The Sac'a'rith

by Vincent Trigili

  The room was crisscrossed with many random conduits, so it took me a few tries to find the one he meant. Under it I found a stash of food that they had obviously been stockpiling for some time. I started to feel bad about my initial reaction to them. They bore all the signs of people living on the run and they were trapped on the station with no real way to escape. That must wear down a person over time.

  Once I had the magi all set up with food and water, I took some for myself. I had lost track of time, but I suspected it had been almost a full day since we arrived.

  “I heard a little of your conversation. I don’t know who holds the core, but I can tell you the security on it is impressive. There are multiple energy screens, lines of sentries, and deployed cannons all around it. There is no approaching it from any direction. I doubt even the wraiths could get through,” said Felix.

  “Do we have a map of this station?” asked Narcion.

  “Yes, here,” said Felix.

  “Show me everything you can remember about the defenses,” said Narcion.

  Felix and Narcion pored over the map for a while. Narcion drilled him until Felix threw up his hands and said, “Really, that’s all I know!”

  “Okay. Then let’s make for here,” he said and pointed to a room on the map.

  “The mess hall?” asked Felix.

  “Yes. It is above the computer core, and if nothing has changed since you were last there it is undefended.”

  “If you are thinking of boring through the floor, we do not have the tools to do that,” said Felix.

  “I do. How soon can your men be ready to move out and fight, if need be?” he asked.

  “Maybe another hour,” said Felix.

  “Zah’rak, scout around this area, and be careful. Make sure no one has moved in while we were sleeping,” said Narcion.

  I knew it would be dangerous to split up, but we could not leave the magi until they were able to defend themselves, so one of us would have to stay back while the other scouted. This was the first time he had sent me off alone, and I was not sure if that was a good or a bad sign. I hoped it meant he had greater trust in my abilities.

  As I left the room, echoes of our conversation bounced around in my head. What did he mean by “noble order?” And if we’re rebuilding it, what happened to it the first time? Still, it was good to learn I had more weapon options than just a pair of knives.

  I swept the area, following the search pattern that Narcion had drilled into me. I knew that the safe passage of our enlarged group would depend on Narcion and I avoiding traps. The magi were powerful in their own way, but they did not seem to have had any stealth or close combat training. I suspected that if we were surprised by an attacker they would not fare well.

  As I approached an intersection something felt odd. It was as if the air was tainted, but there was nothing wrong with it. I froze in place and listened, but could not hear anything. Still, the feeling would not go away; there was something wrong ahead, I was sure of it. I checked my weapons to make sure everything was ready and I slowly eased up to the intersection, keeping my profile as small as I could manage. Just before I reached it, I caught a shadow moving. Ambush! I thought to myself.

  There was no additional movement, but it was too late for concealment; I had already marked its location. I tossed a stun grenade around the corner and, as soon as it detonated, spun after it. I saw half-a-dozen humans in a well-fortified position. “Narcion, trouble,” I sent over our personal communication channel as I moved quickly to take their weapons. I had only seconds to act before they would recover.

  As they started to get up, I knocked them back down in an effort to group them together so I could train my weapons on all of them at once. There was a brief scuffle as two of them tried to jump me from behind. They were a bit sluggish as the effects of the stun grenade wore off, making it easy for me to bat them aside with my tail.

  There were just too many of them for me to subdue gently, and I was about to start getting more aggressive with my attacks when Narcion and the magi came around the corner. Narcion yelled, “Yield!”

  One of them pulled out a gun he had concealed on his person, but before he could aim, I shot my hand out to grab his wrist and flung him hard into the wall. There was a satisfying crunch as his body hit the surface. He slid down the wall and did not move again.

  “Who’s next?” I asked with an intentional growl in my voice.

  The remaining five looked at their fallen partner and took off at a run. I started to give chase, but Narcion said, “Let them go.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  “Because they are not our target, and at the moment we have no way of knowing if they are good guys or bad guys,” he said.

  “How are we defining ‘good guys?’” asked Felix.

  “Good question,” answered Narcion. “Now, let’s get back to our plan. I will take the lead. Zah’rak, you take the rear. We don’t stop till we get closer to our destination. Got it?”

  I would have liked an answer to that question, but I knew our current position was exposed, and the five who had run off would probably come back with more weapons. We needed to move out.

  The magi stayed between us and we had to slow our normal pace for them. As we moved through the corridors, I noticed that we did not seem to be heading to the mess hall as we had planned. In fact, we seemed to be moving away from it. I wanted to catch up with Narcion and ask him what was up, but I dared not leave my post at the rear of the line. Eventually Narcion halted the line and beckoned us all to group together again.

  “We’re getting close to our target. Be extra careful; if we are going to hit trouble, it will be now,” said Narcion.

  “Narcion, I must be lost, then. I do not think we are anywhere near the mess hall,” I said.

  “No, you are correct. We are just outside Central Command,” he said. “While you were gone, Felix suggested that we might be able to communicate with the computer core from there and avoid having to breach their defenses.”

