Legions & Legacies

by Lee Watts

  Making his way past the many casinos, bars and other establishments, Captain LaRouche eventually entered Dante's Den, a favorite haunt of the person he hoped could help him. Sure enough, his quarry was there. It was a portly, greasy man who somehow always had the information people were willing to pay to know.

  "Whath thaken Thothimo," Lanos asked with his trademark lisp.

  "Not much, Lanos. How's business?"

  "I'd tell ya, but it would coth you," the chubby man chuckled. "Thay, what are you doing here anyway? I heard you'd gone legit working for that Remnant movement in the Realm thector."

  "Me legit? Not as long as there's a credit to be made, found, or stole. Your information's not as good as it once was, Lanos. I left them six months ago. Sure, they begged me to take a position in their new fleet, but that's not what I'm after, but enough about me. Here, let me get you something."

  Sosimo signaled to a trim woman with a tray of drinks.

  "Thankth Thothimo," Lanos said taking the glass the green-eyed waitress offered. "I'm thure you didn't come juth to talk about old timth. What do you want?" he asked, taking a generous gulp.

  "I'm betting you already know."

  "Of courth I do; ith my buthineth. You want to know where Crimthon ith. Got a bit of a thore to thettle I hear. I know thith ith going to come ath a thocker, but I don't know."

  "That's what I figured."

  "Really? Then what are you athking me for?"

  "Because you know someone who does know."

  "No, I don't."

  Smiling, Sosimo leaned in closer to the information dealer.

  "Lanos, I know that you know who knows, and you know that I know you know, so stop acting like you don't understand what I'm saying."

  "Thothimo, nobody underthandth what you thay."

  "Come on, Lanos, everybody knows that if you run any kind of operation in this quadrant, The Hammer better get a cut. The Hammer has informants everywhere, and you're one of them. So, if Crimson is working in this part of the galaxy, then The Hammer has to know, and you know where The Hammer is, so start talking."

  "What makth you think I know where the moth wanted criminal in the galaxthy ith?"

  "Because it's your business," he said in quoting Lanos' own words to him. "I'll make it worth your while."

  "No way, Thothimo. The Hammer will kill me, and no amount of credith are worth dying for."

  "Oh, I didn't intend to offer you credits."

  "Then what did you think I'd take in exchange for the information?"

  "This," Sosimo indicated while holding up a small vile of bluish liquid.

  "Whath that?" Lanos asked suspiciously.

  "This," the pirate said with a smile, "is the antidote for the poison you just drank."

  "Poithon?"

  "Yes. It's a particularly nasty little concoction I picked up on Trolton IV. Makes you allergic to your own skin I hear, you'll scratch and scratch until you literally rip the flesh from your own bones."

  The balding man looked at the pirate distrustfully.

  "You're bluffing. I never heard of Trolton IV. Bethidth, you didn't have a chance to poithon that drink. The waitreth brought it over, and you never touched it."

  "Oh you mean that waitress," he chirped pointing to the girl with the tray.

  "Yea, her."

  Signaling to the woman, Sosimo called her over.

  "Lanos allow me to introduce Shen Mei - first mate of the Fortune."

  "Itchy yet?" Mei asked innocently, though she had no idea why her captain had told her to say that to Lanos.

  Lanos' mind began to play tricks on him, and suddenly he did feel itchy all over.

  "What's wrong, Lanos?" Sosimo asked, "too warm for you in here? You're starting to sweat."

  Lanos reached for his arm and scratching vigorously while pleading, "Come on Thothimo. The Hammer is mercileth. I'll looth everything I have if I tell you."

  "You said it yourself Lanos, no amount of credits is worth dying for, so come on. The sooner you tell me, the sooner I can give you the antidote."

  All semblance of decorum jettisoned, Lanos scratched his back, belly, legs, and every part of his crawling skin with wild abandon calling out, "Thothimo! Pleathe, the antidote!"

  "The location."

  "Fine, fine," Lanos bellowed while digging wildly. "Notal Prime in the Grakiri cluthter."

