D'mok Revival 4: New Eden

by Michael Zummo

  “Allia? Where’s Cerna?” Mencari asked.

  “She’s briefing some of the troops over there,” Allia said, pointing out of view.

  “Are you ready?”

  “Cerna!” she yelled. “Are we ready?” She listened, then bobbed her head. “We’re ready.”

  “Good. Allia, Maro, Kiyanna—all teams have reported in. Remember, the mission is to take down their defenses, neutralize the ground forces, and capture as many of their leaders as we can. We need some answers.”

  “Rhysus,” Toriko said, panicking. “Scanners are picking up ground forces coming out of the complex!”

  “Incoming message!” Minea cried. A new portal of light appeared, and dropped. A very grumpy Ghn’en blurted, “What did I tell you? They dropped right on us outta nowhere! They’re using their phasing tech again.” The image distorted as sparks flew behind him.

  “Are you okay?” Mencari said.

  “Nomads are already closing ranks to help. I’ll let you know when we have orbit secured. Ghn’en out.”

  His image shattered into tiny balls of light.

  Mencari felt his fist gripping. “All forces, begin Operation Stranglehold.”

  * * * * * *

  “We need that repeater up—drones on the fringe aren’t responding!” Toriko cried.

  “Ten more seconds, and I have it,” Minea said. “If you had let me help sooner, this would’ve been easier—”

  “Lecture later,” Toriko said.

  Mencari watched the displays while fidgeting with his wedding ring. He’d much rather be in the action, not directing from the sidelines. A ring of light appeared next to him, then dropped over.

  “Buggers thought they were pretty smart, but we crushed ’em.” Ghn’en still shook with adrenaline.

  “Good work,” Mencari said.

  “Took out a quarter of our forces. But as far as we can tell, we took care of everything they had.”

  “Repeater up!” Minea yelled.

  “We’re losing our mobile platforms to their tower cannons!” Toriko said, reviewing the field scans.

  “Ghn’en, can you provide fighter support?” Mencari asked. “Take out those towers!”

  “Already en route. We’ll keep any other surprises from coming down on you too.”

  As the channel closed, Mencari checked his display. Their ground forces had advanced on every front. No sign of any Nukari Beast Warriors. They’d been lucky since the destruction of the Nukari Central Command. Someday that luck would run out. Those beasts, and their master Kajlit’ga, were still out there somewhere. He prayed today wouldn’t herald their return.

  A new spinning ring of light appeared. As it tipped over, a huffing Allia held her arm.

  “Just checking in,” she said, shaking the goo off a mace-like weapon with a set of curved blades that bloomed around the blunt core. He recognized it as her Flower Blade.

  “Are you hurt?” Mencari asked.

  “You didn’t expect that?” she said, half joking.

  His pruned face painfully reflected her track record.

  “Nothing I can’t handle,” she said, seeing this.

  “Where’s Cerna?” he said.

  “Securing the underground levels. We’ve nearly connected with Naijen and Butchie’s group.”

  “How much longer?”

  “Don’t know. I’m guarding the rear. Just when I think it’s secure another wave of soldiers comes at me.”

  “Do you need backup?”

  “Ichini and I are good.”

  Her morphing beast-companion, Ichini, was a powerful ally. At the moment a mantle of ragged bone protruded from its feline-like face. Its thick coat of shiny, striped fur reminded Mencari of a majestic Siberian tiger. In any of its forms Ichini was a one-beast army. Along with Allia’s ever-growing power, the pair would find little difficulty against anyone without D’mok abilities.

  Mencari said, “If it changes …”

  “I’ll let you know. Oop! More incoming. Gotta go!”

  Her image burst into tiny spheres of light.

  * * * * * *

  “Where are they?” Naijen snarled, holding up the dead Anto’liea soldier. The body twitched from a broken neck.

  “You’re not going to get information out of anyone that way,” Speru said.

  With a roar, Naijen tossed the body aside and stomped about. “You can’t hide forever! And when I find ya, I’m gonna cut a few souvenirs for my honor wall—ones to match what’s left of your Olympic dogs!” He reached into a pouch, grabbed a fistful of tattooed skin patches cut from the bodies of the Anto’liea Olympic Team, and shook them.

