Ghosts of Lyarra by Damian Shishkin Page A

and procedures went out the window as each ship tried to leave at the same time; all in a rush to bag the bad guy and become the newest Imperial hero. Near collisions and hulls scraping were all about them, but again Lyxia gave no orders to join the fray. In her mind there would be nothing to find; anyone that could walk into the den of the Forgotten and raze their home to the ground would be gone by the time the explosion happened. They were dealing with a new type of enemy; one none in the fleet had encountered before.
    “Computer.” She called out after an agonizing long silence.
    “ How may I assist you, Council ?” the ships VI droned back in response.
    “Cross reference the incident on Ryas with any known happenings in the Imperial database. I need to know how to fight what we don’t know how to fight.”
    “ Processing. ”
    “Fleet Com is wondering why we aren’t moving yet.” Onai spoke as the quiet in the room had finally been broken.
    Holding up her palm to both silence her friend and signal to not respond to Fleet Com, Lyxia chose to wait for her inquiry to be answered first.
    “ There are no instances that correlate with the events of today, Council. There are no cases of this type of strike against the Empire in its long history .” The computer answered.
    “Dig deeper; try searching data uploads from individual worlds from their history books. I want to know what I don’t know and I want to know it now!”
    “ There is a resemblance in the historic files of a few worlds, of such activity. A few planetary members have had some type of threatening activity to prompt change in governments or military regimes. In fact, one world has a long history of such savage attacks .”
    This peaked Lyxia’s attention immediately. Finally she was getting somewhere with this god forsaken machine!
    “Which planet?” she asked as she stood up from her slump in her chair.
    “ Terra Sol. The humans have a long history of violence to evoke change throughout their records and ……”
    “Onai, set course for Terra Sol and engage jump drives as soon as we are clear from the shipping lanes!” Lyxia barked out. “Get those damn mooring clamps off my ship and get this thing moving!”
    “What about Fleet Com?” Onai asked as she began to carry out her orders.
    “Tell them if they want to sort through the ash and debris for nothing to be my guest, but we are on our way to find answers.”
    —
Geneva, Switzerland; Earth Council Headquarters
    It was a scene out of the past for Sara; memories of terrorists laying claim to their horrific artistry still rang fresh in her mind from before the Husk had reshaped the world. To her, that was what this being was; a terrorist. But the question of who was the attack against was one that confused her more than anything. Although mildly rattled by the display of anger, the scene had left more questions than fear in the Council for Earth.
    Those around her in the Council had been horrified as if none had truly experienced something like that. In fact, Sara wondered how the Empire had become as large without any type of social resistance as it grew. There had been such fear in the eyes in the room, and the terrorist had preyed upon that to prove his point. Here, behind the massive arrays of PA Cannons Sara felt safe, but also took little consolation in the fact that this thing had attacked the very home of the temple assassins; creatures that the entire Empire seemed to fear. If that hadn’t dissuaded him then the cannons would do little to do so either. She wondered what and who this thing was after and to what lengths it might go to get it. She remembered the terrorist attacks around the world and how determined some of those groups had been to get to a desired result. Times before the Husk were full of angst and unrest; not that these times were much better.
    In the last five years the Earth had been transformed; no longer the scared and self centered civilization it used to