Dominion Rising: 23 Brand New Novels from Top Fantasy and Science Fiction Authors

by Gwynn White

  “But they need to know.”

  “No,” Skip said. “They need to take over the ship. We need to kill the Umbra.”

  “Do we even know how?”

  “I consulted with Lieutenant Fellow about it.”

  “And?” She was going to ask why she'd never met the Lieutenant that Skip so often talked about, and why he wasn't on the crew register, but she decided against it. She had a feeling the illusive strategist might have been a government spy. The less she got on his radar, the better.

  “We went over the old bedtime stories for clues.”

  “You might not want to tell the crew that.”

  “Why not?”

  Maggie raised her eyebrows. “Well, we're going to war, and here you are reading children's stories with your chief strategist. Doesn't look right.”

  “It doesn't have to look right. It just has to be right.”

  “But … can we rely on those?”

  “It's the only information we have,” Skip said. “I'm starting to think the Empire destroyed any true records, that the only way for our ancestors to ensure the information would be passed on was through stories.”

  “So, what did you find?”

  “There's a recurring trend in many of the tales.”

  “Yes?”

  “The only way to destroy shadow is with light.”

  46

  Warp Drop

  There was one way to really take an enemy by surprise, and that was by dropping from warp speed right on top of them. The Gemini appeared in the blink of an eye, cruising over the space barge. By the time the Raetuumaka picked it up on their radar, it split apart.

  The rockets, controlled by the ever-ambidextrous Larsman, took position parallel to the Ark, ready to fire or draw fire, and ready to use new enhancements Cada had come up with to link the boosters to the Infinite engines, letting them turn quicker than before.

  The Offspring, flown by Skip, and carrying Glacia, Danris, and an assortment of armoured Marines, flew along overhead, making for the front of the vessel. Skip was getting more and more into “the red zone,” as the Marines called it, thanks to Danris leading a battle verse with a call and response. “We are going to the war!” the Bulker sang, answered by the others with: “So count your kills, and kill some more!”

  The Bridge, flown by Maggie, and carrying Toz, Cada, and another Marine battalion, flew under the Ark, coasting along the hull, close to the shields. Toz had his favourite sniper rifle ready. Cada had her toolboxes—one on her back, three small ones attached to her belt, and one more in each hand. The Marines did their own chant, but it wasn't quite as boisterous as on the other ship.

  The gunfire came in flurries, back and forth between all the vessels. Gunners aboard Gemini Left took pocket shots at the shields, enough to draw the ire of the enemy. The hangars of the Ark opened, and their fighters came out by the dozen. Right on cue, just as Skip predicted. It meant less Raetuumaka inside the space barge to deal with.

  Gemini Right drew the gunfire of the Ark's starboard side, unable to shoot back, but able to take a beating. When the enemy stopped wasting ammunition against those reinforced shields, Larsman tried a new tactic: diving nose first into the enemy, making their own shields quiver, and turning their gunners' attention back to the defence-heavy rocket. To some, it seemed like a waste to draw fire from both sides of the barge, but that was all part of the plan. It kept the enemy busy, kept them distracted from the real threat posed by the two boarding parties.

  When fighting a wild animal, many warriors would say to strike the underbelly, where it's weakest. That was exactly where Maggie went, skirting the underside of the barge, using her array of scanners (some moved from Gemini Right to the Bridge) to identify the weakest part of the shields and hull. Then she pounced, firing the Shield Buster that she had saved from previous battles. It punched a hole in the shields. She followed it with a volley of missiles, which rent a hole in the hull. Then all she had to do was push hard on the accelerator. The fighter-bomber cruised through the two openings, crashed through a corridor, and skidded to a halt in one of the Raetuumaka crew quarters. Debris crumbled, dust scattered and exposed wires sparked.

  “Well,” Toz said, cranking his rifle. “I guess we make our own landing bay.”

