by Chris Fox
Voria tightened her grip around Ikadra, who kept sending little pulses of blue light toward Ardaki. Ardaki batted them aside with a single black tendril. I found the distraction welcome. “The idea that Necrotis can strike when and where she pleases terrifies me. But it means that we cannot hunt her in a conventional way, unless this Web of Divinity proves more useful than the Mirror of Shaya ever was.”
She released Ikadra who hovered in the air as she folded her arms. “I’m inclined to send Jerek. It will leave us vulnerable, but we want to avoid a direct confrontation in the short term anyway. We need to marshal our forces, and learn more of what this necrotech can do. Without Inura to tell us those dark secrets someone must delve his research.”
“Vee will want that job.” The words were out of my mouth before I realized what I was saying. Here I was telling goddesses—goddessi?—their business. “She’s passionate, gifted, and Inura gave her his archive. She’s got access to the Word of Xal’s forges and schematics, and as sharp a mind as we’ll find. Turn her loose on it. I’ll promote her to chief of R&D, and see what she can learn. It’s a pity her brother…well, he would be a great help, but Kurz is in Necrotis’s custody.”
Voria nodded wearily. “It does not surprise me that Inura chose his own successor. A wise course to pick one with vast potential. I approve the move. Have her begin work, if she’ll accept the position. As for you, Frit, what do you plan to do with your new vessel?”
Frit turned in a slow circle as she surveyed the bridge. “I need to discover how the Web works, and the rest of the vessel. I need time. It’s best if I move this ship somewhere safe. However, nowhere is safe if we’re alone. I think we should keep the Great Ships together, save the Word of Xal. She’s unlikely to seek a direct confrontation, and if she does it at my home world? Well, let’s just say that would be the kind of fatal mistake we’re waiting for.”
“Gathering the ships will be a tough sell politically.” Voria offered a deep sigh. “I will have to speak to Ducius, and get him onboard. Once the Tender endorses your arrival they will allow it. We can park the Flame and the Spellship over Shaya.”
“What about the Bulwark?” I asked.
“Demons will never be allowed on or near Shaya.” Voria shook her head sadly. “Even I cannot sway them on that point. Aran will have to take his vessel elsewhere, though as with the Word I cannot imagine Necrotis seeking a direct confrontation. Especially after what Aran did to her daughter.”
That gave all of us pause. I could see it in their faces. Fear. Especially on Frit. That surprised me. They’d seemed mostly buddy buddy, but I guess everyone feared demons.
“All right, Jerek.” Frit turned back to me. “Let’s get you and the Word into the Rift. I’ll send you the charts for the Depths, and instruct my husband to perform the welcome ceremony himself. You will be received with great honor. The Krox, and the sector, owe you an incredible debt for giving us back the Flame. I still owe you for that.”
Frit extended a hand, and rested it on my armor’s chest. I tried to pull away from the searing pain that rippled through the metal, but Frit’s other hand seized my shoulder in a vice. “This will only hurt for a moment.”
Power, raw power, flowed from her hand and into my chest. She’d deposited a Catalyzation, though not a standard spell magic one. I’d been given another unique power, like Greater Purify.
“What did you do?” I rasped when she finally released me.
“I’ve given you spell empowerment.” She smiled savagely. “The same one I use. All your spells will set your targets ablaze in addition to any damage they might otherwise do. Once you are trained you will be incredibly lethal.”
Dez purred in her holster, and even Ardaki oozed pleasure. Maybe I really could learn to fight like my father had, but with the addition of my mother’s magic. Maybe I really could become the best parts of both of them.
5
Run Ragged
I absently piloted the Remora back to the Word of Xal, and enjoyed the solitude as I digested everything that had happened. Briff had returned to normal size, which forced him to stay in the cargo bay or to fly outside along the ship. Either way left me to my thoughts.
We were at war. This wasn’t a holo. It wasn’t an Arena map. Necrotis had come for the sector, and whole planets had died. Kemet. Colony 3. Who was to say which world could be next? Maybe one of the big ones like Shaya or Ternus. Just how much would Necrotis dare?
