Equilibrium of Terror: Part 2

by Eddie R. Hicks

  It was the last words Gomez said on the ship as he was thrown against wall via a telekinetic push delivered by Veinea flicking her finger toward him. It was a trap, Rana thought as she aimed her rifle toward the two. It was ripped away from her hands by Veinea’s powers and flung into the corner. Nodevar moved to free his mate from the pod while Rana ducked down and searched for her magnetic pistol, her data pad came loose during the frantic search.

  She looked at her helmet’s visor, she and Hawke were the only ones left with active vitals. Everyone else was dead, dying or knocked out. She looked over at Hawke who was still behind cover, they both nodded while Rana held onto her pistol. If this was going to be the end, they were going to take out Veinea and Nodevar in the process.

  They rose with guns blazing, a second too late. Nodevar successfully revived his partner. There were two Hashmedai assassins in play and the newcomer to the battle was quick to grab her blades and jump port behind Hawke. Her rapid strikes brought to an end what little shield power Hawke had. Rana switched her aim toward the female assassin, only to see it thrust her dagger into the lower back of Hawke. Sparks burst out as the electronics inside her suit burned out from the intense heat from the plasma blade.

  Rana felt her body become numb, she was paralyzed. Her body hovered a meter off the floor as Veinea lifted her hands in unison. An invisible grip wrapped around Rana’s neck, cutting off all air and blood circulation, Veinea was strangling her to death. The female assassin moved away from Hawke’s body as Rana’s visor updated, another solider flat lined. An argument broke out between Veinea and the female assassin, one that got Nodevar in a panic as he moved in to break it up.

  The assassin’s plasma daggers charged up again and began to swing, this time toward Nodevar and Veinea. A massive explosion from the hallways erupted, the ship began to spiral out of control as gravity went offline and multiple sections were exposed to space. Rana felt the psionic hold on her body end and her weightless body tumble and spiral aimlessly throughout the room amongst the dead or unconscious.

  She felt pain, intense pain from her chest. She looked down and saw a piece of shrapnel lodged into her, no doubt shot toward her from the most recent explosion. Blood was floating away from the wound and she was too weak to do much about it thanks to the after effects of the psionic grip and her body slipping into shock. Ceilings, walls, floors, ceiling again, Rana’s body tumbled and rolled while her vision slowly faded to black.

  She managed to catch a glimpse of Nodevar, he was stabbed and bleeding badly. I guess that’s how Hashmedai couples break up, she thought. Rana’s last glimpse of Veinea before she passed out was the Aryile psionic’s cybernetic implants glowing blue, in preparation for a teleport.

  Lettielia placed her twin plasma daggers away after the Aryile psionic slipped away into the flash of blue light along with Nodevar. She looked at her arms, they were covered in small tubes, someone had been injecting something into her body, something she hadn’t agreed to. Her last memories were being aboard the Voidwraith in orbit around Earth. She and Nodevar were fighting Phylarlie and Whigli then Phylarlie gained the upper hand and stabbed her. She didn’t die, though the wound was clearly fatal, it was a deep stab from a plasma dagger.

  Nodevar grabbed her, pulled her away then said some words. She couldn’t remember, everything went dark, then she woke up on this strange ship.

  A voice had called out to her.

  It told her to kill Veinea and Nodevar. Nivrui, Aviuheart and Emelia, the goddesses, Lettielia had no idea who they were, yet when they spoke the names etched themselves into her mind.

  “The Lettielia needs to escape,” a voice said. “The Lettielia only needs to remember she is no longer the same person she was.”

  A high pitch ringing noise shattered her thoughts and a vision came into her mind. The tubes in her arm, she saw the origin of them, experiments were being performed on her dying body. She saw herself laying on a table as Celestial Order doctors operated on her. Nodevar stood in the corner, worried for her. They told him they could save her provided he helped them with some projects. How sweet of him, she thought. That was until she discovered what came afterward. Lyonria genes were spliced with hers.

