D'mok Revival: The Nukari Invasion Anthology

by Michael Zummo

  Without resistance from the robots, the team passed easily through the security doors and bulkheads, moving deeper into the station.

  “Warning! I’m detecting movement ahead,” Bob chirped.

  “Could be more beasts,” Mencari said, expecting the worst. As he rounded the bend, a spray of bullets pelted the walls before him. Heavily armored soldiers stood fast, sporting oversized weapons, dressed in black space suits with pointed helmets. The helmets, curious contraptions, appeared totally sealed, with four pulsing blue sensors in a diamond pattern where the nose should be, and strips of energy-white that ran like bands around it.

  “This the best they can do?” Naijen said, energy gathering in his hands moments before elongating into a beam and darting toward the nearest soldier. He was about to turn back toward Mencari to mock the resistance further, when a field of light wrapped around the soldier, and absorbed Naijen’s attack.

  Mencari recalled their encounter on Ruul, where Jencho’s mechs put up a field that absorbed Ichini’s attack. They really did have technology to defend against their D’mok abilities. It wasn’t a fluke.

  “Watch out!” Speru said. In a blur of light the boy warped forward, knocking Naijen out of the way as the soldier fired his rifle. The slug ripped past, nicking Speru’s shoulder before embedding in the wall. A return slug shattered the soldier’s helmet, killing him instantly.

  Mencari took cover as a spray of bullets flew past him and at the soldiers.

  “Stay outta my line-of-sight!” Kiyanna yelled, popping off a few more shots. Thanks to her D’mok abilities, Kiyanna was the queen of head-shots.

  “Your current level is clear,” Mini-T said. “More soldiers are gathering in key spaces on other levels—”

  “Warning! Another hacking attempt!” Bob alerted.

  “Can you hold it back?” Mencari yelled.

  “Don’t worry about us. Whoever it is won’t get past Bob and me. Just go!”

  * * * * *

  Katen’s mind boggled with telepathic chatter. He heard pleas for help and commands to enter formation. But who is getting into formation? He didn’t feel any of his brethren nearby.

  A group of soldiers burst through into the corridor. Telepathic chatter exploded as the soldiers went into action. They skirted the walls and ceilings as if wearing magnetic boots.

  Naijen howled as he ran at them. The soldier’s movements held perfect precision and timing. Working together they held Naijen at bay, his strikes unable to break their combined defensive maneuvers. With each movement came a blast of telepathic chatter. Could it be? “The soldiers are telepathically linked!” Katen shouted.

  “So what!” Naijen grunted, annoyed.

  The others understood, and sprang into action. Speru bared his firelight sabers and charged. Decreta radiated a muddy-blue aura, and streaked down the corridor. While Ichini transform into a mighty clawed beast, Dane summoned more of her skittering-and-fanged minions. Slugs from Kiyanna’s gun fired down the corridor, only to miss their targets.

  All the while, Katen tried to reach the soldier’s minds. Unlike beast minds that were created to accept linkages, the humanoid Nukaris’ minds were not. With each attempt Katen felt a searing pain rip through his mind and body. Though, with each touch he noticed expressions of pain from his adversaries, along with a noticeable drop in the telepathic chatter. He sneered roguishly. With a shriek, his mind lashed out and violated those of the soldiers. The impact was instantaneous. The D’mok Warriors began landing blows, but Katen’s impedance came at a price: he found himself mentally bonded to his adversaries and their memories flooded his mind, along with the sensations they felt at the time. He felt Nukari shoved deep into his muscle tissue, relived the long pricks of needles that injected burning serums into his veins, then a searing that ran across his forehead. What had the Nukari done to these beings to infuse them with telepathic abilities?

  His clawed hands gripped his head. He staggered, screamed in agony and collapsed to his knees. As his teammates did their jobs, he experienced the deathblows one by one until the mental links were all severed.

  Bloody tears streaked from his lizard-like eyes and exhaustion overcame him as the agony of his bondage subsided. A gentle voice pushed into his mind, warm and familiar.

  “Please take us from this place, free us.”

  He had nothing left to resist as a stream of psionically projected images pushed into his mind. He braced for a torture that never came. Instead, he mentally traversed the corridors of the station, flew through the maintenance tunnel and skipped past every guard post. The visions ended in a room with large cylinders.

