Jylik was glad to have finally left Astralbia. He had always preferred the stars. He felt as though he ruled over the entirety of the aether as he soared through it. Regardless, they had some catching up to do, and they needed to do it quickly. The Blue Griffon Fleet had moved on from Hruduk, leaving behind a diplomatic group on Hruduk.
Jylik needed to get to Hruduk, seek out a reliable contact there and follow the Blue Griffon Fleet to their next destination.
“Tree Priestess Yrinla,” he called as he approached his star tree’s sanctum. The wiry old priestess emerged from her work, stepping up out of a large knot in the tree.
“Your highness,” she said, shaking some kind of ichor from her hands. “What brings you to my humble sanctum?”
“I am curious about our rate of travel. How soon can we catch up to the Blue Griffon Fleet?”
The tree priest looked up to the ceiling, lost in thought for a moment.
“We should have no problem reaching them in a few weeks. The moss I’ve grown on the trees should allow us to produce fuel even as we travel, though we’ll still burn it at a quicker rate than we produce it.”
Jylik frowned. “Someone has to make a stop on Hruduk. But what if the majority of the force continued on? How far and fast could we travel in a single jump?”
“What are you thinking, my lord?” asked the priestess.
Jylik smiled.
***
Reclan spent as much time as possible in the fabrication shop. Whether she was working on a special project or simply avoiding Jasken’s threat of putting everyone to work, Vanbrook didn’t know. However, he was too busy training the rookies to worry about it too much. About halfway through the trip, Raivyn and Hrake had joined him in the gravitational training room to cheer him on as he took on Kiflin in a long-promised friendly duel.
Wearing the familiar, sensor-laden outfit, Vanbrook stepped onto the mat, facing his opponent.
The young Astralbian female smiled and held her saber outstretched.
“Show him how it’s done, sis!” shouted Triflin from the sidelines, cheering on his twin sister.
“Ready, duelists?” asked Raivyn.
Vanbrook and Kiflin nodded, keeping eye contact with one another.
“Begin!” shouted Raivyn.
Kiflin leapt from a standing position and twisted in the air, shouting as she performed a perfect pirouette, her blade outstretched. The move was bold and relied on the element of surprise, but it did force Vanbrook into a defensive position immediately. He used his buckler to slap away the saber and countered with a thrust, but Kiflin was quick enough to block the strike with her own buckler.
She pressed the attack, forcing Vanbrook to defend. He conserved his energy, putting minimal effort into his blocks and parries.
Astralbians, being energy-based beings, didn't tire out the way organics did, but did have a limited output after which they would need to slow to gather ambient energy before being at top speed again. Given her youth and training, Vanbrook didn't think he could simply let her tire herself out. Instead, he watched for her to make a mistake.
The only problem was she wasn't making any. The blur of steel that was her saber continued to slap into Vanbrook's buckler, banging out the rhythm of their dance. Vanbrook smiled. Now he had her.
Timing her attacks, he dodged back instead of parrying. Kiflin's follow-through left an opening and Vanbrook tried to take advantage of it, but her buckler deflected the blade at the last moment.
Vanbrook had his opponent on the defensive now, though, and he pressed the advantage. Soon a buzzer sounded as Vanbrook slapped Kiflin's shoulder with the flat of his blade.
"Ugh!" shouted Kiflin. Her tone sounded irritated but she was smiling. "You threw off my rhythm!"
Vanbrook smiled and bowed.
"Your speed is astounding. I imagine you could break through most duelist's defenses quickly enough that it doesn't matter, but your ‘rhythm’ is a tad too predictable."
"Next time, Vanbrook, next time," said Kiflin as she fell back into the crowd of students.
Someone stepped into the mat behind Vanbrook. He turned to see Hrake, proffering his hammer.
"You use hammer. I use sword," said the towering Hrudukite. He was wearing a sensor suit just like Vanbrook’s. He looked around to see D’Jarric and Raivyn smirking at him from among the crowd. Evidently the others had been conspiring against him.
Vanbrook sighed. "Alright. Let's do this."
The duelist took their corners. Vanbrook hefted the hammer, trying to get used to the weight in his hands. While Vanbrook had a little training in the use of polearms, it certainly wasn’t a weapon he was comfortable with.
“Duelists ready?” asked Raivyn.
Vanbrook could hear the hint of a smile in her voice. He looked over to see her face was a mask of calm, though D’Jarric was smiling widely. He nodded along with Hrake that he was ready.
“Begin!”
Hrake stood his ground, swinging the sword to gain confidence with it. Vanbrook stabbed out with the spear end of the hammer, trying to take advantage of the weapon’s reach, which almost made up for Vanbrook’s disadvantage against the tall warrior. Hrake easily slapped the weapon aside. Vanbrook struggled to bring the weapon back up for a parry as Hrake made his counter attack.
