Jatouche (Pyreans Book 3)

by S. H. Jucha

  “All paths lead to the Colony,” Jessie remarked.

  “True, Advisor,” Mangoth replied. “The blue line ends at Veklock and the green at Norsitch.”

  “Which path do you advise we take, Mangoth?” Harbour asked.

  “I’ve no opinion as to which direction will give us the greatest opportunity for success, Envoy, I’m sorry to say,” Mangoth replied.

  “Regardless of the direction your teams take, Envoy,” Tacticnok said, “Be aware that I’ve communicated your intentions to the Tsargit, and they’ve instructed Veklock and Norsitch to fulfill any request you make.”

  “So, which way do we go?” Aurelia asked, gazing at Mangoth, Tacticnok, and Jaktook, who she thought would have significant knowledge of the alliance members. Unfortunately, no one replied.

  “What’s the history of these two members with the Colony?” Devon asked.

  “According to Tsargit records,” Jaktook began, “the Veklocks had a single incursion from the Colony, while the Norsitchians have repelled the Colony multiple times since the first attack.”

  “What’s the conjecture about why there was only the one time for the Veklocks?” Jessie asked.

  When Jaktook shrugged, Mangoth said, “The Veklocks are an aero-capable race.”

  Jessie frowned at Harbour, thinking there was a glitch in the translation app.

  “The Veklocks can fly,” Jaktook interjected.

  “They were once capable of traversing the air for long distances,” Mangoth continued. “When the Messinants uplifted them, their bodies underwent severe changes. They became heavier, and their flight limbs were shortened. The combinative effect limited their aero capability to lifting themselves off the ground for a brief spell.”

  “So, when the Colony attacked, the Veklocks escaped by launching themselves off the deck,” Devon supplied.

  “Just so,” Mangoth replied. “To the Colony’s detriment, the Veklocks retained one aspect of their ancient heritage … heavy, sharp beaks. They descended on their foes from above, striking with their beaks and killing them.”

  “Do the Jatouche have anything that could allow us to hover?” Aurelia asked hopefully.

  “This could be developed, given time,” Tacticnok commented.

  “Time is something we don’t have,” Harbour responded. “The Colony knows we’ve made one pass through their dome. More important, they know we’ve discovered their secret. The question becomes: How great is their secret?”

  “Is Mangoth’s information an answer as to direction?” Devon asked.

  “I believe so,” Jessie replied. “A one-time incursion by the Colony, and no reverse attacks by the Veklocks. And, don’t forget, the Colony doesn’t know of the Tsargit injunction.”

  “Eat, refresh yourselves, and rest,” Harbour ordered. “We leave soon.”

  -26-

  Alpha Dome

  Sleep eluded the explorers, but they did get some rest. They lay awake on their pallets in the dorm’s dim light, which edged the joints between the walls and the overhead.

  Jessie occupied the pallet next to Harbour. She sensed his elevated concern and turned her head to find Jessie staring at her.

  When Harbour sighed, Jessie announced in a firm voice, “Everyone up. Time to go.”

  The first time the explorers journeyed to the Colony dome, few were aware of their purpose. This time, the explorers were greeted by a throng of Jatouche soldiers and citizens, in addition to aliens of all sizes and shapes. They dipped their heads to the explorers, as they passed.

  “Nice send-off,” Aurelia commented quietly to Jessie.

  It occurred to Jessie that the throng might have been saluting the brave, who they didn’t expect to return, but he kept the thought to himself.

  “First team up,” Harbour said. She was joined on the platform by Mangoth, Devon, Kractik, Olivia, Pete, and Jacob.

  When team one was ready, Harbour looked at Jessie. “See you and your team at the Veklock dome,” she said.

  Jessie nodded, and Harbour pointed at the Rissness console operator. Team one vanished in a flash of blue light, and Jessie felt his heart squeezed. A hand slipped into his, pressed it lightly, and withdrew. Aurelia had sensed his discomfort.

  Team two, with Jessie, Aurelia, Jaktook, Bryan, Nelson, Tracy, and Dillon, gained the platform and was sent on its way to follow Harbour’s group.

