The Dragon duo’s lips began to move, the words that came out were of a strange language and directed at Foster as they all made eye contact.
“Umm, howdy, we come in peace, contrary to popular belief,” Foster said back to them.
The two spoke more, they may well have been speaking Russian. Foster hadn’t the faintest idea what they were saying to her. “Odelea? You understand any of that?”
Odelea listened carefully, bringing up holographic notes based on what she learned from their language. “They want to know how we got here,” she translated.
“Tell ‘em ain’t any of their business,” Foster said.
“And for us to surrender,” Odelea added. The Dragon Knight pointed a finger at Odelea, she gulped. “And he wants to do something very horrible to me.”
“Define horrible?”
“It’s a word lost in the translation.”
So that kind of horrible . . .
“Strange,” Tolukei commented. “What became of their HNI distribution abilities?”
“We’re still a few hundred kilometers away from them,” Chang said, checking his terminal’s screens. “Last time I checked their range is limited.”
“Keep our distance, Chang, I’d rather we not lose Odelea and the rest,” Foster said. “And fire up the MRF.”
“Gonna make a run for it, Captain?”
“You need to be quick, Chang,” she said. “We can’t risk them followin’ our hides back out.”
“If you make the vortex opening as small as possible like before, it should seal up quickly.”
“The question is what will stop them from reopening it?” Williams asked.
“The same thing that stopped them from doing it this whole time,” Foster said.
“And that is?”
“What am I, Wikipedia? I don’t know!”
Though it was something to note. The fleet had Charybdis ships, lots of them at that, and weren’t that far away from the vortex. They could venture through into the system at any time.
The duo spoke again in their language. The tone in their voice and aggression made it clear to all they weren’t here to have a friendly chitchat. Odelea provided another translation. “They want an answer now, Captain.”
“Odelea, hang up on them already,” Foster said drily.
“As you wish—”
“Wait.” Nereid interjected and stepped closer to the viewer almost mesmerized.
Foster and Williams exchanged grimacing looks. Nereid was still a follower of Tiamat, as with the Dragon Knight and Maiden. She didn’t view them as enemies. She viewed them as religious icons, icons that must be worshiped and pleased.
“Nereid . . .” Foster said in worried manner. “What are you up to?”
Nereid said nothing, and continued to walk to the view screen, shutting her eyes as her face became full of blissful reactions.
Foster gave Tolukei a nod. “Tolukei . . . remember what we talked about?”
Tolukei backed away from the psionic workstation, looking at Nereid. “Now?” There was hesitation in his voice.
“Let’s wait a bit,” she said, looking back at Nereid in the trancelike state she was in. “And hope I’m wrong.”
It was agreed upon in secret with Foster, Williams, and Tolukei, that should Nereid turn on the crew in the name of Tiamat, that it would be up to Tolukei to subdue her. He had been training her to better control her powers and he knew what her limitations were. Added to that, he was a psionic, and the only one on the ship, not counting Maxwell and LeBoeuf, whom had their powers damped by the mind shield. Though, Tolukei was likely stronger than the two anyways.
More chatter from the armored dragon duo came.
“Talk to me, Odelea,” Foster said.
“They are speaking to Nereid.”
“I can see that, about what?”
“They are asking her to—”
“Don’t cut the link,” Nereid said, breaking her silence and trance. “I can hear the songs in the background.”
Foster listened in, apart from the beeping noises from the bridge of the stealth bio-ship, she could hear no songs. “I don’t hear anything.”
“I can hear it . . . I know what they are saying,” Nereid said. “But, Captain, please keep this link open, keep them talking.”
“Odelea, do it.”
“Understood.”
“EVE, can you hear anything?” Foster asked.
“I can hear a number of sounds coming from the projection, Captain,” EVE said. “The sounds come from a varying range of decibel levels, most likely from the operations of their bridge. None of them, however, resemble the songs or anything remotely close to them—”
“EVE, just say you can’t hear what she’s hearing,” Foster cut in.
