Then, bounding through the low-gravity tunnels, pushing off with boots and hauling along with strong fingers, a broad-shouldered man burst into the Speaker’s chambers. “I need to see Jhy Okiah right away.” He looked around, taking in the two young lovers but dismissing them. Then suddenly he recognized Jess. “Shizz! This concerns clan Tamblyn! Oh, but I have terrible news. Where’s the Speaker?”

Jess recognized Del Kellum, a clan leader and manager of the massive hidden shipyards in the rings of Osquivel. Sometimes, Kellum served as a cargo driver, just moving with restless feet among the other Roamer settlements and facilities. He was a middle-aged man, hale and gregarious, but now he looked terror stricken.

“What is it?” Jess asked. “Weren’t you supposed to make the most recent run from the Blue Sky Mine?”

Cesca stepped forward. “I am the Speaker’s representative. You may deliver your news to me. What’s happened?”

“Blue Sky Mine is gone!” Kellum said. “Destroyed! I was inbound to Golgen when we heard an emergency message. They said they were under attack by some strange kind of spacecraft that came up from deep in the clouds. Said they’d never seen anything like it before.”

He gulped air, and his breath hitched. “But when I got there, I found only a few floating pieces of wreckage blasted into high orbit, and a faint residue of contaminants and smoke in the cloud layer that Ross liked to mine.”

Despite the low gravity of Rendezvous, Jess slumped backward, unable to keep his balance. He reached out, and Cesca instinctively grasped his hand in disbelief. “What about the escape pods?” Jess said. “The flight deck. Ross should’ve been able to get his crew away.”

“Nothing,” said Del Kellum. “It’s all gone. Somebody, something, struck without warning and killed every living soul on the Blue Sky Mine.”

38: REMEMBERER VAO’SH

38REMEMBERER VAO’SH

With heroism, passion, and romance, the saga of the Ildiran Empire continued to unfold. As senior rememberer at the court of the Mage-Imperator Cyroc’h, Vao’sh kept alive the legends and history of his people for the next generation of fascinated listeners.

He remained attuned to any reports of dramatic incidents across the Spiral Arm. Though peaceful times were more pleasant for a population to live in, they made for poor storytelling. Until now, the splinter colony on Crenna had had no standing in the Saga of Seven Suns, appearing merely as a footnote, more for bookkeeping purposes than dramatic ones. It was only a fledgling settlement, the birthplace of no great heroes. Unremarkable.

Following the blindness plague, however, the tragedy of Crenna would comprise many dark stanzas. It was a rememberer’s job to make certain it would never be lost.