Shadows Bear No Names (The Blackened Prophecy Book 1)

by Oganalp Canatan

  “Now, where are these stones you speak of?”

  “They are on board our ship. Sarah can bring them here,” Ray said.

  “Me? Sure, yes, of course!” she bowed curtly, seeming unsure about how to behave before an admiral.

  Rebecca nodded, “Airman, escort this lady to her ship and report back here on the double. You will only report to me.” She reached for the coffee pot on the table, the guard and Sarah out of her head as soon as they left the room. “Now you will tell me your story again,” she said, pouring herself some coffee, “and this time, you will tell the parts you left out last time.”

  “I…”

  Rebecca raised a finger without looking at Ray, focusing her stare on the tall man sitting at the other end of the table.

  Ray smiled apologetically and waved Ga’an forward.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  MARA’TTHANE: PART III

  Ray looked at Ijjok, his hands twitching every now and then.

  “Whenever you are ready, Mr. Harris.” Admiral Conway watched Ray with hawk eyes.

  Ray felt the sweat running down his temples. “Here goes nothing.” Please work and help us keep our heads on our shoulders.

  His fears were in vain. The stone reacted to his touch like an obedient servant. First, the stone flickered and then became brighter and brighter like a fireplace fed with coal. A moment later, the stone was like glass. Inside it, the stars whirled.

  Admiral Conway’s stare was still judgmental, but she also looked intrigued. “So, what does this stone do?”

  “Truth be told, I’m fairly new to this myself. Reverend Marcus’s the expert in these stones.”

  Reverend Marcus saluted Admiral Conway, earning a raised brow from Ray. “What? Showing respect to elders is important. She is the eldest of this ship from what I can tell of her age,” Reverend Marcus raised his chin in defiance.

  Behind him, Ray heard Brother Cavil murmuring something about how doomed were they and how badly he needed a kumat. “Anyway,” Ray faked an apologetic smile, “Reverend, to the matter at hand…”

  “What?” Reverend Marcus looked around in confusion but his face brightened when he noticed Ijjok sitting right before him with some serious lightshow going on inside the stone. “The Arinar, yes! This one is Ijjok, it is a map and we can use it to find the other Arinar.”

  “So, these stones are important beyond anything.” Admiral Conway leaned back in her chair. “Tell me again.”

  It was Ga’an who spoke. “I fought the war with Baeal for forty cycles.”

  “Something like forty years,” Brother Cavil intervened.

  “Years. We had the stones but no one in the empire could activate them and when the enemy gates were active, we could not hold them back. We fought hard, we bled and we died. They were simply more powerful.”

  “So, these stones are weapons?”

  Reverend Marcus replied, “Not exactly. They are like tools with certain capabilities. But they need a special touch to channel their energy. This gentlemen here, has that special touch. The Nucteel, Ga’an’s people, did not have a Lohil.”

  “Mr. Ga’an, you are telling me your people lost their war with Baeal.”

  “Yes,” Ga’an nodded.

  “Then why did the ruins we found talk of them as folklore and focus on your species instead?”

  Ga’an looked confused.

  “The ruins are from your species and not from Baeal. If Baeal was successful in destroying your empire, how come there are no signs of them left behind to this date?”

  Ga’an shook his head. “I cannot answer this, Admiral Conway. In my final moments, before I found myself on this moon called Tarra, I watched my fleet eradicated.”

  “Maybe those ruins are of structures from an earlier era,” Ray suggested.

  “Maybe. Anyway,” Admiral Conway stood up and walked around the table toward Ray and Ijjok. “Find the next stone.”

  Ray nodded and closed his eyes. He repeated Mara’tthane’s name several times and felt a feeling of joy passing through Ijjok. “Here,” he opened his eyes. The vision inside the glass swirled and zoomed into Pendar.

  “It’s here, all right,” Sarah said, looking over Ray’s shoulder. “And that’s us.” The view passed over the Consortium fleet, toward the planet’s northern hemisphere.

  “That explains the buzzing activity.” Admiral Conway licked her lips. “The enemy fleet is ignoring us and the evacuation shuttles. They arrived a few hours earlier than you and formed over that mountain region.”

