“Don’t worry about me. Notify us the moment Ranul arrives with Sarlun. Or my parents.” Jules quickly exited, along with her three associates. She wasted no time in preparing the lander and breaking away from the giant warship. Their craft was a speck against Outpost’s hull.
She guided the vessel to Ebos, and could tell that Jaessa was nervous. “What’s the matter?”
“The Brack.”
“What about them?” Jules asked.
“They never do anything alone. This Ranul… Why is one of my people’s biggest enemies present at an abandoned planet?” Jaessa gawked at Jules with fear in her eyes.
“We’re about to find out.” The lander shuddered as they entered the atmosphere.
“Searching for signs of ruins,” Suma said, deploying the suborbital drones. They lowered past a layer of dense cloud cover, and viewed the ocean below. It was expansive, whitecaps smacking together. Jules spotted an island, and hovered above it momentarily. The trees were thick, with no discernible beach.
“Drones are scheduled to complete their run in ten minutes,” Suma said. The technology had improved. It used to take an hour to complete a full planetary surface scan.
Jules took the lander to the nearest body of land, finding it precisely when the sensors alerted them the data was in.
Suma shot it to the front dash, and all four of them scanned the results. It was full of stunning landscape, but nothing resembling a city. Jules was sure there was more to Ebos than nature. She gawked at the images, scrolling through quickly.
“There’s no one around, Jules,” Suma said with confidence.
Jules wasn’t so sure. She released her abilities, checking for life. Being at the surface, under the clouds, and closer to the planet, she received different results. “They’re here.” She used her index finger to spin the 3D globe, and pointed to a location in the adjacent hemisphere.
“Are you certain?” Elex double-checked the drone feeds from that section. “It’s all trees.”
“Wrong,” Jules said.
She flew for that destination, the sense of concern rising with each passing kilometer. She felt them, their anxiety and suspicions.
It took almost twenty minutes, but they were deep inland. The sun was high, spreading a warm yellow glow over the awning of trees. The people were directly below their lander, but the drones showed nothing. The small cameras descended into the forest, displaying only green leaves and thick tree trunks.
“There has to be a mistake,” Jaessa said.
“The runes. Someone’s cast a spell,” Jules blurted out.
“Do you seriously believe it’s magic?” Elex asked.
Jules laughed. “If you’ve seen what I have, you’d agree.”
Suma seemed to believe her. “How would that work? Hiding an entire city?”
Jules didn’t respond. She sensed around eight hundred humanoid lifeforms congregating across a three-kilometer radius underneath them. Instead of dropping directly on top, she set their lander on the ground a short distance from the edge of what she imagined was a secreted village.
“We walk from this point on,” she told the others.
Jules didn’t take a gun, but Suma passed one to Jaessa, who reacted to it like it might bite her. Elex had the same expression. Suma sighed and spoke up. “If there’s any trouble, stay behind me. And I’ll be trusting that Jules has us covered.”
Jules grinned at her. She suspected this might be difficult, but maybe they’d have the advantage between the element of surprise and her Deity powers. The air was fresh and warm. Her boots sank into the soft ground a half inch, and she crouched, touching the damp grass. Trees rose higher than any she’d ever seen, with trunks wide enough to park a spaceship within them.
Her teeth gritted as her powers surged. “Something’s wrong.”
“You’re telling me,” Suma said. “You think a city is in our midst, and all I can see are more trees.”
“Jaessa, stay close. We’re exposed here.” Jules tossed her protective shield around their whole group, leaving it invisible, and they all walked deeper into the forest.
Jaessa watched everything with curiosity and concern, and Jules didn’t blame her. It was a dichotomy. Absolute paradise laced with danger.
They continued for several minutes when Jules spied the first marking. She jogged to the trunk, touching the carved symbol. “It resembles what Ranul used to make herself invisible, but it’s not completely identical.”
“I see it.” Suma took a snapshot with her tablet.
“They’re everywhere.” Jaessa indicated another tree with the same marking. They recognized them spread around the entire region.
