by Reiter
“Then let us be about the business of talking to the King,” Braldee suggested.
“Indeed.” Marjoram swept the Meacruhn up from the ground and employed ElemahntiA to bear herself aloft on the winds. Braldee howled as the two of them flew to the castle.
** b *** t *** o *** r **
(Rims Time: XII-4204.15)
Though she could not see clearly, it was fairly easy to guess that more of her blonde hair had fallen to her feet than what remained on her head. She reached out with her mind once more and screamed as the restraints sent an energy that seemed to burn into her bones. Her body gave, but she did not fall, she had been fastened to the wall.
“I have to say, Your Majesty, I am impressed,” Braldee said as he looked at his instrumentation. He shook his head in amazement. “Two weeks! Incredible!”
“You lie, Meacruhn,” Gexxur-Hahni panted. “It has not been that long. It has not!”
“I see, because in that time, surely someone would have noticed that the Brood Queen was missing and the Dragons would be out searching for you, yes?” Braldee nodded as he poured himself a cup of tea. “I can see where you might come to such a conclusion. But you’re suffering from selective memory again. You forget how you came to be in my company.
“I just don’t think Gexxur-Indaysi took too well to that last scolding,” Braldee shared. “Come on! She’s young… beautiful … smart… powerful… and spoiled rotten! You really should have kept a closer eye on her. I mean, you take the human form… eventually you have to guess they will start making human faults. I suppose this puts a brand new perspective on why they’re called deadly sins. The only one she hasn’t demonstrated is lust, and since we don’t have her under full surveillance, we can only hypothesize. My cred is on Blackwynd. He seems like the kind that would do it for her.”
“I… will not… submit to you,” the Brood Queen declared.
“Silly Dragon,” Braldee countered. “You presume I need your submission. I don’t! It is amazing how you people don’t know more about Travelers! It’s a different sort of life when you live near one.” Gexxur-Hahni glared up at the Meacruhn and he laughed. “No, not that one… the one who created him! No, no… Dungias has outlived his usefulness so, like you, he’s simply got to go! Damn shame we’ve got to take the whole brood just to kill one damn Malgovi!”
“NO!” Gexxur-Hahni screamed, pulling against her restraints. The stone she had been stapled to actually cracked and started to give as the restraints flared to life, delivering tremendous energy bursts into the Brood Queen’s body. Each restraint was attuned to a different Energy Form so she was unable to guard herself against all of them. Fury gave way to pain, humiliation, and frustration. The Brood Queen lost her honor and then she lost her resolve!
“That’s a good girl!” Braldee hissed, throwing the last switch. The directed Energies burned into her body, removing the essence of the Brood Queen... her very soul was displaced. Moving to the other side of the platform, Braldee looked down in the antechamber. “Are you ready?!”
“I am,” the SorceroR replied, gazing on his handiwork. The massive automaton laid dead before him, a culmination of his work and the robots the diminutive man had supplied. For ten days straight they had labored, constructing the body of a Dragon. Now energy was flowing into his creation, and the enchantments the man had worked were taking hold and granting life to his creation. “It’s working!” he shouted as the last of the energy flowed into his creation. The transfer was complete – his automaton was alive. The point of the finest sword the man had ever seen came out through his chest and quickly receded. The SpellCasteR dropped to his knees as the Tonnogard woman walked around from behind him.
“Your services are no longer required, Terran,” Marjoram said, cleaning the blade. “I struck nerve before anything else. I would hope there is little to no pain. Stride high into the Grey Realm, enchanter. You have achieved a great work this day!”
“Lady Blackwood!” Braldee called from above.
“It is done, Master Braldee.”
“Good. Now send word to your King,” Braldee directed. “The Field Marshal should be in a very good position to receive Shievel right about now.”
“How long before this golem is ready t–” The Dragon roared to life and the Tonnogard soldier could feel Dragon’s MannA coming from the construct. “Seeds of the First Bloom!”
“What did you want to know?” Braldee shouted.
