Eckhart wheeled away and hit the throttle, but the moment he got out of danger, another armada of ships rocketed out of the city.

  Eckhart didn't have time to see exactly where they came from, probably because they came from everywhere at once. What looked at first like civilian transport craft took off from platforms and decks all over Imeliv. They gunned their engines on a dead course for Govax.

  Some activated their everyday defensive weapons systems. Others opened hidden panels and gunports on their sides. They extended concealed cannons and lasers no one would have known were there.

  All those ships converged on the station and added their fire to Akkek's devastating assault. The alien horde raced up to the Marathon, which was the only ship left in the sky, and the fringe armada opened fire.

  A barrage of lasers skittered across the starboard flank before Eckhart could pull away. "What the hell!" Bing shrieked. "We didn't do anything!"

  "They don't know that, damn it!" Eckhart fired back as fast as he could, but he already saw that it wouldn't do any good. The fringe aliens had too many ships in the air.

  More explosions rocked the station from behind. Eckhart didn't turn around to see the whole place going up in smoke, but a second later, one of the blasts set off a domino effect into the city.

  A rolling cascade of explosions peeled out of the station, caught hold of a pipeline running up the scaffolding, and kept on going. Platforms and gathering places shuddered and then evaporated as gas, fuel, and energy combined to blow the place apart.

  "To hell with it!" Eckhart gritted his teeth and dropped the throttle forward to its limit. The Marathon plunged away, putting as much distance as possible between Govax and the ship.

  Once he got clear, the fringe aliens left him alone and turned their ire on Govax. The regulators showed the Station being steadily obliterated from the charts as more ships assembled from all over the planet to help out.

  "Wow!" Dallas whispered. "The Regiment really needs to work on its public relations profile."

  "What did she do?" Bing husked. "How did Akkek get the fringe aliens to attack like that?"

  "She must have spread the word that she planned to attack." Eckhart turned to Alice. "Do you have any trace on her?"

  At that moment, Akkek Stratha materialized in front of Eckhart's chair on the Marathon's bridge. "What do you want, Eckhart?"

  He slammed back in his seat. "Holy shit! Don't do that!"

  She cocked her head to study him. "What are you doing here? I did my part to defeat the Lion Tribe. I don't owe Aistenz anything."

  "I'm not here for Aistenz. We need your help to defeat the Regiment."

  "That's what I'm doing."

  "Not like this. DeWalt is alive, and the Regiment has him in their custody. They'll use whatever's wrong with him as a weapon against the fringes, the same way they planned to use Zidriuq, Gaemo, and Menilia."

  Her expression changed exactly the way he knew it would when he mentioned her fallen friends.

  He followed up his advantage. "You're the only person strong enough to take on the Regiment. You said you wanted to take them down and stop them from wiping out the fringes. Now's your chance. We won't be able to get DeWalt away from them without you. Please. I'm asking you to come back with us--not for Aistenz, and not for me. I'm asking you to do it for all of us--for the whole fringe population. None of us will survive without you."

  She didn't respond for a long time. She searched his eyes in a way that demanded he lay himself bare before her. Was she thinking that he wasn't a member of the fringe population? He was an Earthling. She had every right to think of him as her enemy.

  "If I do this," she finally said, "Aistenz has to know I'm not doing it for him. I'll coordinate with his fleet and his forces, but I make my own decisions. Is that understood?"

  "Yes!" Eckhart croaked. "Thank you."

  She hesitated again. "I'm not sure I can defeat DeWalt. I just want to make that perfectly clear right now. If I have to fight him, he might be able to destroy me. I really don't know."

  "Do you know what they did to him?" Dallas asked. "Do you know anything about this virus they infected him with?"

  "We don't even know it was a virus," Alice cut in. "Ilke told us it was a virus, and we all saw how reliable her information was."

  "I don't know what they did to him," Akkek replied. "Whatever they used on him was a generation after me. Gaemo and Zidriuq went into the Silvercloud Vault first, then Menilia. I came last, and that was years before DeWalt left Earth."

