Schism of Blood and Stone (The Starfield Theory Book 1) (4 page)

In a separate section of the station, far away from the human commotion, the Azuren maintained an embassy with Goteborg's ruling noble House Evers. The Azuren kept most of their military assets, which were fairly considerable, at the star's zenith stargate, while their diplomats remained at planetary stations like Garda. They kept strong ties with the royal Sten family at their embassies at Magdeborg, but they also maintained relations with each of the vassal houses. The Azuren were careful to ensure no state became powerful enough to tip the balance of power, but they also made sure no internal unrest threatened civil war. They kept their fingers in everything, pulling or pushing here or there to maintain balance and order.

This was also accomplished through weekly sermons in the service of the Goddess Amrah meant to placate the masses. The hanger at Garda was used for just these purposes. It was easily five kilometers across and half as much high, so closing it was an equally massive undertaking. Typically it was a maze of catwalks, ships, berths and access ramps and hatches. Today, it was packed with people and machinery. Ships and whole berths had been moved to the sides to make room for a raised platform that dominated the floor of the hangar. Normally, there was a near constant stream of ships entering and exiting the station. The series of locks that allowed for that all had to be sealed and secured to allow people out on the floor of the hangar. Thousands of soldiers, maintenance workers, spacers, crews and executives crowded around the platform staring at the half dozen individuals on top. By going through such efforts, the Azuren were making a statement loud and clear.

Chris buttoned his coat more tightly and straightened his captain's insignia. He might as well look presentable as he was representing both his corporation and himself. There would be many potential clients and future employers present. Even though they'd be mostly drawn to whatever the Azuren were doing, they were businessmen at heart and they would always have an eye open for deals, evaluating potential contractors and watching for profit opportunities. The Azuren would probably never be able to put on a show grand enough to end that sort of behavior.

Despite some of the high level officials present, the vast majority were spacers, ship crews and station personnel. Several thousand had already gathered and were clustered in groups according to their corporations or military units. A few confused travelers huddled in clumps or wandered nervously, suddenly afraid to be found alone.

A platform had been raised from the floor of the hangar consisting of two levels. As they neared the platform, Chris could see five individuals dressed in white robes and one other dressed in black and restrained by two of the white clothed figures. He did not struggle, but kept himself fully erect, his face frozen in a mask of confidence. He wouldn't have moved even if there was no one there to restrain him. The tallest of the white-clad figures stood at the center, towering over the others by at least twenty centimeters. His face was pale white, almost translucent and his hair was a similar unnatural color.

“Azuren,” Claire whispered.

“That's the planetary legate Ojressi,” Chris pointed to the big pale man on the highest platform.

He had seen the Azuren on a few occasions as a child when they visited the sacred Arkships on the planet's surface. Ojressi was apparently more religious than most other Azuren and he made a point to regularly attend services in the hangar. Attendance was compulsory for station residents, but Chris and his crew were often on contract and jumping between solar systems so he managed to avoid him. Once the Azuren had tagged the
MacCleod
for inspection and impounded his ship and detained his crew as they investigated his cargo of highly sensitive electronic equipment. The Averi in charge of the inspection team notified the Azuren legate at Haberton that the goods looked stolen. Legate Ojressi interrogated Chris and Nick intensely and threatened them with imprisonment on Azuren penal colonies or even execution if the goods were determined stolen from the Azuren. After some time, Talakonis apparently lost interest in the matter, finding some drama more juicy for his attention, and concluded the cargo was legal. Thankfully, they had not run afoul of Averi inspections since.

Except for worship, the Azuren generally avoided being seen in public which made their appearance all the more intimidating; they possessed a sense of awe that followed them like a bubble. A certain aura of power, authority, and a healthy dose of dread emanated from Ojressi as he stood watching people crowd closer. Chris felt a series of shivers run down his spine as if Ojressi was looking directly at him, his piercing blue eyes scrutinizing his soul. His knees shook slightly as excitement and fear settled in him.

The four other white-clad men and women were shorter and their features were darker. They were not Azuren, but human laypeople who entered the Amrahn religious order. They were called Averi by the Azuren after the spirits who helped Amrah in her struggle to protect her people. The humans had other names for them, most of them derogatory. Some entered the ranks of the Averi because of their religious convictions, though others joined simply because the life of an Averi was considerably better than that of the average human. They never experienced hunger or unemployment and were safe in Azuren protected stations. The Averi managed much of the clerical and religious duties, deferring to the Azuren only when an issue superseded their authority. Most interactions the humans had with the Azuren apparatus were with their human underlings.

The Averi also served a much darker purpose. Those who survived the training were deployed in their armies and their intelligence branch. Though the Azuren rarely went into combat themselves, the Averi were feared through human space. The sort of technology the Azuren could field simply overwhelmed anything the human states could imagine.

“I wonder what their prisoner did,” Nick said indicating the shackled man.

“Some sort of criminal or fugitive. Maybe he was involved in the bombing that killed those Averi last week. They probably found him in one of their inspections,” Chris said, feeling a shiver run down his back as he recalled his own brush with the Averi.

“They're traitors,” Claire said loudly. “They're just Azuren collaborators who turned their backs on the rest of us-”

Chris shushed her and snapped. “You don't learn very quickly do you?”

“I'm just saying-”

“You just saying things is going to get you on a platform just like him,” he pointed at the prisoner. Chris' tattoos shimmered a frustrated red hue before oozing back to calmer blues.

She glowered angrily and crossed her arms over her chest insolently.

