Free Sword of the Gods: The Chosen One by Anna Erishkigal Page B

Mikhail's memory
so he would be plagued with nightmares no more. 
    Ninsianna then placed
her hand over the place where the shaft had pierced his breast and sang songs
of beauty, of happy times to come with she and her people.  His hand moved to
cover hers where it rested above his heart. 
    "Ní
hamháin," he whispered.  Not alone .  She could sense he wanted this more than anything
in the world.  The child trying to force his way through the block She-who-is
had put on his memories faded and receded behind that blue eggshell of light
she sensed protected him.
    Mikhail settled down. 
His breathing deepened into the rhythm of a  restful sleep.  Once she'd
reassured herself the spell would hold, she kissed his cheek and went back to
her side of the chamber.  Problem … gone. 
    Exceptionally proud of
herself for exorcising her very first demon, Ninsianna fell back asleep.
     
     
    ~ * ~ * ~
* ~ * ~
     
     

Chapter 12

     
    Galactic Standard Date:  152,323 AE
    Command Carrier:  ' Light Emerging'
    Border between Zulu and Tango sector
    Colonel Raphael Israfa
     
    Raphael
    The Light Emerging was
smaller and sleeker than other command carriers in the Angelic Air Force, built
for stealth and intelligence gathering.  Colonel Raphael Israfa was her
commander, and also the de facto leader of the 42 nd Intelligence
Division.  It was his job to figure out what the old dragon was up to in
that sector, or that's the excuse their Supreme Commander had given for
banishing him to the uncharted territories.  With nothing better to occupy his
time, Raphael had spent the past nine months tracking a pattern of suspicious
shipping activity.
    “Where did Mikhail's
distress call originate from? Raphael asked his second-in-command, a Mantoid by
the name of Major Glicki.
    “All we received was a
truncated data burst, Sir,” Glicki touched a voice modulation box which helped
her enunciate word-sounds the insectoid races otherwise struggled to
articulate.  “I didn't receive enough data to triangulate the signal.” 
     “Narrow down the
search parameters,” Raphael frowned.  "This is my best friend who's just
gone missing!" 
    With golden hair, blue
eyes, and buff-gold feathers the color of a phoenix, what set Raphael apart was
not just his golden plumage which, in a species prone to inbreeding, even the
slightest variation from white was a cause for celebration, but the rare dimple
which marred his otherwise perfectly engineered Angelic features.  That dimple
flashed now, but it was not because he smiled, but because he grimaced.  When
Mikhail had gone to the ground two weeks ago, he'd been running his scout-ship
black-ops.  He could be anywhere in the galaxy right now.  Anywhere!
    “According to
Mikhail's last report, he tracked a Sata'anic merchant vessel somewhere up into
the Orion-Cygnus spur.”  Glicki's green, heart-shaped head tilted to regard him
with her compound eyes.  “Other than that, we have no way to narrow down his
location.  The signal was extremely degraded.” 
    Both stared at the
vast map of the spinning galaxy displayed upon the secondary command screen .  The Orion-Cygnus spur was the dead remnant of a dead galaxy swallowed up by
the Milky Way so far in the past even Emperor Shay'tan hadn't been around then
to see it happen.
    “Damantia!” Raphael
displayed his red-gold under feathers.  “Even if we launch an armada, it will
take a hundred years to search that spiral arm.  It's almost completely
uncharted!” 
    “Two hundred
twenty-seven years, Sir,” Glicki tapped her command module as she calculated
the odds.  “Based upon the number of known stars, that’s how long it would take
to search all habitable planets, not including asteroids and moons.  Unless
Mikhail rigs a homing beacon, we shall never find him.”
    “Play me the distress
call again,” Raphael asked.  His golden eyebrows came together in worry.
    Glicki slid her prayer-like
tibia slid across the console which served