The Rise of The Dominion: A Dominion War novel

by D. M. Marshall

  “I didn’t,” he began but Wren cut him off.

  “You did. I could have you stripped and searched but I have no need. I know what I saw. I need to know who you contacted.” Enisli opened his mouth to deny any wrongdoing but Malene spoke first.

  “I think that’s a moot question. We’ll find out soon enough.”

  Wren reached out, gently Channeling to try and prevent her eyes from glowing. Six darkly powerful entities were approaching, having encircled the office, two towards each entrance. They could only be Skave.

  “Lieutenant Frast, things are going to become very dangerous. Sound the alarm and then I want you and your security on that door now,” she pointed at the west entrance. “Fire at anyone who approaches. Shoot to kill.”

  “You’ve got it!” exclaimed Frast, who motioned to the guards and then took over a terminal, tripping the alarm. A loud klaxon erupted and emergency lighting turned everything red.

  “Fist Glurner, you have that door. Stop them.” Malene looked calm and collected.

  “Everyone, under your desks and do not come out again until I give the all clear.” Scared workers dived under their desks, some shrieking in panic.

  Wren could sense that the Skave had slowed their approach, knowing their little ambush was exposed. Wren readied herself to Channel. Let the Astrals guide us all, she thought.

  It had taken some time for Raif Ko and Nate Shepherd to track Lee Gaspara down, even for a pair of legendary Edo Mushur. Perhaps Lee really did mean it this time when he said he was retired. Ophelan Gaspara, their son, had known that he was taking an extended vacation with his wife Miella on the relatively unknown holiday world of Oas’sys. That information was easily enough to obtain but once on Oas’sys Ko and Shepherd had discovered that the locals highly respected their tourists’ privacy. Enough for the two Edo Mushur to have needed to apply a few morally questionable uses of Channeling to get the answers they needed.

  Now though, they were bobbing to and fro on a small yacht, waiting patiently for Lee and Miella to emerge from within a cave whose entrance was hidden by a fast flowing waterfall. Nate had insisted on waiting, rather than get wet. It was a beautiful day on Oas’sys, why not enjoy it a moment. They could sense the Gaspara pair within, safe and happy.

  They drifted, watching vibrantly colored fish dart beneath the surface of the river until a voice called from behind the vertical sheet of water.

  “If you two old space wrecks want me you’re going to have to come in and get me,” called Lee, a playful tone to his voice.

  Raif laughed. “Don’t be like that, Lee. We have urgent business that we need to discuss.”

  “Well don’t wait around then, get inside, quickly!”

  Nate Shepherd laughed. “I think not.” He looked at Raif. “If you’ll allow me?”

  Raif smiled, bowed slightly. “Oh, too kind,” all jovial politeness.

  More for dramatic effect than anything Nate reached out, half closing his eyes, and pulled. Cries of indignation rang out, quickly cut short into a series of spluttering gasps as Lee’s boat was dragged into the waterfall by Shepherd.

  “Never underestimate the power of the Astrals!” crowed Ko.

  Lee’s boat emerged from the waterfall, both he and Miella of them soaked to the bone. Lee flashed a mischievous grin at the two Edo before leaving them open-mouthed as he drew his laser pistol and fired a ragged hole beneath their yacht's waterline. Miella laughed uproariously at their faces and triggered Lee into hysterics too.

  “Let’s see how the Astrals cope with that, shall we?” said Miella between full scale belly laughs.

  Raif and Nate looked at each other as water pooled around their feet. “I guess we deserved that,” sighed Shepherd in defeat. Ko slapped him on his back and laughed. “Drenching a hero of the Commonwealth probably constitutes a capital offense.’

  Nate Channeled energy, pulling the two boats together and with the help of a still laughing Lee they managed to climb onto Lee’s boat just as their yacht sank.

  Miella handed out towels and they all sat, grinning at each other.

  “So, all fun aside,” said Lee, “you two aren’t here just to pull pranks on us, right?”

  “Unfortunately not,” said Raif Ko. “Ten Edo have gone to the Imperial Dominion to assist Riccard Brams with his plans to form a full democracy. When we met with Brams we all felt that he was hiding something from us. The Grand Mushur has asked that we form a backup team, just in case.”

