When we arrived at Engineering we were greeted by a very large firefight. The station’s sentries were holding back multiple fronts of attack from the skeletons. It looked as if the sentry guns that should have protected Engineering were already destroyed, but the shields were intact.
“If we only had some concussion grenades with us,” I mused out loud.
“Why don’t we find a weapons locker and get some?” asked Crivreen.
“Do you think they have any?” I asked.
“You’re in charge, so ask,” he reminded.
“Command, is there a stocked weapons locker anywhere near my current position?” I asked over the comm.
“Yes, sir,” they said and then gave us the location. We headed directly there and took some grenades and other supplies.
“Much better,” I said as I strapped two blasters on my sides. I had become used to being heavily armed while working with Narcion, so only having the one gun to work with until now had made me feel completely unprepared for the battle. “Now let’s get back to Engineering.”
When we arrived, I took up a position behind one of the squads of skeletons and threw one of our grenades into the middle of their number and dove for cover. The narrow corridors that surrounded Engineering helped to focus the blast of the concussion grenade.
When I checked the results, I was amazed to see the entire squad of skeletons lying in pieces scattered throughout the corridor. The sentries had already repositioned themselves to deal with one fewer front of attack.
“Quick, can you get us around the back side of one of the other groups of attackers?” I asked Crivreen.
“Yeah, this way,” he said and ran off.
Soon we had eliminated all the skeletons attacking Engineering. The sentries stayed by the doors, dutifully standing guard and watching for new attackers.
“Command, Engineering appears secure for the present, but leave the sentries in place,” I said into my speaker.
We moved from there to other places that were pinned down by skeletal attackers. At each place we used the grenades to wipe out the attackers and then moved on, occasionally stopping at weapons lockers to restock with grenades. The two of us were too few to clear the station, but until the sentries arrived we were the only ones who could do the job.
I was really getting worried about Felix and Narcion, as I could not raise them. I figured they were probably under fire, but it seemed like an awfully long time to go without contact.
It took many hours, but finally the sentries arrived and they began to sweep through the station, allowing us to take a much-needed break. We found a self-service cafeteria and got some food from the buffet using our government IDs to pay at the automated stations. While we were eating, Crivreen said, “I guess we should hunt the wraiths next. Leave the rest to the sentries.”
“Yeah. I think there are only a small number here. As long as we keep the shields up we should be able to eliminate them all.”
“What’s to stop them from sending more once we finally think we’ve won and lower the shields?” asked Crivreen.
“I don’t know, but so far they have never returned to a station that we have cleared, so I am hoping the same will be true here,” I said.
“How are we going to find them?” he asked.
“They will come to us. They are not really intelligent, at least not like you and I; they are more like animals. They will get hungry, and we are the only food on the station that they can get to,” I said.
“How long until they are hungry enough to try?” he asked.
“That I am not sure. We will just sweep through the station until we find them and hope they are really hungry already,” I said.
We got up and began wandering the halls. We stopped at a weapons locker to make sure we were fully stocked with ammo and grenades, but that was only in case we met up with one of the various patrols of skeletons or any new patrols of walking dead. My mind was wandering through all I had learned during my time with Narcion and how different life had become, when Crivreen asked a question.
“Why do you call them ‘walking dead’ instead of ‘zombies?’” he asked.
“Two different kinds of, um, creature. Walking dead are like remotely-controlled robots: without someone to control them, they fall over and don’t move. Zombies retain some of their memories and intelligence from when they were alive and can operate on their own, but only for a very short time. Walking dead can keep going until they decay too much to function,” I said.
“Are either of them, you know, alive?” he asked.
“No, the soul leaves the corpse at death. What you see walking around is nothing but animated flesh,” I said.
“Soul?” he asked.
“Yes. A person’s soul is who they really are. At death, that soul leaves the body and goes on to the final resting place for that soul. Only living things have souls; the undead like these walking dead are nothing more than organic machines,” I said.
While we were talking, I sensed something coming up behind us. I spun in time to see three wraiths flying in our direction. I pulled out my borrowed swords and stood my ground; to my surprise, so did Crivreen.
“Follow my lead. Your armor will keep you safe, and charging them will help keep them off balance,” I said. With that I ran towards the wraiths and I heard Crivreen coming up behind me. I yelled out a battle cry and leapt into the air to meet them. The first one got by me, but I was able to hit both of the two behind the leader.
As I hit the ground I spun and finished off the two near me. I ran to help Crivreen, only to watch him cut down the third wraith himself. “What? How?” I asked.
“I was on the fencing team during my time in prison. I was not very good, but good enough to cut these things down,” he said.
“No; I mean, good job, but how did you manage it?” I asked.
“Oh, I see. These swords the skeletons were carrying are enchanted,” he said.
