Chapter 24

Welcome to C24! Let's get right to it.

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The blue-skinned Elder stood before Phai as a holo-projection looking whole and healthy, much to Phai's relief.

"Taer! Praise be to Ozshi'wanae you are well," she greeted warming. Phai still held twinges of disappointment that it was not she who had received the augmentation, but that was an emotion she would not indulge. Too much was at stake.

"Yes, I am, my fellow Elder. The augmentation was a success. Would you like to see? I do need the practice!" Taer's face had taken on child-like glee; something Phai would have never thought she'd see on the usually reticent Shozen.

Phai leaned back on her desk to watch, hands planted to either side. She quickly recalled the first time Taer had displayed her natural transformative abilities that also revealed her Aru. That was impressive enough. She'd never seen Taer channel Source, though she knew the Shozen was capable of that to a minor degree.

Taer closed her eyes. At first nothing, then her form began to take on the expected glow from beneath the blue skin. Slowly, steadily the glow turned a golden hue and intensified; brighter and brighter until Phai had to shade her eyes and Taer was only a light form with all features blotted out. It was not unlike when Phai used her own Aru as a weapon against the Eilu attack, but Taer's was golden brilliance – the color signature of Source.

The augmented Elder was beautiful her channeling state – a beacon of hope. But the Shozen was still in solid form. Could she channel while non-corporeal? In answer to Phai's unspoken question, Taer began to shift and ripple; taking on a more diffused shape. Her fully revealed lifeforce in combination with Source pulsated and fluctuated between white and golden like a flickering flame.

Looking upon the recreation of their ancestors in all their glory was more emotional than she anticipated, and tears formed that had nothing to do with the bright avatar before her. Phai was compelled to approach Taer's radiant form. She reached out. A shaft of light stretched to touch Phai's hand.

If only Taer were actually in the room – holo projections could not transmit physical experience. It had to be magnificent. Phai sighed with regret. She wanted to speak, but could find no worthy words. Then Taer's form shifted again, reforming into a recognizable shape, solidifying, until the glow faded and it was once again the blue-skinned Elder. The smile on the woman's face was huge.

"Do you approve?"

Phai swallowed hard and had to force her voice to work again. "Approve? Taer, how could I not?! This is everything our people dreamed of and worked toward for thousands of years!"

Taer's beaming face nearly rivaled her radiant display. "We did well, my friend."

Phai nearly succumb to sobs with the affirmation. So many sacrifices of innocents along the way to achieve what stood before her. Much demanded and much given for that moment of triumph.

"We did," Phai returned the smile widely. "Have you heard from the others? Do we have three successes?"

"We do. We are fully the Triune now. And Phai, I can sense them – deep within me…somehow..." The Shozen waved her hands to indicate the inadequacy of her words. "It's difficult to describe, but I feel their presence yet differently than telepathy. I believe Source links us someway. Or perhaps through Ozshi'wanae…?" Black hair swayed as she shook her head in wonder and puzzlement.

Phai took a breath. "That was more than we had expected or even knew to hope for."

Taer gestured agreement. "Indeed. Perhaps there is hope for our race yet. First, though, there is a galaxy to save. The Triune stands ready. Are all backup tactics ready as well?"

Taer was slipping back into her more familiar, pragmatic personality. Phai nodded. "Most have moved into their final positions, just a few more players to maneuver into place. The other Elder of Elders confirmed they are equally prepared. Soon it will be time to depart for the Sentinel. We are as ready as time has allowed."

Taer's face was suddenly very serious. "Our enemy moves into position, as well. They will not let us pass without a fight."

Phai returned to her usual perch on the edge of the desk. "Our forces will be at a distinct disadvantage. What we lack in overpowering weaponry must be made up for in numbers."

"It is unfortunate we don't have time to merge technologies for weapons that use Source."

Phai gestured agreement. "But the young species did well in creating alternatives under our covert guidance. Adjustments in armament are all that is required at this point." She had to grin. What the young species had labeled as outdated weaponry was exactly what would harm the Eilu. "It is time for the orders to be dispatched and our unwitting fleet to gather."

Taer took a seat, which allowed Phai to see more of the woman's surroundings – definitely aboard her companion ship. "Our people are in place within the Commonwealth military. What of the Turzents? With Sequi's death, have our efforts been adversely impacted?"

Restless, Phai rose and walked to the other side of her desk. "No. Ztar has accepted what is coming and will cooperate. All I need do is signal him."

Taer's darkened-skin eyebrows shot up. "We have agents in place to ensure compliance?"

"We do, but I've ordered them to hold. I want Ztar to lead the way for the Empire."

Taer seemed either surprised or concerned; perhaps both. "But why? Sequi should have had a solid plan with people poised to step into key roles to guarantee our plan is followed."

