Eyani nodded, then took her place at the head of the New Eden war room table. Flanking her were the telepresent forms of Varen of the Nomads, and Ghn’en of the Be’Inaxi fleet. Osuto and Mencari were next, followed by the usual cast of D’mok Warriors and New Eden leaders. Cogeni was notably absent. Given the conversation she overheard between him and Nikko, his absence wasn’t a surprise. Cogeni allegedly stayed back on Argosy to help put it back together after the Nukari occupation. It also served as a nice cover story, much better than saying he was avoiding Nikko.
Though two attendees were unexpected: Naijen and D’abar. Naijen because, well, he was Naijen, and the big ox didn’t “do” things like meetings, at least not without a lot of complaining. As for D’abar, the last time she heard anything about him, the ancient Aloan was still bedridden.
Ancient. The word drew her gaze to Osuto. He seemed to have a faint glow about him, something he couldn’t summon when she last saw him. That was an improvement. Still, he looked skinny, frail. Wasting, she thought. How long would it be before they lost him? More importantly, without him, how would Mencari fare alone?
The glass walls of the war room frosted over and lights above them dimmed. “We’ll begin our meeting. Thank you all for coming on such short notice. Kiyanna will be addressing the room in a moment. But first, members of the Galactic Senate, SETI, wanted to extend their congratulations in our Argosan victory.”
Above them, a spiral of light formed into three purple-scaled aliens. Kiyanna recognized them as members of Eyani’s race. What they were called escaped her. The Vella? There were so many races, keeping them straight proved difficult. Each wore black vestments marked with the crisscrossed gray, black, and red stripes, a sign of a Senate Elder.
A shrill voice assaulted her ears. “As representatives of the Syndicate of Extraterrestrial Intervention, we wanted to officially congratulate …” Ear pain aside, her annoyance drowned out the unwelcomed praise. They didn’t have time to pat each other on the back and celebrate. The expressions around the room apparently didn’t agree with her. Catching Nikko’s glance, her eyes seemed to say “Lighten up.” How that phrase grated on her. It was something her father said incessantly to her as a child. A memory came to mind, one when she was young, and just after her father returned with his battalion from a small victory. The mission was nothing really, peacekeeping on a friendly border. She didn’t want him to go to the party. He’d just come home after a months’-long deployment. But then he told her, “Celebrate every victory. It makes the losses easier—and keeps morale high.” Maybe the feeble needed such things. To her, when a soldier achieved their mission goals, they did their job. Why should they get thanks for it? Looking back at the talking purple bobbleheads, the last thing she wanted was praise from a bunch of bureaucrats, especially those that never had any skin in the game.
“Thank you, Senator Vaslen. Please extend our appreciation to the rest of SETI,” Eyani said, with reverence. The three bowed before their images dissolved into countless balls of light. Turning back to Kiyanna, she concluded with, “In addition to our victory on Argosy, Kiyanna’s team discovered where the Nukari are keeping Tal Kanin.”
With a gesture, Eyani passed the floor to Kiyanna.
With a nod, Kiyanna stood and tugged the wrinkles out of her uniform. With a confident, forceful tone, she began. “As most of you know, Nikko, Dane and I went looking for Tal Kanin.” A wave of her hand, and his holographic profile appeared over the table.
With his pasty-white skin, rounded jawline, messy swatch of silver hair, and strawberry-colored eyes, he certainly didn’t look like the leader of a rebellion. In fact, he looked soft. The messy-hair thing didn’t help. It gave him a pretty-boy look, which seemed to fit the wannabe social types: why be like everyone else? Most men seemed to fall into that trip. Boring. But women? Now their eccentricities captivated her. Nikko came to mind. Everything from her hair and eyes to the clothing she chose, she had a fierce style.
Catching her wandering mind, she cleared her throat and began again. “Let me provide some background. During our mission to Dane’s world, Keros, we discovered their assassinated leader, the Oledant, was actually a Nukari agent risen to power. Tal Kanin was accused of killing him. While stuck in a lockdown at a Kerosan space station, we crossed paths. However, before we could assist in his escape, he sacrificed himself to save us from capture. Shortly thereafter, the Nukari rampaged through this region of space. All our resources went into staying alive. Now, with the defeat of the Nukari, we can attempt to recover Tal.”
