Revenant

by Raymond Bayly

  He had tested this new knowledge with the staff and was able to go through complicated moves that he had never actually learned.

  His muscles remembering them as if he had studied the damn thing for 200 years as was the experience he now possessed.

  He held in his right hand a convertible staff that shrunk to about a foot when folded but could snap open to an 8-foot length,

  it was made of an impossibly light and hard metal that could withstand brutal forces.

  He had never trained with one yet wielded it like a master.

  He had always preferred the simple wooden staffs of the Temple, but he had to admit the weapon felt good and comfortable in his hand,

  like an old friend that he had become reacquainted with.

  “My mind is still tired from the ordeal my friend, but it is improving little by little”

  Seafu thought.

  “That along with the changes to your body should settle fairly quickly.

  Well quickly for you and almost instantly for me, since my concept of time is a bit different than yours”

  Forsaken whispered to him from within his mind.

  They were in slip space heading to the base of The Ancients.

  The place Seafu had heard about in myth and unless you knew the coordinates you could not get there because it literally existed between dimensions and was only accessible through slip space itself.

  This made it impenetrable and impossible to find. Seafu had heard about the base after the pairing.

  It was amazing the information he had access to. The base had lain dormant for the past century waiting for the time when the boxes would reactivate,

  and the need for the base was required.

  There were ships there too,

  incredible ships. Centuries old, and yet,

  had technology that even the Empire had not seen. This would be the place,

  the place of the beginning.

  The boxes goal was to bring balance back to the universe.

  Once the one that was intentionally left behind to begin the process of recruiting had been discovered on an Empire dig had activated, this process had begun.

  The boxes communicated on a tachyon-based technology,

  they could keep in instant communication.

  It was how Seafu knew the box calling herself Morgan was now paired with the being called Blake.

  Forsaken was able to tell Seafu much about these beings called humans.

  Even for a pre-space travel backwater system,

  they were intriguing and scary all at the same time.

  He would be interested in meeting this Blake and this Shira when they arrived at the base.

  There was much work to be done and other pairings if the beings allowed.

  They needed a team and might have one if Morgan was to be believed,

  not perfect but well-meaning anyway.

  They had performed well at Drazari and managed to escape alive where many would not have.

  He also now knew that Xera was with them through her own communications.

  He learned about the others on the team and the disposition of the ship.

  They were on their way right now in a fighter called Specter.

  Seafu stood a little unsteadily at first then when his balance had settled, he moved out of the meditation chamber of the Temple ship.

  Seafu headed to the bridge to check on the voyage.

  Even though he knew they were still a week out from the base,

  he needed the company of others right now.

  Seafu entered the bridge,

  and the captain of the ship bowed.

  “Honored Elder, what can I do for you?”

  the captain asked. Seafu smiled

  “Now, now Cathen, I think we have known each other long enough where my first name would suffice.”

  Cathen smiled

  “Yes Hon… Seafu just a habit. What can I do for you, my friend?” Cathen said with an affable smile. “How goes the journey my friend, any issue?” Seafu asked looking at the lights of slip space. “None yet, but I have to say I am not sure I like this, it appears the coordinates for this place are within slip space itself.

  How is that possible sir?”

  Cathen asked in a whisper so the rest of the crew could not overhear them.

  Seafu patted his friend and old student on the shoulder

  “I remember a student who had a little more faith as a younger man, captain.”

  Seafu said with a smile.

  “Well sir, just concerned for the safety of the crew and the ship, they are my responsibility,”

  Cathen said with a serious tone in his voice.

  Seafu nodded

  “This is safe, the place we are going to lies within a dimensional bubble within slip space.

  The coordinates allow us to enter the bubble and stop within it.

  Since everything in slip space is just energy transmitted across the galaxy and reassembled in real space,

  this is literally a bubble of real space held within the dimensional void of slip space”

  Seafu explained. Cathen nodded

  “Sir I am no physicist but, I don’t think that is possible. I mean the power requirements to hold slip space at bay,

  create a large enough real space dimensional bubble within it would be astronomical and then maintain that….”

  Seafu smiled

  “Yes. It would take the power of a sun. Then we are lucky that this base has one.”

  Cathen did a double take and then decided not to ask.

  Seafu just nodded, The Ancients understanding of power development and management was light years beyond their own.

  “This base has been untouched for a century my friend,

  we will be the first people to set foot on her in that time. From here a lot will change for the better.

  This is the purpose of the Path and the reason the Temple was founded.

  This is our purpose and our destiny.

