“I’m not letting either of you stay here,” Gage reasserted.
Dane nodded. “I’m not going to interfere. Tanner, you must go with them.”
“But—”
“Please. Don’t argue. We will see each other again.”
“Don’t bet on it,” Gage groused.
“I understand your anger—Yin Gage. Forgive my interference.” Dane wrapped Tanner in the sheet and moved him toward the small group. Then Dane watched as one-by-one all of them disappeared into nothing, with Tanner not taking his eyes away from Dane’s as he slipped into nothing.
Dane closed his eyes, his soul sinking in frustration, pain, and sadness. He dropped onto the bed sitting, pain all over his face now hidden by his drooped head.
All of them watched Dane for long moments from their vessel. They all felt what he was feeling until the portal winked out of existence.
Kira turned her stormy eyes toward Gage. She struck him, hard in his armored chest sending him back a step. Kirin had never seen his sister this angry, ever.
“Who in the HELL do you think you are!” she glared with eyes of anger.
Gage was suddenly taken aback. “Kira—” he began.
She struck him hard again, but this time he was prepared for the punch and he didn’t move from her blow.
“Oooh!” the pain of hitting the solid glass only seemed to infuriate her more. Like some sorceress, Kira waved her hands away in a smooth motion and without warning Gage’s armor all at once fled from his body, falling like grains of sand scattering to the floor. The Kir woman took another step toward him. Now unarmored, Gage suddenly took a step back, not actually wanting to get struck by her fist as angry as she was. Kira’s finger now wagged in Gage’s face.
“Don’t you EVER stand in my way again, Gage Cameron! EVER! Or so help me, Reborn or whatever the hell you are, I will end your pathetic existence with the Kir!” She pushed him out of her way and left the room.
Gage heard a soft whistle leaving Kirin’s lips. “Man you pissed her off but good. I’ve never even seen Kira angry—until now.”
“Well I wasn’t going to just let her leave—” he motioned his flight-suited-gloved hand toward Tanner. “Never mind. I’m taking us back home.” Then he looked at Tanner still wrapped in the purple silken sheet. “Dude, go find a flight suit.”
Then Gage left the two guys standing in the vessel’s lounge.
The fire in Tanner’s eyes was still burning but then slowly faded out after Gage left the room.
“You okay?” Kirin asked Tanner.
“Sure.”
“I’m Kirin, by the way.” He extended his hand.
“Tanner, Levi.” Both shook hands firmly. “I take it Kira’s your sister? You look a lot alike.”
“She is.”
“Where’d you dig up the dickhead?” Tanner asked.
Kirin sighed. “Sorry about that. Gage is used to being in charge. Sometimes I think he forgets he’s not.”
65
A methyst had never seen a psionic dampening collar in her life. Her synapses were all firing, attempting to build a psionic charge of something, anything, but whatever device had been clasped around her neck prevented all but the most rudimentary ability. She could still sense empathically, but little else.
Cuffed in glass-steel and psionically dampened, several heavily armed demigod guards escorted her and Captain Zaer from their captured vessel. Amethyst had seen Sentinel vessels before. But this one was very different. Much more massive than any of the others—only the Ganymede was larger. With such power at their disposal she wondered how the Seven had even been allowed to survive. Still, even a vessel of this size was nothing in comparison to the ones she’d seen just outside the cloud. None of them, the Sentinels or the Seven, stood a prayer of a chance against the might of the Imperium.
Their security escorts were dressed in an updated design of the Dominion Guard uniforms. Obviously the Sentinels had placed Carson in command of something they were now calling the DDF, their Dominion Defense Force. Still, the Sentinels were playing with fire. Even with a Reflex-powered vessel this size, it was nothing compared to size of Dane’s armada.
They were led to the observation bridge’s holo floor where the command crew of the Tiburion were waiting.
“Well, if it isn’t the dashing Admiral Dark,” Amethyst prodded with a sweetly sarcastic tone. “Oh, and you brought your little puppy dog as well. You know you really should get a collar for her. They have leash laws these days.”