“Enchanted?” I asked. I looked at the sword in my hand. It had a fairly short blade, especially for a warrior my size. The blade had a slight curve to it and was made out of some black metal. The grip and crossguard were normal enough, but there was a beautiful red gem in the pommel of each sword. There was strange, silver writing written along the blade which I did not recognize. The weapons were lightweight and perfectly balanced. Now that I was paying attention to them, I could feel power running through them in the same way I could feel the power in my armor.
“Yeah, just like your armor. It makes them effective against the wraiths,” he said.
“I wonder where they came from?” I asked. “But that is a puzzle for another day. I don’t sense any more wraiths, so I assume those three were the only ones on board. We should pull out and let the sentries take care of the remaining attackers. Gather up several more sets of those swords for our supplies and let’s get them onto the ship. Leave the rest of them for the station guards.”
We ran back to our ship and dropped off the spare swords in a secure storage bin, and then I placed a call to our government handler. I would not normally call him, but I had instructions from Narcion to report in in place of Narcion once the wraiths were cleared out, if he was unable to do so for any reason. “Sir, I have not heard from Narcion, but I wanted to let you know that Bonair is clear of wraiths. Your forces can take over again as long as they keep up the station’s shields.”
“Excellent! So we stopped the attack?” he asked.
“Yes, sir. I don’t think they will come back. I will know more when I find Narcion,” I said.
“Great! Did we learn anything about the attackers?” he asked.
“Just one thing, which I think will make you very happy,” I said.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“On the station you will find swords like these.” I held up one for him to see and then continued: “The skeletal warriors wielded them and we have determined that they are effective on wraith
s.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Days went by and still there was no word from Narcion or Felix. The sentries were effective in removing the last of the enemy forces, and once that was done the guards searched the station. There was no sign of them anywhere.
I did not envy anyone the job of cleaning up the station after the attack. There would be bodies and body parts everywhere. The walls and floors in some areas would be covered in blood from the fighting. The station had a long, hard recovery ahead of it.
We stayed on Narcion’s cruiser, but my instincts told me to undock from the station, so we did. I was uncomfortable hanging around, as it was apparent that Narcion was no longer here; we had no place to go, however, so I kept the cruiser in a parking orbit around the station.
While we were trying to decide what we should do next, a call came in from our contact in the Phareon government. I answered it up on the bridge, hoping for news about Narcion.
“Zah’rak, we found a clue as to what happened to Narcion,” he said.
He played back some footage from one of the security cameras on the station. On the film I saw Narcion and Felix pinned down in what looked like a supply room. While they were fighting, a blue field of light opened behind them, which looked like some kind of portal. I watched as skeletons poured into the room that Narcion and Felix were using as cover. Narcion turned to fight but one of the skeletons grabbed Felix and pulled him back through the portal. Narcion chased after them, and the portal closed behind him.
“That is the last that was seen of them,” he said.
“They could be anywhere, then,” I said.
“Assuming they are still alive, they presumably ended up in the enemy’s base,” he said. “I believe they have been captured and detained, but there is no way to verify that right now.”
“Thanks, sir,” I said, closing the channel. I set the autopilot on the cruiser to fly us to the middle of nowhere and then brought Crivreen up to date.
“Now what?” he asked.
“We hide for a few days and search through all the records on this ship. We need to find out if Narcion had any idea where these portals went. That government agent is right; they are probably being detained somewhere and may need rescuing,” I said.
“You sure they’re alive?” he asked.
“Yes. I would know it if Narcion died,” I said. I was not fully confident of that, but I needed to keep Crivreen from panicking. If I were to rescue them, I would need his help; he was the only one left I could trust.
Once the cruiser was hidden in a section far from any known trade routes, I placed it in lower power and switched all its scanning to passive mode only. Crivreen assured me that we were too small and too far away from anyone to be spotted while running at this level. Narcion and I had only covered some very limited basics about the ship, so I had to trust that Crivreen knew what he was talking about.
“Crivreen, you search the computers. I am going to see if there is anything in his quarters that might be of help,” I said.
“Have you ever been in there before?” he asked.
“No, never,” I said and walked towards the room. As I approached Narcion’s door I began to feel some trepidation. I was not sure I was ready for whatever lay behind it. He had spent a lot of time in there, especially whenever he was tired or injured. He always looked refreshed and healed when he came out. When I asked him about it, he said that he had been meditating or sleeping. I jokingly referred to it as ‘hibernation’, and he said that was the right idea. I felt that there was something more to that room than there was to other rooms on this ship, but in all the time I’d served with him I had never even seen the door open.
The door was locked, but I told the ship’s computers to override the lock. Narcion had given me full command access to the controls on the ship, so once I had gone through the cycle of biometric identity checks the computer instructed me where to place my hand to confirm the order. Just as I was about to do that, Crivreen called out, “Wait!”
“What is it?” I asked.
