Episode 15: How Art Thou Fallen?

Be sure to read the companion chapter from Seeker's Prayer, Chapter 13: One Good Turn

In the palace on Iscandar, Starsha helped an old woman redress a scrape on her arm. She finished applying a new bandage and stood to go. "I'll come back tomorrow. It's healing nicely—no infection."

The old woman took Starsha's hand with her frail one. "Thank you. We are all in your debt."

"Leader Desslok once did everything he could to save my people. I simply offer you the same kindness."

The old woman patted Starsha's hand. "You are a lovely young woman." Her face fell. "I only wish we still had a Leader. If you'll tolerate an old woman's opinion, Leader Desslok's recent actions were detrimental to Gamilon, but every rash decision was made to save us—to save you. His actions were horribly wrong—but his motives were not. If ever another Leader rises, I pray to Adonai he has as much of a heart for his people as Leader Desslok did."

Starsha ached to tell the woman Desslok was alive, but her promise to Masterson silenced her. If she told these people the truth, it meant death for all of them. "He loved his people very much."

The old woman released Starsha's hand. "I won't take more of your time, Majesty." She tottered to her feet and hugged Starsha. "I should like to have had a daughter like you—generous and caring. May Adonai bless you with many loving children."

If only that could be my future… Starsha returned to her quarters as the morning sun brightened the hall.

Men and women accompanied young children or aging parents to the great hall where, thirteen years ago, Starsha had celebrated her last birthday with living family.

Has it been so long? She passed the hall entrance. Her last three functioning android attendants prepared food for everyone, and people sat at crystal tables that seemed to grow from the floor, or clustered in circles on the polished floor.

Words etched into stone beneath a skylight on the far side of the hall were etched just as deeply in her memory. She'd read them at her fourteenth birthday celebration. "Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me." The words of Yeshayahu, Yahweh's prophet.

Since that day, she'd read them only once—when the Eratites came to retrieve the Rophi Shamayim—what they called the Cosmo DNA. It was good to see the room in use again—to hear children's laughter and families talking, but she couldn't bring herself to join them. Not yet.

She took breakfast alone in her room. Getting used to the presence of people would only make their eventual departure tear away more little pieces of her heart.

When the morning meal was over, she changed into work clothes, a long-sleeved shirt, thick skirt, and high, tough boots. She tucked a pair of gloves in one pocket and braided her long hair into something manageable. There wasn't much more she could do for the refugees, but she could help them clear their would-be homes of intruding wildlife. She hadn't much else to keep her busy.

Before she stepped out the door, Adrianna's high call of distress pulled Starsha back. "Mistress!" The Jeshurunian called from her hanging pot by the window. Her vines trembled and shook. "Bahn! Silesia! They tell me the Eratites are in grave danger!"

Starsha rushed into the bedroom to a locked drawer in the bedside table. She fumbled with the lock—an old-fashioned metal key and latch. When the drawer clicked open, she snatched her old Interface glove and pulled it on. It still fit perfectly. "They're aboard their ship?"

"Yes. But it's overrun by starflies."

"Starflies? No, no, no…" She whispered intensely as she waded through now-unfamiliar menus. "Here!" She entered a short command.

"Do you wish to connect?" the Interface droned.

"Eratite engine core module," Starsha said.

"Connection established."

"Ship status."

"All crew life signs accounted for. Ship hull breech imminent."

"Send me to them."

"Engine core link loading. Estimated time to completion, seven minutes, fourteen seconds."


Shiori and Knox hunkered behind a simulated boulder inside a combat sim.

Enemy tanks—larger than those they'd fought on Brumis—rumbled past.

They'd started the sim with six grenades and two rocket launchers—three rockets apiece.

Seven tanks lay in pieces, but two more needed dispatching. All they had left were two grenades. And no room for error.

Shiori flicked one grenade to Knox. "Take out the rear tank's engine. I'll draw fire—give you time to get close."

Knox grinned and sneaked off.

