Chapter 8

Let the paradigm shifts begin!

###

Volu could no longer move despite desperation to do so. Her shields would collapse in seconds. Then she would die. As would Ettwanae, Warren, Gatebi, and Flint. Remorse consumed her.

/ Poda, / she reached out tenderly, as she used her last strength to maintain what feeble shielding she still could. / I am so sorry – I have failed you. I have failed a second time to protect. / And she sobbed the only way an Eshaar'ne could – mentally.

/ My Volu, who is attacking? We need to get out of here! Run! /

Shields flickered out as another weapons volley hit. Volu prepared for the death strikes. / I am no longer able, my Poda. Forgive me… /

Sudden brilliance filled the space surrounding her. Was that what death was like when you went to the next existence – quiet brilliance? Then another presence. 'Who?!'

Streaks of blinding energy tore through the ranks of the black ships. A glowing entity extended shields around her, denying the black vessels the final blow to their prey. Black energy against white. The battle raged as the new arrival's weapons found their mark. Amazingly, the black ships could not fully absorb the golden-white blasts. They shuddered.

Surrounded by constantly circling black masses, the unknown protector held position, never moving too far from Volu. In her weakened condition, everything was difficult, but Volu managed a scan. What she learned stunned her.

A silent explosion indicated one of the enemy had succumb. With that, the other vessels renewed their efforts, and Volu sensed the second Eshaar'ne tiring and shield levels dropping.

Then Volu felt something else deep within - growing energy; warmth and strength spreading in all directions, working its way from her center outward. Instantly, she knew.

/ What are you doing?! /

/ We are healing you. Now fight, my Other! Fight with everything you have! /

So she did. If her energy blasts were useless, then she would try blunt force impact using shield energy as a battering ram. Aiming it exactly at the points where enemy shields were weakest would offer the best chance of breaking through. Strength multiplied by the moment as Ettwanae and Warren channeled Source.

Side by side, the Eshaar'ne fought, each in their own way, Volu following up on the other's handiwork. While she worried briefly about the cost to Ettwanae and Warren, she knew sparing them would mean they all died. Healing Source pouring from the pair leached out to merge with shields, and she used the combo like a dagger. The affect was more potent than she could have hoped.

Punching through weakened shields of one ship, her golden glowing dagger sunk deep into the heart of the black vessel. It rippled and shuddered. She twisted her shield/Source knife.

Finally, the second attacker fell silent. Volu withdrew the energy blade and the lifeless black vessel began drifting toward the planet, shields and engines destroyed. Volu gave it one final shove with an extended shield to ensure Ita's gravity and atmosphere finished what they started. As the crippled ship began its death plunge toward the planet, the third vessel retreated.

Victory!

One little problem remained. Their rescuers were also their mortal enemies.

###

Before Volu could, the other Eshaar'ne transmitted.

"Are you able to travel? We must go somewhere safe."

Collecting thoughts and reining in emotions, Volu quickly assessed her condition. Thanks to Ettwanae and Warren's healing efforts, she could travel, but barely. Throbbing pain from her wounds was everywhere, but not nearly as great as it would be without the Eshaaru pair's heroic effort. A quick internal check showed them weak and exhausted. Flint and Gatebi were attending to their needs.

"I am. However, somewhere safe is not with you," she snapped bluntly. "Thank you for what you did, but we are not friends."

"We may not be friends, but we are not the enemy you believe us to be."

Volu transmitted incredulity. "You cannot possibly believe I will accept that. You have hunted us, kidnapped by Other, attacked me – something no Eshaar'ne would ever do – and you claim not to be our enemy?!"

Volu began to pull away from Ita. She would return them to the relative safety of Turzent territory to heal, regroup, and resupply.

"Please, wait!"

Volu ignored the traitorous Eshaar'ne.

"Volu, please!" Bae grew desperate. Dark Ones would continue their campaign to kill the only known Esha'Aru pair in the Trient. Alone, Volu was no match despite having learned an Eilu weakness in the Source-augmented shield dagger. Meanwhile, Den-neer was demanding she open a channel to Volu's occupants.

/ Den-neer, first the Eshaar'ne, then you can speak to the Esha'Aru! / she shot back harshly. / She will not stop even at her Other's command if she feels Ettwanae's life is threatened. / That silenced the man.

Volu was ready to phase and leave the other living ship behind. She was grateful they had saved them from the Dark Ones, but it was the likely reasons that sent chills through her. A quick departure was best.

Bae tried again. "I have information vital to your survival. The Dark Ones will not stop looking. Your Other is their target – nowhere is safe."