With her backhanded gesture Tal’s image slid over, replaced by a timeline. “The complete details of our trek are filed in my official report. What I will say is the search for Tal proved far more difficult than anticipated. The Nukari moved him from one location to another. It seemed each time we arrived, they had just departed. It happened enough, we suspected an intel leak. It turned out to be bad timings. Still, we investigated each abandoned site, and found evidence Tal used his abilities to resist containment. Further, each new location appeared better fortified than the last. We believe his captors were testing the thresholds of his abilities, stopping only when they felt he could be adequately contained. With each of our failures, his rescue felt more impossible. But then we caught a break.”
Looking beside Nikko, a pair of large, blood-orange-colored eyes met hers. Outside of the pasty white skin, the man didn’t look anything like his brother. A broad, ridged nose, thick lips, and impish ears gave him an almost sinister look. He sported a dome of dense, sandy hair, and a wiry goatee that sprouted from his face.
While not a fan of his face fur, he had incredible taste in clothing. Ever since she laid eyes on his black leather jacket, the one with the tan inlaid panels and reinforced spine and shoulder armor, she wanted it. It’d look so much better on her, not to mention the instant heartthrob she’d become wearing it while on her hoverbike. “I would like to introduce you to an ally we made along the way, Narrik Kanin.”
Narrik nodded and stood with a stunted wave to the group. A mellifluous baritone voice pulsed through the air. “It’s nice to finally meet everyone. The ladies have told me all about you.”
She inwardly cringed. Look at that wide smile. Perfect white teeth gleaming, trying to charm his way into everyone’s hearts. An odd mix of admiration and revulsion filled her. Despite her disinterest—no, her outright hostilities toward him—Narrik somehow still wormed his way into her good graces.
Their first meeting came to mind. It was their first major find on a world called Eris, a Nukari facility not yet abandoned when they arrived. They were a bit too confident about their chances to save Tal then. Too anxious to finish their quest, they were careless, and didn’t investigate the full defenses of the facility. Not long into their assault, they found themselves overwhelmed. Then she saw it: at the far end of the complex, the ground erupted. A hidden bay opened before their eyes, along with a cluster of ships that streaked into the sky. Tal had slipped from their grasp again.
Worse still, a horde of Nukari soldiers closed in, along with a staggering number of biologically enhanced cybernetic super-soldiers. It all could have ended right there. But a sonic boom rippled across the approaching forces, flinging bodies like twigs in a hurricane. And it happened again, and again. A man in black and tan armor appeared to be the source, attacking from a flanked position. Taking advantage of an ensuing chaos in the enemy ranks, they retreated to a safe haven in the cosmic spaceway. There, their savior introduced himself as Narrik Kanin, brother to Tal Kanin. Dane vaguely recalled meeting him once back on Keros.
The whole “saved the day just in the nick of time,” thing smelled funny. She recalled chastising Narrik as their “knight in shining armor.” In hindsight, it wasn’t a very nice thing to say. Regardless, Narrik wanted to team up, and both Nikko and Dane welcomed him in. Though it took a while, he made good on everything he said he’d do, and then some. The fact was, without Narrik, who knew where they’d be right now—ot
her than somewhere not good.
“He’s a Kerosan like Dane, brother of Tal’s, and has D’mok abilities—sound-based. In our short time together, he’s demonstrated his trustworthiness and value as a part of the team. Because of this, as of today, Osuto and Mencari have welcomed Narrik in as an official D’mok Warrior.”
He tipped his head to the round of clapping. “I’ve enjoyed getting to know all three of the gals. If the rest of you are like them, we will get along just fine.”
“You’re screwed then, bub,” Naijen quipped.
“Be nice!” Allia said. “Don’t scare the new guy.”
“Better he knows now,” Naijen added.