  47

  Mind Games

  Skip wished he had a Shield Buster, but when one big punch wouldn't do the job, a lot of little punches might. He kept a steady rattle of laser fire at the shields, interspersed with torpedoes, until he saw it start to flicker out. It took almost everything the fighter had, leaving no missiles to breach the hull. He'd just have to cut through that manually.

  He clamped the fighter to the top of the barge, far away from the stacks of crates magnetically bound to the surface. He didn't want a stray laser to hit one of those and start a chain explosion. That chain wouldn't end until several planets went up too.

  They suited up, all except Glacia, who insisted that she did not need armour or machinery to survive in the vacuum of space, or in any other environment. All she needed was her mind. Indeed, she didn't feel she even needed clothes, but she wore a leather suit for their sake. For the rest of them, Platinum Grade power suits were the uniform of choice. Danris unsealed the outer hatch, then trudged up to the space barge's hull. He activated the power saw on his left arm, cutting through the metal. He had to cut a very big hole for him to fit through.

  The group, dubbed Team Mindrock, stepped aboard the Ark.

  The Raetuumaka were waiting.

  The initial blasts came fast and heavy. Unlike the surprise appearance of Maggie on a lower level below, the enemy detected Skip's barrage of missiles against their shields, knowing exactly where he would enter. A large contingent of Raetuumaka soldiers were perched behind makeshift barriers, guns at the ready.

  The bulk of Danris drew much of their fire. Then the other Marines stepped forward, hauling out their two-handed flak guns. They sprayed the room with gunfire, forcing many of the Raetuumaka to duck for cover. That was when Skip leapt into the fray, getting up close and personal, taking some of them out with a gun to the head—others with a gauntleted fist.

  Yet there were so many Raetuumaka that even Skip couldn't fight or see them all. One of them pointed a blaster at his helmet at point blank range. Then Glacia stepped forward, placing her hand on the Raetuumak's shoulder.

  “You will fight for us now,” she said.

  And, much to the surprise of the others, the Raetuumak turned around and started firing on his kin.

  “Wow,” Skip said. “I'm sure glad they don't have you.”

  “They are weak-minded.”

  “Yeah.”

  “But then so are most humans.”

  She walked ahead. Skip wasn't sure if she meant him.

  Team Mindrock pressed on, clearing out the next hall, and then the next, pushing back the enemy. More reinforcements came, and Skip was glad. The more of them there were up here, the less of them were downstairs with Maggie. He only hoped the Umbra wasn't down there instead.

  They encountered another set of guards ahead. The Marines ploughed through many of them, while Glacia casually strolled towards them, seemingly averting their gunfire. She placed her hand on the shoulder of that group's commander, repeating her enchanting words. While the Raetuumak seemed in shock, he didn't turn his weapon on his comrades.

  “This one has a stronger mind,” she told Skip when he approached. He was about to respond when she added, “No matter.” Blood leaked from the Raetuumak's eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Then he toppled over, dead.

  “Stars!” Skip cried. “I'm really glad they don't have you.”

  “Maybe save some of that juju for the psy-soldiers,” Danris said.

  She continued on, unfazed. For the Marines, it really did seem like some kind of paranormal power, but Skip had a feeling that Glacia didn't see it that way. It was simply the power of the mind, the most potent weapon available to them all.

  48

  Ba
ck On Board

  The hatch doors of the Bridge opened. A group of Raetuumaka guards approached hesitantly. They were right to be hesitant. Before they could hit their triggers, Toz took each of them out with a volley of sniper fire. The bodies slumped on top of one another.

  The Marines trotted out, guns at the ready. Then Maggie came next, back in her defence-heavy power suit, this time with a hand-held energy shield for added measure. Behind her was Cada, the engineer who Maggie knew would be pivotal in taking control of this ship.

  They advanced, slow and careful. Unlike Skip's role, this group, dubbed Team Hushwire, wasn't meant to bulldoze through soldiers. It was meant to break into the ship's systems.

