Precipice of Darkness Read online

  The silence was palpable as Amy stood with fists clenched at her sides and chest heaving before she strode away, heading to the exit.

  “I’ll go with her,” Saanvi said softly as she rose, a fireteam of Marines trailing after her.

  No one spoke for a moment before Kent drew in a slow breath. “Did you all save her from that?”

  “No,” Cary shook her head. “One of our allies did. The Marauders. They’re all that’s left of place called Genevia. They weren’t the best people out there either, but they were decent enough before the Nietzscheans attacked and destroyed them.”

  “I’ve heard of them.” Kent nodded slowly. “The Nietzscheans, that is.”

  “I expect so,” Faleena said. “They’re one of Orion’s major allies in that region of space.”

  “Hm,” Kent grunted, his lips pressed into a thin line. “You sure like to paint a picture of Orion as the villain in all this.”

  Faleena shook her head, a grim expression settling on her green skin. “You know reality is too complex for such labels—at least in this case. People like Amy’s father were definitely villains. But galactically, there are too many forces at play. From the Ascended AIs, to Airtha and your Kirkland. There are other forces at play, too—but all of them have been too busy fighting one another to care about people like Stavros and what he did to Amy and her mother.”

  Kent’s eyes fell, and he let out another long sigh—one that sounded heartfelt to Cary.

  “You’re right about that,” he said. “How much time and energy have we all spent fighting one another—we could be exploring, seeing the wonders of space, like you are out here.”

  “Like you wanted to do when you signed up,” Cary prompted. “That’s what you said, right? That you wanted to see the stars.”

  The colonel’s view shifted back to the breathtaking view outside the lounge’s windows. “Sure can check that off my list now, can’t I?”

  “Think one check is enough?” Cary gave the man an appreciative smile.

  Kent snorted. “No, probably not.”

  Silence fell once more, and Cary finished her drink and ordered another from the servitor. When it arrived, she hadn’t lifted it to her lips before Kent spoke.

  “He was on the Britannica.”

  “He?” Faleena asked.

  “Garza.” Kent uttered the name with a sound that wasn’t quite distaste, but it wasn’t admiration or respect, either.

  Cary’s eyes narrowed as she lowered her drink to her lap, cupping it with both hands. “What are you saying?”

  “He told me that he would be on the Britannica. He wanted me to be sure to report to him and not one of his clones when I completed my mission—if I completed it, I guess.”

  “That first Garza isn’t a clone,” Faleena whispered.

  “OK, sure,” Cary shrugged. “But we didn’t think he was a clone anyway until Mom encountered another Garza in Scipio.”

  “What you don’t know is that Garza’s clones don’t know they’re clones.” Kent’s lips twitched into a half-smile. “They all think they’re the real deal.”

  “So?” Cary asked. “There are a bunch of clueless Garza clones running around. “This sounds like a good thing.”

  He nodded. “For you, yes. What you don’t understand, though, is that Garza is not working with Praetor Kirkland.”

  Cary resisted the urge to let out a joyous whoop. Kent was finally spilling real intel. Stuff they could use. She didn’t know what exactly had prompted it, but she wasn’t about to question their good fortune.

  “What does that mean, exactly?” Faleena asked.

  “One time, I delivered a report to General Garza while Praetor Kirkland was present via holo—I don’t think those two like each other much. What’s more, from the things he said, I’m positive that the praetor would not approve of the cloning, or half the other technology that Garza uses.”

  “Is it a ‘fight fire with fire’ scenario?” Cary asked, to which Kent shook his head.

  “I don’t think so. See, it’s the cloning. Garza doesn’t need that to manage his operations. He just doesn’t trust other people. Couple that with the Widows, and he’s definitely playing out of bounds.”

  “I’ve heard of those,” Cary replied with a shiver. “Poor Lisas.”

  “Lisa?” Kent asked.

