“Was that before or after Iey’liwea bedded and seduced you to help her found Souyila?”
“You should watch your tongue, scholar, I can’t guarantee you’ll have a place in Souyila after your stunt on Earth.”
Several observation windows they walked past unveiled the ocean of stars as they traversed through space at FTL. “Are we en route back to Aervounis?”
“Yes, assuming the humans let us leave their space, with that said—”
“I’ll get back to work.”
“So, I see you’re not choosing the exile option, excellent.”
Odelea returned to her commandeered lab and froze momentarily when she noticed a humanoid man dressed in elaborate armor within a containment field. Queenea laughed and continued to impose within Odelea’s personal space, massaging her shoulders.
“Find out everything you can,” Queenea said. “I’ll be assigning a team of rangers to stand guard outside.”
“That won’t be necessary, the containment field, slave collar, and mind shields should render it and its abilities harmless.”
“The guards won’t be here for your protection exclusively.”
In other words, they didn’t trust her anymore.
Queenea took her leave, giving Odelea a slight slap on her behind, it was a hidden message. There was a third choice for Odelea, sexual intercourse with Queenea, after which she’d use her corporate power and her political influence with Iey’liwea to protect her.
I miss being an old woman.
Odelea slipped into her lab outfit, armed herself with scanners, and approached the containment field where the armored specimen sat watching her with resentment. At first, she thought it was a human, Poniga, or perhaps Linl, simply wearing invader armor. However, its speech proved otherwise, speaking a language that was similar to what she had recorded from the dying invader.
The containment field prevented her from getting an accurate bio-scan to determine its genetic makeup, a pity really. If this specimen was indeed either human, Poniga, or Linl, it would be a major development. Factor in the human exploration ship, Carl Sagan going missing, and then return with members of its crew gone and the disappearance of the Abyssal Sword. The possible theories that flooded her thoughts became overwhelming and distracting.
Focus, I need to learn how to speak with it.
The specimen became increasingly agitated the longer she listened to it yell. Odelea confirmed meanings of certain phrases it spoke after an hour into her study of its language and documenting the findings with her HNI. She noted that its language was not the same as the invader soldier, similar, but, in the end, the specimen and the dying invader soldier she encountered had spoken two different languages. Whoever these invaders were, they were most likely a collective of races similar to Radiance, each with their own language that was developed and evolved over the years before meeting up with each other.
Such a theory would also explain why there were varying types of attackers the invaders had within their ranks. There was serpentlike humanoid soldiers with bronze armor, the winged dragons, the large tank-like dragons, and now this specimen before her in his elegantly designed armor. Then one couldn’t forget about the invader’s fleet of organic ships, which she suspected were of another species that had been subjected and genetically modified by them.
The following hour saw Odelea take a break while guards outside provided her with a bowl of Earth apples to dine on. As she bit into her favorite meal, she once again accessed records in regard to the disappearance of the Carl Sagan, its return, and reports about the Abyssal Sword next to it, scanning and consuming the knowledge both articles provided her simultaneously.
The Sword’s last mission was to assist human special forces soldiers known as EDF. They were on a joint mission to defeat the Celestial Order within the Dark Lejorania system—known to the humans as Proxima Centauri. There was a battle there which resulted in contact being lost with the ship and its human soldiers that had been aboard. Radiance had long confirmed that the Sword was not amongst the ships found within the debrief field, and that long-range scans suggested there was at least one ship on course to Sirius that had left the system.
The Carl Sagan vanished around the expected time a ship traveling at sub light speeds would have arrived in Sirius from Dark Lejorania. The cult of the Celestial Order was known for conducting experiments and using Lyonria technology, an experience she knew all too well from that dark moment of her past.
Was it possible the Celestial Order in that system uncovered something that compromised the Abyssal Sword? If so, that might explain why the Carl Sagan vanished.
Odelea’s meal and reading of holographic literature superimposed over her eyes distracted her from the fact the Abyssal Comet came to a full stop, as indicated by the observation window she sat cross-legged in front of.
She brought up the current time with her HNI, they were still hours away from Aervounis and Union-controlled space. Coming to a full stop within human space made no sense given that there was fewer checkpoints leaving human space, unlike entering and venturing deeper into it. She approached the thick window and looked out into space, and the quandary star system they were in.
She then gasped when five UNE battle cruisers dropped out of FTL, surrounding the Abyssal Comet. Seven other flashes of light from space suggested more UNE ships were appearing.
“Odelea, change of plans,” Queenea’s holographic likeness appeared via HNI. “The humans want to have a chat with us.”
29 Chevallier
UNE Transport
Above Mount Hermon, Earth, Sol system
August 9, 2118, 19:23 SST (Sol Standard Time)
Chevallier was no stranger to a one-on-one sit down with a CO, much like the one she was about to have with Boyd. The two sat facing each other in the rear cabin of their transport as it drifted away from the darkened scars of the ion cannon orbital strike that devastated the mountain range earlier. She went over in her head the various ways the sit down could possibly end in her head, none of them saw her being a happy person.
