by Justin Sloan
“Ah, so here we are,” Karstrack said, then glanced around the room before looking back up at the ceiling. “I don’t know what you want me to say, old friend. That it tears me up, what happened? That I was there, but not there at the same time? It makes as much sense to me as it does to you, and none of it is new.”
For a few beats Karstrack frowned, then a hint of a smile played on his lips. “It’s not even about that, now, is it? It’s Samantha. She asked you about her father, and you didn’t even know the answer. Hadrian, Hadrian, Hadrian… For one who was known to be so wise, you sure have shown yourself to be foolish, haven’t you?” He laughed, then lifted his arms so that his hands were behind his head. “You have the answers within, you just don’t know how to give them to her. Here’s what I’ll do for you. Bring me out, when we’re next with her, and I’ll see that she gets her answer.”
With that, the form of Karstrack vanished, leaving only Hadrian. He replayed the video, listening with curiosity.
So Samantha would get her answer after all.
Not yet, though. It would have to wait, so as not to distract her. He knew she would be mad at him for making her wait, but he couldn’t have her running off to find the man, if that was a possibility, or breaking down with sorrow if it wasn’t.
No, this little secret would have to remain so, for now. Just one more among many.
With a heavy sigh, he closed his eyes and lost himself to dreams of Nora, the two holding the daughter they never had, but had always talked about. If things had gone differently, if the attack had never come… No, best not to linger on such thoughts.
He had his new family now, not only in the Shadow Corps, but in all who were good in the universe. This time, he wouldn’t let anything stand in the way of protecting his family.
And so the days continued, blurring together into a mixture of hearing the Shadow men tell their stories, training with Dex, and switching off with Napalm so that he too could train and rest.
The videos continued, too, letting Nora and others out to record so that he might chronicle the lives of his world. So that when he, too, was someday gone from this existence, the memory of him and his people would live on.
But Karstrack didn’t come out again. He wouldn’t, Hadrian understood. Not until it was his time with Samantha.
Finally, in the middle of rest, an announcement came through on the speakers.
“All hands,” Napalm said, “prepare for cryogenic departure, prepare for exit of FTL, and prepare to kick some alien balls into outer space. That’s right, I studied Earth, I get the reference. Point is, it’s go time ladies and gents!”
Hadrian sat up with a smile, relieved to have the travel over.
Before exiting the room, he paused at his bathroom mirror. A golden glow faintly emanated from his skin as he partially became Nora, like a thin, spectral veil thrown over his face, but not quite there.
“I’ll be with you soon, my love,” he said, reaching out and touching the mirror, as if actually caressing her cheek. “But not until I’ve shown them the way.”
Pulling himself together, the image faded and he was himself again, an old man with disfigured features. He pulled on his blue armor and attached the golden cloak, the same cloak Nora had given him in life, and exited, ready to prepare his team for battle.
21
The Shadow Worlds
Samantha gasped, stumbling forward as Napalm helped her to walk. She was thrust into the showers, and suddenly hot water was streaming over her. She spun, realizing he had been there a second ago, but he was gone. She looked down to see that she still wore the light clothes she’d had on when she went into the pod, the water now rinsing away any gook that had remained.
Her insides still felt cold, but the warmth was slowly creeping back into her. A mumbling came from nearby and then more showers started splashing, and she rubbed her eyes to try and become more alert.
“Kwan and Jackal are already cleaned up and ready,” Napalm’s voice said from the other side of the curtains. “I’m leaving towels and a change of training clothes here. When you all are done, stop by your rooms to get your armor. We’ll all meet in the armory, where Hadrian will brief us on the situation. Understood?”
For a few moments, the only response was the running of water.
“Understood?” he asked again, firmer this time.
“Yeah, yeah,” Samantha replied, head groggy. She was faintly aware of others making similar responses. “What’d I miss?”
Napalm chuckled. “A whole lot of boredom. But hey, we tracked Captain Praks to this planet. It’s time to have ourselves a pirate adventure.”
