Rift Breaker

by Tristan Michael Savage

  Luylla bolted across the hangar to her ship. On her way, she pulled a lever on a console and the circular door directly above the Inhibitan opened, unleashing a cold spray. Tazman raced after her into the ship’s unfolding ramp entrance. Milton weaved through the bustle. He stepped behind a Composite soldier, who unknowingly backed into him. Milton was able to slip by unnoticed in the confusion.

  The thruster shield surrounding the Inhibitan’s platform began to rise from the floor, already reaching the height of Milton’s chest. He jumped, vaulted over as it continued to rise, and tumbled down the other side. He raced into the ship. Tazman slammed the control button to retract the entrance, howling in delight.

  Milton slapped him a high hand before he crossed the cargo hold and passed into the cockpit passage. The engines fired up. Luylla stood over the controls, flicking a line of operational switches.

  ‘Good luck to those guys,’ said Milton, looking out to the left at the commotion. A Composite soldier, flailing in the air, shot past the front of the ship; his scream was cut short when his head smacked against the arm of a cargo loader. Milton winced at the sight. The Inhibitan lifted through the open ceiling and rotated into the downpour.

  Luylla sat back and pulled on the flight controls, lifting the nose of the craft. The gravitational systems kicked in and made Milton stumble. He hopped into the co-pilot’s seat. The Inhibitan blasted skyward.

  Luylla swivelled the controls to dodge a pedestrian walkway, then turned again to avoid colliding with a skyscraper. She grunted and pulled the ship vertical, ignoring all traffic rules. The Inhibitan trailed closely along a tall building before clearing the city skyline.

  Giant globs of rain pounded the forward pane. Lightning streaked menacingly across the clouds. Luylla stared ahead with a hard laser focus. The clouds hit and all visibility was lost. A tense moment passed. Thunder rumbled close — then the fog broke.

  The tiny craft found itself shooting upwards in a large clear space between two layers of flickering cloud. Columns of lighting stabbed from both layers. The ship approached the top layer. An arm of lighting snapped forth and struck the Inhibitan on its right side. The instruments crackled. Milton’s hair stood on end. Every console light and every reading brightened to an uncomfortable intensity, and shortly thereafter, dimmed to nothing. The engines silenced. Only the sound of swishing air, rain and the crackle of lighting could be heard. The sky and clouds whirled away to the side and the Inhibitan fell into a nosedive. The bottom layer of clouds grew closer.

  ‘Come on,’ yelled Luylla.

  She flicked a switch up and down. The machine beneath the floor turned over and hummed. She growled and pounded the console at a seemingly calculated spot. The flight instruments beamed back to life. A loading screen appeared on the pane and Luylla pulled back on the controls. The thrusters fired and the ship levelled, propelling up through the rest of the storm.

  Tazman stumbled drunkenly into the room. ‘You are insane, lady!’ he yelled, strapping himself into the reserve pilot’s seat.

  The thunder faded. Streaked raindrops on the front shield turned to ice. Then the ship cleared the atmosphere and Lubric’s orbital docking platform stretched across the view. Specks of distant thrusters flared as civilian ships cleared away. Defence cannons sluggishly rotated. Luylla accelerated and dropped the nose. The Inhibitan soared beneath the platform.

  Milton leaned forward. A large ship loitered at a distance from the planet. The Inhibitan’s computer targeted and scanned it. The readout was displayed faithfully: a Tranquillian Composite flag ship.

  ‘Phutta!’ Luylla exclaimed.

  A flash came from the front of the flag ship. Luylla reflexively swerved and a blue-white blast of energy shot by. The pane display dissolved into a mess of flickering squares. Several spuckons passed as it rebuilt its resolution, reverting to the readout once the shot had cleared.

  ‘What was that?’ said Milton.

  ‘EMP,’ snapped Luylla.

  ‘It’ll take a while for them to charge it again,’ added Tazman.

  Luylla angled away from the ship. A blast from behind skimmed overhead. The space platform cannons opened fire with recoiling barrels on every shot. Multiple volleys of blasted energy closed in. Luylla swivelled and rolled. The Inhibitan’s projectile shield rippled blue as the scatter shot pelted it from the rear.

