by K A Carter
Nario hadn’t heard from Rhion, but he had the feeling that he had already been grabbed before he could make his way to meet him. And then there was the matter of making sure Corrinne was okay. He wanted to get to that too.
First thing was first. Halle had plotted a course back to Sol and it would take a while. It gave him some time to think about his next moves. Though Nario didn’t feel it necessary, there were tremendous weights on him. Ones he felt he couldn’t bare alone. He needed his friend, he needed his lover. In the mess of things, he hadn’t thought about where Rhion or Corrinne was. As much as he wanted to investigate into it. The matters at hand were to important.
It almost felt as though his screen had cracked. A screen he called it; his toughness that had kept him going through his career. It had served him well but didn’t hold up well now.
A beep came from a node next to his desk terminal.
His legs ached as he creaked over, it wasn’t old age though. Medical advancements had stalled that. It was from the pummeling his knee took when he kept digging his elbow into it.
His terminal had an unread message. The dark screen only slight lit, dimly displaying an encoded text that bared the Federal insignia in the top righthand corner.
“If you’re reading this D.L, don’t come back,” Nario said as he read off of it. It was from his closest friend. Nothing else populated the message. It had Nario’s mind stirring. He was likely heading into just what he thought. The fact that he was heading back to federal space now, made his chest bubble.
Nario stood up and pressed the com node, hoping that there was a moment to change course.
“Halle,” he said.
She responded almost instantly, “Go for me, Cap.”
“Alter course to the Lanx system.”
“Uhh,” she paused. “Dropping out now. We just entered Sol.”
Nario batted his eyes slowly and sighed like he’d been holding it in.
“You may want to get up here, sir.”
∆∆∆
In the display area, Halle had patched through a visual without warning. It was just a few hundred thousand kilometers away. Four federal ships in the distance. One of them a cruiser. The others were Class F Destroyers. As a noisy signal came from the alert ring, Halle said “Cap, we’re being targeted,” in a shaky voice.
Moments later the outer visual was overshadowed by a new screen, a face as familiar as the colored badges that marked the nose end of each bridge hull. Identifying each by their accomplishments.
“Ambassador Lobin,” said Odessa. “You have been court martialed for your insubordination of orders. Your vessel is to be commandeered and impounded. Please stand down engines for boarding.”
Chapter 44: S’tiri
The room was wide and almost blindingly white. The orb like dome windows accenting sunlight into almost every corner. Right in the center was a rectangular structure. A blue orb glowing from a curved hollow opening.
“What is that?” Z’oni said.
S’tiri inched closer. It was empty as far as he could see. Others panned out of the room as a quiet hum came from the structure.
“It is an ascension crystal,” the elder said. His hovering seat stopping just a few feet away from the glowing crystal. He reached out, long thin fingers grasping empty air in front of the crystal; leaning closer.
At the opposite end of the room thick blast doors opened slowly.
There he stood. Darkness almost manifesting itself behind him creating a shadow. In the midst of strutting in, a blade shuttered light off of it.
“You are far too late,” Thalus said.
S’tiri glared at him, pulling up his weapon.
Thalus’ eyes were black and empty. He walked toward them slowly, his eyes perched on the elder.
The ascension crystal dimmed when the elder touched it, attempting to pull it out from its place.
“Don’t you dare!” Thalus growled.
S’tiri motioned next to the crystal. “Thalus, this is over. This planet, your allies. There is no way you will succeed.”
S’tiri could see what appeared to be a grin. He wasn’t sure with the unfixed light constantly pulsating.
“I am no longer Thalus,” he started. “We have already accomplished what we need.”
The elder stripped the crystal from its place the light almost vanishing instantly.
Thalus threw his blade toward him in the same motion. It was too quick. S’tiri couldn’t adjust before it passed him.
As he unearthed more blades Thalus’ voice grew louder. “You are in the presense of a god. There is no mortality. Only ascension. Now that I am released, even if you manage to kill me this one, I will find a new vessel.
