by J. P. Yager
Boost continued to eye the others. Daphkalian was still blocking the rear exit. The other five were spread out around them. Kaida was still being held outside. Three verses seven were bad odds. He eyed the other robot and lamented. Its design was far more advanced than his. For once, he felt embarrassed by his appearance.
"A quandary indeed. You know I want the Void Star still, obviously. So that means I need the girl's help. Our bright scientist here wouldn't be able to open the data pad if I killed you or if I had just kidnapped her. No. I think we can figure this out right here. Together." Daphkalian motioned for the man outside holding Kaida. He brought her into the fray.
Nathan still kept his gun on Daph but continued to sweep the scene with his eyes. There wasn't a right way out of this. The random people in the bar slowly got up and poured out, finally seeing where this confrontation was naturally headed.
The man holding Kaida pushed her toward Daphkalian. He licked the side of her face and then put the data pad in her hand. "If you would be so kind."
Kaida wiped at the saliva on her face and looked at the pad. She really wished she hadn't tried to go back to her house where she got picked up than drug back to Oran’s shop. Oran had gotten beaten pretty roughly too. He was tough though. He would be all right. She stared at the algorithms blankly, not knowing where to start.
God, I hate this planet, Nathan thought to himself. His fingers itched for movement as the alcohol's effect started to wear off. Fear was making him sweat it through his pores.
"Just type in the answer, sweetheart. I need to get paid," Daphkalian coaxed. "Kullistan, did you deliver the insurance?"
The other Ecath nodded.
"We having trouble?" Daph said reaching an arm under Kaida's shirt.
In that moment, Nathan found his vision was good enough. "That's it!" he called. In one motion, he fired the pistol, and Daphkalian's head flew back. He dropped to the ground and rolled.
Glade had been waiting anxiously and opened up on the three closest to him as they opened on them. Laser fire erupted on both sides.
Boost hadn't been waiting for anything, but since his friends were fighting, he grabbed a table and threw it at the other robot. It struck its face. It was about to fire its shoulder cannon when Glade hit it with something explosive. The robot blew up.
The bar was filled with explosive crossfire as both sides tried to get to the other. Daphkalian and the robot were both out of the fight, so it was only five on three. Then Kaida appeared between Glade and Nathan.
Before Nathan could tell her to clear out, she grabbed an explosive off Glade and tossed it at the ceiling on top of their adversaries. It blew, and the roof came down. Unfortunately, it didn't stop there. The whole place came down on top of them.
Nathan pulled Kaida into his arms and felt the wood smash over him. Pain erupted all across his back and neck and head. Hot blood oozed out as the throbbing began.
But he knew he was still alive.
Glade pulled himself and the others out of the destroyed tavern. Some of the wooden walls still stood, but mostly the old place was completely obliterated. There was no sign of the barkeep or law enforcement.
"You all right?" Nathan asked, helping Kaida to her feet.
Kaida dusted herself off and looked up him. "I am now."
As Glade helped Boost out of the rubble and Nathan went to show Kaida how he truly felt using his lips, Daphkalian crept out of the crumbled building. With all the injuries he'd sustained, including the shot to the side of his head, he knew he didn't have long to live. He slid his weapon up and aimed the crosshairs so the shot would take both lovers out. As his fingers closed in, a heavy metal object struck him on the back of the head. He went down.
Nathan planted one on Kaida's soft lips and pulled back. "Thanks for deciding to show back up."
Trevor shrugged, dropping the metal pole in his hands. He pointed toward the demolished building. "And you always tell me not to do anything stupid." He shook his head. "You guys blew this place up."
Sirens blared in the distance.
"C'mon," Nathan urged, turning back to the woman in his arms.
She pulled him in for one more deep kiss and then allowed him to drag her away.
Nathan did his best to ignore the incoming police sirens and indicated they should follow him back toward the ship. He also noted how drained Trev looked. Swinging a metal pole wouldn't cause him to break such a sweat. The more he looked at his nephew, the surer he was that he was ill.
