Clarity's Dawn

by A. R. Knight

  “I never claimed to be anything other than I was. I gave you miracles, the tools you needed to save your people. All I ask in return is a chance, a chance for my own species to survive.”

  “Not by taking over the very people you helped save!”

  “There’s no other way!”

  Ignos jumps at me after its roar, and I dance back, batting at a claw with the end of the staff. I’d seen Sax and Bas move, and Ignos seems jerky, unsure of how to manage the limbs. Of course, if it’s only had the body for a few days...

  I press the attack. Roll off my back foot and dart into Ignos’ reach. The Sevora tries to adjust its long swings - claws slashing to where it thought I’d be, but can’t seem to move them fast enough. I drive the center of the staff up and bash into its mouth, , then, as Ignos backpedals, bring the staff down to my waist and shove it forward like a spear.

  The point sticks into Ignos’ side, punching through thin, fragile scales. Sick, thick blood oozes around the wound, and Ignos clutches at the staff, looks at me with those yellow Oratus eyes.

  “Perhaps I was wrong,” Ignos mutters.

  “You were wrong about many things,” I reply.

  Ignos yanks the staff free, letting more of the body’s blood flow, and holds it in its right midclaw.

  “There’s an advantage to being a host, Kaishi,” Ignos says. “You only feel what you want to feel.”

  The Sevora steps towards me, and then a bright flash comes over my shoulder, strikes Ignos in the Oratus’ wide chest, and drops the creature to the ground.

  “Come on, Kaishi,” Viera says, running up next to me. “The thing was evil anyway.”

  22 Scum Vs. Villainy

  The lift lands in the Nexus and the five of them exit into a sliding crowd of chaos. Species run back and forth, some alone and others in groups. Some carrying weapons, most looking for places to hide. Asking for escape mods, or how to surrender.

  Sax doesn’t care to tell them that the Vincere won’t take prisoners. Not here, not anymore.

  It’s a quick sprint through the Nexus to the spoke where the Mobius is parked. Even in their various levels of panic, the crowds make way for the hulking Oratus and their heavily-armed friends. More than a few tag along behind them - presumably going for their own ships and figuring to be where the firepower is.

  Which proves to be a good decision for everyone when the Sisters announce that the first shuttles have landed.

  The docking spoke itself is a long, wide hallway with neon-lit numbers hanging outside large, arched doors leading into the bays themselves. Beneath the numbers are the names of the current occupants, and Sax can see the blazing blue of #6, and beneath it, Mobius, far down the spoke.

  Most of the bays, though, are empty. And most of their doors are opening.

  “Too late,” Black says. “Cover?”

  Two choices - either they press through, try to make it to the bay, or sit back and fight it out with the coming forces. The problem with the latter is the Vincere has more troops, more weapons than they do.

  “If we play it safe, we’re dead,” Sax announces. “I’ll go for your ship, and we’ll come back for you. Cover me.”

  He tosses Bas the miner he still has from the Flaum, then Sax breaks for the wall.

  Agra-Red and Plake take up the task of covering fire, along with a bunch of Scrapper Station scoundrels, and unleash lasers at the groups of soldiers pouring into the spoke. There’s not much to hide behind in the hallway - a few crates here and there, some battery racks that everyone stays well away from, so the firefight quickly degenerates into a blinding murderer’s row.

  Sax goes up the right wall, using his claws to pull himself along. Space station walls aren’t designed to resist Oratus claws, so he slices his way along in a rapid scramble towards the soldiers.

  Shouts and screams grow loud, then a stray shot strikes something combustible and an explosion rocks the middle of the spoke, smoke and fizzing energy filling the air. Sax can’t see anything except the flashes of those not deterred by the fact they can’t see their target. He keeps moving forward, keeps his vents closed as long as possible - who knows what terrible gasses are getting blown through the air now.

  It’s hard to hit an Oratus in perfect conditions, much less when Sax has a wall of gray hiding him from view. Sax climbs over the blue glow of Bay Five, and not long after finds himself above number six. He drops to the ground, is about to head through the doors, when he realizes they’re closed.

