Justice Keepers Saga--Books 13-15, page 87
When they were gone, she saw a big ship coming right for her. The thoughts of several different people filled her mind. They wanted her dead. Not out of anger or hate but simply because those were their orders.
Flicking the hat-switch, Melissa moved off to her left an instant before two particle beams streaked through the spot where she had been. They forced the dreadwings behind her to scatter, each pilot heading in a different direction.
“Carlson girls!” Claire shouted. “No one messes with us!”
Melissa sensed another dreadnought nearby and put herself on course for it. The enormous vessel grew even larger in her window. Pulses of blue light erupted from its cannons. There was no way to predict them as the guns were controlled by an algorithm, not a person. That was all right. Melissa’s natural piloting skills would make up the difference.
She performed a ninety-degree roll, letting one shot drift past the shuttle’s belly while another singed her dorsal hull. She fired two missiles, cheering as they detonated against the dreadnought’s shields.
Colonel Tremar’s voice came through the speaker. “I must commend you, Captain Nomelia,” he said. “Your pilot is nothing short of incredible. We’ve made a hole in their lines. I suggest you go to warp while you can.”
“I don’t want to leave you alone in this mess, Colonel,” Corin replied.
“I suspect that the battle will end as soon as you leave the system,” Tremar said. “My advice is to go now.”
“All right, shuttles, you heard him!” Corin said. “Set a course for the SuperGate. Maximum warp!”
Melissa did just that, triggering the FTL drives and following the Scrappy out of the system. The stars clumped together in her window, forming a single point of light in the infinite distance. She breathed a sigh of relief. It was finally over.
“Wait!” Della shouted through the speaker. “We can’t leave yet! Claire isn’t on board the ship! They still have her!”
Unable to suppress a grin, Melissa shook her head ruefully. She tapped a button on her console to open a SlipSpace comm-link. “It’s okay, Mom,” she said. “Claire is here with me.”
“She’s on the shuttle?” Della exclaimed. “You took your baby sister into battle on a shuttle? Melissa, how could you possibly be so irresponsible? We’re going to have words about this, young lady! Justice Keeper or no Justice Keeper, I can still ground you so long as you’re living under my roof!”
The call ended abruptly. Melissa couldn’t even find it within herself to get angry. Even though this was all Claire’s fault. The truth was she couldn’t have done it without her sister. After everything she had been through, she couldn’t stop herself from laughing like a maniac.
“Hey, kid,” Jena said over the comm-link. “That was some fancy flying. You’re gonna have to tell me how you did it.”
Claire came forward to stand next to the pilot’s chair. Melissa wrapped an arm around he, pulling her close. “Sorry, Jena,” she replied. “I’m afraid that’s a family secret.”
“Carlson girls,” Claire said.
“No one messes with us.”
The End of Part 1
INTERLUDE
Once again, Claire found herself in the creepy place with the dark tunnels. She could tell by the rough stone underneath her. Were dreams usually this vivid? She didn’t think so, but she knew it was a dream.
Claire got up off the floor.
The tunnel was completely dark; she couldn’t see a damn thing. There was nothing to do but go forward. Well, that wasn’t exactly true. The passageway extended in both directions – she could go backward – but somehow, she knew this dream wouldn’t end until she confronted whatever was waiting for her. So, she began her long trek to whatever it was.
Trailing her fingers along the wall, Claire plodded along with her head down. “You know,” she said to the darkness. “If you want to talk, you could just bring me to wherever it is you are.”
No one answered.
Claire looked up, narrowing her eyes. “What?” she asked, shaking her head. “You bring me all the way out here, and you’re not even gonna talk until I go through your stupid, little maze?”
Maybe she should have been afraid – and she was…a little – but somehow, she suspected that her host wasn’t going to harm her. She was pretty sure that the person who brought her into this dream was the same person who had helped her when those soldiers were trying to kill her. Which meant they wanted her alive. Which meant she probably wasn’t in danger.
Probably.
Once again, she came to the intersection where a single corridor branched off to her right. Claire followed it. She knew what she would find, and she wasn’t going to run away this time. There was only one way to deal with a bully. If you let them think you were intimidated, they would just keep tormenting you. You had to stand up.
It wasn’t long before she noticed the red light in the distance. She could feel it calling to her, urging her to hurry up. Well, she wasn’t going to do that either. Nope. Just calm, collected Claire: that was all they were going to get from her.
The light came closer and closer.
Was she walking into Hell?
Wouldn’t that be something? She could tell her sister that all that Catholic nonsense was real. Except Melissa would probably get into Heaven because of course, she would.
The tunnel ended in a huge room with a great, big hole in the ceiling, a hole in the shape of a perfect circle. It was night outside, and the stars were twinkling in the sky. She didn’t recognize any of the constellations, but that didn’t count for much. This could be some world she had never visited. Salus, maybe.
A raised platform was positioned directly under the hole, standing so tall that Claire would have to jump to reach the ledge. She hated being short. She was about to start searching for the stairs when something caught her eye.
