The Plasma Shadow

  Chapter Ф

  When the deep space sensor grid picked up the Vortak invasion force approaching Anacronian space, no one was really surprised. Harvey had already deployed starships in the general area he expected to come under attack, so it would be a simple matter to order them to whichever world the Vortak started at, or to fall back toward Anacron if they tried a more direct attack. Everyone in the Imperial Armada was already training in battle simulations full-time, and there was certainly no shortage of war experience to go around. It was expected. It had been planned for. But none of that made it any easier to accept. When the report came that the invasion force was headed for the planet Zhentyris, the years of peace the Empire had enjoyed seemed to have passed in the blink of an eye.

  “Here we go again,” Gerran Marnax muttered to himself. He stood at a forward viewport aboard Galactron, looking out on the starship formations in orbit with him around the planet. They were an impressive sight, even after the losses they had suffered in the recent civil war. Marnax had made sure that warships had been produced at a greatly accelerated rate since the war so that anyone who might have been considering an attempt to take advantage of the Empire’s weakened state would think twice. In all, the Armada numbered nearly ten thousand ships. Not all of them would be at the battle, of course, since many were needed to protect the individual planets in case of a surprise attack. But still, the Vortak were going to be sadly surprised if they thought they could conquer this Empire. They had lost once, and they would lose again.

  There was, of course, no reason why Marnax should have to personally lead this battle. In fact he had been told several times in the last few days that it was foolish for him to do so. Imperial Councilmembers, including and especially the Emperor, owed a duty to their subjects to keep themselves safe. General Harvey was more than capable of leading the Armada. And that was to say nothing of the family he was once again leaving behind. But for some reason Marnax could not let himself sit at home for this. He knew that he had been elected to his office primarily because of his successes as a war hero, and he felt that it was his obligation to serve his empire by dedicating all of his talents to its cause, including in times of war. Besides, Galactron was still his ship, and he was not in a hurry to turn it over to anyone else, not even Marvis Harvey.

  Rinel, of course, had objected more than anyone else, and Gerran knew that he was going to end up feeling that he had betrayed someone, no matter what he did. After all, he could not really argue with his wife’s logic. But as strongly as she had objected, Rinel had accepted Gerran’s decision – although he was unsure of whether this was because she agreed with it or because she believed he would just leave anyway and wanted to avoid a conflict. In any case, it was no easy thing for him to leave his family behind again. It was a major sacrifice they were all making, and Marnax was going to make sure it was not made in vain.

  The sound of the door behind him cut off his train of thought. “The last of the ships have arrived,” Harvey’s voice announced.

  “How long until the attack?”

  “About an hour.”

  “And… no sign of Nemesis.”

  “No, sir,” Harvey managed to keep his contempt for Mirana out of his voice. It was obvious how important it was that Mirana bring the Empire’s strongest ship to this battle, but Marnax had long since given up on trying to predict Mirana’s behavior, and Harvey had never really counted on her in the first place.

  “Thank you. I’ll be there shortly.”

  The com link closed, and the Emperor looked out at his loyal followers again. He wished there were something he could say to them to encourage them, to assure them that the sacrifice they were about to make was worth the cost. He remembered a speech given years ago in a similar situation, given by his predecessor. Trelan Thendrak had rallied his forces and promised victory. Darkness upon all who opposed the Anacron Empire. And in the end, Thendrak had delivered on his promise. Marnax wondered how many victories it would take before his people came out the other side without the threat of further war looming over them.

  The answer to that question would have to come another day. Marnax was out of time.

  Ambelshack Devorion was not a huge fan of waiting for inevitable battles, but he was not wasting a second of the time left him. Ever since Smardwurst had discovered the dreaded Vortak, Ambelshack had spent all of his free time analyzing data from the Alien War. Despite the skill of the Anacronian pilots, that war had been a practice in losing slowly rather than fighting toward victory. The Vortak had attacked in overwhelming numbers, but almost as daunting had been the unpredictable fighting strategies they had used. Ambelshack and the rest of the members of the Starhawk squadron had become quite adept in noting patterns to most of their enemies’ battle tactics, but the Vortak had remained an enigma from the time they had first appeared to the moment they had fled. Their ships were unusually maneuverable, their targeting was painfully accurate, and their ability to coordinate their efforts in small squadrons and across their entire fleet had defied understanding. By studying their movements and strategies Ambelshack had already learned a great deal about piloting, but he knew he would need to learn a great deal more if he were to have the same advantage over the Vortak that he enjoyed over the other fighters he had encountered during his career. He had trained his squadron well, but there was no sense wasting even a few minutes of preparation time with a battle like this looming closer. He flipped through the controls on his flight console and started reviewing his attack formations again.

