The Seryys Chronicles: Of Nightmares

by Joseph Nicholson

  Under his skin was a small transmitter, he pressed the button and it sent a signal to his wife to ready herself for something big. She pressed hers to send him an acknowledgement. Mr. Alarr keyed in the com unit for Warthol and plugged a headset into it so that no one would hear.

  “Speak,” Warthol’s unnaturally-low voice boomed through the headset.

  “My lord,” he whispered. “I have dispatched General Khail, hijacked his ship and am looking for a place to lie low until you can send someone to pick us up.”

  “What of the others?”

  “Who? You mean, Khai’s team?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’ll do whatever you want me to do with them.”

  “Incapacitate them. They will make good bargaining chips if I need them.”

  “It will be done.”

  With that, the channel was cut. Now, how to incapacitate everyone in the main hold?

  Sibrex sat, with his mask off, in the main with everyone else. He was watching everyone closely, as he always did. After a few minutes, he could’ve sworn he heard a gunshot coming from the cockpit. But it was so faint, that he thought maybe it was something coming from the outside. But, being of cautious nature, he got up and headed for the cockpit, just to make sure. As he worked his way across the hold, eyes were on him.

  Suddenly, Mrs. Alarr simply collapsed to the floor convincingly. She cracked her head hard on the floor and the two younger boys, Alex’Xander’s little brothers—who now appeared to Sibrex to be twins—started crying for someone to help their mom. Sibrex quickly abandoned his move toward the cockpit and offered his assistance.

  Puar knelt beside him as they both examined Mrs. Alarr. She seemed to have just fainted. Her pulse and breathing were strong, there was an alarming amount of sweat gathered at her brow and in the small of her back where it collected at her belt line, Sibrex noticed that when he rolled her over to her back to administer resuscitation.

  “She is fine, younglings,” Sibrex said in the most soothing voice he could muster. “She simply fainted. She must have been under considerable strain given your past ordeal. There is nothing to fear.”

  Sibrex was checking her pulse, and the throb of it excited him ever so slightly. He salivated only a little, and was completely embarrassed that he was so unable to control his urges to feed. As he sat there admonishing himself, the real reason he was salivating had become clear. He could smell blood! Fresh blood! Coming from…

  Suddenly, a high-pitched whine, just at the edge his perception, rang in his ears. He instantly forgot the smell of blood and started looking around for the source of the ringing. It was coming from the woman…curious. Then she made the faintest of faintest gestures and nonchalantly brushed her arm. The ringing stopped. It was a signal! Suddenly the smell of blood hit him again and he felt the ship changing course.

  Sibrex stood and walked causally over to the spot where he removed his helmet.

  “Captain Dah?” Joon’s voice came over his earpiece. “Click your radio twice if you can hear me, but don’t speak.”

  Click… Click.

  “Good. Someone on the bridge is trying to override my security and Khai isn’t responding. Do you understand?”

  Click… Click.

  Suddenly, Puar, Dah, Brix, Kay and Sibrex started feeling lightheaded. The most subtle hissing sound issued from the vents in the main hold and was followed by the sound of the bridge door sealing shut.

  Sibrex instantly knew what was happening. Khai must have been incapacitated, Mr. Alarr was taking over the ship and he was venting atmosphere. Knowing that only a handful of people knew that his armor was designed to not only protect him the sun’s harmful rays, but to protect him from the vacuum of space for up to three hours. He donned his helmet and it instantly sealed to the neckpiece. His heart broke as the others struggled to breathe and collapsed on the floor. He knew that Mr. Alarr wouldn’t leave the hold depressurized for too long as to not kill his wife and children.

  With the enhanced sounds coming in through the helmet, he could hear the atmosphere pumping back into the ship and then the sound of the door to the cockpit sliding open. Sibrex knew he was coming to the main hold, and then probably to the engine room to destroy the ship. Sibrex poised himself to the right of the door that led from the cockpit into the main hold. As soon as the door opened and Sibrex saw a hand holding a gun emerge, Sibrex chopped down at the weapon. He took Mr. Alarr completely by surprise. He even yelped as the gun skidded into the wall.