“It will keep, Master Braldee. I am most sure it will keep for the moment. I will be away but for a moment.”
“Give the King my regards,” Braldee joked. He watched as the last of Gexxur-Hahni faded into the cracked rock and he wondered what he would do with it. Even unplanned by-products could be useful in time. “Speaking of unforeseen tools. Time to activate the Malgovi’s relay system!” With a slight chuckle and a sigh of relief, Braldee entered a command on his wrist-com. A signal was sent from the Territories into Rim Space. It accessed the network Dungias had built and was transmitted to the system of the Vinthur, BroSohnti, and Malgovi.
** b *** t *** o *** r **
Held in a stasis field, Sylundaree was unable to receive the message Braldee sent, but her Osamu was not as restricted, and it came to life. Completing a diagnostic of its functions, her Osamu was able to determine the condition of itself and its mistress. Sylundaree was putting up the necessary resistance, but she had long since worked out the solution to Arrjeeh’s means of intrusion. So long as the stone read a life, it did not question whether the events were real or composed. The interrogation would last another hour, perhaps two, then the First Traveler would be in a position to speak with her Osamu and resume her trek.
“In the meantime,” the Osamu thought. “It is apparent there are allies about who would be willing to assist my Mistress. I shall make contact with them. It was a Traveler who brought them to this point… they will believe that a better Traveler, the First Traveler, can trek them back to the way of life they remember. But first I must find a means of communication they cannot detect and monitor. Hmmm, that will be problematic.”
“Perhaps I can be of assistance,” a mind projected to the Osamu. It was a voice the construct did not recognize, but it scanned the means by which the voice had come to it.
“ThoughtWill is a form they will easily detect. You are compromising my–”
“For most, I would say that is true,” the voice replied. “Danatra is by far the most sensitive telepath in their company. The Beta-Form called Zeu Rex comes close to rivaling her awareness, and The Campus surpasses them both. The Ulti-Mind circumvents them both the Beta Form and his home.
“And what of Danatra?”
“Her mind is one that I can easily veil.”
“How is it that you possess this ability?” the Osamu inquired.
“Because I am the one who taught her telepathy! Allow me to introduce myself. I am Dyortral, most recently of the Sleeping Savanté. Now, shall we be about the business of freeing your mistress and my people?!”
“Indeed, we should.”
Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.
Winston Churchill
(Rims Time: XII-4204.16)
Silnee walked across the floor, stepping over tools, huffing and sighing as she checked her data pad. “Let’s pick up the pace people,” she ordered. “Maintenance cycles shouldn’t take this long. Each of the remaining ships has more than one person to your flight crew.”
“You cannot be serious,” Agatha spat, pulling herself out from under Cruel Intentions. She was quickly followed by Marlene who took hold of the pilot’s arms as she spoke again. “Our bird is a toilet shy of being a flying garrison! Feather’s got a single engine and a single gun. That’s it!”
“Make progress, not excuses,” Silnee fired back, tapping her data pad.
“Easy, Murder,” Marlene whispered. “Go easy, baby!” Agatha pulled free of the grasp anyway.
> “Sorry, Mayhem, but someone’s been all plugged up ever since Z told us the Captain made the final cut!” Silnee stopped walking and looked back at Agatha.
“You got something to say, Murder?”
“You think I need to be invited to say it?!” Agatha asked. “She didn’t take you, you’ve been pissed ever since, but you thought she’d be right back once she got cut. Only, in true JoJo fashion, she didn’t go according to the plan!”
“Correction,” Deolun sounded off as he wiped his hands, coming away from his work on the Trident. “… she didn’t go according to the assumed plan. I’m pretty sure the Captain knew all along she was going to make it.”
Agatha pointed at Deolun and locked her eyes on his for a moment. “That’s it exactly!” Looking back as Silnee, the impassioned woman advanced toward her Flight Leader. “Notice how Centerpointe’s not all bunged up about anything? Captain didn’t take me either, and I know damn well why! I’m good and I know I’m good, but without Mayhem covering my ass I would’ve been plucked out of the stars a long time ago! That’s why we work. She knows she’s a better shot than I am a pilot!”
