Chapter 29
When the waiter informed X that Mirana had paid the bill and was not coming back, X finished up and headed home. He was definitely looking forward to sleep. This entire day had been full of stress – Mirana had brought the promise of answers, but her investigation had not only added to his list of questions but aggravated his friends as well. And it was not even over; the moment he walked into his furnished cave, he saw the com system blinking with a request for a secure communication to the Palace.
“Great,” he said aloud, resting his face in his hands for a moment while he willed himself to accept the reality of the call. Reluctantly, he walked over and opened a channel, then sat down and waited while someone told Jenara he was there. It was no more than a minute before she responded, looking unexpectedly worried and obviously upset.
“X. Please tell me you’re with Mirana.”
“No, sorry. We were having dinner, but she seemed to get an idea about something and ran off. I think she’s at the hotel.”
Jenara shook her head. “She launched her fighter and vanished. No one knows where she is.”
“I guess that might be a good thing.”
“I doubt it,” Jenara said with a smirk. “The reason I called you is that the crew finished scanning Quirnik’s ship. It looks like our Shadow Master was followed!”
“What? By whom?”
“Aliens! Vortak! There were some weird scratches on the crate Mirana used to conceal her starfighter, so I ordered a broader scan for life signs. They found it hiding in the storage area – this white insect thing.”
X jumped to his feet, suddenly alert, as if he expected more of the creatures to jump out from his bedroom and kitchen. “It must have stowed away somehow,” he said, thinking out loud. “If we missed it in the scan, Mirana probably did too, and she might not have even been the one to package the fighter.”
Jenara looked exasperated. “X, will you stop making excuses for her and listen? We let her in to prevent news of her trip from leaking, but that thing was probably broadcasting its position the whole time!”
She was right. X just stood there for a moment, feeling helpless. “I’m sorry, I should be doing something now but I can’t think what. The corridor is sealed, right?”
“Yes. I’m planning to send a message to Marnax, although there’s no guarantee that it will reach him in time, or that he’ll do anything if it does. I was hoping you could bring Mirana in for questioning, but if she’s gone, then you should just get some sleep. But if you do see her, don’t let her out of your sight. And whatever you do, don’t trust her!”
X dreamt uneasily that night, but whatever his dreams involved vanished instantly as he awoke to the sound of another urgent com signal. He leapt from his bed to check it, expecting to find Jenara telling him about a Vortak invasion, but instead he found that the call came from Mirana. She was sitting in her fighter’s cockpit, but her helmet was off, and her expression made it immediately clear that something was wrong.
“Mirana! What’s going on? Jenara said-”
“Listen, X. You were right – there is a danger that I didn’t anticipate. You need to evacuate Tibrus City and get your ships to the other side of the planet. I found where my father got his power – it’s an invisible moon in orbit. The ancient Shadow Masters left me a message. There’s something on the planet I need to get, but they consider the dragons an enemy, and they sensed that you might help them, so they threatened to attack you.” Mirana said all of this very fast, and X was having trouble taking it all in.
“Wait, slow down. Where is all this coming from? You’re saying we’re under attack from within the nebula?”
“Or you may be soon. I tried to stop them, but they wouldn’t listen.”
“Who wouldn’t listen? Why would the dragons be considered an enemy?” An icon appeared in the corner of his screen indicating that the transmission was being traced, but he ignored it for the moment.
“It seems that we’re stuck in the middle of an ancient war. Me, Ned, Viper, maybe even the dragons. The empire that wiped itself out centuries ago left weapons for future generations to use to finish off whatever was left of their enemies then.”
“But why attack us now?”
“I told you – I need to get something from the planet. You need to keep the dragons away from me, and get everyone else clear too.”
“Hold on, Mirana. Jenara is looking for you. They found a white Vortak aboard the ship you came on; apparently it stowed away with your fighter.”
Mirana’s brow furrowed, and she was silent for a moment. When she spoke again, her voice was even more urgent. “That is bad news. Obviously you need to keep the corridor sealed. But that just means I need to move that much more quickly. I called you first because I figured Jenara wouldn’t listen to me, although I imagine she’s tracing the line at this point.”
“I understand, but adding threats from within the nebula isn’t going to help things. I think you need to come in and discuss things, so we can come up with a safe solution. This ancient war has to wait until we can sort out the current situation.”
“You’re missing the point. I couldn’t care less about what happened to that empire, but I need their power to fight Viper now. I’ve already run from two Plasma Masters, and if I face them again without gaining some advantage, I won’t stand a chance. I can’t wait any longer, and I can’t let anything stop me. I’m sorry about the station, but I can’t control it. You need to evacuate now.”