  Cada set up her gear at the nearest port, loading up a ton of cables. Maggie knew what some of them were, but not all of them. It seemed like some Cada had designed herself, to get faster bandwidths than conventionally possible. The Marines looked at each other dumbly, and back to their weapons. At least they knew those really well.

  “This is going to take some time,” Cada said.

  “Take as long as you need,” Maggie replied.

  “Not too long,” Sergeant Kast, leader of their Marine force, said. To say that he was on edge was an understatement. There was something about these kind of missions, the silent and sneaky ones, that rattled the nerves. Every stray sound or darting shadow seemed like something more.

  Maggie used the time to recharge her shields, and to power up some battery packs she made the Marines carry on their backs. If she had to, she'd turn her mission into a ten-hour siege defence. She just hoped she wouldn't need more than ten.

  She also started a search for Ontri. She picked up what she thought was his signal a few times, but then it dropped again. She wasn't sure if that was a fault of her scanners, the barge's systems, or Ontri himself. It made her worry. A big part of the plan rested on getting Ontri back—and getting him in working order.

  All these accesses of the space barge's systems would have been flagged in the control room, but Maggie used node redirection to cloak her tracks. Whenever the intrusions came up, they seemed like they were coming from different parts of the ship. Often, it seemed like they were coming from the top levels, where Team Mindrock were rampaging. She knew Skip had no issue with her sending more foes his way.

  “Got it,” Cada said. “We should have transmission coming in now.”

  The comms system throughout the vessel kicked in. A signal transmitted from the antennae and broadcasting dishes that lined the hull of Gemini Right. It was in the Raetuum tongue, or as best an approximation the Gemini Right linguists could achieve. It told the Raetuumaka that they were being controlled by a hostile power, that they should lay down their arms and surrender, or rise up against their oppressors. It told them that it wasn't worth dying in a futile fight against those with superior firepower, and that the cargo of their vessel was meant to destroy worlds, just like theirs.

  Skip would fight the war of bodies, but Maggie's team would fight the war of minds. She hoped that they would listen to reason. Even Skip, with enough pressure, listened to reason now. She hoped that the Raetuumaka would see her message as the truth, and that less of them would die.

  She also hoped the message wouldn't draw out that oppressor the broadcast spoke of, the Umbra. She didn't put too much faith in that hope, because reason told her that it would.

  49

  Conventional Weapons

  The Raetuumaka might have swarmed like rats, but they fell like flies. Against the armour, weaponry, and training of the Pan-Galactic Marines, they were destined to take a beating. With Skip Sutridge, General Extraordinaire, leading that force, they didn't stand a chance.

  The Raetuumaka's best defence wasn't their under-trained warriors, but rather the ship itself. When they started to flee on a massive scale, they sealed behind every room and corridor they could. Skip couldn't pick up Ontri from his location—and he hoped it wasn't because of something worse. He also didn't have the mathematical mind of Maggie, or the engineering skill of Cada, so hacking through the control pads wasn't going to work.

  It was lucky, then, that Danris was a Bulker, because he was able to carry one of the biggest hand-held guns they had: the Shatterer. This colossal weapon, which required several of the other Marines to prop themselves up against Danris to stop him from toppling over, was a sonic boomer, capable of sending ultra-sonic waves that could rip through metal. He loaded it up, letting it charge. It might have been powerful, but it was damn slow. Skip kept a lookout while it was loading.

  Then Danris fired. It was like an earthquake. You could feel it through your armour, and hear it through the protective ear muffs the accompanying Marines were issued with. Some were known to have gone deaf from a sonic blast. Others suffered brain damage. Skip had an ounce of pity for any Raetuumaka holed up behind the next wall.

  The blast left a hole in the next room, and the next, and several more down the corridor. One of them was where many Raetuumaka prisoners were being kept. Some of them fled, while others cowered in the ruins. It seemed that some were too far gone to flee. Yet one of those who hopped through the hole and started to scurry away looked very familiar.

  “El-erae!” Skip cried.

  The Raetuumak halted and glanced around.

  “Human,” she replied. “I … I forgot your name.”

