“Is fine,” Bethany Anne assured him. “But Takal hasn’t been able to figure out why your body went into catastrophic failure, so you’re limited to this avatar for now.”
“I’m not in a hurry to go through that again any time soon,” Reynolds admitted.
Bethany Anne nodded in understanding. “I bet. What happened? The Pod I found you in was totally fried, and the whole area was swamped with Etheric energy.”
Reynolds relayed what he recalled. “We’d gone down in the Pod to search for possible bases should the planet turn out to be hospitable. We were chased by a giant fish. Everything between then and now is gone.”
Bethany Anne pressed her lips together in concern. “Jiya reported that the Pod was breaking down, yet it had a sudden surge in speed just as you were about to be eaten. It makes me wonder how you did it.”
Reynolds shook his head blankly. “How I did it? It couldn’t have been me.”
“Your power source operated by drawing slowly on the Etheric,” Bethany Anne reminded him. “But I guess we won’t know for sure until you recover your memory. It’s in there somewhere. Izanami will help you to get it back.”
“What? No!” Reynolds protested. “She has made it clear she doesn’t like me.”
Bethany Anne shook her head. “No arguments. The two of you will study Takal’s processes while he builds bodies for you both. Reynolds has no clue what he did, but the three of you are going to find out. Together.”
Yollin Space, Planet Melida, QBS Sayomi
John left his captain’s chair as the planet appeared on the viewscreen. “Everyone ready?” he asked Sayomi.
Sayomi nodded. “I sent a message to inform the colony leadership that we are close by since I will remain cloaked.”
John nodded. “Good thinking. What can you tell me about the situation down there?” He looked out at the two Ooken ships parked at equidistant points around the planet. “Maybe Akio shouldn’t have left the Achronyx behind.”
“I would envy you the battle ahead if not for the one I will be fighting up here in your absence,” Sayomi replied wistfully. “The city was destroyed, and the remaining population is hiding.”
John picked up the box holding the transporter beacons and headed for the door. “Don’t go too far.”
“I’ll be standing by in case you need an emergency extraction,” Sayomi assured him. “Take care down there.”
John nodded as he left for the transporter room. A new addition to the ship, it was space he didn’t begrudge giving up when they could go from the ship to the ground in a matter of seconds.
He gave K’aia and Trey a nod of approval as he entered, seeing they were ready to go. “How are you two feeling? It’s your first time against real Ookens, right?”
Trey lifted his staff. “Yeah, but Eve’s version weren’t anything to laugh at, which you know because you watched us fighting them. We’ve got this.”
K’aia pointed at Trey. “What he said. Will they be armed?”
John shook his head. “Not likely, but if you don’t expect it—”
“You can guarantee it will happen,” Trey finished.
“We’ll expect it,” K’aia assured him, sheathing her katanas in her back harness.
Michael nodded, breaking off from briefing Christina and Kai about Ooken weaknesses. “That’s the right attitude. This is going to be unlike any fight you’ve ever been in. Assume nothing. These creatures are not intelligent, but they are single-minded, and they were created for one purpose—to kill.”
“Just destroy the brain and you’ll be fine,” John told them.
“Succinct,” Michael agreed.
Kai ran through his HUD options, getting comfortable with the unfamiliar armor. “This is incredible! I have rockets on my shoulders and guns on my wrists. What’s this?” He jumped when a forcefield popped into being around him. “I can’t figure what most of these icons are for.”
Christina snickered, feeling the power increase the Pricolici armor gave her. “I know what you mean. It wasn’t so long ago that the only feature armor held for me was a nasty shock if it decided I was taking things too far. I know what I want for my birthday. How are you feeling after your nap?”
“I wasn’t expecting to sleep most of the way here,” Kai admitted, closing his armor’s HUD. “But I feel good.”
Christina observed Michael, Gabriel, and John running their armor through its paces. “Maybe I’m spending too much time on the frontier if I missed out on advances like this.”
