Chapter 7

Reckless light, ever ablaze. 

Anguish dripping from the darkness.

Madness reaching out of the screaming void.

The silver threads of reality reaching out. 

The fearless heart of the brightest star. 

The sol was racing across the sky and was dipping behind the horizon. The rim of the Myriad crater casting long shadows down over us. I looked up at the last sliver of the sol as it dipped out of sight, the last rays of light bouncing off the Star Rift’s hull as it went. As the light blinked out, a small shadow rose from the edge of the crater and took flight. A desert raptor. It had been years since I had last seen a bird. Its wings fluttered as it rose higher into the sky. It disappeared into the fastly approaching darkness. 

I sat in the sand a short distance away from the ship. Saeris patrol activity ramped up in the days after our adventure to Ryver. The Star Rift sat among the rock outcroppings; a thin layer of sand mostly obscuring the silver hull. I took a deep breath, inhaling the scents of the sand. The saltiness of the air burning at my nostrils and the scent of decaying cedar leaving an unpleasant taste in my mouth.

I watched them materialize out of the corner of my eye. With a huff, Gabriel flopped down into the sand next to me. I eyed them. They slipped off their gloves, dropping them into the sand, and ran their hands through their hair. The blonde strands falling around them. 

“You’re not going to disappear on me again, are you?”

They turned their head towards me slightly, those gray eyes meeting my stare. They furrowed their brow at me. 

“You’re anxious. You do things like this,” I gestured to them, their hands still knotted in their hair, “when you’re anxious. You never tell anyone why you’re anxious and then you disappear for a few passes.” 

“Oh,” they said. They let their hands fall to their knees. 

“I know it never helps when anyone asks this question, but why are you anxious?”

Another huff and they leaned over, hugging their knees to their chest.

“If,” I began quietly, “it’s about what happened at Ryver, you can talk about it. I should have disarmed that soldier but all I could think about was making sure Jev wasn’t in the crosshairs.”

It scared me, they thought towards me. I reached over and snagged their left glove. I slipped it on and held out my hand to them. They laced their fingers through mine. I saw Jev covered in blood. Leaning over you. I thought you were dead.

“You screamed. I’ve only ever heard a scream like that once before…”

They didn’t say anything. They held their head up slightly, looking towards me…and flopped over onto me, their head laying in my lap. I bit my lip to keep from laughing. I let my bare hand twist through the strands of their hair, careful not to touch them. I felt their fingers running over my thigh, drawing little swirling patterns. 

“I can’t promise to not get hurt, but I can promise to be more careful.”

“You, Nash Vega, careful?” They finally said aloud. There was a slight laugh. I squeezed their shoulder. 

“Yeeeeah, that’s a promise I most definitely will break.” 

“You are reckless,” they said. They rolled slightly onto their back, looking up at me. I let my hand rest on their chest. They reached up and caught my gloved hand. “But you are also fearless.”

I smiled at them. I was a lot of things; reckless, rash, impulsive, and even careless at times. But I wasn’t fearless. I am scared of whatever lies just beyond the light’s edge, hidden away in the darkness. Uncertainty drives me because I don’t want to die. I want to survive. 

“You are fearless,” Gabriel said. “You didn’t think twice about throwing yourself in front of Jev. That’s twice since you’ve met him, by the way. You are confident in your abilities that you don’t have to think twice about things. You are terrified of Saeris but that doesn’t stop you from fighting back. Your entire life, you have been fighting back. And…you befriended me. You took my hand when everyone else wouldn’t even look at me. You’re not afraid of me.”

Tears pricked at the back of my eyes. “I’m not fearless. I’m just trying to survive.”

“You have to be fearless to survive.”

The tears slipped free from my eyes. Gabriel held up my hand, using the back of their glove to wipe away my tears. I couldn’t help but laugh. 

The sounds of footsteps met our ears. Several of the others were stomping down the cargo ramp. Zeb and Addi walking together, both gesturing wildly with their hands. Aubrey was walking backwards down the ramp also gesturing around, Kannan and Samirah following her. Addi and Zeb busied themselves in some of the crates that had been left in the sand. Kannan and Samirah stood at the bottom of the ramp as Aubrey stood in front of them, seeming to be frantically describing something. Samirah glanced over her shoulder at us, a smirk on her lips. 

