“Are we secure now, Kent?” Rion asked, a square glass of Blue in his hand.
“If the whole planet exploded right now, the Cascades would be the only thing left, trust me.”
Rion nodded. “Dark, you asked me and the rest of us months ago to be more accessible. We’re all here.”
“I appreciate that, Rion. I would not have called all of you together were it not emergent. This morning Kent and I intercepted a clandestine newblood moving through Moscow International. He’d been through several airports already. As an awakened newblood the guy was setting off backscatters all over the place, but for some odd reason, the Seven just seemed to ignore the guy. He was heading to Almaty, Kazakhstan. His name is Scott North. His family is not that far removed from a couple of others in Vancouver B.C. that have produced newbloods in the past.”
“What was he going to be doing in Almaty?” Rion asked.
“Hooking up with Amy, in a matter of speaking,” Dark continued. “We all know that the Seven have been recruiting newbloods now. Looks like Amy is as well.”
“What’s in Almaty?” Jerrod asked. “Besides the skiing.” He smirked a grin at Kari.
“Evidently,” Dark continued, “a spaceport.”
Jerrod lost his smirk.
“Impossible.” Francesca argued. “The Seven are without such means. We took their vessels after the conflict with the Zuruahã.”
“Evidently, we missed some. Our Mr. North was on his way to meet with Amethyst for a little off-world trip.” Dark set his empty glass down on a tray as Sevrin passed by. “At least that’s his story.”
“Where is this Scott North now?” Serena asked.
“The Dominion has him cooling his jets on ice in Jericho, Serena.” Carson assured. “He’s not going anywhere.”
“Did he say where they were supposedly going on their ‘little off-world trip’?” Elle asked, her attention on Dark.
“Yea. Orion.”
Some of the gods suddenly began casting glances at each other with wide eyes and raised eyebrows.
Beau’s eyes bounced quickly from Rion to several of the older ones. “Some of us appear to be missing the significance of this here. What’s Orion? Besides a constellation.”
“It’s not just a constellation, Beau,” Jerrod lifted a tall thin frosted glass of Blue from a tray Cheyenne offered the hunky god. “It’s the constellation. The birthplace of the gods.”
“Birthplace?” Ian asked. “You mean we’re not from here?”
“Actually, Ian. We are.” Elle responded, casting her gaze on Rion. “But the ancient Masters were not. Were they Rion?” She did not look happy.
Rion sighed. “No,” he agreed. “No, they weren’t. We don’t know all of the history. The ancient Masters hid a lot of their history from us. They didn’t want us going back.”
“Back? Back where?” Beau asked.
“To the Imperium. A vast galactic empire more massive and more powerful than anything any of us could imagine. Millions of planets.”
“An empire? That huge? Here?” Ian’s eye drew wide.
“No. Not here. A galaxy away; Andromeda, actually. It was hoped that the distances between us would keep the Imperium away—forever. Evidently, after two-hundred thousand years, that’s not the case anymore. Somehow the Ra have managed to bridge the distance.”
“So what does Orion have to do with this Imperium?” Beau asked.
“The ancient Masters came here through Orion. Whatever that means. Probably a portal of some kind. None of us have ever even been there.”
“And there was a reason you were keeping this knowledge from the rest of us, I presume?” Francesca folded her arms, her eyebrow raised at Rion.
“Guys.” Rion met eyes with all of them. “The Masters have secrets. I learned these things long ago; and there are a good many secrets the ancient Masters didn’t even tell us as their own descendants. I don’t know all that much about the Imperium other than some shards of history. All we’ve ever been able to piece together is that the Masters left their own galaxy to begin anew in this one. They gathered at Orion. They came here, to a tiny beautiful world they called Aden.”
“Aden?” Ian asked. “You mean Eden?”
Rion nodded. “Aden is the way the Ra pronounce it. The ancient Hebrews as well. It was their paradise. That’s what Aden means.
