Wrath of Angels (ebook)

NOVEMBER 10, 3096 EY — PEGASUS DWARF GALAXY
The last time Rachel had come to the Pegasus Dwarf Galaxy, it had been to reach Gehenna. Now here she was, hiding on another independent world not so far from the Expanse of Nod. Hiding from Sentinels, no less.
Laban Worlds had begun terraforming this planet forty years ago, but their deal with Jericho had fallen through and they’d instead sold the half-finished planet to a small separatist group Rachel had fallen in with once or twice. At the moment, it served well enough to keep her and the others safe.
She walked along the shore near the planet’s only settlement. This one large island was the only place Laban had finished seeding with vegetation and thus, the only real place to live on the whole damned planet. Across the bay, the mainland looked like some rocky sand monstrosity, skirting the edge of civilization.
Off in the copse of trees nearby, Knight and Phoebe were at each other. Their lascivious emotions bombarded Rachel like heavy smoke borne on the island breeze, making her flush. Without ever planning it, she found herself making her way back toward the settlement where David would be.
Maybe just a quickie to help take the edge off …
Before she had even reached their tiny hovel, David emerged, as if his prophetic insight had told him of her probable arrival. Except he seemed anything but aroused. A mix of anticipation and hope and fear simmered within him, the convoluted sensations turning Rachel’s stomach and leaving her dizzy.
Her mind was her mind.
“What’s happened?” she asked.
“Rach.” David rubbed a hand along his stubble. “Imperator Scott took my call. She’s agreed to grant us all full pardons and even to restore my commission.”
That was everything they’d even hoped for. And yet fear rippled off David like bombardments against her psionic nerves.
“And?”
“She wants us all to come to the Tabernacle.”
“Why? To address the Sanhedrin?”
David shook his head. “The Shekhinah itself wants to see us.”
Holy shit.
The Shekhinah governed the entire Mizraim Empire. That computer ruled the lives of trillions of humans spread across twenty-three galaxies. And it wanted to talk to them? It only ever talked to the imperators of the Sanhedrin.
It was more than that, though.
The last time David had gone to the Tabernacle, he’d been court-martialed and banished to Horesh for a decade. So could this be a trap? If it was, they’d all face a fate worse than some desert penal colony.
But they’d go anyway.
The angels were awake.
The Conglomerate had gone off rotation and was trying to seize the Ark.
The entire holy universe was headed straight for the void.
And at this point, the Sentinels were their last chance to change things.