An image of a girl came into Joseph’s mind. Long dark hair hung down her back and ice-blue eyes fearfully panned her surroundings. He could only see her face as she wept. He realized that they were seeing her through the eyes of one of their kind that was injured and was lying on the ground. Joseph sensed that it was a boy. Just as he had done with Sonia, the boy took the girl into the shadow world to protect her until some threat passed. Only something was hunting them in the shadows.
She stared at him and a boy’s voice spoke into his mind asking him to come and help. Joseph did not know anything about the girl and had no idea if they would be walking into a trap. He looked over at Duncan who was beginning to get over the abdominal pain. As he recovered, her voice penetrated his mind. Duncan focused on her face and believed that he had recognized her from several years earlier while on a slave transport.
“They want to kill us. We need help,” she said in a low desperate tone which suggested that she knew they were in direct communication with someone who could help.
“We have to go to them,” Joseph said.
Duncan agreed and the two combined their energies while focusing on the girl. The darkness itself came alive, contorted, and began to spin into a tube-like river that whipped back and forth in the manner of an angry serpent striking to defend itself. It struck the passing pulhu, worsening their deformities while sending them end over end away into the shadows. After the screaming pulhu faded off into the darkness the siten completed its formation. It settled in front of them and without hesitation, the two entered. Instantly they were flying through the siten passing flashes of energy shooting past them like burning meteors in a planet’s atmosphere. The travel no longer made either boy nauseous, but despite the number of times they moved through the shadows, there was a degree of disorientation that had to be dealt with.
Within seconds they reached the end of the siten and the two took a second to shake off the mild vertigo caused by the distance they traveled. Joseph looked around and despite his experiences, distance was not measurable in the shadows, but Joseph knew immediately that they were far away in a place he did not recognize. The location made him more uncomfortable than he was before. A shroud of evil covered this place. By the anxious look on Duncan’s face, he sensed it too.
Joseph looked down and realized that they were hovering above the girl and the guy. She was with a boy who was using his energy to form a dark wall that shielded them from the two figures that were moving quickly through the shadows into their direction.
“Roo’kall,” Joseph whispered.
Floating several feet in front of the assassins was a black orb that lit up the way for them. One of the creatures stopped abruptly while grabbing the arm of the second to notify it without the use of language. The orb stopped, maintaining its distance in front of them as if sensing their actions. The creature was hairless, with a hooked nose, and an overhanging brow. Its posture was poor and its arms seemed long enough to drag the ground. The creature said nothing while scanning the area seeking something. Joseph wondered if their presence had provoked its senses and would draw it over to where the two were hiding.
With a quick swipe of its long arm, the orb darted across the shadows and slammed into the wall of energy created by the boy to shield them from the threat. The impact didn’t destroy the wall, but its outline was revealed, and the two creatures moved quickly toward it. Joseph read their thoughts and knew that the boy and girl were the targets. They were the reason the assassins were in the shadows.
Joseph leapt out of the siten and landed in front of the wall cutting off the two Roo’kall causing them to halt in observance of the intruder. Joseph simply stood in front of them. They looked at each other, confused by the boldness of the unknown Earthling. The two Roo’kall set aside their lasers and retrieved daggers, “We will cut you up, Earthling.”
The black wall of energy behind him dissipated and the boy and girl were revealed. The boy was exhausted. The days of constant running and using his energy to hide had drained him to the point of incapacitation. The boy could no longer defend himself. He knew that the Roo’kall were going to take him back to the Kasadu where, in his weakened state, he would be executed. The perseverance of the hired assassins had paid off as they were finally going to get him. But now, this new boy stood in their way.
Duncan stepped out of the siten and stood next to them facing the threat. He wondered if he could get the exhausted boy into the siten before they were attacked. Duncan became afraid and was uncertain of what to do. The Roo’kall sensed his fear and laughed, “You should have stayed where you were Earth boy. You will die,” the hook-nosed one said.
From the darkness five more figures appeared and joined the two assassins, “We found him. Got two more too,” it noted.
The seven Roo’kall began to spread out to encircle and trap them. Joseph had experienced this before with the Redum soldiers several times when they were ordered by Ningal to kill him. While he didn’t want to hurt anything or anyone, he knew it would be the only way to stop the threat. He boldly stepped forward to face the seven. He gave them a cold stare. Several of them chuckled at the sight. A scrawny Earth boy had no chance against seven Roo’kall … or so they thought. The hook-nosed assassin aggressively moved toward Joseph with the dagger on display in front of it. Just as he reached him, the Roo’kall stopped and turned the knife on himself and watched with a horrified expression on its face as it repeatedly stabbed itself in the midsection as if having lost control over its arm. It fell to the black surface bleeding profusely while moaning in agony. The creature would surely die if he lingered too long.
