Rogue Hunter

Gaia #3

Legacy

by

Kevis Hendrickson

This is a work of fiction. The events and characters described herein are imaginary and are not intended to refer to specific places or living persons. The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author and do not represent the opinions or any third-party publishers.

Rogue Hunter: Gaia: Legacy

All Rights Reserved.

Copyright © 2010 Kevis Hendrickson

Smashwords Edition

Cover illustration © Morgan Bishop. All rights reserved – used with permission.

Rogue Hunter Logo © Ryan Hawkins. All rights reserved – used with permission.

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Legacy

Chapter One

The raging sandstorm that swept across the dunes of the world of Darokk forced every creature, two-legged or otherwise, to take up refuge in the confines of their burrowed dwellings. Any living being caught in the storm would have had its flesh peeled from its bones. Zyra Zanr had been fortunate to wait out the storm within the protection of Helship-II. But Zyra knew another sandstorm was likely to follow on the heels of this one. Hence, she decided that after several hours of waiting, it was time to begin her trek across the vast desert.

The weather was miserable. Zyra doubted anyone without an encounter-suit could survive the ferocious desert winds. She leaned forward to wade through the violent wind whipping her cloak about her. The labored buzz of hidden servo motors beneath the custom exo-skeletal armor she wore as she raised a hand to protect her head from debris was lost in the torrent of the howling wind. She was repeatedly knocked off balance by violent gusts of air. A sand-filled thermal slammed against her encounter-suit, transforming its dull grey surface into patches of dark tan. The suit’s computer control, which was incorporated into the armor on her right arm, had misted up, making it impossible for her to read the digital display screen. Though it was unlikely that anyone would notice her in the sandstorm, Zyra’s cloak made her look like one of the resident desert nomads. Only by viewing her up close could one notice that she was covered from head to toe in plastisteel. Zyra hoped her encounter-suit would survive the abuse. It would mean her death if it didn’t.

Zyra struggled to keep her bearing as she traversed the fissure-strewn valley trapped between the large golden dunes that stood like small mountains. Without the electronic compass that appeared on the stereoscopic visor of her encounter-suit helmet, she would have lost her way in the pitch blackness of the sandstorm long ago. But with every step she took, she got one step closer her target.

#

The hours passed and the sandstorm weakened. Zyra made her way to the top of a dune, and with a wince, watched clouds of sand drift before her. At the foot of the dune several feet below, the remains of a starship lay buried under the sand. By the time Zyra made it down the dune, only a small section of the ship’s varisteel roof was visible. She trudged up the steep incline of rolling sand, falling more than once, until she stood atop the ship. She walked over to an emergency escape hatch door, dropped to a knee, and entered a complicated sequence of numbers on the instrument key on her right forearm in an attempt to have her encounter-suit computer bypass the emergency hatch door’s security lock.

The soft blip that accompanied the glowing green bar displayed on her encounter-suit computer screen let her know that she had successfully disarmed the lock. Zyra bent low, grabbed the pair of hand grips on the emergency hatch door, and gave it a hard tug. So much sand had gotten into the crevice of the locking mechanism that she had to pull on the handles more than once to draw it up on its piston. With one wide revolution, the door came loose. Zyra swung the door open and aimed her wrist cannon into the gaping emergency hatch.

Not taking any chances. Anything moves is toast.

Seeing no immediate sign of danger, Zyra grabbed a hold of the first rung of the ladder that led into the ship and made her descent.

Chapter Two

Zyra was caught off guard by the intense darkness of the pirate ship. The ship’s emergency lights had failed as well as its life support system. There was no air inside of the ship and the temperature was dangerously cold. Anyone trapped inside the ship was most likely dead from asphyxiation or hypothermia. As Zyra greedily breathed the recycled air inside her encounter-suit, she scanned the ship for thermal signatures. The results of the scan were negative. Zyra activated the scouting lights on her helmet and felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. The radiant beams which pierced the darkness revealed several motionless bodies scattered across the floor. Zyra raised her right arm defensively, preparing to open fire on anyone who made a threatening move. But she quickly realized that she would encounter no resistance from the ship’s residents.

