by C H Gideon
“About damn time!” Geroux growled.
“Standard landing team, get your gear and head to the Pods,” Reynolds ordered. “We’ll finalize our plans there.”
Geroux stomped off, and Jiya followed her. She wanted to get Takal back as badly as her friend did, and she swore they’d stop at nothing to accomplish that.
No one kidnaps my crew!
The Pod dropped toward the surface of Muultar, giving the crew a good close-up of the planet.
Jiya didn’t like what she saw.
“This place is damn ugly,” she muttered, aghast at the geological hostility.
The sky shone a dusky red as the Pod carrying Jiya, Maddox, Reynolds, and L’Eliana broke through the atmosphere. Jiya could feel the engines straining against the pollutants in the air. It made the craft sluggish, and she fought the controls more than she’d anticipated.
“It’s like flying through mud,” she commented. “I hope the engines hold up.”
“They will,” Reynolds assured her, but the look on his face was less than promising.
Jiya followed the coordinates they had been provided and steered the Pod toward the edge of the nearest city. It was hard to see, even with the ship throwing up a 3-D view of their surroundings. There was simply too much ash and dust in the air.
“I’m not detecting much in the way of city defenses,” Jiya reported.
“The tech’s too low to pinpoint it,” Reynolds clarified. He tapped the viewscreen, pointing out several small areas on the image of the city. “Those look like anti-aircraft outposts.”
“Firing what?” Jiya asked. “Missiles?”
“Looks that way. Maybe even chemical-explosion-driven hard projectiles.”
“Wow.” Jiya shook her head in disbelief. “Do they actually expect to hit anyone with those?”
“In this sludge?” Maddox replied. “Quite possibly.”
“I’m not sure I can fly in this,” L’Eliana admitted, staring wide-eyed out the window.
“You shouldn’t have to,” Jiya reassured her. “The atmosphere inside the city barrier isn’t as soupy. If we’re going to need you to fly the ship, it’ll be there.”
L’Eliana forced a smile. Her lack of certainty was obvious, and Jiya felt bad for her.
It didn’t matter how much training a person had; until they built up their confidence, every task seemed daunting.
It had been that way for Jiya early on, but she was determined to succeed and prove her father wrong about everything.
L’Eliana needed a little extra motivation, and experience was the only way to get it.
Jiya smiled her way. “You’ll do fine, don’t worry.”
The Pod trudged through the sky, finally breaking through the hazy barrier that surrounded the capital city of Ulf.
Jiya gasped when the controls immediately loosened and she almost lost control of the Pod, having not realized just how hard she’d been fighting the stick. The ship veered hard to starboard, nearly throwing it into a spin.
“Easy there,” Reynolds called as Jiya regained her composure and brought the Pod about, correcting its drift.
“I meant to do that,” she muttered, wiping the sweat from her forehead.
“Well, don’t mean to do that ever again,” Reynolds told her. “I just got this body, and I’d like to get some use out of it before you take it for a dip in some molten lava pit.”
“Gotcha.” She gave him a thumbs-up. “We’re coming in for a landing.”
Although the air had cleared considerably, the atmospheric wall between the outside world and Ulf holding back the majority of the bad air, there was still a reddish-gray pall within the barrier.
“Scanners show the air is decent enough to take off our helmets in here, but it won’t be pleasant,” Jiya reported.
“Let’s leave that until we’re inside the buildings, then,” Reynolds ordered. “I don’t need us rescuing Takal just to have the rest of you spending time in the Pod-doc repairing your lungs.”
“Can’t say I’m interested in that,” Maddox muttered. “Helmets on, it is.”
“You stay suited up, too,” Jiya told L’Eliana, “even with the Pod sealed. Just to be safe.”
L’Eliana nodded. “Safe is good.”
Jiya couldn’t agree more.
She brought the Pod in for a landing and settled easily onto the directed parking apron at the spaceport. After the effort of setting down on the asteroid, landing on a broad, stable surface was a treat.
