Ava almost smiled before the image of Peter’s dead body flashed in front of her eyes. Losing someone under her command was always a scarring ordeal, one which thankfully had only happened once before Peter.
“Sitrep,” Matthews spoke into her helmet mic.
Jack’s voice replied, “Target is down, permanently. Katie used incendiary rounds.”
“At least we know they don’t like fire…” Katie added. Ava didn’t have to see her to know there was a sadistic grin on Lieutenant Wilson’s face.
Ava looked back at the alien corpse just in time to see its head twitch and one of its eyes flick into the back of its socket. The unusual display was followed by a steady trickle of blood from both ears.
“What the hell was that?” Kyle asked.
“Beats the shit out of me. Let’s see what the Conclave has to say about this.”
Chapter 13
If it weren’t for the Advent’s sensitive instruments, there would be no way of telling if the ship was actually moving. The pitch black of sub-space was all that greeted Kalian and Naydaalan on their journey to the Criterion system.
“I dislike that view.” Naydaalan returned to the bridge with two bowls of Novaarian noodles - one in each pair of hands. “It makes me feel lost.” The warrior sat back in his chair and used one of his four arms to adjust the viewport, changing the image to that of a starry backdrop.
It occurred to Kalian that this was the first piece of personal information Naydaalan had ever given him. Usually, the Novaarian was very stoic and guarded around others, though he had taken a liking to Li’ara, and Kalian couldn’t blame him for it.
The noodles quickly disappeared as Naydaalan used something approximating chopsticks to scoop the living noodles into his mouth - both bowls. How long had it been since Kalian had eaten or drank anything? The ship had been stocked with food and drink suitable for human physiology, but Kalian had yet to even entertain the idea of consuming. Was this another Terran thing? Could his body go without sustenance, and if so, for how long? This was why he needed Esabelle.
Even her atoms would be gone by now.
Kalian looked to Naydaalan, wishing to distract himself as well as learn more about the son of Telarrek. “Why did you volunteer for this mission? Surely your father wasn’t happy about it?”
Naydaalan chewed his noodles slower. “The Ambassador left the Conclave for four centuries to observe your people. We do not measure time away from friends and family as you do, especially when the cause is worthy. The Ambassador feared for my safety yes, but just as much as he did for yours.”
“The Ambassador? Isn’t he also your father?” Kalian had always felt a special bond with Telarrek. The Novaarian had continued to support the human race, advocating them every step of the way. He was also a friend.
Naydaalan replied with a subtle Novaarian smile. “Our cultures are very different, Kalian Gaines. A Novaarian’s duty and sense of honour always come before anything else. My father is the ambassador between your people and the Highclave, a high honour deserving of respect, especially from his children who have yet to achieve such a station.”
Their sense of honour and duty was one of the aspects Kalian loved most about the Novaarian people. It was that same characteristic that fueled them to support humanity.
“So why did you volunteer for this?” Kalian asked again.
Naydaalan looked out at the holographic stars. “I feared that you came here to die.”
That wasn't what Kalian had expected. Without any words to reply, all he could do was frown, questioningly.
“It is known that you have kept to yourself for the last three months since Li’ara and Esabelle died. No visitors aboard the Sentinel, no trips to the human habitat and barely any interaction with the crew. You were originally opposed to this plan until you learned of Li’ara’s fate. I feared that you had given up, and had come on such a perilous mission to find your end.”
“So you’re here on suicide watch…” Kalian sat back and sighed, contemplating his three months of self-exile and seeing how the Novaarian could come to that conclusion.
Naydaalan replied in a softer tone, “I am here because Li’ara wanted you to live more than anything else. I was with her when you stopped the starrillium from exploding on the Nova. Seeing you on the brink of death nearly crushed her. Whatever anyone else believes about you, Kalian Gaines, Liara believed that you were the only one who could bring all our people together, as well as combat this looming threat. I would see that legacy fulfilled.”
