“Yeah, and something tells me we won’t be able to count on you when the shit hits the fan at our doorstep.”
Ziron shook his head. “It saddens me you would think that.”
“Well, why would I think any differently? You guys seem to have yourselves as number one in mind when things get difficult.”
“That’s an unfair thing to say! I would never have given away Kevin like the princess did. Don’t judge me for something I haven’t done. And while I can’t speak for the entire Arcadian Confederate, I’ll do everything I can to help Earth, if it ever comes to that.”
Boomer chuckled. “A cat versus an entire alien army, we’re saved!”
Ziron sighed heavily and flew away on his cushion. His face told its own story as to how Boomer’s words had impacted him.
“That wasn’t very nice,” said Mira over the speakers.
“Were you listening the whole time?”
“I’m the ship’s AI, what do you think?”
Before Boomer could answer, one of the kittens jumped on his back and another one pulled on his whiskers.
“Son of a b—stop it!” Boomer protested.
The little Sphynx directly in front of him froze and started shaking.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you, little guy.”
Boomer petted him and he started purring.
Yeah, right, they’re not cats!
“They are taking a liking to you,” said Mira.
“Ziron never told me why they don’t talk.”
“Perhaps he didn’t find the opportunity to do so in between the barrage of blame you’ve been spewing at him.”
Boomer thought about it for a second. Was Mira right? He was confused and he knew his antagonism toward Ziron was probably misplaced. After all, it was Kalliopy that had betrayed Kevin, not Ziron.
“Touché.”
“As per your initial question: they will in a few days or so, once their vocal cords are fully developed.”
“Swell, I can’t wait.”
“Would you like me to equip them with implants so they can talk now?”
Boomer’s eyes thinned into slits. “For a super advanced Artificial Intelligence, you don’t seem to have grasped the concept of sarcasm all that well.”
5
Kalliopy received a holo-transmission from her fleet admiral.
“Admiral Corso, good to see you.”
“It’s a relief seeing you in one piece, your highness.”
“What is it I can do for you?”
“We’ve arrived at the coordinates you provided. I’m reporting as ordered.”
Kalliopy swallowed hard.
“Do you have Athala?”
“I’m afraid not. No ship ever came to the rendezvous point. Instead, a subspace transmission was delivered at the designated time, one we can’t decrypt fully, only its header.”
“What does the header say?”
“It says, ‘Will decrypt for Princess Kalliopy only’.”
Kalliopy sighed. She wasn’t all that surprised with Xonax. Obviously, she had hoped he would keep his word, but part of her expected that he wouldn’t honor his part of the bargain. He was Kregan after all. No matter how he had tried to sweet talk her or appear civilized, he was no different from his father. Kregan would only take actions that served their purposes. They weren’t empathic people, and she should have known that he was not being truthful.
Though, as long as he had Athala as a bargaining chip, it meant she was still alive. Right now, that was all that mattered.
“Have your best engineer work on the source of the subspace transmission, I want to know from where that signal originated. The moment you have that information, we’ll send our ships.”
“Is that wise, Princess? It could be a trap.”
Kalliopy was very well aware of that, but she was willing to take the chance. She needed to reconnect with Xonax, which was the only way to get her sister back.
“Perhaps, but these are my orders. Transmit your coordinates to the Osiris, we’ll head toward you and regroup, but don’t wait for us. If you get the source of the subspace transmission, let us know. How combat operational is your ship, Admiral?”
“As you know, we had to get out of dock before all the systems were installed. But the Hathor is still a powerful dreadnought. In terms of shields and armor plating alone, this is the most powerful ship ever made by the Arcadian Confederate. It’s barely half-operational for combat, I’m afraid, but my team is working around the clock to get our weapons ready in case we need to engage the enemy.”
Oh, we will have to engage them, that much I can feel in my bones.
“Very well, Admiral. Thank you. Keep me posted.”
“Absolutely, your highness. Corso out.”
* * *
Three humanoid drones charged Kevin at the same time, firing their integrated in-palm blaster cannons at him. It was time for Kevin to test his new skills.
He drew symmetrical red runes in the air with both hands, grabbed the runes, and then crushed them in his fists. His eyes briefly glowed red as circular red shields came to life on his forearms just in time for Kevin to deflect the blaster fire.
Kevin darted toward his enemy on the left and then quickly swiped two fingers down his inner left forearm where an orange ring of energy added to the periphery of the shield with a sizzling hum. Orange particles of energy shot from around the shield like sparks from a saw hitting metal. He increased pressure in his right fist, which expanded the right side of the shield and covered more of his body as he ran toward one of the drones.
That drone fired at him again as he approached, but Kevin deflected the shot with his shield before slashing it at the drone’s head and it cut through both metal and circuitry like a hot knife through butter.
The drone’s head spun in the air for a second before gravity took hold and brought it down with a satisfying clunking noise.
One down, two to go!
One stray blaster shot coming from behind found its way past Kevin’s head and burnt a strand of hair in the process. That warned Kevin that he had to be careful and not be too overconfident. With his pride bruised, Kevin looked at his HUD to identify which of the drones had fired and decided that would be his next victim.
