Wrath of the Void Strider (30 page)

“Without reservation,” he assured her.

The shuttle swooped up from under the hauler as the aft bay doors swung wide.  Zerki touched down, and she joined her companions as they rushed for the lift.  D’Arro caught two fully armored guards by surprise.  They hardly had time to raise their guns before he had broken their necks.  They dropped to the deck, and a helmet tumbled free from one of the corpses.  The soldier’s skin was pale beige, covered in a mix of red and purple spots.  Four thick horns jutted out from the back of his head.

Zerki checked her plasma pistol as D’Arro looted one of the slain guard’s guns.  He tossed the second alien pistol to Taryn.  Silver and baroque in appearance, their barrels emitted a soft blue glow.  “Only take the shot if you’re sure you’ve got it,” he warned.  “We don’t know what their weapons can do.”  

The lift arrived, and they boarded.  Moments later, doors opened onto the observation deck and two startled guards.  D’Arro and Taryn attacked viciously, clawing, pulling and tearing.  Taryn pressed the alien pistol against her opponent’s head.  “Let’s find out what this does,” she snarled, and she pulled the trigger.  A quiet pop sounded as a lattice of electricity lit up the inside of the guard’s helmet.  His body went limp, twitching in her grip, and a massive hole burned through the top of his head.  It released a column of sticky ash and revealed the husk of the guard’s skull.

“It kills them,” said D’Arro.  “Good.”  He dropped the other guard over his knee and snapped his neck.  “Let’s go.”

Stone bid the others farewell and bolted for the engine room.

The rest of the team raced through the corridors, heading for the cargo junction.  They dashed along the dimly lit passage, where they gathered at the forward bulkhead.  Zerki asked, “Everyone know what to do?”

Her companions confirmed their readiness, and she opened the hatch.  For a moment, she looked upon the bridge lift, and she found her courage.  Echoing faintly from below, she winced as she heard one of her crew pleading, followed by a fading scream.  She fought back the tears, clenching her teeth.

D’Arro faced Takeo.  He pressed his gun into Takeo’s hands.  “Get the bridge back.”  Turning to Zerki, he said, “It’s been an honor, Captain.”  His gaze was savage.  “Tell Collins that I call my debt paid.”  Without another word, D’Arro bolted for the lift and lunged inside.

“D’Arro,
no
!” Taryn cried, and she sprang after him as the doors began to close.  She was shocked to find she had been stopped short by Fogg’s iron grip.  “
Let go
!” she screamed and pummeled her friend’s chest.  When the doors were sealed, he released his hold on her.

Her breathing ragged, Zerki said, “We’re retaking the bridge.”

Below them, the doors opened, and D’Arro stormed into the forward hold.  Caught by surprise, it took the invaders a moment to register the ospyrean giant.  He had dispatched three before they began to fire.  Emboldened by D’Arro’s arrival, the crew rallied and swept into the guards.

·· • ··

Within their quarters, Gavin and Valerie awaited Thirili’on’s return.  “What do you suppose they did with our clothes?” Gavin asked.  “I really liked that Hawaiian shirt.”

“Burned them, probably,” Valerie sighed.  “Which really sucks, because I’ve had that shirt forever.”

“I don’t know.  We must be pretty special to them, if they’ve been looking for us since the Dark Ages.  Our clothes might be like sacred artifacts to them.”

She huffed.  “I’m sure they weren’t looking for us, specifically.  It’s got to have something to do with our special abilities.  It’s hard to believe, but I guess it’s possible they could’ve been scouring the galaxy for people with our specific genetic markers.”  Shaking her head, she muttered, “Lucky us.  We’re the worthy ones.”

“We’ll ask Thirili’on when he gets back.”  He nodded toward the conical post.  “We know they keep the translator chips in there.  Do you think it’s worth a quick look for our clothes?”

With a wry smile, she tugged on her glossy black lapels.  “You don’t like the whole bondage look?”

He laughed, blushing slightly.  “You wear it better than I do.”

“I don’t know, you look pretty hot in that.  If you find a whip in there, I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep my hands off you.”

Blushing brighter, he cleared his throat and got to his feet.  “I’ll be right back.”  He stepped into the central room, but the far door slid open, and he quickly retreated.  Almost as tall as the doorway, a hulking ithiral man stooped inside.  Gold trim accented his black, gothic armor, and a dark obelisk protruded up along his back, covered in holographic symbols and seals.  He wore a wide, golden belt and kept a master-crafted pistol holstered against it.  Several guards filed past, spreading out around the room.  Glassy black helmets hid their faces from view.

