by C. C. Ekeke
“Sounds like a party in there,” quipped Habraum as he stood in front of the scorched circular entrance, listening to the commotion behind it.
“Then get us in already,” Sam ordered, hovering with hands on hips. “We’re missing all the fun!”
Habraum turned to her with an amused look. “Yes, ma’am.” He raised two fists crackling with biokinetic power and unleashed twin crimson beams. Like battering rams, the force blasts punched the charred entrance inward and off its industrial-strength hinges.
Habraum immediately dashed inside with glowing fists cocked. Sam rocketed in after him, the air scorching in her wake—and immediately found her senses under attack.
Even wearing protective hololenses, the dusty smoke blanketing the room clouded her vision. A nonstop serenade of rapid pulse-rifle fire barked from every direction. Sam hovered near the floor, Habraum at her side as evidenced by his two glowing fists. She wrinkled her nose at the ionic stench of weapons fire. Sam’s eyes slowly adjusted to the smoke and new surroundings, just in time to catch a man less than a metrid away pointing a pulse pistol at her. Before she could dodge, Habraum snapped off a dazzling biokinetic blast. The assailant flew back, out cold before even hitting the ground. Sam nodded her thanks at Habraum and they moved past the bodies of CoE operatives already felled by Star Brigade. Suddenly, the scope of the skirmish grew clear.
From the distance, Sam spied Jakadda, the big Kintarian recon, wearing a sharp-toothed grin from his position at the entrance Liliana had breached. The massive colossus of tawny-furred muscle had been savaging his way through any hostile daring to face him. He snatched a smaller hostile by the throat with one arm, ramming him ferociously into the floor—once, twice, three times… four times—before carelessly tossing the now broken form aside. Before long, the CoE hostiles began running from him.
Khrome stayed airborne and kept mauling the Children of Earth with his usual brand of punishment. Pulse-rifle shots continued to ricochet off his metallic hide as the burly Thulican dove in quick and low, plowing into several operatives at once. Sam heard bones crunch and crackle against the torpedo of living metal, sounding like popcorn. Khrome abruptly pulled up from his dive, shaking off any last punch-drunk Children of Earth operatives clinging to him.
At least five or more metrids away from Sam, Arcturus and Crescendo were in a firefight with several Children of Earth operatives. Arcturus squeezed off several shots from his pulse pistol, as did Crescendo by means of her sonic blasts. Some shots hit dead on, taking targets out of the fight for good. Nevertheless, their foes outnumbered them six to one—pinning them down behind a frail embankment that warped and dented under the Children of Earth pulse-rifle fire. Khrome almost flew to help the two fend off the enemy, but Habraum waved him off.
“Find our mark, Khrome,” Habraum ordered into his comband before looking up at Sam. “Heatstroke, I’m not loving their guns.”
“On it,” Sam replied, and instantly hurtled towards the thick of the gunfire. Bright and fiery, Sam lit up wherever in the complex she soared past. Some Children of Earth engaging Liliana and Tyris wheeled about to aim up at Sam, their rifles unloading bright and blistering discharges.
Years of aerial-combat experience came into play, with Sam weaving through the blistering volley. Despite the thick barrage of energy lancing up her way she smiled impishly, loving every instant.
Habraum was always partially watching his subordinates during any field op. He and Sam trusted each other unwaveringly on the field. Regardless, he gave her an assist with a quick biokinetic blast, drilling one operative firing at Sam. This drew away the attention of those firing on Sam, Tyris, and Liliana—distracting them long enough for Sam to zoom past with one fiery arm outstretched. Instants later, agonized screams rang out as the Sons all hurriedly dropped their red-hot weapons.
From above, Sam caught a subtle hand gesture between Khrome and Tyris that most missed, after which the Thulican touched down to grab the much taller Tanoeen’s uniform, hefting him up over his right shoulder effortlessly and tossing Tyris like a javelin at the newly disarmed CoE operatives. The Tanoeen sailed forward at high speed, fists aimed at his targets. Some scrambled out of the way, others not moving quickly enough. The “Ice Rocket” maneuver, as Khrome called it, took out five operatives with ease, ending with Tyris tumbling into a forward roll and skipping up back to his feet.
