by Reiter
“That’s it, take advantage of the machine-way of thinking!” Fonri whispered.
“How is she doing?” Swan asked as she got into the hover-car.
“Are we sure she’s not already a Star-Wing?”
“Spade was her trainer,” Sarshata shared. “She came away from those classes with a calling card from the man! Too bad Calamity had a problem with Spade.”
“Had?” Fonri asked.
“Oh, I’m sure he still does,” she commented. “But he’s been suspended. Pending the next convening he’s just an ornament.”
“Some will say ‘about time’,” Fonri said. “Others will say ‘no way’. We both know where Old Guard comes in on this issue.”
“I can’t continue to allow OG to make policy here with– I’m sorry, did she just land on a drone?!” Sarshata asked, leaning forward.
“Stars of my fathers!” Fonri whispered as he watched Jocasta ride a drone into the last target. “Tell me you’ve seen that before!”
“Once,” Sarshata said, breathing deeply at the sight of the last explosion. “But it was an archive file. A very old archive file; a recording of the only person to ever pass the trials with six forms.” Sarshata leaned back and put her right hand to the right side of her head.
“Polaris!”
“Just before he became Chiaro,” Sarshata added as she started to get out of the hover-car. “When she gets done, take her to the sky-bike course. I’ll make sure they keep it open.”
“And her fourth form?”
“You know, tomorrow’s a long day,” Sarshata said with a coy smile. “I’m sure she’ll fill it if her First Mate has anything to say about it. He’s a special man… a very special man by the name of Dungias.” Fonri looked at the woman who was no longer really seeing JoJo Starblazer.
“Should I say anything?” he asked, covering his devilish smile.
“If it isn’t ‘good hunting’, don’t bother,” she replied.
“Good hunting, Commander. He’s got to be something.”
“Something, something, something!” she said, throwing her leg over her sky-bike and jetting off at nearly full speed.
“Wow, someone has gone and reminded Swan she’s still a woman!” Fonri chuckled as he watched her fly away. He shook his head in sympathetic regret. “Poor guy! He probably had a future and everything!”
Don’t use all-or-nothing thinking. Take each day as its own day, and don’t worry about it if you mess up one day. The most important thing you can do is just get back up on the horse.
Henry Cloud
(XII)
(Rims Time: XII-4203.30)
Vyana averted her five eyes, fearful what eye contact with her Mistress might invoke. The starling entourage from the Chorus of Stars had just departed from the platform after delivering a very informative bundle of events followed by the worst news imaginable. After so long – after so much planning, potting, and waiting – it looked as if Sylundaree’s plans were beginning to implode.
The Fazerian female had been with the Malgovi woman since she came from her mother’s egg, and that was over twenty years ago. The most current scheme had been under way for at least a score of years at that point, and Sylundaree seemed pleased with the way things had been progressing.
But that was then… before the starling had spoken, detailing what had come to pass, including their attempt to destroy The Traveler Dungias. Their attempt had failed, like so many others, and Dungias had returned with the means of awakening the entire Chorus, thus taking power from Khiea and her awakened siblings who had since been purged of their tainted light. While the Fazerian had been greatly relieved to hear that the Chorus was not going to engage in a reprisal of any form on Sylundaree, the First Star Chaser had been laid too low to care.
“She demonstrated so much hope when the living machine Kiaplyx caused the spell damning the BroSohnti to an existence as the Grenbi was made to fail,” Vyana thought. “An unexpected turn to the event she was manipulating. She had always planned for Dungias to be the instrument of delivery through whom she would find the means to destroy the Mal-Vin. What Kiaplyx managed was a surprise, but it looked to have what my Mother needed to achieve her aims and at last know peace. The Traveler managed not only to save The Campus, but also the Malgovi Throne, and that was after he had all but destroyed the Savanté!”