  Who are you? his mind asked.

  “Sudero.”

  * * * * *

  “According to where Katen wants to go, you’re just a few corridors away. Problem is, I’m detecting a big force of soldiers in the next area.”

  “Let’s distract them a bit,” Dane said, pulling a card from thin air. She tucked it into her palm and pressed it against the sealed metal door to the next area. Her aura radiated an evil purple, and her shoulders dropped as if a great weight came upon her. When she pulled her hand from the door, she concealed the card and motioned. “Just wait,” she said with a sneer.

  She closed her eyes and listened attentively, but to what, Mencari couldn’t tell. A few moments later she opened them. “Now,” she said with a sinister grin and dismissive wave of her hand.

  The others took defensive positions around the door as Kiyanna hit the switch. Mencari’s mouth gaped. Mini-T was right about the room being packed, but not a soul was alive. Bloody remains of dismembered limbs were all that was left of them. Red splatters dripped across the walls and ceiling.

  “What happened?” Kiyanna said.

  Dane strutted proudly through the door. “A pet of mine. A favorite …” She chortled maniacally. “But it’s done its job—for now.” A small purple swirl formed in her palm as she raised it up. A fierce, blood-curdling shrill filled the corridor, followed by heavy clomping that drew near. A black-shelled beast flew with unnatural speed around the corner. Its claws and jaws stained red, it snarled in delight as it barreled toward her. Dane noticed Naijen bare his Skar and prepare to strike.

  “No, this is mine,” Dane said.

  The creature leaped as if attacking her, but instead dissolved into a purple mist, which disappeared into the swirl nestled in her palm.

  * * * * *

  “One last stretch,” Mini-T cheered. Mencari looked out the long windows along the corridor. He could see more standard Nukari soldiers waiting in the next compartment.

  “Let me blow the door off with an attack, shake things up,” Naijen said, eyes a gleam with excitement.

  It wasn’t a bad strategy. They needed something to stop a spray of bullets from coming through at them.

  The floor rumbled slightly. Looking out the window, Mencari saw the hull of the next compartment distend. Bodies of Nukari soldiers flung into space. Only when the compartment was cleared did the panel close again.

  “How about that?” Mini-T said.

  “What did you do?” Mencari asked, stunned.

  “A number of sections can be spaced like that. I think they’re left over from when the station was constructed—access ports. But this works too.”

  His mind reeled. Mini-T had just killed all those people. It wasn’t like she’d never taken actions that led to deaths before. Mencari commanded her to turn the cannons on the Nukari beasts, after all. But this was the first time he’d seen her take initiative in killing people. Why did that bother him so much? She did help them. But the idea the AI itself decided to kill without command … that seemed the real issue. He’d never considered AI’s a threat before. Knowing their vulnerabilities, could they try to kill him or his group someday? He needed to have a conversation with Jika and Toriko about their creations.

  “Was that okay?” Mini-T said.

  Perhaps she read Mencari’s reaction, or some biorhythm. “You cleared it
for us. Let’s move it!” he said, dodging a response for the moment.

  Large ceiling vents clanked open and blurs dropped down. Mencari felt a pressure on his chest and was thrown backward. Gasps echoed down the hall. A monstrous roar bellowed before becoming a pained gurgle. Shots were fired, and a blast of heat washed down the corridor. He shook off the stun, and looked up to a crack in the ceiling. Power gathered in his hands as he took aim at the vent. The instant he saw a blur, he unleashed his attack. The beam sliced through a creature, which splattered across the floor.

  “Are you okay?” Seigie said.

  “Yeah,” he replied, looking at the others. Seigie and Cogeni were standing over Katen. Seigie’s green crystals and Cogeni’s holy relic showered his body with light, which sealed over a gaping wound. At their feet a humanoid lay diced up, his arms replaced by long spikes.

  “They look like people, just changed,” Nikko said. “Looks like their K’pec discoveries made it here.”

  The humanoid that hit Katen had multiple arms with serrated appendages. He was lucky they didn’t spear him through. Meters away, a humanoid with long clawed hands lay half-charred. Mencari assumed Seigie hit it with a red crystal. Another lay silent, a hole punched through pronounced bony plates on its forehead—Kiyanna’s handiwork.

