Len held his hands up. “Why are you asking me? She repairs herself.”
Roland bit down on the urge to hit the stubby Ch’kara. “Rackham?”
“At current speed, it will take one hour and forty-two minutes to repair the missile tube. Would you like to divert nanocelium from the engines, Roland?”
Roland groaned again. “That’s an agonisingly long time to just follow it.” He turned to Len. “Is it still on course for Arakesh?”
Len checked his console and looked up in despair. “There’s nowhere else for it to go.”
Roland sighed, aware that he had already made his mind up. “Okay. Len, scan the station and find me somewhere to dock. Everyone else, suit up and prepare to board that bitch.”
“We’re docking?” Riddick asked, his tone somewhere between alarm and excitement.
When Colonel Matthews offered no protest, Roland glanced behind him at the lieutenant and the assault rifle in his hands. “Well, what was the point of giving you all those guns if they didn’t want us to board it?”
Len cocked his head. “In case we were boarded by hostiles, obviously.”
“Shut up, Len,” the bridge replied as one.
Roland smirked to himself and set the Rackham on a trajectory to dock in the nearest hangar. Perhaps this was going to be an interesting day after all…
Chapter 6
Li’ara’s arm reached out in bed and found nothing but an empty space where Kalian should have been. The absence of a warm body made her stir, but the silhouette of the man she loved sitting on the end of the bed brought her fully awake with a start.
“Sorry,” he apologised.
Li’ara rubbed her eyes and sat up. “This isn’t creepy at all. What time is it?”
“It’s still the middle of the night,” Kalian whispered.
Behind him, the doors to their private balcony were open, allowing some of the cool night air to blow through the stuffy apartment.
Li’ara yawned and took in the sight of him, still dressed in his clothes from the day. “What’s up? Can’t you sleep?”
Kalian looked away before answering, “I don’t sleep, not anymore.”
That had alarm bells ringing in her head and she threw back the duvet to crawl across the bed and get closer to him. As always, it took her an extra second to remember that she only had one whole leg. The stump beneath her right knee had healed up nicely, but it still felt there to her.
“You don’t sleep?” she repeated, making sure her brain had made sense of his words.
“I haven’t slept for fifty-three days.”
Li’ara didn’t know what to say and her surprise must have been evident on her face.
“It’s okay,” Kalian continued with a reassuring hand on her cheek. “I’m fine.”
“Not sleeping doesn’t come under fine,” she countered. “Even the Gomar need to sleep.”
“They shouldn’t,” he replied, taking his hand back.
Li’ara shook her head, dismissing further talk about the Gomar and their training. “What have you been doing all this time?”
Kalian offered her that boyish smile she had never been able to resist. “Exploring…”
Li’ara cocked her eyebrow. “Exploring? Exploring what? Evalan?”
Kalian laughed gently to himself. “No. In here.” He placed a finger to his temple. “I think I can do it now,” he said cryptically.
Li’ara titled her head, trying to figure him out. “Do what?”
Kalian glanced down at her amputated leg before meeting her eyes again. That confident look that Li’ara had been seeing more and more crept over his face.
“Kalian…” she instinctively rubbed her hand over the stump. “You can do some unbelievable things, but…”
“I can do it,” he said again with certainty. “It’s just matter. Lie back.”
Li’ara hesitated, caught somewhere between excitement and disbelief. Kalian leant over her leg with his hand outstretched, overshadowing her amputated leg. The concentration on his face was no different to any other time, only now, Li’ara could feel his power. It began with an intense itch she was desperate to scratch, but seeing her discomfort, Kalian flexed his fingers and her entire leg went numb, allowing her to sit up and observe the miracle. The skin around the stump had already gone, replaced with the beginnings of a new bone that was quickly being surrounded by tendon, muscle, and blood vessels as it lengthened. Once the tibia reached the right length, it miraculously gave way to more bones that formed her foot. The blood vessels and tendons snaked and twisted down her new shin and spread out across the foot. The muscles came together from thin air, every strand adding to the bulk of her calf.
