Vall's Will

by Linda Mooney

  “They sent one message to their own ships. To the being overseeing them, or to whomever is in charge. But the other communications had to be to the Objurians,” the Sub-captain postulated.

  “I understand that, but why the hurry?”

  “Because as soon as the Ben Objure receive the message, they’ll attack the base. The Ben Objure are already there.”

  Will frowned as a mental image came to mind. It was not pretty. “Permission granted,”

  Before she could give the order, Magnus grinned. “Hold on!”

  The warship tilted sideways again, passing the blue vessel with ease. They had barely cleared its engines when Trinity went into hyperdrive. Will held onto the captain’s seat as her body strained against the straps holding her down. Once they were well away from the standoff, she swiveled around to where her Sub-captain was likewise buckled into his seat.

  “The Ben Objure planned to attack immediately upon receiving word from their allies,” she explained. “It’s my assumption the blue baddies were sent to accost us, and maybe any other Nion warship they encountered, and try to find out whether we still had Vall on board, or if he had been passed along.”

  “Meanwhile, the Ben Objure kept their distance so as to escape detection by the base. If Big Blue Bad got Vall for them, they would have retreated. If not, they were relying on the element of surprise,” Plymon surmised.

  “Exactly. If Big Blue had notified only their command ship, that ship would have then had to send out another communication. The usual trickle down effect. The Ben Objure must have found out that Vall would eventually be delivered to Regency Base, which is why they’ve been lying in wait all this time.”

  “Why aren’t we sending out a warning to base?”

  “Because by now the Ben Objure are attacking.”

  “But, a hundred and twenty messages?” He stared at her as his eyes opened wider. “One hundred twenty ships?” The man checked his monitor, and Will knew why. “There are only three vessels scheduled to be docked at the base at this time.”

  “How many of them are warships?” Will asked, already knowing the answer.

  “None.”

  “Granth?”

  “Already sending out pings. The closest warship to the base is the Legion, and she’s heading back to help. The Future of Strength has sent out a signal, calling other warships within range to the battle.” Granth looked over at her. “I can’t raise anyone at the base.”

  “It has to be under full attack. My guess is everyone has gone underground. Magnus, how soon before we can jump into the thick of it?”

  “Sixty-seven hours, unless we can get another column of power from the engines.”

  Will slapped the arm console’s button. “Balacon? We need an extra boost!”

  “Working on it! Tell Magnus to push it gradually, and we should be all right.”

  “Killjorn to Captain.”

  “Tayte here.”

  “That’s two somersaults in less than twenty minutes. Is there any way to give a person some warning before you pull that maneuver? You should see this mess I made.”

  The physician’s irritated tone put a smile on Will’s face. “Sorry about the mess. We’ll try to come up with some sort of alarm next time. Magnus, what’s our arrival now?”

  “Fifty-two hours.”

  “Captain! We have an incoming alert from base!”

  “Specifically for me?”

  “No. It’s an open distress call.” Granth transferred the message to the speakers where are could hear.

  “This is Regency Base Prime on Surro Two, in the fourth quadrant of the Surro-Gambit galaxy. Requesting immediate help. We are under attack! Repeat. We are under attack by approximately one hundred Ben Objurian ships. To all Nion warships, return immediately to base! Repeat. All Nion warships are ordered to return to Regency Base to defend us against this unprovoked attack.” There was a pause, then the message started over. Granth closed the circuit.

  “They’re after Vall.” Plymon finally stated what had been sitting on her mind.

  Will agreed. “But why? What is it about him that an entire civilization is willing to take on every Nion warship? It’s suicide!”

  “Let’s not forget the fact that the Ben Objure also brought in another species to confront us,” Magnus offered. “They could persuade more to join in.”

  “I wonder what they promised that species to get them to challenge us like that?” Will looked down at where her fingers played over the various buttons on the armrest. Or shouldn’t I be asking myself what is so special about Vall that they’re willing to make such a sacrifice?