  At each dome, Harbour’s medallion announced her status, which demanded the console operator’s attention. Mangoth, who had memorized their route, called out their destination, and a console operator would point to the correct platform.

  An operator discovered that no sooner had he, she, or it sent the team on their way than a second group arrived behind them. Without much exchange, the operator would point to the desired platform and would send team two through the gate, chasing team one.

  To the Pyreans, the aliens they briefly witnessed throughout their journey presented a dizzying array of lifeforms. They might have paid more attention to the bizarre sights, but a shared thought continued to intrude. With each gate, they got closer and closer to their final location, the Veklocks’ dome. From there, the next journey would land them in the midst of deadly adversaries.

  Many gates later, Mangoth announced, “Envoy, this is the Veklock dome.”

  The Crocian’s statement was unnecessary. Team one looked at a collection of sentients. The majority had thin necks, ruffled in plumage. Their large eyes framed pointed beaks, and their heads had a habit of turning sharply. They wore tunics, which allowed the wings Mangoth had described to remain visible.

  Harbour’s team stepped off the platform, and the Veklocks tipped their beaks to honor her presence.

  Swiftly behind the first team came the second group. When the two teams mingled, Jessie remarked quietly to Harbour, “I might have accumulated enough odd visions to fuel my nightmares for a lifetime.”

  “And we might have had the same impact on many more races,” Harbour replied.

  “Rest or keep going?” Jessie asked Harbour.

  Harbour examined the faces of her teams and tasted their emotions. They appeared a little tired after the numerous journeys, but they were anxious. Attempting to rest would be a waste of time.

  “We go on,” Harbour announced.

  “We require the Colony gate,” Mangoth called to the Veklock operators.

  Beaks turned toward one another in consternation. A Veklock, who appeared to be a dome supervisor, made a comm call. In response, a crew ran up the ramp. They hurried to gate two. It was covered in a transparent globe.

  “Clever,” Jaktook commented, as he watched the crew activate a controller at the base of the globe. It separated the structure into four sections, which slid away from the platform.

  “We must get the formula for this material,” Kractik said. “It allows the beam to merge with the dome without hindering the transmission.”

  “And traps the Colony journeyers,” Devon added.

  The Veklock dome supervisor indicated the now accessible platform.

  “Remember the injunction against killing in the Colony dome,” Harbour said. “However, Devon, if it means saving our lives, then do what you have to do. Worst-case scenario, we admit our transgression, go home to Pyre, and make the most of our overheated little planet.”

  Harbour could taste the rising fear, “Do your best everyone. That’s all I can ask,” she added.

  “Team one on the platform,” Devon called out.

  Harbour turned toward Aurelia. She leaned her forehead against the young woman’s. “Be safe,” she whispered. Then she turned toward Jessie and gripped his hands.

  “See you in alpha dome,” Jessie said. His smile was weak and hesitant.

  “I will see you there,” Harbour replied, making it sound like an order. Then she kissed him firmly and climbed on the platform.

  Helmets were donned and sealed. After looking around at her team, Harbour signaled the console operator.

  * * * *

&n
bsp; The platform light cleared. Red-blacks and grays rose up hissing at the arrival of the intruders into their dome.

  Harbour radiated fear with all the intensity she could muster. It caused the Colony sentients to hesitate briefly, but without Aurelia’s combined power, her sending didn’t defeat their rage. Watching the red-blacks shake off her mental barrage made her worry for Aurelia’s effectiveness on the other team.

  Pete could see the Colony species writhing in anger and knew that Harbour wasn’t going to defeat them. He nudged Harbour in the shoulder, and she shut her gates, as he stepped around her.

  At the platform’s edge, Pete held up his sprayer, triggered it, and swung it in an ever-widening arc, as he walked around the perimeter.

  The gas, designed by the Jatouche medical services units, filled the dome. The advance of the hissing red-blacks and grays slowed and then ceased. They wavered, as if swaying to some unheard music. Then they collapsed to the deck.

  “Hurry, Kractik,” Harbour urged.

  Kractik leapt from the platform and raced to the console, and Mangoth lumbered after her.

  The team noted they’d arrived at gate five. Their target was gate one, clear across the deck. They jumped from the platform and made their way across the twitching bodies of the Colony sentients.

