Voyage of the Sanguine Shadow 1: Shadow Galactic (21 page)

“Not far enough,” she breathed, and she clung
tightly to his arm.

Swallowing hard, Gavin returned his attention to
the
Draconian
’s captain.  “OK, look, we’re sorry.  We just want to get
back to our friends.  We didn’t mean to insult anyone.”

“Oh, you’ll see your friends very soon,” vowed the
captain, and he raised his gun.  “You’ll be waiting for them when they join you
in the
Oblivion of the Meaningless
!”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Gavin stammered, and he held
up his free hand.  “Just
wait
!”

The power indicators along the side of the
captain’s gun lit up.

“Gavin,” Valerie whispered, and she closed her
eyes as she held him tight.

“No,” he growled.  “No, I got this!”  Staring
fixedly at the space directly in front of him, he sensed the familiar gravity
well of the
Sanguine Shadow
.  It didn’t matter how far it was from him,
because in that instant, it was
right there
.  With Valerie’s arms around
him, he fell through the very fabric of spacetime.  They crashed down within
the hauler’s bridge, and Taryn jumped.

“Gavin?” she gasped.

Valerie pushed away, her eyes wide as she watched
Gavin getting to his feet.  “They’re coming,” he said, and he hurried for the
jump rig.

Taryn gripped him, spinning him about on his
heels.

“What?”

“We can’t jump,” she breathed.  “Gavin, they
gutted the PLA!”

He smiled hopefully.  “We may not need it
anymore.”  Hurrying to the comm, he leaned over and called for Zerki.

“Gavin, is that you?  Where are you?  Is Val with
you?”

“Yes,” he answered.  “Valerie’s with me on the
bridge, but I need to know where we’re going—right now.  The ithirals are on
their way, and I don’t think they’re going to bother kidnapping us again.”

She cleared her throat.  “Who are the ithirals?”

“They fly the stardromes.”

“Stardromes?”

“The city-ships.”

“Oh.”  Zerki fell silent for a drawn moment. 
“Gavin, they took out our jump system.”

“I know, I know.  Taryn told me.  Where are we
going?”

After considering, she answered, “Set course for
Ry’lyeh, Gudrun system.  Ask Jenn to call it up.  It’s a preset on every Union
starship.”

“That’s the seat of the Union Star Fleet,” said
Gavin.  “Our Union that gleefully threw us under a train, remember?”

“I remember,” she huffed.  “We don’t have a lot of
options left.  That stardrome wants us dead.  Lodoxol’s made sure we’ve got no
ground to go to.  The Star Fleet’s our best chance.”

Gavin nodded.  “Gudrun it is.”

He relayed Zerki’s order to Jenn, and she
programmed their destination into the jump rig.  He settled into it, taking in
the logistical data as it was displayed.  Gavin closed his eyes, sensed the
gravity well cradling Ry’lyeh, and he breathed out.  His eyes peeled open, and
his back arched.  The
Sanguine Shadow
fell through overlapping points in
space, much to the surprise of her captain and crew.

An instant later, she appeared in the void
surrounding Ry’lyeh.

“
All
government, indeed every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue, and every
prudent act, is founded on compromise and barter.
” –Edmund Burke

Ry’lyeh was a world half
covered in desert.  It was largely dependent on its sister planet of K’n-yal
for provisions, and the inhospitable surface afforded few population centers. 
Slightly smaller than Earth, its gravity was somewhat reduced, and it was prone
to continent-spanning sandstorms.  Indigo seas buttressed titanic landmasses
covered in snow, steppes, or—more commonly—mountains of sand.

Seated at the pilot’s station, Zerki discussed
landing options with a space traffic controller.  Most of the Union’s starships
had been called away, and those vessels that remained were preparing to leave
for distant engagements.  As a result, the space surrounding Ry’lyeh was a
measured ballet of warships in motion.

In the mess hall, Gavin sat with Valerie, Taryn,
Takeo, Filan, Fogg and Stone.  Beaming, Stone said, “It just opened up, and
zff
!” 
He gestured one hand swooping through the other.  “Here we are!”