  “The Widows are clones of Finaeus Tomlinson’s former wife, Lisa Wrentham,” Faleena explained.

  Kent whistled and then signaled a servitor. “I’ll need another drink. Best make this one stiffer than the last.”

  “So will you help us?” Cary asked.

  “Aren’t I already? Stars…” Kent’s voice lowered. “I really am. I can’t believe I’m doing this.”

  “Colonel,” Cary leant forward and placed a hand on Kent’s. “I promise you, I give you my absolute assurance. My people’s driving goal is to end this war with as little bloodshed as possible.”

  She glanced around at the Marines, and Kent followed her gaze, noting that that they nodded in assent.

  “She’s telling you the truth,” Lieutenant Mason spoke up. “We all left Sol—or our parents did—to get away from shit like this. We just want to build a future that doesn’t involve people pissing on each other all the time. Live and let live—galaxy’s more than big enough for us all to have room to do our thing.”

  “And if some people’s ‘thing’ is to kill others?” Kent asked. “Who will police them?”

  “There will always be bad apples,” Mason said with an exaggerated shrug. “But far as I can see, what your people and the Transcend have been doing for some time is cultivating those bad apples. Time for a change.”

  Kent pursed his lips and nodded. “Yeah, I can see that. If you were just the Transcend, I wouldn’t buy your song and dance, but I can tell you hold them to blame for a lot of what’s gone on.”

  “We do. They tried to attack us as well—they just didn’t get as far as your people.”

  Kent leant back in his seat and took a sip of his drink. “OK, then. What else do you want to know?”

  SAGITTARIUS’S BAR

  STELLAR DATE: 10.03.8949 (Adjusted Years)

  LOCATION: Coronado, Maya System

  REGION: Former Transcend Space, Sagittarius Arm

  Katrina had just taken the first sip of her Hero’s Fall, a rather enticing—and very bubbly—drink, when a voice from beside her said, “Thought you swore you were never coming back to the Transcend.”

  “I don’t think I said never, Jordan,” Katrina replied without looking up from the foaming concoction before her. “I’m certain it was something more like ‘I never want to come back to the Transcend’.”

  “You kinda have a way of shifting meaning, Kat. I distinctly remember the conversation. The word ‘want’ was not present.”

  Katrina straightened and brushed her long, red hair aside, glancing at Jordan. “Maybe you’re right. I’ve said a lot of things I wish I hadn’t. That may have been one of them.”

  The dark-haired woman next to her gave a knowing smirk. “Yeah, I have my list of those as well.” She looked Katrina up and down and added, “Looking good for an old woman.”

  Katrina’s mouth quirked into a smile. “You too. Seems like life in the Transcend has been good to you.”

  Jordan only shrugged, glancing at the bartender and holding up a finger while she said, “They have amazing rejuv tech out here. Seems silly not to use it—especially because I’d be dead otherwise. Too much going on just to get old and die.”

  Katrina glanced around the nearly deserted establishment. “I thought you came out here to get away from it all.”

  “ ‘It all’ seems to have a way of catching up with a person.” She gestured to Katrina with her chin, as the bartender set a glass of bourbon down in front of her. “Case in point. Gotta say, I barely recognized the Voyager. Got a fresh coat of paint.”

  “A few upgrades here and there,” Katrina replied, meeting Jordan’s eyes. “I found them. Finally
…after all these years.”

  The other woman only shrugged. “Glad you did—though I thought the whole point was to settle down with them in their paradise.”

  Jordan’s words were laced with a subtle derision that Katrina chose to ignore. She wasn’t surprised, though. Their parting had been acrimonious, and in hindsight, Katrina saw that Jordan had been right.

  It occurred to her that the other woman needed to hear it from her.

  “I’m sorry, Jordan. You, Sam, and Demy were all right—more than you know, even. I made a mess of everything.”

  “Oh?” She raised an eyebrow. “This should be good. Tell me all about how I was more right than even I knew.”

