The Tigrens' Glory (Soul-Linked Saga) (Volume 9)

by Laura Jo Phillips

  “Where are you going?” Faron asked.

  “To the map room,” Saige replied. “Will you call the Dracons, please?”

  “Why the urgency?” Dav asked while Ban reached for his vox. “Are you sure it can’t wait till later?”

  “No,” Saige said, looking around for something to put on her feet.

  “Amada, please,” Faron said gently, guiding her to a chair, holding her shoes in one hand. “Tell us what’s happening.”

  “The hibernation tanks are losing power very quickly. It’s reasonable to assume that the other systems within the structure will begin to fail too, if they haven’t already. There’s no atmosphere outside. If the atmosphere generator goes, as is likely, the integrity of the structure will deteriorate. Time is short.”

  Faron slipped Saige’s shoes onto her feet, listening as Ban spoke to Trey on the vox. He scooped Saige into his arms and hurried out of their room, Dav and Ban at his heels. The Dracons were in the map room by the time they reached it, the maps of Xantara already displayed.

  “I should have known Glory would find a way to let us know where the Tigren are,” Lariah said as she went to hug Saige after Faron set her down.

  “She has a very strong will,” Saige agreed. “She found the place where I meet Riata, and I can’t even begin to imagine how she did that. Are all the ships through the jump point?”

  “Yes, and we’ll reach Xantara in a couple of hours,” Garen said. “We’ve sent the Megalodon and a few escorts ahead to scout things out. What did Glory tell you?”

  Saige repeated what Glory had said, and her concerns. “She showed me what she saw from above the structure,” Saige finished as she studied the hologram filling the center of the room. “There were two bright moons, and a dark red planet on the opposite side.” Saige shook her head in frustration. “I don’t know how Faith does this. There are so many planets that I can’t make sense of what I’m seeing.”

  “The dark red world is Xantara,” Garen said.

  “Okay, that helps,” Saige said. “So which of those things are supposed to be the two moons she showed me?”

  “Val, zoom in on this area, please,” Garen said. Val nodded and a moment later, Xantara was much larger and positioned right in the center of the room.

  Saige moved next to Xantara and studied the pattern of planets around her. “There,” she said, pointing to a tiny round object with no label. “That’s it, I’m certain.”

  Val increased the magnification several more times and they all crowded around it. It appeared to be a gigantic rock, roughly round, with an enormous black structure covering a large portion of it. If there were other structures on the asteroid, they were too small to be seen.

  “We have a problem,” Trey said, one hand tapping the vox in his ear.

  “What is it?” Garen asked.

  “The Megalodon has just sent us a status report,” Trey said as he joined Val at the map’s control console and began making adjustments. “The barrier protecting Xantara is a lot bigger than we expected and, apparently, far stronger.” As he spoke, the planets around them shrank, and the view changed. A transparent reddish shield appeared, encompassing Xantara, its moons, and the asteroid.

  “Can you speed-travel into it?” Lariah asked, rubbing her arms to chase away the chill the sight of the thing gave her.

  “I doubt it, Sharali,” Garen said. “That shield is an object of Narrasti magic, so it will repel us, and our magic. But don’t worry. All is not lost. This is precisely why we brought Jung Del. He’ll find a way through that shield.”

  ***

  Liddari Darck of the Narrasti stood on the Observation Deck of the Eyrie with Thelba at his side, the Admirals and their Arima, Faith, nearby. There weren’t nearly as many Xanti ships in the area as they’d expected, and with Blind Sight mysteriously down, the Jasani task force was having little trouble handling those that approached. As good as the Xanti shields were, they had no effect on the Jasani’s magic.

  “I don’t understand why they don’t have more patrols guarding their world,” he said to Tristan. “It makes no sense.”

  “Actually, it makes a lot of sense,” Tristan said. “The Xanti are both arrogant, and paranoid, an interesting and conflicting combination. They know that no one in the Thousand Worlds has the technology to reach their galaxy in force, and since they’ve already conquered their own galaxy, they have nothing to fear. Therefore, there’s no need to keep a large contingent of ships hanging around doing nothing when they can be in the Thousand Worlds causing trouble. That’s their arrogance.

