“Sleep, Richard,” he whispered, and as if obeying his command, my mind slipped back into the darkness.
24
“This is Captain Freya D. McGill. I'm with the Hallowed and the crew of the Redeemer. Permission to enter orbital shipyard Isaac III.”
Silence was all that greeted us, at least for the first several seconds. The voice on the other side suddenly started speaking excitedly.
“Isaac III station operator here. It’s good to hear from you, Captain McGill. We had news that you were… lost?”
Freya chuckled and shot me a sideways glance.
“Yeah, something like that, operator. Can we dock?”
“Sure thing. We’ll make room for you right away. Please wait until you get the go-ahead. Oh, and welcome back to Primitea, Captain.”
We exchanged glances and I found her face flushing red from whatever it was. Either excitement or embarrassment. She looked cute with red cheeks. I had to give her that.
Two days ago she hadn’t been as cute when a small fleet of pyramidal Aloi Crusader ships surprised us at the border of Dusk Ascendancy space. No shots were fired. They knew we were coming and wanted to escort us to Primitea. It was an experience like no other to have the Aloi on your side, especially since our ships were far from battle-ready.
We had traveled for three weeks avoiding major sectors, because even a small brawl could have sent our Star-Eaters into oblivion. The hulls of the Redeemer and Idolian Wallbreaker barely held together for interstellar travel. Another space battle, no matter how brief, would have seen us torn into atmos. Most of the crew was extremely jumpy during the flight, especially the men and women from the captured spaceships. They didn’t know what would await them in Aloi space now that they had turned their backs on the Federation.
I couldn’t say I was too nervous because I spent most of my time lying in bed, enjoying fewer dreams that blurred the line between imagination and reality. Fars and Arthur checked on me regularly, but it was McGill who spent most of her time with me. She developed a deep interest regarding my life and life of humankind in the thirty colonies.
Her questions were relentless, even to the point of me sending her away a couple of times so I could sleep. But the moment she would leave I would become itchy to see her again. I attributed it to being alone for so long. Well, as a lone human far away from humanity.
We took a dropship from orbit and landed in Aurora City several hours later. What I had seen through the window as we descended was unlike anything I had seen in my life. The first thing that absolutely shocked me was how much green there was surrounding the city. Lush, deep emerald forests stretched across the landscape dotted with wide open fields of what I assumed were ancient crops.
How did they have the space to grow those primitive plants? Primitea had a population of 40 billion, where in comparison, Persei Prime, though a smaller planet, was mostly city upon city, concrete, steel and pekta as far as the eye could see. Our entire food production was underground, heavily engineered to save space and produce the maximum amount of nutrients per square inch. And even that wasn’t enough; we still imported massive freighters of food from farming planets every month. We. It was funny how I still thought of it as my planet and my people.
Fars and I couldn’t keep our mouths shut as we took in the absurdity of it all. Arthur, on the other hand, remained on the Tanaree oblivious to everything. He had asked of Mitto to create a faraday cage within the simulation deck to avoid detection by other Aloi. Even before our escort met us in deep space, he had told me that he just wasn’t ready to speak to another Aloi mind and though his face was as expressionless as ever, his tone was one of sheer apprehension, perhaps even fear.
I let him do what he wanted but I also told him that he was just avoiding the inevitable. He was a prisoner of Xan for centuries, he had plenty of time to prepare himself for this moment. Still, I couldn’t penetrate what was going on in that skull of his or what it was like to be in his situation.
The city of Aurora was a true marvel of post-colonial engineering entwined with Aloi technology. White high-rises pierced the clouds and went on for miles. The architecture was similar to that of Instormia, but the influence of Aloi aesthetics was even stronger here. The towers spiraled upward like twisted sheets, and they didn’t follow the laws of physics either. They weren’t straight, instead they bent every which way like trees adjusting to natures’ whims.
