by Kal Spriggs
The Temple of Light
By Kal Spriggs
Copyright 2017 Sutek Press
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
Chapter VIII
Chapter IX
Chapter X
Chapter XI
Chapter XII
Chapter XIII
Chapter XIV
Chapter XV
Chapter XVI
Chapter XVII
Chapter XVIII
Epilogue
About the Author
Author’s Website
Amazon Page
Prologue
Gamma Leporis System
Colonial Republic
July 1, 2409
Lieutenant Alannis Giovanni ducked as gunfire ripped down the alleyway behind her and bullets tore through the air over her head. “This is all your fault!” Alannis shouted as she ducked into a doorway next to Lieutenant Commander Forrest Perkins.
“Me?” He asked, even as he squatted and then leaned out to fire his pistol. “You're the one that mentioned Reese's name, all I did was find the guy selling illegal artifacts.”
Alannis couldn't argue with that. As soon as she'd mentioned her ex-husband's name, the situation had gone from a shady business deal to a running gunfight. They'd come down here in civilian clothing to attract less attention, but right now, she wished they'd been suited up for combat.
Alannis peeked down the alleyway. She only saw a couple of the artifact smugglers at that end, which probably meant the others were flanking them. She pulled out her comm and spoke into it, “Gunny Tam, we need that extraction.”
“We're on the way,” Gunny Tam said. “ETA five minutes.”
“What do they say?” Forrest demanded as he fired again. He'd lost his earbud in their mad scramble through the town. He barely fit his tall, lanky frame into the narrow alcove, though when they’d been running, Alannis had barely been able to keep up.
“Five minutes,” Alannis said to Forrest. Her small frame fit into the little bit of cover just fine.
“How are you on ammo?” Forrest asked.
“Have you seen me firing at all for the past ten minutes?” Alannis asked. “I fired off both my magazines just getting out of the warehouse.” She'd killed a few of their attackers in the process, which might have been a mistake. The smugglers seemed to be the types to hold grudges.
“Well,” Forrest said, “I've got three rounds left.”
“Keep their heads down,” Alannis said. She turned to the door and pulled out her datapad. As she plugged it in, she noticed the bullet lodged in the screen. The smart-crystal screen had shattered, but apparently her personal datapad's thick circuitry had stopped the bullet. Which doesn't do me much good right now, she thought as she threw it aside. “Give me your datapad,” Alannis snapped.
“It's in my back pocket,” Forrest said as he leaned over and fired. Down the alleyway, someone screamed. A rattle of gunfire came from both directions and both Alannis and Forrest went flat against the doorway as bullets screamed past and bits of brick and stonework shattered around them.
She went through his cargo pants pockets, but it seemed like he had a dozen back pockets. “Which pocket!” Alannis screamed.
“Left cheek, left cheek!” Forest shouted, even as he fired off his second-to-last round.
Alannis pulled out his data pad and hooked it into her cable. “Seriously?!” she demanded, “This thing is like twenty years old! It doesn't even have any software upgrades!”
“I just use it for messaging!” Forrest shouted as he ducked back.
Alannis didn't bother to respond. She finished hacking the door's electronic lock and the metal security door for the warehouse clicked open. “Inside!” She shouted. As Forrest followed her in, she slammed the door and triggered the lock from the inside. “That should hold them for a moment, come on.”
“That's come on, sir.” Forrest smirked as he followed her at a jog. “Can I get my datapad back?”
“This barely even qualifies as a datapad, sir.” Alannis shook the offensive bit of equipment. “I've got a music player with more capabilities.”
“It does what I need it for...”
They paused as they heard the sound of impacts on the door to the warehouse. “That's not going to hold them long,” Alannis said.
“Anything useful in here?” Forrest moved over to a heavy crate, the top covered by a tarp. He sighed, “Mratha rice.”
“Well, at least we won't starve,” Alannis said. She threw back another tarp and wrinkled her nose in distaste. Mratha rice was a healthy, nutritional grain that basically tasted like cardboard. It also smelled sort of like old gym socks.
Someone opened fire on the door and bullets ricocheted through the warehouse. Alannis cursed and took off in the other direction. She skidded to a halt, though, as she saw a set of offices off to the side, “this way, there may be a door!” I am never going to insist on going on one of these missions again, Alannis thought. It was all supposed to be simple. Meet the smugglers, see if they knew anything about Reese. Yet this was the third time one of these meetings had ended in gunfire. Three for three, she thought.
She and Forrest rushed over, just as they heard their attackers kick in the door behind them. As someone sprayed gunfire through the warehouse, Alannis dove through the doorway to the offices. Glass shattered as windows exploded inwards and the archaic displays shattered. “They're firing blind, at least,” Forrest muttered as he crawled across the floor, pushing a wave of broken glass ahead of him.
