When Oliver gathered sufficient power he funneled it into his mouth from the throat a moment faster than the white mask which lost its mouth and lower jaw section to a stream of his own and two near equal kinetic streams met head on.
With a foot as a guide Oliver kicked out a barrier to protect the ground, village and people for hundreds of kilometers below the aerial confrontation in nearly an instant.
The result was an explosion able to crack open the surface of Zerika had Oliver not kicked out the barrier to deflect the energy back up. Nevertheless the forces of physics forced both to disengage and go momentarily unconscious even though they had both added another barrier around their bodies.
Consciousness was regained first to Oliver because it was impossible to block hearing his Pride’s anger sear the mind and flipped midair to find the other tumbling body a half kilometer away completing his flip, awakening too. Oliver thrust his shield to launch an instant wall of blue energy half the size of a mountain with the attacker’s back turned.
He must have sensed it incoming as he let loose a series of weak waves that effectively let the wall pass by till it dissipated. When he came to, Oliver looked closer, zooming in with aid of the chip. The assailant glared through the broken mask. Proving it made of ceramic. Holding it from below where the stream melted the now clear properties of ceramic. He held it to continue to cover the face, but the black eyes were still burning with complete malice. But he didn’t continue the assault, glancing to the armored Liger flyers moving at near the speed of sound. He decided “Not bad, Solarian. You put up a good fight. Till next we meet. Father, I’m ready. I got what you wanted.” There was a bright light and he was gone.
From below the Hunters all attacked, but missed their opening.
In the next five seconds he was surrounded by his yowling Pride, encircling him and staring out, all ready to let the others know as soon as they see him. Splashing water and from the alerted village sirens had him look down to connect fully. “Nova, get Renee here NOW!”
There was a distant roar and meanwhile Renee was holding on for dear life to the flying Liger who impressed upon her his urgency before she even knew the constant mental link to her Match spoke of danger. She Read the image Nova had given and didn’t ask. She grabbed on and squeezed her eyes. Her hard armor protected her from his as he ran right through the hull of the Dorgenox without hesitation. The sharp blades of the armor parted the dense wood like water. Nova followed new commands by angling at the gathering humans on the ground. Renee though had locked eyes with a figure surrounded by wing flapping giant cats with turbines jutting from their hindquarters angling down too.
“Back away!” Oliver’s booming voice boomed out and the crowd of weapon crackling Hunters did so. He landed along with the yowling Pride that made the villagers back further from the area. Nova landed more lightly than she expected and Renee dismounted to run over to the downed Elder.
She let loose power in the run which ripped the remainder of his helmet off as if they were nothing more than soft crackers and took command of the situation. She willed her armor to cover the gaping head wound as she let her bracelet flow from her wrist to him while scanning with her other hand. Finding the severe damage was infused with a deadly poison few knew the cure to. Her mind may not be able to do technical calculations at her man’s level, but she mentally saw the components of the poison and created an antidote in the span of a heartbeat. From there she withdrew some of her bracelet and had the microscopic particles gather the treatment from pieces she carried out in her bones. Created the antidote in the span of four seconds and delivered it into the Elder’s bloodstream while simultaneously extracting dirt, dust and other microbes from the massive head wound. She glanced to Oliver who was holding his ribs and told him what she found without opening her mouth, letting him know the man would survive. She then yelled “Move! I need to get to the med bay.” Levitated the bulky Elder by herself and flew straight to the only white painted structure with a red cross in the village. She contacted the alerted medic enroute before he even had time to step outside. “Prep for major head trauma. His brain was subject to water and air. I’m removing the last of the foreign particles as we speak.” The medic didn’t fight her command and returned to prepare. By the time she landed and levitated the man inside, the room was cleared and the door shut to let them work.