I wished I understood her motivations, but what little I’d known about the necromancers had been from Siwit, and he’d gone back to his people. Perhaps running them down and getting their take might not be a bad idea. They’d make ideal scouts for the storm, and had no love for Necrotis.
I landed in the cargo bay closest to the bridge, though with Guardian able to teleport me anywhere within the vessel, I guessed it didn’t matter so much where I parked. There was a lesson there, though. If I became dependent on magic, then when I couldn’t solve a problem with it I’d be in real trouble. I couldn’t afford to stop thinking like a regular mortal. We needed every edge we could get.
“Kemet, can you teleport Briff and me to the bridge, please?” I closed my eyes as the magic relocated us, and opened them once I felt the spell complete.
I’d reconfigured the bridge to look like an upgraded Ternus battleship, complete with six terminals where crew could monitor everything from comms to ward strength. The spell matrix sat behind them, allowing a captain to both cast and survey his bridge crew.
All six seats were taken, and all by a mix of former students. None were older than eighteen, and I’d have put the youngest at fourteen. She’d probably been a prodigy who got into the academy early.
“Captain on deck,” the young woman snapped. She shot to her feet and delivered a perfect parade salute. “On your feet, people.”
The other crew rose and also snapped salutes, if not as crisply.
“At ease. I’m only here for a few moments.” I willed Ardaki to return to the ship’s core, something I should have done before going to the bridge. He said nothing and went willingly, and for the first time I noticed the loss in power. I became weaker when he left. The augmentation faded. I still had whatever Frit had given me though. “Does anyone know where Bortel is?”
I’d promoted Bortel, and for all intents and purposes he’d been the vessel’s captain during my absence. The crew were learning to respect him, I hoped, though because I was never there, I had no real idea. I needed to make the ship a home, and start living there.
Just as soon as I finished training.
“Sir, Commander Bortel is recalling exploration and salvage crews. They’re nearly all aboard.” She nodded at the scry-screen, which showed the fleet graveyard I’d fantasized about for most of my life. So strange coming home after everything that had happened. I couldn’t wait to leave.
“I’ll find him. Thanks.” I nodded gratefully. “Kemet, take me to wherever Bortel is, please.”
Again I closed my eyes and the ship moved me. I appeared on a catwalk overlooking a cargo bay where Bortel oversaw the loading of a damaged piece of tech.
“Commander.” I nodded and waited for a salute that never came.
“Get to the point, whatever it is.” Bortel eyed me wearily, the dark circles under his eyes caked under weeks of exhaustion. “We need to get this field emitter loaded. Ternus might pay big for it. They’ve got a research project to create a forcefield. Sort of like a ward, but generated with technology. That’s exactly what this thing did.”
‘Get to the point’ was his favorite phrase. I noted the lack of a ‘sir’, but now wasn’t the time to press. “I won’t keep you. We’ve been granted leave to enter Krox space. We’re heading to the planet Nebiat, and I’ve uploaded charts to get us there. Given the nature of the Krox I want to confine the crew to the ship during our visit.”
“And what will you be doing, sir?” Bortel raised an eyebrow. Black, originally, but more and more had lost the war to grey.
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br /> “Training.” I forced steel into my spine. I didn’t care whether or not he approved. This had to be done. “They’re going to teach me to become an eradicator.”
“So you can properly utilize this ship.” He nodded, somehow even more wearily. He really had that look down. Bortel scrubbed his fingers through his beard, then pulled out his golden vape pen and took a draw. “I approve. It will also keep us out of the combat theater, and give me time to fully train the crew. We’ve got a lot of strong people, but I haven’t tested them all and some will break in combat. They know the minister ordered mages burned out in the secondary matrices, and no one really likes the idea of getting in there. We’ve got enough volunteers to run it, but if we start losing people there are no backups.”
“Noted.” I filed the problem away. “Can you think of any reservations or preparations I can make before heading in there? I don’t want to do anything stupid.”
