by Shay Zana
Nikita is both malleable and rigid. It has no known boiling point, hence the name, due to the fact that this material cannot be fully manipulated to humanity’s will. It is the most plentiful metal-like structure known to humanity.
In Natheus’ wiry grip, the textures of nikita make exquisite contrast against one another while the Parallel produces strong, yet fluent and smooth mechanical clicks, adjusting and reforming almost fluid-like as it is commanded to do via technological telepathy. "Seven years is a long time," he states as he watches the weapon transform. "I hope we still got it."
"We're Paragons," Boone counters from the other side of the room. "We've always got it."
The Paragons smirk at this and feel renewed purpose, while the Cipher's mind stays focused. Always clear. Always deciphering. Always expecting the unexpected.
As they gather, Altair senses everything they do, feels every movement of them as they live within it. It watches them always, its instincts both to observe and protect, and the actions of the smaller creatures always finds a way of piquing its curiosity. It does not own any eyes, just the entity pulsing through its body, giving it all the visual sense it needs. Wherever its entity can go, it can see.
The ikamanu are able to manipulate their entities not just as shielding, but as destructive weapons. They can create the power of fire with their entities, forming flaming energy that harnesses the plasma of the stars. They can create the power of lightning, extracting the natural static energy from the stars. They can kill with this power, or they can protect with the soft caress of a mist or a wave energy, just by manipulating these tiny organisms that thrive within the nervous system and feed off the light and radiation from stars, seemingly defying the rules of physics. Unfortunately, the Paragons need the power of technology to be able to manipulate the entity and use it as a weapon.
One particular movement alerts the vessel now, though it is not generated from the crew, or within the vessel at all. It cannot pinpoint exactly what it is that it is sensing, but it knows that something is fluctuating, sending ripples through the very void they are amongst... and the very void they are not amongst.
Instinctively, it strengthens its entity shield with a single thought, delivering more intense waves of cyan around its form. The crew do not give much thought to the flash of cyan through the interior of Altair, as it usually exercises its entity several times a day. This is either out of the sensation it gives it, or whether it fluctuates with its speed. Many things regarding the ikamanu are unknown.
The vessel continues to spear through the sea of space, the fluorescent galaxy beyond enticing with its luscious supply of light.
But the darkness cradling it hides a sinister power.
RICOCHET
“Altair seems in good shape.”
Mazayus lifts his gaze toward Boone, seeing the young man fiddling with the systems on an auxiliary gauge. “Boone.”
Boone twists his head sidelong, but does not meet Mazayus in the eyes. “Hmm?”
“Don’t touch it.”
Back in the armoury, the two Paragons have backtracked and now continue to gather the rest of the equipment. They each carry a container of shards, the standard-sized energy cells used to load small and medium sized weaponry.
Mazayus sorts through a small canister of fire shards, the thumbnail sized cells pulsing a fiery red at his touch. Each shard can produce up to one thousand shard fragments before dying, and Mazayus measures their life expectancy by the intensity of their brightness. He loads one each into the chambers of his dual weaponry, light morphing weapons commonly used by soldiers trained under the elemental combat specialization. These weapons are designed to be dual wielded and synced, and they can be loaded with one of each shard simultaneously.
Mazayus’ weapons can morph through three different variations. Mazayus prefers a heavy pistol for precision, a submachine gun for suppression, and a mini shotgun for power. They are reasonably heavy for handguns due to the advanced use of morphing technology, more thorough than any other morphing weapon. When dual wielded, these weapons are extremely lethal at close to medium range, and the user has multiple choices of combat.
"You nervous?" Boone asks, the team’s designated heavy weapons and explosives specialist. He is selecting the larger heavy shards to load his weapon.
Mazayus looks to him before answering, searching for any signs of nervousness from the man himself. "No," he eventually answers, now examining a handful of plasma shards, burning an opalescent blue in his fingers. "I have nothing to be nervous about."
