The Sacred Stars (The Shadow Space Chronicles Book 4)

by Kal Spriggs

  “Where is it coming from?” Captain Beeson asked.

  Alannis brought it up on the display, “Here, sir, right where Lieutenant Cassat pinpointed the system's center.”

  Captain Beeson looked at Lieutenant Cassat, whose people worked quickly. After a moment, he looked up, “There may be a facility there. Something artificial... I think.”

  Chuni spoke up, “That will be where we need to go. The center of the Gates, only from there can we access the Sacred Stars.”

  Captain Beeson nodded and looked at Alannis, “Ensign, open a channel to Strike Leader Burbeg's vessel, let him know that we've identified the central point and we're headed that way.”

  Alannis nodded and she brought up the Ghornath vessel quickly. As she passed along the message, she couldn't help but notice the pale color of the Ghornath's hides... or their distracted tones of voice. They are seeing the end of the journey, Alannis thought.

  She just hoped that whatever they found beyond the Gates was worth the cost they'd paid so far.

  ***

  Chapter XVI

  Gates of Hallidas

  (Status Unknown)

  December 30, 2407

  “What is that?” Someone on the bridge gasped as the Constellation cleared the last bit of stellar gasses to get a good look at the facility at the heart of the system.

  Whatever it was, Daniel noted, it wasn't small.

  The facility was over a thousand kilometers across, with towers and projections that stood out from the central hull hundreds of kilometers. Arcane machinery dotted the construct, unknown devices that dwarfed Daniel's vessel. It was so big that it made his head hurt to think of the scale. At the heart of the construct lay a massive, open chamber... one that looked oddly like a gateway... if a gateway were designed to be thousands of kilometers across. An entire fleet could fly through there, Daniel thought.

  He felt no surprise as Chuni pointed at the gateway, “There. That is where we must go.”

  “Strike Leader Burbeg,” Daniel asked, “is this something your people built?”

  “No,” he shook his head, “the ancient stories say that the Protectors built the Gateway.”

  Daniel opened a channel to engineering, “Rory, Feliks, are you two seeing this?”

  “We are,” Feliks said, “this is simply incredible.”

  “What is it?”

  “What is it!?” Rory snapped. “It's a construct over two thousand kilometers across. You want me to automatically know what it is?”

  “It isn't that simple,” Feliks said, his voice adopting a lecturer's tone. “We haven't even begun to study it. It doesn't match parameters of anything else we've seen. We don't know who made it or really anything beyond some initial assumptions that we can draw...”

  “Tell me what you know,” Daniel snapped.

  “We can assume,” Rory said, “based upon analysis of pitting from debris that the construct is no older than twenty thousand years. The technology that we see, presumably that of these 'Protectors' doesn't match the parameters of any of the precurser species that we've previously encountered. Granted, we have limited sampling of several of those species but I think we can unequivocally exclude the Zar.”

  “The Ben-Yam-Gar also,” Feliks interjected, “the design of these projections would be aesthetically offensive to them.”

  “Ah, good catch,” Rory said.

  “Thank you,” Feliks replied.

  “So that excludes two of the four definitively,” Rory said. “The age of the construction makes the other two highly unlikely. We’ve never found anything less than a million years old and this…”

  “Okay, so what do you know?” Daniel snapped.

  “Well,” Rory said, “those projections, I'd guess they're defensive turrets. They give a free range of fire in almost all directions and the spectrographic analysis paints it as some kind of aluminum oxide crystal, probably synthetic sapphire as a collimator or lens...”

  “The Gateway seems to be in standby mode,” Feliks said. “We see minimal power expenditures, just station-keeping systems.”

  “So can we approach?” Daniel asked.

  “Um...” Rory glanced at Feliks. “Fifty-fifty?”

  “I would say sixty-forty,” Feliks shrugged.

  “Okay,” Rory nodded, “we'd give it a sixty percent chance that the station will go active if we approach within a perceived threat radius or make any hostile action.”

