DescentBB

Previous chapters:
Chapters 1-7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9

Editor's note:

So the last chapter was kind of difficult to follow up on. This is where I got stuck on writing the story for, literally, years. I had ideas on where to take the story, but could never get there. It took me a long time to finally figure out how to finish this chapter.

The possession of Natalie and subsequent resurrection of Jared are both huge developments, demonstrating the unparalleled power of the orb more than in any other chapter (spoiler: except the last!). It was natural to "come down" from that, and have a chapter that did little more than bridge this and the last section.

Still, we see once again the dynamic of the relationship between Bryan and Jared, as well as a bit of playful fun at the sims to close out the chapter.


The silence was deafening.

Bryan and Jared were alone, in Bryan’s quarters. He had meant for them to catch up on the events of the past week, but found himself unable to say much at all.

“You look as though you’ve seen a ghost,” quipped Jared.

Bryan stared into his coffee, unsure of what to say. “I guess I have.”

The two exchanged more silence as Jared took a sip of his coffee. “So you explained to the Admiral what happened?”

Bryan nodded. “He’s none too pleased. He doesn’t agree with my actions.”

“I don’t see why not,” Jared countered. “It’s something any good friend would do for another. I’d certainly do it for you.” Jared paused for effect. “Hell, your girlfriend would probably do it for you, too.” A wry smile crept across Jared’s face.

“Stop it,” said Bryan, almost embarrassed of his relationship with Natalie at this point, and not exactly wanting to talk about it.

“What?” Jared said with a laugh. “You haven’t so much as touched a woman as long as I’ve known you. This comes as a surprise, especially that it’s happened in such a short time.”

Bryan sighed, a sip from his coffee sufficing for a reply.

“Look, Bryan, I know you feel as what you did was wrong. You used a power to do something for you, when in the big picture whether or not I’m alive means nothing. I’m honored you went out of your way to do this.”

Bryan shook his head. “I didn’t do it, Jared. The Orb did.”

“You did it,” countered Bryan. “You would’ve done it if you didn’t have this Orb of Infinity. Knowing you, you probably would’ve taken that missile square on the nose of your ship if you had known I was behind you.

At last, Bryan found something to laugh at. “I dodged that missile.”

Jared smiled. “You bastard.”

The silence returned, but Bryan found comfort in it this time. “You know, we were sent to die by our own.”

“What do you mean?” asked Jared.

“Admiral Gonzalez,” explained Bryan. “He’s in bed with the PTMC. They got you killed. They nearly got me and Natalie killed. I’ll honestly be surprised if there’s anything left of our wing out on the Sirius at this point.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” responded Jared. “No one would be foolish enough to… wait. They’re after the Orb, aren’t they? That’s why we were at Apparition?”

Bryan smirked and nodded, understanding that his friend finally put two and two together.

“And I found the damn thing, they killed me without realizing it. What idiots!” Jared had a good laugh at the misfortune of their adversaries. “All they needed to do was let us go and they would have had what they wanted.”

Bryan shook his head. “But what would they have done with it? I didn’t understand what I had for a few days, and as a CED lackey, I would have gladly handed it over at the conclusion of the mission, none wiser.”

Jared nodded. “I’m glad someone competent got their hands on the thing.”

Bryan forced a weak smile and took another sip of coffee.

“So,” Jared began.

Bryan knew he couldn’t resist the subject any longer. “Come on, let’s get it over with.”

Jared grinned as he said, “I didn’t know you were into girls with glowing eyes.”

“Oh, would you stop it!” Bryan laughed.

“Come on,” Jared said, “tell me about her.”

Bryan sighed and turned to look at the Orb. “Would you, please?” he asked of it. “I’m not in the mood.”

On cue, the Orb flashed once and faded. Jared was in mid-sip and spilled some of the coffee on the table. “Jesus, the hell was that?”

“The glowing eyes,” quipped Bryan. “I think it likes throwing you off guard.”

“Glowing indeed,” said Jared, as he gave the Orb a cautious stare. “So you like the eyes, eh?”

“No!” said Bryan before he realized Jared was referring to Natalie’s natural eyes. “Yes,” said Bryan, somewhat embarrassed.

“I mean, seriously, since when are eyes the first thing you look at on a woman. Haven’t you seen the size of her…”

Bryan interrupted him before the conversation went down the wrong road. “Jared, you’re married!”

“And you’re single!” countered Jared. “You should be paying way more attention to these things than I am.”

