Shadow Stars (Universe on Fire Book 2)

by Ivan Kal

  Her people had interrogated the mercenaries, who had been surprisingly cooperative. They told them everything—they knew that they were at her ship’s mercy. The mercenaries had assumed that they would be sold into indentured service, as it looked like that was what happened in most cases like this. Aiko couldn’t understand that, but they simply accepted that as a part of life. Apparently, a year of service was an appropriate period of time for crews of ships that lost a battle.

  “So, did we get anything?” Aiko asked finally.

  Chief Gene Randor, who was sitting across from her, shook his head. “The things that were left behind were scraps, technology that had broken down so badly that we can’t even tell what it was supposed to do. The only thing worth anything was a crate filled with Val’ayash assault rifles, but they are degraded—not as bad as the rest of the stuff, but they are not operational. Still, I think that they might be useful for research purposes.”

  She noticed Kane nod his head. “I can confirm that the rifles are of the same make as the weapons they used against us during our skirmish. They are some kind of beam weapon, which I am sure would be useful if we manage to reverse engineer them.”

  Her XO, Jasmine King, spoke next. “I agree with Captain Reinhart. The weapons will be useful.”

  “But,” Aiko started, “do we know what the Red Suns found here before we arrived?”

  Jasmine grimaced and looked Aiko in the eyes. “The data mining of Red Suns computers revealed that they believed it to be an FTL communications system.”

  Everyone around the table was shocked. “That…that is amazing,” Chief Randor said.

  “Too bad they already got it,” Kane said.

  Aiko tapped raised a finger to tap at her chin as she thought. “Not necessarily…”

  Kane frowned at her. “What are you thinking about?”

  “They will be selling this item at an auction, won’t they? We have a lot of credits saved up from our escort runs, as well as lot of kotarium we could sell,” Aiko said.

  “Uh…” Kane started as he narrowed his eyes at her. “I don’t see how we could get there. We know nothing about this planet. How would we even gain access to a black-market auction? We don’t have those kind of connections. Unless you mean for us to lay siege to a planet.”

  “Of course not,” Aiko said with an exasperated look sent in his direction. “And we do have one criminal connection.”

  Kane immediately shook his head. “Oh, no. You want us to trust that traitor? Again?”

  “He owes us still,” Aiko started. “And he knows that it would take only a single word from us to get him executed by Jar Allera security. We still have all the evidence of his criminal activities.”

  She could see Kane struggle with the idea. Aiko knew that he really didn’t like the trader from Jar Allera, but she also knew him. She could see the moment when he relented.

  “Fine. I guess we are going back to Jar Allera, then.” Kane rubbed his head, then looked back at her. “And what are we going to do with the mercenaries?”

  Aiko turned to Chief Randor. “Is the Val’ayash facility capable of holding them for an extended period of time?”

  “Sure. I mean, a part of the facility had failed and been exposed to vacuum in the past, but the mercenaries had fixed that before we arrived. The facility is now operational.”

  “Good. We can transfer them there along with whatever supplies they had left on their ships to the facility. I am sure that someone from their organization would come looking for them once they don’t arrive with the rest of the cargo on schedule,” Aiko said.

  “That will take time,” Chief Randor said.

  “We need to wait two weeks before we head for Jar Allera anyway, to give enough time to the decoy ship in Sol to open a wormhole back there,” Aiko said, then gave out orders to her officers to get it done.

  ***

  Four weeks later ship time, and four months in real time, Kane found himself walking down the streets of Jar Allera followed closely behind by Lt. Commander Erika Hansen and Lt. Imari Okoye. The massive station situated on an asteroid with a population of almost half a million sentient beings reminded Kane of Earth’s cities. People moved about on their business as buildings rose around them bathed in neon light, and flashing advertisements intruded almost constantly, attempting to entice people to come into their establishments. It was a busy place, home to many, and just a stop to others. Jar Allera was a neutral system, meaning it was not claimed by any star nation, and as such it was a prime place for meetings between star nations, which made it a good place for traders and information brokers. The truth was that this place was sponsored by the Zhal, who were the closest star nation to the station, so that they could have a neutral place to conduct their more…questionable business. Such as trade in ancient tech.

  In many ways, Jar Allera was the same as a human city, with the same problems and the same charms. Sometimes, Kane could almost imagine that he was back on Earth, but only almost. Every being walking next to him was an alien, and because of that it would never feel exactly like Earth. The crew of the Prometheus were the only humans that were regular visitors to the station, aside from the rare trading convoy from Earth. But it was not the same.

  Finally, the three of them reached their destination, and Kane paused in front of its doors, looking at the sign glowing in front of him saying Jaquil’s Emporium. The trader was one of the first people that the crew of Prometheus had encountered here. Their mission had been to find something that could help Earth—technology, information, anything, so long as they could use it to help secure Earth’s future. The trader had helped them sell their goods and after that offered them a job: a retrieval of old tech discovered in the neutral zone. They had known that the offer was too good to be true, but they needed to take the risk. So, they had gone to the neutral zone and there found an recently unburied temple. They were then ambushed by an unknown force, which later turned out to be the Val’ayash, the ancient enemy of the Zhal’Qash returned.