  “On the other hand, they keep a shield around their world at all times, even though they’re certain of their own safety. That’s their paranoia.”

  “Is paranoia the reason all of their power plants are on the two moons within the shield rather than on Xantara itself?” Darck asked.

  “Probably,” Tristan replied. “It’s hard to tell with Xanti. If we can destroy those power plants, I think we’ll pull much of the Xanti’s stinger at the same time.”

  “We can’t do anything until we get that shield down,” Gray said. “We can’t even approach it with our ships.”

  The Observation Deck fell silent as they all watched another barrage of missiles leave the Megalodon, streaking straight toward the nearest of the three sugea space swimmers responsible for the shield. Even though they’d all seen the same thing happen repeatedly over the past couple of hours, everyone was disappointed anew when the missiles exploded before reaching their target.

  “Neither magical nor mundane weapons are going to break through that shield,” Jon said.

  “There’s got to be some way of bringing that damn shield down,” Tristan said. “Or better, some way to turn it off, or deactivate it.”

  “Those are living creatures,” Gray pointed out. “I doubt they have Off switches.”

  Thelba gasped softly, attracting the attention of everyone in the room, but for once, shy as she was, she barely noticed. She stared at Darck, her mouth open slightly in shock.

  “What is it, my love?” Darck asked softly.

  “I think...I need a moment,” she said.

  “Shall we go elsewhere so you have some privacy?”

  “No, this is fine,” she said. Everyone watched as she went completely still, her eyes glazing over slightly.

  Tristan opened his mouth to ask Darck what was going on, but Faith touched his arm and shook her head. “Don’t break her concentration,” she whispered.

  Tristan smiled and leaned down to kiss her. Bubbles raised herself up and made popping noises at him, clearly wanting her share of affection. Tristan grinned and scratched the raktsasa on the chin.

  “What a fool I am,” Thelba hissed, surprising everyone. She was always so calm and soft spoken, which made her current frustration all the more meaningful.

  “You are no fool, my love,” Darck argued. “What did you learn?”

  “You are Liddari,” she said, her irritation falling away as she smiled proudly at Darck. “Acknowledged leader of all Narrasti.”

  If Darck could have blushed he would have. He didn’t understand why the Narrasti had chosen him to be their leader after Marqex’s death, but they had. He worked as hard as he could to be a good leader, but he still felt like an imposter. He had no idea why Thelba was bringing that up now, though.

  “You are leader,” Thelba repeated, putting stress on the last word. “Leader of all Narrasti.”

  Darck’s eyes widened and he turned to glance at the sugea space swimmer through the viewport. “You are certain?”

  Thelba nodded. “Positive.”

  Tristan cleared his throat. Darck looked at him and grinned for the first time in days. “I am Liddari of all Narrasti, and those three brainless space swimmers are Narrasti, no matter how long the Xanti have been using them.”

  “Are you saying those things will obey you if you give them an order?” Tristan asked doubtfully. “They have no idea who you are.”

  �
��It doesn’t matter,” Thelba said. “Darck is Liddari. He holds the lives of all Narrasti in his hands, and all with the blood of Narrasti will recognize it. If he gives them an order, they’ll have no choice but to obey.”

  Tristan grinned at the simplicity of it, then frowned. “Why couldn’t you tell us this earlier?” Darck frowned at him, his face darkening, but Tristan shook his head. “I meant no insult to your mate, Brother. I am only curious how she just learned something she didn’t know earlier.”

  Darck bowed slightly in apology for his temper. “Narrasti have something they call racial memories. Most do, anyway. I don’t, but Thelba does, and she’s quite good at accessing them.”

  “I’d like to hear more about that later, but for now, how are you going to go about giving them the order to stand down?” Gray asked. “Sound doesn’t travel in space so using speakers to amplify your voice won’t work, and it’s not like you can just walk up to them.”