Vanbrook’s fortunes didn’t improve as the duel went on. He found himself tiring quickly as he swung the heavy weapon around. Hrake pressed in, canceling out the hammer’s reach advantage. In a desperate move, Vanbrook tried to use the lower half of the pole to sweep Hrake’s legs. However, the staff end didn’t count as a hit and the Hrudukite’s leg didn’t budge an inch. Hrake took advantage of the failed attack and slapped Vanbrook’s side with the saber. The buzzer sounded and Vanbrook dropped the hammer. He looked up into Hrake’s eyes with appreciative annoyance.
“Let the record show that I won when we used our preferred weapons,” he said. He shook his head and slapped Hrake on the shoulder. “Well done, Hrake.”
The warrior smiled down at him.
***
A week later it was nearly time to end the jump. Before they were all called to stations, Reclan had Talon Squad meet her at the firing range once again. When they got there, she was proudly holding a silvery hammer staff in her hand.
“There he is!” said Reclan when she spotted Hrake. “I think you’re going to like this.”
Much like Hrake’s brass hammer, the silver weapon’s head boasted a mallet and a spear head, with a small ax head opposite the hammer. The handle was wrapped in blue and orange leather, and the metal handle was slightly wider at the top of the leather. The butt of the handle widened like the butt of a rifle, though the lowest end of it came to an end like a walking stick.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
Reclan smiled as she saw the device catch Hrake’s eye. She waved him over to the lane she was standing by, and put the stock of the hammer onto her shoulder. When pressed a button on the widened part of the hammer, a lever popped out on the opposite side of the handle. She looked down the handle, using the ax head like a sight, and pulled the lever with two of her fingers. A bolt of yellow energy gathered on the spearhead and fired down the range, striking the target.
“Your turn,” said Reclan with a grin.
Hrake smiled when Reclan handed the weapon to him. He swung it around some, surprised at how similarly it handled to his brass hammer, though it did weigh a bit more. Then he shouldered the weapon and fired three times at the target. All three bolts hit and one even singed the edge of the bullseye.
Hrake nodded appreciatively. “Thank you, Reclan. Very good.”
Talon Squad applauded. Hrake and Reclan spent the remaining hours of the voyage looking over and practicing with the new weapon.
***
Hru14-NN0.93 was a small, rocky planet with a poisonous atmosphere and no visible water. Talon Squad went clayside long enough to collect a few samples and place a beacon, but they didn’t set up camp. The world was a craggy, gray wasteland with few defining features. Hrake was enthralled with the idea of walking on a different world, and they humored him as he took a long hike over the rocky terrain.
“Hrake,” said Vanbrook finally. “We’d better get back to the Wingspan.”
“Hm?” he answered, lost in thought. “Oh, back to Wingspan. Okay. Was watching…” he pointed to the horizon, where the sliver of a moon was rising over the mountains.
“Well check that out,” said Vanbrook.
“Did we know there was a moon?” asked Raivyn.
“Eh,” answered Raivyn, scratching her chin. “The astronomers said it seemed like a possibility, but they hadn’t been able to confirm anything.”
Hrake sat down on the ground and watched the blue and white orb rise in the sky.
“Progenitor make all?” he asked.
“Yes,” answered D’Jarric. “More than any have seen.”
Hrake nodded. The rest of Talon Squad joined him on the ground, taking in the celestial beauty and basking in the silvery rays of the newly discovered moon. Even the gray land around them seemed to take on a new sense of life as the crags cast dark shadows in the evening light.
“Hey,” said Reclan after a long, comfortable silence. She nodded towards the moon with her chin. “Is there any reason we can’t just go there?”
“I guess not,” answered Raivyn. “I’ll give Jasken a call.”
***
A short shuttle ride later, they found themselves approaching the icy surface of Hru14-NN0.93m1, the designation for the first moon discovered orbiting Hru14NN0.93.
“Soundings indicate the surface below is solid, so we should be able to land the shuttle right here on the ice,” said Reclan. She shook her head. “I forgot when I suggested we land on the giant ice ball in the sky that I hate the cold.”
Vanbrook laughed. “Oh, it oughta be a good time. Atmo is breathable, gravity is 0.28 so we should bounce pretty well. It’ll be fun.”
Reclan shrugged her indifference as she took the shuttle down.
“Jasken,” said Raivyn as the shuttle landed. “We’re clayside on the moon.”
“Alright,” responded the Admiral over comms. “Be safe down there. Be sure you report any points of interest.”
“Yes, sir,” she answered.
“Providence shine on you.”
“You too, sir.”
After changing into their cold weather gear, Talon Squad loaded out of the shuttle and set up a beacon. If they could find a suitable location they would set up a base camp, as well, so secondary exploration teams would have a base of operations on the icy moon. Stepping off the ramp, Reclan shivered in the frozen air.
“At least it’s not windy,” she said, rubbing her arms. “The air is very still here. Not sure if that’s a seasonal thing or what, but even during our descent through the atmosphere there wasn’t much wind to compensate for.”
She heard a strange, guttural sound, and turned to see Hrake, laughing as he took massive, low-gravity steps for the first time.
