by Justin Sloan
“FTL?” Sam asked. “Like, dealing with light speed?”
“Exactly. Faster than, but yeah.”
“So there are other ways of traveling fast besides the gates,” she stated. “Couldn’t the enemy use FTL to reach Earth?”
“They do, but like I said, they have to be sure the route is clear. There are parts of space that are completely open and low-risk, but in general you want to be careful. Your ship hits another ship, or an asteroid, or whatever, at FTL? Kabloowey. Splat! You get my drift?”
“So they aren’t using it?”
“They are, but only through pre-established lanes or known safe zones.” Jackal swiped his hand across the screen to display an elaborate layout of colored zones and star systems. “Here’s what we’ve been able to map on our end, and here are some of our known routes.” He highlighted several lines. “But we have ours monitored. If they tried to infiltrate our FTL lanes, we’d know and could get all manner of obstacles in their way. Likewise with theirs. But…”
“What’s that?” she asked, as he swiped across again and pulled up a large, black area of the screen.
“The Shadow Worlds,” he said. “At the edge of the parts of the universe we generally consider less of a threat. Not safe, because there are all manner of miscreants on our side of the Shadow Worlds. While you might find good as well as bad, it’s too close to the enemy. It’s basically their welcome mat.”
She frowned, thinking back to what she had heard before. “But the Elders said the Dexolitiatite are attacking the Shadow Worlds in retaliation for what we did?”
Napalm let out a low sigh. “My guess? Take out any of the families that would be likely to take our side in this. There are bad residents there, but good as well.”
“Not the best of news,” Jackal explained. “The Shadow Worlds, as dangerous as they are, generally stick to themselves. You’ve got all manner of pirates, warlords, you name it in there. But you get them riled up? They could unite, go on the warpath, attacking both good and bad. Attack the good, we’re hurt. Attack the bad, they get riled up too. And soon we have a whole bunch of bloodlust going around.”
“Aren’t they already riled up?” Samantha asked. “I mean, the enemy is already attacking us, right?”
He moved his hands up and down as if weighing two objects. “In a sense, but also, not really. They’re biding their time, testing us. If the Guardian—sorry, space dragon, got through with Karstrack, I imagine they would’ve followed in full force. But it’s never been their style to simply charge in without testing the waters…. Probably why they’re so powerful.”
“I’m not following,” Ferder said. He had joined them on the command deck without Sam registering his presence. “How’s this related to Earth and the thirteenth moon?”
Everyone looked around, waiting for someone else to answer. When nobody did, Samantha cleared her throat.
“I don’t know. Or rather, I don't know specifically.” She licked her lips, wondering if they had been this dry a moment ago. “Hadrian mentioned going there to find out who was leading the Syndicate, this alien group who invaded my planet. Something about… seeing what was wrong with the leader?”
“So we’re supposed to get in there and ask him what’s up?” Jackal let out a crisp laugh. “Good luck to us. Sounds like we’ll need it.”
“I’m just repeating what I heard,” Samantha replied. “And somehow that relates to the dragons.”
“Maybe even what just happened on Entono Fos,” Napalm pondered aloud.
“How so?” Carma asked.
“It didn’t seem right, the way they moved against Hadrian. If we’re talking about this leader of the alien invasion of Earth being off, or something, and we already know the dragons are being manipulated…”
“It makes sense that the Elders are somehow being manipulated too,” Samantha finished for him.
Everyone was silent for a moment, until Ferder finally said, “Damn. Well, sounds like we have a fairly important mission ahead of us.”
Samantha sat back, trying to understand what it would mean to the Alliance if their lead organization had been infiltrated.
As far as she could tell, this was beyond bad.
“Now where exactly is this thirteenth moon?” Jackal asked, breaking the silence. When everyone just stared at him, he laughed and muttered, “Kidding, kidding,” though the helmet only magnified his words.
He swiped his hand again to show their current location and trajectory. A moon showed up as a beeping, green dot.
“Sit back and relax, kiddos,” Jackal said. “You have time to grab some food, a nap, whatever you need. I can already tell you from here, every one of you needs a shower.”
They laughed, but a quick sniff in the air proved he wasn’t joking.
“The Shadow Corps…” Samantha shook her head. “On the run, our founder imprisoned, and up against mind manipulation, space dragons, and some place called the Shadow Worlds. Hell, at least the last one sounds fitting.” She stood and made for the door. “I’m taking a shower and then some food, you all can join me for the latter, not the former.”
More laughs.
At least they were keeping their moods light, she thought. She was doing her best, but even with her smile and ability to make jokes, the gravity of the situation was weighing down on her. Hard.
4
The Noraldian
Warm water, cleansing sweat and grime from training and castle escapes—not much compared.
Samantha finished rinsing and lingered with the warm towel, eyes closed, letting her mind wander.
So much time had passed since she had been a child. What would that little girl have thought about the young woman she had become? The little child who’d run with outstretched arms so her mother would grab her in the towel and lift her, spinning her and telling her she was an astronaut in space. How funny that even back then her mom had always focused on space. Never a superhero, never.
