Shadow Hunters (6 page)

I don’t want to learn to be like her in that way, Zamara. Or like you—not about
that. I don’t want that at all.
The very thought seemed to make his headache return.

There are many things you do not want to do, Jacob Jefferson Ramsey, and yet
you must do them.

There was a hint of sorrow emanating from Zamara, even while making this firm statement. Jake knew that the protoss disliked using him so, though there was never any question that she would. This was a new development in their relationship; it had certainly not been present at the outset. She had been grimly determined to see her mission through, and her lack of concern about him had been as impersonal as it was implacable. That had changed over the last several days, as she had given him more and more information, more memories.

Will there be more? Memories, like what you did with Temlaa and Savassan?

Yes. There is much more that you still need to know. More that you must
understand before I can give you the final piece. I would not burden you with
such if it were not absolutely necessary.

That’s the least of my concerns about the situation. Now that I understand
what to expect, I … am enjoying learning about your people. As an archeologist
I find it fascinating.

“Wel, it’s a good thing you’re along for the ride then,” Jake said lightly to Rosemary.

The entire mental exchange with Zamara had taken just a couple of seconds. “So, are you going to tel where you’re taking us? You said something about going back in time?”

“Like I said, I had to cobble things together. I know al the spots to get spares. This one happens to have some historical significance about it. Ever heard of a little thing caled the Battle of Brontes?”

“It sounds familiar.”

She gaped at him. “Familiar? Where were you when al this stuff went down?”

“On a little planet caled Pegasus, happily forgotten by the rest of the sector. We heard about the bigger events, sure, but I never folowed the battles. Just the big things. Like the zerg and the protoss and the wiping out of entire colonies.”

She shook her head. “Wow. Huh. I never thought of myself as being particularly up on current events, but I suppose you have to be, if you want to know which side your bread’s buttered on. Anyway, there was a Confederacy general named Edmund Duke. There was a pretty major skirmish here against some of the Sons of Korhal.

After a space battle, salvagers, scavengers, and thieves usualy move in to take whatever is left … but our buddy Val’s dad is rebuilding an empire and he needs al the ship parts he can lay his hands on. This place has become a salvage yard for the Dominion, and we wil need to be careful getting in, and getting out. We’re just about in viewing range.” She hit a couple of buttons. “Ah, there we go.”

Rosemary had brought them to a graveyard. Jake thought that it had indeed been a significant battle, to leave this much wreckage. He wondered if any effort had been made to find the bodies, or if they were out there along with pieces of ships, spinning slowly in starlit darkness, nothing more than space junk now. Some of the vessels appeared largely intact, others were obviously unspaceworthy pieces of debris.

“Okay, so far so good,” said Rosemary, breaking his train of thought. “No sign of a welcoming party coming to intercept us. Chances are we haven’t been noticed yet.

We go in dark and drift in … just another piece of the junk.” She touched a few controls and the power went down with a soft sigh. Jake and Rosemary were enveloped in dim starlight as the controls went dark. “Slow and unnoticed,”

Rosemary said. “More people than us know about this place. There’s usualy a lot of unsavory types here even with the Dominion’s presence—smugglers and pirates and so on. There’l likely be a couple of Wraiths beating a patrol around the place, but we’ve got a system runner, so we should be able to outrun them if we’re spotted.”

Jake felt a twinge of amusement at the thought of Rosemary’s referring to anyone else as “unsavory types.” That sensation was shortly replaced by unease as they moved toward the dead ships. His headache increased as they passed several tense moments while the ship drifted closer and closer to the debris field. Finaly, they were in among the pieces of wreckage. Giant parts of ships loomed past and Rosemary slowly brought minimal power online and used the runner’s thrusters to avoid hitting any of the other vessels.

“No company yet—good. Let me risk some quick scans to see if we can find what we need.” Jake was glad Rosemary seemed to know what she was doing. She was caling up information, her blue eyes scanning it quickly, and finaly she nodded. “A compatible nav system right there, as wel as some drive and life support components we need. May need work, but probably nothing I can’t handle. Looks like we finaly caught a break. Let me remove this one and then I’l go get the other.”

Slowly, carefuly, R. M. maneuvered the system runner until it was only about ten meters from the vessel in question. Rising, Rosemary located a tool kit, dropped down to the metal floor, and slid under the console. Jake watched in silent admiration as she unfastened the plating, reached into a jumble of wires and glowing chips, and inside of fifteen minutes removed a fairly large navigation unit. As they lifted the frame holding the nav system out, she pointed with a scowl to a glowing green circular component in the heart of the frame.

“There’s our culprit.”

“Are you going to destroy it?”

She shook her head. Her silky black hair flowed with the movement. As was always the case, Jake wished he could touch it without getting punched.

“We have a better use for it. Al right, time to go get its replacement. Same deal as the last spacewalk, Professor. I go out, you watch the little light.”

“Wil do.”

They carried the nav unit into the docking chamber, and she went into the back room and suited up. The door closed and a few moments later the light iluminated green.

Jake waited until he saw her floating past, the tether secure on her body, nav unit in tow, directing herself purposefuly to the Wraith they had puled alongside of, and then got himself a coffee. It was much, much better than what passed for the beverage on the marine vessel the
Gray Tiger.
He supposed he shouldn’t be surprised. This was a black marketer’s vessel, after al. While he was up, he opened the medkit and found something for his headache.

