The truth was, Tom couldn’t imagine remaining in an office on Ridele while their people fought relentlessly against the Ugna. It could be a bloodbath, but Tom was confident they’d find a way to win before it came to that.
“Would you obey my orders?” he asked.
Rene frowned, but her mouth tilted into a grin. “I suppose I’d have to.”
“And at home? Will you…”
“I don’t think so, Tom. And what do you mean, at home? You realize I don’t live here, don’t you?” she asked.
“You could. You told me you packed up your old place on Earon and sold it when you became captain of Shu, right?”
“Sure.”
“Then how about you bring over some personal effects so you can rest your head on your own pillow?” Tom hoped she’d take the bait, but she stayed silent long enough for him to assume the worst.
“Why not?” She rose, moving for the kitchen. “We’re going to have to do something about the food, though. Do you ever cook for yourself?”
As Rene searched through his cabinets, Tom’s thoughts drifted to the starship being modified just outside Nolix. They were currently adding crew quarters for a functional vessel, with a Nek drive to give them a cutting edge in the coming war.
After a few minutes, Rene relented and walked toward the wall console, ordering in food. “Have you heard from Fayle?” she asked as she returned to the living room.
“No, and I’m starting to worry about her,” Tom replied. The last time Fayle had sent a message, she’d suggested it would be the final one for a while. She suspected a mole in her presence. She had fifty thousand loyal Ugna with her on Driun F49, and that meant a widespread search.
“Ven should be arriving soon,” Rene reminded him.
“Good. Let him figure this out.”
“Treena will miss him on her crew,” Rene said.
“And you? Are you going to miss Conner?” Tom asked.
Rene’s face didn’t flash any emotions as she answered. “It was his choice to jump ship. I don’t blame him for wanting to work with Captain Starling. She’s a very capable—”
“You know this has nothing to do with you, right?” Tom hated seeing her second-guess herself in any way.
“Of course I know that. Conner’s in love with her.”
Tom’s brows hopped up. “He is?”
“Men. You’re all too stupid to see what’s right in front of you. He saw an opening with Ven’s absence and took it. I don’t blame him one bit. To be truthful, I can only hope Treena finds some measure of happiness after what happened to her,” Rene said softly.
Tom didn’t think Treena would ever let her guard down, not after Felix died, and the fact that she used an artificial body didn’t help her cause. “I do too. She’s a rarity.”
“The best,” Rene said, setting her hands on Tom’s shoulders as he stood. She softly kissed him on the lips as the food delivery arrived.
“What was that for?”
“Can’t a gal make points with her fleet captain?”
“There will be no special treatment,” he told her with a smirk.
“Then you’re not getting any of my Cronski.”
____________
The entire region was silent. Driun F49 had been teeming with life and orbiting spacecraft during each previous visit, but all that remained was a single nonoperational space station. High Elder Wylen had cleaned them out.
Ven guided his shuttle toward the Ugna colony world, anxious to see Elder Fayle’s progress. He could sense the rising doubt and worry from the surface, as if his people had ceased withholding their emotions.
This was a trying time for the Concord, and specifically for the remaining Ugna on Driun. They’d chosen sides, and Wylen would consider them ultimate betrayers of their own kind. In Ven’s eyes, it was Wylen who’d deceived the Ugna.
What was best for his people? For centuries, they’d been a mystery, an unknown force in hiding. The Concord had seen them as an oddity – strange villagers on Leria, living in huts and shifting objects with their minds – but no real threat.
The Ugna had taken the Founders’ children, threatening to destroy them and their families, but Ven now understood that that was all part of the elaborate planning. Fayle had been part of that, and she’d apologized to him, in her own right.
Fayle would never admit wrongdoing completely. She’d done what was necessary to be in the know, so that when the time came, they could use her intel to assist in the war.
Ven would have struggled playing that role. He couldn’t imagine pretending to side with the enemy, especially when their true goal had been revealed: to rule the Concord.
