Nova

by Lora E. Rasmussen

  Indeed, all ranked Karukai Admirals as well as the three members of the Triarchy, the governing body of the Karukai Imperium, were always pulled from the relatively small pool of Varda, their accomplishments incontestable.

  Suffice to say, Avara mused, the Varda would have to be handled with extreme care.

  Finally, Serros and Z’arr tallied a number of slaves rotated out it groups of five and under heavy guard throughout the day. Amounting to just under forty in total, they seemed to be well nourished, clean, and not put to any sort of hard labor. In fact, each excursion consisted of a one–hour set of exercise and a thirty minute period relaxation spent in a vaguely self–determined way, either swimming in or exploring the steam, walking the immediate grounds, or resting seated under the brilliant Dantis sunlight. The outings were clearly intended as physical and mental release, which again bespoke of the particular care the slaves seemed to be treated with. Also of interest, every known species was represented, as well as gender, though age appeared to be more youthful than not, ranging from early to middle adulthood. Other than in all probability acting as a Feeding source for the base’s Karukai, the reason for the prisoners and unusual consideration they were treated with, was as unclear as it was atypical in application.

  After a day and a half of observation and reconnaissance, K’llan and Avara settled on their final strategy and prepared to infiltrate the Outpost. With much consideration, they had decided that the best course to avoid complicated encounters would be to very quietly take out two Karukai, disguise themselves in their armor, and then slip inside the main facility with the cycle’s final rotation.

  In order to fool any identity sensor scans upon entry, the two would apply a rather sophisticated subterfuge program from their CPA’s. The program would allow them to falsely transmit the bio–signs of the two guards they took out. To reduce the risk of discovery, the goal was to communicate as little as possible with any Karukai that they interacted with. Matters would be helped by the fact that they were both female and each could fluently speak the Karukai tongue.

  Their cause would be further aided by the late hour itself, when most of the Outpost’s residents would be sleeping. Once inside, Avara and K’llan would then find and hack into an accessible terminal to locate and make their way to the Communications Hub. There, they would then contact Nova and Excalibur. If she was still in system, they’d seize a starfighter and rendezvous with their crewmates. If not, the plan was to hide a communique asking for help in junk–feed and await a rescue response. If neither of these two tactics bore fruit, Avara and K’llan’s only other option would be to wait for the next Karukai transport. It was not an appealing thought, for stowing away on a hostile military vessel was all but tantamount to guaranteeing capture.

  Finally, Avara and K’llan would endeavor to fulfill the mission goal that had brought the Excalibur to the Arkaia System and the TS Ardent in the first place. While they had access to the facility’s data–core, they would data–dump the Outpost’s records for later examination regarding what exactly the Karukai were doing here, in the emptiness of Black Space that though unclaimed by any particular power, was still only too close to Quorum Aligned Systems territory.

  In case of failure or separation, Serros and Z’arr set up a fallback camp some fifteen miles away from the facility where they would leave all of their non–essential survival gear, from portable generators and tent to bedrolls. They’d only keep their two canteens of greatly diminished hydro–fluid and weapons, as well as two med kits and some dried jerky for Avara.

  Before setting out, Serros and Z’arr deliberately spent the last half day not only preparing for their mission but also in rest. They knew it was very unlikely that they would have another opportunity before the success or failure of their mission was realized. In making ready, the two meticulously cleaned their equipment, checking and rechecking their Nadir DZR rifles, two pistols, and MA–Knives for any flaw, no matter how minor. Avara sported her favored Volturnos as where K’llan volunteered to use the Karukai pistols. The pistols were standard issue Nadir Stingers, just as their DZR rifles represented typical accoutrement for Karukai infantry. With a sigh of regret, Avara knew she’d have to relinquish her Volturnos before entering the facility under disguise so as not to give the game away at its start.

  When their weapons and gear were fully detailed and prepped, the two companions set about readying their bodies. Each bathed and carefully cleaned her clothing, not only for personal comfort’s sake, but more so, to not risk giving their presence away to any Karukai Arcas with an SP enhanced sense of smell. It wouldn’t do for the game to be lost before it truly started because a random guard caught a faint whiff of weeks–long trail dust and so raised the alarm. In addition, knowing that this would in all probability be her last chance for real food for some time, Avara prepared and ate a batch of small, freshwater fish that reminded her a lot of the trout she’d hooked on fishing trips along the Tahona River on Pax with her old friend, Jamie Sweetwater. It was a happy memory, one of easy friendship and simpler times, and Serros took it as a good omen.

  Finally, Avara found herself in the same position she had been in several times during the over seventeen–hundred mile trek across Dantis; bringing up the necessity of Feeding to a resistant K’llan Z’arr that seemed stubbornly intent on pretending otherwise.

  Marshaling her arguments, Serros knelt next to the Lieutenant, who was busy organizing her gear. “K’llan, we need to…”

  “I know, Avara.” Z’arr interrupted, her tone neither biting nor dismissive as she deftly secured her med–kit to her unworn mag harness.

  “Oh,” Serros responded, mentally shifting gears. At this stage, Avara was finally not surprised that K’llan had known what she was to say before the words left her mouth, but was still struggling to read the Vosaia’s emotional state. “Good then.”