  "That explains why he didn't start showing symptoms until after we took him from OSMZ," Eckhart mused. "Rixby said he and Clifton were normal when they came on board. DeWalt only started running a fever afterward, which would match up with what Ilke said about the Trinity Code infecting him right before he left Earth."

  "Why don't you ask Clifton?" Akkek asked.

  "How can we?" Bing asked. "Clifton is on the Atera."

  "Actually, he isn't," Eckhart replied. "Clifton is here. He's in my quarters."

  "He knows more about DeWalt than I do," Akkek went on. "Clifton was with DeWalt right up until the Regiment retook him into their custody."

  Eckhart grimaced. "I don't think Clifton is in a condition to tell us much of anything about DeWalt."

  "But DeWalt was obviously alive when we left Pheste," Bing pointed out. "He had to be, or we wouldn't be having this discussion. Both Clifton and DeWalt survived the bombing."

  "That's pretty clear," Dallas agreed. "The Lion Tribe wouldn't have imprisoned Clifton behind a wall at Black Mountain if he didn't pose some threat to someone."

  "And the Regiment wouldn't have come after us on Rulara, either, unless they were worried someone would find him," Eckhart added. "All those prisoners must be sensitive to someone, or the Lion Tribe wouldn't go to such lengths to keep them hidden."

  "Do you even know where DeWalt is?" Akkek asked.

  "Well, no," Eckhart admitted, "but Rixby is working on it."

  Akkek made a face, but just then, another explosion went off somewhere. Alice put up the tactical grid without asking. "More Regiment ships coming in from Oiwei Station. They're engaging the fringe armada."

  Eckhart didn't get a chance to move. Akkek evaporated, and a second later, the regulators activated without Eckhart doing anything. The Marathon veered sharply and started whizzing back toward Govax.

  "She's doing it again," Alice snarled. "She's taken control of the damn ship."

  Eckhart tried to wrestle the helm back under his own control, and then gave it up. He couldn't fight Akkek when she wanted to do something.

  She drove the ship faster and faster. An alarm started blaring on the regulators when the engines shrieked past the safe zone and into danger territory, but Akkek didn't slow down.

  The tactical grid flickered picking up Regiment Colossuses diving into the atmosphere. The Marathon's guns whirled so fast Eckhart's eyes couldn't keep up with them. The grid picked out targets, fired, and moved on in a blinding flash of light and explosions.

  The Marathon spiraled around the Colossuses and swooped back to meet the fringe armada coming from Govax. Eckhart shuddered at the sight of so many alien ships assembling in a vast horde to confront the Regiment.

  This was a preview of things to come. If he used Aistenz's network to fight the Regiment, scenes like this would become normal on the fringes. The Regiment would bring out every resource to defeat the aliens.

  The fringe population wouldn't lie down and take it, either. They'd been living under Earth's heel for long enough, and once they rose, they wouldn't go back down--ever.

  The Marathon advanced behind the fringe armada and shot through, picking up speed to crash into the Colossuses. The instant the Marathon crossed the fringe line, every other ship on the alien side rocketed forward in a death charge.

  "Holy blinkin' shit!" Alice hissed. "She's flying them all! She's controlling every ship on the line!"

  "How is that even possible?" Dallas whispered.

  "She's getting stronger," Eckhart replied. "She couldn't do any of this when we first left the Silvercloud Vault. She's been getting stronger ever since."

  Sure enough, distress calls came from several ships on the alien side, but they didn't break off. They couldn't.

  The Marathon crew watched in frozen shock as Akkek caught all those hundreds of ships in her invisible control. She dragged them into the Marathon's wake, and they all drove into the Regiment forces at once.

  Every gun exploded. The Colossuses assaulted the aliens with countless guns, but all the Regiment shots went straight through their alien adversaries.

  Four huge Colossuses targeted the Marathon. Eckhart couldn't help but cringe, watching on the tactical grid as their shots streaked toward the ship; but instead of striking the Celdian shielding, those blasts went through the Marathon, too.

  The battle that followed quickly devolved into a shooting gallery, with the fringe aliens surrounding the Regiment. As soon as the aliens gained the upper hand, their flight patterns changed. They showed the unmistakable sign of pilot error and individual direction. Akkek wasn't steering them anymore.

