Shadows of the Son

by E L Strife

  Blood drained from her face.

  “Get up.”

  The SI’s barrel followed her chin as she pushed herself up against the wall. How a Linoan had made it inside Home Station doors, she had no idea. She could feel the stretch in her eyes as she stared. The Linoan looked almost human.

  “Your Verros were kind to let me in. Very kind. But very stupid.” He cocked his head with a menacing glower, tracing her body in contempt. “I’ve been watching you for some time.”

  Atana couldn’t make her voice work between the sobs. Her heart thumped wearily in her chest.

  “First, I want to know where you’ve hidden the Gamazet.”

  “The w-what?” she managed. Pull it together, Nakio.

  He grabbed her throat, baring pointy black teeth. His breath was rancid, his voice a dual-tone clash of high and low notes. “The ArcBow, you idiots keep calling it.”

  Linoans were always animals in her mind. Until today, she’d never met one who spoke English. With everything going on, her brain stuttered.

  “Where is it?” He demanded, jerking her body and cramming the hot barrel up under her jaw.

  She swallowed against the pressure and the stench of her burning flesh. “I’ll never tell you, shit.”

  The Linoan swayed his head in disappointment. Releasing her throat, he pulled an item from his belt. “See this?” He held a shiny chrome cylinder, the size of a handgun, beside his face, looking at it with the pride of a father over his child. “I stole this metal from Karakas. It can penetrate your spark shield.” He spun it gleefully in the palm of his hand. “I can kill you, and any like you, with this.”

  Holding the cylinder close to her face, he grinned. “Shall we try it?” When he depressed a button on one end, crags of electricity, dark as space, crackled around the end.

  The cylinder thrust open in the shape of a sword beside her cheek, nipping her skin. The speed of the movement sent a gust of air whirling through the tear-soaked strands of hair clinging to her face.

  Atana had only encountered black energy once before inside the Suanoan computer system on Zephyr Station. It was as deadly a virus as Suanoa.

  “Now, let’s see where this Gamazet is hiding, shall we?” He retracted the sword, returning the weapon to its cylindrical shape.

  Her cheek stung, but she focused on finding her voice again, and the pain faded to a throb. “Why do you need it if you have that?”

  “Because you took it from me.”

  “I didn’t.”

  “But you have it, don’t you?” He holstered his SI and tapped the cylinder in her bruised side. A wave of nauseating pain made her bend to his demand. “And don’t act so pathetic. The shepherds will notice. If anyone says anything, they die.”

  She pursed her quivering lips shut and forced herself upright. Walking out into the hall, she tried to turn right.

  “Ah. I know it’s somewhere to the left.”

  Atana silently cursed herself and turned as directed. She’d hoped to lead him away from the group rooms and the bow, anywhere she could get in a better position to fight back. “If you’ve been watching us, why not kill me sooner?” she asked as they passed the rooms, following the arced hallway toward the far end of the wing.

  “Because I require something else.” His steps quieted.

  Atana spun around to see him stopped by the group room door. His placement was too perfect. “No,” she said, spreading her feet in preparation to run at him.

  The Linoan lifted his fist.

  Atana grimaced as she screamed through Ether. Don’t answer! Do not answer, Azure!

  He knocked three times. The door didn’t open. Lifting his chrome weapon at her, he licked a tooth. “Get them to open up, or I shoot you where you stand.”

  “Do it,” she sneered.

  Scuffling sounds and thuds came from the room. Several shouts led to the door swinging open.

  The Linoan retrained his weapon on Azure with unparalleled speed and fired.

  Jagged strings of black lightning burst out around Azure’s body. He grunted and arched back before collapsing in the open doorway.

  “Azure!” Atana cried out and lurched for his position.

  “No,” the Linoan warned, directing the muzzle at her. “Everyone out or she dies.”

  The group room emptied. Lavrion and Imara stooped to check on Azure. Amianna spread her flumes and ignited her shield, hiding Teek, Ramura, and Kios behind her.

  “Ah, the predictable mate. Such disappointment you bring to everyone.” The Linoan sighed dramatically. As if to make a point, he redirected his weapon and shot Amianna.

