by Jerome Kelly
This was not a course of events James could have predicted in a million years. An alliance with the Vulians, even if it was to be temporary, would be difficult for a lot of people to stomach, especially those on either side who had fought so hard against one another for so long.
“Lord Artennes, I urge you to reconsider,” said Kalmar, “my people have been fighting a war against these Hunters for three decades. Their ships are too heavily armed and heavily shielded, they will decimate your fleets and your casualties will be enormous. I strongly recommend you call this plan off. Let us take the Shadow Bringer and take it where the Hunters cannot find us. If we keep it on the move, we will keep them on the move and away from alliance worlds.”
“I’m afraid this is the best course of action to take,” said Artennes, “Captain Tavarez, captain Kalmar, admiral Ansare, I need you all to return to the Evening Star and await further instruction. In the meantime, please turn over all information you have on the Hunters, their ships, their capabilities and any details you have on the Shadow Bringer. We need to find the remaining pieces of the weapon and if you have any information on where they might be hidden, now would be a good time to let us know.”
“We have no information on the other pieces of the weapon, they didn’t leave any clues behind as to their whereabouts,” Kosare lied, neglecting to mention the many cryptic clues that had been present in the underground room of the Sharstrom hangar.
“Then we will have to check the weapon itself for clues,” said Artennes, “I will have a team of scientists ready to study the weapon. In the meantime, all of you are to return to the Evening Star. I assume we can expect your full co-operation?”
“Just let it be known that I strongly oppose this insane invasion plan,” James sighed, “if it all goes awry, I want to stamp the words ‘I told you so’ to the side of this ship in person.”
“Objection noted, captain Tavarez, you and your crew are dismissed.”
James had heard enough, he turned and left the room, his crew following behind him. He knew Artennes would take the weapon and there was nothing he could do to change his mind. He was quickly distracted by the beeping of his comm, it was Isha back on the Evening Star.
“What is it?”
“James, I’m sorry, there wasn’t anything I could do,” she sounded very panicked, “they came out of nowhere, we’re surrounded, we can’t make any kind of move.”
“Who?”
“The Tolian fleet, they have us boxed in,” said Isha, “they’re demanding we hand over the Shadow Bringer and they’re trying to board the ship. What do we do?”
“Just stay calm,” said James, “signal chief Connolly and have him prepare priority package for transport into Tolian possession.”
“James… are you serious?”
“Isha, trust me, I know what I’m doing. If we hand it over to them, we can avoid an incident and we can quickly be on our way.”
It was no less than James had expected, Artennes would have expected him to try and flee with the weapon and once again, he was prepared for this turn of events.
“Ok, James, what’s going on?” Ansare asked him as they walked back to the flyer, “you were ever so casual when you agreed to hand over the weapon, I thought you would have put up more of a fight than that.”
“Not here, wait until we get back to the ship, I don’t want them listening in on us.”
They stayed quiet until they reached the hangar once more, the flyer waiting there for them with Melina onboard keeping the engines primed for them. Fortunately, they were being allowed to return to the Evening Star and no contingency plans were necessary to get them off the council ship.
“I guess this means we don’t have to use plan T then?” Kosare said as they boarded the flyer, “just out of interest, what exactly was plan T?”
“Plan T, as in torpedo,” said James, “I had Lucy load a point fusion torpedo into this thing’s launcher before we left. If they sealed us in, we use a controlled explosion against the hangar doors to blast our way out. Clean and simple.”
“And be labelled as a criminal and fugitive!?” Kosare exclaimed, “you were seriously prepared to fire on the council ship?”
“If they steal the Shadow Bringer from us then there will be a lot more casualties,” said James, “I needed to prepare a contingency plan to ensure we get out of here and continue the mission. If we fail, we could see an entire planet destroyed. If my career has to be sacrificed to save the Adean homeworld or any alliance world, I will make that trade.”
“Well I’m glad it never came to having to use that torpedo,” said Ansare, “and just out of interest, I don’t think this was the only contingency you had in place was it?”
“No, in fact I think Artennes is in for a shock,” said James, “you see, the council is only going to think they are getting the Shadow Bringer, what they are actually getting is a fake.”
“You’re kidding!”
“Not at all, we set everything up as soon as we left Sharstrom,” James continued, “I had Connolly and one of his teams remove one of the spare power cells from the ship’s storage and modify it so that it looks like the Shadow Bringer. We then attached an encrypted data file that will take the Tolian engineers at least a few hours to decode. Once they do, all they will have is a blank database and they will not learn anything of the weapon or where to find the other pieces.”
“But the Tolians have blocked us in,” said Kosare, “how can you be sure they wont just search the ship to make sure we aren’t deceiving them.”
“Before we left, I gave Lucy an open commlink which was attached to mine. She and Connolly were listening in on our entire meeting. I asked them to prepare the device for delivery if Artennes made the decision to take it from us. If they followed my instructions, the real piece of the Shadow Bringer will be hidden in the cargo hold and if Isha relayed my message to Connolly, then priority package, or the fake, will be on it’s way down to the hangar bay now.”
