by J. K. Mabrey
She continued, "What if the ships that attacked the power core factory and attacked us are the same ones that have been attacking other systems?"
"Then that means someone out there is planning to make a big move," Zavik said, "and they're trying to take us out too."
"My mind keeps thinking about him," she said, her voice spitting the word, ‘him’, out. It was something she rarely admitted to. "I don't know where it’s from, but I've got this feeling that either him, or someone just as dangerous as him is trying to kill us."
His anger was gone, replaced by fear and anxiety. He could feel his adrenaline building. It happened often when he thought of Varin. He hadn't gotten used to it, even after five years. He squeezed her tight and kissed her head. "I won't let anything happen to you."
"It's not so much that," she said. "I accept that he's trying to kill us. It's what we get for interfering with his plans. I think I'm more worried about the Community than anything else."
“The Community?” he asked. Admittedly, he hadn’t thought about the Galactic Community at all with regard to Varin. He was more worried about what Varin would do to them. He would send everything he had after them. How could they stand up to that? The Community could take care of itself. They had an army and a star fleet outfitted from the races in the Galaxy. What did they have? One starship capable in firefights, but not capable against a fleet of ships. They wouldn’t be fooled into following him again, and Zavik doubted he could build a force capable of threatening the Community from the Dark Sector.
“I’m just worried about what else they could have hit,” she said. “How many other attacks have we heard about? Three? Four? What else could have been hit?”
“I don’t know,” Zavik said. “It couldn’t be anything big, or important. The Council has security for sensitive targets. But they can’t provide security to a private power core factory, even if they’re a main supplier to the Council. If they did that, they’d have to protect everyone.”
Zavik couldn’t believe he was trying to rationalize the attacks. Was he that fearful Varin could be responsible? For almost five years he’d thought about Varin returning, seeking revenge on them on his way to another attempted takeover. Now, he didn’t want to see it. Besides, he told himself, there was no way Varin could finish his plan. The Council’s forces were too great. Last time he had the Chokmnd fleet on his side and he was still defeated. This time, he would have nothing, only what’s left of his fragmented Red Moon fleet. Unless he built a new fleet, or a new weapon, or something that could give him the advantage. But there was nothing in the Dark Sector for him. Or was there?
Dani opened the galaxy map on the table. There were five sectors that divided the Galaxy. At the center was a large, elliptical cluster of dense stars. These were the Core systems. Many of the planets found here were rich in Perizian gas and were the main suppliers of energy to the rest of the Galaxy. The Inner Core was the thin ring of stars just outside the Core. Cedona, the Galactic Center, was in the Inner Core. A number of Council races were from Inner Core worlds. The spiral galaxy had two main strands of star matter stretch out from the edge of the ellipse in the center. The beginning of those strands formed the Outer Core Sector. The Outer Core was where Earth resided. Earth was near the southern end of the Outer Core. Just south of Earth was a strand of stars known as the Inner Spiral. The spiral arm formed from the right side of the core, curved around and stretched out over the entire southern region. The northern part of the Galaxy contained the other spiral arm and was called the Outer Spiral. Many of the planets in this sector were independent systems, no longer colonies or under the influence of any race. The laws of the Council found little support out there and many illegal activities thrived. Garos was in the Outer Spiral, and it was where they had made their home for the last few years.
Zavik knew there was another sector of the Galaxy that wasn’t displayed on the map. Further out from the Outer Spiral, where the tip of the spiral arm was, was a section know as the Dark Sector. It was an area of the Galaxy once open for exploration thousands of years ago, long before humans made contact with the Community. According to the Chokmnd there were no life forms or resources to be found. They shut the portals down thousands of years ago, keeping only one portal around Chokmna open to the area. That portal was shut down after the Red Moon Rebellion in order to keep Varin trapped in his empty tomb.
