by Paul Centeno
“Yes,” she said, giving him a long look. “That’s why I went searching for you. I was hoping you could translate it.”
The archeologist let out an amused laugh. “I’m not Del Vayso, sis.” At her frustrated sigh, he went on, “I can try to interpret a few letters or words, but you’re gonna need to at least give me a week to get somewhere. Does your ship contain a historical databank?”
“Marauder only has one supercomputer linked to the TDE. It’s on the third level near the cafeteria. Just don’t go looking for a chef.”
He chuckled softly. “Nothing wrong with a skeleton crew when you’re trying to save some money. Anyway, let me go down there and start using the TDE. I need to study Del Vayso’s lifework again and see if I can find any legitimate articles related to Xen’tarza and the language found in Medeix Et Victum.”
“What should I do?”
“Hmmm,” he murmured, rubbing his chin, “if you don’t want to lose your mind waiting for me to make a break, then you’d better hope the contact has a bunch of guild missions lined up for you.”
Shirakaya rolled her eyes. “With my luck, he probably won’t bug me until you discover something.”
They both chuckled.
“All right,” she said. “I guess I’ll leave you to it. Good luck, Khal. Please don’t let me down.”
“I’ll try not to...”
III
Pursuit
The freelancer parted ways with her brother, returning to the flight deck. She sat in her armchair and focused on the current situation, her mind tearing away from strange legends. Zoning back in, she realized Marauder was flying through a nebula. She also noticed that her crew appeared tense; and though she knew some of them were probably upset with her for not rushing blindly to investigate the disappearance of a star, she had a feeling their silence wasn’t because of that.
“Any reason why we’re in a nebula and not dimensional space?”
“Myris has reason to believe we’re being followed,” Rah’tera said.
“What?” she said, eyebrows furrowed. “Why wasn’t I notified? Could it be xyimorphs seeking revenge for His Radiance?”
“No,” the AI said, his pixilated face appearing on the main screen. “Our glorious Queen of Death was the one who destroyed him. Remember? Furthermore, she used her magic to create a doppelganger that she placed on the Solar Throne. If xyimorphs seek revenge, they will attack her illusory twin.”
“Then who in all the hells is following us?” she demanded. “Yaro, you’re in charge of surveillance. What’s going on?”
The mutant was at a loss for words. “I’m afraid I don’t see anything suspicious.”
“I sense an insane amount of hatred,” the oracle said. “It’s a fanatical, righteous revulsion against you. That’s all I know, fearless leader.”
Shirakaya glowered, tired of all the obstacles.
“If little Ms. Yun’sara over here is right and we’re in fact being followed, then it means whoever it is has some serious badass cloaking technology,” Dojin said.
Rah’tera scoffed. “Little do they know, we have an impressive oracle on our side.”
“I guess that’s why we’re in this nebula,” Shirakaya commented. “Neither of us will be capable of detecting the other.”
“Correct,” the AI said. “In this region of space, we are nothing more than anomalies.”
The freelancer swallowed her pride, trying hard to overcome her anger. “Well, this was a bold move. But one of you should have notified me immediately. As fond as I am of your tactics, I want us to pull out of the nebula. No more running. We have a battleship. I want to confront these assholes and ensure we’re never followed again.”
Xorvaj roared with delight. “Time to start a massacre!”
“Right,” the freelancer said decisively. “Vokken, pull us out. Rah’tera, maintain shields as best you can,”—He gave a quick nod—“Xorvaj, make sure our cannons are at maximum power when we’re clear.”
“With pleasure.”
Dojin turned to the freelancer. “What about the railgun and gamma missiles? Those weapons alone can fuck shit up.”
“Missiles are extremely expensive. I need Vokken to use those since his precision would be a hundred percent. But you can port to Marauder’s aft and operate the railgun. Just don’t use it unless I say so because recharging it will leave us vulnerable.”
“Gotcha,” he said, leaving the bridge.
Xeza jumped onto Myris’ lap, producing a wary urp.