Her recent actions with the previous battles was the reason she was there, and the holographic screen Boyd had taken a few seconds to review likely had the formal charges he had hoped to bring against her. And the displeased look on his face? The result of his mind processing the right words to use next.
“Alright, hit me,” Chevallier said as she calmly reclined in her chair with a grin. “Lay it on me.”
“The invaders have been spotted near Baghdad,” Boyd said unexpectedly. “Evacuations are currently underway but HNI disruptions are popping up all over the place.”
She nodded. “The Dragon Knights live, looks like your orbital strike was a waste.”
“I’m gonna be straight up with you. You’re implosive, hard to work with, don’t follow instructions, and have little respect for the chain of command. I now understand why they shipped you to Sirius.”
“But you need me,” she finished for him, as her grin transformed into a confident smirk. “That HNI hack doesn’t affect me, I’m you’re ace in the hole, the reason you can’t toss my ass in the brig.”
Even with her mother dead, Chevallier still found a way to have immunity to the rules. Wish I had my Cuban cigars now!
“Three times you saved my life and the lives of my team,” Boyd said reluctantly. “We need you for this, as much as it kills me to admit it. Our forces in the area are moving to Baghdad now, we’re to join them ASAP.”
“These attacks aren’t random,” Chevallier said. “The Mediterranean, the push into the mountains, and now Baghdad? There must be something in this region they’re searching for and can’t simply teleport to it directly.”
“What about Radiance? Any idea why Tolukei and that Aryile girl were there?”
“I never worked with Tolukei that much, but from what Foster told me, he’s a pretty straight-up guy . . . most of the time. He said they were there to take a prisoner.”
“From
what I’ve been told, the Abyssal Comet went into FTL just as the ion cannons were fired. The navy is searching for them now, if they managed to escape, we’ll have our answers soon enough. As for us . . .”
“As for us . . .” Chevallier sat up from her seat reaching for her rifle. “We got dragons to slay.”
She saw by the negative expression on his face that he wasn’t pleased with the fact she practically ordered him into getting ready for action when it should have been the other way around. His silence, followed by the two of them leaving to prepare for the coming mission with Maxwell and LeBoeuf, however, showed that, in the end, she was right. Just like with each and every insubordinate action she had ever made.
Southern District
Baghdad, Earth, Sol system
August 9, 2118, 19:42 SST (Sol Standard Time)
Chevallier watched intently as Baghdad came into view from the transport’s side windows. Beautiful palm trees were at every corner while the towering skyscrapers that shined and dazed brightly in the nighttime skies gave the city a bustling feeling. It was a very different city than the one she had last seen before leaving for the stars, one that proudly wore the twenty-second century seal of approval for what a human-built city should look like in this era.
It was a shame to see such a gorgeous city have some of its structures set ablaze thanks to the dragons, as scores of flying cars, trucks, and evacuation transports participated in a mass exodus of its noncombatant population, replacing it with more dragon invaders, and UNE Marines.
Their transport came to a landing within a small commercial district, near the southern most region of the city, the hot spot for invader activity. Chevallier was the first to leap out of the transport, and the first of her team to view the hundreds of UNE Marines that came from various locations on the planet and the Sol system to combat the last remains of the invaders’ forces.
Psionics, imbedded with Marines, used their powers to generate barriers to deflect swooping wyverns. Marines in heavy exosuits led the charge with their wrist-mounted guns, shooting or using their massive armor-clad hands to hold back drake tanks from charging toward Marines.
It was time for Chevallier, Boyd, LeBoeuf, and Maxwell to join in the fun.
Idle cars were used as cover when LeBoeuf was too focused on her duties. Tachyon fire made short work of their cover, resulting in the team playing a game of musical chairs with other cars in the heated nighttime urban combat. Multiple squadrons of fighters were too occupied with defending fleeing civilians and escorting Marine transports with reinforcements to or from the city. The wyverns had no fighters to challenge them. Luring invader soldiers into ruined lobbies of office buildings became a viable tactic once the swooping plasma-breathing wyverns began to shriek their death calls from above.
From time to time, several fighters would break away and harass the wyverns, clearing the skies for the four to enter back into the urban combat, and push deeper to the south, where the majority of the invader forces had rallied to. The intensity of the invader’s attacks increased as the hours ticked by on Chevallier’s HUD and the closer they got to the southern city limits.
Eventually, the only gun shots that were heard were their own, the only dragons that were engaged in combat were the many they had to dodge, flank, gun down, or dispatch with the psionic powers of LeBoeuf and Maxwell. Chevallier and the EDF team were alone and had penetrated deeper than any of the other Marines had since the fighting started.
“Hold here,” Boyd ordered, and directed the group to go prone at the foot of some large palm trees.
Chevallier saw exactly why further in the distance at a nearby park. Her night-vision mode HUD highlighted a number of downed Marines in the streets outside of it. Their vitals weren’t being detected, yet some of them limped ever so slightly while on the ground. They were suffering from HNI disruption, a Dragon Knight was near.
“Are they alive?” Maxwell asked.
“Can’t tell with the HNI interference, its blocking out their vitals,” Chevallier said.