Kalian couldn’t meet Naydaalan’s golden eyes; he didn’t want the warrior to see his own filling with tears. The way Li’ara had felt about him was something Kalian knew he would never experience again. In one of their last conversations, she had pointed out the futility of a relationship between a mortal and an immortal. Kalian had been willing to forgo his extended life and simply stop his cells from replenishing, allowing him to age at the same rate. Li’ara had not been happy with that. She saw it as a waste of life, and she always saw Kalian’s life as being important, not just for him, but for others.
The rest of his conversation with Naydaalan was cut short when the main console alerted them to their approaching destination. The Novaarian replaced his bowls and went to work on the glass panel in front of him. Seconds later, the viewport flashed and the holographic stars were replaced with real ones.
An orange sun dominated the background, its glare hiding hundreds of solar systems beyond it. The viewport had already dimmed and overlaid itself with a technical readout from the sensor array. A small sphere-like object was highlighted in front of the star, five-hundred thousand miles away. Naydaalan had the image sharpened and zoomed in, giving the effect that the object was suddenly brought closer to them.
“Is that it?” Kalian lost any hope of finding answers when he saw the husk of the Criterion.
Though it had once been a sphere, the remains were without any particular shape. Debris clung to the main body like its own personal asteroid field. Kalian had tried many times to search through the chaotic memories of Savrick and discover the fate of the Criterion, but the bleed effect between their memories had always proven too hard to navigate.
“I don’t think we’ll be getting any answers from inside there,” Kalian continued. “Especially since most of its insides are on the outside.”
“Wait…” Naydaalan was examining his console. “These are not the exact coordinates ALF gave us.”
“What?” Kalian should have known better than to trust the AI.
“This is the correct system, but the exact coordinates are -”
“On the other side of the sun…” ALF finished the sentence for him.
Kalian got up from his seat and met the holographic man at eye level. “Start explaining or I swear this entire suit is going to find its way to the airlock with you trapped inside.”
ALF stepped past Kalian and gazed out of the viewport. “As far as the Terran were concerned, that metal husk was the Criterion. They believed that it housed all of my central processing units and personality. If they could destroy that, they could plunge the empire into chaos.”
“But that’s not the Criterion…” Kalian was following along.
“No. But it was armed to the teeth if only to give the impression that it was the Criterion.”
Naydaalan looked from the coordinates to ALF. “The real Criterion is at these coordinates?”
“You’ll find a small planet, if you could call it that, it's more of a giant rock covered in volcanoes. Its proximity to the sun makes it somewhat uninviting, shall we say. The real Criterion is hidden within.” ALF explained everything as if it was common knowledge.
“Lying is just second nature to you, isn’t it?” Kalian took his seat again.
ALF sighed and replied patronisingly. “Why don’t we just investigate the Criterion, allow me to access the rest of myself and then we can finally take a detailed look into the past. If these cubes are indeed of Terran
origin, there’s bound to be some record of it somewhere inside my main housing.”
Kalian nodded to Naydaalan, who set the Advent on course for the mystery planet. The Novaarian wanted to stop and charge the intrinium inside a starspot, but Kalian was eager for answers and pressed them on. The idea of ALF connecting with the rest of his personality didn’t sit well with Kalian, but he desperately needed the answers potentially stored inside the Criterion’s ancient files.
It took almost an hour to navigate the circumference of the sun on thrusters alone. Naydaalan had them on a flight path as close to the star as the hull would allow. Once the sun was behind them they were able to see the small planet that disguised the Criterion. As they drew closer it became apparent that ALF’s description of the planet had been quite accurate. A molten sphere covered in red veins and oceans of orange lava stood alone in the cold of space, the only planet in the system.
“The array can find nothing but organic material,” Naydaalan said.
ALF stood over the Novaarian’s console and looked down at a grid reference of the planet’s surface. “You won’t find it with sensors. You have to know where it is.” His holographic finger pointed at a section of the grid. “There.”