The red light she had seen came from glowing stones in the walls. Not bulbs or any other electric light source. The stones were glowing. How was that possible? The answer came to her after a moment’s thought. This was a telepathic projection; anything could happen here.
She moved carefully around the platform, looking for the stairs that would lead her up. She wasn’t sure why, but something told her that was where she wanted to be. There were other tunnels leading away from this room. Some of them were built into the walls at a height no ordinary human could reach. Melissa could probably get up there with her crazy gravity antics, but Claire never would. She was-
Metal scraped across the stone floor when her foot came down on something. She bent to pick it up.
Rising slowly, Claire examined the spear she had found. At least, she thought that was what it was. It had a pointed tip and a razor-sharp edge. She didn’t have to touch it; she just knew. There was no shaft, just a few inches of silvery metal that ended in a jagged point. As if the weapon had been shattered.
When she looked around, she saw other fragments on the floor, pieces of the haft. Each one glittered in the red light that radiated from those stones. This spear had been a work of incredible craftsmanship. Who would destroy it?
“Careful with that.”
Claire jumped at the sound of a smooth, melodic voice. Whirling around, she found a woman standing on the platform – a tall and slender beauty in a purple dress. Thick, red curls framed a pale face without a single blemish. Green eyes stared down at Claire, sparkling with amusement. “It kills gods, you know.”
Claire took a deep breath, trying to stay calm, and held the woman’s gaze. Never let them see that you were afraid. “You were the one who helped me on Antaur.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Why?”
The redhead smiled, soft laughter bubbling out of her. “That’s what I like about you, child,” she said. “You’re a thinker. A necessary quality in a telepath, I would say, though surprisingly lacking in some.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“Quite right,” the strange woman murmured. She seemed to be impressed by Claire’s persistence. “Then I’ll say it plainly. I need you, and you need me.”
“I don’t need anything from you.”
The woman’s smile became a menacing rictus grin. “Oh no?” she asked. “The creatures that you call Overseers have been tormenting your family for years. They’ve manipulated your father into doing their dirty work, sent their minions after your sister and nearly killed you. Be honest with me, child. Wouldn’t you like a little…vengeance?”
Rocks churned under Madriko’s feet as she ran along the beach. The waves crashed over the shore, and the biting wind cleaved right through her thin leotard. She hadn’t bothered putting the mask back on; there was no point.
Those clouds loomed in the sky, but the rain they promised never came. She heard the sirens of police cruisers rushing along the street that ran parallel to the shoreline. So far, none of them had come down here looking for her. She wasn’t sure what she would do if they did. Was there any point in fighting? She was a dead woman either way.
Shindraso would kill her the next time he saw her. There was no doubt in her mind. Her only option was to hide, lay low and let her comrades think that she had perished. If she did that, she might be able to survive for another four years. By then, her time would be up. She desperately wanted to believe that Melissa was lying, that the enhanced Nassai could sustain her just as well as an ordinary symbiont. But no. Melissa didn’t lie about such things.
The beach stretched on for miles.
Eventually, she found a cave in a wall of rock. That was as good a hiding place as any. She slipped inside.
Pressing her back against the wall, Madriko slid downward until her bottom hit the dirt. She folded up, clutching her head with both hands and sobbing. How had this happened? She had trusted Shindraso.
There had to be something she could do, some way to heal her body. Perhaps she could extricate the symbiont, repair the damage to her cells. She wanted to live. They had promised her another three decades. Why would they lie?
They used you.
It was the simple truth. Melissa had said as much, but Madriko didn’t want to believe it. Madriko…Why was she still calling herself that? Her name was Tesa. Madriko was just a lie. Like everything else Shindraso had given her.
Sniffling, she wiped the tears off her cheek with a gloved hand. She had to get off this planet. And then…Well, she didn’t know what would come after that. She would search for a way to heal her body.
She would find a way to survive.
Claire tossed the spear down, and it clattered on the floor. She looked up at the woman, trying her best to seem tough. “So, you can help me fight the Overseers,” she said. “What exactly can you do?”
The gorgeous redhead stood on that raised platform, her filmy gown clinging to her lovely figure, her curly hair spilling over her shoulders. “Well, let’s see,” she said with a wave of her hand.
The platform changed shape, stone retracting to form a set of stairs.
Claire squeaked, jumping backward. Her body slammed against the wall, and it hurt. Telepathic projections weren’t usually this vivid. Not the ones that she created, anyway. She was good, but not that good.
That had to be what this was: a projection. Just a complex illusion that the woman conjured in Claire’s mind. Still, the fact that she could do it with this level of detail was unnerving. It meant that she was insanely powerful.
But only powerful at making illusions, Claire reminded herself. She can’t actually manipulate the stone, can she?
With a great deal of reluctance, Claire climbed up the stairs, eying the woman the whole time. “Do you have a name?”
“You may call me Driala.”
“Uh-huh…And what exactly are you?”
“Old.”
Sighing softly, Claire shook her head as she strode across the platform. “Is there some rule that these conversations have to be maximum cryptic?” she snapped. “You obviously want something from me! Just tell me what it is!”
