Baldwin's Legacy: The Complete Series

by Hystad, Nathan

  “I…” Tom was at a loss for words. It had been so long ago, and they’d both had too much to drink that night.

  Rene set a hand on his forearm and shook her head slowly. “Don’t worry about it, Tom. We were young, and we both needed to blow off some steam. It’s not like I’ve sat around for the last decade wondering if we’d ever be reunited.”

  Tom nodded and turned his attention to the Callalay commander. “You know us, but we haven’t had the pleasure of meeting your number one.”

  The man’s skin was dark grey, his head bald, and the ridges on his forehead were long, subtle. “Pleased to make your acquaintance, Thomas Baldwin. I’ve heard a lot about you from my mother.”

  His mother? And it clicked. “I’m so sorry, Kan. We didn’t want… we needed to fend them off.”

  “Captain Baldwin, it’s quite all right. My mother knew what she was getting into when she signed up to captain the Cecilia.” Kan’s eyes misted slightly.

  “She was a great woman, Kan. I… I loved her as a…” Tom was about to say mother, but that wasn’t fair to Yin Shu’s memory, or to the memory of his own mother Cleo, so he held back.

  “I appreciate that.”

  Treena appeared confused, and Tom saw the pieces merge together in her mind. “You’re Yin Shu’s son.”

  Tom smiled, happy to see the young man again. “You were only a kid when I first met you, Kan. Remember when you came to Ulatross with us?”

  “I remember,” Kan said.

  “Okay, since we’ve all been reunited, what do you say we discuss a few things?” Rene said. She’d always been a bit of a wild card, even at the Academy. Top of her class, but she hadn’t climbed the ranks as fast as others because of her brash personality. It seemed the new admirals thought there was room for her now that their numbers had thinned.

  Tom took a look around, seeing an exact spitting image of his own hangar. “How are you liking the ship?”

  Rene led them out of the space and down the corridor, toward the meeting room. “We’ve only been onboard for a week, but so far so good. I managed to keep her from entering a wormhole or anything, so I win top prize on crew care.” She patted his chest, spinning on a heel to enter first, leaving Tom in the hallway.

  Treena paused from the doorway and leaned back, whispering in his ear. “I remember why I liked her.”

  Tom sighed and entered. The lights were dim, the computers off, and Rene took a seat at the head of the table, pointing to the chair beside her. He took the offered seat, and Treena sat beside Kan Shu at the other side.

  “Care for a beverage?” Rene asked, and Tom glanced at Treena. Did Rene suspect that Starling wasn’t human, or at least that this body wasn’t?

  Rene peered at Treena as if reading his mind, her mouth downturned as she frowned. “Sorry, Treena. Are you okay if we have a drink?”

  Treena grinned and nodded. “No problem. I’ll join you. This body has some advances. Apparently I can taste too, though I haven’t tested it much.”

  A ServoBot emerged from the far corner of the room, a bottle of Vina in its grip. It settled a tray on the table and poured four glasses before rolling away.

  Rene passed them out, and everyone stood after her, raising their glasses. “To new old friendships.”

  They all tapped one another’s cups, and Tom took a sip of the red Vina. It was a great vintage, and he settled to his seat, deciding to throw a curveball at Rene before she fired at him. “Careful, Rene. This is how we started last time,” he said quietly.

  She winked at him, her pale blue eyes shimmering. “I remember.”

  Tom felt the gazes of Treena and Kan on them, and he sat forward, setting his palms on the table. “What would you like to discuss?”

  “We have a lot to go over. Most importantly, the Statu. I’ve read all the files, but I want to hear everything firsthand,” Rene said. She took a drink from her glass, and Tom noticed how confident she was in her captain’s role. It was nice to see. He could only hope he’d exuded such a level of assuredness his first couple of weeks, but she was doing a good job convincing him she was in charge.

  Treena tapped the table with a finger, drawing their attention. “Before we discuss that, I need to know.”

  “You need to know what?” Rene asked.