  Lee considered for a moment. “And you want an old man like me to join?”

  “Old, but not completely useless, not yet at least,” teased Shepherd. “This needs to be completely secret, no one other than the team members and Sord must know about this mission.”

  “Understood. I think I can convince Velasquez to give a Shadow or two some extended leave, and last time I spoke to August I could tell he was itching for some excitement, despite his protestations that he was happy. Even Shawn, if we get desperate. How long do I have?”

  Raif had to sit back and just look at Lee. The man was incredible. For more than thirty years Lee had put his life on the line. Time after time after time. And here he was, somehow still alive and happily retired with his beautiful wife yet still willing to give everything to help his friends. Lee had proved instrumental in so many crucial events through the years that it was no exaggeration to say that without Lee the galaxy would be very, very different. Perhaps Emperor Gallitene would still rule the Dominion, a threat to us all. Perhaps the now extinct tree-like Nushothi would have us all enslaved as mindless drones. Maybe the Zhur Thoggu would have defeated the Commonwealth. All of this, without any Astral sensitivity at all. Raif felt humbled. He placed a hand on Lee’s shoulder.

  “We leave for the Dominion in three days. And Lee, thank you.”

  Wren crouched low behind a desk and faced her doorway. She drew her laser pistol, wishing she could project her Astral weapon instead. Even though she knew she would probably need the projection very shortly she would not reveal her Edo nature until she absolutely had to - orders.

  Channeling, Wren made herself small in the Astral plane, hoping it would make this doorway seem undefended to the Skave, drawing more of them to her. She could feel her eyes begin to glow so kept her gaze averted from Frast. Once in combat she did not have the skill or strength to maintain the effect, but it would have hopefully served its purpose by then.

  Wren wished she could tell Malene to do the same, assuming she knew how to. She glanced over at Malene, who still looked composed, ready.

  Wren sensed that the Skave had acted and sure enough one of Lieutenant Frast’s four security guards fell backwards, something shiny protruding out from his neck. A Jovenar!

  The other guards turned and stared incredulously at their fallen comrade, struggling to comprehend how he suddenly had something stuck in his throat. Frast was better, and started firing randomly down the corridor. Good, thought Wren. He’s good. They might just survive this.

  Wren felt the other four Skave approach her and Malene. Each door was blasted apart and Wren felt the Skave Channeling the Deep to boost themselves as they sprinted down the corridors.

  “Malene, fire!” she shouted, firing into her darkened corridor. She heard Malene cry out but was too busy aiming at the pair of Skave who somersaulted into the room to look over. Wren managed to hit one of the tumbling Skave in the leg and the Skave collapsed, annoyingly hidden behind bulky monitoring equipment. From the other Skave, now also safely in cover, she felt a flicker of Astrals use. She guessed at another flying dagger. Rather than try and spot and stop the Jovenar she elected to raise an Astral energy shield. Just as the invisible barrier fully formed a Jovenar shattered against it.

  “You’re going to have to do better than that!” she shouted above the din of gunfire. She took a quick glance at Malene, who was struggling to get out from underneath the traitor Enisli. Nobody had been watching him. Wren grew angry. How could I have been so stupid?

  She
dropped her barrier and with an Astral-enhanced aim she burned a hole cleanly through his head. Malene pushed the dead man’s corpse from off her, looked over to thank Wren but as she turned her head a Jovenar burst forth from her neck. In horror, Wren watched as Malene fell to her knees, hands fumbling at her throat in a hopeless attempt to staunch the flow of blood.

  Wren screamed in sheer disbelief of what she was witnessing. Before she even knew what she had done she has Channeled her Astral weapon projection into being, a vicious looking scythe that began at her right elbow and extended several feet beyond her hand. It crackled with energy, its blue glow seemed to push back the menace of the emergency lighting. She opened herself to the Astrals like never before. Energy from the Astral plane flooded into her, as if she had been blocking it until now, like some sort of self-imposed dam. Every sense increased tenfold in acuity and her muscles bridled with power. Her eyes shone like blue beacons in the night. Time seemed to slow. She felt as though she could do anything, that she hadn’t really been alive until now, just merely existing. A small amount of effort brought her defensive barrier back up and Channeling some of her seemingly boundless supply of Astral energy she leapt with astounding speed towards Malene’s attackers.

