New Sky: Eyes of the Watcher

by Jason Kent

  Kate would never get the chance to question any of the immobile Tallinns. The mech was about to take care of everyone blocking her path up to the villa's front door.

  Blinded and aware it was under attack even if the living beings around it did not, the mech initiated a battle subroutine of which Kate and the others were painfully aware.

  The mech's Gatling gun attached to its arm spun up with a whine Kate could hear even at their distance from the villa.

  "Run," Kate breathed at the Tallinns. She started to stand as she watched, helpless to intervene. She willed the motionless Tallinns to move...to do anything.

  Merrick fired a third time. His shot struck the left side of the mech's forward armor. The machine took this input as a new attack and cranked its metal body toward the left. It dragged its damaged leg with it, stumping around in a half circle to face...nothing. Blinded, the mech could not see there were actually no enemy targets in its proverbial sights. It opened fire anyway.

  The Tallinns did not hesitate again. They knew when it was time to leave the party. In seconds, the front door was clear as carefully dressed party-goers and their servants scattered into the night.

  "Go!" Merrick exclaimed. He stood and vaulted the low stone wall. Despite their lighter build and smaller size, both Kate and Sparrow followed the sniper with far less grace than he exhibited. Kate shook her head and wondered how the fireplug of a marine managed his fluid motions.

  A roar drowned out the stuttering of the mech's heavy weapon and the screaming of the guests as they fled. Kate chanced a look above her. The dark form of the Blade sailed low over their heads. It was close enough to cause Kate and the others to stagger in its tail wash as it swung down over the villa.

  Kate was right behind Merrick as they dashed past abandoned ground cars and up the wide steps to the villa's broad entrance. Behind them, the mech rotated and fired out into the dark night away from the house. Screams of pain rang out whenever its stream of fire chanced across a fleeing Tallinn. The mech followed its programming and continued to fire in a slow circle, unconcerned its victims were also its masters.

  Merrick followed Sparrow's earlier directions with ease. He fired only once at a guard who thought he should investigate the commotion out in front. Merrick's bullet sailed past his ear and convinced him this was not a good idea. The heavy wooden front doors stood wide open. They passed through with wide entryway and kept going. Merrick led the way and ran straight through the ornate entry hall lined with marble pillars. He turned left and crashed through a double set of glass-paned doors into a bright room dominated by a massive dining table set for at least fifty guests. Only a startled servant stood and watched them pass. Sparrow grabbed the bottle the man held and took a swig as she ran.

  "Whew!" Sparrow shouted. She glanced at label. "Nice." Satisfied, the sprite flung the expensive looking bottle to the side. The glass shattered on the stone floor and amber liquid sprayed everywhere.

  Merrick found their next turn, an archway on the right. He turned and rushed headlong out to the courtyard, rifle at his shoulder, ready to join the party.

  Blade Redeemed squatted there amid crushed furniture, toppled statues, and a few cowering party-goers who did not know enough to run away.

  Ross and Georges flanked Dagger, their guns swept the courtyard as they sought any targets. The trio strode foward and stopped in front of an immense Tallinn stuffed into an expensively cut tuxedo. He was backed up in front of a pool with a gurgling fountain rising from its center. Kate figured this person to be the 'Tallinn Scum', of whom their pilot spoke so highly. After all, only scum held a beautiful woman in front of him as a shield.

  Merrick, Kate and Sparrow rushed to join the others. Merrick scanned the alcoves and open doors leading into the rest of the villa. No one decided to be a hero tonight. Kate glanced up into the Blades' cockpit. Garrett waved back from the pilot's seat. A grin tugged at Kate's mouth. Dagger's desire for revenge overcame her hatred of anyone touching the controls of her ship.

  "Bevin!"

  The woman's shout drew Kate's attention back to the confrontation unfolding at the pool. Kate studied the woman held by the Tallinn. Bevin, she surmised. His thick fingers sunk into the woman's arms and turned the skin around them an angry red. Kate recognized her immediately. Andrea could have been Amanda Rodger's twin...an extremely well-dressed and coiffed twin. Andrea's dress was made of a skin-tight material designed to mimic a bright metallic finish. It might as well have been spray-painted onto her. On closer inspection, Kate was sure this was indeed the case. The 'dress' plunged low in the front and back and stopped mid-thigh and reflected the light of the flaming torches burning here and there in the courtyard as Andrea squirmed and tried to twist away from Bevin's iron grip.