“This is how they made it invisible. Thousands of runes, keeping the spell flowing.” Jules closed her eyes, picturing the markings. She reached out with her energy, targeting each marker. In one fell swoop, she scratched them through the center, hoping to render them useless.
“Oh my…” Elex’s voice cracked.
Jules opened her eyes, seeing immense structures rising high about the giant forest. “We found it.”
Suma used a scope, capturing more images, and she passed the tablet to Jules. “Recognize anything?”
Jaessa was the first to answer. “It could be Brack. I’m not positive.”
“I guess we’ve uncovered a nest of your enemies after all, Jaessa.” Jules was conflicted. She wanted to investigate more, but understood she should report this to Magnus before doing anything dangerous.
The towers rose high into the sky, their bases prolonged and smooth, ending with circular tops. Some of them were connected with sprawling suspension bridges. It was remarkable.
“Have you seen the Brack worlds before, Jaessa?” Jules asked.
The girl shook her head.
“We can’t tell if they built these or if they’re just occupying them.” Jules was confident these structures had been created long ago. Everything had a layer of moss on it, and the metal spires were sun-bleached and faded.
A blast struck the ground in front of her, and Jules threw her friends back on impulse. Another beam hit a nearby tree, sending bark flying. She couldn’t see the perpetrators, but was confident she was able to defend against their blind strike.
“They’re everywhere,” Jaessa shouted. Jules finally spotted them, up in the trees. One of them dropped from above, landing abruptly. It was tall, and wearing a black armored uniform; a green visor blocked its face from being shown. The weapon was hefty, and it shifted positions, coming to aim at her.
Jules jolted air forward, tossing the Brack drop trooper away. It landed and shook its head in surprise. More of the troopers plunged from the trees, and soon there were over twenty adversaries surrounding them.
“I don’t want to harm you. We can work this out,” Jules said, wondering if they could understand her.
They didn’t oblige, and all twenty of them stalked toward her group. She knew they could escape, but Jules wanted information from them. Was Ranul in the city, or still traveling for Ebos? Jules didn’t want to spoil the surprise with Outpost, hoping to trick Ranul into thinking Peters had properly completed his task.
“Maybe we should be on our way.” Jules began to lift from the ground, taking her friends with her in the huge sphere around them.
Jaessa made a whimper as they started to float. “They won’t let us go.”
“They don’t have a choice,” Jules replied.
The drop troopers fired at them, but their pulses were redirected from the protective barrier.
She stared at them as their visors flickered. A symbol appeared on each of their facemasks, and Jules began to feel sleepy. She tried to fight it off, but her eyelids were closing. Suma and Elex were already down. Jaessa slipped from her feet, snoring before she landed on the soft floor of the bubble they were in.
Jules struggled, but in the end, she’d lost. Her mind drifted and she glided into slumber.
Twenty
It was quickly obvious t
hat Outpost was in-system. Our Cyclone’s advanced sensors picked up the behemoth vessel the moment we slowed from hyper. They would have appeared several days ago, and I reached out.
Mary’s lips were pursed beside me as we approached our allies. Both Hugo and Malir were on the bridge with us, waiting for word on Jules and what we were facing at Ebos.
“Dean, what a relief.” Magnus looked stressed, and so did Nat next to him.
Mary cut to the chase. “Where’s Jules?”
“Jules went to Ebos. She hasn’t returned.” Magnus frowned, and I almost choked on my breath.
“What? Didn’t you go after her?” I barked.
“No. We’re expecting Ranul to arrive at any moment, and we couldn’t—”
“Risk the mission? Jules is on Ebos and you haven’t even sent a rescue team?” I couldn’t believe my ears.
“Has Jules ever needed to be rescued?” He had a point, but that didn’t change anything.
“You think she’s okay?” Mary asked.
“I can’t imagine her being anything but fine. She has Suma and Elex with her. Even if Sarlun is tied up in this, he wouldn’t let harm come to his daughter,” Magnus said.
“If they can do magic like Jules says, we can’t be so sure of that. Did you track her lander?”
