The Jester of Deceit

  The Valkyrie Chronicles:

  The Jester of Deceit

  By J.T.K Rogers

  Copyright to James Rogers

  Cover by Marcel Olczyński

  "I like a deeply-philosophical, character-driven period piece as much as the next guy, but when I really want to kick back with a book in my hand and a smile on my face, I look for something like this. The Jester of Deceit is an old-school sci-fi adventure that evokes the rascalry of Firefly, the exotic locales of Star Wars... and a little romantic interest woven in there too. It's fast-paced, engaging, and simply enjoyable."

  Jeff Spence

  The Jester of Deceit is an action-packed, sci-fi adventure set within the fictional Halycron Universe. For more information on the Haycron Universe, including timelines, galactic maps, lore about religions and species, and general information, please visit:

  www.jtkrcitadel.com

  And while there, sign up to the free mailing list and receive a free copy of Megala: The Beginning, a short story set in the same fictional universe.

  Galactic Year 535

  Chapter One

  “Colonel Hooper, do you copy? This is the CNS Orion. I repeat, do you copy? Over.”

  Colonel Hooper snapped out of his daze and leant across the cockpit to send back his response. His co-pilot, Officer Sims, was busy behind him checking the scan results.

  “This is Hooper. I’m reading you loud and clear. Over.”

  There was a brief silence, a burst of static, and then a more familiar voice came through.

  “Hooper, it’s Captain Antole. Have you found anything?”

  Hooper and Sims were both serving on the Orion, a Confederation Navy vessel that was currently halfway through an eight-month mission patrolling the outskirts of Confederation space and scanning for any unusual activity. Earlier that day they had detected a small anomaly on the edge of one of their scans, and so the two of them had been dispatched in a recon shuttle to see if they could determine the cause.

  “Any updates?” Hooper asked over his shoulder.

  “Nothing, Colonel. If there was something here, it seems to have vanished.”

  “It was probably a mercenary who saw us coming and jumped away,” Hooper replied.

  “It wasn’t giving off a reading you’d usually associate with a ship, Colonel. It was something… different.”

  “Well, there isn’t much we can do about it now. Power down the scanners, we’ll start making our way back to the Orion.” Hooper turned back around and contacted the Captain. “Sir, we haven’t found anything out here, seems as though whatever it was is now gone.”

  “Probably a mercenary scurrying away,” Captain Antole replied.

  “My thoughts exactly, sir. We’ll stop scanning immediately and make…”

  “Colonel, I’ve got something!”

  Sims fingers tapped and slid over his panel in a blur, trying to detect what the scans were picking up. He was certainly in the Confederation because of his computer skills rather than his physical ability. He was small and skinny, with curly ginger hair and a smooth, freckly face. Hooper often joked that he was the least intimidating person he’d ever met.

  In contrast, Hooper seemed to have more muscles in his neck alone than all of Sims body combined. His chest was broad, his arms were toned, and his shoulders were huge. He kept his hair short and his face clean-shaven, both for practicality, and he had a very stern looking brow.

  “Hooper? Come in Hooper!” Captain Antole’s voice burst through the comm system.

  “I’m here, Captain. The anomaly is back.”

  “It must be a mercenary; they might have come back to attack. You should return to the Orion immediately.”

  “It’s not a ship, Captain,” Sims called out from the rear of the shuttle. “I don’t quite know what it is, but no ship gives off a reading like this.”

  “Well, I still don’t like it. Come in and we will investigate it on the Orion.”

  Hooper took a deep breath. “With all due respect, sir; it might be nothing of interest. You shouldn’t come so far off course based on such limited information. We are much closer than you. Let us sneak in and see what we can work out. If we don’t like the look of anything, we will jump away before we get into any danger.”

  There was silence as the Captain aboard the Orion pondered the Colonel’s plan.

  “Okay, go check it out. If there is even the smallest possibility that it’s something dangerous, you come back here without hesitation.”

  “Will do, Captain.”

  Hooper shut off the comms and steered the shuttle towards the source of the anomaly. Sims directed him from the rear, offering constant and extremely precise updates on how close they were getting. Hooper grinded his teeth to keep himself from snapping as followed Sims’ directions, but still they found themselves no closer to finding the source.

  “I don’t understand. We should be right on top of it. It’s just disappeared again,” Sims said, slapping his hands against the side of his terminal.

  “Are you sure it wasn’t a ship just jumping in and out of the atmosphere?” Hooper asked. He looked over at his crewmate, starting to doubt his intelligence after all.

  “I keep telling you, it’s not a ship. Why would a ship keep jumping back here? It’s not as if there is anything of interest this far out. We are in the furthest reaches of known space.”

  “Perhaps they were eager to explore the great unknown?”

  “I know my scans, Colonel. It wasn’t a ship. Let’s just get out of here.”

  Hooper thought it best to end the conversation there and so silently activated the light-speed core and prepared to jump. He plotted the co-ordinates, checked everything was in working order, and started the jump prep. As soon as he thrust the lever forward to enter light-speed, Sims called out from behind him.

  “Colonel, it’s back! It wasn’t a ship. It’s a wormhole!”

