The Plasma Shadow

  Chapter 20

  Green Scorpion was far too damaged to risk the long trip back to the main fleet, so Smardwurst had his crew set course for a repair station deeper in Anacronian territory. Ned was hesitant to let Rax out of his sight even for a moment, but Smardwurst assured him that his crew could handle her until Ned could reach them if the need arose, and that if she had wanted to attack them, she would have done it long before now. Smardwurst said he needed to send a report to General Harvey but insisted that Ned get some food and rest. Reluctant as he was to let down his guard with his enemy onboard, Ned had to admit that he was feeling quite spent and could use a bit of rest. To avoid feeling completely useless, he persuaded Kjrvlnk to sit down with him for a quick meal.

  “Thank you for your help,” Ned said as he started on a sandwich.

  Kjrvlnk brought a bowl of red chunks of something squishy up to his face, where his mandibles maneuvered the food into his mouth. “I am glad you were successful.”

  “Do you mind if I ask you how you did it? Keeping all those Ice Vortak away from us, I mean.”

  “I defeated many of them. The others chased me until I could signal the fighter, and I had it attack from the sky.”

  “But how did you avoid all of them long enough to do that?”

  “I suppose they were inferior.”

  Ned had to smile at the matter-of-fact declaration of skill, but it still seemed odd. “But you weren’t a soldier, right? I thought you weren’t involved in the military.”

  “Others in my group were. I did what they would have done.”

  “How did you know how to do what they would have done? Are you saying you share their memories?”

  “Not their memories. But we discussed battle, near the end. When it was clear we would not all survive. It… is difficult to explain. I am not sure that I should.”

  “Anything you can tell me might help us end the war and bring peace to both sides.”

  Kjrvlnk seemed to have said all he was prepared to, because he continued eating in silence. Ned decided to change the subject, or at least tweak it.

  “You seemed to be able to hear their orders again, near the end.”

  The buggy red eyes turned up. “The Master commanded it, like before.”

  “So Viper can broadcast messages to the Vortak, even this far away. He must have checked up on them and found out that Rax was trying to buy her safety instead of attacking.”

  “She is a target too.”

  Ned nodded. “She says she wants to join with us. She thinks we need her power.”

  Kjrvlnk was quiet for a moment. “Power is useful. But she is dangerous.”

  “That’s exactly what I’m thinking. Hopefully someone can get some information out of her, but I don’t want anything more to do with her.”

  “She is a threat as long as she is alive. A Master is never far from her power.”

  It sounded like an idiom, as if the Vortak were in the habit of saying that. Ned felt a chill and reached out through the ether just to make sure everything was all right. Rax was where she was supposed to be, and her power felt weak and isolated. But somehow that was little comfort.

  Kayleen Rax was in a very dark place. In the metaphorical sense only, of course – the walls of the escape hatch where she was pacing in frustration were lined with glowing tubes, probably spare conduits of some sort pulled from the engine supply room. But they were very hot, and they bathed the airlock in a glow that would have made real human eyes squint. As it was, the conduits were of little consequence to her, because once again she could see only a few paths ahead, and none of them looked good.

  That battle, in contrast, had been wonderful. Everyone had wanted her dead except the man she had come to Izralith to kill, and somehow the two of them had defied the entire Vortak force, in spite of whatever threats Dark Viper had made to get them to attack two Plasma Masters. Of course that crew of his had helped too, but that was hardly the point. Kayleen had used her power alongside someone else for the first time since Markan had died. They had combined their abilities and accomplished something that Kayleen frankly would never have thought possible. It was no wonder Nedward kept winning; he seemed to interact with the Plasma at a deeper level than Kayleen, although how that was possible without a Crystal or training like Viper had received was beyond her. What she did know was that she could go on fighting like that forever, regardless of who the enemy was.

  Unfortunately, Nedward seemed determined not only to keep her locked up but to ignore her completely. She tried to bide her time and think of ways to negotiate for better terms, but she could not help feeling that her time was running out, that she was going to be alone like this forever. It was not that solitude bothered her necessarily; she had felt alone ever since Markan had died. But imprisonment at Harvey’s hands would not be a comfortable escape from the war. She would be interrogated, and when they realized how little she could tell them, it was hard to imagine them letting her live, regardless of what Nedward might promise. She had seen it in the eyes of the crew aboard this ship; everyone setting up the heating coils or ordering her around with weapons pointed was asking the same question: why was she even alive?

