by David Tucker
Genesis could hardly believe after all this time he could see the Rieft as his masters had said he never would—
All at once – as if it hadn’t existed at all – it was gone. Something, something alien, lashed out inside his flesh and almost with a cry the Rieft fled back into hiding. Genesis barely stopped himself from collapsing, he withheld exclamation for it to come back and that it wasn’t him who’d struck it. But it was too late, it was already gone.
He lamented in silence, the journey only being seen by him. Genesis felt bitter sorrow for losing it. What the hell’s going on? He desperately needed to know, he wanted answers but had no idea who could answer him.
The troupe escorting Genesis halted as they neared a top level security station, ceasing his movement and thoughts. Genesis blinked, unable to recall the last ten minutes of his travels beyond his own mind, and unsure of his whereabouts. The captain turned abruptly to face him, and noticing her missing guard, leant over his shoulder quizzically.
Unsure of the man’s whereabouts she fobbed the matter off, clearly having more important goals to attend to. The marines stiffened in response to their leader as she turned back to Genesis; they had been awaiting this moment, Genesis could tell, and whatever the moment held was the reason for their nervousness. His muscles tightened and he measured all his angles as they formed on him. Captain Scarlet leant back, struggling to drop the search for her missing trooper.
Chapter 21 Strip
“Sir” – the captain addressed Genesis – “Admiral Antipatros has requested that your weapons, both Sacred and military, be placed under guard before entering the bridge.”
At this same time two lesser armoured security officers emerged from a heavily vaulted door. In their hands Genesis spied the clear shape of a stasis-cube lockbox. Genesis knew these were primarily used for holding illegal or highly valued goods. The suddenly confused Immortal felt the marines edge a little and heard the miniscule sound of their rifles’ safeties clicking over to live.
Genesis turned to the cube and then to Captain Scarlet incredulously; he knew this was against regulation and was seriously off. He needed to clarify her intentions, right here, right now, before going any further with the foolish games of the admiral and his power struggle.
Genesis knew something else was at play here and he wasn’t being filled in, purposefully. But he needed to know for his own safety before making any rash decisions. Genesis spoke tightly, breaking the awkward silence.
“Captain …?” he paused waiting for her to fill in the blanks.
Barely thrown she replied just as quickly, “Is there a problem Commander?”
Genesis could barely believe her prior request as he laid out the bleeding obvious, “Captain Scarlet, as I’m sure you are well aware, a Wielder class Immortal such as myself, must, pertaining to colonial and religious law, maintain his Sacred weapon … at all times, unless in the presence of the SINAI.”
Again Scarlet didn’t pause, her voice barely wavering, “I am aware of that Commander, but Admiral Antipatros insists that all your weapons be kept here under guard before entering the bridge. No exception.”
His eyes blazed and his voice turned icy, unintentionally, “Well this is quite an exception wouldn’t you agree? And unfortunately the admiral doesn’t have the authority to issue such a command …” he paused to make his point clear, “Captain.”
For a tense few seconds Scarlet and Genesis exchanged stares in silence, he saw aggressiveness in her eyes, along with the slightest fraction of concern, not for herself he noted, but for her men, as she realised the danger they might soon be in. All three marines behind her now had their weapons raised and trained on his back, and the two security personnel who had recently entered exchanged nervous glances.
The captain finally broke free of the glance and spat out a quick sentence, possibly saving them as the words bit deeply into his decision.
“Sir, the admiral has issued this command, not me and under authority of the SINAI and Article 27b of SED Colonial law and according to your Sacred Elders, you have – as of this latest mission – been stricken of your class of Weapon’s Wielder. No longer do you pertain the right to maintain any weapon, Sacred or not, before an admiral or higher ranking officer of the SED. I’m sorry Commander, your weapons please.” She gestured for them to be passed over.
His mouth literally fell open, “I’ve been WHAT?!” His head now really spun, he could barely believe what he was hearing.
