Equilibrium of Terror: Part 2

by Eddie R. Hicks

  It made perfect sense. Noylarlie’s task was to get the Hashmedai people thinking and worshiping the goddesses once again, this was what her mother wanted. Celestial Order loyal Hashmedai to break away from the order and reestablish the old secret worship of the goddesses, in hopes they’d give up their vengeful quest to kill the gods and return to their original goals.

  Leviathan, En route to Mars, Sol system

  Noylarlie rapidly sat up from her trance on the floor like a woman awaking from a bizarre dream within a dream. Which wasn’t exactly too far from the truth the more she thought about it. Her body, her physical one had been in her quarters lying down. Her mind was elsewhere, in aether space, then was sent into the dream like vision of experiencing the rise and fall of the Lyonria.

  She looked upward and examined the ship she was in as her brain slowly started to accept the reality that she was back in normal space. The bulkheads, the material used, the Leviathan was a Celestial Order ship and it all existed because of the acts of two opposing forces during ancient times along with the intervention of a mysterious force deep within aether space. The road ahead of Noylarlie was, daunting, if what she saw was even true. The only other person she knew that ventured into aether space was Kroshka, whom she couldn’t get hold of. She needed to speak with her, now more than ever, she needed confirmation, because as it stood, Noylarlie was unsure how to exactly make her mother’s wishes come true.

  It felt a lot easier to say fuck it all and give up, hide somewhere in the galaxy with her powers and avoid the chaos coming to the galaxy. Her memories of Akeia held her back on that choice. She loved him, despite the short time they were together. He fancied her aggressive fearless personally, and running away wasn’t a trait she possessed back in those days, he would have been disappointed to see Noylarlie give up. Then there’s was the fact he was dead because of all the chaos. They killed him to push their shady agenda forward. He must be avenged the empress’ wrath was misguided, still believing humans were responsible. And Kroshka, Kroshka wasn’t a fighter, only Noylarlie could seek out justice and make everyone responsible pay for the prince's death.

  Noylarlie stood, her body empowered with her newfound state of mind. She was going to do this, no matter the cost. She’d need help of course, but whom? Right, humans, who are doing everything they could to defend their planet. Their fleets saw the Leviathan and the ships behind it as enemies. Noylarlie needed to find a way interfere with the Leviathan’s mission and give the humans an advantage.

  She paced back and forth in her quarters thinking of a perfect plan. Every minute that passed put the fleet closer to Mars and Earth, she didn’t have much time left. Her thoughts and pacing were interrupted by her intercom, a communication from the bridge.

  “What is it?” she asked, hitting the intercom’s controls.

  “Noylarlie,” Yominv Crossblade said. “I have a task for you. Please report to the hanger bay.”

  “What task is it this time?”

  “I need you to create a wormhole and return to Paryo briefly,” he said. “There’s something of importance I need you to pick up from Fahia.”

  Noylarlie wanted to tell him where to go, but she still needed to retain the image that she was loyal to their cause. Loyal people do what they were told. “I’m on my way,” she said and began to make her way down to the hanger bay.

  There was a single transport ship primed and ready for takeoff amongst the hundreds of dormant interceptors and transport ships. Inside the transport was a lone skinny rifleman at the controls in the cockpit. She didn’t require a pilot as her psionic mind could have flown the ship remotely, but she went with it anyway. If he tried something, he wouldn’t have lasted long against her. The transport took off and flew out of the Leviathan, as the mighty dreadnought led three command ships on a sub light trek to the inner rocky worlds of Sol.

  “Hold here,” she said to the rifleman pilot.

  He complied and made the transport come to a full stop. “Please don’t kill me,” he said, begging of her. “I only did what I was ordered to do.”

  “Should I be interested in killing you?”

  “You don’t know?”

  “There are a lot of things lately I didn’t know,” she said as her weightless body lifted and the gem between her breasts began to glow.

