A Greater Duty (Galaxy Ascendant Book 1)

by Yakov Merkin

  “I am,” Nayasar replied. “You know what you’ve done, kerakhi. It’s past time your life has ended.”

  “At least my life had meaning, Felinaris. When you die here or when you try to kill Rotam, no one will remember you.”

  “The day I let a Darvian kill me is the day the universe dies,” Nayasar said, then shot him. Then shot him again. Then she walked over to the body to be sure Asren was dead, then shot him once more in the head.

  “You’ve done what you came here to do,” said the ambassador, who had been slowly edging toward the door. “If you leave now, you might still get away. I had no part in the massacre.”

  “No, you didn’t,” Nayasar replied as she leveled her rifle at the ambassador. “But you did harbor someone you knew was deeply involved. That makes you an accessory, and only slightly less reprehensible than the criminal himself.”

  “Only because his status demanded I grant him refuge! I have always promoted an end to this ever-lasting hate my kind has for yours. I have condemned the reprehensible actions of my own kind from the start!”

  Nayasar paused. Maybe he was telling the truth; she had no way to tell, and she didn’t recognize this Darvian. Then she heard heavy running just outside the room, and her mind was made up: She opened fire as the Darvian screamed in protest. He had harbored an enemy, which made him an enemy as well.

  Nayasar recloaked just as the door burst open and a group of six Darvian soldiers entered the room. Not good. They took one look at the dead bodies and sprayed fire around the room. Nayasar only barely managed to get behind the ambassador’s heavy, metal desk in time, though her shields had been nicked. If they’d seen that…

  Nayasar quickly checked her remaining gear. She had three more grenades, plus a plantable explosive device. If she could take out at least four of them, she’d have a shot.

  Nayasar was about to put the plan into action when she heard muffled gunfire first from the hall, and getting closer. Then the soldiers started shouting, and the gunfire was inside the office.

  Nayasar rose from her cover and fired at the Darvians; three of them were already down. Within moments, all six had gone down. She unmuted her audio receiver. “Thanks,” she said.

  “Next time, at least don’t mute us,” Kiari said. “Oh, and by the way, that was amazing. You are definitely not boring.”

  “Save the small talk for later,” Felivas interjected. Of course he had come as well. “The others made a nice distraction for us, but there isn’t much time. Mir will be here any minute, and he can’t stay this low for long. He’ll already have the others.”

  “Are you injured?” asked Flis, the third of her team that had followed; she’d insisted on being present despite having been lightly wounded in their last operation.

  “No, I’m fine. Let’s go.”

  Felivas led the way as they dashed through the building, shooting anyone unfortunate enough to get in their way, be they soldier or simple worker. They needed a clear path.

  Two minutes later they were on the roof, and Nayasar saw the shimmer of the Harbinger swooping down, its shields glowing slightly as it took small arms fire.

  “Let’s go!” Mir said and the ship stopped and a pair of climbing lines dropped down. “I’ve got everyone else, and I’ve already been spotted!”

  Flis and Kiari immediately jumped onto the lines and began to climb up. Nayasar tossed her last grenades into the stairwell they had just climbed, then jumped onto a rope, Felivas on the other one. Before they had made it all the way up, Mir began to fly away; he shouted something about the shields taking serious damage.

  Nayasar climbed up the smooth, but not slick rope more slowly as the ship moved out of the range of the Darvians on the ground, and finally pulled herself into the ship, the lower hatch closing once Felivas was in as well. She’d done it! Everyone else had claimed it was impossible, but she had proved them wrong. One more kill, and the dead would be avenged.

  “Are you insane?” Felivas practically roared at her once the ship was safely away and he had gotten her to one of the rear rooms in the ship. “I thought you’d died! And the rest of the team nearly got killed covering for you!”

  “But I didn’t,” Nayasar reminded him. “No one did. And we did what we came here to do. Only one more to go, and the murdered will be avenged.”

