Shadows Bear No Names (The Blackened Prophecy Book 1)

by Oganalp Canatan

  Ray shrugged, “Maybe. Possibly.” The man looked dulled about the past and Rebecca couldn’t judge him with everything that had transpired in the past few days. She herself was quite shaken from the sudden transition in her life and this man was in the middle of it, without his consent.

  “Anyway, Mr. Harris, your friend Ga’an will meet you in the main docking bay. Please assure the safe arrival of the stone and let us be on our way.”

  “But we—” Brother Cavil began, but Rebecca stopped the priest with a firm gesture.

  “I know, you and your father have something important to show. Probably the whole ship knows, since you yelled it on an open frequency, Brother Cavil. We will see it after we have the third stone intact.”

  “We’ll be right back.” Ray headed for the bridge elevator, watched by a protesting father-son duo, their arms folded with displeasure.

  Brother Cavil humphed and turned his back to the group as Ray left the bridge. “I did not yell.”

  ***

  The cargo ship approached one of the side bay doors of the Deviator, going for the docking clamps for large freighters. She was dwarfed by the size of the super-dreadnought but still, it would be unsafe to try and land her to one of the fighter bays with all the fuzz going on around. Following the instructional lights and the signals of aircraft marshal inside the force field, CTC Birdie slowly approached and the ship connected to its targeted ring with a thick thumping sound, complemented by the hissing from its hydraulic suspensions.

  Ray, Ga’an and a marine squad watched the procedure near the landing pad. The boarding lamps whirled with orange lights, warning the ground personnel to stay away and moments later, the ramp descended, inviting them into the ship.

  “That’s weird,” Ray said, looking at the squad leader. He was ready to greet the captain and forward the official gratitude of Admiral Conway but the ramp was empty and no one disembarked the ship.

  The marine sergeant gave a curt nod without a word and signaled his men to board the ship, followed by Ray and Ga’an with weapons at the ready.

  The search lasted over an hour but they couldn’t find any crew. The bridge logs had been erased but there were no signs of an onboard struggle. The stone—Serhmana—sat idle in one of the cargo containers in the holding bay.

  “I don’t like this,” Ray murmured. “Sergeant, you found anything yet?”

  “No sir,” the man shook his head. “The data erased prior to contacting us is gone for good.”

  Ray touched his communicator, “Admiral, we have the stone intact but there’s no sign of the crew.” He narrowed his eyes. “Is it possible they sent the ship on autopilot for security concerns?” He didn’t believe it himself.

  “According to the logs, one Captain Oleg Gustafson contacted us before taking the Iota jump,” the woman’s voice responded over the badge seconds later. “Unless they jumped off the ship mid-flight, there should be five special forces commandos and two bridge personnel on board.”

  “Well, for whatever reason, they’re gone.”

  “And the stone?” the admiral asked, obviously trying to hide her concern.

  “It’s secure,” Ray replied, “but it would be best if a technical team inspected it with Reverend Marcus before we do anything rash.” Ray’s memories of Pendar were too recent to ignore the possibility of another trap.

  “Someone was on board,” Ga’an joined the conversation from his own communicator.

  “Explain, Mr. Ga’an.”

  “I can smell it,” he crouched, touching the floor softly. “Someone was on this ship recently.” He gave Ray a meaningful look.

  “Define recently, Mr. Ga’an,” Admiral Conway said over the communicator.

  “Very recent.”

  “Caius,” Ray whispered.

  “Caius? The agent you spoke of?”

  “Yes, Admiral,” Ray grimaced with the idea of having the assassin on their necks. “I suggest you double the patrols but keep it quiet. This man is dangerous and it will be harder to confine him if he knows we’re onto him. We already have intrusions.”

  “Fair enough, I will do as you suggest. Conway out.”

  Ray’s stare met with Ga’an’s. They both knew well the agent could avoid capture if he wanted to.

  “He can sabotage our plan in many ways,” Ga’an stated the obvious.

  “Maybe he felt lonely and was looking for a friend.”

  Ga’an raised a brow.

