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.”
