Revenant

by Raymond Bayly

  Blue Spartan warriors didn’t come charging out of the darkness and nothing popped from any of the dock worker’s chests.

  So far as he could see,

  everything looked normal.

  Except, he realized for the smell,

  in all the stories he had ever read when a human visited a planet for the first time there was wonder and crazy skies and beautiful flying creatures.

  But this looked like a metallic downtown Manhattan covered in grungy walls which looked like they could have used a good scrubbing about 20 years ago

  but by far the worst thing was the smell,

  aliens, and alien equipment and combustibles spouted stuff into the air.

  It was impossible to describe,

  but the closest thing he could come up with was low tide and sulfur.

  Next time he would have to have Morgan sequence him some Vicks Vapor-Rub to put under his nose.

  This was really, really overwhelming.

  He didn’t let the smell distract him as he continued to scan his surroundings looking for things out of place,

  dock workers standing around too long,

  someone taking an interest or a severe lack of interest in the ship the crew.

  Or people who looked wrong.

  He heard Shira whisper in his ear

  “Miss Kitty, 3 O’clock.”

  and Blake continued to scan the dock,

  he never let his eyes stop but caught sight of what Shira was talking about he continued to move his head and focused on something else,

  keeping the being in his peripheral vision as not to let on that she had been spotted.

  “Roger, mark her, she appears to have taken quite an interest in us and the ship.”

  He wasn’t sure why,

  but she looked out of place,

  and then, he got it.

  Her clothes were too clean and not right for working the docks,

  in fact, they looked like friar robes.

  How odd but then again aliens had to have religion too right.

  “Feel the force Luke” he mumbled to himself as he continued to scan the area.

  Shira, Blake and Rom stepped to the bottom of the ramp reaching it at about the same time,

  “Where are we going Morgan?”

  Blake asked into his Comm and instantly the nanites in his retina projected a small window in the corner of his eye showing a holographic map and a waypoint,

  looking around the group he saw the small tell-tale glint in the eyes of his companions letting him know they were also receiving the map, they were ready to go.

  At first, it was a bit distracting,

  as having anything floating in front of you would be, but after a second they were able to adjust and continue.

  It wasn’t bright enough to obscure their view,

  but they were able to see it with little problem.

  “Alright team, we are going to go one at a time, even distance for all three of us,

  I’ll take the lead,

  Shira brings up the middle and Rom watch the rear, call out if shit hits the fan.”

  Blake got an affirmative from Shira and Rom

  then the team moved out on separate sides of the dock,

  making their way to the visual waypoint on their map.

  “Check 3, cat is out of the bag, over”

  Shira whispered to Blake through her suit.

  Blake glanced to his 3 O’clock and Shira was right, that feline creature was no longer there.

  He didn’t know if that reassured him or worried him more.

  All of them kept moving at a steady pace towards the elevator banks.

  CHAPTER

  TWENTY-SIX

  TWENTYSIX

  Hard Reboot

  Xera made her way through the bustling crowds. As she scanned the streets,

  she could see jackets covering weapons,

  distinct patches marking beings as members of some fighting force or another,

  they all seemed to be waiting for something,

  and Xera thought she knew what.

  The ship was here, and every planet,

  outpost, and station had been on the lookout for it as it represented quite a massive payday for the group that bagged it.

  The word was out on the Nismel,

  and people knew this was one of the more likely spots she would come,

  being a black-market hub and needing to get rid of a particular beacon.

  She found the section she was looking for and began wading through the people looking for Kree. Xera began to notice the security cameras turning in her direction,

  at first, she just thought it was odd but the more she moved through the crowd,

  the more she was confident that they were tracking her movement,

  that would be like Kree,

  he was a wizard with anything computer.

  He had first gained the notice of The Temple of the Path when he was running from a Creaton hit squad for having sliced his way into sensitive data within the central Empire data core.

  Of course, you were not supposed to be able to do that.

  So, when it was discovered,

  the techs at the complex had barely managed to track the slice back to Kree.

  But then again,

  Kree came from a race that had an affinity for the virtual. They were short about three feet tall and covered with a golden white fur.

  Their mouth had a row of sharp teeth and looked akin to a beast but walked on two stubby legs using a tail to balance.

  They had ears that were large for their head and stood about 4 inches above the top of their cranium. All in all,

  no one would ever take them for amazing engineers.

  Kree had undergone an incredible amount of aftermarket work including adding wetware storage and a multiprocessing quantum computer into an area of his brain,

  this allowed him to directly connect to any system giving him the ability to react and bypass even some of the most advanced security with ease.

