Phantoms

Copyright Page

PHANTOMS

Starfire Angels Revelations Book 2

By M. A. Nilles

Phantoms is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters, names, places, or incidents to reality is pure coincidence.

Phantoms, Part 1: Shadows Rising

E-book Copyright © 2013 by Melanie Nilles

Phantoms, Part 2: Secret Empire

E-book Copyright © 2013 by Melanie Nilles

Cover by Melanie Nilles

Cover image: ID 246659851 © Philcold | Dreamstime.com

Published by Prairie Star Publishing; Bismarck, North Dakota.

All Rights Reserved.

For information, contact Melanie Nilles at melanie_nilles@yahoo.com or check www.melanienilles.com for updates.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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Phantoms

Copyright Page

Table of Contents

Part 1: Shadows Rising

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Part 2: Secret Empire

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Other Books by M.A. Nilles/Melanie Nilles

About the Author

PART 1: SHADOWS RISING

Chapter 1

Great moons of Iros! That couldn't be real.

Nare stared at the holographic globe of Earth hovering over the round console before her.

Daris should have left well enough alone and never run the scan.

Next to her, his black-gloved hands froze over the controls. His face drained of color in stark contrast to the black Shirukan uniform he wore as he stared at the numerous pinpoints of red dotting the semitransparent sphere.

Coulter? Anita stood with her back to them at the front of the command deck, her attention on the real Earth floating serenely outside the hexagonal sections of the forward viewport.

After a few seconds of silence, she turned towards them, looking worse for the wear she had endured. Short blonde hair stuck out at odd angles and dirt smudged the sharp lines of her face. She looked like she'd been in a war zone wearing the rumpled gray suit with the black outdoor jacket over it that had been creaseless not eight hours ago, before their fight with the Shirukan now in the brig. And then there was the fist-sized hole with the burned edges exposing the healed gouge in one thigh where she took a pulse blast from Daris as part of his deception. In that light, she was worse off than Nare.

What's that? Anita asked with a note of caution in her voice.

Next to Nare, Daris tucked his dark brown wings close to his back, looking distinctly uncomfortable. Starfire radiation.

In a wary voice, Anita said, Tell me they're Keepers.

Unknown. I was looking for the possibility of more Shirukan.

All right. Nare could forgive him for that reason. With nineteen other Keepers on Earth, knowing how many of the murderous Shirukan were on the planet would be useful. But this was beyond useful. There couldn't be that many.

Anita stepped towards them, the lines of her middle-aged face deepening in concern. How many?

Daris touched a few keys. Inari symbols circled the image and stabilized. After a second, his eyes met Nare's. Hundreds.

Crystal fire! Nare wouldn't believe it if she hadn't watched him enter the parameters of the scan.

Inari? Nare pointed to a reading of species that clearly wasn't indicative of Inari, or anything familiar, for that matter. Maybe the scanners had been affected when he purposely damaged the other console to trick the Shirukan.

Brown eyes met hers, and he hesitated a moment before answering, Inconclusive.

Inconclusive? What does that mean?

Take us down, Anita said, and give me a contact with General Dalton in Wyoming. He needs to know we're coming.

Yes, ma'am.

No. The word jumped from Nare's lips before she stopped to consider her reasons.

Daris turned, only his eyes on that otherwise calm expression revealing a question on his mind.

They were in a Shirukan vessel orbiting Earth and she was a Crystal Keeper. After the last few days of trying and failing to save a young Keeper from being fully assimilated by the Starfire, learning that Heffin's Gate had been destroyed, and now seeing hundreds of points of Starfire radiation on Earth—points that might not be from Inari—after fighting the Shirukan for control of that vessel, Nare didn't feel like submitting to questioning by the humans. But she didn't feel like going into details to argue with Anita either.

No, she said more confidently. We need Saffir. If these are Keepers, she'll know. She gazed through the glowing sphere at Anita. Crystal Keeper Saffir sent me and the others to escape persecution by the Shirukan seven Earth years ago. We've had no contact with any others. If others came, she can tell us. If not… she will still be able to help.

Anita's jaw hardened and she slammed her hands on the console edge. This is a matter of the United Sta—

"No, Agent Cross. This is a matter of the Starfire. Our Starfire. Us— Nare pointed from her to Daris and back. The Inari," she finished.

With his hands still at the console around the holographic Earth projection, Daris looked from her to Anita.

The woman's jaw shifted and she crossed her arms, a glint of irritation reflecting in her eyes. And what do you think we should do, Coulter?

Brown wings shifted at his back and he dropped his eyes to the controls before him.