  "All right, but for insurance, I think I'll take you with me."

  "In that cath ith really Illov VIII. Now, give it to me!"

  Sosimo handed over the vile of blue liquid, and Lanos gulped in greedily, making sure not to lose a single drop.

  "It's supposed to work almost instantly," Sosimo claimed.

  "Thupothed to?" Lanos repeated with concern.

  "Yes, it's not like I actually tested it first. But you seem to be doing better already."

  Calming down, Lanos did seem to feel better and regained composure of himself.

  "Now, if you'll be so kind as to come with us back to the ship-"

  "I don't think tho Thothimo."

  "But Lanos, Mei would be so disappointed."

  "I don't care what-" turning to look at the woman he noticed that under the tray she carried was a blaster pointed right at him.

  "On the other hand, I wath never one to let down the ladieth." Thinking he recognized Mei, he added, "Don't I know you from thomwhere?"

  In their last meeting, Mei repeatedly picked Lanos' pockets allowing Sosimo to bribe the information dealer with the same stack of credits over and over again. LaRouche changed the subject by saying they should get moving.

  "Thothimo," Lanos asked as the trio headed to the Fortune, "between you and me, where ith Trolton IV anyway?"

  "Where's what?"

  "Yea," Lanos grimaced, "thath what I figured."

  CHAPTER 5

  "Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee." – Revelation 3:3

  (1,000 years ago)

  Zooming up from the planet's atmosphere and into the black of space, the Vault Keeper's battered ship escaped the Ramillie troops only to find a cruiser and six fighters closing fast. In the tiny bridge, Gareth, the Vault Keeper, was a flurry of activity.

  "Set the nav computer for a jump out of here, Merrick" Gareth instructed the agent on his left. Merrick not only served as one of the Vault Keeper's agents, but had the distinction of being one of only three people in the universe who Gareth trusted, and one of those included himself.

  "Jump to where?" Merrick asked as the ship rocked violently from the blast of energy slamming into it.

  Another strike buffeted the ship causing popping sparks to shoot from one of the many consoles.

  "Anywhere but here!"

  Nicole, stumbled her way from the main hold toward the bridge to see what was happening. Door sliding open, she saw two men frantically working the ship's controls. Preoccupied, they didn't notice her entrance. Her first experience in a spacecraft, Nicole watched in fascination as the ship transitioned to faster than light speed and the points of stars turned to streaks. Relieved, both Merrick and Gareth leaned back in their seats.

  Pulling a cloth from the pocket at his thigh, Gareth began removing the white makeup disguising him as a Ramillie. Nicole starred at him quizzically as he transformed back into one of the many conquered peoples of the Ramillie's Eternal Empire.

  "Vault Keeper?" she began.

  "Please, call me Gareth."

  She smiled.

  "Gareth, how did you learn to fly a ship? I thought the Ramillie didn't allow the ‘under-races' to have space travel."

  Taking out his purple contact lenses, Gareth explained.

  "It's not as though they've given me a pilot's license-"

  "I sure wouldn't," Merrick quipped.

  "Hey, I think you got us hit more than I did back there."

  The Guardian puffed a laugh as Garet
h continued.

  "Anyway, I picked up the basics from watching the Ramillie. I spent a lot of time traveling with them as a servant on various ships."

  His sentiment was all too familiar to her. From a young age, all members of the under-races were "educated" in Ramillie superiority. Inundated with such propaganda, many believed it.

  "How long will it take to reach The Vault?" she asked.

  "First we're making a stop to drop off Merrick," Gareth said. Leaning closer to Nicole he added in a loud whisper, "Between you and me, I don't trust him."

  "What? Isn't he the one who made the arrangements with Amos? I thought he was one of your agents?"

  "He is one of my agents but isn't the one who made the arrangement. I only have two you know, but that doesn't mean I trust him," he prodded glancing at Merrick with a grin.

  Nicole was confused.

