No one argued with this grave announcement, and she continued. “I have been in communications with Rixa ever since we shipped out, and they have expressed serious concerns about how things have been transpiring here. Now, I can’t get through—even with my clearance. When I asked her about this a few minutes ago, the reason that Colonel bel Thana gave me was the need for ‘operational silence’.’
“I don’t believe it, and I don’t think that Katrinn is falling for any of it either. We will have to assume that she was sending us a message to that effect when she lowered our status to Def-One.’
“I want each of you to get with a staff member that you trust and pass the word along. Be alert, be careful and be ready. I also assume full responsibility for this. If I’m wrong, then I want to be the only one facing charges of mutiny. Now get going.”
The group dispersed, and everyone headed, as casually as they were able, to their respective subordinates. In Mearinn’s case, with nowhere to go except the bridge, she made a pretense of visiting the Ships Activities Officer, Saara sa’Vika, on some minor business. With the exception of the security details and engineering crews, Sa’Vika’s department enjoyed the greatest freedom of movement around the ship.
They were also the least threatening of all the Athena’s personnel, and Sa’Vika, a dedicated schemer and negotiator, knew everyone. She was someone who could be trusted to keep, and disseminate, a secret. When Mearinn shared her suspicions with her, the Kalian wasn’t surprised nor alarmed in the least.
“I never really liked those RSE women,” Sa’Vika confessed. “They weren’t interested in trading anything, and they turned down some really good offers. The way I see it, anyone who’s not willing to do a little under-the-table business shouldn’t be trusted. Don’t worry Mearinn, I’ll whisper the word into the right ears.”
***
Several minutes later, up on the Athena’s bridge, three things happened all at once. A gigantic power spike occurred down in the Necropolis, and on several of the system’s lesser planets. These were at locations that the Athena’s charts identified as Drow’voi ruins. According to the ship’s sensors, their combined output was greater than what Thermadon could produce in an entire year.
At the same time, a group of Seevaan warships, all bearing the crests of the Chaotic faction, materialized on the sitscreens. And the Hriss mercenary vessels, which up until then, had been on routine patrol, abruptly changed direction and assumed a course straight for the Athena’s Battle Group. Their missile doors were opening.
“Sound battle stations!” Katrinn yelled. “Fire Control, get me some solutions on those targets. Com, alert the Demeter and Artemis.” What had been a bad situation, was now becoming positively deadly.
Two separate transmissions were coming in. One was from the Seevaans. “Warship Pallas Athena, this is Lady Commander Haraava Hadraalot of Her Majesty’s Celestial Navy. You are to leave your orbit immediately, and remove yourselves to a safe distance. This area is now under the protection of the Chaotic Faction and our Great Queen Talaria. We are dispatching our forces to the surface to take charge.”
Even as the insectoid made this pronouncement, a trio of shuttles were leaving the Seevaan ships and arrowing downside.
The other message was from the Hriss. “Miserable egg-layers! Ignore these stupid bug people! They have no authority here! This planet is under our protection and we demand that both of your forces leave or we will blast you to atoms!”
They too, were sending down shuttles, and the Artemis was registering a new ground vehicle approaching the ruined plaza. It was filled with Hriss warriors, and driven by, of all things, a human woman.
Katrinn took this in, and turned to Silvi. “Colonel, I don’t know what you people are doing down there, but we’re about to find ourselves right in the middle of an interstellar incident. We need to contact Rixa right away and get some assistance. Com? Send out a distress call.”
Silvi shot up from her seat. She had a needlegun in her hand. Deep down, Katrinn had still been holding onto the faint hope that she was wrong about their situation, and the RSE’s intentions. The gun banished this once and for all.
“No, Commander!” Silvi barked. “I told you that we can’t allow that.” She inclined her head towards the SRU team at the NavCom station and immediately, one of the troopers pointed her blaster at a Comtech’s head. Her companions did the same, leveling their weapons at the rest of the bridge crew.
“There will be no calls to Rixa. And as of now, I am relieving you of command and placing this ship under full RSE control. Anyone that disobeys, or attempts to disobey, will be shot.” At this, the remaining SRU troopers took up positions between the workstations, covering everyone with their weapons.
“I’m sorry that it had to come to this, Commander,” Silvi added with what seemed like genuine regret. “But this mission is far too important for you to be allowed to interfere.”
Katrinn’s reaction caught her completely by surprise. She just grinned, leaned back in her chair, and folded her arms over her chest.
“I sure hope you know how to run a warship in an active combat situation, Colonel,” she said, adding a little ‘Zommie’ twang to her words, “’Cause it sure as shess looks like that’s what’s about to happen here. That, and a little interstellar war.”
Silvi’s gaze flicked nervously to the data on display all around them and she saw the same things that Katrinn did. They were at a gross disadvantage. It wasn’t just their lack of numbers either.
Where the Sisterhood enjoyed a clear superiority over the outdated vessels of the Hriss, the Seevaans overarched both groups exponentially. Although the sleek alien war machines registered visually on the Athena’s sitscreens, they were invisible to its sensors, including all of its targeting systems. And a weird greenish glow surrounded them. This was their mysterious Death Field, which made them completely invulnerable to attack.
