Krum-Bahk walked through the cramped halls of the Gladius, a mug of rakka in hand. They were staying on Kirakna an extra day to charge their shields, then they were going to travel on to Hruduk, where Hoon-Kra was suspected of heading next.
He walked by the room Chully and Huluna were working in. Huluna was covered in bandages, but her mechanical legs had taken the brunt of the explosion and, despite some bruised arms, the metal had absorbed the majority of the damage. She had actually donned a shiny new pair while the others were being repaired.
Waving to the agents, he took a casual glance at the screen. A familiar face looked back at him. A dirty face with dirty blond hair, a square jaw covered in stubble.
Krum-Bahk dropped his mug. The two agents turned to see what the noise was.
“What’s the matter, Krum?” asked Huluna.
“Wait,” said Chully, following his eyes. “You know this guy.”
“Yeah,” said Krum-Bahk. “That’s Darvik.”
***
From his vantage point on the Bridge, Jasken was equal parts shocked and relieved when D’Jarric’s form rose from the wreckage of the docked Shepherd, confronting the beast and driving it away. He was about to shout in triumph when his comm erupted again.
“Admiral, this is Textbook, do you copy?! Cowgirl is out of control, I need help!”
“Textbook,” answered Jasken, “what’s going on?”
“Cowgirl got clipped by one of the tentacles,” said Drixen. He was keeping his voice level, but Jasken could hear the tension in it. “I can’t raise her on the comms. Her bomber is spinning and drifting. I can keep up, but I can’t do anything more than watch.”
“Understood, Textbook,” the Admiral replied calmly. “We’ll send someone immediately.”
He kept the line open to Textbook and hailed Reclan.
“Reclan, I need you to get to the shuttles immediately,” he ordered.
“On my way,” came the reply. “What’s up?”
Jasken explained the situation, leaving Reclan speechless.
“Just get out here, Rec,” said Textbook. “I have an idea.”
Moments later Reclan was flying through the aether towards Textbook and Cowgirl’s position.
“Okay!” said Drixen, sounding relieved. “Now fly just ahead of me. Get a bit higher. Perfect.”
Reclan was staying just a few dozen yards in front of Drixen’s fighter, slightly above him.
“Now close the rear airlock and open the ramp,” ordered the pilot.
“Wait, what?!” exclaimed Reclan.
“Just do it!” shouted Drixen.
“Already on it,” Reclan replied.
When the shuttle’s ramp was lowered, Drixen pulled his emergency ejector and shot out into the aether. With pin-point precision, he landed in the center of the ramp, clicking on with his mag-boots.
“Alright, let me in,” he said. The airlock had already begun cycling as Reclan anticipated the request.
“Okay,” shouted Reclan, now within earshot. “You’re on the shuttle, now what?”
“There’s a mag lock on the underside of the shuttle, right?” asked Drixen.
“Yeah, but… no way,” said Reclan. “Drixen, I’m sorry, but there’s no way I could lock on to her without crashing both ships.”
“That’s why I’m going to do it,” said Drixen. There was no arrogance in his voice, just confidence. “Let me fly.”
Taking the controls, Drixen coaxed the shuttle closer to his wife’s out-of-control bomber. He started corkscrewing around the path of the bomber until he had matched the speed it was spinning. Then, without slowing down, he manipulated the shuttle to mirror the bomber’s path, until the two were almost dancing together through the aether. When he had gotten within a few yards of the bomber, he activated the electromagnet on the bottom of the shuttle. There was a crash, followed by the protests of stressed metal, and then Drixen began to manipulate the controls again, slowing the corkscrew down until the two ships were gently drifting through space.
Reclan shook her head and offered Drixen a toothy grin. “Unbelievable.”
“Honey, can you hear me?” asked Drixen into the comms.
“Textbook?” asked a groggy voice. “I was going to tell you about the horrible dream I had, but… I think you already know about it.”
“Woohoo! It is good to hear your voice, Hun!” shouted the pilot.
***
The next day aboard the Wingspan was a grueling slog of tallying the survivors, the missing, and the dead. Quarters were going to be cramped, but the damaged sections of the hull were sealed off and everyone was gathered in the stable part of the ship. The aether beast’s assault had done little damage to the shields, so they intended to resume their jump shortly.