“Something is odd here; hold on a moment,” he said. “Something happened when you started to unlock that door. Just a minute.”
I lowered my hand and wondered what could be up. After a few minutes I asked, “What is going on?”
“Well, when you requested that override on the lock, it fired off some scripts and changed things,” he said.
“What does that mean?” I asked. I was glad to have him on board. My upbringing as a slave had not included a lot of time spent learning shipboard computer systems. I could operate the ship and its systems adequately after three years with Narcion, but Crivreen’s level of understanding was well beyond that.
“For one thing, I now have full engineer-level access to the computers,” he said.
“You didn’t already?” I asked. That sounded like something he should have had all along as the ship’s engineer.
“No; I had only very limited access, but not anymore,” he said.
“Well, that is a good thing, then. Why stop me?” I asked.
“Because it appears that when you unlock that door another script will be set in motion that will have a far more drastic impact,” he said.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Once you unlock that door, it will fire off a series of automated actions that will transfer everything that Narcion has ever owned to you. Furthermore, it will report Narcion as dead and you as his only surviving kin.”
I did not want even to think about such an event. “Why would he do such a thing?”
“How long have you known him?” he asked.
“Um, about three years now. Why?” I asked.
“There is a note here on the script. Apparently he anticipated you not wanting to go through with this, but the note was written over six years ago,” said Crivreen.
“What does it say?” I asked.
“It says: ‘Zah’rak, I am counting on you to carry on without me. I know we only had a short time together, but you can do this. I am depending on you,’” he said. “That is it. You and he must at least have met each other that long ago.”
“No. I never saw him before the day that he freed me from slavery,” I said. “He must have written it after that time.”
“I really don’t think so. The note is clearly dated six years ago,” he said. “So either he deliberately forged the date, or he knew ahead of time that this would all happen.”
“I don’t think he would forge the date, and this would not be the first time that he has seemed to have prior knowledge of my joining him,” I said.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“It doesn’t matter right now,” I said. “Opening this door means we are declaring him dead. I can’t do that.”
“I would say that he wants you to. Besides, it’s not like we can’t undo all of this once we’ve rescued him. I mean, heck, he could just spin up a new ID or something,” he said.
“Yeah, I guess,” I said. I stood there looking at the bland metal door with the mundane-looking control panel next to it. It was still flashing, patiently awaiting my confirmation of the override. I felt a weight on my shoulders that I was not sure I could bear. Narcion had removed the weight of slavery, and that had been very liberating, but now that had been replaced by the weight of responsibility for carrying on the mission without him. Somehow that had not seemed real until now, and I was not sure I could carry on.
“Zah’rak, Narcion had faith in you and so do I. You are a great leader and a good friend,” said Crivreen.
“Thanks.” I do not know how long I stood there, but eventually I knew I had to open that door. There was no path backwards; all I could do was push ahead. Narcion was alive out there and would need my help. I was not sure I could still believe that, but I certainly wanted to.
I slowly placed my hand on the display, which allowed the computer to take a palm print as a confirming signature. The com
puter beeped, the metal door slid open, and Narcion was declared dead; just as simply as that. It seemed anticlimactic to what was happening behind the scenes. I knew he was not really dead, but somehow the action of opening the door felt like I was signing his death certificate. I swallowed hard and walked into his room. If I were to have any chance of rescuing him, or of carrying on without him, I needed to search his room for clues.
The room was a bland affair. There were almost no personal touches of any kind, just an empty rectangle with the basics needed for reasonable comfort. In the room there was a bed that looked as if it had never been used, a closet that was empty, and a wall full of empty drawers. The room looked pretty much like what you would expect if you had recently purchased the craft and no one had ever yet lived on it.
There was one exception to this, however, and that was a large, heavy curtain that covered the back wall. It had a beautiful forest pattern and ran from the floor to the ceiling, completely covering the entire wall. The curtain rod that held it up appeared to be made of real wood, and I was sure the curtain itself was made of pure, natural fibers. When I placed my hand on the curtain I could feel power coming from it and flowing into me. I could almost smell the forest that was depicted on the curtain. I could almost hear the wind blowing through the trees and taste the pollen in the air.
I let go of the curtain and the sensation passed. I knew that I would have to look behind it, but the sensation caused by touching it had left me feeling uneasy. It was not that the feelings the curtain evoked were bad; quite the opposite was true, it was a very pleasant experience. What bothered me was that a curtain could make me feel anything at all. It was just dead material; it should not possess any power, and yet it did.
It was obvious that the curtain was there for a reason, and it was likely to be hiding the only clues that would be found in this room. I slowly reached out and once again took hold of the curtain. I could feel the pleasant tingling of power run though my fingertips as I touched it. Before I could be distracted I flung the curtain aside, revealing what was behind.
The Sac'a'rith Page 18
