Star Angel: Awakening (Star Angel Book 1)

by David G. McDaniel

  She focused on Satori. “It matters because I have to find it,” she said. Then, without thinking: “I have to get the Icon. It’s the only way for me to get home—”

  “The Icon is gone.”

  Jess took a deep breath. “The Icon is my only way home. I have to find it.”

  “You’re not ‘finding’ it,” Satori said. “And neither are we. We tried that already. Now we need answers. You’ll be speaking with Lindin and our intelligence guys. About the connecting point on the other end, about your world, about Horus and how you got involved in all this. Horus is back with them we need to know—”

  “ ‘Horus’ isn’t the enemy,” Jess blurted, wondering at once why she said it but glad she did.

  “Horus is a Kazerai,” Satori spoke as if addressing an ignorant person. “He helped you only because he was under the influence of some drug.”

  Then a new voice: “If she says he’s not the enemy, he’s not the enemy.” It was Darvon. Somewhere in their short conversation he’d woken up, unnoticed. Now he was sitting, smacking his lips; rushing to support his angelic charge.

  Satori leveled her gaze at him and Darvon lost a little strength beneath the intensity of those piercing blue eyes.

  “I believe her,” he insisted. “If she says Horus isn’t the enemy, he’s not the enemy.”

  “I’m sure he treated you well,” Satori turned her attention back to Jess. “You’d be dead otherwise. He must’ve saved you in the fall. I saw you come through and you were too high to survive. But none of that matters. By now the effects of whatever serum they gave him have worn off. Whoever you think you met is gone. By now he’s back to himself. Which means, by now, he’s back to being the enemy.”

  “He’s not,” Jess maintained, both sad and angry at the same time.

  Satori was running out of her small supply of patience. “They took him to the Crucible for a reason,” she said. “His time is up. If they can’t break him, if he doesn’t go back to being himself, then that’s the only place they can destroy him.”

  Now Jess sat all the way up. Darvon responded to her sudden reaction, sitting straighter himself. Watching to see what she would do, ready to help if he could.

  “Destroy him?” she repeated, feeling suddenly frantic. “They can’t. Can they?” Clearly they could. “We can’t allow that.” This was scaring her.

  Satori laughed. “Can’t allow it?” An unfriendly, uncaring laugh.

  Jess didn’t want to believe Satori was mean. She wasn’t. However neither did she appear to have any compassion for her predicament—or see any reason to do anything beyond what was called for in procedure. And why should she? Only, Satori had no idea just how far outside “procedure” Jessica’s life had already fallen.

  She had no more time for procedure.

  Willet, on the other hand, seemed on the fence. At least it looked as if he would be willing to do a little more. Allow a little more, or at least consider the urgency of her needs.

  Darvon glanced to her, then Satori and Willet.

  Made a demand.

  “If you won’t help us,” he informed the two officers, “then let us go. We’ll find Horus and the Icon ourselves.”

  “Really?” Satori challenged. “Do you even know what’s in the Crucible? How to get there? Surely you must, being a Dominion man.” This was an obvious jab but Darvon ignored it. Ignored Satori, in fact, looking directly to Jess for instruction. His resolve, as was becoming common, greatly exceeded his ability. Yet this unnatural devotion did at least give her perspective.

  She gave him a look she hoped would make him understand. Then fixed her gaze on Satori.

  “Then how?” she asked, unwilling to consider the idea that Zac might be destroyed. Unwilling to consider the idea of letting the Icon go, of writing off her ticket home and oh, who cares anyway, just forgetting about her life. “How do we do it? What can we do?”

  She’d come all this way, been through all this hell, she would be damned if she wasn’t going to do something.

  But Satori was done with the discussion. “You’re going to ‘do’ nothing. You’re going to meet with Lindin and our group today. That’s what you’re going to do.

  “This conversation is over.”

  And she stood to leave.