His gaze was surgical as he studied Gavin and Valerie.  “Welcome to Battle Station
Draconian
,” he rumbled, his voice a deep avalanche of malice and curiosity.  He smiled, and it sent a chill up Gavin’s spine.  “I am Grand Ecclesiarch Ithiri’on.”

Valerie shifted uneasily.  Swallowing nervously, she said, “I’m, uh, Valerie.”

Finding his courage, Gavin took a step closer and offered his hand.  “Gavin Santiago, Navigator aboard the
Sanguine Shadow
.  It’s nice to meet you.”

Ithiri’on’s expression darkened.  “You come to me as maggots.  Remember that,” and he sneered at Gavin’s hand.  “Still, the gods sang your hymns from the crystal world, so perhaps you will be more than mere flies one day.”  His machine armor whirred and hissed as he wrung his hands.  “Why did you abandon us?”

Gavin looked uncertainly to Valerie.  Eyes wide, she shook her head, and he returned his attention to Ithiri’on.  He stammered, “A-Abandon you?”

“We came to you, as was foretold, and delivered you from the hands of your enemies.”  Furiously, he said, “Yet, when we called out to you, you abandoned us!”  He seethed, “A maggot who scoffs at the boot that crushes the bird in his name is surely a corruptor.”

Gavin’s throat bobbed visibly.  “I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”

Ithiri’on lifted him off the ground by his shoulders.

He winced in pain as the powered grips bit into his skin.  “I…  I really don’t understand.”

After a tense moment, Ithiri’on growled, “I hear no deception in your voice, but a skilled corruptor knows how to mask his wickedness.”  Unceremoniously, he dropped Gavin to the ground, and he stumbled from the impact.  “I will hold an inquisition to determine your true intent.”  He shoved Gavin back into his cell and restored the force wall.

Valerie hurried to his side as Ithiri’on led his troops from the room and sealed the door.

A moment passed before Thirili’on returned in a flash of lightning, bearing two trays and two canisters.  Upon the trays were quadrants of what looked like colorful, stewed lentils releasing wisps of steam.  Florescent pink and yellow characters dressed the canisters, surrounding a comically rendered bald woman who looked very surprised.  “A full course of goddess beans for each of you, and a can of Frooti Gulp.”  With a blank expression, he lowered the shield and passed in the food and drink.  As if dazed, the guard shook his head.  “Please excuse me.  I don’t feel well.”

Coming quickly to her senses, Valerie said, “Stay where you are.”

“Of course,” said the warden, and he stood rigidly in place.  Again, as if coming out of a stupor, he shook his head and looked very confused.  “What’s going on?  Are you doing this to me?”

“Step back and hold out your hand,” she continued.  “When you turn the force field back on, it should pass through your elbow.  With your arm outstretched, I want you to imagine the most amazing thing you’ve ever experienced.  Just keep imagining it until I tell you to stop.”

Thirili’on nodded.  “That makes perfect sense.  I’m sorry I didn’t think of it earlier.”  Dutifully, he stepped back and held and out his right arm.  With a wistful smile, he stared off and sighed happily.

“I’m sorry for this,” she whispered.

“No need to be sorry,” he said.

“Turn the force field back on.”

Their warden nodded and did as he was bidden.  Instantly, the force barrier activated, severing his arm at the elbow.  Valerie caught the stump and removed a wide digital wristband.  “This is how they travel,” she said to Gavin as he looked on in horror at the dismembered warden.  Blue blood rushed in spurts against the other side of the force barrier.

“What?” he managed, tearing his gaze from their wounded jailer.

Thirili’on stood there, smiling.

“Look, it’s a teleporter,” she explained, and she held up the wristband.  Its screen displayed a list of destinations.  “That was the lightning we saw.”  She slipped it over her wrist and took Gavin’s hand.  “Let’s see where this takes us.”

Gavin regarded her with wide eyes.  “He’s going to bleed to death!  We can’t just leave him like this!”

“We don’t have a choice.  If that huge armored guy gets his inquisition, what do you think they’ll do to us?”  She glanced back at the beds and their pulsing yellow sacs.  “I guarantee you we haven’t even thought of the ways they’ll torture us.”  She tapped the wristband, and they vanished from their cell in a bolt of lightning.

A dizzying moment followed.

