Chapter 2: Destroyer and Empath
Jack Donolon stopped halfway across the two-tiered bridge and crouched in the shade of a diagonal support strut.
He gazed across the Omniscient Seer, a sprawling Fellerossi aerial city now half-submerged in the cottony fluff of a passing cloudbank. Black orthogonal towers rose up or down from his position, joined into a rectangular grid by thick pedestrian and groundcar bridges. A fierce white star hung overhead, dividing the city into sections of glaring heat and relatively cool shade.
Eight lanes of traffic rumbled along the bridge beneath him, and scores of pedestrians traversed the much narrower bridge above him. Jack resumed his slow, crouching walk along the utility conduits slung underneath the pedestrian bridge, making his way towards the Governance Tower at the far end.
With a thought, Jack opened his stealthsuit’s status. Visual, thermal, and sonic signatures unfolded in a corner of his mind. The suit drank in his body’s excess chaos energy, powering its omnioptic skin to mask his presence almost perfectly.
But it was hot inside. Really hot and getting hotter. In the helmet, sweat matted his hair and dripped down his face. The built-in thermal plant worked hard to keep him cool, but it wasn’t like it could just dump the waste heat for all to see.
Jack triggered his neural link and connected with Tesset Daelus.
“I thought Outcasts liked their worlds cold,” he grumbled.
“Not really,” she said. “They just radiate less waste heat than true humans. I don’t think it bothers them much either way.”
“Next time, I want to infiltrate an ice planet.”
“Well, too bad. I don’t pick the time or the place.”
“Are you sure this is the right building?” Jack asked.
“Absolutely sure,” Tesset said. “I saw the courier enter the Governance Tower on floor two-twenty.”
“You certain about it this time?”
“Stop doubting me, will you? I can see the whole city from here.”
“Well …”
“I’ll have you know, that last one was an accident, okay? Read my lips. An accident. Would you like me to spell it out for you in your crude Earther language?”
Jack chuckled, and Tesset joined him a few seconds later.
“Tesset, promise me you’ll never change.”
“Oh, I don’t know. You Earthers can be a pretty bad influence, sometimes. I can’t make any promises.”
“What, and Aktenai make great role models?”
“Who’s the better role model? Seth or Jared?”
“Now you’re just being mean.”
“But did I distract you from the heat?”
“A little. Thanks.”
Jack grabbed the next slanted strut and eased along the utility conduits.
“So why do you think Veketon’s using couriers now?” Tesset asked.
“We’ve used ‘secure’ information against him one too many times. He may not know I can tap into his hypercast transmissions, but he must suspect they’re compromised. Vek is many things, but he’s not stupid.”
“That almost sounded like a compliment.”
“And when I finally get my hands on him, I’ll tell him how smart he is. Right before I peel his stolen face off and shove it down his throat.”
“Ah. Now there’s the Jack I know. Much better.”
The utility conduits came to an end, connecting with the Governance Tower. Jack sat on his knees in front of a service panel on the tower exterior.
“You in a good spot, Tesset?”
“I have a perfect vantage of the Governance Tower. My seraph’s stealth field is intact and all weapons are hot.”
“You’re not going to give us away like last time, right?”
Tesset muttered something under her breath.
Jack thought it might have been the word “accident.” He grinned, easing himself closer to the service panel.
In truth, Tesset was his top choice for backup on an infiltration mission. Not only could she keep her seraph stealthed better than any other pilot, but he trusted her completely. Unconditionally.
The other pilots on the Judgment could never truly understand what merging with his seraph had done to his mind. But Tesset’s unique sense allowed her to see the scars in his soul. She knew, and it didn’t bother her at all. She accepted him for who he was, flaws and all, and that acceptance had forged an unbreakable bond of trust between the two pilots.
It also didn’t hurt that Jack had never tried to kill her. Not even once. He was rather proud of that record.
“Okay,” he said. “Here we go.”
Jack drew upon the flows of chaos energy within his body. A tiny pinprick of light ignited between his hands, and then a thread of blue light extruded outward, almost invisible to the naked eye.