  Felivas was silent for several moments. “Nayasar, I’m getting really concerned. About you. I completely understand what you want to do, why you want to do it, but you’re obsessed. You’re ignoring everything but your need to kill these people. The Nayasar I fell in love with would never put her soldiers—and herself—in such danger for personal reasons. And she would never turn her back on far bigger commitments.”

  “You think I’m just doing this because I want to? I’m doing this because it’s necessary. I failed all those people. I can’t let myself rest until their killers are dead. And that won’t happen once the war is over.” He still didn’t understand. She wasn’t making a choice to kill these people. She had an obligation. And it was the only way she’d stop seeing the destruction and death every time she closed her eyes. “We can’t stop now, not when we’re this close to our goal. This is why we went to war, Felivas, and at least here we’re not losing soldiers!”

  Felivas turned away. Somehow that hurt more than every bit of criticism he’d just leveled at her. “We’ll discuss this more later. Now we have an obligation to a friend to fulfill, one that had far more bearing on our futures.” Without another word, Felivas left the room.

  Nayasar slumped back into a large chair. Of course they had to help Darkclaw, even if she did not consider him a friend any more. But it had better not take long. The dead were still screaming, and there was only one way to silence them.

  * * *

  “And how many places like this are there?” Tresken asked as they walked through the dim, musty Reizan’Tvay outpost.

  “Several dozen that the Tyrannodons know about. Who knows how many more?”

  “This is the kind of discovery that could shake civilizations to their core,” Davir said. “And here we are scavenging it like we would any abandoned structure.”

  “Well, it’s not like we have time to leisurely and carefully sift through these places, based on what the admiral’s told us,” Kiari replied as the four of them and a fully recovered Bohdan walked through the outpost. Several of the others had been wounded in the previous operation, during their retreat, and Tzalaf and Tzia were still recovering. But everyone would be fine, given some time to recover; they’d all be ready to kill Rotam. “And we need to be quick if we want to get to as many as we can. The last bunch were all worthless,” Kiari continued.

  She was right. This outpost was the fourth they’d visited, with nothing to show for it yet. Nayasar was already itching to get on with their mission. Of course, failing to find a way to stop the High Lord could be disastrous, but there would be nothing to do about it. And if the Felinaris were to be doomed, Nayasar intended to ensure that their enemies died first.

  “So what do you think we’ll find?” Kiari asked. “Empty lab, empty lab, or completely smashed up lab?”

  “We will find what the Omnipresent wishes for us to find,” Davir stated.

  A few minutes later, they reached the end of the long entry hallway and came to two doors. One labeled lab, at least as far as Nayasar could tell based on Darkclaw’s guide, and the other was likely the living quarters of the unfortunate scientist stationed here.

  “And… it’s an empty lab,” Bohdan said after forcing the door open.

  As had been the case in two of the three other locations they had searched, the outposts’ labs had been completely cleared, leaving only the brown or white walls, and, if they were lucky, a table that could more accurately be called a metal block.

  “Well, that’s that,” Kiari said, throwing up her hands. “Another waste of time, though as a budding archeologist I admit it is fascinating. Let’s get back to killing people. We’re not going to find
anything.”

  “Let’s check the living area first,” Felivas said. “No sense only doing a partial search.”

  “Not that there’s a great chance of finding something useful there when the lab is empty,” Bohdan remarked as he and Davir got to work on the door. It wasn’t sealed, but after who knows how many years of neglect, it didn’t want to open.

  Nayasar knew they’d have to go back to the fleet for a while after this. Felivas had insisted on being present at the attack on Kalisene, a moon of Raonden, one of the Alliance’s core worlds, which would put the fleet within easy striking distance of Dorandor, which was where their last target resided. And they would also have to restock on equipment, of course

  “Got it,” Davir announced as the door slid noisily open.

  Like the living quarters in the other outposts, this one was tiny and spare, with nothing decorating the bare brown walls. Nayasar hoped that when someone had lived here they’d at least decorated a little bit. It’d be maddeningly dull.