Once they were on the ground, she cycled the engines and relinquished her seat to L’Eliana, who plopped down with a nervous giggle. Jiya grabbed her shoulder and gave a gentle squeeze.
“It’ll be all right,” she told her.
“Our hosts are waiting outside,” Reynolds informed.
Jiya went through the ritual of checking her weapons and equipment, making sure she was ready for anything before they exited the Pod.
She glanced at Maddox, who nodded his readiness, and Reynolds forced a grin.
“Guess it’s time to make nice,” the AI said. “Go ahead and open the hatch, L’Eliana, and then seal it behind us.”
“Yes, sir,” she replied. “Good luck.”
The crew exited the Pod quickly, not giving any of their hosts the opportunity to get a look inside before the hatch was shut and locked.
Jiya was surprised to find they hadn’t even tried.
A handful of people stood casually on the tarmac waiting for the crew. And like those they had seen on Krokus 1, all of the Muultu looked as if their faces had been attacked by blowtorches.
Their skin was red and raw and seemed to run with open wounds, the cracks and crevices gleaming with moisture. Yellow eyes stared out of stoic faces, and despite the calm nature of the Muultu, there was a natural appearance of fury that emanated from them. They looked hostile despite doing nothing to back up that perception.
Resting scorch face, Jiya thought, fighting her inner being to remain calm.
The ship that had brought the Muultu back to the planet with Takal sat a short distance away, but there was no sign of the inventor.
“He is well taken care of, fear not,” a Muultu said as if reading her mind. Jiya recognized his smooth voice as that of Gol Ato. Its softness belied the impression his face expressed.
Jiya nodded and motioned to the crew with her. “This is General Maddox,” she introduced, then gestured to Reynolds. “This is the captain of the SD Reynolds, Reynolds.”
Gol smiled, Jiya assumed, although the effect was a hideous mockery of kindness. It sent a shudder through Jiya’s body. “Your ship is named after you? You must be a great warrior.”
“The greatest, but my humility keeps me from admitting it,” Reynolds fired back, not bothering to hide his grin.
Gol chuckled. “I see that, but I must warn you, the emperor will not find such attempts at humor amusing. I would be careful.”
“I’m guessing no emperor does,” Maddox commented. “It must be part of the package: become emperor, check your sense of humor at the door.”
“Not all emperors are humorless,” Reynolds corrected. “Though, technically, the one I’m thinking of calls herself a Queen now, so maybe there is something to that theory.”
“We’ll have to meet her one day,” Jiya said.
Reynolds nodded pleasantly. “You will.”
Gol and his compatriots closed on the crew. “We must insist upon collecting your weapons.”
“Of course,” Reynolds replied, stripping off his belt and handing it over, his pistol still holstered.
Jiya hated this part of treating with new races. She never felt good about disarming the moment they entered a strange ruler’s domain, but she understood it.
She slipped the rifle off her back and did the same as Reynolds, handing over her whole belt, gun included.
Fortunately, Takal had built numerous secret compartments into the suits of armor he’d adapted and, while no one could see or detect them, Jiya was com
forted by the fact that she was never truly without a weapon as long as she remained snug inside her personal suit of high-tech armor.
Once Gol and his people had collected the weapons, they marched the crew across the tarmac toward an enclosed vehicle.
Jiya couldn’t help but stare as they approached it.
She’d never seen anything so…archaic.
A great pillar rose from the front of the heavy steel vehicle, the stack blowing out thick gray smoke. The engines rumbled loudly enough to vibrate the ground, and the chassis barely budged when they were led up a short flight of steps into the back.
A cockpit of sorts was positioned ahead of the large cabin where the crew sat, and two Muultu crowded into the front as the crew took a seat. There was a loud grinding of gears, and the vehicle lurched forward through a billow of its own smoke. Metal treads ground across the tarmac.
