Dark Foundations

by Chris Walley

  Silence fell.

  Suddenly the watch adjunct to Merral’s diary pulsed urgently on his wrist.

  “Excuse me,” Merral said, looking at his diary, “I have an emergency call from Ludovica.” He returned inside.

  Ludovica was inside some sort of transport that was evidently moving at a rapid pace. Her face was pale and anguished.

  “Merral here. What’s the problem?”

  “I have some bad news. It’s Langerstrand. Three hours ago the Krallen there suddenly attacked the surrounding forces. In the confusion the Dove shuttle took off. It’s now in an odd orb—”

  “It was immobilized!”

  “So we had been told. Lezaroth had the damage fixed, waited until our forces were in disarray, and then took off. We have only just learned what has happened. Lanier is taking charge at Langerstrand. There have been a lot of casualties, but the Dominion forces have now all been destroyed.”

  “The hostages?”

  “They are all on board the ship.” Ludovica’s face seemed even paler.

  “No!”

  “Yes, I know. I’m sorry. I’m on my way to Space Affairs. They’re launching a vessel with an assault crew to intercept it. But it will be six hours, at least, before it can intercept.”

  “But it’s got nowhere to go.” Or has it? With a chill Merral heard again the envoy’s words: The results of your actions remain. This was another penalty for his having gone to Ynysmant. Had I been here I would have resolved the hostage crisis before this could happen.

  “Commander, are you all right?”

  “Sorry, Ludovica. Just struggling with the news. I need to talk to some people here. When you get to Space Affairs, call the ship. See if you can get a response. Tell Lezaroth—use whatever titles he wants—that Commander D’Avanos wishes to talk to him personally.”

  “Will do.”

  Merral walked back to the veranda. “Azeras, the Dove shuttle took off from the peninsula three or so hours ago. It’s in orbit . . . with the hostages.”

  Azeras said something that Merral took to be a curse. “No! Zak should have realized that window elements can be fixed.”

  “But Lezaroth is stuck in orbit, isn’t he?”

  “Yes. Unless . . .” Azeras’s face had a growing expression of fear.

  “Unless what?”

  “Unless there is another ship in Below-Space.”

  “Not another warship?”

  “No. If there was, Lezaroth would have used it. A supply vessel. A freighter.” Azeras shook his head, as he looked up. “You must hope that there isn’t.” There was a tremor in his voice.

  “And if there is such a ship?”

  But Azeras had walked away and leaned over the balcony.

  Merral followed. As he drew nearer, he saw Azeras’s shoulders heaving.

  “What is it?”

  The man shook his head.

  Merral decided to leave him alone and instead returned inside with the others.

  A few minutes later Ludovica was back on screen. Merral projected it on the wall.

  “I’m at Space Affairs. It gets worse. I’m afraid they’ve seen something emerging not far from the shuttle. It’s obviously from Below-Space.”

  “Can you get me an image?”

  She looked around and gestured to someone offscreen. A few moments later a shaking image of a gray metallic form appeared. Close to it could be seen the white form of the Dove shuttle. Docking appeared imminent.

  Out of the corner of his eye, Merral saw Azeras come in and stare at the screen.

  “If you can, destroy it! Now!” Azeras’ voice shook with deep emotion. Merral looked up and saw that the gaunt face was wet with tears.

  “Sorry, Merral, I didn’t catch that.”

  “Ignore it. I will get back to you, Ludovica. Keep feeding me images though.”

  Merral muted the diary and disregarding the troubled faces of Anya and Vero, turned to Azeras. “Sarudar,” he said, “tell me, honestly. What will happen to the hostages?”

  Azeras shook his head. “They will be taken to Sarata.” The lips trembled.

  “And there?”

  “I don’t want to say.” With wavering fingers Azeras made the strange encircling motion.

  “We need to know.”

  Azeras blinked and suddenly the words tumbled out. “Lezaroth will need to appease the anger of his master for the failure here. He will give him information about the Assembly. And . . . he will offer him the living for those he deals with. They will probably be sent to the Blade of Night, and there given as food for the baziliarchs and bait for the steersmen. That’s what he has always done.”

  On the edge of his vision, Merral saw Anya, her eyes wide in a bloodless face, staring at Azeras with silent horror. Vero’s mouth was open in dismay.

  “That is why I say, if you have the means, destroy that ship. It will be a . . . mercy!”

  Suddenly Azeras buried his face in his hands. “I lied! They did not torch Tellzanur. I did.” His shoulders shook. “I burned women and children alive to save them from just this.”

  As Merral caught the horrified looks, a single thought pulsed in his brain: Isabella is on that ship.

  Lord, what do I do? An enormous vista of appalling choices opened before him. Give me wisdom, Lord.

  “Thank you, Azeras,” he said.

  Anya helped Azeras gently to a chair.

  Merral touched the speak button on the diary. “Ludovica, do we have a weapon that can destroy that ship? Can you ask?”

  “Are you serious? That would mean—” Her face was white and disbelieving.

  “Just ask!”

  She turned away. Merral glimpsed Anya staring at him and he swung away so he wouldn’t have to see her. He needed facts.