  “Do you remember the being I told you about? The one that saved me in the Midditerra system?”

  “Yeah,” Jordan nodded. “If it wasn’t for the fact that you showed up looking like a human and not a machine, I wouldn’t have believed a word of it. What about her…it…whatever?”

  “Well, turns out that she left something inside me. Something that was guiding my actions a lot more than I thought. Tanis called it a ‘memory’.”

  “And this…’memory’ made you behave like a pig-headed idiot?” Jordan’s tone was still caustic, but Katrina could see that her eyes had widened in compassion. Not much, but it was there.

  Katrina shook her head, adding a self-mocking laugh. “No, pretty sure that part was all me. But it was feeding me directives that I didn’t have much choice but to obey.”

  “Fuck, Katrina.” Jordan’s expression finally softened. “You just can’t get away from people putting shit in your head to control you. How did you get the memory out?”

  “Tanis’s daughter, of all people. She’s semi-ascended…or something. She drew the memory out of me.”

  Jordan barked a laugh and then downed her drink. “You have the strangest friends.”

  “Do you count yourself amongst them?”

  Jordan signaled the bartender for another brew. “I never stopped being your friend, Katrina. I just didn’t want to fight your fight anymore. I gave you a lifetime. I just needed to live my own for a bit.”

  “I’m glad you made the decision you did. What have you been doing out here, anyway?”

  Jordan winked. “Oh, you know. A little of this, a little of that. We have to be careful, the Castigation tends to stand out, and Sam won’t leave it. Says that it’s his body and we can’t make him go in some little tub for sorties.”

  “Sounds like Sam,” Katrina laughed. “Troy’s still the same way, too. Though I think if Tanis asked him to take on another ship, he’d do it in a heartbeat. Those two have some sort of deep bond.”

  Jordan nodded absently as she signaled to the bartender for another drink. When it arrived, she took a sip and then turned on her stool to face Katrina directly.

  “OK, so I know you didn’t come out here to the ass end of the Transcend just to shoot the shit and ask forgiveness for being a jerk. Things are afoot. A lot of things, and your friend Tanis is at the heart of them.”

  “You have that right,” Katrina glanced around the bar. “Am I correct in my assumption that people this far out don’t really identify with Airtha or Sera? No sides being taken?”

  “Every star within a hundred light years has declared independence,” Jordan confirmed. “They can’t even agree on simple trade law, let alone care enough about what’s happening rimward.”

  “I bet that’s perfect for the sort of work you like to do,” Katrina said with a wink.

  Jordan placed a hand on her chest and gave Katrina a wounded look. “Are you besmirching our time-honored profession?”

  Katrina laughed. “Stars, no. In fact, I’m curious if you’d be interested in stepping it up a notch.”

  Jordan’s eyes narrowed again, and Katrina deployed a passel of nano to secure their conversation from prying eyes and ears.

  “We’re going to kill Airtha, and I need your help.”

  “So do you want help killing Airtha, or access to the shard that Sam has tucked away in one of his holds?”

  “Both,” Katrina replied. “But I’ll understand if you don’t want to take sides in this—though you’d be a fool to think that Airtha will be any sort of benevolent dictator if she wins.”

  “Like Jeffrey Tomlinson?” Jordan scoffed. “That guy was a pompous dick. He couldn’t care less how his actions affected others. Not sure if his daughter is any better.”

  Katrina gave a nervous laugh. “Stars, this story is so nuts I don’t know if you’ll even come close to believing me…. The man running the Transcend for the last thousand years or so has been a clone of the real Jeffrey. He was put there by Airtha. Tanis and her people recently found the original president and are going to put him back in charge of the Transcend. His daughter…well they’re not really his, per se, and there is more than one of them, but they’re leading a strike to kill Airtha, who is their mother.”

