Ghost of an Empire (Sentinel Series Book 3)

by Richard Flunker

  Until one night.

  Without that much footage that day, Hosha found himself finished with his editing far earlier than usual. That was not to say it was late already, for when he walked out to the mess hall on the ship, Allo was snoring on the couch, and Jainka was nowhere to be seen, likely in her room. Grabbing a cup of coffee from the steamer, he walked out into the warm summer air. It was around two in the morning; a Coran day was twenty seven hours. The usual guard station outside of his ship nodded as he walked past. There was an access way to the roof above the warehouse, and it had become a nice quiet spot, as well as a granting a great view of the mountains. Jainka liked it when he unwound, so he decided to go up there. Some peace and quiet would be nice.

  To his utter shock, she was up there, and the Doomguard were nowhere to be seen. As he reached to top of the stairs, and he saw her tall form on the far edge of the roof, he half decided to walk back down. Maybe it was his stubbornness, or his journalistic desire, or maybe just utter curiosity, but he decided to walk onto the roof. He made as much obvious noise as possible, not that she didn’t have enhanced hearing as all her kind did.

  “You can approach me. As they say, I do not bite,” she said, her voice drifting in the wind.

  “Sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb. I didn’t expect anyone up here, much less,” Hosha hesitated for a moment, “the Queen.”

  “Sometimes, not often, but sometimes, it is good to just be a girl, and run away and hide for a moment.”

  Hosha wasn’t sure how to reply to that, so he simply walked up to the Queen and stood next to her. He was, of course, dwarfed by her stature, so to compensate a bit, she sat down on the edge of the building. At that very moment, one of her Doomguard came running up the steps, arriving like thunder. Hosha, standing right next to the Queen, panicked a bit. It sure looked bad, but the Queen stopped her guard and ordered him away. He refused, instead, standing by the top of the steps. He called in that he’d found her, and within moments, a few more guards appeared on the ground ahead of them, in the darkness.

  “They mean no harm. They do their duty extremely well,” she said. “Want to know a secret?”

  Hosha nodded.

  “I could take them anyways. And they now it too.” She smiled coyly.

  Hosha was taken aback. “If I may say so, you don’t seem to fit in here.”

  She nodded her head as she sighed. “That is because I am not from here.”

  “I don’t suppose you’d be willing to tell me from where?” he hoped.

  “There is no need, for at this moment, it wouldn’t matter,” she said, looking up to the dark sky.

  “If you’re not from here, then why all this? The war, the revolution, the change?” he asked.

  “It did it for a friend. That’s how it started,” she said, quietly, “I guess it turned into much more.”

  “That sounds like a special friend,” he said.

  “He was.”

  “Was?”

  “Is, hopefully. I don’t suppose I will ever see him again.”

  “A special he?”

  “More like a brother. He saved me, I wanted to repay him. It’s funny. Of all the memories I have, those are the ones I find soothe me when the world burns.”

  Hosha held back. There was far more to this woman that she presented to him, to her people, to the galaxy. There was an entire web of unfathomable complexity somehow all wound up in a tiny simple case. It was almost as if she had lived a thousand lives in this one body. But, Hosha guessed, only such complex people could become the Queen of hundreds of systems. Only someone as complex as this Queen could manipulate gravity with her hands. Hosha smiled.

  “They say you can move objects with your hands by using the power of the stars?”

  “That’s what they say,” she said in a half chuckle, bringing her gaze down from the sky to him.

  “I don’t suppose I could get a demonstr…”

  The Queen lurched over onto her side, nearly throwing the reporter off of the roof. She started convulsing, her back arching up. A deep sound came from her throat, as if she was struggling to breath, choking, he wasn’t sure. He was about to get up and yell for the Doomguard, when it tackled him. The force knocked the breath out of him as he was pinned under the guard’s weight. Even outside of the mech, he easily weighed four hundred pounds.

