Star Force: Lost Destiny (Wayward Trilogy Book 1) Read online

  “I know,” Esna said, all but a whisper as Rammak handed her a datapad and saw them exit the ship, but on the reverse camera angles there was no Ma’kri visible, only the open hangar and it quickly disappeared.

  “Are the V’kit’no’sat watching?” she asked, suddenly worried.

  “Not that we know of,” Javvin explained, “but no one knows this base is here and the less visible we are in arriving the better, so the Ma’kri will stay hidden while it is in the system.”

  “Can they see this ship?”

  “It is much smaller, but yes. If they are here and near, they could. We would not be going down if we thought so.”

  “They have invisible ships too, right?”

  “Some, but arriving in a system can give away even a hidden ship, for the impact velocities of stellar radiation are difficult to fully absorb. There are many tricks to hide and find ships in space, but if the V’kit’no’sat knew of this place it would have already been destroyed. And we are careful to keep its existence a secret.”

  Esna changed views on the datapad, watching them head down towards the atmosphere and the totally white planet beneath her grow in size.

  “So this is goodbye?”

  “It is,” Nor’far said warmly, but it still made Esna feel sad. Especially knowing that someday Rammak would leave her too. She didn’t know how she could stand that, for he was her only center of calm in this new world. “You have a great opportunity before you, Esna. Take your time to adjust, but make use of it and we may see each other again someday.”

  “By becoming a Commando?”

  “Those who fight and do not fight are usually separated from one another out of necessity, and with trillions of people in Star Force the odds of us meeting again either way are slim.”

  “Trillions? That many have survived?”

  “Yes. Trillions out of what used to be far more. The galaxy is a very large place, Esna, and fortunately it is not hard to hide trillions.”

  She looked back at the datapad as the black sky disappeared and a lightening blue replaced it as they dipped down into the atmosphere.

  “How many are here?”

  “Not many. This base and others service those of us who travel the Devastation Zone, but there are more than on this ship. Watch, listen, and learn as you travel. Embrace the opportunity and choose to set aside your jitters. You belong with us, so don’t fear what you find down here.”

  Nothing more was said as Esna watched their approach. Setting aside her jitters was impossible right now, so she just tried to enjoy the excitement. The Ma’kri had been a huge change, but this was an entirely different planet!

  Esna focused on that and pushed all other worrying thoughts aside, though they kept pace on the fringes of her mind as she saw the first bits of surface features pop up. Those tiny specs soon expanded into huge mountains of ice, most of which were flat on the top, and by the wind speeds noted she guessed the depressions around them had been eroded away and the camera wobble attested to the strength of the winds outside, though she felt none of it from where she sat.

  They flew along at about level with the highest mounts for several minutes before dropping down into a narrow ice canyon network where they traveled through a labyrinth of twists, turns, and caverns before the sky spread again and they came out into a wide valley bracketed by huge ice walls miles off in the distance. Rather than flying out onto the plain, the dropship turned and hugged the side of the wall behind them, with Esna now realizing it was more than a mile high as she messed with the scaling on the camera views.

  Following the ground and passing over snow dunes, the ship eventually came to another crack in the wall that led to a cavern that swallowed them up as they entered. They traveled a couple more miles with the walls getting darker and darker until a source of artificial light appeared in the form of a long rectangle, inside of which her eyes finally recognized as a hangar bay that got bigger and bigger as they closed in, becoming so huge Esna couldn’t believe it as their tiny sliver of a ship slid inside, passing through an energy shield that kept the cold and winds out, for the status readouts immediately shifted, as did the gravity reading. The .4 outside switched over to 1.0 as soon as they were inside the field, but Esna barely noticed the numbers as she saw all manner of ships inside…including something that looked like giant metal monsters standing in rows along one wall, as well as set back inside nooks that may have led to elsewhere.

  “Welcome to Tauntaun,” Javvin said, seeing her wide eyes. He stood up and his helmet reformed, holding in his bioluminescence, and Nor’far followed suit beside him with them both becoming hidden behind their black/red armor that no longer showed any signs of battle damage.

  “Good luck, Esna,” Nor’far said as they walked past her, heading to the lowering boarding ramp. “Commando.”

  “Maverick,” Rammak replied with a respectful nod, but he didn’t rise until they were halfway to the ramp. Esna turned off the datapad and put it back in its slot on the wall then stood beside the Calavari’s huge leg awkwardly, not wanting to get even a few steps away from him.

  “I won’t leave you. So try and relax and just go with the flow. All you have to do is walk beside me. No running this time.”

  Esna cracked a smile, but her jitters were still there. “Promise?”