  “Azeras,” he said brusquely, “what is that ship? I need answers.”

  “A freighter, a star series—the same as the Rahllman’s Star. Probably automated, so maybe without a crew. The Dove didn’t have a steersman chamber, so maybe Lezaroth just had them both follow the Triumph. That’s how these things work.”

  “And how long before they disappear into Below-Space?”

  “Docking doesn’t seem to have started yet. And they have passengers to transfer. Say an hour minimum.”

  “Thank you.”

  On the diary Ludovica, her face oblique to the screen, talked with a young man. She turned to Merral. “There is a supply rocket at Near Station. If it is fired now, it will strike them in fifty minutes. The kinetic energy released by the collision will . . . vaporize the ship.”

  “And could our rocket be aborted in flight?”

  “Wait.” Behind her, Merral glimpsed a young man nodding. “Yes,” she said.

  “Then launch it.”

  Merral heard a sharp intake of breath from Vero.

  Ludovica stared at him. “Are you . . . ? Over thirty lives. . . . Are you sure?”

  “Yes. I take full responsibility.”

  Out of the corner of his eye, Merral saw Anya walk unsteadily out of the room.

  Ludovica closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them. “Launch. That’s an order.”

  There was a pause. “Rocket fired,” said a voice off the camera.

  “Thank you, Ludovica,” Merral said, appalled at how level his voice sounded. “Keep this line open.”

  Merral made a mental note of the time and muted the diary again. Aware of Vero staring at him, he picked up a chair and sat in front of Azeras.

  “Sarudar, please. We need to talk.”

  Slowly and hesitantly, the man looked up at him, but he said nothing.

  “Now listen. We have less than an hour. I want to explore an alternative to destroying the Dove shuttle. Let’s ignore Earth and the Assembly. Forget them. Now, I need an answer. Can we chase them with the Rahllman’s Star and catch them? rescue them?”

  “You want to go that way?” The dark gray eyes were wide.

  “Yes. But I need honest answers. And I need all the facts.�
� Merral marveled again at how he could be so calm. “Now.”

  “L-let me think. They have a start. Perhaps no more than two days. Lezaroth will go as fast as he can. But he’s probably got no steersman and maybe only a partial crew—some of the Dove’s crew were killed. So they will be slow.” Azeras flexed his left fingers and stared at the glowing patch on the back of his hand. “I calculate five weeks—maybe—to get to Sarata. No sooner.”

  “And us, how fast?”

  “The same, plus the few days it would take to get ready. We can’t beat them, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

  “W-what if you drove the Rahllman’s Star deeper through Below-Space?” Vero suddenly asked.

  “You don’t want to go deeper. The deeper Nether-Realms get nasty.”

  Merral caught Azeras’s eye. “If we ignore that risk, could we catch them?”

  “Yes. But you might not be sane when you came out into Normal-Space.”

  “And if we risked that, could we successfully intercept this ship?”

  “Hypothetically, yes. Logically they’d aim for the main military docking station at Gerazon-Far in the Sarata system. They won’t be expecting a rescue attempt; they think the only active Below-Space vessel here is already headed earthward. And they don’t do mercy rescues. Lezaroth doesn’t understand the concept.”

  Merral was aware of Anya standing by the kitchen door, her expression unreadable.

  “Would we have to use a steersman?”

  “You killed the only one we had. But no, the journey will largely retrace a journey that has already been taken. We have the coordinates. You back navigate.”

  Merral looked at his watch. Time was passing. His mouth was dry. “Sarudar Azeras, I want to us to chase that ship in the Rahllman’s Star. I need you to fly it.”

  There was a pause. “No. I don’t want to go back. Not there. Sorry.”

  “I understand your reluctance. It is not a path I wish to take. I would go alone if I could fly the ship.”

  “You gave me freedom.”

  “We did. And I cannot order you.”

  Azeras stared at him. “Commander, what happens if I continue to refuse?”

  “There will be a new star in the sky in . . . what . . . just over forty minutes.”

  Merral caught an appalled look from Anya and saw Vero shake his head. “Are you really serious about this?” they seemed to ask.

  Azeras rose from his seat and paced heavily to the window, his head slumped on his shoulders. He stared out and then turned back to face Merral. “I have shed enough innocent blood. I will take you to the Dominion. Call off the missile.”

  “That is a promise?”

  “On my oath.”

  “Thank you.” Merral said. He tapped the diary. “Ludovica?”

  An anxious face greeted him. “Yes?”

  “Cancel the attack. We found a way of pursuing them.”

  “Thank you, God,” she whispered and turned to the young man nearby. “Abort.”

  A moment later she turned back to Merral. “It is done. But ‘another way’? I don’t understand.”

  “I will explain everything to the committee tomorrow morning. In the meantime, can you summon a logistics team to Isterrane Airport for a meeting, in an hour’s time? I need to have a ship launched as soon as possible—preferably tomorrow midday.”

  “Very well. May I meet you there?”

  “Of course.”

  “I will make arrangements. And, by the way, there has been no response from Lezaroth.”

