by Abel, Regine
Tabitha had loved Rage the same way I had been severely infatuated with Ayana. Had she chosen me instead of Legion, she would be the one left heartbroken like Tabitha had been when Rage had finally met his true soulmate, Olivia. It had been a shock to all of us. To this day, Rage still ached over the pain he had involuntarily caused Tabitha, but the call of his bond mate couldn’t have been denied. It had served as a cautionary tale to all of us and was one of the reasons we kept fraternization under strict control with partners who wouldn’t get their hearts broken as Tabitha had.
Still, despite being human, Tabitha could have possessed Gomenzi Dragon blood so fiercely loyal was she to those she considered her people: the Vanguard, humans, and the Coalition as a whole. She had put her life on the line many times to protect or rescue her Warrior. Liena volunteering for this mission, despite the risks to herself and to her mental well-being, had earned her Tabitha’s undivided loyalty and respect.
It was my hope that, with time, my mate’s gentle nature would help Tabitha find her way back to the happy-go-lucky, bubbly, and mischievous girl she’d once been.
Too soon, the dark-red silhouette of Janaur appeared in the porthole, its thick rings circling its fat midsection. We gathered in the mess hall which also served as meeting room. Shaped like a trapezoid, the narrowest part of the room was a massive window looking out to the infinite space beyond. The other light-grey, paneled walls boasted the typical black and gold accents of the Vanguard.
Aside from Chaos, who stood by the giant monitor on the wall opposite to the window, we all settled around the single rectangular table in the middle of the room. Linette tuned in remotely. As our pilot, she didn’t feel comfortable leaving the helm so close to hostile territory.
“We’re going in hot,” Chaos said without preamble. “Doom has forwarded some early scouting reports. The Kryptids appear to be doing some Janaurian purging of their own in the northeastern hemisphere of the planet.”
Chaos turned on the monitor, and a bird’s eye view of a swampy area of Janaur appeared on screen. Even at the highest resolution, the images remained a little blurry. However, we could distinctly see dozens of Janaurians being divided into three groups by a handful of Kryptids. Once done, the Kryptids opened fire on the largest group.
“No!” Liena exclaimed, covering her mouth in horror.
I clenched my teeth and rubbed her back in a soothing motion. Fury and helplessness raged within me as I watched the two smaller groups being herded away while more Janaurians were brought forward to be sorted.
“If nothing else, we now have proof the Janaurians are victims in need of our assistance,” Chaos said.
“Why couldn’t we get such footage sooner?” Tyonna asked, our only Portal and Nathalie’s baby sister. “Wouldn’t this prompt the Coalition into switching their planned cleansing operation into a rescue mission instead?”
“Because Doom didn’t have the right type of stealth ships. He came prepared this time,” Chaos explained. “Unfortunately, this footage will not suffice to sway the Coalition. The Janaurians are still considered too primitive. Rescuing them would put too many Warriors at risk while providing no real benefit to the Coalition. A cleansing is cheaper and would yield the same result.”
“That’s barbaric!” I exclaimed.
“Agreed,” Wrath said in a grim tone. “Which is why we’re trying to change things. But Earth almost faced the same fate. By intergalactic standards, humans were considered barely more evolved than the Janaurians. There are three reasons you were spared. First, you were Dr. Xi’s people, and he threatened to walk away from the Xian Warriors’ project if his creation didn’t rescue you.”
“Go, great-grandpa!” Liena said, eliciting a few chuckles.
“Second,” Wrath continued, “humans are far too numerous. Allowing the Kryptids to use your planet as a breeding ground, feeding your males to the Breeding Swamps and impregnating your females, would have created too massive an army for us to deal with.”
“With so many of us headed to Earth, the Kryptids destroyed Dr. Xi’s lab and our Incubator,” Chaos said. “He died trying to save his research. He only recovered part of it: not how to recreate us, but how to grant humans psychic abilities. The early tests he had completed showed humans might be more powerful than our original Hulanian Soulcatchers.”
“And that’s the third reason we remained so long on Earth and it’s now one of the main planets the Coalition shields,” Wrath said. “Before Raven’s birth, human Soulcatchers had become our best chance of surviving longer.”