  A grouping of her flumes vanished in a pink mist. Amianna gasped and flinched but held her ground.

  Grinning, the Linoan cocked his head. “You are not immune, pretty Prime.”

  Amianna’s face split with magenta light, her eyes narrowing. “Then at least I’ll be a body in the way.”

  The Linoan shrugged. “So be it.”

  Atana grabbed a folding chair from the lunchroom table behind her and slung it hard through the air. It impacted the Linoan’s weapon, redirecting a released blast into the wall. Atana snatched up another.

  He dodged the second with skill, but it drew his attention back to her.

  “Your Gamazet is in the janitorial closet.” She pointed down the hall. “Up in the ceiling, all the way to the rock. Sixth truss back, three beams up. It’s tucked on the shelf there.” It was actually twelve and six, respectively, but she would not make this easy on him. “You can take me. But leave them alone.”

  Atana wanted to call out to Lavrion, to find out if Azure was holding on. But the last of her energy was focused on the Linoan in front of her.

  “Great. I’ll pick it up on my way out. For now, I want the boy. Just hand him over to me, and I’ll relieve you of all your troubles.”

  Hearing Kios whimper into Ramura’s shoulder, Atana drew in a fueling breath. “He is no trouble.”

  “He does not invade your sleep with visions?” The Linoan asked, sounding genuinely surprised.

  She repressed a snort. “I invade dreams.”

  The Linoan’s eyes widened as he threw his head back, laughing. “There are two? Today keeps getting better.”

  Atana shared a look of confusion with Ramura as Kios hid in the girl’s long hair.

  “I’ll take both of you.” The Linoan pointed the chrome weapon back at Atana.

  A blast of blue-green fire rocketed across the hall and out into the lunchroom, carrying the Linoan’s chrome weapon with it. The cylinder discharged to Atana’s left, the gnarled knot ripping by her left shoulder and impacting the wall of the closed service window in the back. Black crags crawled up the wall until it crumbled to ash leaving a gaping hole into the kitchen.

  The Linoan grabbed his burnt hand and turned to face his attacker.

  Golden light filled the hall as Bennett charged out of another stairwell, e-rifle jammed in his shoulder. “On your knees!”

  The Linoan didn’t move.

  Bennett’s body encrusted in golden light. He slowed his words. “On your knees.”

  “Easy, Sergeant Bennett,” Imara warned. “He can change position much faster than any of us.”

  “Understood.” Bennett shoved his boot into the Linoan’s back, knocking the creature forward. He slapped a pair of cuffs on the Linoan’s wrists.

  Atana hurried to Azure’s side.

  “He’s unconscious, but just stunned, I think,” Lavrion said. “He needs rest to heal his spark.”

  Running her fingers over Azure’s lifeless face, Atana felt herself losing control. Azure had always fought for her, continuously taking hits because of his devotion.

  Rolling the Linoan over, Bennett checked his pockets. “No bombs or other items?”

  The Linoan hissed through his teeth.

  Freeing the SI from the Linoan’s holster, Bennett tossed it aside. “Command will have questions for you. I can’t wait to listen in.”

  “Plea
se give us some space,” Atana whispered to Lavrion and Imara as she straddled Azure’s waist.

  Lavrion got up and ushered the group away. Imara left to guard the end of the hall opposite Bennett.

  Collecting her energy and holding it in the front of her mind, Atana braced the sides of Azure’s face then touched her forehead to his.

  Cold, life-draining fog sucked the strength from her body. Knees shaking, Atana forced herself to her feet. She called to him until her throat was sore, and her heart feared the worst. Waving clouds out of her way, she uncovered a silhouette sprawled out and motionless on the gravel.

  Dropping to his side, she whispered his name. His veins were dark like his blood was filled with soot. The ink had crawled out from a blast mark on his chest, filling his heart and consuming his face.

  Azure’s lungs filled with breath. Then another. His eyelids fluttered.

  “That’s it. I’m here,” Atana cooed, relieved to see signs of life.

  His veins lightened in color, returning to normal. “What happened?”

