On Galaxy's Edge: Ascendance

by Alex T. Kolter

  He couldn’t see clearly, but it looked like perhaps twenty men moving slowly down the street towards them. “Down there,” Nero said quietly, without wishing to advertise to the incoming group that they’d been spotted. “About twenty people, I think.”

  “Shit,” Mikkel breathed. “That many has got to be bandits. Spread out, we don’t want to be an easy target,” he said, and the group of eight villagers moved further apart from each other.

  Perhaps because they had seen the villagers move further away from the light of the building, the bandits decided to rush forward. They came running out of the street and emerged into the dim light streaming out of the long building, laser rifles held at the ready. Seeing the resistance arrayed before them, they fired, and Nero dived out of the way.

  Ando wasn’t so lucky, and was hit full on in the chest by one of the bandits’ rifles. He let out a strangled yell of pain, and collapsed backwards onto the ground. Nero rushed over to him, expecting the worst, but when he looked down, there was no gaping wound in Ando’s chest. Instead, his clothing had been burnt away in a circle, and his skin underneath had suffered a pretty nasty burn, but otherwise, Ando looked perfectly fine.

  Nero laughed, which Ando didn't appreciate. He looked up hurt at Nero, and tenderly touched the burnt skin, then winced. “Dated weapons,” Nero said by way of explanation, and then stood back up, a malicious smile on his face. He looked around and saw a couple of villagers had been hit as well, and were crumpled on the ground in pain.

  Without waiting any longer, he ran forward, rapidly reaching the group of bandits. Adrenaline surging through his body, he jumped up into the air and came down on top of one of them, knocking him unconscious. The others turned at Nero’s entrance, but he was too quick for them. A series of rapid punches and kicks brought a few of the nearest ones down, and then Nero was gone, running away from the group into the darkness.

  They looked around, searching for their attacker, confused at the speed of whoever had jumped them. Then Nero ran into the group again, from behind this time. A punch to the head of the nearest bandit produced a sickening crunch, and a small spurt of bright red blood escaped the man’s skull. He crumpled, dead, and Nero then knocked the legs out from three of the other bandits in a single spinning kick.

  Perhaps ten were still standing, but Nero’s distraction had given Reese and Adira the time to approach the group, and were now aiming their own weapons at the bandits. Nero slowly stepped aside, and watched as the remaining bandits thought about attacking, but a quick glance at Nero and at the weapons convinced them not to. They slowly put their own aging weapons on the ground, and held up their hands in front of them.

  Nero smiled and moved forward to kick their weapons away. “Good thinking, guys,” he said with a smile. “I think Mikkel here will be pleased at your change of heart.”

  He turned at the sound of footsteps behind him, and saw Mikkel walking over, holding his own weapon in front of him. Nero glanced at it, and saw it was the same ancient design as the bandits had used.

  “I’ve never seen... well, that was impressive,” Mikkel said, ignoring the bandits. “I don’t think these guys will be back in a hurry.” He turned to look at the bandits either collapsed on the floor or standing very still.

  “Well, if they do come back, make sure to let me know. I wouldn’t mind resuming our little dance.” Nero gave the bandits his most chilling smile, and then turned and headed over to where Ando was now standing, leaving Mikkel and his men to deal with the bandits.

  “Ando, you feeling okay?” he asked.

  “Do I look okay?” Ando asked, looking down at the burn mark on his chest and grimacing.

  “Some might say it’s an improvement,” Nero answered, looking at the injury. “Adds character. And besides, it’s a well-known fact that women love a man with a battle scar. Isn’t that right, Adira?”

  She almost snorted as she stopped beside Nero and Ando. “It depends on who has the battle scar,” she said, giving Nero a pointed look.

  “Ouch, Adira, that was uncalled for.”

  “But on you Ando, I’m sure women would find it very attractive.” She then disappeared into the building, and Ando, was a slight grin on his face, turned to follow her in. Nero shook his head, and entered the building with Reese close behind.

