Into the Black

(Flag Bridge, BSN Ama-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi, in orbit of planet Thraki, Eye of Despair)

“Admiral, we have completed a detailed scan of the surface. The majority of the surface is completely uninhabited. We haven’t detected any signs of bombardment or war. The cities look to be intact. Unfortunately, we have not been able to access any government or military networks remotely. However, the public civilian data networks were open access, and we have been able to find talk about some kind of affliction that wiped out sentient life on the planet, something they call the Burning.”

I looked up from the local plot I’d been studying. The Armada had not chased us through the barrier, whatever it was. But that didn’t mean they had just gone away. They were circling the barrier, making sure that we couldn’t just slip out and run.

It was annoying. We were safe inside the bubble. The Armada apparently couldn’t get in, so they couldn’t wipe us out. But we were trapped. We couldn’t leave, or we’d be destroyed. Eventually, our supplies would run out, or something would break down. We couldn’t let this continue. Something had to change.

So, I focused on Raven’s words.

“All right. Looks like whatever happened, it wasn’t enemy action. Or, at least, not the normal kind. What is this ‘Burning’? Some kind of bioweapon?”

“Unknown at this time. Apparently, it began as the Eye of Despair began spreading through the system, and manifested as flames that burnt its victims alive, but did not damage their clothes, or the area around them. Didn’t even give off heat, apparently.

“The first to be affected were the ‘Perfected’, those who were changed by the Imperatrix in some way, likely augmented with power from Hellspace. From there, it continued on into the ranks of the ‘faithful’, and eventually consumed more and more of the population. Their doctors didn’t find any infection, nor were any quarantine methods useful. In fact, the affliction did not follow any known models for the spread of biological or chemical agents, or what we would expect from any natural phenomenon.

“The last public entries on the data networks estimated that there were fewer than a hundred people on the planet, out of a population of over six million. Strangely, as the… event continued, people began reporting strange apparitions. The reports make them out to be specters or ghosts of the people that died. All the people that died.”

I frowned. Ghosts, in my opinion, were never a good sign. Oh, I wasn’t talking about the tricks of wind or an old house creaking because it was old and convincing a bunch of ‘ghost hunters’ that a building was haunted. That was a simple misinterpretation of events, and letting the imagination run wild. Nothing really to be worried about.

Actual visible emanations, though? Ones that were agreed on by witnesses all over the planet? That was another thing entirely. There were plenty of possible reasons for that, even without entertaining the idea of the souls of the dead coming back to walk the earth. Plenty of possible reasons, and none of them were good.

First, and most likely, if we were anywhere else, was a kind of hallucination. Mass hallucinations were not a common phenomenon, of course, but chemicals or drugs could addle the mind and make one suggestible. Then, once the idea is planted, it takes root and grows, until the population truly believes what they’re saying.

Such things were often used by cults to give ‘visions’ to their congregations, and otherwise hook them into the cult, but there were less malicious circumstances where it could happen. An accident with a chemical spill, for instance, or perhaps an unintended side effect of a chemical trial. Hell, it could even have been that the hallucinations were a side effect of the drug’s actual purpose, and the introduction of the idea of ‘ghosts’ was accidental.

As comforting as that scenario would have been, it clearly wasn’t the case, here. Chemical disbursement would have clear patterns, as would drugs or other means. You would have people responding differently, based on body mass, health, and other factors. And, most damning, you would have had some disagreement on what the ‘ghosts’ looked like.

The second option was related to the first. Basically, the entire planet went mad with grief, seeing everyone die, and a bit of psychosis from the ones remaining could lead to ‘ghost’ sightings. The product of hysteria caused by seeing an entire planet die.

But, again, that quickly ran into problems. Not everyone reacted to stress or loss the same way. Even if everyone had identical psychotic breaks, they would not necessarily experience the same hallucinations. There would have been some variation. So, not a planet of people going crazy from grief.

Third option, and the most hopeful, in this case, was that the ‘ghosts’ were actually psychic echoes of the people that had died. That would be patently impossible in the real world, but in the game world, where psy-powers and the like were a thing, then it was definitely possible, especially when mass casualties were involved. Add in Hellspace energies, and it was more than just ‘possible’.

I was really hoping that this would be the case. Psychic echoes could be troublesome, but they were easy to guard against with psychic shielding. Given we were in Hellspace, we’d probably need more than the basic minimum, but that was something we could do. Of course, that still meant that we’d have to figure out what caused the Burning to begin with, but at least we wouldn’t get ripped up by psychic damage while we were looking.

The fourth possibility was less hopeful. That was that whatever had caused the Burning was physically trapping people’s souls, or spirits, or whatever you called it here on the planet, even after death. There were any number of reasons that could be, but they could all be summed up with Hellspace-fuckery. And the kind of fuckery that Hellspace could get up to was not something I wanted to think about sober. Or at all, if I could help it.

