by Drew Avera
Crase lifted his chin and stared down his nose at the shorter man. “If you don’t care, then it shouldn’t matter how I get the job done.”
Ilium thought for a while, weighing the option in his head. How can this come back to bite me in the ass, he thought. The worst case scenario is he had his own warship, but that ship is no threat against a vessel like the King Slayer. “Very well, you will do as I ask and your payment will be the Replicade.”
A grin stretched across Crase’s face. “That’s all well and good, but how am I supposed to track them down stuck in this pod?”
“There’s a small scout craft in the hangar bay called the DeVar. I will release you from the pod and lead you to the transport. The transponder is off and you will be pushed off the King Slayer mechanically. Do not engage the drive until after we have jumped.”
“How long will that be?”
Ilium looked down at his watch. “We have less than twelve minutes,” he answered.
“Well shit, get me out of here then.”
“That’s the spirit,” Ilium said as he reached for the door to the stasis pod and opened in. inside, Crase was strapped down by his wrists and ankles. Another strap held down his chest and thighs, but the restraints were common to protect whoever was inside, not because they were being held captive. Ilium freed him and Crase staggered out of the pod, half naked, and shaking from the cold. Ilium tossed him a robe. “Follow me,” he ordered as he turned to leave the cargo hold.
Crase followed Ilium down long, dark passageways and into a barren hangar bay. “Is this is?”
“Yes. You have a change of clothes inside as well as a few day’s-worth of food. It is designed for a three-person crew, but I’m sure you can figure out how to fly it solo.”
“Yeah, it shouldn’t be a problem.”
Ilium turned to face him with his hand held out with a com-unit. “When it is done, contact me. I may have more work for you to do.”
Crase looked at him as if he was out of his mind, but he nodded. “Fine.”
“Off you go,” Ilium said. He looked at his watch again. “Seven minutes.”
Crase ran towards the DeVar and climbed on board. Ilium watched as he disappeared behind the skin of the ship and the door closed behind him. Ilium left the hangar bay for the security of being deeper inside the King Slayer, but he could still see the transport through the observatory window. His hand fell onto the crane controller and he shifted it forward, watching the crane’s arm lower. He manipulated it until he was able to move the transport without damaging it. He had only a few minutes before the King Slayer jumped, but it was plenty of time to do what he needed to. With a gentle nudge, the crane arm shoved the transport beyond the artificial barrier, that helped the ship maintain atmospheric conditions, and out into the dark where it was sent spinning away from the larger ship as it quietly drifted away. A smile curled Ilium’s lips as he thought about what the future held for him now. He was safe on the King Slayer, out of Haranger’s reach, at least for the time being. To make matters more interesting, he had just sent someone to silence the only loose end he had left to cut. “The enemy of my enemy,” he whispered with a grin etched across his pale face. He watched the DeVar spin out into the ether until the King Slayer made it’s jump. From where he stood, the map of stars changed drastically and celestial bodies appeared from out of nowhere. We are, no doubt, in the Shiveian Sector now. Ilium turned to walk towards the bridge. With Crase left behind, it is time to move forward, thought as he ran his hand along the smooth bulkhead of the King Slayer. “That’s one objective achieved; now for the next one. Just wait until Haranger finds out about this.”
Epilogue: T'anoi
Above him, the assembly buzzed with activity as the reports came in about the ship Yeopa being destroyed. It was the worst news to strike at the heels of the Organization in over a decade, yet T'anoi could not stop the smile from spreading across his face. For all intents and purposes, CERCO served the Organization in just the capacity they were sworn to uphold; the scientific capacity. They were subject to the Organization only because CERCO had the means to create what the powerful men of the Organization wanted. Why should I be upset that our creation did what she was taught to do? It only goes to show that we have met the mark. The Organization should be proud of what we have accomplished, he thought as he looked up at the monitor to see the man peering back at him from some undisclosed location.
“You lost her, why are you smiling?”
“Because, this is precisely what we’ve been working towards all these years. She had more power and control of that power than any of us could fathom. The project that created her was a great success,” he said as he looked into the monitor at his nameless benefactor. The man was a mystery, but the funding that allowed T'anoi to conduct his research was very real. The company he named CERCO was so close to completing a living weapon that it was only a matter of time before they were successful. Carsita had proven their proof of concept, but like most successes in science, it came at a great cost, and not just financially. Her loss was the most painful experience T’anoi had endured since their allegiance with the Organization formed.
“I wanted the girl alive, but your people allowed her to escape,” the man said accusingly.
“Actually, sir, she destroyed the Yeopa while she was on board. She was just another casualty of her power. She did not escape.”
“Really, have you reclaimed her body?”
T'anoi swallowed hard. He wasn’t one for confrontation and he could see by the cold expression on the man’s face that T’anoi was over stepping his bounds. “There isn’t a body to recover, sir. Besides, the radiation field is too strong to safely send any ships to salvage anything left behind. We are monitoring the Yeopa’s debris field, though.”
“So, she escaped?”
He was being backed into a corner for which there was no easy way out. “I suppose, in no certain terms, you could presume the child did escape. Though, her survival is highly improbably, regretfully.”
