Pin (Metatron's Army, Book 8)

CHAPTER ONE

Pin: When a piece does not move because to do so would expose a more valuable piece to capture. Pins against the king are absolute because it is illegal to move the pinned piece.

2004

Catana, Vetria System

Vetrian High Court, Perm

Will the defendant rise?

Christine Baker, Commander of The EVS Phoenix stared at the Administrative Official in charge of the hearing.

Do you understand the charges?

"Yes." I’m being tried for something that was not my doing.

Please take your seat, Commander.

Christine sat, glanced around. It was standing room only in the relatively small courtroom. No surprise. Ninety percent of the attendees had nothing better to do and as information was currency in Perm, why not hang out where you could get it for free?

"What do you recall of the night The CVS Plurath was lost?"

I was sleeping when -.

Was it your shift to sleep?

Yes.

Continue.

"My first officer, Chestin Coust called me to the bridge because The Plurath had disobeyed a directive and was closing in on a section of space under investigation."

Under investigation for what?

I’m not at liberty to say. It’s classified. She watched the official carefully. She was pretty sure the witch-hunt she was being subjected to was nothing more than bored officials pissed off because they weren’t in the know.

She’d learned quite a bit about judicial pecking order in the previous two years. The planets within the various star systems were ruled by governments headquartered in their capital cities. From what she’d seen, the individual governments were autonomous, and independent from one another. They tended to hoard information and power. But the joke was on them. In spite of all their bluster, none of them had any real authority. They were no more than puppets allowed to dance for the Council of Twelve, super beings who ruled over the twelve-star systems that bore their names. In the case of the fools putting her on display, Councilor Vetria would have the final authority, and unlike these clowns, he liked her.

You are compelled to answer the questions truthfully, Commander.

Not when it is a matter of Vetrian Security, she replied, and you know this. It’s protocol. The crowd erupted.

Silence! the official yelled. Are you saying that your research vessel was investigating a section of space that has security implications for the people of the Vetrian System?

Yes.

How can that be when you were in the Kelios System?

I’m not at liberty to say. It’s classified. She resisted the urge to sigh. It was going to be a long afternoon.

Commander, we are going to be here all day if you do not answer the questions.

Then we’ll be here all day because I’m not breaching security protocol. Not when it didn’t serve a higher purpose, at any rate.

Perhaps you would do well to consider the ramifications of not answering my questions?

Ask one I can answer, and I’ll answer.

Request to approach.

Christine watched as another official walked up to the – she guessed he was a judge. The judicial system in Vetria was convoluted which she guessed was done on purpose as it lowered the get out of jail free rate.

Yes, she’d watched as The Plurath was lost but it hadn’t been her fault. She’d warned all vessels away from the section of space under investigation. It was a time gate. She and the rest of Metatron’s Army – her army - were there to destroy it. Since any material close to a dying time gate was sucked into it as it imploded, she’d taken extraordinary pains to ensure no one was anywhere in the vicinity. None of the crew could believe it when Carthana’s ship appeared, as if out of nowhere, and began scanning the gate.

She’d tried to hail Carthana repeatedly. She’d watched, puzzled then horrified, as the gate went active and began pulling The Plurath in. They tried getting a tether on the ship, both physically and gravitationally, but it was too late. She and the Phoenix crew watched helplessly as the ship was lost.

"Detonate."

She’d made the ruthless decision to destroy the gate, which not only destroyed every life in it, it ended any chances of anyone returning through it. She had to. If they didn’t find and destroy all the artificial time gates, the dimensions separated by the real ones would rupture, collapse. The resulting explosion would make the Big Bang look like a Fourth of July cherry bomb. It would be the end of everything. Literally.

The Iconoclast, an evil being bent on destruction, created the artificial time gates after he was unable to find a way to unlock the natural ones. His constructs created artificial dimensions as well, slivers of space that acted as straws in a glass. Individuals were sucked through the straw into the liquid – another dimension; one not created by the Iconoclast. Destroying the artificial gate destroyed the straw, along with anything and everything in it and everything and anything that got too close to the gate, which was why she’d made such an effort to warn off other ships.

