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Chapter 5

The Planet Septik, Korrian Penal Colony

Less than thirty minutes later, Malaki and Ciara stood on the surface of Septik. To say that it's air bore the appearance of pea soup was accurate. They could barely see past fifteen meters. The air was a thick green haze that swirled around them as they marched through the peat bog that surrounded Kanyte's encampment.

"This place is warmer than I expected," Grev said from behind, his voice muffled by his gas mask. "I'm still surprised you can breath here."

"We've got filters in our throats and oxygen-supplying nanos," Malaki explained, his face unhindered by any mask, "It tastes like shit, though. I'll trade."

Grev forced out a laugh. He had to at least try to stay cheerful here. For a moment he watched Ciara as she picked her way through the moist ground, her arms crossed over her chest. This place was so warm but the girl looked so cold... Grev just shook his head and slogged on.

"Hold," Malaki warned, raising a fist. He took a few steps forward, trying to look into the bog around them. As far as the eye could see was far too close for comfort. Ciara and Grev picked them up a moment later... tiny little soul-flames flickering in the distance.

"I am Major Grev-Kash!" the Major shouted into the haze, "I bring Knights to seek Bishop Kanyte!"

There was a long silence. Malaki could hear them whispering, but he could taste their thoughts a hundred times more clearly. They were questioning, unbelieving... uncertain... scared... distrustful...

The trio walked forward until the Septikkians became visible. In the distance, Malaki could see that they were all carrying crossbows. Of the four, a single one emerged with a pistol and leveled it at them.

"Come forward!" he called, his voice carrying a tinny quality.

They marched on, coming within three meters of the creatures. Few would call them human. Hoses and tubes ran into their throats to filter tanks on their backs. They wore rags, and their skin was a sickening gray color. Goggles covered their sickly yellow eyes. They, too, collected the moisture of the air on their skin, but seemed much less concerned with keeping clean. Their leathery skin looked wet, and in some places it had built up into a greasy glaze.

"You're Kanyte's men?" Ciara asked sternly.

"We are those who have seen our errors. Now we only pray the Source will show mercy to us, blessed be his name."

"Kanyte," Grev interpreted, "Lead us to him. We have things to discuss."

Three of the four turned and led them away, the last drifting behind and watching their backs. They walked with almost effortless grace, their steps like and smooth while the off-worlders stumbled through the soft muck.

"I am Grakkus," the leader explained, "Leader of the Redeemers, Right Hand of the Word."

"Kanyte," Grev said again.

"The Word of the Source told us you would come, and that we should march into the marsh to meet you. You seek to learn of the fire on the moon?"

"Yes," Malaki answered glancing upwards. "You can see it from here?"

"Our poison penance parts with the coolness of night."

This guy's messed up, Ciara thought. Malaki silently agreed.

"The Word of the Source of All will show you," Grakkus said. As they walked, a wall came into view. It was made of logs, sharpened at the top and lashed together with vines. Grakkus and his men were recognized, and he led the trio to a gate which parted as they approached. Inside it was much the same... primitive wooden buildings surrounding a single metal dome. Everything had the glazed look the condensing
mist provided, but the haze was much thinner here, as though it was too heavy to clear the wall.

As they walked Ciara felt dozens of soul-flames around her. There were roughly three dozen people here, mostly men with only a handful of women thrown in. They seemed to have carved out a fairly good living, considering their situation and background. But if there were women there then...

The children die at birth, Grev explained silently. No one can survive unassisted in this land. The girl pondered how cruel it was but Grev reminded her that every one of them more than deserved their punishment.

These were the worst scum of Korrus.

So what are the weapons and forts for?

Kanyte controlled a tribe of about a hundred. About four times that number waited outside, living in a state of anarchistic chaos. Anyone who sought redemption was welcome here but few took the opportunity.

Given his work here, Kanyte might be nominated for sainthood after he died.

"The Word awaits," Grakkus said, opening the door to the metal dome for them. The trio entered, happy to find the air inside was crisp and fresh. It was larger than they expected, being a round temple with a door at the back which led to the Bishop's private chambers. The temple itself was bare. The only piece of decoration, besides the twisting designs painted on the walls, was an altar at the very front which bore an obsidian sphere on a pillow.