Kannan and Aubrey stepped off the ramp into the sand. Aubrey jumped around in the sand, her hands held up as if she was about to punch at someone. Kannan grinned at her and shook his head. He reached out and grabbed her hands. He folded her fingers into a fist. He held onto her wrist and elbow, moving her arm in a swift and smooth motion.

Gabriel rolled off my lap and sat up. I passed their glove back to them as they stood up. They held their hand out to me and pulled me to my feet. We made our way back to the others. A chill settled into the air as the last slivers of light disappeared from the sky. Inky darkness settled around us, only the faint light from the ship illuminating a small patch of sand. 

“One swift movement,” I heard Kannan say. Aubrey held up her fist and with a smooth and fast movement, thrust her fist out in front of her. The perfect punch.

“Good, buuuuut,” Samirah began. She grabbed Aubrey’s fist. “No one fights fair.” She stepped between Kannan and Aubrey. She bent her knees, dropping her stance a few inches. “You aim to incapacitate. You need to make enough time for you to get away.” Samirah threw her fist forward. And right into Kannan’s abdomen. A strangled yelp escaped from Kannan’s mouth as he fell to his knees. Samirah screamed. She dropped to her knees next to him and threw her arms around him as she yelled apologies. 

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” she squeaked. 

“I don’t think you’re supposed to apologize to the enemy, Sam,” Gabriel said as we came to them.

“Yeah,” Kannan managed to say in a strained voice. “Don’t apologize to the enemy.”

Aubrey snorted a laugh as she held her hand over her mouth. Zeb walked over to us, Addi trailing behind me. 

“I know the intention was good,” Zeb began, “but how about we start with something that Aubrey already knows well?” He held up his hand and one of the little robotic bugs that he built sat in his palm. 

I watched Aubrey’s eyes widen. There was a new spark in them. She held out her hand. The little robot bug began twitching. The little mechanical parts of its tiny body began rearranging themselves. Little wings sprouted from its back. The wings fluttered and it hovered over Zeb’s palm before shooting toward Aubrey. It settled into her outstretched palm. 

“I didn’t make that with wings,” Zeb said. “She did that with just a thought. Let’s give her tech that she can use defensively.” He walked over to Samirah and helped her pull Kannan back to his feet. 

“Aubrey does have immense talent,” Kannan said, his voice still slightly strained as he clutched at his stomach. He looked back at Aubrey. “I know you’ve taken down entire server hubs. For fun. You sync with starships. That’s how you pilot so well. What else have you tried?”

Aubrey shrugged. “I can sync with most things that have an electrical current.” She glanced at me briefly. “Well most mechanical things with an electrical current. I can’t push electricity into something that doesn’t have conduits.” She gestured to me. “That’s what Nash can do.”

A strange look crossed Zeb’s face. He pulled up his right sleeve revealing the deep matte black metal of his prosthetic arm. “Can you control my arm?” he asked her. 

Pure curiosity filled Aubrey’s eyes. “I’ll try,” she said as she closed her eyes. I could see her eyes fluttering under her eyelids. Her fingers twitched at her sides as if she was tapping away. 

Zeb’s wrist twitched slightly. A huge grin spread across his face. His fingers curled into a fist. His fist flexed back open and then closed again. His arm bent at the elbow and then his shoulder rolled back bringing his arm and fist back alongside his head. He made a sound that I could only describe as amazement. 

“That was my shoulder,” he said, almost astonished. 

Aubrey made a soft squeak. “Mmm. Biological currents are strange. They require much more concentration and caution. I can only reroute them. Force them to go where I want. Your brain is telling the prosthetic that it can move and then I’m telling it how to move.” She let out a sigh and Zeb’s arm fell back to his side. He held his hand back up and flexed his fingers. Aubrey pressed her fingers to her temple. “I also have to pay attention to current feedback. That’s how I got your shoulder to move. Your shoulder joints aren’t part of your prosthetic so I channeled the excess electricity back down the same conduit and it made your shoulder muscles pull back.”

“That is so fascinating,” Zeb said. “That’s fucking amazing.”

Aubrey looked back at me. “What does electricity feel like for you?”

