Equilibrium of Terror: Part 2

by Eddie R. Hicks

  “You’ve traveled here enough to put the truth together,” Iolysta said. “There are gods and goddesses.”

  “They are Lyonria.” And therefore are aliens as per her Hashmedai teachings. Even humans with the many religious beliefs their species had, did not have a belief based around the worship of the three gods or goddess.

  “Lyonria don’t possess powers like they do.”

  “And I possess psionic abilities I shouldn’t be able to use,” Kroshka said as her gaze shifted upward. It was indeed a fabulous vision, shining down upon her pale skin and blowing platinum hair.

  “Gifts from those with divine power.”

  “It came from the gem.”

  “And where do you think the gems came from?”

  Kroshka smiled, Iolysta could counter her all she wanted, but she still had an answer rooted in fact, not blind faith. “The Lyonria made them.”

  “Under the guidance of the goddesses and gods, with their knowledge.”

  “We can debate this for eons,” she said to Iolysta, looking away from the nebula. “But there are plenty of facts to prove that had the Lyonria race never evolved, these gods and goddesses you speak of would not exist either.”

  “Moving on,” Iolysta said, twisting her mouth. “As much as don’t wish to say this but I need your help.”

  “With what?”

  “Remember when I said our goals are the same?” Kroshka nodded and waited for some promising information from Iolysta. “My daughter, Noylarlie, she is on a path I don’t want her on. The goddesses have the Celestial Order convinced that their message is coming from the gods not them.”

  “The order is being manipulated?”

  “Just as they are manipulating the empire. During my, untimely demise I ended up here and learned the truth. I was okay with it at first, for it was the truth.”

  “What changed?”

  “The goddesses went to the Hashmedai people first before being banished from aether space and were forced to flee seeking refuge in normal space. The Hashmedai’s chance at advanced evolution, a belief system of our own, so much enlightenment was taken away. I want the goddesses to be successful, but I want them and the worship of them to be exclusively Hashmedai only.”

  “Interesting,” Kroshka said; though she would rather the empire continue on its path of non-religious thoughts. Life was much simpler when people weren’t blaming deities for their bad choices in life or bad luck.

  “As for the gods, their plan was to force the entire galaxy to worship them after the goddesses were gone.” Iolysta dug her hands into the sand below them then raised them with a fistful. She opened her fist and a ball of sand floated in front of her, manipulated by her psionic mind. It gradually formed into a shape of the galaxy, rotating slowly before the two of them. “The gods and their loyal worshipers disagreed with the goddesses’ plans and so they took matters into their own hands.”

  “So the goddesses want revenge?”

  “They want to remove the gods from aether space and take control of their plan of dominating the galaxy as a final insult. Do you see the problem with this? The lives that will be taken away as a result of the conflict, especially if the goddesses plan doesn’t work.” Iolysta snapped her fingers and the galaxy sand sculpture disintegrated, the remains of it fell back into the beach, particle by particle. “The galaxy will burn as similar conflicts like the one’s we’re facing will flare up and down. The gods need to be defeated yes, but the goddesses need to only embrace the Hashmedai people as they originally set out to do, nothing more.”

  “I do not see how I can help.”

  “Get my daughter out of the company she’s with, the order has taken over a large portion of the Hashmedai navy and she follows them,” Iolysta said. “I gave her a task some time ago, but she’s failed to do it.”

  Noylarlie did what she wanted when she wanted, listened only to the people she wanted to hear from. Kroshka was convinced that there wasn’t a thing she could do to assist “Then speak with her, she too can come here.”

  “Look around you,” Iolysta said, waving her hands around the sights in front of them. “Aether space is as big as the universe in normal space, without a stable mind you will enter this realm in a random location based on your thoughts. This area however, this beach and ocean . . . this is where I reside primarily, if I don’t know where she enters aether space, I can never speak to her. She needs to be guided here by one of us, not a simple task now she’s been attuned to the gem. But you, your minds have linked, you could speak with her telepathically in normal space. Use that as a means of guiding her here.”

