Sci-Ops- Nova

by Jedi Reach

  The Engineer opened the chamber’s door and gently helped Xenia inside, closing it behind her. Xenia turned around and placed her hand on the see-through glass, telepathically calling for Jace to come. Scott pulled himself together and went to a nearby computer terminal to activate the program. A green liquid soon began to fill the chamber.

  Xenia’s helmet reacted to the touch of the water. An extra piece slid over her mouth, allowing her to breathe as the water filled the large tank completely. Jace moved in front of the tank and placed his hand on the glass, mirroring Xenia’s from inside.

  ‘Be careful.’ Jace warned through thought transmission.

  Scott tinkered at his terminal and a low hum sounded throughout the room. Lights on the chamber turned on. Inside, the water glowed with bioluminescence. Xenia felt a strong wave push against her body and she flung her head back, engulfed with power. Her eyes shone through the helmet and electrical waves danced around the helmet’s horns.

  The chamber outside sparked with volatile currents. Several scientists backed away, cautious if this was a repeat of another doorway incident. Not Jace though. He stood there; his hand glued to the glass. The electrical disturbances calmed, and Xenia floated in the tank lifelessly. Jace and the others turned their heads at Scott.

  “It’s okay! She’s fine! She should be connecting.” Scott announced.

  “Ugh, can you imagine if we killed her?” Aiden shook his head and walked off.

  “Come on, you can do it.” Jace whispered at Xenia, floating in the chamber.

  CHAPTER 8

  Xenia pointed tremendous concentration toward Lea’s energy. Scott’s machine seemed to be doing the trick. It made the alien feel overwhelmed with power, but Xenia was an expert at using her abilities. It didn’t take very long for her to break through the interference previously blocking her.

  “Lea?” she called in a dreamlike state. The dream appeared featureless, only blackness surrounded the alien. “I know you can hear me. I’ve been looking for you.”

  This darkness should not be here, Xenia thought to herself.

  Suddenly Lea appeared, her face turned away from view.

  “Lea?” Xenia slowly approached the Scion.

  The closer she got, the more she heard a silent sob.

  “Hey.” the alien placed her hand on Lea’s shoulder. Lea quickly turned around, grabbed Xenia by the hand and gazed into the alien’s eyes with a hypnotic stare. Xenia felt herself transported into a deeper layer of the connected dream. She found herself in the same darkness, only this time, Lea disappeared.

  “No! Let me go!” a child’s voice echoed. Xenia turned around, her ears sensing the direction of the cries. Two men dressed in uniform white grabbed and dragged a young girl, kicking and screaming across the expanse of darkness. Xenia chased them. The closer she got, the further out of reach they became until all that remained were echoed cries, begging not to be taken back to that place.

  These are distorted memories, Xenia discerned.

  “Lea, I know you’re scared. It’s alright. I’m here to help you.” she said.

  Another projection of a pre-teen Lea appeared, strapped to a chair and dressed in a hospital gown. She wore a helmet covered in cables and wires, connected to a computer terminal filled with information on her vitals. A group of men dressed in suits appeared in the distance, observing. Stone, their leader, watched Lea proudly. Lea looked at him, her face wrought with confusion. Stone nodded at Lea, but Lea shook her head, tears streaming down her eyes.

  “Lea, I know you’re alone,” Xenia moved close to the teenage projection, kneeled, and placed her hand on Lea’s forearm. “I want to help you.”

  “Help me?” the projection looked at Xenia. “How can you help me?”

  The alien reached for Lea’s hand and the memory started dissipating. Teenage Lea slowly molted into her young adult counterpart while the men and their equipment faded.

  “Are you hurt?” Xenia asked.

  Lea stared blankly.

  “You have to tell me something Lea, how can we help you if you shut us out?”

  “We?” Lea hesitated and vanished.

  Xenia got to her feet. The alien grew concerned by the fragility of Lea’s psyche. This could go on for hours, she discerned. Lea materialized a little distance from Xenia, sitting on a park swing.

  “Who’s we?” Lea asked.

