Imperium Knight Chaos Rising (The Hunter Imperium Book 6)

by Timothy Ellis

  “Yeah. So we need to find out the most likely reason why something went wrong, and get it fixed.”

  “Why?” asked Amanda.

  “Because George.”

  “Oh.”

  “What about George?” asked Alison.

  “By now he’s already up shit creek and hasn’t recognized it yet, or up shit creek and can’t find a paddle.”

  “So?”

  “He could be anywhere, and since he’s off our nav grid, it’ll take forever to get there without magic.”

  “Can’t we…”

  I cut Alana off.

  “Syrinx is too busy doing station rifts. Jon is who knows where out there in the core moving Ralnor or Keerah fleets around. And there are no other mages who can move us long distance.”

  “Tanith might,” suggested Amanda. “But I assume he’s with Jon.”

  “He’s not. I checked. Jane and I are meeting with him tomorrow on Redoubt.”

  Amanda gave me a look. I knew exactly what she was wondering. Why was I doing all the organizing? It wasn’t something I was noted for.

  “There is something you can do,” I cut her off from voicing her thoughts with.

  “What?”

  “The team of mages who researched and built the jump device need to be collected.”

  “Collected?” echoed BA.

  “Yeah. Jane and I will talk Tanith into helping us solve whatever was wrong with it, but we’ll need to lean on the team who built it to find out exactly what they did.”

  “Lean on?” asked Alana. “Now you’re talking.”

  “Where do we find them?” asked Aleesha.

  “Jane knows. Ask her when she shows up this afternoon.”

  They nodded, and with little else to say, we all stripped off and headed for the water. Skinny dipping was not really my thing, but I’d been around these girls enough it didn’t bother me anymore. I’d even learned not to be bothered by George being part of the group. Jon as well, but he was more aloof these days. I certainly wasn’t as modest as I’d used to be.

  After a dip, I lay face down on a towel, and let the sun warm me. I’d had a nice quiet night before, just me and Nut, and a comfortable bed. Nut really didn’t care where he was these days, as long as he had a cat tree to either sleep on, or hang upside down from. But unlike Jon’s Angel, he had no interest in space, and had never stayed put in a ready room or bridge. He always went back to his tree, or my bed.

  Mind you, I’d never really felt any ship I’d been on was home, so I’d made no attempt to really make my digs into a home. Jon had simply duplicated everything, so wherever he was, he just needed to move Angel there as he moved. And she was getting to the point where a lot of the time she simply walked with him and Aline. Smart cat.

  Nut on the other hand was a cuddle puss, and needed to be carried or put in a cage to move. He was smart in his own way, but seemed content with Angel being top puss in the lick group they both belonged to.

  I started organizing thoughts about how to turn the captain’s quarters of my new ship into a more permanent home, both for me and Nut. And hopefully Chris as well, if he was ever able to visit. By the time I turned over, I found I was in the middle of a line of naked girls, all sunbathing, I hadn't noticed had joined me.

  All our belts lined up.

  I reviewed the message I’d done for Bob again, and sent it. It included a vid of my suite on Haven, which while I was never there very much, was the closest thing to home I had. It was a start though, and I’d made suggestions to improve it.

  In theory, I should be paying for some of this myself, but then, Jon tended to be generous with his ship captains, and I’d not heard of any of them being billed for any extras they wanted for either their quarters or their ready rooms. Lieutenant Commander didn’t pay all that much, but then, I had nothing really to spend it on, so my bank balance was quite healthy.

  Jon’s generosity had included ownership of our own suites on Haven, so technically, if there was any influx of residents to the station who wanted to buy prime accommodation, the suite would be worth a fortune. On the other hand, having a luxury suite there was a good thing. Chris had his own suite of course, but his wasn’t a floor down from the Imperator’s own, and was half the size, and in the military tower instead.

  Thinking of Chris made me wish he was here. Well, not so much here, here and now. Alone on a beach here would have been better. While I’m quite sure him being naked with all us girls wouldn’t have been an issue with him, I really wouldn’t want to share that with them. He was mine after all. Maybe. Hopefully.

  We soaked up the sun until lunchtime, put the basics on, moved into the eating area behind the beach, and girl talked our way through lunch. Not long after, as we were thinking about swimming again, Jane landed a shuttle on the beach, and we went to greet her.

  A mage walked slowly down the stairs, using a cane. Jane was walking beside her in case she stumbled.

  She looked very old.

  Twelve

  “This is the oracle,” said Jane.

  “Welcome,” I said, to get in the first words. “Can you help us find George?”

  “What’s an oracle?” demanded Amanda, getting a few annoyed looks.

  As far as I knew, George and Amanda had never been together. Marine code and all that. But Amanda was fixating on finding George to the exclusion of everything else now, including manners it seemed.

  “We have the sight, dear,” said the oracle. “Every few generations, those with magic birth a child without it, but we see what needs to be seen for those who need guidance or foresight.”

  “So you tell the future?” asked BA.

  “No. We see what we are allowed to see. But you have to understand, looking at the future changes the future, because you looked at it. It’s dynamic and alive, and once you look, you can’t un-look it.”