X was on his feet now, feeling incredulous about how this conversation was going. “Mirana! You cannot let this planet come under attack! You need to-”
But the transmission was already cut. Instead, General Orvinder appeared on his screen. “We are already on alert,” he said sternly. “But we are not just going to run and hide while Kelar raids our planet.”
“I know.” X could hardly believe what was happening. He felt like he should apologize for something, but his mind was too fuzzy to know what it should be.
“I realize you’re not on active duty, but we could use you in your fighter seat.”
X rubbed his brow, thinking. “Let me go in with Valkron,” he said finally. “The dragons might be able to help. Or tell us something. Or… something.”
Orvinder nodded, already looking off to the side, no doubt planning his next step. “Just hurry.”
Mirana had not expected the information upload from the crystal to take so long; it was almost morning in Tibrus City when it finished. But although she had not slept in more than a day, she felt strangely invigorated, as if the station’s power transfer had affected her physically as well as mentally. The memories themselves were more than she could focus on at once, but the general idea was clear: the Enemy was dangerous, and she needed to recover the rest of the Shadow Plasma’s abilities that had been left for her as soon as possible.
Hearing from X that she had been tracked to Palandora made the situation that much worse, and she knew that there was no way to escape the blame for whatever was about to happen. But she had managed to warn the planet, and that was going to have to be enough. The station was nearly over the spot where her memories hinted her destination would be, in a valley several kilometers from Tibrus City. Not nearly far enough, she observed; Koral could not have chosen a worse spot for his settlement, although maybe he had picked it precisely because he had sensed something important close by. In any case, the orbital weapons platforms and starships were positioned strategically over Palandora’s major settlements, and that meant that they were in prime position to threaten her approach.
At the moment, of course, she was invisible, hovering inside the station’s Shadow field. But as her orbit brought her nearer to the valley she had been watching, Mirana could sense a power build up all around her. Finally they were so close that the scanners showed the pre-dawn light etching out the shape of the mountain range, and the station responded. A quick stream of black energy lanced downward to Palandora’s surface. It rem
ained steady for a few seconds, and Nightsong’s scanners showed its impact point as a cliff face at the edge of the valley. Then there was a green flash, and the black energy ribbon vanished. Somehow Mirana knew that the light meant that the station’s action had been noticed. She had given X all the time she could; she wrapped Nightsong in her own Shadow field, then threw it into maximum acceleration and raced toward the planet.
The battle started long before she reached her destination. The station was still invisible, but the weapons platforms had obviously traced the trajectory of the black energy beam, because they immediately opened fire. The few warships in the system were moving into position as well, including Rax’s old ship, Black Fang, and all of them became immediate targets to the station’s weapons. Mirana inwardly cursed the Palandorans’ stubbornness as she dodged the incoming fire directed at the station behind her. They were just making trouble for themselves, but there was nothing she could do. One of the weapons platforms exploded just as she was passing its orbit. She would just have to hope that the starships would see that as a reason to keep their distance.
Now she was entering the atmosphere, and two more problems caught her attention. The first was the rough circle of dots the scanner showed converging on the spot she was heading for: apparently the planet’s entire dragon population was determined to stop her approach. The second problem was the electronics barrier she had been told about. It was clearly there to keep others from using technology to reach the artifact she was after – whatever it turned out to be – but it also meant that she was going to have to abandon Nightsong well ahead of her goal and continue on foot.
Mirana was still far above her target when her view was blocked out by a sudden flash of green light, which seemed to erupt from all around her. Again she seemed to remember its significance rather than deduce it: the Enemy had activated a security device that filled the area with a diffuse Plasma field. When Shadow Plasma annihilated part of the field, green energy pinpointed the hole it left. So much for invisibility, she thought. The green light died away when she dropped the Shadow field, but of course its effect remained. Nightsong was now a clear target.
The first group of dragons had congregated below her, spreading out to cut off her approach. Mirana almost called X again, but something told her that would be a waste of time. She was nearly to the energy barrier, and she was forced to slow down and look for a landing site. Her ship’s superior speed was useless now; the dragons were already moving in to attack.
Clenching her fist around the flight stick in anger, Mirana selected a good spot to make her landing, but in the same moment she saw that it was no use heading there directly; the dragons would be on top of her in seconds. She was going to have to draw them off. She banked sharply to the left, and four or five dragons changed course to compensate. She was quickly being surrounded.
The closest dragon was almost straight ahead, its purple hide glistening in the pre-dawn light, and Mirana was surprised at how quickly it was approaching. While it was still a long ways off, it opened its mouth and started spraying fireballs at her. She dodged them, but the maneuvers allowed two more dragons to approach from either side, spraying fire as well. And while she knew she could easily avoid them by heading back into space, that would do nothing to help clear her landing site. She was going to have to stand and fight.
