Star Angel: Dawn of War (Star Angel Book 3)

by David G. McDaniel

  “My belief is that an arrangement can be made.”

  Cee looked ahead, out the window of the speeding train as it curved from the deep-green forest, flecked with snow, rushing onto a vast plain that led to a deep valley. Immediately her citadel sprang to view, massive obsidian walls climbing the side of a mountain as if the whole structure clung to it, crawling ever higher until its uppermost turrets jutted like dark fingers into the sky. The host mountain sat at the foot of the range, at its base a wide, snowy expanse that stretched to the forest, black rocks of the mountain blending with the black stonework of the citadel itself. The clean fusion of mountain and structure made it look as if the fortress had been formed from the same natural forces that birthed the mountains, rather than crafted by hand. As if the citadel were, indeed, itself a mountain.

  Cee watched from the cabin as the train tracked rapidly along the raised monorail, lead cars heading like a shot into a dark opening in the base of the cliff ahead. Within moments theirs zipped in behind and the blackness consumed them.

  CHAPTER 17: A DISCUSSION OF POSSIBILITIES

  Jess walked the Reaver’s corridors, feeling trapped within the stark black surfaces, wishing the halls were longer. Wishing for any distraction to save her. She needed room to wander. To get her head straight. The confines of the starship grew tighter each day, leaving her desperate to get off. An unceasing, low-level panic that, by now, she fought constantly.

  Dinner minutes ago had been a strained affair. As had been the case with every gathering since her confrontation with Satori. Even Bianca gave her wide berth. The standoff with the others had become excruciating, and as she ate just now she tried to focus on the bland food prepared from the ship’s stores, the surroundings, the cool water they drank, anything. None of it diversion enough. Nothing worked to ease the restlessness—or solve her dilemma.

  Satori had it all figured out. Whatever force Jess exerted in that difficult yet decisive encounter in the hall was fading. The anxiety of indecision was settling and Jess knew if she didn’t come up with something, and soon, Satori would snap out of it and Anitra would become their permanent future. Jess couldn’t let that happen. Because once they went …

  She had no confidence in anything beyond that.

  If only they could expose themselves to the world. Stop hiding, light up and wave flags “Hey! We’re here!” It seemed such an easy—and obvious—answer. Bring the Kel technology directly to Earth and usher in a New Age. Simple. Unlike the rampage of a single Skull Boy there was no way any Earth agency, no matter how powerful, no matter how clever, could cover the presence of an untouchable starship, broadcasting everywhere from on high.

  Of course Satori would never go for that. After all, why give this to Earth before Anitra?

  Jess sighed as she walked, breath echoing in the narrow space.

  Somehow, some way—so far—Satori was adhering to her unspoken command. So far they hadn’t left. But she and Jess were on edge, a rift Jess could hear cracking, ready to break, and her hold was slipping. Something would soon give.

  Nani had reached a sort of “neutral buoyancy”, collecting data and mapping the capabilities of Earth, managing to hold the Reaver beyond detection even as she continued to mine the world’s information. She, of all of them, was fine either way. Content to be building her store of knowledge, piecing together the data she’d gathered on the Kel and, Jess suspected, in no hurry to rush back to whatever fate waited them on Anitra. Bianca held her tongue, but Jess knew her friend longed to go home and take her chances. Maybe she should let her.

  Much to Jessica’s curiosity Nani had begun infiltrating the Project in real-time. It was an amazing feat and one which Jess found hugely interesting, but she dared say little about it. Not in the current environment. For Nani—and Jess, privately—learning what the Project and, especially, the Bok knew was key. The Project knew about the Bok, and the Bok could reveal big chunks of the overall puzzle. The Kel were paramount, in her mind, and the Bok were once part of the Kel. And so as the other pressures built so did that one, for Jess, and her urge to expose the Bok had become unexpectedly strong. She wanted them. A compulsion for which she had no reasonable explanation, yet there was no denying the deep-seated desire to rip that ancient society from the shadows. The Bok had secrets. Deep secrets. Nani had confirmed that conclusively. Ties all the way back to the last time human and Kel were in contact, and the Project, top secret agency belonging to the most powerful country on Earth, had made the Bok their top priority. No effort spared.

