by Frank Carey
"I got smart and went straight, and this was before I got all girled-up. Jason finally got through to me. By the way, I'm truly sorry about all the bullshit I put you through. It was uncalled for."
"You're for real, aren't you? Would you have pulled that crap if you knew I was an Orta and this was only a survival suit?"
Carla looked at her. "Don't go there. The answer would only disgust and dismay you. Now that my brain has had time to adjust to this new form, I can honestly say no. Back then? We should just not go there."
Nat looked at Carla and was speechless. It was like she was suddenly talking to a grownup. She reached over and gently poked Carla's arm. "Why all the crap when we first met?"
"I thought that you would more readily believe it was me if I acted like the old me. Jason is my only friend in this galaxy, and I didn't want to overwhelm him the first time we met after my change. Kinda wanted to ease him into it, but then all this happened. Nat, is something wrong with your ocular sensors? I see leakage."
"No, and stop using words like 'ocular sensor.' Jason isn't the only one that needs eased into this."
Carla patted Nat's arm. "Would it help if I hit on you, you know, for old times' sake?"
"No, fool," she replied as she wiped her eyes and smiled.
"Ladies, may we join you?" Carla stood up as Ange and Ciara walked up to the table.
"Of course, Captain, Director," Nat said while standing at attention.
"At ease. Will you two lighten up? This is the lounge. Rank is left at the door," Ange said as they sat down. "Nat, I've known you since you signed on to Ascendant, and I've known Carla here since we were kids."
"Sorry ma'am, I mean Ange, but you run a damn battle cruiser," Nat replied.
"And you used to beat me up," Carla said.
"You beat her up?" Ciara asked.
"Guilty as charged. She and Jason would come home in trouble or beaten up and I'd blame Carlos and beat him up."
Nat handed Carla's certificate over to Ciara, who showed it to Ange.
"Damn, when did this happen?" Ciara asked.
Carla explained leaving the Director and Captain speechless.
"I'll file this with records and put through your pay increase. So, Carlos is pretty much gone, isn't he?"
"Except for the occasional Goranthi hit squad or lone mechanic trying to collect on a contract, yeah, you could say that."
"Captain Thurgood, the Bridge is calling," one of the stewards said as he brought Ange her standard ice tea and Ciara a bourbon.
Ange pressed a button in the middle of the table, activating the holoviewer. The visage of Kyne formed above the table. "Go for Thurgood," she said.
"Captain, ladies. We've lost the tracker signals from your cousin and Dr. Blyst as well as the signal from the limpet tracker attached to the Ionis's hull."
"Damn. What about the probesat we had following them?"
The holoimage shimmered as Kyne changed feeds. They now had a view of the stern of the Ionis. There was a flash and the Ionis was gone."
"Captain, if I may?" Ciara said. "Have the sat remain on station and keep watch. If the orb generator works like the one we have at Laboratory Eighteen, the ship may reappear there when they return."
"Good idea. Kyne, you heard the lady?"
"Yes, ma'am. May I suggest we send out a few more to keep it company?"
"Very good, Kyne. Make it so and keep me posted. Thurgood out."
"So, we wait," Carla said.
"We wait. By the way, I heard that Dr. Blyst now knows what happened between Jason and me."
"My bad," Carla said. "I figured she was part of the family and needed to know. She took it well. I think there was just a hint of relief when I told her you and Jason are just friends."
"Actually, I told her that," Nat said.
"Sorry, when Nat told her you were just friends."
"You two are going to be the death of me, you know that, don't you?" Ciara said as she sipped her drink.
"You can't live forever, present company excepted," Carla said with a sidelong glance at Nat, who gently swatted her for her trouble.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
When he got outside, Jason got a better look at the massive storm front. From his vantage point it looked black as pitch and illuminated by numerous lightning flashes. It looked significantly closer than when he first saw it through the open door. The wind was now ruffling the sides of the tents and throwing debris into the force fence, causing it to arc and spit sparks. He watched as several of the guards left their patrol assignments to hunker in doorways.
