by Abel, Regine
Once more, morning came too soon. The mess hall buzzed with barely suppressed tension and worry. Doom had confirmed the imminent arrival of a large Kryptid fleet. He’d already relayed that information to Legion, asking that the Coalition make haste and arrive as soon as possible. The first group of three ships would be landing within the hour. Although clearly Kryptid, they had sneaked in and passed unnoticed by other Kryptid vessels currently in orbit. Their advanced stealth technology almost fooled Doom’s scanners. We couldn’t explain this odd behavior, but whatever they were up to, it couldn’t be good.
Worse still, the Kryptids had mounted serious defenses around the Sorenan Village. Linette would have to land our ship at a significant distance from the village. Footing it there didn’t faze us, but the center of town and beyond exceeded Tyonna’s Portal range and, although we couldn’t be fully certain, it likely exceeded my Shield range as well. This meant we would all be going. We debated long and hard whether to have Linette remain with the ship or tag along with us. In the end, we decided to have her tag along.
Being on a larger ship, Doom sent two of his stealth shuttles to ferry us from our ships to the village entrance. In case we had to make a swift exit, it would increase our chances of survival, not to mention providing us with swift transport to carry any Janaurian captive we might liberate. We would load one of each of our Warriors’ Shells onto the shuttles so they could swiftly get back into the fray if needed.
We chowed down a quick meal, Diane and Sonia’s valiant efforts to cheer the mood falling flat. The team didn’t agree on our course of action. I was torn as well, in no small part because fear was liquefying my insides. I had no field experience. Escorting Hepon back to his family had my nerves on edge the whole time. I’d never been in battle or in a hot zone except during simulations in my psychic training program. But our limited numbers against the countless enemies awaiting us made this borderline suicidal. With the Coalition barely five days away—maybe even less if they made haste—why didn’t we just wait for reinforcements before stirring the nest?
The answer: by then, it might be too late for the Janaurians, and the Kryptids might destroy or abscond with whatever they’d been up to in Sorenan. That all the Kryptids had regrouped in Sorenan at the first sign of our presence, further convinced us: this had all been about defending something in the village.
“The shuttles are landing,” Chaos said, adjusting the attachment on his wrist. “Tonnya and Fatima will remain near the shuttles with Team Alpha. This will put you within range of both us, Warriors, and our Shells, regardless of where we may fall inside the city. Be ready to cover us if we’re coming in hot. If things spin out of control, Soulcatchers, fall back immediately and protect Liena at all costs. Warriors, you get to the center of town by any means necessary, or die trying. Make sure your trackers are in functioning order. If you find rescuable Janaurians, flag your location. You have your assignments. Let’s move out.”
We filed out in silence, Raven firmly holding my hand. He hated that I would find myself in the thick of things, and yet, having me within intervention range should I face danger somewhat appeased him. I didn’t know if I would ever develop a taste for missions on the front line, but I was all in with this one. Seeing what had been done to little Hepon, what might currently be happening to the children and females that had been dragged to Sorenan against their will, made me all the more passionate to overcome my fears and do my part.
We boarded the shuttles under a sad, grey sky. The yellow grass seemed bent in resignation at the fate that awaited us. Even the wind appeared to hold its breath, the yellow-apple-colored leaves in the trees watching us go by in a solemn silence. The shuttles, large enough to hold twenty warriors—eight seats on each side facing each other and four at the back, not counting the pilot—bore the traditional black and gold colors of the Vanguard, with light grey walls, dark, padded seats, and a pair of overhead bars so that extra passengers, standing in the aisle between the seats, would have something to hang on to. The seats at the back of both shuttles had been removed to accommodate the Shells.
I settled next to Raven, the security belt automatically wrapping around me. Public displays of affection always made me self-conscious. Although I’d been feeling less and less that way since I’d become involved with Raven. He had no qualms expressing his feelings and withstood the teasing of his fellow Warriors with admirable stoicism—a trait he had no doubt inherited from his father who never hid his emotions whenever in the presence of his Little Red as he affectionately called Victoria.