Before Jared had finished his statement, Bryan knew he used the wrong choice of words.

So did Jared. “Laura,” he said simply, acknowledging Bryan’s charge. “She doesn’t know yet.”

“Know what?” asked Bryan. “I met with her the day after.”

Jared countered, “No, no. She doesn’t know I’m alive.”

Bryan shrugged. “Probably not. I’m not too comfortable when it comes to this dealing with death thing.”

Jared nodded slightly and thought to himself for a moment. “I supposed I should call. How long has it been?”

“Seven days,” responded Bryan.

“I see,” said Jared. “You know, it felt like one instant to me. One moment I’m in excruciating pain, the next I’m shivering on the floor in front of half the ship’s security halfway across the universe.”

Bryan sighed. “I really don’t need to know how it felt,” as he took a sip.

“What, you’re afraid of a little gore?” joked Jared. “You don’t want to know that it felt like my testicles were coming out of my nose?”

Bryan spit out his coffee all over the table in front of him before engaging in a healthy dose of laughter. “Jared! Don’t do that!”

Jared was pleased with himself. “You know me better.”

Bryan sighed contentedly. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” He stood up from his chair to find something to clean the mess with. “My orders…” he began as he took a rag from a nearby counter. He corrected himself, however. “Our orders are to find evidence against Gonzalez and bring him to justice. However, I have a feeling that there is more than just a connection to PTMC here.” He wiped the table clean before sitting down again with a data pad.

“That sounds ominous,” replied Jared, listening intently to what Bryan had to say.

“An’val T’baxla,” Bryan began. “The D’mandrians were the first species to discover the Orb, as it had crashed on their home planet. T’baxla was their ruler at the time, and with the power of the Orb, he created a dictatorship that is unmatched in our history and ruled as supreme emperor. Only through cunning and deception was the Orb taken from him, and launched from their planet, long before they had any serious space-faring technologies of their own.”

Jared summarized, “So, essentially, they lost the Orb.”

Bryan nodded. “From here on out, it’s all theory. T’baxla survived, and presumably remained as emperor for some time. Their technology evolved. I believe that they advanced to the point that they were able to determine the general trajectory of the Orb and attempted to hunt it down.”

“A natural conclusion,” replied Jared.

Bryan paused for a moment as he punched a request into the data pad. “Here’s where it gets tricky.” He passed the data pad to Jared. “This is some recon that the CED got from the PTMC back when Vertigo One thwarted Dravis. Apparently, the PTMC had contact with two separate D’mandrian vessels. The first was destroyed by Vertigo One just before the PTMC tried to bump him off. The second was destroyed by some mercenary pilot. In both cases, the PTMC salvaged much of the data from these vessels and poured some substantial research into them.”

“What did they learn?” asked Jared as he glanced over the document.

Bryan sighed briefly. “We don’t know. It’s been years since we obtained this information from the PTMC.”

Jared frowned. “Surely, we must know something.”

“No, but I’ve got a pretty good guess,” began Bryan. “I believe that the PTMC ended up translating that data, learned of the Orb, and sought to claim it for their own. They team up with a corrupt Admiral to get the CED involved with all of its firepower, but with the PTMC as fractured and corrupt as it is, I don’t believe that it remained as one single organization. Everyone wants in on the Orb, and mayhem ensued. I believe that the Sirius was attacked by no less than three different factions of the PTMC, three factions that were against the CED’s involvement. The quality of their pilots was too erratic to be from the same group.”

Jared pondered the information. “This makes sense, but why was our wing setup? Me killed, you and Natalie almost killed, and who knows about Andrew and Sidney.”

“Because,” said Bryan carefully, “I believe that Admiral Gonzalez knows exactly where the Orb is right now.”

“But how is that even possible?” Jared asked. “I certainly didn’t log the existence of this Orb, and I’m sure you didn’t tell anyone until you had to?”

Bryan nodded. “But there’s once piece of information you’re not connecting with here. Where was the Orb when you found it?”

“That’s easy,” Jared said, recollecting something in his mind that happened merely hours ago, even though it had been a week. “It was sitting on some type of…” Jared’s voice trailed off for a moment before he realized what Bryan was getting at. “Oh. I suppose the Orb didn’t just magically land there.”

“Bingo,” said Bryan. “Someone found it before you did. Who knows who it was, but I’m willing to bet that it was one of those fractured PTMC factions. Dravis got wind of their activity, and decided to take matters into his own hands.”

“So,” Jared concluded, “those drillers were there to find the Orb?”