  “That makes sense, but I thought all communication was compromised,” I commented.

  “Yes; so this may end up being a waste of time, but it’s worth trying,” said Narcion. “Felix, are you sure your command codes will be enough to get us past the defenses?”

  “Unless they have changed them, they should work,” said Felix.

  “Then go. We will cover you from here,” he said.

  As Felix turned the corner I heard a computerized voice warn him to stay back. For a few tense moments he negotiated with the computer, and then I heard: “Access granted.”

  “Move!” called out Narcion and we all charged around the corner into Central Command. “Quickly, re-establish the defenses and then give me command access.”

  “Shields reinstated! We are safe,” said Felix.

  “No, we are not,” I said. I could feel a chill in the room but could see no enemy. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the feeling. Soon I could see the room around me and the people in it, even though my eyes were still closed. The room looked distinctly different. The magi and Narcion were defined sharply in bright colors, but the instruments and equipment were as bland as could be.

  I did not have time to contemplate what that could mean, as I saw a wraith sweeping down from above towards the back of one of the magi. I leapt from my position, batted the magus aside, and planted my shoulder into the chest of the wraith. It screamed with pain as I pinned it to the wall. Remembering the danger their claws presented, I quickly leapt off and drew my knives. It was recovering when a bolt of lightning arced through the air and killed it.

  Looking around the room with my eyes closed I could not see any more of them, and the coldness had left the room. I slowly opened my eyes and saw the magus I had batted aside struggling to get back up. “Sorry, I had no time to warn you.”

  “Don’t apologize,” he said weakly. “It’s fine. I’d much rather be knocked over than turned into a walk
ing corpse.”

  “How did you do that?” asked one of the other magi.

  “Do what?” I asked.

  “You spotted the wraith and fought it with your eyes closed,” he said.

  “I’m not sure. I could feel its presence right away, but at first I could see it only when I closed my eyes. Very weird, but I didn’t dare take the time to open them again.”

  “Excellent work, Zah’rak! Your training is really coming along! What you used was a power you were born with that we call Sight. It allows you to see using only your mind. Creatures like the wraiths can’t hide from Sight,” said Narcion. “Now, with the shields back up we are safe. Let’s see what we can determine about this station.”

  “You should have full command access now,” said Felix.

  Felix and Narcion were busy with the terminals, so I walked over to the other two. They were doing their best to stay quiet and out of the way. I decided that I should try to make some kind of amends for our rocky start. “Hey, sorry about getting rough with you back there,” I said to the one who had tried to probe my mind earlier.

  The magus looked scared and swallowed hard. “It’s okay. I understand.”

  “Can you get into the head of anyone you want to?” I asked.

  “Any mund … well, with anyone who is not a magus it is easy,” he said. “Other magi can be much harder.”

  “So you can read me right now?” I asked.

  “No, at least not without you knowing. I tried that once and it did not go well for me,” he said with a weak smile.

  “What is your name?” I asked.

  “I don’t have one,” he said.

  It was then I noticed some very old scarring around his neck. He must have been a slave also. I pointed to the scars on my neck. “It seems we have something in common.”

  He nodded in silence.

  “What should I call you, then?”

  “I used to be known as Crivreen. I guess I can be again.” He was a bit chubby and had the kind of hair that always looked unkempt. His face had the soft features of someone who had given up fighting and was letting circumstances take him where they would. There was a deep loneliness in his eyes.

  The other magus with him was as different from Crivreen as possible. He was obviously a bodybuilder and no doubt took a lot of pride in his ability to lift heavy objects. He had several scars on his face that hinted at a rough past. He always seemed to stick close to Crivreen, as if to protect him.

  “So, Crivreen, how can I protect myself from someone trying to read my mind?”

  “Well, if you don’t have the gift, I can’t teach it.”

  “How do I know if I do?” I asked.

  “He does. Teach him,” I heard Narcion call out from behind us.

  Crivreen looked very nervous and stumbled over his words as he tried to talk. I reached out and placed my hand on his shoulder and said, “Look, it’s okay. Narcion asked you to teach me, so go ahead. I won’t hurt you.”

  He nodded and walked over to a security terminal. After making an adjustment he said, “Look at this screen. Do you see anything odd?”

  I looked, and it showed a view of the room we were in, but I was the only one in the room. “But that doesn’t make sense.”

  “We can use this monitor so you can see how you are doing. Before I can teach you to defend against a mental attack, I need to teach you how to hide like the rest of us are doing. We can completely drop off all electronic sensors, like this one, at will. The same skill that is used to hide will help you in defense later.”

  I do not know how long we spent there with him trying to teach me, but it seemed like years. I think his fear of me gave him patience beyond that normal for his species because he never once let himself lose his temper. Eventually I started to grasp it, and then suddenly it clicked. I heard Narcion call out, “Well done!” I looked over at the screen and saw that I had dropped completely off the internal sensor grid.