As he entered Driun F49’s atmosphere, Ven wondered why this hadn’t been sufficient for their needs. An old Code saying sprang to mind, and he thought it was more than fitting on this occasion. Compassion and love are each second to greed, desire, and power. Seek a balance, but in the end, the latter eventually rule.
Ven would be the balance on the other side of the spectrum. Fayle had something to ask him, and he couldn’t shake his concern. The worst-case scenario was being sent to Wylen. If she asked him to go undercover, he would deny her request.
The world felt empty, an unusual stillness as he drifted high above the first city. He continued further, descending slowly as he arrived at their hideout. He’d received the location through a series of coded messages and had deciphered them with a key sent to Admiral Baldwin’s personal office.
He searched out, feeling the Ugna below. This was it.
The daylight waned as he settled the shuttle toward the surface. It was different than the valley city he’d grown used to. There were no mountains here, nor flowing rivers. The land was rock-hard, but the buildings were constructed in a familiar layout. The different regions all followed the same guidelines.
Ven exited the ship, the air cool and refreshing after being stuck inside the shuttle for the last five days. He stretched his legs and his back, rolling his head from side to side, hearing it click as he did so.
“Ven Ittix, welcome.” Ven turned to the source of the voice and saw a large man armed with a deadly blaster.
“Hello. I am afraid you have me at a disadvantage,” he said, eying the man’s weapon.
This Ugna was bald, as most were, his eyes a pale pink. His skin looked even whiter in the fresh moonlight. “I am Gar Ellix. High Elder Fayle has requested that I escort you to her. Come. We do not wish to delay.”
High Elder Fayle? That was new. Ven didn’t love the power the title gave her, even at this time. It was an affront to Wylen, one he wouldn’t take kindly to.
“Where are we going?” Ven asked as they began walking over the dark stone toward the city.
“Where no one can see us,” Gar informed him.
They passed each structure, the walk taking no more than five minutes, and Gar pointed to the ground. “This way,” he said.
Alarm bells rang in Ven’s head, but he sensed Gar meant him no harm. At least, that was what the Ugna was portraying internally with his emotions.
“Do not fear anything, Ven Ittix. You are welcome with open arms. High Elder Fayle awaits your arrival.” Gar opened the hidden trapdoor, made from the same rock they were standing on. It hinged widely, revealing a set of steps that went on for twenty or so paces. Ven entered hesitantly, where glowing lights were embedded into the floor, guiding the path.
Gar sealed them in and took the lead, passing Ven in the narrow underground corridor. The path continued for another few minutes and eventually widened into a circular foyer. It was reminiscent of the dwellings below the surface on the Statu worlds, and that in itself gave Ven a stomach ache.
He noted six doorways, and Gar took him to the middle left, knocking before entering.
“Ven, come. We have much to discuss,” Elder Fayle said. She sat in a room with screens on the wall, a slow drip of water exuding from the ceiling.
“Elder Fayle…” Ven began.
“High Elder Fayle,” Gar corrected.
Ven saw a flicker of apprehension cross Fayle’s face at the title. “Gar, would you excuse us for a few minutes?”
Gar lingered near the exit, his gun safe in its holster, yet visible and threatening to Ven for some reason. “Very well. Call if you need anything.” The door shut, leaving Ven alone with Fayle.
Fayle quickly crossed the room, embracing Ven. He stood rigid, his arms limp. Affection wasn’t the Ugna way. He didn’t know how to react, so he kept still.
“My boy, you’ve returned. Thank you for answering my call,” she told him.
“I would never forsake you,” he assured her.
“You have effectively resigned your position among the Concord fleet, have you not?” she asked.
“Temporarily,” he said, feeling that it was necessary to remind her.
“Of course. Temporarily.”
“What is the situation? Where are the others?” Ven asked. If there were tens of thousands of separatists remaining, he’d only seen two of them so far on Driun.
“They prepare for our invasion,” she told him.
“Invasion? Of what?”
