Magnitude: A Space Opera Adventure (Blackstar Command Book 2) Read online

  Hominos noted that they were all the same species: a variation of human; one of the Host’s most common species, especially within their governments and representatives. Unlike the Coalition, the Host had clear demarcation for which species worked in which field.

  On the one hand, it could be argued this wasn’t a fair way to treat people, on the other, and to Hominos, it made perfect sense given each species’ natural talents and inclinations towards certain tasks and activities.

  The chitchat continued for a few more moments. The room featured a large round table and two empty chairs at its head, directly opposite Miles. Hominos knew this was no accident. It was clearly the best view available, giving the Coalition the best chance to analyze their new enemy.

  It was such a shame to lose an agent who did his job so well. The regret within Hominos didn’t last long, however.

  All the chitchat stopped; the light within the room changed as a door opened somewhere offscreen. The empress shot to her feet, smiled and extended both of her hands in the traditional Host greeting.

  The ally, a dark shape off to one side, ignored her greeting and loped past her, taking the seat at the head of the table. A smaller secondary person, presumably an aide or a vice-command, followed suit, sitting next to the ally.

  “Welcome, Lord Hett,” the Host ambassador said. “We’ve all been looking forward to meeting with the representative of our new allies, the Koldax people. You have our utmost—”

  “I’m not here to discuss pleasantries,” Lord Hett said with a deep, mechanical voice that clipped the vowels. It leaned its great bulk across the table. “I’m here to witness the orders. The weapons are in place and have proved fully functional. We move within hours.”

  Yuan Lia coughed politely and tried again to greet the Koldax leader. “Lord Commander Farah Hett, it is my privilege to finally welcome you to the Host. Firstly, let me extend my gratitude for all that the Koldax and the shrain people have done for the Host. Together, we’re stronger…”

  She continued, saying a whole lot without saying anything.

  Hominos’s attention diverted away from her speech for a moment as he pondered their new enemy’s name: the Koldax. As far as he could recall, this was an entirely new species. He quickly typed it into a second terminal window to check: the result came up blank.

  So all this new technology was from somewhere else, perhaps even from a different galaxy. The Host were just puppets to some other power. A power that clearly controlled, or perhaps even propagated the shrain. Hominos returned his attention back to the video stream.

  Miles had increased the magnification of the feed, centering it on Farah Hett.

  Hominos had never seen anything like it before. The creature was part biological, part machine. Biped in shape, but somehow utterly alien in the way it moved. Its hairless head was long back to front, its jaws almost a snout. Its teeth gleamed in the bright room as though they were made from polished metal.

  Piercing yellow eyes that flicked mechanically back and forth across the creature’s rapt audience gave it a sinister intelligence. Wires and servos jutted from the skin around its neck. It appeared to have been wounded at some point and was perhaps wearing the scar as a form of intimidation, showing anyone that looked upon it that beneath the skin was not bone and muscle, but something more potent, something made of machine.

  Hominos estimated it probably weighed in excess of two hundred kilos, given its bulk and stature, yet it moved with a mechanical grace born from technology more advanced than anything the Coalition or the Host had ever developed.

  A shiver of fear and excitement crawled through Hominos’s veins.

  Yuan Lia, having got through her speech undeterred, added, “Of course, Lord Hett, the assembly has had time to review your proposal—”

  “It was not a proposal,” the vice-command said. This one appeared to be a modified clone of a Tassarel. Hominos had seen these before from reports sent by various Host-side GTU agents. This one was a shrain entity. Probably quite high up in their hierarchy if it accompanied this lord commander.

  The shrain continued, berating the empress. “We’re not here to discuss options. We’re here to ensure that you give our orders to your military commanders as per the agreement. The time has come. The time is now. We need more power, more star systems if we’re to succeed.”

  The Host leader wiped the back of her hand across her forehead and tugged at the collar of her jacket. “But we… I mean… That is to say…”

  As she rambled on, Farah Hett stood up, thrust out an arm and grabbed her by the neck, crushing the ornate necklace that symbolically represented the power of the Host. The Koldax entity dragged her body fully across the table, making everyone else scramble from their chairs.

  Musa Miles managed to maintain a degree of control in his subterfuge and kept his attention on the situation even as he backed away with the others.

  Yuan Lia choked and coughed. Blood spattered the glass tabletop.

  Hett just glared at her with its yellow eyes.

  Somewhere outside was an exchange of gunfire.

  Miles spun around and focused the feed on the glass doors. A dozen members of the Host security lay dead on the floor beneath a group of heavily armed machine-people, presumably soldiers of the Koldax.

  The feed snapped back to their leader.

  “We do not negotiate,” Hett said through clenched teeth and stretched lips. “If you value your life or that of your people, you will do as agreed. Failure to comply with our terms will lead to the annihilation of your people—starting here.”

  Yuan Lia nodded frantically, her eyes bulging from their sockets and her face dark purple from the lack of air.

  Hett released its grip on her and nodded toward the comms pod atop the table. “Give the order, and select two star systems for destruction to power our systems. Now.”