“Secure the area and turn off all lights. Any sudden flashes of light will be attacked instantly! He likely teleported.” The Hunters moved by Oliver’s command as an Elder Hunter. That and they saw exactly what he was capable of right then. “Nova,” the Pride king looked at him. “you and the boys scout the area outside. The light was bright so I don’t know if that was true teleportation or he was just too damn fast. Get the females back to the cubs first. Let me know if you catch his scent again.” He said while impressing the little amount he was able to smell with his still hindered sniffer the other man had and Nova along with the pride scattered. He wished his sense of smell was more accurate, but that was all he was able to gather.
“Brother, what…” Began Stone who had been the one who escorted Stephanie and Jessica back to the village safely.
“Help me find Scimitar’s blades and then we lock down the med bay. It was a nasty wound.”
“Better than losing his whole head. At least he has a chance… I saw it from Breena’s balcony. The bastard just appeared behind you out of nowhere like a Phantom. Like Renee likes to do when sneaking around… He was using a Star-saber wasn’t he?”
“Yeah. It was too white otherwise and it managed to cut my armor through. Few things are that sharp.” He held his chest with a grimace no one saw.
“How bad, Brother?” Stone said looking at how his friend held himself, not sheathing his hatchets either.
“I’ll live. The wound wasn’t jagged and I’ve already neutralized the poison.”
“Poison?!”
“Relax, Renee just told me what she found and I scanned myself while you were looking at Scimitar as she worked. She already neutralized it in him before she flew off. Help me find his swords.” He turned and dove into the clear water. Stone wasn’t far behind.
Despite the fast pace of the river, the water was crystal clear. Making it easy to locate one blade, but after twenty minutes of searching, the other was gone. The rest of an hour’s time was spent outside the med bay in relative silence. The whole village remained deathly quiet if not for the waterfall. Hunters combed the grounds as well as stood on every rooftop, waiting for danger. As the only Elder there, he was contacted several times about suspicions which turned out false. And when Nova told him one of the others found a trail, the three male Ligers followed it. There was signs of a ship landing through Nova’s eyes, but all other signs told him the enemy was long gone.
It was four hours later that the med bay doors opened and out stepped Renee to find Oliver petting Nova who sat proud and alert. Stone stood in his armor now instead of a pair of shorts beside his dark skinned mate and three others. The moment the doors had hissed open all their eyes were turned. She had to raise a hand to block the bright afternoon sunlight as she said “He’s sedated and out of micro surgery. His brain itself has minor bruising and he lost a bit of blood. He’ll likely have short-term memory loss, but we were able to save him in time before the poison spread.” Her words were met with a sigh of relief.
“I’ll inform Elder Scythe.” Stone said and walked away.
“I’ll spread the word to the rest of the village.” Another man said and ran off.
“It’s really quiet.” Renee noted as her eyes slowly adjusted.
“I’ve ordered a lockdown.” Oliver said. “Sparky and my other two Ligers are running and watching the perimeter. Everyone is still on alert.”
“You think that bastard has the balls to come back?”
“No, but I can’t be certain. Before he vanished he said something about his ‘Father’ and that he got what he came for. And you’re not going to like wha
t he stole.” Oliver was deadly serious.
“What did he take?” Renee swallowed.
“He stole the sphere of the AI Jenniviq. I just got word also from Drake councilor Alandra, the Wise One, that someone has also stolen Vladamin without detection. I told the captain what the man said about getting what he came for and rushed to the orb chamber to find her sphere gone. Rose contacted Drakken Prime and they relayed theirs was taken too.”
“No.” She breathed with her mouth turning to an O.
“Yeah. Afraid so. If that bastard took it, I had to assume he took it out from under the Drake council’s nose too. I have been taking all your calls, but with the situation as it is, Jake is flying everyone back with all haste. He estimates three to four days. If the guy stole two priceless orbs and is a decent match for me, we can’t be left behind in the race to the other cities.”
“Did you get his scent?”
“Not as strongly till my Pride found his trail. Whatever he is isn’t human.”
“Creelin?”
“No.” she saw his jaw clench. “I don’t know what he was, but he was powerful, ruthless, cunning and as fast as me. Nova though tells me something is wrong with the man’s scent. Like he is diseased by the Keptl. He says its faint, but there.”
