Burning Bright: A Paranormal Space Opera Adventure (Star Justice Book 5) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  End notes

  A Paranormal Space Opera Adventure

  Michael-Scott Earle

  Chapter 1

  “So, to summarize: there is a group of god-like vampire creatures that created the universe as some sort of galactic farm so that they can feed off all life. Then they ate everything they could, planted new seeds of life in the universe, and went to sleep for a few billion years. Now they are waking up and are going to be hungry again?” Juliette leaned back in her chair and raised a lovely eyebrow at Eve.

  “They consume the blood, but it is really the terror, death, and negative energy they extract from their prey that provides their sustenance. I do not know if they possess power over our universe or just the Milky Way, but yes, the rest is correct,” Eve answered with a nod.

  “Hmmm.” Juliette reached for the lighter in her pocket, pulled it out and held it to the cigarette that hung between her red lips, but then put it back in her pocket without lighting it.

  She’d done that some half dozen times since we returned to Queen’s Hat and told her of our adventures on Uraniel.

  “Is that a ‘hmmm’ I think I can help you, or a ‘hmmm’ you all are totally fucked?” Zea asked with an exasperated sigh.

  “I’m thinking, Blondie,” the policewoman said as she took the cigarette out of her mouth, looked at it, and then sucked on it again. “I’m thinking.”

  “Maybe you can think faster? It took us a few days for our warp drives to reset, and we’ve only got three hundred or so left before these ugly fuckers are going to come back to Uraniel, find out we killed their buddy, and go on a feeding frenzy. There are a few million people on that planet.” Zea crossed her arms when she finished speaking, but Juliette only smirked.

  “Annnnnnnnnndddddd,” the redhead said, “you’ve got this unknown corporation that experimented on Kitty Boy, this corporation you call Elaka Nota that imprisoned Eve and followed you all to Gliese 876, Alloprize Inc, Nebula Gammon, and these Lith Dae people that you’ve made enemies out of.”

  “That sounds like the list,” I admitted.

  “I’ve never heard of any of them besides Nebula Gammon, but if they have a starship fleet they are probably really damn powerful. Sounds like Elaka Nota will especially have a bone to pick with you since you stole Persephone from them.” Juliette shrugged and pulled on her unlit cigarette again.

  “Yeah. We know we are fucked. Can you help?” Zea asked.

  “Are you asking me personally for help, Blondie? I never thought the day would come.” Juliette’s lips twisted a bit.

  “I’d ask you to sit on a--” Zea started to say, but I interrupted her.

  “We’ve helped you out. You know we are telling you the truth. We need to recruit more people for our crew, and maybe even a fleet of starships. We don’t know how many of these vampires will show up at Uraniel in three hundred days, but we want to defend that planet and its people. We’ll stop these monsters from taking their spot on top of the food chain.” Kasta and Paula were sitting on either side of me in Juliette’s office, and the two blonde women nodded as I spoke.

  “You five are crazy.” The redhead shook her head and let out a small chuckle. She was wearing the same tight black uniform she wore when I first met her, but there were additional rank bars on her sleeve now. When we had first come into her office, I’d asked her about her promotion, but she’d sidestepped the question by asking us to tell her about Uraniel.

  “But you will help us,” Eve queried.

  “Of course. You all saved my ass and the people on this station. I owe you. Fuck, we should have a parade or something for you five, but I guess that is the last thing you want.”

  “No parade. We don’t need thanks,” I said. “We just need help.”

  “And I will help you if I can,” Juliette said as she leaned forward in her chair. “I was hoping you all would come back sooner rather than later, but you know how space works. Part of me was wondering if we would ever see each other again.”

  “Yeah,” I said.

  “Anyway, I did a bit of research for you all. I’ve got two bits of info that might help. Take a look at this.” The redhead started typing on her terminal keyboard. We waited for about ten seconds, and then Juliette spun her screen around so we could see the display. Juliette’s office was cramped with all six of us in there, and her desk was stacked with datapads, cigarette trays, and manila folders, but my friends all managed to crowd together against the desk so we could view the terminal monitor.

  The screen showed Persephone docking with Queen’s Hat.

  “Uhhh. That’s Persephone,” Zea said, and her voice echoed my confusion.

  “Look at the date stamp,” Juliette said, and we all looked at the bottom left of the screen where the row of numbers was displayed in green-colored text. “This video is from fourteen years ago.”

  “What the fuck?” Zea asked.

  “It doesn’t look exactly like Persephone,” Kasta said as she pointed at the screen. “Her wings bend a bit different on the back side. Maybe the color on the video is off, but Persephone is a dark black, and this ship has a bit of a red hue.”

  “It’s a different ship,” I said.

  “Yep, but it looks very similar. After you all left, I spent some time thinking through the story Eve told me. We get hundreds of ships coming and going out of Queen’s Hat every day. As you know, the station has been around for more than a hundred years. We have a lot of video footage. I took the specs of your ship and ran a query through the database to see if there was a match anywhere. I didn’t think anything would come of it, but I got a hit a few days ago.”

  “You ran a video database query?” Zea asked the redhead.