  A blade flashed out and creased Andrea's hair as it passed. A few newly severed strands fluttered silently down over her shoulder.

  Bevin screamed and let go of Andrea. He clutched at the small knife buried in his right eye.

  Andrea just stood there, too shocked to move.

  Dagger pushed past her sister and swept Bevin's legs out from under him. He was off-balance and in extreme pain. The Tallinn Scum went down easily. He landed on his rear in the shallow pool behind him. Dagger placed one booted foot on Bevin's neck and used the other to pin his right wrist. She looked at the wounded man for a moment before she reached down and pulled the knife free.

  Dagger ignored Bevin's howl of pain and wiped the bloody blade clean on the Tallinn's jacket. She stepped back, took one look around and turned to leave.

  "We're done here," Dagger announced.

  Kate realized the pilot had not said one word to the Tallinn against whom she plotted for so long. Cool, Kate thought. She wondered if she could have showed such control and restraint if she found herself in a similar situation. Probably not.

  Kate looked at Bevin. He struggled to get to his hands and knees in the water with one hand up to his bleeding face. Ross kept him covered as he backed toward the Blade. Dagger's attack effectively neutralized Bevin, but the marine decided to take no chances.

  Andrea stared at Bevin, shocked. Sparrow snagged her arm and dragged her to the Blade's ramp. To Kate, the rescue started to look like a kidnapping. She hoped when things settled down and Andrea got over the trauma of the situation, the truth would be as they surmised up on the hill; arm candy in a gilded cage.

  Ross was the last up the ramp. Garrett revved Blade's engines. As soon as Ross threw the lever to close the cargo door, the Blade lifted off.

  Kate grabbed a hand-hold at the side of the cargo bay and stared down at the courtyard as they rose. What torches survived from the original incursion were snuffed out by the Blade's engines.

  Beware.

  Kate blinked. Javin's warning echoed in her mind.

  She glanced back toward the villa. Someone looked up at them from the courtyard balcony. The ramp clanged into place and bolts slammed home. Who had it been? A curious guest?

  No. Kate's eyes blazed in the dark compartment. She turned to find Ross staring at her, lit by the luminescence. He opened his mouth then shut it. Whatever he thought of her new look, he kept it to himself.

  Kate closed her eyes and thought hard. The tingling in her stomach was a new sensation but she instinctively knew what it meant...Javin knew this Tallinn and desperately tried to warn Kate.

  Beware.

  Kate shuddered.

  A Watcher was definitely on their trail.

  Jonte stepped out of the shadows of the second floor balcony which encircled the courtyard. He surveyed the damage left by the violent appearance of the human rebels. The unscheduled arrival of the Blade Redeemed caught everyone nearly by surprise. Everyone except Jonte.

  The Watcher smiled, pleased his backdoor methods were enough for him to foresee this event so clearly. His smile faltered. The aftermath of the event proved to be the key, he realized, not the actual event itself. The Tallinn elite gathered here at the local Council Members home attracted
his attention through Knowl. Not the individuals, or the fact so many were slaughtered.

  The villa was pretentious, Jonte thought. Council Member Bevin had taken the home as his after being appointed to the Transom Supreme Council. Jonte supposed it impressed the materialistic members of Tallinn society. Jonte looked down. Bevin managed to climb out of the pool and curled up in a ball on the paving stones, surrounded by a spreading pool of water and blood.

  Jonte snorted. When he had arrived, Bevin was both delighted and fearful to have a Watcher in his villa. Bevin knew better than to ask a Selected One the details of his mission. Jonte would not have told him anyway. One did not tell the bait of a trap his true role. Otherwise, he would not have been standing there in the open with this Rodgers woman. He studied Bevin's pitiful form. The Councilor would survive...barely. He had performed a valuable service to Tallinns everywhere, even if he would never know.

