Exclusive Teaser

Chapter 33

Royal Void Outpost-79

A pair of Zar-Meck starfighters, black as the emptiness between stars, escorted the Silent Horizon to the moon outpost orbiting above the Great Break, the planetary divide of the jungle world Taranok. As soon as the starfighters were within range, Royal Void Outpost-79’s tractor beams locked onto the Earth ship and guided it into the cloaked hangar bay. The Zar-Meck starfighters remained close behind and at the sides, hyper-alert for any sudden actions.

As they passed into the hangar bay, the thin mirage of the bay’s cloak wrapped around the Silent Horizon, briefly illuminating the cabin and its occupants with its neon blue light.

The three ships touched down in an oddly lifeless hangar. There were two of the larger transport ships on the far side of the hangar, and over a dozen starfighters closer to them, but no imperial officers or the black-armor-clad Zar-Meck foot soldiers anywhere to be found.

When the Silent Horizon and its escorts touched down and powered down, a horrible silence ensnared the hangar. It was far from the welcoming party they had expected to be greeted by.

“I have a bad feeling about this, Dex.” The words fell delicately from Lieutenant Lacy Prullen’s lips.

Dex, her husband and the Captain of the Silent Horizon, acknowledged the concern by placing his hand on hers. For the sake of morale, he wouldn’t admit he felt the same. “This doesn’t change the plan.”

He looked from the eerie sight of the seemingly abandoned hangar to the imperial data tablet docked atop the ship’s central console, and input a command.

“Maybe they just didn’t expect us so soon,” Dex said, trying to comfort his wife-slash-crewmate. He didn’t wait for a rebuttal before leaning into the microphone on the command console he’d used often before to record his logs. But this time, the imperial data tablet Lacy had confiscated patched them through directly to the outpost and its speaker system.

He took a deep breath, then spoke boldly for all of the hidden imperials to hear, “This is Captain Dex Prullen of Earth. I have received the Emperor’s invitation to return to his planet.” He glanced from the left to the right at the Zar-Meck starfighters on either side of him. The preceding skirmish was hard fought, and destined to have brought them here regardless of who ended up winning in the end. Ramps descended from beneath the shining black undercurve of the ships.

“While we are flattered by his interest in us, we must deny his request and instead ask that the Empire leave this planet to the Mok Tau, and all other Mok tribes of Taranok. Please come out into the hangar, unarmed, and with your hands up.”

As Dex relayed the message to the outpost’s hidden occupants, Lacy tensed in her seat. She could feel anxiety-stricken hearts all around them. There wasn’t a single soul in this solar system that had been in their position before. The Mok Tau people had only just learned of other intelligent alien life and the larger Empire only a few months ago. And before the Earthlings came along, none had dared stand up to the Army of the Empire of the Void. 

And for her own part, the passenger Lacy had yet to tell Dex about was doing its best to make each morning more and more uncomfortable.

As a platoon, they waited a moment for signs of life; a timid officer poking a head out from behind a doorway, or a squad of Zar-Mecks coming late to the party. But there was nothing.

“Let’s try knocking a little louder.” Dex shot Lacy a playful side-eye, then glanced down at the already open music library tab on the ship’s computer.

Lacy’s dimples sank deep as a devilish smile spread across her face. There was still something off about the atmosphere in the hangar, but Dex knew her well, and the request did a little to lift her spirits.

The Empire of the Void got a taste of Earth’s jazz music then, as the “Charleston” blasted through all of the speakers of the outpost. 

The first blare of the trumpets was accompanied by blasts from the cannons of the Zar-Meck escort ships, firing hot balls of energy down the halls that branched deeper into the outpost. With guns stolen from what was left of the Empire’s ground base, Torro-Kaal, Dex, Lacy, and the rest of their squad charged out of the rear of the Silent Horizon. The other two Mok Tau squads charged with them from the other Zar-Meck starfighters, in a wide, three-pronged formation, quickly spreading out to the left, center, and right of the hangar bay.

Each group rushed to the nearest cover they could find, anticipating a counter defense of Zar-Mecks and surprised imperial officers. The echo of heavy and rapid footfalls was quickly replaced by the sounds of metal blaster barrels and spears with leaves tied around the top of the staff, dropping onto crates and makeshift barricades. In the midst of the rush, far to the left side of the line, one of the Mok Tau soldiers crashed a few miles an hour too fast into the crates he’d meant to kneel behind, and with the clattering of crates came the distinctive vibrato of a blaster round firing.

