Defender of the Empire: Chaos

by Catherine Beery

  “Considering the large planet, the concealing storms, the bio-shield, and his arrogance, I’m amazed he showed such constraint,” Aunt Sylvia said, eying the station with a mix of anger and fear.

  My brows rose as I turned to Westley. “Do you think the shuttle bay will be large enough to dock the Secret?”

  The shuttle bay was closer to the point of the station. Westley considered it and his console for a moment. “It will be tight, but we should be able to.”

  “If need be, we could just push the other shuttles out,” Carden suggested.

  “We might have to,” Westley said, as we closed in on the bay doors. The memory crystal also held the pass code to get into the bay. Westley sent the code and a moment later, the doors opened.

  “The shuttles are gone,” Aunt Sylvia said once the way was clear.

  “Well, at least we have room to land,” Westley said.

  “True, but its worrisome. Where did they go?”

  “We’ll get to that, I’m sure. I just need quiet for a second. This is going to be tight,” he said. Lassie groaned softly and hid her face in her hands as we proceeded. I went completely still. I barely breathed. I don’t think any of us did. Only Westley moved as he guided the ship through the bay doors. I tensed even more as the bow of my ship got closer and closer to the end of the line.

  “Westley …” I couldn’t help but warn.

  “Easy … almost there. Just a few more …” Westley muttered. “Come on, Secret. We’re almost there.” The proximity alarm beeped warningly. “There,” he said in triumph. A gentle thunk let us know that the ship had landed.

  The breath I had been holding gusted out. The whole bridge crew slumped. Cath gently preened Westley’s hair.

  “How close did we actually get?” Jason asked.

  Westley shook his head. “Let’s just say this, if there had been a shuttle in here, we wouldn’t have been able to fit.”

  “I’m glad that the shuttles are gone, then. But I still don’t understand why they are,” Aunt Sylvie said.

  “Shall we go see?” I asked. “Westley, Carden, Jason, and Ace, stay and guard the ship if you will. We still don’t know what is out there and I would love to have a ship to come back to.”

  “Understood,” Westley said, though he and Carden seemed to pout. Jason crossed his arms and glared at me, his wild-self close to the surface, if his swirling eyes were anything to go by. Over the comm, I heard Ace’s sullen affirmative.

  “Don’t worry, you’ll get your turn,” I said, as I left the bridge, followed by Marius, Lassie, and Aunt Sylvie. We met Mykio at the ramp. He handed us blasters. I strapped it on. I also had the five chromatic knives that Talis had given me back on Colony Lenti. I had found them in my quarters. And over the last week of travel, Marius had returned the knife he had given me when I had been recognized as a Shade.

  Thus armed, the five of us set out into the unknown of Betrayer’s station. The lights that had begun to dim when the sensors hadn’t detected any activity sprang back to life as we descended. I turned to look at how close things had actually been and began to praise the lord for guiding Westley so well. Because it had only been extreme skill and divine assistance that had gotten the Secret into the shuttle bay. There was maybe a foot of clearance between the bow and wall. Another foot was between the bay doors and the aft of my ship. Only the sides had more room. But not enough for a shuttle. Lassie looked pale. Mykio whistled in appreciation as he eyed the space around my ship. Aunt Sylvia shook her head in awe. “That young man has talent.”

  “Hmmhmm,” I voiced, looking faint, looking at the space he had for flying in through the bay door … it was less than a foot. Marius patted my shoulder. I glanced at him and realized the whole thing amused him. I swatted him before turning away. “All right, let’s look around,” I said reminding myself that there had been a reason for the tight landing.

  “Right,” said Mykio, getting right to business. He took point while the rest of us followed in a loose formation, Marius guarding our rear. We stepped into the corridor. It was like walking into pitch, the only light coming from the shuttle bay. But before we could think more about it, the lights came on. Starting with us, they moved forward, lighting a corridor that led to a lift. The pale blue walls and black deck plating looked as if it had been awhile since anyone had last walked this way.

