Commander Rex And The Black Unicorn (Kingdom Chronicles Book 2)

by Jesse Wilson

  Rex picked up his communicator. “I need a head count. Is everyone still alive out there?” he asked and waited, hoping for the best but expecting some bad news.

  “The robot and I are fine. Nymie and Drask are knocked out cold. Evie has a broken arm and is bleeding and we had to drag the two of them inside. We're damned lucky they weren't killed. What in the hell happened?” Tayne replied to him and Rex looked around in the dark water and it was hard to see anything around him.

  “I don't have a clue, I'm just as confused as you are, let's regroup back at where the tower used to be,” Rex replied and started to swim in that direction. He saw Moreno's lifeless body floating away in some weak current. The man didn't escape the crushing water, Rex couldn't help but feel bad for him. Moreno was just another of many ghosts now in the ghost town of Naber.

  “I'll make whoever did this pay for it,” he said and started to swim towards where the tower used to be.

  Evie's blood ran down her forehead and a glowing cast was wrapped around her left arm. Tayne was carrying Nymie in his arms. Drask was floating in a glowing bubble behind Evie and the machine was walking beside her.

  Boz was there at the tower, waiting for them “Well, Elrox did you no favors, or maybe he did depending on how you look at it,” Boz said and managed to meet them at the ruined tower.

  “Did you do this you pointy eared idiot?” Tayne screamed at him. “I saw the explosion and had no choice. I didn't know the situation so I just reacted, the way I see it is that I saved all of you from the Pyre horn,” he defended his choice and narrowed his eyes at Tayne. Rex swam in from the other direction and landed on the ground.

  “We could have handled it, we are in an Elroxian town, under the ocean, surrounded by water and our enemy was a god damned fire creature. It wasn't a hard problem to solve,” Rex said and set foot on the soft ground. “Well I didn't hear any plans from any of you so just did what came natural,” Boz said and Evie slammed her staff into the ground sending out a wave of light in all directions.

  “Enough, both of you. For now, we are safe. We need to get back to the ship and put together what we know. Someone obviously wants us all dead. I suggest we find out who It is so we can find them and put them in a grave,” she said in a deeper, scarier voice than she had before.

  “Alright, you got your point across,” Rex said and the robot looked around. “I'll stay here. Maintain the town until the authorities can clean up the mess,” she said to no one. “I don't think so, you're coming with us. No one is going to come back to this town. It's a lost cause,” Tayne replied to her and the robot just looked down, defeated. “We'll get you all fixed up, don't worry everything is going to be fine,” Tayne replied to it, this thing obviously more advance than a typical machine.

  “It looks like someone has a crush on the robot,” Boz said and Tayne's red eyes shot in his direction. Boz shut up in a hurry as he took a step back.

  “Voltarice, get a lock on all of us, including the robot,” Rex said into his communicator. “Roger, Commander. Prepare for teleport,” a voice replied. Seconds later a blue light engulfed all of them.

  In seconds they were back on the ship.

  “Get yourselves to sick bay, Boz,” Rex said to him. The doctor didn't bother arguing or replying to that. He was sure they were fine, at least, he hoped they were. Boz couldn't believe how much damage he had done and had become resolved to fix it. Rex stepped off the platform. “Teleport them directly to Sick Bay,” Rex ordered, seeing how beaten his team was. The operator did as he was told and the others disappeared. Rex decided to make his way to the bridge.

  Chapter 9

  Rex was sore, tired and already knew this was going to be a longer trip than he thought. He dismissed Zola with a nod. “Thank you,” he said to her and she was about to say something, but decided not to and returned to her post.

  He slid into his chair and he didn't do or say anything for a few seconds. Thinking about what to do next.

  “Sir, where should we go now?” the helmsman asked him, Rex was snapped out of his daze, still thinking about all the things that just happened. “You know, I have no idea. As far as I know we didn't any leads down there on where to go next. You guys didn't happen to see a ship or something with a big sign on it that said bad guy is inside, did you?” Rex said and laughed about it.