  Sibrex grabbed the man by the throat and hoisted him up with one hand.

  Though filtered through helmet’s com system, Sibrex’s voice was no less intimidating.

  “Where is Khai?” he demanded.

  “Dead, or at least dying,” he coughed out, yet still somehow managed to put smug satisfaction in his tone. “And Warthol will be sending someone to come get us as we speak.”

  “Warthol cares nothing for you or your wife or your children!” Sibrex actually laughed. “He’s most likely sending someone to destroy the ship with you in it. He did the same thing to Captain Brandarr. Once Brandarr was compromised, he knew that Warthol would simply do away with him, so he destroyed the Courage and killed everyone on board. You are as good as dead.”

  “You lie!” Mr. Alarr shouted.

  “Do I?” Sibrex asked.

  “You’re Vyysarri scum,” he spat at Sibrex. “You know nothing of honor and duty. You only kill and feed on our kids!”

  Sibrex felt a huge swell of pity for this pathetic and misguided man. But his feelings of pity were instantly replaced with feelings of extreme pain as several thousand volts of electricity ran the surface of his armor, frying him on the inside. He growled with pain, dropped Mr. Alarr and fell to his knee. A forceful kick to the faceplate of Sibrex’s helmet ended the fight before it began.

  “Thanks,” he said to his wife.

  “Don’t mention it,” she said back.

  “Get the kids, we’re out of here.”

  “Should we stay here until the evac comes? What about the Reapers?”

  Mr. Alarr countered her question with a question of his own, “What if Sibrex was right?”

  Mrs. Alarr stared at him for a moment, then said “I’ll grab the kids.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  What started as a pin-sized view of the cockpit floor blossomed into painful light assaulting his sense of sight. The next thing he noticed was the smell of blood, his blood all around him. He sluggishly reached up and grabbed the armrest of his chair. With what little strength he had, he pulled himself up and into the seat.

  He grimaced in pain as he looked around, getting his bearings and assessing the situation. Son of a bitch shot me, he seethed. “Joon.” His own voice sounded detached from his body.

  “Yes, Khai?”

  “What the hell happened?”

  “Mr. Alarr shot you,” she said plainly.

  “Thanks,” Khai said dryly. “I somehow missed that. Why are we on the ground?”

  “Mr. Alarr overrode my security programs, landed the ship, called someone named Warthol, vented the atmosphere to incapacitate the others and escaped with his wife and children.”

  “Anyone dead?”

  “No. I have strong heartbeats on all members of the crew, except yours. Shall I activate the emergency medical system in your quarters?”

  “Yeah,” he grunted, trying to get out of his chair.

  He staggered to his quarters, leaving a trail of blood behind him, and literally collapsed onto the gurney that folded down from the wall. From within the hole from which the gurney came, several mechanical arms extended out and over Khai. One injected a sedative while another scanned him for injuries. Then they got to work repairing the damage as best they could. There was nothing they could do about Khai’s collapsed lung, but they could close the wound, stop the bleeding and inject him with synthetic blood that would hold him over until he could get a transfusion.

  While the EMS did its work on Khai
, Dah came around. His head pounded from the lack of oxygen in his system. The first thing he noticed was that the hatch was open and the Alarrs were gone. Good riddance, he thought. Let them die out there with the Reapers. He checked Kay, Puar and Brix. They were fine, their pulses were good and strong and they seemed to be coming around. Sibrex was lying near the door to the cockpit, his helmet was on and he was not moving.

  Dah rushed over to him, rolled him over to his back and removed his helmet. There was a slight hiss as the helmet’s airtight seal was broken. Apparently, as the suit’s systems failed, so did life-support. He wondered how long Sibrex had been without air. He was not breathing and not responding to Dah at all.

