Allies and Enemies Duology - Dust Shadow Insurgence #5 & Allies From Dust #6
Dust Shadow Insurgence: Prologue: Kars and Davin

This has been edited and divided into The Dust Shadow Insurgence and Allies from Dust. It will be on Kindle Vella for the next year then will come back when I move them to my Amazon Page. Thanks for supporting my sc

Karstien was sitting in front of his fireplace thinking, he felt so alone. Davin, Ezra, and their families were overseas for the holidays. Two years ago, his world had been so different. Two years ago today, he and Daisy had headed into the city for a day with friends and their families. Since then he had defeated his brother again, saved his people, become a prince, been reunited with his father, lost his best friend, and found eternal love. His princess would be waiting for him on their people’s home world. His father would already be on his way here to get him, just a few more years.

He smiled watching the fire, and as he dozed off, his heart thanked Daisy for all she had done to change his world... He heard a sound and opened his eyes. He was standing in a room made of light. He was wearing his ancient bone and gold armor. He heard a giggle and turned around. Smiling, Daisy was standing there in a lavender dress and the Oracle stone amulet. Her hair hung to her waist. She looked so different as she hugged him.

“How? Where?” he stammered into her hair, hugging her back. “I thought you were dead?”

“It’s the Room of Light, I told you about. There is no time here, so when your heart called, the stone brought us both here.... I can stay and answer any questions you have. And NNnooooooo, I am not dead yet,” Daisy answered laughing lightly. Karstien laughed, hugging her tightly.

“What do you want to know first?” she grinned up at him and pulled him over to a bench he had not noticed before.

"Uhm, tell me about my sister."

Hours later Karstien awoke and yawned, the fire was burned out. He smiled as the magic faded from his eyes. Daisy had been happy while she was alive, he would miss her. She and his father had done so much and Allura was waiting for him. The news about the war on the dark towers concerned him greatly. He had missed much and had so much to do once he went to Aetheria, but he had something to look forward to. His sister was waiting to meet him aboard his father’s star ship, however Daisy had grinned mischievously when she had told him that, so he wondered what other surprise she had sent to him.

Hours earlier, Daisy had risen from her sleeping sarcophagus and went to the healing bed to recover. Later, she shifted in her sleep as she awoke from the visit to the Room of Light. She almost felt bad about deceiving Karstien about where she was, about ‘when’ she was, and that she was alive.... Almost felt bad... She couldn’t wait to surprise him. Just about a year until they arrived.

On the Hunter, beyond the Sun’s system, Vole stretched as he woke up. After running his hand through his silver blond hair, which made it fluffy and stick up in every direction. It was very long now, and he wanted to cut it off. He rubbed his silver eyes. He hated the sleeping sarcophagi they used for long space flights. He looked as his wrist comm, something was wrong. He was awake 109 days early.

“Good Morning, Vole!” the Oracle Lady Daisy’s super cheerful voice greeted him.

“By the light, Lady Daisy, it’s too early!” he moaned. He was not a morning person, unlike most Aetherians, especially after a 50-year night. Shadz’s laughter echoed to him in the quiet of the Hunter. Vole sat up. His brother guardsman was lying in a healing bed, reading a tablet.

“Get up, pretty girl,” Shadz said in his detached tone, smirking. His long black hair already neatly brushed, and his rusty red eyes bright and alert.

“Make me, Stone cold,” Vole growled as he decided he hated his brother guardsman at that moment. He was too groggy to care that they had been friends for almost 500 years.

“Children...” Daisy scolded. But she was smiling as she held her hands out to him.

The tiny oracle helped Vole to a healing bed even though she was over a foot shorter than he. As she steadied him, he looked over to the other sarcophagi, the Guardian and the Healer were still asleep. As soon as she had him settled into a healing bed and set the golden healing lights, he was dozing.

Later, when Vole woke up his strength had returned, Shadz was stretching beside his bed. The Oracle was nowhere in sight.

“Should we wake the Guardian?” Vole asked as he rose.

“That depends,” Shadz reached above his head, and his shoulder popped. He grimaced as he said, “Whose temper do you fear more?”

“Good point,” Vole responded, stretching out his muscles too, “Why are we awake this soon?”

Shadz flipped him a tablet, answering, “I am not sure, but I think the Oracle found something.”

Vole’s silver eyes skimmed over the scans, there was a very distinct pattern to the energy form. One he had known his whole life growing up as a fisherman’s grandson. He dressed then he cut his hair, hating the way it grew during hibernation.

“Is this accurate?” Vole asked as he accepted the strong tea Shadz offered.

“I think that is what we are awake to verify. She won’t tell me what she thinks she found until we figure it out. What do you think it is?” Shadz said, finishing his cup.

“A wake,” Vole answered as he did the same.

“A what?” Shadz questioned. Together, they walk through the ship toward the bridge.

“When a ship moves through water, it leaves a visible surface displacement called a wake. This appears to be the same thing in the ambient background energy of the galactic plane,” Vole explained.

“Could we be seeing the energy wake of the Tear?” Shadz asked.