When they were back at Oran's shop, they found him upstairs on his couch with an ice pack on his head.
"You all right?" Kaida asked, checking on him.
Oran nodded. "Yeah. They just knocked me unconscious when they grabbed you. I'm sorry I couldn't stop them." Though he was worse for wear, he couldn't hide his surprise at how bad they all looked. Even the dark-haired kid looked violently ill, feverish.
"I'm just happy we're all okay." Kaida hugged him.
Oran looked up at Nathan and pointed toward his ship. "She's all ready to go. Force drive is operational."
Nathan nodded at him. Kaida handed Oran a handful of hard credits and kissed his forehead. "A tip for the trouble," she explained.
Oran thanked her and watched them leave. Moments later, he could see the little Tiger-37 jump off his pad and tear through the atmosphere. He wished them the best. Even though Kaida had warned him some space anomaly was coming to get him, he would take his chances. He looked down at his wad of cash. He would be all right.
On board the Wrath, the Ruveran tracking device Daphkalian's friend Kullistan had emplaced blinked quietly below deck.
Chapter 16
Dacian Velkas watched his assassin depart from the comfort of his personal quarters. The vermillion craft shot off from Razerus. Soon Render would round them all up and place the Void Star in his hands. He would have one of the final pieces for his collection and possibly the most powerful device in the universe. It was also the only artifact left that legend claimed could prolong his life.
Months earlier, a separate artifact had been uncovered from one of the Outskirt Worlds. Whatever it was, it unleashed some kind of power. It was unknown what happened next after the radios died and those who had been there disappeared. But a Ruveran ship intercepted some survivors and they spoke of the end of the universe and how they needed to find something called the Void Star. It was something they claimed the darkness called for.
But what was this device? Was it a weapon or a healing instrument? Everyone thought it did something different. But all agreed it was powerful.
Dacian needed a reversal of his own before his health failed him and he died. He wanted another thousand years to rule the universe. Even if this star gave him one more day to live, it was worth all this trouble.
And now it was within reach once more. He was pleasantly surprised the Ecath had been successful after he had screwed up betraying his crew at Flora. No matter now.
In the silence of his private office, he heard a quiet murmur, a shade less than a whisper. He felt naked in his sleeping clothes. Though someone would have to have a death wish to sneak into his quarters.
"Hello?" He got up from his desk and checked outside the entrance. Two baffled guards turned to face him. He shut the door in their faces.
"Velkas…" the whisper called.
The hair on the nape of his neck stood on end, and he turned to see who was there. He was alone. His bedroom was large, but no one could hide within it. He was a bit of minimalist at home. Valuable art hung on the gray walls; black marble flooring with gold trim lay beneath his feet; and his oversized closet was open with no one inside.
"What is this?" he asked the nothingness.
Velkas threw on a robe and went to his balcony. His was the penthouse suite, so nobody had said it from anywhere around there. There was nothing flying by his place. He closed the slider on the way back inside. Was he losing it?
"Come here…" the whisper beckoned.
W
here? he wanted to ask and end the ridiculous game of hide-and-seek.
He went back to his private office, and there in his chair sat a lavishly dressed figure. He seemed to form out of the shadows. The stranger appeared to be in his thirties; he had long, dark hair and thin, trimmed facial hair. He was handsome and seemed to know it. His feet were playfully resting on Dacian's desk, kicking off things that were too near. He was dressed in a black suit from another era and wore a long black tie. Then he flicked his fingers and was wearing black robes.
"How…?" Velkas was still finding the words difficult to find. No one got the drop on him.
"Easy there." The dark figure made prayer hands and smiled. "I come in peace."
"Who…?"
"Does it matter?" The dark figure looked away as though he was thinking about it. "You're right. Introductions are important. And I would like to avoid being called 'The Darkness' or the 'The Dark One.' You're right. I'll have to name myself. I've always been partial to Abel. So call me that if you want."
