The Seryys Chronicles: Of Nightmares
OF NIGHTMARES
Book II of The Seryys Chronicles
Copyright © 2013 by Joseph Nicholson
Edited by Kristin N. Hamm
Cover Copyright © 2013 by AcidKru
Published by Clockwork Quills at Smashwords
ISBN: 978-1623750596
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First Edition
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I would like to thank everyone who purchased Death Wish, first and foremost. Without your support, Of Nightmares may not have been a possibility! I am forever humbled by my readers! I would also like to thank Clockwork Quills for moving forward with the second installment of the Seryys Chronicles.
Prologue
The Starship Vyysarri bore the fateful name of another ship that had crash-landed on a foreign planet over ten thousand years earlier, marooning the crew and forcing them to start over. The first ship in the fleet to have both Seryysan and Vyysarri crewmembers, it was equipped, like every ship in the fleet, with an Event Horizon Drive—or Eve’Zon, for short. The Eve’Zon Drive revolutionized space travel by allowing instantaneous point-to-point transit by way of a micro-black hole. Trips that would otherwise take several hundreds of years at light speed took mere seconds.
“Report,” General Khai’Xander Khail ordered from his seat in the middle of the expansive bridge of this new battle/exploration ship as it emerged from the black hole. His cool, calm gray eyes surveyed the bridge.
“We have successfully emerged from black space on the edge of the explored region of the Quarman Sector, sir.”
The Quarman Sector was the new frontier of this portion of the galaxy. Originally explored and partially charted by, and named for, Commander Quar’Buel Quarman of the Seryys Combat Exploration Branch of the Navy, it was a vast expanse of nebulae, asteroid fields, and hopefully a new planet with the right conditions for colonization.
“Good work, Rand’Son,” General Khail commended. To keep things casual as he liked, Khai addressed everyone by their first names.
“Thank you, sir.” If the young, albino pilot could blush, he probably would have. By Seryysan standards, Rand’Son mused, Khai was a strong specimen. With a military-style haircut that was brown and flecked with gray all over, he was of average male height yet had a very muscular build as he was raised on a planet with several times Seryys’ gravitational pull.
Khai had to stop and think of what the galaxy had been like only three short years earlier; that that young, promising pilot would have been lunging across the bridge snarling and licking his elongated incisors with the promise of fresh blood and the honor of killing a Seryysan. But, all that had changed; the entire course of a galaxy had been altered by the actions of one man… him. Already a legend before he uncovered a Government plot to annihilate an entire city—the capital city of Seryys, no less—for a precious metal of immeasurable valuable found beneath it. Coincidentally, Khai uncovered many more secrets in his adventure, one of which ended a several-hundred-year-long war between Seryys and Vyysar.
It was widely accepted that the Vyysarri had committed the first acts of aggression that precipitated a full-scale war… at least that was what the Seryys Government wanted its people to think. The first act, in fact, was Operation: Bright Star.
The Seryys Government had committed unthinkable atrocities against the Vyysarri. Seryys had started the war when they altered the state of the Vysarri sun to emit higher levels of UV rays, which were deadly to the Vyysarrians. Then, when they continued to persevere, the Seryys Armed Forces forced them from their home planet and turned it into a training planet to make deadlier warriors. As the gravitational pull of Vyysar was several times that of Seryys, it had an attractive and unique quality. It leveled the playing field, as then Seryys could produce soldiers as strong and as fast as the Vyysarri.
Now, it was time for recovery. After Khai saved the Prime Minister, Pual’Kin Puar, with the aid of an aged Vyysarri warrior, Prime Minister Puar ordered an expedition to find the displaced Vyysarri, who had been living in drifting space colonies pieced together from asteroids, ship hulls and other debris, a new home. A new organization was created for this mission and many other missions like it. The DFC, or Department of First Contact, was to handle all galactic exploration and first contact with other races during that exploration. And who better to head up that organization than General Khai Xander’Khail? He was also appointed as the sole liaison to the Vyysarri People and Prefect Chuumdar, their leader. They had spent billions of credits and almost two years looking for a place that met the peculiar needs of the Vyysarri people: obviously, a breathable atmosphere (in this case, just oxygen), a water and food source were required for any civilization to live. Not so obvious were things like high gravity, little or no UV light (particularly a planet possessing a sun in its final stages of life) and mammal wildlife (as their preferred food source was warm blood).
Although the Vyysarri and Seryysans shared a common ancestry in the founders, the Vyysarri all had pointy fangs, pale skin, white hair, and red eyes, while the Seryysans lacked fangs and displayed a wide array of skin, hair, and eye color.
That “fateful” ship that crashed-landed on the most inhospitable planet imaginable was full of Seryysan Explorers. Men and women, entire families, perished or simply disappeared during a great expansion of Seryys Space ten thousand years earlier. Some were simply forgotten. Such was the fate of the Vyysarri.