Sure, throw the decision at him with the unspoken threat of her authority as his supervisor. Anita should just get off his case. He had come to Earth to escape service to the Shirukan, the deadly meistal soldiers of the Shirat Empire, Inari with Starfire in them but no Starburst marks to use the power as Keepers could. Now, the humans he had spent his time serving demanded his loyalty to them as the Shirukan had. He needed to think for himself.

Let's go home, Coulter… Daris. Nare had to correct herself. Coulter was his human name. He had introduced himself as Agent Coulter, but he really was Corou Daris. Time to acknowledge that.

When he turned, she caught a sad look in his eyes and something more.

Coulter… Anita stepped around from the other side, straightening that tall, slender figure with an air of authority. Take us down to the Wyoming base.

Shadows danced on his cheeks and he dropped his eyes to the console.

Hoping to sway him and express her sympathy to whatever he must have endured as a pawn of the humans, Nare reached out and clasped her fingers around his black-gloved hand. How long has it been?

A long time, he said quietly.

That makes two of us.

He shook his head and took her fingers in his as if needing to grasp something familiar. It's not that easy for me, he murmured.

Why? You were Shirukan. You're not anymore. The Shirukan had been used specifically to kill Keepers with the goal of obtaining all the shards of the Starfire Crystal. Her acceptance and trust should count for more than anyone's, since she was a Crystal Keeper, the most valuable of their prey. He had to realize that.

He pinched her fingertips in his. It's not that.

She waited for an explanation, but he said nothing more.

With the Shirat Empire's biggest threat destroyed, they couldn't retain their influence. He had nothing to fear, if that's why he hesitated.

He didn't know.

It's gone, Daris.

He looked up, his brow furrowed in question.

Soriel confirmed it—Heffin's Gate is destroyed. In the silence, Nare held her breath. She wanted to go home, but he was the one flying the ship. This was her last card to play to convince him.

Are you certain?

Anita didn't have to sound so doubtful.

Nare's blue wings ruffled behind her but she took a breath and refused to take her eyes off Daris when she said, Soriel was in contact with the Starfire, and they knew that Raea destroyed the machine with their power. That's what gave me the idea to destroy NeoGen Labs. Heffin's Gate is gone, but Soriel warned that there's another threat. If this is what he meant…

After a deep breath, Daris gave a nod and his wings relaxed. All right, he said in a tone of defeat.

She squeezed his fingers in an effort to push aside whatever bothered him. You're not alone.

He stared at her in a way that sent a blush from inside rising to her face, and she looked down at their hands. Self-consciousness made her slide her hand away and fidget.

Something about him intrigued her since he had caught her in the air after she destroyed the NeoGen Labs building. The moment he grabbed her hands in his, before he ever donned the gloves, something linked between them, but the way he had numbed her arms by pressing his fingertips into her wrists and had then agreed to take her prisoner for Tarolis had killed any curiosity. Proving himself to be an ally after pissing her off should have turned her off, but there was something about him, and something in the way he looked at her, especially in that instant, that tugged at her curiosity and her sympathy.

Nare shook the thought away with a flimsy smile meant to hide her unease.

Don't you dare!

We will return after learning more, Agent Cross, Nare said matter-of-factly. Earth isn't prepared to deal with this. You're going to need assistance, if this is something bigger than the Shirat Empire.

Anita gave her a dark look. You will not open that portal, Miss Kaershon.

Crystal Keeper Nare, she corrected and caught a sideways smile from Daris that warmed her in his amusement. He understood her point, but he was Inari. That was something Anita would never be and probably hated. In that situation, Anita was the outsider.

Nare stepped around the round control station into the open center of the triangle of three such stations.

A crescent of the blue Earth loomed in the forward view. She couldn't open a portal there. Or she could, but she didn't want to risk being so close.

Turn us away. I'll set up the portal in open space.

Wait. Now?

Irritation shuddered through Nare at Anita's questioning of their every move. You have no authority here, Agent Cross. Sit down and shut up. If I lose concentration… well, remember what nearly happened in the brig a little while ago, and then imagine us disintegrating completely.

She sounded far more confident then she felt. The memory of her near-fatal mistake lingered as a shadow of doubt in her mind. Hopefully it worked in the woman's.

Agent Daris Coulter, Anita said in a sharp voice. If you know what's best for you, you will take us down.

Nare held her breath. If he listened to that woman, they'd never find the answers they sought. This was bigger than Earth or Inar'Ahben alone, but at least their people had experience in these matters to give them a better chance of facing whatever threat might be spreading.

He gave Anita a cool look of defiance and returned his attention to the console and holographic images. You should sit down, Agent Cross, he said, his hands moving over the controls.

Finally. Now, Nare could get to work taking them home.