They’re all dead. I thought I was going to get some action.

As Zyra pondered the cause of the pirates’ death, she wondered if she had dealt the pirates’ ship a fatal blow during their battle in space, rendering it unable to make a safe descent. It was not unusual for starships to lose navigational control on worlds with unpredictable weather patterns like Darokk. But somehow she didn’t believe that the pirates had died from a crash.

When she drew near the front of the ship, she saw that both of the ship’s female pilots were still in their flight chairs. Zyra gazed at the flight controls and view screen and found no visible damage to the ship.

Zyra fell to a knee and rolled one of the pirates onto his back. Strangely, she could not find any signs of physical injury on the dead man, nor the tattooed-face alien Throg sprawled on the floor beside him. She then rose and checked out the pilots and found that they showed no signs of being wounded. Zyra frowned beneath her helmet, contemplating the scene before her.

Looks like everyone on this ship died at once. But there’s no sign of foul play. Doesn’t add up.

Zyra increased the power of her encounter-suit’s scouting lights and looked over the bodies once more, scanning for Molly Black. Not surprisingly, Molly was unaccounted for among the ship’s crew.

You slippery snake. You’re not getting away that easy.

Zyra marched over to the pilot’s chair and shoved the dead pilot to the floor. She sat down in the chair and activated the ship’s emergency life-support. The air vents came to life with a groan while the flight controls lit up along with the emergency lights throughout the rest of the ship. Zyra instructed the ship computer to activate the visual flight log. A graphical display of the ship’s entry and descent on Darokk appeared on the view screen.

So this ship didn’t crash.

Zyra glanced back at the dead pirates one more time as she pondered the situation. She turned to face the view screen once more and pulled up the ship’s internal visual flight record, hoping to see first hand what had happened onboard the ship during the crew’s final moments. A message flashed onto the screen.

VISUAL FLIGHT RECORD DELETED.

So you deleted the record, did you?

Beneath her helmet, Zyra chewed her lip as she contemplated her next course of action.

She pressed another button on the flight control console immediately calling up a topographical map of the surrounding area. A second smaller window to cross-reference the data also appeared on the screen, allowing Zyra to review the most recent searches of Darokk’s geography. Zyra cracked a slight grin.

“You’re good, Molly. But I’m better,” Zyra said in her electronic voice as the view screen replayed the recording of what Zyra assumed was Molly’s manual search of the Darokkeen surface. Noticing a peculiar brown spot in the middle of the dune, Zyra isolated the spot, and magnified the image several times to see a three-dimensional image of a strange tower superimposed against the map.

So that’s where you went. Looks like I need to pay someone a visit.

Chapter Three

As Zyra bravely faced the harsh Darokkeen desert and drew her tattered cloak tightly around her, she pondered the ramifications of the deal she had made with General Anton Devlin. She had blindly accepted the mission to hunt Molly Black without knowing all the facts behind the Alliance’s need to recover Gaia. There were always hard choices to make in her line of work. Every time she took a job, she risked making a bad situation worse. But that was the price she was willing to pay for being a bounty hunter. She hoped it would all balance out in the end. But she couldn’t help but feel that she had made a deal with the devil in order to exact her revenge on Molly Black.

Has anyone ever told the general that it isn’t polite to keep a woman waiting?

Zyra sat quietly in General Anton Devlin’s ready room, brandishing a glower as she impatiently awaited his arrival. It was the typical military officer’s room—clean, organized, polished, and gratuitously machismo. With the gaudy fanfare of plaques, trophies, victory ribbons, badges, pins, and medals decorating the desk and walls, she couldn’t help but think that the ready room was a shrine dedicated to one man’s ego. Zyra recalled having the same lofty military ambitions once. But the future she had desired for herself to become an elite InterGalactic Alliance soldier never came to fruition: a casualty of her private war with Molly Black.

