Jask, a weak voice beaconed telepathically.
He sniffed back the tears, and looked about, wondering if he’d imagined it. The voice almost sounded like …
Jask, a fading voice echoed again in his mind.
His mind blasted a telepathic response. ISHARA! Where are you?
Shasa pointed and said, “I can feel her. That way …”
He couldn’t move fast enough. Like a toddler with long, gangly limbs, he floundered and tripped, forcing his body to move faster than it was prepared to, forcing him to scamper along the ground.
I’m coming! I’m coming! Hang on!
A great explosion rang in the distance, followed by a thunderous and swiftly approaching rumble. The ground beneath his feet gave way, causing him to take flight defensively. A shriek of pain came from just ahead.
“Ishara!” he yelled, recognizing the voice.
“Over here!” a youth called.
He found a small pack of battered beast children attempting to lift slabs from a fallen structure off her.
“Ishara!” he said, kneeling at her side. “I’m going to get you out. I won’t lose you too!”
Her voice filled his mind. Jask, I’m glad you’re safe.
“It happened right after the attack,” the youth explained. “Our shields held against the blast, but the building next to us collapsed.”
He wasn’t going to stand by and watch another person he loved die before his eyes. A red aura flared about him. Standing, he reached out and touched one of the concrete slabs. It lifted, filled with red light, then shattered into dust. He continued until the last slab trapping her vaporized.
No sooner had he finished, a voice taunted, “Ah, there you are, and you’re with friends.”
Jask froze. Not now! It was bad enough Yezen was dead. Ishara needed medical help. So did others. Mencari was after him. Maybe he could lead him away.
“Leave them alone! You want me—I’m right here!”
“Oh, the hero. Your father is so proud of you,” he said, angry energies erupting from his body.
“I will not let you hurt them anymore!” Jask screamed. His body flared with the same red fury. A stream of crimson light splashed forth from his hands, striking Mencari. The attack shattered into a rainbow of light.
The Human clapped playfully. With mocking laughter, he said, “I love a good lightshow. My turn now.” Mencari’s hands radiated with a hellish light.
“Jask!” Ishara shrieked.
* * * * * *
Run, Ishara broadcast telepathically, before refocusing on the attacker.
She ignored the searing pain and swiftly encroaching death. Jask had to survive. Whatever she needed to do to ensure that, it would be done. There was one more card she could play.
The world around her turned to a blurred haze as her mind reached out and struck the attackers. With no resistance, she pounded into a broken mindscape. It was as if she stepped into a topsy-turvy world. Sounds of a boy crying echoed madly, while the shrieks of a woman moved about like a comet in orbit. Images faded in and out, sometimes scrambled, other times viewed in obscene close-up. This was a tormented mind. The image of a Human child with green eyes flashed before dissolving away, replaced by scenes that played in loops of Jask smiling maniacally while hurting others. In every direction images slowly cycled of a woman and child crying out before exploding in a cloud of ash.
The child looked familiar. While he was much younger, there was no mistaking those proud features; it was Jask. The woman was familiar too. She appeared to be the same one Kajlit’ga had her implant into Jask’s mind—the broken and bleeding images. Who was this man, that he had such images of Jask and the woman in his mind?
Was this his creator? Rhysus Mencari—the Nukari Killer? The one who singlehandedly coordinated the downfall of her kind?
Ishara moved cautiously through the fragmented mindscape. Images from Jask’s birth played before her. Birth? Clearly the man was there when the miracle took place. Now there was no doubt. This was Jask’s biological father. But that couldn’t be …
“How could you do that to them?” Mencari’s voice echoed. “You’re my son!”
She turned to see a manifestation of Mencari in agony, standing in a medical bay, images of his friends tortured and wounded floating before him. “He’s no longer my son, he’s a monster.”
Who’s the bigger monster? she thought in Jask’s defense.
“I have to stop him!” Mencari’s embodiments said. “No one else can. It’s up to me.”