“Aggie,” Marlene said softly.
“Anytime you get the brain-bends, Marlie, take a look at the cockpit!” the fiery redheaded pilot returned. “That gun station is a star-damned aphrodisiac! And it should be. The pilot station gets the job done, and every single time I get to fly with you I’m reminded of how good I’ve got it.”
“How good we’ve got it,” Marlene corrected. Looking back at Silnee, Agatha pointed her thumb at Marlene.
“Did you see that, Silnee?” Agatha asked. “Now ask Mayhem if she’s pissed she didn’t get an invite. The Corps has got trials for gunners, you know. They’ve got them for ground crew too. JoJo didn’t ask anyone to go along.”
“And she was wrong for that!” Silnee shouted.
“No she wasn’t!” Agatha fired back. “You missed the turn again, Tolip, trying to fly right-side up. You’re delusional! Somewhere in your clouds is the belief that you’re in JoJo’s class. Okay, so you’ve spent time in her wake. Take a bow! Cuz that’s as close as you’re going to get to what she can do!
“Do you really think that because you were on maneuvers with Cupid and Tank that you can boogey like they do?!” Agatha pressed. “Even if you had the same equipment, the answer would still be ‘no’!
“Now, I’m not saying she’s a great woman because she can barrel-roll a wounded fighter. But I know I’ve been behind the stick of a wounded crate, and the only thing I could make it do was spark and make more smoke! I’m not trying to slide into a blue man’s position, but you need to do something,” Agatha said in a softer tone.
“You need some kind of process. Meditation, masturbation, I don’t know what’s going to do it for you, and I don’t really care what is so long as it’s not you riding our asses cuz you’re choking on the stink coming out of yours!” Agatha ducked under a slapping hand and drove her fist into Silnee’s crotch. The Flight Leader dropped her data pad as her body seized up. “Yeah, bet you wish that had been another hand.”
“Should we do anything?” Bruveia asked as she and the flight crew of the Trident looked on.
“You mean other than make popcorn?” Hennix asked, bringing Deolun to laughter.
“You ass!” Bruveia said ahead of kissing her man on the cheek. “Guess that bandage had to be ripped off. Tolip’s been miffed for a while! First time she’s let it out of her mouth though.”
“Yeah, and the moment she did, that crap didn’t make it through the work cycle,” Deolun added.
“Your point?” Hennix requested.
“It’s all about the threshold. You can always measure the respect a team has for their leader when that person can’t find a steady course. Can you see any of us going off on Z or the Captain if they were cranky for a few hours?!”
“One of them has been,” Bruveia pointed out. “And no one said a damn thing to her!”
“Give that girl the prize!” Deolun said before returning to his work.
“Okay, Murder,” Marlene said, putting a stronger grip to Agatha’s arm. “She swung first and you put her down. It’s over. We’ve got work to do.” Agatha blew out sharply between her lips.
“Soft-boiled sack of–”
“Hearing what you had to say about how your Tandem works,” Llaz said as he walked into the area, “… it’s amazing that you don’t follow Mayhem’s lead more often. She said it’s over, Murder, and I’m inclined to agree.”
“Aye-aye, Boss,” Agatha said softly, backing away from the fetal Silnee.
“Appreciate it, Murder,” Llaz said before nodding in gratitude to Marlene. The tall blonde woman smiled as her head tilted to the right ever so slightly. She nodded and wrapped her arm around Agatha’s shoulders.
“Okay,” Llaz thought, watching the two women walk away, enjoying their form-fitting fashion. “What was that?!” Hearing Silnee cough again, he turned and took hold of her arm, helping her to her feet. The two started a slow walk toward the estate house where Silnee could get a dose of Gwarthine.
“I think we can put that down as a bad approach to building our interpersonal skills!”
