Shadows Bear No Names (The Blackened Prophecy Book 1) (30 page)

BOOK: Shadows Bear No Names (The Blackened Prophecy Book 1)
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Chapter FORTY-TWO

THE MORE, THE MERRIER

“Admiral, CTC
Birdie
is on radar,” one of the officers announced, his eyes fixed on the small green dot on his screen, representing the
Deviator
.

“Send them the docking codes and launch four fighters to escort,” Rebecca said, observing the tactical screen. “Call Mr. Harris and the rest to the bridge.”

Following the destruction of Pendar, the system had been silent, except occasional explosions happening in the distance, inside the planet’s core. The whole fleet had been sent back to junction five by her orders, from whence they could complete their hyperspace travel to Sol system. The plan was for
Deviator
to stay behind and rendezvous with the
Birdie
to receive the fourth Arinar, Serhmana from planet Wyss.

“So, we’re heading for Sol?” asked Sarah, who’d been with Rebecca on the bridge since hearing of the fire exchange on the waste treatment deck.

“Mars, to be exact,” Rebecca said. “We will form a barrier near the Mars grid and retreat to Earth if things get out of control.”

“At least we have one more stone.”

“By some divine luck,” Rebecca snorted. “Some idiot put it in a glass case as an exhibition piece to show off. He thought the vase came from a Chinese dynasty.”

“No one questioned how a piece of Chinese history ended up in Wyss?”

“Hence, the word ‘idiot’. I was not there to see it but they say it was quite a performance by Reverend Marcus, when the news of an Arinar being showcased for some rich aristocrat’s weekend entertainment reached the elder man.”

“I can guess. Any news of the identity of the attacker? Was he Baeal?”

Rebecca reached for the data pad sitting near the tactical console and gave it to Sarah. “One of the marines rushed this to me. He had this tattoo carved on his back. I am guessing you know what this is.”

Sarah’s face went pale. “The Cosmon Brotherhood.” She said the words with disgust and fear.

Rebecca nodded.

“What are
they
doing here?”

“That is yet to be seen.”

Ray came into the bridge from the elevator with Brother Cavil and Reverend Marcus, walking purposefully toward the two. “Any news of the stone on Earth?”

Rebecca shook her head. “Nothing from the task force.”

“Do they know what they’re looking for?” Ray asked.

“No, but I will send Captain Samir with our own tactical team the moment we complete our jump. A radical freak appearing on my ship is no coincidence with all this going on around.”

“Any idea what he was doing on the waste disposal deck?”

Rebecca shook her head. “I can only guess. He was either unaware of the fake Matthews’ fate or he was trying to sabotage the ship.”

“What would he achieve by sabotaging the treatment plant? Unhygienic work conditions?”

“Haha! That was a good one!” Brother Cavil said, trying to memorize the joke but his broad smile froze when Rebecca threw a stare at him.

Rebecca sighed—after making sure Brother Cavil was melted where he stood—and licked her lips. “The treatment system is one of the least protected areas and it is close to the engineering decks. A powerful blast would cripple the
Deviator
, if not cause a chain reaction and turn us into a new sun.”

“They found a bomb?” Sarah asked.

Rebecca nodded. “We have disabled the device and the teams are sweeping the ship for any more nasty surprises. The energy signature of the bomb is unique, similar to what the Brotherhood uses in their attacks. So far, we are clean.”

“At least we are safe from any more intruders,” Brother Cavil said, trying to hush his father who was
still
grouching about the cook not preparing his favorite soup like the ‘cute woman’ did, not hearing any of the conversation around him.

“Poor man.” Sarah hid her blush at the old man’s comment and focused on the topic at hand. “So, Skipper, you and Ga’an found the
real
Matthews’ body dumped into one of the waste recycling tanks?”

“Yes.”

“How bad was it?”

“What do you think, Sarah?” Ray’s eyes flared. “He was swimming in human feces, partially decomposed. Another young kid died because of this.”

Sarah grimaced at the thought of drowning in effluent.

“Doctor Jackson said he’s been dead for some time now. Do you think it was an intruder like him that attacked you on
Canaar
?” Rebecca asked.

Ray shrugged, “Maybe. Possibly.” The man looked dulled about the past and Rebecca couldn’t judge him with everything that had transpired in the past few days. She herself was quite shaken from the sudden transition in her life and this man was in the middle of it, without his consent.

“Anyway, Mr. Harris, your friend Ga’an will meet you in the main docking bay. Please assure the safe arrival of the stone and let us be on our way.”

“But we—” Brother Cavil began, but Rebecca stopped the priest with a firm gesture.

“I know, you and your father have something important to show. Probably the whole ship knows, since you yelled it on an open frequency, Brother Cavil. We will see it after we have the third stone intact.”