  “No, but when the shield disappeared we did detect a Tryon engine signature briefly before the explosion took place. It headed off towards the north. No one saw a ship,” the helmsman replied to him and Rex shook his head. “And you didn't bother to tell me, why?” Rex demanded to know.

  “Because Zola, well, we figured it was one of the Emerald Watch ships leaving the scene. They use the same engines,” he replied and Rex glared into the viewing screen. “Track that ship, we need to find it and whoever is piloting it,” he ordered and the crew began to get to work. “Yes sir, setting a due course following the Tryon particle trail, due north,” he replied and started to input the commands to get underway.

  The Voltarice was once again on the hunt, but Rex couldn't get the nagging feeling that they were being lead into a trap. It was always a trap when things were this easy to follow. What choice did he have?

  Boz and the others appeared in the sickbay.

  “Lay them on the tables carefully and I'll make sure their heads aren't cracked open,” Boz said to them as he stuck his hands in the purple light sanitizer and any bacteria were wiped off in a second.

  Carefully Drask and Nymie were set on the white medical tables beside one another. “For your sake I hope they'll be fine or I'm going to eat you, literally,” Tayne said to the elf. “You can try, but right now get out of the way,” Boz said and walked forward with a long silver device in his hand, the end of it was glowing with blue light.

  Boz quickly ran it over the forehead of Nymie, “Right,” he said and moved over to the other one and repeated the process. “Good news, they'll be fine in a couple of hours. No real damage was done, but unfortunately I can't do anything for their personalities,” he said with a smile and walked back to the counter to put the scanner back down.

  He picked up two syringes, then he noticed that Evie was facing away from them, nursing her broken arm and wounds alone. He sighed “We don't have time for that magical healing nonsense,” he said to himself and walked forward.

  Evie let out a small groan of pain when suddenly Boz stuck her in the right shoulder with a syringe and injected her. Evie spun around and pulled the needle out. “What the hell, damn it Boz you know I'm anti nanotech,” she yelped and backed off, tossing the needle away.

  “Why do you think I blindsided you, we're still on a mission and we need everyone at one hundred percent. You're going to be fine in a couple of hours without expending any extra magic, you're welcome,” he replied and made his way back to the other two. With the last syringe he injected half of the nanites in each of them. “It'll take a little longer but they'll be fine in a few hours,” Boz said and shrugged. “I just hope there isn't anything the scanner missed,” he said to himself.

  ##

  Boz looked at the robot who had followed them. “I can't do anything about you, sorry. When Drask wakes up she can repair whatever is broken and reskin you so you look presentable,” Boz said to the machine and the machine just returned a nod in silence. He almost felt sorry for the metal thing, but not quite enough. For all he knew it could have still been a bomb waiting to happen.

  Tayne pulled out the tiny red chip from his pocket and looked at again. “So does anyone know where this came from or who made it?” he asked and the others looked at it. It was clear that none of them had ever seen anything like it before.

  “It must be a homemade thing, I've never seen anything like it,” Boz said and the vampire shook his head. “Really, you haven't seen anything like it before? I never would have guessed that,” he rolled red eyes and stuck it back in his pocket. “I'm taking this down to engineering and running through the scanner,” he said and it w
as about then they realized they were moving.

  “Did anyone tell Rex something the rest of us didn't know?” Evie asked, wondering why the ship was moving and where they were going. The others were just as oblivious to the situation. “Well, at least we're all in the same boat,” Evie finished when no one replied.

  “I see what you did there, clever,” Boz replied, but Evie just shrugged.

  “Get that chip scanned as soon as you can, wherever we are going it can't be anywhere good,” Boz said to Tayne.

  Tayne hated people when they were so obvious and he walked out of the sick bay, rolling his eyes.

  “I will deactivate until I am needed,” the machine said and she walked to a corner that appeared to be rarely used and shut down. “Well that takes care of that, can we really trust the only thing we found in that ghost town, what if it's a bomb or something made for us?” Evie complained.

