Shadows Bear No Names (The Blackened Prophecy Book 1) (23 page)

Chapter THIRTY-ONE

MARA’TTHANE

Sarah pulled out her wall bed and covered it with an old blanket she found in a cabinet. She and Ray had taken the smaller cabin, leaving the bigger one to the three men.

“Funny.”

“What’s that?”

Sarah smiled. “He was practically being a prick. Calling Ga’an a liar and all. Now, he wants to share a bunk with him.”

“Old people are like that.”

“Yeah?”

“You know,” Ray shrugged. “Change is hard. Adaptation to change’s harder. Besides,” he rubbed his tired eyes, “our stories are pretty wild for an outsider and our tall friend wins the spot of honor on that context.”

“You think so?”

“Well, he says he’s an alien. An Ancient. He looks a bit off, yes, but pretty much human to my eyes. Well, except for the chin.”

“Yeah, I told him the same thing on Tarra. It’s the giveaway. Well you don’t say ‘ooh, alien’ but you definitely feel something’s off.”

“We found out the Ancients lived and died millions of years ago. If it wasn’t for all the weirdness I’ve been through this month, I would’ve doubted it myself.”

“I believe him. I didn’t see much. Perhaps it was a trick but when he connected that thing to me to learn my language, I believe I saw images of his…memories, maybe?” Sarah narrowed her eyes. “He was big, Ray. A man of position in his society. And I felt sadness, and the image of a plaque with six discs on it. Some of them were missing and he was mourning.”

“What were they?”

“A family standard, maybe. He told me he lost his sons to Baeal.”

“There are no winners in wars. Only survivors.”

“I feel bad for Ga’an.”

“Sad?”

She sat on her bed and sighed, petting the sleeping cat softly “I mean, we won’t be going back to our lives after all this, I’m guessing. You know, you have magic stones that scatter lights and assassins chasing us. Hostile aliens are raiding our stations. But at least we know it’s out there, somewhere. There are people we know, we care about, who live on Earth or Mars.”

“Me, I’m sure this change is irreversible. But you can go back anytime you want. We can just drop you at a base if that’s what you wish.”

“Right now, my wish is more on the lines of smacking you with a wooden stick and shooting you if you don’t stop this blathering.”

Ray raised a brow.

“You’re my family and I’m yours. How can you say that after all the years on
Canaar
?”

Ray nodded apologetically. “I only want to keep you out of harm’s way. Me, Ga’an and Brother Cavil are tied to this and Reverend Marcus’ interest in the subject will probably keep him around.”

“I was on that ship too, Ray. They were my friends as well.”

“You’re right. I’m an utter fool.”

“Yes.” Sarah sighed. “Anyway, Ga’an lost his family to the war, fought hard until the very end, only to find himself in an unknown reality and timeline.”

“He planned to die on that bridge and perhaps this is the afterlife for him.” Ray reached for his cup of coffee cooling on the nearby table. “His family was long dead before he ended up here.”

“Ray!” Sarah threw her pillow, missing Ray by a few centimeters. “You can be
a bit
more sensitive! You really are an utter fool!”

Ray looked at his wet shirt and nodded again. “You’re right. His war should’ve been over with that explosion.” He took the pillow from the floor and gave it back to Sarah.

“At least we know a lot more about the stones,” Sarah said.

“Do we?”

“Well, they predate Ga’an’s people.”

“And this helps us how?”

“I don’t know,” Sarah admitted. “But maybe now we can find the other stones with Is—what did the reverend call it?”

“Ijjok.”

“Yes, we can use Ijjok to find the other Arinar. You’ve already located one with Ga’an. How does that thing work?”

Ray pursed his lips, raising his brows. “Before Reverend Marcus told us the stone showed whatever the Lohil wants, I had no idea what it was doing. Just touching it and seeing the galaxy. Now,” Ray clicked his tongue, “it’s as if the stone reads my mind. I thought of you, and it focused on
Fox
.”

“You thought of me,” Sarah raised a brow and smirked.

“That was a test. We were testing the stone!”

Sarah chuckled.

“Anyway, I just thought about the name of one of the stones, Mara’tthane, and Ijjok focused on a planet not too far from where we are. Pendar.”

