Naijen growled and gripped his Skar. Mencari’s hands rubbed his now-throbbing temples. Ringing filled his ears. The pain was growing stronger with each moment. With each wince, he felt as if his head would explode.
A new word formed in his mind.
Combinate.
“What’s a combinate?” he asked.
“I am a combinate.” Katen’s body swayed back and forth as if in a breeze; he smiled cruelly, and a gasp of pain escaped Mencari.
“Are you okay, Rhysus?” Allia asked.
Withholding a response, Mencari looked back at the dead soldiers strung like broken marionettes along the greenhouse walls, their blood still dripping down the vines.
“You did that,” Mencari said, accusing.
Katen nodded, then tilted his head. The knot in Mencari’s stomach resolved into a sensation of near pleasure.
“These feelings now …” Mencari started.
“You should know it. All D’mar should know it,” Katen said. “It’s what helps you find each other, recognize each other. Like living beacons. It’s so easy to feel you, I can tell where you are even when you are not near.”
“Varen said you told them our ship was close,” Seigie said.
He nodded. “I felt your presence, and told them about you—as to not end in your destruction.”
His face became menacing and bloodthirsty. “But to be little beacons … it’s a fatal weakness. So … easy to find those like you—”
“What are you?” Mencari said.
The bloodlust in Katen’s eyes disappeared. The very question seemed to sanitize his emotions. He hesitated, then stuttered, “A Nukari creation. Made of D’mar. Made of Nukari. With an animal twist for flavor. I am a combinate.”
Mencari recalled the findings of Doctor Xbtoth. Could this Katen be a living example of the engineered Nukari beasts?
“Made of what?” Seigie said to clarify what she heard.
With slow motions, Katen moved toward Seigie. She stood her ground, not intimidated. His eyes examined her, probing mentally into each pore in her skin.
“You, ancient-born D’mar, should know exactly what I mean. Your people also played with genes—spliced and changed them. Manipulated for their own interests. I see the proof before me.”
The lines in her aged face grew darker with distrust.
“So they created you,” Mencari said.
“You’re a corruption!” Cerna blurted out.
“Long ago, they created me with their brilliance, their madness, their lust to destroy the D’mar, and yet to become like them. Yes, they created us. We were the first.”
Seigie said, “Us?”
“We were three—once. All combinates are made in threes. Three bodies, three minds, led by one, working as one.”
Toriko whispered, “Fio’tro … Fia’ra …”
His eyes followed her voice with fondness until he met Toriko’s quivering gaze.
“We were unstoppable. We hunted many. Killed many. Brought back carcasses and living samples alike for my creators to continue their work. So many …”
Allia looked up at Mencari. “What is he talking about?”
Mencari deflected the question with a gentle wave of his hand.
“And then, one day, something changed. I listened to the pleas. I heard their screams as we tore their bodies apart. And it felt … wrong.”
Katen looked down at his animal-like hands, as if seeing the blood that had once soaked them through. “Fio’tro and Fia’ra didn’t understand at first. They were such drones, but also my subjects. I led them. I kept them quiet even though they could hear my thoughts.”
“Your thoughts?” Mencari said, pondering.
“All combinates, all Nukari Warriors share each other’s thoughts—when we want,” he explained, smug.
He looked around to the light that poured through the greenhouse dome. “I understood the tools we were … the pawns we were. How our very existence was to be death incarnate—retrievers—dogs of the Nukari.”
Katen took his staff and pushed it into a clump of dirt. He massaged it until the mass was broken and scattered.
“So I planned our way out. But we were caught. I remember the feeling of Fio’tro and Fia’ra being burned from my soul as they were struck down, shot to death. Who was the greater animal?”
His massaging of the dirt had become angry pounding. With each thrust, he created a deeper hole. “I kept going, escaped in a ship. They chased me, wanted to kill me. I passed out.”
His eyes looked to the hull of the ship, then the supports of the greenhouse. “And I woke up here. In my refuge.”
