Leanne wanted so much to look over at Coram, to see his handsome face. But she knew that if she did, what she would see would be a reflection of the powerlessness, the helplessness, that she herself felt. They had battled together, lain together, and loved together. They had flown into danger together. And now, they would serve the ultimate evil in all of space together.
And knowing that, Leanne despaired. She would likely never feel Coram’s touch, his kiss, his penetration again. They would now be only living tools of the High Chimerian. Anything else between them was dead, and she could not even summon the tears to mourn what they had shared for just a few precious hours. It was all gone now. Their feelings and their future, gone forever, taken in the hands of the monster that now held their minds and bodies in its heinous, inhuman grasp.
The voice of the High Chimerian rumbled into Leanne’s mind and the minds of all present. We are now as a single being, a single mind, a single soul, a single purpose. My sublime and eternal genes now live in the cells of each and every one of you. As of this moment, you
belong to me. We are the beginning of a new tree of life which will take root across time and space. You will spread the seed of this tree across this planet, across all planets. You and those you gather into our embrace will bring all life into the Unity. It is inevitable, and it is glorious.
Go now. Go forth and bring the Unity to Lacerta. Leave no being untouched. Gather them all and make us strong and triumphant. In your thoughts, I have planted the way. Go forth and use what you have been given. You are as the cells of my own body. Go from here, and unite this planet. Go…go…GO…
On some implanted instinct, Leanne lifted her hand before her face. In her palm, she could see a spread of reddish purple veins that she did not have before. They tingled with a power that she did not previously have; she could feel it. All she needed to do was simply touch the palm of her hand to the skin of any other being who had not been gathered into the Unity. By touch alone, she would spread the unifying, mind-and-soul-smothering genes of the High
Chimerian into her victim.
Her power to claim others was unlimited. She could touch one, or a hundred, or a thousand, or a million, and each and every one would be unified. She multiplied her new power by all the other personnel in the cavern with her, and multiplied them by the entire population of Lacerta, and multiplied that by the population of every other planet in known space, all the way to Earth itself. No one would be spared. They would unify, or they would perish. And knowing that, Leanne despaired all the more. She could do nothing now but obey her alien master.
As one, the troops in the cavern began to move.
_______________
In minutes, they were in the air over the forest and flying back in the direction of Silverwing. Coram and Leanne were in their hovercar just as they had been before. In the air around them were all the other craft that had flown in with them, and all the others in dragon form or wearing jet harnesses who had flown in with them.
The forest canopy rolled beneath them, and the towers of Silverwing gleamed before them, looming larger at their approach. And as they drew nearer, other shapes appeared in the air, coming in from the farther distance. The oncoming shapes quickly resolved into view and became a swarm of other armor-skinned weredragons, other Fleet flying craft, other jet-harnessed fleet troops. One swarm of fighters flew directly at the other. They would meet right over the city limits of Silverwing.
The inbound personnel came within range, and it began. Laser fire sliced the air from the ones who had come from the cavern. It struck individuals and ships alike, and the air over the city limits of Silverwing came alive with flashes of light and showers of sparks. The flying craft were built to withstand the punishment, but where the lasers struck an individual in flight, there was a moment of shock and then the sick horror of a dragon or a human plummeting from the air to the rooftops and streets below.
The feeling of a nightmare erupting into reality was palpable. The inbound fighters who expected to be joining their fellows swerved and spun and banked away in total confusion. The air became a chaos of forms and vessels flying in every direction. And those now possessed by the High Chimerian pressed their attack. More laser bolts seared out. More vehicles were struck, and more bodies fell out of the sky. The inbound strike force scrambled to regroup and respond to this sudden, savage assault by their own brethren. One massively built weredragon, flying under his own power, immediately took the lead.
Using his badge to patch in with the comm systems of his comrades, the lead Knight called, “Something’s happened to them! They can’t be in control of themselves; they must have been taken over somehow! Form on me and set all weapons to heavy stun! Bring down as many as you can! Hold the line; don’t let them further into the city! Move, move, move!”
The inbound troops responded instantly, and the lead Knight was now the point man in a retaliating assault, all of his fellows forming a wedge of resistance behind him. They charged through the air, weapons firing. They gave as good as they had gotten. In the time it took to say it, they began to pick off individual members of the force coming from the mountain.
Bodies on the other side started to fall from the sky, going the way of the victims they had claimed only seconds ago. And now, it was the pawns of the High Chimerian who swerved and scrambled for defense, starting to fan out over a larger area to make themselves less of a concentrated target. But the lead Knight of the opposing side was ready for them.
“Don’t let them spread out!” the leader called. “Surround them and contain them! Move in and start using the anti-mutagen when you’re in range! They may be infected; if they are, that will stop them! Move now!”
Again, the troops formed on the lead Knight acted. As the possessed forces spread out for evasive maneuvers, the free Lacertans and Fleet members spread out wider and began to hem them in. And as they swooped and dove closer to their quarry, they deployed their other weapon. In a moment, the air over Silverwing was thick with clouds of anti-mutagen vapor.