  Smaller flashes blinked from the front of the Composite ship. Spherical objects flew in a line towards the Inhibitan. The scan results for those came up also. Ensnare drones. There were twenty. The line of drones split and they adjusted into a new formation. Electric wave beams shot out between the spheres, linking them together to form a net.

  The trap swivelled and took a decisive dive for the Inhibitan. Luylla spun the flight controls and pulled back. The ship rolled to the left and shot upward. The net blew past then scattered into separate drones again.

  The navi computer chirped. Luylla pushed the lever for the quantum jump. The engine stammered and a heavy vibration came from below.

  A blinking, red error message stretched across the displays. Milton skimmed the readouts: something about a power overload. The lightning strike had done something to the photon reactor. He sprang from his chair. Tazman was already halfway out the door.

  ‘Where do you think you’re going?’ demanded Luylla, still manoeuvring the flight controls.

  ‘Engine problem,’ shouted Milton on his exit. He followed in the direction Tazman had gone, finding the Freegu climbing down a hatch in the cargo hold floor. Milton slid down the ladder after him. The narrow space was taken up by the large cylindrical reactor. Tazman examined a terminal screen down the right side.

  ‘The connectors are wasted,’ Tazman yelled. ‘Damaged on the strike. We have to re-route power.’

  Milton rushed to the opposite side and found the circuitry port. He gripped the handles and pulled off the covering. A tuft of black smoke billowed out. He winced and fanned it with the lid, spotting the black splotches dotting the circuitry chips inside.

  ‘Roasted,’ he called back.

  ‘Let me see,’ said Tazman, appearing behind him.

  Milton stepped back. The tech-savvy simian reached in and pulled out one of the chipboards, discarding it over his shoulder. ‘Kid’s stuff,’ he yelled ecstatically. His tail flapped as his quick hands reordered the burnt compartment. The ship rocked and the light above them flickered. Tazman extracted two loose wires, skinned them with his teeth and twisted them together. He went back to the terminal screen and his fast fingers flew over the touch keys.

  Back in the cockpit, Luylla jerked the flight controls in every direction. The drones had attached to the ship and refused to shake off. Another one clamped itself to the hull. A thick connector beam of electricity snaked diagonally across the pane. Another one intersected and the Inhibitan’s speed dropped dramatically. The flight controls lagged and their response slowed. The console flickered and instruments began to peter out one by one.

  ‘NO!’ screamed Luylla.

  Suddenly, a surge of new power flared through the console. The error message disappeared. New photons were ready and the navi computer had locked a path. Luylla slammed the lever forward and the hyperdrive sang at a healthy pitch. The ensnare drone beams snapped apart as the hyperspace tube exploded fantastically into view.

  Nine

  Milton stepped off the last rung of the engine room ladder and pushed onto the cargo hold floor. An unhappy Luylla appeared, again with pistols drawn. Tazman’s head emerged from the hatch to come face to face with a barrel. He paused, shook his head and sighed, scoffing at the threat before continuing to climb. ‘What now?’

  ‘Did I say you could tamper with my ship? What have you done down there?’

  He got to his feet and waved his arms in a satirical version of surrender, then raised his voice. The pair argued, throwing around terms like ‘proper conduct’ and ‘situational exceptions’. Tazman yelled about certain emergency protocols, some of which Milton recogn
ised from the Nova Corp induction manual.

  Milton’s vest pocket buzzed. He pulled out the gold disc. It shook again in his hand. He brushed his fingertips along the perfectly polished metal. Its top spun around half a rotation and he pulled his fingers away. It rotated the other way at the same quick speed. Then it started to spin. Cracks of light leaked from the seams. Tazman’s excited tail knocked the device from Milton’s hand. When it hit the floor it increased speed.

  ‘Hey, guys,’ Milton exclaimed. Four small sections flipped out from the edges. Beams of light shot to the ceiling. ‘Hey,’ he yelled, cutting off Tazman who was still trying to get in the last word. Luylla and Tazman turned. He pointed to the floor. ‘It’s doing something.’

  The little gold disc wound faster. The beams melded. Moving parts snapped open. A wall of whirling light exploded forth. Milton, Tazman and Luylla stepped away. A blinding flash, then the light sank to a more concentrated level. The image of a familiar galaxy hovered in the air between them.