  “Don’t act so surprised, Blondie. I have good looks as well as the brains to go with it.”

  “Do you have any information about the crew or their destination?” Eve said before Zea could respond to Juliette.

  “That and more.” The cop’s face split into an attractive grin. “I have a video of the crew, their names, and the tags on their ship. You should be able to hyperdrive there and trace them. Might not be a great lead, but it’s a lead.”

  “They might know more about Persephone and our enemies,” Eve said.

  “Or, they might be minions for our enemies,” Zea pointed out.

  “Let’s see the video of them exiting their ship,” I said.

  “Alright.” Juliette spun the screen around, typed in a few commands and then twisted it back so we could see.

  A group of twelve walked out of the docking tube and into the harbor. There were six men and six women. All of them wore impressive-looking black body armor. The suits were much bulkier than the armor we used, and it looked as if it was power armor. It made each of the crewmembers seem larger than they actually were. My guess that it was power armor was confirmed when one of the women turned around to close the harbor tube. There was a central joint in the back where the power supply was stored.

  Power armor wasn’t actually used by the Jupiter Marines. The technology was excellent in theory, but the suits were expensive to build and maintain. In contrast, lif
e was inexpensive, so most militaries decided not to bother providing their troops with the equipment.

  Maybe that was why my captors experimented with genetic engineering. It might cost more upfront, but once they figured out how to build organic super soldiers they could duplicate the effects with endless bodies.

  “These people look like bad asses. They also look like they haven’t smiled in ten years,” Zea commented.

  “Very dour,” Paula agreed.

  “Where did they go in the station?” I asked as I watched the video. A woman with dark brown hair and sharp features seemed to be the leader. She didn’t say a word, just nodded to the crew, and they split into three groups. One walked deeper into the harbor. The other two moved toward the tube train. They hadn't bothered to check the map station beforehand, so I guessed they were either familiar with Queen’s Hat, or they'd already studied the map.

  “I’ve got it on the video,” Juliette said. “This group in the harbor walked down twenty bays and then talked to another crew. Here.” Juliette pressed some buttons on her terminal, and the camera angle changed to show a group of four men in the black power armor talking to a pair of women guarding another tube.

  “What vessel is docked there?” Kasta asked.

  “I’ll give you the info. It was a trade ship. They talk for ten minutes and then leave. Then the group of four in the scary armor returns to their ship,” Juliette said.

  “Is there audio?” Zea asked.

  “No. Can’t even tell if they are speaking English. I’ll give you all these videos if you want to watch them a bunch.”

  “What about the other two groups?” I asked.

  “One went to a rhodium bank in District C. Then they went to purchase supplies. I’ve looked through it a few times, but there doesn’t appear to be anything interesting going on,” Juliette answered.

  “How much did they trade?” Paula asked.

  “Here,” Juliette pressed some buttons on her keyboard, and the video moved into the bank. The four black-armored crew stuck out like sore thumbs in the line. Everyone was standing a good three meters from them.

  “Looks like three hundred and fifty grams. Not bad,” Zea said once they reached the register and made the exchange.

  “What about the woman with the dark brown hair?” I asked. “She looked like their leader.”

  “I knew you had a thing for strong women,” Juliette said with a dry chuckle. “I work out, you know. Maybe we can exchange some notes later tonight at the station gym?”

  “Are you seriously hitting on Adam?” Zea asked with an exasperated sigh.

  “Yeah, but mostly because it pisses you off, Blondie.” Juliette let out a belly laugh as she pressed some more keys on her terminal. The camera showed the display outside of a large door with graffiti on it.

  “That’s the door to District H,” I said.

  “Yep,” the policewoman confirmed, and I watched one of the armored soldiers plug a cord from their head into the door. Within a few seconds the thick metal door was lifting up, and the four armored figures moved inside.

  “There are no cameras in District H,” Paula and Kasta said at the same time.

  “Nope,” Juliette confirmed.

  “How long were they in there?” I asked.

  “A few hours.” She clicked on some keys, and the video sprung forward. The doors opened, and the four soldiers walked out. Their faces were blank, and it was impossible to tell if they found what they were looking for.

  “What did they do next?” I asked.

  “Went back to their ship. The second group handled buying the supplies. They loaded up their vessel some eight hours later and then left.”

  “What could they have been looking for in District H?” Eve asked.

  “There are all sorts of old Nebula Gammon information systems in there. A lot of the tech has been looted, but all the terminals connect to the database substructure of the station. They could have accessed something from a secure port.”

  “I might be able to figure it out,” Zea said. “We have a rough time and date stamp. If I can find a terminal port in there, I can access the system and dig around.”

  “Sounds like a good idea since you all are already here.” Juliette shrugged. “Here is the file with the tags on the ship, and the names they provided the clerks.” She passed me a yellow folder with a data stick clipped to the top. I opened it to see the ship’s manifest and read it out to my friends.

