Renegades (Dark Seas Book 3)

by Damon Alan

  Sarah breathed a sigh of relief. She reached up and grasped the pilot by the shoulder. “Get me to the Hinden. Break orbit now, let Lieutenant Seto know we are priority one.”

  “Right away, Captain,” the pilot responded.

  Sarah extracted herself from her seat, but kept the helmet. She heard the pilot call in.

  “Hinden, Shuttle 1A. We are requesting priority docking with the Hinden. Clear a spot for Captain Dayson.”

  “We’re expecting her, Shuttle 1A. Bay two is clear.”

  The banter dropped into Sarah’s subconscious as she made her way back to her seat in the passenger compartment. She thought about the strike Orson had just executed.

  He proved he had unlocked the nuclear weapons. He proved he could strike targets on Refuge. He proved he knew which targets to strike, and when. She’d arrived in Zeffult to attend the High Council just a few days before.

  Alarm bells went off in her head.

  Sarah reached up and keyed her mic, “This is Captain Dayson, clear the frequency a moment.”

  The fleet control frequency grew silent, and Sarah continued. “Lieutenant Seto, how long has the Schein been on patrol?”

  A pause as Seto probably checked her database, followed by, “Nearly three months, Captain.”

  Sarah looked at the faces in the cabin with her and smiled. It was not yet time to reveal her suspicions. “Commander Seventh Fleet is clear of frequency. Resume normal operations,” she said.

  The High Council has only been planned for two months, shuttles brought most of the adept dignitaries to Zeffult to speed things along. I just got there. Schein could not have known the location unless…

  Either he made a very lucky choice of strike location, or we have a spy in our midst giving him data.

  Chapter 15 - Captain's Personal Log

  20 MAI 15329

  AI Jarvis8B41 recording, Captain's personal log, personal archive: Galactic Standard Date 12:48:04 20 MAI, 15329

  Personal log entry #1027, Captain Sarah Dayson, origin Korvand, Pallus Sector.

  Current Location: Moon Refuge, low parking orbit, Shuttle 1A.

  Evil doesn’t rest. My efforts to create a civilian government on Refuge and give my people the home and safety they deserve are cut short once again.

  [PA announcement in the background, notifying shuttle passengers they can leave their seats.]

  I need to get the psychological report on crewman Garrette Orson from medical. I’m not sure what’s gone down on the Schein, but anyone threatening innocent human beings with nuclear weapons isn’t stable.

  [A 40 second pause as Captain Dayson issues orders through her temporary liaison to Captain Malveaux of the Hinden.]

  The fleet, what’s left of it, is waiting for me in higher orbit. As soon as I’m there we’re going hunting, although I’m going to do anything I can to avoid losing another ship. The loss of a mutineer, however, isn’t going to weigh on my conscience. When we board the Schein, Orson will get one chance to surrender.

  [a sigh]

  Thea Jannis isn’t going to like that. She’s been going on and on about how we need to concentrate on getting the crew of the fleet down to the surface, get them into routines, get them settled. Something about mental stability and becoming invested in this world. She’ll make excuses for why this happened, and I don’t want to hear it.

  I have to be honest, I don’t know much about that sort of thing. I don’t know what makes civilians tick. I know what makes a fleet run like clockwork, and I know how to lead from the bridge of a ship. It seems like that’s all I’ve ever done.

  [The sound of maneuvering thrusters firing as shuttle 1A aligns itself for fleet orbit injection.]

  I need to calm down before I board the Hinden. I can’t let the crew who know me see me agitated. I won’t be able to hide it.

  [Another PA announcement requesting passengers to strap in. Orbital burn will commence in 60 seconds.]

  End log.

  Chapter 16 - Opportunity

  20 MAI 15329

  Doctor Thea Jannis ran a small sensor over a woman’s distended belly. They both concentrated on a small monitor as sound waves searched the young lady’s interior.

  A slow grin appeared on Thea’s face.

  There was no doubt about it. Pregnancy. Clear proof that the crews of the Seventh Fleet were wasting no time switching from combat unit to colonists.