  Could she, Jessica Paquin, with the help of Nani and the technology at their disposal, do any better?

  As interesting as the prospect was, she had no dream of convincing Satori of doing anything about that. There was no way Satori was going to agree to a treasure hunt—no matter how fascinating might be the promise of the results.

  And so life on the Reaver had become a slow agony that made Jess want to scream. The greater part of her was slowly coming to grips with the idea she might—in fact, likely would—end up having to live the rest of her life on Anitra. And probably a good chunk of that as a prisoner. A sad prospect to be sure, yet one which she might be forced to accept. It was also possible she could parlay the good things she’d done to regain position and at least stay out of jail. Remain a player, of sorts. The idea of coming back to Earth with the Venatres as a liaison was probably shot. That might’ve helped her avoid a prison sentence on Earth. Maybe. Right then, though, no solution was shining through.

  Hoping to avoid jail on two worlds did not exactly inspire one to action.

  She reached the infirmary and entered. The door hissed closed behind her and she went and sat in her usual spot, next to Zac.

  “Hi,” he said.

  She screamed and jumped up.

  “Zac!” She stared down on him, eyes wide.

  And for a moment couldn’t move.

  “You’re awake!” she managed.

  He grinned. She practically fell on him, gripping her arms across his wide shoulders and hugging him in absolute joy.

  “You’re awake!” She was smiling so wide it hurt, cheek pressed against his, the stubble of his newly growing beard tickling and she pushed tighter, squishing against him. Warm tears fell from her eyes.

  “I’m awake,” he confirmed, a little hint of amusement in his tender voice.

  She hugged him tighter, if that was possible, and felt his arms come up to encircle her. She squeezed him. Then pulled back to look into his eyes, noses brushing, debated kissing him and did. As their lips touched, hesitant at first, he pushed up with unexpected passion and she gasped and kissed him harder. In an instant they were locked in a deep, shuddering embrace. It rocked her, and all at once she was shaking so badly she had to pull away. Only slightly, but far enough to put some space between them. She hovered directly over him, face inches from his as he looked up into her eyes. Searching; looking into her; so deeply, so completely, she shuddered again.

  Slowly she climbed onto the narrow bed and scooched in to lay beside him. He slid to give her room and she straightened and propped herself on an elbow. He slid further, turned himself to the side and did the same. Together they lay there, on their elbows, staring into each others’ eyes, inches apart. For an instant she thought it would look bad if anyone walked in, but almost laughed with how much she didn’t care.

  Another shudder ran through her. You’re awake! She smiled with the joy of it, intensely amused with herself, teetering on the brink; feeling she was about to absolutely lose it and loving that it would’ve been the most incredible thing if she did.

  Zac!

  He reached his free hand and touched the corners of her mouth.

  “I knew I’d see that smile again.”

  And she smiled wider; too wide, she worried, and for a weird instant inverted from the joy and hoped her after-dinner breath didn’t stink.

  “How do you feel?” she asked.

  “Fine.” He withdrew his hand and flexed his fre
e arm, back and forth, watching the perfect muscles in his forearm and bicep contract. There he lay, right there, bare chested and wonderful, flexing his studly arm and Jess found herself getting lightheaded again. Desperately she put her mind to other things.

  It was almost as if he didn’t know just how amazing he was.

  “How long have I been out?” he asked.

  “Not long,” her voice caught and she cleared it. “A couple days, I think. Maybe more.” She tried to sound composed. “We’ve been in space since we rescued you. I’m kind of losing track of time.”

  He looked around suddenly. “We’re in space?”

  Oops. Totally forgot he needed to be caught up.

  A lot had happened since the fight with Kang.