There was an organic feel to the structures. Edges and corners of buildings were softened by tentacle-like tubes that ran in discomfitingly uneven paths along them. The city didn’t look like it was built. It looked as if it was born into existence, which considering Aloi technology, probably wasn’t too far off from the truth either.
McGill watched me with a raised eyebrow as I took in the magnitude of it all. She had seen human planets and cities across the thirty colonies in picture only, of course. But I had never seen a Dusk Ascendancy planet. I hadn’t known they existed until a couple of months ago. There was a glimpse of smugness on her face as if to say look how deeply wrong you all were.
I didn’t want to mention that seeing all this didn’t make me jealous or amazed. There was a deep discomfort I felt upon arrival that I knew Fars shared. This was all too Aloi for my taste. Decades of indoctrination and war had done their part in making me feel disgust whenever I saw anything resembling Aloi technology.
The trust issues ran both ways. Six heavily armed DA soldiers accompanied us in the dropship. They were clad in a thick dark purple power armor which seemed partly organic, and their weapons looked like extensions of their arms. I knew those were highly trained professionals, but I also knew they were way more nervous to share a cab with the Bloodmancer than I was sharing it with them. Even our dropship wasn’t traveling on its own. Two fighters escorted us toward Aurora City their guns prepped to destroy the dropship together with its infamous cargo.
“Have you ever seen such beauty?” Leo said, breaking the tension aboard the ship. “The first time I came here I couldn’t believe my eyes; this is only the beginning, the wonders this alliance between mankind and Aloi has reached is incomparable to anything we could have ever dreamt of beneath the boot of the Ka.”
“It’s very Aloi,” Fars replied blandly. I could smell the familiar Eres battle-stench filling up the dropship. Fars was nervous as hell.
“There will be a welcoming party when we land, but it’s going to be heavily guarded. My people don’t know you as I do, after all,” Freya said.
“You’ll throw in a good word for us though,” I said, partially joking.
“Me? I’m nobody here. I’m just a cruise-ship captain of no renown. The only reason the DA allowed this is the presence of the Hallowed.”
Leo smiled and shrugged but said nothing.
“To them, all you are is the Bloodmancer and an ex-Federation Technomancer who’s responsible for countless war crimes. I had sent them the reports of our… cooperation, but you should know that the DA doesn’t look kindly to warmongers, especially to those that made a name for themselves in just about every corner of the near galaxy. Even if the Convictionis absolves you of everything, there will be many who will want to get rid of you.”
I sighed.
“If I haven’t heard that before,” I muttered.
“It’s no laughing matter, Richard. You need to be respectful and show that you have chosen the path of the righteous this time. It’s a shame Arthur didn’t come. Your alliance with an Aloi is your best bet here.”
“An Aloi that doesn’t like Aloi...”
The soldiers aboard the dropship seemed to twitch at these words. I couldn’t see the expression behind their visors, but I could feel the disquiet upon hearing those words.
“Let’s keep that info out of the conversation, if possible.”
The dropship landed just then and the hatch opened right away. We stepped out into the light of Primitea’s sun only to find three humans waiting for us with their hands behind their backs.
Dozens of soldiers dressed like the ones that escorted us stood to both sides, and I knew there were just as many if not more scattered across the landing platform.
The welcoming party was dressed in tight, purple uniforms that didn’t look military but still carried a sense of authority. Politicians, I assumed, and I was right, partially at least. All three of them were men and fairly young-looking considering their position in society. Just like McGill, they couldn’t have been deep into their forties but there was an atmosphere of wisdom around them that promised many more decades beneath their smooth skin.
McGill was the first to leave the dropship and step onto the landing platform. She raised her right hand to her forehead and clapped her heels together. It was an ancient military greeting I had learned about at the academy. The DA seemed to have a soft spot for many archaic rituals it seemed.
The three men just nodded coldly, yet upon seeing Leo step on the scene, a wide smile appeared on the faces of the two men on the left and the right. The guy in the middle kept his sour expression.
“We greet you, Hallowed one. May your roots grow hard in nether’s soil.”
