Waymakers (Champions of the Crystal Book 9)

Chapter 4.1

The extensive tunnel system beneath Palace Royal at Dansestari had suffered widespread damage during the invasion, first from the desperate, deliberate destruction of the original Praxatillus Control and then from the equally desperate collapse of the tunnels leading to the caverns of Giandrah that housed the Great Crystal. Not all of them had been rebuilt; Control had been relocated to a less central location for security purposes, and public access to Giandrah had never been restored. The new and reconstructed tunnels were lined with reflective panels and security sensors and felt more alien to Sabrina than the ancient ones carved from the rock ever had.

She was glad of that for the most part; the old tunnels had always reminded her of the assassination of her adopted father Rayland. But these new ones reminded her of different horrors, and Ford never felt at ease in them as he had in the ones he'd roamed as a child. Sabrina wondered if it was because they reminded him that nothing was immutable, even, perhaps, the Crystal itself. The certainties of his life were no such thing. Neither of them could bear such reflections for long.

When they reached the main cavern complex, still in its original state, Ford relaxed unconsciously in the more familiar environment. But Mara's expression as she welcomed them betrayed discomfort.

"Are you okay?" Sabrina asked.

"Yes. I just...did not realize how much had changed." Mara let out a sigh.

Sabrina wondered if she meant more than just the tunnels. "Where's Seuréa?"

"On her way. I wanted to spend some time here alone before we began. It has been a long time since I have had leisure or space for solitary meditation." She mustered a smile. "I was just thinking of something Scotty said to me the last time I was here, about how everyone in the galaxy knows where the Great Crystal is housed and how it would be better if we could move it. But I could not use the Crystal's own power to do so, and the mechanics of doing it manually are mind-boggling."

Ford's mind moved briefly through a few equations involving Wayship matrices and attractive resonance before he recalled that the Wayships currently in orbit had no matrices. It was, Sabrina felt, a hair-raising idea, one it was doubtful Homeworld would agree to. "Where would we move it, even if we could? Deltarr?"

Mara shook her head. "Miah meant it for Praxatillus. In a way, the Crystal is now very much part of the planet. I am unsure what effect removing it altogether might have. If we were in fact able to move it, I would choose an unpopulated area we could defend without putting civilians at risk. The argument before has always been that another location would quickly become known by anyone analyzing traffic patterns, but now that Miahns have been unable to physically access Giandrah for so long, I wonder if we can continue that indefinitely."

Ford nodded. "There hasn't been a huge outcry; those who feel strongly about it have been able to apply for waivers from the Council of Trême. An even better plan might be to stage some kind of event that would enable us to imply the Crystal itself was no longer intact, and therefore not worth attempting to capture."

Mara shivered. "You have become a gambler, Niavar. The risks of staging such an event around the Crystal are extreme. It is, in fact, quite likely that we might destroy the Crystal in attempting to move it. And likely ourselves, possibly all of Praxatillus, in the process. No. This is not a productive avenue of thought. We must carry on as our ancestors have done and defend Giandrah, though I do sometimes wish we could move the seat of our government."

"Baldaran thought about it," Sabrina said. "But there was the problem of what other jurisdiction would give up the land to house it, since the capital can't be within a provincial or principality system. We offered part of Bathir, but in the end he decided it was easier to defend Dansestari. And he's not wrong."