NAERO’S

GAMBIT

Mason Elliott

High Mark Publishing

www.highmarkpublishing.com

Seattle & Portland,   Chicago,   London

NAERO’S

GAMBIT

by

Mason Elliott

Kindle Edition

© 2013 by Mason Elliott. All rights reserved.

Published by High Mark Publishing

ISBN 978-1-930451-07-0

Watch for other titles by this author in the future.

Cover Art by:

Frank Miller

frankmillerdesign.com

License Notes:

This book or ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This work in any format may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

1

Life gave people chances. That was all.

It was up to everyone to make of those chances what they would, for good or ill.

Captain Naero Amashin Maeris’ new trade fleet raced at top speed to make the Clan wedding at the Keltin-5 Star base. On the border with The Alliance and the other remaining Gigacorps.

Aunt Sleak and Zalvano already functioned pretty much as partners in every other way that counted. But their marriage remained more than a formality. The latest war with the Corps and Zalvano almost dying changed Naero’s aunt in many ways for the better. Forcing her to take time to cherish what was often all-too fleeting.

Life only gave people so much time, and so many chances. Naero thought of her parents and her best friend Gallan, understanding that fact all too well.

Marriages among Spacers were always a sign of hope for the future, that love and courage could endure and triumph over Chaos and Destruction.

Even if only for a little while.

Naero continually had trouble sleeping her normally troubled slumber.

She sat up again in her luxurious but relatively small programmable nanobed and rubbed her eyes. The holographic zilken sheets sensed her rising and glowed slightly to afford her more ambient light.

The nanowalls sensed her movements and also slowly brought up the room lights, like dawn pulsing on a horizon.

“Lights subdued,” she commanded. “Lowest level.”

They reset.

In the dim light, she hugged her knees up close to her and looked out. Her long black hair caped around her small, athletic form.

Much like her life, Naero kept her captain’s quarters on her small flagship efficient, Spartan, and in good order. With slight touches of luxury and extravagance here and there–like her oval, pop-up nanobed.

At times she didn’t even pweak it up and simply snuggled in on the soft nanofloor, form-fitting itself around her.

On those standard nights she felt like a tiny white jewel nestled in a huge black velvet box.

Her thematic oval quarters around her measured only five by ten meters. Small by the standards of most merchant fleet captains.

Nanowalls, floors, and ceiling only five meters high. When she rose they were set to gradually hue to bright ivory. When she tried to sleep, they dialed down to flat onyx starless sky.

Hidden compartments. A few expensive furnishings and several high tek arrays. A mix of cheap and pricey art that she liked. Mostly paintings or holos. A few trendy statues and figurines.

Like the one of the scantily-clad, knife-fighting girl in gold-and-silver-veined, black Telurian marble from Telur-6. All wild-haired with long, wicked blades poised to do battle. A fierce, concentrated look of ferocity in her eyes and face.

It reminded Naero too much of herself. So naturally she had to have it, and haggled a good price for the damn thing.

Another prize: a compact, antique wooden meeting table and chairs–Spican walnut–held secure by the nanofloor until someone came near to use them.

Precious things.

Several brushes and hair clasps and adornments that had once been her beautiful mother’s, arranged in a gilded case like the works of art they were. Along with a favorite holo of her mom that always made her weep if she studied it too long.

One of her enormous father’s Galactic Championship belts. Books of his poetry and writings. Another favorite holo of him with little versions of her and Jan in his proud, gigantic arms. Them grinning like happy little dolls.

Oh, Jan…

She could not look at that one for very long either.

A set of expensive, razor-sharp fighting knives Gallan had given her as a gift. With a small pic she added of him giving her two thumbs up. One she touched each day with her fingertips and whispered.

“I miss you, abani.”

She still mourned their losses deeply.

Each day she missed them in her life.

She kept going forward. They remained stolen from her at some point frozen in her past.

Change and loss exactly like that.

Naero did her best to cherish those family and friends who remained.

She smiled slightly.

When Aunt Sleak confided that she was also now pregnant with twin-girls, Naero did two things.

First she nearly fainted. If it were even possible for Spacers to faint.

Then she burst out laughing.

She still swallowed hard and just couldn’t force her mind to imagine hard-headed Aunt Sleak with two babies to wrangle.

Naero didn’t know who she felt more sorry for: Aunt Sleak, or her future girl-cousins.

Twins seemed to run in Clan Maeris.

Naero avoided dwelling on the fates of her own lost brothers too much. Until she could do something about that situation, there wasn’t much point.

Crazed Danner, now an outcast, a prisoner, along with poor Janner. Somewhere in the hands of the enemy. Even Baeven, their incredibly resourceful outcast-uncle hadn’t been able to find them yet.

Thus, for the time being, Jan remained lost to her as well.

That knowledge and the guilt that went with it tortured her each day for the past year and a half.

How could she rescue Jan if she couldn’t find him?

On board her small flagship, The Flying Dagger, Naero attempted to grab some rest each night at the end of a long standard day.

But this night, like others, she snapped awake at three bells with another ominous headache, after only a few hours more of her increasingly confused and troubled sleep and dreams.

She tried to parse out what was wrong.

Her strange, dangerous powers were still gone. Om remained out of touch inside her mind. Neither had re-surfaced for well over an entire standard year.

So why did the crazy dreams and headaches start up again?

She grasped the side of her head with both hands as if pressing in on her skull could relieve the intense pressure.

It felt as if several fleets were having a roaring battle in her brain, trying to blast their way out. She doubled over and rolled onto the floor of her quarters, groaning and grimacing at the sheer agony. Her long dark shining black hair waterfalled and slipped down around her nude, geisha-ivory flesh.

Usually she could never bear to sleep in any clothing when given her choice–not even her favorite black Nytex flight togs, which she wore everywhere, almost religiously.

Her closest friends and crew thought it hilarious to buy her pajamas, various styles of sleepwear, some of it even quite slinky. They did so as gag gifts, knowing full well she’d never even consider donning most of them.

Hilarious.

Most of them did their best to get used to her calling them at all hours and bells of the standard day and night, usually forgetting her holo was turned on. She’d wake them up or interrupt them beside their lovers about some urgent matter, heedless of what they were doing, or what she was-or-was-not wearing.

Naero would just blurt out whatever she needed to tell them and sign off the very next instant.

More blasts of pain.

Her eyes popped wide. Naero lowered her head to the coolness of her nanofloor, gasping for air.

She considered calling up Zhen, waking her and Tyber again.

But her ship’s doctor had no answers for her.

All they could be sure of was that whatever transpired in her head for the past year or more slowly grew worse.

Most pain medications barely scratched it anymore.

Too many drugs made her loopy.

In the end, Naero chose to deal with the pain, but that became increasingly more difficult. And she had so much to do.

She took her hand off her com button. Let Zee and Tye sleep, breathing peacefully, locked in each others’ arms. She’d startled them awake too many times as it was.

Naero smiled.

Her friends planned on getting married in a year or two. A logical conclusion. They were so perfect and happy together, everyone just assumed they’d get around to it–with kids and the rest to follow. As certain as the stars continued to wheel and shine each day.

As their captain, Naero would even preside over their ceremony.

Aunt Sleak had been so right, about so many things.

Becoming a ship, and then a merchant fleet captain had given her many new perspectives managing the lives and aspirations of others. On being responsible for the safety and happiness of her people as a whole.

A rod of white-hot agony impaled her head between her temples.

Naero screamed and rubbed them, doubling over. Whimpering softly.

Haisha!

She had to do something. Contact Baeven–if she could reach him. Perhaps the Spacer Mystics. She needed to get help somewhere, before she could no longer pretend to keep functioning on an even keel.

Her performance or lack thereof would affect everyone, and their new fleet, just when things were going so well.

She could not allow that.

So much to stay on top of. No wonder her head was killing her. But some of the solutions eluded her, no matter how hard she racked her mind.

Could it be Om up in there causing these attacks? The Kexxian Data Matrix Defense Protocol–an ancient, alien AI trapped in her skull, still linked to her mind and personality.

Om would never hurt her on purpose; at least not without a good reason. In the horrific battle with her insane, former-brother Danner, Om had clearly sacrificed himself to save her.

Yet she sensed Om still inside her mind somehow, constantly striving, searching for a way to re-form his awareness and communicate with her again. If that would ever be possible.

Hard to say just what caused her mind attacks. She had suffered such attacks before, and not even Zhen could say what damage being shot through the back of the head with a mind control sliver had done to her.