The possessed flew into the mists, and the results followed. Weredragons and Fleet members began to drop from the air like insects engulfed in a toxic spray. Their hovercars and flying craft started to spiral downward away from the retaliation, their pilots and passengers barely able to work the controls. The sounds of crashing vehicles striking buildings and pavement tore mercilessly at the air. The sounds of screams rose up from the city below.
Coram and Leanne saw a bank of anti-mutagenic mist billowing and spreading in their direction. Coram leaned into the controls and sent their craft into a swift, steep dive for the rooftops. The sky and city blurred in their sight; the wind whooshed loudly in their ears. In the nick of time, Coram pulled out of their dive and began to shoot over the city until a voice came through his badge: “Sir Coram, Commander Shire, stand down at once! Stand down!”
The sound of the voice on the badge felt to Leanne as if twin spikes were being driven into her head and her heart. Her pulse had slowed slightly after being accelerated in the dive; the sound of that voice pumped it up again. Something in the deepest part of herself felt as if it were struggling with all its might, trying to tear itself free. She looked over at Coram and could tell the same thing was happening to him. His nobly handsome face had gone into a clench; his teeth were on edge. He slowed the hovercar and came in for a landing on the nearest roof.
Together, Coram and Leanne bounded out of the hovercar. Coram drew his powerblade and readied himself for a confrontation. One of his gauntlets was off; he was ready to end any battle with a touch, adding any opponents to the forces of the High Chimerian. Leanne was likewise ready, her laser pistol drawn, her free hand tingling and prepared to take down and take over any foe.
Swooping and hurtling their way down came two armor-skinned weredragons, one with a powerblade glowing in the morning air, the other brandishing his mist rifle. They landed on the roof and raised their weapons. From one of them, the one wielding the rifle,
came the same voice that had come over Coram’s badge: “Repeat: Stand down. We don’t want to engage you. We want to help.”
Again, the voice of this dragon Knight struck at something deep inside the two of them. Leanne and Coram both felt their muscles tighten, both at the anticipation of personal combat and at the very sound of that voice. The thing that struggled in the depths of their hearts now thrashed and strained for release. The insidious power of the High Chimerian worked inside them, forcing them to hold their ground, bracing them to charge ahead and add their adversaries to the legion of the possessed. As if detached from her own body, Leanne heard herself say, “You will join the Unity. We will take this planet for the Chimerians.”
“No,” said the dragon man with the rifle. “You don’t want to do this, Commander Shire. You’re a human being. You serve Earth and the Fleet. Do not resist.” And he aimed his rifle directly at Leanne and Coram.
Frowning as grimly as it was possible to frown with so angelically handsome a face,
Coram raised his powerblade. But something continued to stir inside him. The very mention of resistance made that deep thing in him want to resist. Leanne trained her weapon on the two Knights, swaying the business end of the laser menacingly from one to the other. With one shot, she would end this standoff—though in that dark corner of her being, something still protested.
The leader of the two opposing Knights cried, “Now!” All four beings on the rooftop blurred into action. The enemy dragon with the power blade leapt into the air, tucked his wings, went into a spin, and came down in front of Coram. He swung his energy sword hard, and Coram slashed his own blade forward.
The two blades of power connected with a blast of sparks. The two Knights, Coram in human form and his foe in dragon form, swung, stabbed, and thrust at each other, going into a dance of aggression and defense, wheeling about on the rooftop, lunging and parrying, each one vying for an opening. Just one connection of a blade with its target would end the standoff.
The Knight leader closed in on Leanne. “Don’t move,” he said, “and this will be over.” Leanne aimed her weapon and fired. Somehow, something made her twitch the hand holding the laser just enough that when she pulled the trigger, the bolt of energy seared the air just past the horned head of the oncoming dragon man. She knit her brow, clenched her teeth, and
prepared to fire again. “You had me point blank,” said the Knight, “and you missed. Don’t try again. Just surrender.”
Again, Leanne fired. This time, her shot grazed the edge of the dragon man’s wing. He reared back with a hiss, but did not stand down. He got her in the sights of his rifle and said, “You missed again. I repeat: Don’t move. Don’t resist, and this will be over.”
Leanne made a sound like a stifled bellow of rage. She poised her finger at her trigger once again. This time, she would not miss. This time, she would drop the Knight and leave him vulnerable and ready for her touch. Just as she was ready to squeeze off her shot, the Knight spread his wings, leapt up, tucked his wings again, went into a somersault, and went hurtling over Leanne’s head.
Everything that happened next came almost too fast to follow. The Knight hit the roof directly behind her. Leanne spun, swinging her weapon around to fire another shot. In the instant that her balance was shifted, the Knight lashed out with his tail and grabbed her by the wrist that held her laser. His tail wrenched her hand upward. The shot stabbed upward into the air, striking nothing.
