Fayle ignored her, still facing Ven. Her hand brushed off his cheek, and it felt like she’d sapped his energy. He found a seat, ashamed for his own people.
“Fine. We have four days or so?” Fayle asked, and Reeve nodded. “Then we’ll do as you say. We’ll evacuate our children, but the rest will remain. We will fight for Driun F49, because it is ours to defend.”
Ven guessed it was about as good a result as they could have asked for.
“This ship… the Pilia colony ship, it’s massive,” Reeve said.
Fayle paused. “Did you say the Pilia?”
“That’s right.” Reeve stayed firm, her hands on her hips.
“And these Vusuls are their descendants?”
Reeve nodded her reply.
“We’ve received word of another colony derived from these people, one far away. High Elder Wylen will be most interested in this,” Fayle said.
A memory stirred in Ven’s mind, one of an old man watching him when he woke in bed during a visit to their village on Leria. That had been his name, he was sure of it, but when he’d asked about the man later, no one had seemed to remember him.
“Who is High Elder Wylen?” Ven asked.
Fayle looked startled, caught in a lie, and Ven sensed her unease. “No one. Forget I said it. Will you assist in the evacuation?”
“Yes.”
“Captain Delno, take Reeve Daak. First Officer Hanli, work with Ven as we relay the news to the other cities. Tomorrow, our children retreat.”
“And after that?” Ven asked.
“We fight.”
____________
Tom woke in the middle of the night, feeling uneasy about everything that had transpired recently. The Ugna and Fayle’s attitude bothered him. Seeing Keen again so soon had annoyed him to no end, and he was of half a mind to toss the man from an airlock. Then learning that Treena could have been strengthening her own body this whole time… that had sent him over the edge.
Aimie stirred beside him, and guilt laced his gut at his relationship with the woman who worked for the same people he now despised. But R-emergence wasn’t all bad. They were a major corporation, and had spent years carrying out philanthropic deeds. Their work with the Bacal people was proof of positive actions coming from their organization.
Then there was Aimie Gaad.
He turned on his side, resting his head on a hand, and watched her breathing. Tom couldn’t recall the last time he’d had real feelings for a woman. It had been years, and as it happened, that relationship had lasted an entire month while the dignitary’s aide was being escorted on Cecilia.
Tom had entertained the thought of asking her to stay with the ship, but hadn’t, and she’d left with promises to stay in touch. Neither of them had even tried.
But Aimie. She was something special. Wasn’t she?
Tom slipped from under the covers, verifying the time. Three twenty-three by the Standard clock. Three hours before he liked to wake. He decided to check with the bridge to see if word had come from Driun F49. They were racing toward Concord space but were still some distance from their destination. He hated being at a disadvantage like this, and was tired of everyone trying to pull the wool over his eyes. They’d been fooled again, and he hoped they could bring the Vusuls to justice.
He closed his bedroom door and sat at the desk, leaving the lights off. The screen was bright against his face, and he dimmed it too. The second he was about to send a message to Darl or whoever was on the second shift, he heard Constantine’s voice through his quarter’s speakers.
“Captain Baldwin to the bridge.” The lights flashed on, and he deactivated them.
“Con, can you come here?” Tom asked, trying to keep his voice down.
Constantine emerged, flickering at his side. “Yes, sir?”
“Would you tell the bridge I’ll be there in a few minutes?”
“Of course. Anything else?” Constantine asked.
“What’s so urgent? Did we finally hear from Ven and Reeve?” Tom asked. It had been too long to go without a message, considering they’d jumped with a Nek shuttle. He’d feared the worst for a while, but Shu’s chief engineer claimed the ship had succeeded with the first jump.
“Yes.”
“I’ll be there in five.” Tom fought the urge to ask what the message said. Instead, he slipped into his uniform, splashed some cold water on his face, and left Aimie in his suite, still dozing.
Brax arrived at the same time as him, looking like he was half-asleep.
“Lieutenant Commander. Did our latest match take that much out of you?” Tom joked as they pressed onto the bridge.