  “Never mind,” Ray frowned, “that’s a bridge we’ll cross when we get there. Now, I have to figure out how I’m supposed to use these stones.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

  AT THE EDGE OF TIME

  “What is it?” Admiral Conway asked as she entered the small meeting room.

  Reverend Marcus was inspecting Ijjok with profound interest and Brother Cavil was babbling to Ray about the possibilities of something.

  “Slow down, old man. Start at the beginning.” Ray gestured at Admiral Conway, looking at Brother Cavil meaningfully.

  “Father?” the old priest asked.

  “Well,” Reverend Marcus raised his head from Ijjok. “I believe we can shed some light on some of the words of that strange Baeal you met back on Pendar.”

  “How so?” Ray asked.

  “I explained it to you!” Brother Cavil protested.

  “Brother, after your second sentence, you started talking about the importance of pruning plants!”

  “Oh, did I?” Brother Cavil knit his brows. “But they need to prune that plant! Look at the discoloration of its leaves! Now, if you cut it at the second—”

  “Brother!”

  Brother Cavil pursed his lips, lowering his stare. He played with the belt of his robe.

  “Anyway,” Admiral Conway said with a rather stinging tone. “What is this about?”

  “The Ijjok is a map stone. The thing is, it is also a map of time.”

  “What?” Ray asked.

  “The more I work on these things, the more I find myself astonished. This stone,” Reverend Marcus patted the stone as if choosing a watermelon at the local bazaar, “it can show you what you want. But it can also show when you want.”

  Ray scratched his stubble face. He needed a shave.

  “You can ask it to show you the past. About Baeal and other things.”

  “How do I do that?”

  “The same way you ask about things you want to locate. Just focus and try to visualize what you want to see.”

  Ray raised a brow. “You sure this is how it works?”

  “No.”

  “Fair enough,” Ray shrugged, taking a seat near the table.

  Reverend Marcus put the Arinar, Ijjok, before Ray and stepped back, his eyes flickering with excitement.

  “Here goes nothing.” Ray reached for the stone and with his touch, the stone turned into glass almost immediately. Stars were swirling within the stone. First, he tried something he was used to, focusing the Ijjok on where he was. The stone obeyed, zooming in onto Deviator’s position. Ray thought he could even see inside the room they were standing if he tried hard. Instead, he tried to move back in time.

  “Nothing’s happening.”

  “Focus, son.”

  Ray closed his eyes, grimacing. The view changed. He was hovering over a green planet with a pale yellow moon.

  “Bunari!” Sarah exclaimed. “And that’s Canaar…This is when we arrived at Bunari, Skipper!”

  Canaar was diving into Bunari. A pod fired from the ship and thrust toward Tarra, the desert moon.

  “That’s me there, kissing my security career goodbye to start anew as a scavenger,” Sarah smiled weakly.

  Another pod fired some time later, when the ship was within the atmosphere of the green planet. The small craft zigzagged, heading toward a dense jungle formation.

  “Ouch.” Brother Cavil closed his mouth in terror. “That explains the fate of the fox. Poor thing.”

  Ray opened an eye, looking at Brother Cavil. The vision fli
ckered and he closed it again, trying to regain focus. Canaar rode like a comet in the sky, heading toward the city of Bunari.

  “Oh, my…” Sarah whispered, watching her home plummet to its demise.

  Ray pulled his hands from the Arinar and the vision stopped immediately, the transparency returning to the cold, opaque stone. “I don’t need to live through this again.”

  Brother Cavil held Ray’s shoulder, squeezing it firm. “Try and think of ancient times.”

  “Can you show me the fate of my people, Raymond Harris?” Ga’an asked with hope.

  “How am I supposed to think of times I never saw?”

  “You are the Lohil. I believe that is something beyond our perception of time. If it is there, the blood of the Lohil will make you remember,” Reverend Marcus intervened.

  “Oh, and can you please project the view to the wall or as a bigger thing, it is very hard to look over your shoulder.”

  Ray turned slowly to face Brother Cavil. “I’m not an entertainment system, old man.”

  “You can do things.” Brother Cavil waved his fingers in the air.