“Friends!” Leo said with his arms opened. He approached them with sincere happiness and hugged all three of them one by one. Even the emotionless guy in the middle.
“Convictius Ra’azeem, it’s an honor to see you again,” Leo said, and the man nodded.
Finally, Fars and I stepped out and the faces of the other two men aligned with the one in the middle. They weren’t happy to see us, but most people weren’t, so I was used to it. Leo turned toward us and spoke.
“This is my mentor, friend, and one of the hardest men to kill in the galaxy. I’m honored to introduce to you Richard Stavos, Captain of the Tanaree, and his honorable ally, the Eres Fars Iritra Fairla Ban.”
“You are welcome here, Richard Stavos. Both you and Fars Iritra Fairla Ban. I am Convictius Ra’ azeem and these are my Soulspeakers Gregor Imam and Julius Sydney,” the man in the middle said with a cold tone in his voice, but I still felt he really meant it. “I have been told you have a cousin Aloi with you, but I can’t sense its presence.”
Straight to the point, I thought at first, but the last of his words lingered. Since when could a human sense an Aloi?
“Arthur remained on the ship. He… needed some time to prepare.”
The Convictius was silent while a stern on his forehead whispered of troubled thoughts. Before it became too awkward, though, he waved his hand as if shooing his thoughts away and gestured for us to follow him.
“Very well. Please, follow me.”
The landing platform was attached to one of the white towers, which we aimed for until the three men disappeared inside the giant spiral. As we walked, McGill grabbed my arm and spoke softly but hurriedly into my ear.
“There’s something I didn’t tell you. I think you already know what it is. Don’t mention it unless the Convictius addresses it himself.”
“I really hope it’s not what I think it is,” I said.
The first thing that came to mind as we entered the spiral was Frey art. Every inch of space was covered in both traditional and modern paintings which moved, spoke, and often smelled of otherworldly experiences. Statues ranging in size from a couple of inches to those dozens of feet tall, most etched in unknown materials that often subtly moved, changing perspectives or even content burnishing the hallways.
A statue of what I assumed was an important politician reading from a piece of paper slowly changed into a mountain covered in forests. With another step, the statue changed color and its edges became softer and instead of the mountain, a fountain appeared and from it two voices sang the most beautiful song.
My mind was racing as I took in the beauty and extravagance of this alien world. It was so strange and yet it was distinctly human. No color outside the spectrum humans could see, no tones beyond our hearing range, no smells that offended as was the case in the beautiful yet often discomforting Frey ships. The Tanaree was covered in Frey art but with Mitto and the ship’s AI in tandem, they had adjusted it to my tastes. Nothing here needed adjustment, it all excited the senses in the best way possible, and yet there was a streak of weirdness to it all.
I was so taken by the beauty of it all that I had to snap out of my transcended state when we reached what the Soulspeaker said was the council chamber of Convictius. The doors vanished into the walls and a room filled with only a table and a dozen chairs surrounding it opened before us. Standing at the table were three more groups consisting of what I assumed were a Convictius and their two Soulspeakers. Two were all male and the third one was an all-female group. They all seemed to be of the same age as apparently everyone in this place.
There was, however, another person standing there without any companions. A man I had known for a long time, a man who was responsible for a lot of the things that happened in the last few years of my life. My mouth was faster than my mind and I regretted it almost immediately.
“Are you fucking kidding me right now?”
“Show some respect, son, you’re not in prison anymore.” Captain Tailor said sternly. His expression softened and turned into a wide smile. My transgression was ignored, and I patiently waited for every Convictius and their Soulspeakers to introduce themselves.
Convictius Jorr’ka, Convictius Girs, and the third one was Convictius Palar’agram. I didn’t care to remember the Soulspeakers’ names. I just wanted to get to the fact of Tailor standing there grinning like a parent waiting for you to open a gift they knew you’d like.
We sat around the table and Convictius Girs spoke in the same expressionless manner as the rest of them.
