Overall, the natives were clearly terrified by the little they had seen of the Kahn-Dar attack. Naero went to Thanarra. King Arrok and Queen Liita were ecstatic to receive her, and brought her before them.
They sprang from their thrones and embraced her in the throne room, before the entire court.
“Holy sister,” Queen Liita said, with tears in her eyes. “We feared that you and so many of the other holy ones had abandoned us in our hour of need. What has happened? Tell us this is not so?”
Even the Changs had not been allowed to explain anything.
Naero already knew what she was going to tell them. She had it all prepared.
She might not ever make it back to their world, let alone any of the other adepts. She knew the Changs would, if they were ever given the freedom to do so.
“I’m sorry,” she announced, using the voice, so that all could hear her. Her words echoed throughout the chamber.
“The gods have summoned many of the holy ones to join them in the High Heavens. We have no choice. We must obey. Those who have been chosen are already gone.”
“But why?” the king asked. “And what were these fearful portents in the sky? And why did all of creation rumble beneath our feet? The people are terrified, and rightly so.”
“Your Majesties, there is little time, and I must also leave soon. Please, let me explain as best I can.”
“Leave?” Queen Liita said, looking stricken. “You’ve only just come back to us, and you already speak of leaving?”
“I’m sorry, but I must. There is no other way. The truth is always hard to hear. The age of Legends has returned. Now we all have our battles to fight. Just as your world prepares for war, so do the High Heavens. Dangerous demons and monsters from the Beyond, from the Dark Abyss and the Void themselves–threaten to break free and destroy all of Creation. Their numbers are like the stars in the sky–so great in fact–that even the gods cannot fight them alone.
“Hear me. We have all been called to battle. We have been chosen to fight beside the gods, to do our utmost to drive our terrible foes back into the Abyss. The messengers of the gods, the holy ones whom you know as gentle mortals and healers among you, are in fact warriors and soldiers of great renown in the Realms of the Spirits, upon the other side of the veil.
“There they take up their secret names and titles, and draw their shining weapons of light to defeat the all-consuming darkness. Without such efforts, the enemies of Light would quickly reduce mortal worlds such as yours to nothing but lifeless rock. This battle must be fought in the Spirit Realms. Mortal worlds would have no defense against such terrible foes. That is why we must go when we are summoned, and it may be that we shall never return to this world, ever again.”
The king drew his sword and saluted her.
“Then go, good friend and sister. Fight for the light in the Spirit Realms, and we shall do the same in the mortal climes. As you have said, we all have our battles to wage. And ours will most assuredly be here. This much we do understand.”
Naero returned his salute and ceased using the voice. “You have all grown so much. Yet my heart foretells that you will need to grow even further, and become even wiser. Do not let your wars change or destroy what is best in you–honor, freedom, justice. These and your children are those things that are truly worth fighting, and if need be, dying for. Yet it is even harder to find a way to live for them, and bring them into a better age for all.”
“We shall fight to the last sword, the last breath,” the queen said. “Yet before we part, is there nothing you can do to aid us?”
“I can only give you this.” Naero brought out a scroll she had the fixers prepare. She handed it to the king and queen. She knew they could read and make use of it.
Their Majesties opened it up and began to peruse it. Their eyes went wide.
“How…how could you gather such information?”
Naero smiled and shook her head. “That is unimportant. Make good use of it while you can. Emperor Vauk’s forces are detailed there, but they are already moving, and will not remain in their current locations for long.”
“What is the purpose of this great and terrible war he plans against us all?” Queen Liita asked.
“He’s going to murder all of your children,” Naero said. “Wipe out an entire generation, so that none of your lands or people shall ever recover. The Vaedo will dominate and enslave all who remain, thereafter. That is why you must stop him.”
“How do we fight him and protect our children at the same time?” the king asked. “Even with the other two city states, the Vaedo armies still outnumber our forces, almost two to one. We know what he will do–engage and bottle up our forces in one place–and then attack our homes.”
