by Nyk Nova
“What did I tell you about reading, Exin?” Inja asked.
“Yes, sir.”
“Target?” another woman asked. Unlike Inja’s, this woman’s hair was as short as the men’s. And everything about her said she was a good soldier. The type who did as ordered without question.
“Glad you asked, Calsin. Boys and girls, we are heading to Dinrall.”
The troops all mumbled to themselves the same concerns.
“Sir, is this a suicide run?” Calsin asked. It was unexpected given her record.
“Let me be clear,” Inja said. “In all of my considerable time in the Oscerian military, I have never heard a single story of any one stepping foot on Dinrall. Not one. So when I tell you that the stories you’ve heard are no more than rumors, you’ll know my meaning. These Spirit Veils are supposed to put us close to the pyramid. The sooner we step through, the sooner we get home. Clear?”
“Yes, sir!” They all said.
“Good. Now, step right up and step on through.”
The soldiers jogged up to the three Spirit Veils. There were fifteen troops in all. As the first three got closer to the mirrors, they got a good look at themselves. Not just on the surface but deep inside. The mirrors reflected who they really were. Their faults and failures. Their past and present. Some even saw their futures or nothing at all.
“Sir?” Alpho asked.
“What’s wrong, troop, you scared of a little magic?” Inja asked. “Move, move, move!” she ordered.
The soldiers hopped through the Spirit Veils. Each of them came out on the other side, shivering. Two put their guns to their heads and pulled the trigger before they’d even stepped clear through the mirror. Many of them started screaming absurdities about extra hands coming out of them. One troop yelled how another was eating her before putting a laser blast in her fellow troop’s face. Exin threw a troop off himself as the man screamed about needing to crawl inside of him. Fights broke out like they would on a school yard.
“Sir?” Calsin asked. “Orders?”
“On me!” Inja yelled, fighting off another troop. She stood back to back with Exin while Alpho made a bee line straight for them. He sighted in on one of the troops swinging a Volt Blade at him. It took five laser blasts before that troop fell.
“What’s going on?” Alpho asked.
“I guess the rumors were true. Are we the only ones that aren’t crazy?” Inja asked.
“Looks that way, sir.” Calcin said as she kicked a soldier away. The man hit the ground and started clawing at his own face.
Inja pursed her lips together. These were her troops. They relied on her to get them through storms. But she was unprepared for anything like this.
One of the soldiers pointed a gun at them. “Why’d you kill him, General Kade? He was the Emperor. We all loved him. Why’d you do it?” he yelled before firing a bullet, grazing Inja’s shoulder.
The officer fell to the ground while Calcin aimed at the troop and put one in his head.
“Take them all,” Inja said. “Osceria help us. Put them all down!”
39
The inside of the Vesper Haste normalized as the Wave Engine slowed to normal speeds. Lugazian soldiers checked their weapons and gear, making sure they were ready for whatever trials they were in for. Kade watched them as a few stared at him with disdain. Not just because they were on a mission alongside their enemy but more because they were expected to follow the very man who made them surrender.
Tare walked to Kade and his small band of Oscerians who were outnumbered two to one, with a case. He set the case on the floor. “Since we’re fairly certain there are no Oscerian troops to worry about, I’ve been advised to offer you defensive measures.”
“Sounds like the opposite of needing weapons,” Lyra said.
“In a case that big?” Tuk asked. “Some defense.”
“You can always go without it,” Tare smiled, slowly sliding the case away from them. “I’m not sure I would advise it, though.”
“We’ll take whatever is in there,” Kade said.
“Of course you would. Because even the great General Kade needs a gun.” The jab was meant to elevate Tare as a better hand to hand combatant as nearly proven in their hallway quarrel. “Speaking of which, I’ll take mine back.”
Kade held his tongue and handed Tare the gun Jer’ren had given him.
Tare opened the case and revealed four pistols each with an extra magazine of ammo. Kade and Roland looked in the case, hoping to find something more.