Was this some kind of joke by Admiral Antipatros to finally be rid of me? He certainly couldn’t believe the Elders would do such a thing, would they? Why on Earth would they stricken me? It had to be a lie, what heresy have I committed?
Genesis felt the nanos of Katana working themselves towards each other, sliding almost a little too easily within his arm towards his outer layers of skin and armour. His arm began to ripple as her edge started parting a way out of his flesh. Genesis struggled to hold her back as he spoke mechanically, keeping his mind on both tasks but dropping the threat from his voice.
“For what reason have I been stricken of my class, Captain?”
Scarlet inched away from her pistol, thumbing the safety. His change in tone eased her, but not enough for her to drop her reach away entirely.
“This is not for me to say sir, Admiral Antipatros will explain the situation further.”
As Genesis felt his anger rise towards another heated response he reminded himself of what she kept alluding to, that she was simply a messenger. It was not her fault that he was being, apparently, stripped of his rank, command, faith, brotherhood and Sacred weapons.
With a massive effort and more unbearable silence, Genesis relaxed, releasing his bunched muscles and sighing in frustration and defeat. He knew he had little option other than to comply, unless he wanted to run, or kill thousands of innocent lives upon Aspire, which even with his talents would end eventually, one way or another, in his own bloody death. The SED was far too big to run from or tackle. Even for an Immortal – which, as he realised it, he couldn’t believe he was even considering!
Stuff! He cussed, the poison inside him must be messing with more than just his talent, he perceived, realising just how heretical such thoughts were.
He’d suffered the admiral’s stupidity before, he guessed he could force himself to do it again, at least playing his games until contacting the Elders and SINAI anyhow.
With more pause and great remorse, Genesis built Katana across his hands gently, laying her flat in a peaceful giving motion for the security officers. The larger of the two officers looked to his comrades, seeing if the way was clear, and finally, also reluctantly – but quickly – stepping forward to snatch Katana by her hilt and place her carefully within the stasis cube. The action frightened the guard, as he obviously considered the outcomes.
Genesis cursed aloud as he un-holstered his rifle and placed it also within the stasis field. Lastly, he issued forth both his pistols from their holsters in what looked like a trick to the marines, who were now staring in amazement. He materialised them with his nano-manipulation ability of deconstruction, teleporting the weapons into his hands. Genesis looked up momentarily as the Terithians looked to each other in awe; none had obviously seen an Immortal do this before. The ability was a rarity even amongst his own kind. The men were further spooked by the guns’ strange materialisation, as he flicked both pistols around, twirling them effortlessly so their grips were facing outwards for the officers receiving them.
The sudden movement unnerved the three jumpy privates to the extent that their weapons’ ion-batteries whined as they prepped them ready to fire. Genesis raised his eyebrows as he handed his pistols over gently, ascertaining from their reaction that their orders were clear; they would fire if he gave them trouble. This too spoke leagues of the admiral’s intentions.
The security officers initiated the code to laser seal and enclosed the cube. Genesis spoke curtly, looking to the pointed weapons training on him, “Easy
now boys, relax a little would you? We don’t want any accidents now do we?” Genesis spoke honestly, truly not feeling like getting shot; he’d suffered enough that day.
With that said, both security officers promptly turned and escorted the weapons into their booth and sealed the thick vault doors behind them with a thud. On cue another hidden door opened, revealing a small fire-team of armed Skrithian guards. His head jerked up as they approached.
Each was suited in their own lesser graded, Mk 4 nanosuits; Genesis knew the design fairly well. They were the battle standard for Skrithian ensigns, who were put into service with these expensive copies and sibling designs of his own powerful armour. Although they were much less advanced than his own, and not physically integrated with the creatures within, they were still of significant cost and technologically high quality. It meant they were nowhere near as bulky or cumbersome as a regular marine, so were perfect for their operators in details such as this, escorting the likes of an Immortal or important VIP.
