Seeker's Light (The Tazalian Series)

by N. I. Snow

  The tan Tazalian rebel leader began speaking in Earthnan to Connell, “We have twenty-three human prisoners ready to be armed and unleashed on the soldiers, but they will not listen to any members of the resistance. We will need you to go down to the prison cells and personally give them orders.”

  Connell gave the Tazalian a stunned nod. “All right, but how do you plan on getting me to the cells through a warship full of soldiers?”

  Lamor smiled, “We pretend you are just another prisoner being taken to the cells, of course; and there is no need to worry about any of the soldiers finding out about Comäk.” Lamor frowned at the dead Tazalian on the floor. “No one will find out what happened here.”

  Vemque was about to grab hold of Connell and lead him out when the resistance leader stopped him. “Allow me, Vemque. I was Comäk's personal aid. I will draw less attention taking Connell to the brig.”

  Vemque scrutinized the thin technician’s face before backing away from Connell. Lamor quietly walked over to the human lieutenant while removing a pair of plasma cuffs from the pocket of his vest, “I hope you don't mind being cuffed.”

  Connell held out his wrists and shrugged, “Hey, whatever is needed to take over this tin bucket is fine by me.”

  Lamor chuckled and cuffed Connell's wrists. He then gently turned him towards the doorway. Vemque watched wishing he could join them.

  The pair was quiet as they made their way through the wide hallways of the warship. Any soldiers they did pass nodded to the tan Tazalian leading the rugged looking human to the brig. Some of them jeered Connell as he passed by. For the most part, however, the hallways they passed through were empty. This gave Connell an opportunity to learn more about his new ally.

  “I take it you are in charge of the monitoring systems on the ship,” Connell led off, hoping Lamor understood what he was hinting at.

  Lamor nodded. “Indeed we are. Only technicians and high ranking authorities have access to the monitoring systems. We are free to talk when there are no soldiers around.”

  Connell smiled. He was really beginning to like his new ally. The pair rounded a corner into a new hall and Connell made a quick scan for soldiers before carrying on the conversation. “So, what drove you to starting your resistance? There has to be a really good reason to risk your scales.”

  Lamor frowned and bit the corner of his lip before replying, “Many of us have nothing to lose if we are discovered. No families to return to, no loved ones to mourn our loss. Our lives have been torn apart by the cruel games the Elders play, and we will stop at nothing to see that they can no longer ruin the lives of others.”

  He heard a venomous conviction in Lamor's voice. Connell regarded the tan-scaled Tazalian with respect. Whatever the Elders did to anger the tan Tazalian, they did a good job of it. Though he was still curious as to exactly what had happened to Lamor, Connell knew that some things are better left unknown; and so the human lieutenant remained quiet the rest of the walk, focusing his thoughts on the tasks ahead of him.

  It took nearly fifteen standard minutes for the pair to finally reach the brig. They paused by a thick, closed door with a control panel beside it. Lamor entered his code into the panel and the large metal barriers slid apart. He then ushered Connell through the doorway and into a large, rectangular room with rows of plasma cells lining the walls, each of them filled with human prisoners, both military and frightened citizens.

  Lamor pressed an image on another control panel to close the door of the brig. As the thick doors slid shut, a thin, blue-scaled Tazalian hurried over to Lamor and Connell and bowed her head to them. Her sweet voice spoke kindly to the human lieutenant while Lamor removed the plasma cuffs from his wrists. “You must be Connell. Lamor told us you would be arriving today.” She waved her claws to the cells around her, “We are ready to arm the prisoners, but I am afraid they will not listen to a word we say,” she pouted. “I have even given them medicine and treated their wounds, but they still do not trust us.”

  Connell moved past the female Tazalian and stood in the center of the room. He gazed from one cell to another before shouting at the top of his lungs, “Listen up all of you!” Heads turned towards him as he began spewing his orders to them, “Today we have been given an opportunity to gain the upper hand against our enemies. I am Lieutenant William Connell. Many of you have probably heard of me and know that I have faced the Tazalian leader himself and survived. Therefore I command your utmost respect. You are to follow my order and that order is to listen to everything Lamor, here,” Connell motioned to the tan-scaled Tazalian, “tells you. Is that clear?”