Kari glared.
“Oh, hello Beau,” Amethyst smiled. “How are the real gods these days? All of you Invicti looked so dashing in your new royal attire.”
“What are you doing, Amy?” Beau was still a little astonished that she was involved with the Imperium.
“Just making some new friends. The Invicti would be wise to do the same.” She gave Beau an obvious wink.
Dark ignored her banter.
“Your vessel’s logs tell me your name is Zaer,” Dark addressed the captain.
“That is correct,” Zaer confirmed.
“That’s quite a fleet you’ve assembled.”
“Indeed. Unfortunately, for you, it is only a small fraction of what awaits you at Orion,” Zaer offered matter-of-factly, apparently undisturbed by his capture and unafraid of his new captors.
“Captain, if you don’t mind telling me, why are you here?”
“Not at all. We’ve come to retrieve what your ancestors stole.”
“And what was that, exactly?”
“Reflex, of course.”
Dark’s eyebrow went up.
“Apparently the Universe doesn’t want the Ra having Reflex.” Kari addressed the Captain.
He ignored her. Like she wasn’t even there.
“Kar-kar,” Amethyst piped up, “the Ra only talk to women who are of royal descent. You’re just the rabble, sweetie.”
“That’s an interesting culture,” Kari lamented to Dark.
“How long have you been visiting our world, Captain?”
“Only a few hundred years. We’ve been studying you and your people for some time, Admiral Mitchell Dark. Oh, yes. I know intimately who you are. Leader of the infamous Dark Clan and husband of the newly ascended Apostle Elizabeth Connor.” Zaer finally acknowledged Kari’s existence in the room.
“That’s unfortunate, for us.” Dark glared at Amethyst.
“Oh, don’t look at me like that now, Dark,” she feigned a pout, “I only just found out about them myself a while back. You and I really do need to keep up.”
“Tossing your father and the Seven under the bus now are we?” Dark asked Amethyst.
“Not at all. We’re all just one big happy family. Well, except for poor Rowan. He’s apparently on the endangered species list now.”
“Who’s Rowan?” Kari asked.
“Never mind, I’ll tell you later,” Dark assured her.
“Admiral Dark,” Zaer began, “under the circumstances, were you to deliver this vessel to the Ra, I am most certain the High Prince would guarantee the safety of your homeworld. None of you, actually, have committed any crime against the Imperium. It would be a momentous act of good will between our peoples.
“It would open a path to a momentous treaty between our two worlds. The Ra would bring an end world hunger and cultural strife, and promote religious deference. The new commerce would make every man, and woman,” Zaer nodded a glance at Kari, “wealthy beyond measure within the Imperium.”
“That’s an interesting offer, but Reflex isn’t mine to give you.”
“Oh? Then whose?”
“His—” Dark nodded at Beau. “And hers.” Dark looked at Kari.
“I see.” Captain Zaer nodded at Beau but continued to ignore Kari. “Then perhaps, Yin Beau, you and the rest of your Invicti brethren would entertain a formal invitation to meet with the High Prince?”
Beau raised his eyebrow and then looked at Dark. He had absolutely no idea what to do. Th
is was all completely above whatever pay grade he’d been given by fate as one of the new Invicti. But he was a businessman, after all, and he’d just been offered an opportunity. He wasn’t going to waste it.
“That’s an intriguing offer, Captain Zaer. I will present it to the Invictus Council.”
Dark frowned. He might be in-charge of the DDF but he sure as hell wasn’t in-charge of the gods. He hoped whatever Beau and the rest of the Invicti were planning would get communicated to the Dominion at some point. They needed to be working as a team.
“Excellent. In the mean time, Admiral, I should inform you that I am an official emissary of His Majesty the High Prince of the Ra Imperium. It is a capital offense to detain such an emissary against his will.”
“I’ll take my chances, Captain. But thanks for the warning.”
“Release the Captain, and his vessel, Admiral,” Beau spoke up.