“Don’t let him trap you. Fight him only where he is weak, not where his is strong, until you have worn him down. Always choose the time and place of your battles. Stay mobile. Move fast. Bleed him as he chases you. And one other thing.”
“What is that?” the queen asked.
“Find the safest place for your children that you can make or devise, and defend it to the last. You know he will seek to take it, at all costs.”
Naero suggested the mountain defenses of the Maedo, but left such decisions up to them. The Thanorans were all still working out their crucial alliances.
“I’m sorry,” Naero told them “I must leave you now. If it is at all possible for me to return to you all at some point in the future, I will do so. But look to yourselves, for I cannot promise it.”
Their Majesties nodded.
“We understand,” the king said.
Queen Liita hugged and kissed her. “May the gods watch over us all.”
“Good sister,” King Arrok asked. “Will you but grant us one boon. If we should fall, what is thy secret name in the Spirit Realms? If all are so chanced on the other side of the veil–how should we know you, if we should pass on, and look for you there?”
Prince Shondar and Princess Iiden looked at her eagerly.
Naero walked out onto the starlit balcony of the palace keep, and reached her hands to the stars.
She transformed before their eyes and took on her accustomed role of the warrior woman dressed and masked all in black, her twin blazing scarlet katanas crackling with force and lightning in her hands, her dark psyonic wings unfurling in the mountain winds, lifting her in the air above them. She used the voice once more.
“In the Spirit Realms, I am known as Shetanna, the Dark Angel of Death, and I have never known defeat in combat. Fight on for your world and your children, and fare you well. My heart is with you.”
She slowly cloaked, and faded away into the night upon the shadowy whispers of the wind. Iiden clung to her older brother and wept.
Naero left them staring in awe and transported back to her small, hidden ship in the high mountains. She still had hours before The Darkstar would arrive.
Naero…I wouldn’t normally bother you with something like this, but I’m detecting a rather strange anomaly.
What do you mean? What kind of an anomaly, Om?
Cosmic in nature, but very faint. I was barely able to detect it. I could only do so through our combined sensory abilities. It is that weak.
Let’s check it out.
They tracked the anomaly to the east cost of Nashara. Naero was amazed at the destruction, even in the wake of the Mystic’s departure. She had heard that the Kahn-Dar gated in there as well, and many of them had fallen. Their bodies were Cosmic in nature and dissolved upon death, leaving nothing behind.
What was this thing, then? Om was right, it was Cosmic energy in nature, but its signature was very faint. She kept losing it, and found it difficult to pinpoint.
Finally she spotted something.
Good thing the night was so dark.
It zipped around like a flickering lightning bug. Even using her gravwing, they couldn’t catch up to it.
Finally, Naero transported, and captured it in her cupped hands.
She tried to peer in at it.
A blinding flash and a puff of smoke. The pop of the small explosion surprised and startled her more than it did any injury.
Whatever the hell it was, the chase was now on.
Even spot transporting, Naero couldn’t capture it again.
Naero remembered something she learned from sparring with Master Vane, of all things.
She encircled it in a net of Chaos energy and slowly closed the encapsulating sphere all around it. Then she made the sphere transparent.
The creature inside made her gasp and blink.
A tiny, blue-violet Kahn-Dar, the size of a small seahorse, like a tiny, flickering wyrm. But now she had it fairly trapped.
Then she felt it. The creature was trying to mindlink with her.
What do you think, Om? Should we try to communicate with it? It seems pretty harmless in this state.
Yes, it is near death, in fact. The Kahn-Dar can change their size at will. And when they perish, they can go in a flash, fade away, or shrink smaller and smaller as they die.
It’s dying? Should we try to help it?
It is an enemy. It came here with the rest to destroy us all. Remember that.
All right, I will. But I hate to watch anything die needlessly.
Even Ejjai?
Point taken.
