In contrast, the tumbling, diamond and prism-imbued worldlets that caught and split starlight was a spectacular. Their attraction was not the only reason Zaria ventured within the blue star’s system. Life rising to its potential drew her to one asteroid where prisms emerged from ancient rock. A second, smaller star descended to it. Zaria set down on the beautiful, but seemingly desolate world.
The image of reflected planes within the prisms of the asteroid was not mere optical illusion. The crystals had dimensions folded within them. Energy escaped from these intersecting planes. More remarkable was the bacteria adapted to use this exotic energy. They were life folded between the four dimensions of normal space and quantum planes.
The microscopic life fascinated Zaria, as did the seam into the other realms they revealed. She slid as rays through the quantum portal. Within one plane, she found another long chain of crystals at the scale of the bacteria. On a larger scale, the crystals formed a luminous, white strand that stretched through black space. The strand appeared to encourage her to run along it. The strand connected at angles to another. Those strands connected to even more. The multiple strands created a vast, perhaps infinite network. It was not unlike a vast—
Oh, no! Zaria thought.
She tried to pull away and escape, too late.
“This system,” Proxis paused, “is odd.”
Anguhr looked at his confused Ship Master from his throne. Azuhr’s huge, black sword sat thrust into the right-hand slot for his beloved but still missing axe. He knew Proxis had seen innumerable solar systems. Each had unique, even strange aspects. None of them had vexed the hellship’s pilot.
“I find it odd we sail unopposed,” Solok added as he stood near Proxis’ left.
“Clarify, Proxis.” Anguhr said.
“Odd physics, Lord.” Proxis answered. “The system has standard lithic and liquid planets. Gas giants like Old Jove, though natural. Troan belts. All nominal masses and compositions. But there are additional, perhaps artificial planetary mass objects. And minor worlds that hold formation. Many orbits differ from predicted, elliptical paths within and above the stellar plane. Some worlds appear not in gravitational influence of the single sun. Others do not appear influenced by the gravity of more massive worlds. There are no scanning errors. The data is correct. The mass interactions are not.”
“Hell has a larger gravitational effect than its volume and surface composition.” Anguhr noted. “Do your observations suggest similar, arcane effects?”
“Similar. Yes, Lord. As with our system of origin, this one is reengineered. And to a much greater degree.”
Anguhr paused to consider the data related by Proxis.
“Remade, perhaps as a weapon.” Solok offered.
“It would have no way of projecting its power,” Proxis said.
“It is a trap, of course.” Anguhr voice rolled low over his bridge as he looked at the large projection of the Nemorosan system beyond Proxis and Solok.
Solok turned to Anguhr. “Destroyer, if this is, as their challenge claims, where the Sword Wing civilization evolved, that would mean it was made as a trap long before their ship launched.”
“Yes,” Anguhr nodded. “Or it existed long before and now it has been repurposed to fight with Hell. They drew us here for a reason. The same reason their ship would not engage at Tectus.”
Proxis drew a breath and nodded in agreement. “Lord, Tectus itself had odd readings, emanations, gravitation. The Sword Wing’s presence there and history here must be linked.”
“Are the Sword Wing’s builders, Tectus, and this system’s makers the same?” Solok asked and raised his thorny brows. “If so, Lord, we may well be in for a fair fight.”
Anguhr replied with a low growl as he thought. He considered what he knew of the Builders. He thought of the power rod he and Zaria had taken from the Iron Work that sat in his ship’s hold. Those same Builders made that stellar cage, Hell, and probably the entire solar system they sailed. The greatest question was the connection between the Sword Wing’s captain and those, near-omnipotent beings. And, if he had delivered his horde to doom.
The extraordinarily ancient tactic of divide and conquer entered Anguhr’s mind.
“They anticipate we will act as if invincible, but victory is from strategy, not merely strength.” Anguhr said and leaned forward watching the main screen. “Take us above the solar plane. If we are seen leaving, the Sword Wing will intercept us. If this is a trap, too much planning went into it for them to endure failure. But we will engage them where we choose.”