“I’ve had nineteen messages from Minister Ramachan today.” Bortel leaned against the railing, as I’d apparently found the source of the weariness. “She won’t quit. She wants to talk to you, because she knows that the armor you wear, and your connection to the ship, are the only real power. She wants it back. She wants you under her thumb. You’re not going to let that happen, right?”
That took me aback. I hadn’t considered it that way, but he’d really boiled it down to her true motivation.
“That worthless bureaucrat hung us out to dry too many times.” My fists balled and a rage I hadn’t realized I’d been holding bubbled to the surface. “When she finally catches up with me I won’t give her a millimeter. Honestly? I think I’m going to enjoy our next meeting. She has exactly no leverage. This isn’t her ship, or her crew. We don’t report to her, and we aren’t responsible for the fleet following her.”
Bortel unbuttoned the second button on his uniform jacket, the only concession to personal comfort. “She still officially represents us to the Confederacy. There’s power there and she will not give it up. Remember that. You’ve got fifty thousand tasks to be about. She just has one. Take power back from you.”
“She can try.” Dez hummed in my holster, ready to offer a more permanent solution than I’d ever consider. “But she isn’t even in my top five priorities. You’ve heard about Colony 3. You know what’s about to happen.”
“I fought in the last war.” He shuddered and his eyes went unfocused as memory overtook him. “I remember the Fist. I remember Shaya. I came back to Kemet with four out of five men in body bags, and a third of a fleet. This war is going to be just as ugly. I know you’re young, but…you’ve seen enough to get it.”
“More than enough.” I didn’t belabor the point. We’d both lived through the death of our world. No point in comparing scars. “Prepare the ship for the depths. We’re big enough that we can’t shut down everything, so we’re likely to attract some strays.”
“Yes, sir.” His expression told me that the order had already been carried out. “Vee asked to see you as soon as you got back. She’s in engineering.”
I offered a grateful nod to Bortel. The lack of military discipline didn’t concern me. The man was getting things done. “Kemet, send me down to engineering.”
My world shifted one more time, and the ship deposited me in a cavernous chamber with purplish metal walls. A pair of tremendous devices hummed, and the amount of magic traveling to them from the core would vaporize anyone who touched it.
“Jerek?” Vee’s voice came from behind me, a quaver of emotion that went well beyond surprise.
I turned to see her, and blinked as I suddenly remembered everything I’d liked about her, all at once. From the scarlet curls to the curve of her neck to the welcoming smile and the glittering eyes. She was gorgeous and intelligent, and had saved my life repeatedly.
And she was in love with a dead god. Can’t win ‘em all, I suppose.
“Hey, Vee.” I stepped forward and embraced her in a hug, but let her go when it went awkward. “Bortel said you needed to speak with me.”
“I did.” She brightened as the smile grew. “I’ve been going through Inura’s codex, and have learned so much. About this ship. About how he built things. We have all the tools within the Word to build…well, anything. But we’ll need raw magical materials to fuel the forges. There are foundries aboard where existing magic items or materials can be broken down, but almost all of them are empty.”
“So we’re out of resources.” I nodded absently. “The reactor is still at around twenty-five percent, right?”
“We’re down to nineteen.” Vee bit her lip. “Jer—there was something else. My brother. Have you heard anything?”
There it was. I knew this would be painful. “Nothing. I’m sorry, Vee. He’s still with Necrotis, so far as we know. I ran an augury last night and he is alive. I confirmed that much.”
“Thank you.” She reached out and squeezed my hand. “That’s more than I had. I should get back to stabilizing the reactor leaks. That’s the reason it’s draining. Too many broken things still using magic.”
“Of course.” I stiffened at the abrupt dismissal, but given things with her brother, and the amount on her plate, at least I understood. “I’ll check in with you later?”
“Yeah.” She smiled at me, then bent back to the terminal she’d been working at.