Before Dex could issue a command, another soldier from the line, who donned a repurposed Zar-Meck helmet with a red cross painted on the front, rushed over to the clumsy Mok Tau. Dex watched him attend the frog-man in need, and waited for the medic to give back a thumbs up.

After a moment of nothing but the music blaring overhead, Dex rose from his cover, and ran crouching over to the medic and clumsy soldier. “How we lookin’, Doc?” he asked.

“Bad burn,” the medic said, wrapping the clumsy soldier’s leg. “Should wait on ship. Will take care of at village.” 

Dex nodded, then said to the clumsy soldier, “Well done, private. You earned the first Purple Heart of this war.” Then, to the next closest frog-man, “You wait with him on the ship. Go on, move. Help him walk.”

As the two walked back to the Zar-Meck starfighter, Dex gave the medic a disbelieving smile and shake of the head. “Boots, huh?”

The medic nodded his agreement, even though he didn’t understand the common Earth military term Dex was using to describe new, and oftentimes over-eager, recruits. 

Returning to his place in the center of the line, Dex took charge again of the small company. Turning left, he signaled Second Squad’s Staff Sergeant Gurg to hold and cover the ships, then turned to Third Squad on the right, led by Staff Sergeant Toork, and signaled to follow behind him with First Squad as they pushed forward.

Both he and Lacy noticed the awkward way the Mok Tau carried their blasters, weapons that were thousands of years ahead of their race but were becoming a necessity for survival far too quickly. Many of the frog-like aliens still carried their traditional tribal spears or daggers, either as a primary weapon or on their persons in some capacity, but Dex insisted they all learn how to use the advanced weaponry. The imperials would make no consideration for a less evolved fighting force. The Mok Tau, along with all the other tribes of Taranok, had to jump headfirst into a new era of warfare.

With just one step into the large hallway that led them away from the hanger, what was already an odd situation felt immediately worse with the hopping music almost teasing the lack of action. It was the cherry on top of their plan, a little extra flair at Lacy’s direction. But if that was for nothing, what else was waiting around the corner to mess with their plans for a clean and concise operation?

Dex slashed a hand in front of his throat and said to Lacy, “Kill it. Doesn’t work this time, darling.”

Lacy feigned a pout and grabbed the data tablet from her belt to silence the song. And once all was quiet again, the dread more easily crept into the air of the perfectly white hallway.

First Squad took another few steps forward down the hall. Without the music, the one bit of personality they’d brought with them, the hallway was totally indistinguishable from the last space outpost Dex and Lacy had been in, Royal Void Outpost-19. The illuminated, slightly curved-at-the-edges hallways lacking markers could have been any part of the entire complex. A quick glance back and forth between where you’d just been and where you’re going, the total emptiness and endless uniformity of it, was enough to make one go mad. 

“Anything?” Dex whispered to Lacy.

She concentrated deeply, inwardly and outwardly simultaneously. Using a mental awareness of all the organic energy around her, a gift accidentally cast upon her by the Emperor, she searched for hints of hidden imperials. 

“Nothing,” she said after a moment, unconcerned with her volume. “I don’t think there’s anyone here.”

If it were anyone else, Dex would have shot back with something condemning her assumption. But not when that anyone was Lacy. For one, he knew better than to talk to his wife like that. And for another, her intuition on the subject had been better than most lately.

Lacy continued walking down the hall, running her hand against the wall. Her blaster strapped tightly at her hip, a contrast to Dex’s gunslinger-like low hang of his holster.

Somewhere along that wall, she would find a hidden door. Without a Zar-Meck visor or the knowledge of an imperial officer assigned to the outpost, navigation of the place would be nigh impossible, and maybe that was the point. 

It was a shame, for the Empire’s sake, that the imperials had not planned for someone like the Earth girl who now roamed their halls. Through her fingertips, her flesh connecting with the world around her, her eyes could open to the things unseen. They had previously discovered this phenomenon weeks ago as she tried to understand the data tablet. All of its other users needed special contact lenses to see its hidden screen, but not Lacy. It was convenient, too, with only one set of data tablet lenses.