  “What about the goddesses?”

  “As a former host of Emelia you may have a means of bargaining with them.”

  My pendant . . . Kroshka thought to herself as she remembered she had strange desires lately to bring the gem to Barnard’s Star. Whatever the goddesses were planning, they needed her pendant which was once a place of refuge for Emelia, and to this day still has some sort of significant link to that particular goddess.

  Ancient Temple, Paryo, Uemaesce system

  Eeladen slipped into the main worship chamber. Candles lit by Fahia were placed along the sides of the walls creating an orange glowing as he knelt in the center of the chamber in front of a figure of the three Radiance gods. He shut his eyes and began to and chant. He offered a prayer to the gods, a prayer Fahia taught him how to recite over the last two months. His eyes opened wide upon feeling Fahia’s hands glide across the back of his head, while her mysterious staff came into view from the corner of his right eye.

  “Such loyalty,” Fahia said and began to lift her staff, waving it slowly above his head. His mind filled with bliss and a short vision, a vision of the leadership of the Hashmedai Empire changing hands and he was there, he was a critical part of that. “But your mind still isn’t fully tempered, you need to release the teachings that the gods are aliens the empire has poisoned you with.”

  Eeladen stood from his prayer stance and faced the Hashmedai Celestial Order priestess, draped in her prayer robes. “Kroshka refused to come with me as you asked,” he said to her.

  “Worry not, as long as you are part of the order and the two of you are joined as mates, our plans can push forward,” Fahia said. “The future children you two have will be taught our ways.”

  With Eeladen as the emperor, he’d be dictating what the law was and what it wasn't. Kroshka is weak and wouldn’t have what it takes to stand up to him, and on the rare occasion she does, he could have her removed, after they have a few children of course. There was however one concern on his mind. “What of that hybrid?” Danyal may be an exiled prince, but regardless people will argue he still had every right to take the throne should the line of succession fall to him.

  “He’s a backup plan now,” Fahia said. “Having him take the throne now will require not only his mind tempered but the removal of Y’lin and Kroshka, not an easy task currently as we’d learned. I’m sure Hannah will understand the change of plans. Now we just need the Radiance council to be dealt with.”

  Imperial Palace, Paryo, Uemaesce system

  “Your majesty,” an eager servant said, bowing before Empress Y’lin in her chambers. “Your daughter approves of the dress.”

  Y’lin stood with her back toward the servant, looking out of the wide window in her chamber. She lifted her hands to guide a glass full of ice wine toward her lips. Its sweet taste and aroma made her face grin with happiness, more so than the news that Kroshka liked the dress.

  “Excellent,” Y’lin said, finishing her drink.

  “If I may, have you selected a day for the bonding?”

  “Soon, very soon.” A holographic window loaded in front of her, it had an illustration of the Hashmedai calendar. After staring at it and doing the math in her head, she found the date on it that would be most appropriate for the ceremony to be held. “This day right here,” she said, pointing toward it. “It is the same day the humans will be celebratin
g Christmas. And the day we will bring them to their end. Kroshka will forever remember Christmas as being the day she was not only joined, but the day the humans fall to imperial rule.”

  Chapter Ten

  Leviathan, Y’ouipa shipyard, Uelcovis system

  Admiral Yominv Crossblade sat in his commander’s chair aboard the bridge of the Leviathan, sister ship and Hashmedai equivalence of the Abyssal Pelican. He looked around at its crew, all loyal Celestial Order members as they all scurried about performing last second systems checks before they engaged the jump drive.

  “We are ready to engage the drive, Admiral,” one officer said to him.