The thought of the
Gray Tiger
made him think of his friends who had died aboard that ship. He wondered if he would ever remember them without this rush of commingled guilt and pain.

Eventually you will be able to. Once you fully understand what it was for which
they died.

Don’t suppose you’re going to tell me this century?

Zamara chuckled at his turn of phrase.
There are things you must know first, as I
have told you repeatedly.

Be happy to learn them, so long as you watch out for Rosemary.

Of course.

Jake took another sip of the coffee, looked at the green light, smiled to himself, and closed his eyes.

Jake stood with the rest of the templar as their fallen brother, their leader, their
friend, made his final voyage. Jake was not a young protoss, and this was not
the first friend to whom he had bade farewell. But it never got easier.

Zoranis had been popular with his people. Thousands had turned out for this
solemn ceremony, lining the Road of Remembrance for almost its entire length.

The Road of Remembrance led from the provincial capital of Antioch, wound
for several kilometers west, and ended at the ruins of an ancient xel’naga
temple. Broken steps led up to a flat surface with a pool that collected
rainwater. Here, the honored dead were ritually bathed, dressed for burial, left
for a day’s cycle under the watchful care of loved ones so that the sun, moon,
and stars would shine upon them, and then laid into the earth for their final
rest.

While the ritual itself was ancient, performed by each tribe even back during
the Aeon of Strife, the Road had come into existence only after the protoss had
embraced the Khala. The Road of Remembrance was a physical symbol of the
Path of Ascension. As all protoss were joined in the Khala, so now all veterans
and protoss of note, no matter their caste, were given the honor of traveling the
Road of Remembrance. Jake had seen artisans, scientists, templar, and
members of the Conclave alike being borne on a floating dais, a stasis field
surrounding their bodies with a halo.

This was the first time he had walked beside the body of a high templar,
though, and he hoped it would be the last.

Zoranis had fallen in honorable combat. He was not one to sit back and let
others take all the risks while he made all the decisions. His choice had cost him
his life, but had won the battle—as had his decision to have his second-in-command fight beside him.

The young protoss Adun was already becoming something of a legend. He had
fought at Zoranis’s side for over eighty years now. Few had seen a more
graceful warrior in physical combat or a more intelligent strategist. Some petty
folk had implied that Adun was the real driving force behind most of Zoranis’s
decisions over the last fifty years. Jake actually hoped so. Because if it was true,
then Zoranis’s good leadership would not have died with him.

He walked solemnly, his heavy, formal robes brushing the earth. On either side
of the white-paved road were lines of mourners. They were hunched over,
shaking, their skin mottling in the unmistakable sign of grief. Zoranis was not
only well liked, but well loved.

In the Khala, there was nothing but heart, and hearts were full today. Jake let
the respect, admiration, and sorrow wash in and around and through him,
adding his own genuine grief to the mix.

Beside him walked Adun. Young, vibrant, intense, and strong, he was
everything the templar were supposed to be. As an active warrior—Jake was
too old to participate in combat, though he had excellent tactical knowledge—

Adam wore his armor, and it gleamed golden as the sun that glinted off it. A
half a head taller and a bit larger than any of the other templar, he was a
commanding presence. His grief was a bright thread woven into the tapestry of
the Khala, shimmering in its purity. Adun had loved Zoranis almost as an elder
brother. More than any of the other templar, he grieved this loss. He looked
over at Jake and their eyes met.

Ah, my old friend Vetraas,
came Adun’s pain-filled thoughts,
I am glad you walk beside me. Your composure gives me strength.

There is no shame in deep grief,
Jake sent back.
To not mourn the dead is to dishonor them. But we must also be thankful for their lives.

I am, Vetraas. I am.

The walk took almost an entire day. They reached the temple at sunset, and it
was Jake, adviser to Zoranis, and Adun, Zoranis’s protégé, who had the honor
of bathing and dressing the body and sitting with it. Traditionally this was done
to protect the body from scavengers. Now the corpse was safely preserved in
stasis until the moment of burial, but the ritual of lovingly protecting it lingered
on.

Jake looked down at his old friend. Clad in robes of simple white as opposed to
the armor in which he had spent most of his life, Zoranis looked at peace. The
robes hid the horrific wounds that had claimed his life. The large eyes were
closed, the flesh looking almost alive.

Jake wished he could speak with Zoranis one more time, tell him how well he
had served his people. How greatly he would be missed. Instead, he contented
himself with pressing the dead hands and thinking the traditional farewell:

“Und lara khar. Anht zagatir nas”: “Be at peace. The gods watch over you.”
Night
was falling on the last day of Zoranis’s leadership. Before the sun rose, as
tradition had it, there would be a new executor.

The Templar caste, like any group whose members were finite, was not without
its flaws, disagreements, and occasional corruption and infighting. This time,
the templar would rise to the heights of which he knew it was capable, the
heights of what Khas intended when he created the Khala. There was one
among their number who exemplified all that was right and good with the
templar. One whom everyone respected. One who, if he accepted it, would greet
the dawn as executor.

And quite possibly, Adun himself was the only one who didn’t know it.

Jake opened his eyes as he heard the slight hissing sound of the door irising open. “A highly successful run,” Rosemary said. “Can you give me a hand with these?”

He turned to see her standing beside the door, behind her another nav frame. She was stil in her suit, which was clearly too large for her. At her feet was an opened container filed with a variety of items, none of which Jake recognized and al of which he was glad he had very little to do with. He carefuly took the piles of chips, plating, and wires and moved it into the main cabin.