Ancient Relics (Shadow of the Ancients Book 1) (17 page)

Having made it to the Trilli system, The crew of The
Wayfarer faces a dire circumstance. Commander Asim assesses the Wayfarer’s
situation.

On one side, a spatial anomaly blocks their escape,
while on the other side, three Drak Combat Fleets close in hot pursuit. Damaged
beyond survival, and hundreds of crew-members dead or severely wounded, The
Wayfarer has only two choices.

The first is to lure the Drak fleets into the
gravitational pull of the black hole in an attempt to take the Drak fleets out
with them.

The second is to offer terms of surrender, in hopes
the Drak will not simply kill them on sight.

As Commander Asim sits in his command chair in
contemplation of his choices, Logan runs onto the bridge.

“Commander,” Logan starts, “Why are we not moving-in
to the planet? It may hold some clue, or even technology, that could help us
here.”

The Commander looks toward a bloodied and burned
Logan, from an explosion on the science deck.

“What hope is there of that planet holding any
information we can use, Doctor?” the Commander asks Logan.

“A better chance than sitting here to be target
practice,” Logan replies enthusiastically.

Seeing the validity of Logan’s point, the Commander
gives the order to move into low orbit around the lone planet.

Logan makes his way down to the cargo bays to get
together a small force and some equipment to create an away-team down to the
planet’s surface.

After completing his impromptu assembly of soldiers,
scientists, and medical personnel, Logan loads a heavy cargo transport and
informs the Commander that he and his crew are launching down to the planet.

“Gods’ speed, Doctor. And good luck,” Commander Asim
tells Logan.

Logan gives the order to launch and the transport
starts its descent to the planet’s surface. Logan is surprised to see that the
planet still has a breathable atmosphere, and the planet seems to be capable of
supporting life.

As the cargo ship enters the atmosphere, the three
pursuing Drak fleets enter the Trilli system.

Immediately, the ships of the Drak fleets begin
diverting left and right, as if to surround The Wayfarer. The commanding
officers of the Drak pursuit fleets order their respective ships to break-off
pursuit, fearing they may get too close to the black hole.

Instead, the fleets enter a safe orbit around the
black hole, awaiting The Wayfarer’s attempt to leave the system.

“Smart lizards,” Commander Asim says to himself
aloud as he notices the Drak tactics.

“Sir?” an Ensign on the bridge asks the Commander,
in response to his private thought spoken aloud.

“Oh, nothing, Ensign. It’s just, they are smart
enough to steer clear. With the gravity of a black hole and chaos of battle,
there is little that any fleet, or individual ship, could do to prevent
casualties to the hole,” the Commander responds.

On the surface, Logan receives word from The
Wayfarer that pursuit halted under consideration of the black hole’s proximity
to the planet.

“Well, that’s a welcomed relief,” Logan replies to
the Wayfarer.

“As long as the Drak fleet stays back, you have a
stay of execution. Take your time, Doc,” the messenger tells him.

Logan laughs to himself and says, “Will do. Away
team, out.”

As the shuttle flies close to the surface, the
science team looks for potential locations to land.

“So Doctor, where to?” one of the scientists asks
Logan.

Logan looks out the window for a few moments and
sees a large building off in the distance.

“Fly over toward that structure,” Logan tells the
pilot, while pointing-out the destination.

“Aye, Sir,” the pilot responds.

Landing near the structure, Logan can see the design
and make-up of the building.

He estimates the structure is kilometers long. So
long, in fact, the ends of the building cannot be seen past the curvature of
the horizon. Although long, the building does not appear to be very wide, and
it is only 15 to 20 meters high.

The structure appears constructed of some
crystalline material, like glass. It could not be glass, however, because the
gravitational forces of the black hole would have caused simple glass to
break-apart long ago.

Logan picks up a rucksack filled with gear.

Lucky for the team, this planet has a hospitable
atmosphere, which means no suits required this time.

Logan is so shocked at the atmospheric conditions,
he comments about it to the team, “How is this even possible?”

The pilot of the shuttle replies, “Maybe we’re dead
and this is a prison in the after-life.”

Logan simply nods and says, “Yeah, maybe.”

Logan gives his orders to the team, “Let’s get a
reading of this glassy material and some samples for the labs. That is, if we
have any computers left to read them.”

A few scientists and a security guard make their way
to the structure and attempt to gather readings and samples from the structure.

Logan walks around studying the landscape in hopes
of finding clues to the structure's stability and to look for an entrance.

“Uh, Sir!” One of the scientists calls for Logan.

“Yes?” Logan answers.

“We cannot get anything from this material. It is as
if there is nothing here,” the scientist insists.

Logan makes his way over to the group and looks at
the readings.

“That’s not possible,” Logan assures, “The black
hole must be causing scanning errors. Take a sample of the glass and load it
onto the ship. We’ll take readings back aboard The Wayfarer.”

“Yes Sir,” the scientist affirms Logan’s order.

She pulls out a pick and attempts to break off a
piece of the glass. On the first strike, the pick shatters into dust, leaving
the young woman standing there looking at the pick handle with great confusion.

“Uh, Sir? The scientist attempts to get Logan’s
attention again.

“What is it this …time…” Logan attempts to ask
before cutting himself short as he notices the pick.

“What the hell happened?” Logan inquires from the
young woman.

Attempting to explain, in great confusion, she says,
“I’m not sure, Sir. It just… I guess… shattered?”

Just then, Logan senses a presence close by. Slowly
he turns to his back, and in the distance sees a silhouette moving towards the
group.

“Guards!” Logan calls the security detail to
attention.

