Gengei fell down to his knees in utter disgust at himself. He shut his eyes, as he couldn’t bear to see the truth. After all that work, he had failed in his duty to protect the general. And now Odelea was kicked to the ground directly in front of the assassin. Odelea attempted to get back up by pushing off with her knees, but a boot from the female assassin smashed against her head, pushing her back to the ground. Her dagger took aim at the back of Odelea’s neck and plunged downward to her. The dagger launched out of the assassin’s hands and its blade sunk into the wall nearby.
Gengei heard the dagger hit the wall, and his eyes opened to see the assassin staring in shock as another person joined the fray. Karklosea, the Abyssal Explorer’s shipboard Linl psionic. Hilemei must have called for help during the conflict.
Using her telekinesis, she levitated in the air as a means to instill fear into the three assassins. The speed at which she arose caused her short blond hair to wave about. Her hands clamped together as they glowed along with the four vertically cylindrical objects mounted to her heavily cybernetic-augmented back. Several purple orbs of plasma conjured right before her and then launched toward the assassin trio with devastating force. One by one, the assassins jump-ported out of sight as balls of hot plasma hit the floor and set it on fire. Eventually the assassins were no longer seen, having vanished with their cloaking devices.
Karklosea’s green eyes turned to Hilemei as she floated above him, her hands extended forward. She focused her mind, shutting her eyes and triggering the network of cybernetics covering the left and right sides of her body—exposed from beneath her long gown. The middle of her chest and belly were also exposed to reveal a secondary network of implants. A tight barrier was fashioned around Hilemei’s neck, keeping his blood inside.
She gazed down toward Gengei while still hovering above. “On your feet, Commander. We must leave at once.”
He got to his feet but not because she requested it. “Take the general.” His head turned to the carnage in the assembly. “The humans will want an explanation for what happened.”
“You’ll be staying, then?” she asked.
He looked at Odelea, who was lying on the ground and yelping in fear. Xyniea, too, was still on the ground. They must have used multiple stun disks to put her out that long. “I’m going to need their help. All three of us will stay for now.”
Answering for people on the ground was a dirty move, even by his standards. But they came to this world as a team, and he wanted to see this mission through with them. Karklosea nodded and then vanished into bright blue light along with Hilemei.
………
The assassin trio returned to their transport ship in orbit. Whigli had been quick to react to their call for escape when the Linl psionic unexpectedly showed up. Phylarlie wondered how none of the three saw her teleport in. They must have tunnel-visioned pretty hard—rookie move. Whigli floated over to the cockpit, entering what seemed like a trance, probably merging his mind with the ship’s computer systems.
No one had spoken a word since teleporting back up, much to Phylarlie’s surprise. They had just made the kill of the century, and she was the one who landed the killing blow. “So how do you think the guild will reward us for taking down Hilemei?” she asked.
“Nothing, because he’s probably still alive,” Nodevar replied bitterly.
“His wounds were fatal. If he’s not dead yet, he will be soon,” Phylarlie said.
“You should have cut his head off. It would have made a nice present for the empress.” Nodevar spun his weightless body around to face Phylarlie. “And it would have guaranteed a high-profile target like him wouldn’t receive top-level medical attention. You have much to learn, little one.”
“I agree,” Lettielia interjected. “Always remove body parts—it increases the chances of your target not surviving through surgery if he is recovered.” Lettielia reached behind to remove an object out of her back pouch. “And like Nodevar said, battle trophies are splendid.” She presented a severed human hand still holding a weapon, undoubtedly from one of the security guards she had slaughtered during the ambush.
Both Phylarlie and Nodevar’s heads jerked backward in shock as orbs of weightless blood floated off the hand. “Lettielia, what the fuck?” Nodevar shouted.
Devious laughter erupted from Lettielia’s mouth as she pushed her body backward, floating to the rear of the transport. Lettielia pointed the severed hand toward the three in front of her and made weapons’ fire noises. Phylarlie and Nodevar looked on in disgust.
Whigli’s head slowly turned around to gaze at what was going on behind him, his nose twitching slightly. “She’s crazy,” he concluded.
Nodevar floated forward into the cockpit and said, “She’s sexually frustrated and a Black Fluid addict.”
Black Fluid was the name given to the venom of a small fish that lived in the oceans of J’kin. The fish released a thick black liquid from its fins as a defense whenever it felt threatened by predators in the ocean. Hashmedai, however, were immune to its poisonous effects, as discovered by the first explorers to that world.
What the explorers also discovered was that if a Hashmedai were to ingest the venom, there were psychedelic effects, some of them permanent to longtime users. For the best effect, the venom needed to be fresh, as it lost potency the longer it remained in contact with oxygen. Often the fish was placed alive and whole in the mouth of a user, forcing it to release its toxins. Once the deed was done, it was tossed back into a fish tank for future use.
“Perhaps you should copulate with her to keep her sane,” said Phylarlie.
Nodevar turned to her, an upset look on his face. “You’re the second person to suggest that to me.”
“Perhaps you should take that advice. She scares me,” said Whigli.
