Daybreak

by Cheree Alsop

  “It’s collapsing!” Shathryn called.

  Liora glanced back. The tunnel was falling quickly.

  “Get out of here,” she told them. “Run!”

  Another rumble shook the ground. Dirt collapsed, filling the hole. Liora’s heart pounded in her chest.

  “Shathryn? Straham?” she called.

  Bullets impacted the side of the cave, sending her back against the lip where she was protected by a tiny shelf of rock.

  “We made it,” Straham answered breathlessly. “We’re at the mouth of the tunnel.”

  “We’re got you covered,” Tariq told them. “You’re clear to the Gull. I’ll meet you there. Liora, what’s your plan?”

  “You need to find the Omne Occasus and get it out of here. If more ships land, we’ll be surrounded. We can’t let them have it,” she replied. “They might have me pinned, but they can’t move without becoming my target. I’ll hold them down so you can get out.”

  Silence met her words.

  Devren broke it. “Liora, that’s a death sentence. There’re too many of them out there. We’re not leaving you.”

  “You don’t have a choice,” she pointed out. “You’ve got to get to the galaxy imploder.”

  “She’s right,” Stone replied from the Star Chaser. “If they reach it before we do, we’ve lost the war.”

  “I’m not leaving a crew member behind,” Devren argued.

  Liora fought back a wry smile. “I decline my station on the Kratos. You’re no longer my captain. Go protect your crew.”

  “Liora,” Devren tried to argue.

  “Devren, they need you,” she replied, cutting him off.

  “It’s true, Captain,” Hyrin said. “If we can get the Omne Occasus out of here and let the salvagers know we have it, they’ll chase us instead. It might be Liora’s best chance.”

  “It’s not a good idea,” Tariq disputed.

  “We don’t have a choice,” Devren replied. A bang sounded as though he hit something. “Fine. Let’s go. Everyone to the Gull.” He paused, then said, “Liora, we’re coming back for you.”

  “When the coast is clear,” she replied.

  “Whether it’s clear or not,” Devren told her. His tone was firm.

  Chapter 15

  Liora strafed bullets back and forth to cover the Gull and the Star Chaser. According to Hyrin, the Omne Occasus’ coordinates were in the next valley. The silhouettes of three other ships showed in the sky.

  “Come on,” Liora yelled. “Is that the best you’ve got?”

  Bullets from the salvagers answered. A lighting strike hit the middle of the dirt valley so close that Liora smelled the acrid scent of electricity in the air. Strike after strike drove into the ground, shaking the earth with its ferocity.

  Liora ducked, sure of what was to come.

  Yells sounded along with a wind so strong Liora felt like someone was trying to pry her fingers off the rocks of the cavern she hid inside. She held on by sheer strength of will until the aftermath of the lighting subsided.

  Moans and cries of pain reached Liora’s ears. Realizing she had just been granted the element of surprise, she dove out of the cave and came up with her gun ready.

  Liora was caught by the surreal moment.

  Most of the salvagers had been thrown around by the storm. The rocks, the sand, everything looked different than it had when she blew up the hole. The acid rain had stopped briefly, a calm in the center of the storm. Red clouds swirled above them but didn’t touch the ground. A shudder ran down Liora’s spine and she glanced up.

  A ship, a salvager’s Tin Sparrow by the looks of it, was caught in the maelstrom created by the strange lighting. It was being thrown around like a child’s toy. Another burst of lighting struck the craft. It twirled as it plummeted to the ground. There was no way the pilot would be able to slow its descent in time. The ship disappeared behind the next mountain of sand.

  A sound caught Liora’s attention. She spun to the right and shot. A scavenger grabbed his chest as he fell. Two more bullets meant two more fallen scavengers. Shots answered. Liora rolled up behind a big rock. She shot twice more and two other scavengers hit the red dirt. She was about to look out from behind the rock again when the hair on the back of her neck rose.