“My Lord!” Proxis barked. His tone became one of glee. “A massive ship has emerged at the solar apex. It is the Sword Wing!”
“Move to intercept,” Anguhr said. “Of course, charge main batteries.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Buran sat in his captain’s chair on the Sword Wing. His body tensed. All four eyes squinted at the main display floating above Roelar and his other officers. His ship cruised through the corona of Nemorosa’s sun. The white star was rendered yellow and orange in the viewscreen by its image passing through the ship’s force field. Buran saw deeper reds and felt the heat of other flames.
“Resistance now, is spite.” The familiar intruder spoke in Buran’s mind. He never identified himself by his chosen name, Octuhr. Buran sought Hell’s destruction, and never knew his hidden antagonist was born within it fires. He waited to deliver that last, torturous blow.
“You kept your thoughts layered and your secrets hidden deep.” Octuhr continued. “I applaud your strength. But once you used that knowledge to such an extent, you brought it to the surface. Fatigue from your mental labors finally let me break your defenses. The hawk has struck from above. The prey is taken. I now know all you do.”
Buran made a low groan, soliciting cautious glances from Roelar and Chelnar.
“For all your efforts, I thank you.” Octuhr’s mock gratitude stung like acid in Buran’s mind. “You have been a most useful thrall. I set you free for the battle ahead, and grant you a boon of my own. The location is of an enemy to me, and to you, in its alliance with Hell. The world has many names. One that gave false hope to many was Eden. Good hunting, Admiral Buran. Oh, one last boon: never come for me. You now know the power I have, and that I need no technology to employ it. You and Anguhr may be the destroyers of worlds. I am the fire to burn the galaxy. I am the almighty Octuhr.”
Octuhr was gone. Buran felt blank. Then, liberated. His greatest task was about to be fulfilled. He focused. Shock and outrage, revenge, would be indulged later.
“Hellship directly ahead. It’s intercepting us, Admiral.” Roelar reported.
The screen images showed the corona fading as the Sword Wing sped deeper into the inner solar system. A red dot appeared as the cameras zoomed far ahead of the ship’s bow.
For a moment, Buran did not breathe. He flexed all of his hands against his chair. Then, he drew a breath. “Excellent, of course, Roelar. Now, for fun, hail them. Let us speak with demons we can see.”
Roelar’s eyes widened, as did all eyes on the bridge. Buran smiled. The message was sent.
The images on their respective screens made the two ship commanders appear equal in size. Buran was a mental titan among his people. In physical size, Anguhr’s boot could serve as Buran’s lifeboat, with his command staff. The General glared at the multiple eyes that greeted him with confidence and a slight smile.
“I would bid you welcome—” Buran began.
“We are here in answer to your call. Direct communication is given. If you wish a truce, I will listen. If you wish war, I will destroy you. The devastation wrought on your home system is by your choice. So state your purpose, or open fire.”
“Allow me a moment of ceremony, General. This day has been long in its dawn. Now, we meet around our sun. Distance granted my people a stay from Hell’s wrath. In that time, we have prepared. You see, dawn brings light, but darkness has shaped our lives.”
Anguhr said nothing
. The Sword Wing was within moments of entering the sphere for maximum effect of all weapons.
“A parable, then.” Buran bowed his head. “One to give you a sense of the species that beat you and a story to consider as you die: Darkness came to the surface. He crawled from the deep earth to find new realms to corrupt. He looked up at the open sky, and was angry he could not make its vastness his own.
“Sparrow traveled the sky, and many realms. Sparrow sought neither corruption nor conquest. He and his mate lived freely. Together they enjoyed life in their tree and on the wing.
“Darkness grew jealous of Sparrow. First, for the shared devotion with his mate. Second, because they flew in the sky and came closest to the light. Darkness coveted the sky and despised the light. Soon, he came to despise Sparrow, as well.