  A thunderous reply, “Sir, yes, Sir,” shook the room.

  Connell moved aside so that Lamor could take his place in the center of the room. The Tazalian leader stood like a statue before a sea of human eyes. “Thank you, Connell,” he spoke quietly to the human lieutenant before raising his voice to be heard by the human prisoners, “I am Lamor, leader of the Tazalian resistance. We, like you, have suffered greatly under the hands of the Tazalian Elders and their followers. I personally have lost my cub and my mate due to the wickedness of the Elders, and I will not rest until the suffering of others because of them comes to an end.”

  A door at the far end of the room opened and five of the thin-bodied Tazalians pushed carts filled with plasma rifles. Lamor continued his speech as if oblivious to the Tazalians. “Many of the resistance members, including myself will be aiding in taking over the ship. All resistance members wear tech uniforms like the one I wear. Whether or not you show mercy on those that do not wear our attire is up to you.”

  Lamor nodded to the female Tazalian, “You will all be given a remote distress emitter. Activate it if you are injured, and Nadia will provide medical attention to those who need it.”

  He nodded to a silver-scaled Tazalian standing at a control panel at one end of the room. The Tazalian pressed an image on the controls and all the plasma panels sealing the cells faded away. Lamor then motioned to Connell to give the final order. The human lieutenant walked over to one of the carts filled with weapons and grabbed a rifle. Holding the rifle high with the barrel pointed to the ceiling, he shouted “For Earth!”

  “For Earth!” the former prisoners roared as they rushed for the carts. One by one they grabbed a weapon and readied themselves for the attack. Nadia handed each human a small box-shaped device, the distress emitter, which they took grudgingly.

  Connell looked from one steely, determined face to another. Each of them was unafraid, ready to die if they had to in order to regain their freedom. The human lieutenant looked up at the gaunt face of Lamor. The tan Tazalian's features were grim and an icy look played in the depths of his eyes. The wrongs the Elders did to the resistance leader were about to be repaid.

  “Let's move out!” Lamor bellowed to the armed humans.

  Connell could not wait to see the surprised looks on the snouts of the Tazalian soldiers when they were caught off guard by the attacking humans. Victory was at hand.

  On the other side of the galaxy the crescent-shaped Tazalian cruiser completed its jump into the Quadalf system. Staring empty eyed through the star-filled viewport, Emma tried to keep her mind off of the dangers that waited ahead. Next to her sat Lutianist in the pilot's chair and on his lap lay the relic that had been responsible for tearing the young girl from her once carefree life. Jonah had given it to her during the trip, but she had refused to read the runes inside. She was done unlocking secrets that only made her more of a target for the deranged High Elder.

  Lutianist, however, wanted her to look through the relic before they landed. He wanted to be sure the Ancients had not left out anything important about where they were going. If they arrived at the abandoned station in the universe's center only to find no sign of the Gaia, then they would be risking their lives for nothing.

  The grizzled Elder placed both of his dull, clawed hands on the relic and began unlocking it. When he had the golden panels of the pyramid open and the blue
orb in its center exposed, he passed the sought-after relic to Emma. The girl took it with some reluctance. She tapped a finger on the orb igniting a holoimage of floating runes.

  Taking a deep breath Emma began to translate the Ancients' words, “We have come to a rather unexpected world. It appears that the beings here are still very young. They have yet to develop any form of traveling such as our own and their forms of recording their history are still very primitive. They were quite startled by our appearance. Most of them feared us. We most likely appeared as demons to them; although some, as humorous as it is, believed us to be gods sent from the heavens.”

  Lutianist was not listening to the girl. His foggy eyes became dull as the memories of the Ancients flooded his mind, or at least it began as a memory. The more Emma read to him the more the memory turned into a message for only the old Tazalian to hear.

  “We know well the secret you are hiding from Emma, young Lutianist. Your weakened body cannot hold out for much longer and this journey is far from over. You have sacrificed much for us and now we shall reward you. When the Gaia is discovered, you will not be there to witness it, so we shall show you what we have learned.”

  Emma looked up at the aged Elder. The weary faraway look in his dimmed eyes worried her, “Lutianist?”

