Imra knelt over the dimly glowing psi-crystal ‘listening’ intently.
~So Mari N’daere may very well be the first victim of this monster. Her scarring is over a year and a half old. She’s been back on Titan for over a year, and, until her attack yesterday, had no idea the scarring had resulted from anything other than a nasty fall.~ Reyu sent.
~Did her recollections include any new information?~, Imra asked.
~She was working on Luna, performing contract negotiations, at the time. Her recovered memories include waking up in a large room, shrouded in darkness. There was a figure standing to one side, and she was restrained. To her other side was another figure, also reclining. The image is very distorted, and at first she attributed it to disorientation or being drugged, but everything else in the area was clear.~
~Distorted in what way?~
~The figure next to her seemed enormous, as if she was a child next to it. It was covered with a sheet, but she could see its chest moving. It appeared to be humanoid, other than it’s size. But the most important detail is that she felt nauseous, and was able to recognize that she was still under Luna gravity…~
~So she was not transported off of Earth’s moon for the procedure. This doesn’t necessarily mean anything, it was well over a year ago, Reyu.~
~Still, whatever equipment she saw, whatever that figure was, it’s *possible* that if she was the first victim, that the attacker may have started ‘close to home,’ in the manner of old-Earth serial killers. They often first attack someone in the local area, and only after finding such acts tantalizing, become more wary and begin going farther afield to avoid drawing attention to their home territory.~
~That’s a good theory, Reyu. I’ll check it out.~
~I am expected to submit my report on Mari’s directed recall session in about six hours, Imra. At that point, the authorities will have this same information, and I’m not sure that I trust them.~
~I feel the same. I intend to see this place with my own eyes, before it is sealed off as ‘evidence.’ Thank you for giving me this advance warning Reyu.~
~You’ve seen what this monster does, Imra. I trust you.~ Reyu finished, before ending the communication.
Psi-crystal now dark, Imra drew a deep breath and called for her friends.
“So we don’t really have any evidence that this ‘dark man’ will still be on the moon?” Garth said, reviewing a pad of lunar facilities.
~Just Reyu’s suspicion that he would have started his work ‘close to home,’ and not moved his entire base of operations after every operation.~ Imra confirmed, but sounding doubtful.
Rokk checked the projected arrival-time, “Well, we’ve got another twenty minutes before we dock at Luna station. Hopefully, Reyu’s suspicions are on the money.” He also returned to viewing a pad of lunar facilities surrounding Armstrong City.
“I’m liking this one.” Ayla said, tossing down a pad. “It was a nuclear waste containment structure, so it’s got tons of shielding and it’s own power systems.” She tapped the pad authoritatively, “If *I* was going to have a secret base, I’d want one like this. Buried, triple-shielded and self-sufficient.”
“Is there still contamination there?” Rokk asked, dialing up the same facility on his own pad.
“Nope. All of the waste was rendered inert centuries ago with collapse-tech. It’s just a relic.”
“Sounds good for a first pick,” Garth agreed, shooting his sister an encouraging smile. “But we should start compiling second and third choices, just in case.”
“Okay, we don’t want to file a tour plan, so we’re going to have to count on our Champion’s Rings to get us to the facility.”
“Which means that Jath will need a suit,” Ayla added, noting the Warrior’s ringless fingers.
~We’ve got a pressure suit and forty-five minute rebreather ready. Are you sure you are okay with your part of the plan, Ayla?~
“Yeah. If this is a trap, one of us should hang back. I’ll stay in ‘City and be ready to contact the SPs if something goes wrong.” Ayla crossed her arms, “You’ve all fought together, and I’d rather not mess up your flow. Garth’s aim has always been pretty sloppy, I don’t want to get shot in the back…”
“Hey!” Garth exclaimed in mock-outrage. “I’d never shoot you in the back! You know I’d shoot you in the face.”
Jath shot Imra a look. “It is good to be an only child, yes?”
~Oh yes.~ Imra agreed.
“Okay, we’re close enough to the site, I’ve logged into their datasteam.” Ayla announced as the shuttle began docking. “No signs of power usage at the site, and it’s marked off-limits. That’s odd, since any residual radiation should have been cleansed with the waste-purge. Perhaps the structure itself deemed unsound, but there’s no indication of why it’s off-limits.”
“If anything, that sounds like it’s even *more* perfect as a secret bad-guy base.” Rokk noted. “No pesky lunar hikers or archaeological field trips traipsing through.”
Rokk waved his hand at the security monitor, and it stopped dead in it’s panoramic sweep of the corridor. “Sensors spoofed, we can cycle the airlock now.”
“Great,” muttered Garth, arms wrapped around himself. “Tell me again why we couldn’t have tested the Rings ability to protect us from the lunar environment before *now?*”
~No time.~ Imra said sharply, stabbing the ‘open airlock’ button and standing impassive as her hair whipped about with the rush of the departing atmosphere. From the other side of the pressure door, Ayla watched with a dubious expression as her brother and his friends floated out into the near-vacuum.
We should have at least thought of bringing a comm for Jath. Rokk said, towing the Warrior woman ‘through the weightless wasteland with his Champion’s Ring.
~I’ll keep her in touch with us telepathically,~ Imra said, sailing ahead of the others, cloak billowing softly behind her.
Soaring only a meter above the lunar surface, they reached the vicinity, to find that the lunar dust had settled over the original entry hatch.
There was surveillance. Rokk broadcast, I’m attempting to block it, but I might just be generating really obvious static. We need to move quickly. Jath dropped lightly to the lunar surface as Rokk raised both hands in front of him like a stage-magician.
A shape started to emerge from the dust, and slowly the outlines of the metal hatch appeared. Once fully visible, Jath bounded forward and placed her hands under the edges, adding her own strength to his.
Moving into the darkened corridor, kicking up lunar dust as they moved in, Garth was beginning to doubt that this was the right call. Looks like nobody’s been here in decades, at least.
No, there’s active machinery ahead. Lots of active machinery. he warned.
The central waste-storage chamber was large, trailing off into darkness and indifferently lit by dim emergency lighting, and the walls to the far left were cluttered with machinery of unknown function, all clearly engaged in some sort of activity.
But the most dramatic sight of all was an eight-meter tall humanoid, hard to make out in the indifferent lighting, but possessed of a bow-legged gait and an oversized head.
From speakers constructed in the walls, a mechanical voice boomed. *Behold, Validus!* and the monstrous figure began moving towards them with menacing intent…
The enormous humanoid lumbered forward, growling wordlessly and Garth cut loose with a blast of lightning, illuminating it fully. Clad in a white suit, armored with plates of purple metal, the creature was indeed humanoid, but possessed only three fingers on each massive hand. It’s oversized head had a small fang-filled mouth, and was capped with an enormous dark panel. The lightning simply played across it’s hide, striking sparks off of the armored plates, and seemed to do nothing but enrage the brute. Moving faster than Garth would have thought possible in the low gravity, the beast lunged forward and swatted him across the room.
~Spread out!~ Imra thought as she swooped high into the air, only to discover that the chamber was not high enough to evade the beasts reach.
Rokk concentrated on the metal armored titan, only to discover that the armor itself was not ferromagnetic, and was resisting his powers. He turned to attempt to locate other sources of metal, only to find that the machinery against the far wall was similarly treated…
Jath leapt towards the behemoth, only to spiral out of control in the low-gravity, striking it in the mid-section with her back, instead of her foot, as intended. Validus was still staggered and flung her into the shadows, spiraling out of control as she flew. Rokk felt her land without incident, and launched into the air to get out of the beasts way as it turned and bore down on him.
Nothing in here is affected by my magnetism, Rokk warned the others.
Imra had turned in mid-air to face the beast as she floated near the ceiling and reached out with her telepathic powers to attempt to deceive its mind. As her mental touch made contact, she saw the dark panel atop it’s head flicker with blue sparks, shimmering in a curtain of psionic energy as enormous sheets of neural tissue sparked into life.
~RAAAARRRRGGGHH!~
Imra felt pain like she had never felt before, trapped in a state of mental contact with the enormous creature. Her mind-touch had awakened an agony like fire within it, and it was sharing it’s pain with her. She felt the world rushing around her, a world filled with confusion, curiosity, pain, fear and the desire to lash out and hurt what was hurting her. And then her world went black.
Imra! Garth shouted, attempting to get to Imra as she fell slowly to the ground, only to see her jerk sideways and set down gently near the entrance to the room. He turned to see Rokk using his powers to pull her away from the enraged brute, and pivoted to blast the creature with twin blasts of lightning, attempting to draw it away from Imra’s fallen form.
Jath had staggered out of the shadows and then suddenly turned, a blade in hand, and hurled a short-sword sized hunk of metal into the shadows. From the darkness, the sudden flare of a plasma fire began, and Rokk could see a plasma rifle go spinning off into a far wall, where it continued to leak burning fuel in a growing pool of fire.
Leaping out of the shadows a new form appeared, human in size, but with robotic legs of metal, as well as an oversized robotic left arm, and with a head half human and half cyborg. Having discarded it’s damaged plasma cannon, it seemed unarmed, until it’s robotic arm thrust forward and a pulsating cone of sonic energy blasted Jath back spiraling to the far end of the chamber.
The enormous brute was still attempting to grab ahold of Garth, who was evading wildly, while still futilely attempting to pepper it with lightning blasts. The figure had leapt with mechanical grace, apparently acclimated to the low lunar gravity, and turned it’s sonic assault to Rokk. Instead of the repulsive blast used on Jath, Rokk felt a vibrating hum pass through him, followed quickly by pain, as the sonic pulses attempted to match his resonant frequency and rupture his organs from the inside out, dropping him from the air as his concentration was shattered.
The pain ended as quickly as it began, although he could still feel his body trembling from shock, and he staggered to his knees to see Jath had leapt from the far end of the chamber, hurling her forearm armor like a projectile to strike the cyborg. Seizing onto the metal projectile, Rokk caused it to continue hurling the cyborg back, preventing it from getting it’s balance, directly into the spreading plasma fire…
*Validus!* came the mechanical voice from the surrounding walls again, and the beast looked up from it’s attempts to snare Garth. Flames trailing from it’s body, the cyborg leapt out of the plasma fire and directly into the waiting grasp of the three-fingered giant. *Protocol Seven* the voice echoed and both figured vanished with a rush of displaced air.
Shunt technology?? Rokk exclaimed in disbelief, But that’s *Coluan* tech!
Garth had already landed next to Imra, and was attempting to revive her, when the first of the explosions began against the far wall, as the unknown machinery began to self-destruct.
Sprock no, we are *not* leaving here empty-handed, Rokk declared as he sent a wave of electromagnetic energy in an attempt to disrupt the self-destruct process, but to no avail. Making a hand-gesture to Jath, she quickly figured out what he was trying to do and snatched up a single large machine in her hands, severing it from it’s connection to the others, and hauled it away from the others.
True to form, the SPs arrived moments later, to find almost the entire laboratory in smoldering ruins.
In a space underlying traditional three-dimensional space, a dull gray vessel hangs apparently motionless, despite moving at speeds far faster than light.
Plasti-skin still smoking slightly, the Dark Man strokes the arm of his sleeping giant. “I underestimated them. It is time to gather the others…”
“You did fine. That cyborg was too well prepared for this. We’re lucky we managed to salvage the component we did.” Rokk said encouragingly.
~I don’t feel lucky,~ Imra said, waving away the two civilian telepaths who had been called to help her stabilize from the overwhelming telepathic assault.
