Phantom Regency

Pirates are not criminals. They are the highest expression of freedom and liberty. As the Regency tightens its grip and raises its taxes, the only noble response is rebellion. Yoshun Thaxius did not receive the phantom gift that the few may profit at the expense of the many. Let the few who pretend to hold power beware. The pirates are but first fruits of the will of the many. It is to peace and freedom that we are called and when the yoke of bondage is fitted to our necks we must throw it off no matter what the cost. May the Sky Man himself aid our cause! We are the free. We are the just. We are pirates!

-From the manifesto of Garric Rexnar, revolutionary leader of Rexnar’s Raiders

Eamor piloted his gunboat through the canyon. He could feel her shudder as he fought both gravity and the pull of the air. Hell’s Gorge was the last trial before he could become a pilot for the Dread Knights, as they called themselves. He had been training with Halen for several months now. As luck would have it, they stopped at the desert world Junn-Gorr for nova fuel. Junn-Gorr’s long, deep canyons were Dread’s favorite place to train his pilots. Eamor was glad he was passing his final test.

“Keep her nose up,” ordered Halen, who was flying above him.

Eamor did not answer. His knuckles whitened as he adjusted his angle, hurtling toward the narrow mouth of the gorge. He eased the ship toward the far-right wall. He knew he would have to angle through to his left a little. The final part of the canyon was rough and only forty feet wide. He banked left and accelerated, racing through the last gate in this harrowing gauntlet.

He heard a crash and the boat shuddered just as he sped out over the wide valley of the vast Deathhead Sea. It was clear flying now, but that was a close call.

“Great job, Mongoose!” Halen said, “I scratched mine a lot worse.”

“Thanks Ace. I can breathe again now.”

Captain Dread’s voice crackled from the console. He had been monitoring Eamor’s flight from the Inexorable in orbit. “Congratulations, Eamor. Proud of you.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“I’ll see you boys after you load up. Out.”

The two gunboats drew alongside each other and gracefully soared over the endless stretch of sand. Eamor had been a pirate for more than two years now. He was now eighteen years old. He had settled into his life with Captain Dread.

The captain had been personally instructing him in sword fighting. He believed that their sparring sessions might have been what he had seen in his dream the night before he left Galmar. He earnestly hoped he would never really have to really fight Dread. The captain was a master swordsman. In fact, he had offered the captaincy to anyone who could best him at First Blood. No one had tried for a long time.

Dread had become like a father to him. The captain was kind and wise. He always seemed to be in control. He instilled a security in Eamor that he had never known before. The camaraderie aboard the ship was good. They all supported and challenged each other. Other than Lang, and a few old, rough characters, Eamor loved them all.

Cynrus, who was Lang’s second in command of the raiders, had been strangely kind to Eamor. He was badly scarred and always wore a visored helmet. Though he could not speak, he communicated surprisingly well with gestures and body language. He shared much of his food and plunder with Eamor.

Eamor’s duty station was with Old Red in the engine room. The old man had regaled him with the lore of the old days during the Thaxian Regency, when the Nexus was worshipped and the Sky Man was revered and thanked. Eamor learned many of the old blessings and sayings of the old regents. They believed that the Sky Man empowered and controlled phantom technology and his help was needed to use it. He was saddened to learn that regents of the new line, the Vlademors, were mostly interested in money and power.

Old Red was his confidant. He didn’t speak much of his past with the captain, but he felt comfortable sharing more with the old engineer. Red was gruff and a little loony, but Eamor trusted his heart. He knew that Old Red would protect him and watch over him.

Lately, Halen had become his best friend and constant companion. They both had a great loyalty to the knighthood as neither had any family left. Eamor had often thought of Uncle Rylen, but had no idea where he could be or even if he was alive. But now, thoughts of his old life were few and far between.

They had continued to search for clues in the captain’s quest. Eamor had experienced several sky battles and numerous raids. During the last several weeks, talk had been of an upcoming, daring raid on one of the core systems. Two of the Inexorable’s sister ships had joined them and more were to come.