  ****

  The first thing he saw in the morning was the lake, sunlight reflecting off the surface, and the mountains behind it. Nero rolled onto his side and looked out of the large window, taking in the majestic sight. He watched as an animal of some sort, dark grey in colour, breached the surface of the water and then sunk back down. Then, metal arm thunking slightly on the hard floor, he got up off the mat he’d been sleeping on and stood up.

  Stretching, he looked around the room they’d been allowed to sleep in, seeing the rest of the Fafnir’s crew were still asleep on their mats. Quietly, so as not to wake them, he stepped out of the door and on to the strange plant that covered the ground, that Kess had called grass. With nothing on his feet, it felt good to walk on. Even if, he admitted to himself, the sensations generated by his foot were entirely artificial.

  “You’re up early,” he heard, and looked around to see Raina walking along the shore of the lake, hands in pockets. Nero glanced down at himself, suddenly aware that he hadn’t put a top on yet. Raina smiled wryly and walked over.

  “Don’t worry,” she said. “I’ve seen augs before. We’re not completely backward out here.”

  That surprised Nero. “You have?” he asked.

  She let out a delightful giggle. “Of course. How do you think we get all this technology?” she said, gesturing at the buildings, and presumably the holoscreens within. “Maybe it’s not all as advanced as you’re used to, but we do plenty of trade with other planets. I’ve met a couple of others like you. Well,” she corrected herself, “not entirely like you. They were rather less handsome, and had rather fewer augs, but you get the point.” She looked away at the lake.

  “Yeah, I’m unique,” Nero said quietly. He looked out at the view again, and then turned back to Raina. “So what do you trade up here?”

  She shrugged dismissively. “Whatever we can. Whatever we’re allowed to trade.”

  “Allowed?”

  “Yeah, well, all the food that we have here? There’s a herd of ogdn nearby, and plenty in the lake...” Another of the grey animals caught Nero’s eye as he glanced at the water. “Well, we can’t trade any of that, nor the fruit we grow. The CSG makes that quite clear. They send patrols around here from their base on the other side of the planet, and they monitor what we do. So we trade spare parts, mostly. For robots, ships, land vehicles, that sort of thing. People around these parts need that sort of stuff more than food anyway, so that’s what we do.”

  The CSG had power even up in these mountains? Nero knew he shouldn’t be surprised, but the utopian nature of the place had made him forget about them for a time.

  “Does that mean you have, erm...” He tried to remember what Reese had called whatever had gone wrong in the engines. “Gridded thrusters? Thruster arrays?”

  Raina glanced at him. “Gridded ion thruster arrays, you mean?”

  “Erm, yeah. What I said.”

  She laughed. “Probably. If not here, then at our main port further down the mountain.”

  “Port?” Nero asked.

  “You’re a wealth of questions today,” she commented. “Yeah, the spaceport. I told you we’re not that backward up here. We do have a spaceport. I’m surprised you guys didn’t choose to land there when you arrived, really.”

  “The crashing nature of our descent sort of dictated the location,” Nero said, spotting the mischievous look on her face. “As you well know.”

  “I’ll take you guys down there in a short while, if you want,” she offered, turning to head back up the shore to her place.

  Nero agreed, and then headed back into his own quarters. He pulled on a shirt, and kicked the others awake to a chorus of complai
nts. In short order, they had all dressed, breakfasted on some of the fruits the villagers grew, and were standing outside waiting for Raina to return.

  It wasn’t long before she did return, accompanied by another villager who introduced himself as Enos. Nero didn’t think he could be much older than sixteen, but he reminded Nero of Nate. Perhaps it was his build, which made him look older than he was, or perhaps it was the cocksure attitude. Whatever, he seemed nice enough. He gave them a big smile when he turned up.

  “I hear you guys is looking for a spare part,” he said. “We’ve got loads down at the port. You’re sure to find summat down there that’ll work. It’s this way.” He walked past them, and headed down a path that ran next to the lake for a distance, before curving away and out of sight.

