Renegades (Dark Seas Book 3)

by Damon Alan

  Eight men and six women wished to join Eislen’s group. So six wounded and two older men agreed to stay with the caravan. The wagon master found that an acceptable alternative. The wounded would help enough for the caravan to get by, until the traders got to a town where they could replace their numbers.

  With a deal made Eislen departed with his troops. They marched east again, toward a home that was nothing but rubble.

  As they passed through villages and farming communities something strange began to happen. Eislen’s troops began bringing men and women to see him. These people were seeking to join the group after the tales of his army’s deeds spread in small villages along the route of the caravan.

  His small force grew. Thirty-two after leaving the caravan. By the time ten cycles had passed, he had forty-eight adults with him.

  Others wanted to join. But Eislen turned away families. He suspected there would be conflict before peace, and that wasn’t the life he wanted children to grow up knowing.

  When it felt like they would fall into the East Sea if they traveled anymore, they came to a hill covered with the remains of a burn. Blackened skeletons of trees towered like sentinels keeping watch on destruction.

  Travel was hard, they marched through ravines filled with fallen trees and along ridges gritty with blowing ash.

  Eislen finally halted at the top of an escarpment. Below him lay a bowl shaped valley. On the far side the trees remained healthy, unburnt. In the center of the valley several concentric rings shattered the ground in overlapping patterns. Water had begun to accumulate in the depressions within the broken earth. The skeletal remains of worked timbers jutted from the soil, although no buildings remained recognizably intact.

  Kampana.

  “We will make camp at the tree line on the far side, it looks as if the forest there was spared the wrath that befell my town. There is a herding fence just inside the trees with centuries of collected stone along its length,” Eislen said quietly. “That fence will provide the foundation stones of a new Kampana.”

  Salla clasped his hand. Eislen squeezed hers back.

  Elvanik stabbed the base of his iron pike into the ground. “You heard him. Make for the stone wall. There we rest until the next firstday.”

  The fishermen and villagers were weary, but when they realized the end of their journey was close, their spirits rose and they discovered new energy.

  They made their way to the wall.

  Once there, fire pits were hastily built. Longnight would be cold. Tree limbs were felled and lean-tos built. Furs were shared and the women who’d joined them had no lack of suitors seeking to help keep them warm.

  The women made their choice, if any at all. Eislen noted even that was a choice, and one that was respected.

  He smiled. More women would come. Some as warriors, some seeking safety from Zeffulti soldiers, some looking simply to make a difference. He remembered the old woman who’d lived in Kampana before. The Healer. He’d thought her shrill, but the reality was she was probably just tired of hearing about everyone’s problems and nothing else. He wished he’d helped more with her chores, and gotten to know her.

  If Kampana was to rise again, he’d need more tradesmen. And it would rise again. It was the will of the gods. There would be a temple to the Father and Mother here, and adepts would hold no power above another.

  It was a new beginning.

  His house would be right where Elder Miker’s had been.

  Chapter 49 - Mastery

  Time Unknown

  Emille was unused to the sensation of sweat on her forehead. It gathered a little more each time she moved the shell she and Peter occupied.

  She should learn to use his words if she was to work with his people. She strained each time she jumped the shuttle.

  Peter was elated, although he confessed his ignorance of how she did it. To be honest, she wasn’t much more informed on the matter. The best she could describe it to him was as if she was trying to walk from where she knew she was to where she wanted to be. But in this case, no matter what direction she walked, the stride was up a steep hill.

  They’d been to see Faroo, and Tsungte. It was her turn to be elated. To see the houses of the gods up close and personal… there was no greater privilege she could imagine.

  At the moment they raced over the cold blue atmosphere of Tsungte. Peter had operated his shuttle when they arrived to put them in a stable path around the mighty globe.

  Orbit, he called it.

  She touched the guardian of the abyss with her mind. Coldness so deep that it almost seeped into her despite the warmth of the ship. Turbulence, violence, and a sensation of restrained power below the surface. Tsungte was indeed worthy of his title.

  Lord of the Abyss, protect us as we travel.

  “We have to go see Fleet Captain Jannis next,” Peter said. A flash of sadness danced on his face as he said the name of his ruler.

  He misses the one called Sarah Dayson.

  “She’s going to want to see this.” He touched his chin retrospectively. “I’m not sure she’ll believe it otherwise. I wouldn’t.”

  “I do not know where she is, Peter.”

  “She’s in orbit around Refuge. I will bring the image of the fleet up on the monitor, but I’ll have to contact them to get a lock.”

  His words were still strange, but, unlike a month prior, she understood most of it. He would show her with his machine eyes where to go.

  She dabbed at her forehead. She probably had one more jump in her.

  Peter spoke to his people. There was a pause between each side of the conversation as it took place. It had initially taken her time to understand the reason, but once she sensed the energies exiting the shuttle and returning to them, she understood. The gods set a speed limit for those who inhabit the universe, and the movement of things within it.

  That delay did not apply when the gods spoke among themselves. And now, apparently, for those who spoke the language of the gods, which she was beginning to see the gift as.