Looking back at the various scenes of birth, life, and death, she began to reconsider her objective. Clearly Mencari cared about Jask, yet he was about to try to kill his own son. Though, the state of the mindscape showed how tortured the man was about his son, and about what to do.
This wasn’t the monster of a Human being that Kajlit’ga said he was. Jask wasn’t some tool for Human domination. This man clearly loved the boy—a boy that he had with that woman. Kajlit’ga said Jask was born of the Womb Mother. Lies! More of Kajlit’ga’s lies.
Then all the things Ishara put into Jask’s mind, all the walls she erected blocking memories Kajlit’ga claimed were the product of enemy telepaths, all the messages that would make him hate Mencari, were lies too. What Kajlit’ga did ensured that Jask would mercilessly take down Mencari and his companions. And Ishara was the very tool that made Jask a weapon against his father, and which led to Mencari hunting his son, and to the retaliation attack that struck Planet Zora.
No, this wasn’t her fault. She was following orders, doing what she was told. The burden of fault fell on Kajlit’ga’s shoulders.
She winced. Despite the dilation of time, her body was fading. She had just enough time to help set things right.
* * * * * *
Jask heard Ishara say, “Peace.”
The hellfire glow faded from the Human’s body and he dropped to his knees. A golden aura enveloped him. Shaking, tears burst from the Human’s eyes.
She incapacitated him!
Jask had been given a chance to strike the monster down. But he couldn’t do it with his abilities. He looked around, and saw a large shard of twisted metal.
That will do!
Grabbing the metal, he jerked it from the ground. An angry rage exploded within him. With his own hands, he’d take vengeance for Yezen and for Ishara. Wielding the metal like a sword, he ran at Mencari.
Ishara’s voice echoed in his mind. Peace, Jask.
He felt her mind touch his moments before images flooded in. He saw a young a child clutching a woman with long black hair and white pupils. Both burst into billowing ash. It was a moment’s glance, yet somehow she seemed familiar. She even looked a bit like the woman he’d left alive in Mencari’s medical bay. A rending sensation ripped through him. For the first time, he recognized her as the same woman he’d seen thousands of times, broken and bleeding, in his own nightmares. A warm sensation came over him, like stepping out of the shadow into the sun. Mother?
A second torrent of memories overwhelmed him. Kajlit’ga’s angry voice boomed, interlaced with fragments of conversations about the demon called Rhysus Mencari. They were replaced by images of a child being born—his birth. Finally, he witnessed the aftermath of his deeds in the asteroid base, but from Mencari’s perspective.
I’m sorry, Jask. Ishara’s voice sounded weak, and in great pain. You must know the truth about who you are. You must know who your mother and father are. Never trust Kajlit’ga again.
Clarity entered his mind as new memories flooded his consciousness.
So much of your early memories I blocked by Kajlit’ga’s orders, she explained. Forgive me.
He relived a memory of running down a hill with his mother, being playfully chased by his towering father. Everything seemed so enormous. He must have been very young.
Then there was a big room with kids, his friends, and their parents. It was his birthday, back on the space station where they lived together. He remembere
d being there. He remembered!
Mencari was his father, and that woman in the bay, the one he left shrieking—was his mother! The images of her broken and bleeding dissolved from his mind. He could feel the lie being erased.
What have I done?
A telepathic blast ripped forth from Ishara. Kajlit’ga has deceived us all. If she is still alive, she is not to be trusted!
The unusual strength of the broadcast was sure to be carried for miles in every direction.
A gunshot rang out. He turned in time to see Ishara’s face explode, along with a spent slug.
“ISHARA!” he shrieked.
A familiar shill rang out. “Jask!”
Kajlit’ga! She stood defiant, flanked by a group of beast warriors, a smoking gun in her hand. A new rage filled him.
* * * * * *
“I don’t tolerate traitors!” Kajlit’ga yelled.
Mencari stood, frozen in the moment. His mind felt calm and focused. The overflowing rage left him.