There had been a set of books she’d loved growing up, with a superhero-like character named Allie Strom. Allie Strom and the Ring of Solomon was the first in the series, and Samantha still remembered spending days wondering what it must’ve been like to be a girl who could use a form of light magic, to travel through different planes of reality and different dimensions, to have the magic of the ring of Solomon, magic that made her fly.
Now, here she was, not exactly using a magical ring or traveling to other dimensions. But it wasn’t so different, after all—reality versus make believe. Sure, the details changed, but she was still out here basically flying, basically using magic, even if Hadrian had done his best to convince her it was all science.
What was magic, anyway, if not humanity’s label of science that they didn’t yet understand? She remembered Cody, a friend of her mother, saying something about how sufficiently advanced science could be thought of as magic. Thinking back on him, how he had made her mother smile… it made her miss them all. All the Marines, the resistance, and anyone else she had once stood next to in battle.
But now she had a new family. A new team of brothers and sisters who would ride with her to the ends of the universe, if that’s what it took to save everyone who relied on them.
With a deep breath, she worked her body armor on, still amazed at how neatly the biotech-engineered material adapted to her body. Comfortable as pajamas, as protective as a tank. Maybe more so.
She made her way out of the showers as Agathe and Voira were undressing, and tried her best not to look at them. Not because they were changing or nearly nude, but because they were Acome, the race with three stones in their foreheads—or rather what looked like stones, but were in fact bone growth. Unlike many other Acome she had seen, their stones glowed green at times. Right now, she noticed a strange green glow from Agathe’s shoulder blades, just under the skin.
When Voira saw her looking, she frowned at first, but then smiled. “Like something you see?”
“I…” Samantha glanced around, the
heat rushing to her cheeks. “It wasn’t that.”
“Ah.” Agathe reached back and felt the area on her shoulder blades, stretching to do so in a way that would have been quite inappropriate had there been any males around. “She’s admiring my wings.”
“Wings?” Samantha asked.
“You don’t have wings,” Voira argued with a forced laugh.
“Not yet,” Agathe countered, “but maybe soon enough. Show us yours, if you think you’re special.”
“Whatever.” Voira grabbed a towel and walked past the curtain to the showers.
“What do you mean, not yet?” Samantha asked.
“You didn’t know? Voira and I are both only half Acome. We share the same father, an Echolan, actually. Hence the wings, maybe… Eventually. I hope.”
Samantha scrunched her nose, then shook her head. “I’m kind of new to this whole space thing. Echolan?”
“You must be, if you’ve never heard of them. I barely knew my father, though Voira supposedly did for a bit when she was young. His people were neutral, like my planet, for the longest time. Then, about fifteen years ago, they get sucked up into the Empire.”
“The Empire?” Samantha asked.
That’s what Acome call the enemy. There’s the alliance, or the Allies of Light, mostly because of Hadrian’s people and what they were capable of.” She hung her head, likely in respect for what had happened to his planet. “And then there’s the Bloody Empire. Not everyone calls them that, but most in the neutral lands do.”
“I kinda like the sound of that,” Samantha admitted. “I mean, it’s better than straight up Alliance versus the Great Deceivers, or whatever Hadrian always calls the enemy.”
“He has his reasons.”
“How do you know?”
Agathe raised an eyebrow, adjusting her stance as goosebumps rose on her arms and breasts. “I’m getting cold, maybe I should…” She glanced over at the showers, one running as Voira cleaned herself.
“Yeah, sorry. Go ahead.”
Agathe started walking, then paused and turned back. “I… I was a servant. Voluntary, mind you. In Hadrian’s household. I was there the day it happened, the day his planet was attacked. My father was there, too. At the time, I thought he was busy working, trying to help, as I was… Turns out he was busy scheming, setting up backdoors for the enemy to slip through. The Echolans actually aided the enemy, siding with them and helping to overthrow Hadrian’s planet, along with many more that day.”
“Damn…” Samantha let that sit for a moment, trying to fathom this whole dynamic. “How is it Hadrian trusts you now?”
Agathe blinked, taken aback. “Excuse me?”
“I mean—”
“I know what you mean. I’ll have you know I wasn’t part of the betrayal. It was out of shame for what my father did—a man I never really knew, must I remind you—that I left and returned to Acome, where I found Voira.”
“I didn’t mean to offend you, I just assumed… and I shouldn’t have.”
“Damn right you shouldn’t have. I’m done feeling shame for something that had nothing to do with me. So go jump into a pit of snakes, rather than say something like that again. Of course, Hadrian trusts me. He trusts me because I’m trustworthy, that’s how.”
With that she spun on her heel, marching off to the showers.
Samantha stared with her mouth open, hating that she had somehow managed to offend this woman so much, and equally staring with fascination at the glowing spots where wings might someday grow. So there was a race of aliens out there with green, glowing wings? An enemy, she reminded herself, as she found her mind wandering with fascination.
“Sorry,” she mumbled, doubting Agathe would hear her, but mostly saying it for her own relief.
As she exited the showers, though, Samantha found herself getting angry over Agathe’s reaction. She hadn’t known the details of what had happened. What right did Agathe have to snap at her like that?