Wiping the sweat from his brow, Jasken stood up. He had made sure to be involved in cleaning up and re-organizing, allowing Captain Hunt to handle the post-crisis administrative work. It may have been a bit unfair to the young officer, but it would be good experience if he wanted his own fleet some day, and it was good for morale to see leadership pitch in on the literal heavy lifting.
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
Drixen’s rescue of Kaihla had been good for morale, as well. Jasken had misgivings about Drixen’s unauthorized rescue op, but he was glad to have lost one empty fighter rather than a bomber with a pilot in it.
“Well, that’s the last of it,” said Dekken as he strapped a crate of supplies to the wall by Jasken. “And the folks in the engine room just told me we’re good to go whenever. Have we heard anything from the Halberd?”
“Yes,” said Jasken, already walking towards the bridge. “They’ve arrived at Gla85-AW0.87 and had a ground team set up a beacon. Talon Squad won’t be happy someone else is doing their job, but there were some extenuating circumstances.”
Dekken laughed. “That’s putting it mildly.”
Jasken shook his head. “I know. I’m still trying to understand what happened. ‘Rubber bands’ aside, nothing should be able to pull us out of a jump.”
“Yeah,” said Dekken soberly. “I wonder how Raivyn’s holding up.”
“Just fine,” said a voice behind Dekken.
The chief engineer turned to see Raivyn walking behind him, pushing a cart of tools around for Reclan.
“I fell asleep and had a bad dream while everyone else lived through a nightmare,” said Raivyn. She shrugged. “Honestly I feel like I was the lucky one.”
“Well, glad to hear that,” said Dekken awkwardly.
Raivyn laughed. “Don’t worry about it - seriously. Everyone’s curious what it was like for me. I was just… running from something. D’Jarric jumped in and scared it off. He’s the one whose brain I’d like to pick, if I’m being honest.”
Dekken nodded. “Well, I’m glad to see you’re alright.”
“Yeah, I’m more worried about who’s doing our job,” said Reclan.
Jasken suppressed a smirk. “We had to set up a beacon on the new planet. Now known as Avonia. It’s a majority-ocean world with a few major continents. The team touched down on the largest continent. It’s in the tropics, swampy and cut up by a network of rivers coming off the central mountains.
“If we’re lucky, this will be our last stop before the Cornucopia Cluster, based on our astronomy team’s estimates. The next jump should take us to the location Shrump indicated, possibly to the same star system he was in if we can identify it.” The smirk crept its way onto Jasken’s face after all. “Don’t worry, Reclan, there’s plenty of planet left to explore.”
***
Hoon-Kra looked around in satisfaction at the fleet of beast worshippers’ ships that now adorned the fields by King Zryzyk’s town. More than a dozen ships had come from across the galaxy to follow the call of Koo L’Koom. True, the poorly armed armada would be no match for the full force of the Griffon Republic Navy, but military might was a long term goal. For now they needed to reach the so-called Cornucopia Cluster, sue for sovereignty on a suitable world and put out the call for settlers. The last Koomite temple on Krauqia had been destroyed centuries ago, but they would rise again. This time, his own innovations would ensure that the Koomites remained in power for good.
King Zrykyk shuffled over to him, his pet psychic in tow. Your ships are here. I want my payment.
Hoon-Kra still didn’t understand how the psychic managed to overcome the language barrier between the parties. However, he simply nodded, walking over to a supply crate and popping the lid open. Inside were a few dozen ballistic hand guns and some cases of ammo. He pulled one out and loaded it. Looking around for a decent target, he spotted a lizard bathing on a nearby rock. He fired, killing the lizard instantly. It slid off the stone, leaving a bright red trail of blood. Smiling, he handed the firearm to Zrykyk.
The grin on Zrykyk’s decrepit face was chilling, but Hoon-Kra planned to be long gone before the old tyrant could use the primitive weapons. He nodded to Zrykyk and walked off, addressing his captains through their comms.
“We’re done here,” he said. “I want to be aetherborn before sunset.”
***
"How're you holding up?" Vanbrook asked.
Raivyn looked over at him, wondering why he broke the silence they'd been walking in.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Just… with whatever happened?" he asked awkwardly. "Any more headaches?"