Kalian had the map display on his own console and had it change into three dimensions. The section ALF had indicated was a mountain, the only mountain that wasn’t actively ejecting copious amounts of lava.
Kalian spoke to Naydaalan, “The suit you wore on Albadar, can it withstand this can kind of punishment?”
Naydaalan checked the temperature on the surface of the planet, but Kalian was more concerned with any lava that might find its way onto his suit.
“Not for long,” Naydaalan replied. “An hour at most.”
“You won't need that long,” ALF stated, mysterious as ever.
After breaching the atmosphere, Naydaalan scanned anywhere for the Advent to land and found no suitable areas. The lava flow continuously pushed the land masses across the surface, pulling them apart and bringing them back together again.
“I will have to keep the ship afloat while we probe the area.” Naydaalan showed Kalian the control pad, built into his suit’s forearm. “To conserve energy, I will send it back into the stratosphere and have it sync with our orbit. It will never be more than seconds away should we need it.”
Kalian had his suit cover his head and hands, while simultaneously having the nanocelium link wirelessly to Naydaalan’s suit, allowing him to monitor the Novaarian’s vitals and structural integrity. On a planet like this one, only Kalian’s Terran abilities could keep them alive long enough to discover anything of importance.
After bringing the Advent to within thirty feet of the rocky ground, at the base of the mountain, the airlock opened to a gust of super-heated air and swirling cloud of ash and sulfur. The drop was too far for any creature to survive, and Kalian was about to guide the two of them down with telekinesis when Naydaalan stepped out. At the last second his boots flared and his rapid descent slowed down until he was standing comfortably on the edge of a river of lava. The effect reminded Kalian of a certain bounty hunter with whom he had fallen out. Roland should have brought Li’ara back. If anyone, it should have been him who died.
“Kalian?” Naydaalan’s voice came over the speakers in his helmet.
His reverie broken, Kalian dropped out of the ship, not bothering to slow his descent. The ground cracked under his weight, as he landed on one knee with his closed fists either side. His Terran physiology was stronger and could take such punishment, with denser bones and tougher muscle mass - not to mention the exo-suit’s durability. The suit also kept him cool, while the temperature outside was reaching eleven-hundred degrees Celsius.
Above them, the Advent’s thrusters kicked in and sent the ship flying vertically upwards, until it vanished behind the black clouds of ash. Appearing entirely out of place, ALF’s unprotected form projected in front of the pair. The projection itself was incredibly sensitive to their environment, causing ALF’s grey beard and shoulder-length hair to blow in the same direction as the hot breeze. This data was clearly taken from Kalian’s exo-suit and fed into the projectors to give the AI the most life-like appearance as possible - even his robes whipped about his legs.
“It’s just over this rise.” ALF started walking in that direction, leading them over a series of tributaries flowing with lava.
Naydaalan used the miniature jet thrusters, built into his suit’s back and legs, to overcome the rivers his unique Novaarian physiology couldn’t naturally jump. Kalian simply stepped into the shallower flows and used telekinesis to jump the over deeper ones. ALF gave the appearance of walking over them as if he were some kind of god.
“This is it.” ALF gestured towards the wall of mountain before them.
Naydaalan looked from the wall of rock to ALF and finally to Kalian. “Is your suit malfunctioning?”
ALF smiled. “It’s buried behind millennia of rock. A little Terran ingenuity is going to be required.”
Kalian met ALF’s eyes and wished he knew what was going on behind those grey orbs. With an outstretched hand, he pushed his awareness beyond his physical body and let the mountain fill his mind. He gasped and pulled back as soon as the mountain’s secrets took shape.
“What is it?” Naydaalan asked.
Kalian just stared at ALF. “What we’ve been looking for.”
