Raichel awoke, her heart pounding, slaked with sweat. She was on Citadel, in her sleeping chamber within the Imperial Headquarters. A dream, she thought, with some relief. No, it had been more than that. A vision, or a message from the Astrals. Zhur Thoggu, here? Attacking Citadel? How was that possible? The Prosger Treaty, a treaty with the Zhur Thoggu meant that they were demilitarized in return for amnesty honored and enforced by the Expen Prosger blockade. They had no battle fleet.
As the vivid details of the vision faded, she felt as though there had been something different about the Zhur Thoggu ships, something she hadn’t noticed whilst in the vision. Something very strange, but as she tried to see the details they slipped from her memory, like a Stinaceph slipping into shadow.
Jake Bulver and Kaliko Savina were lying in almost exactly the same spot that Raichel and Elenore had been in three nights earlier. They were under express orders from Raichel not to go on Weststar’s property, and not to reveal themselves if at all possible.
“Remember,” whispered Kaliko, mimicking Raichel intentionally poorly, “observation only.”
Jake rolled his eyes good-humoredly. Since being in the Dominion he had seemed to come out of himself more each day. Kaliko was doing her best to help him, trying to keep him occupied and in good spirits as much as she could.
It was late evening. There was very little traffic and fewer still pedestrians in this very select area of Citadel. Channeling to hide from the Astral plane, and in their black Fists uniforms they were in no fear of being spotted. Kaliko had huddled close to Jake. She would have said it was to reduce their silhouette if he’d have asked, but he’d not objected, even as their shoulders and hips rubbed together, setting her nerves tingling. She was glad nothing was happening within the house since she wasn’t really able to concentrate whilst being so maddeningly close to him.
From Raichel and Elenore’s debriefing of their earlier debacle, they had known who to expect within the building. They had detected Weststar’s bright mind almost immediately, along with his guards, who seemed to have grown in number from four to eight. At first they had missed it, but the closed off mind was there again, in close proximity to the Doyen. Who was this person, so clearly trained in warding off Astral mind probes? Were they involved in the plot against the High Doyen?
Kaliko emerged back into the Astrals and reached out again, felt the hidden person’s mind still there with the Doyen. She sensed Jake copy her. He looked at her.
“If they leave while we’re still here we need to follow them if we can.”
Kaliko looked back at him, a sidelong glance. “Just follow?”
“Kaliko,” he reprimanded, “we can’t afford another incident. Brams is already going to suffer for Raichel’s break-in. We must only observe.”
“I know, I know,” she replied. Jake looked skeptical. “I know,” she said, more emphatically. “I won’t let you down, Jake.” She put her hand on his arm. “I promise.” They held each other’s gaze for a moment before Silverdell looked away, slightly troubled.
“I know,” he said quietly. “I recognize everything that you are doing for me.” He looked back briefly. “You are a good friend.”
It was like an Astral weapon stabbing into her heart. She snatched her hand away, a little more forcefully than she had meant to. Friend! Jake looked round.
“Are you ok?”
Kaliko looked away. Men. “I’m fine,” she replied, curtly. Jake shrugged. As much as for a distraction than anything else, Kaliko probed the house again, discovering that the closed off mind was on the move, heading towards the main entrance.
Problems forgotten, she tapped Jake on the shoulder. “We have movement. Our mystery guest is about to make an exit.” Jake pulled out his binoculars and trained them on the door. As they waited a large, anonymously black, multi-passenger repulsor vehicle swooped down from the sky and hovered outside the main gates, blocking their view entirely.
“Blast it!” exclaimed Jake. Kaliko thought fast.
“Lose your jacket,” she said as she quickly stood and began taking her own off.
“What?” said Jake, confused.
“Just do it. Trust me!” She grabbed him, started dragging him towards the house as he struggled to take off his jacket. They made it to the street, not far from the repulsor vehicle just as the doors to the building opened and a darkly clothed man appeared, wearing a hooded cape or gown of some sort. They needed to get closer to see his face.
