Ghosts of Lyarra (17 page)

Stepping backwards, he reached out for the ship hovering near overhead and found his lifeline left to find his way back to them. Once he felt the familiar confines of the operations control room, he dissolved his material form and thrust his atoms up towards it at the speed of light, leaving behind the dying starlet to mark his return. Aen felt himself pass through the miles of rock, break free of the mountain, and race through the atmosphere and into the cold confines of space. Past the orbiting cannon array and silently in through the thick hull of the black ship. The whole process took less than a few seconds, and in the blink of an eye Aen had reappeared on the main deck of the assassin
ship.

“Find what you were looking for?” Iana grinned back at
him.

“Indeed.” Aen mumbled back at her as he glanced over to the timer counting down to the intersection point. “There isn’t much time left,” he began. “You might want to sit down or something, because what comes next is going to be less than
enjoyable.”

Reacting to his warning, she began to sit almost instinctively on the floor as he turned to reach out and grasp the bulkhead above the doorway into the Ops Con. Aen needed to anchor himself to the ship physically to ensure he brought all of it with him down to the planet. If he didn’t, there was a chance that he could leave critical parts behind along the possibility of leaving behind his companion as
well.

He turned his attention back to the timer and watched the seconds tick down. Ten, nine, eight; he began to run copious amounts of ethereal energy throughout the ships atoms and all within it as he began to dissolve the very atoms that made up all the matter. Seven, six, five, four; he thrust his entire core being into work and dumped everything he had into the process. The ship blinked from existence, then returned for a moment as his heart beat once more before it all disappeared. In his head, he finished the countdown. Three, two, one; he pushed the entire grouping of atoms down the exact path he had just lain out and anchored it to the point provided by the now sputtering tiny ball of fusion energy in its death
throes.

As the star began to decompose, it cast off less and less light, but still held enough to reflect off the hull of the ship as it appeared right where it was supposed to be; complete and intact. The only miss was the elevation as it fell from a foot or so above the floor with an echoing bang. It was a good thing the landing gear had been extended before the whole event, or it would have been much more
disastrous.

As the tiny star exploded in an unimpressive puff of light and dust, the ship’s exterior lights took over and illuminated the room in every which way possible. In an instant, Aen had done the impossible and brought the city block sized ship from the heavens down to Earth in the blink of an eye. The hardest parts of the plan were now behind them; now they were safe by the mighty shield of the human race from any that wished to do them harm. Better yet, they had arrived and there wasn’t a soul that knew they were here; that was the truest feeling of safety that the entire plan had counted on. Now all that was left to do, was look for what he was missing; all Aen had to do was find his
soul.

Seven
Sol System;
Lyarran Vessel Dark Light,
Neptune Orbital Range

The shuttle prepared to leave the Dark Light, its crew gazing over at the ice giant that dominated the view. The shuttle bay doors were open, but the atmospheric pressure was maintained by the pressure shield that would be deactivated when the bay was clear and the shuttle ready to depart. Axyn set co-ordinates for the red planet the humans called Mars. They would be there in a short time; the shuttles were much faster than the cruisers inside planetary systems. Not much time to prepare the team for such an important
mission.

Glancing over at the Council, he realized how attractive the young Paxyn woman was. He felt an odd attraction to her; a feeling long dormant inside. He had never taken another mate when the Husk attacked the outpost he called home destroying everything that mattered to him. A long dead moon remained; wiped out by the enemy in another attempt to rid the universe of all other life. They were pure hatred; there was no other description fitting enough for the Husk. For the last three hundred years he had fought them, and the war was far from
over.

Lyxia returned his lost gaze, smiling as she always did to him. Their friendship had been born when he was assigned to protect her years ago. Sexual urges hadn’t been a problem with their friendship; good friends were hard to come by lately. Besides, she looked up to him like a
father.

He noted how her armor was custom made and fitted; someone had gone to a lot of trouble to make it. Her boots were extended to knee height, with a touch of tanned leather to hide the hinge at the joint. Her thigh armor was tighter than standard issue, hammered out to accentuate the length of her legs. A short skirt of chain mail hung at her hips, accented by the crossed sword emblem of the Grand Council for a buckle. Her breastplate was tight fitted as well, with the chest proportionate to what was naturally hers. With a glisten of copper, the Council stood apart from the other Ifierin in the low lights of the shuttle. Standard armor being of red in color, hers was a contrast made to distinguish her stature of command, and
sex.