The others didn’t hesitate. Most began firing at him. Z’oni ran toward the elder. His eyes gleaming with a grayness. S’tiri glanced back for only a second. He turned only to see Thalus darting through the room at an alarming rate; dodging shot after shot.
A few of the soldiers went down swiftly. Z’oni motioned backwards.
But this one person. This one enemy felt like a dozen.
S’tiri blocked a blade attack just barely scraping off the edge of his weapon. Before he could bring it back up he was kicked in the chest, flying across the room. The last soldier had perched by the edge of the door shooting at the eerie shadow moving around the room. Z’oni had started to attack it. Trying to keep from getting cut. She used the blade in her right hand and hooked it under the serrated shorter blade Thalus was using. Throwing up her left arm with her other, trying to stab at him. Thalus let the blade pierce his hand. Motioning his body back and throwing Z’oni against the wall closest to them. Her hands flattened. Thalus wasted no time and stabbed his blade through her abdomen, the length of it going through the wall behind her. Solid wall. A strength S’tiri didn’t even believe a Draul could have.
S’tiri jumped back up, sprinting toward him. With each swipe, Thalus dodged each of them. He slashed S’tiri’s arm, grabbing him by the throat.
“You have failed S’tiri,” he gripped tighter. Thick dry fingers with blackened nails dug deep through the sides of S’tiri;s neck. “I am unshackled now…and many more will come now that I have the crystal.”
Grasping around Thalus’ hands, trying to pull them away while hanging from them, S’tiri only now realized who he really was battling. Xefacus.
Through the dark eyes of the being strangling him, he could see more, a presence that reached outward almost slithering its way into his mind. It hung right at the edges. Waiting.
“You once fought for me,” Xefacus said. “Now… you resist. Why?” The words sounded amorphous and indistinguishable.
S’tiri grunted as air was struggling to circulate through his body. He said something. It came out much clearer in his mind. The evil stared back as though he heard nothing.
Its grip loosened. “What was that?”
“You are evil,” he mustered out of breath. “and you will never win.”
S’tiri extended his leg toward Xefacus, twisting the arm that held his neck. To his surprise it worked. It threw him a few feet away. Z’oni was slouched against the wall closest. She slid a blade toward him.
With no hesitation he grabbed it and jumped up toward Xefacus. It didn’t move. As S’tiri flung his arm toward him, it grabbed it. With a forceful jab it plunged the long blade into S’tiri’s chest. It took a moment, but slowly the feeling of pain crept into his head. He fell to the side, propping himself up on one leg. There wasn’t much from the wound but a thick red blood flow slowly dripped.
Xefacus slowly approached the dead elder gripping the crystal. He grabbed for it.
S’tiri looked up, a sound catching his attention. The blast doors opening, from Thalus’ entrance.
Chapter 45: Jericho
“We have to get those doors open again,” Morris said.
Jericho nodded and turned around. Somewhere back the way they had come, was a way to bring the doors back open.
“I’ll go back,” Jericho started. “Morris, you and I will get the doors open. Everyone else get to the ship.”
Morris motioned over to the doors. One press of the button was accompanied by the perpetual blare of an alarm. The voice behind it was an automated VI announcing the eventual collapse of the facility.
“Shit,” Jericho said under his breath as it continued.
“Warning. Structural collapse eminent,” it repeated.
The ground rumbled. A grasp at his shoulder turned him around. Anda looking at him with gleaming eyes. “Al,” she said. She pressed her lips inward. Worry seeped out of them.
He gripped her hand a little tighter than usual and let go. He ran through the doors.
“Where to now?” Morris asked. A soft gray specialty rifle was gripped tight with a strap slung over his left shoulder, slacking due to his short, beefy arms.
Jericho squinted down a few hallways and pointed to the right most of the six. “I think this is toward the faculty wing, it has to be closest to the hangars for evacuation protocols.”
“So, there should be a room dedicated to emergency lockdown release ‘er something?”
