The Rise of The Dominion: A Dominion War novel

by D. M. Marshall

  “I’ll thank you for not slighting my people, Weststar,” warned Niettha.

  “Thank me all you like, the facts remain. How many unsuccessful attempts have taken place now? I lose track. We are nearly out of time. Brams acts surer of my involvement. I may be arrested at any time.”

  Niettha, waved a hand dismissively. “You need not concern yourself, Doyen Weststar. I would not permit that.”

  Weststar, shook his head incredulously. This man was either crazy or had access to resources Weststar had no knowledge of. “Sorry, Niettha. I’ve not survived this long by not worrying about my neck. I have requested additional assistance for future assaults.”

  Niettha grew angry. It took a lot to shake Weststar but there was something about Niettha that deeply unsettled him, especially when Niettha’s face darkened.

  “What? Without my permission?”

  “I wasn’t aware I needed your permission for anything, Doyen Niettha.” Even if the man scared him half to death he wasn’t about to let the Doyen see that.

  Niettha seemed ready to, what, attack Weststar? But then, like a powered door flashing down from its recess he transformed back to the composed, assured Niettha. He seemed amused with Weststar, as if he’d just watched his pet Oorrtan perform some new and unexpected trick. Does he really think he’s that superior to me? Is he that deluded, a newcomer Doyen with grand illusions? Have I made a mistake allying with him?

  “Forgive me, Amos. You are quite right. Your additional efforts to cull the Edo are most appreciated, and you are right too in that my agents haven’t been meeting with the success I would have hoped for.”

  Weststar inclined his head, accepting the apology.

  “Niettha, Brams closes in on us. We must act soon.”

  “Oh, we will. In fact, I’m rather hoping to chop off the head of the snake, or in this case, the spear, tomorrow. I will provide you the details so that your forces can assist. With that achieved more Edo will flock to the Dominion.”

  It was Weststar’s turn to boil. “More? Are you insane?”

  Niettha’s eyes flashed but he remained composed.

  “Remember, Doyen Weststar. Restoring you to the head of the Dominion is not my only goal. Not even if every living Edo were here would they be able to prevent Brams’ defeat that I promise you. They are merely a battalion of Astral users. I have an entire army of them.”

  Weststar frowned, unable to maintain a good Ponteen face. What in the Emperor’s name was he talking about? An entire army of Astrals users? Either than man was utterly mad or he wasn’t who Weststar had though he was. He would have to find out just who he was dealing with. He took a small sip of his Deniroe Boff.

  “I’m not entirely sure I follow.”

  Niettha waved a hand dismissively. “Just know that Brams will fall and you will become Emperor. Is that not truly all you care for?”

  Weststar had to admit that the man, crazy or not, had a point.

  Chapter Eight

  Amaeh Duranti took another sip from her blue milk. “I’m going to lose my Astrals sensitivity if I sit here doing nothing for much longer.”

  Harper Ko half chuckled.

  “Seriously, though,” continued Amaeh, “we’ve been here for days. Tantsor is the back-end of nowhere. Why would the Skave come here?”

  “Precisely because of that fact, Amaeh,” replied Joakim Falk, the great Edo Mushur slipping naturally into a professorial manner. “It has the facilities they need,” he said, gesturing around at the disheveled but otherwise fully functioning starport, “and it has a, shall we say, relaxed attitude to the less salubrious of visitors.”

  “Like us,” joked Harper’s sister, Kaisa, her brown eyes twinkling in amusement.

  “Like smugglers. Or Skave pretending to be smugglers.”

  “What about Skave who actually are smugglers?” queried Harper, pretending to be serious.

  Falk sighed. He’d have said ‘Kids!’ but the Kos were a decade or more too old for that. He was just about to play an Astral-powered prank on the pair when he felt a stirring. By the look on the Ko’s faces they felt it too. Amaeh was none the wiser, staring morosely at her almost finished drink.

  “Duranti, I think the Astrals has answered your prayers,” said Falk quietly.

  Duranti sat up, suddenly alert, instinctively sniffing with her highly developed canine sense of smell.