"That is necessary only if you believe Ztar won't perform. He will. I wish to emphasize his position as monarch – that has been somewhat eroded with the change in governmental form. He must continue to be viewed as ultimate ruler for the foreseeable future."

"Ztar must die. Why prolong the inevitable?" A tilt of her triangular head indicated that Taer understood there was more going on than the Council leader was saying. "Would you share your thoughts? They will go no further than the two of us."

Phai sighed heavily. The weight of all they were trying to do had her weary to the bone. "Ztar's orders for the military to gather a fleet of their most powerful ships and bring old weapons technology to the forefront will be considered by his military to be ludicrous. When he sends that fleet to the Commonwealth, some will doubt and challenge his sanity. But in the end, when we have achieved victory, he will be held high as a hero. The people will need that imagery for the months and years to come."

"And thus you are positioning your champion appropriately."

"Yes. If we succeed in stopping the Dark Coming, the next phase will begin. The young races will understand that all is not eternal – that forces powerful beyond their comprehension threaten our existence. That could cause untold psychological issues. Short-term weakening of societies across the galaxy may be the ramification. Perceptions will change, at least for a while…until enough time has passed to ease insecurities. Strong, central figures, such as Ztar's Court and his heroic legacy, will be needed for the people to turn to in their time of trepidation."

The large, jet-black eyes locked to Phai. "I agree that could help quell uncertainties, but that's not all you are planning for, is it, my friend?"

Phai studied Taer. The woman obviously had been paying attention to Phai's manners and methods during the last hundreds of years to recognize the signs.

"No, it is not. Even before we began destabilizing the Commonwealth, it was beginning to unravel. The umbrella government was inefficient at best and a detriment at worst. Many star systems were already unhappy with the often-stalemated legislature. Too many voices vying for control. Constant infighting and self-serving agendas are erosive. The realm is crumbling from within, Taer. We were only adding fuel to a fire already burning. I've halted the stoking, but the fire still smolders. The people of the Commonwealth are looking for different leadership."

Taer's expression revealed she knew the destination of Phai's path. "As in the changing allegiances – specifically, to the Turzent Empire."

Phai smiled faintly. "Yes. A more powerful Empire will be needed."

A crinkled brow told Phai that her fellow Elder was contemplating the whys. She did not break the silence, but instead allowed Taer to put together the pieces. She only wished could see within the other's mind to admire the process.

Taer's eyes narrowed suddenly. "The picture is broader than I had bothered to contemplate…too focused on simply surviving the Dark Coming. This is why you are the rightful Elder of Elders. You have my support. They cannot be allowed to dominate this Trient. Do any of the other Elders share your concern?"

"Kel."

"Of course. Her protectorate holds the most vulnerable worlds."

"Those without alliances and without knowledge of the greater galactic community are easy prey."

"And easily forced into slavery."

Phai nodded. "Such are their ways. As individual realms, the Turzent Empire and the Commonwealth are not strong enough to defend themselves. However, combine their strength under the right leadership…"

"And they could forestall an invasion. What is Elder Vui's position?"

Phai leaned back in her chair, giving Taer a concerned look. "I am uncertain. The sheath she has taken sits well with her."

"Too well perhaps?"

"Perhaps."

"Then you were correct in holding the plan in shadow. Do you fear she will not perform her duties to prevent the Dark Coming? That would be illogical."

"Illogical and suicidal. Vui will rally the people and they will give their Aru when needed. My fears are solely for what happens once the immediate threat passes."

"They are a brutish race – we cannot stand by and watch them continue to advance their control."

"I'm glad you see things as I do, Taer. I'm afraid that after we have saved the galaxy from the Norzra'tir, we may have to save our Trient from the Gnocque."

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Blood – so much blood. She was screaming. They were holding her from him.

"Andfe!" He was dying – couldn't they see!

Gatebi watched from the sidelines as several paces away, her dreamself struggled in blind panic to reach her beloved brother. If they took him, he would be gone forever. She didn't know why she knew that at the time. Hadn't cared. All that had mattered was staying with her sibling. Remembered desperation entwined with soul-chilling fear as strong hands and bodies had kept her from Andfe.

"No! I must go with him! Please!" Dreamworld Gatebi fought with all her might, but her 16-year old body was hopelessly out-muscled by the law enforcement officers to either side who had tried reason to no avail.

Med techs calmly but hurriedly loaded the older sibling into the emergency transport.

"If she doesn't calm down, I suggest a therapeutic relaxer," one medical technician opinioned to another with a gesture toward Gatebi.

"Heart rate and breathing are elevating and other vitals are destablizing. We need to get moving now," another announced with urgency from within the medvac vehicle.

The lead tech from the second medvac nodded. "We'll follow with the others. Go."

