Star Angel: Prophecy

by David G. McDaniel

  But she brushed it away and the party rolled on and people were talking and talking and asking questions. Jess apologized for the dramatic entry. Nani had set the coordinates according to where the tablet was used, referring to detailed maps she had of the Earth, structures and so forth, and her previous settings had been perfect and these were too, only this time they popped into a room filled with people and, as the device auto-corrected whatever mass adjustments were made, the pop knocked a few people down and created quite a commotion.

  Egg made herself settle down. Made herself look around and absorb everything without trying to do it all at once.

  Deep breaths.

  It was hard, and the fact that she was now on Earth, yet another world, so unreal, home of the angel and, actually, now that she thought of it, the supposed “heaven”, from where their old Emperor came … it was just too much. Her head was spinning, a tingle-inducing sense of displacement and she was no longer sure it was just from the transfer. A few days ago she hadn’t even been out of her home city; now she’d been to two different worlds.

  Satori found her way into the middle of the bustle. Egg recognized her, the red-headed commander of near-legendary status, Dominion princess who became a warrior for the enemy. Even among the Dominion she was respected. She had an eye patch now but was as beautiful as any picture Egg had seen. She, too, was happy to see Jess and it was a heartfelt reunion. Another Venatres commander, the handsome, black-skinned Willet, was there too, and then others, and as Egg finally began to breathe—and got shoved further and further from the center of the action—she had the epiphany that these people, all of them, loved Jess. Really loved her. No one could believe what she’d done and Egg couldn’t either, and they were in awe and Jess was simply amazing and Egg could not have agreed more. They loved her like some sort of hero and, for that, Egg wasn’t really surprised. Everyone adored the angel, wherever she’d been, but the sheer outpouring of affection, here and in this setting, the happiness of these people to have Jess there with them …

  It was incredible.

  Egg listened as everyone continued to talk, the whole affair settling at length into some semblance of organization and purpose. There were various groups among the humans, groups with prior differences now united in the common cause, kind of like on Anitra, banded together for the fight. The ones identified as “British”, interestingly, called Jess “mom” or “mum” when they addressed her in their peculiar accents. “Right, mom,” they would say when she spoke. “Which way was that, mum?” “Over here, mum. Have a look at this.” It was clearly meant as a term of respect, probably very high regard, but Egg found it amusing to think of them referring to Jess as their mother.

  Of course Jess totally deserved the respect she was getting, and Egg noticed they reserved the term exclusively for her.

  After some time she found herself standing with her dad and Zac and Jess and a smaller handful of the members of the cell. One of them was a guy named Pete, the most vocal of the bunch, and he was relating the details of the mission to board the Kel flagship and plant the hack and rescue Satori. He described how they were all sure they were “tits up”—dead, Egg gathered—and yet they somehow made it through. As he talked Egg continued to soak up the contents of the humble safe house, people hard at work, all of it so different and yet so much like home. This place was gritty, no real uniformity to the equipment or the clothes, but it was a bunch of dedicated people gathered in secret, just like the Conclave, just like she’d grown up with her whole life, and she could feel the energy of their purpose.

  It was exciting to think she was here to help.

  “A toast,” Pete was saying, passing around plastic cups to the small group. “To Steve,” he said as he handed out the last. Steve was one of the guys lost on their mission. He was part of Pete’s team before all this began, and they were friends going way back. Pete had a bottle of what was called whiskey and poured a little in everyone’s cup. He raised his and they all toasted. In memory of a great man.

  Pete got a little choked up.

  Then one of the British guys, their commander, was coming to Jess and putting a hand on her shoulder.

  “You’re up, mum,” he said. “We’re ready.”

  Jess took another swig of whiskey and went to the center of the room. Everyone kind of formed a loose circle around her, giving her space to make an address. As the bodies were shuffling Egg saw Satori nearby and went to stand by her.

  “You were one of us once,” Egg said to her, not really knowing why she did.

  Satori looked to her, her one, blue eye seemingly bluer than humanly possible. Maybe it was just the contrast with the black eye patch over the other.

  “Ah,” she had a look of understanding, putting together what Egg meant. “You’re a Dominion girl. Yes, I was born Dominion.” Then: “I heard we’re friends now.”

  “Yeah.” Egg was so excited. By everything. “There’s a truce.”

  People were still choosing where to stand.

  “You were born a princess,” Egg added, feeling immediately awkward. Why did she keep saying weird things out of context?

  But Satori just smiled.

  Egg forged on. “I heard your parents defected to the Venatres, and that you could’ve come back and reclaimed your title once you were old enough. But you didn’t.”

  Satori nodded. “True.”

  Egg looked her over. “Good choice. You would’ve been bored as a princess.”

  At that Satori chuckled.

  At the center of the room Jess started speaking. Everyone quieted and gave her their attention.

  As she spoke Egg admired how commanding she was, how powerful. Though just a girl like herself, Jess held the full attention and respect of this room filled with older, experienced people, the pinnacle of the Earth’s population, the ones strong enough to fight back, and they listened raptly to everything she said. Jess brought more info from Nani, things to give them, and she spoke briefly of schematics and info on Kel starships and things they would need to know, the same info the Anitran teams had and had been studying. She relayed the details of the coming invasion—and it was coming, soon—and how they should position themselves to assist. She told them Nani had the hack they created, and that it would be crucial, and how they would coordinate. Many details she brought on small devices, things the resistance could and should review, but for now she summarized the situation.