The lure of information was tempting, but at what cost? No, she would not risk it. Everyone needed time to recover. She sunk deeper into phase. Soon she would be able to shake her stalker. Volu knew she should cut off communication, but talking to another Eshaar'ne, even one that was an enemy, felt good.

"I am not so foolish as to be tricked. You saved us from the Dark Ones, whatever your motives may be, but that does not prove good intentions. I pray to Ozshi'wanae that someday you will regret your betrayal of all we are as Eshaar'ne and free yourself from our ancient enemy."

Volu was nearly at FTL phasing level and slipping from Bae's awareness. It was now or never. "Volu, my name is Bae. I am your mother."

'Mother?!' Stunned disbelief shattered her phase and Volu returned fully to normal space. Then, rage consumed her. "Lie!" she fired back with venom. "You would have me believe not only did you betray our people by aligning with our enemy, were party to my Other's kidnapping, and used your weapons upon a fellow Eshaar'ne, but you did all as my mother? Preposterous does not begin to define your words."

Bae sighed tenuously. First step accomplished – Volu had stopped. "It is truth. I am Bae, daughter of Ulai, who was birthed of Sael, the offspring of Tyryn. You are my child – my only daughter."

Eshaar'ne should not be capable of outright lies, but perhaps insanity or corruption had overridden built-in mendacity inhibitors. However, the lineage matched what they had learned from the amulet memory nodes. Was it possible? Did it matter? Mother or not, the rogue Eshaar'ne had shown nothing but ill intent in the past.

Her tail snapped straight in a show of rejection. "If true, then it makes your actions even more deplorable. Eshaar'ne do not attack their own kind, yet you did so. Lying is another hindrance you have apparently overcome. You are no mother of mine!"

###

Den-neer glanced at the scanner screen. The other ship was phasing again – they would lose her if something didn't change quickly. Bae's approach wasn't working. Time to play trump.

"Bae, listen to me. This is what I want you to do."

###

"What?!" Stunned over the revelation that Bae was her parent did not compare to the shock Bae just delivered.

"If you deny your Other this opportunity, she will hate you."

"If we do as you suggest, she will be dead."

"No, Volu. You have but bits and pieces of the larger picture. Your interpretations and beliefs are skewed by misdirection and deceit."

"And by directly observed betrayal," she fired back. The audacity!

"Set aside preconceptions. Detach from all you believe you know. I once believed as you – the Shozen are the enemy. It is not true. They may have been responsible for some Esha'Aru and Eshaar'ne deaths, but that was not their intent. The Dark Ones have been the enemy, allowing us to believe it was Shozen trying to exterminate us. And the few of us who escaped unfortunate encounters with the Shozen perpetuated that myth. The Dark Ones used those circumstances and our fear to fuel the misconception of whom our real enemy is."

Bae asked for a lot. Too much. Volu would not be manipulated into believing falsehoods by a renegade traitor. "If you believe what you speak, then it is you who has been manipulated into thinking lies are truth. You are a fool."

"I would agree with you if I had not witnessed the truth myself. You and I are but small incidentals in a battle that our creators began fighting long before there were Esha'Aru and Eshaar'ne. The U'larr as we understand them are gone, all but destroyed in the last great battle. Yet the enemy lives and its minions are the Dark Ones. They seek to finish the extinction of 15,000 years ago; to destroy all that Ozshi'wanae and her Chosen Ones created."

Volu knew she should leave. The enhanced weapons of the treacherous Eshaar'ne were powerful. However, learning more…even if coming from an enemy…even if it could be deceit…was too tempting. And she would not toss away a chance to gain knowledge so precious to her Poda. First, though, she would demand more background data.

"You said the U'larr are gone as we understand them…"

"Correct – a few did survive and are alive today, though on the surface we would not recognize them as the Creators."

"Why not?"

"The few U'larr who survived the last, great battle were widely scattered across the galaxy, and many were alone. Those survivors paid a heavy price – they were left fully corporeal, no longer nearly immortal, and psychically wounded beyond healing. Their species was nearly obliterated and their civilization destroyed in the span of minutes. Can you imagine, Volu? The shock? The horror? The emotional pain? Some sought solace and companionship where they could – with the emerging species they had watched over. Interbreeding with those species prevented complete extinct. Others joined Ozshi'wanae and left this existence, believing the time of the U'larr had passed."

"And the Shozen? Who or what are they?" she demanded more than asked, almost angry with herself for prolonging the conversation.

"U'larr descendents."

Volu could not believe her communication receptors. "Ludicrous! You are delusional."

