It was still early in the station’s programming, and the lights in the corridors were dim when she left her quarters in the Spire for the Dawn Alliance command. She enjoyed the early hours on space stations, when the corridors were empty, the air moisturisers gave off steam, and the air was cool.
A few early birds walked the wide walkways with her. Many who worked in the Spire lived in the city. While she had heard the arguments—the city was the vibrant cultural centre, while in the Spire there was nothing but government and navy business—for the whole of her career she had been a resident on ships and stations solely focused on navy operations. For her, the city was a distraction. The time in Nanira had been a distraction too, and now the best thing she could have was the full-on focus brought by residency in the Spire.
She found Belinda and Render already at work in the lab. Render nodded at her, but returned to the screen in front of him. Belinda, who was standing in front of a big map, turned and flashed a wide smile. ‘Good timing!’
She raised her brow.
Belinda walked up to her, quite a lot closer than navy policy would dictate, and said, ‘Admiral Atamian is holding an official briefing about the Remolan appearance, and I would like you to join me.’
They walked to a large conference room with a half-circle table and a chairman’s table. The Admiral sat at the chairman’s table with two stiff-looking old men, also admirals, one of whom had joined remotely as a hologram. Jill’s terminal told her they were Admiral Ezio Borda, in charge of sector Alpha, and Admiral Zeg Zenak, who looked after the Gamma sector. The opposing half-circle was full of important-looking high-ranking officers, some of which Jill knew: Vice Admiral Karla Ronner; Principal Adviser Kees Bik; Chief Interstellar Fleet Strategy Officer, Mr Wool Hoog, and others. She was expecting Vice Admiral Jett to be there as the head of Special Operations, but couldn’t see him. She and Belinda took their seats behind the table.
‘Welcome,’ the admiral said. ‘The purpose of this session is to share information about recent events.’
He was referring to the Remolan portals.
‘Let us recap the facts.’ Behind him, the screen came to life with a summary of newscasts and data that the navy had gathered.
There were a few interesting data points Jill hadn’t seen before: the portals had appeared across locations a hundred thousand light years apart. The only instance of anything confirmed coming out had been in Spit City Thruneedle where a group of aliens with navy cyborg parts had wiped out a marine squad. But the purpose of the aliens’ visit remained a mystery.
A rotating model of one of the aliens filled the screen. It had long legs, which seemed jointless and ended in claws and talons. Its body was small in comparison, and atop it was the head that looked like an elongated neck. Its black skin gleamed in the light. The side of the head was covered with technology similar to the navy cyborg tech.
The creature on the screen changed. This one had six legs. It changed again, to one with eight. The shapes and sizes of the aliens’ bodies changed, too. They seemed to be various types of Remolan creatures mixed with navy cyborgs.
Most of the portals had displaced air—or nothing. But among the many, there had also been a few that appeared on top of matter, cutting it clean like a pizza knife. One of these instances happened in a massive textile factory on Baleor, where the sliced cooling cables spurted out toxic liquids and ruined the stock.
The show ended. ‘What we have witnessed here is an abomination. We cannot let this happen again. The people are concerned, and the politicians keep asking what we are going to do about it.’
Someone stood up. ‘What are we going to do about it?’ It was Vice Admiral Karla Ronner, who Jill admired for what she was doing now: talking with sense about difficult topics. ‘Ever since the last incident, I’ve called for investment against an extra-dimensional retaliation, but nothing happened, and now it’s blowing up in our faces.’
An uncomfortable silence ensued. Then someone whispered something to their neighbour, and soon the room filled with mutterings.
‘It is understood that these occurrences are not random,’ Admiral Borda, the man of flesh beside Atamian said, silencing the chatter. ‘And that we are dealing with something wicked.’
Sitting beside Jill, Belinda seemed to say something.
Jill turned, and whispered, ‘What did you say?’
Belinda shook her head, and stared straight ahead with intensity, as if she were focusing on listening. Then she tapped Jill on the thigh. ‘We should get going.’
