Chapter 9
Mirana said she had some administrative issues to attend to, so she dropped Ned off in the room he had used on his last mission with her and set him up with computer credentials, then left him alone. Once she had gone, Ned collapsed on his bed, letting the reality of his situation sink in. He was leaving Earth again. By choice, not by desperation. As before, there was no clear path forward, although he certainly felt more prepared and informed than he had before. But while he knew he had a lot to learn, he found his thoughts returning to Earth. There were so many things he was giving up. Foods he would not be able to eat. People he may never see again. But then, any kind of travel was like that, and few could claim the privilege or exploring the galaxy as he was doing. Still, there seemed to be no harm in remembering what he was leaving behind; he figured it would give him some perspective later on when he was immersed in the harsh reality of… whatever he was facing. And it would be better to feel homesick now rather than later, when he could not afford distraction. So he let his mind wander, wondering if he had forgotten to do something, wishing he had made things easier on his family, hoping he had not completely wasted the last two years.
Eventually he ran out of topics to ponder from back home, and he sat up. There was a computer console in his room, and he poked around at it, browsing news articles on the new state of the Anacron Empire. Most of them made little sense to him, but he figured that anything he could learn about the society he was visiting would be useful. He looked up a few technical topics as well, wondering if his college classes would make some of the engineering principles more intelligible. It helped a little, but not much.
Ned was surprised when Mirana called at his door after just an hour or so.
“Settled in?”
“Yes, just getting adjusted to the whole ‘alien society’ thing.”
“Good. I had a change of plans. We’re almost to the Vortex, and I think it would be better to get our practice in before we’re in range of anyone’s scans. We’re far enough from your planet that if any of them ever get this far, they will have already done their fair share of exploring. Sound reasonable?”
“Yeah, that should be fine. But, what do you mean, ‘almost there?’ Last time it took all day, and the vortex should have receded since then.”
Mirana feigned shock. “Last time? I’m almost offended! This is not your ordinary ship!”
“Right,” Ned said, smiling. “I forgot your special project has state-of-the-art everything.”
“It had better,” she said, suddenly looking distant. “After what it…” But she shook her head and switched the topic back. “We’re on our way to a planet now. But no sense wasting time until we get there. Let’s swap notes.”
“That sounds great! Anything you want to know?” Ned knew he was going to afflict his new partner once he started asking questions, so he figured it would be polite to take his turn answering first.
“Maybe you’d better just go over what happened before – anything that happened before we met or that you haven’t already told me.”
“Sounds good.” Ned started with his discovery of the Shield Crystal and told her everything he could remember about building up his power. It was like unloading a burden, being able to talk about the Plasma with someone who could understand him, at least a little. A few times he stopped to ask if Mirana had shared his observations about what the power felt like or how it worked, but each time she simply shrugged or made a noncommittal sound and urged him to continue. He wondered whether she was actually getting anything useful from his discourse, but there was hardly any sense in questioning her now.
“That’s interesting,” Mirana declared when he had finished, but she did not elaborate. Instead, she took a deep breath and looked up, gathering her own thoughts. “I told you before how I gained my power – my father taught me. There was no Crystal or sudden moment when I gained the power, at least not that I remember. He just showed me that if I reached inside, I could feel the ability to hide things. It started with small toys, then bigger things like bushes and animals, and eventually I was able to wrap the Shadow Plasma around myself.”
“Do you have to control the shape consciously?” Ned could not help interrupting.
“Not really. Or at least, I’ve had enough practice that it doesn’t take much effort. Like you said, I can sort of feel things as the Plasma moves past them. But it definitely gets harder with larger objects, or things farther away. Usually I just hide myself.
“Anyway, the only thing there is to tell about before I met you is that my father once told me that Trelan Thendrak was very powerful, but his power couldn’t affect ours. ‘The Shadow cuts through the light’ is how he put it.”
“Sounds a little ominous.”
“Like I told you before, ‘Shadow’ doesn’t have to be a metaphor for evil. It’s just a description of our power, because we can follow someone without being noticed.”
“And your father could do it too?”
“Yes. He never told me how he learned, and I didn’t really wonder. It’s like how kids don’t generally think to ask their parents where they got the money to buy their home or how they learned to do their job. It was just a part of him, like it was a part of me. And he never got the chance to explain it.”
“I’m sorry it happened that way. And not just because of the information lost.”
“It’s okay, I moved past it a long time ago. Anyway, I didn’t really know that there was anything else I could do with my power beyond what my father had taught me. I used it as I snuck around and gathered information, and I used it to protect myself when I was attacked. But it was just a way to hide.”
“So using it as a weapon…”
“Yeah, I came up with that specially for you. Once I saw how you had developed your powers beyond what the Crystal gave you, I thought I’d give it a try. It was actually pretty difficult; the farther the Plasma gets from me, the harder it is to control. I used the Shadow beams against you in a closed space, but I’m not sure how good I’d be out in the open.”