  Darck looked at Thelba, who frowned in thought. “The Erekorra,” she said. “Is it here?”

  “Yes, it’s in the ship’s vault,” Tristan said. “Do you need it?”

  “Yes,” Thelba said, grinning from ear to ear. “We will use it to speak to the space swimmers.”

  “I thought it was a recording device,” Tristan said after Jon left to get the Erekorra from the vault.

  “It is,” Thelba replied. “It was used to record what the space swimmers saw. But, it was also used to give them orders by reversing the flow of information.”

  Jon appeared holding a padded box containing the large, egg shaped crystal. Darck took the box from him and gazed at the Erekorra for a long moment. “What do I do with it?” he asked Thelba.

  “Give me a second,” Thelba said. Everyone quieted while she went into what looked like another trance, this one much shorter than the first. When she opened her eyes again she was frowning. “Reversing the information flow will be easy enough,” she said. “I’ll have to send Darck’s command into it, and then out to each of the space swimmers. I’m afraid I’m not strong enough to do that from this distance. Can we get closer?”

  “Narrasti magic repels us too strongly for us to get any closer than we are now,” Tristan said.

  “Can we get on that ship?” Thelba asked, pointing at the Megalodon through the viewport.

  “Let’s find out,” Tristan said.

  Jung Del stood on the bridge of the Megalodon, trying to think of a way to take out the three sugea responsible for the shield that surrounded Xantara. As long as that shield remained in place, no Jasani could even come within firing range. The Megalodon was able to get closer only because there were no Jasani aboard. This was the reason the Jasani had brought him. The one task that he’d given his word to perform. And so far, he was failing. He’d already thrown everything he had at the sugeas and the shield. Every laser, missile, and cannon shot was vaporized before it reached one of the damn things. He was beginning to become annoyed.

  “Lord Jung Del,” Sidley called from the communications station at the far side of the bridge. “The Eyrie requests a moment of your time.”

  “Display, please,” Jung Del said, hoping the Falcorans had a fresh idea for him. A moment later the image of First Admiral Tristan Falcoran was on the large screen embedded in the wall over Sidely’s head. And he was smiling. Jung Del bowed politely, hope rising within him.

  “Greetings, Admiral,” he said.

  “Greetings, Lord Jung Del,” Tristan replied. “We have a solution for handling the sugea, but we’re too far away from it, and can’t get closer. Would you mind accepting two Narrasti aboard your ship for a short period of time?”

  “No, Admiral, I have no objections at all,” Jung Del replied. “Can you speed travel them over?”

  “If you’ll back away from the shield, we can, yes,” Tristan said.

  Jung Del gave the order, his fins tightening with anticipation. It had been millions of years since his ancestors stepped from a Marrazon sea onto dry land and taken their first breath of air, marking a momentous change for his people. But many things had not changed. He still had gills. He still had fins. And he still had his predatory instincts. Instincts that had just gotten a whiff of blood in the water. Xanti blood.

  ***

  The Katres and the Gryphons stared at the shimmering red shield surrounding Xantara through the Vyand’s observation port. They’d just listened to a general message from Admiral Tristan informing the entire task force that Darck Narrasti was about to deactivate the sugea.

  “You were so right, Aisling,” Summer murmured softly. “As far as we’ve come, we would have been turned back right here if we hadn’t brought the Narrasti with us.”

  “Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Aisling said. “Darck hasn’t done it yet.”

  “He will,” Olaf said confidently. “Summer is correct. If you hadn’t convinced us to heed the words and warnings of the prophecies, the Xanti would win this battle without even having to fight. I am very proud of you, Bilara.”

  “We are all proud of you,” Maxim Katre said. “As we are proud of all our Arimas.”

  Aisling blushed as she leaned back into Olaf’s arms, uncomfortable with so much praise, while at the same time, warmed by it. Her breath caught in her throat as a huge section of the shimmering shield began to flicker. Everyone saw it, and for a long moment no one breathed. Seconds later, the flickering stopped, the shimmering vanished, and one third of the shield was gone.