“No. I was training with the security team again,” Brax said.
“Good. Now what’s this message say?” Tom asked Lieutenant Darl, who was in Ven’s usual seat, alert and anxious.
“Captain, you’re not going to like this,” Darl told them.
“What is it?” Tom stood behind him, craning his neck to the screen.
“It’s Driun F49. Reeve sent a message through Vastness. Her ship was shot down,” Darl said.
“Shot down? Who did it?” Brax was furious.
“The Ugna,” Darl advised them. “Their ships were powerless, rerouting the energy cells to recharge their construction drones. They do have a vast array of suborbital defenses, and one struck the Nek shuttle as it broke atmosphere.”
“But Reeve’s okay? They’re okay?” Brax asked after his sister.
“Fine. They crash-landed, but are no worse for the wear,” Darl said.
“Get me Ven. I’ll be in my office.” Tom waved Brax to follow him, and they sat at the desk, awaiting connection with Vastness.
First Officer Hanli answered, and Tom asked for either of his executive lieutenants. He saw Elder Fayle arrive onscreen instead. “Where are my…?” He spotted Reeve and Ven behind the Ugna woman.
“Captain Baldwin, we’ve received your warning, thank you,” Fayle said.
“And you’ve begun the evacuation?”
“We will not be surrendering our home,” she said flatly.
Tom had expected a similar reaction. “You understand our plan…”
“To let these brutes take the world, then deal with them after? I refuse.”
“But they…”
“Captain Baldwin, we have waited for this, and our cities are nearly completed. Would you leave behind such a place, if the shoe were on the other foot?”
Tom stared at the screen, wishing they were done with the Ugna. Fate had other things in store, it seemed. “Maybe not.”
“Then tell your Concord to hurry, because we will be in the midst of battle four days from now. We have begun removing our young and old from the surface, as per your chief engineer’s request. But we will fight the moment the Vusuls enter our system. And I think you’ll find the Ugna not as incapable as you’re predicting.”
Tom remembered her and Ven killing the animals attacking them in the trees, and he could only nod, acknowledging their potentially deadly Talent. “I don’t doubt it one bit. We’ll relay the message to the admiral and Prime, but try to hold them off. Perhaps enter a negotiation with the Vusuls. Bide your time, and we’ll arrive in…” Tom glanced at Brax, who mouthed the number. Eighteen days. That was too long. “Two weeks or so.”
“I will see what I can do. But from what I’ve heard, I don’t expect them to be very receptive,” Fayle said.
“Can I speak with my crew, please?” Tom asked, and Fayle stepped aside. Reeve had a cut on her forehead, but it was already healing up. Ven looked much the same. “Are you both fine?”
Tom noticed Fayle was close by, standing beside Hanli.
“We are well, Captain,” Ven told him.
“You two be careful. See if you can assist Fayle in any negotiations. We’re trained for this kind of thing,” Tom said, recognizing that Fayle always got what she wanted. She’d convinced Benitor to give them a planet, along with full entrance to the Concord.
“Yes,
sir,” they said in unison.
“Stay vigilant, Reeve. You too, Ven.” Brax rapped his knuckles on the desk.
“Until we meet in the Vastness.” Reeve spoke and closed the communication.
“Damn it,” Brax said. “They’re crazy for sticking around.”
“Are they? She’s right, you know.” Tom leaned away in his chair, logging off the computer.
“How so?”
“I wouldn’t leave it either. You don’t run from a fight, not when something so precious is on the line. Our actions pave the roads to consequences, good or bad.” Tom rubbed his eyes, realizing he either needed to stay up or to head to bed. “What would you say to a cup of Raca?”
“I’d say, how about two?”
They departed the office, left the bridge, and headed to Deck Four, entering the courtyard. It was almost entirely empty at this off hour. The morning crew would be rising in two hours, meandering down for something to eat, avoiding the courtyard until a midday break or a quick coffee or Raca.