Jack sank the thread into the Tower’s outer wall. It entered with a barely audible hiss, then wormed into the panel’s hardwired security systems. With a delicate flick of the thread, he disabled the alarm circuits.
Jack unbolted four manual latches at the corners and lifted the hatch off. He backed into the utility crawlspace and closed the hatch behind him.
“I’m in.”
“Five floors above you. Fifty meters towards the center. The courier has been in the room for twelve minutes now.”
Jack shuffled backwards on his hands and knees through a space barely large enough for him to pass. He found a spot wide enough to turn around and continued along the utility crawlspace until he reached a vertical junction.
“I’m at the utility shaft.” Jack glanced up and down the dark pit. Bundles of power cables and thick colored pipelines coated its cylindrical walls. Pale red lights at each level gave him a sense of the shaft’s height. It must have stretched from the bottom all the way to level five hundred at the top.
Jack whistled. “Now that’s a long drop.”
“Proceed up seventeen stories.”
“Moving.”
Jack worked his way out of the cramped crawlspace, selected a sturdy-looking set of cables, and began to climb. He tried to ignore the fatal drop below him.
Tried and failed.
Two hundred stories from here to the bottom. Crap, don’t let go. Don’t slip. Otherwise it’s yaaaaaaaaaaa—SPLAT, okay? Don’t let go. Don’t let go. Why the hell did I volunteer for this?
“Courier is moving out of the room,” Tesset said. “I think she’s done loading her message into the Tower’s data core.”
“Don’t let go. Don’t let go.”
“What was that?”
“Sorry. Just concentrating on not falling.”
“Oh, big deal,” Tesset said. “Like a fall could kill you these days.”
“Maybe, but cut me some slack,” Jack said. “The last time I died it almost killed me.”
Tesset blurted out a laugh.
“What?” he asked.
“Do you know how many things were wrong with what you just said?”
“Well, it’s all true.”
“It still sounded stupid.”
“Getting stabbed through the heart by Quennin was one thing. Breaking every bone in my body and pulverizing my organs is entirely different.”
“Your barrier would cushion the fall.” Tesset chuckled and added, “Probably.”
“Can we please stop talking about me falling to my non-death?”
“Sure. I guess so.”
Jack climbed one more story.
“Okay, I’ve reached the router box.” With one hand holding a death grip on the rope of cables, he retrieved a small Aktenai data-drill from his belt pouch. The innocuous device resembled a black finger ring that hinged open.
Jack opened the router box and placed the d-drill around its main IO antenna. The d-drill’s mnemonic inner surface morphed to match the antenna’s base, and data started flowing to Tesset’s seraph via secure hypercast.
“Solid connection,” Tesset said. “We’re starting to pull their message buffer now.”
“I’m sealing the router box.”
“Watch it, Jack. Combat aircars launching from nearby towers. I count ten so far. They’re heading straight for the Governance Tower.”
“Ah, crap. They know I’m here.”
“Looks like it. Forget evidence removal. You need to get out of there.”
“I’m on my way out.”
Jack gripped the cable rope with both hands and began climbing down.
“Fellerossi warriors are entering the Governance Tower,” Tesset said. “Looks like squads of twelve are entering at floors two hundred, two twenty, and two forty. They’re all in full assault armor and are converging on your position.”
“Crap.”
“Shall I take them out?”
“Hold your fire. I need to get clear of the Governance Tower first.”
“I can get you out now.”
“There are thousands of Fellerossi civilians in here with me. We’ll do this without causing the whole city to crash.”
Tesset mumbled something under her breath about “accidents.”
Jack descended down the utility shaft four stories when something started interfering with his stealthsuit. He didn’t know what because every active system in the suit shut down all at once. Its surface changed from a carefully fabricated optical illusion to pure matte black.
“Detecting active scramblers from—Jack, behind you!”
A panel exploded one floor beneath Jack. Its hatch spun away into the dimly lit shaft below. Two armored Fellerossi warriors crouched at the new opening and raised their heavy carbines.
“Oh, no you don’t!” Jack shouted.