Joseph looked up at the remaining six, who were no longer advancing and were staring at him. They began to shake their heads and exhibit pain and confusion. One of the Roo’kall violently attacked another, repeatedly swinging the dagger with all of its might driving it deep into his back without mercy. Within seconds all of them were fighting. Joseph raised his hands, instantly freezing them as two were in mid-swing with their daggers and one was absorbing a punch to its oblong face. A white mist began to dance from the top of each Roo’kall’s head. The creatures dropped their weapons and fell to their knees as the mist increased in density and danced in the shadows like a nest of serpents leaving an underground den. The Roo’kall fell to the ground. Their black eyes were wide open. The creatures were taking shallow breaths. Only by close observation could anyone tell that they were still alive.
Joseph turned to see the boy on the ground. The girl was trying to help him. He realized that the boy was drained of energy, which would take a long time to recover from while in the shadows. “Why were they after you?” he asked.
“They are after all of us…our kind. It’s not like we are hard to find, we all look different than most other races. The only Earth people our age are supposed to be in some pit digging up their metals. We aren’t supposed to be wandering around unshackled,” the boy replied.
Duncan called out to Joseph, “Is him. Look like him.”
He looked closely at the boy and agreed. Joseph knelt down and asked the girl, “Did he help the Kasadu? Did he move Redum soldiers through the shadows?”
Her expression immediately gave the answer to the question. She didn’t want to answer, “Can we just get out of here before more come?”
“Why would he do that?” Joseph asked, “why help them?”
“They were going to kill me if he didn’t. We were born of the same host. He did what he needed to so that he could protect me. He didn’t want to hurt anyone. He didn’t know that would happen. That is why we ran. Now, the Roo’kall hunt us,” the girl was in tears.
Joseph nodded, “Well, they want to kill everybody and everything that isn’t them. If we stick together, maybe we can prevent that from happening.” He took some of the mist and put it in the boy. His eyes instantly became more alert. The boy was able to stand up due to the boost in energy. He sent the rest into the siten to make sure that the Roo’kall were unable
to retrieve it.
He and Duncan focused their energy again and pulled the siten down from above. Just as they stepped in, the black orb struck the place where they were standing. One more second of hesitation and they would have been delayed longer due to paralysis as the detonation would have siphoned their energy. The four flew faster than normal through the siten and he could sense that the trip was making the girl sick. She wasn’t as adjusted to dimensional travel as the others were. He tried to comfort her and was not paying attention when the end of the siten was suddenly upon them. Stopping would require a bit of focus and effort, but his attention was elsewhere. The four slammed into the portal at the end of the siten sending them airborne into the room where Joseph initially entered. The entry was rather dramatic and startled those remaining in the room.
Chapter 27
“Sir, we are receiving a video signal from Giobi. It appears to be from Honoré Borghild,” a young female SINSTER agent said from across the lab.
Art was shuffling through a stack of documents and placed them down before walking over to the holographer and waving his hand over the sensor. The hologram filled in from the bottom up as it was originally recorded from Honoré’s viewpoint. The video played through the extraction of Dag and the torpedoes striking the domed roof of the mine and ended with the destruction of the building in the water city. Art sat down and for a long second contemplated what he had just watched and the potential implications.
He looked in the direction of a female agent with long strawberry colored hair that was woven into a single braid that fell across her right shoulder. She wore a blue uniform and Viennian eyewear on the bridge of her nose. Salvana was a proud SISNSTER agent and had proven invaluable and was Art’s right hand since taking over the director’s position nearly sixteen years to the day. She was well respected by her peers and always seemed to be on top of everything and was in tune with the people around her. Art trusted her more than anyone in the agency and unwittingly leaned on her more than anyone.
“We need to see what we can find out about the number of casualties at the Giobi mine incident,” he said with a solemn and tired expression. The thought of the inadvertent role he played in the killing of scores of innocent beings was difficult to immediately process.
“We have images of thousands of what appears to be deceased…primarily Earth people, being removed and destroyed prior to this incident. The best intel we have is that there was another Nyian gas incident. There may have been an undetected pocket that ruptured, seeped into the work area, and killed most if not all the working population in the mine. We have video of them flushing out the air in the mine for over a week prior to the mine being cleared. We have also intercepted messages that the transport Eerika Volden and Agent Einar confiscated with the people of RA, they were to begin repopulation of the mine.”
The thought of being unable to prevent the capture and eventual death of thousands was like a knife in the gut. He was growing tired of being on the losing end. Stopping the captives on RA from being taken, while accidental, was a small victory in a long line of losses. It did not offset the deaths of thousands of innocent beings taken against their will and basically sentenced to hard labor for the rest of their lives. “That mine produces nearly a quarter of all the Kasadu’s energy in the Qasient sector. They will have to shift reserves, which will hurt their efforts to move and fuel a significant portion of their military assets, especially near us and Earth,” he said trying to guide his thoughts into a productive direction. “What of the—”
“Director!” a male voice called out.
Art turned to see the agent running across the room in his direction, “Yes?”
“Asger Ulven has returned,” he blurted out excitedly.
He paused for a second wondering if he heard the agent correctly. If it were true, then why would he risk returning after all that he was suspected of doing. He certainly knew the consequences could mean a life sentence on Sveka. Immediately Art became suspicious and wondered what plot he was conceiving, “Where is he?”