  “Quickly, disappear from the Astral plane,” instructed Falk, himself working hard through the technique, imagining himself growing smaller and smaller. It wasn’t something he had performed many times, having only recently learnt the technique from Mushur Nordin during the flight to The Wilds.

  The Edo tried to appear casual as the Skave group appeared at the far end of the central lounge area. The Skave, with bold, aloof gaits, passed them by with barely a glance, giving no indication of having noticed the Edo. Because he was hiding from the Astral plane Falk couldn’t Channel to probe them and pick up their surface emotions and reactions. It was a strange feeling indeed to be so detached from the Astral plane. It was like losing an arm or sight - completely taken for granted until it was gone and only then do you realize just how much you depended upon it. Mushur Falk knew he wasn’t the strongest Edo in the galaxy, and had spent most of the Zhur Thoggu war behind the scenes, using his non-combative talents for the good of the Edo sect. Even for him, being so disconnected from the Astrals was a deeply unsettling experience.

  “Ko twins, follow them, at a distance,” whispered Falk, “Duranti and I will cover.”

  Pretending to finish their drinks, Harper and Kaisa stood, stretched a bit and then almost comically nonchalant, like two disaffected teenagers, they shuffled away, a good gap between them and the Skave trio.

  Falk groaned. If they survived this he was going to recommend to Val that they all received some training from Shadow squadron before carrying out any more of their amateur surveillance missions. He nodded to Amaeh and together, less conspicuous by far, they proceeded to follow the amateur dramatics siblings.

  The Skave appeared to be returning to their vessel, heading towards the southerly positioned landing pads. The crowds diminished as they neared them, only people with their own private or chartered ships and the ground crew used these areas. The Kos had to drop a bit further back as the corridors became longer and sparsely populated, increasing the chances of being spotted by the Skave significantly.

  The Skave finally entered a bay, number 121 noted Falk, ever a keen eye for detail, as he and Duranti met with the Ko’s as they waited a short distance away from the pedestrian entrance to the landing bay.

  “We’re blind without our Channeling,” whispered Harper.

  “Why are you whispering,” asked Falk, becoming exasperated with their melodrama. “These walls are a meter thick?”

  “Sorry,” whispered Harper, “can’t help it.” A big grin cracked widely across his face. “More fun this way.”

  The Mushur shook his head. “Whatever. We can’t risk Channeling, they may detect us. We’ll just have to slip in as quietly as we can.” He looked at Amaeh.

  “You have the keenest senses of us all, so you will need to be our eyes and ears. Try to get in and out without being seen. If you do, call out through the Astrals and we’ll come in, eyes blazing.”

  He watched as Amaeh’s resolve grew strong. She nodded, opened the door and moved forward, crouched low. Amaeh was immediately thrown backwards by a powerful flurry of plasma bolts, landing into a twisted, tattered shape on the concrete floor.

  Three Astral melee weapons instantly burst into life. They had known we were here! How? Falk thought furiously. What had gone wrong? Were they hooked up into the spaceport security feed? The Kos had perfected subconscious Astrals-flashing of security cameras so he felt confident it wasn’t that. He allowed the Astrals to find him and it washed into him like a great, energizing tide. Cleaning him, rejuvenating his previously diminished self. His eyes blazed with a strong actinic blue.

  Kaisa crouc
hed down and put a hand near Duranti. “She’s alive, barely. We need to get her to medical services immediately.”

  “I think that’s going to be a bit of a problem,” said Harper Ko. “We have more company.”

  Mushur Falk reached out, feeling the disciplined, focus minds of a dozen men approach from behind, cutting off their exit. With the corridor being so wide and empty, to allow loading transports access to the berthed ships, it would be a killing ground if they remained in it.

  “No choice now. Harper, get Duranti. Kaisa, I’ll open the door, you make your way in. We’ll be right behind you.”

  Kaisa took up a combat stance and as soon as Joakim opened the access door she began batting back a storm of plasma bolts. She took steps forward, slowly but surely gaining entry into the bay. Falk followed, his blue Astral weapon – an ornate but effective mace-like implement - a blur as he too began fending off plasmas bolts.