“Sensor sweep,” Khai ordered. “We need to get our bearings and I want to know what’s out there.”
“Right away, sir!” an older Seryysan officer answered. “Older” was a relative term for both Seryysans and Vyysarri. With a life span that typically reached 125 years, “older” meant mid-eighties. The man worked his console like an artist with a canvas. Less than a minute later, he reported back. “I’m not picking up much in the immediate area. Long-range sensors are picking up energy spikes from several points in the uncharted expanse. But we are too far away to get any solid readings.”
“Of those, which ones could be stars?” Khai asked.
“Frankly, sir, all of them have the potential,” the officer said.
“Okay. Plot a course for the closest one, Rand’Son. Best possible speed.”
“Yes, sir!”
Rand’Son plotted a course and the massive engines flared to life pushing the vessel toward its destination.
“At current speed, we will arrive there in just under two days, sir.”
Khai grumbled to himself for a moment, thumbing his trusted pistol in its thigh holster. All this technology and we still have to wait. “Fine. I’ll be in the gym.”
Khai got up and stalked to the lift doors that slid open instinctively upon his approach. He entered, grumbled, “Deck two,” and the lift started to move.
The Vyysarri, a Courage-class long-range battleship—and second of her class—was perfect for long-range exploration missions. She was well armed with laser cannons fore and aft, newly developed fusion torpedoes fore and aft, and a state-of-the-art energy shield that was originally developed and employed as the main line of defense for Seryys City as means for protection from the Vyysarri. Now that the war was over, they had no need for it in the city, so it had been installed on starships instead. At just over three thousand feet long, Vyysarri was the biggest ship in the Seryys Navy and bore a shape similar to that of the sharks that swam the oceans of Seryys.
The lift stopped and the doors slid open onto deck two. Less than a yard from the lift doors was the door that led to the gym/recreation area. There was a weight bench specifically designed for him with a stronger barbell to support the massive amount of weight Khai could lift. Being orphaned at a young age, he became a ward of the state and was conscripted into the Seryys army. He was sent to Gor’Tsu Gorn Planet, named for the general who drove off the last pockets of Vyysarri resistance before establishing the training facility. Khai was the only “roughneck” on the ship in a position of power. The rest were fleet officers or cadets. They did have a contingent of soldiers on the ship as well, and Khai commanded both. Though in most cases roughnecks and fleet didn’t mix well, and it was almost unheard of to have a roughneck running a ship, but, due to Khai’s prestige and command ability—and just his fame alone—not a single person on that ship had a problem with his command. In fact, every single person on that ship revered and respected him, maybe even feared him a little, though Khai didn’t ever do anything to earn their fear other than being a formidable warrior with a violent reputation known throughout the galaxy. Not only was he the contact for the leaders of the Vyysarri, he was the first voice and face of the Seryys People when it came to meeting new races in the galaxy, though they hadn’t met any new ones since the end of the war.
As the door to the gym slid open, and he twisted slightly to fit comfortably through, a barrage of shouting—no, cheering?—assaulted his ears. Over on the sparring mat, there was some kind of commotion going on. Intrigued, Khai cocked an eyebrow and hulked over to the gathering of several people, mostly Seryysan. The gym was of decent size and the closer he drew to the gathering, the more he realized that it was more than just cheering. There was yelling, arguing, taunting, and he also noticed that the gathering was mostly soldiers, roughnecks like him.
He shouldered his way through the throng of men and saw what the ruckus was all about. He also noticed on the other side of the mat was a group of Vyysarri, also cheering, taunting. On the mat were two men, one Seryysan, one Vyysarri. The Vyysarri was just a boy, no older than twenty standard years. The Seryysan was much older, much bigger, and winning what appeared to be a brutal fight. The boy was on his back with the man straddling him. The boy was clearly unconscious, as he was no longer defending himself. The poor boy’s face was covered in dark red, almost black, blood. The same blood covered the man’s fists. The man had also sustained a few injuries, but most noticeably, a broken nose and the blood trickled down his face, dripping consistently off his chin.
Khai intervened immediately. The man brought back his fist to finish the boy off when Khai caught his wrist and simply lifted the man off the boy and then off his feet. The man stared murderously at the boy, then at his commanding officer. The chatter died almost instantly. Khai looked around at the crowd, then down at the boy. He was afraid the kid was dead, but the boy started coughing up blood and Khai breathed a sigh of relief. The last thing he wanted was to have to explain to that kid’s parents how he died.
“What… the… fuck?!” was all Khai said at first. When no one responded he continued, “How are we supposed to complete our mission if you jarheads won’t cooperate? I hand-picked all of you! I read every single profile and picked you all because I needed the best of the best. The most distinguished fleet officers and soldiers I could find and you disrespect me by acting like children!” He felt a small bit of satisfaction as a few soldiers on both sides winced at his outburst.