“I cannot hear what Nereid is hearing.”
“Captain!” Odelea said panicking. “They are about to cut the link!”
“Keep them on, please,” Nereid pleaded.
If the link was cut, then there was a good chance that hostilities toward the Johannes Kepler would resume. The Johannes Kepler needed to be making its break to the vortex before that happened. That meant Foster was in the wrong place, she needed to be in engineering attuning to the vortex key.
“Dom, you’re up, I gotta jet to engineering.”
“They want to hear from you once more, Captain,” Odelea said. “And only you.”
Foster threw her hands up in frustration. “Of course, they do . . .” she said then faced the duo’s holographic projection. “Well, uh, tell ‘em this, Odelea,” Foster pointed at the Dragon Maiden. “You, blondie, bless your heart, that blue eye shadow ain’t workin’.”
“Seriously?” Chevallier grunted.
“Gotta keep ‘em on the line, right?” Foster said, shrugging. “I ain’t got anything else to say!”
Odelea translated Foster’s words to the Dragon Maiden. It looked back at Foster with a puzzled face and twisted lips.
“And tell the Dragon Knight to check them smoke alarms,” Foster said. “I keep hearing them beep in the background.”
“I find it highly unlikely they have those,” Odelea said.
“Well if they don’t then tell ‘em to get them,” Foster snickered. “I’d never work at a job that didn’t have those.”
Odelea spoke to the duo, translating Foster’s final words to them. The communication link was cut instantly.
“Well, Becca, looks like you pissed them off,” Williams said. “Nereid, did you hear it?”
Nereid returned to the psionic workstation alongside Tolukei. “I did,” she said, oblivious to the fact that Tolukei was seconds away from being ordered to attack her.
“Cool, keep humming it to yourself until we can get it recorded,” Foster said, moving to the exit of the bridge. “Dom, you know the drill!”
Foster didn’t power walk to engineering. She ran, and nearly lost her balance when the ship began to rumble. She cleared all thoughts in her head regarding what could have happened had Tolukei been called to take action against Nereid. She had no immediate evacuation plans to clear the bridge, or potentially abandon the ship if their fight grew heated. Escape pods ejecting into the maelstrom had a zero percent chance of being recovered.
“I need someone to pull me off this once we’re clear!” Foster screamed as she darted into engineering, reaching out to touch the vortex key.
“Understood,” Saressea said.
Foster’s mind and soul was ripped from her body once again, becoming the omnipotent force that was one with the maelstrom. The vortex reappeared just beyond where the armada of ships encircled the Johannes Kepler. It started as a tiny black dot, and quickly expanded into a tear within the space-time continuum, where the stars and sights of the Arietis system were made visible.
The Johannes Kepler made a push through a break in the Draconian armada’s formation, en route to their freedom. Tachyon beams scattered in all directions, fired from the countless bio-ships coming about to bring
the Kepler to its end. The stealth ship vanished from the screen and sensors. It was the least of Foster’s concerns, getting the Johannes Kepler back to the normal universe was priority.
She was treated to how Chang’s fancy piloting skills looked from the outside when the MFR was active. Aileron rolls were made in between two gargantuan ships made of flesh and bones. Dives were made to avoid wyverns, hard turns to the left when larger capital ships tried and failed to block the path to the vortex. The overshields flashed, Nereid and Tolukei’s psionic powers were keeping the ship in one piece from the uncountable number of tachyon beams striking them every six to eight seconds.
The vortex leading back to space returned back to the Kepler’s line of sight, there were no ships or dragons in its path. FTL carried them the rest of the way, tachyon beams were faster. The last barrage that hit them forced Foster to see the Kepler’s main reactor, and her touch resting upon the vortex key.
She was back in her body.