“And with Warriors finding their soulmates only among human females so far, you have become even more invaluable,” I said caressing my mate’s silky brown hair.
“So, we need to find something that will make the Janaurians valuable to the Coalition,” Tyonna said.
“Exactly,” Chaos answered. “And there is something or the Kryptids wouldn’t have spent so much time on this planet messing with its people. The local population is too low for them to have targeted Janaur as a breeding ground. But even if they did, they would have massively injected the locals with Mexlar dispensers and dropped hundreds of mature Drones to lay eggs. That they didn’t is further proof something is afoot. We need to find out what they want from the Janaurians.”
“So, what’s the plan?” Tabitha asked.
“We will reach our destination in a little under twenty minutes,” Chaos said. The image on the giant screen switched to a satellite view of the northeastern region of Janaur. “We’re not going for subtlety. There are three execution clusters which you can see here, here, and here,” Chaos said, indicating them on the map. “We’ll rush in, land smack in the middle of the biggest one and take out the Kryptids.”
“Right in their midst?” Tabitha exclaimed before casting a worried look in my mate’s direction.
I hated that plan as well but understood Chaos’s logic for it. In a way, part of me felt better that my mate would be within rescue range, but the other part worried about her proximity to danger.
“That way we can do surgical strikes without long travel to and from the hot spots. You, Sonia, and Diane will join us in battle,” Chaos said.
“What about me?” Tyonna asked, visibly offended to be left out. “I can fight.”
“Yes, and beautifully so,” Chaos said with a smile. “Which is why I need you here to protect Liena if things go to shit. Also, she can only shield four people. If our assumptions about what was blocking the previous Soulcatchers are wrong, then we’ll need you to portal us to our Shells.”
That pacified the feisty Portal.
“Okay, I can do that,” Tyonna said, leaning back against her chair.
“Linette will also remain on board, ready to get us out in a blink,” I added.
“Initiating our descent,” Linette’s voice said over the open com, as if in response to my comment. “We’ll be landing in less than ten minutes.”
“Everyone, finish suiting up and meet at the airlock,” Chaos said. “Liena, you’re on standby to revive our Shells if needed. Tyonna, you’re on long range scans. Anything incoming, or any changes in the other execution clusters, give us a holler. Tabitha, Diane, and Sonia, you’ll stand back with your shields up. Set your blasters to stun. We don’t want to accidentally kill the locals.”
“Acknowledged,” we all replied in unison.
We headed for the armory located near the airlock, Liena’s small hand held firmly in mine. While the women equipped their weapons belts and the armbands that served as shields, short-range scanners, and camouflage devices, my fellow Warriors and I first stripped out of our clothes before equipping ourselves with weapon attachments.
The first time Legion had prepared for battle in Ayana’s presence, he’d been extremely self-conscious about turning into his battle-form in front of her, fearing she would be repulsed by his appearance. I’d found that thought silly. She’d been head-over-heels for him, and humans knew we morphed into fearsome creatures for comb
at—although very few had actually witnessed our transformation. But now, I felt that unease as well as my woman stared at me with a worry she utterly failed to hide.
I cupped her face between my hands and gave her a desperate kiss into which I poured all the emotions she stirred in me.
“I will come back to you, my mate,” I said with fervor. “You stay strong and focused.”
Liena nodded, her beautiful, slanted eyes blinking rapidly to keep her tears at bay.
“I’m going to morph now. Do not be afraid, okay?”
I shouldn’t have said that. Liena knew we morphed. She’d probably even seen some of us in our battle-form as part of her biochemistry career. But Silas had traumatized her with images of Kryptids. When he created us, Dr. Xi had decided to fight fire with fire and had spliced us in almost equal measure with human and Kryptid DNA. The non-negligible amount of Gomenzi Dragon in us is what gave us our soul transfer and advanced psychic abilities, as well as our golden scales and unshakable loyalty to those we considered our people. But in our battle-form, our Kryptid heritage dominated.
“I won’t be,” Liena whispered, giving me a trembling smile.