  “They’re looking for the stone as well.”

  “There should be a temple in that region similar to the one on Bunari,” Reverend Marcus said. “If I am allowed to use your database, I can find some more information about the place.”

  “I am sorry about Bunari, Reverend. We heard about the incident.” Admiral Conway nodded in sincerity. “Airman, escort the reverend to an information terminal he can study.”

  “Humph.” Reverend Marcus said, leaving with the marine.

  “What about the other stones?”

  Ray thought of Serhmana and Ijjok zoomed out from Pendar, the view passing over star systems one by one. Then it slowed down and zoomed in to a bluish star.

  “I know that constellation,” Admiral Conway said. “That is the Leo.”

  “Leo?” Sarah asked.

  “The constellation. I believe it’s Zosma. There’s Wyss there.”

  “Planet Wyss… That’s all the way in Zosma? It would take us weeks to travel there with jump gates!” Ray argued. “By that time, the whole core systems could be overrun!”

  Admiral Conway nodded. “I agree. We will have to divide our attention. But first, we have to acquire the stone from Pendar.”

  Ray didn’t argue. Zosma was light years from where they were, while Pendar, with a hovering Baeal fleet, was right before them. He switched his focus to Yrrha. “That’s strange.”

  “What?” Sarah asked.

  “I can feel Ijjok touching Yrrha but it doesn’t show it. It’s as if I’m blocked from reaching it.”

  “Well, we cannot do anything about that. First, we get this stone. While you are at it, we will try to find a solution for Serhmana,” Admiral Conway said, concluding their meeting.

  ***

  “Lieutenant Jong, I want an escort team ready at docking bay three,” Admiral Conway commanded, making way for the bridge with such pace, Ray had a hard time keeping up. His legs were sore from sitting still for well over an hour, telling his side of the story with Ga’an, and the search for the other Arinar, in detail .

  “Ma’am?” Commander Matthews raised his head from the tactical station, his face turning cynical the moment he spotted Ray.

  “They will take Mr. Harris and his group to these coordinates.” The admiral zoomed in to coordinates near Pendar’s northern pole. “Mr. Jong, carry my orders.”

  “But ma’am,” Matthews objected, “that’s right in the middle of the alien fleet!”

  “Mr. Matthews,” Admiral Conway sounded threatening, and leaned close to the man’s ear, “I am not in the mood to be interposed by you at every turn. I asked you to be competent, not arrogant or insubordinate.” She gently grabbed the man’s collar, “Either be useful, or be removed from my bridge.”

  Rebecca let go and yelled more orders to several other stations. She didn’t notice it, but Ray saw revenge in Matthews’ eyes, staring at the admiral’s back a good long time before returning to his station.

  “I thought the relationship would be somewhat smoother between two commanding officers.”

  Admiral Conway bent her head slightly. The message was obvious: Our newfound relationship doesn’t extend that far.

  “Not my place, I’m sorry.”

  “No, it is not.” Her iron stare went on for another moment before she closed her eyes and gave a sigh, “But, you are right, Mr. Harris,” she looked behind her commander. “Mr. Matthews was never suitable for the job but circumstances are hardly suitab
le for anything concrete at the moment. Still…” Admiral Conway narrowed her eyes and clicked her tongue.

  Ray nodded in understanding but there was something else in her stare. She hadn’t told the whole story and with the way Admiral Conway looked, she had her own suspicions about the commander for reasons beyond Ray’s knowledge.

  “Mr. Harris, I have seen the strangest of things in these last few days that I have seen in my life time. Your show with those stones was…interesting.” Admiral Conway paused a moment to check a data pad an ensign brought. “I am not totally sold to the idea of stones and ancient magic, rituals and prophecies or time-travelling aliens.” She stopped and looked Ray in the eye. “However, strange times need an unusual perspective to have a grasp of things.”

  “Admiral, even I am not sold to the idea. But here we are, and there they are.” Ray pointed at the red dots hovering over the planet on the holographic map.

