by Odin Oxthorn
The vacancy left her anxious, and she steeled her nerves as she vaulted over the parapet. Crouching behind a ventilation generator, she toyed with her network programs to get her bearings.
Garrett followed suit, pushing and shoving against the amorphous code. Further exploration revealed familiar shapes nearing the applications, rounded lines that straightened to a singular point. With a gentle suggestion, he molded the material to a more familiar shape. His studies of the language assisted his prods, helping him make educated decisions in his quest. After a selection of actions, a viewpoint opened to him, revealing the interior views of the fortress.
A mess hall flickered into view, displaying a few members casually eating and washing up while others toyed with tablets and played war simulations for study. A few tinkered with styluses, scribbling away notes as a form of meditation. Ultimately, it was not the appearance of a rebel outpost.
“I got camera access if you need it,” he announced.
“Cameras?” Nara stared up in vexation. I shouldn’t be surprised. Who knows what tech Abberon stole and took advantage of? “Anything near the beacon coordinates?”
“I’ll look. Everything seems to be partitioned off in their own isolated paths.”
She crept over the rooftop, heading for the flashing waypoint on her view. Brushing away the ice collecting on the floor, she pressed a hand against the metal pane. Streams of code radiated from her fingers in shimmering sky-blue tendrils. A moment later, the tile of metal warped translucent, revealing the interior of the complex.
Down below, she spotted the sterile white atmosphere of a gaming arena. Seven tech-suited figures danced about in a flight of combat, all engaged with one hapless unsuited victim. The room echoed with a CRUNCH as she witnessed Bellanar’s jaw whip to one side. A spray of blood splattered over the walls.
Denying them respite, she hurled another spell at the floor, dissolving the glass into nothingness. The warmth of the controlled environment kissed her sensors as she dove into the fray, her suit cushioning her fall with a soft thud. She snatched a soldier preparing for a second strike and yanked them by the shoulder, hurling them to the side.
The others seeing the flight of their comrade rushed to their aid, dropping Bellanar in the process. Nara slid to his side, catching his fall and resting him on her knees.
“Ngh… ffnd oot…” Bellanar grumbled as he struggled with his dysfunctional lips, pointing behind her.
All faces locked on her, aware of her presence. They closed in, their fists primed to deal with the intruder.
Nara dragged Bellanar and propped him to a seated position as she fumbled with functions inside her head. She slapped a hand on the wall, the data streams once again fanning out of her fingertips.
But the soldiers were insistent on keeping her here, charging forward to disrupt her retreat.
“Ah, fuck.” She released the wall to lash out a jab into the attacker’s throat, dodging a second oncoming strike while dipping down and slamming her shoulder into their chest.
The mob circled her, trapping her inside a tangle of grasping hands and flying knees. She ducked and weaved, meeting each strike with a counter of her own. She maintained her ground, matching their skill with restraint to conserve her energy. But they gave her no quarter, intensifying their speed to overtake her.
As she thrust one body away, another leaped on her back, snaking their arms around her throat. She sank into her weight and heaved back, slamming their back against the wall. Unleashing a roar of strain, she snapped up to her feet and smashed the top of her head into their jaw, the blow knocking their senses away. Their grip weakened, and she cast them off her with a violent shake, flinging them to the ground.
She was given no chance to savor her victory as others started to grab for her arms, weaving themselves around her like sentient vines. Meeting their traps with a web of her own, she twisted around and grabbed a pair of individuals by their elbows. With a deep inhale, she planted her footing solidly into the ground. Her breath forcibly released with a heave and she flexed her pectorals, swinging her arms inward to slam the duo into each other. She grabbed their throats and hurled them away, planting a kick into one to launch them further.
A soldier swiftly cut off her recovery and unleashed a flurry of blows, keeping themselves just barely out of her reach. She played along with their distraction, edging forward and raising her hands to engage in the playful fisticuffs, letting a second unit sidle toward her side.