  They were trying to resurrect the Lyonria race by using her body and others. Traces of DNA from a psionic that used to be on the transport she came into the system on had been discovered. The psionic was a female Hashmedai, young and slender, with long green hair, her name was Chidorli. Lettielia’s body was exposed to traces of her DNA that was found aboard the transport as part of their tests. Lettielia learned from the vision that some Lyonria were shape shifters and when exposed to enough genetic material of their target, they can assume their form. Lettielia now had such skills due to her DNA being tampered with.

  An automated computer alert sounded with what little power was left within the ship. Life support was minutes away from total failure, all hands were to abandon ship. Lettielia thought about her body transforming into the green haired psionic, and she did with minimal effort. A data pad flipped about inside the room as she made the transformation, it was left on record by the user of it, she smiled and waved to it as the screen turned to face and record her. Lettielia was now a fully fledged psionic complete with all the gifts a psionic had. She teleported out into space as a psionic barrier kept her alive.

  She looked down and saw the wreckage of the prototype she was on along with the remains of several other ships. There was a battle fought here not long ago, and no signs of survivors. Four hours passed while Lettielia remained idle in space inside in her bubble of protective grace amongst the debris and mangled ships. She wasn’t worried, the voice told her not to be, it told her help was on the way. It was right. A transport ship of unknown origin came to a full stop next to her and she teleported aboard.

  The corridors of the transport were strange, they were shaped like a triangle. Lights turned on as a motion sensor detected her presence. The floors were white and shiny, like they were recently polished, same with the walls and ceiling.

  She continued walking deeper into the ship while the voice said to her. “Those that follow the true path have been lost, you are all that remain.”

  “What am I?” Lettielia asked the voice.

  “Reborn, the Lettielia is Lyonria.”

  “I am Hashmedai!”

  “Lyonria once dominated the stars and will do so again with your assistance,” the voice said. “Return to the world known as Earth. Free the Hannah, bring a powerful psionic to the gathering.”

  Lettielia entered what looked like the cockpit. She went to sit on the main chair in front of what looked like the flight controls of the ship, there was a marvelous looking red gem resting on it. Knowledge of how to operate the craft projected into her mind as she picked up the gem, along with full knowledge of the Lyonria language. The experience was . . . divine, only a deity could make such a thing like this happen.

  “The gods are real,” Lettielia said as she began to take control of the transport.

  “Goddesses,” the voice said.

  A figure appeared beside her. It was a woman who looked like Princess Kroshka as a human. She had long black hair, wore a white gown that looked as if it were glowing and radiating light. The name of the woman etched into her mind, it was Emelia.

  “Carry out your task,” Emelia said to her.

  “And I suppose the goddesses will reward me?”

  “No, they will not,” Emelia said. “I will.”

  Emelia vanished as Lettielia reached out to touch her.

  Lettielia looked at the reflection of herself in the windshield of the ship as it flew away at speeds she didn’t think were possible. The reflection that shined back was her still in the form of the green haired psionic Chidorli. She began to focus on her natural state and her body began to melt and revert back to the Hashmedai assassin she always remembered. It was a trick that would come in handy in the future. Later she felt the presence of a third body she could form into,
one that wasn’t there earlier.

  She began to focus and shape shift into that form. Once again, her body melted as if it were becoming liquid, then reformed into a human woman with long brown hair. It was the woman she killed after being released from cryostasis, her blood must have splashed all over her when she killed it, and so her DNA got absorbed by her newfound Lyonria genes.

  As the days went on, Lettielia discovered that small traces of the memories of the people she was able to transform into came into her thoughts. Chidorli was name of the psionic girl, she had a romantic attachment to Whigli, and old associate of hers and Nodevar and Jerut. The human woman went by the name Kasidey Hawke. It was the perfect cover for her return to Earth.

