by James Somers
WYNN piloted the ship while Tiet stayed at Kale's side as Mirah examined him. He was still unconscious. Mirah passed a hand-held medical scanner slowly over his body. The information fed to a portable display she had setting on the floor of the ship next to his head.
"What is it Mirah, what's wrong with him?" asked Tiet anxiously.
Tears welled in her eyes as she continued to pass the scanner. Any professionalism as a doctor was gone now as she saw the information pouring onto the display. This was happening to her baby; her only child.
"Mirah?"
"It's one of those things, like we found inside the bodies of the Baruk. It's taking over his neural pathways; winding its way around his brainstem and infiltrating his spine.
"Can you stop it?"
"I don't know anything I could do to remove it without killing him," she said through sobs.
"What about Emil?"
"That's just it. His scans aren't showing the same level of infiltration. Somehow his body is keeping it at bay; fighting the takeover and keeping it confined near the entry site. It might be something about being a Horva; I just can't pinpoint it right now with this limited equipment."
Grod was listening intently as Mirah spoke of his son. Emil was still unconscious, but it appeared to be completely related to the stun blasts he had received in the battle.
Tiet knelt near his son and focused on him mentally, shutting out everything else. He could sense his pain now and more than the physical pain he could sense his mental anguish. The symbyte organism was fighting for control of his body; trying to push Kale's own mind out. He could hear his thoughts, as he cried out in the darkness of his unconscious mind.
Kale, I'm here.
Father?!
Kale, you must fight the symbyte's control.
It speaks to me, Father; I don't know how to stop it.
Concentrate, Son, you're more powerful than it is; use your power to fight its takeover of your body. You've got to focus and take control back before it can gain anymore ground.
I'll try…it's hurting me!
Fight it, Kale!!
It hurts!!
Kale's body began to spasm on the floor of the compartment. Mirah quickly looked for something in her medical kit to sedate him and suppress the spasms. She pulled a hypo from the bag and went for her son's arm. Tiet grabbed her and stopped the effort. "Wait, Mirah."
I'm trying, Father! It hurts but I'm fighting it; Are you still there?
I'm here, Son. I'll never leave you.
His body continued the spasming as Mirah watched helplessly, wanting to intervene with her medical training, but knowing that something more mystical was happening between Tiet and Kale; something she had never quite been able to comprehend.
His trembling then began to quiet and his body became still. Within a few moments, with Mirah terribly concerned and recommencing her scanning, Kale began to breathe normally and his heart rate normalized. Then his eyes opened to everyone's relief.
Mirah fell on him kissing his cheek, as he turned to look at his father. Kale reached for Tiet's hand and grasped it tightly.
"Thanks," said Kale weakly.
Tiet only squeezed his son's hand tighter.
"What's going on?"
"It's still with me, Mother. I can't kill it." He looked at Tiet again. "I can't kill it."
Tiet squeezed his hand again. "We'll figure out something, Son, don't worry."
"Where are we going?"
"We're going to escape the planet; Grod has a way. Just rest, for now."
Kale laid his head back on the rolled up jacket that was serving as a pillow, while Mirah continued to conduct scans of the organism inhabiting his body. She knew it would be up to her to find a way of removing it; if there even was a way to remove it.
XIX
GROD paced the cabin compartment of the transport as they approached the area of Nagon-Toth. He had not informed his two remaining soldiers of the fate of their home, of their families. Once they passed over a few more ridges the compound would be in sight.
He looked out the window through the front of the ship and saw a column of black smoke rising up beyond the farthest ridge ahead. His heart sank at the thought of his own wife and all of the families that had perished. His rage was kindled again, and he wanted nothing more at the moment than to be face to face with as many of those creatures as he might be able to put his lethal grip upon.
Grod looked at Emil, still unconscious, but apparently doing fine even with the symbyte in his body and Grod's emotions settled again on what was best for his future. He had to think responsibly about saving his son from the infestation of this planet. Then he looked again at his men and decided now was the time to let them in on the fate of their brethren.
"Jael, Merab…"
"Yes, Sir," they said.
"I have something to tell you and it won't be easy for you to hear."
His men looked at him, puzzled at what he was about to say to them. Wynn watched the exchange from the navigator/weapons console chair. He could see Grod trying to control his own anger and frustration as he told them what had happened to their fellow Horva and their wives and children.
He felt bad for him as a leader having to break that kind of news to his men. He could see the rage crossing over the faces of the soldiers as the realization of what had happened gripped them. They looked forward through the windshield of the ship and he followed their gaze to see the huge plume of black smoke rising above the area ahead where Nagon-Toth was supposed to be.
Jael rose to his feet and walked to the bulkhead across the compartment; he couldn't stand to hear anymore of it. Grod lowered his head as he sat before Merab who was still looking at the column of smoke in disbelief. Jael slammed a fist into the wall of the transport so hard Wynn was sure he must have broken several bones in his hand, but he did not cry out for pain.
"I want them dead!" said Merab from his seat.