“Once they settled here, they erased as best they could the memory of the Imperium from our people. They didn’t want the culture of the old ones interfering with the new paradise they wanted to create. The knowledge of good and evil would be erased from the memory of the Ra for all time.”
“Evidently that knowledge of good and evil didn’t stay buried for very long.” Aramis was just a surprised as the rest of them were. “I guess we’ve all just taken a bite of the apple. I think I was happier not knowing.”
“Ignorance is a luxury few can afford, Aramis—” Francesca began, “and still survive. At some point, the children must mature. To take on the responsibility left to them by their parents.”
“Responsibility?” Jerrod looked annoyed. “Francesca, the Masters left this imperium. They got out of Dodge. They had more knowledge and power than we ever will. If they couldn’t defeat their own people… we’re one tiny little world. We’re sure as hell not going to be able to take on something that spans God only knows how many stars and planets now.”
“Wait, Jerrod,” Rion interrupted. “Nobody said anything about going to war or defeating anyone. We’re simply defending Aden, nothing more.”
“Oh, defending, are we? With what?” Jerrod continued. “We couldn’t even defeat the Seven on our own turf; and that was after we took away their guns.”
Several of the others were nodding.
“Hell, even Brenda left with an ark,” Jerrod grumped. “She doesn’t even have enough confidence in us to stick around.”
“That’s enough, Jerrod.” Serena piped in. “Rion’s under enough pressure as it is. This isn’t helping.”
Jerrod pursed his lips. He nodded.
“Rion is correct,” Carson entered the conversation. His smooth tone and calm demeanor took hold of everyone’s attention. “Let’s not bite off more than we actually have to chew at the moment. Jerrod, you make a valid point. But right now, all we have is the knowledge of a clandestine spaceport being used by people are who are possibly not the Seven. If they were heading for Orion then there’s a good chance these people are who Rion says they are.
“If this, Imperium wanted to take our little garden of Eden here, they could have done so a long time ago. Why all this sneaking around?”
“Garden of Eden?” Serena’s mind worked quickly.
Ian’s mind was working just as fast. “Because it was guarded. God guarded the entrance to Eden.”
Carson’s eyebrow lifted as did Francesca’s.
“You’re not seriously using a Hebrew Bible text—” Jerrod began.
“Wait a minute, Jerrod,” Kari began. “A few of us know these Hebrew texts really well.”
Jerrod nodded with a smirk. “I keep forgetting you’re an Apostle.”
“I wasn’t talking about me.” Kari’s gaze fell onto Francesca. Everyone was suddenly watching her.
“It is true. Torah tells the story of how paradise was lost and then guarded; the story was based on much earlier Ra tradition that made its way into the human writings. It is a very common theme in Human tradition, but the story did not come from the Books of Ra. It does not exist within them.”
“Then it would have had to come from actual Ra lore? Lore that was something the Masters wanted to purge from the memory of the Ra?” Kari turned her attention to Rion.
Rion was nodding. “That’s a possibility.”
“So perhaps,” Carson continued, “the Masters didn’t exactly leave Aden wholly defenseless when they died out. If this imperium is so powerful, why not just show up with a fleet and take over? My guess would be—they can’t. Something is guarding the way.”
/>
“Jesus, Carson,” Dark was shaking his head. “Do you know what you’re saying? I can’t even begin to imagine what kind of defense systems it would take to—”
“Dyson.” Kent’s own mind was working fast; he looked at the rest of them. “That’s how they did it. Only bigger; much, much bigger.”
“Who’s Dyson?” Carson asked.
“A theoretical physicist. What if the Masters erected a megastructure, a defensive sphere around the whole star system?”
Rion was nodding. “That’s actually possible. But you’d need something physical to attach it to.”
“They did.” Kent assured.
“Kent there isn’t anything outside of a handful of planets—maybe the asteroid belt. That’s not going to defend us against anything.”