  Liora glanced behind her just long enough to verify her suspicion. Sure enough, the eye of the storm was passing. Sparks of light crackled through the clouds that were nearly overhead once more. Liora grabbed the body of the closest scavenger and pulled him back to the cave.

  She quick changed out of her atmosphere suit and dressed in the scavenger’s. There was blood across the chest where she had killed him. She worried that it would mix with the knife wound in her shoulder, but given her current situation, that was something she would have to deal with later.

  As lightning struck the ground and the acid rain began to fall in sheets, Liora returned from the cave wearing the protective suit and with both guns blazing. She ran to the left and shot behind each rock she passed. A few bullets replied from surprised scavengers, but they quickly dropped beneath her attack. When her guns ran out of bullets, she threw them down and picked up others.

  Blood pulsed from shattered helmet shields. Any scavenger she didn’t kill with a headshot received a follow-up one as soon as she reached him or her. Bullets tugged at her atmosphere suit, but by the end, she was left standing with the bodies of scavengers littering the ground around her.

  Lighting flashed through the air. Liora followed the light, feeling more Damaclan than human. She wanted something else to kill and she felt the need to protect the crew of the SS Kratos. She threw down the guns and unsheathed her knife. Using the lightning as her guide, Liora ran through the crackling, surreal half-night created by the red storm.

  She reached the valley sooner than she expected. Two other ships had landed beside the Gull and Star Chaser. In front of the four ships sat a half-entrenched starship of a make Liora had never seen. It rivaled the size of the Coalition’s carrier ship, the Platinum Eagle. The nose of the ship was buried deep in the sand. Red dust swirled around it, burying and unearthing the craft in twirling whirlpools.

  Beside it, a smaller ship similar to the Gull looked as though one side had been blasted completely open from the inside. Coalition markings and the name ‘Gull-SS Cerus’ had been painted on the hull.

  Liora knew better than to rush into a battle blind. She made her way silently to the Kratos’ Gull and hit the palm reader for the door. It slid aside and she stepped into the ship.

  The door shut behind her, blocking out the swirling dust, raging wind, and blasts of the lightning strikes. After all that had happened, standing inside the Gull felt like coming back to sanity. She leaned against the wall and closed her eyes, soaking it in for the few precious moments she dared to spare.

  “Who are you?”

  Liora’s muscles tensed and her eyes flew open. In the dim lighting she made out the form of someone spread across the middle row of seats. He had raised himself up on his elbows and was watching her warily with a gun aimed at her chest.

  Liora carefully raised her hands.

  “Put down the knife.”

  She set it slowly on the ground. When she straightened, she removed her helmet with deliberate, unhurried movements. She set the reflective dome on the ground and stood back up.

  “Liora!”

  Viarie, the rebel soldier she had helped Straham rescue, watched her with an expression that was half-amused, half filled with pain. “They didn’t think you’d survive that cave.” He looked at the blood on her atmosphere suit. “Were you shot?”

  Liora gave him a half-smile. “I’m harder to kill than that. Most of this blood isn’t mine.”

  “You’ve got a dozen lives,” he said with an approving nod. “It’s good to see you again.”

  “I came back for a headset. I need to know what’s going on in there,” she told him.

  She grabbed one of the atmosphere suits hanging near the door.


  “When we landed, there were already salvagers,” Viarie reported. “Your pilot Hyrin was radioing back for a while, but they’ve gone silent. You need to be careful.”

  “Thanks for the warning,” she said.

  She was about to take off the salvagers’ suit when the rebel stopped her.

  “You should wear it. Take a communicator from the Coalition headset, but keep wearing the salvager suit.”

  At Liora’s questioning look, he explained, “Salvagers hate each other, but there’s nothing they hate more than a Coalition officer. Everyone thinks you’re either dead or still trapped in that hole. Use it to your advantage. Stay in disguise and take those salvagers down.”

  Liora gave a nod of approval. “You’re a good strategist.”

  “Why do you think Stone keeps me around?” he asked. He gave a chuckle and winced. “That’s an inside joke. I just hope he comes back so we can laugh at it again.”