  A door opened in front of her and blinding light emitted. Dark figures walked through the door, blocking the light. Xenia’s hair stood on end. She quickly moved to Lea’s side and touched her by the shoulder. The vision dissipated, leaving the two women alone in darkness.

  “I don’t want to be taken again.” Lea whispered.

  “Lea…” Xenia was reminded of the shadow’s attack. She imagined what kind of hell Lea must’ve been going through. “…I don’t want you to be taken by him. That’s why you must help me find you. I’m with a team.”

  “You should go, he’s coming.” Lea’s face turned pale.

  Who’s coming?

  A dark silhouette stood tall on two legs behind Xenia, its flaming red eyes fixed on the alien. Lea grabbed Xenia by the hand while the shadow poised to strike. The alien felt a current of energy pass through her just before feeling the pain of her projection being torn to dust from the shadow’s swipe.

  **************

  Xenia kicked out of her meditative state inside the isolation chamber.

  “She’s up!” Scott announced to the crew below while he checked Xenia’s vitals on his computer. The crew carefully observed, some of them, cautious if she was okay. Xenia swam to the observatory glass and placed the palm of her hand on it. Jace mirrored the placement from the opposite end. An electric force passed through the Nova leader and his head went light.

  “What did she find?” Stone asked via a hologram floating overhead.

  Jace took a step back and looked inside the palm of his hand. It emanated with black light. He looked at Xenia. Xenia nodded. Jace crunched his fist, turned around and stretched his hand open. A small black hole manifested a few feet from him then molted into an image of a view from above. The image showed a large facility in a remote forest area. Some of the crew looked on amazed, others, curious what the image meant.

  “Wait a minute,” Scott fixed his goggles and zoomed in for a better look. “Is that Plancks?”

  “It is.” Stone also identified the image.

  “Run the checks.” Scott delegated his scientists. He pressed a few keys on his computer terminal and the isolation chamber began draining.

  “Why Plancks?” Stone asked.

  “That’s where she is.” Jace said.

  The room went silent.

  “Lea?” Stone asked.

  “That’s right.” Jace replied while he grabbed a towel and handed it to Xenia as she limped out the isolation chamber. Everyone in the room contemplated a variety of thoughts.

  What is Lea doing there?

  “There’s one more thing…” Jace announced to the room, wrapping the towel around Xenia’s shoulders. The alien was drained, she could barely hold herself together to stand, let alone speak. “…the creature is there as well.”

  Indiscreet chatter went around the room.

  “You should get some rest; you’ve pushed yourself a lot recently.” Jace mentioned to Xenia in private.

  Xenia simply nodded. She was too weary to reply.

  “Then we go in there and take care of business.” Aiden crunched his fists. The Viking wasn’t saying it much for pride. In Aiden’s eyes, if this was a chance to buy a better freedom, he was willing to take on anything.

  “It won’t be that simple. Xenia needs rest and we need to deploy a strategy. We still don’t know if anything happened there. Stone?” Jace responded.

  “I’ll find out.” Stone replied before disconnecting.

  Xenia’s head went dizzy and she stumbled but Jace managed to catch her in the nick of time.

  “Easy there tiger,” he teased while med
ical personnel came to them. “Come on, let’s get you to the med bay.”

  **************

  Outside Plancks Laboratory, the patrol guard that met with Jace a few days earlier, left his post and observed the complex. Something was off. He hadn’t received any communication in an hour. Usually the lines kept busy.

  What was going on?

  “Station this is perimeter, do you copy?” the guard radioed, again and again.

  Nothing.

  He went back to his post, opened the gate and drew his pistol, cautiously slipping into the parking lot of the complex. There were parked cars around but nobody entering or exiting the building. The other guards weren’t around either.

  Where did everyone go?

  “Station, this is perimeter, do you read me?” he tried again while he opened the entrance doors. Lights flickered sporadically as he walked inside. He took note of muskiness in the air. A horrible stench almost knocked him unconscious.

  Did an experiment meltdown?

