Chapter 52
The vehicle finally came to a stop after a while. Viktos opened up the cylinders, removed the MagRes on Nirvana and helped her out of the vehicle.
It took her a while to regain her bearings and adjust her eyes to the brightness after being in total darkness. Her first instinct was to look for an exit point, but there were none. They were in a small room, slightly bigger than the size of the hovercraft they came in, with walls of concrete grey. There were slits on the walls emitting light but that was all. No openings at all.
Viktos emerged from the vehicle, this time carrying Zane. He laid Zane down gently and checked his pulse. After he was satisfied, he stood up.
“Do not touch anything,” he ordered Nirvana. He flipped his gloved hand, and a screen projected from it.
“This is a useful device,” she commented, nodding at the glove.
“Zanetos’s invention. He made a prototype and Aryax improved on it. Aryax made one for Zanetos too, but he left Asago before we could give it to him,” he said with a tinge of sadness in his voice.
The ground below them jerked and started to descend after he pressed a numeric combination on the hologram keypad. The walls did not extend beyond a certain point and they descended into what seemed like a living room.
It was sparsely furnished. The walls were bare except for a flat screen; a small coffee table and couch were the only furniture. The simple open-concept kitchen was equally bare, with an island top separating it from the living area.
“Before I fly you to Liberty, I need to know what kind of trouble Zanetos had gotten himself into, why you’re with him and why you’re in Asago.” He carried Zane and put him on the couch.
It was interesting how Viktos obeyed Dominion’s commands without knowing the story behind it. It somehow gave weight to Dominion’s claims that the brothers were tightly knit, except for Zane, who isolated himself from them.
“I don’t know how much I can tell you because it’s not my story to tell.” She shrugged.
Viktos lips pressed into a firm line as he looked at his unconscious brother on the couch. “You can start by telling me why he’s knocked out after such a low dose of sedatives.” He walked to the fridge, grabbed a bottle of water and tossed it to her before taking one for himself.
Nirvana took a long drink, hoping to calm her nerves from what she’d seen in Dominion’s memories and thought about how to phrase it to Viktos without betraying Zane’s confidences. She sat on the couch beside Zane and stroked his face. He was out like a light, didn’t look like he was going to wake up anytime soon. She could use this opportunity to get some information out of Viktos without Zane’s interference.
“Talk.” Viktos demanded, sitting on the armchair adjacent to her.
“He gets panic attacks and extreme mood swings,” she said, scratching the bristles on Zane’s chin. “After the operation the doctor advised him to regulate his emotions to avoid getting a brain aneurysm. He panicked earlier when I was on my way in, so the crew gave him a jab. That’s all I can tell you. The rest you’ll have to ask him.”
“Let me guess. His mental health got worse after the MLink.” Viktos said, surprising Nirvana. “We knew about his problem. It’s our father who refuses to acknowledge it and keeps making him worse.”
She nodded. “Do you have the MLink too?”
He shook his head. “Only Dominion. It’s a long story which we don’t have time for, but maybe you can access it from his memories.”
“Why did he do the memory exchange with me instead of Zane?” she wondered aloud.
“Zanetos can alter his memories to believe in the lies he’s telling with so much conviction that he could pass the BScans.”
Nirvana’s breath hitched. BScans were lie detectors that monitor the brain activities while the subjects undergo interrogation. The more advanced ones can even pull image projections out of the brains to see if they match what the subjects are telling. The effectiveness of the machines is almost a hundred percent.
“Even the image ones?” she asked in disbelief.
“Even the image ones,” he nodded slowly. “We wouldn’t have believed it if we hadn’t witness it ourselves.”
“How? When?”
“You can look up Dom’s memories. Zanetos is so good that my brother would rather trust what’s in your head than his. Let’s move on for now. Tell me why you’re in Asago, quickly. We’ll need to leave as soon as Dom calls.”
