Primal Darkness

by Ryan Kirk

  “But when you asked why I did what I did today, yes, part of it was because Tev is our crew, and we should do everything we can to save him. More importantly, though, I did it because leaving him behind was wrong.”

  Kindra didn’t know how to respond. She hadn’t expected anything so emotional from Eleta. It was a side of her that Kindra rarely got to see. “Thank you for telling me. For what it’s worth, I’m grateful that you did what you could to save him.”

  There were a few minutes of silence, but Kindra felt as though the entire atmosphere had changed. Where once the brig had been confining and tense, it was now open, as though the air were easier to breathe.

  Eleta spoke. “There’s something else that bothered me when it happened, but I haven’t really been able to put my finger on why until recently. The pressure seal that fell in front of Tev, almost trapping him? That doesn’t happen. There weren’t any other seals in our way, and the fact that it closed just before Tev ran through it is beyond suspicious. The AI on that ship had to do that intentionally. It’s the only thing I can think of.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “I’ve been thinking about what happened on the assault on that ship. Something still isn’t adding up, but it seems to me that their plan was to try to jump out while most of our suits were aboard. Logically, the only reason they would do that would be so that they could try to take the suits after the jump, after all our pilots lost their minds jumping without sedation. But the AI seemed to be singling out Tev.”

  “Are you saying that the Hellbringer was trying to capture Tev and his suit?”

  “I think so, yes.”

  Kindra let the idea sink in for a while. She couldn’t fault any part of Eleta’s logic. As always, it was sound. But she didn’t like the conclusion that her friend had reached. It was an amazing amount of trouble to capture one person. She thought again about her brief conversation with Captain Nick and his mention of a weapon. Was Tev the weapon he was so worried about?

  The next day they didn’t have long to wait before Derreck entered the brig with Captain Absalon. Kindra had a sudden desire to wash her hair and make herself look more presentable.

  Derreck was wearing a grin on his face which made Kindra feel almost immediately at ease. As always, her captain had come through, saving the day again.

  Derreck spoke first. “Well, it’s been quite a while since I’ve had to bail somebody out of jail, but I suppose it’s worth it for you two, huh?”

  Kindra shook her head, a smile on her face. “I don’t know, sir. We might be more trouble than we’re worth.”

  Derreck laughed. “Oh, there’s no doubt of that. Come on, let’s get you out of here and showered up. I don’t want to spend too much time too close to that stink.”

  As soon as they stepped out of the brig, Captain Absalon turned around and gave the two girls a harsh stare. “What you two did makes me uncomfortable. I know you were trying to save Tev, and Derreck has assured me that you two checked to make sure the laser wasn’t pointing at us before firing it, but I can’t stress enough that type of behavior will no longer be permitted on the Destiny. You two won’t be thrown out of an airlock, as much as that might allow me to sleep more soundly in my own bed, but you are going to be confined to the Vigilance, at least for the near future. All of her connections to Destiny are being monitored, and I can assure you that if you try anything like that again, it will not work. Are we clear?”

  Both women stood up straighter and saluted. “Yes, sir!”

  Kindra fought an urge to laugh. It had been a very long time since she had saluted, and the entire practice seemed silly to her. Fleet was getting too formal for her tastes, she decided.

  With a scowl on his face, Absalon spun on his heels and walked away, almost knocking over a passerby in the process. Kindra stifled a giggle. Part of it was knowing she was safe again, but part of it was just the humor of the entire situation.

  Derreck didn’t waste any time. “Come on, you two. Let’s get you both inside the Vigilance before he changes his mind.”

  As they walked, Derreck filled them in on all the new developments.

  “Absalon will never admit this out loud, but thanks to you two, and Tev, I suppose, we are now in an entirely different situation than we were before the battle. We’re almost fully charged, and they aren’t. Now we have an advantage over them. It’s changed the dynamics of the entire chase.”

  Kindra tried to absorb everything she was hearing. She was glad they would make it to Tev’s planet first. That was one problem, at least, that they wouldn’t have to worry about.

  “For now, you two can get some rest and catch up on your daily work. But I want Vigilance ready for launch. There’s a lot of different factors at play, but I want to make sure we’re in the best possible condition.”

  Derreck looked as though he was about to leave them, but Kindra couldn’t let him leave without at least a word. “Derreck, I realize it may not mean much, but thank you for having our backs.”

  He nodded. “You two did the right thing. Now we just need to do it again so that Tev and his people can live in harmony with the rest of us, instead of as our slaves.”

  Tev had always been good at waiting, even if he didn’t like it. As a hunter, he often had to wait for a very long time for his prey to make its move. When animals got spooked they liked to sit silently in one place. At times like that, when you knew the animal was nearby, it was often best to wait, to let it make the next move.

  Out here in space, away from the places Tev was familiar with, it all fell apart on him. His ability to wait, to remain calm, was compromised. Now, all he wanted was action. He wasn’t sure if it was because the stakes were higher or because the process was so unfamiliar, but all he wanted to do was move, to attack, to fight something.

