by CH Gideon
Jiya unsheathed one of her Kami blades and stabbed the orb right in the center, whipping her arm around and slicing sphere in half. Sparks flew as the blade tore through the strange material. Flashes of energy lashed out and fizzled as the glass gave way beneath the blade.
Then she slashed it again crossways, and a great slab toppled to the ground, shattering. The current flickered once, twice, then stopped as the shards bounced across the floor.
She turned to the techs cowering in the corner. “Is there another of these somewhere around here?” she asked.
They shook their heads in unison, and given their terror, she believed them.
She slashed the cradle once, cutting a huge chunk from it, and spun on her heel, marching out into the hall. Reynolds was there waiting for her.
“You get it handled?” he asked.
“Yup. You?”
He nodded. “We’re good to go.”
“Then let’s gather up the good guys and go home.”
The pair darted down the hall toward the elevator. The security men still crawled about on the floor, moaning and groaning and trying to gather their wits. The AI and Jiya stepped over them and entered the elevator, hitting the button for the main floor.
An instrumental Adam Ant’s Stand and Deliver played them up.
Geroux circled the casinos for what she figured was about the twentieth time. Security had chased her, but because of the large number of patrons milling about, caught in the haze of gambling thanks to the device, they hadn’t drawn their weapons and made it a real fight.
As such, she just kept running around, lashing out and dropping an officer or two here and there, kicking and punching and doing her best to keep Maddox in sight.
For his part, the ex-general simply righted his chair when he got the chance and sat at the table, waiting for the dealer to start up again. The entire time, he had a weird smile on his face. It looked almost painful at this point, even macabre, given the circumstances.
Geroux faked left, then darted right as another officer came for her through the crowd, and she pushed her way out of a cluster of people. It was then that she caught sight of Maddox again.
Only this time, the smile was gone.
He glanced around as if he’d just woken up, obvious confusion on his face. It was clear he barely had any idea where he was. He stumbled out of his seat and away from the table.
She noticed that the rest of the patrons were free of the device, too.
What had been an almost unbearable hum of pleasantries and excitement turned instantly into a muddled bustle of complaints and uncertainty, the crowd lost and unsure of what was going on. Like Maddox, the people had no clue what they’d been doing or for how long, it appeared. They’d been slaves to the device.
A good number of people slumped to the ground in apparent exhaustion. The device had fueled their adrenaline for so long that they were ready to pass out when it let them go. She hoped they would be okay.
Geroux dodged another of the security officers, knocking him into the awakening crowd, and ran to Maddox’s side.
“You ready to get out of here?” she asked him.
He stared at her as if she were a ghost. “I…uh…”
“I’ll take that as a yes,” she said, grabbing his arm and tugging him toward the exit, not giving him a chance to clear the cobwebs.
With all the patrons becoming aware at once, the security team had forgotten all about her in their efforts to corral the sudden exodus of their cash cows. Announcements came over the loudspeakers, offering all sorts of deals and offers to entice them back, which only added to the confusion. Those well and truly hooked without the device pushed against those who’d broken free of the fugue and only wanted to leave, creating a total mess.
Geroux joined the latter, and she and Maddox slipped outside and down the street unnoticed.
Ka’nak raised his trembling fist to throw one last blow only, to have the breath knocked out of him. He face-planted in the sand, barely managing to roll to his side and suck in a weak breath.
“Do you yield?” the warrior towering over him asked.
Ka’nak lifted his eyes to the man and wondered how the hell he’d gotten there. He remembered signing up for a fight when he and Geroux had come to the pits, but he couldn’t recall much after that.
If the agony scouring his body was any indication, he’d been fighting nonstop since that first one.
Every breath hurt, and it was clear he had several broken ribs. His hands ached like they’d never ached before, and two of his fingers on his right hand were bent backward in a way they were never supposed to bend. He groaned and rolled onto his back.
“Do you yield?” the warrior asked again.
