Storm Fleet

by Tim Niederriter

  Captain Gattri turned from the window, his face darkened by a burn scar on each cheek and his hair shot with gray. His eyes found Yajain and Dara. He motioned for them to sit at the table with the reading pad he held in one hand.

  “Doctors Merrant, and Aksari, good to see you. Though I’m sorry about the circumstances.”

  Yajain nodded to the fleet’s most senior captain, who she’d met through his daughter at the academy.

  They sat. Captain Gattri strode to the edge of the table by the window and pulled out a chair.

  “It seems our survey is over. But I suppose you’ll require some explanation before you understand why.”

  Yajain glanced at Dara. Dara always showed respect to Captain Gattri, but Yajain had known him longer. She counted him as one of her few friends anywhere, let alone among the fleet.

  The senior biologist’s features hardened.

  “Captain, we came here to appeal. Captain Ettasil is with us in our argument.”

  Firio looked up from the reading pad on the table before him.

  “I wish it were possible.” He sat down. “But the Imperial Order is final. I must inform you that, as non-essential personnel for this fleet’s new mission, that you and your research team should relocate pillar-side on Lambri unless you have some skills related to the tasks ahead.”

  Yajain looked up at the hologram before her. It showed simply the map of Lambri’s docks. She turned to look through the translucent image of a different pillar at the captain.

  “What new mission?”

  “All clusters from Toraxas and beyond, have sent requests for relief forces due to the storms passing through their expanses. This fleet is being relocated to assist in rescue and defense operations.”

  Dara stood up and gave a stiff nod to Firio.

  “Captain Gattri, how serious can these storms actually be?”

  “The front has been moving through the outer edges of Toraxas and fully engulfed Kerida and Shaull already. Yugha is currently cut off from transit because all corridors leading there go through the storming clusters. I’m sorry, but my orders leave only two options for you here. Your people may leave the fleet, or stay on as rescue personnel if qualified and accepted.”

  Yajain sank down in the high-backed chair and frowned over the tabletop at the display. The hologram before her shifted into a three-dimensional menu, then quickly into an image of clouds sweeping between pillars. Yajain momentarily became disoriented by the seething mass of spiraling clouds before her.

  Thick curtains of vapor dwarfed pillars three hundred or more kilometers across. Small ships caught in the storm were thrown into arc fields where some were able to use the additional power to slow themselves and others smashed against stone.

  She stared. Storms of this power were all but unheard of in the central expanses.

  “Captain Gattri,” Yajain said, “This is a video of one of the storms?”

  The captain nodded to Yajain.

  “The conditions will be dangerous. I can’t recommend any of your team continue with the fleet.”

  The image switched again to the menu. Yajain glanced at Firio, but the captain wasn’t controlling the hologram. He simply sat with his hands resting the tabletop.

  Behind Yajain, an icy male voice spoke.

  “There are more dangers out there than storms, doctors.”

  The hologram changed to show a different capture, a town square at an opening in a pillar’s side, lashed by rain and teeming with people. On a terrace above the crowd, a figure in a black coat stood with his hood thrown back. One arm hung at his side. His eyes gleamed green as he shouted soundlessly at the crowd. The capture magnified on him, a brown goatee and fine nuinn features. A chill ran down Yajain’s spine as the man raised a fist over his head and all through the crowd people did the same.

  Memories of a green-eyed boy, the first person to welcome her, returned. He gave her acceptance, peace. The memory of her sister’s legs fused together and charred into a single piece came soon after. Her breath quickened. Mosam, it can’t be you, not after all these years.

  The voice behind Yajain spoke again, just as cold as before.

  “The man in this image is inciting the people in the Shaull cluster. Multiple settlements within the affected clusters have already reported unrest. This is no place for you scientists and your studies.”

  Yajain rose from her chair, feeling numb. She turned to face the speaker. A tall man in black flanked by two others in the same colors stood before her. The man met Yajain’s eyes.

  “I am the Empress’s Agent, RO Agan Pansar. You have heard your options, doctor.”