Velkas continued to stutter. His older age brought heart tremors pretty easily. He held his chest and breathed deeply. A weak heart was one of the many ailments that threatened to kill him at any minute.
"I'm sorry I snuck up on you like this. There's just business that couldn't wait." Abel disappeared from behind the desk and reappeared at Velkas's side. He did his best to pretend concern for the aging dictator. "I'm not going to hurt you. I'm here to make you a deal."
Velkas took his heart medicine from Abel's hand and chomped a couple of the pills down. He followed them with a glass of water. He took in deep breaths until he stabilized.
"You okay? Are you coherent?" Abel warped back to his desk and threw a glass model ship up and down. "I don't have a lot of time here, Dacian."
Velkas took the seat opposite the stranger. Energy seeped from the ominous being. It made him feel darker emotions and think terrible thoughts. "What are you?"
"I am Abel. And that's all you can comprehend." Abel let the glass ship hit the ground and shatter. "Fine, I'll try to explain it. Imagine two very different planes of existence. One is this one, the world of life. The other is a shadow of it, a realm of nonexistence, if that makes sense. No? Oh well. Well, I'm the keeper of that other place. The one and only member."
Velkas just focused on his breathing. How had he lost control of this situation so quickly?
"Right. The deal. Here it is. I am going to consume everything through the universe of life. It's going to happen. It is happening as we speak in fact. My problem is this little device you are also after. Yeah. The Void Star. Now, I can't touch the thing; it's against the rules. But you can, and I need it destroyed. It’s a simple act to destroy it…"
Velkas listened, and as ridiculous as it sounded, he felt like this entity was being reasonable. "What do I get if I do?"
"I will make your death fast and painless." Abel chuckled. "I see your thoughts, old man. Your mind goes straight to the opposite, doesn't it? What if you don't help me? I will enter you and become a part of you, torturing you mindlessly with pain you can't begin to imagine, breaking your mind and allowing you to watch. The choice will be yours when the time comes. So…"
Abel reappeared at his side. He was holding him like a used-ship dealer. "Make the right choice."
Velkas nodded.
"I really like you. You can lie straight to my face." Abel grabbed Velkas's arm, and it went numb.
In his vision, he saw everything Abel was. He saw the hatred and pain, the endless darkness, the abyss that he was, the waiting he had endured to break through, and then the fatal mistake his people had made centuries ago. He saw the missing Breaker and the door that had opened what was left of the barrier and allowed this thing to enter their world.
"There you go." Abel looked at the crumpled form of Velkas. "Sorry about that, mate. I had to be sure you understood the stakes. I'll let myself out."
Lying on the ground, Velkas shook, his mind unable to comprehend what he'd seen. He had crushed civilizations, millions of lives, countless worlds, and in less than ten minutes, he was weeping from one chance meeting.
Whatever the darkness was, it was getting close.
Chapter 17
The crew of the Wrath burned across countless galaxies. They made a couple of stops within the Inner Rim, near Ruveran-monitored space. It was the only direction left that led away from the anomaly. The force drive ran smoother than it ever had. Oran had outdone himself.
Trevor continued to watch in disgust as the older couple kept stealing away to meet up like kids. They couldn't seem to keep their hands off each other. Trevor missed the piece-of-crap a-hole version of his uncle that he had always known. He was tempted to bring up his aunt Maura to dampen their spirits, but it felt too wrong to do so. Unlike him, his uncle was finally moving on with his life.
Then after a day's travel from Crystalis, Kaida figured out how to interpret the coordinates Raxus had left. Trevor inputted them. The NAV routed them toward a solar system no one onboard was familiar with.
"It's near the Center Vortices," Trevor said to them both. "Which is within Ruveran space."
"Where better to hide than right underneath their nose?" Nathan asked. He took the controls from cruise control and pointed them to their new destination.
The force drive went full bars, and off they shot. The computer showed they would hit their destination within the hour.
When they were engaged into the jump, Nathan turned to Kaida. "Can you give us a minute?" She nodded and went below.
