by David Burke
DESCEND – COMING TOGETHER
by
David Burke
License Notes: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner.
Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
This ebook is licenses for your personal enjoyment. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this ebook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Descend- Coming Together
Copyright © 2020
David Burke
Cover art copyright
© David Burke
Prologue
All around Caj sirens blared and warning alarms were sounding. In the distance he could still hear the sounds of screams punctuated by the high-pitched sound of A’snkarnt particle weapons, followed first by the crack and bang as the bursts moved toward their targets, ionizing the atmosphere in their path. Then the inevitable explosions that followed as mechs and tanks alike were blown apart.
He imagined that if he were closer, he would be able to smell the spent energy cores combined with the seared flesh and various fluids from the cybernetic bodies of his soldiers. The one thing that was not and never would be present was screaming. There was always plenty of that when they were overrunning the planets of the so-called lesser races.
Not so with the Forlorn, his soldiers were at one with their fate. If they were atomized, then it was only a part of their cycle of existence. As much as he condemned the enemy, the A’snkarnt likewise never cried out. They were no less futile than the other races in their resistance to the inevitable, but at least they faced it bravely.
The surprise of their attack had been almost complete. His ship had detected a flurry of signals sent off moments after the armada had exited their portal windows. Those signals had only lasted for two seconds before the barrage of weaponry unleashed upon the enemy had silenced their communications.
That was always the first step. The Forlorn were nothing if not systematic. Silence communication, cripple the engines, destroy weapons and then shield generators; always in that order. The A’snkarnt needed to be isolated into bite-sized pieces if they were going to be overrun. Their technology was still superior to that of his people. Yet they had developed tactics to stop them from fleeing as much as fleeing fate was ever possible.
The one thing that they almost never succeeded in doing was keeping the enemy from destroying their own ships. The A’snkarnt would rather slag their own technology and obliterate their own bodies than be merged into the greatness which they called the Forlorn. Even the ship that they had captured to discover the location of this base had had its technology almost completely scrambled beyond use.
Salvaging and repurposing what was captured by Caj was not his task. Other Over Minds worked toward those goals. His goal was to keep the A’snkarnt on the run. An enemy on the run made stupid mistakes, rushed things, and didn’t always plan for the future clearly.
The sounds of battle had begun to die down around him, and it seemed as though Caj Decius had accomplished what no other Over Mind had been able to. He had captured an intact enemy vessel, but this was not just any vessel. This was one of the enemy's leviathans. Their huge moon-sized floating research facilities. Intel said that only four such vessels existed and one had never been destroyed, let alone captured. It was well worth the loss of more than half his armada.
Then the sound of twisting metal split the air as the wall in front of him was ripped apart by some impossibly powerful creature. Its base form was that of an Elefantis, one of the lesser races. This one was the largest of its kind that Caj had ever seen, standing at least twenty feet tall and nearly half as wide. It was equipped with its own crude cybernetic enhancements, nothing nearly as refined as his people.
He saw its deadly intent, though. This creature thought it would stop him. Its central trunk reached out and grabbed one of his guards, crushing it against the bulwark. At the same time the laser guidance system which had replaced one of its eyes homed in on him as a payload of ballistic rounds were launched.
Once again three of Caj’s guards were blown to pieces, but his personal shield kept him safe if buffeted by the shock waves. All of this was to plan. The capabilities of the large gray creature before him were well known to the Forlorn and all inferior. His guards' weapons were already cutting apart the technology attached to the attacker and turning the solid metal into so much decayed junk.
What was unexpected was the way the weapons were having little to no effect against the creature’s flesh. Normally any living thing decayed and lost its life spark when hit by their necro blasts. The weapons accelerated the atomic decay in all matter, but excelled at doing it to living flesh. Yet somehow this lone Elefantis was resisting them.
His soldiers would have continued futilely blasting away because that is what good drones do. It was the task of an Over Mind to adapt to a different scenario, and Caj felt a rush of excitement. He was not meant to feel such things, but still he did. This would be an interesting challenge.
He rushed past his own guards and engaged directly with the brute. It slammed a bulky fist the width of Caj’s body down upon him with enough force to rend metal. Caj could have ignored it and allowed his personal shield to stop it. The fusion cell which powered his body’s cybernetic components was among the best technology that his people possessed. That however would not have been as satisfying.
Instead, Caj impossibly twisted his body around the descending fist and came in close. He extended his own fist in a punch but instead of physical contact released a charring burst of plasma into the flesh of his foe. It caused a searing wound, and the creature recoiled, but nothing like what Caj had expected. This Elefantis reacted more like its flesh was stone than actual living matter.