  Angry adrenaline kicked in. Yajain clenched her fists. She bit her lip, but then managed to break her gaze from Pansar’s.

  Dara put a hand on Yajain’s shoulder.

  “We understand, sir.”

  “Good. Please excuse us. This situation will require some planning. We have yet to identify the rebel in this image.”

  Yajain calmly returned her eyes to Pansar’s face. Her anger found an outlet, though it mingled with old bitterness.

  “His name is Mosam Coe.”

  Dara’s hand fell from Yajain’s shoulder.

  Pansar’s broad forehead wrinkled as his eyes narrowed.

  “Doctor Aksari, how you know this criminal?”

  Firio climbed to his feet and approached Yajain and Dara. He held up a hand to stop Pansar. Everyone looked in his direction. He glared at the imperial agents.

  “Doctor Aksari is still in my chain of command, Agent Pansar. Until she leaves this fleet, I will act as her legal counsel.”

  Pansar shrugged his shoulders.

  “Who said anything about legal counsel? Any information the doctor has should be shared with fleet command.”

  “Which, until this survey fleet is officially disbanded, means me, Agent Pansar, not you.”

  “Fine. But I must insist you question her.”

  Yajain turned to the captain.

  “Captain Gattri and I have discussed this subject before.”

  Though I never told him how much I cared for Mosam before the armory explosion, she added mentally.

  “I will handle this, Agent Pansar,” Firio said. He stepped past Yajain. “You’ll have my report on Castenlock’s readiness for transit in an hour.”

  “I look forward to it,” said Pansar. He turned with the two other agents and left the conference room. None of them looked back.

  Dara folded her arms and turned to Yajain, but said nothing. Firio stroked his beard.

  Yajain shook her head.

  “I think I just complicated things.”

  Firio shrugged.

  “Nothing is going to be simple about this mission. Better to know than to miss things.”

  Yajain nodded slowly, her mind racing.

  She tried not to go over her history with Mosam Coe, but in her mind, she saw teary-eyed Lin saying from her hospital bed, “If he ever comes back, he has to pay.”

  Then Yajain’s own cold voice answered her sister from the past.

  “It’s not 'if he comes back,’ Lin. It’s when we find him.”

  Yajain sat down in a transmitter booth at Lambri Port then spotted Dara through the transplastic door crossing the port floor with the other members of the survey team. She considered drawing the curtain inside the door, but knew Dara had already seen her. Yajain straightened her legs and climbed off the booth’s stool. Dara approached just as Yajain opened the door. The other team members hung back with the bags they’d unloaded.

  “Tell me what you’re going to do.” For once, Dara did not sound calm, commanding, or light. Her voice did not tremble, but its usual resonance sounded brittle.

  Yajain let the door swing shut behind her.

  “First, I’m going to contact my family. They need to know what I’m doing. Then I’ll make a decision.”

  Dara frowned at her.

  “You’
re actually considering going with the fleet.”

  “What if I wasn’t? Wouldn’t that be stranger?”

  “Have you ever been in a real storm?” Dara shook her head. “That’s not the point. They’re not going out there to survey fauna. There may not even be clear air at the end of the corridor in Toraxas.”

  “I know it will be dangerous.” Yajain smiled at Dara. “Honestly, I’m touched that you care.”

  “You’re the best surveyor to come fresh from the academy I’ve ever worked with,” Dara said. “I saw your face when you noticed-” She leaned closer and lowered her voice. “-That man in the hologram. Don’t throw your career away for some old…what? Old flame? Grudge?”

  Yajain stepped back, coat sleeve brushing the plastic door. Had Mosam really affected her so much? Dara really cut to the heart of matters. Yajain stared at the older biologist. Dara’s expression showed her worry.

  “I don’t plan to,” Yajain said, “But I have to go.”

  “Fine,” Dara said and turned away. “Be careful.”

  Yajain circled her heart, the old, familiar oath-making sign of the reef. Mosam had taught it to her.

