Free Star Viking (Extinction Wars Book 3) by Vaughn Heppner Page A

said. “He uses what weapons he has. Yes, Commander Creed is crude and bloodthirsty, yet he saved our universe from destruction.”
    “We Starkiens will make better guardians,” Baba Gobo said.
    Slowly, Doctor Sant shook his head. “This cannot be. The object has chosen its residence. Here it must stay until it choses otherwise.”
    The Starkien’s eyes gleamed wetly. “I acknowledge your rank, Doctor Sant. You are a chosen one of the relic. I bow before you. Yet, you should know, acolyte, that you have just sealed humanity’s fate. I will annihilate them and take up residence in this star system.”
    “Then you must slay me as well,” Doctor Sant said. “The Lokhars will, of course, learn of this. Then, you will have to pay the price for spilling my blood.”
    The Starkien stared at Doctor Sant seeming deflated. “Is this your final word?”
    “It is,” Doctor Sant said.
    “You would do this for these beasts?” the Starkien asked.
    “I would do it because the artifact has told Commander Creed its name.”
    “This is true?” Baba Gobo asked.
    “It is true,” said Doctor Sant.
    The Starkien sniffed several times. He avoided looking at me. “We will leave the solar system, Doctor. As one who journeyed with a Forerunner construct, you have my envy and highest regard. Your words have weight, acolyte. I cannot carry them on my shoulders. Thus, I retreat before your glory.”
    Doctor Sant bowed his head, and then his image disappeared from the screen.
    Finally, Baba Gobo glanced at me. There was venom in his eyes. “This isn’t the end of it, beast. When the Lokhar—” The Starkien snarled. Then his image vanished.
    That left me alone with my thoughts. Doctor Sant had ridden on the artifact when it teleported away from the portal planet. I had gone inside the object and actually spoken with it. Yet, I was the beast and Doctor Sant the holy acolyte.
    In that moment, with a burning in my chest, I vowed to make the aliens of all stripes recognize that humans were equal to any other race in our galaxy.
     

-7-
    The Starkien flotilla left the same way it had come, through the Neptune jump gate.
    Seven months later, Doctor Sant informed me that he and his fellow Orange Tamika Lokhars were going home. After what had happened with Baba Gobo, that sounded ominous. Other extraterrestrials feared the Lokhars but had nothing but contempt for us humans. With the last Lokhars gone, what would stop bloodthirsty aliens from ransacking the solar system?
    An Orange Tamika starship docked near Ceres. A day later, Doctor Sant and I walked along an underground corridor jackhammered from the asteroid’s rock.
    I wore my navy uniform, complete with a military cap and sidearm, my .44 Magnum.
    I’d finally gained back all my lost weight and felt strong again. The last of Sant’s needler venom had disappeared from my system. At no time had he shown any inclination to recall his assassination attempt against me, nor did he ever speak about the Shi-Feng.
    Doctor Sant wore his former silver and black garment with orange chevrons. With his greater height, the tiger towered over me.
    “I’m not sure I understand why you’re leaving,” I said. “I thought you wished to continue studying the artifact.”
    As we walked down the rock corridors, with the stark lights shining down from the ceiling, Doctor Sant glanced at me sidelong. Since going under Ella’s mind machine, he had become less talkative and more contemplative.
    His strides lengthened and his furry brow wrinkled in thought. I even noticed that his whiskers twitched. Finally, in a grave voice, he said, “Rumors have percolated from deep within the Jelk Corporation.”
    “What kind of rumors?” I asked.
    “They have invasion troubles,” he said.
    “From where?” I asked, thinking about my nightmare of Abaddon. “And how did you learn of this?”
    “Yes, that is the question, from where, I mean. The captain of Royal Sovereign —the Orange Tamika warship docked