“You’re not thinking big enough, Rion,” Kent pressed.
“The Kuiper belt?”
“You’re almost there,” Kent continued. “They armed the cloud.”
All eyes were on Rion and Kent. It was clear that Rion’s wheels were turning, his mind connecting the dots of Kent’s suggestion. Then he started nodding.
“What cloud?” Carson finally asked.
“The primordial cloud,” Rion offered. “Humans call it the Oort cloud. It’s a region of space leftover from the original formation of the star system. It’s filled with trillions of objects, everything from comets to small ice planets. And Kent’s right. It’s the perfect place to setup a megastructure to form a perimeter defense of the entire star system. And they had tens of thousands of years to put it in place before they left.”
“So that’s why we’re not seeing their fleets,” Carson lamented.
“Because it’s a death trap,” Rion mused. “An unimaginably massively huge, probably self-replicating, self-repairing, Reflex powered death trap.”
“It’s fucking Masada,” Jerrod denounced.
“Hardly,” Carson corrected. “It’s apparently very effective. Rion, do the gods have any vessels capable of reaching Orion?”
He nodded. “Of course.”
“I want to explore this cloud all of you are talking about,” Carson began. “I want to see their fleets and how they’re getting their vessels from Andromeda and into Orion.”
“I agree,” Dark added. “I also want to know how the hell they’re getting vessels here.”
“Guys,” Kent began, “a perimeter defense that vast is not going to be perfect. A small vessel could possibly navigate a path through the cloud without setting off the defense, like a rowboat through a mine field. My question would be how they got something on the planet to begin with. The closer you get, the more refined your defenses should be.”
“Apparently there’s a hole,” Carson began, “if they’ve been able to setup a small spaceport in Almaty. We need to figure out why Kazakhstan and how often they can get their vessels in and out of here.”
“That’s not just a hole, Carson,” Kari stepped into the conversation. “We have satellites monitoring anything in-flight around the globe. We should have seen whatever vehicle they’re using entering or leaving the stratosphere. Evading our continuum? That’s no small feat.”
“Agreed. Either their cloaking skills are exceptional—”
“—or?” Dark raised an eyebrow. He already knew where Carson was going and he already didn’t like the implications.
“They’re getting help.” Kent reasoned.
“Help? From who?” Elle asked.
“Obviously the Seven.” Carson lamented, his index finger extended, tapping his lips in thought.
“Since when have the Seven been able to evade our notice?” Elle asked.
“This is a good point, Elle,” Francesca nodded. “They have been evading our notice for several hundred years now. Since the war began heating up again around the time of the Reformation. It has been only in the past five-hundred years that the Seven have been able to meticulously, methodically destroy us. One-by-one. A cautious strategy that has been exceptionally effective.”
“I don’t know why we didn’t see this coming sooner.” Rion’s gaze fell on Francesca.
“Because you are not old enough,” Francesca observed. “None of you were around during the Renaissance.”
“I beg your pardon!” Sevrin entered the room with a fresh tray of refreshments. “Some of us indeed were! Don’t you dare lump me in with the rest of the kids,” he grinned at Francesca.
“I stand corrected.” She smiled, elegantly holding her glass. “I keep forgetting there is another adult in the house. Perhaps you should pretend to be one?”
“Never again. I tried that once. It was the most terrifying thirty seconds of my life.”
The tired joke at least drew chuckles from the serious crowd.
“The only thing we know now that we didn’t know then, when the Seven began stepping up their attacks on the Sentinels was,” Sevrin turned to offer the tray to Lisa and Kent, “the existence of the Kir. All of us thought they’d been extinct.”
Rion was nodding, a frown crossing his lips.
“But the Kir were only recently brought out of stasis?” Carson questioned.
“Were they?” Francesca sipped from her glass.
“I don’t think I like the sound of this,” Jerrod glared. “You’re saying the Kir have been helping the Seven? For centuries!?”
