by James Somers
“Where do we go now?” asked Emil.
“We’ll head for Wynn’s home and see if he knows where Father is and what’s going on.”
☼
Wynn heard a familiar engine sound as the airbus carried him toward the Soone home. He saw Tiet’s ship blasting away. The Whiplash came around hard then sailed by overhead as Wynn flailed his arms trying to flag them down. But they did not see him.
The airbus brought him into view of the hill where the Soone home sat. Smoke billowed away from a smoldering pile of wreckage just outside of the garage bay entrance. It appeared to be a troop transport, or what was left of one. I’m too late, he thought.
He had to get back and meet up with Tiet and find out if he knew what was going on. Wynn sent a thought to open the bus door as he grabbed the ledge along the roof and swung down inside. The driver looked surprised as Wynn adjusted his garments and produced a transit card to slide along the reader.
“Sir, this bus has been commandeered by the military,” the driver said meekly.
“What?”
He turned to find a group of soldiers, both Vorn and Castillian, beginning to rise with their weapons drawn as they realized who he was.
“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding.”
Laser flashes erupted between the soldiers and Wynn as he intercepted several blasts with his kemstick. With a thought, he sent all of the soldiers crashing out through the airbus windows. They fell a hundred feet down to the pavement below the airway lanes, leaving only Wynn and the startled bus driver onboard.
“Now, turn this bus around and head back to this address,” said Wynn, punching it into the driver’s navigation system.
“Y-yes sir.”
Wynn sat down in one of the chairs as the driver brought the large vehicle around, flying back toward his home. With any luck, Tiet had taken his ship there searching for him.
☼
Daooth waited as the intercom chimed for Teman’s reply to his message.
“Yes?”
“I was informed that something has happened to Councilman Licoure.”
“Your king killed him,” Teman bellowed. “I told you he was no good, but you wouldn’t listen. We’ll be lucky if he’s not already organized the Horva against us.”
“That’s absurd!”
“And yet Licoure is dead—killed with Tiet’s own blade.”
“I can’t believe it. There must be another explanation.”
“Believe it, Daooth. Estall has arrested him and put him into a special prison. He’s not going anywhere until he is tried by the council.”
“When is that taking place?”
“The council will meet in emergency session in several hours to decide what action to take.”
“May I be present at that meeting, sir?”
“If you want, but don’t expect to sway our decision by your love for the man. We will have justice in this matter. Be at the council chamber in two hours. The meeting will be a closed session.”
The transmission was cut by Teman before Daooth could respond. He immediately punched in the transmission code for Wynn’s home. The screen returned a No Reply signal. That was odd. He knew Wynn was supposed to be at home this evening. He hadn’t said anything about Tiet’s involvement in the murder when he had talked to Wynn several hours before. He tried the secure band that fed to Wynn’s personal com-link.
☼
Onboard the airbus, Wynn’s com-link beeped at him from his collar pin.
“Wynn here.”
“Wynn, have you heard what’s happened to Tiet?” Daooth asked.
“I know our military has turned on us. I was just attacked by a full squad at my home.”
“Councilman Teman told me that Tiet has killed High Councilman Licoure, but I don’t believe it.”
“Of course he didn’t. Do you know where he is now?”
“Teman said that Estall has arrested him and placed him in a special prison of some sort, but I’m not sure where.”
“I know where it is. But why did the council order the attack on me?”
“I’m not sure. Teman didn’t mention anything about you. Something is happening, Wynn. Someone is manipulating this situation behind the scenes.”
“When I was under attack, I sensed what I believe to be the presence of the symbiotic creatures that inhabited the Baruk years ago. I wouldn’t trust anyone at this point. Anyone associated with the council, or Estall and the military should not be trusted. In fact, I think we should meet up at Nagon-Toth until we can decide what to do.”
“How could those things have survived? I thought we wiped out the Baruk?”
“I don’t know. It just doesn’t make any sense.”
“I have a meeting with the council in two hours. They say they’re going to decide what to do with Tiet.”
“Skip it. It’s not safe to be around them now. It could be a trap. They know you are affiliated with Tiet. Just meet me at Grod’s compound as soon as you can.”
“All right.”
Wynn wasn’t going to the detention facility after Tiet just yet. He had no chance of breaking in or out of it with the military guarding Tiet and looking for him. He needed Grod’s help. Grod had one device that could get them in and out without a problem.
“Driver, change course. Take me to Nagon-Toth.”
“But that’s where the Horva are!”
“It wasn’t a request,” Wynn said.
“Yes, sir.”