Once they had beverages, Tom remembered Brax and Ven had been working on something. He asked the chief of security about it.
“I think Ven’s been having some dreams about something important. He mentioned it might be related to the Temple of Sol, that place his former Elder started. The man left the Ugna and created his own religion. I know, sounds suspect, right?” Brax asked.
“Temple of Sol… I’ve never heard of it.”
“That’s just it… Sol. We’ve had a few references to it, mostly in passing. Notes about some distant system far beyond Concord space. We have no idea where to begin, and I’ve been doing as much digging as I could, but with the communication outage, I haven’t had time to contact any of the Founders’ historians.”
“I know one quite well,” Tom said.
“Really?”
“Sure.” Tom took a sip and called for the ship’s AI. Constantine came at once.
“Yes, sir.”
“Have a seat, Con.”
Brax smiled at the AI. “Why didn’t I think of this?”
“What can I assist you with? Brax, you have a strange look in your eyes,” Constantine said.
“What can you tell us about Sol?” Brax asked him.
Constantine took a seat; his projection shimmered as he floated above the chair. “Sol. Not a whole lot. I’m checking for any further references to it in the archives.” He flickered some more. “I did find a notation on a star map. It was only called the Solar System, with some historian’s notations referencing it as Sol. From what I can see, the nearest system to it is Proxima Centauri, but we know about as little about it as we do about Sol.”
“Proxima… That sounds familiar,” Tom said.
“It would. There were once speculations that humans emerged from somewhere out there. Our origin has never been confirmed, though,” Con told them.
“Why has no one ever ventured out to check?” Brax asked.
Con’s head tilted to the side. “I suppose they would have liked to a long time ago, but as the Concord formed and technology improved, the past was forgotten, like it always is. Thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of years have passed, leaving it nothing but a distant notation on an ancient star map. An expanding universe leaves unexplored space.”
“Con, can you send that to me?” Brax asked.
Constantine flickered, and he nodded once. “I’ve forwarded you everything I could dig up on Sol and its neighboring system.”
“Thank you, Con,” Brax said.
Tom smiled, appreciating Brax’s curiosity. It was nice to see the Tekol officer looking out for Ven and working on a project with the Ugna.
He took another drink from the now lukewarm beverage, and silently urged Constantine to fly faster toward Driun F49.
Twenty-Two
Four days. Ven found that he was calmer than he’d expected, given the fact that the Vusuls fleet was approaching their system. In another twelve hours, they’d be within striking distance of Driun, and that was why Fayle had ordered Vastness to intercept them.
Ven hoped she knew what she was doing. The Vusuls could open fire and destroy any chance at parley, but Elder Fayle was adamant that they at least attempt to negotiate, like Captain Baldwin had suggested.
Reeve was beside him, watching through the viewscreen as they raced away from the Ugna’s new world. They passed another planet an hour later, a gas giant with angry yellow blotches. Ven was drawn to it and stared, watching the swirling storms. He stood with his eyes open, melting into a meditation.
Something was wrong. He blinked his dry eyes and glanced at Elder Fayle, seated to the right of the captain. First Officer Hanli was on his other side, and she frowned when he made eye contact. What were they really doing out here?
The Vusuls’ ships slid onto the radar, at first an angry blob of red. As time passed, he could differentiate the unique vessels. One was massive, the center of the fleet. That was the colony ship.
“It’s so large,” Reeve whispered, and she was right. It was five times the length of Constantine, and ten times the size of Vastness. Ven remembered the Pilia had used them to send one million people from each. That was an astronomical number to fit inside one craft.
No one had spoken about trying to contact the colony ship. They were closing in on each other, and Ven suspected the Vusuls would shoot before thinking.
He sought the overall feeling on the bridge, but the Ugna were all guarded, giving him nothing. The only one pulsing with emotions was Reeve, and she was a cooler customer than he’d have guessed.
The colony ship zoomed on the viewscreen, a giant vessel dwarfing the normal-sized freighters beside it. Ven braced for an attack, sensing it coming from the Vusuls’ location. He felt their intentions, but something held them back.