“It’s a very plausible explanation, Jerrod.” Rion connected the dots that Francesca had just brought up. “It would explain more than just a lot about how the Seven were able to thwart the Sentinels and slowly destroy us. We had no idea we were facing an enemy this powerful.”
“A Kir has been hiding in the shadows for centuries?” Dark groaned. “Pulling the strings of the Seven? Now I really don’t like the sound of this.”
“Rion, Francesca,” Carson began, “what makes you think the Seven have a Kir ally?”
“It makes sense, Carson.” Rion set his empty glass on Sevrin’s tray as he passed. “Almaty is also a stone’s throw from Tian Shan—the largest of the ancient Kir sanctuaries.”
“If that’s true, then, Rion—we have to assume that somehow these off-worlders might somehow be connected to the Seven and this clandestine Kir, whoever they are. Alright. I can see that we need to regroup around this situation. We’re not going to be able to defend Aden by just sitting in the shadows any longer. The governments have exposed the existence of the Ra on their media. Okay, I think it’s time we showed the world who the Ra really are. And what we’re capable of. We can’t hide any longer.”
Linked by their empathy, all the gods began nodding in agreement.
Dark, your clan has been the backbone of the Dominion Guard—I’m going to need to ask you for more.”
“We’re ready, Carson.” Dark responded.
“Rion, the Dominion needs more than just satellites now. We need real vessels. I know at one time the Sentinels had fleets. We need to put those ships into service again with real crews.
“Francesca, contact the Zuruahã. Tell Piero the days of the gods hiding in the shadows are over. We need their alliance, and every manned vessel they have aloft.”
She nodded.
Rion was suddenly grinning. Serena, Kent and Jerrod were already smirking, along with Francesca and the sun gods.
“What’s so funny?” Carson asked.
“Congratulations, Carson.” Rion smiled at him.
“I’m sorry?”
“Apparently Aden needs a global defense force.”
“Damn right it does.” He agreed.
“Looks like you just put yourself in charge of it.”
“I did?”
58
Z aer, Kira and Tanner all gathered in the main room of the log cabin and watched as a frustrated look crossed Amethyst’s face. She touched the end call button of her phone. “Scott’s not answering.”
“Perhaps he’s been delayed for some reason?” the Captain offered.
“He knows the mission. Besides, you don’t delay a Ra,
Captain. Especially a Reborn.”
“Unless you happen to be another Reborn,” Zaer mused.
“I’m going to head over to the airport; to see what I can.”
“Are you sure that’s wise? The exit window is very narrow on this rotation. Our transport will be leaving in only a few hours—with or without you.”
“Then don’t wait if I’m not back. The Imperium needs what you have.”
“And what if the boy gives me difficulty?”
Amethyst smiled wryly. She looked at Tanner and then back at Captain Zaer. “Then kill him. There will be others.”
“As you wish,” the Captain nodded, looking at the youthful pair who suddenly took each other into their arms with anxious looks on their faces.
* * * * *
This ship is really small.” Kira looked around the tiny crew’s quarters where the two of them had been unceremoniously stuffed. It reminded her of a typical wide-body commercial aircraft the Humans used, only without the lift surface wings. She listened to the soft sounds the vessel made, then looked out of a row of large, floor to ceiling curved hull windows as it lifted from the Earth and accelerated smoothly through the darkness in the dead of night. Tanner sat next to her on one of the bunks of the locked room that had become their impromptu holding cell, looking out of the windows as well.
“It looked big to me,” Tanner responded.
“Only two hundred feel long and eight other people is not huge, Tanner. This is a stealth vessel. They’re flying under the radar, as you Humans would say.”
“Do you really still think of me as a Human?” he asked.
“I guess I do. Probably because of your culture. How you carry yourself. How you move and the way you talk.”
“I don’t move like you do, that’s for sure. You’re beautiful the way you walk. Your voice is almost musical.”
Paradisus (Awakened Book 6) Page 22