Bartoc Secret

by Clara Woods

  “We should be closer to the bridge,” Lenah protested. “That way we’ll be able to react faster.”

  “In the unlikely event that will be necessary, you can do it from over there. You’re mages. I hear you just need to close your eyes. You can do that from anywhere. Better let the rest of us do our jobs.” With that, she turned on her heel, walking away with rapid steps.

  Lenah huffed out a breath, her protest unspoken. Corinna leaned in toward Commander Buntus, the two of them speaking rapidly. Lenah couldn’t understand the words but hoped Corinna would be able to negotiate them a better position. For now, Lenah decided to comply.

  Corinna approached the small and incredibly uncomfortable bench. It seemed to have been built for people not to stay long, and while it offered a good view of the command matrix, Lenah had to crane her neck to see any of the screens mounted on the front wall.

  Corinna’s face was flushed as she sat next to Lenah.

  “How did it go?” Lenah whispered, not wanting to be overheard. She probably needn’t have bothered as everyone was busy and at least five meters away.

  “Grrr.” Corinna stared across the room at Commander Buntus who had resettled into his command chair. He and Colonel Travies exchanged a few words, then he put his goggles back on.

  “That bad?”

  “He wanted my hard-earned tips from the last battle. The lost battle,” Corinna muttered. “This is going to be a long day and not because of the Muha Dara.”

  Not sure what to say to that, Lenah stared into the empty battle matrix. Time was passing like sticky sugar, and she found herself constantly checking her wristpiece for the hour. Each check increased her uneasiness. A small rock went through the King Arthur.

  “What’s going on?” Lenah asked.

  “I think they needed to adjust course.”

  Lenah looked toward the command matrix that had blossomed to life. Uncountable purple dots represented the Muha Dara. They were being countered by green, red, and blue dots from three wings of the UPL army. Juan’s World hung in the background as an orange ball. Lenah studied the moving dots and sat up straighter. The swarm of purple was breaking up into squadrons, as if not only trying to avoid the UPL ships, but also to flank Juan’s World and its defense systems. They were still moving toward the border of Saltoc.

  Lenah fought down her feeling of triumph. It was too early to tell, yet she couldn’t help but hope there might not be a battle after all today. Maybe the famous deadly border of Saltoc would do all the killing for them.

  The King Arthur steadied, and Martius Buntus stood. He walked up to a small podium in the center of the room. When all eyes were on him, he motioned to Colonel Travies. She gave him a thumbs-up.

  “UPL army,” Buntus said. His deep voice boomed through the room and no doubt over the speakers of every single ship in their force. “The time has come. Humanity is being threatened, and we are the mighty force that will eliminate the threat. Some of us, the bravest among us, have been waiting their whole lives for this moment, others for only a few weeks. No matter in what group you fall, each one of you is a man or woman of courage and honor. You are here to defend not only your family, but also you are here to defend all of humanity, friend or foe. It is my honor, as it should be yours, to be part of this army, the might of which hasn’t been seen in recent human history. Not since the Great Flight from our ancient homeland has our race been challenged like it’s being challenged now. I am calling to each one of you to carry this responsibility with pride; let’s rise to the threat, and let’s smash this ancient enemy!” He paused and spun a circle to look around the room. “War is hell, suffering, and death, but today, only for our enemies! Let’s man our stations and do it! Let’s show them what is means to challenge humanity!” Buntus climbed down from the podium and went back to his seat, his shoulders were straight and his chiseled faced showed determination.

  Despite her dislike for the man, Lenah couldn’t help but feel affected by his speech. She sat up straighter on her bench, feeling excitement ebb through her.

  “Captain Regilus,” Buntus spoke as he put on his goggles once more. “Take your force and get that mob back over here.” He waved his arm several times, and Lenah knew that he was moving through the visualization as if he were a ship in space.

