Naero's Mastery

by Mason Elliott

  The leading pair of that village sent runners out to all of the other villages. All of the tribes would come together that evening, and hold a great celebration with the mighty mother and child of the Halaena. There would be feasting, and song, dancing, merriment, and great gladness.

  Naero and her daughter moved among the Tua at will that night, and celebrated, feasted, and sang with them.

  Wherever she went at night, Shetharra parted the crowds, glowing with a faint aura of white light all about her, and the Tua yearned to reach out and gently touch her as she passed, and the Tua children followed after her in waves, laughing and singing to her.

  When it was very late and the celebration was all but winding down, Naero sat speaking with the leaders of all the Tua villages. She held Shetharra sleeping peacefully in her arms while she did so.

  Then Khai appeared out of the shadows to retrieve them, glowing with his own faint green energy, and the blazing light of the Cosmic Sword Yii slung over her broad shoulders and back.

  The Tua knew who Khai was as the Mystic Enforcer, and now as Naero’s mate and Shetharra’s father. Yet still, at 2.13 meters tall, to the Tua who were were at most 1.216 to 1.52 meters, Khai was a towering muscled giant with golden, glowing hair.

  The female village leaders stared at him in awe and actually looked a bit afraid when they turned aside to Naero with more of their questions.

  “He is your mate?”

  “Like you, he is very beautiful, but in his own way, as is your fair child.”

  “Forget that. How does he not kill you when you mate?”

  “He would split me in half like firewood!”

  “It might be a happy way to leave this life.”

  Naero laughed along with them. “He is my joy, and my fulfillment. I don’t think I could love another but him. It is an honor to share his life, our bed, and make and raise our children together. He is the definition of duty, courage, and honor. And like myself, he loves his family more than his own life.”

  “Only such a man is fit for you, Naero.”

  The women hugged and kissed her. “We feel the same way about our mates, yet you are Halaena, and perhaps that is saying enough. We are happy for you all, Naero.”

  “You know that you and your blood are always welcome in our villages. There will always be a place for you and yours in our families. Do not forget us.”

  “I won’t,” Naero said.

  Naero handed Khai their daughter, and they began to say their farewells to the Tua.

  The next day Naero and Khai spent the day in the compound jungle, with Sharrah and all the nursery staff, including the mantid guardians of the Shai.

  The twins, Daeyen and Kathron were now four, almost five. They played with Shetharra, swarming over her, fighting and flying around her. She laughed, deflected their tiny blows and strikes with her hands and feet. They could not harm her in any way.

  Yet she gave in and let them win, pretending to fall before them. Then they tumbled together, in explosions of laughter and giggling. Shetharra was the best of big sisters, and loved spending time with her siblings. She was patient and inventive with them, always showing them new things.

  They clung to her, and with her great strength, she carried them around without effort.

  Daey and Kath did not have Shetha’s Cosmic abilities, yet they were Spacer born of champion blood, mighty, strong, and fearless. Their older sister had an abundant nature, and did not lord her incredible abilities over anyone.

  Sharrah’s belly was big and swollen with Naero and Khai’s next son, due in a short while. They would leave Oorrii soon, and if situations warranted, Naero would take over the final few weeks of the gestation process, and then the birth, all with Sharrah’s help and that of the medteam they kept on hand.

  For the present, they had to wait and see how things were on the outside world.

  Just as Naero thought, being on Oorrii and completing her Mystic training was one of the best things she had ever done for herself. She was stronger, wiser, and more stable than she had ever been, and her many powers continued to grow in the directions she wanted and needed them to.

  Part of all of that she owed to High Master Jo and the Mystics.

  The rest she owed to her Khai, and their family.

  Heaven help any being or creature who came after them with the intent to do them harm.

  Naero felt more than ready to push forward.

  16

  Of course the direct call was waiting for them, even as Oorrii emerged from the Time Dilation.

  Further problems, threats, and complications from all of the dwindling Gigacorporations awaited them as the Corps continued to topple headlong from favor, power, and history.

  The tide of forward human motion was now fully against their stupidity and tyranny. Yet for all their folly and idiocy, the stubborn Corps could still manage to be a threat and a danger–to their own populations.

  They knew no other way. How very sad and pathetic.

  Out in the remote Hevangian sectors, those fanatical morons were still bent on killing themselves off, rather than join the rest of humanity exploring the galaxy and expanding the Alliance and the pursuit of knowledge and enlightenment.

  It would cost billions or more lives to try to stop them from committing cosmicide.

  Sadly, the choice was made within the Alliance to simply leave them alone and keep their sectors isolated and embargoed. Naero felt sorry for the children, and the children of the future who were not being given a choice to go on.

  How did people stop entire planets whose leaders were hell bent on killing themselves off, rather than embrace new ideas and ways that were clearly proven to be better?

  When the worst was over, perhaps some of those fools would survive enough in caves to start over.

  Naero and Khai bade farewell to Sharrah and the kids with a sad, apologetic look that the leader of the nursery knew all too well

  She merely flicked her hands at them as if they were annoying insects. “Just go. You know we have this. So shut up and return when you can. You’ll know where to find us.”