  “Linonans have a new weapon.”

  A chilled hand braced her side. “But you’re—” Azure’s eyes flew open. “You’re hurt. I feel it.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Liar.” Azure’s fingers graced the bottom of her chin, a puff of cool mist drifting between them.

  “Compared to the alternative, I’m stellar,” she remarked.

  “Shields!” a voice shouted from down the hall.

  In a panic, Atana woke herself back in Home Station. Atana thrust her shield out on instinct.

  Azure stared up at her so still her heart stalled. “Azure?”

  He grabbed her shoulders, drawing her close. “I’m okay.”

  Flashes of green light filled the main hall. To her right, where the group had last stood, Bennett’s golden shield burst to life.

  Flaming pellets assaulted the Linoan’s body in rapid clusters. He toppled sideways, half of his face gone in a spray of bloodied meat. A broken wrist flopped in front of him. From his other dangled an empty cuff and a primed SI.

  Cutter wheezed from the hall entrance, the muzzle of his shotgun smoking from the heat buildup.

  Tanner stepped up beside him, resting a hand on Cutter’s shoulder. “It’s okay. It’s done. I’ll guard.”

  Atana and Bennett dropped their shields.

  “I reacted to something I—heard.” Cutter looked up from the Linoan to Bennett.

  “Heard?” Acquired Ari telepathy? Atana asked, helping Azure to his feet.

  “I don’t know.” Cutter rubbed his forehead with force.

  That’s a yes. Bennett chuckled.

  “Mia?” Tanner rushed past them, slowing as he approached Amianna’s position. He collected her injured flumes, inspecting them as if they were cut fingers.

  Amianna sniffled and shivered as she sank into his arms. “I think I’m going to lose them. I can’t feel them anymore.”

  They exchanged quiet words Atana couldn’t hear, but she saw something dark shimmer in Tanner’s eyes. Amianna hid her face against his chest.

  After a consoling hug, Tanner looked back to the chrome weapon on the floor. “I’ll inspect it. It can’t hurt me.”

  Atana agreed. She had no desire to play with such a device so soon after it had hurt Azure.

  “Let me know what you find,” Atana said.

  “Will do.” Tanner planted a covert kiss on the side of Amianna’s head, then turned and collected the weapon. Bracing Cutter’s back with a hand, he urged him down the hall to their room.

  “Damn it. I wanted to interrogate him.” Bennett crossed his arms and stared at the dark pool beneath the Linoan’s body.

  Atana felt Azure wrap an arm around her and pull her in against him, but she didn’t have the energy to move. She met Bennett’s eyes, closing her mind to everyone but him. He wanted Kios and me. Why take us? All Suanoa have ever wanted was to kill us.

  Unsure, but I’ll see if I can dig around a little in the cosmic attic. Bennett stood guard beside the body as security and scrub teams arrived.

  Sobbing, Kios ran up to Atana with his hands in the air. “Miima!”

  She picked him up, stifling a groan as her ribs shifted. Setting him on her hip, she wiped the tears from his cheeks and enjoyed his breathing warmth against her. But she worried such a life was not safe for him. Home Station, even her relationship with the boy, presented risks to his life she wasn’t sure she could accept. “Hush. Ahna vi mitrasso.”

  Kios wrapped himself around her neck. “Miipa?”

  Azure leaned in against them, running a large hand through the boy’s hair. “Sim virrahs.” He cleared his throat and showed her the blinking message on his screen. “Command wants to talk.”

  “Of course, they do.” She gave him an annoyed glance. “All they know how to do is talk.”

  Chapter 30

  AFTER AN AGONIZING HOUR of explaining what had happened, Lavrion, Imara, and Ramura left Command’s conference room to escort Azure and Amianna to medical for evaluation. Bennett and Atana remained behind to talk and sat beside one another in the mesh chairs around the table. Kios had refused to leave Atana’s arms.

