David Kantrowitz's Blog, page 7

Shadow of the Chimera (Reckless Faith VII), Chapter 11

Spoiler alert: This is a new entry for the 7th book in the Reckless Faith series. The prologue may be found here: https://devonai.wordpress.com/2022/12/15/reckless-faith-vii-prologue/

Anachronian Fleet Command was located at the bottom of the shipyard’s central column, in a large circular room. The circumference of the room had transparent decks, and wide, sweeping windows, affording an excellent view of the rest of the station and ship traffic. Toward the interior, past dozens of workstations, were private offices and the elevator banks. There was also a small conference room, usually reserved for meetings of the highest-ranking officers, and it was where Commander Shaula currently found himself.

He stood to attention as Admiral Faang entered, and the older man bid him to sit. The admiral was wearing his dress uniform, but without medals or ribbons, as was the option. His face bore the ragged scars of the hard-won peace they shared with their stellar neighbors, only adding to Shaula’s opinion that he should have retired decades ago. Despite thinking that the admiral would be better off enjoying his later years on a beach somewhere, he rarely disagreed with him. Faang was carrying a folder, and he put it on the table before sitting down.

“Let me be the first to congratulate you on your promotion, Captain Shaula,” he said, pointing at the folder.

Surprised, Shaula opened the folder, which contained a certificate. “Thank you, sir.”

“Enjoy it while you can, I pushed it through for a reason. As you know, you need to be at least a captain to be given top secret information. First, let me ask you, what do you know about the Banshees?”

“Banshees? Very little, really, just a footnote in the history books. They were an outer rim species that evolved beyond their corporeal bodies, allegedly aided in that by the Kira’To. What happened to them after that, nobody knows.”

“That right, but that’s not all we know. All of this is classified; what I’m going to tell you doesn’t leave this room.”

“Understood, sir.”

“At some point in the recent past, maybe two or three hundred years ago, they were known to and studied by the Technomaji. The story goes that the Banshees took umbrage with some of the experiments that the Technomaji were running, and turned against them. By then, they knew enough about the Banshees to develop a defense against them. The truth about Anachronia and Technomaji artifacts is that we are studying them, not sealing them in a vault to be forgotten. While the Banshees have never threatened us; indeed, we’ve never had any confirmed contact with them, their combat abilities, at least as the legend has them, would be a dire threat should they ever attack us. Our only defense may rest in one or more of those artifacts, should the extent of their power ever be discovered.”

“I’ve witnessed first-hand what that staff can do,” he replied, rubbing the back of his head where it had impacted the deck. “Now I understand why you’ve put out such a hefty bounty on the Reckless Faith and its companions.”

“We also believe that the Chimeras they encountered are what we call Banshees. Much of what Commander Scherer told us lines up with certain Technomaji archival records we’ve been able to get our hands on. Why they sent them here through a wormhole, rather than just kill them, is still unknown. However, High Command doesn’t believe it’s a coincidence.”

“Why not?”

“The only reason that makes any sense, other than pure chance, is that the Faith and their friends are actually working for the Banshees. Toward what end, they don’t know, but they don’t believe Scherer’s entire story.”

“A lie wrapped in truth is easier to hide. There is also the fact that they risked everything just to escape us with the staff. They obviously hold it to a much higher value than they let on. And yet, Scherer did seem to be genuinely willing to let us study the staff together.”

 “He could have just been looking for an excuse to make it back to his ship unimpeded.”

“I suppose. If I had known all of this a few hours ago, sir, I would have been better prepared to handle that meeting.”

Faang nodded apologetically. “I know. For decades, simply confiscating and turning in Technomaji artifacts has been all our officers needed to do. Nobody could have predicted this situation. Today’s events are why I advocated for your immediate promotion. I need a man in the field who has been properly briefed. I’m putting you in charge on dealing with the Reckless Faith or any of their companion ships if or when they’re in our custody.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Don’t get too excited. Whoever encounters them next will probably have to use force to rein them in. I don’t need to tell you how I feel about space combat.”

“For the greater good, I’ll do my duty.”

__________

The New Haven Marketplace was by far the most interesting place in the galaxy that Penrose had yet visited. Though the veteran of many pitched battles in space, he rarely ventured far from the Fox, and even though he was glad to be party to the sort of thing that Vecky and Cane claimed to do on a regular basis, he was still mostly terrified at the strange and frenetic bustle of the underground city. After they had paid their entry fee, and descended an elevator to the main drag, appropriately named Scorpion Avenue, he found his right hand resting near his concealed Beretta 92FS more often than not.

Just as apprehensive as him, Faen stuck by his side, seeming to instinctively seek safety in numbers. They also relied heavily on Vecky, and especially Cane, for visual cues on how they should be carrying themselves, or what to pay attention to. The latter was a challenge, as Scorpion Ave was a panoply of distractions, with every manner of activity one would expect from a society on the razor’s edge of anarchy. They wandered up and down the street until Cane stopped and pointed at a particular establishment.

“A gambling den?” asked Vecky. “That’s where you want to start?”

“Alcohol may lubricate a conversation,” he began, “but alcohol and sudden debt are better for demanding answers.”

“What are the odds you’ll even find a game you know how to play?”

“I’m a quick study.”

The door to the building was nothing more than a curtain hanging from a rod, so they pushed it aside and entered. The interior smelled like opium to Penrose, the acrid stench burning his nostrils, and Vecky and Faen turned up their noses. In the tiny vestibule, a fat Rakhar stood. He raised an eyebrow at the strangers, then scanned them with a small device.

“You there,” he mumbled, gesturing at Cane. “You carrying a bomb or something?”

“It’s a fusion pistol,” he replied, gathering back the hem of his jacket so the Rakhar could see it.

“You must have half a brain if you think I’ll let you inside with that thing. You’ll have to leave it with me if you want to gamble.”

Vecky said, “Give it to me. I’d rather wait outside; it smells like a burning outhouse in here.”

Cane shrugged, and handed it to her. “I don’t have to remind you how expensive the ammo is.”

“I’ll try to avoid turning anybody inside-out while you’re busy.”

Vecky exited back to the street, and the bouncer waved the rest of them inside. Penrose was mildly surprised the man didn’t have a problem with their pistols, but he had to guess that such technology was seen as less dangerous. It also made him that much more nervous, since that meant anyone else in there might also have projectile weapons. He hoped Cane knew what he was doing.

The smoky, dimly-lit interior was one large room, with about a dozen tables, most of which were occupied. A few had open seats, and after browsing the various games being played, Cane sat down. At the table was a male Kau’Rii, a man Penrose recognized to be a Residerian, according to the Faith’s reports, and the third woman was a species he couldn’t identify. All had drinks in front of them, and the Kau’Rii was rather obviously drunk. The game being played consisted of a hundred or so colorful tiles with various symbols on them; Penrose would have compared it to Mahjong, and it was equally incomprehensible to him.

Cane waited for the round to finish, and pulled out several ingots of gold while the woman laughed and tapped on her PDA, presumably confirming the transfer of funds from the losers. She was a corpulent humanoid, with golden skin, and any other features Penrose might otherwise notice were buried under a billowy cascade of tawny dreadlocks. Cane’s luck held true, as the game had concluded, and the woman gathered the tiles at the center. Cane waited for each of the other players to agree to the type and amount of his wager, and the woman distributed nine tiles to each of them.

The game continued over the next twenty minutes, its play and progression still a mystery, until Cane won a round. This process was repeated several more times, with Penrose and Faen eventually sitting at an empty table just to rest. After his first defeat, the Residerian had bought Cane a drink, but much to his chagrin, Cane barely touched it, preferring to remain of sound mind and give the other three players a thoroughly embarrassing beating instead. After several rounds, the Kau’Rii leaned over and whispered to Cane, and the game continued.

Losing again, the Kau’Rii cursed, and stood up. Cane gestured away from the table, offering the other man a private conversation, and made eye contact with Penrose and Faen. They joined him, and backed the Kau’Rii into a corner. Though the Rakhar guard saw this, he made no effort to stop it.

“Relax,” Cane was saying. “I’ll settle your debt in exchange for information.”

The Kau’Rii slurred his speech. “What do you want to know?”

“What can you tell us about the Technomaji?”

His hand moved toward his belt. “Is that a joke? I’m not going to answer that.”

“You can’t, or you won’t?”

“Won’t. If you’re not from around here, then you should know questions like that will put you in a shallow grave. Same for me, if I’m caught answering.”

“Where might we find someone more willing to sell us info about them?”

“If I suddenly got weary of living, and I had more money than I knew what to do with, I would ask the most ferocious group of mercenaries I could find. Someone who defend themselves from the likes of the Anachronians.”

“Are any of them known to hang out in New Haven?”

“Probably, I don’t know.”

“What do you know about Chimeras?”

“Never heard of him.”

Cane looked at his friends. “Come on, we’re wasting our time with this guy.”

The Kau’Rii shrugged. “So, that’s it? We’re square?”

“Sure, don’t worry about it.”

“Hey,” said the Residerian, “Are you going to give us a chance to win our money back, or what?”

“You know what they say, quit while you’re ahead.”

Cane led the others back to the vestibule, and asked the same questions to the bouncer. He didn’t respond to the Technomaji or Chimeras, but gave a gruff response when asked about mercenaries.

“The Poisoned Quill,” he uttered.

The trio emerged onto the street. Vecky was sitting at a café across from them, holding a disposable cup, and looking bored. Cane told her what had happened inside.

“You were in there for almost three hours, and that’s all you got?” she asked, handing him his pistol. “If we were looking for mercs, we could have found some already.”

Cane smirked. “You can’t rush good detective work.”

“Uh huh. I think you just wanted to gamble.”

The group began to look for the establishment that the bouncer had named. They found it easily enough, as it was the busiest bar on the street. Patrons had spilled out onto the roadway, having animated conversations, and a balcony on the second floor seemed to be in danger of collapsing from the large crowd standing on it.

“Double-check that your valuables are secure,” said Cane.

As they were preparing to enter, Penrose noticed a female humanoid and a male Rakhar who appeared to be paying attention to them. The woman was of a species that he recognized from the Faith’s reports, distinct in the way that the top of her ears sprouted long hair that was combed into the hair on her head. The Rakhar was wearing a large dagger on his belt. Both were wearing something resembling a flight suit.

“Hey,” he began, tapping Cane on the shoulder. “Isn’t that woman over there an Umberian?”

Cane glanced at her. “Yup. She’s a long way from home.”

“I’d say so. Anyway, just now she was looking at her PDA, and then us.”

Vecky scrunched her brow. “She could be a shuffler.”

“Shuffler, cop, merc, one of those types,” replied Cane. “Let’s see what she might tell us.”

The group approached the pair. The woman typed something on her PDA, then put it in her pocket. Penrose dodged a local who sped by on a tricycle, then quickened his pace to catch up.

“I sense a soul in search of answers,” said the Umberian.

“We’re looking to exchange element 79 for information,” said Vecky. “What’s your trade?”

“Freelancers. I’m Captain Lesath.”

“Same here. Captain Kitsune.”

“Shall we find somewhere quieter to talk?”

Lesath gestured toward an alleyway, so Vecky and her group followed her and the Rakhar.

“You wouldn’t rather go to a nice café?” asked Cane, looking over his shoulder.

“For what, a five-minute conversation? How much info could you possibly need?”

Though the alleyway was deserted, and indeed much quieter, it was also grimy and lined with trash. Penrose tried not to step in any of the rancid pools of water that dotted its cobblestone surface. Vecky displayed a few ingots of gold, then put them back in her jacket pocket. Reluctant to get any closer, Cane hung back by the intersection with the main street. Faen seemed oblivious to any danger, and stood beside the rest of them. Vecky told the pair what they were looking for, and Lesath mulled it over for a moment before replying.

“The Order of the Technomaji has gone into hiding. You’ll be hard-pressed to find any info about them, let alone one of their kind. As for Chimeras, I believe around here they’re called Banshees, and are equally as evasive. Considering that everything you have belongs to us now, don’t bother trying to figure out a payment.”

“Hey,” barked Cane.

Two men had appeared at the entrance to the alley, a Kau’Rii and a species Penrose couldn’t identify. They were dressed similarly to Lesath and her friend, and the Kau’Rii had a pistol screwed into the small of Cane’s back. The other guy pointed a pistol at the group. Taking advantage of the brief distraction, Lesath and the Rakhar also drew their weapons. Vecky, Faen, and Penrose instinctively went for their own sidearms, but it was obvious that drawing them would be fatal. They had all been caught flat-footed.

Lesath said, “This is an authorized corral, referencing 49 GLC 173.185. You are ordered to surrender yourselves.”

“Fucking shufflers,” muttered Cane.

“On whose order?” asked Vecky, livid.

“You seem smart, though not smart enough to avoid this. Figure it out.”

“The Anachronians,” said Faen.

“Come on, then,” Lesath said, gesturing. “Let’s have your weapons, nice and easy.”

Vecky took a deep breath, and said, “Kobayashi Maru.”

Penrose’s adrenaline spiked at the order, knowing full well what was about to happen. In a blur, Vecky and Cane leapt into action. The sound of energy pistol fire filled the air, and Penrose stepped to his left and drew his Beretta. Before him, Vecky had managed to dodge Lesath’s attempt to shoot her, and had drawn her own weapon, before getting caught in a wrestling match with the larger woman. The Rakhar brandished his curved dagger, and lunged at Faen, who in response, back-pedaled until she tripped over a black plastic garbage bag and landed in a puddle. Penrose heard shots from the street, but didn’t have time to see what was going on there. Instead, he put the front sight of his pistol over the Rakhar’s torso, and squeezed the trigger.

Aiming center-mass, his shots were true, but the Rakhar’s hulking form lurched ahead as if impervious to the onslaught. Faen managed to get her own pistol into action, firing from the ground, and between the two of them, their frantic fusillade brought him down. Vecky, meanwhile, had wrenched Lesath’s pistol from her hands, and tried to shoot her one-handed as the Umberian ran full-speed in the opposite direction. Lesath disappeared around the corner, and Penrose turned his attention to the main drag. The Kau’Rii lay face-down on the pavement, and neither Cane nor the other man could be seen.

“Watch that corner,” Vecky said to Faen, indicating the far end of the alley.

Faen unsteadily rose to her feet, and kept her weapon pointed in that direction. Vecky discarded her extra pistol, in favor of keeping a two-handed grip on her own sidearm, and dashed toward Scorpion Ave. Cane appeared and shed his jacket, revealing a garish gunshot wound to his upper right arm.

“I tagged that asshole,” he said, “but he got me, too.”

Vecky and Faen kept an eye out in both directions. Penrose ran over to Cane. The main street was markedly less populated than before, but a few inebriated patrons of the bar across the way gawked at the scene. Penrose unlimbered his rucksack, and retrieved a tourniquet. He applied it underneath Cane’s armpit, and the other man groaned in pain as he tightened the windlass.

“We need to get back to the Fox right away if you want to keep this arm,” said Penrose.

“That would be preferable.”

Penrose checked Vecky and Faen, who bore no injuries. Faen holstered her pistol.

“I smell like wet garbage,” Faen said morosely.

“Consider yourself lucky,” said Vecky. “Come on, let’s get out of here. We have to warn the Reckless Faith.”

Shadow of the Chimera (Reckless Faith VII), Chapter 10

Spoiler alert: This is a new entry for the 7th book in the Reckless Faith series. The prologue may be found here: https://devonai.wordpress.com/2022/12/15/reckless-faith-vii-prologue/

The New Haven Marketplace was a sprawling underground complex, crammed with shops, questionable restaurants, bars, cheap lodging, and flophouses. It had been built decades earlier as a colony for an apocalyptic cult, whose members and wealthy benefactors believed that the end of the world was inevitable, and life on the surface would be impossible. Though that never happened, on a typical Saturday night, one might think the world was about to end with the amount of drunken debauchery to be found. Wei Zhu Lesath didn’t like being there, especially late at night, but it was great for business.

That night, she found herself sitting street-side at a café stand on Scorpion Avenue, a corridor that spanned the entire length of the complex. It was the only space in the complex that was two stories in height, so it wasn’t nearly as claustrophobic as the rest of it, but it was also the rowdiest street there. Still, crime wasn’t as rampant as one might imagine, as extra-judicial punishments were the norm, and a hapless thief might quickly discover one or both of their hands removed from their bodies. Other, more serious crimes, were dealt with just as harshly. Such a system wasn’t exactly reassuring, so Lesath’s pistol was always ready by her side.

Though her primary occupation was bounty hunting, she also dabbled in gun-running when bounties were hard to come by. Today was such a day, and the dozen plasma rifles in the hold on her ship held the promise of a paycheck that would tide her and her crew over for a few weeks. The rifles were older technology, bulkier and less efficient than newer models, but still quite deadly. And while she could have sold them legally on a few planets within her reach, the duties, taxes, and paperwork made it more appealing to find a black-market buyer.

So she sat, waiting for her contact to arrive, sipping a beer with an offensively-low alcohol content, and tried to make it clear to anyone observing her that she was paying attention to her surroundings. Across the street, keeping his eye on her, was her first mate, Sargas, a Rakhar with golden brown fur and arms as wide as his own head. A bit of a character, Sargas didn’t carry a gun, only a Rakhar battle blade, proudly displayed on his belt. He was of the opinion that his size and soft-spoken demeanor was enough to keep him safe, and who was Lesath to argue? It had worked for him so far. Even so, there had been at least one situation that would have been resolved more easily if Sargas had just shot the guy, rather than close the distance and decapitate him.

“Don’t lose your head,” he had said, then laughed so hard that Lesath thought her implants would shake loose. Such levity was rare from the man; usually people thought he was angry all the time. Instead, he was level-headed and trustworthy, and Lesath was glad to have him on her side. He stood like a statue on the other side of the road, his eyes hidden behind his augmented sunglasses, as a sea of wobbly pedestrians, suicidal bicyclists, and homicidal rickshaw drivers went by. He waited with unwavering patience, a trait that Lesath could stand to improve for herself. She finished her beer, despite nursing it for thirty minutes, and ordered another.

She made it halfway through the glass when a Z’Sorth approached her. It was wearing a hooded cloak, as if it wanted to live up to a certain stereotype, and gathered its squat frame up onto the stool next to her. Saying nothing, it simply slid a holocredit chip across the counter to her. She scanned it with her PDA, verifying the funds, and nodded at the Z’Sorth.