** b *** t *** o *** r **
Ukara stepped through the dimensional aperture, clad in her heavy armour, carrying an infantry energy weapon that was currently formatted to be a grenade-launcher. Two robots walked through with her. The one to her left stood just over two meters tall and weighed five hundred kilograms. The machine to her right was one and three-quarter meters tall and was both slender and light. Each of them started to scan the room.
“Slow and steady boys,” Ukara whispered. “Scan for everything! The Seeker Spell might have brought us here, but we’re dealing with serious people.” The Mech-Mage had just initiated her own scanning when she heard laugher coming from the corner where the far wall met the ceiling. Casting her light up, she saw a short man, just under one and a third meters tall, seated in the corner, laughing.
“Stop it,” he pleaded, “… that tickles!” Ukara trained her weapon on the man, giving the command for the format change to a heavy repeater rifle.
“Cease scans,” Ukara commanded. “A little light please, Tonka.” A small orb of light shot from Ukara’s right shoulder and hovered high over her head. “What do we have here?”
“Nothing,” the gray-haired man spoke as he stopped laughing.
“You look like something from where I’m standing,” Ukara countered.
“Well of course,” he replied, hopping down from the corner to the floor, “… but hardly something ‘we have’. I’ve been my own for quite some time, child. I think that is more than likely to be maintained throughout this particular encounter.”
“Big words for such a little man,” Ukara stated.
“How very rude,” the man said as he lost his smile. “You could stand a refresher in manners.”
“I doubt you’ll be giving that class, little one. According to my scans, you’re unarmed and possess nothing in the way of a threshold… of course now I’m assuming you even know what the hell I’m talking about.”
“That’s not all you’re assuming,” he added.
“Look, imp,” Ukara snapped, “… there’s a fairly substantial compartment beyond that wall behind you. My business is with what’s been tucked away back there.”
“Behind that wall?” the man asked, looking at the surface. “I think you need to check your precious scans again.”
Ukara did not take her eyes off the strange creature or her finger from the trigger. “Tonka, I’m going to need a scan,” she said before firing a three-round burst into the creature’s chest. “Verify for me that the little fucker is fried!” Beeping sounds came from her back and a virtual screen was projected in front of her face showing that there was nothing where a dead body should have been.
“I told you,” the man said as he walked out of the smoke. “Those scans can be misleading. And it seems I’ve been rud
e myself. I failed to give you my name. You can call me Smitty.” Casting his black eyes over Ukara’s shoulder, the Meacruhn gave a head gesture for the woman to turn around. “You can call them the Second Seven!”
Ukara turned around to see seven figures phasing in through the wall, and her eyes reflected the horror of seeing seven clones of Dungias approach and take strategic positions in the room. Each one wore the same form-fitting body armour, the same black cloak and hood… and each one carried the same slender black rod that Tonka was not able to read.
“Shall we revisit that position of likelihood you took earlier in our conversation?” Smitty asked. “Or do you want to do something rash and fatal, like pulling that trigger again? I can assure you that none of the clones you see here are up to the excellence of the original mold… so I was forced to make some improvements.
“And for goodness sake, don’t run for the portal,” Smitty directed. “It no longer leads back to your casting chamber in the Rims.” Ukara looked at the aperture and she could tell the spell had been changed – rewoven somehow – and it was no longer her incantation.
“How did you do that?!” Ukara asked, looking at Smitty in awe.
“Well, something of a glint there,” Smitty noted. “At least your thirst for knowledge has not been consumed by your driving quest.”
“How do you know…” Ukara stepped back from the Meacruhn as she lowered her weapon. She had nothing but questions, but she was familiar with the sensation: what it was to be in the presence of a true master when she was less than an initiate. “Ukara Curzakiov,” she said humbly. “My familiar is Tonka. My robots are Bovine and Gargoyle. So… you created Z.”
“Gracious no!” Smitty said, quickly holding up his hands. “I simply cloned him. Though he is a glorious construct, isn’t he?”
“I guess it depends on what side of him you’re standing,” Ukara said softly.