by A A Warren
Commander Arlen held up a hand as an aid in a white robe leaned into the holo-transmission. The armored woman tilted her helmet, listening as the aide whispered into her ear. Then she straightened up and adjusted her cloak.
“Apologies, Marshal. I just received new data from the technologist council. I’ve been placed in temporary command of all Blue Star ships in the sector. We’re enroute to investigate the Gesa object now. We can only pray the reinforcements I’m sending you will help you evacuate the planet. Assuming it's still there when they arrive.”
Waylan glanced down at his hand… his fingers were tapping on the desk. A nervous twitch ran down his arm. “Commander? I’m not sure I—”
The stern woman leaned closer and lowered her voice. “There’s no easy way to say this Marshal… the potential energy output of that thing is growing by the second. If it explodes, or directs its energy towards Gesa… The planet would be vaporized in seconds.”
“By the gods!” Waylan gasped. “But it will take days to evacuate!”
“Then you better get started.” The Commander lifted her arm and glanced at the display mounted to her wrist. “I have to go. I have three more planets to contact.”
“M…More?” Waylan stammered. “Do you mean there’s more of these objects?”
“Nimbula, Kharis, Gesa, Metu… Four planets. Four objects. Billions of lives. And no idea what these things are, or when they might go off.” Arlen shook her head. “I saw the bottle before you moved it. Gesan shine?”
“Uh, yes, Commander. Helps with the pain. My back, you see…”
Arlen pursed her lips in silence, then sighed. “If I were you, I’d make it a double, Marshal. You have your orders. Get as many souls as you can off Gesa. I don’t care if you have to pack them in cargo pods. Is that clear?”
Waylan nodded. “Yes ma’am.”
The Commander thumped her chest, then nodded. “May the light of the blue star guide you. Good luck, Marshal.” The hologram rippled and faded, then blinked out of existence.
Waylan glanced down at his fingers… they were still tapping the desk at a frantic pace. He grabbed his hand to stop the nervous jitters, then he reached for his cup. The foul-smelling liquor sloshed over the rim as his quivering hand brought the drink to his mouth. He swallowed, licked his lips, then fell back into his seat in a fit of coughing.
After the coughing subsided, he poured himself another glass.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Talon's plasma axe cut a fiery orange trail through the air as he spun the weapon left and right. He advanced down the length of the Star Claw's cargo bay, maintaining a furious pace. His eyes focused forward with an intense, unblinking stare.
At the far end of the bay, a crackling blue forcefield shimmered between two support columns. Avra had fused the shield generators to the structural beams with a fusion-torch after they took off from Phantar. She didn’t bother asking Talon what they were for… she had seen Volonte beat him in the atmosphere tower. She knew he was preparing for his next battle with the living machine.
As Talon moved closer to the energy field, he spun his body around, throwing all his weight into each swing of the axe. The blade rose and fell with dizzying speed. The hum of the forcefield grew louder. Talon could feel the shaft of the plasma weapon vibrate in his hand, as the blade’s magnetic containment field reacted to the residual energy given off by the field.
Charging closer, Talon swung the axe at the forcefield, throwing every last iota of strength he possessed into the attack. Glowing sparks and ripples of energy shot through the field as the blow connected. Talon felt his arms grow numb… A massive energy discharge erupted from the shield.
The shock wave threw him across the cargo bay. He slammed into a nearby bulkhead and fell to the ground. The axe clattered to the deck plates beside him. Its blade flickered and hummed, then deactivated. The hilt rolled across the floor, smoke wafting from its beam projector assembly.
Talon picked himself up and brushed his sweat-soaked hair from his face. He slammed his fist against the metal wall behind him.
“Iberon’s harem," he muttered. "There has to be a way to penetrate that cursed shield!”
A high-pitched braying noise came from a dim alcove to his left. The Star Claw’s cargo bay consisted of a long, wide corridor, with several smaller bays mounted along each sidewall. He had converted one of the smaller bays into a pen for Decius.