That maneuver instantly shifted the tide back in Star Brigade’s favor. Habraum, tall and strapping, stood back to back with Liliana near the battered embankment. With her blindingly white sonic blasts and his crimson biokinetic beams paired in offense, each fired precisely at any armed CoE hostiles ahead. Watching from above, Sam glimpsed V’Korram and Jan’Hax pick off hostiles trying to flee through the two exits.
From the far right, Sam watched in alarm as two sizzling pulse-rifle blasts streaked for Lily. But Habraum, one eye always on his team, grabbed the back of the doctor’s neck to push her down. And the shots sailed harmlessly overhead. Seeing the Cerc in action, the the ease and confidence in every movement never failed to captivate Sam. Liliana popped back up and returned fire in concert with Habraum. A torrent of white rings and a jet of concussive crimson energy smacked the female terrorist dead on, rocketing her off the ground and into a wall.
Habraum glanced over at Lily. “Y’ollrigh, Crescendo?” When she nodded, the Cerc grinned. “Some stragglers left. Nothing the others can’t handle.”
With sparse words and gestures, the team’s chemistry and coordination resembled a ferocious dance, throwing the Children of Earth into utter chaos. Sam hovered for a moment to just watch, proud of what CT-1 had become.
And after this mission, she would no longer be part of this. Suddenly Sam ached for her teammates, her family.
Her gaze fell on the four cell boxes holding the Korvenites. Wiping away any self-pity, Sam flew from the main skirmish to the containers. All the boxes lay askew on the ground, knocked off their repulsor lifts. Sam landed beside a cell box on its side. The fires wreathing her body winked out and she pointed a finger, shooting out a torch-like jet of orange flame.
Moments later, she had nearly finished cutting a wide circle through the container’s bottom…and felt a rush of movement from behind.
Sam tensed and ducked—hearing a hissed curse as a sizzling stun baton swiped over where her head had just been. She popped up to catch the second swing, hooking the larger attacker’s arm under her own.
“My turn, asshole,” she sneered. Instead of scalding Ishida’s face off with her pyrokinesis, Sam doubled him over by swinging her forearm low, striking him hard in the groin. Still in motion, she reared up with an elbow to Ishida’s windpipe. She whirled as he gagged, lifting his arm overhead and slamming the elbow across her own shoulder. The sickening snap of Ishida’s joint popping out of place and his choked howl sang above the battle din. Spinning back around, Sam grabbed the collar of Ishida’s fatigues and head-butted him in the face. She let go of his collar in disgust as if he were soiled, letting Ishida slump in an insensible heap.
Sam then returned focus to burning through the box cell as if uninterrupted. One firm shove later, and the makeshift circle fell inward with a dull thunk.
Habraum, witnessing the exchange, laughed aloud. Sam gave him a shrug and a lopsided grin.
A Korvenite warily poked his head out. Seeing Sam, a human, he and a few others recoiled and yelled out in Korcei.
“[It’s okay,]” Sam said in impeccably ennunciated Korcei, holding up her hands disarmingly. “[You’re safe now and we’ll get you out.]” The words calmed the Korvenites enough to let Sam explain what was happening.
Near the smoking remnants of the vehicle lot, Jan’Hax appeared and vanished repeatedly, delivering a flurry of acrobatic punches and kicks at the remaining CoE operatives wherever he appeared next. His invisibility served as an advantage against their foes, fortifying Sam in choosing him for CT-2’s roster.
But Jan’Hax missed the faraway hostile aiming her pul
se pistol at him, ready to fire.
Sam called Jan’Hax’s codename in warning, startling the Korvenites gathered around her. Then the hostile’s pulse pistol exploded with a bright green burst, the stunned woman yelping and shaking her burned hands in pain. Jan’Hax wheeled around, holding another hostile by the throat, just as surprised. Sam, however, already knew who was responsible. “Here comes trouble,” she whispered.
Right on cue, Jan’Hax’s statuesque rescuer sailed through the smoky billows from behind the CoE hostile. Bounding over the hostile’s shoulder, Marguliese straightened out in midair with a flawless back kick. The blow dropped the CoE woman to her knees and into unconsciousness. Jan’Hax recoiled in fiendish delight. The Cybernarr landed on her feet and assessed the scene with cold, probing blue eyes. Her power over certain forms of machinery had destroyed the pistol, but Marguliese could deal with foes just as efficiently using hand-to-hand combat.