John grimaced, unused to the dual effort of telling Sean for the third time that grenades were not either of their friends until they were, and that he would be the one to tell Sean when that occasion arrived, while simultaneously replying to Christina. “Trust me, it’s not something you would ask for. Moving up from the basic models comes with added complications.”
Kai chuckled since John’s face reminded him of the look TH got when he was made to talk via his neural chip. “If this is the basic model, then I’m good with being basic, thanks. Besides, that blue isn’t the quietest shade.”
Trey snorted. “They might look like they’re wearing the matching Exodus Day sweaters their aunt forced on them, but wait until you see it in action.”
“We haven’t even pushed it yet,” Gabriel enthused. “I can’t wait to get down there, where venting the atmosphere isn’t an issue.”
Christina folded her arms. “Why do I have a feeling you’re planning something?”
“He’s always planning something,” Trey told her, shaking his head solemnly. “I thought you knew him and Alexis?”
Gabriel’s grin grew wider. “There’s the kicking ass part; that’s standard.” He hitched a thumb at Michael and John. “Showing the um, previous generation how it’s done is going to make my day.”
Michael laughed. “We’ll just have to see about that.”
“Yeah, you might have made more progress with your armor, but it doesn’t outweigh our experience,” John added.
Michael lifted his hand. “Wait, I want to hear what Gabriel is suggesting.”
Gabriel considered the best motivation for getting his father invested. “Yours and John’s experience against our general awesomeness as a team. The winners are the side with the highest kill count at the end. No prize. We do this for the honor of being the best.”
“This is sounding less like a rescue mission and more like a contest,” Christina stated. She shrugged, smirking at Michael and John. “I didn’t say I had a problem with it, just that it’s pointless betting.”
“Strong words,” John told her with a grin.
Christina flexed in her borrowed Pricolici armor and kissed her biceps. “I’m pretty damned strong.”
Michael narrowed his eyes. “You are every bit your father’s daughter. Okay, we’re on. John and I versus the five of you.”
“And so the students will become the masters,” Trey intoned, putting his hands together.
John cuffed him fondly on the back of the head. “Don’t be a dumbass. Keep your head in the fight.”
Sayomi announced that they had reached high orbit above Melida’s only city. “Our message got through,” she informed them. “We’re being hailed from the surface on the frequency I gave them.”
“Put it through,” John instructed.
The small wallscreen lit up and was momentarily covered by tentacles.
“We’re too late,” Christina moaned.
Gabriel shook his head. “There are no teeth in those tentacles. That’s not an Ooken.”
The tentacles parted, revealing a pretty purple face with large blue eyes. “Oh! You’re real! Can you get the FDG here? We’re under attack by Ookens, and they’ve killed almost everyone.”
Gabriel recognized the female’s species from Tabitha’s stories of her Ranger years. “You’re a Loren? We were expecting Yollins.”
“Does it matter?” the female exclaimed. “We have all kinds here, but not for long if the damned Ookens get the
ir way. We’re holed up in the shelter beneath City Hall, but I can’t say how much longer we can hold out. The Ookens aren’t giving up.”
“What’s your name?” Michael asked.
“Talia,” she replied.
“Hold on a little longer, Talia,” Michael told her. “We’re on our way.”
John opened the box of beacons and handed them out. “These are your transporter beacons. They keep your shit together during the transfer, so you don’t come out of the transporter inside out with your head on back to front or out your ass. If you lose it, you’ll have to wait for a Pod, so don’t lose it.”
Michael waved the group toward the enclosed platform at the rear of the room and waited for them to spread out and take their positions on the raised circles. “What now?” he asked John when nothing happened.
“Do you have to say ‘energize’ or something?” Christina quipped.
“Send us down, Sayomi,” John called.
“That takes all of the drama out of it.” Michael stopped grumbling when he felt a tingle that preceded his awareness blinking out for a split second. When his consciousness returned, they were standing in the middle of a street lined with two-story buildings.