“The Antares is in orbit,” she said lowly. “Where do you want to do the transfer?”

The creature pulled out its PDA, typed on it, then displayed to her a set of terrestrial coordinates. Lesath entered the information into her own device, then smiled at her guest. The Z’Sorth plopped back onto the pavement, and shuffled off from whence it came. She pushed the glass toward the other side of the counter, glad to be done with the ruse of enjoying it, and crossed the street to Sargas.

“Chatty fellow,” she said. “He wants us to meet him at a set of coordinates that correspond to a point just outside of Regolith, on the northeast continent.”

“Isn’t Regolith abandoned?” he asked.

“I don’t know, I’ve never been there.”

“Well, it was, last I knew. If that’s still true, then it’s a good a place as any.”

“All right, then. Let’s head back to the Antares.”

The pair made their way down Scorpion Ave until they reached the main set of elevators. Two locals flanked the way to the cars, armed with rifles, and Lesath showed them the receipt that proved they had already paid their entry fees. That done, they boarded a car and returned to the surface. The elevator building was in the middle of an arid desert, surrounded by dunes, and isolated by a hundred miles from the nearest settlement. A fleet of six bulldozers sat nearby, necessary to keep both the building and a respectable landing area clear of sand. The lot they kept clear currently had over two dozen ships and shuttles parked there, and they weaved between them to reach their own shuttle. The tiny vessel barely fit both of them, but it was small enough to fit inside the bay of its host ship. They boarded, and Sargas fired it up.

Lesath let him worry about flying, and synced her PDA with its on-board computer. A message had been forwarded to her by D’Schubba, her Residerian engineer. It was a new bounty offer.

“Check this out,” she began, “Anachrona has just posted a new corral. Four million sectarian credits, if you can believe it.”

Sargas grunted as he pushed the shuttle through the stratosphere. “You know what they say about things that are too good to be true, boss.”

“Yeah, well, it costs nothing to register as an interested party.” She scrutinized the posting further. “They want us to capture a ship, with a consolation prize of a hundred thousand for providing its whereabouts, or that of five of its supposed allies. There are names and diagrams of all six vessels here. Last known location, Anachronia.”

“What’s the name of the quarry?”

“Temeraria Fides. That translates as Reckless Faith.”

__________

Faen Leonid sat on the bridge of the Fox, watching with fascination as the ship approached a planet named Far Reach. Though she was being treated well on the Percheron, they persisted in regarding her as a neophyte, and while the circumstances that led her there seemed to justify that perception, she had grown increasingly unsatisfied with being marginalized and coddled. Having almost unlimited access to their database, and after learning as much as she could about each vessel in their ad hoc alliance, she had requested a place on the Fox. While the Reckless Faith offered a similar lifestyle, she believed she would be more useful on Kitsune’s ship. Though everyone seemed rather wrapped up in whatever the hell was going on, she was afforded the time to make her case to Reveki and the rest of her crew.

It was then that she learned that the Fox had recently lost their best engineer, a Kau’Rii named Arture Talyn, who had been killed in combat. A simple verbal interview with Captain Kitsune, Mister Venator, and the Parmenter siblings, was enough to convince them that she was qualified enough for the role. Christie had replicated for her some clothing, an EVA suit, a sidearm, and other field accoutrements, and then Faen was transferred to the Fox. Whether or not she would be happy there remained to be seen, but at least she now had her own quarters.

She was particularly excited that afternoon, because the Fox had been given an interesting mission. Far Reach had been identified as a world where they could probably purchase information without interference, and while it seemed unlikely that anyone there would have scanners as advanced as Anachronia, the Terran and Vastuvian ships were going to hold back at around 5 AU just in case. The Fox was a natural candidate for the task, as its design was less likely to draw attention than the others; not by virtue of its appearance, but by its conventional engine and weaponry. It would burn a lot of fuel to land it, but apparently the Reckless Faith could simply replicate more fuel for them.

So off they went, with a fresh supply of element 79 to try to entice some sellers into parting with their knowledge. The rest of the crew of the Fox was also excited to explore a new world, especially since so little was known about Far Reach. The info they got from the Anachronians about it was cursory, at best. The planet itself was an otherwise unremarkable blue-green world, 0.9 AU from its host star. Cane had been scanning the area since they dropped out of FTL, and now that Vecky had brought them to within visual range, he scrutinized the results.

“I’m still not reading any ship traffic,” he said. “There are a dozen or so satellites in orbit; all of them are broadcasting signals, but only three of them are unencrypted, and they’re part of a weather monitoring system. There are no automated welcome messages. Ship traffic appears to be unregulated.”

“That certainly simplifies things,” replied Vecky. “I’m going to establish an orbit at three hundred kilometers, one OPM. Let’s see if we can spot some larger cities.”

Vecky maneuvered the ship until they were in orbit. Off the port side, the planet took up their entire field of view. Cities were hard to spot with the naked eye at that distance, but as they swung around to the night side of the planet, several locations were easily recognizable.

“It’s pretty sparsely populated. According to our scanners, only four of those metropolises look like they’re over a hundred thousand in population. Most cities appear to be a tenth of that, or less.”

“I’d like to choose one of the larger cities on the daytime side. Without anything else to go on, let’s hope our first guess is fruitful.”

There were no objections, so Vecky prepared the ship for entry and guided it into the atmosphere. The city she had chosen was nestled within a horseshoe-shaped ridge of mountains on the southwestern continent; snow-capped peaks gave birth to rivulets on their slopes, which coalesced into a fair-sized river which bisected the city. Though sprawling in area, the city’s buildings were generally uniform in appearance, with most not exceeding ten stories, and a small extension of suburbs ringed it on three sizes. As they drew closer, it was apparent that while streets and infrastructure had been planned for the suburban areas, construction had been halted at some point. A slow circle around the city revealed entire blocks that had finished roads, but no buildings.

A half a mile to the east of the bulk of the settlement was a larger building that was meant as either a trade port or a space port; the lack of any activity made it difficult to tell. Still, it offered plenty of hard-top to use as a landing spot, so Vecky brought the Fox toward a clear section just south of the dome-shaped structure. She had maneuvered close enough to the ground to see faded lines painted on the pavement, when a transmission was received.

“We’re being hailed,” said Cane. “Audio only.”

“Put it through.”

A stilted voice could be heard, obviously artificial in construct. “Delphinus-class vessel, landing fees to Valley Crest are five hundred thousand sectarian credits. You must present a form of payment before you will be allowed to land.”

“Any idea how much that is in terms we can understand?”

“No fucking clue.”

“All right, then. Open the channel. Valley Crest, we are willing to pay the landing fee, but we need more information…”

Vecky’s message was cut off by a barrage of large plasma bolts that shot across their bow, from previously unnoticed batteries to the west. She punched her flight controls, juking backwards for a moment before pulling back on the stick and heading for clear skies.

“They’re still firing at us.”

“What the hell? They can get all the way fucked.”

By the time the Fox had reached thirty thousand feet, incoming fire had ceased.

“We should teach them a lesson,” began Dalia, “and take out those plasma batteries.”

Cane rolled his eyes. “It would be fun, but there are plenty of other cities to try. We’re trying to make friends here, remember?”

“Just get me the coordinates for the next closest city, would you?” asked Vecky.

Cane displayed the requested information on the HUD, and Vecky steered the ship in that direction. It only took about five minutes to get there. The next location was on the coast of the same continent, at the delta of the river that formed at Valley Crest. This one was about half the size of the one previous, but had taller buildings and a much smaller suburban area. As they drew closer, Vecky spotted a parking lot outside of what looked like a grocery store. Completely empty of any vehicles, it made for an acceptable place to land. As the ship made contact with the ground, it became clear that the store had been closed for a long time.

Vecky locked down the flight controls, then spoke. “All right, Penrose, Sam, Dalia, I want two of you to stay here and mind the ship. Flip a coin or something.”

Penrose smirked. “So, you’re just going to assume that you, Cane, and Faen are going out?”

She elbowed him on the shoulder. “I’m in charge, Cane has street-smarts, and Faen hasn’t smelled fresh air in years. I’m just trying to be fair.”

Sam produced a coin, and the trio in question quickly figured out who would be the lucky winner, though the honor would be dubious if they were all killed. Penrose won, much to his satisfaction.

Dalia frowned. “You really think sending such a skilled doctor into the field is wise?”

“Call it a morale effort. I don’t need anyone here getting bored; I’m not the only employer in the galaxy. Come on, then, let’s get kitted up.”

Faen was beside herself with glee as she and the others grabbed sidearms, body armor, and a few basic supplies. She had been given by Christie a pistol called a Beretta PX4, and while the moniker meant nothing to her, it had been easy for her to learn how to use it, with Evangeline providing the instruction. Of all the choices offered to her, she liked it the most.

The body armor was a concealable type that protected the torso, and was constructed of tightly-woven synthetic fibers and front-and-back ceramic plates, the latter meant to absorb energy at the expense of their own integrity. Together, the combination had been proven to be effective against both projectile and energy weapons, though she had been advised that it was still preferable not to be hit in the first place.

Once they were ready to go, she and the others gathered at the starboard-side airlock, and Vecky opened both sets of doors. She then extended a set of stairs to the pavement, and they exited the ship. Faen paused briefly to take in a deep breath of the planet’s air, reveling in how crisp and fresh it felt. As Vecky had mentioned, it had been a long time since she’d visited any world other than her home planet.

It was about a kilometer to the city proper from there, and their walk was uneventful. As they approached, they observed a marked increase in normal metropolitan activity, including businesses, vehicle traffic, and pedestrians. The locals were humanoid of amphibian origin, though at this point in their evolution they appeared more like primates than their froggy ancestors. Still, the lineage was undeniable, especially in their faces. For the most part, they were ignored, though some of the more curious folks gave them greater than just a cursory glance.

They had traversed several blocks, passing increasingly tall skyscrapers, until they found what they were looking for. A restaurant serving alcohol, busy with customers, lay before them. Faen noticed that there were no other species inside, a fact that gave her pause, but Vecky and Cane seemed undeterred by this. So they entered, claimed an unoccupied table, and waited. Eventually, a waitress approached them, her large, round eyes reflecting multiple light sources. Fortunately, the translation earpieces they were all wearing had no problem with her language.

“You guys lost?” she asked.

“Not really,” replied Vecky. “We’re new to this sector, and we’re trying to gather information about it. We tried Valley Crest just now, but they were less than accommodating.”

The waitress made a guttural sound. “Yes, they’re rather cautious of outsiders.”

“That’s putting it mildly. We’re glad this city is more welcoming. What do you call it?”

Faen’s translator gave its best guess at the response. “Pacifica.”

“Thank you. We’ll start with some beer.”

“Beer?”

“Uh… an alcoholic beverage fermented from grain and/or barley.”

“Okay. I’ll bring over a sampler for each of you, then you can tell me if any of them suit your fancy.”

“Sounds good.”

The waitress went up to the bar. Penrose looked at Vecky.

“You’re not going to ask her anything else?”

“All in good time,” said Cane.

A few minutes later, the waitress returned with four planks, each bearing five small glasses of liquid ranging in color from amber to dark brown. After carefully placing them on the table, she produced a piece of paper from a pocket on her apron and put it down in front of them. Faen had to guess that it was a description of the drinks, though she had no hope of reading the language. Vecky retrieved a small, thin gold ingot and offered it to her.

“Is this element 79?” she asked, the translator changing the word for them from what she actually said.

“Yes,” said Vecky.

“This looks like way too much.”

“Consider it a tip, and also a way for us to ask you a question.”

She put the ingot in her pants pocket. “Go ahead.”

“As I mentioned, we’re in need of information about this sector; in addition to basic stuff like military powers, their spheres of influence, and known threats, we also need to know where to get work, whether routine transport, escorts, or even mercenary opportunities.”

“Far Reach wasn’t your best bet, we’re fairly isolated here. However, there is a place where you can probably find what you’re looking for, in one form or another. I’d recommend you visit the New Haven Marketplace.”

Shadow of the Chimera (Reckless Faith VII), Chapter 9

Spoiler alert: This is a new entry for the 7th book in the Reckless Faith series. The prologue may be found here: https://devonai.wordpress.com/2022/12/15/reckless-faith-vii-prologue/

The Anachronia VI shipyard was more than just a place for ships to be repaired and retrofitted; it was also the largest space station any of them had ever seen. Starting from the moment the Reckless Faith dropped out of FTL and through their approach to the station, its true size became apparent compared to their ships. Its center section was a massive torus, at least a full kilometer in diameter. It rotated around a wide central column, which was connected by pylons. Above and below the torus were fixed docking gantries, extending out like tree branches, and there were currently several ships being worked on at various positions. The gas giant behind it swirled with colors of muted brown and orange.

The Fox, Reckless Faith, and Percheron had been given permission to dock with the torus section, while the Vastus ships had been ordered by the locals to take up orbits around a large moon on the opposite side of the planet. Ari didn’t know exactly why, but it was easy to guess the reason. Once docked, they had met with a contingent of their hosts, and led through the expansive main concourse of the torus to a conference room. The Anachronians were typical humanoids, on the average thinner and taller than humans. While the men all had facial hair, both the men and women were completely bald. Their skin also had a silvery sheen to it, which Ari somehow found both beautiful and repulsive at the same time.

They had been asked to board the station unarmed. Normally rue to do that, Ari was too curious about everything to pass up the opportunity to participate in the meeting. They had been escorted to the conference room not only by several officers, but also by two guards armed with pistols, who seemed to be taking their duties very seriously. If things were about to go sideways, there was little any of them could do about it. She could only hope it wasn’t a setup.

Present from their alliance, other than Ari, were Vecky, Cane, John, Dietrich, and Brockway. Admiral Praxis had been given permission to monitor the impending conversation by radio, though if he had been a little more patient, the Supernova could have launched a shuttle to take him there. The table in the conference room had sufficient seating for everyone, and a beverage cart had been placed near the door. The Anachronians offered their guests something to drink, then bid them to take a seat.

They had already met Commander Shaula, an older man with a gray beard. He started off the meeting by introducing the other officers, then allowed John to give him a heavily redacted version of how they ended up in this part of the galaxy. Despite leaving out many details, he did reveal everything that they knew about the Chimeras. When John had finished, Shaula responded.

“It sounds like you’re all lucky to be alive. I can tell you that we don’t know anything about the Chimeras, and I’m fairly certain there’s no record of any such encounters by us or any other planet in our sector. I would have to review the archives to be sure.”

“That effort would be appreciated,” replied John. “Considering the daunting proposition of returning home with such adverse effects, we intend to stay in the area for at least a few weeks. Ultimately, pure exploration and discovery are part of our reason for being, though we would certainly be happy to learn more about the Chimeras.”

A beeping sound alerted Shaula to his PDA, and he pulled it out of his pocket and gave it some scrutiny. “Hmm. I hate to be rude to guests, but our security personnel have reported a violation. They have detected an unauthorized weapon aboard the Reckless Faith, and our laws require us to confiscate it.”

John raised his eyebrows in surprise, and shared concerned glances with his colleagues. “Okay. Care to elaborate?”

“It’s an object a meter and a half long, and three centimeters wide. You must turn it over to us.”

“You’re going to have to give us more info if you expect us to comply with that order,” said Ari.

“Syberarcaninae technology is forbidden in our system,” said Shaula, visibly tensing up. “There is no need for panic, my friends. I’m sure you have no idea how dangerous it is. I’m afraid our requirement is non-negotiable. For the sake of all of your vessels, I urge you to comply.”

“Our translators tripped over that word,” said John. “Syberarcaninae?”

“Systematic treatment magicians is the literal definition, I believe.”

Christie’s voice filled their ears. “Excuse me. A better translation would be Technomaji.”

“Understood,” said John. “Commander Shaula, we have no idea who the Syberarcaninae, or Technomaji, are. The object you describe is a simple hardwood staff, no more dangerous than any other blunt object.”

“It’s also not ours to give you,” said Vecky.

Shaula said, “Regardless of what you believe it to be, or who it belongs to, we cannot let you leave in peace without it in our possession.”

“Might I propose a compromise?” asked Dietrich. “If the staff is some arcane object like you claim it to be, help us study it and we can learn from each other.”

Shaula’s PDA was beeping at him again, but he continued the conversation.

“You don’t understand. We’d be doing you a favor. Items like this can be just as dangerous to the user as to anyone else. There is a story of an entire ship being destroyed because the crew tried to use a Technomaji artifact.”

John said, “That’s not your problem. Let us go, and I promise that the Faith, and the item on board, will never return here. Good enough?”

Shaula looked at his PDA. “No, Commander Scherer, it’s not good enough. If you don’t hand over the artifact, we’ll have no choice but to place you and Miss Ferro under arrest.”

“Let’s all just take a step back here for a minute,” said Dietrich. “The last thing we wanted was to cause trouble for you. However, the staff may be instrumental to our discovery of a defense against the Chimeras. Unless you would be willing to work with us on that matter, we cannot surrender it.”

Shaula considered this for a moment. “Hand it over, and we’ll look at your sensor data. Since you seemed genuinely unaware of its illegality here, I’m confident we can remain on friendly terms.”

“Can we have a few minutes to discuss it?”

“I suppose.”

Gesturing to his colleagues and the guards, Shaula led them out of the room.

“You can’t seriously be considering handing it over,” said Vecky.

“With all due respect,” began Cane, “I’m not sure you’re being rational. The staff may have potential, but an alliance with these folks is important. If we’re to spend any time in this part of the galaxy, we should comply with their request.”

Ari said, “True, but it’s still a bad trade. We don’t have any actual sensor data to give them, remember? If they’ve never encountered the Chimeras, then they’re not going to be able to tell us shit.”

“Damn it, you’re right,” muttered John.

Brockway said, “Also, if other planets in this area have the same kind of scanning technology as the Anachronians, and what Shaula said is true, then we’re going to get harassed about the staff wherever we go.”

“Unless we can develop a countermeasure. Captain Kitsune, we’re in a tough spot. I can’t order you to turn over the staff, but I’m also not willing to try to fight our way out of here. I say give it to them for now, to keep the peace. Maybe we can convince them to give it back later.”

Vecky sighed. “Fine. I just feel like we were so close to figuring something out about it.”

“Thank you. I’ll have it brought over.” John looked into the air. “Christie, are you still listening?”

“I’m here,” came the reply.