Chaos energy surged through his body, and a faint blue shimmer flowed over his skin. The Fellerossi warriors fired their carbines on full automatic, spraying Jack with a mix of depleted-uranium bolts and explosive shells.
Jack clenched his teeth and grunted, each hit a spike of hot pain. Solid bolts ricocheted off his barrier and zinged back and forth through the shaft. Hot explosions rippled around him. The power conduit he was holding onto broke free, and he started to fall.
Jack kicked off the utility shaft’s walls, propelling himself at the Fellerossi warriors like a missile. His energy sword materialized in his left hand, and he crashed into one of the warriors, driving his sword through the man’s gut.
The blue energy blade cut through plated assault armor as if it were damp paper. Jack and the warrior skidded across the floor of a long, narrow service corridor. Now on his back, the impaled warrior placed his carbine against Jack’s head.
Jack pulled his sword up and through the warrior’s chest, splitting his upper body in half. He spun around and cut down the second warrior.
Further down the service corridor, a third warrior aimed his weapon. He carried some sort of beam cannon Jack didn’t recognize, though he instantly knew being on the business end of it was bad. The huge shoulder-mounted cannon looked as heavy as the warrior carrying it.
“Crap!”
Jack’s entire world turned white. The beam struck him in the chest and threw him back into the utility shaft. Warrior corpses around him flash-incinerated, and the beam punched him through the other side of the shaft.
Jack landed and rolled, his barrier sizzling like static around his body. He rose to his feet in an empty office complex of some sort, its walls splashed with orange-and-black Fellerossi swirls. The beam had burned a thick hole straight through a line of waist-high walls. Furniture burned, and the walls melted and sagged, clicking as they cooled.
Fire suppression systems along the ceiling engaged, dispensing targeted globs of foam.
“That looked like it hurt,” Tesset said. “You sure you don’t want my help?”
“It’s all … under control,” Jack panted. He picked the exit on his left and started running.
In a distant corner of his mind, Jack sensed his seraph’s restlessness, even with light years separating them. He tried to send the seraph calming thoughts, to placate the overly protective beast, even as he dashed through the Governance Tower.
“Where are you heading?” Tesset asked.
“Central airshaft. I have an idea.”
Jack hurried through one cramped office after another. Several times, he had to force his way through large throngs of fleeing, screaming civilians. But while the civilians slowed him down, they also delayed his pursuers, who would not fire through their own citizens. At least a dozen warriors hurried after him with more converging from other directions.
After a few minutes, Jack reached a lounge overlooking the wide central airshaft. The square shaft cut vertically through the building, open to the sky above and below with docks for aircars jutting from each level.
Jack stepped up to the edge of the lounge’s aircar dock and placed a hand on the yellow railing. He looked down. It was a hell of a drop, though the puffy clouds below didn’t look too bad.
“Jack, get out of there!”
A shrill whistle drew his attention high above. Two combat aircars descended down the shaft, their blunt noses bristling with weapons. Guns barked, and a rain of kinetic bolts tore through the dock. A few shots hit him and deflected off his barrier with little snaps of lightning.
The platform lurched down at a sharp angle, forcing Jack to grab the railing tightly. Behind him, warriors poured into the lounge.
“Tesset! Escape Plan J!”
“What are you talking about? What’s Escape Plan J?”
“WHAT DO YOU THINK IT IS?”
Jack leaped off the aircar dock.
“Jack!” Tesset shouted, but he didn’t hear her voice. He was too busy screaming.
The combat aircars dipped their noses and dove after him, their front weaponry spewing bolt fire. Over two hundred levels howled past Jack’s head, and then he was out in the open, falling towards the cloudbanks beneath the aerial city.
Jack spun around and watched the aerial city recede from him, its rectangular grid of towers and bridges disappearing into a thickening white fog.
The two aircars exited the Governance Tower and pursued him. One launched a cluster of missiles while the other sprayed him with kinetic fire. The six missiles spread out, engaged miniaturized gravity blades, and sped towards him.
They never stood a chance.