“If there is no body to recover, then I am left to assume she is still out there. If she is still out there, then she is a threat to the Organization and a threat to CERCO. I do not fear your demise, but I do not look forward to my own,” the man said stoically.
“I understand, sir. I apologize.”
“I am under the impression that in her last moments, she was accompanied by someone else?”
“Yes, sir. She was accompanied by a Luthian woman. We are still trying to figure out who she is, but she is not in any of our databases.”
“A Luthian? I would be impressed to know her story, especially after her world was destroyed by Greshia months ago.” The man rested his chin in his hand thoughtfully. T’anoi knew that the Organization liked collecting specimen from other worlds, especially those no longer in existence thanks to the expanding Greshian Empire.
“That would be an interesting story, sir. I will keep you informed of any developments in terms of identifying her. Though, we do kind of have our hands full picking up the pieces after the destruction of the Yeopa.”
The man nodded. “Ensure your do. Now, onto the next stage in the plan. You lost the girl and we need another one. So, assign someone to the task of collecting the next weapon.”
“Sir, our designs have improved greatly over the years, but this was the closest experiment to having success we’ve ever had. There were aspects of Carista that made her more susceptible to our influence than any child might normally be. It will be impossible to find a suitable replacement in a short period of time.” T'anoi’s heart pounded in his chest. He hated having to ask for more time and seeing the man’s narrowing, murderous gaze settle onto him. It was unnerving.
“I don’t care what you have to do, T'anoi. You will have a new weapon in my possession before the end of the month. You know we have a timeline to keep.”
T'anoi gasped. “A month? Sir, with all due respect, that will be impossible. We cannot just toss another child i
nto the program and expect them to react in the same way Carista did.”
The man leaned closer. “Why the fuck do I pay you for the things you say you cannot do? The word ‘impossible’ should not be in your vocabulary. I told you what I want, now get it done, or a lack of funding will be the least of your worries. I hope, for your sake, this discussion is more to my liking the next time I call.” The man disappeared from the screen and left T'anoi feeling hollow inside.
This isn’t what I wanted, he thought as he stood in the center of the room, his staff surrounding him in silence. They witnessed everything in that exchange, including the scolding and embarrassment that spewed forth at him.
“That didn’t go as I planned,” he said to the assembly. He smiled nervously as Hespha walked closer to him. The assembly sat in reverent silence, it was a show of respect and a respect T’anoi did not feel he rightfully deserved.
“It never does, T'anoi, but that is what happens when you go to bed with devils,” Hespha replied. She was his second in command at CERCO and the driving force behind the growing position to pull away from the Organization and its growing rebellion with Greshia. After that exchange, he was beginning to see her point, but they needed the funding to continue their research. It was a perpetual cycle of disappointment.
“You did not think they were devils when this first started, Hespha. Were you not the deciding vote that propelled us to this moment?” he asked, his words biting the air. T'anoi hated being bullied. It was bad enough he took it from the Organization that hid behind their money and power. He was not about to take it from his own people too.
“I was, the reluctant deciding vote. I told you before and I’ve reminded you since, these people do not have our best interest in mind. They are using our science for evil.”
T'anoi gawked at her. “If not for the Organization, we would have been targeted by Greshian aggression years ago. It is their influence that has kept us alive.” He was on the verge of screaming at her and she took it as their culture was taught to respect the position of power. He could see that she had something say etched in the dangerous glare of her brown eyes. Her dark hair only made those dark orbs stand out. “I’m sorry,” he said reluctantly.
“I understand,” she said.
The assembly disbursed, but he did not release them. He turned and watched them leave, wondering how much of the exchange they heard. Stress is starting to take its toll on me. “You’re right,” he said, the words painful to his ears. “I just don’t know how to get out from under their thumb.”
Hespha stepped closer to him. “It is a delicate situation, but there is a way out of this.”
“How?” he asked.
She nodded, but not at him, someone behind him. Before he realized it, a sharp pain stabbed him in the back, weakening his legs until he collapsed to the cold floor.
“I’m sorry, T’anoi. I never wanted it to come to this, but we didn’t have a choice. You led us to the belly of the beast and now we have no other way to preserve ourselves.”
“What?”
A man came from behind him and knelt in front of T’anoi. The man pulled back his cloak and revealed himself to T’anoi.
“Ka’Hor’al? My brother?”
“I am sorry, T’anoi. When she told me what you did I knew you had taken your power too far. Father would never have wanted this for you.” Ka’Hor’al said. He was on the verge of tears as both brothers looked into each other’s eyes. T’anoi was dying, it was the end of a legacy brought forth by their father, but the dynasty of power was over. “I have given my share of CERCO to Hespha. I just wanted you to know before you pass on to the other life that I did not do this to claim what was yours for myself. I did this to preserve your legacy before you go down in history as a madman.”
“But‒”
“Don’t speak, brother. Let the darkness take you quietly,” Ka’Hor’al said.