Red and blue fire struck her from both sides as the ring of dragons closed, and Mirana knew her time was up. Forcing down a rising sense of guilt, Mirana turned her ship on one of the monsters and fired her lasers. The red energy slammed into the dragon, jerking it backward and sending it plummeting into a spiral, although Mirana noted with some surprise that the lasers had not pierced its body. Mirana quickly turned and fired on the next dragon. It shrieked as the laser fire exploded against it, but the other dragons continued their attack. Nightsong was taking hits from at least three directions at once now, multi-colored fire glowing against the shields. Some of that fire was coming from the dragons she had already hit, but those did seem to be keeping a bit more of a distance, and eventually the attacks died down as Mirana forced others back as well. More importantly, though, the other approaching dragons were now converging on her current location rather than the spot she had picked to land.
Mirana threw Nightsong into a quick turn and sped back over the trees to a small clearing, where she brought her fighter to an abrupt stop just a few meters above the ground and lowered the flight seat. The moment she was on the ground, Mirana triggered Nightsong’s pre-programmed autopilot, sending it quickly up through the atmosphere. In theory, if it made it back to space, it could warp away and remain hidden near the graviton field until she needed it again. Or if nothing else, there was the chance that it would at least draw fire from her.
Now there was nothing to do but run, although travelling over the ground was a little frightening with winged monsters somewhere overhead. Mirana tried out her Shadow field again for just a moment, but the green light was all over her the moment she did, and she quickly let it fade. But then she was surprised by another memory that was not hers, and she tried something else. Focusing the Shadow Plasma inside her, Mirana found that she could boost her endurance as she ran; her speed was not superhuman, but she was able to maintain a sprint for much longer than would have normally been possible.
She continued for several minutes, stopping only once to ditch the flight suit, since it was impeding her movements and the helmet limited her vision. At first, the trip felt oddly invigorating, the rhythmic sound of her boots on the forest floor mixing with the rush of wind as she sped past trees and over roots and stones, the morning light casting long shadows through the branches. But roars from above became louder as she went, and the trees became increasingly sparse the closer she got to the cliff face. It seemed foolish to think that she could reach her destination before the winged hunters above caught up with her.
Valkron clearly had no intention of evacuating. The moment X had explained the situation, the green dragon had insisted that they investigate immediately; X was harnessed in and lifting into the sky before he had even finished filling in the details.
“What is happening?” X demanded as Valkron climbed above the mountain tops. “You have to tell me what you know!”
The Darklings are here. They must be stopped.
“The who? Valkron, I have no idea what you’re talking about!”
Valkron was silent for the moment, but there was enough going on in the sky to hold X’s attention. Laser shots and missiles streaked through the air, both toward the planet and away from it. Some missiles even came burning down through the atmosphere, and X could hear a low, reverberating clang as each struck Tibrus City’s shields. Why the city could be considered a threat was beyond X, but then this whole attack seemed insane.
Then far ahead there was a bright flash in the sky, and X saw what looked like a meteor streaking toward the ground, trailing green light. A moment later the light faded, and a black starfighter emerged. Valkron’s anger was palpable in X’s mind, but he offered no further explanation. Even so, it was becoming clear to X what was going on, even if the reasons remained a mystery; he could see dragons approaching from several directions. Many were much closer to Mirana than Valkron was.
“She doesn’t want to hurt you,” X said, even though he had already explained this. “She’s on our side. Can’t you convince them to hold back?”
The Darklings left their pollution on this planet. We were left to guard it. The Masters are already in danger. We cannot fail them.
It was still a cryptic response, but it was more than Valkron had said to X about Palandora’s past than he had in all the time they had been together, so X decided to accept Valkron’s determination at face value.
“But can you stop a starfighter? It’s faster, and it has shields. And missiles.”
It cannot protect her forever.
Again X was unsure what Valkron meant, but the activity far ahead of him drew his attention. Nightson
g was slowing, and several dragons were moving to intercept it. X held his breath as Mirana moved closer to a group of them. Was she really going to fight them? And then several dragons attacked, each tracking Nightsong with concentrated bursts of energy or long trails of flame. It was only a moment before Mirana returned fire.
“NO!” X called out futilely. He could not believe what he was watching. Nightsong’s lasers swatted away several dragons as if they were merely a nuisance, then turned and disappeared down into the trees. X was relieved to see that the dragons had somehow survived the attack, and inwardly he found himself wishing that Valkron could approach more quickly. Then Nightsong appeared from the forest again, heading straight into the sky. Was she leaving?
