MEMORY’S BLADE:

  INFINITY’S END BOOK 8

  ERIC WARREN

  Part of the Sovereign Coalition Universe

  MEMORY’S BLADE – INFINITY’S END BOOK 8

  Copyright © 2019 by Eric C. Warren All rights reserved.

  Book design and SCAS logo are trademarks of Eric Warren Author, LLC.

  This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, by any means electronic, mechanical, printing, photocopying, recording, chiseling into stone, or otherwise, without the written permission from the publisher, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review. For information regarding permission contact the publisher.

  Cover Design by Dan Van Oss www.covermint.design

  Content Editor Tiffany Shand www.eclipseediting.com

  Table of Contents

  The Sovereign Coalition Series

  Special Offer

  1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

  8

  9

  10

  11

  12

  13

  14

  15

  16

  17

  18

  19

  20

  21

  22

  23

  24

  25

  26

  27

  28

  29

  30

  31

  32

  33

  34

  35

  36

  GLOSSARY

  Map Piece

  Map Key

  Author’s Note

  About the Author

  “None knows the weight of another’s burden.”

  - George Herbert

  The Sovereign Coalition Series

  Short Stories

  CASPIAN’S GAMBIT: An Infinity’s End Story

  SOON’S FOLLY: An Infinity’s End Story

  Novels

  INFINITY’S END SAGA

  CASPIAN’S FORTUNE (BOOK 1)

  TEMPEST RISING (BOOK 2)

  DARKEST REACH (BOOK 3)

  JOURNEY’S EDGE (BOOK 4)

  SECRETS PAST (BOOK 5)

  PLANETFALL (BOOK 6)

  BROKEN LINKS (BOOK 7)

  MEMORY’S BLADE (BOOK 8)

  INFINITY’S END (BOOK 9)

  The Quantum Gate Series

  Short Stories

  PROGENY (BOOK 0)

  Novels

  SINGULAR (BOOK 1)

  DUALITY (BOOK 2)

  TRIALITY (BOOK 3)

  DISPARITY (BOOK 4)

  CAUSALITY (BOOK 5)

  Special Offer

  Sign up on my website and receive the first short story in the INFINITY’S END SAGA absolutely free!

  Go to HERE to download CASPIAN’S GAMBIT!

  1

  Caspian Robeaux stared at the ornamented piece of metal which once meant so much to him but now seemed hollow. It seemed to stare back, taunting him, challenging him in a way, and he had to turn away from the garments he’d laid out on the bed in his quarters.

  It had been two days since they had arrived at the border planet of Sissk, in the Hommel system, on the edge of what used to be Coalition space. But since there was no more Coalition, he figured this was open territory, ready for anyone to do with it as they wished. Eighteen years had passed since the Athru had invaded and decimated the Coalition from the inside, attempting to eradicate every human in existence. Worse yet, there was a good chance the humans left on the ship temporarily under his command, the Tempest, were the last in existence.

  Cas turned to the uniform. He’d been going back and forth about putting it on again, trying to decide if wearing it even made a difference anymore. The rest of the crew still wore their uniforms, still adhered to the command structure of the Coalition, still performed their duties to the best of their ability. They were an exceptional group of people. Now it was his job to command them. But putting the uniform back on had never felt right, not since his arrest. He’d already tried this once, when he’d tried to pretend like the last seven years—seven for him, twenty-five for anyone not on his ship—hadn’t happened. And he’d sworn never to go back. At the time he’d been sure it was the right call; the notion of even returning to the Coalition had been a bad idea. It seemed fate had a sense of humor because here he stood, right back where he’d been before, facing a similar choice.

  Cas tapped his comm to check the time. It wouldn’t be long before Evie was ready to leave for the planet and he couldn’t afford to dawdle any longer. He picked up the uniform, removed the metal insignia denoting the rank of “captain” from the breast and affixed it to his civilian jacket. It was crooked, but it didn’t much matter. He was in a hurry and it would have to do. He passed the mirror on his way out, which was something he’d done a hundred times before. But his reflection held him a moment. In the mirror stood the acting captain of the USCS Tempest. Before this, any hope of captaining a Coalition starship had left the realm of what he considered possible years ago, but here he was: in command of what might be the last of the Coalition fleet.

  Had anyone asked him if he was proud that he’d finally made it, he would lie and tell them yes, despite the terrible situation he was stepping up to do his duty. But deep down he couldn’t help but feel like an imposter, even if part of it had come to him by accident. Becoming a captain of a starship had been one of his dreams from a young age. Though if someone had told him what he would have to go through to reach this point, he would have run away screaming and cursing.

  Cas adjusted the insignia just a smidge, so the light caught it and he frowned; it didn’t look right on him, but he wasn’t sure why. Instead of spending any more time in front of the accursed mirror, he turned and strode through his door. Had he been moving any faster he would have collided with Saturina Jann, who stood just on the other side, her hand out to the call panel.

  “Whoa.” She jumped back. “In a hurry?” She took stock of him. “Where’s your uniform?”