  “The Gateway's defenses should recognize our people's presence,” Burbeg said. “Perhaps it will not fire?”

  “But your Protectors cast you out,” Daniel said. “So wouldn't there be some kind of threat to keep you from returning?”

  Burbeg nodded slowly, “There might be. I do not think that our ancient Protectors would fire without warning.”

  Daniel's gaze went back to the two scientists, Rory chewed on his lip for a minute, “Okay, supposing it gives us a warning, we should be able to back off.”

  “If not,” Feliks said, “Given the scale of the firing lens and the visible heat dissipation measures, I calculate that the power output for one of those turrets would blast through our defense screens with no real effort. We wouldn't even realize we were dead.”

  “Why would you even say something like that?!” Rory demanded. “That's supposed to be reassuring?”

  “It would be painless. I think it is a way that I would like to perish. I find the thought of a painless death very reassuring,” Feliks said with a calm voice.

  “Enough,” Daniel said. He nodded at Lieutenant Forsberg. “Take us in... slowly. Have a reverse and evasion course ready.”

  The Constellation and the Goronto advanced on the Gateway. As they approached, Daniel couldn't help but notice that Chuni seemed riveted to the screen.

  ***

  Alannis felt tense as she sat, waiting. The alien construct, if it gave any kind of warning, could transmit on any frequency. Her department was alert, the techs and petty officers glued to their displays, searching for anything.

  “I'm detecting systems coming online,” Lieutenant Cassat said from sensors. “No directed emissions yet.”

  Alannis felt sweat bead her forehead. The ongoing song, or whatever it was, had changed pitch. She shuddered at the new edge in it, it felt somehow malevolent.

  “Energy pulse!” someone shouted.

  A heartbeat later, the bridge filled with light. For a fraction of a second, Alannis could see the organs and bones of everyone aboard the bridge. Time seemed to slow and Alannis's gaze went to Chuni. The Ghornath female reached into her harness and pulled something out. The light pulsed especially bright around her and it seemed that she held a ring with a large, glowing stone.

  There was a final flare of light and as Alannis blinked her dazzled eyes, she realized that the alarms had gone quiet.

  “Captain,” Lieutenant Cassat said, his voice still slightly shaken, “the base has gone quiescent. We're no longer being scanned.”

  Alannis looked at the Captain. He too looked a little shaken, but he quickly adopted a professional expression, “Very good, Chuni. Lieutenant Forsberg, continue forward. Ensign Giovanni, any change in communications?”

  “No, sir,” Alannis replied, looking at her display. The oddly musical language continued, without the underlying threat that had signaled their detection. In fact, she thought, if anything, it almost sounds welcoming.

  “Sir, we're seeing an energy spike at the gateway,” Lieutenant Cassat said.

  Alannis's eyes went wide as she felt the shift in her mind. What's happening to me? She wondered. Yet she pushed that thought aside as her gaze went to the sensor repeater. A massive energy surge pulsed at the Gateway... and then, in a display that seemed to twist reality, the Gateway opened.

  A twisting, nebulous vortex appeared, gray-streaked with crackling energy around the edges. “What is that,” Alannis said in shock.

  “My question exactly,” Captain Beeson said dryly. “A wormhole, perhaps?”

 
“Nonsense!” Rory shouted through the intercom. “Wormholes are intrinsically unstable. There is no way this is a wormhole!”

  “It might possibly be some kind of bridge through shadow space,” Feliks said. “In which case it would provide near instantaneous travel from one location to another.”

  “Isn't that what a wormhole is?” Captain Beeson asked.

  “No!” Rory said, “A wormhole folds space from one point to another, there is nothing in-between. This... whatever it is, connects two locations through shadow space. With a wormhole you're not really leaving normal space. Theoretically possible, but...”

  Captain Beeson interrupted, “Chuni, this gateway, it takes us where we need to go?”

  “Yes,” she nodded. “It is the only way.” Alannis didn't need to ask how Chuni knew that. She was the last of the Ghornath's Nogathi. She'd probably been trained on this stuff since she was a child. Assuming this isn't genetic knowledge, programmed into her ancestors by these Protectors of theirs, Alannis thought.

