by C. C. Ekeke
Habraum would have laughed if in better humor. The holoportrait of the Supremacy’s Ruin he’d gifted Sam would have no place in this vainglorious exhibition.
The leader of Faroor sat on his throne, still gaunt but definitely looking healthier. His bluish pelt was glossy and his hair done in ridiculous twists of braids. The Magnus’s robes were silvery emerald Pallanorian silk chased and webbed in obsidian gleaming under the room’s halolights.
His younger son Gaorr stood at the foot of his throne, equally elegant in a purple-gold collarless dress shirt and matching pants. His raven-black mane was coiffed in several twisted braids spilling down his back. Gaorr watched Star Brigade with scornful superiority.
Habraum itched to punch that smug face. But the Cerc saw a larger threat in the sixteen guards surrounding the throne. All hefted pulse rifles and crackling melee staffs.
“Alrigh’, Magnus,” Habraum called out. The room gave him a slight echo. “Speak quickly.” He made sure CT-1 remained close enough to the doors for a quick exit.
The Magnus leaned forward as the room shook from another skyquake. “Where is my son?”
“Near your throne, from what I see.” Habraum nodded at the sour-looking Gaorr.
Maorridius Magnus didn’t laugh. “My eldest son. Taorr,” he snapped.
Surprised, Habraum glanced at CT-1 around him. They all looked considerably baffled. “No idea. My Brigadiers couldn’t find him either.”
Gaorr made a rude noise.
“One of your Star Brigadiers spoke with him, though.” The Magnus cast an imperious look down at Khal.
Habraum gestured for the telekinetic to answer. The sooner we get on with this, the sooner we find Cortes and Byzlar.
“I needed his help on a lead,” Khal admitted. The frustration on his chiseled face echoed how Habraum himself felt. “We talked about how you’re holding him hostage. Nothing more.”
“Holding him hostage,” Magnus seethed. “Who do you think you are?”
Habraum had a snide answer which wouldn’t help the already taut mood. “We brought Taorr back.” The Cerc folded both arms across his chest. “Whatever happened after that is on you.”
“Liar!” The Magnus popped up from his seat. “Did you help him escape? Supply him with the motivation to go to that Farooqua whore?”
V’Korram, standing behind Habraum, hissed as his ears flattened. Khrome and Tyris exchanged disbelieving looks. Marguliese just stared a hole into the Magnus.
Habraum had heard enough. “Aaaand we’re done.” He turned his back on Maorridius and his parade of idiots, tapping on his wristcom. “Solrao. Transmat us out of here.”
No response. “Sollie?” Again nothing. Habraum glared up at the furious Magnus on his throne. He barely bit back a curse. “Are you greybricking me?”
“No transmissions get in or out without my permission. Your Star Brigade already embarrassed my military once,” the Magnus declared. His singsongy voice took a dark tone. “You don’t leave until I get answers on my son’s location!”
A threat? Habraum was about to keep walking until Khrome’s massive hand caught his forearm.
He shot Khrome a confused look. The Thulican glanced at the ceiling.
Habraum followed his gaze to a gleaming black half-sphere in one corner. Another glance found several across the ceiling’s entire length. Far too large to be holovid cams.
The Thulican furrowed his hairless brow and nodded.
A wave of cold washed over Habraum. Defense systems. If he or anyone made any aggressive moves toward the Ttaunz royal family or defied their commands, those weapons would certainly eradicate said attacker.
A transmaterialization shimmer encircled Star Brigade. At least twenty more Ttaunz guards appeared, each armed with UComm standard-issue pulse rifles. All of them aimed at the six Star Brigadiers.
And the situation had grown much more dangerous.
Habraum felt his heart thunder against his chest. Any sudden movement meant death. Meaning Lily would never get rescued.
He looked to Marguliese, glancing around the ceiling and room. The Cybernarr nodded in understanding of the muted command. Her deep blue eyes started glowing brighter than before.
“So that’s how it is?” Habraum asked quietly, looking over his shoulder at the Viceroy of Faroor. “I told you the truth and you hold UComm officers hostage?”
The Magnus looked triumphant in his control. “Even as we speak your ship is surrounded. We will enter and find my heir if he’s inside.”
