Seeing the annexations for herself made their threat more real than just thoughts and posturing. Each new system made the Dominion stronger and thus, the Skave too. If she couldn’t oppose the Imperial Navy then she’d have to use more ingenious methods to spoil their fun.
We are not the only ones observing, said the Darkening Horizon.
“Really?” Disconcerting. “Who? Tell me what you know about them, and do they appear to have detected us?”
Unknown. I can barely detect them myself, even with the MSS Multi-spectral sequence analyzer system you had installed. The Imperials will be as blind to them as they are to us. I cannot be certain whether they are aware of us, but they do not act, however, as though aware.
She carefully Channeled and reached out towards the ship, trying to feel their presence as delicately, as subtly as she could. It seemed like a single individual, a man, a Deep user. A very, very powerful Deep user. She broke off her probing as softly as she could, momentarily terrified of being detected by one so favored by the Astrals.
This other must be a Skave, she assumed. A single Skave could be dealt with, reason with, even. Perhaps they would see the benefits of joining Thea. It was worth a go, and with the capabilities of her ship beyond doubt, she felt it was a safe enough thing to attempt.
“Darkening Horizon, we stay until he leaves. Then we follow him.”
Of course, replied the ship.
Amos Weststar stood regarding himself in the full floor to ceiling mirror of his personal quarter’s fitting room. Attendants busied themselves around him, picking practically invisible bits of dust and lint from his clothing. He smiled. He had never worn such a luxurious gown before. It shone in every color visible to humans and more. It glittered and sparkled as if powered by its own star. It fitted better than anything he had worn before. It was truly the perfect outfit for the ceremony.
Emperor Weststar. In just one more hour he would officially become the Dominion’s new Emperor, after the great Emperor Gallitene. There was not a greater honor in the galaxy. He felt confident that he could live up to Gallitene’s example, and make up for Gallitene’s folly in choosing Brams to succeed him. Weststar would bring about the demise of the Commonwealth through the resurgence of the Dominion.
The doors to the fitting room fly open and in stormed the Skave Overlord Niettha, furious again. Niettha glowered at Weststar’s assistants.
“Leave, now,” he ordered. They glanced at Weststar and he nodded. Their relief was blatant as they hurried from the room but he could hardly blame them. Niettha scared him, so he could only imagine how they must feel.
“My dear Niettha,” Weststar began, but then he was somehow flying through the air backwards, only stopping when he collided with the far wall, where he remained pinned to the wall, breathless from having the air knocked from him.
Niettha, his eyes glowing a fiery red, walked towards Weststar as though a hunter who had just caught his prey. He only stopped when his face was a hand's breadth from Weststar’s. Niettha’s breath smelt of spiced fruit, oddly.
“Why was I not informed?” demanded Niettha.
“I’m sorry, I cannot read minds. You will need to give me more to go -” Niettha punched Weststar in the stomach, forcing all his breath from him again. Weststar could do nothing but hang there and try to breath.
“You know full well what I mean, Emperor Weststar.” The way Niettha said Emperor infuriated Weststar.
Panting, he took an educated guess. “The Zhur Thoggu? I was not aware you were to be updating regarding them. My apologies - “
“Not aware?” screamed Niettha.
Weststar watched in horror as his own left hand moved into his view. Slowly, one at a time, his fingers and thumb bent back until agonizingly the knuckles folded over, bursting with pain that almost made him faint. He stared unbelieving at his hand, all his digits dislocated, at angles that shouldn’t have been possible.
“Maybe that will help you remember to keep me informed on everything, my Lord. Everything. Is that clear?”
“Yes,” said Weststar through gritted teeth. “Very clear.”
“Good. Your failure to eliminate the Zhur Thoggu could be very costly, Amos. Very costly. Should they cause me further distress then your time as Emperor may be cut short. Am I making myself clear?”
“Completely, my Lord,” said Weststar, hoping to calm the crazy Skave through flattery. The red-eyed man seemed to relax and smiled.
“Excellent, I knew you’d understand. Please ensure your swift actions against the Zhur Thoggu interfere in no way with the expansion program. I want that to continue with all alacrity.”
