Fracture - Book One of the Glass Galaxy Trilogy

Chapter 22: Dynasty

May 1st

10:26 AM

Reaper cleared her throat. "We thank you for your assistance," she said, "and apologize for bringing trouble to your doorstep. I believe that you know why we are here?"

"I do," replied the strong voice. "A flight path is being sent to you right now, and you are to follow it. I would advise that you do not stray too far off course; the Aegis can be... Twitchy, sometimes."

Reaper looked to her pilot, and he turned and nodded to her, plotting a new course into the ship's navigation system. "Is the Aegis the system that destroyed the Traya ships?" Reaper asked, her voice measured and cautious.

"It is indeed, child," the voice answered calmly. "The Aegis is the first part of a defense network that spans all of Citadel, and it obliterates all who trespass on our space. You would do well to remember its power as you move through our system."

He was tacitly warning us. We were privy to knowledge that wasn't public, and if I had to guess, they would be more than willing to kill us to keep it that way; it certainly wouldn't be hard for them to do, what with the colossal laser batteries that were probably trained on us right now. I unclipped my harness and slipped out of it, stretching my sore limbs and rolling my tense neck, and then I walked up beside Reaper.

"We promise that we are just here to pick up the delivery," I said firmly. "We harbor no ill intentions towards the Cult of Riolahan - we didn't even know you existed until two minutes ago."

"We shall determine the truth in that once you have arrived," they replied calmly, their voice edged with a subtle ferocity that raised the hairs on the back of my neck. "I await your arrival."

The line closed.

Reaper snapped her fingers at her pilot, "What are the system details? Planets, moons, give me the standard rundown."

The pilot turned to face Reaper, sharing a worried glance with the communications officer, and then shook his head, "I only have the details they gave us. Our sensors went dead after that ridiculous light show."

"We'll have to land for me to examine the sensors," added the communications officer. "I can't tell if they're being jammed or are damaged."

Reaper growled in frustration. "Fine, then what did they share with us about the system?" she asked the pilot.

"There are nine planets in total, along with two asteroid belts, as we determined earlier. The two planets closest to the star are referred to collectively as 'The Aegis', while the two asteroid belts are referred to as the 'Rings of Fire'. It seems that they're used for defensive structures in the same way as the Aegis is, which is... Mind-boggling, really. These nut-cases cases have enough firepower to stop the entire Federation dead in their tracks."

"Why they have so much firepower doesn't matter," Reaper interjected, "we aren't here to fight them. What about the planets?"

"Okay," the pilot started, "so they didn't give me details on all the planets, but they did give me three. The first one is called Dynasty, and it's our destination. It's the largest planet in the system, abundant in life and orbited by several sizable space stations. We're going to be landing at a city planet-side called Kintra, but I don't have any details on it."

"The second planet they detailed is called Obexdra," the pilot continued. "Apparently it's covered by a dense jungle, and is generally inhospitable to sapient life. They didn't say anything else about it."

"And the third planet?" Reaper asked when the pilot paused.

The pilot looked up, confusion on his face, "It's called Monument. It just says that trespassing on it will result in our execution."