  Eventually she tired of pacing and sat down with her back against a corner, drawing her knees up against her chest. There had to be some kind of a reason why she was stuck here, why her plans had continually fallen apart. She could not bear the thought of Dark Viper smiling in satisfaction as she suffered at the hands of her enemies, and she cringed at the thought of what would happen if she were to somehow end up back in front of Viper himself.

  Of course, Kayleen had no trouble seeing a purpose; being here should have provided her with a chance to change sides and get back at the man who had manipulated, mocked, and betrayed her. Nedward could help her do it, and it would benefit him too. But if he continued to refuse that, was there anything worthwhile Kayleen could do then? Could she really get revenge from inside some prison cell? She rested her chin on her knees and thought hard, but the only thoughts that came were even darker than the ones before. She supposed Viper would be pleased if he could see her now. It surprised Kayleen to realize that she wanted to hurt him perhaps even more than she wanted to be free of this place. He could not be allowed to defeat her. There had to be something she could do.

  Ned supposed that he had been up long enough for sleep to be an option, but this whole mission still felt too incomplete to let him really relax, so he decided to visit the pricom when he had finished his meal. Kjrvlnk went with him, and Ned found himself wondering whether the Vortak ever really slept at all.

  They were allowed access, and when they stepped inside Ned almost thought they were under attack again. Viewscreens all around the room showed a battle taking place, but after a brief moment he realized that it was just a recording. The screens were labeled with the various ships whose perspectives they showed, and Ned picked out the image of Galactron in a few of them. Vortak ships swarmed everywhere, and the all-too-familiar pattern of laser fire and missile explosions swept across everything.

  “There it is,” someone said, and Ned saw Dread Phoenix appear on the forward screen. A green bar superimposed above it showed its shield strength as measured by the Anacronian ships. The bloodshot-looking vessel opened fire on several vessels at once, and some of them scattered, in pursuit of smaller targets, but some of the Anacronian ships held their ground. When there were several of them positioned around Dread Phoenix, they all opened fire together with a weapon that sent a pale blue light twisting into its shields. The light steamed as it struck, and the shield gauge drained a bit. There was no flash of red from the strange material on the hull of Dren’s ship, and Ned smiled. “It worked.”

  Smardwurst, who had been distracted by the recording, turned to Ned at the sound of his voice. “Yes,” he said. “General Harvey equipped several ships with a new ‘endothermic particle beam’ just before the Vortak struck again. They still did not manage to breach the shields on Dread Phoeni
x; it left the battle before they drained too much. And it still managed to do a fair amount of damage with its Plasma weapon – at one point it seems Dren ordered his own ships to fire on him in order to charge it.

  Güzhmäk Undúvlahuth was still watching the video recording. “The fact that it doesn’t try to fly by the sun in order to recharge confirms the suspicion that the weapon can’t hold a charge at warp. If we could just box it in long enough and keep firing, we might just have it.”

  “Assuming they have enough ammunition for the endothermic beam,” Smardwurst reminded him. “The report says that they used up nearly the entire supply on that battle.”

  “They’ll make more.”

  Ned was thinking about his recent battle. “They’ll be ready for those tactics again, won’t they?”

  Smardwurst thought for a moment and then nodded. “They were all converging on you before, and I think you can expect that again. It will be very hard to get you close enough to open a vortex through their shields again.”

  “And they’ll extend the shields as soon as they know you’re approaching,” Güzhmäk added. “They’ll want to exploit any range limits you have.”

  “So I guess we’re back in the same spot as before Rax attacked,” Ned said in disappointment. “Did we even accomplish anything?”

  “Well we won,” Smardwurst pointed out. “It is better than if we had done nothing. And hopefully Rax will give us some useful information.”

  Güzhmäk grunted. “In exchange for what, I wonder.”

  Suddenly Ned felt something, a brief touch of Plasmic energy. He reached out to focus on it, but the feeling was gone. He frowned. “I need to check on Rax.” He hurried down the corridor to the airlock, half expecting a battle to erupt at any moment. He knew the crew was ready to eject their prisoner into space, but the way Rax had latched onto the hull to pull them in, Ned was not sure how effective that would be. He reached the door to find the guards at their posts, gripping their rifles in determined silence. He decided to ask anyway. “Is everything okay?”

  One of the guards smirked. “It is in there.”

  “Can I go in for a moment?”

  “We can’t open the door without orders.”

  “No problem.”

  Ned was not detecting any significant power concentration inside, so after engaging his armor he decided to risk a quick teleport. He appeared in the small room and found Rax huddled in the corner, holding her knees like a frightened child, and she almost appeared to be shivering. Seeing her like that defused some of Ned’s apprehension.

  “You got my message,” she said quietly without looking up.

  “If felt something. What’s going on?”

