ADAR ZAN’NH
The Ildiran septa accompanied the CDF Juggernaut into unexplored space, navigating to the coordinates that Ohro had provided.
As they approached their ominous destination, Tal Gale’nh stood pale and quiet in the command nucleus, taking control. Adar Zan’nh had given his protégé command of the septa as they flew onward, and Gale’nh stared ahead, as intense as if already battling the shadows ahead of him.
Zan’nh watched silently from the fringe of the tal’s field of vision; he nodded to himself and spoke. “Be strong. I want you to know that you are still capable of being a tal.”
Gale’nh gave a small acknowledgment, but Zan’nh could see how hard he struggled to keep his expression stoic from the emotions welling beneath. “Then I will do so, Adar.”
The exploratory mission would reach the Onthos system within the hour, and observers had gathered in the command nucleus. Rememberer Anton Colicos was eager to watch the story unfold. Rod’h had no Solar Navy rank, but he did have a sense of inner importance, not to mention impatience. He stood beside Tal Gale’nh at the command rail, as if he were the mission’s cocommander. Gale’nh didn’t mind having him there, though; his half-brother was an anchor for him.
The tal stared forward at the emptiness of space. “We are not traveling as far as the Kolpraxa did, but we may still find the Shana Rei out here. The shadows seem to be everywhere.”
“Then we will find them everywhere.” Rod’h sounded determined. “And we will find new ways to fight them. The Onthos system is long dead, but it may tell us much of what we need to know.”
Brave words, Zan’nh thought, for a man who has never encountered the Shana Rei. Rod’h did have experience, however, in fighting the hydrogues and the faeros during the Elemental War. He was no coward, but his ambitions were his weakness.
The sensor tech announced, “Long-range scans still show nothing there—no star, no debris, nothing whatsoever.”
Rod’h broke in. “When we arrive, I volunteer to lead one of the scouting expeditions, Adar.”
“I will take that under advisement.” Zan’nh turned back to Gale’nh. “Have we received any update from General Keah on the Kutuzov?”
“Just a routine contact an hour ago, Adar. She says her crew is ready for anything, and she looks forward to turning over rocks and seeing what scuttles out from underneath.” Gale’nh paused. “Those were her exact words. I believe she was speaking metaphorically.”
“Yes, that sounds like her.” Zan’nh stepped to the command rail, and Gale’nh dutifully moved aside along with Rod’h.
An hour later, nothing had changed in the starfield even though they were nearly upon the coordinates. General Keah contacted them from the Kutuzov. “Have your sensors spotted anything yet, Z?”
The scientist kithmen enhanced the warliner’s sensor sweeps and shook their heads. Zan’nh answered, “Nothing yet, General. Still no sign of the star.”
“Perhaps it was a hoax,” Rod’h said. “Maybe the Onthos lied to us all.”
“To what purpose?” Zan’nh asked.
“Perhaps to lure us out here? We should be wary of a trap.”
Tal Gale’nh agreed. “My brother’s suggestion is wise.”
“We will go in on full alert,” Zan’nh announced. “Our warliners have a complement of sun bombs and new laser cannons. Along with General Keah’s armaments, we will be able to harm the Shana Rei—if they are there.”
Keah transmitted, “Ready when you are, Z. I wish our enhanced sun bombs were ready, but we’ll have to make do.”
“Let us hope we do not encounter a battle at all.”
When the exploratory fleet arrived at the Onthos home system, they found no star, no planets. What they did discover, however, was unlike anything Adar Zan’nh had ever seen in his life. The Gardeners’ star was not visible—it had been engulfed.
General Keah’s voice was rough as she engaged the comm. “What the hell? Are you seeing this, Z?”
“I see it, General, but I do not understand.”
The ships decelerated, but where the star and planets should have been, they found only an enormous black egg, a shell that encapsulated the Onthos star out to a diameter wide enough to enclose the inner planetary orbits, a globe constructed of the same impenetrable and indestructible stuff that had formed the nightshade over Theroc.
“They built a wall to enclose the entire solar system,” said Rod’h in a voice made faint with awe. “They smothered the star and planets, and all of the Onthos.”
Gale’nh shook his head, paler than usual. “The power and the resources that such a thing would have required! The Shana Rei must be … invincible.”
Keah came back on the comm. “An old Earth physicist proposed something like this before, Z—a sphere built to enclose a star. We call it a Dyson sphere.”
Anton Colicos said, “But that idea was just a bizarre thought experiment, and it was meant for constructive purposes, a way to give maximum surface area for habitation, plenty of room to absorb all the solar flux.”
“I do not believe this was intended for constructive purposes,” Zan’nh told the rememberer. Considering the Onthos sun inside, he could think only of a candle flame being snuffed out. Inside, the star must be dead. “It appears the Onthos were not lying to us. Their system is here—was here.”
The seven warliners split apart to explore, while the Kutuzov set its own course, flying around one of the axes of the star system. The Adar’s flagship cruised slowly above the surface of the Dyson sphere using high-resolution scanners in an unsuccessful attempt to penetrate the blackness.
The warliners soared along, playing their sensors across the ebony shell, searching for any flaw, any weakness, any opening. But they found none.
Shaken, Gale’nh breathed heavily and forced himself to be strong. “We cannot get to the star system, Adar. It is dead, just as the Gardeners claimed.”
Rod’h leaned forward, and his eyes narrowed as he stared into the screen, looking for any sensor glitch that the technicians might have missed. He turned abruptly and looked at Zan’nh. “Adar, you know what we must do. We have the ships, the scout teams, and the weapons. We have to blast our way inside.”