“We’re clear,” Saressea said as she went to remove Foster’s hand from the device. Foster did it on her own, unsure as to what caused her link with the key to cut. “Sorry, thought you requested I move you?”
The first time it was because the ship rocked hard enough for her to fall. But now? She did it on her own and was aware her hand was touching the device.
“You’re not wrong,” Foster said, looking at the vortex key as smoke lifted away from it. She made contact with the device again, feeling its warm touch and rough surface. Nothing happened. “Damn it, what the hell happened?”
Saressea used a virtual EAD to scan the vortex key, and the large power cables plugged into it from the floor. Her hand waved away a plume of black smoke, the smell made the two of them gag and cough.
“It’s fried, Captain,” Saressea said, backing away from it. “Guess it was only good for a two-way trip.”
Foster moved to the nearest wall intercom. “Bridge, what’s our status?”
“We’re back in normal space,” Williams said. “No hostiles made it through and the vortex has shut. We should be good.”
“Only, we ain’t,” Foster said grimacing. “They’s got a force larger than the one that attacked Kapteyn’s Star plus a stealth ship leadin’ the charge.”
“Still don’t understand why they would have a large force there and not use it,” Williams’ voice said.
“That station lies next to wormholes linking to the capitals of the Union, Empire, and the Morutrin system, not to mention Earth-controlled space. If you’re going to attack a target like that, you’re gonna need a force large enough to survive a counterattack from the combined forces that will pour through those gates.”
Foster paused for moment, having realized the next words that were going to come out of her mouth were sugarcoated. The galaxy was facing an extremely dangerous threat, what she had to say, couldn’t and shouldn’t be sugarcoated.
She continued, ready to deliver her non-sugarcoated words. “The Draconians are gathering a fleet big enough to do just that.”
26 Lahmu
Draconian Stealth Ship
Draconian Armada, Dark Energy maelstrom
October 15, 2118, 12:36 SST (Sol Standard Time)
Lahmu and Lahamu, known to the humans as the Dragon Knight and Dragon Maiden respectively, stood and watched the gateway beyond the Draconian fleet swell shut. The vessel commanded by the human and traitor, who referred to herself as Foster, had escaped. The speed of the vessel . . . was unexpected to the brother and sister. It was one of many things they would need to inform the fleet of going forward, since their foresight into the galaxy was not accurate.
Lahamu shut the hologram off. She had seen enough and cursed loud enough for all the half dragons aboard to hear. “They can now enter this realm,” Lahamu said.
“Humans are a very cunning species,” Lahmu said to his sister. “Everything they have achieved amongst the stars has been done within four generations.”
The two used the psionic bond they shared with the stealth ship, the same ship the duo used to flee from the system humans called Sirius, the same ship Lahmu’s sister used to leave Earth after her campaign there had been completed. Direct orders were communicated to the ship’s brain, demanding it to fly in close formation with the rest of the armada, which grew larger as more ships arrived.
The two teleported into a darkened chamber, deep within the bowels of their ship, its thumping heartbeat was a soothing sound to the two. The new cybernetic augmentations were not being rejected as previously feared. The ship was alive and healthy. The two stood in front of the two artifacts retrieved from the human homeworld by Lahamu. The disk-shaped and gem-decorated artifacts floated in the air, held up by psionic magic radiating away from circles built-in to the floor.
“Was the Goddess wrong for teaching their species?” Lahamu asked her brother, Lahmu.
“You question her actions?”
“Humans are now our enemy, a species that would still be primitive if it wasn’t for the Goddess’ intervention. Marduk became her enemy, a Javnis that was uplifted from his homeworld.”
“She wasn’t wrong to leave this army to us. We will rectify what has gone wrong in the grand plan; it is only a matter of time.”
The next chamber brought Lahmu and Lahamu to where Fighter Number 3,482 was laying strapped to an examination pod. Fighter Number 3,482 was the half dragon that bore witness to Foster and her thieving ways when she stripped the monolith of its gifts. The two instructed the mystic tending to him to leave via telepathic instructions, asking her to leave behind engram orbs extracted from the fighter.