The cloudbanks parted around a massive invisible shape, and all six missiles exploded against this absence in bright flashes. Both aircars followed, but giant, unseen fists grabbed them and crushed their hulls.
The invisible shape flung the ruined aircars aside and approached Jack. It matched speed with him, white clouds flowing around a gargantuan humanoid outline.
The air above him shimmered. Tesset disengaged her seraph’s active stealth field, revealing a six-winged giant of green armor, its sleek lines gleaming in the bright sun. Vents along its torso, limbs, and blade-like wings glowed bright green, radiating the huge machine’s waste chaos energy.
Tesset cupped giant hands underneath Jack and slowly brought them up to meet him. He settled into the seraph’s wide palms with feathery lightness.
And he was still screaming, though a little hoarse at this point.
His shout died away into a low, nervous sigh. Jack crawled across the seraph’s palm until he reached a thumb. He put his arms around the person-sized digit, and locked his hands together.
“Escape Plan J, huh?” Tesset asked.
“That’s right.” Jack shut his eyes and held the seraph’s thumb tightly.
“And that was the best you could think of?”
“I knew you’d catch me,” Jack said. “Just one thing.”
“Yes?”
“Let’s never do that again, okay?”
* * *
They passed through the intra-gate, a white disc just wide enough for Tesset’s seraph, and emerged within the cold blackness of space between stars. The thin eye of the galactic core shone to their right.
The Aktenai long-range strike carrier Keeper’s Judgment hovered a few kilometers from the now closing intra-gate, its mirror-finish body dark from the lack of illumination. The carrier looked every bit the part of a Fellerossi warship, though that bit of deception had never been tested during its five years of service. Two seraphs from Knight Squadron flew close patrols around the vessel, while a squadron of stealth exodrones provided farther reaching surveillance.
Jack stood up, the soles of his boots sticking to the seraph’s palm.
“You okay, Jack?” Tesset asked.
“Sure. Why do you ask?”
“You know, you don’t have to wait outside on my hand like that. I can let you into the cockpit. Hard vacuum and all.”
“No, no. That’s fine.”
“Wasn’t your stealthsuit breached during the fighting?”
“Yeah, I think that beam melted a few holes around the chest.”
“And the vacuum isn’t bothering you?”
“Nope,” Jack said as if it was the most normal thing in the world. “I just stop time from passing in my body until I’m in a breathable atmosphere again. It’s no big deal.”
“I’m still amazed you can do stuff like that. It must be great being a bane.”
“Not really.”
Seth Elexen brought his seraph close, the black angular body glowing with white runic shunts. He carried a portal lance in his right hand, the flowing Keeper script curling around the powerful weapon, each character burning with the purest white light.
Seth came alongside Tesset, and the two seraphs headed for the Keeper’s Judgment.
“Hey, Seth,” Jack said. “Thanks for the quick getaway.”
“The technique grows easier with practice,” Seth replied. “Though, generating an intra-gate of that size to the Omniscient Seer is at my limit.”
“Hey, Seth?” Tesset asked. “Do you think if you practiced enough you could make an intra-gate to take us all the way home?”
“I seriously doubt that. We’ll have to traverse the space via fold engine once our mission is completed.”
Jack grinned. That’s so like you, Seth. “Once our mission is completed.” As if there isn’t a doubt in your mind.
“I’ll see you both onboard,” Seth said. “Congratulations on a successful mission.”
“I wouldn’t call it a success,” Jack replied. “They spotted me somehow.”
“Nonsense,” Seth dismissed. “You are both alive, and our base’s location has not been compromised. Any mission that achieves those goals is a success.”
“I guess you’re right,” Jack said.
Tesset flew underneath the Judgment and pulled up into one of the twenty-four catapults. Twin rails extended down, latched onto her seraph’s now-folded wings, and hauled it up into the seraph bays.
The bays were divided into individual compartments, each self-contained and self-sufficient for servicing one seraph. Even with the wings folded, Tesset’s seraph barely fit. Its head almost scraped the ceiling, and the walls almost touched its shoulders.
