by C. C. Ekeke
[Tharydane? Is that you?]
Tharydane backed up a step, staggered. “Masra?” she replied aloud, her eyes darting around the abandoned Quarters. “[Where are you? And how are you mindspeaking to me?]”
[Worry not child of Korvan.]
Tharydane froze. A new presence, a Korvenite male she had never sensed before. This stranger’s presence suddenly pulsated like the burning corona of a star. She felt him in every part of the Unilink, as the communal bond was anchored by his raw power. Tharydane shuddered before it.
[All will be answered once you enter,] he replied. Suddenly, a cloak over her vision and hearing seemed to fall away, and the whole Slave Quarters sprang to life. She now saw Korvenites mingling in every viewport on the long stretch of domiciles. Sounds of elated voices and music carried into the night.
“What the—?” Tharydane fell to her knees, questioning if this was yet another dream. This new Korvenite had fashioned up a Mindspeak confusion screen around the entire Slave Quarters. The only reason she could see the festive activity inside was because he allowed her to. How powerful was he?
A loud honk broke Tharydane out of her daze. The aaln, honking and thrashing its body frantically, strained to break the reins tied to its post and dash away. Semi-sentient or not, it knew there was something wrong with the situation. “Yeah,” she nodded at the aaln, climbing to her feet and moving toward her mount. “I think we should probably leave, too.” The door on the quarters closest to her then slid open, a figure silhouetted in the doorway. Immediately, Tharydane recognized Masra.
“[Tharyn, you’re among family. Come on,]” Masra called out, her voice full of fresh delight. Tharydane shot her friend a quizzical look and kept backing up. She had known Masra for years. But a voice in her head screamed out how wrong this all felt. Her aaln tied to the post wasn’t too far away. And if the beast strained any harder at the reins, it would probably strangle itself.
“[Tharyn. We’re friends. Would I lie to you?]”
The aaln shrieking honks had now hit a crescendo, easily overcoming the howling wind. Any louder and it would probably alert the nearby residents in Ymedes. In that moment, Tharydane made her choice.
Tharydane turned on the panicky aaln. Sleep, she psychically ordered. It blinked dumbly before slumping to the ground in a cloud of dust, unconscious. The dirge of winds resumed its lonely howling.
Masra’s happiness at her decision shot a small spike through the Unilink. Tharydane then slowly walked toward her friend, part of her trusting Masra, another part cursing herself for staying. Despite her reservations, she felt oddly drawn to this new presence. Just being near such raw power captivated her; she had to learn more. Tharydane gulped and took a timid step forward, clueless to what awaited her beyond that doorway.
14.
Tonight confirmed what Habraum Nwosu had feared since that Children of Earth nonsense at Corowood Zoo. Currently he trudged warily through knee-high, muddy water in the underground corridor of an abandoned building, unlit save a flickering halolight or two every few feet.
The mission was simple; breach the fortified structure and rescue a cluster of Galdorians, Nnaxans and Martianborn human hostages. Their captors, sentient and lethal ArmoryTek destromechs gone rogue, were to be destroyed with extreme prejudice.
Habraum led one combat team infiltrating from below. Honaa lead a second team coming from the rear. The Cerc warily drank in every aspect of his dim surroundings. His stomach roiled with caution and anticipation, all his senses heightened. This only happened on a field mission. Loath as he had been to admit, Habraum missed this. after Corowood Zoo and on some level during his year-long sabbatical he had known this. Hence why Habraum had sporadically trained to stave off any rustiness.
I was made for this, he accepted bitterly and glanced around him. But are they? His combat team consisted of himself, V’Korram, Surje and Liliana Cortes, all in black skintight field uniforms, trudging through the foul, thick water. V’Korram took point as recon, skulking silently through the sludge, his matted ginger mane pulled back in a tight ponytail. Surje took the rear, his curled fists cocked and ready to strike. Honaa’s team had Sam, Jan’Hax, Khrome and Tyris.