“Of course, Lord Niettha.”
Niettha seemed to study Weststar before turning and walking swiftly out, his feet hardly seeming to touch the floor. Somehow the room became brighter once he left. His aides came in and stared incredulously at their soon-to-be Emperor. After a few awkward seconds Niettha finally relented his grip upon Weststar and he dropped to the floor.
“A medic. Immediately,” he growled, cupping his mangled hand with his other.
The Commonwealth would not be the only civilization that he would bring to its knees, he thought. Once Niettha was dealt with he would eradicate the Skave from the galaxy.
Gil couldn’t maintain his mind’s defenses forever. The thought terrified him, he feared what they would do once they were able to penetrate his mind. Would they tear his memories from him, leave him blank, not even sure of his own name? Would they pour their own twisted memories into him, driving him insane for their pleasure? He fought on. Hour after hour.
The journey to wherever he was now had been pleasant enough. Niettha had put on a show, pretending that he would treat Gil well if he cooperated fully. Gil’s repeated refusals had finally angered the Skave Lord into action, choking Gil until he saw stars.
The mind probing began as soon as they had placed him in a darkened room, shackled to a cold and uncomfortable metal interrogation chair. There were always at least three Skave pressing against his mind at any time, with another relieving one of the three every thirty minutes or so - Gil couldn’t be sure exactly. Neither was he sure how long he’d been under attack for. It felt like days but may have only been hours, it was hard to tell.
Every now and again one of the Skave would use Astral energy to push at his broken arm, causing Gil to howl in pain. He couldn’t afford to divert Astrals energies towards reducing the pain and so the pain was agonizing.
As his strength failed Gil was having to draw deeper and deeper upon the Astrals to replenish him and keep his defenses strong. He could feel the strain such use was having upon him but what choice did he have? None. He would fight until he couldn’t, whatever the cost.
One of his current tormentors tried a quick, sharp probe into the back of his mind, and Gil just managed to push it aside. Gil laughed.
“No wonder it takes three of you. You are barely favored. Not one of you has the courage to face me one on one.”
It was worth a try but the Skave simply scowled and renewed their attacks.
Gil thought of Kafferyn Wellbourn, Raichel Ison, even Forma Beltat. He laughed to himself. He really did have a type. He thought of the Edo whose lives he was protecting with each moment that he resisted, and he went on, second after brutal second.
Chapter Twenty Seven
“Do you think Gil is ok?” asked Jake Bulver.
Kaliko Savina looked across the pilot deck of small shuttle that Brams had been able to obtain for them. It had been quickly agreed upon that Expen Prosger would not appreciate them turning up in such offensive capable ships as Delta Mark 4’s. The shuttle was completely unarmed, save for some small countermeasures. Kaliko was not happy at all about being so defenseless. It wasn’t even a particular fast shuttle. They were sitting Reen. Which was exactly how she didn’t want to be with Skave and Imperials seemingly intent on taking over the galaxy together. Even the Commonwealth might shoot on sight. If they were to get into a fight t
hen that would be that since even the skills and power of two pretty powerful Edo wouldn’t be able to make up for the ship’s inadequacies. What she wouldn’t do to be in the Wanton Affection right now, which was unfortunately marooned on Citadel.
“Raichel said he’s alive,” she offered simply.
“Yes, but that’s not the same as being ok. I’m really worried about him, Kaliko.” He sounded genuinely upset. She reached over, tenderly touched his arm. He placed a hand over hers and smiled gratefully.
“I wish we were going to help rescue him,” he said.
“You and me both, Jake. But if Raichel thinks we need to go to Expen Prosger then we need to go. It’s an important mission.”
Jake looked away but she could sense from him that he agreed. He just felt guilty at leaving Gil on Citadel. Kaliko sighed. She stood, took a step over towards him and plonked herself down onto his lap, twisting around to face him. He looked round and up into her face, startled. She smiled at him.
She stroked the side of his face. “You care deeply for others, you’ll do anything to help protect those you love. I think you are a very special person, Jake.”