No one said a word as they traveled, the vehicle being far too loud for conversation.
Of all the strange things Jiya had seen since joining Reynolds on his quest to find Kurtherians, this was by far the strangest.
A race that lives on the surface of an active volcano being torn apart by the gravity from three suns. While supposedly spacefaring, they can barely travel from one point to another in technology from the era of steel. Where the hell are we?
Chapter Four
Jiya had been surprised by the lack of guards or soldiers around the landing port, but she soon realized that was because there weren’t any ships worth stealing.
When they left the tarmac, the strange vehicle passed through a heavily-guarded checkpoint where dozens of soldiers stood at attention. They were dressed in suits of armor that reminded her of the vehicle they were riding in: cold, heavy, and far too clunky to be effective.
The raw numbers, however, made it look impressive.
Jiya stared out the back of the open vehicle, watching the checkpoint disappear into the distance as they trundled farther into the city.
The whole of Ulf was built as if it were intended to stand against an orbital bombardment or nuclear attack.
Perhaps it was.
Seeing as how the entire planet was a massive volcano, lava flowing freely outside the barrier, Jiya could imagine the whole place being swallowed by molten rock. It made sense to build it to industrial standards.
Steel and brick were used with abandon, with little to no wood appearing in the construction of the buildings they passed. What little organic matter was used was for decoration rather than stability.
There was little of that, either.
The city was utilitarian in design. All the buildings looked the same, and Jiya often couldn’t tell what was a business and what was someone’s home.
People stared at them as they rolled by, maybe since theirs was the only vehicle on the road. The citizens stood on the narrow walks alongside soldiers, who mixed freely with the people.
No one looked happy, but given the nature of their scorched faces, she wasn’t sure if that was because they weren’t or if they all just looked that way.
Could be either.
She did notice a number of people in the crowd who weren’t Muultu, the lack of charred faces being the giveaway, but they didn’t look much better off. Their skin was browned from the heat, and they wore long, flowing robes to cover the entirety of their bodies.
They didn’t look much happier to see the crew than the native Muultu.
Jiya looked away after a short time, realizing she wasn’t likely to see a smiling face.
The ride through town seemed to take forever, especially given how loud the vehicle was. They rode without talking, everyone staring at the city as if trying to map their way back to the landing field.
While everything looked exactly the same, Ulf was built on a perfectly uniform grid. All one needed to do was get pointed in the right direction and follow the road to its end.
There was no way to get lost.
After a while, Jiya’s eyes glazed over at the sameness of everything and she slumped on her bench, waiting for the ride to be over. When it finally was, she clambered out of the vehicle, ready to leave the planet Muultar behind.
She’d seen more than enough.
“This way,” Gol yelled as the vehicle pulled away. He ushered the crew through yet another checkpoint and into a large courtyard that sprawled beyond.
Marble statuary ran along the edges, all cut from a dark stone. Like everywhere else they’d seen, there was no hint of vegetation anywhere.
“I wonder how they eat?” Maddox whispered.
Jiya shrugged, not having an answer to the question and hoping they wouldn’t be there long enough to care.
Gol and the others led the crew into the courtyard and through a large arched entryway that led inside. The hazy red of the light shifted only slightly, taking on a yellowish pall as lighted sconces illuminated the way.
Jiya goggled at the idea that people still used actual fire to light their homes. She was glad her tinted visor blocked her face from view.
“This place is absolutely medieval,” Reynolds whispered over the comm.
Their footsteps thumped on the stone floors as Gol ushered them through a long hallway and up to a pair of massive steel doors that towered over the crew.
Jiya marveled at the craftsmanship and ran her eyes along the frame, admiring the symbols that were raised from the door. A menagerie of animals, many of which Jiya couldn’t recognize, was the focus, and the magnificent designs almost made her stumble into Maddox’s back when the crew stopped.