Her steps echoed through the hall, but it wasn’t until she almost ran into Ferder as he popped his head out from his room that she realized what a noise she was making as she stormed along.
“Something up?” he asked.
Samantha shook her head. “Just getting a bite to eat. You coming?”
“You bet. I was thinking about getting some training in too, depending on how long we still have. I share a wall with Carma, and you know how she can get.”
“I don’t, and I don’t want to.”
“Fair enough.” He stepped out, wearing training clothes that reminded Samantha of old Kung Fu outfits she had seen in movies, except these were white. “Hadrian said I might even get a chance to earn a sword, and go into the simulport to try out some armor. Make me an official part of this team.”
She considered this, and found her mood slowly improving. “Actually, that’s not a bad idea.”
“Right? Only, he’s now imprisoned. So… kinda ruins my fun.”
She laughed. “If I’m defacto in charge here, maybe I can figure out how to make the simulport work?”
“It sounded complicated…”
“Right. Grab a bite, then see how we feel?”
He agreed, and soon they found themselves in the mess hall, picking out their selections from a wall of choices. When Samantha made her way out to the tables, she was surprised to see Kwan standing at one of the large, ceiling-to-floor windows. He stood there quietly watching the room, wearing the black and red sash over his body armor—the symbol of his role with the Red Company.
Samantha paused, set her tray down, and then walked over to him. “You made it.”
He narrowed his eyes, and then looked to the floor. Was that shame she saw? It hit her then that neither of his options was the ideal choice. Either he came with them—his primary team, but a team that had now been made outlaws. Or betray his new team to help take them into custody in his capacity as a member of the Red Company.
“It sucks,” she said. “I mean, the situation. What a pile of boiling horse feces.”
Even that didn’t make him smile. Kwan just nodded, pulling off the pair of sunglasses he had been wearing lately. Samantha was about to give up and return to her seat, where she saw that Ferder had started in on his food, when Kwan grunted.
“What’s that?” she asked.
He grunted again, then added, “It isn’t optimal, but there was no choice. You all are my team. You are my family.”
She nodded, knowing she would feel the exact same way in his situation. “Do you want to join us?”
“Not yet…. Soon.”
“We’ll be around. And Kwan?”
He glanced up.
“We’re glad you chose us. You’re the best shooter on the team. Even ignoring all that, you’re right. You’re part of the family, and we couldn’t go on without you.”
“Hard to say that, when the dad of this family is in prison.”
That stung. Though she was pretty sure he hadn’t meant it as a stab at her, she still took it that way. “I wanted to fight them, but he told me not to.”
“And maybe that was the right move, maybe not.” He shrugged. “Point is, he’s there, we’re here. Like you said, something about horse feces.”
With a nod, she told him they’d find a way to get Hadrian back, and then made for her food. Her stomach was rumbling, and her mouth burned with that acidic taste that came when she went too long without eating. Having been a member of the Last Remaining Resistance back on Earth, she had found many opportunities to be hungry, and so the feeling wasn’t abnormal. Still, she preferred to avoid it when possible.
The ship had food much like Earth’s, but she wasn’t sure if it was synthetic or not. Either way, at the moment she was sitting down to biscuits with country gravy. The side of green Jell-O was just for fun. A little something to remind herself that growing up didn’t have to happen so fast in every aspect of her life.
Napalm strode in with a smile across his face. He sat down next to Samantha, one
leg on each side of the booth.
“Rumor has it you and Agathe are fighting.”
“What?” She spat out her Jell-O, then rolled her eyes. “I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”
He continued to smile. “Tell me it was really in the showers…. That part has to be true.”
Samantha blushed, trying to ignore the way Ferder’s eyes had begun to roam over her.
“First of all, shut up.” She turned her fork on him, pointing it in his face as if it were a weapon. “Second of all, I was fully clothed at that point.”
“But she wasn’t,” he said. “I want the details. Like, you know—”
“Stop.” Samantha frowned with a glance over at Ferder to see if he was going to get her back. By the way he licked his lips and then looked away, she had her doubts. “You two are dicks. If, and I’m saying if, there was a fight, don’t you think I’d want to fix things with her. Not describe her perky breasts to you sleaze balls?”
Napalm pursed his lips in thought. “I don’t know, seems like it might be worth it.”
She shook her head and stood to leave. “I’m going to assume that those looks you’ve given Carma have meaning to them, and that she has yet to open up to you and accept your advances. So you’re not right in the mind, blood flowing to the wrong head and all that. Because of this, I’ll pretend we never had this conversation… and maybe throw you around in the sparring ring later to teach you better.”
Napalm chuckled. “I didn’t—I mean, I wasn’t serious. Come on, tell us what happened.”
“Everything okay?” Ferder asked.
She hesitated, then put her food back down. “Even alien men are sketchy as hell, huh?”
Napalm laughed and pointed at Ferder. “Hey, that guy tried to take his clothes off in front of you not long after you’d met. Don’t look at me.”
“In my defense,” Ferder argued, “you’re beautiful. And I’m getting the feeling that nudity isn’t looked at in the same way among your people as it is with my kind.”