“I wonder if the cancelling-out property has a range too.”
“Yeah, that’s something I want to test.”
“What about the armor?”
“That’s the other thing I wanted to tell you. There’s no activator pin like you have. It’s just there, like the Shadow Plasma itself. And my father didn’t teach me about it. He showed it to me once, but I got scared when he put it on, and he didn’t do it again. He said it was a protection that ‘grown-ups’ could call on. But he never taught me how to do it.” She looked down, as if remembering something distasteful. “I was a teenager when I finally thought to try it. I just reached inside myself and willed the suit to materialize, and it did. I don’t know if it really was an age thing, but I kind of suspected that maybe only one person could wear the armor, and I became its owner after my father died. Anyway, there’s not much to tell about it – it’s strong and has simple weapons built in, like yours. Mine has these pad things in the feet that let me move around quietly.”
“I can see why it scared you as a child. It looks pretty menacing.”
Mirana shrugged. “It’s a weapon. Makes sense that it would look dangerous.”
“Just one other question – how much of what you just told me do you think Dark Viper knows?”
“I don’t think he knew anything. He seemed genuinely surprised when I told him about my power. And if he knew it could cancel his power, you’d think he would have focused his attention on having me killed.”
“He must have been shocked to learn that there were Plasma Masters other than himself, considering that no one else seems to have known where the Plasma came from.”
“I guess so. But he was also a fairly obsessive person, so maybe he was just distracted. And he was very confident. I purposefully didn’t give him a reason to fear me, because I wanted his attention… elsewhere.”
“Okay, so – yeah, this is another question after my previous
, ‘last’ question. Why did your father tell you that you owed Trelan Thendrak your loyalty?”
Mirana sighed. “I’m afraid I never found that out either. I think it may have had something to do with my mother, since that’s another thing he never really explained. I was just a baby when she died – there was some kind of attack on a ship we were on. I’ve tried track down a connection between that and Thendrak, but I haven’t been able to find one.”
The com link beeped, and Ablithra Erjflonger’s voice cut in. “We’re almost to the planet.”
“Great,” Mirana replied. We’ll head to the landing bay.” She clenched her fist with a smile, and black fire erupted around it. When she looked up, Ned thought he saw almost as much as much eagerness as he himself felt. “Ready to see what we can do with this?”
The planet’s surface was not exactly spectacular. It was cold and rocky, and the atmosphere was unbreathable, so they had to keep their battle suits’ helmets on. Gravity was a little low, which made Ned’s stomach lurch a little at first. But the sky was clear, and the prospect of practicing the use of the Plasma more than compensated for the lack of scenery.
“All right,” Ned said as they walked away from the shuttlecraft they had used. “The first thing I’m wondering is, just how good is the Shadow Plasma at cutting through everything else. Like, is there a way I can defend against it?”
“Good question,” Mirana said. “If you can block it, then you know Dark Viper will have figured out a way. Charge up a wall or something and let’s see if you can stop me from breaking through it.”
Ned gathered the power in both hands, which he held shoulder-width apart. He drew a surge of Plasma out of the ether, charging around his hands and forming a bridge between them. He took his time gathering strength, focusing everything he could into the small sheet of blue light. “Okay,” he said. Try to cut it.”
Black fire glowing around her hand, Mirana effortlessly sliced through Ned’s barrier. The blue light reformed behind the Shadow Plasma, but Ned could not even sense anything to push against. The hole in his power was just there.
“Hm,” Ned said, frowning. “Let’s try again, farther away. He walked some distance off, then turned and reformed a barrier. This time, he formed it off to one side so he wouldn’t accidentally get hit by a bolt of Shadow Plasma. “Try shooting this,” he said through his helmet’s com link.
Across the rocky plain, Mirana extended a metal glove and fired a beam of dark energy through his barrier. Again, it passed effortlessly. “All right,” he said. “Just how far can you go?”
“I’m not sure,” she said. “How far is your range?”
“I guess I’ve never really tested it,” he said. “Hold on.” Ned picked a point some distance away and sent out the Vortex Plasma. When he arrived, Mirana was far enough off that it would have been hard for them to hear each other without the suits. “Try just making a Shadow field, as big as you can.”
Mirana faded to black, and then the blackness expanded outward in an expanding sphere. Its growth slowed as the radius increased, but Mirana managed to push it large enough to encompass an area the size of a small house. When she was done, the blackness faded, revealing the scenery behind it – and what appeared to be a hemispherical crater in the ground.
Ned had been gathering power as Mirana worked, and now he extended his hand and sent blue lightning into the invisible Shadow field. It vanished quickly, but as Ned maintained the beam, he noticed that he could feel a gradual decline in its strength where it faded.
