Magnitude: A Space Opera Adventure (Blackstar Command Book 2)

by A. C. Hadfield

  “Opening now,” she replied.

  With a small screech of metal on metal, the bay door opened before them.

  “Hold on to your ass,” Bandar said. He punched the throttle fully open. The small craft rocketed out of the Blackstar and descended toward the planet’s surface.

  Chapter 10

  AS THEY DESCENDED towards the planet surface, an idea struck Kai.

  “Blackstar, soften up those on the surface with the gravity cannon,” he said.

  “Good thinking, Kai,” Bandar said.

  “Firing now,” the AI said.

  Their small vessel was buffeted by the passing of the Blackstar’s energy weapon. But the results were more than Kai had expected.

  It slammed into the ground ahead of the soldiers surrounding Brenna. The concrete blasted apart. A ripple of gravity energy rushed out in all directions, knocking the Patari soldiers and Brenna off their feet.

  “That was a little too close to my mother, Blackstar,” Kai said.

  “My apologies. I’ll extend the range perimeter,” the AI replied.

  Something dark outside caught Kai’s attention. “What the hell is that?” he asked, pointing at the thinning clouds above the pyramid.

  A giant blackbird, as large as the micro-hauler—which looked a lot like the Patari craft that escorted them in—was diving out of the sky towards them.

  “That’s a big damned bird,” Bandar said. “Maybe you want to take control of the forward blasters—”

  Bandar’s order was cut short by the booming sound of cannon fire. Kai brought up the low-resolution video screen on the micro-hauler and saw the Blackstar maneuver behind them and fire upon the gigantic bird.

  A second later, the creature exploded. The micro-hauler plunged through a cloud of feathers and gore.

  “Good shooting, Sen,” Kai said over the comms.

  “Wasn’t me,” she said. “Blackstar’s on it like a boss.”

  “Perhaps I was a little hasty in not trusting it.”

  “All right. It’s going to be a hot landing zone,” Bandar said. “When we leave the ship, you shoot anything that moves, got it? We don’t have any time for diplomacy.”

  “I have no problem with that.” Kai double-checked his P&G rifle to make sure it was ready.

  Bolts of energy impacted against the hull, making the structure boom and rattle.

  “They’ve seen us,” Bandar said. “Taking rifle fire from the ground.”

  “Sen, we need cover from small arms,” Kai said. “We don’t have a lot of armor on this old garbage can of a ship.”

  “We’re on it, Kai,” Sen said.

  The soldiers fell to the ground at the hit of another gravity burst from the Blackstar. Bandar brought the micro-hauler in low and fast, landing abruptly on the platform.

  The ship skidded and slewed across the surface until, eventually, it screeched to a halt in a cloud of black smoke.

  Bandar was already unbuckled and making his way to the rear of the ship, grabbing on to handholds to keep his balance. Kai quickly followed.

  “Kai Locke,” the Blackstar’s AI said over the comms.

  “Not a good time,” Kai said.

  “Might I suggest breathers? According to my sensors, this is a low-oxygen atmosphere.”

  “You couldn’t have told us that sooner?” Kai shot back. He turned to Bandar, but the older man was already ahead of him.

  “Here,” Bandar said and handed him a breather unit.

  “Thanks.” Kai put it on over his face.

  “Okay, here’s where the fun starts,” Bandar said. “Ready?”

  “Let’s do it.”

  Bandar hit a button on the wall, and a ramp slid down into place. They burst out of the ship, firing at anything that moved. Return volleys sizzled the air as they missed their targets and slammed into the hull of the ship.

  “Come on,” Bandar yelled and headed straight for Brenna.

  The soldiers guarding her were just getting to their feet when Bandar unleashed a bout of plasma-fueled flame on them from his pistol.

  Two of the Patari screamed as their clothing burst into flame.

  Kai followed up with two carefully aimed shots from his P&G, taking down two more Patari coming out of the pyramid. The creatures let out piercing screams as they fell from the platform to the ground.

