Naomi’s vision was no longer blurry, but it was for the better now that she could view the sphere without conscious strain. On the other hand, she could no longer appreciate its existence as much as before. “It does, though I cannot explain why. When I turn my armour on, it’s like I can…relate with it”.
“If you can realise the connection when you do that, then imagine how I feel…” Nightingale mused out loud, the faintest glimmer of a smile on her lips.
From the Apostle’s reaction, Naomi could tell the object was deadly in more ways than one. “My Grace, what is it? What have we brought back with us?” she asked, trepidation in her voice.
Nightingale cast her eyes on the Commander. “It is an Energy Sphere…the Empire’s attempt at forging a Hollow Bomb”.
Naomi’s eyes squinted slightly as she tried to understand what the Energy Sphere was from its namesake. She had more questions now, like how Nightingale even knew the humans were trying to recreate the Guardian weapon that could create a black-hole. More pressing, however, was her curiosity about what the Gothicans had actually made.
“What does it do?” she pressed.
Nightingale took a step forward, reached out a hand towards the Sphere and held it mid-air. Naomi watched in fascination as the haze that formed her Apostle’s skin wavered and shifted as though about to morph into something new. She thought she could see the hint of bare, human skin, but it was a fleeting moment that passed before she could memorise it.
“It manipulates energy…” Nightingale whispered, almost reverently. She twiddled her fingers and saw the effect it had on her form. “Beyond that, we can only guess”.
Her head sunk before she turned round to Naomi. “Keep a guard detail on this room, Commander. Only those you trust best. Only our legion.”
“It will not move from here, my Grace” Naomi replied, saluting her as she began to leave the room.
“Make sure that it doesn’t, Naomi. For good or ill, the Gothicans have provided us with a weapon of great magnitude. All we have to do is figure out exactly what it’s capable of before we can hope to use it” Nightingale said over her shoulder as she walked past.
With that, the Apostle left the Commander alone with the Energy Sphere once more. This time, knowing a little more about what it was but more on edge than before, she couldn’t stare at it for long at all. She decided she wouldn’t, in fact. A few moments later, Naomi called in the guard detail so she could leave the wretched thing behind.
NIGHTINGALE WALKED THROUGH the doors to the bridge of Nighthunter. Like so many times before, she found Thanos standing by the view screens, watching something she couldn’t discern from where she was. Instead of approaching him, she went to the Command Throne and took her seat. Her ethereal form felt like it would pass straight through the chair, but one of the first things she had learnt as an Apostle was how to control her nature. If she wanted, she could force her physicality to be as stable as any other Apostle’s. It was a small thing to do, but it helped her feel more human.
Thanos didn’t turn, but she could tell from the sound of his voice that his face was grave. “Is it safe?” he asked.
“As safe as it can be” she replied.
He turned to her, but he didn’t seem satisfied with her answer. He actually seemed worried, which was an expression she never thought she’d see on him. “How did the Empire get to a position where they could attempt to forge a Hollow Bomb?” he wondered.
“Innovation and creation have always been key strengths of the human race. Is it any surprise that they witness destruction and want to employ it to their own use when faced by an enemy they can’t even comprehend the danger of?”
Thanos shook his head in denial. “There are limits, sister. They should have known such power is beyond them to control…now they have made a device that no-one can decipher. It could mean the death of us, not just those we use it against”.
“That is why we must take it to someone who can understand it, unlike us.”
Thanos looked perplexed. “There is still fighting on the ground below. We’re not going anywhere until this is resolved” he told her.
“We have time to do what must be finished, but not much. The nature of this war is constantly changing. If the enemy were aware of this weapon before we were, we have to ask ourselves how...and what exactly they intended to do with it”.
Thanos thought about that and looked back at the view screens to the vastness of space. As always, he found some solace in its immensity. “Well, we have always wondered where the Great Enemy actually keeps Himself.”
“I know what you’re implying brother, but you cannot be right. If He was here, this battle would have been over long ago and we would have been dead long before we even discovered the Energy Sphere” Nightingale said. She felt conviction when she spoke those words, yet there was a trace of fear in her that almost escaped into the open. The very thought of the dark god was enough to make any of them tremble, even Hydra who was bottled up in the galaxy’s mightiest stronghold.
“But He doesn’t have to be, does He? He is a god, or have we fought only his pawns long enough to forget our real foe is still out there?” Thanos challenged. “For all we understand of Him, He could be omniscient and know everything that we do. Even if He’s not, there were Corrupts in the Senate before the Lion and 617th removed them. Who’s to say He hasn’t got more in every sector we fight in, spying on our every move?”
Nightingale considered what he was saying. She couldn’t deny the truth that the Apostles had long neglected to face up to the reality of their enemy, but she could understand the reasons behind that. For as long as the war had been waging, they had only born witness to the Great Enemy on Pheia. Since then, He had remained concealed and hidden from them. Not even the Hydra’s legion, who were famed for blending into the crowd, could determine His location. It was fear that kept the Apostles truly forgetting His existence, waiting to face them in what could only be the final battle.