“I’m not sure if you’re a genius or a madman,” Kosare chuckled, shaking her head, “I swear no other captain in the alliance would come up with some of the things you think up.”
“And long may it continue,” James said as the Mantis flyer approached the Evening Star. The ship had four Tolian battlecruisers surrounding it in close proximity, cutting off any kind of escape route. Two Tolian shuttles had landed in the hangar bay and their soldiers were all over the place. James noticed both Lucy and his chief engineer Connolly among the masses, as well as fake Shadow Bringer. Melina set them down alongside one of the Tolian shuttles, James quickly disembarking and heading over to where Lucy was stood.
“Everything going to plan?”
“They bought it sir,” Lucy said with pride, “they don’t suspect a thing, the fake is in their possession now.”
“James, are you sure this will work?” Melina asked, “I mean, wont these engineers recognise a simple power cell when they see one?”
“They would if it was from one of their own ships,” said James, “but as this ship is comprised of Jaiytid technology, a lot of it will be unfamiliar to them. It was fairly easy to pass one off as the real thing.”
“The two devices look remarkably similar,” said Lucy, “Connolly did an excellent job on it, if I didn’t know any better then it would have fooled me too. It’s a shame your meeting didn’t go better though, Artennes is making a huge mistake here, he could throw away a lot of lives by attacking the Hunters in their own region.”
“There is still time to stop this,” said James, “we’ll find a way to stall the attack while we try to work out where the remaining pieces of the weapon are.”
“Just out of interest, James, what do we plan to do if we find all the remaining pieces?” Ansare asked him.
“I haven’t thought that far ahead yet,” he replied, “all I care about at the moment is ensuring it does
n’t fall into the hands of anyone who might misuse it and that includes Jovan Artennes. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
All they had to do now was wait until the Tolian boarding teams had finished loading the fake Shadow Bringer onto their shuttles and made their move. They weren’t in any hurry though, it was almost as if Artennes had instructed them to watch out for possible deception, they were taking their time over such a simple recovery mission. It was twenty minutes after loading the fake weapon that they eventually decided to make their move and return to the council ship.
“Thought they would never leave,” James let out a sigh of relief, “oh well, at least we’re in the clear now, I didn’t want to have to give them a nudge on their way.”
“Don’t tell me you had another contingency in place?” Ansare laughed, “what was it this time?”
“Oh trust me, you don’t want to know,” Lucy chuckled, “just be glad we aren’t using it, I think we would have had a very unhappy councillor if we had put it into action though.”
“At least we still have the Shadow Bringer,” said James, “come on, lets get to the bridge, we should probably get out of here before they figure out that we just tricked them.”
“No arguments there.”
The hangar doors sealed up and the group made their way back to the command deck. The entire command crew, past and present, with the exception of Morelli and Saavoy who were still in the medical bay, were assembled and waiting for them to return.
“Your chief engineer just informed me of your scheme, James,” Isha looked impressed with his plan of action, “I have to admit, it was nicely done.”
“It was nothing,” James shrugged, “just doing my job and keeping the real thing safe. We aren’t out of the woods yet though, there are still two pieces of the weapon out there and we need to find them before the Hunters do. Kalmar, is there any indication of where the remaining pieces might be? Any clue at all?”
“I’m afraid we never found any clues regarding the remaining pieces,” Kalmar replied, “we never got the chance to investigate. The war with the Hunters took up far too much of our time and forced us to cease all exploration missions.”
“I guess we’re flying blind then, again,” Isha huffed, “I mean, we know nothing about this weapon, we don’t even know what it does or how to find the rest of it. Hell, we don’t even know enough about the Hunters, we don’t even know their real name. I doubt there is any living being in the galaxy who could tell us what we need to know regarding all of this.”
There were so few experts in the galaxy regarding the ancient Jaiytids and their secrets, even Kosare had barely scratched the surface when it came to learning about the ancient empires of the galaxy. If only there was someone who knew the ancient history of the galaxy that they could speak to, if only there was someone who could point them in the right direction… someone… or something…
“Wait a minute!” James suddenly sprang from his chair, “I’ve got it! Helmsman Daniels, we need to make a quick exit, can you get past these Tolian ships?”
“Well they’re starting to move away so I think we’re clear to move,” Daniels replied, “yeah, I can get us out of here, no problem.”
“What is it, James?” Isha asked him, “you have an idea?”
“Yes, and I can’t believe I was so blind as to not think of it before,” James said with a renewed sense of urgency, “helmsman, get us out of here then set a course for the Haldrian system. I have to go and visit an old friend…”
Chapter Twelve
Return to Raylia
James had almost forgotten the sight of that strange reddish planet that was Raylia, that remarkable world that held so many Jaiytid secrets inconspicuously beneath it’s barren surface. In a time when they needed answers, it seemed strange that a place like this was the one place he might actually be able to find them.