Fate had turned the tables on the Battle Group. If it came to an engagement, the Athena would lose, and the Hriss, even though they were too insane to appreciate it, stood even less of a chance.
Realizing this, Silvi looked like a treed kaatze, and Katrinn couldn’t have been more pleased.
“Want a friendly suggestion, Colonel?” she drawled. “Back off just like they said. Let me call Rixa, and get us some help out here.”
Sweat was beginning to break out over Silvi’s otherwise impeccable forehead. She started to reply, “I think that—“
The RSE officer never finished her statement. The sitscreens lit up again, and what everyone on the bridge saw made them stop what they were doing and gape in awe. All through the confrontation, the energy levels downside had continued to rise.
Something was happening that no one could have ever anticipated. Not even the Seevaans.
The Necropolis, Ashkele Free Port, Hallasa System, Frontier Zone, Xee Protectorate, 1049.03|09|08:06:56
At first, there was nothing but darkness. That, and the Song echoing in her mind. Maya was drifting in a formless void, and she had trouble focusing her thoughts. She couldn’t even recall who she was, or how she had gotten there.
She had a name—she was certain of that much—but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t remember it. There were also things that she was supposed to do here that wouldn’t come to her. Important things.
The pleasant sensation of floating there with nothing more than the Song itself for company, was more compelling though. The notes of the melody danced in front of her as things of pure sound and color. They were all that really mattered.
Slowly, other lights began to appear, until the sable void was filled by them in their millions. They were stars. She knew what stars were.
In their midst was a planet. She was certain of this. She had lived on several of them.
Other heavenly bodies materialized near it, and she finally recognized where she was. It was a world that should have been familiar to her immediately. Maya searched her mind, trying to summon
up its name, and then finally, recovered it. It was Ashkele. The vast planet-spanning ruins and the tiny space occupied by the Free City, were unmistakable.
The ruins were not the static, dead things of her memories though. Rivers of light flowed through their deserted avenues now, pulsing like they were part of a living being. For a time, she watched the brilliant display, utterly entranced by it.
Then she felt herself being drawn up and away from Ashkele and further into the cosmos itself, and she sensed, rather than saw, other worlds just like it. Each one of them was populated with ruins of their own. They too had been created by the ancient Drow’voi, and like Ashkele, they had come to life in answer to the Necropolis’s clarion call.
They were everywhere. There was no corner of the Milky Way that lacked the mysterious edifices, whether big or small, and somehow she knew that they were all interconnected.
There was more besides.
For millennia, treasure hunters had scoured the ruins, searching for any useful technology. They had never realized that devices like the symbiotes were mere toys in comparison to what the ruins actually concealed. The real treasures had been cleverly hidden in the very crystalline structures of the building blocks that had been used to create the massive edifaces. The stones themselves were the machines, and because of this, they would remain functional for millions of years.
Maya laughed as she grasped the full import of this, and its irony. The secret had been in plain view all along. If she remembered this fact, she also decided that she had no intention of revealing the truth. The notion of allowing the galaxy’s adventurers to continue with their fruitless efforts was simply too entertaining.
But even if her inclinations had been different, she understood that the disclosure would have done the hunters little good. The technology that the Drow’voi used was so advanced that it was highly unlikely that any race currently populating the galaxy would be able to understand it.
She also discovered that she had another secret to keep about the Necropolis, and the role that it played in the great antediluvian network. These ruins, and the Tree itself, were an important hub of the vast alien collective.
Not the only one though. The Drow’voi had created many Trees, and they were scattered throughout the galaxy. She could even feel the nearest one. It was located on a forgotten world that was now part of the Hriss Imperium. Unlike the Tree on Ashkele though, it was not active. Yet.
This detail was highly significant for some reason, and she struggled to understand why. Later, she told herself, the answer would matter. To someone. According to her fragmentary memories, she had come to the Necropolis with friends, and she decided that they would probably want to know about this.
Maya tried without any success to recall their faces, and when she failed, she turned her attention back to Ashkele. Experimentally, she extended her hand towards the planet.
It was not her real hand, of course. She knew that. It was her concept of a hand, and although she could see her body if she willed it, it too was an illusion, a mere creation of her own thoughts. Wherever she was at the moment, physical form meant nothing. Only thought and desire held any sway.
Not that she let this bother her. She was too caught up in the formless ecstasy of her new state to worry over such trivial issues.
Her illusionary fingers made contact with the world, and she was struck by how fragile it seemed. Then she tried to touch one of the other worlds that made up Ashkele’s solar system, and to her pleasant surprise, she discovered that no matter how far away they seemed, they were always within her grasp.
Turning in place, she attempted the same thing with a few of the neighboring stars, slightly concerned that they would somehow burn her incorporeal form. They did not do so however, and proved to be just as close to her as everything else was.
As Maya laughed in pure delight, something joined her. Like her, it possessed no form, but this didn’t diminish its presence in the least.