"No! Let me go with him – I must! Please, I beg you!"

Gatebi hadn't known why she must to do so, only that she did. But no one had listened to her. The next thing she had felt was a slight sting to the back of a shoulder. She watched as her doppelganger jerk around as the med injector was pulled away. Instantly wobbly, her younger self fought against the effects of the drug and the officers as the medvac carrying her brother pulled quickly away.

Remembered feelings of a mysterious sensation somewhere deep inside stretching…a pulling that grew more taut with each pounding heartbeat. Then as the medical transport disappeared around a corner of the busy cityscape, something snapped and broke. In that moment, she had known he was gone. Never again would she hear Andfe laugh or chastise in feigned indignation as he ruffled her thick crop of bright orange hair lovingly as older brothers do.

Dream Gatebi watched in drugged-induced haze as her shock-numb father and weeping mother were escorted into the second medvac.

"We'll have you with your son in minutes," an emergency worker reassured their parents. Once they had been settled, Gatebi was ushered to join them.

Gatebi looked around for her dream guide, but she stood alone amongst the gathered crowd of gawkers. 'Where are you?' she questioned in her mind.

Dreams for Alcabs always took a predictable form. Rarely did imaginary worlds or events take place. Nighttime forays were realistic replays of events and memories as the subconscious worked through inner conflicts created by life events. Typically, the dreamer stood by as an uninvolved, unseen observer while troubling situations replayed, often with a dream guide nearby. Guides appeared in whatever form is most relevant – usually in the guise of a person, but sometimes as a wise animal. Psychologists long ago had deduced that the shamans were simply another aspect of a person's psyche; the logical, pragmatic side of one's personality.

The dream morphed; leaving behind the scene of the tragic skimmer accident that had shattered the Eudara family vacation. She was at Andfe's grave. Gatebi knew instantly she was reliving one of the many times she'd visited the site without her parents.

Phai was there looking her usual unemotional self. Phai was her guide?!

"You could have kept him stable until they arrived at the hospital," the alabaster-skinned woman proclaimed, but without emotion.

The accusation sliced to the soul. Gatebi locked onto the cold, blue eyes. "They wouldn't let me go with him. I tried!"

"Apparently, not hard enough. You should have explained."

"You saw what happened. They wouldn't let me go with him. They failed him. The medics should have realized what was happening! They should have kept him alive," she protested.

"They did all that technology allowed, but it wasn't enough. He needed you," the Shozen snapped, pointing an accusing finger at Gatebi.

She bowed her head. The coroner's report said Andfe died of cardiac and breathing arrest triggered by a massive, uncontrollable seizure of his injured brain that disrupted all anatomical functions. The physicians had tried everything to quiet the seizure and restore normal cerebral function, but nothing worked. In effect, Andfe died of a short-circuited brain.

"I didn't know…didn't understand."

"But you knew you had to stay with him or he would die."

"How you can blame me when I didn't know about what I could do? I still don't understand this 'gift' as you called it."

"You are a natural neuro interface. That's why the Etagllot wanted you – wanted to replicate what you could do. As long as you were at Andfe's side, you kept his brain, and thus his body, regulated. Without you, his injured brain fell into chaos."

She sank to ground in front of the small holo-projection of her brother's peaceful face floating above the grave. She reached out to touch him, her hand passing through the three-dimensional, realistic image. A ghost.

"I'm so sorry, Andfe," she whispered as tears traced her cheeks. "I should have found a way to stay."

"If you had only known then what you know now. It may have all turned out so very differently. Perhaps you could have kept him alive until the brain healed."

"I let you die," she confessed to the hovering image. She then understood what her guide was doing. "You're simply repeating what I've told myself for years."

"Does it make any more sense when I say it than when you tell that to yourself?"

"Even not knowing about my gift, I knew I had to stay with him. That is my guilt."

"Yet the damage was so grave."

Gatebi shot her eyes up to Phai. "There's always hope! He could have come out of it."

"No, Gatebi, he could not. The Andfe you knew was gone in the instant that other skimmer failed to yield and slammed into your family's vehicle. In the moment that the skimmer rental company failed to run safety checks that would have shown the passive restraints were defective. In the instant that other driver decided to step into his junker of a skimmer that had all its emergency overrides disengaged. On that day when your parents decided to take a family vacation."

Phai sighed and knelt down next to Gatebi. "Andfe faces a future of life support and unconsciousness. If by some miracle he wakes, the brain damage is so severe…so massive…"

Gatebi recognized the words from the past – they were her father's when he gave her the world-shattering news that they decided to let Andfe go.

"Even if you had understood your gift, the best you could have done is act as a living life support system. You are not a healer. You could not have saved him, Gatebi. That's what is truly tearing you apart…not that you didn't try…not that you should have found a way to stay at his side. It's that there was nothing you could do. You were powerless to save Andfe."