Dex and the rest of First Squad followed a few paces behind her, with Third Squad a few meters behind them. Even if Lacy had dropped her guard and her weapon, Dex wasn’t willing to take risks. Trigger discipline was a foreign concept; his finger remained firm on his blaster’s trigger, waiting, hoping someone would pop out from one of the hidden rooms or hallways so he could take a shot at them. There was coldness in his blood; he couldn’t deny that, but for what they’d endured at the hands of the Empire? Throughout the planning phase of the mission, he’d convinced himself he could live with it.

“Here.” Lacy halted suddenly and pressed her palm against the wall. In her eyes only, a blue seam outlined one of the hidden doors. 

Her voice and exclamation of her find caught everyone off guard. How long had they been walking? Searching?

Dex turned to look back toward the hangar bay. At some point in their marching, their path had curved out of the way of a clear line of sight. Now they would be reliant only on comms devices unless the imperials thought better and jammed them. Perhaps that was their plan all along; make the insurgents think they’d fled, then break them up into smaller teams for an ambush. Dex turned back to Lacy and joined her as she opened the hidden door with the data tablet. 

The door slid upward with a hiss and revealed what looked like an open bay barracks. Bunk beds lined the side walls, with lockers separating each set. Against the back wall was a dining area, and in the center of the room was a simplistic but cozy sitting area. 

Dex entered first, checking his immediate right as he crossed through the doorway, looking for hostiles. First Squad’s team leader, Sergeant Wrobo, followed nut-to-butt behind him, with his blaster awkwardly held high. He swept to the left and cleared that corner of the room. 

Nothing.

Lacy followed after him and swept the far side of the room, then ordered the rest of First Squad to wait outside while Toork led Third Squad on their patrol of the hall.

“Notice anything out of place?” Dex asked when Lacy joined him in the investigation of the bay.

She took her time inspecting the room. Nothing immediately felt off about it. In fact, it wasn’t too dissimilar from the barracks she’d stayed in at the Grand Central Space Station, except this bay was slightly tidier. She approached a set of lockers on the right side of the room and opened one.

No lock, she thought.

Again, there was nothing out of the ordinary.

“Maybe they all packed up and left?” she offered. “Planet was a lost cause, and the Emperor was already recalling his forces.”

Dex clucked his tongue in thought. “No… No, I don’t think so. At least, they didn’t pack.” He crossed the room to join her. “Look at this. All the uniforms are still here except one,” he said, nicking an unoccupied metal hanger. “I’m sure if they were allowed personal items, we’d find those left here, too. No, they weren’t recalled. Either they’re still here somewhere, or we’re surrounded by ghosts.”

The last word hit hard, the image of the Emperor’s court of phantasms forced itself into her mind.

Ghosts. That was the last thing she wanted to think about now, and ever more. 

“Personal items,” she said, not sure herself if it was meant to be a question or not, then nodded toward the sitting area. “If no personal items, nothing to occupy themselves, why the pleasure of a living area? Where’s the fun in sitting and staring at each other in your downtime?”

Dex inspected the area; four long, short mattresses, and a coffee table with a circular silver centerpiece on top.

“See, I don’t think this is for downtime.” He knelt beside the table and noticed a button on the side of the centerpiece. 

Lacy saw where his eyes were drawn. Her lips parted to warn him not to touch it, but she was a moment too late.

Dex pushed the button, and the room went dark.

She jumped forward a half step, then stopped when the centerpiece showed off its purpose in a horrible scarlet display.

An image of the Emperor loomed over them in the center of the room. Lacy’s heart froze seeing that featureless golden face again. As if knowing where its viewer was, the Emperor was facing Lacy. The eyes that weren’t there glared at her, condemning her for her escape from his clutches. And though she knew it wasn’t really happening, her mind told her that the Emperor’s arm was beginning to rise so as to reach out and take her by the throat. Lacy had to stifle a sudden coughing fit from breathing in too fast, and nearly fell back a step.

Dex stepped around the short table. As he did, the Emperor followed him like the eyes of an old painting in a haunted house. But from Lacy’s perspective, the image never moved away from her.

“So, this is what they do when they’re not on duty?” Dex paced around the Emperor, never breaking contact from the face that seemed to harden the longer they stared at each other. “Eat, sleep, and pray.” He waited in vain for Lacy to add a comment. When she didn’t, he said, “But I’m sure if we wander around long enough, we’ll find a gym, too.”

Still nothing from the woman pressed tightly against the wall locker.

Dex didn’t need her to tell him what was going on in her mind, out loud or through their mental connection. He swiped at the projector, casting it from the table. The Emperor fled the room in the blink of an eye, and the lights returned to normal.

