Feel my hand?
Take it, come...
Together we must escape this,
Far from what once was, into what will be.
HMS Excalibur - Yeji-Sola System
Darien opened his eyes, feeling the warm padding of the Excalibur's command chair pressing against his back, embracing the sudden confusion and rush of elation as the Excalibur realized he was home.
Forward, deep in a conversation with Masconi, Commander Durnham spun, a look of genuine surprise on his face as he stared at the Skipper sitting bruised and battered, shirt still torn, a flat black stone resting on his knees, looking about himself at his crew.
Masconi was the first one to his side, staring at him in worry and concern as Commander Durnham barked orders for a medical team to report to the bridge.
Darien settled deeper into his chair, closing his eyes to the warm and welcoming embrace of the Excalibur, feeling her worry easing as she probed him, as if seeing for herself how badly he had been hurt. He let her look as he smiled, opening an eye and glancing up at his CAG.
"Did you miss me?" He asked with a slight cough.
Masconi shook her tired head, looking worn and drawn. "You gave us a scare, and I'm sure that..." She stopped in surprise as one of the Fida'i pushed past her, the scowling warrior leaning forward for her own inspection of his Aga-Khan, as if taking note of every new bruise, her jaw set in annoyance that she'd been left behind.
Darien obediently lifted his arm for the assassin bodyguard to get a better look at the scrapes on his knuckles, looking over his head and rolling his eyes. "You know, I'm not that delicate, I'm okay... really, just relax, all of you..." He fended her off wondering where James was, the woman petulantly - at least it seemed like she was petulant, the expressionless mask she was wearing really didn't say she was much of anything - hovered protectively just behind the chair, allowing Darien to return to the matters at hand. "How's my ship?" He asked Masconi.
Masconi's face grew troubled. "We're not looking so shit hot," she replied truthfully, tilting Darien's red cap back and looking grim, "Flight deck lost all its operational fighters to the Lex Talionis drones, we have no jump drives, and we lost the transports." She looked down at Darien. "I ordered COB and Lieutenant Galadriel to see if there was a way we could use the Propylons. So far we have them operational, and Galadriel successfully tested them." She motioned for a Communications Tech to bring her over the last communiqué received from the 242nd just prior to their departure. She handed it to Darien.
Darien scanned over the report. Written in Ramsey's detailed style, it outlined the specifics of his plan and his objectives. Darien read it again to be certain, standing up shakily as he walked down towards the CIC, pushing charts aside as he pulled out the one he wanted, unfurling it and leaning in to get a better look.
His fingers pulled out his glasses from his coat pocket, slipping them on and cursing as he took them off again. He examined the cracked lenses and then set them aside as he bent down and ran his fingers across the three systems in which Ramsey intended to engage the enemy.
"It's a suicide run," he commented, looking up at Masconi standing beside him, Commander Durnham had materialized across from them and looked apprehensive.
"My father is endeavouring to buy time for the Imperial reinforcements to arrive at Sentinel Station," Masconi said evenly.
"What reinforcements?" Darien looked up, pushing back his hair, looking in disgruntlement at the pair of medics who were setting up their kits, insisting that he stand still while they examined him.
"Nicholas bloody Denver," Colonel Mayfair hobbled out into the CIC on his crutches as he bobbed his head to the Skipper, a passing smile that was replaced by the typical scowl he had adopted ever since he'd been injured - a man of action forced to sit back and watch.
"Rikard?" Darien looked at his officers in shock, setting the black stone down on the edge of the table, extending his arms again as he was poked and prodded by the medical techs.
"The Denver Conglomerate declared open warfare on the Amsus Hegemony about four days ago." Mayfair shook his head. "I've heard of men being bloody conflicted, but this takes the meaning of a 'man at war with himself' to a whole new plateau."
"For once I agree with the Colonel," Kit folded his arms, "While the addition of any support to our cause is no doubt cause for celebration, I have my reservations about Rikard's... motives."
