TAL GALE’NH
Gale’nh devoted days without sleep to studying the recent engagement at the Onthos system, memorizing every detail of the robot ship movements in search of a pattern or a weakness. With as much concentration, he analyzed the Shana Rei entropy attacks, the effectiveness of the laser cannons and sun bombs. He ran simulated tests of the powerful new CDF sun-bomb designs. He vowed to discover ways to improve the Solar Navy defenses so they could be far more devastating—if not victorious—in their next confrontation.
And there would certainly be a next confrontation. The days ticked by, and he waited.…
In a simulation chamber used to train officer candidates, Gale’nh compiled records from the surviving warliners, along with log data shared by the Kutuzov. Using realistic holograms, he refought the earlier space battles at Plumas, at Hiltos, and at the Onthos system. He even received a sketchy report and log-camera footage from an escaping trader, the Verne, that had witnessed the destruction of Ulio Station.
Each time he reviewed the engagements, Gale’nh tried to imagine what he might have done differently.
Fortunately, even the larger black robot ships were vulnerable to conventional fighting methods, and Gale’nh could see how to destroy the enemy vessels. In the final analysis, though, the robots were only a distraction compared with the massive threat of the Shana Rei.
Muree’n and Yazra’h joined him in the battle-simulation chamber, eager to fight something. They observed the sharp images with curiosity, though space battles and tactical movements of large numbers of vessels were not the way they engaged in battle.
His bond with his sister Muree’n was strong, and since she was so close now, he drew upon her strength and confidence. Sensing his need, Muree’n allowed it. As a warrior, she never seemed to have any doubts whatsoever.
Standing together in the simulation chamber, all three of them watched the tactical projections, holographic icons of the battleships in play: Solar Navy warliners, sometimes CDF Juggernauts or Mantas, a seemingly inexhaustible supply of black robot ships, and the giant hexagonal cylinders of the Shana Rei. The creatures of darkness used few overt weapons except for the disruptive entropy fields that damaged any nearby technology.
Muree’n squeezed her crystal-tipped katana so hard that her knuckles turned white. “I prefer to fight an opponent who is right in front of me. I want to see the damage I inflict. That way I can touch the spilled blood with my own fingertips.”
“I doubt the shadows even have blood,” Gale’nh said, then shook his head as a coldness swept through him again. “Much of what they did to me has been wiped from my mind. They could be doing worse things to Rod’h right now.” He could no longer sense his half-brother, but he didn’t think Rod’h was dead—simply taken out of the universe.
Yazra’h looked fierce with her long hair in a halo around her head. “These space battles make combat seem like a game. Ships, tactics, projectile trajectories.” She made a snort as if she found that wanting.
“The Shana Rei also turn Ildirans against Ildirans,” said Muree’n. “They make our people commit bloodshed for them. It is cowardly.”
“I will fight them again—either way,” Gale’nh said.
As the Plumas simulation continued, holographic Solar Navy warliners swept along in complex maneuvers, interacting with Confederation Defense Forces above the ice moon. Suddenly, as he concentrated, Gale’nh felt a rough, painful lurch inside himself, as if some dark presence had begun sawing at the strings of his existence.
Beside him, Muree’n flinched as well. The girl turned pale, and her expression tightened as if she had just swallowed poison. They both heard Rod’h shouting to them through their special connection: a flood of sensations … pain, terror, and despair. The connection strengthened, reinforced, and Gale’nh received a clear alarm, a call for help, not just from Rod’h.
Osira’h.
Tamo’l.
All three of them were in the same place—Kuivahr!
With half-formed mental images, he could sense the looming shadow cloud, and he knew that the Shana Rei were coming to seize his two sisters, just as they had taken him. As they had taken Rod’h. They wanted to capture all of those strange genetic combinations that could resist them in ways that purebred humans and Ildirans could not.
Gale’nh gasped, and the words were stolen from inside him. He could barely breathe.
Yazra’h grabbed Muree’n, propping the young woman up and shaking her shoulders. “What is it? Fight it!”
“The shadows!” Muree’n gasped. “They have Rod’h … and they want my sisters. They are at Kuivahr.”
Gale’nh shook himself, trying to fling away the distraction. “The Shana Rei are attacking—right now.” He raced to the wall of the simulator chamber, ignoring the distraction of holographic images around him. On the computer-modeled battle, a giant Roamer water tanker exploded, spraying a cloud of vapor that wrought havoc in the path of hyperaccelerating robot warships.
Gale’nh slapped his hand on the controls, dispelling the images. With shaking hands he found the comm, used his direct private channel to Adar Zan’nh. “Adar, Kuivahr is under attack. It’s … Rod’h. He is there.”
Zan’nh responded instantly. “I just received a message from the Mage-Imperator. Your mother picked up the alarm from a green priest there. The planet is under attack. The shadows just arrived.”
Muree’n also shouted into the comm. “The shadows are trying to take my sisters, too. They want all of us halfbreeds, and Rod’h is trying to resist.”
The shouts and fear still rang inside Gale’nh’s mind. Rod’h was so desperate. And Gale’nh was just as afraid for Tamo’l and Osira’h.
Adar Zan’nh answered. “Our warliners are prepared and our weapons have been replenished. The entire cohort is on high alert. We are ready to depart.” On the screen, he narrowed his eyes. “If you wish to join me, Tal Gale’nh, take an immediate shuttle to orbit. I will give you command of another warliner.”
“I will be there, Adar,” Gale’nh said.
He was already running—with Muree’n right at his side.