This seemed to crack the Ugna man’s shell, and he nodded once, breaking his stare. “Thank you, Admiral. I hope you are right.” Tom noted how he kept glancing to the hangar doors. “I want to say how much I appreciate everything you have done for me, sir. You took a newcomer and made me feel like part of the family. I never had that growing up, and between you and Brax, and Reeve, and Captain Starling… I was part of something bigger than my village on Leria. I was part of the Concord.”
“You still are, Ven. You always will be,” Tom told him.
Ven kept his gaze on the door. “She’s not coming.”
“I heard her mention going to R-Emergence. Time is pressing, Ven. She thought she might be able to help Aimie and Reeve with their invention.”
“It is all right. We said what we needed to say last night. If I do not return, please make sure you pass my gratitude on to the others, sir.” Ven turned, walking onto the shuttle.
“You’ll tell them yourself when you’re back,” Tom told him.
“I would like that. Good luck, Admiral. We are all going to need it.” Ven closed the doors before Tom could say another word.
Tom stepped away until he was at the hangar’s exit. He watched as Ven’s shuttle lifted with the thrusters, pushing from Legacy beyond the energy barrier and into space. The Nek-modified engines took up half the ship, and they were loud as they charged for the coming trek to a fabled world no one but High Elder Fayle had ever visited.
Ven was right about a lot of things, but Tom did think the Ugna still had a future.
But only if Wylen was dealt with.
He started for the bridge, when the message came through. He read it twice, not believing it the first time. A second later, he patched a communication to the ship’s speakers. “Executive crew to the bridge. This is not a test. Get to the bridge!”
____________
High Elder Fayle’s steps were loud across the polished tiled floor. The room was huge, with a few desks and over ten manufacturing machines not in use. She felt for Ven, the En’or burning deep inside her. He was gone. She hated not being able to see him off, but Baldwin had been present. Ven would eventually need to lead without her, and now was a good time for him to see he could do it alone.
The doctor and Reeve Daak were crouched over a table, their heads close together as they debated quietly. They didn’t seem to notice Fayle’s presence, but with so much En’or inside her, Fayle was the opposite. She was attuned to everything about this pair of women. She felt their fear at the coming war, the worry about not finishing this task on time, and what it would cost their people if the near million Ugna arrived, prepared to eradicate their fleet with nothing but their minds.
Fayle stopped walking ten yards behind them and looked at Aimie Gaad. She radiated confidence, but also loneliness. She missed someone, a man perhaps, a mate that had slipped away. Fayle wondered if it was Tom she sought after.
Reeve was an enigma. One of the most intelligent people Fayle had ever seen, her mind worked differently. Her emotions were similar to Aimie’s but tempered by her intellect. She feared the war, but not in the same way. She worried what it would do to the people around her. Her brother. Her twin, Brax Daak. Reeve also thought about Baldwin, and her choice to work alongside him on Legacy. She wondered how Constantine was faring, and hoped Treena Starling didn’t resent her for leaving her post.
They were like open books with this much En’or flowing through Fayle’s veins. She’d never ingested this quantity, and it made her wonder what it was like to feel such power without the need of the drug. Ven had this ability, though he rarely used it. She’d shown him how to tap in to it, but he seemed to fear his future.
“Excuse me,” Fayle said, not intending to speak so loudly. The two women jumped at the sound, clearly shocked to see someone right behind them.
“High Elder Fayle,” Reeve said. “What can we do for you?”
“I heard you were having some difficulty with the tests,” Fayle said.
Doctor Aimie Gaad set her hands on her hips in a defensive pose. “That’s not true. We’ve managed to remove the En’or from our prototypes, but…”
“But you need a real test subject rather than a fake heart and ventricles,” Fayle finished.
Reeve nodded. “That’s right. What do you suggest?”
“I suggest you test it on me.”
Aimie coughed, her hand coming to her lips to cover her surprise. “We—”
Fayle had had enough of their reticence. “We are running out of time. Wylen will arrive soon, and you have nothing but a prototype that hasn’t been verified on a live Ugna. If this fails, there might not be a Concord to protect any longer, so I recommend you put me in that room and blast me with whatever contraption you’ve created. And stop delaying!”
The women remained quiet, staring at her with open jaws, and as expected, Reeve was the first to react. “High Elder, this could kill you. We haven’t even tried a live animal yet. We were going to—”
“Did you not hear me, child? I am flush with En’or. I am more powerful than nearly all of Wylen’s people, save the leader himself, and there is no better time for the test.” Fayle was losing her patience, but she calmed herself.
She noted Aimie glancing toward her feet, where her boots were hovering three inches above the tile. Fayle lowered, almost struggling to make her body settle to the ground. She had never felt so alive.
“Okay. If you say so. Reeve, get her in the room. I’ll prepare everything out here.” Aimie jogged a few desks down, sitting at a console facing the floor-to-ceiling glass windows that watched over the subject room.
Reeve waved Fayle forward and opened the see-through door. “This room is layered with a protective coating. The rays enter but aren’t able to escape. It’s not exactly how the beam will operate in other environments, but we needed to contain it for safety inside the lab.”