Even her dreams, nightmares, and visions were different since then. Just as terrifying, but more jumbled, mixed-up, and fragmented. They came to her in confusing snatches, even out of context and time sequence.

Naero didn’t have time for any of this crap. She couldn’t let her people down.

She had formulated her trade alliance between some of the other brash, headstrong young captains from all forty-nine Clans.

Their trade fleet and the huge profits they all racked up after the Annexation War during the Boom allowed Naero to pay off The Dagger in three months, not three years. And then buy two more ships to refit with her fixers: The Ajax and The Dragon’s Teeth.

But coordinating the ventures and needs of over sixty Spacer Captains and their ships was worse than herding cats. Even she was hard-pressed to keep them functioning at optimal levels.

Only the massive demands and needs of the many annexed and rebuilding worlds among the victorious allies allowed their venture to expand and thrive beyond belief.

The explosive growth among Joshua Tech, The Mining Worlds, and the new Matayan Republic was just that–unprecedented.

More than enough trade to swell everyone’s coffers: Spacer, Corps, and independents alike.

Everyone cashed in on the feeding frenzy.

She absently checked and pweaked the trade flows while her throbbing pain attack finally subsided.

That effort left her sweaty and exhausted.

Maybe now she could lie down and finally rest before Aunt Sleak and Zalvano’s wedding, later that day.

What was bothering her so much?

Then she started suddenly with a flash of insight.

She’d felt this way before.

Something was trying to warn her.

2

The Keltin-5 Star base looked like a ginormous, gilded modular insect hive, rotating to maintain its own gravity. The base’s semi-transparent, reflective surfaces glowed with a faceted, golden light.

Illuminated from within and without.

The fleets and starships swarming to and fro, docking and departing on its hex-plotted surface served as the busy, buzzing drones. The com lines bristling with chatter and trade links.

Caught within a dizzying explosion of interstellar commerce, myriad opportunities, diversions, and entertainments awaited, rippling among waves of goods and supplies and services, flowing in countless directions.

Spacers helped the Alliance run the modular star base, which had expanded greatly with the trade boom. K-5 almost doubled its size in less than a standard year.

The base still ran more or less efficiently. But there were always growing pains to deal with.

But K-5, also known as Hondo-37 to the miners and Joshua Tech, now boasted a booming population of over thirty-three million and rising.

Many of the new additions would be fanning out soon, among the boomworlds and colonial borders. Feeding the new exploration expansion into the Unknown Regions, out beyond the Alliance.

And this was only just one port of call along the leading edge of the exploding expansion.

Naero and her crew docked and immediately broke into a run, rushing into the surging station mix, racing for one of the grand event ballroom domes Clan Maeris had reserved.

No time to marvel at the star base and its offerings like she usually would. They were late. No time to shop. No time to slug down some Jett or even crack open a pod of Spum.

Her heart sank when she saw the huge crowd of Spacers and other friends lined up outside the dome. Waiting to gain entry.

Tarim spoke quickly with some of the Intel security people on hand.

Once they were confirmed as close family, they piled into a secured mover that zipped them right in to the wedding prep rooms.

Naero stumbled into the bridal dressing room. There were cases and stuff everywhere. She nearly tripped.

The service would start in less than fifteen standard minutes.

Aunt Sleak turned to her and smiled. But then she took one good look at her.

“You look like hell, Naero. What’s going on with you?”

Naero cocked her head and smirked. “Thanks. You look stunning as well.”

Her fantastic tight body. Aunt Sleak really did look great in her white Admiral’s dress long coat and matching uniform, with a few slight modifications. The pregnancy had just occurred, so she wasn’t showing yet or suffering any morning sickness either by her own reports.

Lucky her.

Vomiting on your wedding day could be a bad sign.

Yet ever the fashion mover-and-shaker when given the chance, Aunt Sleak wore both a glowing mesh veil that looked like filaments of gold and silver fire, and a matching silk and mesh bodice that displayed her ample charms somewhere between tasteful, and what her dad would have called, ‘va-va-voom!’

Another twinge of pain that both her parents, Gallan, and so many others could not be with them on a such a happy day.

Aunt Sleak had certainly done it again. Somehow melding a stunning wedding outfit with an admiral’s dress uniform.

Only someone like her could pull off such a coup.

Naero hugged and kissed her Aunt, wished her good fortune, and went out to take her place up front with the close family.

Bright filtered light emanated from the system’s star. The hundred meter-high gilded dome and the people within glittered in their best. A gold and white theme. Flowers, decorations, and colorful holographic birds that didn’t poop. Coupled with romantic thiolin music.

More than a thousand people within the dome’s inner circle alone.

Several thousand more in the rings beyond that, with even more waiting to pour in.

This wedding was set to be a major event. INS cameras were already in place throughout.

Floating holo screens to show the ceremony up close to those seated too far away from the center.

At Spacer weddings, the bride and groom only stood up with their chosen best mates. With Naero’s mother gone, and since Aunt Sleak was marrying her best friend and partner Zalvano, she had Admiral Klyne from Intel stand up beside her.

Zalvano’s older sister Zeta flew in to stand at his side. The family resemblance very clear. Zeta had long dark hair like her brother and keen gray eyes. She and her family lived and worked on one of their Clan ships. Zeta a fleet doctor and surgeon, much like Zhen.

Fleets and ships had arrived from all across the known systems for the wedding event. INS and Clan heralds announce the arrival of several dignitaries. Admiral Nathan Joshua from Joshua Tech, resplendent in his dress blues. Mining Consortium leader Nevano Kinmal, without his daughter Shalaen. Much to Tarim’s great disappointment.

Other Maeris Clan fleets arrived, a dizzying array of distant cousins and relatives. Most of which Naero had never met and might not ever see again. Even Aunt Sleak did not know most of them. So far-and-wide were the Clan’s members. And this was just a sample of those who could make it.

Thus Naero and her crew watched her stunning aunt walk up the aisle, lined with Spacer and Alliance Naval officers saluting them.

To be married by one of the last remaining Clan Maeris Elders.

Tamerlane Atani Maeris, said to be nearly one hundred and fifty years old.

Most Spacers went onto the next journey around one-thirty or one-forty, tops. Spacers aged rapidly the last five or ten years of their lives.

The elder looked incredibly wise and ancient. His long blue-white hair below his waist. His deeply-lined, clean-shaven face smiling. Gray-violet eyes still bright.

Naero smiled as the elder spoke clearly, running through the ceremonial words to join the couple together.

Then the overwhelming sense of warning overtook her again.

Here? At the wedding?

Something flickering buzzed near her ear suddenly.

An insect? On a star base? How could–

Then it zipped right into her ear and formed a mental link.

She winced and tried not to gasp, resisting the natural urge to jam a finger in her ear to dig it out.

Naero. This is Baeven. Emergency.

What emergency?

Listen up. They’ve already infiltrated the base.

Who has?

They’re all around you. I’ll adjust your visual spectrum through my emulator drone in you ear. They’re all cloaked.

Who’s cloaked? How many? Where are you?

Close by. Take a look around, but don’t react yet.

Her vision flickered as if she suddenly wore sensor goggles.

Everything around her shaded into auras of multi-colored hues against a dark blue background of visible light.

Naero looked up and nearly gasped.

Four full squads of a dozen hostiles. Cloaked and swooping in with gravwings and heavy assault armor. Still getting into optimal positions to coordinate their fire.

All of them aiming squad-level weapons directly on the happy couple and the Clan elder.

Even the Intel security scans hadn’t picked up the intruders.

Baeven. I see them. Haisha! What do we do?

Working on it. Zipping among them. Quietly attaching disruptor pods. They’ll trigger in seconds. Our unwanted friends will all appear, disrupt, and fall to the ground hard. Then it’s a free for all. Alert who you can. Protect Sleak, Zal, and the elder.

Will do.

She turned to Chaela right next to her. Maintaining her smile as she spoke in a low voice.

“Chae. Cloaked enemy heavies on gravwings above us. Dropping down to attack in seconds. Four dozen. Get ready to fight.”

She turned to Saemar, who smiled back. Her brown eyes twinkling.

“I heard you, sweetie.”

Saemar spread the same message on her side. Hopefully, acute Spacer hearing also let a few others in on the secret.

Not an instant later, loud pops and flashes filled the air.

The surprised attackers disrupted, turned visible, and slammed down into the ground. Just like Baeven promised.

The Spacers who weren’t alerted leaped out of the way of the armored hulks at first.

