Echoes [Ghosts of Spectra Book 1] (Spectra Fanfic Version)

16: A Doomed World

"Alright, everyone out," waved the black irva, emerging from the helicopter. "We've got to talk about what just happened."

"Okay, first of all, I think we need to know who you are. You're clearly not civilian," huffed Amaki.

"Let's not discuss this out in the open like this," the irva suggested. "There's a bunch of abandoned buildings in this town; we can talk in one of them. Don't know who might be listening out here."

The group nodded in agreement, and followed him into a nearby building; a deli with a red sign sat on the front and said "CLOSED." The door was ajar already; the irva ignored the sign, and ducked inside to find a slightly dusty interior. It hadn't been abandoned for long, but it had definitely been a few days since anyone had been in here.

The group arranged themselves in a circle in the center of the room, not bothering to sit down at any of the tables.

"Okay, nox, you raise a fair point," said the irva. "I kinda owe you an explanation as to who I am. But first of all, who are all of you?"

Amaki grunted. "Fine. I'm Amaki, resident programmer and tech nerd."

With that, the irva continued to glance around the room, looking at each member of the group in turn.

Raxin looked back at him. "We already made our introductions in the cockpit, but I'm Raxin. I'm a mercenary and try to keep these folks out of danger, a truly futile endeavor."

Mally followed. "I'm Mally. I was a scientist at the facility back there. I brought the others back to it to check for survivors."

"I'm Nari," nodded the purple dahmak. "Vaulter by trade, but that's kinda been upended by this whole Phage thing."

"And I'm Visk," her partner finished. "I'm Nari's traveling companion."

"You mentioned some sort of 'phage?'" asked the dark irva, looking back at Nari.

She glanced back at the way they'd came. "Yeah. That's what we call that infection thing that was eating up the facility."

"Ah, ok," replied the irva. "Anyway, I'm Nirrixan, inquisitor of the Irvagaleni Empire. I'm on a mission to investigate this...Phage."

Raxin glared at Nirrixan, a look of distrust on his face. "You're one of those types, aye?"

"If you don't like the fact that I'm an Imperial official, remember our goals are the same," he stated firmly. "We both want to stop the Phage from spreading."

"Fair enough," he said, leaning back and tipping his sunglasses. "So what's the deal here? What do you want from us?"

"I've spent the past week trying to figure out a way to significantly damage the Phage," Nirrixan sighed. "And it seems like you lot have stumbled into the answer."

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"Okay, here's the deal," the inquisitor began. "Right now, this Phage has been spotted in several places across the galaxy. Everywhere it's been, it's the same story - small swarms of the stuff show up, start growing in frequency, then settle down after a few days and start making all those crystals and deforming their surroundings. It's like they're eating up the world around them."

Nari and Visk visibly winced at that information. It wasn't just localized to here.

After a moment, Nari looked at Nirrixan, an expression of concern plastered across her face. "How many planets have been reported to have Phage on them?"

The inquisitor held a hand up against his chin. "Hmm...I think 12 or 13?"

Nari thought back to Sanctuary, and the number of portals in the portal hall she'd entered. She knew there were two rows of Tears in there, and she thought there were about 8 or 9 columns. A total of around 16-18, quite close to the number Nirrixan had.