  It was Bevin's injury and the dozens of others killed by the disabled mech which allowed Jonte to hone in as he searched the knowledge streams available to him. Jonte still could not discern the rebel's exact location but, luckily for Jonte, pain, misery, and death stalked this group. An easy trail for a Watcher of Jonte's skill to follow.

  Once at Bevin's villa, Jonte wasted no time figuring out why the humans would come here; Andrea Rodgers. Bevin's pet slave would not be here after the event. She would not be counted among the dead. There was only one explanation. Andrea's older sister, a starship Captain named Amanda Rodgers, would take her away. That starship was a skipjack named Blade Redeemed. Amanda would come for her sibling. Jonte did not know why or if this Captain Rodgers truly commanded the rebels. It hardly mattered now. Captain Rodgers aptly demonstrated how she came by her nickname with the display of her skill with bladed weapons, gravely injuring a Tallinn Council Member. Interestingly, she left her quarry alive; to suffer no doubt. The thought caused Jonte to smile. A woman after his own heart. But, he could spend no more time dwelling upon the reasoning behind Dagger's action.

  Blade Redeemed would depart this world now. Where would they go next?

  Jonte took one last look down into the courtyard and Bevin's writhing form before he turned to leave. A thought took form in his mind; an awful feeling which quickly solidified into a stone deep in his gut. He did not like where his instinct seemed to be leading. But, he trusted his gut even more after witnessing the events in the villa.

  Andrea Rodgers. After his arrival, he sought her out without Bevin's knowledge. The girl was...interesting, and impressionable. Jonte hoped she would prove to be as valuable to him in the near future as he had foreseen.

  A flash of insight flared to life in the Watcher's mind. Jonte staggered and threw out a hand to steady himself against the cool stone wall.

  ...all-engulfing inferno...funeral pyre death...

  The image and intense emotions passed as quickly as they appeared.

  "No..." Jonte gasped as he replayed the sensations in his mind. He leaned his head back and shouted, "NO!"

  Jonte pushed himself upright and stumbled toward the side corridor which would take him to his ship behind the villa.

  How could he not have seen this before? Jonte thought hard. How could none of them have seen this? He paused. There were two possibilities. Either one or more of the Watchers knew of the coming desolation and not reported it, in which case they were traitors, or...

  Jonte stopped.

  "Or Knowl has forsaken us," the Watcher whispered. If Knowl had foreseen this and hid it from the Watchers...Knowl could also hide any number of things from The Select. Jonte looked up at the ceiling, as if he could still see the human's ship. The Watcher shook his head and plunged forward, determined to stop the humans before they could fulfill the vision. Jonte sobbed at the intense emotions. The after effects of the vision clung to his mind. The image and emotions would not fade and they nearly overcame him once more.

  The great tree, Knowl, in flames. Free.

  "No," Jonte grumbled and clenched his fists. His steps became more determined. "No. Knowl belonged to the Tallinns...to me."

  "What have you done!?"

  The snarled shout shook Kate free from the grip of her thoughts of why another Watcher might give chase to them. She could fathom only one conclusion. The Watcher wanted to stop them. Stop her. Kate did not want to ponder this revelation. If there were Watchers coming after them, their quest to reach Knowl would be infinitely harder.

  Kate turned and left the Blade's dimly lit cargo hold and headed for the sound of the dispute emanating from the common area. Another thought sprung unbidden to her mind while she entered the narrow corridor running down the center of the ship.

  If a Watcher decided to find her, Knowl must not be able to control all aspects of the information it possessed. Kate thought of the great tree, being, whatever, as an all-powerful entity. The evidence of the Watcher at Bevin's showed this may not be the case. Kate considered something else.

  Why did the Watcher come to Bevin's villa and not try to stop them? To Kate, it seemed as if the Tallinn she sensed in the shadows was living up to his name. Perhaps they could not take action against another of their kind, like some sort of vow one might take before they 'joined' with Knowl. She shook her head. The explanation made no sense.

