Nascent Decay (The Goddess of Decay Book 1)

by Hash, Charles

  “Well, the long term mental effects of being in the Chamber for such an extended period of time haven’t really been studied fully. Or if they have, the results haven’t been disclosed,” said Reskle. Rhylie laughed cynically.

  “Of course not,” she said. “I’m sure it’s all classified.” Neither Reskle or Mersi got the joke.

  “All done,” said Reskle. “You can close up.” The hole in Rhylie’s chest shrank.

  “Thanks doc,” she said. Reskle tilted his head to the side inquisitively. “It’s just an expression,” she said. Reskle reached up and removed his communication veil.

  “Can you still understand me?” he asked.

  “Just fine,” Rhylie said.

  “Good, the translation software is working. It comes with the communication device,” Reskle said.

  “So I’ll be able to understand everyone?” Rhylie asked.

  “All the documented languages in the galaxy,” replied Reskle.

  “And they’ll be able to understand me?” she queried. He nodded in response.

  “You can just deploy your communication veil,” he said. “It came with the cyberbionic skeleton.”

  “Are you serious,” she deadpanned. “I had no idea. Why didn’t you tell me?” Reskle chuckled.

  “You have a lot to learn, Rhylie, and I’m sure Mersi can’t wait to fill you in,” Reskle said. Rhylie cut a glance at Mersi. She was grinning like a cat. A bug-eyed cat. It was both adorable and creepy. “She’s your biggest fan, you know.” Mersi’s mouth dropped open.

  “I just-” she started to say. “You’re pretty cool, that’s all,” she finished awkwardly, looking down at the floor. Her cheeks flushed from their brownish tone to a bright greenish-yellow. At that moment, Isaar stuck his head in the room.

  “Ready to give that thing a try?” he asked.

  “What do you mean?” Rhylie asked.

  “We are organizing a course of action for an undefended military base,” he said. “And you are going to be the star of the show…if you want to, that is.” Rhylie smiled.

  “I’ve never been the belle of the ball,” she said dryly. “It’s a shame I have nothing to wear.” Isaar laughed.

  “You will be the queen of the dance,” he said, grinning widely. “Let us go discuss it.” Rhylie stood up and followed Isaar from the room. If I’m the queen, she thought, what does that make Drasce? She pushed the idea out of her head, feeling guilty for having thought it. Jealousy was an ugly emotion and she had no place for it inside of her. Her and Isaar could never be together anyway, regardless of their personal situations. She could never be with anyone again.

  A quick trip to another part of the complex through a series of short corridors lead to an area where the construction appeared to be brand new; it had an industrial type feel to it. Everything was designed to be functional, there was no room for aesthetics.

  In the conference room were Drasce, Noura, and several others that Rhylie didn’t know. They all stood and applauded as she entered the room, except for Noura. Rhylie smiled out of courtesy. She wasn’t sure what it was all about. Then she remembered. Drasce liked to talk, and rather flamboyantly too.

  “We’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time,” Drasce said. “And all of us thank you for this.”

  “Thank me for what?” Rhylie asked incredulously.

  “This would not be possible without you,” Isaar said. “No one is willing to stand up to the Masters directly. You can change that. You can change everything.” Rhylie frowned, suddenly uncomfortable.

  “I don’t want to be some revolutionary martyr. I don’t want to be a hero.” she said. I just want to kill Vorcia, she thought. “Just tell me where Vorcia is at, and if I’m really what you say I am we can end this now.” Everyone in the room shifted awkwardly. Their unease was apparent.

  “That is…probably not the best idea,” cautioned Isaar. “I would not want you to be captured or killed on your first foray. We chose a soft target for that particular reason.” Rhylie wrinkled her nose.

  “A soft target huh? How soft?” she asked.

  “Well…offensively, it is pretty stacked. We could use some of the tech they keep on it,” Isaar said. “But it has no defensive capabilities, since they do not expect it to be attacked directly. If we can strike fast enough, before they are able to deploy their fighters…we might be able to hijack and mod them all.” Rhylie narrowed her eyes.