  “Promise,” Rammak said as he started to walk out.

  Esna followed behind him, then took a few quick steps going down the ramp to come up beside him as they walked across the huge deck toward where she didn’t know, but it wasn’t the same direction the Mavericks were going. They were headed somewhere to the left between the parked ships while Rammak was taking her…

  Esna turned around suddenly, stagger stepping to keep pace with Rammak as she saw their dropship take off again, spinning its big wings around almost overtop their heads and heading back for the rectangular energy field separating them from the ice.

  “They’re going back to the ship?”

  “The Ma’kri only came here to drop the four of us off, and that dropship is assigned to it.”

  Esna watched it disappear from view into the semi-darkness beyond the hangar entrance, then she turned around and stayed in step beside Rammak, her jaw hanging low as she took in everything around her. It was big, stationary, and just oozing with superiority…totally unlike the ruins on Mace she and Rammak had been living in as they fled across the planet.

  Eventually she started to spot people moving in various points around the hangar. Some near the ships, but most were along the far walls and in the nooks that got larger and larger as they walked, eventually turning into docking bays of some kind. Esna had no idea where they were going, but thankfully Rammak did as he took them towards one particular doorway, passing by not just Calavari but a whole slew of other races…including what she recognized as Bsidd.

  They were insanely weird, with no central body and just an interconnecting network of what looked like tubes that led to so many arm/leg things that she couldn’t count. Even their heads weren’t one solid piece, and many of them were of different sizes and shapes, though all had some type of uniform covering their various parts, though how you would put one on a body like that was beyond her.

  “Do they talk?”

  “Everyone here speaks the Star Force language, though each race pronounces it a bit differently. There are a few races that physically can’t, but they have computerized translators to do it for them,” he said as they were getting near the tall doorway, but before they reached it a person in a dark blue uniform walked out and looked right at her, smiling widely and waiting for them.

  And he was Human.

  “You are the two recovered from Mace, I assume?” he asked as Rammak walked up to him and looked down on his black hair, for he stood almost the exact same height as Esna, who couldn’t take her eyes off him. The Archons had been in their armor for the brief time she’d seen them, but this one was in a soft uniform somewhat similar to what she wore, though his meant he was an
‘Attendant.’ That wasn’t a warrior, but an assistant that helped other personnel…or at least that was what the brief description Esna had read earlier said.

  “We are,” the Calavari said. “I am a Commando and she is a rogue Human, origin unknown. I am taking responsibility for her until we can reach a proper maturia.”

  “As you wish. There is none here, as you are probably aware, and we don’t get many ships in that come from beyond the front, but both of you are welcome to wait here as long as needed. Are you alright?”

  It took Esna a moment to realize he was talking to her, then she blinked herself away from the swirling emotions running through body and mind.

  “I…yes. I’m ok. I just…haven’t seen other Humans for…”

  “I’m sorry,” he said, his face saddening. “The report I read said you had been recovered, but it didn’t detail your history. Who have you been living among?”

  “Calavari and a mix of others. Besides my brother there were no other Humans. The Archons that saved us were the first I’ve seen since my father died, and I was hurting so bad I don’t remember much of them. You’re the first I’ve really had a chance to look at.”

  “You’ll be seeing a lot of Humans here,” he said, throwing a ‘that’s bad’ glance at Rammak, but in a way that Esna didn’t pick up on. “But let me be the first to welcome you properly, little sister,” he said, taking a couple steps forward and wrapping her up in a big hug.

  She didn’t hug back at first, shocked at the feel of the physical contact, but when he didn’t relent she wrapped her arms around him and felt his face pressed against the side of hers…and it was the best feeling she’d ever had, so much so it brought tears to her eyes. She swiped them away when he let go, surprised at the sudden swell of emotion. He was like Teren, but different, and for a moment her head swirled in conflicting memories until Rammak put a big hand on her shoulder.

  “How old are you, Esna?”

  “21…no, 22 of your years. Star Force years,” she corrected.

  “Very young then,” he said, but in a way that wasn’t rude. “Well, let’s see to getting you two quarters…”

  “We’ll be sharing quarters,” Rammak interjected.

  The attendant looked at Esna again. “I understand. I’ll get a second bed and a suitable stack of clothing and maintenance items for you. As always, the equipment rooms are open to you, Commando. I trust you can find your way around?”

  “Unless you have made drastic alterations, I will be fine.”

  “800 years? Is that correct?”

  “It is.”

  “On behalf of everyone on this base, we are honored to welcome you back. For us it’s like bringing back one of the long dead and spiting the V’kit’no’sat at the same time. There are many people here who would like to meet you. Both of you,” he added, looking at Esna. “How a Human managed to survive alone out here is unbelievable. If it is alright, I can take you to them now…or after you get settled in, if there’s too much to process.”

