Nova

by Lora E. Rasmussen

  Seconds later, the two hostiles who had been concentrating fire on her suddenly dropped to the stone pavement by well–placed sniper shots.

  Dane’s handiwork, Serros mused, well familiar with Lieutenant Rygel’s expertise.

  The Quorum Shield Operative took off towards the Vosaia STF while firing one of her Volturno’s converted to SMG mode at the gray–armored enemy determined to eliminate aid for Z’arr by eliminating Serros. With an ease born of decades of practice and finely honed skill, the Captain locked her shots. Almost more quickly than the eye could follow, one, two, three, then four of the gray–plated soldiers dropped in sprays of blood as her gun–fire ripped through armor and flesh alike.

  The Captain was only about thirty paces away from Z’arr when the ground below her feet suddenly vibrated and the sound of metal scraping against stone shot through the space to her left like recycling gears grinding junkyard scrap to plates. Serros managed to flatten herself next to another overturned stone bench and planter just as the mech trained its sights and showered her position with heavy canon fire. The bench adjacent to Captain Serros cracked with a sound like a clap of thunder, and a fountain of rubble and dust clouded the air as shot after shot blasted her cover and the surrounding pavement.

  With a grimace, Serros grabbed two K–Grenades mag–attached under her left pectoral plate, and thumbing off the safetys,’ leaped up and out of her rapidly disintegrating cover. Half–way through her jump, she extended her arms and tossed both grenades. The projectiles smacked into and adhered to the surface of the mech’s metallic frame. Just as Serros landed on her feet, a deafening boom–boom sounded throughout the plaza and the metal automaton exploded in flame, spraying molten metal and slag dozens of feet from its position.

  Quickly casting her gaze, Captain Serros locked onto Lieutenant K’llan Z’arr gunning down two gray–armored soldiers and moving across to the far side of the courtyard. Z’arr was obviously using the distraction Serros and her team had produced to make her way from the fire–fight. With a grunt of determination, Avara began sprinting after her mark.

  CHAPTER 6

  Commander Marcus Perez swore to himself as he caught sight of another fifteen gray–armored unknowns dashing into the plaza. The security guards that had been bribed earlier to let them pass were gunned down when they didn’t step out of the way soon enough.

  Turning toward the Vosaia Major, Perez said “Hadarr, you and Naxos go; we’ve got this.”

  Goyan Hadarr nodded once, then fired her own grappling gun and glided through the air in the opposite direction Captain Serros had just taken.

  “Do not get shot, Marcus!” Lieutenant Belgrum Naxos commented just after he released his own grapple.

  “Where’s the faith, mi amigo?” Marcus responded with a grunt, the query punctuated as he fired his hand–cannon with a vengeance at the remaining mech and a cluster of scrambling unknowns. The mottled red, orange, and yellow skinned Braxien hissed with laughter as he shot down the line in a surprisingly graceful maneuver for a being of his size.

  As he, Rygel, and Ca’rrakk continued to pepper the hostile forces with fire, Commander Perez found himself wondering at the skill of their opponents. That they were good was unquestionable. After the initial surprise of Nova Squad’s appearance, the firefight had turned into more of a stand–off than not. Little was truly known about the Fosaki in the Quorum Aligned Systems save legend, yet there was a certain rhythm to fighting and battle, and the enemy’s combat style seemed vaguely familiar. As he automatically responded to several shot patterns, the Excalibur’s Executive Officer couldn’t quite shake the feeling, almost as if he was experiencing déjà vu.

  “Commander, eleven o’ clock!” Dane Rygel’s voice snapped Marcus out of his battle reverie and he spied the cause for Dane’s concern almost immediately: a gray and black–marked clad pair of hostiles armed with hand cannons sighting their position. Their trigger fingers were already squeezing.

  “Time to go!”

  Lieutenant Rygel ignored Perez’s command for a split second as he snipped one of the two in the throat, yet in that instant, the other’s hand–cannon projectile left its barrel. The three members of Nova literally jumped towards the standing grapple cables, each using their gloved hands or weapons to shimmy along the cords to safety rather than grappling–grips.

  With a deafening boom–crash, the roof of the building they’d been standing on exploded into an eruption of concrete, glass and metal, causing Rygel to whip through the air for the last twenty feet or so of the drop and tumble to the ground.