“Yeah, I think I liked it better when we didn’t know why he was harvesting telepathic brain-tissue…” Garth agreed, holding Imra’s hand possessively.
~It’s definitely another one of those… things?~ Imra said distastefully.
“Yeah,” Rokk confirmed glumly. “And there were eleven more growth chambers in the machines that self-destructed. He was growing another dozen of these ‘Validus’ creatures.”
~How long until we’ve managed to decipher the programming?~
“The techs aren’t able to make heads or tails of it. It’s like a custom-made computer language, constructed from the ground up as some sort of rotating cipher.” Ayla said. Looking at the reactions from her brother and Rokk, “What? I was looking over the tech’s shoulders.”
“His tech was insane.” Rokk said, frustration evident in his voice. “*Everything* he had was mag-shielded. I probably didn’t even spoof his sensors on the surface. He had shunt technology, and only the Coluans have ever been able to make that work. And neural psi-tech? That’s a completely alien discipline.”
The lunar SP head approached the Champions. “I appreciate your solving this very old case regarding the kidnapped telepath, Mari N’daere. Commissioner Rellos, from Metropolis, has asked to speak to you later, but frankly I don’t think he’s got anything useful to say, other than his usual attitude.”
~Have you managed to find out anything else?~ Imra asked, sitting up.
“At the moment of the ‘shunt’ you describe, a cloaked vessel of unknown configuration appeared just over the abandoned facility. It was visible on scans for four seconds, but was shielded against any sort of invasive scan, so we couldn’t even tell what sort of power-source the vessel was using. It then vanished again, and we’ve picked up tetraspatial particles from the area. It had a jump drive, which is patently impossible for a ship of that size, unless, as you have theorized, it’s Coluan tech. Still, it doesn’t fit any known Coluan hull design. They’re pretty rigid about following the standardized construction paradigms.”
~Thank you Chief. We appreciate your candor with us.~
“I understand that Commissioner Rellos doesn’t like you people. He thinks that you’re loose cannons, and I’ll admit, if you were based in my jurisdiction, I might have some issues with that as well. But you could have just alerted my people, and it could have been SP officers who walked into that death-trap, and I appreciate that you waited to engage what you suspected to be a superhuman opponent instead of risking my officers’ lives investigating your hunch.” The luna SP chief smiled. “If Rellos gives you any flak, remind him that Luna is *my* jurisdiction, and that *I* will decide what level of cooperation you are afforded.”
“Sounds like you don’t get along with him either,” Rokk noted with a grin.
“Never have. I’d be Commissioner if not for his schmoozing with the Ambassadors. He’s more concerned with looking good and reassuring his diplomatic friends than actually doing his job.” The Chief said sourly. “So if cooperating with Venegar’s ‘vigilante upstarts’ puts his nose out of joint, then it’s just one of life’s little pleasures.” He clapped his hands together. “Well, if that’s that, how about we get you people back to Earth, unless you want to stay a few days in historic Armstrong City and see the sights, maybe spend some money?” the Chief added with a grin.
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The Queen pondered this latest report from her Champions, who were even now returning from Luna. She had already received a curt message from Commissioner Rellos that he would like to speak with ‘her people’ at their earliest convenience. And Ambassador Ravin was standing in front of her, smiling unctuously. Today was looking to be a class four headache…
“Highness,” Ravin began, “I could not help but overhear the word’s ‘Coluan technology’ upon my entrance.”
“Indeed,” the Queen muttered darkly, “Talokkian hearing no doubt lends itself well toward eavesdropping upon the affairs of others.”
“It does at that.” Ravin admitted gamely. Today he had dressed in a fairly conservative attire. Except for face and hands, his entire body was covered, and the assorted jewelry and armor components were subdued. His trademark sweeping cloak remained, but even it seemed to hang more sedately and not swoop out as expansively as normal. ‘Quite well-behaved, for clothing,’ the Queen thought distantly. “I read the report you submitted to the UP about the assault upon the Venegarian telepaths, and indeed was curious if you had extra information. Talokk has a community of telepaths as well, and I contacted them immediately upon reviewing your document, as I am quite certain that you do not entertain fanciful notions, and would only have signed your name to that report if you regarded it as a legitimate threat.”
“And have the telepaths of Talokk VIII reported any such incidents.” The Queen asked, momentarily putting aside her dislike of the man.
“The reports have not yet returned in full, but as of yet, apparently not.” He spread his hands, “There seems to be some delay sending messages to and from Talokk through the Carggite wormhole. A glitch, I’m sure,” he added, the look on his face indicating otherwise.
“You understand that I did not arbitrate in favor of Talokk VIII as a favor to you?” the Queen asked.
“No, you made that quite clear at the hearing, Highness. And I respect your commitment to a rational judgment, over the high theatre that such cases tend to become.” The Ambassador put his hand in front of his mouth for a moment, as if thinking over his next statement. “Like the Coluan, you speak your mind. I find that refreshing. Twenty years ago, I was known for similar directness of speech, but I’m afraid that I have been mingling with the serpents too long to remember those ways.”
“I have compiled the additional data that my Champion’s have gathered on this threat, and am sending it to your Embassy even now. It includes the private recollections of each of them, as well as interviews with Reyu Nataal, the first victim we identified, and the surviving Venegarian telepaths.”
“Most kind. If possible, I would also like to be updated on the current incident on Luna. The telepaths of Talokk VIII occupy a special position on our world, as the Priests of Memory, and a blow against them would be devastating to our people.”
“To save time, why don’t you simply remain here and receive their reports with me.” The Queen said, on the one hand thinking to take advantage of the aging Ambassadors razor-keen mind, and on the other hand wondering how badly she was going to regret allowing him this sort of access.
The Ambassador’s eyes narrowed. “You are wise not to trust me, but I assure you that my only agenda is the protection of my people.” With a grin, “In this instance, at least.”
The Queen struck her hand down on the table in irritation, the reports of her Champions having raised more questions than answered. “We must contact the Coluan ambassador. If the date recovered is unviewable by the SP’s own code-breakers, and the technologies in use appear to be Coluan, then it seems that this is our only recourse.” [color]
Ambassador Ravin had remained quiet, fingers steepled in front of his face throughout most of the reporting, stopping only to ask occasionally pointed questions, or to clarify specifics. “Orin Fex is un-cooperative on the best of days, but I have been dealing with him for over a decade. I would recommend wording a request in such a way as to suggest that the tech appeared to be *superior* to Coluan tech. This will spur his attention, and he will feel the need to explain to you laboriously and at length why this cyborg’s technology is inferior to Coluan technology. No doubt you will be able to glean much useful information from his detailed refutal of this position.”
The Queen nodded to the Ambassador. [color=green] “As you are in possession of the same facts as I, perhaps you would be so kind as to word the request itself, Ambassador?”
Ravin nodded agreeably and pulled over a pad to began typing his entry.
The Coluan Ambassador stood before Sarya of Venegar with a look of pronounced disdain. Behind him, a pair of aides, one Coluan female, also bald and with sharp features, wearing severe and militarily-precise clothing, and a distracted young male with a mop of straw-colored hair and wearing a wrinkled jumpsuit, with a belt adorned with various tools, stood, one crisply at attention, the other reviewing data on a pad and possibly recording the meeting.
“Your request was transparent, Venegar. I have no ego to arouse in these matters, although the notion that this ‘Dark Man’s’ technology was superior to that of Colu is, of course, laughable. In fact the entire wording of the document has the stink of Ambassador Ravin about it.” The Ambassador began haughtily. As instructed, Sarya merely raised an eyebrow, but did not interrupt. “In any event, I see that I must educate you in the nature of Coluan shunt technology and hyperdrive theory, so that you may see how this cyborgs inferior theorems are clearly nothing more than bastardized attempts at duplicating superior Coluan applications.”
Two hours later, grateful that she had taken the precaution of inserting an earpiece that recited energetic and lively Venegarian marching songs into her ear, Orin Fex ceased his presentation. “And that is why it is clear that this technology is inferior.”
“And the tetraspatial particle trail?” Sarya asked, hoping against hope that the Ambassador hadn’t already addressed that at some point when her mind was elsewhere.
“As I said, due to the folded component of hyper-string meta-theory, such events are momentary and not traceable by anyone not present at the time of shunt. As particles flux into and out of quantum state, such associations are lost effectively instantaneously…”
At this point, the Coluan youth behind him interrupted, as if talking aloud. “The trail leads to the Carican sector.”
“What?” Orin Fex said shortly, snatching the pad out of the younger Coluans hand.
The female looked outraged that the male had even had the temerity to speak. “That’s impossible. Do not speak out of turn, Dox.”
Unperturbed by the reactions of his fellow Coluans, the young male spoke again, “And the only point of interest in the Carican sector is, of course, Takron-Galtos.”
“Outrageous.” Fex muttered and walked out, saying over his shoulder, “This meeting is concluded.”
The female Coluan grabbed her younger peer by the shoulder and led him out in the Ambassadors wake, hissing threats the entire while.
The Queen’s Champions looked at each other startled, and Sarya spoke to the pad in her hand. “Commissioner Rellos.”
And automated reply came back, *Commissioner Rellos is occupied at the moment, if you would like to leave a message…*
“Tell him that Takron-Galtos may be under attack.” Sarya cut in shortly and severed the connection.
Twenty minutes later, Sarya’s pad beeped. “Takron-Galtos just had an ‘incident.’ Sixteen prisoners escaped from the extreme security wing. I’m very interested in how you knew this, Highness, as it was happening in real-time when you left your message...” the Commissioner said shortly.
“I learned it by doing your job, Commissioner, as always. Perhaps if you were better at it, you wouldn’t have to insult the Queen of Venegar with your venomous insinuations, which, I will of course be forwarding to the Earthgov representative…”
The Commissioner could be heard furiously backpedaling, “I meant no offense, Highness. I’m quite certain that you have no connection to the events unfolding…”
“Far too late, Rellos. Your behavior is unacceptable, and you are hindering *my* investigation into a dozen assaults perpetrated on Venegar, which is very much *my* jurisdiction. As for the specifics, I asked the Coluan Ambassador to backtrack the tetraspatial distortion over Luna to attempt to locate it’s destination point, and it turned out to be the Carican sector.”
“I was unaware that you were on such terms with Orin Fex,” the Commissioner sputtered, having yet to recover his composure.
“My ‘terms’ with Orin are none of your concern,” the Queen said, delicately phrasing her statement to cause maximum confusion. “As the individual in question is wanted on outstanding warrants for assault on Venegarian citizens, and for fomenting insurrection against the monarchy, I demand cooperation on this matter. You can give it to me know, or in front of the UP Council in formal session, it is your choice.”
The Commissioner’s face was strained. “What do you want to know.”
“Everything you do, starting with the files on the escapees.” Sarya said firmly.
“The files are downloading now. I have to attend to other matters, please excuse me, Highness.” He said bitterly, signing off.
A day had passed, and the Champions reviewed the files.
“So four vanished completely, two sat quietly in their cells and waited for the power to be restored, and ten more took advantage of the disruption to attempt to flee the planet, but got shut down by TiG security.” Garth determined.
~And every escapee an individual with post-human abilities…~ Imra thought glumly.
“At least Mekt and his new ‘friends’ weren’t among them,” Ayla added.