  While Smardwurst’s crew went over final preparations for battle, Smardwurst indulged in a bit of speculation about the larger picture here. Certainly this battle posed a threat and demanded priority attention, but he could not help but fear that his leaders had made a mistake in delaying an attempt to contact Nedward Simmons. Of course, that would take time. And General Harvey was skeptical as always, preferring to put his trust in maximizing his military presence rather than unexplained individual powers. After all, Harvey had argued, what could Ned really do in a space battle? Protecting a starfighter or even a small group of them would not turn the tide of a battle against the Vortak, so it would be unwise to pull a warship out of battle to guard Ned here. And General Marnax had pointed out that Nemesis should really be the ship to make the journey to Earth, once it had been decided that the time was right, given its superior speed and Shadow drive. But again, Smardwurst could not really agree with the delay. As much as he liked the idea of his Earthling friend staying out of danger, he found himself wishing desperately that Nedward were here now.

  Then the hour was gone, and speculations and planning gave way to reflex and decision. The Vortak fleet emerged into phase space in a series of bright flashes that began at a single point in space and then spread outward around the planet Zhentyris to meet again on the far side. They had planned their exit vectors so as to form a sphere with their ships, hemming the Anacronian forces within. It was only a matter of seconds before laser cannons and missile launchers erupted forth and lit up both fleets in a glowing wave of destruction. Just as before, there was no attempt at communication by the Vortak beyond the obvious intent of their weapons fire. It had been several years, but it took only a few moments for the memories to return. It was as if the Alien War had never ended.

  Instinct and experience allowed Ambelshack Devorion to dodge just meters away from the laser fire streaming from a dozen attackers while still hitting his target with his own weapons. He had known many pilots who had become frustrated with simulations of this scenario, arguing that after destroying several enemies, the constant barrage of weapons fire should ease up, making the battle easier. But Ambelshack had no such expectation; he knew full well that each time he pierced the shields of an enemy fighter or ruptured the warp drive of a larger one, another enemy ship would move in to take its place in an attempt to bring down the most feared starfighter in the Anacronian armada. His only satisfaction at this point was the knowledge that whatever ship d
id move in was now focused on him instead of a more vulnerable target.

  As he destroyed the Vortak fighter that had dared to chase him for the last few minutes, he pulled out of the web of laser fire and exploding missiles a bit to assess his squadron’s position. A quick glance at the readout showed that the squadron was in good condition, with low shields on a few ships but all of them still actively fighting. The armada in general was holding together too, as much as could be expected. Starhawk was doing its job.

  Then another Vortak managed to hit his shields with a quick burst of weapons fire, and Ambelshack dove back into the midst of his enemies. As he locked missiles onto several fighters at once, while drawing the fire of a slightly larger vessel away from a damaged Anacronian cruiser that was trying to turn its stronger side toward the fight, Ambelshack found himself feeling a bit surprised about his circumstances. Why was the armada holding together? The Vortak had known what to expect here, and yet it almost seemed that Anacron was faring better than it had in the previous war. Ambelshack would not go so far as to say they were winning, but they were certainly not retreating either. Had they really improved that much since the Vortak’s previous defeat? Or had the Vortak attacked before they had fully recovered from their losses at Venom? As he blasted holes in the ship he had been targeting, he wanted to shout at it: Why are you here? The explosion that resulted gave him no answer.

  Marnax had a somewhat different perspective of the battle. With the complete responsibility for his fleet and his people bearing down on him there was no room in his mind for criticism of his enemy. Anacron was holding, but the enemy it faced demanded grim respect. There were so many Vortak ships that fighting them was somewhat like swatting at raindrops. It was a simple matter to destroy a few here and there, but there was no way to take them all into account individually, so long-term planning was extremely difficult. Then, too, the Vortak’s tactics were markedly different from conventional battle strategies. There was no clear hierarchy of warship classes. Some Vortak vessels were a little larger than others, and some much larger; some were a little faster, some had a little more firepower. But overall, the Vortak warships were all built after the same basic pattern of dark green, longish hulls with a flattened shape and weapons platforms protruding from the sides. So determining which ships were the most important targets was a maddeningly difficult task.