Dex then closed the distance between himself and Lacy in three long strides and slowed his movements just before taking her arms so as not to completely overwhelm her.

“Hey,” Dex whispered. “You still with me?”

Lacy’s eyes were still where the Emperor’s hadn’t been. It took her a moment, and a quick shake from Dex to bring her back into the room. 

“I… Yes. Yes. Sorry, I-”

“Don’t,” Dex offered with a faint smile and brushed her cheek with the backs of his fingers. “Never tell me you’re sorry. Not when you’ve done nothing wrong. It’s okay… We’re okay.”

Lacy shot a glance at where the Emperor had been, then back to Dex. “I’m okay,” she agreed.

“You still my girl?” he asked.

Lacy nodded. “Still your girl.”

“Guppy kiss.” Dex puffed his cheeks up for their special kiss.

“Not now, Dex.” Lacy tried to hold back a giggle and rolled her eyes.

But Dex pressed, leaning in and acting like he was about to suffocate. 

She put her hands on his chest, pushing him away an inch, and dropped her head toward the open doorway. Sergeant Wrobo and another of the frog soldiers were looking in on them. She almost cut off the moment entirely, but felt Dex’s fingers just next to her chin, turning her face back toward him, cheeks still puffed.

There was no point in fighting it. The attempt alone was enough to bring her spirits back, and that was worth a reward.

Lacy puffed her cheeks to match him, and they both blew out as their lips met.

“Guppy kisses,” they whispered together.

“Now, come on, girly. What say we get back to the mission?”

She nodded, blushing. A little added resolve reemerged in her spirit. 

After taking that brief moment for themselves, Dex stepped away, exiting the barracks, and tapped Wrobo on the shoulder. Lacy stayed behind for a moment to search for a terminal to which she could hook up her data tablet. Dragging her hands across the wall and inspecting every individual room on the outpost was far too time-consuming. If they could get a map, though, they might all earn weekend leave. 

Soon enough, she found a slot in the side of the table in the center of the room and slid the data tablet into it. The information Lacy searched for transferred from the station’s network to the tablet and moments later, with a map downloaded, Lacy rejoined the rest of the squad outside the barracks and led the way again down the hall. This time with a solid sense of direction.

“There’s an elevator just over here,” she announced to the squad. 

“Any activity?” Dex asked.

“It’s only a map, darling. But if there’s any radio chatter, I’m getting nothing.”

Dex harrumphed, then called through his communication device to Toork. “Frog Man 3, this is Frog Leader. Report. Any sign of hostiles?”

He could feel Lacy’s stern, accusing side-eye. We are NOT using that as a code name, she had told him during the planning of the mission.

Why not? It’s not like they care. They don’t even know what a frog is.

Well, I do, and I think it’s mean.

The Mok Tau didn’t argue it. Dex had gotten to them first and told them it was a compliment where they came from before Lacy could tell them the truth. 

A scratch of static was received by Dex’s comm device, then Toork’s gravelly, broken English, “No HAH-stills. We find split paths. Team split. Cover more ground. Sar-gant Jurrnup lead other team.”

“No.” Dex cut in. “Stop, do not split up. I say again, do not split up. Regroup with First Squad. We’ve acquired a map. We’ll reconvene and figure out a new plan from here.”

As he gave the last order, Lacy held up a hand and gave a soft, “Shhhhhh…” Then, through her mind, warned him, this could still be a trap. 

“If it were a trap, they missed their best chance to spring it,” Dex rebutted. 

The Mok Tau of First Squad tried to hide their confusion toward Dex’s sudden response to, as far as they could all hear, nothing. They all understood there was something about Lacy, some sort of mystical power that connected her with the other human, and that she could affect them with a touch of her hand on their bare flesh, but the extent of her powers and how they came to be were far beyond their comprehension. As such, they would not speak of it out loud. These two were aliens who had overpowered their god and had now brought them to the stars. It was not their place to question Dex, and especially not Lacy with her extraordinary powers.

A moment later, Toork and Third Squad joined them in the hall by the elevator. They cleared the next closest room, the mess hall by the looks of it, then the leaders studied the map while First Squad pulled security, and Third looked for supplies they could take back to the village. On one of the walls on the right side of the room was a monitor that stood as tall as the room itself, and next to it was a terminal. As it was, only Lacy and Dex could see her data pad’s screen. Not ideal for planning with a team. 