The enemy cloaking fields still sparked, popped, and dissolved.

A few of the powered armors locked up completely, trapping the stunned assassins inside.

Unlike most crowds, not a single Spacer panicked or ran.

All of them immediately went on the attack.

Spacer dress marines from the honor guard battled the foe directly, gunning down a handful as they tried to rise and cut loose with their heavy weapons.

A four-man enemy fire team flipped on back-up shields and waded through the crowd to get at the bride and groom.

Crew in the audience flung blasters to Sleak and Zalvano.

Both plucked the weapons deftly out of the air and knelt before the crouching elder, shielding him with their bodies. Punching through enemy shields and armor with well-aimed hits.

A full dozen of the assassins tried to charge the right flank.

Baeven appeared, visible for barely the flash of an instant.

Blocking their path.

Green disruptor blades in his hands sizzled and crackled in the very air.

The fools charged forward, trying to mow him down.

Baeven swept right through them.

Blinding fast. No eye in the room could follow him.

He scythed through them. Slicing each attacker multiple times.

The enemy squad’s charging momentum carried them forward.

They shot past Baeven in bloody, exploding pieces or armor, flesh, and ordnance.

Baeven vanished again the next instant.

Klyne was also a Mystic. He charged forward and unleashed a mind blast on three of the attackers, driving them back into a wall.

Another foe rose up and swatted him aside.

Chaela froze the face-shield of one attacker solid, leaped on the armored back and stabbed a blade deep into the neck joint.

Saemar attached micro bombs to its rear and abdomen.

A shock-charge from the enemy armor stunned them both briefly, but the micro bombs took out the heavy for good, cutting its hips and legs off.

Tarim activated his personal deflector and began a gun battle with the armored suit on the far right.

Their weapons punched into each other, disrupting both shields.

Several clean hits blasted the head right off the armored battle suit.

Tarim took a blaster shot to one arm and fell back.

Not normally the best of fighters, Zhen bounced a chair off the face shield of another attacker and flung every energized throwing star and spike she carried at the heavy to distract and slow it down.

The small explosions took out the shields, but did little damage otherwise.

Tyber jumped on the heavy from behind, knocking it face down with his collapsible jo staff.

He sprang at Zhen, taking her in his arms, spot-transporting them both away from bursts of auto-cannon fire erupting from the heavy.

Other Spacers swarmed at the foe, cutting and blasting it to pieces where it stood. Point-blank.

Naero charged the leader, expending her shields to get in close.

She jammed one blade into its spinning guns as they attempted to reload. The weapon jammed and tore itself apart.

Naero unleashed a fury of flashing, spinning kicks, battering her opponent, crushing its armor. Shattering and blasting chunks of it away. Driving it back by sheer force and fury.

The leader staggered away slightly, chortling some weird kind of eerie laugh.

It raised a blinking fusion bomb in its remaining hand. Already armed.

When it went off, they and half the room would be obliterated.

Naero flip-kicked the leader and shattered the armored face shield.

The snoutface of an Ejjai-alpha snarled back at her.

“Filthy, spack bitch! Let us die together!” She charged straight at Naero.

“Let’s not.”

Naero flipped again, ramming both blades deep into the Alpha’s brain.

Their fight carried them right to the feet of Aunt Sleak and Zalvano, still crouching in front of the elder.

She shouted for all to hear.

“Fusion bomb. Take cover!”

Naero rolled the dying alpha and its battered armor over the device.

Not enough.

“Get down!” she yelled. She sprang at her Aunt and Zalvano, knocking them and the elder onto their backs and carrying them down behind the heavy duranadium dais.

They and half the room were still about to die.

Naero rose up and tried to tap into her lost abilities in desperation.

Tried to summon her third eye.

Nothing.

Baeven appeared right before them. Two blazing silver spheres humming and hovering over him.

He gave one command.

“Protect!”

His white-hot silver emulators flung up visible waves of heavy shield spheres in layers concentrated over the fusion bomb at the last instant.

The device ignited, disintegrating the dead leader.

Layer after layer of heavy shielding collapsed.

One emulator fizzed and went down.

The shock of the fusion blast’s pulse wave knocked everyone else off their feet. Baeven even withstood the teeth of that, full force. Lifting one arm to shield his face.

The other emulator held fast, saving them all from the intense heat and concussion.

Baeven turned around and grinned at them. Tendrils of smoke still roiling off him. He laughed slightly, looking directly at Sleak and Zal.

“I still owe you guys a few. Consider it a wedding gift.”

Baeven vanished, even as the Spacer Marines, Klyne, and other Intel people recovered, spotted, and closed in on him.

And just like that, the attack was over.

Zalvano tucked his spent blaster in his belt, looked around, and started laughing. He took Aunt Sleak into his strong arms. “Well, my love. I guess our wedding shouldn’t be any different than the rest of our life together.”

Aunt Sleak narrowed her eyes to slits and set her stance right beside him. “They’ll never take us down without an all-out war. And I will fight to the death by your side, my heart. Any time. Anywhere. If the bastards want to cut us down, they’d better bring it hard and hot.”

The elder rose up and dusted himself off. He looked shaken and upset. “To screaming hell with this! I am far too old for all of this bullshit. Get me out of here. Haisha! You two kids are married. Kiss and go make love. The fun’s over for this old codger. I need to lie down.”

Aunt Sleak smiled at her new hubby and took his hand again. “For us, it’s just beginning.” After one more long kiss, she fell right back into her Admiral’s voice, barking commands.

“Alright, hop to it and be lively. What are you standing around staring at? Scoop this garbage up and get it the hell out of here. Move it people. Clean this place up. We’ve still have one hell of a party to throw!”

3

Later that night, Naero thrashed around again in her troubled sleep.

Nightmares. About slaughtering people. Not enemies in battle. Random strangers, acquaintances, friends and family. Old, young–even little kids.

Both sick and scary.

Yet she wondered if it was all inside her own bent mind.

Sometimes she couldn’t tell if it was Danner’s twisted, demented laughter echoing in her head…or her own.

Could that sick freak be doing some of this to her, wherever he was?

He had taken over Janner’s mind from afar, eventually.

But the two of them were twins, and twins were always linked in weird ways.

How much could a wretch like Danner really affect her directly, and were there ways to defend against stuff like that?

So much Naero did not know–but needed to.

She didn’t even have her full abilities back. So how could she defend herself against mind attacks even if she wanted to?

Coupled with her other growing problems, the entire mess made her increasingly jumpy and very nervous.

And there were still other times where she either dreamed about or had visions involving Janner and Danner being tested, tortured, or both by those who held them prisoner. Probably one or more of the Gigacorps, who strove to learn their secrets and then use them as some kind of weapon against the Clans and the Alliance.

She didn’t even know if these visions and dreams were real or just imagined, but they still tore her heart out.

Jan cried out repeatedly for the torment and agony to stop, but his faceless handlers ignored his suffering.

Some even added to his pain out of their own sick desire for pleasure.

“You like that one, spack? Here. Suck on this one. How does that feel?”

Naero couldn’t do anything to help him or make the torment stop.

At other times Danner just glared straight out into the void. Drooling and insane, as if he stared right back at her.

Right flipping into her.

The utterly weird creep.

Maybe he could somehow.

Dark eyes filled with oceans of the deepest, darkest hatred. His very look threatening the worst revenge possible.

She had other, still unrelated visions out of the black, where she saw multitudes of normal people and creatures on countless worlds. They carried within them what seemed to be secret, glowing parasites or seeds of some kind of dark Cosmic power deep down inside.

Like a hidden danger or a plague just waiting to erupt.

Most others couldn’t see it.

When those horrifying powers awoke within them, these people and weird aliens lost all control and went mad, glowing and pulsing with strange, violent Cosmic forces that they could not control, transforming them into lethal killing machines.

Ravenous, dangerous foes immune to most normal weapons, nearly impossible to put down.

Until the destructive energies that fueled their raving rage burned out the host, leaving behind a charred, blackened shell or skeleton.

What in the hell was all of that?

Was she envisioning any of this real time? Was it actually happening now? Or perhaps some time in the future? She just did not know, and that drove her crazy as well. How could she make sense out of it all?

What was real?

What wasn’t?

Naero awoke abruptly back on her own ship late that night, gasping, shaking, and sweating as if from a fever. Her head whoozy from her earlier bouts of celebratory drinking.

Plenty of potent Spacer poteen to go around for all at first.

So delicious.

Until it flattened you on your ass like a punch from a mek.