Commander?

She looked over at the second official. Yes?

There was an explosion. Did you witness this explosion?

Yes.

And yet there was no debris? the judge cut in.

Well there was, she wanted to say, but it was sucked into a dying time gate. That’s correct.

Was it the ship that exploded? the second official asked.

I couldn’t say. The theory among the crew was that the ship was crushed but if she told that to the court, it would lead to questions she couldn’t answer, such as what was out there and so powerful that it could crush a ship?

Were you able to make contact with Carthana?

No, though we tried repeatedly. We were able to hack into her comm system and bring up a visual of the bridge.

How did you accomplish this? the judge asked. Were you aware that such an act is a breach of security?

I am aware of the protocol. I authorized the hack because my intention was to override her navigation system and get the ship away from the section of space under investigation. I was trying to save her life, you idiot. God, these clowns were tedious.

Who completed this hack? the judge asked. She wondered what his name was. No names had been given, likely to intimidate. Guess they hadn’t read her reports. She decided to refer to him as Judge Wapner, though probably not to his face.

I’m not at liberty to say. It’s classified. There was no way in hell she was sacrificing her former roommate to this egotistical bastard.

"You believed The Plurath was under threat?" the second official asked.

He would be she decided, Sir Daffy Duck. Yes, which is why I sent out notice across the fleets to stay the hell away from that section of space.

What did you achieve with the hack? Wopner asked, his tone derisive.

"We were not able to override The Plurath’s navigation system, but we did get a visual of the bridge and the crew on the bridge."

How did you obtain this?

We hacked the camera system.

What did you see? Daffy inquired. Maybe he was Elmer Fudd, hunting wabbits. No, that would be the guy pretending to dispense justice.

The crew looked dazed. They weren’t moving normally.

Explain.

They were moving as if sleepwalking. They didn’t seem – aware – or concerned.

What should they have been concerned about? Elmer Fudd asked.

They were being sucked into something.

Indeed.

That’s how it appeared. They were being pulled away from us. It was like watching a toy boat in a bathtub of water that had its plug pulled. We tried physical and gravitational tethering but the pull was too strong. We had to detach or be pulled along with them.

Into what? the judge asked.

Unknown, she answered truthfully. Who knew what was on the other side of that gate?

How did you know it was there?

I’m not at liberty to discuss that. I can only tell you that our ship was dispatched to investigate a section of space thought to be unusual. We issued a fleet-wide warning and headed out.

Unusual? That was the extent of your awareness?

That’s correct. Though they’d known it was likely a time gate, they’d had no idea what they’d find until they arrived and began the investigation.

Is this typical? For a mission description to be so oblique?

I’m not sure how much more descriptive they could have been. I suppose they could have described why or how it was unusual but as that wouldn’t have changed the mission parameters, it was a pointless exercise.

"Had you had any contact with The Plurath or her crew prior to this?"

Why were you dispatched? Surely, there were other ships that were closer.

Who do I answer first?

Me! Fudd screeched.

We are a research vessel.

Surely, there were other research vessels closer to the Kelios System?

Anyone had to be better than me? "We have the latest technology aboard the Phoenix. We are not only a research vessel; we are the subject of research." It was how she’d finally convinced the powers that be to fund the building of the unique vessel.

"Due to the nature of the crew compliment and the unique systems aboard, we can conduct multiple missions from one vessel. We will share what we learn." And they did. Mostly. They also allowed researchers and some of the political elite aboard from time to time, to see where their tax dollars went as it were.

And they thought you, with your untested -.

We are not untested. Far from it. She and her crew had been going on missions for over a year. Not all of them were without confrontation, though the fact the time gates tended to be in isolated areas made it a rarity. Thankfully. Yes, they were soldiers, but they were also scientists. None of her crew relished the idea of killing.

Why would -?