  The attendant looked at Rammak when he said that, but Esna knew he was referring to her.

  “It’s ok. I’ll get used to it.”

  “You sure?” he asked, concern on his face.

  “Are there more Humans?”

  He nodded. “Yes, quite a few.”

  “Then I want to see them. Please.”

  The attendant nodded politely and smiled. “Follow me.”

  Rammak gently shoved her ahead of him and Esna followed the Human through the giant doorway and into a corridor that connected to many others, eventually leading them to a lift car they stepped inside with the doors closing in front of them. The back wall was clear and she could see it start moving against the surrounding walls until they were flying through the building…then the walls suddenly disappeared and her breath caught in her throat.

  “A bit of green in the middle of the snow,” the attendant noted as the 3 mile wide interior park visible outside their car was covered with tall, thick trees with so many leaves you couldn’t see the ground underneath. Esna had never seen anything like it before as they dropped lower and lower with the green mass coming up towards them. They passed through it in a flash and back into a mechanical tunnel, but the speed of their passage slowed and they eventually came to a stop…then started moving sideways for nearly a minute until the walls disappeared again and they were looking down on a sea of people walking through an open air city as the lift came to a final stop.

  The doors behind them opened, but Esna didn’t turn around. Her eyes were glued to the crowds of people, seeing a lot of scattered Humans amongst them, until the attendant’s small hand pressed against her shoulder.

  “You can see them in person this way.”

  Esna blinked out of her trance and looked at him, then the open doorway and the people passing by outside. She walked out first, seeing walls on the far side but no ceiling above them…at least not for several hundred meters, then it was flat and hard to see, for there were glowing holograms covering it in a haze that gave light to everything beneath.

  “Big?”

  “Very,” she said, seeing another Bsidd walk by, standing as tall as Rammak.

  “This way,” he said, leading them to the right and letting Esna take the middle, bracketed by the attendant ahead and the reassuring presence of Rammak behind her. They walked down the corridor then down a wide set of stairs, bringing them out on a promenade that gradually curved against a drop off down to a lower level some 10-15 meters below. They walked along the railing with Esna looking down at the people on the lower level moving on various paths and coming in and out of kiosks.

  “I thought everyone here was a fighter?”

  “Everyone here is involved in the war, but we’re not all Commandos. There are no civilians here, though. Everyone is part of Clan Ninja Monkey or Clan Mantle, with me being the latter. We’re the best of the best and had to earn our way here, but do not think you’re out of place. After what you’ve survived, you’ve more than earned your stay here, no matter how long it may be.”

  “Thank you,” Rammak said as Esna continued to stare at everything and everyone around them, with her eyes gravitating to a much larger crowd down below, and it wasn’t until they came to another stairwell that she realized that was where they were heading.

  “That’s for us?” she said, seeing too many people to count.

  “Too much?” the attendant asked, stopping walking and making it evident that they could turn around now if they wanted.

  “I didn’t expect…they all want to see Rammak?”

  “And you.”

  “What am I supposed to say?”

  “Nothing. Anything. They just want to meet you and hear your story, which I’m sure the Commando can handle if you don’t feel like talking.”

  “Is our survival that uncommon?” Rammak asked.

  “Unfortunately, yes. The V’kit’no’sat have been incredibly…thorough. A few others have been recovered, but none from as far back as you.”

  “Esna?”

  She reached out and grabbed Rammak’s lower hand. “Ok, let’s go.”

  “Come with me and meet your new family,” the attendant said friendly, leading them down and out into the empty space on the very full courtyard at the base of the stairs with Esna seeing many races, but there were several Humans, both male and female, waiting for her. All of them were full grown and wearing various Star Force uniforms, not to mention displaying welcoming smiles that melted her heart and her hesitancy the moment Esna saw them.

  She squeezed Rammak’s hand when they got within a few steps of the crowd, letting him know that she’d be ok but that she wanted him to stay close, then she stepped over to the Humans and one of the women wrapped her up in a big hug followed by the others. Her tears returned as others swarmed around Rammak, but he made sure to stay within a few steps of her as the brotherhood he’d always told her was Star Force suddenly became real and smothered her with a kindship she’d never know
n before.

  Esna didn’t try to swipe away the tears this time, simply letting them run as people talked to her and she answered a few questions while accepting many hugs and congratulations, finding she had many more brothers and sisters…and that was a feeling that made everything she’d gone through in the past weeks worth it.

  Esna didn’t understand much of what was going on around her, but she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was finally home.

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