21.09.2722

"Any word on the Gholians?" Harkhaf asked.

Rehema didn't answer right away, her eyes trained on the view outside the viewport. She was back at the Cadmus Institute, floating in the Dwarf Star along with Arius and Tabal, just outside the debris of shuttles. Up close, the wreckage was even more horrible than the security footage had made it out to be, the bodies of many former students and teachers drifting in the moon's orbit. By now, five days after the attack, international cleanup crews had assembled in the moon's airspace, beginning the arduous work of collecting the bodies for identification and to return them to their grieving families. The cleanup crews also had another purpose, which was to scan the wreckage they sifted through to compile data for a holographic rendering for the investigation later on.

Harkhaf's ship, the Limelight, hovered nearby, maintaining an open channel with the Dwarf Star. Unlike Arius's ship, which resembled nothing more than a flying white sphere, the Limelight was a sleek vessel nearly three times the size of the Dwarf Star, built for style and capable of carrying a large number of personnel, which suited Harkhaf's investigative style. However, the ship was currently uncharacteristically empty, since most of his crew had remained behind in the Institute, making this one of the rare occasions where Harkhaf was short on manpower.

"Rehema?" Harkhaf said, calling her attention back. The video call had surprisingly good quality, and his annoyed look was obvious on the screen.

"Yes, actually," Rehema replied, tearing her eyes away from the wreckage. "You remember how you told me it'd be difficult to get the Gholians to talk?"

"Yeah?" Harkhaf responded.

"Well, I got them to talk."

Rehema twisted the dashcam over to Arius and Tabal, seated at the main controls. Arius was keeping his eyes glued to his dashboards, giving Tabal his professional privacy. Meanwhile, the large Gholian had squeezed himself into a third seat, manually inputting his parameters to track the missing warships.

"You brought one with you?" Harkhaf asked incredulously. "Why is he on your ship?"

"He was a contact," Rehema said simply. "Turns out the Gholians are looking for ten missing warships, which, by the way, happens to match the number of Gholian warships that attacked the Career schools."

"Eleven," Harkhaf corrected her. "One attacked the Cadmus Institute, too."

Rehema chewed her lip, thinking back to the security footage of the Gholian warship that had portaled onto the scene. It was unlike anything she'd ever seen before, and it wasn't just the improbability of the whole situation. As far as she was aware, no ship traveled in space by portal, only by accelerating using negative drives.

"I wouldn't worry about that eleventh," she muttered. "At least, not yet."

"Okay," Harkhaf said, but he didn't sound reassured. "So...I take it your Gholian friend is providing some means to track these missing warships?"

"Correct," Rehema confirmed. "Any news on High Mage Rasmussen?"

"No, not yet," Harkhaf admitted. "But you won't believe who I have on board."

"Who?"

"Another Mage," he answered, smugly. "Calls himself Bekhet."

"How did you persuade him to accompany you?" Rehema asked.

"I ran into Bekhet and his acolytes near Rasmussen's office," Harkhaf said. "They were looking for him too. Once I got the call from you saying you had a lead on the Gholian warship, he overheard and volunteered to join me."

Rehema narrowed her eyes at that. The Guild of Magi was an organization based out of Kingsfield's capital, infamous for its secrecy. They claimed to be able to grant magic to ordinary individuals, to manipulate reality beyond what a Kinetic could do. While Rehema didn't completely understand how it worked, she did know that any one Magi was more than a match for a Kinetic. Originally founded as national peacekeepers, modern Mages now played much more prominent roles, often seen interfering wherever they benefited. The fact that a Mage volunteered to be a part of the investigation meant they had a stake in whatever happened here, and she intended to find out what it was and why.

Harkhaf turned his dashcam, directing it at an elderly Terran male in a long blue robe and a shoulder cape seated in a rear seat. The man's chest was emblazoned with a gold ankh, and he carried a tall staff in his left hand, which also bore a gold ring with an emerald set in the center. He looked old enough to be someone's grandfather, but his eyes were hard and focused. Rehema sucked in her breath - this wasn't just an ordinary Mage. This man was one of the High Magi.

"High Mage Bekhet," Rehema said respectfully. "May I ask what piqued your interest in our investigation?"

The Mage shrugged.

"Fifty Magi are missing," he said. "Two of Judgement's Special Investigators discuss a lead on the perpetrator's whereabouts. Why wouldn't I be here?"

That made sense, but something about Bekhet's presence still had Rehema thinking. His response was too vague, somehow. Something wasn't adding up.

"No! No, no, no!"

Rehema whipped her head around, focusing on the source of the noise. Tabal's massive head was lowered, and waves of frustration flowed from his brow.

"Tabal?" she called. "Is something wrong?"

"Yes," he growled. "Somehow the trail ends here. It's almost as if the warship came out of nowhere."

Out of nowhere.

Rehema suddenly remembered how the Gholian warship had arrived at the Institute, emerging from a massive portal in space. If Tabal couldn't track it, that could mean he didn't know about the portal technology. Time to try a different angle.

"Arius, where's the nearest Career school?" she asked.

"Mars," he answered. "That's where the Dirga Academy is."

"Harkhaf, set your coordinates to the Dirga Academy," she ordered, as Arius powered up the ship's thrusters. "We'll meet you there."

Harkhaf's video connection winked out as the two ships prepared for the jump. The Dwarf Star left first, pulling away from the Institute moments before the Limelight did the same. Rehema glanced out the viewport, watching the moon shrink rapidly as they accelerated away from the Institute. Tabal only gave her a strange look.