Zavik could never figure out why Varin would use the Dark Sector to hide. He had to see the obvious risk of getting stuck in a desolate section of the Galaxy with no hope of getting back. If the Dark Sector was as truly barren as the Chokmnd claimed, Varin would be no threat.
There’d be no way to build a fleet or amass an army. There would be nothing to use, even if he did manage to get back to this side of the Galaxy. Of course, that assumed they were telling the truth, something Zavik was beginning to doubt. Could they be trusted? Brax he trusted, but the leaders, the Council, even the Emperor, Varin’s father? Not so much.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
She pointed to the unlit section of the Dark Sector. “This is where Varin’s trapped. Two of the attacks were on Dracona and Helmstat. They’re the closet systems to the Dark Sector.”
“I never realized how close Garos was to them either,” Zavik said. Garos was only slightly further south of Dracona.
“We never had to think of things in terms of their distances or locations before,” Dani said. “The portals make that irrelevant, but with these lightdrives, it’s becoming an issue.”
“You can move a fleet from system to system, and there’s no way to stop that,” Zavik said. “You can’t just turn off a portal to stop an invasion.’
“Exactly. And if you do shut off the portal, you can prevent immediate reinforcements.”
He was beginning to understand why she was upset. “You think he’s trying to invade the Outer Spiral from the Dark Sector?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know if it’s him or someone else. I’ve just got a feeling something’s going to happen. There’s too much going on for this to all be random pirate attacks. But I don’t know if there’s any way to know for sure.”
“The Council will know,” Zavik said, his eyes lighting up at the thought.
“If there’s an invasion? Even they wouldn’t stay silent.”
“No, but they’ll know what was targeted at these locations,” he said. “Zaynu said they didn’t want it getting out that a power core factory was destroyed. Maybe they don’t want anyone to know what else was destroyed.”
“If they were critical infrastructure or defense systems, I could see that,” Dani said.
“What if Garos is one of their next targets?” Zavik asked as he followed a line of planets leading from the Dark Sector.
“Garos has no value,” Dani said. “They have no weapons and nothing to conquer.”
“No, but if it is Varin, he could want to destroy Earth’s colony. It wouldn’t take much to do it.”
“If it’s Varin,” she said. “That’s a big if.”
“So we think,” Zavik said.
“The Council won’t believe it.”
“They don’t’ have to,” he said. “I don’t know if I do. They just have to be alert, be ready. If we can convince them that something’s going on out there, they can have the fleet in place to stop it. If he, or someone else, is planning an invasion, their only hope is a surprise attack. They’ll never be able to accomplish anything if the Council’s prepared.”
“How can we know for sure that anything’s going to happen? Councilor Hains won’t be pleased if we send her on a wild goose chase.”
“I don’t know,” Zavik said. “If we could just figure out what else was hit, see if there’s a pattern, a connection. We might be able to draw a conclusion or link them together in a way the Council hasn’t. I doubt they suspect Varin at all.”
“Probably not,” she said. “He’s off their radar.”
“That is a mistake.”
“So we think, but we’re bias, don’t you think?”
“A little.”
“What do you want to do?”
He turned from the map and his brow wrinkled. “What do you mean?”
“We have a responsibility to Garos. I need to know what you’re thinking.”
Was she giving him an out, a way to abandon his responsibilities again to chase after his ghosts? It would be easy to take it.
“We finish our job,” he said looking over the map again. “We only have a suspicion of what’s going on. I can’t abandon Garos on that alone. It wouldn’t be right. If we get any more information or a chance to act on what we have, maybe I would consider taking it, but for now, Garos is our priority. They need us.”
“God,” she said. “I don’t know if Brax and Charra would like coming back to a new plan.”
“No, and they deserve to be involved in any decision like that. It’s not fair to drag them along on my crazy ideas.”
“It’s not just yours,” she said. “I feel it too.”
“Why haven’t you said anything?” he asked.
“I was hoping it would all just go away. The feelings, the anxiety…they all return when I think about him.”