“Technomancer Richard Stavos, we hope your journey wasn’t a difficult one. We are glad to have you on Primitea.”
“It was pretty difficult actually,” I started but McGill poked me with her elbow.
Fine, I thought, but this had an awfully formal tone to it. My diplomatic skills usually revolved around give me this or I’ll shoot you, but I promised to make an effort.
“Forgive Richard Stavos, Convictius. He is a practical man and has no schooling in manners or our ways. He is a brute, but a capable one,” McGill said apparently in my defense.
“We are aware of who Richard Stavos is, Captain. We are also aware the only reason a captain would sit in this council is your affiliation with him and the Hallowed. Please refrain from participating in this conversation,” Girs said coldly, and McGill apologized and bowed her head.
Politicians, I thought. A thousand-light years away, a thousand years of cultural divides, and they still bred the same type of asshole.
“What is it that you seek of the Dusk Ascendancy, Richard Stavos?”
“What I seek?” I looked to Tailor and he just nodded. What the hell am I supposed to say here? Why are you nodding?
“I, uhm… I don’t even know where to start.”
“Perhaps begin by telling us your story and what brought you to the Dusk Ascendancy and then we can together decide what it is you seek,” Girs’ Soulspeaker said and so I did.
When I began my story on Detera, they asked me to go further back and tell them of Pelerin. Then they asked me to speak of the Guild, of Persei Prime, of my upbringing and my family. The questions kept digging deeper into my childhood and I soon found myself telling them of my best friend in elementary school. They listened patiently as I bored them with excruciating details. After more than an hour of this I finally got back to the part about Detera and the experience beneath the mountain which now fueled my dreams and my abnormal use of H-Nans. They asked in detail about my dreams. About the stars that went dark, the whispering words that kept repeating themselves in almost every dream. Their eyes widened when I mentioned Bardeena and the words: “You are chosen to carry the Light to Bardeena.”
Girs raised a hand and asked for silence. He closed his eyes and so did the rest of the Convictius for several seconds. He then told me to proceed and I eventually told them of Win
ter’s betrayal, my deportation to Xan, the years I spent there, and the years I spent pirating after Xan. Only when I mentioned Arthur did I get a hint of a reaction, but nobody stopped me or asked for another eye-shut. By the time I was done, two and a half hours had passed, after which Fars grunted loudly and asked for something to eat.
One of the Soulspeakers opened a compartment in the wall with a wave of his hand and a food synthesizer the likes I had never seen popped out. It produced lavish portions of different delicacies. Even a bowl of Eres bloodsnake soup appeared, to which Fars almost cried out in excitement.
“That’s my story, friends. But now I’ll tell you what I seek. I seek freedom for mankind. I see what you have built here in your alliance with the Aloi and it’s more than impressive. I believe you can help us unchain our kind from the Ka and the Imminy. And we need to do this as soon as possible. The Imminy’s message has reached Federation space by now and it’s only a matter of time before they begin destroying our race. Help me free mankind. Ask the Aloi to aid us, and I will fight in their wars wherever they want. These people can testify to my resolve and what I have managed to do, but I can’t save humanity with five ships. Help me save our brothers and sisters across the galaxy.”
“How can you still lust for war and violence after everything? Your mind must be tortured,” Gris said as if disgusted by my words.
“Seek violence?” Was that all they had gathered from my words? “Violence can only be met by violence. That’s the truth of this universe, Convictius. It is not by choice that we have been enslaved; it is by choice that we should defend ourselves. Perhaps you have lived a good life here, sheltered from the atrocities of the Ulyx Cluster, of the chaos of the Partak Sector or the misery that is life on the thirty colonies, but I haven’t and most of humankind hasn’t. You fill every inch of your space with poetry and song, but that is not reality, that is purposeful blindness. I’ll take a blood-covered sword with etchings of enemies killed on the hilt than any of your grandiose mind-fucking statues any time.”
Redeemer: A Military Space Opera Series (War Undying Book 2) Page 27