Throwing her head back, Driala roared with hearty laughter. “I like you, girl!” she said. “You remind me of me when I was young. Straight to the point, then. I need you to help me fight the Overseers.”
Claire twisted around, frowning at the stairs that her host had created. “Seems like you’re pretty powerful on your own,” she said. “What do you need me for?”
“Even I have my limits,” the woman muttered. “You’re correct; this is a telepathic projection. Your physical body is still sleeping in that cozy, little bed on that cute, little starship. But everything you see here is real.”
“You mean this temple exists?”
Driala nodded. “It has stood on this spot for over thirty thousand years,” she said. “And if I have my way, it will stand for thirty thousand more. But my plans for this world have been frustrated.”
“By what?”
Driala pointed to the ceiling. “See for yourself.”
When Claire looked through the hole, she saw nothing but tiny stars blazing in the night sky. She thought she caught a glimpse of tall trees swaying in the wind, but it was too dark to tell. “There’s nothing out there.”
Driala came up behind her, gently resting her hands on Claire’s shoulders. “Yes, I suppose they are a bit too far off. Let me help you.”
Claire’s vision seemed to zoom-in, past the clouds and the upper atmosphere, into the emptiness of space. And then she sensed it. An Overseer ship floated high above this planet, four curved prongs protruding from its central frame, converging on the forward tip like a set of tusks.
She could feel the minds inside that thing. There must have been dozens of them. Minds without bodies. They were fused into the ship itself, controlling its systems simply by imagining what they wanted.
And they were aware of her.
Claire recoiled in horror, falling hard onto the platform. She rolled onto her belly, pressed her hands down on the stone and pushed herself up. “They felt my presence.”
“Perhaps,” Driala murmured. “If so, they will be even more eager to kill you. I am sorry for that.”
With a great deal of effort, Claire stood up. She scrubbed a hand over her face, blinking several times. “They’re here,” she hissed. “On this world. What planet is this?”
“You wouldn’t know it. Suffice it to say that the people here are ill-equipped to defend themselves against this threat. And so am I.”
“Can’t you just destroy their ships with your crazy powers?”
“I might survive against one,” Driala said. “Maybe two or three. But these creatures have technology that rivals my own. They would find a way to contain me, and if they discovered the source of my power…
Driala knelt before her, placing a hand on Claire’s arm, gazing intently into her eyes. “Pay attention now, child,” she breathed. “This is very important. Your friends can help me defend this world. I need you to bring me one in particular.”
“Who?”
“You call him the doofus.”
PART II
16
The security station at the Morningside Rehabilitation Facility had pale, yellow walls. Five body scanners were spaced out on the white, tiled floor, each one shaped like a metal disk.
The three guards who manned this station wore blue uniforms with billed caps. They were clustered around the room’s only control console, thoroughly checking the readouts and talking softly with one another. Being in their presence made Jack nervous. He couldn’t imagine that any prison guard would like him after the trouble he had caused springing Cassi from her cell.
One of those guards looked up with a halfhearted smile. “You’re all clear, Operative Lenai.”
Standing on the scanner with her hands on her hips, Anna answered his smile with one of her own. “Excellent!” she said with a bob of her head. “I was growing so bored with being opaque.”
The guard turned his attention to Jack. “Your turn, Agent Hunter.”
A soft sigh escaped Jack as she stepped onto the scanner and folded his hands behind his back. He tried his best to look innocent. Which shouldn’t have been hard because he was innocent! But he kept thinking these guys were judging him.
“No weapons,” the guard said, reading the screen on his console. “No anomalous technologies. You’re clear, but you’ll have to surrender your multi-tools.”
Jack stormed across the room, ripping the disk off his gauntlet and setting it down on a small table. “There you go,” he said with a shrug. “Feel free to browse through my collection of sexy anime girls.”
Shaking her head in dismay, Anna came forward and took his hand. “He jokes,” she said, resting her head on his arm. “Some people find it charming.”
“No doubt,” the lead guard muttered. “You’re clear to enter the facility.”
The hallway on the other side of the door had the same yellow walls. The scent of lemon cleanser filled the air, and it must have been pretty strong for Jack to get a whiff of it. His sense of smell was less than impressive.
Two support workers – a young man and a young woman – stood in the middle of the corridor, talking with a bespectacled woman who wore her hair in a short, gray bob. Jack was guessing that she was the director of this facility. Or one of the supervisors. Either way, the trio went silent when he and Anna passed.
Some of the patients were gathered in a common area with round tables, enjoying the sunlight that came in through the many windows. He was surprised to find that two of them were playing chess. Chess. In a Leyrian detention facility.
“Telixa’s been sharing the game with everyone,” Anna muttered when she caught him looking.
“Well, at least she’s not bored.”
The hallway ended in a set of double doors. When they went through, they found a wide, stone walkway that cut through a field of grass. Squirrels came scampering from behind a thick ash tree. The air was sweet and warm.