“So, there’s an Arinar there?”

“We’ll see what we’ll find out. It’s a terra-formed farming planet according to the star map logs of
Fox
. Reverend Marcus said he read tomes about a temple of the Gods some years back. The descriptions match with an ancient structure in the northern hemisphere of Pendar.” Ray stood up and put his mug on the table, reaching for the small medical cabinet built into the wall panel over his bed. “I’ll take the first shift on the bridge, we have some distance to cover yet, better to keep an eye on the radar,” he said.

“I’ll hit the showers. Wake me up for my shift.” Sarah took her newly found pants, one of the few useful things left behind by the
Fox’s
previous owners. Her search had provided them with some worn clothes, a few sidearms and rifles, and enough food and supplies for a few months. She also had found enough cat food to feed an army of cats.

“Someone really likes you, eh, Darty?” Sarah teased the sleepy cat, as she undressed.

“They were probably smuggling those foods,” Ray grimaced, using one of the jet-injectors he’d found in the medical cabinet on his bruises. “I wonder if these things have anything left in them.”

“Even a small dose would be enough to cure those in no time.”

“You gotta love nanomedicine. Tiny robots crawling under your skin.”

“Does it hurt much?”

“I’m fine, Sarah.” The battered captain gave a faint smile. “I’ll be in the cockpit.”

Sarah thought she liked this new captain better; someone who cared for something bigger than himself. Not that Raymond Harris had ever been selfish, he was always caring.
And then burning himself out to the point of needing to escape reality.

“I’m going to take a shower,” Sarah said to Darty, now sleepily purring on Sarah’s bed, letting Ray slip from her mind. “Be a nice girl and don’t wander off.”

“Meow.”

***

The refreshing hot water was a welcome change after the pig farm called Joe’s Hole and she hadn’t even had to beg or do shady deeds for the sly man to get it. Sarah was astonished how fast the human mind adapted. Just over a month ago, she’d been a security officer onboard a cargo ship. In the last few weeks, she’d been a stranded victim on a desolate moon, working for a smuggler thug for food and shelter, and very recently, she’d become part of a quest to save the galaxy from alien invaders. Not once had she questioned how Ray was handling it all. “Gotta wonder how he does it.”

Her mind swam through the thoughts and memories of the past weeks. She didn’t check the time but she was sure she showered for at least an hour. The
Fox
had two showers and a water recycling system; an admirable design covering every need of its crew, Sarah admitted to herself.
No way those slimy morons had anything to do with its build.
The ship was simply too neatly planned and decorated—and no doubt stolen from its original owners, who were probably drifting in the dead cold of space. Sarah made a note to herself to find a way to replace the missing escape pods she’d discovered on her search.

When she headed back to her room, the cat was gone, likely finding another spot to sleep. Sarah chuckled and lay down, feeling the tiredness in her bones, her every fiber aching. She didn’t try to resist the weight of her eyelids and was fast asleep in seconds, dwelling in dreams.

***

“Girl, wake up!”

“What?” Sarah said, battling to open her sleepy eyes, “I just lay down, please…”

“You have been sleeping for the past twelve hours, my child,” the caring voice of Brother Cavil said.

“What!” Sarah tumbled out of bed in a panic. “I missed the shift!”

“Oh, my…” Brother Cavil covered his eyes and turned away.

“What!” Sarah yelled, looking around frantically. Then she saw her reflection in a cabinet’s metal frame. “Oh, God!” She didn’t remember taking off her clothes,
every one
of them
. Cursing non-stop, she tried to find her underwear, stumbled and bumped twice into Brother Cavil who was trying to head for the door with closed eyes, spilling the coffee he’d brought her.

The chaos ended after she found her panties under the blanket and her bra in Ray’s bed. She had no idea how it had ended up there but there was no time to find out.
I definitely didn’t do that! Did I?

“All right, I’m awake, you can come back in” she said finally, watching Brother Cavil trying to clean coffee off his robe. She was flushed red with embarrassment.

Brother Cavil’s face burned and his cheeks shone like strawberries in summer. He opened his mouth to apologize but Sarah stopped him with a gesture before the old man could start an unending dialogue. Something Ray had taught her.