“Basically.”
It took a few minutes of running down corridors, until the two stopped at a heavy blast door.
“Sturdy,” Morris said.
Jericho nodded and examined it. “Know of any way to get this door open?”
Morris clicked at the trigger a hot round skating into the control dock that sat to right of the door, hanging there like an old communication node.
“That usually works.”
Jericho pressed at the pad above it, the blast doors sliding open almost instantly.
A peculiar scene in front of them. Jericho’s eyes widened. He stared at a dry structure, clearly old, sitting at the center of the room. A round edged room leaving only empty space around it. But it wasn’t empty space. The ground was littered with bodies of aliens. Two visibly opposing sides. Close to the structure, a large, bulky being towered over the last remaining of the beings with violet tinted their skins. He wielded a dripping blade over the alien. Saying something. Jericho didn’t understand any of it. It was in a rugged sounding language that almost sounded like annunciated growls.
It turned to them, black eyes visibly disturbed by their presence.
Laying there on the ground the other made a move, one jab at the abdomen. The black eyed one stumbled as the other screeched to get up from his wounds.
Something in Jericho clicked. He didn’t hesitate. As soon as he fired from his blaster, Morris joined in. Each shot passing through the evil looking one.
As Jericho slowed his fire, he was thrown across the room by a force, just after seeing the wave the dark one’s hand toward him. Morris was nearly hit, rolling away. He kept firing.
“Cap!” Morris yelled.
The wounded alien grabbed at the throat of the other. Using its jabbing blade, it sliced at the throat. Simultaneously, a few of Morris’ shots hit the blade wielder. He fell to his knees again, one hand holding up a giant.
“Hold your fire,”
The dark eyed held its throat looking at each of them, stopping at the one that had slit its throat. The black eyes went white then black again. He dropped to his knees, a dark fog spewing from his mouth and throat.
It spread outward collecting itself, then pushing toward the outer doors. Jericho stopped the urge to shoot at it, reminding himself how little good it would do. While it left, a faint screech rested in the air slowly dissipating.
Morris jumped up and ran towards the fallen alien. It was barely kneeling, gripping its side with a heavy three fingered hand.
“Hey bud,” he stood next to him staring down. “you alright?”
“He doesn’t understand you,” Jericho added.
In the same moment, the alien looked up. “You must go.” It said slowly.
Jericho paused and raised his brows.
“See cap?”
“You must go now. It is not gone and will only search for a new vessel. It will return.”
“Who are you?” Jericho asked. “How is it you can understand us?”
“I am S’tiri, I’ve come to stop this.” S’tiri let out what sounded like a cough. “For now, we have only slowed an evil.”
“What evil?”
S’tiri stood. “The F’aquissi. Dimensional beings that have no other desire but to bring this realm to utter turmoil. You must go.” S’tiri stuck out a blood covered hand and hovered it over Jericho’s. It was a glowing crystal.
“What should I do with this?”
“Guard it and find the others.”
“The others?” Morris interjected.
“There are more, each of them on the four ancient planets. I do not know you. But I have no choice but to entrust you with this.”
“Cap, I don’t know about this.” Morris said.
Jericho waived a hand back at him, keeping his attention toward S’tiri.
“You must do this,” S’tiri said. “This is the only fight that matters.” S’tiri dropped back down to the floor. Colorful blood spreading. “This planet will destroy itself. Escape and find the others crystals. Everything you know depends on it.”
Though foreign in nature, Jericho could see life leaving S’tiri. A sort of calmness that left nothing but fleeting air releasing from the nose.
The ground continued shaking. Cracks began to appear just on the other side of the room. The dome buckling above.
“Cap we have to go!” Morris yelled, grabbing at Jericho’s arm.
Jericho pocketed the crystal, it was small enough to fit in his side pocket. He turned, Morris already halfway to the doors. He could feel the ground moving. Small boulder like pieces breaking apart as he tried his best to avoid those crumbling down.