Kaliko hooked her arm through Jake’s and pulled him towards the hover.
“Play along,” she whispered, and then leant over and kissed him. Jake’s eyes widened in surprise but quickly understood what she was doing. They walked forwards, giggling, acting like lovers, trying to time their movements to arrive at the vehicle along with the mystery man. The door to the vehicle opened, and Kaliko couldn’t see or feel anyone within it. A robot-controlled hover, maybe?
The gates to Weststar’s house opened and the hooded man slipped through. Arriving slightly too soon, Kaliko stopped directly between the man and the hover and grabbed at Jake, kissing him passionately. As the man walked around them Jake managed to get a brief glimpse of his face, despite his view being full of Kaliko’s face and wild blonde hair.
The man climbed into the hovering vehicle and it rose immediately, shooting off to the North. They kept up their act until they’d left the street, Kaliko unashamedly making the absolute most of every second of it. He was a better kisser than she’d dare hoped. Her legs actually felt a bit wobbly. She sighed with happiness.
Finally, they unhooked arms. “So,” she asked, “did you recognize him?”
Jake was looking at her strangely, and didn’t appear to hear her. Maybe he enjoyed that as much as she had? She could only hope.
“Citadel to Jake, come in Jake?”
“Oh, yes,” he said, slightly flustered. “You’re not going to believe who it is.”
Flight group One of Val’s Paladins emerged through streaking star lines back into normal space. Val quickly checked his navigation board and saw that the rest of the group in perfect formation. He quickly reached out and touched each mind, ensuring they were awake and alert after a considerable hyperspace journey. Being Edo they had each used Edo hibernation techniques to make the trip more bearable, and arrive completely refreshed.
This system, Isicess, was an uninhabited one, uncharted for many years. The seven planets, four rocky, three gas giants, and one large asteroid belt far out beyond the planets matched the records. Initial scans appeared to confirm there was no activity but since they had information showing this system as a likely destination for the stolen ships it would need to be thoroughly investigated.
To search the system quicker Val decided to split up. “Ares, take the asteroid belt. Dimerchi, the gas giants. Senoch, planets one and two. I’ll take three and four.”
Double clicks rang out over the com as the Edo confirmed their orders and each peeled away on different vectors, engines on their Recon Nebula fighters pushing hard with additional redirected power.
Having entered the system from beyond the asteroid belt, Ares arrived at her search area first. However, since it was also by far the largest she would probably end up being assisted by the others once their searches were complete.
“Beginning search. Mostly ice and rock asteroids and planetoids. No unusual readings so far,” she said.
“Acknowledged, Ares,” said Val, “don’t just rely on sensors.” He had no need to say that he meant that she should also Channel.
Dical Dimerchi reached planet six (seven was on the other side of the star) and entered a high orbit. “Nothing so far, Val,” he said.
Planet four had a thick methane-filled, terribly hot atmosphere and thus it was highly unlikely that anyone would operate from down on the planet. Val scanned it quickly, just to be sure, and then spent more time investigating its two small moons.
Senoch Gray’s search would be even quicker, with the innermost two pla
nets having had their atmosphere’s scorched from them by the system’s fiercely burning blue-white star.
Gray quickly finished his scans and set off to assist Val Nordin with planet three.
“Wait…” said Ares Nilssen over the com, more to herself than anything.
“What is it?” said Val, who started to turn his Nebula fighter in her direction immediately. Gray fell into formation with him, just to his port and rear.
“I sense something,” she said, hesitation clear in her voice. “Give me a moment,”
“Dical, give Ares some company please.” Another double click confirmed the instruction. Val was impressed with how Dical didn’t vocalize, to ensure that if Ares needed to speak she wouldn’t have to compete with him for the com.
Val and Senoch continued to blast across the solar system towards Ares. His skin started to prickle. A warning from the Astrals.
“Ares, break off, join up with Dimerchi.”
“One moment,” replied Ares, distracted. “I’ve nearly found it, something is coming up on scanners.”