  Lenah gazed over the command matrix where the green UPL forces split up to meet the Muha Dara. Several dozen formed a circle around the enemy, guiding them back on track toward Juan’s World and its defense systems. She held her breath as she saw the flank closest to Juan’s World approach the purple swarm. The matrix even provided simulations of laser fire, indicated by thin lines of white light. As one, the line of green dots started firing a relentless stream of laser into the tightly formed enemy lines. At first, nothing seemed to happen; the fire was sucked up by the Muha Dara, who didn’t seem to fly in any particular order. After a minute or two, holes opened inside the purple front, then quickly closed as Muha Dara moved in from the sidelines. Some clumps stayed as thick dots, possibly reinforcing something there. The Cava Dara?

  Fear rose in Lenah at the thought of having the ancient creatures so close by. She couldn’t help but recall the last time she and Corinna had encountered one on Astur. And how it had seemed to talk to her inside her head and send pure hatred.

  The purple swarm started to break up and shift closer to the flanks of the attacking ships. Within minutes, they had almost caught up.

  “Let’s see what those reinforced hatches are good for,” Corinna mumbled.

  “They reinforced them?” Lenah felt some relief.

  “They tested them, too. Just as they tested the laser bundler.” Corinna scowled. “The ship was able to send some data back before it vanished off the screen.”

  Lenah turned toward her. “It didn’t come back?”

  “No,” Corinna gave Lenah a weary glance. “But that wasn’t the expectation. Buntus isn’t a hothead who will use a weapon without any prior testing, but he accepted a small loss to get his projections.”

  Digesting this information, Lenah turned back to the battle matrix. Buntus said he had a superweapon against these enemies, but he’d lost the ship sent to test it? He was basing his success on numbers from a ship that had been lost? Was that just risky, or was it arrogant? But what better did they have?

  Deciding she could no longer be a passive watcher, Lenah gathered her power, staring straight at the little purple dots closest to them. When she couldn’t feel anything, she closed her eyes, extending her power as far as she could. Nothing. She was surrounded by hundreds of minds, but they were all human. Just the men and women manning the King Arthur.

  “We’re too far,” Corinna said. “Several thousand clicks.”

  Lenah sighed and shifted uncomfortably on the bench. She wasn’t made for this waiting thing. She stared at the matrix where the green and purple dots had almost reached each other.

  “What is that fool doing?” Buntus growled. “Captain Regilus, move back, but keep attack formation.”

  “Acknowledged,” came Regilus’s voice over the speaker. “These things move fast.”

  Lenah held her breath as she watched the green dots retreat. They managed to stay in formation but couldn’t create any extra distance from the purple line. They kept shooting too but at reduced capacity and no longer able to tear holes into the purple formation.

  “Captain Buntus to full fleet. Captain Regilus, I want all your ships to accelerate. Get out of there at full thrust, then get back into position and deploy laser bundlers. Captain Croka, attack formation and move toward the enemy flank.”

  “That will take us too far away from Juan’s World,” a new voice answered over the speaker.

  “Yes,” Buntus said impatiently. “It looks like this battle won’t be fought with the help of the planetary defense. Buntus out.”

  “Croka, acknowledged.”

  “Regilus, acknowledged.”

  On the simulation, the group of blue ships that so far had been hove
ring closest to the planet moved toward the Muha Dara.

  “Travies, we’re taking the other flank,” Buntus said. “Eighty percent thrust toward remaining enemy lines.”

  “Yes, sir. We’ll vector directly toward them,” the small woman said. “Time till confrontation, three minutes and thirty-six seconds.”

  Lenah felt the ship lurch again and watched the red ships approach the purple. Once the King Arthur had steadied, Buntus got up from his chair, leaving his goggles behind. He stepped right into the command matrix, the visual blurring where he was walking, then quickly reforming behind him. He stopped close to where Captain Regilus’s ships were speeding away, no longer shooting, all power now going to the engines. Slowly, they were gaining some distance.

  Then they slowed down again, a ring of green forming around the largest ship. “Thirty seconds to charge, they’ll catch up considerably,” Buntus muttered to himself. He turned to the simulation of the King Arthur, now almost upon the enemy numbers.