Leanne struggled in the grip of the dragon’s tail to pull her hand free and shoot at him again. It was futile. The Knight aimed his mist rifle and squeezed off a shot of his own. Instantly, Leanne was engulfed in a billowing, tingling whiteness. She coughed, staggered, went limp, and sank to her knees on the roof.
Only a few meters away, Coram and his opponent still vied at each other. The Knight opposing him closed in for the attack, parrying Coram’s thrust with his blade while swinging his tail forward to grab the wrist of the hand holding the blade. Leering fiendishly, Coram brought his free, un-gauntleted hand up and clenched it around the Knight’s clutching tail. The dragon man’s body went into a spasm, lurching and thrashing at the mutating touch of the possessed
Coram. He hissed and roared at the feeling of the alien influence seeping into his body, coiling about his mind and smothering his will. Coram held his opponent tightly, letting the genes of the High Chimerian do their work…
And suddenly, his whole world turned white, and he tingled all over as if static electricity were crawling up and down his body. He went limp and dropped onto the roof, sensing his foe doing the same. They lay still until the mist enveloping them cleared. Then, Coram blinked, opened his eyes and found himself staring up into the dragon face of the Knight leader who had shot him—and set him free.
The Knight reached down a gauntleted hand. Inhaling his first free breath since leaving the cavern, Coram took the hand and let the Knight help him up. Regaining his feet, he blurted out, “Leanne…?”
“Over there, Sir Knight,” said his liberator.
Coram turned in the direction that the leader Knight was pointing, and saw Leanne also rising to her feet, literally and figuratively coming out of a fog. He bolted over to her and took her by the shoulders. She looked up at him, and he could see her mind clearing. “Leanne,” he said, “talk to me. Say something.”
All she could say was his name. “Coram…” She was immensely relieved, the
relief of knowing she was thinking with her own mind, speaking with her own voice.
For a moment, Leanne allowed herself the small luxury of being pulled tightly into
Coram’s arms. Then, they broke their momentary embrace at the call of the Knight leader who stepped towards them. “That will have to wait until all is done. We’re not out of danger yet.”
Leanne and Coram watched their liberator stride forward, releasing his dragon form to his human form as he moved. With one step, he was a dragon man. Two steps later, he was a human Knight. And Leanne and Coram gazed and blinked at the warm brown skin and noble features of Sir Hagen Maxon.
CHAPTER 12
Leanne was speechless. After so many years, he had come to her rescue—again.
“You’ll have to recover your equilibrium quickly,” Sir Hagen said to her and Coram as they both felt as if they were coming out of a deep fog. “Our forces have taken heavy casualties from being made to battle each other. Many have fallen and will not join this battle any further. Some…,” a look of rue and sorrow came over him, which he quickly chased away, “…will not rise again. And we still have an enemy to defeat.”
Somehow, Leanne managed to breathe out his name: “Sir Hagen…” She felt Coram’s hands tighten on her shoulders as if to steady her. He knew full well what this of all Knights meant to her. Leanne felt almost embarrassed. She was a trained, proficient, highly competent officer of the Interstar Fleet. She was capable of handling any number of crises or danger situations in a skilled, mindful, and totally unflappable manner. And yet, at this moment, she was
almost transformed into a sixteen-year-old girl all over again.
Hagen addressed her. “Yes, Commander Shire…?”
Suddenly, feeling the passage of the years again, Leanne withdrew from Coram’s arms—but he stayed right where he was at her side—and straightened up. “It’s…nothing, Sir Knight. Thank you for getting Sir Coram and me out of…that.”
“I’m thankful that so many of us have been saved for all who have fallen,” Hagen replied. He looked at the cityscape around them, and Leanne and Coram did the same. The rooftops were dotted and littered with uniformed and armor-skinned figures, now at rest for the moment after the ordeal of Chimerian takeover and the battle of Lacerta’s defenders against each other. “Fleet Headquarters and the Spires anticipated the need for reinforcements in this crisis.
They sent in everyone available from communities neighboring Silverwing. And there were plenty of volunteers. We were prepared for practically anything—except batt
ling our own people. That caught us off-guard—and it cost us. It could have been worse, but we’ve taken a loss of casualties and injured that we won’t soon forget.”
“The forces that went into that mountain were caught off-guard even worse than you were,” said Leanne. She could not keep the look of pain and abject loathing from her face. “To have the will of that…creature…taking us over, filling up our minds…” She could hardly say another word. The disgust of it was too great to express.
“That ‘creature?’” Hagen wondered aloud.
Coram answered for Leanne, “It’s dire, Sir Hagen. That energy fountain is tapping power from inside the planet. The power is being assimilated, used by a clone of…”
A rising of voices from the surrounding rooftops and streets made Coram cut himself off in mid-sentence. Instinctively, the three of them looked in the direction of the mountain. As
impossibly as it had appeared, the gusher of energy rising from the peak was now flickering and strobing as if it were a giant candle fire with a great invisible hand passing and waving over it. The sight was as eerie and disquieting as the phenomenon itself.
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