Now you see, Valkron said. She has left her vehicle. She will be stopped.
X’s heart sank again. “She’s not the enemy,” he said, although he was not sure whether it was to convince Valkron or himself. “You attacked first, and she didn’t kill anyone.” But Valkron was silent now, intent on covering the distance that separated him from the dragons up ahead. The sun came over the mountain tops as they flew, and X gained a better view of the dragons’ search. Then one of them started blowing fire into the trees, and X guessed that Mirana had been spotted at last.
Mirana changed direction quickly to avoid the orange fireball that came hurtling out of the sky, not slowing her pace even though her entire body was starting to ache. She dodged the blast, but the heat and debris that rushed toward her from the side stoked the sense of panic that was already building inside her. She was an expert at hiding, and she was used to combat. But running in plain sight from enormous monsters like this was beyond anything she had ever expected to face.
More fireballs came out of the sky, and Mirana realized that the dragon was ahead of her and closing. She was close to the cliff face now, but not nearly close enough. She was going to need to buy herself some time. As she had done in her fight with Nakmar Dren, she brought the Shadow Plasma up in a wide field around her to provide a screen. The green light returned, but Mirana kept the black energy above the level of her head, spreading it out in all directions like a low cloud. She could still see in front of her, but hopefully anything attacking from the sky would have to guess where in the sheet of energy she was. It seemed to be working; while orange fireballs burst through her barrier of dark haze and green light, none of them struck her.
Moving like this drained her though, and she had to proceed at a slower pace. So Mirana was hardly even surprised when the orange dragon that had been firing at her landed a short distance ahead, shaking the ground as it crashed through the tree branches. Mirana hid behind a tree and gathered her power, waiting for the fire attack that she knew could not be far behind.
The dragon did not disappoint her. It inhaled deeply, then spewed a stream of orange fire in a slow arc, splintering trees and kindling their branches as it went. The trunk of Mirana’s tree protected her from the direct blast, and a shield of Shadow Plasma absorbed some of the orange light that surrounded her briefly. She was actually a little surprised at how small the residual fires were; perhaps the dragon’s breath was more Blast Plasma than flame. But in any case, it was clear that she could not survive many attacks like that. As terrifying a prospect as it was to face such a huge creature, hiding was not going to gain her anything. Mirana focused the Shadow Plasma within her, steeling herself for a final dash to the cliff face. Then she ducked out from behind what was left of the tree and ran.
She spotted the dragon immediately, moving toward her on all four legs, scanning the area with its huge head. It saw her too and turned, but Mirana was ready. She sent a stream of Shadow Plasma directly into the dragon’s face, obstructing its sight long enough for Mirana to gain some distance; she was now closer to the cliff than the dragon was. She could hear it lumbering after her, crashing against tree trunks as it moved, and she turned to fire again. This time she was too late, though – a stream of orange fire came at her. She put everything she had into a Shadow field, which she wrapped around her as she dove behind another tree. The heat was painful this time, but again her power blocked most of the attack. When it ended, Mirana turned and fired another shot into the dragon’s face. It flinched, twitching its head back as the black energy struck its eyes and mouth. The term is “Shadow Master” for a reason, Mirana thought with a flash of satisfaction, but then she was running again. She was there – she was clear of the trees, and the cliff was right in front of her, so close that she could see the narrow split in its face that the station had marked for her. Wherever it led, it was far too small to allow a dragon to pursue her through it. She was almost there.
And she would have made it if not for the red dragon that dove down from above, slamming into the ground in front of the cliff opening so hard that Mirana nearly lost her footing. It was huge, towering over the tree tops as it reared up on its hind legs. She could see that it was already charging a blast of fire, and this time there was no cover. Mirana came to a stop, searching helplessly for an idea of what to do, but even as she charged her power she knew there was no defense against this creature. She was still standing there helplessly when it opened its mouth to incinerate her.
Suddenly a shadow passed overhead, and something huge slammed into the dragon, knocking it down and causing its shot to go wide. It happened so quickly that Mirana still did not know how to respond. This new creature was a dragon as well, but its appearance was markedly different from the others. It was jet black and much smaller, less than a quarter the size of the creature it had just rescued Mirana from. Its build was more skeletal than muscular, with abnormally long claws and a mouth that opened almost vertical, exposing rows of teeth so long and sharp that they looked like they would actually get in the way of eating, almost as long as the spikes that lined its back. The eyes were different too, just glowing red slits rather than the almost-human eyes of Valkron. What Mirana noticed most, though, was the frenzied way this black dragon moved. It seemed to strike with all of its sharp surfaces at once, clawing and biting at its larger enemy, immediately drawing blood through skin that lasers and Shadow beams had only been able to irritate.