  Dane smacked onto his side with bone–crunching force that Marcus knew would be, thankfully, mostly absorbed by his armor. Swearing rather creatively in his native Old–Terran French, the marksman and tech expert scrambled to his feet even as Marcus covered them and the trio ducked behind a sky–car sized, hexagonal bronze statue.

  “Merveilleux! That went well, yes?” Dane whooped.

  “Absolutely; we should do this all again, real soon!” Marcus quipped in return, drawing and then firing two controlled bursts from his Valkyrie NSII rifle.

  “The two of you act like such cubs.” Ca’rrakk growled, green eyes glowing as he tagged an incautious enemy in the shoulder.

  Grinning a bit like a madman, the fair–haired Lieutenant fired a round of his own, causing one of the soldiers to scream in pain as a left foot was shot off. “Do you think the others are having as much fun?”

  “I have no doubt.” Ca’rrakk answered with a low mutter.

  *

  Lieutenant Belgrum Naxos and Major Goyan Hadarr pelted across the raging courtyard battlefield at Arca enhanced speed, dodging fire and leaping over obstacles with incredible and unnatural agility and grace. It took only minutes for the two to come within range of their target, the silver haired Vosaia Proconsul, Far’allyn Tanad.

  Catching sight of the Braxien and Vosaia racing towards her, the brown eyed Proconsul sucked in a breath and started firing in their direction. Though the Proconsul seemed reasonably skilled, each of her shots fell woefully short of their target as the two leaped, rolled, or simply blurred to the side of the seeking bullets with a rapidity and skill that clearly illustrated how outmatched the Vosaia politician was.

  With a snarl, Tanad yelled “Intercept!” and then turned and ran.

  The four gray–armored hostiles that had been flanking Tanad took up a static position and trained their ARs at their two enemies bearing down on them. Naxos and Hadarr tumbled away from each other to dodge the first assault rifle barrage, though the Braxien was clipped on his shoulder and Hadarr in the thigh.

  The two responded by simultaneously tossing K–Grenades, causing the four to futilely attempt to scramble madly away.

  “Go!” Major Hadarr cried with a chop of her hand forward.

  Belgrum nodded and charged into the confusion, loosing a spray of kobalt–fueled AR fire even as Hadarr covered him with well–timed shots from her own rifle. Feeling the frenzy of hunt and battle flame through his core like a ramped–up power generator, Naxos brushed past the one still standing hostile to swipe at the Proconsul’s back. Behind him, Belgrum’s saurian senses could taste Hadarr’s competent elimination of the last gray–clad enemy as once more the smell of death erupted in the air.

  “Proconsul Far’allyn Tanad, you are placed in protective custody under Shield Operative authority until transfer to Sigil and an investigation is initiated.” Goyan Hadarr announced calmly, her sharp eyes deposits of flint for all the warmth they exuded. “Drop your weapon.”

  Naxos stood to her side, his eyes scanning for any interference, but the remaining hostiles still in the courtyard were pinned down by Ca’rrakk, Rygel, and Perez. Captain Serros and her target were nowhere to be seen.

  “Major Hadarr! You dare arrest me?” Tanad growled in response, dark eyes blazing. “I am a member of the Vosaia Consulate and you and I report to the same masters!”

  “Yes. And I act as they would have me; you do not.”
Hadarr answered, barrel never wavering.

  “Really?” Tanad asked, her voice tinged with incredulity as she shot a glance at Lieutenant Belgrum Naxos. “When only one stands here to interfere?”

  At the Proconsul’s words, Belgrum’s aquamarine eyes swiveled between the two Vosaia, tongue flitting to the taste the air and the strange note of certainty and edge–walking hysteria in the Proconsul’s tone. From the Quorum Shield Operative, Naxos could taste nothing. It was as if the space where she stood was a void of emotion or presence. The Braxien found himself wishing that the Captain with her Synergy Arca Enhancement was present to reassure him that he did indeed stand with another being, not an empty vessel that appeared to be a person.

  “I represent the Quorum and the Consulate. What do you think our masters wish? An identified, rogue member of the Consulate selling Arcatech secrets to the enemy?” Hadarr’s voice held scorn, yet again, Belgrum could sense no real emotion.