Nirvana told Viktos about Naia, Lang, and his baby sister, and how Zane trapped her with Dein’s space fleet in order to strong-arm her into the job. She noticed Viktos’ scrunched up his face at some point, but he forced himself to release it, trying to regain his composure so that she could finish her story. At the end of it, he just rested his elbows on his knees and held his head in his hands.
“He is such a bloody idiot,” he groaned.
“That’s what Dominion said,” she huffed.
“Dein wanted us to attack him!” He looked up and rubbed his neck. “He was having problems with some rebel factions. They were creating more and more dissent, and he wanted them eliminated. He couldn’t do it without losing votes, so he asked Father for help.
“Father was supposed to help Kerimar Dein hit Ciyria, Skiri and Ascao. Dein will pretend to defend them, and Father will retreat. Nothing unites people faster than having to face a common enemy. In exchange, Dein will give us five thousand tonnes of oslil. It takes one tonne of oslil to make five hundred proton blasters. What do you think my father will do with five thousand tonnes?”
Nirvana had already known this from Dominion’s memories but she wanted to verify it with Viktos.
Viktos got up and reached over to smack Zane on his face, lips curled in with frustration. “Why can’t you get it into that thick skull of yours that we actually care about you?” he yelled at his unconscious brother.
He threw his hands in the air and slumped back into the armchair. “We were planning to stop this war in the first place. He should have come to us.”
“Zane didn’t know about this?” she asked, feeling apprehensive.
“He would have known if he didn’t cut himself off from everyone! Arghhh!” he roared into the air.
“The interesting thing is, he probably lied so well that he caused Dein to panic, thinking Chorax is going to double-cross him and attack him for real, especially with Zane’s weapon of mass destruction theory.” Nirvana leaned back and thought about it. “Moreover, Zane is the son of Chorax. He would have believed Zane.”
A small, blue indicator light blinked on the glove, and Viktos reached up to touch his earpiece. “Ani… Hai… Hai… Hai… Hai…” The conversation ended, and he stood up.
“What language is that?” she asked.
“Japanese. You’ve got to pick that up if you don’t want to be left out during family dinners, Sister.” He gave her an evil grin. “Dominion flipped when he saw the insignia on you. I hope you appreciate the bullshit he went through to hide the both of you from Father and Obaga.” He tapped his temple, indicating that Nirvana should check the memory files.
“Dom will send you Father’s invasion plans for Panderon.” He bent over, lifted Zane, and asked Nirvana to follow him. “He said to get Zanetos to modify the plans to look like Father is going to launch a massive attack and persuade Dein to call off the plans and settle his own rebel problems. Convince him that Father will use his own oslil against him, but don’t screw it up any further.”
“Won’t that ruin the ties between the two planets?”
“Won’t matter much when Dom takes over. He never liked Kerimar Dein. As long as Zanetos doesn’t make Dein launch an attack on Chikara, it’ll be fine.”
“Is Dominion planning to take over soon?” she asked. She’d seen glimpses of Dominion’s ambition through the MLink but she hadn’t been able to go into it properly.
Viktos paused and turned around to look at Nirvana with a grave expression. “He’s planning to, but no telling if h
e will succeed. It’s imperative that you and Zanetos return as soon as possible after he’s settled his business with Dein. Dom is going to need all his brothers with him.”
“He’s planning a revolt?” she gasped.
“Yes. We weren’t planning to do it so soon but our dear little brother had expedited the process. Ani will try to incapacitate Father, but if it doesn’t work, he’ll do it the hard way.” His expression hardened. “We will stand by Ani.” He turned around and continued walking.
“I ought to gloat but it’s sad that Chorax trained his sons so hard, only to have them turn against him,” she said quietly, feeling the irony of feeling sympathy for Chorax.
“The reason why he hasn’t stepped down is that he doesn’t think any of us are fit to handle his empire. He will make it extremely difficult for Ani, but he would be proud if Ani could do it.”
“Why do you keep calling him ‘Ani?’”
“It means ‘big brother’ in Japanese. He has earned it.”