After all this time, the bane of his existence, the being responsible for Decreta’s torment, for the turning of his own son, and countless other atrocities, was standing before him. A twisted darkness demanded vengeance. She would die; it was a matter of how slowly.
A radiant golden energy poured from his son’s hands. Was he going to attack her? Perhaps it would all be answered for him. Or perhaps …
“Let’s do this together, son!”
Mencari tried to summon his hellish aura. Instead, a radiant golden glow exploded around him. He felt different, somehow stunted and walled off. Perhaps Ishara, in healing his mind, also changed his access to power? It didn’t matter. Kajlit’ga was only Nukari—not a beast warrior. How hard could she be to kill?
“Together!” Mencari said, unleashing an attack with his son. Their attacks dispersed before hitting her, as if a spray of water against a brick wall. With a roguish grin, she held out a glowing device on her wrist.
“You didn’t think it would be that easy, did you? I trained them, I know their abilities, and how to stop them!” she taunted. “Pray that isn’t the best you can do.”
A mighty howl filled the air as the ground nearby erupted into flame. Her beast warrior escort dove for cover.
“KAJLIT’GA!” Decreta’s voice bellowed. “I will kill you with my own hands—for Degnit’na, and Atri, and for Katen!”
“Decreta? Well, you’ve saved me the trouble of tracking you down,” she said, grabbing a small spherical device from her belt. Lights flashed in a sequence as she squeezed it. A high-pitched noise pierced the air. The beast warriors in every direction howled and dropped to their knees, except for Decreta.
Mencari remembered hearing this sound. It came from the obedience device Katen shared from his mindwalk of Decreta’s mind so long ago. Even his son appeared to flinch and stagger at the sound. Though his beast ally stood defiant, unfazed against the device.
“I’m not one of your dogs!” Mencari yelled, unleashing another volley of blasts. Where was his red aura when he needed it? Something inside him just couldn’t go there again. A sense of peace governed his actions.
A new blast from the sky pummeled Kajlit’ga. Through the billows of dust, Allia rode on the back of a great white dragon. Its mighty jaws opened, a radiant light filling the cavity before stretching into a destructive beam streaking toward Kajlit’ga. Ichini never failed to impress.
Thunderous blasts landed around her feet, before pounding her field. A grinning Naijen appeared, supported by Cerna and powered by Speru. Behind them were Niya and Cogeni, Kiyanna, Anrik, and two other Coalition Warriors he didn’t recognize.
Would they also turn to attack him? Mencari wondered.
Cerna’s voice echoed in his mind. I can feel it—you’re better.
He nodded and replied with telepathy. Ishara, the beast warrior. … She helped me and my son.
Cerna looked to the others, who turned their blasts directly on Kajlit’ga. Despite the hits, the shield around her maintained. She laughed at them and mocked, “Did you think I wouldn’t be prepared for this?”
Had she mechanically recreated D’mok effects—and defenses?
“Laugh at this!” Naijen said, directing a blast into Cerna. The others followed suit, and once again Cerna’s body shattered into her ethereal form. A beam blasted from her cosmic hands and smacked into Kajlit’ga’s shield. It began to fracture.
Panicked, Kajlit’ga began grabbing the cowering beast warriors around her, throwing them through her shield and into the incoming attack. They vaporized one after the other.
Mencari grabbed Jask’s shoulder and forced him to watch. It wouldn’t be long. She was already desperate, not thinking. Her mind seemed her most deadly weapon, and now it seemed lost to her.
One last beam blasted from Cerna before she returned to her physical form. While not breaching her shield, it threw her backward. As she fell, the control device slipped from her hands and shattered on the rocks.
Many of the beast warriors forced themselves to stand. She shrieked, “Attack them! I order you to attack them!”
Mencari shook his head. While her field protected her from D’mok energies, it didn’t stop flesh. The beast warriors around her looked on with rabid, hate-filled eyes. One group of them pounced on her. She shrieked while more piled on. In moments it was a swarming mass of slashing claws and snapping jaws. A sick satisfaction filled Mencari as he watched.