  “Do you have a name?” I asked, trying to take the intensity down a few notches.

  “We, who are oracles, do not use names. If you want a reference though, Thorn is my great uncle.”

  “Great uncle?” wondered Abagail, who I could see doing the math in her head.

  “Yes.”

  “So you’re…”

  “Yes. Middle aged by our standards.”

  “How…”

  Abagail stopped, looking shocked.

  “How am I looking so old? You saw my great aunt and her friends, did you not?”

  “We did,” said Alison. “The timeline shift did this to you?”

  “Indeed.”

  “So why haven’t you been in one of our care units?”

  I think we all wanted to know that one, but Alison, being a medic, was the one not understanding it the most. After all, Thorn, his wife, and friends had all been restored greatly by a night in the care units.

  “I have no time for technology. Those of us who are oracle tend to live as hermits, with as simple an existence as we can manage.”

  “That’s not a reason why,” said Alana.

  “Sounds like an excuse to me,” said Agatha.

  “It’s none of your business, dears. I am content. I’ve witnessed the universe change, and survived it. For a time at least. Where’s my scrying platter?”

  I saw Amanda and Alison make eye contact. But the rest were looking at the shuttle stairs, where a small cargo droid was carrying a large platter down towards us. It placed it on the sand in front of the oracle, and she quickly moved more sand to make it level.

  Water appeared in it suddenly, almost filling it, and reflecting those of us closest to it. She waved a hand over it, and the reflections vanished.

  “No magic, my arse,” muttered BA, and we all had a problem keeping our faces straight.

  The oracle didn’t seem to have heard, and was now sitting cross legged beside the platter, and looking deeply into it.

  “Form a circle around me,” she commanded, and we did so, standing so we all could look down on the water. “Whom do you seek?”

&nb
sp; “George Murdock,” said Amanda.

  “Who is he to you all?”

  “Our friend,” said Aleesha, who’d been silent for quite a while, I suddenly realized.

  “One of us,” said Alana.

  “Family,” said BA.

  Well, he was that. We all gave up our families when the door to Gaia had closed behind them, with our choice to stay with Jon. They’d welcomed me into their team, and family summed us up now quite nicely. These were my sisters, and George was our brother.

  Warm and fuzzy moment, and I think we all felt it.

  Images rippled across the water, most of them too fast for any of us to make out what they were. And suddenly, there was George, standing in a forest clearing, sword swinging, and a Trixone going down in front of him. He looked fine, although focused. The image vanished.

  “Fine your friend is. Stranded for now, but he is where he needs to be.”

  She looked at me, and I was surprised to see her eyes were closed.

  “Correct you are, dear. He will not be returning to you. You must go to him.”

  “Where is he though?” I asked.

  “Such is your quest. You will arrive when you will arrive. In the meantime, he has been through fire, and has more fire in front of him, and actions to make of great importance to all.”

  “So we will find him?” asked Amanda.

  “The future is not set, and already it begins to change. All I can say for certain is you will meet again. Whether that happens because you find him, or he finds you, is yet to be written. But neither will happen unless you quest first.”

  She turned back to me.

  “Child, your path is clear. Do what must be done, for the sake of all.”

  The water vanished, and her eyes opened. She looked at Jane, who hadn't said anything since her introduction.

  “Take me home please, dear, I must now sleep.”

  The cargo droid pushed through between BA and Alana, and picked up the platter again, turning and carrying it back onto the shuttle. Jane offered a hand to the oracle, and helped her up. The old woman who wasn’t really old, began shuffling up the stairs. At the top, Jane let her arm go, and we watched her take a seat.

  “Jane.”

  Jane looked down at us. Amanda just looked at her. She nodded, stepped in, the stairs retracted, and we backed away so it could lift off. A minute later, it was gone.

  No-one said anything as we stripped off again, and headed for the water, but I had a pretty good idea what that was all about.

  The oracle would be waking up in the morning feeling at least twenty years younger.

  Thirteen

  It was definitely an ambush, but not set for us.

  We walked into a clearing unexpectedly, due to the forest being high canopied, allowing high bushy scrub to thrive as undergrowth. We had no audio warning. One second bush, the next open ground with a melee in progress. We all paused.

  In the center of several dozen Trixone, was a knight. And I mean, knight in shining armour, knight. No horse, just a silver clad figure wielding a mean looking long sword. Given the figure was a lot taller than I was, it was definitely a long sword in the broadsword fashion. It made mine look small.

  The Knight was hacking away, and the obviously sharp sword on wood was not even making an axe sound. The ground was already littered with dismembered plants.

  There was a moment when the entire glade came to a standstill, looking at us. We looked back. No-one moved, except the knight, who lopped off another flower, the hapless plant going down to join the rest. Most of those still alive, came at us instead.

  “Swords,” I bellowed, and as one, the nine of us drew the sword off our backs, and stepped into the oncoming plants.

  I’d been practicing this on the marine courses for weeks now, so I wasn’t prepared for the plant in front of me not going down with my first swing. I mean, Dreamwalker did it. Me, fail. Serious what the fuck moment, as I swung a second time, my suit now in full protection made as the stinger swiped my face, and this time the flower detached, and the plant went down.