“Now Captain, must I take a picture of myself to satisfy your urges, or can we work together without awkwardness today?” Lyxia sniped with a wry
smile.

“Just admiring the uniqueness of your….. ordinance, Council. I am able to fight no matter what is in front of me, or beside
me.”

“Ordinance, is that what the boys are calling it now?” The other soldiers started to chuckle at the exchange now. ‘
Good
!’ she thought, ‘
They need to loosen, considering all that has
happened
.’

Lyxia looked up at the giant planet. Reports said that the humans called it ‘Neptune’. Her gaze fixed on the blue tinted gasses swirled about the planet. There were many of these icy planets around the empire, with storms such as this one that had their winds harvested for energy. But humanity had yet to begin to mine the giant itself as of yet, leaving many valuable resources still to be
realized.

She looked at her entourage; they were dressed in the standard issue armor, they looked like legionnaires from hell; dark red armor with black mirrored lenses on the horned helmets. Ten Ifierin troopers were enough to topple a small army of humans. Probably overkill, but the captain wanted nothing left to chance. They were guarding a member of the Grand Council, the first time one had left her cruiser without it being
destroyed.

To die in the service of battle, was to die a glorious death. They were loyal men, hand-picked and all trained personally by himself, but he still worried about Lyxia. This was highly dangerous; the death of a Council would be a slow, shameful death for all of them. But to fail a friend like her worried him more. These were troubling times, and Axyn knew he couldn’t join her as he had foolishly agreed to man her station in her absence. He would give anything to accompany her on this errand of political good will, as when the appointment was announced it was met with shock and some
resentment.

“Jokes aside, are you sure you won’t reconsider and let me accompany you?” he asked
hesitantly.

Lyxia sighed and stepped forward to embrace her old friend. “I need you here.” She whispered in his ear as they hugged each other so no one else would hear. “Something about all this doesn’t feel right and I need you here more than I need you with
me.”

Slowly she stepped away and began up the loading ramp but kept her eyes locked on his to convey the seriousness of the situation. Lyxia had tried hard to show him that now was a time like any other, and that parts of the Empire would start to fracture under the immediate stress put upon it. Even out here, she had felt the forces pulling in either direction in her own ship. Something was about to happen, and when it did she needed Axyn at the helm to keep it all together before it tore their community to shreds. In her heart, she would rather not leave the Dark Light now, but she still had a madman to catch and the best clues were held on Terra
Sol.

The Ifierin filed past her as she stood at the top of the ramp and took their seats. Lyxia could see her friend had gotten the point by the look of dismay in his usually stoic face. She could feel his discomfort; leaving a warrior to do a politician’s role could be the greatest mistake she ever made. But on the flipside; it could be the perfect solution to combat the perfect
storm.

“Trust no one.” She said as the ramp began to lift. “And I expect to have my ship returned to me in the same state as she is now; in one
piece!”

The hatch shut before he could reply, but she could only imagine the old obscenities the Captain would mutter towards her right now. Taking a deep breath, she turned and took her seat along the cockpit wall. It was time to refocus herself and concentrate on the task at hand. She had a killer to catch, and somewhere on the human planet was the information that would be the key to finding
him.

—
Mount Kailash, Tibet; Lyarran Colonial Base

Iana started vomiting before her knees hit the metal floor, and she continued to choke once she was on her hands and knees. It felt like she had been turned inside out and upside down; to say it was a case of vertigo was a mild assessment of the way her body was reacting to the teleportation Aen had used to bring them to the surface. In a brief instant, she had felt herself become part of the ship, then the clouds, and the mountain before being returned to herself once more. She had been moved like this by him before, but never had she reacted so
violently.

“
Are you alright, your majesty
?” Caretaker inquired with
concern.

She coughed a few times as her stomach stopped lurching and spit a few times to clear her mouth of the putrid taste left behind before sitting up and pushing away from the foul smelling puddle. “Do I look okay?” she coughed
angrily.

“
Do not worry about the mess
,” it continued as always despite her sarcasm. “
I have tasked a drone to clean it up as soon as you vacate the area
.
Perhaps you could join Aen in the hangar while we clean up and attach the ship to the bunker’s systems to power the
facility
.”

“In other words, get out so I am not in the way.” She muttered; staggering to her feet as her stomach spasmed once more in an attempt to protest her moving. “Hint
taken.”