  “Mini-T, Bob, can you monitor the vents for movement? I don’t want a repeat of this,” he said.

  “Not everything has sensors. Kind of shoddy HVAC work if you ask me,” Mini-T chided. “Someone didn’t care about energy efficiency!”

  “Warn us if you can’t see something,” Mencari barked.

  “Okay, okay, sorry.”

  “I’m fine now,” Katen said, shoving Seigie and Cogeni back.

  “You will be if you let us finish,” Seigie said with a scowl.

  Katen waited, begrudgingly, while the pair finished.

  “That should do it,” Cogeni said.

  Katen pushed to his feet, and stared into the distance.

  “You’re welcome,” Seigie snipped.

  * * * * *

  “These are just like K’pec,” Cogeni said, inspecting the twelve gel-filled tubes containing Nukari beasts.

  “Sudero,” Katen said. “She’s the one who reached out to me, after we were attacked by the first wave of enhanced Nukari soldiers.”

  “And they’re alive?” Allia said, going from tube to tube, inspecting the creatures inside.

  “Alive, and in perfect hibernation, I’m guessing,” Mencari added.

  “Could be worse, they could be carbon-frozen,” Mini-T said.

  “Their minds are still open,” Katen said. “Yes, they want to be freed.”

  “Are we just going to let them out? Can we trust them?” Seigie said.

  “They will come with us,” Katen said. “My mind has touched theirs, we know they’re on our side.”

  “How do we get them out?” Nikko said, examining the tubes.

  “Mini-T, any ideas?” Mencari said.

  “There’s no controls or access paths networked from that room. Bob and I can’t even see anything.”

  Katen peered at the devices. “They know how to get out,” he said, keying in a sequence on a digital pad alongside one of the tubes. The whir of a motor buzzed as the gel was sucked from the tube. The beast within stirred, and the cylinder door opened. Long, serrated claws flailed about as the creature struggled to get free of its prison. A pointy skullcap with blue jelly-like eyes and a three-pronged mandible leaned forward, poking its head out. Its bumpy exoskeleton was thicker around its neck, long bony protrusions jutting from it. The beast attempted to step out. Satyr-like legs attached to an unnaturally thin waist.

  Katen could feel a seething wafting from Naijen. His eyes locked on the warrior and noticed him twitching, fighting his instinct to cut Katen’s sister down.

  Mencari saw as well. “Naijen, go with Speru, Cerna, and Seigie. Start clearing our way to the outer hull. Una will need to meet us there.”

  With a snort, Naijen led the other three out.

  “Rhysus, Varen’s reporting a mass rapidly approaching them,” Una said through the communicator.

  “Likely the Nukari armada,” Osuto added, also from inside their ship.

  “We need to move,” Mencari said.

  “You’re free,” Katen said to Sudero.

  “Not until we’re far away from Kajlit’ga,” Sudero strained out. “First we must free the others, including Yanta’s group.”

  Sudero worked with the others to open the rest of the cylinders. The first two creatures looked like Sudero, just with longer tails, and sharper claws. The one she called Yanta resembled a humanoid-bat creature. In place of hands and feet were long, clawed appendages. With the squinted orange eyes and overbite grimace of sharp teeth, he looked like a demon. Long wings draped along the beast’s back connected to his wrists. Yanta’s paired beasts looked similar, but were smaller and leaner in stature.

  “We must get Datochn as well,” Sudero said.

  “Who’s Datochn?” Mencari asked.

  “A living storehouse of data. He’s endured much, we must free him. This way.” She led them across the corridor into a dim chamber. A hologram of goat-like eyes appeared before them.

  “Datochn, open your chamber,” Sudero said.

  After an awkward silence Allia asked, “Can he hear you?”

  “He can. Open up, Datochn. We can leave here.”

  Katen touched Sudero’s shoulder and gently moved her out of the way. “Let me reach him.” Katen glowed, and in the projection before them, Datochn’s goat-like eyes closed. A moment later the chamber opened. The room buzzed with energy, and was lined with dim inlet lights. At the far end sat a sickly pink humanoid whose overgrown back was pierced with a net of tubes and wires. Its long tubular cranium looked too massive for the scrawny neck, and housed four black eyes, two main eyes each paired with a smaller one, and slits for a nose and mouth. Its limbs were anemic and gangly.