“Myris,” Shirakaya called out, “are you able to sense their position?” When the oracle shook her head, the freelancer continued, “That’s all right. We know somebody’s there. Yaro, launch a tachyon torpedo.”
“Aye.”
As the interstellar vessel zoomed out of the nebula, the mutant fired a torpedo. Sensors functioning again, Yarasuro noticed an anomaly on his starmap—precisely where the missile had detonated—and pinpointed it on the flight deck’s primary screen. Distortions in space occurred, lightning sparking until an armada of thirteen ships uncloaked.
“Figures,” the freelancer said.
On the hull of each vessel hung a white emblem depicting a purified woman with a halo, sitting in a meditative position. Shirakaya squinted at the large fleet and their insignia with intrigue, her brow furrowing. Before announcing to the crew who they were, however, she heard a beeping sound.
Yarasuro snorted. “Now that we spotted them, they’re hailing us.”
“Open a frequency on the telecommunications screen,” Shirakaya said. As suspected, she saw a group of robed women sitting in a candle-lit cockpit. “What brings the Sisterhood of Light to this quadrant of space?”
The cloaked leader rose from her chair. “We have been searching for you, Shirakaya of Aarda,” she said. Removing her hood, she revealed bloody marks along her cheeks. “Maz’hura demands justice. Before the new cycle, you protected a blasphemer and murdered fellow sisters in the process. Furthermore, our oracle has determined that you carry the accursed Medeix Et Victum. Surrender it so we may burn it, and we will grant you a humyne death.”
“How about this: Retreat and dissolve your cult before I annihilate all of you.” Without waiting for a response, Shirakaya ended the transmission. “Xorvaj, fire at will.”
Colossal guns along each side of Marauder turned, aiming aft. Adrenaline pumping, the ghensoth unleashed a barrage of fusion rays. The particle beams projected thousands of kilometers away, hitting most of the starships. Many of them performed evasive maneuvers, dodging the salvo.
The ships opened fire in return, but only a handful of plasma and laser beams impacted the battleship’s force field. Vokken maneuvered Marauder in a three-hundred-sixty-degree movement, escaping their lethal bombardment. Xorvaj counterattacked, focusing on one starship in particular until its shield malfunctioned. Seeing it dissipate, he unleashed a bombardment of ice-enchanted bombs from the wings’ cannons that caused the vessel’s hull to freeze.
“Dojin,” the freelancer called out via KLD. “You know what to do.”
He grinned maniacally, clicking a few switches and pushing two levers. “Time to fuck these bitches up!”
Marauder hummed with energy. When a button lit-up, Dojin pushed it. The battleship’s substructure opened, revealing a railgun as large as one of the vessel’s wings. Within seconds, the tip of its barrel gleamed with insurmountable power. At that moment, the weapon unleashed an electromagnetic shockwave that deactivated the fleet’s shields and caused a couple of crafts too close to each other to collide, creating a massive explosion.
Myris cheered just before receiving a vision of Marauder blowing up. “Goddess! They’re preparing to disable our force field!”
“Death to all heretics!” the cult leader yelled.
As the fleet launched disruptor missiles, Rah’tera activated the battleship’s matrix barrier at an appropriate distance. The barrier emitted a reverse polarity effect that sent every rocket back at the armada
. Although the detonations weren’t physically harmful, they prevented the cult ships from recharging their shields.
“Outstanding move, assassin,” Shirakaya said.
Xorvaj continued firing rays, destroying four cruisers. Meanwhile, the vessel that he had frozen earlier started to move again, targeting Marauder. It was about to launch a counterattack when Eladoris teleported in front of it. Enveloped in a mana shield, she cast a wave of flame that melted the ship until nothing remained. She then conjured a fiery whip, striking a vessel in half. Three ships assaulted her in retaliation, only to realize she was protected by a powerful barrier of magic. When she froze their beams, they redirected their attacks on Marauder.
“Shields are down thirty-six percent,” Rah’tera said.
“Vokken, you’re up,” Shirakaya commanded.