"I know, Merab, but…"
"DEAD!!" he shouted.
Grod just looked at him. What could he say? He felt the same way and the only way he was controlling his own rage was his responsibility to his son, but their children were dead; they had nothing left.
Wynn continued to watch the two men as they fought to keep their control within the confines of the transport. The walls were closing in on them now as their rage grew.
Wynn found it a little difficult to empathize; he had never married. He was used to being alone and had grown to like it. The closest he had ever been to having a family was mentoring Tiet and continuing his training after the death of Orin Vale.
Then he thought about Kale lying back on the compartment floor with a symbyte fighting for control of his body and mind and it hit him. Kale had been his pupil with his father from the time he could walk and he loved him like a son. His reaction to almost losing him back at the clearing among the symbyte soldiers had been to immediately jump out of the transport, risking his own life, without a second thought, to save the boy. Kale was stable for the moment, but Wynn could understand now how much more terrible it must be for these men.
The transport finally sailed beyond the Korsov ridge and into view of Nagon-Toth. The entire basin was charred from the blast. The remains of the compound were nothing more than charred shrapnel and fiery debris on the basin floor. All of the Horva men were pressed to side viewing windows as they passed over the site.
The devastation was unbelievable. Wynn conducted a life scan quietly at his console even though he was sure what the result would be. The computer sounded an alert: "No life readouts within specified parameters."
Grod and his men turned at the voice. Wynn was embarrassed that the men had heard it. They all looked at him helplessly. The scan only punctuated the aching in their hearts at the sight of the smoldering ruins and lost family members.
Tiet began to bring the ship into a descent toward the impact crater beyond the sight of the compound. He recognized it as the same place where Kale's trials h
ad been conducted. He looked back to Grod, "Is that it?"
He nodded back. "The entrance to the underground compound is in the southern wall of the crater. We'll land and get inside quickly."
"If the symbytes are tracking us…"
"They have to be," said Wynn.
"Then it won't take them long to get their forces here," said Tiet. "How fast can you get the ship ready to depart?"
"Prep for the ship and the transgate will take twenty minutes; the ship has never been out of the bunker. I also need a little time to set the detonation system for the bunker; I'm not leaving this planet without taking out as many of those things as I can."
"But, we'll have to wait for them to get into the bunker to do that," protested Mirah.
"Grod-" Tiet started and then thought better of protesting.
Grod stared into his eyes and he knew that the Horva general would not be persuaded otherwise. He glanced over at Wynn and could see a look of understanding on his face. It would be alright; a little close for comfort, but they would survive.
LUCIN pored over the data coming in from his forces as they made their way to the Nagon-Toth area. He had originally planned on assimilating the king, but the boy had youth to his credit and he had all but overwhelmed the two older Barudii during his trials.
Putting an Angelic seed into humans was not ideal; they were strong willed and difficult to control. But if such noble spiritual beings like himself were to be cursed to this disgusting physical prison, then mankind would suffer.
Why had God separated him from the other angels that rebelled? It wasn't fair, to be singled out; when they had at least been given forms that transitioned between physical and spiritual realms. They had rejected him after; even though he had been the greatest and brightest. God had done it; imprisoned him in this disgusting, putrid form for leading the others in the rebellion. He would have revenge; propagate his seed. Lucin would rise again.
One hundred squads of soldiers were currently en route to the destroyed Horva compound. There would be no escape for them now. He saw their coordinates to be near Nagon-Toth at the impact crater where the boy had conducted his trials. It didn't make sense; they were easy targets down inside the crater.
Lucin had quickly become accustomed to the human mind and one thing he had learned about a Barudii warrior was that he would not knowingly put himself in such a situation without a plan of action. The Barudii were very cunning warriors indeed; they had to realize that they were being tracked; the only conclusion was that they were planning some sort of trap.
TIET helped his son out of the transport and through the hidden door in the crater wall. Grod went ahead of the group, powering up the lighting systems and leading them through the winding tunnel as they descended deep below the surface.
Mareb and Jael remained at the transport ship; they had to set the first defense. Mareb keyed through the command sequences in the transport's computer and set the fuel cells for a command detonation. He set the command frequency as Jael set the detonator frequency on his display. They completed the sequence adjustments and ran out of the transport to assume positions on the crater wall near the underground bunker's entrance.
The Horva soldiers carried large tripod mounted rapid fire blasters and set them up at their respective positions. They had plenty of rock for cover and would hopefully be able to take out a large number of the symbytes before retreating into the bunker themselves. The warriors were each looking forward to a lot of payback today, but now it was time to sit and wait.
When the rest of the group finally descended to the lowest level, Grod keyed in a code on the wall pad. The large metal doors unlocked themselves, like a huge vault, and the treasure inside was finally revealed to their eyes. Tiet and the others gazed into the large chamber beyond.
"My friends, I give you the Equinox," said Grod somewhat grandiosely.
The entire hangar bay lit up around the magnificent ship. It was a cruiser class ship by appearance, large enough for general housing quarters for twenty people and deep space travel.