“Why is that?” Fayle asked.
“We had a few… mishaps early on. Come.” Reeve rolled away a cart carrying a beating heart and veins running along the edge, and the entire thing gave Fayle shivers over her spine. Reeve returned a few minutes later, rolling a chair inside. She placed it front and center, indicating Fayle sit on the hard seat. It was simple, with padded wrist and shin shackles.
“Will it hurt?” Fayle asked as the last restraint clicked into place.
“It might. We haven’t tried a live…”
“That’s okay. I will be fine.” A bead of sweat dripped over Fayle’s brow, and she suddenly flushed, as if she was about to leap from the edge of a cliff. The En’or thrummed inside her, begging to be released. She feared she might have ingested too much.
She took stock of the room. The lights were too bright, reflecting off all the shiny surfaces, and she squinted as she stared at the glass wall separating her from Aimie. The woman wasn’t moving as she waited for Reeve Daak to join her, and Fayle had the odd sensation that the Tekol women would have made a good Ugna.
The door sealed closed with a hiss of air, and Reeve’s voice carried through hidden speakers. “Are you ready?”
Fayle swallowed, her throat too dry. She was sweating now, concerned she might have overdosed from the volume of the drug she’d put into her body. Drug. The mere fact that the Ugna had been creating an army with a substance so potent should have caused her alarm much sooner in her life, but this lifestyle was all she’d known. Had she ever been young?
She struggled to remember being a child, her parents’ cries as she was pulled from their home. Was that a real memory or something induced by her current situation?
“High Elder Fayle, we can try this later,” Doctor Gaad said.
“No. It’s now or never. Proceed,” Fayle said through sticky lips.
The pulsing began slowly at first, the hum of the machines loud in the glass-shrouded space. The floor reverberated with it, the lights dimming and brightening with each heartbeat of the device. Fayle closed her eyes, seeing the dancing lights of the Vast
ness trying to settle her. The Flame is life. She pictured a flickering flame, a tiny prick of life in the darkness. Yes, this would do…
The pain was so powerful, a guttural scream emerged from within her. Everything felt like it was boiling, but she kept her eyes pressed shut. If she opened them, she was sure she’d find her skin was melting from her bones. This was how she’d died. She wished she’d been there to see Ven off, to give him some last words of advice. To tell him she loved him as if he were her own son.
The pulsing continued, and her cries ceased, giving way to a desperate croaking noise through her ragged throat. Her body went taut against the restraints, her wrists aching, her legs in fury. The pain moved to her temples, into her brain, and liquid poured from her nose.
With one last shriek, Fayle lost control, and her head slumped forward, her chin striking her chest. She was still alive, and the noises around her stopped entirely. The lights dimmed as she heard the sound of the door opening and someone calling to her.
The shackles were released, and Fayle started falling forward. She was caught by strong arms and lowered to the floor, but her vision was too blurry to see who it was.
“You’ll be okay,” the Vastness said.
“Did it work?” another voice asked.
Fayle felt for them but found nothing.
“I don’t know,” the first voice said.
“High Elder Fayle, are you okay? Is there any remaining En’or in your blood?” It was Aimie Gaad.
Fayle lifted her gaze, the action causing a wave of vertigo. It passed a moment later, and she forced herself to sit up. “I can’t feel anything. I’m blind.”
“You can’t see?” Reeve Daak asked, her hand supporting Fayle’s back.
“I can see, child, but I’m blind. I am no longer Ugna.” The experiment had worked, but only time would tell if Fayle would ever regain her abilities. At the moment, she didn’t think so.
Thirteen
One of the advantages of using her android body was the fact that Treena didn’t need sleep. It seemed like they’d been fighting across the various sections of Concord space for weeks. She was sure it was closer to a day and a half. First they’d protected the Pogaltheens from the Nus’az, and next was the battle for Quazol Seven. The Mokar had been far less prepared, and Constantine had made quick work of their thirteen rudimentary ships.
Harry had requested a few hours afterwards to refill and charge the Nek drive, and Treena had used that time to let her crew sleep, knowing they were in for a long haul after the engines were prepared for the next jump. So far, they’d received word that five outposts had been struck by Wylen’s allies within the Concord, and there was no one else available to defend the innocents but Constantine. They were about to make the jump to the Builin system, where it was rumored the Kad were striking a minor but valuable Concord partner, the Evertol.
“Constantine, what can you tell us about the Evertol?” Treena asked. She’d already read the brief details their computer had about the small world, but wanted the AI’s opinion.
He appeared a few feet away, turning to oversee the viewscreen with her. The bridge was empty except for the pair of them, but in ten minutes, it would be teeming with the entire crew, hopefully rested and ready for another fight.
“I encountered them once, on a mission to their neighboring system. We practically floated in, a random solar flare messed with our communicators, and the shields were on the fritz. Our energy was nearly all drained as a result, and we needed somewhere to hang our hats while we fixed it.
“We had no means to talk with them, so I departed with Hudson in the shuttle. They almost shot us from the sky.” Constantine sounded pleased about this.
“What happened?” Treena asked.