  “What do you mean…hijack and mod?” she asked. Isaar looked at her uncomfortably.

  “We do not have the resources to support a full fledged rebellion against the Masters, Rhylie,” he said. “We do not have the numbers, we do not have the technology, nor the finances. We do not have anything but you. But we can change that and take some of the pressure off of you.” Rhylie nodded her head slowly, keeping her eyes intently on Isaar. “There should be some flight suits there as well. We can strip the gravity wells out of them and outfit Vorle and Konii with them.” He paused for a moment before adding. “Unfortunately, I do not think it will ever be safe to install one in Rahve.” The thought of Rahve with a gravity well made Rhylie want to giggle, but she managed to suppress it. “And Sora wants nothing to do with this,” he finished.

  “Why not?” asked Rhylie. She wanted to talk to Sora soon.

  “She claims the things we are dabbling in will only upset the balance of the galaxy, whatever that means. It is unfortunate because I think we could benefit from her counseling,” he said, exhaling deeply. “But it is her decision to make. Vorle and Konii are definitely on board.”

  “Will they be participating in the strike?” Rhylie asked.

  “They will be piloting ships in the stealth phase. We will drop a dozen pilots in as quietly as possible,” he said. “Once they have hijacked a couple of the fighters, we will have you go in and cripple them to make sure that they cannot follow us. Hopefully even stop them from sending out a message. Quasar here wants the transport and support ships that may be there.” He motioned to the strangers standing in the room with them. Rhylie nodded her head once in response. She was unsure how she felt about that. “Mersi should be sending you coordinates soon.”

  “I just got them,” she said, flinching. It was a little weird the way the location and coordinates appeared in her mind, along with a chart of the galaxy, which was amazingly huge. She’d have to play around with that later. Right now she had some vengeance to unleash. “Which way is the landing bay?”

  “There is one just down the corridor on the left, why?” Isaar asked cautiously. Rhylie gave him a smirk and a wink.

  “Let’s just say I’ll see you there,” she said as she stepped through the door and headed down the corridor, leaving everyone shocked and stunned. By the time she reached the landing bay, Isaar had caught up with her.

  “Rhylie, wait, please,” he said. “Stop.”

  “I can take them all out before they even know what hit them,” she replied irritably. “I don’t need help. It would just uselessly endanger everyone else.”

  “I know you don’t…but let us just play this one safe, alright? I want you to have some kind of backup when you go in there,” he implored. Rhylie frowned deeply.

  “I don’t need backup,” she said, pulling her arm away from him. “They’d only get in the way anyway. They’d just be liabilities.” She shielded her head and focused on her surroundings. She began to slowly float from the floor. This was going to be easier than she’d thought.

  “You have not even had any practice with your gravity well,” Isaar said. “Please Rhylie, just wait an hour for us to get ready and assemble. Acclimate yourself around the bay and outpost until then.”

  “I didn’t get very much practice with my body either,” she said. “But I figured it out.” She focused on increasing her speed slowly, and she rocketed out of the bay, barely clearing the top lip of the bay door. She could see why these were so dangerous. Once she was clear from the base, she used her new guidance system to lock onto the coordin
ates Mersi had sent her and turned her gravity well wide open.

  By the time the stealth ship arrived with the pilots, she had killed every single Siirocian on the base. They had never even stood a chance.

  27

  Rhylie could tell Isaar was angry when he arrived at the Siirocian base. She was a little surprised that it actually bothered her somewhat. She figured he would get over it sooner or later, since the base seemed to have a lot to offer in the way of weapons, ships, and medical supplies, lots of things that were useless without people to use them. Whatever they couldn’t take would be destroyed; the looting was almost finished.

  Isaar was directing everyone in what to take and what to leave behind. The fighter ships had already been hijacked and flown from the bay. The only thing he had said to her so far was a bitter sounding “Good job”. She could tell that he was not happy with her at all. He would barely even look at her, and when he did it was with a bruised expression.