  What remained was for her to figure out who Hannah was and where to find a psionic she could work with and bring to this gathering Emelia spoke about. She hoped that Whigli would be found on Earth, if so he’d be easy to manipulate with her newfound powers and her knowledge of him from Chidorli’s memories and her own.

  Kasidey’s transport, Perseus Galactic arm

  Present day . . .

  Whigli slowly backed away from Kasidey as she finished her story.

  “You’re Lettielia,” he whispered in shock.

  Kasidey’s body melted and reverted back to her original body, that of the Hashmedai assassin Whigli worked with when he first came to Earth, Lettielia. “Had you known the truth you wouldn’t have been so helpful,” she said.

  He got up from the couch, still frightened at what he had learned, she pursued him with a glowing grin on her face. Last time Whigli checked Lettielia was trying to kill him, now she was back and had been the whole time. He tripped during his backpedal and she climbed over the top of him, still grinning and laughing at him. He held back on using his psionic gifts as rational thinking kicked back in. If she really wanted him dead, he’d be dead already, what was there to fear?

  “What’s this gathering?”

  “I wish I knew,” she said. “But it will make the galaxy a better place, that’s what the dreams keep telling me. And the voice of Emelia.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Buried Linl ship, Derkurio, Morutrin system

  Eicelea waited for Vynei to give her the go ahead to move.

  The two were alone inside the old buried ship as they tried to make their way to the rear computer terminal on the bridge, or what was left of it after all these centuries. A few wraiths still lurked within the pitch-black halls, and it was his job to keep an eye out for them as she checked computer after computer looking for an old data crystal that would help them unlock the secrets to the wormhole stowed in the hold of the ship.

  Vynei gave Eicelea the signal to move, and her tiny body leaped up and ran toward the console. It was the last one that wasn’t checked, and therefore was the one that had what they were looking for. Well she hoped at least, if it wasn’t there then they were in for a lot of trouble in terms of getting back to Oyuri.

  On that note of trouble, Eicelea stopped as she stood on and crushed a piece of broken glass on the floor. The sound was loud enough to send every wraith close by to charge over.

  “Not good, not good!” She panicked as her bodyguard leaped out from his cover with his rifle blazing.

  Trin’s teleportation light provided enough light for her to see exactly how many wraiths had entered the bridge before he teleported them back to the Dark Star.

  Dark Star, Derkurio orbit, Morutrin system

  “We almost got it,” Eicelea said as Phylarlie and Odelea entered the cockpit where Trin had teleported himself and the two.

  Odelea winced at the news, finding the cure to the virus was only half of their work. The other half was activating the wormhole so that they could deliver it back to Oyuri. Odelea translated to Phylarlie the results of their last attempt. She shook her head and raged.

  “Three fucking times,” Phylarlie said. “This is getting old.”

  “Ready to go back?” Odelea asked as nicely as possible, hoping it would convince them to say yes.

  “No!” was the direct reply Eicelea gave her. “And I don’t understand why we must do it.”

  “Have you forgotten already, boss?” Vynei said.

  “Silence you,” Eicelea said, cutting him off.

  Odelea pointed to Phylarlie and the huge claw mark across the back of her outfit, which to Odelea’s surprise was armor. “The wraith are growing stronger, they can detect psionic presence even through stealth.”

  “Tell them to get it together or all of this would have been for nothing,” Phylarlie said.

  Eicelea and Vynei had become the only two capable of traveling down into the ship due to the wraith’s newfound talent. Danyal was needed for more of Odelea’s tests, plus Phylarlie didn’t want to risk any more harm coming to her than she already had. Odelea was the brains of their operation and was deemed too valuable and Phylarlie and Trin couldn’t go due to their psionic powers. Besides, Odelea knew very well the voice that kept asking her to do things would force her to return. It wanted her to find a cure, and so it wanted to her to stay away from all danger. It was best she stayed put and avoid any more embarrassing problems due to losing control of her body and mind.