  “What did he do?” Olaf asked, but no one had an answer. They watched quietly as the Megalodon moved out of sight behind Xantara. A few minutes later, another section of the shield flickered and went out. While they waited for the final section to go down, Admiral Tristan’s voice came through the speakers once more. While he explained how Darck and Thelba were taking the shield down, the last section flickered and vanished.

  “As we said,” Olaf whispered to Aisling, “we are proud of you.”

  “Thank you,” Aisling said, kissing him lightly on the jaw. “Okay, what next?”

  “First we’ll destroy the communication satellites,” Olaf said, pointing at the diagram displayed within the viewport. “After that, we’ll go to the near moon where the biggest power plants are located and take them out, then we’ll hit those on the other moon.”

  ***

  Xaqana-Ti sat staring at the vid screen before her in absolute shock as she struggled to process the battle vids attached to the message she’d just received from Xi-Kung. She’d become very suspicious of her two remaining sisters over the past few days, but never would she have believed either of them to be capable of what she’d just seen. It made no sense. It was one thing to plot and maneuver against one another in an effort to win the great game, but there were limits that even she would never cross. Such as aiding and abetting their enemies which, by destroying such a large percentage of Xanti ships within the Thousand Worlds, they’d most certainly done.

  Whoever became the next Supreme Queen would have a very deep hole to dig out of. Did they not realize that? Or did their personal greed outweigh their common sense? Narliq-Li did not possess that level of ambition, she knew. But Zarnia-Te did.

  Had Zarnia-Te convinced Narliq-Li that she, Xaqana-Ti, plotted against her? Maybe. Probably. Not that the why of it mattered. What mattered was stopping them before they caused any more damage.

  She raised one foreleg to the control board to send a message to the Supreme Queen when another message lit up her screen. Like Xi-Kung’s message of a few minutes before, this one was marked Urgent, High Priority. She was surprised to see that the message came not from one of her battle ships or cruisers, but from a fuel transport. With a feeling of deep dread, she opened the message.

  Moments later, for the first time in her existence, Xaqana-Ti came very close to panic. According to the captain of the fuel transport, there was a full Jasani task force not only within their galaxy, but heading straight for Xantara. It was the threat to the entire Xanti civilizat
ion that helped her to hang onto her reasoning mind, instead of spinning herself a cocoon to hide in as her baser instincts were insisting she do.

  She hit the forward key, then typed in the Queen Mother’s personal comm code and hit send. A system error message flashed across the screen. She froze, refusing to allow her frustration and rage to spiral out of control. Moving slowly and deliberately, she rebooted the system, then calmly waited for it to come back online. She opened her message screen and again attempted to forward her message to the Queen Mother. Just after another message informing her that the satellites were down flashed on the screen, the power went out.

  Xaqana-Ti froze, her mind racing. Satellites down. Power down. That could only mean that the shield was down, leaving Xantara completely defenseless.

  Without wasting a moment, she scrambled out of her private nest and raced through the tunnels of her hive toward the surface as fast as she could move. She’d intended to use her personal transport system to reach the Palace Hive for the meeting set to take place in just a few short hours. Without the planetary power grid, that was down, just like everything else. If she hurried, a ground transport should be able to get her there in time to warn the Queen Mother to go deep for safety. She hoped her sisters were hurrying toward the Palace Hive, too. They would have to hide, all of them, until the threat hanging over their heads passed. Then, as always, the Xanti would rise again. But first, they had to survive.

  Chapter Twenty Four

  Kyerion sat on the cold floor, his back against the front wall of the enormous room, eyes closed as he tried to rest. His body was trembling with exhaustion and, like everyone else, he desperately needed food and water. His skin itched from the dried fluid that coated his body, and his hair was so stiff and sticky that it scratched his back when he moved. He could hear, in the distance, as others continued to search the building for more survivors. He told himself that he would go and help in a few minutes. He just needed to rest a little while longer.