Using the mess hall’s terminal and monitor, they were able to display the map to their team without the need for the tablet's contact lenses. The map itself revealed the entire outpost’s floor plan, a complex much denser than the simple repetitive nature of the endless halls let on. One step down the wrong avenue, and it could be impossible to navigate out.

At the moment the map appeared, Dex straightened and asked no one in particular, “What the hell is all this?”

The text on Lacy’s data pad had always been readable, a wonder of the universe that characters in the Empire’s part of the universe were the same as the English alphabet, but not something they dwelt on. Call it luck. But the characters on the map had been far from English, somewhere between traditional characters and hieroglyphics.

Lacy felt the same confusion as Dex. “Where’s Robbie when you need him?”

Dex restrained himself from pointing out that it was her idea to leave him behind. For his safety, she had rationalized.

As he studied the text, Lacy offered, “Encryption?”

He shot her a glance as if to say, ‘Go on.’

A faint smile, a thank you for the confidence, and then “Special lenses are needed for the data tablets. If I were in charge of security measures around here, this is what I would do to protect information when meant to be viewed by wider audiences. That is, wider audiences with the right clearance.”

Dex eyed Toork and Jurrnup. “You guys understand this?” He jerked his head toward the screen, and they both shook their heads. Primitive, he told himself, not acknowledging that he didn’t have a leg up on them either way.

“I don’t think they would, or most people in the Empire,” Lacy said. “That’d defeat the point of encryption.”

Dex started believing he was picking up what she was putting down. “A secret language, then?”

“Something only the officers and Zar-Mecks understand.”

*Harrumph* “They don’t make it easy, do they?” Dex nudged Toork.

The Mok Tau squad leader surveyed Dex, then Lacy, looking for the right response to the earthman’s strange question. “They are… what is it… rat bass-tard. Yes?”

Lacy chucked, and Dex outright laughed. “That’s right, Sergeant. That’s right. An empire full of rat bastards.”

You’re teaching them profanity now? Lacy sent the thought to Dex.

Irrelevant. Back to the mission?

Roger, sir. Changing gears and tone, Lacy began again, “Elevators are too small for more than a team to ride at a time and can only be accessed with one of these.” She tapped the tablet. “And without it, most rooms will be impossible to see and hard to access.”

Dex rubbed his chin in thought. How long had it been since he shaved? A month now? He hadn’t felt that much hair on his face since… well, since ever, come to think of it. He physically couldn’t grow a beard as a teenager (a decent one anyway), and once he turned seventeen, the Army wouldn’t even let him try.

Under his breath, he said, “We’re supposed to be doing science out here.” Then, before anyone could take in what he meant, he announced, “We’ll break up into our teams. Lieutenant, you with First Squad, Team Two; myself with Team One. Sergeants Toork and Jurrnup, you take your teams.” The teams Dex had established with the Mok Tau tribesmen were meant to resemble a similar structure to the formations he and Lacy were familiar with back on Earth. With only their Mok Tau contingency, not joint forces from the other tribes, there was barely even a full platoon element, yet Dex still regarded himself as the Platoon Leader. Calling himself the Company Commander would be a step too far. Having only two officers and three Staff Sergeants in their platoon, they had the leadership capabilities for four squads, but only the manpower to fill three. Then within those three, there should have been two five-man teams in each squad, each with a medic, but with only three medics, they had to pull overtime for each of their respective squads’ teams. And now, with an already understaffed platoon element, they were further down two soldiers. Dex took solace in the fact that, at the very least, he had reliable non-commissioned officers in Staff Sergeants Toork, Gurg, and (at times) Jurrnup. One day, he often told himself, they might have enough soldiers to warrant a Sergeant Major of the Taranok army.

“Lieutenant,” Dex went on, “you’ll take the elevator and head straight for the command deck. Find that manifest and get back to the ship. Toork, I want your team to hit this floor.” He pointed to another section of the map, and then another as he addressed Jurrnup. “Your team takes this one. Three rooms, maximum, then return to the ship.”

“Hold on, Dex. What are these?”

“It’s a guess, but by the size and shapes of these rooms, Toork’s team will hopefully find an armory. Look at this. At the end of the day, the Empire’s not far off from Earth. These two rooms look strikingly similar to the indoor range and armory on Grand Central. This section with these tiny rooms should be familiar with how long we were both stuck in them. Don’t think we need to revisit them. And down here,” he shot a look from Lacy to Jurrnup, letting him know this was Jurrnup’s target they were discussing, “I’ve been in this room before. Looks about the right size, and there’s an antechamber for viewing surgeries. This is their medical area.”