“Sir!” the man started. “He was-”
“I don’t care, soldier! The fact of the matter is, had I not come down here, you would’ve killed that kid. And I would have had to explain to his family that one of my soldiers beat him to death. And for what? A childish dispute? You guys are on the same side now, whether you like it or not! Now, Colonel Widwar, not only are you stripped of rank and discharged from the military, you will escort yourself to the brig and there you will stay for the remaining three years of this mission. And upon our return, you will be tried in court for attempted murder. And don’t even think of running. I will check in on you in twenty minutes to make sure you made it, and if not… I will come get you. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” was all he said.
“Good,” Khai said as he dropped the man to the mat. “Now, for the rest of you…” he thought for a minute. “You are confined to quarters until I feel like you’ve been there long enough. Dismissed!”
The party dispersed instantly, save for one, another Seryysan boy, barely old enough to wear his uniform. “I said to go to your quarters, kid.”
“Is he gonna be okay?” the boy looked as though he had been smacked pretty hard across the chest with a staff or maybe a barbell.
Khai stern features softened a bit. “What happened here, son?”
The boy gulped. “It was an accident, sir. I swear it!” Tears welled up in his eyes. It was obvious that the kid was fresh from boot and hadn’t witnessed this much brutality yet. Hopefully he never will, Khai silently wished. He had seen more than his fair share of violence, not to mention committed his fair share against the Vyysarri... younger than this one. He scooped up the Vyysarri boy in his arms. The Seryysan boy continued. “We were lifting over there,” he pointed to Khai’s weight bench, and Khai frowned minutely, “and I was trying to push myself too hard. Mazg, that’s his name-”
“I know who he is,” Khai said gently, working his way to door.
“Mazg wasn’t strong enough to spot me and dropped the weights on my chest. And-”
“The good colonel thought it was deliberate.”
“I think so, sir,” the boy nodded. “Then he dragged Mazg to the mat and, well…”
Khai’s gaze softened even more. “Come with me. Let’s make sure you’re not seriously hurt.”
“Yes, sir.”
With one kid in his arms and another in tow, Khai walked to the lift and rode it to deck four where the infirmary was located. He entered the quiet medical bay and placed the kid on one of the beds. One of the many doctors emerged from the offices and looked immediately concerned walking over to the bed where the incapacitated child lay.
“By the Founders!” she gasped. “Who, or what, did this?”
“Roughneck,” Khai replied deadpan.
“One of your men did this?” she asked as she waved a giant wand filled with diagnostic equipment. Instantly, a report and images of broken bones appeared on the screen above the kid’s bed. “One of your men did this?” she asked again, not hiding the anger in her voice.
“How bad is it?”
“A broken nose, cracked jaw, cracked skull, a few missing teeth, a cracked sternum, two broken ribs, a ruptured disk in his lower back, a broken radius and ulna, broken fingers on the right hand, cracked femur, broken tibia, internal injuries to the lungs and kidneys, and a concussion.”
“Is that all?” Khai asked wryly, angrily.
“He’s just a kid,” she murmured.
“I know. I had to break up the fight. Had I not been there…” there was no need to finish that sentence. “Will he make it?”
“I think so,” she said with a degree of certainty. “These Vyysarri are a hardy stock. He’ll be in good hands.”
“Good,” Khai said with a cordial nod. “Thank you, doctor.”
Khai spun on his heel and headed for the door. As he was leaving, he heard the doctor tending to the other boy.
“Now let’s see to that bruising…”
The door slid shut and he pulled out his com unit. “Brig, has our only prisoner showed up yet?”
“Sir?”
“Colonel Widwar. I sent him to the brig. Has he arrived yet?”
“No, sir.”
With a growl of frustration, he stormed off in the direction of the practically unused detention level. “Bridge, where the hell is Colonel Widwar?”
“Just a moment, sir,” a voice came over the com. “I’m homing in on his transponder chip now, sir.” Each member of the crew was implanted surgically with a transponder chip that could be tracked anywhere in the ship and within her sensor range, save for long-range sensors, which utilized a different system. “Deck six, near hydroponics.”
“Thank you, Rand’Son.”
He took two steps and was rocked to his backside as the floor beneath him seemingly lurched to the port side. Suddenly, the main lights went dim and only the emergency lights remained. As Khai struggled to his feet, the ship groaned and creaked.
Chapter One
“Bridge, what the hell just happened?” Khai barked into his com unit.
“I-I don’t know, sir. The diagnostic is still running.”
“Where’s Widwar?”
“He hasn’t moved from his position. He’s still near hydroponics.”
“I’m going after him. Com me the instant you have a damage report!”