The guards activate their weapons and train their
sights on the target walking towards them.

As the figure gets closer, the silhouette becomes
clearer and Logan can now see the target’s face.

“Hold your fire! Hold your fire!” Logan quickly
yells out to the guards.

The security personnel look at each other perplexed
as to why Logan would tell them to stand-down.

Once the approaching individual made it close
enough, the whole group could then tell that the intruder was none other than
Sophie Alexander.

“What the hell?!” one of the guards asked with great
confusion.

“Away team to Wayfarer. You’re not going to believe
this!” the Sergeant at Arms calls to Commander Asim to inform him on the
discovery.

“This is the Wayfarer, send your traffic away team,”
the Commander acknowledges the call.

“Wayfarer, Sophie Alexander is on the planet’s
surface. How copy, over?” the guard informs the Commander.

A pause comes to the conversation, and the team on
the ground can hear only static on the comms.

“Did we lose the transmission?” Logan asks the
Sergeant.

A voice comes over the comms, “No, you didn’t lose
the transmission Doctor. Are you certain Sophie Alexander is there, and that
you aren’t just hallucinating?”

Logan takes the comms and replies to the Commander,
“We are very certain, Commander. She’s standing here as clear as you see the
planet beneath you. Also, you should be apprised that there is a mysterious
structure down here as well. It’s of unknown origin, unknown construction, and
unknown material.”

Commander Asim calls back to Logan, “Eventful day,
isn’t it Doctor?”

“I would think so,” Logan agrees with bewilderment.

Sophie walks up to Logan and whispers into his ear,
then backs away.

Logan continues his communication with The Wayfarer.

“Commander, I need you to send Zoey down. Like…
NOW.” Logan tells Commander Asim with a sense of urgency.

“Understood Doctor. Contacting Sergeant Sebastian,”
Commander Asim says to Logan.

When Zoey boards a small shuttle to go down to the
surface, the tactical station informs Commander Asim, “Sir, there’s a Drak
shuttle approaching the planet. How do you wish to proceed?”

Commander Asim looks at the sensor reading on his
chair’s arm console to assess the threat.

“Hold fire. Open a channel to the Drak vessel,”
Commander Asim orders.

The communications officer confirms, “Channel open.
Translator operational.”

“This is the Trillian Alliance exploration vessel
The Wayfarer calling approaching Drak vessel. State your intent or be fired
upon,” the Commander attempts to ask of the Drak shuttle craft.

The Drak pilot responds in the Tharisian language,
“Attention Alliance vessel. We have been monitoring your communications. We are
willing to discontinue pursuit for permission to safely explore your
discoveries.”

Unsure if the promise of a cease-fire is authentic
or an attempt at subterfuge, Commander Asim tells the Drak pilot, “Agreed, but
if any other ships, other than you, attempt to approach, they will be fired
upon.”

“A wise recommendation, Commander Asim, of the
Alliance ship Wayfarer, but unnecessary. All that matters now is this
discovery,” the Drak pilot reassures the Commander.

The shuttle pilot alters course to land on the
surface near the away-team and begins his descent to the surface.

Commander Asim calls Logan on the comms again and
tells him, “Doctor. You’re about to get some more company. Just a friendly
warning.”

“Who this time, Commander?” Logan inquires about the
new visitor.

The Commander relays, “You have a Drak shuttle on
approach. We agreed on a cease-fire in exchange for passage to your location.
Be on guard, just in case though.”

“Understood, Commander. We’re not going anywhere
anytime soon,” Logan says back to the Commander.

Within moments of each other, the Drak shuttle and
Zoey’s shuttle land near the away team’s location.

Zoey runs out of the ship and up to Sophie, slinging
her arms around her like old friends that have not seen each other in years.

“Where did you go Sophie?” Zoey asks her.

Sophie smiles at Zoey and replies, “I observed
Namus.”

“We translated Namus to mean death. If it doesn't
mean 'death', what does Namus mean then?” Zoey asks about the Ancient word.

Sophie collects her thoughts to make an attempt at
translating Ancient into their language.

After a brief pause, Sophie tells Zoey, “Namus, from
my language to your words, can mean ‘death,’ ‘rest,’ ‘reset,’ and ‘recycle.’”

“I’m confused,” Zoey says as she attempts to
understand the nearly cryptic manner of Sophie's explanation.

“I am Ancient, as you call us. We are called Asein.
We are of the Ase. Avatars of the Or’I. We are as immortal as the universe.
Death comes only in change, or transition. We are energy. Consciousness. We can
take any form we wish. I was sent here for you young one,” Sophie explains to
Zoey.

“Why are you here for me?” Zoey asks Sophie.

“Sophie smiles again and says, “It is almost time.”

“Time? For Namus again?” Zoey asks.

“Namus; for me… and for you,” Sophie says softly as
she reaches out to Zoey and places her hand on Zoey’s shoulder, “You are
Parasu. The Ase of the Guardians, called Anesidora, calls for you. She awaits
your coming.”

While Zoey and Sophie converse, the away team
focuses their attention on them, leaving the Drak to wonder about unguarded and
unobserved.

The Drak pilot calls to his fleet and sends a
transmission. With the transmission end, the entire Drak fleet jumps out of the
Trilli system and returns to their own part of the galaxy without any further
transmission or attempts at contact.

Commander Asim notices the fleet’s departure and
calls down to the away team.

“Doctor, could you be kind enough to ask our
‘special guest’ as to why his fleet just abandoned him here?” Commander Asim
asks of Logan.

Logan turns to the Drak pilot, who already knows
what he is about to say.