"No," Malaki answered for them, "It's just a rock." The minotaur had never seen a piece of Lattice Obsidian that big, and if it was nobody would have just left it laying there. Besides, if it was real he would feel it tugging at his PPF, begging him to use it. There was only one thing he felt within the dome, a single matrix-armed entity in the room beyond.

Grev stepped past the altar and raised fist to knock, but the door opened before he could. They all jumped virtually in unison, hands resting on their weapons from their shock at Kanyte's appearance. He was reptile, walking out to meet them with a strange lope as his tail drifted lazily behind him. His triangular head jumped from one visitor to the next, examining each one with his slit-pupiled yellow eyes. The only clothing he wore was a haze-stained red cloak and a small, round, matrix that sat between his eyes.

"Greetings, Major," he said without a trace of the hissing accent Ciara had been expecting, "These are the Knights?"

"Malaki and Ciara. A Claymore and a Rapier, respectively."

"Ah... Ciara De'Kar? You have my condolences, of course. If you would like to perform a rite for your father, I would be happy to assist you."

Not now, Malaki thought to her, Look unconcerned.

"I'll do it later," Ciara said, "We've got work to do."

"Indeed," he replied, beckoning them with a scaly arm. Like everything else on this planet, his chambers were Spartan. A fine bed seemed his only luxury, with a firm mattress and cotton sheets. One wall was lined with books, while the other bore a hand-drawn map of the area. In the corner was a pile of electronic equipment that Kanyte obviously maintained meticulously. "You arrived by shuttle, did you not?"

"Yes," Malaki answered, "We found a clearing a mile south."

Kanyte nodded and walked towards the other side of the room.

"This is quite the set-up you've got," Grev commented, "I didn't expect to see locals as your servants."

"They are the Septik Rangers," Kanyte explained, "My chosen men. Do not fear, they seek repentance and are fanatically loyal to His Highest."

"You don't fear betrayal?"

"Not from my rangers, no. I am matrix-trained. They can hide nothing from me. No one on this planet, excepting yourselves, can."

"And do the other tribes ever attack?"

"They learned long ago that the wrath of the Source is fearsome. My psionics, coupled with the prowess of my rangers, is more than enough to dissuade them from assaulting us."

"So then you don't have trouble traveling?" Malaki interjected.

Kanyte took a moment to look the minotaur up and down with his slit-pupiled eyes. "Yes. My rangers are well adapted to travel in this land." He turned his attention to Ciara. "Since your comrade seems so eager to be on his way, I will cut to the chase. Yes, I have located the vessel you are searching for. After the ship was destroyed, I detected several craft leaving the surface of the moon and landing in the jungle. They are a mere twenty miles north of this village."

"Twenty miles?" Ciara asked incredulously.

"It's the best place on the planet, really." The reptile crept over to the map hanging on the wall. He pointed a single clawed finger at a dot representing the town. It bore the label 'Garasa.' Sliding it upwards, he stopped on a squiggly crack that Ciara guessed was three miles long, at least.

"This," Kanyte explained, "Is Apollyon. It is a chasm large enough to fit a cruiser in. If I were going to hide a starship, that is where it would be. And since the vessel you seek can apparently defy the laws of physics, that may very well be possible. My men say they have seen it."

"And it's twenty miles north?" Ciara asked again.

"A short hike for my rangers," the reptile agreed.

Mark his words, Malaki warned her, Notice how he keeps saying 'my?'

What do you think, Grev?

I think it's a trap.

Right.

"Can you give us a guide?" Grev asked, "Time is of the essence."

We'll walk right into it, Ciara thought.

That's alright, Malaki explained, We're knights. We're experts at walking into traps.

It would have been funny if their situation was not so dangerous.

"I can. Grakkus is waiting outside. He will lead you there."

The trio looked at each other for a moment and silently agreed to go.