“Darkness raged, and the ground trembled. Great fissures opened. Molten earth sprang up as geysers. Darkness attacked Sparrow, who was brave even as the other creatures that fled in terror. The molten earth burned the tree that was Sparrow's home. He held back Darkness so his love and their brood could escape. But flames and rage overcame the bird's great courage. Darkness tore away Sparrow's wings and hurled his body into his shadowed realm. Though, it was only Sparrow’s body that fell.
“One of Sparrow's outstretched wings fell in a stream of molten earth. It did not burn away. Liquid ore transformed the wing. It cooled into a slender and strong, argent blade. The wing flew forth, as a sword flies in the hand of a great warrior. It found Darkness dreaming of greater destruction and pierced his heart. Darkness fell backward. His realm became his grave.
“In these days hence, we can be as the Sword Wing and avenge our own hearts, lest Darkness be reborn within them.”
Buran was silent after he finished the fable, as if waiting for Anguhr’s acknowledgement of receiving something profound.
Anguhr snarled low, and then spoke. “Warriors and vengeance. Your myth speaks of violence and the transformation of a being of peace into one of war. Such is the reality I have seen from most who claim fidelity to peace, but act as champions of war. Often I have seen espoused myth define a civilization as its opposite. You sit at the helm of a powerful warship. I doubt your homeworld is one of peace and purity. Jealously and fear, darkness, has flourished in your past. Just as in you, now.”
“Indeed.” Buran nodded. He focused back on Anguhr. “But we enjoy our myths. All of us do. Especially when they guide us back to our virtues.”
“And you see virtue in destroying an entire solar system?” Anguhr asked with an edge to his voice.
“So you have deduced my trap. To answer, yes. To destroy you. To end Hell’s power.” Buran nodded again. “To avenge all sentient species that fell before you, yes.”
“What I did, before, was in service to a myth.” Anguhr said with a growl resonating behind his words. “I am free of that, now. It is you who attack. Again, piety is a fragile shield. It cannot protect you.”
“And what of your past?” Buran drew a breath as his confidence rose. “Do you not need atone for that?”
“In time, I will build more than I vanquished.” Anguhr said with his own, deep tone of certainty.
“Anguhr, the Builder?” Buran rocked slightly. “Am I and the galaxy to believe that?”
Anguhr narrowed his stare at Buran. The light flaring from inside his helmet from the fire in his eyes dimmed. “I am not a myth. I am Anguhr, born Azarak, the son of a General and a Khan. But I am not bound by either parent’s fate. Join with me. We can make each other stronger. I am not your darkness. But I can still be your destroyer.”
“Darkness is temptation. Ultimately, all I have is history. Your history. It is a trail of oblivion, demon. It ends today.”
Anguhr vanished from the floating screen. The image of his flaming hellship seemed to explode over the bridge as it replaced the General. Then the hellship’s rear flanks flared as innumerable missiles launched. The missiles immediately arced below the hellship and sped out of the zone of the projected image.
“They have good sensors,’ Buran noted. “I imagined they would not detect my delay and initial strike so quickly.”
In space, the missiles flew at a rapidly approaching dwarf planet summoned by Buran. His trap was active. The power rod from Tectus granted him control of masses within his solar system remade by the Builders’ whims. It was now a weapon of astronomic scale. The missiles struck and detonated. The dwarf world of ice and rock flashed into plasma and heat.
“Other massive object increasing in velocity and on intercept vector.” Proxis announced on Anguhr’s bridge. “Evading Sword Wing weapons fire.”
The Sword Wing powered all its forward batteries and fired. The leading section of the ship appeared as a swept-back hilt to a sword of massed particle beams. The massive hellship banked with uncanny swiftness. The blade of cannon fire streaked by and annihilated a group of comets racing toward Anguhr’s ship. A fury of returned fire shot from the hellship’s starboard secondary batteries as every gun port emerged from the red beams and fiery aegis.
Buran felt shock as impact thrust him to the side of his captain’s chair. His vast ship spun in space from the enemy fire. Roelar was ordering return salvos. Yet Buran knew the presence of his ship would impede the massive bodies of the solar system from racing in and hammering the hellship. The Sword Wing’s contribution to the hellship’s death would be oblique. It was a time of victory, but not a ship-to-ship duel.