Tesset placed her hand on the waist-high ledge in front of the seraph. Jack stepped off, peeled back his stealthsuit’s hood, and ran fingers through his hair. He turned, looking up at her seraph.
Panels opened in the ceiling, and multi-armed mechanisms descended. Robotic limbs latched onto the seraph’s conformal pods on its forearms, legs, and upper wings, disconnecting them from the seraph’s body and pulling them up into the ordnance bays. Others opened holes in the mnemonic skin in order to service interior systems.
Soft white light illuminated the space. Wide open airlocks on either side of the ledge led to other seraph bays, and a high control balcony overlooked them through thick panes of angled mnemonic glass. A constant bustle of Aktenai technicians and a few medics moved about the ledge, filling the space with a background din of conversation.
A gangplank extended from the ledge, forming a bridge with the seraph’s cockpit hatch. Tesset Daelus stepped out wearing a storm-gray interface-suit, helmet slung under an arm.
Tesset’s slim figure gave her a delicate beauty, and her short blonde hair, though damp and unruly at the moment, positively shimmered in the right light. But it was the blindfold that truly defined her appearance.
Tesset wore it to conceal the empty pits of her eye sockets. The strip of cloth wrapped smoothly around her head, adorned with a stepping pattern of lighter and darker shades of green, long tails hanging down her back.
She stopped in front of him, faced him without sight, and grinned wryly. “Well, that could have gone better.”
“Yeah.” Jack sighed the word. “They reacted a lot faster than usual.”
“So, can we try the direct approach next time?”
“You mean fly in with your seraph, reach into the building, and rip out the data core?”
“Yeah, that would be it,” Tesset said, still grinning.
“I don’t know. The point is to get the information without them knowing we have it. Your method isn’t exactly subtle.”
“Neither is having swordfights with assault warriors and jumping out of buildings.”
Jack nodded. “True. True. You do have a point there.”
Both Jack and Tesset turned at the sound of loud running footfalls. Jared Daykin cleared the open airlock and sprinted straight at them.
The leader of Knight Squadron was a tall and slender man with sandy blond hair and a curiously vacant expression. He wore the storm-gray uniform of a seraph pilot with white six-winged hawks on cuffs and collar. His red armband bore the Earth Nation seal: sixteen stars circling the Earth and Moon.
“There you are!” Jared placed both hands on his knees and tried to catch his breath.
“Hey Jared, I’ve got a question for you.” Jack smirked at Tesset.
“Funny you should say that, because—”
“If I were to say to you ‘executing Escape Plan J’ while on an infiltration mission, what do you think it would mean?”
Jared furrowed his brow. “What? Escape Plan J? What are you talking about? Did you jump off a building?”
“What?” Tesset blurted. “No way. No way.”
Jack’s smile grew. “See, even Jared gets it.”
“Thanks.” Jared took a few deep breaths before his face darkened. “Hey. What do you mean ‘even Jared gets it’?”
“You two planned this,” Tesset said. “There’s no way he just guessed that.”
“Well, it’s obvious,” Jared replied. “J for jump, right?”
“See. Obvious. Even to Jared.”
“Yeah, about this ‘even Jared’ thing again …”
Jack winked and gave him a firm pat on the shoulder. “Only joking. So what did you come racing over here about?”
“You two ran into some difficulties, didn’t you?”
“Well, I did jump off a floating city.” Jack grimaced. “Wait a second. My seraph, right?”
“Yeah, that thing went nuts. Even with the cryogenic plants at full, it started smashing at the walls and managed to rip free of its catapult rails. We were about ready to jettison it into space when it stopped.” Jared snapped his fingers. “Just like that.”
“Okay, I’ll go look into it,” Jack said. “Tesset, would you mind coming with me?”
“Really?”
“I’d appreciate it if you took a close look at my seraph with me.”
“I don’t know,” Tesset said with a nervous quaver in her voice. “Shouldn’t you check in with Seth in the command center?”
“He won’t mind the delay.”
“Look, I can sense that thing just fine from here. It’s just as messed up as yesterday.”
“Tesset, please?”
She sighed. “All right. I’ll come along if it’ll make you feel better.”