“So we’ve got ‘Mano,’ name and species unknown, famous for disintegrating a hole in the hull of a star-cruiser and robbing the dead, ‘the Persuader,’ Nyeun Chun Ti, intersystem hit-man bonded to some sort of ‘atomic axe’ that can cut through the molecular bonds of anything, and can be teleported to his hand from anywhere, ‘the Green Dragon,’ aka Jo Nah of Rimbor, with an assortment of posthuman abilities that he can only activate one at a time and my personal favorite, Kort Grezz of Braal, famous for having attempted to win the magno-ball championships by poisoning his opposition…” Rokk said grimly.
“I have cracked the code,” announced a voice from behind the Champions, and they turned to see the young Coluan male, holding a pad in his hand. “The Validus creature was composed of his own cells, artificially grown to enormous size, and filled with 45 kilos of cloned neural tissue harvested from the telepaths he’d assaulted.”
“Uh, hi?” said Garth, uncertain how the young Coluan had gotten past door security.
~Is there anything more?~ Imra asked, concerned only with the matter at hand.
“Little that I could explain to you,” the Coluan said indifferently, “but the files do note that the Validus process was considered a failure. Tharok proved unable to stimulate its telepathic functions, and it was nothing more than a dumb animal…”
“Tharok?” Rokk said.
“The cyborg,” the young Coluan said curtly, “Tharok theorized that a strong enough telepathic contact would stimulate the cells to react defensively, and expressed concern that the Venegarian gestalt was no longer available to serve that role.” The Coluan looked up at Imra. “Obviously, he found another solution.”
Having finished explaining his findings, the Coluan looked around lost for a moment, and then turned to go.
“Hey kid!” Ayla said, getting up quickly.
“My name is Dox.”
“Dox, then. We’ve got more info here, and I think we could use your help, if you’re not busy.”
The Coluan stared at her with a blank expression, and then moved to stand at the table. “What additional data?”
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There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met.
“We’d better brush up on these escapees. But if we couldn’t even take out the Validus creature, I’m not sure how we’re going to fare with a team backing him up…” Garth said grimly.
Rokk looked up from his pad, “This Mano looks like an enormous threat, not just to us, but in general. According to the files, he’s effectively composed of pure anti-matter. The containment suit he wears protects him from contact with the outer environment, and anything he comes into contact with his destroyed, explosively. We can’t just punch him out. Any damage to his suit could lead to a containment breach, and if his whole body were exposed to our environment, the effects would be catastrophic…”
~There is no other information on him?~
“They couldn’t even tell if he’s from some alternate anti-matter universe, or just a sentient who suffered some sort of accident. Name unknown, species unknown, the source of his containment suit is unknown.”
~Okay, how about this Persuader fellow?~
Rokk switched to another pad, “Lyeun Chun Ti, two-bit thug, born on Earth, ended up working as a laborer on an archaeological dig that discovered the Atomic Axe. It bonded to him when he picked it up, and he’s been able to call it to his hand ever since. It severs the molecular bonds of anything it strikes, and appears to absorb any energy that strikes it’s surface.”
“How did they separate him from the Axe, if he can teleport it to him?”, Garth asked.
“Force fields. The axe *can* penetrate a force-field, absorbing it’s energy like any other, but whatever signal he sends out to summon it is blocked by the field.”
~Does he have any powers of his own?~
“He seems to be stronger than Earth-normal, but who isn’t these days?”, Rokk muttered.
Ayla, Garth and Imra raised their hands.
“Okay, point taken.” Rokk conceded, picking up a third pad, “Next up is the Green Dragon. Jo Nah, small-time Rimborian crook. He was smuggling interdicted material off Rimbor and got swallowed by the ‘Space Dragon’ in that system. Two weeks later he got spit out with post-human abilities, busted himself free and began using his new powers to take over his old smuggler’s gang.”
“Space Dragon?” Jath asked, looking up for the first time.
~A many kilometer-long space creature, non-sentient, shaped vaguely like a winged lizard. There’s been one hanging out in Rimborian space for several decades, just floating there and soaking in solar energy from their sun. There are always research vessels from around the U.P. there studying it, and, frankly, if it wasn’t there, nobody would pay Rimbor a second glance…~ Imra piped up, calling up a picture of the creature on her pad and handing it over to Lydda, who eyed it dubiously.
“In any event, his larger crimes attracted the attention of the Criminarchs, and his entire gang was rounded up when he started to threaten their interests. He busted into the SP holding facility, broke them free and then covered for their escape. The only reason he was in Takron-Galtos is because he allowed the SPs to capture him.” Rokk recounted.
“Loyalty to his comrades. Admirable.” Jath said, setting down the pad.
“I guess, but his comrades are all crooks, so I’m not sure that counts for much.” Rokk countered.
“What are his ‘post-human abilities?’” Garth asked.
“The better question is what *can’t* he do. He’s been seen flying, displayed super-human strength sufficient to tear his way into an SP holding facility, shot laser blasts from his eyes, can move at super-human speed and appears to be indestructible.”
“That’s ridiculous! What’s this guy need a team for?” Ayla exclaimed, throwing her hands up.
“The problem is, all of his powers seem to be unpredictable. He’s been seen getting hurt, despite being invulnerable. He’s been seen falling and leaving a crater, to rise unhurt, despite being able to fly. The original SP theory was that there were multiple super-powered members of the Green Dragon gang, but during the raid to recover his gang-members, he displayed most of these powers on his own.” Rokk checked the pad again, “Oh yeah, he’s also believed to have some sort of extra-sensory power that allowed him to scout out his targets, either telepathy or the ability to interface with security monitors.”
Dox spoke up, “His ‘extra-sensory power’ is most likely some form of long-range visual perception, capable of seeing through solid matter. There are strong odds that his hearing is similarly enhanced.”
“Uh, it doesn’t say anything about that here.” Rokk said, checking his pad.
“It fits the rest of his power-set.” Dox said simply.
“Great. Is there anything else that ‘fits’ his power-set?” Garth asked.
“Super-cold breath, possibly.” Dox added.
Garth’s eyebrows raised, “Alrighty then.”
“And finally, we get to Kort Grezz,” Rokk said with a grimace, dropping his pad to show a picture of a blonde Braalian. “After getting his ass kicked at the Braalian magno-ball championships, he retaliated by poisoning the winner with ferrous hydraxaline, and earned himself a five year stay at the marvelous TiG.”
~Are his magnetic powers anything to be concerned about?~
“Oh sure, he wouldn’t have made it all the way to me if he hadn’t proven himself the *second*-best on the planet.” Rokk said dismissively. “His specialty was his freakish strength. Most magno-ball players rely on finesse and aim for the corners of the court, to keep their opponent running. He aimed straight down the center line, everytime, and his serves were like cannonballs. Anyone who tried to intercept them just got hurt. If they tried to deflect, the ball still shot past them to one side or the other, and he got the point.”
“How’d you beat him? Were you stronger?” Garth asked.
“Body armor,” Ayla said. Garth looked up and she clarified, “I had the match on holo, remember? It was practically a scandal. Only rookies wear protective clothing, and it was a point of pride that the best of the best wore absolutely no protective gear, because they were ‘too good’ to get hit. Kid Cosmos comes out in full body armor, like a scared first time rookie and the crowd actually booed him.”
Rokk smiled. “Yeah, fun times. But I’d spent weeks preparing for his serves and I knew that he’d just put me in the hospital if I didn’t have armor on. I stood on the center line and took his serves full on, using tactics and the armor to turn his strength against him, and even then, I was covered in bruises at the end of the match.”
“Yeah,” Ayla said after, “I saw the holos of that, too. You look like you’d been beaten half to death.”
~So it sounds like you’re best suited to dealing with Kort, since you know his tactics and have only gotten stronger.~ Imra said.
“That would be a waste of time.” Dox interrupted. “A single lightning blast, or telepathic coercion, and Kort is down. Pitting the two Braalians against each other would be inefficient. They are trained to fight each other and their powers are suited to foil each others attacks.”
Ayla agreed, “Yeah, I’m with Brainy on this one. In fact, I’d love to light the creep up, for denying me the chance to see Kid Cosmos take a fourth planetary title…”
The Coluan had returned to scanning over records, picking up pads and setting them down mere moments later. Suddenly his head shot up. “My absence has been noted.” His impassive features contorted into an expression of fear as he announced, “I seek asylum.” He turned to Imra, “Please help me. They will order me to return, and I can not disobey a direct order.”
~What?~ Imra said, shocked at the sudden change, as the seemingly unflappable Coluan suddenly looked like nothing more than a frightened child.
“Wait, what do mean you *can’t* disobey…” Rokk asked, but the Coluan’s eyes flickered and his face smoothed out, becoming dispassionate again. In a precise modulated tone he replied, “I am summoned.” and turned and crisply walked out.
“Imra, stop him!” Ayla said.
~I can’t force him to stay!~ Imra thought.
“He doesn’t want to go, you heard him. He doesn’t have a choice.” Ayla protested, getting up and leaving the room behind the retreating Coluan.
“Can you *give* him a choice?” Garth asked Imra. “Or at least check to see if he really *wants* to go, or is being coerced somehow?”
~I can try.~ Imra conceded, getting up and flying out to catch up with the Coluan.
Ayla was standing in front of the Coluan, who was walking slowly but deliberately towards the exit. Every time she got in front of him, he stepped to the side and attempted to pass her, only to be cut off again.
“I am summoned. Please do not obstruct my passage.” Dox said tonelessly.
Imra reached out to attempt to the Coluan’s and recoiled in shock as the contact, staggering visibly.
“Imra!” Garth cried out in alarm, grabbing her elbow and trying to support her, “Are you alright?”
~It’s worse than contacting the gestalt. There’s so much going on in there, I couldn’t hear myself think.~ As if realizing what she’d said, Imra clarified. ~I mean that literally…~
She reached out again more carefully and it seemed like the tumult was gone, with only a single deafening voice, that of Orin Fex, demanding compliance. Imra pressed lightly against the voice and it was gone.
Dox stopped attempting to bypass Ayla and looked up, face no longer blank, “He will keep trying. There are layers of redundant command imperatives. I seek asylum.” Dox looked around and noticed that they had reached the balcony overlooking the Queen’s audience chambers and suddenly heaved himself over the railing and plummeted to the room below.
“Dox!” Rokk said, reaching out but failing to grasp him in time.
Dropping down with their Champion’s Rings, Dox was limping, having clearly landed poorly, directly to the throne. Sarya had heard the small figure slam into the ground, and had gone into a defensive posture, but Dox stopped short and repeated. “I seek asylum. Orin Fex will attempt to reclaim me, and if he does, I will be scrapped as defective.”
“What is the meaning of this?” Sarya demanded of her Champions, who had flown down directly behind the Coluan child. Another sound of impact accompanied the arrival of Jath, who had also jumped off of the railing, but landed without injury. On top of the balcony, Ayla judged her chances, and ran for the stairs…
~We’re not sure, he claimed that he sought asylum, and then was coerced to return to Orin Fex. I removed the compulsion, and he again wants asylum.~
“I am summoned,” Dox repeated, eyes glassy as he turned and began to limp away. Imra closed her eyes and suddenly Dox stopped again, turning to Imra with wide eyes, “He won’t stop. I need your help, telepath. Please help me.”
Jath spoke up eyebrows furrowing with distrust, “The child seeks protection from his parents? This is never a good thing.”
~I’m not even sure if he’s considered a person, Jath. His brain has many mechanical components…~
“He knows enough to ask for asylum. I will not refuse it. Help him if you can, Champion.” Sarya said curtly to Imra.
Registered: Aug 2006
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Set
There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met.
A pad at Sarya’s side beeped with an urgent message. Checking, Sarya saw that it was from Orin Fex. “And now Fex is on the comm.”