“Wait… you think?” It clicked.
“Yeah. I think someone has restarted the rebirth testing we destroyed back on New Wrangler prison before we broke out. I think someone succeeded in making that bastard. He’s too strong for a human and Nova remembers the scent of Keptl. One plus one equals…”
“An abomination.” He conceded hers was the better answer. “Did you scent this ‘Father’ on him?”
“My nose was compromised at the time so no.”
“Err. Sorry.” She admitted and came closer, realizing it was her fault because she used their daughter to do it. “Let me check your side.” Renee held up his arm as a section of his armor rippled back to show off the thin line of puckered flesh. “Clean cut. Did you clean the wound?”
“Stone and I had to reopen it and do so.” Said one of Stone’s other mates. “Your mate fought well with such an injury. I also gave him an herb to chew on that helps numb the pain. It might be clean, but lung wounds make it hard to breathe.”
“Too true.” Renee admitted. She lowered his arm to say “What else can you tell me?”
“He carried a longsword Star-saber for certain. And a dagger that was made of normal metal, but he wore strange armor. It was flexible as ours, but made up with plates similar to the skin of a snake except over rigid areas like thighs, shins and a breast and backplate that were smooth. I’ve never seen armor produced of that model. Also he had been teleported out with a flash. It proves he doesn’t do it like us.”
“That is good. It means he can’t get ahead of us too quickly. You think we should teleport to the three other places before Papa gets…”
“No. We’re going to wait for Jake and go together. I must also tell you that Abdul also called me.”
“What the hell happened now?” She sighed and sat down on a waiting bench outside the med bay.
“Seems someone aboard likes to take vacations and…”
“Meredith. She is the vacation and recreation officer of the Dorgenox.”
“Whatever. Well apparently she came running to the bridge and apparently it was published that scouts have been privately and secretly surveying the water planet for the past three years and recently published its as the new beach and ocean planet resort. It’s called Mereddia.”
“You don’t mean it?”
“I’ve never lied to you. Abdul paid in advance from Jake’s funds to charter our own private beach within the past hour. But you should know the beaches literally float on the planet’s watery surface. Seems algae a long time ago made small landmasses. It has F-Rank Beasts, but they are few and far between and not much of a danger… till you go deep down. There are deep scans of gigantic sea creatures very deep down reminiscent of Earth’s Eels. Otherwise, it is now the newest resort planet published to those who can afford to pay it so the Empire can afford to colonize it. Jake made sure to have Abdul buy one of the largest islands in full. And the transaction was a success.”
“Mereddia huh?” Renee laid her head back on the wall. “Haven’t seen a beach in what… a decade? It’ll be good to unwind a little before we go looking for the city.”
“Speaking of going Mrs. Void” Renee cracked a glowing eye to Stone’s mate. “I’ve been approved commission aboard the Dorgenox as the third Hunter to be the replacement for Deegen Castor.”
Renee cocked her head. “What is your name?”
“Breena. Breena Valdez. Eight nine years old. Class One huntress with a Class Eight Psionic cap.” She said casually while fingering a thin rapier at her hip. On her back was the collapsed version of a lance she had seen from Steven more times than she cared.
“Companion?”
The barest hint of sadness touched her dark eyes. “Died in battle thirty four years ago to distract a Stingray that got the better of me. I can’t bear to get another Neo and go through the loss again. Losing a companion is difficult to overcome. They are part of you and losing it is like dying a little. So I’m a lone huntress, Mrs. Void.”
She closed her eyes and said “Alright Breena, I’ve accessed your medical information and flashed them over to my med bay for future reference. I’ll give you a thorough physical later. Now I just want a little quiet.”
She peeked as Oliver sat down and threw an arm over her shoulders so she laid her head on his chest to soak in some physical contact. Connected as she was she heard him communicating to multiple people mentally, giving her silence. A security detail was established at the door as the village remained on lockdown till he was sure there was to be no more danger.
