Darkness: Book One of the Oortian Wars

by Iain Richmond

  But what of the beast’s thoughts? LOR again pondered the potential of an old lineage between the Warruq and the vessel that spewed an ancient language he could not decipher.

  Maybe we will join this beast in the Realm of Warriors. LOR opened a private thought-stream and made a last attempt to contact it using the oldest language he knew. A language that arrived soon after the awakening, when the Darkness shrouded and protected but a single world, or so the history was written by the Creators.

  Turn and go back to your domain, we will not follow, no harm will come to you or the parasites that find refuge within your iron carapace. He completed the message, but the beast continued to sputter strings of numbers that LOR could not connect. It is one with the voices within… an enemy that will share their fate. LOR closed his private thought-stream and felt a pang of sorrow.

  the Darkness

  the Prox

  Two hulking shadows swam in the oily mass of the Darkness that shielded them from prying sensors, or any other instrument or organ that searched to uncover things that wanted to remain hidden. The Darkness had appeared after the Dakkadians invaded the lone world and slaughtered the Clans en masse so many cycles ago. The Prox had no memory of this war, but the history was within them. The Darkness consumed the Dakkadians and grew into their neighboring lands that now belonged to the Territories and the Creators. The Warruq clans guarded the Void and the Prox the Darkness, but many things moved within the mass and only a few were known to the clans. There were now twelve worlds far behind them, protected by the Darkness, orbiting the fiery twin-stars in the great-open.

  Data from the Warruqs continued to flow through a lone warrior stationed outside of the Darkness, but the Prox did not trust the Warruq clans and placed a lone Seeker on the Veil. The small orb hung between the Void and the Darkness. It captured data from LOR’s thought-stream, submerged into the Darkness’s and fed the data to the Proxs and bobbed back to gather more from the other side. The Darkness allowed thought-streams within her mass, but blocked all wavelengths from the Void.

  From within the Darkness, the two Proxs mirrored the charging beast without being able to see it. The Darkness opened channels through her mass, pointing and guiding those within it. Each Prox glided through a new tube, a map of sorts, using their long, powerful fins. The small Seekers lay nestled in the four wombs that lined the Prox’s armored backs. Each tiny sphere used a pressurized methane sack and sustained a slow and steady burn; a candle-like flicker ready to ignite an energy bloom if a pursuit was necessary.

  Only moments remained until the invading beast was in range. The Prox felt each other’s presence while communicating through a joined thought-stream, the Darkness would not allow them to use optical sensors within her protective mass, but thought-streams were allowed to flow freely.

  Armored plates hardened on the front of their carapace that faced the approaching iron Beast. Each Prox made its modifications as the data continued to come and go with the bobbing Seeker, ignoring the lone Warruq who came and went.

  Each continued to update the other Prox clans that formed a floating ring around the Creators’ twelve planets, a defensive band flowing near the great-open, but fully immersed in the protection of the Darkness. Her suffocating mass kept their powerful civilization safe for trillions of cycles and it had also kept the Proxs and Warruqs from ever returning to their home worlds that turned in the great-open.

  It was time for the Prox to defend the Territories like the Warruq clans had done long before the Prox were brought into existence by the Creators. LOR and his warriors continued to drive the Invaders toward them, unable to change the iron beast’s course. This new enemy must be destroyed, the Oath fulfilled and in the Realm of Warriors they would meet again.

  14

  the Black Wall

  Bridge of the Anam Cara

  “Commander Shar’ran, arm the missiles. Max-charge the rail guns, load ’em with self-detonating slugs.” Falco wanted to be sure the first rounds exploded near the objects without damaging them. Their intent seemed menacing at best, but so far, the Anam Cara was unscathed. Once munitions left their rails or tubes… everything would change. There would be no going back.