  Immediately, he started resuscitation on Sibrex. As Dah tried to revive him, Kay came to and was instantly next to him, helping where she could. It wasn’t long before everyone but Khai—who was being treated for his own injuries—was doing something to help. Finally, out of desperation, Brix slit his hand with his knife and dripped the blood into Sibrex’s mouth. Within seconds, Sibrex’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down as he swallowed. His eyes flitted open and he instantly pulled Brix’s hand to his mouth and drank feverishly, like a man possessed.

  Brix didn’t try to stop him, just let him take as much as he needed. As Sibrex fed, the others looked at Brix with amazed eyes. Kay was actually about to cry, touched by Brix’s sacrifice.

  Brix looked away, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. “He likes blood,” was all he said. When Sibrex finished, he released Brix’s hand.

  “Thank you, Brix,” he said, between deep breaths. “I haven’t fed in days.”

  “I didn’t realize blood could bring you back to life,” Puar remarked.

  “Technically, I wasn’t dead. I knew the instant Mrs. Alarr shocked me, I had but a few minutes of air left. I used an old technique taught to me by a Vyysarri warrior who lived to be almost two hundred and fifty years old. He survived for nearly ten minutes in the vacuum of space when his ship was destroyed. He was able to put himself into a self-induced coma. In this coma, he could go without air for nearly twenty minutes at a time. You simply need a trigger to bring you out of it before your brain dies of oxygen deprivation. The last thing I thought of before drifting was that I was hungry.”

  There was dead silence for about ten seconds. Then Sibrex erupted into thunderous laughter followed closely by the others.

  The sound of roaring laughter woke Khai up from the sedatives. For the most part, he was mended, save for the punctured lung. I have to stop doing that, he thought as he slowly put his feet down on the floor and tested the stability of his legs. When he was convinced that his legs were sturdy, he made his way to the main hold where his companions were laughing so hard that they were crying.

  He stood at the doorway for about twenty seconds when Khai finally—and painfully—cleared his throat. They all stopped laughing and looked at him like they were a bunch of kids getting busted by an angry parent for being too loud after bedtime.

  “Khai!” Puar said, eyeing the shirtless, muscle-bound man with bandages across his chest. “We, uh, were just coming to check on you!”

  “Right,” Khai said, not an ounce of amusement in his voice. “No need. I’m fine.”

  “What happened?” Dah asked Khai.

  “That fucker shot me in the back! That’s what happened!”

  “Oh,” Puar replied. “Well, that’s nothing new. You’ve been shot hundreds of times!”

  “Doesn’t hurt any less. Anyway, buckle up, we’re airborne in five minutes.”

  “What are you planning?” Kay asked.

  “I’m gonna find those assholes and bring them in!” Khai snapped.

  Khai stormed off to the cockpit and stewed in his chair. There was still a large amount of blood on the floor where he lay for several minutes with a bullet hole all the way through him. Sibrex came up to the cockpit and bent down. When he came up, he held Khai’s precious gun. “I think you forgot something.”

  “Thanks,” Khai said curtly and put it back in its holster. “Joon, start scanning the area for four Seryysans, two adults and two adolescents.”

  “As you wish, Khai.”

  The ship lifted off its landing skids and started veering to the left as Khai flew a circular search pattern. It wasn’t long at all before Joon’s voice came over the speakers.

  “I have them,” Joon said. “They are moving southeast fairly quickly. I’m also detecting two Reapers chasing them and another signal approaching fast from our four o’clock.”

  “Identify the unknown signal the instant it comes within range,” Khai ordered.

  “As you wish.”

  “Sibrex,” Khai said, turning slightly in his chair. “Go get Dack and then man the sensor console.”

  “Right away!” Sibrex said, getting up and heading aft.

  Only moments later, Dack plopped down in the copilot’s seat and Sibrex manned the sensors.

  “Watch that ship, Sibrex. If it does anything fishy, tell me.”

  “The ship is on an intercept course. Does that constitute something…‘fishy’?”

  “Uh, yeah,” Khai said. “How long ’til it’s on us?”

  “Three minutes,” Sibrex answered.

  “Plenty of time,” Khai said to his cockpit mates.

