Admiral Benice Ilkanis Fost sat at her desk, nursing her cup of articaf. She stared unfocused on the datapad in front of her, and her haggard reflection stared back at her. Her short grey hair was parted wrong. Her face looked sunken. Her eyes were ringed with deep black circles, and the fire in them had dimmed. She felt terrible. The acrid taste of the articaf stung her throat, but it was all that was keeping her going today.

  She hated cryosleep, and this one had been worse than most. Behind her the stars gently rolled by as the habitat ring spun slowly through the void. It made her nauseous. The liquid gently drifted to one side of her cup as the gyro-gravity kept it planted firmly on the desk, but unfortunately it did the same thing to her stomach contents.

  The door chimed again, and she tapped the button to admit them. It slid open, and a young lieutenant appeared in it. She saluted crisply, arm held at a perfect right angle pointed up. Fost motioned for her to be at ease.

  “Report.”

  “Sir…” She began, clearly trying to suppress the emotion in her voice.

  “Out with it lieutenant.” Admiral Fost snapped. The lieutenant instinctively straightened her posture.

  “Sir, Initial astronomical data suggests that we’ve been in suspended animation for roughly 3130 years, with a standard deviation of 3.4 years. Seventy Nine percent of cryo pods were able to be recovered. Two percent are experiencing malfunctions but may be recoverable. Nineteen percent lost. Estimated casualties projected at over two hundred thousand.”

  Fost nodded, mentally tallying up the figures. The lieutenant continued.

  “Currently we’ve begun awakening senior staff and essential personnel, starting with engineering and science staff. We’re opting to keep the civvies frosted until further data is gathered. Thus far, we’ve detected no gravitational wave patterns that would suggest outsider activity in the system, other than the initial graviton burst that was detected 23 standard hours ago.”

  “Has there been any sign of the relief fleet? It was due to be dispatched… some time ago.”

  “N-No sir. Regrettably, there has been no evidence that the relief force entered the system. Thus far there’s no sign of the retreat column. Or any communications from imperial space. Investigations are ongoing.”

  “Very well. You’re dismissed Lieutenant.” Admiral Fost sighed, spinning her chair to look out the window. The junior officer smartly saluted, and turned to leave.

  “And Lieutenant…”

  “Yes Sir?”

  “The next time you come in here, make sure you’ve ironed your uniform correctly. Cryosickness is no excuse for tawdriness.”

  “Y-Yes Sir. Very good sir.”

  Fost allowed herself a small, cruel smile as she watched the panic flash across the face of the young junior officer in the reflection of the window. Outside the dark mass of the moon was gently scrolling past, and beyond she could see a thin blue crescent shining against the black void. Nelby.

  She returned to sipping her coffee, and began reading the initial long range surveys of the planet.

  Kiwai gently glided the sandskimmer to a halt outside the familiar Oasis village, parking it beside several others laying in the sand. The village where he had first met and been “rescued” by the orcs had been resurrected, and was now teeming with red hued figures. The party had travelled northeast now for nearly a week, but their guide had led them well and they were all glad to see the beautiful waters of the oasis again.

  Kiwai had directed them to cover themselves and stay with the sandskimmer, as he went to gather water and supplies for their journey back to Brittle Teeth.

  “Should have taken the loot.” Moktark grumbled. He’d been whinging ever since they arrived about their lost opportunity to loot the village of its valuables. Koruk was beginning to get annoyed. He sat on the edge of the sandskimmer, watching birds swoop and dive towards the oasis. A boat had been launched into the lake from the shore, and a pair of imps were attempting to shoot them down with blunted arrows.

  “We could have been home by now, and rich. No way we can fight through these crowds.” Moktark continued.

  Koruk had a flash of memory. Of masked riders on wolves burning a peaceful village to the ground. Something inside him snapped.

  “Then we will go home poor! Who are we to destroy the homes of these people!? To wipe the smiles off their faces? They didn’t do anything to us.” Koruk growled at Moktark, straining to keep his voice down. Moktark looked taken aback.

  “Just saying, missed opportunities you know?”

  “This whole damn trip was a missed opportunity.” A voice said behind them. Further back in the tent Semthak tossed off his bedroll. “Least you can do is let me get some shut eye.”

  “Plenty of time to sleep when we’re dead old man.”

  “Who you calling old man, you pup!”

  Koruk sighed as Moktark and Semthak began bickering. They’d been at it for days now. Ever since they started the trip home really. Koruk couldn’t say he blamed them. His nerves were frayed too and being stuck in a hot tent while they waited for Kiwai to come back with supplies wasn’t helping.

  “It was a hell of an adventure wasn’t it?” Koruk said, out of the blue. Moktark and Semthak both quieted and looked at him.

  “Yeah, guess it was at that.” Semthak begrudgingly agreed.

  “Just be nice to be going back home with something to show for it.” Moktark added.

  “I don’t think any of us really got what we came on this adventure for. But maybe… maybe that isn’t the point. Maybe there wasn’t a point. Maybe all we’re bringing back is the memories, the experience. We can say, I saw the black temple of the red men. I went further than any orc ever did before, and saw things no orc ever did. I think that matters. We’ve all grown a bit stronger, I think.”

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  Koruk’s two companions sat in silence for a moment. Semthak broke the silence by snorting.

  “Yeah, sounds about right.”

  Moktark clapped Koruk on the back.

  “Good speech little brother.”

  “Thanks.”

  A knock sounded on the side of the barge, and a red face peered inside the tent. Kiwai had returned with supplies.