  Admiral Conway nodded. “Your priest friends told me more than a few times we need to get all the stones to make them work.”

  “Yes, so it seems.”

  “A team of marines will accompany you to the surface,” the battle-hardened woman said, ascertaining everything was in order on the bridge from the corner of her eye. “We will use your ship to infiltrate. Anything military would attract their attention,” she waved to a nearby airman to escort Ray to the hangar bay. “You should be able to slip through their grid while their focus is on the region around the northern pole, doing whatever they are doing. The civilian fleet’s evacuation creates some chaos in the air. It will be your disguise.”

  “We also have a radar cloak installed to the Fox. It’ll help us. I mean, hopefully. Thank you, ma’am,” Ray nodded.

  “The reverend and the priest will stay here and work on these other stones you have spoken of. If they are what you suggest, I will not let the chance of having a weapon in my hands slip because of prejudice. We will also try and locate the other stones this Arinar has shown to you. Perhaps we can make things work in our favor.”

  “Wyss’s too far to reach in time.”

  “True. I will think of something,” Admiral Conway waved his hand, sending him away.

  Ray saluted the admiral one more time and left the room with the guards escorting him, making their way to the hangar bay. Some of the passages had been sealed off by the damage containment crew working to fix the breaches. When he reached the Fox, parked near an armored transport shuttle, he saw Sarah and the others were ready to disembark. The technicians were cutting off the fuel lines and hydraulic pumps. Six men armed to the teeth were also near the ship’s ramp, chatting quietly to one another.

  “Mr. Harris.” A soldier with a large build and a huge scar on the right side of his face approached. “I’m Colonel Pats. This’s the Bravo team. Me and my men will take you to the target zone.”

  “Thank you, Colonel,” Ray took the man’s hand, shaking it wholeheartedly. He was trying to stay strong for his crew but in truth, Ray was frightened to the bone. These armed men gave him slight comfort. Slight. “I’m glad Admiral Conway listened to our plea.”

  “Well Mr. Harris, I don’t know the reasoning behind her decision, it’s well beyond my pay grade, but one thing I know; they don’t make you a fleet admiral if you don’t have the brains.” He looked over his shoulder. “Captain Samir!

  “Yes boss!” another man came, looking in his early forties.

  “This is Mr. Harris and we’re ordered to protect his team at all costs.”

  “Like we always do, boss.” Samir reached for Ray’s hand. “Don’t worry, we’ll take care of you Mr. Harris.”

  “Yes, like we always do,” Colonel Pats nodded. “So, what are we looking for exactly?”

  Ray smiled. “What we are looking is a stone statuette, round with carvings on it,” he gestured the size with his hands. “It’s an artifact of utmost importance and we must find it before the enemy does.”

  “Understood. Mr. Harris, you’ll follow our directions to the letter when we’re on the ground,” Colonel Pats warned him. “No heroics. We go in, we retrieve the package, we go out. Are we clear?”

  “You have the lead, Colonel.”

  “Anything we need to know about the enemy?”

  “Well, I already told you all we know.” Ray knit his brows. “The guns we had didn’t do much against them and the Baeal we faced had this pet, the size of a huge tiger. It appeared out of nowhere.”

  “Yes, we switched to thermal clips. These are high velocity projectile rounds with super heat charges. It’s like an overheated oven drilling inside your body. Nasty.”

  “I hope they’ll work.”

  “You and me both, Mr. Harris.” The veteran soldier gave a curt nod and waved his men to board the ship. Ray boarded the Fox last and made his way to the cockpit. Ga’an was already seated and Sarah was hailing the control tower for departure.

  “All right, let’s find us some stones.”

  “We are looking for only one stone, Raymond Harris,” Ga’an said, his inability to understand the joke making Sarah chuckle.

  Ray smiled, “Whatever you say, big friend.”

  After clearance from flight control, the Fox took off with a subtle shake. Ray turned the ship around slowly and moved her toward the hangar doors, following the instruction signals. The Fox passed through several fighters and bombers before the ship reached the bay area and they felt a joggle as they passed through the barrier field and positioned itself over the access doors.

