The First Covenant (Dark Universe Series Book 2) Page 5

  “Sorry to interrupt your conversation, Mihaal,” Dakrhaeth spoke before Ross said anything. “We have to land.”

  People didn’t land on a Mwandan planet without permission, not unless it was the last resort. She’d hoped they’d land only after they had located the Endeavor. That’d be one thing. But the wing situation had to be bad for Dakrhaeth to suggest immediate landing.

  “I know the perils of landing in a Mwandan sanctuary, Mihaal,” Dakrhaeth said. “I’ve been taught the protocols of your world for years. But we do not have a choice. As I informed earlier, the wing has taken a direct hit. I can regenerate it, but that needs a lot of power. If we keep flying, the regeneration rate will be miniscule. The only way to do it quickly is by diverting power from the engines to the repairs. The fuel cells are sub-optimal also.”

  Ramya didn’t quite understand what Dakrhaeth meant by regeneration, but that detail was not important. Not right now anyway. They had bigger issues to deal with at the moment.

  “So, we have to land?” she asked.

  “Yes. It’s not advisable to be airborne in our condition. With those holes in the wing, we’re quite unstable. I’d go easy on the throttle, Mihaal.”

  Ramya released the pressure on the throttle and let out a sigh. They had run out of options. The Stryker needed to be in perfect condition if they hoped to get away from here. And a broken wing was far from perfect. The time to break protocol and set foot in a Mwandan sanctuary had arrived.

  “By the way, Commander Ross,” Dakrhaeth’s snippy voice scattered Ramya’s thoughts, “I did have the shields up, but the weapon tore through it. I have not finished analyzing it yet, but I will inform you about the composition of the weapon as soon as I do.”

  Dakrhaeth went silent but his words kept badgering Ramya. What sort of weapon could tear the Stryker’s shield so easily? This was the same Stryker that had quite efficiently held up against the Drednots.

  “Some weapon,” Ross said aloud.

  Ramya nodded. Some weapon indeed.

  “Let’s find a good place to land. Away from settlements,” she said. They needed a place where no one would notice an alien craft. But where could be safe on a Mwandan sanctuary?

  “Maybe somewhere where there isn’t much ground cover?” Ross suggested. “That way, we’ll at least know if someone tries to ambush us.”

  That was a good idea. Little was known about the reclusive Mwandans except they were experts at camouflaging among the native vegetation. If they could find some rocky ground, they’d at least spot any approaching Mwandans easily.

  “I see a small mountain to the north, Mihaal. It has a ledge where we could land,” Dakrhaeth said.

  Even though Ramya couldn’t discern the ledge, she picked out the dim outline of the mountain. It rose above the surrounding forest, its rounded top uncharacteristically bare of the typical dark vegetation. It was also a good distance away from the explosion site, so whoever spotted the Stryker there would need some time reaching the ledge.

  Ramya yanked the flight stick, then she pointed the Stryker in the direction for the mountain and pressed on the throttle a bit. They had to reach the ledge quickly and fix that wing before any more intrusions.

  3

  OTHER THAN A FEW unexpected rolls to the side, the Stryker made it safely to the ledge. Their landing spot was a rock jutting out of a small mountain. The top of the mountain was bare; vegetation stopped abruptly a distance below the ledge. The ground was a dark red, or perhaps it looked redder in the red light of the Kashiyap. It was crumbly, and the Stryker’s landing gear sunk deep into the ground before the ship came to complete rest. Ramya turned the engines off and the soft purr she had gotten so used to having around her ebbed away slowly.

  “Dakrhaeth, an estimate of the repairs, please?” Ross asked. Ramya had to look askance at him. His question and the courteous way he asked it was not something Ramya had expected. He sure sounded different. However, a deep frown still graced his forehead.

  “Three hours or four, Commander.”

  Ross nodded at Ramya. “We should check outside. Make sure the area’s safe.”

  “I detect no signs of life in the near vicinity,” Dakrhaeth informed.

  The gears in Ramya’s head spun steadily. To survive this situation, they had to stick together and more confrontations were the last thing they needed. A surefire way of maintaining peace was keeping Ross away from Dakrhaeth and busy. And getting out of the Stryker was the best business she could think of.

