She banked hard to the right, punching her boosters as she went up a curved ramp. She launched into the air, bike following the bend. Bearing down on her bike, she felt the entire frame roll. Up became down, and she saw her opponent directly beneath her.
With a mocking tone she yelled out, “Hey babe!” before landing on the left side.
The turrets gun unloaded, but the green balls of slime flew behind her at the black and silver bike. There was no way that bike would catch up now, which meant it was only the two of them now. Neck and neck. And she so happened to have the only remaining power-up. Plus, they were headed into the straightway speed run.
She grinned, triumphant. But her smug satisfaction faded as she saw her competitor keeping pace on the straightaway.
They approached the final fork in the track. The crowd cheered at the constant back-and-forth in taking the lead from one another. Pinkie attempted another squeeze play to force Kiyanna down the left path again.
Not this time.
Heading left would lose it for her. The crazy chick got within feet of her bike. Now who was invading whose personal space?
She summoned her D’mok energies and gave a swift kick to the gal’s bike. She didn’t care if it was a legal move; pinkie was going down. As the other bike fishtailed, she hit her boost and launched forward. She heard the rush of pinkie’s booster, and saw the tip of her bike out the corner of her eye. Kiyanna’s lead dissolved before her eyes. What kind of engine did pinkie have on that bike?
The crowd’s roar became deafening as the two bikes hit the final stretch. A warning flashed across the dashboard: “Heat Trap.”
Not heat coils!
She needed to keep her drive at full tilt if she was going to win this. Stacking the effect of the heat coils spread along the ground would blow her engine. It couldn’t be lightning, or cold, or any other type of elemental challenge—
No. Heat coils!
Alarms splashed across her windshield as she passed over the first bank. It took moments for multiple systems to redline.
“Hang on, baby!”
The computer began overriding her controls, reducing output from the gravity drive. Her competition began to pull away.
“No, NO!” she yelled.
She had to fire the energy leach, and get that other bike to cook more over the heat coils. “Go!” she cried as the energy leach shot from the front of her bike.
The bike hitched again, unhappy with the heat generated from the leach launch. She slowed further. “Give me back control!” she yelled, smacking the monitor and disabling the safety systems.
A message scrawled on the windshield: “Safety system offline.” With full power to the gravity drive restored, she hit her boosters to full. Alarms screamed in her ears as overloaded gauges splashed across her windshield. “You’re not stopping me!”
The leach connected with the front-runner’s bike. Sparks flew from its sides as the leach siphoned out the bike’s energy out. The other bike lurched, and slowed dramatically. Smoke billowed from the underside. Apparently her opponent’s heat shields were subpar too!
“Tough break!” Kiyanna yelled as she buzzed past, thinking, This race is mine!
The finish line approached fast, along with a violent shake in the bike’s chassis. In moments it felt like riding a bucking bull, hitching and jerking.
“Come on!” she yelled, pushing the engines one more time.
In a violent lurch, the bike coasted over the finish line. She hollered, then felt incredible warmth crawl up her back. A scream from the audience followed a sensation of great speed. The universe seemed to spin around her, then suddenly, blackness.
CHAPTER 25
Wounded Warriors
“How does it feel?” D’abar asked, studying Osuto’s growing aura. It was his brightest yet, illuminating the cabin walls of Lexor Batris’s ship. While far from an optimal location, the trip back to the asteroid base gave just enough time to conduct an additional therapy session with D’abar.
“Like work, but better,” he said, exhausted.
“You’re more resilient that you realized,” D’abar said. “But pushing your abilities like you did was dangerous.”
It was, he knew it. But that changed nothing. “I did what I had to and I’d do it again.”
“Please don’t,” D’abar said flatly. “There’s no guarantee it will go that well a second time. Unless you don’t plan on recovering …”
With a wave Osuto dismissed the warning. A sudden coughing fit made him brace to remain standing.