  Frustrated by just how alien the Vortak seemed, Marnax continued to lead his Armada in its efforts to hammer away at their enemies while minimizing damage to themselves. The Vortak were actually losing many more ships than Anacron was, but Marnax supposed that it was a calculated tactic: the Vortak could afford to lose ships, just as long as they were able to replace them faster than Anacronian vessels were destroyed. It was still unclear who was coming out on top of the attrition rate, but for the moment Marnax was content to let General Harvey worry about the big picture. Galactron had been under heavy fire since the battle had started, and Marnax was busy making sure it kept a sufficient escort while still drawing enough attention to prevent weaker ships in the area from becoming surrounded.

  As time passed, though, Marnax started seeing what Captain Devorion had noticed – the Vortak, while causing major damage, were not really living up to the reputation of dread that they had earned in the previous war. After a few hours of fighting in the Alien war, most Anacronian forces had found themselves in a measured retreat, strategizing not how to defend worlds but about which ones they should abandon first to avoid major losses later. This time, Marnax found himself daring to hope that they might actually drive their enemies off without losing the planet. What had changed?

  The difference in the Vortak’s tactics became shockingly clear just minutes later when one of their ships began approaching Galactron on what Marnax could only assume was an attempt at collision. Ramming an enemy vessel was a desperate move, but beyond that it had repeatedly been proven to be wasteful unless the enemy was caught completely off guard.

  “Take them out!” Marnax shouted. Instructions of any further detail would have been superfluous. As a matter of reflex, his crew reversed Galactron’s tractor beams on the approaching vessel while the upper weapons tower directed multiple laser cannons on a single spot on the approaching ship’s hull. Galactron began backing away, its engines more than a match for those of the Vortak vessel, and a starfighter escort began a concentrated attack on the approaching ship’s hull. Galactron actually increased the distance between itself and the enemy ship before the latter’s shields failed and the escort ships finished it off. The only real loss was that Galactron was now in a slightly different part of the battlefield, but Marnax was not seeing any tactical disadvantage to that. “I wonder how many of them would have to try ramming us before it worked,” he said to no one in particular. Everyone was busy at their battle stations, and no one responded, but Marnax could not help wondering again what was behind his enemies’ attack. What was it that was making them so desperate as to attack now, when they were apparently weaker than they had been before?

  The thought was cut short as an Anacronian ship visible on the forward viewscreen broke apart in a fiery wreck. The Vortak were strong enough to be a threat. That was all Marnax needed to know for now.

  As satisfying as it was for Ambelshack to divert firepower from Anacronian warships, he felt much more urgency when one of the fighter pilots in his fleet was under focused attack. His years of combat had left him with the sense of being in control out here, even under heavy fire, but he had not forgotten the initial terror of knowing that the thin canopy and shield bubble around one’s fighter was the only protection against the emptiness of space and the instant death that would come from contact with enemy weapons. So when the fighter escort to the warship Steel Hydra found itself surrounded and outnumbered by Vortak fighters, Ambelshack joined the battle with grim determination. He began picking off the Vortak methodically, but he found that he had to keep switching targets because no matter how much damage he caused, the Vortak seemed determined to finish off the weaker fighters before dealing with him. He would destroy five or six of them, and then one of the Anacronian fighters would go down. He was about to call in reinforcements when all of the Vortak fighters in the group abruptly turned and fled the battle, heading at maximum speed toward the outer rim of the battle. He wanted to pursue them, but something seemed wrong; there was no way they had simply been scared off. A quick scan of the area caused his concern to deepen. He contacted Iron Talon. “Nredj, do you see that mass of ships over there?”

  “Yep. Marnax sees it too. A new vessel is approaching at high warp – they seem to be guarding its exit vector.”

  “This can’t be good. Make sure everyone finishes up their current targets quickly. I’m heading over there to check this out.”

  “Be careful.”

  Marnax frowned. Reinforcements joining a battle was not terribly uncommon, but a single ship? It was hardly a reason to change tactics, although the sudden grouping of Vortak were clearly causing certain areas of their forces to become vulnerable as other ships pulled away. But Marnax kept a nervous eye on the warp range scanner.

