In Darkness Dwells: A Cadicle Sci-Fi Horror Thriller, page 1
IN DARKNESS DWELLS
James Fox
A.K. DuBoff
IN DARKNESS DWELLS
Copyright © 2021 by A.K. DuBoff & James Fox
The Cadicle® Universe is a registered trademark of A.K. DuBoff
All rights reserved. This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. No part of this eBook may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles, reviews, or promotions.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
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Published by Dawnrunner Press
Special thanks to Beta/JIT readers:
John Ashmore
Jim Dean
Kurt Schulenburg
Steve DeBacker
Gil Forbes
David Frydrych
Doug Burnham
Manie Killian
Eric Haneberg
Leo Roars
First eBook Edition: June 11, 2021
Kindle Edition
TABLE OF CONTENTS
About In Darkness Dwells
Foreword – The Cadicle Universe
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
EPILOGUE
Read More by James Fox
Also by A.K. DuBoff
Authors’ Notes
About the Authors
About In Darkness Dwells
Danger lurks in the dark...
Time is running out for salvage captain Hailey Suro. Desperate for a decent payday, she leads her small crew into a restricted zone.
Several strange incidents soon spell disaster for everyone on the Andvari. Stranded and without hope of rescue, striking it rich no longer matters.
It’s a fight for survival.
Foreword – The Cadicle Universe
The events in In Darkness Dwells are a self-contained story arc in the larger Cadicle Universe.
Tarans are the predominant race in the Cadicle Universe; humans are a Taran genetic offshoot. Most of the Taran sphere falls within the purview of the Taran Empire, governed from the planet Tararia by a council of High Dynasty families. Earth is one of several rogue colonies on the outskirts of the Empire, separated so long ago that they have forgotten their Taran ancestry.
The Tararian Guard is the primary military force for the Taran Empire. Its counterpart, the Tararian Selective Service, includes a specialty branch with Agents gifted in telekinetic and telepathic abilities. The TSS is headquartered at a base inside Earth’s moon, and its iconic Agents are known in Earth lore as the mysterious ‘men in black’.
Chronologically, In Darkness Dwells takes place immediately before the Taran Empire Saga. However, prior knowledge of that broader story universe is not required in order to read and enjoy this book.
CHAPTER 1
“Easy does it,” Captain Hailey Suro instructed her son, more out of habit rather than need, as he piloted the Andvari into position alongside its target.
For the first time in weeks, Hailey felt a glimmer of hope. The twisted starship wreckage was easily the best salvage target they’d seen in months. We might actually be able to make our next lease payment.
Darin smiled, his blue eyes shining under a lock of his highlighted brown hair. “Just want to get us a nice close look.” He’d grown up flying ships, and at nineteen now was as capable a pilot as any old-timer.
The Andvari’s control board flickered with streams of data as Darin eased the freighter next to the once-mighty TSS warship, now reduced to little more than a lonely bit of scrap.
As the two vessels continued to edge closer together, additional details came into focus on the flight deck’s front viewscreen. This wasn’t just any warship; with its boxy munitions launchers—the kind designed to house and fire long-range torpedoes—and side thruster ports to compensate for the massive release of kinetic force, the remains of this warship had the potential to yield a massive score. From the looks of it, even the rear drive section appeared to be intact, which meant it might still have a functional power core. If so, they could be looking at a single payday to rival their earnings from the entire last year combined.
Oh stars, please be worth it!
Their salvage contract with Renfield was still months from being suspended, but their heroic efforts to locate lucrative wreckage had thus far yielded paltry payoffs. The last few scraps the Andvari located had been disappointments, and their small crew’s resources were running dry. Renfield had already voiced some frustration about their ‘mining in well-trod claims’. Even so, they were already skirting the very edges of the territory that their salvage permit allowed.
Worse, from all reports, this should be relatively virgin space. Sadly, it was rapidly becoming apparent that they were a few weeks behind another crew—at least one, and Hailey was beginning to think quite a few more. It seemed that their ‘hot lead’ on this part of space wasn’t as significant a breakthrough as they had once thought.
Space was a big place; it was intensely aggravating to always be late to the party.
The door to the flight deck hissed open, and the waifish Dr. Mina Hurn ambled in. Her eyes were downcast on her tablet, the curls of her dark mahogany hair framing her face.
“Good morning, Captain,” she greeted, glancing up and smiling amiably. “I’ve done a preliminary scan of this target.”
Darin pivoted around in his seat to look at Hailey. “Do you need me for this?”
“You don’t want to know what we’ve got?”
He shrugged. “If it’s anything like the last few, I don’t need to hear it again firsthand.”