Lahmu and Lahamu resumed the tasks they were cued to perform prior to the unexpected arrival of the vessel Foster commanded within the maelstrom. The two assisted each other by holding an engram each, placing it into each other’s foreheads, allowing the psionic thoughts, memories, and experiences of the fighter to be transferred to them.
“This one has great promise,” Lahmu said, upon the end of his trance.
Lahamu looked down at the Fighter Number 3,482, impressed with his bravery to the horde and his keen eyes that saw everything Foster and her helpers accomplished. “Shall we bestow it a name?”
“Yes . . .” Lahmu said, plucking the first name that manifested into his thoughts. “Fafnir . . .”
“Naming him after one of our ancient ancestors?” Lahamu smiled and laughed. “I approve.”
“Humans should be familiar with the name as well,” he said. “When the time is right, I want them to fear and remember the day Fafnir returned to punish those that defiled the Goddess’ gifts, and not offer praise and worship of what she has done.”
Lahamu’s psionic magic released Fighter Number 3,482 from his bindings, forcing him to kneel and bow before the two. “Do you accept your new name, Fighter Number 3,482?”
Fighter Number 3,482 hesitated to reply. Lahmu calmed his mind, assuring him he would not be punished for using his tongue in front of the two. He gave his answer. “I accept.”
“Let us train you then while we wait.”
“Wait for what?” Fighter Number 3,482, now to be forever known as Fafnir, said.
“For the rest of our horde to join this armada,” Lahmu said. “Tiamat is eternal.”
The three repeated in union once more.
“Tiamat is eternal.”
27 Foster
Pierce’s apartment, UNE Arm
Amicitia Station 14, Arietis system
October 15, 2118, 13:30 SST (Sol Standard Time)
“Clear!”
The breaching charge detonated, turning the front door of Pierce’s apartment into smoldering chunks of debris. It was excessive in Foster’s opinion, but necessary as someone reprogrammed the security locks of his door with a complex lockout algorithm according to Blackmar and members of station security.
Blackmar and his team stormed into the apartment first, their drawn rifles led the way. Foster followed behind with her pistol pointed out. No bullet
s were fired. There was no need since the apartment was empty and a mess with its furniture and boxes turned upside down. Pierce and the Hashmedai girl that ran off with him were gone.
The window in the living room drew Foster’s attention, it was wide open. It was big enough for two bodies to crawl out of and escape to the rooftops above or scale the walls and numerous balconies below to the streets.
Blackmar holstered his rifle. “Damn it, we must have missed them.” He turned around facing one of his men. “Are you certain about this?”
“No doubt about it, sir” the station security personnel said. “Just look at this mess sir, EISS got here before us. If I had checked the security cameras here first, we might have been able to catch them in the act.”
“First the navy ignores us, now we got EISS running operations without talking to me,” Blackmar said. “Fucking hell!”
A member of Blackmar’s team called out to him, directing him and everyone else to Pierce’s personal computer screen. Foster joined them looking intently at the holo screen and a cartoon cherry laughing and waving its middle finger.
Blackmar gritted his teeth. “Maraschino . . . Well that explains who the hackers were that fucked with the trains earlier today.”
“Who the hell is Maraschino?” Foster asked.
“Hackers you don’t want to fuck with,” Blackmar said. “And now, they got your science officer.”
The station security officer went to access Pierce’s computer, browsing through its files and recent activity. His silence was a concern to Foster. “I take it there ain’t any clues on his computer?”
“Nothing, everything’s been wiped by a virus,” said the officer.
“This girl’s damn good,” Blackmar said “She must have hacked the train system, deleted all security camera footage that saw her in the act, and HNI records of anyone that laid eyes on her. It’s like she doesn’t exist.”
Unsanctioned Reprisal Page 24