  "My Dear Lady," Gareth clarified, his tone turning earnest, "I alone hold the secret to The Vault with The Treasure of Ages. It was my great, great, great... and a few more greats, grandfather who was the first Vault Keeper. He set out the principles by which the operation runs. He followed them, as did my father, and will my son after me. Until the time of the imminent abduction, only one can know the location of The Vault.

  Nicole huffed.

  "I've heard teaching about the imminent abduction since I was a little girl. When's it going to happen?"

  "No one knows the day or the hour," Merrick answered. "It will happen in the Elder's timing."

  "Yes, that's what Seer Rew keeps saying," Nicole sighed in resignation.

  Merrick's interest piqued.

  "You have a seer in your group?

  "Yes. He and Amos lead the underground movement on Orinth. The Ramillie are desperate to find him."

  "Wait," Merrick warily continued, "The Ramillie know he's a seer?"

  "Yes."

  "Then we have a problem."

  Merrick looked to Gareth who nodded his agreement. Nicole was confused.

  "What? What's the problem?"

  "The greatest danger we face is the Ramillie finding The Vault," Merrick answered. "If they can get their hands on a seer, they could force him to reveal The Vault's location."

  "We'll have to get him before the Ramillie do," Gareth said.

  "It may be too late," Nicole added. "The Ramillie were raiding our village when we ran to meet you. Seer Rew stayed with those hiding."

  "In that case, there's no time to lose," responded Gareth.

  "I'll send a message to the other agent," Merrick added while already tapping out the message to his long-time cohort. "She may still be on Orinth, or at least closer than we are."

  "Let's hope so," Gareth said. "Either way, Merrick, when we stop will you take a ship and head straight back?" The Guardian nodded. "Contact me when you have him, and we'll arrange a rendezvous point to pick him up and take him to The Vault."

  A few hours later, the ship dropped out of lightspeed next to a floating junkyard. Ships of every type hung lifeless in the great void.

  "What is this place?" Nicole asked.

  Gareth smiled as he cautiously piloted them through the debris.

  "This is where the Ramillie dump their garbage," he answered. "It's full of ships they confiscate from other races, old models they scrap, and anything that doesn't fit their purposes anymore. It's perfect for our operation though. Whenever the Ramillie get too close and see what ship we're using, we just go and pick out another one. Sometimes it takes a while to piece together enough systems to get it spaceworthy, but it's worked out so far."

  Merrick put on an environmental suit and thrustered over to another ship then piloted it back toward Orinth. Gareth delivered Nicole, along with the treasures and great weapon, to The Vault then returned home. After hiding the ship, he resumed his position as a common servant in the house of the Ramillie priest Jannek. Entering the mansion, Gareth carefully replaced the priest's clothing and ceremonial necklace with a disc-like crystal representing the all-seeing eyes of Xerxes, the Ramillie god of deception. By the time Merrick returned to Orinth, Amos Bruman and Seer Rew were already captured and taken off world. With no sign or message from the Vault Keeper's other agent, Merrick had no idea to what planet they had been taken. It was the events unfolding on that unknown world during the coming days that would cause Merrick's death a thousand years later.

  CHAPTER 6

  "… the righteous are bold as a lion." – Proverbs 28:1

  Tanish, head of palace security, walked ahead of the two burly soldiers who were escorting the T'lec master surgeon, Dr. Nim-Gimmer, to his meeting with the irate Regent of the Realm. Entering Salazar's lengthy office, Tanish motioned to bring the milky-purple skinned doctor forward. On the other side of the glass-topped desk, all Nim-Gimmer could see was the high-backed leather chair facing the window.

  "Get out," Salazar hissed coolly to Tanish and the other guards.

  "What's the meaning of this?" Nim-Gimmer demanded when the guards left.

  Spinning his chair, Salazar turned to the surgeon. The Regent's face was silhouetted by the light streaming in from the floor-to-ceiling window behind him.

  Nim-Gimmer, infuriated at being apprehended like a common criminal, made no attempt to hide his contempt.