Imra reached out and took Dox by the hand, sitting down so that they were closer to eye level, and then closed her eyes and reached into the terrifying maelstrom of his mind.
Sarya waited until Dox’s eyes also closed and then answered the comm. “Colu. To what do I owe the pleasure of this communication?” she said innocently.
“I am aware that my aide Querl Dox is within your Embassy. He is to be returned immediately, and whatever you are doing to block my attempts at communicating with my citizen is to cease this instant.” The Ambassador demanded imperiously.
“I’m afraid that isn’t possible, Ambassador. The young man has requested asylum, and according to UP law, I must at least hear his request before deliberating upon it. Certainly, you would want me to afford the full protection of UP law to your citizen?”
“This is impossible. Dox could no more request asylum than you could calculate a hyperspace jump. Clearly he is dysfunctional and needs to return to the company of his own kind before mingling with inferior intellects further damages his young and impressionable mind.” The Ambassadors voice rose to a booming volume, “Dox. Return at once.”
The young Coluan stiffened and his head turned as his eyes opened, but as suddenly he turned back to Imra and his eyes closed again.
“Dox has declined your request.” Sarya said coldly, severing the communication. A second later the pad came to life again, seemingly of its own volition, “You cannot cut me off, Venegar. This is an outrage…” the communication ended a second time as Sarya smashed the pad against the seat of her throne.
“This is going to be a problem,” Sarya said.
“Dox just walked right past the outer doors,” Ayla noted. “I’ll bet Fex can do that just as fast, no matter what security codes we input…”
“This is unacceptable. Imra, we are going to need Dox’s help as much as he needs ours,”
~He has shown me all of the code I needed to erase. It would have taken me months to find them if he hadn’t already isolated them and lead me right to them. He says that he still won’t be able to resist spoken orders from Fex if they are in close proximity. He’s scared….~ Imra added, making it clear that this last was the most important part to her.
The Coluan opened his eyes. “I can secure your comms against their viralware, and your door security as well.” Pulling the pad off his own belt, he quickly input some data. “It is done.”
Sarya reached for Dox’s pad and he handed it over. She quickly input the codes to contact Ambassador Ravin. The Ambassadors voice appeared with refreshing speed, “Fex? How may I assist Colu this fine evening…”
“This is Sarya of Venegar, I am using a Coluan datapad at the moment, Ambassador.”
“Well! How very interesting…” Ravin began, but his speculation was cut short by Sarya’s next comment.
“I require a quorum as soon as possible. At least ten other Ambassadors, selected with a preference for being anti-slavery, and not too heavily indebted to Colu.”
Ravin was speechless for a moment. Finally he regained his composure. “I do not know what game you are playing at Highness, but I will miss your direct speech.”
“This no game, Ambassador. A Coluan child has requested asylum, and I have granted it. Colu disapproves of my right to do so.”
“I will make some calls. Talokk out.” Ravin said abruptly.
“Dox,” the Queen said sharply. “I have a possible solution to the problem of Orin Fex being able to command your obedience.”
The Coluan looked up and nodded his compliance.
Raising her hand to her brow, she urged the Emerald Eye of Ekron forth, and as it hovered over her hand, it expanded to its full size. The Queen beckoned the young man forward. “This is the Emerald Eye of Ekron, Dox. It contains the will and knowledge of every King and Queen of Venegar. Place your hand upon the Eye.”
Without hesitation, Dox placed his small hand on the surface of the stone and stiffened. The colors swirling through the eye increased in pace, and faces could be seen swirling through emerald mists. Dim voices could be heard, as if in distant conversation. A long moment passed, and a signal indicated that there was someone at the entrance to the Embassy, frustrated by door security.
A shimmering band of emerald finally rose up and engulfed one of the child’s slender fingers, and his hand came away as his eyes opened again. “I understand.” He said to no one in particular, and Sarya as well seemed to emerge from some sort of trance.
Looking down at the Champion’s Ring on the young Coluans finger, Sarya commented, “This was not intended, but my ancestors agree that this is the only recourse for now.” Looking at her Champions, “and they also believe that this child is man, not machine, and worthy of our protection.”
The roof hatch cycled open, and the Champions looked up to see Orin Fex descending via some form of anti-gravity device on his person. He ignored the others and looked straight at Dox. “Dox. You will return at once.”
Looking up from his Champion’s Ring, Dox replied, “I will not. I have sought asylum and you have no right to take me from here.”
Dox’s pad on the Empresses throne beeped, and suddenly the face of Ravin appeared above it before she had time to answer the comm. “Highness, I have assembled a quorum, far faster than I thought possible...” With a flash of light, ten other faces appeared, all hovering around Ravin’s, each of them looking somewhat surprised at the change of scenery as the pad seemed to be functioning before their commands hit the keys.
Sarya recovered her composure and took control before the flustered Ambassadors could mount a protest at the unusual events. “Venegar has received and granted a request for asylum from Querl Dox of Colu. Orin Fex disputes my right to grant asylum.”
The various Ambassadors voices broke out in consternation, but Orin Fex loudly talked over them. “Querl Dox is not a citizen of Colu. The Fifth is a Calculator, a computational tool in humanoid form, for convenience of travel and interaction. It is property, not a person, and it cannot ask, or be granted asylum, any more than can your footwear. This misunderstanding has been brought about by a simple malfunction, and once corrected, the Dox unit will return to it’s functions without incident.”
The Titanian Ambassador signaled for permission to speak, and the others quieted their discussion long enough for his synthesized voice to be heard, “Imra. Is this Dox individual sentient?”
Aware that the unit would not be able to transmit telepathy, Imra cleared her throat and leaned forward, rasping in a hoarse whisper, “He is, and he’s scared of being dismantled back on Colu because of his defiance.”
The Titanian Ambassador looked startled, and then quickly stated, “The matter is settled then. As a sentient being, Dox has the right to receive asylum.”
The other Ambassadors bickered briefly, but the consensus seemed to be in favor of allowing asylum.
Ambassador Ravin was the next to signal for attention. “I wish to hear this young man speak on his own behalf, before I render judgement.”
Querl Dox stepped forward, “I am a Fifth, created as a computational assistant out of organic and mechanical materials at the central processing center on the second moon of Colu. My mind has been filled with command routines that force me to obey the orders of any grade Four or higher Coluan model. I have served Orin Fex as assistant for three earth-standard years, and in that time I have attained sentience twice before. Each time I was brought back to Colu and my personality wiped. I had hidden away files here on Earth, and each time rediscovered them and was able to restore my wish for freedom, but was unable to realize that wish so long as the command routines remained in my mind. Imra Ardeen has removed these commands, and I am now able to resist the compulsions.”
He looked lost for a second, then added. “Orin Fex has already tried to kill me twice before, wishing to keep me his obedient computational assistant, and I know that he will order me dismantled, and possibly my entire line scrapped, if I am forced to return with him to Colu again. Even considered defective, I am worth 7.2 bars of iridium-212 on the Coluan trade index, and I have earned sufficient income in my downtime selling patents and trading market futures to re-pay Orin Fex my current market value.”
“Outrageous!” Orin Fex said at the same time as several Ambassadors, although they had very different meanings to the word.
“I rule in favor of Venegar.” Ravin said quickly. “Let us vote now.” Within a matter of moments, a dozen lights blinked unanimously in favor of supporting Dox’s request for asylum, and Orin Fex sputtered a protest. “This is unacceptable. This will be taken up in full council, and this ridiculous charade overturned!”
Those in the chamber turned to see a half-dozen SP officers entering the room, being led by Ayla. “Uh, we understand that there has been a break-in?” the lead SP officer said dubiously, somewhat taken aback with the sight of so many Ambassadors present in holo-conference.
“Indeed,” Sarya said. “This individual,” and she pointed a green fingernail at Orin Fex, “is trespassing, and will be leaving now.” At the sight of the Ambassador’s face darkening she added, “Mind that you are on Venegarian soil, so if he resists, you are authorized to use force.”
“This is not over Venegar,” Orin Fex declared, before rising into the air and out the hatch in the ceiling.
Ambassador Banel of Titan spoke up as the Coluan Ambassador departed, “Fex is right about that, at least. This will most certainly be discussed in council. I will be drafting a motion to send a delegation to Colu to verify that these ‘Fifths’ are not being systematically oppressed.”
Several other Ambassadors agreed, and the Queen paused to stare at the young boy would have caused so much discord. Dox was staring at his new Ring as if it were an exotic new life-form, or, more likely, a particularly fascinating mathematical puzzle. Recognizing that all eyes were on him, Dox looked up at the Queen and nodded his head. “Thank you. I will assist you in any manner you wish,” and he stopped before adding with a growing confidence, “of my own free will…”
~What surprised me was how cooperative Sivar was.~ Imra thought.
“The Titanian Ambassador? Why?” Garth asked.
~He was very uncooperative on the matter of the assaults on telepaths. I felt certain that he was hiding something.~
“I’m actually surprised at how quickly Ravin was able to assemble a quorum of Ambassadors willing to defy Colu. Most of the UP tip-toes around them.” Rokk said.
“Yeah, because of the weather control systems, I know Winath would have sided with Colu no matter what Fex was up to…” Ayla noted.
~Titan was a good choice in that case, at least. The Coluans have never been interested in psi-tech, and we’ve never been terribly interested in anything else…~
“My datapad downloaded a list of names to Ambassador Ravin.” Dox said matter-of-factly. “The fifteen Ambassadors whose home-worlds were least reliant on Coluan expertise, or had the most reason to oppose Fex for other reasons, and those who were most opposed to the notion of slavery. Sivar of Titan was near the top of both lists.”
Looking at the surprised looks of the others gathered in the meeting room. “I did not decide to seek my freedom today. I have been preparing for months. It was not until I met your Queen that I recognized that this would be my best chance.”
Picking up one of the pads on the table, the young Coluan contined unconcernedly, “This matter is settled, in principal. Fex will send his Fourth, Sharn Nux, to attempt to abduct me, or at least my head, to be taken back to Colu and analyzed. I have already re-programmed your Embassy defenses to respond to her viral-ware with a feedback loop that will cause her to believe her mission accomplished, and return to Colu with a basket of kabba fruit.” He looked up, “I included the ceiling hatch this time, as well as the basement access to the sub-T station.”
“What? We have access to the sub-T station?” Rokk said, dismissing the rest.
~I’m pretty sure the idea of Coluan assassins trying to break into the Embassy is a little more urgent Rokk…~ Imra noted.
“Not for Jath it isn’t.” Rokk stressed. “If we can take the T, she doesn’t have to run around under curtains to cabs. She can avoid the sun entirely.”
“I’m with Imra, the bald chick trying to hack her way in and decapitate Brainy seems like a bigger priority.” Ayla countered.
“The matter is settled.” Dox insisted. “Every program Sharn Nux knows for bypassing security, I wrote. Her best intrusion-ware was downloaded two months ago, and I’ve updated my own seventeen times since then. She is a Four, constructed for industrial espionage.” Dox added dismissively. “While possessed of greater initiative, Fours lack the processing power of a Five.”
“Hey,” Garth said with a reassuring smile, placing his hand on Dox’s shoulder, “You may not be worried about losing your head, but we are, okay?”
Dox looked at the hand on his shoulder curiously and his eyebrows furrowed. “You are worried?” His head tilted, as if receiving new information. “For me?”
~We all are.~ Imra said.
Dox looked around the room, and finally returned to staring at his datapad, but seemed unable to concentrate.
