Star Brigade: Ascendant (SB4)

by C. C. Ekeke

  That didn’t prevent a sudden iciness from seeping into her skin, then her muscles, and chilling her to the bone. Tharyn briefly thought this was her own terror manifesting. But something about this cold felt unnatural. The Korvenite opened her eyes to see Loroorol shivering. Even Miranda looked confused, exhaling frosty breaths.

  “Wh-Why,” her teeth chattered, which made talking an effort. “Why is it so c-c-c-cold?” The shackles prevented Tharyn from hugging herself for warmth.

  Miranda lowered her trembling firearm. “Sh-She’s right,” the woman stammered out. “Is some… Holy tattshi!” Miranda’s eyes went saucer-wide and she backpedaled, dragging Tharyn with her.

  Loroorol turned, yelped, and ran.

  The Korvenite followed Miranda’s gawking and her heart shot up into her throat. A closet door slid open to reveal a horror made of nightmares slinking out in slow, predatory strides. Its tall and spare build was covered in pasty white skin, its lanky limbs moving with purpose. Its blade-like beak for a nose sniffed about hungrily. Oily black dreads spilled down its thin shoulders, glowing red slits for eyes. Cold seemed to ooze off its body; the closer it came, the frostier Tharyn felt. She scuttled out of that safe house like a rocket without a word.

  “What the hell is that?” Loroorol squealed.

  Tharyn had never seen one for real. But through tales she’d heard in her youth on Bimnorii, the Korvenite knew this monster at a glance. “An osvowraith,” she gulped.

  Miranda eyed her disbelievingly. “A what?”

  Loroorol made a rude noise. “Those aren’t real.”

  “They are where I’m from.” Tharyn ran as fast as possible with shackled hands. “Run or we’re dead!”

  The trio bolted outside the safe house, running back to their shuttle. A venomous hiss echoed after them.

  “Why was Kingston working with that?” Loroorol wondered aloud.

  “Who cares?” Miranda barked. “Run!” She quickened her pace, forcing Tharyn to follow suit.

  Loroorol fell behind thanks to his awkward gait. Tharyn turned to see where he was, right as the osvowraith cut the distance between itself and the group. Her scream bounced off the tunnel walls as it launched himself at Loroorol, tackling him down.

  The osvowraith’s lower jaw split down the middle and at least eight glowing, coiling tongues snaked out from its mouth.

  “Sweet Yvyria!” In her fear, Tharyn tripped and fell. Her knee slammed on hard earth beneath the sewer grime. She swallowed a curse at the blinding pain.

  That forced Miranda to stop and turn. Her mouth fell open.

  The osvowraith had mounted Loroorol, each writhing tongue puncturing some part of his body. The coils throbbed with fiery radiance, sucking on Loroorol. Tharyn was on her knees, watching in horror as Loroorol’s body withered before her very eyes.

  That was when Tharydane felt her shackles separate with a sharp beep. Then Miranda slid the restraints off the Korvenite’s neck and arms from behind. Suddenly Tharyn’s mind was flooded with Miranda’s scheming surface thoughts, the osvowraith’s single-minded hunger, and Loroorol’s dying thoughts.

  The Korvenite swayed under the psychic onslaught and stemmed the flood of input. She turned to her captor in surprise. “What are you doing?”

  Miranda’s gaze was glued to the osvowraith, her fair complexion bone-white with terror. “We’ll never outrun that thing.” She yanked Tharyn up by her shoulders. “Not without a bright and shiny distraction.” Miranda gave the Korvenite a hard shove. Tharyn stumbled forward, landing again on that throbbing knee. Now she screamed out a curse.

  The osvowraith looked up from its meal, those narrowed red eyes studying Tharyn. The Korvenite sensed uncontainable hunger churning within the beast’s core. Tossing Loroorol’s shriveled corpse aside, the osvowraith’s snake-like tongues withdrew into its mouth.

  No. Dear Korvan, NO! Tharyn scrambled upright. She sensed Miranda’s presence fleeing into the darkness of the sewer tunnels. “Don’t you dare leave me, human!” she screamed after her former captor. Tharydane stretched her thoughts to grab onto Miranda and force her back here. Lethe wouldn’t approve, but Tharyn had no time for telepathic etiquette. She muscled herself upright and began limping to safety. “Get back—Agggh!”

  A cold wave blasted Tharyn from behind, penetrating every layer until it engulfed her very soul.

