Prophecy: A Space Opera: Book Seven of The Shadow Order Read online

  Like a bird taking flight, Seb’s consciousness flew over the top of the vast and beautiful stalt palace. When it got to the edge of the structure, it dived, dropping down before it doubled back and entered via the foyer he’d been in earlier. Instead of going the way he’d gone before, he flew in the direction his friends had gone.

  Through the first doorway, Seb came to a long rectangular room. Even with the devastation—the dead bodies and the shattered stalt—he could see how it had once been a place of beauty.

  Something guided Seb and he let it. It dragged him through one of the many open doorways. Then he suddenly stopped. A noise halfway between a gasp and a moan left him as if his consciousness had been on the receiving end of a gut punch. When he got his words back, he said, “Mum?”

  A smile more radiant than he’d ever seen from her before, she stepped towards him and held her graceful hands in his direction. He grabbed them, his view of her blurring through his tears.

  “You’re okay, sweetie. You’ve come to the right place,” she said. “You’ve come home.”

  The cold wind crashed into Seb again, dragging him back to the roof. He now held his aunty’s hands like he’d held his mum’s. While staring at her, a vivid green glow looking back at him, he said, “That was you in the palace?”

  “Your mum lives on in me, Seb. When she was alive, we were close and we spoke often. I know her as well as any being.”

  Seb’s breaths slowed, and some of the tension left his upper body. The pain of loss he’d always carried in his chest eased a little for the experience he’d had. Then he looked at his aunty again, the world in front of him blurring through his tears. “I don’t know what’s real anymore.”

  “This is,” his aunty said as she squeezed his grip. Her hands were warm and soft. They gave him something to cling onto on the cold roof. “This moment right now is real. We’re on the verge of something great here. We’re about to reset the galaxy. We’re going to demolish poverty and inequality. You’ll be a hero. Your mum would be so proud of you.”

  For every second Seb held his aunty’s hands, the pain that had forced his consciousness from his body abated. Almost like she could control it if he let her; like she could give him a truth she wanted him to see. She could show him his mum whenever she chose to. What would he have seen in the palace if he hadn’t met her there? But it made sense for them to end poverty. His head spinning, he barely knew up from down when he said, “What do you need from me?”

  “It’s not what I need; it’s what we must do to heal the galaxy.”

  “But how? What can I do? I keep being told I’m the chosen one, but I know nothing. I can’t do anything special. Not compared to what our ancestors were capable of.”

  A shake of her head, her white hair dancing on the breeze, Seb’s aunty stepped closer and encompassed him with her warmth. The smile he couldn’t see was evident in her voice. “You’re so much more than anyone before you. You just don’t realise it. You saw me when I was reaching out to you, didn’t you?”

  Seb flashed back to when the first transmission went out and he’d seen the Pillar of Peace like SA had. Then when he’d touched it on Kajan. “Yeah, I did.”

  “Not only do you have psychic powers, Seb, but they’re so strong in you; you’re a transmitter too.”

  “A what?”

  “I can help the revolutionaries take over the planets they’re on. If we work together, we can make this a peaceful transition.”

  “But I’ve seen the chaos out there. The chaos you’ve unleashed.”

  “Until now, I’ve had to use the transmitter in the palace. It’s clumsy and basic. With you beside me, I can reach so many more revolutionaries. I can help them make the right choices. I can guide them in real time. The only reason they’re running riot is because stalt is a poor alternative to using you for getting the message out. Together we can guide the revolution. We can restore peace, and when we do, it will be a fairer, more just galaxy for everyone.”

  “Nothing’s making sense to me anymore.”

  His hands still in hers, Seb’s aunty squeezed them again, her voice running through his mind as a soft whisper. Her words loosened his muscles like he’d stepped into a warm bath. “Just let go. Trust me like you would your own mother.”

  A tingling ran through his hands. The same tingling he felt when he healed someone; the same magic at work. She could help him unlock what he had inside. She could help him fulfil his destiny.