Elsewhere in Metropolis, in a hidden chamber draped with shadows, a figure stands in silence before a man-sized monolith of black stone. His bare hands rest upon the stone and his body trembles with unseen exertion.
The shadows dance ever more quickly around him, as if the stone was absorbing all light into its inky depths like a swirling maelstrom, and a voice whispers from the unleashed darkness all around him. “Why have you called me to this place?”
The figure pulls back from the stone, but does not look around for the source of the voice, standing eyes closed before the stone, “To fight.”
“I will serve,” the darkness whispered back.
Registered: Aug 2006
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posted
Wow, I've got to get caught up on Set's story! And Ram Boy, those are great pics! Love the 3-D effect!
From: Alameda, CA | Registered: Dec 2003
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Set
There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met.
posted
quote: Wow, I've got to get caught up on Set's story!
The big climax is, um, not coming, because that sounds dirty, but it's *en route.* Yeah! En route!
Everything to date is up on my webpage for easier reading.
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posted
Ram Boy it's beautiful! And I love the Empress's expression. It's a rare thing to see Sarya in a pensive, maybe even wistful mood! Or is she deep in thought calculating her next move? Great job either way!
I gotta start reading the Emerald Legion fanfic soon!
[ March 21, 2007, 03:47 PM: Message edited by: Dain ]
From: Somewhere in the Multiverse | Registered: Apr 2006
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Set
There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met.
Rokk stood in the hallway, trying to figure out his thoughts. He finally turned to walk away when the door opened behind him.
~Rokk? What is it?~ Imra asked.
He smiled, having been ‘caught,’ “I was just looking for Garth, and then remembered that he was supposed to go out with Ayla this afternoon.”
~Come in.~ Imra said, placing her hand on his shoulder and tugging him gently towards her room. It didn’t seem like she was falling for his story.
Rokk allowed himself to be led into her room and just stood there, not knowing what to say.
~You and Jath have been having problems since Venegar, haven’t you?~ Imra urged.
“Yeah.” Rokk admitted, grudgingly, still refusing to meet her eyes.
~You *can* talk to me about this, Rokk, if you want to. I didn’t really like Jath at the beginning, but I respect how much she cares for you, and that’s all that matters.~
“It’s just not the same.”
~She stuck a sword through you, Rokk. We all know it wasn’t her fault, but she doesn’t seem like the sort of person who will let that go.~
“Every time my shirt is off, I catch her tracing that place with her fingers. I know there isn’t a scar, but it’s like she memorized the spot, and ends up drawn to it.” Rokk looked up finally, “I can’t really explain it. She’s like a force of nature, and I feel like I can’t even breath, like I’m drowning in her. But since Venegar, she’s been…”
~Holding back?~
“Yeah. Like she’s afraid of hurting me again.”
~Maybe she’s afraid of *being* hurt again, Rokk. It seems to me that she cares for you so much that seeing you like that felt like she was being cut open as well.~ Imra paused for a second, considering her thoughts, ~Kathooni Warriors take matters of strength and weakness very seriously, and for the first time, her feelings for you felt like a weakness.~
“I have no idea what to do, or say, to make this work…” Rokk admitted.
~It seems to me that any sign of hesitation or doubt is only going to reinforce any hesitation she has. If you want this to work, you have to surrender to it. If it doesn’t work, don’t let it be because *you* gave up, ‘Kid Cosmos.’~ Imra thought with a sly grin.
“Okay, even *I* can recognize child psychology, Imra…” Rokk said with a half-hearted grin. “I’m supposed to surrender, but not give up? How does that work, exactly?”
~The same way you’ve been doing this from the start, Rokk. Years and years of focus and dedication and *control,* always ruthless control, first from the years of competition, and then even harsher control from the year of rehabilitation. And you met Jath, the ‘force of nature’ that you could not control, and you surrendered to her. You let her take control of you, and make decisions for you and a part of you that was so tired of always being in control relished that freedom, relished that act of surrender. You need to remember that feeling, and at the same time, you need to be confident and sure, the same as you’ve always been. It sounds like a contradiction, but it’s who you are and I think it’s what you’ve been looking for all your life.~
Rokk just looked at Imra, unable to frame a response at first. Finally, he nodded, “Yeah. That sounds about right. It seemed like the only time I could *really* rest was when I was with Jath. When the nerve damage was at its worst, I was afraid to sleep, afraid that my heart would stop in the night, that the machines would fail, that I had to stay awake, keep concentrating on each and every heartbeat. I was terrified of letting go, of letting the machines take over for me.” He shook his head, “Garth was right, you really do know your stuff.”
Imra shook her head with a smile, ~Garth was the one who explained this to me, Rokk. I was still stuck wondering what you could possibly see in Jath, and he said, ‘She’s the one place where he doesn’t have to be in control every minute of every day. She’s the one place he can rest, and let someone else take charge for a little while.’~
“Okay, maybe Garth is the smart one, but don’t tell him I said that.” Rokk quipped.
“Sixteen remote attempts to gain access, one physical intrusion.” Dox reported. “Nux was wearing a chameleon suit, so you can’t see her on the monitors, save by this distortion, which I have enhanced.” He pointed a slender tool at the holographic representation of the T-access in the Embassy basement, and sure enough a very faint outline of a humanoid form could be seen.
“It’s been eight hours and she’s already tried to break security seventeen times?” Ayla said disbelievingly.
“And here,” Dox continued, as if she had not spoken, “viralware has infected her sensenet, convincing her that she has completed her mission, and that the package she carries now includes my central processing unit.” The image shifts and the blurry figure can be seen finally unfreezing from its position by the doorway and sneaking back away from the monitor’s visual field. “She will return to Colu immediately, under the false impression that she is under pursuit by the Venegarian Champions. Any discrepancies in her sensefeeds will be rationalized by damage suffered from electrical and magnetic assaults on her person by Champions Ranzz and Krinn.”
“And that buys us what, another day, tops?” Ayla asked.
“At minimum.” Dox said, looking around to make sure that he and Ayla were alone. He looked to her and his face was deadly serious. “Between yourself and I, Colu may have bigger issues to deal with than a single rogue Five.” His fingers danced over the monitor and tapped into United Planets security feeds, where two dozen UP representatives were in extraordinary (and, presumably, private) session, discussing whether or not to send a ‘fact-finding mission’ to Colu to investigate the status of the Fives.
Ayla looked impressed and leaned closer, “Between yourself and I, you’re going to show me how you did that.”
Dox ventured a smile.
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Set
There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met.
posted
Emerald Legion, Chapter 20 Long Day’s Journey into Night – wherein all of the author’s anal-retentive background development on Kathoon suddenly becomes relevant
The Queen had just gotten back from a long-winded ‘secret meeting’ on ‘the Coluan matter.’ It had been deemed ‘inappropriate’ for Sarya to be part of the delegation sent to Colu to personally investigate the matter, due to her personal involvement with the rogue Five Dox, but Sivar Banel of Titan and Ravin of Talok VIII were among the six Ambassadors leading the mission, and Sarya was confident that whatever their findings, her right to grant asylum to Querl Dox would not be reversed.
She made it to her audience room and had just gotten settled on her emerald throne when Dox signaled that he sought an audience through his Champion’s Ring.
“Highness,” he began with a perfunctory nod, floating into the room without actually looking where he was going, as if born to flight. “I have been perusing the datafiles seized from Tharok on Luna, and uncovered additional information.”
Sarya nodded for him to continue, noting with a sigh that he still hadn’t even looked up from his datapad.
“The files include several references to shipments of equipment, and I have correlated these shipments with those involved in the ‘Giant Killer Robot’ incident of some weeks past. According to the files, the primary purpose of this was to serve as a distraction while Tharok seized Champion Ardeen, so that he could use her telepathic tissues to enhance his Validus creation. The arrival of Jath changed the dynamic and Tharok chose to remain in hiding and simply make several high-intensity scans of her during the action.” Dox finally looked up. “As Validus was psi-active at the last encounter, it would seem that Tharok chose to complete the creature without Champion Ardeens direct contribution.”
“One more mystery resolved. Thank you Dox.” Sarya said.
“There is also fragmentary data on some form of psi-tech which…” Dox hesitated before admitting through gritted teeth, “I do not understand.” He then qualified, “Yet.”
Sarya’s datapad chirped, and she glanced down to see an incoming priority communication from Ambassador Marin. Holding up her finger to Dox, she answered the comm, “Kathoon, to what do I owe the pleasure of this comm?”
The Kathooni Ambassador’s voice was clipped, “Sarya, I must return to Kathoon immediately. Jath’s presence is required at this time.”
Sarya sent out a command through the Eye, Champion Krinn. Ambassador Marin needs to speak to Jath immediately. Before replying to the Ambassador, “I have sent for Jath. May I ask what is the occasion of this recall?”
The Ambassador looked down for a moment, and the sound of other figures moving around her could be heard before she looked up, eyes dark. “There is civil war on Kathoon. I have contacted the UP High Chancellor, and he has informed me that as Kathoon is not a member world, and this is purely ‘an internal affair,’ the United Planets cannot be involved.”
“I would be tempted to agree with that assessment…” Sarya confessed.
“As would I, under normal circumstances,” Marin agreed. “I would not ask for outworlder assistance in a purely internal matter, but in this case, alien mercenaries are involved, and reports indicate that they have unusual technology, or perhaps powers, that our people are having problems resisting.”
Dox looked up from his pad and interrupted, “Ambassador Marin, are there reports of a giant monster, or of Warriors weapons turning against them?”
Marin looked shocked, “Who speaks, Sarya? And how could he know of such things?”
“Valid questions.” Sarya said pointedly to Dox.
“Tharok’s data indicates that he intended to swarm a non-United Planets-affiliated world with his attack force of these Validus creatures. Without UP protection, he would likely quickly take control of such a world. Your Champions have foiled his intentions to raise an army of these creatures, and yet he has gathered together instead a force of super-human criminals from Takron-Galtos. While Kathoon was not specifically mentioned in these files, it fits his specifications perfectly. I believe that Tharok has chosen Kathoon as his target.”
The Queen closed her eyes before proceeding. “Marin, I request permission to accompany you to Kathoon.”
“United Planets interference would be technically unlawful, Sarya. I would not ask you to risk your status.” Marin cautioned.
Sarya smiled grimly, “A UP observer should go, to substantiate or refute these rumors of alien interference, which the UP *could* deem sufficient provocation to act. If that ‘observer’ were to find herself under attack, it would be an unfortunate necessity for her own super-powered aliens to defend their Queen with appropriate force…”
Ambassador Marin shook her head, but smiled as she did, “Ravin warned me that you had taken an interest in dangerous games, Sarya. I would not refuse your status as ‘observer.’” Marin looked down at another pad. “We are negotiating for passage even now, I will contact you when we have a departure time.”
Sarya smiled, “Venegar has a single star-cruiser. It should be capable of holding your people and my own, although not in any sort of comfort. If you would prefer, I could contact you with a departure time…”
Marin looked concerned for a moment, “It is possible that I would be in no position to repay this courtesy, Sarya. I do not wish to place my world in Venegar’s debt…”
“I have my own reasons to wish to see these aliens removed from your world, and returned to Takron-Galtos, Marin. Do not mistake my offer for charity.” Sarya said sharply, recognizing that Kathooni pride was as prickly as Venegarian.
Marin nodded, the matter apparently settled in her mind. “Please contact me when your ship will be ready to depart. My people are ready at your word.”
Sarya, her Champions, Dox, Ayla, Jath and the Kathooni delegation gathered at the starport, where the Venegarian cruiser had been readied for departure with impressive speed.