  Off to the left there was a good amount of transportation containers and equipment so Falk began to move towards that, with Harper carrying Duranti moving close behind him, using Falk as a shield.

  Once the pair were safe for the time behind Falk took stock of the situation. At least half the bay was taken up with a large, battered old freighter. It looked suspiciously like the Late Payment, a ship from their list. One Skave was crouched down behind one of the ship’s landing struts, another was firing from within the ship, down through the open access ramp, and the third was off to the side, behind some containers. Each held a powerful heavy plasma rifle. Amaeh was lucky to be alive. Perhaps her tough hide has helped mitigate the damage some.

  If the Skave were still alive by the time the other group arrived then they would be cut down by a withering cross-fire, with nowhere to hide. They had to kill the Skave, now. Falk thought back to Nordin’s speech at the start of all this, when he had said that this was a fight for survival. Using the normal Astral weapon-dependent Edo combat tactics would take too long since these were no doubt well-trained Skave Mogui, their equivalent of Edo Askari.

  A terrible thought entered Joakim’s mind. It went against everything he stood for but he could think of nothing better, more effective, more like to help save their lives and get Amaeh the help she so badly needed.

  Channeling to project his voice, he shouted a command the other Edo. “Channel your energy into me!”

  He drew heavily and pushed against the containers that the third was taking cover behind. He felt the resistance from the containers reduce as the Ko twins flooded him with extra energy. Combined, their Astral powers were immense. It mattered not that the Ko siblings had almost no telekinetic abilities, since Joakim was simply channeling their flow of Astrals. He could use that flow however he wished. The containers accelerated so quickly that the Skave had no chance to move before being slammed against the far wall of the bay.

  “Keep channelling,” yelled Falk. He pushed even harder until he heard a sickeningly wet cracking sound and felt the life drain from the crushed Skave. Falk looked over at Kaisa, knowing to expect and seeing the look of utter horror on her face. There was no time for remorse.

  “Kaisa, watch out,” he called. She struggled to focus and Falk saw the Skave behind the strut take aim at her. Mushur Falk threw his mace on an intercept trajectory and just managed to block a murderous bolt from hitting Kaisa square in her face.

  She jerked back to full consciousness and composed herself back into a combat stance, as Harper drew his laser pistol and began firing at the Skave behind the landing strut, causing the Skave to duck back into cover. Falk extended his hand and his Astral weapon was suddenly there. Concentrating, he altered its dimensions, narrowing it until it was as thin as a nanowire blade. He threw it again, this time spinning quickly towards the second Skave.

  The Skave easily ducked out the way and Falk’s Astral weapon soared past before Falk brought it around and in again for a second, whirling attack. Coming in low the Skave casually leapt high above it, nothing more than a mere inconvenience.

  “Harper, be ready,” shouted Falk as he Channeled his Astral weapon back into his grasp. With a tremendous drain on his reserves, the Mushur Channeled his power into a massive tug on the ship’s landing strut. With an ear-splitting screech of metal upon metal a long section of the strut, having been sliced cleanly high and low, fell away, exposing the surprised Skave momentarily. A barrage of laser bolts hit the Mogui and the already dead Skave ragdolled to the ground. The ship began to list over towards the side where the landing strut no longer supported its bulk.

  “Two down, one to go,” called a clearly excited Harper Ko.

  The boarding ramp to the ship started to rise. Kaisa ran towards it but had to slow as laser fire came from within from the last remaining Skave. Harper fired into the diminishing gap but to no effect. Falk grimaced as he felt the Skave move inside the ship, obviously towards the cockpit.

  He also sensed the second group arranging themselves outside the entrance to the bay. Out of time. And out of options. There were twelve in the second group and though not favored by the Astrals they were clearly very well trained. Again, traditional Edo techniques weren’t going to be good enough to ensure that Duranti received aid soon.

  Feeling a deep sense of regret, tinged with a steely resolve, Falk expanded his awareness, enhancing its sensitivity through Edo techniques he had learned during his extensive study. He swept his vision out into the corridor and sensed the Ballavendi. He felt their armor, their minds, and their weapons. He examined one mercenary after the next until he found what he needed. Drawing deeply again on the Astrals he manipulated the object, causing it to arm. Then, another Astrals manipulation was required, this time clouding their minds so that they couldn’t hear the rising sound emanating from the device. He sensed no alarm from any of them.