A stern look on his face, D’abar said, “Even my abilities have their limitations. You need to get help for that.…”
Minea’s voice filled the cabin. “We’ll be arriving at the asteroid base in a few minutes.”
Minutes yet? Wasn’t Lexor’s ship the newest model, including the drive system? The trip should have taken less time, not more. Something else had to be afoot. What else were they testing during transit? A second coughing fit seized him.
“Has Mencari’s team returned from Coalition space?” D’abar said.
“They are also still en route,” Minea answered.
“Good, I’d like to be there to welcome him and Anaka back home,” Osuto said.
“What took them so long?” D’abar said. “I thought they were simply going to pick her up.”
There was a noticeable hesitation before she said, “Complications. Rhysus will provide details at the asteroid base.”
“Aren’t there always,” D’abar said, unaware of his glib response. “It seems especially true of missions with Mencari. I must say, I fear the direction things are headed with him.”
“With Rhysus?” Osuto said, confused.
“Missions are sloppy, unfocused wrecks. His charisma and luck has sufficed to date. But what happens when that runs out?”
How incredulous! A flare of frustration burned like acid in Osuto’s chest. “Situations rarely present everything we need to know, and come rapidly upon us. If the team is nothing else, they’re agile and adaptive.”
A genuine look of surprise filled D’abar’s wizened eyes. “I didn’t mean to offend. Your—our team is precious, and they work hard. This is true. But, is it not also fair to say they would benefit from more structure?”
Osuto pondered the question, trying not to yield to his defensive instinct. How many times had he wondered what was happening during missions? And he couldn’t count the times the team rushed headlong into a conflict. D’abar had much to learn about tact, but his observations were not incorrect. “Point taken.”
“I’ve seen good consistency with Kiyanna,” D’abar added.
“The last mission to Naldes not withstanding?”
“As you said, situations rarely present everything,” he said with a toothy, unnatural smile.
“I did, and I agree. Kiyanna’s been at the helm of our most successful missions starting with the fall of the Nukari.”
“I’d recommend we leverage her more moving forward.”
Perhaps D’abar didn’t realize they’d already leveraged Kiyanna in their recent endeavors, unless “more” meant cutting Mencari out entirely? “For every mission?”
“For—every—mission.”
“I see.”
D’abar gestured and said, his tone lighter, “But let’s see what happens now that Anaka is back. He might naturally take a step back, which would be good for everyone.”
What did D’abar have against Mencari? This whole discussion made him uncomfortable and questioning. But, for the moment, he needed to focus on the momentous event at hand. “Where’s the rest of the team, Minea?”
“Toriko, Maro, and Ujaku just finished the equipment upgrades in the asteroid base’s medical bay. In this ship’s mission room, Eyani and Cerna are in a conference call with potential Weun Academy students. Naijen and Speru are eating in the galley. Kiyanna and Ghn’en are on the bridge. Mencari’s ship is still on schedule. Niya and Cogeni are still on Argosy. Back at New Eden, Nikko, T
al, Narrik, and Dane are meeting with Liren about their HoverDome mission. And Seigie is still dead with her dust scattered on the solar winds.”
“What?” he snapped.
“What—what?” she said, paws in the air.
“About Seigie …”
“You asked where everyone was, so I wanted to be thorough.”
“Please don’t do that again.”
“Ano … sorry.”
“Say,” D’abar interrupted. “The enhancements sent by New Eden for the medical bay will be useful, especially for Anaka. Perhaps they could also do a deeper scan on you?”
Before he could respond another coughing fit struck. Holding a finger up, all he could do was nod.
* * * * * *
“Toriko!” Allia yelled, darting out of the ship, bounding over Spark, and leaping into her arms.
“I think you’re getting bigger every time I see you,” Toriko said through laughter.
“Did Kiyanna’s mission finish yet?”
“She got first! Though, there was some kind of accident at the end. Something about the bike overheating and exploding—which was not my fault. We knew she was okay when she told Eyani she expected to be able to keep a replacement bike.” Toriko’s exuberance deadened as the other figures emerged from the other ship. She gasped.