  Suddenly, the Korvenite’s resolve was drowned out by futility. She sank to her knees and shivered. Her rational mind knew this was the osvowraith’s psychic attack to subdue prey. But in her heart, love and hope had become distant memories. Tharyn felt as if she would never be happy again. What’s the point of trying to escape?

  The osvowraith rounded her slowly, looking her up and down like a juicy haunch of meat.

  Disgust twisted in Tharydane’s gut. But why fight back? She’d never find safety. Neither Sam nor Lethe would ever find her in time. These had become her truths. The Korvenite slumped to her side, helpless and hopeless.

  The osvowraith smiled, revealing blackened and jagged teeth. “I’ve never smelled a Korvenite so…deliciously…powerful,” he hissed in slithering, wraithlike tones. It crouched, those glowing red eyes impaling Tharyn’s ravenously. She cringed, but didn’t attempt to crawl away. I’m already dead.

  “I will savor every moment of this, Korvenite,” it hissed again. The osvowraith’s lower jaw split in half. Glittery snakelike coils spilled out and slithered forward.

  Tharyn could no longer sense Miranda, who must’ve been long gone. Through the fog clouding her brain, Tharyn heard distant voices crying her name. Undeniably the family she’d lost so long ago…all in heavenly Yvyria with the Korvenite god Korvan.

  I’ll be joining you all soon, the Korvenite answered with a sad smile. The osvowraith’s glowing tongues snaked toward Tharyn’s face, filling up her whole world.

  Chapter 41

  Beads of yellow sunlight leaked through the filtered viewports of Tomoriq Fel’s self-driving hoverlimo as the vehicle raced through Sheffield’s traffic veins.

  He reclined in his seat, having just finished a productive holoconference with UNIFY’s senior personnel on the Commerce Sector. Productive as in Fel spouting off an idea for a new V-world experience, and his overpaid minions falling over themselves to praise him like eager lapdogs. Production would begin tomorrow, per his casually urgent mandate. Top secret, of course.

  Tomoriq smirked and took a long sip from his glass of pulpy blue orange juice. “They have no clue what they’re actually building,” he murmured. The v-world mogul, dressed in a blood-red high-collared business suit and matching pants, turned a dispassionate eye onto the holoscreen floating a few feet away. Mre Guilloche was doing his favorite thing, holding a press conference surrounded by his fellow Union Senators from other memberworlds.

  “The no-confidence vote to oust interim Chouncilor Morje’Huijadan from office was difficult but necessary,” the Rhomeran gurgled, his fleshy facial wattles flapping around like slimy door chimes. “He was unprepared for the weight of the Chouncilor’s office forced upon him. And would have continued championing the unsuccessful policies of former Chouncilor Bogosian. Now the Galactic Union’s citizens can choose a new Choun—”

  “Off,” Tomoriq snapped. The holoscreen vanished.

  Morje’Huijadan’s humiliating ouster, which wouldn’t take effect until a new Chouncilor was voted in, dominated the news streams.

  What had only been a blip on the news streams was Praece’s Faroor Economic Expansion Bill, rejected by a massive margin. He’d expected defeat, given the chaos on Faroor. But this massive rejection spoke to more insidious forces.

  “Thaomé’s doing,” Fel decided. That Korvenite bitch must have gotten into the ear of someone with access to Guilloche or another influential Senator. Combined with her outmaneuvering Tomoriq with Gabriel Hagen, his Faroor agenda had failed on all levels.

  For now. Tomoriq grounded his teeth so hard, his jaw hurt. He hated losing. But this Faroor situation had grown u
ntenable. And his pawn, Senator Praece, had chosen defiance over deference. The same Praece whose caller ID appeared on a small holoscreen in front of Tomoriq. It was his thirty-fourth call in three orvs.

  “Now you need me.” Tomoriq glared at the Ttaunz Senator’s caller ID. “You should’ve thought wisely before rejecting my advice. Idiot.” He waved off the screen, disconnecting the call yet again.

  After draining the rest of his juice, Tomoriq spoke a command to summon another holoscreen. A bald human female appeared, tall and willowy in height with smooth and silvery grey skin. Her features were too flawless to be a baseline, unaltered human.

  But Antila Grace, one of Fel’s most trusted agents, was certainly not human.

  “Greetings, Tomoriq,” she spoke in a mechanical, emotionless cadence.

