by M J Dees
"You mean Lopez has retired?" asked Sevan.
"He turned his back on the order. He was devastated when the last assassins turned mercenaries and brought the wrath of both the Republic and the Corporation upon the order."
"I guess it's unlikely he'll help us kill Barnes then," Sevan mused.
"Did you say Barnes?" asked M'Sychu. "That might be the one job that would bring him out of retirement."
"Why is that?" asked Tori.
M'Sychu looked at Tori in disbelief as the answer was obvious.
"Because Barnes was instrumental in sowing dissent within the order," he said.
"How did he do that?" Ay-ttho asked.
M'Sychu was dumbfounded that Ay-ttho did not know.
"He encouraged them to become mercenaries."
"So Barnes communicated with the assassins?" asked Sevan.
"Barnes was an assassin," said M'Sychu. "Where have you been? Under a rock? Barnes founded the order to create a band of elite warriors but the focus was on the training, on physical and emotional strength. The intention of the original assassins was never to use their skills for violence. They were the protectors of the region but then Barnes began to sell them to the highest bidders and to use them to settle his own private vendettas."
"What about Lopez?" Ay-ttho asked.
"The last assassins who would not follow Barnes were hunted down and, one by one, eliminated. Lopez and the others went into hiding. There are very few left now."
"But you said you were his apprentice," said Sevan.
"Lopez and some others tried to rebuild the order using their own methods but when Barnes heard about this, he doubled his efforts to destroy the order and Lopez abandoned my training."
"But you are still here."
"I am the gatekeeper. I owe my life to Lopez so I stay here to keep guard. Eventually, the Republic or the Corporation will find him and, when they do, I will do what I can to protect him."
"A patrol ship chased us," said Sevan.
"Then they are here," said M'Sychu putting down his bowl with a clatter. "There is no time to lose. I must take you to Lopez now. We must take him somewhere safe."
"To Barnes," Ay-ttho muttered.
M'Sychu didn't hear Ay-ttho. Instead he gathered the empty bowls, threw them into a large bucket almost full of similarly dirty bowls and led them out of the property and back onto the track they had followed from the cave but rather than turn towards the cave he led them further down into the valley.
The trail led through a forest of tall thin trees whose red leaves were huge. Sevan, Ay-ttho and Tori used the lights on their suits but for M'Sychu the light reflecting off the moons appeared to be sufficient despite the substantial moon shadows created by the huge red leaves of the slender trees.
They descended, almost to the floor of the valley where Sevan could see a fast-flowing river. After a while, the trail began to climb again, and it looked to Sevan as if they were heading towards the beginning of the valley beneath a huge snow-capped mountain peak. He hoped they would not have to climb it. Soon the trail became less of a trail and more of a series of steps, first made from the compacted earth of the valley and later carved out of the rock of the mountain itself.
As they climbed, it became colder and even the thermal properties of Sevan’s suit did not prevent him from feeling a chill. He tried not to look down as the steps carved in the rock became narrower and the red leaved trees of the valley floor disappeared below them.
Before long, visibility disappeared altogether as they entered the clouds and they enveloped them in a shroud of mist. Sevan concentrated on ensuring his footing was firm as there was nothing to prevent him from falling over the edge if he were to slip and the rock was now wet from the mist.
As they progressed, M’Sychu pointed out beautiful paintings on the rock face although he did not explain their significance. The paintings became more detailed and colourful as they progressed until the rock staircase ended on what appeared to be a plateau, or at least a large ledge. He led them along the ledge to a doorway which itself appeared to be carved into the rock.
Once inside the interior was too dark, even for M`Sychu, but when he clapped his hands, the ceiling became illuminated by thousands of insects which Seven presumed to be the same species as those they had seen in the cavern. A wave of light spread out in front of them illuminating the space which, although containing many similar plants to those Sevan had seen in the cavern, was more ordered.
M’Sychu took a long staff leaning against one wall and beat it into the floor to create a rhythm that echoed around and caused some light giving insects to take flight.
