored breath. “Our time—the time of the rhino-warrior—has come to an end. The three of us are but a fading echo … a distant call into the wind. Soon … no one will be left to remember our once proud and honorable race.”