“It looks bad, doesn’t it?” Fiona said as she walked up to him. “I was in the second library when I heard the wind.”
"It's much worse than you think. Fi, why did you lie to me about the davits?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"I just spent some time talking with two davits, one of whom is the leader's daughter. You know, Veak, the one you got into a pissing match with."
"How the hell did they get past the fence?"
"Magic. What race are you and the twins trying to find?"
"If you're talking about Stark and Thorenn, then that would be the Erdexi."
"Guess who the davits are?"
"No, that can't be."
"Really? Did you notice their scanners blow ours out of the water? Or that the journals are a thousand centuries old, yet made from adamantine steel? The people you're looking for are right here and about to make your lives very miserable."
"What? How?"
"Come on. We need to access the ship's weather monitoring systems,” Jason said as he headed to the ship. Moments later, he stepped through a hatch. “Captain, do you have any weather sats in orbit?” he asked as he walked onto the bridge uninvited.
“Who the hell are you?” the captain barked.
“He’s with me, so answer his questions, Captain.”
“Captain, do we have any weather sats in orbit?”
“Two of them,” he said, looking down at a control console. “We’re in luck, they’re coming overhead now. I’ll route their feeds to the holotable.”
The sector of the planet they occupied materialized over the table showing a massive storm moving in from the west. It spanned over three hundred clicks. “Computer, graphic depiction of storm’s speed and direction of travel,” Jason ordered. A large red arrow appeared with one end at the center of the storm and the point aimed directly at the site. “Computer, severity estimate and ETA.”
“Extreme severity. ETA approximately thirty minutes. Require local measurements for more precise estimates.”
“Helmsman, launch two drones, heading two-seven-zero, maximum speed.”
“Aye, sir.”
“What’s their ETA?”
“Two minutes, sir.”
“That looks very bad. Ms. Stryke, do we have site survey data?”
“No,” she replied.
“Blast and damn. With all due respect, ma’am, but I hate working with amateurs. We could ride it out in orbit, but we don’t know how long it’ll last.”
“Couldn’t we just load everyone aboard the Ionis and stick it out here?” Fiona asked.
“Aye, but we don’t know how bad it could get or for how long. The old gal could get trapped on the ground.”
“Sir, the drone feed!” the helmsman said.
On the screen were thousands of figures running toward the camp ahead of the storm, each one carrying a wicked looking spear and shield.
“Zoom in,” the captain ordered.
The picture shimmered and was replaced with a close-up of one of the people.
"Davits," Jason said.
“Can’t the force fence hold them off?” Fiona asked.
“We can’t risk it during the storm. One lightning strike, Ms. Stryke, and boom, it’s gone, and we’re up to our necks in angry davits.”
“Computer,” Jason commanded, “Display drone data.”
Numbers appeared within the
holographic storm giving barometric pressure, temperature, wind speed, dew point, and precipitation data. “Okay, that's way beyond bad,” the captain said. “We're pulling the plug on this trip. First Officer, Tell the passengers and get me the guard leader on the horn. Communications, I need to talk to Thorenn and Stark ten minutes ago.”
A chorus of affirmatives rang out.
"Sir, I'm unable to get Stark or Thorenn on the line."
"Try the engineer."
"No joy, sir. No one is answering."
"Fiona, let's go get Nebs, and then the mad twins and Geppetto. Their radio must be off."
"Be swift Ms. Stryke, Mr. Thurgood. The enemies will soon be at the wall."
"Aye, Captain."
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Once outside, they found that a light rain had started. The lightning flashes were separated from the thunder by less than ten seconds, which meant the storm and the davits were only minutes away, so they hurried to the office. "Nebulon, we've got to leave," Jason said to an empty room. Nebs?"
"Oh my God," Fiona said from near the door. On the floor was Stark, dead, his hearts neatly standing on a chair next to his body. A blaster lay nearby. Jason picked it up and checked its charge indicator. "Empty. This is very bad."