“He will come now,” said M’Sychu with confidence.
They stared into the blackness at the end of the hall where the light from the insects illuminated no further and waited for the legendary Lopez to emerge. They waited, and they waited.
“Do you think...?” Sevan began.
“Shhh!” Ay-ttho interrupted.
Sevan listened for the noise of footsteps, for any noise, any clue that Lopez was approaching but all he could hear was the sound of the breeze at the entrance.
“I assume this is very important,” a grumpy voice came from behind.
They turned to look and, at first, could see no-one, until they looked down.
The voice had come from a robed individual who was much smaller than M’Sychu, smaller than Tori or Ay-ttho. Even smaller than Sevan, in fact.
“Very important, master,” said M’Sychu. “The Republic are here.”
“Don’t tell me this is Lopez.” Ay-ttho said, looking at Tori in disbelief. But when she turned back, Lopez had vanished.
“Who are they?” came the voice again, and they spun around to see that Lopez now stood next to M’Sychu.
“They evaded a patrol ship, they will help us escape.”
“Fool! They are leading the Republic straight to us.”
M’Sychu looked ashamed.
“We came seeking your help,” said Ay-ttho.
“I help no-one,” said Lopez. “You mistake me for one of those mercenaries who brought shame to the order.”
“We want to kill Barnes.”
“Who doesn’t?”
“He is destroying planets. He destroyed our home, the Doomed Planet, and now we believe he is about to destroy Daphnis, if he hasn’t already.”
“And?”
“He is too heavily protected now for us to get close to him. He has the Tomorrow space station, it is impossible for us to penetrate alone.”
“Yet, you think I could?”
“Yes.”
Lopez thought about this for a moment.
“Yes, I could,” he looked at Ay-ttho. “But I am not going to.”
“Why not?”
“I need not justify myself.”
“No, of course not,” said Ay-ttho. “But you hate Barnes. Think about what he did to your order.”
“I know what he did, better than anyone,” said Lopez and then paused for thought. “Where did you find Gwof Vovlov?”
Ay-ttho looked confused.
“You are carrying her on your back,” Lopez explained.
“Here on Pandoria,” said Ay-ttho. “We rescued her from the Republic.”
“And Abaxax?”
“He disappeared.”
Sevan assumed she must be talking about the one with eight tentacles who had agreed to help them.
“Abaxax will help you,” said Lopez.
“I know,” said Ay-ttho. “But now we don’t know where he is.”
“Well, that’s very careless of you, isn’t it?” Lopez scoffed.
Sevan was beginning to dislike Lopez.
There was an explosion outside.
"You've led them here," Lopez complained.
Sevan saw he was holding Gwof Vovlov and judging my Ay-ttho's surprised expression, she hadn't noticed Lopez remove the star from her harness.
"She must be carrying a transmitter," said Lopez, examining Gwof.
Ay-ttho examined the device she used to communicate with her.
"She claims she doesn't have a transmitter," she said.
"Then who does?" said Lopez, examining them all. He stopped at Ay-ttho, placed Gwof back in her harness and then removed a tiny square from Ay-ttho's shoulder. "It's you!"
Another explosion outside sent rubble scattering through the door.
"Bineltin!" Ay-ttho exclaimed through two rows of gritted teeth.
"Who?" asked Tori.
"The fungus from the freighter park. He patted me on the shoulder when I agreed to give him a lift."
"Ron!" said Sevan. "We have to go."
Another explosion.
"Will you come with us?" Ay-ttho asked Lopez.
"I'll meet you at the Mastery of the Stars," said Lopez, throwing the tiny transmitter to the ground and grinding it under his boot.
"But do you know..." Ay-ttho began, but before she could finish her sentence, Lopez was gone.
Another explosion and rubble began to fall around them.
"We must go," said M’Sychu.
They followed him out of the entrance onto the ledge where they could hear a patrol ship turning in the clouds to make another bombing run.
"Hurry," said M’Sychu, leading them to the steps carved in the rock face.