  Sax dashes to the control panel along one side, slams the button to open, but all he gets is a simple error message. Locked. So instead he taps the intercom, tries to talk through.

  “Who’s calling?” It’s Engee, the Teven.

  “Sax. Open the bay door.”

  “Where’s Plake?”

  Sax hears a noise behind him. The smoke’s too thick to see what it is, but this far down the spoke, it’s not likely to be a friend.

  “She’s busy. I need you to help me rescue them.”

  “How about you tell me where she is, and we’ll get them first.”

  Sax hisses, raises his claw and is about to slam it against the panel, when a miner bolt crashes into the wall next to him.

  “Tricked me once, Sax,” Gar rasps. “It’s not going to happen a second time.”

  Turning your back on an enemy is the last thing Sax wants to do, especially when that enemy has four sharp claws and a pair of talons. But the Mobius has to get in the air, or one of the lasers still flying through the smoke is going to hit Bas.

  “Go up to Bay One. They’re right outside the door,” Sax manages to say before a pair of claws dig into his shoulder and throw him away from the intercom.

  “Talking to someone?” Gar hisses, diving back on to of Sax, teeth snapping at Sax’s throat.

  Sax, pushing Gar back with his own foreclaws, manages to get his tail between the two of them and pushes up with the strong muscle. His tail shoves Gar up and off of him, through the air and into the smoke somewhere back up the spoke.

  The Oratus hops to a crouch, scans the mist. There’s still plenty of battle noise, though he’s seeing fewer flashes coming back this way. The little band of roughs was never going to last long.

  Gar drops from above, and Sax only gets a split second warning from the sudden curl of the gray smoke. Sax tries to leap right as Gar crashes into him, and that centimeter of distance means Gar’s talons only dig a long gash down Sax’s neck instead of piercing his head. Without the solid landing, Gar has to catch himself on the ground, which puts him at perfect level for Sax’s tail to crack into him.

  This time, Sax’s smashing blow sends Gar into the Bay Six door, and Sax doesn’t let his former friend set himself. Sax bounds forward and, in a single long leap, pins Gar. With his left foreclaw, Sax drives Gar’s neck back against the metal, the tips of his claws pressing in on Gar’s scales.

  “You never did care enough about your surroundings,” Sax hisses.

  “I’m not the only one,” Gar rasps.

  A wash of blue light hits Sax, and he feels all sensation drop away, all things fade into a numb nothing.

  23 Fight And Flight

  Malo’s still on the ground when we turn to him, and he’s sporting a deep burn in his chest. His eyes are closed and his breathing comes ragged.

  “Can we lift him up?” Viera says, and I move to try.

  The warrior isn’t light, though, and it takes both of us to even get Malo off the ground. As we lift him, Malo’s eyes jerk open and he gasps.

  “Don’t move me!” Malo says, leaning on us. “It’s too painful.”

  “It’s either that or you get to stay here with all these lovely bodies,” Viera replies.

  “We’re not far,” I say, though it’s only a guess. “It’s no worse than when Jakkan’s assassins attacked us back home.”

  Malo closes his eyes tight for a second, then nods.

  “One step at a time,” I say, and then we move.

  Viera k
eeps one miner drawn in her right hand as we creep forward. I manage to sneak a look at the rest of the Flaum, at the smoke still rising from their bodies.

  “You’re deadlier than I thought,” I say to her.

  “Apparently I have to be around you,” Viera replies. “Seems we get into all kinds of trouble.”

  My hand, on Malo’s waist, feels his sweat, his shaking skin. I don’t know if he’s going to make it out of this, but I’m going to do my best to try.

  We exit the egg-shaped building and find ourselves on a broad street. Not too far away, I can see the gigantic oval marking the spaceport, the place where we landed after Ignos first tricked us to traveling here.

  “It’s not far, Malo, not far,” I whisper to him.

  “Just keep going,” Malo replies, his eyes still shut.

  So that’s what we do. With the continuing chaos throughout the city, nobody bothers stopping to see what’s going on with three struggling species moving slow along the ground. We pass beneath huge buildings, under swooping walkways and tubes, many of which still have platforms shuttling people from one place to another. Even an all-out attack from Clarity’s Dawn apparently doesn’t shut down Vimelia.