Zyra’s mind began to drift off to the days shortly after her career as a Space Marine had ended to rediscover the despair she felt in her uncertain future. The losses she endured then stripped her of all that she had aspired to become. She had cast off everyone she knew and loved with reckless abandon to assume her new role as a bounty hunter. She had no idea where her new life would take her. Only that it had led her to this moment where she was being forced to consider the vain ambitions of a corrupt government that meant nothing more to her than the lives of the criminals she hunted.

Zyra snapped back to reality when General Devlin came marching into the room with his blue-skinned Ratarran aide. Devlin took up position behind his desk and stood with his chin proudly raised obviously waiting for Zyra to show him the proper respect by rising from her chair. Zyra didn’t budge. Devlin frowned angrily as he resigned himself to his chair.

“Well, Ms. Zanr. Have you made your decision?” the General asked, his voice betraying his false display of congeniality.

“I have. The answer is no,” Zyra answered.

“No?”

“As tempting as your offer is, General, I have my reasons for not accepting the mission.”

“What reasons are those, if I may ask?” a sneer tugging at the corner of Devlin’s mouth as he rigidly folded his hands on his desk.

“There’s bad blood between me and Molly Black. I can’t promise you that the mission won’t be compromised when we come face to face.”

“Why is that?” Devlin asked, obviously fighting to keep his composure. Zyra could tell from the General’s stiff posture that he was steaming inside. He had obviously risked much to involve Zyra in his plans. She could only guess the lengths he had gone to acquire her services.

“In short, General, if I have to choose between recovering whatever it is you’ve accused Molly of stealing and using her for target practice, I don’t think you’ll be getting what you

want.”

“It seems I overestimated you. I was of the impression that you were a professional,” Devlin chewed off, no longer hiding his disdain of Zyra.

“Despite what you may have heard, I’m not an assassin. But when the opportunity presents itself for me to collect on a debt, I won’t let anything get in the way of me collecting it.”

“I am all too aware of your grievance with Commander Black. A sore spot I am sure. But it is precisely your history with Commander Black why you were selected for this job. I cannot imagine that you are willing to pass up the opportunity to even the score with her, even if it comes with a few stark rules.”

“Oh, Molly’s definitely an itch I need to scratch. I just don’t want any complications when it’s time for me to take care of business.”

“I thought making money was your business.”

“Not exactly. Making money’s just a means to an end.”

“Which is?”

“I think you know exactly what I mean, General.”

The lights on General Devlin’s cybernetic mental implants began to flicker a brilliant topaz.

“I see now. You do intend to hunt Commander Black. But not for the reasons proposed.”

“Bingo.”

“Fine, fine,” General Devlin said, finally relaxing the stiff lines in his face. “Have it your way. Commander Black is of no importance to me. Do whatever you like with her. I’ll smooth things over with the President.”

“As long as you promise to look the other way, I’ll see to it that you get your stolen item,” Zyra replied, studying Devlin closely.

“No one other than myself need know about your blood feud. Just find our Holy Grail and I’ll see to it that your future transgressions with Commander Black are unnoticed.”

“You’re a reasonable man, General.”

“This may yet turn out to be a profitable venture for the both of us,” Devlin said, a wide grin supplanting his grimace. Zyra didn’t have to be a clairvoyant to know that Devlin was rolling the dice by using her to recover Gaia. Whatever game he was playing was not one that she wanted to join. But like the mysterious Gaia she was hired to find, working with General Devlin was a means to an end. Devil or not, he had helped to bring her one step closer to evening the score between herself and Molly. Regardless of Devlin’s political ambitions, Zyra was certain she would see Molly dead before long. That one thought drove her on through all the challenges she had faced so far. Revenge was so close now that she could nearly taste it. It wouldn’t be long now.