“Thank you.” Jack gave Jared another pat on the shoulder and started down the long stretch of seraph bays.
The first seraph the two pilots came across was Jared’s. It loomed over them with its metallic gray exterior and sharp utilitarian lines. The Knight Squadron seal was displayed prominently on both upper wings: a chess knight on a shield split into four sections of differing patterns and color.
“You know, the lift would be faster,” Tesset said.
“I enjoy the walk. It’s calming, and that affects both me and my buddy.”
“Well, when you put it that way, take as long as you want.”
The next seraph belonged to Yonu Nezrii, who commanded Knight Squadron cooperatively with Jared. Unlike the standardized EN seraphs, her Aktenai craft was as unique and fanciful as she desired. Yonu had opted for an ocean blue design with smooth organic lines and chaos shunts stylized as shallow domes on the wings, limbs, and center of the chest. Its lines were clean and pure, marred only by the Knight Squadron seal on its upper wings.
Jack and Tesset continued through the ship, walking past Knight Squadron’s broad mix of personalized Aktenai designs and austere Earth Nation models.
“It sometimes amazes me,” Jack said. “We’ve been chasing Veketon for five years now, and we’re all still here.”
“We haven’t directly confronted him that often,” Tesset said. “We’ve mostly been stinging at his infrastructure. To very little effect, I might add.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“You and Seth are a match for him, but the rest of us? We’d just be slaughtered.”
“Don’t sell yourself short.”
“Jack, I remember the last time I fought a throne. If Seth hadn’t been there, I’d be dead.”
The two pilots stepped into Jack’s modified seraph bay. Unlike all the other bays, this one was completely vacant. Few dared to enter it, and for very good reasons.
Cold air from the cryogenic plants bit at Jack’s face. Thick mnemonic glass shielded the ledge from the seraph, but the glass was warped in several places, struck earlier by the seraph’s giant fists. Dents and armor fractures surrounded the seraph on three sides, and the shattered remains of the catapult restraints dangled limply from the ceiling.
In contrast to the bay, Jack’s seraph looked absolutely pristine, its white armor gleaming under the lights. His seraph sported elegant organic curves, lending it a strong masculine appearance. When in flight, the stylized chaos shunts would blaze with his personal frequency, spelling out the Litany of the Mission in sharp fiery characters.
Jack looked up at the seraph. It turned its head and looked down at them.
“Whoa!” Tesset jerked back and grabbed hold of his arm with both hands. “Jack, it’s staring at me, and not in a nice way!”
“It’s all right,” Jack said, whether to the seraph or Tesset, he wasn’t quite sure. “Everything’s fine now.”
A wave of wordless relief passed between pilot and seraph. Its shoulders slumped a bit.
Jack closed his eyes and concentrated. There it was, always present and now coming into focus. He saw himself from the seraph’s perspective, felt what it felt, and undoubtedly, the beast could do the same. It was a faithful servant, caring for nothing but the well-being of its pilot, and Jack did not fully understand how it had come to be like this.
For years, decades really, the line between him and the seraph had been indistinct at best. They were one and the same, two parts of a greater whole, both born from and scarred by the same traumatic melding.
But now his seraph had become increasingly independent, and Jack no longer felt he had full control over the strange creature. Even more alarming, this transformation included the seraph’s own body. Its organic components grew and changed, slowly but steadily consuming the seraph’s mechanical systems in an unseen internal battle.
“Come on, buddy,” Jack said. “You made everyone nervous again. You know how they don’t like that.”
The seraph turned its head away and somehow looked ashamed. At least, as ashamed as a giant humanoid weapon could look.
“These episodes are getting worse. You know that’s not a good thing, right?”
The seraph did not respond.
“Try to keep it under control. Okay, buddy?”
The seraph did not move, but Jack sensed its shame and its desire to please. His message had been understood.
“Can we go now?” Tesset said with a few insistent tugs to his arm.
“Tesset, do you have any idea what’s wrong with my seraph?”
She shook her head. “Its aura is so complex now. It’s almost unrecognizable compared to when I first saw it.”
