The Gardens of Nibiru (The Ember War Saga Book 5) Read Online Free PDF Page B

into focus blocky structures separated by a grid of dirt roads.
    “Even if we could use nukes, there are civilian factors to consider. There are at least five settlements on different islands surrounding the dome,” Geller said, “all within a few dozen miles of the shields.”
    “Is that a Toth city?” Ericson asked.
    “No.” Lafayette reached into the holo and zoomed in further with a gesture. “Toth architecture is more organic. Their layouts center on the residence of whatever overlord or corporation rules the local area. The Toth, and Mentiq, are beneath the shield dome. I’m certain of it.”
    “Then who’s living there?” Valdar asked.
    “I don’t know, sir. The architecture on each island we can see is unique, but this one…” Geller swiped his fingers across the touch screen and the holo whirled across Nibiru’s surface and stopped over a village with several dozen buildings.
    The imagery was grainy, but Valdar made out a perimeter wall, paved roads, houses several stories in height and a large central square with some sort of statue in the middle. At the corner of the square, two large and one small humanoid figure in white clothing stood out from the earth-toned buildings.
    “Is this a human settlement?” Lafayette asked.
    “It—yes, that’s my guess,” Geller said.
    Whispers broke out from the assembled officers. Valdar rapped his knuckles against the railing to quiet everyone.
    “How is this possible? Where did those people come from?” Ericson asked.
    “We had some suspicions,” Valdar said. “The ancient-era coins the Toth ambassador gave to Lieutenant Hale on Europa, the base-10 coding found in the Toth’s computers, even in our own history. Ibarra’s probe suspects that the Toth visited the Earth several thousand years ago and encountered the civilization in Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq. Many cultures from that time period had lizard-like god figures as part of their mythology. At the risk of sounding like some crazy-haired weirdo from an old TV show, the Toth could be the inspiration for those legends.”
    “So, the Toth took some humans with them when they left Earth way back when?” Hale asked.
    Valdar pointed to the settlement in answer.
    “There’s more,” Geller said. The display shifted to a square landing zone cut out of a dense forest not far from the village, a worn path connecting the two. A Toth drop ship, similar to the ones that delivered Toth warriors to the Hawaiian shores during the aliens’ assault on Earth but missing any armament, sat on the landing zone.
    “So that’s how they get to and from Mentiq’s city,” Valdar said. “Looks like we’re going to have to do this the hard way. Hale, you and your team will make planet fall just outside this village. Figure out if the people in there can help you get into the city, or if they know some way we can get those shields down. I don’t care if you smother Mentiq with a pillow or I pound him into dust from orbit. He is our objective.”
    “What if the humans are collaborators?” Hale asked.
    “Hard to believe, but if they’re on Mentiq’s side, then they’re hostiles. Treat them accordingly,” Valdar said. “Find a way into that city. You’ll have two days. Lowenn and the probe put an Akkadian language pack together for your communicators. Let’s hope they still speak that language.” Valdar double-tapped a screen and the holo zoomed out to show the entire planet. “What’s in orbit?”
    “Nothing to be happy about,” Utrecht said. The image dissolved and rematerialized. Two gigantic Naga -class starships, the color of dried blood with irregularly placed crystalline cannons across their hulls, circled around a cluster of smaller spacecraft.
    Hale recognized several Toth cruisers with the spiral shell design he’d seen up close and personal on Anthalas and Earth. A handful of ships were unlike anything he’d ever seen before—a sleek teardrop ship with stretched reflections of