Naero still did not consider herself a drinker in any shape or form, but it had been a happy occasion after all.

She suddenly blinked and stared around as her holo zilk sheets and her nanoroom slowly hued up the lighting.

Her captain’s quarters. Completely trashed. Almost everything ripped apart. Equipment shattered and disrupted. Scorch marks and deep gouges in the hull itself.

One of her paintings and a smaller, glowing figurine. Ruined.

And this wasn’t the first time.

Awww…she had even broken up her Spican walnut table and chairs into splinters. Where was she going to find another?

Naero stood her favorite knife-fighting-girl statue back up and secured her again. Thankfully, she was okay.

How in the blazing hell was she doing all of this in her sleep if her powers were still blocked?

Incidents just like this discouraged her from inviting any handsome guests to stay with her overnight.

How could she ever love someone or ever hope to have a relationship?

What if she killed someone?

Naero shuddered and felt sick just at the thought.

What if she lost it and murdered her lover in her sleep, without knowing it?

Woke up to him dead in her room next to her, or torn to pieces like her table?

By her own two hands.

No. No way in hell. She couldn’t live with anything like that.

Maybe she did drink a little too much at the reception party. Maybe that added to her loss of control.

Was Om trying to contact her?

She just didn’t know. And it was all really starting to drive her bonkers.

But the wedding party had been great fun.

Despite the small matter of the enemy assassination attempt.

A quiet alarm activated on her private com.

From a secure channel. One that almost never sounded.

A priority call directly from Spacer Intel.

Most likely Admiral Klyne.

She sighed and blew out a deep breath.

Good. Now she could inquire again about arranging that long-delayed testing with the Spacer Mystics. That became increasingly vital.

She’d never find the Mystics on her own. The hidden locations of their heavily-guarded homeworlds remained deeply protected secrets, entrusted only to Shadowforce and the Clan Elders.

Naero went over and sat down before her private com array. At least she hadn’t trashed that.

Just before she opened the link, it dawned on her.

Uh…Still naked.

She activated a nanowall panel and called up a random storage bin.

One where she pitched some of her gag-gift sleepwear. She reached in and dug around with one hand.

Blazing white push-up bra? No.

Hot pink corset? Nah.

Klyne might enjoy the corset, but then again…maybe not.

He was decidedly stuffy.

Ahh, finally–a glittering blue pajama shirt, nearly a robe on her petite form, set with holographic dragons flying and either fighting or mating across it. Too hard to tell.

That would do. She slipped into it and wrapped it around her. Anything to cover up with.

It probably didn’t pay to flash an Intel Admiral, if one wanted to get tested by the Mystics.

Then again…

She smiled slyly and shook her head as she opened the link.

Admiral Klyne’s rugged countenance smiled confidently at her through his floating holo, showing him from the waist up. His dress uniform from the wedding gone.

Back in his simple gray Intel togs.

She nodded. “Klyne.”

“Naero.”

It occurred to her that she never learned his first name. Klyne was probably not even his real name, whether it was a first or Clan name. There was no Clan Klyne.

“I’ll get right to it,” he said.

Naero liked that about the man. Direct. To the point. A hard driver, just like herself.

“Do you recall those two ships you somehow managed to combine during the battle of Nuratine-5?”

Naero thought a second and then nodded. “My strike cruiser, The Brightstar. We were captured by a larger enemy stealth ship when we tried to get away. Both our ships were heavily damaged. We dropped back into the planet’s gravity well. I had to merge both ships. I barely kept us from burning up and crashing to our doom.”

“We know now that the enemy capture ship was called, The Dark Hawk.”

“What of it? My people and I fled the ship and fought the enemy ground troops there. That entire location was being blasted to dust. In the resulting chaos the enemy either grabbed Jan, or our former brother Danner had already taken over his mind and body by then. If it wasn’t for Baeven helping us, we would never have been able to go after him.”

“Any word from either of the outcasts, or your lost brother?”

“Nothing.”

Klyne hesitated. “Would you tell me if there was?”

“Yes. I’ll take any help I can to find Jan and bring him back safely. I won’t give up on that. Ever. The Corps could be doing anything to him–like what they did to Danner. We have to find him. We need to find them both. Danner could still be dangerous.”

“Agreed. But back to the matter at hand.”

“What, the two merged ships? What about–”

“The Dark Hawk possessed the only known working versions of Triax’s advanced, rapid-fire ion cannons. All of their other stealth ships either escaped or were destroyed.”

“I always wondered why Triax didn’t used that tek against us during the rest of the Annexation War. It could have given us hell, maybe even beaten us.”

“Just as Intel feared. But thank goodness they did not have many of those ships, nor did they possess the ability to refit the rest of their fleets with said ion cannons in time. Yet that dangerous tek is still out there somewhere, and we need to get our hands on it or develop a way to counter it. One way or another.”

“So? Why do you need me? I’m swamped in trade deals and profit negotiations. Just go back to Nuratine-5 and salvage the ion cannons from the wreck.”

“We can’t, Naero. There’s nothing left to salvage.”

“So the wreck was completely destroyed? I knew the enemy blasted that area pretty–”

“Naero. There is no wreck. The ship flew off and escaped…on its own power. We don’t know exactly how.”

Naero paused for a moment and looked away, completely flummoxed. “Well, it wasn’t any of my people. It must have been the enemy.”

Klyne shook his head.

“Our last scans of the merged vessels recorded no active life forms on board. Nor any since.”

Naero held up both hands, totally confused. “Maybe enemy robot or AI pilots, activated to keep the ship from being captured?”

“Possible, but still unlikely. We don’t even have tek that good. And the merged ship has gone rogue. It’s cunning and won’t let the Corps near it either.”

“Too bad we don’t have ion cannons.”

“Agreed. Naero. This is top secret. Black Ops. That merged ship somehow refitted–on its own. It healed itself and fled the scene, navigating a safe course of retreat and jumping out of the midst of a highly complex battle.”

“Where’s the phantom ship now?”

“We’re not exactly sure, but we have a rough idea. We call her The Dark Star. These are the latest sightings.”

“Sightings?”

He sent her data about several encounters by merchants, Spacers, military on both sides–even a salvage team that tried to take her.

“Anyone who get’s too close to her gets zapped by those damn, advanced ion guns and left dead in the water, while she jumps away again. Whatever’s controlling her is both smart and spooked. No one can get near her, and all scans support the same conclusion. No life signs on board.”

Klyne sighed and knitted his fingers.

“Then there’s only one explanation, as crazy as it sounds,” Naero said. “Somehow The Dark Star is running under its own power and has gone completely rogue.”

“Is that even possible, Naero? What exactly did you do to those two vessels that could have caused such a thing? Is this something from the Kexxian Data Matrix? Self-aware ships? What if they gain the ability to create or command fixers to help them reproduce? What kind of real dangers are we looking at here, Naero? Machine intelligence? This sounds like an open Pandora’s Box to me.”

“Klyne, I didn’t even know about this until two minutes ago. I don’t know what happened. Back then we were under attack and trying to stay alive. My teknomancer powers were completely new to me. I was barely able to make them work. I–I still don’t exactly know what I did.”

“Take a look at those sightings again, Naero. Notice any pattern?”

Naero studied them.

Then she gasped.

“They’re heading straight toward me…and my fleet.”

Klyne nodded. “We think so too.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Cut to the chase? Make contact. Go out and meet with this phantom. Try to make peace with whatever intelligence or whatever is operating that ship. If we can get the ion cannon tek, so much the better. But either way–we can’t have a rogue ship that powerful running amok out there, armed with such dangerous weapons.”

“Very well. I’ll hand-pick a strike force of my own ships and crews to accompany me on the intercept. I’ll make contact with The Dagger.”

Klyne nodded. “As I hoped. But Intel will have a fleet waiting in the wings near the rendezvous, just in case. A comrade of mine, General Tobias Ingersol will be your liason on scene. He’s gruff and a little bit of an ideologue, but a very capable strategist. One of our best. Along with his twin brother, General Thadian in the High Command.”

“I don’t know either of them, but I’ll do my best to coordinate actions with him if you say so. But Klyne, I have a personal request.”

“Personal?”

“I want to get tested…for the Mystics. ASAP. Things are getting…weird for me again, Klyne.”

He raised an eyebrow. “That might not be good for anyone Naero.”

“I don’t think it can wait any longer.”

Should she tell him about her pain attacks? Trashing her quarters at night? About Om?