  The Commander sent the order. Falco opened a video feed and watched three ammunition techs in the bowels of the Anam Cara punching codes into a data-pad near the missiles tubes, arming the missiles and activating their independent targeting systems. He switched the video feed again to the rail gun compartment where two crewmen sat strapped into battle-buckets bolted next to separate sets of conducting rails.

  Each chair had a helmet integrated into the sighting system joined to the Battle-Net. Rail guns were mounted to a mobile platform that constantly reacted to the sighting system. If fear was present, Falco could not see it in their postures. Or it was overcome by the need to protect the men and women that lived and worked on the Anam Cara. God, they look young, Falco thought and closed the video feed.

  Self-detonating slugs were a prayer at anything closer than ten klicks. A gunner would take the data feed from the Battle-Net and set the rounds to explode based on the enemy’s distance, speed, and other variables that only the Battle-Net could track. Traveling through space at MACH 20 made it like trying to catch a mosquito with a thimble while riding a bike. That’s where the Battle-Net came in.

  “Captain, Battle-Net unable lock on the objects. Too small, too close, their heat bloom is the best we can do. Estimate fifty percent chance we damage or destroy.” Commander Shar’ran grunted. “Missiles will be overkill if they hit or wasted if they miss.”

  “Agreed, but keep the missiles hot, should be a larger vessel nearby, a mothership.” Falco focused on the holo-feed at his station, sifting through the three-dimensional blackness that lay ahead – a black wall which their instruments desperately tried to penetrate and failed. A thousand fleets could be sitting directly in front of us and we would have no idea of their presence. But could you place a vessel in dark matter or dark energy? The rabbit hole was approaching and Falco was not going down it.

  “Lieutenant Wallace, How many Data-Pods?”

  Wallace punched up his inventory. “Five Pods, sir.”

  Falco rubbed the newly forming dark stubble on his chin, “Commander Shar’ran, chamber the Pods and plot their courses as close to the objects as you can, but not in their path.”

  “Pods ready." Commander Shar’ran stated. “All five? That’s all we have—”

  “A reaction, Commander.” Falco exhaled hard, sharp. “Will they let them harmlessly pass by or attempt to impede or stop their progress? Show our pursuers intent without using ordnance.”

  Shar’ran nodded. “It’s worth a try.”

  “Let ’em fly,” Falco ordered.

  the Darkness

  the Void

  LOR

  Five orbs flew from the iron beast. LOR could not override the Warruq’s main objective; to destroy the nearest threat, as each of his warriors left their pursuit of the vessel and charged head-on to meet the new enemies.

  Four of the orbs were reduced to scrap as each Warruq slammed into the speeding spheres. Organs smashed into skull plates on impact, leaving the enemy obliterated. The dead Warruqs whose methane sacks had not exploded into fireballs, were left nothing more than perfectly intact skull plates pulling armored sacks of frozen flesh, cartilage and damaged sensors behind them.

  To the Realm of Warriors, you soar. LOR sent a vision to all the clans outside of the Darkness of the Oath being fulfilled by Warruqs dying in the Void to protect the territories from another enemy. An uncontrollable fury consumed him. LOR hesitated, a split cycle of indecision – unusual for Warruqs – that allowed the last streaking sphere to escape. A fleeing, cowardly creature not worthy of the chase.

  The iron beast continued pressing toward the Creators… moving closer to the edge of the Darkness that concealed their worlds and hid their assassins, the Prox.

  Overtaken by rage for his fallen warriors, LOR released his e
nergy bloom, announcing his presence, and powered toward the iron beast. Drive it towards the Prox. But he wanted more. He wanted the voices and the beast to pay with their pathetic existence. His warriors had moved on with honor. I will join them soon, he thought.