I furrowed my brow. “Uhh…” I have been able to feel electricity for so long that it just feels like an extension of my body. Another limb. I had forgotten what it really feels like to touch it. “Like cold needles pressing into my skin. Cold veins running against me.” 

“I feel heat,” she said. “Almost like a burn. I feel coldness in objects that are absent of electricity-like machines that have been cut from their power sources.”

“You feel the power source,” Gabriel said. Aubrey looked up at them. “And then tell the machine what to do with that power.” Aubrey nodded. Gabriel glanced sideways at me. “You are a power source and a conductor.” They looked back at Aubrey. “You can sync with your ship. When you do that, everything is at your fingertips. All of the functions. What about weapons? Is it the same?”

Aubrey bit at her bottom lip. “I try to stay away from weapons. I’ve never tried to control a weapon that wasn’t part of a starship.” Kannan and Zeb looked at each other; a scheme building in their eyes. 

Gabriel turned towards me. I’m not running away, they said before disappearing. A very exasperated groan escaped from my mouth. 

Aubrey looked over at me. “What are they doing?”

I shook my head and shrugged. “Not running away, but it definitely seems like that.”

Aubrey smirked. Zeb caught her attention and they went to looking at the many robotic bugs that Zeb had made. Samirah and Kannan were talking to each other in quiet voices. I turned back to the ship and looked up the cargo ramp. Neither Jaymes or Jev were to be seen. But Addi had planted herself at the top of the ramp, a tablet balanced on her knee. 

I looked back up at the rim of the crater. The stars above were starting to sparkle. Faint silvery veins inked through the blackness of the sky. Every now and then a streak of white would flare as something collided with the planet’s atmosphere. I enjoyed watching the sky at night. It was always moving; creating new patterns. It made me feel not so alone on this planet. 

I wondered if the sky was this beautiful elsewhere in the galaxy. 

I felt a slight touch on my mind. I turned back to the others as Gabriel reappeared. And in their hands was a pulse rifle. Samirah squeaked as she recognized the weapon. Kannan’s eyes went wide. His mouth opened to start to say something. 

“I took the tracker off,” Gabriel snapped. “And the secondary tracker. The power bank is disabled.” They walked over to Aubrey and held out the rifle to her. “Sorry, there’s blood on it.” There was a smear of dark blue around the trigger. Aubrey’s eyes went wide as she took the rifle from Gabriel. Her fingers ran along the metal inspecting the components. 

“Uhh,” Kannan said with a confused look on his face. “Gabe, did you steal a pulse rifle off a Saeris guard?”

Gabriel looked at him, a slight glare at the nickname, and simply said: “Yeah.”

Samirah squeaked. Kannan put his hand on her shoulder. Pulse rifles were dangerous weapons. Not just because of their intense stunning bolts or the lethal plasma bursts. It was because they were highly regulated within the Saeris military. All rifles have trackers built in so that if one is stolen it can be found. When the rifles were first introduced, many rebel cells were eradicated because they stole weapons and led the Saeris right to their hideouts. 

“I don’t want to know,” Kannan said. “I don’t want to know how you got it.”

Gabriel shrugged. “They happened to be in the middle of a very heated training session. They won’t know a weapon was stolen. I didn’t kill anyone. Might have broken a finger or two though.”

“Like,” Zeb began, curiosity in his eyes, “broke the bone or broke the finger off?”

“I didn’t stay long enough to find out.”

Zeb shrugged, a little disappointed. “Fair.” He walked over to Aubrey. He began pointing out certain features to her. 

Gabriel came and stood next to me. You stole a pulse rifle, I thought to them. 

They nodded. Yes, I did. They stepped closer to me. I reached out and caught their hand. I leaned close to them, my chin on their shoulder. We watched as Zeb showed Aubrey how to hold and aim the rifle. I wondered if this was the first time she had ever held a weapon. We watched Kannan and Zeb explain how to use the pulse rifle to Aubrey. 

What are you thinking? I thought to Gabriel. 

Her powers are similar to yours, they said, but she can only access existing energy. Meaning she can only control what is already harnessed. 