  At the thought of the young man, a deep ache touched her heart. What was he doing? Was he afraid? Or was that special part of him that had started to emerge showing more of itself?

  “Magnus?”

  “Forty-three hours, Captain, and that’s the limit. We can’t go any faster without damaging ourselves.”

  “Killjorn to Captain.”

  “Tayte here. Need help with cleaning up the mess?”

  “No. I need you down here immediately.” The physician’s tone was brusque and all business.

  Will began removing her harness. “Is this about my new skin?” she inquired, getting to her feet.

  “This is a private matter between you and me, Captain. Killjorn out.”

  Will dashed for the tube.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Origin

  What Killjorn had called a mess in the medical bay looked more like a catastrophe to Will when she entered. Most of the time, the physician kept her supplies locked away, or stored where nothing but a direct blast to the containers could upset the contents. The floor looked like the aftermath of a major storm.

  “What happened?”

  “Inventory. Guess I picked the wrong time to do it.”

  “I thought you did inventory through the ship’s logs.”

  “I like to do things the old-fashioned way. I want to look directly at a vial of Domisvihad and know how many doses are left.” Killjorn waved her over. “Be careful. Don’t step over anything. It might roll under you when you least expect it and trip you up. Nudge it out of the way.”

  Will obeyed and slowly made her way over to where the woman sat in front of her monitor.

  “Here. Catch.” Killjorn tossed her a shiny object, which turned out to be a portable holographic display. All warriors had a similar device implanted within their shields, enabling them to view whatever picture was directed at them when they couldn’t see it themselves. Because Will’s shield remained inoperable, she needed the wristlet.

  Without question, she slipped it on. Instantly, the image of a creature she’d never seen before rose above them. Hideous in appearance, it reared up on its hind legs. Hunched over, its heavily-muscled arms were stretched outward. With massive claws and fangs bared, it appeared ready to attack. Two golden eyes spat fire, and its naked, spike-laden skin was pure white. The way the creature stood prevented her from seeing its genitals, leaving her to wonder if it was female or male.

  Will winced and held up a hand to protect herself. The being emitted a light that nearly blinded them. Instinctively, she ordered the display to tone down the image, then remembered she would have to do it manually. She quickly darkened the picture.

  “First thoughts,” Killjorn ordered.

  “It’s bipedal. It’s humanoid, or at least it appears that way.”

  “Friendly and fekking mad? Or pure evil to begin with?”

  It took effort to tear her eyes away from the being and look at the doctor. “What do you mean?”

  Killjorn waved at the holo. “Do you think it’s acting that way because it’s mad? Or because that’s part of its natural tendencies?”

  Will looked back at the image. “I have no idea. I’d have to know more details.”

  “Spoken like a true captain. Now, look again and tell me what else you see.”

  Now that the glare had been lowered, Will could exami
ne the picture more closely. Something about the creature nagged her in the back of her mind, and while she studied the image, she wondered what she might be looking for.

  When it hit her, she nearly passed out.

  “It’s…”

  “It’s Vall.”

  “No.” The denial was softly spoken as Will shook her head. “It can’t be.”

  “Actually, it’s not an actual picture of him, but it’s the only photo in known existence of what he is,” the doctor corrected herself.

  Will turned to the woman. “Please, don’t joke like this. This isn’t funny.”

  “I’m not joking. And you’re right. It isn’t the least bit funny. In fact, considering how you feel about him, you must be crushed.”

  Crushed? Will closed her eyes. When she opened them, the frightening being remained suspended above them like an undeniable nightmare.

  “No. It can’t be. Where did you find this shot?”

  “In the archives of the queen mother Objurian ship.”

  “Plymon searched those records himself, and didn’t find this.”

  “Oh, I bet he did. He just didn’t know what he was looking for. Or what he’d found.”

