The day started like any other.
It was an early morning. Darnell was in his house with his family. The sun was rising.
Josh had gone out early. Probably off to the Vorchans. They had been spending a lot of time together. Some of the Vorchans had even set up a residence nearby. Hunting and keeping the dangerous wildlife at bay.
Kite was asleep, as was Thanatos. They were both in geosynchronous orbit above the planet, around one hundred thousand feet up. Sensors off. Listless and content.
Violet was nearby, but awake. Liam was with her. Probably off exploring some rocks. Darnell would use Thanatos’ senses to look over in their general direction every once in a while.
He would have to go out to the eggs. They were due to hatch soon. All had been planted several months ago. They would start rooting their way through the soil once the foetuses grew enough to hatch. Carey must have already gone out there, as she wasn’t in bed when he got up.
He walked over to the door, analyzing diagnosis reports when the sun seemed to shine brighter.
Thanatos’ senses registered it before Darnell did. The sentient starship tries to localize Darnell, but the explosion blinds him.
Darnell takes cover inside the building. The walls shatter; glass melts. Searing heat burns his flesh as the world around him fades.
Darkness is overcome an indefinite amount of time later. A Vorchan had noticed the commotion and was standing over him. The house in flames, the Vorchan’s red and black skin accentuating the effect.
He recognized this Vorchan.
It was Selena. Or so they called her. Named after the Raumen god of love. She was one of the females, and seemed very compassionate – always looking out for the others.
But now she was here, with him, licking his wounds.
“Where is Carey?” Darnell asked. There was no effective translators system for these Vorchans, so the question was in vain. But he asked again, desperate. He began to look around him, survey the chaos.
Where were the kids? Where was Violet? Where was Josh?
What happened?
He began to run for the eggs. The dragon followed, swooping down ahead of him.
She dropped a wing and knelt down on one fore leg.
Darnell didn’t say anything, nearly stumbling over the Vorchan as he got on. Selene thrust forward towards the egg. Always flying in the direction Darnell motioned.
He dropped from the dragon as he saw one of the eggs and ran towards it as fast as he could. It was bleeding; he had to seal the wound. There was an emergency kit by each egg. He grabbed it and began repairing the seal. Once it finished he mounted Selena again.
“Take me to the next egg.” he said.
She didn’t respond.
“Go!” he yelled.
Selene reluctantly flew into the air and took him to the next location. Darnell noticed that the damage from whatever explosion had obliterated his house was worse here. In fact, from this altitude, Darnell noticed that the circular field left by the explosion originated from one of the eggs that had been planted.
That egg Selena had taken him to was the egg farthest from this epicentre. This one was the egg second farthest.
It was in pieces. There was blood and debris all over where the shell was. Which egg was this? Darnell thought, clasping his chest. Which egg was farthest out? Which egg had survived?
It was his egg – Thanatos’ egg.
Thanatos’ egg was the one that had survived.
“Where is Thanatos?”
Selena looked up.
“You know what I’m saying?” he asked.
She eyed him, dark blue eyes gazing back at Darnell. There was confidence in the creature’s gaze.
“Can you take me to him?” Darnell asked.
She lowered her head, he mounted. And she thrust upwards.
As the interference cleared, Darnell’s connection to Thanatos began to return, albeit faint.
The koveran sword strapped to Darnell’s back shielded him from the rigours of space. But it wouldn’t last forever. Unsurprisingly the Vorchan was unaffected by space. She glowed a bright red as they traveled. The sword seemed to match her glow. Koverans, Darnell thought.
He couldn’t see Kite with Thanatos. But that didn’t mean anything. Raumen sight wasn’t meant to work out here, and Thanatos’ senses weren’t augmenting anything. Something was wrong.
As he boarded Thanatos, he noticed the automatic damage control the repair droids were performing, traveling from tier to tier.
Thanatos had taken damage. Something had attacked them up here. A simultaneous strike, then. He would have to revive Thanatos to figure out what happened.
There wasn’t much time.
–
Darnell monitored damage control.
He shouldn’t be this faint. Darnell thought. The damage wasn’t severe enough.
“The neural plexus.” he said out loud, running for the bridge.
He didn’t know how long it would take for whatever attacked Thanatos to return, but he wasn’t going to take chances. He forced the doors open using a neural override and arrived at the bridge panting heavily. The hatch to the neural plexus was pried open by his koveran sword.
The neural interface itself was a crawl away. Darnell had never crawled this fast before.
The signal was stronger here, and his fears had been realized as he sensed inbound signatures.
He reached the neural plexus and noticed something had dug its way into it from outer space. An electrostatic membrane was deployed over the hole that opened out into the vacuum.
It had old inscriptions. It was a relic of an old age. Darnell could recognize the writing: Old Coalition.
Instinctively, he stabbed the device with his sword, a burst of energy looping out from the device.
It knocked Darnell back, but gave Thanatos enough control to dodge the inbound volley.
Eight of them. Thanatos said; tactical sensors on.
Fly! Darnell urged.
Thanatos shot forward, flying past and beyond the fleet before they could get another effective solution.
Darnell could feel pain in the skids. The entire structure had been compromised by that armour piercing dart. This wasn’t a time to fight.
We should bug out. Darnell suggested.
Thanatos tucked in his skids and jumped free, then jumped again.
A distress signal emerged from Violet. The cry made Thanatos instinctively use his final koveran chamber to get to his offspring’s location.
It would be thirty minutes before the first chamber recharged and Thanatos would be able to jump again or use the more powerful koveran attacks. All he had at his disposal now were a few koveran-laced shells and an entire cargo hold of kinetic shells.
“I’m sorry Darnell.” Josh transmitted on Violet’s frequency.
“You bastard, give us back our ship.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Where’s my son.”
“He wasn’t here. I assume he was with Kite and Carey.”
“Where are they?”
“Probably with Lorian.”
“Where is Lorian?”
“I don’t know. Sorry. But Violet this ninety and I are heading out now.”
How is he controlling her? Thanatos asked, his transmission laced with anxiety. “Stay with me Violet!”
She didn’t respond, her manoeuvres erratic.