  Inside there was only a simple, narrow bed, and a short metal cabinet next to it. Nayasar sat on the stiff, but surprisingly comfortable bed as Felivas walked over to the cabinet; there was nothing to be seen on top of it or on the bed. “Well, we’ve found something,” he said once he’d opened the cabinet. A moment later he pulled out a black object. It was less than half a meter in length, and looked to be a thin cylinder, with one end rounded with what could have been a propulsion system, the other end a circle with its edges tapered downward. On the device’s center rod was a single button.

  “There’s a note with it,” Felivas added as he held it near his multitool, “but I can only make out the word ‘important’. It figures we’d find the only Reizan’Tvay outpost where they decide to leave us a written note. We should get it back to Darkclaw. He’ll be able to figure out what it says and whether or not it’s useful.”

  “It looks like there’s a button on it,” Kiari said, and snatched the device from Felivas’s hand. “Let’s see what it does.” She pressed the button.

  “No, don’t!” Felivas shouted. “We don’t know what it could do!”

  “Nothing, by the looks of it,” Bohdan remarked. It was true. Nothing had changed after the button was pressed.

  “Must be broken,” Nayasar said.

  “Maybe I should try hitting it?” Kiari asked.

  “And break it even more?” Davir asked, his voice as calm as ever, though Nayasar felt his words betrayed his frustration. “Let’s go.”

  Kiari pressed the button again a few times. Nothing happened. “I wonder,” she said, then pressed and held the button. For a few seconds, nothing happened, then the object came to life in her hand, blue lights coming on down its length and on the rounded end. She let go, and it hovered in the air for several seconds before flying headlong into the wall. Fortunately, that didn’t appear to damage it. She smiled. “There’s always a trick with ancient relics.”

  “Well at least it does something, whatever it is,” Bohdan said.

  “And we should stop playing with it,” Felivas said, grabbing it from the air, and pressed the button again. A few seconds later, the device powered down.

  “Let’s just give it to Darkclaw,” Nayasar said. Now that they’d found something, they could stop their search for now. And the sooner they got it to him, the sooner they could get back to what she needed to do, whether her team wanted to or not.

  CHAPTER 24

  Darkclaw sat in his quarters, the Reizan’Tvay device in hand, the handwritten note that the Felinaris had found along with it lying on the desk in front of him. The message had been difficult to decipher, both because of the language itself, and because the writer’s handwriting had been atrocious. From what he could gather, the device had been left behind in order to assist any who would come after to check on various projects, such as what they had called Project Tyrannodon.

  The device was a seeking device, intended to locate and travel to sources of extra-physical energy. Fortunately, the Felinaris had worked out how to operate it despite its clear deterioration. He had tested the device once, and it had immediately attempted to travel toward the command deck, where the High Lord’s avatar stood vigil. Darkclaw paused from his study to reorganize his thoughts again. The avatar’s mind-probing attempts were growing maddeningly frequent, and he could not allow this device to be discovered, even though he had no idea how it could be used against the High Lord.

  From the less legible part of the note, Darkclaw had determined that the device would, once it had a target, fly toward the center mass of the energy source. But without any way to damage the High Lord, and no idea if such an attack would even work, what use was the damned thing aside from being another example of the Reizan’Tvay being helpful with everything except for what you truly needed.

  Darkclaw fought the urge to slash at his desk in frustration, instead crumpling the paper note in his hand. They were nearly out of time! There had to be a way! Darkclaw felt strange for a moment, and prepared to deactivate the innocence chip, but fortunately it was a false alarm. There had been far too many of those. If it wasn’t for the mental conditioning he’d received, Darkclaw would have been long dead or insane. As it was, he was almost glad their time was nearly up. He would not be able to continue as he was for much longer.

  Fortunately, a distraction came a moment later, as his comm terminal beeped.

  “Executor, we will be arriving at Kalisene in less than an hour,” Ship Commander Gadelius informed him.