  As with anything,

  there was a cost, the implantation of the Quantum system took over an area of long-term memory, permanently removing a lot of his childhood.

  It might have made him develop quirks,

  But when it came to computers,

  few could match his talents.

  However, Kree was also not very subtle outside of networks,

  so he usually got caught,

  if it was money he was after he would slice in and steal enough to fund a small planet without anyone ever knowing.

  It was the spending spree that he went on afterward that would gain notice and get him in trouble with the authorities.

  Kree was on several watch lists and was probably one of the top two most wanted computer criminals in the Empire.

  The Temple had sheltered him and hid him from the Empire for a time.

  Kree owed them,

  and he knew it. He was a pain,

  a bit of a creep but he paid his debts.

  Kree also had a heart, and that was unusual in a creature of the criminal underworld.

  He had exposed many slaver rings and arms deals where the arms were bound for ports to be used against unwitting settlers or farmers.

  That was one of the things that made him so odd. But also,

  one of the reasons that the Temple kept ties with him.

  Xera found section eight and just as she was reaching to knock on the door of the warehouse, she heard a click,

  and it opened.

  “Well now Xera,

  I just knew you couldn’t stay away,

  once my charms started working the ladies can’t resist,”

  came a high-pitched voice from a speaker above her.

  “That’s not why I am here Kree,

  you owe a debt to the Temple,

  I’m here to collect.”

  She waited patiently and a minute later the small furry man came floating around the corner in his hover chair,<
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  being so short it was easier for him to keep up with people when in the chair.

  “Sure, it was,

  and seeing me again had nothing to do with it.”

  She rolled her eyes and in a firm voice said

  “Kree, I need your help things are progressing,

  and they are about to get out of control,

  if we don’t get a handle on it a lot of planning that has been in motion for a long time and I mean centuries could be for naught.”

  Kree crossed his little furry arms over his barrel chest and regarded her for a moment

  “I assume this is about the ship that is headed this way,

  the one that seems to be all over the local net and seems to have attracted every bounty hunter in the system to hang out on the planet waiting.”

  And her fears having just been realized,

  her gut had been right,

  the mercenaries were here for the Nismel.

  “What do you know about it?”

  she asked Kree,

  who caught the serious tone in her voice and began to scrutinize her.

  “I know the ship is here,”

  he said matter-of-factly.

  She didn’t let her surprise show but her dark skin beneath her fur broke out into a sweat.

  “Don’t play with me Kree,

  you don’t want to piss me off today.”

  A quick flash of fear passed over Kree’s face.

  He had seen the initiates train and more importantly, had seen her train.

  He would not want to be on the receiving end of that at all.

  “Not here as in on the planet, I think they are sitting just outside of the range of the sensors on the station.

  Something or someone has been rolling through the net like a Gungin beast.

  I mean siphoning money and scheduling deliveries, making inquiries.

  “Hell, if the Empire has even a half-competent hacker here on the planet they are going to know when they get here,

  the status of the ship,

  how many people and what supplies they need most.

  Whoever this is,

  they are awesome at slicing systems but has no finesse or sense of guile.

  “What’s so important about that ship that has the temple sending initiates halfway across the galaxy calling in old favors anyway?”

  He casually asked.

  But Xera knew him too well,

  there was no casual about it,

  he was curious as hell.

  Apparently, everyone on the planet had it out for that ship,

  and someone was keeping the why very,

  very quiet.

  “I mean did it steal the entire treasury of the Empire or something?

  Hell, the way the notices are coming out they are to kill everyone on board and take that ship intact at all costs.

  I would not want to be a member of that crew let me tell you.” Kree mused.

  “Kree,”

  Xera calmed herself and with a sincere and patient tone said,

  “we need to help them. Can you hide them when they get here?

  they will probably need to have the tracking beacon shut off,

  and the ship will need new ID,

  broadcast credentials, the works.

  But no one can know when and where she lands.” Kree leaned back against the wall next to him and thought for a second.

  “I could, but this is going a bit above and beyond the favor I owe.” He said with a forced nonchalance

  Xera shot him a hostile look,

  “You were hiding from a Creaton death squad sent by the Empire,

  had we not sheltered you,

  you would be dead, and we both know it.” Xera shot at the little creature.

  Kree held up his hands in a surrendering gesture. “Alright, alright, I will see what I can do.

  I can’t see where exactly the ship is,

  but I know she is out there.

  It is only a matter of time before she comes in to dock. I will spoof the docking system and set the notifications to say she is coming in on the opposite side of the station then she actually is,

  that will buy a little time.

  I will need to get into the ship to do the rest.