I embraced the familiar pain of the shift wracking my body as new limbs, armor, and defenses grew. I parted my feet and spread my arms, adjusting my balance to the new weight distribution. With snapping and cracking sounds my scales thickened and broadened, taking on the shape of layered plate armor. Those on my cheeks and forehead fused into a golden helm that covered half of my face. Thin and tightly packed vicious-looking spikes protruded from my forehead, growing thicker and more spaced out in the back. They could pierce right through a Kryptid’s chitin armor with a well-placed head-butt. Additional, thinner spikes jutted out from the skin along my arms, preventing enemies from grabbing me or coming too close against me.
A black chitin plate swelled on top of my forearms, extending over my hands into scythe-like limbs. This was one of my favorite things about the change. Sharper than any crafted blade, they could cut through pretty much anything, especially Kryptids. A stinging burn ran down my back as two slits parted alongside my spine, freeing my frilled membranes. Their clawed tips and blade-like edges could slice through thin metals and the various types of scaled armor of anyone who thought to jump us from behind. My second favorite weapon in battle form were the two scorpion tails that protruded from my shoulder blades. I flexed them, arching them over my shoulders to check the vicious, venomous spikes at the tips. I flattened the additional spikes along my legs to avoid scraping anyone on my way out.
My transformation complete, I cast a wary glance at Liena. She stared at me, lips parted in shock. My hearts pounded while waiting for her to react. The absence of disgust or apparent horror on her face made me feel relieved, but I needed her to say something. Instead, she extended a hand towards my chest, timidly caressing the plating of my scales. I shivered with pleasure at her touch. Awe slowly replaced shock on her delicate features. Feather light, her fingertips traced the black chitin along my right arm, following the smooth—and safe—outer curve of my scythed-limb.
“You look badass, in a scary kind of way,” she said, staring at me with wonder.
The Soulcatchers chuckled, used to seeing us in that form.
“We’ve landed. No signs we were detected,” Linette’s voice said over the com.
We all sobered. Chaos gave Tyonna a meaningful glance. She nodded in response at his unspoken command.
“Kick some ass, guys,” she said before leaving the airlock to go stand by our Shells.
Careful not to hurt Liena with my defenses, I gingerly took her hands in mine. Words were unnecessary. Our eyes said everything. Raising herself on her tiptoes, she lifted her face towards mine. I leaned forward and gently brushed my lips against hers. I let go and cast a final glance at the scar of my bonding bite on her neck, regretting not kissing it before shifting. Doing so now would inevitably hurt her, if only because of the spikes on my forehead.
The sizzling sound of the women activating their shields forced me to focus.
“Go on, love,” I said to Liena, pointing at the three Soulcatchers with my chin.
“Okay,” Liena said.
I could almost feel her exuding psychic energy as she shielded the Soulcatchers’ vessels.
“Like Tyonna said, kick some ass,” Liena said. With one final look in my direction, she walked out of the airlock to join our Portal in the ship’s Incubator room.
With Chaos and Wrath in the lead, Steele and me behind them, and the women, blasters in hand and shields at the ready standing at the back, we prepared to launch our attack.
“Linette, open the door on my mark. Three. Two. One. Mark,” Chaos said.
The door slid open in a blink. We rushed down the ramp. The minute we stepped off it, we lost the protection of the ship’s stealth cloak.
About two hundred meters ahead of us, a dozen Kryptids were halfway through sorting a new group of Janaurians. It was only now, on the terrain, that I realized the constitution of the three groups: children no older than twelve in the first group, nubile females and infants in the second, and everyone else in the third. There was something off about the children, but I couldn’t focus on them right now. Alerted by the stunned expressions of the Janaurians, the Kryptids turned around. Shock, panic, and then rage crossed their insectoid features in quick succession.
Without missing a beat, they raised their weapons and opened fire. Our shields absorbed the shots, and we responded in kind. Thankfully, the Janaurians all threw themselves on the ground, reducing the chances of collateral damage. The Kryptids charged us, a few of them dropping within seconds from the perfectly aimed shots of our girls. My throat worked, summoning a mouth dart coated with venom. From this distance, I didn’t expect my dart to pierce through my target’s armor and bury itself in his flesh to deliver its toxic payload. The goal was to batter the same spot a few times to crack the chitin. Once that happened, my enemy might as well be dead.
