by Abel, Regine
The Mimics all turned to look at us at the sound of the door opening. Many of them came out of sleeping alcoves spread over three floors on the back wall, while many more rose out of the large pool of saltwater needed for that aquatic species. The mix of fear and confusion on their features turned to teary disbelief when Silzi morphed back into her natural form.
“Silzi!” a few of the Mimics exclaimed before rushing towards her.
I allowed the emotional embraces to last a few moments while mind-speaking with Reklig to assess his readiness for our arrival, then to ask Dread to come in with two more ships.
“Bane!” Tabitha’s voice said in my head.
“We just reached the Mimics, my love. We’ll be out soon.”
“Please. Please hurry!”
Her mind disconnected from mine before I could inquire further. But the urgency in her voice couldn’t be mistaken.
“We must go,” I said in a pressing tone. “Leave everything behind.”
Thankfully, they didn’t argue, all of them moving swiftly and in an orderly fashion. We filled the two smaller side elevators with Mimics and sent them off with Reaper and Tremak. The Worker finished her tasks on the last unconscious Mimic while we loaded the other three in the central elevator. Despite its impressive size, once we’d loaded the fourth stretcher and piled in as many Mimics as possible, a third of them still remained waiting for the first two lifts to return. Viper rode in the main elevator to go finish wiping out the remaining embryonic abominations on the first floor.
As the Mimics rushed into the smaller lifts that had come back, the spindly feel of a most hated consciousness brushed against mine.
“My dear, treasonous firstborn. You’ve been busy,” Khutu said. “I would have made you the most powerful of princes, but you had to go and give your loyalty to the wrong parent. You fool. You were so perfect, except for those damn soft sentiments. You threw away a brilliant future over a worn out breeder who doesn’t even know you exist anymore. Foolish boy. Now, I will destroy everything you hold dear.”
“No, Father,” I said, putting as much contempt in the title as I could muster. “You betrayed the Kryptids and destroyed entire worlds and species for your selfish ambitions, but no more. You can reign over the ashes of Zekuro, hunted by those you sought to enslave.”
As the doors of the elevator closed, bringing the last of us to the surface, the General’s victorious psychic laughter, filled with malicious glee, gave me cold chills.
“Oh no, son,” Khutu said. “I knew all along that you would betray me. You broke Shuria’s heart. She was so looking forward to riding the cock of a male with such a pretty face. She didn’t want to believe me. I warned you not to disappoint me. Instead, you not only fell headfirst into my trap, you also brought me the elite of the Vanguard to feast upon. So, thank you for allowing me to wipe out the traitors within my ranks and my greatest enemies in one fell swoop.”
“Get everyone on board and off planet, NOW!” I hissed at Varnog as we poured out of the lift into the main hall of the facility.
He stiffened at first, offended by my harsh tone, then his eyes widened. Having read from my mind the source of my anger—not to say distress—his face took on a predatory expression. Without a word, he lit a fire under the Mimics, getting them to move faster towards the exit.
“We will take you down with your wretched city,” I said with an equal amount of bravado and determination. The General was a slippery slime. There was no question he already had an exit plan. “By the time we’re done here, you will have no troops left. Even if you manage to escape Zekuro, the Queen will have you dismembered for your treachery.”
We emerged from the building to find the second vessel taking off with the Mimics while reactivating its stealth shield. The third ship had just finished lowering its ramp when the Kryptid troops Tabitha had mentioned turned the corner onto the plaza. Shouting in panic, the Mimics stampeded towards the vessel. Four more of my brothers jumped out of the ship to come help us defend the freed captives.
Shoulder to shoulder, our shields held before us, my brothers and the Scelks marched towards the incoming enemies.
“No, my son. I have long left Zekuro,” the General said smugly. “Aitxa’s reign ended last night. She went to her final rest along with that fool, Lexot. MY Queen now sits the throne, her womb filled with my seed. I will not make the same mistake with my future sons as I did with you. Like the rest, you have served your purpose. Enjoy your ultimate death, my son.”
His words had meant to demoralize me but galvanized me instead. We had fought too hard and come too far to fail now. My own Queen awaited me.
I would not die this day.
Chapter 12
Tabitha
“Status?” I asked Tyonna as yet another of our Warriors’ ships made an emergency landing on Zekuro.
“They definitely have something incapacitating the vessels,” Tyonna said, her fingers flying over her keyboard. “The disruption zone is centered on the main tower and spans over a one-kilometer radius. The other ships have been warned to stay away from that area, but sixty-two of our men are trapped on the ground.”
She didn’t have to specify that Chaos, Legion, Wrath, and Rage were all among them. They had baited us, allowing the drone attacks to go off without a hitch, eating the damage while biding their time. They’d even allowed the first manned ships to attack for a good ten minutes with only token retaliation using their ground-to-air missiles, letting us lower our guards, then bringing in more ships before casting their net.
“We need to bring that tower down,” I said pensively. “But our chasers cannot get close enough without becoming disabled, and our long-range missiles will do too much damage. The debris will hurt our men and trap their vessels. So, they need to disable it from within.”