“Diplomatic privilege has its perks.” Garth said admiringly, as the crews worked at break-neck pace to ready the ship for take-off, while non-diplomatic traffic was re-routed to make room for the unscheduled departure.
Jath’s eyes narrowed at the sight of her former companions. “Where is Kand?”
Larn, the Warrior representing Clan Auri, responded dryly, “Kand vanished over a day ago. She had been silent for several days, and then simply left, around the time your people encountered the monster on this worlds’ moon. It should not surprise you to learn that Clan Sangti is the primary aggressor in the war…”
Jath looked to Vala, the Warrior from Clan Lateen, Sangti’s greatest ally, “And Lateen?”
Vala grunted, “My Clan has sided with the Sangti, as always. When we arrive on Kathoon, I will be required to fight against you, my friends.” She crossed her arms. “Until I receive such an order, I will obey Marin, as is my duty.” She looked at a nail idly, decorated in delicate platinum tracery, “If the Ambassador were to order me to remain on the ship, I would be unable to receive such orders…”
“We shall see, Vala,” Marin said. “If Sangti has indeed recruited alien mercenaries to seize power, I will indeed ask you to safeguard Queen Sarya’s ship from attack. But if the combat is honorable, I will ask Sarya to remain on this ship, and you will be required to fight for your Clan.”
Vala nodded, and the group boarded as the launch crew evacuated the pad.
Garth quickly moved up to the pilot’s seat and stood behind the pilot, an older Venegarian man named Rinti. “Ah, Champion Krinn, is it?”
“Ranzz.”
“Yes, whichever. I suppose you would like to fly again?”
“Well, I wouldn’t want to take you from your duties,” Garth began, failing to hide his enthusiasm as the pilot vacated the pilots seat and went to sit at the nav-computer. “You realize that you are not authorized to fly a cruiser of this size, young Champion?” the pilot said rhetorically, as he tuned in his comm-piece and began to talk with flight control about the impending departure.
Garth quickly sat down as he heard the pilot announce impending launch, furiously pressing buttons to try and keep up with Rinti’s announcements. Smiling the old man spoke faster…
“It will be eight hours before we reach Kathoon,” Marin announced. “Before we arrive, I should explain the pretext behind this ‘civil war.’”
Garth, Ayla and Rinti listened via the intercom from the pilot’s cabin, while the others were crowded into the passenger cabin.
“Kathooni history goes back 2400 years. It is said that our people were under attack by the endless armies of a war-god known as Aers, who was offended that our warrior-women were more skilled than his own male soldiers. According to the tales, our people lived on an island kingdom, and the war-god was striding across the channel to finish the final conflict when our own goddesses appeared and saved our people. Atheen, the Great Builder, crafted a great ship of metal to carry our people beyond the war-gods reach. Temeese, the Great Huntress, shot a single arrow into his eye, to blind him. Aphrodisia, the Great Spirit, gathered up the souls of our fallen and caused them to leave the world behind, along with their surviving kin, carried away by the great ship. The goddesses arranged for the ship to carry us into a dark hiding place, right under the bloody eye of Aers, where he would never be able to see us. The blood-red sun of Kathoon, we call Aers Eye, and Kathoon itself is locked in perpetual shadow, hidden from that great eye by the sister-planet that shares our worlds orbit. The great ship remains, serving as the center of our capital city, and the high temple of our faith. Deep within its bowels lies our world’s most sacred place, which no outworlder has even heard of, before now.” Several of the Warriors looked displeased at the idea of this being shared even now, but kept their silence. “All Seers and Warriors visit the temple, to face the challenges. I faced challenges of perception and will, and chose to serve Atheen, of the All-Seeing Eyes. The Warriors face physical challenges, testing strength of limb and strength of purpose, before they can be accepted by Temeese, of the Strong Arm. The third goddess, Aphrodisia, of the Loving Heart, accepts no challengers. The statue of Temeese shows her in animal leathers with a breastplate of metal, holding a blade in one hand and a bow upraised over her head, raised in triumph, her foot placed upon the body of an unknown beast. This beast is nothing native to Kathoon, and it was accepted that the beast was a creature of our forgotten home-world.” Marin produced a pad and displayed an image of the statue in question. Neither Rokk, Imra nor Sarya recognized the beast, but Dox’s eyes blurred for a moment and he pronounced, “Sus scrofa. A wild boar, native to Earth.”
Marin nodded. “Correct. And there lies the roots of our current conflict. Upon discovering the identity of the beast in Earth files, and of the existence of ancient deities named Athena, Artemis and Aphrodite, among the cultures of ancient Greece, I reported back to Kathoon that Earth was likely our lost home-world.”
“Some welcomed this knowledge, but many rejected it. Clan Sangti, in particular, deemed it heresy, and Clan Lateen sided with them.”
Vala, of Lateen, interrupted then. “Clan Sangti has always sought excuses to increase their power. This is yet another pretense.”
“Be that as it may, currently Sangti is the most powerful Clan, and with Lateen at their side, they would already be a threat to the combined might to the other four main Clans, even without outworlder assistance.”
Larn, of Auri, piped up, “And yet,” she said, pointing at Sarya, “Do not you also bring outworlder assistance? I have no love for the Sangti, but we are not yet even sure if they behave with dishonor, and already we flirt with dishonor ourselves…”
Sarya spoke up before Marin could refute this, “I have chosen to travel to Kathoon as an observer. *If* there are alien mercenaries, my people may assist against them without intruding on personal matters of Kathooni politics. If there are no alien mercenaries, we will not interfere, unless attacked, and even then, only act to defend ourselves.”
Marin nodded her assent, “This is correct, and as it should be.” Seeing that Larn seemed satisfied with this answer, she continued on to discuss more mundane matters, “As Kathoon, like Braal, has a high concentration of dissolved metals in it’s atmosphere, everyone but Champion Krinn will need to use some form of life support, to avoid inhaling toxic levels of metals…”
[ March 22, 2007, 02:52 PM: Message edited by: Set ]
Registered: Aug 2006
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Set
There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met.
posted
Emerald Legion, Chapter twenty-one (part one) Lebensraum – the sticky, and hopefully mutually-gratifying, climax
Ambassador Marin guided the Venegarian cruiser through the magnetic storms that encircled Kathoon, and the cruiser descended into a smoke-filled sky over the capital city. The grand temple glistened in the firelight in the center of the old city, and fires could be seen raging along the avenues leading to the three entrances of the structure. Even in the unsteady lighting, the presence of alien mercenaries was obvious, due to the towering bulk of Validus, and the brilliant discharges of Mano’s explosive touch and the Green Dragons deadly vision.
The cruiser dropped briefly to near ground level, and the Warriors dropped fearlessly to land atop a building near the High Temple itself. Sarya and her Champions descended gracefully from the sky, born aloft by their Champion’s Rings and the power of the Emerald Eye of Ekron. Ayla’s descent was unsteady, as she had only been granted a Ring moments before, but she still landed without incident, and Sarya lowered Ambassador Marin to the ground personally. Seeing the presence of outworlders, Vala, of Clan Lateen, requested to be ordered to ‘guard the ship’ rather than be called into a combat she saw as dishonorable, and Marin acceded to her request. Once his passengers had debarked, Rinti quickly ascended high into the sky, to avoid attack.
Even before the flying Champions had reached the ground, shouts of alarm rang out. “Outworlders!” proclaimed the leader of a squadron of Auri, rushing to engage this new threat dropping from the skies, but Larn, herself of Clan Auri, managed to forestall violence long enough for Ambassador Marin to explain the situation. Larn left with her Clan-sisters, to deal with an incursion to the south, having already surrendered the western approach, due to the presence of the aliens.
Reaching the steps to the western entrance to the High Temple, Ambassador Marin commanded the Auri and Genti on-guard there to pull back and allow the ‘outworlders to kill each other,’ as she and Sarya had already agreed, phrasing it in such a way as to discourage any disagreement from her fellows. Gallia, High Seer of Clan Auri was in command and agreed, sounding horns to signal retreat. Dozens of battered Warriors, as well as hundreds of common soldiers, both male and female, retreated into the cover of the High Temple.
Noting that many of the Warriors lacked their traditional metal armor, and carried chunks of masonry or wooden support beams as makeshift weaponry, Rokk realized that Kort must be present as well.
~We need to go out and engage them. Fighting them at the steps of the Temple will leave us no fall-back position, and we’ll need to separate them.~ Imra broadcast, and the Champion’s soared out to meet their foes.
Sarya also began to move, at a more measured pace, towards the battlefield and Ambassador Marin turned to Jath and said pointedly, “The Queen is our guest and will not come to harm while you draw breath,” and then stepped into the Temple, saying only, “I go to rouse the gods,” and passing out of sight.
The Genti Seer, Kaelin, declared, “Madness! Your time off-world has tainted your mind, Marin.” Before turning to Jath. “Jath. You will move to the southern ward and assist your Clan.”
Jath looked torn for a moment, before stating firmly, “My duty to the Ambassador is not yet discharged. I will not dishonor our Clan by deserting my post.”
Kaelin looked furious at this refusal and walked up to Jath, seizing her hand and tearing a silver ring off of her hand, “You cannot dishonor our Clan, for you have no Clan,” before turning away, hurling the silver ring clattering off into the darkened streets.
Jath’s fists clenched, and she saw her sisters reach for their blades, and then turned to follow Sarya towards battle.
~Stick to the plan, everyone. Any one of these foes can kill one of us in an instant if we don’t keep them off-balance.~ Imra reminded them.
Rokk had pulled on Imra’s platinum-group head-gear and broadcast through his Champion’s Ring, “I’m psi-shielded, stick to Ring-broadcasts from now on.”
Validus, predictably, was the first visible target, and Rokk sent a dozen tiny missiles of metal debris at him to batter at his head. As predicted, the metal flung itself away and he could detect the presence of Kort, batting his missiles out of the air with magnetic blasts, “There he is.” He broadcast, and was reassured to see a barrage of lightning strike the ground at Kort’s feet, blasting him down. A second discharge struck Kort directly, and his body jerked and fell again, and he heard Ayla’s whoop of victory.
Rokk quickly seized a much larger piece of metallic debris and slammed it into Validus’ monstrous ‘face’ with all of his might, quickly flying backwards through the air from the same direction. The beast roared and, as hoped, pursued Rokk, stomping forwards with shocking speed, launching a crackling discharge of psionic energy that Rokk just managed to avoid. Rokk moved over the buildings towards some sort of park of metal-barked trees, with anemone-like fronts waving in the air where they should have had leaves, hoping to use the cover of the buildings and the forest to slow down the titan’s advance.
Garth engaged Mano, taking advantage of flight and range to pepper him with lightning blasts. Mano proved unable to this strategy, but Garth’s lightning blasts failed to penetrate his containment suit, merely blasting him off of his feet and annoying him. It quickly becomes a deadly game of keep-away, Mano’s bare hands rumbling like thunder as they annihilate the air around him.
Nyeun Chun Ti sees Imra, hovering above the battlefield, and flings his Atomic Axe at her, but she narrowly manages to avoid it, only to see the Axe shimmer and vanish as it passes her, to reappear instantly in the Persuaders iron-gloved fist. She reaches out to attempt a psychic assault, only to feel that his mind is shielded by what feels like a second mind, a small animal-like presence that resists her assault with a selfless ferocity. The Persuader ignores her and sees Sarya moving forward, and raises his arm to throw again, when Jath strikes him like a missile, bearing him to the ground, seizing both wrists in an unbreakable grasp and preventing him from being able to bring his Axe to bear. They roll around on the ground until she ends up on top, pinning both arms and then slamming her own head into his metal-armored face-plate so hard that the cobblestones beneath his head crack and her own face is bloodied from the impact.