  Jordan tilted her head as Katrina spoke, eyes narrowing further. “OK…sounds to me like this is quite the story; one that Sam and Demy should hear.” She rose and dropped a handful of credit chits on the bartop. “C’mon. Let’s reunite you with the ol’ crew.”

  * * * * *

  “So that’s where things stand,” Katrina said as she finished, looking between Demy and Jordan with a knowing smile. “It’s nuts, right?”

  Demy snorted and shook her head. “Yeah, sure, if by ‘nuts’, you mean completely freaking insane.”

  “Trust me, it’s pretty damn surreal to me, too,” Katrina replied. “I mean…the LMC. Tanis now thinks that it’s entirely possible that enclaves of people could be spread all over the galaxy. Given that half the systems around here aren’t even listed as settled on official Transcend records, I’m inclined to agree with her.”

  Sam asked.

  “You still have it, right?”

  Karina hadn’t gotten what she considered to be complete confirmation from Jordan back in the bar. The fear that they’d lost or sold the shard some time ago had been lingering in the back of her mind as she’d told her story.

  Sam’s coarse voice contained a modicum of amusement.

  “You’re such a peach, Sam,” Katrina groused, casting a narrow-eyed look at one of the bridge’s optics. “So you still have it?”

 

  “I don’t know exactly. The goal is to destroy Airtha the AI without having to damage the ring itself—or kill the populace.”

  Jordan glanced at Demy. “Seems noble enough, but do we really want to get back in the ‘fighting the good fight’ business?”

  “Seems like it’s a ‘get killed for someone else’s cause’ sort of operation,” the engineer replied.

  Katrina held up her hands. “I’m not asking you to sign up. I just need that shard core.”

  The two women glanced at one another, and though she secretly wished they would join in, deep down, she knew that the chances of that were slim. That ship had sailed.

  Sam asked in a cautiously neutral tone.

  Katrina wasn’t surprised it had come to this, but she was a bit shocked it had been Sam who asked for compensation. “What do you want?”

  “Even out here in the boonies, we’ve heard about the shields that ships are getting now. ‘Stasis shields’, I believe they’re called?” Jordan asked. “I can see those coming in handy.”

  “Not a chance—and certainly not if you don’t sign up.”

  “Thought you wanted to end the war?” Demy asked. “This core will give you a great, bloodless victory.”

  Katrina clenched her jaw, unable to believe that three friends she had spent centuries with were going to extort her for tech that could end the civil war in the Transcend.

  Then it dawned on
her. “Shit, you like the unrest this is causing.”

  Jordan shrugged. “Makes our line of work easier. We’re just looking to live comfortably out in a place where the law isn’t up our asses all the time.”

 

  Katrina couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Airtha—and the core AIs, for that matter—aren’t really the sort that will establish the kind of future that enables you to live freely.”

  “There are people who always try to take control of everything, and they always fail.” Jordan gave a nonchalant shrug. “Honestly, Katrina. You should join us, live the good life. Don’t worry yourself with all the nonsense rimward of here.”

  A part of Katrina had really hoped that she could convince her old crewmates to join the fight, that they’d see the sort of future Tangel would build—at least in New Canaan, if nowhere else.

  But they had always been pirates, or almost always. It was in their blood.

  “A CriEn. I’ll trade you a CriEn for the shard.”

  Troy said privately, having been listening in via a feed Katrina had given him.

  she replied, before adding aloud, “But you can’t trade or sell it. It’s for you.”

  “In what universe would we give up a CriEn?” Jordan whispered. “You’re serious?”

  Katrina nodded. “As an antimatter capsule. Show me the shard, and we’ll make our deal.”

  * * * * *

  “Are you surprised?” Carl asked when Katrina boarded the Voyager, a small case containing the shard clutched in her right hand.

  “No…yes…” Katrina replied with a drawn-out sigh. “I didn’t expect, but I sure did hope.”

  Troy suggested.

  Carl gave a quiet laugh. “You trying to make me reconsider, Troy?”