  “I thought not. See you soon.”

  The link ended. Merral suddenly felt certain that he had not seen the last of Lezaroth. We will meet again, and when we do, I must watch out. The hatred he had for me will surely have grown greater. But for the moment, I have more pressing concerns.

  Merral looked at Azeras. “Sarudar, assuming we are to bring back the thirty hostages, how many people can we take?”

  Azeras flexed his hand and looked at the screen. “Supplies will be tight. Thirty, thirty-one maximum, including you and me. No more.”

  “Very well,” Merral suddenly realized he was shaking. “I need some fresh air,” he said and walked outside onto the balcony. There he stared up at the stars.

  Dear Lord, I have had to make decisions and act swiftly. I need your guidance and protection on the path I have to take.

  He suddenly noticed Anya alongside him.

  “Well done,” she said softly. “I think.”

  “I understand your reservation. Thanks.”

  “I didn’t understand what you were doing. Not at first. Would you have let the rocket hit them?”

  Merral stared silently into the soft blackness where the sea rolled gently. “I’m not sure. I’m glad the decision was made for me.”

  He was silent for sometime before he spoke. “But, Anya, as for going to pursue them, I have no regrets. That has to be done. I made a promise to Isabella’s parents. Even if I hadn’t, I would still want to go. If we left them to their fate, we would be denying all that the Assembly is.”

  “True. And I admire you for that.”

  “I’m not sure how admirable my behavior is. Had I obeyed in the first place, these events might not have happened.”

  “That issue is past. I want to come with you.”

  “Why? It will be dangerous, appallingly so.”

  “I will come. My sister feared no evil; nor will I.”

  “Let me think about it.”

  “Please.” She touched his hand. “Let me leave you alone.”

  “Thank you. It’s only twenty minutes to the airport. I want the time to think some more.”

  She left him and he stood there, leaning on the balcony rail watching the black sea with its waves twinkling silver in the starlight.

  In an instant, he was aware of someone beside him, a silent night-black figure that occluded the stars.

  “Ah,” Merral said softly. “I take it you do not need to be told what has happened.”

  “No.” The voice seemed to cut through the warm stillness of the night. “I was forewarned. And I saw what happened.”

  “Envoy, I understand your warning now. As a result of my disobedience, we have lost both the Dove and the hostages. Had I stayed here, both might have been averted. I’m sorry.”

  “I was not sent to rebuke you, not now.”

  “That’s a relief. But I could have done with your advice just now. I had to make some hard choices.”

  “I did not come any earlier for the very reason that they were hard choices. Your race prefers to evade such decisions: you are tempted to let us make them for you. That is partly why we keep a distance. Yet such decisions are part of the way of growth the Most High has chosen for you. My silence was for your good.”

  “I see. So how did I do?”

  “Better.”

  “Well, thank you.”

  “Look up.” The envoy commanded.

  High above there was a flash of brilliant light among the stars.

  “Was that them?” Merral asked, knowing the answer.

  “Yes. They have started on their long journey.”

  “And we will follow.”

  “Yes. I have been sent to say that you will not go into the darkness alone. You must remember that you can go nowhere, even the deepest realms that the enemy controls, where you will be beyond the power of the Lord of All.”

  “I am very grateful for that reminder. And will you come?”

  “If I told you I will come, you might relax. If I told you I will not, you might despair. So I will say nothing.”

  “So your silence is for our good?”

  “Exactly.”

  “Envoy, who should I take?”

  “Take Verofaza, Lloyd, and the Allenix unit. And twenty-four of the bravest soldiers you can find.”

  “I will. Jorgio?”

  “I am pleased you know his worth. But no. Have him kept safe here. His destiny lies at the heart of the Assembly.”

&nb
sp; “Anya wants to go.”

  “Let her. But there, guard yourself. You have failed once; do not fail again. And let me remind you. One of the perils of spectacular evil is that men and women are so blinded by it that they stumble over more subtle but no less deadly evils.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Choose your team well.”

  The envoy’s form faded away.

  Merral waited a few more minutes before returning inside.

  The only person in the main room was Vero, who was packing a holdall. He looked up. “My friend, I take it you will not refuse me the chance of traveling with you.”

  “No.”

  “I had wished my journey would be inward to home, but instead it is outward into the enemy’s territory.”

  Merral sighed. “First. As soon as we can, we will go on to Earth. We must pray that not too much damage will be done before we get there. But I warn you, Vero, the journey to rescue the hostages will be very dangerous. What Azeras has revealed to us at last are the foundations that the Dominion rests on. I think you know, as I do, where—and to whom—the Blade of Night leads.”

  Vero, who seemed to stare at the wall ahead, gave a tiny nod. “I know. In my heart, I suspected this. But whatever the risks, I will come with you. I believe in this the Most High has bound our lives together.”

  “Thank you,” Merral said and hesitated.

  In the silence a moth fluttered against the window.

  “Vero, you remember you once said there were people who would follow me to the gates of hell?”

  Vero nodded. “A figure of speech.”

  “We’d better find them. That’s where we’re going.”