  The image exploded and billions of stars rushed out. Milton felt as if he were shrinking. Suns of every colour streamed out. Tiny planets revolved in their orbits. A miniature asteroid belt of exceptional detail flashed past Milton’s eyeline. The elaborate display came to a halt and focused on a lone green nebula.

  ‘That’s where it must be,’ he said.

  ‘What are you talking about?’ asked Luylla.

  ‘The safe haven. Our lead. It’s in that uncharted territory, our next stop.’

  ‘What makes you think I’m going to help you?’

  ‘You have no other option,’ replied Milton. ‘Like it or not we’re all in this together.’

  Tazman and Luylla exchanged a brief look of pure disgust.

  ‘Okay, look,’ said Milton. ‘Grow up and stop this stupid squabbling. We need to find out what happened to that space colony.’ He pointed at the nebula. ‘There is someone here who can give us the answers. Luylla, if you would kindly take us there, we can clear up this mess. And you’ll never have to see either of us again.’

  ‘Wouldn’t that be nice?’ Tazman added, fluttering his eyelids.

  Luylla turned and marched towards the cockpit. ‘Seal that hatch,’ she ordered. Once she was beyond speaking distance she yelled, ‘Touch my ship again and you’re both dead!’

  Fleet Commander Viceon Raegar gazed out at the supremely ordered cityscape below. Beyond the buildings, green rolling hills consumed the land to the horizon. Cenyulone was a clean and ordered military city where everyone knew their place. The capital, from which the planet was named, was the primary headquarters of Tranquillian Composite and home to officials, military and their families.

  The elevator in which he stood sped up the side of the highest construction on the planet: The Tower of The Overseers. Skyscrapers were weed stems in comparison.

  Around the tower, the city was shaped in a perfect circle. A massive armoured platform, in the shape of a ring to match, stood on pillars extending high over the buildings. The war memorial was known as the Nimbus. The dated piece of technology served as a staging point for defences during the civil war, when Cenyulone had the mere status of a command outpost. Its hover systems, although currently unused, were maintained by enthusiasts over the years, turning practice into tradition.

  Every time he took this elevator trip, Raegar marvelled at the Nimbus. He had seen it in action, effectively taking down enemies that dared harm those who sought refuge. The hope it bestowed had driven Raegar forward in times of conflict. He was grateful for the part he played and for the opportunities to serve. But he could only hope the Tranquillian Composite could live up to its name in current times.

  ‘That old thing should be torn down,’ said his colleague. Fleet Commander Magnus Leroy leaned on the door behind with arms folded.

  ‘Show some respect,’ Raegar snapped at the young Human.

  ‘Look at it,’ Leroy continued. ‘It doesn’t do anything. It just sits there. The Nimbus is so old the city developments have passed way beyond its coverage area. Orbital defence makes it redundant. And now with the hypersat, no enemy has a chance of getting near this world.’

  Raegar simply grunted at the statement, much to Leroy’s amusement. The hypersatellite to which he referred was about to spark a revolution in the Composite’s system of communications. The Weinians had discovered a way to warp and aim a transmission through hyperspace, spanning interstellar distances in a short time, and then receive and decode the message on the other side. The station’s construction in orbit would soon be complete and Cenyulone would be more efficient at giving instructions to off-world forces. The hypersat would revolutionise Composite protocol when fully active.

  The elevator stopped. Leroy chuckled on his exit. Raegar glanced at the city again before moving on. He made his way down the gold archway that followed along the curve of the tower. Tapered angular pillars cut diagonally through the arch from the outer edge.

  Leroy strode ahead and stopped at the bronze triangular doors. He had to wait; both commanders were summoned and were to enter simultaneously. Beyond the doors, the overseer chamber waited. The council was responsible for the major actions and decisions of the Composite.

  Thankfully, the officials would not gather today. This meeting was with their representative Jhaia, of the flying Daeyliox race. Talking to her would mean a less formal discussion, less pressure to perform. Despite her importance, she never looked down on others. Raegar agreed with her when she said ‘there is always someone higher to serve.’