  Where are their leaders hidin’? Cowards.

  He led them through the demolished rooms and corridors. Every floor appeared abandoned. This was one thing all his muscles couldn’t help. Moments like these made him miss the other D’mok Warriors. Mencari would have used someone’s skills to find the Anto’liea.

  He knew it would hurt, but he had to think! Where would the yellow-bellied Nukari help them hide? Those snakes hid in the most obvious place—obvious but hard to get to.

  Think.

  “Leaders keep places they can retreat to when threatened. Somewhere easy to get—fast,” Speru said, still looking through doorways. “High Dome had hidden side rooms off the main council chamber.”

  “So where would that be?”

  “Maro!” Speru called out.

  Her tiny profile projected from his communicator. “Yeah?”

  “Check the floorplans. Where was their main meeting space?”

  “Let me check,” she said. Her eyes scanned across charts out of view. “There’s something called the Leadership Hall one floor directly above you.”

  Naijen’s fists gripped and blazed with light. Reaching up, a beamed blast of energy punched through the floor. Washing with a golden light, he flew upward with a leap.

  “This gotta be it,” he said, looking across the red-stained walls and debris scattered across the room. “Some sorta meetin’ area.” Decorative vertical lines made finding a concealed doorway a near impossible task. Toriko’s mutt could have helped here—scanned something, some way. The tin can woulda had a use for once, but it wasn’t here. “Somewhere in here?”

  “Check along the walls, see if there’s a panel or something that could move,” Speru said.

  Maro spoke through the communicator. “I might be able to scan the area using the communicators, compare it to the floor plans and construction of the building. Maybe I can pinpoint where an undocumented space is?”

  “Do it!” Naijen barked.

  Sonar-like pulses pinged from their communicators. Footsteps rapidly approached the hole in the floor below. A glowing blur leaped up through it. Naijen felt a heated energy surround his fist. The instant before he unleashed it, he recognized a pair of large, twinkling eyes.

  “Allia!” he bellowed.

  Her tiger-like companion, Ichini, landed next to her.

  “I coulda blasted you!”

  “As if you could hit me,” she said and snickered.

  He shook his head. “Mopped up below?”

  “All secured. Cerna and Butchie sent me ahead to help.”

  “Still lookin’ for the Anto’liea leaders. Cowering somewhere …”

  “I found something! There’s nothing on your level, but,” Maro said as a beam of light shot up from Naijen’s communicator and spread across a spot on the ceiling, “there’s something one level up against the far wall.”

  He smirked.

  What do ya know? This team thing really does work.

  It certainly felt more fun. “Knock-knock!” he said, blasting the mark. The floor disappeared, accompanied by the screams and bodies that tumbled through.

  He gripped the Skar and leaped up.

  * * * * * *

  “Save some for me!” Allia yelled as the tattooed giant streaked through the hole.

  Following his lead she summoned her own abilities, her body radiating a
golden light, and leaped atop the rubble and up through the hole, along with Speru. In moments, red coated the floor, hot jets of sticky liquid accompanying gurgling screams from their enemies.

  A handful of the Anto’liea leaders cowered in the far corner. She knew better than to leave them to Naijen. A new horde of silver Nukari droids entered from another door, and lunged her way. With the snap of her wrist, the razor-sharp edges of her Flower Blade extended. She dashed toward them. Despite moving to block her, she vaulted above her prey. Blazing beams of energy rippled from her weapon as she bludgeoned them. Ichini finished what she started, with energy beams blasting out from its mouth and eyes.

  “Behind you!” she yelled as another wave of droids attempted to flank Ichini. With razor claws and a few rabid swipes, Ichini tore them to pieces. Panels across the walls opened revealing cybernetically enhanced Anto’liea warriors.

  Naijen glowed with an angry radiance.

  “No, you can’t do that here! We need the leaders alive!” Speru yelled.