  Unable to view more, Will closed the device. Even with the image gone, it burned in her memory as it continued to haunt her. “Talk to me, Killy.”

  The woman readjusted herself in her seat. “We’ve been looking in the wrong place. We’ve been searching for an alien species that conformed to Vall’s specifications. We’d also assumed that the Objurians cross-indexed their information. We were wrong on both counts.”

  “I’m still not following you.”

  “I was helping Gayt to decipher the information we received from the queen ship. Every time we tried to retrieve data on Vall, we came up with very little. I mean, scant little. And we had no idea why, considering how long he’s been on board their vessel. So I decided to go a different route. I went into our logs and fed in all the information we had.”

  “What did you find?”

  “Let me give you an example. If I put in a query for drussik, what would I find?”

  “The people of Druss Ibin Ora?”

  “Or a ceremonial meal served on Creati Two, in the Fornossta planetary cluster. One word, two radically different definitions, and both with origins galaxies apart. We cross-index so that every reference to drussik is made available to us. The Ben Objure either don’t choose to, or they don’t know how, or they haven’t thought to have their archives similarly arranged. They singularly compartmentalize all their information.” Killjorn locked eyes with hers. “What I found was this. Vall isn’t an alien species. He’s an imaginary being. A fairy tale. A myth. He’s an ‘it’, hence his name.”

  Will froze as she took in the news, then shook her head. “He can’t be. He’s real. He touched me. He kissed me. He’s made love to me. He exists.”

  “But, up until this moment, or until the moment the Ben Objure realized what they possessed, he had only existed as a figment of the imagination.”

  The physician leaned closer and placed a hand on Will’s knee.

  “Once we had a better idea of what we were looking for, we searched the Objurian records for a mythical being. Their files are sorted so differently than ours, there were no hits when we were trying to find a real person. But when I looked under folklore, there it was.”

  “What is he? Is he as evil as that one appears to be?”

  “He’s called a Resplendent.”

  Will frowned. “A Resplendent? Why does that sound familiar?”

  “Because they’re known throughout many galaxies by a thousand other names, as well, like demon, angel, folgess, jerimida. In some cultures, they’re considered the ultimate guardians. On other worlds, they’re harbingers of death and destruction.”

  “But they’re fictional,” Will insisted.

  “Until now.”

  Killjorn backed away and pressed a few keys on her monitor.

  “Believe it or not, it was the search for the heart-shaped areole on the breast that brought him up,” she continued. “When I added the glow and the telepathy, our archives automatically brought up the Objurians’ comparison.”

  “So what you’re telling me is that Vall is an imaginary being come to life?”

  “In a way, yes. He and his kind are legends. They existed as real beings, until eons of non-contact made them mythical. I don’t know where the Ben Objure came across him, or how they managed to obtain him. I’ve never personally encountered anything similar to this, but I’ve heard of creatures once thought to be make-believe being discovered, revealing their true existence. It’s happened many times, on many planets.”

  So had she, Will admitted to herself. She clicked the holograph on again, and this time she studied the image more closely.

  “What does it do?”

  “The story is that it has tremendous power. Unimaginable power. What kind of power wasn’t explained, but legend says one Resplendent can demolish whole planets. Wipe out entire civilizations.”

  “If they’re that strong, why didn’t Vall free himself from them?”

  “My guess it’s because he was only nine when they captured him. Maybe his powers weren’t developed yet. Maybe he didn’t know what he really was, or what he could do. I’m guessing here, but in many cultures, including our own, it takes an adult to guide the young. To teach them right from wrong, and what they’ll need to know when they grow up. If they choose to become warriors, they need an adult to guide them on how to bring up their shields, and how to maintain them. How to bear their weapons. And, above all, how to follow the code of all Nion warriors. Because Vall was so young, he didn’t have anyone show him what he was capable of doing. He’s had no guidance. All he knows is how he was treated by the Ben Objure…and by you. Everything else he’s discovered by himself.”