Eventually, fresh skin began to stretch out, covering the new bones and muscles. She even had toenails again! Tears welled in Li’ara’s eyes when her toes took shape, though her ability to move them was still under Kalian’s control. For the first time in what felt like a long time, Kalian had actually broken a sweat. Beads of perspiration collected on his temples before trickling downwards. She had seen him fight off twelve Gomar and shift mountains without any sign of fatigue.
“There…” Kalian sat back and took a breath.
Li’ara marvelled at the sight of her new leg. It had taken some time, but she was starting to come to terms with her injury, always telling herself it had happened in the line of duty and that she had saved lives losing it.
She shuffled to the edge of the bed and hesitantly placed her new foot on the floor. The numbness had gone, replaced with thousands of glorious nerves, each one telling her how cold the tile floor was. She didn’t know what to feel seeing her wiggling toes now. With a gentle hand, Li’ara ran her fingers over the skin on her shin and compared it to the skin on her left leg. There was no discernible difference, except for the longer hairs. Cautiously, she lifted her leg and flexed, stunned to see the muscle in her calf contracting.
“Thank you!” Li’ara launched across the bed and held Kalian in a tight embrace. “Are you okay? You look tired.”
Kalian smiled and tried to wave her concern away. “The intricacy and detail is always harder than just lifting a boulder or a rock. That’s the first time I’ve tried anything like that.”
“First time?” Li’ara hit him in the arm. “You sounded damn confident a few minutes ago.”
Kalian laughed, blocking her playful punches. “I knew I could do it.” He kissed her on the forehead, his expression serious. “I hate that they took something from you.”
Li’ara met his dark eyes. “I was okay with it. I destroyed a cube… it was an acceptable trade.”
“Not to me,” Kalian replied firmly.
Li’ara took a breath. “You’re not a god, Kalian. We all have to take risks and live with the consequences.”
“You would rather I hadn’t healed you?”
Li’ara didn’t want this to turn into an argument, but she could see where it was going. “That’s not what I’m saying. Of course I’m… I’m ecstatic that you gave me my leg back. What I’m trying to say is that you can’t take on the responsibility of everyone’s decisions. When this war really starts, people are going to get hurt, they’re going to die. You can’t put all of that on your shoulders.”
As poignant as her words had been, Li’ara could see that none of them had the desired effect on Kalian. He offered her a half-smile and stood up to make for the small balcony off their bedroom.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“I have to speak with ALF.” Kalian held out his hand and a small triangular device flew from the bedside table into his open palm.
“You’re going to speak with ALF? Now?” Going in the middle of the night was clearly only a problem for people who actually used that time to sleep.
“Captain Fey told me about the nanocelium a few days ago, Li’ara. We need answers.” Kalian placed the metallic device below his navel, where it immediately reacted to his touch and expanded around his body until only his head and han
ds remained visible. “It’s inside you as well.”
Li’ara tried not to let that thought distract her. “I agree that we need answers, but no one is supposed to make contact with ALF. If you take a ship it’ll be logged.”
Kalian smiled. “I’m not taking a ship.”
The nanocelium grew over his hands and face, leaving Li’ara to look upon what could easily have been a robot. The exosuit’s design was sleek, coated in overlapping panels and a face mask that didn’t have any visible eyes or mouth.
“I’ll be back before dawn.” His voice had a mechanical tone to it when filtered by the suit.
Before Li’ara could say another word, Kalian stepped on to the balcony and ascended into the night sky, quickly melting into the darkness between the stars. It took another second for Li’ara to realise she was now standing by the railing and looking for him. She inspected her new leg, testing the strength and feel of it. It was so good to put her foot down and feel the cold floor under her sole.
Her elation was soon brought under control when she noticed the row of plants that lined the railing. Having only replotted the mature shrubs yesterday, they should have been flourishing and full of life and colour. There was nothing but a row of dried out, shrivelled up leaves and broken stems now. Every one of them was dead, including the three inside the lounge and kitchen. Li’ara looked from the plants to her new leg, and up at the sky.