  Yuan Lia coughed once more and croaked, “We can’t just destroy entire star systems…”

  “You’re mistaken,” Hett said, leaning in closer. “We can and we will. We’re giving you the grace of choice. If you can’t decide, we’ll choose for you.” It turned its mechanical face to the windows. Miles’s feed focused on the scene.

  Outside, surrounding the government building and swarming the city, were hundreds of flying machines with various limbs that appeared to be weapons of some kind. The things were shaped like mechanical bugs and were flying in perfect formation, no doubt under the control of these Koldax people.

  Hominos made a mental note to get his analysts to pay particular attention to these machines. He had a suspicion the Coalition forces would be fighting them soon enough.

  Given Lia’s vulnerable position, she had little choice but to comply.

  She sighed, and with a shaking hand, pressed her finger to her wrist terminal, activating a broadcast. She spoke her orders, presumably to the Host government, and named two star systems to be handed over to the Koldax.

  The data stream behind Miles’s video indicated that a radio signal was being sent to a relay system. That was as far as the Coalition’s intelligence could reach, but the slice in their network between Miles and the relay would still give the GTU analysts a good section of signal to investigate for more data.

  And now they had the names of two star systems ordered for destruction.

  Hominos entered their location into the star map and compared their position with that of the Coalition ships. There was a fleet of four destroyers less than half a day away. Without wasting time, he relayed orders to divert the fleet’s current destination to the two nominated Host systems under extreme covert movements.

  If they could get in place in time, they could witness the Koldax technology more closely. Knowing how their weapon harnessed the power from destroyed suns should give the Coalition insight into ways in which they could stop it.

  Before Hominos could strategize further, the camera feed suddenly jerked away from the view outside to focus on Farah Hett.

  A g
un held in Miles’s right hand appeared in the frame.

  The muzzle flashed.

  Jumping in front of Farah Hett, the shrain vice-command took the shot directly in the face, his skull exploding. Blood and brain matter splattered across the table and covered both Hett and the empress, who screamed and collapsed away and out of frame.

  Hett raised its arms.

  Then things got weird.

  The streaming rate of the video reduced as though it had gone into slow motion, but the timer in the corner indicated that the effect was running in real time. On Miles’s side of the feed, reality had been altered. The round from the gun slowed to a crawl and orbited an imaginary sphere around the Koldax leader.

  Miles raised his arm once more and fired a second time.

  It too slowed and joined the first projectile in its slow orbit around the machine creature.

  Hett’s lips curled back to show its mechanical teeth. A guttural cough, presumably a laugh, came from deep within its chest. The feed smoothed out completely, making Hominos think that Miles had somehow been caught in Hett’s aura, or perhaps the agent was suffering from some form of paralysis.

  Hominos watched with inevitable dread as the Koldax leader reached toward Miles, placed both hands on the sides of the agent’s head and twisted sharply. The feed went lopsided and shook for a brief moment before stabilizing.

  Hett stared down at Miles, glaring directly into the iris camera as though the Koldax leader could see through to the other side.

  Hominos shivered.

  The hairs on his arms and neck quivered as though his very soul had been exposed.

  Dark edges appeared on the feed and grew until, like Miles’s life, there was nothing left.

  Without realizing he had been holding it in, Hominos let out a deep breath and panted for a few moments until his heart rate returned to normal.

  But nothing would be normal again.

  Wasting little time, he used the terminal to patch into the Coalition’s fleet bulletin. He ordered three of the closest warships, which carried nukes, to Gaszla II to fire everything they had at the planet. He didn’t even try to hide his anger or vengeance.

  Although there was a chance they’d get this Farah Hett, deep down Hominos knew his new adversary would be smarter than to stick around for the two and a half days it would take for the ships to be within range.

  At the very least they’d test the Host’s antimissile defense systems. If Miles had been as meticulous about his work as he had been with the penetration of the Host government, there would be a chance that Gaszla II’s defenses would be sabotaged to the point of ruin and the Host government would feel the wrath of the Coalition.

  And they would know the name of Ratic Hominos. They would know the new general was the bringer of retribution and justice and that the Coalition refused to stand idle while a new external threat swept through the quadrant.

  The Host might be weak enough to succumb to this new alien menace, but the Coalition would spit in the eye of any who dared threaten its existence.

  Chapter 19

  AFTER A FEW HOURS of broken sleep, Kai rolled off his cot and thought about how he was going to approach Marella with regards to the bombshell his mother had dropped on him earlier.

  A part of him was annoyed at himself for not pressing Marella further before they went into battle and all hell broke loose. Since the jump beyond the Veil, Kai had barely had a few minutes to himself to think.

  Even now, as he stood and stretched, his mind whirled with parallel thoughts. Eesoh wasn’t an AI; Bandar was his half-brother; Kai himself was an apparent heir to the Navigators; a cosmic horror was lurking somewhere out there in the great expanse; he held within him knowledge that he couldn’t yet access; and they’d barely escaped with their lives from a race of angry tripodal bird fanciers.

  He slumped to the edge of his cot and eased his temples. The tetrahedron pressed into the flesh of his thigh within his pocket. He retrieved it and rolled it around in his palm like a game die. Despite nothing happening—as usual—he did find the sensation of it against his skin comforting.