A blue dragon had now flown within range from behind without Mirana even noticing, but apparently she was no longer the primary threat; the unexpected beam of blue energy struck the black dragon instead, throwing it clear of the red one, which was still blocking the path forward but was now hardly moving. The black dragon recovered quickly though, springing to its feet and firing a blast of dark fire at the orange dragon, which was now close behind. Mirana fired a Shadow beam at the blue one that was now descending toward her, but she had scarcely gotten it off when she heard a voice in her head. Run, it said simply.
Mirana had no problem complying with that. With two dragons actively attacking her and countless more roaring in the all-too-proximate distance, approaching the wounded red dragon was clearly the safest course. She scrambled toward it even as the black dragon leapt past her to attack the orange one, blocking more fire attacks with its body and firing on the blue dragon almost in the same act. Mirana reached the fallen dragon and had to scramble over its twitching tail. She was just over it when she turned instinctively to see green fire streaking toward her. She ducked behind the red tail, which somewhat ironically shielded her from the dragon fire, but the delay cost her. The originator of the green fire was already settling to the ground. It was not blocking the entrance to the cave, but it had a clear shot at it, and the black dragon was tied up with three others now. Cowering behind the coils of red dragon hide that were her only defense at the moment, Mirana suddenly recognized the monster crawling toward her. Although the murderous gaze was perhaps no different than what she had seen from the other creatures that had tried to kill her today, this dragon was distinct in that it had a thin leather harness wrapped around its middle. And standing on the creature’s back, eyes wide with shock, was X.
“Stop this!” X cried frantically, both to Mirana and to Valkro
n. That horrible black creature was pinned down for the moment, slashing at the dragons that held it to the ground with their larger bulk, somehow enduring their repeated fire attacks. Other dragons were on their way, but it seemed they would be too late. Mirana was seconds from the entrance in the cliff face, but if she moved from her cover, those seconds would give Valkron plenty of time to incinerate her at this range. And he was creeping closer.
Then, to his surprise, Mirana stood up and raised her hands. “Wait!” she said. “This is crazy! I’m done running!” There was something a little odd about the look in Mirana’s eyes, but as she spoke she stepped out from the cover of the red dragon’s tail and started moving toward X. Valkron was holding his fire though, although X could not tell whether that was because he was willing to talk or simply because having her closer would make it easier to fry her. But X relaxed a little. If Mirana would just come with him, maybe they could resolve this whole crazy battle right now.
He was about to say so when Mirana abruptly dashed forward, a band of green-clad darkness streaking out of her hand. Valkron’s fire must have missed, because a second later X was tumbling out the harness that Mirana’s shot had just severed, and an instant later he was on the ground with a slightly twisted ankle and a black hand laced with green light across his throat.
Get clear, Valkron ordered, stepping back just slightly.
“What’s keeping you?” Mirana was taunting Valkron, and X’s mind was reeling with the impossibility of the whole thing. But with her hand clamped onto him with black energy surging out of it, the state of danger was hard to deny. She jerked him back a few steps, still facing Valkron. “What’s wrong? Isn’t my death worth more than his life?”
Valkron took a step forward, but Mirana tightened her grip so much that X had to gasp for air. The roar of the other dragons was getting closer, and Mirana jerked him back to the stone wall of the cliff. “Do not try to follow me.” Her voice was low and menacing, and X found himself beckoning for Valkron to back away.
Get clear, his mysterious friend ordered again. She must not escape.
X was dragged back several more steps, and then abruptly he was free, doubling over as he panted for air. A sense of untamed rage flooded his mind as Valkron stepped forward, and X turned to see that Mirana had ducked into the crack in the cave, which was just a few steps away from him now.
Move! Valkron was clearly positioning himself to send a blast of fire into the opening, and X almost moved away to give him a clear shot. But something held him back; this all felt wrong. Even given the danger Mirana had plunged Palandora into, X could not help but acknowledge that Mirana had been defending herself almost since she had arrived here, and she had tried to prevent all of this. The black dragon had freed itself now, and it was eying the crevice that Mirana had disappeared into intently. X had only a second to decide: he could run for cover, and Valkron could undoubtedly carry him to safety. But if he did that, he might never know what Mirana was up to, or why this insane battle had gotten started in the first place. If she really wanted him dead, surely she would have killed him already. Looking into Valkron’s eyes, he simply shook his head, hoping his friend would understand. The black dragon was already moving toward X when he turned and disappeared into the cliff.