Shiori gave Knox a moment before she popped out from behind the boulder and ran through an open patch of ground to attract the tank's attention.

The first round of fire sailed just over her head. The second whizzed so close she could feel the simulated heat. A third burst peppered the ground just in front of her right boot.

She hit the dirt behind a small rise. Dust and dirt clods flew as the tank kept firing.

Another opening.

Shiori darted behind an outcropping, careful to keep her route facing away from Knox.

The tank fired, and lasers whizzed past her—most too close for her liking—but Knox had to get that grenade planted. If this were real, their lives would be the cost of failure.

"Got it," Knox radioed.

Ten seconds later, Shiori dove for cover as the vehicle blew apart.

Knox met her at their hiding spot. They shared a high-five, which ended in grasped hands and shared grins.

"One more," Shiori said.

Knox handed her the last grenade. "All yours."

Shiori sneaked around the back of the tank, ran to catch it, and climbed onto its roof. She pried open the top hatch and flung the grenade inside.

She slammed the top shut, clambered off the machine, and hit the dirt, rolling as far from the doomed machine as possible.

An instant later, the tank exploded.

Shiori brushed off holographic dirt, ran back to Knox, and whooped. "He didn't even see me—"

Knox lay on the sim room floor, eyes glazed, unseeing.

"Sarge, this isn't funny." She nudged him with her boot, but he didn't move. "Saito Knox, get up!"

Shiori gave him a concerned once over.

A glowing red dot fixed to the skin at the base of Knox's neck.

She swatted it.

The thing burned her hand but crunched on impact.

A red welt showed on Knox's skin where the thing had landed. The tiny, squished carcass looked a lot like an insect, but shaped more bulbously, and without visible appendages.

A swarm of glowing red specks trickled through the sim room door a handful at a time. They came toward Shiori as the simulation flickered and died, leaving Shiori and Knox alone with the strange glowing bugs.

Knox stirred but didn't quite wake. Whatever these things did, the effects of their bite took a bit to wear off.

Shiori looked around for something she could use to swat the bug swarm and avoid ending up in an involuntary dog pile with Knox.


Starsha's connection to the Argo's engine stabilized, and the Argo's engine room faded into view as her quarters retreated from her awareness.

Half an hour was all she had. Maybe less since the distance between her and the ship was greater this time.

Men and women, all wearing orange and white uniforms, stared at her as she stood beside the running engine. It was a refreshing change from last time she'd been here. Before, the room was dark and filled with Abaddon's foul host. Now, at least, she recognized one smiling face.

"Queen Starsha!" An old man hurried to greet her. "Are ya all right, lass? Is Iscandar in trouble?"

"I am well, Patrick. As is Iscandar. But you are about to be overrun. I must find Stephen Sandor."

"Probably in his lab. I'll call him." Orion dialed the science officer. "Not answerin'."

"He might have already fallen prey to the starflies," Adrianna whispered back in Starsha's quarters on Iscandar.

"Please, show me his lab on a map. I will go to him," said Starsha.

Orion showed her.

"Do you have—" she rattled off a complex set of chemical compounds, praying the engine core's translation matrix would rearrange it into something the Eratites could understand. "—hydrogen peroxide and vinegar?"

"Aye, lass, but not here. Sandor keep some in his lab for experiments. We used to use it as a cleaner on Earth a long time ago, but once somethin' better came along, we quit usin' it," Orion said.

"You may have only moments before the starflies find you. Once exposed to oxygen, their appetite for metal increases, and they view organic life as a threat. Their bites cause hallucinations that quickly degrade into a coma. To have a starfly attached to your nervous system for too long is to risk irreparable brain damage. If you can find this… hydrogen peroxide and vinegar… spread it quickly. If you cannot, keep a wary eye and keep your necks covered."

The engineering team scrambled into action as Starsha phased through the deck and took the straightest path to Sandor's lab.