  He could barely make out the sound of him calling for the medics. The two guards on the ground jumped up to the roof in a single leap and the base came to life. The previously dimmed lights came on full blast and people started shouting. Out of the corner of his eye, he could still see the Queen convulsing, her silver hair spraying onto her face, getting in her mouth. Her eyes were pure silver, having rolled back into her head. The guard picked him up by the neck and began dragging him off, choking him. As he struggled to breath, he started to black out.

  “No!”

  The voice was clear, and the guard spun around. She was on all fours, her hair down over her face.

  “Let him go. It wasn’t him.”

  “My Queen. Let us take him away, he was…”

  “Let him go.” The command was clear, as was her voice.

  The guard dropped him and he gasped for air.

  “Commander, I need a link established with the Harmoa immediately,” she spoke into her wrist tablet.

  She stood up and shook her hair back, collecting it behind her neck. As the medical unit came rushing up the stairs, she stopped them with her palm up. They insisted on wanting to check on her, but she just walked past them. They continued behind her, following, trying to take bio readings, but she was moving fast.

  Hosha was left behind, sitting on the roof. His neck was sure to be bruised in the morning. It didn’t matter, in the morning he would be gone. He had all he needed, and now it was time to get out of here. Still, he was curious. The almighty Queen had clearly had a seizure. Was she hiding something from everyone else, some kind of condition? Breaking that story was even greater than any of the other ones, only because she was the kind of celebrity that GNN’s viewers ate up gossip about.

  “Damn it.”

  3127 – Coran, ruins of the Holy Seat temple

  She wasn’t perfect, not by any religious standard. While she was virtually immune to most diseases, she could still suffer pain, soreness, hunger and thirst. It just was that she had never felt anything like THAT before. One moment she was talking to the reporter and the next, blinding pain in her head. Since she woke up in that frozen chamber on board the Magyo, and especially since she had come to know who she really was, Deespa had spent an inordinate amount of time perfecting meditation skills. She used this mostly to retrieve more knowledge from her soul, but also to expand her own mind. She had used these techniques to fight fatigue and help heal injuries. This time, it didn’t help at all.

  The pain came suddenly and viciously. It was a headache unlike any she could explain. The pressure in her temples blinded her and caused her to lose her balance. Shortly after, she lost all control of her body, almost as if thousands of volts of electricity were being passed through her flesh. Her mind went on the fritz, as a thousand memories flashed about her cortex, and normal body functions like breathing and her heartbeat grew erratic. When it passed, and the relief came, she tried to calm her breathing, but found she couldn’t. It was then she tried linking with her ship. One look at her wrist and she knew where the attack had come from.

  “Captain, find First Tennant Ogho,” she commanded as she entered her shuttle. “I need them here at my ship immediately.”

  The Captain saluted then ran off. The medical team continued to follow her. From the depths of the shuttle, advisor Clelin came running out, asking what had happened. She didn’t have time to explain, maybe because at the moment, she couldn’t. Everyone was shouting back and forth to each other, but Deespa just made her way to the communications console in a small offset room of the shuttle. The communications officer stepped aside as soon as she saw the Queen arriving.

/>   The Queen took the seat and placed her right arm, palms up, along the top of the console. With her left hand, she began typing on the screen, bringing up a program.

  “What are you doing?” Clelin asked, “What is she doing?” he asked the comm officer. She could only shrug her shoulders.

  The screen displayed a medical resonance image of her arm. Data began to stream on the screen, information completely foreign to the advisor, but Deespa knew what she was looking at.

  “It’s all corrupt.”

  Those behind her continued to look confused, and then bewildered, as the Queen reached onto her right arm. This time, she peeled back a tiny sliver of skin on her forearm, and pulled a small device from underneath the flesh. It came out, dripping a bit of blood, and attached to an incredibly thin cable. She pulled it out, while the cable was still attached to the inside of her arm. The other end of the device she plugged into the console. Immediately, a second stream of data began to flow down the screen next to the first stream. No one understood what was going on, and Deespa could sense that some of them were more than just confused, but possibly scared.

