Vall's Will (14 page)

Chapter
Twenty-Two

Distress

Will felt a
coldness go through her. “One hundred twenty-
one
messages?” she
repeated. She glanced over at the view screen where the immense alien ship
nearly filled the entire window. “Granth, how many of those messages were
in Objurian?”

The
communications officer glanced at his board. “One hundred twenty.”

“What are
you thinking?” Plymon asked her.

“And one
message in what we could assume is in their language?”

Granth nodded.
“That’s what I would say.”

“Magnus,
plot the quickest course to Regency Base. We have to get there as soon as
possible.”

“Already
plotted, Captain.” The man pointed to the view screen. “Except that
thing’s between us and home.”

“Granth,
tell them we’re going around them. If they don’t like it, inform them we’ll
slice a path right down the middle of their ship if we have to. If they still
don’t believe us, remind them how we were able to temporarily shut down their
engines.”

“Captain?”

She glanced over
at Plymon.

“They sent
one message to their own ships. To the being overseeing them, or to whomever is
in charge. But the other communications had to be to the Objurians,” the
Sub-captain postulated.

“I
understand that, but why the hurry?”

“Because as
soon as the Ben Objure receive the message, they’ll attack the base. The Ben
Objure are already there.”

Will frowned as
a mental image came to mind. It was not pretty. “Permission granted,”

Before she could
give the order, Magnus grinned. “Hold on!”

The warship
tilted sideways again, passing the blue vessel with ease. They had barely
cleared its engines when
Trinity
went into hyperdrive. Will held onto
the captain’s seat as her body strained against the straps holding her down.
Once they were well away from the standoff, she swiveled around to where her
Sub-captain was likewise buckled into his seat.

“The Ben
Objure planned to attack immediately upon receiving word from their
allies,” she explained. “It’s my assumption the blue baddies were
sent to accost us, and maybe any other Nion warship they encountered, and try
to find out whether we still had Vall on board, or if he had been passed
along.”

“Meanwhile,
the Ben Objure kept their distance so as to escape detection by the base. If
Big Blue Bad got Vall for them, they would have retreated. If not, they were
relying on the element of surprise,” Plymon surmised.

“Exactly.
If Big Blue had notified only their command ship, that ship would have then had
to send out another communication. The usual trickle down effect. The Ben
Objure must have found out that Vall would eventually be delivered to Regency
Base, which is why they’ve been lying in wait all this time.”

“Why aren’t
we sending out a warning to base?”

“Because by
now the Ben Objure are attacking.”

“But, a
hundred and twenty messages?” He stared at her as his eyes opened wider.
“One hundred twenty ships?” The man checked his monitor, and Will
knew why. “There are only three vessels scheduled to be docked at the base
at this time.”

“How many
of them are warships?” Will asked, already knowing the answer.

“None.”

“Granth?”

“Already
sending out pings. The closest warship to the base is the
Legion,
and
she’s heading back to help. The
Future of Strength
has sent out a
signal, calling other warships within range to the battle.” Granth looked
over at her. “I can’t raise anyone at the base.”

“It has to
be under full attack. My guess is everyone has gone underground. Magnus, how
soon before we can jump into the thick of it?”

“Sixty-seven
hours, unless we can get another column of power from the engines.”

Will slapped the
arm console’s button. “Balacon? We need an extra boost!”

“Working on
it! Tell Magnus to push it gradually, and we should be all right.”

“Killjorn
to Captain.”

“Tayte
here.”

“That’s two
somersaults in less than twenty minutes. Is there any way to give a person some
warning before you pull that maneuver? You should see this mess I made.”

The physician’s
irritated tone put a smile on Will’s face. “Sorry about the mess. We’ll
try to come up with some sort of alarm next time. Magnus, what’s our arrival
now?”

“Fifty-two
hours.”

“Captain!
We have an incoming alert from base!”

“Specifically
for me?”

“No. It’s
an open distress call.” Granth transferred the message to the speakers
where are could hear.

“This is
Regency Base Prime on Surro Two, in the fourth quadrant of the Surro-Gambit
galaxy. Requesting immediate help. We are under attack! Repeat. We are under
attack by approximately one hundred Ben Objurian ships. To all Nion warships,
return immediately to base! Repeat. All Nion warships are ordered to return to
Regency Base to defend us against this unprovoked attack.” There was a pause,
then the message started over. Granth closed the circuit.