Scowling, Anita did as he suggested while the blue crescent slid away from their view.

Enjoy the ride, Nare said while finding the resonance. You're going to see our world. You can't tell me you're not curious.

Anita made no further objections, which only confirmed that the woman was indeed curious.

Now for the task. The resonance, that perfect pitch of the Starfire's energy activating, warmed through Nare. Through it, she connected with the entities of her shard. They reached out to their home dimension, which filled her with a sense of vastness encompassing all of space and beyond. It would have overwhelmed her if not for her training years ago. Sure, she hadn't had a shard to practice with, but Saffir herself had taught Keepers to listen and feel through the connection. The entities guided her now, as they had a couple nights ago, and a sense of curiosity and satisfaction flowed from them to her. Through the immensity of the universe, she focused on the feeling of home and found Starfire Tower floating in the sky over the watery homeworld. Her whole being ached to be there again and the energy poured out to connect the two points in space through the overlapping dimensions.

In the forward view, a black ball formed to blot out the stars. Flashes of energy encircled it as it expanded and popped to form a vortex of infinite black. She focused the Starfire's power on enlarging the portal surrounded by the energy discharge.

It grew wider, blotting out the stars.

A little more, Daris said.

The entities of her crystal guided her, and she lost herself in the freedom of oneness with no sense of her body. Their thoughts passed through her, merging and flowing in harmony.

We're clear.

At the distant awareness of his words, she focused on holding the portal. While she stood immersed in the resonance and the connection with the realm of the Starfire entities and their knowledge, where space was nonexistent and connected to everything, a moment passed in which she was aware of nothing but them.

In that instant, a familiar presence blossomed into gratitude so profound she would have caught her breath if she had a body.

Soriel!

In a blink, his essence darkened into a warning: "Beware the phantoms."

Phantoms?

Soriel's image materialized in her mind. Blue hair and wings darker than her own coalesced from her memory. They are not what they appear. His warning passed through her and vanished.

Replaced by a scene not of her memories…

*

A bright light surrounded the view source. Beyond it loomed blackness. Steps echoed as if inside a large cavern.

[The Yulea were always a peaceful race,] a woman said in Inari, her scornful voice reminiscent of Anita's.

[Until the Resthit came to their world, Linnae,] a second woman corrected in a gentle but firm tone.

[But the Yulea rallied and defeated the invaders. No one has heard from them since.]

[True, but for more than a hundred of our years the Yulea have only grown more warlike. Their threat makes them no better than others before them. We must defend this world.]

The two women stepped into the light. One of them gazed upon the view source with brown eyes matching the long hair pulled back from her face and cascading over her shoulders. She wore a delicate white blouse and red jacket with a high collar.

The other came into view with black hair and wide-set, deep blue eyes matching the flightsuit she wore. [And now they threaten our world?] The voice belonged to the first speaker, Linnae.

The woman with brown hair and sharp features cut by the glare of the light dropped her shoulders. [We cannot allow this. This crystal can save us much trouble.]

[The Starfire? Heffin's Gate?] The black-haired woman's face moved closer. [How will this protect us?]

["It was not only for the sake of travel that Matres Heffin Sarees designed this machine, but also for the defense of this world, as you're aware."]

Linnae straightened, her face contorting into disgust. [You speak of murder.]

[No, of preventing it. You must convince the rest of the Council to stop the Yulea if they pursue this aggression.]

[I won't!] The black-haired woman took a breath and recomposed herself. [Please pardon my honesty, Lady Alisha, but they were our trading partners for four hundred years. There must be another way. This isn't like us. Once we cross that line, we become them, as they became those they defeated. Where will it stop?]

Brown wings shifted over a flowing red gown matching the red jacket. Lady Alisha pursed her lips briefly before relaxing. [It is my duty to lead this world. We are not the aggressors. The Yulea come for us, for this—] She turned to the view source and Linnae followed her eyes. [Councilor, if we do nothing, our world will not survive. I can order the Starfire activated without the action of the full council, but I would prefer solidarity. We have not the resources to withstand an assault. This is our defense. With luck, once will be all that is needed to convince them to retreat.]

Both stared at the crystal for a long while, until Linnae frowned and the shadow of her black wings sank behind her.

[Will you do it?] Alisha asked.

Linnae swallowed and brushed black hair behind her ear, her lips pressed into a hard line. [I will not oppose your decision, but neither do I approve.]

[Fair enough.]

Linnae's wings ruffled behind her and she twisted to take in the larger cavern of the chamber around them. [Why did you bring me here?]

A hint of a smile played on the lady's lips, and she tilted her head towards the view source. [To test the reaction of the Starfire. The colors swirl at times and now they are calm.]