The interloper chose their opening and stepped in, but Nara sensed their intent, twisting around to face them. Arcing her hand out, she lunged forward and grabbed their throat, pulling them close to her. She snaked her arm around theirs, binding them together. With a twist of a hip, she flipped them around, dropping a leg behind their ankle to throw them off balance. Seizing their shoulder, she snatched their waving arms and yanked their back against her.
The mob recouped their efforts and rushed to the aid of their friend. She was ready for them. Hoisting her victim up with a strained growl, she dangled her toy in front of their company, just high enough that their toes barely scraped the floor. She unleashed a mighty bellow and hurled her living weapon forward, chucking them into the oncoming squad. The pack stumbled in a dance of tangled feet as the body collided with them.
Nara bolted to a wall, slapping her hand on the surface to reattempt the brute force program.
“C’mon, c’mon!” she roared at the sequence of code.
With one final click, the wall behind her dissipated. She leaped into action, dragging Bellanar through the makeshift door into an empty corridor. Daring a glance back at the arena, she watched as the soldiers stopped, befuddled by the loss of their quarry. In an instant, they retreated, carried off to fight another foe as the wall re-materialized.
“Let’s get you situated.” She knelt down to Bellanar, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. He groaned a pittance of protest as she stood up, pulling him up to her waist so she could carry him around.
INITIATING ESCORT PROCEDURES.
The armor melted and warped over her back, stretching out of her body in aqueous strands. Bellanar uttered a quiet moan as the material slipped around his tender flesh, coating him in its metallic embrace.
“Mmf hroh,” Bellanar managed, drifting between realities as his injuries took their hold on him.
“Shut it,” Nara scolded as she stretched her now free arms, toying with settings in her HUD. She made her way down a corridor, creeping toward an intersection. Chattering of conversation halted her step, and she leaned out the corner to assess the situation.
MIRROR OVERLAY ACTIVATED. The armor announced as the skin warped colors, reflecting its surroundings to make Nara appear practically invisible against the interior of the facility.
She slinked around the corner, crossing over the bright lights of a mess hall where the revelry amplified. No one took notice of her presence, absorbed in their collective meals. An odd thought tickled the back of her mind.
Many times, she had played the games and fought others from another region, but at the end of the day, they were still her comrades. Still part of her community. The idea that they were now enemies left an unsavory taste in her mouth. It was hard not to demonize them for siding with such a deplorable leader. But what did he promise them? And what did he conceal from them?
Garrett watched the scene with unease, pressing the security further for more useful information. But this time, the ooze pushed back. Harder. It wriggled up to greet him, flicking a forked tongue of analytical feelers. The force seeped up his digital fingers until it coiled around his influence, gradually consuming it with voracious hunger.
“The hell…” He tried to remove himself from the system, but the machine no longer obeyed his commands. Panic began to rise as connections severed against his will. The fortress seeped further into his machinery, spreading its paralytic toxins to the core. He watched dumbfounded as it spread through his connection with Nara, trickling into her s
uit. “Oh, shit, NARA! I have to go! Some sort of trapdoor. Cut it off! FUCK!”
Paranoia forced his hands as he raised the tablet over his head. He slammed the device against the arm of the chair, snapping it in half with a spray of sparks and glass glitter. Blood seeped from his skin as he tore through the guts of the computer, shredding wires and popping chips out of the board.
He stared at the carnage, the severity of the situation dawning on him. Shit.
“Wait—” This silence came down on Nara like an impact hammer. A strange sensation edged closer to her, enveloping her HUD with its vile influence. She flinched as the viewscreen spasmed chaotically, her icons and graphs flashing signals sporadically. Alarms and sirens stuttered shrill cries inside her skull. Colors and shapes lashed across her vison, throwing her in an ocean of disorientation.