  Chapter 46

  Barely the energy to put one foot in front of the other, Reyes almost fell into every step as she ran. The hard stalt floor sent shocks up her legs. Her knees—already sore with fatigue—burned with a deep, throbbing ache.

  Every corridor in the place looked the same. Reyes thought she was heading back the way she came from, but she couldn’t be sure. It didn’t help that she had to view everything through tear-blurred eyes. But she had to keep moving forward. SA would hold onto the leveller for as long as she could. Still, it wouldn’t be long enough. They had about ninety seconds at best.

  Just before Reyes ran around the next corner, she heard the laboured breaths of another being. She stopped. The heavy slaps of her feet would be a dead giveaway of her approach if she hadn’t already blown her cover. The butt of her blaster wedged into her shoulder, she fought against her exhaustion, blinked away her blurred vision, drew a deep gasp, and stepped towards the bend and the being on the other side of it.

  Not in the best frame of mind for a one-woman gunfight, Reyes didn’t have the luxury of time to prepare herself. The second-best option had to be surprise. She jumped around the corner and aimed her blaster at the creature. Before she pulled the trigger, she stopped. “Sparks?” When she looked at the small Thrystian’s sweaty face, her heart sank. She looked defeated. Hardly surprising considering what she’d had to carry. “Bruke?” she said and squatted down next to him, her legs on fire with fatigue. “What have they done to you?”

  His left leg completely gone, Bruke’s eyes rolled from him fighting to remain conscious. He looked at his wound before turning his attention to Reyes. “Sparks …” He drifted off.

  “I had to cauterise it to stop it bleeding out,” Sparks said. “I’m not sure I got to him in time.”

  Reyes ruffled her nose at the smell of burned flesh and said, “He’s still alive, so you got to him in time.” Because Sparks had used both of her hands to move Bruke, he held onto her computer for her. The timer on the screen read one minute and fifty-two seconds, fifty-one, fifty …

  Reyes shook her head while watching it and said, “We’ve got less time than that. SA’s going to blow the transmitter and the palace up with it.”

  The look in Sparks’ eyes suggested she’d already given up, so Reyes pulled Bruke’s left arm around her shoulders. Grimacing from the strain of supporting him, she said, “Lead the way to their hangar. We need a ship to get out of here. We’ll make it.”

  “What about SA?”

  The question made Bruke’s weight seem to double across her shoulders. Reyes shook her head and gasped from her effort and emotional exhaustion. “She’s not coming.”

  Sparks stared at her.

  “If she’s going to blow the transmitter and the palace up, she has to be there.”

  “Has to?”

  “There were hundreds of soldiers there. We couldn’t fight them, so she decided to arm the leveller. She locked me out so I couldn’t follow her. She’s going to hold the army back for as long as she can. When she goes down, the grenade will go off.”

  The spread of Sparks’ purple eyes was magnified by her glasses.

  “Come on, Sparks,” Reyes said. “SA sacrificed herself for us, the least we can do is have the decency to survive.”

  The small Thrystian nodded, pulled her computer from Bruke’s hands, and tapped against the screen. A map appeared. “It’s not far,” she said as she set off ahead of them, her blaster drawn.

  A dead weight on her, Reyes might have hated every
second of her marine training, but it now came in handy as much as it ever had. You had to be able to carry your brother as far as was necessary to save their life. The crystal floors helped. It meant she could drag Bruke.

  Three short corridors later and none of Enigma’s army in sight, they arrived at the hangar. The space looked to take up half of the palace’s footprint. A vast stalt floor, tall walls, and a high ceiling, the hangar had a fleet of ships of all shapes and sizes.

  Still taking the lead, Sparks ran over to a small vessel. Large enough to get them and Seb out of there if they found him, but small enough to be effective in a dogfight. She used her computer to open the back while she ran at it.