“I know,” Allia said, watching Mencari and Katen assist Anaka through the airlock. She still looked like a prisoner with her thin, gaunt face and ashen skin. Allia expected any moment for Anaka to crash to the ground in a heap. At least with Mencari and Katen helping that wouldn’t happen.
Toriko forced a breath, then said, “Well, that’s why we’re here.” She gestured behind her.
Standing in silence, the other D’mok Warriors and New Eden leadership waited in rows along the dock. Almost everyone was here, even Eyani and Ghn’en. “They all came!”
“This is important, and we all wanted to be here,” Toriko said, misty eyed. “I can’t believe—after all this time—he found her.”
Allia looked on, unsure of what to do. Tears welled in Toriko’s eyes. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m just happy for them.”
While that was true, she knew Toriko like a sister. Thoughts of her professor friend, the one she searched for but was later killed by the Nukari, probably added to the emotion of the moment.
A small group of New Eden medical staff pushed a hoverchair through the middle of the group, and stopped before Anaka. Captivated, she watched how carefully Mencari moved around Anaka as he helped her into the chair. The way he held her, the slow lowering into the seat, even the gentle embrace before he allowed the medical staff to strap her in, was so loving. Suddenly her own eyes burned, and she sniffled. You could see how much he cared about Anaka, and it was beautiful. How did something like that survive all that happened?
The medical staff along with Mencari began to move down the walkway toward them. She motioned to Ichini, then tucked in line beside Toriko and Spark.
Toriko’s voice cracked as he approached. “Welcome home, Rhysus. To both of you.”
“Thank you,” he said, looking across the others. “Thank you all for being here. I didn’t think this day would come, but it has. You being here means everything to me. Thank you.”
She didn’t notice the black circles growing around his eyes before. He looked exhausted. Not that it would be such a big surprise. Naldes took a lot out of him, and then doing what he had to back on the Coalition station … no one but Mencari would still be on their feet.
He continued through the group, shaking hands and giving personal thanks to each person. She felt proud to be a part of such a team—a family.
Their last mission flashed in her mind, images of Mencari’s unstoppable power raging from his body. He even had a smile while he ripped the power out of Anrik and the others. Though she knew Mencari well, the memory scared her. What was happening to him? A foreboding darkened her spirits. She didn’t want anything to change; she liked things as they were. Yet, a whisper inside her stoked her greatest fears: everything was about to change.
* * * * * *
“So this Nukari beast—Jask—it’s Mencari’s son?” Ghn’en said in disbelief.
Kiyanna’s stomach knotted at the revelation.
“And Anaka’s mind has been compromised by Kajlit’ga?” Eyani added.
Katen nodded.
Kiyanna looked across the war room table of the asteroid base. D’abar, Speru, Eyani, Ghn’en, Osuto, it seemed everyone shared the same expression of surprise and panic. She shook her head. “This is a very complicated web here.”
“And I’m not done,” Katen said. “In our last encounter with Jask, I entered the minds of what I thought were Nukari beasts. But they weren’t beasts, but D’mar in specialized suits.”
“D’mar?” Eyani said.
Katen gave a curt nod. “They attacked the Coalition ship after detecting a warrior with powerful D’mok abilities inside. They thought it was Speru.”
“Me?” Speru said, confused. “How do they know me?”
Katen looked to D’abar. “They knew you as well. The girl’s mind I entered, her name was Siana and she said she was from Alo—your world.”
Speru lurched forward. “Siana!”
D’abar’s face twisted. “And they’re with the Nukari? Helping them?”
“How did they get with Kajlit’ga? We have to help them,” Speru said, desperate.
“I asked that. When they left Alo in search of you, the one called Raitr used his abilities to find the most powerful of warriors. They found Jask.”
“Jask?” Kiyanna said, exasperated. “Don’t tell me Mencari’s kid is the most powerful of us—and he’s a Nukari.” Her head started to hurt. For a moment she found herself longing for the simplicity of planning the strike against the Nukari armada.