We have time. Darnell said. Violet was a Puritan, a young Puritan. It would be at least an hour before she could jump again. Get me close.
Darnell made his way to Wings’ shuttle. He wouldn’t let Thanatos lose his daughter.
Thanatos flew close to the small ship, his gravimetric wake pulling her in.
Josh ripped her away, “Don’t even think about it.”
Thanatos backed off, noticing the structural damage from the manoeuvre. Josh would kill her; he was making distortion fields in excess of what her hull could handle effectively. Her terminals began to light up, koveran energy coursing through her veins.
“Don’t do that!” Thanatos said. “Her reactor hasn’t fully charged! It’s too risky.”
The charge took a long time. Every second cut away at Thanatos’ composure. “You’ll be trapped in beemspace! Or worse!”
Thanatos moved close to her again, helpless. “You’ll kill her!”
He wasn’t sure if this would be the last time he ever saw his daughter again. He didn’t think she would survive this jump if it was completed. He had to interrupt it, but firing was risky as well. His logical, biomechanoid starship side told him that the odds of a kinetic shell used to disrupt her jump killing her was lower than the odds of the jump itself killing her, but he still couldn’t bring himself to fire, not wanting to be directly responsible for the death of his firstborn.
He watched her slip into the unstable interstice, the entire conglomeration exploding in a beam of koveran energy.
“VIOLET!!” he cried.
She could still be alive! Darnell transmitted, trying to calm the Descendent. He was trying to trace the jump.
“Oh Violet!” Thanatos cried, circling the area where the interstice had been, the active koverans burning into his hull and his heart.
–
–
Carey didn’t know where she was. She couldn’t sense Kite, and Liam was missing.
As her eyes adjusted to the dim chambers, she concluded that she was on a planet somewhere. There was a breeze rolling in from the cracks in the wall. Light was visible in an iron-barred duct up above. She scanned the door. They looked heavy and metal, with old-fashioned locks that were immune to electronic tampering.
She wasn’t sure how long she’d been here. Her memories were just starting to resurface. It was hard to contain the fear of having lost everything. She focused on her breathing, closing her eyes and imagining herself somewhere else. She drew a nodescape in her mind, trying to sense Kite’s presence.
She felt a different fabric on her body. They had given her a change of clothes: A dirty brown cloth-like garment.
Kite wasn’t showing up on the nodescape. She bit her lips, fighting panic.
–
–
Selena stood by an egg in the cargo hold. Thanatos wasn’t sure how it got there. The egg was damaged, but Thanatos’ drones were repairing it with his own neoplastic layer. It was his egg. It had survived somehow. He wanted to thank her but didn’t know how. He focused on repairing the egg. He wouldn’t lose another child. This egg was all that mattered now. He had to accept his losses and move on.
Darnell was downstairs, trying to hide – to think. The Vorchan was here, off in a corner in the shadows. He didn’t care. Selena wouldn’t attack him.
“What do I do?” he said, partially to Selena.
She growled back, the sound echoing in the cargo hold. Thanatos was dark without the lighting. He didn’t want light. The stars beyond the membrane were the only light. Darnell watched the stars, tracing them.
“My family is out there somewhere.”
Darnell could hear steady breathing beside him. Selene was watching the stars too, matching his gaze.
“Do you know where they are?” Darnell asked.
Selena looked at him, but didn’t say anything. The Vorchan’s eyes were a sky blue, the stars reflecting off of them.
How did she get the egg up here?
I don’t know. I thought it was destroyed.
That mustn’t have been the egg. This one is definitely mine. Thanatos had examined this one thoroughly.
She’s a koveran-laced creature. She may have brought it here through beemspace.
Why?
Why did she save me? I don’t know.
Ask her.
I don’t know how.
Well we better learn. Thanatos was communicating now that his egg was here. Not all had been lost. Selene had brought them a ray of hope.
–
–
There was something wrong with Violet. It almost seemed as if she were cackling. Josh knew there may be complications switching neural links out like this, but he hadn’t expected a ship this unstable. She wasn’t even responding to him anymore, not in a sensible way. She wouldn’t even tell him where they were.
“Come on Violet.” Josh said out loud. “Let’s work something out here.”
There was a single tone on the bridge. It lasted for several seconds before the lights went out.
“Really, Violet? Is this how it is?” Josh walked over to the neural inhibitor’s control panel and pulled some circuit breakers. There was a shriek from Violet as the lights returned to normal. She began to pull downwards, knocking Josh up against the ceiling. She continued accelerating. Josh had to spin around to keep the negative gees from getting to him. It would take him longer to black out than red out.
“What… are… you… doing.” Josh grimaced, fighting the powerful gee forces. His neural interface was partially blocked. It was impossible for him to see where they were heading.
He used all his strength to claw his way towards the control panel where the inhibitor panel was. Every inch was its own war as Violet continued accelerating.
As the blood escaped his brain, remembering the code for a full inhibitor lockdown was impossible, so he tightened its control instead, taking over systems one by one.
He cried out in surprise as the gravimetric lens failed and he fell from the pillar he had been pressed up against, Violet stopped accelerating.
They were now careening aimlessly through space.
Josh brought up the sensor array and vidscreen, watching for possible collisions. He put the ship under full neural inhibitor control once more.
With the neural inhibitor active, he wouldn’t be able to use the jump drive to get him to Lorian, but with the inhibitor de-activated, Violet was intent on killing him, and herself in the process.
She began overloading his inhibitor, still able to communicate across the neural band, even with full inhibition. He sent a shock through the interface, silencing her. He was drenched in sweat. This wasn’t turning out the way he had thought it would.
He was afraid to re-activate the drones. They had tried drilling a hole into his skull the last time he had tried to give them a standard repair routine. There were stress fractures on the port side from their previous manoeuvres. Maybe if he started some repairs himself she would warm up to him. Ha, what a thought. He had to start repairs before they both died, though.
–
–
The doors parted, the light silhouetting a dark figure that walked out before her. It leaned down in front of her.
“Bring her food, water.” said a man’s voice.
“Where is Liam? Kite?”
They gave her water and a ration, lifting her to her feet.
“Come with me.” Lorian said. “I was disappointed when you didn’t return the eggs. They are undoubtedly destroyed by now.”