  Surprisingly, the Proconsul seemed to calm at the other Vosaia’s words. “I see.” With a quick swipe of her fingers, the politician punched a key–command into her CPA. “What I do, I do for the Vosaia.” Tanad stated with a strange dignity. A moment later, her body ripped into a spray of blood and then a thousand pieces of nothingness as the micro–charge that was either on or within her body detonated.

  *

  Unknowingly echoing her Executive Officer’s sentiments, Avara Serros found herself experiencing a strange sense of déjà vu as she focused her speed and reactionary senses to reach the Vosaia STF Agent who ran at a near equal pace through the far end of the courtyard. Z’arr was making her way to a side entrance that the Captain knew from Nova’s debriefings to be the main processing and packaging location for refined Adrenix. Serros watched as the Vosaia was forced to pause a moment for the automatic double–doors of the building’s west end to open before she disappeared inside.

  Close on her target’s heels, Serros slid to a half–stop on the slippery smooth, mustard yellow and blue flooring of the building’s atrium before catching a flash of sapphire hair whipping around a corner. The two, pursuer and prey, ran flat–out past startled employees through a series of short, cross–cut mustard yellow hallways that melted together in a nauseating blur until the corridors opened into a cavernous processing hall. Huge spigots held aloft on automated track positioned on the structure’s low ceiling methodically spat yellow Adrenix into enormous, circular shaped glass vats. The impressively sized drums were then rotated away on track for storage and shipment to major hospitals, medical facilities, and military distribution centers across the galaxy.

  The Captain could see numerous workers of various races calibrating and checking each vat that after being filled, was hermetically sealed and then packed for shipment in reusable and padded durexium drums. Despite the carefully wrought seals, Avara noted that all of the Adrenix packaging employees wore full covering: protective suits with oxygen filters intended to stave off any negative effects from exposure to high amounts of the adrenal enhancing agent.

  After a wave of dizziness and a sense of euphoric infallibility shot through her body like a bullet when she inhaled a gulp of air a little too deeply, Avara could understand the precautions very well. Though the place was a nix addict’s paradise, too much exposure would equate to extreme neurological breakdown, with the eventual result of being reduced to a near or fully vegetative state.

  With a conscious mental exertion, Serros dampened the effects of the drug and narrowed in on her quarry. Agent Z’arr seemed to be having similar issues, for the Captain saw her shake her head and half stumble to a halt. Avara didn’t blame her since she knew that the only reason she herself was less affected was due to her Physical Potency and Vitality Enhancement, an augmentation that from her research, Captain Serros knew Lieutenant Z’arr did not possess.

  The Vosaia was just reaching to key a command into her CPA, probably to activate her armor’s retractable helmet to protect herself from the toxic vapors, when Avara decided the time to speak had come. “Agent Z’arr, wait!”

  Rich violet eyes snapped to Serros’s own dark blue orbs, searching. “And would it be prudent for me to do so, Shield Operative?” The Captain could tell by her position, loose yet almost thrumming with an easy tension, that the Vosaia was ready to drop into a fighting crouch at a second’s notice.

  “Yes.” Serros answered calmly, her posture relaxed. “I need you to accompany me back to Sigil and the Quorum to resolve questions about that Arcatech Enhancement data you carry.”

  “I would, yet others seem to feel the same way. I believe you met them, outside?” Z’arr’s tone held a note of grim humor but her eyes were intent, measuring.

  “Oh, we weren’t formally introduced.” Serros replied with a shrug, matching the pearl–skinned Vosaia’s tone. “Too many bullets interspersed with some dying precluded proper acquaintance. In fact, I was hoping you could help me out with that.”

  “Unfortunately I cannot, as it seems I do not know who they really are myself.”

  “Well, why don’t you come with me and we can figure it out together?” The Captain offered.

  “Intriguing, Captain.” The Vosaia commented. “However, trust is in short supply today, you see. Just as I do not seem to really know who they are, I also do not know who you are. For myself, I think the prudent course would be to contact the Vosaia Consulate directly.”

  “It does seem to me that you’ve had an unpleasant day at the office, Agent Z’arr.” Captain Serros agreed, deliberately keeping her tone and energy amiable, unthreatening. “Have you considered that someone associated with the Consulate is most likely connected to your day’s difficulties?”