  While gasping, Reyes laid Bruke down in the back of the ship before leaning over him and kissing his head. “Hold on in there.”

  “You flying?” Sparks said.

  Before Reyes could reply, she looked across the hangar and caught sight of a line of mechs. She shook her head. “No. I’m going to fly one of them. Two ships in this fight are better than one. Let’s find Seb and get the hell out of here.”

  A moment’s pause, Reyes then leaned close to Sparks and kissed the top of her head too.

  Already wide purple eyes widened as Sparks looked up at her.

  While Reyes stepped towards the ship’s exit, a loud explosion went off in the direction of the ballroom. It shook the ground. The hope she’d held onto that SA would be okay vanished with the earth-trembling detonation. Popping and cracking stalt—she shook her head as the sounds of the failing structure caught up to the large hangar. She called behind her as she ran at the mechs, “We’ve got to get out of here now!”

  Chapter 47

  The tingling that had started in Seb’s hands ran up his arms. Vines of energy, they seeped into him, intoxicating in their languid and warm-honeyed crawl through his being. A slightly woozy feeling as the wind rocked him. The tingling sensation then reached the sadness in his heart. The sadness he’d felt a moment ago when driven back from his aunty. The pain of every being in the galaxy. Of their loss. He let go of his aunt’s hands and stepped back again.

  Serene as she looked at him, his aunty frowned, her long flowing gown riding the elements. “What’s wrong, dear?”

  Without realising it, Seb had put his hand to his heart. It did nothing to dilute the darkness swelling through it. “How do you know this is the right way to do things? Why destroy societies? I mean, should you be going to all these planets and overthrowing governments when you can change things peacefully?”

  “That’s what we’re doing. You’re helping me so we can take the violence out of the revolutionaries. You’re helping me talk to more of the slaves, to guide them to do the right thing.”

  Something in her voice didn’t ring true. Her words were accelerated with the slightly frantic sound of desperation. “But we’re still taking their planets by force. It doesn’t seem right. There has to be a democratic solution.”

  “What? You think we should go to those in power and ask them politely to give it up?” Scorn in her tone, she shook her head. “You think those benefiting most from the way things are will stand aside while we disempower them? Your mum knew better. She saw what we had to do.”

  It made sense, those in power wouldn’t give it up.

  “Democracy doesn’t exist in this galaxy. Our lives are controlled by the games the rich and powerful play. They sell us the illusion of choice, but it’s not real.”

  “But what’s the alternative? We replace their leadership with your leadership?”

  “Our leadership.”

  It was like she was trying to sell him on being in power. He craved a quiet life with—

  An explosion then sounded out. The palace shook beneath Seb’s feet. He saw for the first time something he hadn’t before. A flicker in her green calm. The look of deceit. Something about the explosion had pierced the veil. He stepped back another pace.

  The sound of cracking stalt possessed the palace. Loud pops raced through the structure as it failed.

  As much as his aunt looked like she wanted to project calm, she’d clearly been rattled. A bitterness had risen up from inside her. She thrust her hands in his direction, her charm gone. “We need to do this now. Come on, help me contact the revolutionaries before those in power take it back. Help me do what your mother wanted to help me with all those years ago.”

  Seb stepped back again. The sadness he’d felt only a minute or two ago resurfaced. Stronger than before and somehow more personal. It swelled through him. Something had gone seriously wrong. Something irreversible and his aunt knew exactly what.

  Chapter 48

  The cracking and popping of the palace’s failing structure chased Reyes through the vast hangar. The entire place could come crashing down at any moment and end them all. Where she’d felt fatigued before, adrenaline now spurred her on, surging through her as she ran. The line of mechs in her sight helped her move. Get to one of them and she’d be home free.

  Another sound came to Reyes over the noise of the palace falling apart; the stampede of boots.

  One eye on the way they’d come from, Reyes saw the first of Enigma’s army appear. Halfway between Sparks’ ship and the mechs, she stopped. Those in the ballroom might be dead, but the palace clearly had more guards.