  “For what?” Dah asked, almost afraid to.

  “A little lesson in humility,” Khai said almost gleefully.

  Khai flew the ship over to the fleeing family. The infrared scanners showed four bright marks working their way through a dim area of forest with two very, very bright marks. Khai absently wondered how hot their temperature was, but pushed the thought to back of his mind to focus on exacting a little rough justice.

  “Ahoy down there!” Khai said with the cheeriest voice he had. “Looks like you’re in a bit of a bind!”

  With the ship’s sound enhancing sensors, they could hear Mr. Alarr’s response. “To hell with you, Khail. I don’t know how you’re still alive, and I don’t particularly care, but stop toying with us and pick us up!”

  “Afraid I can’t do that, my friend!”

  “Why the hell not?” he demanded.

  “You didn’t say the magic word!”

  “The magic…” Mr. Alarr fumbled words with rage. “The magic word? What the hell is the magic word?”

  “Please, of course!”

  “General Khail, please, for the sake of my children, pick us up!”

  “Stand by,” Khai said. To further infuriate him, he left the external speakers on. “What do you guys think? Should I save them? Or let them be Reaper food?”

  “I don’t know,” Dah played along, hoping that Khai was just playing. “He did shoot you when you turned your back after all.”

  “What about you, Sibrex?” Khai asked. “Think I should cut the guy a break?”

  “Forgiveness is contagious,” Sibrex said, his voice serious as it always was, making this whole thing even funnier. “Perhaps, by showing him mercy, he will, in turn, show you respect and try nothing further to sabotage your efforts. Be the better man.”

  With an over-dramatic sigh, Khai finally said. “Oh, you’re probably right, Sibrex. You are as wise as you are old.”

  “Ah!” Dah interjected. “But does Mr. Alarr agree to the terms of his unconditional surrender?”

  “For fuck’s sake, yes! Just save us!”

  Khai eyed the scanner and saw the monsters were closing in. “Okay. Sit tight and don’t, for the love of all things holy, move from you current spot.”

  “What’re you doing?” Dah asked when Khai brought up the targeting computer.

  “Saving them,” Khai said innocently, “by blasting a crater in the forest where those monsters are.”

  Khai brought the Mark IVs online and fired. The two pursuing Reapers disappeared from his scopes in a fireball of searing death and the hole made in the forest was big enough to land and pick up his prisoners. Khai brought the ship down in the newly-made clearing a
nd popped the hatch. The four of them came clambering into the ship and collapsed on the floor, gasping for breath and hugging each other. Brix was there to greet them with his giant, dual magazine machine gun pointed right at them.

  “Welcome aboard…again.”

  “Brix, are our prisoners…er, guests aboard?”

  “Affirmative, Khai. The package has arrived.”

  “Then buckle up ’cause we’re leaving in a hurry!”

  As the Splitter cleared the treetops, the pursuing ship opened fire peppering the shields with cannon fire. The ship bucked hard to starboard but Khai was able to keep her under control and get her airborne. The attacking ship was a heavily modified Shark­-Class Interceptor. The Star Splitter was no match for it in speed, so Khai was hoping that he could make up for it in pure toughness. So far, the shields were holding as Khai bobbed and weaved, trying to be a hard target. But maneuverability was the Shark’s middle name and it was able to keep up with every move and continued to pelt the shields.

  Khai growled with frustration knowing that there was nothing he could do against a faster, more maneuverable ship.

  Khai swallowed his pride and keyed in a general military com frequency. “This is General Khail calling any military units within the vicinity of Seryys City, please respond.” He was met with nothing but static.

  “They must be jamming our communications,” Dah offered.

  Khai shrugged. “It was worth a try.”

  “Now what do we do?” Dah asked him.

  “We try to hold them off as long as we can and hope we don’t go down in an infested part of the city.”

  “That is not a very well-conceived plan,” Sibrex added.

  “I agree, but do you have any suggestions? I’m open to hearing them.”

  “An Eve’Zon jump,” Sibrex offered as if it was no big deal.