Gatebi fell forward to the ground and sobbed. "I-I couldn't s-save you! I'm so sorry, Andfe. S-so very, v-very sorry!" She felt Phai's hand slowly rub her back as the woman cooed reassuring tones.

"Let him go, Gatebi. Let the guilt go. He would not want you to carry that burden. Andfe loved you too much and would wish you only happiness."

Gatebi pulled herself together and sat up. "He loved me as I am. He never tried to make me be something I wasn't."

Phai smiled and brushed back the orange hair that had fallen into the brown eyes. "He loved you fiercely. Always told you to be you."

"Not like Mom and Dad. They kept pressuring me to be like them – to follow in their footsteps. Andfe understood that wasn't me."

"As long as you honor who you are, then Andfe is still alive within you. And now you must decide whether or not to pursue this new part of you we've discovered. A powerful gift triggered once by tragedy that could be honed and used in ways we cannot yet imagine."

Gatebi wiped away the tears. She felt lighter emotionally than she had in many years. Her dream guide was right – it was time to move on and honor Andfe rather than wallow in misplaced guilt.

"Phai offered to train me."

The dream guide that had taken Phai's shape smiled. "It would mean leaving your friends."

"I have a feeling that when the Dark Coming is over, we may be parting anyway."

"Intuition?"

She gestured uncertainty. "A feeling."

"Then the offer may be worth considering." Phai slowly evaporated and blackness fell around Gatebi.

Sitting up in bed, she blinked away the remnants of tears. She was trembling and felt drained, but otherwise more at peace than she could remember being in years. Lying back down, the Alcab considered possibilities that she never would have imagined existed.

"As long as we can stop the Dark Coming," she whispered to the blackness.

Rising that morning, she was no longer certain about pursuing her latent gift, but did make another decision. If the galaxy survived, she would not return to Alcab permanently. What she'd do, she hadn't a clue, but it would be true to herself…exactly as Andfe would have wanted.

"Volu?" she called while padding to her bathroom.

"Morning greetings, Gatebi."

"How long have we been here?"

"Today is Ekkamm day 55."

She frowned at her reflection. The thick, orange hair needed trimming again. "That long?" The Eshaar'ne did not respond to the rhetorical question. "Ettwanae is getting restless, Flint is bored, and Warren complains about claustrophobia. How much longer will we hide here? Have you heard anything?"

"Only that the signs of the Dark Coming continue to escalate. We may be leaving sooner than originally estimated."

With a small shudder, she repositioned a couple water nozzles in the shower. "Under the circumstances, that is not happy news."

"We are in agreement."

"A hot shower this morning, Volu. I want to melt worries away for a little while."

The Eshaar'ne happily accommodated, wishing she could do likewise.

###

Uulophar dropped out of FTL and approached the Etagllot outpost on Ekkamm. They had pushed propulsion units to maximum the entire trip. The telepathic ship immediately alerted Phai.

/ If you aren't already, descend and get us into the facility as quickly as possible. /

/ I anticipated your concern, Phai. We approach the entrance and will berth momentarily. I have scanned to the extent of my range and find no signs of pursuit. The facility appears secure, as well. Etagllot security has been alerted. /

/ Notify Den-neer of our safe arrival. /

/ Immediately. /

Phai left her chambers and strolled through the corridor toward Uulophar's bay and the ship's exit. Suddenly, mirth filled her mental senses from an external source.

/ You find something humorous in our arrival? /

/ The entrance to our ultra-secret installation was not created with me in mind. It will be a tight fit. /

Phai grinned. / Then I'd say you should consider slimming down as the specifications most certainly included your girth. /

Instant indignation of the feigned variety washed over Phai's mind.

/ I will have you know that I am exactly the same tonnage as the day I was commissioned. The builders here miscalculated. /

The Elder laughed out loud – a rare treat. / And thus vanity is exposed. / She heard what sounded like a huff and chuckled again. / I grant permission to do what is required to enter. Doors can be repaired. /

An image of phase cannoning the hangar entrance to smithereens flickered through her mind, but were not of Phai's creation. Then a telepathic laugh.

/ Tempting, but unnecessary. The fit will be tight, not unnavigable. /

"Well then," Phai continued audibly, "all I have to look forward to is meeting our Ekkamm guests in person."

Anticipation bordering on excitement welled up at the thought of seeing the Esha'Aru trio in the flesh. The day would be a highlight in her life and a pleasant diversion from heavy burdens and worries of failure.

Yes, indeed. Meeting Archangel, Ettwanae, and T'Qilla face-to-face would make the afternoon exceptional.

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Next time, T'Qilla, the Council, and Ztar all face aspects of destiny. Thank you for reading!