“One thing at a time,” Eyani said, and held up a calming hand that caused the lavender scales of her arm to glitter in the bright light of the room.
She didn’t need Katen’s abilities to feel the mounting tension in the room. What the others needed right now was reassurance.
“I have a plan to deal with all of this,” Katen said. “It’s already in motion, but will need support.”
“Whatever you’re planning, Rhysus should not find out,” D’abar said, his tone absolute. “He’s too unstable, and still dealing with Anaka’s return.”
“You don’t want to tell him about plans concerning his son?” Osuto asked.
Given everything that happened, was D’abar right? Probably.
Speru got between the two and said, “Can we find out the plan first?”
Osuto motioned to continue.
“While in her mind, I implanted a set of commands in Siana. In two days’ time she will bring Raitr, Jeyla, and Jask to the ship graveyard under the belief Speru will be here.”
“Where all those spaceships are abandoned? The one not far from here?” Osuto said.
“Yes.”
“What’s going to make them do that?” Ghn’en said.
“Siana will claim her mental abilities found information from the merchants they’ve come across in their renewed search these past days. Allegedly, Speru harvests parts from the ship graveyard for funds. That’s what she’ll think, anyway.”
“And just those four will come?” Eyani said.
“I don’t know. Given beast warriors’ triads, I would estimate six or nine, if not more.”
“I like where this is goin’!” Naijen said. “You need us to bash some skulls in.”
“If it comes to that. Siana and I will attempt to mentally disable them, but we’ve found the newer generations of beast warriors have protections against such attacks.”
“What is the objective of this mission?” Eyani asked.
Naijen sprang up and yelled, “To kill Jask!”
“Don’t kid yourself,” Kiyanna scoffed, then looked with disgust at Katen. “So, that’s the plan?” She threw up her hands, stood, th
en took her place at the front of the war room. “You can’t be taking this seriously! This is Mencari’s kid we’re talking about—and we all know what his father can do. And Raitr identified Jask as the most powerful thing he could detect?”
Allia waved her hands trying to break into the conversation. “We have Katen’s abilities, along with Siana’s to attack his mind.”
“What if a mind-strike doesn’t work?” D’abar said. “If he powers up and lays waste to everyone? I agree with Kiyanna. We need more assurances here.” Eyani’s head nodded in silent agreement.
Kiyanna withheld her reaction. But at least someone was thinking this through.
“Raitr’s nullification abilities,” Katen began before a wave of Kiyanna’s hand cut him off.
“Assuming he’s both willing to do it and gets his attack off,” she said. They needed to contain the boy, under any circumstance. But what if the boy could pull power like his father? His father? Maybe they should include his dad in the operation? Perhaps his father could weaken Jask? No. If attacks between the father and son couldn’t harm each other, it would be a bad bet to expect Mencari’s power-ripping ability could be used against his son.
“And reasoning with him is out? What if we show him the truth?” Allia said.
“That Mencari is his dad and his mother isn’t dead but right before us?” Kiyanna said. “That might seem logical, but nothing we’re dealing with is logical, Allia. They’ve screwed with his mind. We don’t know how deeply, or what it will take to get through to him.” She heard the sarcastic tone of her voice, then noticed the look in Allia’s face as she looked down, cheeks reddened. Softer, she said, “No, it’s a good idea. We can try, but I don’t want to base everyone’s safety on that, okay?”
Allia’s head bobbed, but she didn’t look back up.
Kiyanna looked around the table and met Naijen’s sneer. “Why do we have to take him alive?” he said. “He’s a Nukari now. Might even put up a good fight.”
“Because he’s a child, Naijen,” Speru said. “They took him and they made him what he is.”
“Yeah, tough luck. Now he’s a monster.” He locked eyes with Kiyanna “You want to keep everyone safe—you kill him.”
D'mok Revival 4: New Eden Page 28