All eighteen Star Brigadiers chosen for field duty had spent over two rigorous weeks of retraining for physical fitness, hand-to-hand fighting, and combat routines for maximal abilities on Hollus and survival training on Zeid’s forest moon Atlas. Most of the rookies got above average marks, lower than Habraum would had hoped for field actives. Some, like Liliana, had passed by the skin of their teeth. The doctor, long-legged and slender like an arrow, looked slimmer still in her black, short-sleeved field body suit. Sam had pushed hard for this girl because of her power potential and medical skills. Yet outside of Cortes’s actions at the all-hands meeting, Habraum had grown increasingly doubtful of this choice.
He could almost taste Cortes’s fear as she flinched away from every shadow. Only way to overcoming fear is to throw them into the thick of it, Habraum reminded himself.
“Prydyri-Ravlek?” the Cerc asked V’Korram quietly, referring to him by last name. These greenhorns hadn’t earned codenames yet. The Kintarian recon glanced back with a curt headshake. This was the best behaved he had been since…ever. Even with night vision shades, the corridor was too pitch-black for Habraum to see much besides large outlines. So far his team had encountered no resistance, but Habraum knew not to let his guard down.
“Cortes,” he turned to Liliana.
“Let’s see,” the doctor fumbled with her scancorder, almost dropping it. V’Korram gave her a contemptuous look. “Sorry. We-we’re approaching life signs, but there’s an energy flux along the walls.”
The Cerc froze, a tingle climbing up the back of his neck. Somehow Habraum had always been able to sense types of energy, like smelling the change in the air before it rains. V’Korram stopped also, his ears pricking up. “Away from the walls—.” Habraum never finished his sentence.
A towering column of indigo lightning exploded up from the ground, smashing Surje in the jaw and flipping him over. He landed face first, splashing mucky water high in the air.
“MOVE!” Habraum boomed and threw himself into a forward roll, narrowly dodging a second brilliant thrash erupting through the already-fissured ceiling. Fear never entered the Cerc’s mind. He had learned long ago that fear in battle made one falter, and faltering cost lives.
A blur of tawny tore past him, V’Korram dodging another thrash. Anyone not already deaf caught Liliana’s terrified squeal. The Cerc kipped up from his somersault and into two barrels pointed at his face.
Habraum recognized the tall metallic outline: a KG3400 model destromech, one of the deadliest battle mechanoids. Any movement from him and the destromech fired instantly. He spotted six—all with weapons drawn. Surje laid motionless several metrids away. Liliana gawked, her jaw with its dimpled chin trembling. V’Korram crouched behind the Cerc, never taking his gaze off the threat before him. All those wiry muscles coiled beneath his fur, ready to spring into action. In each hand he brandished a long gleaming dagger, curved and engraved with intricate Kintarian runes, the traditional name being scaphes.
“Take ‘em down,” Habraum ordered, charging his fists with biokinetic power. He rushed forward and rammed a vicious uppercut into the closest destromech’s face, smashing it completely. The mech staggered back and on cue, other destromechs’ weapons barked in unison. Habraum spun away from the hail of photon blasts aimed at him and his team, what was left of it.
V’Korram pounced right into the fray with a furious roar, dancing expertly around the weapon fire. It started with a steely flash, then after a flurry of quick swipes, one destromech fell in shredded, sparking pieces. Liliana stood transfixed and terrified, but actually took aim at a destromech, a major improvement from her training sessions. Please actually fire this time.
Habraum dashed in close, cocking his fist and firing. The bright crimson blast lit up the passageway, obliterating two mechs in
one shot. Because of the destromechs’ reinforced plasteel frames, anything less than pointblank would just knock them down or crack their armor.
The Cerc heard two photon blasts, a pained grunt and then a loud splash. Habraum turned for a heartbeat and watched Cortes go down.
The distraction cost him. Something electric streaked past, seared his left forearm.
“Fekt!” he swore and jumped back to avoid another photon blast. He ignored the pain arching up his wrist. Two of his team taken out in moments. Three destromechs advanced, trying to surround him. He backpedaled past his fallen teammates, scowling as he glanced around.
V’Korram was nowhere to be found.
One destromech swiped at fist at Habraum. He ducked, slammed both charged fists into the mech’s torso, and two thick biokinetic blasts exploded through its back. He caught another mech in the corner of his eye and whirled. The Cerc swung his fist downward with a crackling red whip of energy, cleaving the destromech’s chest open, exposing sparking innards. Still the mech staggered forward to attack. Habraum never gave it the chance, dropping to a knee and slashing his energy blast outward, again lighting up the passageway. The destromech hit the ground in two pieces, completely severed through the waist.
