by J Porteous
'The Selengra station docks have just responded. Permission to land granted. Hitting the bay in five minutes.'
Arrathnar stood. 'I will leave you to it, Captain. There will be plenty of time to talk once we have landed. If you notice anything out of the ordinary, and I mean anything, let me know.'
Hawke nodded a silent agreement, although in reality the last thing he wanted to do was talk.
Hawke kept his head down as he and the crew followed Arrathnar towards the Chapter House. There was little doubt that he had garnered some attention, and not just for the Space Bastard colours. The tight and twisting corridors of Selengra left little unheard. Military patrols and civilians alike passed comment on the state of Hawke's face, whispers and rumours already making their rounds through the crowds of the station. The Researchers had been the most unsettling. As he wandered through the Chapter House hall, he heard faint voices and echoes deeming him as a Branded. He had risked a glance up, only to find many sets of eyes following him. They approached a large door, ornate with carvings that he did not recognise, shined to a dazzle.
'What I am about to show you,' Arrathnar said. 'It is going to be hard to understand, but maybe after what you have seen, you will give it at least some respect.' She cast her gaze over the assembled crew, making sure Hawke caught her glare with the last part of that sentence.
Hawke allowed himself a small smile. It had been drilled into his brain at both the youth and military academy that religion was something to be disregarded. It was declared a sign of low intelligence, and a cause of humanities previous wars and woes. He had believed it so strongly, as most others did, that he had never entertained such nonsense in the past, human or other beliefs.
Even with all this in mind, he now found himself stood on the threshold of one of the Researchers most sacred artefacts. Researchers studied and worshipped for decades, even centuries, to be allowed a glimpse inside of the doors that now lay in front of him. Now he was about to stroll straight in, a blasphemer in a holy house. 'We'll keep it civilised,' he said.
'Good.' Arrathnar opened the grand doors that stood before them.
The room glowed with dim light, the walls covered in large and detailed etchings. There were several of these etchings, standing as tall as the room itself, reflecting a deep copper colour. Several Harathdans stood examining the walls, inspecting the smallest details of the etchings, lovingly polishing them.
Arrathnar clicked her tongue, grabbing their attention. They looked startled for a moment, before bowing graciously and filing towards the exit of the room. Their look of reverence for Arrathnar turned to the face you would expect to see when encountering a rancid smell as they crept past Hawke and the crew.
'My apologies,' Arrathnar said, as her eyes chased the Harathdans out of the room. 'They do not understand why you are here. This place is usually for only the most pious of individuals. The damage you caused to the Chapter House is still fresh in their minds.'
'No apologies needed,' Hawke said with a shrug. 'It's nothing we aren't used to.'
Arrathnar waved her hand, and the last two Harathdans pulled the great doors closed behind them.
Hawke watched Carl as he stood, eyes wide as he took in the grand etchings before them. 'Never would have seen anything like this in the military, Rookie.'
Carl snapped out of his gaze. 'No, nothing like this.'
'Please,' Arrathnar said, holding a hand up to silence them both. 'We have a lot to cover and not much time.'
'Sorry,' Carl mumbled, dropping his gaze.
Arrathnar walked over to the first large etching. It extended upwards, into the arches of the ceiling, and almost disappeared from view entirely. 'These etchings were found by the first Grand Researcher, buried deep beneath the surface of an uncharted world,' she said proudly. 'Years of deciphering the notes that our Chapter has held had led us there.'
Hawke resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He glanced at the crew, noticing Justinia watching him with a grin on her face. He switched his attention back to Arrathnar. 'What notes were these?'
She looked taken aback that Hawke had even inquired. 'They were left to us, Captain. It was a dead tongue and took millennia to decipher.' She motioned across the room to the other etchings. 'All of them found together in an old world ruin.'
'I take it they mean something,' Watts said, squinting at the unfamiliar text that ran over the etchings. 'It's nothing I recognise.'
'You are correct,' Arrathnar said. 'It tells us of a threat. Of something dark. Something unknown. It speaks of many things, but all of the threads lead to one conclusion.'