#

Zyra had marched across the desert for a full day in rough weather, facing the vicious cold, sweltering heat, and dangerous sandstorms. More than once she had to repel the attack of a few nomadic bandits and wild animals—not the least of which were the Giant Darokkeen Sand Beetles—that tried to waylay her during her trek through the desert. She had tired of Darokk and was anxious to complete her mission. She noticed an object in the distance and magnified her encounter-suit’s long range optical sensors. There was a tower some miles from where she now stood. Judging by the measurements displayed on her visor, the tower was enormous. She could scarcely imagine how massive the tower was until she had come within the final few miles of her approach of it. The tower rose past the pale horizon and disappeared into the white cirrus clouds hundreds of feet above ground. Its crenulated surface was a burnished yellow like the color of molten gold. Its steep walls seemed to absorb the light, making the land around it appear in shadow. The tower was ancient, yet hardly stained with years of abandonment. It was a technological marvel far more advanced than anything ever created by humans. The closer Zyra drew to the tower, the more she gazed at it in awe.

She stood at the foot of the tower and gazed upwards, wondering where it ended. Zyra approached the strange tower and surveyed it, looking for an entry point. There was no sign of a door.

I wonder if there’s a doorbell?

Zyra froze in place when she was struck by a transparent green light. Everything around her went black.

#

The intense glare that blinded Zyra faded. She noticed that she was no longer outside the tower, but rather trapped in a stasis beam, suspended in the air, in a large control room. She tried to move, but her limbs would not respond.

“I’ll say this for you, Zyra. You are one tenacious bitch,” said the familiar dark haired woman who was standing a few feet from Zyra operating an instrument console.

“Call it a talent,” Zyra replied frostily.

“I could vaporize you right now.”

“Don’t do me any favors, Molly.”

“Don’t worry. I’ve got something special planned for you. Since you came all this way to see me, the least I can do is allow you to watch me obliterate Mobus.”

“What are you talking about?”

“In case you didn’t read the fine print, Zyra. This is no ordinary tower. It’s a super weapon left here by a past civilization. All it needed was the right person to come along and find the proper use for it.”

“A super weapon?”

“It’s called a Cryniax Tower. I plan to use it to destroy Mobus.”

Zyra winced beneath her encounter-suit helmet. Mobus was the only civilized world in the Skaaris system, home to wealthy traders and rogues alike, a center of commerce and a bustling stop for spacefarers to refuel and stock up on supplies during their long voyages to and from the core worlds. Mobus was the largest planet in the entire galaxy. It possessed plenty of natural resources, rich in flora and fauna, making it an ideal place for humans to live. Had Mobus been located closer to the galactic core, it would probably have replaced Earth-3 as the capital of the InterGalactic Alliance. Zyra could not understand why Molly wanted to destroy such a world.

“You don’t really mean to kill all those people, do you?” asked Zyra, her voice taking on a threatening air.

“Watch and find out.”

“I should’ve iced you a long time ago.”

“But you didn’t. Now the people of Mobus will pay for your mistake.”

Zyra’s mind raced with a solution to her dilemma. She had to find a way to deactivate the stasis beams before Molly could activate the super weapon. Perhaps, if she distracted Molly long enough, the answer would present itself.

“Strange. Devlin didn’t tell me you’d lost your mind.”

“General Devlin?”

“He’s the one who sent me after you.”

“I should have guessed. Not that it matters.”

“You must have really ticked Devlin off. He didn’t care if I brought you back in a body bag. Now Admiral Forsythe was a totally different story.”

“What about Forsythe?”

“Seemed to take it personal that I’m gunning for you.”

“Forsythe’s just like the rest of them. He’ll get what’s coming to him soon enough.”

“No love loss between you two, huh?”

“What are you implying?”

“The Admiral cares for you.”

“Don’t be absurd.”