Both Dark and Kari now glared at him. Dark didn’t have a problem taking orders but he didn’t appreciate having his decisions countermanded in front of other crew. It was his ship at the moment. Perhaps Beau didn’t understand command structure yet. He would take it up with Rion later. Dark nodded his acknowledgement to the Invictus god.
“Amy, you’re under arrest,” Beau continued.
“Don’t be such a bore, Beau, I haven’t—”
“You are free to go, Captain Zaer,” Beau interrupted. “but Amethyst is the ward of Invictus Interra. I’m sure you can understand.”
Zaer smiled his approval. He could argue that Amethyst was also a ward of the Imperium, but under the circumstances, he was already pushing his luck getting off this vessel with his ship and crew in-tact. The witch was on her own.
“I will see to it personally that his Highness is aware of your graciousness, Yin Beau.”
* * * * *
Kira had already left the ship with Tanner as soon as they’d begun their orbital approach. Gage and Kirin returned the vessel to the sanctuary’s hangar. Neither of them had said all that much on the trip home. Now Gage wandered the empty lower corridors of their sanctuary, sulking. He didn’t have a good feeling about what had happened and even though he was a Reborn, he was pretty sure that wasn’t going to keep him out of trouble within the Kir Democracy.
By afternoon, Savannah had caught up with him as he moped through some cavernous random corridor deep within the sanctuary. She found him leaning against a clear glass-steel wall watching thousands of bots on the other side building a new Kir vessel. The bots flew and zoomed in and out all around the massive half-completed ship driven by singled-minded intelligences all their own.
“Hey,” she began. She was far too peppy for his current mood. “What are you doing down here?”
“Wondering if I’ve been voted off the island,” he sulked.
“Yea, well, not quite.”
“Oh?” He lifted his eyes to hers.
“Let’s just say that no one’s happy about what you did to Kira; but Trac pretty much took his sister out behind the woodshed with a willow switch as well—and right in front of everyone. I guess in Kir culture, the older family members hold a lot of sway.”
“How is Kira doing?”
“She’s fine. She’ll get over it. The Kir may be sovereign as individuals, Gage, but these are weighty issues we’re dealing with here. She didn’t have a lot of support from the group. Kira endangered the whole community.”
“Try the whole planet.”
“She knows, Gage, trust me. The whole group pretty much tore her a new one. I don’t think she’ll be gallivanting off like she did again any time soon; not without some protection anyway. We’re all still a Democracy and she’s still part of it; she should have talked with all of us first. You did the right thing in my opinion; but you maybe should have discussed it instead of just bulldozed over her.”
Gage sighed. “Yea. Hindsight.”
“Anyway, everyone’s thinking about what Kira and Tanner found out about Prince Dane. It’s an interesting plan.”
“It’s not a plan. Dane just wants to use us to get what he wants, the throne of the Ra.”
“And if we help him get it?”
“Do you really want to arm the Ra with the power of the gods, Savannah?”
“No.”
“That’s what he’s after. Dane wants what all of the Ra want—supreme, unlimited power.”
“You don’t really know that. Maybe he’s not like his father?”
“Yea. Fat chance. Eventually, he’ll become just like his old man. Only he’ll have Reflex at his command. It’s a foolish gambit.”
“We can’t fight them, Gage. You saw the size of that fleet. It’s only a matter of time before they find a way in here. And once they do, they’ll just take what they want and leave the whole Earth in ruin.”
“Probably.”
“Earth is our home.”
“What do you want me to do, Savannah?”
“I don’t know.”
“We’re not just talking about Earth here. If the Ra obtain Reflex, it opens the whole Universe to them. They can bounce from galaxy to galaxy, taking whatever they want.”
“Then maybe Dane needs us as well.”
Gage raised his eyebrow at her.
“He called us the Yin. Apparently a psionic race was not unknown to the Ra. He was pretty afraid of y’all.”
“He’d just be using us.”
“And we’d be using him—to keep ourselves from getting deep fried.”