Genesis also knew that the body-tight nanosuits were purposefully less armoured than their regular human marines due to their much sharper reflexes, which dictated the suit’s faster and more streamlined design. Human TPA was for heavy defence, while the Skrithian’s Mk 4s were customised for melee combat and special-op missions. Genesis quickly sized them up as he realised the situation was going from bad to worse. He was unarmed and the admiral now had him under heavy guard and at an ever increasing disadvantage. Skrithians were widely known for their uncanny tactics, so he had to deem them as a plausible threat, if things were to go … untoward for him.
From prior experience Genesis knew these creatures’ natural bodies were sleek and extremely fast, with talents almost akin to his own. He scanned their armour for weapons, noting carefully what he was up against.
At their sides each Skrithian had four electrode pacification batons loosely slung on their belts. This – along with the strange broken spear insignia upon their shoulders – meant they were members of a melee specialist team picked especially for escorting him.
Genesis looked into their multi-functional, red-glowing goggles as they moved in around him. The humanoid squad of marines that had previously escorted him fell back, covering the rear as Captain Scarlet sidled beside Genesis and motioned the odd group to move forward. With a not so gentle shove from the nearest Skrithian, Genesis was on the move again.
Chapter 22 Osiris
With Justice gone to meditate, Osiris sat alone in the cockpit. Justice troubled him, and he wasn’t sure if he should’ve told him about his possible lineage … but he guessed the SINAI, which was going to test Justice for this ability, would’ve tipped him off soon enough anyhow. He took comfort from the fact that there was little point in concealing it any further. For the meantime he just hoped to the Sacred that the young Wielder didn’t become any more arrogant than he already was – this weakness could eventually be his undoing and he knew it to be a trait he’d refused to have scrubbed away.
Osiris went back to distracting himself; he’d far too much pressing on his mind to worry about Justice at this point anyhow. Again he tried to calm his buzzing thoughts, focusing on the station ahead of him, dwelling on his prior knowledge of the place and trying to stay in the present. He followed the engine’s cool-down cycle as the docking station locked onto their vessel’s trajectory and firmly held their ship to its fixed path with its tractor couplings. A-flight addressed the super vigilant security checks, making sure the docking station’s Al knew they were of no threat to the Elders or SINAI.
Osiris looked on unfazed as row upon row of lasers, particle beams and ion-turrets tracked their craft throughout each of their fields of fire. He knew full well that they were safe to proceed – no ship in existence could come near this place without authorisation and even if attempted, the cloaked robotic minefield surrounding this entire sector of space would’ve already torn an aggressor’s ship well and truly apart.
Keeping this in mind, Pavises directed the tiny ship inbound towards one of the many dock entry points. As they neared their destination the facility framed the entire shuttle’s forward viewports, only now showing the enormity of its size. Osiris took it in, looking upon the grandiose view with pleasure; the many details soothing his mind.
The station was almost a small planet in itself, being over twenty-five kilometres in length and housing a rotating staff of over 400,000 personnel. Pavises even dwarfed the SINAI, with its bulky semi-rectangular and dauntingly massive form imposing upon all within the area.
Although Osiris had regarded it often, as it was the fixed centre of the SINAI facility’s orbit and one of the main fixtures in Earth’s skies, second only to the moon itself, he couldn’t keep from wondering about it. He knew this giant station was designed for a very specific job and its orbit of the SINAI was intentional and yet fundamentally, all things considered, for a fairly simple task – Pavises was created this way for the SINAI’s everlasting protection.
As its name indicated, Pavises was based upon an ancient shield design, and it unwaveringly managed its one function. Any visitors, which were almost exclusively Immortals these days, had to first be subjected to travelling through its many security checks before even setting foot on the SINAI itself.
Osiris knew that after docking at Pavises he would need to be cleared for travel to the SINAI and, as dictated by SED colonial law, disembark from their own vessel to be ferried down via its shuttle service. This was non-negotiable; if one didn’t comply then one simply didn’t gain audience with the SINAI; all must enter Pavises first to continue or else face complete annihilation, there were no loopholes.