“We landed near the largest city in the hemisphere and found someone that spoke Standard. The Evertol are a short and thin race”—Constantine set a hand level with his waist—“with hairy bodies and round eyes. They were shocked to see us, but we finally met with a leader, and she showed us some miraculous things.”
“Like what?” He had Treena’s interest.
“Their cities were spread out: short buildings, low tech, and seemingly undeveloped. They brought Hudson and me to the ocean beside it, eager to explain what was under the surface. We did so, since we had time while the crew fixed Andron in orbit. Treena, you’d never have imagined it in a million years. They made us enter a clear boat, airtight, and it submerged, revealing an entirely different world. The Evertol had a city below like nothing I’d ever seen.
“They were actually from the water. Centuries of need saw them adapting to surface dwelling, but many remained inside the ocean. The structures were tall and beautiful, coral in color, fish and wildlife dancing through the stillness. They used some version of a solar stone, glowing along the ocean bed and at the edges of their buildings, to light the dark depths. It was quite breathtaking.”
“And now they’re under duress,” Treena whispered, wishing they could have jumped there directly. “What of the Kad?”
“One of our oldest non-Founder partners. I can’t believe that any of us sided with the Ugna, especially them. We had some Kad in the Academy, and a few executive crews around the Concord. They’re strong, technologically advanced, and they rarely request anything of us, even though they live near the Border.”
“I saw that,” Treena said. “The closest Concord partner to Tebas.”
Constantine met her gaze and nodded. “That’s correct. Wylen must have protected them from outsiders in exchange for their loyalty. Damn him.”
“He’s turned our own people against us, and now it’s our responsibility to pass judgment.” Treena had witnessed a lot of destruction in the past hours and would likely see more. But it would have been far worse had Constantine not been there to protect the defenders.
The bridge doors opened, and Conner Douglas entered, smiling at Treena and Constantine. “Morning. Where’s Harry with the…”
“Engineering to the bridge,” Harry’s voice said through the speakers.
“Go ahead, Engineering,” Treena replied.
“We’re all set. We have enough Nek for a few more trips,” Harry informed them.
“Good. We’ll be off shortly.” Treena flicked the call to an end. “Conner, get everyone on the bridge. I have a feeling the Kad haven’t waited for us to intervene.”
She skimmed through the intel on the Kad and their space vessels, trying to find a weakness, and within ten minutes, the entire bridge crew was present and accounted for.
“How are you holding up, Starling?” Pol Teller asked her. His aide wasn’t with him, and he looked well-rested, considering his age.
“I’ll be better when this is all over. How about you?”
“Never felt so good. Something about battle that reminds me of being alive,” he said. “The price of war isn’t easy on us, Starling, but it’s our responsibility to protect our people at any cost. Even our own souls.” It was the most profound thing she’d heard from the man, and in a weird way, it helped.
“Thank you, Pol.” Treena turned her attention to the viewscreen, and she ordered Lieutenant Darl to set course for the next system. “Everyone ready your positions. These Kad are no joke. They’ll be tougher than the last couple of adversaries, so don’t hold back on them.”
Brax Daak sat patiently near the edge of the bridge, and Conner looked ready to hop out of his seat to fight the enemy with his hands, if need be.
On her word, the ship blinked, draining the Nek fuel from the engines as they arrived near the Evertol planet, Yuwer X9. Brax had set the alarm on, and they were ready for a full-out attack, but there was no one left to fight. Not a single Kad cruiser remained in the system, and for a moment, Treena thought they’d made a mistake. “Darl, check the data. Where did you send us?”
It was Pol that stood, his ancient back crooked as he held to the arm rest. “This isn’t the wrong place.” He pointed to the screen. “Douglas, zoom there…”
The image changed, and Treena saw what he was referring to: a chunk of rubble.
“The planet. It’s gone,” Constantine whispered. “The Evertol have been destroyed.”
Treena had no words as they stared at the empty space where Yuwer X9 was supposed to be. “Brax, are we able to track the Kad down? Traces of fuel? Energy droppings?”
Brax started working on it. His answer came faster than she would have thought possible. “I have a trail. What would you like to do?”
Treena rose, standing beside her commander. Constantine’s face was impassive, and his projection faded and grew stronger. “Darl, follow the route. Find them. They’re going to pay for what they’ve done to the Evertol.” Fury burned deep in her chest, and Treena wished she was in her own body so she could feel everything with more clarity.
Pol caught her arm and spoke quietly so the others couldn’t hear. “They deserve this, but shouldn’t we proceed to the next battle?”
Treena was conflicted. The damage was done here, but unless they dealt with the Kad now, they would go unscathed and manage to create more chaos at a later date. “How long until we catch them?”
“Two hours,” Conner said.
“Stay the course. The Kad aren’t getting away with this,” Treena ordered.
Pol nodded, releasing his grip, and took a seat.
With their decision made, all they could do was wait.
____________
Legacy arrived deep in-system to find one of their own vessels in a dogfight with a modified Ugna fleet ship. The vessel was black instead of the white or gray they’d grown accustom to flying alongside, and it was clear from the first message that Wylen’s advance scouts had made an appearance.
Baldwin's Legacy: The Complete Series Page 150