Again the trio was led by Grakkus' Redeemers out of the village and into the endless green fog beyond. Their path took them through several miles of swamp, at times forcing the group to wade through waist-deep mud. Malaki was able to walk upright, but Ciara had to swim and struggle to keep her head above the water. The Septik rangers did likewise, but intentionally. Their sickly yellow eyes constantly searched the vine-draped trees around them, searching for some sign of danger.

They moved like snakes, Ciara thought. They were always low, moving smoothly and swiftly through the thickly grown swamp. When they ducked beneath something it was not so much a crouch as a slither, bending down and sliding through the mud as smoothly as possible. Fording the stagnant rivers, which were stained a dark ochre from the red algae that proliferated there, the rangers sank until half their heads were
submerged before gliding along the surface.

What do you think? Malaki asked.

It has to be a trap, Grev repeated. They're only another two miles ahead. That's too much of a coincidence.

What about Kanyte?

I'll bet he's in on it.

Ciara?

I don't know, the girl thought as she sank once again into the stained waters. The ground at the bottom gave way beneath her feet, making her run quickly across it while she stroked with her arms.

You've been reading Grakkus? Malaki said, tasting her thoughts.

He doesn't know anything, she explained. He believes everything Kanyte has told him. If Kanyte is leading us into a trap, he was smart enough not to tell our guide.

Malaki and Grev both took a moment to sample Grakkus' unshielded mind. Indeed, he was ignorant of any conspiracy against them. But be that as it may, Grev still refused his assistance in leaving the water.

So what do we do? Ciara asked.

Malaki tried not to shrug. We'll have to play it by ear.

If they are planning an ambush, Grev explained, then it will happen within the next mile. Once we confirm their location, we can wait until our ship comes back and bombard them from orbit.

Unless, Malaki chimed in, they know that our ship jumped back to Korrus after our shuttle debarked. They could wager we would be too scared to keep it around and ... The minotaur remembered who was present and purposefully cut his words short.

You think they'll plan it that well?

I think so, he continued. If they have somehow extended a PPF around the ship and are using KSA, then it could also be within their power to shield themselves from attack. Torpedoes and coil gun fire could be deflected. PPF shielding isn't as effective against laser attacks, but a laser couldn't make it through this planet's atmosphere anyway.

And then, Malaki went on, they could have something at their base. A weapon, perhaps, or maybe they're just more comfortable fighting on their own ground.

So what are we going to do? Ciara asked again, slipping a little on the soft ground. It appeared she was unable to talk and walk at the same time. Although that was a feat anyone would have trouble with, considering the difficult terrain of Septik's bayou.

Play it by ear, Grev thought, That's all we can do. If we suddenly decide to turn back, Kanyte and his rangers will be waiting for us. We might be able to capture him and take him off the planet, but they might also have a way of disabling our shuttle. I say we press on carefully.

Right, Malaki thought. Our ship comes back in three hours. That's more than enough time for us to handle whatever we find. And if we need more time, we can always get them to jump out and circle back around.

Ciara nodded, provoking a sideways glance from Grakkus. She quickly looked away, then at her feet, trying to make it look like she had been watching her surroundings instead of 'talking.'

Ciara, Malaki scolded, I know you're green and there aren't any clerics around, but you have to watch yourself better. Everything they told us at the academy, they told us for a reason.

I know... she thought with a sigh.

"We're almost there," Grakkus whispered. He pushed aside a strange plant with large, serrated leaves and let the Knights pass in front of him. Grev couldn't help feeling uncomfortable with Grakkus at his back, even though he knew the ranger was entertaining no violent thoughts.

Ciara stopped. Malaki had to strafe to the right to avoid running into her.

"That's it?" she asked.

"Apollyon," Grakkus confirmed.

Throughout their entire journey, the trio had never been able to see more than twenty meters ahead. But this... here... a person could see for miles. Literally, miles. No trees or hills blocked the eye from seeing from one end of the canyon to the other before the green haze once again shrouded the horizon. It was easily four miles long, Ciara guessed. She could hear a distant echo of water spilling through the canyon floor but couldn't see it. The haze completely masked the interior of the canyon.