Do you think she could control any electricity that I make? I felt them shrug. They turned their head slightly towards me, their hair falling into my face. I stood up straight and looked at them. I looked back at Aubrey as she examined the pulse rifle. “I have an experiment I want to try,” I said. Aubrey, Zeb, and Kannan all looked at me. I stepped away from Gabriel and started towards them. I held out my hand, dragging electricity up from the sands under our feet. It sparked across my fingertips. “What can you feel from this?”

Aubrey’s eyes watched the sparks. “I-I feel warmth…but it instantly turns cold. It feels like a void. I can only feel it. I can’t touch it.”

“Okay,” I replied. I thrust my hand out, pushing the electricity into the pulse rifle. The little lights across the weapon blinked to life. I let sparks arch across the broken conduits from the battery pack to the pulse emitter. “What do you feel now?”

Aubrey stared at the now live weapon in her hands with wide eyes. “Warmth. Almost hot.”

“What can you do with it?” I asked her. “The battery pack is still disconnected but I’m bridging it with a current.”

She nodded slightly and closed her eyes. The little gauges flared to life. It cycled through the different modes the weapon had. I held the electricity in the rifle, but I let it flow on its own. I felt the electricity begin to flow outside of its natural path. She was channeling it into other paths; into the different chambers of the rifle. I felt a stun bolt build. It was weaker than a normal stun blast. But it was strong enough to slow someone down. 

“That’s good,” I told her. She released a loud sign and opened her eyes. The intensity of the stun bolt weakened a little but still remained strong. “Let’s not test the plasma features right now.” Aubrey nodded her head fast. I gestured to Zeb. “Give him the rifle and lets see how well you can commender it from someone else.” 

Aubrey turned to Zeb and handed him the rifle. She took a few steps back, digging the heels of her boots into the sand. A slight breeze kicked up sand along the rim of the carter. Zeb held up the rifle and balanced it on his shoulder. 

I looked at Aubrey. “How long do you think it would take you to get into the mechanical part of the weapon and take control?”

She shrugged. “Ten clicks…maybe fifteen.”

“Okay. Get in and take control of the weapon. Reroute the power wherever you can make it go.” I looked at Zeb. “Count to twenty and then fire a stun bolt at me.” Aubrey squeaked as Zeb nodded. “It’s fine,” I told her, trying to reassure her. “I can take stun bolts all day. It’s just electricity.” I looked over at Zeb and nodded. He nodded back and cocked his head sideways looking through the rifle sight. He flicked the safety off. I pointed at Aubrey. She squeezed her eyes shut. 

I felt a hitch in the power of the stun bolt. It weakened slightly as Aubrey pushed into it. 5 clicks. I felt the flows of electricity change. Stagnant channels firing to life. Ten clicks. The now live channels shuddered as Zeb tried to regain control of the weapon with his own powers. Fifteen clicks…. Aubrey groaned as she struggled to keep control. Nineteen clicks….

I felt the stun bolt charge. At the very last second, the electricity was channeled back to the emitter. When this happens, the bolt is fired out at a higher velocity and causes a strong recoil. This happened to be an extremely strong recoil. Zeb grunted as the rifle recoiled back into his shoulder and throwing him off balance. Aubrey had tried to run towards me. Her feet slipped in the sand and she fell forwards. I felt the stun bolt discharge. I felt it burn at my skin. But it didn’t hit me. 

Next to me, laying sprawled in the sand was Gabriel. They had taken the stun bolt right to the chest. 

I’m pretty sure the shriek that met my ears came from myself. I found myself on my knees and hunched over Gabriel. Aubrey crashed into the sand next to us. Zeb was scrambling over the sand towards us. 

“Gabriel!” I shrieked. I grabbed their shoulders and shook them slightly. “Gabriel!”

Aubrey was hissing Dyya curses as she slid through the sand. “Briel, I’m so sorry,” she cried.

Gabriel’s body twitched. A low groan escaped from their lips. Their eyes slowly blinked open. Their eyes met mine. 

“Fuck,” they groaned. “That hurt.”

Aubrey let out a wail and threw herself across Gabriel. Her arms wrapped around them.

“I’m so sorry!” She cried. “I’m sorry!” Sobs racked through her body. Samirah appeared behind her. Samirah spoke to her in a soft voice and pulled her back off Gabriel.