Chapter 7
Ja-lax looked over the Shay mercenaries he had handpicked to take back the Crucible. He had always preferred working with his own kind, finding it useful to know what they were all capable of. Thanks to all of the augments their species was known for, gender barely mattered anymore. When he examined the Shay before him, he didn’t see sex, only enhancements. Their pale flesh was stretched out, often reshaped to fit a new piece of hardware into their body. Ja-lax cycled through the various modes on his new eye, a glowing red gem that had been fitted into the cybernetic panels that coated half of his face.
A message popped up across the neural feed they all shared, its warning displayed over their eyes. Ja-lax reached out with the others and held on to the transport’s handrails above, as the ship descended through the thick mucky atmosphere that enveloped Shandar. In their tight quarters, the team couldn’t help but jostle into each other when the transport passed through one of the many lightning storms.
“Don’t you just love coming home?” Ja-lax shouted over the rattle.
The team laughed, though he was aware that at least two of them had never seen the true surface of their home world. For centuries, Shandar’s population had lived in towering blocks that floated in a connected web around the planet. Protocorps had long ago ensured that laws were put in place to stop anyone from travelling through the fog of clouds to the planet’s surface. There was a part of Ja-lax that resented his current employers for their role in poisoning the atmosphere and ruining his ancestors’ home. But they paid really well, so he was willing to let it go if it meant he could afford a luxury SkyCloud apartment on the Laronian home world, Vallara.
“Hey, Boss!” Vo-den called over the team. “How long have you been working Protocorps ops for now?"
Ja-lax took a long drag on his Ch’karan cigar. “Long enough to learn all their dirty secrets. Speaking of, listen up! Some of you are going to see things when we hit land. I know Shandar might feel like our home world, but it’s not. You need to think of this hunk of rock as just another Protocorps investment. So, any questions you might have need to be stowed until the op is over. Understood?” The team responded with a resounding affirmative. “Good. Now, you’ve all read the brief on this one. Ground troops are already in place and expecting us. They will get us inside the installation where you will, and I quote from our paymasters, kill anything that moves.” Cheers bounced off the interior bulkheads. “Alright, alright. Priority one is the activation of this place. They want everything switched on to full power.”
Vo-den shuffled to get a better look at him. “What exactly are we turning on, Boss?”
Ja-lax shrugged. “Who cares? Think of it as a money tree. We turn it on and shiny units come out of it.” The jolting came to a sudden stop when they cleared the thunderous clouds. “Breathers on!” he ordered.
The whole squad had already been fitted with artificial pods around all three of their lungs, requiring a simple activation rather than the donning of a mask. Ja-lax hit the control panel and opened both side doors on the transport, filling their ears with the rushing wind as the transports approached its landing coordinates. The land beneath them was barren, a vista of dulled rock that hadn’t seen sunlight for hundreds of years. The only thing beautiful about the view anymore was the constant lightning strikes.
The Crucible was easily spotted on the horizon, its concave top standing out against the rock. Towers and power stations were dotted around the area, typical of an installation that was used to going long periods without resupplying. The valley leading to the Crucible’s main doors was filled with transports with C-Sec printed on the side. The ground troops Councillor Nu-marn had already put in place were flashing their torches, giving the signal that it was clear to land.
“Move out!” Ja-lax jumped out of the ship a moment before its struts could touch down and led the way over to the nearest of Shandar’s security force. Two others from the security force were already opening the main doors for them and securing the first tunnel.
“Multiple engineering teams,” the guard thumbed over his shoulder. “Only two C-Sec strike teams led by Commander Norvak, a Novaarian.”
J-lax marched across the dry desert with his Splicer X1 in both hands. “I hate fighting Novaarians. Too many arms…” The Shay activated the skeletal robotic arms overlaying his own, granting him two extra hands. Each of the mechanical fingers reached for the Roller pistols on his belt.