“What does Zane call you?”
“We call each other by our names. Only Dominion is ‘Ani.’”
They reached the far end of the house where a spacecraft was parked.
“Do you keep all your vehicles inside your house?”
“I’m paranoid like that.” Viktos shrugged and walked onto a platform. It raised them to the height of the cockpit, and they got in. “Dom said to drop you off at Port Z2X45 where your friends are waiting,” he said as he strapped Zane onto the seat.
“He really downloaded my brain into his,” she growled.
“Well, at least he’s family. Could have been worse. He must have deemed you trustworthy, otherwise he would have given me the kill order.” He sighed, looking visibly relieved as he started up the engines. “You would have been a tough bitch to kill.”
“You were planning to take on both Zane and I alone?” she sneered.
“Of course not! The twins and a whole troop of their elites are on standby. The twins brought along eight soldiers and they almost couldn’t take your friend down. I’m sure there are at least fifty men lying in wait outside my house.”
Nirvana chuckled. “Don’t be too hard on yourselves. Alden’s enhanced.”
“No wonder! It’ll be good if you can get him on our side too. We need as many able bodies as possible.”
She frowned, “Why do you keep talking like I’m part of your team?”
Viktos jerked his head around and gave her an incredulous stare. “You married my brother! You bear the Hayashi insignia!”
“That doesn’t mean… Why would you trust me? Don’t you know who I am?” she asked. Perhaps now wasn’t a good time to tell him why she agreed to having that insignia, and that she hadn’t actually agreed to marry Zane.
“For all Zanetos’ faults, he is loyal. He would not have told Dom to trust you if he didn’t trust you himself.” He turned his attention back to the controls. “Besides, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
Viktos placed a finger on his lips and pointed to a tiny red light on the control panel above them. The ground underneath the battle craft began to rise and brought them to the surface.
“Hayashi requesting for security clearance Code Delta-Delta-352 to exit Chikara,” he spoke into his headphones.
“Please proceed,” came the reply.
Viktos pulled the control wheel, and the battle craft shot towards space.
Chapter 53
The red-light indicator triggered some of Dominion’s memories about the battle craft, but Nirvana was still unable to look at them in a more detailed manner. All of she saw was a series of uncontrollable flashbacks, like they were part of her memories, but she understood the lit indicator meant that whatever the pilot said would be recorded.
Since she couldn’t speak with Viktos, she closed her eyes and took the opportunity to try to trigger more of Dominion’s memories. She managed to get more details about Chorax’s agreement with Dein and Dominion’s and his brothers’s extreme dissatisfaction with it. Going to war meant they would lose soldiers, men with whom they had bonded, and it wasn’t even for Chikara. It would be for the five thousand tonnes of oslil, if Dein followed through with the deal, something Dominion had little confidence in. Chorax obviously valued human life way less than his sons did.
Those memories of Dein also led her to Dominion’s feelings of frustrations towards Zane. Zane had written a war-simulator program that ran war plans through the simulator and predicted outcomes. He was a brilliant strategist but over the years, he’d become increasingly withdrawn and stopped participating in their table discussions. The program was written as a replacement for his presence, and it had worked well for them initially.
However, they could not get the program to work for their plans in Panderon, and Zane had cut himself off from his brothers by then. He left a note to inform Dominion that he would be moving around the war-torn areas to help the people and moved out of the stronghold with Naia.
Chorax was furious at first, but Dominion managed to pacify him, showing him the evidence of Zane’s work in those places. Zane had created things like water-filtration devices, urban gardening systems, cheap but sturdy building materials to help the people rebuild their homes. Chorax grumbled that Zane’s brain would have been put to better use in Asago but was convinced by Dominion to leave him alone. Even though Zane had estranged himself, Dominion still kept tabs on him.
Nirvana literally felt Dominion’s love for his brothers and understood why he had earned their respect, even from Zane, who had always been detached due to his inferiority complex. It was annoying how Zane kept thinking of his brothers as their father’s mindless pawns when in fact, they shared his sentiments towards Chorax’s tyrannical rule.