Naijen began to fidget, well past his tolerance for long-winded stories.
“They made me well, kept me here as one of their own. A Nomad … named Katen. But now I know …”
Mencari shook his head, not following. “Know what?”
“That the Nukari have returned. You must know what they’ve done before. They will do no less again. They must not be allowed to do so. Fio’tro and Fia’ra made me promise. How better than to do it alongside the children of D’mar?”
Mencari looked with disbelief. “You want to join us?”
He nodded, then smiled. Katen’s genuine smile was even more unnerving.
“Give me a moment,” Mencari said, hesitant.
Mencari and Seigie walked back to the far corner of the greenhouse. They’d contact Ghn’en, and talk with Osuto.
* * * * *
Naijen, Toriko, and Cerna stood between Katen and Allia while Mencari and Seigie talked.
“Where did you get that staff?” Cerna asked.
Katen lifted and admired it. “From the man who saved my life when I came here.”
“Qina? Was his name Qina Satri?” she said.
Upon hearing the name, Seigie looked back from her conversation with Osuto and Mencari. Her eyes fell upon the staff. Memories from the crystals near the Cosmic Temple replayed in her head. She thought the staff looked familiar.
“Yes,” Katen replied. “Qina Satri.”
“What happened to him?” Cerna said.
“He died long ago. It was before he passed that he gave me this staff.”
He lifted the staff from the hole and held it out lengthwise. The green leaves jostled along the long white shaft. At the far end, large leaves adorned a crystal sphere like petals of a flower. “It allows me to do amazing things, seems to feed from my very energy.”
Cerna choked up with emotion. “He survived. At least he made it away.” Her thoughts returned to the last days of her people, before Katen’s question pulled her back.
“How do you know of him?” Katen had asked.
Toriko said, “She knew him long ago.”
His gaze grew curious. “Another ancient? Were you modified, or naturally born with longevity?”
Cerna shook her head and Toriko replied for her. “She was in something that kept her alive.”
He looked down, disturbed at the thought. “Trapped inside something for so long? That would be like a living death.”
* * * * *
“What assurances do we have you’re still not working for the Nukari?” Mencari said.
Katen stared blankly. “Have I not divulged my secrets? If you need proof, ask my brethren on this ship. I have been here for some time and no longer have Nukari ties.”
Mencari nodded. “And why would you help us?”
“To end the death they bring, to stop the pain they leave upon people—upon worlds—for eternity. I can sense them … I can help you find them,” he said, yet his eyes had narrowed.
“And what happens when we’re done?” Seigie asked.
“Done? My, you are a confident group. I would return to my people here.”
“Fine, we’ll take you with us,” Mencari said. “But you will be watched.”
Mencari heard Allia gasp, and Naijen huff.
Katen half-bowed in respect.
“Let’s go now,” Naijen said gruffly. �
��Nothin’ here but drippin’ sacks.”
* * * * *
“Are you sure?” Varen said.
“You have been more than kind to me,” Katen replied. “This was but a taste of what’s to come.”
“If you ever wish to return,” Varen said, “you are always welcome.”
The group headed across the re-formed crystal starwalk. Ghn’en met them on the other side. “I’ve briefed Eyani about our guest,” he said. “We’re to rendezvous at the moonbase, not Eden.”
Mencari nodded. “That makes sense.”
Katen gave another of his eerie smiles. “She does not need to fear me—the Nukari do.”
Ghn’en’s steely eyes met Katen’s. “No one’s afraid, creature. We’re following orders.”
Turning to Mencari, Ghn’en added, “You’ll need to escort … him … to crew quarters until we reach our destination.”
CHAPTER 16:
Fowl 359
“What are we going to do with him?” Seigie was walking down the corridor of the moonbase. Hearing her question, Eyani looked back at Seigie, then to Mencari.
“First, we have to make sure we can trust him,” Eyani said. “I’m less worried about the Nurealian—being Human. We need to keep Cogeni closer to Katen, in the event he needs to be contained.”