“Have somebody bring the staff aboard the station. We’ll meet them at the security checkpoint.”

“Wilco.”

The group went back out onto the concourse, and John approached Shaula.

“We’ve agreed to your terms. Someone from the Faith is bringing the staff aboard now.”

Shaula looked annoyed. “I wish you had told me first. There are special procedures for handling Technomaji artifacts. I’ll have to cordon off the security checkpoint and call in more guards.”

“Sorry.”

Shaula turned to the pair of armed guards already there. “You two, go with Commander Scherer and Miss Ferro back to their ship. The rest of you are free to explore the public areas of the concourse, visit a shop or restaurant, whatever you want.”

“Thanks, but we each have some minor repairs to complete, so we’ll all return to our ships. We appreciate the offer.”

“As you wish. Follow me, please.”

The other officers headed away in the opposite direction from the rest of the group, and they headed back to the section of the station where the three ships were docked. Vecky, Cane, Dietrich, and Brockway returned to their respective ships, leaving the rest of them standing just outside of the security checkpoint for the Faith. Through the doorway to the checkpoint, they could see Evangeline standing there with the staff in one hand. She waved half-heartedly at the others.

A couple of minutes later, five more security guards arrived, armed with rifles, and wearing bulky body armor. People walking up and down the concourse gawked at the scene, but didn’t stop to observe further. Shaula entered the checkpoint, and walked up to Eva.

“So, do I get a receipt or something?” she asked.

“This item will be locked in a vault,” began Shaula, “never to be seen by humanoid eyes again.”

“It’s a shame,” she said, offering him the staff. “You should study advanced technology, not fear it.”

Shaula reached for the staff. It glowed briefly, then a shockwave blasted out from it, knocking over Shaula, all seven security guards, and John and Ari. The latter two quickly picked themselves up off the deck, but all of the Anachronians were out cold.

“Christie,” John shouted, “tell the other ships to get the hell out of here, now!”

“Okay,” she replied.

John and Ari rushed forward, joined Eva, and scrambled onto the Faith. John mashed the airlock controls, and the doors slid shut.

“We’re aboard, go light! Pick a set of coordinates on the heliopause and transmit it to our fleet.”

“Got it.”

The Zero-G room shuddered slightly around them as the ship entered FTL. Eva looked at the staff as if it had just transformed into a live grenade.

“What the fuck did you do?” asked Ari.

Eva stammered. “I… I was just thinking how great it would be if the staff had some sort of incapacitating attack that could get us out of here. Then it happened.”

“I think you’ve cracked the code,” said John. “Come on, let’s get to the bridge.”

The trio traversed the top deck until they got to the bridge. The rest of the Faith’s crew was there, and Milly was piloting, as usual. John explained to them what had just happened.

“Holy shit,” said Ray.

“Good job,” began Christie, “but we’ve just made ourselves persona non grata in this system. Fortunately, Petty Officer Telinth was kind enough to share with us a chart of neighboring stars. There are several systems within striking distance for all of us that we can try next.”

“We’ve got some work to do first,” said John. “If we’re to have peaceful contact with others, we need to find out how the Anachronians spotted the staff in the first place, and if we can’t, then one of our ships is going to have to volunteer to take it and hold back while the rest of us approach them.”

“I think we may have a head start on that,” said Eva. “Christie detected an unusually high wave of directed neutrinos that passed through our ship, moments before we docked with the station. At the same time, I noticed that the staff glowed blue. She has a theory. Christie?”

Christie nodded. “Yes. First of all, we can assume that the neutrino wave was a scanner, that much is already known. But, the sheer number of neutrinos that hit us was of a volume far in excess of what our own NDSS can generate, more in line with what a young O3 main sequence star would emit. Now as most of you already know, neutrinos are tiny subatomic particles, bearing almost no mass. The odds of any single neutrino impacting an atom are a billion-to-one.

Our own NDSS has to stream millions per second at an object to get a reading we can use, but the longer we scan, the better the results. Usually, scanning anything for a few seconds gets us the data we need. The volume of neutrinos that the Anachronians used is the equivalent of running our NDSS for almost an hour and a half. Now, if something that wasn’t emitting light started doing so when bombarded with neutrinos, and the sensors were finely calibrated, they’d be able to notice the difference. If that’s true, then it also might give us a hint about the staff’s peculiar properties.”

“So, what’s causing a quantum leap in its electrons?” asked Eva.

“Exactly! Given a high enough volume of neutrinos…”

“Wait a minute,” interrupted Richter. “Quantum leap? Like the TV show?”

“In physics, that term refers not to something amazing, but a routine phenomenon that happens all around us, all the time. Properly referred to as a quantum jump, it’s simply the excitation of an atomic system from a lower energy state to a higher one. In this case, electrons. Normally, non-radioactive atoms maintain their own equilibrium, with electrons in a steady orbit, or shell. When subjected to EM radiation, or alpha particles, the electrons briefly gain energy, causing them to jump or leap to a higher shell. The mass of the atomic nucleus can’t maintain that, so the excess energy is released a nanosecond later, usually in the form of a photon. This is why phosphates glow under blacklight, or how your tritium night sights work. In the case of the latter, tritium emits alpha particles which excite the phosphorous atoms in the capsule.”

“Neat.”

“As I was saying, given a high enough volume of neutrinos, eventually one of them is going to interact with an atomic structure in such a way to cause a quantum jump. Even our own NDSS could cause this phenomenon; say someone on the Fox sat in a completely dark room while I scanned the ship. They would probably see a few random flashes of photons here and there. However, our scans did not cause the staff to emit light, at least not at any appreciable level.”

“But what’s the difference between the staff and any other object on board?” asked John.

“That’s the million-dollar question. My theory is that somehow, the electrons of its atoms are already in their highest possible energy state, sort of like a battery. The Technomaji figured out how to energize it, and stabilize it, with that energy being released on demand by the user. In such a state, the odds of neutrinos causing a quantum jump would be much, much higher. Add the more advanced scanner that the Anachronians used, and you get the obvious blue glow that Eva witnessed.”

“That’s sounds like a solid theory to me. From where does it draw energy to recharge itself?”

Christie chuckled. “Who knows? Maybe the same mysterious energy source that the meta state of our neptunium does. If I could answer that, I’d be the smartest person on Earth.”

Devonai said, “Do you think there’s any truth to the claim that we could accidentally destroy ourselves trying to use it?”

“I have a strong feeling,” began Eva, “that I could not take any action with it that would cause my own death.”

“That’s hardly reassuring.”

“And yet, just now it knocked out the Anachronian commander and all of the security guards, but John and Ari were unharmed. I’ve definitely got some sort of psychic connection with this thing; how else could it have known that they were my friends?”

John said, “Maybe they were more physiologically susceptible to that sort of injury. We can speculate about it all day long. Eva, I’ll need you to be extremely careful with any other experimentation you conduct on the staff while you’re aboard. For now, though, we need to focus on our next move. Christie, would an Anachronian-level NDSS compromise our invisibility shield?”

“Probably,” she replied.

“Then search the database they gave us for a system or planet with less or no government. Not only will it be less likely that anyone will have that type of scanner, or even care about the staff, it will doubtlessly be much easier to find the information we need if we can grease some palms for it.”

“We’ve arrived at the rally point,” said Milly. “The Fox and the Percheron are already here.”

“The Vastuvian ships will be here in about five minutes,” added Dana.

John nodded. “Good. Let’s hope our next encounter goes more smoothly.”

Continue reading: https://devonai.wordpress.com/2023/02/10/shadow-of-the-chimera-reckless-faith-vii-chapter-10/

Shadow of the Chimera (Reckless Faith VII), Chapter 8

Spoiler alert: This is a new entry for the 7th book in the Reckless Faith series. The prologue may be found here: https://devonai.wordpress.com/2022/12/15/reckless-faith-vii-prologue/

On the bridge of the Reckless Faith, the crew either picked themselves up off the deck, or unbuckled the restraints on their chairs. Evangeline had landed on the shoulder that had previously sustained a serious stab wound, and the whole left side of her torso ached as she got herself back on her feet. The crew checked each other for serious injuries, then considered their situation.

The soft blue glow from the floor-level lighting that normally illuminated the space was gone, and the consoles were all dark. Milena jiggled the throttle lever and gently pushed the control column back and forth, with no response, and Eva, Ari, Dana, Ray, Christie, Richter, and Devonai looked out of the windows on all sides. For everyone but Christie, the adrenaline had begun to wear off, leaving behind a haze of confusion.

“We’re dead in the water,” said Milena.

Ray peered out of the starboard side window. “I’ve got eyes on the Percheron, it’s about five hundred meters out.”

“Same with the Fox,” said Ari from the port side.

Dana tapped at her console. “Primary power is offline.”

“You know the drill,” said Christie. “Check the breakers, and reset them if they’re tripped.”

Ray, Richter, Devonai, and Dana exited the bridge to check on the series of breakers between the engine room and the rest of the ship. Eva gazed at the stars off their bow.

“Look at that,” she said. “Look at how bright the galactic core is.”

Milena, Ari, and Christie joined her to look out of the Faith’s wide front window. Barely recognizable as the glowing swath of the Milky Way they were used to seeing, they were met with a bright bulge straight ahead, and a much wider cloud of stars both up and down.

“It seems obvious that we’ve passed through a wormhole,” said Christie. “At first glance, it looks like we’re much closer to the core than ever before.”

“Any clue how much closer?” asked Ari.

“Jeez, I dunno. Fifty percent? Thousands of light-years, at least.”

“My god,” whispered Eva.

“Remind me,” began Milena, “how far was the Large Magellanic Cloud?”

“One hundred and sixty thousand light-years,” replied Christie. “Six weeks at our top speed. But that’s not the biggest problem. Due to time dilation, running that fast for that long will result in decades passed for wherever we want to go. It’s worse for our friends; Captains Dietrich and Kitsune aren’t going to like that news.”

Ari said, “Why would the Chimeras send us off to such a distance, and not just kill us?”

“Who knows? Maybe they didn’t see us as a threat, but thought it wise to get rid of us regardless. This may be their idea of mercy.”

The bridge lights and the consoles lit up with a reassuring buzz. The women sighed in relief. A moment later, Ray and Dana returned.

“Oh,” Ray said. “Good, the others got the rest of ‘em. Ari, do you want to start the diagnostics cycle?”

“Of course,” she replied.

“The Supernova and two other ships from the Vastus fleet are about a thousand meters off our seven o’clock.”

“Wherever we are,” began Milena, “we’ve got a nice little squadron put together.”

Christie nodded. “Assuming they can affect repairs the same as us, then yes, I’m glad we’re not alone.”

“All systems are in the green,” said Ari. “I’m trying to fix our position.”

Christie sat down in the nearest chair. “Let me try.”

Seeming to stare off into space, Christie went silent. The others knew she was interfacing with the orb, and to leave her alone until she snapped back to attention.

“Hail the other ships,” said Ray. “Text only. See who’s up and running.”

Dana sat down at her station. “Message sent.”

The others assisted Ari with checking each of the Faith’s systems while they waited for any replies. Richter and Devonai returned to the bridge.

“Breakers have been reset,” said Richter. “There’s no obvious damage to the interior of the ship.”

“Good,” said Ray.

Dana said, “I’ve received replies from the Supernova, the Nebula, and the Constellation. All three ships are experiencing various problems, especially regarding power transfer systems. None are reporting any catastrophic damage or casualties.”

Ray reached under his console, opened a cabinet, and retrieved a white board and a set of markers. “Zukova, take us up to the bow of the Percheron, so that we’re facing each other.”

“No problem,” said Milly.

She pushed the throttle forward, and brought the Faith over to the larger ship. She positioned them nose-to-nose, so that they could easily see into each other’s bridges. John and Captain Dietrich were there, and waved at them. Ray wrote “Sitrep?” on the white board and held it up. Those on the Percheron began to look around their bridge until they found their own white board. John wrote a message on it, and displayed it for them.

“Resetting breakers,” Ray read aloud.

Ray erased his board, then wrote “Checking on Fox.” John gave him a thumbs-up.

“I figured out where we are,” said Christie. “Be prepared for a shock.”

“Lay it on us,” said Ari.

“We’re a few light-years from a supernova remnant nebula and a neutron star that have been catalogued by NASA and the ESA. The nebula is called CTB 37B, and is within the constellation Scorpius as seen from Earth. Those agencies estimated its distance at 43,000 light-years.”

“Holy shit,” said Devonai.

“Are you sure?” asked Dana.

Christie nodded. “Quite sure. The data I’m receiving from our sensors is a nearly perfect match to both stellar objects. One or the other, and I wouldn’t be so sure, but both together? That confirms it.”

“If you’re right, then we’re looking at a little over eleven days at our top speed for the Faith to return to Earth, two years for the Fox to return to the Eagle, and about seventeen years for both the Vastus fleet and the Percheron to return home.”

“Yes, and approximately five years-worth of time dilation added to that from the perspective of the destination.”

Richter said, “I’m sure some of the Percheron’s crew is going to want to hitch a ride with us, whenever we decide to head back. Either way, it’s going to be a long time before NASA finds out what happened to us.”

“At least the crew of the Percheron has the excuse of being on Mars to back up their prolonged absence,” began Eva, “but if NASA wants to keep up the ruse, they’re going to have to find a reason to explain why they can’t communicate at all. I feel worse for the crews of the Fox and the Vastus ships.”

“The other option is to locate enough neptunium to retrofit the Fox and/or the Percheron to an Umberian stardrive like ours,” said Christie. “I have no idea if the Vastus ships would be compatible with one, but even sixty kilograms of neptunium is a tall order, never mind double that.”

“Too bad there isn’t a Zendreen or two left around to tell us how to make our own wormhole,” said Ray. “We never did figure out how they did it.”

“Or the Chimeras, for that matter,” added Dana, as her console beeped at her. “Though, we can still review the sensor data when we have a chance. Anyway, the Fox has just checked in, they’re back up to full capacity over there.”

“Good. Let’s wait for the Percheron to get their comms back up, and then we can figure out what to do from here. We’d also better contact everyone else and let them know the depth of our predicament.”

Eva stared out at the stars. “At least we get to explore a new part of the galaxy. I know I’d love to stick around for a while. It’s so beautiful out here.”

“So was the Tarantula Nebula, and we nearly got annihilated.”

Richter walked up to Eva, and put his arm around her waist. “Bring it on.”

__________

Clementa Telinth sat in the cockpit of her single-seat fighter, staring in surprise at the vista that awaited her upon dropping out of FTL. Before her, in an otherwise unremarkable region of space, were six ships of unknown design and origin. Her mission had been simple enough, to investigate a gravitational anomaly detected by one of their long-range probes, but from the start she had assumed the unmanned device was malfunctioning, considering the extreme readings it had registered. Still, the appearance of a neutron star where one shouldn’t be, was a pretty good reason to dispatch a humanoid to go check it out.

The probe had, of course, been set up to monitor the neutron star that was already there, so it was unsurprising that it would’ve detected what seemed to be another one. Telinth was sure this trip would be a waste of her time, so she was actually pleased to find something to see, even if it was a potential threat. Though at that point, a prudent person would have returned home to seek backup, Telinth had a fast ship, and a tendency to want to take credit for cool shit that happened on her watch, however rare that opportunity. This situation was too good for her to pass up. She smiled at her luck, and set her radio for a wide-band broadcast.

“This is Petty Officer Telinth of the Anachrona Defense Force, to the six vessels at coordinates five-seven-five point nine-eight-two. You have entered Anachrona space, and are required to register your names, origin, and purpose in this sector, over.”

A few seconds passed before a reply came through, though it was immediately obvious that her translation program was having trouble with the language.

“This be the free boat Reckless Belief, from the Dirt World. We do the wrong path. Tranquility, and demand knowledge.”

“Aliens,” she muttered, then keyed her radio. “Would it be possible for you to transmit a database of your language in a simple binary codex?”

Despite the fact that she felt like her request was too complicated for them to interpret, their reply was mostly comprehensible.

“Bits flung, end.”

With that, Telinth’s on-board computer prompted her to the arrival of data. She sequestered the information on an isolated partition, lest it be a virus, and let her translation algorithms take a stab at it. When her computer indicated that the process was complete, she again opened the channel.

“All right, ‘Reckless Belief,’ let’s try this again. Tell me something interesting.”

“The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.”

She chuckled. “Okay, then. Repeat your original message, if you don’t mind.”

“This is the independent vessel Reckless Faith, from Terra. We’ve lost our way, and mean you no harm. We only seek information about this region.”

“Very well. How far off course are you?”

“If we knew that, we wouldn’t be lost. Do you have star charts you can share with us?”

“Sure.” Telinth typed at her console. “Information inbound.”

The conversation lapsed, so she reviewed her scans of the other ships. All were rather well-armed, though only the largest of the group sported weapons she would consider offensive. She knew, however, that this may not include weapons her sensors didn’t recognize. Regardless, the half-dozen vessels by themselves posed no threat to her home world.

“Petty Officer Telinth, we need a point of reference. How is the closest neutron star annotated on your charts?”

“QSO-14.”

“Got it, thanks. We would like to establish peaceful relations with your people. Would you be able to provide an escort to a point where we might talk to your superiors?”

“I can do that, but first I have some questions for you. I was dispatched here because one of our long-range sensors detected the sudden appearance of a neutron star. Now that I’m here, there are no such readings. What might you know about that?”

“We were attacked by an unknown enemy, and they used a wormhole as a weapon against us. For reasons we can’t explain, the wormhole generated a gravitational field similar to a neutron star. As you can imagine, there was no escaping that. We’re lucky we weren’t torn to pieces.”

“That’s what you meant by ‘lost your way?’ That’s a hell of an understatement.”

“It’s true, though. We just found out we’re tens of thousands of light-years from home.”

Telinth let out a long breath. “Shit. How fast are your ships?”

“Our slowest ship can do 2500 c.”

“Sounds like you guys are fucked. Anyway, if I take you to my planet, my superiors are going to ask you a ton of questions about the battle that brought you here. If you’re comfortable with that, we can proceed.”

“No problem; in fact, we’re hoping you might be able to tell us something about them, if you or any of your allies have ever encountered them.”

“All right, then. Follow me, but keep in mind that my telemetry is being broadcast live to the rest of the ADF. Any hostile action against me will be met with immediate reprisal.”

“We’ll keep our guns pointed away from your tailpipe.”