  Smiling, Raina walked next to Nero. “He’s a good lad. Knows more about fixing machinery than anyone else in the village.”

  “It’s good to have his help,” Nero said.

  They followed him along the path, away from the lake, and down a slightly sloping pass into an adjacent valley. Not ten minute’s walk from the village, they saw before them a vast valley, stretching far away into the distance. At the nearest end, they could see a large open area, concreted over, with a couple of ships berthed there. Beyond that, and stretching far away, was a town of a respectable size.

  It was nothing like most of the large towns Nero and the crew had visited, but it was a darn sight bigger than the village they had stumbled across.

  “Now how come we didn’t see this when we landed?” Ando asked no one in particular.

  When they arrived at the spaceport, there were a few people bustling around, walking into the parked ships. Nero moved over to have a quick look at the ships, but they were entirely unremarkable. They looked about as dated as the weapons used on the planet, and in far worse shape than the Fafnir. He would be surprised if they could even get off the ground.

  “They might not look that great,” Enos said as they walked past them, noticing Nero’s interest, “but they work pretty good. They’ll get you off the ground, that’s for sure.”

  Nero smiled, deciding that he’d believe that when he saw it, and moved his attention onto the pile of parts that covered an area of the small spaceport. It was a mess, but it was a big mess. Big enough that they could potentially find something useful in there.

  “Reese,” Trix said, eyeing up the pile. “I guess you know what it is we’re looking for?”

  Reese nodded, also looking at the size of the pile. “Yep,” he said. “Just a matter of finding it.”

  “Well, good luck,” Trix said.

  “Yeah, thanks. It’s quite an easy object to describe, you know,” he added. “You guys could help.”

  Feigning a resigned look, Trix agreed, and Reese outlined what it was they were looking for. Enos also helped in the search, and with eight people hunting through the pile, it didn’t take long for a few possibilities to emerge. None, Reese said, were quite right, but he thought that some were close enough approximations to what they were looking for that they might work.

  With the various types of array collected together, the group soon left the dilapidated spaceport and climbed the short path back towards the village, vowing to return to the town to have a look later. They passed through the village and went on, up the stream, to find the Fafnir still sat on the ground, resembling nothing more than a giant rock.

  “Ouch,” Enos said, noticing the trail of destruction behind the ship, and the mound of mud and rocks in front of it. “That must’ve been a fun landing.”

  “Fun is one word for it,” Kess replied, a wry look on her face.

  Reese climbed up the ladder to the ship’s escape hatch, and slid it open. Nero watched as he balanced the couple of arrays he held, and tried to squeeze through the hatch at the same time. It was remarkably comical, but eventually Reese disappeared inside, and the others followed, though no more elegantly.

  Nero was the last up, and climbed out of the emergency hatchway into the rec room, noticing a few plates and pieces of cutlery scattered on the floor. He emerged into the narrow corridor, and made his way to the cargo hold to find Reese had disappeared into the same maintenance hatch that he’d spent so much time in recently.

  “Pass me the first one,” he said, and Enos, standing next to the hatch, leaned in with one of the gridded ion thruster arrays. This, Nero thought, could be a long process.

  ****

  “Try that!”

  The ragged voice came out of the maintenance hatch, and Trix, sat in the bridge, once again despondently tried to activate the ship’s engines. Nero glanced over from his seat, wondering if this might be the one, but not really expecting anything. How many arrays had they tried now? Maybe fifteen, and they were beginning to run low on options. Reese was still in the hatch, though, Enos still picking out possible arrays.

  He watched as Trix slid the power dial upward, and then jumped up from his seat as all the lights came on in the cockpit. The holodisplays lit up, bathing the room in a cool blue light, and then the whole ship began to shudder slightly. Trix looked over at Kess, sat in the copilot’s seat, and increased the power of the ion engines even more.

  They felt a little bit of resistance, and then the ship began to lift upwards, away from the ground. Nero looked out of the window, and saw that they were, indeed, now rising skyward.

  “I don’t believe it!” Kess exclaimed.