“Over here,” Nick said dragging the twins around to the left. He'd spotted two other gray uniforms bearing the Drayton logo. He pushed through the crowd, finding his crew members speaking and gesturing at the stage. One of them was his navigator and pilot, Chen Guanxin, a native of the neighboring Boreas Confederation. Chen's face was crisscrossed with the same glowing blue and green SESE tattoos as Chris, but covering most of his face, hands and arms. He was as hardcore a spacer as they came. Next to him, and looking surly, was his chief technician Kerali, a subject of House Evers like himself. Her tattoos were not as extensive as Chen's as she was a recent addition to the crew.

“What's going on?” Chris asked the two spacers.

Chen pointed. “See that man? The one in black? The Azuren caught him trying to smuggle his way to Hidelborg. Rumor says he's a Starfield Theorist.”

“Hidelborg? That's Lord General Damien's fief. What's a Theorist doing there?” Chris asked.

Claire shook her head, “Hidelborg is home to a fairly large sect of Starfield Theorists, at least that's what rumors say. They avoid the large stations because they're afraid exactly this would happen. I don't know why any of them would get this close.”

“Close where?” Kerali asked.

“To the Core. The Azuren are most powerful around the Tri-Sphere, Unclaimed space, and the human colonies in the states surrounding it. Goteborg is a major hub and the Azuren and their cronies watch it closely. They prefer sticking to the safety of unoccupied star systems and areas of low Averi presence.”

“Maybe he wanted to be found?” Chris suggested.

Claire rolled her eyes. “Theorists aren't known for being martyrs. He's not one of the pedants, his head isn't shaved,” she added. “He's a soldier.”

“The Theorists have a military wing?” Chen asked.

“They're called Praxis,” Claire explained. “They launch attacks against the Azuren and do the labor intensive activities for the Theorists.”

“What are they going to do?” Nick asked, looking at the restrained man.

“Execute him,” Claire said grimly. “Azuren don't tolerate dissension. If he's a Starfield Theorist like they claim, it's not going to be pretty.”

“He strayed from The Path and insulted Amrah. This is only right and proper,” Chen said. Kerali nodded in agreement as Claire blinked in shock.

Chris had seen Azuren forms of execution before. One of the most popular and effective was the cage. It was a simple wire-frame device, conical with a rounded tip, much like a bird cage. The first time he saw it used was on Goteborg when a convicted murderer had been placed inside and hoisted above the city square, a very public reminder that those who broke the law were in turn broken themselves. Chris remembered him begging for his life, pleading with those who walked below him to save him. But Chris did nothing, and he kept walking, trying to ignore him. He was left there until he died, a slow painful death days later, but the punishment had its intended effect; Chris never forgot it.

The other incident was the space-based version of the same punishment. This much harsher form was done to an alleged Starfield Theorist outside of the Yteria station. He had been placed in a cage, then ejected outside an Azuren ship and left to float, cabled to the main hangar while incoming ships passed below him. When Chris and his crew were returning from a job, he remembered looking up through the cockpit glass at the frozen, broken body. The man had died of exposure, his blood slowly boiling in his body in the low pressure. Fortunately, Chris did not have to hear his cries for help that time, then again, seeing a caged frozen corpse floating in space was not exactly preferable, either.

Legate Ojressi shouted for silence and slowly the din abated. His voice was amplified by a microphone at his throat linked to massive speakers rigged throughout the hangar and the rest of the station. Usually they were used to announce the arrival and departure of ships, but today the Azuren took complete control of the system. Cameras mounted on small, mobile, hovering discs floated around the hangar, recording the event for replay on news stations across the Core. Most were trained on the platform and the victim-to-be while others watched the crowds, partially for their reaction, but also likely to watch for sympathizers who might interrupt the proceedings.

Legate Ojressi held up his arms and stepped forward slowly as if calming the crowd. “We live in troubling times,” Ojressi bellowed in his guttural voice. “The great states are at war and dangerous terrorists and violent belligerents are killing indiscriminately. Here we have caught one such individual. He has been preaching violence and death and he has spoken blasphemy against Amrah's Path! He has denied the existence of the precursor races and the salvation they achieved! No longer can we allow this to continue!”

Ojressi began to pace the platform like a caged animal, his voice booming so much so that Chris flinched. The bead strand in his long white hair bounced and twirled wildly as he moved.

“The Starfield Theorists remain a dangerous enemy to Azuren and human alike! Last week, they bombed an Azuren convoy moving through this system, killing a dozen brave Averi. He does not care whom he kills so long as it brings anarchy, disorder, and destruction!

“We have caught this terrorist fleeing from our agents across the stars. We found this Vagabond who has strayed from The Path plotting a violent attack on this very station. Our pact with Amrah demands we protect the humans from the violence of the Vagabonds and today we have fulfilled that pact yet again! No longer can we allow this blight to threaten us all! No longer shall we sit idly by! Today, we shall take our vengeance on those who would disrupt all we have done! The Vagabond murderers will no longer threaten innocent civilians and the stability Amrah so rightfully demands!”

Ojressi turned to the prisoner. “Do you have any last words, heathen?”

There was a brief silence, then, “I am but one of many. If you kill me, a dozen more will take my place. You sow the seeds of your own destruction.”

Ojressi paused, seemingly stunned that he would even dare speak. He recollected himself quickly. “Nothing more than violence and death! Amrah's will be done!”

Ojressi stormed over to one of his associates who handed him a ring-shaped device. It was a single metal circle with a strip of lighting along the sides. It was large enough to fit over a human head, like a crown, Chris realized with a sick feeling. It was a bold attempt at mocking the human nobility. What gave the human heads of state their power could also kill them. The Azuren returned to the prisoner who did not struggle as he placed the ring around his head. An eerie nervous shuffle flowed through the crowd like wave.

“Without the guidance of Amrah you shall never find The Path! You shall never find The Bridge nor achieve the solace of the realm beyond! Only by Amrah's will shall you find peace!”