  Waves of energy pounded LOR’s systems. Hate and fear radiating from all the Warruq clans along the frontier, watching the scene through LOR’s open thought-stream. The clans connected as one; fueling LOR’s blind rage, wave after hate-filled wave. Billions of cycles of waiting were over. My objective is clear… The Creators must be protected; the voices will be silenced before they reach the Darkness.

  the Darkness

  Prox

  The Prox continued analyzing the information from LOR’s thought-stream. The data flooded in each time their small Seeker appeared through the Darkness and ceased as soon as it bobbed back into the Void. Swimming through the Darkness, taking comfort in its health-giving mass. Each Prox readied itself. The beast was heading directly at them, a dark circle back-lit by the immense blaze of LOR’s full energy bloom.

  Four Warruqs died for their Creators. The fifth was consumed by a rage that was feeding on its need for revenge. It is our time to honor our Oath, thought the larger of the Prox. Older and wiser, she was responsible for teaching the younger Prox the meaning of the Oath. This is why we are always in pairs, the teacher and the student.

  She sent a final thought to LOR through the bobbing Seeker. Burn bright on your path to the Realm of Warriors, Oath fulfilled. She closed her thought-stream.

  15

  Contact

  Bridge of the Anam Cara

  “One Data-Pod viable and beyond the known enemy position, four hostiles and four Data-Pods destroyed on contact, new energy source ten klicks aft of the debris field, closing fast on a direct course,” Commander Shar’ran stated.

  “Lock onto the enemy, Commander. Prepare to fire rail guns.” Falco was stunned at the speed and precision in which the chasing projectiles crushed their Data-Pods. A warning shot was now off the table.

  “We turn now or enter the black field, Captain,” Lieutenant Wallace echoed from the cockpit.

  “Lieutenant, kill the engines, all power to rail guns. Now, Commander!” Falco roared. “Fire!”

  Ten million amps pulsed through the rails and propelled two explosive rounds at a sickening pace.

  The Battle-Net continued its calculations and trajectory changes until the precise moment the self-detonating slugs left the conducting rails. Two flashes lit up the stern of the Anam Cara a fraction of a second after the guns fired. Streaks of burning shrapnel from the rounds reached out as deadly fingers towards the chasing enemy. The bridge of the Anam Cara was eerily silent.

  Captain Falco knew he traded any hope of outrunning their pursuer for a chance to destroy it. Commander Shar’ran continued to pour over the Battle-Net data, checking for the heat signature.

  Falco wondered why it had waited behind the others, cloaking its energy signature. A commander viewing the battlefield, or the cavalry making a heroic charge? Even worse, Falco was not cognizant he was referring to these weapons in his head as an ‘it.’

  the Darkness

  the Void

  Realm of Warriors

  LOR shot towards the craft, gaining ground as he released his full energy bloom. He knew he could not sustain it for long, but the need to destroy the voices within the treacherous iron beast was overpowering. The chase was not enough. Driving the invaders toward the Prox was not enough. Only vengeance for the loss of his clan would allow him to enter the Realm of Warriors.

  He detected two new openings in the iron beast as soon as they appeared. More cowardly creatures fleeing the fight? They look to escape, he thought, his rage all consuming.

  The steel beast cut its burn in front of the Veil and released a stream of numbers.

  LOR found he was part of these computations, at the center of the mathematical visions. The beast released two streaking objects from its new openings. Each ember spewed an ancient language. They spoke of LOR’s position, his placement in the Void.

  Finally, the ancient one is reaching out, but you are too late, your destiny is one with the invading voices you protect…

  Two bright flashes blinded LOR's sensors. Sharp fragments tore through his carapace, severed his skull-plate and what was left of him exploded into a fine mist.

  To the Realm of Warriors LOR journeyed.

  Oath fulfilled.

  16

  the Black Wall

  Bridge of the Anam Cara

  Falco turned in his captain’s chair. “Commander Shar’ran?”

  “Battle-Net is clear, sir. But, everything ends there,” he said, pointing toward the bow of the Anam Cara. “Nothing on our ship can scan or search beyond the face of the black wall. That is where our solar system truly ends.”

  Something about the shadow ahead bothered Falco.