LeBoeuf groaned. “So, if we take another step closer it’s gonna be bad for our heads?”
Boyd nodded. “Yeah, I’d say this is as far as we go.”
Chevallier used the scope of her rifle directing it at the park. She enhanced its zoom to max that overlaid what it saw onto her HUD. She saw the Dragon Maiden stand within the center of the park, her long blonde hair flowing in the winds like the leaves of the palms trees above her. A sphere-shaped object hovered next to her face, it glowed a vibrant color, bright enough to create the only source of light within the darkened streets, devoid of any power due to the fighting. Chevallier temporarily deactivated her night vision and saw the object discharge a thin purple beam of psionic energy and penetrate the ground below.
She manually sent what her rifle’s scope saw to the others.
“It’s not moving,” Maxwell said. “We could snipe it.”
“No, it has a robust psionic barrier,” Chevallier said. “We might piss it off and send it charging after us.”
“If all four of us hit it with everything we got, we might be able to weaken it,” LeBoeuf said.
Chevallier lowered her rifle facing LeBoeuf. “And when it comes running over, then what?”
LeBoeuf’s cybernetic hand gave Chevallier a hearty pat on the back. “Then we run, and you handle the rest.”
Boyd exhaled deeply. “It’s too risky—”
“Actually, we might be able to make this work,” Chevallier cut in. “She doesn’t know we’re here, let me move closer, then we time our shots. With any luck she’ll see I’m the closest and come after me.”
“And if she doesn’t?” Boyd said.
Chevallier made a slight wince as that scenario played out in her head. “Then she’ll pursue you three, in which I’ll be shooting her from behind,” she said. “If our combined attacks are strong enough, she might not have enough mental energy to keep her barrier active, let alone use her powers effectively.”
Smoke began to rise as the beam from the summoned drone continued to burn and cut into the ground. Chevallier got up from her cover to take several silent steps closer to get a better view. Her scope displayed the ground below the Dragon Maiden burn red as a small hole appeared. A hole that grew deeper with every pulse of psionic energy.
Whatever the Dragon Maiden was interested in, it was underground, and it made Chevallier wonder if there was a connection between the park before her and Mount Hermon.
She sent the footage to the rest of her team again. It didn’t take long for Boyd to say. “Do it.”
Not that she needed his approval.
“Stay safe out there, Chevallier,” LeBoeuf added, for Chevallier had become the lone wolf in this leg of their mission.
Boyd, LeBoeuf, and Maxwell remained hidden behind their respective cover while Chevallier pushed deeper toward the park via the streets. A move that might result in their plan being foiled should the Dragon Maiden look away from its work.
Chevallier entered an office building adjacent to the park, long abandoned since the invaders arrived to create the havoc in this part of the city. She strode past holographic emergency evacuation signs and entered the fire escape staircase. She groaned at the number of steps she’d have to climb to reach the rooftops as her helmeted face gazed up.
I’m getting a good workout today . . .
Her armored feet crunched across the office’s rooftops, thirty-four floors later. Taking a breather to catch her breath would have to wait. She crouched and approached the edge of the building, facing the park below where the Dragon Maiden remained standing, focused, and determined to complete her psionic drilling operation.
Chevallier peered down the scope of her rifle and shifted its targeting reticle onto the Dragon Maiden, its head to be exact. Using her suit’s manual controls, she allowed her HUD’s display to feed live data to the HUDs of the rest of her team, waiting outside the danger zone, where their HNIs were safe from hacks.
&nb
sp; They saw what she saw, she saw what they could see, and what she saw was three sets of screens, all taking aim at the head of the Dragon Maiden.
“I’m in position,” Chevallier said as she selected the particle beam fire option.
“Copy that,” Boyd replied over the comm lines. “We’re all good to go.”
Her HUD reported that Boyd too had selected the particle beam mode with his rifle while the two psionics began to channel their powers into their rifles, imbuing them with psionic power to unleash a continuous beam of lightning energy.
The first Dragon Knight Chevallier fought had its psionic shields weakened after three direct hits from a particle beam blast. The Dragon Maiden within her scope’s sights was focusing part of its psionic powers on controlling the drone, thus it should have less mental energy available to power its barrier.
Two particle beams, and two psionic rifles firing at the same time . . . there’s no way this bitch could survive our second and third shots.
“Fire on my mark,” Chevallier said as her finger neared the trigger.
An automated countdown began to blare within the HUDs of all four of them. As it counted down, Chevallier began to think of several scenarios in her head as to what could happen once the shots were fired.
Scenario number one: if someone missed, then she’d have a lot of improvising to do to ensure the Dragon Maiden remained focused on her. If it chose to ignore her, then that would probably be the end of Boyd and his team, and probably the downed Marines still in the streets still suffering from the HNI hack.
Scenario number two: they kill it with the first barrage, in that case half the battle here in the city would be won in an instant.
Scenario number three: they take its shields down and all hell breaks loose as they rush to kill it as quickly as possible before things get bad.
Celestial Incursion (Edge of the Splintered Galaxy Book 1) Page 29