“Forsythe’s smitten with you. But you already know that. I imagine he must be going nuts wondering what I’m doing to you right now.”

“Forsythe is a liar! You’re a fool for believing anything he tells you!” Zyra could tell that she had upset Molly. But it would take more than pulling at her strings to make her crack.

“Whatever his faults, at least Forsythe had the sense to stay out of my way. He knows this is not going to end well for you.”

“You’re such a fraud, Zyra. You came all this way to kill me. But you’re the one who is going to die! But rest assured. It won’t end with you—or Mobus.”

“This is madness.”

“Then let it be madness! Sometimes in life, death is the only sane choice.”

Zyra realized that Molly was possessed of a rage beyond reason. Despite her hatred of Zyra, Molly had never exhibited such ruthless passion before. If only Zyra could appeal to Molly’s vulnerable side, there might yet be a chance to save Mobus.

“You don’t have to do this, Molly. Killing innocents is not the way.”

“There are no innocents.”

“I don’t know why you hate the Alliance. But if this is about the Battle of Corus Ni—”.

“What do you know of Corus Ni?”

“I got the brief.”

“So they told you about Intruder, did they?”

“Among other things.”

“Did they also tell you what they plan to do with Gaia? Or even why they sent youto get it back for them?”

“You’re wrong. I made the decision to come after you.”

“Is that what you think? How blind you are. You’re just a pawn, Zyra. A mindless pawn in a game you don’t even know you’re playing. A shame you will never know the truth.”

“Seems to me you’re the one with blinders on if you think what you’re doing is noble.”

“You’re the one living in a dream! Your whole life is a lie!”

“Don’t make this worse than it has to be,” Zyra threatened, realizing that Molly had turned the table on her by confusing her. Regardless of the reasons Molly thought Zyra had been sent after her, she was certain of one thing. This was the endgame. “I’m not letting you leave this tower alive. But you can save yourself a whole lot of pain if you give me the cylinder.”

“After all these years, you still think you’re a hero. You’re no hero, Zyra. Even if you were, it wouldn’t matter. I have seen how the Alliance treats its heroes. Picking and prodding. Cutting and slicing. You think you know pain? You think you know suffering? You have no idea what suffering is. You didn’t have strangers violate your body in the name of science. You weren’t treated like a piece of meat on a stick! The Alliance is a lie. Are you willing to die for a lie, Zyra? Are you willing to sacrifice everything for a lie?”

“Give me the cylinder, Molly!”

“Save your breath! There is nothing you or anyone else can do to stop the future! There is only the power of Gaia. They are all that matter now.”

“They? Who is—”

“Enough! The Alliance tried to play God and for it they shall be judged! The fires of heaven shall burn their eyes. They shall have tongues, but they will not speak. They will be judged!”

Molly angrily shoved her hand over one of the holographic alien symbols on an orb shaped control on the instrument panel before her. A deep thrum filled the room. Even through the stasis field that held her prisoner, Zyra felt the violent tremor of the Cryniax tower as it came to life. Molly was controlling a weapon that had not seen service since perhaps the dawn of the galaxy. Now its terrible power was about to be unleashed upon the unsuspecting people of Mobus. Molly walked over to a podium shaped console next to Zyra and raised the familiar cylinder which bore the Gaia energy sample.

“Now I bring the future!”

Molly placed the cylinder into a large socket in the console. Zyra was overcome with nausea when the room was engulfed in a dazzling light. It was same revulsion she had felt on Taklaylon Alpha when she first encountered Gaia. Bile rose in her throat as her consciousness began to fade. Zyra struggled against the strange power of Gaia until her eyes regained their focus. She let out a pant and watched in horror as the image of a pristine blue-grey world appeared on a holographic display on the ceiling just above the main console. Zyra squared her jaw beneath her helmet. She could not stand by and watch Molly destroy an entire planet. While Zyra renewed her attempt to break free of the stasis beam, Molly roared with laughter.