  Scrae jumped down from Mykio’s shoulder and raced Zara and Vithen down the hall. It still entertained me that a mouse had paired up with a dog. All three disappeared into the wall. Bréyth and Kylesst stayed with us. I DON’T LIKE THIS PLACE, Bréyth confessed.

  I DON’T EITHER. IT FEELS WRONG. WHICH ISN’T A SURPRISE, CONSIDERING THE CREATURE THAT BUILT IT, Kylesst replied.

  Marius stiffened. “Zara,” he breathed. “She isn’t responding.”

  “Neither is Vithen.” Lassie paled. Mykio shook his head, tense as well.

  I wanted to hit my head on a wall. How had we been so naive? “It’s a Spectral trap.” They were the being that Betrayer couldn’t have hidden from if they had decided to search Iceron. The storms would have been nothing to them. “The bond is still there, right?” I asked. After a moment, the three anxious Shades nodded. They moved to the lift and Sylvia and I followed after. “Where were they when you lost contact?” I inquired.

  “They had been traveling through the wall when they came across a wire coil. That’s when I lost Zara,” Marius replied.

  I opened a comm. link with the ship. “Guys, warn your Spectrals that if they want to explore the ship to avoid wire coils. It’s a Spectral trap.”

  I heard Jason curse. “How many have we lost and can we get them back?”

  “Three, Vithen, Scrae, and Zara. They are still bonded. Their Shades are leading us to where they ended up.”

  “Do you want us to come and help?” he asked in concern, though I could also hear a tinge of hopefulness.

  “No. I don’t want to endanger any more than I have already. If things change I’ll let you know.”

  Jason sighed. “Fine. Good luck.”

  If it wasn’t for the current crisis, I would have smiled. We got to the lift. Thankfully it was large enough for us to all fit. Even better that the Spectrals were non-corporeal or else we would have had a problem. Especially with my darling ‘king of snakes.’

  KEEP IT UP, RYLYNN … Kylesst said, and I mentally shrugged. I was still thankful for the little blessings. The lift only had one way to go from the shuttle bay and that was up. So we went floor by floor until Marius stepped off. The other two frantic Shades joined him and Sylvia and I were left to follow. Like before, the hall lit up as we walked. I didn’t like that it announced us, but then it would probably announce the presence of others. The lost Spectrals led us to what I could only assume was the engine room. A pulsing core took the place of prominence in the egg-shaped room. Along the edges of the room were twelve tall, clear tubes. Most were sparkling with lightning. Once one of the tubes reached critical energy it off-loaded a portion to the pain core, keeping it charged.

  Lassie gasped and rushed over to one of the tubes. It shimmered instead of sparkled. And peering into it revealed why. Three Spectrals clawed at the glass to get to us. I don’t know what it is, but that isn’t glass, I corrected myself. Glass couldn’t contain a Spectral. “We need to get them out,” Lassie exclaimed. “And now, before the cylinder reaches critical.” We all knew what happened then. Once the Spectrals were forced into the core, they would be drained to nothing.

  Grimly I checked the gauge of the cylinder, as Lassie called it, and said, “We have until the next lightning strike.” And there was no telling when that would be.

  Marius moved to the connector wire that ran between the core and its charging cylinders. “This needs to go,” he muttered. Pulling a non-chromatic knife from his boot, he quickly began to cut at the insolation.

  “Why don’t you just shoot it?” Mykio asked. “Wouldn’t that be faster?”

  “It might be, but it might conv
ince the core to pull on this cylinder sooner,” Marius replied, still working at the insolation. The same could be said for a chromatic weapon. I drew my own Shade knife and began working at the thick insolation with him. The other three began looking for alternative ways. Time was of the essence. “That should do it,” Marius said, indicating that I should back away as he pulled the insolation back. A bundle of wires gleamed in the light.

  A hissing filled the room and each of the cylinders brightened. We had just run out of time. Without thought, I drew one of my chromatic knives, charging it to violet in the time it took to raise it to the coiled wires. The core began to draw, but it only got a tiny taste of power from my knife. The wires cut instantly, the ends melting.