"We've already seen that Rikard is a master manipulator," Masconi warned, remembering her own experiences with the deceptive bastard, "We can't underestimate him here, he has a plan..."
"It doesn't matter," Darien said, scanning the charts, "Even with the Denver ships it's not going to be enough to stop the Amsus armada. Rikard knows this; he's playing with us. Keeping us distracted from his true goals."
"Peligia?" Commander Durnham asked, looking up at Darien.
Darien nodded. "We're behind in the race, he knows it, also we have no idea what we're looking for." The young Highlord folded his arms, chewing his lip, considering. He had a rough idea of where to start looking; VonGrippen's logs had given him a star system. But with so much unfolding around him, he didn't have a chance to reach it, to begin the search. "I want the Propylons brought up and operational, Colonel Mayfair..." he looked up at the injured Colonel, the nano-brace that was repairing his broken leg was due to come off in a day or two, "Put together a team of your best Marines, I have a reconnaissance mission for you." He looked about, "Where's Shale?"
"He's below decks," Commander Durnham replied, "Shall I send for him?"
Darien inclined his head. "I want to know the moment we're ready to use the Propylons."
"Sir," The officers around the table responded, separating knowing their tasks.
Darien rested a hand a moment on the stone tablet, drumming his fingers. A platoon of Force Recon Marines under Colonel Mayfair could examine the location detailed in VonGrippen's logs, hopefully give them an idea of where to start looking for Peligia...
"Shale?" he said, looking up as the large Taïrian marched out of the elevators. Scooping up the stone, he crossed and gestured for them both to enter the Stateroom. Darien noted that the doors still hadn't been repaired.
"I need... we need a favour from you," Darien said, looking up at his old friend, "I am going to take the Excalibur and intercept the two battle groups bearing down on Taïr."
Shale eyed Darien in concern. The 'what about Lauren?' went unsaid.
"I know," Darien replied, "but right now the Empire needs a free and liberated Taïr, and if my plan works we'll still be able to make the battle at Sentinel. That's not what I need from you." Darien held up the stone. "I need this on every uniform. I need it on the hull as well."
Shale frowned at the glowing glyph, and up at Darien, his eyebrow lifting.
"Left arm, replace the house patches with this," Darien said, "Do the port side of the ship as well. This is important..." Shale nodded as he listened, "I'll have the marines help you," he grinned, "Issue sewing kits and teach them to embroider."
Shale barked a laugh, nodding as he took the stone from Darien and ambled out of the stateroom, off to find some unsuspecting Marines who were about to become seamstresses.
Darien rubbed his forehead as he rested against the edge of his desk, closing his eyes again at the wave of dizziness, fumbling through his desk drawer for the bottle of pills that Kyr had given to him before he had departed, downing a couple and slipping them away again.
"I don't have much time..." The voice caused Darien to leap out of his skin, stumbling a few steps as he turned to the blurry image in the middle of the Stateroom.
VonGrippen resolved, like a ghost as the holo-projectors displayed the static-laden image, "but I have set this recording to display at a specific moment to the Commander of the HMS Excalibur, and the man that has chosen to retrace my footsteps in search of Peligia."
Darien gaped, looking past the image towards Lieutenant Galadriel who was just entering the Stateroom with a stack of reports. Confirming that what he was seeing wasn't in fact a hallucination.
"I must give you a warning about the Rock of Braal..." the image broke into static again as it resolved a few seconds later, "...gods. The key can be found within the asteroid, the inhabitants of Kule..." the image faltered again, "...the key. It is of grave importance that you recover the codex." VonGrippen ducked his head and looked behind him, and back at Darien again, "The location of the rock of Braal." The image shifted to a star map, resolving and zeroing in towards a lone star system.
"Are you getting that?" Darien asked Galadriel, who had turned over her reports and was scribbling away with her pen.
"I have it." She confirmed, as the image flickered out all together.