“How come it doesn’t sound as exciting when you say it?” she asked, standing there soaked.
He shrugged. “A dose of realism? I’ve dealt with their kind before, and I don’t like it.”
“You had a run-in with space pirates before?”
He nodded, then gestured toward the towel. “Sam, my dad is one of the lead pirates outside of the Shadow Worlds. I wouldn’t be half-surprised if we end up butting heads with him before this whole thing is over.”
“And whose side would you be on, just so we’re clear?”
The fire in Napalm’s eyes blazed when he clenched his jaw, staring off for a moment. Finally, he said, “On that day, he’ll pay for what he did to my family.”
Judging by the tone of Napalm’s voice, he wasn’t ready to explain what exactly had happened with his family. But Samantha had a feeling she would someday find out.
She turned to change into her armor, and soon found herself in the armory, a groggy Jackal there too. It was unusual to find him without the helmet, and he had once explained that it made him feel less like an outsider up here in space with all these strange alien beings.
At the moment though, Samantha could guess why he wasn’t wearing the helmet—she felt lingering effects of claustrophobia from being in that pod, to say nothing of the shortness of breath she was experiencing.
Carma entered a few seconds later, eyeing them with a slight nod and moving straight to her weapons.
The three of them waited, then finally in walked Voira, Agathe, and Ferder, chatting amongst themselves. Samantha caught a part of the conversation, dealing with the Shadows and how they had already taken off.
“Wait, they’re gone?” Samantha asked, her previous suspicion flaring again. While it had been a year, in her mind only a few minutes had passed.
“They’re scouting out ahead of us,” Napalm announced as he entered, Dex floating in behind him. “Rumor has it Praks is definitely on this planet, and they believe they can find out where without outsiders hovering over them.”
“Or warn him and set up an ambush,” Samantha countered.
“Right, or that.” Napalm frowned at her but breathed deeply, apparently trying to keep calm on this. “Sam, I’m going to tell you right now, we can trust Worsan. I’ve gotten to know him and his followers, and if there’s one thing you need to know about a group like those that live on the Shadow Worlds, it’s that you can’t judge one by the others. There’s not much of a typical group up here, honestly. Even among the pirates,” he added, with a twitch to the left side of his lip, “you’ll get some rotten, some less so. Just don’t go around casting that judgment quite yet.”
Samantha frowned, but nodded. She hadn’t meant to doubt Worsan and the other Shadows, but now that he had called her on it, she realized that was exactly what she had been doing.
“What’s the plan?” Kwan asked, always the one to get down to business.
“Hadrian will be here shortly to brief us on that,” Napalm replied. “In the meantime, he wanted me to see that everyone here is back up and operational.”
“Meaning?” Carma asked.
“Meaning let’s get you back on the training floor, see if you still remember how to hold a sword.”
“Come on out here and I’ll show you.” Carma held out her crescent blades and smiled.
“I’ll be ju
st fine watching from here,” Napalm replied with a laugh. “Sam, would you do the honors?”
Honestly, Samantha wasn’t so sure she was ready for this.
“Can we just get out there and hunt down this son of a bitch?” she asked, stalling.
“You think I want to kick your butt?” Carma asked. After a second, she shrugged. “Of course, I do… what could be more fun? But in addition to the thrill of giving you a good whupping, he makes a valid point. Gotta warm up before jumping in.”
While the others paired up, Samantha grabbed her sword. Both she and Carma pressed the buttons for their helmets to fold out. It felt comforting, like she was home again in her favorite blanket.
The sword felt right, too, and she realized she had missed it.
Without another moment’s hesitation, she leaped forward, bringing the sword up for a downward strike. Only her limbs weren’t quite up to it, she realized, nor were her fingers, and the sword went flying behind her. She spun to see it lodge itself into the floor next to Voira’s feet, who shouted in annoyance.
Carma, however, had kept coming, and in the next second a blade connected with Samantha’s back and sent her sprawling on the floor.