Ka’nak mumbled something, too much blood in his throat for it to be comprehensible, and offered the man a shaky thumbs-up.
The crowd roared around him, vibrating the sand beneath his feet.
His apparent opponent scooped him up and stood him on his feet, and it was all Ka’nak could do not to scream.
“You are a true warrior, my friend,” the man told him through bruised and swollen lips. “I have never had a challenger like you.” He patted Ka’nak on the back, once more sending agony shrieking through the Melowi’s body. “Should you ever want to meet me in the pit again…go fuck yourself. I’m not doing that.”
The warrior shambled off, limping, cradling one of his arms as Ka’nak stood there, stiffened wounds the only thing keeping him from collapsing.
Once he caught his breath, he stumbled toward the exit, only to fall into a heap. The pit’s medical crew raced to his side, tossed him on a stretcher, and carried him out. He slumped onto the cot when they reached the medical bay and let them do their jobs, darkness creeping in at the edges of his vision.
An indeterminate time later, he heard a voice he recognized. “Get him on the shuttle,” it said. “We’ll patch his pathetic ass up in the Pod-doc.”
And that was all he remembered.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Jora’nal paced before Rasaka, letting his subordinate’s report resonate. “Are you sure of this?” he asked after several moments.
“I am, master,” Rasaka answered. “There is no doubt that the craft that attacked our scout ship is from the Etheric Federation, newly arrived in this sector of space as reported by our spies on Lariest. It is the SD Reynolds.”
“What’s it doing here?”
Rasaka shrugged. “I don’t know, but it took the time to ransack the scout ship’s databases after it killed everyone onboard. It appears to me that they are looking for something.”
“For us,” Jora’nal confirmed with a growl. “They are looking for us, Rasaka.”
“But why?”
“That I do not know, but I feel in my bones that they are hunting us. All of our kind, the Thra’kali,” Jora’nal told his follower. “They fear our gods, Rasaka. They fear the power of Phraim-‘Eh and his siblings. They fear what we might become.”
“Then we must do something, master.”
“We must indeed,” Jora’nal answered, “and we shall.”
Jora’nal went back to pacing, rubbing his chin as he walked. At last, he stilled and turned back to his follower.
“Gather our people and make ready,” he told Rasaka. “If they are coming for us, we will meet them on the field of battle. The Federation will rue their insolence, daring to seek us out.”
Rasaka bowed low and left the room to do his master’s bidding. Jora’nal waited until he was gone to begin his pacing again.
He had heard through Etheric channels that the Federation was expanding its reach, but he hadn’t expected them to spread so far. Yet, here they were, invading his territory and destroying ships in search of them.
Jora’nal couldn’t let that affront stand. He would wipe the Federation ship and its crew from existence. The mystical Kurtherians would see, should Phraim ‘Eh wish to further bless them with an introduction.
“Well
, that was fun,” Reynolds muttered as the crew gathered on the bridge after they’d returned from Dal’las Tri. “How about we avoid getting caught up in a neural web trap next time around, huh?”
Maddox groaned. “I feel like I’m hungover, but I didn’t even have a drink. Not that I know of, at least.”
“You spent enough to have had a million drinks,” Tactical accused.
Maddox grimaced. “Yeah, sorry about that. I guess I won’t be trusted with the funds from now on.”
“While it doesn’t let you off the hook,” Reynolds told him, “I stole all you lost back from the casino, as well as some additional cash for the inconvenience of our having to go down there and kick ass to get you and Ka’nak back.”
“I’m not sorry,” Ka’nak muttered, fresh out of the Pod-doc. “Mainly because I don’t remember doing a damn thing wrong.” He grunted. “I did, however, appear to win a whole shit-ton of credits while I was blacked out and punching people in the face.”
Jiya nudged him in the side.
Ka’nak groaned. “Which I’ll gladly contribute to the ship’s fund for disobeying orders and running off to fight—despite my not having any control over myself,” he said, glaring at Jiya. “Happy?”