“Troans are striking our keel, Destroyer!” Solok announced as Proxis concentrated on piloting the ship between speeding worlds. “Ineffective, but dwarf planet incoming!”
“Bring main batteries about!” Anguhr roared.
Proxis pitched the hellship in a full turn with the menacing eye-like ports of the main guns glaring at the incoming billions of offensive tons. They fired their planet-shattering beams and the small world exploded. In the same instant, missiles shrieked from the portside bays and buckled the ventral shields of the Sword Wing.
“Concentrate on navigation!” Buran ordered as his bridge shook and vision for all his eyes has an oscillating blur. “Take us away from the hellship!”
When the shaking eased, Buran saw the shock on his crew.
“Will we not be a part of our world’s destiny?” Chelnar said allowed as he looked at Roelar with a plaintiff stare.
“We will fulfill it by destroying Hell itself!” Buran shouted.
Still his crew lit with confusion, even as they frantically guided their huge ship between fusillades of comets heading for Anguhr’s horde.
“This is the end of our world, but if Hell lives, so does the threat to the galaxy. I aim to kill it, forever. You trusted me before. Do so now, or eject into the planetary destruction and die with the hellship. I will take the Sword Wing and stop anymore from being made. The choice is yours!”
Buran watched as his crew nodded to one another and returned full attention back on their stations. Buran nodded to himself.
“Leaving solar plane,” Roelar announced. “Awaiting new course, admiral.”
Dwarf planets and comets fractured as their paths suddenly shifted toward the hellship with acceleration. Massive bodies closed in from all directions.
“The whole system is a weapon!” Solok shouted. “No world looks spared!” Solok watched a flanking screen displaying a gas giant as its bands churned and mixed while it, too, left its orbit to become a weapon of untold destruction.
What once was a great distance from the hellship, a planet bearing life began to alter its orbit. A species near the dawn of sentience lived on the shores of a lake. Their forelegs had evolved a membrane that extended to form wings. The elongated gripping fingers at the joint had become dexterous, and the brain increased in size to manipulate more complex objects and rudimentary tools. The amphibian like, endothermic creatures enjoyed a life nearly free of predators. They had no concept of war, nor one fought with whole solar systems as weapons. They had no way of understanding such a war would bring
their doom.
The creature rested on a beach to consider the purple tide crashing against jagged, deep blue breakers. It noticed a red dot in the sky. It saw the dot grow larger. In truth, his world began to draw closer. He felt a pull and his body sank deeper into the sapphire sand. The pull grew across his glistening skin. He extended his wings, but unseen force pressed him against the beach. The tide was gone. He heard the breakers crack. The red dot became the whole sky.
Anguhr’s ship fired a port broadside with a compliment of powerful, hemisphere searing bombs. The facing hemisphere of closing planet exploded into plasma and vapor. The remaining half planet slammed the ship. All demons and their burning home vibrated violently as the fragmenting half-world spilt against the ship into two waves of rock shards and molten core.
Proxis turned to speak. But the staccato strikes of three comets cut out his speech.
“Turn! About! About!” Anguhr roared as he watched the main screen and the incoming threat.
In space, the hellship’s star-like main drive sliced a dwarf planet as missiles raced to intercept closing asteroids. The ship lurched amid a thickening, roiling cloud of debris surrounding it. Another planet pierced the cloud and struck the ship. Vision became a violent blur and the ship screamed from flexing beams. Its flaming aegis ebbed as its hull beams began to buckle. The illusion of gravity vanished on all decks.
Proxis grabbed his dais. Solok instinctively flexed his talons to grab the bridge decking.
“Zol! Bring me the rod!” Anguhr bellowed as he pushed himself into his throne with his arms. His voice carried through all decks.
“Evade and destroy what you can!” Anguhr commanded Proxis. He turned to Solok and pointed at the sidescreen that flashed incoming worlds. “Find a small lithic or ice world!”
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