Habraum swallowed hard. This fear didn’t come from breaching a UComm vessel, which violated UComm military law. Habraum’s biggest fear came from if they did any deep scans inside and discovered another “Habraum Nwosu.” That would deliver too many questions. The rest of CT-1 knew that as well.
Tyris’s beady cobalt eyes bulged, his icy form looking slicker by the moment. “Captain!” he said.
Khrome balled up his fists. “Is he serious?” he complained.
V’Korram dropped to a combat-ready crouch, growling.
The Cerc held out a hand to stay CT-1’s aggression. “Easy.” Not until Maggie’s done, he deliberated. He glanced at the statuesque Cybernarr. She stared off at nothing, her left eye glowing like a jagged blue starburst. He had to buy her more time.
“Out of respect to the officer who saved your life,” Habraum turned to face the Magnus, desperation in his voice. Cortes could be injured or dying. “The officer we need to rescue. Release us. Please.”
“My father wants answers.” Gaorr approached, oozing entitlement. He pushed through the armed guards to get in the Cerc’s face. “You super-powered freaks know where my brother is.”
Habraum’s features hardened. He glanced at Marguliese. Her slight nod ignited his world. YES!
Gaorr got too close, spewing vitriol in Habraum’s left ear. “Tell us where Taorr is or—AAAGH.”
Habraum back-elbowed Gaorr in the face. There was a nasty crunch, and the Ttaunz dropped like a sack of potatoes.
The guards looked startled. Maorridius stumbled back, aghast. V’Korram looked thrilled, ears perking up.
Gaorr lay moaning on the ground, his broken nose gushing blood.
No throne room defenses fired. Habraum’s lips pulled into a dangerous smile.
As the guards brought their pulse rifles to bear on CT-1, the Cerc turned to his captor. Time to send a message. “Last chance, Magnus. Lower those guns. Release us.” He kept calm, but didn’t hide the threat in his words. “Or this becomes uncivilized.”
Maorridius eyed his son in disgust. “Your chances just ran out, Nwosu.” He pointed an accusing finger at Star Brigade. “Contain them.”
Every Ttaunz with a pulse rifle pointed at CT-1.
Habraum’s smile broadened, unshakably confident. “Maggie,” he said. “I’m no fan of those guns.”
Marguliese’s left eye gleamed radiantly. Unexpectedly, one Ttaunz’s pulse rifle sparked and exploded, forcing him to drop the weapon. Another soldier’s pulse rifle blew up in her face, followed by several more. Habraum chuckled. In short order, every Ttaunz holding a firearm had to drop their sizzling, malfunctioning weapons. That included the guards surrounding the Magnal throne.
All of Maorridius Magnus’s poise shed like a bedsheet. “By the Supremacy! How?”
Habraum looked to CT-1. Tyris, Khrome, V’Korram, Khal, and Marguliese all stood primed to attack. After the stress and the missing teammates, they needed a release.
So did Habraum. He dropped both arms as currents of biokinetic energy coursed through his body. The Cerc’s fists crackled with bright crimson energy. That dangerous smile on his face broadened. “Star Brigade. Have at it.”
And CT-1 attacked. V’Korram pounced upon the Ttaunz guards with a furious roar, feral and frightening, swiping his claws in savage abandon. He charged one soldier and swung his arm like a club, hitting the Ttaunz’s chest with such force, the smack echoed across the throne room. The Ttaunz spun head over heels twice before fac
eplanting on the floor, out cold.
Tyris weaved a brutal path through the Ttaunz with his expertly twirled quarterstaff, feinting left and right to lay out three guards within moments of Habraum’s order. Khal waved his hands, about to employ his telekinesis, launching several guards through the air. A perfect setup for Khrome to launch himself up and plow through the flailing Ttaunz like a silvery bullet.
“Keep them coming, Vertex,” Khrome crowed to his teammate.
Marguliese was a blur of violence, feet and fists surgically pummeling five soldiers at once. One desperate soldier swung wildly at her blindside. The Cybernarr whirled and caught the punch in her metallic hand, squeezing slowly. Her face was an unyielding gold mask as her victim’s finger bones snapped and popped within her grip. As the poor solider screamed hideously, Marguliese dropped him with a swift palm thrust to the face.
