“Oh, we can do both! How about ‘Super Death-Bringing Ray’?” asked Crivreen.
This was rapidly getting out of hand. “Well, I think if it needs a name it should be something more natural-sounding,” I started.
“Okay, how about ‘The Poison Frog?’” asked Crivreen.
“Are you serious?” I asked.
“Yeah, it’s natural, like you suggested!” he said.
“How about ‘Night Wisp’?” asked Ragnar.
“‘Night Wisp;’ that is better,” I said. Before we could discuss it anymore, the computer indicated that someone was at our airlock requesting entry.
“That’s odd,” I said.
“Trouble?” asked Ragnar.
“It’s just that in all the time I have lived on this ship, no one has ever come politely to the door before,” I said. I turned on the exterior camera and saw a stocky human dressed in a lightweight coverall. He had a pack on his back and a pair of blasters strapped to his side. His hair was cut in the extremely short military style, and in general he had the look of a typical government official. I said, “Do either of you recognize him?”
“No, but he is armed,” said Crivreen.
“I thought weapons were not allowed on the station?” asked Ragnar.
“They aren’t. You two watch my back and let’s see what he wants,” I said.
We headed down to the airlock and I stood back about an arm’s length from the door while Crivreen and Ragnar moved out of sight to one side. I was confident that I could handle any human in these close quarters, unless he was able to draw one of those blasters first.
I signaled to the computer to open the door, and the man confidently walked in and said, “Hello, Zah’rak. I take it that Crivreen and Ragnar are just out of sight in case I try something stupid?”
“Maybe, and you are?” I asked.
“Special Agent Byron, a friend,” he said.
“Funny, I do not recall you,” I said. A special agent: that confirmed my guess that he was a government employee. I wondered if he was a friend, or rather a contact, of Narcion’s.
“I bring news that may help you find Narcion, if you will hear me out,” he said.
“Zah’rak, Ragnar said to tell you that this Byron is the one who has been watching us on the station. We both think we should hear what he has to say,” sent Crivreen privately.
“Okay. Come aboard and let’s talk,” I said, “but leave your bag and weapons in the airlock.”
“Fair enough,” he replied and removed his belt and bag.
Once he was aboard, I made sure both the outer and inner doors of the airlock were secure and then led him down to the mess hall. Crivreen offered him a drink and Ragnar positioned himself off to one side.
“So, Special Agent Byron, what do you want?” I asked.
“First, let me bring you up to date,” he said and then told us all about how he had been assigned by the government to track us down and learn our secret to fighting the wraiths.
“Narcion mentioned that an agent had been hired to look into us. He must have been referring to you,” I said.
“I would have been surprised if he hadn’t get wind of my assignment,” said the agent.
“If you’ve come to get me to spill Narcion’s secrets, you are wasting your time,” I started.
“No,” he said, cutting me off. “I have come to help you find him.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“This morning we received news that another station has been attacked. If we move quickly, we can go there and maybe acquire more information,” he said.
“We?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said and then explained his plan to make us special agents.
“Why should we?” asked Ragnar.
“Because we all want to get Narcion back. You want to rescue your friend, and we need his help saving our stations. Together we can accomplish that better than apart.”
“What are you?” asked Ragnar out of the blue.
“What do you mean?” asked Byron.
“You look like a completely average human, sound like one, but clearly you are not,” said Ragnar.
“What makes you say that?” asked Byron.
“I am a diviner; I can see things that no one else can. Among those things are auras. Yours is wrong for a human. It is not like any race I have seen before, on this station or elsewhere,” said Ragnar.
Agent Byron started to look nervous in his seat. He seemed to be evaluating his chances of making a run for it. Something was up.
Crivreen drew his blaster and said, “Speak up, Byron. What are you?”
“Everyone take it easy for a minute,” I said. “Crivreen, put the blaster away. Ragnar, are you sure? You do not know all the races in this … area.”
“No, I do not, but there were plenty of humans on the station for comparison. His aura is unique, different from any of them,” he said.
“Byron?” I asked.
“My race is of no concern here. Do you want the chance to rescue Narcion or not?” he asked.
“On the contrary, if you expect us to trust you, you need to come clean,” said Ragnar.
Agent Byron stood, spread his arms out and asked, “If you can read auras, does mine tell you whether I am trustworthy or not?”
“I see two overlapping auras … yes, you wear a human costume, but underneath you have wings and … ” began Ragnar.
“Shadow people,” said Crivreen with obvious disgust and drew his blasters again.
“Crivreen! Put those blasters away, and head up to the bridge. I want to embark immediately,” I ordered. I needed to get control of the situation before it spiraled out of control.
“But, Zah’rak … ” he started to reply.
“No buts! Go!” I demanded.
“Fine! I guess you’ll get to kill him, then,” he replied and stormed out of the room.
Once he was out of sight I said, “Ragnar, can Byron be trusted?”
“Yes. I am quite puzzled by Crivreen’s response,” he said.