  Then the approaching vesssel dropped into phase space, right in the middle of the tight group of Vortak ships. The pricom crew brought its image up on the viewscreen while they scanned it. The ship stood apart from the other Vortak vessels with its dark red hull and haphazard-looking construction; its forward and lateral weapons platforms seemed to be constructed by several metal plates stacked with little regard to how they fit together. But the strangest feature was the dark red material that spread over the ship’s surface in a branching, vein-like pattern.

  “Sir!” a pricom officer shouted suddenly. “Scans complete. It appears to be Vortak, but it also registers a standard name: ‘Dread Phoenix.’”

  The new ship did not give anyone much time to worry about why it was there. Galactron had barely finished its scans when Dread Phoenix sped out ahead of its escort, directly into the path of the Anacronian
ships that had moved to intercept it. Formidable lasers and missiles fired at its many targets, but so far there did not seem to be a significant difference between this ship and other Vortak vessels of similar size.

  Ambelshack Devorion wove through the fighters and battleships that were engaging Dread Phoenix and quickly closed to attack range. The fact that the other Vortak ships seemed to be leaving their companion alone made him nervous, and nothing tended to calm Ambelshack’s nerves like raking a target with supercharged laser fire – a task which he now began in earnest. His heads-up display confirmed that his weapons were causing a measurable drain on the target’s shields, but as he passed in close for a missile barrage he noticed something strange: each time a weapon struck Dread Phoenix’s shields, a thin, jagged bolt of red energy continued from the impact point to the ship’s hull, as if the ship were being struck by lightning. It was almost as if the shot were piercing the shields, but Ambelshack was willing to bet that his observation had a more dangerous meaning. He just was not sure how to find out what that could be. Weapons fire from Dread Phoenix forced him to pull away, but as he caught a final glance up-close, he thought that maybe those strange, red veins were glowing slightly.

 

  As Dread Phoenix continued its solitary stand against several Anacronian ships, Marnax’s attention was forced back to the battle near Galactron. After all, things had not been exactly comfortable before the new ship’s arrival. Several nearby ships were weakening quickly, and Marnax found himself hurrying from one conflict to the next in an attempt to shield weaker ships from enemy fire, even for just a few minutes. His gunners destroyed many Vortak vessels, but still there were so many of them that an end to the battle seemed to be a long way off.

  “Captain Devorion was right,” Harvey said suddenly, drawing Marnax’s attention away from the immediate firefight.

  Marnax peered at the viewscreen, remembering the fighter captain’s earlier report. “They’re definitely glowing brighter, whatever they are. What’s its status otherwise?”

  “It’s shields are less than half power now. It’s almost like… it doesn’t mind the damage.”

  “‘Dread Phoenix’… I don’t like this. Tell those ships to call off the attack – there’s no point wasting ships on a target that hasn’t even posed a real threat yet. I’m afraid we’re falling into some trap.”

  “I’ll redirect them,” Harvey said, and turned to his console.

  The moment the attack force started to pull away, an eerie, red light flared near the top of the forward weapons platform on Dread Phoenix, and a beam of energy lashed out at the nearest vessel, destroying it in a matter of seconds. The beam continued onto another ship, which lasted only slightly longer before its shield bubble melted, leaving it exposed to the explosive power of the beam. Still, the red light continued, quickly locking onto a third target. This one, the Neptaris, still had its shields almost at maximum, but the energy beam followed it as it turned and headed away. A sick feeling settled in Marnax’s stomach, and he pulled up a closer image on his personal console. The battle immediately around Galactron was forgotten at the moment; it was becoming clear that this ship was closely tied to the purpose behind this entire invasion. The beam lasted for several seconds, burning steadily into the Neptaris’s shields.

  “Urgent message from Captain Wirvet,” a pricom officer shouted. But looking at his screen, Marnax already knew what the report was going to say. “The Neptaris is taking hull damage even though the shields are still up.” Marnax could see what Wirvet meant. The shields were blocking most of the red light, but some of it continued through. Wirvet was angling his ship away, attempting to keep the beam off of his warp drive, but as Marnax watched, first one and then two more weapons ports exploded, blown apart by the energy beam the shields should have blocked.

  Then at last the energy beam died, and the Neptaris sped away with what was left of its shielding. The other ships in the area were following suit, rushing to avoid the unexpectedly lethal threat. Marnax noted that the red glow on the vein-like pattern had died down again.