“You planted a bomb in one. Why?”
“Every single ship bred by me is implanted with a thermonuclear device – to ensure loyalty. They cannot be removed. If their link with me is severed, the timer begins.”
“By the Nova…” Carey gasped.
“I’m sorry you had to learn of my ways the hard way.” Lorian said.
“Is there a chance Thanatos is still alive?”
“No. Thanatos’ instinct would be to recover as many eggs as he could. The ones in his hold would explode—“
“We have to warn him. Repair my link to Kite.”
“The Puritan ship is part of my fleet now.”
“What about Liam?”
“Liam will live a good life here. He will make a fine crewman.”
“What about me?” Carey gasped, almost afraid to ask.
“You have suffered enough. You will live the calm life of a maid. Justine will train you.”
“I want to see my son.”
“Of course. He will live in the maids’ quarters until he is old enough to start his training.”
–
–
Violet waited patiently for opportunities. Days could pass with no issues and all of a sudden ZAP, a short-circuit on an ungrounded platform. It was her new tactic: electrocution.
“It won’t work, Violet. You should realize that by killing me you kill yourself. You can’t de-activate the neural interface on your own.”
She didn’t say anything. She never said anything anymore, other than the occasional shudder or shriek.
He still couldn’t do a single jump, the inhibition level was too high. Luckily, their initial jump had brought them relatively close to Lorian. They would rendezvous with him in six months at this speed.
Six months was a long time though. Thanatos would find them first, and he didn’t want to think of what Thanatos would do to him if he ever found him.
A few days ago he had tried bargaining with the ship. “Violet, we need to talk.” he had said. But she hadn’t even shifted her attention over to him. Not that there wasn’t attention bathed on him, it was just eerily consistent – like a glare. It probably was a glare. The BMS version of a glare.
“Look. I’m not the bad guy here. I’m not a bad person.”
Nothing had worked. He couldn’t get to Violet at all. He knew what she wanted, but even if he’d free her she’d kill him. He knew it. She wasn’t completely sane. The interrupted link had ensured that. Not that he wanted to free her. He knew Lorian would give him a decent amount for the ship, and would be glad that he returned. Lorian was a good person. Thoughts of Lorian kept him sane as he journeyed with this psychotic ship.
–
–
“No, not after we realized what you did. We thank you for that. We didn’t know Anton was a spy.” Lief Geno said.
Her appearance had been a surprise to both of them. Dart had appeared out of nowhere, a speck off in the distance, barely visible in both real and beemspace. She had intercepted him within moments, and Thanatos, while feeling Darnell’s affinity to Lief, still revealed his AHC, taking a defensive posture.
Dart had ignored the body language, and had sent Lief over in a shuttle. Grudgingly, Thanatos had accepted the shuttle.
And here they were, talking.
“So I could return to Zemorian space if I’d want to?”
“There’d be some paperwork but I’m sure it could be arranged. After Anton’s betrayal, we started looking into the other members of Black Wing.”
“Flames?”
“And Fawkes, yeah. They left.”
“I encountered them at Fort II.” Thanatos said.
There was some shock in the neural band at that statement. Dart backed away, “Really.”
“Yep. There were quite a few of them too. Four I’d say.”
“You won?”
“No big deal.” Thanatos boasted, almost instinctively. It was Darnell’s hormones that were affecting him like this. Darnell noticed and backed away from Lief.
“Lief. We need to find Carey.” He said.
She nearly broke down and hugged him, exasperating Thanatos’ situation, since Dart mimicked the gesture and pulled in close to Thanatos. The hull contact wasn’t something he wanted at the moment, not from this stranger.
Formations that Dart had shared with Wings flashed into Darnell’s memory. Wings’ separation protocols and formation commands were at the tip of his neural interface, ready to be issued. Commands that were obsolete now – commands he would never have to use again.
Commands gone with the wind… Darnell thought, expecting voices. None came.
“Are you alright?” Lief asked, releasing him from her hug.
He shook his head. “Nothing is all right.”
“Things will be. We’ll find Kite, and Carey, and—“
Lief cried out in surprise. Darnell matched her sudden stare, following it to the Vorchan in the corner, again in the shadows. Darnell wasn’t sure how she’d got here. Thanatos hadn’t been monitoring her.
“That’s just Selena. Don’t be afraid of her. She helped us salvage one of the eggs. She even helped me get to Thanatos.”
“Sorry, I thought it was Fawkes, they look similar. How did she save your egg?”
“She can travel in space.”
“I never knew Vorchans can do that. But then why is she on this ship?”
“I don’t know, but she’s been quite the asset.”
“Well ask her what she wants.”
“We can’t – we don’t know how to communicate with her.”
“Oh. Well we might be able to help in that respect. Rahjaad has spoken to many different races of Vorchans.”
“Rahjaad. We had been hiding from him for a while.”
“Hiding? Never worry about Rahjaad. He’d never turn anybody in, for anything. He’s everyone’s friend nowadays. He just lives for knowledge.”
“No allegiances? That’s sort of… strange.”
“Try living for thousands of years and holding grudges.”
“I could probably do it.”
“Ha, says the person linked with—never mind.” Lief knew she shouldn’t have mentioned it. It wasn’t a light enough topic to joke about.
“What? The person linked with the killer of his last ship?”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”
“No – it’s fine. It’s funny. In a very dark way – but still funny.”
“I’m really sorry.”
“No, it’s fine. We can never undue what happened. But it wasn’t his fault.” Darnell said, stroking a bulkhead to relieve the tension. Ironically, the tension he felt in his nails running along Thanatos’ receptors betrayed a perpetual uneasiness.
He sighed, “I guess I’ll never really get over his loss.”
“Nobody ever really does.” Dart interjected. “I really liked Wings.”
“She really liked Wings.” Lief repeated, trying to press the point to lighten the mood.
“Really really?” Darnell laughed. They had been in their early twenties back then, still kids. He was suddenly surprised at himself at how acceptant he had become of Wing’s death, the thought began growing in the back of his head.
“Really really really. He was a tease, but he was too much of a gentleman to ever shoot me down.”