“You done?” she said, deadpan.
He flipped his hand but remained silent.
No retort? Kiyanna felt disappointed. With a grabbing motion, she called up a projection of a white and tan desert world. Only a single pocket of green surrounded a large blue splotch in the northern hemisphere. Beyond that, the tired surface looked fossilized, covered in wrinkles formed from mighty sand dunes. Somehow, the bleak cold of space looked more inviting than that place. “This is Naldes, where we believe the Nukari are keeping Tal.”
“The penal colony?” Osuto said, choking with surprise.
“You know it?”
“It’s well known,” he added when the spasm subsided.
“Naldes isn’t just a penal colony, it’s the penal colony,” Eyani said. “It’s where governments send the criminals they can’t handle.”
“Our intel says he’s held in an installation affectionately referred to as the Hole.” Kiyanna pointed to a spot near the equator. “Temperatures here average around 93 degrees Celsius.”
“Isn’t that pretty hot?” Allia said.
“Enough to cook you without shelter, and maybe even with.”
“What do we know about this place?” Mencari asked.
She reached out toward the planet, zooming the view down to its surface. The view raced up and down dunes until it came upon a large white complex, ringed with thick walls, and half buried in sand. “The Hole is mostly underground. This structure is used to process people and supplies in and out. With Bob’s help, we found records containing the original architectural plans for the installation, along with information about the original service lift. Beyond that, there’s not much more available.”
“I can’t image the Naldes government wants information about their facility out there,” Eyani said. “You found more than I expected.”
“And you know he’s there?” Mencari said, concerned.
“When we took out the Mujōna, their data stores had the information about Tal,” Kiyanna said.
“Affirmative!” Bob chirped. “I also verified the names and locations of contacts on Naldes found in the Mujōna’s systems, including a recent interning order.”
Allia’s hand waved about. “Um … who were the Mujōna?”
Of course Allia wouldn’t know. She’d only informed Mencari about the enemy they encountered. “A mercenary faction, an elite strike team supporting Nukari interests. We encountered them several times while tracking down Tal.”
“You took them out—alone?” Mencari asked, tone disapproving. “I thought you weren’t going to make any major moves without us.”
There’s that tone of his again. Keep cool and just explain it. “First, we agreed we would not get Tal without support. Secondly, we had a time-sensitive lead and needed to implement an immediate go, no-go call.”
Mencari shifted in his seat. “And what was this lead?”
“We received a distress call from a Coalition vessel. They were being attacked. We went to assist. Together we captured the vessel, which turned out to be a Mujōna raider. Bob was able to hack its systems and get the coordinates to their mobile platform. We had a window to attack it, and neutralize their interference.”
“How big a platform are you talking about?” he said.
She pulled up the image captured during the mission. “Our initial recon suggested a small station, around two hundred crew, armed with photon cannons, and two bays.” She’d called it a station, though it looked far less like a station and more like some gigantic and ancient beast whose bones were covered in metal, then built around it. “When we couldn’t raise you, we continued with the support we could gather.”
“Was that thing alive?” Allia asked.
“Looks like it, doesn’t it?” she said. “But no, it wasn’t a creature.”
Now Mencari looked annoyed. “When did you try to raise us?”
Before she could answer, Minea cut in. “Um … we actually have several attempts recorded in our systems.”
“Where were we that you couldn’t reach us?”
“On Argosy,” Minea said. “During the storm that kept you planetside.”
“Why wasn’t I notified after?”
“I don’t think you checked your messages,” Minea said, pointing to the glowing indicator on his communicator.
Kiyanna avoided being smug, but allowed herself to enjoy the mortification plastered on Mencari’s face. He should know better than to accuse me of not following protocol.
“I see. I … thank you for trying. You mentioned other support for the mission?”
“Varen of the Nomads sent a few ships, and some independents we’d met along the way. We hoped to get Coalition support, but they went radio silence after saving their ship.”
“And you clearly were successful. Any outstanding details?”