“I’m having fewer nightmares, but those clearly aren’t the source anymore.”
“I don’t know what to say,” Tesset said. “None of us have any idea what’s causing these changes. And even if we did, what can we hope to do about them this far from Aktenzek? We’re all alone out here.”
“I know, and I guess worrying about it isn’t going to do any good. All right, let’s go talk to Seth.”
“Finally.” Tesset breathed a sigh of relief and led the way out.
“Hey, it’s not like I made you come along.”
“But you asked me to!”
“I said please, didn’t I? Besides, I value your input.”
“Are you kidding? You never listen to my advice anyway. Remember the Auspicious Judge and the antimatter grenade?”
Jack hung his head. “Please don’t bring up that crap again. I said I was sorry.”
Tesset laughed as they entered the lift, sounding both happy for the camaraderie and relieved to get away from his seraph.
* * *
Jack followed Tesset into the Judgment’s command center.
Wall screens covered the outer surface of the compact circular room, displaying reams of data: suspected enemy positions, seraph statuses, pilot biometrics, ordnance manifests, and so on. Concentric rings of light on a black ceiling provided illumination for a central dais and six intelligence desks. Seth Elexen sat at one, perusing a sheaf of d-scroll reports and occasionally looking at live stealth exodrone feeds.
Seth’s trim black hair glistened with sweat from the recent flight. An interlocking pattern of black triangles marked the sleeves of his white pressure suit: the heraldry of a Keeper named Haanuphel.
Though Seth was small in stature, no one could mistake his enormous presence. He exuded command and authority effortlessly, sometimes contrary to his wishes. Where he led, people followed.
And he has led us here, Jack thought. To the far side of the galaxy in pursuit of the most dangerous man in existence.
Seth looked up. “Ah. Jack, please come in. Tesset, you’re welcome to join us if you like.”
“That’s all right,” she said. “You two take care of things. I’m going to go freshen up.”
“But we still have a match scheduled, right?” Jack asked.
Tesset paused with one foot out the door. “I’ll be waiting in the rec center. Show up whenever you find the courage.”
“You’ll see. Your undefeated days are over.”
Tesset flashed him an eager grin. “Just keep telling yourself that.” She turned on the balls of her feet and left. The command center door closed behind her.
“Another Za’Chei match?” Seth asked.
“Yeah. I’ve actually gotten pretty good, but she’s still way better.”
“I despise that game. It’s so embarrassing when she makes me play.”
“Well, she doesn’t do that anymore, right?”
“No, and I appreciate you keeping her occupied.”
Jack glanced over the wall screens. “You’ve sent out a lot of exodrones since Tesset and I left. Catch anything interesting?”
“Yes, actually.” Seth stood up and joined Jack by the live exodrone feeds. “Something is going on, though I’m not sure what. The Fellerossi are making huge shifts in their fleet disposition. It’s like they’re readying for an offensive campaign.”
“Against who?”
“Unknown. So far as we can tell, all the ceasefires with neighboring powers are still in effect.” Seth shook his head. “I don’t like being in the dark about his plans.”
“But if Vek does go on the offensive, it might help us track down the Vengeful Ascendant.”
“Doubtful. Veketon has proven extremely adept at concealing his command ship’s location. A handful of stealth exodrones can’t cover the Fellerossi territories. And even if we did locate his command ship, we’d still have to confront him, his throne, and the concentrated strength of his remaining archangel squadrons.”
“And Quennin,” Jack said.
“Yes,” Seth said softly. “And her.”
“Well, we’ve whittled at his archangel squadrons over the years.”
“And he continues to make more.” Seth clasped his hands behind his back and stared at the live feeds. “I doubt we’ve made an appreciable dent. We need to take out their support infrastructure, also.”
“Which is the Vengeful Ascendant.”
Seth nodded.
Jack sighed. “So, which of us thought we could pull this off alone with no fleet, no backup, and nowhere to run if we get into trouble?”
“I believe it was a mutual decision.”
“I guess sometimes I wonder if he’s too much for us.”
“I don’t.”