  “Mom!” Kai screamed, trying to get her attention through the din of battle. She pushed herself up from the ground and shook her head.

  Overhead, a Patari craft screamed by, flame and smoke issuing from its engines. It slammed into the main building. Kai and Bandar threw themselves to the ground as it exploded. Chunks of metal sprayed the courtyard like projectiles.

  Several of the Patari, clumped together, were killed by the wreckage. A sharp piece of the ship flew directly toward Kai. His heart froze, and his body instinctively jerked out of the way as the debris slammed into the ground.

  “That was too damned close,” Kai said.

  A squad of four more Patari joined the firefight.

  Cannon fire from the Blackstar kept them at a distance.

  Kai spun to face them and fired three more rounds at the Patari soldiers as he and Bandar fought their way towards Brenna.

  Half a dozen more burst out from beyond the platform. They were going to get quickly outnumbered if they didn’t move faster.

  “Senaya, blast that door!” he yelled into his comm.

  “Blasting!” Senaya replied. A few seconds later, a bolt of energy slammed into the building above the door, which collapsed the hallway. Quickly following that, another gravity pulse impacted directly in the center of the newcomers, launching them dozens of meters into the air.

  Finally, Kai made it to Brenna and threw his arms around her neck in an uncharacteristic show of emotion.

  “Later, Kai,” Bandar said, clapping a hand on his shoulder. “We’ve got to go.”

  “Right,” he said. He looked at his mother. “Can you run?”

  “Faster than you,” she said and gave him a weary smile.

  “Prove it, then,” he said.

  They bolted for the micro-hauler. Bandar brought up the rear, protecting their backs. Kai continued firing his weapon, not even aiming, just wanting to keep the path clear.

  They made it into the ship even as the Patari fighters opened fire on the battered micro-hauler.

  Bandar boarded and flipped the switch to raise the ramp, but before it could close, a metallic round struck him in the leg and sent him sprawling in a heap on the other side of the cargo hold. He cursed, clutching his leg.

  “Bandar.” Kai started to help him up, but the older man shoved him away.

  “Get us back to the Blackstar,” he said. “Go.”

  “Right,” Kai said, launching himself into the cockpit. “Hold on back there!”

  He engaged the launch procedure and pushed the throttle to full.

  The craft buckled under the sudden power as it scraped across the platform and lurched into the sky. Kai struggled to straighten it in the thin atmosphere.

  “Shit!” Kai cried and jerked the flight stick to the left to avoid the falling wreck of another Patari ship. It struck the ground with a booming thud. Black smoke and dust flew up in a cloud that covered the micro-hauler and obscured Kai’s view.

  He quickly brought up the holoscreen and reoriented himself, using the Blackstar as a point of reference. “Head for low orbit,” Kai said. “We’re getting out of here right now.”

  “I hear you,” Senaya said. “Good job down there.”

  Several tense moments later, Kai brought the ship to a stop in the Blackstar’s docking bay. He ensured the clamps were engaged and shut down the engines.

  “Docking complete, Sen. Now get us the hell out of here.”

  “We’re on our way,” she replied.

  He went into the hold to check on Bandar and his mother as the Navigator ship turned and rocketed away from the Patari world. Kai just hoped that they’d caused enough confusion
and mayhem that they would have the advantage on any pursuers.

  “You okay?” Kai asked his elder brother.

  “Yeah, fine,” Bandar said. “Just winged me. I’ve hurt myself worse falling out of bed. The medkit on the Blackstar will have me up and running in no time. Good flying back there.”

  Kai shrugged, suddenly self-conscious in the presence of his mother.

  “Is there a comm station back here?” Brenna asked.

  “Yeah, back there in the corner.” Bandar pointed towards the back of the cargo hold.

  Brenna stepped up to it and tapped a few signals into the screen and nodded.

  “What was that?” Kai asked her.

  “I just sent a remote message for the Rapier to catch up with us. It seems we could use all the resources we can get right now.”

  “It’s good to see you again, Mother,” Kai said, struggling to get a grip on his emotions. He didn’t know whether to embrace her, yell at her for being so reckless, or express his outrage she had kept Bandar’s identity a secret from him all this time.