Nightingale refused to talk about Him any longer. “It would do us ill to try and second guess a deity. All we must do is ensure the safety of the Empire. We have almost secured this sector and once that is done, we can transport the Sphere to where it must go.”
Thanos knew where and who his sister intended to take the human weapon to. “Do you really think the Lion will know what it’s designed to do?” Thanos asked.
Nightingale felt compelled to leave the Command throne and join his side. She thought about laying a reassuring hand on his shoulder, but given the disparity in their natures it seemed counter-intuitive. “Emotion is energy and energy can be manipulated. That’s what the Sphere seems to me to do. In that sense, the Lion is our greatest chance of learning its proper use, for as we all know he has the most emotion out of all of us. It is he who wields the greatest energy. The moment he comes near to it, he’ll be able to tell us all we need to know about its purpose, I’m certain of it”.
Thanos believed her, but doubted the safety of her plan. “Then surely you know it’s not as easy as that. If you’re even slightly right about this, taking it to him is a risk. We can’t-”
“Contact! Jump signatures!” someone shouted, interrupting Thanos and his objection.
Both Apostles’ heads snapped round to its source and saw Phoebus, the comms-officer of the 101st, listen in to her headset as she received more details. “I’m receiving a hail now…”
They waited intensely as Phoebus scribbled down the message. It had been in code, that much was clear. A few moments later, she looked up from her position and took a breath. “They’re legion ships, my Grace. More of the missing have returned to us”.
Thanos couldn’t help but smile. “With their help, maybe we’ll be leaving soon after all”.
Nightingale glanced at him. “You know the procedure, brother. First, we need proof”.
Chapter 18
THERE WAS NO mistake in what Solitaire had told them. She had revealed that Promethian ships, the same forged
in the Abodian Sector by their brother Apostle the Dragon, was heading to Kraxus and were allied to the enemy. What was unclear, and terribly threatening, was not knowing why the fleet that had been designed to destroy the Phantoms was now being used by them.
“How can this be?” Oz asked.
Novus shook her head from side to side slowly, disappointment and regret plain to be seen in the gesture. “Now we know what happened all those years ago…the fleet was taken from us right under our noses. No wonder we haven’t seen Samael since before Pheia.”
She gulped, realising the weight of what she was implying. “We have lost him too. Why didn’t any of us feel his death? Why didn’t Valkyrie? The loss of an Apostle shouldn’t just go unnoticed like that”.
Oz, however, was determined not to believe in the apparent conclusion. “You assume too much, Novus. For all we know Samael could still be alive somewhere. To assume he’s been killed because the Great Enemy has his fleet is insult to his survivability. No, we don’t know his fate, but I cannot imagine him fading into the night without us knowing” he argued.
“Then where is he?!?” Solitaire almost yelled, like an expectant child demanding answers from her parents. Now that she had told them her secret, she wanted an explanation for it all as much as they did.
Novus looked at Oz, who in turn fixed her gaze and with a single nod told her wordlessly to believe in their missing brother. But he must be dead, since how else would the Phantoms use his ships without torturing him to death for the secrets to using them? She wanted to ask, but as always she felt she had to look after Solitaire’s well-being first.
Looking at the youthful Apostle, she summoned a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, dear sister. Oz is quite right - I am wrong to despair. You see, like you I’m afraid” she said, trying to make herself seem scared so that Solitaire would feel less insecure about her own anxiety. Empathy, Novus had learned, seemed to be the best way to soothe her, even if it meant sharing negative emotions.
If the legionnaires in the room felt any differently about the Apostles after seeing how nervous they had become, they were doing well to hide it. Despite their acceptance, they were all anxious to understand what they were supposed to do after the new threat was out in the open for all to know.
“My Lords?” Volanquis asked. He wasn’t fazed by the presence of three Apostles in the same room, but he could tell the same couldn’t be said for all of his peers.
“Speak, Commander” Oz replied.
Volanquis stepped forward, his helmet under one arm. He saluted to the Apostles as a group before continuing. “If these Promethian ships are heading here with the Phantom fleet, what preparations can we make? It would have been a tough battle before these increased odds and I fear the balance is now more than tipped against us”.
Novus was the first to answer. “What are your questions digging towards Commander? Do you think we should now abandon this world just because the battle looks tough?” She knew she was taking her unstable emotions out on him, but it didn’t make her go any easier on what she thought he was suggesting.
Volanquis remained stoic under her stern reply. “My Grace, I know not what we should do. I see two paths before us; we can stay here and defend this world and pray that we have the strategy to fight a fleet we have no experience against, or we can take as much of the resources available to us here now and support another world.”
“It won’t be that simple” Solitaire said joylessly, a stark change of tone accompanying the strange smile which she now wore. “Such a thing would take a week. We have…maybe…36 hours?”
Oz had been taking in the opinions of all three and realised he was siding with his Commander. Though Solitaire seemed cold to his Commander as well, he directed his speech to Novus. “Volanquis gives a strong argument. If the purpose of the Promethian ships was to overwhelm the Phantoms, they will be a match for us. We don’t have the numbers to meet that threat just yet”.