  She scampered over, placing her hand on Skip's arm. “You survived the Dozen Deaths,” she said. “Or … I didn't.”

  Glacia stepped forward, placing her hand on El-erae's shoulder.

  “Stars, no!” Skip yelled, pulling Glacia's hand away. “She's an ally.”

  “Ally might be stretching it,” El-erae said. “Fellow sufferer, more like.”

  “She has a very strong mind,” Glacia observed.

  “You need one if you are to face the Dozen Deaths.”

  Glacia smiled. “How about a hundred?”

  “El-erae,” Skip said. “How does taking over this vessel sound?”

  “It sounds delicious.”

  “Oh, it is. But first, you wouldn't happen to know where they keep the weapons they take from prisoners? My tags are with my armour. Let's just say they're more than a little … sentimental.”

  “Come then,” El-erae said. “I know where they store scavenged weapons. My own will be there too.”

  El-erae led them through a maze of corridors, hacking through some of the controls. Danris grumbled as she did. He rather liked using the Shatterer. In time, they found themselves in the vessel's main weapons storeroom, filled high with all sorts of equipment. Skip found his old power suit there, recovering his dog tags. One of them had been given to him by General Felvin Oxlis, a hero of his as a child. Another was given by the Emperor. He didn't care so much about that.

  El-erae gave out an excited squeal as she plucked her old weapon from the stack. From a first glance, and then a second, it looked like a wooden staff.

  “A stick,” Skip said, blinking. “This is your weapon. A stick.”

  “You do know people use blasters now?” Danris told her. “Or sonic boomers.”

  “In the hands of the untrained, it is just a stick. To the Olruuana, it is the finger of the Blinking Gods.” She lashed it at one of the blasters in the pile, cracking the gun in half. “Pray it doesn't touch you!”

  50

  Mind-killer

  Team Mindrock continued pushing back the enemy on the top level, but this time El-erae joined the fight. She was a bit like Maggie in that she had no desire to kill—least of all her kin—but she had no qualms with causing severe injury. A swipe of her staff was enough to break bones. Even with the muted sounds Skip heard inside his power suit, the cracks made him cringe.

  They were about to descend to the next level when they were faced with As-hamaz and two other Mind-killers. Skip could feel them before they even appeared, and it seemed like they appeared from nowhere, as if they had previously cast a cloak into his mind, which they only now removed.

 
There was a feeling of a great weight upon all minds, but it seemed that the strain was noticed most by Glacia. She clenched her fists and gritted her teeth, keeping her eyes on the trio of Mind-killers before her. Up to now, it had been easy. Admiral Mendan had always warned his soldiers not to get cocky, but Glacia didn't listen before. It took everything she had to push back against the psy-soldiers, to weaken their manipulative mind rays before they hit her comrades.

  “So,” As-hamaz said, and the word seemed to burrow into Skip's mind. “You have come back to obey the law of the Dozen Deaths.”

  Skip raised his flak rifle. “Only if it's you who's dyin'.”

  “Put that away, child.”

  To Skip's great surprise, he did.

  “We broke you,” As-hamaz said. “Let us put you back together as we see fit.”

  Danris scoffed. “Want me to boom 'em?” he asked Skip, pulling the sonic boomer from his back. The accompanying Marines raced over to prop him up.

  “Oh, yes,” As-hamaz said. “Make the second one death by sound.”

  Just as Danris had almost finished powering up the Shatterer, he turned it on Skip and El-erae.

  “No!” Skip cried. He dived one way, while El-erae hopped and rolled off to the other, landing on her feet with a jump.

  The sonic blast tore through the wall to the next room, and tore a chunk off the side of Skip's helmet as he ducked to the ground. It was lucky it didn't tear a chunk out of his head as well. He felt the sound inside his brain, inside his chest, inside his heart. His entire body shook, and he had just gotten the edge of the blast. If he hadn't dived, he would have been torn apart.

  Skip could barely move. He couldn't get up. Danris was charging up the weapon again.