Spacer Clans Adventure 3: Naero's Fury (2 page)

Jan shuddered and shook his head.
More crew charged into sickbay. Naero waved them off, for the time being.

Jan rambled.
“I couldn’t bear Danner, sib. If they had had me long enough, they might have driven me mad–just like they did to him. Sometimes I could keep him out of my mind. Other times I could not.”

“
We’re going to our Mystics, Jan. They can show you how to shield your mind. They can show both of us how to control and use our dangerous powers. There’s so much I can tell you, and show you. But right now, I just want you to relax, regain your strength, and know that you are safe and back with me, and among our people. I love you, and I’m going to protect you…with my life, if need be.”

Jan looked confused. “
Your…flagship? Haisha! How long was I…out of the mix? I couldn’t judge time. Months, maybe a year passed. I’m not sure.”

Naero made him lie back down on a
medbed. “We’ll get to all of that, Jan. Too much has happened. Just take some time to relax and recover. After lunch, I’ll come by and we’ll have a long talk.”

Jan’s eyes went wide in panic. He looked like he was going to freak out again.

“The machine!” he shrieked. “I just remembered, N. The worst was when they stuffed me into one of those…those things. I couldn’t breathe right, and the constant waves of shifting pain, and I was trapped. I–I couldn’t get out!” He covered his eyes and whined, nearly going catatonic.

Naero sighed, and spent the next several hours at Jan’s side, while he attempted to recover and make sense of things.
Once he finally slept fitfully, she spoke quietly with Zhen, conferred with Om, and with her crew on the bridge.

While every passing moment brought them
closer and closer to Thanor-4 and the judgment of the High Mystics.

2

The Flying Dagger
reached Thanor-4 six days later, minus Naero’s trade fleet, who parted company from them after Day 3.

The secret planet was a blue, green, brown, and white earthlike with five main continents. Four of these were in close proximity, with one far away from all the others
on the other side of the planet. Naero and her people were were on approach, heading toward a small, newly constructed, Spacer Intel starport on the isolated continent–Nashara–the only one that scans showed had any tek.

Although the other four land masses
did have small pockets of lo-tek, near-human populations concentrated around a bay, their tek level was somewhere near the Old Terran Dark Ages. Interesting.

The continent of Maedor was particularly intriguing, far beyond its high mountains and vast deserts.
The eastern half of the extended continent consisted of dense forests to the north, and equally dense jungles to the south. Gigantic land serpents, barbaric, semi-sentient goat-like, tribal humanoids. A violent place of what many would call–monsters.

All they needed were Ejjai.

Thank goodness there were impassable barriers between them and the near humans.

Naero gasped suddenly and could not even breathe.

It was as if an icy blade suddenly penetrated her heart.

A bizarre Cosmic energy wave
suddenly passed through her without warning. She nearly toppled over. Then she gasped and fell back into her Captain’s chair.

Even Om
, the Kexxian AI trapped in her head was suddenly disrupted for the flash of an instant.

Jan collapsed beside Naero’s command chair
where he had been standing and shook with convulsions before he blacked out.

An immediate call came from Baeven. “Naero, did you just experience that strange energy surge?”

Naero shouted over the link, her eyes still spinning. “I sure did. What the hell was that?”

“
Naero, I’ve only experienced something like that once before, long ago, back on Janosha. And if it’s what I think it is, perhaps you should turn tail and run–right now.”

“
You know I can’t do that, Baeven. I’ve already given my word. Why would you even suggest something like that?”

Jan came to and struggled to regain his feet.

“Because,” Baeven said. “I don’t want to see you banished and made an outcast–the same way I was–with a death sentence on your head.”

“
I’ve got news for you, Baeven. If I cut and run now, that’s pretty much what’s going to happen any way. But on the other hand, what in the hell are you talking about?”

Surina called out from her com
station. “Captain, Intel is hailing us. The High Masters are awaiting your arrival. Somewhat impatiently, I might add. They sound upset.”

“
If they just felt what Baeven and I felt, I bet they are. Tell them we’ll be there shortly, Rina. With respect, of course.”

“
I’ll be the definition of tact, sir.”