  It made Thea return to thoughts she’d had for the last several weeks about how much attention was being paid to military operations. Surely there were no threats to this archipelago the adepts had ceded to the Seventh. There were no serious threats to Refuge outside of the adepts themselves. There was no threat to the Oasis system.

  The adepts had wisely handed over a place where they had no interest. Storms beat these islands to paste year around. But with technology and the liberal use of steel and concrete, that wasn’t an issue. It would be impossible to colonize here building with wood and stone.

  “Doctor?” the woman asked, drawing Thea from her thoughts.

  “Honey, you’re pregnant,” she told the woman. Stars, this one was young. “You do know how this sort of thing happens, right?”

  “Doctor!” the girl protested.

  “Just checking, just checking,” Thea said, waving dismissively. She grabbed a small pack of medicine that she had previously readied in anticipation of these moments. “Here. Take these vitamins. This will get you through the next two months, just follow the directions inside.”

  “Is it a boy or a girl?”

  “It’s too early to know that, unless I took a tissue sample, which I’m not going to do,” Thea answered. “You can wait until our next visit, if not the one after that.”

  “We don’t have an apartment yet anyway,” the girl said, forlorn.

  “What?” Thea looked out the window of her offices to see a building rising toward the sky half a kilometer away. She held her finger up to silence the woman. “AI Terrance, call the construction foreman of that building,” she pointed out the window, “for me.”

  “Contacting,” came the gentle masculine reply.

  “Land Engineering. Colman,” a voice said.

  “Officer Colman, this is Dr. Thea Jannis.”

  “Acting XO?”

  “That’s right,” Thea said. “I have a young woman marine here, a corporal,” she paused to look at the woman’s ID tag, “Laciter.”

  “And?” The man sounded impatient. He was probably busy, but this was important.

  “I want you to put her on the list for the next completed apartment. She will be there shortly to give you her details.”

  “But—”

  “Incoming call from Fleet Captain Sarah Dayson,” AI Terrance interrupted. “Priority One.”

  “Got to go, you have your orders,” Thea said hurriedly as she hung up on the construction foreman. She pulled Corporal Laciter’s shirt down. “Get over there and get your apartment. If he gives you grief, call my office.”

  “Thank you,” the corporal said.

  “The front desk will set your next appointment,” Thea said, opening the door for the woman to leave.

  Alone, she accepted Sarah’s call.

  “Doctor. Priority One usually means I don’t wait,” Sarah said.

  “I had a patient to move along. What’s got you all wound up?”

  “Zeffult was just nuked. I don’t have the details yet, but I’m headed to the Hinden to take charge of the fleet. You are in charge in Jerna City until I get back.”

  “Transfer of command authority and voiceprint of Captain Dayson recognized,” AI Terrance muttered behind the conversation.

  “Sonofa… What do you mean nuked? A bomb?”

  “What else would I mean?” Sarah sounded angry. “If you have any shuttles idle there, start rescue operations,” she ordered. “The attack came from deep space, I will contact you again as soon as I know more.”

  Thea’s first thoughts were of the Hive, but that made no s
ense. Not enough time had passed that even if the Hive knew where the fleet was they could have crossed the twenty thousand light-years between the galaxy and the Oasis system.

  A renegade.

  Thea’s heart skipped a beat. The cohesion of the fleet must be breaking up now that there was no enemy to keep them together. It was the way of humanity, uniting against a common foe. Then separating into disparate groups to find a new one in each other once the threat passed.

  Come on, Thea. You’re just speculating.

  Whatever happened, Sarah would fix it. She always did.

  In the meantime Thea would do her part here to make sure the fleet had common ground. She’d get them housing, streets, markets, recreation areas. Now that she was in charge of the city, she’d see to the needs of the people and take the causes of contention away.

  “Okay, Captain. I will keep Jerna City rolling, don’t worry about things here. Just bring the enemy to justice.”

  “Dayson out,” was the curt response before the connection severed.