“That sounded sincere enough,” Jiya told the Melowi warrior.
With a quick salute, he strolled from the bridge.
“While we don’t have a clear indication as to who empowered these people down on Dal’las Tri, there’s nothing to indicate it was those Kurtherian bastards,” the XO remarked.
Reynolds grunted. “That’s a shame. We could have nuked them from orbit.”
“Only way to be sure,” Comm followed.
“Indeed.” Reynolds grinned. “Anyway, I guess we move on and check the next system.” He waved to Helm. “We’ve decoded some of the information we grabbed from that Thra’kali scout ship, and it points to the Loran system as a possible location where we might find Kurtherians. Set a course, Helm, and let’s see if any of this intel pays off.”
“Readying the Gate drive,” Helm replied.
“Geroux and I are going to check in with Takal,” Jiya told Reynolds. “Let him know his Kami blades worked great but the cloak only lasted seconds.”
Reynolds nodded. “Take Maddox with you and drop him off at the Pod-doc. He could probably use a tune-up.”
Jiya nodded and wrapped her arm around Maddox’s. leading the ex-general from the bridge, Geroux trotting alongside.
Once the bridge door closed behind them, XO spoke up. “Kami blades? What the hell are those?”
Reynolds went over and flopped down in the captain’s chair. “It appears our dear Takal has some innate ability to manipulate Etheric energy,” Reynolds told the rest of his AI personalities.
“What?” Tactical asked.
“He infused a couple of blades on the armor suits with Etheric energy,” Reynolds confirmed. “Who knows what else he can do?”
“We need to find out,” Comm said. “That talent could be useful to us.”
“Especially given the nature of Reynolds’ android body,” XO told them.
“Do they know?” Helm asked.
Reynolds shook his head. “I believe Takal suspects, hence his efforts at harnessing the Etheric energies in the pieces of armor he plans to encase this skeleton in, but I’m not entirely sure how much he truly knows.”
“What doesn’t Takal know?” Nav asked.
Reynolds gestured toward his android body. “That I’m outgrowing this husk quicker than expected.” He sighed. “Won’t be long until I begin to corrupt its electronics and make it useless. This frame just isn’t designed to keep up with me. Not even a shadow of me. We need better cybernetic parts.”
“Good to know you’re still humble, Reynolds,” Tactical muttered.
“You plan on telling them?” XO asked.
Reynolds nodded. “When we reach someplace that has adequate parts,” he answered. “I’d hate to tell Takal now, given all the effort he’s put into piecing this body together.”
“Afraid you’ll break his meatbag heart?” Tactical questioned.
“Yeah, something like that,” Reynolds replied. “Now, get us to the Loran system and shut the hell up. I’m sick of listening to you all.”
“Cranky, isn’t he?” Tactical whispered to Comm.
“I heard that,” Reynolds countered.
“I wanted you to.” Tactical chuckled as the Gate drive engaged, ending any further conversation.
The superdreadnought broke into open space in the Loran system, and alarms sounded immediately upon arrival.
“What the hell?” Reynolds mumbled, staring at the viewscreen.
“Shit,” Helm shouted. “Looks like we landed right in the middle of a damn fleet.”
Reynolds directed in his command voice, “Hail the fleet and let them know we come in peace, Comm.”
“Onscreen!” Comm called.
A woman with sharp features appeared on the viewscreen, bright red eyes surrounded by black staring through Reynolds. “I am Captain Asya of the Valter, lead of the Loranian fleet. You have trespassed upon Loranian territory and are ordered to turn around immediately or face severe consequences.”
Reynolds met the captain’s gaze and offered as friendly a nod as a metallic skeleton could offer. He regretted having sent Maddox away right then. He could have used a human face for this.
“Greetings, Captain,” Reynolds hailed. “I am Reynolds of the SD Reynolds, and we intend you no harm.”
