A Conflict of Shadows

By Darryl Young

Ryan Walker was on a mission to kill a man. There was nothing personal, as he never met him. It was just a job. Walker is a shadow man, the name given to operatives from Kage section. The plain truth was he was an assassin, given the job of removing threats to Stellar Corps and any of their allies. He had a good reputation, based on his successes.
This was not one of them.
Tasked with the elimination of a man known as the General, he found his way to one of his bases in Sanarian space, only to find out he'd been betrayed and expected. He wakes up in a pit filled with the bodies of the villagers who had taken him in, only to find out he has an ally that he didn't know about it. One that gives him a second chance at completing his mission. As well as another one a thousand times more important.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Darryl Young
• Release date: Apr 9, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005345754

Book preview

Chapter One

The first thing I could…feel… was grass on my back. Thick grass. Like a well-cared-for lawn or even the green on a golf course. It felt like a cushioned surface. I had to admit it felt nice, even though it didn’t seem right.

Then, it occurred to me that I wasn’t in any pain. My mornings had been punctuated by a variety of aches and pains that had kept me company for years, compliments of a youth spent trying to overcome the shortcomings I’d been born with, and a decade of hard training to keep the gains I’d made. I’d gotten used to them enough that now that they were gone, while I couldn’t say I missed them, I did notice their absence.

A sound reached me from somewhere beyond my closed eyes. I tried to open them, but they felt as if they weighed a ton. When they did finally snap open though, the difference it made was trivial. All I could see were shapes in an unfocused field of semi-darkness.

A few seconds of blinking and the shapes began to coalesce into a recognizable form. Recognizable, but still far from clear.

A dozen feet away, an old woman sat on a rock, knitting. She was an almost perfect caricature of somebody’s grandmother. Chubby, round face with big glasses, grey hair tied in a bun on top of her head.

Alarms went off in my head at the sight. She looked like something that had been created just to set their target at ease. And in this case, that target was me.

I stood up slowly, still noting the lack of pains as I did, wondering where they had gone. No, that was wrong. Not where they had gone, but rather why they had gone.

Suddenly the old woman looked up from her knitting, smiling like she was happy to see me. Her voice was exactly what you would expect from the image she presented, a little hoarse, but warm and firm.

Well, it’s about time. This rock isn’t exactly the most comfortable thing, but I figured I had to sit somewhere while I waited.

Then she dropped the knitting in a bag at her feet and stood up, smoothing her pleated dress and pulling her sweater tighter.

Woo, it is a bit chilly. You may not have to worry about such things, but I still get a twinge now and then. Sometimes though, it serves to remind me of what was. For you anyway.

I looked the little woman up and down, then I looked around at where we were. And the questions started.

Who are you?

Her smile was ancient, wise, and friendly all at once. She was only about five foot nothing to my six-one, so she was looking up at me. Then she dropped her head and sighed slightly.

My name is Dabria.

For a second, she seemed to hesitate, as if she was looking for some sign of recognition of the name, but my blank stare told her I had no idea what she was expecting. She sighed again, this time as if she wasn’t disappointed so much as resigned to her anonymity. Or to my ignorance. Finally, she went on.

I’m sorry, I just think sometimes I’d like a little recognition for my work. Is that so wrong?

At that moment, my feeling on the matter was that there was no way to argue the point, so I let that go, moving on to the next point.

Okay, new plan. Where are we?

Now the smile was genuinely pleased, almost as if I had asked one of the right questions.

Now we’re getting somewhere. As for this place? Well, let’s call it…between.

Between? Between what?

Why, this life and the next of course.

I felt my heart begin to race.

This life and…what are you talking about? I couldn’t take any more. I blurted out, Am I dead?

The old woman shook her head.

No, not yet. That’s why you’re here. Again.

* * * *

I felt my face drop into a mask of confusion. I stared at the little woman and wondered if this was an elaborate joke. Then I realized what my next question had to be.

How did I get here? I-I can’t-remember what…

She held up her hand to stop me there.