Two of the males with Gol pushed, grunting, and the massive portal swung open about half a meter before the pair stopped pushing. Some mechanical device took over from there.
There was a hiss and a thump, then the doors inched open with a stuttering consistency that made Jiya think they were on tracks of some kind.
Her guess was proven correct when Gol waved them inside, revealing a pair of shallow metal grooves in the floor on which the massive portals moved.
The doors thumped into the wall, echoing loudly, and the crew were marched into a great hall that loomed even higher than the hallway outside.
Like everything else in Ulf, steel and dark stone dominated the construction materials.
Jiya wondered how long it had taken to build such a monstrous chamber without the assistance of bots or modern machines. She could only imagine, grateful she hadn’t been one of the people made to work on it.
An aisle of red carpet ran down the center of the chamber, leading to a raised dais where seven large hewn-stone chairs were arrayed in a semi-circle. Two males and five females occupied the seats, the oldest of them situated in the central seat. All were Muultu, their waxen faces looking down on the crew. Was it disdain? No one could tell, given the perpetual terrifying scowl of the Muultu visage.
Armored guards ringed the walls, cold eyes staring as the crew advanced. Jiya glanced around, luxuriating in the privacy her helmet provided her for the moment. She was sure she would have to take it off once they were face to face with the emperor and whoever the rest of the seated people were, but until then, she was going to take advantage.
With no tapestries or flags or banners hiding the walls, all the exits were obvious in the sparseness of the décor. There were two large doorways, half the size of the main entry, to each side of the room, where the majority of the guards stood poised. Then there were two more to the back of the chamber, behind the chairs.
That didn’t leave the crew many options if things went south.
Gol raised a hand for Reynolds and his people to halt at the foot of the dais’ steps, and he turned and bowed to the people in their seats.
“Your Imperial Highness and honored Council, I bring you the trespassers we caught in the devium fields.”
Jiya sighed at the introduction. Successful negotiations didn’t often start with being called trespassers.
Reynolds removed his helmet, and Maddox and Jiya did the same.
&nb
sp; They were off to a great start.
The oldest of the males rose from his seat and stared out at the crew. He got straight to the point. “What is your purpose here, strangers?”
Reynolds offered a shallow nod of respect. “I am Reynolds, captain of the Superdreadnought Reynolds, an Etheric Federation ship tasked with a mission by my Queen, Bethany Anne. These are my crew, First Officer Jiya Lemaire and General Maddox,” he announced, gesturing to each in turn. “We did not mean to intrude upon your resource field, and apologize for our ignorance and any disrespect we might have unintentionally shown. We only sought to examine the substance you call devium, nothing more.”
You can sure pour it on when you want, can’t you, Reynolds? Jiya chuckled to herself.
The emperor stared for a moment, his yellow eyes glaring in the flickering firelight, before he finally relented and returned Reynolds’ nod.
“Your crew member Takal told us as much,” Emperor Krol Gow replied. “He insisted the decision had been his and claimed full responsibility for it.”
“While that might be true, Takal works for me,” Reynolds countered. “He was there at my behest.”
“Fair enough, Reynolds, but I did not mean that as a threat to your man,” the emperor went on. “I am appreciative of both his honesty and your integrity.” He waved them up the stairs. “Please, come and join us so we can stop yelling up and down the steps.”
Jiya fought back her grin at her earlier thought that everyone they’d come upon had been hostile to them. The emperor’s friendly offer caught her off-guard.
The crew tromped up the stairs to stand before the emperor, keeping a respectful distance from him. The other members of the council rose and came over, gathering around Krol Gow.
“I am Emperor Krol Gow,” the oldest male said. He motioned to the people around him, starting with the older female who stood nearest. “This is Aht Gow, my sister and the speaker of my advisory council. Beside her are Chae Dun and Qui Na,” he said, introducing the two males on the council. “The remainder of my council are Blu Ta, Fra Sa, and El Hi,” he stated, pointed to each of the females in turn.