“We don’t even know the full extent of his abilities yet,” Mencari said. “But he sure mangled those mercenaries.”
“There was no record of those Nomads in our databases by the way,” Eyani added.
“They knew all about you,” Seigie said, “and the Be’Inaxi.”
“Eden is determining what to do. Maybe they’ll send a delegation.”
“The ship will be much harder to find now that Toriko fixed the emissions issue,” Seigie said.
“Not with what she added to their system,” Eyani said with a sly smile. “Bob’s getting regular tracking updates.”
Mencari said in amused disbelief, “She bugged them?”
“More or less.”
“Toriko’s gotten just full of surprises,” Seigie said. “I never would have guessed from the girl I first met.”
“She and our tech specialist Jika are getting along well too,” Eyani said.
“The one that created Bob, and the other three systems?”
Eyani nodded. “Yes, Rhysus.”
“I bet Toriko’s sister Maro would be interested in meeting Jika,” Mencari mused.
“Speaking of that … our Tericn contacts report Maro, Palo, and Daleron have made great progress rooting out the rest of the Nukari influences, especially within Bansa. It might be a good time to introduce Maro to Eden soon.”
A small projection of Toriko appeared before Mencari. He smirked at the ironic timing.
“Can you come to the command deck?” Toriko asked. “Melchior, Balthazar, and Kasper have found something—big. Well, Katen kind of helped too.”
* * * * *
“We’ve found a flashpoint: a Nukari installation and the Coalition team.” Jika pointed to a nebula. Eyani, Mencari, Seigie, and Osuto sat while Jika, Toriko, and Spark presented from the front of the room.
Toriko nodded. “Jika’s systems, Melchior, Balthazar, and Kasper—”
“Which we call the wise men now,” Jika added with a snicker.
“We’re already narrowing down Nukari activity to an area known as the Heavenly Waters, specifically the Columba Noachi constellation. And then,” Toriko pulled up a display that showed Katen sitting in a small room. No sooner had the display appeared, he looked up into the view with a knowing, toothy grin.
“Katen … well, it’s a little creepy how we got this, but he had the guards relay this to us.” Toriko changed the display. “Coordinates to Fowl 359—originally known as Alpha Columbae, a blue-white star within the Columba Noachi constellation.”
“We sent probes there, and this is what we found.” Jika changed up the display again. Dark outlines were faintly visible against the blackness of space. “At first we thought it was a moon, or some type of asteroid.”
Toriko wagged her finger. “That’s no moon—that’s a space station.” Pointing, she continued. “Over here you can see glints of light reflecting off some type of black alloy. But it looks massive.”
“When we switched to sensor sweeps, this is what we saw.” Jika changed to the next view.
A sensor overlay appeared on the projection, and showed a space station that resembled two five-pointed ninja stars interlocked. The serrated edges along the pointed sections gave it a menacing and deadly look. It rotated like a planet, and even appeared to have a small debris ring around it.
“Numerous Nukari ion trails were found that lead right here,” Toriko said. “In fact, there’s quite a density of particles, which pretty much proves it’s a Nukari station.”
“Then we detected more ship traffic, but they didn’t leave the trace ion trails,” Jika added.
“Did he explain where he got these coordinates?” Eyani said. “After all, he allegedly didn’t have any contact with the Nukari, or was off the Nomad’s ship, for a long time.”
Toriko nodded. “He said—”
“I can feel them.”
Eyani gasped; Katen was staring into the camera.
“What’s wrong?” Mencari asked.
Not taking her eyes off the display, she said, “There’s only a hidden camera on him—one he shouldn’t be able to see. There’s also no audio to his holding room.”
“There’s many things you don’t understand,” Katen said.
Like how your technology is nothing more than a limitation to your communication.
The phrase echoed in Mencari’s mind while the others looked about in various degrees of confusion.
I can feel their energies spread out across the entire quadrant of space. It’s how I knew Mencari and the others were near to the Nomad’s vessel. I felt them.