  “They’re not entirely out,” Olivia warned.

  “Hurry,” Harbour replied.

  Kractik was still setting the transfer for gate one when the dome’s air-clearing process kicked on. This had happened in the Triton dome. After sitting unpowered for centuries, its activation had initiated a whirling column that sucked the dust from the dome’s surfaces. In this case, the Colony dome was clearing the gas. Unfortunately, the only explorers who had seen this process were Jessie and Aurelia, and they were on the other team.

  The group hesitated, as the fierce air column swept around them, and Harbour broke through their quandary with a shout of, “Now, on the platform.”

  Galvanized, the group raced for gate one.

  “Go,” Kractik urged Mangoth, shoving on his hip.

  The Crocian hesitated, but realized the dilemma. Protecting Kractik wasn’t the immediate concern. It was speed. He waddled toward the platform, and the diminutive Jatouche raced past him.

  Gaining gate one, Kractik loudly counted down the timing until initiation. She’d shortened the delay period, and Mangoth could see that he might be late. In a final burst of speed, his heart hammering at the thought of being left behind, he bounded on to the platform as the gate lit.

  * * * *

  Team two arrived in the Colony dome in time to see the blue light of gate one spear the dome.

  “They deployed the gas,” Jessie cried out over the comm to be heard over the swirling torrent of air. “Hurry,” he yelled.

  Jaktook made for the console, and Jessie ran behind him. While the Jatouche advisor frantically set gate one, the dome’s sweep of the gas shut down. In an effort to complete the console process as quickly as possible, Jaktook, unlike Kractik, chose the standard delay.

  Jaktook nodded to Jessie, and they turned to make for gate one. In front of them, a gray rose up, blocking their path. It wobbled, swaying from side to side. Jessie shoved at its body, and the gray toppled over.

  “The gas is still affecting their senses,” Jaktook yelled.

  As the pair made their way toward gate one, more aggressors rose up in front of them. Each one was a little more conscious and less under the influence of the gas. Finally a red-black hissed and lunged at Jessie. Its heavy pincers threatened to close on him, and Jessie stuck the weapon he carried into the grasping mandibles. The strength of the red-black shocked him, as the attacker tore the weapon from his grasp and hurled it across the dome.

  Jessie snatched Jaktook and retraced his steps.

  “The gate,” Jaktook called out. “We won’t make it.”

  The rest of the team was at gate one, fighting to hold off the aggressors, who woke up near them.

  “Reset the gate,” Aurelia yelled out. When Jessie hesitated, she stepped off the platform and swung her weapon into the body of a swaying gray.

  Nelson followed Aurelia, and Jessie could see their intentions. They were going to carve a path for Jaktook and him.

  “Reset,” Jessie ordered. He’d swung Jaktook over his shoulder and was grateful to feel the Jatouche’s weight settle on his back. A gray rose up, and Jessie planted a boot in its midsection. Punching and kicking grays, Jessie fought his way back to the console.

  Jaktook clambered off Jessie’s back and hurriedly reset the gate. When he reached the delay menu, he asked, “How long?”

  Jessie eyed the team, who were fighting aggressively to reach them. But with every second, more Colony members scuttled up the ramp, and none of these had been affected by the gas.

  “Forty,” Jessie replied, and he counted off three numbers to give Jaktook an idea of the timing.

  Dillon saw a red-black rise up behind his sister. With no time to warn her, he swung his weapon around to embed the entity in a sticky web. But the red-black was swifter. Its heavy pincers grabbed Dillon around the neck, shook him, and tossed his body away. The young spacer died from a broken neck.

  Tracy screamed her brother’s name and fired her weapon at the red-black. It was the same tool her brother had carried. The net landed over the red-black’s head and wrapped around the upper body. Exposed to the air, its sticky filaments instantly shrunk and dried. The attacker hissed its anger and fell to the deck. Its lower legs clawed at the filaments in an effort to extricate itself from the webbing.

  Tracy sobbed, as she pulled another canister from her belt, split open her launcher, and loaded another shot. She pushed to the forefront of the team and fired on two grays, ensnaring both of them. She kicked them over and reloaded.