“That’s a lotta guesswork,” Lacy challenged.

Dex shrugged. “Any thoughts?”

“Where will you be?”

“I wanna find out what happened to this ghost ship. I’ll take my squad on patrol.”

Lacy slumped on the table they surrounded, staring down at the tablet, then looked back up at Dex and around the small ring of the leader’s meeting. “We’ve only got one of these toys. How do you expect to get in anywhere?”

Another sigh from Dex. “This is why I kinda wish there was a fight. I thought we’d have a dozen of these little boxes by now.” He crossed his arms across his chest and slowly flexed, wondering if Lacy would notice the subtle way he tried to show off. All that time in the jungle was starting to pay off, he hoped. “Brute force,” he offered. “If we keep an accurate pace, count our steps, the doors should be easy to find. Once we’re there, I’m sure we can find a way to knock them down.” He shot a look at Toork.

In the Squad Leader’s bag were homemade hand grenades, made from the volatile yellow gelatins that occupied the jungle. 

A playful smile cracked the edge of Lacy’s lips.

“Empire sure won’t be able to hide any longer once those go off,” Lacy warned.

“That is the hope,” Toork chimed in. “Defeat Torro-Kaal not enough for Mok Tau. ‘Mpire make my people suffer too long. Mok Tau want to fight. They run away, not good for us.”

“This isn’t about revenge, Toork,” Lacy tried to gently remind him, but Dex interjected his own thoughts.

“You think they ran away?” He asked with genuine curiosity, not a challenge.

Toork looked around their circle. All eyes were on him, including those of some soldiers from the other squads. 

“They not here,” he said. “They do not ambush. Gone.” He waved his entire arm to emphasize his stance. “We show strength at battle of Torro-Kaal. They fear us then, but we catch’d them by the surprise. They attack us back, but still we take them, and their sky ships. Now they true fear us. We go back to Torro-Kaal on raid, but they not put up fight. ‘Mpire know better now. ‘Mpire know not mess with Mok Tau.”

Dex nodded in partial agreement. “Maybe, Sergeant. Maybe. You’re right about one thing; I also don’t think they’re here. But I’m worried it’s not because we scared them off. The battles have been fierce, I won’t take that away from you, but the Empire is much stronger than you think. Our strength and our resilience continues to catch them off guard and we got lucky. It’s something the lovely Lieutenant and I have made a habit of. But there’s no more of that. Luck’s gonna start running out fast, and they’ll be more alert now. If they left, it’s not for any reason I’m on the edge of my seat to figure out.”
“Recalled, then.” Lacy eyes were locked downward, staring into space. The idea had been dismissed in their conversation prior, but the more they discussed explanations, the more it felt like the only possibility.

Dex leaned back, this time more willing to hear her out. “Go on…”

“Maybe it was that we did scare them. Him. The Emperor. We showed him that there is a world that could slip through his fingers. That won’t do when you demand total submission…” She paused and swallowed hard.

For a brief moment, Lacy appeared as if her mind was somewhere else entirely. Her starry eyes shimmered ever so slightly before she returned to her thoughts.

“He’d want to wipe the slate clean. Erase all evidence of his working here. Any witnesses, too.”

“But why the recall? If troops are already here, send them in as a strike force. Seems like a waste of resources, all that transport back and forth,” Dex said with a hint of levity in his voice, as if it were easy to doubt the Emperor’s ability to destroy.

“I wish I had an answer for that one, darling.”

“Well, he wouldn’t have just up and left. There’s gotta be something going on.” Dex studied Lacy’s face, considering the flash that had been in her eyes, then turned to the others. “What do you two think? Does Taranok have a book of revelations you can share with us?”

Blank stares gazed back at him from Toork and Jurrnup.

“End of days stuff, you know. God’s wrath coming down on you from the skies.”

Toork and Jurrnup exchanged something in their native tongue, then Jurrnup answered, “There…” he struggled to find the right word, then shook his head and said, “No end. But some fear we bring dead to home. Mok Tau turn from god.”