“It actually feels like I’m pushing against something this time. Can you feel it?”
“A little, yeah.”
“Let’s see how far I can go.”
Ned reached out to the Plasmic energy around him and drew it into the beam coming from his hand with all the strength he had. Slowly, he advanced on the Shadow field, figuring that the beam should be stronger at a closer range. As he focused his power, he could see the blue light extending a few feet past the boundary of the crater before it faded into nothingness. “It’s working,” he said, although the strain of focusing the power eclipsed any excitement at this point.
“I’m going to pull it back a little,” Mirana said. “Let’s see how small the field has to be before I can maintain the border.”
Mirana slowly retracted the field, and each time she did, Ned’s beam penetrated a smaller distance. By the time the radius was just a few times Mirana’s height, Ned could not make a noticeable dent in it.
“Looks like that’s about it,” Ned said, exhausted, and he let the beam die. The Shadow field faded to black, and then Mirana’s black armor appeared as the darkness cleared.
“That could be useful to know,” Mirana said. “So the Shadow power isn’t impenetrable after all; it just has a huge advantage at close range.”
“Like electromagnetism against gravity,” Ned added.
“I guess so. Anything else we need to find out? This is probably our last chance to ‘train’ without being under attack or at least observation.”
“I don’t know,” Ned said, thinking. “I guess I could take some time to absorb some of the planet’s power so I’ll be ‘charged up’ when I need it. Do you draw the power in like that?”
“I don’t think so,” Mirana said. “I don’t really sense the power around me, except for what I send out.”
“So the Shadow Plasma all comes from inside you?”
“Maybe, or else I just don’t sense the process that draws it in.”
“I guess that’s handy, if it means you’re always at full strength.”
“Not necessarily. If I’m at a fixed strength, then someone else could conceivably charge enough power to get past my defense even at close range.”
“Hm. They would have to be a lot stronger than I am, I think. I sure wish there were some kind of documentation about how the Plasma works. It’s like we’re trying to learn about computers by staring at circuit boards.”
Mirana might have chuckled; it was hard to tell from behind the suit. “Charge up as much as you can,” she said. I’m going to see if I can build up the strength of my Shadow beam; it might be the only weapon I have against Viper.”
The planet’s short day wore itself through as they experimented with their respective abilities, and before Ned realized it, the sky had grown dark. When he stopped for a rest, he looked up at the emerging stars. “Mirana, come look at this!”
Mirana appeared after a few seconds and followed his gaze upward. “Congratulations, Ned. You have discovered a bunch of white dots on a black field.”
“Oh, come on. This is such a clear sky! Don’t you think it’s amazing how many stars you can see? I wonder if one of them is Earth’s Sun.” Ned looked to Mirana for a response, but she was just watching him through that red visor, arms folded. “You’re smiling, aren’t you?”
She shook her head. “I’m smirking.”
“No, I’m very familiar with your voice when your smirk. That is a smile.”
She shook her head with a chuckle. “I guess it’s just interesting to see someone who can look at the universe through fresh eyes like that. Not everyone can, you know.”
“Well, I guess I haven’t been around as much as you have.”
“I used to think that was it – that you were just inexperienced. But I think you’ve seen enough to become jaded. And yet somehow you can stop training for battle to admire the beauty of the sky. I think…. I think that’s a good thing. Try not to lose it.”
He chuckled too. “I’ll try not to. I admit it’s easy to forget about what we’re heading off too. It’s such a nice night. I feel like we should go get some pizza and discuss the latest action movie.”
“Well, a meal is definitely in order; I think we’ve delayed long enough.”
“There is one other thing I need to mention,” Mirana said to him as they boarded the shuttle. “About the crew. I tried to hire Randar and the others I took with me to Sigma Omicron, but it turns out they bl
amed me for the death of the others on the team. They said I could have taken Nemesis on my own without risking others’ lives. Of course, blowing my cover at that point would have prevented me from brining you to Viper, but I couldn’t exactly make that point.” She lifted the shuttle off the ground out of reflex, but her eyes were distant. “The thing is, just about everyone in the Empire sees me as a traitor. The StarBlazer folks blame me for Ergana Prime and a dozen other things. The Anacron people say I betrayed Thendrak, and of course everyone says I dragged out the war by not picking a side. All true, arguably. But the point is, it was hard to find a crew I could trust. Ablithra was a young officer on an Anacronian ship and was far enough removed from the battles I affected to not have a ton of emotional baggage. And since General Harvey seems to favor StarBlazer officers for promotions, working for me seemed like a good opportunity for her. I did similar research on the others. Even so, it’s not easy for me to trust people, especially people who work for hire. Too much like me, I guess. They didn’t know about your part in this when I hired them on, and I think it would be best if you didn’t get too close to them. You know, chatting at meals, that sort of thing.”