  “I told you we had to talk.”

  “There’s a lot going on right now. There are people better suited to… debrief you.”

  She just shook her head.

  Ned was starting to feel awkward. “So… how are you?”

  She looked at him then, and although her expression was bitter, the emotion was not directed at him. “That’s an odd question to ask someone who was destroyed weeks ago.”

  Ned was silent, waiting for an explanation of the odd response.

  “Take off your helmet,” Rax said. Ned stood motionless. Dark Viper had convinced him to do that once, and he had almost died. “Do it. We both know I’m no threat to you.”

  Rax had passed up several chances to attack Ned, and she was certainly no more powerful now than she had been earlier. And something about her demeanor told him that he should listen to her. He disengaged his helmet and found to his surprise that the room was not as warm as he had expected.

  Rax stared into his eyes for a long time before she spoke again. “You have no idea what Dark Viper has done to me, Nedward. I thought he was going to give me another Crystal, to give me power again. Nakmar Dren came to me on Palandora and told me that Viper was alive and that he wanted to give me a second chance.” She chuckled sarcastically. “Nakmar was a fool, and so was I. Dark Viper never forgives anyone. He wanted to see if I could be useful again, but mostly he wanted to punish me for my failure.” Rax rose to her feet. “You see this?” she asked, spreading her arms and looking down at herself. “This is all that’s left of me. A hollow shell that vaguely resembles who I once was. I can’t feel. I can’t even see, not really. I just sense the way things resonate with the Plasma around me. There’s nothing left of me, Nedward. Nothing. I thought I could get it back if I defeated you and Mirana, but now even that wouldn’t help. It’s over.”

  “It’s… interesting,” Ned thought out loud. “I really do feel sorry for you. But at the same time, all these hopes and dreams you’ve lost would have involved killing me and everyone I care about. You have to admit that you kind of deserve this.”

  She glared at him then, and some of her helplessness faded. “We are at war. A group of weak rebels resisted those of us who could wield real power. We could have made the Empire strong, you know. It was worth fighting for.”

  “Worth killing innocent people for?”

  “People always die in war. Yes, I killed a lot of them. And yes, I enjoyed using the Plasma. It made me something great. You should understand that. But we lost, and I am ready to switch sides. Why is that so hard for you to believe?”

  “It’s not about what side you’re on. It’s about what you have done. Even if you’re not a threat to us, how can you expect everyone to look past all the horrific crimes you’ve committed? Not just before, but recently.”

  “How is it that different from Mirana Kelar? She was a traitor; at least I made my loyalty clear. And somehow you managed to forgive her.”

  Anger started to boil up inside Ned. He did not have a quick answer, but for Rax to compare herself to Mirana felt downright obscene. “You are nothing like Mirana. He kept his voice low to keep from shouting. “She was fighting for a cause, not to satisfy some sick appetite for power.”

  “I will fight for your cause, Nedward.” There was pleading in Rax’s eyes again.

  Ned shook his head, trying to calm down. “Your contribution will be information. Tell us how to defeat Dark Viper.”

  Kayleen turned away, covering her face with her hands with an exasperated sigh. “Fine. I’ll tell you what I know. Dark Viper is hiding somewhere – he didn’t let me know the location. White Mercury has a Plasma-charged warp booster that will send it long distances, but it takes a long time to charge after each use. The Vortak are revolting creatures that can be imbued with Plasmic energy, but don’t ask me how. Viper is manipulating them somehow.”

  “How did you find Mirana?”

  “Viper still has informants here and there. I knew Nemesis docked at Delta Epsilon. I had sent out a bunch of Ice Vortak to all the nearby planets – you know, low body temperature, easy to hide. The ones on Holdaris Prime detected a security breach and called me.”

  “So there are Vortak all over the Empire?”

  “A few, here and there. I hardly think they’re a threat, especially now.”

  “Why is that?”

  Rax turned back to him, giving him a knowing look, although Ned could not decipher it. Let’s hold that one to the end. Any other questions?”

  Ned thought for a moment. “Tell me about how you gained your power the first time.”

  Rax rolled her eyes. “Viper gave us Crystals and trained us to use them. My story is no different from Koral’s.”

  Right, the man you murdered. Ned managed not to speak the words, not wanting to stop this unexpected stream of information. “What about his plan to combine the Crystals? What was that about?”

  “Again, I didn’t know any more than Koral. I was hesitant to give up the Blast Crystal, but Trelan promised that he would be able to share the power freely once he had combined the abilities.”

  “And he didn’t say anything about how he planned to do that?”

  “He never explained anything. He just showed us what we could do and gave us orders.”