  “Command authority transfer recognized per Alliance protocols, Commander Thea Jannis,” Terrance said. “You are logged as the premier authority in Jerna City until Fleet Captain Dayson returns.”

  Thea ignored him, something he was probably used to. She walked to her window and looked at the apartment hi-rise under construction again. The engineers weren’t building those fast enough. She wanted three thousand units by tomorrow, but understood these things took time. But not this much time. Things would go faster if she transferred some men and machines from other projects.

  What was that foreman’s name again? Corban? Corson?

  No matter.

  “Terrance, get me that foreman I was speaking to on the line,” Thea said. “I have some changes I’d like to get underway.”

  Chapter 17 - Western Sunrise

  Longnight, Cycle 164, Year 8749

  Alarin and Emille stepped past the magnificent reception room of the Grand Hall and ran into Emille’s father, Edolhirr.

  “Master Edolhirr, I just met your stunning daughter,” Alarin said.

  “Stunning? Sounds like you’re as charmed with her as she is with you. Since the joining of minds she’s talked about hardly anything else but meeting you,” Edolhirr replied.

  “Father!” Emille’s face turned red.

  “As a potential mentor, I mean, solely… of course,” Edolhirr harrumphed.

  “Of course.” Alarin looked at Emille and smiled. “I had a small taste of your daughters skill as an adept, Master Edolhirr. She made sure her first impression was a lasting one. I recently lost my acolyte.” Alarin looked at Emille, but spoke to Edolhirr. “Master of Antecar, if Acolyte Emille is agreeable and you would grant me the honor of mentoring her, I—”

  “Done,” Edolhirr interrupted.

  Emille nodded her agreement. The look on her face revealed far more than Alarin would have liked, but Edolhirr made no mention of it.

  He grabbed his daughter’s arm and walked back to the council meeting, requiring Alarin to follow. “I’m no fool, Master Alarin, I know you’re going to come out on top of this Council. But it’s becoming clear that not all of us took the same message from the joining. Fasdamar, for example, is a moron. A gifted adept and intelligence don’t always occupy the same soul.”

  Alarin laughed heartily as the trio entered the main auditorium. “I should introduce you to a few of Merik’s former sycophants.”

  Edohirr’s eyes reflected his understanding. “Emille, see to our seats. I wish to talk to Master Alarin alone.”

  Emille, smiles moments before, now glared at both men with displeasure. With a curt “Yes, Father,” she walked down the aisle toward the front row.

  “Fiery,” Edolhirr said. “Sometimes I forget that she’s not just my youngest daughter anymore. She deserves a chance at the test of mastery soon.”

  “Should I be scared of taking her as a student?” Alarin asked.

  “I think we both know, my friend, she is more than a student,” Edolhirr answered. “She certainly knows it, and she told me you saw her vision as you both approached in the front hall.”

  Alarin flushed again, a sensation he wasn’t very used to and didn’t really enjoy. “I didn’t know she’d told you everything within her vision.”

  “She didn’t, but her mind is a loud dreamer, especially in the presence of one so attuned to her as her father,” Edolhirr said.

  “Have you seen it in the entirety?” He needed to know how much Edolhirr knew of it.

  “Merik singled her out for a path different than the other adepts. A path that will be walked with you.”

  Alarin sighed. “I don’t know if I should be afraid or exhilarated.”

  Edolhirr arched his eyebrows and patted Alarin on the back. “I’m not sure either. I knew Merik, Alarin, and I’m sorry for your loss. I also know my daughter. Merik was mad, driven so by illness. But her and Emille, well, my daughter is not much different than the Merik I knew years ago, before the madness.”

  “As Merik’s lost betrothed, I consider that a compliment to your daughter,” Alarin said.

  “You might think so.” Edolhirr’s hand moved upward and gripped Alarin on the shoulder. “If Merik liked her, you should probably be running away.”

  That was not going to happen. He’d fled the world once to save it. “I have spent my last days running. It got me nothing b—”

  Screams from the hallway interrupted the conversation, and Alarin reached toward the noise with his mind.