“We’ll be right back.” Ray headed for the bridge elevator, watched by a protesting father-son duo, their arms folded with displeasure.

Brother Cavil humphed and turned his back to the group as Ray left the bridge. “I did not yell.”

***

The cargo ship approached one of the side bay doors of the
Deviator
, going for the docking clamps for large freighters. She was dwarfed by the size of the super-dreadnought but still, it would be unsafe to try and land her to one of the fighter bays with all the fuzz going on around. Following the instructional lights and the signals of aircraft marshal inside the force field, CTC
Birdie
slowly approached and the ship connected to its targeted ring with a thick thumping sound, complemented by the hissing from its hydraulic suspensions.

Ray, Ga’an and a marine squad watched the procedure near the landing pad. The boarding lamps whirled with orange lights, warning the ground personnel to stay away and moments later, the ramp descended, inviting them into the ship.

“That’s weird,” Ray said, looking at the squad leader. He was ready to greet the captain and forward the official gratitude of Admiral Conway but the ramp was empty and no one disembarked the ship.

The marine sergeant gave a curt nod without a word and signaled his men to board the ship, followed by Ray and Ga’an with weapons at the ready.

The search lasted over an hour but they couldn’t find any crew. The bridge logs had been erased but there were no signs of an onboard struggle. The stone—Serhmana—sat idle in one of the cargo containers in the holding bay.

“I don’t like this,” Ray murmured. “Sergeant, you found anything yet?”

“No sir,” the man shook his head. “The data erased prior to contacting us is gone for good.”

Ray touched his communicator, “Admiral, we have the stone intact but there’s no sign of the crew.” He narrowed his eyes. “Is it possible they sent the ship on autopilot for security concerns?” He didn’t believe it himself.

“According to the logs, one Captain Oleg Gustafson contacted us before taking the Iota jump,” the woman’s voice responded over the badge seconds later. “Unless they jumped off the ship mid-flight, there should be five special forces commandos and two bridge personnel on board.”

“Well, for whatever reason, they’re gone.”

“And the stone?” the admiral asked, obviously trying to hide her concern.

“It’s secure,” Ray replied, “but it would be best if a technical team inspected it with Reverend Marcus before we do anything rash.” Ray’s memories of Pendar were too recent to ignore the possibility of another trap.

“Someone was on board,” Ga’an joined the conversation from his own communicator.

“Explain, Mr. Ga’an.”

“I can smell it,” he crouched, touching the floor softly. “Someone was on this ship recently.” He gave Ray a meaningful look.

“Define recently, Mr. Ga’an,” Admiral Conway said over the communicator.


Very
recent.”

“Caius,” Ray whispered.

“Caius? The agent you spoke of?”

“Yes, Admiral,” Ray grimaced with the idea of having the assassin on their necks. “I suggest you double the patrols but keep it quiet. This man is dangerous and it will be harder to confine him if he knows we’re onto him. We already have intrusions.”

“Fair enough, I will do as you suggest. Conway out.”

Ray’s stare met with Ga’an’s. They both knew well the agent could avoid capture if he wanted to.

“He can sabotage our plan in many ways,” Ga’an stated the obvious.

“Maybe he felt lonely and was looking for a friend.”

Ga’an raised a brow.

“Never mind,” Ray frowned, “that’s a bridge we’ll cross when we get there. Now, I have to figure out how I’m supposed to use these stones.”

Chapter FORTY-THREE

AT THE EDGE OF TIME

“What is it?” Admiral Conway asked as she entered the small meeting room.

Reverend Marcus was inspecting Ijjok with profound interest and Brother Cavil was babbling to Ray about the possibilities of
something.

“Slow down, old man. Start at the beginning.” Ray gestured at Admiral Conway, looking at Brother Cavil meaningfully.

“Father?” the old priest asked.

“Well,” Reverend Marcus raised his head from Ijjok. “I believe we can shed some light on some of the words of that strange Baeal you met back on Pendar.”

“How so?” Ray asked.

“I explained it to you!” Brother Cavil protested.

“Brother, after your second sentence, you started talking about the importance of pruning plants!”

“Oh, did I?” Brother Cavil knit his brows. “But they need to prune that plant! Look at the discoloration of its leaves! Now, if you cut it at the second—”

“Brother!”

Brother Cavil pursed his lips, lowering his stare. He played with the belt of his robe.

“Anyway,” Admiral Conway said with a rather stinging tone. “What is this about?”

“The Ijjok is a map stone. The thing is, it is also a map of time.”

“What?” Ray asked.

“The more I work on these things, the more I find myself astonished. This stone,” Reverend Marcus patted the stone as if choosing a watermelon at the local bazaar, “it can show you what you want. But it can also show
when
you want.”

Ray scratched his stubble face. He needed a shave.

“You can
ask
it to show you the past. About Baeal and other things.”