Lyra was the first to grab one of the weapons. Kade could see by her expression she didn’t feel any safer. The others took theirs and placed them in their waist-bands. They all wore Lugazian military wear. Except for Kade, who wore the special garment Ler’ren had fashioned for him.
“You know this uniform is not regulation,” Tare said, looking at the colors of Osceria on Kade’s garb. “As a member of the Lugaz military, you could be court-martialed for such an infraction.”
Kade looked at the colors of his home world and smiled at Tare. “Recognition as my status over the Lugazian military.”
Tare nodded his head and smiled. It was a good answer, he had to hand it to Kade. One not easily debated though he knew it wasn’t true. The two locked eyes, again, each daring the other to make a move. Neither did.
“Considering what I’ve heard about Dinrall,” Tuk said, “Are their weapons even going to be enough?” He stuck his thumb at the Lugaz troops.
“What are you expecting we’ll encounter?” Kade asked.
“I haven’t the slightest idea. All I know— Listen up,” Tare shouted to the whole ship. “As far as standard military tasks go, this is a simple mission. You get to the pyramid, grab the sword and radio in. We pick you up and we take the sword back to the Empress. That’s the official order. But what happens once you get back down there is anyone’s guess. I have never been to Dinrall and according to General Kade, no one has.”
“So there’s an Oscerian artifact on the planet but no Oscerians have been there?” a Lugazian troop asked.
“Records confirm only one. A very long time ago,” Tare said.
“What kind of opposition are we expecting?” Roland asked.
“Again, I do not know. Hopefully none. The sooner we acquire the sword, the sooner we get home. Now, once you’re on the ground, it will be under General Kade’s command.”
The Lugazian troops groaned their discontent.
“Silence!” Tare shouted. “You are soldiers of Lugaz! You will act accordingly, regardless of the worth of your commanding officer.”
“Yes, sir, General Tare, sir!” the troops yelled.
“Good. Now take a breath. We’re almost there.” Tare walked to the cockpit.
Roland pulled the others toward him, blocking any prying ears or eyes from their discussion. “I have heard many stories of this world.”
“So have I,” Lyra said.
“We’ve all heard them,” Kade added. “Each one worse than the other.”
“Jer’ren wants the sword,” Tuk said. “We all know what that means.”
“I don’t know anything about it,” Lyra told him.
“It is a story that has long since been forgotten by many,” Roland said. “I am not surprised the younger generations don’t know it. Few pass it down and even fewer know the finer details. All we need know is that if Jer’ren gets her hands on it while she has the stone, Osceria as it exists will be forever changed.”
“We could stop this before it starts,” Kade said.
“How?” Tuk asked.
“No.” Roland stopped Kade’s train of thought. “It is better to maintain things as they are. A negotiation may be the order.”
“With Lugaz?” Kade asked.
“Tare will not be joining us. That is an advantage. And once we are in a less confined space…” Roland peaked out at Tare and the other soldiers. “We will wait till the moment is right.”
“How do we know when that is?
” Tuk asked.
“Let us hope for a sign. Whatever transpires, Empress Jer’ren must not wield that sword.”
40
The magnetic waves from the hover wells of the Vesper Haste pressed into the land, creating small craters. The ship barely touched the ground as it came to rest, locked in its magnetic field.
The side hatch to the ship opened and Tuk was the first out. His boots hit the ground and he immediately set to aim his small arms weapon.
“All clear,” he said.
The others filed out behind him, twelve in all.
“When you get the sword,” Tare said from inside the ship. “Radio me.”
“Is this our evac-zone, sir?” one of the Lugaz troops asked.
“Negative,” Tare told him. “Evac is wherever you are when you radio. I don’t want to have to wait for you all.”
“What happens if we fail at this?” Lyra asked.
“Then I go home, tell the Empress and we all mourn the loss of our fellow Lugazians.”
Lyra smirked at the answer, noting no mention of her or her people.