Talon approached the low gate. The top of the bay’s metal door and been sheared off, to give the beast fresher air and more light. He reached over the low metal wall. The razor-wing lifted its head and blasted his fingers with a snort of warm air. Then it rubbed against his hand, and uttered a series of low grunts. Talon found himself smiling despite his frustration.
“I apologize, my friend,” he said in a quiet voice. “I did not mean to disturb your rest.”
The animal shook its body and stood up. It struggled to spread its wings in the cramped cargo bay, but its hooked claws scraped against the metal walls.
Talon glanced up and frowned. “Beasts such as you were meant to roam the skies. I’m afraid I’ve rewarded your loyalty with captivity. When this is over, you have my word… you will soar free once more.”
A comm panel on the wall blinked green and emitted a series of beeps. Talon patted the animal's snout, then turned and touched the glowing panel. “Yes?”
Avra’s voice crackled through the speaker. “Talon, you’ve been down there for hours. You better not be tearing my ship apart.”
Talon chuckled. “Actually, your ship beat me in our last match.”
“Sidegunners are tough old birds. Look, you should come up to the bridge… Orvane thinks he may have found something.”
“Found what?” Talon asked.
“What Volonte’s chasing after. And where he may be heading next.”
Talon clenched his jaw. He was silent for a moment, his obsidian stare burning into the shadows.
“Talon? Are you there?”
He touched the panel again. “I’m on my way,” he replied. Then he cut off the transmission.
He turned to the cramped razor-wing. “Rest well, my friend. Soon, battle shall be upon us once more.”
He picked his ax up off the floor, then marched through the doors at the end of the cargo bay.
As they hissed closed behind him, the creature uttered a pleased grunt, then curled into a massive ball. It wrapped its wings around its head and neck as it settled on the floor and fell asleep.
Talon’s crimson eye glimmered in the shadows of the bridge. He crossed his arms over his chest and stared up at the hologram above them. A web of bright, glowing lines snaked through a sea of colorful lights. He knew they were optimal star-path coordinates, mapped out in advance. Each glowing dot was a star in the region, surrounded by orbiting planets and moons.
“Tell me again what I’m looking at here,” Talon said, as he peered at the glowing column of stellar debris that dominated the center of the hologram.
Avra reached out, letting her hand drift through the shimmering image. The projector registered her movement, and slowly rotated the hologram.
“Look, every three hundred million years or so, the entire galaxy rotates around a super-massive black hole in the center, right? Well, the Gyre does the same thing, on a smaller scale. The star systems in this region all orbit around the cosmic fountain… a stellar cloud, created by a smaller black hole in the area.”
Talon nodded. “Aye… and the radiation it emits interferes with dark energy. That’s why travel is so slow here.”
Avra spread her arms, and the hologram zoomed in. Glowing planets and stars streaked above their heads, as the swirling cosmic fountain filled the image.
“Not just dark energy,” she replied. “Sensor data, navigation systems, communications… The energy this thing puts out can fry any system on a starship that gets too close. And that’s not even considering the gravitational pull of the singularity in the center. All of which m
akes it the perfect place to hide… assuming anything could survive in there."
Talon tilted his head and stared at the swirling hologram. “Perhaps. But Salena said ‘the past always leads to the future’. What could that have to do with—”
“I know, I know!” Two furry hands grasped the edge of the central command chair. Talon glanced down at Orvane. The alien’s massive eyes peered up at him and blinked. “Coordinates… old star-paths!”
Talon frowned. “Star-paths? What do you mean? How can our past coordinates show the future?”
“Look here. I show you!”
Talon stood up, letting the furry alien scramble into the seat. “Each time we open portal, navigator must make space-time map… Plot black holes, dwarf stars, gravimetric disturbances... anything that disrupts star-path.”
Talon tapped his foot impatiently. “Yes, but what of it? How does that tell us where Volonte is heading?”