  In moments the light flooded into the Skar. A red energy bled from its blades as he cleaved through the enemies that rushed him.

  Allia saw Speru draw something from his belt. Fiery blades burst from hilts in his hands. The light danced across the walls. The firelight blades were pretty cool. He and Naijen had the coolest weapons in fact. Though, she liked her Flower Blade too.

  A trio of Anto’liea warriors charged her way. A blaster, a sword, and a set of metal claws.

  Really?

  Gripping her fist, a buckler deployed from her wrist-guard. Glowing with power, she dashed forward. She dodged a swipe from the bagh nakh and leaped to avoid blaster fire. The shot struck the bagh nakh-wielder in the chest as a sword struck her buckler. A shower of sparks flew as the blow threw her backward. Using the momentum to tumble, she extended the Flower Blade, raking across the gun-toting soldier. She landed squarely, then turned and whipped her weapon into the swordsman’s chest.

  Too easy.

  Yanking the blade from the fallen soldier, she looked about. They’d decimated the enemy forces.

  “Wait!” Speru yelled as more red mist sprayed before Naijen. “We need them!”

  Something wasn’t right with Naijen. It was a blood lust she had only seen overtake him once before. He impaled the Skar deep into one, before grabbing another and crushing his skull.

  “Stop!” Speru yelled.

  After putting down the last of the guards, Speru ran to restrain Naijen as he held the last leader feet in the air, ready to crush the frail neck.

  “We’ve destroyed them,” Speru shouted. “You’ve avenged Jerin. We need this one alive.”

  The whimpering leader gasped as Naijen threw him against the wall. Allia watched Naijen pull the dripping Skar from a fallen Anto’liea leader. The warrior’s eyes were glassy, intoxicated. He sniffed the stench on his blade, not breaking his gaze with his final prey.

  “No, please,” the Anto’liea said.

  Naijen shifted his stance, holding his blade out as if ready to run him through. The leader cried out as Naijen lunged forward. With a quick snap of his wrist he splattered the coward with the remnants of his fellow leaders.

  “Nothin’ but a screaming little girl,” he said, turning dismissively away.

  * * * * * *

  “I’m sorry Rhysus,” Allia said as they walked away from the interrogation room.

  “I’ll keep looking, Allia. Eventually we’ll find something about Anaka and Rhyiel,” he said, hiding his disappointment. “But Abunai is free again, and the Nukari have one less place to hide.”

  “Rhysus, Kiyanna is debriefing Osuto from the command deck,” Minea said through the communicator.

  Good, he’s up. “I’ll be right there.”

  They headed through the ship’s corridors, up to the command deck. As they entered, a projection of Osuto floated above Kiyanna. Dark circles ringed the old fellow’s eyes. His face looked gaunt, even more than usual. He looked ill. This worried Mencari. Osuto never seemed to have recovered since overloading his abilities to save the team in that horrific attack. Perhaps Eyani or Doctor Xbtoth back at New Eden could help him?

  “Osuto,” Mencari greeted him.

  “Ah, Rhysus. Well done. Kiyanna has told me about the operation’s success.”

  “Her strategy worked perfectly, the teams’ too—even Naijen’s.”

  “How did Seigie do?”

  Seigie?

  The very mention of her name hurt. “Seigie, Osuto?”

  “I mean … I meant Toriko,” Osuto said, frustrated. “I’m sorry, I keep doing that.”

  Thinking their patriarch grew more confused by the day, Mencari waved off the apology. Though he, too, frequently thought about their fallen matriarch. In fact, he missed her a great deal.

  “Before you return, I need you to check something out,” Osuto said, changing the subject.

  “Another Nukari outpost?”

  “More curious than that,” Osuto said. “Do you remember the monitors left around Speru’s homeworld, Alo?”