  “How do we get you out?” Sudero said.

  “I will free myself,” Datochn said as tubes and wires begin to pop off, hissing and sparking. Cables retracted into the metallic base on which he sat. A large needle-like probe extracted from the base of his neck. Slowly his eyes opened. He floundered as he stood. Sudero and Katen braced him until his feet were steady.

  Datochn’s pale complexion turned gray. “Just before I was disconnected, I detected something….”

  “What? More soldiers?”

  Datochn said apologetically, “Kajlit’ga …”

  The station shook as the rumble of being struck echoed from every direction.

  “You need to get out of there!” Una cried through the communicator. “The Nomads have engaged a fleet. Half of them are coming in to destroy the station!”

  * * * * *

  Rage?

  The sensation was strong, and unnerving. Allia looked about. She, Decreta, and some of their new compatriots were falling behind, on the way to where Una would pick them up. Where was that feeling coming from? It feels close—

  A door between them and the others exploded into a hail of shrapnel. Ichini rammed Allia and Decreta against the wall, dodging the blast. The smell of burning flesh and crisping wires filled the air. Her skin grew sticky with blood. Dazed and confused, she felt no pain. A red drip drew her eyes upward to a panting Decreta.

  “Decreta!” she cried.

  “It’s only a flesh wound,” he said, pained. “I’m not dead yet.”

  She scampered to her feet allowing Decreta to collapse to his knees. As he did, she saw the charred, lifeless bodies of Yanta and his group. She ran to Yanta’s side and gasped. Most of his limbs sprawled like a broken marionette’s. His dazed expression was fading fast and he choked on his own fluids trying to speak. Unable to, he telepathically broadcast to her. “Yōma… awake … Kajlit’ga’s new … run …”

  His eyes became empty, body limp. Through the dust, three mammoth beasts emerged. The largest of the three shrieked and began
to radiate with a reddish-gold aura.

  Allia looked up and saw its demonic eyes locked on her. Ichini, the creature who served as her protector, bristled beside her, before a brilliance washed over it. Pulsing blue-and-white energy consumed it, then swelled suddenly before ebbing. In moments, Ichini had transformed. Now it stood three times its original size, with a furry mantle and the face of a gargoyle with long ridged horns. Thick, bony blades protruded from each of its muscular arms. She’d not seen this form since they were fighting a lethal hive queen back on Luon.

  Allia bared her teeth and Flower Blade weapon. Through the dust, golden light radiated followed by powerful blasts. “Come over here and play!” Naijen taunted, attacking the beasts with more blasts.

  The beasts squealed and blasted powerful beams in return. Allia watched Nikko and Speru dash to Naijen’s side. The boy radiated with power that flowed into Nikko. Extending her hands, a shield of light appeared. The creature’s beams shattered as they struck.

  “Sic ’em!” Dane’s voice echoed down the corridor as a small army of summoned creatures darkened the walls and ceiling, skittering angrily toward their prey.

  Allia took her flower blade and began to focus. A devilish smile crossed her face while energy began to collect along the edges of the flower blade. She felt a gentle paw on her shoulders and looked back. Decreta shook his head.

  “If they came this way, we wouldn’t have a chance.”

  “We have to do something!”

  She allowed the glow to fade from her weapon and watched in horror as her friends struggled to keep the beasts at bay, looking away when Decreta said, “Follow me.”

  * * * * *

  “Damn it!” Kiyanna cursed while the station rocked with explosions from outside.

  “The Nomads won’t stand down! Get your team out of there!” Una yelled through the communicator.

  The quake nearly threw the team to the ground. Suddenly the three mammoth Nukari beasts lurched. Their bodies shuddered as they shrieked in pain. Behind them an even larger, fur-covered monster towered. Its bull-like face twisted in pleasure while ribbons of light flowed from the smaller creatures into its long bladed hands. The smaller beasts shriveled, as if their very life force was being ripped from them. Their spent husks collapsed into piles of goo. The remaining beast looked somehow even bigger, and caused the corridor to shake as its massive feet stomped forward.