She didn’t understand the last word, but she got the gist. “Okay. Make your speed 900 c and follow my vector.”

Anachrona was only a twentieth of a light-year away, so they were looking at about a two-hour transit time. As she had just done for the inbound leg, Telinth settled in for what she hoped would be a routine trip. Quickly realizing that she had less of a reason to be bored than usual, she again hailed the Reckless Faith.

“Go ahead, Telinth,” said the same voice as before.

“Do you mind if we chat a little? I’m sure you’ve noticed we’ve got a couple hours to travel.”

“Sure.”

“With whom am I speaking?”

“My name is Christie Tolliver, I’m the Faith’s systems expert.”

“Nice to meet you.”

Over the next two hours, Christie told Telinth all about Terra, also known as Earth, while noticeably steering clear of any subjects that might be considered sensitive, secret, or tactically compromising. This was fine with Telinth, who was always glad to learn about new worlds, and it became clear that Terra was a world like many others, although the fact that they were both space-faring and still maintained over two hundred distinct sovereign nations, and only a notional world government, was surprising to her. Usually by the time a planet had developed FTL technology, they had formed a strong global governing body. Anachrona was one such world, with individual countries retaining historical policies and boundaries based on heritage, not sovereignty. She began to suspect that Anachrona had reached its enlightened age many centuries sooner than Terra.

While they were talking, she reviewed her scans of the Faith and the other ships. It was obvious that the Faith and the Percheron were both from Terra, but the Fox had a radically different design, as did the Supernova, Nebula, and Constellation. When asked about that, Christie had said they were an alliance of like-minded worlds, but didn’t offer any further detail. Though she might accuse Christie of being evasive, this was supposed to be a casual conversation, so she let it slide.

Additionally, her scans had identified a weapon on the Supernova that she had initially overlooked: a powerful rail gun. Such a weapon would pose a serious threat to any one Anachronian fleet ship, and she realized inviting it to her home world as haphazardly as she did might get her in serious trouble with her superiors. There was no going back, though. The strangers all knew the location of Anachrona now. There was no question her fleet could handle all six ships, but the Supernova might get in a lucky shot or two in the fracas. All she could do now was hope they weren’t concealing any hostile intention.

The conversation accomplished its intended purpose, and helped to pass the transit time quickly. She signaled to the other ships that they had arrived, and dropped out of FTL. Despite her blunder, she wasn’t dumb enough to immediately bring her guests to Anachronia Prime, instead leading them to the fleet’s well-defended shipyard in orbit around Anachronia VI, a gas giant 10 AU from their star, where she knew two of their most powerful battleships were currently located. As she prepared to contact Central Command, she muttered to herself under her breath.

“There’s a thin line between fame and infamy, and I think I’m about to find it.”

Shadow of the Chimera (Reckless Faith VII), Chapter 7

Spoiler alert: This is a new entry for the 7th book in the Reckless Faith series. The prologue may be found here: https://devonai.wordpress.com/2022/12/15/reckless-faith-vii-prologue/

Twelve hours later, the Percheron had joined the Fox and the Reckless Faith, and together they were holding at a position 5 AU from Vastus. After conferring with the crew of the Faith, and reaching a consensus, Captain Dietrich had contacted the authorities on Lycia, and shared what they had learned. It had been a cursory conversation, with the Lycian folks simply acknowledging the information, so it remained unclear if they would resume normal ship traffic to the moon. If such a thing were to happen, and how soon, was no longer the Percheron’s problem, though the Lycians had been duly warned of the limits of their empirical knowledge.

The previous night, Evangeline had returned to the Fox. She, along with Reveki and Miriam, had spent some time in the waning evening hours and a bit of the next morning experimenting with the staff. Though Eva had not been able to replicate the phenomenon she experienced from earlier, the three women did share the same otherwise incongruous feeling of confidence while holding it. Further experiments were planned, but at that moment, John had called a meeting in the conference room on the Percheron.

Once everyone had finished their breakfast, both the Fox and the Faith had docked with the larger ship. Gathered in the conference room were Dietrich, Brockway, Mungavin, Vecky, Cane, and the entire crew of the Faith. Most of them still had cups of coffee or tea, and John waited for idle conversation to wane before speaking to the group.

“I’ve called this meeting,” he began, “because we’ve come up with what we think is a solid theory about what’s going on here. Based on everything we know about the Kira’To, their relationship to neptunium, and what the Vastuvians were doing with neptunium at the Saffron Canyon research facility when disaster struck, we believe that the facility is an open portal to their plane of existence, through which the Chimeras are moving. Since the disaster occurred ten years ago, we believe they have been visiting our universe, learning about humanoid life and technologies, but haven’t felt the need to interact with us until the Rakhar invaded Sadal Biham.

And, based on what we were able to learn from the library on Lycia, Sadal Biham is their homeworld, with the Chimeras being the first intelligent civilization to rise on that planet. We believe they started out as humanoid, and somehow evolved into the form they are now. This would explain why they attacked the Rakhar fleet, and set up a satellite shield around the planet to guard it against any further threat. Furthermore, they allowed people to approach and enter the research facility because they intended no hostile action against it, and it wasn’t until the government on Vastus decided to demo the building that they took action to defend it. Christie?”

Christie stood up. “We believe that we should encourage Vastus to leave the facility alone for now, and cooperate with us in finding a way to directly communicate with the Chimeras. Toward that end, we’d also like to continue to try to contact Aquila, and enlist either his help or the help of the Kira’To as a whole. If Vastus agrees, then we’ll send a team into the facility, at least as far as it’s safe, to see what they can learn, and perhaps try out Amity’s staff as a form of protection. Meanwhile, those who have been proven to have had contact with the Kira’To will again try to communicate with them. For now, I’ve drawn up a report detailing all of this to send to Admiral Praxis. If there are no objections, that’ll be our next step.”

“That all sounds good to me,” said Dietrich.

“The freighter has canceled our contract, so I’m on board with this plan,” added Vecky.

“Good,” said John. “Christie, send the report. Everyone else, do what you’d like until Praxis responds. Hopefully he’s not too busy right now. The report itself is only five pages; once he gets to it, I’m sure it won’t be long before he gets back to us.”

Dietrich said, “I’d like to review the report as well, just so I understand exactly what information Praxis is working with.”

“I’ve already uploaded it to your database,” said Christie.

“Thank you.”

With that, the crews returned to their respective ships, save for John, who accompanied Dietrich and her people to the bridge of the Percheron. Dietrich sank into the command chair and sighed.

“I thought we’d be looking at a stand-up fight, if anything,” she said. “You certainly brought us into this galactic intrigue at a complicated time.”

John gave her a half-smile. “This is our life. Long stretches of boredom interrupted by moments of sheer terror.”

On the bridge was Major Mungavin, the chief engineer, a man with whom John had only had the most cursory conversations during the construction and deployment of the Percheron, with Christie instead providing most of the man’s instruction. He was apparently at fitness buff, a practice that had continued unabated thanks to the ship’s exercise room that had been set up in the cargo hold, and sported the build of an MMA fighter. Despite his appearance, he was one of the most outwardly friendly people John had ever met. He was currently sitting at the systems console, so John went over to him.

“How’s it going, Mike?” asked John.

“No complaints,” he replied. “Other than I feel like disaster is only moments away. Can’t say I care for the sensation.”

“I hear you. One of these days, I fully expect to find myself in heaven, thoroughly confused about how I ended up there.”

“Are you a religious man?”

“Eh, not really. I’d call myself an agnostic. One simply needs to see the vastness and variety of the universe to conclude that there may be a higher power responsible for it all. What that may be, it probably defies explanation, at least in our limited scope.”

“Our current situation illustrates that quite well.”

“Agreed. All we can do is hope for the best. Anyway, I’ve read your dossier. The fact that you worked on the Mars colonization effort is one of the reasons I signed off on your application. Did you ever think that you’d end up here?”

Mungavin laughed. “No one on the Percheron thought they’d end up here. Really, though, the revelation that our own development had been usurped, and over twenty years ago, in fact, was not an easy pill for anyone in NASA to swallow. The human conceit to be the architect of our own progress isn’t a notion easily dispelled.”

“It’s a well-trodden science fiction trope. I mean, such scenarios have been fertile ground for entertainment for decades.”

“Escapism is one thing, finding out that our best advances aren’t of our own making is quite another.”

“Captain,” said Brockway, “we’re receiving a transmission from Admiral Praxis, highest priority. Video format.”

“Already? Put it up,” Dietrich replied.

The visage of Praxis appeared on the main screen.

“Admiral,” began John, “thank you for getting back to us so quickly. Have you had a chance to review the report we sent you?”

“I have. Your research is intriguing, for sure, but congress has reached their own conclusions. The Supernova has been tasked with conducting an orbital strike on the Saffron Canyon research facility. Though an extreme measure, the yield of the kinetic energy weapon we’re going to use will result in minimal environmental impact. Our scientists have calculated that the explosive fallout won’t be any worse than the affects already plaguing the canyon.”

John was livid. “Admiral, I urge you in the gravest tone not to do that. The possibility of reprisal from the Chimeras is too great. Surely you’ve read what happened to the Rakhar fleet at Sadal Biham. There is no known defense against them.”

“I have my orders, commander. Even I am beholden to a power higher than myself. For what it’s worth, my objections have been noted in the official register. If the Chimeras are as powerful as you surmise, then our efforts will prove useless anyway.”

“That’s of little reassurance if their response is to detonate your stardrive, sir.”

“We’ll have to wait and see. You’re welcome to observe the results. Praxis out.”

“The transmission has terminated,” said Brockway.

“Fuck,” spat John. “Fox, Reckless Faith, clear your airlocks and proceed within orbital distance to Vastus immediately, over.”

“Roger,” said Ray.

“Understood,” replied Vecky.

“Do as he says,” said Dietrich.

Haverbrook pushed the throttle forward and engaged the FTL drive. It only took a few seconds for the trio of ships to arrive within visual range of the planet and the Supernova, the latter of which was establishing a geosynchronous orbit above the research facility. None of them knew what kind of weapon they were planning on using, and could only assume it was similar to orbital kinetic energy weapons they had already encountered.

“In many other scenarios, this would be a pretty good idea,” said John. “I can understand why they’ve decided to do it. A ‘rod from god’ wouldn’t have a lot of splash damage, at least the type that have been used against us by the Rakhar.”

“Commander,” began Dietrich, “may I remind you, the Fox isn’t cloaked.”

“Shit, you’re right. Is the channel still open?”

“Yes,” replied Brockway.

“Fox, make your distance a minimum of three hundred thousand kilometers. We don’t know what’s about to happen, over.”

“Copy, out,” said Vecky.

Brockway said, “I’m also reading seven other fleet ships in orbit, in addition to the Supernova. I’ll highlight them on the HUD.”

On the screen, several more green brackets appeared, showing the locations of the other allied vessels.

“I’m not sure whether to hope for their success or failure,” said John.

“That’s it, they’re in position.”

“Fingers crossed,” said Dietrich.

Suddenly zipping into their field of view, and moving toward the planet, several brilliant, scintillating points of light appeared. They spread out and began flitting around the ships in the Vastus fleet, juking and soaring in maneuvers far too extreme for any spacecraft the crew was familiar with. Due to their drastic patterns, there was no way to be sure how many there were. Those on the bridge watched in silent surprise for a few seconds, until Mungavin spoke.

“I’ve got zilch on the sensors,” he said.

“Reckless Faith, are you seeing this?” asked John.

“We see it,” Christie replied, “but there’s nothing on our sensors either.”

“Do you want to try to contact them?” asked Dietrich.

John nodded. “Yes.”

“Brockway, begin broadcasting, all known frequencies.”

“You’re live,” she said.

“This is the independent vessel Percheron to the several craft that just entered Vastus space. We mean you no harm and wish to communicate with you in a peaceful manner.”

They waited thirty seconds, then Dietrich repeated the message. Again, there was no reply.

John said, “Let’s hope Praxis isn’t stupid enough to fire on the facility now. In fact, put me through to the Supernova.”

“Go ahead,” said Brockway.

“Praxis, this is Scherer. I recommend you break off your attack posture and return to a higher orbit. If we stand any chance of communicating with these things, we should appear as non-threatening as possible.”

“I agree,” came the reply. “We’ve tried hailing them, to no avail. I’ll take my ship up to five hundred kilometers. Keep in mind my superiors may order me to resume the strike once they have time to process the situation. What do you intend to do now?”

Vecky broke into the conversation. “Let me try talking to them.”

John said, “Are you sure you want to draw attention to yourself? So far they’re only interested in the Vastus fleet. The Fox should stay put.”

“Let me worry about that.”

“The Fox just showed up,” said Mungavin. “They’re headed right toward the Supernova.”

John tensed up, and felt his heart rate rise. “Shit. Young people always think they’re indestructible.”

The Fox began pacing the Supernova, and they listened as Vecky sent out her own transmission. Almost immediately, the bogies moved away, and formed a large, rotating circle, perpendicular to fleet. Moving in that manner, they could more easily count them. There were nine of them.

“What are they doing?” muttered Dietrich.

“An attempt at a message?” asked John.

Inside the circle, the field of stars in the background was replaced by pure blackness, and a moment later returned, except this time a single star in the center was brighter than before. The Percheron lurched violently, and began moving slowly toward the circle. Everyone on the bridge struggled to regain their balance as the circle of strange objects continued to rotate.

“Status report!” barked Dietrich.

“I’ve lost attitude control,” said Haverbrook.

“Gravitational forces toward the center of that formation are at over eight million G’s,” added Brockway. “We’re being pulled in.”

“That’s greater than a neutron star,” said Mungavin, almost whispering.

Dietrich looked pale. “Full reverse.”

“No effect,” replied Haverbrook.

“We need to get out of here, now,” said John.

Christie’s voice could be heard over the radio. “Percheron, Fox, we’re caught in the gravity well of that phenomenon. Going to FTL right now would most likely be fatal. We’re trying to maneuver away.”

“We can’t pull free,” said Vecky.

“This looks similar to the wormhole generated by the Zendreen,” said John.

“Agreed,” replied Christie. “With that level of force, there’s nothing we can do.”

John looked out of one of the port-side windows. The Reckless Faith, the Fox, the Supernova, and two other ships from the Vastus fleet were being dragged inexorably toward the circle. He took a deep breath, sat down in the nearest chair, and strapped himself in.

“Hold onto your butts!”

Shadow of the Chimera (Reckless Faith VII), Chapter 6

Spoiler alert: This is a new entry for the 7th book in the Reckless Faith series. The prologue may be found here: https://devonai.wordpress.com/2022/12/15/reckless-faith-vii-prologue/

Faen Leonid sat in Lieutenant Zeta’s quarters on the Percheron, staring out through an hourglass-shaped window at the spectacular vista of Lycia and the gas giant beyond. Though she had been given a bed in one of the ship’s storage rooms, the space lacked its own bathroom, a console, and a window, so Dietrich and Zeta had given her permission to spend time in there. She had been locked out of command controls and access to the ‘net on the console, as well as anything personal Zeta might have had on there, but still had access to a wealth of information about just about any conceivable topic that was known to the Terrans. She also had free access to the galley in case she needed a bite to eat.

She had spent most of the past day in Zeta’s quarters, transfixed to the screen of the console. The vast majority of what she was learning was long denied to her, and her intelligence and focus were allowing her to soak up volumes of fascinating information. It would have been all she could ask for, if not for the fact that the Percheron was still in the Sadal Biham system. Though she understood that the crew had a job to do, she would have rather been a thousand light-years away by now. She had just started reading about how uranium hexafluoride could be used as fuel for a stardrive when the doorbell rang. She stood up and walked the short distance to the door, and opened it. Captain Dietrich was there.

“How are you holding up?” Dietrich asked.

“Fine. Thank you again for giving me access to your database.”

“You bet. Listen, the senior staff and I have been discussing your situation, and we thought you might enjoy spending some time on the bridge. There isn’t a lot going on right now, but there are people you can talk to.”

“I’d like that, thanks. I’ve spoken to a few of your crew down in the galley, but it’s awkward. I understand I’m the first alien you’ve met in the flesh, is that right?”

“No, there’s an Umberian on Earth that we know. Still, I understand that your presence here is odd for some of us. I’m sure we’ll all warm up once we’ve had a chance to get to know you.”

“You’re not worried I’m a Rakhar spy?”

“Christie scanned your brain, remember? She knows everything about you. If you were a spy, she would have told us. Come on, let’s head to the bridge.”

Faen followed her down the hallway and onto the bridge. There were four other people there, and she struggled to remember their names, having interacted with all of them just once before, save for Lieutenant Zeta. They offered greetings, then returned their attention to their consoles.

Dietrich spoke again. “Brockway, would you give our guest an overview of the bridge stations, please?”

“Yes, Ma’am,” replied Brockway, gesturing toward Faen. “So, there are six primary stations here, plus the command chair and pilot chair…”

“Captain,” interrupted Zeta, “a ship just dropped out of FTL. Distance, 5 AU; configuration matches a Z’Sorth freighter. They’re proceeding at 0.9 c toward Sadal Biham.”

“Hail them, now,” Dietrich said, taking her place in the command chair.

“Channel open.”

“This is the independent vessel Percheron to the Z’Sorth ship that just entered the system. You are strongly advised to redirect to Sadal Biham IIIC immediately. There is an unknown enemy in control of Sadal Biham, over.”

“No reply.”

“Shit. I’m sure they’re ignoring us because they can’t detect us. Haverbrook, get us on an intercept course.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” he replied.

He pushed the throttle forward, following the yellow bracket on the HUD that Zeta had provided for him. Faen found herself retreating to the back of the bridge, and she sank into an empty jumpseat. The Percheron quickly overtook the Z’Sorth ship, and Brockway began to pace it at a distance of five thousand meters. It was a smaller ship, perhaps a hair less than the Percheron in length, with a simple ovoid design and gun-metal gray in color.

“Is the channel still open?”

“Yes,” said Zeta.

“Z’Sorth ship! If you continue to approach the planet, you may be destroyed. If you don’t believe me, stop and scan the area, and you’ll see what happened to the Rakhar fleet that tried to blockade it. There’s an enemy even more powerful than they; you won’t stand a chance.”

“No response.”

“Damn it. Drop the invisibility shield, and see if you can get in front of it.”