“In the hanger. Still in the Stur Craft he arrived in. He wants to speak to you and only you.”
This is some kind of con. There is no way he just came back on his own, Art thought. If it was truly Ulven that had returned there was certain to be some extraordinary circumstance. While being of mild temper, it was very rare for him to yell and lose control. This was one of those unusual circumstances. Too many times to count, Art thought about punching Asger right in the face. The betrayal was almost more than he could endure. The hours spent fuming over his insubordination had culminated in this face to face, which he came to believe would never occur. Art was the one to make the decision, despite going against the counsel of his advisors, to assign Asger. He had sent him underground to get intelligence on the forming of the Kasadu. He had believed in Asger and wanted him to have the opportunity to prove himself.
As a descendant of Seti-Kiliema, despite the hundreds of years that had passed since the disappearance of the most notorious criminal in the history of the Viennin people, the stigma had loomed over him since birth. It was Seti-Kiliema that originally organized an underground network that dealt in the trafficking of kidnapped beings from across the Universe. He heavily promoted the humans from Earth, who quickly became highly valued and coveted for their appearance and labor. Seti-Kiliema became the first to get premium prices for humans generating an explosion in the interest of other traffickers.
Turf-wars followed and the traffickers slaughtered each other seeking to claim Earth. This was, in a morbid way, a benefit to the those opposed to trafficking, with exception to the innocent lives that were taken in the crossfire so to speak. Every dead trafficker was one less they needed to invest time and resources to bring to justice. Unfortunately, as one crime organization fell another quickly stepped into its place. Eventually resulting in the disappearance of Seti-Kiliema himself who was the pioneer of the booming slave trade that increased in demand with each discovery of telenium. Ultimately, Seti-Kiliema helped unify the various nations into agreeing that the Universal Code was needed.
This family history seemed to follow Asger around especially since, from all accounts, he was born with his ancestor’s exact likeness. Some believed that he was Seti-Kiliema reincarnated. Others believed that since the warlord had mysteriously disappeared and eluded capture, that he was one of the first to learn the secrets of time travel which allowed him to thwart justice.
Art stormed across the SINSTER lab and through the doors. By the time he reached the hanger, the rational side of his thoughts began to drown out those fueled by fury. Despite the pinned-up rage and the satisfaction of going toe to toe with him, he would be in violation of the laws of the Viennin people and SINSTER’s ethical codes. Asger would have to be considered innocent until proven guilty, which made them unique among most of the civilized nations across the universe.
When he reached the hanger, Art noticed the Nekark symbol on the Stur Craft and headed for it. The hanger was abuzz with members of the Viennin Space Force, SINSTER agents, and employees moving in a frenzy interested in getting a look at the infamous Asger Ulven. Like a parting sea, the dense congregation of agents and military personnel separated as he passed through the hanger toward the Stur Craft, then quickly filled back in behind him.
“He will not come out unless you go in and speak to him,” a male agent standing by the foot of the Stur Craft’s ramp said.
Art said nothing and without hesitation walked up the ramp with little consideration for his safety. As he reached the top, the door slid open. He walked in to see Asger standing just out of view of those in the hanger leaning against a wall. Art stopped and looked him in the eye for a second then said in a low tone through gritted teeth, “Asger Ulven, you are under arrest—”
Asger raised his open hand and stopped him, “You can arrest me in a minute. But, for the sake of everyone, I have something or someone depending on your opinion, I think you want to talk to,”
Asger waved his hand for Art to follow. He led him across the bridge toward the front of the craft. A metal door slid open and Asger stepped aside giving a gesture for Art to look in.
In the center of the dark room, in an illuminated transparent cylinder, stood Ningal as if on display in a museum. Cold, black, hate-filled eyes stared at Art. She looked as if she wanted to kill them both by ripping them apart with her three-fingered hands. He entered the room, stopped less than a foot away from the cell, and stared coldly at her.
Art’s blood ran cold. How was this to be? A renegade agent had somehow captured the most wanted member of the intergalactic community. Was it a lie or a ploy? He tapped the key and the door slid across the track and closed with a subtle thud. “Is this some sort of trick? For years no communication only reports of your movements by informants. You seemed loyal to the Kasadu. More so than your own countrymen.”
“Sana Kane from—”
“I know who he was and where he was from! A dead man is of no use to you!”
“He is still alive. When the coup occurred in Tozan, as you know Zan was murdered. It was rumored that Sana was killed as well. But I received intel from a very reliable source that he is still alive. I felt that I needed to find out. Tozan was too close of an ally, too important to the Baraza Zima to not try and find out if he was alive. Yes, I decided to get as close as possible to find out what I could about him,” Asger said.
“You can’t arbitrarily decide to trash the commission given to you for a personal mission! That is not how it works,” Art fired back.
“True! After years of very little information, I thought he was dead. But he is alive and has been freed. That is how I came about the Nam-nim. Sana somehow destroyed the Alani and escaped. She fled in a pod that I intercepted. Sana also sent some very important information he learned while in servitude of the Nam-nim. The information is very important…I want to make a deal,” Asger said sternly.
Universal Code Page 53