  Unlike the Pelican, within the central section of the ship was a miniature version of a space bridge, useable only by the Leviathan and its crew. With the human MRF installed and merged into the ships systems, the Leviathan had the power to reduce its mass allowing passage through a space bridge without the long rematerializing time—The less mass within a ship the faster they can appear, if the Leviathan had the mass of a small transport, they could appear almost anywhere in the galaxy within minutes. Reduced mass would also give them an advantage in the battlefield by performing moves that would normally be impossible for a massive ship of their size.

  A hologram gave him a glimpse of a map of the Sol system. He used his hands to zoom into the destination in question. “This gas giant here, Saturn, have us appear there.”

  The crew carried out his request while the helmsman began to pilot the Leviathan away from the shipyards scaffold. Once they were clear the okay was given to the primary psionic team aboard to use their minds to activate the mini space bridge inside after the MRF became active.

  The bright flash of blue light left behind in the wake of their jump became visible in the skies of Taxah hours later.

  ESV Winston Churchill, Titan orbit, Sol system

  Xavier and Benally reviewed the status of the ongoing repairs on the Winston Churchill via the bridge’s central hologram. Crew from the Wilfrid Laurier had arrived shortly after the battle had ended to assist in repairs and resupplying, while the scanners of both ships worked in unison to find out what became of the two fleeing Hashmedai destroyers and their interceptor carrier still at large. The fighters launched from Titan fighters continued to provide escort for the evacuation ships in a convoy in preparation to leave the sector the moment both the Wilfrid Laurier and Winston Churchill were up to date with their repairs, and the moment the EDF team got back with their newly acquired present from the surface.

  “Captain, Gladius is returning now,” Commander Forest said. “Major Chambers is KIA, sir.”

  Xavier slammed his fists on the central hologram’s console. “Damn it!” This is war Martin, mourn them later, we still have a job to do. “Have the flight crew repair and resupply our birds, ASAP.”

  “Aye, sir.”

  He looked away from the hologram and toward his tired and battle worn crew who just moments ago were looking at death’s door. “Everyone, you’ve done well but we’re not out of this yet,” he said to the bridge crew. “Take a break if you need it, but be ready to jump to action should they show up again.” A break, not a bad idea, he thought and moved to exit the bridge with his magnetic boots clinging to the floor. “Commander Benally you have the bridge.”

  “Understood sir,” Benally said.

  Xavier walked through the central corridors of the ship, observing damage control teams from both the Wilfrid Laurier and Winston Churchill working together to get things back working. Zero g sparks flew away as mechanics used their tools and torches to reconnect destroyed compartments. The crew that saw Xavier stopped briefly to salute him before returning to their duties.

  The infirmary, as expected, was full of wounded crew members. Most of them were suffering from severe burns and bloody gashes on their faces as a result of the battle. A nearby airlock swung open as he moved past it, more mechanics from the Wilfrid Laurier floated out of the transport docked with it, all them holding large tool boxes in their hands.

  Xavier’s magnetic boots carried him to the engine room where Chief Shanuka Weerasinghe directed traffic amongst his engineering team and the small team sent by the Wilfrid Laurier.

  “Chief how goes it?” Xavier asked him.

  “Shields will be good in a few minutes, sir,” Weerasinghe said. “The Wilfrid Laurier personnel are accelerating things well.”

  “What about power?”

  “Just about back to full, once again the Wilfrid Laurier saves the day with some much-needed supplies. The habitat ring should be rotating again if you want to make sure your quarters didn’t get messed up with the lack of gravity.”

  Xavier hadn’t considered what became of his quarters during the attack. Since the habitat ring had constant gravity, there was no need to chain things down. He took the time to layout some old-fashioned picture frames on the walls and his night stand, all no doubt broken by now after floating out of the place, then back to the floor as gravity came back. “I think I’ll do that, good job, chief.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  Before heading to his quarters, he decided to make a brief detour to the labs to personally check on the progress they made with the strange Hashmedai device that was brought aboard from the Uranus outpost. Many of the lab workers were hard at work, still tinkering with the device that was strapped down onto a table with scanning devices along the sides of it, taking what readings they could.