  Hooper tried to stop the shuttle. He yanked the lever back as fast as he could, but it was too late. There was nothing he could do. The wormhole formed in front of them just as they entered light-speed. They burst through and came out on the other side seconds later. There was silence. Hooper slowed the shuttle steadily to a stop.

  “Did we just…” Sims mouth was open, his eyes wide.

  “I think so.” Hooper’s face was hard, ready for a fight. “Quick, check your scanners, see if you can get a fix on our location.”

  Sims glanced at the screens in front of him but looked back at Hooper, his face as white as snow.

  “I don’t know where we are. We’re in uncharted space,” he replied gravely.

  Hooper’s mind raced. He had no idea what to do in this situation, but he knew he had to stay in control. He couldn’t afford to panic and lose his mind. He reached for the comm system and set the frequency to broadcast on all channels.

  “This is Colonel Thomas Hooper of the CNS Orion. Is anybody out there receiving this message? I repeat, is anybody out there?”

  Silence.

  “Once again, this is Colonel Thomas Hooper of the CNS Orion. I have been separated from my ship and found myself in unknown territory. Is anybody out there?”

  Silence again.

  “We’re trapped out here, aren’t we?” Sims was struggling to keep the panic out of his voice.

  “Stay calm, this is only a short range comm unit. There could be others near us, they’re just out of range. We need to keep our cool and to put our heads together to think of a solution.”

  Hooper rose to his feet. It was only as he got out of his seat that he got his first real glimpse of what was outside. He saw something floating in the distance. He quickly sat back down and carefully brought the shuttle over to the mysterious object. Ther
e, floating in front of them, was a ship.

  This was easily the largest ship either of them had ever seen. Hooper was struggling to comprehend its size. It was bigger than four or five Exterminator class ships combined. From above, it was shaped like a five-pointed star, with one end pointing forward and two on each side with thrusters on the rear. It was made of a dark steel, made darker by the fact there were no viewports apart from on the uppermost level on the front point. Below the viewports there were a series of large gun barrels, staring menacingly out into the distance. The strangest thing about its appearance was in the middle of the star and on top of the ship, there was a large metallic dome.

  Hooper scanned for signals, hoping to communicate with the mysterious ship. After several failed attempts, he steered the shuttle in closer so he could find a way to board.

  “Are you sure we should be trying to go inside this thing?” There was an edge in Sim’s voice. Terror

  “I don’t see what alternative there is,” Hooper replied.

  A quick glance over the surface of the ship seemed to indicate that the docking bay was sealed behind large, metallic blast doors. There was no way their small recon shuttle was going to be able to force its way inside. Determined not to be denied entry, Hooper flew the shuttle along the ship's surface, looking for any sort of entrance he could use.

  After a frustrating few minutes, he finally located a tiny hatch on the exterior of the ship that looked like it could be opened from the outside. It was just big enough for a man to fit through. He got out of his seat and made his way to the rear of the shuttle where the space suits were kept.

  “Put this on,” he said, throwing one to Sims.

  “I’m not going out there,” Sims argued back.

  “You’re right, you’re not. I am. The thing is, when I open the rear of this shuttle to head over there, all the atmosphere is going out with me.” Hooper popped on his helmet and reached for his Manned-Manoeuvring-Unit. He slung it on over his shoulders, getting used to the weight. Once he was all kitted up, he took a deep breath and approached the rear door.

  “You better strap yourself in,” he suggested to Sims. “Once I am clear, close these doors and make sure you wait for the atmosphere to reset before you take off your suit. My comm unit in here is linked to this shuttle. I’ll be able to contact you once I’m inside.”

  Sims strapped himself into his seat and gave a shaky thumbs up to indicate everything was okay. Hooper closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and opened the doors. He was sucked out instantly into the cold depths of space while Sims clung to his seat for dear life inside the shuttle. Hooper let himself drift away for a few seconds, before using the MMU to gain control of his momentum. H fired a few short bursts of air to stop himself from spinning and then directed himself towards the hatch.

  He hit the side of the ship at speed and grasped the locking wheel to steady himself. Once he was settled, he spun the wheel as hard as he could. At first, it refused to budge. Hooper tensed his muscles and with a loud grunt and a lot of effort he successfully managed to turn the wheel around and unlock the hatch. It flung open, and the atmosphere from inside the room came gushing out. Hooper waited patiently for it all to exit before he slid through the hatch and shut it tight behind him.

  Once the hatch was securely tightened behind him, he heard the hiss of the air being pumped back into the room. He waited anxiously until the readout on the inside of his helmet told him that the air was breathable, and then removed his helmet.

  “I’m inside.”

  “What’s it like in there?” Sims asked. Hooper was relieved to hear his voice. It meant Sims hadn’t been sucked out of the shuttle. He found the man irritating but he sure as hell didn’t want to be alone out here.

  “I’ve entered into some sort of emergency exit, not a lot here except hazard lights and some writing on the wall that I don’t understand.”

  “Do you think it’s an alien ship? Vracken? Simillian? Enorri?”

  “Well, it’s certainly not human. I can usually recognise Vracken or Enorri text, and I’m fairly sure the Simillian don’t write like this. This doesn’t seem like any language I know.”