“Ares!” It was no good, she was on the trail of something, and like any good hunter she became tunnel-focused when nearing the kill. Val changed communicator channel to Dical.
“Dimerchi, how soon to Ares?”
“30 seconds, Val, all power diverted to engines.”
“Thanks, Dimerchi. I have a bad feeling - “
“Contact,” shouted Ares over the group channel. “I read three ships powering up and moving away from a large asteroid. Two fighters and a larger ship… a gunboat. They are heading towards me, I think they’ve detected me. I can see there’s a freighter-sized ship still docked on the asteroid at some sort of facility.”
“Ares,” said Val urgently, “break off and wait for Dical.”
“Val, the freighter is powering up, I need to stop it. I can get past the fighters and the gunboat.”
His board showed her dropping all stealth pretenses as Ares powered up her shields and weapons and blasted towards the asteroid.
“Twenty seconds out,” commed Dimerchi. Too long. Skavespit!
“I’m detecting Astrals users in those ships,” said Ares. “Here they come!”
It was a disaster. Helplessly, Val sat in his Nebula fighter as it powered towards the engagement, watching and feeling as the inexperienced Ares fought fiercely but briefly against the Skave until a broadside from the gunboat smashed into her lightly armored Recon. The ship detonated, the explosion large but brief. Val felt Ares’s death through the Astral plane, but there was no time for grief.
“Dical. Break, break!”
“Confirmed, Val,” said Dimerchi, his voice breaking. He pulled away and arced around, joining Val and Senoch Gray. The Skave appeared to be hanging back, covering the escape of the freighter.
Quickly, Val designated a target to each Edo. “Launch stealth bombs!”
Against normal opponents, stealth bombs were almost impossible to detect, and lethal in their effectiveness, even against small fighters. But these fighters were piloted by Skave, who through the Deep could detect the bombs. Almost immediately the ships began to move, evading the bombs with fast, unpredictable movements.
Val’s target, an Aneev hammercraft jinked and span with the agility the fighter was well known for yet Val’s telekinetic Astrals abilities were powerful and after what seemed like a stretched out tortuous eternity the bomb’s proximity sensor triggered and it detonated. The hammercraft disintegrated with it.
The gunboat and the other fighter, an old, battered Pseudo fighter, were dancing for their lives. They looped, and spun and dived as they sought to evade the shadow bombs. All the time, buying their freighter time to leave the asteroid field and jump to hyperspace.
Val thought of the Star Killer, biting back feelings of guilt and remorse over Nanidu, and how he had engaged its controls from deep within the gas giant planet Ronensis. Urgency demanding it, he reached out savagely for the Pseudo fighter, felt the cockpit and the Skave pilot and rather than display the finesse he had used to control the individual switches of the Star Killer he imagined a giant fist, and swung it with all his might around the cockpit.
It worked. The fighter went into a wild spin, but on a straight vector as the pilot fought to regain control. It was a simple task for Dimerchi to move his bomb straight into the doomed craft. The bomb detonated close to its engines, the resulting explosion smashing the fighter into pieces.
Senoch Gray still struggled with the gunboat.
“Dimerchi, disable the freighter, I’ll assist Gray.” A double click confirmed the order and Dical powered after the freighter. “Senoch, Channel,” urged Val, “dominate the pilot, seize control.”
“But that is of the Deep,” said Senoch, struggling to talk, whilst wrestling with his shadow bomb and flying his fighter.
“No,” said Val, as he attempted to zero in on the gunship. “A misconception. Channeling techniques are not inherently good or evil. Only their application taints them, what our intent is when we use them. We’re here to save lives, end the Skave menace. Do it!”
It was more of a test of the single-minded Gray’s loyalty than anything. Val could have took control of the Skave pilot himself, or repeated the trick with the controls again. He wanted to see how Senoch would act.
Nordin felt Gray’s grip on his shadow bomb slacken, and he took over, moving it faster and more surely than Gray could ever achieve. Val felt his ego inflate, even whilst concentrating so furiously on the small object. He fought to control his feelings of superiority but he was the most powerful Edo alive and so it was hard to deny his own brilliance.
