HIS DAUGHTER, SAEDII, REMAINED LOYAL, AND WHEN SHE AND TYLER WERE TAKEN PRISONER BY THE GIA, HE MADE IT QUITE CLEAR THAT HE WAS PREPARED TO BLOW UP EARTH TO GET HER BACK.
LAST SEEN: PSYCHIC-WRESTLING AURI FOR CONTROL OF SAID WEAPON.
SAEDII GILWRAETH—THE SCARY SISTER. WHILE KAL AND HIS MOTHER LEFT CAERSAN AT A YOUNG AGE, KAL’S SISTER CHOSE TO STICK WITH HER FATHER. SHE NOW SERVES AS ONE OF HIS TEMPLARS, COMMANDING A HUGE AND TERRIFYING BATTLESHIP, AND A SIGNIFICANT PART OF HIS FLEET.
SHE’S BEAUTIFUL, SHE’S DEADLY, AND SHE’S GOT A NECKLACE OF FORMER SUITORS’ THUMBS AROUND HER NECK, SO YOU SHOULD REALLY THINK TWICE BEFORE YOU TRY HITTING ON HER.
AFTER A COUPLE OF THE UNBROKEN PICKED UP KAL’S NAME DURING A BAR FIGHT BACK ON SEMPITERNITY, SHE TRACKED THE GANG FROM EMERALD CITY TO THE WRECK OF THE HADFIELD, WHERE SHE TOOK THEM PRISONER. AFTER THAT CAME THAT WHOLE THING WITH THE DRAKKAN PIT FIGHT, AND SHE AND TYLER WERE TAKEN PRISONER BY THE GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY. THE GIA, CORRUPTED BY THE RA’HAAM, WAS TRYING TO START AN INTERPLANETARY INCIDENT TO DEFLECT ATTENTION FROM ITS QUICKLY RIPENING NURSERY PLANETS. IT’S ALL REALLY QUITE COMPLICATED.
SHE GRUDGINGLY ADMITS TYLER TURNED OUT TO BE SEMI-USEFUL DURING THEIR ESCAPE.
LAST SEEN: MAKING A BREAK FOR IT WITH TYLER JONES.
THE ESHVAREN—THE MYSTERIOUS ALIENS. EONS AGO, THE ESHVAREN FOUGHT THE RA’HAAM TO STOP IT FROM TAKING OVER ALL LIFE IN THE GALAXY, AND THEY WON.
WELL, ALMOST.
THE RA’HAAM WAS ACTUALLY DRIVEN INTO HIDING, WAITING APPROXIMATELY A BAZILLION YEARS TO REGAIN ITS STRENGTH.
KNOWING THEY WOULDN’T BE AROUND BY THE TIME ROUND 2 KICKED OFF, THE ESHVAREN SEEDED THE GALAXY WITH HUNDREDS OF SPECIES—ALL BIPEDAL, CARBON-BASED, AND CAPABLE OF COMMUNICATING WITH EACH OTHER, A PREVIOUSLY UNEXPLAINED EVENT THAT PROMPTED THE FORMATION OF THE UNITED FAITH. SCHOLARS WILL NEXT TURN THEIR MINDS, NO DOUBT, TO THE QUESTION OF WHO MADE THE MAKERS.
KNOWN FOR THEIR BEAUTIFUL CRYSTAL ARTIFACTS, THEIR FLEXIBLE RELATIONSHIP WITH TIME, AND THEIR GENERAL MYSTERIOUSNESS, THE ESHVAREN CREATED THE ECHO, WHERE AURORA TRANSFORMED HERSELF FROM STRESSED-OUT TIME TRAVELER TO A BRAIN WARRIOR WITH A SINGULAR PURPOSE.
THE ESHVAREN TOLD AURI SHE COULD ONLY SUMMON THE POWER SHE NEEDED IF SHE FREED HERSELF FROM ALL THE TIES THAT BOUND HER TO HER OLD LIFE. BUT AURORA REALIZED IN THE END THAT THOSE TIES WERE THE REASON SHE WAS WILLING TO FIGHT.
LAST SEEN: BEING EXTINCT FOR EONS.
THE RA’HAAM—THE RELENTLESS AND SINGLE-MINDED (LITERALLY) ENEMY.
THE RA’HAAM HAS BEEN TRYING TO TAKE OVER THE MILKY WAY SINCE TIME IMMEMORIAL, AND AFTER ITS LAST GREAT DEFEAT AT THE HANDS OF THE ESHVAREN, IT RETREATED TO TWENTY-TWO OBSCURE NURSERY PLANETS, WHERE ITS LAST SURVIVING SEEDS COULD SLOWLY GROW BACK TO HEALTH BENEATH THE SURFACE. NOBODY WAS COUNTING ON THOSE PESKY TERRANS COLONIZING THE PLANET OCTAVIA, WHICH WOKE THE RA’HAAM FROM ITS SLUMBER EARLY. IT TOOK OVER THE BODIES OF THE COLONISTS—INCLUDING, ALAS, AURORA’S FATHER—AND USED THEM TO INFILTRATE TERRAN SOCIETY.