  The foggy eyes blinked and the Elder turned his bearded snout towards her, “Hmm?”

  “Are you all right?” she asked, her voice not hiding her concern.

  Lutianist nodded, “I am fine, little one.” He pointed at the relic, “It seems we are on the right path. The key to finding the Light must be on the station.”

  “Can one of you at least speak some Earthnan so I can know what's going on,” came Jonah's voice from behind the pair. “I can follow some but not every word and not as fast as you talk.”

  Emma nearly jumped and looked back at her brother who had just entered the room. She was not used to him being able to walk through the ship making hardly any noise. Even with Kahluna gone, he still practiced his stealth movements.

  Jonah ignored his younger sibling’s surprise as he gazed out the viewport. “How much longer before we land?” he asked Lutianist.

  The grizzled Elder touched an image on the holoscreen in front of him. The image zoomed in on a large planet. “Not much longer. Another hour and we will be docking in the main galactic port of the city Tianat on the planet Cor.”

  “Good. I can't wait until we are out of this ship,” Jonah grunted. “How long before Salianos and his gang arrive.”

  Silence hung in the air before Lutianist spoke, “Two hours, three if we are lucky.”

  Jonah gritted his teeth, “You are sure we will have a new ship and be gone before they track us?”

  “I cannot answer that question with any promise.” Lutianist sighed dejectedly. “However if things do go according to plan, then, yes, we will be out of the system before Salianos knows what happened.”

  Jonah frowned. He did not like Lutianist's reply at all. When they first arrived in the system, he kept getting an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. Great as the old Tazalian's plan sounded, there was still too much that could go wrong.

  The young man had no idea how right his feelings were.

  As the Tazalian shuttle flew toward the azure planet of Cor, another ship followed well enough out of sensor range to keep its presence unknown.

  Few beings watched as the lone Tazalian cruiser landed in an empty bay in Tianat. Those that did were afraid to ask who was aboard. Tazalian presence of any kind never bode well for those on the planet. As a long-thin-faced Coran officer waited for the loading ramp of the shuttle to lower, he twisted his bony fingers together in agitation. He prayed to any spirits listening that the Tazalian did not bring omens of an impending invasion. Things were already going bad for the Corans. Their economy was plummeting, citizens were starving, and even in the big cities like Tianat power would go out at random. The Corans would fall to the Tazalian armies like a tower of cards.

  The gray-skinned officer's breath caught in his thin throat as he watched the ramp lower. His nerves almost failed him as he recognized the elderly Tazalian walking slowly down the ramp. It was one of the Elders!

  The officer drew in a deep breath as he bowed to the Elder and tried with failure to hide the fear in his nasally voice as he spoke in Tazalian to the reptile, “Welcome to Cor, Tazalian Elder. May I inquire as to the reason of this unexpected visit.”

  The Elder gave the officer a sharp look from the depths of his nearly white eyes. “There is no reason for you to know. I wish to dock my ship here while I visit the planet.”

  The Coran could only imagine what that meant. No doubt the Elder was scouting out the planet; Cor was doomed to fall under Tazalian rule. The officer took in another deep breath. Perhaps if they were lucky the Tazalian would find the planet not worth the effort and leave without calling in the Tazalian armies. “Of course, uh, to dock a ship of this importance will cost five thousand cardonans.”

  The Elder tossed a small leather pouch to the Coran, “There is six thousand in there. The extra thousand is for you to keep quiet about my presence on this planet.”

  The officer nodded nervously. “Of course. May you enjoy your stay, sir.”

  The officer made another quick bow before hurrying away from the murky depths of the Tazalian Elder's eyes. He could feel the ancient reptile's watchful gaze on his back even when he was well out of sight.

  Lutianist let out a deep breath once he lost sight of the lone Coran officer. Thanks to the reputation of the Tazalian Elders in this system, the Coran had not suspected him to be an outlaw. With the officer now gone, he motioned a dull, clawed hand towards the opened ramp way.

  Emma walked out of the ship slowly in an attempt to move quietly. Jonah followed after her with a long-barreled rifle he had taken out of a weapons locker strapped across his back. He paused and scanned the hangar uneasily before hurrying silently to catch up with his sister and Lutianist. He hardly gone three meters when he was knocked from his feet by an explosion behind him.