He put his arm around her and hugged her tight. He inhaled deeply, the fresh scent of her hair comforting him. “I know. We both just kind of dealt with his torment on our own. We should have leaned on each other more. We could have helped each other move on.”
“I thought I was,” she said. “Until all this started happening I really believed he was gone, and we were safe. Now, I’m not so sure and it scares me.”
“It’s ok,” he said rubbing her head. “I won’t let him near you again. I won’t let him hurt us.”
She wiped her eyes. “Uh, I’m sorry. This wasn’t exactly what I had in mind when they left, to end up sobbing.”
“I know,” he said. She stood up and made an effort to put things away. “Any time alone with you is good.”
She put an empty glass down. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. We don’t get enough time alone. We never have. So I’ll take what I can get. I love you.”
She knelt down and kissed him. “I love you too.”
He slid his hand down her neck and tugged on her shirt. She slapped at his hand.
“They’ll be back any minute,” she said. "I didn't send them out to buy much."
"Should have given them a whole shopping list."
"True. Maybe next time," she said and slid a finger from his lips down his chin.
A low volume beeping sound started and the loading ramp slowly descended. "See," she said before he could make another comment. Charra carried a large crate in his arms up the ramp. Brax followed behind him, dragging another crate on the ground.
"One carbon canister filter," Charra said and dropped the crate to the floor, "as requested."
"Hugh...and a bushel of tiago fruit," Brax said pulling the crate the last little bit up the ramp. He wiped his forehead and went to sit down at the table.
"Wow, good work guys," Dani said. "You made good timing."
Charra laughed weakly and smiled at Zavik. "Huh huh, you too."
"Right," Zavik said. "Hey, where's Rudy?"
"Right here, sir," came Rudy's voice from outside the ship. "I am sorry to be late, but I seemed to have lost my way while out with those two." He said, those two, in such a low distorted voice that it was clearly how he was programmed to whisper.
"You did?" Dani asked. "Well, I wonder how that happened?" She gave a harsh stare at Brax and Charra. It was a look Zavik had gotten before, but never one he enjoyed.
"Oh, I'm sure they didn't mean to leave you behind, Rudy," Zavik said. "I mean, you’re strong, and you don't get tired. You could've carried these crates back yourself, couldn't you?"
"Yes, sir," Rudy said. "The carbon canister crate weighs what is seventy-five pounds on this planet and the fruit crate is about fifty. Together, they are still below my rated weight limit."
"I thought so," Zavik said. "So there's no way they got lost from you on purpose. I know Brax would have liked to have your help. I haven't seen a Chokmnd sweat that bad since the desert races on Bolnaria."
"Funny," Brax said as he stretched his arms around his back. "We just took a turn and thought Rudy was right behind us. Glad he found his way back," he said with a smile.
"You’d better be," Dani said. "If we have to buy Garos a new robot, it's coming out of your paycheck."
"Here," Zavik said grabbing a side of the carbon canister crate, "help me get this into the life support system."
Charra grabbed the other end and they carried it to the back of the ship. Dani took the fruit and stored most of it in a cabinet next to the sink. She took out two and started cutting them up. Tiago fruit grew on Egrilm and was exported throughout the entire Galaxy. Almost every race found it sweet and delicious, so it was a perfect fruit to sell on any system. It had become a sort of delicacy for everyone. They weren't too expensive, but the majority of the harvest went to the Core systems. Chokmnd, Rovun, and humans all seemed to like them. Savins found the taste to be sort of bland and unappealing, while Traguns were the only ones who despised the taste completely. The fruit was orange and each one was just bigger than her two fists. Small green leaves sprouted from the top, reminiscent of pineapples. The skin wasn't hard or scaly like pineapples but was soft and weak. She cut the tops off and sliced them in half. Juice squirted out, as was typical when she pierced its skin. If she had more time she would have removed the skin and cut the juicy pink flesh into smaller sections, but Zavik and Charra came back so she felt cutting each fruit in half was good enough.