"Why is the air so clear here?" the girl asked.

"Look at the edges," Malaki answered, bending down until his bovine face was next to hers.

The edges of the canyon walls, the fog spilled over the cliffs like some green waterfall. It rolled over the sides and filled up the canyon as though it were a giant, poisonous, reservoir. That was why the air was clear and the canyon haze was so thick... the fog was so heavy it fell down into it. Ciara could only imagine what it must be like where the river broke free.

She imagined a waterfall of brackish liquid running down a cliffside. A place where you could look up and see a jet of thick green gas shooting out above the algae-choked water. There had to be some things on this planet that were worth looking at, she mused.

"And it's down there?" Grev asked, his voice still muffled by his mask.

"I have seen it with my own eyes," Grakkus said. His men nodded in agreement and began to lead them along the edge of the canyon. "I can show you precisely where I descended. A bit like a Romaly canto, is it not?"

Ciara noticed the toxic reservoir even looked like water. It had it's own currents and eddies, it's own whirlpools of swirling gas. It rose and fell, lapping silently against the edges of the rocks and, she imagined, wearing them away. She could just picture a beach along this chlorine seashore...

"What if this is what Psion is like?" she asked, "A poisonous hole that no one explores because no one in their right mind would go there?"

No one had an answer to that. They just kept walking for a kilometer, seven dark figures hiking across the lip of the poison maw. The haze swirled around them as they pushed through it. Watching the fog roll past her and over the edge, Ciara expected to feel some kind of wind. The billowing green gas was moving so fast she could imagine it being pushed along by gale winds, but there was nothing except a slight increase in the already suffocating humidity.

"Here," Grakkus said, pointing down, "The resting place of the behemoth which you seek."

"You're sure?" Grev asked.

"I would wager my soul, had not the Source already claimed it."

"Open your minds," Malaki said, "You can feel them... feel those little candles, burning all the way down there? You can barely feel them... you can't taste them but you can feel them... there are people down there, all right. Directly beneath us..." He knelt down and tried in vain to see through the opaque cloud. "Grakkus, you're released."

The Septikkian nodded solemnly. "Do you need help descending?"

"No, thank you."

I can feel them! Ciara confirmed.

Alright... Malaki continued, Grev, you know you're going to be the odd man out. We'll cover you, but we'll be busy working together so you might have to fend for yourself.

I'm fine with that, Grev replied. Are we going down the sides?

No, Malaki replied, too easy for someone to pick us off.

So what then?

We jump, Malaki said. Before either of his companions could protest, the minotaur had launched himself a full twenty meters off the side of the cliff. Ciara followed a half-second behind him, and Grev reluctantly came last. For a long time the three hung above the green clouds as their leaps crested before they dropped into the murky fog below.

It was a disorienting experience, falling through the opaque clouds. It was all around them, 360-degrees of pea soup green. No one was certain of their orientation as there were no reference points... just a slowly-thickening green haze all around. Looking up, Malaki could just barely see a black smudge he assumed to be Ciara and Grev was completely lost to him. He could feel them though. He could feel their
uncertainty as they followed him blindly down.

For a moment he tried to guess how far down they were, but their KSA-slowed falls made all calculations impossible. All he could do was look down and search for the bottom. He didn't see it.

Suddenly a gray bulkhead broke through the mist and Malaki landed, his body crumpling up to rest on two hooves and a hand. Ciara and Grev followed an instant behind him, landing with much less grace. Neither of them had the experience with KSA that he had, Malaki reminded himself as he slowly rose. It took the pair a moment to realize exactly where they were and pick themselves up.

"This is it?" Grev asked.

Malaki walked along the metal hull, listening to his footsteps' echo. It was hollow, and he could feel soul-flames all around him. "Yes," he replied, "This is it." Although he tried, the minotaur couldn't see more than five meters in any direction. This was the thickest he had ever seen the fog. His filters might not be able to handle it. "Switch to internals, C."