“Do not radio until you have the sword. There’s no telling what opposition you’ll have to deal with and I don’t want you giving away your positions or ours. I plan on seeing my home again.” His last words were focused on Kade. He knew the Oscerian wanted nothing more than to go home.
“I agree,” Kade said, letting the targeted comment go. “Everyone good with their weapons?”
The Lugazians went over their arms one more time while the Oscerian’s just held theirs up. There wasn’t much of the hand guns to check.
“They’re your troops, now,” Tare said as the magnetic waves from the hover wells gained power. “And Kade, don’t do anything stupid.” Tare hit a switch inside the ship and the hatch began closing as the Vesper Haste returned to the sky.
“So you’re in command?” a Lugaz troop asked, sarcastically.
Kade didn’t give him the satisfaction of a normal response. “You don’t like it, you can stay here.”
The troop and every one else gazed around at their surroundings. Dinrall was a wreck of a planet. The ground they could see under the sand was cracked and dry. Few buildings littered the area and what structures were still standing were hollowed out shells of what they one were.
Kade walked to some sort of wagon and brushed sand off its frame. The words were foreign to him. He looked up, confused as to what Dinrall used to be.
“You know anything about this place, Roland?” Tuk asked.
“The same stories as anyone. Giant monsters of deep seas. Grotesque deformities stalking prey with rusted blades. Imperceptible insects burrowing through the eyes.”
The Lugazians looked at each other. A couple of them started rubbing at their own eyes, paranoid at the thought.
“Judging by our surroundings,” Roland continued. “The true history of this world is beyond me.”
Lyra caught sight of a black mark on the dark ground. She placed her hand over the spot. It was a perfect fit. Five fingers on the palm of a hand. She tried brushing at it and was horrified when it didn’t move.
“This can’t be…” she said.
“What’s wrong?” Kade asked.
“This place. I don’t think this world was what we were told. Look at these structures. This wasn’t a wild, untamed planet. There was a thriving civilization here. I think it was attacked but, I don’t know of any weapons that could do this.”
The entire group looked at the black mark.
“It’s a burn mark,” the Lugaz troop said. “So what?”
“It’s not, though. It’s a— You know what your shadow looks like when a feed screen flickers? That’s what this is. Someone’s shadow.”
“How is that possible?” Tuk asked.
“An extreme amount of power and light,” Lyra said, looking at the building husks. “Whatever did it, only had to be used once.”
“Then it is safe to assume we will not have to face such a thing,” Roland concluded.
“I’ve seen Epok do something like that,” a younger Lugaz troop said. “He trapped a shadow on a wall. Then erased it. It was the brightest light I’d ever seen.”
“What’s your name?” Kade asked.
“Poyn, sir,” he said.
One of the other soldiers kicked Poyn in the back of the leg.
“Ouch!”
“Stop!” Kade ordered. “Regardless of who’s in command, you’re all soldiers. Act like it.” He surveyed the area, again. “Now, I want everyone to stay close and keep it tight. You see anything off, call it out.”
It was hard to tell what kind of city Yult had been before its destruction. Kade wondered if the whole planet looked like it. But he was more curious about the reasons for its destruction. And why the horrible stories of it were told. Was it an invasion? Was it a war with another city on the planet. The entire region was devoid of any life.
“So,” Poyn said. “We’re in a place that nobody knows about, that no one has ever been on to find a sword?”
“That’s the size of it,” Tuk answered.
“This is a waste of time,” another Lugaz troop said.
“Probably,” Roland remarked. “And if so, Lugaz will simply surrender to Osceria once more.”
Kade fought back a smile at the jab. He knew it wasn’t in good taste. They were still at a disadvantage and they were in unfamiliar territory, but it was good to know his people maintained their Oscerian pride.
“What if this is the power of the sword?” Lyra asked. “What if Aurtune Argus did this?”
“An Oscerian would never commit an atrocity like this,” Kade said.