Novus began to pace slowly around the table. She didn’t meet anyone’s eyes and no-one wanted to be the first to interrupt her thoughts. It was her turn to speak and they respected that. “Akurei…” she finally said.
“My Grace?”
“With our current forces, how many resources can we acquire before the enemy’s reinforcements arrive?”
Akurei was quick to answer, ever conscious of the purpose for their occupation of Kraxus; to forge weapons and ammunition to fuel the legions’ war efforts until the war’s end. “With what we have in storage aboard our fleet already, we can take enough in the time we have to last us another two years.”
“Does that take into account every legion, including those serving with the other Apostles?” Oz thought to clarify.
“Yes, my Lord, it does. Of course, if further missing legions have been rediscovered that we don’t yet know about, that duration would be mitigated…” Akurei explained.
Novus looked at Volanquis, but she wasn’t as harsh as before when she said “You’re right about two paths Commander, though I can’t share your optimism about the more obvious of choices. Both it seems now will allow our downfall, though one is more gradual than the other. It would take a lot for us to overthrow the Great Enemy in two years”.
“No-one can guess the future” Solitaire told her with a degree of seriousness on her face that belied the innocence of her voice.
Novus sighed. They had fought so long to maintain control over Kraxus that it seemed a terrible sacrifice to give it away at the first sign of defeat. She believed in fighting to the end, not in giving the enemy the few key resources that they had, even if it did mean saving the lives of her legions. “Need I confirm what you think, Oz?” she asked.
He walked over to her, almost to share a private conversation and answered “We have to leave, Novus. It’s the planet or ourselves; we can’t save both.”
She frowned, hating to admit that the right choice was to retreat. “We should at least consult the Lion, no matter how hard it could be to contact him” she protested.
It was then that Akurei spoke without prompt. “My Grace, that problem is already solved” she said, gesturing to Florian. The Recon Master seemed to be busy communicating with a miniature hologram of another legionnaire that hovered from his wrist-guard. “The First has already made contact with us”.
NOVUS TOOK THE Lion’s call in the same room that she had sought the comfort of her own thoughts many times before. He appeared as a lone hologram, projected into the centre of the room from a plate-like device centred on the floor. The darkness was partly illuminated by the blue light of his semblance, but the symbolism didn’t escape her attention even if it wasn’t intended by him.
The Lion had told her he wanted to talk to each of them alone. Novus was to have the first communication and she felt an ounce of honour at the fact. Part of her tried to persuade her heart that, against all appearances, he remembered their friendship after all. The rest of her denied that tempting version of reality, however.
“Hello, Lupus” she smiled. Her hands were clasped in expectation behind her back. She was in her human form and the only light in the room came from his hologram, which served to remind her once more of how long she had been waiting to talk to him again in private.
He smiled back. “Novus! It is good to see you again, even if only like this…How have you fared?”
Novus couldn’t help but feel heartened by his question. There was a war waging across the galaxy and the first thing the Lion asked her was how she was doing. “Oh, the same as always…but I’m alive” she laughed. It was a phrase she had gotten used to telling him when they talked like this.
Lupus mimicked her light-heartedness, but it was shorter and seemed wearier. There was a subtle, yet noticeable change in his mood when she gave her answer. “You’ve always talked about life and death like they’re separate things, Novus. Death is so close to life that it isn’t enough to just be alive. You’re Phoenix, you don’t simply live…you shine.”
No
vus lowered her eyes to the floor in embarrassment. How did he always have the words to pass through her walls? “Do you truly believe that? About death, I mean” she asked.
“I mean everything I say” he replied seriously, but reassuringly. His eyes were honest, yet she would have believed him even if they weren’t.
She suddenly found herself desperate to know the answer to a question that faced every living human. For some reason, she thought he would have it. “Lupus, do you think…that life goes on, that it continues after the last sleep?”
“Well, I like to think there’s never an end to anything. Everything is a form of energy and energy transforms, it doesn’t die” he said.
“What do we become?” she asked. “I think it would be an injustice if you didn’t change and persevere”.
“I don’t know what we are after all this. I’d like to think I know what I’ll become”. She waited for him to explain and after a moment he realised he should. “I don’t think lions simply die and fade. No…rather, I think they regroup wherever they go to…and then they return as wolves, as a pack. At least, that’s the fate I would like if I could choose one”.
The idea warmed Novus more than her own fiery form ever could. As strange as it seemed, she liked the concept. “I think that would suit you” she said. “Given your attachment to Calla, it would only be fitting…any other change wouldn’t be you”.
Lupus dipped his head in appreciation of her sincerity. “I am genuinely honoured to hear you say that, old friend” he replied. When he called her that, she felt a sense of closeness to him shiver through her. He might not have ever openly told her he knew about their past, but now she knew at last that on some level he knew there was a connection. She had only ever heard him refer to Sabre, his legion’s Commander, as an old friend. Others might not have noticed the fact or thought much of it, but to Novus it was significant even she was just imagining things.
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