“They're trying to keep our heads down,” Alannis snapped. It was working, too. The smugglers were local, they probably knew where the other entrances were to this warehouse and they probably just wanted to keep them pinned in while they got in position. With how dilapidated most of the neighborhood was, she doubted any kind of law enforcement would arrive soon enough to help. Another few minutes for Gunny Tam, she thought.
She glanced up and her eyes widened as she saw the shotgun taped in place under the desk. Apparently the office manager didn't feel this was a quality neighborhood either. She pulled the shotgun down and checked it. It was local manufacture, a simple pump action, but it was better than nothing. She dragged it with her as she backed across the floor.
“Where did you find that?” Forrest demanded.
“I've got resources,” Alannis smirked. They came up to the back of the office and Alannis tried the door. It opened, but just on a storage closet, filled with cleaning supplies. Worse, the thin plastic walls wouldn't stop any bullets. It was a place to die, not one to hold out for help.
“Alright, we need to move,” Forrest said. She could hear shouts as the smugglers moved through the warehouse. They didn't have much time.
“Split up?” Alannis asked.
Forrest nodded. “I'll work my way around the right, you go left.”
Alannis hesitated. Right led back towards the door they'd come in. Their attackers probably had more people concentrated there. She didn't know if he'd chosen that direction because it held the most risk or because he wanted to protect her... or because she had a comm unit still and could summon help for both of them.
She moved to the side door of the office and then out into the warehouse without a look back.
As further gunfire echoed, she bit her lip and stayed low, keeping quiet even as bullets impacted crates of Mratha rice and sent grains raining down on her. A moment later, she froze at the sound of a footstep, just around the corner.
“That fucking bitch,” an accented voice said, “she killed Nori. When we get her, I'm going to kill her and rape her.”
“Only if she doesn't kill you first, Jas,” a nervous voice said. “She zakked Nori fast. Two shots, bam-bam.” He had a similar, rolling accent, different from most that Alannis had heard.
“Shut up,” Jas whispered. “I'm not afraid of no woman.”
“I don't want to die, Jas,” the second man said.
Alannis didn't wait to hear more. As their footsteps drew near, she rolled around the corner and leveled the shotgun on the nearest man. As Jas's rifle came around, she fired the shotgun. The heavy shot ripped open the man's torso and he fell back. Alannis worked the pump action, even as the second smuggler let out a panicked shout and turned to run. Her second shot caught the man in the back and he dropped to the ground with a wail.
Alannis worked the pump, ejecting another shell and then crawled forward. She heard shouts and running feet, then a single shot from the far side of the office and a scream. I hope Forrest gets another weapon, she thought, even as she reached the fallen smuggler. She picked up his rifle and checked it. It was an unfamiliar model, but she worked the action and chambered a round. She dug through the dead smuggler's pockets until she found another couple of magazines. Next time, she told herself, I'm bringing more ammunition, I don't care how it looks.
The smuggler she'd shot in the back gave a whimper as he tried to crawl away. Alannis saw that he had dragged himself along, his legs limp, with a broad trail of blood behind him. “She's over here!” he shouted, “help me!”
Alannis took careful aim and fired. The smuggler dropped lifeless to the ground.
She heard more gunfire and rolled away as bullets tore through the crate next to her. Alannis abandoned the shotgun and crawled away as fast as she could. Her boots cleared the corner just as flashlights illuminated the dead smuggler and more gunfire riddled his corpse. These guys are a little trigger-happy, now, aren't they?
“There's one over here!” Someone shouted, just as gunfire picked up from the far side of the warehouse. As the flashlights turned away, Alannis pivoted around the corner and brought her rifle up. She could barely see the two men in the dim light, but she didn't hesitate. She fired four times in as many seconds and both men dropped to the ground, wounded or dead. She took off at a crouch, running the opposite direction, just as more gunfire tore through the warehouse where she'd been.
As she reached the far end of the warehouse, she heard a roar of engines outside the building. “We're here,” Gunny Tam barked over her earbud.
“I'm at the rear of the building,” Alannis said. “Lieutenant Commander Perkins is near the front of the building. Ten or more hostiles inside, undetermined number outside.”
“Roger,” Gunny Tam said. “We're making a door.”
“Marines inbound!” Alannis shouted, even as she dropped to the ground and covered her ears. This was going to be loud...
As the back wall of the warehouse blew inwards, she was very glad that the Constellation had upgraded their Marines to powered armor.
***
“Well,” Captain Daniel Beeson smiled, “that could have gone better.”
“Sorry, sir,” Lieutenant Giovanni said, her expression downcast.
“Well, we've received the official thanks of Tigel's planetary government for 'removing an entire criminal organization,' so I suppose it didn't work out too bad,” Daniel said. “But as I considered just how to break it to the Emperor that I got you killed --if I got you killed-- I somehow don't think that thanks would be worth all that much.”
Lieutenant Giovanni looked down and Daniel's smile faded. “I think it is best that we return to Faraday. From what I understand, they've had some developments there and the Admiralty may have a better grasp on the situation rather than us continuing to chase after rumors and false leads.”