I’m not at liberty to say, she cut off because whatever he would have asked would have been classified. Dork.

Answer my question, if you please.

Sure thing, Daffy. Carthana and I have gone on four joint missions in the past year and a half.

What was the nature of these missions?

For someone who was trying her for a crime, Wopner seemed woefully unprepared if not uneducated. Most of the missions were research missions though in one instance we were to provide security.

"The Phoenix is a research vessel. It is not a war ship."

We have weapons enough. More than civil administration realized but as that, too, was classified, she didn’t bother to explain. We were to act as an assist since Carthana’s ship has a full complement of weapons. Had. A terrible truth.

When is the last time you spoke with Carthana?

Four months ago. She’d been sent to investigate an area of space in the Balen system while The Plurath was being dispatched to escort a group of dignitaries to Council Headquarters at the far edge of the Menton System. That was why the ship’s sudden and unexpected appearance in the distant Kelios System was such a shock.

"Without full disclosure of the facts, Commander, we cannot exonerate you of the charges of being responsible for the destruction of The CVS Plurath and loss of her crew."

You also can’t condemn me for it, she wanted to snap. "I have the video image of The Plurath’s last moments, the crew on the deck. It’s evident there was something wrong. I had nothing to do with whatever was going on on that ship. I also explicitly warned them to stay clear of the area, as every commander on that comm list will attest to."

That video will not exonerate you. I demand you tell me what you were investigating.

A moment, please.

She watched the two officials whisper. Probably trying to decide if it was worth trying to break her, she thought sourly. One side of her mouth went up as Pat Benatar’s Hit Me With Your Best Shot ran through her mind. God, she missed Earth’s music.

Born in the Vetria System, on the planet Ivar, she was taken to Earth of a parallel dimension after two failed assassination attempts shortly after her birth. She was accompanied by a Light Being named Xavier Casteel, who arranged for her adoption by a young couple in Berkeley, Michigan. He’d chosen the police officer and his wife for a variety of reasons, including the ability of a cop to keep his daughter safe. Unfortunately, the officer was shot and killed when she was thirteen which necessitated the Light Being, an Energy Shifter with amazing powers, step into the role he was named for.

The Protector.

Since only Light Beings could travel between dimensions without suffering Time Distortion Sickness, she’d been given a serum with Light Being DNA shortly after birth and again at around age two. The serum worked, so she was able to return to her home system after reaching her majority. Unfortunately, Xavier had not come with her. The Light Being she’d befriended, had fallen in love with, died.

Alexander Craig, an Energy Seer, stepped into the role, bringing her home to the Vetria System where she was enrolled at Dynamic Academy, a quasi-military Academy run by the Light Beings. She studied Dimensional Theory – time travel – and Tactical – flight. Alexander and Energy Shifter Verix Sterling, guided her through her years of education and did what they could to help her adjust to the myriad of shocks that had come her way since learning she was not human.

She spared a moment to think of her friend. What would Xavier have thought of her? He was the first to talk with her about coming to work with him at Dynamic. On Earth.

"We’re not your typical private security firm. We’re actually a group of elite operatives."

"Elite operatives? You mean like the military? Special Forces?"

Initially she resisted, explaining she had no interest in the military. Due to what could only be considered a black comedy of errors, her life on Earth dissolved into chaos. When Xavier died? There was no reason not to follow Alexander to Dynamic. Little did she know where that would take her.

The two boobs continued to whisper. She wanted to laugh. They didn’t have anything to hang on her and they knew it. But arrogance was stupid, so she sat, and she waited. And she thought of Xavier. God, she missed him. She couldn’t count the number of times she wished she could have talked to him, asked his counsel. Alexander had done his best but he wasn’t Xavier. Then there was Godzilla.

The Cadet Executive overseeing her curriculum was about as opposite from Xavier as could be, which was kind of ironic since they were both what the Council of Twelve would call flawed.