She felt a little dizzy and decided to stop trying to access anymore of Dominion’s memories. She opened her eyes and stretched, earning a questioning look from Viktos. She pointed to her temple, hoping he’d understand what she was trying to tell him. He nodded and pointed to the flight path, indicating that they were approaching Liberty soon.
Surprised, she looked at the time and saw that two hours had passed. She turned around to check on Zane, who was still unconscious. Viktos tapped on her shoulder and pointed to the communication panel on the dashboard. He mouthed the word “help” and pointed to Zane. She understood and sent an encrypted message to Daxon, informing him that they were reaching Liberty and she’d need help with Zane.
When they reached, Viktos helped Nirvana get Zane off the ship. The crew was understandably slack-jawed when they saw Viktos.
“Zane’s brother,” she explained. “Long story. Will update everyone. I need a minute with him. I’ll meet you at our place.”
The crew left with Levi and Daxon carrying Zane Nobody took a second look at them. This part of Liberty was popular with outlaws for this very reason. The only rule they had to abide by was not to damage any property.
Nirvana was caught off-guard when Viktos suddenly bent over and bowed to her.
“I apologize for my brother’s lack of manners for not introducing you to his family the proper way,” he said.
She snorted as she tried to hold back her laughter and forced herself to calm down when she saw how serious he was.
“On behalf of my brothers, I welcome you as our sister.” He bowed again.
What in sweet heavens is going on? She felt compelled to at least bow a little with him when he did that, but she darted her gaze around to see if this was making a scene.
“Nirvana.” He looked at her with a weighted gaze. “Please come back with Zanetos quickly.”
“Of course, I will. I need to get Alden,” she reminded him.
“We’re counting on him to look after Kseniya, seeing how he protected her when we tried to capture them. The dungeon prison will be a breeze to survive for a scary fighter like him, but not for her. It will weigh heavily on Zanetos if Kseniya dies in there.”
She nodded. Although she was still confused by the dyna
mics of the relationship between Kseniya and Zane, she was not one to get bothered by petty details.
“Jya ne.” Viktos saluted and turned to leave.
When Nirvana reached the apartment they owned on Liberty, Zane was beginning to rouse. She sat by him and brought the crew up to speed on what happened in Asago while waiting for him to regain consciousness fully. When Zane was fully awake, she updated everyone about Dein.
Zane was shaken after he heard about Dein. Nirvana asked for some privacy while he tried to deal with the news. She shared some of Dominion’s memories to try to convince him of his brother’s love, hoping to bring him away from this self-loathing path. At some point in time, he broke down, overcome with guilt for misunderstanding his brothers, especially Dominion.
Nirvana tried to nudge him by reminding him that every minute he spent moping would feel like an eternity of torture for Kseniya and Alden in the dungeon prison. That got him to pull himself together enough to function.
He downloaded Panderon’s war plans Dominion had sent to his equipment and spent the entire day trying to come up with an attack strategy that would convince Dein that his father was planning an all-out invasion.
The whole planning process blew Nirvana away as she saw how much more there was to this man when he was not haunted by his mental illness. She would remind herself of these moments of brilliance in the future whenever she felt her patience tested by him.
They made an appointment to meet Dein at Liberty and rented a private booth for the meeting.
He paled visibly when Zane went through the modified war plans with him.
“You should try to find a way to delay the plans to attack the rebels. Convince him that the leaders want to negotiate and you would like to explore a more peaceful method if you can. Keep my family safe. In exchange, I’ll head back to Chikara and keep you updated on the military movements.”
When Zane saw hesitation in Dein’s eyes, he said, “There is no reason to doubt my intention.” He put so much steel in the look he gave Dein that, for a moment, Nirvana thought she saw Chorax. “You keep my heart safe on your planet, and I will give you my loyalty.”
Fatal Extraction Page 26