“Sorry about your robe, why didn’t Ray wake me up?”

The old man shrugged, “I guess he slept in the cockpit.” He offered the coffee he’d brought—what was left of it—to Sarah.

“Thank you.” She swigged it all. “Where’s he?”

“Cockpit.” Brother Cavil’s face suddenly turned serious. “They all are.”

Ray was in the pilot’s seat, Ga’an following his instructions and helping with maneuvers.

“What’s going on?” Sarah asked, still cursing herself for not waking up when needed.

“This.”

They were near Pendar, the location for the third Arinar according to Ijjok. The planet glowed pale pinkish through the sparse cloud formations surrounding it. Besides the color veil, the planet was Earth-like with its oceans and mountains, and a tad smaller, especially after two hundred years of terraforming according to the general information given by the navigation computer of
Fox
.

None of them were interested in the planet, though.

“Those are Consortium dreadnoughts,” Sarah whispered. “What are they doing here?”

“Protecting a planet, maybe?”

“From w—” Sarah’s voice died when she saw the huge arachnoid ship accompanied by hundreds of smaller craft, hovering over Pendar.

***

“Admiral, we’re in position,” Lieutenant Jong said over the radar console.

“Good,” Rebecca said. “Get Commander Matthews here.”

“Ma’am, his communicator’s not responding.”

Rebecca’s lips tightened. “Try again and send an airman to check on him if you cannot reach him.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Have you been able to get in touch with the planet?”

“Our signal is being blocked,” the lieutenant answered, “but we were able to alert them before they jammed us.”

Rebecca nodded in acknowledgement and turned to the tactical console. The planet had some considerable surface-to-air defense batteries but would that be enough to stop the invaders? Her memory of the first encounter was still fresh, and again seeing the spider-shaped ship from her last battle—and this one was way bigger—wasn’t helping much with her and her crew’s morale.

“How is the evacuation going?”

Lieutenant Jong opened a holographic view of the planet on the main tactical station. “The enemy ships are positioning themselves somewhere around the planet’s north pole.” He pointed at the red dots buzzing at the top of the view, surrounding a big red circle. “The ships that left the atmosphere from the southern hemisphere report they evacuated around ten percent of the total population.”

Rebecca looked at the tactical map closely, “Something is different this time.”

“How so, Admiral?”

“They are not attacking the fleeing ships. They did not make a move for us either. The pattern here,” she marked a circular area near the northern pole, “looks as if they are searching for something. See how they are circling around that spot.”

“Pendar has no strategic value,” Lieutenant Jong said.

“For us, maybe, lieutenant,” Rebecca reasoned. “They are aliens, what makes you think their logic works like ours.” It wasn’t a question; Rebecca was educating her officer as well as adjusting her own strategy.
Do not get cocky. Do not think you know your enemy.

“Admiral Conway, ma’am!” A young ensign rushed to the terminal. “Commodore Price of the
Stockholm
wants to speak with you.” The man’s hoarse breathing was distorting his own voice. “He reports a small craft has come out of hyperspace into the system.”

“Remind Commodore Price he knows the coordinates for refugee fleet and he can handle the protocol without my input.” Rebecca’s eyes flared. “I am trying to plan a battle here!”

“M-ma’am, he insisted on talking to you.”

Rebecca scowled at the ensign, walked to the communications console, and waved the officer to patch her through.

“Conway,” she said, making her voice as sharp as a spear.

“Admiral, a ship just jumped into the system.”

“So what, Commodore Price!” she barked. “Why are you bothering me with this? Send them the emergency coordinates and be done with it!”

“Ma’am, they claim they know about the aliens and why they are here.”

“What?”

“The captain of the ship, one Raymond Harris, says he knows what’s going on…Admiral, you there?”

“All right, I will take it from here. Conway out.” She waved at the officer to cut the connection. “Mr. Jong, patch me through to that ship. And someone find this ship’s damned first officer!”

Chapter THIRTY-TWO

EXTREME MEASURES

“Sir, please!”

Revan growled, hitting his lieutenant one more time. “Don’t you know how to salute!” His knuckles were comets, meeting the poor man’s face with blinding force and speed. “When you see an officer, you salute!”