  Kane had lost one of his squad members there, a person put in his charge. Kane wouldn’t have been all that mad at Jaquil had that been it; after all, the alien couldn’t have known about the Val’ayash. What he couldn’t forgive was that the sneaky little worm had tried to double cross them by sending three ships to take the Prometheus and whatever they had found on the planet.

  Kane grimaced, his hand moving to his hip where he usually kept his handgun—then he remembered that he had left it on the ship. Just thinking about the trader made him itchy. Jar Allera didn’t allow weapons on their station, and the only ones carrying weapons were the station’s security. It didn’t really matter much to Kane, though, as he still had his magic. He glanced to the two bulges on his Combat Enhancement System suit’s forearms, the firing system for the spellscript chips. Kane had his five spellscripts engraved under his skin, allowing him to cast spells. On his right breast was a spellscript which allowed him to burn his body’s energy for short bursts of strength and speed. The second on the other breast was a conditional healing spell: should he ever be injured past a certain point, it would eat away his own body in order to repair the damage and keep him alive. The third was on his left forearm, a simple magic-bolt spell. The fourth spellscript, on his right forearm, was a shield spell. And finally and perhaps most importantly, was the fifth spellscript on the back of his neck: the control spell which allowed him to pilot his mech-frame.

  These spellscripts made it easier for him to cast those spells, as humanity did not have the knowledge of how to teach magic properly. The Ethorrians guarded that knowledge jealously, and from what they had learned it took a long time for a mage to become truly proficient with magic. With the implanted spellscripts he could cast them easily, with just a thought, but it also crippled the rest of his magic. He couldn’t use any other spells than the ones implanted, as the spellscripts interfered with attempts to use regular magic. And he could not use his spellscripts for long; magic required energy, an
d it drained him quickly. The Ethorrian mages had a myriad of solutions to this problem, from contracts with great elementals, to massive spellscripts which harnessed the powers of the rivers, volcanoes, or other elements, to blood magic.

  But humanity had found a way to solve the problem as well. His firing mechanism held three spellscript chips in each forearm, each with a different spell. He had access to a telekinesis spell, a directional shield spell, limited invisibility, a lightning spell, a magic-bolt spell, and a teleportation spell, and he could have one active in each forearm, and then cycle through them. And the best part was that he didn’t need to provide any energy to the spellscripts from his body. The firing mechanism—or the spellslinger, as it had been dubbed—drew power from one of two power cells in his CES suit, and he could even tap into the other cell simultaneously in emergencies. The magi-tech power cells had truly changed the game when it came to using magic and technology together: the spellscripts which converted stored energy into energy that could be used to power magic were based on the Ethorrian converting spellscripts, adapted for human power generation and storage. In Kane’s opinion it was the greatest discovery the Wanderers had made since they joined humanity. It was what allowed them to use their mech-frames, to use magi-tech weapons in their ships, and to power massive spellscripts.

  “So, are we going in?” Erika asked, and Kane realized that they had been standing in front of the store for a while.

  He sighed and took a step forward reluctantly. “Yeah, let’s get this over with.”

  They stepped into the store, and were met with the familiar crates filled with trinkets on one side of the room and the display cases filled with everything from weapons to viewing devices. At the far end of the room was a long counter, and on it stood a meter-and-change-tall Anforan.

  As soon as he realized that he had customers he flew up and in their direction, and then once he noticed who it was he halted in the air. “Oh, it’s you.”

  Kane took a few steps and came to a stop in front of the alien, whose four feathery wings kept him at about the same height as Kane. “Jaquil,” Kane greeted him.

  “What do you want?” Jaquil asked, clearly uncomfortable.

  Kane didn’t blame him. The last time they met in person, Kane threatened to kill him. Since then every time that they needed to interact with the trader, Kane had sent someone else in his stead. The deal they had made, or rather extorted from the trade, was that he had to inform them of any rumors about old tech. So far his leads hadn’t really paid off, but he had at least kept his part of the bargain. That didn’t mean that Kane or Aiko trusted him, though; the alien was only trying to keep his skin safe, as they still had all the incriminating info on his criminal activities. A single message to Jar Allera security from the Prometheus and the trader would be finished.

  “You still owe us,” Kane said.

  “And I will always owe you, won’t I?” Jaquil asked ironically.

  “You tried to have us killed, to steal from us. You didn’t know who you were dealing with, I understand. But I think you have gotten off far better than you would’ve had you done that to someone else,” Kane said pointedly.

  The alien didn’t respond; there wasn’t much that he could say. He knew that Kane spoke the truth.

  “What may I help you with then? You haven’t come to see me in person in a long time, so I assume that it is something major,” Jaquil asked.

  Kane nodded and pulled out a data chip. “There is a planet, Illos. We need all information you have on it. Influential people, criminal organizations, how things work. And we need a way into an auction. It is being held by someone named Norvi Rett in a few months.”

