16. Thestle Part III The Shadow Broker

Auren wasn'tsure at what point he'd lost his shirt. The dancing continued for hours longer than they'd intended, and he was drenched in artificial sweat as he hopped up and down to the music. He hadn't been expecting to enjoy the evening when they'd arrived at Midnight, but as the night progressed and the black hole did its part to lubricate his spirits, he'd lost himself in it.

Lupo grabbed him from behind, his huge hands at Auren's waist, causing a thrill to erupt in his crotch. The man's lips pressed the cool sweat of his hair against his head as Lupo leaned in and yelled to him.

"I hate to ruin the party, but it's probably time to get moving!"

Auren still felt the effects of the black hole, and a part of him didn't want to leave the dance floor just yet. Still, he knew he would have to eventually. He reluctantly took Lupo's extended hand and let him guide him through the maze of people, his naked torso brushing past them, absorbing a collection of glowing body paint as they traveled.

Lupo guided them to an area on the far side of Midnight that had been too distant before now to make out in the dim light. To Auren's great surprise, an enormous tank that spanned one entire wall of the gargantuan club came into view. It was totally translucent, and from the other end of the space, he hadn't even realized it was there. Lupo squeezed his hand.

"Told you it was better to just let you see for yourself," he murmured in his ear.

The vast tank was as dark as everything else in Midnight. It must have spanned thousands of feet and was many hundreds high, but from where he stood, Auren could only make out what lurked within for a few meters in either direction before the view hazed into an inky black.

"What's in there?" Auren marveled.

Lupo approached the tank directly, and as he did, a holo emerged. He typed something into it before it promptly disappeared. A moment passed, and then, to Auren's delight and confusion, a bizarre and unfamiliar creature glided into view.

It was gray and smooth, with black pearl eyes on either side of its domed head. Its body ended in a powerful flipper, and a fin emerged from its spine. It propelled itself around in an expression Auren could only imagine to be excitement. Lupo waved familiarly at it, blowing it a kiss and gesturing for Auren to join him at the glass.

"Auren, meet Echo, the Shadow Broker," Lupo said.

Auren stared at the thing, which stared right back, twirling itself about in the water without breaking eye contact.

"What are… they?" he asked, still staring at the creature and trying to determine whether it was an alien or not.

"She's a dolphin," Lupo laughed. "Not a natural one; she's been cybernetically enhanced. She runs alongside an AI subroutine and has her finger… er, flipper… in almost every criminal network on Thestle. Oh, she owns this club, too." He winked, his smile broadening as he looked at Auren's incredulous face.

Auren had heard rumors of animals being enhanced as a boy, but he'd always thought them to be fairy tales. He supposed that if the Pirate King had been able to attach his head to a mechanical spider's body, why shouldn't a dolphin be a crime lord? He was a robot, after all. He marveled at her.

A holo-display had emerged in front of the dolphin, words appearing on it as she raced this way and that:

Lupo, fellow treader of the deep. You fell away for too long. It pleases me that the current has swept you back to these waters. What tidings might you bring?

It's good to see you, old friend. I hope I find you in good health. I need to ask you for a favor: I need to find Bartie.

The waters he swims in are poison now. You would be in grave danger to seek him there.

I understand and appreciate the warning, but this is something I need to do. Some scores must be settled. I'm sure you understand.

The vengeance you seek is on Minotaur II, an asteroid in orbit. I hope to swim with you again, Lupo. I suggest you fall away now. Be well, landwalker.

Echo disappeared abruptly into the depths, and the text conversation faded away with her. Auren had been so focused on Lupo's exchange with the dolphin's alien intellect that he hadn't even noticed when the music had stopped playing. The abrupt silence unsettled him now, and he turned and looked uneasily across the club at the thousands of glowing dancers murmuring amongst themselves in disquiet. The holo-display had fallen dark, and without its light, the space was lit only by the glowing paint of the patrons.

"What's going on?" Auren asked anxiously.

He felt suddenly cold as he looked down at his exposed torso, still smeared with glowing paints.

"I'm not sure…" Lupo replied.

