6. The Dreams of the Hopeful
RageChild disconnected the comm-interlink, and willed the rifter to waking mode. As she felt the engines and support systems energized, a comm channel opened. A Sebiestor man appeared in the HUD, shaved head and quiet gentle eyes looking at her with love and interest.
“Acharya?”
“Hello sister. I come to you as a matter of urgency. I need you to come to the monastery. There is an incident, and I need a Matari I know and trust as I do you.”
RageChild reached out to touch his face, and she thought, How foolish. It is just gel. The experience with Airgoidh had shaken her a bit, but she answered firmly. “I am setting the navigation data now. I will be there in . . . . seventeen minutes.”
“Very good sister. Hurry.” The face of the Acharya vanished like a reflected mirror image in a pond disturbed by falling rocks.
“Sister, we must prepare. I am opening a link to my contacts in the Masuat'aa Matari. Set your nav-comm to Onga.” Nothing came in response. RageChild spoke again, verifying her comm channel was open. She opened a comm-interlink next, but her mind became clouded with images that flashed so fast she had to close the interlink to avoid nausea. “Sister?”
Scanning her sister’s ship, she found nothing wrong with the ship, however, Airgoidh seemed to be unconscious. Activating the gang tethers, RageChild remotely controlled the other rifter and activated the course to Onga. Acharya would be able to help her sister. She floated in the gel as the ships jumped from stargate to stargate, and she felt fear. Her sister had foolishly trained skill packs that she did not seem prepared for, just one year out of school. She was afraid – space madness had no cure.
Thinking of Acharya helped calm her anxiety about her sisters, one imprisoned and being interrogated, the other unconscious, possibly mad. The message played by the Degraded calling themselves the Sect of the Warden needed attending to, and likely Acharya needed her to assist the Masuat'aa Matari in obtaining their race’s anti-dote. Why had these Degraded taken the Sun Warden panel? Why were they claiming to be members of the long dead Sect? That old bartender, Zayard, had told them that the ronin and the Degraded had worked closely together in the past – what did that mean? She could only guess. In the past, were the ronin and the Degraded as a whole known as the Sect of the Warden?
The rifters entered Onga, and she tried again to open a comm-interlink with Airgoidh – only nightmares of Matari being tortured and visions of a great sea battering the land relentlessly. Sickened, she was glad when the rifters began their descent into the planet’s atmosphere. Acharya would be able to help Airgoidh.
The monastery was but a speck on the edge of the mountain as their ships approached. A red dusk was setting, and RageChild saw that additions had been made to the complex. The hangars of Beyond Reach had been upgraded to accept much larger vessels, and as she passed overhead she saw additional living quarters. If not for the exposed antenna network, she would have just assumed a simple Matari religious sect lived there.
Nothing about Acharya was simple.
“Be well sister RageChild,” the Acharya said, his voice even and collected, as it always had been even in times of great crisis. He bowed, and she followed.
“Be well this evening, brother.”
The Acharya waived several monks over to assist in moving Airgoidh into the infirmary, the blue and black robed men moving silently and efficiently to transfer the ronin from the ship’s pod to the stretcher.
“Walk with me, sister,” the Acharya said, turning away into the gardens. She saw that he was taking the rose garden path, and for the first time in days she smiled. Only this monk’s dedication and wisdom, combined with the beauty of the roses had helped to stabilize her mind when she first was brought here by Republic Security forces. That was almost three years ago. Mute, without memory, she had come under the passionate and intelligent care of the Acharya of Beyond Reach.
She followed him, staring at the monks as they plucked Airgoidh from the gel. One of them yelped as the woman was removed, stepping back, wringing his hand where it had touched the gel.
“They will care for her,” the Acharya said, continuing to walk into the rose garden. “I know they will,” she replied. “I fear she has space madness.”
Though he had not turned to see the monk’s strange reaction to touching the gel, he said, “A strange form of madness, indeed, that infects gel.”
RageChild ran to catch up with her mentor, standing head to head with him, slowing to match his pace. “She said she trained on one of those SOCT skill packs, Acharya. I think she trained on more than one.” She always used his title as his name, actually never having learned his name at all. He was simply Acharya.
The Acharya tisked, waving her over to the farthest corner of the rose garden, and to the seat overlooking the mountain cliff. “In one that young? The Jovian technology is not to be trifled with.”
RageChild sat down, turning to face along the long waist high wall of the garden. Her mentor sat next to her, arms folded and his face unreadable. That was always his way ... unreadable, calm and collected. She had seen him get excited only once, when she first spoke. That was the only time.