Hawke's throat tightened. 'Something unknown?'
Arrathnar turned to him. 'Indeed, Captain. I believe this unknown is what breached the War Goddess.' She turned back to the etching. 'Tell me, do you subscribe to the multiverse theory?'
Hawke's heart thundered in his chest. Multiverse? Isn't that what the creature had said? With those few words the High Researcher had confirmed what the creature in his dream had told him. His mind boggled. 'Multiple universes?' he asked, hoping to mask any emotion that might betray him.
Arrathnar looked over, her gaze drifting to him from the first etching. 'I do not expect that you do believe it, Captain, but yes, this is it. This is what is true.'
Hawke's head rattled as if struck by a hammer. All it took was a quick look around the crew to tell he was not alone in this feeling. Expressions of confusion and outright disbelief surrounded him. His mind flashed back to the words that creature had spoke to him while he lay unconscious on his bunk. 'The Sender stones,' he muttered to himself.
Arrathnar looked surprised. 'Correct, Captain. The Sender stones. They are integral to these etchings, but we do not know their significance. Only that they can sway the outcome.' She nodded back to the etching. 'As I was saying, this universe is not the only one in existence. Every major decision in your life has had an outcome and a consequence. Do you ever think of what would have happened if you had made another choice?' She looked around, several heads nodding. 'This creates what is known as a time split. Another you, in another time frame, took that choice and is living out the consequences as we speak. This has happened generation after generation since the start of time as we comprehend it, perhaps even before that. And it includes not just banal decisions that you and I make, but the bigger developments. Evolution, physics, the building blocks of life. Not all exist in the same way we do.'
'That's a lot of universe you are talking about there,' Watts said.
'It is,' Arrathnar said with a nod. 'And across all of these universes, all of these endless beginnings and endings, do you not believe that there could be something that could tear the veil of dimensions as we know them?' She pointed to the central circle in the etching. 'This is where the Kalindros come from.'
Kalindros? 'Fancy saying that for the slower kids in the class?' Hawke said.
'You would know them better than most, Captain,' she said, motioning to the scar on Hawke's face. 'It means Astral according to the etchings.'
'Astral?'
'Yes. If our translations are correct, they travel in the space between each universe, moving from one universe to the next.'
'I assume they're not just looking to visit?' Justinia said. Her face turned to one of concern. 'If they have come from another universe, one with no connection to our own, then how come we know about them? Who gave you these notes?'
'You can see who is the brains of the outfit,' Arrathnar said, a slight smile touching her lips as she darted a look at Hawke. She moved over to the second etching, waving a hand over its length. 'This we do not know. We do not know who wrote these notes, or their origins.' She pointed to the third etching, more unreadable words covering its surface. 'All we know is what we deciphered from them, and it led us to these.'
'The Kalindros,' Carl said. 'Was that what we saw on the Goddess?' He pointed to the last etching on the wall. 'Doesn't it tell us anything else about them?'
Arrathnar's face cre
ased slightly. 'Unfortunately not. The etchings are vague about them, dedicating more space to talking in depth about the Sender stones as opposed to the Kalindros themselves.' She walked over to the last etching, running her hand over the writings within it. 'This last etching is the one we stand vigilant for. It tells of their coming.'
'I can vouch for that,' Hawke said with a grimace. 'Looks like your little prophecy might have a grain of truth in it. What happens at the end of the story then? When does the chosen one turn up to save us?'
'There is no such thing as a chosen one,' Arrathnar said coldly. 'That title is given in hindsight to those who stood up and did something.' A sheepish expression crept over her face. 'As for the ending, we do not know.'
'What do you mean you don't know?'
'The etching only speaks of their arrival, and that the Sender Stones are key to either stopping them, or allowing the rest of the their kind through to our universe.'
The creature's bargain came back Hawke. That creature had spoken of the Sender stones, that I should help retrieve them. He buried his feelings and snorted a laugh at her words. 'So these Stones you look for, they are going to save us or destroy us? May as well flip a coin.'