  With a faint smile, K’llan remarked “You were excepting an argument?”

  “Well, yes.” The Captain answered forthrightly, brushing fingers through dark locks curling a bit around her ears and grown rather longer than she preferred.

  K’llan stopped what she was doing and trained both her gaze and full attention on Serros. Avara noted absently that for the mission, K’llan had tied back her own hair with a ragged strip of cloth. It did nothing stop an errant, sapphire colored lick from spilling down across her face, one that with mild irritation, K’llan recaptured and tucked away. “The time when argument would be applicable is long past, Avara.”

  Studying the beautiful features of the Vosaia, Serros was struck by the new, or perhaps renewed, sense of serenity pooled in the lustrous violet depths of her eyes. Avara could feel a softening of trepidation and anxiety regarding Feeding and, perhaps much more critically, the status of their empathic link that had been trickling forth from K’llan since planet–fall.

  “Why?”

  “Because choice has already been made that cannot be unmade. Now all that is left for us is to understand and accept what that choice means, no more, no less.”

  Nyeria.

  The word vibrated between and within them, resonating with such clarity, it was as if K’llan had just spoken the term in her ear. The image and sensation was so vividly real, that Avara fancied she could feel K’llan’s breath actually brush her lobe. Synchronously, Avara’s own mind issued the term, all without separation of space or time. The conversation that they’d had a week ago right after the experience of the second Feeding, came tumbling back to Avara.

  Like a child’s set of carved puzzle blocks, words tethered to concepts fell into place and clicked together in perfect design and unity. Still struggling to fully understand and accept the set puzzle laid bare before her, Avara found that no words would come, so she issued a quiet nod of acknowledgment.

  With a sweet smile that flew straight to Serros’s heart, K’llan tilted her head in response, eyes flooded with an understanding and acceptance so deep, that Serros felt a pleasant shiver chase across
her body. Then K’llan stood, carrying Avara with the motion by taking her forearm. Using a smooth, pearlescent hued hand that stood in stark relief against the crimson colored jacket she wore, K’llan gently brushed Avara’s brow. Then, with a sense of infinite affection coupled with willfully controlled and checked want, tilted her head and leaned forward and up to place blue–brushed lips on Avara’s own.

  Just as before, the contact brought a tidal wave of emotional and physical sensation forth. Life–energy, memory, deep held beliefs, fears and aspirations, all spilling to, though, and between each individual until there was no real understanding of where Avara began and K’llan ended. Like molten metal from a forge dripping through every fiber, every pocket and pore of her being and then quickening, Avara also felt the unmistakable surge of desire she felt for this person, the need for physical expression of their emotional coupling. And through it all, Serros knew it was an actuality that was exactly twinned by K’llan. As the Human and the Vosaia operated in a state of harmony, flushed with intoxicant–like spiritual exploration, a moment of recognition passed between them.

  Purely physical reality came slamming back, causing dark sapphire and amethyst eyes to open as one. Feeling no less breathless than before and slammed with the now familiar sense of loss at the cessation and interruption of their psychic coupling, Avara realized she was gripping K’llan in a bruising hold that the Vosaia was returning in kind.

  “You are so very exquisite.” The words escaped Avara’s mouth before she even realized she was thinking them.

  To her surprise, a faint blush of blue brushed across K’llan’s countenance, but her eyes neither lowered nor wavered from Serros’s own. “Thank you, Avara. The sentiment is most definitely returned.”

  Frowning slightly, after a moment’s hesitation Avara tilted her head down and tenderly brushed her lips across K’llan’s forehead, issuing a tight squeeze of her arms before releasing the Vosaia from her embrace. “We should sleep while we can. My guess is that it will be our last chance for quite some time, and we have only four hours until we need to ‘borrow’ some Karukai armor and make the rotation.”

  “Yes, quite correct.” K’llan responded, and just like Serros, Avara could feel Z’arr consciously release her desire in the face of the danger and responsibility that lay before them. The shift of focus was accompanied by another shared sentiment, this time, the fragile thrill of hope blooming.

  Home.

  They were so close, that Avara could practically smell the cool durexium walls of Excalibur, hear her low–toned thrum of systems and engines as she sustained life and purpose to all those aboard ship. As K’llan lay down to rest a foot or so away from Serros, Avara took comfort in her presence and their shared resolve.

  It was almost time.

  *

  Only too soon after they had settled down to sleep, the time came to leave what would hopefully be their last campsite on Dantis. It took only minutes to securely stow away and strap on their readied gear, as well as leave all superfluous equipment behind in the rocky nook of a small gully. Final preparations complete, under the rain of chill starlight, the Human and Vosaia sped across the sea of gray–green savannah grass, reaching their destination in just under a quarter of an hour. After expending ten minutes or so to ascertain that the Karukai guard routine was unchanged, the two positioned themselves behind and to the south–east of the central beehive, as Avara had come to think of it, next to the rushing waters of the stream.