“I always read that Emperor Aurtune was a tyrant. If he made a weapon with the power to control his soldiers, why couldn’t it have caused this as well.”
“There is some truth in the texts of the old Emperor’s demeanor,” Roland said. “However, in all of your studies, have you ever read of a single weapon that could do this?”
“Not a sword,” Lyra said. “What about magic?”
“The Empress probably could,” Poyn told them. “Maybe.”
“Maybe the rumors of how dangerous Dinrall is were just that,” Tuk chimed in, changing the subject. “Rumors.”
“It is quiet,” Kade said. “The ship coming down should have alerted someone or something.”
The team continued forward, past more destruction and debris. Kade’s peripheral vision caught sight of what he thought were the remains of one of the inhabitants. He chose not to look directly at it. As things looked, it didn’t surprise him. Acknowledging his suspicion would not change that.
“Hold on,” Tuk said.
“Who exactly is giving the orders, here?” a Lugaz troop asked.
Kade shook his head at the question. “What is it?”
Tuk pressed his ear into empty space. “It sounds like a hover engine but smaller.” He pointed to a building. “It’s in that direction.”
“You and Poyn scout ahead,” Kade ordered. “The rest of us will provide back up if necessary.”
Tuk and Poyn rushed ahead, keeping their guns forward. The sound got louder as they got closer to the building. Tuk pointed at a single column of the structure’s remains, indicating where to go.
The two pressed their backs to the column and Tuk motioned for Poyn to stay hidden. The Oscerian slowly moved his head around and spied a metallic orb hovering in the air. The magnetic waves blasted all around it, keeping the sphere up right and pushing it in various directions.
Tuk moved back behind the column.
“What did you see?” Poyn asked.
“Scout Sphere. Just the one but there could be others. Trade with me.” Tuk held his gun out for Poyn to take.
The troop didn’t question his motives but merely swapped out weapons. The hand-gun for a rifle.
Tuk swung the rifle out and aimed at the sphere. A single trigger pull was all it took to knock the machine to the ground. Tuk rushed in the open mu
ch to Poyn’s protests.
The metal ball was not smooth at all. Rather it had numerous mechanical protrusions and feed screen projectors. Tuk scoured the land in search of others. Like everywhere else, the land was barren, save for a few structures of a past civilization. Satisfied there were no more, he grabbed the downed Scout Sphere and rushed back to the others. Poyn received no explanation and sped to catch up.
The metal ball hit the ground and sloppily rolled to a stop at Kade’s feet.
“Scout Sphere?” Kade asked.
“That’s what was making that sound,” Tuk said. “It was keeping lookout just beyond that structure.”
“And you shot it?” Kade asked.
“I couldn’t let it see us.”
“No, just alert more to our position,” a Lugaz troop said. “Stupid Oscerian.”
Tuk lunged for the man who was more than ready and willing to go to blows but Kade stepped between them.
“Stop it! I don’t care what our grievances with each other are. Whether we like it or not, we’re all wearing the same colors. Meaning we’re all on the same side. Tuk, it was a good shot, but he’s right. That could have alerted others. So we’re just going to wait here for a few moments before moving ahead.”
The team stood waiting for an alert or even an attack, but none came. Only the dry, arid air that had gone unnoticed until that moment.
“Why are you here?” Poyn asked Kade.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, we don’t need you for this mission, so why are you here?”
“It is a matter of trust,” Roland said. “By doing as the Empress asks, we are proving ourselves and our loyalty to her.”
Kade looked at Roland and the two exchanged knowing glances.
“I would never trust an Oscerian,” one of the other troops said. “And I don’t see why I have to.” The soldier moved away from the group.
“What are you doing?” Kade asked, suspiciously.
“You said if I didn’t like it, I could go my own way. Anyone want to go with me?”
The other troops looked at each other, muttering affirmatives as if their partner’s words made complete sense before joining with their fellow troop.