  Are you sure they are going to be receptive to this,

  I mean I don’t want to get killed doing a good deed?” Kree whined,

  Xera nodded,

  “They will let us in, at least I hope they will.

  A lot depends on what happens today Kree, a lot.” Kree spent the next several hours setting up and getting into the networks needed to,

  as well as monitoring the traffic of the mercenaries. While he worked on that Xera meditated for a while, trying to clear her mind.

  Things were going to come to a head soon,

  and she might have to think fast.

  The ship had to escape,

  the beacon had to be turned off and most of all.

  She must ensure that the box makes it off the ship and away from the Empire.

  She used the communicator that Kree assured her couldn’t be tracked and called the Temple.

  The Master was summoned and came at once. “Master, we are on Drazari,

  the ship is here,

  it has not landed but should soon.

  We are putting things into motion to ensure at least a limited window of time so that we may meet the crew and hopefully communicate with the box.” Xera Reported. Seafu smiled at his adopted daughter and then a troubled look came over his face as he looked off the screen, someone seeming to urge him.

  “Xera, things are moving more quickly than first anticipated,

  you are not to return to the Temple,

  it will be abandoned and quite possibly watched.

  I will send you coordinates to a new location.

  You are to rendezvous and bring the entire team and the box to me at the new location.

  If they come into contact with any resistance,

  do what you can to help them out.

  They must make it to the new location as soon as possible. A lot is going on,

  and it hinges on the crew and Box,

  Things are … happening Xera,

  it’s essential you make contact and get them to us. Do you understand?” Seafu said.

  Xera definitely did not understand,

  in fact, Seafu seemed to be babbling,

  something had definitely happened,

  and it was still happening,

  but she could sense the urgency in his voice.

  This was important, and he was relying on her.

  She would not let him down

  “Of course, Master, it will be done,”

  she said with a solemn tone in her voice.

  “How is Kree, is he honoring his debt?”

  Her Master Inquired.

  Xera looked over at the small creature.

  “Yes, master he is,

  and we should have everything ready when the ship arrives.”

  Suddenly an alarm went off on Kree’s computer he started and began to type frantically,

  “Xera they just entered the station’s sensor range, they are coming in.” Kree yelled over his shoulder, hands a blur over the keyboard.

  “Master, I must go I will call when I can.”

  Xera hung up and hurried over to Kree.

  “What is the status of the ship,”

  she asked trying to glean any information from the confusing amount of information making its way across Kree’s holo-viewer.

  “Back up a little,”

  Kree said nudging her with his shoulder,

  “you’re crowding greatness over here.”

  Xera rolled her eyes but took a step back.

  “The Ship seems intact, no damage all communications and systems seem to be functioning.

  She is calling in for docking,

  someone scrubbed their transponder info,

  so it's corrupted, that trick
won’t last,

  but it was a good one.”

  “They are docking as

  ‘The Derenge’ They will be at dock twelve in two hours.

  I am routing all incoming information to set it as dock twenty four and posting messages to the board.

  That should pull the mercs from the area and give them an easier landing then having the entire station shooting at them.

  They won’t have long,

  but I will provide them with as much time as I can.”

  After an hour, she left Kree to his work,

  she would see the ship set down and assess the situation herself once they landed.

  Xera made her way to dock twelve and set herself out of the way of the local work traffic,

  after a while she could see the ship coming in.

  It was an impressive site,

  long and sleek painted utterly black with a tapered nose that extended down a slender main body where it expanded out into a pair of bent wings with engines on them,

  Once the ship had come through the force shield that worked like a giant garage bay to allow the ship to berth.

  She quickly settled into her dock,

  and the front cargo ramp was lowered.

  Xera saw three figures dressed in black with long coats on, they scanned the dock,

  and she could tell by their position that they were armed and ready for a fight.

  After a moment they relaxed a little.

  But continued scanning the entire area around the dock.

  They began slowly making their way down the ramp, and suddenly she saw the glint of metal where one of the men’s hands should be.

  Xera gasped, had the box done that,

  had it given him the arm or was it something else, no it had to be an old injury or a standard prosthetic.

  And then Xera saw the Raven-Haired woman,

  she had two metal hands.

  This was no coincidence, ‘It’ was happening.

  How much did they know she wondered?

  And then her attention settled on the third creature, there was no mistake he was part of the crew as he was dressed as the other two.

  But she had only heard stories of these creatures, but she could not believe it,

  she was staring at a Doxvern.

  The master was right;

  these were now potentials if not true initiates already.

  Xera watched as the three crew members each took up positions on the bottom cargo ramp.