That stung. He didn’t say it in a mean way, but the meaning behind the words cut deeply into Hailey. This salvage business was supposed to be my legacy to hand him, and instead we might lose everything.
A quick glance at Mina’s expression indicated to Hailey that she wasn’t about to get particularly good news. Darin was right; he didn’t need to be here.
“Take a break,” she told her son.
“Aye,” he acknowledged and swapped over the flight controls to her captain’s station. He left the flight deck, giving a friendly nod to Mina on his way out.
Hailey leaned forward in her seat and put her hands in the small of her back while pinching her shoulders together. That same spot spasmed if she sat for more than a few moments in her blasted chair. It was most certainly the chair’s fault, not the years of abuse and injuries sustained while in the Tararian Guard; couldn’t be that. “Well, what’s the verdict?”
The petite doctor stared at her, a slight wrinkle of worry showing on her brow.
“Just tension from the flight, Doc, nothing to see here,” she said casually.
An elegant eyebrow arched slowly in way of reply.
Summoning her command posture, Hailey rolled her shoulders back. “Well, are you going to give me the report, or are we going to play grab-ass all morning?”
Mina faked an overly dramatic sigh of exasperation but couldn’t quite contain the mirth that danced across her features. The doctor was the newest member of the crew, though she had been with them for almost a year now, and she’d slipped into the ship’s social dynamic beautifully.
Head down while she read from her tablet, Mina launched into her report on the target vessel’s classification, service duty, reported loss date, haul records, and armament details. The TSS Valiant was one of the vessels that the Tararian Selective Service had commissioned for the war efforts three decades back. Dozens of destroyers like it had been rapidly churned out from the Prisaris shipyard, sparing no expense in their manufacturing materials. A great score, indeed.
Then, Mina brought up magnified images of the Valiant’s exterior, showing tether holes dotting the side of the warship.
Someone else had beaten them to it. The target had already been picked clean.
Hailey’s hope evaporated. “Well, that’s foking great.”
Mina scrunched her face up in irritation. “Stars, I’m sorry, Hailey. I know we’re on the right track for wreckage from a number of big encounters. There have been no reports of other salvage contractors out this far. So, either these were caught very early on and have drifted this far post-salvage. Or someone is working off the books.”
That was always a possibility. Especially if the scores were as impressive as this destroyer should have been.
Space may be large, but the simple fact remained that the number of ships lost in the war was undetermined. Last known trajectories and headings were all rough estima
Hailey bit back her frustration. “Where do we go from here?”
Mina leaned in closer, the pepper and mandarin scent of her perfume assaulting Hailey as she peered out the viewport at the warship. “I’ll double check my research and put in a call to Renfield. Maybe there’s another crew just ahead of us. We can try to swing beyond them for the next target. Play a bit of leapfrog, maybe?”
No, we’re out of time. We can’t keep retreading the same ground with wishful thinking. Hailey tried to keep her worry from showing on her face.
The lease payment on the Andvari had already been deferred once, and they wouldn’t be getting any more favors. Hiring Mina and leasing the Andvari had been an all-in attempt to build a sustainable business that Hailey could pass on to Darin. The high upfront expense had seemed like a worthwhile venture, but it had yet to pay off. If they came up emptyhanded again, that would be the end of the dream.
“We can’t afford another dead end,” she said, barely above a whisper. “We need a score—a good one.”
They had been pressing hard these last few weeks, hunting for pockets of wartime debris and wreckage that hadn’t already been picked over by other salvage crews. The more remote they got, the higher the likelihood they could score. On the flipside, venturing further from civilization also meant far fewer opportunities to sell off cheap scrap for a quick mid-run resupply. As it stood, they were already reduced to half rations to stretch out their reserves.
The truth was, there wouldn’t be a proper resupply if they didn’t get paid. Hailey was under consistent pressure to make the sacrificed health, happiness, and resources worth it. She needed this run to work out.
“There is another option, Captain,” Mina began upon seeing Hailey’s sour expression she hadn’t quite been able to mask.
“At this point, I’m open to anything.” She crossed her arms.
“We could head toward the Kyron Nebula.”
The suggestion caught Hailey by surprise; she’d considered Mina to be by-the-book. “That’s outside of the permitted salvage zone.”
Given their dire situation, Hailey wasn’t opposed to breaking the rules. If they didn’t meet the terms of their contract, they’d be doomed anyway.
“I’m aware,” Mina continued, “but there’s a gravitational backwater there, and the models show it’s a likely spot for wrecks to wind up.”