  They set off quickly, not wanting to spend any more time in the village risking getting caught than necessary, and continued the journey north. Over the weeks the orcs had spent in the desert, they had gradually grown accustomed to the heat and dry air, and it no longer sapped their strength as it once did.

  8 days into the journey, their transportation unexpectedly slid to a halt.

  “Wheel’s busted.” Moktark announced, dusting sand off himself.

  “Can we fix it?” Koruk asked. Moktark shrugged.

  “No.” Kiwai said, answering the question for him. “Not easily.”

  “We’ll figure something out.” Moktark assured him. During their trip the big orc had quite taken to the sailing craft it seemed.

  Koruk left them to it. The night gradually dragged on. Despite the circumstances it seemed almost peaceful.

  A flash of blue light caught Koruk’s attention from the edge of his vision. Had it come from the tent? Curious, he parted the canvas, and Semthak looked up at him. A blue fleck of light was dancing around him. It seemed startled by Koruk’s intrusion, and disappeared.

  “Close that you clumsy fool!” Semthak chided him, looking around for the vanished apparition. Koruk hastened to comply, but not before stepping into the tent himself.

  “What was that?” He asked.

  “I don’t really know. I think it followed us from the temple.” Semthak muttered. The old orc scratched at something at his side. A belt pouch. His fingers found the loop, and opened it, and he withdrew the blue gemstone Oben had pulled out of the Oracle. He absentmindedly rolled it between his hands, looking thoughtful. Koruk had noticed him playing with it before during the journey.

  “I remember seeing them there. I thought it was just a trick of the mind though.”

  Semthak nodded.

  “Is it… magic?”

  Semthak looked contemplative before answering.

  “I don’t believe in magic. I suppose it’s as close as it gets though.”

  “A soot shaman who doesn’t believe in magic?” Koruk snorted. Semthak smiled softly, but didn’t elaborate.

  Out of the corner of the tent the light reappeared. It darted between the poles holding the structure up. Koruk almost thought it was acting shy. Semthak noticed it and motioned for Koruk to be still. Gradually, the wisp approached. The gemstone in Semthak’s hands seemed to glow slightly in response to it, and the wisp eventually descended into a slow orbit around the pair of orcs.

  “It’s beautiful.” Koruk said. He held out his hand and the ball of light shirked back, before resuming its circling.

  “You want this don’t you?” Semthak asked it, holding out the stone. The wisp drew closer. Semthak placed it into a wooden bowl, and the creature settled into the container. Its light seemed to engulf the gemstone, and the two pulsed as one.

  The two orcs sat in silence for a time, watching the spectacle. Semthak carefully removed the Heart of Stone, and the wisp remained in the bowl, seeming to spin in a slow circle.

  “There we go. See? Practically tame.” Semthak chuckled.

  “Have you seen these before?”

  “Hm? Oh, yeah. Many times. You find them lurking in old ruins and abandoned places. Not often you catch one out in the open like this. Seems to be attracted to the stone. The soot shamans think they’ll guide you to hidden treasures, but I think they’re just curious about us.”

  “I never imagined. I guess Moktark was right, about the ghost thing all along.”

  Semthak seemed to contemplate something, and then he reached into the bowl with cupped hands, and lifted the glowing ball of light out. It danced around in his hands.

  “Cup your hands. They like hollow spaces.”

  Koruk did so, and Semthak dropped the wisp into his open palms. It was warm to the touch, and he felt the crackle of static as it bounced off his skin.

  “What do I do with it?”

  “Whatever you want.” Semthak said. He smiled thoughtfully.

  Koruk held it for a bit, and then leaned his face in towards his palms.

  “Find me a treasure.” He whispered.

  The wisp leapt out of his hands and darted off somewhere, leaving the tent in darkness. Semthak laughed at Koruk’s shocked expression.

  “You’re a good kid Koruk.”

  “Where did it go?”

  “To find you a treasure? Who knows.”

  “It really is magic.”

  Semthak shrugged.

  “Maybe. Maybe not. I’ve seen too much of the world to be closed minded.”

  “I thought you said…”

  “I know what I said. A lot of things widely believed to be magical aren’t. I should know, I worked with ‘magic’ my entire life. It was just a bunch of hoo-haw. Melting metal is about consistent heat and technique. The gods might have the final say in whether a casting will take, but I always suspected it was more on us than them when we failed.”

  “That seems… uh…”

  “Heretical? Maybe a bit. I think the soot shamans like to dress it up a bit because they don’t want anyone to realize that it isn’t that hard. Anyone can do it. Course they don’t want you to know that. They build a kingdom on their secrets.”

  “I see. I think they’d probably be upset at you sharing their secrets.”

  Semthak laughed.

  “You’re right of course. Somehow I don’t really give a shit anymore though. Their secrets seem like children’s games compared to what we saw out there.”

  There was an excited shout outside. Koruk peeked his head out to see what the commotion was about, and saw Moktark running towards the tent with an excited grin on his face. The sandskimmer was slowly moving again as the wind puffed out its sails.

  “It’s ugly but it’ll work!” Moktark said gleaming, and pointed towards the barge excitedly. They had removed the wheel and replaced it with a sort of crude ski made of a bent plank. “Might be a bit slower but as long as we keep it greased it’ll bring us home… whoh!”

  The wind gusted, and the sandskimmer started to roll away from them faster. Kiwai struggled to furl the sail as Moktark sprinted to help.

  “When we get back to Brittle Teeth I’ll show you a thing or two if you’re like. Some real soot shaman ‘magic’. Give me a hand with the tent.” Semthak said from behind. Koruk turned to help him take it down as Moktark brought the vehicle under control. Above them another shooting star fell. But unusually, this one didn’t travel east to west. It was falling towards the north.