'You say that, Captain,' Carl said. 'But they came for the stone that they thought we had on the ship. You've seen the damage they can do. Those troopers came for a reason to the trash planet, they knew what they were after.'
The kid's spirited, I'll give him that. Hawke nodded. 'That's a fair point.'
Justinia nodded in agreement. 'Why would that scaly bastard come for the stone if they didn't need it?'
'You are correct in your assumptions,' Arrathnar said. 'The attack on the War Goddess confirmed it for us, and it confirms that we were right to be collecting the Sender stones.'
'Which is what you were doing on Beledar Four?' Watts said.
Arrathnar nodded. 'We had intelligence that a rock had been excavated there. The Neo-Neanderthals had excavated it and were praising it as some kind of demi-god.'
'Guess that's why they weren't so happy when you took it,' Hawke said.
'Very astute, Captain,' Arrathnar said. 'Thanks to you and your crew, we now have seven of the ten Sender stones.' She nodded a thanks at Justinia. 'We have the upper hand, we just need to retrieve the other three.'
'You make it sound almost easy.'
'I never said it would be easy, Captain,' Arrathnar said. She turned back to the etchings behind her. 'We have not yet deciphered everything, and there are still parts of the text which are under review with our Researchers.' She turned back to the group. 'One of the other things we do not know is how they are getting here. Somehow they are bleeding through into our universe and putting their plans into place.'
'What exactly are they wanting?' Carl asked, stepping towards the last etching. 'Surely this tells you something?'
'As I said, the etchings tell us little,' Arrathnar said, looking up at the etching with a sigh. 'One of the etchings tells of an extraction process, but what that is we do not know. It is something we will need to discover for ourselves.'
Hawke thought back to before the ships hull had been breached. 'There's one thing I can remember,' he said. 'Before the ship was breached, the temperature dropped, and I don't mean a little bit.' Hawke looked over and saw Carl nodding in agreement. 'I could see my own damn breath.'
'I've never experienced anything like that from a normal warp jump,' Watts said. He ran his fingers through his unkempt hair. 'Maybe we could look into the logs from the ship. The scanners picked something up, if only for a split second, before the hull breach. It was a quick, but strong. Nothing our sensors could make sense out of though.'
'I know the ship's old, Watts,' Hawke said. 'But those computers have made a decent job of decoding and picking up energy bursts so far.'
Arrathnar nodded. 'I understand what you are saying, Captain, but with all due respect, we have never seen anything like this before.'
'You're not wrong, High Researcher.' Hawke touched the scar on his face and thought back to the creature, and the fleeting moments before he blacked out. The Space Bastards had fought countless fights. Private militias, hostile indigenous organisms, and pirates, to name but a few, but this was way beyond anything they had come across before.
'Well it looks like this is where we are done,' Carl said with a defeated sigh. 'No way forward from here, right?'
'You could be right, Rookie,' Justinia said. 'We aren't chasing after something that we can't track and can't kill-'
'And that we aren't getting paid for,' Hawke said, looking at Justinia, who returned a small grin back. He looked at Watts and Carl. 'We need to get heading back to the War Goddess. Those makeshift repairs the Junkers made might have gotten us back here, but they aren't going to get us much further.' He walked towards the large doorway which had led them into the room, and the crew silently fell in beside him.
'Captain,' Arrathnar called from behind him. 'There may be another way to continue our venture.'
Hawke stopped. Don't get involved, he thought to himself as he pushed the doors open. Something tugged a part of his brain. He stopped dead in his tracks. The scar on his face burned hot again, prickling his skin. Something forced its way into his brain.
This is your chance to get the Sender stones, to be with Daria and Elpis. Do not pass this opportunity up. There are always others we can bestow our gift to.
Justinia placed a hand on his shoulder. 'Hawke? Are you okay?'
He shrugged her off. 'I'm fine.' It was the same deep voice from his dream. He stood still for a moment, then turned back to Arrathnar. 'If you've got an idea then spit it out.'