Its huge hands came slamming back into Caj, and impossibly his shield wavered. It held, but there was no way that an organic life form even with some minimal cybernetic enhancements should be able to hit that hard. A chest compartment in his exo-skeleton opened, and he blasted out a jolt from his neuro-inhibitor. This creature bore further looking into.
That thought was put on hold though as a series of massive explosions rocked the leviathan from within, traveling up to where they were fighting. Everything flashed bright white and moments later, Caj’s consciousness was waking up again inside his node on board the command ship.
Frustration ran through him. So much for capturing the leviathan intact. Apparently they had not been as successful at disarming its self-destruct as he had hoped. Almost equally he was disappointed by the loss of the creature to examine. It had some unique properties that he knew for a fact were not natural to its species.
Oh well, it wasn’t a total loss. At least some of the signals gave him insight into where the other leviathans might be located. Now he just needed to rebuild his armada. Time didn’t worry him. If there was one thing that being Forlorn meant, it was patience.
Chapter 1 - Starting Fresh
Jay woke up. He was almost surprised that he hadn’t experienced another of those weird dreams. They often seemed to come after momentous events, and yesterday had certainly qualified for that. Learning that there were other humans here had been game-changing enough, but then seeing the hostility of those humans was crazy.
Still, if he was honest with himself, life had become something of a dream all by itself. He was bouncing between the terrors of a dungeon to the wonders of his very sexy companions. Speaking of whom, he woke to find Amelia tucked in under
his right arm, her head on his chest and the curly blond hair tickling his nose. Under his left arm, Huong was pressed up against him with her leg splayed across his. The sheet was only partially covering them, but he didn’t mind.
He looked around to see if he could find Meikiyo, but she wasn’t in either this bed or the other. Immediately he felt a wave of concern. He had to admit that he was growing very attached to each of these lovely ladies, not just for the obvious benefits but because he respected each of them as teammates.
Jay tried to shift and untangle himself so that he could get up, but Amelia’s hand pressed against his chest. She mumbled, “No, too early. Don’t leave.”
Jay ran his hand down her arm and gently moved it while leaning his neck down to kiss her forehead. “I have to find Meikiyo. Gotta make sure nothing is wrong.”
She mumbled back, “She’s fine, just jealous,” but didn’t offer any further explanation as she pulled the pillow over her head.
Getting Huong’s leg unhooked from around him proved even more challenging, not the least of which was how enticing it was as he ran his hand along it. At least she didn’t wake up. Once he was out of the bed, he pulled the sheet up over both of them. They deserved their sleep. The past 24 hours, no, the past week had been tumultuous to say the least.
After dressing, Jay grabbed a quick drink and then walked out of the bungalow. The sun was just now breaking the horizon and there were only half a dozen people up that he could see. All of them clustered around Jasmine, except for Meikiyo. He saw her off at the terminal and immediately headed for her. He hoped that he could engage with her before the inevitable conversation with the council that he knew was going to be just a bundle of joy.
He strode purposefully across the space, but when he got to the terminal, he couldn’t talk to Meikiyo as she was protected by the barrier. He thought about doing some shopping with the new 1.1 options himself, but decided that it would be better to just wait for her. He wanted her to know that she was an important part of the team, and it didn’t set the right tone if he was too bored to stand there for a few minutes and wait.
At one point Mia started walking over towards him, waving. Her tall, slender form was clearly athletic and drew his immediate attention. That was it, he told himself, he needed to buy some of the aphrodisiac purifiers. He needed a clear head for today. As he presumed she was sent by Jasmine, but Jay just waved her off. “I will come find you later, but I need to take care of something else now.”
“Jay, Jasmine says the council needs to talk to you. It’s important,” Mia replied.
“This is important too. Besides, I know for a fact that one of the council members was still sound asleep in bed just a couple minutes ago.”
“Okay, well maybe not the council, but we need to talk to you. Everything has changed now and people can’t go their own way. We need to work together and pick a new council. She just wants to talk to you before the vote later.”
“I promise, I will come find her, but that is the best that I can do for now.” Then he turned his back towards her to make it clear he wasn’t going to continue the conversation. He activated his Life Sense and could tell that she stood there for about 30 seconds before finally giving up and turning around.
It was good timing too, because just then Meikiyo stepped away from the terminal. When she saw him, her face lit up briefly with a smile and then she got all flushed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were there.”
