Phoenix rising broken vo.., p.23
Phoenix Rising Broken Vow, page 23
The Fleet rested for three months while repairs were carried out. This gave the crews a chance to recover and to train new members where they needed replacements. It also gave Rennon and his laboratory technicians an opportunity to work with the new information that Joniel had brought back. Samson had transferred to the Horus and they were preparing for active service again.
In the darkness of Kyla and Joniel’s room there was barely a flicker of movement, unseen and silent. The carpet depressed slightly, footfall following footfall. There was a slight ambient light from a glowing bowl in the corner that illuminated the bedroom. It as sparsely furnished, just a bed and a small table on which the bowl of floating candles were the source of the illumination. The air was heavy with the scent of incense and flowers. Kyla and Joniel were asleep, Joniel had his arms around Kyla and her head was resting on his chest. Her hair barely moved as the invisible assailant put a blade to her throat. He savoured the moment, looking down on the sleeping pair. Then he pushed the knife and red blood ran around the blade.
There was a flurry of movement. Joniel awoke and grabbed for his knife and stabbed the seemingly empty air. His blade contacted with flesh and he twisted it, following up to grab the invisible attacker. He felt the bite of pain as an invisible knife plunged into his shoulder. But, he had hold of the attacker and he let his blood lust take him over. He leapt from the bed as Kyla fell back onto the mattress and pinned the attacker to the floor. Again and again he stabbed until the lifeless corpse became visible. Joniel’s eyes were blood red as he turned to the bed where he saw Kyla laying in her own blood. She was trying to hold a sheet to her throat to stem the blood as it flowed freely staining everything red. Joniel smelt the blood and fought the bloodlust as it arose in him again. He controlled his emotions and reached for the intercom. His voice reflected his panic. “Samson, I need you here now, Kyla needs you.”
Samson rushed into the room barely minutes later. Joniel had Kyla in his arms. She was deathly pale and as he lifted her from Joniel she seemed almost lifeless. He laid her out on the bed and did what he could to stem the flow of blood from her neck. He looked up. “She will live, the cut was deep and any mortal would have died. But our little lady isn’t now is she, thanks to you. I think the gift you gave her just saved her life.”
Joniel managed a weak smile. “I wasn’t much use in stopping it happening though was I?”
Samson was just finishing bandaging Kyla’s neck. “Nobody could have protected her any better. You’ve been her shadow since you got back. We all have to sleep sometime.”
Joniel bit his lip. “I’d relaxed, it had been a fantastic evening and somehow I’d come to believe it was alright. I can’t believe I was that stupid.”
Samson smiled kindly. “You have to sleep sometime. Now I’ll take a look at that body on the floor and make sure he’s really dead.” He turned to go to the body but it had gone. Joniel took a defensive stance and Samson pulled out his bio scanner. He swept the room. “No life signs. He’s gone.”
Joniel stared wide eyed at Samson. “The amount of damage I did to him, he must have been dead. I can’t believe I didn’t check.”
Samson put a hand on Joniel’s shoulder. “I think we had better get a bio scanner wired into an alarm. That way this won’t happen again.”
Joniel sat on the bed beside Kyla and looked down at her. She was staring up at him with terrified eyes. He put a hand on her forehead and bent down and kissed her. He put a finger on her lips. “Don’t try to speak, there will be time enough for talking later.”
Samson looked down into his bag. “Yes, you were very lucky, the blade just skimmed over her voice box and missed her vocal chords or you could have had a very quiet wife.”
Joniel almost managed a smile. “I suppose some men would dream of that sort of a situation. Thankfully I’m not one of them.” He looked down at Kyla and smiled as he saw her glare melt to something more loving. She tried to speak but no sound came out. Her terrified expression was enough to explain to them how she felt.
Samson was drawing off some liquid. “Well I’ll leave you two to do what you do. It is soft tissue damage only. I’m sure you can both sort that one out and get her back to her old sweet self.”