Fayle pointed to the right monitor, and Ven strode across the room to garner a better view. “Obilina Six? I’m not familiar with it.”
“That’s Wylen’s manufacturing plant. It’s where he’s created the replica vessels we faced near Aruto. We have it on good authority that the Ugna”—Fayle paused, and Ven felt the anger behind their race’s name—“have gone on to Tebas as suspected. Wylen will regroup and wait for his reinforcements.”
“Reinforcements that are not coming, thanks to our interception of the Protectors at Sol, correct?”
Fayle nodded. “That’s what we think. He will not wait long, so we have to strike.”
“When?” Ven asked.
“Three days,” Fayle said.
Three days? Obilina had to be weeks away. “Where is our fleet?”
“Nearing the target. The insurgence is imminent.”
Ven understood what she was suggesting. “You sent the fleet ahead and waited for me here. Why? I am but one Ugna.”
Elder Fayle—High Elder Fayle—was acting suspicious, and Ven didn’t like the look in her eyes. “Have a seat, Ven.”
Ven glanced around, seeing a few chairs near the desk centering the space. He took one, facing toward Fayle’s seat. “What is it? You have not explained…”
She lifted a finger, and he stopped. He’d forever be the student, her the teacher. He waited while she sat in silence. The sound of the dripping water carried across the room.
“Ven, I haven’t been straight with you about many things. You were a special child. You did not know this, but most of our people are not raised as you were. We have villages where the training is less arduous. You were surrounded by the best and brightest students we secured within the Concord, and they paled in comparison to you.
“Within you is the greatest potential I have ever witnessed. This is the reason I have demanded you remain guarded around Wylen, because he would eventually breach the barrier and discover you for what you truly are,” Fayle said.
Ven couldn’t move. He sensed something coming, a permanence he wasn’t prepared for.
“I saw something in you, Ven, but it wasn’t clear until you were brought to me by Baldwin in a casket that I finally understood it. You were deceived.” She stared into his eyes, her expression softening. “Most Ugna do not return from death. It is a rare trait, and one found only in a handful of us. Many go on to become Elders.”
“Did you die once?” Ven asked, his voice surprisingly not betraying him.
“I did.” Fayle didn’t elaborate on the details. “But I never saw the Vastness afterwards. I tried, but my internal limitations held me behind the veil. There is only one other among us that claims to see the stars, the flowing Vastness that provides us life and energizes the universe.”
“High Elder Wylen,” Ven whispered, finally understanding. “You expect me to confront him? To take his position?”
Fayle didn’t acknowledge his question right away, but her stillness answered regardless. “We hope you won’t need to face him. High Elder Wylen is powerful, Ven. I do believe you hold more strength inside than even he does, but you aren’t trained to harness it.”
Ven wished he was back on Constantine, working alongside his friends. He already missed Brax, Reeve, Starling, and the others, but his path was in another direction. Lights spun before his eyes, whirling in intricate patterns, the sight beautiful enough to bring tears to his eyes. The Vastness.
His voice was strong, his posture firm. “Then train me, High Elder Fayle. Teach me to defeat him.”
Fayle grinned, clearly delighted at his decision. “We start now.”
Two
Three weeks and still nothing. Lark Keen hated the waiting game as much as anyone, but leading a secret organization hellbent on destroying the Concord had prepared him for a situation like this ten times over.
Prophet, on the other hand, wasn’t dealing with it quite as well.
Lark lifted his arms defensively, glad to have padding on them as Prophet’s kick struck him. He was sent flying and landed on his back with a whoosh of air exhaling from his lungs. She jumped for him, her knee diving toward his ribs. Lark rolled out of her path just in time, and he felt sorry for the practice room’s floor as her weight hit it with a resounding crack. Better than his chest.
He stumbled to his feet, stepping away with his arms up. “You said this was friendly. That we’d blow off a little steam, keep in shape. Not kill each other.”