  “Let’s go check out the neighborhood,” she said eagerly to Ross, ignoring Dakrhaeth’s comment.

  “The air is breathable, right?” Ross said, unstrapping himself from the seat.

  Morris II had a breathable atmosphere. Apparently, the oxygen content in its air was better than the eighteen-percent level on Nikoor where she grew up. But getting out on a planet she’d never been on before needed more than relying on her memory.

  “Dakrhaeth,” she called. “Can you check on the air outside? Do we need suits?”

  “No, Mihaal. No suits necessary. I have run a test of the air outside. It is 74.65% nitrogen, 24.38% oxygen, 0.91% inert gasses, 0.06% carbon dioxide, and some water vapor. You shouldn’t have any trouble breathing.”

  It sure sounded good. Ramya unstrapped herself and followed Ross to the exit of the Stryker. The door parted with a low hiss as soon as they were close.

  Ramya’s eyes ran over the scene outside. The first word that came to her mind was “dull.” Thanks to the dim red light of Kashiyap, everything was exceedingly morose. Ross peeked out and a second or two later he jumped down to the ground below. Ramya noted how crumbly the surface was, clear from the way Ross wobbled when he touched the ground and how he left deep impressions on the soil when he walked. The ledge had to be covered with a layer of rock dust a few inches thick.

  Ramya watched Ross walk around for a bit before approaching the door. Stopping at the threshold, she breathed in deep. A funny smell—somewhat pungent and a bit sickly—hung in the air. Perhaps it was her empty stomach, Ramya couldn’t be sure, but her insides churned a little.

  She ran a hand over the weapons strapped to her right thigh—two blasters. Ross had a blaster and a slightly bigger gun on him, neither of them impressive. When they had picked up those weapons before boarding the Stryker, the plan had been a quick and simple handoff—set the Stryker down on an asteroid and leave—with the Confederacy. Had Ramya known how things would change, she surely would’ve picked bigger guns. Now her weapons seemed utterly inadequate. How far would their puny blasters go against something that could break through the Stryker’s shields? Anyway, they had no choice but to make do with what little they had.

  She was about to jump outside when Dakrhaeth spoke. “Mihaal, here is something you need to remember. When I’m in the middle of the repairs, I won’t be able to reroute power back to the engines without risking a total breakdown of the repair process. That will be a waste of resources and should be avoided.”

  “That means we will be stuck in this area for the next four hours, right?” Ramya asked.

  “Yes. So I suggest you complete a basic recon of the area before I start. I do not expect you to find anything different from my observations, but since the commander wants so, perhaps it’s best to give him what he wants.”

  Dakrhaeth and his snarky commentaries, Ramya had to suppress a chuckle. The AI was correct though. While Ross seemed to let go of his anger for now, Ramya knew the quiet wouldn’t last long. The best way to appease him now was to let him go about commandeering the mission.

  “Got it,” Ramya shouted before joining Ross outside. The surface, just like she had expected, was soft and a tad slippery, but it felt good to have ground under her feet. All around them, an unending sea of dark foliage stretched in all directions. Ramya looked around and up at the sky. The Kashiyap was still quite high, so there would be daylight for a while. If they were lucky, the Stryker would be fixed before nightfall.

  Ross
had already walked to the other side of the Stryker so Ramya followed. She found him staring at the Stryker’s damaged right wing. A series of perfectly round holes with smooth charred edges dotted the wing. Individually they were small, but they were many and altogether had turned a part of the Stryker’s wing into a net.

  “It’s as if a bunch of bees flew through the wing. Weird, right?”

  What better could they expect? They were on a weird planet inhabited by a weird race they hardly knew anything about. If it started raining fire, Ramya wouldn’t be half surprised.

  She scanned the horizon, her gaze lingering on the plume far to the south, which had grown thinner now. She kept looking for any signs that could indicate a Mwandan presence. There was nothing other than an endless expanse of shiny dark foliage for as far as she could see. There wasn’t even a breeze.

  “Dakrhaeth will be locked on the repairs once he starts,” she told Ross. “He wants us to tell him if he can begin.”