“There are too many Soldiers. They would be slaughtered before they reached it,” Tyonna said. “Even now, there’s a throng of them closing in on their position.”
“I see it,” Yumi said.
The dark color of her eyes, even her sclera, gave away the fact that she was looking through one of her Warriors’ eyes at his surroundings on the ground. As an Operator, that ability to accurately interpret what she was seeing could mean life or death for a Warrior. Ten other Operators, sitting in our battleship’s conference room, were each monitoring their respective five Warriors in real-time, relaying information on the terrain. A direct feed from the bridge streamed on the monitors in the conference room so that the Operators could be apprised of the latest developments or communicate to us through the intercom any urgent changes or impending threat to our men.
“Rage is trying to get his unit to disable one of the defense towers,” Yumi said. “The Kryptids up there are pummeling the grounded ships to destroy them.”
“Legion’s unit is moving northeast,” Nathalie said from the conference room. “There is a massive influx of Kryptid troops there.”
“It’s the Soldiers attacking Bane’s rescue mission,” I replied. “Good, they can use the help. They are completely outnumbered. Tyonna, dispatch some of our chasers in the area for support or potential pick-up. Remind them to stay out of the disruption zone.”
Just as I finished speaking those words, I hissed in pain from unconsciously scratching my shoulder too hard. At first, I’d assumed it was only the usual itch one gets from a healing wound that makes you fiddle with the scab. But, over the past couple of days, the itching had intensified, expanding to the length of my shoulders—even the one where Bane hadn’t bitten me—and to both sides of my neck. It had gone from a mild annoyance to major discomfort and was now entering the realm of alarming.
Refusing to admit something might be wrong with our bonding, I’d dismissed the disturbing symptoms. But now, they could no longer be ignored. Since the beginning of the battle, a throbbing pain had been steadily increasing. Thankfully, it wasn’t debilitating. However, there was no more doubt that I would need medical attention as soon as the b
attle was over. What this implied or could mean for our bond was more than I could bear.
“SHIELD US!”
Chaos’s voice shouting in my mind had me nearly jumping out of my skin. All depressing thoughts forgotten, I refocused on the task at hand.
“Shields, protect Chaos’s unit, stat!” I ordered immediately before questioning him. “What’s going on?”
The Shields assigned to the Warriors of his unit each confirmed over the intercom that they successfully protected the psychic minds of the men. Psychic disruptors would now be ineffective against them.
“Massive disruptor walls are being erected all around the streets,” Chaos said. “We’ve lost contact with Rage’s and Wrath’s units.”
Just as he spoke those words, the Operators who had been tracking the men’s movements and surroundings all started voicing a loss of contact.
“They are raising metal gates, isolating us from each other. We’re going to try to find a way around,” Chaos said before disconnecting from my mind.
“Myriam,” I called through the intercom, “give me something to work with.”
“We’re trying,” she said. “We can’t break through their defenses. Every time we open a backdoor, they slam it right back in our faces. We can’t figure out their scrambling algorithm.”
Being more battle savvy, I was in charge of our offensive strategies while Myriam handled our tactical. Under her supervision, two dozen Soulcatchers and Portals had set up a secondary deck in the ships’ hangar where they performed long-range scans of the surface, tracked in real-time all enemy troop movements, hunted for their vulnerable points, and attempted to hack into their defenses. Our Shields had also prepared ten rebirth stations on the opposite side of the hangar so that resurrected Warriors could jump right back into another vessel and return to battle.
“We’ve got a hybrid vessel incoming,” Linette said from the pilot’s seat. “It’s Dread’s chaser with the second group of Mimic refugees.”
“The second?” I asked, confused.
“Reaper brought the first group to the Fury,” Linette answered.
“The hybrids’ third ship has lifted off with the remaining Mimics,” Myriam said over the intercom. “Bane and his men are actually mowing through the Kryptids,” she added, her voice filled with awe.
Pride swelled in my heart. Linette’s mocking chuckle made me realize I’d puffed my chest. I glared with pretend anger, which only made her smile broaden.
“Legion’s unit is trampling them from the rear,” Myriam continued. “At this rate, they should meet up with Bane in a few min… Oh shit!”
“What?” I asked, all amusement immediately gone.
“There’s a Drone Swarm descending on Rage’s and Wrath’s positions,” Myriam answered.
“What?” Violet exclaimed, fear making her voice pitch.
“This was the point of their trap,” I whispered, understanding dawning on me. “To get our men inside contained areas before unleashing the Swarm on them and deny them rebirth with the disruptors.”
Violet jumped to her feet and ran to me. She grabbed my forearms and locked eyes with mine, hers pleading. “We have to get them out! Please!”
“Yes, we do,” I said with an angry resolve while giving her shoulder a comforting squeeze. “Linette, with me. Tyonna, your command.”
Linette swiftly got up and gestured at Kazumi, her copilot to take over.
“I’m coming, too,” Violet said in a voice that brooked no argument.
I nodded, not only understanding her need to rescue her man, but also because her weapons expertise was currently useless from our Battlecruiser. The damage our war vessel could inflict would likely also hurt our men on the ground. But, aboard our rescue shuttle, it might give us the edge to pull it off.
