The Smuggler's Ascension: Dark Tide Rising

by Christopher Ingersoll

  Anasha went to him, a tear in her own eye now, and kissed him softly.

  “Don’t even think about it, my love,” Anasha whispered softly. “It’s never going to happen. I promise.”

  With that Anasha eased herself into Kristof’s embrace as Sabine came awake behind him and embraced him as well. Sleep found them all soon as they lay there entwine, no sense of who was who in the dim moonlight.

  ~5~

  Darkness stretched out beyond sight as Vice Admiral Korvan Anders looked out at the Tiger’s Claw, his former ship, in the distance. The Emperor had been most pleased at the way he had crushed the rebellions on their outer colonies, and had promoted him accordingly. Crushing the rebellions was satisfying, he thought, but they were also a means to an end, and the Emperor had known that, too.

  Korvan had pulled all of the files the Empire had possessed regarding his former brother’s exploits, along with a few from spies outside of the Empire, and learned the nature of his brother’s smuggling ways. He now knew that Kristof had been assisting the rebels all along, and had probably continued to do so after he had married that Puranni bitch, for after that marriage the rebels had suddenly become much better equipped.

  So it was that Korvan had begun to plan. His first several attacks against the rebels had been highly successful, thanks to intelligence supplied surprisingly by his sister Karina, and resulted in his current promotion. Korvan now commanded the dreadnaught he’d rechristened as Vengeance, and a fleet of thirty other ships of varying classes. The Vengeance was not as large or grand as his father’s Wrath of Clovani had been, but it was plenty large enough for Korvan’s needs.

  Korvan’s plans continued to unfold, crushing the rebels wherever he found them, until Korvan had thought he would have his brother at last on Mallis IV. Korvan’s agent inside the rebellion had reported that supplies had arrived, and that the captain of the smuggler’s ship matched Kristof’s description. Korvan had ordered an all-out assault, joyous at finally finding his brother so that he could kill him and restore his family’s honor at last.

  The stealth ship had not figured into his plans, however. When his troops began reporting instances of being fired upon and bombed by a ship they could not see or track in the night sky, Korvan had howled in rage. The rebel cell had been shattered and scattered, but Kristof had slipped through his clutches with his trickery. The Vengeance soon bombarded the planet into dust from orbit, reducing what was left of their cities to rubble.

  Now the Vengeance and its fleet waited for another sign from their agents. Korvan watched the Tiger’s Claw for a moment longer, before turning away and facing his chief science officer, who he had made to wait for several long minutes now. The scientist was clearly uneasy at being brought before the Vice Admiral, which told Korvan that the man did not have the answers required of him. Korvan asked the question anyway.

  “Your department has had a month now since Mallis IV to tell me how you plan to detect the rebels’ stealth ship,” Korvan said coldly. “What have you brought me, Lieutenant Greeves?”

  “My Lord,” the man groveled, “Without having the ship to examine or at least a technical readout, I am afraid we have no reliably certain way to detect the ship.”

  Korvan sensed the man was holding out, so he reached his hand towards his blaster as a means of motivation.

  “MY Lord!” the man cried out in dismay. “I do have one idea, though my colleagues disagree on its potential.”

  “Speak,” Korvan commanded as he withdrew his hand from his blaster, a faint smile on his lips.

  “I believe that if we can somehow flood space in the vicinity of the stealth ship with radioactive particles, we may be able to detect the ship as it moves through the particle cloud.”

  “And why is it your colleagues do not believe in this plan, I wonder?” Korvan asked, his hand once more upon his blaster.

  “The amount of radioactive particles needed is enormous,” Greeves quailed. “Even then, it would be mere luck for the enemy vessel to pass through the cloud and be detected.”

  Lieutenant Greeves sagged to the floor between the two guards who had escorted him to the bridge, clearly believing his life was now forfeit. Korvan looked down at the sobbing man with contempt and motioned for the guards to take him away.