  “What was that?” Ray mimicked the old priest’s face and gesture.

  “Magic…doing.”

  “I’m not a magician either.”

  “You are a prophet.”

  “So what? Does that give me superpowers?”

  “Should it not?”

  “Does your Light have superpowers?”

  Brother Cavil folded his arms, his face looking hurtful. “You should not make fun of the Light.”

  Ray shook his head in disbelief. “All right, I’ll try.” He closed his eyes and touched Ijjok again. He started with his current location again, looking over Deviator. All right, bigger.

  As if the stone understood his desire, it glowed and the vision enlarged like a projection, hovering over the table.

  “See? Prophet powers!” Brother Cavil gave a broad smile.

  “Push it and I’ll try a lightning bolt!” Ray took a deep breath. “Here we go.”

  The view blurred for a second as if someone rewound a tape and Ray realized he could see what the stone showed even when his eyes were closed. All right, prophet powers.

  He tried to think of Ga’an’s final battle, imagining it as best as he could from the alien’s descriptions. Ray tried harder and harder but no matter how close he felt, the visions slipped away, always a step further than his reach.

  “I can’t focus on your battle, Ga’an, I’m sorry. Ijjok is pulling me toward something else.” Then the vision came to a stop. It was Earth, all right, before the continental drifts. Or so it looked to Ray. He wasn’t sure when he was looking at, but he could tell it wasn’t this plane from what he felt through the bond. Baeal ships hovered over the planet.

  “How many are there?” Admiral Conway whispered.

  “Thousands and thousands,” Sarah replied in equal awe.

  It looked like an ant hive. They were like a web, standing in between their home and…Ray had no idea how to explain what he was seeing. Judging by the silence, the others were sharing his thoughts.

  A black cloud that looked very much alive and yet completely dead stood before Baeal. A slow, whirling pool, the center opening into nothingness. The formation dwarfed Earth. Ray tried to zoom in. It looked like creatures were flying inside it, tagging along to its storm. Or had the creatures created the cloud?

  He opened his eyes and the vision died immediately. “I’m sorry, I can’t keep it any longer. It’s very hard to keep the connection with that long ago a past.” He was sweating.

  “What on heaven’s name was that?” Admiral Conway asked.

  “Is it what that Baeal told about? Their doom and such?” Sarah added.

  “It’s Her.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  LAY DOWN YOUR BURDENS

  Reverend Marcus leaned on the table, inspecting the markings on the three Arinar they had. Neither the old expert nor the technical team could find anything that suggested tampering or a trap on the third stone and Admiral Conway decided to go forth with the work on the stones.

  Brother Cavil paced around the meeting room, murmuring to himself the teachings of his father, earning himself an angry stare whenever he remembered something wrong, blushing like a timid child. Ray thought it also had something to do with Cavil losing his focus whenever he passed the decorative plant in the room, trying to control his urge to prune the thing.

  “So, Ga’an, you said the Baeal said something about coming home when you were fighting them,” he turned to face the tall alien.

  “That is correct, priest,” Ga’an nodded.

  “Admiral Conway said the same thing,” Brother Cavil stopped and scratched his head. “I cannot explain the time factor, but I believe Baeal are of Earth origin.”

  Ray rolled his eyes. “How so? After all, we didn’t see them trying to protect a planet that very much looked like Earth.”

  “Stop your sarcasm and bear with me for a moment, son. Well, first of all, we know for a fact Ga’an’s people were on Earth before us,” Brother Cavil said, earning a confirming nod from the tall Ancient. “Second, we know of some ancient writings found on Earth and around in our galaxy that predate the human race.”

  “And Ga’an said there were old relics found in excavations before their time,” Sarah jumped in. “Did Baeal leave those artifacts behind?”

  “It is probable,” Brother Cavil answered. “I am no expert on geology or biology, but the planet is billions of years old. The earliest species we count as the origin of homo family is about two million years old and the oldest connection we can tie them to is like, what, ninety million years?”

  “That Baeal told Ray this plane was untouched. So, doesn’t that mean they were never here before?” Sarah reasoned.