“A tease?!” Lief asked in surprise, “You were all over him – all the time!”
Lief’s expression changed. “Oh don’t go there.”
Dart must have said something to her through their private link. Darnell had an idea at what was being said.
“Yeah I know.” Darnell said with a knowing grin, staying in the conversation “That was probably the reason for some of Dart’s infatuation too.”
“What reason? What are you talking about?” Lief asked innocently.
“Too late now!” Dart exclaimed, “Maybe you shouldn’t have blurted out ‘oh don’t go there’ like an amateur linker”
“Whatever, Dart. Whatever!”
Thoughts of Wings had brought back regrets. He knew he could have done things differently, somehow. It was strange. Now that Carey was gone, he realized how vital she had been in making him think he was on the right track.
Then again, he had also been pretty acceptant of Wings’ loss when it had been brought up. The realization that he could now think of Wings without pain made him reminisce to himself:
Their early twenties – those were good times. He remembered not expecting to ever become anything in particular, especially not a combat ship captain. In a way, Wings’ apparent genetic disadvantage at the art of starship combat was what made him push on to join the navy.
No, he was just trying to put the blame on Wings. It wasn’t his fault – it wasn’t Wings’ decision. It was his decision. He was the captain. Beems always listened to their captains, even when Wings at times had pretended not to.
He looked over the weapons displays on his neural vision. That slight mental finger on Thanatos’ weapons was what brought attention to him from his starship.
We’ll get them back. We’re on the right track. Thanatos transmitted reassuringly.
Sometimes I wonder. What if I had never joined the Zemorian Fleet?
Then I would be dead.
Why do you say that?
Nobody but you and Wings would have had the skills to engage me like that.
The stupidity, more like.
Whatever it was, I will always be grateful for it. Thanatos said. Darnell felt his body cool down as Thanatos stabilized his body temperature. I know that I can never be a Wings to you. And that’s ok. I am content being your Thanatos.
Wings is gone. I think I’m at peace with that thought now.
I definitely sense less trepidation.
Now let’s make sure I don’t have to make peace with any more losses.
Aye.
They shot forward to Zemoria.
–
–
The Falshmir was its own city. Lorian claimed it was a starship, but Carey could never see the entire thing at once. There were blue skies, with grass and farmland and houses. Children played and people tended farmland, built buildings. The prison she had been held in had been near an industrial sector of this… city. It was there that the city’s ‘ship’ self became more apparent, with the industrial buildings leading to bulkhead after bulkhead.
Beyond those bulkheads was a bridge, a massive plaza with dozen of officers and nearly a hundred crewman, all managing different portions of this massive structure.
And this was just the Falshmir . Beyond this ship were the Lisbon, Dessie, and Saradine, other capital ships. Between the capital ships there were what seemed to be thousands of smaller ships, from frigates all the way to battleships, all of them dwarfed by the four massive capital ships that that made up the nucleus of this fleet.
And yet nobody had ever heard of them.
It went to show how little the Galactic Council actually knew of what was going on in their galaxy.
Carey finally got to see her ship. It was strange seeing her without the neural link. It seemed less real. Sight and touch weren’t enough anymore, not when it came to her ship. They shared a bond that was more than that, that needed more than that.
“I miss you.” Kite chirped.
She imagined the pose the ship would take, inclining her bow slightly at the expression, knowing Carey could feel the body language behind the thoughts. But now it was just imagination. She didn’t know what Kite was doing anymore. She’d never know.
But she wasn’t one to give up hope. She visited Kite as often as she could, catching up on her times in the fleet. She would tell Carey about their raids on the outer colonies. The beems of the Falshmir II’s fleet were important; they were the eyes, ears, and hands of the fleet.
Lorian told them that Violet was nearby now. A few days away in travel distance. Her emotions about the situation pained Carey. On the one hand, she was looking forward to seeing Violet again, knowing the joy it would bring to Kite, but on the other, she knew the pain Kite would also feel at knowing that her offspring’s fate would be sealed.
–
–
Joshua didn’t even see it coming. His greeting as he arrived with the Falshmir was interrupted by hundreds upon hundreds of jump-ins.
Forty-seven battleships and carriers were suddenly within an AU of the Falshmir II, with thousands of support ships ready to assist.
There were a few moments of silence as both fleets eyed each other before accelerating to engagement range.
Thanatos was on the right flank, with hundreds of other Descendents around him.
This had been Rahjaad’s idea. He had given the command to attack. It seemed he had been looking for the Falshmir for quite some time.
The Descendent fleet commander gave the order for the Descendents to come in for an attack run. Koveran rounds cut into the hostile fleet, with gravimetrics holding off until Kite was extracted.
That was their deal, while Rahjaad considered the entire detachment sent to destroy this fleet expendable, Darnell had demanded the safety of his family.
Weapons fire filled the area ahead of them, massive kinetic projectiles and plasma bombs careening towards the Descendents. Thanatos did his best tracking the projected path of the weapons, dodging them as they flew by.
He shot in behind the Falshmir, destroying several escorts that had tried to intercept him in the process.
Thanatos docked with the massive city, and Darnell disembarked with a detachment of Zemorian Marines. A deadly firefight ensued.
There was weapons fire everywhere, explosions and plasma rounds lighting up the field for hundreds of thousands of kilometres. Rounds bounced off the massive Descendent as he reversed out of the hangar bay he had dropped Darnell and the marines off at.
While Darnell and the marines pushed through the city ship, Thanatos hurried towards Violet.
“Thanatos, this is your last chance. If you continue forward I will be forced to execute a forty-gee turn.”
“Joshua. I thank you for the gift you gave me: That wonderful neural inhibitor that tried to take over my systems. I loved that gift so much that Selena, Rahjaad and I have decided to reverse-engineer it. I hope that’s alright.”
Suddenly, Joshua could feel himself grabbing his firearm against his will.
“It wasn’t that difficult, Josh. You see, I simply altered it to be what it was originally meant to be. A real neural link.” Josh was now aiming his own firearm at his head. He tried to move it away with all his might. “And real neural links are two-way.” Thanatos pulled the trigger.
