by Jacob Holo
“Warn us of what, Father?”
“The Original Eleven are hiding critical knowledge from the rest of the Choir.”
“Is that even possible?” Quennin asked.
Taen smiled grimly. “They designed and created the Choir. Anything is possible to them. Now, we may be overreacting. The Original Eleven do love to horde their secrets, and it may be nothing more than that. Everyone in the Choir hides something, even me.”
“They know something about Azeal, don’t they?” Seth said.
“Yes, I’m certain they know who this pilot is, but they have refused to share his or her identity with us.”
“Why would the Original Eleven want to hide anything?” Quennin asked.
Taen gave her a sly grin. “Don’t be too trusting of the official histories. After all, the Original Eleven are only human. I am sure they’ve many mistakes they do not wish the masses to know.”
“And Azeal could be one of them,” Seth said.
“Precisely.”
“What about Jack?” Quennin asked. “Do they know anything about him?”
“Yes, but they won’t share that either,” Taen said. “Did you know that Veketon was the last person Jack spoke to before he decided to leave?”
“No, I didn’t,” Seth said. “Jack never shared his reason for leaving.”
“Veketon refuses to divulge the contents of that discussion,” Taen said. “But I do know it was the Original Eleven who gave him the carrier. I think they wanted rid of him. Perhaps they even feared him.”
“But why?” Seth asked.
“I do not know. More is afoot than has been revealed. Be alert. Use your instincts. I fear our venerable masters’ whims will place all of you in great peril.”
Chapter 10
Honor Guard
Seth walked through an open emergency airlock into the Resolute’s recreation center. The room had started as dead space for future upgrades or additional cargo. EN pilots had found and commandeered it three years ago, and the resulting center bore many strange Earth Nation touches.
The wide room contained several clusters of round tables, each ringed with metal chairs and illuminated by a clumsy fixture suspended from a cable. Various automated kitchenettes and one manual kitchen lined the right side. Seth couldn’t fathom why EN pilots insisted someone manually prepare their meals. Such a waste of time.
The chef saw him entering and greeted him with his typical “Hello, Seth!” and a sharp wave of his arm. Seth returned the gesture awkwardly, not for the first time wondering why Earthers greeted each other by flailing an arm about. Still, despite the room’s foreign nature, he had to admit the open kitchen aroma was quite pleasant.
Various games could be played at the tables, involving cards, playing pieces, or relying on holographic imagery. Seth had tried a few of them over the years but found most of them totally nonsensical.
He walked down a row of tables. The left wall was transparent and tilted outwards, revealing below what the EN pilots called a basketball court. A polished wood floor with numerous colored lines stretched out between two suspended baskets. Two teams of three currently competed for the orange ball.
Seth recalled the one time, at Tevyr’s behest, he had tried the game. The memory brought back a flutter of grief that he tried to ignore.
Out on the court, three Aktenai pilots did their best to keep up with three EN pilots. Everyone dealt with the loss of comrades and the stress of future battle in different ways. These young men and women buried it with physical exertion.
Seth checked the holographic scoreboard and grinned. The Aktenai pilots were doing quite well for a change.
He walked further into the rec center, rounded a corner into the second chamber, and found Jared and Yonu sitting at a table. Yonu had recently left the medical ward with her injuries fully repaired, but the young pilot still seemed shaken by her near-death experience.
She and Jared sat picking at their manually prepared Earth Nation meals. Yonu fussed with the raw pink flesh around her neck.
Normally Yonu wore a blue ribbon twined through her braid of raven black hair. Now she wore a black ribbon with one side edged in bright green, perfectly matching Tevyr’s chaos frequency. It was a common mourning ritual amongst Aktenai pilots to display the color of a lost partner.
The Choir paired most pilots at very early ages. Yonu and Tevyr had grown up, fought, and matured together. Often the pairs would conceive children as had both Yonu’s and Tevyr’s parents. In the end, Seth wondered if Yonu’s grief ran deeper than his own.
Jared looked up from his meal and hastily brushed aside locks of disheveled sandy blond hair.