  CHAPTER 26: SELLING THE QUEST

  The witch was still issuing orders when Ashikagi joined her on the upper floor of the control building. Bodies hustled everywhere. Within the Crucible the control building tied together the operations of what amounted to a massive power plant, in addition to serving, when needed, as offices for visiting officials and, as was currently the case, dignitaries. Ashikagi doubted, however, it was ever foreseen the building would play host to the entire Guardian Council—along with the Shogun himself. He narrowed his eyes at the spectacle before him. The magnificently robed clerics looked completely out of place in the utilitarian facility.

  “Over there!” Oinana shouted amidst the commotion, several of her priest warriors pushing Horuses’ containment cart into place. She seemed to be going for the perfect angle, the perfect view.

  “Bring the traitor,” she instructed, and her demand was relayed. A moment later a pair of the priest warriors entered, golden robes flowing with their own sort of haughty demeanor, matching that of the witch. Horuses’ wife, Kitana, walked obediently between them, following until commanded to stop. There she stood, unmoving, looking beautifully tragic, staring at her husband as if he were a ghost. Or as if she were.

  Ashikagi came closer to the carnival show, piecing together the dynamics of the scenario. Bodies, personalities, likely reactions to various outcomes, who could be counted an ally, who might become an enemy, how to incorporate each. What he planned would leave him holding all the cards which, in turn, would expose him as a clear and obvious target. The first few moments would be key.

  Oinana spoke to Horus, eyeing Ashikagi as he neared. “You were born here.” She gestured to the panoramic windows wrapping the upper floor, directing Horuses’ attention to the compound outside. The morning sun was creeping into view. Horus ignored her, as he had been doing. Whether bored, exhausted (unlikely) or simply having decided this was a better way to gain satisfaction over the witch, he now looked nearly as vacant as the ghostly Kitana.

  “Fitting,” the witch held her chin disdainfully high, “that this is where you shall die.”

  This brought Kitana a little more into the present, though the change was barely noticeable. Horuses’ expression remained steady. Ashikagi suppressed his own reaction.

  So, he held himself steady, she did bring him to impose that threat. The science existed only here, at the Crucible, and could only be administered under conditions such as these. Ashikagi could see determination in Oinana’s crazed eyes. She planned to act.

  All the more reason he had to move first.

  Then the witch made a move that completely blindsided him.

  “Bring Maza,” she commanded, smiling as her orders were, again, relayed. Ashikagi struggled to imagine this new twist, wondering how it fit within his already questionable plans. Maza? Why was that name familiar?

  Then he knew it. Recognized the man, even as into the room walked one of his most decorated Astake. The Astake were the Dominion’s genetically enhanced soldiers, masters of combat, wearers of the famed Astake powered armor, from whose ranks were chosen the most elite to be made into …

  Kazerai, he thought, even as the witch confirmed his crystallizing fear.

  “If Horus will not be fixed,” she announced, “we will simply ascend another.”

  Maza smiled at her words. Tall, proud. Contemptuous of Horus, whom it was now clear he was to replace—Horus, who had no doubt been maligned prior to this by Oinana. But it didn’t matter. Maza had been chosen, the circumstances unimportant, and he would receive the Gift.

  He would ascend and become the next Kazerai.

  Which meant Horus must die.

  Stunned, Ashikagi bit back words he knew he shou
ld not speak. Actions he knew he should not take. Not here. Not now. It was too sudden, too unexpected. He needed to evaluate this startling new twist.

  Obviously the witch had been planning to destroy Horus. This was a set-up. Maza, awaiting them, having already been informed. Parading him out now, daring anyone to object. Oinana wore a smug look Ashikagi wanted so badly to smash. She was prepared, at least by implication, to end the time of one of the Hands of God—an act only the Council, by right, could authorize. Which meant Oinana had likely laid the groundwork there as well.

  Which meant—which confirmed—she’d been painting Ashikagi out of the picture. Did she expect him to be dull enough to miss this? Or did she taunt him with it? Throwing it in his face, daring him to respond.