  Derreck had noticed it during a small training run two days ago. Tev had been too aggressive, not thinking clearly, and Derreck had punished him for it, beating him in simulation after simulation. Derreck had offered words of encouragement, but that wasn’t what Tev wanted. Tev wanted an enemy in front of him, a target to aim for. This endless waiting, punctuated by moments of excitement, was getting to him.

  They knew something was coming. Tev had set the Hellbringer back in the attack a few weeks ago, but he hadn’t stopped them, not by any stretch of the imagination. They just didn’t know when or where the attack might occur.

  When the moment came, it came quietly, Kindra whispering in his ear.

  “Tev, Derreck wanted me to get in touch with you. The Hellbringer just jumped in-system, and it looks like she’s making a hard burn for us. It looks like we’ll be in combat within the next five hours.”

  Tev was always amazed at the differences in scale between the combat he was used to and the combat in space. In his world, if you had a few seconds of warning, that a lot. Now, although Kindra’s voice was strained, there wasn’t much urgency. If his past encounters were any indication, he had time to lie down and take a nap before there was any need for him to even get suited up. Kindra’s next words confirmed his guess.

  “The combat meeting is in three hours. I’m to let you know to get ready. They’ll want you on this one.”

  Tev confirmed the message. There was more that he wanted to say, questions he wanted to ask, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. It was time for action.

  Tev forced himself to think on different subjects. It was easy, when so much of your time was your own, to let your mind wander in circles that spiraled ever-downward. He needed to think about protecting his people. The time was running short for him to be able to do anything, and he still hadn’t figured out how to approach the situation. The problem was that Fleet, or the Hellbringer, was more powerful than all the people on his planet. They didn’t have the technology to fight at this level.

  The problems he faced were myriad, but he only knew one way to face them. Head on, and one at a time.

  It felt like he had just been here, and in truth,
it had only been a couple of weeks. He and the other pilots were all assembled, and it was painfully obvious that there were fewer than there had been the last time.

  The reality was tough for Tev. Everyone here was risking their lives for his people. His people, who had no idea the chaos that was about to be visited on them, even under the best circumstances. He didn’t know these pilots, not personally. He’d met a few of them, and trained with his own squad for some time, but even though they had shared danger, they weren’t friends, not comrades who would lay down their lives for him.

  In the last battle, they had lost friends, people they cared about. And for what? For the chance to be first down to Tev’s planet? It didn’t make sense, not when he thought about it.

  But the world he found himself in made little sense anymore. It was a world beyond what he was used to, a world with new rules, both spoken and unspoken.

  His musings were interrupted by Captain Absalon coming into the room, bringing with him a deafening silence.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, I believe we’re going to be in it for real this time. Here’s the breakdown: The question that has been on everyone’s mind lately is why the rebellion ship is using such unique strategies for dealing with us. The command staff has been running different scenarios with Destiny’s AI, and we’re pretty certain the most likely scenario is that the rebellion has been running a complicated bluff the entire time. The reason they invited us over wasn’t to deal, but to present a show of strength. We believe they are in the same situation we are, where they are bringing far more suits than pilots. Like us, it seems that they expect that Tev’s people all might prove to be exceptional pilots.

  “The problem is that we have no way of knowing how many pilots they do have. From the information we’ve gathered and the battles we have seen so far, it could be as few as eight. If we’re wrong, they could have well over a hundred. We don’t have enough data to make an educated guess.

  “Which brings us to our current problem: Hellbringer, as you all know, is burning hard for us, and it looks like she means business. If her course holds steady, we’re going to be scraping hulls in about two hours. They’ve decided this is the battleground, and I’m fine with that. We’re not going to go on offense again. The same trick rarely works twice. Today we’re playing defense, and we’re going to be setting up some strategic chokepoints to send them through.”

  Absalon pulled up a display of the Destiny. Tev saw that several areas of the ship were highlighted, but with his limited knowledge of the ship as a whole, the highlighted sections made little sense to him.

  “Here’s the plan: All crew will be evacuated to battle positions, leaving most of the hallways near the exterior of the ship wide open for you all to play in. There are several points they will have to go through to get to critical systems. We’ll be defending those with everything we’ve got, in addition to having a couple of back-up points.

  “We’re also going to have some back-up procedures ready. What I’d really like is for us to be able to handle this the old-fashioned way. They board us and we take them all out with better pilots and better positioning. But we might get overwhelmed. The jump drive is running hot, though, and if it comes down to it, we will make an emergency jump of the ship. I’ll give as much warning as I’m able, but there may be real unpleasantness ahead.”

  Tev felt the attitude in the room change with the captain’s words. He still didn’t understand the fear everyone felt. He was surrounded by soldiers, people who made a living training for and delivering war. How was it that they could face death with a stony face, but the idea of traveling made them lose their spirit?

  There was time for questions, and there were many. The pilots on Destiny were strong warriors, and Tev had noticed that their preparation was always excellent. It reminded him of his own hunts. The best hunters he knew didn’t boast about the actions they were about to perform. Instead, they sat quietly, off in a corner of the camp, checking their bow to make sure it hadn’t cracked and that the string was still tight. They sharpened their knives. When it came time to hunt, they were the ones who had earned the glory, not those who had bragged about it.