‘Now? They’ve just started—’
‘Hush,’ Belinda said. ‘It’s complicated. You really should come with me before it’s too late.’
‘You serious?’
‘Completely.’ Belinda’s face said the same thing as she stood up. ‘Come on, now.’
Jill stood up. Admiral Atamian noticed them, and she tried to look apologetic, but when the admiral’s eyes met hers, she stopped. She was just about to say something when black spots emerged around the meeting room.
Somebody screamed. One of the participants at the horseshoe table slumped down headless. It was Principal Adviser Kees Bik. A black spot had appeared where his head had been.
A lump grew in Jill’s throat as the meeting room turned into a purgatory, and she froze stiff.
Something fell from the ceiling. A pipe burst. People cried out in panic. From the black spots in the back of the room emerged a number of glistening black alien creatures with shiny metal plates and navy pulse rifles.
‘I said, come on!’ Belinda shouted.
Jill blinked, and turned. She grabbed Belinda’s outstretched arm and kicked the empty chairs down before her as she ran.
One of the guards by the door before them was beheaded by an alien that appeared from nowhere. Running headfirst into the alien, Belinda came to an abrupt stop, and Jill ran into her. She tried to hold her balance, but stumbled.
The other guard shot the alien Belinda had run into, but its skin absorbed the shots as if they were nothing. Without so much as a recoil, the alien fired back at the guard, felling him with three quick shots.
Jill tried to get her bearings. She lay on the floor on top of Belinda, who winced as their eyes met. She clambered to the side.
‘Stay down,’ Belinda said.
The aliens began firing at the participants of the meeting. Screams erupted, but most quieted just as quickly. The aliens shot them point blank from behind.
Admiral Atamian sat still, while Admiral Borda beside him stood up and pulled a pistol from his hip. With a face of disgust, he fired multiple shots that hit the aliens’ skin without effect. The last shot hit one in the faceplate, which cracked and fell. The alien seemed to glance down at the broken object, then grunted and fired back at Admiral Borda. The blast exploded in the man’s face.
Jill turned her gaze away from the ugly sight and heard a heavy thump as Admiral Borda’s body fell dead on the floor.
‘We need to move,’ Belinda said, rising onto her knees.
Jill pulled her down. ‘Are you crazy?’
‘Trust me.’
Jill couldn’t. Now that she thought of it, it seemed weird that they were still alive. She, Belinda, and Atamian. The aliens had killed everyone else in a matter of seconds. ‘I’m not sure what’s real anymore.’
‘It’s all right,’ Belinda said, and stood up straight.
Cowering, Jill shook her head. ‘No, it’s not—’
‘Don’t kill him.’ The hissing voice came from a different kind of creature standing in the middle of the room. This one had a humanoid body, eyes of fire, and black wings. ‘Not just yet.’
Jill took a quick breath and looked at Belinda, who was stepping towards the admiral. Jill admired how brave she was in a situation like this.
The admiral, the only other person left alive, looked furious. Beside him, the hologram of Admiral Zeg Zenak looked worried. Between them, on and around the horseshoe table, slumped corpses.
&nbs
p; Zenak said, ‘I’m… they’re—’
Before Atamian could say anything, Admiral Zenak’s hologram jerked back, as if it had been hit hard. The hologram blinked a few times and disappeared.
‘Doctor Killock, what is going on?’
Belinda shrugged and glanced at the monster, her eyes widening. To Jill, her reaction seemed contrived.
‘Who are you?’ the admiral bellowed. ‘How dare you—’
The winged humanoid raised a finger. The admiral’s lips closed, and even though he wanted to speak, his lips remained pursed and he could only produce mumbling sounds. He reached under the table, but before he had a chance to straighten his back, two monsters beside the humanoid shot purple blasts into his chest. He slumped back on his chair.