  “They’ll be alright,” Liora said. “I’ll get them out of there.”

  “And the Omne Occasus.”

  She nodded. “That’s the goal.”

  “That’s the only option,” Viarie told her. “Without it, everything we hold dear could be lost. How easy would it be for the salvagers to destroy all galaxies that oppose them? The Milky Way Galaxy would be the first to go. Take out the Coalition base on Titus, control the homestead ships, and everyone will do their bidding.”

  The thought sent chills across Liora’s skin.

  “I won’t let that happen,” she promised.

  Viarie nodded. He gave her a tired smile before he settle back on the chairs and disappeared from her view. “Go get them, little Damaclan warrior.”

  Liora grabbed a headset from the closest atmosphere suit and slipped it inside her helmet. She switched the earpiece to silent. She would be able to hear them, but they wouldn’t hear anything from her end. It would help to give her the element of surprise.

  She pushed the button and the door slid open. The wind shoved her from side to side, buffeting her as she crossed between the ships. The feeling of being watched tightened her muscles and her grip on the knife. She debated whether she should have grabbed a few guns from the Gull, but stealth was her strongest ally. Anyone who attempted to sneak up on her would regret it very quickly.

  Someone had forced open a door half-submerged in the sand. Liora stepped into the darkness and waited a moment for her eyes to adjust. Many footprints showed down the hallway. The mismatched tread of the salvagers covered the thicker, standard sole of the Coalition. She followed them, her senses straining for any sign of salvagers.

  Strange markings lined the walls in a language she had never seen before. The architecture was foreign, sharp and jagged. Some branching hallways appeared to lead to nowhere, while others trailed off so far into the darkness that she couldn’t see the end. The strange construction style set her on edge. Liora couldn’t help but wonder what kind of creatures had built such a ship.

  Hyrin’s voice came over the headset. “We’ve got to be close.”

  “How do we know they don’t have it?” O’Tule asked.

  “They wouldn’t be fighting so hard if they did,” Devren replied. “Stay alert. They might be hiding in the next corridor.”

  “If there is a next corridor,” Shathryn said. “This place gives me the creeps. It makes no sense.”

  Tariq’s voice was quieter when he spoke. “Hopefully the salvagers are as confused as we are. Keep to radio silence. We don’t know who might be on this frequency.”

  Liora wished she had some way to track them. The footprints from the sand had stopped a ways back. She was following without any way to know which of the many paths they had taken. Liora focused on the walls, wondering if there was a chance to figure out how to get to the Omne Occasus before the others.

  The symbols at each corner looked vaguely familiar. She tipped her head to the side in an effort to view them differently. Her heart slowed.

  The markings were similar to those of the Galian language, an older, rough tongue used by simpler races. She often heard it in the seedier planets Malivian stopped at during his circus circuit. The fliers had been printed in both languages to attract several types of crowds. If she looked at it just right, it appeared that the letters were the same, but backwards.

  The Galian word for ‘Control’ jumped out at her. The jagged etch on the side could substitute for a direction arrow. The crude sideways N was the beginning letter for the Galian word for ‘path’.

  Liora ran in the direction of the jagged marks. At each hallway, she checked the row of words. Recognizing the marks for the control room became easier. She took a hallway to the left and felt the floor rise as she sprinted; two more turns, and she reached a closed door. The word for control was written to the side.

  There was no doorknob, handle, or palm reader. Liora’s heart pounded with urgency. Being able to help her crew depended on her getting into the room.

  She scanned the words quickly. It had been a while since she had heard the language. With Liora as the main act, Malivian’s show had eventually reached the upper, better paying classes, taking him away from the low-level shows. Liora had to flip the letters in her mind, translate them from the rough Galian to the common language, and figure out what the loose meaning was.

  It felt like it took way too many precious seconds before she found the word for speak.

  Not sure how to pronounce the Galian word with the backwards letters, she went for the common tongue. “Open,” she said aloud.