  It didn’t matter, however. Kai’s mother grabbed him in a hug and held him tight.

  THEY RECONVENED ON THE BRIDGE, and Kai took his place on the command couch.

  “I see you found your father’s ship,” Brenna said, looking around the spotless bridge.

  “We sort of found each other,” he said, then gestured toward Marella. “With her help, of course.”

  Marella smiled and nodded her head toward Brenna. The two woman quickly exchanged pleasantries before the attention was back on their current situation.

  “What’s our status?” Brenna asked.

  “We appear to be in the clear,” Senaya said, beaming. “This ship handles like a dream. I think I’m in love!”

  “Ship incoming,” the AI warned.

  “On screen,” Kai snapped. The holoscreen changed visuals to show a ship following them.

  “It’s okay. That’s the Rapier,” Brenna said.

  “Sen, slow us down for a moment if you wouldn’t mind,” Kai said.

  She did as he asked. Several minutes later they heard a metal clunk as the Rapier magnetically attached itself to the Blackstar’s outer hull docking point.

  The AI provided a stream of data, which culminated in a status telling them that the Rapier was secured and all systems were operational.

  “Okay, let’s get out of this system,” Kai said. “And then we catch up properly.”

  “Where to?” Senaya asked.

  “The coordinates of the Spearhead’s last known location.”

  “I’m on it.” Senaya input the coordinates into the nav-computer and put the star drive on full power. “Okay, everyone, get ready for a subspace jump. Make sure you’re all strapped in.”

  The now familiar swirling of space ahead of them grew larger and enveloped the Blackstar as it slipped into subspace.

  Pressure built around Kai’s eyeballs. His internal organs squished together as though he were being pressed down by a great weight. A few moments later, his hearing popped, and the pressure eased. The Blackstar had passed through the distorted gravity barrier and now traveled smoothly, without any further thrust, through whatever space or dimension the wormhole passed.

  When the ship’s AI gave them the all-clear, they unstrapped from their crash couches and stretched their limbs.

  “That was exciting,” Brenna said.

  “Not the word I would use,” Marella said. “For a moment, I thought you were… that we were… well, let’s say I didn’t think we’d get this far.”

  “You have no adventure in your soul,” Senaya replied with a smile.

  “Nice rescue, Kai,” Brenna said. “You arrived just in time.”

  “The kid… sorry, Kai had a little help,” Bandar said. He winced as he applied a lather of medi-gel to his wound.

  “Always the charmer, Bandar,” Brenna said. “It’s good to see you all. For a while, I thought I’d be lost forever.”

  “That brings us to my next question, Mother,” Kai said. “What happened to you? How did you end up on that planet?”

  Brenna sighed and spent the next few moments explaining what had happened, from coming to an unfamiliar space to pursuing the space octopus and ending with her trial.

  “I saw one of those!” Kai said, a surge of adrenaline pumping through his veins. “They didn’t believe me.”

  “We didn’t not believe you,” Marella said. “But without seeing it for ourselves, it’s quite a stretch. We’ve nothing comparable on our side of the Veil.”

  “Apparently,” Brenna said, ignoring the banter, “they are known as the Travelers. They can create wormholes like the Blackstar and, well, travel from system to system.”

  “I wonder if the Navigators—” Marella started.

  “The Great Ancients,” Brenna said. “That’s what the Patari call them.”

  “Okay. Well, anyway, I wonder if those creatures are what the Navigators based their own wormhole systems on?” Kai said.

  “More than likely,” Brenna replied.

  “So they are sentient? These Travelers?” Senaya asked, leaning over her control panel with interest.

  “Yes, from what the Patari said. And that’s all I know about them.” Brenna paused for a moment, thinking. “And, apparently, the Veil was created to lock off our sector of the universe from a race of beings called the Koldax.”

  “Who are they?” Kai asked.

  “Don’t really know. All I do know is that they are a techno-organic race that goes about swallowing up other life-forms and planets. Real nasty bastards, according to the Patari.”