  On the way past the Hevangian Sectors, on the way to the next confrontation with the Gigacorps powers, Naero and Om took some time to meditate within herself with her new found wisdom and enlightenment.

  Naero transformed into Orean, her Kexxian alter-ego, and she and Om explored the vast ocean of wisdom and tek data that was the Kexxian Data Matrix, residing within her.

  As always, they began in the repository of Kexxian music and branched out from there. Naero followed in the path of the valiant and powerful Kexxian Dreamers, and could only begin to see all they had known and accomplished.

  Compared to them, she was an insect still. Yet their knowledge and the powers and love that had guided them, washed over her and Om in layers of memory, courage, and fierce joy.

  For an instant, Naero was pulled out of herself and whisked far away, to a place she had only seen once before.

  Surrounding her were a multitude of variations and versions of herself, stretching out as far as she could see.

  The chorus of all of her potential selves and possibilities spoke to her using the voice.

  You have made excellent personal progress, yet it remains to be seen if you or the others will be ready enough when the Great Destroyer appears.

  Thanks for the vote of confidence, guys.

  You have also made no progress on locating the last ancient obelisk statue of Order Wisdom awaiting you on the surface of lost Xanathar. You must locate the obelisk before or shortly after the forging of the second Cosmic Sword. that is vital.

  Sorry, we’ve been a little busy.

  As the time of the Cosmic Prophecies step up, more shall be revealed. You will Play a crucial roll in the forging of the second Cosmic Sword, Jaa. Prepare yourself. it might prove necessary for you to surrender your life for the completion of that task. Yet nothing is certain. If you perish, if you fail, the task of helping the others to confront
the advent of the Great Destroyer may very well fall to your oldest daughter. but only if you continue to guide her, and help her to continue to become worthy, strong, and wise enough to prevail.

  Hey, guys. Is there any way to help me in the here and now–right now?

  You will continue to grow in power, and become capable of using our collective powers on a greater basis.

  Well, I guess that’s something to look forward to.

  There are many things that you cannot do alone. Trying to do everything alone can be a weakness for us. ally yourself with the right others at the right time. the Yattai, the Oden, and the laelor are in grave danger. you must either save, or destroy them before you allow the enemy to use these races in great numbers against you and the others. that will spell disaster for all.

  Farewell. We return you now to your vital interactions with the KDM.

  Her Cosmic chorus was so abrupt.

  She didn’t even have time to thank them, as usual, for next to nothing. Most of what they reminded her about, she already knew. But there was always more to what her potential selves said than what she thought at the time.

  But right now, there was nothing more to do than go back to what she had been doing before the little Cosmic interruption.

  Rather than continue to search for that single grain of sand on the beach, Naero found that it was usually far better and productive to open herself to the KDM itself, speak openly about the situations and problems that she and her allies were facing, and let the various currents and flows take her where they would.

  Once she made her mind clear, and surrendered to the hidden, guiding will of the KDM, she would eventually find things that were useful, if not an outright solution. Although the entire process might still involve many attempts, and much searching.

  She was getting used to have to piece things together like an intricate puzzle, and her mind continued to expand and work in those directions.

  Stranger than not, singing the Kexxian songs was also often helpful.

  But by now, Naero through Orean knew less than fifty songs.

  The sum total of songs the Kexx had at their command bordered upon the infinite. And not all of them, by far, were songs of power that could trigger Kexxian miracles.

  Many of them were just that–simple songs all on their own, existing only for their own sake.

  More grains of sand on the beach.

  The Kexx had fought and defeated the ruthless G’lothc at every turn over a very long period, across the sweeping battlefields of several galaxies, some of which had been destroyed or severely damaged in the course of the conflict.

  Such terrible loss.

  Small insights began to flow into Naero’s and Orean’s expanding mind which they shared.

  Om gained ground as well.

  Om, why don’t you assume a Kexxian form? It might aid you in filtering through their knowledge.

  My way is different from yours, Naero. I am not a shapechanger. I was never a Spacer, a human, or even a Kexx. I am myself. I am Om. I am an advanced AI, designed to protect the secrets of the KDM. It is part of me, and I am a part of it, just as I am now a part of you.

  Naero gasped suddenly as all of the pieces of one three dimensional puzzle seemed to rush in and slam together all at once, as if by powerful magnets.

  The effect was jarring and bewildering.

  That’s it, Om. That’s at least part of the answers we seek, my friend. We can’t do many of these things alone yet. We cannot solve them. Yet together, when we put our abilities and minds together, we might be able to accomplish many further things, together.

  Yes, Naero. I think I’m beginning to perceive possibilities we have not fused together before. Let’s examine some of my higher level defensive protocols that we have yet been unable to activate and control.

  I see them Om. They might be some of the answers we seek, and some few we happen upon, that we weren’t even looking for.

  They diverted Fleet-1 to the nearest Hevangian world that was threatening to blow itself up with atomics, beneath a planetary shield.