Prophet sneered, the Callalay Ugna assassin unable to contain her anger. “Three weeks! I thought these Invaders were going to be smarter than this. If they’re so easily tricked, what’s the use of bringing these Protectors to the Concord? They’ll probably get in the way.”
“How are you so sure we’ve been tricked?” Lark asked, trying to keep her talking. When she talked, she didn’t fight as hard.
“How else would the drive send us to the middle of nowhere? Not to mention, fry all the circuits upon the jump’s completion? This was planned.”
Lark had heard similar theories since they’d been stranded, but no one seemed capable of fixing the broken drive. By the captain’s estimation, they were three years from the Concord’s border, but they weren’t heading for it yet. All of their energy was spent attempting to patch the jump drive.
“Do you think the other Protectors are having the same issue?” Lark asked her. She was in the know far more than he was. Lark had given up wearing the admiral uniform weeks ago; it no longer mattered if he played that role.
“Damn right they are. I suspect the entire fleet was tampered with at Saturn. They knew what we were doing. What I don’t know is how,” Prophet said.
“It had to be Baldwin. He must have caught wind,” Lark said, trying to piece together how Tom could have discovered their mission objective.
“There’s no chance that buffoon figured it out,” Prophet said, lunging for him. This time, Lark was prepared. He blocked the strike, aiming at her face with his right fist. It connected with her helmet’s padding, and she grinned with bared teeth. “That’s better. Maybe we’ll make a fighter of you yet.”
“So what happens if they never fix the drives?” Lark asked her.
“We fly there.”
“Three years?”
“Three years.”
Lark unstrapped his pads, indicating the bout was over. He poured water over his head and sat on a bench near the showers, and Prophet placed a boot at his side, looking down at him. “There is another option.”
Lark raised an eyebrow, wiping sweat from his face. “Is that so?”
“The Nek shuttle. We have it,” she told him.
His pulse sped up, and he tried to remain calm. “Wait, the shuttle is here? I didn’t know they brought it.”
“I suggested we could use it later, but President Basher doesn’t
seem to realize it could bring us to the Concord. If we deliver Basher to the High Elder, Wylen might have a way to track down our stalled Protectors. This could be our ticket home, not to mention getting in Wylen’s good books,” Prophet said.
Lark had already assumed this woman was close to Wylen, but he didn’t want to be. The Ugna leader was bad news, and Lark had spent the last three weeks regretting every damned decision he’d ever made. He couldn’t let them use the Nek shuttle, because he was going to escape on it first.
“Tell you what, let’s keep that in our back pocket for a few days, Prophet. We’ll go for an update tomorrow and see where engineering is on repairing the damaged drive,” Lark said, internally crossing his fingers that she’d buy it.
“I suppose that’s reasonable. I do like having a plan B.”
He stood, and she jabbed a finger at him. “You better stick with me, Keen. In this together?” she asked.
“Always,” he lied. Lark watched her march to the change room, and he started imagining a way to access the shuttle. If he could reach Baldwin at Ridele, maybe he could finally atone for his sins.
____________
She stepped down the gravel path, her boots dragging occasionally, but Treena was determined to do this on her own. The leg braces were strapped over her thighs and knees, but she had them powered off.
Karen’s face appeared in the door’s window, and a second later, the woman was dashing over her front patio, onto the steps, and toward Treena. “What are you doing?”
“I’m walking, Mother.” Treena smiled, and her mom hugged her, immediately crying. Treena didn’t join her in the tears, but she used her real arm to stroke her mother’s hair as they held one another.
“I never expected to see you again,” she said.
“Mom, you saw me a few months ago,” Treena reminded her.
“No. I saw an R-Emergence-created android in your likeness.” She stepped back, her hands on Treena’s shoulders as she appraised her daughter. “But this… this is my kiddo.”
Treena smiled, but despite the well-intentioned stroll down the driveway, she was growing weary from the effort. She lifted her arm, using the wristband controls to activate the leg braces, setting them to forty percent. They buzzed, and she instantly felt more stable on her feet. “Do you have anything to drink? Raca?”
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