Empress Fallen - Chapter 2 - Part 2

ii. Mercatus

‘We’re approaching Sanctus,’ Teleri called.

Miriam was ripped from her reverie as she hurriedly initiated a station-wide alert, disengaging the antimatter drive and gently pulling back the centre stick of the control column. The vast brown planet consumed the viewport, storms coalescing over its rolling surface, the writhing, black clouds concealing any sign of the famous sacred lakes. The largest planet in the system and least populated Tri-Planet, it hung like a sleeping leviathan in the darkness, the furthest from the Sun’s reaching arms. Its twenty-three satellites, moons of varying sizes and proximities, circled it like guardian angels. Only six of these were currently visible, the nearest being the swirling orange mass of Ara. Several minutes slipped by before Hadrian burst into the Flight Deck.

‘Quarter engine offline, thrusters at 60% of maximum. Nearing an Imperial port now, there’s no sign of the Dragonfly on the sensors,’ she said, glancing at him. His brow creased in worry.

‘We’ll top up the Vis reserves,’ she continued when he didn’t answer, ‘then I’ll use the Sapiens Array to try and locate them.’ Hadrian nodded, taking a seat.

‘They most likely completed their trade quickly,’ he murmured, pulling on his ear, ‘If they detected even a hint of what we detected, they would have either set a course to rendezvous with us or headed straight for Saxum.’

She watched him. It was logical. If they hadn’t decided to find the Dragonfly they would have made getting to the asteroid a priority. The dense field of rocks encircled the six planets of the Validus system just beyond the orbit of Sanctus. She had never seen any of the small slave planets. They were heavily patrolled on the other side of the system. A strange sensation of guilt stole through her. It must be hell.

The nearest Sanctus port rose up in front of the station, it looked like the result of the merging of an hourglass and a spinning top, and through the glass dome at its summit she could just make out thousands of people. It glowed like a miniature city in the darkness. Miriam switched to manual control, intermittently firing opposite thrusters to slow the station and smoothly berth it. One face of the vast structure loomed up before them, and they were soon swallowed. Vibrations trembled through the station as they clamped onto a dock and Miriam quickly powered down the engines. She and Hadrian stood, hurrying to the elevator. Teleri moved across to her seat, nodding at them as the door slid shut, and Hadrian pressed the silver ‘VIII’.

They crossed the hangar, quickly joined by five other of the crew Hadrian had summoned. They stepped through the starboard hatch into the enclosed gangway connecting the station to the port. Miriam placed a hand on the screen by the adjoining hatch and it slid back revealing a wide, circular corridor that provided direct access from the docks to the elevators. They quickly filed into one. The Firefly was berthed in the M12 dock, the metal plates ringing the inner wall of the corridor reading Level M. Soon they were racing up the port towards the trading floor far above them, accompanied by the familiar whine of the hydraulics.

‘I’ve always wanted to see those lakes,’ Hadrian murmured abruptly into the silence. Miriam looked at him.

‘The sacred portals?’

His eyes were far away. ‘Yes. Apparently, the lake temples are so daunting and inspiring, the monks so endearing, any who walk through its gates are compelled to take part in the sacrifices of the sun rams. Going by what I’ve read, the blood of the rams is poured into the lakes, and their hair is shaved to burn in the gate lanterns. It’s fascinating really. I’ve never been devoted to faith like so many others.’

She shifted her weight uneasily. It was dangerous to say such things where they could be so easily monitored.

Damon Animus, one of the youngest astrophysicists, and a specialist in celestial mechanics, in particular astrodynamics, nodded slowly, ‘It is fascinating, especially the fixation with a pre-defined destiny, the belief that Vindex controls everything, from the fate of a single molecule to an entire planet.’ Miriam studied his face, the fierce green eyes. He met her gaze, and for a second she couldn’t look away.

Eiladar Pertinax cleared his throat, the tallest of the group. There was a masked anger in his eyes.

‘There’s more to it than that. They represent the Blood Lake and the Damned Lake. Vindex watches the Gate of Shadows and passes judgement on which lake a soul will sail. The three Shadow judges aid him in his decision,’ his eyes were bright, ‘they each have two advisors, the children of Vindex, each the master of one of the elements of Fire, Water, Air, Earth, Spirit, and Arcanum. The blood of the sun rams nourish our judges, and the burning of their essence wards off the creatures of Hell that would terrorise humanity.’

‘Have you seen the sacred portals Eiladar?’ Hadrian asked. Eiladar looked down, a sadness passing over his face.