  “Did you see Ignos?” I ask Viera as we move. “The body it was using seemed like it was falling apart.”

  “Maybe they only had an old one.” Viera doesn’t sound the least bit curious. “Or the thing was sick. I’m not complaining, either way.”

  We carry on for a few more steps. Malo’s getting heavier, but I’m not going to leave him, so I dig deep, push through the soreness in my shoulders and the pressure on my back and keep going.

  I’m still curious how Ignos managed to grab us, how it redirected the platform to ambush us there at the bottom of the building. If it was planned, why only go with a few Flaum? If it wasn’t, how did Ignos find us so fast?

  “Kaishi, do you remember when the Emperor died?” Malo says, his voice soft, weaker than I’ve ever heard it.

  “You led our forces. Won the fight.”

  “I slept,” Viera adds. “It was glorious.”

  “I thought I was doing it for revenge, to honor his sacrifice,” Malo continues. “But I think we all knew, even the Emperor, that it wasn’t him we were fighting for, but for you and what you were giving us. If we lost you, then we would lose everything.”

  “You mean, if you lost Ignos,” I reply.

  “No, you. For whatever else you are, Kaishi, you’re kind. You care. If Ignos had found a warrior that didn’t hold back, who just wanted to conquer, then we would all have lost.”

  “Quiet, Malo,” I don’t want him to die mid-sentence, especially now that we’ve carried him this far. “Try to save your strength.”

  “Not like Kaishi needs the praise anyway,” Viera says. “She knows she’s great.”

  Malo manages a half laugh, then falls silent again.

  The spaceport is larger, closer now. There’s no grand entrance, but instead a series of tunnels with arched openings leading down. In front of the closest opening, I see a familiar face and wave my arm.

  Rackt and a pair of Clarity’s Dawn Whelk scramble over to us and take a look at Malo.

  “Can you help him?” I ask the Vyphen, whose packing a trio of miners, one larger in his hands and two smaller ones like Viera’s on his belt.

  The Vyphen glances at one of the Whelks, who pulls a pack off his gooey back and sets down near Malo, pulling a tube of some fluid and spreading a clear liquid over the area of the burn.

  “It’s a bad one,” the Whelk says as he spreads the gel. “He needs better help than we can give him here.”

  Then the Whelk pulls something out of his pack - a little jar that I recognize.

  “Stim?” I say as the Whelk sticks a needle through the rubber lid of the jar, pulls it back out coated in the sticky stuff.

  “You’ve seen it?” Rackt asks.

  “I’ve used it,” I reply. “If we live through this, I’ll tell you about it.”

  “Speaking of,” Viera’s eyes are tracking behind us, and while the Whelk gives Malo a dose of the energizing drug, we see a shuttle lift off from back the way we came, near the egg structure.

  The craft wobbles in the air, then tilts its nose down and begins to speed towards us.

  “What do you want to bet that’s Ignos?” Viera says.

  “No deal,” I reply. “Let’s get out of here.”

  I turn, and help a suddenly awake Malo to his feet. The Whelk throws his medical pack around his body and then we start to scramble for the entrance. My feet hit hard on the tile, and I feel Malo’s hand tight in mine as we go.

  “This, what I’m feeling, isn’t natural,” he says as we run.

  “It’s saving your life,” I reply. “Don’t complain.”

  “Not complaining, just surprised.”

  The entryway looms before us, an arch with a glowing red frame dotted with those black nodules. The ones I’ve come to realize can let others see you from far away.

  Yet another thing I’ll be glad to leave behind on this rotten world.

  A gradual roar grows behind us and I don’t have to look to know it’s the shuttle. Air pushes us forward faster, and we make it past the threshold, the beige sky getting replaced by brighter, unnatural white lights. Which flicker as that rumbling roar gets so loud, so close—

  “It’s crashing!” Viera yells. “Dive!”

  And we do as everything collapses, burns and explodes around us.

  Somewhere in the tumble I lose track of Malo’s hand. We’re rolling through falling rock, bouncing down the slope until, finally hitting the bottom, I roll to a rest.

