Vault of Souls by James David Victor

Author:James David Victor [Victor, James David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fairfield Publishing
Published: 2025-02-24T00:00:00+00:00

12

A COMMANDER’S PLAN

Agonos System, Outer Systems

“Any word from our friend?” Commander Orpheus’s voice was grave even with its robotic tone. Sula wondered briefly why the leader of the Orpheus Brigade had never sought to patch in a more human voice, even supplanting his own past voice into his suit.

Perhaps he likes the creep it gives. The recorder stood a little straighter as the giant, ancient renegade Marine turned to consider her.

She knew, of course, who he was talking about.

“Direct contact is impossible while he is in dragon flight, Commander, but the last message I received was that he had averted catastrophe and that he was returning, with allies.”

She saw Orpheus nod once, one giant gauntlet rising to gesture for the tactical holo to swim toward him. It showed the famous system where their forces were stationed, picked out in friendly green units and an array of warning brown asteroids.

“Let us hope that his allies are strong enough for the task ahead,” Orpheus said starkly, turning to regard the map.

The Agonos system, otherwise known as the System of Strife, was perhaps one of the most famous systems in the entire Imperium, next to Solas and Ceta.

Quite an achievement, given that it was in the Outer Systems. Nevertheless, the Agonos system had once been home to the Agonos Reactor—a vast powerhouse of energy production where space cruisers, fashioned like links in a chain, surged eternally around the system’s fierce, hot, young star.

Each cruiser was shaped like a long triangle, without windows or doors, so that each side could transfer the star’s energy as directly as possible to the ore each carriage contained.

Mdenium. The precious fuel that could be used to create field energy at a fraction of the cost compared to more conventional fuels or reactors. As it turned out, the other unique features of the Agonos system—the asteroid belts that swept toward the star and outward from it in a double helix of endlessly moving, churning space rocks—had been full of the stuff.

The Agonos Reactor was one of the major reasons why the Imperium had never fully abandoned the Outer Systems, as they needed that mdenium and those field engines.

Sula looked at the new iteration of the reactor. It was no longer a solid loop, but was instead made up of only twelve carriages, no longer cycling but stilled before its star as smaller drones moved back and forth from it and the three processing stations located much further out.

The Jaali had destroyed the reactor when they had physically invaded the Outer Systems, but with their sudden disappearance—no small thanks to us, Sula thought with a moment of congratulation—the Imperium had returned it to some small fraction of serviceability.

That, of course, had been before the Outer Systems rebellion. The Agonos Reactor was firmly in the hands of the Guild of Artificers—an Outer Systems trade organization—and so far, it eked out a tiny fraction of the mdenium used to create near-light ring engines that it once had.

“You’re right, Commander. The emperor will come for the reactor,” Sula said.

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