Ghosts of Lyarra

by Damian Shishkin

  Aen waited in the dark doorway; giving himself more time to size up his prey. A quick glance around reminded him that there was more than an exaggerated amount of surveillance equipment in the penthouse; but all was now controlled by Caretaker exclusively and all traces of this confrontation would be non-existent.

  “It is you I seek,” The terminal spouted as Jyn was obsessing over the recordings of the false terrorist Aen had been playing as of late. Caretaker’s files had gone into such great detail that he was absorbed in solving the mystery of the Empress’ killer; a revelation that he would never live to see complete.

  “Who are you?” Jyn whispered to the image which had rewound and looped over and over in a replayed message.

  “I am the answer,” Aen spoke; shattering the silence and taking his quarry completely off guard. “The answer to the challenge set down by your master.”

  Jyn almost fell off his office chair as he spun around to face the voice that shouldn’t have been there. A look of true terror overtook his features; he was the scholar of the Amarra crew, and he knew at a glance that he was overmatched.

  “At least the Empire will see who you are and where you are!” Jyn said defiantly. “This apartment is wired to the core to watch for moments like this and will upload to the database and tell everyone your secret. I may die, but by coming here I win in the end; I solved the riddle!”

  An evil grin crept over Aen; despite his prey being a virtuoso of electronics and computers, he was blissfully unaware that Caretaker had hacked and took control of his very life. But there was little time left for drama and Aen knew that this was the easier of the two loose ends left to tie up so he better get on with it.

  “No, there is no win for you I am afraid.” He broke the news to Jyn. “I did not make a mistake by appearing here; I control the entire network and there is nothing happening here that will see the light of day. Hope has abandoned you the way you abandoned Ameia; the same way you abandoned your Empress long ago.”

  Jyn flung his keyboard at Aen; a pathetic attempt to distract his attacker as he leapt towards one of the many swords adorning the wall. The plastic board struck Aen in the face, but he never flinched and his eyes tracked the desperate man’s actions. The sword in hand, Jyn unsheathed it in a perfect motion while spinning around and thrusting the blade into the abdomen of his tormentor to the hilt. But any satisfaction of the well-formed strike was washed away by the realization that the, would-be fatal wound, had no effect whatsoever on Aen.

  Not wanting to carry this out any longer than it should, Aen sent out a wave of gravity with a slight wave of his right palm that flung Jyn fifteen feet to crash through his desk and the wall behind. The impact sent him through the drywall and indented him in the concrete wall itself; blood spurted immediately from Jyn’s mouth as his lungs filled with the bluish liquid. Aen held him there as he drew the sword from his belly; Jyn’s eyes fixated on the lack of blood; and walked slowly to his helpless prey.

  “Before you die, child of the poison temple, I want to know everything about your master that you know.” Aen whispered. “I already have all your personal files, but I do like the personal touch and would much rather hear it from you. So tell me, how does a creature who has pledged his life to the Queen of Heaven betray her so easily?”

  “You don’t understand.” Jyn muttered through the pain of broken ribs and punctures lungs. “It is bigger than you think, and vaster in its reaches than you can imagine. They made her what she was; she was a keeper of the Empire until its true master could rise. But you killed her, so why do you care about the betrayal so much?”

  Aen smiled; Jyn was easier to break than he thought and this meeting would produce much more insight then he ever dreamed it would. Leaning over to the data pad that held the message from the conspirators; Aen typed in the decline to the offer.

  “What are you doing?” Jyn screamed. “Now they will come to kill me!”

  “And they will find nothing alive to soothe their thirst for vengeance.” Aen calmly replied. “You are smart enough to know that you won’t live much longer; certainly not long enough for them to arrive. But what you can do is find an ounce of the honor you once swore to Iana and use it to tell me everything; and then I will let you die well in a blaze of glory.”

  —

  Tokyo, Japan; Ningyocho District

  It was the hectic pace that never seemed to end in the post Husk version of Tokyo that amazed Iana. All around her lights and sound assaulted her senses from every angle. People walked in organized confusion in groups too large to single out any one individual as they moved to and fro. The city stood as a testament of human resilience; what had once been the mecca of the technological world had been crushed to dust and reborn even stronger. With the help of the Lyarran rebuild program, Tokyo was resurrected in less than two years after the attack and fully populated soon after. It was remarkable and Iana felt privileged to even be standing here taking it all in.

  This was her first jaunt out in her new disguise, and it was working perfectly. She blended in to the tourist influx of Paxyn women who were either on leave or chose to immigrate to the exotic Terra Sol. Her lustrous blue locks hardly attracted attention at all; in fact, she blended in seamlessly. Iana felt free for the first time in her life; much more so than the night of celebration years ago in Switzerland. There was no entourage, no protection detail, and most of all no threat of harm. Here she was just another tourist; here she was encouraged to explore freely and experience life amongst the humans!