A brilliant white glow flashed from Marguliese’s cybernetic hand and instantly extended into a long, double-sided blade of energy. Two strapping CoE hostiles popped out of the vehicle-lot breach. Pulse rifles cocked, both unleashed a brilliant, barking volley at the Cybernarr. But Marguliese approached casually, deflecting their pulse blasts with expert whirls of her blade in one hand. Whatever courage these hostiles possessed shrank away steadily. The Cybernarr stalked closer and closer, her golden face chillingly blank…
SWISH! A swift arc of light chopped the barrels of both rifles clean off.
“Shit!” one hostile exclaimed.
“Truly.” Marguliese pivoted sharply, pulling her energy blade apart into two smaller blades. It happened in a flash, the two operatives frozen in stupefied shock. The next instant, the Cybernarr was facing away from her foes, a blade impaled through each hostile’s chest.
“Marguliese!” Jan’Hax called out as she curtly yanked out both blades and reconnected them, not bothering another look as her victims fell over.
“They attacked, I retaliated,” Marguliese’s reply was as glacial as her stare, silencing Jan’Hax.
Sam caught Habraum frowning at the scene briefly, then moved on. Her eyes found Jan’Hax’s and they exchanged a dark look. Just tolerate her for a little longer, Sam promised, before soaring across the smoke and debris in search of the cell’s leader, Kingston Reyes.
She didn’t have to look far. Reyes was on the periphery on all fours, scurrying past fallen minions. He had never looked more pathetic, in Sam’s eyes. Seeing an exit just a few metrids away, Kingston gritted his teeth and crawled faster.
Covered in dust and rubble, one of Reyes’s underlings reached for his leader with a trembling hand, moaning for help. Kingston glanced at the man. Then, to Sam’s further disgust, he kept crawling toward the breached wall. A strong gust of air whooshed by Kingston, the kind that just rippled with power. Sam smiled as Khrome’s hulking metallic form landed in Kingston’s path. This’ll be amusing.
“Some unity you ‘Earthborn’ have. If I were human, I’d sign up!” Khrome said dryly.
Kingston scrambled to his feet and backpedaled, nearly falling over. “Get away from me, you mechanical abomination!”
Khrome’s cobalt-blue face filled with mock sadness. “Now my feelings are hurt!” Then he smiled. “And that’s techno-organic abomination. You xenophobes never get it right!” The Thulican advanced on him now. “Be a respectable bigot and surrender.”
In response, Kingston whipped out a pulse pistol from his belt and lowered his aim at Khrome’s face, as the Thulican stood inches shorter. “Not to you, alien,” Kingston snarled, “NEVER to you!”
The Thulican’s round yellow eyes flicked from gun to holder and he abruptly laughed. “Like that’ll work.” Khrome approached everything with a smile or a laugh, one of the things Sam adored about him.
Kingston pulled the trigger. A blistering pulse bolt struck Khrome point-blank in the face as Kingston squeezed that trigger repeatedly. A sadistic smile lit up his face along with every shot of bright, yellowish energy blasting out of the barrel. Kingston’s pulse pistol was finally spent, leaving just the hollow clicking of a trigger.
The smoke created by the pulse blasts cleared…along with Reyes’s sneer. Khrome stood in the same spot, barely a blast burn on his face or any trace of amusement. “Told ya it wouldn’t work.” The Thulican’s thick, stubby fingers snaked forth, grabbing Reyes by the collar and practically digging into his flesh. With one hand, Khrome effortlessly tossed the human over his shoulder and through the breach behind them. Kingston shrieked, flailing his limbs uselessly as he sailed over two walkways.
Khrome peered over the breach where he had thrown Reyes. Tyris ambled up beside him, idly twirling his staff. The Tanoeen shook his spiky head. “Our enemies never learn,” he said, his voice like a frosty draft.
“But if they learned,” Khrome replied, “our jobs wouldn’t fun!” The teammates fist-bumped up and down before mockingly saluting where Reyes plummeted into the stifling darkness.
The echoes of Reyes roaring every known swear word in the Standard language floated up from the breach. While the fall wouldn’t kill him, Sam knew of Habraum and UniPol’s plan to release Reyes into the wild and see who he contacted. Hopefully that would produce locations and IDs of Reyes’s masters, and then the Children of Earth’s upper echelon.