  As she watched more of Enigma’s army stream into the hangar, Reyes looked at Sparks’ ship again. It would be easier to run back to it. She could get out of there with them. But before she moved, the army opened fire on it and the back of Sparks’ ship closed. The small vessel’s shields repelled the attack, the blaster fire ineffective against it. For now. Sparks would have to get out of there before a soldier with a larger gun arrived.

  The whoosh of Sparks’ ship’s boosters rumbled through the hangar as she lifted the small vessel into the air. When she spun it around, Reyes saw her in the cockpit. She threw a shooing motion at her to encourage her towards the mechs. All the while, the sound of the collapsing palace cracked around them.

  Reyes took off at a sprint, large chunks of stalt falling from the ceiling at random points as she closed down on the line of giant metal humanoids. Behind her, Sparks opened fire on the guards, driving them back and sending a shower of crystal spraying up from the ground.

  Despite there being a line of available mechs, Reyes only had eyes for one. When she reached them, she ran straight for the largest of the lot. So tall its head nearly touched the hangar’s ceiling, it stood open, steps leading down from its chest. The steep climb almost too much for her, her legs wobbled as she got to the top, strapped herself in, and started the bot.

  Two button presses and she encased herself like a mummy in an oversized sarcophagus. Before Reyes had worked out how to use it, Sparks came through to her on the radio.

  “Reyes, this place is going to collapse any minute now. We need to get the hell out of here.” All the while, Sparks continued to lay down fire against Enigma’s army, keeping them pinned in the doorway. “You ready to go?”

  After several more button presses, Reyes smiled as the mech lifted into the air. Her favourite thing to fly in the entire galaxy. Although her smile quickly faded; too much had happened for it to last. “Ready when you are, Sparks.”

  A second or two more of shooting, Sparks then spun her ship around and boosted out of there.

  Even through the mech suit, Reyes heard the creaking and groaning of a palace about to collapse. She followed Sparks out into the crystal landscape.

  Chapter 49

  Despite the destruction ripping through the palace beneath his feet, Seb still heard boosters. A second later, he saw a small vessel and a mech rising from out of the building. Several ships burst out after them, clearly trying to hunt them down rather than escape themselves.

  Seb already knew who piloted both vessels, but he waited for the confirmation. Both the mech and the ship flew straight at him, skimming over the roof of the palace. The mech caught up to him first and spoke with Reyes’ amplified voice. “
We’ve stopped the transmission from getting out, but Enigma cut Bruke’s leg off, and SA’s dead. I’m so sorry, Seb. Take her down, and we’ll get the hell off this planet.”

  It took for both Reyes’ mech and Sparks’ ship to fly past before the words truly sank in. Where Seb had been painfully aware of the cracking and popping structure beneath him, it suddenly vanished with his concern for his own safety. His attention back on the woman with the green eyes, he saw the serenity had left her. His fists clenched, he spoke through gritted teeth. “Who are you?”

  “It doesn’t matter who I am. It’s what I stand for.”

  A bubbling rage boiling within him, Seb stepped close to the woman, another shudder running through the soles of his boots. “You stand for evil. Death, destruction, deceit. You might have fooled yourself into thinking you represent something good, but you don’t fool me. Nothing good can come of all the lives lost because of you. The lives lost to brutal regimes that you’ve supported. The lives of the slaves devastated from being forced into a living hell, and the carnage you’ve let loose on the galaxy. Thousands, if not millions, are dead because of you!”

  No more than a background noise, the ships that had followed Reyes and SA out of the palace soared overhead. Their engines wailed and their blasters pulsed as they laid down rapid fire against his two friends.

  A loud crash to Seb’s right broke his focus on the green-eyed woman. A large section of the palace had crumbled and fallen to the ground. It wouldn’t be long before the entire structure went with it.