Silent Order: Wraith Hand by Jonathan Moeller

Author:Jonathan Moeller [Moeller, Jonathan]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Azure Flame Media, LLC
Published: 2017-10-01T06:00:00+00:00

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The restaurant catered to carnivorous races like the Ninevehk, which meant March was possibly the only sapient in the establishment who did not have claws, fangs, bony armor, or poisoned stingers. The menu offered a staggering array of meats from a variety of different worlds. Since predators tended to be territorial, the tables were spaced well away from each other. Glass cages held a variety of alien animals, fish, and insects, and the more discerning patrons could choose the specific creature that would serve as their main course.

Subcommander Vastathak waited on the concourse with the rest of the Ninevehk soldiers, but March and Tashnakha seated themselves on opposite sides of a table. The table had been made of polished stainless steel. March supposed that made it easier to clean if a patron desired to eat his meal raw.

“You have survived a hunter’s challenge,” rasped Tashnakha, “so perhaps we should speak candidly to each other, as hunters do.”

“That would be best,” said March. “But I have secrets I cannot betray. I expect you have the same as well.”

Tashnakha bobbed his head in a good imitation of a human nod, though it looked rather like a serpent preparing to strike. “Then I will ask a blunt question. How did you come to become involved in the destruction of the Covenant?”

“Bad luck,” said March. “I am a Calaskaran privateer, and a job took me to the Tamlin system. I arrived just as the Machinists destroyed the Covenant. My ship was at the edge of the battle, and I managed to pick up one of the lifeboats. Before I could escape, my dark matter reactor was damaged, and I had no choice but to come to Monastery Station for repairs.”

“You speak the truth,” said Tashnakha, “but not the entire truth, I think. No matter. Either way, you have become entangled with the demon machine the Machinists have built.”

“Demon machine?” said March, his thoughts flashing to the device in the Tiger’s strong room.

“That was why we came to Tamlin’s World,” said Tashnakha. “We received word that the Machinists would destroy a Calaskaran cruiser that had acquired the demon machine, and we planned to destroy both the Machinists and their vile device…ah, I see. You were to deliver the machine to the cruiser, but the Machinists arrived before you could hand over the device.”

“Then you weren’t there for the Machinists, but for the machine,” said March. “I thought as much.”

“This machine,” said Tashnakha. “Do you know what it does?”

“No,” said March. “Do you?”

“I fear not,” said Tashnakha, “but it is a thing of the demons. It will work evil.”

March decided to take a risk. The Ninevehk were enemies of the Final Consciousness, and while the Ninevehk would never be friendly with humans, perhaps the enemy of his enemy need not also be an enemy. “I’m not sure, but I think it is a mind control device of some kind. From what the Machinist agents said, I think it is designed to convert an unwilling victim to their cause.

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