“He… is… resisting…” groaned Senoch Gray, “can’t break through.”
Nordin’s lips twisted into a bitter smile. Gray was his. Gray’s attempt at controlling the Skave’s mind was enough to distract the Skave, and with one final effort he steered the shadow bomb directly into the gunboat’s cockpit. The pilot died instantly as the bomb scattered his atoms far and wide.
“Skavespawn,” cursed Dical over the general channel, “the freighter managed to jump to hyperspace before I could enter firing range.”
Val had thought that likely so was not too upset.
“Form back up. Let’s go give their base a fly-by and see what the Skave have been up to.”
As they swooped in, Val hardly thought of the lost Edo Askari Ares Nilssen, other than to resent her failure to follow orders. He had lost a member of his Flight Group, but no matter, it was still by far the strongest of his groups, since Val himself led it.
As always, Calista Flores had developed an itch on the end of her nose as soon as she, her fellow Edo, and the whole Riccard Brams ensemble had stepped into public view. Even Astral meditation techniques didn’t help. It drove her mad with its disconcerting, ever-present irritation.
She was deeply regretting having been assigned as one of the Royal Defenders, and not just because of the itch. Hour after hour of mindless tedium was starting to grate. She was a patient woman when needed, but protecting Brams seemed like a waste of her talents. Already the Fists had lost a member and were suffering from almost daily attacks, yet here she was, on another mind-numbing trip as part of Brams’ retinue. She had no idea how he rest of the retinue coped with the demands of governing the Imperial Dominion day after day, month on end.
They had come all the way out to the Outer Territories, to Tegara, an Imperial Stronghold world in the Athcron sector to inspect how rebuilding was progress since its recapture from the Zhur Thoggu.
The morning had been spent touring various facilities, from armories to hospital, weapon emplacements to shield generators. Brams had endured meeting officials, workers and soldiers, one after another. Each was met with a sincere smile and a firm handshake. She had to give him credit - none of it was faked, since she could perceive his emotions. Maybe he really was the man to finally unite the Commonwealth with the Dominion.
More than two million Imperial citizens had crowded
into a large open public square in the center of the city of Hequrisa. It had been built on the site of an old robot factory that had been completely destroyed by the slave-freeing Zhur Thoggu. Grandiose fountains and statues adorned the area. An enormous, specially commissioned statue of Riccard Brams took pride of place, towering over them all.
Their armored repulsor car had intentionally stopped only a short distance away from the plinth from where Brams would give his speech. The people were cordoned back a considerable distance, Imperial security officers interspersed with fewer numbers of glistening shock troopers served to help deter any of the jostling crowd from attempting to get closer.
Flores and her fellow Edo, the tall and capable Gil, and the two Edo Neophytes Sys Bramion, and Elen Ney emerged first. It was almost undoubtedly the first time any Tegari had seen Imperial Defenders, glorious in their mirror-finish, heavy shock armor. An audible gasp went up, people pointed and cheered. They snapped their heavy gauss rifles into position against their shoulders in synchronicity, and split into pairs, Gil with Flores and the two Neophytes to the other side as Brams stepped out, his aides following.
Flores was surprised at how many jeers there were, at least as many as there were cheers. Even here, on a Stronghold world his popularity was diminishing as the Dominion suffered more and more frequent terrorist attacks. Vidcams, operated by news corporations from across the Dominion and around the galaxy floated a respectable distance away, filming Brams’ every move.
Brams waved and strode up to the plinth, climbing the steps. Flores and the other Edo moved out, to each side, a good distance separating them from Brams. Elite shock troopers moved to stand behind him, to provide close protection in the unlikely event that anyone should get past the Royal Defenders.
“My fellow Imperials,” began Riccard, smiling broadly. “I have spent the day on Tegara and I have found myself impressed time and time again. What you have achieved since we won back Tegara from the Zhur Thoggu is nothing short of astounding.”
The Rise of The Dominion: A Dominion War novel Page 9