  Terror…

  In the distance, behind the emotional beacons of those at the conference, Alarin sensed something else. Pain. Agony. Despair. Death.

  Faroo unleashed…

  He spoke to Edolhirr, “Master, secure your daughter, take her to my sergeant at arms. Tell him I said to take you both to safety.”

  “I shoul—”

  “There are safe rooms for Zeffult dignitaries here at the Hall. My men will secure you there.” Alarin looked at a hesitating Edolhirr as people rushed past them, toward the exits. “Merik chose your daughter, I think we both know what you should do.”

  Edolhirr moved his mouth as if to protest, but closed it and nodded. “You’re right. I’ll see to her.”

  Satisfied his friend would cooperate, Alarin ran into the front hall. Two of his temple guardsmen saw him, and pushed through the crowd to provide security for their ruler. Indifferent to the people they were pushing aside, the soldiers closed on Alarin in what seemed to be an instant.

  “Master Adept, your orders?” one yelled over the screams of the crowd.

  As the great doors at the front of the Grand Hall opened, more screaming was heard from outside. “I think we’re needed out there, from the sounds of it.”

  “As you wish, Master Adept.”

  The soldiers pushed the crowed apart to get Alarin through the doors. Adepts would glare at the men, only to see Alarin and then demure. After moving through the labyrinthine corridors of the Great Hall, he stepped out onto the marble steps of the great building.

  What he saw left him staring in disbelief.

  In the distance a second sun greeted him. Below the rising ball of flame a circular wave of destruction consumed the city of Zeffult.

  Only frozen for a moment, Alarin snapped into action.

  Looking toward the city, he noticed the stone pyramid of Faroo’s temple relatively undamaged by the hellish event unfolding. Alarin pushed his gift outward and his senses raced toward the temple. Strange and destructive forces encompassed the area, but the inside was safe.

  He grabbed one of the soldiers by the forearm. “Go to the city, and the temple of Faroo. Order every guard you see, under my authority, into the city to help the wounded. Take the wounded into the temple and make them as comfortable as possible until I can secure more assistance.”

  “As you wish, Master Adept,” the soldier said.

  Suddenly Emille was in his mind. Master Alarin, do not leave them exposed for
more than the span of a long meal. I am sensing the growing damage to those in the city from the energies unleashed on Zeffult.

  He didn’t answer her directly, but let her hear him speak. “No rescuer is to stay outside the temple more than the length of a brief shortnight,” Alarin said to the man. “To do so is death.”

  The guard probably didn’t understand the order, but strange dictates from adepts weren’t unusual. “I will tell them,” he promised. He took off at a bolt for the Great Hall stables.

  “You’re with me,” Alarin said to the other soldier. Alarin pushed back into the massive building.

  “Move it! Move out of the way!” the guard shouted to the people pressing outward through the doors. Nobody listened to the guard, but seeing Alarin they again stepped aside and allowed their ruler to pass. He heard his name in the crowd, people crying out to him, looking for reassurance.

  “We will get to the root of this,” Alarin said repeatedly. “I promise.”

  Anger seethed inside as he wondered at the meaning of this outrage. Why hadn’t Sarah Dayson given him more warning? Why had she fled the area so quickly? Did she know Zeffult would be attacked?

  After entering the doors to the back areas of the Hall, Alarin sent the guard to assist in keeping order in the crowd. “Keep the people calm. With kindness. Set the example.”

  “I follow your lead, Master Adept,” the guard replied before leaving.

  The back passages of the Great Hall were quiet as he entered. Soldiers lining the restricted passageways snapped to attention, their pikes thrust upward.

  Alarin looked at the iron tips on the pikes.

  Even those are more violent than what we had. But to unleash the power of Faroo on my people? How will I convince the council the newcomers should be one with us now?

  Alarin passed quickly through the back areas, finally reaching the basement level where Sarah’s people had created a miniature stronghold for Alarin. He’d thought Sarah paranoid.

  Maybe he was just a trusting fool.

  He came to his destination. Edolhirr and Emille should already be inside. An ancient priest sat at a table just outside the strange door, playing a solitary game.