Nathan sat at the controls quietly, going over what he was going to say to Trevor. It wasn't going to be easy to tell him that after all this, they would part ways. He still wanted the best for his nephew, but he was done with all these space battles. He was getting tired of risking his life every time he flew. He just wanted to enjoy his remaining years with Kaida. Even if it was a matter of days. He also had to unload something else off his chest. No secrets.
"I don't know how to say this," he began.
Trev looked up from his readings. "All right."
"I know I've been hard on you." Nathan looked back and saw it all. He had been tough on the kid. But his father had been tough on him and that’s he had raised Arilyn. A man had to grow up to be strong enough to handle whatever came. Babying young men only created sensitive creampuffs. He knew he wasn't the best people person, but he was a good leader and that would do. "Look, I'm getting too old for this. I'll just get it out there. The Armiger told me something you need to know. Scott, your father, he was working on something…so top secret the Armiger's own son didn't know either."
"What?" An echo of Nya's phantom came back to him. "You know what your father was working on."
Nathan cleared the lump from his throat. "Your father created rift technology."
The air was knocked from Trevor's lungs. "No, he didn't. He was trying to find a cure for me." The words came out before he knew it. He knew that Nathan had been lying—he hadn't known about his father—and he was regretful for letting out his secret all in one moment.
"A cure for what?" Nathan eyed him, concerned. He had been looking worse and worse since leaving the Helcarion.
Trevor felt the tremor attack coming on from the stress; the fever welled up, and he tried to leave before it hit. I don't want him to see this.
Nathan held him back. "Hang on. Where you going? Answer the question."
"Get out of my way." He tried to push past him but couldn't. Nathan held him there.
Too late. Trevor fell to the ground in an uncontrollable fury of shaking. He held his breath as it tore through him. A scream like he had never experienced burst from his mouth. Tendrils of sharp pain rushed through his body. A feeling of being poked with needles ran up and down his spine as he shook. When it finally dissipated, he took a deep breath. He slowly pulled himself off the ground, tears streaming down his face.
"What the…?" Nathan began. He looked his nephew up and down. Sweat poured from t
he young man's forehead, his eyes were red, and his body wavered like he could faint at any moment.
Trev sat back into his copilot's seat and concentrated on breathing. Not up to discussing it, he said simply, "Now you know." He paused.
"Scott was working on a cure for what?"
"I have toxi-parasitic strain C."
"You've had it this whole time?" Nathan couldn't hide his bewilderment.
Trevor nodded.
"But the sickness and the episodes…"
"With the exception of a few close calls, I've been able to hide it." Then Trev added, "Epherus knew. Glade figured it out too."
”I don't know what to do here." He really didn’t. Though looking back on the past with this new knowledge filled in a lot of answers; the odd moods and the drinking. What he understood of toxi-parasitic strains is there were only two, A and B. There was no C.
"Just let me see this through." Trevor said in the silence they found themselves in.
Nathan looked him over. He should sit him out and get him medical attention. But that was the old him thinking. If Trevor wanted to see this through to the end, he would let him.
"All right," Nathan agreed. He patted his shoulder. "All right."
"I'm going to get us some lunch," Trevor said weakly and left his uncle to his own thoughts.
"That's…that's fine." Nathan watched him go. The realization of what he'd witnessed slowly dawned on him. His last remaining family member was dying. He didn't even get a chance to tell him this was his last flight. Now it didn't matter. It most likely was his last. If the TPC was giving him fever symptoms, he had less than twenty-four hours to live.
Trevor finished up at the galley and polished off the sandwich he had made. He downed it with something caffeinated.
Now he knows, he thought to himself. When he was a kid, his father had taught him not to reveal it. Those with the parasite were outcasts to modern society, destined never to see their thirtieth birthday. Now at age twenty-nine, Trev realized they would have been right to cast him out—all the years of schooling and an apprenticeship to a job specialty, only to have him perish before his first day. It was wise for his father to teach him that so he could have a shot at a normal life. But they still weren’t were what this strain did.