“They’re
after Vall.” Plymon finally stated what had been sitting on her mind.

Will agreed.
“But why? What is it about him that an entire civilization is willing to
take on every Nion warship? It’s suicide!”

“Let’s not
forget the fact that the Ben Objure also brought in another species to confront
us,” Magnus offered. “They could persuade more to join in.”

“I wonder
what they promised that species to get them to challenge us like that?”
Will looked down at where her fingers played over the various buttons on the
armrest.
Or shouldn’t I be asking myself what is so special about Vall that
they’re willing to make such a sacrifice?

At the thought
of the young man, a deep ache touched her heart. What was he doing? Was he
afraid? Or was that special part of him that had started to emerge showing more
of itself?

“Magnus?”

“Forty-three
hours, Captain, and that’s the limit. We can’t go any faster without damaging
ourselves.”

“Killjorn
to Captain.”

“Tayte here.
Need help with cleaning up the mess?”

“No. I need
you down here immediately.” The physician’s tone was brusque and all
business.

Will began
removing her harness. “Is this about my new skin?” she inquired,
getting to her feet.

“This is a
private matter between you and me, Captain. Killjorn out.”

Will dashed for
the tube.

Chapter
Twenty-Three

Origin

What Killjorn had
called a mess in the medical bay looked more like a catastrophe to Will when
she entered. Most of the time, the physician kept her supplies locked away, or
stored where nothing but a direct blast to the containers could upset the
contents. The floor looked like the aftermath of a major storm.

“What
happened?”

“Inventory.
Guess I picked the wrong time to do it.”

“I thought
you did inventory through the ship’s logs.”

“I like to
do things the old-fashioned way. I want to look directly at a vial of Domisvihad
and know how many doses are left.” Killjorn waved her over. “Be
careful. Don’t step over anything. It might roll under you when you least
expect it and trip you up. Nudge it out of the way.”

Will obeyed and
slowly made her way over to where the woman sat in front of her monitor.

“Here.
Catch.” Killjorn tossed her a shiny object, which turned out to be a
portable holographic display. All warriors had a similar device implanted
within their shields, enabling them to view whatever picture was directed at them
when they couldn’t see it themselves. Because Will’s shield remained
inoperable, she needed the wristlet.

 
Without question, she slipped it on.
Instantly, the image of a creature she’d never seen before rose above them.
Hideous in appearance, it reared up on its hind legs. Hunched over, its
heavily-muscled arms were stretched outward. With massive claws and fangs
bared, it appeared ready to attack. Two golden eyes spat fire, and its naked,
spike-laden skin was pure white. The way the creature stood prevented her from
seeing its genitals, leaving her to wonder if it was female or male.

Will winced and
held up a hand to protect herself. The being emitted a light that nearly
blinded them. Instinctively, she ordered the display to tone down the image,
then remembered she would have to do it manually. She quickly darkened the
picture.

“First
thoughts,” Killjorn ordered.

“It’s
bipedal. It’s humanoid, or at least it appears that way.”

“Friendly
and fekking mad? Or pure evil to begin with?”

It took effort
to tear her eyes away from the being and look at the doctor. “What do you
mean?”

Killjorn waved
at the holo. “Do you think it’s acting that way because it’s mad? Or
because that’s part of its natural tendencies?”

Will looked back
at the image. “I have no idea. I’d have to know more details.”

“Spoken
like a true captain. Now, look again and tell me what else you see.”

Now that the
glare had been lowered, Will could examine the picture more closely. Something
about the creature nagged her in the back of her mind, and while she studied
the image, she wondered what she might be looking for.

When it hit her,
she nearly passed out.

“It’s…”

“It’s
Vall.”

“No.”
The denial was softly spoken as Will shook her head. “It can’t be.”

“Actually,
it’s not an actual picture of him, but it’s the only photo in known existence
of what he is,” the doctor corrected herself.

Will turned to
the woman. “Please, don’t joke like this. This isn’t funny.”

“I’m not
joking. And you’re right. It isn’t the least bit funny. In fact, considering how
you feel about him, you must be crushed.”