Boone looks back to his heavy shards and smirks at Mazayus' calm confidence. What did he really expect? A breakdown of emotions and a confession of fear? Not from Mazayus. "Come on, we should get back to the briefing, wouldn't wanna miss out and get lost in space somewhere. It’s been seven years since the original briefing and I can’t remember shit."
Mazayus nods and watches as Boone heads out of the armoury hauling his share of the load. Silently, he continues loading his weapons, placing the last toxic shard into each chamber and watching as the weapons slightly morph to seal up, producing small metallic clicks. The sound and movement of a morphing weapon is almost therapeutic.
In truth, he is nervous, more nervous than he has ever been since the mission began. This is his team, these are his men, and he has the responsibility to see them through it successfully, to bestow confidence in them and assure them of his own confidence. He should give some sort of speech before they depart, something inspiring and patriotic... but he has never been one to give speeches. He never knows what to say. Leading is not about having a way with words, it is about having a way with life, to rally people through your actions.
He holsters his weapons to either thighs and diverts his attention toward the two remaining Phoenix rifles set in a gun rack, the weapons that allow Paragons to use their entities offensively. He recognises one as his, but is unsure who the other belongs to. Grabbing his Phoenix from the rack, he slings it on his back, where his vitasuit automatically holsters it with morphing holsters. Eyeing up the other for a second, he grabs for it too, and heads out of the armoury after Boone.
The stargrid flickers to life in the navigation area, emanating out of thin air and positioning itself in the centre of the room where a portion of the floor dips in a low circle. The stargrid is a holographic visual display of the known galaxies in the universe.
Mazayus and Boone enter the room again with the rest of the gear, armed and ready to be briefed. Noticing that Deo is the only Paragon without his Phoenix, Mazayus approaches him and offers the weapon to him without a word, a hint of a grin on his face.
"Cheers," Deo says simply as he takes his Phoenix, examining it as its symbols glint a brilliant red at his touch, endearing against the mix of onyx and ashen shades of nikita in a flux of motion. The compound seems to have a mind of its own as it fluctuates in shades and textures.
Kitera watches silently as the Paragons practice their entities. The living energy of their entities cascades with the veins aglow on their skin, flowing around them fluidly, with them as one, ready to protect them and fight with them. Their entities fill the room with vivid reds, roaring at the darkness and splashing the walls in warmth.
Excluding Deo, the Paragons are wearing their vitasuits to get a feel for them again, and their highlighted veins meld through the suits in their symbiosis. At first the vitasuits are grown. The material is made from the very skin of the ikamanu, created using extracted ikamanu DNA samples and merged with human DNA to allow them to meld into the skin. The material of the vitasuits is able to withstand a lot more than it appears to, and the tight fit allows for complete mobility. Morphing technology was then installed after the growing process was complete, allowing for morphing helmets, weapon holsters, and light or heavy armour plating which can extend or retract over the body when needed.
Almost the entirety of the vitasuits are a dark grey, almost black. The insteps of the boots, belts, backs of the hands, wrists an
d upper arms, and necks are strapped with nikita for convenience such as ammo and utility packs, but which can meld apart in layers and slide over the entire body like jigsaw armour. The vitasuits also sport the holographic display of the symbolic Serenity emblem of a blue star located on the right of their chests.
Once all attention is on the stargrid, Kitera steps forward and activates her datakey by holding out her hand, palm upwards and flat. A small, blue holographic interface that acts as a personal wireless network appears above her outstretched hand, illuminating her skin and casting a vibrant glow throughout the room. Datakeys are used as internal computers, distilled into a human with an implant called a neural-root, which is implanted in the brain, through the base of the skull, and then connected to the nervous system.
Once the datakey’s interface is suspended, she drops her hand, letting the interface float in the air freely without her interaction. "Our first drop-zone, the Brutus System, Boone’s destination," she announces with an even tone, flicking through her datakey with both hands now.