  “That was not a Vortak weapon,” Harvey said, eyeing Marnax meaningfully.

  Marnax nodded in agreement. “It was a Plasma attack. Dark Viper is behind this. Somehow, he survived.”

  “We can’t fight it for long if it can pierce our shields!”

  “How are the shields on Dread Phoenix?”

  “Weak. Do you want to finish them off?”

  “Yes. Right now. Use Galactron.”

  Harvey called up a large escort, and now the attack on Dread Phoenix recommenced, with greater urgency now. Again, though, as its shields drained, red lightning flared from the point of damage to the glowing material, causing it to glow a little brighter with each attack.

  “It’s below thirty percent,” someone reported.

  A group of Vortak struck from behind, perhaps hoping to draw Anacronian ships off of Dread Phoenix, or maybe simply taking advantage of the fact that most weapons were currently occupied. “Set up a warp shell,” Marnax ordered. “Don’t let this thing escape.”

  The Emperor felt torn – on one hand, it seemed imperative to cut this ship down now, before it could cause havoc in a second battle. But on the other hand, massing his ships together like this presented a large attack profile to the Vortak, while limiting the degree his own ships could fire outward without risking damage to other Anacronian ships. Abandoning overall strategy to focus on a single ship was taking its toll.

  “Ten percent,” the tactical officer reported, and then he turned back to his console in shock. “Sixteen percent. Twenty. It’s recharging!”

  It was true. Again the glowing veins were dimming, but as they did the shield strength on Dread Phoenix steadily climbed. All of a sudden this focused attack did not seem very fruitful. Then the ship turned and set course directly for Galactron.

  “All ships cease fire on Dread Phoenix,” Harvey ordered. “And keep us away from that thing!” Galactron turned and began moving away at maximum speed.

  “We’re in trouble either way,” Marnax observed with obvious concern. “Not attacking it isn’t going to remove the threat.”

  Harvey, frowning. “I would call Nemesis in, if I thought it would help.”

  Marnax frowned too. Harvey was right, of course – for all they knew, the annihilator cannons might be enough to breach Dread Phoenix’s shields once they were sufficiently weakened. And the Shadow field might be able to block a Plasma-based weapon. But Mirana was not here, and placing blame now would do no good. Marnax only hoped that nothing had happened to her; if Viper had already found Mirana, then this war might already be over.

  “We have to have to retreat,” Marnax decided. “We need time to study that weapon and come up with a defense. And to track down Nemesis.”

  “Getting out may not be easy,” Harvey observed. He certainly had a point: going to warp while under attack was almost certain to get a ship destroyed as weapons fire destabilized the developing warp field. An invading fleet would often ignore retreating ships in favor of focusing its efforts on the planet itself, once its shields were breached or its other defenses were abandoned. But the Vortak had avoided flying in range of Zhentyris’s limited weapon systems, and it seemed likely that their real targets were the Anacronian ships themselves. There was no obvious way to get them to leave the fleeing ships alone long enough for them to jump to hyperspace.

  “We might be able to get warp cover if we pull in close to the planet,” Harvey offered. Its weapons might keep them off.

  “We’d have to do it all together, though. Otherwise, the more ships that escape, the easier it will be for them to focus their attacks on the remaining ones.”

  “Yes. Plus, something tells me that Dread Phoenix will follow us no matter where we try to run. And it can probably generate a static warp shell big enough to prevent one nearby ship from leaving.”

  Marnax gritted his teeth. Of course Viper’s new servant would try to take out Marnax.
“If that’s what it takes to distract it, that might be our only option. He could not believe he was considering such a fatalistic tactic, but there were not a lot of choices. He could keep firing on Dread Phoenix and charge its weapon again, or he could hold his fire and let it run around unchecked. Or he could do whatever it took to get his people out of here so they could have a chance at finding a weakness. “Prepare to abandon ship. Hopefully our shuttles can make it to another vessel.”

  “Sir, Green Scorpion is hailing us.”

  Marnax nodded, and Smardwurst Varlon’s face appeared on the viewscreen. Even with his alien features, Smardwurst’s sense of alarm was clearly evident.

  “General, Emperor. We may have found something. A way to retreat. If... that becomes necessary.”

  “It’s necessary,” Harvey barked. “What is it?”