Naero cautiously opened her end of the mindlink. I am Naero Amashin Maeris, of Spacer Clan Maeris. Who are you?”
The tiny creature bobbed in front of her face.
Womi, of the Kahn-Dar. Have you come to kill me?
I will if you force me to, but I don’t have any great desire to do so. I do not kill without reason. Don’t give me a reason, and we can talk.
Very well, Spacer Naero. We can speak before I perish. I wish I had never listened to the others. I wish I had never come to this terrible place. Now my life is forfeit. The others promised us all a great Cosmic feast of powerful energies, and all we found here instead was death.
Why are you dying, Womi? Is there anything we can do to help you? And why should we, since you came here to attack and kill us?
All good questions. I know all you see in me is an enemy, yet many of my race only wish to live fierce and free. Bestow upon me enough Cosmic energy to sustain my life, such as it is, and I will speak plainly of what I know.
Naero startapped and fed the tiny, flickering wyrm a small amount of energy. It glowed brighter, but did not change size. And it did not flicker as much.
There, Womi. Is that enough?
The creature sighed. Yes, for now. Thank you. Enough to stave off death, at least. You are fearful beings indeed, if you can sip from the power Cosmic so readily. We were not told the truth about you all by half, and for our folly, we have paid a heavy price. We should have learned that we could never again trust the others, especially when they promised us an easy triumph over your kind. Are all of your people as mighty as you?
Oh, heavens, no. Lot’s of my people are much stronger than I am. Like the guy with that sword, for example. In fact, I’m considered somewhat below average, a weakling, really.
Womi glared at her with an uncertain look. A weakling, eh? Well, I suppose it matters not. Perhaps the others betrayed us completely and sent us here to be slaughtered. Curse them. What is there that I can tell one such as yourself, Naero?
Who sent you to attack us, and why? Tell me what you know, and I will do my best to see that you live. You can even go back to your own dimension if you wish. I will not stop you.
If only I could. And if I did so, others of my kind would quickly sense my condition and rush in to finish me. I would be an easy conquest for them, and my power would quickly become part of another.
Naero had almost forgotten about the Kahn-Dar being cannibalistic, attacking and feeding on others of their own kind. She had seen it.
What is wrong with you, Womi? How are you injured? Can you be healed?
I cannot say. I may be able to be regenerated somehow, but not healed. I was struck very hard during the battle in the neck, close to the head. Now only my head can move and function. I cannot feel my body, and it hangs useless below me. It will not respond. Can you not tell that?
Naero looked, trying to study him with her sight. Womi was so small, and so very odd, it was difficult to tell what was natural for his kind. But now that she studied him carefully, his body and limbs did in fact, droop slack and lifeless beneath his head.
We can look into improving your condition, Womi, but right now I want an explanation as to why your people attacked us.
Many of us served the Dark Ones long ago, but we no longer desire any master but ourselves. Now the others, former servants such as ourselves, are striving to become a power in their own right. The Kahn-Dar only seek the chance to feed on concentrated sources of the power Cosmic, and to grow stronger and live free. The others deceived us completely, as they always have. My race is still tainted by the Darkforce, and susceptible to its allure. We crave power far too much and can be easily tempted by it.
Who are these others, and how have they deceived you into attacking us?
They said it would be easy–mere hatchling’s play for our greater powers. Yet so many of us died. You were all very much capable of defending yourselves and shutting down our gateways. Not weaklings and fools at all, like they said you would be. And that devil of yours with his devil’s sword! We were clearly no match for such fury. The others did not warn us about that threat at all, curse them!
What others? Speak plainly. Are we talking about the Dakkur? You both used to be allied with the G’lothc.
Yes, indeed. We thought ourselves rid of them for all time, but now they have gained a foothold in this galaxy. Now they seek to conquer, and crush, and subjugate all before them–just as they and their former masters ruined their own galaxies, and drained them of all life in their insatiable lust for power. They are the pupils of the Dark Ones, and will not be stopped. They can only be destroyed. That is the only way to defeat them.
