The Darkest Storm

By John Arkham

Gaius, a soldier of the Galactic Empire, is assigned to guard an observatory on the planet Mara, a planet famous for its storms. Its winds are the most powerful recorded in the galaxy; its poison air is deadly to life. But when a new storm arrives, swallowing the observatory whole, a storm stronger than any before it, new secrets are uncovered, and new perils are revealed—danger that will soon spread beyond Mara and threaten the very survival of the galaxy itself.

• Language: English
• Publisher: John Arkham
• Release date: Jun 4, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005382780

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The Darkest Storm

Copyright © 2021 John Arkham

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The Darkest Storm

Other Works by John Arkham

The Darkest Storm

John Arkham

I.

For days, the storm had raged, furious, violent, and outside the transpar-steel windows of the observatory, Gaius quietly said something not unlike a prayer under his breath.

Storms on the planet of Mara, like its sister Lillitu, were among the most violent recorded in the galaxy, but the walls and the transpar-steel windows of Observatory 1582 had weathered many such storms before. Observatory 1582 had withstood the test of time, and it had passed that test.

But the storm had lasted days, not hours, and amid the orange fog of Mara’s surface, the winds were kicking up rocks, so loud that Gaius could hear their howling. Gaius had never witnessed such fury before, though Mara—like its sister Lillitu—was never kind to outsiders, and it seemed, ever since the Empire opened this observing station, that the storms were growing longer in duration, and more powerful with each incident. Observatory 1582 had withstood the winds, which could reach in excess of 1,000 miles an hour.

Yet Gaius, in the observatory, nervously jotting notes, realized he had never heard the winds make such a sound before, audible, howling, like the cry of a ghost or some phantom, if ghosts or phantoms were real.

He felt a presence behind him.

What do you think, Gaius? said a woman’s voice, a woman—Nia, his friend.

I think, Gaius said, and he would not admit that his fingers had grown slick with cold sweat, or reveal the trembling of his feet, that it’s quite a show.

A show? Nia said.

The storm… And Gaius found his eyes transfixed on the scene outside the transpar-steel windows, orange, red and black, and as he did, a stone struck the windows, and he almost fell back in his chair, almost losing control of his carefully-controlled act.

Why, he thought, am I so afraid?

He had watched and waited; he had sat through many storms before, storms very violent, though not as violent or long lasting as this one. It was his task, as a member