by Isaac Hooke
“How will I know who they are?” Tane asked.
“You’ll know,” Lyra said cryptically.
Tane considered that. “Okay. I was wrong. Guess I can be even more scared. What if you can’t handle them?”
“I’ll handle them.” Lyra hesitated once again, as if unsure she wanted to reveal anything more.
“Don’t hold back,” Tane said. “You might as well let me know what I’m getting myself into here.”
Lyra absently caressed the Chyrsalium rings on one hand. “There were once some among the Amaranth who were far more powerful than I was, even with all the buffs granted by my jewelry and armor. An inner circle of Amaranth that once led the dwellers. We called them The Fifteen, because of their number. During the war, they pretended they wanted to negotiate with us. Thirty of the highest-ranking Volur and TSN were obliterated in the slaughter that followed.
“The Fifteen were the most dangerous creatures our universe had ever faced, not just because of their innate ability to Siphon the Dark, but because of their treachery. Before the war ended, we Volur captured or killed them to the last member, and locked the surviving members away in an inter-dimensional jail.” She nodded toward the pouch at Tane’s belt. “A jail somewhat similar to the personal storage device you wear, except the pocket universe it contained led to the Lumina, not the Umbra. With their leaders destroyed, the remaining dwellers fell soon thereafter, and we fought them back to the rift.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Tane said. “You think some of these ‘Fifteen’ have escaped their jail?”
“I have heard rumors to that effect, yes...” Lyra said. “If there are any aboard, then none of us will leave with our lives.” She paused, then added quickly: “But I’m sure no members of the Fifteen will be present.”
Tane remained very quiet for the next few moments.
“You know, Dad hinted that the TSN did something terrible to the dwellers,” Tane said. “Before the war ended.”
Lyra sighed, looking away.
“Tell me what happened,” Tane said. “I deserve to know the truth. Especially considering I might die over there. We all might. Let me know what I’m fighting against. Why they hate us.”
Lyra’s eyes defocused, as if she were checking the tactical map to see how far away the shuttle was from the alien ships. Then she nodded behind her faceplate.
“The TSN destroyed their homeworld,” Lyra said. “And I mean completely, utterly obliterated it, leaving nothing behind.”
“What?” Tane said. “How?”
“As you know, all worlds in the Umbra also exist in this universe,” Lyra explained. “Destroy a world here, you destroy it in the Umbra. The planet where the dwellers lived was a world of hydrocarbon seas. It existed in plain sight among a system humanity had already explored and claimed, though no bases or mining operations of any kind had yet been established. A system named Anteres. When the TSN agents confirmed the location of the homeworld in the Umbra, the star navy sent a fleet of warships a thousand strong to the system.
“The dwellers had placed some of their own battleships here in our universe to defend the planet, but the enemy vessels were caught completely by surprise, and the fleet made short work of them. The massive TSN fleet fired their Essence Lances together at the same time, concentrating their fire on the same spot, drilling a hole through the planet’s crust and into the core. When the Essence from our universe contacted the Dark Essence stored in the core, it set off a chain reaction that obliterated the planet.
“Ninety billion dweller civilians were wiped out in that attack. It was meant to cripple their navy by cutting them off from the source of their power, The Dark Essence, which at the time was erroneously believed to reside exclusively inside the core of their homeworld. We know now that the Dark Essence is stored within many worlds, though to this day the homeworld was one of the strongest sources.
“When their world was destroyed, it opened up an extensive rip in spacetime now known as the Anteres Rift: a permanent, one-way gateway that allowed dwellers to enter our universe whenever they desired, forcing the TSN to install a permanent fleet of warships in the system that exists to this day.
“The TSN hunted down the surviving dweller battleships that still wandered our galaxy, either destroying them or driving them into the smaller rifts that lead back to the Umbra scattered throughout our galaxy.”
“How did the dwellers get here in the first place?” Tane asked. “I thought the Anteres Rift was the only way for them to reach our universe?”