Agent Byron sighed and sat back down. “Most of my people are mere animals that suck power from spacecraft, often overloading their generators and leaving them stranded in space to die.”
“What about you?” I asked. I had heard stories of the shadow people, but he did not seem to fit the mold at all.
“Some of us, a very small number, were born with the same intelligence as a human. We hide among the humans and just try to survive like anyone else. I must beg you not to share my secret,” he said.
“Very well. Tell me everything you know about the station currently being attacked,” I said. I was not sure what to make of him, but while we sat here and debated his history people were dying on that station.
We discussed the situation on the station until Crivreen came back and said, “I have us in a standard parking orbit around the station.”
“Lay in a course. We have wraiths to hunt,” I said.
“What about that thing?” asked Crivreen.
“He is coming with us. Ragnar says he can be trusted, so we will treat him as one of us. That is, if he is willing to join us on the front lines,” I replied.
“What, fight wraiths?” Byron asked.
“Yes. That is what your mission is, right? To learn our secret way of killing wraiths?” I asked.
“That is part of it, but … ” he started.
“Well, then, soon you will see it firsthand and learn all that can be learned,” I said.
He looked around the room and said, “You know what? That is a great idea. When do I start my training?”
I chuckled. They still did not understand that there was no secret to it. “You would not happen to be a magus?”
“No, sorry,” he said.
I looked over and saw Ragnar and Crivreen arguing in the corner and pointing at Agent Byron. I figured that Ragnar was trying to convince Crivreen to give By
ron a chance.
“Zah’rak, why are you not reacting like Crivreen?” asked Agent Byron.
“I lived as an outcast and a slave most of my life, and I know what it is like to be hunted. You behave in no way like the shadow people from the stories, and Ragnar trusts you, so I am willing to give you a chance,” I said.
“All right, I suppose I should give him a chance, too; but I will be keeping a close eye on our power grid. He will need some armor, though, if he is coming with us,” said Crivreen.
“Agreed. I will work on the armor, and you continue to help Ragnar learn what he needs in order to adjust to our realm. Agent Byron, you can sit with me while I make your armor, and I can tell you what you need to know about the wraiths,” I said.
“I’ll get us underway, then,” said Crivreen. “We might be able to find a freighter to hitch a ride through jump space with, if we are lucky.”
As he left I asked, “Ragnar, did you learn anything on the station?”
“Yes. I must say, I am quite impressed! You fought skeletal warriors, walking dead and wraiths with almost no magic and sustained only minimal losses!” he said.
“Well, that is the first time we have ever won. Normally everyone on the station is lost before we even arrive,” I said.
“I will cut to the important details. First, whoever opened those portals to let those creatures onto the station was on the station herself. She moved around a lot, and fairly quickly. I am guessing she used a combination of teleportation and short-distance gate travel to stay ahead of your teams,” he said.
“So we are talking about a single target?” asked Agent Byron.
“Yes, female, a mature adult, but on the young side; a low-level magus with both the summoning and dimensional lines of power. She was merely gating in creatures that would attack the living on their own, so she did not have to exert any power once she got them onto the station,” he said.
“So this magus just opens a portal and lets these creatures do what they want? To what purpose?” I asked.
“I don’t know that yet, but I think she is working alone,” said Ragnar.
“A single female magus? Do you know her race?” asked Agent Byron.
“No, the power lines were too badly decayed for that,” said Ragnar.
“You got this from all those spells you cast?” asked Agent Byron.
“Not spells, divinations. Yes, I can read the trails of power left behind, especially in a place like that where very little magic is being used,” he said.
“I was told it was a necromancer behind this. Is this magus you mentioned a necromancer?” asked Byron.
“No, but I could see why someone would think that. A necromancers is a very powerful, specialized form of spiritualist that deals almost exclusively with death magic, reanimations, and the like,” said Ragnar. “Whoever this is, she is gating in the types of thing a necromancer would use, but she has no control over them. A necromancer would control forces like these and have a powerful army.”
“Well, this explains why a station is only attacked for so long, then the attacks stop. She must be among the evacuees, and once she is off the station she has to stop summoning creatures in. But this still does not tell us why,” said Agent Byron.
“I have a theory,” I said. “I believe the attacks are just a cover-up, though for what I am not sure. I think that the magus is doing something on the station, maybe stealing something, and leaving the wraiths and such behind to cover their tracks.”
“Reasonable theory. We can search the records of all the stations that have been hit so far for thefts mentioned as a result of the attacks, and maybe we can spot a pattern,” said Agent Byron. “I can also pull computer logs and see if they show anything of interest. I have a trained team back at headquarters which I can put on this, and they can crunch through the data pretty quickly.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
It took us three days to reach the station, which gave me plenty of time to make armor for Agent Byron and teach him some basics about fighting the undead. By the time we arrived, most of the evacuation was complete and any people still on the station were safely tucked away in shielded areas. Sentries roamed the halls destroying any walking dead they came across, but no skeletal warriors showed up this time.
