A Light in the Dark
Page 24
“That the enemy found a way to mimic our signals and is trying to lure them back into another trap.”
My heart sank. “Oh.” I paused. “Can’t we have a custom message saying it’s us?”
“I don’t know enough about these emergency systems to do that,” Kaiden said. “They’ll need to authenticate once they send a scout vessel back to check the scene.”
“So, we have to keep waiting,” I concluded.
And so we did. We remained silent for the next half hour, both to conserve oxygen and because we had nothing to say. In the next several hours, we’d either be rescued or suffocate. All things considered, it was one of the bleaker moments in my life.
I stayed closed to Kaiden, hating that our EVA suits prevented us from being able to seek comfort from closer contact. As I stared out the front viewport, I rested my helmet on Kaiden’s shoulder. My eyes had glazed over after looking out into the nothingness for so long, but then a point of light caught my attention.
I sat upright. “Hey, what’s that?”
The others roused, following my sightline.
Kaiden squinted. “Can’t tell from here.” He propelled himself across the bridge in the zero-g to the front control panel. “Stars, it’s a Hegemony ship!” he cheered.
My ear comm crackled. “Shuttle 2, do you copy?” a male voice asked.
“Yes, we’re here!” I replied. “All four members of the Dark Sentinel team accounted for.”
“Thank the stars!” the man said with an audible smile. “The commander and rest of the crew will be thrilled to hear it. We’re on our way to grab you, hang tight.”
The rescue shuttle maneuvered to us and extended an umbilical from their airlock to allow us safe passage out our side hatch. I’d never been quite so happy to be back in artificial gravity and to be able to remove my helmet.
As it turned out, the Evangiel had jumped back to wait several hundred kilometers away while the rescue craft went searching for us and to look for any evidence of the alien ship or anomaly. The shuttle would have been deployed sooner, but Colren had called for backup in the event the disruptor hadn’t destroyed the anomaly. Waiting near the Evangiel were two dozen of the Hegemony’s warships poised for action.
“Okay, so they came prepared,” I said as I looked over the fleet.
“Glad they weren’t needed this time,” Kaiden replied.
“But this isn’t over yet.”
Our rescue craft entered the Evangiel’s hangar and came to rest in a decontamination tent. True to form, Tami, dressed in her hazsuit, was the first to meet us as we exited.
“I’m so happy to see you’re okay!” she greeted.
I smiled. “It’ll take more than an interdimensional bomb to get rid of us.”
She laughed. “I have no idea how you did it, and I’m sure you have quite a story to tell. The commander is waiting for you; I’ll have to get the inside scoop later.”
“And you’ll have it,” I assured her.
“But first,” she pointed to booths at the end of a tunnel leading from the tent, “decontamination, sorry.”
I looked down at my EVA suit that had been immersed in the innards of the alien ship. “No complaints here.”
We endured the uncomfortable chemical scrub and emerged from our respective stalls to find clean, custom-sized shipsuits waiting for us. I always hated walking around the ship in just the base layer, but I’d grown rather attached to my outfit and would rather the garments get cleaned rather than have new ones made; even if the style was identical, it just wasn’t the same.
Once we were dressed in the white suits, Kaiden pulled me aside and wrapped me in a tight hug. I gladly hugged him back.
“We did it,” he murmured into my hair.
“Yeah, but what in the stars are we up against?” I asked, pulling away. “Did you see that thing in the chamber?”
He paled. “Yeah, I did. Just a flash of red eyes and more limbs than I could count. It didn’t look friendly.”
I took his hands. “Whatever it was, we’ll face it together.”
Kaiden leaned in and gave me a kiss. The unpleasant associations that had tainted our intimacy since the reset had now faded into the background. Once again, it was just the two of us sharing a special moment. For that instant, my worries and fears melted away.
Toran cleared his throat. “Anytime…”
We parted. “Right,” I said, flashing a happy smile at Kaiden.
Our party left the hangar and took the lift to Central Command. Applause greeted us as soon as the bridge door opened, led by Commander Colren.
He beamed at us from the center of the room. “I don’t know how you survived the disruptor, but thank you for seeing the mission through. Welcome back.”
Anger rose in me, hearing his casual words. He’d left us to die. An apology didn’t cut it.
“What happened to resetting if something went wrong?” Maris snapped. I was happy for her to say it so I didn’t have to.
Colren shifted on his feet. “We first had to see if the anomaly was sealed.”
He needn’t say more. That was the mission: to stop the alien invasion. Losing us would be a setback, but it would have been a worthwhile sacrifice to ensure that the alien fleet didn’t make it through the anomaly. If he had reset in an attempt to save us, our efforts may not have been successful on another go around. We needed to take any victory we could, in part or full. Casualties along the way were to be expected.
Kaiden and Toran nodded with understanding, but Maris only scoffed and tossed her head in response.
“Elle has been holding out on us,” Toran said. “She has telekinetic magic, apparently.”
Colren’s eyes widened and he tilted his head questioningly.
I blushed. “I’m still trying to figure out what I can do with it.”
“Whatever the methods, you’ve demonstrated once again that you were exactly the team we’ve needed,” the commander replied. “I can’t express enough how difficult it was to give the departure order without you. But, the data you were able to transmit was too valuable. We had to make sure it got to the capital.”
Kaiden came to attention. “What did the interface equipment pick up?”