“Commander Elexen,” Jared said, standing abruptly. “Please, join us.”
Seth pulled out a chair and sat. “Thank you.” He turned to Yonu. “Good to see you up and about, Pilot Nezrii.”
Yonu looked up from her barely touched food and offered Seth a joyless smile.
“Morale is up, sir,” Jared said, sitting down. “Everyone I talk to is glad we’re going back in. They’re looking forward to the upcoming mission.”
“That’s good to hear.” Seth glanced at Yonu, who continued to poke at her food.
“We took a beating from those archangels, no mistake,” Jared said. “But epsilon’s pilots have been working on counter tactics day and night. We’ll be ready for them this time. They’re all rather keen to get some payback. For everyone, sir.”
Seth nodded. “Thank you. I appreciate the sentiment.”
“I even have them taking turns drilling short-ranged combat outside the Resolute. I hope you don’t mind me asking the Aktenai pilots for assistance. You guys are a lot better in close than we are.”
“Not at all. In fact, I wanted to discuss that with you.”
“Sir?”
“I’m combining our remaining seraphs into epsilon squadron,” Seth said. “And I’m placing you in command.”
Jared’s eyes widened. “Me, sir?”
“And that’s not all.” Seth nodded towards Yonu. “As you know, Aktenai pilots operate in pairs. Even when we group together for a squadron, it’s still comprised of closely knit partnerships.”
“Yes, sir. I know how you Aktenai operate.” Jared shrugged. “Sort of.”
“Well, we currently have an odd number of Aktenai pilots,” Seth watched Yonu for any sort of reaction. “And I want you to stay close to Yonu.”
“Me, sir? But I’m from the Earth Nation.”
“You two seem to share some familiarity. And you’ve more than proven yourself in battle.”
“Well…” Jared muttered.
Seth waited for Yonu’s reaction. She looked up, met their eyes in turn, and nodded her approval.
“Excellent,” Seth said.
“Pardon the question, Commander,” Jared said. “But since the Renseki will be joining us, wouldn’t it make more sense for alpha squadron to join them?”
“No. The Renseki always work alone. They will deploy independently in the coming battle.”
“Hmm, I see.” Jared glanced at the basketball court. “A few of my pilots are quite eager to meet the Renseki. Me too, in fact.”
“You haven’t met them before?” Seth asked.
“Not the current group. I guess we EN pilots don’t get exposed to them like you Aktenai do. I’ve met one, but it was from the back of a classroom during the last joint deployment exercise. Even then, he was retired. I understand that four of the six current Renseki are very young for the position.”
Seth nodded, the names coming to mind: Mezen Daed, Zo Nezrii, Kevik Torvulus, and Kiro Torvulus. “Yes, they were accepted into the Renseki shortly after the Alliance formed.”
“Well, together we’ll show those archangels what the Alliance can do. Those two traitor seraphs won’t stand a chance.”
Seth grimaced. “The reason the Alliance exists is because Pilot Donolon forced the Choir to stop its attack on Earth. He is the man most responsible for the peace between
Earth and Aktenzek, which makes his betrayal all the more troubling.”
“I know, sir. But his actions in the past cannot forgive what he did at the schism,” Jared said. In his eyes Seth glimpsed carefully suppressed anger.
“I do not suggest forgiveness, Pilot Daykin, but caution. He and this Azeal should not be underestimated.”
In a weak raspy voice, Yonu spoke for the first time since Seth’s arrival. “Will Pilot Donolon be at the nebular facility?”
“Almost certainly. We have a confirmed sighting of his seraph at the facility.”
Yonu reached back and tugged at her braid and mourning ribbon.
“Sir, why do you think he turned traitor?” Jared asked.
“I have been struggling with that question ever since we returned. Perhaps the chaos slaves finally overwhelmed him.”
“The chaos slaves? I’m sorry, sir. I don’t understand.”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything. Please continue your meal.”
Seth rose from his seat.
“Sir,” Jared said firmly. “If you know something, we have a right to hear it.”