“Z’Gunok Tel Dungias,” Sylundaree said softly as the shutters closed over the large window. The First Star Chaser did not want to look upon the stars at the moment. “This is the second occasion he has saved the Mal-Vin, and this time he was not even aware they were in danger!” The woman walked over to the closest chair and sat down, sighing. “I was there when he was born,” she recounted. “I was there when the light of the exchange nexus fired… when yet another Grenbi was going to be tasked with another separation… where it would have been forced to double itself, only to then be torn, ever so slowly, in half with the newborn cast immediately into immeasurable pain. In that moment of excruciating agony, EnerJa would become the lifelong plaything of yet another Malgovi.”
“Mistress,” Vyana said, trying to console the First Star Chaser.
“I used the last of my operatives to influence the Deku Chorus,” Sylundaree admitted. “She was about to die of old age anyway; it just seemed like the last good use for a device that was about to become utterly useless to me. To have one of the highborn Malgovi not receive his birthright… it was a notion the Stars found entertaining, they had no trouble playing with his life. They began to believe in him, and that was enough.
Sylundaree rubbed her forehead as she closed her eyes. “Yet for all of my skill, my trek-sight did not see his Vi-Prin. Danatra! Yes… Z’Gunok, now Viora, Danatra… I did not see you coming. I owe that to the Savanté though. They taught her how to hide her thoughts and she was a very fine student! She used his mind for a storage facility. A mind that was deprived one resource which then latched onto another. He was, on the most remote level, aware of each item she had stored there. He lived out the illusion she had created to its fullest, learning from the secrets she had harvested from the Savanté.
“The Savanté,” she whispered. “If they had been more stable, more focused, and at least slightly more disciplined, I could have worked with them. But their inability to read my mind would have only festered into another problem.
“And of all things to use to kill them…” she reflected. “Dungias employed their own nexus of thought as his agent of delivery!
“Yes, I have no one else to blame,” Sylundaree continued. “I allowed my opinion of the Savanté color my perception. So what if they were defeated, I asked myself. They are the Savanté. They had defeated themselves ages ago, and had been too scattered to realize they were losing power. That is, however, well beside the point. Someone without formal training in the Mental Arts not only attacked them, but he destroyed all but a few of their number; those who had been placed in deep sleep for five orbi-terms at a time. And to think, before that came to pass, I had always thought that such contingencies were simply the act of paranoia. The Sleepers are the last of the Savanté now... though they are still less than satisfactory agents for a potential partnership.
“No, I must focus on my aims here in the Rims!” Sylundaree said, opening her eyes. She summoned her Osamu and her armour formed on her body.
“Braldee,” she called, knowing her voice reached him. “We no longer need the Star Cannon. But we will need to advance our Iolite Gambit.” A burst of light came from her Osamu. “You are now receiving the most recent alterations to that plan. We will need more than access now. I leave that to you.
“And I will have to point the Renatus awakening at another measure,” she said softly, closing her eyes and focusing her thoughts. “There. That seems to be the most likely best use for the power.”
“Shall I go with you, Mother?” Vyana asked, showing her eagerness of some help.
“No, my child,” Sylundaree replied, coming to another point of reali
zation. “No, I need you to trek the four Dungias has trained.”
“Are they not with him?”
“Dungias is in the Prism Baronies,” Sylundaree stated. “The measure I applied to his mind has been compromised. I can no longer gaze into his thoughts and he is now free to Jump-Stride. Given the handicap he was forced to endure, there is reason to believe that he will be better at the discipline than I am. The Malgovi Traveler is of more use to me as a corpse… lest he become an agent of my undoing.”
“But he does not even know–”
“You heard what was said, missing what was not said, Vyana,” Sylundaree interrupted. “The word the starling used was convene, not chorus. The former is a meeting of a few, the latter is a meeting of all able to attend. A starling was not present at the convention, and it is too great a chance that it was the same starling that dispatched Dungias on the quest to retrieve a star pod. If that is the case, it is not too great an assumption that the same starling has told Dungias about me.”