Above them, the unmistakable violet flash of ships falling out of hyperspace shone brilliantly across the dance floor. Flash after flash after flash. To Auren's horror, the immensity of a Keth battlefleet appeared in space above them. Their ships were cruel and jagged talons, miles long. There were dozens of them, and even as they appeared, he could make out the glint of drop pods beginning to pour out of them and descend to the planet's surface.

There was a single shriek of horror from somewhere within Midnight. As it resounded across the space, it caught like wildfire, and where once the hall had been filled with the thudding base of techno-synth, it was now flooded with the primal terror of thousands of inebriated souls.

"Run!" Lupo cried, grabbing Auren and launching them toward the hypertrain terminal.

A pair of partygoers in front of them stared fearfully toward the heavens, watching as the Keth drop ships fell toward Thestle's surface.

"They're incredible," one of them murmured. "Who knew death would be so beautiful."

And it was true, the Keth vessels were nothing like human ships—and they were beautiful, just as Ophion was in his own inhuman way. Beautiful and deadly. Auren stumbled into a partygoer and sent them both crashing to the ground.

"Sorry!" he yelped, helping the drunk and scared man to his feet, even as Lupo yanked him forcibly onward.

"No time for that now!" Lupo roared back at him.

He yanked them onward, barreling through a group and sending them scattering to either side as he pounded toward the hypertrain.

"We've gotta get on that train and back to the ship! Hurry!" he screamed, flinging a man bodily out of his way with his augmented strength.

Overhead, the first wave of human fighter craft emerged from the planet's dark side and streaked across the sky to engage the falling drop pods. The pale green of Keth disintegrators firing back at them bathed Midnight in a grotesque foreboding of what was to come.

The Keth battleships engaged the fighters directly with their shipboard weapons, lancing out with horrifically scaled versions of Keth handheld guns. Several of the human fighters had been struck in the first volley, and the detonations of their fusion drives sent renewed screams across the room as brilliant flashes blinded them all for a series of moments.

Auren found that he was screaming too. Lupo whirled around, looking afraid himself. But then he picked Auren up and carried him effortlessly the remaining distance to the train, barreling through anyone who got in his way. His speed was resounding, and in the commotion ensuing all around them they somehow managed to reach the train before any of the other guests. Auren hopped to the ground as Lupo hurriedly brought up its command holo and forced it to take off immediately toward Fendhall, where the Fortunato and their escape off-world—and from oblivion—awaited.

Guests screamed and banged at the glass of their car as the train began to slide away, leaving smears of their glowing body paint across its viewing pane. Their faces were filled with fear and outrage. Auren couldn't look at them as the train finally departed Midnight, gliding out into the dark side of Thestle and racing along below the space battle under way overhead.

"It's going to be okay," Lupo murmured.

"Is it?" Auren replied, pointing up through the train's transparent domed ceiling. Hundreds of human fighter craft were zipping about amongst the drop pods, blowing dozens and dozens of them out of the sky as they descended. The Keth battle cruisers continued to lance their green doom across them when shot trajectories allowed, but it seemed they were hesitant to fire the powerful weapon so near their own forces, and the shots had become less frequent.

"This is exactly how it started on Vesperion," Auren whispered.

"I'm sorry. It's my fault we're even here…" Lupo trailed off.

He watched helplessly alongside Auren as the first of the human carriers—nowhere near the size of the monstrous Keth ships—slid into view. It began to fire its primary weapon immediately, only to be joined by the other two battleships soon after as they emerged behind it. Their trio of beam cannons lanced out through space and obliterated one of the Keth ships on contact, cutting it to pieces as they dragged across its miles-long hull. The destruction of a Keth battle cruiser shocked Auren. He watched numbly as the explosion that followed erupted like a miniature sun.

And then, all at once, the Keth battlefleet was moving in unison. Their ships were spinning and twirling toward the carriers. A myriad of green beams replied to the humans' onslaught right as the train slid into Fendhall station. First one and then all of the carriers erupted in ruin as the Keth retaliation overwhelmed the human fleet.

"By the stars. We're doomed," Auren whispered.