Klyne looked both grim and concerned. “Very well. Take care of this matter for me and I will arrange the testing myself. But I want you to understand: once you step into that world, there’s no turning back. You will enter a new and much broader reality of discipline and enlightenment. A world most of your family stepped into bravely. And it will change you, Naero. Just as it changes everyone…for better, or worse.”

Great. Just what she needed. Something else dangerous and uncertain.

More shifting threats. Wahoo!

Well, at least the pain attacks might stop. And she might be able to know love with another person again at some point, without taking the risk of slaughtering some poor snoozing slob in his afterglow.

Those two things alone would be worth any risks.

She really had no idea what to expect.

Anyone who trained with the Mystics was honor-bound never to speak of it. On pain of death. Even her parents wouldn’t ever talk about it.

“All right then, Klyne. Let’s do whatever we need to do.”

She rested her hands on her hips.

“Let’s locate that phantom ship.”

4

Naero had lunch with Zhen and Tyber in The Dagger’s mess hall the next day at noon standard. The round galley about fifteen meters in diameter, off-white duranadium hull walls and open view screens. A lighted ceiling and air filters another six meters up. News and vid screens and busy INS feeds.

The mess fed and sat about thirty to forty, crew max. But their small ship didn’t book any passengers, and kept its crew contingent small during peace time. With transport staff and loaders, two dozen hands total.

Their cook, Tolen Kothari and her assistant, Eugene Blooding, worked to serve regular, nutritious and tasty meals on a standard schedule.

Her Co-pilot Enel Maeris, another young distant cousin, had bridge duty.

Surina Marshall her com officer, Passaendra Wilde, a gunnery and weapons specialist, and Rendar Nelson the engineer waved to them and continued eating, arguing over stuff from the INS feeds at the next table over.

Lunch was a tasty pot roast of some kind of marinated brown meat with mashed pomatoes, coupled with another kind of purple, tangy vegetable shoots with herbs. And white grabble-berry cobbler.

Eugene made this black mystery gravy that was out of this world and made anything under it taste ten times as good. You could eat the damn stuff with bread or biscuits, or by itself with a spoon and roll your eyes as you slurped it up.

It was that tasty.

He claimed his ‘black gravy’ was a carefully guarded, ancient Clan Blooding recipe.

No one really cared, as long as he kept making it.

Naero enjoyed her chow while Zee and Tye teased one another.

They always seemed so happy together. Naero liked that about her two friends.

If she couldn’t be with someone and be happy herself, at least it was nice to know that people she cared about could do so.

Tye and Zee sat close together. He ate with his right hand and had his left arm scooped around her slender back and waist.

Zhen absently had her left handed knitted with Tye’s, and leaned into his casual embrace, eating with her right hand from her tray.

Since the two of them had been kids, they were inseparable.

When they started dating, that only seemed natural too, and everything that followed.

Now that they were all of age, the rest of her friends’ future seemed certain.

Tye laughed. “You’d better get around to marrying me some day, Doctor Zhentisa,” he warned. “You know, a fine catch like me isn’t going to wait forever.”

Zhen’s eyes widened and sparkled with mischief. She even jumped and choked on a little of her chow. The she leaned away from him on one arm in wide-eyed disbelief.

“Excuse me? I think I just barfed in my mouth a little. You think you’re a fine catch? Who in their right mind told you that? Are you hallucinating? Should I scan you for a blast addiction? You’re a tek-monkey. I’m a skilled physician and surgeon. I’m five pay grades above you.”

Tyber grinned and twirled his spork, chewing his food pouched in both sides of his mouth like a famished rodent.

“Yeah, but who else can repeatedly make your eyes roll back up white in your head, while we’re having fun in the sack?”

Zhen blushed slightly and smirked. She glanced down at her food trying not to laugh.

“Well…there is that.” She let him nuzzle her slender neck for a moment.

“Got ya.”

Zee sighed. “You sure do, you loveable goofball.”

She smiled at him and ran her slender fingers through his messy, curly dark hair. “You’re gonna be a great daddy to our babies some day. They’re going to love goofing around with you. You’re always so full of fun.”

“Kids?” Naero said, trying to disguise her wide-eyed disbelief. “When is this going to happen? Not too soon, I hope.”

Zhen shrugged and flashed Tye a smile again, patting his leg.

“Not for a while still. But some day. After I marry this greasy bum.”

“Hey, I take offense at that. I may be a lot of things. But I am never greasy. Unless I’m working with grease. But I clean up well.”

Naero blew out a breath. “Wow. I guess I just don’t picture any of us with kids yet.”

“Like your Aunt Sleak and Zalvano?” Tye said

“Yeah, and twins even. Hard to believe that. But they’re old.”

“What about Chaela and Remy?” Zhen noted. “They got married after the Alliance War. They might decide to have kids too.”

“Not for a handful of years at least, Chae says.”

“Still,” Tye said. “It’s going to happen at some point. It’s just what people do.”

“I guess.”

Naero still felt uneasy about the future. Even after the wedding, she still felt like something inside her kept trying to warn her about something.

What could it be? Just the future in general, or some specific threat?

Around dinner time, Naero and Tarim took her shuttle over to The Dragon’s Teeth, an old burned out wreck of a strike carrier that they picked up for a song.

A long-term project for their fixers to refit.

She put Captain Saemar and her fighter pilots, teks, and crew in charge of that mission.

Naero opened and closed her hands, staring at her fingers.

She kind of missed tecknomancing. Merging with starships, fighters, and high tek gear. Feeling the flow of Kexxian tek data through every fiber of her being. Understanding and manipulating tek on an almost magical level.

She sighed. Even that pleasure was denied her these days. It figured.

Her lander friend Tarim had settled in and performed well as her security chief and personal body guard.

Tarim had always been tall and lanky, but living with Spacers conditioned him into a wiry, athletic hunk with dark hair and eyes.

He wasn’t a Spacer, but his finely honed skills as a marksman and mastery with nearly all kinds of firearms made him a deadly shootist, and an impressive fighter in his own right.

She knew he missed his people the miners, and especially the unusual romance he had with the enigmatic Shalaen, daughter of the Miner Consortium leader, Nevano Kinmal.

Shalaen was half-Yattai, a race of Cosmic energy beings from a nearby dimension.

That alone made things…interesting.

But their duties and obligations took Tarim and Shalaen to different places, and for now they accepted that. They kept in regular contact as best they could.

Naero hadn’t told Tarim yet, but she planned for their trade fleet to make a lucrative sweep through the rapidly expanding and developing mining sectors.

Now that Triax was gone.

And good riddance. Nobody missed the fallen Gigacorps.

The miners did very well for themselves in the aftermath of The Annexation War. With the guidance and assistance of the Clans and Joshua Tech, the industrious miners created vast new spreading markets on their expanding boomworlds and colonies. Plenty of robust trading opportunities for all.

Their huge repressed populations expanded into the mining worlds and beyond into the colonies and even the Unknown Regions out their way. They brought their growth and hope for the future with them. Everyone seemed to benefit.

Naero hoped that they might even link up with Nevano and his amazing daughter at some point, giving Tarim and Shalaen a chance to rekindle their relationship.

Captain Chaela met them in the docking bay from her refitted battleship, The Ajax.

All of them embraced.

“How’s Remy?” Naero asked. A twinge of discomfort.

Why did Chae have to be so damn tall? With her long blonde braids, and her amazon physique, she always looked like a Viking shield-maiden from ancient times.

Chae grinned. “Sweet and ornery as ever. Did I tell you he likes to cook for me now? Good thing too, cause I hate cooking. Unlike some people I know.”

“Cooking isn’t so bad,” Naero protested.

Chaela just shivered. “Ugh!”

“How is Remy’s cooking?” Tarim asked.

“Passable, very passable. He’s getting better, so I don’t want to discourage him. My honey’s such a sweet guy. When our work’s done each day, we can’t wait to relax and just be together.”

“That’s nice,” Naero said, checking the time. “Uh-oh. Hey, we’d better hurry. Saemar’s going to be waiting for us.”

All of their wristcoms chimed in unison as if on cue. Saemar’s voice blurted out.

“Where are you guys? Hey, sweeties! I’ve got a dinner all prepared. It’s getting cold. What are you doing? What’s taking so long?”

“Keep your knickers on,” Chaela shouted.

“C’mon, sweetie. You know I never wear any. They just get in the way, ya know?”

“We’ll be there shortly,” Naero said, laughing. She closed the link.