*

WE AGREED TO PROTECT. The approval startled Nare, but it came in meaning from the entities rather than words.

She blinked with her eyes and gasped as air filled her lungs.

Through the view ahead, blue sky spread around a trio of white towers connected by skywalks at every level.

Dear God! Anita said.

Nare caught her breath and smiled. Her light-blue wings ached to fly in the sky of Inar'Ahben again.

But what was the vision about? The women didn't speak of phantoms but of protecting their world using Heffin's Gate, which was now destroyed after six thousand years since its completion. Was it a warning that they might need the power of the Starfire to protect their world? In her meditations, the Starfire entities had shown her other memories from before they were left on Earth. Perhaps this was one more piece of their past they simply wished to share.

Which left her with the present situation to resolve.

They're contacting us, Daris announced from behind her.

Nare returned to his side, ignoring Anita's awed stare and pushing aside thoughts of the vision to focus on the present. What do they want?

Daris pulled an oblong device from a groove on the console and handed it to her. She pressed the cold metal of the tri-comm along her cheek and tapped it on.

Immediately, an image appeared before her of a woman with dark brown wings and her hair pulled from her face to reveal a critical gaze. Nare recognized that face, but those lips used to form a mischievous crook.

[Starfire Tower,] Nare said. [This is Kaershon Nare. It's good to be home.]

The woman's jaw dropped in the life-sized image before her, an image the others couldn't see since it was a result of connecting directly with her optical nerves as the sound would to her auditory nerves. [Nare. What are you doing on a Shirukan vessel? How did you—]

[Long story, Kandiri. We need permission to land… and I'll need a security team.] In the excitement to return home and the distraction of the vision, she had almost forgotten about Tarolis and the other Shirukan in the brig, although they could rot there as far as Nare was concerned, and that was still more merciful than what they deserved. [Notify Crystal Keeper Saffir, please.]

[She'll be glad to see you.] The woman made a few adjustments on something outside the scanned image. [You're cleared on Platform Two, but you can't land. That warship is too big. You'll have to berth and leave it hovering until we can move it. I'll have a security team meet you there.]

[Got it. Thank you. Nare out.]

She pulled off the tri-comm and handed it back to Daris, who replaced it in the console. [We're good to berth at Platform Two.]

He gave a nod and glanced back at Anita, who looked like she had bitten off something distasteful.

[She understands,] he said. [The agency decoded our language generations ago.]

[Oh?] That was news to her, although not surprising. [Then she should have no problems getting around.]

[Easier to understand than speak.]

Yeah. She had felt that way about English upon her arrival on Earth, but this was different. Anita's understanding would be sufficient for the short time she would be on Inar'Ahben.

Daris piloted them smoothly around the towers stationed two miles over the watery surface of the planet. In the hologram over the console before him, the shadow that was their ship circling to the platform jutting out from Tower Two of the trio of connected towers hovering in the air. If she didn't know better, she'd swear Kandiri was clairvoyant. The infirmary was in Tower Two.

Nare glanced back at Anita, but the woman sat still and kept her mouth shut, a welcome change.

As the ship lowered to the platform, the white, rounded outer wall of Tower Two rose over them outside the viewport. A small cargo ship or transport could easily have landed, but the warship dwarfed that platform several times over.

Daris's wings tightened behind him as he maneuvered the ship in a way she wasn't expecting—the loading ramp was beneath the ship, but he didn't line up the platform with it. When the side of the platform was level with the side of their deck, he finally looked up with a coy grin. Command deck hatch.

Convenient and unexpected, but she wasn't familiar with warship layouts. Good thing he was. Lead the way. She stretched her arm towards the door behind on their right.

After entering a series of commands at the console, he pulled out a small crystal point and tucked it into one of his pockets.

Upon catching her eyes on him, he said, The data to analyze.

In her excitement to return home, she had almost forgotten.

Anticipation sparked through her, hurrying her towards the doorway from the command deck to the corridor, where she caught the frame and peeked back. It's been eight years. I'm not getting any younger. Let's go, people! Whatever the Starfire wanted her to know could wait. Home beckoned.

Nare barely restrained herself from racing through the corridor like a child at an amusement park but stopped at a rectangular hatch near the transport tube. Is this it?

With Anita close behind, Daris caught up to her and touched a key on the pad near the hatch. The doors parted aside to a small chamber with another door opposite. That definitely looked like an airlock. Her insides squirmed. She was seconds away from breathing their air, setting her eyes on their home, tasting their food. Earth had been an adventure, but the thrill had waned.