Eamor and Halen finally reached the end of the desert and flew over some high rocky country. Scraggly trees and thin scrub was all the life they could see. Up ahead was the planet’s skyport. Junn-Gorr was a useless planet other than widespread deposits of radioactive ore deep beneath its surface. It supplied the raw material for fuel rods for nova reactors. A vast fuel rod factory was attached to the skyport. They were going to join the other boats and load up before blasting back up to the ship.

“Eamor, it’s awesome how quickly you made pilot. As I’ve said before you’re a natural. Usually only Panzarian truebloods can fly so well.”

“Thanks, Halen. I’ll always have your back out here.”

“Fabulous! We are about to make the raid of a lifetime. New Galmar is our next target.”

“New Galmar?” Eamor asked.

“It was the first settled planet, covered with mostly ocean, like Galmar. It’s the capital of the Galmar Dominion. It’ll be a nightmare getting in and out alive. Cap says it’s the only place we can find what he needs.”

“Do you know what he’s after?” Eamor asked.

“Not exactly. He’s kept it a tight secret. I know it has something to do with his grandfather, the mythical Captain Ordin Dreadholm. You know he was captain of the Outrider, right?”

“Yeah, I heard that. Something went wrong with their mission.”

“I overheard Cap talking about it once. The Outrider was shifting clear outside the galaxy. He said when they got out there; his grandpa was attacked by aliens.”

“Aliens?!” Eamor exclaimed.

“Yeah, some kind of other intelligent life. I’ve never been able to find out any more. Though Cap talks about this mysterious ‘source’ that he hears from. I wonder if it’s connected somehow. Anyway, he’ll tell us what we need to know soon enough.”

Eamor did not tell Halen that he had dreamed of aliens. No one on the Inexorable knew of his gift, not even Old Red. His dreams were less frequent now, but more intense. He had not actually seen these aliens in his dream, but he knew they were there. They had huge, sweeping, ornate ships that looked like giant dragons. In his dreams, he felt them to be cunning, intelligent and malevolent. He couldn’t imagine the captain mixing up with them.

The captain’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “Eamor, Halen, return to the ship at once. We won’t need you to load up.”

“Aye, aye captain” They responded. The two gunboats rose in unison and quickly accelerated through the sky.

As they approached the Inexorable the other two pirate cruisers shifted out. Their boats had already returned from the surface. Eamor and Halen touched down and headed into the ship.

Eamor walked into the captain’s lounge. Although he technically was no longer a cabin boy, Dread had not let him move out yet. The captain wanted to keep his young protégé under his wing as long as possible. He had a feeling about him. The ship commander Jopp was there as well. Jopp was a tall, thin, sour man. He was thirty-ish but looked much older. They were both wearing black combat uniforms.

“Congratulations on becoming our newest gunboat pilot. I was most impressed. Hell’s Gorge has been the end of many would-be pilots,” Dread commented. His hands were clasped behind his back, a characteristic gesture when the captain was relaxed.

“Thanks Cap,” replied Eamor.

“Good job,” Jopp said dryly.

“Now that were all armed and fueled up, we are ready for the next step,” Dread added.

“What are we after on New Galmar?” Eamor asked.

“You’ll be briefed before we get there,” Jopp interjected, “The less you know of the…”

Dread interrupted, “I can tell you this. We are getting some deep diving equipment. New Galmar is the only planet with oceans as deep as the Deep Sea of Galmar. My source tells me that our prize is at the bottom.” He was well pleased with Eamor at the moment and spoke freely.

“I will return to the bridge, captain.” Jopp said tersely and marched from the room.

“Just what is at the bottom of the Deep Sea?” Eamor asked excitedly.

“I don’t know exactly. The ancients called it the Orb of Life. Legend is that the Sky Man hurtled it into the ocean. Its impact raised the encircling islands and life began. I don’t believe in all the myths and legends of the Sky Man, but I think there was a real power at work. The Sky Man stories were later applied to that power, but that doesn’t mean that what was left was not real. If I’m right, we can save the galaxy.”

The captain got that regal, noble look in his eye when he talked about their mission. He really believed in what he was doing. Eamor, however, always had a funny feeling in his gut at these times. As much as he loved and respected Captain Dread, he did not fully trust him. Deep inside his heart he wondered if his dreams would lead him down a different path someday.