  To bring balance to the universe,

  to protect those who cannot defend themselves and to ensure stability and safety for all”

  Seafu recited the ancient treaty of the Path as the bridge listened and suddenly Seafu could see it, understand it and most of all believe it to be true. This was the purpose of the Temple,

  the reason it was formed,

  the reason it was the keeper of the boxes, most of the ranks of rangers would be formed from those who had trained at the Temple.

  But not all, others would come from far and wide to help keep justice.

  Where one ranger fell two will rise,

  this was the creed.

  Seafu smiled as this realization hit him,

  he was speechless at the responsibility that those whom he had trained would now use those gifts as the foundation to help aid those in need.

  “And you will be its father, its creator and its leader” Forsaken whispered

  “For this is to be your burden honored teacher.

  For only you can enter the base and activate it,

  this responsibility was set upon me a century ago, and I chose you.”

  Seafu bowed his head humbled by the responsibility and suddenly feeling the weight of it. “I am no general,

  I am just a humble instructor.

  What can I contribute to this?

  We need a military leader, not an old clergy”

  he said to Forsaken

  “My friend, I have enough military leaders,

  what I needed was a good foundation.

  I have found it in you.

  Believe in yourself the way I believe in you,

  and we will do great things”

  Forsaken whispered in Seafu’s head.

  Seafu understood this to be true,

  after all, the knowledge was there now,

  he could touch upon it.

  But the responsibility for so many lives was not an easy one.

  But if not he then who?


  Who would care for these rangers and ensure they were looked after as they look after the rest of the universe?

  Seafu now understood his role,

  and why he was chosen,

  he would bear the lives and care of the new breed of rangers, he would ensure that their blood was not spent as quickly as loose credits.

  CHAPTER

  THIRTY-THREE

  THIRTYTHREE

  Shadows and Darkness

  Craylor sat on the bridge of the Empires’ latest destroyer just two weeks ago he had been in his grandfather’s house,

  and now,

  suddenly he was a Commodore,

  no, of course, the Empire or its apparent allies wouldn’t trust him with even one ship to command.

  This commission came with a competent captain on board his flagship and two battalions of Marines. As well as twelve corvettes and six smaller battleships.

  His grandfather had spoken with him before his receiving his commission from the Emperor

  “Little one, you must find the box, its power is great, and our associates require it. There are other of these boxes as well, we believe thousands possibly exist,

  if we can find the one,

  we will find the others,

  this is of the utmost importance, and you have been given the burden and honor of this task.

  You are to travel to the world of the Temple of the Path to discover if they know more than they are saying about it.

  It was believed that an organization was keeping the boxes hidden and cared for.

  It’s possible that the organization is the Temple.

  Be wary and be fast things are moving in the galaxy against us and we must not falter on this”

  His grandfather stated gravely as they walked in his garden just a day after the meeting.

  “I am no naval officer grandfather.”

  Craylor had said as they wandered along the garden path,

  pink and purple flowers standing 6 feet tall with pedals fourteen inches long loomed over them.

  His grandfather shook his head in a disapproving motion.

  “Craylor, this is an honorific title,

  you will not actually have direct command over anything.

  You are the voice of the Emperor which means if you tell them to bombard a planet they will.

  This is in case the Temple needs convincing.

  You will have the full authority and weight of the Emperor himself.

  Be wary, little one, this is a big responsibility,

  and should you succeed this will mean great things for our family.

  We are relying on you. Bring back the box.”

  His grandfather stated, but also leaving out the flip side, should he fail it could mean the downfall of his entire family.

  His grandfather left Craylor and wandered back towards the house but before he was out of earshot, “But muck this up, boy,

  and you will wish you had died in your father’s place.”

  He abruptly turned around and left without a response.

  Craylor contemplated on this,

  he had spent his entire life trying to stay out of the notice of those above him,

  thus, sparing him from the games of family politics, but here he was thrust into the middle of it.

  And now on the bridge,

  he felt the excitement of power,

  true power he was the voice and fist of the Emperor.

  He had never felt like this in his life,

  no more would he be the laughing stock.

  His family would be raised in status and position, and it would be his doing.

  Craylor smiled as he thought about it.

  The captain, Craylor could not for the life of him remember his name nodded to Craylor and notified him they were about to come out of slip space at the planet.

  Usually, it was frowned upon as the gravity wreaked havoc with systems and had been known to tear ships asunder should they come out too close to the gravity well,

  but for this importance of this mission

  Craylor had insisted and over-rode the warnings by the naval officers on performing such a maneuver.

  The ships blasted out of slip space and were instantly caught by the planetary gravity,

  Craylor could feel the shuddering of the ship as the forces of slip space battled with that of the planet below.