  As determined as she was to wander, she knew better than to stray from the corner café a few blocks away from Jyn’s penthouse building. Even seated at her table, she could see the lights of the betrayer’s apartment from here. From time to time, she would glance up from admiring the endless flow of traffic around her to look up and see if she could catch anything happening up there. And in one of those glances is when all hell broke loose!

  In an instant, the entire top floor of the building ceased to exist; one moment it was there and the next it erupted in a white hot explosion that incinerated everything inside. There were no flames soon after the explosion as it burned so hot so fast there was nothing left for the fires to consume. As bystanders scrambled to get out of the area in panic, the only thing that fell as debris was ash. It was quite a scare; even Iana reacted in fear and found herself lost in the crowd as they herded together to flee.

  After running for a few blocks, Iana felt a hand grasp her arm and pull her free of the crowd. As she blinked, she found herself on a side street walking slowly with Aen who once more wore his own face. He looked calm and collected; staring straight ahead as they moved through the side streets and towards their transport shuttle. The two walked in silence as the reality of what transpired sunk in to her.

  “Did you have to kill him?” she asked as they sat in her seat inside the two person shuttle.

  “It was always the end result.” He was cold and distant. “And he redeemed himself quite admirably for his transgressions by telling me more than I expected. Scholars are truly a wealth of knowledge.”

  “So why kill him then?”

  “Because his nature wouldn’t let us just walk away; he would hunt for us more vigorously than our unseen enemy will ever do. And he would try to redeem himself to his master and point the way to us as soon as he discovered where we are hiding.” Something had changed in him; Aen was obviously struggling to stay focused being back home.

  “And why did you reply to the message?” Caretaker piped in the conversation. “Even though you know I would block the transmission from being sent, you still answered it.”

  Iana was concerned; could her rock be showing cracks so soon? It was a good plan to hide on Terra Sol, but the emotional strain on Aen would have to be immense. She was more worried than fearful; now was not the time for him to regress to the man he once was. He must have seen the look of concern on her face and leaned over to lightly touch her cheek.

  “To cut the
last ties to his masters; make him realize that there was no salvation in the message still being unanswered. His resolve was broken before and that act shattered any remains of it.” He said with a smile. “Jyn had nothing left but to admit to his sins and the web of the darkness has begun to fray.”

  The shuttle shook slightly then took off as it leapt into the air and joined the busy traffic above the streets. They would follow a predetermined route until splitting off and flying away to the second target, and towards the much more dangerous of the two. Jyn was a bookworm, a lover of culture and history and the only threat he produced was that of his technology recording something it shouldn’t. Palla on the other hand, was a warrior through and through; a Forgotten of the highest degree and part of the mission to foresee and end all threats before they happened. She was a survivor, and no doubt had kept tabs on her deserting counterpart; she would know full well they were coming and that worried Iana.

  “Caretaker!” Aen called out; breaking Iana’s train of worrisome thought. “Get me those files on this ‘Olympus’ project you stumbled upon.”

  “Streaming data now.” The AI chimed in over the shuttle comm lines. “I have to admit, I was a little sloppy in filtering solar communications; I believe the humans suspect something is awry.”

  “Cover your tracks and stay on top of their system countermeasures.” Aen said reassuringly. “But by no means stop searching their files for data and don’t stop blocking incoming and outgoing signals. We need to keep the Dark Light in the hands of those we can trust until it is time to strike back. They are feeling good about themselves now, and it’s only a matter of time before they let their guard down completely. That is when it will all fall into place.”

  “You sound sure about this.” Iana wondered aloud. “But yet you have nothing at stake in all this like I do; and that worries me.”

  Aen looked at her and smiled a cold smile. “You are dead, your majesty. And though the fate of the Empire lies in the balance, you can choose to abandon the life you once held; live out the remainder of your years travelling the galaxy with no cares or responsibilities.”

  She didn’t know how to reply. For the first time in her life she was free of the mantle of leadership and could feel the draw of life outside the palace walls luring her more and more. Aen didn’t wait for a response as he turned back to the screens and began to pour over the data on this mysterious project of the human government, She was torn - both emotionally and physically - and for the first time since all this started she wished for the counsel of her long-time friend Bryx. Her thoughts turned to him and what he was doing to bide his time until his art was to be played.

  There was so much of this plan that had yet to play itself out; too much of it had been placed on hold while Aen cleaned up the loose ends of the Amarra expedition and now this added wrinkle of the secret project of the humans. Quietly, Iana wondered if he wasn’t right; if she shouldn’t think hard on just finding herself in all this madness instead of tagging along in a string of missions like a fifth wheel. For ten thousand years she had stood at the head of the Lyarran Empire. Now she was free to be anything she wanted. The question was, what would or could that be?