Joniel smiled. “Thanks Samson. Ok you can watch if you want.”
Samson smiled. “Well I might as well just in case you both go mega vamp and rip the ship to pieces.”
Joniel offered Kyla his neck and Kyla bit down but choked. She fell back onto the bed and shook her head.
Samson took a deep breath. “I had worried about that. She can’t swallow. I’ll have to do this direct into her throat below the cut. Sorry Joniel, not as erotic as your usual way but I’m guessing that it is the result that is important.”
Joniel tried to smile. “You just wanted to watch. Keep your erotic dreams to yourself mate.”
Samson smiled. “Well.” He took a transfusion tube and set it up to drain the blood directly into Kyla’s throat. He syphoned off some of the blood but it had no effect. He looked at Joniel. “Ok what do we do now?”
Joniel thought about it for a moment. “Can you put a tube into my throat direct to her throat? The only way we can actually take the blood into our system is via an enzyme which is released when we drink. I want to try drinking from myself, that will mix with the enzyme and you can take it from my throat so it will then go into her and be useful.”
Samson looked a little worried as he got his equipment from his bag. “Well, I always wondered how it worked. You know, how you could drink blood and it would end up not being digested in the stomach and broken down. Here we go then, I’ll give it a try. Lay down beside her.”
He set up his equipment and began to syphon the blood off into Kyla. It took a good couple of pints but he could visibly see the wound healing up. He kept going even though Joniel was becoming even paler than he usually was. “I guess you are going to have to feed when you’ve finished this? Shall I get you a blood bag?”
Joniel smiled. “Well if you fancy a new experience you could always donate some and keep your blood bag for someone who needs it?”
Samson thought about it. “Why not? I’ve always wondered what it felt like but don’t completely vamp out on me will you.”
Joniel looked tired. “I won’t but I think you’d better stop taking the blood for a while. Let me feed.”
Samson closed the valve and the blood stopped flowing from Joniel. He then sat on the bed beside Joniel and offered him his wrist. Joniel lifted it and licked it to administer the anaesthetic and then bit down.
Samson cringed as the teeth sank into his vein and then relaxed. “You know I thought it would hurt like hell but it actually feels ok. I’m not saying it is a pleasurable experience but it isn’t bad. Not that I’m planning on taking it up on a regular basis.” He looked at Joniel, lifted his eyelid and checked him over. “You are looking better, just a bit more and you should be fine. Now I’m getting worried, time to stop I think.”
Joniel pulled back and wiped his mouth with a handkerchief he pulled from his pocket. “Thanks mate, I needed that. Does Kyla need anymore?”
Kyla was sitting up, there was a vague line where the cut had been but she was looking much better. “No, I’m fine thanks. Isn’t it time we got back to doing something useful.”
They sat around the table in the meeting room. There was a pile of papers on the table. The write on wipe off board was drawn all over. Anathorn was sitting at the head of the table. His water decanter was nearly empty and coffee cups littered the table. There were screwed up pieces of paper all over it and they looked perplexed.
Kyla sat to his left, next to Joniel. “I’ve been thinking. How do we get rid of the water?”
Rennon looked up from his keyboard. “No idea. Can’t jettison it into space so we’ll have to find another solution. I’ve fixed Intendi by the way. He’s in my lab at the moment tidying up. Losing the inertial dampeners cause chaos on my shelves and he volunteered. Hope you don’t mind?”
Anathorn smiled. “Not at all. But I think we’d better put him to use checking out the fleet pretty soon.”
Anathorn’s communicator went off and he looked down at it. “Dammit, the same old story, it is all starting up again. They’ve checked the water, the new water is contaminated.”
They all looked at the cups on the table and then each other. Joniel put a protective arm around Kyla. He smiled. “We could all get very paranoid here.”