“
Naero,’ Baeven said, “let me warn you ahead of time. I’ve got an infinitely bad feeling. If there just happens to be…some kind of amorphous, shifting alien obelisk, statue, or artifact on this planet–don’t go near it. Ever. Don’t even look at it. Stay the burning fuck away from that damn thing–until you and I have had a chance to talk.”

“
Seriously, Baeven? The High Masters are going to decide my fate within the hour, and you’re worried about some artifact? We don’t even know if there’s anything like that down–”

Shalaen burst onto the bridge
, along with Gaviok the mantid, from Baeven’s crew.

“
Did you feel that Cosmic power flare, Naero?” Shalaen said. “There is a very unusual, Cosmic power source on the surface of this world, right where we are heading.”

Even Om joined in
. Naero, I can sense it too. Anyone with any ability will be able to sense this thing–whatever it is–and it is both Kexxian and Driathan in nature. Very ancient, and extremely dangerous.

“
Everybody shut the hell up,” Naero shouted. “For right now, the only place that I am going is before the High Masters for them to decide whether they destroy me, or let me live. Once that is finished, I might be able to consider whatever other disastrous choices lie before me.”

Yet despite her words, Naero could
also sense whatever this startling thing was down on the planet. Her sense of warning was going crazy, and yet this new source of Cosmic power sang to her with a sirens’ call that was both incredibly seductive and terrifying, all at once.

It was
n’t just her Dark Beast that craved to feed upon this vast power–just as it always did with every form of power.

But every part of her yearned to taste of this new power
, and drink deep of its sources.

It was
that
alluring.

Even though Thanor-4 nearly pulsed with all of the Chaos and Cosmic energy that lost Janosha had once swelled with
, Naero could definitely see why the Mystics were very interested in this world.

When they landed on the surface at the
relatively new Intel starport, Naero left her flagship with her many friends beside her in support, and her head held high.

Yet all the while, more-and-more, she felt this new, frightening power tugging at her as if it had a will all its own, stronger than even her own.

She felt it with every step.

What in the hell was this…this thing?
It defied imagination.

*

Naero struggled to focus on what she was there to do. Onworld they stepped into a late spring climate in a southern hemisphere transition zone from temperate to subtropical on the west coast of Nashara. The local sun was shining in an impossibly, clear-blue sky. Naero smelled a sea breeze wafting over the extensive coral reef system they had spotted offshore, on their way down.

The expanded Mystic camp and settlement appeared to be only a few months old, built next to a much smaller, older camp of pop-up nanohuts and actual tents. This older camp had the looks of having been on Thanor-4 for perhaps a few years. Possibly used by the Mystic explorers and researches
, who first discovered the strange world and then flocked there to examine its even stranger Cosmic energy fields–and whatever this other thing was.

Intel Marines from the 7
th
Division–the Intel Division that worked closely with them–stood guard almost everywhere around the perimeter. 7
th
Division Spacer Marines were known both as
The Ghost Knives,
and
The Seven Deaths
. Their motto was short and simple:
Fury in Battle.

The camp itself looked to have a wide open circle in the center. As it spread out, each High Master had a separate camp, set at three equally spaced points along th
e inner circle. The three camps radiated out into their own wide circles and represented all Three Wisdoms of the Spacer Mystic Harmony:

The Sp
acer Mystics were big on geometrics.

Naero spotted all three banners.

Chaos, beneath a red banner.

Order, beneath a blue banner.

Change, beneath a gold banner.

Jan sighed nervously as they drew closer to the entry point.

Naero reached out and took his hand.

“
It’s going to be all right, Jan. We’ll find a way to convince them to help us. Both of us.”

He shuddered and shook his head, rubbing his arms. “I still feel like broken glass all inside, N. Those bastards messed with me and my head so much. I might not ever be the same.
But what is this thing on this planet? It’s freaking me out.”

Naero sighed herself. “
Try to ignore it, Jan. I feel it too. Whatever happens to us, we are never the same, Jan. But with effort and hard work, we can choose to change for the better, and become what we want to be. I know your heart, my brother. I know you are strong and brave. This is the blood we come from. I swear to you–we shall both find our way.”