“Well, how could you? You were busy shopping. Even I know a girl’s gotta get to do shopping at some point.” Jay tried to put on his best smile before adding, “I don’t mean to be stalking you. I was just worried about you. After everything that happened yesterday when I woke up and you weren’t inside the bungalow, my mind went to the worst possibilities.”
She appeared confused at first but then that smile started to creep back onto her normally stoic face. “You were worried about me? Does that mean….” she asked as her voice trailed off.
“Yes. You don’t ever have to wonder. I want you on my team in every way possible.”
“Every way?”
“Yes, every way. Were you worried about that? Was that why you left the bungalow without telling us?” Jay asked.
“I just thought you might like some privacy. You have a special kind of relationship with Amelia and Huong. I wasn’t sure if you, well, you know.” Meikiyo fumbled over her words.
“Why wouldn’t you think that? I would fight for you. I will protect you. I have proven that haven’t I? Haven’t I earned your trust?”
“Of course,” Meikiyo said while biting her lower lip.
“Then what?”
“Amelia and Huong have each gotten you to themselves. I thought maybe I was just an add-on.”
Jay crossed the few feet between them and took her in his arms. “Never. You are a bright jewel all your own. I could no more pick one of them over you than I could pick you over one of them. I may be a lecher, but I’m truly smitten with each of you.”
“Then you want me just for myself?”
“Yes, how many ways do I have to say it?” Jay asked.
“I don’t know but, I’m not tired of it yet.”
Jay looked down and smiled into her pretty doll-like face. “Let me make you this promise. As soon as things calm down a bit, I will organize some time for just you and me.”
“I’m gonna hold you to that,” she said with a smile, and Jay almost swore that flames flashed in her eyes. “Just don’t burn me on this.”
Jay laughed to himself, not sure whether to be excited or nervous, so he changed the subject. “Did you find what you needed in the terminal?”
“Yes,” she said as she walked away.
He watched and swore that she must be taking lessons from Amelia to learn that captivating way of swaying her hips. Then he followed after her.
Once they made it back to the bungalow, he found the other two in various states of dress, but surprisingly neither made any move to cover up. His experience with girls back on Earth was that even if they slept with you, they didn’t necessarily want you watching them dress. Even the most beautiful girls he had known were somehow self-conscious.
In typical Jay fashion, he blurted that observation out before he thought about whether it was a good thing to say out loud. Amelia and Huong both looked at him, then at each other. Amelia was the first to speak, “Why don’t you like watching?”
He started to fumble over an answer before Huong said, “Oh, don’t worry. We can all feel the passion you have for us. Knowing how you feel removes all embarrassment.”
Between the conversation with Meikiyo and now with the two of them, Jay felt like things were getting very serious, faster than he wanted. Or were they? He had amazing girls with him. They were committed to each other as a team. “Would it really be so bad if they were committed in other ways?” he asked himself.
He shrugged. “So we need to talk about Jasmine and the council. She is planning on forming a new council and calling for a vote today. I want to make sure we are all on the same page.”
Amelia let out that light-hearted laugh that so rarely broke through her cynical outer shell. “So typical, Jay. A shrug for everything. Always ready to run into danger but afraid of a deep conversation about feelings.”
Meikiyo came to his rescue. “I don’t like her.”
“Who?” Jay asked.
“Jasmine. I don’t like the way she looks at you. I don’t like the way she treats you.”
Jay expected a sarcastic comment from Amelia about jealousy, but instead she said, “I agree. I don’t trust her either.”
“She isn’t that bad,” Huong protested, but it sounded a bit feeble.
“What is your problem with her then?”
“I think she is looking out for herself. You have that Boy Scout attitude and she can take advantage of you because you assume everyone else is like you and looking out for what is best for the group,” Amelia answered.
�
�I think she wants what is good for the group, but is completely sure that she is the only one who knows what that is. I have seen people like her before. It was like that with my mother. She loved me but didn’t care that I hated the piano, she just knew it was the best for me,” Meikiyo said.
“You both are too harsh on her. Trying to get a bunch of terrified people organized is not an easy task. But I will agree with you both on one thing. I don’t like the way she looks at Jay. As someone who was in her inner circle for a while, I’m pretty sure she wants to lay claim to him,” Huong added.
“Well, I’ve already got first dibs on him and I don’t think we should share him with her,” Amelia said.
Huong and Meikiyo huffed at her assertion but Jay simply said, “You realize I’m standing right here, don’t you.” He was surprised when Huong of all people held her finger up to her mouth and shushed him.
Amelia continued, “He is right. We need to decide where Team Jay stands on this. For my part, I think that we should just continue taking care of ourselves, but the bone head over there is going to insist that we somehow provide for the entire cluster.”