Kyla put her head on Joniel’s shoulder. “Don’t worry my love, I’m paranoid anyway. Living the life we do it is probably helpful. I am guessing this is something natural that has either been spreading for centuries or something that has been accelerated by something that happened. There is probably no way of knowing but I’m wondering if it is a naturally occurring substance that has come into contact with something unnatural which has sparked it off. Can you get readings? I mean can you find out if some areas have a stronger concentration than others?”
Anathorn looked a little bemused. “I’ve no idea how we can do that. I can get something set up to analyse the air in the ships. I’m now beginning to wonder if it actually did originate with Kel or whether it is something we just picked up in the corridors.”
Rennon looked up. “Probably something we brought back with us from excessive use of the corridors more likely. Something to do with bringing excessive Eion Particles through into this time space.”
Joniel was looking at the table and not focusing on the page in front of him. “Something that feeds on Eion Particles?”
Rennon looked up and raised an eyebrow. “Now that’s an idea. I’ll run some tests. If you will excuse me.”
Anathorn nodded and went back to looking at a piece of paper in front of him on the table. It had a very clear coffee cup ring on it but he had just realised that it was very important. His mind was running with too many questions he just didn’t have answers to. But he was expected to know and the longer he took, the more people died on the planets. He looked around the faces at the table. He knew every one of them would support him but how could he admit that he had no answers. It wasn’t like facing a definite opponent and he wasn’t even sure that Set was so much the “bad guy” now. The directive from Osiris that was in front of him was very specific. Cease all offensive against Set’s troops until further notice.
Now they were a force without an enemy. The directive was specific, there was still a cause, there was still the possibility that any moment hostilities would commence again. So there wasn’t peace either. It was stalemate. But still people were fighting the Followers on the planets and more people were falling prey to the illusive virus or whatever it was. As even that defied definition he was sitting on a ship in a galaxy in space feeling very, very miniscule. This “thing” that had been romantically named the “Morning Star” after some demonised entity that had once been good on earth.
Shadows played around his mind as he grasped for answers. It was as if they were caught in some sort of spell, frozen in space. No way forward and he wasn’t even sure that looking back they’d been right either. They hadn’t been wrong, given the information but knowing the full picture now in the light of day it was no answer to any prayers either.
Joniel sat at the table and he could see the same look in his face. They were both used to having a definite target, a definite “bad guy” or at least a target. Now, everything was fluid. Now was the time for the scientist and the researchers. Which was driving him nuts.
Rennon of course was in his element. Constantly jumping between a state of the art laboratory on Osiris’ flagship and their fleet he seemed to be thriving. He was running with ideas and seemed truly alive. He and his new companion were in the thick of it. Daily they came up with ideas and spent the rest of the day proving they didn’t work. Again and again there were hopes that were so soon dashed on the shore of proof.
The thought that actually made him smile was that there were probably similar scientists in Set’s fleets trying to do exactly the same thing. Of course even if they solved the Morning Star they would still have Set’s plans for Galaxian Domination to deal with.
Even the communiques were silent. Ships were ticking over and looking after their own internal problems. Daily more people were becoming infected and their answer was drugs as well. So were they truly any different? That was one thought that was really biting into his inner calm.
Aliniel was worrying him too. She needed a lover and to be a young woman. His responsibilities were wearing heavily on her and he could feel her distance.
His train of thought was broken as sirens went off all over the ship. There was a voice over the speaker in the room. “Captain, we are under attack from an unknown vessel.”
Anathorn’s feet hit the ground at a run and he was in the Command Room and seated in his chair by the time the second volley of shot hit their shields. “Open channels and hail them. Who the heck are they? Come on people, stop your panic and do your job. There are protocols. We haven’t been hailed and we’ve been attacked out of hand. Defend for this volley. If they do not respond be ready to fire back with everything we have.”
Shiesh, a woman in her mid-twenties with raven hair and a tight fitting uniform which showed off her ample figure looked up. “Captain, they have blocked our hail. I have run diagnostics and they are not of any galaxy that we know of.”