  “Is anyone there?” the guard shouted as he ventured deeper into the complex. Only an eerie silence answered his call.

  “Oh my god!” he stopped in his tracks once he turned a corner and saw a hallway of dead staff, blood all over the floor.

  “Station, I have people down!” the patrol shouted to his comms. He moved closer to check pulses.

  Nothing.

  A cold wind rushed behind him and he spun around with his gun drawn, his hands, trembling. A bestial howl echoed throughout the complex.

  What the hell was that?

  His gut tightened.

  Another presence crept into the vicinity.

  The guard turned in the direction of the call, the sounds of multiple howls drawing closer. Drips of blood landed on his shoulder.

  He looked up.

  “Mary, mother and…” he said, watching a black beast with multiple arms and a long tail, hanging from the ceiling with vicious fangs, drooling for fresh meat. The guard opened fire and backed away yelling, only to be lunged on by the monster. The beast sank its fangs into his neck and held him down, using its razor-sharp claws to deliver the killing blow.

  **************

  “Nothing,” Stone reported to Jace, Aiden, Scott and a few other Nova staff inside the command room. “They’re on blackout. Satellite imagery is blocked too; interference. We can’t access the place through digital means either.”

  “A complete lockdown.” Jace discerned.

  “Had we not known Lea’s energy source wasn’t there, we wouldn’t have even known there was an attack. This was well planned.” Stone replied.

  “Why would it attack Plancks?” Aiden scratched his chin.

  Scott wondered if he should speak up.

  “Because there’s another Doorway there.” he said.

  “What?” Aiden spun around.

  “It’s standard protocol to create two prototypes in case one fails. Plancks was the facility I operated in during their creation.”

  “Then we need to go to Plancks. Now. If there’s a chance we can stop this thing and find Lea, we need to take it. Let’s get an aircraft ready for deployment in 30.” Jace said.

  “What about Xenia?” Aiden asked.

  “I’ll see if she’s fit for deployment.” Jace replied.

  “Jace,” Stone halted him. “The public cannot know about this. You need to keep this as quiet as possible.”

  Jace squeezed his eyes looking at Stone.

  “It’s a good thing you keep your bases in remote areas then,” he said then faced the rest the room. “Let’s move out.

  CHAPTER 9

  Jace entered the medical facility a few minutes after getting ready and found his way to Xenia. The alien was being held in a separate part of the facility due to her special case being an extraterrestrial. The staff was curious to investigate her on a more scientific level, but Jace and surprisingly, Stone, disallowed them from having the chance to do so. Sure, Jace wanted to see if Xenia was fit for deployment, but above that, he wanted to make sure she was okay.

  “How is she?” he asked the nurse on duty.

  “She’ll be fine, she needs rest.” the nurse replied while small, ball-shaped droids scanned the alien beauty who was rested on her back on one of the beds. Jace moved to her side and observed her. Xenia wasn’t in any shape to go on any mission, she was out cold.

  “You push yourself so hard,” Jace gently held her hand. “Get some sleep, you’ve done more than enough already. I’ll take care of the rest.”

  The Nova leader backed away and nodded at the nurse to continue her rounds. He had no more time to spare. If Lea was really at Plancks, this was the best opportunity they had to retrieve her. Better yet, the creature was there too – at least that was the telepathic message Xenia transmitted to Jace before she blanked out.

  Two birds with one stone.

  Let’s get this over with, Jace crunched his fists and left for the hangar.

  **************

  Once Jace arrived in the hangar, he found himself pleasantly surprised. Stone didn’t put the Nova team out in the middle of the nowhere for no reason. Inside the hangar was a storage of clandestine aircraft, some small, some large, others so out of this world they’d easily be mistaken for ET UFOs.

  Who knows, maybe some of them were.

  The Nova Leader looked around and noticed personnel gathered around a mid-sized aircraft resembling a classic saucer UFO, only with a few added lights and a docked stairway to walk aboard the ship. Jace proceeded to the ship.

  “How is she?” Aiden asked Jace as he came near the ship, a few meters away from the rest of the men.