“There could actually be other rifts leading here, as I hinted at before,” Lyra said. “But back in the days of the war, the dwellers used a special inter-dimensional jump ship created by the Fifteen. It allowed them to form massive distortion tunnels they could keep open long enough to transport entire fleets across. The dwellers would jump into a system, cause as much damage as they could, and then jump back to the Umbra before the TSN arrived. Guerrilla warfare at its finest. Shortly after the dweller homeworld fell, we Volur destroyed the prized enemy jump ship as part of our operation against the Fifteen. The act effectively trapped the dwellers that remained in our universe, forcing them to seek out the smaller rifts to return to the Umbra.”
“Can’t we close the Anteres Rift, and prevent them from ever returning to our realm?” Tane asked.
“No,” Lyra said. “We’ve tried, believe me. And while they no longer have the strength of the Fifteen, it is possible they might one day construct an inter-dimensional jump ship again.”
“What’s to stop the dwellers from similarly destroying our homeworlds in the Umbra, where we have no defense?” Tane said.
“Nothing,” Lyra said. “Except perhaps the fear of retaliation. Massive rips would be created in the Umbra, rips that they would have to guard 24/7 to prevent us from traveling through in force into their space, just as the TSN has to watch the Anteres Rift.”
“Can’t we invade in force already?” Tane said. “With the smaller rifts that lead to the Umbra?”
“Yes,” Lyra said. “And those are sometimes left unguarded by the dwellers, as you’ve seen. So you can imagine what a logistics nightmare it would be for the dwellers if they started opening up larger rifts by destroying our planets. And also keep in mind that humanity is spread out among the stars, so the dwellers would have to destroy a whole lot of worlds in order to cause a dent in our population. The TSN would realize what was going on after a few worlds fell, and they would organize a counterstrike to stop them. Understand, the TSN is content to let them peacefully coexist with humanity, as long as they remain in the Umbra. But the moment they start attacking us in force, or destroying our homeworlds, you can bet there will be calls within the TSN senior command to hunt them down to the last dweller.”
“We’re within firing range of their weapons,” Jed announced.
Tane felt his stomach knot up all over again.
Lyra nodded behind her faceplate and closed her eyes, obviously wanting some quiet time.
The tense moments ticked past. With every inhale and exhale, Tane kept expecting to be obliterated.
But he kept on breathing.
A full minute went by.
“They’re not firing,” Jed said.
“No,” Lyra said. “So far, so good.”
Tane could almost hear the ticking clock as the shuttle continued to approach the alien ship. He still half-expected to die a fiery death at any moment, but with every second that passed, the feeling eased slightly.
Finally:
“We’re two minutes away,” Jed said. “I think it’s safe to say, they won’t fire.”
“I’m receiving data from the alien vessel,” Cub said. “It’s compatible with our systems.” The shuttle’s AI sounded slightly stunned.
“Yes, they’ve had ample time to study our systems and technology,” Lyra said. “Especially considering they had free copies for the taking in the Umbra. So what kind of data is this?”
“Tel
emetry,” Cub said. “It leads to a hull section of their vessel that’s cratered slightly. I believe they’re guiding me toward their equivalent of a hangar bay.”
“All right,” Lyra said. “Adjust course and speed to match the telemetry data. Take us in nice and easy.”
“ETA one minute, thirty seconds until landing,” Cub said.
The moments continued to tick down. Tane noticed movement at the periphery of his vision, coming from behind Jed’s faceplate. He realized Jed’s lips were moving, but Tane heard no sound. The Bander was talking on a private line to his Volur.
Tane glanced at her, and caught her lips moving in return, as she answered his unheard query.
The big man looked at Tane and nodded behind his faceplate.
No doubt she was instructing Jed to shoot down Tane if it seemed capture was imminent.
I did tell her she could do whatever it took to prevent the aliens from taking me.
“So what’s the plan?” Tane asked.