Within a few seconds, the datakey expands and shifts into a view of the Scattered Planet Galaxy, where Kitera now relays the information from the datakey to the stargrid. The Paragons all watch with interest as the stargrid flicks a few galaxy sets and enlarges on Scattered Planet, and now zooms to the vividly red coloured Zion Cluster and from there, selects the Brutus System.
“Brutus is a yellow main sequence star similar to the Sun, where the star is in a state of hydrostatic equilibrium, constantly pulled inward by its own gravity yet its light pushed outward by fusion reactions. In its youth, your Sacrifice should be less strenuous on your entity.”
Boone nods in understanding. She does not mean it will be easy, just not as hard as igniting a blue supergiant. He hones his eyes in toward the dwarfed globes circling the star.
Orbiting Brutus are four planets, and only one is habitable to man.
"Brutus Superior," Kitera proclaims as the stargrid sets itself on an animated orbit of the rich golden coloured desert world. "The first planet orbiting Brutus, and the largest in the system. It has an orbital distance of 0.9 astronomical units, and it has a radius of over 4,000 kilometres. The atmosphere is very thickly comprised of oxygen and nitrogen, and the average surface temperature sits at sixty six degrees Celsius.
“It is very arid, with over ninety percent of its land mass covered in desert sand, leaving opportunity ripe for harsh conditions." She glances at Boone as she pauses, whose expression seems to be that of excitement as he leans forward, ears flapping. "Due to the fact that Brutus Superior has a considerable lack of ocean, storm systems are very scarce, but when a rare storm does occur, it causes great havoc with the level of oxygen in the atmosphere, generating global wildfires throughout the shrub lands. These harsh conditions make the planet just barely habitable for colonization, resulting in the low population of just over two million, as few colonists wish to settle there."
She adjusts a few settings on the holographic stargrid to display an overview of the planet, shown in text. Now she looks to Boone again. "Altair will drop you off in the capital, Slarkton, and from there I will keep in contact with you with great effort, depending on Altair's rate of SS. Try to locate a comms point as a safeguard.”
Deo crosses his arms as Kitera finishes, seemingly in discontent. "And what happens if the Zodiacs won't provide you with the intel we depend on?"
The other Paragons shift uneasily, the same question also lingering on their minds.
"That is just a chance we are all going to have to take," she replies defiantly as she abruptly turns back to the display of Brutus Superior, not wishing to engage in an argument with the fiery Paragon.
"This is bullshit..." Deo growls, sitting down on the couch that spans around the walls of nearly the entire room, save for the fore wall that is littered in consoles.
The briefing comes to a halt for a moment, all of them thinking the same thing, though not wishing to admit or outwardly express it. Kitera had briefed everyone on their destinations before they set out from Earth, seven years ago, but other than that, they know nothing about what must be done once the Paragons arrive at their destinations. The Zodiacs informed Kitera that they must find a key to enable the chain reaction of the stars, but what or where this key is was not answered.
"We have to try..." the Cipher whispers solemnly. In this very moment, she ascends to reach the Zodiacs in a desperate attempt for direction. Other than the slight temperature drop, there is no way to detect when a Cipher goes into a momentary state of unconsciousness, unlike when they commit their consciousness fully to the Zodiacs, where the entire atmosphere surrounding them is unworldly. During these brief episodes, Ciphers can accumulate fragments of information from the Zodiacs without tiring themselves out, and it is usually performed within seconds.
I close my eyes slowly, and let myself go. I feel myself transcending, flowing in a vast sea of dreams. I am weightless. I am pure. I am in the very arms of existence itself, reaching out with my mind and soul, though retrieving nothing in return, an empty journey full of doubt and confusion. I am lost and without guidance once more, not even whispers of their presence are heard...
As her eyes open again, she takes a second to collect herself, and glances at the Paragons, who are all still sitting in silence, completely oblivious to what she has just experienced. She returns with nothing again. No advice. Nothing.
The Paragons see her lower her head in failure, a sombre expression painting her face through dark strands of hair.
"The fate of this entire galaxy is in our hands. Every single living thing here depends on us. We cannot just give up on them," Kitera speaks gently, rolling her words with her thick Cipher accent, caressing their eardrums and invoking them to listen.