“Then he will be coming after you.”
“Not while he serves this Terran,” the First Star Chaser remarked. “And while he devotes himself to her, he will be blind to my approach. I will strike and end him quickly. You will do the same when you have found the four.”
“As you wish it, Mother!”
“Hardly, child,” Sylundaree said bitterly. “Our plans, however, are amendable so long as they lead us to the removal of the Mal-Vin! Do as I bid you. Since all the treks twisted with the Terran’s, only a few strings will need to be pulled for fate to draw foul focus on Dungias’ chosen savior of humanity. If he is truly willing to die for her, we must usher him to the task!” Sylundaree teleported to the hangar and waved her hand toward the control console in the operations office. It came to life and started the pre-flight checklist for a small, fast shuttlecraft. The doors opened in time to receive the First Star Chaser. When the ship pulled away from the docking slip, it rocketed straight up before Sylundaree engaged in the Jump-Stride, taking the ship into The Territories.
After the ship was out of sight, Vyana walked into the hangar, turning toward a larger ship; an attack shuttle, heavy with armour and weapons. She walked on board and fired up the engines. As soon as she launched, Vyana set a course for Black Gate.
“There is no record of the scout ship leaving Black Gate,” Vyana thought. “Killing them there will be simpler.”
** b *** t *** o *** r **
Sylundaree sat back in the pilot’s chair, confused as to the place where she had arrived. She was in the Void, in a place where it was called such and not ‘outer space’. Her ship touched down on a platform of coherent light as three figures appeared in front of her ship. One she recognized immediately. It also happened to be the only one not wearing a hooded cloak. Sylundaree rose up from her chair and exited from the shuttle.
“Greetings, Star Chaser Sylundaree,” Danatra said as she stepped forward. “I cannot say what an honor it is to actually meet with you. A great honor and a point of concern as it has been given to me to know you seek the destruction of my home.”
“You have chosen a most peculiar place to die, child,” Sylundaree said, walking out in front of her ship.
“Why are you doing this, Vi-Prin?!” Danatra asked.
“What difference does it make? Are you saying that if you come to know my reasons and agree with them that you will assist me in my aims? I think not. You held my curiosity, but the time for talking has come and gone.” Sylundaree extended her hand toward Danatra, hurling a cosmic bolt at the younger Malgovi woman. It turned halfway in its trek and struck the hooded figure that stood to Danatra’s left. Sylundaree smiled, having felt that particular control over EnerJa before. “Nugar!”
Throwing back his hood, the Vinthur Osur glared at the woman as he absorbed her attack. “I am accustomed to engaging in more friendly banter, but your existence pains me too deeply. Excuse me as I move to relieve myself.” Nugar walked toward the woman who smirked before she engaged in the Stride. She blurred to the Master Traveler who smiled as she passed through his body. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”
“My pleasure, kommis!” SonBa said, pulling the cloak from his body. The First Prince and heir to the throne returned Nugar’s body to its normal density and lifted his left arm. Though slightly pressed, the small energy shield formed in time to block Sylundaree’s sword. SonBa smiled, exerting his strength, pushing Sylundaree back. She lunged to her right just in time to receive a punch from SonBa. The First Prince had learned how to wield Kinetics like most accomplished EnervationisTs. He moved faster than he should have been able to, and the coherent light gauntlet nearly broke the First Star Chaser’s jaw.
Stunned by the blow and even more rocked that she had moved right into its path, Sylundaree squatted low and SonBa’s sweeping boot struck her chin. The First Star Chaser spun to the floor made of light. SonBa quickly backed away from the woman and set himself to continue the fight.
“Impossible!” Sylundaree whispered.