  Rage nearly took him but he fought it back. This was exactly what she wanted. Exactly what she counted on.

  Well. If she was expecting a disrespectful outburst, a chance to put him in his place—to exert her power here, in front of everyone—she was about to be disappointed.

  He calmed himself with the knowledge that, in the end, none of her little tricks were of consequence. None at all.

  For his cunning had already exceeded her own.

  * *

  “Then give me a way to get there.” Jessica’s voice held Satori at the door. As far as Jess was concerned this conversation was not over. Not until they told her how to get to the Icon and how to get to Zac. Surely they could spare the means among the small army present. Surely they could give her a way to go.

  Satori, on the other hand, seemed to wonder why she was still talking.

  Yet she held.

  Jess tried to reason. “If I don’t find the Icon the future for me is over.”

  “This isn’t about you.” Satori reminded her. “You’re lucky to be sitting here. Have you forgotten everything that’s happened? You keep this up and your luck is going to run out. Get used to it.

  “Anitra is probably your new home.”

  Jess could see Willet thought she was crazy too, but it also seemed he held sympathy in his eyes.

  “Why do you guys want it?” she asked.

  Satori turned fully back into the room.

  “You came all this way to get it,” Jess weathered her withering stare. “Why do you want the Icon? Is it to make a statement?” She drew upon every bit of savvy she could muster, every scattered piece of info she’d absorbed over the last day or so regarding the Holy Relic. “You take it and the Dominion doesn’t have it. You demoralize them. Right? That seems to be what the Conclave was thinking, and they know way more about it than you do.” She gave that a second to sink in. Yeah, she thought, in response to Satori’s reluctantly shifting expression. That’s right. I may be new here but I know things. I’ve used the Icon. Have any of you? I’ve held it. I’ve touched it. You’ve never even seen it. I’ve teamed up with one of your feared Kazerai, I’ve been here a day and I’m already part of a resistance group inside the Dominion—the Conclave—and I know all about the Dominion’s effed up Relic and what they think of it and what it means to you guys.

  She went on. “The Dominion places so much stock in it. It’s just one more tool they use to keep their war machine running, right? To keep the people following. Until now, untouchable. Obviously it’s a big deal otherwise none of you would be here.”

  Jess sat straighter. “I know it’s not about me. The Conclave was trying to help me get it and go home,” she glanced to Darvon. “Darvon was willing to sacrifice his own life to make that happen. Why? Because he wanted to help me?” She knew that was at least part of the reason, but kept to her point: “No. Because they knew if I took it then it would be gone and the blow to the Dominion would be huge. You know already how they were trying to hide the fact that Horus,” she nearly said Zac, but squeezed out Horus at the last instant, “took it. That wouldn’t have lasted long. Now they’ve got it back and they’re trying to put things back like they were. Help me get it. I go home and the Icon is gone. Mission accomplished.”

  Satori, however, was unimpressed.

  “I’m done.” She turned to go.

  But Jess held her once more. “Am I right?”

  Satori glanced outside the tent. “Hear that?” she meant the war going on outside. “We’ll be lucky if any of us get home. Understand? So what do I care if you do, when the rest of us probably won’t?

  “There won’t be any more attempts on the Icon.” Then, exasperated: “Why am I even telling you this?”

  But Jess pushed.

  “Use me,” she said.

  Satori, to her ongoing frustration, continued to hold.

  “To get rid of the Icon,” said Jess. Then: “I’m not asking for you or anyone else to risk anything. Use me to get rid of it. Send me to get it, I take it home and it’s gone.”

  “That’s it,” Satori was definitely leaving now. “We’re done here.”

  “Wait!” Jess recoiled at the strength of her own command. They were not done. She composed herself; continued more calmly: “If I use it to go home it exists no more … If I get it back and go home you’ll never see it again. That’s better than them having it. If I take it the Dominion won’t have it. No one will.”