Toork cut in. “Mok Tau told to wait for the Red God. Red God save us from Torro-Kaal, or Black Fire punish.” He paused, letting Dex and Lacy dwell on what he’d said, then continued, “But Toork not worried. We see what the Red God is. We fight his warriors and crush them!” His words had riled up some of the other Mok Tau in the room, the ones that had broken out of Torro-Kaal and fought off the Zar-Mecks dressed in black and their laser guns.

A small contingency, including Jurrnup, did not share the enthusiasm. There was only a look of mild discomfort on Jurrnup’s wide face.

The comparison of mythical imagery and the real-life foe was simple enough for Dex to connect, but Lacy saw something else.

Her mind reeled at the man in Zar-Meck armor who had absorbed the flames of the exploded generators and been enwrapped by them. A picture invaded her mind of him on the Great Break, as they destroyed the planetary roots. The explosion felt large enough to shake the planet, but it was only more flame, more energy, more feed for the Emperor’s warrior. She could see him emerging from the Great Break, the flames still radiating from him. A black flame. God’s wrath. The Emperor’s Wrath. 

“Lacy,” Dex’s voice interrupted her thinking. “Are you still with us?”

She felt unnerved at her mind’s wandering thoughts, but once he spoke up, she felt queasy. “I’m sorry… I think I just need a drink.”

Dex turned his head up toward the back of the mess hall, the kitchen, and whistled, garnering the attention of the warriors there. “Someone find some water. The Lieutenant needs a drink.” He too wished he could have a drink. Although, he wanted something stronger than water, but not as strong as the ceremonial Mok Tau wine that was quite literally powerful enough to fuel the Silent Horizon.

Toork continued as if nothing had happened. “There will be no end day for Mok Tau and Taranok. Black flames myth, Mok Tau trust nothing Red God say. Red God weak, and we strong.”

The look on Jurrnup’s face said he didn’t necessarily agree.

“Something to add?” Dex asked the wary team leader.

A quick look from Toork to Dex, then, “No, Cap-tain. Sar-gan Toork right. They are gone. But I do not know if for good. I say we get back to missun.”

Dex nodded, but it was Lacy who spoke. “I agree. We need to get moving.”

Within the next few minutes, Dex, Toork, and Jurrnup mapped out their targets, determining accurate pace counts to the hidden doors they would be bursting through. At the same time, two of the warriors from Toork’s team were sent back to the ships with supplies raided from the mess hall. There was sure to be a very fine banquet that night, and possibly for many more nights to come.

Before long, the teams were split up and moving with purpose toward their targets. 

Lacy led her small team of five to the nearest elevator. Their task would be the easy one. 

There were no buttons in the elevator, and she didn’t have the same access to it as the Zar-Mecks did. By her recollection, the Zar-Mecks could tap the wall itself and be brought exactly where they wanted to go. 

The data tablet, though, solved that problem. 

One press of a button and they dropped down deep into the outpost, to the core of the moon, and fell into the central orb that rotated in their direction before shooting them back up another elevator shaft. 

The Mok Tau pressed against the glass walls of the elevator, amazed by their speed and the inner workings of the Empire’s outpost. 

Lacy had less interest than the rest of her team. She’d been on this ride before, and this time, her focus was on the speed-distance of the elevator.

Eight seconds to the core. Three to rotate.

When the elevator door opened again, it looked like they hadn’t gone anywhere. The hallway was exactly the same as all of the others, just this time without any sign of Dex or the others. And in this part of the outpost, that wasn’t a mess hall on the other side of the hall.

The command deck was nearly identical here to the one inside Torro-Kaal. It was a domed, two-story room with a large, pitch-black operations table in the center, with the second story twenty feet above. Surrounding the walls of the first level was a ring of computers, desks, and display screens. The second floor had another smaller ring of workstations. Light poured in from the ceiling, a display of the Taranok’s face from the outpost’s surface (Lacy knew they weren’t on a high enough floor within the outpost for it to be a real window), giving the second floor a look that conveyed its intended purpose was traffic control.

And that’s our target.

If their predictions — hers and Dex’s — were right, a key step in loosening the Empire’s grip on the universe was waiting on one of those computers.

“You three, please stay down here. Grup, would you mind accompanying me up there?”

Private Grup ribbited his acknowledgment. They crossed the room together, passing by the black table. Drawing closer it resembled the data tablet in Lacy’s hand. She slowed down as she walked along it and noticed a series of notches in its edges, just big enough to slide the tablet in.

“Hold on,” she said to Grup. “I wanna check this out.”