He blushed. He actually blushed. She smiled. He started to say something back but she kissed him quickly, and he spluttered to a stop. He gazed back wondrously at her, the look on his face melted Kaliko’s heart. He reached up to tenderly touch her face and then slowly, oh so slowly, they embraced, and it was just as nerve-tinglingly incredible as she’d dared to imagine.
Olsen Carver stroked at his waxed moustache almost continuously. He couldn’t seem to stop himself blinking, either. “This is most disconcerting news, gentlemen,” he said.
Sat with him in his office were Fleet Admiral Astana, a good man who had spent the last few years doing his best to make up for his actions during Overlord Kraiden’s reign, and Egan Velasquez, ex-Shadow and now Olsen’s Director of Intelligence and Head of Commonwealth Security.
“I’m sorry to be the bearer of such bad news, Chief,” said Egan, “but I had to tell you immediately.”
“And you trust your source?”
“They’ve proven reliable in the past,” said Velasquez simply.
“I don’t need to remind you both,” said Astana, “that the Navy is in very poor shape. We’re already re-deploying every ship we can spare to the border of Imperial space, which isn’t very many ships either, I might add, thanks to the Council deciding that rebuilding the fleet was less a priority than rebuilding Himdel. Diverting any ships away to deal with the Zhur Thoggu will just allow the Dominion to take more of our systems at a quicker rate.”
“The longer we wait to oppose them, the stronger they will get,” cautioned Carver.
“They may be stronger than we can deal with already,” said Astana, somewhat morosely.
“I’ve already sent Shadow squadron on their way,” said Egan, with Carver nodding his appreciation. “They should be sending back their first report within two days. We’ll know then what their strength is.”
“I’ll arrange an inner Council meeting for shortly after that time then,” said Olsen. “Let us hope, gentlemen, for all our sakes, that we can at least do something to slow them down, if nothing else. We must learn our lessons from the last time the Zhur Thoggu were active - immediate, decisive action is our only option.”
The other two nodded their agreements, troubled with their own thoughts.
“On to our other major issue, Fleet Admiral. When can we expect to stem the losses to the Dominion?”
The man’s large nose twitched. “I’m not sure, Sir, that we are capable of stopping them. At least in the near to middle term. Given a year or two - “
“A year or two?” interrupted Carver. “They’ll have conquered half the Commonwealth by then.”
Astana looked back at him sadly. “Correct. We can only hope to fortify the most important inner and outer rim systems and worlds whilst we rebuild the fleet. Mobilizing against the Zhur Thoggu, on the opposite side of the galaxy will seriously impact our abilities to counter the Dominion, possibly even to the point where we will not be able to prevent total defeat. It doesn’t help that most of the systems taken so far wanted to leave us anyway. Imperial loses have been almost zero and they have gained many, many ships in the process, actually increasing the rate of their expansion. Whoever is commanding the expansion is doing a fantastic job.”
“Fleet Admiral Adami,” said Olsen and Egan together.
After a pause Carver said, “No good news then? None at all?” Astana and Velasquez looked at each other.
“Sorry, Sir,” said the Admiral.
Carver shook his head. “Not half as sorry as I am, Fleet Admiral.”
Val Nordin was in the clean and functional cantina of Mote’s Eye with the Paladins. A few pieces of Grazan art were positioned around the walls, adding a touch of class and elegance to the utilitarian space. Teynin Nasturn sat off to one side, refusing to let Val catch her eye. Only a few catering staff remained, cleaning up. It was a trivial matter for Val to ensure they could not eavesdrop.
“And that was that,” he continued, having gone over most of what had occurred back on Sobal Gailian. “I am no longer an Edo. I could not bear to let those people judge me or condemn me, attempt to control me. They sit and navel-gaze whilst we act.”
He looked around at the shocked faces staring back at him. “Of course, I was not oblivious to the impact such a decision would have on our group. I will understand if any of you no longer wish to remain.”
Kaisa Ko cautiously raised a hand. Val nodded at her.
“Did you really destroy four Battleships?”
“No, three. I attempted to destroy a fourth but they’d already shut down their hyperdrive core.”
Kaisa looked away. Val could feel the disgust flowing from her unhidden.