Anathorn took a deep breath. “Fire at will, three quarter of the guns and prep the rest. Target weaponry and thrusters. I want them dead in the water. I mean in space.”
The lasers cut through space. They looked so insignificant in the blackness. No more than laser lights at any light show but the power they carried had the destructive power which cut into the ship’s hull as if it was paper. The ship’s shields were not calibrated to defend against lasers. The firing stopped and the ship was left hanging in space.
Anathorn looked stunned. “Open channels and hail them again.”
Shiesh flicked switches and pressed buttons. “Sir, I have hailed and run a further diagnostic. It seems that they do not have the capability to pick up our hail. Their system seems extremely basic.”
Anathorn looked at Joniel. “Have you seen anything like this before?”
Joniel looked at the ship. “No, well possibly something similar in a book somewhere but I can’t remember what it was about. It wasn’t a technical manual, I can tell you that. What sort of weaponry were they using? It just bounced off of our shields.”
Kreith, a middle aged man with a shock of unruly blonde hair and a struggling waistline piped up. “I’ve run a diagnostic Sir. It seems that they are firing lead shot at us.”
Anathorn looked bemused. “Are you serious? You mean actual lead shot bullets.”
Kreith was staring at the screen in disbelief. “I mean actual round, handmade lead shot balls.”
Shiesh shouted from her console. “Sir, it seems their ship is venting atmosphere and I can detect life signs failing.”
Anathorn turned in his chair. “Place the ship in a force field and protect their atmosphere. Use the tractor beam and pull them in. I think we had better take a close look at what we’ve caught. Joniel, can you summon Nailindris for me please. I think this may be something he can help with.”
As the ship got closer they could see it a lot clearer. It was an actual ship, fashioned to look like an ancient galleon. It had sails and all the attributes of a “Man O War” except that the hull was pressurised or had been until they had shot holes in it. Diagnostics flashed up on the screen. It wasn’t made of wood, it was made of some sort of wood substitute and the sails were made of a fabric that resembled canvas.
The ship was elegantly beautiful. It had the Forecastle and all the attributes of a ship all intricately copied. It sported a flag with a skull and cross bones on it.
Anathorn was shaking his head. “Ok, doc you had better check me out. I think the drug is having hallucinatory effects on me. This just can’t be real.”
There was a small clap of thunder and Nai appeared next to him. “Well it seems your wish is my command again. Will you stop sending me those intriguing.” He never finished his sentence as he saw the ship on the console. “Well I will ever be. What the heck is that? That is just impossible and wrong. Well beautiful but wrong. Holy cow, we’ve screwed up. I am going to get my ancient butt kicked big time for this one.”
Anathorn looked at him bemused. “Can you translate what that is all about please? So you have some idea why there is a galleon floating in space?”
Nai grunted. “We screwed up. Somewhere in our tampering with time we have altered the space time continuum.”
Anathorn laughed. “Ok, you are having me on, all of you. Big joke. Now can we be sensible about this. You’ve fooled me, ha ha very funny. Isn’t time space continuum some sort of word used in old books to explain why we shouldn’t tamper with time?”
Nai lifted an eyebrow. “And?”
The smile fell from Anthorn’s face. “You mean that thing is for real? A galleon in space?”
Nai almost smiled. “You can be very stupid sometimes. That is what I’m saying. I’m guessing that in at least one dimension the inhabitants have been introduced to technology far too early. So they have developed it along with their natural progression. Sometimes things leak across, that is why many of the dimensions seem identical. The new technology has overlain the old, so you get a galleon in space. I am guessing that it has come into this dimension from its own as they have developed the ability to enter the corridors. This would indicate that the original source was Fey in nature. So someone has right royally screwed up and as it was likely one of my people I’m guessing that I’m going to be the one who has to carry the male furry rodent for this one.