  Fel had no time for pleasantries. “Are you on Faroor?”

  “Just arrived.” Antila Grace arched a thin eyebrow. “With considerable difficulty.”

  “You know what is needed,” he continued. It wasn’t a question.

  Her left eye blazed like a jagged violet starburst. “Affirmative.”

  “Notify me when it’s done.” Tomoriq ended the call and the holoscreen winked out.

  Enough with “society business.” Fel shifted focus to his next meeting with UNIFY’s Ferronos Sector senior team. He’d sell them on another component of his long-term plans, and watch how eagerly they obeyed.

  Top secret, Tomoriq pondered with a smile. No details shared with other UNIFY divisions. Not until Fel said so.

  Chapter 42

  In the darkness, a painful grip repeatedly shook Lily’s shoulders, drawing her back into the waking world.

  The deep cherry skies had calmed. Yet subtle aftershocks still vibrated the air off and on. Lily noticed how the pale gold streaks of clouds faintly buzzed, shooting tiny needles through both sides of her aching skull.

  The doctor sat up in a rush, coming nose to nose with V’Korram Pryderi-Ravlek.

  Lily jerked back. The Kintarian crouched before her on his heels. Pinkish blood stained his field uniform in runny splotches, all Farooqua blood.

  Lily blinked, again spying relief on V’Korram’s catlike face.

  Looking again, V’Korram appeared surly as ever. Had Lily’s dazed brain imagined that reaction?

  “You okay?” V’Korram grunted, pulling Lily to her feet easily.

  “Getting there,” she replied warily. The doctor looked at the broken Farooqua bodies strewn across the village. Her eyes raked over ripped open or flattened huts stretching further outward. No pity surfaced for the Okka settlement where she and Vaas Byzlar were held captive. Lily also saw the UComm ANT operatives racing past to secure the scene, armed with pulse rifles. Tyris stood nearby leaning heavily on his quarterstaff. Under Herope’s sunlight, his icy physique looked like it was weeping.

  “What…happened?” Lily’s question sounded as fuzzy as her brain felt. The clouds quivered. She clenched her teeth in discomfort.

  “Arcturus and I rescued you.” V’Korram’s growling tone sounded strangely…patient. “Shot you full of adrenaline.”

  “Right.” The doctor nodded. The adrenaline shot had burned off whatever inhibitor the Okka had dosed her with. No wonder she felt so…wiped. Her memories of this wretched place started returning in slow waves. “And the rest of CT-1?”

  The Kintarian jabbed a thumb over his shoulder at Qos, a throbbing white disk in the sky. “Up there somewhere. No word from them in a few orvs.”

  Lily then thought of Vaas Byzlar. For some reason she couldn’t remember what happened to Byzlar during the skyquake. “Where’s Byzlar?”

  V’Korram looked surprised from behind curtains of stringy ginger hair. His features hardening, he blocked Lily’s line of sight with his massive frame. “Cortes…”

  “V’Korram,” she replied curtly. Something was wrong. The doctor stiffened. “Where is Byzlar?”

  V’Korram sighed heavily and stepped aside.

  Several feet away, Vaas Byzlar lay splayed out and motionless. The Aesonite stared at the sky like a broken stone statue, his chest sunken in by a huge depression. UComm soldiers crouched around him somberly. Sgt. Fiyan was kneeling with a dazed look. Her craniowhisks hung limp down her back in grief.

  Vaas was dead. Because of me. A chill wafted through the air despite the afternoon warmth. “Oh my God,” Lily murmured. Memories of her actions burned away all mental fog. She clapped a hand over her horrified mouth. Poor Vaas with his dreams and ambitions. Ended by me. “Omigod.” She ran to him.

  V’Korram caught her waist with one arm, hauling her back. “Calm down,” he growled heatedly. “There’s nothing you can do for him.”

  Of course an uncaring brute like V’Korram would say that. “Get off!” Lily shoved him off with all her strength.

  Her hysteria was drawing stares from the UComm soldiers. She didn’t care. “I killed him!” The words stabbed her through the heart. Lily couldn’t save Niranda, Vaas’s teammate. But losing Vaas… “I have to—”

  V’Korram wouldn’t let her budge. “It was an accident,” he rationalized. His intense green-flecked yellow eyes focused on her. “And…keep your distance from these soldiers.”

  Lily was this close to blasting him away. And what…kill him too? The thought shuddered through her.