  The Captain and Lieutenant carefully hunched low to the ground next to a thorn bush and covered all parts of their bodies with dry bramble–branches to blend into the terrain. As they waited, locked in position and silence so as to not given away their presence, the smell and song of water flooded Avara’s senses. Overhead, the soft thume–whick of batwings rippled in the night air as they hunted. After about twenty minutes, Serros was able to pick up the faint sound of sweet–smelling grass being crushed underfoot.

  Sure enough, after a few minutes the increasingly loud footfalls matched a pair of booted feet walking more or less lazily in step just a few feet from stream’s edge. Star and moonlight revealed two unhelmeted, crimson armored individuals of medium height, one sporting the black markings that denoted Officer ranking but fortunately, neither was accoutered with the lightning chevron of the Varda.

  When the Karukai had passed by their position, with a gentle push of emotion and thought towards K’llan, the Human and Vosaia sprang into motion. Their forms no more than a deceiving blur, both rocketed towards each chosen guard’s back and then locked right arms around Karukai necks even as left arms stifled any cry or response. In less than a blink of an eye, two low cracks slipped into the auditory mix of zinging insect life. The Karukai shuddered then slid to the ground even as the last trickle of life ebbed from their limp forms.

  With deliberate alacrity, the Nova Squad members stripped the guards of armor and weapons, quickly donned their newly acquired plunder, and scanned Karukai bio–sign imprints. After, each heaved a body over her shoulder and Arca–sped a mile or so downstream where they let the water’s currents take the corpses away to oblivion.

  Though it was stiff and a somewhat ill–fitted, Avara thought to herself how good it felt to once again be in armor, especially given the daunting task still before them. Serros and Z’arr quickly synced their new suits to their CPAs, and then resumed the tail–end of the now expired guard duo’s pre–determined patrol course. With her mouth dry and heart thudding in anticipation of discovery, eighteen minutes later, they slipped into the eastern entrance of the central beehive building along with two other pairs of guards as the fresh and final night patrol traded out with them.

  Captain Serros could feel the trickle of perspiration trace down her temple inside her helm as the pale blue, impersonal light of a bio–sign scan swept over both her and Z’arr in the small, locked security atrium before the interior entrance of the building. At the dismissal of the scanner’s search and the automated “go–ahead” that sounded throughout the cramped room, the Shield Operative felt her heartbeat slow as one of the most difficult of many upcoming hurdles was successfully overcome.

  The inside of the facility was as smooth lined and curved in construction as the outer, featuring pristine white walls, tan flooring and pale blue windows and skylights. The interior was infused with the sharply clean smell of a sterilized medical office. From floor to ceiling to symmetrically designed station doorways all along and off of the open hallway in which they entered, everything was utterly spotless.

  Fortunately, other than bidding the unidentified infiltrators goodnight, their fellows seemed little interested in conversation, only preoccupied with acquiring rack–time. It was no time at all before the two non–Karukai were able to split off from the rest and swiftly disappear into a small adjacent office.

  The room was as pristine as the rest, featuring a work desk with a data–station and interestingly, some sort of micro–lab set up, complete with a cooling unit, a methodically organized sample cabinet, and an array of high tech microscopes. With Avara standing alert and stationed to the side of the closed door, K’llan quickly took a seat in the bright white desk chair and started working to hack into the data–terminal.

  The glimmering orange of the terminal’s holo–keypad and displays bled into the dark office like a low fire creeping through the foundation of a domicile at sleep, unsuspected until flame was inescapable. It was not, Avara mused as she split her attention between K’llan at work and any potential Karukai approach, a comforting simile.

  Some twenty–five minutes or so later, Avara could feel a spike of triumph mingled with antipathy as K’llan whispered energetically “Avara, this facility is not a slave processing center. It is a cloning research and production center!”

  “What?” Avara responded. “I can see the research but… production? Where? The facility is too small…”

  “I… I do not know yet. But the data is clear. There are species work–ups a
nd samples, genetic variance and trait inheritance tables, nucleotide and amino acid relation, resultant sequencing… All speak to the research aspect of this facility and the need for a diverse body of well cared for sample species. The data points to determined efforts to increase life expectancy and physical potency of Karukai clones.”

  Pausing for a moment, her eyes flying across the data–feeds, K’llan bit her lip and then continued, “However, none of the research requires the massive amount of power this complex generates. Or the numerous references to ‘product readiness’ and ‘shipment release.’ Plus, there are several write–ups regarding experimental, small–batch clone outcomes and chronologically mapped clone prototype results. Finally, all of the data is set against mass production equations.”

  “But…” Avara started, her brain working furiously as the full suite of ramifications battered her mind like a jack–hammer. “There’s no reason to have such a facility here, in a portion of unclaimed Black Space that’s just a week out from Quorum territory unless…”

  Effortless conjuring up maps of pertinent star systems and planets, including the Zirgesh worlds of Moxar and Chitnai as well as the Human planets of Xie and Abir, all of which pose such an easy lead–in to the Quorum governed world of Avex…

  “Unless the Karukai are preparing for a full–scale strike and invasion of this sector of Quorum Space and intend to capitalize on the Fosaki border as a closed front to safeguard their operations!” Avara exclaimed, feeling like she’d just been smacked in the face, so significant were the ramifications.