"The stars are dying, and I need all of you to stay strong and focused, to do what you were born to do." She looks up now, facing the Paragons who stare back at her with hardened expressions. Nobody speaks, but she knows this is a silence of compliance. "This is not a military operation, and I do not have the authority to force you into anything. I am merely here to guide you, and once you reach your destinations, you are essentially on your own. But this mission is as delicate as it is important, and I need you all to be on your toes constantly, and trust that I will do everything in my power to help you."
"And what about right now, then?" Deo almost shouts as he stands from his seated position. "You're asking us to trust you, when you can't even do your job right now, right when we need the information! You're gonna drop us in there blind while you ride around the galaxy in Altair, safe and secure, and we're supposed to trust you?"
Mazayus attempts to calm the quick tempered man, but Kitera turns to face Deo directly, her eyes now burning a bright silver with valiance. "Listen to me, Paragon. I do not have any power over what I receive from the Zodiacs. I cannot just shut my mind away from them or steal information from them. If they wish me to know something, then I will know it whether I desire to or not!"
“They’re shutting you out, excluding us, and you still trust them.”
“I do,” the Cipher bites back solidly. “I trust them with my life, Deo, more than I trust you.”
As soon as she finishes, a curious holographic distortion generates between her and Deo, very similar to the one that appeared a few months ago in the observation room, but much larger.
“Altair?” Boone asks quietly with a smirk. “Good way to get them to shut up.”
But Deo ignores Boone and the pixels obscuring his vision, simply pacing through them and snarling at Kitera. “Yeah? Well I don’t exactly trust you either. None of us do.”
Kitera reels at his harshness and briefly glances at the other Paragons, who remain silent and seated, not wanting to get involved in the two’s quarrel. “Then you are fools who defy your gods. Why are you here?”
Silenced by the question, Deo falters and allows his hot glare to hover on her, followed by the other three behind him, their tongue
s held by the Cipher’s demand.
“Why were you chosen?”
After a moment, Deo regains his tongue. “You tell us.”
“Because,” she begins. “The Zodiacs have faith in you, as you should have in them. I can see it in you, the fire at the back of your eyes, the windows to your souls, the souls that are so obscured by thick armour that you cannot see it. But I do.” She can see that Deo’s stance is less robust as he silently listens to her, his frown lines growing shallow, yet behind that she can still see his unwillingness to back down, torn. “Kitana,” she sighs in her native tongue. “Your gods can see it, so believe it. Kitana ze’anduina.”
And now the cyan wall shifts and spreads larger still. As it draws everyone’s attention, the room slowly fills with more and more, until all they can see is cyan.
"Altair!" Boone calls as he takes a blind step forward, unable to see anything but holographic light energy. "Is this you?" He laughs, holding his hands out in front of himself as to not walk into anything, or anyone. "C’mon, it’s not funny anymore."
"I don't think this is Altair simply playing with us here, have none of you noticed these little distortions over the past few months? They happen frequently, and at random," Mazayus replies. "Perhaps the ship has a virus in its systems."
"You'd better hope it's not a virus," Deo replies lowly, looking around to find any gap in the thick light.
Kitera frowns as she stands on the spot, her face searching, eyes darting in neural activity. "No... it is not a virus..."
Before she can elaborate, a loud and violent rumble shakes the interior of Altair, destroying the distortion. The walls crack and scream under the movement, the floors ripple in shockwaves, and the sound is haunting, almost deafening with mighty booms that shake their very bones. Everyone who was standing is thrown mercilessly to the floor.
As a long, drumming cry from Altair echoes through the halls, the crew is rendered helpless, pinned to the floor under the immense pressure of the powerful movements and the fluctuating gravity that Altair struggles to keep under control. The sound of explosions pummels their eardrums, and they cannot tell if they really are explosions or the core of the ikamanu grinding and pulsing with whatever caused this fierce quake of abuse.