The last destromech charged, arm cannons blazing. Right when Habraum threw him himself out of the way, that strange tingling on his neck returned. He ducked…just as a jade power thrash ripped the wall behind him apart and skewered the mech in a bright orange plume.
Habraum sprang back to his feet, taking in the fiery carnage. Darkness swept back over the passageway, lit dimly by glowing remnants of ruined mechanoids and the flickering halolights. Surje stirred a little. Liliana still lay motionless. That brought V’Korram and his desertion to mind. Habraum tried to curb his mounting anger as he raised his comband wrist.
“Prydyri-Ravlek, this is Nwosu. Respond!” No answer. Habraum scowled and shook his left arm to get the feeling back. The mission, he reminded himself and sprinted down the flickering passageway, scancorder in hand. According to the device, there were multiple life signs nearby. The hostages were nearby. A quick check of his downed teammates confirmed that they were both alive. He tapped into his comband. “Transport two, Cortes and Kuthree.” Instantly, Surje and Liliana vanished from the corridor in a shimmering flicker of lights. They were now safe onboard their transport.
Habraum encountered no resistance as he trekked to the passageway’s end. What should have been resistance lay strewn about in ripped shrapnel. More destromechs, the cuts on their shredded plasteel distinctive of Kintarian scaphes. Habraum spied a circular object some distance in front of him, a hatch door completely ripped free of its moorings. He looked up and saw a fitting circular opening several metrids above him. Time to notify the other team. “CT-Alpha to CT-Beta, Nwosu speaking.”
There was a pause before Honaa answered. “Ishliba ssspeaking.” The repeated WHUMPWHUMP noises of rapid photonic blaster and the searing sounds of incendiaries filled the background.
“Two of my teammates are down. Another one went AWOL.”
Habraum could have sworn he heard Honaa’s brief sissing laughter. “The rear’s too heavily defended. Jan’Hax’s down. We’re attempting another approach.”
“Keep me updated, Nwosu out.” Habraum didn’t not like how Honaa’s chances sounded with all that artillery fire. No help would be coming from that team. He looked up at the duct; smooth, narrow and tube-like with no visible rungs, shooting straight up at least 15 metrids into darkness. “Time to climb.”
A short time later he reached more than half way, his arms burning with exertion from pulling himself up steadily using magnecling function in his gauntlets and boots. Pulling his hands and boots up the wall with minimal effort, Habraum climbed higher and higher up the shaft. This reminded the Cerc of rock climbing as a kid, him and his siblings scaling up Cercidale’s various rock formations with their mum and dad. Better that than nursing his own doubts about if he could still lead a combat team, let alone command the whole damn Brigade. He’d just lost two teammates in short order and another went AWOL.
“The mission,” Habraum reminded himself adamantly, and kept on climbing. Soon he had almost reached the exit, hearing a feral roar echoing from above.
The Cerc cautiously peeked up through the portal exit—and threw himself back into the shaft, thanks to his battled-honed reflexes. A bright red incendiary streaked forward, barreling right where his head was moments ago. Once the threat had passed, the Cerc braced himself against the shaft’s sides and tucked both knees into his chest. In one fluid motion, he heaved himself up and out, vaulting backward through the air. The Cerc landed in a crouch and quick scanned his surroundings.
A bronzed and bareboned room, possibly some kind of abandoned workspace. Whatever its real function served, the dilapidated room had spidery fissures along the walls and blast marks that appeared fresh. As did the three dead bodies nearby, a human and two Cressonish. A small crowd of diverse beings crouched together in the room’s center; male, female and child, all who looked terrified. They were circled by four massive sentrymechs ready to fire at anything that moved. Habraum rose to one knee, ready for combat, and looked to where the sentrymechs were aiming.
V’Korram was the sentries’ sole fixation. The Kintarian, in the room’s far left corner, sat in a predatory squat. His tawny body fur disheveled, green-flecked eyes glittering, he sized up the sentries. The silent faceoff between the four mechanoids and V’Korram lingered—each waiting for the other to flinch. The sentries, not so patient, raised their gun barrels, unleashing a blistering, pounding salvo.