“Tell that to the Thra’kali scout ship you decimated,” Captain Asya replied.
Reynolds ignored him and met the captain’s eyes. “That was a simple misunderstanding, Captain,” he told her. “We’re in search of Kurtherians, by order of former Empress Bethany Anne. We’re only looking to gather intel, not to engage in senseless battles.”
“I find it hard to believe you’re on a peaceful mission, given the damage that was done to the Thra’kali ship. She was boarded and her systems pillaged, the craft left to drift aimlessly in space. That speaks to me of a coming invasion.” She jabbed a finger at the screen. “As such, you are ordered to turn around and leave Loran space before we are forced to fire upon you.”
“You have two minutes to comply,” the captain continued and cut off communications.
“So, how do you want to handle this?” the XO asked.
“I can Gate us out of here,” Helm offered.
Reynolds shook his head. “I don’t see the point in running. Intel from that very scout ship points toward the Loran system as a possible refuge for the Kurtherians. If we leave, the Kurtherians win. If there are no Kurtherians here, then they can’t mind us taking a look-see. It is what we must do. We will leave after we are sure the interstellar criminals haven’t taken refuge in Loranian space.”
XO chuckled. “It looks like we’ll be forced to fight these Loranians. Is that what you want to do?”
“I’m thinking this Captain Asya is a woman of her word,” Tactical said. “She doesn’t look like the type to put up with any shit.”
“We’re being targeted,” Comm announced. “Tactical, give me combat options.”
“Raise shields,” Tactical ordered.
“I guess this is what we’re doing?” Helm asked.
“Sound general quarters,” Reynolds called, “and ready the ship for battle. Maybe we can wear them down without hurting them.”
“What about them hurting us?” Tactical asked.
Reynolds grunted. “Let’s hope they can’t.”
“Okay, you heard him, folks,” XO announced. “Prepare for battle and hope we don’t get our asses kicked.”
The Loranian captain held true to her word, and the first volley of incoming fire struck the SD Reynolds’ shields exactly two minutes after her warning.
Captain Asya pointed at the enemy ship and shouted, “Fire!”
Her crew responded without hesitation, the rest of the fleet following suit. Blasts of cannon fire sparked a
cross the enemy craft’s shields as the fleet maneuvered for better effectiveness.
“It’s taking all we’re giving it, Captain,” First Officer Ront called.
“Then give it more,” Asya replied. “If we let this invader gain a foothold in our space, there’s no telling what will come behind it.”
She stared at the superdreadnought on the screen and scowled darkly. She’d seen the reports of the Thra’kali scout ship they’d left ruined, the whole of its crew dead inside after they’d boarded. This Reynolds was clearly a mechanoid, not a human as he claimed. To think she would be so foolish as to accept him at his word was preposterous.
No, she’d tear the invader from space.
“Open comm to Commander Ast,” she called.
“Channel open,” Ront replied.
“Yes, Captain?” Ast asked over the comm.
“We’ve engaged the enemy, sir,” she reported, signaling for Ront to forward the video of the event. “It’s a superdreadnought. We’re going to need to go after it with everything we have. Permission to let the fleet off the leash, sir.”
Ast cleared his throat and grunted an affirmative. “Do what you have to, Captain, but bring that craft down.”
“Yes, sir!” Asya signed off and called for the fleet to do whatever was necessary to destroy the invading superdreadnought.
No matter what it took, she’d bring the enemy to their knees for what they’d done to the Thra’kali craft.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“We’ve raised their ire,” Tactical called. “Coming at us with everything they have.”
Jiya, Geroux, and Maddox stormed the bridge right then, racing over to take their positions.
“What in the hell happened?” Jiya asked. “We were only gone for a little while.”
“We flew into a cluster of Loranian ships,” Comm answered.
“They’re a little pissed about that scout ship we blew up and boarded,” the XO went on. “They seem to think we’re part of an invading force.”