  “How creepy,” Marella said, her soft brown fur undulating on her bare forearms.

  “Indeed,” Brenna said. She went on to fill them in on what the Patari had told her about the Navigators’ slumber.

  Kai had a flashback of the crystalline city with the twelve coffins that lay in the courtyard. And then something else flashed through his mind: another alien race spreading out in waves across the universe, and in its wake something larger, more powerful.

  The Darkarahn.

  The thought of that word made him shudder with a chill through his veins.

  “Kai?” Brenna asked, reaching a hand to his shoulder. “You okay?”

  “Yeah, fine… did the Patari say anything about something called the ‘Darkarahn’?”

  “No, I don’t recall them mentioning it. What is it?”

  “I’m not quite sure yet.” He tapped his temple. “This Navigator stuff inside my head keeps bubbling to the surface every now and then, but I don’t know what any of it means. But I just got an image of something called the Darkarahn. Massive, terrible… Some great cosmic horror… And real old. As old as time itself.”

  “Sounds like your typical bedtime story,” Bandar said.

  “Perhaps.” Kai looked at the space outside the ship on the holoscreen. “Or perhaps not.”

  Chapter 11

  THE BLACKSTAR’S galley was pleasant, as far as galleys went on starships. Clean, well-stocked, and roomy. Kai sat across the table from Bandar and Brenna and thought about what he was going to say.

  They were all drinking coffee and picking at food.

  “Well, we should probably get this family-reunion show on the road,” Bandar said. He pushed his plate away, lit up a cigar and stretched his legs out. In the quiet of the kitchen, the hydraulic whine from his prosthetic leg startled Kai.

  “I guess so,” Brenna said.

  “Yeah,” Kai said.

  And then they lapsed into a less comfortable silence once again.

  “Okay, this is ridiculous,” Kai said and looked at Brenna. “Wanna tell me about myself? Bandar knows some; you know some. Hell, you two know more about me than I do.”

  “Easy, Kai,” Bandar said.

  “No, Bandar, it’s okay,” Brenna said. “He has every right to be angry.”

  “That’s just it, Mother. I’m not angry. More confused than anything else
.” He paused. “Well, maybe a little angry.”

  “And that is completely understandable,” she said.

  “So, care to fill me in?”

  She finished off her coffee in one gulp and then sighed.

  “Okay, Kai. I left you on Zarunda to learn to make your own mistakes, your own choices. I was brought up in a very strict household, where a career was first and foremost. Everything, really. My entire youth was spent taking extra classes and extracurricular activities in school for the sole purpose of preparing me for an eventual career in the GTU.” A wan smile spread across her face. “My parents were none too happy when I decided to go into the military. My father went so far as to threaten to disown me if I signed those recruitment papers. He didn’t, of course. But my familial relationships were strained for the rest of my parents’ lives.”

  “I never knew that,” Kai said. “Because you never told me.”

  “Of course I didn’t. I wanted you to be self-sufficient, to choose your own path. Part of me feared that I would become my parents with you.”

  “Like trying to talk me into joining the military?” He cocked an eyebrow at her. “Over and over again?”

  She smiled at him. “Yes, just like that. But with your father missing and me constantly being away on GTU missions, I didn’t want to drag you all over the galaxy.” She paused and pushed some food around her plate with a fork. “No, that’s not entirely true. I couldn’t drag you all over the galaxy. My job, my career would have made that impossible. So I set you up with relatives on Zarunda. A solution? Yes. The best solution? Probably not. But I didn’t really see that I had much choice. I could have given you up to foster care or something like that, but with your parentage, it was better to hide you because…”

  “The Coalition would have found out somehow.”

  “Probably through health screenings. So, yes, I sent you away. And it hurt. Badly.”

  “Even though I’m not your son.” Kai didn’t sound accusatory, merely stated a cold fact.

  “As far as I’m concerned, you are my son. I love you, Kai, and it broke my heart to send you away like that. But you were never alone on Zarunda, not really.”