Below her, the mountain cliffs of the Onganese Mountains dropped into mist and darkness. The red dusk was barely perceptible now, haze mostly, as the sun warmed other parts of the planet. Closer to the tropics, the heat of the day continued. The monastery sat on top of the cliffs in terraced levels, with a single tower sitting closest to the ridge behind them. The new hangars were cut from the rock below them, and activity could be heard from the cutouts even now.
“Sister, I need you to work with Khaldorn Murino of the FoM to locate and obtain the antidote. I have no doubt you heard the message from the Sect of the Warden?”
“I heard it. I have already contacted the Masuat'aa Matari to determine their reaction, and I will do as you ask. I . . . I . . .”
The Acharya turned to her, taking her hands in his. He seemed to be searching her eyes for something. “What troubles you?”
She tightened her hands in his, and leaned closer. “Many things, brother. I am . . . confused. So many things.”
“Then pick one. Once we have discussed it, pick another.”
She hated that. He had always been the one to remind her of the simplicity of life. Matar’s Hell, she hated that. “I think that my sisters and I helped to give these Sect of the Warden the opportunity to begin their mission of death.”
He nodded. “Yes, most likely.”
She scowled. “That’s not very helpful.”
“Helpful? I am stating a fact. I have seen reports of what has happened on Amamake VI. I have seen the news claiming the awakening of ghosts there, and the comms chatter spoke of Amarrian deaths. It was a simple matter to see the link between you as a ronin and these other events.”
“I came here for compassion, monk,” she said, half angry, half calm.
“Do not mistake me, sister.” The Acharya let go of her hands and stood, turning to face her. He looked out across the mountains, pointing. “Compassion is out there perhaps. Only logic works here.” He tapped his head. “You stated that you felt you had assisted these Degraded with their plans in some way. That is true. But then, you or someone else would have helped them. It does not take much effort for madness to find an outlet. Perhaps you might blame this generations’ choices in music or holo-vid recreation as well.”
“But . . .”
“No, sister. Madness needs no assistance.”
“That still isn’t helpful.”
He laughed, and his voice could he heard echoing down the cliffs. “Helpful is what we will do for your sister-of-faith, as I did for you.”
That was the truth of it. She had been brought to Beyond Reach, barely cognizant, trying to make sense of a world in which she did not recognize even the simplest of things. She found speech hard, and people stared at her, so she choose to remain silent. She felt anger at them for staring, and she often lashed out. Many a day had seen some poor monk running as she chased him down for giving her a wrong look. She had been born, for all intents, that day in that cold metal tube. What had happened before, she could not remember.
“Helpful,” the Acharya said, breaking her reminiscing, “Is doing your duty for the Matar, tonight . . . now.”
She stood and took his shoulders. “Take care of my sister, and I will manage the work needs doing.”
“Of course you will,” he said. “Here are some memorandums we collected, mostly internal to the sender and his corporation.” He handed her a PAD, and pushed her toward the hangar. “Tonight is better than . . “
”Tomorrow,” she finished. She turned on the PAD as she walked toward the hangar.
**
To: PIE officer
From: Gaius Kador
Status: Internal
“During today’s briefing session, I was made aware of an unusual escrow deal being offered to PIE at the Emperor Family station in Amarr. Taking it upon myself to investigate, I summoned a recon wing before claiming the escrow in question. I will withhold the destination point until further investigations have been completed, but our findings were interesting. The wing warped in on seven abandoned Impairor class vessels, and long range scanners showed no potential hostile craft within 10000 clicks. Ordering my wingmen Nemesis I and Khyan to hold position at the site, I returned to HQ and boarded a Crucifier class intelligence gatherer.
Upon my return, the abandoned vessels were scanned. Their mounted load-outs proved uninteresting, but their cargo was another matter entirely:
- RIN Soul of Amarr - 1 Viral Agent, 1 Khumaak, 1 Corpse (Jafi Aphuka)
- RIN Servant of God - 1 Viral agent, 1 Khumaak
- RIN Warden - 1 viral agent, 1 khumaak
- RIN Adamant - 1 viral agent, 1 khumaak
- RIN Faithful - 1 viral agent, 1 khumaak
- RIN Resolute - 1 viral agent, 1 khumaak
- RIN Righteous - 1 viral agent, 1 khumaak
After a brief discussion with the PIE personnel at the site, it was decided to take the vessels in question into PIE custody and move them to a quarantine site some 1000 clicks off the original location of the Impairors.
Bookmarks to this location can be obtained by contacting myself.
All the ship systems have been disabled, the cargo left intact save for the corpse of Jafi Aphuka, which has been properly sealed off and moved to PIE HQ for medical testing.