The arcane intelligence targeted a ship that was attacking his queen and launched a gamma missile. Upon detonation, the vessel exploded, its area of effect also causing shrapnel to disintegrate and damage the hulls of three nearby ships. Acknowledging their damage, Xorvaj finished them off with another barrage of rays.
Now, only one cult ship remained. It turned and readied to escape as Vokken locked on to it and launched another gamma missile. The vessel had zoomed back into the nebula when the missile reached it and detonated. Though they were unable to see the starship blow up, the mercenaries knew its fate thanks to the AI’s precision.
Xeza produced a happy urp while the others cheered.
“Excellent work, mercs,” Shirakaya said via KLD. “Vokken, maintain a stable velocity away from this sector. Everyone else, join me in the briefing room.”
With the exception of Khal’jan who stayed in his personal quarters to study Medeix Et Victum, the mercenaries regrouped in Marauder’s conference chamber. As far as Shirakaya could remember, this was the first time Eladoris had earnestly joined them. The witch remained standing in a corner of the room while the others sat at the table.
“Don’t tell me you already have another mission,” Dojin said, holding a DP-823 data pad that revealed news of a recent heist.
The freelancer snorted playfully. “No, but it wouldn’t hurt since we’re at an impasse. My brother needs at least a week before he can begin to understand Medeix Et Victum. Rather than dillydallying, I felt this would be a good time to grant shore leave. We can rendezvous as soon as Khal makes a breakthrough.”
“Awesome,” the young oracle said. “There’s a rad fair on Pravura in a few days, and I’d like to be an exhibitor.”
Yarasuro looked impressed.
Xorvaj, on the contrary, tried to contain his phlegm. “This will be a good time for me to lie low at Qyon’tog and sell that amulet.”
“Brilliant,” the freelancer said. “I might just hang out there myself.”
Dojin ported his digital data pad into his KLD. “As much as I’d like to revisit the sca’vezi black market, I have business of my own to attend to,” he said, clenching his fists. “In fact, it’s something I need to resolve before coming back.”
A knot of apprehension grew in Shirakaya’s stomach. “We all have our own demons to deal with, Dojin. Just...make sure you do come back.”
The renegade nodded, leaving the room.
“I’ll contact my guild,” Rah’tera said. “If they have a blacklist for me, I’ll disembark at Pravura with Myris.”
Shirakaya barely listened to him, concerned about Dojin. “Then it’s settled.”
Transformation
My wounded children, I have heard you calling out to me for eons. You yearn for justice each and every moment. You yearn for the righteous to be praised, and the wrongdoer to be punished. Yet, I say unto you, let not your soul be corrupted by the corruptor. If such a criminal should attack, allow the bullets of destruction to transform into flowers of sunshine. Judge not what they have done but what you can do for them. Such troubled souls need guidance. Release yourselves from the gripping bondage of grudges and set your enemies free. Only then shall you know my divine love.
Gathas of Maz’hura 51:8
Chapter Four
Renegade
I
Assault
On planet Ujhiri, two women strode together in a busy city. Dressed for business, the couple walked a few blocks east, holding hands until they reached the Infinite Stock Exchange. At the financial district, they stopped at a central fast-food market to grab breakfast and then made their way to a bank called Velletek.
They stepped inside and greeted an officer in the vestibule where they were scanned. Once clear, the couple entered the bank’s atrium. After waving their KLDs at a kiosk, they kissed and parted ways. One of them stood in front of the interior doors, greeting customers while the other joined her fellow tellers behind a pane of votrigon.
It appeared to be a busy morning at the bank. Dozens of people without the luxury of kinetic link devices surged in, depositing and withdrawing reons. Customers sought consultants for purchasing real estate, refinancing, reverse mortgages, and equity lines of credit. Younger people patiently waited for representatives in an attempt to receive student loans. Within just a few hours, the branch was filled to capacity.
An hour before the bank would close for the day, a shuttle parked by Velletek. As it hovered a few feet from the ground, seven aliens jumped out: two humyns, a tyiri, a hevala, a xentari, a ghensoth and a sca’vezi. Donning demon-like masks and clad in heavy black armor, they charged into the bank.