“So what is the plan?” asked Crivreen.
“Our new friend Byron gets us access to the station, then we eliminate the wraiths,” I said.
“That will be easy enough,” said Agent Byron.
“Isn’t this station just a distraction now from finding Narcion? We need to get ahead of the magus again,” said Crivreen.
“Until Byron’s agents find more data, we have nothing to go on to estimate her next target. Meanwhile, people are trapped over there and only we can free them,” I said.
“I guess,” said Crivreen. “But I thought she was following an easy-to-predict pattern?”
“This station does not fit that pattern. She must have figured out that we were on to her. We need more information,” said Agent Byron.
“We might get it at that port of call,” said Ragnar. “We are closer in time to her attack than we were at the last station, so I should be able to get a better reading.”
“That makes sense,” said Crivreen.
Byron contacted the station and got us priority clearance to dock. Once we were docked, the four of us headed out. I checked my weapons and said, “Crivreen, you and Ragnar go look for clues to this magus. Byron and I will hunt the wraiths.”
“Okay,” said Crivreen, and the two of them headed off.
“Now, Byron, that armor should keep you safe, but I should warn you that we don’t know yet exactly how strong it is,” I said. He was wearing a set of armor which I had enchanted for him.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Well, this armor has not seen much field testing yet. It has held up well under one or two attacks, but beyond that we do not know,” I said.
“The armor, plus these swords, will give me the same ability to fight wraiths that you have naturally?” he asked.
“The swords can kill the wraiths, yes, but my scales and your skin are equally useless against their claws. Only this armor gives us both a chance,” I said.
“So I should not take off my helmet,” he said.
“Not if you like living,” I replied.
We moved deep into the station but found no indication of the wraiths. There were scores of dead bodies and sentries marching everywhere, but no wraiths. I knew they were on the station somewhere; I could sense them.
“So what are we looking for?” asked Agent Byron.
“Wraiths,” I said.
“I know that, but how will we find them?” he asked.
“We don’t. They find us. They are like animals, and we are their prey; sooner or later they will come for us,” I said.
“How many are here?” he asked.
“I don’t know. Narcion is much better at sensing that than I am. I would guess at least three, but I don’t know for sure,” I said.
We traveled a bit more, getting deeper and deeper into the station, when an idea struck me. “Do you have a map that shows where all the people are being held?”
“Yes, here,” he said and brought up a map on his datapad.
“Can you take us to the largest grouping?” I asked. “It’s possible they are hanging out there, waiting for the shields to fail.”
“That’s right across the station from here,” he said. As we walked towards our new destination he asked, “Who is this Ragnar?”
“He belongs to a tribe I came across; a tribe that Narcion used to live with,” I said.
“So he is family?” asked Byron.
“Not in the sense you mean it, but they see him as one of their own,” I said. Before he could ask any more questions we came across a group of walking dead, which filled the hallway in front of us. “Let’s not waste time. Fall back and go around.�
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“Good plan, but they have already cut us off,” he said.
I turned around and saw another group of them marching up behind us. We were trapped. “Any sentries nearby?”
“No, but I can get some here pretty quickly,” he said.
“No, don’t bother. Follow me,” I said and charged the line in front of us. The walking dead were stupid and slow, not to mention too weak to stop a Zalionian in full battle armor charging their line at full speed. I knocked bodies to the side as I forced my way through.
Agent Byron followed behind, firing his blasters on both sides of me, thinning the pack a bit. Once we broke free I flipped an incendiary grenade behind me and called out, “Run!”
The corridor started to fill with black smoke from the burning dead, but thankfully our armor provided plenty of clean air to breathe. It was a risky way to stop them, but it didn’t seem right to leave them walking around. The dead should rest.
We ran down the corridor and through a blast door shortly before it was slammed shut by the station’s automatic fire containment systems. I assumed the oxygen was being vacated from that area, which would quickly kill the fire. I hoped that the bodies would be destroyed enough to prevent having to serve again before that happened.
“Interesting tactic: set the whole place on fire and run?” he said with a chuckle.
“They are not following us any more, are they?” I asked.
He looked back at the sealed doors and said, “No, I don’t think they will bother us anymore.”
We set off at a brisk pace heading towards the highest concentration of life on the station. We turned a corner and two wraiths started drifting towards us. I could feel the fear wash across me as they turned their gaze on us. Two more came up behind us. We turned back to back and drew our swords.
“Remember, the armor works. You just need to cut them down with the swords,” I said.
“Okay, but we don’t know how long the armor will hold up under an attack,” he said.
“Correct, so move fast,” I said.
They slowly drifted towards us, and I could feel the fear rising up in me. I did not know how Agent Byron was coping. The fear attack could be paralyzing, and the longer we waited the more powerful the effect would be. “Charge!” I yelled and went straight for the two in front of me.
The Sac'a'rith Page 24