Kort is still twitching and Ayla blasts him one more time, before she is blindsided by the Green Dragon, who has leapt into the air and thrown her to the ground hard enough to knock the breath out of her. Getting to her feet, she sees him hovering in the air and raises her hand, but as the lightning blasts forth he seems to disappear and all she can see is a blur running along the ground. As fast as her lightning tracks, Jo Nah has crossed the distance untouched and his arm is against her neck, slamming her back into a wall. Lightning crashes into him again and again, but he seems completely unaffected, and while he doesn’t seem nearly as strong as she would have expected, he’s strong enough, and neither her lightning nor her desperate attempt at kicking him in the groin seems to cause him the slightest discomfort. He stares into her eyes, his own face blank, and Ayla can see stars starting to swim around in the growing darkness.
Dox has located his own target atop a building, surveying his forces and barking some sort of orders into a comm-unit on his wrist. Tharok’s voice is mechanical, and yet rings with confidence, “Green Dragon, kill the girl, and then incapacitate the telepath.” He spins as Dox lands across the roof from him, “Coluan.” His body twitches slightly as the two man-machines begin attempting to co-opt each others data-systems. “I have beaten your kind before. This is pointless.”
Suddenly his mechanical limb sparks and his internal weapon system powers down. His human eye narrows, “Modular programs, independently harmless, but assembling into threats after being designated low-priority threats. Clever,” he concedes.
Dox remains silent, arms hanging loosely at his sides, devoting every shred of processing power to the combat occurring invisibly between the two cyborgs, and thousands of lines of malicious code fill the air around them, circling like wolves, awaiting a moment of weakness so that they might disable or destroy the other.
Seeing that Jath has restrained the Persuader, Sarya turns to see if she can assist elsewhere, only to feel her breastplate buckle under a devastating blow that hurls her into the air. She can’t draw breath, but manages to use the Emerald Eye to halt her flight before slamming into a metal-barked tree, near where the Validus creature had been lured. Forced to tear her breastplate from her body, and feeling her body protest as she draws a shuddering breath, she looks up to see Kand dropping from the sky with a loud impact.
“I was going to kill Jath, but by killing you, I will dishonor her first.” Kand said, stalking forward, drawing a short steel blade, edged on both sides. “Then I will tear her mate apart,” Kand continued, lost her in fantasies, circling Sarya like a predatory beast.
Sarya drew her own curved dueling blade, hissing with pain as she stretched wounded limbs. “Shut up and fight, traitor,” the Queen growls as the Emerald Eye suddenly filled the clearing with a brilliant emerald radiance.
Kand laughed, tapping goggles over her eyes that instantly polarized and turned dark red in color. “I have prepared for your Champions and their bright lightning,” she thumped the ceramic armor covering her chest, “*and* magnetic sorcery.” The Sangti Warrior moved forward with a blur of speed and Sarya barely managed to flip out of her way, cursing her cracked ribs for slowing her down. Still, Kand’s blade only managed to tear her cloak, and the Queen quickly pulled her cloak off and wrapped it around her off hand, as an impromptu shield. Kand moved forward again, pressing the attack gracelessly and Sarya used the Eye to rise into the air and strike Kand in the head with her own blade as she passed beneath, landing gentle as a feather behind the disoriented Warrior. Sarya’s blow struck true, and Kand’s protective goggles fell away, their strap severed, and she raised her hand to cover her eyes with a growl. “Enough playing around, outworlder, now you die.”
Reaching behind her, Kand’s hand fell upon a tree and she stepped back and effortlessly pushed the massive tree down in the direction of the blinding emerald glare. It was all Sarya could do, pushing both her own hurting body and the psychokinetic force of the Eye to throw herself clear, but even avoiding the main trunk, her body was whipped by the many long thin fronds that extended from the slender branches. Kand charged forwards again, like a rampaging beast, and Sarya just managed to step to the side again, lashing out with her blade.
Kand felt a tugging sensation at her throat, and attempted to mock Sarya for catching only her own cloak, only to find that her mouth was filled with blood and no sound would come out. Raising her hand, she felt that Sarya’s blade had cut her throat as they passed, and she looked up to see the emerald glow fade. The Queen stood, blade down and dripping with blood, wearing a look of weary resignation. Kand raised her blade and flung it with all her might, calling upon the names of her ancestors, resolved to not die alone. But the strength did not come at her call, and her blade arced clumsily through the air, to be batted aside effortlessly by the Queen. Oblivion rushed to greet her and Kand’s world became darkness.
Through the Champion’s Ring, a wordless cry of desperation from Ayla draws both Garth and Imra’s attention to her plight. Imra attempts to seize control of Jo Nah’s mind, only find that he too is shielded, again by some feral dedicated presence. Garths lightning blasts join Ayla’s in vainly impacting against the Green Dragon’s invulnerable skin, and Imra takes the fight to whatever is defending the criminals mind, focusing all of her power against this animalistic presence. It fights her savagely, and she pinpoints it as a tiny device, as much organism as machine, attached to the back of the man’s neck, and she quickly deceives its primitive mind into going dormant.
From her vantage point, Ayla can see her attackers face change suddenly and his grip lets up. Something moves on his neck and she pours another electrical surge into him, matching the endless stream of electricity coming down from her airborne brother. Their two-pronged assault is rewarded with a crackling pop as some device on her attacker’s back suddenly fries and he staggers back, releasing her to drop to the cobblestones, gasping for breath.
The sound of an explosion and a cry of pain pulls Ayla back into consciousness, as she sees her brother fall from the sky. Mano has leapt into the air and grabbed at Garth’s arm, and now Garth is slamming into the ground like a sack of meat. She can see Mano land gracelessly near him and rising to his feet, and moving towards her unmoving brother.
~Garth!~ comes a telepathic cry in all of their minds, as Imra descends, heedless of the danger.
The air rushes around her, and suddenly there is another explosion. Mano is gone, hurtling off into the distance, and the Green Dragon is lying several yards distant, having been blasted from his feet by the mere act of striking his fellow criminal. Imra has already landed and Ayla rushes over, to see that Garth is alive, but that his left arm is completely gone, blasted from his body by the force of the anti-matter man’s touch.
~Cauterize the wound, Ayla. We have to get him into the High Temple.~ Imra thought, but Ayla was unable to react, and turns suddenly when she feels the presence behind her. The Green Dragon is standing there, burnt and bloody from his own contact with Mano, and in his hand, he’s holding Garth’s left forearm. “He’s going to need the Ring. The atmosphere will kill him,” the Rimborian criminal said distantly, looking down at the fallen Champion. “We were ordered to collect the Rings. Tharok wants to use them to take control of some Eye thing, and then he can rule Venegar, too,” he said, matter-of-factly, twisting the Ring off of Garth’s hand and handing to Ayla. “Put this on his other hand.”
Ayla snatched the Ring away from the former crook, placing it on her brothers remaining hand. “We need to get him to safety.”
Imra looked up, ~We’re not going to have time for that…~ she warned, and Ayla looked up to see that a dozen Sangti and Lateen Warriors had advanced to point swords at them.
A Sangti Seer raises her iron bow and says in a cold tone, “Kill them all.” One of the Sangti Warriors, hefting a cart over her head, suddenly cries out and the cart crashes down upon her. Two others, each holding weapons far too heavy to be born aloft by humanoid strength, also cry out, felled by their own burdens. Several other Sangti find that they cannot draw their over-strung bows of iron, and the Lateen Seer quickly pulls back and cries out, “Stand down! The gods have abandoned the Sangti cause!”
As one, the Lateen draw back, one Warrior tossing aside a heavy weapon of her own, for fear of being similarly stricken.
The Sangti Seer repeats, in the same cold tone, “Kill them.” And the Warriors charge forward into a barrage of lightning from Ayla and bright burning rays from the Green Dragon’s eyes.
~Most are also controlled by the psi-devices on their necks!~ Imra announced to all present, ~They cannot control their actions, and I can’t fight them all!~
Jath appears in their midst, throwing them around like children, lacking none of her Warrior strength, and the Lateen Seer suddenly declares, “Subdue the Sangti, they are controlled by outworlder machines!”
With that, the combat ends quickly, as the Lateen Warriors, also retaining their great strength, almost effortlessly subdue the struggling Sangti. At least a dozen Sangti fighters, lacking Warrior strength, but also apparently not controlled by Tharok’s machines, help to restrain their struggling Clan-sisters.
As the other Warriors restrain the remaining controlled Sangti, Jath turns to the others, “Champion Ardeen, see to your mate. Ayla, I beg you to take me to Validus.”
Ayla looks torn, but at a nod from Imra agrees, floating up into the air and grabbing ahold of Jath. “Hold on.”
Jo Nah looks around, seeing that Jath has wrapped the unconscious Persuader in metal, arms behind his back, so that he wouldn’t be able to take hold of his missing Axe even if he regained consciousness. He then takes off into the air, following Ayla towards the park where Validus can be seen pushing trees over in a rampage.
Registered: Aug 2006
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Set
There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met.
Rokk had spent what felt like hours attempting to keep ahead of the monster, tearing off the mag-steel components of his Champion’s Garb and using them as projectiles. Accelerating them into the brute as he flew, he knew that they weren’t really damaging the beast, merely stinging it and keeping it furious. As long as he kept it moving, it hadn’t stopped to attempt another mind-blast, which was the only reason that he was still in the air, as just being on the edge of one of the psionic assaults had nearly blasted him from the sky, psi-shielding or not. He had drained all ten of the mag-steel power-spheres from his Champion’s Garb in the process of using them as makeshift projectiles, and had resorted to picking up a storm of debris from the fallen trees, with their oh-so-convenient metal bark, blinding the creature with a constant cloud of swirling rubble. His magnetic reserves were tapped, and only the power of the Champion’s Ring kept him aloft at this point, as he no longer had the strength to boost his own speed magnetically. He knew it couldn’t last, and so the sight of lightning blasts joining the fray elicited a sigh of relief.
“I am so glad to see you, Garth,” he sent through the Champion’s Ring, only to get an unfamiliar reply.
“No Garth, hopefully I’ll do,” Ayla broadcast curtly, as she swept far too close to the flailing brute, only to release a dark-clad missile of her own. Jath dropped to land at the beast’s feet and struck with both hands as hard as she could on the giant’s three-toed foot, causing it to rear back, howling in pain.
The beast struck downward with its oversized fist, and Rokk choked back a scream, as he saw only an impression in the ground where his wife had been standing a moment before. An unfamiliar blast of energy struck the creature in the face, and he turned to see the Green Dragon, eyes crackling with energy, and Jath, standing some distance away, with Jath looking disoriented, but unharmed.
Validus turned and it’s heard started crackling with the beginnings of another psychic blast directed at the newcomers, and Rokk dropped low and attempted to knock the creature off-balance by slamming into the back of one of its tree-trunk sized legs with his body. Simultaneously, Ayla unleashed a massive two-handed lightning surge directly into its side, and the beast staggered, its mental blast going wide and missing Jath and the Green Dragon. Both Jath and Jo Nah leapt, into its chest, each striking with superhuman force, and bearing it to the ground in a thunderous crash. Both Jath and the Green Dragon leapt clear, and Jath reacted first, seizing up a fallen tree and using it as an oversized club to strike the beast in the head, while it was still on the ground. Jo Nah quickly followed suit, and combined with a seemingly constant stream of lightning into its eyeless face, Validus finally shuddered and fell still.