“They’re going to try to confiscate all of our weapons from the start,” Lyra replied. “We can’t let that happen.”
“So what, we hit the ground with weapons blazing?” Tane said.
“Essentially, yes,” Lyra said. “As soon as that ramp lowers, Jed will lead the charge. We have to get to the airlock before they flush out the hangar’s atmosphere, and us along with it. After we’re inside the ship proper, we’ll make our way toward the closest cargo bay, dealing with any resistance that arises.”
“And if Sinive’s not there?” Tane said.
“We keep working through the cargo bays, and the rest of the ship if we have to, until we find her,” Lyra said.
“Good plan,” was all Tane could say. He managed to keep most of the sarcasm out of his voice.
“It’s a bit brute force for my tastes,” Lyra said. “But it is simple. Usually the best plans are.”
Tane glanced at his overhead map, which showed a small rectangle representing the inside of the shuttle cabin, and confirmed that position sharing was still active: he saw the blue dots representing Lyra and Jed.
“By the way, what’s the range on these?” Tane asked nervously. “Our IDs. For position sharing purposes.”
“In a ship with an incompatible mixnet?” Lyra said. “The nodes in our chips and suits will be the only parts of the adhoc network. So with all the bulkheads in the way, expect a range of between fifty to eighty meters, at best. Beyond that, you’ll lose signal.”
“So not very far at all,” Tane said.
“Don’t get separated,” Jed said.
Tane’s nerves were making him feel a little sick at this point, so he pulled up the blueprints of the alien ship to distract himself. He double-checked the locations of the cargo bays where Sinive was likely kept.
“I don’t suppose you can simply jump us to the cargo bays in question?” Tane asked Lyra.
“No,” the Volur replied. “Jump points must be within line of sight, which makes local distortion tunnels impractical on starships.”
“But what about planet-side distortion gates?” Tane said. “None of those are within line of sight of one another.”
“I was just going to add,” Lyra told him. “That local distortion tunnels can only be used beyond line of sight when the proper guidance beacons have been placed, like what the planet-side gates use. Fortunately, I’ve brought just such a beacon with me.” From the storage pouch at her belt she removed a small, glowing stone carved with the rune of an inverted Y. Then again, maybe it wasn’t inverted, and she was merely holding the stone upside-down. “Once we find Sinive, returning back to this shuttle will be quick, if slightly exhausting for me.”
The deck shook.
“We’ve docked,” the shuttle’s AI announced. “External artificial gravity is close to our own, at zero point nine G. I’m sending positional updates based on our landing location so you can sync your maps.”
Tane apprehensively accepted the sync request, and glanced at his overhead map. The blueprints of the alien starship now completed the map, so there was no dark “fog of war” exterior surrounding the shuttle, like there would have been if they were exploring the vessel for the first time. There would probably be some slight differences in the corridors, especially if this was a newer model vessel of the same make, but for the most part the map should line up. And if not, it would simply update to match Tane’s actual surroundings as he made his way through the corridors, with his chip computing the extents of the overhead, deck, and bulkheads around him in realtime based on his vision.
According to the map, the hangar was roughly four times as big as the equivalent bay aboard the Red Grizzly. That meant Tane and the others would have at least some room to fight. It also meant that they would potentially have to face more enemies at the same time.
Lyra’s restraining clamps slid aside and she stood. With her gloves she opened up a small panel in the deck and slid the beacon stone inside. Behind her faceplate, her eyes seemed to defocus, and the rune glowed a bright white. She quickly resealed the panel.
“Hopefully it’s not disturbed,” Lyra said.
Jed’s clamps released as well and he stood, placing himself directly in front of the exit ramp. Lyra moved in behind him.
Tane stood a moment later when his own seat released him. He assumed a position directly behind Lyra. He got too close and was pushed back by her energy shield, causing a half-sphere to momentarily spark into existence.