  Cas maneuvered around her, trying to make it look like he’d known she was there and was deft enough to avoid the collision on purpose. “Decided against it. Too itchy.”

  “Wait a second.” She came up beside him as he walked with purpose down the corridor. “You told me it was better if the crew felt united and wearing the uniform would help you do that.”

  Those had been his words, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. It was as if putting that uniform back on represented a betrayal of who he had become ever since the Coalition had tried and convicted him for treason. He wasn’t an officer anymore, even though he’d been acting like one ever since they’d begun this journey. “It doesn’t matter anyway,” he said. “It’s only temporary. Until all this—” He gestured around them, “—is over.”

  “You can’t be serious about relinquishing command back to Diazal,” Saturina said, her voice hardened. She hadn’t witnessed it, but by now most of the crew knew their former captain, Evelyn Diazal, had killed seven members of the crew. And many of them didn’t care that she’d been under an alien influence at the time.

  “I haven’t spent a lot of time thinking about it,” Cas replied. “With everything going on, I’ve barely had time to sleep, much less ponder a future without the Coalition. Right now, we just need to focus on surviving. I’ll worry about all the little details later.”

  Despite arriving in orbit of this planet two days ago, Cas had put a hold on any visits since the last planet they’d visited had threatened to blow them out of the sky, and they had been one of the original framers of the Coalition. He wasn’t sure what kind of reception they might get heading down to a border world.

  “That’s a little detail?” Saturina ran her hand through her cropped platinum hair. He could tell she was frustrated by his lack of a decision and he didn’t blame her. She was also under a lot of pressure, having taken over what remained of the Space Corps. Those that weren’t dead or in the brig.

  “Was there something you needed?” he asked, realizing she hadn’t been outside his door without a reason. Though he hated how harsh his own voice sounded.

  She seemed not to pick up on it. “I just spent six hours in the brig interrogating the prisoners.” A good look at her eyes told him everything he needed to know.

  “Went that well, huh?”

  She shook her head. “They are determined to stay loyal to Rafnkell. I think they see her as a martyr now. All any of them would say was Diazal should be in there with them.”

  Cas scoffed. “Right. So, they can beat the hell out of her? I don’t think so.”

  “You have to admit, it looks pretty strange,” Saturina said. “The one member of the crew who actually killed—”

  “Okay, I get it,” he said, talking over her.

  “—actually killed people is still walking around free,” Saturina finished. “I know you don’t want to hear it, but they have a point. She needs to be confined.”

  Cas tried not to let his frustration show. He and Saturina had decided to begin a romantic relationship only a few days before , but before they’d barely begun, this contention had come up between them. Despite Saturina not agreeing with Rafnkell’s drastic move to wrest command of the ship from him and Evie, she wasn’t convinced their former captain wasn’t still a threat. It made Cas think the whole attempt at a relationship might be doomed from the start. “I don’t know how many times we have to go over this: it wasn’t her. She thought they were the enemy.”

  “And how long until she makes that mistake again? What happens if it’s you beside her next time? Or me? Are you really willing to put the lives of the crew at stake on a belief?”

  He stopped in the middle of the corridor, turning to her. “I know you think I’m playing favorites here, but I trust her. She’s not dangerous, not anymore.”

  Saturina’s eyes slid to the side. “If you say so.”

  “That doesn’t mean I don’t value your opinion. I know you’re just looking out for the crew,” he said, softening his tone.

  “One of us has to,” she countered, but despite the unspoken accusation there was a smile in her voice. “I’m just relaying the will of the masses.”

  Cas headed back down the corridor again. “Good thing this isn’t a democracy then.”

  She caught up with him again. “You can be a real ass sometimes.”

  “Trust me, it was Box’s favorite thing to remind me of back on the Reasonable Excuse. It’s one of my defining characteristics. Just be glad you didn’t know me back when I worked for the Sargans.” He’d been aware the past few days just how much had changed for him ever since he’d decided to come back to the Coalition. He wasn’t sure if it was seeing his society decimated, or just the possibility that everyone he knew from his old life was dead and gone that had made him roll around in the memories of that harsher life. But he had, nonetheless.

  Saturina rolled her eyes. “I’m glad I didn’t.”

  He could sense her frustration only growing. “Once we understand what this beacon is and why it has brought us here, I promise I’ll make her go through a full diagnostic with Xax. And if the doc finds anything out of the ordinary, we can put her in stasis. But look at it from her point of view: she feels worse about it than anyone. After all, she killed the woman she loved.”

  “I guess.” Saturina kept her eyes down. “The prisoners did say one other thing. They want better accommodations.”

  Cas almost laughed out loud. “What do they think this is? A luxury cruise-liner? It’s called the brig for a reason.”

  She shrugged. “How about you put yourself in their shoes. We know there is no local magistrate or court to hear their case, so they can’t be tried. And we can’t drop them off at a starbase where the cells are larger and better equipped. For most of them, they figure they’ll be spending the rest of their lives behind force barriers. Would you want to do that in a twenty by twenty cell?”