  “I need to tell my family.”

  “Right.”

  Dara walked toward her team, and Yajain returned to the booth. She knew she had to, but part of her didn’t want to call her family now. Mother and father would be bad enough, but what would Lin—Linekta—say if she knew why Yajain was going?

  Yajain input the code number for direct relay to Kaga Pillar at the far end of the Kadarhan Corridor. She imagined she could see the waves shooting from the transmission tower and breaking against the emitters high above the settlement where she had grown up. She cradled the receiver to her ear.

  Mother answered expecting someone else. Yajain could tell by the tense greeting.

  “Yes? Who’s there?”

  “It’s your wandering daughter,” Yajain said.

  Mother’s voice eased, but only a little.

  “Yajay? What is it?”

  Yajain held the phone back as she took a deep breath so mother couldn’t hear her.

  “The fleet is changing missions,” she said. “Mother, is Lin there? I promise I’ll talk to you after.”

  Mother sighed. “Alright, Yajay. But have you seen the news?”

  “The storms are near Abdra cluster. I may be going into them.”

  “Yajay…”

  “I need to speak with Lin.”

  “Yes, alright.”

  A shuffling sound came from the end of the line. Yajain took another deep breath. Lin answered.

  “Yajain?”

  “Lin. Good to hear your voice. I’ve seen a hologram of Mosam. He’s somewhere beyond Abdra.”

  “You’re serious? You actually found him. Why are you telling me this?”

  “I want to know what you would do if you were here.”

  Lin’s breath caught for a long moment.

  “Are you still there?” Yajain asked.

  “Find him, Yajay. Punish him.”

  Yajain put her free hand to the phone.

  “I will.”

  “I’m thinking of you,” Lin said. “Please. Be careful out there.”

  “Thanks. Take care of yourself.”

  “I’m giving you back to mother now. Good luck.”

  Kaga Pillar, 11 Cycles Ago

  A settlement burned in the distance.

  From the street leading to the imperial armory, Yajain watched three refugee ships glide into the arc field near the docks. Each docking bridge extended from the pillar’s side five hundred meters below and reached to the edge of the pillar’s field. In the distance, through seven hundred kilometers of hanging mist, the flames of Toltuashi Hub burned in brilliant red and yellow, collateral damage from the Dilinia and Alliance fleets’ clashes nearby.

  Those fires must disappoint the refugees, Yajain thought sadly. Father and mother took her and Lin to Toltuashi Hub a few times a cycle, it being the closest of the great trade hubs. The settlement continued to burn.

  Yajain waited for Lin’s shift at the armory desk to end, left cold and quiet by the distant flames.

  Below her, the largest of the three refugee ship was tethered to a pair of docking arms.

  The wind picked up, a storm blowing from the short corridor that terminated in Toltuashi Hub on one end, and the Oscarat Alliance-controlled Nayita Hub on the other.

  Birds glided ahead of darkening clouds, carried by storm winds, mostly small, but Yajain noted a solitary albatross, clearly evidenced as no other feathered creature grew that large except for banner birds. Banner birds grew even larger and possessed a telltale set of forelegs beneath the wings. This bird lacked forelegs just as surely as it lacked a flock.

  Yajain watched the bird fly, grateful for its freedom, and a bit envious. The girls at school were merciless to Yajain ever since the rumors of Ditari torturing and eating prisoners surfaced. Father said there was nothing to those rumors, but the other students never listened when Yajain tried to tell them. An albatross flew alone. Better than being hated.

  Yajain followed the bird with her gaze. The animal sailed closer to Kaga. Banner birds had been domesticated as steeds since ancient times, but the albatross could never be tamed. The albatross flew free.

  Footsteps struck pavement behind Yajain. Lin. Yajain turned and saw her sister.

  “Hey.”

  “You didn’t have to wait for me.” Lin smiled. “We’re just going to see the refugees.”

  “I can see them from here.” Yajain glanced over the edge where the street dropped off, and down past buildings and streets that covered the outside of the pillar’s shell. The docking arms remained steady despite the increasingly strong wind.

