Ghosts of Lyarra (19 page)

“Is all this necessary?” the words slipped from her mouth before she could catch
them.

Lyxia smiled and shrugged. “If it was up to my Captain of the Guard, the whole battalion would be accompanying me. We should be lucky it is just this small
group.”

Sara smiled nervously and led the group to the awaiting transport. Down the halls they marched, and she found herself struggling to keep in step with the armour clad warriors and Lyxia as well as they marched in perfect unison. As they turned the last corner, she let out a sigh of relief. She was out of shape and the pace was set higher than was
comfortable.

The soldiers guarding the docks tensed up at the sight of the Ifierin guard and their armour clad leader descending upon them, but a subtle wave of Sara’s hand let them know that all was fine. She led them inside the cavernous transport that was designed for a few hundred or so passengers per trip and led Lyxia up to the VIP cabin. She was relieved when the Ifierin took up station below and did not follow, yet she glanced nervously back at her guards that boarded as the hatch rose behind them. She beckoned them up to join them as to not leave them with the intimidating red war machines that stood on attention; she owed her men that much at
least.

Once the two were seated comfortably, Sara keyed in the command to depart and the ship pulled free of the docks to begin the short trip to Earth. She knew the sight of a near empty transport slipping away to Earth would anger the multitudes of angry travelers that were stranded on the commercial space docks due to the no fly order handed out when she locked down the planet, but they would simply have to wait it
out.

“A lot has changed since I have been gone.” Lyxia spoke; breaking the silence that had descended in the cabin. She pointed at the panel readouts of the Jupiter Cannon Ring to show what she was talking about. “Last I had seen, there was the defence network around Terra Sol but nothing out here. It is quite impressive, and very
effective.”

“You mean the demonstration for the Council.” Sara replied. “Let’s just say that it was done to show that we are not the weak sister in the family
anymore.”

“And from what reaction it got, I think the rest of the ‘family’ got the hint.” Lyxia grinned
back.

“Without threatening, I think the Fleet in its entirety would suffer great loss and damage before reaching Earth. For the first time in a while my people feel safe. Now we can focus on the next step for humanity and stop looking over our
shoulders.”

“You mean
warships?”

Sara paused; she knew there were questions if Earth had their own fleet under construction, but until now she had been sure that the secret had been well kept. Rumors would always be out there, but those involved with the projects were isolated and under high surveillance. She wondered how Lyxia had found out….. unless she was fishing for info in the light of the
rumors.

“At some point we will consider warships.” Sara answered after a moment. “But for now we are planning colonization vessels and equipment. Once those are finished, it would be irresponsible to launch them without support and protection. So yes, in a way I do mean
warships.”

She looked over at her friend and hoped she had gambled right; if the Paxyn was indeed just looking for info and not trying to blow the whistle on the project, there would be no hint of malice on her face. But Lyxia just smiled, and if she did suspect more she didn’t let it
show.

“Well there are rumors, but I just wanted to see for myself if they held ground.” Lyxia spoke with a
smile.

“Humanity is not a threat.” Sara assured her friend. Inside she breathed a sigh of relief; she knew there was a lot of suspicion to what was happening out here and why ships had to dock out at Mars. For now, she had deflected the questions and bought some more time. “We have secured our safety and now we must secure our
future.”

—
Mount Kailash, Tibet; Lyarran Colonial Base

“Tell me more about these messages.” Aen began after listening to Caretaker report on all the goings on it had been
investigating.

They had yet to make themselves comfy in their new home as the AI could no longer hold back all it had learned. Aen had time enough to restart the reactor below by churning energy into the small core; power and environmental systems had all come back online and the chill had finally come out of the temple that had felt like a tomb until now. Iana had just brought up linens for bedding when Caretaker popped his avatar of a glowing ball in the middle of the
room.

“
I believe the one behind all of this has made their first mistake; as you predicted they would
.” The AI began. “
It looks like they have infiltrated the Fleet at all levels and left sleepers in place until calling upon them now. I only managed to stumble upon it once I began monitoring all inbound and outbound traffic in order to filter information that may pertain to our whereabouts from being reported. It appears that the Dark Light has thirty two such messages that were sent on subroutine systems to make them near untraceable; all thirty two have answered and declared themselves on standby. What is more interesting is that there are two more signals sent to Terra Sol that remain
unanswered
.”