Ciara obeyed, activating her respiratory nanomachines. Feeling your lungs fill from the inside was always a strange sensation at first, but it became natural soon enough. Even stranger was watching the mist part away from her face when she exhaled. It was kind of like watching your breath on a cold day, but in reverse. It took a moment for the haze to coalesce again, as though it were reluctant to accept the intruding purity.

"Well?" Grev asked, searching for a point of ingress.

"This has to be it..." Malaki said, then stopped and crouched. He could feel his PPF quivering slightly. There was something inside, tugging at him like a magnet. "There's lattice obsidian inside... lots of it."

"So how-" Grev started, but Ciara shushed him. Malaki was already working on that problem.

Malaki stood there for a moment, before raising his hands. He held them out in front of him before pushing out to his sides and bringing them up around his head. Clenching them into fists, he brought both hands down across his front and down to his gut.

"What's he doing?" Grev asked.

"A Tar-Thul meditation. He's drawing the heat out of the air and needs focus."

Indeed, Grev could already feel the air grow cold around him. He could see Ciara's breath forming a cloud as it left her small lips. Water began to run down their bodies and pool on the bulkhead of the ship, where crystals of ice began to grow inside. Tiny drops of rain started to fall, then more. The air became clear around them as the gas became liquid, falling down on them as rain for a moment before it became snow.

"Incredible," Grev said, trying not to let Ciara see him shiver. It was actually snowing. Dirty gray snow, yes, but it was snowing nonetheless. An artic wind washed over them, bringing with it a hail of icy rain that froze against the ship's bulkhead. He still couldn't see, though. The obscuring mists had given way to drifting snow. The icy wind blew it in snaking tendrils across the deck, where it curled around their boots and piled up in the few available corners.

"Now watch," Ciara whispered, wiping a drip of moisture away from her freezing nose.

Malaki stood apart from the elements. The snow and wind parted away from him, forming an artic tornado as it found him to be a sort of living air thermal. The minotaur seemed lost, as though unaware of the impossible shift in climate around him. He rolled his large head, stretching his neck, before raising a single fist high into the icy air.

Ciara watched in awe as condensing water ran down his KCS, drawing a snaking path between his thick compound muscles. She followed his body up a meaty thigh and across his tensed back, up one meaty arm that she thought had to be a little thicker than her waist. And there, at his fist, a glowing point of light appeared. The minotaur suddenly dropped to one knee and slammed his fist into the metal.

The painful peal was drowned out by a sudden burst of light and flame. Hot plasma cascaded across the surface of the metal, a wave of burning energy that made the bulkhead glow red-hot. Malaki suddenly rose on one hoof and slammed the other down with frightening force. The metal gave way beneath his blow, crumbling slightly inwards. He struck again, and a third time, upon which the metal split and curled back,
smoking along its torn edge.

IN! they both half-heard him shout. The minotaur drew both chrome pistols from his sides and tucked them close to his body as he slipped through the crack, seemingly immune to the heat it's blackened surface and smoking corners betrayed.

"Keep your PPF up," Ciara warned as she slipped through, keeping herself away from the hot metal with her barrier of telekinetic shielding.

Grev shook his head. It looked easy for her... He could name children who were bigger than her. But he obeyed, wrapping himself in a shield as strong as he could muster and riding it across the tear as he dropped in, immediately drawing his pistol and knife upon landing.

The interior of the ship was dull and Spartan, as most vessels were. No decoration or luxury of any sort intruded here, just repetitive blocky gray bulkheads. Ciara had been on plenty of ships in her short life, but none of them bore the same melancholy style of this one. The bare conditions weren't the only thing that contributed to the apathetic atmosphere. Sheets of aluminum and steel lay discarded on the floor, exposing the wiring they hid in the walls. Tools lay in scattered piles and in some places thick hoses and wires dangled out of open hatches. They were often bundled together with electrical tape, and in some places sheets of metal had been hastily welded into position.

"Looks like this ship should have been in a scrapyard," Grev said.

Malaki nodded slowly as he looked around, checking around corners with his pistols, before he turned his attention of Ciara. "Are you up for this, C?"