“How do I do that?”

“The same way you ask about things you want to locate. Just focus and try to visualize what you want to see.”

Ray raised a brow. “You sure this is how it works?”

“No.”

“Fair enough,” Ray shrugged, taking a seat near the table.

Reverend Marcus put the Arinar, Ijjok, before Ray and stepped back, his eyes flickering with excitement.

“Here goes nothing.” Ray reached for the stone and with his touch, the stone turned into
glass
almost immediately. Stars were swirling within the stone. First, he tried something he was used to, focusing the Ijjok on where he was. The stone obeyed, zooming in onto
Deviator
’s position. Ray thought he could even see inside the room they were standing if he tried hard. Instead, he tried to
move
back in time.

“Nothing’s happening.”

“Focus, son.”

Ray closed his eyes, grimacing. The view changed. He was hovering over a green planet with a pale yellow moon.

“Bunari!” Sarah exclaimed. “And that’s
Canaar
…This is when we arrived at Bunari, Skipper!”

Canaar
was
diving
into Bunari. A pod fired from the ship and thrust toward Tarra, the desert moon.

“That’s me there, kissing my security career goodbye to start anew as a scavenger,” Sarah smiled weakly.

Another pod fired some time later, when the ship was within the atmosphere of the green planet. The small craft zigzagged, heading toward a dense jungle formation.

“Ouch.” Brother Cavil closed his mouth in terror. “That explains the fate of the fox. Poor thing.”

Ray opened an eye, looking at Brother Cavil. The vision flickered and he closed it again, trying to regain focus.
Canaar
rode like a comet in the sky, heading toward the city of Bunari.

“Oh, my…” Sarah whispered, watching her
home
plummet to its demise.

Ray pulled his hands from the Arinar and the vision stopped immediately, the transparency returning to the cold, opaque stone. “I don’t need to live through this again.”

Brother Cavil held Ray’s shoulder, squeezing it firm. “Try and think of ancient times.”

“Can you show me the fate of my people, Raymond Harris?” Ga’an asked with hope.

“How am I supposed to think of times I never saw?”

“You are the Lohil. I believe that is something beyond our perception of time. If it is there, the blood of the Lohil will make you remember,” Reverend Marcus intervened.

“Oh, and can you please project the view to the wall or as a bigger thing, it is very hard to look over your shoulder.”

Ray turned slowly to face Brother Cavil. “I’m not an entertainment system, old man.”

“You can do things.” Brother Cavil waved his fingers in the air.

“What was that?” Ray mimicked the old priest’s face and gesture.

“Magic…doing.”

“I’m not a magician either.”

“You are a prophet.”

“So what? Does that give me superpowers?”

“Should it not?”

“Does your Light have superpowers?”

Brother Cavil folded his arms, his face looking hurtful. “You should not make fun of the Light.”

Ray shook his head in disbelief. “All right, I’ll
try.
” He closed his eyes and touched Ijjok again. He started with his current location again, looking over
Deviator
.
All right, bigger.

As if the stone understood his desire, it glowed and the vision enlarged like a projection, hovering over the table.

“See? Prophet powers!” Brother Cavil gave a broad smile.

“Push it and I’ll try a lightning bolt!” Ray took a deep breath. “Here we go.”

The view blurred for a second as if someone rewound a tape and Ray realized he could
see
what the stone showed even when his eyes were closed.
All right, prophet powers.

He tried to think of Ga’an’s final battle, imagining it as best as he could from the alien’s descriptions. Ray tried harder and harder but no matter how close he felt, the visions slipped away, always a step further than his reach.

“I can’t focus on your battle, Ga’an, I’m sorry. Ijjok is pulling me toward something else.” Then the vision came to a stop. It was Earth, all right, before the continental drifts. Or so it looked to Ray. He wasn’t sure
when
he was looking at, but he could tell it wasn’t this plane from what he felt through the bond. Baeal ships hovered over the planet.

“How many are there?” Admiral Conway whispered.

“Thousands and thousands,” Sarah replied in equal awe.

It looked like an ant hive. They were like a web, standing in between their home and…Ray had no idea how to explain what he was seeing. Judging by the silence, the others were sharing his thoughts.

A black cloud that looked very much alive and yet completely dead stood before Baeal. A slow, whirling pool, the center opening into nothingness. The formation dwarfed Earth. Ray tried to zoom in. It looked like
creatures
were flying inside it, tagging along to its storm. Or had the creatures created the cloud?

He opened his eyes and the vision died immediately. “I’m sorry, I can’t keep it any longer. It’s very hard to keep the connection with that long ago a past.” He was sweating.

“What on heaven’s name was
that
?” Admiral Conway asked.

“Is it what that Baeal told about? Their doom and such?” Sarah added.

“It’s Her.”

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