Before the officer could even flinch, the ghensoth shoved a claw through his overgrown belly. The sca’vezi launched a saucer that disrupted all security cameras and weapon detectors while his comrades leaped across the vestibule. Lifting the dead officer, the ghensoth threw his corpse through the interior doors.
Glass shattered. People shrieked. Many of them scrambled to get away. Yet they stopped in their tracks as soon as the hovering saucer played an android-sounding message: Lie down on the floor; do not move; do not scream; do not speak; do not look up. The message replayed itself multiple times while the masked terrorists charged in, shooting security guards around the bank with silenced guns.
As the intruders were busy with their murdering, the receptionist quietly reached for the kiosk’s alarm. Before she managed to activate it, however, the ghensoth seized her extended arm and ripped it off. He then grabbed her by the jaw—crushing it effortlessly—and tossed her halfway across the chamber into a chandelier. Her lover screamed in hysteria, at which point the sca’vezi aimed his pistol at her and put a hole in her head.
From that point on, everyone obeyed the stark message. The masked humyns stood on either side of a sealed vault, using enchanted swords to carve it open. Concurrently, the xentari and tyiri hacked automated teller machines via their KLDs, transferring thousands of reons into their personal accounts. The other aliens paced Velletek, ensuring that the hostages obeyed the saucer’s repeating message.
Once the vault’s door melted off, the masked swordsmen stepped inside a chamber littered with dalikonium ingots. In less than a minute, they digitally ported every ingot into their kinetic link devices and left. When the duo exited the emptied vault, their comrades followed them out of the bank. At that exact moment, their shuttle returned. They rushed inside the craft and immediately took off, leaving the planet before anyone in the bank had the courage to look up and report what had happened.
II
Emptiness
Deep in the outer realm of space, Marauder advanced through a relatively empty star system in the Maga’Dar galaxy. What made Xaglia Zamosus such a famous star system, despite its puny sun and two orbiting planets, was Qyon’tog, a gargantuan asteroid along a belt surrounding the sca’vezi homeworld of Phikon. Approaching the planet’s belt, Vokken slowed down. He then flew the battleship amid asteroids until arriving at Qyon’tog, which glittered like a cross between a midnight metropolis and an excavation site.
Alone in Marauder’s cafeteria, Dojin sat at the bar section and guzzled down a bottle of s
equila mequla. He was reaching for another bottle when the vessel came to a full stop. Feeling the battleship rumble, Dojin assumed that Vokken had docked at the notorious asteroid where Xorvaj needed to sell the amulet they had acquired in Jye Xeu Zeikein. Not thinking further on the matter, he started drinking another bottle of alcohol.
While he gulped it down like juice, his KLD vibrated. Glancing at the device, he noticed a message appear on the screen: Dojin! Help me! For a moment, he gazed blankly at the email before realizing that the notification had been sent from an unknown source. Putting his drink down, he shook his head. Then he saw another message appear: Please! Help me!
“Am I drunk already?”
Trying to clear his mind, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. When he reopened them, the message was gone. Mystified, he immediately checked his email history but didn’t see any recent notifications. Dojin raised an eyebrow, returning to the “new” email tab, which was empty.
“I gotta drink less,” he said to himself, laughing.
Shirakaya and the ghensoth entered the cafeteria from a door across the chamber. The duo approached Dojin who purposely ignored them. Glancing at his liquor, the freelancer couldn’t help but grin. She poured herself a shot and drank it in one quick swig before he could finish the bottle of sequila mequla.
“Last chance to join us,” she said.
“Not interested.”
Shirakaya squinted at him. “It’s scumbag haven. How can you not be interested? Just about every person there is like you.”
“There ain’t no one like me.”
Xorvaj cackled softly.
“All right,” Shirakaya said with a sigh. “Well, whatever business you need to take care of...make sure you’re not drunk when tending to it. And when it’s finished, get your ass back here.”
The renegade didn’t respond.