  Bright from the energy that had been with them, Zara, Scrae, and Vithen streamed out of the wires the core had started to draw them through. THAT WAS CLOSE, Scrae said, before all three thanked us for coming when we had. A warning bleep filled the air as the station’s computer complained that one of the cylinders had been disconnected. A swarm of nanites rushed down toward the break in the connecter coil. Marius and I stepped away before they could touch us. Though the ends had fallen several feet apart, the nanites bridged the gap like a living wire and pulled the two ends back together. With unnerving precision, they fused the wires and insolation back together. The computer’s complaint died away. A moment later, the repair nanites swarmed away, leaving the coil as if it had never been damaged.

  “Let’s go before something bad happens,” I said after a moment. We left the engine room almost faster than we had entered it. Once out, I called the ship to let them know that our rescue mission had been successful. Now we were going to search for the information we needed. All five Spectrals remained with us now. No one wanted to repeat that near disaster. They were also wary about spying ahead because no one was sure what would turn out to be another trap.

  “Where do you suggest we go?” I asked my aunt.

  She looked thoughtful for a moment before leading the way. “Betrayer’s study, if I recall the schematic right, is up another floor before the Pets’ chambers. Perhaps there we could find out what happened to everyone, as well as the information we need,” she said.

  Chapter 21 – Ancient Sin

  “Pet chambers?” Lassie asked with a frown.

  “A gilded cage in space,” Aunt Sylvie replied briskly. No one asked after that. We followed her back to the lift and to the next floor. This floor was drastically different from all the others. Wood paneling lined the wall and tiles covered the floor. The lighting changed from glaring overhead lights to subtle light fixtures. Down the hall a short way was a door that was the only reminder that we were on a station. The metal door looked forbidding compared to its surroundings. “That is his study …” Aunt Sylvie said. She halted to stare at it a moment. She couldn’t seem to make herself go toward it.

  “Be ready,” I said, drawing my blaster. I then moved toward the door before anyone could stop me. As I stepped before the door, it slid silently open. I blinked. I thought that since this was his study, there would be more security around it. Especially if it held the records we needed. The lights came on.

  IT COULD BE THAT HE SAW NO NEED, Kylesst said. THIS STATION COULD ONLY BE FOUND BY THOSE MEMORY CRYSTALS OR DUMB LUCK. HIS PEOPLE, WHO I’M ASSUMING LEFT SOON AFTER HE DID, WOULD NORMALLY HAVE GUARDED IT WELL. AND IF HE WAS HERE, HE PROBABLY FELT THAT HE WOULD HAVE NO TROUBLE WITH THE TRESSPASSER, Kylesst suggested so everyone could hear, as I entered the study.

  It was large with green carpeting and handsome wood furniture: a desk and bookshelves. There was a database port imbedded in his desk.

  “If that is the case, where did his staff go?” Lassie asked, as she followed me into the study.

  “Away,” Aunt Sylvie said, slowly entering the room. “Since Betrayer couldn’t punish me, he had punished them in my stead,” she admitted guiltily. “As soon as he left, they probably decided to take their chances and flee before he came back and hurt them more.”

  “Nice guy,” Mykio grumbled.

  “You have no idea.” Aunt Sylvia and I said together. We shared a slightly amused look before engaging in our search. I skimmed the bookshelves while Marius searched through the database.

  The books were old. Many were in languages I couldn’t even guess at. SOME OF THEM WERE WRITTEN BY RACES THAT NO LONGER EXIST, Kylesst told me. The few I could make out were on physics and mathematics. Aunt Sylvie joined me.

  “One of the few things that hadn’t been a lie,” she murmured.

  “What?”

  She sighed. “Trace Sinclair, the man Betrayer said he was, had shared my love of books. He helped me collect some of the ones I had had on Lenti.” I didn’t ask her which those were. She stilled suddenly and her eyes went glassy.

  “Aunt Sylvie?” I asked.

  “It’s here,” she said, as she knelt down next to the bottom right-most corner of the bookcase. With a careful hand, she pulled free a dusty tome and set it down. Then she reached into the space behind it and pulled out a thin black book that had gotten lost in the back. She blew the dust off of it and handed it to me. Her eyes cleared. “Open it. That holds the answers we need.”