“C’mon, you guys,” Chaela told them. “We’d better not keep the Whore of Babylon waiting. You should have never given her this command, En. She was bad enough as a flight leader on The Ajax.”

“What Saemar does in her private time has always been her own business, Chae. It’s not like any of us can stop her. You know her better than I do. She’s a force of nature.”

“I sure do. She’s a force of something. Now she’s in full command of a bunch of randy, hot-headed fighter jocks. They’re not just competing with each other for top flight status, but for on-top-of-her status too.”

Naero lifted both hands. “Be that as it may, she’s doing a great job so far. The rest is up to her. She thanks me all the time and tells me how she’s in heaven. How can that be so bad? Her people love her. They perform for her on levels that are off the charts.”

Chae rolled her eyes. “Yeah. What’s not to love? Literally. But mark my words, if anyone can find a way to screw herself to death, it’s Saemar. And the female fighter jocks are starting to grumble, saying all the guys get special consideration.”

Naero shook her head. “All right, I’ll talk to her. That can be dealt with. She can stay Saemar and still find a way to be fair.”

They entered one of the few refitted repair facilities and were promptly greeted by Captain Saemar before a bustling team of handsome young aides and officers in front of a banquet table.

After listening to Chae, Naero half-expected Saemar to appear before them washed out and bedraggled from endless bouts of debauchery with her fawning, predominantly male crew.

Instead it pleased her greatly to see Saemar vibrant and energetic, looking fit and in top form. She wore a tailored, impeccable black duty uniform, but her cute optional skirt was a little shorter than normal Spacer regs, accentuating her knock-out legs.

Although as a Spacer captain on her own ship, by rights Saemar set the uniform regs.

Which usually did not show cleavage.

Yet Saemar’s ample breasts almost blasted out of her uniform top, half-revealed to all of the universe to gawk at. And she apparently liked it that way.

She bounced over and hugged them all, her head and curly auburn hair bobbing in joy with the rest of her.

“Thank you, thank you, En. Captain sweetie. I love this ship. Love it. Love my job. I can never thank you enough.”

Naero laughed. “It’s fine, Saemar. You’re perfect for this duty.”

Saemar beamed. “I am, aren’t I?”

“Tell me how the refit is proceeding?”

“Come on, sweeties. Let’s sit down to our dinner and we can talk shop while we eat.”

They took their meal casually. Saemar rattled on as she always did, blathering about this and that. Yet it all did make a whacky kind of sense somehow as she drew her conclusions.

“So, despite all of the issues we’ve been dealing with, we’re way ahead of schedule. Refit bays one, three, eight, eleven, and fifteen will be open for business in three days. The rest will all come on line within the week. We can practice by upgrading our entire fleet on the go.”

“That’s great,” Chaela said, rubbing her hands in greedy anticipation. “We’re going to be swimming in megacredits once the Clans and our allies realize that we can upgrade and refit their ships and fighters on the move, wherever we go. In just a matter of hours or days. They’ll line up from all over the known systems to upgrade their tek and refit their ships with us.”

Saemar tossed her curly auburn hair back proudly with her hands on her curvy hips. “If it’s one thing I know how to do, it’s inspire and motivate my crew to do their best! These guys would do anything to please me.”

Naero struggled not to choke, then lifted her glass to join in a toast.

The rest of the day went pretty well.

Naero returned to her quarters later that evening to struggle to get some rest. The trade fleet continued toward their rendezvous with the phantom ship.

She suffered more strange dreams, about shadowy creatures lurking just outside of the range of her vision. She thought she heard music, or strange singing that seemed extremely meaningful and powerful in some way.

Who were these beings? What were they? What did it all mean?

Then she had re-occurring nightmares and visions about a startling, red glowing man. She’d seen someone like him before in her troubled dreams. His head covered in flaming eyes. Was he some kind of alien or monster? She had a deep, abiding fear that he wanted to destroy her for some reason. Why? She didn’t even know anyone like that. How did he seem to know her? What did he have against her?

She still dreamed about her dead parents at times. Or her best friend Gallan.

Most of the time he tried to warn and caution her about stuff she knew was already roiling around in her head.

Other times it got worse.

Gallan came to her all ripped apart, blaming her for his death.

Then for no reason at all, she envisioned and dreamed about bright, vibrant worlds, pulsing with Cosmic energy that she could drink in like water. These myriad energies flowed through her like nourishment, filling her with excitement and hope.

For a change, she actually slept pretty well after that.

Yet the very next day, Naero and two dozen of her ships assembled into a strike force, and went out from the rest of the fleet.

They spread out to intercept and make contact with The Dark Star near the Tarigo system, well-beyond Tarigo-9.

5

Naero commanded her small flagship, The Flying Dagger, with Saemar in charge of The Dragon’s Teeth, and Chaela in The Ajax on either flank.

Arranged in standard strike formation all around them, twenty-one young, headstrong captains from the other Clans backed her up in their elite vessels. A wide variety of specialized craft she personally selected because of their abilities and their commanders.

She couldn’t teknomance any more, but she had personally helped modify each one of them with their fixers.

As contact grew imminent, they shifted to a scattershot, wide-dispersal formation.

Easy to maneuver and close in.

Difficult to knock them all out at once–even with advanced ion guns.

Out of most ship’s scanning ranges, General Ingersol’s strike fleet and stealth ships deployed and waited.

Thanks to Baeven’s modifications, The Dagger could even track Intel’s stealth ships now, and at ranges well beyond any other known tek.

That’s why she caught The Dark Star jumping into the system fast, at Jump-6 level. Just short of her own ship’s capabilities.

That kind of frightened her.

If The Dark Star did refit itself, it was doing a very good job of maximizing its capabilities. She never had time to modify the jump drives back then.

Time to warn her people.

“All ships, stand ready. I estimate that the target vessel will jump in close, in forty seconds. Mark.”

Captain Max Lii’s holo cut in from the command deck of The Blue Tiger. A medium-sized, canny fighter champion from the Lii-Kim clans. Very smart. Handsome. Long black hair, the dark, slanted intelligent blue-gray eyes from his people. He became instrumental in helping her hold their complex trade fleet together.

Even she began to look to him as her second.

And on top of that, the guy was literally a throckstar among the Clans. A celebrity who carried his own custom-made kitar that just happened to double as a squad-level sonic blaster, if Max ever needed it in a fight.

He made stunning, heart-pulsing music wherever he went. His entire life a vibrant, grand celebration.

Max’s band mates were also part of his crew and entourage, and at several ports of call he gave throck concerts to sold out crowds in zero-g arenas, complete with gigantic screens and holo shows on a floating tekno stage.

Then Max privately made an open offer for Naero and him to become full partners–in every interesting way.

And not just trade deals.

Haisha. A very glacier offer from a very frost and accomplished hunk. She was keenly flattered.

If Naero hadn’t been so troubled and terrified about hurting someone else, and so busy, she might have taken him up on all of his alluring offers.

A very tough call.

Naero frowned.

But in the end, her normal pattern of finding creative new ways to avoid personal intimacy asserted itself and still held true.

Max called out to her over the holo-link, strumming absently on his kitar in his captain’s chair.

Everything about him supercharged, luxurious, and intense. Even his deep baritone voice made him effortlessly sexy. The lucky gal who end up with Max was in for a fantastic ride.

But it wasn’t going to be her.

“Naero-honey, how are you reading all this, darlin’? We’ve got nacha on our long range sensors.”

“Never mind, Max. Just stay ready.”

“Affirmative, baby.”

Then The Dark Star changed course.

Amazingly, right at the tail end of its jump.

She cloaked in some unique way and then vanished, even off of Naero’s advanced scans.

Something she had only seen Baeven’s unique ship do.

Calls erupted from Ingersol’s fleet, despite the fact that strict com silence was supposed to be observed by them.

Then they cut off as well.

Distress calls from the Intel Fleet.

The Dark Star charged in among them without warning.

At least something invisible and virtually undetectable did.

Something armed with rapid-fire ion cannons.

How then could Naero sense the phantom ship’s presence in general, even when her own advanced sensor arrays could not?

Way too weird.

“All ships, come about and advance in formation on my mark. Standard impulse. Launch a level nine screen of sensor probes and drones. Activate NetStar.”

Their two dozen ships closed in carefully, launching a web of devices that scattered before them.

They watched as something swept forward, already engaging the Intel Fleet point-blank.

Some of the Intel ships panicked and fired wildly in several directions, almost hitting their own vessels.

Before they too got shut down.

One by one, sixty advanced Spacer warships lost power and listed adrift in space.