A distant splash signaled the end of Reyes’s plunge. “Really hope that fall hurt,” Sam snickered, returning her attention to helping the Korvenites from their cell box.
Chapter 4
Habraum watched Khrome and Tyris emerge through curling white smoke still fouling the air. The Tanoeen’s spiky, ice-sculpted body shook with mirth. “Eleven,” he declared.
“So?” Khrome snapped. “I got thirteen.” The pair was caught up in another friendly debate over who took down more hostiles during a field mission.
Tyris’s indigo eyes widened in shock. “Lies! Don’t count the five you threw me into! I did the work.”
“No, I did the work while you just stuck your arms out,” Khrome parried, glaring up at his taller and lankier friend. “Meaning that I, Khrome-tastic, get finder’s credit for those takedowns.”
“Finder’s credit?!” Tyris’s voice was a sharp slap.
Habraum snorted. Sure, Tyris got on great with his CT-1 teammates, even V’Korram. But the Cerc’s doubts lingered over whether the Tanoeen could be his true right hand like Sam could. “Time will tell,” Habraum muttered to himself before approaching his two subordinates. “Khrome.”
The two ceased their debate. “Yes, oh captain, my captain,” replied Khrome.
Habraum towered over Khrome and whispered, “You tagged Reyes, yea?”
The Thulican looked almost offended. “Did you expect any other outcome, Reign?”
Habraum smiled and played along, “Of course not. Let me know when he makes contact with his peers.” He patted the Thulican on the shoulder.
Near the parking-lot breach, V’Korram, Jan’Hax, and Marguliese rounded up the fallen CoE hostiles into piles. The containment field around the hostiles also kept them insensible. “Nearly all are alive,” Jan’Hax heaved another limp form onto the ground and glanced bitterly at the short row of body bags nearby, “besides those killed in the vehicle explosions, only two perished.” The Ciphereen glared at Marguliese, who remained stone-faced and detached.
Sam stood near the first of the five cell boxes, quietly conversing in Korcei with its prisoners. They chose not to release the rest of the Korvenites until UniPol arrived with reinforcements. Liliana, after scanning those Korvenites, strode past to inspect the tinier fifth cell.
“Found another body!” the doctor announced after a short while. Her diluted Spanish accent was typical of someone from the Terra Sollan city-state Alcazar. Lily stood over the body, eyes fixed on her scancorder readings. “Elderly male Korvenite with no broken skin, puncture wounds, or considerable bruising to indicate a cause of death besides dehydration and malnutrition.”
Habraum couldn’
t look away from the dead Korvenite slumped outside the cell box. The corpse’s eyes were pupil-less and as white as his skin, indicating death. Like Maelstrom’s were, the Cerc recalled.
V’Korram loped over to the cell, craning his head inside and sniffing around. “Cell looks damaged and forced open,” he growled. “Two beings were in here. One scent’s unfamiliar and fresh.” He whipped out his own scancorder, running it over the cell interior and Korvenite corpse. “Snapshotting unknown’s foot and handprints now.”
Liliana nodded and shivered. “Do you feel a serious chill?” She rubbed at her arms with her hands to warm them, despite there being no breeze in her vicinity.
“Leaving the cold area usually helps. Shouldn’t a doctor know that?” V’Korram growled, his body fur noticeably shivering all the same. The doctor glared after V’Korram. After over five months, she still found his surliness just as insufferable.
Habraum eyed a transmission on his comband. “Bag the Korvenite as evidence, get what you can from the scene quickly. UniPol’s here for garbage pickup.” He looked pointedly at Liliana and V’Korram. “I want to know what killed that Korvenite. Might be a bigger threat than the Children of Earth.”
“A wet muffin’s a bigger threat than the CoE,” Khrome scoffed, earning boisterous laughs from Tyris and Jan’Hax.
A stern glare from Habraum instantly killed the laughter. Nice example, Tyris. Yes, this operation had been easy, but the Cerc refused to underestimate any foe. Why were the Children of Earth capturing Korvenites, beyond their unyielding xenophobia? And what killed that Korvenite? Before he could mull over the questions, Habraum noticed a Korvenite gaping at the corpse V’Korram had stuffed into a body bag. His insides tightened. The bruised and malnourished Korvenite looked barely older than Tharydane. The teary-eyed youngster fell to his knees and croaked, “Thaull…”