  After a few minutes and a few alarms which were quickly silenced the ship began to settle,

  just as he was about to relax a flash filled the screen causing Craylor to squint

  “What was that” he demanded of the crew.

  All of them were silent for a moment, and then the stalwart captain looked at him gravely and spoke “That was the destroyer oppressor, it suffered a main drive failure and before it could eject the core it overloaded.

  All hands lost as well as damage to the avenger and the nemesis. However, they are telling us they will be able to fix the damage quickly”

  the Captain stated in an emotionless tone,

  but Craylor could see the I told you so expression on his face but chose to ignore it.

  Instead, he focused on the viewport which was now filled with a globe of green and brown, sporting a single giant land mass and the rest of the planet covered in brown ocean.

  Craylor leaned forward waiting for the sensor readings,

  “Captain, I have no life forms,

  but some residual power readings in this sector” said the sensor operator as an area on the planet was superimposed with a highlight, showing readings of low power generation.

  “That must be the Temple,”

  Craylor stated looking intently at the highlighted region.

  “Send a battalion out and get me someone or something that will give us a lead,

  Where the hell did everyone go?”

  Craylor said his voice getting higher with stress,

  he could not screw this up,

  and suddenly he could see the power he had achieved slipping away and worse,

  his life as well. Craylor concentrated on the screen as the battalion of soldiers shuttled down to the planet.

  Colonel Rachart of the Empire Creaton Regimental Army,

  leader of the battalion of Creaton soldiers

  now vectoring for the planet on orders from the voice of the Emperor.

  His yellow feline eyes roved over each member of his unit as he walked down the row of men the light overhead glinted off his gunmetal grey fur. One hundred and fifty men per troop carrier, six troop carriers they would be ready for anything he thought. “Remember we are not to engage,

  we are here to collect information first and foremost.

  I want every building, computer, mainframe, and room checked thoroughly once that is done report in. Each company will take a building starting from the northernmost point of the compound,

  sweep each building first to ensure no one is actually still here,

  should you find anyone bring them to me for interrogation.”

  He barked at his troops.

  All the members of the carrier sounded off at once. These men had been with Rachart for twenty planetary cycles, each one a consummate professional with several planet side occupations under their belt,

  he knew they would perform to task.

  The carriers landed within the compound which took up almost twelve square miles of space on the mainland,

  other troop carriers were checking other Temple sites on the main island,

  but his troop, being the most senior were given the main compound.

  As soon as the doors opened the entire contingent exited the shuttle and broke off to the north.

  His command unit members began to set up a small tent with communication equipment for an impromptu command center.

  It was an agonizing eighteen days of searching before one of his teams reported finding something. The holo-image of one of his sergeants stood at rigid attention in the middle of the room.

  “Report” b
arked Rachart and waited.

  “Sir, we have a partial data message on the system, the message itself wasn’t important.”

  The Sergeant looked off to his left obviously conversing with one of the techs. Rachart drummed his clawed hand against the desk, his claws extended for effect,

  every finger strike accentuated by a hard tap from a claw,

  for the last eighteen days the damn Voice of the Emperor had called him hourly for updates and the longer that went by with nothing,

  the more irate the man became.

  I mean really, he thought,

  they obviously bugged out. The chance of finding anything useful that hadn’t been destroyed is slim.

  The Sergeant then looked back at Rachart

  “As I was saying, Sir, the message was of nothing important however the data envelope that routed the message was.

  It seems the Temple has an off-world backup of all communications and we have a lead to its location. It was routed through several temples,

  we have the first one’s location.

  If we can get to it, we could extract the information.” He finished, his body maintained at a perfect rigid attention the entire time.

  Rachart sat up, now very interested,

  this was a good lead he thought good enough to get that bastard on the ship off his back at least. “Sergeant, I need you to send me those coordinates, hold your position I will have follow up orders soon I am sure.”

  Once the link was established and the coordinates sent to him, he confirmed the location of the planet the Temple was on.

  It was a peaceful world,

  so, he didn’t think it would be a fight to get to the temple itself. He called up the main ship

  “Sir, I have coordinates that might lead to a data backup of all communications to and from the Temple.

  I am sending the coordinates to you, let me know your orders.”

  Craylor was practically giddy when he got the message and opened the coordinates if the boxes had been moved chances are that the location was buried in that com backup.

  This was the best news he had gotten in almost a month. He had spent the last eighteen days wondering what death would be like once he got home or had his family an agent on the ship itself to ensure he never reached the empire again.