  The aliens ganged up on the Colossuses and picked off parts of the giant ships with vindictive precision. Engines exploded first, and then the aliens had their fun punching holes in the ships' hulls until they burst, one after another.

  Akkek protected the aliens from any Regiment response, but the battle had already tipped too far in the other direction. In a few minutes, nothing remained of the Regiment reinforcements.

  "It won't last," Dallas remarked. "They'll send out more. The Regiment won't let a challenge like this go unanswered."

  Eckhart started to say something when Akkek reappeared in the middle of the bridge. "That's why we have to be ready for them. Go back to Aistenz, Eckhart. I'll meet you there."

  "You won't run off again, will you?" Eckhart asked. "You won't forget?"

  "How could I forget? I want to defeat the Regiment as much as you do."

  Eckhart nodded toward the fringe aliens. Their ships had already started to drift back to their platforms and parking spaces all over Imeliv H8. "Are you going to just abandon them to their fate? The Regiment will come back here to retaliate. The fringe aliens won't be able to protect themselves without you."

  "The Regiment won't come here, because Aistenz's fleet will go to the Regiment first. We'll go to Oiwei Station and engage the Regiment there. They'll have to forget about this incident while they deal with us."

  Eckhart could see plenty of holes in that plan, but he was too glad to get her help to argue. "You promise you'll meet me back on the Atera?"

  She groaned and rolled her eyes. "Yes, Eckhart. I have better things to do than ride at a snail's pace on the Marathon." And she vanished again.

  "We are not allying with that bitch!" Alice snarled.

  "You aren't. You're leaving," Eckhart pointed out.

  Alice fell silent, sat down at her station, and didn't turn around again all the way back to the Atera.

  CHAPTER6

  E ckhart finished making a few adjustments to the Marathon's engines, but Aistenz's mechanics had done such a good job that there was nothing left to do.

  He put his tools away and wandered back upstairs. He had plenty to think about. He still struggled to believe he would find himself in charge of Aistenz's whole empire as soon as he got back to the Atera.

  He didn't like keeping this from his crew. He wanted to tell them as soon as possible. He just had to find the right time and place to do it. Hell, there might never be a right time and place, considering the mission ahead of him.

  He went up to his quarters, but when he stepped inside, he found the place deserted. He strode down the gangway and checked all the other crew cabins, but Clifton wasn't there, either.

  Eckhart went into the infirmary and found Bing going through the new supplies Aistenz's crew had stocked in the cupboards. "Have you seen Clifton?"

  Bing shook his head. "I haven't seen him since we brought him back from Black Mountain. Is he missing?"

  "I'm not sure."

  Eckhart stopped on the gangway and listened. He heard someone moving around in the galley, and when he went in there, he found Clifton sitting on the table eating a ration pack. Dallas stood across the room with his arm hooked up to his nutrient aperture, but the two men weren't talking.

  Clifton looked up and immediately looked away. "I was hungry."

  "Help yourself, man. You look a lot better now that you've gotten some sleep."

  Clifton put a guinea bar in his mouth. Then he held up a second one. "I haven't had one of these since I was in the Regiment."

  Eckhart tried to lighten the mood by laughing. "Beggars can't be choosers around here. Sorry."

  "It's good. I always liked these things."

  Eckhart glanced over at Dallas, who listened to their conversation in silence. Dallas didn't mention that he'd once been in the Regiment, too.

  Dallas and Clifton had bonded over that little item they both had in common, but maybe Clifton was back to considering everyone on the Marathon crew besides Eckhart an alien freak.

  "Feel free to take a shower in my quarters if you want to," Eckhart offered. "You can put on some clean clothes, too. I don't have any suits as nice as yours, but--"

  "Who are you trying to fool, Eckhart?" Dallas interrupted. "You don't own even one suit."

  Eckhart had to laugh, and to his surprise, Clifton laughed, too. "Let me guess. A suit would burst into flame if you put it on."

  Eckhart laughed much louder this time. "You're probably right."