  He looked over at the other Edo, feeling more regret and sadness than he could ever remember before. He was vaguely aware of the freighter lifting off and away.

  “I would duck,” he advised.

  The high-yield hand grenade exploded, snatching away the lives of all the men in the corridor in an instant. The landing bay shook violently and the door to the bay was blown inwards off its hinges. It missed the Edo and as it finally clattered to a stop the Edo kept staring at it, unable to look each other in the face.

  “Let’s discuss this later,” said Edo Mushur Falk. “Right now we need to get Amaeh some help.”

  Syrene Frost had insisted on providing a small fleet of Grazan Battle Dragons to escort Sord Okarachebe to Himdel. Though Sord didn’t really think he would be in danger one did not say no to the Queen. Even a Carrion Mite could figure out that the Queen was less worried about Sord’s safety and more interested in showing support for the Edo.

  Sord’s tail swished in pleasure as the fleet emerged from hyperspace into Himdel space. It would have been some spectacle they put on for the Himdeli people - Grazan battle cruisers appearing anywhere within the Commonwealth was a very rare occurrence indeed.

  Sord himself was in a Recon Nebula fighter - there was no reason not to be prudent, even if you were the acting Grand Mushur of the Edo sect. The Recon was almost impossible to detect when in active stealth mode, but currently the ship’s transponder was broadcasting his ID and so he was easily traceable.

  As the busiest system in the entire galaxy, Himdel never failed to provide its own spectacle. Thousands of ships of a seemingly infinite variety of shapes and sizes navigated to and from the planet at all times, managed by burgeoning Flight control stations based both on the planet and on the immense Yaffen-ring D space defense stations.

  As the small armada moved into orbit, Sord could see clearly from space the damage wrought by Hastuthu and the Skave. Cataclysmic tectonic movements triggered by Hastuthu, the Deep Astral being, during the final period of her reign on Himdel had caused untold death and destruction, and the great chasms in the crust of the planet were still being repaired.

  Of course, the planet-spanning mega city, with its ring
of orbiting habitats that themselves were home to several billion sentients, would recover. As the economic and administrative center of the Commonwealth millions of sentients made their way to Himdel on a daily basis, hoping to achieve wealth, fame or excitement in one form or another. Despite the sheer scale and nature of the damage caused by the Zhur Thoggu, it was now only visible at the lower levels, where Zhur Thoggu AI’s and hunter-killer robots still survived. Hastuthu’s mark upon the world would eventually fully heal and the planet would go on, with possibly the only lingering consequence of the terrible time being the animosity now felt for the Edo.

  Sord regretted not having had chance to speak to Raichel Ison. Some stirrings he had felt in the Astrals had given him some cause for concern but a good pack leader always allowed their hunters to finish the kill, and Raichel was a very good hunter. A pang of guilt ran through him as he thought of Raif Ko and Nate Shepherd. Perhaps he should have informed Raichel about them. It was too late now to do much about it. His part was done, for better or for worse.

  Sord was provided landing coordinates, ones he knew well, and a flight path to follow. The planetary shield was opened in a small sector for a short time and the Lifzan slipped nimbly through, leaving his escort flotilla waiting behind for his return. His Nebula fighter’s hull temperature reading shot up as it entered the upper atmosphere, caused by friction as the ship rudely pushed increasingly dense air aside. It was mandated that ships fly on autopilot during descents, as the only guaranteed way to keep the ships in their necessarily tight flight plan - with so many vessels coming and going the distances separating them could sometimes be measured in just a few ship lengths. Sord eschewed the autopilot, having far more trust in his own prodigious flying skills, and the Astrals themselves.

  Soon he flew above the sky-piercing towers of Himdel towards the huge, oval-shaped Commonwealth Headquarters building. There he would be addressing the entire Assembly in the Greater Commonwealth Chamber - an enormous cavern-like room where members of the Assembly floated in repulsor stations so that one could move quickly to the center of the chamber to address the Assembly.