  “Strike Leader Burbeg, it seems we've opened the way forward,” Captain Beeson said. “Shall we proceed?”

  “Yes and we will follow,” Burbeg said.

  ***

  The yawning vortex drew closer until it filled their forward screens. “Sensors, I want full scans on everything as we do this,” Daniel Beeson said. He really hoped that this thing wasn't going to dump them into a black hole or the heart of a star or something like that.

  As the Constellation approached, Daniel could feel the hairs on his forearms start to rise. This wasn't something that should exist, so far as he knew. It was a tear between shadow space and normal space.

  “All systems nominal, Captain,” Commander Bowder said, “Should we proceed?” There was an edge of awe in the normally cynical and worldly officer. It seemed that the sight even had an effect on his XO.

  “Rory, Feliks, any idea what to expect?” Daniel asked.

  “How should we know that?!” Rory demanded. “This shadow space portal might require some kind of special drive or shielding. Without that it might rip us into our constituent atoms and scatter us across shadow space!”

  “Most likely,” Feliks said after a moment, “it would be designed relatively simple so that the Ghornath could use it, I would think. If that is the case, I would say we would experience a slight moment in transit and then arrive at the other end.” He added after a moment, “assuming of course there is no added security features that might destroy us for not being Ghornath, in which case Rory would be correct. If that is the case, I would have to assume the experience would be fairly instantaneous and relatively painless.”

  “Again with the lack of pain!” Rory all-but-shouted. “Captain Beeson, I would strongly advise against moving through ourselves. Give me some time, I can adjust one of our sensor probes...”

  “Strike Leader Burbeg,” Daniel asked, “do your people's legends speak of any kind of defenses within the portal?” Time was not on their sides, Daniel knew. He didn't know if they had the days or even weeks for Rory to send a probe.

  “No, friend,” Burbeg replied. “In fact, the ancient war fleets guarded the far side of the portal, as we were instructed that any who gained access might come through.”

  “So,” Daniel nodded, “we should be fine.” He looked over at Lieutenant Forsberg. “Take us in.”

  The vessel crossed the last bit of distance. At first, nothing seemed to happen as the bow of the ship entered the Gateway. Yet as the ship moved deeper within, everything seemed to slow. Daniel tried to blink, tried to move, but it felt like he was suspended in molasses.

  And then the universe seemed to freeze around him. For a moment that seemed to last an eternity, Daniel could see everything on the bridge with unnatural clarity, could pick out individual dust motes that floated through holographic displays.

  And then like glass breaking, that stillness ended and everything raced to catch up. “We've emerged from the Gateway, Captain,” Commander Bowder said.

  “Heavy debris detected,” Lieutenant Cassat said. “Sir, there's objects ranging from micrometeorites to several hundred meters across along all trajectories.”

  “Defense screens to full, engage any of it on a dangerous trajectory,” Daniel barked. A moment later he heard the point defense pulse cannons engage.

  “What's going on?” Daniel asked.

  “It seems the other side of the Gateway lies in the midst of a dense debris cloud,” Lieutenant Cassat said. “The station here is defended somehow, but it'll take me some time to plot a clear route.”

  “Navigation?” Daniel asked.

  “Once he's got the route, sir, we'll get you a course,” Lieutenant Forsberg said quickly.

  “This debris, it is the remains of the Argolim, that is, the Great Fleet of the Nogathi,” Chuni said.

  “Burbeg?” Daniel asked.

  “She is right,” Burbeg's said, his voice subdued.

  As the sensor data continued to populate, Daniel shook his head, “That must be hundreds... no, thousands of ships.” The debris went out for tens of thousands of kilometers. Much of it had contracted into clusters and he could see that the debris would eventually form asteroids or possibly even planetoids as the gas and heavier pieces condensed.

  “The legends say that the Nogathi led a fleet of ten thousand ships with over ten million crew to go forth and do battle, “Burbeg said. “The Protectors destroyed every one of those ships and it took almost a generation to gather the dead.”