“You joined this group,” he reminded her, “because you understood the peril that we all face. You knew that my tactics were forceful, and that you would need to follow suit on occasion. Now isn’t the time to reconsider. Not when the Zhur Thoggu are free, the Dominion is back on the attack and the Skave grow bolder by the day.”
She looked back at Val, angrily. “You killed those people when you didn’t need to, Nordin! I don’t care what you say to excuse your actions. I am glad you realize that you are no longer an Edo but it seems that you are oblivious to the fact that you are in the Deep. You should be assuming a Skave name. Overlord Massive Ego maybe?”
Val looked away, saddened. How was it that only he could see balance from using both the High and the Deep?
“They were active combatants, Kaisa. They were trying to kill Riccard Brams and Raichel Ison. My actions saved them. If you stay I will teach you and everyone else my new understanding of the Astrals.”
She stood up. “Needless death can never be justified, Val. Don’t you see that? The ideas you have about the Astrals are wrong. I only hope you realize that before you do something you’ll truly regret.”
She walked partly away before Antreeba stood up, growling his agreement with her. Hesitantly, Kaisa’s brother Harper stood too, shrugging an apology to Val.
“Go, all of you. Take a shuttle, if Teynin is agreeable. Go with my blessings.”
Kaisa spun around. “I don’t want your blessings!” she shouted at him. “Should we end up on different sides of a battle I will not hesitate to do what needs to be done, Mushur Nordin.”
“Neither will I,” he replied quietly.
Once the trio had left, the group discussed the data they had retrieved from the base, and the capture of Karlos Tsia’ool.
“As much as I would like to recover Tsia’ool we must focus on our mission and continue to follow the trail,” said Val.
“Affirmative,” said Marten Rask. “I felt Karlos leave the system shortly after our departure anyway. Tracking him down would take considerable time and effort.”
“Then we are agreed,” said Val Nordin. “We can see a definite trail leading away deeper into the
unknown regions. We go see what’s there.”
He looked around at his remaining disciples. Senoch Gray, the stolid Fassen. Dical Dimerchi, the one who managed to return Val to consciousness and save his life. The damaged but incredibly powerful Marten Rask. Amaeh Duranti, the ambitious and talented Singronian Edo Neophyte with impressive self-healing abilities. Edo Mushur Joakim Falk and Nathan Bircheno. Their numbers declined, as he knew they would. As always, only the strongest survive.
“On our way, I will begin the teachings on my new understanding of the Astrals. I have so much to show you.”
Chapter Twenty Eight
Edo Mushur Raichel Ison wanted to laugh each time she looked at her fellow Edo Mushur, Calista Flores. Whilst Raichel’s slight build had no troubles fitting into a Shock trooper powered armor suit, with, if anything, the smallest sized suit they had on offer being too big, Calista’s stocky and curvaceous form had the torso armor practically bursting at its seams. As much as Flores hunched her shoulders over, it didn’t take more than the briefest of glances to realize that those weren’t bulging pectoral muscles hiding under her chest plate. She had taken to standing closely behind anyone that she could, with her rifle held up across her torso.
Riccard Brams’ contacts had arranged for them to be part of the security detail aboard this old tri-winged Lambda-class shuttle, escorting dignitaries from several of the new planetary Imperial acquisitions. It had taken longer than she’d have liked to arrange and she had had to place a great deal of trust in those who were helping her. The alternative would have been to blast their way in and that was no alternative at all. So here they were, masquerading as shock troopers, smuggling themselves into the stronghold of the Dominion, again.
Where Gil most definitely wasn’t. Raichel could only sense him vaguely, and even that was with Flores linking up with her to Channel their abilities synergistically. He was across the city but she couldn’t tell from up in orbit exactly where. Not yet, at least. The shuttle was queued up for entry through the city’s shield, which had remained up since Brams had been usurped. Obviously, the new Emperor didn’t feel quite at ease yet. Raichel wondered briefly if that had anything to do with the strange partners he had jumped into bed with. The Skave and the Zhur Thoggu were not known for their loyalty to anyone but themselves. It would be a crying shame if he came to regret his choices. The thought warmed Raichel’s heart.
The Rise of The Dominion: A Dominion War novel Page 27