“That’s a really big gamble, Savannah. If this fails, we’re all dead.”
“Gage. In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re a tiny town and there’s a fleet the size of Texas loaded for bear sittin’ on our doorstep. We’re already dead. You know that, right?”
Gage pursed his lips. He nodded.
66
T he mid-day lunch rush had long passed. The high-class pub was mostly quiet now with only a handful of people in business suits sitting here and there talking quietly with open MacBooks. It would give Rion a good place to just sit and try to relax, and think about what to do about an armada of vessels poised to turn his homeworld into a lifeless smoldering cinder.
A lone older man sat at the long bar, quietly sipping from his whisky. It didn’t take Rion but a moment to recognize him as the same uninvited guest he’d met many months ago in his apartment back in San Antonio. The old Texan had said his name was Henry, but Rion was pretty sure that wasn’t Henry’s real name. How the old man had just let himself into Rion’s apartment without so much as tripping on the lights was something Rion respected. There was much more to this old man than his simple Texas visage and deep Southern drawl veiled. Henry’s unexpected presence in this particular pub just as Rion was walking in was obviously no accident of fate either. Clearly, the old man, whoever he was, wanted to talk.
Rion made his way through the mostly empty pub to a stool beside the old Texan.
“Henry, you seem to get around pretty well—for an old coot.” Rion began with a cautious smile and speaking words from an ancient tongue time had long, long forgotten.
Henry returned the smile. The warmth in his aged eyes felt oddly disarming to Rion. They were kind eyes. Old, yet full of life and a wisdom Rion could only begin to sense. The spark in the old man’s eyes reminded him in some ways of his dad’s eyes when just the two of them would have long talks together.
Henry finished the short sip from his glass and set it down. “You speak the tongue of our people with elegance, Rion,” the old man continued to speak in Ra, but his Texan drawl never left. “My compliments to your parents. They raised you well. God rest them.”
Rion nodded in respect.
A young, friendly bartender approached, dressed in a kind of uniform that fit the rustic decor of the pub. “What can I get for you, Sir?” he asked Rion.
Rion motioned toward Henry’s glass. “Whatever my friend here is having.”
“Sure.”
“Henry,” Rion returned to his conversation wi
th the old man in their ancient tongue, “I’m pretty sure this isn’t just a chance meeting.”
“No,” Henry responded. “No, it’s not, unfortunately.”
“I guess I know now what this is about; what you were trying to tell me back at my apartment. You mentioned some powerful people had focused their attention on our ‘Garden of Eden’. I thought you were talking about the Wraith.”
The old man chuckled and took another short swallow from his small glass. “Not hardly. Terrell’s little band of thieves didn't have a prayer with one of us at the helm of Interra, let alone two of you. How is Serena by the way? You two still talking, I hope?”
Rion groaned. “Don't ask.”
“You kids mystify me sometimes. You fall in love and the when the first real disagreement breaks out you run for the hills.”
“We have very different goals, Henry. She hates what I do.”
“She's still acclimating to her new world, Rion. Give’r time. She'll come around.”
“We may not have much time, Henry. The Ra armada is here.”
“They’ve been here—for a while now.”
“Maybe you could have been a little less cryptic last year when we talked back in my apartment?”
“Perhaps.” He smiled. “You had other things to worry about.”
“The most massive fleet anyone could imagine sits at the edge of our system—and all you can say is ‘perhaps’?”
“Perhaps,” Henry repeated.
Rion scoffed with a smirk. “Nice.”
“I did what I could, Rion. At the time. But now that you know what you’re up against, I think it’s time you knew the truth.”
“About?”
As Henry looked at Rion, the kindness and softness of Henry’s eyes turned suddenly serious. The old man’s look sent a subtle shiver down the back of Rion’s neck. “About who you are; and where we came from.”
“I’m listening.”
“Rion, you’ve studied the ancient scriptures, the Books of Ra, the Incept tome.”
Paradisus (Awakened Book 6) Page 26