“That means that….” Iana began, almost
dumbfounded.

“
That there were two sleepers in the Amarra crew that are still alive on the planet
.” Caretaker interrupted. “
I have taken the liberty of blocking any further communication from the host and have run trace programs to find and identify the recipients by using the software of their stations to get images of the respondents and run it through the crew manifest of the Dark Light; in effect, I have flushed out the enemy
within
.”

Iana was blown away; it was hard enough to accept that there was a conspiracy to usurp the throne by the temple that put her in power, but to hear it was this far reaching was beyond shocking. Aen was less than surprised, and took little time to comprehend the news and begin formulating the next
steps.

“You said you ran trace programs on the messages?” he asked. “So that means you have the locations of the two Amarra crew
members?”

“Indeed. One is in the Ningyocho district of Tokyo and the other is in Alexandria, Egypt on Port Said Street; neither of which has replied to the message as of yet though both terminals are active and show it has been
received
.”

“So they are alive still then.” Aen surmised. “But I thought the official record showed that Ameia was the last surviving member of the
expedition?”

“Official records have a way of being worded to hide the truth.” Iana finally spoke. “I believe the wording was ‘active surviving member’ meaning that all others had perished or deserted. Two members; Palla and Jyn; deserted the search for the Harbinger in the early 1600’s. They had lost hope for returning home and just wanted to blend in with the human population and live out their lives apart from the Empire. I respected their decisions and struck them from the record; in a sense, I helped them fake their
deaths.”

“And yet it shows that they were the two members who were part of the movement to strike you from the record, so to speak.” Aen shot
back.

“So what’s the plan?” she
asked.

“I need all the info available on file for them.” Aen answered quickly. “Personnel files from the Fleet, records in the Earth network to trace their habits, estates, family history, everything Caretaker can dig up. I need to know what can triggers they could have and how they go about their new lives; I need to know my prey before I go
hunting.”

“
I do not believe that killing them serves any purpose; in fact, they could provide information on the one behind all of this
.” Caretaker
cautioned.

“Basic strategy states that you don’t send those close to you to the edge of the galaxy and isolate them.” Aen replied. “These two are too low on the chain of command to point to their master directly, but I will extract all I can from them before ending their self-inflicted exile permanently. Loose ends can’t be left at this point; no matter how insignificant they
seem.”

—
Inner System Solar Power Relay Station;
Project Olympus

Patterson looked intently at the radar screen as he watched the shuttle that carried Councils Foster and Lyxia to Earth. He sat with tense anticipation; waiting for them to land safely in Switzerland before he would relax any. There had been so many things happen recently for any chances to be taken, especially with a Council of a Lyarran ship in human hands. The last thing they could risk now was the focus of the Empire to be here; not until Olympus had been
completed.

Most on the planet would boast that the Lyarran Fleet would face a stiff test trying to break through to Earth past the ring of PA cannons, but the truth of the matter was, without offensive weapons to coincide with the defence, they would inflict heavy damage but still come up short when it came to defending the planet. They needed another year at least to finish, and even then Zeus would be barely space worthy at that
point.

The whole time he watched the approach vector of the shuttle, he was keeping one eye on the Lyarran cruiser parked out by Neptune. It had presented its side to the inner solar system in a show of no threat, but Patterson knew what kind of threat that ship presented; both to the safety of the Earth and to the secrets hidden just beyond. For now, it remained where it was and he was damned glad it
did!

“You were right about the comm lines being filtered.” Davis interrupted him. “In the last few days all communications in the system are being scanned before being released to their destinations; hence the lag we’ve been seeing as of
late.”

“Is it them?” Patterson nodded to the screenshot of the Dark
Light.

“No, the source is more localized.” She
answered.

“And by localized you mean what exactly
Lieutenant?”

“I can’t pin down the source enough to find it, but it is originating from Earth. I think we have a spy on our hands
sir!”

“Lock down all normal comm lines and put radio silence into effect other than supply orders.” The General ordered calmly. “If we are being watched let’s not give them any clue to what we are up to. But keep trying to pin down the source and contact Avery and his crew to be on stand-by; we need a response team ready at a moment’s
notice.”