"Would I be here if I wasn't?" she replied indignantly, as though she couldn't stand him even hinting that she scared.

He gave another nod before focusing on the flickering soul-flames circling around him. "They know we're here..."

"We probably broke a few of their hull-breach detection circuits when we came in," Ciara advised, drawing her own pistol and spinning it on one finger before finding her grip.

"They're below us and to the right," Grev said.

Malaki was silent for a moment as he sampled their thoughts. "Septik rangers."

"Grakkus?"

"I don't feel him here."

"They just went up a floor."

The three cautiously crept around a corner and moved down a long hallway, pistols ready. It stopped at a large steel door which swung open for the trio as they crept up to it. The next room was a large cargo space with plenty of black crates to provide cover. A cargo elevator sat in the middle of the bay, ready to ferry them deeper into the guts of the vessel. This was a good place to make a stand, Malaki thought. If they got in trouble, they could take the elevator south or flee out the way they came.

Not that running was ever a problem for Knights.

"Here we go," Malaki said as the door on the opposite wall cracked open. Septikkians charged through, dirty rifles clutched tightly in their waxy gray fingers.

"Source brings fire!" one shouted, spraying the room with his machine gun. The entire room erupted in gunfire as the ranger squad opened up, hitting the Knights with all the firepower they could muster.

Malaki dropped to the floor as dozens of rounds passed overhead. Grev did likewise, crouching with his back against a black metal crate. The minotaur tried to find Ciara, but she had already vanished. The only evidence he had that she even existed was the tiny thought-whisper that only he could hear.

Ready? he silently asked Grev.

The Major nodded, and waited for the sound of clips being removed from their weapons. Both men leapt to their feet, cutting the Septikkians down with a barrage of pistol fire. Malaki ran to the right, seeking cover from crates as he laid into them with .50 caliber rounds, shooting with both hands. Grev ducked down, clutching his pistol with both hands and squeezing off carefully aimed rounds.

It only took a few seconds for the air to become thick with the scent of cordite. Sparkling brass casings leapt from the ranger's rifles as they ignored their wounded and poured fire into Malaki. He was easily the most threatening of their targets. Malaki didn't flinch as his cover disintegrated in front of him. He just kept strafing faster than the rangers could follow, emptying his double-stacked clips into them.

For a moment he saw a patch of reality ripple and blur. It was Ciara, he knew, moving amongst the crates. Hot bursts of muzzle flash exploded out of nowhere, followed by smoking brass casings as she fired from beneath her veil of invisibility.

Grev was having a much easier time. He ducked behind a stack of palettes just long enough to pull a grenade from his vest. Ciara? he asked as he pulled the pre-loosened pin with his teeth. He didn't want to hit her by accident.

Go for it, she thought back.

He smiled and tossed it around the corner, letting the grenade roll across the floor. It only took a second before the other side of the bay vanished in a spray of smoke and shrapnel, sending well-ventilated rangers flying through the air. Pieces of waxy gray skin and dark red blood splattered across the walls and the Major ducked out from cover to pick off the survivors with his pistol.

Malaki ducked to reload while Grev did his work. Their job was much easier when the bad guys didn't have matrices. He stood to see Ciara reappear and inspect the shrapnel-burned walls. The girl looked over the scattered corpses without a sign of regret. She even stopped on top of one, watching the poor man try to breath after taking a .50 cal to the chest. Blood dribbled from his dirty gray lips as he struggled to fill a lung that wasn't there anymore. Ciara knelt beside him, pressed her reflective chrome handgun against the side of his skull, and watched it vanish in a spray of wet crimson meat.

Grev and Malaki both looked away. It was a painful thing to watch... not the man dying but rather the look of sheer hate on the girl's face and the sadistic satisfaction she derived from it. Perhaps more painful was the sanguine splatter that marred her nubile features. It shattered any illusions the men might have entertained of the nymph's innocence or her reliance upon them.

"TH-34's," Grev observed, trying to change the subject, "Reliable rifles."

"The only ones they could even use on this planet," Malaki noted.

"I sense more," Ciara said, watching the door in front of her.