“Sending the location.” Natalia smiled gently, but I could tell she was concerned.
I stared at the image, obtaining their lander’s tracking. I had a destination.
“We should…” Magnus diverted his gaze, and I heard Rumi’s voice telling him their sensors had picked up something. At the same moment, our own Cyclone’s radar beeped. Another craft had just arrived.
My gut told me that was her. Ranul. The woman Ovalax had showed me in the visions. Sarlun would be with her. My old friend, now my enemy. He was probably under duress, but it stung regardless. He’d tried to have us killed. My house was destroyed, and it was Sarlun’s fault.
“It’s her,” Magnus muttered. “Go dark. We have a plan.”
“It better be good. I’m flying for Ebos to locate Jules and the others,” I said.
“We are?” Mary asked. “What about Sarlun?”
“We can deal with him after our daughter is safe.”
“I’m with Mr. P,” Malir said.
“Me too,” Hugo added.
“Three against one. Let’s go.” I grinned at Mary. “Good luck, Magnus. Patch us in to your conversation.”
I used the dash console to divert some of our hyper energy into the shields. The effect would make us unreadable on radars, and I doubted Sarlun’s older-model transport he’d picked Ranul up in on Traro had anything that could detect us from this distance.
The image on the edge of our viewscreen shifted, and suddenly, a human man with a salt and pepper beard stood on Outpost’s bridge, with a uniform slightly altered from the usual Alliance ones. I detected the differences, but most wouldn’t.
I was told about Peters and their heist attempt at Udoon, and I loathed the man for trying to blow up the station. It was a good thing Jules had been there to prevent the assault.
His posture was rigid as he stared at the camera. I was glad to be tapping in to the conversation between Peters and Ranul.
“Hello. This is Captain Peters of Outpost reporting,” he said without so much as a smirk.
The newcomer linked, and her image appeared. My blood turned cold. It was her. The woman from Ovalax’s visions. Her left eye was scarred and nearly closed, but she had no visible tattoos. She wore a black vest, her arms muscular and tense. She ran a palm over her bald head and smiled, showing a mouthful of teeth. “You think you can fool me?”
Peters frowned and glanced toward the side of the bridge, a telltale sign he was being coached. I slapped a hand to my thigh. “This is going to be bad.”
“What can they do? It’s a transport vessel against our warship,” Mary said.
“I’m not fooling anyone. You asked for this ship, and I’ve brought it. It was our agreement.” Peters recovered well.
“Where are the gemstones?”
“The gems?” Peters seemed lost. “Those were supposed to be my payment. Are you backing out of the deal?”
Ranul laughed, and it sent shivers down my spine. “Are they on the ship?”
Peters nodded. “Of course. Would you care to board and make the exchange? You take the warship, I leave with my team on your vessel. With the loot.”
Ranul walked across the bridge and grabbed someone from outside the view. She dragged the man with her to the center of the shot. It was Sarlun. He looked older, his snout drooping, his eyes sad. “New plan. I take the warship and the prize. How does that sound?”
Peters hesitated. This wasn’t going well. I glanced to the edge of the viewscreen, finding Ebos getting bigger. Jules was there somewhere, and Death’s Maiden was in space, trying to take our primary Alliance warship. All of this had been predicted by Ovalax. I was meant to stop it. But how?
He’d shown me things. But only what would happen if I didn’t prevent Ranul from obtaining whatever she was here for. I didn’t have enough information. What do I do now? I wondered if he could hear me inside my head. Do I go for Jules or help Outpost?
I waited for a response, but it didn’t come. I was in this alone.
“That wasn’t the deal!” Peters was acting outraged, but Ranul wasn’t buying it.
Ranul stepped closer, lifting a hand.
“What is she doing?” Mary asked.
Ranul’s bad eye closed, and she lifted her arm, drawing a shape in the air with a metal pen-like device. The rune floated in front of her, glowing softly, then our lights turned off. The viewscreen went dark, as did our computers.
“What the hell was that?” I fumbled with the controls, but nothing worked. The Cyclone was dead.
