All these stories were absurd he knew, because he had listened to the truth from the mouth of his father.
The Lumina were projections from the minds of the crew of the Battleship Oak, a border patrol ship that had stumbled across an alien entity, humanity’s first and only contact with another sentient life-form in the entirety of the universe. In its attempt to defend itself, the entity had somehow captured the crew of the Battleship Oak, amplifying their thoughts and forming them into material projections, and sending them back to fight against humanity. Over two thousand minds, each one a vast ship with seemingly limitless powers.
This was the story Ryann had heard from his father, but even Grayell’s wild descriptions had failed to resonate within him. It was hard to see the Luminal ships as anything but objects constructed from everyday materials and crewed by individuals, not some bizarre constructs of the human psyche.
“Locke is the ship,” repeated Grayell, shaking Ryann from his brooding thoughts. “That is the most important thing to remember. There isn’t a man aboard that ship giving orders. Who knows what the hell you would find if you went aboard. But, if you did see things there that looked like people, then I can assure you they would be far from human.”
“How do you know who he is?” asked Ryann, intrigued by his father’s sudden willingness to talk.
“Some time after me and Mellarnne made first contact with the Lumina — well, years after, when the invasion was underway, me and Mellarnne were trying to get our story heard by the Navy. Well, we did as much research as we could into the Battleship Oak and her crew.
“Mellarnne was pretty high up in the military at the time, and managed to get hold of the crew’s records — some of it classified stuff that the Navy weren’t too proud of either.”
Ryann hung upon his father’s words.
“Admiral James Locke was a cruel man — a real sadist. He was an extreme disciplinarian, and a heavy drinker, who often let his temper get out of control. He was almost court-marshalled after he opened up an airlock door on a new recruit as a punishment — almost killed the boy.
“But it seems he had friends in high places, and whatever he did, Locke seemed to get away with it. He rose up through the ranks at the times of the Shannar Uprising — got posted there for six years, ended up an admiral. He stayed on after the mutiny, heading a peace-keeping force. Like many others, they went a little native according to some reports — possibly got himself a Shannaran wife — different reports give conflicting stories.
“Anyway, after a few years there was another incident where his temper got the better of him and he ended up in trouble again. There was a big political uproar when he sent a force of local militia into a battle against some warlord who was encroaching on Locke’s province. He got his entire company decimated then called in a Navy gunship to take out the whole stronghold in a rage.
“Hundreds of civilians ended up dying, as well as all of Locke’s allied militia.
“Well, his friends in high places couldn’t get him out of that one, not completely anyway — though they tried. Locke ended up being shipped off to a nowhere sector of border space on the Outer Edge. They demoted him to captain, and hoped he would be forgotten. He was left out there to rot as captain of an eighty year old battleship, patrolling a radiation field that not even pirates found enticing enough to visit.”
Grayell paused a moment, pouring himself a shot of whisky, swirling the liquid around the bottom of his glass in silent reverie.
“The Battleship Oak?” breathed Ryann. Grayell nodded slowly.
“He ran that ship like everything else he did,” he muttered. “It must have been hell. There were numerous complaints about him — bullying, violence — he threatened to shoot the navigation officer apparently. Sounded like he hated being shipped off to the borderlands and took it out on his crew.”
“And then they discovered the entity?”
“Lumina.” Grayell’s word was no more than a breath. “I can’t imagine a worse person to have been given such power.”
CHAPTER FIVE
A HERALD OF GOD
“Sir, Mellarnne needs you on the bridge right away!”
The breathless crewman barely had chance to get out of the doorway before Grayell and Ryann had rushed past, heading for the control centre.
“Are we under attack?” Grayell called back over his shoulder as they hurried down a flight of steps, but he was already coming out into the bridge.
“What have we got?” he shouted across the crowded room. Mellarnne looked up from the display station, his face cast in shifting colours from the scanner projections. He was standing with a group of other officers who made room for Grayell and Ryann as they approached.
“Have they discovered us?” he asked urgently. Ryann studied the faces of the officers around him. They looked like carved masks, he thought, their expressions grim but determined.
“No, it’s something else,” murmured Mellarnne, his eyes never leaving the projections as he worked to focus the passive scans. “I’m not sure what it is — it looks like a ship has just jumped in — not far from the way-station. But it’s not Luminal.”
“What?” exclaimed Grayell, peering intently at the readouts. “What are they doing this far into enemy territory? Can you make out anything about it?”
Mellarnne shook his head as he worked the controls.
“Not with the passive scans,” he cursed. “But, judging by its energy wake, it looks as though it’s been knocked out of hyperspace just like