Gavin nodded, smiling.  “Pretty much!”  Valerie
held his hand under the table.  “I don’t even know how it works.  I mean, I
understand some of the science behind it, but I don’t know how I
do
it.”

“The mind is an extraordinary thing,” said Stone.

“No kidding!”  Gavin grinned.  “Speaking of minds,
you should’ve seen Valerie on the ithiral stardrome.  Total mental domination.”

She straightened somewhat.  “Yeah, it was pretty
amazing.  I’ve never been able to send before, and they were all so profoundly
suggestible.  Childlike and naïve in some ways, and so eager to please.”  She
shuddered and shook her head.  “I’m glad we got out of there.”

“Yeah, how
did
you escape?” asked Taryn.

“Same way as I moved the
Shadow
just now,”
said Gavin, “but on a much smaller scale.”

“Fascinating,” said Fogg.  “There is great power
in the imagination of men.  It is something I desire to explore more fully, now
that I am in possession of an imagination.”

Gavin looked into Fogg’s obsidian eyes.  “How are
you doing?”

“I am healthy.”

“I mean, how do you feel?  Emotionally.”

Fogg pondered his answer.  “I am simultaneously
frustrated and excited.  I eagerly anticipate returning to my original state,
though I will be glad to have experienced this form and all that has come with it.” 
His expression flattened.  “I do not enjoy the sensation of fear.”

“No one does,” said Filan, and she rested a kind
hand upon Fogg’s forearm.  “Courage comes in facing it.”

“I do not wish to be courageous.”

Takeo laughed.  “You’re wiser than I am, old
friend.”  He looked to Stone.  “How’s the crew holding up?”

Stone exhaled evenly.  “They’ll recover.  I had to
replace a portion of Buck Fenton’s skull and his right eye.  Once the nanobots
have fully integrated, he shouldn’t notice any significant difference in his
vision, but his appearance has changed.  Be kind to him when the bandages come
off.”

Valerie smiled sadly.  “Buck was never vain, but
we’ll make sure to be nice.”

Takeo regarded Stone.  “You talk as if you’ll be
leaving us soon.”

“Right after we dock.  I’ll be taking a warp liner
back to Nerthus.  My people need me, especially now.  It’s been decades since
anyone has died, and as ours is a finite number, every loss is deeply felt.” 
Stone looked to Fogg.  “I’ll have time to work on separating you from this body
after things are settled at home.”

“Thank you,” said Fogg.

“You’re a good man,” said Taryn.

Zerki’s voice filled the room from the starship’s
speakers.  “We’re landing on the planet’s surface,” she announced.  “All hands
to stations.”

“I guess that’s our cue,” said Gavin, and he
stood.  He shared embraces with his companions and soon joined Zerki on the
bridge.  Valerie took her station beside the captain’s seat, as a pair of
starfighters formed up on either side of the hauler.  They escorted the
Sanguine
Shadow
down through the atmosphere, where she settled on a wide, standing
platform, ringed with high walls.  Tiny dunes littered the edges of the landing
field.

Father Stone said his goodbyes and found his way
to the commuter shuttle station, while automated sky cars ferried the vessel’s
able crew to the walkways below.  Cajun and Fogg stayed aboard to tend the
wounded, while a dozen helper droids set to repairing the
Sanguine Shadow
. 
They started with her Precision Laser Array.

The broad footpath Zerki and her crew now stood
upon bore a gritty dullness.  Cream in color, it belonged to a network of alternately
gently- and steeply-rounded byways.  Along their centerlines, a backbone of
entrenched support posts rose high.  They held aloft hinged roofing composed of
interlocking metal shells.  The shells were folded open presently, but when the
sandstorms came, the shells quickly descended to shroud the paths and anyone traveling
them.  Support cables ran beneath the labyrinth of elevated paths, ever
strengthened by pressure from the desert winds.