Finally, I teleported back to my own quarters. I still hadn’t spoken with Seket or Miri, and needed to let both know where we were going. Should I take one or both with me to the surface? Would that even be allowed? And what about my sister? I hadn’t seen much of her lately.
I climbed into my entirely too plush bed, one of my favorite luxuries, and threw back the blanket to reveal Miri’s shapely leg. I enjoyed a single improper thought, and then I passed out.
6
Kahotep
I awoke to Miri’s scent on my sheets, and Vee’s laughter in my fading dreams. Neither distraction could be afforded, so I did what every self-respecting person does when faced with awkward emotions. I repressed them and avoided self-reflection at all costs.
Miri had already departed, probably to work out or spar, which left me time to ready myself in peace. I actually took time to shave and comb my hair, which you don’t do all that often when wearing a helmet most of the time.
An oppressive sense of malevolent attention followed me as I departed my quarters, and told me with certainty that we’d already entered the Umbral Depths. Bortel had recruited several void mages, which meant I no longer needed to be on hand to get us around the sector. According to him the flight to the Erkadi rift would take something like twelve hours, which meant that we’d be there by lunch.
That had always confused me. Everyone envisioned the depths as a reflection of our own reality, but they weren’t. Some things, like the Erkadi Rift, could be reached quickly, while systems that were close to you might take much longer to traverse in the depths.
I understood how to read charts, but didn’t get how it all fit together.
Rather than teleport to the bridge—always inadvisable in the Depths, lest you draw the attention of unpleasant things—I decided to walk, which gave me time to observe my new crew. Everyone recognized me as evidenced by their stares and whispers, but they mostly kept on about their own business.
They looked so young, despite only being a few years my junior. Maybe it had been everything I’d seen, though if that was the case hadn’t they been through nearly as much? None of us were kids any more.
About twenty minutes later I strode through the wide door to the bridge, and made my way over to the spell matrix, which stood empty and would until we departed the depths.
The terminals were all occupied by different bridge officers, which made sense as this would be the morning shift and I’d come by in the evening before. So many new faces I needed to get to know, but here I was leaving the ship again already.
It couldn’t be helped.
Was there anything I needed to do or prepare before
we arrived? I had several hours. I thought about the people I hadn’t spoken to yet. All that remained were Rava, Miri, and Seket, and I owed each a conversation.
“Good, you’re here.” Bortel came striding onto the bridge behind me, through the still open door. “I was worried I’d have to send a runner, as you’re not known for checking comms. We’re moments away from opening the Fissure.”
I thought I’d have hours to prepare. Had I really slept that long? Guess I had needed it after the Flame.
“Jerek?” Bortel repeated. He’d said something I’d missed. “Do you have any idea what protocol we should observe to announce our arrival?”
“Frit didn’t say.” I ducked under the rings into the spell matrix. “We’re expected. We should be hailed by the Krox. If we don’t receive a hail within a minute, then we’ll send our own. No hostile actions. No defensive wards enabled. We’re going in blind. Is the Fissure already handled?”
“It is.” Bortel folded his hands behind his back and moved to flank the matrix, but back a step so that whoever we talked to would know he wasn’t the captain. “The secondary bridge is fully manned, in case there is combat. We have one hundred and twenty active matrices, and have no idea how many more are contained in different parts of the ship. They run defenses, secondary spellcannons, and allow for counter spelling.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to combat.” I tapped the void sigil on each of the rings, and the vessel rumbled as the sky before us tore.
After so much unrelieved black the Fissure’s purple fracture hurt to look at, but on the other side lay our blessedly normal universe, where I could cast magic and not worry about getting eaten.
I guided the Word’s immensity through the split in reality it had created for me, and tensed when I saw the Krox position. During the war their big dreadnoughts had been called Worldkillers. They were far larger than Confederate capital ships, and filled to the brim with some combination of hatchlings, Ifrit, and unliving shock troops. The Krox weren’t the necromancers Necrotis was, but they also didn’t limit themselves to unliving and could just as easily bind a Wyrm or a giant cockroach if that happened to be available.