“Maybe,” offered Bryan. “Maybe they were from another faction and Dravis followed them here. There’s more questions than answers when it comes to the PTMC, I’m afraid.”

“Hmm,” pondered Jared. “But still, Dravis’s presence meant that he must have known that the Orb was there.”

Bryan nodded again. “And what he knows, Admiral Gonzalez knows. I say that because I was personally attacked on board the Sirius, and this is after I asked Gonzalez about the Orb. He was none too pleased that I was asking the question, and boldly stated that it was thought to be at Apparition.”

Jared’s jaw dropped. “And he sent someone after you to kill you?”

“And deliver the Orb to Gonzalez, presumably,” added Bryan.

“Unreal,” Jared exclaimed. “The Sirius is the most secure ship in the fleet.”

“Unless it’s run by a corrupt officer,” added Bryan.

Jared looked up at Bryan with resolve in his eye and his voice, “A corrupt officer that, clearly, must be stopped.”

Bryan smiled. “You haven’t changed a bit.”

Jared gave a beaming grin as he pointed out, “I sure hope not, it’s only been a week.”

Bryan savored the moment, realizing now that, despite his thoughts that he did wrong, bringing his best friend back from the dead was the best thing he could have done. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“Me, too!” stated Jared with a laugh.

“Get some rest,” said Bryan as he got up out of his chair, closed the Orb’s chest and put it into a bag, and started to leave his quarters. “Me, I’ve got a date.”

“And be sure to give me all the juicy details!” added Jared as he got up as well.

As Bryan made his way to the door, he stated, “I’m sure you know where to find score sheets.” Smiling, he swiftly left the room.

“Huh?” was all Jared could come up with as the door closed behind Bryan.

Bryan swiftly made his way to the sims, with Natalie already there. “You’re late,” she said softly, with a forced grin on her face. Bryan noticed instantly that the events of the day took a serious toll on her demeanor. He walked up to her and offered an embrace. Natalie eagerly accepted, holding tightly for a few moments.

“You’re not up for this,” Bryan observed. “We can do this another time…”

“No, no,” interrupted Natalie as she reluctantly ended the embrace and took a step back, looking confidently into his eyes. “You will see, this is when I’m at my best.” This grin wasn’t forced, but still was weighed down by her emotions. “Load Burning Indika, one on one, official tournament rules.”

Bryan smiled at her resolve. “B.I.? Official rules? You don’t want to score many points, do you?”

Natalie finally let out a giggle as she walked over to her sim, looking back at Bryan. Once she was in, he entered his as well.

“Commander Bryan Chambers,” the computer chimed. “Ship selection?”

Bryan exclaimed, “You know me, AHT!” Suddenly, the world around him materialized, and he found himself in a tunnel that curved to his left, full of weapons. “Ah, a good start. Computer, why don’t you announce to the Ensign my accolades in this map?”

The computer began rattling off. “Accolades of Commander Bryan Chambers in Burning Indika. Record in unofficial play, thirty-six and zero. Record in official play, twenty-three and one. Average margin of victory, seven point seven one. Average margin of loss, one. Championships won with this map, one.”

The sound of Natalie giggling filled the chamber as she replied, “Trying to scare me, are you? Who was the loss to?”

The computer replied flatly, “The late Commander Jared Evans, 17th GPA Tournament, final round.” Bryan chuckled, realizing the computer hadn’t yet caught up with current events.

“Hmm,” said Natalie, “I’ll have to push him around sometime. Computer, why don’t you list my accolades for this map to the good Commander?”

Again, the computer droned on. “Accolades of Ensign Natalie Jacobs in Burning Indika. Record in unofficial play, one hundred twelve and zero. Record in official play, fourteen and zero. Average margin of victory, eight point eight two. Flawless victories, six. Championships won with this map, one.”

“Flawless victories?” Bryan stated, marveling at the statistic. “That’s not even possible!”

“Want a bet?” responded Natalie, much more playful now that she was behind the controls of a sim. “I know this map inside out, and you’re not going to beat me!”

“Actually, I do,” said Bryan. “If I beat you, you stay in my quarters for the night.”

“And if I win,” Natalie countered, “you stay in mine.”

Bryan laughed and said, “How can I lose?”

“Just you watch!” replied Natalie. “Ready to begin simulation.”

“Ready to begin simulation,” echoed Bryan. With tournament rules on, that was the last the two would communicate until the match concluded. And Bryan was going to make sure that he decided where Natalie was going to stay that night.