  He caught up with Leroy and faced the doors. They swung open slowly and silently. Raegar inhaled and relaxed his tense shoulders. Once the doors had stopped moving, both officers marched in unison to the centre of the chamber, the precise geographic centre of the city. A holo-image of the galaxy lined the dome ceiling. Below its edge the balcony where the overseers would normally sit ran along the wall.

  ‘Gentlemen.’ Her smooth, articulate voice bounced off the wall designed for the purpose, calling from above. The air submitted to the thumping of her wings as she began her brief.

  ‘The Lubricians are threatening to emancipate. Apparently there was an incident on their space platforms involving what was described as, and I quote, an “egotistical Composite commander with no respect for local protocol”.’

  She swooped low. Her talons clicked against the hard polished floor on landing. She fluttered and stretched her wings before folding them in. Light glistened against their pattern: bright yellow rings set against a shimmering green with blood red feather tips. Aside from the wings and talons, her body seemed Human, with a lighter frame to accommodate flight. She wore her golden hair tied back and an official’s uniform, full bodied and dark blue.

  Leroy braced himself for the reprimand.

  ‘Do you realise what you have done?’ Jhaia began. ‘Repercussions will ripple. Not only do I have a decimated space colony with no one responsible but now I have to deal with another world breaking off the alliance. If this complication isn’t resolved others will follow.’

  ‘Madam, my actions were justified given the circumstances,’ said Leroy.

  Jhaia folded her arms. ‘I’m listening.’

  ‘The evidence trail of the Orisurrection tragedy revealed the outlaws had flown directly to Lubric. In pursuit, I was halted by Lubrician authorities. The outlaws then resorted to drastic measures and their apprehension required equal initiative. Lubric was unwilling to exercise decisiveness so I took the liberty, much to their disagreement. Unfortunately Lubric’s hindrance allowed the suspects to slip away.’

  Raegar cleared his throat. ‘They escaped because someone put a load of magnetic waves into the orbital defences.’

  ‘What evidence do you have on your suspects?’ Jhaia asked.

  ‘Firstly, their ship was sighted fleeing the scene of the crime,’ Leroy explained.

  She raised a hand to silence him and turned to Raegar.

  The old Kharla sighed, ‘The attack was a clean one. No so
lid evidence of what happened was found. Three quarters of the station had drifted away by the time I got there. But it is true, extreme radial scanning revealed a single craft present on the site.’

  ‘Ma’am,’ said Leroy, ‘I managed to convince the Lubricians to hand over the captured intelligence of the perpetrators. I think you’ll find this interesting enough.’

  Leroy pulled back his sleeve and twisted the dial on the holographic mechanism strapped to his wrist. A personal flat screen rose and flipped to face her.

  The image showed a lady holding two others at gunpoint. The pictures cycled through with close ups of each of their faces. Leroy squeezed a button and the image froze on a wide shot of the trio.

  ‘The suspicious craft transported a party of three,’ he explained. ‘The Human and Freegu were registered personnel stationed on a Nova Corp science vessel. Its last reported location was the Orisurrection, before it disappeared from the grid. So, we have connections to a missing ship and a destroyed colony, coincidence? But it gets even better …

  ‘Our databases confirm the Freegu as a Tyde agent, one Tazman of Luppino. He’s worked in the syndicate for zircles, mostly with information theft and trafficking. It is common Tyde practice to station an agent on a vessel of interest; he studies the flight plan and sets off a frequency at a time when the ship is vulnerable. The Tyde then know its exact location, and a pirate ship conveniently shows up and cleans it out. The vessel is never heard from again. It is obvious that these two were the insiders.’

  ‘And the third?’ Jhaia pushed.

  Leroy pressed a button and the image continued to play. The Tyde agent Freegu laughed at something. Then the lens turned to face the barrel of a pulse pistol. A bright flash washed out the picture; when it cleared, a brief view of the ground hitting the side of the lens then blinking out.

  ‘Judging by her hardware, the lady is most likely a merc or a Tyde agent. We aren’t dealing with amateurs here. When confronted they ran. Guilty is as guilty does.’ Leroy looked into her gaze with his commanding blue eyes, ‘Ma’am, I’m determined to find them. They escaped once. They will not evade me again.’