  It held within it promise. Much like the inaccessible knowledge lurking in his subconscious. He knew instinctively that at some point in the near future, both of these elements would coalesce into answers.

  For now, though, he put all thoughts of everything else aside and focused on Marella.

  Right now, she posed the biggest problem. While the repairs were still ongoing and the rest of the crew were getting some much-needed sleep, Kai determined to scrub at least one mystery off his growing list.

  Not wanting to wake her suddenly, he sent an alarm message to her cabin as he left his. He walked through the corridor of the Blackstar until he came to the central junction. Using the ladder, he climbed to the second section of bunks and located Marella’s room.

  The cabin door was already ajar by the time he stepped in front of it. He poked his head through the gap. “Marella, are you awake? We need to talk.”

  A tired voice answered, “Come in, I was expecting you—after my talk with your mother.”

  Although there was little malice in her voice, Kai detected a tightness to her words, indicating no lost love between the two women.

  Kai stepped inside and closed the door.

  Marella was sitting in a chair by a desk, a holoscroll in front of her. The scene that was running was familiar to Kai: Senaya’s video of her cousin’s assassination.

  “Take a seat,” Marella said, indicating with a long, graceful finger a chair opposite her. Next to the holoscroll sat two glasses of water, the surface of which rippled with consistently small vibrations, physically manifesting the ‘voice’ of the Blackstar—an almost imperceptible hum.

  Kai sat down and crossed his legs. He tried to make eye contact with her, but she averted her gaze, keeping her attention on the video as it played out in a loop. She was wearing a robe wrapped twice around her long, lithe body. Her hair was pulled up in a bun, and the soft fur on her wrists and neck was light and smooth, indicating no overt nervousness or anxiety.

  How much of her calm exterior was real and how much was through training, Kai couldn’t tell. He’d not been around Lantesians long enough to truly read them, as some people could.

  “So,” Marella said first, finally turning her gaze to Kai, “your mother and I had a chat earlier. She’s quite the woman.”

  “Don’t take it personally,” Kai said, letting the chair take his weight as he relaxed now that the ice was broken. “She’s spent most of her life in the force in some capacity or another; she’s used to dominating situations and can be a little blunt.”

  “I do admire her. She’s a very strong character and clearly loves Kendal a great deal. Not to mention you and Bandar. It must have been difficult for her, knowing you were the son of a Navigator queen.”

  Kai shrugged. “I wouldn’t really know. I was stuck on Zarunda for most of my years while she and my father did their duty for the Coalition. It’s my father that I wanted to speak to you about.”

  Marella took a deep breath and let it out as a long, quiet sigh. She closed her eyes for a moment and then looked directly up at Kai. “You mother is wrong,” she said with finality that Kai had difficulty not believing. “I know she thinks I’m in love with him and that we were having some kind of affair before he left me behind on Oberus.”

  Kai wanted to ask her questions regarding the journals, but he’d learned enough over the years to let people carry on while they were on a roll. The resistance was lower, and it avoided him putting her on the defensive. He simply nodded for her to carry on.

  “After I found my way off Oberus, via a passing trading ship, I ended up on Parsephus, doing odd jobs here and there, trying to raise the cash to buy a ship so that I could return to Oberus. I knew your father had gone beyond the Veil and I was desperate to do the same. Not because I loved your father, but because…”

  Marella trailed off and looked back to the looping vid
eo. The fine fur bristled on her exposed skin. Kai edged forward in his chair and placed a hand on her arm. “Look at me,” he said. “Look at me and tell me why you lied about the journals. Tell me why you didn’t give all of them to my mother when she asked. If you’re to remain a member of this crew, you’re going to have to give more. You’re going to give me the truth.”

  Marella tried to pull away, but Kai gripped her arm tighter.

  “I damn well mean it, Marella,” Kai said with a grit to his voice that even surprised him. “The truth or I swear to all the holies I will space you here and now. Do you understand me?”

  “You’re hurting me,” Marella said, her eyes wide and changing to a darker color Kai knew to be a sign of alarm.

  He eased his grip on her and took a few deep, ragged breaths. The anger had come on quickly, and he’d pictured firing Marella out of the airlock. Pictured her contorted face as she froze in the vacuum of space.

  “Listen to me,” he said. “I’m tired, angry, and running out of patience. All around me is chaos and death and pain. All I want to do is reunite my family and find a way back home. You’re currently standing right in front of that goal, and I know you have information that you’re hiding from me. If you don’t tell me, then I’ll make sure you see the GTU side of my mother, and trust me when I tell you that she’s adept at getting information from stubborn people.”

  He hated threatening her this way, but he wanted to spare the going back and forth and dancing around the truth.

  Marella’s face twisted with psychological pain as she struggled with the choice. Kai let her arm go, and he stood. “Fine,” he said. “You’ve left me with no option.” He took a step toward the door when Marella jumped to her feet and grabbed his arm, pulling him back around to face her. Tears tracked down her face as her eyes changed to a light gray.

  “Don’t, please… I couldn’t show you the journals because…”