“This fun!” he said happily. D’Jarric smiled as he walked casually by. Unlike biological beings or even Astralbians, D’Jarric’s energy-based avatar seemed to experience a similar gravitational effect no matter the size of the planet. He wore mag-boots when flying but Raivyn had begun to suspect he didn’t need them. Solarans had always been enigmatic and aloof members of the galactic community, and their mysterious avatar forms were not well understood. Though they seemed eager to answer questions, their answers often felt partial or convoluted. Nonetheless, they were powerful allies to those who earned their trust, so it often seemed more prudent not to pry.
Vanbrook bounced after Hrake, trying to keep up with his long strides.
“I guess, uh, let’s check out that water over there,” said Vanbrook, looking towards a promising bluish mirror of a lake. “I think I see some green along the edge, there might actually be some life around here.”
“Alright, but tread carefully,” cautioned Raivyn. “Don’t go breaking through the ice and taking a bath.”
“Don’t worry mommy, I’ll be careful,” mocked Vanbrook.
As Vanbrook and Hrake approached the icy shore of the lake, they saw there were smatterings of algae growing around the edge of the shore. Rather than smoothly dropping down into the lake like a beach, the ice they were on was more of a shelf that hung over a deep body of water. Looking closely, they also saw small, furry creatures nibbling on the algae that hung below the surface. The creatures were about the size of a fist and extraordinarily round with large, black eyes and small mouths that chewed greedily on their algal meal. Meaty flippers kept them hovering in place or darting this way and that.
“How about that, Hrake?” said Vanbrook. “Your first alien lifeforms. Except, y’know, all of us.” Hrake looked at Vanbrook and nodded, but didn’t say anything. Vanbrook wasn’t sure how much Hrake understood what they said, but his Talpaertan was improving daily. He figured the best way to teach him was to just keep talking to him.
“I wonder if there’s a way to collect one of them,” pondered Vanbrook.
In a flash, Hrake had turned the spearpoint of his new hammer down and stabbed into the water. It came back up with one of the blubbery orbs impaled on it.
“Collect,” said Hrake proudly.
Vanbrook shrugged and grabbed a sample bag out of his gear, sliding the expired creature into it. “Well… yes. That’ll do. I think.”
The little billow of blood in the water dispersed rapidly, but trace amounts drifted through the lake, garnering the attention of one of the moon’s larger denizens. The beast turned and pursued the source of the delectable scent.
***
Krum-Bahk stepped into the lounge area of the Gladius, just looking for his morning rakka bean tea. Instead, he found Agent Chully and Keshri, each of whom already had a cup of rakka, staring at each other from across the room. Trying to ignore the palpable tension, he walked over to the pot of tea that sat on the stove top and poured himself a mug, then reached for the sweetener.
“Oh, don’t worry,” said Chully. “Keshri has already seen to putting sugar into the entire pot.”
“Oh, come off it!” said Keshri. “Everyone likes their rakka sweetened.”
“You know I don’t!” retorted Chully.
Krum-Bahk took a sip of his rakka. “Y’know, this is fine.”
“Oh, of course he’s taking your side,” huffed Chully.
The other RIS agent, Huluna, walked into the room. “Agent Chully, I just received an interesting update from Hetford. Should be sent to your tablet now. Why don’t you go read it in your quarters?”
Chully kept angry eye contact with Keshri as he poured his remaining rakka into the sink, tossed the mug in behind it and shuffled out of the room.
“Don’t forget to take a fork along or something so you can chew on it like a weirdo,” said Keshri.
Chully paused at the door, sneered over his shoulder, then kept moving. Keshri sipped down the last of her rakka, smacked her lips with satisfaction and tossed the mug into the sink with Chully’s. She then sauntered out of the room.
Krum-Bahk took a seat at the small table and sipped his tea. After pouring some into a wide cup, Huluna joined him. She took a sip, dipping her beak into the cup.
“Mmm,” she said appreciatively. “Don’t tell Chully I said this but it tastes so much better when the sugar is brewed into the rakka. Mixing it in later is just not the same.”
“Dare I ask what the deal is between those two?” inquired Krum-Bahk.
Huluna sighed. “Oh, it’s no secret. Chully and Keshri are married.”
Krum-Bahk stared at her dumbly.
“Well,” continued the Wabuluban, “they’ve been separated for a few years now. But on paper they’re still married.”
Krum-Bahk nodded. “Is putting them together on the same mission wise, then?”
Huluna shrugged. “Chully is a gifted detective and Keshri is one of the toughest Marines I know. If they can keep their heads on straight they make a great team. I probably would have tried to keep the two a few ripmed jumps apart, but it’s not my call.”
Krum-Bahk nodded. “And the interesting update?”
“I’m not at liberty to fill you in on that,” answered Huluna. “Essentially we’ve got a lead that’s going to help us put pressure on the cult’s leadership.” she sighed, taking another sip of her tea. “The problem being the cult as a whole hasn’t broken any laws. The Shredvrak attack may have been a one-off incident from an otherwise peaceful organization. Hopefully we’ll be able to root out more information once we get to Krauqia.”