  There was hope.

  She brought other things, things Nani provided that would facilitate better communications and stronger connections to the Kel links, things that would allow them to more confidently execute the triggers and controls contained in their hacks.

  Once the initial assault was underway they expected everything to deteriorate rapidly and, by the time the Anitrans had control of a few Kel starships, it was likely all the impact of their surprise would be used up. Once in use the hack would be discovered, their backdoors would be closed and the Kel would be on full alert and, worse, in full-on attack. Everything depended on the success of those early moments.

  Jess took a bunch of questions then the meeting broke up and everyone in the room was back to their tasks. For a few moments Jess was left to herself—even Zac was off doing something else—and she chose to come directly to Egg and Darvon. After all the attention Jess had just been given Egg felt hugely important to so unexpectedly be speaking with the angel alone.

  Egg smiled as she walked up. Jess had a tender, if concerned, look in her yellow eyes. So human, those eyes, so completely human, and yet golden like the orbs of a great cat. Perfect, Egg thought, a perfect signal to the world that, while she was most definitely human, she was also something much more.

  Jess spoke to her.

  “Are you sure you want to do this?”

  “You mean stay?”

  Jess nodded.

  Egg looked to her dad, then back. “Yes.”

  Jess studied them both. Darvon nodded that he did too. This was originally his
idea, but Egg had seized on the opportunity and she was fully committed.

  “I want to be a part.” Egg took a deep breath. Tried not to sound like a child. “Here I can make a difference. I can finally do what I’ve always talked about. Do you know how much of my life has been spent sitting around talking about great things? Listening to others talk about doing great things, but never actually doing anything?” She glanced at her dad, not wanting to make him or her sound like losers, but it was true. She fixed Jessica’s gaze. “Now’s my chance. I can’t go back to Anitra and sit around waiting to see what happens. It feels like that’s all I’ve ever done.” From the corner of her eye she saw her dad looking at her with admiration. He knew they weren’t losers. She’d just named the very things that motivated him too. He was the one, after all, when Jess needed help that first time on Anitra, who stood up and went with her. Of all of them, her dad was the one who put his life at risk, the one who took action when the rest would’ve just watched things unfold. Not Darvon. Darvon knew exactly what his daughter was talking about, he shared that impulse with her, or she with him, and he wanted to make a difference. Like her he wanted to help.

  And Egg saw that Jess understood that.

  She reached and touched Egg’s hair. The braids were still mostly intact; she’d tried to be careful with them. Jessica’s hair was straight again and in a ponytail. She was in her armor with the hilt of the sword sticking up over her shoulder and, though she was Egg’s height and they saw eye to eye, and though she was actually smaller than Egg, skinnier, to Egg she looked like a complete giant. A warrior with no equal.

  Egg so wanted to be like her.

  Jess smiled as she lightly adjusted the braids. A gentle smile. “You look so good in these.”

  From the side Darvon was smiling too. “They do look beautiful, Egg.”

  “Thanks, Dad,” she turned to him. “Bianca said I totally rock them.”

  Jess laughed and took her hand away. She looked between the both of them, putting on a semi-stern face. Egg could see she wasn’t really stern, she was just pretending. Then she looked directly at her.

  “You take care of your dad, ok?”

  “I will,” she promised.

  It was a tender moment, and Jess hugged them both, hard, told them how much she loved them, how she would see them when this was all over, and then she was back interacting with the others, gathering up Zac and in no time they were getting ready to go. They found a spot and everyone moved back, not wanting a repeat of earlier, Jess waved and Zac waved too and they both bid everyone a temporary farewell and Jess activated the harness and …

  POW!

  A pop of air, a collapse of vacuum, and they were gone.

  Pete whooped. There was a following moment of quiet, then everyone was back to what they were doing.

  Darvon went to talk with Satori and Egg found herself momentarily alone. To her surprise Pete filtered over as the rest of the room dispersed.

  “You friends with her?” He meant Jess, Egg was sure. “You guys go to the same school or something?” Then, conspiratorially—almost uncertainly: “Are you special like her? You got some kind of special powers?”

  For an instant Egg became alarmed. Did Pete know what Jess could do? How many others there knew? Understanding passed between them, before Egg could prevent it; confirmation that she knew what Pete was talking about, and she wished she hadn’t let that fleeting expression betray her trust. She was almost certain Jess wouldn’t want her talking about this, not with anyone. How did Pete know? Why would Jess share that secret with him? Of all people?

  She shrugged like she didn’t know exactly what he meant, though it was too late for that. “No,” she said. “We met on my world.”

  Pete let it go. “She’s really something,” he mused, perfectly satisfied to move on. Maybe he wanted Egg to play dumb. Maybe he didn’t want to talk about it either. “We could use more like her.” Then he was back in the moment.

  “What’s your name? I didn’t catch it.”