“I… might see your point,” Samantha said, with a glance up at Napalm before returning to her feet. “But really, Carma, in the back?”
“It’s possible I lost my footing, hit you on accident.”
“But you didn’t, did you?”
Carma shrugged. “It’s possible.”
Again the woman charged, so that Samantha had to roll to her left and lunge for her sword. She brought it up in time to block a strike from the crescent blades, and then rolled again to land a sweeping kick to the back of Carma’s ankle.
The woman landed with a thunk, then lay there for a moment while others trained around them.
“You okay?” Samantha asked.
“Maybe you’re right. We’d be better off warming up out there, stretching our legs.” Carma sat up and held out a hand. “Help an old lady up, would you?”
“Old? Give me a break.” Samantha reached out her hand and pulled her up.
“Relative to you, I’m basically a fossil,” Carma said with a chuckle. “We age well on my planet, though I’m not sure that will carry over without the mana.”
“I kinda liked Arzan,” Samantha said. “Tell you what, you ever want to head back there and take a little vacation time, let me know. I’m in.”
“Oh, the ladies will love you. You know, when you’re older.”
Samantha just smiled a warning look and shook her head.
“A little less chatter, a little more warming up,” Napalm said as he walked past them.
Carma nodded toward him, gripping her crescent blades. “Shall we?”
“Get him!” Samantha replied, and they both lunged toward Napalm. He quickly put up his helmet and took a giant leap back, then came in for a sweep that disarmed Carma. As she fell, he caught the blades and spun, blocking a strike from Samantha and stopping with one of the blades just under her armored throat.
“See?” he asked. “Normally I’m quite certain I’m the worst fighter here. If that wasn’t enough to convince you, I’ll have to do a write-up saying the cryogenics ruined your brains.”
“Can that happen?” Samantha asked, suddenly worried.
He laughed and tossed Carma back her weapon. “Hadrian assures me it can’t, but…” He gestured to them again. “Here’s clear evidence to the contrary.”
“I’d threaten to kick your butt for that,” Samantha said, regaining her composure, “but I’m pretty sure you’d just toss me aside like a rag doll. So… just know. When I’m back to my regular self, I might or might not have to give you a little thrashing. We’ll see.”
“Judgments out on that one?” He took off his helmet again and nodded. “Then I’ll check on Kwan. As you were.”
Now that they saw the need for it, Samantha and Carma got into the sparring, ensuring neither had a moment to slack. When they were good and tired, they switched it up so that Samantha had a chance to go against Kwan, which felt like a Davina versus Goliath battle. No teenage girl should have to fight against a ROK Marine, but she held her own well enough, relying on speed and dexterity, along with the grappling skills Carma had been showing her.
At one moment she had him in a triangle choke, with her legs wrapped around his right arm and neck, and thought she had him. With a roar and explosive energy like she hadn’t seen from him, he heaved her up, face going red, and seemed about to slam her into the ground.
She braced, knowing this was likely to hurt.
“Enough training,” Hadrian stated as he entered.
To Samantha’s relief, Kwan held up his hands to show he was done. She flexed back, fell to the floor, and did a backwards walk out of it. Hadrian eyed them all wearily as he stopped at the weapons wall.
He turned to the weapons, considered them all, and then took the largest blaster cannon they had.
“You’re coming with?” Napalm asked.
“Of course I am,” Hadrian replied. “My role as an Elder is put on hold until this mission is over. Plus, based on intel, we’re going to need at least two teams out there. I’m taking Agathe, Ferder, and Dex. Samantha will take Voira, Kwan, Napalm, and Carma.”
“You’re splitting us up?” Agathe asked, with a glance to Voira.
“I’m making the teams well-weighted,” Hadrian replied.
Napalm cleared his throat. “And what, exactly, did this intel say?”