  The door slid to the side.

  Grateful that whatever command system that controlled the ship had been programmed using multiple languages, Liora ran into the room.

  A single chair occupied the center of the bridge. There were no buttons or panels, merely screens. Liora was at a loss as to how she should proceed.

  “They’re up ahead,” O’Tule said into the earpiece.

  “Quick, cut left,” Devren commanded.

  “It’s a dead end,” Shathryn replied. “We’ll be trapped.”

  “I don’t think they have the imploder. Otherwise they would be heading straight back to their ship.” Tariq’s voice was quiet. “Lay low. Maybe they’ll pass us.”

  The thought of the crew in danger spurred Liora forward.

  “Control on,” she said.

  To her relief, the screens around her flickered to life. Instead of monitors, the images were projected so that they appeared around her. She scanned them quickly. Scenes from outside the ship and inside flickered past. Star systems and a map of galaxies she had never seen before appeared above her.

  There was an image of the Gull and several scavenger ships. To her surprise, two other Coalition ships had landed. Troops stood in front of the Gull’s door, but it appeared Viarie was denying them entrance. By the looks of things, it was going to get heated very quickly.

  “Internal security,” she called out.

  Images inside the ship appeared. She waved her hand, pushing several aside. She found Stone’s crew engaged in battle at the far end of the ship. They appeared to be holding their own. Liora moved past the scene. She paused on a room with a big transparent box inside. It was the only object visible. Two orbs, one red and the other blue, glowed from the translucent material. Metal rods, glass vessels, and a temperature gauge linked the two orbs together.

  Liora scanned the other images. She found Devren and his crew crouched in a dark hallway as a cluster of scavengers hurried past. They definitely appeared to be searching for something.

  Liora put her hand to her headset.

  “I’ve located the Omne Occasus,” she said.

  “Liora?” Tariq replied immediately.

  “Where are you?” Devren asked.

  “Inside the control room of the same ship you’re on. I found the imploder using the security system. I can guide you there.”

  “Thank goodness!” Shathryn said. “I thought we were completely lost!”

&nbs
p; “Yeah,” O’Tule seconded. “It’s like a maze and we’re the rats, only there are people waiting to kill you around every corner. And if you find the cheese, it can kill you, too.”

  “Quiet,” Devren said. “We don’t have much time. Liora, which way should we go?”

  Liora verified that the scavengers were gone, then pulled the crew’s image back so she could see the hallway layout.

  “Go to the left, then an immediate right. There should be a slight decline.”

  She watched them on the screen as she flipped through the cameras to check their path. Her heart skipped a beat.

  “Hold on. There’re scavengers ahead.”

  “How many?” Tariq asked.

  “Five,” Liora replied.

  “I’ll take care of it.”

  “Wait,” Liora told him. “They’re armed and waiting. I think they might have heard you coming.”

  “Even better,” Tariq said.

  Devren took a step forward, but Tariq shook his head. “I need to do this.”

  Devren nodded as if he understood.

  Frustrated that she couldn’t help Tariq, and sure she was watching someone she had come to care about walk to his death, Liora stared at the images. She had no idea why Devren would let his friend go on by himself. She had thought they looked out for each other like brothers; now, she wasn’t so sure.

  Tariq dove into the next hallway and came up shooting. Three salvagers dropped before they even realized they were under attack. One salvager managed to get off a shot, but it sunk into the wall near Tariq’s head. He fired two more times, and the last two salvagers fell.

  “Clear,” Tariq reported.

  Liora’s relief was short-lived. Ten more salvagers appeared in the hallway behind Devren’s crew.

  “Run,” she said. “They’re closing in. Take a left, go straight, then say ‘Open’ at the door marked with the backwards Galian for Cargo.”

  “Backwards Galian?” Devren asked as they ran.

  “It took me a while to figure it out,” Liora replied, “But the writing on the walls makes sense once you realize the edges are straight instead of looped, and backwards.”