  “Research One to Seventh Fleet, Sensor Outpost Three.”

  A ten breath pause passed between each side of the conversation.

  “Sensor Outpost Three. What’s your location, Research One?”

  “Tsungte at the moment. I have something to show the captain, I need the fleet coordinates. I need you to use your entangler to contact them.”

  “How did you get way out there?” A pause, background noise. “The fleet is a little busy right now,” was the reply. “Your request to join the fleet is denied.”

  “The captain needs to see this,” Peter repeated emphatically.

  The voice on the other end sounded respectfully sorrowful to have denied Peter his request. “I’m sorry Lieutenant Commander, it’s not going to happen right now. I’ve passed on your request, and it was denied.”

  “I get it. Let Captain Jannis know that it’s my professional opinion we should be top priority for her attention.”

  “Will do,” the voice said. “Be patient.”

  “Research One, out.”

  “Sensor Three. Stop by and see us if you like. We’ve been out here seven months without a visitor.”

  “We might just do that, Sensor Three. Research One out.”

  He turned and looked at Emille, frustration on his face. She touched his mind, noting the mind pattern that was associated with the emotion. With each day she was learning to read him better and better.

  “I can take us near your fleet,” she offered.

  “How? Nula Armana is on the other side of Faroo. We can’t see it from here. I just checked.”

  She laughed. “Nula Armana is my home. I think I can get us there...” Tired of trying to control her floating and speaking at the same time, she pulled herself into a chair next to him and belted in.

  He was a quiet as he considered her offer. “Are you sure we will appear in vacuum?” he asked.

  “Yes, I’m certain. I can put us between Jalai and Nula Arman
a. It will be easy.”

  “Then let’s go where we are needed.”

  “We will be much closer for when your captain does agree to see you,” she suggested. “If nothing else your conversations can be directly with her next time.”

  A smile erupted on his face. “I like how you think.”

  She nodded and closed her eyes. She enveloped the shuttle, the fabric of the emptiness around them. Something much like numbers flooded into her, but numbers inadequately described it.

  While she fully grasped their location, she erased the information of where they were and replaced it with values nearer to her world. The process took some time, and that was the uphill walk. That much informational content in the gods’ tongue was cumbersome, even if her mind spoke it innately.

  She intuitively understood that if she got it wrong, that which was them might not all arrive at the same place. Or even arrive anywhere.

  “There it is,” Peter whispered, pointing out of the cockpit toward the goddess Jalai. “With closed eyes and a few moments to concentrate you violate every law of physics I know.”

  She jerked her gaze away from him, settling on a monster in the distance. The same monster that has tortured her people in the past, when Merik was rising to her madness.

  She pointed at the wall. “A demon, Peter.” A bead of sweat trickled down into her eye. Not because the demon was bothering her, but because the memory of a demon was.

  “What?” he said, sounding surprised.

  Rubbing at closed eyes, she inadvertently reached out to the location of the nightmare in a moment of involuntary curiosity.

  The pain was agonizing. The tendrils of force ripped at her awareness.

  Blackness followed.

  Chapter 50 - Alive

  02 Huni 15329

  Sarah Dayson nodded at Seto, and the junior officer opened a tight beam channel directed at Refuge.

  “Dr. Jannis. With the time delay this conversation will be cumbersome, but the important thing is we’re still alive,” she said. “The Hinden is, as I’m sure Orson has informed you by now, out of commission. But we’ve managed to restore partial power to what remains of our vessel.”

  She looked fondly at Harmeen. “Lieutenant Commander Harmeen has secured enough fuel from our damaged tanks to operate one of our fusion plants for a month, maybe a bit longer. So we will be warm, and we have food and water. We have limited battery capacity, so once the fusion generator shuts down we’ll be able to last another week or so according to my damage control teams. I hope this message finds you well. Over.”

  “Our light speed delay at this range is a few minutes over three hours,” Seto said. “Why don’t you get some rest? I’ll buzz you right before we expect the return.”

  “You’re like my new Thea Jannis,” Sarah said warmly. “Okay, Mom, I’ll get some sleep. But I’ll be standing here in six hours.”

  “I won’t let you miss it, Captain.”

  Sarah made her way to her stateroom. It was cold, but they were conserving fuel. She grabbed an extra insulated sleep bag from her locker, then slipped into her zero G netting.

  In what seemed like just a few moments later, she was waking up to the sound of her alarm.

  Still in her uniform, she made her way back to the bridge. Seto and Harmeen were there alone, he floated close to her gravcouch. “You two will get two weeks of leave as soon as we get back to the fleet,” Sarah said as she pushed from the hatch to her gravcouch.

  Harmeen smiled at his new wife and floated to his position.

  “How long until the time lapse is covered?” Sarah asked.

  “Four minutes. But it may have taken time for them to relay the message to Dr. Jannis.”

  To pass the minutes she asked the new couple about their plans. Kids? Who would take what name? Would they wear bracelets or rings? Was Seto really converting to Bunduism?

  Then the message came.

  Thea Jannis’s face filled the main viewscreen. Sarah realized it might be the first time she was ever glad to see the doctor’s visage there.