She rolled her eyes. 'Do not worry, Captain. I know what motivates a man like you.' She moved towards him, marching across the room until she stood face to face with him. Her nose would have pressed into his if she did not tower above him. 'But if you only respect monetary rewards, then what will you do when money is no good to anyone any more? What will you do when no bolt-hole of yours is safe and when the Kalindros come for you again? You may be a traitor to your species, Captain, but do not be so quick to turn your back on the universe too.'
Hawke sucked his teeth at her comment. Traitor? The word stirred his anger. 'You don't know the first thing about me, you judgemental fuck. Sitting here behind your large doors, you don't know what the real universe is like.' His energy drained rapidly, taking the colour from his face. He felt arms steady him.
'You okay, Captain?' Carl said.
Hawke nodded slowly. 'I've already said, I'm good, Rookie, I'm good.' He pulled himself up as straight as possible. Arrathnar's hard eyes still bored into him with barely veiled rage. He took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself. 'I hate to admit it, but you're right.' He kept his gaze on Arrathnar, so as not to have to see the questioning looks from Justinia and Watts.
Arrathnar softened slightly, standing back and taking her gaze from him. 'I am glad you are seeing past your own views,' she said. She paced along the wall of etchings with a renewed vigour. 'This raw data that the War Goddess has recorded, we will need an AI core to decipher it. This will give us at least some of the answers we need.'
'An AI core?' Watts said. 'They're ten a credit chit on the Warzura black market.'
'This is not just any AI core we are looking for,' Arrathnar said, her dark gaze falling over Watts. 'This is the NELSON AI core I am talking about.'
'That's impossible,' Carl said. 'Stealing a high grade military AI? We'll be hunted to the edge of the universe. The Kalindros will be the least of our worries then.'
Arrathnar turned her dark eyes towards Carl. 'Nothing can ever outweigh the threat of the Kalindros, not even death itself.'
'I assume there is a point to this?' Hawke said, interrupting them. 'Not much we can do about something which is probably half a galaxy away.'
Arrathnar smiled. 'You are the Space Bastards, are you not? I did not think there were many jobs you would not take?' She watched Hawke's reaction, reli
shing in the fact that she had obviously hit a raw nerve. 'A Nero class cruiser is heading towards this station, the Royal Hunt. It should be here within the next two days. The NELSON AI core is on board.'
'And you just expect us to go ask them nicely for it?' Carl said, with a shake of his head.
'And it just happens to be coming here,' Hawke interjected, folding his arms across his chest.
Arrathnar looked at Hawke, a ghost of a smile playing her lips. 'We have many strings of influence, stretching far across the universe. Perhaps the fuel tanks of the last station were not as full as they had wished. Perhaps Selengra was the next best station along their designated route.' She glanced at Carl. 'Shall we ask them nicely? No, I do not think that is an option, but we need it.'
A heist on a Nero class cruiser? Hawke mused to himself. He could not deny it, the balls needed to even think of such a plan impressed him. 'So you're wanting us to break into a Nero class cruiser and steal a state of the art AI core from the human military? The kind of tech that needs top level clearance to even talk about. All of this on a station swarming with the bastards?'
'I thought it may have piqued your interest, Captain,' Arrathnar said. 'And I promise you funding. The Researchers can be generous with their donations to those who work in our service. This is a threat to us all, Captain. We will not see you work poorly equipped.'
Hawke raised an eyebrow. 'The Researchers are willing to fund us?'
'In dire situations, you must be willing to turn to your best weapon, even if it not the one you favour.' She watched him silently, studying the minute twitches in his face which gave away his interest in her words. 'In your Council guard days, you would have served on a Nero cruiser, am I correct?'
Hawke nodded a response, a sour taste rising in his throat at the mention of the Council.
She pointed at Carl. 'You were a recent military man, correct? You should still have some contacts as well, I take it?'
'Well, yes, I suppose,' Carl said, an unease edging his words.
Arrathnar clapped her hands together. 'Then it is settled. We know the layout of the ship, and it looks like we can get some details of up to date protocols and procedures as well. The question is, are the Space Bastards in, Captain?'