“Feels kind of strange being back here,” said Isha, “back where it all began, where we finally found the strength to overthrow the Vulian occupation. It seems fate has a way of bringing us here in times of need.”
“Another major discovery wouldn’t go amiss here,” said James, “with so much of the ancient history of the Jaiytids and the Antalaea here, I’m sure we can find something relating to either the Hunters or the Shadow Bringer.”
They could have learned so much had they had the time all those years ago but needs had called for them to focus their attentions elsewhere. Now, once again, James had all the collective knowledge of this place at his fingertips. It was not like they had any other options, this was their only chance to find the truth behind it all.
“No need to waste time, I’m heading straight down there,” said James, “we should be safe here for a while so anyone else who wants to come is welcome to do so. Just remember to dress accordingly, its midday where we need to go and it can get quite warm on the surface. Ivanov, you’re in charge while I’m gone, the rest of you are with me, Lucy, you too, I think you’ve earned yourself a place with the rest of us on the command crew.”
“I’d be happy to come along,” Lucy smiled, “this place is legendary, I’ve always wanted to see it in person.”
“And you aren’t leaving without me!” The whole team spun around to see a hobbling Loca Morelli making her way onto the bridge, “that place has a lot of interesting tech I didn’t get to have a look at last time I was here, some of it could come in useful against the Hunters next time we run into them.”
“Loca, you need to go back to medical bay,” James said, eyeing up her heavily strapped right ankle, “even with the new medical equipment, you wont heal that quickly. Markova said to take it easy for a while and besides, don’t you want to stay with Kasha?”
“Doc says the medicine is working, his body is producing extra cells to counter the blood loss,” said Morelli, “he’s going to be fine but the rest of the alliance wont be if we don’t find what we need to find down there. I’m coming whether you like it or not.”
“I guess you are,” James resigned, “but if you make the injury worse, don’t say I didn’t tell you so.”
“Noted,” said Morelli, “so what are we waiting for, lets go.”
With Morelli giving the order for him, James didn’t need to do anything except lead the way to the flyer. It would be nice to get off the ship and get some fresh air again. They hadn’t really had any since their brief visit to Adean, what with them all needing re-breathers while they were on Sharstrom. There was no need for all the excavation equipment this time either, they had already made their discovery, the only thing they needed now was answers.
Melina landed the flyer in almost exactly the same spot that she had done the first time they had touched down on the planet. The planet looked different this time though, there were remains of several dozen camps along the trail, all abandoned now, that would have housed the many science teams that would have visited over the past six years. The great hangar bay doors continued to lay open, the way into the hangar bays open and clear before them. James took the same path that he had taken six years before, through the ruined buildings and down the hidden staircase and through the tunnel into the main hangar.
“If only Alen Raviera was still here to see it all again,” Kosare sighed, “the things he could have done with this place if he had had the chance.”
“Maybe they should set up a memorial or something,” said Isha, “let the galaxy know who really discovered this place, who really made it possible for us to win the revolution. I think he deserves it.”
“Maybe once this is all over we’ll put one up for him,” said James, “we’ll make sure his legacy is never forgotten.”
There was only one part of the facility that James was interested in for now though and that was the console at the side of the main hangar bay. Just as it had done last time, it powered up as he approached and a familiar voice greeted him.
“Welcome back, James Tavarez,” said the voice of Iyacs, the facility’s sentient intelligence, “it has been six years and twenty-six days since your last visit to this facility. What brings you back here?”
“I’m afraid it’s bad business once again,” said James, “we’ve encountered an unexpected problem, an alien race that has been striking out at us from the Blue Ring sector.”
“The Blue Ring sector was home to nine different alien species that we know of,” said Iyacs, “I can help you identify them if need be.”
Iyacs brought up images and profiles of each of the listed alien races indigenous to the Blue Ring sector but James did not recognise any of them, the Hunters were not among them.
“None of them,” said James, “are you sure thats all of them?”
“Are you sure that the race in question is indigenous to the Blue Ring?” Iyacs asked in return.
“No, I don’t think I ever considered that,” said James, “if I put in the details, could you try and find a match for me?”
“I will do my best.”
“Ok, well they were tall, eight foot tall at least,” James began to describe the attackers, “they had grey skin, long and slender limbs, they moved very fast and they were very agile too. They wear silver armour and they travel on very large ships that are almost three kilometres long.”
Iyacs went silent for a moment before bringing up another image on the screen. This time it was more familiar.
“Yes, thats them!”
“You are sure?” Iyacs asked him, “these are the attackers that you faced in the Blue Ring sector?”
“I’m positive,” said James, “why do you ask?”
“I do not believe that this can be possible,” said Iyacs, “the race that you have described to me is presumed to be extinct. They were wiped out over thirteen hundred years ago. They are a race called the Al’cari, they are native to the Simagara sector, Xerion territory.”
“What exactly happened to them?” James asked.