  Emma hurried to help her brother to stand while he looked in shock at the burning remains of the Tazalian ship. The siblings turned quickly towards Lutianist when they heard the Elder let out a painful grunt. They both stood horrified when they saw the kindly Elder lying flat on the ground with the barrel of an ion rifle resting on the back of his neck. A booted foot pressed against the faded, black-scaled Tazalian's back keeping the Elder pinned to the ground. The owner of this boot surprised them.

  He was strongly built with a camouflage jacket thrown messily over his broad shoulders. His round, tan face had a stern look on it in contrast to his thin mouth, which was smiling. His black hair was cut short along his head keeping it well out of his dark, human eyes. Human!.

  The rugged man in his late thirties, if not early forties, gave the two a toothy grin. “Well, look what the cat dragged in,” he spoke in a snide tone. “Rare to find one of my own out here, let alone two! What's two little birds like yourselves doing out in the edges of the Norma arm anyway?” The man stomped his foot heavily on Lutianist's back ignoring the pitiful groan from the decrepit Elder, “’Specially with the likes of this creep?”

  Emma balled her hands into fists and yelled at the man, “Leave him alone.”

  The man clucked his tongue at the girl, “Careful with that temper, love. Don't want your friend here tasting an ion charge now do you?”

  Emma clenched her teeth down as she glared at the man. Jonah tried to reach for the plasma rifle on his back, but the other man wagged a finger in the air, “Ah-ah, I wouldn't do that if I were you.”

  “Who are you?” Jonah growled at the man, bringing his arm down away from the rifle.

  The man placed his free hand on his vest and his voice became sickeningly sincere, “Ah, yes, an introduction is called for, isn't it? I am former Captain James Emerson of the South Quadrant Army. I say ‘former captain’ due to an incident between my superior officer and me that
ended in my need for an immediate departure out of system. Thankfully for me, I was stationed in the edges of Alpha Centauri and was able to stow away with a visiting Altonian cargo ship. When I arrived in this system, I immediately set up shop as what I like to call a mercy killer. Of course locals always refer to me as a mercenary.” The man gave them another cruel smile.

  Neither Jonah nor Emma had any doubt about who had hired Emerson to attack them. The man continued with his monolog when he noticed understanding in both siblings' faces. “After I received word of the generous High Elder Salianos awarding an impressive sum for the capture of a wayward Elder and a human girl, I prepared to greet these runaways. Of course I had to get rid of any competition from others like myself.” Then he smiled cruelly. “I can tell you this, we mercenaries are not easy to kill.”

  “Neither are Seekers,” Emma retorted hoping to frighten the mercenary, “especially Zaharak.”

  Emerson again clucked his tongue at the girl, despite the uneasy look on his face at the mention of the rogue Seeker's name, “Should never mention that name around here, lovey. Could get yourself killed.”

  Jonah tried distracting the former captain's attention away from Emma. “How did you find us?”

  Emerson shifted his weight on Lutianist's back, “Wasn't hard to be honest. Unlike other mercenaries, I'll risk chancing the expensive flight off planet if the reward is worth it. When your ship appeared in the system, I followed you here and sent Salianos a nice little message about which planet to come to when he arrives in the system.” Emerson paused to relish his moment of triumph. “It shouldn't be long now.”

  “If you believe that we will stand here to wait until Salianos arrives, then you are sorely mistaken,” Lutianist spoke threateningly despite his current position.

  In a flash of black scales the Elder twisted out of Emerson's hold. Before the man could realize what was happening, the old reptile had the former captain's gun disarmed and thrown to the ground. The man squirmed and kicked out as Lutianist lifted him up by the throat. The Elder's eyes gazed heavily into Emerson's own dark eyes. Before the aged reptile's strong hand could crush the man's life from him, Emerson quickly unsheathed a dagger from his jacket and stabbed it into the dull, clawed hand holding his neck. Lutianist bared his fangs as pain shot through his arm, and he immediately lost his hold on Emerson. The former captain rolled on the ground near his fallen weapon. Picking it up he stood and pointed the barrel towards the wounded Elder, who clutched at his bleeding hand.