PURSUIT
The Whiplash skimmed above the highest airway lane alone. In moments they had reach the hill where Wynn’s home was located. All that remained of it was a large heap of smoldering debris and one retaining wall. Kale saw the military camped all around it. The attack was over, but they were still dispersed around the area like they were looking for something or someone—perhaps Wynn had escaped.
Kale hovered at a distance, but an armored carrier soon lifted off, flying in their direction.
“What do we do?” asked Emil.
“What else? Blow it out of the sky!”
Emil locked all guns and fired on the carrier. Sparks and fire billowed across its surface as it continued to come at them.
“It’s still coming!!”
“Armor’s too tough. Hold on!”
Kale brought the Whiplash around, firing the thrusters. The ship gunned away over the city with the carrier lumbering after them. On the scanner new targets came into view.
“We’ve got company!”
Several faster ships took up pursuit as the Whiplash shot into the maze of tall skyscrapers. Kale buzzed around one of the buildings at near full throttle, coming around on one of the pursuing ships. Emil took the initiative and blasted away at the military Viper fighter, shredding its midsection. The other three Vipers reorganized and took up pursuit again as the Whiplash spun away from its kill.
A symbyte controlled pilot locked on the Whiplash and fired a beacon. It attached to the hull undetected. Their orders were not to engage the ship—only place the beacon. The remaining fighters disengaged, and the Whiplash burst away from the city toward the wilds beyond.
Normally it would have been a good place to hide among the jungle terrain. Most people were lucky to get out alive because of the vicious wildlife dwelling there, including a large number of the feral Horva. But the tracking device would allow them to find the ship no matter where it went on the planet.
☼
When the airbus arrived at Nagon-Toth, Grod was already waiting on the platform.
“You might as well stay for a while,” said Wynn to the driver.
He nodded nervously, looking from Wynn to the gathering entourage of Horva on the platform.
The door opened and Wynn descended.
“My friend, Daooth has already briefed me on the situation with Tiet. I’m confident you have a rescue in mind, yes?”
“Absolutely. We’ll need the best team you can put together,”
“Of course,”
�
�And we’ll need to use the transgate to get inside the compound where Tiet is being held.”
“At your disposal, anything you need to set him free,” said Grod. “Daooth told me about some setup for murder.”
“It’s not so much about that, Grod. It’s those symbiotic creatures that controlled the Baruk. They’ve survived somehow all this time since the war, apparently as parasites among our people. Those things are behind this plot. I was attacked at my home by scores of soldiers, some under their control and others who have been caught up in this plot unknowingly.”
“What about Mirah and the boys?”
“I’m not sure yet, but I did see the Whiplash running toward the outskirts of the city. Kale is the most likely to be flying it.”
“You’re probably right. We’ll concentrate on rescuing Tiet and hope for the best.”
“Grod, the boys are well-trained, both of them. They’ll be all right.”
Grod smiled through the obvious worry he was feeling. “I’m sure you’re right.”
☼
Lucin walked into the monstrous hangar bay of Baeth Periege’s military base in the form of Estall. Assembled before him was a huge mass of symbyte-controlled soldiers and civilians—at least one hundred thousand of them—and they were all under the influence of his mithrial mind through the symbyte parasites.
In all of the twelve cities, groups of symbyte-controlled soldiers and civilians from among both the Castillian and Vorn populations were assembled. Lucin spoke to the assembled masses in every city through video feeds and satellite uplink.
“Now is the time. We are ready to ascend to complete power. It is time to assimilate all of those who are not part of my body. Arm yourselves. Stun our prey if possible. The dead are of no use to us. However if the warrior Wynn Gareth is found, or any of the Horva who might come to his aid, they must be eliminated immediately. The special legion of warriors I have chosen will be with me as we follow the tracking signal and search the wilds for the boy, Kale Soone. Once we have him added to us, we will be ready to move beyond this planet and conquer again. Our special envoy is to remain at the detention center guarding the King. He will serve as the bait to lure the Horva into a rescue attempt. Then we will end them. Go now and add to my body.”
The legions in every city moved on command and prepared for the night of conquest to come. Every symbyte-controlled man, woman and child headed out into the cities armed for capture or kill. No one would be spared. All would be liberated from their miserable individual existences to the serenity and power of Lucin’s collective body. What was taken from the Baruk would be restored more gloriously in these people, and Lucin would rule again.
☼
Wynn watched as the schematics for the detention center scrolled by until he found the one he wanted. He motioned to the transgate technician to highlight one spot in particular.
“I think this would be a good location to get our team in,” said Wynn. “It’s a large hall that’s behind most of the security barriers and should give us pretty easy access to the chamber where Tiet is being kept.”
“What about going into the chamber itself?” asked the technician.