“A series of codes and signals,” Colren explained. “When we compared it to the other data we’ve gathered, we were able to confirm that alien tech uses the crystalline network’s reset ability to restructure physical reality within a crystal’s zone. There must have been a crystal inside that anomaly. But, we captured the origin point of the signal, and we believe it will lead us to the location of the alien’s homeworld.”
“That’s… wow,” I murmured.
“The anomaly—or hidden crystal… was it destroyed?” Kaiden asked.
“The rescue crew picked up none of the usual readings we had detected before. It’s gone, or at least dormant,” the commander said.
The others grinned.
“That’s excellent news,” Toran said.
“Elle, come on, this was a big win today,” Kaiden said when he saw I wasn’t smiling.
“Was it?” I shook my head. “Yeah, we prevented this invasion, but they’ll try again. I’m certain of it.”
“It bought us time,” Toran said.
“But how much? We don’t know how that spatial anomaly was formed in the first place,” I continued. “For all we know, they could have already opened another one somewhere else, only now we have no idea where.”
Colren nodded. “That’s why we need to end this while we can still get the upper hand. We’ve confirmed that we have an effective weapon against them.”
“That’s true.” I finally allowed myself to revel in our temporary victory. “And now we know where to hit them so they’ll never come back.”
This is the end of Dark Stars Book 2
THE STORY CONTINUES IN MASTERS OF FATE…
Get Book 3 now!
books2read.com/darksta
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The final fight will change their perception forever…
Everything Elle and her friends thought they knew about the alien menace—and the nature of their universe—is wrong. As they try to access the aliens’ homeworld, the Dark Sentinels discover the threat is far greater than they ever imagined.
With evidence pointing to the aliens residing on a hyperdimensional plane above the normal flow of time, it seems impossible to prevent the impending invasion. However, the artifacts wielded by the Dark Sentinels might hold the key to victory if they can understand and master their true abilities.
Complete the trilogy and read Masters of Fate!
***
Thank you for reading A Light in the Dark!
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ALSO BY A.K. DUBOFF…
Cadicle Series
"Exciting space adventure" - Publisher's Weekly
The Taran Empire is fighting a secret interdimensional war... and they're losing.
Out of sight from modern-day Earth, the Taran Empire rules the galaxy from the planet Tararia. Cris Sietinen, a High Dynasty heir, leaves home to seek training for his prohibited telekinetic abilities and start a new life with the Tararian Selective Service (TSS). But training to be a TSS Agent isn’t the dream life it seems. Cris and his family are at the center of a galactic conspiracy and must fight in a secret interdimensional war that will spur a political revolution. Join three generations of the Sietinen family as they challenge destiny to win a war where enemies are not always who they seem.
Learn more:
www.amyduboff.com/cadicle-series
Troubled Space
Nothing could possibly go wrong. Probably. Well, maybe…
When you go to the trouble of legitimately buying a ship for your illegitimate smuggling operation, and that ship turns out to be stolen from a powerful weapons dealer… well, you might figure the universe hates you. But not Jack Tressler, an aspiring smuggler; he’s used to taking misfortune in stride. Given the choice to die—or get an ill-fitting cybernetic eye and join a crew of thieves on a crazy heist—he opts for the unpleasant modification. After all, it’s just another day in the life. With rabid pirates, ruthless corporations, and a scorned former employer all vying for the same bounty, Jack and his new friends will need all their wits and snark to survive until their next meal in this farcical space opera adventure.
Learn more:
www.amyduboff.com/troubled-space
More Books and Stories
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AUTHOR’S NOTES
Thank you for reading A Light in the Dark!
This book was written during a major transition point in my life. After years of talking about it, my husband (Nick) and I finally decided to move abroad. We had been living in Portland, Oregon, together since we met in August 2012, and during that time we’d always shared a love of travel. In late-summer of 2017, we took a six-week trip around Europe, and we ended up falling in love with the culture. We realized that there was nothing tying us to Portland (no kids or pets or family in the area), so we decided to take the plunge. Incidentally, two of our good friends were moving to the Netherlands at the same time we were setting out, so it really felt like it was meant to be.
We arrived at the end of June 2018, and we couldn’t be happier so far. However, packing up one’s life to move across an ocean is disruptive, as you can imagine, so this book ended up taking far longer to write than I’d planned. In the end, though, I feel that this new environment will offer an amazing infusion of creative energy and allow me to grow.
I want to give a special shout-out to Jim Dean for his in-depth review and editing of this book. He was incredibly generous with his time and sharing his technical knowledge to help “true up” science components within the context of a fiction story. I had some rough concepts in my head, but he was able to help me articulate those in a way that elevated the story and gave it proper scientific grounding amid the fantastic elements. I know it was a huge undertaking to go through so many iterations, but I am so very thankful he stuck with it and helped refine the story universe into something I hope satisfies sci-fi and fantasy fans alike.
My heartfelt thanks also to Kurt, Eric, Pam, Randy, Liz, Diane, John, Troy, Charlie, Nick, and Leo for their tireless efforts with review and proofing to add the final polish to the book. I am honored to have such a fantastic team to work with!
I hope you are looking forward to Masters of Fate. The epic showdown with the Darkness is coming soon!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A.K. (Amy) DuBoff has always loved science fiction in all its forms—books, movies, shows and games. If it involves outer space, even better! Now a full-time author, Amy can frequently be found traveling the world. When she’s not writing, she enjoys wine tasting, binge-watching TV series, and playing epic strategy board games.
To learn more or connect, check out: www.akduboff.com