Brockway said, “Captain, with all due respect, that’s too risky. If either of us are close enough to attract the attention of the Chimeras…”

“Son of a bitch. All right then, Haverbrook, give ‘em a salvo of plasma across their bow, let’s see if that gets their attention.”

“Now you’re talking,” said the lieutenant, flipping on the master arm switch.

Haverbrook banked to the left, looped around, and set their speed to gain on the other ship. When they were within five hundred meters, he let loose a short burst with the plasma cannon. The brilliant blue shots streaked by them, clearing the bow by a scant ten feet. The Z’Sorth ship banked away, and disappeared from view as the Percheron overshot it.

“They’ve gone light,” said Zeta. “Destination unknown.”

Dietrich sighed. “Let’s hope they’ve decided to leave the system.”

“Nope. I just got another hit on them, this time much closer to Sadal Biham.”

“Get us over there.”

Haverbrook brought their speed up to 0.9 c, crossing the remaining distance to the planet in less than two minutes. Zeta located the ship, and again placed yellow brackets around it on the screen.

“They’re in low orbit,” said Zeta.

Brockway said, “My guess is that they were making a run for the surface, and just now realized they can’t.”

“Hail them again,” said Dietrich. “Z’Sorth vessel, this is the Percheron. I apologize for the use of weapons, but it was just a warning. You can see for yourself something very wrong is going on here. I strongly recommend you talk to us, or leave this system immediately.”

“I’m detecting neutrino emissions from the ship,” said Zeta. “They’re scanning both Rakhar derelicts and the satellite grid.”

“Suggestions?”

“I don’t think there’s anything else we can do,” replied Brockway.

“Those stubborn fools.”

After a few interminable minutes, the ship broke orbit, got itself clear of the planet, and activated its FTL drive. A wave of relief washed over the bridge crew.

“Lucky bastards,” said Haverbrook.

Dietrich rubbed her chin. “I’m not sure luck had anything to do with it. I bet the Chimera simply didn’t see them as a threat. This could be good news for Lycia; set a course back to the moon.”

Haverbrook brought their ship around, and headed for Lycia.

“What do you want to do next, captain?” asked Brockway.

“I’m thinking about revealing our presence to the authorities on Lycia. Based on what we just saw, it’s possible that they can resume normal traffic to and from there, keeping clear of Sadal Biham, of course.”

“We should consult with Commander Scherer before doing that.”

“I’ll ask the question. I’m also wondering if our databases have enough information on a satellite or beacon with an SRC transceiver that we could replicate and set up at, say, 5 AU, to transmit a warning. It would seem prudent. The next interloper may not be so lucky.”

Faen piped up from the back. “If it’s okay with you, captain, I’d like to be excused.”

“Brockway, you have the bridge. Of course, Faen, let’s step out.”

Dietrich led her out into the corridor. “Are you okay?”

“I think so. I’m sorry. I couldn’t stand to see the fleet in that condition again. Plus, I thought for sure we were about to witness the destruction of the Z’Sorth ship. It’s too much for me right now, I hope you understand.”

“I do. You can return to Zeta’s quarters, or retire for the night.”

“Is it possible for someone to join me in the galley? Though I don’t want to be alone, it would be nice to have someone there, even if we don’t talk much.”

“Walk with me.”

Together, the pair went down the stairs and entered the galley. Lieutenants Mintaka and Al-Nilam were there, seated at a table, with half-full glasses of an amber liquid and some sort of card game in progress. They stood up at Dietrich’s arrival.

“Captain,” uttered Mintaka.

“As you were. You’re off duty, relax. You’ve met Miss Leonid; I’d like you to invite her to your table. She just needs some time to de-stress. Deal her in, to whatever you’ve got going on, if it’s not too much of an imposition.”

The two security officers sat down. Dietrich patted Faen on the shoulder, then went back upstairs. She sat down, staring in confusion at the unfamiliar deck of cards.

“Uh…” began Al-Nilam. “Do you know how to play Machiavelli?”

Faen’s expression was blank. “I’ve never even seen this type of deck before.”

“Oof. That’s a problem. I’ll tell you what, let us finish this hand, then I’ll do my best to teach you.”

“Okay. Can I try some alcohol?”

“What do you like?” asked Mintaka.

“I don’t know, I’ve never had any.”

“You mean, like, in your whole life?”

“No.”

Al-Nilan got up, walked to the kitchen area, and opened a cabinet. “Do you prefer fruit, grain, sweet, dry, herb, or creamy flavors?”

“Dry grain, I guess.”

He took out a glass bottle filled with a clear liquid, filled a small glass, and returned to the table. “This is called vodka. We tend to call it more of a neutral flavor.”

She tasted it. Initially unimpressed, and unhappy with the way it burned her throat, she did like the wave of warmth that washed down to her stomach.

Mintaka said, “Most people prefer to mix it with something.”

“This will do fine for now,” she said.

The men finished their hand, then began to explain the English deck, as they called it. Faen discovered it wasn’t nearly as complex as she first imagined. She sipped her drink as they spoke, finding it less objectionable with each quaff, and soon began to feel an interesting haze in her head.

“The game we were playing is called Machiavelli,” began Al-Nilam, shuffling the deck with blinding speed, “but we’re going to teach you a simpler version called Rummy. If you get the hang of that, then we can go back to the version we like.”

“How much alcohol are you allowed to drink in a day? On the Valorous, those authorized to drink were limited to two.”

“Captain Dietrich allows for three drinks if we’re off-duty. On the Reckless Faith, they have no such restriction. It’s anybody’s guess how they haven’t flown into a star by now.”

“Blasting into space takes on a whole new meaning,” added Mintaka.

__________

Five hundred meters west of the Saffron Canyon research facility, hovering three feet above the ground, was the Reckless Faith. Not long before they arrived, Christie and Dana had managed to hack into the encrypted military radio network of the fleet of Vastus, and learned the reason why demolition of the facility had been suspended. Luckily, they had been able to eavesdrop on a briefing from Admiral Praxis to the prime minister, which included details about the deaths of the three men sent to start the demo, as well as the Shrike pilot casualties soon thereafter, when they had attempted to approach the building.

By the time the Faith showed up, they were bearing witness to the orderly withdraw of the engineering company, and the arrival of a contingent of scientists and specialized equipment to replace them. Sorely tempted to reveal their presence to Praxis, the crews of the Faith and the Fox had instead decided to do a little spying first, if for no other reason than to confirm that the radio traffic was accurate. Indeed, a trio of motionless excavators and the wreckage of a Shrike just to the south of the building easily backed up what they had heard. However, the crew of the Faith had their own plan.

Evangeline had elected to stay on the Faith for this task, and stood in the cargo bay with the rest of their crew. They were preparing to deploy a Snoopy, a quad-copter drone with a respectable array of sensors developed by NASA. It also had two mechanical arms for manipulating objects, a feature that was essential to the idea hatched by Dana. The staff that had belonged to Amity had been extensively scanned by Christie, and while no useful information had been gleaned from her effort, no one could deny what Eva and Vecky had seen on the Eagle. So, it had been brought to the cargo bay to facilitate their experiment.

Ray stood on the ramp, a tablet-sized PDA in his hands, from which he controlled the Snoopy. He brought it into the air, then turned to Eva.

“Okay, all systems are in the green. Eva, hand me the staff.”

Eva grabbed the staff, which had been left leaning against the bulkhead. She took a step, then hesitated, gazing at the object with raised eyebrows.

“Did no one notice the engraving on this thing?” she asked. “It’s quite beautiful.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Christie.

Eva seemed confused. “The golden inlaid patterns along its length.”

John stepped forward, coming within arms-length of her. “I don’t see anything.”

“Look, here. Are you both blind?”

Eva traced a pattern along the upper half of the staff with her finger. Though the others couldn’t see to what she was referring, an audible electric whine could be heard, similar to a high-voltage device powering up. She stopped what she was doing, holding the staff out in front of her like she might drop it.

“Tell us what you see, Eva,” said Dana.

“There are golden patterns along the staff,” she began. “It reminds me of a circuit board. I didn’t notice them until I picked it up.”

“May I?”

“Sure.”

Eva passed the staff to Dana. As the other woman grasped it, her eyes grew wide.

“She’s right, I can see it now.”

“What the fuck,” uttered John.

“You see it, too?”

He gestured toward her, so Dana gave it to him. Upon receiving the staff from her, John’s face scrunched in confusion.

“I only see wood grain.”

He offered it to Ray. The other man guided the drone back to the deck, then accepted it.

“I don’t see shit,” he said, and handed it back to John.

“Stand by.”

“Maybe this can wait until…”

John ran up the port side stairs, and out of sight. One minute later, he returned to the cargo bay, and gave the staff to Eva.

“Richter, Devonai, and Zukova don’t see what you’re seeing,” he said. “But while I was up there, I called Captain Kitsune. Both she and Miriam confirmed that they could see the patterns on the surface.”

“They didn’t say anything about it,” said Eva.

“They said they assumed everyone could see it.”

She nodded. “It seems obvious to me that only those of us who have had contact with the Kira’To are capable of seeing the engraving. What happened just now, or to what benefit, I don’t know.”

“Did you see Amity manipulating the patterns during her battle in the reactor room?”

Eva scoffed. “I was a little distracted at the time.”

“Some of its properties may be passive,” said Dana. “We can worry about that later. I say we proceed with our plan.”

John nodded. “Yes.”

Taking the staff, John walked over to a spool of fishing line that was on the deck. He secured the loose end to the center of the staff, then approached the drone. Ray got it into the air again, and fumbled around on his tablet. The stubby mechanical arms reached forward, and grasped the staff. John stuck a small dowel through the center of the spool, then faced the ramp.

“You sure you know what you’re doing?” Ari asked Ray.

“I’ve had more practice with the Snoopys than you,” he replied.

“Bridge crew,” began John, “you guys ready up there?”

“Yup,” said Milena’s voice. “Our eyes are peeled, and we’re ready to send you audio if the military starts talking.”

“Let’s go. Dana, open the ramp.”

Dana hit a button on a wall-mounted console, and the ramp began to open. The sun had set in that area on Vastus, and the darkened research facility loomed against the horizon. With the naked eye, they couldn’t see the shaft of gamma radiation that shot out from the roof, but they knew it was there. Ray guided the drone forward, while John steadied the spool as it rotated around the dowel. Almost immediately, they heard a transmission from one of the soldiers on the ground to their south.

“Who the hell authorized drone operations?” said a voice.

“What drone?” someone else asked.

“The drone approaching the building from west to east, five hundred meters and closing.”

“I don’t see anything.”

“Turn on your IR, dumbass!”

“Okay, got it. I don’t know.”

“Stand by, I’ll contact Cent-Com.”

Ray continued to pilot the drone in a straight line toward the building, moving it forward slowly. The first voice could be heard again.

“Corporal, no activity of any kind has been authorized here. Maybe it was launched by the research team?”

“They’re standing right next to me, so no. Do they want us to shoot it down, sir?”

“Wait one, over.”

That conversation lapsed, and the drone reached the western side of the building. It hovered there, less than a meter from the wall.

“Ambient radiation is up to five hundred millisieverts,” said Ray. “Nothing else unusual.”

John said, “All right, I think we got what we came for. Bring it back.”

Ray turned the drone around. John removed the dowel from the spool and grasped the bitter end of the line. Radio traffic from the military resumed.

“Take it out!” said the first man.

Plasma shots began to streak by the drone. Ray increased its speed and began to fly evasively. Just when it had reached the Faith, it clipped the muzzle of the GAU 8/A and careened onto the ramp, sending up a shower of sparks.

“Shit!” yelled Ray.

Dana closed the ramp, and Ray powered-down the drone.

“I’m sure NASA will let you set up a payment plan,” said Ari.

“I didn’t see you practicing on a Snoopy. We should really have twin joysticks for controls, this tablet kinda sucks.”

“The good news is, the staff is undamaged,” said Christie, smiling. “I’ll fix the drone, guys, don’t worry. As far as the mission, now we know the Chimeras don’t care about drones. My guess is they’re only threatened by you meat-bags.”

“That’s awfully pretentious for someone who used to be a meat-bag,” said John, “not that long ago, either. NASA’s expensive drones notwithstanding, I was hoping they would attack it. It would have been far more useful to us to get more data on their form of attack, and whether or not the staff will be of any use to us.”

“We can conduct our own destructive tests on the staff,” said Ari. “Surely there’s some way for us to hit it with a metric shitload of electricity.”

“Let’s send you up a pole, you can whack a transformer with it,” said Ray.

“Come on,” said John, gesturing upstairs. “We can deal with all of that later. Let’s share what we learned with Vecky and then decide what we want to do next.”

Eva grabbed the staff. The entire group then took the port side stairs to the top deck, and entered the bridge. Richter, Devonai, and Milena turned to greet them.

“Hey, boss,” began Devonai. “The Vastuvians are spreading out to look for the drone, but they’re keeping well clear of the building. I recommend we get back into orbit just to be safe.”

Christie said, “John, I want to take a look inside the research center. The crews of the Fox and the Rastaban got a lot of good info while they were there, but I think it bears another look.”

“That’s too risky,” said Ray. “Just because the Chimeras ignored the drone doesn’t mean they won’t see you as a threat. We still don’t know what triggers them. You could get fried the moment you leave the ship.”

Eva leaned against a console, and folded her arms. “Also, don’t forget that Jim 147 said that getting too close to the source of that gamma radiation would scramble his circuits. I’m not sure, but I don’t think your body is any more robust than his. We already explored the labs that were accessible to us anyway.”

“Is there no kind of shielding that can protect you from that hazard?” asked Milena.

Eva suddenly stood straight up, staring at the staff that she held in her left hand. “Whoa! What the fuck?”

“What happened?” asked Ray.

“I just got this overwhelming feeling that the staff could protect me in there.” She grasped it with both hands. “I’m having trouble describing it. It’s like I knew that this whole time, and it’s the simplest thing ever. Like, ‘duh’!”

“If you’re wrong, you’ll be putting your DNA into a blender,” said Dana.

“I’m not comfortable with either of you going in there right now,” said John. “Time is on our side. Christie, you’ve got the best understanding of how gamma radiation might affect your body, but I’d like you to run some virtual experiments based on the specifications from the manufacturer before committing to going in. Eva, we all heard the staff make some kind of noise when you tried interacting with the circuitry. I’d like you to work with Vecky and Miriam and see if the three of you can figure something out. If you discover palpable, repeatable features, then I’ll sign off on you going in. I do agree that another look at the phenomenon affecting the facility would be worth the effort.”

Eva nodded. “I’ll see what I can find.”

“Milly, take us back to the Fox. Devonai, let them know we want to dock.”

Devonai’s console beeped at him. “Hey, the Percheron is contacting us.”

“Open a channel. Let’s hope they’ve got some good news for us.”

Shadow of the Chimera (Reckless Faith VII), Chapter 5

Spoiler alert: This is a new entry for the 7th book in the Reckless Faith series. The prologue may be found here: https://devonai.wordpress.com/2022/12/15/reckless-faith-vii-prologue/

Command Sergeant Marbec sat in the cab of a heavily-modified excavator, three hundred meters from the south wall of the Saffron Canyon research facility. To his left and right were two more such machines, their chassis’ similarly bolstered, and manned by a pair of his most trusted NCOs. The sun had just risen in the east, its rays struggling to penetrate the yellow haze from the plume of dust that billowed from the roof of the building. The task of the three men was to raze the central portion of the building, and stack the debris nearby for collection and disposal.

As a combat engineer, the job wasn’t exactly his realm of expertise, and the operation of such an excavator was certainly not limited to military personnel. The reason for his presence, other than the fact that the project was under the command of the military of Vastus, was because he refused to put any lower-ranking soldiers in danger in what could quickly become a fatal task. Though the machines had been meant to shield their drivers from the insane level of gamma radiation present in one of the old labs, the effort was based entirely on estimates, with no guarantee that the measures that had been taken would actually protect them.

This was not his first assignment in the god-forsaken valley. After the upheaval in Saffron Canyon City proved to be an embarrassment to the government, they had at long last stepped in to force some sort of stability on the chaotic urban center. Marbec and his battalion had been brought in to help clean up the widespread contamination there, with limited success, though at least they hadn’t been fired on by any of Matron’s freaks, which were thought to remain somewhere in the labyrinth of abandoned buildings. A garrison of military police had been left behind, and for now, the city enjoyed a stability not seen in years. For that, he was proud, at the same time resenting his leaders for allowing things to get that bad in the first place.

That pride quickly evaporated upon learning of his new mission. His first visit to the research center was terrifying, even for a 25-year veteran like him, and there were too many questions about the situation left unanswered for even the most fervently patriotic type to embark without pause. He did not understand how the disaster unfolded, or how it could have caused such a widespread calamity, and what little information he had was far beyond his education level to comprehend. He had only his stubbornness on which to fall back, though it didn’t escape his mind that a death from radiation poisoning was one of the most ignominious fates a soldier could face.

Though it hadn’t been suggested by anyone, Marbec wore an EVA suit, and he had ensured his two companions also had one. Their closed-cycle respiratory systems were an obvious advantage, and provided a modicum of extra comfort. However, the garments were useless against gamma radiation. There were no assurances; no one could predict how they would fare.

The excavators had been staged just outside the radius of the first detectible gamma rays. Remnants of a battle several weeks earlier littered the terrain around them, and included destroyed vehicles and badly decayed corpses. What had happened there, he had learned from speaking with the residents of the city during what little downtime he and his troops had on their last mission. Though so far he didn’t feel anything unusual, the strange effect that this place had on Matron’s zealots, driving them to defend it with their lives, still magnified his anxiety about being there.

Having run out of reasons to delay, he keyed his radio. “Ground team, this is Marbec. Proceed with the mission, over.”

He put his excavator in gear, and began lumbering toward the structure. On his flanks, his companions also creeped forward, the tracks of their vehicles clunking and creaking as they moved. After two hundred meters, he began to raise the bucket at the end of the boom in order to reach the edge of the roof. Something appeared before him, causing him to instinctively shove his foot down onto the brake pedal. His mind refused to offer him an explanation of what he was seeing, except for the rush of adrenaline that hit his chest like a sledgehammer.

A giant spider stood between the vehicle and the building. He squinted at it, as it appeared to be translucent and slightly out of focus. He didn’t know a lot about Vastuvian spiders, but he was pretty sure they weren’t supposed to be six feet tall. As he stared at it, he realized its legs weren’t actually in contact with the ground. A glance to either side revealed that the other two excavators had also stopped moving. He slowly reached over to his left arm, and again keyed his radio.

