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Outside - The Reflection
:: 01-01-31 ::
Chapter 17: Echoes of the Battle Cry
“Lock the door.”
Tasiin realized he could not feel the Beastslayer anymore. Instead he only had his former Bound body, which seemed to be holding his mind comfortably. He looked and saw the doorway. It, to his surprise, spoke.
Come. We were too harsh before. Join us, and nothing bad will happen.
“Nothing bad will happen to you, but the Universe will fall.” Tasiin turned and saw Datlai standing opposite the door.
We know you better.
“Knowing does not imply understanding.”
Come.
“Close the door.”
Come.
“Stay.”
“Why am I here?” Tasiin asked.
“To make a final decision.”
Choose. Choose wisely.
“But the others have made the decision-“
“Have you made one?”
They do not listen to you.
Tasiin turned his back on both of them. “Why can’t you simply let me keep the decision as my own? Why must everything be so difficult? Why are you doing this?”
Neither replied.
He faced the doorway and Datlai. Tasiin approached the door again. “I told you we would leave you alone, and that we wouldn’t harm you if you let us be. I did mean that.”
Tasiin then faced Datlai. “I told you that I loved you. I did mean that too.”
Come.
“Lock the door.”
“I won’t harm you,” he said, to both of them.
He approached the door, intent. He touched the aperture, then started to gently pull it closed. But the darkness beyond began to overwhelm him.
You do not want to do this.
“Who are you to say that?” Tasiin asked.
Who are you to say otherwise?
Tasiin felt something like paralysis with his question. He could not move either way. He could do nothing.
“I never wanted this.”
“But you have it.”
*****
Tasiin felt as if he just woke up. He checked life support, which had a normal status, and then the other ship systems. Everything worked normally. The dream had been only a few milliseconds long in reality. He checked his former Bound body, finding it to have a somewhat lower level of activity.
He was uncomfortable about the whole experience.
Do you ever dream? Tasiin asked the Bentusi.
We do not dream as you put it, the Bentusi replied. We do not even rest like your kind do.
Why did I just have a dream, then?
We do not know, the Bentusi said. We had only sensed confusion. Perhaps it was a remnant of your Bound life.
Perhaps, Tasiin replied. He really did not believe that, but he had little other explanation.
In his frustration, he directed the trans-hyperdrive as a limb, touching the space around him. He shaped it subtly, imposing a wavefunction on it. Gently space-time responded, bending slightly for him.
Tasiin stroked the space around him, which responded with faint ripples of gravity. As Tasiin practiced the newfound skill, he found a Hiigaran Scout at the periphery of the fleet, adrift after a computer malfunction. It had sent out numerous distress calls, but it would take time for Repair Corvettes to reach the Scout.
With his nascent fingers of gravity, he took the Scout and pulled it back. Tasiin drew it near the Beastslayer. He let go of it when the Scout was near a Carrier. As the trans-hyperdrive still pulsed at the center of the Beastslayer, Tasiin went back to planning for the trip Outside, still unconsciously caressing the nearby space.
*****
“Say again what you want me to do,” said the Imperial captain who had warned the Beastslayer fleet of the T-Mat.
“We want you to contact the Imperialists and convince them to not attack,” Dolann Kaalel answered. “We have already presented our side to the Council. The Imperialists and the Turanic Raiders are the only source of opposition to us among the younger races. They may still cause the younger races to hold back their support. If, however, all of the Bound races unite, some of the Bound races will reconsider letting the T-Mat attack us.”
The captain sighed from frustration. “I have nothing personal against you, the people of the Beastslayer project. But we cannot forgive your races.”
“The Imperialists cannot forgive us?” Kaalel asked. “We did not burn a planet because of a forgotten treaty.”
“Or murder civilians who did not bow down before the Emperor,” Shanal Alo added.
“I agree that the burning of your world was a bit extreme, as was the Emperor’s tendency to kill all who opposed him. But you - starting a civil war despite millennia of tradition, storming across the Galaxy to demand a world that hasn’t been you for equally long…What were you thinking? Had you been more patient, the Emperor would have become so paranoid that the military would have…arranged…a quite change of power. The new Emperor would have been more reasonable, and might even have worked some sort of compromise with you Hiigarans,” the Imperial captain said.
“And what were we supposed to do? Wait on our prison world for a few centuries while the desert advanced on us until you came out of the skies and announced it was safe to return?” Kaalel said.
“You are falling into conflict,” the Bentusi said. “Even when you were trying to avoid it.”
“Was I that foolish to think we could be one when I told you that we had the same origin?” Tasiin asked.
The Imperial, the Hiigaran, and the Taiidan Republican looked at each other for a long moment.
“Perhaps you should tell him about what he will get in return for his cooperation,” Tasiin added.
A large holographic projection of a Taiidan Imperial Assault Frigate appeared in front of the Imperial captain.
“The Protector of the Throne,” the Imperialist breathed.
“We captured your ship after your little attack on us,” Shanal Alo said. “If you do send a message on our behalf, we are willing to give it back to you.”
“What about my crew?”
“We still have them aboard the Beastslayer, in holding cells. We will release them to you upon sending the message.”
After considering, the captain said. “This will not be easy. I have one condition…two, perhaps.”
“What are they?” Kaalel asked.
“First, that a few of our ships whose captains I trust form a battle group.”
“How many ships?”
“…About a dozen frigates, and a destroyer,” the captain replied.