  “This is the Kel starship,” she said, hoping that wouldn’t freak him out. “We used it to rescue you.”

  He kept looking around the alien room, trying to understand exactly where he was. So caught up had he been in her, it was almost as if he’d entirely missed everything else and now, as he looked around ...

  “This is … We’re on the Kel starship?” He remembered the ship’s name. “The Reaver?”

  She nodded. The reality of what that implied dawned on him like a ton of bricks.

  “You used the … How did you … ?”

  “We used it to rescue you.” It really was quite incredible, she had to admit, and it was hitting him all at once. There was no denying the conclusions detonating in his mind.

  “Then we came to Earth,” she added.

  Now he pushed up. “Earth?” Then: “You …

  “This is the Kel ship?”

  She nearly laughed, his reactions were so sweet, but it wasn’t the time for laughing. “It’s a long story,” she said instead.

  For a moment he couldn’t speak.

  His clear blue eyes were so wide.

  “And now we’re on Earth?”

  “In orbit but, yeah.”

  And more details came flooding back; like he was just now remembering the particulars of how he’d ended up there, of what was going on.

  “How … ?” He tried to collect his thoughts, tried to come up with an intelligent question, but at last was only able to repeat:

  “How?”

  In response she shrugged.

  He regarded her in hushed awe. “You came for me,” his voice was filled with it. “Again you came for me. You came and you saved me.”

  Quietly, almost shyly, she answered.

  “I said I would.”

  He stared at her. Admiring her; taken with her; utterly, completely, enthralled by her. With no words, without a sound, with no more than an expression and the emotion in his eyes he was so taken with her she could feel it.

  It made her belly tingle.

  At length the attention became too much, his inability to put into words what he was thinking and the silence that entailed unbearable, and she had to redirect.

  “You’ve got a beard coming in,” she said. She reached and stroked it.

  It was enough. He’d apparently been as stuck as he looked. He put a hand to his own face and stroked it too—slightly perplexed by the stubble.

  She took away her hand. Asked: “What happened out there? With you and Kang?”

  Zac shifted. Put the buttload of impossibilities to the side for the moment and simply decided to move on.

  “Kang is strong,” he settled slowly back to his elbow. “It was a shock. I recall an instant in the vacuum, the cold of space and … I blacked out …” He fell into the memory of that event and gathered his thoughts. “That’s all.” He looked around. “Did he make it?”

  She was hoping he would have answers. “We don’t know. The Icon was supposed to come here. We came looking for him.”

  “So he may be on Earth?” Zac looked around the infirmary. Suddenly ready to move.

  She put a hand on his shoulder. “So far there’s no sign.”

  He considered this; seemed to introvert.

  “I failed,” he said.

  “Failed?”

  “I was supposed to leave him. In space. You were supposed to come here to rescue me. Not come here looking for Kang.”

  “Zac. You saved Anitra. You did more than anyone ever should have. You put your life on the line and took Kang to deep space. You saved us all.

  “You’re a hero.”

  “But now he may be a threat to your world.”

  “He isn’t,” she said. “He isn’t here.” And at last she really believed it.

  Kang was gone.

  Zac just kept looking at her, piecing together the significance of all she’d done. When she handed him the Icon back in the park it was in a deadly rush, no time to explain. He’d trusted her and simply did as she said, taking Kang and using the Icon and disappearing into the void. Now it was as if he was understanding the full measure of her plan, how she must’ve managed to get him the Icon in the first place—then got an entire starship in order to come after him …

  “I really can’t believe you. You took this?” Again he looked around the alien room. “It’s like when you came for me at the Crucible. Crazy. Just … crazy.”

  She looked away.

  “What about the Icon?” he wanted to know. “If Kang isn’t here what happened to it?”

  There’d been no sign of it. And with the other starship waiting for them back in the Kel system there hadn’t been much time to look.

  “I was hoping you might know something,” she said. “We didn’t see it where we found you. There was another starship waiting so we didn’t have much time to look. We had to run.”