“If Tiet can’t get out of there from the inside, then we won’t be able to either,” said Grod. “What about the shield controls for the chamber?”
“We’ll have access from the panel in this room,” said Wynn, pointing to the schematic.
“All right, load up the destination and prepare to activate the gate.”
Grod and Wynn left the console and returned to the jump area. The rest of the strike team was already assembled in the designated area on the chamber floor. There were twenty top notch warriors from among Grod’s elite guard fully outfitted with plasma weapons, blasters, spicors and E.M. shields. The best of the best to rescue the one man they all still considered to be their king.
Wynn and Grod took up positions in the front as the transgate hummed. The technician locked the coordinates and initiated a gateway. Before them, a wall of light snapped into place between the gate posts. The team readied their weapons as the light faded and their destination came into view.
“For our king!” shouted Grod to the team as he ran through the field with the others following.
☼
Within the assembly hall of the detention center at Baeth Periege, a wall of light appeared. The two guards looking on readied their weapons. Two kemsticks spun out of the energy portal into the symbyte-controlled guards before they could make a sound or fire a shot. The kemsticks shut then rebounded back to Wynn’s thigh clips as he ran through the portal. The bodies fell as the team came through behind Wynn and Grod.
“Those were the only two guarding this room?” asked Grod.
“Apparently,” replied Wynn. “We’ll need to follow this walkway over here.”
They moved through the door which, surprisingly, opened up without any access code.
Wynn might have thought it odd if he hadn’t been so intent on Tiet’s rescue. He looked at the schematic on his wrist-bound display as they proceeded toward the control room and Tiet’s holding chamber. They had designed the chamber to be impregnable. Wynn himself had been the candidate used to test it. He had never supposed they might actually imprison a Barudii inside of it.
When the last of the Horva soldiers had exited the assembly hall and the door had closed again, another door opened and a lone symbyte-controlled Vorn soldier entered the room. He briefly examined the transgate portal before him then reached to a small pack on his back and flipped the arming switch on the fusion bomb he carried. He ran through the portal.
☼
Within the transgate chamber at Nagon-Toth, a group of special commandos caught the man coming through the portal. The symbyte soldier only made it a few feet within the chamber before he was cut down by the Horva. But it was enough. The fusion bomb detonated as they fired on the soldier. The Horva commandos never felt a thing.
☼
Back within the assembly hall of the detention center, the transgate portal flashed then disappeared. Wynn and Grod’s team continued on toward the control room, encountering minimal resistance getting in. The chamber was completely sealed so that no one could see inside. On the control panel, a video feed showed Tiet inside sitting on the floor within a containment field able to dampen the exerted neural energy of his Barudii kinesis.
Wynn punched in his own access code—it was denied as expected. Without further delay, he concentrated on the physical controls to the chamber door and began to manipulate them mentally. In moments, the locking mechanism gave way. He located the power conduits feeding into the wall of the chamber that controlled the containment field and sliced his blade through them.
Grod opened the chamber door as the field went down around Tiet. He was already on his feet heading for the door when he spotted Grod. As he joined them in the control room, Wynn tossed him a pair of kemsticks.
“What took you so long?” he asked, grinning.
“Sorry, I got caught up in a game of tag with the military,” replied Wynn slyly. “I think the creature that was in control of the Baruk is responsible for all of this.”
“Absolutely,” agreed Tiet. “Estall, or what used to be Estall, confronted me in the chamber. They set me up for murder to get a clear shot at Kale. That thing wants to use his body as a host.”
“They’ve already been by your home. I saw the Whiplash gunning toward the outskirts of the city.”
“It had to be Kale. I can track the ship’s location,” said Tiet as he made his way to a control panel keyboard.
“You’d better hurry. The symbytes will no doubt have realized we are here by now,” said Grod as he scanned the video displays monitoring the different hallways and rooms in the detention center. He couldn’t spot anyone on the monitors—no one at all and it bothered him.
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that these monitors are showing no one in the building but us. They’ve got to be nearby waiting to ambush us
.”
“I’ve got it. The Whiplash is currently in the wilds.”
“The campsite?” asked Grod.
“I think that’s a good guess. Let’s go.”
The group began to make their way cautiously back to the transgate portal. Several of the Commandos took up the point position on the way back. At each open doorway they flashed three fingers skyward to signal a clear room or hall.
“I don’t like this,” said Grod again. “It’s a trap.”
“Yes, but all we have to do is get to the portal and it won’t matter,” said Wynn as they continued through the corridors.
Finally, they reached the main assembly hall door and watched it open. The point man’s fingers once again went skyward. He paused and looked at the other soldier next to him in disbelief. Then he looked back at Grod.