  Cas considered it. “Okay. You’re right.”

  “I know.”

  They couldn’t keep them in those tiny rooms forever. At some point, they needed to have some sort of freedom. He just hadn’t been expecting to take on six prisoners all at once. Though, if the situation had been reversed and Chief Rafnkell’s plan had worked, Cas suspected she wouldn’t have bothered with the formality of the brig and instead ejected anyone into space who didn’t agree with her taking control of the ship. “Once we’ve figured out what we’re dealing with on the planet, I’ll assign an Engineering team that can perhaps convert one of the cargo areas into a more permanent—and larger—brig. Will that satisfy them?”

  “Probably not, but it’s the best they can hope for, given their situation,” she replied.

  “If they weren’t human, I’d pick a rock and leave them on it,” Cas said. But given what they knew about the Athru and their insane desire to destroy humanity, Cas thought that might be too cruel. On this ship they had a type of dampener built by a group of humans who had spent eighteen years evading the Athru. Which meant every human on the ship was safe. Or as safe as they could be, given the circumstances. But if he were to drop them off on some planet…it would be a death sentence. “Any other good news?”

  Saturina hooked her arm around his for just a moment. “Nothing that can’t wait until later.” Then she let it go. Despite the fact they operated in different parts of the military—what was left of it—they didn’t want to give the appearance of impropriety. Since technically the head of the Space Corps was supposed to report to the captain of the ship on which they were serving. Though Cas had made it clear as soon as he was in command that rule had gone by the wayside. He didn’t want to have to order Saturina to do anything. If she disagreed with his decision, that was fine, they would find another way. But he wasn’t going to put her in that situation.

  They reached the doors of the hypervator. “You headed down to the Bays too?” he asked, hopeful. He liked being in her presence, she had a silent strength about her he found reassuring.

  “Nope, I’ve got to go bust Ryant for being late yesterday. Which means he gets extra duties this morning. I’m headed back that way.” She hooked a thumb behind her, and Cas realized she’d just made that whole walk not because she wanted to relay news, but because she liked being around him too.

  He grinned. “Make sure you give him an extra kick in the ass for me.”

  “You can count on it.” She was halfway back down the corridor when the hypervator doors opened and Cas stepped inside.

  2

  Evelyn Diazal sat in the pilot’s chair of the shuttle Calypso, her head back against the headrest, trying not to think about the possibilities of what might be on the planet below them. She’d spent the past two days agonizing over what—or who—might be waiting for her down there. More than once she’d snuck down to the bay to steal a shuttle and find out for herself, only to turn around and go back to her quarters when she thought about betraying the crew again. Cas had put his faith in her that she wasn’t a danger to the ship, and that was something she needed to respect. Sometimes she still felt like she had the potential to be dangerous, despite the fact she’d excised the Athru part of herself that had been responsible for so much death. That dormant aspect of her psyche, that had been awoken when she’d encountered the other Athru—Diangne—was a vile, ruthless monster, and Evie was glad to be rid of her.

  She drew a deep breath in through her nose and let it back out again while she rolled the small black marble Cas had given her around in her hand. While the orb brought her a level of comfort, it also carried with it a shadow. Who had it belonged to? And what had Martial wanted her to do with it when he gave it to Cas with his dying breath? It was obvious it was a beacon as she could practically sense where on the planet it wanted her to go, but what did that mean? Was it Athru technology, or something else? All these questions had been burning in her mind and at the moment it took all her willpower not to fire up the engines right now and blast down to the planet to find out.

  Her comm chirped. “Diazal here,” she said.

  “I’m on my way down, are you sure I can’t persuade you to take a security team with you?” Cas asked from the other end.

  She shook her head even though she knew he couldn’t see it. “I’m not putting anyone else at risk. All I need is your authorization to leave. You don’t even need to come down.”

  “Yes, I do,” he said and ended the transmission. Evie huffed. She hoped he wasn’t planning on making a speech about how he needed to come with her. While she wouldn’t mind the company, this was something she needed to do on her own. And now that Cas was in charge of the ship, his place was up here. She might have to remind him of that fact.

  Evie leaned over the shuttle’s main control panel and entered a series of codes that brought all the main systems online. No sense in not being prepared. She double-checked all the comm lines for the shuttle and took note there was still no communications traffic coming from the planet. That in itself was odd, since Sissk was a fully developed world and had been for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. The planet was unique in that more than one intelligent species had evolved—twelve, in fact—and each had somehow not killed the others in competition for the planet during its long and troubled history. It was quite a marvel all twelve species had managed to find a way to work together, at least in theory, but power changed hands quickly on Sissk, which made getting things done difficult. It had been one of the primary reasons the planet had never been admitted to the United Coalition: by the time they were ready to apply, another government would take power and change their minds. Fortunately, these days most of the fighting was done on the floors of the Senate, rather than in a battlefield, but with twelve different Senates situated all over the planet, the comm waves were almost always full of arguments. Which was why Evie found the silence so unsettling.

 

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