Kevin turned quickly and used his momentum to target the enemy. He threw his arm at the drone, extending two fingers toward where he wanted his next attack to land. The energy shield left his forearm and traveled at hypersonic speed toward the drone. The drone never saw it coming, and the rotating energy shield, using the cutting spell, blasted through metal and cut the drone in two at belt level.
That one’s for you, Cap, Kevin thought with nostalgia upon remembering the many hours he spent reading the Captain America comic books while growing up.
As pieces of the drone made a rumbling sound when it impacted with the hard rocky ground, the flying energy shield disintegrated into nothingness. The spell had run out of power.
Good timing. Now, about that last one.
Kevin blocked three more shots from the remaining drone and that made his other extended shield blink. A sign that the spell would expire soon. He used his free hand to draw another rune in the air, this time yellow and flashing. Kevin opened his right fist, which turned the shield off, and he split the hovering rune in two by grabbing it with both hands. His hands glowed yellow as he smiled and then tilted his head to the side to avoid the latest incoming fire.
Let’s end this!
Kevin smashed his glowing hands on his thighs and it imbued the spell’s powers through his legs, which took on a faint yellow glow. The spell’s effect was almost instantaneous and Kevin felt strength in his leg augments grow exponentially. It felt as if he had been injected with a five-stim pack in each of his legs. He ran toward the last drone at speeds he never thought he could travel.
Seeing the drone take aim to blow his head off, Kevin jumped into the air. Thanks to the extra strength at his disposal, it was an inhuman l
eap that allowed him to not only dodge the incoming blaster fire but it also felt like he was flying, even if for just a moment.
He passed over the drone with ease and spun in the air twice before approaching the ground behind the drone. Before landing, he had prepared his next spell while still in midair, and the moment he landed, he unleashed a fireball that tore a basketball-sized hole through metal and wiring.
The drone jerked in place and soon after, sparks shot from within the hole in its chest and black smoke rose from its head. It stopped jerking and just stood there, inert, more smoke rising from the top of its metallic head.
Through the hole in the drone’s trunk, Kevin saw his sorcerer trainer appear out of thin air. A skill she hadn’t taught him. Yet. There was something about her, though Kevin couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was that mesmerized him and made him pay attention when she spoke or taught him to use his new skills.
It had come at a price though. A day-long operation where Kevin had been anesthetized and cybernetic implants had been installed throughout his body, some were external augments but other enhancements had been installed internally. He didn’t like that part and hoped that, with Ziron’s help, the procedure could be reversed. But, in the absence of a smart armor, if Kevin ever wanted to escape from the pirates, having powers was a good way to achieve his objective.
Clapping hands on the other side of the battle arena attracted his attention.
Speak of the devil.
Altanor clapped more as he walked toward the mesmerizing Myrianna. Soon, they were having a discussion in rather hushed tones, too low for Kevin to pick up what they were saying. He could tell from the pirate’s body language that he was arguing about something. Myrianna’s facial expression portrayed frustration, but eventually, they both seemed to come to some sort of an agreement, and Altanor left. Though, before he did, he winked and gave Kevin finger guns.
I don’t know what you told her or what you think you will get out of me, but I’m looking forward to disappointing you and your hopes.
There was no way that Kevin would use his skills to serve villains and criminals. He’d rather die than do these mens’ bidding. Even though his line of thinking was raising Kevin’s anxiety levels, he decided to push them aside; he had the skills and powers to take on the entire pirate ship if he needed to.
In fact, he was surprised when he let his mind daydream about how he would do so. He could return to Boomer and Earth, though he wondered what could ever motivate him on the blue marble after having traveled faster than light and battled foes both on alien worlds and in space.
One step at a time.
Myrianna vanished and reappeared in front of him.
“Is the overlord happy with my progress?” said Kevin, making no effort to mask the sarcasm in his voice.
Myrianna looked down for a moment before reconnecting with Kevin’s eyes, and that sent a shiver down his spine. Something was amiss.
“Altanor is very happy. He thinks your training is complete. He wants you back on the ship by day’s end.”
“What do you think? Is my training complete? Looks to me like you still have skills to teach me, such as that disappearing and reappearing act you seem to enjoy doing.”
“I won’t have time to teach you that one, I’m afraid.”
“That’s a shame.”
“Kevin, I need to tell you something.”
“What’s that?”
“You’ve been one of my best students, and I’ve trained tech sorcerers for as long as I can remember. Your brain is like a sponge, and you learn at an astounding pace. Like nothing I’ve seen before.”
Kevin smiled proudly. “I had a good teacher.”
“Which makes this so much more difficult.”
“What is it? What are you talking about?”
“I’m sorry, Kevin. I hope you find your way…”
Before Kevin could reply, Myrianna cast a spell in front of him, and lassos of golden light materialized around him and then passed through him. The moment they entered his skin, Kevin became paralyzed from head to toe.
His heart pounded hard in his chest as fear crept into his entire being.
What the fuck is this?