Long after she deceased, her own creations continued to tear apart her body. Hunks of flesh and scraps of clothing spewed from the swarming pile.
His son knelt at Ishara’s side, body shaking with sobs. A sudden stinging came to his own eyes. Ishara’s final words, implanted moments after she healed his own mind, echoed.
“I will return Rhyiel to you. Take care of our child.”
He couldn’t help but acknowledge the love she had for his son.
After all this time, all the agony of thinking Rhyiel and Anaka were lost to him, of all the times he found nothing that led him closer to finding them, and after believing they were truly lost even while they were living and breathing before him, he finally had what he desired most. It felt surreal. Was really happening?
Kneeling, Mencari put his arms around Jask. He felt the warmth of his son, the small body shuddering as he cried. Despite the agony of seeing his child dismayed, elation overtook his heart. Fighting a quivering of his own body, he summoned all the strength he had left.
“I’m here … son … I’m here.”
The boy sobbed harder, turning enough to push his head into Mencari’s chest. Struggling, he forced out a single word.
“Dad …”
CHAPTER 32
Remediation
Eyani stood behind the podium of the New Eden war room, gathering her thoughts. Finally prepared, she cleared her throat and said, “Before we begin, I’d like us to take a moment to remember our fallen brothers and sisters. Especially Katen. No one would have imagined that a creation of our enemy would become such a pivotal ally in the fight against them.” She hesitated. That didn’t feel right. “No,” she continued, “he was more than just an ally, he was a friend, and someone we grew to trust our lives with. I’d like to dedicate the next few moments of silence to him and to the others that led us to the ultimate victory over the Nukari.”
She looked about as most of the others bowed their heads in homage. In the silence her thoughts meandered. How many meetings had they conducted here? How many sleepless nights did they have to bring about this very moment?
Gathered together were SETI delegates like Senator Vaslen, Anrik of the Human Coalition, Varen of the Nomads, her own Fleet Admiral Ghn’en and his second, Liren, wise and faithful leaders like Osuto, the host of the D’mok Warriors, and new members like D’abar and Tal.
Having outgrown the space, this would be the last time the war room would be used in this manner. From now on, meetings would be conducted in the SETI chambers. New technologies would allow their most dist
ant allies to virtualize into sessions without the need for travel.
What they accomplished was nothing short of a miracle, albeit one brought about through horrific sacrifice.
Her eyes wandered to Osuto. Not only was his health failing, but another key leader was notably absent from today’s final session: Mencari.
In so many ways, today was a momentous one, a pivot on which their entire universe would change.
So let it begin.
“In the past week, we’ve seen a total breakdown of Nukari forces. With Kajlit’ga’s death, and the elimination of the remaining Nukari Armada, the nightmare we’ve endured for so long is over. While the threat of the mercenaries still exists, with the defeat of their staunchest supporter, they’ve appeared have gone into a temporary exile, most likely regrouping in the bowels of the galaxy. What matters now are the bonds that have formed—the new alliance that will move us all forward to a safer, brighter place. Despite our differences in color, creed, beliefs, and unique talents, we have proven our diversity is our strength, and our unity, the key to victory.”
Applause broke out among the group. It seemed somewhat frivolous to pause and take it in. But the applause was not for her, but for all of them. Each had experienced their own torturous experience, and survived. Taking a moment to relish something this good was worth the time.
“Our job is far from over,” she continued once the applause faded enough. “Developing worlds already look to SETI to guide and protect them, the Nasidrac appear to be amassing forces and spreading into new territories at an alarming rate, our allies in the Human Coalition continue to struggle to recover from the Nukari infestation, and many worlds are on the verge of anarchy. The list goes on. But New Eden stands ready to take on these challenges—together.”
She looked to the purple-scaled alien clad in black vestments marked with the crisscrossed white stripes who sat beside D’abar. “Before going over our reports, I want to turn the floor over to our distinguished guest, Senator Vaslen. Not only an old friend, but a wise and influential leader within the Galactic Senate, SETI. Senator …”
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