  Captured Pirate ship, Derkurio orbit, Morutrin system

  Both the Dark Star and Pirate ship remained in orbit around Derkurio and were linked together via their side airlock entrances. Odelea periodically moved back and forth between the two and used its medical bay as a test lab to search for a cure. It’s also where Danyal spent most of his days as he was her primary subject to study.

  She entered the medical bay and saw Danyal diligently view contents of his data pad. A pad that apparently had some data on it in regard to the wraith, and possibly more. She was happy to see that he didn’t notice her enter, as she didn’t want to interrupt him in case he discovered new information on the pad. She pushed off the walls and floated next to her work station to review the results of her most recent tests.

  “Well, shit,” Danyal said, putting his data pad away.

  “I’m sorry,” Odelea said to him.

  “It’s okay, I’m done. I’m glad you’re here in fact.” Danyal kicked off the wall to gain the momentum needed to reach her at the far end of the medical bay. As he approached he handed her the data pad. “Take a look at this.”

  She looked at it closely and scrolled through downloaded data regarding the wraith, data she hadn’t seen previously. It included early tests the order conducted on humans they kidnapped on Foicanta. Danyal also took the liberty to show Odelea recorded videos, logs, and pictures a human named Rana made, the previous owner of the data pad.

  Odelea looked up at Danyal and smiled. “This is perfect!”

  “All that weird shit you think is perfect?”

  “Oh. No I—”

  “I get what you meant, relax.”

  Odelea returned to her computer station with Danyal’s data pad in hand, and began to transfer over the files he discovered on it and resumed her work. She was glad Phylarlie and him managed to bring the pirate ship back as it gave her access to computers she felt more comfortable working with, the pirate ship was of Radiance design after all.

  “I may have helped bring the wraith into existence, but I wasn’t part of the team that conducted early tests,” Odelea said. “These people were, I can use this information to help synthesize a cure faster.”

  “Hope she’s alright,” Danyal said. “Rana that is, the woman that once owned that data pad.”

  Odelea could see the cause for his concern as she watched the last recorded video of the data pad. A violent gun battle against the Celestial Order, her comrades killed or injured, then the getting impaled by debris.

  “That psionic teleported out with others,” Odelea said in an attempt to cheer him up.

  “That psionic also betrayed them; I doubt she took them along for the ride.” The two watched the playback show a Hashmedai assassin morph into a green hair psionic. Odelea recognized th
e assassin as the one that attacked her on Earth. “Then there’s her, I need to find out where she went off to.”

  “How did she do that? Changed her form just like that.”

  “She’s the one that sold me this pad. I didn’t ask many questions at first. I was just happy to see I got a lead on my search for Rana.”

  Odelea asked Danyal to lay back five minutes later as she held into a medical scanner and began to take new readings of his body. With the new scans, combined with the new data she acquired from his data pad she went back to work. Typing, studying, testing, hypnotizing, she lost track of the hours that went by and neglected to eat or drink. She was grateful Danyal was looking out for her and returned with water and rations from the Dark Star later.

  Her new push for knowledge had led her to the discovery that because Danyal was half human and half Hashmedai, the virus rejected him. It was programmed to seek out pure DNA genes, and it didn’t take into account of crossbreeding. This is it, she thought, the basis to a cure and vaccine was found. She would need to find a way to trick the virus into thinking people are crossbreed so that it would reject them.

  She browsed through some of the old files found on the Linl hardware picked up at the dig site. The hard drives contained information and old reports from the old Linl government. One report caught Odelea’s Aryile eyes, an old Linl study on gene therapy. It was one of the many technology advancements that were forbidden to be used in Radiance pending an investigation to see if it goes against the word and will of the gods.

  Religion and politics were the last things on her mind, however pleasing the voice in her head was. And that voice wanted the same thing she wanted, to save the galaxy from this new and insidious threat. She reviewed the reports and carefully studied it. She used the equipment in the medical bay and the equipment recovered from the surface and created a basic set up for the gene therapy.