“Avery Wilson? Are you sure he is ready after what he went through?” Davis sounded genuinely
doubtful.

Patterson too, had his doubts about sending the Lieutenant into another tenuous mission after years of surgeries and physiotherapy. They had found him as the sole survivor of the hanger ambush at Area 51 when the dust settled; barely clinging on to life. But though his body was broken, his resolve and determination to recover never wavered the whole time; despite years of work and the news his family had been lost in the Husk attack. To reward that determination, Patterson had placed him at the head of the first contact strike unit that was sent whenever there was conflicts with aliens and humans. He had proven himself in these little missions time in and time out, so yes the General did think he was
ready.

“Yes he is.” He answered after a moment of thought. “It’s not like he’s going up against Aen again; the dead don’t come back to life Davis, do
they?”

“No sir, they don’t.” she
laughed.

Although he tried to make the point clear, he silently wondered if it was true. Aen was gone; almost six years had passed since he flashed away in the epic conclusion to the battle with the Husk and yet the Empire still searched for him. It became the unspoken secret that everyone knew, but yet the search still raged on even in the face of this tragedy. In a way, it made him think that everything wasn’t so cut and dry, and this rift in the Empire had more behind it then appeared; and it left him with a nagging question. If the dead don’t come back to life, why did they continue to search for him with such reckless
abandonment?

Eight
Tokyo, Japan;
Ningyocho District

Tokyo burned bright with excitement and activity, even at this late hour and Aen just stood back in wonder. He searched his blank memories for some type of clues of if he had once stood here, but like always there was nothing. His past life remained behind a thick fog; he didn’t know where it was and couldn’t see it from where he stood, yet he knew it was somewhere back there waiting to be embraced once more. Taking a deep breath to shake the frustration and refocus on the task at hand. He was here to find someone who had spent hundreds of years hiding in plain sight; a task not to be taken
lightly.

Aen had altered his appearance; it hadn’t taken a ton of effort to shift his thoughts and make himself look more like a run of the mill Paxyn soldier. His hair was gone; burned away in a flash as it was easier than cutting it. His jaw had widened, and his cheeks sharper as he masked his true self. But despite the changes, his eyes remained hidden behind welding glasses as they were the one thing he couldn’t change or hide. With those on, he blended in to the mass of humans and Lyarran’s mingling on the busy streets of Tokyo as nothing more than an Ifierin on
leave.

Looking up at the address on the building, he confirmed he had the right place. Inside was his quarry; the lost Lyarran who had abandoned a mission too soon before it could see fruition. Inside was the chameleon Jyn; a male Paxyn who was an expert linguist and cultural guru that had grown to love the human race so much he chose them over his kind. Caretaker had done immense research to get all kinds of details on Jyn, ranging from details of his many human lives right down to his preferences of evening entertainment. He had found Japanese culture alluring even before leaving Ameia’s team, and immersed himself when he left to begin his ‘human’ life. Here he began to weave a complicated tapestry of lies to build a family name that spanned generations. The house of Jyn was old and proud indeed, and always had a son to carry on the name to the next generation. Now, he was Tanka Jyn; the current head of R&D of Sony, which had become the new communications supplier for the planet in the wake of the
Husk.

In a masterful way, he was responsible for cutting edge technology that helped keep the company alive when many others died off in the broken economy. Now with military and political contracts, the company was stronger than ever, and had begun to secure contracts throughout the Empire itself. With Caretaker’s research, Aen had seen how it altered Lyarran technology with a modern human twist that was being passed off as new, but it was still something that had bettered many lives here in
Japan.

Aen leaned back to look upwards to the penthouse where the many lights in the rooms told him that Jyn was indeed home. The Ai also reported to him a few minutes earlier that the receiving station had been activated and the message was read again yet remained unanswered. It seemed the deserter was at a conflict of beliefs, and it presented an opportunity to catch him at his most vulnerable. He stepped back into the alley and waited for the foot traffic to slow some before slipping back into the shadows and disappeared
completely.