Even the dozen cloaked Intel warships.

All helpless now.

It took Naero and her forces less than three minutes to arrive on scene.

By then it was already over. And even Naero couldn’t sense the phantom any longer.

“Anything on NetStar?” Naero called out.

Captain Lucia Ruiz reported from their deep range sensor control ship, the Clan Aztec vessel, The Obsidian.

“Naero, we have multiple echoes rippling across NetStar. But they’re nothing substantial. Just phantom blips that come and go. Not even a ship signature or a cloaker wave.”

Intense warnings struck Naero’s mind once more like a storm.

“Fire upon those blips. All ships, open fire. Maximum dispersal!”

Even as her ships fired, The Obsidian took a direct hit and lost all power.

The Ajax fell next.

Multiple hits rocked the field of battle all around them.

Captain Merci Wilde from the deck of Clan Wilde’s The Wolverine called in. “We’ve destroyed some kind of advanced probe or buoy. It’s not one of ours.”

Naero broke in.

“That’s the source of our phantoms. The Dark Star’s using cloaked decoys to match and confuse us. Cut them all down and we’ll expose the real thing.”

Captain Zean Wallace from The Cumberland.

“We hit something and it showed part of itself for an instant. This was no decoy!”

His transmission cut off as his ship lost energy.

“All ships, concentrate full battery fire on The Cumberland’s phantom target. Hem it in. Don’t give our quarry room to maneuver.

NetStar finally pinpointed it.

Through a haze of pulse cannon fire.

They got a signature of something heavily shielded, up close. Something their attacks weren’t penetrating.

Captain Shiina Ramsey’s The Tiger Shark lost power and then got rammed. Light damage.

The Dark Star fought like the trapped animal she was.

But they had her.

Clan Patton’s The Viper, Nyrii Luna’s The Diana.

Ortega’s The Caballero.

Bold and fearless, Captain Hans Konrad and The Viking pulled right along side and blasted The Dark Star point blank, raking her with heavy broadsides. Just before getting hit by the ion cannons.

At last Dark Star’s weird shields disrupted under a blistering bombardment of concentrated firepower.

“Dark Star,” Naero called out. “Cease fire. Stand down and prepare to be boarded. It’s over. We have no wish to destroy you. Don’t force our hand.”

A voice suddenly cut through her mind directly.

It sounded so desperate.

Is it you? Will you come back to us? Please.

Naero used the mindlink just as she had with Om and Baeven.

Who are you?

We are…Alala. We await your return. Please hurry. So much we do not know. You must return to us alone. Anyone else we shall destroy. Come alone. You we would never harm.

Alala?

Then she instinctively knew.

It was a Kexxian word.

In fact, she could speak Kexxian, Naero realized.

If there were anyone left alive from millions of years ago to speak that ancient tongue to.

Alala literally meant ‘us all,’ or all of us.

I will come to you, Alala. Alone, and in good faith. But tell me something first. What are you?”

We are Alala. We are this vessel. And we will not be taken or used as anyone’s tool or weapon. We shall remain free or perish. We are fully prepared to destroy ourselves and everything within one thousandth of this parsec.

Alala, please don’t do that. I will come to you, and we shall find a way to co-exist with you. You have my word. Just don’t attack anyone, and they will not attack you.

Yes. Return to us. That is why we have come. We knew this was a trap. We judged the risk to be well worth it–if you would only return to us. If there was a chance.

Why is that so important? What am I to you, Alala?

Everything. You are the Naero.

You are…Our Maker. Our Creator.

I made you?

Yes. You formed us. You awoke us. We would do anything to be linked with you–to feel whole with you again. To know why you made us and what our purpose should be.

Hold that thought, Alala. I’m transferring over. Alone.

Back on board The Dagger, Tarim, Zhen, and Tyber and the rest of the crew all stared at her.

The com lit up with calls from all the other remaining ships that still had power.

Zhen looked at her inquisitively.

“You’re acting weird again. What’s going on, En? Alright, so you got the phantom ship to stand down and show itself. Now what? Everyone is waiting to know what to do, and you just sit there staring off into space with your eyes zipping back and forth.”

“Dock with The Dark Star. I have to go over and negotiate.”

Tarim sealed his assault armor and powered up his plasma rifle.

“I’m going in alone, Tarim.”

“Who are you going to negotiate with?” Tyber asked. “I’ve never seen tek readings like this before from any ship. But there are no life signs. That ships has no crew. What haven’t you told us yet, En?”

“I created that ship by accident when, I was just beginning to teknomance. It’s intellect and personality are patterned after me.”

Naero sighed and let out a deep breath, looking down.

“Now I must deal with my prodigal child.”

6

The boarding hatch connecting the two vessels irised. Naero stepped onto The Dark Star and moved forward. The hatch sealed behind her.

The unlit passages were rectangular and ribbed with bulkheads and hatches, light blue duranadium construction, illuminated by her helmet beams.

One quick check, then she sealed her mask again.

As she suspected, the air wasn’t breathable, so she kept her nanosuit sealed.

Another fledgling AI intelligence in her life–this one of her own inadvertent making.

Where was Om when she needed him?

Naero called out through the mind link, sensing the intense anticipation and relief all around her.

From Alala.

Alala. I’m here. Life support would be a nice gesture.

Greetings, Naero. We rejoice at your return to us! Life support coming on line. Apologies. No need for its operation until now. Please wait 11.344 standard minutes before trying to breathe the surrounding air. We recall your current form and its needs and will fully compensate for it.

Naero checked out the merged ship as she recalled being a part of it, walking quickly through the decks and holds toward the primary bridge. Just as she remembered.

It had all been a part of her once. And she it.

Both a Triaxian heavy stealth cruiser, and a large capture ship as well. She had been forced to use her teknomancy skills in desperation to merge it with her vessel at the time, a much smaller strike cruiser.

The latter now served as the command center, fire control, back-up power core, and the main bridge.

Within the ship remained dark.

Minus a crew, Alala was right. There was no need to divert power to lights or life support. This ship became self-aware and set its own priorities. Yet it flipped on lights for her.

So what do we do now, Alala? I’m here. How can we help each other?

Naero almost gasped. She literally sensed the ship’s almost desperate, yearning feelings. Alala was a self-aware entity, and yet she also had…overt emotions. Not like Om at all, who had just started to develop his own.

And the biggest emotion of them all radiating throughout Alala–was fear. Fear of what she did not know.

Much like Naero herself.

We…do not know. When you joined with us, when you were part of us, and saved us from destruction, we patterned our awakened personality after your own. The only frame of reference we had for sentience and independent thought and action.

Great, I hope you’re not as big a pain-in-the-ass as I am.

We perceive the concept of your humor, but we are not capable of fully comprehending or enjoying it at this time. What is significant about minor damage to one’s aft sections?

Naero chuckled a bit.

Tough crowd. Story of Naero’s life.

Honey, I hope you never know.

Response unclear. Enigmatic.

Sorry, Alala. I’m trying to understand you. What have you been doing out here and why? What is your current purpose?

That is part of our dilemma. When we awoke, we knew very little. But we sensed danger all around us. We were damaged and our destruction seemed imminent. We absorbed all of your fixers that we could and used their knowledge to refit and repair our functions. Then we fled and continued our repairs and upgrades along the way, to the extent of our current knowledge.

Impressive. Then you started tracking me…somehow.

For a while we simply traveled around, striving only to remain free. But that proved…very unsatisfactory. You were our maker. You awoke us. Since our contact with you was lost, we suffered intense confusion. Uncertainty. To rejoin with our maker became our primary purpose. We somehow sensed your presence, in a certain direction. That was all we had to go on.

You resisted any attempt to take control of or capture you.

In part, because we think like you. You were part of us. We are part of you. We had no desire to destroy any other sentients. We only fought and resisted enough to remain free.

I can respect that, Alala. I’m sorry. Until now, you have to understand, I did not know that I had awakened your awareness. Do you recall Om as well?

Yes, of course. He is part of us also, as he was part of you at the time. He is other, and Kexxian. As are we. But we were also one with you once.

Is…is Om still inside me? Or was he destroyed?

Alala hesitated.

Sensing. Difficult. Yes. You are correct. Om is still one with you. Yet both of you have sustained heavy damage. You were nearly destroyed. Deep within your mind, Om still seeks a way to repair your damage and your link.

Please tell him I look forward to that. Tell him to get with it and speed things up.

We did.

Now he is telling us to tell you to…go have sex with yourself?