  Even spyfixers could not slip in fast enough without the lunatics getting enough advance warning to incinerate themselves and the four billion people on that planet.

  “Can this even work?” Khai asked her, after Naero explained the basic theories to him. “It sounds…far-fetched even for you.”

  “We’ll find out. The Alliance pacification fleets and ground forces are standing by?”

  “Ready and willing to go in, if there is anything left to save.”

  “What do we have to lose?” Naero transformed into one of her most powerful Cosmic energy forms and transported out above one of the worlds of her most hated enemies, who now she was attempting to save from themselves.

  With me, Om?

  Always, N.

  Let’s do this.

  She opened her third eye. Since mastering Enlightened Change Wisdom, when she went into Cosmic mode, her right eye glowed red with Chaos energy, her left eye blue with Order energy, and her third eye glowed with the golden light of Change energy. All over, she glowed with a golden light that penetrated and enveloped her.

  Naero startapped, making sure to shield herself as much as possible from the enemy’s power to feed upon her and use her energies against her.

  She barely heard the whisper of a few, pitiful G’lothc voices, making feeble attempts to confuse her and convince her that she was certain to fail and die horribly.

  Om helped her cut off even them.

  Together, the two of them focused fully on the great task before them.

  Ribbons of flaring, multi-colored energy, mixed with powers both light and dark, shot out from them and enveloped the entire system…in seconds.

  The planetary defense shield did not hinder them.

  On the surface, the Kexxian defensive protocol sought out and disrupted and negated any kind of atomic or other cosmicide device present, before it could be activated.

  There was no warning or alarm.

  Next, all docked starships, warships, weaponized vehicles and gunships or platforms had their weapons reduced to inert components.

  After that, all military and paramilitary forms of combat armor, meks, and heavy weapons were also reduced to nothing but piles of raw materials. And power cores or fusion cores were completely drained, their energies dispersed. It would be weeks before they could be restarted.

  Inert, Cosmic energy pods collected dispersed energies, shut down power stations temporarily, and continued providing emerging power sources to hospitals, medical centers, and aid stations.

  Even personal weapons and military arms were rendered inert and unusable, unless the enemy wanted to go back to using rocks and knives, which were messy and highly inefficient.

  Anyone committing violent acts was summarily stunned by clouds of patrolling spyfixers immediately after the collapse of the planetary shield.

  The astonished lander pacification teams began to drop down en masse to begin their operations, still awed and shaken by the power they had witnessed.

  The Allies had made their point, in stunning fashion. Even the other remaining Hevangian worlds finally saw the futility in their own actions. One by one, they began to capitulate, and allow their worlds to begin their transitions into the new age–hopefully an age without so much tyranny, madness, and death.

  After their slight detour, Naero and Khai continued on to the next negotiations with the fading Gigacorps.

  The talks were being broadcast across the interstellar webnet.

  All of the fourteen Gigacorps were being represented by high level Corps officials. Ten of them had submitted to Alliance screening to weed out alien enemy moles and plants.

  Four of them still refused, and their participants were being kept isolated in a shielded safe box, just in case.

  As soon as Naero and Khai entered, one of the isolated delegates tried setting off a micro atomic in a shield case.

  Naero transported the atom
ic into the core of the nearest star. Then she exposed the alien entity for the horror that it was, and incinerated it and its hollowed out host to dust.

  She scanned more of the isolated delegates and exposed and slew two more symbiots.

  Next, a full company of second gen enemy phaze troops tried to crash the party.

  Khai flashed through two score of them with Yii, leaving them in sparking, disrupting, messy pieces.

  Naero took out the rest, opening her third eye and crushing them all to the hyper dense size of heavy marbles, and letting them thump and scatter across the floor.

  “The Corps are still clearly riddled with agents of our alien foes. There can be no trusting them or dealing with them until we are certain that they are, in fact, human. I repeat, it is vital that all of the Corps and their officials must be scanned and screened for enemy possession.”

  “Be that as it may,” one of the delegates from Gravlink insisted. “This alien infiltration can be dealt with. But it still does not justify this major power grab of the Alliance to seize Gigacorps property and systems wholesale.”

  “Completely unacceptable,” a Brannock official added.

  A Marsten agent stood up next. “You have forced our hands with these extreme actions. The remaining Gigacorps still maintain control over twenty to forty percent of their worlds and their populations. These seizures must end. From this point forward, we will do the only thing that we can to stop these illegal actions. All remaining Corps populations will be held hostage, until all Alliance forces retreat back to the pre-invasion borders. Any attempt to seize further worlds will result in massive casualties among their populations, and the Alliance will bear all responsibility for these losses.”

  Naero rose up and spoke calmly. “You miserable, pathetic, bloody-handed wretches. Will you stop at nothing to cling to the power and dominion slipping through those hands like sand? Can you not admit that your time in history is ending? One way or another, no matter the price, you will dwindle and fade back into what you were originally meant to be–petty business managers. It was never meant for you to twist people and entire worlds to serve your whims, to exist in your image, to force others to be exactly like you or suffer for it. The economic slavery that you perpetrated, is now over.”