Tapping into some of his rage and frustration with the AI, Kalian used both hands to crack the wall of rock. Three hundred feet of rock burst apart and exploded outwards as if a new fissure had blown inside the mountain. Tons of molten rock flew into the air and splashed into the lakes and rivers of lava. A clear twenty-feet remained untouched around the three of them, where Kalian had been sure to erect a telekinetic bubble to protect them. The disturbance caused multiple rock slides across the mountain, but Kalian guided them away from the Criterion’s entrance.
It took a moment for the dust and ash to settle, revealing the three hundred foot wall of nanocelium. The surface was similar to that of the cubes found on Trantax IV and inside the Gommarian and Protocorps, lined with intricate patterns and interlacing circles engraved in unknown languages. Having felt the outside of the entire Criterion, Kalian knew that its shape was that of a cube with the corners cut off.
“Is that..?” Naydaalan craned his long neck.
“A giant cube? More or less…” Kalian walked past ALF, towards the Criterion.
Once they were within fifteen-feet of the shear wall, the giant cogs and patterns began to rotate and move about the surface. Kalian had seen a similar effect in Savrick’s memories when he first discovered the cube on Hadrok. The cube had presented him with a hole in which he placed his arm, where it proceeded to take his free will by poisoning him with thoughts of civil war. Now, the Criterion presented them with a giant doorway, big enough to fit the Advent through, had they wished. It was dark inside and Kalian thought to warn Naydaalan away, but nothing happened as they passed over the threshold and into the shadows.
Kalian’s exo-suit indicated an instant drop in temperature, despite only being feet away from the lava world outside. ALF remained by his side, calm as ever, while Naydaalan used a hand scanner to interpret their new surroundings. A new alert popped across his HUD, informing Kalian of the change in atmosphere.
“The air is becoming breathable,” Naydaalan announced, checking his own scanner.
“And warmer,” Kalian added.
The doors began to slowly close the gap behind them, narrowing the available light. Both Kalian and Naydaalan tensed, but ALF raised a holographic hand.
“Wait. It’s okay,” the AI assured them.
As the light disappeared, only Naydaalan’s suit torches illuminated their environment. Kalian raised his hand, palm open, and willed the molecules to vibrate violently until they heated up and became a swirling ball of organic plasma. Its brilliant blue and white light cast harsh shadows all around them, revealing dark cables and tubi
ng and hanging, broken pieces of chain.
When the oxygen inside was as habitable as the temperature, Kalian deactivated his helmet and gloves and breathed in the cool air. It smelt damp and old, but completely silent, even the volcanic eruptions outside couldn't be heard.
“I don't suppose you remember where the light switch is, do you?” Kalian held his sphere of plasma over ALF’s face, causing the hologram to squint as if the light was actually blinding.
Like fireflies in the dark, hundreds of tiny orange lights filtered through unseen vents, high above. After filling the upper levels, the lights slowly dropped to Kalian’s height and spread out, bringing light to every corner. The space was massive and occupied with machinery Kalian couldn't even fathom. Most of the mechanisms and parts appeared old, but it was all so alien he didn't know what to think. There were more levels higher up, but the unusual lighting system had gone no further than a hundred foot.
Kalian dissolved the plasma in his hand and reached out to touch one of the glowing orbs, no bigger than the tip of his finger, but continually failed to make contact. The orbs moved around in a similar fashion to dust, always reacting to the proximity of other objects and the airwaves created by them. Naydaalan was treating them with more suspicion and waved them away from his face mask with three hands.
“What’s with the lighting system?” Kalian asked ALF.
“I like the ambiance…” It wasn't ALF who replied, though the hologram was smiling.
Kalian took a step back and welcomed the tingling sensation running along his spine, readying him for a fight. Naydaalan was by his side in a second, having swapped his scanner for a gun. The voice had come from the back of the Criterion, where the shadows had yet to be overrun by the fireflies. The mysterious reply, spoken with an augmented tone, was followed by heavy footsteps, gradually walking towards them.
“ALF, what’s going on?” Kalian had one foot forward, ready to defend or attack, depending on what emerged from the shadows.
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