A COUPLE OF CENTURIES AFTER THEY WERE ORIGINALLY INFECTED, THE OCTAVIA COLONISTS HAVE WORKED THEIR WAY INTO POWER, NOW CONTROLLING THE GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, EARTH’S SUPERSCARY BLACK-OPS AND PLANETARY SECURITY OUTFIT.
THEY ARE LED BY PRINCEPS, WHO IN MIND IS SIMPLY ANOTHER PART OF THE RA’HAAM, BUT IN BODY IS AURORA’S DAD.
THESE INDIVIDUAL AGENTS CANNOT GENERATE THE SPORES NEEDED TO INFECT OTHERS—THEY ARE ONLY GUARDING AGAINST FURTHER INTERFERENCE WITH THE NURSERY PLANETS, WHERE THE RA’HAAM HAS NEARLY FINISHED GROWING BACK TO FULL STRENGTH.
EVENTUALLY THOSE PLANETS ARE SET TO BLOOM AND THEN BURST, SENDING SPORES OUT THROUGH THE FOLD TO EVERY INHABITED PLANET IN THE GALAXY, WHERE THEY’LL INFECT ALL INTELLIGENT LIFE, MAKING IT A PART OF THE GREAT, MERGED INTELLIGENCE THAT IS THE RA’HAAM.
HUNTING DOWN AURORA AND THE REST OF SQUAD 312 TO KEEP ITS SECRET SAFE UNTIL THE OTHER TWENTY-ONE NURSERY PLANETS WERE READY TO BLOOM AND BURST, THE RA’HAAM TOOK TYLER AND SAEDII PRISONER. THIS KICKED OFF AN INTERPLANETARY INCIDENT THAT LED TO THE STARSLAYER THREATENING TO BLOW EARTH TO SMITHEREENS UNLESS THE GIA GAVE HIS DAUGHTER BACK THIS VERY MINUTE.
LAST SEEN: IN PURSUIT OF TYLER AND SAEDII AS THEY RAN FOR IT. BUT IT’S EVERYWHERE, REALLY.
MAGELLAN—OH, HI, THAT’S ME! I’M NOT GONNA LIE. I’VE FELT BETTER THAN I DO LATELY—I GOT ZAPPED INTO BROKEN TOWN WHEN AURORA TOUCHED AN ESHVAREN PROBE WITH ME IN HER POCKET, SO I HAD TO ASK AROUND TO PICK UP SOME OF THIS INTEL FOR YOU. I’M CURRENTLY, UH, ON A FARM IN THE COUNTRYSIDE, WHERE THERE’S LOTS OF ROOM FOR ME TO RUN AROUND.
BUT MAYBE I’LL BE BACK BEFORE THE END OF THE STORY TO SAVE THE DAY? SOUNDS LIKE SOMETHING I’D DO… .
FOR NOW, STRAP IN, MY FRIENDS, BECAUSE WE’RE HEADING BACK IN.
ONCE UPON A TIME, THERE WERE A BUNCH OF CRAZY KIDS WHO REFUSED TO LISTEN TO THEIR ULTRA-INTELLIGENT UNIGLASS FRIEND… .
1
ZILA
I am rarely surprised. In any situation, I habitually calculate the odds of all possible outcomes, ensuring I am prepared for every eventuality.
Nevertheless, I am extremely surprised to discover I am still alive.
I spend six seconds in open-mouthed shock, blinking slowly. After that, I press two fingers to my neck to check my pulse, which is rapid but unquestionably present. This suggests I am not experiencing an unexpected version of the afterlife.
Interesting.
A glance out of the cockpit viewshields reveals nothing—no stars, no ships, simple blackness. On instinct, I check our failing sensors, long-range and short. Strangely, I do not see any sign of the enormous battle that was raging around us moments ago, just before the Eshvaren Weapon blew itself apart—an incident with no possible outcome but our complete incineration.
Impossible as it may be, the entire Syldrathi armada, along with the Terran and Betraskan fleets, and the Weapon, have … vanished.
… Interesting?
No. Unnerving.
I let my training take over, instructing the ancient navcom on our Syldrathi ship to catalog all visible stars, FoldGates, and other landmarks or phenomena and then advise on our present location.
Wait. Our.
I flick on comms. “Finian, Scarlett, are you still … ?”
“Breathing?” comes Finian’s voice, a touch uneven.
“Apparently so.”
A wave of relief washes through me, and I do not attempt to prevent it. It is inefficient to combat such sensations. Better to let them pass naturally.
“I am one confused boy right now,” Fin continues.
“Didn’t we just … explode a moment ago?” Scarlett asks.
“… Lemme check,” Fin replies.
I hear a small squeak. A soft sigh. A long moment passes, and I am almost tempted to send a query when Finian speaks.
“Yeah,” he finally reports. “We’re definitely still alive.”
“I am investigating,” I advise them, as the navcom pings softly. “Please hold.”
Consulting the ship’s guidance systems, I feel a small frown forming between my brows. Not only is there no sign of the massive battle that should have killed us, there is also no sign of the planetary bodies of the Terran solar system. No Neptune, no Uranus, no Jupiter.
In fact, I can detect no stellar features at all, near or far.
No systems.
No stars.
We have … moved.