  “We’ve been over this. No one will trust you, will trust us if our Command keeps secrets from its people,” Bennett said, his hand resting over the back of Atana’s chair. He’d seen Sergio do it with Renae, and no one said a thing. Knowing how Atana had been attacked and seeing the slowed rate of her healing burns, he wanted to comfort her somehow. When his thumb brushed the back of her neck, he saw an instant change in her energy, the color of her skin, her healing.

  Unsure if he’d stepped too far, he pulled back. Only then did Atana look at him with a hint of a tired smile. So he continued.

  “We need to know we can trust you, and you trust amongst yourselves,” Atana added.

  “Primvera are not one of the original species to inhabit this planet,” Miskaht interrupted. “When they came, the Linétens followed. The Linétens are instigators of the Three Hundred Year War. Naturally, there is bad blood, however indirect.”

  “Even amongst you?” Atana asked with feigned disbelief.

  “Yes,” Dequan snapped. “Prims are the reason so few Kojaqx are left. Mistook our paleness for Linétens in the early battles.”

  Krett glanced away at the screens on the wall. “Your short tempers do not help.”

  “He didn’t do it,” Klézia countered, crossing her arms. “Yet even here, in Command, there appear to be species grudges.” She threw Dequan a glare.

  Glato’s massive hands fell open on the table before him. “I challenged them and felt nothing. Blame could be placed on me.”

  Atana’s face darkened. “It doesn’t matter. Terson is right. Kyras are our prime concern. We have—”

  “Two days,” Krett interrupted, massaging his forehead. “Today. Tomorrow.”

  Command quieted. There was no time to mourn or heal.

  Atana looked far too deep in thought to be worrying about Kios. “I’ll take him for a bit, Bennett offered.” She relented without a fight. Collecting the sleeping boy, Bennett stood and nudged his chair in with a foot. Atana stood beside him, a hand braced to her ribs.

  Bennet scanned Command on his way to the door. “Maybe you should put your differences aside until after the war and help out the shepherds for once.”

  Atana held the door for him, and they stepped out. “Thanks. I was done with that meeting too.”

  “Wait.” Krett joined them in the hall. His green eyes cut into both of them. “I wish I could change the past. The Linétens have destroyed so much under our name. But Dequan is right; we have made our share of mistakes.”

  Balie approached but did not come out, watching through the glass like the others in Command.

  “Thank you for guiding us.” Krett slapped a fist over his chest and knelt before them. “Donnonoa fia sasli kikan.”

  It was honoring, and wrong in Bennett’s mind to see a man as helpful an
d humble as Krett kneeling before them. “Your guilt is misplaced,” he blurted.

  Krett stood and smiled briefly, a sad glimmer in his vibrant eyes. “Not when one is constantly reminded of the need for it.” Two green strands unfurled from his shirt, forming a circle in the air behind his shoulders—a giant halo. The nodes at the ends brightened. “My people will follow you, young Prospector.”

  Krett’s flumes darkened and curled back underneath his shirt. Balie opened the door, and he disappeared inside the room once again.

  Atana turned to Bennett. “What did he say?”

  Bennett gently took to the steps at her side, Kios’s head resting on his shoulder. They descended to the main auditorium floor. “Forever in your service.”

  Learning a lot of new things lately? she asked as they crossed the floor and headed down the main stairs towards Level Three.

  Yes. Unfortunately.

  Don’t you like it? She stopped and looked at him in the darkened stairwell, her blue eyes glowing like a pair of eclipsed moons.

  Bennett didn’t stop for fear of waking Kios. It’s giving me a headache.

  She hurried after him. There’s always a learning curve. You will get the hang of it.

  How can you say that? he asked in hopeless exasperation as they entered the hall to their rooms. I was not quick enough to figure it out! How many more people have to die while I wait for this stupid transformation to complete?

  A hand stopped him before he could reach for his door. Atana tugged until he faced her again.

  You can’t ask the impossible of yourself, even as a Prospector. Atana hesitantly lifted her hands to his face trailing her fingertips over his cheeks and down the sides of his neck, heating his skin along the way. I have faith in you.

  Faith doesn’t always save lives, he said, looking away at nothing in particular. Krett’s comment about guilt rang too true in his own heart.

  “Depends on how you define life,” she whispered.