Shadows of Divinity

by Luke Mitchell

  When Carlisle swung the stairwell door closed, I saw the side facing the room was actually a false wall panel. I wondered if those officers had had any idea what they’d been sitting next to before we’d popped out. Not that it really mattered in comparison to what we were here to share with them and the rest of Enochia.

  I pulled up the map of Sanctuary on my palmlight and took in our position as the others leaned in to orient themselves. We actually weren’t in bad shape. Almost a mile into Sanctuary, close to the center of the base. The comms center and its broadcast bunker were less than a quarter mile east of us, and the brig closer to a half-mile away, near the western perimeter.

  “You guys are good?” I asked James and Carlisle.

  “Are you?” James said, looking concerned.

  “We’ll do what we have to,” Elise said.

  I forced a smile. “Yeah, what she said.”

  It was going to be a much longer trek than I’d been expecting groundside. Still, better that than trying to creep past sleeping hybrids.

  “Remember to mind the towers’ lines as best you can,” I added for everyone’s benefit as Carlisle went to the door to scout the way outside. “The corners mostly watch outward, but you never know when someone’s gonna get bored and check out what’s happening on base.”

  Carlisle gave a satisfied nod at the door, indicating the way was clear.

  “We’ll see you soon then,” I hoped out loud.

  Carlisle clapped a hand on my shoulder. “I have faith in you, Hal.” He turned to Elise and rested his other hand on her shoulder. “Keep him safe just in case?”

  The hint of a smile broke through her sober expression. “I’ll get him back to you in one piece.”

  James and Elise shared a quick hug. I clapped James on the back. None of us planned to go down tonight, but we also couldn’t ignore the fact that this could be our last goodbye. Before I could lose my will, I grabbed Elise’s hand and pushed the door open.

  The four of us crept out, sticking to the building’s shadow as we skirted to its northern edge. There, we silently waved to James and Carlisle. They turned right and covered the gap to the next building at a crouched run.

  Then it was just the two of us.

  I steeled myself, squeezed Elise’s hand, and turned for the brig.

  Munitions crates and parked transports. Shadows and thin prayers. From one to the next, we moved across Sanctuary using whatever cover we could find.

  The going was as slow as it was agonizingly tense.

  Sanctuary was much less active at nighttime, but that was far from saying the security was light. We waited for minutes at a time, crouched behind boxes—or, once, underneath a supply roller—for passing foot traffic. Twice, I considered mind-snatching to turn someone away from us, but that came with its own set of risks.

  When we weren’t narrowly avoiding the patrols, I worried one of the tower lookouts would happen to glance our way at just the wrong time.

  Finally, though, we reached the dull permacrete length of the brig. We slipped around to the back, putting us adjacent to Sanctuary’s western wall and away from most of the foot traffic.

  The brig was long and not overly tall—only two stories, with one being underground. Still, the roof wasn’t easily accessible from ground level. And the roof was where we needed to be. So, after triple checking no one was approaching on the perimeter wall above, I pushed off the wall, turned, and fired a grappling bolt into the lip of the rooftop fifteen feet above.

  I checked again to make sure no one had come running at the dull thud of the bolt, then I held the gun out to Elise and touched her skin to circumvent her cloak. “One click on the motor. Lie flat when you get up there.”

  She took the gun, inspecting its workings, and was about to move into position when I spotted two legionnaires rounding closer to us up on the perimeter wall.

  I grabbed her and pulled her tight to the shadows. “After these two pass.”

  The wall was close enough and high enough that we’d probably be out of their line of sight when it mattered. I watched until the two disappeared behind the inner lip to be sure.

  With the immediate threat of being spotted past, I dropped my gaze from the wall to Elise, thinking to tell her we’d better wait for them to move on. It was only then that I realized how close she was, pressed tight against me, her face only inches from mine.

  She was searching my face for an update. I caught the sweet tang of wild berries on her warm breath and, despite everything, barely managed to restrain myself from kissing her. Other parts of me proved less disciplined.