  “So, you mean I don’t need to be looking through the experiments of a sick mind?” Marius grouched from the database port.

  Sylvia nodded. “You should have known, Marius. When looking for the answers to an ancient mystery, you must look to the oldest objects. The database has some of the ancient archives, but most don’t care to put them in. So you must turn to the more vulnerable archives; books.”

  Marius grunted at her teasing scold. “You also cheated and Saw it,” he accused, to which she shrugged.

  I shook my head and opened the journal. At some point it must have been treated to keep it from disintegrating further from touch. I just wondered when, because the book looked relatively new, but script was older than the empire. Kylesst, this is Ket’ari script, I thought breathlessly. One of the few things that I had retained from our melding were some languages. But this one I knew better because I was seeing it in the dreams featuring Caintallon. Seeing things from his eyes had kept me from realizing what he was writing.

  Noticing my shocked stare, Mykio touched my arm. I jumped and rounded on him. “Are you okay?” he asked with concern. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  “Because I have, in a way. This journal was written by Caintallon,” I explained.

  “And how is that like seeing a ghost?” Lassie asked.

  “Since before I woke up, I started seeing memories that did not belong to either Kylesst or I. And even more recently, I’ve seen them continue in dreams. They belonged to Caintallon. Neither of us could figure out why his memories were there. But now I do,” I said, looking at each of them. “I don’t know how, but they must be Betrayer’s.”

  “If that’s his name, why does he go by Betrayer?” Lassie inquired. “If I had to choose, I would go with Caintallon. People wouldn’t get suspicious, then.”

  “Terrifyingly, he would agree with you,” I replied. “After all, he doesn’t go by that name. He goes by whatever name he fancies; Timothy, Trace and who knows how many others.”

  “He is very bold,” Aunt Sylvie mused softly. “He has probably forgotten more than any of us have learned. He probably forgot it and when he heard that he was being called ‘betrayer,’ he most likely thought it was funny,” she continued.

  “You almost sound like you admire him,” Lassie said.

  Aunt Sylvie rubbed her arms self-consciously. “Well, he had been my husband for a time before I realized what he really was.” By her surprised look I figured Lassie hadn’t heard about that yet.

  “You’re sure that the answer we need is in here?” I asked my aunt. She nodded. “All right then, let’s get out of here.” Because who knew when Betrayer was going to come back.

  “Before we do, let me check and see if the Pets are still alive. With no staff here to care for them, I
— they would need help,” My aunt said

  “We’ll all go,” I said, shamed that I hadn’t thought of that sooner when we realized that there was no staff. I guessed, and hoped, that the staff would have taken them when they left. Leaving the office, Sylvia turned away from the lift doors. With slow steps she approached another door that was, somehow, even more ominous than the office one.

  She turned back to us. “Once the door opens, at least one of us will have to remain in the hall. Otherwise we will all be trapped in there.” With her warning ringing in our ears, she stepped close enough that the door slid open. A musty odor, with a hint of rot under it, wafted out into the hallway. Myko’s nose wrinkled, but even so, he followed my aunt and me in. The room on the other side was a grand, but hallow, common room. I didn’t need to see my aunt’s stiff posture to know that this room was little more than a frame for its occupants.

  As for the occupants, they had been left. There was no way to tell what got to them first; starvation or the Soul Shadows. Mykio crouched down next to a couple of bodies to look them over. “These looked like they had died at about the same time, those over here look like they’ve been dead longer.” The latter group he pointed at had parts missing. I shuddered, not wanting to think of what might have been done to the dead by the others. Didn’t want to think about what hunger might have done to them.

  The Spectrals roamed the rooms beyond. NONE ARE ALIVE, Kylesst said and Sylvia hung her head. THIS IS NOT YOUR FAULT, Kylesst assured her.

  “If I hadn’t have left …” she sobbed.

  YOU MIGHT HAVE JOINED THEM IN WHATEVER FATE TOOK THEM FIRST. I DON’T THINK BETRAYER WAS HERE WHEN THE SOUL SHADOWS WERE FREED.