Gathering some inner strength, she held down what little food was left in her body and slowly made her way to the exit ramp that had been extended. Aen had departed the moment they arrived; missing the show that her body wanted to put on in a temper tantrum to the unnatural mode of travel. Hands gripped tightly to the railing, Iana took each step one at a time; not taking her eyes off the next one down in fear of making a bigger spectacle of herself than she had already done. Lately, she had felt anything but royal, and this had taken the
cake.

When she had finally descended the steps and was soundly secure on the hanger floor, Iana finally looked up and saw her savior standing about twenty feet away. Small blue balls of plasma burned on the floor to light the path he was travelling, as power had not yet been restored to their new home. He seemed to be listening for something as he had halted his travel to the door she could make out in the
distance.

“What is it?” she
asked.

His response came in a hand raised to ask for silence; not in an insult but to make sure her voice didn’t interrupt his train of thought. Aen held still for a moment longer before igniting another ball of blue plasma and dropping it on the floor and resuming his way to the
door.

“If I am right, then we were successful in our arrival.” He spoke without turning back to her; preoccupied with reaching the door and marking the way for her to follow. “No one knows we are here; you are safe
now.”

Forcing her guts to behave, the Empress trotted behind him in an attempt to catch up before he disappeared behind the hatch. It was more out of fear of being alone in a place unfamiliar to her than curiosity of what was behind the door; right now her life was filled with more fear than it had ever been before. Her trot slowed when she heard the clanking of the hatch mechanism as Aen turned the portal locks and pulled it open; his interest was somewhere else and right now he wasn’t focused on her needs. At least that’s what she thought until he simply just stood there in front of the open
passage.

“What are you waiting for?” he asked plainly. “You don’t want to be left behind with that damned AI, do
you?”

Iana smiled and her stomach settled in relief. “No, I most definitely don’t want that.” She replied and picked up her pace to join
him.

As she moved past him, she peered into the blackness of the passage beyond the door and tried to make out a semblance of anything recognizable, but all she could see was black. Sensing his companion’s hesitation, Aen ignited a flare at the base of the room that soared upwards to the roof which was more than ten floors above them revealing a winding spiral stairwell that carried them up to another
level.

“I would suggest the easy way up, but I think you have suffered enough for one day.” He said with a smirk. “The lifts will be out for a bit yet; Caretaker will have quite the time marrying the ship to this old system so this is our only
alternative.”

There was the first sign of his old personality that she had seen since they found him three years ago and it had appeared in the first few minutes on his birth world. Maybe there was a chance he would find himself once more and be whole again. Anticipation chased away her fear as she took the first few steps upwards; her armored boots echoed her footfalls on the polished granite steps. The stairwell - like the hangar and all the rest of the facility - had been carved with precision lasers from the inside of the mountain, but had been done so in the ornate gothic style of the early human culture. It was breathtakingly beautiful to see the Lyarran take on the human architectural style of the
time.

The sound of Aen’s footsteps beginning their ascent behind Iana snapped her out of her daze and she quickly continued to climb to keep ahead of him. On and on they climbed, with the only sound being that of the clattering of their boots. Floor after floor was passed, as they travelled the hard way to mount the massive ceiling of the hanger which housed their ship. After twenty minutes of steady climbing, Iana stopped as she could see the next hatch above for a
rest.

“I can’t remember climbing this many stairs in my life.” She said slightly out of
breath.

“We will continue at your leisure.” Her companion spoke just behind her as
always.

“And I assume you aren’t even
tired?”

“One of the many perks of being me I guess.” He
responded.

Again, there was the sarcasm she remembered so vividly. Could it be that easy that he would just become himself by being on Terra Sol once more? She decided to test the hypothesis with a few probing questions, just to be
sure.

“Tell me more about yourself?” she said softly. “What do you remember about your life before any of this ever happened to
you?”

Silence filled the stairwell as no answer came to her queries. Iana looked over calmly at Aen who simply stared at her with those hypnotising eyes. On and on the storm of blue fire raged around the black orbs; his gaze was reminiscent of the storm brewing on the horizon of the Empire. For more time then she cared to admit was comfortable, he stood quietly looking at her before finally
replying.

“You know the answer to your questions, because all I know is of your personal files on me.” His answer was cold and to the point. “Nothing has changed in the few minutes we have been here; that is to say unless you have seen any signs of change
Empress?”

He was testing her; seeing why she was proposing the questions out of the blue. Iana decided to not let him know the subtle nuances she noticed in him since their arrival and played it cool. Now was not the time to play her
cards.