  “Reduce thrust to twenty percent. All remaining power to the laser bundler,” Buntus said, his voice loud and sure. “Man all battle stations.”

  Colonel Travies began typing something into her command station. “Engines at twenty percent and all battle stations manned.”

  “Time till bundlers can be deployed?” Buntus asked.

  “Twenty-seven seconds.”

  “You have permission to burn them to ashes, Colonel.” Buntus allowed himself a grin. Then he turned back toward the formation of green ships.

  Lenah followed his gaze, seeing a thick beam of light emitting from the matrix. It hit the purple dots and instantly thinned out the lines. Nothing remained where it hit until more Muha Dara filled the void, this time, in a line that was visibly thinner. Lenah let out a breath. The weapon was working.

  The King Arthur shuddered all around them. First a slight tremble that gradually became stronger.

  “Laser bundler ready in ten seconds,” Travies announced, her voice sounding a little shaky through the intense vibrations. Lenah held on to the wall for stability, her eyes locked on the red dot on the matrix.

  “Sir, the swarm around the Torment is scattering,” said a man sitting at a tall station across the room.

  Buntus had already whirled around. He stumbled when the vibration reached an uncomfortable level, then caught himself and took two steps toward Captain Regilus’s ship, the Torment, Lenah assumed. It was true enough. Only a few purple spots were scattered across a wide range of space.

  “First Cava Dara sighted,” someone said.

  Buntus growled. “Travies, how are we doing?”

  “Laser bundler at full capacity. We’re burning gaping holes into enemy lines, sir.”

  “Good.” Buntus’s voice was stern. He walked toward the large green dot representing the Torment. In the few seconds that Lenah had looked away, the situation seemed to have changed dramatically. Several dots of purple had gotten precariously close to the UPL ship.

  “Regilus here, requesting permission to deploy fighter squadrons.”

  Buntus stood frozen in place for a moment. His mouth formed a thin line. “Negative. Back up at full thrust and then burn through them. Buntus out.”

  A short pause followed. “Understood, Commander.”

  The line of ships surrounding the Torment moved backward seconds later, once more ceasing most of their fire as the engines ate up the ships’ power.

  “They are going to end up very close to Saltoc,” Travies said, a hint of sadness in her voice.

  Buntus gave a curt nod. “They have one more attack in them before that.”

  He turned again, crisply walking back toward the simulation of the King Arthur. Lenah’s heart skipped a beat as she saw how the Muha Dara had scattered all around but were coming at full speed toward them.

  “Red flank, cease fire, retreat at fifty percent thrust,” Buntus said through clenched teeth. “King Arthur, keep in position, keep shooting. Then, let’s go get the Torment out of there.”

  For a moment, everyone on the bridge paused in what they were doing, processing what they had just heard, then the concentrated activity that hung in the room started again.

  Lenah, who had so far felt like a mere watcher, sat up, fighting against the ship’s ongoing vibrations. They were the last ship left in a wide circle. The trembling grew more intense, and, at first, Lenah didn’t even realize that Corinna was nudging her in the side.

  In front of her inner eye—a view that had become almost second nature to Lenah—she saw Corinna wield her power. Meeting her intense gaze, Lenah complied.

  She closed her eyes, no longer wanting to see the visualization in the matrix, instead concentrating fully on what her magic could show her. She imagined how the Muha Dara were flying through the blackness of space with the sole focus of destroying, of touching the human souls inside the vessels. She could feel them, faintly because of the distance, but she channeled the anger she was feeling into the vivid imagery.

  “Sir, they are attacking each other!” someone yelled, breaking Lenah’s concentration, but she doubled her determination. She would not be found helpless on a ship. Lenah felt Buntus’s eyes on her, but she kept hers closed tightly, going back to her images of attacking Muha Dara. Time became fluid as Lenah focused her power toward the direction of the King Arthur’s main cargo hatch where the Star Rambler with her crew was parked. If the Muha Dara gained entrance to the ship, her friends would be the first ones to be affected, the first ones to go. The trembling of the ship finally stopped.