She staggered back, bracing one ear against the side of her helmet as the violent imagery warped, the screen cycling through every spectrum of the rainbow. Words shuddered and printed, nonsensical symbols and phrases in languages unbeknown to her, reverberating across her eyes in bright contrasting colors. Her heart raced inside her chest, her breath echoing in stifling gasps as she fought with the sensory invasion.
A second later, the surrealist jargon ceased, frozen on a still white screen.
-HELLO, ELAM.-
He knows. A familiar fire began to seep into her vision. She swatted it aside, frantically reaching for a setting in her mind, commanding the armor to obey.
With a spark and a sizzle, a jolt of electricity jabbed her in the neck. The scent of smoke teased her nostrils as the override notified her of success.
HARDWARE CONNECTION DISENGAGED. DEPLOYING SAFETY COUNTERMEASURES.
She braced Bellanar on her back as the armor peeled away from her skin, exposing her inside enemy territory. The device popped off her neck, and she grumbled as she picked it up with a hiss of a curse.
Now what? She glanced into the mess hall. No one had noticed the commotion. A sigh of irritation manifested in her throat. With her digital hacking tools out of commission, she decided to resort to social engineering, a technique she was not as versed with.
She straightened her posture and reached around the back of her neck, extracting an outer weather hood from the seam in her collar. Pulling it over her face, she sauntered ahead, adding an assertive confidence to her stride toward the hangar bay.
The compound was relatively quiet, most taking their leisure in the mess hall. Whenever she heard footsteps, she made a point of crossing a different path. Nothing unusual of note was observed while adventuring through the facility. No secret laboratories, no weapons manufacturing, no biomedical display. No prisons. It was just a normal housing facility, albeit isolated inside a harsh tundra. Abberon was exerting quite an effort to keep his plot out of their ears.
“Is everything all right, Serr?”
Nara looked to her left to spot a soldier regarding them with concern. Upon seeing the decommissioned Bellanar, they hastened their approach.
“Yes, thank you. I had just arrived and was off to check out the arena matches when my colleague and I embarked on a wager first.” She shifted the body on her back. “Suffice to say I won that wager.”
They glanced down at Bellanar, who raised a feeble thumbs-up. “They look critical. Let me help you to the med bay.”
“I would rather not have you go to the trouble of cleaning up your uniform. I am afraid both Serr and I have indulged in a bit more liquor than advised when training.” Upon cue, a gurgling noise rumbled out of Bellanar’s throat. It was immediately followed by a juicy belch and chortle echoing across the corridor.
“I see.” Their eyebrows wrinkled in confusion. “Well, at least permit me to alert the med bay of your arrival.”
“That won’t be necessary. We will be returning to the mainland to repair our pride as well as our bodies. I have a ride en route that should be arriving shortly.”
“Are you sure about that? Serr looks a little worse for wear. I must insist that they be checked out first.”
“Shall we see what they think?” Nara challenged. “Lieutenant, would you like Ensign to tend to you here?”
Bellanar raised his hands up, knitting his fingers into a succinct gesture to speak his mind. “NO.”
“I see.” She nodded with a smirk. “And where would you like to be treated?”
He signed another word. “Home.”
Nara raised her hand in affirmation. “You see?”
“Surely, they are not in a state to speak for themselves,” the soldier protested. “Even if alcohol were not involved.”
“Lieutenant.” She looked up at the ragged body on her shoulder. “What do you think?”
Bellanar glared at the Ensign, his gesture emphasized with sharp, terse jabs at the air. “HOME.”
“Satisfied? Or would you like to prolong their discomfort?”
The ensign moved their glances between the two, their expression reeling with uncertainty. “If that is what they consent to. My apologies, Officers.”
“Then you will excuse us.”
“Yes, Officer.” They bowed and scurried off, warily glancing over their shoulder before turning the corner.