  “As much as you can, stay hidden. Practice that much and we can move on to more advanced lessons later. Now I need everyone to take a terminal and start sweeping the station. We need to know who is on this station with us and what they are doing,” said Narcion.

  I moved to the terminal closest to me, but was unsure how to work it. Crivreen gave me some quick pointers and then went to his own terminal. As I swept through the station I could see sentries, which are powerful robotic defenders; they were all over the place, destroying the walking dead, but the entire time we had traveled through the station we had not stumbled across even one of them. The sweeps the sentries were making were too clean; someone had to be controlling them. Then something struck me.

  “Three groups,” I said.

  “What?” asked Narcion.

  “There are three groups on this station: the attackers, ourselves, and whoever holds the core. The attackers are trying to push us to the core so that we will open it and give them a vector to attack it. The wraiths, that bug, and the humans we have seen so far are all together, which is why they are not dead yet.”

  “Go on. What does that mean?” asked Narcion.

  “That means that there must be something in the core that these attackers, whoever they are, want really badly; and the military is not willing to risk giving it up.”

  “Yes, and what will happen if the core is breached?” he asked.

  I thought about that for a while and came to a sickening conclusion. “They will blow the station up.”

  “Exactly. Well done, you are making an old teacher proud.”

  No one had ever been proud of me before, ever. I did not know how to respond, so I just stood there in stunned silence.

  “If they blow up the station, do we have a way off?” asked Felix.

  “If we can make it to an airlock, I can arrange for my ship to meet us; but that would require enough warning for us to make it there, and we currently have no way of getting that,” he said.

  “Great, just great,” said Felix.

  Narcion worked at the computer for a long time. Then I saw something on the viewer. “Narcion, we have company.” On one of the viewers there was a group of men supported by sentries, fighting through a wall of walking dead, trying to reach our position.

  “Should we help them?” I asked.

  “If we lower those shields, the wraiths could rush the room,” said one of the magi.

  “These men will reach the door and, if they are from the core as I believe they are, they will be able to open it. So everyone get in position to cover them as they rush in. Magi, use blasters and save your spells in case the wraiths do come. Zah’rak, hang back and watch for the rush. I am going to take over the automated defenses and give them some help,” said Narcion.

  “Are we sure they are on our side?” asked Felix.

  “Pretty sure. Just be ready for anything,” he responded.

  I moved into position behind the magi, but then thought better of it. I moved to a place where I was completely under cover and closed my eyes. With my eyes closed I could see the wraiths gathering outside the door, waiting. They could guess our plan easily enough. Moving quickly, I began to dismantle one of the railings that separated the two levels of the command center.

  “Whatever you’re doing, better make it fast. They are almost at the door,” said Felix, who had taken up a position, which gave me cover fire.

  I merely grunted and kept working. Moments later, the door opened and the men rushed into the room. I stood and picked up a piece of the railing which I had beaten into a point. With my eyes still closed, I threw it at the lead wraith. As I released my makeshift spear, I wondered if I had understood correctly what Narcion had told me about the knives. As the spear hit the wraith and pierced it through it screamed out in pain, confirming what I had learnt. The surprise of it broke the charge of the wraiths, and I began to throw what was left of the railing as fast as I could.

  Under cover of flying metal the men made it
into our base and resealed the doors. With my eyes still closed I carefully searched the room and said, “It looks clear to me.”

  “Yes, we can relax for the moment,” said Narcion.

  Chapter Seven

  A man sat behind a desk in an office working hard at the computer. Around him in cages were samples of many different races. All of them looked like statues, frozen in fear, and yet you could sense they were alive. There were Zalionians, humans, Parrinians, and many more.

  The man did not seem to notice the room around him and was focused intently on his computer. His hands flew across the holographic interface with amazing speed and agility. While he was working another man walked into the room. This man was dressed in black and grey body armor. He was armed with two blasters, one on each hip, and a pair of swords sheathed in an X on his back. His armor was completely devoid of markings with the exception of one design of the head of a growling wolf. He longingly looked at a young woman who was among those trapped around the room.

  As he approached the desk the other man said, “What is the situation on the station?”

  “The attack is going as planned. Narcion and his pet are trapped in the main command center, and the computer core has only a few hours of power left.”

  “Excellent. When the power fails the autodestruct will be triggered, and we will finally be rid of that filth.”

  “Sir, Narcion is too wise for that. I am sure he knows about the autodestruct as well as we do.”

  “Tell your men to make sure Narcion stays on that station, at all costs.”

  The warrior paused; it seemed that he was going to say something, but when he looked at the woman again, he changed his mind. There was a tone of steel in his voice as he replied, “Yes, sir.”

  “I used a considerable amount of my resources to set up that station as a trap for him. Narcion must fall, or all our plans are in jeopardy. If he gets off that station, I expect you to hunt him down.”

  “With pleasure,” said the warrior. There was an edge in his voice that could not be missed.