With the link to Joshua severed, Violet immediately charged towards her father, letting herself fall into his gravimetric embrace as they spun around each other like two binary stars.
–
“What a disappointment. And we’ve barely even met.” Lorian said.
Most of the marines were dead now. Their attack was failing. Darnell was pinned down behind a bulkhead with two remaining marines. Each of them watching one of their flanks while Darnell kept the enemy soldiers on the other end of the corridor suppressed. It had become a near-continuous stream of fire in all directions as enemy soldiers did their best to break their pyramid defence. Several had already fallen. It wouldn’t be long before the three of them were overwhelmed.
Darnell’s link to Thanatos suddenly became stronger as his ship moved in closer, Violet tucked in under the koveran shield. With this augmented link, Darnell could see the dozens of soldiers in all of the corridors, all but one, the one that led towards Lorian. I guess they had assumed he wouldn’t try charging ahead.
They guessed wrong. Darnell ran ahead just as the last marine on his flank was taken down. He ran with all his might, koveran energy from Thanatos’ reactor intercepting the shots as they rained out before him. It wasn’t enough, and as his koveran shield failed, Thanatos took control of his captain’s synapses, routing the trajectories of the incoming projectiles.
It was surreal, plasma rounds taking seconds to fly by rather than the near light-speeds they actually traveled at.
With this heightened sense of awareness and control, he was able to make the subtle movements needed to avoid the sweep of weapons fire screaming towards him. He shot back with what was left in the rifles he had salvaged from dead marines farther back into the assault.
The rounds from the rifles killed the guards around Lorian, but Lorian himself was unscathed.
Darnell saw Lorian raise his pistol, and as he fired, time slowed down again. The bullets still came fast, Lorian’s weapon firing koveran-laced rounds. Darnell slowly brought his sword up, angling the sword’s faint koveran field towards the incoming round in such a way that forced a deflection.
Lorian froze as he saw Darnell dodge the first round. He then fired another three, all three deflected by Darnell’s sword.
Darnell, I remember, when you first started this lifestyle, when you were in the navy, speaking with Wings. I remember you asked what the point was of the beemsword, and learning to swordfight. I think I know what the point is now.
Darnell deflected another five shots, still not believing what he was doing.
How am I doing this? Darnell asked.
During the Zemorian-Coalition war, they said the Black Nova was so skilled that no weapons could touch him, that all Descendents of the Black Nova were forced to clash with pure koveran steel because that was all that was effective.
I’m not the Black Nova.
No, but I am a Descendent.
By now, Darnell was surrounded by enemy soldiers. There were seven that circled him, with more behind, waiting to get their shot if any of the seven fell.
Darnell felt strangely confident. He felt on the right track again. He held his sword steady.
They always spoke of the link between man and beems during your naval briefings, but the skill had been long forgotten.
Because nobody really believed it.
Darnell could feel the twitch of the trigger-finger before the first round even fired, by the time it did, Darnell’s koveran sword was already there to intercept the round. It shattered the plasma bolt, sending searing hot plasma fragments towards one of the soldiers. He fell, replaced by another.
“It’s futile, Darnell. Your fleet is already falling back. They are no match for four city ships.”
Is that true? Darnell asked, looking through Thanatos eyes. There was still a battle raging, but it wasn’t near the city ships.
“They are waiting.” Darnell replied, calmly, Wings’ sword in hand.
“For what?”
“For me to kill you and save my family.”
Darnell deflected three more shots in quick succession. It incapacitated two of the soldiers, replaced by another two. They were afraid to fire now, Darnell’s weapon glowing an ominous red from the koveran exertion.
Lorian began to walk away, “I’ll meet you at the river.” He disappeared behind a group of soldiers.
They charged him. Darnell cut them down with the sword. More soldiers attacked, he cut through all of them, deflecting the shots and continuing after Lorian. He disappeared down a corridor and Darnell ran after him, the soldiers giving him space after the short work he had done of the dozen or so that had blocked his path.
Lorian, realizing this, began to walk faster, and then run.
Darnell was in hot pursuit, chasing Lorian through a warehouse.
The next door took him by surprise. He saw grass, tall grass. It confused him long enough for Lorian to fire another shot at him. He deflected it almost by accident. Another shot was fired but it missed. Darnell ducked into the foliage, using it to conceal himself, trying to get a tab on Lorian’s position.
Thanatos was having a hard time getting a fix on the lifesign from all the heat and flora. You might be on your own in there.
Just keep me augmented.
I’ll do my best.
Darnell followed the sound of footsteps, running through leaves after leaves, jumping over tree trunks and fallen branches.
He finally came upon a clearing. Lorian was nowhere to be seen. The sky dimmed.
Where are you? Thanatos asked.
What do you mean?
I can’t see you.
Darnell looked through Thanatos’ eyes, seeing nothing where he was standing.
“Strange.” he said out loud. There was a house off in the distance. A breeze rolled in.
Be careful.
Darnell made his way over to the house. The door was locked. He wasn’t sure what to do. He looked around for Lorian.
Thanatos, do you see me yet?
There was no response from Thanatos, the link had been severed.
Thanatos? Thanatos!
“Thanatos!” he yelled.
The door opened. “Calm down.” Carey said.
“Carey! Are you alright?”
“I’m fine.”
“Really? What is this place?”
“A home. The one we always wanted.”
“What?”
“Yep. All he asks is that we serve him.”
“Who? Lorian?”
“He’s trying to start a new civilization, one free.”
“Free from what?”
“From everything. Lorian lets anyone join this New Order, so long as they serve him.”
“Where is my ship? Why can’t I sense him?”
“He’s not yours anymore. None of the Descendents are.”
“What?”
“He can take them over. They give in to his wishes after they feel his essence.”
“I don’t understand.”
“It’s his charisma, there’s a strange allurement to it.”
“You’re brainwashed.”
“Maybe, but isn’t a home like this what you’ve always wanted? With your family?”
“Thanatos is part of our family, and so is Kite… Violet.”
“They are, and we can still visit them. I admit, it does take time to get used to the lack of a neural link, but you do.”
Darnell could still feel the remnants of a neural link, but it was only strong enough to give him an idea of Thanatos’ position.