  —

  Tokyo, Japan; Ningyocho District

  Lieutenant Avery Wilson found himself standing on the remains of what used to be the plush confines of the penthouse of a very important public figure less than twenty four hours after he and his team had been notified to be on stand-by. He found it a bit like Deja-vu; to be standing over smoldering wreckage like he had, almost ten years ago in the badlands of the Dakotas. Thoughts of that mission and what path it led his life down sent shivers down his spine; Avery hoped this one would be a hunt for a random terrorist and not some kind of E.T. thing. He didn’t need that shit again; not after just getting his life and body back together.

  Kicking at a pile of ash, he knew there would be few clues if the occupant was inside when the blast happened. Tanaka Jyn was a huge part of the Olympus project design and technical systems; in fact, he was the genius behind the all new experimental jump-space engines on the Zeus. His death; if he was truly dead; would mean that he was targeted for his involvement in the black-ops project and that any data he had on him could be compromised.

  Whatever had happened, this debris was unlike any explosive residue he had ever seen in his long and decorated career in the military. He had even gone back home to New York once he was up and around and even the advanced weapons of the Husk didn’t burn at this high of a temperature. To burn metal and concrete to ash like this, the blast must have been somewhere near the temperature of the surface of the sun; and had the ability to focus this energy on the top floor only as the remainder of the building stood largely undamaged.

  Wilson had seen that kind of focused power before, and the thought of coming face to face with that foe was more than enough to make his knees quiver. The only thing that saved him from going into a state of hysterical fear was the fact that the holder of that power was dead; Avery had played the footage and news reports over and over once he had awoken nearly a year after that night in the hangar in a state of disbelief. Aen was gone; one nightmare had died to destroy another. So whatever - or whomever - had done this the Lieutenant was sure he could rule out the nefarious Aen.

  “I need a sit-rep Lieutenant.” His radio crackled impatiently. The old man upstairs was not one for waiting, especially when it involved Olympus in any way.

  “I gotta shitload of ash and no evidence whatsoever.” He barked into his microphone. “Don’t know exactly what happened, but there is nothing left here to tell us anything useful. All we’ve been able to come up with is that Jyn was in the penthouse; the doorman clocked him in a few hours before the blast.”

  “Not good enough soldier!” the General hollered. “That man was sitting on beyond classified data files; we need to know if Olympus is compromised!”

  “Too early to tell.” Wilson said coolly, hoping to share some calmness with his superior officer. “But I will let you know when we learn some more. Next sit-rep in three hours; over.”

  Without so much as a response, the line went dead. Wilson was happy he was down here sifting through the debris instead of up there with Patterson. The man had to be going crazy not being able to control the situation from up there; and those around him would pay for that frustration.

  The sound of boots crushing blackened ash behind him let the Lieutenant know that one of his team was approaching. A quick salute and a data pad was handed over containing traffic camera footage of the building from all angles. Wilson dismissed his man with a nod and flipped through the images. He saw Jyn entering exactly when the doorman said he did and then watched and waited for anything unusual. There was lots of pedestrian traffic flowing past the building, but nothing stood out. In fact, other than the explosion itself, there was nothing at all out of place.

  But the explosion was the odd part; originating in the penthouse and starting with a blue glow before brightening so much it blew all the traffic camera sensors within seconds of starting. Again, he tried to think of anything that could make such a blast. The bomb was the key, and once he found the source, he was sure the bomber’s identity wouldn’t be far behind. In the back of his mind, something about all this was familiar; like he had seen these results in the last little bit.

  —

  Inner System Solar Power Relay Station;

  Project Olympus

  “This is getting fucking ridiculous!” Patterson screamed as soon as he slammed the comm receiver down. “This kind of shit cannot happen at this stage of the project; not with big brother’s finest ship sitting in our fucking back yard!”

  Davis stayed quiet; she had worked for the General for far too long to think that trying to calm him down would do any good at all. In fact, it was better for him to rant and rave like a maniac around his office in front of her then let him explode on some random poor soul around the base. Yes, the risk he could have a heart attack or strok
e out was high considering he was in his late seventies, but with the medical advances available now - because of ‘big brother’ - it would be no more than a few days of rest and quiet rather than the end of a life.

  “Did we get a lock on the signal filter yet? I bet my life it’s those fuckers out by Neptune!” he continued.

  “No sir, no lock on that yet.” She replied calmly. “But it can’t be them; the source is somewhere on the planet. And besides, all our Intel tells us they don’t have that level of programming to filter an entire solar system of transmissions. And as far as we can tell, theirs are being filtered as well.”

  Patterson stopped in his tracks as soon as she said that and froze completely. For a second or two, she thought about reaching for the med pack by the door in case he actually was having a stroke. But after a bit more of a wait, the General moved again; this time with more focus. He had taken the seconds to compose himself and shed his anger; his mind began to roll over the facts instead of reacting to the situation.

  “Get me the list of all inbound ships to our space; the ones that haven’t been notified of the lockdown as they are in jump-space.” He almost whispered, still pondering the next move.