“You know, it always makes me feel better to hear you say that,” Jack said. “By the way, did we find anything interesting from that courier?”
“The Judgment’s computers are still sifting through it. But even if we do decrypt the data, it may simply be misinformation.”
“Yeah, Vek does seem to enjoy planting false trails.”
“The analysis will take some time,” Seth said. “And I want to see how this redeployment shakes out. Once we have more information, I’ll make an announcement to the rest of the crew.”
“Sounds good,” Jack said. “Need anything else?”
“Not at the moment.”
“Well then, if you don’t mind, I have a Za’Chei match to attend.”
“Not at all. Please, go enjoy yourself. You work harder than any of us. It’s good to see you unwind a little.”
“Thanks, Seth. That means a lot coming from you.”
“Go. Shoo.” Seth waved him off.
Jack exited the command center and navigated the spacious corridors to his roomy private quarters. He removed the half-melted remains of the stealthsuit, showered thoroughly, changed into a fresh uniform, and made his way to the rec center.
The Judgment’s recreation center was perhaps the most Earth-influenced space on this ship. Round tables with suspended light fixtures filled the room, many equipped with holographic games of Aktenai or Earth design. At the moment, dinner was being served from the manual kitchen, and the ship’s complement of technicians, medics, and pilots queued up to collect their meals.
Pasta and marinara sauce by the smell of it, Jack thought.
The cook raised a meaty arm as Jack stepped through the threshold.
“Hello, Jack!”
Jack waved back. “Hello, Rob!”
He navigated the maze of tables and chairs, then stopped by a large window overlooking the basketball court. Several pilots from Knight Squadron were engaged in a fast-paced game, their members split into Aktenai and Earth Nation teams. Yonu Nezrii dribbled quickly up the court, faked a shot for the hoop, and bounced a quick pass to a teammate.
My, she does look hot in shorts and a tank top. I’m almost envious of Jared.
“I believe you have a game to lose,” Tesset said. “If you’re done staring at the scenery.”
Jack turned to see Tesset at a table with the Za’Chei board already set up, her chin resting on intertwined fingers, a confident smile on her face. He pulled up a chair and sat down.
“You ready for your undefeated streak to end?” Jack asked.
“No. Should I be?”
“We’ll see how long that attitude lasts.”
Jack linked with the Za’Chei board and activated it. The board’s small gravitic field switched on, picking up red and blue glass game pieces and suspending them within a holographic grid.
“So, which color do you want, red or blue?”
Tesset tilted her head to one side and scratched one of the empty sockets underneath her blindfold. “Oh, like it really matters.”
“I just thought I’d ask. You know, trying to be polite before I kick your butt.”
“I think you need to try harder at both of those.”
“Just so long as you don’t try to read my mind,” Jack said.
“Please. Like I can see anything through your aura-scars.”
The Za’Chei board generated a random set of terrain consisting of a small asteroid field, five moons, and one gas giant, all represented with exquisite artistic flourish and no sense of actual scale. Jack and Tesset took turns placing their fleets.
“Yonu, why don’t you join us?” Tesset said without moving her head.
Jack looked over his shoulder.
“Sure.” Yonu walked over, drying herself off with a gray towel. A long black braid swung behind her full figured body.
“Did your team win?” Jack asked.
“Barely. It was a good match.” She pulled up a chair and sat down, looking deliciously exhausted.
Tesset smiled brightly. “You and I should have a match after I’m done beating Jack.”
Jack cleared his throat. “Ah, but the game has just begun.”
Yonu shook her head. “Nope. No way, Tesset. It’s impossible to beat you. I’m not going to let you humiliate me the way you do Jared.”
Tesset wore a dejected look. “Ah, come on. It’s not that bad.”
“Whatever you say,” Yonu said.
“Your move,” Jack said.
Tesset leaned back and cracked her knuckles. A nearby table with five technicians noticed the game and adjusted their seating so they could watch. Two Knight Squadron pilots walked up and asked Yonu what was going on. They also decided to stay and watch.
Around the Za’Chei table, an audience began to form.