  “The admiral forced me and another to kill the psionic on the Scathing Hand,” he said. “I know you psionics have become a rare breed lately and formed close ties to each other. I killed one of your kind, and he didn’t do anything wrong. The captain of that ship was the problem. Sure they didn’t follow the truth path of the gods as the order loyal crew aboard that ship was transferred elsewhere, but still.”

  “Still what?”

  “The gods, they only want us to kill those that directly oppose and refused to join. The ships in the fleet that aren’t loyal to the order were never given the chance to see the true path, they could have been converted.”

  Noylarlie rolled her eyes at his speech, though his reveal was interesting. The Scathing Hand was one of several ships whose crew believed the Leviathan was loyal to the empire. She made a mental note as she began to connect with the gem before her. Red light shined all throughout the interior of the transport as she began the task of bending the fabric of space to create a small wormhole that would appear above the skies of Paryo.

  They were back in orbit around the cold Hashmedai home world, the transport remained in orbit while she teleported down into the ancient temple. Fahia gave an update on their situation, Hannah required Kroshka’s gem to be taken to Oyuri, Noylarlie was going to be the courier that would do it. Noylarlie looked down at the pendant gem that was once a force that protected Kroshka since childhood. The order took it away from her, and Kroshka like Noylarlie needed it to travel to aether space. Kroshka mysteriously vanished from that realm days ago.

  Noylarlie grimaced as she gave Fahia a fierce and hateful stare, before teleporting away once more. Not back into orbit, Noylarlie had another side task to deal with.

  Imperial Palace, Paryo, Uemaesce system

  Eeladen left Kroshka’s chamber once again, she couldn’t remember how long it was before he decided to leave her body alone, or how long it was since she got the news that the servants loyal to her had all been arrested and placed in the queue for execution. All she could remember was that she had spent the entire day lying on her bed naked and depressed. Her attempts to get the gem back, failed along with her attempts to prevent herself from having Eeladen’s child. Those that aided her were days away from losing their heads.

  Her personal computer terminal played a reminder chime that it was Christmas Eve to the humans. Originally, she programmed it to remind her that as she planned to surprise Jazz with a present the following day, her way of bringing a familiar custom back into his life as he was stuck living on Morutrin Prime at the time. Now it served as a reminder that the human race had one day left before the imperial fleet under the influence of the Celestial Order carried out their plans, and a reminder that she’d be forced to bond with Eeladen at the same time.

  Her door chime rang loud enough to force her head to move. Who can that be? Her servants were all in prison, the bonding wouldn’t happen until tomorrow and Eeladen had the power to let himself in as he pleased. The chime rang again, this was an unexpected guest no doubt about it. She rolled her sad body out of the bed and put a robe on, the same one that Eeladen had ripped off her body.

  She opened the door, a beautiful psionic stood behind it, one she had not laid eyes on in almost two months, Archmage Noylarlie Atonement.

  “Kroshka,” Noylarlie said as she stepped in, she sounded relieved to see her. Noylarlie looked about and the gazed long at Kroshka’s unkempt hair. “The fuck is this?” she said as she touched it.

  Kroshka hesitated at first, as it would only remind her of the horrible reality she had to deal with. The look on Noylarlie face however demanded an answer, it was most likely the reason she took the time to l
eave the frontlines to come and speak with her. “Eeladen . . .” Kroshka said, looking at the floor. “Mother wants me to have his child, he forced himself on me. Many times.”

  “Shit.” Noylarlie grunted, then seemingly became lost in thought. She said several minutes afterward as Kroshka sat on her couch. “I’ve experienced a similar situation when I was younger.”

  “I do not know how much more of this I can take.”

  “The moment you give up they win,” Noylarlie said to her. “It’s something I always told myself during the five years I was suffering in the psionic training facility, one of the instructors forced me to be his play thing.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I killed the person responsible for it.” Noylarlie clenched cybernetic augmented fists and brought them near her face. “It felt good. And possibly resulted in future students not having to deal with him.”