  “The Link. Who’s the AI on this ship? What’s her name?” Treena asked the question they’d all been wondering, but Rene’s presence had thrown them for a loop.

  Rene Bouchard smiled and directed her gaze at her young commander. He fidgeted with his glass, but met Tom’s stare. “My mother is the AI. Welcome to Shu.”

  Tom pictured his previous captain, and then she appeared before them, a younger version of the proud Callalay woman.

  “Hello, Thomas.”

  ____________

  Kriss grabbed Tarlen’s hand as they rounded the corner and picked up her pace.

  “Where are we going?” Tarlen asked. Being raised on Greblok, he’d never expected to be on a Concord cruise ship, let alone this massive space station outside the human home world of Earon. It was a little overwhelming.

  “You’ll want to see this, believe me,” Kriss said, and he didn’t argue. She’d been here before, having grown up on Earon.

  They’d already taken two transports and had walked for nearly an hour. Tarlen had a notion of the approximate distance, but he was shocked to see it continue on, disk after disk, connecting corridors.

  So far, they’d stopped for food at what Kriss called a food court, and Tarlen had sampled dishes from around the Concord partners. He was still full as they jogged.

  “This is it.” Kriss slowed, and Tarlen turned his head. There was nothing left. It looked like the end of the station.

  “You brought me all the way here to stare at a wall?” he asked, growing impatient with his guide.

  “No, Tarlen. I brought you here to show you this.” She pressed a screen to life, and soon the wall began separating, revealing the most picturesque sight Tarlen had ever witnessed.

  His breath caught, and he grabbed the viewer frame to hold steady.

  “Isn’t it…”

  “Beautiful.” Tarlen stared at Earon. They were some distance, but the viewer zoomed on the planet. The system’s star was farther behind it, and she hadn’t been wrong. This was the perfect time to come and see the view. No wonder she’d hurried him so much.

  A moon reflected the light, and Tarlen couldn’t stop staring from their incredible vantage point. “My brother used to come here all the time,” Kriss said.

  “Brother? I didn’t know you had a brother,” Tarlen told her.

  “That’s because I haven’t mentioned him.”

  “Where is he? On Earon?” Tarlen asked.

  She nodded, but tears fell down her cheeks, confusing him. “He’s dead, Tarlen. My family buried him on Earon at our estate.”

  Tarlen wasn’t sure what to do, but he sidled up beside the girl and set his arm over her shoulder, pulling her in. “I’m sorry.”

  She wiped her tears away. “It’s okay. He died along the Border three years ago.”

  “Who did it?” Tarlen asked.

  “A race called the Kraur, from deep space,” she said softly. Tarlen had never heard of them, but they were still studying Concord partners in school and hadn’t moved on to the other races outside of Concord space.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked.

  She shook her head, leaning into him. “No. I just want to watch.”

  He remained silent, staring at Earon.

  They stayed there for another hour, hardly speaking, only existing. He watched the planet change positions slightly over the time and began to think about Belna. Doctor Nee felt he was on the brink of a breakthrough and swore a woman on the planet in front of him would be able to assist the process.

  Tarlen hoped so. Even though they hadn’t been sent to fight the Statu yet, everyone on Constantine was talking about the inevitable mission coming to fruition very soon. Tarle
n had been on the ground level while helping rescue the Bacal people during their initial visit, but there were still more of his kind that had been left behind. With Doctor Nee’s help, they’d rescue as many Statu slaves as they could, freeing them from the torment they found themselves locked into.

  “Want to go see the zoo?” Kriss asked, and Tarlen grinned.

  “They have a zoo here?” He was skeptical.

  “You really are gullible, hey, farm boy?” she asked, poking him in the ribs.

  “For the one hundredth time, I grew up in a city.” She took his hand again, and they started back the way they’d come.

  ____________

  Gideon’s Grill was as good as advertised. His old crew member Calin swore by the place, and Brax had been meaning to try it for a long time.

  The meat dishes were perfectly spiced, the bread as soft as a pillow. “What did you think?” Brax asked his sister, needing to speak loudly so she could hear him in the packed establishment. Most of Reeve’s last course remained untouched, and he used his fork to grab a hunk of meat from her plate.