‘No,’ he murmured, ‘Not yet.’ Cassian Velox, a pulsar astrologer and specialist in communications, reached for Eiladar’s hand, holding it for a moment, conveying an intimacy that Miriam had not before noticed. Several moments of silence crawled by, but then the elevator slowed and the door slid back.

They stepped into the immense arched dome at the summit of the port. Miriam glanced up at the long, glinting beams that supported it. They seemed to shimmer with an ethereal red light, and she realised they were pure Arcanum.

‘This must be one of the primary Sanctian ports,’ Hadrian murmured behind her as he followed her gaze. The vast silver floor of the dome writhed with bodies. Her eyes ran up the towering white statue at its centre, feeling the familiar sensation of horrified awe. Through the great dome they could just see the lazy, ochre curve of the sacred planet, and a thousand stars. Hadrian turned to their small party, beckoning Sheyda Lepos. Miriam smiled at her, she had grown to respect her and admire her, even though Sheyda was a mere four years older.

A cartographer with training in piloting, Sheyda had worked with Hadrian for four years. But Miriam had only learned of the hardships she had faced recently. After bravely escaping the clutches of a band of merchants who she had broken the law with, leading a ghost life for a decade since the delicate age of fourteen, she had finally found a family in CelestialCities. Though her father was from Caelum, Sheyda had been born in space when he joined the renegade merchants out of greed, in search of riches in the black markets. Sheyda had confided in Miriam a few weeks before that to flee when she had, she had been forced to kill him, kill her father to steal a small ship. Such bravery.

‘Sheyda? Can you, Damon, and Septima go to the components market?’ Hadrian said quickly, ‘Trade no more than a quarter of the allocated stock of Denarii. I’ve cleared the beta code for temporary access to the account.’ He turned to Cassian. ‘Eiladar and Cassian, use another quarter for the victuals market, get enough for the next couple of days, we’re going to find the Dragonfly. Use the beta code as well.’

Cassian nodded.

‘Miriam and I will get the Vis thruster fuel and stop by the Sanctus Exchange,’ he called after them, ‘Everyone meet at the statue.’

Miriam held Sheyda back for a moment, her eyes an electric green, short spiky hair, a searing white-blonde colour.

‘We need ancillary components for the Quarter lasers,’ Miriam said loudly over the noise of the trading floor, ‘and make sure they’re class A, the engines aren’t compatible for anything lower.’

Sheyda nodded, hurrying after Damon. ‘I’ll see to it Miri.’ Her accent was an odd fusion from her time with the diverse merchants. Miriam had always been convinced she could perceive a buried vulnerability hidden within her guarded eyes, but with such a troubled past it seemed natural. Sheyda was quickly swallowed by the crowd, along with Damon Animus and his twin sister Septima, their golden hair flashing in the masses. Miriam and Hadrian headed in the opposite direction as Eiladar and Cassian, skirting the dome’s wall towards the busiest sector of the port.

They were walking for nearly ten minutes before they reached the fuel market. Hadrian growled in frustration as they joined a coiling line, but she gripped his arm abruptly, nodding at the five tall figures at the back of the queue, all adorned in red uniforms, gold braided arrowheads on their right shoulders. Her eyes ran over the ranks, a Subaltern and four Corporals. She shifted her weight nervously. Imperial soldiers always induced the same dormant memories buried in her mind. Memories of that horrific day ten years ago when her whole world had come crashing down. She shook her head slightly, incarcerating them deep within herself.

‘There must be a frigate docked,’ Hadrian whispered. She gestured minutely at the black belts where thick enforcing clubs were strapped to their left hips. Each wore a scabbard across their backs from neck to waist, the silver butts of plasma rifles just visible.

They glanced at each other, exchanging similar expressions of anxiety. Before they could change their minds and switch to a different queue, it moved forward and the soldiers stepped up to the huge concave screens. After a few minutes they turned. Miriam flinched as one of the icy-eyed Corporals brushed her arm, scraped back hair a fiery auburn. Hadrian visibly shivered before they stepped up to the screens.

He touched the imperial seal prompting the first stage of the payment process. A blue page rose before his fingers requesting the Company Identification Code. He swiftly entered the nine digit CelestialCities CIC code, and the entry parameter highlighted yellow, before another page took its place. Hadrian pressed his thumb to the blue fingerprint scanner. After several seconds it shifted to a pulsing yellow and gave way to the third and final stage. Hadrian typed in the licence code of the Firefly, PRC925CA. And again, the entry parameter highlighted yellow and the fuel market system rose up. Selecting the M12 dock, he chose the QuadriVis fuel blend, then slid the indicator up to maximum with three fingers to completely fill the Firefly's fuel reserves. The Denarii counter flicked up to 82,306.75D.