Our gazes met and the emotions contained in the dark ink of his eyes turned me inside-out. In that instant, whatever hesitation or doubt had still lingered in the back of my mind faded into oblivion.
“The first time I laid eyes upon you, my hearts all but burst inside my chest. One glimpse of your aura, and I knew you were the one. You’ve burrowed deeper and deeper into my soul each day, each moment ever since. You are my life, my love, and the light that was missing in my soul.”
My throat tightened as Raven’s consciousness gave me a psychic caress with his last words.
“As you are mine. I’d allowed the traumas of my past to blind me to any hope, any type of future, wandering around at the edge of life, no longer daring to pursue it, until you. The instant I saw you, I knew you would be the one to break the walls I had erected for myself, to awaken the heart that had closed in on itself for fear of being vulnerable again. You have reminded me how to be strong, how to trust, how to live, and above all how to love. You have not only put me back together, you have brought out the true me that could only be whole with you.”
Our safety belts kept us from embracing each other. But no physical touch could ever express what we felt; our bond transcended our mortal shells. In the short time that remained on our flight to Sorenan Village, we were one in heart and spirit with our souls intertwined.
The clicking sound of our seatbelts releasing forced us out of our temporary nirvana. As we emerged from our mind-meld, the indulgent smiles of some, and teasing of others, made it clear they’d known what we’d been up to. I’d expected to feel self-conscious as per usual, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. I was proud of my mate and of the feelings we shared. Life was too short, every minute too precious to waste them on what others thought.
That didn’t stop me from making faces at them.
The stench of death and decay that slapped us when the shuttle’s doors slid open wiped out any playfulness or amorous feelings any of us might have felt. Sorenan displayed all the signs of a post-apocalyptic ghost town with its deserted streets, houses sitting with their doors open or broken down, their wood and whitewashed walls disfigured by countless claw scars and blood splatters. We didn’t need to see remains to know the villagers deemed useless had been fed to the Breeding Swamps.
The wide, empty streets worked to our advantage. Moving in three tight formations of nine with a camouflage shield held by one of the warriors we—hopefully—avoided detection from the numerous cameras. We didn’t notice any motion detectors. With the number of Kryptids occupying the city, they’d be going off non-stop. A setup that tracked specific species would have taken far more time than they’d had in the last-minute scramble to this city since discovering our presence on Janaur. With no Scelk-infected Janaurians in sight or detected on our scanners, we decided to disable our psychic disruptors so that we could all communicate mentally. With the Kryptids on the lookout, we couldn’t risk them intercepting any digital communication.
My heart pounded so fiercely I could barely hear anything else. I nearly had a stroke when a Kryptid patrol of four Soldiers marched directly towards us. We could have easily taken them down, but we’d been deliberately using our scanners to avoid clusters of Kryptids in order to reach the city center undetected. The minute our presence was revealed, they would all congregate on us. Despite the width of the street, considering the size of our groups, and with the patrol walking smack in the middle of the
path, loosely spread out, we had to quietly squeeze together to avoid them brushing up against our shield, which would have given us away. Thankfully, the Warriors were not shifted into their battle form or they’d have speared us with all those vicious spikes protruding left and right from their bodies.
As we resumed our journey ahead, Doom messaged us stating that the three stealth ships that had bypassed the other Kryptids had reached Sorenan Village. Two appeared to be hovering over the Gathering Hall while the third had landed directly on top.
Contrary to the previous villages we had raided, where reaching the center had been child’s play, this one proved to be a lot more challenging, not only because we were attempting stealth—in a large group at that—but also because the Kryptids had barricaded some of the streets with haphazardly piled up furniture scavenged from the houses, undoubtedly to prevent quick access, turning the concentric rings of the city into somewhat of a maze. In the streets that weren’t blocked, Kryptids were loading large, temperature-controlled crates of God only knew what labeled with biohazard symbols. If I had to guess, I would say organs or biological samples.