You won’t. Not here, anyway. It’s kind of like being born. Once you get used to being here, and the shock has worn off, I guess the memory will return, but I can’t say for sure.

Despite the situation, my face dropped again. You don’t know? How can you not know? Aren’t you my…guide?

For the first time, her smile faded somewhat as she answered.

I know my world, not yours. What you face is not what awaits me. Although at the end, who can say? The point, however, is that this isn’t about me. Or you for that matter, at least as far as your final destiny. This is like a way station. This is where you have your last chance to choose the direction of your travel.

Choose? Choose what? Whether I go to Heaven or Hell?

Now she frowned openly. Her voice lost some of its warmth as she said, No, no, no! Look.

She pointed behind me. I followed her finger to a point somewhere on the horizon, where I could see what looked like two people in the distance. I recognized one at once, even though it had been twenty-five years since I had seen her. It was my mother, Aleta Walker. She’d died when I was nine. The other was my father, Randal Walker. I knew that even though he had no face.

That didn’t surprise me, since he’d died when I was in diapers. My mother had pictures of him, but I had never felt any need to see someone that I would never get to meet, much less get to know.

I looked off to either side and there were others that I knew there. My mother’s sister, Anna. She had been there to help raise me along with her three sons after her husband was also killed on the same mission with my father. The story had never been fully explained, but given the secrecy of both of the men’s work, it was likely that neither my mother nor her sister ever knew the full story.

After my mother was gone, she had finished raising me pretty much on her own, even after her sons had all left, leaving a surly little runt to screw up her life for about four more years. I had been out of the house less than a year when she died too. Neither of my cousins ever told me about her condition. I guess they figured I was too young or it wasn’t their place. I always thought she had hung on to make sure I was on the right path. I never knew what she thought of my choice to work in the same field as my father, but I always hoped she would have approved.

On the other side of them, there were hundreds of people I couldn’t place, yet all of them looked somehow familiar. I turned to Dabria, who answered my question before I had truly figured out what it was.

That’s a representation of your life. All the lives you affected one way or another, directly, or indirectly.

She pointed to the right, where my aunt, her sons, and their children were. Behind them though, were more of the people I didn’t know, although occasionally one or two of them would look startlingly familiar. Some looked like I knew them in passing. I turned again to Dabria for an explanation.

The ones in the lanes farther away, are more indirectly affected by your actions. While those over there, her finger shifted to the other side, are the ones you had to stop. Most of them are not what you would call upstanding citizens by any definition of the word. You stopped them, and in doing so, saved the ones on the other side.

That’s it then? All this is all about what I did to save others?

The smile returned. No, but for this, it suffices.

But why is there nothing between my mother and me?

That was the price you had to pay for your choices, Ryan Walker. You lived your life to help others. To do the things that needed to be done. And the price you paid was a life alone. At least it has been up to now. Look.

Now she pointed behind me again. I turned to face the other direction. And I looked at the other end of my life.

In the line directly in front of me, was a woman, and two children. Behind them, a line stretched off into infinity, with more children and women and other men. These though were semi-transparent, as though they were unformed.

I turned again only to find Dabria looking in the other direction. I turned to see another field of unformed beings. These though were no line that went off in the distance. This was legion. Row after row of faces, smiling evil smiles that looked happy at the fact that there was no me there for them to deal with.

What are they? I couldn’t tear my eyes from the scene. Dabria seemed to be amused by my distress.

Those are the ones that you may or may not have to face if you go back. And your reputation precedes you. If you do not return, they have that much less to impede them or their plans. They are hoping you decide you are done.

Now I snapped my head around to look at her.

There’s no one else? To fight them I mean?

She honestly looked surprised. Of course there are others. And some of them are quite good I’ve heard. This is your perception of your life. You are quite good, but then so are they. And they would like nothing more than to face the best, simply for the credibility it would give them. If you give up…

I exploded. I never gave up on anything in my life. If these bastards think I am going to quit, they deserve what I’m gonna do to them!

Dabria sighed again, this time with resignation. Somehow I knew you were going to say that.

Now I was curious. How many times have we done this?