Ja-lax turned to Vo-den while highlighting four other Shay on their neural net. “Take your team and perform a systemic eradication, just like we did on Zantesh. The rest are with me. We’re heading straight for the control room. Remember, minimal damage to the equipment.”
The tunnels were dimly lit but it was nothing his new eye couldn’t handle, bringing light into the darkest corners with its variety viewing spectrums. That light exposed signs of battle damage at almost every turn. Turrets were hanging off the walls, their barrels bent into unnatural shapes. Bloody footprints decorated the floors, running in every direction. Whoever had assaulted the Crucible in the first place had done a great job of creating chaos on their way through. He had, of course, heard the rumours that the installation had been attacked by one of the super-powered humans, but he still found the truth of these humans to be elusive, having never met one in real life.
Vo-den and his team split away, taking the tunnels that led deeper into the Crucible’s underbelly. The question was, who would get to pull their trigger first? Ja-lax accessed C-Sec’s internal comm and brought up a holographic display of the strike team’s whereabouts. Seeing the C-Sec soldiers highlighted in the floating map, he had his answers. Pointing to the tunnel’s curved ceiling, the rest of his team used the magnets in the ends of their metallic fingers and knees to climb and hide in the dark.
Ja-lax stood alone in front of the soldiers as they rounded the corner. “Greetings of peace!” he said jovially.
Surprised as they were to see him, their superior numbers gave them the confidence to raise their weapons and command him to freeze. Their mistake. They should have just shot him. The Shay dropped down and sank their blades into the soldiers, forcing the razor-sharp points deep into the gaps between their golden armour. One of the strike team, a blue Laronian, managed to survive long enough to aim her rifle at Ja-lax.
His Splicer X1 shot off a single round of Intrinium, which crystallised mid-flight until it formed a jagged blade sharp enough to penetrate C-Sec armour. It impaled the Laronian through the head, killing her instantly. The sound of her armour giving way and blood hitting the walls echoed down th
e tunnels in every direction.
“There goes the surprise.” Ja-lax glared threateningly at the Shay mercenary who had failed to kill the Laronian in the first place. “That’s coming out of your pay.” The mercenary groaned and stepped back into formation, suitably reprimanded.
Gunfire erupted over their neural net. It seemed Vo-den and his team had decided to go loud as well. The augmentation to his auditory canal picked up the sound of boots moving swiftly through the network of tunnels. Judging by the displacement, he guessed them to be in a sweeping formation, which meant they had no idea where their enemy was. Advantage to Ja-lax, he thought.
He flicked his head down the closest tunnel. “Seekers.”
Two from his team removed the strips of ball bearings from their bony legs and emptied them on to the floor. The balls came to life and began rolling down the corridor at great speed, using the walls and ceiling as much as the floor.
“Minimal yield,” he ordered. “We just need to kill them, not cave in the entire installation.”
A moment later, he heard the ruckus when the seekers found their targets and clung to various parts of their alien bodies. Their cries were quickly followed by a series of bangs and pops and the inevitable splatter of liquid on walls. As one, the mercenaries swept through the tunnel, making certain the soldiers were dead as they stepped over their corpses.
“Vo-den, report.”
“Most of the engineering team is dead,” he replied. “There’s some C-Sec resistance down here, but it’s nothing we can’t handle.” There was a pause on Vo-den’s end. “What did you say this place was again?”
Ja-lax rolled his organic eye. “Whatever weird shit you’re seeing down there, do yourself a favour and forget it. Focus on the objective.”
“Weird doesn’t cover it, Boss. They’ve got massive pyramids down here…”
“Just do your job, Vo-den.” Ja-lax cut the feed and concentrated on the light up ahead. He cut the feed and the group continued on through the tunnels, until they finally saw the light of their destination up ahead. “This is the control room,” he whispered. The hologram floating over his wrist showed that the C-Sec soldiers inside had hunkered down and found defensive positions behind the workstations.
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