“Captain Praks didn’t choose this planet on accident.” Hadrian glanced around and then smiled at the medicine balls. He rolled several of them off their rack, then maneuvered them with his feet until they were, apparently, in the right places. Five in all. He pointed to a medium-sized one. “This here is us, at the outskirts of the star system, but also at the most vulnerable as far as outsiders are concerned. What we have here is often known as the Pirate’s Den, but others refer to it as—”
“Death’s Swamp,” Napalm finished for him. “Known to swallow your soul. Even most pirates won’t venture out here, I’m told.”
“Great. Ghost stories?” Agathe asked, looking like she was going to spit. “I’ve been to my share of horrible places. Hell, we survived the Devil’s Butthole, you know? I think we’ll do just fine.”
Samantha couldn’t help but chuckle at the name they had for that place, where they had fought through Dex’s world to reach the jump point to find and confront Karstrack. It had been rough… very rough. But most of them had indeed made it.
A moment of somber silence followed.
“We didn’t do fine,” Ferder hissed, his chest rising and falling.
“Olivay was—” Napalm started, eyes flaring, but he stopped at a glance from Hadrian.
“This isn’t the time nor place,” Hadrian said, being sure to make eye contact with each of them. “None of you will take this place for granted. You walk out there overconfident, you don’t come back. I can promise you that.”
“What’s the mission?” Samantha asked, wanting to get down to business. “What can we expect out there?”
Hadrian put his foot on the medicine ball and said, “This is where we are, but…” Now he spun it, then kicked it so that it rolled off the matt. “When you’re out there, expect a lot of that. You all called yourselves the Shadow Corps because of the type of work you’re doing. Shadow Ops, in a sense. In a very out there, intergalactic-we-do-whatever-needs-doing sense. But the Shadow Worlds earned their name not only because of where they fall in the universe, but for the nature of the worlds themselves. Some of you, I trust, have heard the stories?”
Napalm acknowledged the stares in his direction with a nod, then said, “My father used to tell me stories, too. This was before I realized what he was, before I left to fight against everything he stood for.”
“How so?” Samantha asked. “I mean, sorry, I know that’s not relevant.”
Napalm rolled his tongue across
his teeth, then sighed. “Before being introduced to Hadrian, I was a bounty hunter. Working mostly to take in criminals, those wanted by the alliance. Some said it was because I secretly wanted to one day take a bounty on my own father… I don’t know.”
“And what is it you’ve heard of these Shadow Worlds?” Kwan asked, as ignorant of the situation as Samantha. She leaned in.
“You never know what you’re dealing with, at least in these backwater places. There are the cities, where one can stay sane thanks to the technology the Shadow beings have built. But out here? The light plays tricks on you, and the gases do worse, if you’re without proper armor and breathing devices. And even then… I hear even then it can get to you.”
“And the Scrapulent aren’t involved?” Samantha asked. “I mean, it’s not just their mind manipulation?”
He shook his head. “I don’t believe so, no.”
“Well, this sounds fun,” Samantha stated with a forced smile. “When do we leave?”
“Immediately,” Hadrian replied. “We don’t want to be out here one moment longer than we must. Grab some food to take with you on the way; we’ll have some packs with water and the necessities. Most important, though, is that you stay with each other. It’s going to get weird out there, and when I say out there… I of course mean down there.”
“Down?” Samantha asked.
“Praks wasn’t building an underground base on Arzan out of the blue. It’s his thing, apparently. Why he chose to do so on Death’s Swamp is beyond me, but I’m not a pirate, so how could I possibly try to understand one.”
Samantha looked around at her team, then smiled. “Lucky for us we have a son of a pirate, a couple of Acome, and a girl who’s lived on the streets long enough to have seen her fair share of trouble. We’ll make it work.”
“We really have no choice but to,” Hadrian replied. “Everyone, gear up and move out.”
“It’s slaughtering time,” Napalm said with excitement.
“Did you… really just say that?” Samantha asked him.
He grinned. “Trying out something new. A catchphrase, you know, like clobbering. Only, we really are going to kill every pirate bastard in there, so… slaughtering time.”