  He seemed to be avoiding her as well, but she didn’t actually know anyone else there, so she stuck by him as much as she could. She just stood off to the side of him for awhile, watching the activity. The ship would be full in a moment and they’d be on their way. Finally Isaar came walking over to her with an intent look on his face.

  “I understand why you did what you did,” Isaar said quietly. “I really do, Rhylie.” He frowned slightly as he paused. “But you do not have to. And we had a plan. I need you to help me set an example, or this all falls apart.”

  “I never agreed to the plan,” she said. “If I had come in here with backup, they would have been nothing but glorified liabilities,” she said. That’s what they’d called her when she first joined the Exploration Branch of the UAF. A glorified liability. “Having them there would have just put them in danger. What if they’d blown the whole station?”

  “That is a risk we are all willing to take, “ Isaar replied. “All of us, or we would not be here. That is why Drasce and Reskle are not here. They do not like the dirty work. That and Reskle would not be much use anyway. I know what he needs from here. But the point is, you do not need to do this alone.” Rhylie shrugged casually, but down inside she knew she had disappointed him.

  “Maybe I work better alone,” she said defensively. Isaar frowned.

  “You cannot do everything alone,” he said. “None of us can.”

  “All I want to do is kill Vorcia,” she replied coldly. “I can do that alone.” Isaar frowned even more deeply.

  “Those are dark thoughts, Rhylie, and they do not do you any good to dwell on them,” Isaar warned. “They will only poison you until you are dead inside. Do not allow them consume you.” Rhylie snorted.

  “Who says I’m not already dead inside?” she asked snidely. Isaar laughed.

  “You are too emotional to be dead inside. But one day, when the hatred inside you has burned to ash, you will be,” he said in a more serious tone. “You walk a dark path, Rhylie. I know from my own experiences with Vorcia. Do not let it consume you.” Rhylie smirked.

  “I think it’s a little too late for that,” she said. “There’s no turning back now.” Issar’s dark red eyes suddenly looked very sad.

  “You are still here, so it is not too late. I did not save you just to have you kill yourself,” he said. It was Rhylie’s turn to frown.

  “I didn’t ask you to save me,” she said defensively. “I asked you to-”

  “I know what you asked me to do,” Isaar cut her off, speaking quietly. “And I am glad that I did not.”

  “You may live to regret that,” she said dryly.

  “You are not the first person to tell me that,” said Isaar. “Do you want to prove all of them right, and me wrong?” He gave her puppy dog eyes. It just looked weird.

  “No,” she said, laughing.

  “You really did a number on these guys,” he said, looking around at the dead bodies.

  “I can move really fast now,” she said. “They never even knew I was here.”

  “They were not expecting you,” said Isaar. “The element of surprise is the greatest advantage.” Rhylie cast her eyes downward in shame.

  “You’re right. I should have waited,” she said. “I don’t know…I just wanted to kill some Siirocians.” Rhylie looked over towards the communication room. “I want to call Vorcia myself and tell her I’m coming for her.” Isaar shook his head.

  “It would be better if she thought you were dead for now,” he said. “Once she realizes you are alive, she will begin hunting for you. She is relentless in her pursuit.” Rhylie laughed.

  “She might not like it so much once she’s found me,” she said.

  “That is just it. You will never even see her,” Isaar said. “You will never get close if she knows you are hunting her. The galaxy is massive, and there are a lot of places to hide. That works two ways.” Rhylie frowned with frustration.

  “I see,” she said. “All the more reason to go after her as soon as possible, before she can see me coming and hide.”

  “We…just do not have the numbers yet,” Isaar said. “There are pockets of resistance throughout the galaxy, but nothing coordinated. Nothing mobilized, yet.” He sighed. “Most people think resistance is futile, and will not contribute anything until they begin to believe otherwise.” Rhylie nodded slightly, her eyes downcast.

  “I can understand that,” she said. “All too well.” Isaar watched her for a long moment before continuing.