“I grow tired of pleasing a woman like that.” Nodevar quickly glimpsed at Whigli. “You should give it a try, my friend. Her vagina can teach a young one like you things younger woman can’t.”
Whigli grinned for a moment and paused. “I’m not sure what’s more disturbing—the state of her mind or the fact that you intentionally penetrated her in the past.”
Phylarlie chuckled as Nodevar’s lips curled.
Some time had passed as Phylarlie moved toward the middle of the transport to take inventory of her equipment, mainly her disks. A lot had been used in the last two operations. She noticed Whigli looking at her, giving her that same stare from when they first encountered each other in the desert.
“Do I amuse you?” she bluntly asked.
“You look…familiar,” he said.
“You don’t to me.” She finished her inventory check. Good to go for a few more missions.
“Do you have a sister?”
Phylarlie froze, and her eyes opened wide. Noylarlie’s existence was supposed to be a secret. “What prompts you to ask such a personal question?” she asked.
“Forget I asked.” Whigli peered out the cockpit’s window with the human world in view, and he then asked, “Have you encountered any interesting peaceful places on this world yet?”
Phylarlie floated next to him in the cockpit and pointed to the southern polar region. “Down there, it reminds me of Paryo and the great plains of Taxah.”
Whigli’s gaze returned to her. “We have a bit of free time before we plan our next move. Let me take you there.”
Phylarlie suspected something was up, but a break to relax would help her prepare for the challenges ahead. Besides, those penguins are so cute.
………
Phylarlie and Whigli materialized from the blue light of his teleport. Snow and ice were all they were able to see for miles, with a cluster of penguins meandering about. A joyful smile appeared on her face as she ran over to get a closer look at them. Whigli followed behind, walking and taking his time to observe the terrain. She knelt beside a small group of penguins, one of many in the area. One took interest in her, waddling its way over and bobbing its head up and down to exami
ne her. Her holographic display appeared above her, recording the encounter as she gently brushed her fingers across its head.
Whigli stood behind, watching her for a moment before asking, “Does the name Noylarlie sound familiar to you?”
No point hiding it now. Clearly he knows her. “Yes.” She turned back to look at him. “And you shouldn’t know her.”
“We attended the psionic Academy together,” he said.
Phylarlie’s interactions with the penguins stopped as she stood up to fully face him. “So she was discovered?” Whigli nodded. “Tell me everything you know about her,” she demanded.
He paused for a moment and said, “You were with the survivors of the recon team for a moment, yes?”
“I was, yes.”
He smiled. “Let’s make a deal. Tell me everything about the psionic they have with them, and I’ll give you an update about your little sister.”
Phylarlie crossed her arms. “Why her in particular?”
“Captain Jerut has a kill order placed on their team. I couldn’t care less about them.” His head tilted toward the clear skies. “But her…I need to get out of that mess.”
………
Nodevar breathed a sigh of relief after seeing Whigli and Phylarlie teleport away. He floated away from the cockpit toward Lettielia at the back of the ship. She was lying back, spinning the severed hand around in circles.
“Your thoughts on the little one?” he asked.
Lettielia looked at him with an amused look on her face. “I was really hoping Hilemei was going to end her,” she said.
“Armed or not, Hilemei always found a way to kill every assassin sent after him,” he said. “Except her—she managed to take him down.”
“She had more skill than I thought for a novice.”Angry, Lettielia firmly grabbed the floating human hand. “If Hilemei falls to his injuries, she will go down in history as a legend.”
“Something we were supposed to be,” he added. “You still want her dead for nearly killing you?”
“Do you still want her dead for making you look like a fool?” she asked, agitated.
He stared at the main entrance to the transport. “We could depressurize the ship, blowing her out into space while Whigli protects us with a psionic shield.”
“And if Hilemei dies, we will be killing a legend.”
He glanced back at her. “Nobody will know. We could take credit for putting him down.”
“Whigli will know, so he’ll have to vanish as well.”
Nodevar shrugged his shoulders, out of ideas for the time being. “I will leave this in your hands. Regardless if Hilemei lives or dies, we will not have a second chance at him. Little one is useless to us as of right now.”
He spun around in an attempt to float back to the cockpit. He ended up going in the opposite direction as she grabbed his arm and pulled him toward her. Lettielia embraced him with one arm while the other went down between his legs. Her tongue slicked across the back of his neck as she said, “We’re alone now. Let's play.”
“Don’t be stupid. If they port back up, we’ll—”
“Have spectators.” She licked the side of his ear. “I love it when that happens, especially in space.”
Chapter 12
Eight years ago…
The Crimson Arrow traveled through the blackness of space to its destination—the planet Foicanta, a world orbiting a red dwarf star. The binary star system of Lejorania had a third star—Dark Lejorania, which orbited around the two stars. Due to the presence of multiple Radiance Union ships in the region, the space bridge rematerialized the Crimson Arrow farther out in the void of space to avoid detection—155 days away, to be exact—while traveling just under half the speed of light.