  “She’s out cold but she’ll be fine. We can do this without her.” Jace seemed dismissive of the idea they needed to wait for Xenia. It was him and Stone that were seemingly impatient, yet for very different reasons.

  “Jace,” Stone acknowledged the Nova leader through a holographic projection as Jace was about to enter the UFO. “Remember, we need this to be clean and quiet.”

  “It will be.” Jace boarded the ship, Aiden, Scott and a few soldiers behind him. The holographic Stone watched the ship’s stairway close after all personnel boarded. The aircraft rose into the air before dashing out into the night’s sky with lightning speed. Bakker moved behind Stone while the Doctor lit a cigarette inside a secret office.

  “What happens if they fail?” Bakker asked.

  Stone blew the smoke out of his lungs fierce.

  “Then we fail.” he said.

  **************

  There were soldiers inside the Nova ship on route to Plancks, strapped in and silent, their armament prepped and ready. Scott piloted the ship, though he had specifics for the two Scions on board. The Engineer wanted to present the upgrades he’d worked on to the ship such as the sleek command deck and polished cockpit which resembled a small, yet comfortable mission control, but he figured no one on board had the time to be bedazzled.

  “Both of you wear these,” Scott handed Aiden and Jace a wristband each. “I haven’t had time to integrate your suits, and since this is quick call, these babies will have to do for now.”

  Aiden observed the wristband.

  There was a touch-screen interface on it.

  “What’s this do?” the Viking asked.

  “These bands amplify your electromagnetic vibrations. You know, your psionic abilities? Okay so with these you can hone them into better focus. Aiden your strength can be multiplied greatly and Jace, with your projections. Jace, wanna’ try it out?”

  Jace observed the wrist device. He turned to Aiden, stretched his hand at him and focused intensely. Aiden went into a paralysis and zoned out. From Aiden’s point of view, everything around him dissipated and all that was left was space and the stars around him. He felt an unbelievable sense of joy and wonder so much that he had forgotten who and where he was. Each second that passed, he saw a bright light in the center of the mass growing bigger and bigger, engulfing him and everything around
him, and for the first time in his life, he felt absolute peace and serenity.

  And then it stopped.

  “Holy shit!” Aiden exclaimed trying to catch his breath.

  “I think it’s safe to say it works.” Jace said, unmoved.

  “What the hell was that?!” Aiden said with disbelief. He wanted to go back to that realm and never leave it. Sweat dripped down his forehead and his palms were soaking wet. “What did you do to me Jace? Oh my god! What exactly is your power?!”

  “I show people the truth.” Jace replied.

  “The truth? The truth about what?”

  Jace smirked. “Creation.”

  “Alright Aiden. I think we won’t be able to test your interface out on the ship because you might break it…” Scott interrupted. Aiden was still in shock. He had known Jace’s powers to be somewhat of a psychic hallucinogenic, and yet he was stumped by the vision Jace implanted in his mind. “…just do what you normally do, and it should be amplified. The band monitors your vitals and energy usage. You can reconfigure it as well. Most importantly,” Scott pointed at a button on the top left of the interface. “There’s a backup teleporter to the ship in case things go south.”

  “Roger that. ETA on arrival?” Jace asked to Scott and fixed his sights on the soldiers.

  “Five minutes.” Scott replied.

  This ship sure is fast, Jace thought to himself. He made his way to the soldiers who were seated in two opposite rows of six to observe them. They didn’t seem nervous. These were top of the line, stone cold hombres. They were there to do a job. Something about them, perhaps the absolute certainty they had in their eyes, inspired Jace. He had respect for their discipline.

  “You boys ready for this?” Jace asked the squadron.

  “Yes sir.” they replied.

  It wasn’t unusual for Scions to work alongside military. In fact, it was generally standard protocol. The soldiers fastened their helmets which contained virtual interfaces. Jace and Aiden had their own helmets from previous missions which Scott had retrieved. While Aiden placed his helmet on, Jace took a minute to observe his.