  “Everything is wrapping up here,” he said looking around. Do you want to ride with us, or do you want Mersi to just give you the base’s coordinates?”

  “Have Mersi send me the coordinates, please,” Rhylie said. “I need some time to think about everything.”

  “You have the com device now if you need us,” he said.

  “Thanks,” she replied.

  “Just try not to stay gone for too long, we will have these gravity wells installed in Vorle and Konii in no time,” Isaar said. “Then we will see if we can make a real difference.”

  28

  Rhylie kept her com device turned off as she took some time to cruise through the vast emptiness of space. She stayed gone for days. It was the first relaxing thing she had done in a long time.

  The depths of the galaxy were peaceful in their eternal silence, and she needed some practice with the gravity well anyway. She was sure everyone had seen the huge dents and holes she’d left all over the walls inside the Siirocian base, but nobody had said anything. It hadn’t hurt, it had just been…embarrassing. It was not something she wanted to go through again.

  She had been using the galactic map software that had been installed with the gravity well to visit Mars, now mostly vacant, and other spots in the galaxy she had only heard about. None of the other nebulas were as impressive in person as they had been in the pictures she had seen, or the one above Primiceps. She decided they must have done something there to augment the low light emanating from it. She had considered going to Primiceps and trying to find Vorcia, but she wouldn’t even know where to begin. Even though she had a map of the city in her head, the location of Vorcia’s quarters were unknown.

  As she coasted up on the spot where the base was supposed to be, she found it strangely vacant. She switched on her com device.

  “Is anyone there?” she asked aloud. She wasn’t exactly sure how it worked to be honest.

  “Rhylie!” came Mersi’s voice, shrieking at her. “You’re alive!”

  “Yeah, it’s me. The coordinates you gave me must be wrong or something,” Rhylie said.

  “No, unfortunately they’re right,” Mersi said sadly. “The Siirocians destroyed our base in retaliation. Isaar thinks there’s a spy.” Rhylie froze, suspended in the vacuum. Not again, she thought. They destroy everything I care about.

  “Is everyone alright?” she asked.

  “No,” said Mersi, as though she were holding back. “Sora tried to warn everyone and get us all to abandon the base, but nobody believed her. I’m not e
ven sure Isaar believed her, but she begged him and begged him to leave the base until he gave in. He was just humoring her. I tagged along because, well…Sora is interesting. She’s so…mysterious.”

  “Who all survived?” asked Rhylie. In a way, she didn’t want to know. She really didn’t feel well at all.

  “Isaar, Reskle…me…” she said slowly. “Vorle and Konii were able to shield up and protect themselves from most of the blast, but it took us forever to find them. And Noura had just left with Quasar’s leaders to help them with the logistics and organization for our next move.”

  “Where are you guys at now?” Rhylie asked.

  “I’m sending the coordinates,” replied Mersi.

  *

  When Rhylie located them, they were still in the ship they had left the base in. Mersi jumped up and threw her arms around Rhylie when she walked into the central chamber of the ship. It was weird.

  “Rhylie!” she squealed. Rhylie awkwardly freed herself from Mersi.

  “That’s enough of that,” she said.

  “I’m sorry, we just didn’t know what had happened to you,” Mersi said, acting slightly miffed.

  “It’s ok. I just wasn’t expecting it,” Rhylie replied, reaching out to stroke Mersi’s bald head. Mersi smiled. Her eyelids blinked, one after the other. Rhylie looked away quickly.

  “We are glad to have you back,” said Isaar as he stood up from the round table in the center of the room. He looked tired. Very tired. His eyes were vacant and listless, and his brow heavily furrowed.

  Sora and Reskle sat in two of the other seats. They didn’t really move other than to look over and acknowledge Rhylie. They all looked shell shocked and defeated. Rhylie understood that look very well.

  “Please, sit,” Isaar said, motioning to the table. Rhylie nodded in response and took a seat out of courtesy. Mersi plopped down in the seat beside her.

  “Where are Vorle and Konii?” she asked.