  As the scientist had said, the plan was not without faults and held a low potential for success, at least by itself. Another plan began to form in Korvan’s thoughts, however. There was much to do, but suddenly Korvan felt confident that soon he would have his brother in his sights again.

  ~6~

  Kristof awoke to the feeling of someone rushing from the bed, followed by the sounds of someone getting sick. Struggling awake, he saw Anasha beside him also struggling awake after feeling and hearing the same thing. Sabine was gone, he sensed immediately, and came fully awake in a flash of worry and was on his feet rushing to her side.

  His tiny wife was knelt on the cold tiles of their bathroom, trying hard not to be sick again. Kristof went to her and held her hair back as she lost the battle with her stomach. Anasha appeared a moment later, concern etched upon her face.

  “What is it?” Anasha asked worriedly, but Kristof could only shrug in reply.

  Finally Sabine settled and Kristof pulled her into his lap as she sagged weakly against him. She was pale and shaking in his arms. Anasha grabbed a large towel from nearby and covered her as best she could to try and warm her.

  “Start the shower,” Kristof ordered as he held Sabine, remembering how she had shaken so badly after being in the cold rain on Bonibus. Sabine was so tiny and did not generate a lot of body heat as it was. Anasha started the water in the shower and soon steam began to fill the bathroom. She then helped Kristof rise with Sabine shaking in his arms, and he carried her in under the steaming spray of water.

  In time Sabine’s tremors subsided and she calmed in Kristof’s arms. She still remained weak, though, which began to scare Kristof as he held his tiny wife. He had never seen her like this, lifeless and weak. She’s always been the strong one when it was just the two of them, and even still after Anasha had been returned to them.

  Anasha joined them in the shower and brushed the wet hair from Sabine’s face and looked at her worriedly. Sabine gave her a weak smile, but made no move for Kristof to release her, not that he would have right then.

  “What is it, my love?” Anasha asked Sabine softly.

  “I dreamed of pain and despair, like the feeling I had yesterday,” Sabine said weakly. “I could feel it, like I was there in that dark place. And then I was awake and in here.”

  Kristof shared a long look with Anasha, clearly seeing something in her eyes that made him guess that she had at least an idea. Anasha ignored the question in Kristof’s eyes though and turned back to the tiny Queen, cleaning her face and hair from the morning’s sudden events.

  Once Sabine was dried and wrapped warmly in bed, Kristof cornered Anasha as she dressed and they waited for a medical android. He watched as she slid a shirt over her still wet skin before breaking the silence.

  “You suspect something, don’t you,” Kristof said, not bothering to make it a question.

  “She is displaying signs similar to that of a Su’Tani precog,” Anasha said worriedly, “Except she is not Su’Tani and shouldn’t be able to do that.”

  “Precog?” Kristof asked confusedly.

  “The Su’Vanii Elders are all precogs,” Anasha said as she continued to dress hurriedly. “They see visions of the future, much like we do as normal Su’Tani, but more in depth and in far greater detail. If I am right and that is what she is doing, then Sabine is somehow seeing into a possible future, but she has not been trained to do this.”

  “Is it really dangerous?” Kristof asked as he looked at Sabine asleep on the bed, wrapped in a mountain of blankets.

  “You saw what it did to her in there,” Anasha said as she rose from putting her boots on. “If I’m right, this is just the beginning. Things will get worse becaus
e she is not trained and not a Su’Tani.”

  The door chimed out in the other room, signaling the arrival of the medical android. Anasha gave Kristof a quick look and nodded downward, reminding him that his still stood there naked from the shower. Anasha rushed off to admit the medical android as he went in search of some clothing of his own.

  When he returned, Kristof saw the medical android as well as a human doctor were scanning Sabine as she slept. Max was also there, having entered with the medics after they had arrived, clearly concerned for the young Queen. Kristof motioned for Max and Anasha to join him as the medical android continued its scans and the doctor examined the results.

  “If you’re right about this,” Kristof said to Anasha, “Then we need the help of the Su’Vanii immediately. You stay with Sabine, Max and I will go to the Temple and seek an audience.”