Orvane pursed his lips and made a sputtering sound. “You know fighting and flying. But I know tech. Gravimetric bombs… powered by captured ship's fusion drives. They create micro black holes!”
“Yes…” Talon narrowed his eyes. “And those black holes would change the gravity map of the region.”
Orvane’s fingers danced across the control panel mounted to the chair. The hologram above them flickered and shifted… a series of wavy blue lines radiated from each glowing point of light. “Look… this is gravity map when ship first enter the Gyre.” He tapped the controls again. A second hologram appeared over the first. This time, the radiating lines were bright green. They were in similar positions, but every line had shifted a few degrees. “And this is after first bomb goes off. You see? Gravity different… the weapons shift space-time!”
“By the gods,” Avra gasped. “Could Volonte really affect the entire sector with those bombs? Orvane, show us the most recent map. The one we plotted after Zakarba was destroyed.”
“Yes, yes! She understands!” Orvane tapped the controls again. A new hologram appeared, overlaying above the first. The rippling lines now appeared in red, and had shifted even further from their original positions.
Talon stepped back, examining the glowing lines. “If he changed the gravity map of the entire region then… Orvane, can you use these maps to check the cosmic fountain? Did that change position as well?”
“Of course,” The alien exclaimed. He tapped in a new series of calculations into the holo-display controls. “Very small changes, hard to detect. But over a long enough distance…”
The hologram shimmered, and once again, the spiraling column of stellar gas appeared over their heads. “There is the fountain, according to the old charts,” Orvane said. He squinted at a series of readings that crawled next to the glowing plume of energy. “But, if I adjust for changes in the gravity map…”
He entered a new equation into the console, then sat back. Above them, the glowing cloud shifted, as if something were pulling it away from the center point of the map. A dotted line marked the distance it traveled.
“You see?” Orvane shouted, pointing at the blinking line. “The cosmic fountain has moved… the gravity waves pulled it off axis!”
“That’s what Volonte was after!’ Talon growled. “You were right, Avra. This Soul Vault he seeks must be hidden in the fountain's plume.”
Avra scanned the hologram with her wrist unit, then glanced at the display. "Like Orvane said, it’s a small change… just a few light seconds at the base. But that's enough to expose hundreds of thousands of kilometers of space. We’ll have to scan for anomalies in the newly revealed area.”
“How long is the journey to the fountain?” Talon asked.
Avra bit her lip and thought. “We’re not far away. If we can stick to a stable star-path, we should be able to make in it 48 hours or so.”
Talon nodded. “Very well. Then you have 48 hours to run the scans. We leave at once.”
He turned and headed for the exit.
“Excuse me? I give the orders on my ship! And where are you going?” Avra called after him.
Talon turned and looked her in the eye. “Back to the cargo bay, to keep training.” He shifted his gaze to the swirling hologram. “If we’re right about this, Volonte will be there, waiting for us. We will face each other again. And by Orion’s blazing bow, I swear… this time I’ll be ready. Shield or no, I’ll send his soul to the Haunted Stars.”
“Talon, there’s more at stake here than your personal vendetta,” Avra snapped. “I want that bastard dead as much as you do. But we’re doing this to rescue Suphara, not to settle a grudge.”
Talon glared back at her, but said nothing. Then he turned and exited the bridge. Avra watched as the doors hissed closed behind him.
She shook her head, and looked down at Orvane. “That pig-headed fool will get us all killed if he makes this fight personal.”
Orvane shrugged. “Like I said… I know tech. He knows battle. For him, all fights personal.”
Avra brushed a strand of copper hair behind her ear, then slumped into the pilot’s chair. “Yeah. Maybe you’re right,” she muttered. She engaged the thrusters, sending the ship hurtling through space.
Outside, the stars streaked past. As the ship increased speed, the pinpoints of light turned into long, glowing trails, leading them through the void, and towards whatever fate awaited them.