She headed back to her rock as the images faded behind us. Their purpose was served and now came the ending. She sat down heavily as if she was tired, but I had the feeling she was more tired of me. Now she looked at me as if it was time to end this. One way or the other.

"So, I gather you’ll be heading back now?’

I have to!

Are you sure? Her voice became a little louder. So did mine.

You think I’m gonna let them win?

Are you sure though? The others could handle it.

I shook my head. You showed me my future. Those are my fights. If I’m the best chance for those people I saw, then I’m what they deserve.

They’re strangers! What do they matter?

I found myself getting angry. They matter. Everybody matters! But I don’t do it for who matters. I do it for me!

"So you are sure?" Now her voice was a shout. I shouted back.

"Hell yes!"

She nodded, her eyes flaming as she shouted so loudly it seemed it was amplified, Then wake up!

Chapter Two

My eyes snapped open then, for all the good it did. There was no light penetrating the area I was in. It was pitch black. And the silence was equally pervasive, other than a gurgling, dripping sound, like a thick liquid leaking out of something. The sound itself was disturbing. On the other hand, my other senses were on high alert.

The first to get through was the smell. Thick, cloying, putrid smells that permeated the air to the point when it entered my mouth, it was strong enough to force me to not only smell it, but to taste it as well.

It was vile. Only by a supreme act of will was I able not to retch, but just barely. I had to push the thoughts of what was happening out of my mind by making myself think of idyllic scenes from places that I’d been or wanted to go.

I held the line, like always, but this was the hardest I had ever fought to maintain control.

Then came the realization of just where I was. Pressure assailed me from all sides as unseen objects shifted and moved with me every time I tried to find a way out. I decided the blackness of the area was a blessing as I realized the things moving in the dark were flesh and bone, while the smells were the blood, guts, and bodily fluids of dozens of corpses.

I was in a grave. A mass grave.

I took a deep breath to calm myself, putting my hand over my nose and mouth to hold out as much of the smell as I could. I shoved the other hand down as far as I could, trying to reach the bottom of the pit. I failed, but I did find a pool of viscous liquid right below me. It was up to my elbow but then, I still hadn’t reached the bottom. For all I knew, it could be ten feet deep. Or a hundred.

Enough of this shit. I don’t plan on going that way, so I don’t care what’s down there.

I reached my hand upward, searching for a handhold. My first try found a grip on something solid and I began to pull myself up, trying hard not to think about what I was holding onto. I felt my fingers dig into soft flesh on my next try, but it held enough to let me get a few feet closer to the surface. I worked my foot up to find something to step on. Once I did I powered upward. My foothold shifted suddenly, but I managed to hold onto my gains, realizing I was literally standing on someone’s skull. It couldn’t be helped, but my stomach still churned slightly at the thought.

I had no idea how far I had to go, but I kept driving upward, my hands grabbing anything that would hold me as I did. I pulled my shirt up over my head. The material wasn’t permeable, so it didn’t soak up the fluids. I couldn’t see anyway, and my fear sweat smelled better than anything else in the pit, so it helped with that at least.

For at least half an hour, although it seemed much more, I clawed my way upward, blind, nauseated by my surroundings, and terrified of what was above. All in all? Pretty much standard operating procedures for my life.

Then, I felt a wisp of air blow across my hand. I had no idea where it came from, but it was like a ray of hope in the blackness. I pulled the tunic down to be rewarded by a glimmer of light from above and to my left. I started to drive upward with a renewed vigor, but then I heard a sound in the distance that wasn’t related to the hissing, bubbling tones of the liquids moving around me.

I froze, concentrating hard to focus through the filth and the corpses to identify the source of it. It wasn’t hard. I could hear two voices just outside the pit, talking in the broken English that most of the raiders used. The major races that comprised the bulk of their ranks spoke a dozen different languages, but they all had adopted that as a stop-gap. It kept their conversations a little less accessible than using translation programs that could be tapped into.

The two of them were enjoying themselves.

One was saying, The General got streak of paranoia the size of small moon.

His companion replied laughing.