Daris joined her at the door and put his hand to the pad. The door didn't open. She opened her mouth to ask, but he spoke first: Air pressure needs to equalize.

Oh. Right. She knew that.

He looked over his shoulder at Anita. You may feel a little light-headed, Agent Cross. Try not to make any sudden moves.

Why?

Air pressure. We're high above the surface. The air is thinner up here.

If the human passed out, she passed out. He cared more than Nare, but he had worked with Anita for many years. That probably counted for something, just not in Nare's concerns.

While they waited, curiosity burned her mouth with a question. How long were you on Earth?

The muscles along his jaw shifted. Fifteen of their years.

At the calculation that ran in her head, her heart stopped. Fifteen? Crystal fire! That's eighteen years. You poor man. And she thought eight Inari years had been too much.

He glanced aside, but instead of a smile, he swallowed. It was better than the alternative.

The black uniform he wore caught up to her as she remembered what Anita had told them just a day ago, sobering her. I'm sorry. She didn't want to imagine what he had done as a Shirukan that might yet haunt him.

Before he could respond, the door opened, blinding her in the brightness of a clear afternoon sky—temporary given the frequent storms. A short ramp settled on the edge of the landing platform opposite a glaring white wall. Nare stepped down and opened her wings and her arms in presentation.

Welcome, Agent Cross, to Starfire Tower.

Chapter 2

Nare jumped to the bottom of the ramp and breathed deeply the fresh air of Inar'Ahben, her home. It invigorated her with new life, something she sorely needed after the last day of hell. Eight years ago—seven Earth years—Saffir had sent her and the other volunteers to Earth to hide from the threat of the Shirat Empire's purge of Keepers.

Now, that threat was gone, or at least reduced.

And to think she had expected to stay on Earth to protect the shard she now bore. She was a Crystal Keeper. She could go anywhere anytime she wanted.

Along that line of thought, she wondered how Elis and Raea were. They couldn't have returned to Earth yet. Could they? Although several years younger, Raea had been a Crystal Keeper before her and had led her to the shard she wore, which had been hidden for thousands of years on Earth. Raea and Elis, however, had been taken—again—by the Shirukan, and Soriel had said they were safe. Nare couldn't wait to tell Raea about her own adventures the last few days since their wedding.

You're all right? At the concern in Daris's voice, Nare turned.

He stood on the ramp reaching out to the woman, whose knuckles were white from gripping the door frame. The wind ruffled short blonde hair, and ocean blue eyes widened with wonder. When she looked down at the long drop over the edge of the ramp, Anita gasped. Coulter.

Wuss. Nare bit her lip on a smirk and opened her wings slightly.

Take my hand, Daris said. He was far too considerate.

Still clinging to the door frame, Anita reached out one hand to take his. In the next instant, she lunged to grab him. A jolt of jealousy raced through Nare, startling her.

That's a long ways down.

Yes, ma'am. It is, he said with his usual calm.

I never hated heights until now. Anita gasped but finally released her desperate hold on him.

Nare shook her head. Maybe next time Anita felt like harassing them, she would show a little more respect instead.

At the clap of boots growing louder and the way Daris and Anita looked up, Nare turned back to the tower.

A group of five blue-uniformed men and women approached, led by a gold-winged woman with her blonde hair in a braid behind her and a scowl on her face. The group halted before the three of them.

[What is this?] The woman fingered a weapon belted to her waist, her amber eyes cold as ice on Daris.

Upset by the accusatory tone and the way the woman persecuted Daris before even giving them a chance to explain, Nare dropped her hands to her hips. [I should think you would show more respect to a Crystal Keeper.]

Critical eyes studied Nare up and down, threatening to topple her confidence.

[Who are you?] Nare's voice faltered. Security had definitely changed at Starfire Tower since she had left.

[Second Security Chief Nakoyo Tira.] Yellow wings closed behind her. [If you don't like it, you can take it up with Captain Rajeun when he returns.]

A second later, recognition zinged through Nare, overriding her automatic defiant streak at the woman's harsh tone.

[Rajeun Leksel? The Leksel who saved Raea?] According to Raea, Leksel had led the rebels in Naviketan when he had saved her from the Shirukan a few months ago. With his brother Cris and a Shirukan plant in the rebels, he had smuggled her out of the city. He had also risked his life to distract the Shirukan and cover her escape through Saffir's portal to return to Earth and Elis. Nare had been with Elis the night Raea returned.

Golden yellow wings ruffled behind the woman and those eyes narrowed.

[Raea told me about him,] Nare hastened to explain. Apparently respect for Crystal Keepers wasn't the same here either. What had happened while she was gone?

What had happened to her cousin and his mate? [Where is Raea?]

Shadows