  Her eyes widened a hair, then she raised a hand over her own mouth as if she were afraid she might laugh.

  “Eyes up here, please,” I sent, cheeks burning. “I’m not a piece of meat, you know.”

  She bent a brow and shifted against me in a way that made me acutely aware of the limited accuracy of my statement as she turned to look at the perimeter. Above, forty yards down the wall, the two legionnaires’ bobbing heads had reappeared over the edge, moving away from us. She turned a questioning look my way.

  “Go.”

  She planted a foot on the wall, triggered the coiling motor, and lithely walked her way up and onto the rooftop before reversing the motor to send the gun crawling back down.

  I waited anxiously.

  If everything was going smoothly for Carlisle and James, they’d be in position to start soon. As soon as I could, I snagged the gun, checked my surroundings, and ascended to the rooftop. Elise was there with a helping hand at the end.

  “Why thank you, goodlady.” I sent when I was lying flat on the rooftop beside her.

  She made a silent flourish. I smiled and tapped my palmlight to send the short range pulse that would let Carlisle know we’d made it. “Keep an eye out.”

  She gave me an abbreviated salute, and I went to prepare our entry point.

  The rooftop was dark enough that I’d be surprised if anyone noticed us slinking around, but I stayed prone anyway, trying to estimate the rough location of the brig’s main guard station. It had been a long time since I’d been in the brig, and crawling across the rooftop didn’t exactly give me the best vantage point.

  When I thought I was close, I cautiously dialed out my cloak and reached downward.

  Nothing directly below, but… There. About ten feet further ahead. Four minds. Consoles. Walls of displays.

  I withdrew my mind, scooted to the proper location, and retrieved the long, flexible tube of scorch dust I’d carefully folded into my pack. I fixed it to the rooftop in a rough circle, about four feet in diameter, half-wincing with every tiny movement. Carlisle had insisted the mixture of finely powdered lightsteel and oxidized whipsteel was safe enough to carry, but that didn’t keep my pulse from quickening as I handled it.

  Once I was satisfied, I rolled around and crawled back. Elise met me halfway, and we settled in to wait. Assuming nothing had gone critically wrong, our message would be hitting the broadcast system any minute. As soon as it started, we’d need to move, take advantage of the excitement while the base’s collective attention was fixed elsewhere.

  But for now, I tried to enjoy the last moments of quiet. The warmth of Elise pressed against my side, and the cool kiss of the salty ocean breeze at our backs.

  “Life perils aside,” I sent, trying my best to radiate calm, “it’s actually kind of a beautiful night.”

  I looked over to find her watching me with an odd look in her eyes—some raw outflowing of emotion that pulled straight at my core. I returned her gaze, nearly overwhelmed by the sudden surge of tender feelings melting through me. And that’s when it happened.

  “I think I love you,” she whispered.

  Shock rippled through me as she pressed her lips to mine.

  She loved me? Truly? I might’ve glimpsed it during our brief mind meld, but to hear her say the words out loud… it was like a warm honey hit of weapons-grade pain meds, only five times better and without the me
ntal clarity issues. Then the rest registered.

  She hadn’t said the words out loud.

  Her lips hadn’t moved, except to greet mine. Elise had just tapped into her telepathy. She was drawing back from the kiss, now, clearly confused by my surprise. She didn’t know I’d heard, I realized. Which made sense. Our efforts to coax out her new abilities in the past few days had been fruitless—much to her frustration. But now she saw it.

  Her eyes widened, her fingers drifting up to cover her mouth. Why did she look worried? Didn’t she understand how deeply I was already hers? I took her hand, pressed my other palm to her cheek, and reached out to tell her.

  The sharp click of Sanctuary’s amps coming online yanked us back to the present before I could.

  My breath caught. It was starting. Except it wasn’t my voice that came pouring from the amps, as I’d expected.

  It was the Sanctuary alarm.

  35

  Reunited

  “Hello, Enochia,” my recorded voice rang out from the Sanctuary amps. “My name is Haldin Raish.”