He kept himself from letting that fear wrap around his chest. Before he knew it, the both of them were nearly down the corridor and could see fallen rubble that use to be the hangar doors. An opening just big enough to squeeze through, hung suspended above crushed doors, the metal of them bending outward.
Through it, Jericho could see empty space and pure sunlight shining above a roofless hangar. The important thing was finding the Icarus and getting out.
Morris pushed through the bend, throwing his gun just beyond and holding a hand out toward the captain to pull him through. As he climbed through, ships took off in the distance. Glistening sides nearly blinding him as he peered up. He gave a hard blink and turned his hand down, climbing through simultaneously.
“I don’t see the ship,” Morris said, trying to cover his eyes and look up.
Jericho did the same and glanced off to his left. A ship made a sharp turn and sped up toward them.
“I think that’s them.”
It slowed. The jumper’s bay doors opened. Standing there was Araime and Anda.
“Both of you have to jump,” Anda said.
“Shit,” Morris said. “Just land the fucker.”
“No time, if we do we may not have a chance to get it back up.”
Jericho pulled out the crystal from his pocket and gripped it tightly. He wasn’t planning on losing it anytime soon. He gave Morris a pat on the back and started a sprint as fast as he could. Jericho didn’t turn to look, but he was sure Morris was following close behind.
With his open hand he reached for Anda, the jump appearing to be enough to clear the distance. He wasn’t sure but he swore he saw the ship tilt his way a bit.
As he made it in, he fell into Anda. Not hesitating he turned and saw Morris clinging to the edge of the bay, Araime gripped at his arm, pulling it upward. Jericho and Anda joined in. The heaviness of the brute becoming all too noticeable. It was loud. The rumblings from the ground and gaseous explosions in the distance. Still, Jericho could hear the com node just behind him.
“Taking her up,” Freya said.
The bay doors closed just as Morris got his foot in. He panted like he had just climbed a mountain. His arms ve
iny with the true stress exerted to its exhaustion point. “Holy shit,” Morris let out with a hard exhale.
Anda stuttered over to the com pressing at its link. “We’re all good down here. Take us home.”
Chapter 46: Nario
The room was silent, not even the faintest sound of whispers. That surprised Nario the most. He would’ve thought of himself more of a topic of conversation among the recruits at the trial; only there to finish their training; to get a taste of what it’s like to get court martialed. Maybe to sway them away from ever committing a crime worthy of it. It had to have been nearly thirty years since he had been one of those recruits poking his eyes out at a deserter, court martialed for leaving the line of duty.
Here he was. An accused traitor to the federation. Locked cuffs wore thick around his wrists with a solid pin in between them magnetically stuck in place. A navy-blue jumpsuit brought irony to his overall predicament. Now, only wearing the colors in shame. He looked down at an imprinted ID code in white etched letters that read out INMATE 39584.
There were no lawyers, no prosecutors. Just an eight-seat panel that sat on a elevated floor behind an etched wooden podium, in all its glory.
Nario couldn’t tell whether it was real hardwood or not. Probably not. He had been waiting for what felt like an hour, giving him plenty of time to pick apart every little detail of the room. From the light fixtures that strung themselves down in rows in the middle of the ceiling, biggest to smallest outward, to the way the council seats did the same thing. In the middle sat two seats at the highest elevation, most certainly for the Head Magistrate and Vice Magistrate. The rest were surely sitting magistrates who had also made a career out of it, only not quite there yet to put their name in the bucket for a higher position.
After a long-awaited staring fest with recruits and other navy personnel, out walked the panel of people whom would decidedly weigh is fate. Out of the eight of them, Nario recognized two. The Head Magistrate, Tui Verdi. She had been on the panel back when he was still recruit getting his first taste at what it was like. Her career had dated back to Marshal work under the first Erusha. Second was a lower magistrate, Parish Vaughn. He was actually a recruit around the time Nario was one. Only he had taken a different path.