  “Wha
t about the starships, like Devastator and Nemesis?”

  “He did a lot of work alone. He travelled a lot at first, and sometimes he brought us along, so maybe he found some equipment that helped him build things. But however he made those weapons, he did it alone.”

  “One last thing then: Are there any more Plasma Masters?”

  “No. Not that I know of, anyway. Although he did take my armor pin without explaining why…”

  Ned let out a deep breath. He was out of questions, and he felt rather unsatisfied with what he had gotten.

  Rax seemed to sense his line of thinking. “It’s not much, is it?”

  “I guess not.”

  “And do you think Harvey’s people will think of anything more useful to ask me?”

  “Maybe, I guess.”

  She raised an eyebrow sarcastically.

  “Probably not, though.”

  “Well there you have it, then. You’ve reached the same conclusion as I have. There is nothing else for me to do. Here, or anywhere else. All this power, and absolutely no way I can use it.”

  “Well that’s kind of what it means to be imprisoned. These things happen when you’re a war criminal. A terrorist. Everything you have done has been motivated by selfishness – you said so yourself. I’m grateful for the help you’ve given us, and I hope it eases your conscience a bit. But you are going back to Marnax to stand trial and answer for your crimes. Helping us save your life does not make up for what you have done for Dark Viper. It does not bring back Koral.”

  Rax took a step forward, and her expression hardened. “Maybe not. But I’ll tell you something. I am not going to die alone in some prison. I am not going to let Dark Viper think he has defeated me.”

  Ned braced himself for an attack, but Rax just kept talking.

  “I’ve been thinking. I suppose I can’t blame you for not trusting me; I guess maybe it’s true that I’d kill you if I thought it would pay off. After all, in a sense, you are the one who has ruined things for me; you’re the one who destroyed my power. But you didn’t do anything I wouldn’t have done. It was Viper who set this all up. He sent Markan and me out after an invincible Plasma Master while he stayed behind, safe in his fortress. He sent me here alone, without a partner or any real protection or even an understanding of what the plan is. This” – she held out her hands to indicate everything around her – “is his fault. That’s why I’m not trying to fight you, Nedward. If you die and then your friends kill me, then it will just be Mirana against Nakmar and Viper, and I don’t think she could win. I can’t let that happen. Which is why I’m going to release the Ice Plasma to you.”

  Ned frowned. Gaining power sounded promising, but something about the way Rax spoke suggested that what she was offering was not a simple gift. “What do you mean? Since when can a Plasma Master just hand their power over to someone else?”

  Rax looked down, and suddenly she looked so sad that Ned felt worried. “I didn’t say I’m going to give it to you,” she said slowly. “I said I’m going to release it. I’m going to let go of the Ice Matrix and separate myself from it.”

  “I thought you said the Ice Plasma was who you are. How will you survive without it?”

  “You haven’t been listening.”

  And suddenly Ned understood what Rax was saying. She had decided that her life was worthless, and she was planning to give it up in hopes that Ned could make some use of the power she left behind. The thought made him sick, and he backed away in disgust. “No! That is just wrong!”

  “It’s not a discussion.” A thousand emotions seemed to be fighting for expression on Rax’s face. She looked afraid, but her anger and hatred for Dark Viper were evident too. “You have to destroy him. Make him pay. And make sure he knows that part of it came from me.” White vapor started to fill the room, and in spite of the heat coils, Ned felt cold.

  “Feeling helpless does not give you the right to give up on life! I am not going to help you give up!”

  “Don’t waste my power, boy. You need me.”

  “Kayleen, stop!”

  But Rax was beyond reasoning. The haze kept growing, and Ned felt the Plasmic energy around him charging up. It was fading near the edges, though, and Ned instinctively reached out to trap it in. As soon as he did, the haze intensified, and soon it was so thick that he could hardly see Rax at all. He stepped forward and took her by the shoulders, but instead of stopping at a solid form, his hands sort of just slowed down as they reached into a thicker mass of the swirling Ice Plasma. “Don’t waste it.” Her voice seemed distant, as if it were coming from everywhere at once.

  Not knowing what else to do, Ned seized control of the Plasma around him. It still had that icy, foreign sense to it, and it did not really feel like a part of him. But it obeyed him as he drew it in. He closed his eyes and tried to visualize what was happening. He could compress it like he normally did when charging his power, and since it still felt alien, he just tucked it away inside, blocking it in with his own power so it could not escape. It was a very strange sensation, and he all but forgot the reason it was happening until the flow of power stopped and Ned realized that he had captured it all.

  When he opened his eyes, he saw that he was alone.