  The two began to speak about Noylarlie’s experiences in aether space, namely the discovery about the origins of the Lyonria, it was the knowledge that was swept away from Noylarlie during their venture at the Amethyst Citadel. As a final parting gift, Kroshka gave Noylarlie the locations of interesting places she had planned to explore while in aether space. With her pendant gone, she could no longer return, perhaps Noylarlie could continue where she left off in its exploration.

  “I need to go,” Kroshka said to Noylarlie as she realized the sun had long set. “The bonding ceremony will be soon, I need to get ready.”

  Kroshka took a quick nap, hours after Noylarlie teleported away. She was awoken by servants sent by her mother. They assisted her with bathing, styling her hair more elegantly than it normally would have been. Exquisite make up was applied as another group brought in Kroshka’s completed dress to wear for the bonding ceremony.

  She stood looking at herself in the mirror, and made a fake smile to give off the false impression she was okay with this and everything that was to come. The servants, pleased with their work, left and instructed her to follow behind them. Kroshka stopped shy of the entrance of the door leading into the main halls. She forgot something, important.

  She quickly ran back inside and returned to her room, her hands started a swift search through her storage cabinets. She found her handbag, the same one she carried out in the markets two months ago when she and Eeladen discovered the ancient temple, Fahia and the Hashmedai sect of the Celestial Order.

  Kroshka opened the bag and visibly confirmed that Phylarlie’s plasma dagger was still inside. She held onto the hilt of the blade before running off to join the servants that were leading her to the throne room where the ceremony was set to take place.

  Transport en route to Leviathan, Sol system

  Noylarlie considered giving Kroshka’s pendant gem back especially after seeing her in the sad sorry state she was in. But doing such a thing would only make the order question her loyalty and she couldn’t have that, not yet. Besides, she thought as she held onto Kroshka’s gem pendant and her own side by side. One gem made me the most powerful psionic in the galaxy, what would two do?

  “The admiral wishes to know what took us so long,” the rifleman pilot said.

  “Make something up.”

  “What? But the gods would be upset if I lied to him about that.”

  “Don’t worry about the gods,” she said, sitting next to him. “Worry about the goddesses.”

  “Who?”

  “We got a few more hours before we regroup with the fleet.” She changed the tone of her voice to a more intimating manner. “I’m going to tell you a story, and you’re going to believe it.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  ESV Winston Churchill, Pluto orbit, Sol system

  Chloe locked the door to Chris’ quarters. She wanted no interruptions as the two embraced and locked lips, then fell on the bottom bunk. She was fired up, ready for a night of passion, this time with her real body. She waited for him to rip off her tank top, as she already did that with his as she held onto the amazing body he had thanks to his days as a Navy SEAL. Fuck did she miss that, and with everything that she experienced lately, she needed it badly.

  Judging by the hesitation on Chris’ part however, he didn’t need it badly. “Something doesn’t seem right for you?” she asked as he kissed her neck.

  He never did that.

  “I’m fine, just wasn’t expecting all this to happen.”

  “Life became strange once aliens showed up on our doorstep.”

  The passion was dead. “Well I meant with you, it’s like you’re a different person.”

  “I’m the real McCoy,” Chloe said. “Everything we experienced together is still in my head.”

  “But your body.”

  “Wasn’t the real one, yes I get that, but I still remember, I was still in control.”

  The two confused lovers sat next to each on the bunk as Chris reached for his top on the floor. “I just need some time to process all this. I was after all banging an alien this whole time.”

  “Not the whole time. I was myself for part of our stay at Lejorania Sanctum.”

  Chris put his top back on, his chiseled and dark body was gone, and along with whatever he was planning to say as he remained silent. “Right time,” Chloe said. “Sure take all the time you need.”

  Chloe left his room and entered the hallways on the habitat ring that led her to the quarters she shared with her sister Sarah. She was hoping to hear Chris’ voice call out to her from behind, muttering that he was sorry and they should continue. No such thing happened, she entered her quarters, Sarah was inside playing video games on her holo pad.