'Almost a third of the allocated stock for this stop,' Miriam heard herself saying. Hadrian sighed, touching the Imperial seal in the bottom right corner and the display turned blue before the seal moved to the centre again.

They turned their backs on the screens, navigating their way through the crowds round the fuel market before they broke into the main thoroughfare of the port again.

'Sanctus Exchange?' Miriam asked as she craned her neck over the throng.

'Yep,' Hadrian replied, heading off west of the fuel market. They stayed to the left, in keeping with the general flow of bodies. Another five or six Imperial soldiers filed past them on the right. Several minutes later, there was again another group of the red uniforms passing them, mainly Privates and Lance Corporals. Soon, the majority of people in the port were clad in red.

A roiling ocean of blood, she thought to herself, instinctively gripping Hadrian's arm, 'How many frigates are here? You'd think we were at one of Tyrannis’ ports. This is Sanctus. Vindex, something’s wrong.'

Hadrian just moved faster. They finally reached the trading floor of the Sanctus Exchange. Stretching up the dome's walls, surrounded by swathes of star-eaten space, were vast black screens. They were covered in constantly fluctuating numbers. The two central screens, labelled in glinting silver, were the Validian Stock Market and the Validian Arcanum Market. They queued up in front of the latter. Beneath the main screens were smaller consoles where traders bought and sold. When they reached the front, Hadrian again entered the CelestialCities CIC code and gave his thumbprint.

'Right,' he breathed, 'we have holdings of 50kg, dating from 8.3 years ago, 100g of that we bought 1.2 months ago.' Miriam glanced up at the screens.

'Current price per 1g is 320D,' she said, 'a considerable leap from just last quarter.'

'Trend?' he asked watching her intently.

'Yep, but, if investors lose confidence-' Her eyes flicked back and forth. 'It’s already broken through two resistance lines, you know, peak prices where it's bounced off continually before. And those have held for years.'

'Crash?' he offered.

'Maybe,' she murmured.

He glanced round quickly before whispering, 'Do you think this is because of the rumours, because of the sabotage reports on the Vaults?’

She nodded slowly.

‘It might trigger a run on the markets. If those reports are true Hadrian, my God, it could cause possibly the largest economic disaster in living history.'

She ran a hand through her hair. The Arcanum Vaults were huge, heavily fortified stations in Tyrannis' orbit, where the Imperial army could fully monitor them. But rumours had been flying through the black markets and underground research networks of attempted sabotage and theft attacks on the Vaults themselves. But that wasn’t the root of the igniting hope. It was rumoured to be the work of the Ghost Armada, the rumoured resistance. Naturally, it had been widely crushed as mere legend. When those who advocated its existence began disappearing, people stopped talking. And looking.

There was no trace of such an armada. But then the rumours had come from somewhere.

'The Ghost Armada?' Hadrian whispered abruptly, as though reading her thoughts. Miriam ran another hand through her hair, closing her eyes for a handful of seconds. The cacophony of noise enveloped her, the awareness of thousands of bodies and for a snatched breath of time she was lost and blind.

'Sell it all.'

Hadrian's grey eyes widened, hands clasped together, motionless. Miriam reached past him selecting the blue ‘sell’ icon and entering 50kg. She paused, but he didn't move. Her middle finger touched the yellow enter button and their holdings counter plummeted as the CelestialCities Arcanum stock ticked away to null, while the account's Denarii counter leapt upwards, the numbers blurring. It stopped.

'Account has increased by 16 million Denarii,' she breathed. They were both motionless before she eventually touched the Imperial seal, the screen turning blue. She had to physically lead Hadrian away, his hands still clasped together. She glanced up at the Validian Private Secondary Market instinctively, vaguely registering that the CelestialCities stock had increased by 5.2% that day.

She dragged Hadrian across the bustling tributaries of people, diving across the main river of blood, and they eventually broke out into the centre of the port. Hadrian breathed out, pulling on his ear and sitting on the edge of one of the metal benches spiralling in concentric circles around the statue.

'We'll wait for the others here,' he called over to her as he leaned back, an odd smile around his mouth.

Miriam watched him for a moment, but like a great finger tapping her on the back, she felt the colossal presence behind her. It was a presence that dominated every single port across the system.

The statue of the Empress.