"It is truth. The Shozen are impure in genetics, but they are U'larr in all ways important, Aru and Ura. I know this firsthand – I have scanned one of them. The readings match."

"I have yet to encounter anyone whose lifeforce readings match the old U'larr medical data." Volu swayed her sensor array-tipped tail in emphasis.

"Their numbers are not great, and they take great care in shielding their identity. Your chances of detecting a true Shozen are remote."

"Convenient," Volu snorted. "If the Dark Ones are responsible for the campaign of genocide against the Eshaaru, not the Shozen, then what are the Shozen attempting? You cannot deny they have perpetrated crimes against me and my Other. U'larr would never bring harm to Eshaaru."

Bae was hopeful she was making headway, but the outcome was still uncertain. "About 10,000 years ago, some Shozen chose to take up the battle against the old enemy, knowing the war had not ended 5,000 years earlier. Only advanced technology would save the galaxy, but so much had been lost in the collapse. No U'larr descendent retained the ancient knowledge – that was gone with time and genetic fade. Five thousand years of decay destroyed the rest. The emerging species were still primitives. Can you begin to understand the challenges?"

Was Bae was being cryptic intentionally? "Who exactly was the U'larr's enemy?" Volu snapped while fuming that she allowed herself to be drawn into Bae's far-fetched story. For all she knew, it was merely a delay tactic until other Shozen arrived.

"Volu, do you know what the Dark Coming is?"

She did not. Volu was uncertain – stay or go? Bae spoke truth on one point – if Volu did not pursue the possibility of what Bae offered and Ettwanae discovered that, her Other may never forgive her.

"I will listen, but with precautions." Then Volu phased as deeply as she could, and held steady yet ready to bolt. She was fairly confident she could initiate FTL before the other could fire her lethal weapons, but it was still risky.

What was revealed next left Volu both stunned and even more dubious, yet for every question and challenge, Bae had a reasonable answer. The story was fantastical and unbelievable, yet also explained many things.

Meanwhile, Ettwanae was pressing her more and more urgently for what was transpiring. Before she would reveal anything to her Other, she had to be certain there was at least some truth to Bae's story, especially before she revealed the stunning revelation to her Poda.

###

Ettwanae was beside herself. First the sudden attack and Volu's widespread and frightening injuries; then the announcement that help had arrived. What kind of help? Who? She and Warren linked and gave Volu every bit of Aru energy they could muster. The effort to heal her Other was costly, and they were both spent beyond anything she had experienced, except a Dark Ones lifeforce draining. Warren was affected most and had fallen into a coma-like sleep as soon as Flint and Gatebi had managed to get him to his bed. She was faring better, but still weak and exhausted.

Then Volu had told her she was negotiating with their rescuers. Negotiating? Negotiating what? They were demanding payment for saving them? Volu was no longer answering, but simply repeating the same request – to wait. The waiting had been going on for what seemed like forever.

From her bed, Ettwanae tried again, choosing to speak aloud as the telepathic pleas got her nowhere.

"Volu, please! Tell me something! Are we safe? Are you in danger? Please!"

/ My Poda, we are not in eminent danger. Be patient, I beg you. /

Anger began to rise. "I demand to know what's happening. You are the Eshaar'ne and I am Eshaaru – I make the final decisions!" she snapped.

/ And you will, my Poda. Right now, though, I must focus elsewhere…the negotiations are delicate. /

/ But what are you negotiating for? Tell me that much! / Feathers ruffled as frustration grew.

/ Information, my Poda – I am negotiating for valuable information. /

"Oh." That was intriguing. Anger evaporated as quickly as it formed. Knowing her Eshaar'ne, it would be knowledge vital to their survival, their goals, or both.

###

Bae had finished the story and returned to where the conversation began. "And that brings us to where we are today. The Dark Coming has begun. We need all the keys in their final positions soon. We offer you safe harbor while we wait and the opportunity for your Other to acquire something she is searching for."

"At the price of her freedom."

"No, Volu. If you come with us and then choose to leave, we will not stop you."

"I do not believe you."

"Nothing I say will ever be enough to prove I speak truthfully. The proof you seek lies in coming with us and witnessing for yourself."

"Another convenience in your favor!" she snapped with thick sarcasm.

"I have told all I have come to know and understand. Now you must choose. Me, whom you trust little, or take your chances with the Dark Ones, whom you trust not at all."

It was an agonizing choice. Bae's story was complete, fully detailed, filled many holes in Volu's own knowledge, and answered questions she and Ettwanae had both asked and had not known to.

"You tried to kill me near Earth." She shot her final verbal weapon.