Like a ghost, he passed through layers of metal, concrete and drywall before coming to a stop in the darkness of the penthouse den. From where he stood, he had a clear line of sight to Jyn who sat facing the terminal with his back to the shadows; the light of the screen lit up the dim office. Aen took note that despite most of the rooms being lit, these two remained shrouded in darkness; as if to hide some sense of who he used to be. The office had relics from all ages of Japanese history lining the walls from ancient samurai armor and swords to small statues and timeless scrolls. And in the middle stood his target; a man out of time whom after over two thousand years had just begun to have his hair begin to grey. He was short for a Paxyn; maybe six feet or so when standing upright. His skin tone had faded in his years amongst humans; less bronze and more like a light summer tan. Surgical procedures had clipped the points of his ears and added eye brows as to blend in more
seamlessly.

Aen waited in the dark doorway; giving himself more time to size up his prey. A quick glance around reminded him that there was more than an exaggerated amount of surveillance equipment in the penthouse; but all was now controlled by Caretaker exclusively and all traces of this confrontation would be
non-existent.

“
It is you I seek
,” The terminal spouted as Jyn was obsessing over the recordings of the false terrorist Aen had been playing as of late. Caretaker’s files had gone into such great detail that he was absorbed in solving the mystery of the Empress’ killer; a revelation that he would never live to see
complete.

“Who are you?” Jyn whispered to the image which had rewound and looped over and over in a replayed
message.

“I am the answer,” Aen spoke; shattering the silence and taking his quarry completely off guard. “The answer to the challenge set down by your
master.”

Jyn almost fell off his office chair as he spun around to face the voice that shouldn’t have been there. A look of true terror overtook his features; he was the scholar of the Amarra crew, and he knew at a glance that he was
overmatched.

“At least the Empire will see who you are and where you are!” Jyn said defiantly. “This apartment is wired to the core to watch for moments like this and will upload to the database and tell everyone your secret. I may die, but by coming here I win in the end; I solved the
riddle!”

An evil grin crept over Aen; despite his prey being a virtuoso of electronics and computers, he was blissfully unaware that Caretaker had hacked and took control of his very life. But there was little time left for drama and Aen knew that this was the easier of the two loose ends left to tie up so he better get on with
it.

“No, there is no win for you I am afraid.” He broke the news to Jyn. “I did not make a mistake by appearing here; I control the entire network and there is nothing happening here that will see the light of day. Hope has abandoned you the way you abandoned Ameia; the same way you abandoned your Empress long
ago.”

Jyn flung his keyboard at Aen; a pathetic attempt to distract his attacker as he leapt towards one of the many swords adorning the wall. The plastic board struck Aen in the face, but he never flinched and his eyes tracked the desperate man’s actions. The sword in hand, Jyn unsheathed it in a perfect motion while spinning around and thrusting the blade into the abdomen of his tormentor to the hilt. But any satisfaction of the well-formed strike was washed away by the realization that the, would-be fatal wound, had no effect whatsoever on
Aen.

Not wanting to carry this out any longer than it should, Aen sent out a wave of gravity with a slight wave of his right palm that flung Jyn fifteen feet to crash through his desk and the wall behind. The impact sent him through the drywall and indented him in the concrete wall itself; blood spurted immediately from Jyn’s mouth as his lungs filled with the bluish liquid. Aen held him there as he drew the sword from his belly; Jyn’s eyes fixated on the lack of blood; and walked slowly to his helpless
prey.

“Before you die, child of the poison temple, I want to know everything about your master that you know.” Aen whispered. “I already have all your personal files, but I do like the personal touch and would much rather hear it from you. So tell me, how does a creature who has pledged his life to the Queen of Heaven betray her so
easily?”

“You don’t understand.” Jyn muttered through the pain of broken ribs and punctures lungs. “It is bigger than you think, and vaster in its reaches than you can imagine. They made her what she was; she was a keeper of the Empire until its true master could rise. But you killed her, so why do you care about the betrayal so
much?”

Aen smiled; Jyn was easier to break than he thought and this meeting would produce much more insight then he ever dreamed it would. Leaning over to the data pad that held the message from the conspirators; Aen typed in the decline to the
offer.

“What are you doing?” Jyn screamed. “Now they will come to kill
me!”