  “Of course.” Z’arr agreed without pause. “It has also occurred to me that you are apparently connected with a person who precisely fits that description. In fact, I would go so far as to say that you and Goyan Hadarr seem to be rather closely associated, at that.”

  Almost despite herself, Avara offered a genuine, if rueful laugh at what must have been Z’arr’s first impression at seeing the Captain and Major Hadarr together at Revenant. “She and I are not acquainted very well at all, I assure you. As you’re no doubt aware, we happen to have the same employer, the Quorum.”

  Agent Z’arr shrugged in response, and Serros could detect a faint relaxing of tension in the motion. “Well, I am not entirely surprised, especially given what I know of Major Hadarr’s reserved reputation. However, I also know that as a former STF and a current Quorum Shield Operative, she is ideally placed to be the cause of my ‘bad day’ at work. To avoid an even worse day, I suggest you and I peacefully part ways, Captain.”

  “I can’t do that, Lieutenant Z’arr. I was tasked by the Quorum to bring the Arca Microtech data back to Sigil and you in for questioning.” Serros could sense the spike in tension that cracked through Z’arr at her words, and that the Vosaia was about to bolt.

  “K’llan, please. You can trust me.” Avara said, using the Vosaia’s name for the first time. “I will bring you safely to the Quorum.” Looking directly into Z’arr’s rather remarkable violet eyes, Serros purposely lowered the cognitive barriers she had been trained to keep around her mind. With a gentle flex of her will, she employed her Synergy Enhancement to radiate the veracity of her claim. The Captain poured her sincerity and her sense of self towards Lieutenant K’llan Z’arr, counting on the Vosaia’s racial empathic and quasi–telepathic gifts to strengthen the reception of such a mode of communication.

  K’llan Z’arr felt as if she had been suddenly tossed into an icy pool of water, so great was her shock at the sense of this Human’s emotions and mind. Yet cold was not the correct word for the sensation. Indeed, warmth would be the more appropriate descriptor for the actual sense of the woman that was flooding her senses. K’llan was astounded by the sheer power of the Human’s nya, her soul–energy ringing with a purity of self and will she had rarely encountered even in aged Vosaia. And the Human was doing it deliberately, consciously
opening a window into her soul so that K’llan would be able to judge the authenticity of her claims by a means that usually only Vosaia or Karukai can even attempt to employ. More, K’llan could feel the truth of Serros’s words. Against all expectation and as if reading words from a child’s primary, K’llan abruptly understood the basic framework of who Captain Avara Serros was.

  At that moment, enveloped in the undeniable warmth of Captain Serros’s bared soul, K’llan felt no hesitation, no doubt birthed in the fear of duplicity, only a sense of certainty, of rightness. The sensation was curiously reminiscent of childhood feelings of safety, of contentment and home.

  And then that feeling was brutally ripped apart by a flash of searing pain as a spray of bullets tore into Serros’s armored flank, casing the Human to issue an involuntary scream of agony.

  Captain Serros whipped her head around to see the gray–armored soldier that had just fired. The hostile was standing in front of one of the empty glass vat–lines that methodically creaked towards ceiling–affixed Adrenix funnels. With her side sheeted in fire, Avara struggled to gain her feet as she watched the enemy shift focus. Assuming she was eliminated as a threat, the soldier was now training his assault rifle on the Vosaia STF Agent, who stood as if transfixed.

  Avara could feel confusion and raw pain radiating off of Z’arr. The Vosaia was clearly roiling from the slicing pain of feeling the bullets that tore into Avara during the psychic connection the two were still, somehow, unexpectedly locked in.

  With a scream, the Captain brought her will to bear and by fusing her DSA, KS, and KB Arca augmentations, channeled the kobalt fueled energy coursing through blood and viscera to sheath her body in midnight blue energy and then shriek through the air with unnerving force. A living missile, Captain Avara Serros slammed into the gunman and propelled both of their bodies through four separate empty vats and into the wall behind. A deafening sequence of crack–booms tumbled within the work space as the two crashed through containers and smashed into the wall with a thundering clap, thick shards of industrial glass spraying the room like shattered stars. Blackness warred with the almost primal elation Avara felt at taking down the enemy who’d first shot her and then had been so intent on spending the STF Agent’s life.