Darien stepped down from his desk, "Commander Durnham?"
The holographic officer materialized, "Yes Highlord?"
"Replay the last message." Darien ordered gesturing to the centre of the stateroom.
"Message sir?" Commander Durnham looked confused, " Excalibur wasn't playing a message."
Darien and Galadriel both exchanged looks, letting the message from the past sink in. "What do you make of it?" He asked looking at her.
She shook her head, "I don't know sir, we can't just ignore it, like the diary, we have to follow the clues we have."
"Then we're going to have to find a way to reach the Rock of Braal," Darien surmised folding his arms.
Galadriel looked troubled, as she came to join Darien at his desk, "Since we're on the subject, sir, I've been giving more thought to the Diary."
"Oh?" Darien asked, lifting the book.
She nodded, taking it from him and turning it over to run her fingers over the spine, "I don't think it's what's in the book that's the answer, I think it might have something to do with the book itself."
"Really?" Darien pulled his glasses from his pocket, slipping them on, sighing again at his own absentmindedness as he pulled them off again putting them back into his pocket, "Why do you say that?"
"Well," Galadriel said, staring closer at the leather cover, feeling the old glue that kept the spine in place, the worn stitching, "Rikard was desperate to get the physical book back. Why? I mean, he had to know what it contained, digital scans and the sort. Why was the physical book so important that he would come back personally to get his hands on it?" She absently pulled on the stitching, watching the glue crumble, "And that got me thinking about a book I read as a little girl, where these spies used to hide things inside the covers of books..." She pulled gently as the book cover came off, an etched metal plate clattering to the glass surface of the desk.
"You are one hell of an officer," Darien murmured as he reached out to pick up the flat octagonal piece of metal, running a thumb over the engravings, feeling the cut holes in almost random places, "Now we have a new puzzle on our hands..."
"Not really," Galadriel said, picking it up, "It's a decoder disk," She smiled, "you set this over a message and the holes will tell you the letters you want to read..." She stopped, biting her pretty lower lip thoughtfully, "The real puzzle is finding what it's supposed to sit over."
She stood playing with the leather cover of the book, pausing as she looked down at it, feeling the strange texture; it was an animal hide, but not an animal she had ever seen. She looked at it again, thoughtfully, "The leather's probably a clue as well." She said, looking up.
"If Kyr were here, I'd say ask him." Darien said, still studying the decoder disk, "But I'm willing to bet it has something to do with the co-ordinates I deciphered from VonGrippen's logs on the subject."
"We still only have bits an pieces," Galadriel surmised in frustration.
Darien stood and walked to the stereo, turning on the musical piece from the Orion Opera, "And the clues are all around us," he murmured, resting a hand on the stereo.
"What is this?" Galadriel asked, listening to the strange notes that sounded disjointed to someone unaccustomed to Orion musical tastes.
"It's a piece called the Peligian Heresy," He said, "It's an Orion Opera, apparently far older than their space travel, about a god succumbing to temptation and being punished by his followers for that sin, they rose up to cast him out of heaven... kind of the reverse of Adam and Eve, in this story it was the creations that cast God out of paradise. It's considered a definitive piece in Orion culture, it set the pattern for their modern music."
"It sounds like someone sat on a keyboard..." Galadriel winced, "No wonder the Orions have no taste in music."
"Matty is the one with the taste for it. He explained it to me, the Orions have a far higher hearing range than we do," Darien said, "There's a lot more to the piece that we can't hear."
"And you think this has something to do with the puzzle?" Galadriel asked thoughtfully. "The Rock of Braal, the logs, this..." she held up the disk, "and now the music... It's a complicated one. Do you think we're going to figure it out?"
"VonGrippen did, so I am fairly certain." Darien replied, shaking his head, "But exactly how this all fits together I have no idea."
He turned back to the table; they'd definitely come further than they had before. The question remained how far ahead of them Rikard was, and what pieces he knew that they didn't.