"No, Volu, I needed to stop you. The injury I inflicted was crippling, not deadly." Bae internally cringed at the sugarcoating; recalling at the time her panicky fears that would not be the case.

Volu begrudgingly admitted that given enough time and rest, she may have recovered even without Ettwanae's healing Aru.

Bae continued when Volu did not respond. At least her daughter was thinking and not running. "What you will not survive is another attack by the Dark Ones without our aid."

That was more of a certainty in Volu's mind. If they caught her again, she did not have weapons capable of defeating them. Only because Bae's enhanced weaponry weakened the enemy's defenses was her shield/Source-energy dagger effective. Still, the Dark Ones needed to find them first.

"You hold within you a viable Esha'Aru pair. The enemy will do whatever is necessary to destroy them," Bae pressed. Volu had to see the Dark Ones as the greater threat. "They found you at Ita. They span the galaxy. Their resources and technology are as great. They will find you again. While you may not trust us, Volu, we offer the best chance of safeguarding your Other. Ettwanae and Archangel will not be harmed."

All Bae revealed was nearly too much to accept. If believed, it shattered thousands-year-old beliefs and presented a dire possibility for the future. Her options came down to two: run and hope to survive on their own, or seek refuge with those she'd always believed were an abhorrent enemy.

"Where would you take us?"

"Ekkamm within The Barrens. The Shozen have a stronghold there. The Dark Ones – the Eilu, which is their true name – cannot detect it. You and your occupants will be safe."

Volu had no record of a planet by that name, but that did not surprise, as much of her information about the desolate region was old and predated the naming of many Barrens planets by either the Commonwealth or the Turzent realms.

Still, she hesitated. It could all be an elaborate trap.

"Volu, I have seen much in my lifetime. I was like you not long ago, believing the Shozen were our nemesis. I was wrong. Our ancestors were wrong. Eilu trickery and lies have twisted fact and misdirected, and those falsehoods and fears were handed from one generation to the next as truths. I denied for a long time before I finally had to accept that our peoples' beliefs were based on clever deceptions meant to destroy us." Bae was nearly at the end of what she could say to convince her daughter. "Child, I am your mother. I am Eshaar'ne. We cannot lie, and I do not lie to you now. I love you and have always loved you. I beg…come with me. It is the only way in which your Other will remain safe."

"You did not lie about what the Shozen keep at Ekkamm? You know it is true firsthand – you have seen for yourself?"

Bae felt the future hinged on her next answer. It would not be what Volu wanted to hear. "I believe because they have never lied to me, Volu." That was true. Her keepers had perpetrated terrible deeds upon her, had used her as a tool and weapon, had kept many secrets, but neither they nor Den-neer had ever lied that she knew.

Volu seethed. No proof – nothing but an old enemy's word! She should simply bolt and find a remote planet to hide away her precious Poda. But what if the Shozen did have at Ekkamm what Bae claimed?

She had never been so torn.

'Ozshi'wanae, what do I do?' she extended in prayer – something she rarely did. She hoped her lack of devotion would not be held against her. Floating silently in space, she waited quietly for an answer. Moments passed. Whispers formed in her mind, vague feelings of prodding…a subtle answer from their Goddess? Merely instinct?

In a rush of decisiveness, Volu made a choice. "Reveal the coordinates."

Bae sighed. Second step accomplished.

Ekkamm's location came through her comm array. "I warn you, Bae – every step of the way I will be scanning and probing. Any sign that you have betrayed us, and I will kill you and anyone who attempts to capture or harm my Other. I will do so first and question later…if I even bother with the latter."

"Understood."

Volu determined she would disseminate the startling information once her precious Poda had rested, but withhold the most shocking news until it was verified that Bae was being truthful. It took a bit of convincing and downplaying of what she had learned, but Ettwanae finally relented in the questioning and let exhaustion take her into deep slumber.

###

Den-neer had waited patiently as the two Eshaar'ne talked. With both sides of the conversation fed audibly to the bridge, he missed not a word.

"Well done, Bae."

"Ekkamm had best be prepared to follow Volu's instructions fully and without hesitation, or we could still lose her."

Den-neer gestured they were of like mind. "See to it. Meanwhile, Phai will be pleased we did not have to reveal everything."

A sudden wave of sadistic delight ran through the Eshaar'ne, which was all too apparent to the telepathic Den-neer.

"I will thoroughly enjoy observing the conversation when you explain our destination."

Den-neer couldn't suppress a slight grimace.

###

A major leap in knowledge awaits our group. How will they react? Find out in C9.

Thanks for reading one and all!