  Javin clearly stated he was the one who led the Tallinns to victory over the Union Fleet. Javin directed the Tallinn forces. He may not have pulled the triggers or launched the devastating missile attack against human starships, like the Decatur, but the blood of thousands was on his hands. No, if a Watcher wanted to intervene, even if their actions included the use of violence, Kate was sure they would. If they so desired.

  Did the Watcher not wish to intervene? Perhaps, he was like Javin, sympathetic to the desires of Knowl. Kate sighed. Javin offered no bursts of insight. She thought of his last gift, the mysterious message 'beware'. Of what, Kate could not be one hundred percent certain. But, the message came with the revelation of the second Watcher. The two together would have to be enough for Kate for now. Perhaps Knowl could satisfy her questions when they met at last.

  If they could reach Knowl, that is.

  Another outburst of wordless keening focused Kate's attention. She would have to ponder the impact of the Watcher later. She hurried the rest of the way to the common room.

  Dagger was there with Andrea. The pilot looked none-too-happy at her sister's response to being rescued.

  "I came for you," Dagger said, her tone dangerous. Anyone who knew her should have known to back off.

  Andrea appeared to not be in the mood to bow to her older sibling's unspoken threats.

  "I didn't ask you come!" Andrea shouted.

  "That Tallinn Scum used you as a shield," Dagger spat. "As soon as his fat rear was in danger, he grabbed the closest thing he could to try and protect his worthless hide, you!"

  "I AM NOT A THING!" Andrea shouted. Tears burst from her eyes. She turned away from Dagger. Sparrow, who hovered near Andrea, came close and wrapped a blanket around Andrea's bare shoulders. The sprite put her head close to Andrea's, she whispered something to comfort the girl. Kate only picked up on the soothing sound of Sparrow's voice. Andrea broke into sobs which made her shoulders heave. Sparrow led her toward one of the crew cabins.

  Kate watched them go.

  Dagger's mouth hung open for a moment. She closed it and looked around the room.

  Ross and Merrick made a show of checking their weapons.

  Dagger's eyes met Kate's. The pilot snarled and turned. She pulled herself to the Captain's cabin located just behind the bridge and slammed the door. Kate was sure she heard Dagger mutter something about an ungrateful brat.

  Kate looked over at the two marines. Their weapons were now spotless after a prolonged and very intense cleaning.

  "Nice going guys," Kate snorted.

  "Don't look at me!" Ross threw up his hands. "I learned long ago when to not get involved. This was one of them! I mean, did you see what she did to that guy? S
he was as cold as any assassin I've ever heard of." He shook his head and took out his heavy pistol from its holster and checked the magazine. "Scary."

  Kate turned to Merrick. "And your excuse?"

  "Tactical withdraw," the sniper answered. "No way was I wading into that mess."

  "I guess I can see your point," Kate sighed. She looked at the closed cabin door Andrea had disappeared behind. She considered asking if she could do anything. After a moment, Kate thought better of interrupting Sparrow and whatever consolation the sprite might be attempting to administer. There was a reason Kate worked with computers and not people. With computers, you rarely saw an unexplained outburst and there was definitely never any crying. She would try to help later. For now, she turned and headed for the command deck.

  "Where are you going?" Ross asked.

  "Well, I figured Georges might want to know where we need to head next on our little quest," Kate replied. She tapped her head.

  Ross followed her. "Lead on! I'm dying to hear this."

  Kate smiled and pulled herself onto the bridge. Garrett was still in the pilot's seat and Georges sat next to him.

  "Keep us low," Georges instructed. "When we're on the far side of Transom, opposite of the station, take us up and out as fast as this thing can move."

  "We going to jump?" Garrett asked as he adjusted various controls on the broad console.

  "Well," Georges said, "that depends." He twisted in the co-pilot's chair to face Kate.

  "On what, sir," Garrett asked.

  "On her." Georges pointed at Kate.

  Kate pulled herself close the front of the cockpit. She could sense Ross then Merrick squeeze in. Both wanted to find out where the path to this mythical Knowl would take them next. She fixed her glowing eyes on Georges.

  "Aesti," Kate stated.

  "And how long have you known this?" Georges asked.

  "To tell you the truth, it popped in my head when I came through the door to the bridge."