Seth opened his mouth to make another excuse, but stopped. He thought back to his debriefing with the Original Eleven and realized the parallels in what he was doing. He actually chuckled quietly at the comparison.
“Sir?” Jared asked.
“It’s so easy to demand secrets when they’re not yours.”
“I’m sorry, but I feel I have a right to know.”
“No, it’s all right.” Seth sat back down. “I’ll tell you what I know.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Seth settled into his chair. “Jack Donolon was not born on Earth, nor is that his original name. His parents were Pilot Zonri Len and Sovereign Taen Elexen, the man who would one day adopt me as his son and who Jack would kill to save Earth.”
Jared’s eyes bugged out. “What? You’re related?”
“I suppose from your perspective it could seem like that, but we share neither blood nor a surname. Shall I continue?”
“Please, sir.”
Seth cleared his throat. “Jack’s birth created a critical problem for the Choir. For over two thousand years, every sovereign has also been a seraph pilot. Jack’s lineage made him the most obvious candidate, but at birth his chaos coefficient was zero. He would never be a pilot and therefore could disrupt the smooth transition of power. Seeing no worth in Jack, but rather a future problem, the Choir and his father exiled him to Earth under the stewardship of observers like the traitor Dominic Haeger, never to be heard from again.”
“But, sir, a coefficient of zero?” Jared said.
“Strange, is it not? A near-death experience awakened his talents, but at that point he was already thirty years old and immersed in Earth culture. They could not retract their mistake. And so my father and the Choir conceived a plan to bring him back. The Earth Nation wanted to capture a seraph, and my father allowed them to succeed. Jack entered Aktenzek under my father’s watchful eye and eventually commandeered a seraph built specifically for him.
“My father planned to draw Jack into our way of life, to show him the technological marvels of our world and the adulation its people lavish upon seraph pilots. But that all fell apart when the Grendeni struck Aktenzek itself.
“Sovereign Elexen manipulated even these events, preventing Jack’s escape. He forced him into an uneasy alliance with me and Quennin, and together we hunted Dominic Haeger and his four captured seraphs. Jack fought alongside us and eventually learned of his true lineage. He even saw Imayirot and there came to understand the core motivation behind our whole culture.
“But my father and the Choir underestimated one thing. Jack was still an outsider looking in, and it was he, not an Aktenai pilot, who discovered the chilling nature of the original seraphs. Over a hundred slave minds had to be pooled together to create the influx amplifiers, each in constant unbearable agony, each unable to die. The terrible price of our power had been revealed.”
“Well, it’s a good thing you people don’t do that anymore,” Jared said. “Didn’t failed seraph trainees get chopped up and used for influx amplifiers, too?”
Seth sighed and nodded. “Regrettably, yes. When other sources of chaos-adept minds were unavailable, we did do that.”
“You guys take your Great Mission a bit too seriously. You know that, right?”
“Perhaps there is some truth to what you say, Pilot Daykin. Understandably, Jack left immediately after his discovery, and Quennin and I followed him. The Grendeni, now in possession of a captured seraph, knew this secret as well, and both Aktenai and Grendeni fleets converged on Earth: the richest source of chaos-adept minds in the universe. Both forces planned to strip-mine Earth of all sentient life, with the Aktenai fleet arriving first. Together the three of us fought against them and won, but the cost to Jack was terrible.
“While the Renseki battled against me and Quennin, Jack faced his own father: one of the most powerful seraph pilots ever. Jack could not win, and so in a desperate bid to strengthen his seraph, he removed the limiters repressing its chaos slaves. The gamble worked. As Jack’s mind expanded out into the seraph, his power increased phenomenally.
“But the experience shredded his sanity. In an instant Jack experienced over a hundred human lives, each ending in days of indescribable torment. The bloodlust of the chaos slaves took over, and he killed his own father.
“Slowly, the intense fury of the chaos slaves faded, but his newfound strength remained. Still barely grasping his sanity, Jack ordered the massive Aktenai armada to stop. And they obeyed, so frightening was his power and state of mind.