Both Noylarlie and Parcisei entered cryo stasis to pass the time. To further prevent the ship from being detected, all shipboard systems were deactivated, with the exception of the computers, autopilot, propulsion, and cryo chambers. Should a Radiance patrol randomly venture close by, its sensors would write it off as debris and not trigger any warnings. Of course, if someone were to fully analyze it, they would discover that this piece of “wreckage” was traveling pretty fast.
Slowly, ship-wide systems came online, the Crimson Arrow nearing the system. Life support was activated first, followed by a command to “thaw” the two occupants from their nearly half year of sleep. The doors to the cryo tubes swung open. Noylarlie opened her eyes, having not aged in the slightest since entering. She floated out, feeling slightly disorientated. Parcisei followed, feeling the same.
She turned to see he was indeed awake. Good. She was going to need his assistance to tell her where to go next for this leg of the trip. He waved at her in a friendly manner, and she returned the gesture by turning away and floating to the cockpit.
She guided her body into the main chair of the cockpit and connected her mind with the ship’s computer. A status report notification projected its way to her brain, displaying the readiness of the ship—all systems were green. Another prompt appeared. Before entering cryo, she’d run the data stolen from the Linl station though a translation program. The data’s language was fully converted to the Hashmedai language. Examining that information would have to wait, however, since a more important notification popped up—the presence of two Radiance Union heavy cruisers in the system.
Parcisei floated into the cockpit to take a seat.
Perfect timing, she thought. “Two heavy cruisers in the system and the planet is still a few hours out. What’s our move?” she asked.
“Ah, yes, looks like they still haven’t changed their priority of this system,” he said. “Keep on going. This system has very little Radiance activity.”
“Yeah, and…”
He continued. “The crew on those ships are still in cryo and will only activate during an attack or when ordered to by an outside source.” He looked out the window of the cockpit to see the large red star slowly getting larger as they got closer. “Don’t shoot them, and we’ll be fine.”
About three hours later they arrived at Foicanta, a tidily locked planet where one side of the surface faced the star at all times, which baked the landscape into a massive arid desert. The opposite side of the planet was enveloped in eternal darkness, never seeing sunlight. This turned it into a frozen world. In between these two conflicting realms was a small part of the world that was warm enough for plant life and small oceans to form. When viewing Foicanta from space, Noylarlie saw a sphere with white under the cover of darkness on one side, and yellow on the other, and a line of green traveling across the middle of the two from north to south—truly a remarkable sight.
“Where to?” she asked.
Parcisei pointed to a region just outside the green and into the desert. “We can teleport there.”
Noylarlie sent a command to the ship’s computer to provide surface scan data about that area. Her biggest concern was how hot it was there. The data came back to her mind, and she was not pleased. “Just couldn’t set up a place on the dark side, could you?” she asked with a sarcastic tone.
A plume of sand shot up into the air as Noylarlie and Parcisei appeared out from the flash of blue light. The heat from the burning red sun combined with the dry warm air was intense for her, triggering her breathing to become irregular. Parcisei probably found the climate quite enjoyable, a welcome change to the frigid temperatures onboard the Crimson Arrow.
The landscape around them was made up of rocks and sands dunes as far as the eye could see. Behind them, a mountain range stretched up high into the white clouds in the sky. A few meters to the left was a platform high above, hovering in the air. It connected to a suspended monorail network with four tracks going in different directions.
Parcisei walked toward it, and Noylarlie took a step to follow him but then stopped—something seemed off with her footing since this planet had a higher gravitational pull. They weighed 12 percent more here, and she certainly felt the difference with that first step
. As the two approached the hovering platform, a small section of the floor to it lowered itself to the ground. This must be the elevator up, she thought as they stepped on it.
It rose back up, reconnecting with the rest of the platform. On top was a waiting area with a computer terminal, which Parcisei walked over to interact with. A few minutes later the suspended monorail arrived, hanging off the tracks above. The two entered the empty compartment as it sped off in the direction of the mountain range.
As the monorail proceeded to its destination, Noylarlie looked out the window and saw hoofed creatures roaming the desert terrain. Each had six legs, a massive body, and a small head shaped like a disk.
“Those are Uylax, I think,” said Parcisei. “Just don’t get close to their nests. The first explorers here found that out the hard way—wasn’t much of a body left.”
“I have similar skills,” she replied.
“Which I’m sure my associates will love to see,” he said. “Once we make the drop-off, consider joining us.”
The monorail came to a stop at its final destination, a base built inside the mountain range. Several cargo containers were scattered across the platform leading to the monorail. A dozen people were in the area waiting on the monorail, while others moved the containers to the side. The doors to the monorail slid open, revealing to Noylarlie who they were: Radiance Union races.
Her instincts told her to prepare for battle as she built up psionic energy in her arms. Parcisei told her, “Relax. They’re friends. You wouldn’t attack friends, right?”
She stood down, stopping the power buildup and watching Parcisei exit onto the platform to speak with a Vorcambreum in the Radiance Union language. She slowly moved her legs to step off as others boarded. None seemed to mind the presence of a Hashmedai psionic. In Morutrin, that was understandable, as Hashmedai occupied that system before the Linl joined the union. But here?
Celestial Ascension (Splintered Galaxy Book 1) Page 21