  “No,” Anasha said quickly, and Kristof felt a brief flare of anger as she grabbed his arm to stop him.

  “We don’t have time to argue about this,” Kristof growled.

  “I know, my love,” Anasha answered with fire of her own, “But the Su’Vanii will not see you. You may be Su’Tani now, but just barely. I must find my father and go with him to the Temple. Only he can gain us immediate entry as the Commander of our militant order, and only a full blooded Su’Tani can go before the Su’Vanii there in the Temple.”

  “Hurry then, my love,” Kristof said as his fire faded and his worry returned.

  Anasha kissed him quickly, and then kissed Sabine softly before she headed for the door. She looked back once, her worry writ upon her face, before she disappeared.

  Kristof went to the bed and found Sabine awake and more alert than she had been earlier. When she reached for him, Kristof eased onto the bed and pulled her into his arms. She began to cry softly as her held her tight. The medical android paid them no mind as it continued its scans.

  “I find no problematic physical disturbances present to cause the Queen’s ailment,” the doctor announced minutes later, much to Kristof’s relief and yet unease. “There is no presence of a virus or other infection. As for the reported mental disturbance, we do not have enough information to make a diagnosis at this time.”

  Kristof felt his worry ease for the time being. A moment later, the doctor continued.

  “There is physically nothing wrong, per se. The Queen is, however, pregnant.”

  ~7~

  Anasha was impatient as she and her father rushed to the Temple of Visions at the edge of the capital, where the Su’Vanii Elders made their home. Seeing Sabine so weak and pale had shaken her badly, and she was eager to find answers as quickly as possible. The signs in Sabine’s eyes of having had a true precog vision outright scared her.

  Her thoughts drifting, Anasha remembered the first time she had had a true vision of the future, and how it had twisted inside her as she struggled to come to terms with it. The sensations had made her feel nauseous and unsteady. She’d had training on what to expect and how to deal with it, though. Sabine had received none of that before having what appeared to have been a full blown vision thrust upon her.

  Beside her, Subat led the way as they entered the grounds of the Temple of Visions. The Su’Tani guards allowed Subat and Anasha to pass without challenge, recognizing them instantly. The temple itself was a large quartz pyramid topped with a gold replica of the Eye of the Oracle, an ancient Su’Tani deity gifted with vision and foresight. Entering the temple, Anasha prayed for some foresight soon.

  Anasha and her father continued on unchallenged, and doors were promptly opened by the guards as they approached. Anasha saw the curious look on her father’s face that told her this behavior was most unusual. Apparently, they were expected and allowed to enter with all haste. They now passed through halls and corridors that Anasha had never seen before.

  Deep within the pyramid, Subat led Anasha at last to a large circular room. Chairs carved from the stone of the pyramid sat at regular intervals about the room, like placements on a clock. The center of the room was tiled with a thirteen pointed star, each point pointing to one of the chairs along the wall. Anasha thought to herself that thirteen was not a very auspicious number, considered unlucky by countless cultures throughout the galaxy. The chairs were empty though, the Su’Vanii nowhere in sight.

  “We must now wait,” Subat said simply as he knelt upon the center of the floor and folded his arms and legs into a meditation pose.

  “We don’t have time to wait,” Anasha said angrily, her voice echoing through the mostly empty chamber. The light shimmered off the quartz walls and had an almost hypnotic effect. She began to feel just a bit sleepy despite her anger and impatience.

  “We have no choice,” her father said simply yet sternly. “The Su’Vanii will appear in their own time, not ours. Sit, my child, and calm your mind.”

  Annoyed, but with no other options, Anasha sank to the floor and resumed her meditation pose from the night before. Taking deep breathes, she settled into the meditation though she doubted that, with the chaos in her mind, she’d be able to focus enough for it to be any good. She was wrong, as the lassitude she’d begun to feel moments before took a firmer hold.