“I don’t need drama,” John replied, drawing his Jean Dukes Specials. “I didn’t have to jump out of a Pod in the upper atmosphere this time, and that’s all I need to be happy.”
K’aia had to agree.
“I’m with Michael,” Kai countered. “This is technology beyond anything anyone born on Earth could dream of. There should be some drama.”
Trey shrugged. “It would be cool if it made the noise like the TV show.”
Christina balanced her morningstar on one shoulder, careful not to scratch her borrowed armor with the oversized bludgeoning weapon’s sharp spikes. “It’s a gamechanger. When we go after the factories… Wait, where are the Ookens? I thought this place was infested?”
Michael skimmed the mindspace, hearing the grinding buzz of the hive mind in the streets to the north. “They’re clustered up ahead.”
“Why didn’t they attack us immediately?” Kai pondered.
“Maybe they can’t read the energy of the transporter because it’s powered by alien technology,” Gabriel guessed.
“Then we should announce our arrival.” Michael looked up. “And wash away the destruction.” He raised a hand to the sky and clouds formed in the rapidly cooling air, replacing the blue sky in the blink of an eye.
Kai looked at Michael in awe as fat raindrops began to fall. “Now I see why you were concerned about me tagging along. I can’t do anything like that. I’m glad TH lent me this.” He unholstered the Jean Dukes Special and waved it. “ADAM told me I can fire it on the higher levels now.”
“How is it any use?” Alexis asked. “It’s keyed to your grandfather’s DNA.”
Kai shrugged. “Ted. Plato. I didn’t ask.”
“What ADAM didn’t say is that it’s still going to shatter your wrist,” Christina told him. “Your nanos will heal it instantly. I think you were quick to dismiss your Were side.”
Kai shrugged. “Maybe I’ll think about it in the future. For the moment, I’m happy with what Bethany Anne and ADAM did to improve what I had. It’s not like I have time to train a new ability right now.”
“I don’t know, maybe you do,” K’aia complained. “Where the hell are the Ookens?”
“We’re not far,” Gabriel supplied.
The conversation was cut short when the air was torn by the screeching of Ookens echoing down the streets around them.
“Keep moving,” Michael instructed.
They picked up the pace as they passed damaged buildings on the road to the city center, on alert for any movement inside the smashed walls.
“This place is relatively new,” Gabriel murmured to Michael. “They’re still using temporary living solutions.”
Michael indicated the stone building where the street opened up into a square. “They have been here long enough to build that.”
John grunted. “That’s got to be City Hall. It’s surrounded.”
Gabriel had Sean give him an infrared filter in his helmet HUD. His expression hardened at the sight of the Ookens swarming all over the inside of the two-story building. “All I see is a target-rich environment. Let’s move.”
The Ookens on the steps of City Hall turned as the group approached—just one at first, then two or three more. Then the ones hanging from the architectural features screeched, and every Ooken in the building switched purpose as the hive mind was alerted to the presence of danger.
Gabriel called the team into position as the Ookens flooded from the doors and windows of City Hall.
Michael had a moment to consider the ease of Bethany Anne’s ability to wipe the Ookens’ nanocytes with ADAM’s assistance. He called down the lightning, clamping down on the voice of his armor’s EI.
The Ookens scattered wherever the lighting hit. Michael controlled the strikes to clear the steps up to the building while John kept his space clear of attacking Ookens.
Gabriel saw they were going old-school and shook his head as he allowed his version of the Bl’kheth EI to merge almost fully with his mind. With his armor attuned to his thoughts, it became an extension of his body. I’m going for it, guys, he informed the team. I want to try something I’ve been practicing with Alexis.
I knew you were planning something! Christina exclaimed.