  “Do we have that link to the Harmoa?” Deespa asked. She waited for an answer, then looked back at the comm officer.

  The young woman, still transfixed on what was happening on her work console, shook her head. She quickly reached forward and touched a button on the panel. A second screen came to life, with a prominent digital button blinking green.

  “Thank you,” Deespa replied. She dragged the green button onto the screen she was working on, and touched it.

  “Harmoa communications. This is Magyo. I need a direct connection to the Captain immediately. I am uploading protocols now,” she said, as she typed with her right hand. A small stream of blood had run off of her arm and onto the console, but had stopped bleeding.

  “My Queen, this is Harmoa actual. Protocol received. Link to the Captain established.”

  A second blip appeared on the screen and Deespa tapped it.

  “My Queen. How can I assist you?”

  “Captain Taho, I need you to authorize a direct link to my personal server and code it to this transmission. I need full access, and full encryption. Zero ride along, understood?”

  “As you wish my Queen.”

  Thunderous steps echoed through the chamber behind them. Ogho came lumbering through.

  “Ah, good. First Tennant, assemble your pod and await for me down at this selected access shaft in the vaults. Fully armed and mechanized. Bring at least one heavy mech as well,” she ordered. She then transmitted some data directly to his tablet.

  “My Queen. You have us quite startled. What is going on?” Clelin asked.

  Ogho just saluted and turned to go.

  “Oh, and First Tennant,” she said. Ogho stopped and turned. “The reporter. Bring him. Only him.”

  “As you wish,” the soldier said, then vanished into the ever growing crowd.

  “My Queen,” Clelin said, leaning in close to her ear, “you are frightening everyone here.”

  Deespa turned around, her stark silver eyes piercing through his gaze. Clelin turned away, unable to look her directly in the eyes.

  “Frightened? These men and women fought a war against an enemy worthy of praise, and did so with utmost bravery. Do not insult them like that.”

  The two data streams on the screen scrolled down then stopped. The Queen retrieved the device, and slid it back under her skin, then held her arm out to the medic who was still standing next to her. Without hesitation, he took out a small medgun and applied a glob of skin sealer. He followed it up with a small bandage he wrapped around her arm. Deespa reached out with her right hand and put it on his shoulder.

  “I am fine. It is ok,” she said calmly.

  As she stood up and began walking out of the tiny room, she had to make her way through everyone. People tried to make way for their Queen, but the ship had become a can of sardines. Clelin shuffled up next to the Queen and begged her to stop.

  “Whatever you are planning to do, you have to let me come along,” he told her.

  “You need to take the shuttle and head back up to the Harmoa. I will need you there if anything were to happen,” she said, moving slowly through the people.

  “If anything were to happen?” the man said, shocked, “are you expecting something to happen?”

  “Something always happens.”

  “This is not the time for heroics. We have people in place to do your bidding. Send them instead.”

  “Only I can be there,” she said, reaching the exit ramp of the shuttle. Her Doomguard were already assembled there, waiting for her.

  “My Queen. We have come too far in such a short time to throw it all away.”

  She stopped and signaled to the commander of the Doomguard. “Dear Clelin. If I do not go, there may be nothing to throw away.”

  She reached out and took the man’s hand. “Go the Harmoa. Wait for me there. And worry not, I have not forgotten our agreement.”

  He shook his head, but then turned to enter back into the shuttle.

  “Captain, get rid of this rabble and prepare the ship for departure,” he said with a wave of his hand.

  The Captain gave the Queen a look, and she nodded slightly. He started shouting orders and pushing people out of the shuttle. Deespa walked off towards the depot, her Doomguard in tow.

  Under the first floor, she met up with Ogho and his pod. Next to him was the disheveled reporter. Guards had dragged him out of his own ship, and by appearances he had fought back a bit. When he saw the Queen coming, fear crept on his face.