“Please!” the young man begged but his words were babblings. The man was about to choke on his own blood.

“I grow tired of your lack of discipline!” he activated his muscle augmentation and let the nano-machines flow through his veins, pumping his muscles. He was a tank. He was destruction. Revan raised the lieutenant as high as he could and threw him to a nearby console with all the force he could muster.

The young lieutenant cried in agony and dropped like a bag of sand where he hit. “Mommy…my legs,” he cried.

Revan looked at the man and felt nothing but disgust. He moved in for the kill. A sudden, sharp shock froze him where he stood and he suddenly felt old and weak. Revan felt the power draining from his muscles He tried to scream in protest but his eyes closed instead, his ears dulling.

***

“What…” Revan opened his eyes in his own quarters.

“I’m sorry, Sir,” his second in command saluted. “I had to shock you with a Taser. You were about to kill Lieutenant Burkes.” The man looked ready to run from the quarters the moment Revan flinched.

“You did the right thing.” Revan remembered his rage and felt nothing but shame. “How is he?”

“He can’t speak and he’s paralyzed below the waist. He may be treated back on Earth but our facilities on board can’t help him.”

He nodded slowly. “Leave.”

His officer did as asked but the agent didn’t miss the fear in his eyes. Revan stood up, still feeling dazed by the effects of high voltage shock. He looked in the small mirror attached to his locker.
This is not me. I am not a monster.

Oh, but you are,
his own voice answered him.
How many now, Revan? The blood you spilled can fill oceans.

It was for Marianna! All is for Marianna.

The voice inside his head laughed.
And are you the Revan Caius Marianna loved?

Shut up!
Revan hit the mirror, breaking the thing. He ignored the pain and blood, reaching for his communicator. He turned on the holographic interface and connected to the private channel he and his mysterious boss used to communicate.

“Report,” the dark figure’s silhouette appeared a moment later, no emotion in his voice.

“The group has escaped Tarra and they have the stone. The ship they have has radar cloak. So far, we could not trace them.”

“I know.”

Revan was caught short. “I am sorry, what?”

“Mr. Caius, you are a tool in a toolbox, and the box has many other tools. Never forget that. They were at the Asteroid B-533 research station, and now on their way to Pendar.”

“I apologize for my failure,” the agent babbled. “There is something else.”

“Yes?”

“Someone else was with the group, a tall man.”

“I know.”

“He is not human. I shot him and he bled blue.”

Revan expected mockery or disbelief, but the man on the screen fell silent. Revan knew better than to interrupt.

After what felt like an eternity, the man spoke. “The group has traveled to Pendar. It is located in the Klaus-Jensen Nebula. You will go there and complete your mission.”

“Eberhardt and the Consortium will require me to report soon. I have been silent for days now.”

“You were not, Mr. Caius,” the mysterious voice laughed. “I feed them with the necessary
paperwork
. They believe you are still negotiating for
Canaar
’s crash back on Bunari. They have other matters to attend to.”

“So, it has begun?”

This time, the laughter was deep, threatening. “Yes.”

“I will be on Pendar.”

“One more thing, Mr. Caius; you are my best agent. Someone who is looked upon by others with envy. However, if you persist on being incompetent, I cannot guarantee the future of Marianna.”

The screen flickered once more and turned off. Not once in his career had Revan ever been shamed, accused of being inefficient, but he didn’t care. The dark man’s words about Marianna were all that mattered.

“Computer, bridge!”

“Sir?” the voice of one his lieutenants echoed in his quarters.

“Set a course for Pendar system, Klaus-Jensen Nebula,”

“Aye, sir.”

Revan pulled out a worn photograph. Marianna held David as she always did whenever he cried. Revan smiled, remembering how David had fallen from the swing, hurting his arm. “It is only a scratch.” He could hear Marianna’s voice. “Come on David, smile.” She was wiping away the tears. “Revan, take a picture, will you? Now, David, you have to smile, remember.” Revan had carried the photograph close to his heart since the day they’d lost him.

He noticed neither his own tears nor the time he spent sitting, looking at the picture.