However, medical results can take a while to analyze, as such I suggest we test the viral agent out in containment at the quarantine site, exposing slave livestock to the viral agents. This is clearly some vile Matari plot against the Empire, and we should uncover the truth to this matter as efficiently as possible.”
End Report
+++ BEGINNING REPORT +++
To: FoM Command
cc: Mastuat'aa Matari Command
“Commanders. I have recently taken upon operations without the jurisdiction of your command. I can only hope my course of action was the right one. After noting with interest intercepted communications about these death ships, I noted contact with Acharya and managed to retrieve the last known co-ordiantes of these 'Death ships'. Along with brother Darax and sister AngelGrinder, we proceeded to Amarr space to locate these ships and see if we could deduce what was happening.
Upon arrival at co-ordinates we found no evidence of the ships, however, Darax managed to locate the ships sitting 1000k out and we proceeded to this location. Upon arrival we found 7 Amarrian frigates and a cargo container.
The cargo container contained . . . sorry commanders, the sight shook me somewhat, as the man was in a bad condition. We found a Matari, a slave judging by the slaver marks on him. He was unconscious and in a serious condition. I transferred the slave to a quarantine section of my hull as rumors had persisted of a viral agent on these ships.
Upon scanning the 7 ships we located Khumaaks and a viral agent upon each. After discussion with my fellow pilots, we decided to take a sample of this viral agent safely quarantined within my cargo hold and the Khumaaks for analysis. We destroyed all the ships after we had retrieved the items. We judged that from what information we had gleaned this viral agent was very dangerous and could ill afford it getting into the wrong hands.
I am now on my way out of the system and am requesting orders as to the safest place to take these objects. I suggest a remote outpost. Speed is of the necessity as the slave we rescued may not last much longer.
Also commanders . . . there was a number of PIE in system, they knew of our presence, and I have no doubt they knew of our destination (though I may be mistaken here) but we were not challenged or engaged and were able to make our escape without seeing a single enemy. I find this... perplexing.”
Awaiting Orders ASAP
Khaldorn Murino
+++ END REPORT +++
To: PIE officers
From: Gaius Kador
Status: Internal
“My brethren. I expected your full support during this operation, and even though my methods have been brought into question, I dare you question my results.
Medical examination of the retrieved corpse is currently underway, but we have no results to speak of as yet. It might become necessary for us to enlist the assistance of the infamous Jericho Fraction geneticist Athule Snanm to obtain the intel we are looking for. He has no equal within his field of expertise.
However, as predicted, the following cycle of events have taken place. Intelligence leaks due to the low security rating of my former briefing made terrorist elements aware of the ongoing debacle. The subsequent 'easy to find' quarantine post was located by the very same terrorist elements.
They would not only happen upon the ships at the site however, I had previously taken it upon myself and a tech crew to deposit a slave at the site, and subsequently exposed him to the agent. I take full personal responsibility for this fact, but neither will I share with you the credit for my action.
As noted by Tharrn, the CEO of Primus Pilum, a loyalist corporation, I have reasons to believe the ships were primed at essential installations in the heart of our Empire. Two in Amarr Prime, one each in the regional capitals of our Heirs.
By 'allowing' the terrorist elements access to the quarantine site, they did our work for us, as I just recieved confirmation that all seven Impairors have been destroyed.
Make no mistake. I wanted this site found, I wanted the slave retrieved and I wanted them home with their cargo intact.”
“I wanted them to witness their own abominable creation at work.
As an amusing side note, we received no communication of the Khumaaks present in the holds being destroyed along with the ships, as well as the names of known terrorists reported by CONCORD as being responsible for the destruction of said vessels.
They simply saved us the hassle of eventually destroying the vessels ourselves. The infected slave has also been removed from the site, as predicted, and is most probably now in some scrapheap Matari station, infected by the vile sickness they themselves sought to inflict on us. Let him now infect his own kin instead, if the Matari be careless enough to break containment procedures.
Let them fight to find a cure, if my suspicions are correct regarding the slave in question, there is little hope for him as I made certain he had in no way been exposed to any chemical substances in advance.
Knowing the freedom fighters and their ilk, I would suspect either a trigger for the viral agent to activate, OR the PRESENCE of such to keep it IMPOTENT. What better trigger to keep the viral agent impotent than vitoc?
My only regret now is that I did not deposit a vitoc reliant slave in the containment alongside the clean livestock. He could then witness the same subhuman sufferings his 'saviors' would want to inflict upon thousands of innocent lives. IF my assumptions are correct, of course, but I am rarely mistaken.
We must be prepared for eventual repetitions of this action, and certainly the Matari scum have in their possession a sample of the viral agent by now, but it does not matter.
So do we.”
End Report