It took us nearly twenty minutes to finally enter the last junction to the town center. The Gathering Hall, at least three times the size of the ones in previous villages, possessed some new sections appended to it, clearly of a more technically advanced design. As we approached it, my stomach knotted at the sight of a group of Kryptids unloading cryogenic or stasis chambers—I couldn’t quite tell from the distance.
“They are packing up to leave,” I mind-spoke to Raven.
He nodded. “They are also setting up charges throughout the city. They intend to blow the entire place up to destroy any evidence of whatever they’ve been up to.”
I gaped at him, searching my memory for any signs of what could have been explosive devices but came up empty. But then, that’s why I wasn’t the Warrior. He gave me a sad smile and gently caressed my cheek in an ‘it’s okay’ kind of way.
There were no visible signs of the ship Doom said had landed on top of the Gathering Hall, nor of the other two ships hovering above it. Our portable scans weren’t calibrated to pierce through this type of stealth technology. But Doom confirmed they were still showing on his scanners. Considering the thatched roof of the Hall, the vessel had to be sitting on top of the new section.
But who were those ships hiding from? Us or their own?
Our three units stopped at about twenty meters from the building, in the large plaza sprawling in front of it. We kept a few meters distance between each unit to avoid all three getting discovered if, for some reason, one was detected. The first Kryptid hovercraft finished unloading about a dozen chambers and moved away, quickly replaced by a second one. Between the glass-coffin like chambers cluttering the entryway and the nine Kryptids handling them, we’d never manage to get in unnoticed.
Minutes that we couldn’t afford to lose slipped by as we pondered our next course of action. Chaos drew the nine members of our unit into a single mind-chat. It was draining for the host to serve as channel to so many, but it was faster than him repeating the same thing to everyone one by one and back and forth.
“Wrath’s unit is going to split from us and create a diversion. They will lure as many of the Kryptids away as possible. Their Soulcatchers join our unit,” Chaos said. “This is a suicide run for them. Hopefully, the Kryptids will take the bait and not realize there is a second unit. After all, we raided all the previous villages as a single unit. But should they decide to double-down their defenses on the Gathering Hall, Torment’s unit, including their Soulcatchers, will do what they must to create an opening for us.”
We didn’t need to ask any further questions to know those Soulcatchers would likely end up casualties of war if it came to that. But they weren’t helpless and had fought their fair share of battles. I wouldn’t sell them short.
Merging the Soulcatchers from Wrath’s unit into our group proved quite challenging without breaking our camouflage shield. Just as his unit began moving away, a loud bang resonated a few blocks away on the opposite side of the Gathering Hall from us. The Kryptids unloading the chambers shouted, speaking to each other in that clicking language I would never make sense of. A siren resounded over the village and a sea of Kryptids poured out of various buildings, rushing in the direction of the disturbance. All but two of the ones in front of the entrance of the Gathering Hall joined the others.
“Change of plans,” Chaos said, “We’re going in now. We’ll try to stealth in, but if necessary, we’ll take out these two bugs. Wrath, remain inconspicuous, but find out what is happening. Liena, drop my shield and protect Wrath instead. Everyone, move out.”
I did as ordered while we moved forward. The two Kryptids seemed at a loss as to what to do, arguing heatedly in that nerve-grating, clicking language. One of them backhanded the other and barked at him. That settled the disagreement. They stopped unloading the chambers and started bringing inside the building the ones already lined in front the Gathering Hall. Chaos gestured for us to halt until they were inside, and then we snuck in behind them.
The Hall lay completely empty but for a few tables lining the back wall. Deep grooves and scratches on the ground indicated heavy containers had once occupied the space. The Kryptids immediately headed for the reinforced doors of the new section on the far-left side of the oval-shaped Gathering Hall. They swished opened, revealing a square room covered with dark metal panels and an elevator with impressively large doors. No one stood watch at the guard station right by the entrance, which had a series of monitors whose contents we couldn’t see from this angle.