"What happened here? You know something," Fiona said as she started to panic
He took her by the shoulders and looked at her, perfectly calm. "Nebulon is changing into something wondrous, but they interrupted her. I have to find her, and you need to get aboard that ship and get the hell off this planet."
A whimpering sound came from the far corner of the room. They ran over and found the engineer, Carl. He was borderline hysterical.
"Calm down, Carl. What happened to Stark?" Fiona asked.
"We came into the room looking for Nebulon. Stark grabbed her, and Nebulon responded by slapping him hard enough to throw him into a wall. I was surprised he could stand up afterward. Thorenn got out of the way while the two of them squared off.
"Then what happened?"
"He went into a feeding frenzy. Maybe it was the scent of blood. Maybe fear. He jumped on her and tried to take out her throat. She grabbed him by the neck and held him off the ground. She…"
"Take it easy. Calm down. Deep breaths. What happened to Stark?"
"She ripped his heart out with one hand and showed it to him as he died. She then dropped him like an old toy while she carefully placed the organ on a chair."
"What happened next?"
"Thorenn emptied his blaster into her, but the charge had no effect. They just stood there, looking at each other. I've never seen Thorenn so afraid before. He dropped his gun, grabbed Stark's off his body and ran out the door while I ran into the corner and hid. The last thing I saw was her running out the door after him."
"Carl, where did they go?"
"I think they went to Building Six."
There was a flash followed by an explosion and a siren. "Force fence failure in five minutes."
"Dammit, the Erdexi are going to come in here with blood in their eye. Fi, take Carl back to the ship and get out of here. When you get back to League space, contact your sister and let her know what happened here. She'll know what to do."
"What are you going to do?"
"Find Nebulon and Thorenn and then escape over the bridge to the Depot. Nebulon will be fine once I have Thorenn in custody. She is reacting to the threat…I hope."
"Umm, the Bridge is broken," the engineer said.
"What do you mean by broken?" Jason said.
"I was trying to get it to go to another address, and I shorted out the controls. It'll take at least a week to fix."
The siren changed pitch.
"Two-minute warning," Carl said as he stood up.
"Both of you get out, now," he said as ran out into the rain and lightning. Fiona helped the engineer up and the two of them ran back to the ship.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
The Ionis lifted off just as the fence failed and thousands of wet, angry Erdexi swarmed over the complex. Jason could see a wall of them approaching and knew he only had moments before they were upon him. He knew surrender was out of the question as long as Thorenn and Nebulon were missing. He looked up at the top of the doorway and saw that the efforts to open it had damaged the structure of the ceiling. Without a second thought, he ran through the doorway while firing his blaster upwards, causing the structure to collapse and seal the doorway. Close, Thurgood, almost too close, he thought to himself as he brushed off some of the dust. He looked around and found himself at the end of a long ramp that spiraled downward. As his eyes adjusted to the gloom he saw a faint glow coming from below, so he headed downward into the bowels of the building.
Jason reached the bottom of the ramp and found himself standing in the base of a very large bowl. Above him he could see a rim or balcony that seemed to encircle the bowl. At its center was a meter-tall spike with a destroyed orb generator laid out around its base. Jason looked up and saw something that sent chills down his spine. Someone had placed an orb generator on the tip of the spike, as if readying it to create a bridge. A thick bundle of control and power cables emerged from the generator, snaked down the spike and terminated in a collection of control consoles and power units several meters away
“Isn’t it beautiful,” Thorenn said as he emerged from the gloom and stood next to the control console. In his hand was a large remote. "On a hunch that the search for a second bridge would be fruitless, I had Carl rig this as a backup. Only he, Stark, and I know it’s here, and Carl's too scared to talk."
“So, you’re all dressed up and with nowhere to go. There's no "other end" to this bridge, so it’s useless.”
“Au contraire, mon ami. Carl found another bridge generator very far from here. We think it’s the Erdexi home world, Erda.”