Jill gasped. Only now did it dawn on her what was happening. The Remolans had performed a concentrated strike across multiple locations. If they had the navy—
The creature turned its attention to Jill. It looked her up-and-down, then turned to Belinda and nodded. ‘Thisz will do,’ it said, and stepped back into the portal.
Jill frowned at Belinda, who said, ‘I’m sorry, I should’ve told you about this earlier.’
She found it hard to breathe. ‘Are you with Remola?’
With all the aliens out through the black portals through which they had come, the portals disappeared and the room became still.
‘It’s not what you think.’
‘What is it, then?’
Belinda stared at her for a moment, then said, ‘I can’t explain it.’
That meant only one thing: she had something to do with it. Either directly or indirectly, Belinda had conspired against the navy, and Jill grew angry with herself for falling into her trap. She stood up, walked to Belinda, pushed her aside and continued to the door. It whooshed open, and she stepped out to the cool of the corridor.
‘Jill, I’m sorry, let me try to explain,’ Belinda shouted, running after her. Jill stopped.
‘Did you know about this?’ She said, grabbing Belinda by the wrists. She had just witnessed an alien invasion through a sudden portal inside Dawn Central command, which was supposed to be the most secure room in the whole universe. ‘Why didn’t they kill us? Did you know about this?’
Belinda looked down at her arms.
Jill realised she was shaking and squeezing her wrists too hard, and she let go. ‘Speak to me.’
For a moment Belinda just stared at her. ‘Someone messaged me via my AI assistant earlier this morning, telling me I was in danger. And just before the aliens appeared, I received an ominous Get out; it’s happening now. I swear I didn’t know about this.’
Their faces just centimetres apart, Jill peered into Belinda’s eyes, trying to figure out if she was telling the truth. She, too, seemed shocked, the usual confidence gone from her glistening eyes, and nothing to indicate she was lying.
Jill glanced back. Just behind her, inside the room, Vice Admiral Karla Ronner lay lifeless under a terminal. ‘We have to report this.’
‘Wait.’
Jill turned. Belinda’s face was just centimetres from hers. ‘Why?’
‘The alarms are blazing, yet there’s no one here.’
Jill looked into the terminal. There seemed to be a system-wide alert, which restricted her access, but she could see that this wasn’t the only location that had been attacked. Every station of every high-ranking officer seemed targeted.
The navy was a machine with replaceable parts, but if a number of leaders went down at once, it was a big blow. She looked at the data. ‘More than two hundred dead. Every active admiral and vice admiral, a number of commodores, and the chief of military, too.’
Belinda swallowed. ‘Guess we just made the cut to stay alive.’
‘It doesn’t make sense,’ she said, perusing the data. It wasn’t just the fact that it had happened. If they possessed the capability to come in unannounced through the shields and every protective mechanism Dawn Central had, they could go anywhere. ‘Wonder what they want?’
The confident stare in Belinda’s eyes was back. ‘I believe this was a surgical strike to debilitate the navy in preparation for a large-scale attack. Even so, the organisation was built for this.’
‘Perhaps, but reorganising leadership will take time, which we may not have.’
‘The void will fill up sooner than you think,’ Belinda said, in a low voice. ‘This is our chance.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘We are senior officers, and you are one of the gifted ones. If there’s anyone equipped to face this threat, it’s us. We must step up to the challenge.’
What she said made sense, but it wasn’t the right time. Jill wanted to understand the situation better before drawing any conclusions.
‘Also,’ Belinda said, ‘the message I got was from within, and that means there’s someone inside conspiring against the navy. It is our duty to prevent them from securing power.’
‘Why would they warn you, though?’
Belinda shrugged. ‘At least it confirms someone knew about the attack before it happened, and someone told the monsters not to touch us.’
That was a valid point. The monsters had seemingly recognised them and let them live. ‘Did the message have any metadata on the source?’
‘Nothing that I could use. I will ask the tech to trace it.’