Jed glanced over his shoulder at Tane. “Now would be a good time to activate your shield generator, Farmer.”
Tane shook his head. Focus. Where the hell have my wits gone?
He couldn’t remember being this nervous the last time he had faced the dwellers, in the Umbra. Then again, he hadn’t had time to think about the situation back then: the dwellers had simply attacked and he was operating on adrenalin the whole time.
But the suddenness of the attack couldn’t be the full explanation, because even when he had had a moment’s rest, hiding with Sinive in one of the buildings, the dire situation hadn’t really sunk in. He remembered thinking at the time that the Umbra itself must have played a part in his strange calmness, that it had some quality capable of muting emotions, especially fear. Or maybe it was just the indistinct edges around every object, and the exaggerated motion blur, that had made the place seem more dream than reality.
He could use a little of that calming unreality right about now, actually.
As he struggled to relax, he remembered Jed’s words.
The time before battle starts is always hardest. Hang in there.
Tane stepped back a pace, ensuring he gave Lyra enough clearance, and then activated his shield. He confirmed that the charge was 100%.
He retrieved the hilt of the Essence Energy Sword from his belt and held it firmly in front of him. The weapon had retained its larger size, and fit snugly within his bulky gloves. He had to be careful how he used that thing if the fighting got too close-quartered… it would be all too easy to harm Jed or Lyra—his Essence Sword would pass right through any shielding they had. During his training, Jed had hammered into him the importance of avoiding friendly casualties.
“Watch where you point your sword,” Jed had told him at the time.
Tane took another step back, making sure Lyra had a whole lot of clearance in front of him. Maybe it was too much, but he wanted to err on the side of caution. He just hoped Lyra and Jed didn’t interpret it as cowardice.
But neither of them said a word. They were focusing on the ramp.
The map remained in the upper right of his vision, but Tane shrunk it slightly, not wanting any distractions. Like Lyra and Tane, he stared at the ramp, waiting for it to open.
His heart beat rapidly now that combat was almost upon him. His breathing sounded loud in his ears, echoed as it was by the tight confines of the helmet. He felt hot, and when a stream of sweat slid down his ribs, for a moment he thought the suit cooling mechanism was malfunctioning. He
pulled up the user interface, but the status bar indicated the cooling system was operating within normal parameters.
His throat suddenly feeling sore, Tane swallowed several times, but it didn’t help. His hands were starting to shake.
Crap crap crap.
“The external atmosphere is pressurizing,” the shuttle’s AI said. “The hangar bay is filling with a liquid environment.”
Going to die.
He forced himself to focus. It wasn’t working. He squeezed his eyes shut tight. That helped.
He had an aberrant thought, one that was completely unrelated to the battle. He decided to voice it, if only to hear Lyra’s soothing voice one last time.
“If the dwellers need a liquid environment,” Tane said, his voice trembling slightly. “Why weren’t they wearing pressure suits on the moon? In the Umbra?”
“They don’t need suits anywhere in the Umbra, remember?” Lyra said. “It’s only in our universe they have to create special a environment for themselves. In this case an environment that matches the hydrocarbon seas of their former homeworld.”
As hoped, the calmness in her mellifluous voice was infectious and Tane found himself relaxing. So much so that he had to wonder if she had secretly placed some sort of Essencework on him.
That calmness was shattered a moment later when Jed’s harsh voice came over the comm.
“No more questions, Farmer,” Jed said. “Keep the comm channel clear. Let us prepare for the coming battle.”
Prepare to die, more likely.
Tane began to wonder why he had come. He could have gone to Talendir. He could have been safe.
No.
That was the easy way out.
Sinive was here. His friend. Once again he remembered the words she had spoken in the Umbra.
Promise me you won’t leave me here, no matter what happens.
Yes, he had to do this. And he wasn’t about to let Lyra and Jed risk their lives rescuing Sinive alone. Then again, a part of him wondered if the pair would have even made the attempt if Tane hadn’t come.