  The mask keeps me upright and uncut, though it does nothing about the bruises and twisted ankle I’m feeling after that roll. Still, I’m the first one up, and I’m staring back at the collapsed entry and seeing carnage.

  The front nose of the shuttle, gray and shattered now, is nearly touching me. Its wings are gone, and behind and around it, the entire tunnel has collapsed. Stone, sparking lights, and an unknown amount of pipes are bent and bursting around the craft.

  The bodies of my friends, of Rackt and the medic Whelk - I don’t see the other - are scattered around me. They’re mostly still, or moaning. There’s a sharp hiss, and the front of the shuttle, the glass shield, pops off and falls aside to the ground. Climbing out, its claws scraping against the side as it drops down, is Ignos.

  Its Oratus body is bleeding from everywhere. There’s a black scoring on its chest from Viera’s blast, and the deep gouge from the staff looks like it hasn’t sealed. Yet Ignos is standing there, staring at me with an open mouth full of razor teeth.

  “Sevora can push past the pain, Kaishi,” Ignos hisses at me. “We can bring a body to heights it could never achieve otherwise.”

  I’m shaking my head, even as I hope my friends can get themselves up. “You’re killing it.”

  “This one? This one never really lived in the first place. From a tube to being my host, it wouldn’t know what to do with freedom if it ever tasted it.” Ignos steps towards me, its claws clacking against the docking bay’s floor.

  “That shouldn’t be your choice to make.”

  “Yes. I could have left you alone. Let your tribe, all your people die in the name of freedom,” Ignos doesn’t stop. “Instead, I saved you. You owe me a debt, Kaishi. One you can repay right now by coming with me. Joining me.”

  “To do what, Ignos?” I cry. “What can I do that your Oratus body can’t?”

  “Save my species!” Ignos lunges forward with the last word, and I try to back-step.

  Even with the mask, I’m not quick enough. Even weakened, the Oratus has too much strength. Ignos catches me, whips its tail behind my legs and trips me onto the ground.

  It looms over me, and for a moment there in its yellow-black eyes I see something other than malice. And I reach for it.

  “You don’t want to kill me,” I try to say.

  “I don’t,” Ignos re
plies. “Yet, if you won’t come willingly, then I have no choice.”

  “But if you hurt me, hurt us, you won’t get what you want?”

  “Look at this,” Ignos glances at its claws. “It’s not perfect, but it’s close enough. And with time, we’ll perfect it. I don’t need you alive to get what I want.”

  Ignos raises its right foreclaw, and then it’s no longer on top of me. There’s a flash, and I see a mad ball of limbs. Black hair that I recognize.

  Malo. His fists are flying, and connecting, until Ignos gets a claw into the man’s back, bites in and flings Malo off of him and into the smooth docking-bay wall.

  In the moment between Malo hitting the wall and Ignos getting back up, I realize we’re far from the only people in the spaceport. Behind us, farther into the vast space, plenty of craft are coming and going. Their punctuating rockets add a peppered background noise to the continuing rumbles of far-off demolitions and the closer fizzle of sparking pipes.

  There’s bystanders too - species I’m assuming are controlled by Sevora, Flaum and others, staring at us from a safe distance.

  An audience that scatters as soon as Viera gets up to a crouch and sends a few warning shots their way. Sends one over at Ignos too, which hits just over its ducking head.

  “Gotta run, Kaishi,” Viera curses as she half-walks, half stumbles over to me.

  “We can’t leave Malo,” I reply, though I’m weaponless.

  “No problem, you get the warrior, I’ll take care of the slug,” Viera raises the miner and advances on Ignos.

  But she doesn’t get there. One of those shuttles I assumed was leaving the spaceport zooms over towards us, blasts over the heads of the fleeing spectators and clomps its gear down next to me. The shuttle’s shaped like a diamond, with the massive rockets glaring out one end of a smooth, pinkish shell.

  “You all better get in here right now, or you’re going to lose your ride!” T’Oli’s voice, blasting out over the speakers. “Sapphrite told me to get you off this rock, but it didn’t say I had to kill myself to do it, so you’ve got one chance!”