  "Who do you think you are having me arrested and-"

  "Who do I think I am?" Salazar retorted. "You tell me, Doctor!"

  As Salazar leaned forward, his face came into the light, and Nim-Gimmer immediately understood the reason why he was now summoned. Splayed over the left side of the Regent's face were the beginnings of a yellowish-brown bruise, the first symptoms of the flesh-eating disease, caryon.

  "So, Doctor, why is this here," he growled pointing at the shriveling skin. "I had an arrangement with Saqir to use the ancient device to transfer my life energy into a new body. You claimed I could be rid of this plague once and for all. So, what's going on?" he demanded. "And I warn you, I am this close to having you executed in the most horrific and lengthy way imaginable - so you better have an amazing explanation."

  Nim-Gimmer knew Salazar wasn't bluffing, but he also knew if he told the truth of the matter that Saqir had promised the same fate for him. Given his present situation, he decided he would have to find a way to deal with Saqir later.

  "Regent, the caryon has infected your new body as well."

  "And how is that possible? It's not contagious, and the Ramillie transfer device takes nothing from the old body to the new except life energy, not cells! You oversaw the transfer yourself!"

  "You... didn't use the transfer device."

  Salazar stopped and paused for a long while contemplating the doctor's words. He'd devoted everything in his life to getting what he needed to acquire and use the transfer device. With it, not only could he escape the caryon, but also death itself. As the ages passed, he planned to transfer his life energy time and again into new bodies, and so achieve virtual immortality. Now, his aspirations of eternal life were crumbling around him.

  "What do you mean I didn't use the Ramillie device?" Salazar asked in a cold monotone.

  "It's not Ramillie."

  "What?"

  "It's not Ramillie," the T'lec surgeon repeated. "The Ramillie found it during the time of their first empire, but they didn't create it, and they don't have a power source to use it. You need the bracer to power the device. The only one known of is the one Darius had, but it's lost in the great void. Administrator Nexos let you believe they had the ability to power the device, but they installed a stun emitter inside it. Once the device closed, they hit you with a stun beam and had me transplant your mind into a clone. Your new body was then placed back in the device, and when you awoke, you thought it had worked. Since the caryon was in your brain cells, it has spread and infected your new body. I've done many similar transplants for the administrator. He likes to have me put his enemies into the bodies of various pets he keeps, but I've never had the opportunity to take a human brain out and put it into a clone of the
donor himself. It was the medical opportunity of a lifetime - a breakthrough. Yes, the caryon has manifested itself faster than anticipated, but I can perform another transfer. You saw how successful-"

  "ENOUGH," Salazar cut him off in a mixture of terror and rage. Before he could figure out his next move, the communication panel on his desk came to life, displaying the image of his mother, Duchess Mara Yorin.

  "This had better be important," Salazar fumed.

  "It is! An invasion fleet is entering the system!"

  "The Hateeg?" Salazar questioned.

  "No, it seems your half-brother has come home."

  ***

  Alexander Lyons stood on the bridge of the battlecarrier HMS Dauntless staring out the main viewport at the glowing worlds of Theera and Enty. Though the HMS Champion was the flagship, Alexander insisted the Dauntless lead the charge to retake the home system since it was the ship that had come to represent The Remnant. In the half-year since the Realm fleet escaped the cryogenic-type freeze of hyperspace, they had waged a continual war of liberation against the Hegemony. Starting on the fringes of Realm territory, they fought their way forward, managing to liberate a third of the former Realm worlds. It was Alexander's idea to bypass the middle planets and jump straight to the home system. He hoped the move would catch the Ramillie by surprise, it succeeded.

  Klaxons blared throughout the Hegemony Station as Saqir Nexos stormed into the command center, his bodyguard Dakshi close behind him.

  "What's the size of the enemy force?" Saqir demanded.

  "More than three hundred, Administrator."

  "And how many warships do we have in the system?"

  "Less than twenty."

  "Send out an emergency signal."

  "Already done, Sir. Reinforcements are on the way."

  "How long until they arrive?"

  "Forty minutes."