We reached the hangar just as Dread’s chaser was flying through the energy field that kept us safe from the void of space before it landed.
“I need five Shields,” I said, marching towards one of the shuttles.
“And I need five as well,” Myriam responded before facing Ayana. “You’re in charge. I’m counting on you and the other Portals to get all of our boys back safely to their Shells.”
“We will,” Ayana said with a stiff nod.
The chaser’s ramp lowered, and its doors opened. Dread stepped out of the shuttle, realizing immediately that something had gone wrong.
“Soulcatchers, be ready to receive any soul, and have as many of the Shells from Wrath’s and Rage’s units ready to be revived,” I said.
“What’s going on?” Dread asked, while the Mimics trickled out of his ship, a frightened look on their faces.
I gave him a quick rundown of the situation while a couple of Soulcatchers went to greet the Mimics. They then escorted them to the training room which had been temporarily modified to provide them some measure of comfort until our return to Khepri.
“You can’t go down there!” Dread exclaimed, although his eyes were glued to Myriam, as if expecting her to reason with me. “Your shuttles will never reach them without suffering the same malfunctions their ships did.”
“We’re well aware,” I replied. “But the shuttles’ missiles can knock out the gates with a lot less risk of killing our men. It will at least give them a chance to get out of the disruption zone so that we can Portal them out or at least Shield them. Look, Dread, there’s no time for this. They’re about to die.”
“We can help you,” Dread said, as if struck by a sudden thought. “We can fly them out of that trap.”
My jaw dropped, shocked that this possibility hadn’t even crossed my mind. “That could work!”
“Of course, it will. I’ll immediately dispatch as many of my brothers as possible,” Dread said. “But stay out of harm’s way and don’t get yourself killed. It would destroy Bane. And then he’ll destroy me.”
He turned around to get back to his chaser, stopped after a couple of steps, and then faced Myriam, a strange look on his face. She eyed him warily while an almost angry frown wrinkled the scales beneath his Deynian horn. Then, with determined steps, he marched towards Myriam and stopped right in front of her. She gaped at him, then gasped in surprise when he cupped her face with both hands and crushed her lips with a brutal kiss.
Myriam stiffened, her hands instinctively closing around his wrists in a tight grip before loosening. Dread ended the kiss as abruptly as he’d initiated it. Breathing heavily, Myriam stared at him, her eyes flicking between his.
“Don’t you dare die on me,” Dread said angrily.
His thumb caressed her bottom lip before he released her. Turning on his heels, Dread stormed past me towards his chaser, back stiff, head facing straight ahead. We all gaped at him with the same shocked expressions. Myriam raised her fingers to her lips, a disbelieving look on her face before she regained her composure.
“Don’t you die either,” she suddenly shouted back at him.
Dread stopped dead in his tracks then, after a beat, looked at Myriam over his shoulder. His stunned expression melted into one of timid joy, a soft smile stretching his lips. In that instant, I realized he hadn’t expected his interest to be reciprocated. Dread bowed his head in agreement, then resumed walking into his chaser.
We all turned to look at Myriam who glared at us, more to hide her embarrassment than anything else.
“Stop dicking around!” she shouted. “You’ve got work to do, and we have our men to save.”
That snapped us all out of our stupor. Bursting into action, we boarded our respective shuttles and took off. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t noticed Dread’s attraction to Myriam. Then again, I’d been so head over heels with my fresh bond with Bane that a rainbow elephant could have been doing cartwheels in the conference room during our meeting, and I wouldn’t have noticed. It warmed my heart that she, too, would have a man who would unconditionally love her. While she had accepted losing Legion with far more grace than I had, it had also broken her heart. But those thoughts quick
ly darkened as the burning itch on my shoulders forced me to scratch them again.
By the time we entered Zekuro’s atmosphere, and closed in on our destination, nine hybrid chasers were already hovering at the edge of the disruption zone. Their doors opened, giving us the most beautiful sight in the world as dozens of Dragons dove out of the vessels before spreading their wings. Like a flock of birds, they descended towards the trap areas in semi-formation.
“Time to squash some bugs,” I said, pointing at the towers from whence the Kryptids were shooting at the flying hybrids.
“With pleasure,” Violet said with a fierceness I’d never seen from her before she opened fire.
Taking aim from the second turret of the shuttle, I took the battle to them as well. We were not losing any of our men today.
Chapter 13
Bane
With the last the Soldiers getting split in half with the Warriors’ scythed-limbs and our own forearm lances, I turned to Legion, feeling more of a fanboy than ever. I couldn’t believe my wish to fight side by side with him had finally come true.
But now wasn’t the time to be star-struck.
“We’re going to leave you now and fly off to the center to help rescue your brothers,” I said, pointing with my chin in the general direction where my brothers could be seen flying towards the traps. “The Scelks will remain with you. They are protected against the disruptors.”
“They have certainly made things extremely easy for us,” Legion said, giving Varnog an assessing look. “Their assistance will be greatly appreciated to cleanse the rest of these streets.”
