Authors: Vincent Trigili
I easily stepped out of their path of attack and caught one of the knife wielders. I lifted him off the ground and threw him hard into the other knife wielder. He hit the other man with enough force to send them both into the wall with a satisfying crunch. I then turned towards the club wielder, stepped to an angle just outside his reach and caught his arm at the wrist. Using his arm as a handle, I pulled him towards me as I spun away from him, which sent him flying into the wall. He slid down the wall and did not move.
Slowly I walked towards the leader, who looked around at his men lying lifeless on the floor of the shop. He drew a low-powered energy pistol from under his jacket and said as he fired, “No one messes with my men like that.”
The weapon was of too low a power to penetrate my armor, but it burned a large hole in my robes, revealing it. Fear crossed his face as I approached him. “I gave you fair warning,” I said and, lifting him by his throat, snapped his neck and threw him out the door. I grabbed the other bodies and tossed them out also.
“Sorry about that,” said the shopkeeper nervously as I re-entered the store.
“It’s not your fault. I can tell a protection scam when I see one. I just hope this doesn’t cause you more trouble after I leave,” I said. “But I really did come here to shop. I was told you were the only place I could get what I need.”
“What is that?” he asked.
“Real leather and real organic thread that was actually grown and not produced in a factory,” I said.
“I may have some, but I should warn you that it is very expensive,” he said.
Because manufactured imitations were cheap and produced a better product, very few people raised animals for their skin. Those that raised them just to kill them for their hide were not looked upon favorably, as it was considered cruel, but it was the only thing that would work for what I wanted to try.
The shopkeeper was still nervous and kept looking out the window at the bodies I had left in the street. I assumed security would come by soon to investigate. I hoped to have concluded this deal before they arrived, but even more than that I really hoped I had not made things worse for him.
I gave him my order and quoted a price that I knew was fair. “Do you think you can handle that?”
“That would make up my entire stock, but how are you going to carry that much?” he said.
“I will pay you ten percent more to deliver it to Docking Arm 2003A, and an additional ten percent if you deliver it within the next ninety minutes.”
“I can do that, provided the bodies outside do not cause any delay. Payment in advance, if you do not mind.”
“The money will be handled by the station’s normal escrow,” I said.
He hesitated and then said, “Yes, of course. Here, before you go, change into this robe. It will hide that armor of yours better.”
After final arrangements were made and I had changed, I left. I wanted to be clear before the security forces came. It would take them some time to be notified of a problem down here, and even longer to arrive.
It seemed my fears were misplaced, as people were already clearing the bodies and cleaning up all signs of the trouble. They went out of their way to make sure they did not look at me as I left the area.
Of course,
I thought to myself.
They don’t want security snooping around here and are going to cover this up as fast as they can.
As I made my way through the station I sensed that someone was following me. I never saw the person, but I could feel them behind me. Every time I stopped and looked there was no one there, but that did not stop me from being concerned. I doubled back over my path several times and used every trick I knew, but I still could not shake the feeling that I was being followed, nor could I spot anyone actually doing it. I began to wonder if I was just being paranoid.
“Felix, how goes the loading?” I sent over our comm.
“The station’s robots just about have it finished,” he said.
“We have one more load coming. Delivery was promised within the next ninety minutes. Let me know when it arrives; after that we will leave with as much haste as possible without drawing attention to ourselves.”
“Something wrong?” he asked.
“Let’s just say for now that things could be going better,” I said.
“Understood,” he said and cut the channel.
I needed to find a way to lose the person tailing me whom I could not see. I moved into a crowded area and weaved through the masses of people there. I decided the best thing to do would be to find somewhere to hole up until my last purchase was safely delivered. Once that was done I could head straight for the ship and launch quickly.
While moving through the crowd as inconspicuously as possible I tore off my robes and dropped them down a recycling duct. Once that was done I slipped into a popular shop and busied myself looking at the wares. In truth there was nothing in the store of any value to me, which made it hard to look convincing, but it did not matter. I just wanted some place where I could get lost in a crowd and leave.
Eventually Felix contacted me to let me know the last shipment had arrived. I did my best to be inconspicuous as I left through the door on the opposite side from where I had entered. I then moved in and out of several shops, hoping to confuse anyone who might still be behind me. As soon as I felt I had done as much as I could with that plan, I took the shortest and most direct route to the docking arm where we had parked.
“Felix, lock the airlock securely and wait for me to teleport in; then take off,” I said .
I was entering the less busy part of the station. Only a few ships were attached to any given docking arm, so there was no longer much of a crowd to hide in. If anyone was following me, their presence should become obvious as I moved further down the docking arm.
As I approached the airlock leading to my ship, someone cried out behind me, “Halt!” I did not wait to see who it was, or what it was about, as I had a clear line-of-sight through the airlock window. I quickly teleported in and then covered the window just in case.
“Go, Felix!” I said over the intercom.
I felt a slight lurch as the ship pulled away from the station. I dashed to the bridge and said, “Status?”
“Just as we launched the station security tried to call in, but I have not yet responded,” he said. “I am pretending to be an automated launch.”
“You’re the expert criminal. Is it better to not answer and run, or answer and run?” I asked.
He grinned and said, “Oh, a smart person never answers, but I typically tended to taunt them just before jumping out of reach.”
“Then don’t respond. As soon as we are clear, take a few random jumps and then hide somewhere until Narcion is awake,” I said.
“Shouldn’t we tell him that we are on the run?” he asked.
“It would do no good. I think he goes into some kind of hibernation or trance after a trip like that. It could be another couple of days before he comes out. He has never been gone so long before, so I am not sure when he will wake up,” I said.
“Understood. We will be out of the gravity well in about fifteen minutes, and there’s no sign of pursuit yet,” he said.