In the distance, vast greenhouses caught the dwarf
sun’s light, basking under a dark blue sky.

The crew was met promptly by a squad of
well-dressed, battle-hardened marines who led them along a wide, curved path
toward a grand building.  Four curved struts converged above its roof, rooted
somewhere beneath the landscape’s sandy surface.  Its soaring arches cast long
shadows over the pathways, clothing them in cool shade near the entrance.

Doors vanished at the crew’s approach and
reappeared behind them.  One of the marines looked fixedly at Zerki and said,
“You will come with us.  Admiral Decker has asked to see you.”  He looked to
the others and added, “The rest of you are welcome to wander the exterior grounds,
visit the Base Exchange, or have a drink at the Glass Bottom Cantina, located
on the opposite side of this building.  All other areas are off limits to
non-military personnel.”

Zerki assured her crew, “I’ll meet you at the
cantina after I’m done.”

The marines led her along the halls to an open
lift located at the heart of the structure, and they all boarded.  It glided
upward.  Moments later, they ushered her off the platform and guided her to a
vaulted archway.  They stopped short of leading her through.

Red slopes and black swoops decorated an upwardly
curved ring of white walls, encircling the spacious meeting hall.  Overhead,
the building’s supports were visible through a thick glass disk.  Red-orange
egg-shaped chairs lined the walls, where several civilians sat within, buried
in their electronic devices.

“Have a seat,” advised one of the marines. 
“You’re on the Admiral’s calendar.  He’ll call for you when he’s ready.”  She
nodded, and the soldier joined his squad mates at the lift.  They boarded and
returned to the lower levels.

Zerki sat down in an empty chair and found it to
be surprisingly comfortable.  Time passed slowly.  As the sun began to set, a narrow
ring of embedded lights slowly brightened around the edge of the skylight.  She
fought to stay awake.

·· • ··

On the bottom level, the crew had found their way
to the Glass Bottom Cantina.  Its floor was crafted from thick sheets of
synthetic sapphire, and it offered a clear view of the dunes and dust devils
below.  Crews from a dozen other starships crowded the spacious bar. 

D’Arro led a small group across the busy room to a
faux outdoors section, where he and Gavin pulled two tables together to sit
with Valerie, Taryn, Takeo and Filan.  Protected on all sides by a barrier of crystal
similar to the floor, it gave the appearance of being outside without exposing
the patrons to the elements.

“What a place,” said Gavin.

“I’d just as soon be back on Huya,” chuckled Takeo.

Taryn nodded and sank onto her folded arms.  “I
loved it there.  It was so rustic, and the people were so nice.”  She scanned
the pathways as shells folded downward, shrouded them, and she glanced toward
an approaching wall of howling sand.  “I can’t believe how much I’ve seen and
done since I joined up with you guys.”

“It didn’t used to be this exciting,” chuckled
D’Arro.

Valerie added, “Certainly not in the same way.”

“Wish I could’ve gone down to Huya,” said Filan. 
Her eyes brightened as the sandstorm crashed against the crystal barrier, and a
nervous thrill traveled along her body.  “Did you guys see that?”

“It never gets old,” said a woman standing in the
doorway, and they turned to regard her.  “Audrey” was printed on her nametag. 
“What are you guys drinking?”  She was tall, with long dark hair tied up in a ponytail,
partially hidden under a green baseball cap.  Her hazel eyes were bright, and
her smile was kind.  One by one, she went around the group, taking orders. 
When she was done, she returned to the bar.

“What’s taking the captain so long?” asked Taryn. 
“I hope she’s OK.”

Valerie closed her eyes.  A moment later, she
opened them and chuckled.  “Yeah, she’s fine.  In fact, I think she dozed off.”

·· • ··

Outside the admiral’s office, curled up in her
chair, Zerki startled awake.  Gentle light bathed the otherwise empty chamber. 
Quickly getting her bearings, her gaze befell a pair of stately boots, and she
followed them up to the sharply dressed legs, trunk, crossed arms and amused
face of Fleet Admiral Dryden D. Decker.  “Oh!” she piped, and she sprang from
the egg-shaped chair, tugging on her shirt and vest to straighten them.  “Sorry. 
How long were you standing there?”