Might be that but bet one time this the best he done so far. That damn agent near made it close enough to wreck the whole damn op. If he got that close, maybe he send in something to his people. General got to find out how to get the Sanaria to keep them out.

What problem is that? Human don’t want to fight with Sanaria. No profit! Better to trade with Sanaria. Everybody make money. And we can steal from both!

Just not too much from Sanaria. No edge, they might think it be better to let humans stop us.

Now the other one laughed. "Then General make them think better! And we let them know who really in charge."

Like stupid villagers.

More laughter, this time I could hear the cruelty behind it.

Like stupid villagers. They thought they get better deal from humans than us. General Ansard figured they make good example of why crossing us bad idea.

Real bad idea. Now we need new place to get whores from! Can’t be helped though. They start getting ideas and next thing, they be trying to cut throats after a good night. Bad for morale.

Right, so we hunt down new women. Maybe even better cooks. Tired of Macaran food anyway. Spices too sharp. Maybe we find some Tevian need job.

Their women too ugly.

Pretty ones can’t cook.

So? We order in.

Both of them laughed at that. While they did, I eased myself closer to the pair of them, slithering through the bodies as silently as possible. The laughter stopped, and I froze again. These two could be a gold mine of information. Before I killed them.

Chapter Three

The two of them were still engrossed in their conversation, so I took a chance and moved towards them slowly, the better to deal with them when the time came. I still couldn’t see them, but they still had no idea I was even there. And so, their talk continued.

Who was this guy anyway? I heard he some kind of assassin.

That was why the General want him dead. He work for the Stellar Corps intelligence. Once General heard, he knew he had trouble. They only call for them when they want target dead, so General play same way. Now he in pit, General eating dinner. Work out for General.

By now, I had zeroed in on their location and dug myself up high enough to be able to see the sky. Now I turned to look in their direction, careful to move so slowly, I didn’t even move any of the corpses I crawled over, finally ending up ten feet from the pair, still hidden from view. Then, finding a body lying at an upward angle, I peered around it to get my first look at the two of them.

They were both humanoid and about average size, but that meant nothing as far as ability went. With the headgear they were wearing I wasn’t sure if they were actually human or not but they looked to be. What was more important to me was they were armed with Simons magna drive pulse rifles and pistols. Deadly out to a thousand yards in the right hands. But the pistols were holstered, and the rifles were more than likely targeted for at least a hundred yards. Didn’t much matter. When it came down to it, this will be at close quarters. Especially since I didn’t have a gun.

Only dumb luck had made sure I didn’t have one as I had tried to hide my identity by ditching my weapons, thinking it was just a normal shakedown these pirates were known for. It was a painful thought that if they had found me, these people might still be alive.

I didn’t allow myself to take that path. Once he found out I was in the village, and that they were helping me, knowing Ansard’s reputation he would have killed them all anyway. It had been a shot in the dark at any rate, but I had at least tried. Although so far, I wasn’t doing well. Especially the part about leaving my firepower hidden in the wall of the little hostel I’d been staying in.

What I did have was a pair of guthookers inside my boots. Nine-inch blades with spine hooks, designed to pull the guts out of anyone it was used on. And, thanks to their micro-edged blades, they could slice through even armor if the user was good enough. And a lot of people said I was the best there was.

We’d see about that when the time came. Now though, I wasn’t quite finished listening. And my two new friends were happy to oblige.

The first one was saying, Tell you one thing though, the General be sure he know what the hell going on.

The second one chuckled. "Like that old Earth saying. Not what you know, but who you know."

His partner seemed confused by the idea. Huh?

Another laugh. You think he just happen to hear about a man coming to kill him? General got friends in high places on both sides!

You mean like some kinda mole? The first one seemed genuinely surprised.

The second one explained. "No, no, no. Not just mole. Really greedy human in the right place. Been there for years. This one just sits back and sells what he sees to the General, sometimes something good, sometimes something not so good. General pay anyway to keep him happy."