“Death to Mobus! Death to the Alliance! Death to the galaxy!”

“You’re insane!”

“I am what this life made me! I’m not like you, Zyra. I am no fool who gets down on her knees every night to pray for salvation. There is no salvation! Not for me! Not even for—”

Molly slammed her fist on the nearby console and slumped to her knees weeping uncontrollably. Zyra was taken aback at the sight of Molly’s sudden outpour of grief. But at last, she finally had the opening she sought. Perhaps, there was still a chance to save Mobus. Zyra would make one final appeal to Molly.

“It’s not too late to stop this, Molly.”

“I can’t stop it!”

“Yes, you can!”

“You don’t understand. If I don’t do what they say, they’ll hurt me.”

Zyra shuddered at Molly’s words.

“Is someone making you do this?”

“I don’t want to hurt anymore.”

“Molly—”

Before Zyra could utter another word, Molly fell to the floor screaming. Zyra watched helplessly as Molly writhed on the floor, flailing her arms in anguish.

“Molly!”

Beams of white light shot forth from Molly’s gaping mouth and eyes. Her entire body was consumed with a brilliant glare, alabaster flames licking her fingertips. Zyra fought the stasis beam with all her strength, desperate to go to Molly’s aid. Zyra swelled with rage and recklessly fired off a shot from her wrist cannon. A violent explosion shook the stasis beam and shattered it, also ripping a hole through Zyra’s encounter-suit. Smoke spewed from the suit’s melted forearm as exposed wires shot out a stream of sparks.

Ignoring her discomfort, Zyra forced herself up from the floor, threw off the tattered scraps of her burning cloak, and advanced towards Molly. Before she could get close, Molly thrust an open palm at Zyra. A stream of brilliant turquoise slammed into Zyra. She tumbled backwards through air and over the nearby instrument console. Zyra nearly blacked out, but fought through her pain to avoid losing consciousness.

By the time Zyra had risen awkwardly to her feet, Molly activated the tower’s super weapon. On the nearby holo-screen the image of the ancient tower appeared, blossoming open like a mechanical flower to reveal a telescoping turret. Coruscating bolts of yellow-white energy crawled up the turret.

“Molly, no!”

Molly turned to glare at her with pale, glowing eyes, a look striking Zyra into silence. Her fear turned to terror when she heard the ghastly voice that came from Molly.

“The one you call Molly is not here.”

“Wh-who are you?”

“We are the Ancient ones sent forth from the deepest reaches of time and space to restore the balance.”

“What do you want with Molly?”

“She is the vessel, the instrument by which the hordes of the Great Enemy shall be destroyed.”

“Great Enemy?”

“They who were ancient when our kind was not yet come into being. It is they who started the war. The end is near, human. The scales must be balanced or all shall fade to nothing.”

“I don’t give a damn about your war. But I won’t let you use Molly to destroy Mobus.”

“If you seek to interfere with Our plans, you will be destroyed.”

“Easier said than done!” Zyra cried, raising her right hand to the console to fire off a scarlet burst from her wrist cannon. The alien entity that had possessed Molly stretched out its hand. A protective force field formed around the console, causing the lasers from Zyra’s wrist cannon to scatter dangerously around the room. The alien sent forth a wave of silver-blue light at Zyra. A deafening blast of thunder shook the room as Zyra fired her encounter-suit’s propulsion pack and rocketed sideways out of the path of the blast. Zyra unleashed a steady stream of laser fire on the console again. A few rounds penetrated the alien’s force field and caused the console to go up in flames.

“NOOOOO!!!”The alien entity turned its full fury on Zyra and hurled another energy wave that knocked Zyra off of her feet. Sparks shot out from Zyra’s shattered encounter-suit as she tumbled to the floor. The alien entity rushed over to the console in an attempt to retrieve the cylinder. Before the alien could react, Zyra came soaring at Molly with a sonic shriek. Zyra activated her risk blade weapon option. In one motion, a sliver of saffron-white energy cut off Molly’s right arm. Zyra followed up the move with a pirouette and slashed a gaping hole through the console, severing the major power conduits.

