Infiltration: Chapter Six Scene One - One Week Until Release!

 

A lone witness on the brink of death...what does his cryptic warning mean?

* * * *

Thederelict shuttle drifted into the bay, a hideous sight when compared to themarauder’s squadrons of pristine single-man fighters and shuttles lined up inmilitary rows. As Nako watched, pieces off the damaged ship’s hulldisintegrated in false gravity’s pull, leaving a trail of black dust as it wasmaneuvered to a landing pad near the entrance he and Terig had come through.

Theship’s head medic Dr. Zo gaped alongside two members of his team who’daccompanied him. “Someone’s alive in there?”

“We’llsoon find out. Me and my men first, Doctor.” Terig was too well-trained tofidget, but Nako felt his clanmate’s impatience nonetheless.

Theinstant the blackened hulk settled onto the landing pad, Terig and two otherNobeks of the security complement sprang to the hatch. Attempts to open itproved difficult.

“Thedamned thing is fused closed,” Terig snarled. “Get some cutters.”

Thebay’s repair area was nearby, and industrial metal cutters were quicklyemployed by a couple of repair techs. Within a couple of minutes, there was agaping hole in the side of the shuttle where the hatch had been.

Terigwaved the techs back and leapt the five feet separating the hole from the bayfloor. His security backup followed him into the shuttle’s cabin.

Unableto contain his curiosity, Nako jumped on board. He was nearly smacked in theface by a wiring harness as a member of the boarders called from the cockpit,“Clear. No one up here.”

“Ancestors,”Nako grunted, taking in the shuttle’s interior damage. Wiring harnesses hunglike looping intestines from the ceiling, half of which covered the oppositeside of the seating area.

“Oneman on board, Captain.” Terig’s call brought Nako further in the cabin’senvirons. He and the other security member knelt next to a slumped figure.

Theman’s head hung down, his back propped against the large supply bin taking upthe floor space at the back of the shuttle. Remains of emergency food rationsand water pouches scattered around him. His chin must have rested on his chest,but it was impossible to see for the loose black hair hanging over his features.His arms, one cruelly bent at the forearm, rested on his splayed legs. Hisblack fleet uniform was trimmed in Dramok blue, and the single chevron barindicated his ensign status. If he breathed, Nako couldn’t detect it.

“Ishe alive?” he asked, ignoring the voice in his head telling him they’d gottento the crewman too late.

Shockingly,it was the slouched figure who answered in a thready voice. “Darks. Fear…the…Darks.”

“Doctor!”Nako shouted before hurrying to the weakly moving man. He reached beneath thefall of hair and cupped the man’s chin. He lifted it, and the dark strandsparted to display a young face.

Motherof All, the ensign was barely more than a kid. Dried blood crusted the chinNako held, and fresh red warmth drooled from the boy’s mouth, spilling over Nako’sfingers. A glassy gaze drifted to take him in.

“Shadows.Riders,” he rasped. “Darks.”

“Tellme your name, Ensign.” When the boy’s eyes began to drift closed, Nako bentcloser, ignoring Dr. Zo’s attempts to wave a scanner over him. “Dramok, who areyou?”

“Ilid,”came the answering wheeze.

“Whowas your captain, Ilid?”

Zopushed at him, none too gently. “Captain, I need room to work. He’s badly—”

“Yourcaptain’s name, Ilid!”

“Abgi.Taken by…rider. All command staff…Darks.” A sob broke from him as his eyesbegan to roll over white. “Darir. Ved. Dead.”

“Whathappened to your ship, Ilid?”

“Blewup.” The whisper faded at the end.

“Captain!”

Nakogot out of Zo’s way. Ilid’s lids slid shut.

“WeaponsCommander, if the shuttle is secure, let’s give the medics room to work.” Now thatNako knew it hadn’t been Kila’s ship that was destroyed, he was ready to grantZo all the space he needed to save the kid’s life.

Captainand weapons commander disembarked. Terig instructed his two men to examine theship’s hull. Trained in forensics, they unpacked bins full of instruments allowingthem to analyze and take samples from the shuttle.

Asthey began their painstaking work, Nako and Terig loitered near the hatch,listening to Zo and his team mutter over the injured Ilid.

“Youwere worried it was Clan Piras’ vessel,” Terig whispered.

“Readingmy mind, my Nobek?”

“Wealways wondered what happened to them. It would have made sense they’d beenassigned duty far from the home world. Out of the empire was an even betterbet.”

“Fiveyears, though? Even if spying on Bi’is was their initial deployment after thewar, the fleet surely wouldn’t have left them there for so long.”

“Pirasis still a name people hate.”

Nako’scom beeped. “Nako here.”

“Vaskiz,sir,” the communications lieutenant said. “Admiral Tranis responded to yourrequest for orders by text. He says, ‘Stand by.’”

“Understood.”Nako clicked off and snarled at Terig. “Stand by? What the fuck response isthat?”

“Well,it was a spyship—”

“Yeah,yeah, I know. I’m just not in the mood for mysteries.” He glared at theshuttle’s carcass, willing the damned thing to talk. It ignored him.

* * * *

The alien force dubbed the Darks has grabbed control of keypositions on Kalquor and the Galactic Council of Planets. Other leaders arestill unaware of the threat among them. The galaxy is wide open for destruction by an unfathomable enemy.

Former emperor Nobek Yuder has suspicions, but due torestrictions placed on him after his prison sentence, he can only stand by andwatch helplessly. A renegade Royal Councilman has designs to bring him back tothe political arena, but doing so could destabilize the Kalquorian Empire,leaving it vulnerable to invasion.

Meanwhile, one man on the brink of death, the only man whocan detect the nearly invisible Darks, is pulled from a lifeless shuttle byCaptains Kila and Nako. His incredible story tells them they’re in a raceagainst time to save not only the empire but the whole galaxy…but are theyalready too late?

On Earth II, Governor Stacy Nichol’s relationship with ClanRihep continues to grow. So does the danger, as opponents make deadly movesagainst her and the orbiting Kalquorian station where the clan lives. NobekKuran is determined to keep his clanmates and would-be lifemate safe, but howcan he stop a faceless enemy?

Relationships, old and new, are strained to the breakingpoint at a time when Earthers and Kalquorians need each other more than ever.The Darks are closing in, and no one is ready to oppose them.

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