"Thanks, babe," Zavik said and kissed her forehead. He took a tray of the four pieces to the table. They scarfed it down in silence, save for the gnawing and slurping sounds gushing from the juicy fruit. They were ripe and fresh, the flesh firm not mushy. They finished and all sat back, delighted but not nearly satisfied. Zavik could have eaten five more whole fruits himself, he thought. But he knew they needed to be saved. It wasn't often they were able to get fresh food like this onboard. They were typically resolved to eating freeze-dried food or canned goods. It was cheaper, and that factored heavily into what they could afford to eat. It was only when they got out of the ship and ventured into the cities that they would consider getting fresh cooked food. Although, in some cases, he questioned whether the food they were served was freshly cooked. He could have sworn a wild bjalun they ordered on Yerthras had been sitting out uncovered for a week. It had none of the tender consistency they were told to expect.
Dani would make sure these lasted for a few weeks, probably the most they would keep before spoiling anyway. He looked across the table and caught her dipping her finger in the juice and licking it clean. He smiled, but it went unnoticed by her. He reaffirmed how great she was in his mind and told himself he wasn't sure he could love anyone as much as he loved her. He slid his leg forward and rubbed it against hers softly. Charra's eyes widened and his face perked up suddenly. Zavik's eyes darted to Charra's face, but he looked away before any eye contact could be made. He brought his foot down immediately. His face grew red and he wiggled out of his seat taking the empty tray with him.
He tossed the tray into the sink and said, "It's gotten dark, we should get a move on."
"Right," Dani said.
"We're all going in, right?" Brax asked. "Besides Dani, or course."
Zavik thought about it for a moment. It would be safer to only have two people go in, less risk of being caught, but the crates of power cores would move easier with three. "Yeah, we'll need to move those crates out quickly. How about Charra, Rudy and I go out there, and Brax you hang back with Dani to help fly while she hacks?"
Everyone seemed to agree with that plan except Brax. Over their agreements, he said, "Wouldn't it be better to have Rudy stay and fly. He's programmed to operate ships, and the task would be simple, I think. Are you sure you want him down there with yo
u? He moves awkwardly and slow, and isn’t very stealthy. That could be a problem, and he's not much of a fighter if you get caught."
He made good points, although Rudy disagreed. "Ok, yeah, Rudy stays with Dani and you're with us. You can help fly, right?"
"Of, course, sir," he replied. "I am programmed to operate over two hundred space vessels and have simulated over ten thousand flights."
"Simulated?" Zavik asked. "Never actually flown a ship?"
"Why, no, it is not my main function."
"Great. Keep an eye on him, please," he said to Dani. "Will you get us in the air?"
"Sure thing," she said. She got up from the table and went to kiss him. "Be careful."
"I will," he said and hugged her. "If something goes wrong, I want you to get out of there."
"I won't leave you," she cried.
"I don't want you getting captured by slavers. I can only imagine what they'd do to you.” He grabbed her wrist. “Promise me."
She tried to argue, but his eyes were fixed and hot. She nodded and left for the cockpit, a tear swelling in her right eye. He knew she hated when they went into dangerous situations, but there was no way he was letting her get anywhere near that warehouse.
"Charra, now you can get your weapons," Zavik said.
His face contorted into a rough smile. He went to his room and came back after two minutes. He had two rifles on his shoulders, a pistol at his side, and that belt of grenades slung over his shoulder.
"You think that'll be enough?" Zavik asked
"Rovuns do tend to overcompensate," Brax said.
"I like to be prepared," Charra said.
"For what, taking over a military base?" Brax asked.
Zavik had his pistol and a few extra power packs at his side. Brax was much the same. They waited by the loading ramp for Dani's signal.
Brax laughed as the ship rocked back and forth through the turbulent air. "What's so funny?" Charra asked.