“Have you thought any more about being a ship commander?” Dread asked him.

Eamor frowned. Some months ago, Dread had suggested that he would make a great pirate leader. In the captain’s words, he had ‘it’, what ever that was. Eamor did not feel like a leader. He had grown tremendously in self-confidence and had quickly learned his way as a Dread Knight, but he still felt like just a boy. He had grown tall and strong but somehow a great part of him had been left behind. The boy inside who lost his mother on Galmar held him back. That part of his adolescence that would have shaped his manhood had been lost forever. Many nights he still cried himself to sleep or wakened in anxiety over a disturbing dream. It was then he needed his mother but she was gone.

At times his new life did not feel real at all, just a long, vivid dream. Someday his dreams would lead him to his true destiny. His mother had promised. Then he would be a man. Then he would be a leader.

“Captain. I’m still not ready to even think about it. I don’t want to let you down. I know you have some ships with weaker leaders. Maybe in a couple more years.”

Captain Dread nodded. “Okay, but I won’t ever give up. I know what I see in you.” He walked over to Eamor and laid a hand on his shoulder. “I am proud of you. I know you’ll do fine on the raid. How ’bout we do a little sparring?”

“Sure.” They grabbed their sparring swords and headed for the gym.

On the way out the door, Dread joked, “You know if you beat me, you’ll have to be captain.”

As they entered the corridor, a duty officer spoke over the intercom, “Captain, Regency ships have just shifted into the system, nadir point, 6000 miles out.”

Captain Dread punched the nearest intercom. “All hands, duty stations. Get the boats in now!”

Old Red came on the intercom. “Captain, I can’t get the blasted port engine to warm up. Stand by on the shift.”

“If we can’t shift in about six minutes we’re done for,” replied the captain. He turned to Eamor. “You’d better get down there.”

Eamor raced down and barged into the engine room, heading for the port interface. Phantom cylinders were beyond the understanding of man, but the Regent built an interface into each one to allow it to be controlled and to supply power to the ship and its weapons.

Old Red was lying on the phantom conduit, reaching behind a panel on the interface. Two other engineers were frantically manipulating controls on the interface itself.

“Anything I can do?” Eamor asked.

“Not unless you can do miracles,” Old Red answered, “It’s the infernal cylinder! I can’t find a blasted thing wrong with the interface!” He turned to his two helpers. “Get down to the reactor and set for combat output!”

They hurried off down to the main floor of the engine room. Eamor stood quietly behind Old Red staring at the interface.

“I can see it,” Eamor said quietly, not knowing why he could. “I see what’s wrong.”

Old Red slid down and stood next to him. “Whaaat?”

Eamor pointed with his right hand. “It’s right there,” he said in a far-away voice. He opened his outstretched hand. Yellowish-green lightning leapt to his hand from the interface. The conduit crackled to life. He felt a surge of thrilling power course through his body.

Old Red stood in wide-eyed disbelief.

“Engine room. Progress report,” demanded the captain.

No answer.

“Red!” shouted Dread.

“Shift, captain, shift!” Old Red replied.

Eamor turned and faced the old engineer. He was also shocked at what had happened. He opened his mouth to speak then closed it helplessly. His eyes pleaded with Old Red to make sense of what he had just done.

“You,” Old Red said, “It’s you.”

“What…?” Eamor began.

“Don’t tell anyone what happened!” he said with surprising vehemence. “No one must know. They’ll kill you.”

“Who will kill me? What is happening?”

“I don’t know nothing either. We can’t talk about it. It never happened.” The old man looked terrified. He suddenly brushed by Eamor and walked away. Eamor felt helpless and confused. How did he fix the engine? Why was Red so frightened? He glanced up at the engine interface, slowly shaking his head. His angst began to diminish. The phantom effect was calming him. He was not sure he wanted it, but welcomed the relief. He turned and headed for his cabin.

As he walked away, a pair of eyes watched him from the shadows. Halen stepped out from behind a column. He had followed Eamor into the engine room. He had seen everything.