“Erda's dead,” Nebulon said from the shadows. “It was the first world to die, but not the last. Only this planet, Rhanna, survived.”
“You lie!” Thorenn screamed as he pulled out a blaster and waved it around the room. “Only savages live here.”
“Thorenn, the savages are the Erdexi,” Jason explained. “Nebulon and I talked with two of them. Their people are the direct descendants of the Erdexi. There are no davits, only a few indigenous tribespeople who coexist with the Erdexi. You found the people you were looking for the minute Fiona walked through the bridge.”
“Thorenn, put down the remote and step away from the controls,” Nebulon said as she emerged from the darkness and stood next to Jason. He saw that her transformation was complete. Except for the longer nails, pointed ears, fangs, and glowing blue eyes, she looked identical to her old self. He knew, though, that her strength, speed, and thought processes had increased by at least a factor of ten, making her a walking weapon, a weapon with a hair trigger. He prayed that Thorenn would just shut up and do as she said.
Of course, he didn’t.
“No,” he said as he pressed a button on the remote.
The generator was engulfed in electric discharges as it activated. In a moment, a two-meter orb formed around it, one end of a bridge to Erda.
Nebulon was on him in a microsecond, picking him up off the ground as she would a rag doll. “Deactivate it. Now,” she said as she extended her canines.
“I can’t. The power drain is too great for more than one activation. It will turn-off in ten minutes, and you can’t do anything about it,” he said through pain-clenched teeth as her claws slowly dug into the skin of his neck.
“Nebulon, look,” Jason yelled as he aimed his pistol at the orb.
As they watched, a being walked out of the portal. It was tall, maybe two meters, maybe more. It was bipedal and its eyes were large and oval-shaped while its ears were small. It carried what looked to be a weapon, which it pointed in whatever direction it looked.
“Great One,” Thorenn yelled as he broke free from Nebulon’s grasp and ran up to the creature. He knelt in front of it and raised his arms. “
I am here to serve and learn from you,” he said as he stared at the being in rapture.
Startled, the creature killed him instantly with a single blow from its free hand. Nebulon stepped back and nodded to Jason.
He thumbed his blaster to full power and fired from point blank range, bathing the creature in pure energy. He held the trigger down until the power pack was empty. The creature was unscathed. As it looked at him, Jason realized that he was fresh out of weapons.
Nebulon was on it before it could move. It tried to turn its weapon on her, but she ripped it out of the thing's grasp along with the arm holding it. She threw the weapon to Jason as she fought hand to hand with it, finally killing it by ripping its head off its body. She stood there, panting, covered in green goo, holding its dead head in one hand. “Jason, shoot the cables between the center control console and the power unit next to it,” she said calmly.
He grabbed Thorenn’s blaster and fired it at the point she indicated. There was an explosion followed by the orb collapsing, leaving only the generator and its smoking controls.
He ran up to her. “Did that thing hurt you? Are you okay?” he said as he looked for wounds and injuries.
She stopped him and kissed him. “I’m fine. I don’t think it was alive,” she said. She pointed to its neck and the fiberoptic bundles jutting from it.
He knelt down and examined the head. “You’re right. The goo may be coolant or hydraulic fluid. I wonder if it was a probe?”
Just then, light streamed down the ramp as the rubble pile covering the entrance was breached.
“Jason! Nebulon!” a familiar voice called out. Down the ramp came Ciara, Carla, and Nat, guns drawn and ready for anything… That is except for a two-plus meter tall headless body.
“What the hell is that?” Carla asked as she nudged the carcass with a toe.
“We think it’s a probe of some kind. It may have thought Thorenn was a threat when it killed him.” Nebulon said. “Does anyone have a towel?” she asked as she tried to get some of the goo off.
Nat reached into her pack and pulled out something that would help clean the stuff off while she ran a scanner over Nebulon and Jason to make sure they were okay. Behind her, Laya walked down the ramp followed by her guards and several Erdexi including Veak, Lexa and Doma.