“You want me to just stay in my room the whole time?”
“They’ll usually stay in theirs when they’re off duty. But yeah, given the size of Nemesis, it might be better if you avoided wandering the ship when I’m not with you. And don’t feel uncomfortable by the lack of conversation; they have a casual rapport, but they’re a military team. Let’s just let them do what they’re here to do so we can focus on our job.”
“Okay, sounds reasonable.”
The shuttle was clear of the atmosphere, and soon the stars faded again as Nemesis closed around them. Mirana ordered the pricom crew to continue on their way, and then Mirana and Ned had lunch with half the crew. Mirana ate quickly, and Ned followed her lead. “We should be to the vortex soon,” she announced when they were done. “Let’s head to the pricom.”
“You look nervous,” Ned commented as they walked. “Are you expecting something on the other side?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I guess not being able to scan ahead is a little unsettling. But also, once we’re through there, we’re back in it, you know?”
“Yeah,” Ned replied quietly. “I know.”
When they reached the pricom, Ned watched as everyone went silently about their work. He wanted to learn everything he could, but at the same time it seemed unwise to go peering over people’s shoulders. In any case, he did not have long to wait; just a few minutes passed before the ship dropped out of hyperspace to pass through the vortex. The now-familiar swirling, purple light engulfed the ship as they left behind the relatively empty region of space around Earth. Then the light was behind them, replaced by another vast starfield. Almost immediately, Jenzo started tapping at his console. “Mirana, the armada is being assembled. General Harvey has issued orders for all ships to go on tactical alert. It seems they’re expecting an invasion.”
Mirana frowned. “An invasion?”
“From the Aliens. They’re calling them the ‘Vortak’. Apparently they uncovered a couple of ruined ships that they figure are ahead of an invasion force.”
This news did not immediately implicate Dark Viper, but Ned’s pulse quickened. “Another war, just as we’re about to track Viper down? This can’t be a coincidence.”
Mirana’s brow was furrowed as she pondered something, apparently not really listening. “We can’t afford to join them now.”
Jenzo scrolled through the report. “General Harvey has actually ordered Nemesis to…”
“Harvey knows he can’t order me to do anything,” Mirana said flatly.
“Sure,” Ned cut in, “but we can’t abandon them either. This ship could make a huge difference in a battle.”
“Exactly,” Mirana said, turning to him. “Once we start fighting, we won’t be able to leave because all of Harvey’s tactics will revolve around us. If we’re going to learn anything about Viper’s power or his plans, we have to do it now, before he draws the whole Anacronian fleet into battle.”
It made sense, but Ned didn’t like it. “How long do you think they have?” The question was not really aimed at anyone particular, but Bortis answered anyway.
“There’s no way to tell. Harvey doesn’t even give a time frame.”
Mirana turned to Ned, her expression softening a bit. “We have to be in agreement on this. I can’t trace Viper’s steps without you. But I can’t imagine we’ll get another shot at following up on this lead if we don’t take it now.”
Ned just shook his head. Somehow it felt that Mirana was oversimplifying the problem. “Shouldn’t we at least let Marnax know we’re here?”
“So he can do what? Knowing you’re with me would just make them more eager to get us into the battle.”
“Yes, to protect them from…”
Mirana’s exasperated breath cut him off. “Look, Ned. I care about them too. But Gerran and Harvey understand our power even less than we do. We owe it to them to go into this thing with as much understanding as we can get. And think of this: Even if Ruggles Girx manages to keep his mouth shut about what he told me, Viper is going to hear that I crashed his event, and he’s going to figure out what kind of questions I would be asking. He’ll destroy anything that there may still be for us to find.”
“If he hasn’t already,” Ned reminded her. “And if he’s even alive.”
“Fair enough. But don’t you think we’re safer assuming that he is, and that there’s something for us to learn about him, somewhere? If you can think of a more likely spot to do research, then please let me know.”
Ned realized that he was just stalling. Everything Mirana was saying was right, of course. He just hated the idea of abandoning the people he had come here to help, especially when he was so unsure of what he planned to accomplish. But he was out of arguments; it had to be better to show up late with new information than to show up too early and then get stuck fighting a defensive war against an enemy they didn’t understand. Slowly, he nodded. “Okay. Let’s do it. But let’s hurry.”
As Nemesis thundered toward the obscure coordinates Mirana had given, Ned returned to his room to study up on piloting tactics and a bit of recent history. But on more than one occasion he found himself reading the same paragraph over and over before realizing that his thoughts had drifted. He told himself that he had made the right decision. He reminded himself that Mirana’s argument had been thorough. And he had to admit that Mirana had been a good sport to ask his opinion before acting, even if she did need his help. It’ll be fine, he told himself. This will be worth it. But somewhere deep inside himself, a part of Ned still doubted that was true.