“Did you hear him in your head too?” Allia asked.
Toriko’s shocked expression said it all as she bobbed her head.
Panic filled Eyani’s eyes. “I want Cogeni down to Katen’s cell. Try to use the beads, or whatever he needs to do. Stifle that creature’s abilities!”
You do not have to fear me. I am here to help.
Mencari spoke into the air. “You can help by stopping that. Bob, relay Eyani’s request to Cogeni. If he has questions, have him contact us.”
“Right away!” Bob chirped.
When you are ready for my help, I will be here.
An awkward silence filled the room.
Eyani motioned to Toriko. “Let’s just continue. It’s clear that Katen knows this anyway.”
“Ano …” Toriko stuttered.
Seeing that Toriko was off-track, Jika called up another display. “Um … shortly after we detected those other ships, we captured this footage.”
The comets of silver unloaded from sleek black ships and charged forward, toward the muddy-blue auras of the Nukari beasts.
“There were no additional Coalition ships, nothing we could see anyway,” Jika said. “So far it looks like a battle between those who have the D’mok-like abilities.”
“How long ago was this footage recorded?” Eyani asked.
“Just under twenty minutes.”
“The Coalition is making a move,” Mencari said.
Seigie said, “But we don’t know why.”
Mencari thought a moment. “We should see if we can help out, maybe get some direct answers?”
Eyani nodded. “Take the Eden ship. Una can get you there faster.”
* * * * *
“Course laid in,” the metallic pilot known as Una said while Mencari and the others strapped into Eden’s ship. She looked back. “Using the information from Jika and Toriko’s probes, we’ll drop directly into Fowl 359’s battle zone. I’ll skirt the perimeter and wait to pick you back up.”
A hologram of Eyani appeared next to Bob. “More data is streaming in—at least 42 confirmed Nukari beasts.”
>
“How many abominations do they have?” Cerna said.
Una fired up the thrusters. “Travel time should be under twenty minutes.”
“That gives us twenty minutes to pull together a strategy,” Seigie said.
“Wait!” Allia cried. “Where’s Toriko?”
Eyani’s hologram zapped out, then reappeared next to Allia. “She’s taking her ship.”
“What? Why?”
“Not like she’d be good in a battle anyhow,” Naijen said. “Even with what that little dog’a hers kin do now.”
Allia cocked her head, then bobbed it in agreement. “Not one like this.”
“She has some upgrades that should help,” Eyani said.
Osuto was already moving to the rear of the ship. “Let’s not waste time. Seigie, Mencari, Eyani, Cerna, join me in the back to plan.”
“Engaging!” Una said as she activated the navigation system. Her body pressed down into the seat as the internal dampeners struggled to keep up with the thrusters thrown to full. In moments the ship blasted from Eden’s bay in the Trading Post. The ship needed to get far enough out to avoid creating any spatial wake from engaging the tunnel drive.
“Things are getting interesting!” Mini-T projected a star chart with multiple markers.
A holographic bug-bot next to her chirped, “Additional ships have arrived, unloading more silver friends.”
“I see more Nukari arriving too,” Mini-T said.
“Where are they all coming from?” Allia asked.
“Doesn’t it seem like an awful lot there?” Nikko asked. “Something important must be there.”
* * * * *
“Exiting the spaceway in 3 … 2 … 1,” Una said, counting down.
“Remember the plan,” Osuto said.
“Yeah, yeah,” Naijen chided, “Tha plan—kill, real hard.”
Seigie huffed. “In your case, don’t get killed.”
The ship jostled as they entered normal space. Before them, a constant stream of energy blazed across the battle zone, along with a peppering of explosions. The main space station looked more menacing in person. Osuto frowned. Why was it abstaining from battle? Surely it had some type of defenses. Perhaps the Coalition forces were too small to target without hitting their own beasts.
D'mok Revival: The Nukari Invasion Anthology Page 61