  Jessie climbed on the console, which horrified Jaktook. However, he didn’t hesitate a moment to grasp the hand that was held out to him. With the added height, Jessie was better able to fend off the grays, but he watched two red-blacks making their way toward them.

  Jaktook unloaded his audio generator, powered it up, and triggered it at the sentients, attacking from the ramp.

  Jessie received a burst of unrecognizable sounds in his ear wig. He figured the little Jatouche was swearing because none of the Colony members were curling up in agony as they had before. That’s when Jessie noted small patches on the sides of their heads. “Protective pads over their membranes,” Jessie shouted, pointing to the side of a gray’s head before he kicked it.

  As the team closed on Jessie, he grabbed Jaktook and swung him up behind him. The Jatouche dropped the nozzle of his generator and snatched at the straps on Jessie’s suit. Jessie launched them off the console at the two grays, who stood between them and the team. He knocked them down with his weight.

  “Roll away,” Tracy called out.

  Jaktook jumped free, and Jessie squirmed out of the way of snapping pincers, as Tracy embedded the two grays in a net.

  The team retraced their steps to the platform, leaping over entangled or unconscious foes. Several oozed body fluids from cracked segments where the team had struck them. The group regained the platform, and Aurelia stepped forward to halt a red-black with her power. It hesitated and hissed its displeasure.

  Tracy spared a final glance at her brother’s inert body, and then the gate fired.

  * * * *

  Team one appeared in the alpha dome. The view was similar, except no red-blacks were in evidence. However, the rules had changed for the explorers.

  Devon stepped to the forefront of the platform and powered his beam weapon. A gray reared up in front of him, and Devon fired in reflex. A holed drilled through the gray’s head, giving it the appearance of a third eye, and it slumped to the deck.

  “So much for a wounding shot,” Devon remarked.

  Immediately, another gray took the first one’s place, and Devon managed to hit it in the midsection. When that didn’t faze the sentient, he shot it in th
e head.

  The remainder of the grays held back when they saw two of their members drop inertly to the deck.

  “Off the platform,” Harbour ordered. The team jumped down, and Harbour directed them. “Everyone, wave your arms toward the ramp. Devon, stay at our front and threaten them with your weapon.”

  Reluctant at first, the grays accepted that they were being offered an escape route. They dropped to the deck to utilize their entire leg pairs, scurrying across the deck and down the ramp.

  A flare of light signaled the operation of the gate that led to the Colony dome. Jacob looked over his shoulder. “Team two has arrived,” he announced on the comm, happy not to see a mass of squirming Colony sentients. When he counted only six individuals, he gulped, and returned to waving his arms. It didn’t seem the time to distract the envoy.

  “Kractik, the console,” Harbour ordered. “Get ready to close the wedge.”

  Kractik edged slowly toward the console, keeping close to Mangoth, as the grays backed away.

  A few foolhardy attackers tried circling behind team one, Pete tapped Devon on the shoulder, and the lieutenant aimed his weapon their way. The grays received the message loud and clear. They backed away and headed toward the ramp.

  Jessie’s team recognized the tactic being employed and joined in the process, waving their arms at every Colony sentient in sight. The explorers carefully circled every platform to ensure no grays hid there. When the final Colony sentient slipped down the ramp, Kractik tapped the console panel, and a wedge in the deck slid closed.

  “This isn’t permanent, Envoy,” Kractik announced. “If the sentients trigger the plate at the bottom of the ramp, the wedge will open.”

  “Devon stand guard at the ramp,” Harbour said. “If the wedge opens, wait until you see an attacker and then put a shot in a tail section. Then Kractik can close it again.”

  “Understood, Envoy,” Devon replied.

  “Mangoth, deploy a net over platform three. I don’t want any of the Colony following us,” Harbour requested. She turned to speak to the other team. The scene that greeted her stole her breath away. Aurelia was hugging a figure she couldn’t identify. From across the deck, she could sense the waves of grief that poured off team two, and Aurelia’s efforts to soothe them. The count was six explorers, and Harbour hurried to them. When she saw Jessie, relief flooded through her. Then she identified that it was Dillon who was missing, and Aurelia was hugging Tracy.