She slid the tablet into the notch, and a green grid appeared on the tabletop. The base and sides of the grid were labeled with more characters in the Empire’s text. Lacy’s data tablet showed an image of the moon, with hangars and ground entrances marked. She tapped the hangar they had landed in, and on the grid appeared a map of the area. Within the grid coordinates that included the hangar were ten small yellow dots, one large yellow square, and over a dozen blue squares. Lacy recognized them as the squad of Mok Tau, the Silent Horizon, and the commandeered Zar-Meck starfighters, respectively.

Intrigue guided her finger to a different section of the outpost. Dex’s location. Had his team found their target yet? Lacy pulled up the map on her data tablet and rotated through areas she expected Dex to be within the outpost.

The table grid adjusted, showing her selected chunks like blueprints. Each one was blank save for the digital green lines that made up the walls of the outpost.

“Where are you, Dex?” she breathed.

“Loo-tent. The Cap-tain says we move fast.” Grup whispered the insistence, much to Lacy’s appreciation. She still was no fan of overplaying the Army roles like Dex was, but she appreciated the respect of not being called out loudly in front of the others for getting distracted.

“Of course,” she said with a soft smile. “We’re here for a reason.”

Lacy tapped on one last area before giving up and said a quick prayer of terrified gratitude when the bright blue display appeared on the table. She nearly threw herself away from the table and reached for her comms device.

“Dex! Come in, Dex! Do you read me?”

The ten-second period it took for Dex to respond felt like a lifetime.

“Say again, who is this, and who are you trying to reach? Is this Frog Man 2 calling Frog Leader?”

Lacy’s cheeks flushed with annoyance. “Now’s not the time. There are hostiles still here. Third level. Well over a hundred.”

* * *

“Hey, lock it up back there!” Dex shouted at his team, who were very effectively destroying huge towers of machinery. Their plan of attack: check every room for enemies and destroy anything that looks important to the enemy. It now seemed that Lacy had achieved one of her team’s goals. “Are you safe? Lacy, where are you?”

Through the comms, she said, “My team is fine. We made it to the command room, and I can see everything. I’m looking… here. I see you now. You’re one floor above them, about five hundred feet away.”

A hundred hostiles, Dex thought. Not great odds, but we could set a trap. 

He addressed the Mok Tau. “Everyone on me. We’ve found the enemy. How many grenades we got left?”

One of the privates checked their pouch. “Three Cap-tan.”

It wasn’t optimal, but some damage could still be done.

Back into the comms, he asked, “Lacy, can you tell me anything else? Can you see what they’re doing?”

“Negative. There’s no movement. They’re all just gathered together.”

“I hear you. We’ll check it out.”

As soon as his finger was off the call button, Lacy responded with, “Don’t! Please, there’s no need. I don’t think they know we’re here yet. Let’s just finish the mission and get out.”

Dex nodded for his team to move toward the hall and mouthed, Let’s move. “We’re going to take a look. We will not engage. Just wanna know what’s going on here.”

* * *

She watched as the five yellow dots representing Dex’s team drifted closer to the blue enemy dots.

“De-… Captain, I say again, do not engage. Please.”

“So we’re using ‘Captain’ now?” She heard him laugh through the comms. 

“Sir, I’m serious.” Lacy’s fingers tightened around the small device.

The yellow dots dropped a floor and were only three hundred feet from the room full of enemies. 

She pleaded, “Turn back now. We’ll meet you at the ship in five minutes.”

“They already know we’re here,” Dex’s voice rang through with confidence. Not a hint of fear or caution. She could picture him walking with swagger, hand hovering above the blaster hanging from his hip like a gunslinger, down the hall to face whoever was waiting for them. “These comm signals aren’t exactly secure. Just be glad I haven’t said anything reserved for the hut.”

God, I hope he’s walking into a trap.

“No, ya don’t.” His voice again on the comm. Lacy was getting better at keeping her thoughts to herself after discovering the events in the Emperor’s court had changed some things in her, but at times her more emotionally driven thoughts were picked up by Dex. Presumably, they could have been by other humans, too, if they had been close enough to hear her.

“Dex…” his team’s yellow dots hovered just on the other side of the wall from the blue dots.

Before she could resort to begging, Dex came through.

“Holy hell, darling… look at this…”

We’re so excited for you to read the continuing adventures of Dex and Lacy Prullen, summer of 2026. Pre-order your signed copy today!