In the first hall she passed through, one crewman swatted away several starflies, and another three men lay unconscious on the deck. Several unaffected crew saw her and stared as she hurried past, phasing through bulkheads like they were air. She warned everyone she passed not to let the starflies bite them.

Awed whispers followed her. "That's Queen Starsha of Iscandar."

"Starsha! It's Starsha!"

"What's she doing here onboard? And why can we see through her?"

Several emergency doors were already sealed. She walked through them.

She entered the locked lab only to find two men, both in blue and white science corps uniforms, unconscious.

Sandor wasn't in his lab.

She left, scouring every nearby hall. When she found him, her heart sank. A swarm of starflies covered his arms and legs, eating his bionic limbs. The only mercy was he was already in a coma.

In horror, Starsha rushed the swarm, and her hologram flashed at the organisms.

Dozens of starflies scattered at her burst of brilliance, but it wasn't ten seconds before they returned to their meal.

"No! Get away from him!" She tried to shoo them off Sandor, even flashed at them again, but they paid her no mind.

Starsha ran back to engineering to get help. Everyone along the way was either too busy swatting starflies or already out. When she reached engineering, the whole team sprawled on the deck, eyes glazed.

"Yahweh, help them! I do not know why this magnificent ship has set sail again, but it must be important. Help me, Father—Lord of all. Help me!"

Adrianna's whisper to her physical body trickled through her awareness. "Distress beacon."

She couldn't touch anything onboard, but she could use any software connected with the engine core. It may be too late, but I have to try.

She triggered the beacon.


Shiori skipped over another person as she held her white scarf tight around her neck and wielded Knox's wide belt with the other hand. She slapped bugs from the air, leaving a trail of destruction. If she could free her shipmates from these things, she would, but there were already so many of them that stopping would risk her and Knox falling prey too, and someone had to get the ship out of this place.

Knox ran behind her, collar up and tight around his head, one hand holding up his pants. "Why can't you use your belt?"

"Yours is bigger. We've got to get to the bridge. Captain Wildstar's probably already there along with anyone else lucky enough not to get caught by these things."

Shiori and Knox ran to the bridge, swatting and dodging.

The elevator was full of nesting starflies, and the instant the door opened, every bug trained on Shiori and Knox.

They bolted for the stairs instead.

When they thundered up the stairs onto the bridge, Dathan Feldmann, the pilot, was the only one conscious in the room. He sat at the captain's station tapping the screen, face hard. The rest of the second shift bridge crew were in their seats or on the deck, oblivious.

No starflies were on the bridge, and the ones previously attached to the crewmen's necks lay dead on the deck.

Shiori kept her neck covered as she shook the helmsman.

"Don't do that," Feldmann said. "They've been under a while. Let them wake on their own."

Shiori stepped back. A bug husk crunched under her boot.

Knox wrinkled his nose. "What's that smell?"

"Seems to keep those things away—as long as I spray it every ten minutes. Found it in a maintenance cabinet. Did one of you trigger the ship's distress beacon?"

"Wasn't us," said Knox.

Feldmann's brow furrowed. "Someone else is still awake out there."

"We've got to get them," Shiori turned toward the stairs.

"No." Knox caught her arm before she got two steps away. "We can't risk losing anyone else to those crazy bugs. The bridge crew will wake up soon. Whoever's out there, they'll come here if they can. We need to get the ship away from here before those things knock us all out, and—"

Alarms blared. "Outer hull breech."

Feldmann sealed it. "That won't be the last one. Starflies eat metal…"

"Starflies?" Shiori gave Feldmann a sidelong look. "Is that what the science officer's calling them?"

"No." Feldmann avoided her eyes and pushed past her. He knocked Lt. Alori out of his seat and took the helm.

The ship edged forward, much slower than Shiori liked.

A glow in her periphery made Shiori jump. "Who are you?" She raised Knox's belt as a woman in an ethereal blue aura sank through the ceiling.