With this in place and not even including the extensive squadrons of Paladin fighters and point defence systems, the SINAI was virtually impregnable due to the enormous shielding device that emanated steadily from Pavises, saturating the SINAI with the most powerful energy shield in Terithian space. The ionised particles were super cooled by laser-infused nuclei and continually maintained through a complex power processing plant consisting of 8.3 million tonnes of spinning liquid nano-steel. The constant protection of the SINAI was the core of this docking station’s programming, and it would not deviate in its goal in the slightest. Even the Earth’s own atmosphere was second to its strength, and the one time a ship foolish enough to run an unscheduled mission to the SINAI … well, they were met with complete and utter disintegration, vaporised by the impregnable force, with no trace of their existence ever found.
Osiris smiled as the complexity of the SINAI and Pavises further calmed his racing mind, and he continued deeper into this meditation by thinking of the station’s inhabitants, further drawing his thoughts away from his troubles. In fact, the actual 300,000 or so inhabitants of the shield facility were as much a wonder as the monolith structure itself.
He’d actually been there, many years ago, when they’d explored the neighbouring Outer Rim territories and discovered the odd bipedal creatures hiding amongst the barren moons of Cra’aken. Some of the extermination squads had found the decaying colonies as they swept the area for Seekers of Truth bases. The strange creatures had emerged peacefully, making themselves known as no threat to humanity’s cause. Over the next period of history they eventually earned enough trust, with Terithian leadership, to join the war against the Skinks and become cemented as Earth’s ally and friend.
Osiris knew them now as the Lutieth. After their many years of faithful service to Earth, they had indeed proven themselves more than worthy of such friendship, offering complete and utter service to their Sacred religion.
Osiris remembered that they first functioned within the SED as an accepted race, with DNA similar to humans. Marriage between them and humans was therefore allowed. Eventually this resulted in a new hybrid species; the Skrithian offspring also being eventually accepted within the SED.
The hybrid children represented an improvement, in some respects, on their parents. They were slighter that humans, but a bit larger tha
n the Lutieth. What they lacked in size, they more than made up for with speed and agility, often seen when multi-tasking with their four arms. The other enhancement was the Skrithian’s light blue skin and enlarged catlike eyes, which were efficient in low levels of light.
The Lutieth had stronger telekinetic abilities than the Skrithian, and for the most part, all worked within Pavises.
Rather than living amongst the general population as the Skrithian did, the Lutieth’s service to the SINAI was given freely, in pure devout belief of the Sacred Path. In return for this service, the religion of the Sacred gave their dwindling race unprecedented protection within its most secure location; Pavises. Yet even more importantly for the Lutieth, their joining with humanity gave them safe passage for which their species was granted a new chance to continue and flourish within another, done so in the united amalgamation of the two species.
Osiris also remembered, though, that some measures of precaution were initially taken for humanity’s most Sacred entity’s ensured protection. Each Lutieth choosing a life within Pavises were fitted upon entry with a neural link and passive inhibiter, giving them a harmonious thread to one another and the mind of the SINAI and the Elders. This not only tied them to the SINAI facility – making it and them more powerful – but also granted the Lutieth immortality.
This semiotic system provided a two-pronged advantage, immortality and infallibility, for humanity’s piece of mind. The link made them virtually unable to commit acts of terrorism against the SINAI, not without the SINAI already knowing about it first.
The cockpit quickly slipped into darkness, disturbing Osiris briefly, the looming shadow of Pavises falling over his shuttle. The lights in the cockpit lit up, glowing brightly as they continued onwards with the only sounds in the cockpit coming from the de-accelerating engines.
An uneasy feeling settled over Osiris as the console lit up his face and highlighted the deeply gouged wrinkles in his features. With his thoughts no longer distracted, his anxiousness grew, becoming more prominent than before, not helped by the silence.