Hailey was nodding now; those were exactly the types of places she’d been hoping Mina would find for them. She’d been resistant to unlawful activity up to this point, but if everyone else played that way, she needed to do what was necessary to stay in the game. “There are benefits to being out in restricted space. So long as we don’t get caught.”
“Risk and reward.”
If they were caught, they’d lose the Andvari for sure. And yet, if they didn’t go, they’d most likely lose the ship, too. At least the gamble provided the barest shred of opportunity.
“All right, get me the coordinates,” Hailey agreed. Stars, I hope this is the right move!
— — —
A string of disappointments would get anyone down, and it had become especially difficult for Darin Suro to see his mom struggling.
She’s doing all of this for me, but she never asked if it’s what I want.
He hurried away from the flight deck with no clear destination in mind, only certain that he didn’t want to be within earshot of another dismal report about their bleak prospects. After everything that had gone wrong since getting the Andvari, he was slowly becoming convinced that the new ship was cursed.
Roaming through the outer edges of the Taran Empire had made for an interesting childhood, but he couldn’t imagine a lifelong career as a salvage hauler. He’d tried to tell his mom that on several occasions, but she had a way of hearing what she wanted to hear. Once she’d gotten it into her head that Darin enjoyed scrapping, she’d done every bomaxed thing she could to set him up for a future in that line of work. The unfortunate truth was that he’d rather join the Tararian Guard and never see a salvage rig again.
You need to come clean, he chastised himself. The longer you wait, the harder it will be.
Despite the sound advice to himself, he hadn’t yet found the right moment to follow through. After this salvage run, maybe—once they had found a good score and were getting back on track with the lease payments. Before then, he didn’t have it in him to break his mom’s heart with the news that he wanted to leave.
Feeling antsy, Darin decided to run a few laps through the central corridors of the ship. On the main habitation level, the corridors formed one giant loop that made it great for such activity.
On his second lap, Darin almost bumped into Jamaal exiting his cabin.
“Whoa, watch it!” the older man shouted, raising his muscular arms.
“Sorry,” Darin muttered, nimbly sidestepping him. He knew from past accidental collisions against the living wall of a man that he would be on the losing side of the encounter.
The ex-Guard soldier tilted his head questioningly. “Shouldn’t you be on the flight deck?”
Darin slowed his jog and turned around. “Meeting with Mina. I didn’t want to hear it.”
“Less about the content and more about the view.”
He had to admit, Mina was quite pretty—and the only woman on the ship he wasn’t related to. Still, that wasn’t enough to balance out being stuck in a confined space with his mother while she got more bad news. “Next time, maybe.”
A chime sounded, indicating a ship-wide communication.
“We’re headed to the Kyron Nebula,” his mother announced, her voice echoing in the metal corridor. “Get to bed early. I want you rested and ready for a long day.” The comm clicked off.
Darin looked at Jamaal questioningly. “Kyron? Where’s that?”
“Restricted space,” he replied with a frown. “A former warzone beyond the outermost colonies.”
“Shite. We’re getting really desperate, aren’t we?”
Jamaal clapped him on the shoulder. “Your mom is a good captain. We wouldn’t be headed that way if there weren’t riches to be found.” Without another word, he headed down the hall in the direction of the washroom and gym.
Darin shook his head and sighed. So much for being model citizens.
Everyone knew that most scrappers skirted the law. Sure, everything was handled via official contracts and corporate dealings, but the real money was made by scouting out restricted areas and grabbing the left-behind tech that wasn’t easy to come by in more inhabited zones. His mom had sworn that they wouldn’t be ‘those people’ when they got this new ship. An admirable aspiration, however unrealistic.
With the halls once again to himself, Darin resumed his jog. After completing another dozen laps, he’d worked up an appetite so he headed to the galley for an early dinner.
The dining and kitchen area of the ship was compact and efficient like most of the vessel’s living spaces. It consisted of seating for six, storage areas, and the various appliances one would expect for cooking and reheating items, all finished in polished metal for easy maintenance.
As he was completing the preparation of the mostly tasteless gruel that would comprise his meals for the foreseeable future, Mina wandered in.
“Hey,” she greeted him. “Anything good on the menu?”
Darin looked up from stirring the off-white paste. “You didn’t hear?”
“Hear what?”
He let out a long breath between his teeth, recalling that the doctor hadn’t been at breakfast. “We’re getting reduced to half-rations to stretch reserves out long enough to complete this contract. The captain announced it this morning.”
“Oh. I see.” A slight flush rose on the bronze skin of the doctor’s cheeks.
“Don’t worry, Doc. The complete lack of taste means you can pretend it’s anything you want!” he joked as he grabbed his bowl and took his usual seat at the table with the best visibility of the viewport on the back wall.