Lieutenant Giovanni gave a nod at that and Daniel's gaze went to Lieutenant Commander Perkins. He'd turned a blind eye to their relationship mostly because they kept things professional. For that matter, as Daniel’s XO, Lieutenant Commander Perkins wasn't directly in her rating chain. That didn't mean he didn't know about it. “Besides, Forrest, you've just come down on orders.”
“Orders, sir?” Forrest stared at him in surprise. “I'm being transferred?”
“You are. Apparently they've had an officer vacancy aboard the destroyer Bowie, so once we get back to Faraday's Sanctuary Station, you'll transfer immediately,” Daniel said. He couldn't help a smile at Forrest's obvious dismay. A transfer to a destroyer after his time aboard the Constellation was something of a demotion. While that wasn't technically true, that's how it would be seen... except for one important point. “I understand you'll be replacing Lieutenant Commander Felton as the new CO of the Bowie. Congratulations.”
Forrest's eyes went wide, “Thank you, sir.”
A command after such a short time as XO aboard the Constellation was a sign that his performance had been noticed. Granted, Forrest Perkins was older than most Lieutenant Commanders, at nearly fifty, though his youthful demeanor and access to the United Colonies' longevity treatments made him look no older than twenty-five. He'd only served in the United Colonies Fleet for six years, but he'd plenty of civilian ship experience and had graduated from Saragossa's Fleet Academy over twenty years previously.
And since Saragossa may sign on to the United Colonies, Daniel thought, using him as something of a poster-child isn't a bad idea. Daniel didn't know if Forrest realized such politics were involved, but he wouldn't be surprised if he would figure it out soon enough. Not that he hasn't earned it, Daniel thought.
“No, thank you for your exemplary service,” Daniel said. “Once we make port, Lieutenant Commander Rickard will take over as XO until your replacement arrives.” He couldn't help a look at Ensign Giovanni. “At that point, I'd understand if both of you might want to take some leave.”
Both of them flushed and neither looked at the other. Well, he thought, serves them right for them thinking they're fooling anyone, but at least they kept things professional.
“Did we learn anything from the smuggler's files?” Lieutenant Giovanni asked. The short woman’s olive-skinned face was intent. Captain Beeson understood why, but that didn’t mean he fully approved of her dedication.
“I see that you've spoken with Gunny Tam,” Daniel snorted. “We're still sorting through the data. Strictly speaking, I shouldn't be telling you this as the assistant tactical officer.” She blanched a bit as he said that, but his tone eased, “However, since I figure you'll be seeing most of this information from your brother, the Emperor, I might as well save a couple of steps.”
She rolled her eyes at that, but she gave him a nod, so he went on. “We've found some sales data as well as indications of where Reese Leone has made purchases,” Daniel said. “Which did include this system, but apparently he hasn't been seen here for at least four months.”
She looked disappointed at that, especially since they'd come here based upon information that he was based out of or operating in this system. If he hadn't been seen in that long, it suggested that this was yet another dead end.
There'd been a few of those over the past six months. The Constellation's mission was to investigate any leads on Reese's wher
eabouts, activities, and his mysterious patrons. Certainly the amount of money and resources Reese accessed on a regular basis suggested that he had some powerful allies. “The word I've received from Faraday says that they've put together a working group for this specific job.” The somewhat cryptic statement had come through the ansible network. They still didn't know for certain if the network was compromised. The Ghornath had discovered indications that a mysterious group could intercept ansible transmissions. The United Colonies Fleet had begun to limit the critical information they transmitted. Most of what they did send now was either entirely administrative or personal.
“We're headed back home. Lieutenant Commander Perkins, I understand some of the other officers will be throwing you a congratulatory party, so I expect you to be appropriately surprised.” Daniel smiled, “You are dismissed.”
***
Trident Forward Operational Base
July 7, 2409
Captain Reese Leone snapped to attention in front of his boss's desk. "My Lord, reporting as ordered."
Lord Marius Octavious Giovanni, rightful Baron Giovanni, and eldest son of the Emperor Romulus I and his rightful heir, gave Reese a nod. When he spoke his voice carried both authority and weight. Marius Giovanni had every bit of the presence that his son, Lucius Giovanni had. And he's far more loyal to his people, Reese thought bitterly. "Reese, I hear that you have almost completed our preparations?" Marius Giovanni asked.
"Yes, my Lord," Reese nodded. "I've acquired almost all of the items we'll need. There's a few of the more... unique items that my people have located but not yet acquired. I haven't wanted to draw that level of attention until we begin our final preparations."
"Understood," Marius nodded. He rose from behind his desk and came around. As always, it somewhat surprised Reese at how short the man was, he barely came to Reese's shoulder. Granted, Reese was a hundred and ninety centimeters. Marius projected so much presence that he seemed bigger, somehow. "How has the other project come along... the one involving my daughter and grandson?"