“Berque, Jamis, you seeing this?”

Berque replied first. “Yes. I thought I was going crazy.”

“It can’t be real,” added Jamis.

“What do you see?” asked Marbec.

“A huge centipede.”

“A giant shark, just floating there,” said Berque.

“All right, don’t panic.” Marbec opened another channel. “Cent-Com, this is Operation Foment Vice team leader, over.”

“Go ahead,” said an unfamiliar voice.

“We need a fly-by over here at the Saffron Canyon research facility. We’ve made contact with an unknown entity outside the building.”

“Define ‘unknown’.”

“I wish I could. Just send air support. I have no idea what we’re dealing with, and my men and I only have sidearms.”

“Fine, we’ll have Emerald Squadron buzz the valley. ETA is two minutes.”

“Roger, out.”

Marbec kept his eyes fixed on the strange creature as he again changed channels on his radio and informed the rest of his company, staged down the road a half a mile away, what was going on. Mainly comprised of support troops and transport vehicles, they were no better suited to handle whatever was going on than him and his two fellow operators. As the seconds ticked by, the spider remained motionless, perturbed only by small waves of distortion that looked like heated air rising from a sun-baked blacktop. Presently, he heard the whine of jet engines as they announced the arrival of some number of Shrike fighters. He glanced upward, only to be reminded that the window at the top of the excavator’s cab had been covered by a sheet of lead.

Another voice echoed in his ear. “Ground team, this is Emerald Alpha. Give us a fix on your contact, over.”

“It’s about a hundred meters directly to my twelve.”

“Copy. We have no visual contact and nothing on sensors. We have been advised not to approach any closer than half a klick due to the radiation hazard, but image magnification still reveals nothing.”

“Understood. Give me a slow CAP of the facility. My team and I are proceeding with the mission, over.”

“Wilco, out.”

Marbec spoke to his colleagues. “Okay, guys. We’re hallucinating. Since it’s happening to all three of us, it seems the reports about strange psychological effects are true. I’ll take point. Hopefully this mirage will dissipate as we draw nearer.”

His friends acknowledged the message, and he put his machine in gear. Moving forward slowly, the spider didn’t budge. It wasn’t until he got to within twenty-five meters that something happened. Within the blink of an eye, the spider appeared directly in front of him, seeming to stand on the front of the chassis. Marbec barely had time to scream before a bright beam of light lit up the cab. The engine died, and warning lights lit up all over the dashboard.

“Shit! Back up, both of you, back…”

Marbec never finished his transmission. One of the spider’s legs swept inside the cab, moving through the glass and steel like it wasn’t there, and contacted his shoulder. A violent electrical jolt surged through his body, coursing up to his head in a searing flash. Marbec felt agony, and then he felt nothing.

_________

Vecky sat in the command chair on the bridge of the Fox, listening intently to Evangeline as she spoke to her over the radio. The rest of the crew was there with her, also taking in the new information that their former crewmate was sharing with them. As the Fox was currently in FTL, heading to the Vastus system, there was a small but inappreciable delay between transmissions, something any seasoned spacer was well used to. When Eva had finished, Vecky mulled things over in her mind.

“Eva,” Vecky began, “do you remember when we were in the reactor room on the Eagle during the final battle there? Specifically, what happened to Amity Jeunesse?”

“How could I forget it?” Eva replied.

“Well, she was able to repel Aquila’s attack with her staff, at least temporarily. That same staff ended up on the Fox, though no one could explain who or what had brought it here. I think Aquila, during our most recent conversation, was telling me that the staff is capable of defending against attacks from the Chimeras.”

“So you think Aquila gave you the staff as a gift?”

“It’s as good an explanation as any. Though if he was anticipating our current predicament, he didn’t say so.”

Christie’s voice came through. “Tolliver here. Captain Kitsune, I would love to be able to scan that staff. You said before that you’re on your way to Vastus, is that correct?”

“That’s right. We gave up on trying to find a job at Dellal, instead taking on a contract to escort one of the freighters that’s been hired to clean up the debris from the Saffron Canyon research facility. They haven’t been told where they’re taking the material yet, only that it’s within fifteen light-years of Vastus. Why anybody would try to raid their ship for something that dangerous, I don’t know, but a job’s a job.”

“Would it be okay if the Faith met you there to take a look at the staff? It wouldn’t take very long.”

“And it would be nice to see you again,” said Eva.

“That would be nice. We’ll be at Vastus in about four hours, how long will it take for you to get there?”

Christie said, “We’re sending just the Faith, so we could set our speed to meet you there in the same amount of time.

“Yes, I almost forgot how ridiculously fast your ship is. Okay, then, we’ll see you then.”

“Excellent. Reckless Faith out.”

Vecky turned to her crew. “I’ll be right back.”

She exited the bridge, went to her quarters, retrieved Amity’s staff, and returned. The others gathered around her to look at it. At first glance it appeared to be a simple hardwood staff, about one and a half meters in length, and polished to a glossy finish. There was no indication that it had ever been used in combat, despite that Vecky and Cane knew Amity had used it extensively in battles on the Eagle.

“Have you tried scanning it before?” asked Miriam.

“No, it’s been in my quarters this whole time. We might as well take it down to the lab and see what we can learn. Cane, will you help me?”

“Of course.”

“Thanks. Miriam, Penrose, you have the bridge.”

Four hours later, the Fox had arrived at Vastus. After scanning the staff with every piece of technology at their disposal, and learning only that it was made of wood, Vecky and Cane had returned to the bridge to pass the time with their friends. Their arrival coincided with dinnertime, but that would have to wait until they had made contact with their clients, as well as the Reckless Faith.

Having dropped to sub-light speed, no sooner had they approached within 1 AU of Vastus did they receive an audio transmission. Miriam peered at her console.

“We’re picking up an automated message from Vastus orbital control, marked ‘highest priority’,” she said.

“Put it through,” said Vecky.

A new voice could be heard, different from the last time they’d visited. “This is Vastus Orbital Control. Effective immediately, all vessels are ordered to maintain a minimum distance of 75 million kilometers from our homeworld. This restriction will be enforced without exception by our well-armed fleet. This message will repeat until updated; transmission terminates.”

“I wonder what’s going on,” said Cane.

“Nothing good, that’s for sure.”

Miriam said, “The Reckless Faith has just arrived, I’m marking their location on the HUD.”

“Thanks, I’ll head that way.”

Vecky maneuvered the Fox until the Faith came into view.

“You’re live.”

“Reckless Faith, this is the Fox. Welcome.”

“Good to see you again in one piece,” said John’s voice. “I take it you got that message from Vastus already?”

“Sure did.”

“Our long-range sensors aren’t detecting anything unusual, but we’re still pretty far away. We could go sneak a peek at what’s going on; in fact, I’m sure we will once our business is concluded. Have you made contact with the freighter you’ve contracted with?”

“Not yet. Let me reach out to them on the channel they gave us, and I’ll get back to you.”

“Okay. Do you want to initiate docking procedures in the meantime?”

“That makes sense, sure. Fox out. Cane, I’ll let you handle that. Miriam, open a channel to the freighter.”

Vecky had a conversation with the freighter captain while Cane coordinated with the Faith to get the two ships docked. The update from their new employer contained precious little information, other than a specific message to them that their services were still required, but exactly when was no longer known. They were being asked to standby indefinitely. Vecky pledged to do the same, at least for the time being. By the time that conversation was over, the ships were docked.

Leaving Penrose in charge, Vecky, Cane, and Miriam passed through the airlock and onto the Faith. There was a brief reunion between the crews, and upon seeing Evangeline in the flesh, Vecky was nearly overcome with emotion. As everyone else shared greetings, she began to wonder if she hadn’t made a huge mistake letting the older woman leave her crew without objection. If anyone else noticed her state of mind, they didn’t let on.

“Reveki,” began Christie, “I’d like to take the staff down to the orb room. I stand the best chance of evaluating it there.”

“No problem,” she said, passing off the object to her.

The group went to the galley, with Christie proceeding forward to the orb room. The chatter had reached a crescendo, which was nearly overwhelming, but everyone had several months to catch up on. Vecky accepted a large glass of ale when it was offered to her by Richter, as it seemed to be the best remedy for the present melancholy she was feeling. After a few minutes of unstructured conversation, and several pulls on her glass, she nudged John on the arm and gestured for him to step off to the side.

“Yo,” he said.

“This is all quite lovely,” she began, “but I’m not sure this is the best time to let discipline break down. We have no idea what’s going on at Vastus.”

“Trust me, I know. Take a look. Ray, Dana, and Devonai are all refraining from alcohol. We may play fast and loose with the rules on this ship, but they’re the ones technically on duty. And Christie, of course, who can’t become inebriated anyway.”

Vecky raised her glass. “I guess I’m being a bit hypocritical. I hear you, John. I suppose I wasn’t really thinking about how long it’s been since we’ve seen each other.”

“I think you should enjoy yourself, in moderation anyway. When Christie’s done with her scans, we’ll head over to Vastus and see if we can’t figure out what’s going on. Until then, I think you’ve earned a little break.”

She drained her glass, and looked at the Faith’s selection of alcohol, impressive as always. “Earned it? I don’t know about that. But I’ll take what I can get.”

Shadow of the Chimera (Reckless Faith VII), Chapter 4

Spoiler alert: This is a new entry for the 7th book in the Reckless Faith series. You may find the prologue here: https://devonai.wordpress.com/2022/12/15/reckless-faith-vii-prologue/

Reveki Kitsune and Cane Venator stood on the east side of a wide boulevard in the City of the Swan, facing the Temple of the Acolytes. It was dusk by the asteroid’s clock, and the street behind them hummed with vehicles, bicycles, and foot traffic as the citizens reached the end of their work day and sought to reach home, food, or an adult beverage. On the surface, not much had changed for most residents of the asteroid after so much recent turmoil, though a visitor only needed to strike up a conversation with a passer-by to hear their opinion on the current state of affairs. Though the two visitors had played a critical role in the transformation of the Swan’s government, by sight nobody knew who they were. That fact worked in their benefit for their short trip from the asteroid’s massive hangar to the temple, otherwise they might be interrupted by any number of curious folks.

Vecky was reluctant to take on the task requested of her by the crew of the Reckless Faith, but considering her own ship was still waiting for a lucrative job to take them elsewhere, she could hardly decline. Though she and Cane hadn’t been to this particular neighborhood before, it matched what Arianna Ferro had told them about her adventures there some months prior. They had done the courtesy of reaching out to Fench’est Dann, who presumably waited for them inside. The pair crossed the sidewalk and entered the building through its enormous hardwood doors.

The interior was empty, save for the chief acolyte, who stood behind a long counter, wearing an expression of disinterest. They looked around, noticing little of interest, save for the architecture, which was reminiscent of a government building whose glory had long since passed. The man they had come to see was wearing drab gray clothing, unlike the crimson robe and purple sash they were expecting.

“Chief Acolyte Dann,” began Vecky, “thank you for seeing us on such short notice.”

Dann shrugged. “Sure. Welcome to the hallowed halls of a failed religion. They’re thinking of repurposing this building into a small set of apartments, what do you think?”

“That would be a shame. Perhaps a museum to commemorate the faith that was held for so long would be more appropriate?”

“That would be lovely, if there was anyone here who cared to advocate for it. As it stands, you’d find more support for the remembrance of the ashes of a bonfire, which is all that’s left. The only reason I’m still here is because they keep paying my salary, probably out of sympathy. All of the other acolytes, who were always volunteers, have left for greener pastures. Honestly, I didn’t think I’d ever come back to this place. I would have preferred to meet you at a public house with an ample supply of strong ale.”

“It’s not too late for that,” said Cane.

“Tell me why you’re here first. Then I’ll be happy to find the bottom of a glass with you.”

Vecky took a few minutes to tell Dann what she knew about the situation at Sadal Biham, then waited several seconds as he mulled it over.

“So,” she said. “They want me to try to contact Aquila, and I thought I could use your help.”

Dann raised his eyebrows, the first expression of emotion that he’d displayed since they walked in. “Me? I served his enemy, Cygnus. Why would he want to talk to me?”

“My idea is that we meditate together. Perhaps he’ll be curious as to why you’re participating. Considering the capriciousness of these beings, the more novel the situation, the more likely it will be that he’ll respond.”

Dann nodded morosely. “I guess that makes sense. I’ve got nothing but time, I suppose I’ll humor you. I do have to ask you, though, do you think Aquila is responsible for the appearance of these Chimera things?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. What his interest might be in Sadal Biham is also unknown.”

“Aren’t the Terrans worried that Aquila could retaliate against them if they start mucking about in his affairs?”

“They were able to replicate the intercept device that the CLF invented. They have one on their ships and a network of them protecting their home planet. So they’re at least safe from abductions, should Aquila want to use that tactic.”

“Bravo for them, then. Anyway, are you ready to try some meditation? I have a chamber back here intended for that purpose.”

“Yes. Cane, I assume you’re going to want to wait at a pub or restaurant?”

“Sure. I’ll be at the Cygnet Café.”

Cane nodded at Dann, and exited back to the street. Dann gestured for Vecky to follow him. They entered a small room just off the main area. It was a cozy space, with faded tapestries on the walls, and stained-glass windows comprised of random shapes of brown, green, and red ochre. There were also empty spots on the wall where the stone was of a lighter shade, as if something had hung there for a long time before being recently removed. On the floor were a dark green rug and a few piles of large, purple velvet pillows. A small table in the corner bore an oil lamp and an incense burner, neither of which were lit.

Dann grabbed a pillow and sat cross-legged on it, facing the windows. “Make yourself comfortable.”

Vecky did the same, adjusting the pillow several times until it was centered beneath her. She closed her eyes and tried to clear her mind. Though it was irrational to do so, she couldn’t help but resent the crew of the Reckless Faith, particularly John, for asking her to contact Aquila. She had hoped that part of her life was done for good, and she hated being obligated to a task that probably had nothing to do with her or the Fox. Still, she could hardly refuse such a simple request from her friends.

Her thoughts began to dwell on Cane. Though his personality was mostly the same, Vecky could tell he hadn’t gotten over the loss of Talyn, and despite his commitment to her, she sensed he was bored with the life of a typical freelancer. While it was possible that they might find trouble out there anyway, it was a mundane existence compared to kicking around the galaxy with the Faith. It would not surprise her if he requested to transfer to the Faith or their companion ship to investigate the new mystery that had presented itself.

Her mind wandered to routine matters, including the fact that so far nobody in the Dellal system had posted so much as a simple transport mission. If there was to be any work, it seemed they’d have to look for more fertile ground. Random thoughts pushed their way through, and the next thing she knew, she was somewhere else.

She sat on the veranda at the Cygnus Café, which appeared exactly as it had fifteen minutes ago when she and Cane walked past it, save for the complete lack of any customers or traffic on the street. Across from her sat Aquila, in the guise of Daimyo Yurishi, the same avatar he’d chosen the last time they’d spoken. As before, his expression was inscrutable, and he said nothing, only grabbing a cup of tea and taking a sip. Vecky imagined a tall glass of bourbon, and such a thing appeared before her. She took a long draught, and was surprised to find that it tasted nothing like the Terran beverage she was expecting. Regardless, she felt buzzed almost immediately.

“Thank you for speaking with me,” she said, the imaginary alcohol stinging her tongue.

“Our business has concluded,” said Aquila-Yurishi.

“I know. Something else has come up. What do you know about Sadal Biham?”

“The Lucky Star of the Young Beasts? It is the ancestral home of the Veltflüchter.”

“Wh… what?”

“A young race, though older than yours.”

“What has become of them?”

“They swim like minnows around our ankles.”

Vecky tried to push past the haze that she felt enveloping her mind. “Are you allies?”

“No more than you are allies with the small beings in your gut.”

“Bacteria? I don’t understand.”

“They share our realm, but are harmless.”

“So you’re indifferent to them.”

“We do not give them a second thought.”

“How might a corporeal being defend themselves against them?”

Aquila seemed to ponder that, and again sipped from his mug. “Only the acolytes possess a thing that affects them. I gave one to you as a gift.”

“What is it?”

The sound of breaking glass wrenched Vecky away, and she stood up in shock. In the meditation room, one of the windows had just been shattered, and two native Dellalians stood laughing in the doorway. Dann leapt to his feet, and shoved them out.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” he asked.

“Fuck you, you fool,” one of them said. “Still praying to a false god! This temple should be torn down.”

Vecky drew her pistol, and whacked the man in the side of the head with it. He collapsed, and then scurried out on his hands and knees. She and Dann followed the pair as they ran for the street. Dann sighed.

“They’re drunk, let them go,” he said.

“Has it been like this since Cygnus died?”

Dann looked back at the broken window. “Many revile what our religion once was. This is the first time anyone has resorted to physical violence.”

“Even if the new coalition sees you as a relic, they can’t possibly tolerate this kind of behavior.”

Dann shrugged. “Of course not, but this is no different from any other petty crime. Captain Kitsune, I’m tired of maintaining this façade, salary or not. Perhaps those two cads are right, after all. I represent an altar of lies.”

Vecky put her hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry. It looks like it may be time to shutter this place. I would only hope that the coalition offers you enough compensation for you to start over elsewhere.”

“I’ve been a coward waiting as long as I have. Would you offer me passage off the Swan? I’m through with pretending I have a place here.”

“If that’s what you want, we’ll take you as far as Primus, Secundus, or Matesia.”

A few tears escaped his eyes. “I’d appreciate that. Even Aquila is without sympathy for me. Did he talk to you?”

Vecky nodded. “In riddles, as usual, but yes. I have a few tidbits to relay to the Reckless Faith, if they know what to make of them.”

__________

Evangeline and Christie stood in the stately lobby of the Library of Xanthos, a massive stone building in a style reminiscent of ancient Greek architecture. It had only taken them ten minutes to walk there from the Reckless Faith, a quick trip that proved the locals had no interest in them as otherwise unidentifiable humanoids. The library stood out against the other buildings in the area, which were thoroughly modern skyscrapers.

The lobby was only separated from the three-story atrium of bookshelves by a long wooden desk, behind which sat a Lycian man with a black beard. He glanced at them before returning attention to his PDA. They approached, their footfalls echoing through the large space.

“Good afternoon,” said Eva.

“Uh huh,” came the reply.