  More Jovenar daggers clattered harmlessly at her shield, ignored. She landed next to the first Skave, a small human female, bringing her own close combat Deep-drawn projection up in hurried defense. The way the black weapon seemed to suck in light hungrily contrasted starkly against Wrens. A quick, powerful Channeled push moved the woman’s blade aside just as Wren struck, her pure-energy scythe swinging quicker than the eye could follow, cleanly decapitating the woman. Wren used her momentum to launch into a spinning somersault, sailing past the Skave Mogui who swung and missed with his blood-red, savagely curved Astral sword. Wren landed in a crouch behind him, whirling around and slicing the legs of the Skave away from under him before he could regain balance from his attack. She continued her lightning-quick spin and as she came around again her blade sizzled and sliced through the Skave’s chest. He died, eyes wide, fixed on Wren’s face in complete surprise.

  Malene’s killers had been dealt with, but there were still four more Skave to go. Frast and the guards still had their Skave pinned down but Wren’s two were moving to encircle them, the one she’d clipped struggling but still managing to move around behind the Imperials.

  Reaching out, she took hold of a desk and hurled it with Channeled energy at the injured Skave. He sensed it and ducked but Wren pushed the table lower in its trajectory and it smashed against his head, knocking him to the ground. She leapt towards the stricken Skave, sensed the other Skave drawing on the Deep to launch multiple Jovenar daggers. She went to raise her shield again but realized that they were aimed at the security men, not her. Too late, they slashed into the men, who screamed out in pain. Frast, protected by being positioned behind the others, looked around wildly before diving for better cover.

  With a vicious stab of her scythe, she killed the prone Skave and then Channeled hard, pulling at the Jovenar-throwing Skave enough to stagger him. He lost control of the deadly glass that had been arcing towards Frast. He scowled and drawing on the Deep, he Channeled an Astral weapon into being. It was a huge double-headed axe, pulsing menacingly with Deep-derived energy.

  “Edo,” he spat. “You will die, like your friend.”

  Wren wasn’t stupid, he was playing for time. She could sense the other two entering the room from the west entrance. She wrenched at his axe with a Channeled pull, and, banking on his attempt to resist, she immediately reversed the pull into a savage push. Combined with his own efforts to resist her initial pull his axe flashed into his face, obliterating the right-hand side of it. She kept on pushing, forcing the axe down and into his shoulder, severing his arm. The Skave wailed in agony before he sagged and fell.

  Wren’s danger sense flared. She dived to the floor as a stream of laser fire passed over her, burning her right shoulder. The bolts tracked down towards her and she barely got her scythe up in time to deflect them. She batted the bolts away whilst the other Skave used the Astrals to tumble across the room, intent on setting up a second firing position from where she would be unable to defend against both.

  “Frast,” Wren yelled, “still with me?”

  “I’m here,” he replied.

  “Good, be ready!”

  She tugged the Jovenar from the neck of the first fallen guard and flung it towards the Skave who was pouring automatic laser blasts at her. He noticed it, and stopped firing as he concentrated on drawing on the Deep to block the dagger.

  Frast fired, burning a hole clean through the Skave’s right shoulder. The Skave’s laser rifle clattered to the floor and he ducked down into cover, grimacing.

  “Good,” shouted Wren, “cover me!”

  Frast fired at the last upright Skave, pinning him down as Wren leapt over a cabinet towards him. The Skave’s many-barbed, spear-like Astral weapon snapped into being and he swung wildly at Wren, who blocked easily. She feinted with a strike to his head and as he moved to block she kicked out, dislocating the Skave’s left knee. Pain blossomed across his face but he kept standing, transferring all of his weight over the other leg. These Skave really don’t know how to fight dirty, she thought. Works for me. She Channeled her scythe onto her other arm and struck low, towards his injured leg. The Skave snarled and hopped backwards, just in time to block a high blow aimed at his neck. Wren used the momentum from his block to spin her around, drawing her pistol whilst it was hidden from view. She spun back to face the Skave who blocked her scythe as she shot him point blank in the chest. He fell backwards, smoke pouring from the wound. Wren drove her Astral weapon into the hole, finishing him off.