  “It was… a lot.” Reeve glanced around, and he felt like her mind was somewhere else.

  “What is it?” he asked her, his mouth half full.

  “What’s what?”

  He stopped chewing, tilting his head to the side. “We’re twins, remember? I can tell.”

  “It’s this… entire thing we’ve been doing. When I received the call to work on Constantine, I was so thrilled.”

  “And now?” He drank some water, washing the food down. He flagged the server, a gorgeous human woman with eyes bigger than saucers.

  “I can’t shake the feeling like I’m never going to have what I’d been expecting,” she told him as the server arrived.

  “We’d like a couple of your finest Tarponian Foggers.” Brax held two fingers up and grinned at his sister’s glowering stare.

  “Really? It’s…” She checked the time. “Okay, I guess it’s a reasonable hour for a Fogger.”

  The server passed Brax a knowing smile, and sauntered away. “Go ahead. You were saying?”

  Reeve slapped his arm, diverting his attention from the human woman walking to the bar. “I was saying that I expected this new flagship to be an exploration vessel, like we were told when we signed up. Instead, we’ve been thrust into an old conflict and are responsible for so many things.” Her shoulders slouched.

  “We’ll get there. There’s some unfinished business. Do you think I wanted to join Constantine only to find myself kidnapped from Greblok a week later?” The server returned, not only with the Foggers, but with two shot glasses of a mysterious purple liquid.

  The drinks he’d ordered misted over the edges of the tall glass, settling on the table before slinking toward the ground. When was the last time the two of them had drunk one of these together?

  Reeve pointed at the purple liquor. “We didn’t order those.”

  The server flipped her hair and nodded toward the bar. “That man asked me to send them over.”

  Brax’s gaze wandered to the man, who’d turned to face the twins from across the busy restaurant. “It can’t be.”

  “What? Who is it?” Reeve asked, and Brax waved his hand in a dismissive gesture.

  “Never mind. I think it’s time to leave,” Brax told her.

  “Look, you’re finally loosening up, and now you want to leave. Forget it.” Reeve picked up her Fogger and took a sip. The server cleared the last of the plates and left them alone.

  Brax had to move quickly. The bastard was coming their way. “Come on. I said it’s time to go.” He reached for her arm, but Reeve snaked away.

  “Seriously, brother. Calm down. We’re not going…”

  “When you realize life is cyclical, you can be at peace with your failures.” Brax heard the man before he saw him standing a table over. The group next to them had begun to depart noisily, blocking his view of the bar.

  Reeve froze at the voice, and Brax slapped a palm to his forehead. This was going to be ugly.

  “Cedric, what a surprise,” Reeve told the Tekol man. He wasn’t wearing a uniform, but Brax would recognize his old Academy nemesis anywhere.

  Cedric’s eyes softened, and he stuck his thick arms out, as if to embrace Reeve. To Brax’s surprise, his sister stood up, her face glowing with affection.

  “I’m so grateful you’re happy to see me. I never expected this reaction…”

  His words were cut off as Reeve decked him squarely on the chin. His head spun to the side, and Brax already saw blood dripping from the man’s lips.

  Reeve shook her hand and returned to her seat, taking the purple shot with one tilt of her head. “You were expecting something more like that?”

  ____________

  The ship was so quiet, and Ven found it refreshing. His shift on the bridge had ended a couple of hours ago, but he’d managed to stay onboard Constantine, opting for meditation rather than self-indulging on Earon Station.

  With his mantras repeated a thousand times, he blinked his eyes open before commanding the computer to increase his light output to fifty percent. His room was immaculate, and Ven rose from the floor, tucking his meditation pillow safely underneath his bed.

  His gaze settled on the end table, where his En’or sat behind a locked box. He reached out with his mind, letting his senses search the nearby vicinity. He felt something, a small presence nearby, and it was afraid. Content, but afraid… not scared, but anxious; confused, perhaps.