  "Are you kidding?" Dallas interjected again. "Suits burst into tears if he so much as walks into the same room with one of them."

  All three men laughed, and Clifton started to look something like his former self. He ate another guinea bar, and his smile faded. "I've been thinking, Eckhart."

  "Don't make a habit of that. You might hurt yourself."

  Clifton didn't take the joke. "I want to help you fight the Regiment. I...I eavesdropped on your conversation with Akkek. You were all too busy to notice me."

  "Well, it isn't a big secret what we plan to do."

  "I want to go with you," Clifton went on. "I know I'm not as strong as I was, but I can shoot as well as ever, and I'm not too shabby as a pilot, either. I...uh..." He looked down at his food. "I don't want to wear a suit anymore."

  "Thank God for that!" Dallas murmured from behind him.

  Eckhart squeezed Clifton's shoulder. "We would all be honored if you helped us. We all need Earthlings on our side...and anything you can tell us about DeWalt will be a big help."

  "I can't tell you anything. I never saw him."

  "What do you mean?" Eckhart asked. "You were with him at the hospital on Pheste."

  Clifton nodded. "We were together at the hospital, but after the explosion, a bunch of Megaliths landed outside and the Regiment guys came in. Uniformed Regiment officers took DeWalt straight out of his bed, and handed me over to..." Clifton's eyes darted toward Dallas. Then Clifton gulped and forged ahead. "They handed me over to a bunch of aliens. I'm ashamed to say I don't know what species they were."

  "That's okay, man. You're learning. Just tell me this. Were they a bunch of different species or all one species?"

  "A bunch of different species. There must have been fifty species all running the one ship."

  "The Lion Tribe," Dallas cut in. "They were the ones who imprisoned you."

  "Yeah, they were," Clifton confirmed. "They...brutalized all the prisoners, even the ones from the same species as them. They brutalized everyone indiscriminately."

  "Did you pick up anything on the Megalith? Did the Lion Tribe give anything away about why they took those particular people as prisoners?"

  "No. I'm sorry. I didn't pick anything up. The Lion Tribe acted like they didn't even know why I was a prisoner. The only ones I talked to had no idea who I was or where I came from. They also couldn't tell me what happened to DeWalt, or why I went with them and DeWalt went with the Regiment."

  "It doesn't matter." Eckhart clapped Clifton on the shoulder again. "Thank you for your help. We all really appreciate you being with us."

  "Thanks. I'm very glad to be here with you--with all of you."

  Eckhart opened his mouth one more time, and hesitated. "We'll be back on the Atera pretty soon, and the place will be crawling with aliens. I don't like to rush you or anything, but you might want to get over it sooner rather than later. If you want to help us, you'll be fighting alongside aliens--a lot of them. Dallas and I are the only Earthlings you're likely to see on this side of what could turn out to be a very long and ruthless war."

  Clifton lowered his eyes. "I realize that."

  "In that case, I need you to go over to the Atera. Squids will assign you quarters over there. You can't stay here."

  "Why not?" Clifton asked.

  "I'll explain later. You can go with Dallas. He'll show you where to go."

  Eckhart turned to leave, but not without shooting a significant glance at Dallas. Dallas was the perfect person for Clifton to practice his alien tolerance on.

  Eckhart headed out of the galley and heard Dallas unlocking from the aperture as Eckhart left. "You better be careful, man," Dallas was saying. "If you hang around aliens too much, you might become one of them, like Eckhart has. You won't want to go home."

  Eckhart went back up to the bridge, but when he spotted Alice still sitting with her back to him, Eckhart left without speaking to her. He had enough on his mind without dealing with her right now.

  He kept fiddling with various systems, not because they needed maintenance or adjustment, but simply to occupy himself with something familiar. He didn't know how long it would be before he got to appreciate this ship again.

  He almost regretted his decision to take over Aistenz's empire. He'd enjoyed being independent and unknown all these years. He didn't resent Alice for her decision. He envied her.

  When the Marathon finally docked on the Atera's landing platform, Eckhart went down to the cargo hold with Dallas and Bing. "You two go up to the command center and wait for me there. I want to talk to you both."

 

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