“What? That you could misinterpret your trek-read?!” Danatra asked with an evil smile spreading across her face. “Did you think we would go through the trouble of arranging this meeting and then forget about what it is to fight a Traveler? We have your light,” Danatra continued, gesturing toward Nugar. “… your body,” she stated, pointing at SonBa. “… and your mind!” Danatra brought her hands to her chest. “And you were wrong about something else. Your reasons do matter to me. The last Traveler who sought to tell me the truth revealed a very great crime our people had perpetuated. I would like to think you are of the same starlight as him.”
“Once I am done with you, I will go and kill him,” Sylundaree promised. “Then the two of you can be of the same starlight!” The panel of light Sylundaree was lying on folded, clapping together with her body trapped inside. Sylundaree was struck unconsciousness and collapsed to the floor as Berylon took form, straddling over her body with his pole-arm ready to make the last necessary strike.
“Hold!” Nugar commanded.
“She hunts the Master,” Berylon argued.
“Kill her in this fashion she will be restored by the Stars!” Nugar explained. “… and per chance even stronger. I believe that is why she pressed to engage us in this manner. Travelers like to have as many contingency plans as possible. We are a clever bunch. We spend most of our lives learning from the mistakes we watch others make.”
“But everyone here serves my Vu-Prin in one fashion or another,” SonBa declared. “What are we to do with this creature?!”
“Creature?” Nugar questioned. “Take heart, good Prince, and be at ease. If nothing else, whatever mischief she was about to stir up has been interrupted... if not delayed. Dungi’s revelation was an ugly truth. Do not let your anger at the Fathers drive you to the point of losing reason and vision.”
“There are many reasons why you are an Osur, good Nugar,” SonBa declared, allowing his anger to diminish. “What do you suggest we do with her?”
“We must first thank our ally in this endeavor,” Nugar said, turning to bow to Eesa who was stepping out from behind Sylundaree’s ship. “Though this is hardly the demeanor of a starling.”
“The Star Chaser completed a tremendous quest for me,” Eesa replied. “The cost to him was severe, but he did not wish to take the reward we were prepared to give him. When the subject of the reward was put to Alpha, it was suggested we address the matter of the First Star Chaser. I am simply seeing to a boon well-earned.”
“Of course,” Nugar smiled, surrendering his point. “How silly of me to assume otherwise. But your point gives me an idea as to what we can do with her. If you will excuse us, my lady.”
“Of course,” Eesa said, ascending and becoming light. “Farewell!”
The moment she was out of sight and beyond Nugar’s ability to sense her, the Vinthur Master Traveler turned and looked at Berylon. Nodding at the Osur, the entity of living light called for his maidens who created a door to take the p
latform to The Campus.
“Beta-Alphexeous,” Danatra called out.
“Mistress,” the Soul-Fighter said as he appeared.
“I need this woman secured in the least comfortable assemblage at your disposal,” she commanded.
“Danatra!” Nugar scolded.
“Osur, how can you be merciful to her?!” Danatra barked, glaring at the man.
“Because I do not yet know enough to be relentless,” he replied. “Or do you think that the treatment of the BroSohnti is the worst our people have done? This is the First Star Chaser! She was and still is trusted by the Stars! Until I know why she hates her home, I can find many reasons for mercy.” He could see great anger in her eyes, and in a way that comforted the Osur. The love between older Vi-Prin and younger Vu-Prin was only growing. He would see it become something even greater.
“Fine,” Danatra huffed. “Have Arrjeeh read this woman. I want to know why she hates–”
“Let me save you a step,” Beta-Alphexeous asserted. “This woman made a vow to destroy the Mal-Vin long before my master mold even came to the K’Dalkian System.” “Her hatred of your people was her motivation to becoming a Traveler. She was the one who found the crystal that enabled The Bridge.”
“The bridge!” Nugar whispered, looking at the unconscious Malgovi and backing away from her.
“What bridge?” Danatra asked.
“The Stel-Bridge. What you use to commune with the Stars,” the Soul-Fighter explained. “Cutting to the chase, you call her Sylundaree, but that’s not her name… not her birth name.”