The thought hit me hard enough my mouth almost dropped open. There had been rumors about how Ansard had been too good, or too lucky to have survived this long without inside help, but there had never been any proof. This bore investigation. Assuming of course I lived that long. Meanwhile, the two were still talking.

The first guard seemed skeptical. How you know so much ‘bout what General do?

More laughter. "General order, not do. Have people for that. Like Inara. Inara talk when she had too much Tago wine. And she like Tago wine after sex."

Ahh, now I see. You listen to female. Fool. She probably lying to make herself look good.

She already look good. Bitch mean, but smart.

The second’s voice sounded like a scoff, but it was hard to tell. Make sense though. She send orders out. You think she doing all that? Like she come up with the plans? You the fool!

I couldn’t help but smile. With a little luck, these two idiots might kill each other and save me some trouble. But the first one just started laughing again, defusing the situation. Oh well.

Now he answered, "I hungry. How long we supposed to stay here?

As he spoke, I’d slithered up closer to the edge, just as they walked leisurely off. The side of the pit was built up, and the two of them had been standing on it while they talked. Now they had moved down the berm to stand next to the tree line, taking advantage of the shade. The sun wasn’t particularly intense, but it was hot.

Now I had a problem. They had moved far enough away that there was no chance for me to catch them by surprise. And since I couldn’t hear them anymore, there was no need to wait, so I started trying to figure out how to draw them back in. I knew they were here to make sure there was nothing left alive. All I had to do was convince them there was. Just not me.

I pulled the laces out of my boot and a couple more from one of the corpses, tying them together and then tying one end to one of the bodies on the top of the pile. Then, off to one side, I wrapped the line around another body and moved right next to the edge. Once I was in position, or at least as close as I could be, I started moaning to attract their attention.

Although I couldn’t see them anymore, I heard one of them exclaim, Fucking hell, we got one! Five cred say I can take him out wi’ head shot!

Uh-huh!

The two of them ran up to the edge, rifles at the ready, searching for their target. I twitched the laces like a fishing bait, snatching the corpse it was tied to down and letting it bob back up. On the third yank, I heard one of them shout, There he is!

I couldn’t raise my head to see, but I didn’t have to. They were about three feet to my right, concentrating on a corpse about three meters or so from the edge.

I got him! Five creds! You game?

From here? Shit, you ought to be able to take out his eyes!

The other one shrugged. Can’t make any money, no point trying that hard.

I heard the click as he switched the rifle to auto-fire mode. Since he didn’t care, he’d just spray the area and be done with it. After a few seconds his partner, not wanting to be left out, joined him in pouring high-energy rounds into the pit.

I couldn’t have asked for a better set-up. With both of them facing the pit, concentrating on making sure there were no survivors, and the noise from the guns, I could probably have yelled their names if I’d known them and they wouldn’t have heard me. There would never be a better chance.

Right next to the edge now, I found my footing and pushed myself up and onto the berm. They were angled away from me, but I still had to hurry. One of them could turn at any second for whatever reason and spot me.

As soon as my feet hit the dirt, my hands flew to the calf scabbards and pulled the gut hookers out, reversing them in my hands as I did. I reached the pair of them just in time for them to stop shooting.

The farthest one from me turned to say something to his comrade, only to see me coming up like an apparition from hell, dripping blood, guts, and other bodily fluids, with murder in my eyes.

I could see the whites of his widened eyes as he tried to spin the barrel of his rifle around his partner while shouting at him to look.

Look out! Behind…

He never finished the warning, as I reached the pair of them still trying to turn and face me. I, on the other hand, didn’t need them to face me head-on.

I hit the pair of them flush, driving the both of them off the berm. As we fell, I drove one blade into the throat of the one on my right side, while I slashed at the arm of the other. Blood spurted from an artery I had just cut and the man it was connected to screamed, releasing the gun and letting it fall as he grabbed the arm to staunch the flow.

Back in the pit now, I spun and drove the knife between his shoulder blades. His armor slowed the blade, but a quick twist and secondary push and I felt the blade drive into the body beneath. He was still alive, but not moving much at that point.

I was about to relax when I saw the first one rise up, blood still pouring from