The massive Kintarian flipped high over the volleys, landed on all fours and pounced, diving under as another incendiary scorched just over him. He then kicked off the ground and sprinted forward.
The Kintarian’s movements were a blur, nearly impossible for Habraum to follow. His legs and arms looked more like muscled springs than actual limbs. The walls were scorched where the numerous incendiaries fired at him and missed. During the brief nanoclics V’Korram was crouched in one place, his face actually had a feral grin twisting across his lips, showing off razor-sharp teeth. But every time V’Korram found a new approach en route for the hostages, the sentries would see through his ploy and fire unmercifully at the advance. And somehow the Kintarian would weave out of the way at the last moment—more or less dancing around each oncoming incendiary.
Though the Kintarian possessed no maximal abilities, Habraum couldn’t help but marvel at V’Korram’s uncanny agility and balance. He’d be perfect for field combat…
…except that the Kintarian’s antics were getting all the hostages killed. V’Korram got too close, the destromechs would fire and he would dart away, another hostage taking the shots meant for him.
“Twins Bleeding!” Habraum rose up and ran, hoping to draw fire away from V’Korram. His hope was well-founded. One of the sentrymechs swiveled its cannons at the Cerc and opened fire.
Habraum kept running and shot off a solid biokinetic blast. The sentrymech’s reaction was instant and brutal; a blistering photon barrage. It then erected a glowing pink shield, which the biokinetic blast hit and promptly fizzled out of existence. Habraum leaped aside, narrowly missing the flares, at the same time shooting off a more potent concussive blast from each fist. This round shattered the sentry’s shield like glass, exploding through the mechanoid in a double eruption of flames and plasteel shrapnel.
“Prydyri-Ravlek, fall back!” Habraum boomed as another hostage fell dead. The order was ignored.
The stink of burnt ferroment caught his nose—caustic, enough to make him gag. Then Habraum glanced at a round slice in the wall to his left. It suddenly glowed white-hot and quickly melted into a viscous molten goop trickling down to the ground. Right away Sam soared through the hole she just created. Her fiery aura scorched the air as she flew straight into the thick of conflict. Following in her wake was a shiny flash of bulk that had to be Khrome. Sam rose up into th
e air to avoid the streaking incendiaries while Khrome casually blocked any that struck his armored skin. Honaa, using his phase-shifting talents, walked through the wall slowly. It surprised Habraum to see the Rothorid so winded.
No sign of Tyris as well as Jan’Hax, meaning that the Tanoeen had fallen also.
While Sam weaved lyrically through the air, she and Habraum unleashed their respective energy attacks at the sentries. Then V’Korram bounded past Sam, barely dodging another incendiary. She wasn’t so lucky. Unable to move in time, Sam took the blast right in the stomach and dropped like a stone.
V’Korram stopped and turned back, horrified as Sam hit the ground stiffly. The sentrymechs showed no such remorse, firing the instant V’Korram turned his back. Incendiaries drilled the Kintarian into unnatural attitudes, lifting him clean off the ground. Honaa dashed for the remaining captives before V’Korram’s limp body struck him, sandwiching the Rothorid against an unforgiving ferroment wall.
Disgusted, Habraum rose up like a viper. “End session, NOW!”
Just like that the ferroment walls faded, so did the hostages and the destromechs, leaving an empty and impossibly vast room with a wall-to-wall electric blue glow. The floor was littered with dazed and injured Brigadiers. Liliana was helped up by Surje. Jan’Hax and Tyris regained their footing. Khrome looked a little confused, brushing soot from his silvery shoulder. With just a few words, the Hard Light Hologram Suite or HLHG could recreate virtually any environment the Star Brigade needed for training. It had practically been Habraum and the other Star Brigadiers’ home since training began.
For all the good it’s done. Habraum wiped the sweat from his brow and just glared around in pure loathing. He already knew that these newbies weren’t remotely ready for field combat after combing over their profiles. But that did little to blunt the shock of seeing it firsthand during training. Five different mission scenarios, producing five failures no matter what Habraum tried.
If these had been live missions, Habraum realized, it’d be Beridaas all over again. The realization was worse than a knife thrust to his heart. The Cerc moved to help Sam and Honaa, both already on their feet. Sam, in fact, was already headed straight for a dazed V’Korram.