  “Captain!” A lab tech shouted and saluted upon seeing Xavier.

  “At ease, just wanted to check in and see how far you’ve made it with that bloody thing.”

  “It’s a puzzle for sure sir,” Petty Officer Lex Terry said, the sole survivor from the Uranus outpost. “Perhaps EVE could come down and assist?”

  Xavier preferred that EVE remained on the bridge. But on the other hand all she was doing at this point was monitoring shipwide systems, a task she could do anywhere as she was networked with the ship. “If it will speed things up, I’ll have it happen.”

  “With her help I think we’ll be able to crack the secrets of this thing faster rather than relying on her AI built into the computers.”

  Xavier interacted with the intercom on the wall and asked EVE to come to as requested to assist the lab team. Hopefully this thing would give us a much-needed advantage, he thought.

  UNE Black Site, Titan, Sol system

  Chris sat on the floor next to the transport that brought him back from the North Pole of Titan. The two Black Site operatives that accompanied him to locate Gavin’s body left the transport carrying a body bag. Chris groaned after watching the body bag get carried away into the halls, and rested his face in the palms of his hands.

  “What the fuck happened?” Sarah asked.

  He looked up and saw that she had entered the hanger bay as Gavin’s body bag was carried past her. “Chambers,” he said, pointing to the body bag. “He didn’t make it.”

  The tone of Sarah’s voice changed to a bitter one. “Fuck off . . .”

  “That’s war for you, something we need to keep in mind,” Chris said to her. “Not all of us are going to walk away from this.”

  Sarah took a seat next to Chris on the floor, she kept her eyes toward the floor. “Well you’ll be happy to know I’m a reject,” she said after a long delay. “I’m no psionic.”

  “Told you not to go.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Just add it to my long lists of fuck ups in my life, I’m surprised I managed to make it to the rank I am now . . .” Her head shifted back toward the two men lifting Gavin’s body bag into an elevator. “So where are they taking him?”

  “Doctors are going to do their thing, then we all head back to the Winston Churchill. With what we came for in the first place.”

  “Right, Dr. Lynn, or rather Avearan.”

  “That’s going to be another can of worms right there.”

  Rapier Squadron, on approach to Rhea, Sol system

  Major Pedro “Wildfire” Montes
of the Wilfrid Laurier Rapier fighter squadron ordered his team to spread their Solaris fighters out as they came toward one of Saturn’s many moons, Rhea, the last known location of the Hashmedai group that attacked. With no ESP, the only way to know what was lurking behind the moon was to send fighters out on a scouting mission, relaying the data back to the two UNE battleships.

  “Alright folks standby for possible enemy contact,” Montes said.

  The twelve fighters propelled around the moon, their HUD sent back data that was being blocked by the moon. They slipped away from the sunlight behind them, and finally entered behind the darkened spots of the moon. His heart began to race, for he knew if contact was to be made, it would be them alone that would be targeted.

  Montes saw nothing.

  Neither did his scanners, the Hashmedai left the cover of the moon, god knows how long ago. “Well that’s not good sir,” Lieutenant Fox transmitted over the radio.

  “No, it’s not,” Montes said. “Rapier lead to Wilfrid Laurier, there’s no signs of Hashmedai behind Rhea.”

  ESV Winston Churchill, Titan orbit, Sol system

  The bridge’s central hologram showed a split projection of Major Pedro Montes in the cockpit of his fighter and Captain Agatha Chevallier standing before her central hologram on the bridge of the Wilfrid Laurier.

  “Understood,” Chevallier said. “Capitaine? Your thoughts?”

  “Our sensor logs show they didn’t leave the system,” Xavier said.

  “Neither does ours,” Chevallier said.

  “Most likely they moved behind another moon in the sector, the question now is which.”

  “Dione perhaps? It isn’t too far away,” Montes said.