When that would be was a good question.
Chapter 14
Change in the steady breathing as well as a speed up of the heart would be easily overlooked if they hadn’t the acuity of hearing that goes with pointed ears. Oliver carefully extracted himself from the observation bench inside the cooled med bay, careful not to rouse Renee who was fast asleep on the soft seat off to the far wall. His steps were almost totally silent in crossing the area to the extended bed. One of six currently occupied. The primary village medic gave Oliver a glance and left his patient to follow, seeing what Oliver had noticed too.
The men stood to either side as Elder Scimitar groaned and was in the process of coming out of the induced coma the morning of the third day. The Elder’s head was completely wrapped and tightly bound in white healing tape. Tape that was changed every three hours for maximum healing purposes.
Black eyes cracked in the dimly lit medical bay where a curtain also helped block the early morning sunlight from streaming in through windows. “Wha…”
Oliver extended a hand over the man’s chest to push down gently, but firmly. “Best you keep laying down, Brother.”
“Brother Void?” Scimitar blinked in confusion. “What’s going on? Where am I?”
The medic said “Just take it easy, Old Friend. Tell me what you feel before you start asking questions.”
“Vic?”
“I’m right here, old friend. Talk to me.”
The Elder relaxed onto the bed and Oliver pulled the blanket back up over the man’s sculpted chest. “Water please first.” The Medic known as Vic nodded and carefully brought over a soothing glass of mineral water and the Elder sucked it dry through the straw. “Ha.” He said after the contents were empty. Meanwhile Renee had been woken up despite their attempt to speak softly, but she quietly came in and stood beside her man, using a scanner discretely and nodded to the other medic not needing to say anything. “My neck, head and chest really hurt, but I’m also a bit groggy.”
“It didn’t help my moronic husband kicked you like a horse. He cracked a few ribs.”
“Why… what fo…” Elder Scimitar’s eyes widened. “I remember… we… we were attac
ked. Right?”
“I feared the trauma would affect your memory.” Renee commented.
Vic said. “With the removal of his skull, the minor swelling had room enough to limit neurological bruising. It was both detrimental and beneficial.”
“I was thinking that.” Renee said calmly.
“Did you kill the intruder, Brother?”
“No, he got away.” Oliver shook his head. “I need to say thank you. Had you not reacted in my defense, the assailant would have killed me before I could fight back.”
“Had I not the splicing augmentation on my ligaments, I wouldn’t have been fast enough to engage. What did you discover?” He went to touch his head, but Renee smacked it away and shook her head.
“No, the calcium bone graft the synthesizer made hasn’t completely set to replace the top of your skull. If you’re careful I won’t need to put your head in traction, but it’ll itch like fucking crazy. Keep your hands away as your skin knits over the new bone we had to put on. Think of it as a new hat.” She smirked.
“Jessica Menann, the Dorgenox’s foremost computer hacker worked on all the camera angles that caught the bastard in the act made this specifically for you to see what happened. Do you feel up for it?”
“Yes, Brother. Show me.”
Oliver brought out his personal tablet from his pocket and set up the holographic display it produced and let the attack run from beginning to end. It was clear that multiple angles from recordings on Hunter suits were used and rendered into a three dimensional battle. The clearest angles came from Scimitar’s and Oliver’s own shoulder-mounted micro cameras no larger than a pinhead. At Scimitar’s request Oliver slowed down the exchange, eyes narrowing.
“Do you see something?”
“Yes.” Scimitar rubbed his rough chin that hadn’t been shaved in three long days. “The attacker is using an old form of swordsmanship learned in the time of Vanishing Claw’s days as a boy. It is an ancient martial art few remember and fewer can defend against, but this man is rather a brute. He is no master as is shown by the sloppy movements. He’s relying completely on his speed and brute force when fighting you. Look how he moved the longsword, see how he twists his wrist? He should relax the grip of his hand more, but instead keeps it clutched like a vice. Had he relaxed it would have passed your defense and slit your throat. It slowed him.”
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