  “Must be a pretty good bomb because nothing gets on this boat without being scanned. Any sign of a bomb physical or magical and the machine would have stayed right where it was so I think for now we can trust it,” Boz replied to try and reassure her, but also trying to convince himself of the same thing. He didn't like it any more than she did.

  Tayne made it to the engine room and walked to the first Elroxian he saw.

  “Hey, I need your help. I need you to activate the scanner on this thing and try to find out what it is,” the worker narrowed his black eyes and shook his head. “Sorry, I only take my orders from Drask, not some second-rate undead slime like you,” he replied. Trask immediately grabbed the fishman by the throat and lifted him into air with his free hand with ease.

  “You know, it has been something of a bad day. I think you should show a little respect for an officer of this ship, or did you not see the badge on my uniform so clearly,” he said with a much more sinister voice. “I'll let the slime comment go if you decide to help me. If not, I'll kill you right here and no one will miss you,” he said and waited for the walking fish to blink.

  He did.

  Tayne smiled and set the man down and held out the red chip. The worker took the small chip in his webbed hand and walked to a micro scanner, set the thing on the plate and turned the machine on.

  Tayne crossed his arms.

  “It's going to take some time, Sir, you know that the more foreign the artifact is the harder it is to scan,” the man said in a very different, fearful tone. Tayne on the other hand, didn't move. “You have thirty seconds to give me something or I start tearing off fingers,” he said, no longer wanting to play the nice guy for any reason at all with this one.

  “Okay, okay, let me take a look,” he said and looked into the viewer. “This is a homemade job but I'd recognize the chip design anywhere, it's from Mocra Industries, it's a basic bypass chip cranked up to a thousand. Placed near the central unit of any higher machine and this sucker could hack it remotely but how it works exactly, I can't tell you. I've never seen these kinds of patterns before and need more time to study it to tell you more,” the worker said in a hurry.

  “Mocra, so, either our bad guy works there or is really good at modification,” Tayne replied. “Thanks, was that so hard? Keep working on the thing and if anything else comes up, let us know,” he said to the man and walked off. The worker was afraid to do anything else other than work on this chip after that. He figured slacking off or showing disrespect would get him killed and it wasn't worth the risk.

  Chapter 10

  Tayne marched down the halls and moved straight to the bridge with surprising speed. It didn't take him long to get there and less than a second to get to the Commander's chair.

  “Rex, I have a lead on where to go next,” he said and Rex looked back at him, to anyone else it looked as if Tayne just teleported out of thin air. Rex knew better. “How are the others doing?” he asked, ignoring the chance at a lead.

  “Boz says they'll be fine, but I found a chip and had it scanned. It came from Mocra Industries. It's a custom bypass chip. I think we should go to Mr. Mocra's glittering factory and ask him a few questions,” Tayne said and Rex looked out the viewing screen into the darkness. “Yeah, because anyone could have modified a chip in their own garage, I don't think it's a good lead,” Rex replied.

  “Normally, I'd agree with you, but where else should we look?” Tayne asked. Rex smiled in response.

  “We caught someone fleeing the scene so we are chasing them down, you might have noticed we are moving. They are no match for our ship so we should be on them in a few minutes. We can see what's going on once we catch this guy,” Rex said and Tayne didn't like this idea at all.

  “It's a trap, you know that right. People wouldn't just escape like that,” he said and Rex shook his head.

  “Maybe they just screwed up and got caught like most stupid criminals do,” he countered him. Knowing Tayne was likely right but changing course on a choice would only demonstrate weakness to the rest of the crew and he couldn't have that right now.

  Tayne shook his head in disagreement but knew it was nearly impossible to change Rex's mind once it was made up. “Besides, Tayne, when have we ever run away from a good trap?” Rex asked with a smile. Tayne just narrowed his eyes. “Never, I guess,” he replied.