Gavin and Valerie paused to get their bearings.  They had appeared within a tall, dimly lit chamber.  In the air around them, holographic symbols faded in and out as they cycled through a spectrum of colors.  Along the walls, they found prong-backed chairs and bowl-shaped tables cluttered with game pieces.  In the center of the room, a glass hemisphere hovered fixedly, showing images of dozens of ithiral men and women.  Through a high, arched doorway at the far end, a concave bed lay in wait, complete with a neck brace and recessed organic machinery.  Valerie shivered.  “They sleep on those things!”

“This must be Thirili’on’s personal chambers,” Gavin supposed.

Valerie nodded.  “Probably.”  She located a nearby door.  “This way.”

“Wait,” Gavin interjected.  “How did you do that?”

“The mind control thing?”

He nodded.

“I don’t know.  It’s never worked that way before.  I’ve only been able to read thoughts, not send them.”  Her gaze was suddenly distant.  “Expect once.”  She came to and supposed, “Maybe their brains run in reverse?  I couldn’t read him at all, but everything I suggested, he did.”

“That’s handy,” he muttered and breathed out.  “Still, poor guy.  What a terrible way to go.”

“You’re too nice, Gavin.”  With a smirk, she took his hand and urged him to follow.  “Come on.”

The door slid aside, and they peered along the starship’s grand corridors.  Overhead, roads and byways spanned soaring buildings, all enclosed by a thick inner hull painted to resemble the starry void.  At a distant intersection, figures clad in dark uniforms crossed back and forth, and two men paused to chat.  Drawing a calming breath, Valerie whispered, “On three.”  She quietly counted and bolted into the hallway with Gavin right on her heels.  Before long, they found an access hatch and climbed into a network of cramped maintenance tubes.  After he was inside, Gavin pulled the hatch closed.

“What are we doing?” he whispered as they shimmied along the passage.

“I’ll tell you when I know.”

After some travel, Valerie paused and twisted around to examine the teleport band.  Toggling away from the list of destinations, she found a three-dimensional display that was used to set bearing and distance relative to the user.  Its spherical grid shifted with her as she swung her forearm back and forth.  Below it, several anchors, presets and a history of recent teleport points faintly pulsed.  Smiling to herself, she studied their surroundings.

Luminous cubes and cascades of teardrop fans flickered and swayed as they exchanged vast amounts of data.  Labels abounded, written in Ithiral.  It only took a moment for her translator chip to send the characters to her brain in English.  After some searching, she found a bundle marked “Scanning Relay.”  She looked to Gavin with hopeful eyes and asked, “How good are you with electronics?”

“What did you have in mind?”

She pointed to the scanner relay.  “We could use that to find the
Shadow
.”

Gavin shook his head.  “I’m not that good.  Filan or Fogg, maybe, but not me.”

“No worries,” she muttered, and she propped herself against the passage.  “It was a longshot, anyway.”  The wall behind her creaked loudly, and a panel abruptly broke loose.  She slipped backward through the gap.  Gavin lunged for her an instant too late, and she landed hard on her back amidst a squad of armored soldiers.  It knocked the wind out of her.

Startled, they scrambled for their weapons, and a dozen ithiral soldiers pointed silver pistols at Valerie while she struggled for breath.  Gavin hopped down from the tube overhead, and they pointed their guns at him, instead.  He raised his hands.  Within moments, other curious ithiral crewmen had gathered round.

At last, Valerie’s voice returned, and she croaked, “Holster your gun.”  One of the soldiers did as he was bidden, and Valerie blanched.  She scanned the growing sea of onlookers.  “Gavin,” she whispered, “I think I can only affect one at a time!”

“Oh.”  He nodded anxiously.  “Great.”

“Hold fast!” a woman in the crowd shouted, and she stepped forward into view.  “These two initiates have been marked for inquisition.  Furthermore, they must provide an equivalency for the death of one of our own.”  Like the others, her clothing was black, though its seams were yellow, and a flared collar swept out from her neckline.  She was tall, gaunt, with a long neck.  Her pale features were flawless, her lines chiseled.  “I propose we pay the Court a kindness and perform the equivalency inquest here in a public forum.”

“Guardian Simiri’an,” said a stout fellow as he strode into view, “only the Grand Ecclesiarch can perform an inquisition!  Clearly, he will wish to include the equivalency inquest in the scope of his inquisition.  To stand in his place is heresy.”

She narrowed her eyes.  “Anyone from the lower protectorates is qualified to perform an equivalency inquest.  In fact, it is my duty to do so.  Regardless of what we think the High Ecclesiarch wants to do, it is my sacred charge to provide relief where ever possible.”  She straightened.  “I choose to perform it here, Cleric Rithiri’on, and I challenge you to find flaw under any of the Articles of Heresy!”