"Do not be afraid. I am Starsha of Iscandar," said the apparition.

Feldmann whipped around in his chair, eyes huge.

"The Starsha?"said Shiori. "Queen Starsha of Iscandar who saved Earth from the Gamilons?"

"I am she, though Yahweh saved your Earth, not I. Today, I have come because your ship told me you needed help. Where is your captain? Your science officer needs immediate help."

"He's probably unconscious in a passageway…" said Knox. "But someone turned on an emergency beacon. It could have been him."

"I did that," said Starsha. "I'm afraid you three are all that's left of your crew who can see to it your ship escapes the starflies' sting. My time left here is short. Please, will one of you come with me to help Stephen Sandor—and bring hydrogen peroxide and vinegar. I see you have some here as there are no living starflies in this room. Your crewmates will wake soon."

"Hey, she calls them starflies too," Knox said to Feldmann at the helm.

Starsha's gaze turned to Feldmann, and her eyes blazed. She lunged at him, hand outstretched.

Feldmann's hands flew over the screen, and sweat glistened on his forehead. He dodged the woman's touch and pressed an open palm to the duty station's screen.

Starsha flickered, faded. Horror was written on her face as she dove toward Feldmann again. "De—n!" Her signal stuttered, and she vanished.


Starsha's knees buckled as her connection to the Argo dropped. She caught a chair arm and managed to stay up on one knee.

"What's wrong, Mistress? You still had a few minutes remaining." Adrianna's foliage shook in distress. "You are white—as if you've seen a specter."

"I have…" Starsha whispered. "I never thought I would see the man responsible for my entire family's death again."

Air whistled through Adrianna's leaves—the equivalent of a gasp. "I thought Leader Desslok banished his brother years ago—after he took back his throne."

"He did." Starsha's voice hardened. "Deun is aboard the Eratite ship. The whole crew is in danger. They're flying through a starfly nest. Deun—that snake—he cut my connection!" Starsha reopened the Interface portal.

"Do you wish to connect?"

"Get me back into the Eratite engine core module."

"Connection unknown."

"Argo engine core module!"

"Connection unknown."

"List available connections."

"There are no available connections."

"List them anyway!"

"Interface one—offline; Interface two—unavailable; Interface three—inactive; Interface four—current user; Interface five—offline."

"No—no, it can't be!" She recreated the Argo connection.

"Eratite engine core module."

"Connection unknown."

Her stomach knotted. "I can't get it back. Whatever he did… it's permanent." She sank to the floor, folded hands on the soft carpet-like floor covering as she raised her face heavenward. "Great Shaddai, hear me," Starsha cried. "Deliver these Deun means to harm—deliver that most gallant of ships' crew. Save them, Yahweh, for Yours is the only hand mighty to save." Tears came. "Please, please, my Adonai… do not let my family's murderer—my world's executioner—kill again."


Shiori didn't understand Starsha's reaction to Feldmann. "Where'd she go? Why was she so angry with you?"

"She wasn't really here. That was a hologram." By eye, Feldmann steered the ship around a cluster of starflies. "These things are messing with the circuitry. They're likely responsible for her appearing. This ship's engine is quite the curiosity."

"She wasn't here… at all?" Something didn't seem quite right about that to Shiori. She was so human. How could she not have been here—even just as an avatar?

"Would one of you check radar for me?" said Feldmann.

None of the bridge crew had stirred yet.

"How long before everyone wakes up?" Shiori said as she carefully nudged Ensign Erin Watts away from the radar panel.

The unconscious woman's arm flopped off the duty station, and the sudden weight shift nearly tumbled Watts from her seat.

Shiori dropped Knox's belt with a clatter and caught the other woman before she fell. "What's this on Watts' neck? Starflies leave welts, not—this looks like a needle stick." Shiori checked the on-duty comm officer and found the same mark. She faced Feldmann just in time. "Sarge!"

Knox caught Feldmann before the pilot could crack his skull with a portable fire extinguisher.