"We don't have time for a formal tour, but if you will all get on board I'll prep the engines and the gate and we'll be on our way."
Tiet helped Kale into the ship with Mirah following close behind, while Wynn helped a recently conscious Emil into a harness behind the main cockpit area. Both of the boys looked like they were barely able to stay awake as their bodies fought against the parasites. Mirah stayed close to them, monitoring their vitals and the organisms struggling for control of their bodies. She could see a distinct difference between her son and Emil.
Something about his Horva physiology was causing the symbyte within to shrink in size. His body was fighting it and winning, but Kale was struggling just to keep the organism at bay by mental power alone.
Grod worked at the helm controls, bringing the engines online while Wynn and Tiet went after supplies and weapons that Grod had instructed them to retrieve. The engines came to life obediently and Grod soon passed by on his way back to the transgate compartment.
Once inside he followed the manual's instructions that appeared on the display and proceeded to prep the gate for the jump sequence. He set the target coordinates for the planet Kosiva. The planet itself was one visited before by the Vorn military scientists who had either built or stolen the transgate technology.
It was reported on file as a hospitable planet with a peaceful, friendly and intelligent race. The Vorn military regime had apparently been surveying for future conquests; fortunately, they weren't around to fulfill those plans.
After the prep sequence was set and counting down toward jump readiness, Grod left the ship to set the bunker's self destruct control sequence so that he could trigger a timed delay from the ship's transmitter.
Wynn and Tiet made quick work of the supplies that Grod had requested, the bunker had an ample supply of weapons, and the best of all for the Barudii warriors was a cache of old Castillian weapons including several Barudii blades and kemsticks. They scooped them up quickly and loaded them onto the ship.
MAREB'S handheld scanner began to sound a warning. Ships were approaching. He took a moment to send a hand signal to Jael forty feet across the wall at his own position.
A swarm of troop transports sailed over the crater rim and descended to the crater floor near the stolen ship their group had used to get here. They remained crouched in their positions as the symbyte troops began to file out of their ships and surround the transport.
They scanned the ship in vain; the hull's materials were designed specifically to block such intrusions into the military vehicles. The soldiers began to approach the transport carefully and gained access quickly into the main compartment.
Lucin looked on from his own transport as his troops made their way inside.
"Commander, did you find the boy?" asked Lucin over the com-link.
Suddenly the transport exploded in front of him in a massive concussion wave and fireball. It shattered the windshield in his transport, killing the pilot.
Lucin emerged quickly from his damaged transport's main troop compartment to find many of his symbyte soldiers lying dead on the ground around the blast site. Others were filing out of their own transport ships, weapons at the ready as a wave of pulse laser fire began to rain down upon them all.
Jael and Mareb began to cut down as many of the enemy soldiers as they could with massive amounts of rapid pulse blaster fire from their respective perches in the crater wall.
The symbytes soon returned their fire and the rock around them began to crumble as hundreds of symbytes soldiers began to advance upon their positions. Realizing they couldn't do anymore out in the open, the two Horva quickly retreated under fire to the bunker entrance in plain view of the enemy. As they passed through the rock door they broke into a sprint downward toward the lower level that housed the Equinox; the symbytes followed quickly as expected.
"I want all the levels searched!" shouted Lucin, as the soldiers filed through the entra
nce, "Find the boy at all costs and kill the others!"
The bunker contained ten levels in all, housing various military and scientific technologies, along with living quarters. The symbyte soldiers dispersed at each level while the next group of symbytes proceeded to each successive level to continue the search.
Lucin proceeded downward toward the base level with a squad of his own. He tried to sense where the boy might be as he attempted to communicate with the organism within him. He was getting closer, he knew it; only a little further and the boy would be with them finally.
JAEL and Mareb came running through the hangar bay's only door and proceeded up the loading ramp to the Equinox. They tossed their smoking guns to the compartment floor as they entered the flight chamber where the others were already strapped in waiting for them.
"Let's go! They're coming in right behind us!" shouted Mareb as they found available flight chairs and strapped themselves in.
Grod activated the landing thrusters and brought the ship upward a little, hovering above the bay floor as he locked the final coordinates into the helm and started the transgate sequence.
A flood of symbyte soldiers came running into the bay with their weapons blazing. Pulse laser fire pounded into the hull with little effect as the soldiers tried to surround the vessel hovering above them.
A wall of light pierced the bay ahead of the ship. Grod tapped the command sequence for the bunker on the ship's transmitter panel.
"No!! Stop them!!" shouted Lucin as the large ship suddenly lurched forward into the transgate jump field. Another flash and the ship and its portal were gone from the hangar bay, leaving Lucin and his troops alone.
Lucin sank to his knees and pounded his fists into the pavement. Now what? He had lost the boy. How would he make the host bodies of one mind and body without a mentally powerful host?
As Lucin pondered the question, he suddenly noticed a voice coming over the intercom. It was counting, "three, two, one."