  Jaquil’s eyes bulged in his head. “I can help with that… I’ve had some dealings on Illos. It is a business oriented planet, and there are few real laws there other than those of the syndicates. And Norvi Rett… He is the leader of probably the most dangerous one.”

  “Can you get us in the auction?” Kane asked.

  The alien thought about it. “I can get you an introduction, a message from me would do it, but you will need to buy your way in. Norvi Rett works only with those who are of use to him.”

  “We have enough credits for that,” Kane said.

  “No, you won’t be able to get in just with credits. It will have to be something unique: an item, tech, or information that no one else has.”

  “Do you have anything which could serve this purpose?”

  “No. A piece of old tech would be good, but it would have to be something really unique, as Norvi has been trading in old tech for a long time. Or you could trade some of your tech,” Jaquil suggested.

  Kane grimaced. They didn’t have a lot of options—they were not supposed to share their magi-tech, not that it would work for anyone who didn’t understand spellscripts. But it would probably reveal too much. And they didn’t have a lot of information to trade. “We’ll think of something. Transfer all the information you have about Illos and Norvi that you have to the Prometheus. And the message that will get us in.”

  “You will have it by the end of the day,” Jaquil said.

  Kane nodded and then they turned around and left.

  “Well, that wasn’t too bad now, was it?” Erika asked.

  Kane turned to look at her as they walked back toward their ship. “That little bastard is a worm. I am sure that if he had a way to screw us over again without getting in trouble, he would.”

  “Well, he can’t,” Imari chimed in.

  “Sure, for now, but I am certain that he is looking for a way.” Kane had many reasons to not like dealing with him, not the least of which being that every time he saw the alien he had to restrain himself from ripping his head off. Kane was not in the habit of letting people who double cross him live—but he understood the necessity for people like him.

  As they took a turn and entered into a narrow street, Kane felt something was off. He looked around and realized that they were alone in the street. He paused, looking around alertly.

  “Captain?” Erika asked.

  “Something is wrong,” Kane whispered. The streets of Jar Allera were rarely so empty. Even the back streets like this one.

  “Hello there again,” a voice from behind them spoke and the tree of them whirled around, their arms pointed toward the source.

  Behind them stood a cloaked figure, and Kane felt a chill settle in his bones. He could tell that Erika and Imari were getting their magic ready to fire their spellslingers and put his hands down immediately.

  “Stand down,” he ordered quickly before they could do something.

  “Uh, Captain?” Imari whispered confused.

  “Don’t do anything that could be considered hostile,” Kane told them. The two looked confused but they did as he asked.

  The stranger took his hood off, revealing a human figure. But Kane knew better—the stranger had told him once that it was his original human form, and perhaps it had been. But the thing in front of them now was as far away from human as one could get. Kane knew that the stranger could change shapes, and that he had power; something like magic, yet not.

  Kane couldn’t help but shiver at the memory of their last meeting. The stranger had taken Kane, or rather had a group of criminals do it for him. Kane was certain that he had either hired them or somehow controlled them, because the criminals had all been just a step above vegetables once security found them—their minds had been broken. The stranger had wanted to speak with Kane, and he had spoken about things that made Kane’s head spin. Other universes, other versions of humanity, words which from anyone else would be the ravings of a mad person. But not to Kane, not to someone who knew about the portal and Ethorria, who had met and spent time with the Wanderers, who were an alternate version of humanity. The stranger had wanted to know about the portal, and Kane had not felt like he could refuse.

  “I see that you remember me,” the stranger said with a smile on his face.

  “Our meeting was not somethi
ng that one can forget easily,” Kane said, noting the glances between Imari and Erika. The situation must be confusing for them. To them, the person in front of them was a human, and they had no idea about their previous meeting. The only ones who knew about this person were Aiko and their superiors on Earth.

  “Yeah, I guess encountering someone like me might make a lasting impression,” the stranger said with a grin on his face.

  Kane nearly rolled his eyes, but no matter how friendly the person in front of him seemed at the moment, he couldn’t forget that it could probably kill them all in the blink of an eye. “I don’t actually remember you introducing yourself last time,” Kane said, trying to be as respectful as possible.

  The stranger tilted his head. “Huh, I guess I didn’t. I apologize, I forget. I’ve had many names, but I suppose you can call me Oxylus. It is a good name for our purposes.”

  “But not your real one?” Kane asked. He was sensing that the stranger was willing to talk, and they needed as much information about him as possible.

  “What is a real name? A name I was given at birth? I abandoned that name even before I became what I am. Or do you mean the name that I was given by my enemies, as a sign of respect? If there is a name which one might consider my real one, that one would be it. But names… They are not important for beings like me. They are things that one uses to identify oneself, a construct created to make life easier in a reality where countless exist. Imaginary things that mortals mistake for their identity. I am not my name; I am more. Oxylus is the name I picked for the service of our meeting. It will do,” the stranger—Oxylus—said.