  “You said I didn’t do anything,” he shouted out.

  Deespa put her hand up.

  “I apologize for what happened Mr. Yokido. Unfortunately, you have to come with us right now.”

  Hosha looked around. He was grossly outnumbered, outgunned, out muscled, basically out everything.

  A group of techs stood by, waiting. They were being removed from the elevator platform and were standing around looking a bit annoyed until they saw the Queen.

  “Do any of you have a biotelemetry reader?” she asked to the small group.

  One woman stepped forward, swinging her carrycase around to the front, and slowly retrieving a handheld device. She tried to say something but it came out as a squeak.

  “You will do. Step onto the platform,” she ordered. As the woman did as she was told, the Queen told the rest of the techs, “Belay all platform movements. No one is to go below until we have returned from down there. Put armed guards at every platform and make sure the primary ramp is guarded. No one is to pass, am I clear?”

  Half terrified, they nodded their heads. They stood there, momentarily, until the leader of that group started shouting orders and they ran off.

  The Queen stepped onto the platform, standing right at the middle. The Doomguard came on second, followed by Ogho and his troops and the bewildered Hosha. Finally, the young tech onto the platform. Deespa called her over, and she walked sheepishly over to her, a dwarf among the giants on the platform.

  “What is your name?” the Queen asked.

  “Tania Elgers, my Queen,” she replied.

  “Very well, Tania. Please use the biotelemetry reader, and do a full scan of my biomagnetic field.”

  Hosha looked around puzzled, unsure of what any of that meant, but the tech seemed to understand. She took out the small handheld device, and pulled out two small nodes from either side of the device. She handed them to the Queen, who attached one on each hand, on the top of each. The tech stood back and ran the program on the reader. It took about ten seconds, when the tech announced it was finished.

  “Now take the signature, and broadcast it as a radio wave.”

  This time the tech looked confused.

  “Do you know how to do that?” Deespa asked.

  “I think so, my Queen. I’m just not sure what use that is?” she said, looking down at the device.

  “Just conver
t it and broadcast it.”

  The tech looked back at the Queen, then nodded. She swiped on her screen a few times, then tapped.

  “Ok, transm...”

  As soon as she started to talk, the platform came to life. Right next to where Deespa stood, right in the middle of the platform, a small circle of light came to life on the floor. Strange symbols lit up inside of the circle, then it began to rise up from the floor, until it stopped at about four feet in height. A small screen lit up, with a series of numbers on there, not unlike a lock combination.

  “How did,” the tech started, bumbling her words, “when, I’ve never. What is this?”

  Deespa spun each virtual number until the number 2731 appeared on the screen. Then, with her entire hand, she slid the numbers up on the screen until it locked into a green light. The whole outer edge of the platform lit up, and began to descend. As they cleared the floor, the young woman tech gasped in surprise again. A bright blue light traced out of the opening above them and led down into the dark depths below, like a trail in the night.

  “That’s new,” Hosha said, looking over the edge of the platform.

  “I just learned that,” the Queen said, returning a smile.

  “Just now?” the reporter asked.

  “Pain can be quite a revealer,” she said, turning her gaze back down to the darkness.

  The platform continued to descend along the path of the blue light. It rode longer than any other time Hosha had gone along with them in the past few days. In fact, it just kept sinking and sinking. The young tech was beginning to sweat, and she kept readings on how far they were going down. After nearly thirty minutes of descent, she announced, rather fearfully, that they had descended nearly twenty miles underground.

  “Correct me if I’m mistaken, but shouldn’t we be cooking in extreme heat and pressure? I mean, I might be wrong, I don’t quite remember all my lessons from geology 101,” Hosha quipped.

  “We have been traveling at nearly forty miles an hour, that’s far faster than any of the other platforms I have taken before,” the young tech said. Hosha could hear the amazement in her voice.