“We’re looking for some information on the history of Sadal Biham, through antiquity to today,” said Christie. “Since the planetary ‘net was hosted on servers there, we’ve found precious little information online. We’re hoping we can do this the old-fashioned way.”

He accessed a console to his right, and poked at it for a few seconds. “There are three books here that fit that description, with the most recent one published ten years ago.”

“That will be fine,” said Eva.

He took out a pen and paper, and wrote some symbols on it. Christie accepted it.

“Level two, row eight, section five,” she read aloud.

“That’s right,” said the man.

An iron spiral staircase to their left was the most obvious way to get to the second floor, so the pair climbed it and began walking toward the back. At the far end of the atrium, they could see a reading area with desks and chairs. Christie led the way until they reached the section of shelves they wanted. Locating the book, a thick hardcover tome, she grabbed it and looked at the dust jacket.

“This should do. Do you want to find some seats?”

“Sure.”

They walked to the end of the shelves, descended another spiral staircase, and settled into two high-backed leather chairs.

“This could take a while.”

“I’ll shut up, then.”

Christie shrugged. “You can talk to me if you want, you won’t distract me. One of the benefits of having an android brain.”

Opening the book, she began turning pages. As she progressed, she increased her speed until she was only looking at each page for a fraction of a second.

“You’d think there’d be more spacers hanging out here, having been stuck on the ground for so long.”

Christie gestured at a page. “I doubt many of them can read the local language.”

“Ah. Good point. Well, this place probably has some old movies or something.”

“This is interesting.” Christie paused and turned to Eva. “According to this, there’s extensive evidence that the Bihamians are a second-generation civilization. Archaeological digs over the past two hundred years have unearthed artefacts of another humanoid species that is estimated to have lived there a hundred thousand years ago. This includes metallic fragments composed of what we could consider modern alloys, and even a concrete bunker containing remnants of radioactive waste. They would seem to have been as advanced as Earth, at least until Seth showed up.”

“Wow. Any historical records?”

“The bunker had a sign on it, presumably a warning, but no one has ever been able to translate it. There’s simply no continuation of their language from then to modern day, and nothing like a Rosetta Stone to help them.”

“What about DNA?”

Christie continued reading. “Curiously, there were never any bones discovered that couldn’t be attributed to extinct fauna already known about. There’s no evidence of what happened to them, although there are plenty of theories. Galactic diaspora is one, though it is rather convenient.”

“Maybe they’ve returned after all these years, in the form of the Chimeras.”

“It’s possible. It would explain why they’ve cordoned off the planet, if they see the modern-day Bihamians as their children.”

Eva furrowed her brow. “Maybe, but they’ve already spread throughout this region of space. Why protect the children if they’ve already achieved the same thing as their parents? I mean, at least as far as leaving the planet. Did they independently invent FTL travel?”

Christie flipped forward to the latter third of the book. “Give me a minute.”

Eva spotted a vending machine in an alcove, and went to investigate it. After a few minutes, she managed to get her PDA to interface with it, and bought herself a hot beverage. She returned to the chairs, blowing steam from the top of the paper cup, and sat back down.

“This tastes like Postum. Y’ever have Postum?”

“No, what are you, like seventy? So to answer your question, the modern Bihamians didn’t invent FTL technology on their own. It was given to them by their first visitors from outside the solar system, the Primarians, about a hundred and fifty years ago. Though, they had explored the solar system with sub-light spacecraft, and set foot on Lycia. I guess the Primarians thought they were ready.”

“Perhaps the Chimeras disagree.”

“Indeed.”

John’s voice came through on their earpieces. “Adeler, Tolliver, this is Scherer.”

“Go ahead,” replied Eva.

“Captain Kitsune was able to get some information for us out of Aquila. How’s it going on your end?”

“I think we have what we need,” said Christie. “I might as well finish this book, if you’re not in a hurry. I should be done in about ten minutes.”

“That’s fine, take your time. We’ll talk when you get back. Scherer out.”

Shadow of the Chimera (Reckless Faith VII), Chapter 3

Spoiler alert: This is a new entry for the 7th book in the Reckless Faith series. The prologue may be found here:

https://devonai.wordpress.com/2022/12/15/reckless-faith-vii-prologue/

Forty-five minutes later, the crew of the Faith, minus Dana and Milly, were gathered in the conference room on board the Percheron. Ari’s mission to the Valorous had been accomplished without any problems, as they had little trouble bypassing the airlock controls, and she found nothing during her brief journey to the bridge but aromatic corpses. After downloading what she could from the ship’s computer to her PDA, she returned and passed of the device to Christie. Once she had a chance to analyze the data, John had called a meeting to discuss what they’d found.

Present from the Percheron’s crew were Dietrich, Haverbrook, Brockway, and Zeta. Brockway had prepared the large-mounted wall monitor for Christie’s presentation. Once everyone was seated, Christie went to stand by the monitor, her PDA in her hand. The first image to appear was a diagram of Sadal Biham, with icons of every ship of the Rakhar fleet outlined in red.

“The aliens,” she began, “who we decided to call Stingrays for lack of a better term, appeared weeks after the Rakhar blockaded Sadal Biham, about thirteen days ago. Until that time, what little the planet had in the way of defenses was no match for the fleet, and a rather lopsided truce was signed, granting the locals a small measure of autonomy for governing their own affairs in exchange for peace. The exception was the colony on SB IIIC, which was more closely regulated by the Rakhar, which makes sense considering the logistical practicalities of maintaining an off-world settlement. Anyway, any plans of the Rakhar beyond that point are unknown to us, as higher-level communications to and from the Valorous were encrypted too well for me to crack for now. And so, what you can see are the positions of their forces at the time the Rays attacked.”

Christie pressed a key on her PDA, setting into motion an animation of ship movements on the diagram. “You’ll immediately notice that there’s no telemetry on the Stingray’s ships; indeed, there’s no sensor data on them at all. The captain of the Valorous was confounded by that, as you can imagine, but their response shows that they had visual contact with the old Mark I eyeball and did their damn best to engage the enemy. External cameras also reveal nothing, including weapons fire from their enemy. The Rakhar ships that were destroyed simply exploded, and so quickly that their crews had no time to communicate what might have happened.”

“What have you got us into, Scherer?” breathed Dietrich, her face pale.

“You’ve seen our mission logs,” replied John. “When have we ever caught a break?”

Christie continued. “So, we have to presume that the surviving ships were boarded like the Valorous. Here’s some of the CCTV footage of the interior.”

On the monitor, a compilation of scenes were displayed, showing a desperate fight by the crew of the Valorous as the aliens swept through the ship. As with the footage from space, only the Rakhar could be seen, with the exception of the electrical bolt weapon that killed them, which seemed to emanate from nowhere.

Ari said, “The wounds on the bodies were consistent with a high-voltage electric shock.”

“Shouldn’t it be high-amperage?” asked Ray, smirking.

Dietrich pointed at the screen. “Some of those guys look like they’re wearing pretty beefy combat armor, which didn’t save them. Do we know how our own armor compares to it?”

“Our EVA suits provide some protection from electric shock,” said Richter. “However, the combat armor we’ve encountered and replicated is probably no better than theirs.”

Zeta said, “If we knew what we were dealing with, we might be able to improvise a counter-measure.”

“Do we have any sensor data on that weapon?” asked Dietrich.

“Not yet,” replied Christie. “I can tell you for sure that I don’t have data on strikes that directly hit Rakhar. I might be able to find some data if a bolt hit a panel or a console or something that was registered as an overload on the system. I haven’t had time for that.”

“Look into it, please,” said John.

“We don’t know if the entire Rakhar fleet was destroyed or disabled, right?” asked Haverbrook. “Could some ships have escaped?”

Christie nodded. “Possibly. I found a roster of which Rakhar ships were assigned to the blockade, but we don’t know how many are accounted for out there in that vast debris field. I might be able to piece together some ships, like a tediously massive jigsaw puzzle, but even if we could confirm that one or more ships escaped, what good would that do us?”

“I just meant that it would explain why more Rakhar ships haven’t shown up since the attack.”

“Maybe they have,” said John. “They could have rescued survivors, been destroyed themselves, or left without doing anything. Let’s focus on investigating SB IIIC for now.”

Twenty minutes later, having returned to their own ship, the crew of the Reckless Faith was again gathered on the bridge, save for Richter and Devonai, who stood ready manning their turrets. The transit to SB IIIC had taken mere seconds, and both the Faith and the Percheron had established a high orbit. The moon, a blue-green marble speckled with brown, stood in stark contrast to its parent, a gas giant of swirling red and white, which at that distance dwarfed its child, and loomed silently in the background.

Preliminary scans were conducted by both ships, revealing electromagnetic signals one would expect from an occupied planet, with the exception of any satellites in orbit, which transmitted nothing. Unsurprisingly, what signals they could detect from the surface were within bands typically used in the galaxy, and indicated a normal amount of traffic for a developed world. Without a satellite offering a typical welcome message, both ships were left without an obvious point of contact.

John sat at the secondary systems console, towards the left rear of the bridge. Friday sat in his lap, blissfully unaware of any strife as usual, and Tycho lay at the feet of Ray as he sat across from John, fidgeting and occasionally whining, though he didn’t waver from his spot. The dog continued to feign indifference towards Christie, who sat next to Ray at the primary systems console, much to her consternation. Dana was at the navigation and communication station, with Eva standing by her side. Milly was at the controls, though they were currently on autopilot to maintain orbit. Also present were Lieutenant Commander Brockway and Lieutenant Zeta. The rest of the crew of the Percheron listened in on an open channel.

Once she’d had a chance to take in the situation, Christie spoke. “All right, people. The moon is a perfect example of successful terraforming, and is indistinguishable from a standard terrestrial planet. Though the oceans are shallow and the forests young compared to Earth, they teem with life, presumably imported from Sadal Biham. Each continent boasts several large cities, but only two have proper spaceports. As we already know, there is no ship traffic entering or leaving orbit, though I do see plenty of atmosphere-only aircraft at various altitudes. The dormant satellites we detected earlier will, given enough time, lose their orbits and burn up in the atmosphere.”

“What were we able to learn about it on the ‘net?” asked John. “Which city should we visit first?”

“There is precious little info that I can find, apart from what we already know. The moon has a unified government, but if there is a capitol city, I couldn’t tell you which one it is.”

“Considering the lack of space traffic, I think the colonists are too afraid of breaking atmo right now. They could have shut down their satellites for safety, or the Stingrays disabled them. Either way they seem to be hunkering down and waiting for more info. Because of that, they might be hostile to any visitors, even if neutral, as any ship might catch the attention of the Stingrays and bring them back. So, I think we should take the Faith down in stealth mode, find some locals, and start asking questions. Hopefully they’ll be less threatened by a group on the ground.”

Eva said, “Since we can’t pass for locals, I say we tell them we’re traders who got trapped on the surface and are looking for an update.”

“Similar tactics have worked for us in the past. Dietrich, what do you think?”

Dietrich’s voice came in over the radio. “It’s as good idea as any. I assume you want the Percheron to stay in orbit and alert you to any problems.”

“Yes. Ground team, gear up. Christie and Dana, see if you can find us a city with a spaceport, and scan for any off-word ships that may be there. We’ll be better received if there are already some folks in the same situation we’re pretending to be in.”

“Sure,” replied Christie. “Milly, break geosynchronous orbit and give us one OPM.”

“No problem,” said Milly.

Eva, Ari, Brockway, and Zeta exited the bridge. They descended the port-side staircase, then went up to the armory. Richter and Devonai were there, donning their concealable body armor. Richter looked at their guests.

“Those Space Force jumpsuits won’t do at all,” he said, pulling on his jacket. “You look like pre-war Hugo Boss rejects.”

Brockway shrugged. “Cute reference, but I’m not hearing any solutions.”

“First of all, put on that armor over there.” He gestured at spare sets hanging from a rack. “It’s standard level IIIA Kevlar with level IV plates front and back. Then, we can replicate any outerwear you’d care to have. You’ve seen what we like, choose one of those.”

“I’ll take an A-2 flight jacket like Ari’s.”

Zeta said, “What are you wearing, a black M-65?”

Richter nodded. “Yes.”

“I’ll take one in olive drab, if you can.”

“No problem, Scherer used to have one of those. What about sidearms? You didn’t bring any of your own.”

“What are our choices?” asked Brockway.

“We can replicate whatever you want. Available immediately,” he gestured toward a shelf, “Are M9 pistols.”

“Nine-mil is an okay choice for this kind of work?”

“You never know. When in doubt, aim for the face. If nine-by-nineteen gives you pause, we can replicate you an M1911A1 like mine or an H&K USP forty-five like Devonai’s.”

“The M9 will be fine.”

“Cool. In that drawer you’ll find leather belts, thumb-break right-handed holsters, and double-mag pouches with two mags already inside. Christie, are you listening?”

“No,” said Christie’s voice.

“Can you replicate one A-2 and one olive drab M-65?”

“I’m a little busy right now, for fuck’s sake. This isn’t a Burger King. If our guests need jackets then go get them from someone else’s quarters.”

“Sure,” he said, then to the others, “I’ll be back in a minute.”

Richter exited toward the galley while Brockway and Zeta donned the items he’d pointed out.

Zeta said, “How can you be sure weapons like this will be acceptable wherever we land?”

“Projectile weapons like this are rarely restricted,” replied Ari. “With the exception of magrail-enhanced pistols like the Legionnaire, they’re not seen as much of a threat. Still, as Richter said, a head shot is rather inconvenient for each of the species we’ve encountered so far.”

“Adeler, what are you packing?”

Eva said, “A Beretta PX4 in forty-cal. It’s what I happened to have on me when I ended up on the Eagle.”

The conversation lapsed as everyone made final adjustments to their gear. A minute later, Richter returned, carrying a green Gore-Tex jacket and a tan duck cotton Carhartt coat. He passed them off to Brockway and Zeta, who tried to figure out which one fit each other better.

Christie’s voice was heard again over the intercom. “Ground team, I’ve found a spaceport that seems suitable. We’ve entered the atmosphere, and I’m going to set her down half a klick outside of the port. You’ll need to head east from there.”

“Roger that, Tolliver,” said Richter. “We’ll be ready to dismount in two minutes.”

In addition to their vestments and sidearms, the team also grabbed two medkits packed in small rucksacks. They exited to the cargo bay, and waited by the ramp.

“Remember,” began Eva, “There will be a slight delay between the time we hear someone and the time our translator units come across with a message. Vice-versa for when we speak to others. Be sure to adapt your cadence of speech to that delay, or we’ll seem like morons. You’ll get used to it.”

Richter said, “ROE is don’t fire unless fire upon. The rally point will be the Faith until I designate another. Stay sharp, and try to look like you belong.”

The Faith vibrated slightly as it made its way through the atmosphere. Richter crossed over to the nearest wall-mounted console, and pulled up an external view of the bow.

“ETA thirty seconds,” said Dana’s voice.

“Why do I feel like we’re about to hit the beach at Normandy?” asked Zeta.

“This is routine stuff, relax,” replied Ari.

Brockway said, “Don’t forget, this is the first time Lieutenant Zeta and I have set foot on an alien world. I’m sure we’re both rather exited.”

There was a small bump, and Richter hit the switch for the ramp. As it lowered, a rush of warm, humid air was admitted into the cargo bay. After they dismounted, they found themselves on a landing pad in a large, open area. Around them, at various distances, were several other ships, the origin of which were recognizable to the crew of the Faith, save for a few. To the east was the spaceport, situated on the north side of a broad river delta, and to the west was a city. The city was relatively small in size, comprised of a few dozen skyscrapers and smaller buildings. The sun had just set behind the buildings, and imparted a golden glow to their highest stories. To the north and south, verdant forests lined the sides of the river.

The spaceport was comprised of five equal parts, each reminiscent of classic flying saucers from Earth’s sci-fi canon. One was mounted on massive stanchions above the others, with each ground-level building radiating out from it like a four-leaf clover. Landing platforms ringed each saucer, though most were unoccupied. Overhead, a few atmosphere-only aircraft could be seen at different altitudes. The air was thick and unpleasant, and Zeta immediately regretted grabbing the lined Carhartt jacket that had been offered to her. She unzipped it and checked to ensure her pistol was still concealed.

“I have chosen poorly,” she said.

There was no other foot traffic that they could see, so Ari gestured toward the spaceport.

“Come on, let’s go start asking questions.”

“This is worse than Djibouti,” muttered Devonai.

The group headed east, arriving at one of the main entrances to the spaceport after about five hundred meters. A sign in an unknown language hung on the outside of its gray steel walls. Ari snapped a photo and sent it back to the Faith.

“Christie, a translation please.”

Christie’s voice echoed in her ear. “It just says, ‘Payment Office, Concourse C’, which is this one.”

“I suppose we’ll have to find out how much we owe them for the privilege of parking here,” said Brockway.

“We won’t be here long enough for it to matter,” replied Eva.

Entering the building, the team was relieved to find the cool climate of the interior much more agreeable. Comprising two stories, the building boasted ceiling-to-floor windows, curving gracefully from top to bottom. To their left and right, a concourse presumably ringed the entire structure, with shops, restaurants, and administrative offices located further toward the center. The floor was covered in a garishly colorful carpet badly in need of cleaning. In front of them was an interactive directory. Ari didn’t bother taking a picture of it, instead turning toward the others.

“All right, people,” she began. “Let’s see if we can find a pub or a bar where alcohol has loosened lips. Then, we’ll go ahead with our cover story and see what we can find out.”

She started down the concourse clockwise, so the others followed her. It became evident that walking at a normal pace would bring them in a complete circle in about fifteen minutes. Soon, they spotted an alien none of them had ever seen before, most likely a native of Sadal Biham. The man was about seven feet tall, with ashy green skin, and was built like a linebacker. He walked by with barely a glance at the group. As they continued to walk, they spotted more of that species, along with several that they were familiar with, including Matesian, Eniphites, Vastuvians, and Kau’Rii.

Five minutes later, they came across an establishment that emanated loud music and boisterous conversation. When they entered, they were met with a sickly-sweet haze, generated from a few hookah-like contraptions in back booths. Despite the noise, it wasn’t particularly crowded, and the team was able to find a booth that could accommodate all six of them. The music was coming from a brightly-lit jukebox, and a minute after they sat down it lapsed into silence. Nobody seemed to want to choose another song, and people softened their voices as they no longer had to talk over the music. The bartender, another local, nodded his head at them.