  Satori just looked at her. Unable, it seemed, to extricate herself from the crazy talk. Jess swallowed, spoke firmly:

  “Give me the means. That’s all I’m asking. Just a way to it. I go home, I make the Icon disappear.” She tried not to beg. “I’m sitting here offering you an alternative. A way to finish the mission. Use me.”

  Willet and Darvon watched, having become spectators to the back-and-forth between these two determined women.

  “Send me to steal it,” Jess leaned forward, turning up the intensity. “I use it to get home and it’s gone from this world. All you have to do is send me. I don’t even need a way back. A one-way ticket. I go, I use it … everyone—”

  “I get it!” Satori inhaled. Stuck, much to her dismay. She studied Jess, only a moment more, then resumed her decision to leave. “I’ve got a battle to run.”

  But this time Willet stopped her. With a hand on her arm as she was walking away.

  “I’ll take her,” he said. A simple statement, yet it hung in the following silence like a bomb. Satori stared at him, unable to take much more of this. She gaped at his hand on her forearm.

  It took a second to force sound from her mouth.

  “What?”

  “I’ll go with her,” Willet repeated, though it was obvious Satori heard him. To Jess he seemed unsure of what he was saying, or why he was saying it, but continued: “I told her I would help. Let me.”

  Satori’s words came quicker this time. “Are you insane?”

  She looked from Willet to Jessica, as if Jess had bewitched him somehow. Jess, for her part, was as innocently surprised as Satori. Darvon, oddly, began to appear eager.

  Satori looked around; trying to make sure she herself wasn’t under a spell. Was she the only sane person at this little gathering? “There’s no way in hell that’s going to happen,” she was emphatic. “You ought to know better.” She stared pointedly at Willet. Her voice had become almost chastising.

  Willet, in his turn, tried to demonstrate a little common sense. To prove to his commander he hadn’t totally lost it. “If we can’t have it, let’s at least make sure the Dominion doesn’t.” He looked between Satori and Jess. “Here we have a chance. Our people have given up on it. Lindin won’t send a mission against the Crucible,” he said. “We know that. Command won’t authorize a covert operation.” His expression shifted, looking up at Satori from his seated position, hand firm on her arm. “I mean, look how much trouble we’re having convincing you.” And, with that statement, Jess realized Willet was more or less committed. Now he was officially one of “them”. One of the crazy people Satori was starting to see all around. Only, Willet Satori could trust. Willet she knew. Which meant Willet just threw a giant wrench in the works.

  Jess could see this was creating a huge d
ilemma.

  Satori stared at him. “They’d never authorize a covert operation because it would be suicide.” Why was she even having to explain this to him? “Zero chance for success. They’d never authorize it because there’s no way something like this would work. Even a small group with months of training could never pull it off. You know what it took to even get here. To make this attempt.”

  She gestured with her free arm around the tent, at the war outside, at everything.

  But Willet just looked calmly at her as she stood halfway out the door.

  Said: “Which is why this is the only way.”

  Jess bit her lip, not wanting to ruin what appeared to be a shift in possibilities. Complications swirled in the air. If Willet came with, how would he get back? And would he help her rescue Zac—an imperative if she were to return to Earth?

  Not only that, Darvon kept acting as if he were and would be involved. Would he insist on coming as well? She couldn’t allow that. Not now that he was safe. But then, what was her plan? Without Willet—or someone like him—how would she even get to the Crucible? How would she get in? In her determination to see this through she was brushing aside a million obstacles that could stop the whole thing cold.

  Nervously she let the moment run its course.

  Hoping …

  Satori pulled her arm from Willet’s grip. She saw the obstacles. All of them.

  “Come with me,” she said and, with a stern glance at Jessica, dragged Willet from the room.

  * *

  Outside the curtained area Satori strode to the far end of the tent and whirled to face him.

  “What are you doing?!” she hissed as he closed the gap. Willet didn’t have an answer.

  “Are you trying to kill me?”

  “No,” he assured her, still curious at his own decision. Why am I doing this?

  “We’re about to begin a withdrawal.”