  “Hey,” Chloe said to her, prompting Sarah to shut the game off and roll out of the bunk.

  “And here I thought I was going to have this place to myself.” The two sisters hugged, it was the first time either of them had seen each other or spoken since Chloe’s dramatic return. “It’s good to have you back sis. Now why are you here and not with Boyd?”

  Fuck sakes, why are you reminding me of him already? “He needs time to think,” Chloe said. “I’m trying not to think too much into it, there is a war going on after all.”

  “In some way you’re a different person.”

  “He said something similar.”

  “Your memories were placed into the body of a Linl, then went around thinking you really were human.”

  “I was in control.” Chloe’s voice was raised. Chris viewing her differently was one thing, but her sister? “I don’t know why people can’t accept that.”

  “Because you weren’t human during these last few years that’s why.”

  “It doesn’t fucking matter!”

  “Actually it does.” Sarah’s voice was calming compared to Chloe’s. “Linl and humans, yea we’re similar, but not the same. Our brain chemistry is different; the way they’ll handle emotional situations will be different from how we would.”

  “I didn’t feel any different.”

  “Think back at everything you’ve done since your mind was in that Linl? Do you honestly think you in your human shell would have made the choices you made? Would you have arrested Fiesei or killed him even though he was no longer a threat?”

  “I’m not having this conversation with you.” Chloe turned and moved directly to the exit of their quarters, frustrated that her sister and boyfriend couldn’t accept her.

  “Wait,” Sarah said, holding Chloe’s shoulder. “Look, it’s been a fucked-up couple of days for all of us. Join me in the mess hall, chef cooked up some nice ribs.”

  “Aww yea!” Jazz said as he looked at his plate of mashed potatoes and ribs smothered in a tangy dark brown sauce.

  It was enough to make him forget about the odd glares he, Destiny, Onatiasha, and Zhinbryo got as they were allowed to join the crew of the Winston Churchill in the mess hall. The four sat a table in the far corner, it was the only one that had seats free as it was the one furthest away from the window where Pluto was displayed front and center among the sea
of stars.

  Destiny had a similar meal to Jazz’s in front of her while the two Hashmedai in front piled up their plates with ribs only, their bodies wouldn’t take potatoes very well. Few words were spoken for the first few minutes as they all ate, it was all good for Jazz, it gave him the silence needed to listen in on what the other UNE personnel were saying about them, none of it good.

  Fuck it, Jazz thought for the food, real food that is, was absolutely amazing. “So they let you out?” Jazz said to Onatiasha as she finished tearing the meat to shreds with her fangs.

  “Under supervision,” Onatiasha said, gesturing toward the armed marines standing watch at the main entrance.

  “Word, same treatment Destiny and I are getting.” Jazz pointed at two other marines on the opposite end of the mess, they were also armed and eyed him and Destiny.

  Onatiasha smiled and said. “I provided the captain of this ship with all the intel we have on the Celestial Order. And kindly reminded him that more of his crew would be dead if it weren’t for us.”

  “Likewise, we told them everything,” Jazz said. “Even got Eupiar to help them out with some computer problems they’ve been having.”

  The downtime gave the four a chance to continue and update each other on what they were up to during their time apart. Onatiasha’s story about the raid on Hasiv’s manor got Jazz thinking.

  “Shape shifters,” he said. “Makes sense now.”

  “Does it?”

  “No not really. But homeboy I got in cryo, plus the story Chloe talked about running into someone else that looked like her means I’m not crazy. That motherfucker I killed was a shape shifter.”

  Two off duty marines sat at the table the four had taken over, both of them heckled as they sat with their meals. Jazz recognized one of them as the marine he fought on top of Earth Cube. The name ‘Miles’ was printed on his uniform while the flag of Canada was on the back of it. The second marine, rather attractive and fit woman had the name ‘Petropoulos’ on hers along with the flag of Greece.