  Daniel couldn't suppress a shiver at that. These Protectors of the Ghornath sounded more and more sinister the more he learned about them. They had seemingly destroyed the Ghornath fleet in order to hide their existence from some enemy. They did it effortlessly, he thought, ten thousand vessels at once, with no mention of any losses themselves.

  What was it that they feared so much?

  ***

  The enemy has arrived, Sidewinder sent to his ships even as he ordered his crew to ready themselves. He felt a calm certainty of death as he saw the two enemy ships. The lead one was human construction, the other, larger one constructed by the slave-race.

  His small scout force could not face both ships in direct battle. The best he could hope for was to weaken them for the strike force to exterminate.

  On the other hand, Sidewinder thought, the slave race is the real threat, if they are gone then the humans cannot access the worlds... Sidewinder shuddered a bit as he considered that. It was hard to conceive, for so long the humans had been considered the primary threat. Sidewinder knew that he was limited in both capabilities and intelligence. His role was to scout and watch and --only on occasion-- to fight.

  Autonomous thinking was difficult, especially when it went against his prime directives. Yet Minder's orders had authorized him to delay the enemy as he saw fit...

  All ships, target priority is the slave-race vessel, he ordered. Move into attack position in the debris field.

  ***

  “Contact!” Lieutenant Cassat snapped, “Sir, we have three powered objects moving into attack position. Scratch that seven... nine, fifteen ships, sir!”

  “Distance and direction?” Daniel asked as he brought up his display.

  “Ten of the vessels are located above us, sir,” Lieutenant Cassat said. “The other five are on a flanking course. They're centered on Goronto's position.”

  “They're going after you, Strike Leader,” Daniel said.

  “Indeed,” Burbeg said. “They seem to have similar emissions to our earlier foes. It seems they are here, though thankfully not in force.”

  Daniel frowned as he watched the ships draw closer. Burbeg's sensor data had suggested the ships carried short range but powerful energy weapons. They didn't have much more information than that due to the brief engagement periods from both battles and the damage that Burbeg's ship had taken.

  “The debris favors them on drawing close,” Daniel said. “Our missile systems can't engage through this mess.” It was
too likely that they'd hit a chunk of debris and if that happened too soon after launch, the warhead might well detonate in close proximity to the Constellation.

  What they could see of the ships so far was that they were small, yet they had extremely high energy signatures. They also moved faster than Daniel had hoped, so they'd clearly mapped the debris cloud already.

  Both ships could engage them, but it would be a fight that favored the smaller ships, especially if they focused their efforts on the Goronto. “Strike Leader... I hate to ask, but would you be willing to withdraw?”

  “I had been about to suggest just that,” Burbeg said. “I've dropped acceleration somewhat and I can't help but notice the ships have remained focused on me. If that holds true, I might lure most of them away or at least buy you time to get clear of the debris so that you can engage with your weapons to maximum effect.”

  “Sir,” Commander Bowder said in a low voice, “what happens if they don't follow him? We'll be all by ourselves facing fifteen ships.”

  Daniel gave him a nod, but as he considered it, he didn't see a better option. “We don't have much choice,” he replied. The enemy ships continued to close. If they didn't make their decsion soon, the enemy would have their optimal engagement. Daniel really didn't like not knowing how dangerous the ships were at close range.

  “What point is there to continue onwards without him?” Commander Bowder said. “Without a Ghornath to speak for us or to activate whatever technology we find, we'll be unable to make any significant difference.”

  That was something that Daniel couldn't argue with. “Strike Leader, I'm afraid my XO has brought up a good point. Without you, we've little purpose to continue.”

  Burbeg didn't respond for a long moment. “Captain Daniel,” he said finally, “I would be inclined to agree with you, but for one thing. Fleet Consul Maygar assigned Leader Chuni to my vessel, and he informed me that above all I was to listen to her and to pass along any information she relayed. He also told me that she would be a key to our past if all else failed.”