  Will rubbed the spot above the bridge of her nose. If her heart hadn’t been involved, she could see a clear and inevitable plan to rescue Vall, and inevitably release him on a world where he could do no harm. On a planet where he could survive, and hopefully remain out of sight for the rest of his life.

  But her heart was part of the equation, and she couldn’t deny her feelings. If they managed to get Vall away from the base, what then?

  What happens afterward is secondary. First, we have to get him off the base.

  “We need to get to Vall before he does something that could destroy him.”

  “I agree,” said Killjorn. “He hasn’t tested the full extent of his abilities. There’s no telling what he could do, or how far the devastation could reach.” She placed a hand on Will’s shoulder. “Has he ever told you that you were his will?”

  “Many times.”

  “Did you understand what he was trying to tell you?”

  “That I belonged to him. That we were meant to be together.”

  “No. I mean, that was only part of it.” Killjorn shook her head. “When he first confessed it to me, that’s what I thought, too. Now I think I know what he was trying to say. I think he was also telling you that you are the only person with the ability to control him. To keep him sane. To keep him from becoming whatever terrifying creature he suspects he could turn into. You are his will, as in his willpower. His conscience.”

  Will stared at her for several moments as the woman’s words sunk in. “Do you really believe that?”

  “Yes, I do. Furthermore, we need to rescue him before he turns.”

  “Before he turns?”

  “Legend says, once a Resplendent goes on the defensive, unless he’s guided, he’ll forever be a creature of evil. A dangerous, nearly indestructible being. But if he’s shown a way to use his abilities for the better, he’ll never be tempted to do harm. That’s what ultimately separates the angels from the demons. I think Vall was on that ship because the Ben Objure hoped to shape him into their ultimate weapon. A weapon the Objurians could use against us, and against the Regency, as well as any military force in
the universe.”

  “That’s why they’ve pushed so hard to get him back. The longer he’s out of their grasp, the greater the chance he’ll transform into something that will fight back against them.”

  “That’s my thought, as well,” Killjorn concluded.

  “So, if he has this power, why didn’t he use it against us when we initially found him?” Will wondered aloud. The image of Vall cringing in the corner of his cell would remain forever in her memory.

  The physician shrugged. “My guess is that he’d been treated so poorly by the Ben Objure, he wasn’t knowledgeable about the extent of his power. Or maybe he tried as he grew older, but was punished to the point he never tried again. All that’s changed since you rescued him. I would hazard to say he’s already extending himself, and learning more about what he can do. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s using and testing his abilities even now.”

  Holding up the hologram, Will stared at the thing’s golden eyes. Now that she knew, there were many things about the picture she could identify and recognize as being part of Vall’s make-up. The heart-shaped nipples, and especially the glow.

  The glow.

  The golden eyes.

  Cold, hard fear pumped into her heart, nearly bringing it to a dead halt.

  “Killy, this holo?”

  “Yes?”

  “It’s not a drawing, is it? You said it’s the real thing, right? An actual shot of a Resplendent going berserk. Isn’t it?”

  The woman’s answer was almost too soft to hear. “Yes.”

  Will tried to lick her lips, but her mouth was too dry.

  “Killy, is this one of Vall’s parents?”

  “I would say yes. More than likely the male, given the musculature, but I would need an internal DNA scan to be sure. But, yes, I believe it is. Oh, and do you remember that other Objurian word I discovered? Umerint?”

  “Yes. You know what it means now?”

  “It’s their word for a god.”

  Will continued to stare into the thing’s eyes. “We have to find out how the Ben Objure managed to kill a creature legend says is so powerful, it could have destroyed them.”

  “I think I can already guess,” the physician said. “I think this thing was trying to protect its offspring, and that vulnerability got it killed. It died trying to save its child from the Ben Objure. You’re probably looking at the only picture of Vall’s father before the Ben Objure destroyed him.”