“Briel,” I said leaning over them. “What hurts?”

“Everything,” they coughed. I caught their upper arm and helped them roll to the side as they coughed. 

“Can you be more specific?” I asked them. That got a slight laugh in between the coughs. They rolled over in the sand and spit saliva into the sand. Even in the low light, I saw the streaks of blood. 

“Briel,” I said, reaching for them. 

“I’m fine,” they said. They took my hand and pulled them up into a sitting position. Samirah reached out and brushed her finger along Gabriel’s arm. 

“No internal damage,” she said. “Just extreme discomfort.” 

Aubrey sighed in relief. She caught Gabriel’s hand. “I’m so sorry!” she cried again. “I’m s-”

Gabriel cut her off. “I’m fine.” They looked up at Zeb. “I’m fine,” they repeated. “It was an accident. If I was a Saeris, that would have been a good shot.” They squeezed Aubrey’s hand back. “You did phenomenal.” An expression of shock crossed Aubrey’s face. “I’m fine. I promise.” 

Aubrey nodded. Tears were flowing down her cheeks. Samirah wrapped her arms around her and pulled her to her feet. Together, they walked back to the ramp and into the ship. Kannan and Zeb had stepped back and were whispering to each other. I looked back at Gabriel. 

“You coughed up blood,” I said. 

They eyed me. “I’m mostly fine.”

I couldn’t help but smirk. They bit at their bottom lip. A faint drip of silver was smeared at the corner of their mouth. I reached up and wiped it away with the sleeve of my tunic. “What’s your pain level?” I asked as I wiped away the blood. 

“Bearable,” they replied. 

I sighed and caught their hand. “Briel…”

They squeezed my hand. “I’m fine,” they whispered, the sand crunching under us as we moved. “I promised Aubrey I am fine. I really am.” They caught my other hand and pulled me closer. I sat down next to them; my body pressed against theirs. I carefully laid my head on their shoulder again. The stars on the horizon were twinkling. The silvery veins were shimmering. Tinges of color ripple through the swirls. Deep greens and purples disrupted the silver. 

“Do you think the skies on other planets are this beautiful?” I wondered aloud. 

Gabriel turned their head towards me slightly. “Of course,” they said. “The skies are filled with bright stars. The brightest stars are the most beautiful.”

Their silvery eyes seemed to glow in the darkness. Streaks of dark gray creating shadows in their irises. Almost like the silvery veins in the sky. Not everyone saw the beauty I did in the sky. But Gabriel always did. 

Shouting from inside the Star Rift broke our moment. Kannan and Zeb bounded up the ramp into the ship. Gabriel grabbed my hand and I felt the wind begin to wrap around me. I inhaled deeply as Gabriel teleported us. Power singed across my skin. Gabriel’s arm wrapped around me as my feet collided with the ground, my boots clanging against the metal. I opened my eyes to the cargo hold of the ship. Gabriel held me up as I tried to catch my breath. 

Everyone was huddled around the holodisk in the middle of the cargo hold. Jev stood there with his hand over his mouth. Images played on the holo. Images of people being thrown out of buildings into the streets. The streets looked like Astrid.

“It’s all over the Net,” Jev said. “Everyone on and off planet is talking about it. The Guardians have even made comments.”

“The publicity of this….” Kannan trailed off.

Jev ran his hands through his hair and sighed. “All of the northern and southern most military bases are being evacuated. The Saeris are bringing all their soldiers back to the Astran region. Something bad is happening.”

“Can we gain anything from those bases?” asked Zeb. He had come and stood between Jev and Kannan. 

Jev bit at his lip. “Maybe. We don’t know what they left. I can dig through the Net and see if there is anything worth looking into.”

“What was that?” Gabriel asked. They pointed to the top of the holo where a picture flashed. Jev reached up and waved the image down to eye level. The image was so fuzzy that I could not tell what it was. But everyone else seemed to know. 

“Edyn,” Jev muttered, almost astounded. “They found it.”

“The rumored intelligence base?” Zeb asked, looking between Kannan and Jev. 

Jev nodded. “It’s from Ozera. That’s as solid as information gets. That’s Edyn and we have to get into that base.”