Naero really shouldn’t be that surprised. She had heard rumors and mention of Baeven and Gaviok fighting the Dakkur. And clearly, they had not left the galaxy.
Their enemies were out there this moment, lurking, plotting, gaining strength. Womi, you’re telling me that the Dakkur have gained a strong foothold in this galaxy? Our galaxy? Where? Where are they expanding their control and dominion?
Far off, in what you call the Gamma Quadrant. You have not explored it yet. Far away from your skies, they have established six new Dakkur homeworlds: Maggoth, Shokk, Kolothon, Xoggoth, Churrok-Kul, and dark Nakkra-Kron. Xalkar I, the Shadow King of the Dakkur has spread destruction and death to every nearby system via his slaves. The new Dakkur Empire has crushed several important, powerful races, and wiped out their worlds, stripping them of all life. Now they only breed more armies of their slaves.
That had to be where the Ejjai were being bred, in vast numbers, at the high expense of other interstellar races, unfortunate enough to be near them.
The Dakkur were following in the true footsteps of their Dark Masters. If they ever got their hands on enough of the Darkforce, unlocked the true secrets of G’lothc tek, and began to apply its destructive capabilities wholesale–they might never be defeated.
Womi, I need you to show my people and I where the Dakkur are in the Gamma Quadrant. Can you do that?
I can tell you where it is best to look for them in general. My people ride the Cosmic and dimensional winds by instinct. We do not bother much with maps and such things. But I have a price of my own for divulging such knowledge, if it is so vital to you.
And what is that?
Find a way to restore me to my former self and grant me safe passage. Do that, or I will not tell you anything more, or aid you any further. That is the bargain that I make with you and your kind.
If we do so, Womi, then you must promise in turn, never to attack my people or their worlds again. And, to try to dissuade others of your race from doing so.
You won’t have any more trouble from me. But I cannot speak for others of my kind. They’re notoriously independent and unpredictable. But I don’t see many wishing to repeat our recent folly. Is our bargain struck, then?
Done. I will begin studying you when I have the chance, to see if I can figure out how to regenerate your crippling injuries. I don’t have a great deal of experience dealing with Cosmic beings and energy creatures of your advanced nature, but I will do my best.
Very well. Just find me a nice quiet place to rest in the mean time, and I will do my best to recuperate as much as I can on my own–if I can find a way to do so.
I’m going to keep you with me, then. Do you mind if I place you in one of my pouches?
Fine with me. I can use the rest. Just don’t crush me.
We’ll try to avoid any crushing.
Naero tucked him away.
Even as she did so, a Cosmic energy spasm racked its way suddenly through her body. That wince of pain only served to remind her that she needed to find a cure for her own Cosmic sickness, before it burned her up, melted her, or caused her to explode.
Merging with the artifact statue had cursed her with a growing Cosmic sickness, that would eventually consume her, one way or another, unless she devised or discovered some kind of cure.
Once she located Baeven, she felt certain that the two of them could have a long talk, and attempt to figure out something.
If he had found a way to avoid such a fate, then so could she.
Naero drifted off, concealed within the cloaked, darkened cockpit of her small, advanced craft, still hiding out on the surface of Thanor-4.
Unfortunately, in her troubled state, she had bad dreams and visions about fighting various monsters, Darkforce generators, and the grim, overwhelming tide of the Darkforce itself.
Om had to wake her for the rendezvous when the time came.
Naero. The Darkstar has arrived.
Much to her surprise, Tyber and Zhen rushed to embrace her when she landed in one of the launching bays.
Zhen must have transferred over to Ty’s ship at some point.
“Greetings, Naero,” Alala sounded out over the ship’s com. “Welcome back. It is very good to have you with us again.”
Spacer Clans Adventure 3: Naero's Fury Page 24