Crushed? Will
closed her eyes. When she opened them, the frightening being remained suspended
above them like an undeniable nightmare.

“No. It
can’t be. Where did you find this shot?”

“In the
archives of the queen mother Objurian ship.”

“Plymon
searched those records himself, and didn’t find this.”

“Oh, I bet
he did. He just didn’t know what he was looking for. Or what he’d found.”

Unable to view more,
Will closed the device. Even with the image gone, it burned in her memory as it
continued to haunt her. “Talk to me, Killy.”

The woman
readjusted herself in her seat. “We’ve been looking in the wrong place.
We’ve been searching for an alien species that conformed to Vall’s
specifications. We’d also assumed that the Objurians cross-indexed their
information. We were wrong on both counts.”

“I’m still
not following you.”

“I was
helping Gayt to decipher the information we received from the queen ship. Every
time we tried to retrieve data on Vall, we came up with very little. I mean,
scant little. And we had no idea why, considering how long he’s been on board
their vessel. So I decided to go a different route. I went into our logs and
fed in all the information we had.”

“What did
you find?”

“Let me
give you an example. If I put in a query for
drussik
, what would I
find?”

“The people
of Druss Ibin Ora?”

“Or a
ceremonial meal served on Creati Two, in the Fornossta planetary cluster. One
word, two radically different definitions, and both with origins galaxies
apart. We cross-index so that every reference to
drussik
is made
available to us. The Ben Objure either don’t choose to, or they don’t know how,
or they haven’t thought to have their archives similarly arranged. They
singularly compartmentalize all their information.” Killjorn locked eyes
with hers. “What I found was this. Vall isn’t an alien species. He’s an
imaginary being. A fairy tale. A myth. He’s an ‘it’, hence his name.”

Will froze as
she took in the news, then shook her head. “He can’t be. He’s real. He
touched me. He kissed me. He’s made love to me. He exists.”

“But, up
until this moment, or until the moment the Ben Objure realized what they
possessed, he had only existed as a figment of the imagination.”

The physician
leaned closer and placed a hand on Will’s knee.

“Once we
had a better idea of what we were looking for, we searched the Objurian records
for a mythical being. Their files are sorted so differently than ours, there
were no hits when we were trying to find a real person. But when I looked under
folklore, there it was.”

“What is
he? Is he as evil as that one appears to be?”

“He’s
called a Resplendent.”

Will frowned.
“A Resplendent? Why does that sound familiar?”

“Because
they’re known throughout many galaxies by a thousand other names, as well, like
demon, angel,
folgess, jerimida
. In some cultures, they’re considered
the ultimate guardians. On other worlds, they’re harbingers of death and
destruction.”

“But
they’re fictional,” Will insisted.

“Until
now.”

Killjorn backed
away and pressed a few keys on her monitor.

“Believe it
or not, it was the search for the heart-shaped areole on the breast that
brought him up,” she continued. “When I added the glow and the
telepathy, our archives automatically brought up the Objurians’
comparison.”

“So what
you’re telling me is that Vall is an imaginary being come to life?”

“In a way,
yes. He and his kind are legends. They existed as real beings, until eons of
non-contact made them mythical. I don’t know where the Ben Objure came across
him, or how they managed to obtain him. I’ve never personally encountered
anything similar to this, but I’ve heard of creatures once thought to be
make-believe being discovered, revealing their true existence. It’s happened
many times, on many planets.”

So had she, Will
admitted to herself. She clicked the holograph on again, and this time she
studied the image more closely.

“What does
it do?”

“The story
is that it has tremendous power. Unimaginable power. What kind of power wasn’t
explained, but legend says one Resplendent can demolish whole planets. Wipe out
entire civilizations.”

“If they’re
that strong, why didn’t Vall free himself from them?”

“My guess
it’s because he was only nine when they captured him. Maybe his powers weren’t
developed yet. Maybe he didn’t know what he really was, or what he could do.
I’m guessing here, but in many cultures, including our own, it takes an adult
to guide the young. To teach them right from wrong, and what they’ll need to
know when they grow up. If they choose to become warriors, they need an adult
to guide them on how to bring up their shields, and how to maintain them. How
to bear their weapons. And, above all, how to follow the code of all Nion
warriors. Because Vall was so young, he didn’t have anyone show him what he was
capable of doing. He’s had no guidance. All he knows is how he was treated by
the Ben Objure…and by you. Everything else he’s discovered by himself.”