Jill nodded in agreement. What Belinda said was logical, but she was making assumptions. If all the leadership had been killed, the navy would grind to a halt, and if nothing else, be exposed to a number of threats—not just the Remola—and that scared Jill.
Thinking of trustworthy people in the organisation, only one name came up: Henning. She looked him up in the navy directory.
‘What are you doing?’ Belinda asked.
‘I will check up with Henning.’
‘Why? He’s in Spit City.’
‘I trust he knows what’s going on.’
‘You don’t trust me?’
‘That’s not what I meant,’ she said, and placed a call.
After just a moment, Henning picked up. ‘The Remola retreated, but a creature attacked the bar at the Hightower Hotel.’
‘What creature?’
‘Ver, a black, winged creature with sharp teeth and claws.’
A team of security personnel came in.
‘I have to go,’ Jill said, and dropped the line.
The Dresnean lieutenant in charge saluted Belinda and Jill. ‘We saw the footage, it’s the same everywhere.’
‘It’s Remola,’ Belinda said.
The lieutenant nodded. ‘What shall we do?’
The event confirmed the Remola were alive and well, and it seemed they had help from other dark creatures. The fight wasn’t over. This was the reason Jill had rejoined the navy. Perhaps Belinda was right. This was her time.
‘Take us to the command centre.’
Chapter Twenty-Four
Berossus walked past a green field of Beaute on Baleor, holding hands with Mianea. The air smelled of freshly cut grass, and gigasheep grazed slowly on the field in the distance behind the lake that glimmered in the sun, which was shining warm on his face. Three little children skipped behind them, teasing each other and laughing.
Then the ground trembled. Mianea looked at him with worry in her eyes. The kids shouted and pointed up into the sky.
A large gleaming black object penetrated the atmosphere, and descended fast towards the ground, and in a moment the sky was punctured by dozens of black objects.
Berossus had seen something similar before.
The black menaces hit the ground one-by-one, making the earth shake with each hit, and the holes in the atmosphere expanded, turning the sky dark. The children started crying and were pointing at Berossus now.
Mianea gasped and took a quick step backward. Berossus’s real arm was expanding, and the prosthetic fell away, as his shirt ripped and revealed a red-hot mass of muscle.
He was turning into a monster. It
felt just like before, and it was going to be mere seconds until the monster took over.
Mianea cried, ‘Berossus! Are you there…?’
He couldn’t respond. The monster was gaining control. He had to destroy something, anything.
‘Are you there? ARE YOU THERE?’ she screamed.
He woke up to Efia’s face.
‘You there?’
‘Yeah,’ Berossus said, and shook his head. ‘Where am I?’
‘Hush. They captured us because they want me, but I hid from them.’
He remembered walking to the alien cyborgs. They had the device—a boorish-looking box, really—which had emitted green light, and something in that light had been so soothing that even thinking of it now made him want to close his eyes and drift away.
He shook the feeling off and looked around. The room was black, with a similar veined structure to the outside of the alien ship. He sat up. ‘Where’s Oberen?’
‘He’s just in the next room. I had to wait a while until the aliens left you.’
‘What are we going to do?’
‘This ship, while bigger than the others, is manned by only ten of them. They’re quite a piece of work, creations of Nenetl I’m sure, but perhaps you could take them out.’
He touched his hip. The gun, the baton, the belt—everything he had taken from the crate was gone. He had just his trousers and a shirt—not ripped—and his boots. ‘What happened?’
‘They hypnotised you, took your weapons and left you. They searched through the Abyss and disabled it—’
Efia vanished. A doorway opened.
One of the Remolan aliens entered the room. It jumped at the realization that Berossus was up, and turned back to the door. He looked around for anything to fight it with, but the room was empty, and the alien gone.
He jumped off the bed and burst into the open doorway. A tight corridor continued to the left and right. The alien scurried around the corner.
He had to find his father, and their weapons. Efia had said there was a room beside the one in which Berossus had been, but there were no doors, only vertical boughs that seemed to coil around each other.
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