  “Understood. I will join you on the command deck shortly.” Darkclaw ended the communication, then placed both the seeker device and the Reizan’Tvay note, which he smoothed out and refolded, in a compartment in his armor, then arranged his memories so that he would not know of the device’s existence if the chip was deactivated. The High Lord would surely even find so innocuous a device a threat, and right now it was Darkclaw’s only lead.

  Once done, Darkclaw exited his quarters and collected Lisar and Kalviss, who were waiting outside. “If either of you has any idea how this device can be used to do what we need, do not hesitate to tell me,” he said as he led them up to the command deck.

  “Executor,” Commander Gadelius greeted, rising when Darkclaw entered. That was interesting. The crew, Gadelius in particular, had not stopped acting like those of the other races once the avatar had arrived. Could they be so far gone from the High Lord’s ideal as well that even his presence was not enough?

  “Anything further to report?” Darkclaw asked.

  “No, Executor. Estimated arrival time in fifty-four minutes. Advance scouts showing the expected amount of enemy activity at the moon.”

  “Very good,” Darkclaw said, and began walk around the deck, the longer route to his command chair; the familiar command deck had been feeling stifling lately, and he did not like staying still while on it, if possible.

  “Executor!” the sensor operator suddenly exclaimed, almost betraying the surprise and concern the officer likely felt. “I’m picking up unusual readings ahead—” he was cut off as the ship suddenly lurched forward sharply.

  Darkclaw realized that they were being interdicted to late for him to cease walking, and he was thrown forward in mid step, colliding directly with the High Lord’s avatar, which made an odd sound as he hit it.

  “We’re under attack!” the flight controller shouted. “Large enemy fleet bearing down on us!”

  Well, he had expected the Alliance to fight a war now. “Order all ships to assume battle formation and prepare to engage the enemy!” he ordered too sharply. But he could not lose this battle, as much as he wanted the war to drag out. He had a duty to his soldiers, and his allies. And of course, the High Lord would not tolerate defeat.

  Darkclaw began to push himself up when he realized something had happened to the avatar. Darkclaw saw that when he had flown into the former Scion, his claws had impacted it in the chest. And pierced right through the High Lord’s protective energy coating as through it
were skin. Before his eyes, the thing that had been a Tehlman Scion collapsed in on itself, finally coalescing into a small, black sphere, which rested on the floor. He had killed it.

  Darkclaw looked at his claws in shock. He had just killed a being protected by the High Lord’s energy. With his claws. The weapon he’d needed had been right in front of him all along! There was a chance now!

  Darkclaw’s elation was quickly dampened, however, as he realized that the High Lord would be imminently contacting him to learn what had happened. He hurriedly concocted lies and hid the truth while still half on the floor, ignoring the attempts by his crew and guards to help him up. There was little time, and he needed at least somewhat plausible lies.

  Sure enough, the High Lord reached out to his mind less than a minute later; Darkclaw barely deactivated the chip in time.

  “Darkclaw. Why have I lost my connection with my construct?” the High Lord asked, with some emotion, though Darkclaw was incapable of telling what.

  “I do not know, my lord. Our fleet has been interdicted by the enemy. That could have been the cause. I had noted that the connection to the avatar was weaker when the ship was in hyperspace. Perhaps the sudden return to realspace destabilized it. I apologize that I have no better explanation. I was myself thrown when the ship was pulled from hyperspace.” Darkclaw truly did not have any concrete explanation. His memory was curiously unclear when it came to the moments when the ship had been pulled from hyperspace. He recalled walking around the command deck toward his chair, then being thrown into the air, and after that… he recalled pushing himself up from the floor with the remains of the avatar just next to him.

  Could something have been affecting his memory? Could something, or someone, be interfering with his mind as the High Lord had with the Scions? It should not have been possible, but the oddities were there.

  “No, Darkclaw. It should not be possible. And I do not see any clear mark of manipulation on your mind, but be wary. This could be the work of the traitor. All the more reason you must destroy the Galactic Alliance as soon as you can. Go fight your battle now, and see to it that the avatar’s remains are destroyed.”