  Alo—an entire colony of ancient D’mar hidden away in a phased pocket of space. Mencari stumbled upon it when a malfunction opened a rift in Alo’s phase globe. While on his way to the Coalition, the energy-draining properties of the rift had pulled him out of tunnel travel and stranded him. Investigating, he discovered a world tucked inside. But the Aloans were a culture in crisis. They were taught to believe they were alone in the universe. While their council in High Dome knew the truth, the population at large was not ready to have their perspectives shattered. The ramifications were so threatening, a senior councilmember, D’gorra, tried to imprison Mencari. Assistance from two natives, D’abar Arenji and Speru Chew, allowed him to escape moments before the phasing globe reset and sealed off the rift. Trapped outside the phasing globe, Speru joined Mencari and became a key part of the D’mok Warriors. Mencari remembered it all too well.

  Cautious, Mencari said, “Yes, I remember Alo. Why?”

  “We’re seeing new fluctuations in the phase globe. We missed whatever happened there a few months ago.”

  Mencari recalled the event a few months back. They knew something came through the original disturbance, but were never able to figure out what it was or where it went. It bothered Speru for weeks.

  Osuto continued. “This time it looks like we’re detecting changes before something happens. Take a team to investigate it.”

  “Including Speru?” Mencari asked.

  “Especially him. If something does happen, you might need his help.”

  * * * * * *

  “Jerin’s soul can rest in peace now,” Naijen said.

  “He would be proud of you,” Butchie said. “The Okiru Haven, and our master, will lead the united tribes.”

  “He should be pleased.”

  “Do you think we’ll be his Death Guards?” she said.

  “Maybe you.”

  “And you.”

  “I ain’t staying,” Naijen said, his tone terse.

  “You left to train,” Butchie said. “You’ve done that—the Anto’liea are fallen. Why would you leave again?”

  “Why would I stay? There’s no challenge here. Nothin’ that can best me—’cept the Nukari out there.”

  He could feel Speru approaching from behind. No matter where the whelp went it felt like they were tethered with a cord of energy.

  “Naijen?” Speru kept his distance. “We need to meet up with Rhysus.”

  “Gotta go,” Naijen said, patting Butchie on the shoulder. “Master’s got you—all he needs.”

  CHAPTER 3

  Spaced Man

  The Metallic known as Una called back from the helm. “Entering normal space in two minutes.” Outside of her steel-toned skin and synthetic blue hair, the ancient cybernetic lifeform created by cat-people on Tericn looked almost Human to Mencari. Though, he always found her lack of visible ears disconcerting, and her eyes looked more cat-like than Human too.

 
; “Let’s keep our distance. The last time it bled my ship’s power out,” he said. Back then he was traveling with pre-change Minea, when she was known as Mini-T and looked more like her creator Toriko. When the anomaly stuck, it literally took Minea offline. He wondered how Una would fare being a Metallic and not just an AI?

  “Yeah, I’d like not to go through that again,” Minea said, appearing in a flurry of holographic cherry blossoms beside him.

  “Noted,” Una said, unconcerned.

  “If there’s another hole in the phasing globe, maybe High Dome is having trouble controlling it again?” Speru asked, reviewing projected charts and diagrams. He sounded almost hopeful. Did he want to go back to his homeworld? After the Aloan government’s plot to stunt his boosting ability or have him killed, simply because they feared what he could do? Why would he?

  “This time looks different,” Maro said. “The other anomaly months ago was smaller, and seemed to disturb one place. See?” She touched the comparison images, specific areas lighting up. “This one is larger and more organized, with rippling energy bands around it.”

  “So maybe they’re not having trouble at all? They could be doing this one on purpose?” Speru said. “Could the council have changed and they don’t want to hide anymore?”

  What if he was right? A whole planet of D’mok-enabled aliens would become accessible. He knew their culture still wasn’t ready for such a thing. There were bound to be bad Aloans that would jump at the chance to explore, and they’d discover just how powerful they were in a universe where others didn’t share their godlike abilities. Part of the reason his team worked was there were only a few of them, and they learned to work with one another. Introducing so many like them into the mix at one time seemed a nightmare scenario. He hoped it wouldn’t come to that. Tension gripped the base of his skull and sent shooting pain up around his head. A migraine headache threatened.

  “The anomaly is within visual range,” Minea said, changing the display to a live video feed.