  “I don’t see anything out of the ordinary,” Ross said. “The AI didn’t pick up anything either. Only thing is . . .” His words trailed off. He was staring worriedly at the large form of the Stryker. Ramya immediately guessed why he was frowning; the dark, shiny Stryker was like a beacon on the ledge. Even though its wings were partially tucked, sharp eyes could easily spot the Stryker’s hulking presence.

  “Damn! We have to cover it with something,” Ramya said. “Whoever shot at us knows there’s an alien craft around. They might come looking.”

  They crossed the distance to the Stryker’s entrance with frantic steps.

  “That was quick, Mihaal,” Dakrhaeth greeted. “I doubt you have found anything more than what I already observed. So do I have the commander’s blessing to start the repairs now?”

  Ramya had to use every bit of her willpower to stop from snapping at Dakrhaeth. Did he think his cheekiness was going to help their situation?

  “Well, there’s an issue,” Ramya said with as much calmness as she could muster. “The Stryker’s sticking out like a flare on the ledge. They’ll spot us in no time.”

  “Oh, that!” Dakrhaeth said as if he had heard the silliest thing. “I can turn my cloaking on. That will stretch the repairs another hour longer possibly, but you are correct, we cannot have Mwandans poking around.”

  “You have a cloaking device too?” Ross asked. He sounded almost as incredulous as Ramya felt herself. Why didn’t Dakrhaeth tell them about it when they were fighting the Confederacy? Cloaking would’ve been a useful tool.

  “Yes, I do.” Dakrhaeth almost sounded bashful. “Although a rather primitive one, I’ll admit. It can only be used when the Stryker is stationary since it likes to guzzle energy.” Ramya and Ross looked at each other and shrugged. “I’m turning the cloaking feature on now,” Dakrhaeth announced.

  In the blink of an eye, the Stryker started fading. A few seconds later, the Stryker went completely invisible. Ramya chuckled. No one could have guessed the presence of a spacecraft if they were to look at the ledge now.

  “Mihaal, I’m commencing the repairs now. Please understand, I shall go into Sleep Mode,” Dakrhaeth’s voice floated through the air. “I will need five hours to get back. I advise you not venture too far from here while I’m away. We don’t know enough about Morris II and I worry about your safety.”

  “Yes, understood,” Ramya said bit grudgingly. Her insides felt leaden, and even in the superior atmosphere of Morris II, she had trouble breathing. She didn’t want to let Dakrhaeth go, although she knew he wouldn’t really be gone.

  “And, Mihaal, be wary of the trees.”

  Ramya nodded distractedly. Too many what-ifs crowded her head. With Dakrhaeth in Sleep Mode, they were even more defenseless on the alien planet. And Ramya found little to cheer about. Still, the wing needed to be repaired, and Dakrhaeth needed the time.

  “I’m going to check on the other side of the mountain, all right?” Ross said. “You could come if you want.”

  Ross didn’t smile. Though his face was rigid, he wasn’t frowning either. At least he’d invited her to come along. That was a good sign. Maybe they could spend the next few hours amicably.

  “Let’s go,” she said.

  The path to the other side was a thin trail that hugged the girth of the mountain. It was relatively flat with a few places that needed careful stepping. The gravelly surface provided little foothold and it took close to twenty minutes to make it around with a whole lot of slipping and sliding. The other side was a sharp incline that descended steeply into a ravine. They couldn’t have seen it from the ledge, but the ravine stretched a long way to the north in a straight line. Just like most other places in Morris II, the ravine was brimming with foliage.

  They had been staring at the landscape for a few seconds when Ross suddenly said, “Do you see that?” He pointed at a depression in the foliage. “It almost looks like the plants got squished by something. Something huge.”

  Ramya frowned. The surface did look a tad uneven in the region Ross was pointing, but nothing stood out to her.

  “There’s something over there,” Ross said, and scrambled to a rock that extended a bit over the ravine. His feet slipped once, but he quickly regained his hold.

  “Be careful, Ross,” Ramya yelled. They were in enough trouble already, and she didn’t need Ross to fall and break his neck or limbs.

  “I’m fine,” Ross shouted back. Perching near the tip of the rock, Ross shaded his eyes and squinted again. “It’s weird,” he declared. “You could say the shape of the foliage in that depression sort of matches a Class II battleship. See that rounded top? And the pointy rear end? It’s almost like . . .”