Shiori's weapon, still in its holster, was useless. She couldn't risk hitting Knox. She dove for the discarded belt and rolled to her feet. A quick snap of the belt smacked Feldmann hard across the back. He winced but didn't disengage from Knox.

The two men struggled to get a grip on each other's throats. Unequal weight tipped the scales in Knox's favor as he used his bulk to overwhelm Feldmann, but the pilot slipped out of his grasp and darted behind him.

Feldmann snaked an arm around Knox's neck and snugged the marine's throat into one elbow. The other hand pushed down on Knox's head.

Shiori flung the belt away and ran at Feldmann. She pummeled his kidneys, and the pilot's grip slacked just enough to give Knox opportunity to escape unconsciousness and flip Feldmann over his head.

The pilot landed hard but sprang up quickly and tackled Knox.

They rolled across the bridge as Argo drifted further into the starflies' nest. The men were too tangled to allow Shiori opportunity to intervene again.

I can't help Sarge, but maybe I can get the ship out of here. She took the helm. Rudimentary piloting lessons returned. She pointed them toward a clear section of space.

Before she engaged the engine, a pinch at the base of her neck turned open space into a black hole, and she was sucked in.


In the hall outside the hangar, Nova stirred as someone gently shook her shoulder.

The woman, Gamilon judging by her light blue skin, sported fiery hair. "M-Melda Dietz?" Nova whispered. Her eyes cleared. It couldn't be Melda. This woman was at least fifteen years older than the young pilot they'd taken aboard Argo during the Iscandar mission. But her eyes… were the same.

The Gamilon woman smiled sadly, took Nova's hand, and said the same thing Melda had said two years ago. "Princess Astra."

"No, I'm Nova." It was the same reply she'd given Melda back then. But how could this be Melda? She looked too different.

Ensign Landis stirred further up the hall.

The Gamilon woman hugged Nova tight and said something in her own language. Nova caught a few words, "Careful," "death," "ship," and "Deun."

The woman let go and rushed away.

Insect-like husks cluttered the floor, but the organisms were blue in death, their red glow gone.

Did she… save us?

Nova hurried to the bridge and found Shiori and Knox awake and very angry. The rest of the bridge crew was only beginning to stir.

"What's wrong? What happened?" Nova rubbed the welt on the back of her neck.

"Queen Starsha was here as a hologram, but Feldmann made her disappear," Shiori said. "He tried to tell us it was fake, then he attacked Sarge. Before she disappeared, Queen Starsha said Feldmann's name—his first name—like she knew him. Feldmann knocked out the bridge crew before the starflies got them."

"Starflies?" Nova said.

"That's what Queen Starsha called them—Feldmann too. He knew what they were."

Knox rubbed his gut where Feldmann had tackled him. "And he's stronger than he looks. Woulda taken me out quick if Nagakura hadn't whaled on him." He found his belt and looped it into his pants before nudging Shiori in appreciation.

She seemed embarrassed but didn't deny anything.

"You said Feldmann knocked out the bridge crew. How?" Nova examined a still-unconscious Erin Watts.

"Don't know exactly," Shiori said. "I found needle marks on their necks."

"Heart rate and breathing are slow." She peeled open one eyelid. "Small pupils." She shook Watts's shoulder and raised her voice. "Erin? Erin, wake up."

Watts didn't stir.

"Opioids." Nova rummaged through the first-aid kit mounted on the wall by the stairs. She loaded a Narcan dispenser and dosed everyone.

Moans and groans filled the bridge as people came to.

Derek rushed onto the bridge. "Everyone's accounted for except Feldmann. His comm's off, and he's not in the hangar where I told him to wait. Sandor's the worst off of everyone, but I got him to the med bay. Someone had already cleared the bugs off him when I found him. What happened in here?"

"Feldmann wasn't in the hangar because he was up here, drugging the bridge crew," said Nova. "What happened to Sand—Oh…" Bionic limbs—the starflies must've eaten them. Did Melda help him too?