Rehema sat back in her seat, watching Mars grow in size as they neared it. Ten missing warships, she thought. Ten Career schools. Somehow, one of the ships must have portaled to the Institute to do its job, and the nearest Career school was conveniently in the same solar system. She folded her hands as the ship began to decelerate, fervently hoping her hunch was correct.

Moments later, the Limelight appeared beside them, decelerating rapidly as it slowed to a stop. Almost immediately, the dash beeped as Harkhaf hailed them again. Arius turned to her.

"Rehema, can you-"

She answered the call.

"Is your contact running the search yet?" Harkhaf demanded.

"Aha, I've discovered a trail!" Tabal roared triumphantly, pulling up a map on one of the screens. "But we have a new problem."

Rehema squinted at the map, ignoring Harkhaf's inquiries as to what they were doing. She waved him to silence, then swiveled her seat around to examine the screen. A map of known hypergates were on display, as well as a line that indicated the direction of travel that the rogue warship took. The piece of the map showed the Gholian ship had escaped through the Mars hypergate and traveled close to the Krakoshan border, where it emerged from the final hypergate without incident. Nothing seemed to be wrong yet.

"What's the problem?" Rehema asked. "We have an end destination, don't we?"

"Our map says they emerged here," Tabal said, "but there is no sign of a hypergate. I do not know how, but it seems our trail grows cold again."

Rehema turned back to the Limelight's open channel, raising an eyebrow at Harkhaf.

"What now?" she asked.

"I may be able to assist," the High Mage Bekhet said suddenly, hovering into her view on the screen. "Allow me to make a call, first."

Rehema nodded, drumming her fingers anxiously on the dash as the Mage moved away with his phone in hand. When Arius turned in his seat to question Rehema, she held up her hand, silencing him. Tense minutes passed, during which, both Arius and Tabal said nothing. Finally, the Mage said something from the background, the words not audible on Rehema's end.

"The High Mage Bekhet says he has a solution," Harkhaf said, glancing off-screen at where the Mage sat. "He says to make the jump anyway and get out at the last gate."

Rehema nodded.

"Tabal, the Limelight will lead the way," she informed. "Arius, transmit the map to Harkhaf and take us into the hypergate."

"Your friend has a solution?" Tabal asked.

Rehema simply smiled back at him, hiding her curiosity as the Dwarf Star coasted toward the local hypergate. Shipping trawlers, personal cruisers and mass-transit vessels crammed the lanes, the more impatient ones weaving in and out lanes of traffic, but both the Limelight and the Dwarf Star bypassed the traffic, flashing their credentials at the hypergate sensor. The Limelight activated its negative drive, followed quickly by Arius in the Dwarf Star, and the two ships were launched into the highway. The viewport darkened as they accelerated, eventually becoming pitch black as the hypergates along the route blurred by. Rehema tracked their progress along the map on the screen, watching the blip representing their ship slowly make its way across the universe.

As they neared the last gate, Arius signaled a warning before turning off thrusters to decelerate the Dwarf Star. Rehema grabbed her straps, straining against the gravitational forces threatening to crush her chest as both ships emerged from the final hypergate.

This hypergate was nowhere near as busy as the last one she was in. Arius swung the ship back and forth, swinging in and out of lanes and dodging ships as they slipped out the nearest exit on the hypergate. Rehema glanced up at the cockpit, staring out at the empty sea of stars. Wherever they were going, it was too far away to reach in a ship. The Limelight slowed to a stop, and Arius pulled their ship up directly behind it.

Suddenly, red light flickered to life in front of their viewport. As one, the inhabitants of the Dwarf Star sat forward, staring curiously at the red light as it expanded to fill the darkness. The space before them warped, creating a distortion similar to heat shimmers as red light spilled through the rift. Then, the Dwarf Star was slipping through the portal, a loud rumble shaking their ship as they passed through the glow. Everything in the ship seemed to vibrate violently for a tense moment, and then they were through, entering a quiet starry night.

At first, Rehema said nothing, simply marveling at the day's events. The Limelight taxied into place beside them, suddenly hailing them again. For once, Arius said nothing as she opened the channel, barely registering Harkhaf's shocked face on the screen. The Mage, Bekhet, was visible in the background, looking exhausted by the spell he'd cast.

"Are you seeing this?" Harkhaf breathed.

The space in front of them was littered with hundreds upon thousands of pieces of debris, suspended motionless in space. Small pieces bounced off their viewport and hull as their ship parted through the wreckage. Then, Rehema saw the objects floating in the center, partially illuminated by the light of a nearby star. Tabal gave a moan, his voice laced with mourning.

Thousands of dead Gholians drifted among the wreckage, some burned, some frozen, and most badly scarred. There would be no point searching for survivors; these bodies had clearly been deceased for some time. If anything, this was a scene too similar to the one at the Cadmus Institute, bodies adrift in space in the wreckage of their ships.

"Oh, Zeus," Harkhaf whispered. "What the hell happened?"

"I don't know," Rehema admitted, shaking her head in disbelief. "They're all dead."

Her gaze drifted to the screen, latching onto the High Mage on Harkhaf's ship. The old man stared out at the scenery with horror written across his face, but Rehema could only think of the portal they'd traveled through. Red light, a rift in space...

"Yahweh's covenant," Bekhet whispered. "Return to the Institute. I suppose there is something you need to know."

Rehema sat back, the gears in her head turning. Yes, this lead had been a dead end, she told herself, but there was always another angle.

______________________________________________

As a developing writer, I'm very open to criticism, so feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments. And as always, if you enjoyed reading, click the ⭐ button to help promote this story!