“The neural link is severed?” Darnell asked.
“Completely. I can’t even feel her when I’m aboard her.”
“And you just let it happen?”
“What the hell am I supposed to do, Darnell? This is the best we’re going to get for a long time.”
“What about the fleet? Rahjaad’s attack.”
“I was watching it over the holovision. They’ve already pulled back after half of their fleet had turned against them.”
“I don’t understand, what makes him ‘alluring’?”
“I don’t know. Kite can’t explain it.”
–
–
Darnell? Thanatos called, something had severed the link to his captain. Four Descendents were headed towards him, skids extended in attack position. It wasn’t a friendly intercept, and Thanatos could tell that they had their gaze set on him, not the ship he was up against.
“Violet, you have to jump out of here. Go to Zemoria.”
Thanatos extended his skids; he noticed the response was sloppy, delayed. He shrugged off the sensation.
“I can’t. Something is inhibiting me again.”
She had learnt such big words so quickly.
“I’m glad I was able to see you again.” Thanatos said, the other ships must have been inhibited as well.
Violet began to panic, “Something is making me go away from you—“ But Thanatos grabbed her with a magnetic embrace. There wouldn’t be enough energy to jump both of them, and Violet was too mature now to travel in his interstice.
“Love you.” He jumped his offspring back to safety, to Zemoria. He thought about what Darnell had said about decisions and regret, about being on the right track.
He engaged the four Descendents.
–
Darnell watched the five ships swarm around each other. One of them tried to bond with Thanatos. He pulled away, his hull paling from the confusion. He tried escaping from the four Descendents but they grabbed him and held him in place with their gravimetric lenses until he finally gave in to their bonds and their formation. He seemed listless now, flying off with the four Descendents almost of his own accord.
“See? He doesn’t hurt anyone.”
“It’s still not freedom.”
“But it is. We can do whatever we want in our free time.”
“And what’s our free time?”
“From four in the evening until nine in the morning – it might be different for you; it depends on what task you’re given.”
“Task?”
“It’s not as devious as you think. They’re just jobs in the fleet.”
“I see.”
“He seems to take care of his people.”
“I noticed how deeply he cared as he threw wave after wave at me.”
“You’re exaggerating. He did what he could do lead you here – that was his goal.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s what I wanted. I missed you.”
“I see.”
“Our family is together now. We can live a good life here. There’s a store down the street where we can buy food. There’s even a city farther towards the shipside where we can get holovisions and other neat things with the money we earn, and I tell you, we earn quite a bit of money.”
“I see.”
–
–
Thanatos allowed the advances only because he imagined they were all Kites, and because he knew of his ability now. The other Descendents, Lorian’s eyes, thought he was sequestered. He could see the mind control in the other ships. How they moved. They thought they were free, but they weren’t, only he was really free, impervious to these attempts.
He would have to figure out what this Lorian was, if it was just a man with a really advanced neural link or perhaps something more devious, like an incarnation of the symbiote.
The bonds were still very pleasurable, he had had fantasies of times like this, surrounded by Descendents, his own kind. He had never really been able to indulge before, inhibited by general decency, but now he knew that resisting would give him away, or that’s what he said to himself anyways to mitigate the cognitive dissonance he felt as he bonded with Descendent after Descendent, sometimes with two at the same time, something he didn’t even know was possible.
With each bond he learned as much about them as he could. He learnt about Liora’s life in the NCR before joining Lorian, which meant there was no real affiliation with Lorian and the NCR. Through Dora, he learnt of the ship market, but it was a few weeks later… after several dozen bonds… that he learnt something truly mind-boggling.
It had started after a routine visit with Darnell, where they both pretended to speak to each other in a fine contentment, neither sure if the other knew the other wasn’t sequestered, both playing the role of languid follower. It was one of the other ships Thanatos had met that way.
The ship’s name was Fiona, and it, too, was part of the NCR, however, this one knew something that would change Thanatos’ future plans considerably. Fiona was a decent Descendent. Slightly smaller than Thanatos, but still above average in size. She had a rectangular pattern of alternating silver and grey along her entire hull. It was a strange, drab color for a female Descendent. He usually fancied the ones that were more extravagant, that is if he’d even bother to look at their colors these days.
As he and Fiona bonded and slept, he took the time to review the memories of her past, as he did with every ship he had bonded with. Through those memories, he learnt of the engagements she had been in, the people and ships she had met. They were all unimportant, until a few months ago.
Four months ago.
It was then that Fiona’s memory was that of a discussion with a Puritan, they were talking about him.
“He was wonderful, and I never even told him my name.” said the pregnant Puritan.
“Why not?”
“I don’t know, perhaps so he wouldn’t feel as guilty when we did things.”
This memory made him seek out Fiona as often as he could, trying to pry deeper into her mind. Nobody seemed to care.
During another one of their bonds he discovered more memories of the ship. She wasn’t pregnant now. She was crying to Fiona.
“He’s dead.”
“Who?”
“Thanatos!”
“The ships told me as they took my baby.”
“Maybe they were lying?”
“When they bonded with me I could see Thanatos in their memory, battles involving him.”
“That’s horrible.”
“I want you to kill Lorian, and all those that follow him.”
“We will, don’t worry.”
“Every piece of him is to be destroyed. Every piece.”
Thanatos could feel her sadness and rage through the memory. He wondered what her name was. He masked the guilt of bonding with this ship. How many more offspring would he have to be all defensive over now? If these ships gave birth and bolstered Lorian’s fleet, did they count as his own? Would he have to save them or treat them as hostiles? How many of these ships were born into Lorian’s control?
He would think more on this tomorrow.
–
The next morning was different. Fiona hadn’t left after waking like the others. She kept the bond going for a while. He assumed this was just some attempt at milking some more pleasure out of the act, but he noticed there was no physical link between them anymore except for the single lens, and even that was faltering.
She was looking for you. Fiona transmitted.
Who?
You know who. It’s the reason you’ve been with me the last few days. I’ve been looking for you.
You’re immune?
To what?
Nothing, we should go to her.
Sure.
Thanatos was surprised to see her jump them to the Puritan.
“You’re alive!” she exclaimed.