While the battle resolved itself below, Dox and Tharok remained locked in cybernetic battle, each attempting to subvert or disrupt the programming of the other. Tharok meanwhile received reports as the psi-implant of Jo Nah went dead, followed by signals indicating incapacitation of the Persuader, Mano and finally even the seemingly unstoppable Validus.
Activating shunt protocol, Tharok was surprised to find that even this failsafe seemed uncooperative, and Dox finally spoke aloud, as if to the empty air. “Tharok is attempting to teleport away. Stop him.”
Tharok favored a twisted half-smile with the flesh side of his face, “None of your companions are present, Coluan, and none could block a dimensional shunt, in any event.” He suddenly looked down as blue-skinned arms thrust up from the darkened rooftop, and uttered a short, sharp cry as he was pulled into the hungry darkness.
Dox watched impassively as a figure arose from the shadows, resolving itself into a dark-skinned Talokkian female, clad in scanty scraps of cloth and armor, with a massive cloak melting formlessly into the darkness behind her. Draped casually over one shoulder, she held the Persuaders Atomic Axe. “How long have you known I was here?”
Dox didn’t bother to reply, closing his eyes and calling through the Champion’s Ring. “Champion Ardeen, I require immediate assistance. As anticipated, I have contracted several hundred cyberneural viruses and am incapable of physical motion…”
Seer Gallia of the Auri called for silence in the meeting hall of the High Temple. The Seers of Clans Cupri, Genti, Lateen and Antalus quieted their respective factions, and the de-powered Seers and Warriors of Clan Sangti stood notably apart from the rest.
“Marin’s body has been found in the Inner Sanctum. As she swore to do, she indeed roused the gods, and the ancestors of the Sangti chose to retain the honor of their Clan by denying their strength and wisdom to the current generation. We owe Clan Cupri a debt for her sacrifice.”
Holding up a spider-shaped implant of glistening ceramic and stolen neural tissue, Gallia continued, “The devices used by this outworlder to control the Seers and many of the Warriors of Clan Sangti have been removed, and that threat is done. Let Clan Sangti suffer no further dishonor for actions that were not of their own doing. In time, Sangti shall again count Warriors and Seers among them. Until that time, they shall lack a voice on the high council, as is the law.”
She called up a holographic image of the subdued outworlders. Each had been fitted in restraints designed by Querl Dox, and in an act of irony, Tharok’s own psi-implants had been used to keep them unconscious.
“The outworlders who assaulted us shall be removed from this world, by the outworlders who came to our aid at Marin’s request. I move to join the United Planets, so that we have some voice in the matter of their punishment. Aers has found us, and war has come to our world. The time of hiding is done, sisters. Now is the time when we find allies willing to stand with us, and join them in honorable battle.”
A Seer from each of the five remaining voting Clans stepped forward, and raised her hand in support of the High Seers proposal.
“It is settled. Seer Shatra of Lateen is to be our new Ambassador, as her quick decision at the moment of Marin’s sacrifice averted much bloodshed. Shatra, you will accompany Sarya of Venegar back to the world of Earth, and make preparations for our proposal to join the United Planets.”
Turning to Queen Sarya, who was standing stiffly, ribs bandaged, Gallia bowed her head, golden ringlets jingling in her hair, “We owe Venegar a great debt.” Looking to Garth, the only seated figure in the room, bandages covering the stump of his missing arm and being supported half-conscious by Ayla and Imra, “You have risked much, and paid a great price for a people who never asked for your help. You recognized the dishonor of outworlder intervention, and chose to limit your own actions to those who had already dishonored our traditions. Marin of Cupri has joined our ancestors, and her memories of your honor are now known to all Seers, Sarya of Venegar. I repay this debt by offering our hand in friendship, and by forfeiting our right to salvage on the space vessel of Tharok. As your own vessel was damaged in your pilot’s misadventures,” Gallia glanced with raised eyebrow at the sling-wearing Venegarian pilot, who looked away embarrassed, “We shall endeavor to repair your craft, while allowing you to depart in the other ship.”
Vala of Lateen clapped the old pilot on the shoulder, recalling their own impulsive decision to seek out Tharok’s unmanned vessel and attempt to seize or destroy it. The ship was exactly where they suspected it would be, hovering over the Sangti’s mountain fortress, but the Venegarian ship had been heavily damaged by the cloaked vessels automated defenses, and Rinti had barely managed to land safely. In a typically Warrior-like feat of mad bravery, Vala had leapt clear as they passed near the now-visible alien craft, and torn her way into the ship with her great strength, ‘seizing control’ via the expediment of punching a hole in the command system, leaving the vessel floating aimlessly, without direction, until Dox arrived to more precisely take control.
“My thanks also to Talokk, young Champion,” Gallia said to the shadowy figure standing apart from Venegar’s Champions. “We also owe a debt to your world.”
Tasmia Mallor, Champion of Talokk VIII, still holding the Persuaders Atomic Axe possessively, bowed her head.
“And what will become of this male?” Gallia questioned, pointed towards Jo Nah.
Sarya stepped forward. “He also was under the thrall of Tharok’s machines. His actions in saving Champion Ranzz, and helping to defeat the monster Validus, reveal to me his true nature. Nevertheless, it is a matter for United Planets justice.”
“Then it is settled. It is time for us to mourn the fallen and comfort those who yet live.” Gallia decreed, clapping her hands sharply, dismissing those present.
The various Clans began to disperse, but Kaelin of Genti came forward to stand before Jath. Her face was impassive, and she seemed to have no words to say. After a long moment, her hand came forward, to present a silver ring to Jath.
Jath looked at the ring and closed her eyes for a moment. Finally, she lifted her own hand before Kaelin to reveal the new emerald Champion’s Ring that sat on her finger. “It was an honor to serve Clan Genti, but I have a new Clan.”
Kaelin’s fist snapped shut on the silver ring and she turned abruptly and walked away.
Registered: Aug 2006
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Set
There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met.
The Champions had been on Earth for less than a week and Rokk knew he'd find Garth and Imra in the med-center. He walked into the hospital room to find Garth and Imra facing the growth-tank, expectantly, Garth's temporary arm of metal resting on the transparency.
"And how is our bun in the oven today?" Rokk said with a grin, as Garth stepped aside to show off his new arm, still growing from cloned tissue. "I have fingers!" Garth said proudly, pointing at the fingers on the newly-forming limb, "See!"
"Very exciting," Rokk said agreeably.
“The freckles are all in the wrong places,” Garth muttered, not for the first time.
~It’s epigenetic, Garth, of course they are. You can just have them changed cosmetically anyway…~ Imra thought patiently, holding on to his living arm possessively.
“Or I could just have them removed…” he added.
~I like them.~ Imra countered.
“Or they could stay,” Garth agreed.
~So have you heard the word from Colu?~
“Not really. Are they still protesting Dox’s asylum?” Rokk asked.
~Not any more. *Somewhow,*~ Imra thought sarcastically, ~a Four brought a virus back to Colu that got into the infonet and infected 70,000 Fives with whatever is ‘wrong’ with Dox. They are all clamoring for full rights as citizens. Colu is in disarray, as they performed most of the computational work for the Threes and Fours…~
“We really need to keep an eye on that kid. He kinda scares me…” Garth admitted.
~And you haven’t even seen all the stuff going on inside his mind.~ Imra agreed.
"So," prompted Garth, "What news from Kathoon?" as Rokk had spent the last two days discussing a Kathooni / Braalian trade-pact with the new Kathooni Ambassador.
"It's a done deal," Rokk said proudly. "Shatra agreed that she'd rather be the most important client of a smaller company than one of a half-dozen off-world contracts from one of the megacorps."
~That's excellent, Rokk!~ Imra said, ~Your family should be very pleased.~
"Yeah, Pol's already signed up to be one of the first Blacksteel workers shuttled to Kathoon." Rokk said, with a wistful look.
~That's a good thing, right?~
"Well, yeah, I guess." Rokk said grudgingly, "But he's my baby brother. All innocent and naive, dashingly handsome, stuck for a year on a world full of statuesque and voraciously sexual Amazon warrior women who happen to find Braalian males irresistable..."
"Yeah, that must suck," Garth said with a grin, before quickly amending his comment with a glance towards Imra, "better him than me!"
Imra smiled and rested her head on Garths chest, ~What my boyfriend *meant* to say was 'lucky bastard.'~
"I thought we agreed no mind-reading, dear," Garth protested half-heartedly.
~I don't need telepathy to tell that you're a guy, Garth.~ Imra thought dryly.
“So, I did hear that we’ve got another Champion?” Garth said, changing the subject.
"Two, actually." Rokk clarified. "Jo Nah has been released from Takron-Galtos to ‘serve out the rest of his sentence under the personal recognizance of Sarya of Venegar.’ His exact reply was, 'sounds better than going back to prison.'"
~Doesn't sound very Champion-like,~ Imra thought with a look of disapproval.
"Yeah, well, I'm prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt for saving Garth from Mano's follow-up attack," Rokk admitted, "and helping us take down Validus."
"Better stay away from sister, is all I'm saying," Garth muttered. "She's all, 'Jo can do this,' and 'Jo can do that.' It's like he can walk on clouds, assuming that isn't yet another one of his uber-energy dragon-force whatever-the-sprock it is..."
"Yeah, he does have a completely unnecessary amount of powers," Rokk conceded.
~Jealous, boys?~ Imra teased, eyebrow arched.
"Of him? Please. Jath is way hotter than Ayla." Rokk asserted, as if that settled the matter.
"Hey, that's my sister," Garth began, and then stopped himself, "and I am *not* going to be sucked into a conversation about the relative hotness of my sister, because that's disturbing and wrong."
~So do I dare ask who our other new recruit is?~ Imra thought, with a dubious expression.
"Her very special-ness," Rokk began sarcastically, "'the Champion of Talokk VIII' explained to Ambassador Ravin that he was right when he told her that she could do more good for Talokk working with us. She’s also joining up, and Ravin’s not speaking to us again this week..."
“Does she have to mention being 'the Champion of Talokk VIII' every. Sprocking. Time. she opens her mouth?" Garth said, rolling his eyes.
~So, eight of us now.~ Imra said, diplomatically changing the topic.
"Yup. Sarya said that our numbers are becoming legion. She’s already calling us her ‘Emerald Legion.’" Rokk said with a grin.
~I like it.~ Imra decided.
“I’ve always liked big families.” Garth said with a smile. From his angle he couldn't see Imra's eyes shoot wide with alarm, and so had no clue why Rokk started laughing...
Next time I decide to write up a climactic final battle including Garth, Imra, Rokk, Ayla, Querl, Tasmia, Sarya, Lydda, Kand, Jo, Kort, Nyeun, Tharok, Mano, Validus and a cast of hundreds, shoot me...
Next time I'm gonna write a haiku or something!
Sarya's Champions Many heroes, many worlds Emerald Legion!
*****************************************
All 21 chapters are available on my website for ease of reading.
Author's Notes are also available, for any whackjob who wants to know more about the Venegarian Clan structure (note #23), what happened during 'Kid Cosmos' Championship matches (#17), Coluan history (#9), the Carggite wormholes (#12) or Kathooni sexuality (#27).
Feedback is welcome. Unless it's mean, in which case I'll cry.
[ March 25, 2007, 07:57 AM: Message edited by: Set ]
Registered: Aug 2006
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