“What did you do?! Why can’t I move?”
“It’s better if you don’t resist, though it’s not like you have a choice in the matter.”
“Tell me what’s going on!” ordered Kevin.
Myrianna, instead, waved a hand over her forearm revealing a long metallic bracelet that wasn’t there a moment ago. She swiped it, and a holo-screen came to life. She keyed in commands.
“Please,” implored Kevin, “at least tell me what you’re doing.”
A tear traveled down one of Myrianna’s beautiful green eyes as a prominent red circle appeared on her holo-screen.
Even though Kevin had no idea what it was, seeing a big red button was universally bad, no matter in which galaxy he was standing.
“Don’t! Don’t do this!”
Myrianna caressed Kevin’s cheek. Her touch was colder than he expected. He didn’t know if it was because of the situation or maybe because of the plethora of implants he imagined must be running through her body.
“Forgive me,” she said.
Then she pressed the red holographic control.
Kevin wanted to scream, but nothing happened. Instead, his own voice resonated inside his mind.
Noooooooo!
His inner echoing scream was accompanied by a strong electric discharge in his brain, radiating pain throughout his entire skull.
More tears fell from his teacher’s eyes as she disappeared. Some of the tears seemed to hold in the air, as if by magic, before falling to the ground like raindrops.
Why can’t I talk, what is going on?
Fear turned to terror as Kevin struggled to move or speak. In vain.
The lassoed bonds exited Kevin’s body just as quickly as they had immobilized him and exploded into a sparkle of golden energy. It gave him hope that he could move again, but nothing had changed. The only thing that still worked in Kevin’s body was his mind, doing flips of panic as his heartbeat kept accelerating. Then that too changed. With no control over it, his heartbeat forced itself down to a normal pace.
What is happening to me? Someone help! Boomer, Zee…anybody!
A voice inside his mind spoke. It was male, alien in nature, and certainly creepy, like someone devoid of all emotion.
My name is Orion eight-three-nine-six.
Who are you? And what do you want?
From now on, I am the new master of this body.
6
Lacuna’s ship exited hyperspace. The engines of the rental ship overheated.
“Fuck!” she exclaimed. “Why am I not surprised this piece of crap hasn’t been well maintained.”
She checked her controls and ran a diagnostic. A power conduit near the engine had blown. Or maybe her bypassing safety features had turned a Mark V engine into a Mark Zero. That was a possibility too, she admitted.
“Dammit, this is going to take hours to fix…Darmak!” she shouted.
The big Domdori came running into the cockpit when he hit his head against the top of the opening and slipped, hitting his head again on the hard floor. Darmak lost consciousness, and Lacuna buried her face in her hands.
“Right, he doesn’t deal with stress very well. Why do I keep forgetting this?”
Lacuna undid her motorized seatbelt, and it retracted into the chair. She went by her henchman and crawled next to him, gently slapping his face.
“Wake up, Darmak, I need you. Come on.”
From the sound of both impacts, she wouldn’t be surprised if he had suffered a concussion or two. She knew it was very wrong of her, but she couldn’t help it and knocked on the top of his forehead. It sounded hollow.
“Well, maybe there isn’t that much brain to concuss. Hopefully.”
I‘m a horrible person. Oh well…what else is new?
She retu
rned to her seat and looked at a holo-starmap. They had been making good time until the engine blew, but they were still a few hours away from catching up with Kevin and his annoying Sphynx companion. The subcutaneous subspace beacon she had injected into his dog friend was still transmitting. At least there was that.
He had sensed the threat she presented to their safety, and if he had made the decision instead of Kevin, Lacuna had no doubt that she wouldn’t be breathing right now.
She had to admit the four-legged, furry creature was quite intelligent for his size. Even though she had bested him with a simple throwing of a stun baton in the air. Later, when they met in battle conditions, the creature had displayed impressive fighting skills.
She would have to keep an eye on him. Perhaps she could convince Kevin she was a valuable asset, but she doubted that the dog would see it that way.
First, she had to fix the engines. She got up again and walked over Darmak who was still unconscious on the floor. She tried lifting him but he weighed a ton, at least from her perspective, and he wouldn’t budge. The point of impact on his forehead had bulged into a rather nasty bump, so her first order of business would be to get a med kit and tend to his wounds.
It took ten minutes to find one, and as soon as the dermal regenerator had done its magic, she used the medical scanner to make sure Darmak hadn’t sustained any additional life-threatening injuries. When that was done, she tried gently slapping him awake but that didn’t seem to work. The med kit didn’t contain a stim pack so she concluded that time would do the rest and reluctantly headed toward the engine room by herself.
* * *
Boomer took the opportunity with all three kittens sleeping to leave his quarters and head to the bridge where Ziron was working with multiple floating holo-screens around him.
“Hey,” said Boomer.
Ziron didn’t answer. Boomer felt bad, even though he hadn’t connected with the Sphynx the way Kevin had, Ziron had saved him and Kevin multiple times. One could argue that they wouldn’t have needed saving in the first place had Kevin not agreed to help the Confederate.
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