“Captain, they are attempting to communicate,” an officer told Captain Delno.
Elder Fayle rose, stepping in front of the ship’s captain. It was clear who was in charge. “Send it through,” she said.
The Vusuls was tall, broad-shouldered, and thick in the head. His gray skin was dark, his black uniform a sharp contrast against a white bridge.
“Are you the welcoming committee?” the man asked in perfect Standard.
“I’m afraid not,” Elder Fayle told him.
“Then let us through, or you will be obliterated.” The man stood still, waiting for a response to his blatant threat.
“Here’s what’s going to happen.” Fayle stepped closer to the viewscreen, hands behind her back. She wore the white robe, and the hem hovered above the ground at her feet. “You will turn around. Leave this system, never so much as think about Driun F49 again, and remain outside of Concord space for eternity.”
The man acted shocked, but he regained his composure quickly. “Is that so? And who do I have the pleasure of speaking with?”
“I am Elder Fayle, representing the Ugna, the newest Concord partner,” she said. “And you are?”
“I am Grand Warrior Toombs of the Vusuls. I wasn’t aware the Ugna were a race. But either way, you’re preventing us from accessing our home,” he said dismissively.
“I think not. Driun is ours, by order of the Prime. We own it by Concord law, and since you’re not a partner and have no authority here, you will stand down, and we will leave you alive. For now,” Fayle said, and Ven swallowed through a lump in his throat. They were only one ship against twenty or so, and one of them had already proven itself extremely dangerous. These were ruthless killers.
Ven stiffened, still waiting for an assault, but the man only laughed, slowly at first, before bending over at the waist and slapping his knee. A couple of uniformed Vusuls behind him joined in, as if they’d heard the funniest thing in the universe. Ven failed to see what was so hilarious.
“You can’t be serious. Admiral Keen gave us Driun F49. He told us we needed to wait until it was ready, and when it happened, we were going to unite with the Concord. Decades past, and when he died, we were prepared
to go to war. But his grandson claimed we would get what’s due. He promised he’d become Prime, and we’d receive our planet. We are only taking what is ours,” Toombs said, the chuckle vacant from his voice.
Fayle stood her ground. “I’m afraid neither of the Keens had the authority to offer this to you.”
Ven glanced at Reeve, who was leaning toward the screen.
“It doesn’t matter. We will take it. With or without your cooperation,” Toombs told her.
Fayle only nodded, turning from the viewscreen. “Very well. Clear the path,” she told the officer at the pilot’s helm.
Ven sensed the game afoot but didn’t understand the end move.
“Elder, I don’t think this is a good idea,” the captain said, muting the conversation with the Vusuls.
“Do as I say. We have nothing to fear. We are right and just, and they will be judged soon. Their journey to the Vastness is upon them, if they hold the honor to arrive,” Fayle hissed, and the captain capitulated.
Ven watched as their own vessel began drifting from the fleet.
“If you remain here, we will not kill you. On my word,” Grand Warrior Toombs told them.
“Very well,” Elder Fayle said, ending the call. The screen returned to the view of their fleet, departing from Vastness toward Driun F49, a few hours away.
“What are you playing at?” Ven asked her, and an alarm rang out as something appeared on the viewscreen. The dot was red like the others, coming from the opposite direction. It moved to intercept the Vusuls’ lead vessel, and if the radar wasn’t broken, the ships were the same size.
“Ven, when faced with impossible odds, choose to play a different game.” Elder Fayle smiled widely.
“What have you done? Who is this?” Ven asked, staring at the second gigantic colony ship arriving in-system.
____________
Someone rapped on her door, instead of using the chime, and that could only mean it was Conner Douglas. He’d had the same knock even back in the Academy. Treena remembered the day he’d come to her room, wanting to ask her on a date, and he’d found her there with Felix, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. She’d never forget the look on his face.
Baldwin's Legacy: The Complete Series Page 108