  The loud sound of alarms warned the personnel inside the hangar to get ready for bay doors opening, clearing the area around the huge doors. The force field would keep them from being sucked into space but it would be unfortunate to have personnel crushed under the smuggler gunship.

  “We’re clear,” Sarah announced, checking the proximity sensors. “No escorts?” Looking at the Baeal fleet, Sarah wasn’t able to hide her concern. “How are we supposed to slip through that?”

  “It would attract attention.” Ray wished his explanation was more comforting. “The airspace is buzzing with evacuating ships and Baeal are simply ignoring them. We’ll blend into the traffic and keep our heads down.”

  Sarah pursed her lips. “Great plan.”

  “Well, the gods of cosmic creation seem to like stupid plans. We’ve avoided certain death more than a few times so far.”

  “Survival of the stupidest.”

  “It happens.” Ray chuckled. “All right, let’s hit it,” Ray pushed the throttle and a few minutes later, they were clear of the fleet traffic, leaving dozens of escorts and drones flying around the huge battleships, heading toward Pendar and the gigantic alien fleet orbiting it.

  No one spoke for the rest of the journey, the planet filling their view slowly. All eyes were on the huge Baeal ship and the black dots hovering around it like a flock of crows.

  ***

  “Oh my…” Sarah finally broke the silence, making Ray jump. “I know I ask this a tad too often but, how are we supposed to get through that?”

  They were closing in on the temple Reverend Marcus had found in his notes. The presence of huge Baeal landing ships left no room for doubt; the Mara’tthane was here.

  Ray couldn’t find anything to alleviate Sarah’s concerns; twenty or so troopships, each a variation on the huge arachnid design, were touched down around a big, circular structure built on vast, open ground atop a plateau, the landscape hidden from prying eyes by surrounding mountain formations.

  “The place surely looks ancient.” Sarah observed the structure in the distance.

  “It is not of Nucteel design,” Ga’an said. “We had temples like this built in the Empire, before our time.” The structure itself looked older than any other building they had flown over on their way, showing its roots that predated the colonization of Pendar.

  Ray touched the ship’s computer and brought out the holographic image of the sketches Reverend Marcus had drawn back on the Deviator. “No doubt, this is it. The Rev
erend said every temple related to Arinar in one way or another have a similar architecture. The one on Bunari, this, the others.”

  “That structure is huge!” Sarah said. “It’s like a dreadnought in size!”

  “They’re forming a beachhead.” Colonel Pats pointed on the radar screen to the battalions of troops positioning in the Baeal’s landing area. “We should land somewhere in the woods on the other side of that structure before they notice us.”

  Ray flew the gunship through the valley connected to the enemy staging ground and landed the Fox in a clearing at the far end of the plateau. It was a miracle they hadn’t been noticed by the opposing forces so far but Ray didn’t think it had anything to do with luck. They were simply being ignored.

  “Good thing we’re clear of the farm lands,” Colonel Pats as they touched down.

  “Those farms are probably long evacuated,” Sarah said. “The temple monks and anyone around are long gone.”

  “I’m not concerned about the farmers. Almost all the settlements were evacuated the moment we spotted the Baeal fleet over this area. If someone crazy decided to stay behind, it’s their problem. I’m more concerned about our own wellbeing.” Colonel Pats turned to face Ray, “You’re the center of this. Why’re they letting you near the thing?”

  Ray shrugged. “Perhaps they don’t know I’m here.”

  Colonel pats pursed his lips and nodded, not seeming too satisfied with the idea.

  “All right, what do we do now?” Sarah asked nervously.

  He could see the concern—Fear, Ray corrected himself—in her eyes and he could do nothing to prevent it. “You stay here, keep the engines warm,” he said finally. “If we don’t make it by midnight, report back to the admiral’s ship.”

  “What about you?” Sarah asked, “Aren’t you the only one who can activate the stones? What if you get caught?”

  “What if they bump into something only I can pass through?” Ray reasoned.

  “Like what?”

  “I don’t know, Sarah!” Ray burst in anger. “A lock, a gate, a barrier, anything!”