Thankfully, the chances of random Hellspace-fuckery being the cause of the apparitions was relatively minor. The bubble we were in seemed to be keeping the energies of Hellspace at bay. We had tested things, flickering the Hellspace shields on one of the smaller ships, and found that the demons did not start invading the corvette. Being able to take down the shields was a relief to the engineers across the fleet, even if they had to keep them ready to go on a moment’s notice if the bubble burst.

So, most likely reason for the ‘ghosts’ was psychic echoes, which was good. We could deal with that. Which made the only thing to worry about the little issue of trying to find out what caused the Burning without falling victim to it, ourselves.

I took a long breath, and then looked over to Raven. “Options?”

Raven waved at the display, and an image of the planet below sprang up. Several points appeared on the globe. “There are three main options. The Thox Center is where the planetary government keeps their records, so we could find out what the government has on the Burning. Throh Fortress is the main military complex, same idea. And Batatto is the town where the last hundred or so survivors were supposed to be holed up, but the last posts to the networks were a month ago.”

“Well, that’s helpful. All right. Send a message out to the Marines. I need a crew of volunteers, all Nomads, to go down to the surface. Start with the government center. We’ll want official information, as best as we can get it. But I’m not risking any ‘locals’ to whatever this Burning is until we can figure out if it is still a threat, of if it has burned itself out.”

“Really, sir?”

“Oh, give me a break. That wasn’t intentional. Anyways, we need to figure out what caused the Burning, if we can, but the main goal is finding a way to get out of here, and back to realspace. And that means finding out what is going on with this bubble.”

“Understood, sir. If I might suggest—” Raven cut off suddenly. My eyes snapped to the android’s face. Raven never just cut off while she was speaking without reason, after all.

Raven’s eyes widened, and she turned to the screen, bringing up a position about two hundred kilometers from Batatto. “Admiral! We’ve just had a new login from a personal device on the civilian data network!”

My voice caught. “A survivor? All right, change of plans. Have the Marines take the government and military centers. Get into the databases, and strip everything. And I mean everything. We can sort things out later, if need be. Oh, and empty any accounts you can, yeah? Might as well make some money from this venture.”

Raven looked at me, and frowned. “That’s fine. Orders are already out to General Khan. But what about the survivor?”

“I’m taking the Raven down. Nomads only, for biologicals. You can come, but I want you backing yourself up to servers here on the Ama-no-Murakumo. If we’re dealing with a civilian, then military ships might spook them. A freighter, even a foreign one, would be far less intimidating than a purpose-built warship.”

Raven glared at me. “You have tons of shuttles in this fleet that look like the general-purpose shuttles people fly all over the galaxy, at least to a civilian who doesn’t know any better. What are you doing, going down to a planet with some unknown affliction going around? And leaving half your guard behind?”

“Well, for one thing, I’m the freaking owner of the company and Admiral of the fleet, so I am rather entitled to doing what I want. Second, if whatever has happened augmented this survivor, like the psychic wave in Sol augmented people, then I’m probably the best person to take them on if they get combative, without calling in orbital strikes. And third, I’m fairly persuasive, when I want to be, so I’m more likely to learn about what is going on from the civilian if they’re getting jumpy or feeling shy.”

“You’re impossible, you know that?”

“You aren’t the first to tell me that, Raven, and I’m fairly certain you won’t be the last.”

(Main Hangar, BSN Ama-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi, in orbit of planet Thraki, Eye of Despair)

“YOU ARE IMPOSSIBLE!”

I sighed, and let Sheila’s scream just roll off me. “Now, now, Princess, I have very good reasons for doing what I’m doing.”

“Oh, really? Then what?”

“Well, I restricted the parties to only Nomads, because there is, apparently, some kind of crazy affliction going on down there that literally burns people alive without actually setting them on fire. Until we can be sure that it is safe, only Nomads are going to be exposed. Even after we get back, everyone going down is going to be in quarantine for two weeks, or until the Burning has been proven to have ended.”

“Raven’s going!”

“Raven is my ship, as well as an android, and can back herself up to the flagship if need be. So, even if the body she’s in burns, she’ll be more or less fine. Or, at least, alive. For a Local, that isn’t a possibility, and you know it. Unless, of course, you want to go the same route as your brother, the Usurper?”

Sheila looked like I had slapped her. “That’s a low blow.”

“But a necessary one. You can’t come, because you won’t come back if you die. Even if something happens, and the Nomads in the group are completely wiped out, even to the point where we are no longer able to connect with these shells any more, we will still be alive, and can return. You, on the other hand, cannot. And I seriously don’t want to be the one to have to tell your sister that I got you killed while traipsing around a planet in the middle of Hellspace.”

Sheila sighed. “Fine. I don’t like it, but fine. Just, be careful, ok?”

I grinned at her, and said, “Hey, it’s me.”

As I turned to walk up the ramp of the Starlight Raven, I heard her mutter, “That’s why I’m worried.”