  Even though Ross didn’t finish the sentence and she could hardly make out the depression he was talking about, Ramya’s heart leaped at the possibility. Could the Endeavor be down there? She squashed the hope with a strong hand. How was that possible? If a spacecraft fell into the ravine, the plants couldn’t keep standing; they’d be buried under the craft’s bulk. Here though, it seemed like the foliage had made way for the ship to sink through them, and then encased it like a cocoon.

  “Rami!” Ross’s shout made her jump. For a second she thought he was ill. Eyes bulging and mouth open, he was heaving as if he had just run a mile. She was about to ask what was wrong when she noticed he was pointing at the comm unit on his wrist. The unit—a silvery strap with four buttons on its face—was blinking green.

  Ramya forgot to breathe. Her thoughts blurred until they slowly settled on the one obvious conclusion: They were within range of the Endeavor’s main radio.

  As Ramya stared almost disbelievingly at his wrist, the thudding of her heart deafening, a chuckle bubbled up. All was not lost after all. The Endeavor was close, somewhere very close.

  4

  THE PATH down from the ledge was as narrow as it was slippery. Ramya held her breath as she followed Ross down the treacherous incline. This is madness, she thought, but the only option was to embrace the madness. Overjoyed on finding the Endeavor somewhere near, they had tried using the comm to contact the ship, but that hadn’t worked.

  “Maybe the radio’s damaged,” Ross had declared on hearing the dull as-good-as-dead buzz from the comm. “Or something else. We have to go find them.”

  Ross had jumped headlong into this rescue mission and she had agreed wholeheartedly. But as Ramya strode deeper into the murky forests of Morris II, there was little confidence in her steps. They were venturing into unknown and unfriendly territory. Besides, the Stryker was out of commission, which meant no back up in case they needed to evacuate in a hurry. Even knowing all that, they had decided that trying to find the Endeavor was the right thing to do.

  Ramya and Ross descended below the canopy of dark foliage and the dimness underneath was downright creepy. It was not just the lack of light but something else that Ramya couldn’t put her finger on just yet. Something unnerved her, sending jitters up her spine every few steps into the forest.

  R
oss stopped when they had reached the bottom of the hill and pressed his wrist-mounted comm for the zillionth time. Like before, nothing but a buzz came out of it. He looked at Ramya next, brows furrowed.

  “Are you all right?” he asked.

  She wasn’t anywhere near all right. All she had wanted was to get away from her father and his iron-fisted ways. She’d only needed a ride off Nikoor. She’d hoped the Endeavor would carry her out to the Fringe, or as close to the Fringe as possible. Then she could go looking for the Moanus and Uncle Brynden. Now those goals seemed so far removed, her existence swamped by the trouble with the Strykers. When and if she could get back to her hunt of the Moanus was the question on the top of her mind. And she had no answers.

  “I’m fine,” she replied. She didn’t want to snap at him, but she couldn’t damp down the sharpness of her voice.

  Ross’s face tightened. Ramya expected a stinging retort but oddly he shrugged and flashed a contrite half-smile. “You’re worried. And you should be. You’re right to be concerned about this mission,” he said, surprising Ramya with his choice of words. “I know it’s risky. But we can’t wait until the Stryker’s back in play. What if the Endeavor can’t last that long?”

  He’d already argued his case once and it didn’t matter if he said it all over again a thousand times. Ramya acknowledged that time was of the essence, and trying to find the Endeavor was the right thing to do. But the risks were enormous in a Mwandan sanctuary. They were defenseless, armed only with puny blasters, and not even knowing where they were headed.

  “The question is, how long will we last?” she replied.

  “Let’s at least try?”

  “We are trying, but . . .”

  Ross let out a long sigh and stepped closer. He pulled out the piece of paper on which they had sketched a rough map of the area. He tapped the depression in the forest where they were headed.

  “Gauging the distance, we should reach there in less than an hour or so,” Ross said. “From what I remember of the information the AI was spewing out, this area is relatively low on threats. There are no significant settlements and no known predatory animals in this zone, so we should have a relatively quick stroll across the forest and back.”