It suddenly struck me that these two Kryptids hadn’t joined the others who were investigating the disturbance because it was their duty to man this station.
Heading straight for the elevator, one of the two Kryptids spoke what I assumed to be a code in his clicking tongue and raised his chitin-armored, three-digit hand in front of the elevator’s bio-scanner. The doors parted silently, and he entered the massive cabin, three times the size of hospital elevators. He waved his hand in front of the inner panel then walked out to help his companion load the chambers within.
“What are we waiting for?” Tabitha asked. “Can’t we just take them out? This is taking forever.”
I wholeheartedly agreed with the sentiment.
“Patience,” Raven said. “If it is this secured just to open the elevator, chances are another code is required to access lower floors.”
“Exactly,” Chaos said. “Have your blasters ready. As soon as they go out to get more chambers, we’ll sneak into the cabin. We don’t know what’s downstairs. Hopefully, we can get a free ride undetected. Otherwise, we’ll take them out. Torment, your unit remains here to stand watch and take out whatever or whomever may be coming in.”
Once again, it showed me how ill-prepared I was for this type of mission. Keeping a tense eye over our shoulders, we bided our time with much trepidation. Once they had six chambers in the elevator, we piled into a corner of the cabin where the Kryptids were unlikely to try to squeeze in more chambers. Then we waited some more.
“Fuck me!” Wrath suddenly said, startling the living daylights out of me. “The Kryptids are all getting mind-fucked. We can’t get any closer because my unit were starting to get sucked into some dream walks. Looks like the Scelks have turned on them, but I don’t see any of them. It’s a fucking slaughterhouse. The Kryptids are standing idle, looking like zombies and getting their heads blown off by the Scelks.”
We all exchanged a baffled look.
“Do not take unnecessary risks,” Chaos said. “And do not activate your psychic disruptors. Let those Scelks do the work for us.”
“Understood.” Wrath replied.
“Have they gone insane?” I asked. “The elder in Hepon’s village said the Scelk-infected in Sorenan were intrinsically evil and that they had killed the soul of the original host.”
“Yes,” Raven said. “It appears
that the creation has turned on its masters.”
“Poetic justice,” Tabitha said.
“Amen,” Sonia said.
It took another five minutes for the two Kryptid guards to load twelve chambers into the elevator, thankfully never noticing our presence. Seeing them up-close, I could now confirm they were indeed adult-sized stasis chambers. They were probably taking the Janaurian daughters they’d abducted off-planet. As Chaos and Raven had rightfully surmised, no sooner did they place the last chamber inside the cabin than the first Kryptid spoke a clicking code. The doors closed and the elevator flew down a short distance. The Janaurians didn’t have basements. Whatever this place was, it had been created for the bugs’ specific needs.
The cabin came to a smooth stop, the doors automatically opening without any command from the guard. Before any of us could blink, a barrage of mouth darts pummeled the two guards in the chest, shattering their armor before piercing through organs. The two guards never stood a chance. They crumpled to the floor as we stared at the most unexpected welcoming party.
“Get out of the elevator, swiftly and quietly before the doors close, but don’t break the camouflage shield,” Chaos said, snapping me out of my dazed shock.
Moving as one, we stepped into the nightmarish place which far too closely resembled the Breeding Chamber of my self-imposed dream walk where General Khutu impregnated his ‘brides’ as I imagined him calling them. The same organic membranes as those found in a liveship covered the walls, holding nearly fifty Janaurian females captive, with a dozen of them having clearly been genetically modified as chitin plates covered part of their necks, shoulders and chests.
Ignoring the two Kryptids they had just slaughtered, three human-Kryptid hybrids surrounded by five Janaurian Scelks turned back to the females, seemingly unaware of our presence.
“Oh my God!” Tabitha said, a shocked expression on her face. “I know that hybrid! That’s Bane!”
She pointed at the male who appeared to be in charge.