  At that she stood straight.

  Proud.

  “Call me Egg.”

  **

  Lindin listened to Nani with the other commanders, out on the open field and standing before the assembled might of one full division of armor, poised for invasion. In the near distance, a lethal backdrop for the hundreds and hundreds of Skull Boys assembled in wait, the Reaver sat on its tremendous landing struts, seemingly overseeing it all. On that empty field, stretching unobstructed for a mile in every direction, only the diminutive size of the rows of powered armor gave away the Reaver’s true mass.

  It was an impressive mustering of forces.

  Nani had returned and rallied everyone for the coming assault. Today she was with the commanders of the Venatres forces, and had been updating them on the direct contact she made with Earth forces, a minor coup, and a little of how that came to be, including adjustments it would make to their plans. From the Earth contact she brought insight into a hack on Kel command and control that could be used. In all it was a welcome addition to what was an incredible long shot. They needed all the help they could get.

  Lindin took a wider look around.

  The large group stood on a flat, raised area in the middle of the staging field, flanked by the rows of Skull Boys and the Reaver in the distance, a light breeze blowing in the sunshine. Hard to believe they were finalizing what was to be the greatest military escapade in Anitran history. As Nani spoke Lindin’s gaze kept drifting to the dark profile of the Reaver.

  One time, not long ago, that ancient marvel was to have shifted the balance of power on this world, giving the Venatres leverage beyond measure, a way to drive the Dominion into total retreat and allow the Venatres to make the demands for peace that would start them on the road to freedom.

  Lindin had missed that chance.

  Waiting instead for the exact right moment, keeping it hidden in his little mountain complex, lording over it until he might unleash its unique grandeur for maximum effect …

  Losing it to a handful of then low-level players. Stolen and put to use, all of that driven by the insane determination of one girl. Now those same players were in charge. Now, remarkably, they, not him, had achieved that once-dreamed-of global peace, almost by accident, driven by a set of circumstances that placed the world in more danger than it had ever been. Now Nani was running the show, Willet and Satori were on Earth, gearing for the fight, and Jessica, the spark that lit this fire, had continued her mysterious quest. Apparently, according to Nani, she was now in possession of something that could, conceivably, change the course of history in ways even the Reaver never possibly could.

  This time Lindin was throwing himself right into the middle of it.

  Not just supporting this suicidal enterprise from afar. Not just being a good commander and staying there on Anitra with the rest, a cog in the leadership machine. No, this time he would fully commit, without reservation, without hesitation—yell a battle cry with the warriors who would execute this suicidal vision and charge to the fore, guns blazing.

  And so he was going. When they went he went too, suiting up with the soldiers and commanders on that field out there in front of him and leaping, right beside them, into the fray.

  CHAPTER 49: THE HEART OF IT

  Showing Zac around the castle felt wrong, in a way; to be doing what seemed so idle, even frivolous, when an entire world had been invaded and another was preparing to go to war, the fate of Man hanging in the balance. As they walked the halls and courtyards, making introductions, showing Zac things, chatting and eating lunch—Jess feeling so acutely the ups and the downs that comprised her life—she was reminded of other big wars in the past; how life went on in the middle of chaos. World War II, people going to plays in Paris, right in the middle of contested land, laughing and dancing and dining while battles raged and the entire future of the country and even the world hung in the balance. People simply could not sit in shelters day in and day out and do nothing. The
y had to live. To exist in a moment of normalcy, even when faced with an uncertain and deadly future.

  And so, for this brief instant in time Zac was with her, they were together and, as they had so many times before, they were snatching the moment. They were living.

  She held his hand as they walked. He was in a plain T-shirt and jeans, the clothes he’d been wearing when she went to the safe house and brought him from Earth. She’d ditched the armor and was in the knee-length red dress she wore at the slumber party a few nights ago, feeling so natural, so down-to-earth in that basic setting, so relaxed, her simple attire emphasizing Zac as the outsider in his modern—if plain—Earth clothes. The man from another land. And so even though at moments that day it felt wrong to be engaged in something so idle as this, it also felt amazing. To be holding his hand, leading him around, showing him everything she knew.

  “Up here,” she turned down a covered hall toward the stables, swinging his arm and tugging him as he anticipated a turn the other way. He exaggerated the change of direction and followed along dutifully.

  With those happy feelings, of course, came the fear.

  Mostly she kept it at bay, knowing there was nothing she could do and trying to make believe everything was going to be okay, simply because she said it was, but that strategy was hardly working. For there were fresh concerns to drive it.

  Earlier that day Zac had locked up.

  While he was awake, just standing there, frozen and almost falling over and it was the scariest thing Jess had ever experienced. Zac assured her it was nothing to worry about, that it had been happening now and then and he was okay, he would be fine, and that he was actually getting stronger and that these little seizures could just be a sign of that change.

  His lie was so transparent

  She almost called him on it but bit her tongue. He didn’t believe his own words, not convincingly, and she could see he didn’t and she could see he knew she knew he didn’t believe his own lie, but the both of them let it go and the day progressed. The specter of it hung over her. The fear wouldn’t leave her, and she had the sinking feeling it probably never would.