  “Captain’s name is Madalena Vaish. Commander’s name is Goran Calliope. Rest of the crew marked here is Mikhael Elbert, Nikki Diksha, Pier Anneli, Josefinna Dravka, Lux Yech, Baki Najal, Milda Parasto, Calisto Godfrey, Arno Dio, and Dana Fabto. Name of the ship is Dance to the Dirge, and they identified Epsilon Tauri-b as the ship’s origin point.”

  “Dance to the Dirge? That’s a dark name,” Zea said.

  “Epsilon Tauri-b is in the Hyades star cluster,” Kasta said.

  “Do you know how far away it is?” I asked.

  “I figured you all might want to go there. Unfortunately, it’s a good seventy light years from Queen's Hat.” Juliette put her feet on her desk and leaned back in her chair again. “Long trip for a lead, but like I said, it’s a lead.”

  “We can get there in a bit over an hour with the warpdrive,” Paula said.

  “But we just got here, so we need to wait an additional thirty-five-ish hours before we leave again,” Kasta replied.

  “We do need to resupply,” Eve pointed out.

  “And I need to check out District H to see if there is anything I can find about what our new friends got from the database,” Zea said.

  “And I need to spend some time with Adam,” Juliette mimicked as she smirked at Zea, and the hacker rolled her eyes.

  “I’ll go with Zea into District H,” I said. “Kasta, can you come with us? We might need some of your recon drones.”

  “Sure thing,” the android said.

  “Eve and Paula, can you both take care of buying more supplies? We also need to book a large seed and supply transport to Uraniel.”

  “We can do that,” Eve said.

  “You all are buying them supplies?” Juliette asked. “That is nice of you.”

  “They haven’t been able to grow crops for a year. If we don’t help them get jump-started with some food and seeds, everyone will die. They gave us a bit of rhodium to help pay for stuff, but we’ll probably have to chip in some of our own money. It’s not a big deal.” I pulled the data stick off the file folder, handed it to Zea, and put the paperwork in my inside jacket pocket.

  “I’ve said this before, but I was wrong about you all when I first met you. I’m sorry about that.” Juliette sighed and then nodded at me.

  “It’s fine. We are past that. If you don’t mind, we’ll go check out District H. Maybe you can give us the access code, so we don’t have to hack into it?” I asked.

  “I’ll do even better. I cleared my schedule as soon as the dockmaster told me you got here. I’ll come with you.”

  “That’s okay, Juliette. I’m sure you have tons of work to do here,” Zea said.

  “It’s fine, Blondie. If I’m with you, you all can carry your firearms. Not that you’ll actually need it. The station’s been pretty clean since we stopped Nebula Gammon’s coup. In fact, I think--”

  Juliette’s sentence was interrupted by the phone on her desk ringing.

  “Lieutenant Colonel Larns?” a young man’s voice asked.

  “I told you I was in a meeting. Stop bugging me,” she said as she pressed the button to turn off the phone. Then she looked at us, rolled her eyes, and continued.

  “I think we don’t even--” the phone on her desk rang again, and the policewoman’s eyes narrowed.

  “I’m so sorry, Lieutenant Colonel Larns. I--”

  “I told you I’m in a fucking meeting, Smith!”

  “I know! I’m sorry, but you told me to alert you if we had a code orange. You said no matter what, I was to come tell
you.”

  “Shit,” Juliette huffed. “Who is it?”

  “Elaka Nota,” the man said through the speaker, and I felt my heart drop into my stomach.

  “How many?” Juliette asked.

  “Five ships. They requested permission to dock and trade.”

  “Fucking shit,” Zea groaned. “We can’t get away from these assholes.”

  Chapter 2

  “What is their angle of approach? Do they see Persephone?” I asked.

  “You hear the question, Smith?” Juliette asked.

  “They are approaching District D,” the man answered.

  “They might not have seen us since we are docked at B,” Paula said.

  “Alright, get me on the line with Captain Lennis. I’ll tell him to decline their--” Juliette started to say, but Smith interrupted her.

  “Er, Lieutenant Colonel Larns, they have already been approved to dock.”

  “What? Why the fuck didn’t you tell me?” the redhead shouted.

  “Ma’am, I called you as soon as I got the alert, but you--”

  “Have they docked yet?” Juliette interrupted him.

  “No, they are a few minutes away still,” he answered.

  “Hold on a second, Smith.” Juliette pressed a mute button on her intercom and then turned to Eve and me. “You can try to get out of here,” Juliette said.

  “We've got to resupply. We gave all our food to the people on Uraniel. We also need to book a shipment of supplies to them.” Eve said.

  “It’s going to take us at least a day to find a ship and crew who will do the mission, maybe even longer,” Kasta pointed out.

  “Fuck that! This is Elaka Nota Corporation. The same assholes who experimented on Eve and whose top-secret starship we stole. The universe is a big place, so I think they are here because they know we were here. Hopefully, they don't know we are here right now, but we can’t stick around to find out,” Zea said as she looked at me and shook her head.

  “Look, I don’t care how powerful these fucksticks are. They aren’t allowed to bring weapons into Queen’s Hat. We’ve got a lot of security on the streets now, and these are good men and women. They’ll keep the peace. You guys just get done what you need to get done and then get out of here.”