Light Beings were incapable of experiencing high emotion – what she figured out to be various forms of love, including sexual attraction and affection – without suffering energetic spikes. Left unchecked, the spikes would kill them. Like Xavier.

As a result, the powerful energy beings who maintained equilibrium throughout star systems that bore their names forbade Light Beings from pursuing emotion. Those who, like Xavier, exhibited the capacity to handle more emotion than their peers, were seen as flawed, and executed.

Alexander, an Energy Seer who appeared to be top dog among Light Beings, convinced the Council Xavier was a good soldier and would eventually learn to harness his emotional tendencies. Though he’d been given a reprieve, he hadn’t been saved. Because of her. Because she loved him.

Shortly after expressing her feelings for him, he experienced an energetic spike killing him. She witnessed the horrible reality of it while in an altered state known as the illusionary plane. Similar to a dream but far more realistic and vivid, she’d watched him convulse as his electrical system shorted out. It was one of the worst moments of her life, all the more haunting because he’d called out her name before he died. He hadn’t even known she was there and she hadn’t had the presence of mind to comfort him.

CHAPTER TWO

Verix’s emotions ran in a different direction. There was just no pleasing the guy. He rarely if ever smiled and he seemed to find fault with just about everything she did. He was overly protective one minute and pushing her toward oncoming trains the next. She could only imagine what he was going to do when he found out about this.

You have not honored your position as a representative of the Academy, she intoned beneath her breath. She looked at the clock hanging over the door, wondered how much longer she was going to be stuck in this farce of a trial.

In the authority of Councilor Vetria, I hereby remand these proceedings.

Christine closed her eyes. Godzilla had come. Why couldn’t it have been Alexander? Or Dacan? At least he would have made her laugh as she was hauled off to jail for not answering Elmer’s questions.

Verix, the Council has no right -.

On the contrary, Seles, the Council has every right. Commander Baker is a graduate of Dynamic. She was on official Dynamic business when the incident occurred. She will be tried before the Council.

The courtroom erupted. She lost count of how many times Fudd yelled for silence and was ignored. She’d laugh but it just wasn’t funny. Godzilla was hauling her out of one judicial circus only to plop her into another.

She had very little respect for the Council, outside the fact they had incredible powers. They treated the Light Beings, who were friends and teammates, as if they were third-class citizens, mongrels they sic’d on the population in the name of maintaining order. She had to admit, though, Councilor Vetria, for whom the star system she lived in was named, was fairly reasonable.

Commander Baker?

She opened her eyes, looked up. Verix.

Come with me.

She stood. No manacles?

Without acknowledging the barb, he turned and indicated she should precede him as they made their way out of the crowded courtroom. It was difficult, with so many people stopping to offer their congratulations. At one point, they had to hide out in a cubby while the gawkers filed past.

Do I have time to get a bite to eat before you haul me before the Council?

You are not going to the Council at this time, he replied stoically.

But you just -.

I have reviewed the evidence, Commander Baker. You have done nothing wrong. You and your crew are to be commended for how you handled the situation. You attempted to rescue the ship and you maintained security.

Christine stared at the Energy Shifter. Just when she thought she had him figured out -.

Christine!

Corus! She whipped around, ran over and threw herself into the arms of the man in uniform jogging toward them.

Tactical Instructor Corus Argai hauled his love against him, kissed her loudly. I’m sorry I didn’t get here sooner.

She shook her head, hugged him so tightly he groaned. I’m so glad you came. I didn’t do anything wrong, I swear it!

He kissed her hair. I know.

You do?

He jutted his chin over her shoulder. Verix showed me the evidence. I don’t know what Carthana was thinking, but you are not responsible for the loss of that ship.

She frowned. She was responsible for the loss of life. She ordered the gate destroyed.

I can guess what you’re thinking. Don’t blame yourself. You had to destroy the gate.

She nodded, stepped back. How long can you stay?

Not long. I’m headed out tonight.

She grinned. I think we have enough time for a meeting.

He kissed her nose, looked past her shoulder. Can I take her with me?

She is free to go.