  Hooper crept out from the emergency exit and found himself standing in the middle of an immaculate corridor. Everything was a painfully bright white. The floor, walls, doors; everything looked shiny and new. He took in a deep breath. The air smelt sanitised, like being in a hospital. When he moved, his footsteps squeaked and echoed down the hallways eerily, but no one came to investigate the noise. He made his way down the long, empty corridor and found what he assumed to be an elevator at the end.

  “There’s no one here.”

  “So?”

  “So, a ship this size, it should have a crew of thousands. I haven't encountered a single soul so far. The power still seems to be on, though.”

  “Well, the lack of crew might explain why they are just drifting out here. Perhaps they got sucked through a wormhole too and got stuck out here,” Sims suggested, the fear creeping back into his voice.

  “I’d still expect to see some signs of occupation or bodies. I’ve found an elevator; I reckon this can take me to the large dome on top of the ship. If anyone is on board, that seems like a good place to check.”

  “What about the viewports at the front? If I were to guess, I’d say that looks like the bridge.”

  “You said it yourself, this ship isn’t moving. No reason to believe anyone is controlling it anymore.”

  Hooper entered the elevator and pressed the button at the top, guessing this would take him to the highest level. The doors swept shut in front of him and he stumbled as the elevator lurched upwards through all the levels of the ship. It came to a sudden stop and the doors opened, revealing a great room on the other side.

  Hooper stepped out in awe. He’d been right. The elevator had taken him up to the dome, but what was inside… he didn’t quite know how to explain.

  The dome was huge. It was dimly lit, very spacious, and the walls were all lined with screens. Hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands of monitors, all of which were currently turned off. The floor was made of stone tiles and white, crumbling marble pillars mapped out a path from where Hooper was stood at one end of the dome to a raised platform in the middle. He followed this path and as he got closer to the platform, he saw an old throne made of stone in the middle of it. Slumped on the throne, wearing an incredibly shiny and eccentric looking crown, was a corpse.

  “I’ve found a body. It looks like it’s been dead for some time.”

  “Where are you? What species is it?”

  “It looks human,” Hooper approached the body and inspected it. “Male. No clear indication of the cause of death. If I had to guess, I would presume he starved. The body hasn’t deteriorated as you would expect, though. This dome must have altered the decaying process somehow.”

  “How would it do that?”

  “No idea. This place is far from ordinary. The man seems to be wearing green robes, similar to the sort the Transcendents wear.” Hooper leant in closer to inspect the body. “The robes have the name Walker written on the breast, maybe he was some sort of missionary who got lost.”

  “The Transcendents don’t usually travel alone. Maybe there are others aboard.”

  “He’s the only one I’ve found so far. It looks like he died while sitting on a throne and while wearing what looks like a crown. It’s all so strange. This dome, it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before. It looks more like an ancient ruin than a room on a ship”

  “Wait, what? Did you say he’s wearing a crown?”

  “Yes. Never seen one like this before but it’s certainly a crown.”

  Hooper lifted the crown from the corpse to inspect it in greater detail. The main body was made up of three silver rings with text engraved along them, written in the same mysterious language Hooper had seen on the lower decks. The front consisted of three golden, spikes. They had a peculiar pattern carved into them and were sharp to the
touch.

  He held the crown out in front of his face, gave it a blow to free it of any dust from the corpse, and then gently placed it down on his head. As soon as it touched his scalp, everything changed. A surge ran through his body. His eyes shot open. His mind was flooded with an endless stream of information. All of the monitors that lined the walls flickered like a thousand rectangular stars bursting to life. The room was flooded by the images they showed.

  “Sims?”

  “Yes, Colonel?”

  “I know where we are. I can get us back home.”

  One Year Later

  Chapter Two

  The Valkyrie came out of its light jump and skimmed past an asteroid, missing it by a few meters at best, before continuing to speed on towards a spinning cluster of others ahead.

  “Did you really have to plot a jump that brought us out by an asteroid?” Griffin barked.

  “Sorry, Cap’n. We were in a hurry.” Danny kept his head down, focussed on his terminal at the back of the cockpit.

  “We could have died!”

  “My apologies. I have some more bad news, though. They followed us through.”

  Griffin cursed. He’d hoped that they’d jumped far enough ahead of their pursuers that they wouldn’t be scanned and followed. Clearly, that was not the case. He aimed towards another asteroid and missed it narrowly, hoping it would aid their escape somehow.

  “The asteroids are too far apart and too small,” Danny shouted across the cockpit, knowing what his Captain was thinking. “They won’t slow them down at all.”

  “I didn’t ask for your advice. I asked for you to navigate us out of Confederation Space so they would stop following us.”

  “Sorry, Cap’n.”

  The Valkyrie skimmed past another asteroid.

  “They’re still gaining on us, Cap’n.”

  “What? How is that possible? We’re faster!”

  “With the damage done to our engine, we cannot achieve maximum speed,” Danny tapped his screens as he spoke, not looking up as he analysed the damage. “Besides, she is only a small vessel after all. She’s not built for this kind of haul.”