  I barely heard it over the blaring of the alarms.

  “What do we do?” Elise hissed beside me, our moment forgotten.

  I tried to listen to the alarm. Tried to think.

  Double tone alarm. Intruders on base. That made sense, but…

  We’d expected the alarms. Just not so quickly. Certainly not before the broadcast had even started. But it was going now. Theoretically, millions of people across Divinity and the rest of Enochia were hearing my voice and seeing my face at that very moment.

  It would’ve been bizarre to think about if I wasn’t too distracted with the powerful floodlights snapping on across the compound and the shouts of rousing soldiers. Legionnaires began storming out of barracks doors, dressed and armed every bit as quickly as I’d expected. Amp Hal prattled on, twining with the insistent alarm.

  And still no word from Carlisle.

  “We stick to the plan,” I said.

  I couldn’t initiate contact. Not yet. James’ short-range encrypted channel would only hold up for a couple minutes once the Legion caught wind of it, and we were going to have some critical coordination to do when it was time to exfil.

  So, I pushed the thought aside, extended my cloak, and reached out for the strip of scorch dust. Tense energy radiated off the four guards below. I almost felt bad about the extra stress I was about to quite literally drop on them. “Get ready.”

  I fixed onto the magnesium ignition strip and drew energy from one of the cells in my pack. It took more than I expected.

  Then a small white flare pierced the night and rapidly expanded to a full conflagration.

  To my extended senses, the torrential cascade of the reaction’s energy was almost overwhelming. To my body, it was a startlingly hot slap of air to the face. Beside me, Elise gasped at the ferocity of it.

  We scrambled to our feet. The inferno was already dying down. With a sound like crumbling rock, the circular section of the roof broke free and fell to the room below.

  There were crashes and bangs, shouts and curses.

  We reached the charred edge of the hole, and I looped an arm around Elise’s waist, not wanting to give the guards below time to recover.

  Then we jumped.

  The drop was only about twelve feet. Just enough to give me a strong blast’s worth of energy when I siphoned it off to slow our fall. It buzzed through me and eagerly sprang when I released it at the first guard I caught sight of.

  He flew back, chair and all, and slammed into the console behind him.

  We dropped the rest of the way to a shaky landing.

  I gathered myself to spring at the next two guards ahead… and froze at the set of blue-green eyes staring back at me from under trimmed, fiery red hair.

  His mouth was agape in open shock just like mine.

  “Johnny?”

  He sucked in a little breath when I spoke, like he was only then confirming I wasn’t a specter, returned from the pyre. “Hal?”

  “You got brigged?”

  Why? Why was that the first thing that came out of my mouth?

  There was a moment there where I thought that he might answer, that we might all remain calm and talk it out.

  Then the woman beside Johnny went for her sidearm.

  I slammed her to the wall with telekinesis.

  “What the hell, Wingard?” she growled. “Shoot him! Take that bastard—”

  A stun bolt to her chest crumpled her to the floor.

  At a crash from behind, I snapped around to see Elise standing over the fourth guard, staff in hand. The man was slumped over his chair, unmoving.

  I turned back to face Johnny’s raised pistol and raised my own hands in surrender.

  “Hal, what the gropping…? What the…” His mouth worked soundlessly.

  I felt Elise hovering behind me, ready to strike. In the background, Amp Hal prattled on.

  “It’s okay,” I said, slowly holstering my gun. “Both of you, it’s okay.”

  “The scud it is, beardsplitter!” Johnny cried. “You… You’re… What is this?” He glanced at the guard I’d shot. “You just— ”

  “Stun rounds,” I said. “She’s fine. Mostly.”

  He jerked his head, gun hands shaky. “Not the point man! Okay, kind of the point. But what in the gropping scud buckets is going on? If you can’t tell, I’m twitchy as a stimmed rabbit right now, so you’d better tell me before my gropping finger slips.”

  “Or you could put the gun down,” Elise said.