Habraum hadn’t lifted a finger…yet. The Magnus’s shouts caught his ear, barking for backup on the comms. Marguliese had blocked all outbound transmissions, of course. Habraum wheeled around with fists glowing, his eyes locked on the Magnus as he approached the Magnal throne. The Magnus hunkered down on his seat and gave a hurried command. His guards drew melee weapons and energy shields, then marched to intercept Habraum.
The Cerc raised his glowing fists to his chest, unwaveringly calm, then whipped both of them outward. Twin crimson whips of energy smashed into all sixteen guards, knocking them off their feet and out cold.
Habraum stepped over their bodies, never dropping his glare, and marched on until he stood face-to-face with Faroor’s Viceroy. “I gave you the chance to choose wisely. And again, you chose wrong.” He pointed a glowing fist at the Magnus’s face. To his credit, the Ttaunz leader didn’t cringe away. But the illumination from Habraum’s biokinetic energy exposed the terror on his face.
The Magnus tried to speak, unable to believe some non-Ttaunz stood so close. The Cerc let the biokinetic energy build in his fist until the crimson glow burned the room. “Three times you’ve interfered with my mission,” he never raised his voice. But Habraum made the hatred in his words clear enough. “Three times you’ve put my team in jeopardy. I am not a vicious man. But interfere a fourth time, I’ll come back here and blast your goddamn head off.”
The Magnus’s pelt was damp from sweat. “You dare?” he whispered scornfully.
“Cross me again and I will,” Habraum swore. Lowering his fist, the Cerc turned to march down the steps.
He saw CT-1 had dispatched the other Ttaunz guards, leaving them strewn about the throne room’s floor. The Brigadiers watched their field commander in shock as he approached.
V’Korram offered a rare smile full of pointy teeth. “I enjoyed that,” he growled.
“Figured,” Habraum responded with a grin of his own.
Khal was still awestruck. “You just threatened the Viceroy of a Union memberworld.”
“And?” Habraum snapped, not caring.
“Not complaining.” He held up his hands disarmingly. “Just admiring.”
“Sollie?” the Cerc called out.
“Yes. Captain,” she replied.
Hearing that dozy Ibrisian voice filled Habraum’s heart to the brim. “Get us back to the ship.”
The throne room, the strewn bodies, and the stunned Maorridius Magnus on his throne shimmered away.
Soon, the inside of the Phaeton’s cargo hold reappeared. The rest of CT-1 all stood with Habraum.
And on the cargo hold floor were five more Ttaunz bodies, their armor cracked as if struck by a hovercar. V’Korram snarled and spun about, claws extended from his fingers. The other Brigadiers tensed and prepped for an assault. Habraum followed their stares.
The other Habraum stood at one side of the cargo hold, no longer imprisoned. His upraised fists glowed bright orange with biokinetic energy, like Habraum himself. “Took you lads long enough,” he remarked, his hazel-gold eyes gleaming.
“Had to let him out,” Solrao mentioned over the comms before Habraum could reply. “Those Ttaunz spec ops managed to board the ship. I kept them from getting any further than the cargo hold.”
“Fair enough,” Habraum sighed. “Mind getting them off my ship?”
The Ttaunz shimmered away from sight. To where, the Cerc didn’t care. “We clear for takeoff?”
“Absolutely,” Solrao declared.
“I’m not returning to that cell,” the other Habraum announced.
“I won’t force you,” Habraum replied, drawing stares from his CT. “We need to finish our talk about what to do now that Ghuj’aega has merged with the Zenith Point.” He felt Phaeton lifting off and moving toward the flight bay’s egress.
The Cerc turned his attention to CT-1, smiling hopefully. “Before any Zenith Point nonsense, we got business to handle first.” Cortes, to Habraum, was more important than any mission. He marched from the cargo hold to the bridge, CT-1 and the other Habraum at his heels. “Like I said before. Let’s go get our girl.”
Chapter 25
Khal noticed the charged atmosphere as CT-1 headed for Liliana Cortes’s location. That made him smile. Would these teammates ever care that much for him?
Who knows, he shrugged. Who cares? Khal reminded himself he wasn’t there to be liked. But the bond would be appreciated.
Another shudder rocked the Phaeton, the third in the last ten macroms.
Captain Nwosu paced around the bridge, brow furrowed as he observed the viewscreen. “Another one,” he muttered to no one in particular.