  Ven thought he was the only one of the executive crew remaining on their vessel at the moment, but he guessed he was wrong. The En’or no longer sang to his blood, and he tested his Talent, using it to bring a glass of water from the edge of his table. It floated toward him with ease, gently stopping in his outstretched hand. He sipped the tepid water and set it on the table.

  This was why Elder Fayle hadn’t seemed concerned when he’d expressed his addiction, the longing that constantly knocked on the recesses of his mind. She knew he would eventually be changed into… whatever it was he’d become.

  Ven closed his eyes and saw something. He’d been seeing it ever since he’d woken with Elder Fayle bent over his face. It was a pattern of lights, a flickering of ambiance stretched just beyond his comprehension. Now it burned on the backs of his eyelids, and he opened them wide, only to see the pattern dancing across his room.

  “It is not real.” Ven said the words out loud and slammed his lids shut. When he checked again, the lights were gone. What was it? Had Ven truly been sent to the Vastness and returned? Did all Ugna go through this process? He had so many questions but no one to teach him.

  Ven saw a blinking light on his desktop console, and he used his Talent to power the screen on. With a brief press of air, he checked the messages without using his hands. For the first time since joining Constantine, Ven had a private communication directed to him.

  He sat at the desk, unsure who would have reached out to contact him. He opened it and saw it was written not in Standard, but in an ancient Ugna text only acolytes could decipher. His breath picked up pace as he read the message.

  Ven Ittix – Seek me on Earon. Find transport to Zealand. The Temple of Sol is your destination. – Elder Hamesly.

  Ven stared at the screen, reading it over a few times to make sure he had the information memorized, and then he deleted the communication.

  Elder Hamesly had been on Leria years ago but had left when Ven was still a youth. He’d never heard the man’s name again, and the other Elders had only told the acolytes that he’d gone on to bigger ventures.

  Instead of leaving his room, Ven pulled the circular pillow from under the bed and settled on it again. He needed to meditate on this.

  Nine

  Tom found it hard to believe Yin Shu was here with them. He watched her AI projection from the corner of his eye and more than once caught her returning his glimpses. Her son, Kan Shu, seemed at ease with his mother’s presence, and Tom understood.
It hadn’t taken him very long to grow accustomed to his grandfather being on his ship.

  “And you kept Tarlen?” Rene asked.

  Treena must have noticed his distraction, because she answered the question directed at Tom. “We didn’t keep him. Captain Baldwin offered him a spot in the Academy, and we asked him to stay with us on Constantine.”

  “Why the special treatment?” Kan asked.

  Tom thought the budding commander asking that question spoke volumes, when the young Callalay clearly held his current position because of who his mother was. The same could be said about Tom, and he knew it. Even more so, in his own case.

  Tom answered the question lingering in the air. “Doctor Nee is working on his sister.”

  Rene leaned in, her hands finding her almost empty glass. “The one he rescued from the Statu’s clutches?”

  “That’s right. Nee thinks he can find a way to bring her back, but let’s not get into that tonight.” They’d been here for three hours, and Tom was growing tired.

  “I suppose we should allow you to return to Constantine,” Rene said, standing. She walked over to Tom and placed her arm inside his, letting him escort her to the exit. With a glance to make sure they were alone, she whispered in his ear, “I don’t blame you for leaving when you did. But if you ever want to… see my Bothi coin collection, all you have to do is… knock.”

  She walked away, her commander following close after, leaving Treena standing beside the table. “What the hell was that?”

  Treena seemed to have forgotten that the AI remained in the room with them, and Tom pointed at Yin Shu’s projection. “Can we have a moment?”

  Treena caught on and nodded, entering the hall. “I’ll be in the hangar.”

  “I’m right behind you.” The meeting room door slid shut, and he turned to face Yin Shu. “Hello, Captain.”

  “I’m no longer a captain, sir. I’m an AI representation of the woman you interpret as Yin Shu.” Yin was around thirty years old, a far cry from her sixty or so years when she’d died defending the wormhole against the warships. She stood straight, her arms at her sides, and Tom crept closer.