“The Grendeni fleet attacked Earth shortly after this, but with Jack, a handful of seraphs, our combined forces, and Aktenzek itself, we turned them away.”
“What was he like afterwards?” Yonu asked quietly.
“A broken man,” Seth said. “Often, he’d wake up in the dead of night, screaming and sweating from horrible nightmares. His mind slowly healed, but he was never the same. Quennin and I helped him through this trial of his, and we grew very close during that time. It pained me to see him go.”
“Hmm,” Jared said. “I still don’t have any idea why he turned traitor.”
“Neither do I,” Seth said.
“But let me get this straight, sir. We’re up against a mildly insane, super-powerful seraph pilot that your government let gallivant around the galaxy instead of keeping a watchful eye on him. And now he’s back with another super-powerful seraph pilot that no one seems to know anything about.”
“Yes, Pilot Daykin, you put the matter into perspective quite well. We are all puzzled by the actions of the Choir and the Original Eleven.” Seth stood up. “Well, the Renseki will be arriving in a few minutes. I should be present to welcome them onboard.”
The three pilots said their goodbyes, and Seth left for the Resolute’s seraph bays.
***
Jared Daykin fidgeted in his seat, the pervading silence starting to eat at him. He was almost finished with his meal, but Yonu had hardly touched her food.
He rapped his fingers on the table. Awkwardness set in, and he tried to figure out what to say to Yonu.
“Come on, Yonu,” he said. “Eat up. It’ll make you feel better.”
Yonu poked at her food a little more vigorously, but his comments had no further effect.
What to do? he thought. What to say?
“Maybe some exercise will feel good,” he said. “How about you let me teach you how to play basketball? It’s not as bad as the other Aktenai say.”
Yonu skewered a baked potato with her fork.
Okay, wrong thing to say.
Jared rapped both sets of fingers on the table. He scanned the floors, walls, and ceiling around him in a quest for inspirational material.
“I think some of the pilots are outside right now. I bet they’ve got some close quarters training going on. Want to join in?”
Yonu massaged the side of her neck as if it were cramped or sore.
“I know. How about a game of chess? I bet you’ll like… ahh… chess?”
The look she gave him froze him in place. She leaned towards him and stopped in front of his face.
“Shut. Up.”
Jared shut his mouth and inched his seat back from Yonu.
Yonu sighed. “Do you understand what an Aktenai pilot does when he or she loses a partner?”
“Uh, no. Not really. Actually not at all. Was this in one of those classes I didn’t pay attention to?”
Yonu shook her head. “It’s a matter of tradition, really. Kind of an unwritten code. We are supposed to seek revenge in battle. In my case, I suppose I’m expected to go after Pilot Donolon.”
Jared rapped his fingers on the table, contemplating the enormity of Yonu’s task.
“Well, look at it this way,” he said. “We know what to expect this time, and we’ll have the Renseki with us. He might be powerful, but with enough numbers we can take him down. No doubt in my mind.”
Yonu rubbed at her neck. “I wish I shared your confidence.”
“May we join you?”
Yonu and Jared both looked up at the new arrivals.
Twin pilots stood at the edge of the table, holding trays of food from the automated Aktenai kitchenettes. The two men wore long Renseki coats and were tall and slim with neatly combed sandy blond hair.
Yonu immediately stood up. “Of course, Renseki Torvulus,” she said with a curt bow.
Jared found himself the only person sitting, but not out of rudeness. The intricacies of how Aktenai greeted each other and who bowed to whom always seemed to elude him. And just when was it permissible to use a person’s first name instead of a formal title? That part always got him into trouble.
However, Yonu had other ideas. She grabbed his arm and attempted to haul him out of his seat.
“Hey!” Jared exclaimed.
Yonu leaned over and hissed through clenched teeth, “Come on, Jared. Stand up and bow.”
Jared grimaced, not seeing why a soldier of Earth had to bow to some Aktenai pilot, but he rose out of politeness and followed Yonu’s lead. They stood straight, faced the twins, and bowed their heads.