  Brother Cavil shrugged. “I cannot explain that, but the Baeal are plane dwellers, they come and go. Perhaps they were here at some point, prospecting for a new home.”

  “Don’t you think by now someone would have figured out that the history of our planet was wrong?” Sarah asked, folding her arms.

  “Who knows.” Brother Cavil shrugged. “We are talking about a species that believed the Earth was flat not too long ago. In any case, even if they are not originally from Earth, they were there at some time or perhaps, it was their home in an alternate reality.”

  “Alternate reality?” Ray raised an eyebrow.

  Brother Cavil shrugged. “I am a priest, not a scientist. You should ask one of the science types on board the ship.”

  “Okay, I remember this,” Sarah said, narrowing her eyes. “Something called a mega verse. No, wait,” she hummed a moment, “a multiverse!”

  “Well, either science or mythology.” Ray looked out the observation window in the meeting room they’d holed up in after the incident on the bridge with fake Matthews. “That’s a debate for academics, assuming there will be some left after this.” He watched the white and blue waves of light passing as the super-dreadnought travelled in hyperspace.

  “My ignorant children”—Reverend Marcus looked up from the old magnifying lens he’d pulled from one of his pouches—“these writings are older than my friend Ga’an here. That, I can confirm.”

  “Anything useful besides their age?” Ray asked.

  “They all say the same thing,” Reverend Marcus said, scowling. “The Lohil will complete the circle and activate the lock. The dialect is somewhat different from the usual Nucteel language, but I am quite certain of my translation.”

  “Talk about being cryptic,” Sarah yawned. “Anyway, I’ll take a nap, it’s been hours since we last slept. Captain Samir’s team will go after the Arinar on Earth. Admiral Conway asked me to join them when we complete the jump.”

  Ray looked disapproving.

  “What, Ray? I want to be useful. You guys are doing what you have to do here. I’m trained to use weapons and know enough protocol to follow orders. I’ll be fine.”

  Ray took a deep brea
th. “You’re right. Go on, rest.”

  “Let me know when you’ve found something,” she touched Ray’s arm and smiled, leaving the room.

  Brother Cavil winked both his eyes at Ray, grinning, watching Sarah leave.

  “What!” Ray frowned.

  “Nothing,” the old man giggled.

  “The Mara’tthane is destroyed,” Ga’an said, not understanding—or ignoring—their exchange. “Perhaps the lock will not work.”

  “Maybe,” Ray nodded, ignoring the still-grinning priest. “Still, we need to try. Perhaps the other stones will do something useful.”

  “It may be so, Raymond Harris,” the tall alien didn’t sound too confident of victory. “Admiral Conway requested my presence on the bridge.” He saluted the old men and Ray, taking his leave.

  Their debate about how to activate the stones in unison continued for another hour or so, only coming to a stop after Reverend Marcus mumbled something about his favorite soup.

  “All right, you two stay here,” Ray stood up, stretching his aching muscles. “I’ll bring some food. We could all use a break anyway.”

  He left the room, saluting the two guards at the door and made his way for the cafeteria two decks below. He’d been ignoring the kitchen on their level since the elder man tried to educate the cook with garden thyme. One of the guards—Private Meadows—escorted him. After Commander Matthews turning an imposter of the original, a Cosmon Brotherhood saboteur caught on board and the possibility of an intruder coming on board with CTC Birdie, Admiral Conway had assigned permanent escorts to the group. Especially Ray. Not that Ray fooled himself even for a second that he or the young woman accompanying him would be able to stop Agent Caius killing them both. Still, it was somewhat of a relief to know you had someone watching your back.

  “Any news of the search?” Ray asked the private.

  “No, sir,” Private Meadows said. “They’re still continuing the sweep. It’s a big ship and that assassin of yours is a capable one from what you told us.”

  “You have no idea.” It is a huge ship, Ray frowned. The super-dreadnought was over eight thousand meters in length with close to twenty thousand personnel. It was worse than searching for a needle in a haystack. The ship was a maze and someone with Agent Caius’ abilities could easily hide indefinitely.