“I doubt it. No way, she would wake us up for that. She found something else. Any idea of how long she has been awake?” Vole questioned. Shadz shrugged.

They both knew the Oracle had a history of short sleeping while on long space flights. She would wake up and work or not sleep at all. Once, she had actually pushed herself almost to the point of death obsessively working alone, at least now she was asking for help. The bridge of the Hunter was busy for only having one person awake and working. A half dozen programs were running.

The Oracle Lady Daisy looked up at them and smiled, “Hello boys,” she said cheerfully. “What do you think we found?”

“It looks like a wake, Daisy. But of what?” Vole answered, he was one of the few younger Aetherians who would call the Oracle by just her name.

“The darkness moving?” Shadz inquired.

“Or from when it moved through this section of space before?” Vole asked.

“I don’t know. Perhaps. We know the darkness was here before. You two get to figure out this puzzle. What it is, where is it going, and is it coming back? And why can we see it here and not back home?” she looked at them intensely, “Aren’t you glad you both studied so hard to excel in my little classes?”

“I like puzzles,” Shadz declared grinning. Vole groaned, “I hate puzzles.”

Shadz just smirked at him. Vole hated surprises, mysteries, and puzzles. That’s why he became a navigator, Point A to Point B, equations and logic. Shadz on the other hand, understood magic and could easily think outside the box. They were the perfect team to work on this while she worked on other things. Daisy eyed them mischievously, knowing they couldn’t resist the challenge. Just over three months to go until they reached Terrearth again.

Davin was sitting as in his office in Epoch Research Industries. He was prepping for a presentation to global government officials and research industry leaders on the tech advancements that had come from the schematics Daisy had sent forward from ancient Aetheria. They were so unlike any current technology that all developments were exclusive to Epoch R.I.. It had made the company wealthy and envied. When scientific media wanted to do interviews, Davin handled all of it. The story he told was the elusive Dr. Cane was on sabbatical while travelling the world, and impossible to reach. It helped quell the interview request questions but everyone wanted to know how they were doing it.

Kars Adams remained behind the scenes using his identity as the herpetologist from Borneo who now ran all Cretaceous Creatures Inc operations. Ezra Ferrell just kept up his project manager status for research and developments.

Meara Garrett and Cierra Garrett-Jeong worked for ERI. Meara had graduated high school a year early and had started attending college and working as an intern. Meara had almost taken over Ezra and Davin’s jobs doing research and development. She was a natural. The discipline the young Mazoni had learned as a warrior had carried over into her work. She worked long and hard when she wasn’t in school, it didn’t leave time for a social life, but she rarely dated. Occasionally, she dragged Kars to a Rave Party for an all-nighter of dancing and stress relief. Meara had told her older sisters that their work was just too important, she could have a life later. Only the most trusted employees, cleared by Jon remained in R&D. The Aetherian tech Daisy had sent with them from the past was changing the world, what of it they could understand enough to reverse engineer. Almost daily, Davin really missed Daisy and her unique mind. He scowled at his empty coffee cup, he needed a refill and he needed to finish this project.

Davin was finalizing the power point when everything froze, and his email server opened. It pinged, as the cursor moved on its own and opened an email. It read “Can you keep a secret?” in giant 108-point letters with a smiley emoticon at the end.

“What the freak?!?” Davin exclaimed and then an unmistakable giggle came from his speakers. “Oh... my... gawd... Daisy! Is that you?”

A skype window opened, and she was grinning at him.

“We are early. Surprise! I hacked you! Kaleth and I will be there from ‘Borneo’ in two days. Wink Wink!” Daisy announced in her super cheerful voice. She made air quotes around the word Borneo. She had obviously caught up on the cover story of her elusive life as a world traveler.

“What the freak!?... How?... Why aren’t you dead?” Davin gasped. He was having trouble finding words to express his surprise.

Daisy laughed, “That’s 2.” Davin could hear Kaleth laughing in the background.

“Two what?” Davin asked.

“We are wondering how many people will ask me why I am not dead yet,” she giggled, she sounded so different from the person he remembered. She sounded happy.

“Well?” Davin demanded.

“Well, what?” she asked too innocently. Her lavender eyes wide as she blinked a him. He groaned.

“Why the freak aren’t you dead yet?” he asked in frustration and curiosity. She turned her head and held up her caramel and chocolate colored hair for a moment. Davin’s jaw dropped, her ears looked just like Karstien’s ears.

“We have a lot to talk about. But don’t tell anyone we’re early. It’s a surprise... I’ll ping you tomorrow. Say 4ish? You’ve got mail. Bye, Davin...” She grinned, waving at him, and signed off. Daisy hasn’t changed very much in appearance but in every other way she was different.

All the windows she had opened closed. His inbox said he had one new email. He opened it, it was a new spaceship design with a faster than light propulsion system! He gaped. There are two smaller ship designs and portal generating devices and advances in communications. A second folder was simply titled TOWERS. Its contents reminded him of everything he had hoped to never see again, to never feel again, to never fear again. There was a single line on a notepad.

“Davin, Welcome back to the war, sorry.

PS Bring coffee... it’s been a long 400 years without it! D.”

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