Attention to detail didn’t seem to be one of Mencari’s strengths. That was one thing every leader had to be good at. She took a breath then said, “Again, it’s all in my report, sir. Bob extracted information from their systems, which led us to Tal. After an agreement with New Eden, the Nomads have taken ownership of the captured station.”
He nodded, even looked a bit pleased. “So the Mujōna are gone?”
A ‘well done’ would be appropriate, she thought. “The branch we dealt with sir, yes. We never did encounter the alien that placed the bounty on our heads—called Westik. He might still be at large. There also might be similar groups out there, since they’re factions of the mercenaries.”
“Sounds like you had more fun than us,” Naijen said, disgruntled.
“So, Tal’s being kept underground?” Allia asked.
At least someone was trying to keep them on task. It disturbed her that it was the child among them. Kiyanna nodded. “Deep.”
“Then, how are we going to get him out?” she said.
Kiyanna couldn’t help but smile. “I have a plan.”
“Just tell me I get to bash some skulls,” Naijen bellowed.
At least he was useful for something. Fortunately, this time their interests aligned.
“We ran a few scenarios, and every one of them ended in armed conflict,” Kiyanna said.
“That’s what I wanna hear,” he said, fist balled and quivering in anticipation.
“These are some of the most hardened, most dangerous criminals you’ll ever encounter.”
With a toothy grin, Naijen said, “Likin’ it even better. Keep talkin’, keep talkin’.”
“New Eden informants identified an inbound inmate similar to Naijen,” Eyani said.
He scoffed. “Ain’t no one like me.”
Putting it mildly, Kiyanna thought.
“The facility also has a relief crew due,” Eyani added. “The plan is to swap prisoners with Naijen, and put our people in the relief positions.”
Just listening to Eyani gave her some comfort. The mission would still be difficult, but not impossible. Of all those at New Eden, the D’mok Warriors included, Eyani got stuff done. That was a woman she could respect.
“How many of us are going in?” Mencari asked.
“There’s the prisoner, two handlers, and three relief-shift members. Altogether, that makes six total,” Kiyanna said. “That means: Naijen, Dane, me, Narrik, Nikko, and Rhysus will be running this mission. Or rather, we’ll be
playing the role of highly qualified and experienced individuals according to our fabricated dossiers.”
Tapping New Eden’s resources, they were able to create just the right individuals to fill the Naldes spots. Being part of an intergalactic intelligence organization had its benefits, including New Eden being very good at planting agents.
“That’s a small team,” Osuto said, before going into a coughing fit.
“We were lucky to get this many.”
“I take it negotiations are out of the question?” Mencari said.
Eyani shook her head. “If the Nukari are working with the Naldes government, trying to negotiate won’t work. If we tried and failed, it would be impossible for us to break him out without direct retaliation.”
“I want to go!” Allia said.
“They’re not going to let a child, much less her big pet, go into a high-security prison,” Kiyanna said, smug. “And remember your lucky streak with getting hurt?”
Allia opened her mouth, then hesitated. Her cheeks flushed red as her lips puckered. She remained silent.
“Can’t we just go in, hit it, and leave?” Naijen said, interested.
Her stress level stayed so blissfully low when he didn’t talk. How simply could she put “simply” to him? “Easy … every world in this region sends prisoners there. Not only would it be a galactic incident, but we wouldn’t want any escapees getting out after our attack.”
“Easy,” he mocked. “So we make sure they don’t get out alive. They prisoners anyway. No one’s gonna miss ’em?”
“Their respective courts make decisions for their own citizens,” Eyani said. “Unless we can’t avoid it, we leave all but our target alone.”
“And why’s that?”
“It’s not our call, that’s why,” Kiyanna said.
Naijen kicked back. “Sure, but everythin’ else is?”
The accusation struck her. Actually, the realization he had an actual point struck her first. But what he implied, about the way they made decisions, seemed valid. Maybe they needed more checks and balances now that the Nukari War was over? Everything was different back then, when fast decisions were needed just to stay alive. But that wasn’t the case anymore.
D'mok Revival 4: New Eden Page 16