  Tev’s mind drifted during the questioning. He was trying to learn more, but the strategies of space combat didn’t make sense to him. For now, he would follow his squad and their directions. They might not be as close as his clan, but he trusted them, and they trusted him. He wouldn’t be led astray by them, not in combat.

  He noted that his squad and Derreck’s were in different places again. Derreck would be defending the bridge, the last line of defense before the ship was taken over. Tev, on the other hand, was supposed to be near the hull of the jumper, in a position that was sure to see plenty of combat.

  After the meeting adjourned, Derreck came up to Tev, and for a few seconds, the two of them stood there, enjoying a companionable silence. Tev liked Derreck, a lot. He liked the man’s cool demeanor and sense of honor. He would have made a tremendous hunter, someone Tev would have taken with him any time. It made him smile, this idea that he had to travel farther than any hunter before him to find the perfect hunting partner. Their eyes met, and exchanged the words they’d never feel comfortable saying out loud.

  Derreck extended his hand. “Be careful out there. I have a bad feeling about this one. Protect yourself, okay?”

  Tev nodded. “Do the same.”

  Derreck nodded, and with one last, vigorous clasp, they split apart, each to their own suits.

  Tev stood behind a barricade, the entire docks spread out in front of him. His suit had been modified since the last time he piloted it. As usual, his right arm held the rifle he recognized. But on his left arm was an even longer rifle, extending beyond his hand. Aki had explained it to him as they were suiting up. It didn’t fire the same metal that his rifle on the right fired. It fired shots that flew faster and straighter than the ones he was used to. Aki said that it was for fighting at long distances.

  Tev asked why it had been given to him. None of the other members of his squad had one, although he did see that they were also carrying a wide variety of other weapons that he hadn’t seen before. They were throwing everything into this defense.

  “Well, we don’t have too many of these, and as much as it pains me to admit it, you are the best shot in the squad. It’s also the most similar to what you’re used to, so it made sense. I suppose it also keeps you a little way from the rest of the fight, and that’s important as well.”

  Tev understood that last part. The rest of his squad was down in the docks, behind barricades specifically designed for repelling boarders. The fight would be most intense down there. Tev was twenty meters above them, also behind cover. It was a much safer position than where the rest of his team would be.

  Part of Tev’s vision was filled with information from the battle grid. Kindra was talking him through most of what he was seeing on a separate channel. Tev found her voice comforting as he waited for the battle to begin. He didn’t have any real desire to fight, but he wanted to get home, and he would do anything to make that happen.

  “Hellbringer is pulling up right next to us. Wow, that’s really close.”

  Tev smiled. Kindra couldn’t help but say exactly what was on her mind, all the time. It was one of the things he liked about her. She couldn’t lie if her life depended on it.

  On his display, various lights disconnected from the image that Tev knew was the other jumpship. Kindra let out a short whistle. “They aren’t trying to sneak people in like we did. That’s an armored dropship. They’re planning on knocking down the front door.”

  Tev didn’t always understand exactly what Kindra was saying, but he knew enough. A big ship was heading their way. Suddenly, on Tev’s display, there were many, many more lights surrounding the dropship.

  “Oh, no!” The awe and fear in Kindra’s voice was obvious.

  “What?”

  Kindra took a moment to respond. “That’s a lot of suits. You know how we tho
ught maybe they didn’t have many pilots onboard? We were wrong.”

  Tev didn’t have any time to reply, because his own radio started squawking. It was Tev’s commander. “Okay team, be ready to fall back to position Bravo, quickly. They’re bringing in a lot of suits, and we’re going to be the target right at the tip of their spear. Hit them hard, hit them quick, and then we bug out. We aren’t in a position to deal with what they are sending our way.”

  Derreck’s voice intruded at the same time, and Tev suddenly had more information than he could process. “Kindra, get the Vigilance ready to launch. Put all of its defenses on code red. Nobody, and I mean nobody, gets close. Hold for further orders.”

  Tev didn’t know everything that was happening around him, but without warning, the port door opened in front of him. They’d already pumped all the air out of the hangar, so there wasn’t any effect.

  Tev’s commander spoke. “They’re bringing way more firepower than the hangar doors can handle. Might as well let them in and prevent some damage that wouldn’t even slow them down anyway. Don’t worry, people.”

  For the first time, Tev could see as the enemy dropship approached. A series of explosions blossomed across the hull of the ship, brief in the vacuum of space. It was beautiful, in a way that Tev couldn’t quite explain. The ship was beautiful, and the destruction that licked across the hull was also beautiful.

  Tev readied his weapon, the sound of the suit preparing for battle reassuring. He wouldn’t fail. He would make it back home, no matter what.

  The enemy dropship landed in the hanger, the landing gentle considering they were in a combat situation. Tev’s commander had placed his squad well, and they were able to cover most of the dropship’s exits. There were a few moments of peace while they waited for the chaos to ensue, and Tev took a final, deep breath before the world erupted in noise and fire.