Nara shook her head and continued her journey until she reached the hangar. Mechanics were scattered about the room tailoring their machines, oblivious to the happenings of the world. Avoiding potential eye contact, she marched forward until she reached a pile of beams stacked near the wall. She shrugged off Bellanar and gently placed him against the beams, letting him get as comfortable as possible on a cold metal floor.
“Wait here,” she ordered.
A shadow of a smirk traced over his broken lips. “Mmm.”
Nara brushed the creases from her clothing, then walked over to the nearest mechanic. She glared at their back, shaking her head at their disinterest in her presence. Having had enough waiting, she tapped them on the shoulder.
“Ack! What!? I—” They snapped around to meet her eyes, then calmed their tone once the startle subsided. “My apologies. I didn’t expect anyone else arriving today.”
“Relax, I’m off duty,” she assured with a wave of a hand. “Hey, can I take one of the carts out on the mountains? I want to capture some stills of the lightning patterns and I left my card in the barracks.”
They blinked. “There’s a storm out. That’s kind of dangerous, don’t you think?”
She stared at them blankly. “Which is why I want to go out. I doubt I will get many good shots of lightning during a light breeze.”
“You have a point.” They cleared their throat uncomfortably. “Sorry, it has been hectic as of late.”
“Oh?” Nara folded her arms, leaning against the ship they worked on. “What’s been going on?”
“A lot more people have been coming in and out to use the compact arena, which is causing some resource strain.” They sighed. “And the supply deliveries are having a hard time getting out here since we’re so far out from HQ.”
She examined their distressed posture, sensing an ulterior matter lacing their tone. “Is that all?”
“I, uh, well.” They shook their head violently. “Besides that, just some personal issues piling up that I don’t want to trouble you with.”
“I’m listening.” She tilted her head curiously.
“I… ah.” They rubbed the back of their neck uncomfortably. “I mean, it’s really nothing. Just general malaise.”
“General malaise has a source, no matter how unconventional,” she pressed.
“I didn’t mean, oh, pain.” They released a defeated sigh. “It’s just… everyone around seems to be content in their life, and I don’t share their feelings. And I can’t really explain why.”
“Sounds like you need a change of study,” she remarked.
“Yeah, you aren’t the first to tell me. I just can’t help but feel like I am stuck. Nothing motivates me.”
“Have you talked to your CO about it?”
&nb
sp; “Yeah, and they are open to a shift change.” They scrubbed their face in agitation. “I just have to tell them where to.”
“Others can only lend a hand. You have to be the one to take it,” Nara pointed out. Do as I say, not as I do, all right?
“Yeah.” They cleared their throat. “Anyway, sorry. I didn’t mean to trouble you with my problems. Let me fire up a cruiser for you.”
“I would appreciate that.” The conversation felt off, as if their issues were festering inside them for the longest time, lacking the proper channels to output their thoughts. Or perhaps they were too afraid to bring it up to anyone for fear of shying away from the status quo. Then she came along, the first person to take an interest, and they were compelled to spew everything to a total stranger.
Other warlords had chastised her before about fraternizing too deeply into the personal lives of those under her command, but disassociation never brought a cohesive functioning unit in the battlefield. At least in her experience.
The mechanic led her to an all-terrain vehicle, equipped with a grid of roll bars and an articulated chassis that assisted in flipping the car back on its right side should the driver take a spill. They opened the door and reached inside, pressing a chip on the ignition switch.
“All yours,” they announced with a smile and a nod.
“I appreciate that. I’ll just grab my gear.” Nara locked their eyes and put a hand on their shoulder. “And you take care of yourself, you hear me?”
They shifted uncomfortably. “Certainly.”
“I mean it.”
“Of course, Serr.” A smile cracked their dour lips. “Have a safe journey. And bring it back in one piece, please.”
“Will do. If I’m not back in an hour, assume I’m dead.”
The mechanic chuckled and waved, returning to their spark ablutions underneath the belly of their aircraft.
When they were clear of view, Nara went back to collect Bellanar, wrapping him over her back.