Chapter Thirty-Three
ZEDRAKON SOUL VAULT
The Gyre, Wild Space
Two days later…
A haze of dust and debris drifted through the stale, ancient atmosphere. A dim, amethyst glow cast faint shadows across a rough stone floor. The light did not appear to come from a glow sphere, or any other obvious source… it was simply present, emanating from the distant horizons of the Soul Vault itself.
The rocks surrounding the hovering platform had not been disturbed for centuries, perhaps eons. No sound broke the stifling aura of silence that choked the shadowed depths. No footfalls echoed through the vast emptiness beneath the pale, violet glow. Until…
CRASH!
A pair of heavy doors set in the rock walls buckled inward, dislodging a cloud of dust into the cold, dry air. Something had struck them from the other side… something powerful enough to bend the hinges of the towering metal slabs.
CRASH! CRASH! The thundering impacts continued. The metal groaned, and bulged even more. A crack of light appeared between the doors. Metal fingers curled through the narrow gap. Sparks flew from the runners along the top and bottom of the panels. The whine of overloaded servo-motors screamed in the shadows, as powerful metal limbs pulled the doors apart.
Volonte stood in the archway, his metal jaw clenched tight. The doors buckled again, then slid further apart. He released his grip and stepped through the opening. His crimson eyes peered into the shadows as his men rushed in behind them. Light beams from their wrist units crisscrossed over the floor, revealing the massive stone platform. They were standing on a huge disk of rock, floating within the vast interior of the Soul Vault.
“This place,” Volonte said, his voice a low whisper. “I… I remember this place.”
Dulkar placed an armored hand on his shoulder. “Welcome home, my friend. This is where your journey began, so long ago.”
Volonte glared down at him. “And this is where it shall end. Show me… Show me more.”
Dulkar stepped forward and peered into the shadows. He pointed his arm and a beam of light lanced out, illuminating a raised dais of stone several meters away. Volonte followed him as he paced towards the circular altar. Behind them, a hauler mech hummed through the shattered doors. A lifepod hung suspended from its spindly insectile legs.
As it floated into position over Dulkar, the sorcerer placed his hand on the raised stone circle. The speakers in his helmet crackled as he began a frenzied, guttural chant.
“Those words,” Volonte said, his synthesized voice conveying a note of surprise. “You are speaking in High Zedrakon. No living being has spoken that
tongue for ages!”
The sorcerer bent his head. He ignored Volonte, and continued muttering the ancient, half-formed words of power.
The rock beneath his fingers began to glow. Lines of energy radiated from his fingers, cutting glowing paths through the rough stone. The top layer of rock began to dissolve, as though the energy radiating beneath was melting it away.
A holo-display rose up from the stone. Ancient symbols floated in a cylinder of light, streaking up to into the vast open space above. The brilliant display burned away the shadows of the platform.
Volonte looked up, as the other men began to gasp and shout. The platform stretched for hundreds of meters into the void. The edge was completely open, and dropped off into the dark, endless interior of the Soul Vault.
Above them, circling around the chamber, tiny lights flickered in the rock walls. Crystalline sarcophagi, glittering replicas of the artifact Volonte had opened on the merchant’s vessel, lined the rocks. Beneath their frosted lids, dark, shadowy bodies slept in suspended animation. There were hundreds of them… perhaps more.
“Dulkar… you have done it! My body is here, it must be!”
The sorcerer turned to face him. “Yes, my friend. I have brought you to that which you seek. And I assume you are still prepared to give me what I want as well?”
Volonté nodded. “Of course, of course. How soon can we begin?”
Dulkar glanced at the mech hovering above them. “I must study these diagrams. The Zedrakon scrolls described the transfer process, but we can leave nothing to chance. The Sorari woman’s organic crystal structure will act as a prismatic matrix, refracting my essence into—”
Dulkar paused, as footsteps raced towards them. “Captain!” One of Volonte’s crew raced across the platform. The mech glared at Dulkar for a moment, then turned to face her. It was Aviarux, the woman who had taken over Angelos’ position as first officer.