Zyra ran over to the Gaia cylinder and removed it from the interface on the burning console. She gazed at the holo-screen on the ceiling to see that the tower’s super weapon had been deactivated. Zyra calmly turned to see Molly down on one knee eyeing her venomously.

“Foolish human. What have you done? You have doomed us all! For your interference, your race shall be the first to suffer the enemy’s wrath and we shall not come to your aid. You will beg for our help, but we will shed no tears for mankind! They who are without number will rain down fire on your worlds. Your great cities shall burn and the plague will consume your children. Yes. The destroyer shall come and not even the tears of the mighty shall save you!”

Zyra watched in horror as the light went out of Molly’s eyes and she fell to the floor. Zyra raced over to Molly. The sight of Molly’s broken body overcame Zyra causing her to kneel down beside her. Molly slowly opened her eyes to gaze calmly on Zyra. Her mouth quivered before she could find her voice.

“Is it over, Z-Zyra? Did you s-stop them?”

“I think so.”

“Then…Mobus…is safe?”

“Yes,” Zyra replied firmly, noticing the lines in Molly’s face soften a little. “I have to get you out of here. The Alliance needs to know what happened. I’m sure they’ll pardon you when they learn the truth.”

“Too late…for that now.”

“I can’t leave you here to die. Not this time. Not again.”

“You can’t save me, Zyra.”

Zyra lowered her head and gnashed her teeth fitfully, barely able to hold back the tears that filled her eyes. She had wasted so many years wishing for Molly’s death. Now that Molly was dying, she felt a sickening knot in her stomach. “I’m sorry for being angry with you, Zyra. You didn’t deserve what I did to you.”

“I wronged you, Molly. You were my best friend and I left you in that pit to die. I couldn’t see beyond my own ambition. I was blinded by it. I betrayed you.”

“No, the sin is mine. Until now, I couldn’t see the truth. You were so headstrong when I first met you. You always had to get your way no matter who you hurt in the process. I thought you were being cruel. Now I see that you are driven by passion. You use your pain as a weapon to fuel your determination. I didn’t know that then. I was jealous because you took all the awards, all the glory. I was always lurking in your shadow. But I couldn’t live in your shadow, Zyra. I couldn’t let you take my pride. You were strong and I hated you for it.

“Now look at what you’ve become. A bounty hunter? You should have been a Marine. You should have lived a normal life, gotten married, and had children. But I took that life from you. In my anger, I broke your body and your spirit has never been the same again. You will forever wear the scars that I gave you. How can you ever forgive me?”

“There’s nothing to forgive,” Zyra said, tears flowing freely down her face as she looked into Molly’s somber gaze. Molly touched Zyra’s wet cheek with her left hand.

“Don’t give them Gaia, Zyra. If you do, everything I suffered—everything we have suffered—will be for nothing. You will burn a candle for me, won’t you?”

Zyra nodded.

“We did make a great team back then, didn’t we?” asked Molly. Zyra returned Molly’s sad grin with one of her own.

“The best,” Zyra answered. Molly’s smile faded as she let out her last breath. Zyra gazed long at Molly observing the tranquil look on her face. Zyra narrowed her eyes, resigning herself to the sad truth that she would likely never know such peace until she joined Molly in death. She coldly shifted her gaze toward the glowing cylinder lying on the floor beside Molly. Her actions had stopped the destruction of Mobus. But the mystery of Gaia remained. Whatever secrets it possessed posed great danger to all. Molly had died because of Gaia. Would the people of the galaxy somehow meet the same fate? Or would she be the one to suffer for her role in delivering Gaia to bureaucrats whose only purpose was to exploit its abilities to further their own ambition? A deep sense of perturbation filled Zyra as Gaia’s menacing light faded to a glimmer.