  “Sir, coming up on the speeder now,” the helmsman said to him and put it on screen. It was, in comparison, a tiny green ship made for one person, but not belonging to any of the Emerald Watch, that much was obvious just by looking at it.

  “Activate the winch and drag this guy into our holding dock, I'll meet him there, Tayne, you're with me,” Rex said and stood up. The both of them walked off the bridge.

  The Voltarice fired a red beam from its side. The small speeder was taken and frozen in place immediately. In seconds it was being dragged backwards and a few minutes later the ship was placed inside the holding dock. Rex and Tayne watched it rise up from the airlock into the holding dock, the sea water. “It's a good thing the winch kills their engines,” Rex said. “Yeah, I guess,” Tayne replied and wasn't quite sure why he said half the things he did at random sometimes.

  “So, should you knock, or should I?” Rex asked and pulled his blaster out just to be ready for anything. Admittedly he knew he should have done this before the ship was even inside, that would have been the smart thing to do.

  “This is your deal, you knock. I'll watch and hope the thing doesn't blow up, I might laugh though,” he said and Rex shook his head. “Fine, I'll go first but you get the next one,” he said and walked forward towards the hatch on the side and knocked on it quickly.

  “Hello, I am the Commander of the Voltarice. I am sorry to inconvenience you but you were seen trying to get away from a crime scene and we need to ask you some questions, we tried to hail you but you didn't respond,” Rex said and lied about that last part, he didn't try to hail the ship at all nor did he care about that. There was no response.

  “Did anyone even scan this ship for life or anything, do I need to do everything around here, by Taro's beard this is annoying,” he said and knocked on the hatch again when this time the seal hissed and broke open. Rex jumped back as the door did this.

  “Jumpy much, Rex?” Tayne asked with a wicked smile but unhooked is shotgun just in case.

  The ship fully opened and a man stepped out wearing a black robe, carrying a staff made out two long leg bones made from trolls. “It's a damn necromancer,” Rex said and pointed his blaster at the man who in turned created a sphere of black energy in his free hand.

  “What are you doing way out here, don't you freaks usually hang out in the Northern Kingdom?” Tayne demanded, he had a particular hate for these people. The man removed his black hood and revealed his self-inflicted facial scars.

  “It's a new age human. It's a new age for all of us. The unicorns are rising again and we can't ignore the signs,” he said in a raspy voice that barely sounded like anything alive should. “The signs that you created, yeah, can't ignore them. All I want to know is how you managed to
control a unicorn,” Rex said and the necromancer smiled, the skin on his face cracked open and bled as he did this.

  “I did not control anything. I am only a deliverer of the new God's will. Hail the Black Unicorn,” the man screamed and began to make his move to attack. “No,” Tayne said and fired his shotgun first. The deep red and purple blast struck the necromancer and knocked him to the ground in one shot. “He's not dead, Rex, do you really want to keep this monster on board as a prisoner or not, decide right now,” Tayne said and Rex pointed his blaster at the necromancer's head and fired.

  “Hell no, I don't,” he replied and kicked the morbid staff away from the body and watched it fade into dust as he did. The necromancer's body also crumbled into dust as if it had been dead for a thousand years and the dust faded away into nothing. “They usually don't do that,” Tayne said, “No, it was a dead skin messenger, another damned puppet,” Rex replied in disgust.

  Tayne was the first one to step inside the machine, but he did so very carefully.

  Inside was filled with pages made out of skin from various races and all colors, plastered everywhere. Each one had the image of a unicorn on it, different variations of each kind and what he could only assume to be spells written on each page in language he couldn't understand or even make sense out of any of it.

  “It's a room full of crazy in here Rex, I don't recommend you come in, or you know, anyone else,” he said. Then Tayne saw something he did recognize. The symbol of the Delrax Cult engraved on the one bare piece of green metal on the wall. It looked a lot like a black sun, but instead of light rays, tendrils coming off a core. Simple, yet unforgettable. Even if one had never seen it before, they would know that it meant something bad.