“There’s no table service,” he said. “Come up here if you want to order something.”

“Thanks,” Eva said, waving at him, then spoke to the others. “I’ll take point on finding someone to talk to. Richter, Ari, will you come with me?”

“Sure,” they said.

The trio stood up and approached the bar. The man behind it gave the strangers a once-over, but didn’t ask any questions.

“Got any local beer?” asked Ari.

“Local beer is all we’ve got left,” he replied.

“We’ll take six, if you’ll accept element 79 as payment.”

He nodded, so Eva pulled out a small gold ingot and put it on the bar. The man scanned it with a small device.

“This is way too much.”

Eva said, “Would you consider the overpayment in exchange for information?”

“What do you want to know?”

“Any word on when we might be able to leave?”

“No. The government is still enforcing a travel ban, though there are rumors that they’ll allow one or two ships to leave and see what happens. I think you people have been awfully patient in complying with the order so far; after all, most of the ships trapped here can easily escape the atmosphere without being stopped.”

“Including ours. What’s your take on the main reasons people are complying?”

He retrieved six glasses and began to fill them from a tap. “You don’t know that already?”

“We’ve preferred to keep to ourselves so far, but we’re running out of patience.”

“It’s threefold. One, nobody wants to be destroyed by the Chimeras. Two, some actually care about the well-being of Lycia. Three, many ships stuck here would like to continue trading with Lycia at some point and don’t want to sour the relationship.”

Richter said, “Those are all good reasons. This situation is going on two weeks already, though. Eventually somebody is going to make a break for it. If the Chimeras choose to retaliate, then that seems inevitable. Lycia is at their mercy.”

“What makes everybody think the Chimeras are coming back?” asked Ari.

The man placed the glasses back on the bar. “Wow, you really have been isolating yourselves, haven’t you? You haven’t heard of the warning?”

“The warning from who, the Chimeras?” asked Eva.

“The president of Lycia claims to have received a telepathic message from them shortly after the Rakhar fleet was destroyed, and Sadal Biham cut off. I don’t remember exactly what the message was, but the gist of it was that Sadal Biham was under their protection and off-limits, forever. Ships attempting to establish orbit or land on the planet would be destroyed.”

“Holy crap. So do they consider Lycia to be under the same restrictions?”

“The message didn’t specifically mention Lycia. One good sign is that Sadal Biham appears to have some sort of satellite screen protecting it; our ground-based telescopes were able to spot it. Lycia does not. That would imply that they don’t care about Lycia. So far, nobody has been willing to test that theory with their lives.”

“How long could Lycia sustain itself without outside trade?”

“Indefinitely. Well, there would be problems with petroleum products and anything that uses them, those are entirely imported. As far as survival, we’d be fine. Same for Sadal Biham; we did just fine for millennia before becoming part of the galactic community.”

“What do you know about the Chimeras?”

The man shrugged. “Very little. What we do know was shared with us by a Rakhar survivor who just barely made it to Lycia in a small shuttle. We got a bare-bones story out of him before he succumbed to his wounds.”

“Why the name Chimera?”

“I dunno. Some kind of mythical beast, I guess. It’s not an alien race I’ve ever heard of.”

“Okay, thanks.”

Eva, Ari, and Richter each grabbed two glasses and went back to their companions. Eva shared with them everything they’d just learned.

Devonai sipped from his glass, and was pleased. “If we want to do this planet a favor, we could drop the invisibility shield and see what happens. If the Stingrays, or Chimeras, or whatever, don’t attack us, then those trapped here could travel in confidence.”

Brockway nodded. “Anywhere other than Sadal Biham, anyway. I’m not sure Dietrich or Scherer are ready to take that chance yet. Though, it does seem like we’re never going to learn anything about the aliens if we don’t try to make contact with them.”

“There may be another way,” said Eva. “There’s a chance these things are the Kira’To, or another race that shares the same plane of existence. The telepathic message sent to the leader of Lycia only supports that theory. If you remember from our mission logs, Captain Kitsune of the Fox was able to communicate with a Kira’To through intentional meditation. It might be possible to find out more about this situation, and the Chimeras, by one of those of us who’ve had direct contact with a Kira’To by attempting such a meditation.”

Zeta asked, “That’s you, Kitsune, and Colchester, right?”

“Andrews also had a Kira’To dream,” began Ari, “long before we had any inkling of what they were.”

“Cygnus is likely dead,” said Eva. “That leaves Aquila who may choose to communicate with one of us. Kitsune is favored in its eyes; our best bet is to link up with the Fox and ask her to do it. Though Miriam, Dana, or me could certainly try, too.”

“That seems like the safest choice right now,” began Brockway, “Assuming the Fox is within a reasonable distance. Did you want to talk to any of the other aliens in here before we report back? That table of Kau’Rii over there looks like they’re a few sheets to the wind.”

“We might as well,” said Richter. “Based on what this beer is doing to me, we should be in good company in short order.”

Shadow of the Chimera (Reckless Faith VII), Chapter Two

Spoiler alert: This is a new entry for the 7th book in the Reckless Faith series. The prologue can be found here:

https://devonai.wordpress.com/2022/12/15/reckless-faith-vii-prologue/

The medical bay on the Percheron was bright, clean, and well-appointed, offering the highest level of care possible outside of a full hospital. Faen Leodin needed none of it, except for a warm blanket, an IV line full of Ringer’s Lactate, and the sufficient supply of oxygenated air that was already present. It didn’t take her long to regain consciousness, and she was only mildly surprised to find herself faced with humanoids of a species she’d never encountered. At first unable to communicate with them, she was offered a translator earpiece and introduced to the ship’s doctor, a tall, stocky man with blonde hair by the name of Ogden, and Captain Dietrich, a svelte woman with brown hair streaked with gray. A third person, a man with short hair, darker skin than the others, and armed with a pistol, stood near the door and didn’t say anything.

They didn’t offer much information to her, other than to tell her the name of the ship, and didn’t ask a lot of questions, either, until three more people entered the room. There were two women of similar build and complexion, one with black hair falling around her ears, and the other with brown hair down to her shoulders. The third was a man, taller than the others save for Ogden, with short brown hair. They spoke quietly with Ogden and Dietrich, then turned to face her.

“Miss Leodin,” began Dietrich, “This is Commander John Scherer of our companion ship, the Reckless Faith, Arianna Ferro, and Evangeline Adeler. We’d like to talk to you about what happened here, and how you ended up in that escape pod.”

“You can call me Faen,” she replied. “I am, or I was, an engineering apprentice on the Valorous, a battleship of the New Rakhar Empire. We were attacked by strange aliens I’ve never seen or heard of before. They seemed to be out of phase with our reality, as they were glowing, translucent, and impervious to any of our weapons. They floated with seemingly little effort, at times passing right through bulkheads as they silently and methodically wiped out my entire crew. I survived long enough to realize that they couldn’t detect a person if we remained motionless, so I used that tactic to avoid them and made my way to the escape pod.”

“What did these aliens look like?”

“They’re hard to describe. Like a flat fish, with wide fins on the sides of their bodies, and a long tail that ended in a sharp point. There were also little appendages on the sides of their mouths, though they didn’t speak nor did they seem to be breathing. They floated upright, with the broad side of their bellies as the front, and their heads hunched over like a stubby reptile.”

The woman named Evangeline was visibly disturbed by this description, and glanced at her friends with concern. The man named John pulled out a PDA, and a moment later displayed an image to her.

“Did it look like this?” he asked.

A flash of fear washed over her, and she nodded. “Yes. I mean, not exactly, but quite a bit.”

John showed the others the image. “Stingrays. What kind of weapons did they have?”

“None that I could see. They attacked with a bolt of electricity that seemed to come from the center of their chests. It proved quite deadly.”

“Eva?”

“I’ve never heard of anything like that,” the woman said. “They sound a little bit like the Kira’To, though as I told you I never got a good look at one. Faen, are you familiar with the Kira’To?”

Faen shook her head. “No. There was one other thing, I encountered one of them on my way to the pods. It didn’t kill me; instead, I think it probed my mind. I don’t know if it was trying to learn something about me or what. Perhaps it let me live so that I could warn others, I don’t know.”

Arianna said, “Curious. If they knew you were the sole survivor, it may have been just that.”

“What do you know about the attack?” asked John.

Faen shrugged. “Nothing. I’m a Mongrel, a half-breed, shunned by both the Rakhar and the Kau’Rii. My role on the ship was nothing more than a highly-skilled servant. Though my fellow engineers were at least respectful of me, they never shared any information with me. It was like that the entire time I was assigned to the Valorous; all I can tell you is that we were in a battle several weeks ago, which was as far as I know a standard engagement with other near-peer adversaries.”

Arianna barked a laugh. “Near-peer. Okay.”

“That’s the term they used,” Faen said flatly. “Obviously, whoever we were fighting back then wasn’t stingrays or Kira’To or whatever you said. Conventional foes, if you prefer. Anyway, I don’t know where we were then, and I don’t know where we are now. I’ve never known the mission of the Valorous or where we might be, except once or twice when I overheard it.”

John said, “The second to last fight was at Eniph, or Epsilon Pegasi. We’re currently at Sadal Biham, or Theta Pegasi.”

“You might as well be speaking gibberish; I don’t know this part of the galaxy. But thank you for telling me.”

“How did you end up on the Valorous?”

Faen gestured toward an empty mug on the table by her bed. “Can I get another one of these drinks?”

“You liked it?” asked Ogden. “I’ll fetch you another one.”

The doctor exited into the corridor. John found a chair, turned it around, and sat down with his arms crossed over the back. “Go on.”

“Every aspect of my life, ever since I was ripped from my mother’s arms at the age of nine, has been dictated to me by the Rakhar. It was at that age that my lineage could no longer be denied; she had attempted to pass me off as a Kau’Rii, until I simply grew too large in size. I was compelled to take a genetic test, and the truth was known: my father was Rakhar. I know nothing about him, other than that my mother referred to him as a ‘mistake.’ I was placed in a school for children with learning disabilities, either from genetic abnormalities or injuries. There, I was at least treated with basic dignity, which allowed me to study subjects far beyond the rudimentary education that was offered. I wanted to escape that life, so I studied engineering and starship propulsion. Despite overall distain for what I was, when I became an adult, my aptitude earned me a job on the Valorous. That was five years ago.”

“Where are you from?”

“Sadachbia IV.”

“Christie, are you listening?”

“Yes,” said Christie’s voice. “That star name matches Gamma Aquarii, about 73 light-years from here.”

“Is that planet under Rakhar control?”

Faen said, “No, but the Rakhar comprise over half the population, and have entire enclaves left to their own governance.”

“I see. Faen, we have technology on our ship that could allow us to access your memories of the alien attack, if you’ll consent to it. It might prove useful to us to help figure out who or what they are, and why they attacked your fleet.”

“I suppose I won’t mind, if it’s harmless.”

“It is. Our ships are going to spend some more time here doing scans. After that, we can take you wherever you’d care to go within about five hundred light-years.”

Faen sighed. “The Valorous was the closest thing to a real home I’ve had in over twenty years. Where would I go? I have nothing, I know no one.”

“You can stick with us for a while,” said Eva. “You don’t have to decide right now.”

“There’s one more thing,” said John. “You should know that the fleet has been utterly neutralized. You may be the only survivor.”

Doctor Ogden came back to the medical bay with a fresh cup of the sweet and aromatic hot beverage that she liked. He placed it on her bedside table. She picked it up carefully and inhaled the steam.

“I didn’t want any of them to die,” Faen began, “but I won’t shed any tears, either. I only feel bad for their families. Do you have any idea what we were doing at this planet?”

“It was an invasion. Though I hate to say it, from our perspective, you were the bad guys.”

She sipped her drink. “Who do you represent?”

“We represent the interests of both our own planet, known as Terra, as well as any other world that may be oppressed or in danger, if we think we can make a difference.”

“Ironic, then, that the Rakhar always made themselves out to be a stabilizing force in the galaxy. I’m sure the residents of this planet would disagree.”

“You never know. Sometimes an invasion force can be greeted as liberators, if they’ve run off someone even worse. Sadal Biham, however, was already at peace, as far as we know.”

Faen shivered, and put the mug back on the table, lest she spill it. “Commander Scherer? Captain Dietrich?”

“Yes?” asked Dietrich.

“We should leave this solar system. Now. They’re out there, watching us. I can feel it.”

__________

John, Ari, and Evangeline arrived back on the bridge of the Faith. Ray and Dana were there, and greeted them, and Dana waited for John to summarize their visit to the Percheron. She had news of her own.

“We’ve received a message from the Fox,” she began. “Text only. They forwarded us a classified ad from the ‘net from Vastus. They’re looking for capable ships to dispose of radioactive waste from the Saffron Canyon facility. The Fox won’t be participating, they just thought we should know.”

“I hope they know what they’re doing,” said Eva. “Physical danger aside, there’s something very wrong about that place.”

“Unless you want to monitor the situation, there’s little we can do to help. The Percheron isn’t equipped to handle material like that, and the Faith could only carry a small amount in the engine room, due to the ad hoc lead shield that Christie installed. And that’s assuming we could find a safe way to put it there in the first place.”

“We’ve got bigger problems right now,” said John. “Christie and our new guest are down in the orb room now; hopefully we’ll be able to glean a few more useful details from Faen’s mind about what happened here. Where are Richter, Devonai, and Zukova?”

“The situation around the planet hasn’t changed, so they went down to the galley to resume their Canasta marathon.”

John stared at the dark fleet that floated ominously outside of the windows. “That’s fine for now. After Christie and Faen are done, I’d like to arrange a mission to the Valorous, to see if we can access their records and sensor logs. I’ll figure out who from the Percheron I want to come with us and run it by Dietrich. Then, we can head over to the colonized moon and see what’s going on there. Any progress on the satellite grid?”

Ray said, “None. It seems to be impenetrable. Dana and I have been doing visual scans, and were able to spot several aircraft or ships at high altitude, just below the satellites. Zee also took us around to take a look at the night side of the planet; all their cities are still lit up as one would expect. Our best guess is that the population is fine, but totally cut off.”

John saw a flash, and pointed at the planet. “Did you see that?”

“I did,” replied Dana.

She zoomed the HUD on the main screen to that location. A ship was there, below the satellites. As they watched, it fired a projectile at one of the satellites, which detonated seconds later, with no apparent effect.

“I guess that answers the question of whether or not the residents of Sadal Biham installed the grid,” said Ari. “They’re trapped.”

“I wonder if the aliens thought they were allied with the Rakhar fleet, or one and the same,” said Dana.

“That might explain the grid,” said John. “It could be a punishment for some sort of transgression against them.”

Christie entered the bridge, wearing an expression of exasperation.

“This is so fucking weird,” she said, and sat down.

“Success?”

“I’m not sure. Faen’s memories mostly back up everything she told us. There are two things that I can’t figure out. One, is the way she processed the image of the aliens. There’s isn’t a direct path from her optic nerve to the brain; the signal passed through the part of her brain that processes imagination and creative thought before an image was generated. It’s always been the foggiest part of mucking around inside someone’s head, distinguishing imagination from reality, and here it was that much more confusing. The best I can tell you is that the resultant images, which match what she told us, are a construct of her own mind. That’s not to say it was all in her head, quite to the contrary. The brief lightning bolts that killed her crewmates, and everything else that happened, were very much real. Strange at it is, I’ve seen this sort of thing before, with Evangeline.”

Eva went pale. “Me?”

“I never told you, and for that I owe you an apology, but I accessed your memories from when Aquila escaped the reactor on the Eagle. It was the same situation then; whatever you saw was processed by your imagination before creating a palpable image. I think these aliens are the Kira’To, and their strange way of interacting with our plane of existence causes our brains to try to interpret what they see the best they can. If I’m right, it’s different for everyone.”

Eva began to cry. “Your worst nightmare.”

“Somebody go get Richter,” said John. “What was the other thing, Christie?”

Ray stood up and exited the bridge to the central corridor.

“You remember that Faen said one of the aliens touched her? One of the most important parts of accessing someone’s mind that I figured out is how to sort memories chronologically. When the alien touched her, she re-experienced something like ninety percent of her life in that instant, refreshing the memories with perfect clarity. If the alien was able to record that information, then it would make for an effective interrogation, given enough time to sort it all out.”

“If they did that with anyone else, then they’d have a pretty good idea of what the Rakhar were doing here. Then they’d also know that Sadal Biham wasn’t allied with them.”

Ray returned with Richter. Eva leapt up and embraced him.

“I’m okay,” she said. “It’s just raw emotion.”

“I understand,” said Richter.

“Where is Faen now?” asked John.

Christie said, “She wanted more rest, so I gave her access to my quarters.”

“Okay. Based on what you’ve discovered, can we trust her?”

“Absolutely.”

Eva released Richter and turned to face the others. “I don’t think going to the Valorous is a good idea. We have no idea if these aliens are still on board or in the area. Our invisibility shields may be the only thing keeping us from being attacked right now. The Rakhar’s weaponry is powerful stuff, if we encounter these things ourselves, what makes you think we’d fare any better than they did? They could wipe out the boarding party, figure out how to circumvent our shields, and we’re dog meat.”

Ari said, “Sounds like another solo job for me, then.”

John nodded. “Eva is right. Sending Ari is a better option. However, there’s no guarantee they’ll be hostile toward us. Knowing the Rakhar, they breezed over diplomacy and provoked the battle. And if they are Kira’To, they’ll probably recognize Eva and open up a dialogue.”

“So what then,” began Ray, “drop our shields and see if they make contact?”

“I wouldn’t go that far, at least not right now. Let’s continue to gather information on the sly and see what we come up with.”

“Christie,” said Ari, “You mentioned Faen is an engineer. Were you able to find out the location of the nearest airlock to the bridge of the Valorous?”

“Yes,” she replied. “There’s one quite close on that deck, it shouldn’t take you too long to get there.”

“Okay. I could be ready to go in about fifteen minutes, if that’s the consensus.”

“I think it is,” said John. “Any objections?”

“You already know how I feel,” said Eva. “Still, we should be ready to bug out in an instant.”

“Oh, we’ll be gassed up with our feet on the pedal. I’ll call the Percheron and let them know the plan. Ari, good luck.”

Continue reading:

https://devonai.wordpress.com/2023/01/16/shadow-of-the-chimera-reckless-faith-vii-chapter-3/