  “I have explained the situation to Kjrvlnk. He said that he was able to escape from his Vortak pursuers by jamming their graviton drives with a radial warp signature. It triggered a surge in their primary engines that drained the graviton thrusters, paralyzing their ships long enough for Kjrvlnk’s group to escape weapons range and go to warp. It will probably only work once, and they may already have modified their systems after Kjrvlnk left.”

  Harvey frowned. “How are we supposed to know what frequencies to use for the radial warp signature? I doubt that the same one Kjrvlnk used will work for us.”

  “I actually believe it will, sir. I have studied the logs of Kjrvlnk’s ship, and they used their own warp drive as a basis for their attack on the other vessels.”

  “And you don’t think they’ll have compensated for that by now?”

  “They do not know we have him. They may not even know how he escaped. And if their conversations with each other are anything like the way Kjrvlnk talks to me, it may simply have never come up. I believe it is worth trying.”

  “How long will it give us?” Marnax asked.

  “Perhaps half a minute. They will redirect power as soon as they realize what has happened.”

  “It will take us a few minutes to call in the fighters and position our ships so they can make use of the seconds we give them. We’re still going to lose several ships doing this.”

  “But it is safer than staying.”

  “Yes,” Harvey said, scowling. “I’m afraid it is.”

  Marnax briefly glanced at a battle readout, noticing that the Vortak were attempting to surround Galactron, probably in an attempt to give Dread Phoenix a chance to approach.

  “All right,” Marnax said resolutely. “Let’s do it.”

  Even preparing for the escape was risky. Fighters had to be called in, since even the ones with warp drives would not be able to outrun the larger vessels at warp, but without fighter protection the Anacronian ships were extremely vulnerable. Ships closed in together, hoping to draw the Vortak in as well so that there would be enough empty spaces in the battlefield that were outside anyone’s effective weapons range while still being reachable within less than a minute’s time. Harvey watched the process, willing himself to stay focused on delivering the message so that everyone could deliver the radial warp signature at the same time. But even as he carried out the mechanical task, he felt anger boiling inside him. The anger only grew as the seconds passed; as he had predicted, several ships fell victim to the Vortak’s attacks, even as they prepared to retreat.

  When everything was ready, Harvey gave the signal. Every ship in the fleet transferred all the power they could into their active scanning arrays, broadcasting a signal designed to interfere with the warp cores of the Vortak vessels. He wondered briefly what would happen if the Vortak were ready for this, but then he saw the graviton ports on the nearest ships go dark; the warp drives had drawn power from the phase-space propulsion.

  “Go!” he shouted.

  Each ship accelerated along its chosen escape vector, channeling all available power to their own graviton systems. The seconds ticked past as Harvey watched his armada distance itself from the weapons of the drifting Vortak, knowing that at any second they would compensate for the interference and begin pursuit. He almost did not want to check on Dread Phoenix out of fear that it might have managed to block the warp signature, but a glance at the battle readout showed that no ships were near it. The plan was working.

  And then their time was up. Vortak ships began moving together, as if their whole invasion force had discovered and repaired the problem in a coordinated effort. This was as far as they were going to get, and the individual captains knew it. One by one they flashed into hyperspace. Most of them made it, although the Vortak managed to cut off the retreat of a few ships, cutting apart their warp fields and causing huge explosions in their warp cores. Harvey closed his eyes for a moment. For some reason, the final deaths in a battle had always seemed the most tragic to him. They had been so close.

  Galactron waited until the rest of the armada was away, then jumped to warp as well. Its advanced warp phase allowed it to quickly pass most of the fleeing ships, and a quick scan behind showed that the Vortak were not pursuing, apparently content to stay and attempt to make what they could of the planet they had conquered. Harvey knew that they would not stay there long, but for the moment, his fleet was safe.

  He let out a heavy sigh, but the anger from before did not dissipate. If anything, not having to focus on the immediate needs of the battle allowed his emotions to boil to the surface. They were not complicated. Mirana Kelar, the woman who had betrayed his plans to Dark Viper years ago had again sabotaged his efforts to defend his people by withholding the ship she had acquired at the cost of four StarBlazer lives on Sigma Omicron. Harvey had to assume that Marnax would succeed in making contact with her and convincing her to join the defense against the Vortak, but the damage was done. Mirana had cost them yet another battle, another world, and countless lives, and this time Harvey felt determined to make her answer for it.