T’anoi watched his brother stand next to Hespha and take her hand in his. That’s what it comes down to, he thought as blood poured from his body. She used my brother as a weapon against me, to take control of what never should have been hers in the first place.
“I wish this could have ended differently, T’anoi,” Hespha said. Despite his pain, he could see the sadness in her eyes. Maybe she really does think this was the only way to save us, but if anything, she has condemned us and tossed away all we fought so hard to create. To hell with legacy, my legacy dies with me and the rest of CERCO will die soon after.
Hespha and Ka’Hor’al turned to leave T’anoi to die, but a part of him was already dead before he gasped his dying breath. A part of him already knew he was gone before the knife was driven into his back. But he never had the opportunity to tell Hespha the truth about Carista, about where the girl came from, about how she came to be. Would it break her heart to know the truth? T’anoi thought Hespha would be more enraged now than anything. Though, at some point she would have deserved to know, and I would have told her when the time was right, before she influenced my brother to kill me. But now, with my dying breath, that truth will be lost forever.
SHADOW EMPIRE
1
Ilium
The King Slayer purred under his control as he sat in the captain's chair. For three weeks, Ilium had learned more about the most advanced ship in the Greshian Fleet than he could have ever imagined. The power required to jump, the number of escape pods easily accessible from the major stations on the ship, the reload time for the torpedo tubes with a full crew − these were the naval lessons he craved to know. The biggest lesson was with the display in destructive power of such a magnificent warship as the King Slayer supported the Greshian Navy and stomped the rebellious Shiveian forces into annihilation. The collapse of their military was drawn out only for the Greshian commanders to provide wartime training for their junior officers like Commander Ilium Gyl. He might have worn the rank, but he lacked the experience. It was something he gained tenfold since the mutiny which claimed his previous ship, taking him out of command and placing him under the wing of Captain Crexon, the only captain whom Ilium had any respect for.
"Sir, there's an unknown ship within the kill zone. Do you wish to target?" Ensign Arterius Stavis asked from her console. Despite her being only an Ensign, Ilium was impressed by how easily she commanded from her position. She was born for this duty, he thought with a bit of envy in his heart at her natural inclination to the military. That was one thing he always struggled with, excelling at his job as a naval officer. It was something he felt he was learning now, and if his crew was any indication, his training was beginning to work.
Ilium looked at her. Before this day, he would have said yes and destroyed the ship without a second thought. But that was the old way Ilium acted when he was fighting for control. That fight was over now, or at least fought in a less overt way. His destiny had not changed, but his path to get there had, and it never looked clearer. "Magnify, please," he said, watching his screen populate with enough data to make the head of a younger version of him swim. "What am I looking at?" The magnified image depicted something much more sinister than the transport ship that the transponder code identified it as. His thoughts shifted to the pirate Crase Tuin, but this technology far exceeded that man's capabilities. This ship required a crew the size of the King Slayer at a minimum. This isn't good.
"I'm not sure, sir, but I am identifying the evidence of weapon mounts on the outer hull. It's certainly not a transport ship," Ensign Stavis said.
Despite the past few weeks of training, and seeing a massive battle take place from the bridge of the King Slayer, Ilium was unsure of what the next move should be. He was the interim replacement to the Executive Officer after a death in the family called him away. Now, Ilium was forced to be second in command, not that he was complaining, but it didn't come without its inconveniences. Especially considering a ship of this size was a target, albeit a well-armed one. I'm not the captain, he thought. What if I make a mistake? His heart beat rapidly a
s he thought about what the negative outcome would be if he initiated an offensive strike against an unknown ship without approval from the captain. "Ensign Stavis, call for the captain," he ordered. "He's going to want to see this."
"Aye aye, sir."
Ilium sat and watched as the unknown ship sat in the darkness, unmoving. At least they're not lighting us up. Let's hope it stays that way. Despite being the aggressors for most conflicts, the Greshians preferred to be on the deciding side of any combat. Ilium craved conflict, but only on his own terms, the ones he could lay out and plan for. I'm not ready to take the helm against an adversary I haven't trained for.
"The captain is on his way, sir.”
Ilium rose from the chair and said, "Thank you." He stepped closer to the monitor with his arms behind his back, leaning in to see the image and trying to discern if there were any recognizable markings on the slick hull of the vessel. "You ever seen anything like this before?"
"Not exactly, sir, but we have seen ships with cloaked transponder codes before. Most of them end up being rebels.”
"Sir," the combat control officer, Lieutenant Serran Teirs, said. "We have picked up movement on the ship."
"Where?"
"Port side, on the stern," she replied. Teirs stepped closer to him and pointed at the spot on the monitor she was referring to. "It's hard to see in this image, but the sensor arrays are detecting something."
"What could it be?" Usually, if a combatant was going to open fire they would've done so by now, Ilium thought.
"It could be a torpedo tube," she answered.
Captain Crexon rushed onto the bridge. "What's going on, Ilium?"
Ilium, startled, turned to see the captain of the King Slayer and lifted his hands as if he had no response. "We have an unidentifiable ship, sir. There's movement on the port side near the stern, and Lieutenant Teirs thinks it may be a torpedo tube."