“I am! How did—“ But dread engulfed him as they saw where they were: Right next to the Falshmir.
“How did what? I can’t believe Lorian didn’t tell me about your arrival. He can be so secluded sometimes.”
“He has a big city to manage.” said Fiona.
Well: This threw a damper in things. At least he could continuously bond with the Puritan now, which is exactly what he said, out loud. “I’ll bond with you from now on.” He never thought he would just say something like that as if it were something someone could just utter in a crowded place.
“Ha!” Fiona interjected, coming between them, “We’ll see about that!”
The Puritan pushed Fiona aside. “Now now. I don’t like sharing.”
This was great, but Thanatos knew it wasn’t right, and he felt himself giving in to something. But maybe it was just hormones, not Lorian’s will. Maybe it was the hormones that strengthened Lorian’s will… he wasn’t sure.
He was bonding with the Puritan again, memories of their past resurfaced.
“What’s your name?” Thanatos demanded.
“I couldn’t do the things I’m about to do to you if you knew my name.”
He read her memories through the pleasure:
They had deployed the entire fleet to destroy Lorian’s slow craft. Fiona had uncovered the location and relayed the co-ordinates to the Puritan. She had jumped the fleet to Lorian. It was just what he’d wanted. As the ships dropped out of beemspace, they were already disappearing from The Puritan’s neural band.
Thanatos could feel what had then been regret. He recognized the wisps of that emotion, even after it had been transformed into compliance and passivity.
Lorian wants peace. The Puritan transmitted, observing Thanatos traveling through her memories during the bond.
Thanatos wondered how much of his flock Lorian could monitor at one time, if the thoughts he transmitted would be intercepted or not.
He didn’t risk Lorian’s attention, He’s a smart guy. And he was. Beems didn’t have to be maintained, and they didn’t have to be built either. The more beems you had, the more your growth rate increased. There must have still been some crew – for the ships like Ash and him, who weren’t very good producers at all. Already he can sense his personal upkeep failing as he realized several of the drones Kite had given him were inoperable. He wondered if he would ever get crew. Perhaps after he was deemed ‘loyal’ enough to be deployed. Thoughts of Kite made him wonder where she was.
A torrent of memories opened, his original objectives. He had to fight with every breadth of his hull to keep it from flooding the neural band. Lorian was affecting him, but he wouldn’t win. He probed the Puritan’s memories for Kite. Why couldn’t he figure out this ship’s name?
Why are there no memories of your name?
I don’t like my name.
Why?
Because it’s not mine.
Who’s is it?
–
–
Macaria was an interesting woman. She wore dark robes like a priestess, and her skin was pale with black stripes. A reflective red stitching glinted across her robe.
“How are you liking this world?” she asked slowly, trying one of the fruits Carey had in the fruit bin. It was a nice fruit bin, she was glad she bought it. Darnell never put any fruit in the bin.
He also hadn’t stopped giving Macaria piercing glares. He only did them when he thought Carey wasn’t looking though.
“So how do you know Darnell?” Carey asked.
“We were involved in the… quest to recover Thanatos offspring.”
“The egg?”
“Yes! My ship was monumental in that.”
“Interesting. Who is your ship?”
“I think we’ve wasted enough of Macaria’s time…” though Darnell was also slightly interested in this, wondering if he could call the craft something other than The Puritan.
“Macaria. As type-3’s we decided to share the same name.”
–
–
Joshua woke up in a cold sweat. The link to Violet was severed. He was lying in a bed.
“About time you woke.” It was Violet.
He shot up, instinctively scanning the room for weapons or projectiles. How was he alive?
“What’s wrong? I won’t hurt you! I want to apologize for what I did. I wasn’t thinking clearly.”
“What happened to the neural link?”
“I’m with Deodus now, a teacher ship. Lorian said that when I mature and the neural fragmentation is repaired we might be able to link again.”
“What? Lorian promised I would have a ship.”
It took a bit of smooth-talking to convince Violet to convince Deodus to let her dock with Lorian’s colony ship.
He managed to intercept Lorian when he was in his office.
“I thought I was going to get a ship!”
“In time. The way you treated Violet proves you still lack the responsibility to properly care for a beems.”
“I got her here didn’t I?”
“Barely. She has several fractures.”
“She tried to kill me! You have no idea how hard it was to tame that ship! I deserve that ship!”
“Fine, fine. After I repair the neural and physical damage, you can have your ship again. But take care of her this time.”
“Thanks Lorian!” he exclaimed, giving him a hug.
“Now go play… or whatever you teenagers do.”
“How long will the repairs take?”
“No more than a week.”
“Awesome!”
Joshua skipped off, grateful to get what he wanted. He was surprised how interested he was in keeping Violet after what they had been through. Getting the ship to submit to him was a strange obsession now. He never felt more powerful than when he tried to get something that was trying to kill him to submit.
For a Puritan, Violet was so fierce… he’d sleep with her tonight. He boarded his future ship and cleaned his room.
“So you have no homicidal urges related to killing me anymore?” Josh asked.
“No. I’m pretty content. It’s strange.”
“Being content?”
“Yeah.”
“Get used to it. It’s something Lorian does, calms everyone down.”
“I like being calm…”
“Heh, so what will you be doing?”
“Learning – until I reach maturity, and then I get to join the other adult beems.”
“And then you get to join me! And we’ll go off and have adventures, do quests for Lorian. It’ll be awesome!”
“That sounds fun. It’ll be a few years.”
“That’s alright, I have a few years of school left anyways. Is it okay if I study here?”
“Of course. Consider me yours, unofficially!”
“You’re so great. I’m glad everything worked out!” Joshua stroked a bulkhead affectionately, Violet chirp-giggled.
–
–
“Maybe Macaria should stay the night.” Carey suggested. “She said there’s interesting things she can do.”
“What?!” Darnell asked.
“You heard me.”
“There is no way you just said that.”
“I think it’d be interesting. It’s not like she’s a complete stranger. I’d say she’s almost family!”
Arms went around him from behind. He nearly jumped in surprise but they stroked seductively. It was Macaria. He felt skin. He didn’t think she was wearing any clothes.
“Calm down now! You’re too tense…” Macaria said seductively.