  Johnny took her in at a glance. “I’d ask who the scud you are, but I don’t have to, what on account of you guys being known terrorists.” He all but shouted the last two words.

  I’d never seen him this rattled.

  “Johnny…” I spread my hands. “Things aren’t what they seem here. Those questions you had about the night I disappeared, you were on the right track. The Legion’s been compromised.”

  “Bullscud,” Johnny hissed, but he was still listening.

  “We’ve got bad people pulling high strings,” I continued. “And it goes deep. My dad found out. That’s what he was up to. That’s why…”

  The words stuck in my throat.

  “—ut I don’t expect you to just believe me when I tell you several of our leaders have been possessed by alien life forms,” Amp Hal was saying in the background. “So instead, allow me to present you with some of the footage and audio logs we recovered during our illegal inspection of Vantage labs.”

  Johnny bent a fiery-red eyebrow. “Bad people, huh? Because it sure sounded like your clone up there just said aliens.”

  “I know it’s crazy, but—”

  “Oh, don’t sell yourself short, broto. It’s straight steel-sipping insane.”

  I pointed to the main display beside us, trying to keep calm. “Do you remember Andre Kovaks?”

  “You mean the mad son of a…” Johnny trailed off as he spared a cautious glance at the display and lingered, his expression shifting from wary to disbelieving to utterly stunned as he took in the scene of dozens of pale, tranquil bodies strapped to the racks below Vantage.

  He turned back to me, gun fractionally lowered. “Alpha’s tits, I knew I shouldn’t have trusted those mushrooms. Any chance I can just convince you two to fly back up that there big hole in the roof?” He glanced at the guard who’d caught our fall, so to speak. “And what the demons’ danglers did you do to Erns? What was that?”

  Elise touched my arm. “We have to go, Hal.”

  I gave her a nod. “That’s gonna take some explaining as well,” I said to Johnny. “But no aliens involved for that one, at least.”

  Johnny barked a humorless laugh. “Oh good. And here I was worrying my day was about to get weird. We’ll just cap it at dead best friend dropping in with his new lady person to talk about evil aliens and—”

  Somewhere in the distance, an explosion shook the night.

  Johnny’s eyes went hard, his w
eapon raising.

  Then a new voice boomed from the amps, drowning out Therese’s audio log and the alarm tones alike.

  “Attention. This is a Code Black.”

  Johnny growled a stream of curses. I stared at the amp in disbelief, an uneasy feeling creeping into my gut. Code Black? For four people?

  “This is not a drill,” the amp speaker continued. “Sanctuary has been breached by unidentified hostiles, numbering in the low hundreds and counting.”

  I traded a wide-eyed look with Elise.

  “Hostiles appear to be unarmed but extremely deadly in close range. Repeat, this is a Code Black. All available companies should—”

  There was a commotion, hard to make out in detail over the alarm and Therese’s voice. What was clear enough, though, was the bloodthirsty roar, and the gunfire that poured through the amps in the seconds before it cut dead, along with the alarm.

  Hybrids.

  “Tell me this isn’t your people,” Johnny said, his voice deadly serious, his weapon trained straight at my face.

  “Did that sound like a person to you?” Elise said. “Hal, we have to move. Now.”

  “Kublich’s taking Sanctuary,” I said before I could really think it through.

  When I did, though, I only grew more certain.

  “What the scud are you talking about?” Johnny said. “He’s High General. He already has Sanctu—”

  “Taking Sanctuary with his own army, Johnny. Kublich is not the man you think he is. Now we need to get our friends and get out of here. All of us.”

  “If you think I’m gonna—”

  “Johnny,” Elise said, her voice brimming with the threat of an imminent explosion, “take a look at this display.”

  He frowned in her direction, then went wide-eyed. I glanced over and saw a pack of hybrids charging a disoriented fireteam out in front of the brig.

  It was over before I could even think about trying to get out there to help them.

  “What?” was all Johnny could manage to say.

  “That’s what Kublich’s been up to,” I said. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you.”