Trust me, if this works, it’s going to guarantee us a win. Gabriel manifested a sword as he slipped through the Etheric and came out where the Ookens were thickest. His armor gave him the ability to control his ability to “glitch” and hold his phase somewhere between the dimensions. A thought, and the burning Etheric energy that formed the razor-edge of Gabriel’s blade ceased to phase.
Gabriel whooped when the Ookens fell to his strikes, then plowed into the tentacled mass sword-first.
Michael caught a glimpse of his son taking out Ookens without them being able to lay a tentacle on him and reconsidered his stance on the EI-controlled armor. He continued to keep the areas around everyone clear with his lightning strikes while he sucked up his stubbornness and allowed the communication from his EI.
Oh, so you’re interested now you’ve seen what I can do for you? Sean asked somewhat smugly.
You’re doing nothing to convince me not to shut you down completely, Michael replied. While I appreciate the sacrifice the organic Sean made, I do not need a voice in my head telling me how to fight.
I’m not telling you how to do anything, the EI protested. I am trying to fulfill my sole function, which is to enhance your already impressive but volatile power.
Michael washed the front of the building with Etheric-charged electricity, stunning the Ookens that had been creeping down the stone façade toward Christina.
I can work with Etheric energy. I could maintain the weather while you fought if you completed the calibration, Sean informed him. Once I understand how you are drawing the lightning, I can replicate the effect.
Show me, Michael instructed.
“Behind you!” Gabriel yelled over the screeching as another nest of tentacles erupted from the window behind K’aia.
Trey hit the tentacles with a blast of energy from his staff, then brought the butt around to smash the skull that replaced them when the Ooken retracted them.
“Behind you!” Christina fired one of her shoulder rockets into the Ookens spilling out of the entrance, giving Gabriel the split second he needed to avoid being trampled.
The sudden influx of Ookens pushed the team apart. Gabriel held his ground at the entrance, phasing to avoid being carried away by the crush. The others were pushed around as they were knocked off their feet.
“Shit!” John cursed. “Hold on, I’m coming.”
Michael sensed the Ookens moving in from the surrounding streets as John moved to protect the others. John, get everyone but Gabriel inside. He dropped the comm and opened his mental link to Gabriel
as he climbed the closest intact building to get a better view of the surrounding streets. Make your way to my position. There are more Ookens approaching. John will help the others while you and I eradicate the threat.
Gabriel laid down a spray of energy balls to give the others a chance to recover from the fall. What are you thinking? he asked.
That honor is bringing this to a speedy end, Michael replied, still counting a few hundred Ookens in the square. We’re going to fry their nanocytes. There is no saving this colony. We’ll take the survivors back to the Meredith Reynolds.
Christina snarled as she cleared their path back to Gabriel with her teeth and claws. She fought back to back with Kai on the steps as the heavens grew dark and the downpour increased in intensity. Farther down the steps, K’aia and Trey were also fighting to get back to Gabriel’s position.
Trey’s staff flashed red in between lightning strikes as they worked their way across the wide frontage to support the others. Christina darted in as Trey and K’aia reached the step below and snatched an Ooken out of Trey’s way, tearing it in two before moving on to the next.
They gained another step when John joined them, pushing the Ookens back in a hail of kinetic fire and energy blasts. K’aia and Trey reached the top and immediately took covering positions while John, Christina, and Kai ran the last few feet to the entrance.
“How do we know there aren’t still Ookens inside here?” Trey asked as they sprinted inside and shut the doors.
“We don’t,” John told him as he indicated that Trey should grab one end of a heavy bench to help him block the door.
Chapter Sixteen
Gabriel remained in his phased state to reach Michael. He leapt and caught the edge of the roof and hauled himself over. “Where are the rest of the Ookens coming from?”
Michael indicated the direction he sensed the hive mind. “We need to build a charge strong enough to wipe their nanocytes without destroying the building. What would you do if it was your call?”
Return Of The Queen: The Kurtherian Endgame™ Book Eight Page 16