Chapter Four

Zyra sat in her pilot’s chair with one foot rested on Helship-II’sflight console and took a sip from the cup of hot chocolate in her hand, reflecting on the events of the past few days. She was lost in her thoughts when a familiar face appeared on her view screen.

“So, Ms. Zanr. Did you find the culprit?” asked Admiral Forsythe, his trademark frown proudly on display.

“Looks like she got away from me, Admiral. Lost her trail somewhere in the Panoax system. If you ask me, Molly probably hightailed it all the way to the other side of the galaxy by now.”

“Where is the Gaia sample?”

“It’s a no show. Wish I could help you out. This mission’s a bust.”

Admiral Forsythe gave up all pretenses at being civil and let out an angry growl.

“I knew the President made a mistake hiring you for this job!”

“Well, I’m sure you boys back at the barn’ll figure out something. You’re far better at hunting criminals than us bounty hunters.”

“Somehow I don’t think you’re telling me the truth.”

“My dear Admiral, when have you ever known me to lie to you?”

Admiral Forsythe gave Zyra his most disapproving stare before he disappeared off of the screen. With a reflective grimace, she got up from her chair and walked to the back of her ship. In her hand, she held the metal cylinder containing the Gaia sample.

She looked at the cylinder long and hard, wondering what had made her lie to the Admiral. There was a massive reward for returning this cylinder and here she was doing the very opposite of what she ought to do.

“Here’s your candle, Molly,” she said, unable to rid herself of her conflicting emotions. Zyra placed the cylinder into a torpedo tube and pressed the button that launched the cylinder from her ship. She returned to the front of her ship and watched on the view screen as the cylinder flew into a nearby star.

Oh, well. There’ll be other bounties to collect.

Zyra leaned backwards in her comfortable pilot’s chair and let out a deep breath of frustration when the proximity alarm went off with a resounding wail. Zyra sat up in her chair and switched to her ventral visual sensors. Lumbering across her screen was the massive black form of the Libertatia.

Maybe someone upstairs really does like me.

“Look out, Captain Rador. Zyra Zanr, bounty hunter extraordinaire, is hot on your trail!”

#

A lone figure draped in a ragged cloak straddled the darkness of the Darokkeen night. The surreal glow of the sister moons Septyr and Naddik cast a mystical spell on the desert. The figure displayed no sign of distress to the blistering cold that accosted the desert, appearing oblivious to all but the path it tread. Just out of earshot of the figure, a trio of mounted beasts bearing arthropod shapes combed the nearby ridge that rose from the bowels of the valley like a stiletto blade. The beasts clung to the shadows as they hungrily stalked the figure knowing that in only a moment the slaughter would commence. The beasts silently made their way to the edge of the ridge before revealing themselves and their riders to the figure below in a raucous concert of vicious snarls and snapping mandibles. Several more insectoid beasts and their riders emerged from a deep fissure in the ground and encircled the lone figure.

The leader of the savage hunters brandished his four-pronged spear and shouted something unintelligible to the cloaked figure. The figure, now trapped by the hostile hunters and their beasts, slowly raised its gaze to the hunters. The hunters were struck wild with fear when they noticed the beams of cold blue fire that shone from beneath the hood of the figure. Their shrieks suddenly filled the air, echoing in the valley with a clamor.

The man formerly known as Vic Tabbers grinned at the savage hunters that surrounded him knowing that before he took his next breath they would all die. Now that Molly Black was dead, it was up to Tabbers to complete what she had started. And if he, too, failed, another would come to take his place.

The future the Great Enemy had long feared had now arrived. The requiem had begun and Tomorrow’s Ode would usher in the new dawn. All would hear the rampant discord of war and tribulation. The beginning of the end was near. And the final requiem would echo into the depths of infinity.Igne natura renovatur integra.

The End

Coming Soon:

Asha

by

Kevis Hendrickson