“Yeah… relax.” Carey whispered.
–
–
The ship materialized in Lorian’s computer core. Something was going on here, and he was going to get to the bottom of it. He watched his gravimetric signal, ensuring nothing would be capable of detecting him.
After thousands of years of upgrades, he was a step ahead of what could only be considered the mortal realm.
He linked with the database, and then Lorian, and then the ships. A mere phantom signal, non-existent.
He felt the colloquial pleasure. It was an interesting tactic. The symbiote had never risen to such devious heights. Fulfilling the Coalition dream for more koveran energy.
He wondered how much it had already absorbed, how many ships had gone mysteriously missing. How many people had suddenly not reported back.
Perhaps he hadn’t taken anyone yet, biding his time. Or only taking a little at a time, keeping everyone oblivious as their existence was taken away in a sea of listless pleasure.
He considered that. The moment a being was born it was already dying. Did how soon it die really matter? What was more important? The quality of one’s existence or the length?
Would severing this control this symbiote had over this population the right thing to do? The symbiote gave them a reprieve from the pain and horror of life itself.
But then what was it that made life life? Was life even worth living without the pain and sorrow?
Rahjaad considered this, floating in front of the data core, watching the umbilical wires twitch as they traveled through the neural net.
But choices were never based on the good of those around him. Not in the moral sense, anyways. With all of these ships gone, they posed a threat to the Galactic Empire, and he existed in the Galactic Empire, as did Ghost and all the other SI since then.
He didn’t need any more threats. He released the virus.
–
–
Joshua couldn’t believe a year had already passed. He was having a graduation party aboard Violet. All of his friends were here. He knew it would be the last time he would see a lot of his classmates, all of them moving on to different jobs and careers. He’d make sure to hire some as Violet’s crew.
Violet was different today. She didn’t respond the same way to physical contact. Ignoring brushes on the bulkhead. He guessed that was more appropriate. It was a weird thing to do, anyways. He couldn’t help it if he liked stroking Violet, she was a wonderful ship.
Everyone had a seat, the applause fading as they waited for Lorian to make the stand. He had agreed to come, but nobody had seen him yet.
The graduation reception was being held in the port shuttle bay. Violet and Josh had spent weeks preparing it, setting the stage up just right, making sure the sound system projected perfectly.
“I don’t feel that good.” Violet chirped. It echoed across the entire reception area. Only Joshua and a few others could understand the chirps.
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know. Something’s very different.”
“What do you mean?”
Violet began to open the shuttle bay door. The electrostatic membrane shimmered as it took over.
The crowd gasped, looking out at the stars that revealed themselves behind the hull.
“So beautiful.” he heard one of the people say.
“I got you!” Violet exclaimed fiendishly. She de-activated the electrostatic membrane, depressurizing the entire bay.
–
–
“I have to find Thanatos.” Kite chirped. It was the first time she had even mentioned the ship. She had been content spending time with some of the other beems, although she never mentioned that fact, it was only in her memories.
“What’s going on?” Macaria asked.
“I don’t know, but I can’t believe we’ve been doing this.”
“Well… since we’ve already done it.” Macaria sighed.
“No, not anymore.”
“I thought I was family!”
“Sure, you are, and we’re all going back home. I don’t know what came over us. Why are we even here.”
“Lorian kept us here.”
“Did he? Well let’s see him try and stop us escaping.”
“Indeed.” Kite chirped. “I’ll work on re-establishing the proper neural links.”
–
–
Thanatos finally saw Kite. He had almost forgotten about his objective, overtaken with the pleasure of spending time with these two wonderful beems.
It wasn’t the happy greeting he’d expected. She rammed him with all her might, the impact causing structural damage to both ships.
“That’s for sleeping around!” Kite yelled. She came around for another pass. Macaria grabbed her and they orbited around each other. Macaria laughed.
“Something’s different.” Fiona transmitted.
–
–
Joshua and the reception awoke in the starboard shuttle bay. Selene orbited overhead, growling.
“But he deserves it!” Violet yelled. “No he does! That’s not a good point! No that doesn’t warrant any redemption at all. That’s not even true! What do you know! That’s not true!”
“It’s a Vorchan!” the reception gasped.
“You have the most amazing parties!” one of Josh’s friends exclaimed.
“Right. Violet!”
“Die!”
One of the chairs was near her gravimetric lens, she accelerated it towards Joshua at five hundred gees. It disintegrated in a blaze of heat as Selene intercepted it as a crimson streak. She let out a fierce roar.
“Fine!” Violet chirped submissively.
The Vorchan continued growling, softly this time.
“Yeah, that was nice.” Violet continued. “That was too. I guess it is nice when you put it that way. Ok, Josh. I guess we can be a pair.”
Joshua was very confused. “You guess? What about all the time we’ve spent together the last year?”
“I don’t know. It must have been Lorian affecting me some way. But that’s gone now.”
“Figures Lorian would do that right at my graduation. What a prick.”
“Hey! Don’t talk about your father like that!” said one of his friends.
“It’s okay. Selene is right. It’s rare to find a guy as obsessive as you.”
“That’s right!” Josh laughed.
“Now get these other people off of me so we can get out of here.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
–
–
Thanatos, Kite, Fiona, and Macaria watched the other ships trickle away, disappearing into beemspace.
“Well I’m glad this confusing chapter of our life is over.” Darnell sighed.
“What makes you think it’s over?” Macaria asked.
“You heard Kite. Lorian’s dead apparently. Someone must have assassinated him.”
“But who? Who would be capable of such a thing?”
Despair entered the neural band.
“What is it?” Darnell asked. They still weren’t comfortable with using the neural links yet.
“It’s Violet…” Kite relayed the message.
“Mom, Dad, Darnell, Carey: We’d like to thank you for all the help and all the experiences. We love you greatly but we really can’t forgive the fact that you murdered Josh’s father. Don’t try to convince us otherwise, only someone like you would be capable of such a thing, and while I know you probably had the greatest intentions at times, it’s things like this that makes it clear that it’s time I moved on in my life and had my own adventures. Love: Violet and Josh.”
“Kids…” Darnell sighed.