“And they will find nothing alive to soothe their thirst for vengeance.” Aen calmly replied. “You are smart enough to know that you won’t live much longer; certainly not long enough for them to arrive. But what you can do is find an ounce of the honor you once swore to Iana and use it to tell me everything; and then I will let you die well in a blaze of
glory.”

—
Tokyo, Japan; Ningyocho District

It was the hectic pace that never seemed to end in the post Husk version of Tokyo that amazed Iana. All around her lights and sound assaulted her senses from every angle. People walked in organized confusion in groups too large to single out any one individual as they moved to and fro. The city stood as a testament of human resilience; what had once been the mecca of the technological world had been crushed to dust and reborn even stronger. With the help of the Lyarran rebuild program, Tokyo was resurrected in less than two years after the attack and fully populated soon after. It was remarkable and Iana felt privileged to even be standing here taking it all
in.

This was her first jaunt out in her new disguise, and it was working perfectly. She blended in to the tourist influx of Paxyn women who were either on leave or chose to immigrate to the exotic Terra Sol. Her lustrous blue locks hardly attracted attention at all; in fact, she blended in seamlessly. Iana felt free for the first time in her life; much more so than the night of celebration years ago in Switzerland. There was no entourage, no protection detail, and most of all no threat of harm. Here she was just another tourist; here she was encouraged to explore freely and experience life amongst the
humans!

As determined as she was to wander, she knew better than to stray from the corner café a few blocks away from Jyn’s penthouse building. Even seated at her table, she could see the lights of the betrayer’s apartment from here. From time to time, she would glance up from admiring the endless flow of traffic around her to look up and see if she could catch anything happening up there. And in one of those glances is when all hell broke
loose!

In an instant, the entire top floor of the building ceased to exist; one moment it was there and the next it erupted in a white hot explosion that incinerated everything inside. There were no flames soon after the explosion as it burned so hot so fast there was nothing left for the fires to consume. As bystanders scrambled to get out of the area in panic, the only thing that fell as debris was ash. It was quite a scare; even Iana reacted in fear and found herself lost in the crowd as they herded together to
flee.

After running for a few blocks, Iana felt a hand grasp her arm and pull her free of the crowd. As she blinked, she found herself on a side street walking slowly with Aen who once more wore his own face. He looked calm and collected; staring straight ahead as they moved through the side streets and towards their transport shuttle. The two walked in silence as the reality of what transpired sunk in to
her.

“Did you have to kill him?” she asked as they sat in her seat inside the two person
shuttle.

“It was always the end result.” He was cold and distant. “And he redeemed himself quite admirably for his transgressions by telling me more than I expected. Scholars are truly a wealth of
knowledge.”

“So why kill him
then?”

“Because his nature wouldn’t let us just walk away; he would hunt for us more vigorously than our unseen enemy will ever do. And he would try to redeem himself to his master and point the way to us as soon as he discovered where we are hiding.” Something had changed in him; Aen was obviously struggling to stay focused being back
home.

“
And why did you reply to the message
?” Caretaker piped in the conversation. “
Even though you know I would block the transmission from being sent, you still answered
it
.”

Iana was concerned; could her rock be showing cracks so soon? It was a good plan to hide on Terra Sol, but the emotional strain on Aen would have to be immense. She was more worried than fearful; now was not the time for him to regress to the man he once was. He must have seen the look of concern on her face and leaned over to lightly touch her
cheek.

“To cut the last ties to his masters; make him realize that there was no salvation in the message still being unanswered. His resolve was broken before and that act shattered any remains of it.” He said with a smile. “Jyn had nothing left but to admit to his sins and the web of the darkness has begun to
fray.”

The shuttle shook slightly then took off as it leapt into the air and joined the busy traffic above the streets. They would follow a predetermined route until splitting off and flying away to the second target, and towards the much more dangerous of the two. Jyn was a bookworm, a lover of culture and history and the only threat he produced was that of his technology recording something it shouldn’t. Palla on the other hand, was a warrior through and through; a Forgotten of the highest degree and part of the mission to foresee and end all threats before they happened. She was a survivor, and no doubt had kept tabs on her deserting counterpart; she would know full well they were coming and that worried
Iana.