“Dean, where’s the—” Mary’s face illuminated under Hugo’s flashlight beam.
“Mom and Dad, what did that woman do?” our son asked.
I pictured the last marking that Ranul placed on her outgoing message, an odd series of scratches and shapes intertwined. “It was a spell. She sent a spell across the communicators.”
“Can she do that?” Mary looked furious against the dim glow of the flashlight.
“It appears so. And if we’re powered off, that means Outpost is as well.” I tried to come up with a solution.
“We need to stop her, Dean,” Mary said, glancing at Hugo and Malir behind us.
“I have an idea.” Malir waved at us. “These Cyclones have a secondary system none of the other Alliance vessels do. The Inlorians power things differently.”
We followed him to the small engineering room off the cargo hold, and I grabbed an LED lantern. Luckily, the spell Ranul cast had only killed our Cyclone’s electrical system.
“Dad, if the craft is dead, doesn’t that mean our life support is off?” Hugo’s voice cracked.
“Yes,” I managed to say.
Mary stared at me. “How much time is left?”
I thought about it. A ship this size, with four of us. “A couple of hours.” We also had the EVAs and tanks, which would sustain us for a few more, but that wasn’t ideal.
“Malir, what’s your plan?” Mary crouched with him as he pulled a panel from the floor.
“If I can reroute the Bars from the primary drive to the air recyclers, we could have enough propulsion to continue to Ebos.” Malir looked up at me.
“Do it.” We were already destined for the planet. Just because the thrusters died didn’t mean our momentum stopped.
I hoped Jules was okay, but struggled not to dwell on things I couldn’t control. For now, we only needed to land safely so we could live to fight Ranul.
____________
Jules’ eyes were dry, and she tried blinking them. What had happened? She recalled the drop troopers, then their visors displaying a rune. That was it. They’d cast a sleeping spell. She’d been hoping her Deity powers made her impervious to the Beykn runes, but tha
t was obviously not the case.
She’d seen that same symbol in the book from Regnig’s library, and thought she could duplicate it if necessary. But all of her and Auntie Natalia’s efforts had been fruitless. None of their attempts at casting spells had worked.
Once her mind was clear, she assessed the room. It was round, with curved walls and no corners. Ceilings were tall. She lay on a simple bed: metal frame, hard mattress, and a single sheet without a pillow. She was still in her Alliance uniform, and she tugged at her hair elastic, letting her curls go wild. No food or water was in sight.
“Suma! Jaessa!” She called for her friends, but no one answered.
There was a window across the room, and she walked to it. For a second, she had a wave of vertigo. She was comfortable with heights, but hadn’t expected to be at the top of a spire she’d seen from the ground. She spotted a few of the Brack walking across the suspension bridges far below.
But she was alive, and that meant her friends should be as well. It was time to leave. Jules went to release her powers, and they overtook her body, extending to her fingers and toes. She grinned, floating for the doorway. It was a tall metal slab without an interior handle. Jules tried to fly through it, but bumped into the solid material.
She rubbed her nose and attempted it again, only to fail. Then she saw the rune carved on the ceiling. “Nice trick,” she whispered. Jules reached out for the black markings, trying to scratch a line across it, like she’d done with the tree spells earlier. Had that been today? She felt like she might have slept for weeks. The rune remained intact.
She was stranded.
Jules considered her options. She tested floating past the ceiling, floor, and window, but whatever the spell was doing, it prevented her from passing into any of them. The particular spell seemed tailored to her. Did the Brack have knowledge of her capabilities?
A shadow caught her attention, and she rushed to the window, finding a giant vessel lowering and blocking the view of the sun. Was that Outpost? The ship had no lights, and the thrusters weren’t even powered on. It descended a couple of kilometers from her position, on the opposite edge of the city. What was Magnus doing? She couldn’t even fathom what was lowering the warship. They weren’t designed to enter atmospheres. They were made to dock at stations or float in orbit, while the landers took the crew to their mission below.
The Colony (The Survivors Book Seventeen) Page 19