Chaos clashed violently with the first Kryptid. His opponent, an experienced Soldier, dodged the savage slash of Chaos’s scythed-limb. He tried to immobilize Chaos’s arm with his scythed-pincers, but our mission leader stabbed him twice with his scorpion tails. The Kryptid let go, stumbling back at the sight of a crack in his chest plate. Covering his vulnerable spot with one arm, he slashed at Chaos, his throat swelling with his own poisoned dart. As soon as he opened his mouth and the sharp, glistening tip of the dart showed between his needle teeth, Chaos violently backhanded him. The dart flew out of his mouth, landing limply on the yellow grass covering the clearing.
A Kryptid coming at me forced me to redirect my attention. He fired a few shots, each one absorbed by my shield. Running up to meet him, I fired my dart at his hand. He tried to pull it out of the way but only exposed the vulnerable inner part of his wrist. The dart pierced through the thinner chitin at that location, sinking into his flesh. I’d only meant to knock his weapon out of his hand but ended up with a far luckier shot. He screeched, the squealing sound painful to my ears.
Pressing my advantage, I blocked the instinctive swipe of his other scythed-pincers and rammed the rounded edge of my own scythe into his sternum. He stumbled back and spit acid at me. My shield once more absorbed it, but the toxin did a number on its integrity, making it fall to 80%. I summoned another dart, while swiping my scythe at him to keep him on the defensive and spat it at the lowest part of his three-segment leg. As expected, he lowered his shield to protect his leg, exposing his torso. My scythe bashed his chest again, followed by two quick stabs from each of my scorpion tails. The very satisfying sound of fractured chitin accompanied the second blow.
As I prepared for the kill, a shadow at the edge of my vision had my instincts screaming for me to duck. No sooner did I do so than a scythed-pincer whistled past me. I whipped my arm into my second opponent’s gut, ramming its spikes against his armor, before rolling out of the path of my first opponent’s attack. Jumping back on my fee
t, I stabbed the first Kryptid’s cracked armor with my scorpion tail again, this time making it collapse, then spit acid in the opening. He dropped to the ground, squealing that grating, screeching sound while clawing at his chest.
My remaining opponent backed away from me, emitting a strange clicking sound that didn’t seem to match the usual Kryptid language. I rushed him only to hear the handful of Kryptids still standing emit the same sounds. Before he could counter my attack, I bashed his face with my shield and spit a poisoned dart directly into his mouth when he screamed. His hands flew to his throat. Vacillating on his segmented legs, he gurgled an agonized sound. With a precise swiping of my scythe, I chopped his leg off below the first segment. He collapsed to the ground, choking on the venom in the dart obstructing his airways.
As I turned to seek a new victim, I felt my blood turn to ice. The first group of Janaurians—the children—were advancing towards us, their movements stiff, almost robotic, and their large, yellow eyes in their alabaster skin devoid of emotion. Tabitha, standing closest to them, looked utterly panicked, unsure what to do. She ordered the children to stay back, aiming her blaster at them, but they ignored her. She backed away, but they just kept coming.
The still-unsorted children in the third and largest group rose to their feet and also started advancing towards my Warrior companions and me. Very little had ever managed to scare me, but these children creeped the fuck out of me. Whatever the Kryptids had done to them, I could never bring myself to kill a child.
None of us could. They knew that.
Perfect weapon indeed. Pulling out my blaster, I set it to the lowest stun level. As soon as I equipped my weapon, the adults in the second and third groups of Janaurians fled. In theory, the stun setting wouldn’t harm the children, only knock them out. But even the remote possibility that it might hurt them twisted my insides. Two of them closed the distance to Chaos, who was busy fighting a Kryptid. Chaos shook his head as if to clear his mind, his attacks becoming clumsy. He stumbled back, barely managing to block his opponent’s assault. Eyes blinking rapidly, Chaos looked around him blindly, swiping his scythed-limb into empty air, completely missing his target. His movements became sluggish, and then he simply stopped moving, standing idly while the Kryptid cut him down.