  “Captain Dayson! You’re alive. I can’t tell you how happy that makes me. I hate your job.”

  Thea laughed, and Sarah thought she heard chuckles from somewhere off screen.

  “The situation here is out of control.” Thea told Sarah about the fifty marines she sent to subdue Orson. Those poor marines. Sarah was impressed by the wisdom of it, however. It probably was their last chance to take Orson by surprise. Too bad it had likely failed.

  Thea informed her about the Stennis and the sacrifice crewman Schavinski was making.

  Stars, I’ve seen the best and worst in my fleet.

  Lastly Thea got to the point everyone on the wreck of the Hinden wanted to hear. Rescue.

  “Sarah, it’s going to be some time before I can depart Refuge to save you. Orson is at Halvi with the Gaia. I can’t leave Refuge with no defense until he’s either done in by my marine volunteers or leaves with the colony ship. I’m sorry. I don’t know how long that will be. Save your fuel, keep your batteries charged, and I will send you status reports every opportunity I get. The important thing is that Orson doesn’t learn you’ve cheated death once again. He might come back for you. So I will only respond to your messages when Refuge is between us and Halvi. Keep your message tight beam, and let me know if you wish to countermand any of this. Over.”

  Chapter 51 - Leadership

  Time Unknown, Cycle 172, Year 8749

  Alarin floated onto the bridge of the Fyurigan with intent. He was going to save a life that very likely once saved his. He’d demanded a ride on a shuttle to the new command ship for Sarah Dayson’s people.

  He locked eyes momentarily with his target. She smiled, then turned back to her duties. “I need to speak to you, Thea Jannis.”

  She sighed, then turned away from her picture screens and gave him her full attention. “Anytime, Alarin Sur’batti. What can I do for you?”

  “My acolyte Emille Sur’batti and your man, Peter Corriea, they can save our friends. She is alive. I can sense it. ”

  “Sarah?”

  “Yes,” Alarin replied. He could tell by the tilt of her head she was interested. “Emille can move the Palino to the location of your stranded people. They can be brought onto the functioning ship, and returned here.”

  “How is that possible?”

  “I don’t know. It is new to me as well. But you have little time to argue. Peter tells me that he’s been trying to speak with you about it. He says that if you delay your departure, you will not be able to get to Sarah in time. And that you will not leave while your renegade threatens my people. He and Emille have the solution that saves my people and yours.”

  Alarin touched Thea’s mind lightly. Her sadness indicated the truth of his words. Her duty to protect his home was barely overcoming her desire to rescue her friends.

  He sensed she did not want to make these decisions. She wanted Sarah back in command.

  “I can’t leave without trying to save lives,” Thea agreed.

  “Then let us trade. You protect my people from the evil at Halvi, and I will save your captain. You will be relieved of the burden you hate.”

  “How did you…”

  “I had to know your thoughts, I touched your mind. I apologize. But we need to move quick—”

  A console beeped twice, and a young man spoke to Thea. “Captain Dayson’s return message has arrived.”

  “On screen,” Thea Jannis ordered.

  “Thea, you are doing the right thing. The Seventh Fleet is a shadow of what it was, and I guarantee you the Hive are coming. I can feel it, as illogical as that sounds. The adepts are our only hope of defeating our old foe. So defend them. We’ll be here. You’re doing a great job, just keep my people together.” A moment passed as Alarin looked at Sarah. Something in her had changed. She looked at peace like he’d never seen her. “You and the locals… we’re one people now. Not two. Make everyone understand that. Dayson out.”

>   That sealed it in Alarin’s mind. He was going to save his friend at any cost.

  Apparently in Thea Jannis’s as well. “Go get her, Alarin Sur’batti,” she said. A tear floated at the corner of each of her eyes, growing in size until she swatted it away.

  It felt right that both leaders were on the same page. Rescue Sarah. His people would save her, while her people saved his.

  Alarin clasped Thea’s arm. “It’s Alarin.”

  A moment later he was cradling Thea’s head on his shoulder. He felt moisture soak through his tunic. The rest of her bridge crew looked away uncomfortably.

  “I’m sick of the death,” she whispered.

  Sarah is right. We are one people, Alarin spoke silently into Thea’s mind. With one purpose, one enemy. I will bring her back and relieve you of this burden you bear.

  Thank you, she thought back to him in response. And my name is Thea.

  As he left he thought about the woman he was leaving in charge. The burden of the lives in her hands was harming her, yet she was still making the right decisions. Faced with a terrible choice and a hate for being the one to make the choices, she rose to the occasion anyway.

  His one small gesture of compassion had reinforced her willpower enough to get her through until Emille brought Sarah home.

  Chapter 52 - Chivalry is Dead

  02 Huni 15329

  The link to his ally at Refuge closed.

  Orson clinched his fists in anger. Dayson was alive, and a rescue plan was being put in place to save her life.

  Nobody on the bridge of the Schein said a word as he seethed.

  Maybe it made no difference. Maybe her living to spend the rest of her life dwelling on his victory was better than her being dead.

  Orson laughed, which made Andersott jump. That made him laugh even harder.