  The rest had needed only one swipe, and so by the time I looked for another target, there wasn’t one. I reached up to lean the sword against my back, and the suit reformed a sheath around it, and pulled it in.

  The knight was looking at us, but all we could see were eyes looking through small slits. The eyes narrowed as my suit shifted back to normal. Sim, whose suit had not changed at all, was examining one of the dead plants. She looked up at me.

  “Interesting. They’ve had an armour upgrade.”

  “Is that your way of saying the bark is thicker?”

  “No, I mean they’re wearing a form of armour which only looks like bark now. These are real soldiers.”

  “They’re still relying on their stingers though. Shouldn’t they have real weapons if they’re real soldiers?”

  “You’d think so,” said Gor. “Especially if our knight over there is the normal they’d be fighting here.”

  Our eyes all turned back to the knight, who was still brandishing the sword ready to use again if necessary. I looked around my group, and they all still had their swords out.

  “I think we can stand down now.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Gor sounded skeptical.

  “I will if you will.”

  My eyes had gone to Gor, but now I looked back at the knight. The sword was expertly sheathed, and when I shot a glance at Gor and Sim, the whole group did the same thing I’d done.

  In the time it took for weapons to be put away, it dawned on me the words had not been translated. My face must have shown my confusion, because the knight laughed. The whole face section of the armour suddenly swiveled up, showing a young female face, which further added to my confusion.

  Under the armour she wasn’t wearing any sort of protective clothing. But the armour itself was correctly fashioned to deflect anything hitting it, and keep any deflection away from the face. The armour was right, but what was underneath was not. In theory, any decent hit, or dent, would cause at least a serous bruise. Mind you, stingers didn’t bruise you. Kill yes, but not dent or bruise.

  “You’re human, aren’t you?”

  Definitely a female voice, but the cut of the armour was most definitely male, except for the groin area, which wasn’t. My confusion deepened.

  Sim and Gor were looking at me. The combat droids started moving to circle the glade. I nodded to Gor, but put my attention back on the knight.

  “Yes. And I wasn’t looking to find other humans here.”

  She laughed again. I frowned, and it seemed to encourage her. Finally she stopped, but continued grinning.

  “Oh there’s no humans on this planet, I can assure you.”

  “Could have fooled me.”

  “Good.”

  Gor was frowning like I was, although Sim was grinning now.

  “Look closer George.”

  I looked closer, and saw what I thought she was meaning. The face wasn’t quite right. And I don’t mean the slight green tinge to the skin colour. There was something not right about the skin itself.

  “Your name is George?”

  “Yes. George Murdock.”

  “You have a rank, George?”

  “Fleet Captain.”

  She nodded.

  “I’m Willow. Knight Colonel. Nice to meet you.”

  She walked to the middle of the glade, and waited. So I walked over as well, Gor two steps behind me. Sim stayed where she was. I automatically held my hand out as I approached her. She looked confused for a moment, smiled again, and held out hers. We shook, and released. My gloves were suit, and hers were actual armour. Which made no sense since it stretched like gloves did.

  And now I could see what the facial issue was.

  She had scales.

  Very small ones, but definitely scales.

  “Not quite what you expected, am I?” she laughed again.

  “Sorry, no. We had no expectations o
f what the indigenous species here would be. But from a distance, you look remarkably human.”

  “So they told us. But we’re nothing like you.”

  “Umm, who told you?”

  “We had a group of humans come through here a year or so ago. Except they didn’t call themselves humans, just warned us one day we might come across actual humans, who looked like them.”

  “Did they have names?”

  “Sure. Although like us, only one. Do all your people have two names?”

  “Most. But we often don’t use the second one, except for formal occasions.”

  “So are you George, or Murdock?”

  “George to my friends.”

  “Are we going to be friends, George?”

  “I’ll let you know in due course.”

  “As will I.”

  She laughed again. One of us was enjoying this conversation a lot more than the other was. I waited, but she said nothing more.

  “And?”

  “And what?”

  “And what were the other names?”

  “Ah, well you probably never heard of them.”

  “Try me.”

  “The leader’s name was Arthur. Oh, so you do know them?”

  My face was showing nothing. Maybe I needed to work on it more. I had been surprised.

  “We met them some weeks ago. I’ve no idea where they are now though.”

  “Not here. They taught us a number of your languages, and left. We don’t expect them to return. And we really didn’t think we’d be seeing humans at all. But here you are.”

  So why bother learning the languages? But now wasn’t the time.

  “Where is here?”

  “You don’t know?”

  “It’s a long story.”

  “We’ve plenty of time for it. I assume you’ll be wanting to come with me?”

  “Are you heading for the city under attack?”

  “Not directly. The rest of my unit is not far from here. We’ll go there first.”

  “Will we be welcome?”

  “Yes, George. The enemy of my enemy and all that. Even more so if you know who the damn things are, and how to fight them effectively.”

  “That’s a story too. But the important bit is they’re at war with the whole galaxy, and if they’re here, they intend to eat your people.”