Sevan followed the others and had just made it to the steps as the patrol ship began firing. Rocks and debris fell around them as they descended.
When they emerged from below the clouds, they saw the patrol ship for the first time and it must have seen them as well because, for its next run, it lined up and headed for them. At the bottom of the steps, they reached the path and sprinted as fast as they could before throwing themselves to the ground as the blast exploded around them.
As the patrol ship turned for another attack, they raced for the shelter of the tall red trees and threw themselves into the forest as blasts cut through the slender trunks, setting the forest ablaze.
Under the shelter of the trees, they could not escape the patrol ship's heat seeking sensors and the attacks continued.
At the edge of the forest, they sprinted across the clearing towards the entrance of the cave.
"I just need to get something," said M’Sychu, as he headed towards his dwelling.
Before he could get close, the entire dwelling exploded under a blast from the patrol ship.
"It doesn't matter, I'll leave it," he said, running after the others.
"Sorry about your house," said Sevan when M’Sychu caught up.
"It's okay. At least I don't have to wash all those bowls now."
Tori led them into the cave, followed by Ay-ttho. Sevan and M’Sychu, bringing up the rear saw the patrol ship preparing to land in the clearing.
"They are coming after us on foot," M’Sychu shouted.
"What about Lopez?" asked Sevan.
It wasn't long before the darkness of the tunnel gave way to the light of the cavern, the insects stimulated by the group's noisy approach.
No sooner had they entered the cavern than they were exiting out the other side into another cave which they recognised as the one which would lead them back to the Mastery of the Stars.
As Sevan and M’Sychu entered the tunnel, they could hear the shouts of the Republic troops just arriving at the other side of the cavern.
"We must leave Lopez behind," said Sevan.
They rushed through the tunnel until they emerged into the larger cave and saw, to their relief, that the Mastery of the Stars was still there.
Ron opened the door.
"Where's Bineltin? He betrayed us. Confine him to quarters. We are being followed, Ron," Ay-ttho shouted as she ran towards the bridge. "Train the cannons towards the interior of the cave. A platoon of Republic troops are about to come round the corner."
Ay-ttho froze as she entered the bridge. Tori, Sevan and M'Sychu almost ran into the back of her. Bineltin lay on the floor near the pilot's chair at the feet of Lopez.
CHAPTER 5: ANOTHER WORLD IS MISSING
"Tori? Jump in the weapons seat and shoot some Republic troopers," said Lopez.
"That's my seat," said Ay-ttho.
"You shoot some Republic troopers then. Will somebody just shoot some Republic troopers?"
"No, I mean the pilot's seat. You are sat in my seat," said Ay-ttho.
"Sorry about that," said Lopez. "But I'd rather fly us out of this scrape if you don't mind."
Sevan thought Ay-ttho looked like she minded.
"Bineltin was trying to communicate our position to the Republic," said Ron. "So I changed the atmosphere in the bridge and he passed out. He might come round soon though, now the atmosphere has been restored."
"M'Sychu? Can you throw him out the door?" asked Ay-ttho.
"They're here!" shouted Tori, firing at the troops who had just appeared around the corner and dislodging quite a bit of rock with his shots.
"Hurry," Lopez urged M'Sychu who was just lifting Bineltin to take him to the exit.
Lopez was preparing Mastery of the Stars for take-off and the ship was already off the ground by the time M'Sychu reached the entrance so he just dropped Bineltin off the edge and the giant fungus landed with a plop among the firing of the Republic troops bouncing off the hull of the freighter.
"They will have given our position away," said Lopez, flying the Mastery of the Stars out of the cave. "We have to make the jump point before they catch us."
He piloted the ship in a steep climb and Ay-ttho, Sevan and M'Sychu who were still not strapped into chairs, were knocked off their feet.
Sevan was sure now that he didn't like Lopez.
The Mastery of the Stars was almost out of Pandoria's atmosphere by the time Tori spotted the first Republic and Corporation ships pursuing them.