More memories of her life as Maya n’Kaaryn resurfaced at this, and she finally recognized the new arrival. It had always been there in the background of her existence, ever present and ever watching.
It wasn’t the Goddess though. It was something else that transcended that archetype, and every other notion of deity that her species had ever conceived of.
Nor was it frightening, or strange. Instead, it seemed to be just as familiar to her as any of her lovers or best friends had ever been. This was because, in some unfathomable way, it was those people.
Her companion spoke. “It is time,” the Galaxy Mind said. “It is time for you to make your choice.”
Then Maya heard the Song again, and felt the being’s anticipation rising. She also understood that in it’s eyes, there was no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ choice for her to make, only the decision itself. She would not be judged by it no matter what sins she committed. It was beyond all sin, and all virtue. Those qualities, she realized, were reserved for the life of the flesh. Here however, the laws of karma simply did not apply.
Looking once more at Ashkele, Maya considered the possibilities and then a thought came to her. The planet with its huge sprawling ruins, seemed empty. It needed something to help fill it up, she decided. It needed life of some kind.
The notion solidified, and a spot of green appeared in the deepest part of the Necropolis. Within seconds, it had grown and covered the area around it. Then it began to spread outwards in all directions, with startling speed.
The sight made her smile. The planet looked better with green on it. So much better.
“Is that your only choice then?” the Galaxy Mind asked.
Maya floated there, pondering this question. Was this her only choice? Was there more that she wanted to do?
She could also destroy things if she desired it. The longer that she entertained that idea, the more appealing it became. More memories returned to her with this, and they provided her with ample justification.
A small moon came to her attention. The Xee called it Ashkelom, and it was Ashkele’s only satellite. She had never liked Ashkelom. It was a shriveled, ugly little planetoid that had been captured by Ashkele millions of years earlier.
To her, it had always been the very symbol of the corruption of the Free City itself; pitted and malformed like a victim of one of Old Gaia’s ancient plagues, and its face was marred even further by a great crack that ran right down its middle. Ashkelom had never been considered to be a lover’s moon, nor was it a thing of any great magic or mystery. It was a malformed body that presided over an equally unpleasant city.
She reached for it, and without any hesitation, crushed it and scattered the fragments. After this, the heavens seemed a little less tainted.
Then her mind turned to something else—someone else—someone that she hated deeply. If she could do all this, then she could finally settle accounts with Lady d’Ershala. For a brief moment, she hesitated, certain that the Galaxy Mind would change its stance and prohibit her from taking her revenge. But it made no move to do so. The choice was hers to make, without any conditions whatsoever.
Looking down at the Free City, Maya sought the woman out among its thousands of inhabitants—and quickly located her. Crushing the glass dealer was even more effortless than destroying Ashkelom, and far, far more rewarding. The tiny scream that she heard as her astral fingers closed around her victim, only added to her sense of gratification. Shyla’s death had been redressed at last.
Her attention shifted to the space above Ashkele. A fleet of spaceships were hovering over the planet like an irritating swarm of gnats. Feeling them with her mind, she instantly comprehended the nature of their crews. Three of the vessels were occupied by humans like herself, but a far greater number were filled with the Hriss and the Seevaans.
She knew who they were, and she didn’t care for either race. She never had. She also didn’t want them there. Their very presence annoyed her.
Again, she reached out, and batted them away. The warships s
cattered like so many dry leaves, exploding in satisfying balls of fire. Only the human ships remained, and she made no move against them.
They could stay. She liked them.
While she contemplated what her next act would be, an intense wave of weariness overcame her. Suddenly, she didn’t feel like playing anymore.
“Is that your final choice then?” the Galaxy Mind inquired.
“Yes. It is,” she answered. “I want to sleep.”
“You shall,” the Galaxy Mind promised, “There is one more thing that you must do however. Watch and understand. Watch and remember.”
A vision of the Tree that she had seen in Hriss space appeared before her.
“The Enemy has gone there,” it told her, “with a Trio of their own. Your kind must stop them before they can activate it. Do you understand this?”
Maya did, although she was too drowsy to really care.
“Now I will sing you to your rest,” the Galaxy Mind said. “You have done very well, Maya.”
She heard a new Song. It was just as beautiful as the first had been, and she let its notes carry her off into a peaceful unconsciousness. This time, there were no dreams lying in wait to haunt her.
***
Except for an expanding debris field, there was nothing on the Athena’s sitscreens. Ashkelom was gone, and except for the Athena and her sister ships, the space around the planet was completely empty.
The enormous power surge had also disappeared, and only the strange green moss which now covered a continent-sized area, served as evidence that anything had ever happened.
Katrinn still couldn’t believe the spectacle she had just witnessed; dozens of ships, which had been ready to pounce on them, suddenly hurtling away in all directions as if they had been hit by some kind of enormous shock wave. A force which had inexplicably spared them.
But it had happened, she reminded herself. Just like the destruction of Ashkelom. Or the fact that despite its absence, Ashkele itself was free of any devastating seismic activity. That should have occurred, and it hadn’t.
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