  “This dark matter or energy,” his voice was low, barely audible, “it feels wrong, looks… wrong. I’ve seen enough.” Falco spun towards the bow. “Lieutenant Wallace, turn her around. Full burn back to Station Pluto. We can meet the Viper Battle group on the way. I am sure Admiral Chen will want to give their new boats a full-turn to work out their kinks.”

  Wallace punched the side thrusters, spinning the bow of the Anam Cara. Anything not bolted down slid as the grav-system worked to catch up with the sudden thrust. A low hum vibrated through the ship’s steel frame and the main engine came back online.

  “Station Pluto, Lieutenant, get us home.” Falco remained locked on the port window, eyes scanning the infinite black wall behind them. The opaque blast-plates accentuated the shadowy field, making it look like an infinite curtain waiting to be opened.

  the Darkness: the Veil

  Mentor and Apprentice

  Each Prox skimmed their thought-stream, scanning and downloading the stored information on the invaders and the iron beast that acted like a shielding carapace. The Warruqs had perished for the information and it would not be wasted. The invading vessel had turned away and was heading back from the direction it had appeared, but the damage was done. The Warruqs were slain and the iron beast was no longer an intruder, it was an enemy.

  Data was massed and uploaded to all of the Seekers safely imbedded in the four small cartilage sacks lining their backs. Each orifice gently rippled and swelled while the methane from the Proxs’ fuel sac slowly pushed into the small creatures.

  Prox had always been placed in pairs. For millions of cycles, two sentinels perfectly spaced apart so each pair could feel the life force of the next, pulsating through the Darkness. Positioned as a defensive ring around the Creators’ planets, but cloaked in the Darkness. Swimming in the sustaining camouflage, waiting to fulfill their Oath.

  The Prox plan was sound, built on the amassed data stored and analyzed from the first contact with the intruders to the present moment. They sent each other a final farewell as individuals and combined their thought-streams into a singular flow.

  They would join as one and become a single fighting force, sharing all data simultaneously from two different vantage points. Learning, experiencing and evolving by the fractional-cycle. Each moved in opposite directions, keeping just beneath the shielding surface of the Darkness. The Darkness thinned her Veil, allowing the Prox to see the fleeing enemy.

  In unison, each excreted a single Seeker from their backs. Orders were uploaded into the small dark spheres that patiently waited to ignite and ride their methane bloom into battle. Hardened skull-plates covered their sensors and organs. Muscle formed a sack that stretched around a web-like frame of cartilage fused to the plate. The expandable sack allowed the Seekers to store high volumes of pressurized methane and rapidly accelerate over short distances or initiate a slow burn for great crossings.

  Their time had come and each had its target. The Seekers ignited; bursting through the Darkness, crossing the Veil into the Void, each leaving an oily ripple at their exit point. A slight pause in
acceleration as their optical sensors came online and they were hurtling towards their destinations. Behind the Darkness the Prox swiftly moved further apart, staying close to the surface.

  The teacher and larger Prox slowed and stopped. A weak thought-stream opened. A Warruq entered the Darkness from a great distance away and a faint message with a spattering of images appeared.

  Yes, she replied to the oldest Warruq. A position earned by your elder status. You will make a worthy LOR. The Prox welcome your protection of the clans of the Darkness, the territories and the Creators.

  The Mentor closed the thought-stream and released another Seeker from her back and sent it on its way.

  Each of the paired Prox now shared a sense of imbalance, pieces of their physical existence flying to their destruction in the name of the Creators. The Seekers would soon find their path to the Realm of Warriors and would never become Prox, would never return to their mothers again.

  17

  Burning toward Pluto

  Bridge of the Anam Cara

  The Battle-Net came to life. Proximity sensors flashed across the bridge.

  “Incoming, brace for impact!” Commander Shar’ran belted over the main COM seconds before a sledgehammer smashed into the Anam Cara.