“That is a lot to be asking for. But considering the size and power of our fleet, we could risk it,” Kaalel said. “What is the second condition?”
“This is minor, but…you gave my ship that stupid white and green color scheme, didn’t you?”
Shanal Alo sighed.
“You want it changed back to yellow and red?” Kaalel asked.
“Actually, I have always wanted to see my ship in black.”
“The color of those closest to the Emperor,” Shanal commented.
“And eventually of your beloved Captain Elson,” the Imperialist added.
“Fine. If you help us,” Kaalel said, “We will make your ship any color you want.”
“Excellent.”
“You served during the Hiigaran War?” Shanal Alo asked.
The Imperialist nodded.
"So did I. Out of curiosity, what is you name?”
“My name is Tequal Nal, formerly of the third Imperial fleet.”
“Shanal Alo, formerly of the third Imperial fleet, now of the first Republican fleet.”
*****
“The launch to Outside nearing,” a holographic projection of Tasiin Limandatt’sa said. “Civilians are being moved to carriers. You will have to leave soon.”
The three other Limandatt on the Beastslayer, with their Manaan patron, stood around the projection in a semicircle. They looked at him somberly. Uncertainty filled the air.
“We will miss you,” Kanell Limandatt finally said.
“As I will you. You have mad the transition to this,” Tasiin gestured to indicate the ship, “Being Unbound, a little smoother.”
“I am not of your kiith, but I feel as if I am a part of it,” the Manaan said. “After this is over, I will join you.”
Tasiin nodded in acceptance. Then, the Hiigarans made farewells, a ritual in many ways the reverse of greeting. The fact that one of them was only represented as a hologram did not seem to matter. Finally, with the ritual complete, some of them began to turn around.”
“Come, Datlai,” one said to her, who still held her hand over where Tasiin’s heart would be.
“Go on,” Datlai replied. She did not turn as she spoke, making no other acknowledgement of the others. The other Limandatt, besides Tasiin, bowed and left the room.
“Tasiin, I do not want to leave this ship.”
At first, he did not seem to understand what she meant. But then, he froze as if in fear.
“Datlai, what will you be proving if you get your wish? If you stay here - the universe - “
“What will I prove then? That I can meet my end a few hours later as the T-Mat attack? Or that I could spend the rest of my life as an exile from the galaxy - and probably at the mercy of whatever has become of the Naggarok launchers?” Datlai replied.
“If you go Outside, the entity will certainly kill you.”
“As I just said, death is certain. I only have to choose the method.”
“Civilians are being allowed to leave for Hiigara.”
“None of the others of our kiith are going there. There is little for us there,” Datlai said.
Tasiin did not reply. Datlai knew realization was sinking in. He seemed to be dreading the idea of her going Outside, but there was something else in his expression. Datlai noticed that he looked as if the Universe had played a cruel trick on him. It was the same feeling he displayed when the dream he had on the Mothership replayed in the night, torturing him.
“When I go Outside, you will be a…representative. You will be keeping me from yielding to Outside.”
Datlai solemnly nodded, not quite sure what Tasiin was thinking.
“Outside pulling me, you holding me back,” he whispered. Tasiin seemed overwhelmed. “But it will happen. It must. There is no other way.”
Datlai wanted to hold him, reassure him. She knew, though, that she could not touch the hologram and that any attempt to do so would look foolish to him and empty to her. Datlai also knew she did not quite understand what distressed Tasiin.
Tasiin closed his eyes and his holographic projection faded out of existence.
*****
“I am picking up an anomaly, bearing 315° by 20°,” Thenar Soban reported in the Beastslayer war room. “Analyzing…it is a T-Mat frigate!”
“Intercept it,” Dolann Kaalel ordered. He looked at the main display, which zoomed in on the Frigate.
“Moving frigates to intercept,” Soban said. “The T-Mat Frigate is moving away.”
“I am reading an energy surge from the Frigate. It’s going to jump,” Pukna Somtaaw said.
“Destroy it before it warns the T-Mat!” Kaalel ordered.
“Firing!” Soban replied.
Kaalel saw twenty ion cannons lash out from a wall of frigates that closed in on the T-Mat ship. As the ships neared, the lumbering, slow Frigate did not turn to fire. Instead, two Kushan Ion Cannon Frigates suddenly stopped their acceleration and began drifting.”
“The T-Mat have taken control of your ships,” the Bentusi warned. “But their influence is limited - their minds cannot hold any others.”
Kaalel watched in dismay as the Ion Cannon Frigates turned and fired on the wall of ships pursuing the T-Mat vessel.
“Do not fire on the ships the T-Mat undermined,” he ordered. “Is it showing damage yet?”
“Only minor amounts! That ship has outrageous amounts of armor!” Soban exclaimed. “One frigate has taken heavy damage from the subverted ships.”
Kaalel clenched in fists. On the viewer, the Frigate moved constantly, despite being pounded on by ion cannons, heavy turret fire, and plasma bombs.
“There is an energy spike. Hyperspace signature detected!” Pukna Somtaaw added.
“All ships firing at full power! Ion Cannon Frigate in the red…destroyed! Subverted ships attacking another ship.”
The war room’s central display showed a hyperspace window appear in front of the T-Mat Frigate. The blue glow moved along the vessel, then closed.
“It’s gone,” Somtaaw sighed resignedly.
“The T-Mat will not be gone for long,” Kaalel said.
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