  A cold gust rattled from behind V’Korram, then a thump as something fell over. Lily and V’Korram turned. “Arcturus?”

  Tyris Iecen had been approaching his teammates, and collapsed halfway. The Tanoeen’s beady cobalt eyes were glassy, unfocused. The hard edges of his icy, crystalline body appeared melted.

  V’Korram reached him in a heartbeat. Liliana stood and stared, her brain not processing the sight. Tyris, injured?

  Seeing a few UComm soldiers approach the scene in concern jolted the doctor out of her daze. Star Brigade needs me. Pushing aside the grief over Vaas’s death, she slipped into doctor mode and scrambled down to Tyris’s side opposite V’Korram.

  “Tyris. What’s wrong?” V’Korram asked, supporting the Tanoeen’s head. “Where are you injured?”

  “Just…feeling woozy.” Tyris sounded weak, his voice barely a whisper of wind. “And hot…”

  Hot. Lily frowned in recognition. “Roll him on his side,” she ordered. V’Korram did as requested. The doctor didn’t have medical equipment on her, but didn’t need it for what she suspected. Lily unfastened his field uniform’s light, charcoal grey armor to probe the length of Tyris’s spine. She was searching for a spot colder than the rest in his mid-back. Her fingers grew slick from melting crystalline ice when she found that surprisingly warm spot, telling Lily all she needed. “Your temperature regulator’s damaged,” she declared. “And by the warmth, it’s been damaged for some time.” How could he have been so reckless? That temperature regulator allowed Tyris to survive far longer than a few orvs away from his homeworld’s sub-zero climate, which Lily had recently experienced. Another memory she’d rather not relive.

  “Must’ve been from that singularity Ghuj’aega opened up,” V’Korram growled, visibly infuriated. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

  Tyris shrugged. The rate which his spikes were melting concerned Lily. “We were…somewhat occupied. Cortes and Nwosu…missing. Me as acting field…commander.”

  Lily shook her head. “You should’ve said something. Help me get him back to the Shadowlancer. I can stabilize him in there.” With V’Korram’s help, she hoisted Tyris to his feet. A few UComm soldiers offered their aide. Lily waved them off. “We’re fine.” She saw their accusing looks from the corner of her eyes. Murderer. Maximum freak.

  Lily ignored them, focusing on Tyris before he shared Vaas’s fate. She and V’Korram helped their superior officer toward the Shadowlancer just outside the ruined Okka village.

  The Tanoeen stared upward. His beady cobalt eyes looked more molten by the moment. “Where’s the moon?” he whispered.

  “The moon’s not going anywhere, Tyris,” the doct
or assured him.

  “No.” Tyris stabbed a finger at the skies. “Qos has disappeared!”

  Lily and V’Korram exchanged worried looks before following his gaze. The doctor’s heart nearly leaped out of her chest. “WHUH!” Qos had vanished from the deep crimson skies. The other UComm soldiers had noticed now with varying degrees of shock.

  Fiyan noticed nothing, still too grief-stricken to leave Byzlar’s side.

  “If Qos is gone…” V’Korram’s words trailed off. He didn’t need to finish. Qos being gone meant Habraum and the rest of CT-2 had vanished too.

  And if they vanished, Lily realized in slack-jawed horror, then Ghuj’aega has won.

  Chapter 43

  Loroorol’s shuttle was docked on Jefferson Mining Station, in Shuttle Bay A2P7830. Sam—still in field uniform—and Stronghold transmatted to that flight bay. Lethe was there with Jhori already. Sam exchanged brisk greetings with both, quickly checking on Jhori. The Korvenite remained silent, as usual. But shame rolled off him in waves. I’m sorry, Samantha. I failed you.

  Sam’s swift hand chop silenced him. Diatribes or insults wouldn’t help, least of all Tharydane. “Loroorol had this planned for a while,” was her reply. The bulk of her anger landed on Lethe. “How did this Children of Earth asshole pass your telepathic scans and safeguards?”

  The lanky Kudoban looked as forlorn as Jhori. “He clearly had advanced telepathic defenses, along with his data-slicing skills.” Lethe shook his head on that lengthy, three-foot neck. “As soon as we heard about the threat I should have scanned everyone on Hollus.”

  Sam glared at him. Goddamn right you should’ve. By Lethe’s flinching reaction, he got the message telepathically.