"How far to the jump point, Ron?" Ay-ttho asked as she strapped herself into a seat.
"We should be able to outrun them," said Ron.
"We will outrun them," said Lopez.
"But they'll just make the jump too," said Sevan.
"And when they do, we'll be waiting for them," said Lopez. "Be ready Tori."
Sevan, getting into a seat near the observation window, could already see the portal in the distance.
"They're closing," Tori warned.
"Ron? Give me all you've got," said Lopez.
"They are almost within range," said Tori.
"Not much further," said Lopez.
Sevan could see they were rapidly approaching the portal.
"Can we get through a portal at this speed," he asked.
"We're about to find out," said Lopez.
One of the corporation ships was now within weapons range and began to fire on them. Tori sent out defensive flares and fired back.
"We're about to make the jump," said Lopez.
Before Sevan realised, they were already in the portal and emerging from the other side.
"Hold on," Lopez shouted
He swung the Mastery of the Stars around so that it spun, almost 360 degrees, around some invisible pivot so that the freighter was alongside the portal and would be almost behind the Corporation and Republic ships as they emerged.
"Ready Tori?" he asked.
"Ready," said Tori.
Sevan watched as the first Corporation ship emerged from the portal. As soon as it did, Tori opened up every weapon Mastery of the Stars possessed, blasting great holes through the ship's hull. He repeated the process for every Republic and Corporation ship that followed until there was just a mass of burning debris in front of them. He tried not to think about the crew of those ships but consoled himself that they would have done the same to the Mastery of the Stars had they the chance.
"That'll do, Tori," said Lopez. "You'll want to save something for Barnes."
Lopez unstrapped himself from the pilot's seat.
"She's all yours," he said to Ay-ttho, then left the bridge and walked off into the ship's interior.
"You fly," she said to Tori. "I'm going to t
ake Gwof to her quarters."
She took the harness containing Gwof and left the bridge.
"This is going to end badly," Sevan suggested.
"Never mind those two," said Tori. "The Corporation and the Republic are onto us. They'll be waiting for us when we go for Barnes."
"Can't you talk to her? This whole revenge thing is ridiculous."
"No," said Tori. "I want to kill him, too."
"Am I the only one on this ship who doesn't want to kill Barnes?" Sevan sighed.
"Apparently," said Ron.
Tori, Sevan and M'Sychu had nothing but empty space to look at as they made their way towards the next portal.
"This is where our home planet used to be," Sevan explained to M'Sychu. "The Doomed Planet, they used to call it and I guess they were right."
M'Sychu nodded in sympathy. Tori was quiet.
Through the next portal, Sevan could see a familiar black hole in the distance.
"Hey, Tori?" Sevan's tone was jovial. "You remember the time you told me we were being sucked into that black hole and I believed you?"
Tori was silent. Sevan turned to M'Sychu.
"He once pretended we were going to get sucked into that black hole and I believed him," Sevan laughed and then, after a moment, let out a sigh. "Ah, happy times."
M'Sychu nodded.
"Was that when Barnes had kidnapped Ay-ttho and we had to go and rescue her, getting ourselves imprisoned in the process?" asked Tori. "Yeah, happy times."
Sevan decided to shut up for a bit.
The next portal was very close and they soon made the jump and would shortly reach Daphnis.
"We are approaching Daphnis," Ron informed everyone via the ship's intercom.
Ay-ttho and Lopez returned to the bridge.
"We're too late," said Ay-ttho, staring at the empty vastness of space.
"Is this the correct location, Ron?" Lopez asked.
"This is where Daphnis should be," said Ron.
They all stared at the place where Daphnis used to be.
"No debris, Ron?" Lopez asked.
"Apparently not," said Ron.
"Now what?" asked Tori.
"He said he was liquidating the least profitable concessions, right?" said Ay-ttho.
"That's right," said Sevan.
"So, all we need to do is find out what the Corporation's least profitable concessions are and we'll find Tomorrow, and probably Barnes, at one of them. Can you still access the Corporation system, Ron?"