"Oh, no," said Raivyn dismissively. “Nothing like that. The doctors want to see me regularly for a while, but D'Jarric says it will only happen when an aether beast is nearby. Said he might be able to help me defend against the T-waves they give off if we run into another one."
"What else did our mysterious exorcist have to say?" asked Vanbrook. "He seemed to know just what to do."
Raivyn shrugged, doing her best impersonation of D’Jarric’s smooth baritone voice. "'Solarans fought aether beasts in ages past; the knowledge is still with us.' I couldn't get him to elaborate. You know Solarans. They smile and talk circles around you and when they walk away you realize they didn't tell you anything."
Vanbrook tapped his chin in thought. "Yeah, sounds like DJ," said Vanbrook. "But I guess Shrump really saw something out here then. Maybe the same thing we did."
"He certainly saw something," said Raivyn. "But that squid wasn't Koo L'Koom."
"How do you know?" Asked Vanbrook.
"Koo L'Koom is always described as shark and or serpent-like, and the size of a planet. That thing was a squid, and only about the size of the Wingspan."
Vanbrook laughed. "If that was a small one, I sincerely hope we never see another."
***
“The Republic beat us this time,” said the tree priest. “They’ve put up a beacon on the water world we were eyeing.”
Jylik frowned. It was no matter; they’d still make it to the Cluster in plenty of time to grab some resource-rich worlds before the Republic gobbled them all up. Of course, that depended on whether or not the Cluster existed.
The Crown Prince had no illusions that discovering the Cornucopia Cluster would win his father’s approval. At least, not lastingly. All he’d done was follow directions. He left the control room and climbed to his chambers, where he saw he had a message from the informant. He pressed the control to play the message and stood watching a feed of the aether on his screen, his hands behind his back.
“I am in danger of being discovered,” rasped the now-familiar voice. “I will be leaving the Wingspan next time it lands- and don’t worry about picking me up, I have my own arrangements. However, I think you’ll be interested to know that the ship is severely damaged, along with the support vessel the Shepherd. Believe it or not, it was pulled out of a jump by an aether beast. I never believed in the things, but after being nearly killed by one I’ve changed my mind.” There was a harsh laugh. “The next time I talk to you it will be about collecting my reward. Good luck.”
Jylik smiled. Finally, he was done with the informant. He looked forward to blowing their head off with his thorn gun if they were ever so bold as to try to collect their fee. The bit about the aether beast confused and concerned Jylik. If it was a trap or a bluff, he couldn’t figure out the angle. It certainly wasn’t true.
***
Avonia was visible as soon as the Wingspan exited its jump. The new world glistened green and blue from Jasken's vantage point on the bridge.
He contacted Captain Kesht on the Halberd.
"How do we look, Captain?"
"Good," said the Raki. "It's a beautiful world. No sapient population that we could find. The ground team is due for a check in-" he checked the time. "Huh, twelve minutes ago."
Jasken knit his eyebrows. "Are they usually late?"
The captain shook his head. "No, not at all."
"Hmm," said Jasken thoughtfully. "Talon Squad will go check in on them. They're always happy to go clayside."
Jasken called Talon Squad, and they were geared up and ready to launch shortly thereafter. By the time the shuttle touched down the Halberd's ground team had been out of touch for nearly a day. They managed to land right by the basecamp, which was the site of a massacre.
Landing in a large clearing in the jungle-covered main continent, Talon Squad jumped out of the shuttle as quickly as possible, armed to the teeth and ready for anything. A quick investigation of the campsite revealed that the previous landing crew's shuttle was destroyed and blackened by an electrical fire, and several bodies were scattered around the campsite. Oddly, all the electrical equipment looked similarly scorched, and anything that wasn't tough enough to withstand whatever had stormed through the camp was smashed and broken. Blood splatter in a few places and some spent ammunition suggested a fierce battle.
"It's bad, Admiral," said Raivyn over her comm. "It looks like the ground team has been killed. I think the only thing still functioning is the beacon, and that's designed to withstand anything up to a nuke."
"Understood," answered Jasken. "Start searching for survivors, but be careful. I'll send backup as soon as possible."
Vanbrook was searching around the brush at the edge of the camp, hoping to find footprints or a blood trail. A figure leapt from the bushes, putting a shaking hand over Vanbrook's mouth.
"It'll hear you!" seethed the ragged, weary-looking sailor. "It'll hear you."