  They heard a yell of triumph come from back in the cargo hold, and then the sound of running footsteps. Reese came bursting into the room, a triumphant smile on his grubby, sweat-stained face.

  “You genius,” Trix said. “I think you’ve actually managed to fix this heap of junk.” She jumped up and ran over to him and, not caring how greasy he was, pulled him into a hug.

  He looked slightly perplexed at the display of emotions, but hugged her back regardless. “I think we should be good for a while now,” he reported, when Trix had let him go. “Assuming none of the other arrays go. I still say we need some better repairs, but this should do for now.”

  “When we get some more money in,” Trix said, turning to bring the ship back down to land, “I’ll definitely look into that, Reese.”

  “I’ve heard that before,” he said. The ship shook slightly as it settled down on the landing gear that Trix had extended. She hit the button to open the boarding ramp, and they heard the satisfying sounds from behind them as the motors whirred, extending the ramp.

  Leaving the now-active bridge behind, they walked back into the cargo hold to see Enos, Raina and Adira stood by the hatch, talking with Ando. Nero saw that he’d put some healing gel on his chest, and it looked like the burn was already improving.

  “I take it the ship is working again?” Ando asked, looking up at them.

  “For the moment,” Kess answered.

  “Until the next thing breaks, I guess?”

  “Isn’t that ever the way?”

  Ando nodded in agreement.

  “So,” Raina asked in the pause, “does this mean you’ll be leaving?” Nero was touched by the disappointment he saw in her eyes, even if her question was rather blunt.

  “Um, before I answer that, Raina, I’ve actually been meaning to have a word with these guys, if that’s okay. Maybe if we meet you back in the village?”

  “Of course,” Raina replied, her gaze full of curiosity. Enos looked quizzically at Nero as well, but followed Raina down the ramp all the same.

  “What sort of word, Nero?” Trix asked, as curious as Raina and Enos were. Nero stood and faced the crew of the Fafnir, each stood before him with a curious expression on their face. He turned to face Trix, who was, after all, the captain.

  “I’ve been thinking about things Trix, over the last few months,” he started, composing his thoughts. “And there are some decisions I’ve come to. One of which is, I need to do something about the CSG. They’re too big, too powerful and they don’t care about anyone. Only themselves. I’ve seen too m
uch, I know too much to allow that to continue. As much as I enjoy what we do, I don’t think that’s enough for me anymore.” He paused. “And another thing is, people like Raina, and Mikkel, they need help. The CSG taxes them, stops them from doing what they want, and they give nothing in return. It’s not right.”

  “I know it’s not right, Nero,” Trix said, “as do all of us. But what can we do about it? What can any person do? You need an army to go up against the CSG, but even then...”

  “That’s where you’re wrong, Trix. One person can do great things. One person can bring the whole world down. It just needs to be the right person, and they need to do the right thing. And that thing is start building a resistance. Sure, a single person, all on their own, can’t do much, but a single person that gathers a lot more people together... well, they can do a lot.”

  “And that’s you?” Trix asked, genuinely, and without scepticism.

  Nero considered a moment before answering. “I know I’ve never told you much about my life, before I joined you.” Trix nodded, waiting for him to continue. “The CSG, Aegis, they destroyed it. I had friends, people I cared about. But the CSG started to pay attention to me. They sent in agents, and they killed... well, they killed everyone. There was nothing I could do. I hate feeling that powerless, Trix. And I want to do something about it. There’s the same sense of powerlessness in these people, and it’s just wrong. And I will do something about it.”

  Before Trix could answer, Kess spoke up. “I want to help,” she said to Nero. “I’ve seen enough of the CSG too, Trix, to know I need to do something more. Something meaningful.” Trix looked sternly at Kess, but could see the determination in her eyes.

  “What do the rest of you think?” she asked, turning to the rest of the Fafnir’s crew.

  They exchanged looks, and Reese answered first. “The CSG are a load of bastards. I’d be happy to help take them down a peg or two.”