Onscreen revealed a peach-and-crimson stained sky, fractured by nonstop lightning strikes. The Zenith Point loomed above all like a second sun, its radiance near blinding.
“It’s growing more frequent and potent,” said the other Habraum Nwosu. Khal couldn’t say that without a chuckle. “We’ll have to sweep in quick and make a quick grab for Cortes.”
“I know.” Nwosu looked worried, no doubt for Cortes. “Once we get her, we head for the Zenith Point. After that?”
“Find the Particulate,” the other Cerc said. “It’ll know what to do next.”
“It better,” Captain Nwosu countered with a warning look.
Another shudder rumbled through the ship, more violent than before. Khal had to grab hold of his console to keep his balance.
“Captain,” Khrome called from his workstation. “The energy readings just spiked with that last skyquake. The next one will be worse.”
Khal scanned the floating holoscreens surrounding him at his console. “Damage being reported across several Ttaunz city-states.” Khal winced as several starscrapers toppled, crumbling to dust before the savage skyquakes or the crimson lightning strikes spearing through the tallest structures. Madness… “UComm and TDF forces are being deployed all over, triaging the damage. Record numbers of space vessels are evacuating off-world.”
“Can’t blame them,” V’Korram growled quietly.
“Any luck getting in touch with Cortes?” Tyris asked.
Khal shook his head. “Tried ten times. No response. I’ve set the ping on autoloop until she answers.”
“And Byzlar?” Captain Nwosu asked.
“Same,” Khal replied. The transmission came through after he finished, meant for his eyes only.
Khal almost ignored it until he caught the caller ID. Me? He felt the blood drain from his face. Can’t ignore this. Khal glanced around the bridge, right as another skyquake forced everyone into a seat, even Marguliese.
Khal transferred the call to a secure line off the bridge. “Be right back. Restroom,” he muttered, and took his leave.
Once in the cargo hold, Khal stood before a small viewscreen. Requesting a call trace first, he then answered. The caller appeared, onscreen, and his insides clenched. “Where the hell are you?” he hissed.
Taorr son of Maorridius Magnus dominated the screen. He had the gall to smile like an idiot. “Hello, Khal. Sorry I had to contact you this way.”
Khal had no patience for pleasantries. “Every Ttaunz
is looking for you. We had to fight our way out of Magnasterium because your dad thought we helped you escape.”
Taorr’s features fell. “I am sorry for putting Star Brigade in that position. But what you said truly resonated with me.” The Ttaunz heir breathed out a heavy sigh, looking euphoric. “So I gave Uarya a sample of my DNA so my family’s line lives on through her. In exchange, she helped me escape.”
Khal scowled as a more violent shudder shook the ship. Ttaunz politics were just bizarre. One could say the same about earthborn intrigue. “How the hell did she do that?”
Taorr’s smile went from euphoric to guilty. “This is where Star Brigade did assist in my escape, if you try to find me and take me back to my father.”
Khal felt a twitch of anger. Blackmail? This punk might be as bad as his asshole brother. “That sounds like a threat, Taorr. Which is uncalled for after Star Brigade saved your life.”
Taorr looked away, possessing the dignity to be ashamed. “I am sorry. But Mhir’ujiid is my everything, and nothing will keep us apart. Not anymore.” The lovesick Ttaunz continued, “I used your Star Brigade wristcom to mask my presence within Magnasterium. Then Uarya snuck me out into one of her private shuttles. Her family owns so many, no one will miss it until I’m long gone.”
“How the hell did you get—?” The answer found Khal quickly, a gut punch of embarrassment and fury. Uarya. “That bitch stole my wristcom.”
Taorr made a face and nodded. “She also reconfigured it to mask me from detection. Uarya is very smart, has virtual computer engineering degrees.” The young Ttaunz’s gaze shifted and widened as he spoke. “I figured you should…know.”
Khal sensed someone else behind him. He turned and recoiled. V’Korram Prydyri-Ravlek stood in the cargo hold entrance, his towering silhouette blotting out any outside lights.
“V’Korram.” Khal put on his most convincing look of delighted surprise. “I found Taorr.”
The Kintarian looked unconvinced and surly, pointy ears flattening.
“Have to go, Khal,” Taorr blurted out before ending the transmission.
“Soooo,” Khal stated, still smiling as another skyquake shuddered. “How much did you hear?”