  Dozens of people streamed down the docks from the refugee ships. Except for the curved shells of a few bandojens, they all looked the same from this distance. They all called themselves humans, but Yajain knew how different they all were because she was half-Ditari. Half a hunter.

  Lin gave an exasperated sigh.

  “You can see them from here, but you can’t talk to them.”

  Yajain turned toward her sister, apprehensive.

  “Come on,” said Lin. “They’re from expanses that have been fighting for years. You think they’ll be afraid of us?”

  Yajain took a deep breath.

  “It sounds silly when you say it.” She smiled.

  Lin shrugged.

  “That’s because it is silly! Stop worrying so much.” She activated the lifts in her clothes and swam off the level of street into the bottomless arc beyond. Yajain hesitated but followed before Lin could chide her again.

  They flew down to the docks, hugging the settlement’s side. Kaga’s yellow solna bathed them with light from above as it emerged around the curve of the pillar. Yajain and Lin landed on a small terrace a few meters above the path the refugees were walking in a slow line. Here it was obvious most of them were nuinn, like mother and most of the other inhabitants of Kaga, but a few bandojens and kyteps were scattered among them. Many of them wore the fashion of the other end of the corridor. Women in Escarian-style dresses with long skirts and men with big coats that nearly matched the skirts in length. Still, Yajain saw no Ditari or saroi. The peoples of the Oscarat Alliance usually did not flee toward the center of Dilinia.

  Yajain looked this way and that as the refugees began to climb a ramp near her and Lin. First, a few nuinn families passed. Then came a pair of bandojens of an engineering family with their clan company’s red seal pinned to their large suitcase. Lin nudged Yajain as the bandojens passed. Yajain glanced at Lin, and then followed her sister’s gaze to the two figures still climbing the ramp.

  One looked at least fifty and heavyset, with a long gray coat and wispy white hair. The other had clearly been what attracted Lin. He wore the same kind of coat as the older man, but he was wiry and looked to be in his late teens, not much older than Li
n or Yajain. His hair was straight and dark and he smiled as he tugged a rolling suitcase and spoke loudly to the old man.

  “…This place looks friendly enough.”

  The sound of his voice easily carried the short distance to Yajain.

  “What was that, boy?” asked the old man in an even louder voice. The two of them crested the top of the ramp.

  “I said this looks like a friendly settlement.”

  “Oh yes. Yes of course.” The old man hefted a suitcase with a strange, curved symbol on its side.

  Lin grinned and led Yajain over to them.

  “Welcome to Kaga.”

  The old man stopped before them, looking bewildered.

  “I’ve never had a welcoming party before.”

  Lin shrugged her shoulders.

  “My sister and I aren’t officials or anything. We’re just here to be friendly.”

  The old man raised his eyebrows.

  “Is that so? Good. Good.”

  The young man stepped forward.

  “Excuse the doctor,” he said. “He’s a bit deaf.”

  Lin nodded. Yajain looked up at the boy’s face. He had green eyes.

  “You two are locals, huh?” he said. “Kind of unusual to see Ditari in these parts.”

  Yajain flushed and looked away. Lin clapped a hand on Yajain’s shoulder to keep her from moving further.

  “We grew up here.”

  “It’s good to see some variety if you know what I mean.” He grinned. “After all, people shouldn’t be afraid of each other.”

  “Come along, boy.” The doctor turned to head down the street. “We have a building to find.”

  “Just a second, old man,” said the boy. He turned to Lin and Yajain. “My name’s Mosam. My master and I will be staying at the Church of Harvest here in the settlement if you want to come by.” He nodded to them and then turned to follow the old man.

  Lin waved after them.

  “My name’s Lin,” she said. “Lin Aksari.”

  Yajain stood rigid as Mosam followed the old man down the street away from them. She couldn’t bring herself to say anything. She turned the boy's words over in her mind. People shouldn’t be afraid of each other.