"We must have walked in just after he finished doing it," said Knox. "He let us think those bugs knocked everyone out."

Shiori and Knox recounted for Derek what happened on the bridge.

"Starsha knew his name?" said Derek.

"I thought it was strange," said Shiori. "I didn't think Feldmann was on the Iscandar mission."

"He wasn't," Nova and Derek chorused.

Timothy Alori hauled himself off the floor and cradled a bruised elbow as he approached. "Captain Wildstar, there's… something about Feldmann you oughta know. Marcus 'n me—we've been watchin' him since shortly after you took me aboard. We put a camera in his quarters—"

"You what?" Derek said.

"I'll gladly take whatever punishment you have for us later, but while we were watchin', Feldmann stopped lookin' like Feldmann. His skin turned blue, hair reddish blonde. Marcus said he looked like Desslok of Gamilon."

Derek looked horrified—No. more than horrified. Betrayed. "Where's Feldmann now?"

"He was gone when we woke up," said Knox. "Something Feldmann sprayed kept the bugs out for a while, but when we got to fighting, he couldn't reapply it in time. Nagakura and I got bitten, but Feldmann must've figured some way to keep them off him."

"Who cleared the ship of starflies? They didn't leave on their own. Someone killed them. And it probably wasn't Feldmann," Derek said.

"Melda," Nova said. "She woke me before she left."

"The pilot we captured two years ago?"

Nova nodded. "She looked… different. But I'm sure it was her."

"Her intervention had to have put a wrench in Feldmann's plans. We've got to find him." Derek took the captain's station. "I'm locking down all hangars. Tigers and exploratory vehicles are locked in. Everything's still on board, so he hasn't left. Let's get search parties together. Sergeant Knox, your marines ready for some hunting?"

"Chasin' a Gammy? Yes, Sir!" Knox saluted.

The slur made Nova uncomfortable. Not all Gamilons were alike. One had just saved them. How did Desslok get onboard without anyone noticing? Is that why his eyes seemed so familiar? Her brief meeting with the Gamilon Leader came back. He'd seemed so sad then—weighed down with cares she couldn't imagine. Later, when he'd boarded Argo inside the Gehenna's Bridge gate, he'd resembled a vengeful demon, and his expression tottered on the edge of sanity. Feldmann was too… monotone.

"Lieutenant Alori, get us out of here. Best speed."

"Aye, Sir." Timothy reclaimed his seat and steered Argo out of the starfly nest.

"Shiori?" Nova took the other woman aside. "Starsha said Feldmann's name. What exactly did she call him?"

"It was hard to make out, actually. Her hologram sputtered. She only got out the 'D' and the 'N' in 'Dathan.'"

"D, N, not D, K." What was that strange name Melda said? Deun? Is that who's onboard?

"Definitely no 'K.'"

I don't know who this is, but it's not Desslok. Starsha wouldn't have gotten that wrong. Nova's skin prickled.


Starsha's knees wobbled as she stood two hours later. "They have to be all right. They have to be!"

Adrianna rustled her leaves. "Mistress, Bahn and Silesia hear them. They are awake, and the ship remains intact."

"What happened?"

"They do not know. While you were aboard, everyone was overrun. Perhaps someone heard your distress call."

"Thank Yahweh," Starsha was relieved. "But I must warn them about Deun. It's time to break silence. Can Bahn and Silesia communicate with the Eratites yet?"

"They say they have absorbed enough of their language to speak without an interpreter."

"Then tell them it is my wish that they speak. Warn the Eratites of Deun and his treachery."

"It shall be done, Mistress."


Episode 15 Notes:

Editing pass complete, 8/26/2022

The verse on the floor of the Iscandar hall is Isaiah 49:16.

This episode's title was taken from Isaiah 14:12:

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

Author's Note:

To read more about Deun, stop by Book 0, The Guardiana, and Book 1, The Right of Kings.