  “Another starship?” At this Zac leaned straight up, nearly sitting.

  It really was a long story.

  “Where did I go? Where did the Icon send us?”

  Jess shook her head. “All I knew when I gave it to you was it went to somewhere in space. After that it was supposed to go to Earth.” Again she was so weak with relief that things had turned out the way they had. Zac was safe, he was alive, he was well, he was awake and he was with her. “When we came to get you Kang and the Icon were gone and there was another starship waiting.

  “Kind of like this one,” she said, overwhelmed all at once. Where to begin? “I actually thought you might know something about that, too.” Clearly he didn’t. “Nani thinks it was a less advanced version of this one, which seems impossible, but we now know the point where the Icon dumped you guys was actually the Kel star system, and what we saw was one of their current warships. Like what might have evolved after the fallout of the Great War. This ship we’re on, the Reaver, was one of their ships from right before that time.

  “At any rate it seemed hostile so we got you and got the hell out of there. It shot at us but it didn’t follow. We figure it can’t travel like this one. There was no sign of Kang, or the Icon, so we assumed he used the Icon and came here to Earth.

  “Now it looks like he didn’t.”

  Zac was shaking his head.

  Jess gave him her assessment. “You were floating in space, untouched. What I’m beginning to think is that Kang used the Icon and somehow it malfunctioned. Maybe it got damaged in the fight. There’s no sign of him here on Earth. Nothing. No news, no path of destruction. It’s been days. There’s no way he’s just down there laying low.”

  Zac considered this.

  “So maybe … he’s gone? Totally?”

  Jess shrugged her one shoulder as she continued to lean on her elbow. “That’s starting to seem the most likely explanation. I’ve been fighting to keep everyone here, to make sure, but Satori is antsy to get back.” At this she looked down, toward their feet, lost again in her own head.

  There was just no easy way out.

  Zac seemed to become further aware. Of course Jess wouldn’t have come alone. “Who else is with you?”

  And she realized yet more of the picture was missing. “Nani, Satori, Willet, Bianca.” She shifted a little. “Satori and I have been arguing. Now that we
rescued you, and especially now that Kang is nowhere to be found, she wants to return the ship. Use it to help win the war on Anitra. Nani, on the other hand, thinks we need to address the Kel threat. They’re probably both right.”

  Zac studied her face. As if paging through her thoughts, looking for what troubled her.

  Reading her like a book.

  “So what do you want to do?” he asked quietly. Intimately. This was the source of her personal dilemma and Zac saw it clearly. He understood her indecision, recognized the difficulty she faced, and while he couldn’t solve it for her, especially not without knowing what she wanted—she didn’t even know herself—he looked deeply into her eyes, ready to help. And this unspoken understanding, the deeper meaning behind that simple pause—that he knew her, that he loved her, that he wanted to be there for her, whatever her decision—touched her.

  It gave her strength.

  “I don’t know,” she admitted, and it didn’t hurt now as much to say it.

  He sat all the way up; a slow, easy action, but it nonetheless took her off guard. She watched as he slid off the end of the infirmary slab and stood.

  “Come,” he held out a hand. “Let’s go say Hi.”

  * *

  Cee kept a certain distance from the throne, choosing to stand and discourse with Kang as equals, the scale of her citadel sufficient to act as reminder of who held the power. Her delegates were still with them, senior representatives from each major area of the Kel dynasty, standing in a loose group around them as if mingling at a party. Voltan stood outside the group, though near. A cordon of warriors and military officers had also accompanied the entourage to her throne room and now ringed the walls at the ready, weapons across their chests. Cee had no doubt there was absolutely nothing they could do if Kang snapped. He would kill her instantly, then the rest. The delegates. All of them. It was a unique rush of emotions to be standing there that vulnerable, keeping death at bay with nothing more than the power of her own words. Her will against the sheer might of the beast. Her leverage: his desire to have the allegiance of so powerful a race as the Kel.