Two young female adepts strode up to greet them at the entry checkpoint to the camp. The heavily armed Intel Marines stepped to either side. All Mystic adepts wore tight-fitting, gray spacer togs, with a hood and mask worn only for ritual combat and on missions during wartime or for
Spacer Intel.

These young women were twins, only a hand taller than Naero, but still. Long black hair in high Spacer ponytails, almond shaped eyes, amber in hue and bright–light golden skin tones. Hard Spacer bodies, agile and athletic as one might expect among Mystic adepts, from their intense martial training.
She could almost sense their skill and power.

Naero guessed somehow that they fought best as a pair.

They kept their oval faces impassive but not harsh. Naero actually thought them very pretty, and had a sense that she might like them. What a relief, after the nightmare she had had with Hashiko.

“
Greetings. I am High Adept Chang Fu-han,” the first one on Naero’s right stated calmly–most likely the older of the two.

“
And I am High Adept Chang Lijuan,” the other said, in the same exact voice and tone.

Chang Fu-han continued. “We have been sent to bring
High Adept Naero Amashin Maeris, adept candidate Janner Maeris Ramsey, Shalaen Kinmal of the Yattai, and the visitor known as Gaviok before our Mystic High Masters.”

“
With regret,” Chang Lijuan said. “Only these four may proceed beyond this point and enter within the circles of Mystic Wisdom.”

Chang Fu-han motioned with a strong slender hand to her right. “Please, the rest of you in this party are welcome to wait for word from your companions within the Spacer Marine mess tent nearby. You will be well-cared for as our honored guests.”

“If you so desire,” Chang Lijuan added, “you are free to return to your ship, and await word there. It is quite possible, that the deliberation of the High Masters may take up a good portion of this day.”

Naero turned to her friends, and hugged Zhen
, Tarim, Enel, Surina, Eugene, and several more of her crew who closed in around her to wish her well.

They all knew what was at stake.

Naero grinned. “Don’t worry. We’ll find a way to work everything out. We’ll send word when we know anything definite.”

Their people stepped back, watching and waiting for them to go out of sight. Naero smiled and waved one final time.

She hoped to see her people again.

She turned to Jan, Shalaen, and Gaviok. “The Mystics have protocols about speaking and being spoken to, which none of you are going to know. I do
n’t even fully understand them all, myself. So until you three are instructed in such things, it might be best to let me do most of the initial talking. Be polite and only speak to others when you are directly spoken to. Keep in mind that Chaos masters and adepts can be abrupt and even rude; be prepared for that. Most likely, they will ignore us, if we are lucky.”

Jan and the other two nodded. Gaviok seemed entirely out of his element, but he had also insisted on coming along to speak with the High Masters, and especially the Chaos practitioners
.

Chang Fu-han motioned again
with one graceful hand. “Follow, please, honored guests.” She and Chang Lijuan slipped to the port side and then went forward down a path lined with colorful cloth barriers rising up on either side. The twin adepts strode forward side by side with calm ease, leading them on with a careful pace that was neither too fast nor too slow.

“
High Adept Naero,” Chang Lijuan noted, turning her head back on her graceful neck while she kept walking. “It is clear that your people honor you with great love and respect. I was greatly pleased to witness such a clear demonstration of ardent affection and devotion.”

Naero bowed her eyes slightly. “Thank you,
High Adept Lijuan. You honor me and my people.”

“
Not every adept wishes to be your, nemesis, High Adept Naero,” Chang Fu-han added. “Just as all adepts do not desire to be your friend. Yet you served the Clans with great honor and distinction during both the Annexation War, and the High Crusade. For those reasons alone, many adepts personally feel, very strongly, that you should be given a fair chance, despite whatever failings and inherent dangers you bring with you.”

“
Again, my thanks,” Naero told the twins. “I am glad there are at least some with such reasoned views among the Mystics.”

Naero still felt the definite pull of whatever strange force was present on Thanor-4.

In fact, whatever this thing was, it was like a pillar of Cosmic Fire shooting out from the planet. No one with any abilities could fail to notice something as glaring and obvious as that. Naero pinpointed it within less than two klicks of the Mystic camp itself, and from what she could tell–