Will rubbed the spot
above the bridge of her nose. If her heart hadn’t been involved, she could see
a clear and inevitable plan to rescue Vall, and inevitably release him on a
world where he could do no harm. On a planet where he could survive, and
hopefully remain out of sight for the rest of his life.

But her heart
was
part of the equation, and she couldn’t deny her feelings. If they managed to
get Vall away from the base, what then?

What happens
afterward is secondary. First, we have to get him off the base.

“We need to
get to Vall before he does something that could destroy him.”

“I
agree,” said Killjorn. “He hasn’t tested the full extent of his
abilities. There’s no telling what he could do, or how far the devastation
could reach.” She placed a hand on Will’s shoulder. “Has he ever told
you that you were his will?”

“Many
times.”

“Did you
understand what he was trying to tell you?”

“That I
belonged to him. That we were meant to be together.”

“No. I
mean, that was only part of it.” Killjorn shook her head. “When he
first confessed it to me, that’s what I thought, too. Now I think I know what
he was trying to say. I think he was also telling you that you are the only
person with the ability to control him. To keep him sane. To keep him from
becoming whatever terrifying creature he suspects he could turn into. You are
his will, as in his willpower. His conscience.”

Will stared at
her for several moments as the woman’s words sunk in. “Do you really
believe that?”

“Yes, I do.
Furthermore, we need to rescue him before he turns.”

“Before he
turns?”

“Legend
says, once a Resplendent goes on the defensive, unless he’s guided, he’ll
forever be a creature of evil. A dangerous, nearly indestructible being. But if
he’s shown a way to use his abilities for the better, he’ll never be tempted to
do harm. That’s what ultimately separates the angels from the demons. I think
Vall was on that ship because the Ben Objure hoped to shape him into their
ultimate weapon. A weapon the Objurians could use against us, and against the
Regency, as well as any military force in the universe.”

“That’s why
they’ve pushed so hard to get him back. The longer he’s out of their grasp, the
greater the chance he’ll transform into something that will fight back against
them.”

“That’s my
thought, as well,” Killjorn concluded.

“So, if he
has this power, why didn’t he use it against us when we initially found
him?” Will wondered aloud. The image of Vall cringing in the corner of his
cell would remain forever in her memory.

The physician
shrugged. “My guess is that he’d been treated so poorly by the Ben Objure,
he wasn’t knowledgeable about the extent of his power. Or maybe he tried as he
grew older, but was punished to the point he never tried again. All that’s
changed since you rescued him. I would hazard to say he’s already extending
himself, and learning more about what he can do. I wouldn’t be surprised if
he’s using and testing his abilities even now.”

Holding up the
hologram, Will stared at the thing’s golden eyes. Now that she knew, there were
many things about the picture she could identify and recognize as being part of
Vall’s make-up. The heart-shaped nipples, and especially the glow.

The glow.

The golden eyes.

Cold, hard fear
pumped into her heart, nearly bringing it to a dead halt.

“Killy,
this holo?”

“Yes?”

“It’s not a
drawing, is it? You said it’s the real thing, right? An actual shot of a
Resplendent going berserk. Isn’t it?”

The woman’s
answer was almost too soft to hear. “Yes.”

Will tried to
lick her lips, but her mouth was too dry.

“Killy, is
this one of Vall’s parents?”

“I would
say yes. More than likely the male, given the musculature, but I would need an
internal DNA scan to be sure. But, yes, I believe it is. Oh, and do you
remember that other Objurian word I discovered? Umerint?”

“Yes. You know
what it means now?”

“It’s their
word for a god.”

Will continued
to stare into the thing’s eyes. “We have to find out how the Ben Objure
managed to kill a creature legend says is so powerful, it could have destroyed
them.”

“I think I
can already guess,” the physician said. “I think this thing was
trying to protect its offspring, and that vulnerability got it killed. It died
trying to save its child from the Ben Objure. You’re probably looking at the
only picture of Vall’s father before the Ben Objure destroyed him.”