  “King Arthur, full thrust ahead toward the Torment,” Buntus said, his voice shaking slightly. “Fleet, get away from Saltoc.” The King Arthur rocked at his command.

  “What’s Regilus doing?” Buntus roared several minutes later, his loud voice piercing Lenah’s concentration. She snapped her eyes open, instantly focusing on the green ships that were rapidly accelerating toward the Saltoc border. Hadn’t Buntus told them to turn in the other direction?

  “Images from the security cameras show that the ship is empty,” Travies said in an unsteady voice. “Green squadron has been lost, sir.”

  Shocked silence followed her statement.

  “Well, I’ll be damned,” Buntus roared. “Follow them.”

  6 Bad News

  “Lenah!” Persia, clutching her hammer with both hands, came running down the short corridor when Lenah closed the Star Rambler’s hatch. Lenah touched the cold metal for a moment, relieved that it was still here and her crew unharmed.

  She heard more footsteps, and her whole crew came to greet her.

  “Lenah!” Persia repeated. “What happened? We thought we heard sounds on the King Arthur’s hatch.”

  Steeling herself, Lenah nodded. “Yes. The Muha Dara almost got on board. Corinna and I had to hold them back.”

  “And the superweapon? The laser bundler?” Uz asked in a clipped voice as if she already knew what the news would be.

  “It worked well until the Muha Dara decided to spread out.” Lenah shook out her hair and took a breath of the familiar recycled air of her ship. “The losses were heavy, and the Muha Dara did indeed seem to be moving toward Saltoc. But Buntus chased them down, tried to stop them from moving away.” She swallowed. “He lost a third of his fleet and…”

  “And what?” Persia whispered.

  “…and they reached Juan’s World. No one is answering comms down there.”

  “But…” Uz stammered. “What about Akimi and Thuat?”

  Lenah shook her head. “I don’t know,” she whispered.

  Heavy silence fell around them. For several moments, everyone seemed to be trying to handle their shock.

  “Then we now know that our research wasn’t in vain,” Zyrakath finally said. “The Cava Dara are leading their minions into Saltoc.”

  “Zyr!” Lorka exclaimed, shock filling his voice. “A lot of people just died. You should be the first one to understand what that means.”

  Zyrakath frowned down at
him, looking perplexed. “I remember well, young Lorka. But the demise of my people is six thousand of your years ago, and the pain has since mellowed.”

  “Well, humans died only an hour ago. You shouldn’t think about the success of your research.”

  Zyr looked taken aback, then said, “The dead are dead. But we are alive and need to look into the future. You are not being rational, young Lorka.”

  Lorka opened his mouth to answer, but Martello cleared his throat loudly. “Let’s all calm down and go to the common room to discuss what should be done next.”

  Several of them nodded, Lenah included, and they made their way back through the short corridor. Frustration and loss rolled through Lenah like a wave drowning her. She punched the wall with one fist, only to receive sharp pain in her knuckles but not sharp enough to alleviate any of her emotions.

  “Anyone want a Cassidian Marches tea?” Uz asked when they had all crowded into the small space. The Star Rambler was really only made for five or six people. With the eight of them, it felt full. At least Zyr was small, no bigger than a two-year-old, and he didn’t need a bunk. Cassius had been sharing his cabin with Martello. Lenah figured he had been sleeping on the floor. Too bad, because he could have shared her bunk.

  She shook herself. “I’ll have one,” she told Uz. The foul-smelling Cassidian beverage did wonders to restore a tired or injured body. Lenah hadn’t fought physically today, but the shock about the outcome and the speed in which it had happened was wedged deep inside her heart.

  “Don’t you have anything stronger?” Martello asked loudly, looking appalled. “A proud smuggler ship doesn’t come with tea; it always has a stash of something homemade and strong. Don’t you have any minnen brew?”

  “Well, no.” Persia shot a fierce look in his direction. “Because we’re not a smuggler ship.”