“Not long, and no need to be sorry,” he countered
with a friendly grin.  “I’m the one who should be apologizing for keeping you
waiting all day.  I got swamped.”  He offered his hand.  Dryden Decker was
tall, entirely bald, with dark brown skin and umber eyes.  He was impeccably
dressed in his formal whites, and although he had personally fought in hundreds
of campaigns, he had no visible scars.  “I understand you have access to some
very rare and sensitive information.”

“It’s yours to look at,” said Zerki, and she shook
his hand.  “Thanks for seeing me.”

He nodded and gestured toward a pair of open doors
set in the far wall.  “Right this way,” he urged, and he led Zerki to the
doorway.  “I’m still running tactical simulations.  Is that going to be a problem
for you?  If so, I have a secondary location we can use.”

Zerki shook her head.  “No, it won’t be a
problem.”

“I didn’t expect it to be.”  They stepped inside,
and he latched the doors behind them.  Dryden motioned toward a crescent-shaped
desk, where he took the chair on one side and Zerki took the chair opposite
him.  Overhead, the ceiling was steeped in combat holography.

“It’s busy up there,” she noted.

He leaned forward and asked, “When’s the last time
you watched the news?”

She raised her brows and smirked.  “Things have
been a little hectic for me the past couple weeks.  Why, what’s going on?”

“There’s a third faction in play now, and they
have access to a terrifying level of technology.  I can’t go into details, but
they put both the Union forces and the Imperial military to shame.”  He blew
into his hands.  “They came after the ellogons first, destroying their
warfleets where ever they found them.  They crippled their supply lines next,
and began systematically wiping out their core world colonies.  Yesterday, they
conquered the ellogon home world.”

Zerki sank into her chair.  “How many were lost?”

Dryden remained stoic.  “It’s a very big number,
Captain Ibarra.”

“How many?”

“At last count, close to 12 billion, across all
their territories.”

She covered her mouth and stared off.  “Oh my
God.”

“The ellogons are begging for our help, but
Parliament has been slow to send any aid.  Not because of our history with
them, but because we haven’t fared much better.  As of this morning, this new
threat has turned its sights on the Union.”  He glanced to the ceiling and the
battles playing out.  Zerki followed his gaze.  She felt an icy jolt through
her body as she saw an image of a city-sized starship battle station.  “I’m
trying to coordinate an effective counterassault, but… it’s not going well.” 
Dryden swallowed visibly and glanced away.  “We’ve already lost so many.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

He paused and laughed sadly.  “I’m not sure. 
Maybe I just needed to tell
some
body.”

“I know what that’s like.”  Her hands felt
suddenly very cold, and she absently rubbed them together.

“What can you tell me about them?”

“What can I tell you…”  Zerki considered her
answer.  “They call themselves ithirals,” she offered, and she retrieved a data
cube from her vest’s breast pocket.  “Here, this is video footage we got of one
of their stardrome battle stations outside Ixion Prime.  Very recently, two
members of my crew had a pretty close encounter with them, and I’ve included
their reports.”  She shook her head.  “I… I hope it helps.”

Dryden took the cube and set it on his desk.  “I
do too.  Thank you.”  He studied her expression.  “It’s a lot to take in, I
know, but that’s not what you’re grappling with, is it?”

“Can you do something for me?” she asked.

His manner was severe.  “I don’t think so, and I’m
frankly horrified that you’d even ask.”

“No, listen,” she continued, and she leaned
forward steeply.  “Do you believe in fate?”

Dryden scowled.  “What does that matter?”

Zerki shook her head.  “I didn’t used to, but I’m
starting to think there’s something to it.”  She exhaled heavily.  “I might
have a secret weapon at my disposal; something that can turn the tide of this
war, but… I need you to do something for me, if you can.”