We had to get out of the gravity well of the station before we could engage the jump drives. That meant we had to burn away with the sub-light drives and hope no one came after us before we jumped. I looked over at the communication panel and saw them trying in multiple languages and frequencies. “Because we’re not answering, they seem to believe we are not receiving.”
“Yeah, government types think slowly. They assume at first that everyone will stop when told to, or at least reply in some fashion. If you do not, their procedure dictates that they make every reasonable effort to reach you before escalating their response,” he said.
“How long do we have before they launch and chase us?” I asked.
“Plenty of time. As long as I continue my impersonation of an automated launch they will continue to try to reach you. Also, this craft of yours has a very nice acceleration curve. We can be in jump range long before they catch up, even if they have already launched,” he said.
“So I was right to assume you have done this a few times,” I said.
“Yes; twice from this very station, actually. Mind you, I hadn’t done anything wrong. The police here must be very corrupt,” he said.
“Oh, I am sure you were completely innocent,” I said.
“Are you?” he countered.
“Yes, but I’m not sure I could easily prove it. I’d rather just be gone,” I said.
As he expected, we made it to the jump exit point before any pursuit came from the station.
“Commander, you wanted to see me?” I asked.
“Yes, Agent Byron. Please sit down,” he said.
While I did not officially work for the military branch, I would often be assigned to help them out with special cases. Whenever they called me in, it usually meant there was some special task they needed done for which they did not wish to use normal military staff. Sometimes that was because it involved classified information, and sometimes it was because the person or persons involved could cause problems if things were not handled properly. Whatever it was, they would want it handled outside of normal channels with discretion.
“Have you been following the trouble we have been experiencing lately with our outlying stations?” he asked.
“Yes, sir. According to the stories I have heard, some kind of spirits have been taking them over. I have been told that these spirits are immune to our weapons and make dead men rise up to fight again,” I said. It was a ridiculous story, and I felt a bit silly even repeating it.
“You sound like you don’t believe the stories,” he said.
“Sir, they are a bit hard to accept,” I said.
“Well, that they may be, but they are true. Everything you have just said is correct,” he said.
“But how can that be, sir? I mean, I know we have sorcerers and all that now, but energy weapons always seem to work on everything they summon,” I said.
“Not these creatures, whatever they are,” he said.
“But haven’t we regained most of those stations, sir?” I asked.
“Yes, we have; but we have had help, and that is why I summoned you. Here, watch this footage and then we can talk more,” he said.
I watched on the screen what was apparently a recording from a series of security cameras on one of our bases. I saw our elite troops cut down quickly by the spirit creatures, which, as rumored, appeared to be completely immune to our weapons, but could kill with a touch. The part that chilled me to the core was to see the dead troops stand back up and join the spirits in battle. My stomach turned over as I watched our elite troops cutting down the newly-animated corpses of their squad-mates.
He stopped the playback and said, “That scene is typical of our every attempt to fight back. Now whenever one of these creatures is spotted we are forced to order a full evacuation, and have even considered destroying the stations behind us.”
“But, sir, how are we regaining the stations? Are they abandoning them?” I asked.
“No. We have a found a way to fight back. Watch this,” he said.
He turned on another video, and in this one I saw a human and a Zalionian enter a station through a docking bay. Once on board they moved quickly to a narrow corridor and set up incendiary devices. Soon an army of animated corpses was marching on their position, but the narrow corridor and incendiary devices allowed them to hold off the attackers until they stopped coming.
Next, three spirits came down the hall and the two men put away their guns and pulled out knives. I thought I would surely see them be cut down as the others were, but to my surprise they took the fight hand-to-hand and won. The Zalionian was wounded, but the human treated his wound and they left the station.
“That is Narcion, and we assume the Zalionian is his apprentice. This station is the first time we have seen the Zalionian, and he has been tagging around with Narcion ever since this fight,” he said.
“They beat them with knives?” I asked. That hardly seemed possible.
“Worse than that. I have footage of them winning in empty-handed combat, and I even have footage from a little while back where Narcion used his blaster as a club and beat several back,” he said.
“But, sir, given what you have shown me so far, how is that possible?” I asked.
“I don’t know, but that is what I want you to find out. Narcion has treated us well and saved most of our stations from having to be destroyed, but he will not tell us how to fight the creatures. He calls them wraiths, and calls himself and the Zalionian ‘Sac’a’rith,’ but I have no idea what that means,” he said.
“What do we know about them?” I asked.
“We have extensive information on Narcion, but it only goes back about half a decade or so. Before that, he simply did not exist. We know that in between helping us he takes extremely high-risk jobs from various consortiums and tribes. He is rich beyond belief, and we probably don’t know the half of it. I will make his complete file available to you. As for the Zalionian, we know nothing about him yet.
“They were last seen at the hospital station, and when they departed from there they were accompanied by two magi. We have extensive records on these men, which I will also provide, but we don’t know if they are still with him. We have not heard from him in a few weeks, but I will be calling him soon,” he said.
“Did we lose another station, sir?” I asked.
“Yes. We have some magi there now trying to retake it, but in the past the magi have also failed. Their spells work, but the creatures still manage to outmaneuver and kill them,” he said. “While they have the raw power needed to fight, none of them seems to have the skill or knowledge to do it successfully.”
“Sir, I will need all the files we have on him, the wraiths and the stations; and also all the videos you have of them. I will need to assemble a team and interview any and all witnesses,” I said.
“You must do this secretly, so I will get you all that information, but no team and no witnesses,” he said.
The investigator in me wanted to jump out and ask: why? But experience had taught me that it would be a fruitless endeavor. “Sir, if I meet up with Narcion, or any of his traveling companions, may I question them?”