  She turned to see that Frast had stood up from his cover, his eyes fixed on her scythe.

  “You’re an Ed-” he began, cut short as the tip of a blood-red Astral blade emerged from his chest. He stared down at the blade, confused, for a moment before looking up at Wren. He tried to say something but he died too quickly, the blade slicing through him as he fell.

  The last Skave stood, his right arm hanging limply, and his hissing and spitting blade held aloft in his left hand. He used the blade to salute her.

  “You fight well. It has been an honor.”

  Wren sighed. “Hurry up and die, Skave scum.” He ran at her, and used the Astrals to leap towards her, his crackling Astral blade stretched out before him like a lance. Wren ducked underneath him and used the Astrals to push him as he landed. Combined with his useless arm the push knocked him off balance and he sprawled across the floor, blade dissolving away to avoid injuring himself. She took two fast steps over to him and with a quick swipe of her scythe it was over.

  Breathing heavily she let her scythe dematerialize. She ended her Channeling and moved to, then crouched at, Malene’s side. Malene’s blood had pooled around her but Wren ignored it, ignored the stench of vaporized and blasted flesh soaking the air, and ignored the eleven other bodies in the room. She vaguely heard the office workers whimpering quietly to themselves but could only care about Malene Zhao. Her face, her perfect, beautiful face looked quite at peace. As composed after death as before. Tears wet her face, and Wren hugged Malene’s body tight.

  Chapter Five

  From the bridge of her flagship the Decimator, an Imperial Hellfire Class-III Battleship, Admiral Adami watched as Weststar’s fleet emerged from Hyperspace. Ship after ship winked into existence, the fleet that would take the Zhur Thoggu to the Nushothi cluster. Little did they know what was in store for them once they reached the cluster. She hoped there would be minimal ship loss but ultimately the entire fleet was expendable, made up of older model ships such as the Hellfire-I class Battleship.

  A Lieutenant approached, then waited at attention.

  “Report, Lieutenant.”

  “Admiral. A shuttle has departed from the Indefatigable, requesting permission to dock. They’ve given the correct authorization codes but did not ide
ntify themselves.”

  Weststar’s party, she assumed, not wasting any time it seems. Let’s expedite their departure further still.

  “Re-direct them to the research facility, what they require is down there, on the planet.”

  “At once, Admiral,” said the officer, swiftly turning away and marched back to the communications station.

  A small smile escaped onto her face. The preparations to get to this point had been intense. She had executed several Imperial officers along the way, and had not enjoyed fleeing to this pathetic system in the outer rim, hiding away after her mortifying defeat to Ison and Brams in the election. She could visualize her delight when she returned to defeat Brams. She would not have to wait much longer. Her wounds had been licked clean. The Zhur Thoggu technology was being rapidly incorporated into her fleet. She would have her revenge.

  Wren Furlan stood before Riccard Brams, two of his aides, and the remaining Edo. They were in Brams’ personal quarters within the Imperial Headquarters on Citadel, the city of Disthasus.

  She had just finished recounting the fight, had struggled to tell of Malene Zhao’s death. Fresh tears welled in her eyes. Several of the Edo shared her tears, all of them somber.

  “Thank you, Edo Furlan, that cannot have been easy to go over so soon afterwards,” said Brams, sat in a large throne-like padded chair. He looked distinctly uncomfortable. “I am so sorry for your loss.”

  Raichel stood, and Wren returned to her seat. “Malene has joined with the Astrals,” said Raichel. Inside, Raichel battled to control her emotions. There is no end, there is only hope. Easy words to think, more difficult to live by. Her desire for revenge threatened to swallow her whole, but she resisted.

  “Whoever opposes you must be tied in somehow with the Skave. It is too coincidental to be anything else.”

  Brams agreed. “Yes. I am sorry. I underestimated the opponents that we must battle. I had no idea about the Skave. I just assumed some of the Doyens were behind the attacks.”