  After several minutes, Anasha’s thoughts began to rise free of her physical body and soon she found herself floating in a vast emptiness similar to that of the Void, the vast nothing between the realms of life and death. Anasha soon found herself surrounded by thirteen luminous beings and knew that she had come before the Su’Vanii as they were beyond the physical world. The thirteen pointed star of the chamber had become a glowing blue emblem of fire in the ethereal world, yet it did not burn her. Her father was nowhere to be seen.

  “Greeting, daughter of our beloved Guardian Subat,” came the voice of one of the Su’Vanii. It was one voice, and yet seemed to come from them all, so Anasha knew not to whom she should speak in this ghostly plain.

  “Please,” Anasha began, but got no farther.

  “We know why you have come, daughter of Subat,” the Su’Vanii replied to her unspoken question. “Your fear for our young Queen is writ bright cross your spirit like a star within the great void. But know that the child cannot yet control the power that is now unleashed by your union.”

  “Sabine is not a child,” Anasha said angrily.

  “It is not the Queen we refer to,” came the Su’Vanii’s voice, “but the child she now carries. It is the child of your union with your husband and passed on through his union with her even as she unites with you to complete the Triad; a union foretold in ancient Su’Tani legends that would signal either the beginning of new days to come, or the end of all days forever.”

  Anasha was struck speechless by the Su’Vanii’s pronouncement. Thousands of thoughts and memories flashed through her mind, of the countless ways their destiny could have been averted, and yet had slowly and surely been directed to this moment.

  “Will Sabine die?” Anasha asked plaintively, tears threatening.

  “Perhaps,” came the emotionless answer. “Perhaps not. The future is not set. It lies within you, the ability to guide this child if you so choose, and if you find the strength within you. The child is as much a part of you as the young Queen and your mate, for the power that passed through him came first from you.”

  Anasha wept as the implications of everything the Su’Vanii told her swept through her in a rush, but now she wept in joy.

  “I will not fail them,” Anasha declared.

  “See that you do not,” the Su’Vanii whispered as the vision began to fade. “For should the young Queen perish, then so shall we all. Also know this, daughter of beloved Subat. The power afflicting our young Queen is of the child and yet not, and it is not the child who causes the power to unleash. Something unseen is influencing the child, something we cannot see. Beware.”

  Anasha awoke with tears streaming down her face as her father held her. Subat asked her no questions, and she sensed he had been witness to her vision. The room around them was still empty, b
ut Anasha could feel the lingering presence of the Elders still.

  “The Su’Vanii live in both worlds,” Subat replied to her unasked questions. “Come, my child, we must return you to your family at once.”

  “My family,” Anasha whispered in wonder.

  ~8~

  Sabine was irate to say the least. After over a week of forced bed rest while the doctors and the Su’Tani desperately searched for a way to control the violent sickness, pain, and fear that accompanied her child’s visions, she was well and truly frustrated. The fact that her baby, who was barely a month old, was demonstrating such vast power was also extremely frightening. Sabine did not handle being frightened well, either. She was also worried about the news that something else was triggering the baby’s visions, something the Su’Vanii could not see.

  Anasha spent long hours with her, hands on her stomach, as she sought to calm the baby’s visions and discover that outside influence. Her efforts met with some success in calming the baby, which had helped Sabine finally get some rest; but as much as she loved her blond wife, the constant contact had become annoying. Finally, Sabine had needed to set some boundaries, reminding Anasha that she was not some animal to be constantly petted.

  Laughter from nearby had then caused Sabine to turn on Kristof in a blistering tirade than had made the man pale. Sure, it wasn’t exactly fair to blame him for doing this to her, as she had had an equal part in the events leading up to it, but she had no interest in fairness at the moment. She was sick and tired of being treated as weak and helpless. She was a Queen, after all, damn it.

  “I am Queen here, damn you all!” Sabine had erupted that morning as she ordered all of the doctors and Su’Tani healers away from her immediately. Her screamed orders had been followed by threats of firing squads and several thrown curios that had exploded upon the walls, followed by tears as her emotions just as quickly swung another way. Keeping up with Sabine’s mood swings was like trying to ride a paper airplane in a tornado.