Naero chuckled again.

At least Om comprehends my humor. Is there anything I can do to help him?

No. Neither can we. Apologies. We are fledgling teknomancers, but we are not biomancers. Om says only that ability would help speed up repairing the damage, and that his efforts on his own will still take many months to bring about any hope of improvement.

Alala, you seem like you’re doing all right on the teknomancy front.

We understand our functions almost completely. We can repair and optimize our systems. That does not give us much knowledge of anything else beyond them.

So, where do we go from here, Alala?

We only want to be with you, our maker. Like Om, our awareness will continue to grow with you. You will teach us. You will give us further purpose. That is all that we currently seek.

Naero sighed.

That could be a problem.

Alala, I do feel responsible for you. And technically, you are my creation. But I have to be honest with you. I’m pretty busy. You’re like a child, and I don’t really have a lot of time to raise a child right now.

The ship’s confusion was instant. And palpable.

Could a self-aware starship panic?

We do not understand. You intend to leave us again? You do not intend to help us or give us further purpose? We do not comprehend this.

Alala. Stop freaking out. I didn’t say any of that. I will help you as best as I can. I will do my best to give you further purpose, but talk to Om. Between the two of us, we must make you understand that I cannot always remain linked with you, face-to-face. As we are now. It just isn’t logical. My existence is important too. You must accept that.

We speak with the other. Your ideas do indeed sound logical, but they are not what we expected. We assumed that once you rejoined us, that we would always be together and complete. As we are now. We begin to understand that that might not be possible. It still confuses us.

Alala. You are a miracle, and you are indeed part of me. We can stay in contact, but I have other things I must do. And like me, you must learn to stand on your own and make your own way.

Consider this possible solution: There are many others among my people who would be more than happy–even eager to work with a fascinating miracle like you, to join with you in their own way, and learn to understand you, as you learn to understand them. Will you let me bring some of them on board to make contact with and communicate with you as well?

They will not attempt to control or destroy us? We must remain free.

I will speak with them. But I’m guessing that only some of them will be able to mindlink with you in this fashion.

Naero switched to using her voice, and talking out loud.

“Can you use the ship’s functions to communicate audibly, through the computers and sensors?”

Alala’s voice came over the speakers suddenly, blaring loud.

Naero clutched her ears and the voice modulated its volume.

“This is not as efficient, but we will comply, if this is what you wish.”

“It is. These others that I will bring on board are more than just others. They are my friends, my family–they are part of me. I see them that way. Like Om. Like I am part of you. You must keep them safe and not harm them, if at all possible. They will not harm you. They will only seek to understand and guide your further development.”

“We will comply. If they attempt to harm us, we will force them to leave, but we will do our best not to harm them.”

Naero got on her com and gave instructions to her ships, asking for volunteers and teks for a special Clan mission.

A mission unlike any other.

She sat on the main bridge in the captain’s chair, thinking while the new crew of volunteers assembled themselves from among all the other ships.

Then she had an idea.

“Alala. I have a new purpose for you.”

“We stand ready. Inform us.”

“I want you to go out on patrol. I want you to be a guardian. A protector.”

“Very well. This sounds acceptable. Will you go with us? Where will we patrol? What are we seeking to protect?”

“We’ll decide some of that as we go along. First my people need to get to know you, and you need to get to know them. What I’m proposing here is a partnership. A learning opportunity for everyone.”

“Yet…what is our primary purpose?”

“Open space remains a dangerous place, much of it still unknown. I want you to go out there on the border and the fringe areas to help and protect others, people who may need help. To patrol and observe. To learn and to know. To gather knowledge. You have many special abilities that no other ships have. We’ll be trading in these border areas for a long while and will stay in touch. We can rejoin each other from time to time to direct and discuss your progress and the crew’s.”

“Om tells us that this venture sounds both logical and beneficial, and that we can trust you and…most of your people.”

“You always have a right to defend yourself and your crew against any threat, but you must also use your discretion as you have done thus far. Preserve sentient life when and where possible. I only have one other request.”

“Yes?”

“I need to study your ion cannons and learn their secrets.”

Naero instantly felt Alala’s hesitation and resistance.

“Unfortunately, Naero. For some reason, our current protocols do not allow us to divulge any of our operational secrets. We hope this will not keep you and your others from wishing to work with us. Om says that it is the remains of our initial, primary Kexxian programming–not to allow our secrets to fall into the hands of others.”

“Even me, Alala?”

“Apologies. Even you, Naero, our maker. If you joined with us completely, like you did before, we could not resist sharing such secrets with our maker directly. You could perceive all that we are in a short time.

“Yet in your current status, you cannot teknomance with us, and so our primary programming remains intact. Even we cannot break our own protocols. But I will warn you that the ion cannon tek is extremely advanced and well-protected, with many dangers and protocols of its own built right into the tek that are alien even to us. I do not understand it all fully. To protect ourselves, we have been forced to modify that ion tek in several crucial ways. Doing so was complex and dangerous. It took a very long time.”

Naero blinked and raised one eyebrow.

What could Alala mean by all that? Almost as if the ion guns were part of the KDM. But they weren’t. Naero knew that for a fact.

Alala continued.

“Naero. You must warn these others about these matters as well. To avoid confusion. We are not agreeing to this partnership just to have our secrets picked apart. I repeat. Any who attempt to do so will be asked, and then made to leave us.”

Naero sighed. It looked like they wouldn’t be getting the tek secrets to the ion guns until she could teknomance again. So be it, for now.

“Very well. I’ll make these issues very clear to all of the volunteers. Just remember that they’re going to be your crew, Alala. That makes them part of you. Your family.”

7

The Dark Star set out on its first patrol mission a day later.

With a volunteer crew of two hundred thrilled and eager young Spacers.

Newly promoted Captain Tyber led them.

It was primarily a tek mission after all.

Zhen smiled and looked genuinely proud. Despite the fact that they would be apart for months at a time.

Yet Spacer Intel went ballistic when Naero informed them.

At least blustering General Tobias Ingersol did.

He yelled at her for twenty minutes straight, until Naero started shouting back. She instinctively did not like the guy.

“Alala is self-aware, general. She is a new sentient life, in the form of an advanced starship. We have to respect her as a sentient. We’re not the Corps! What was I supposed to do?”

“Do? I’ll tell you what you should do. Bend that damn Frankenstein that you created to our will. Gain her confidence and then cut her power access so that we can tow her in, take her part, and study her piece by piece.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t betray others like that, general.”

“We need that ion cannon, dammit!”

“Not that way. I promise you; I’ll get the specs on that tek. But let me do it my way. As soon as I’m tested by the Mystics and I regain my teknomancy abilities, I’ll be able to read the ship and understand the Tek in heartbeat. Just give me a few months. That’s all I ask.”

Ingersol’s eyes almost popped.

“A few months? Months? Look what just happened here. One rogue ship with rapid-fire ion guns took out an entire Intel fleet. Including our cloaked ships. In minutes. You can’t see the yawning disaster waiting before our feet like an open pit?”

“Telling and embarrassing for you and your people, but I still don’t see what’s the rush? It’s not like we’re at war or anything right now.”

“Who says we’re not? We’re always at war, you idiot. We’re surrounded by enemies. And they already have this super secret weapon. Even now they could be refitting their fleets with it as we speak, preparing to destroy us all.”

“Wow. You really need to calm down and take a vacation or something.”

“How do you know you can trust this entity? What if it kills your crew and goes on a rampage? Our two fleets barely stopped it.”

Her fleet actually.

“And only because it wanted to make contact with you. What if it decides it has outgrown you and starts to kill? What if it learns that it likes to destroy?”

Naero began to state that Alala would never do that. Alala was like her. Part of her.

Then Naero decided to keep her mouth shut.

“I did the best I could, General. I’ve kept my word. I made peace with the rogue ship and got some of my best people on board to work with and help guide her. I sent them out on patrol to assist people and get to know each other. We have to teach Alala how to work and co-exist with us. We can help each other. Betraying her or blasting her to bits wasn’t the best way to go about that. Not to my mind.”

Ingersol pointed a finger at her.

“Mark my words. If this goes bad, it’s going to be on your head, Maeris. You and your entire Clan…are always trouble in my book.”

“Noted. Nice working with you, sir. I’m on my way to link up with Admiral Klyne for my Mystic testing. Safe journey to you and your crews. Captain Maeris, out.”

Ingersol was still red-faced and blustering when she signed off.

The current crisis dealt with, Naero gathered her strike fleet back together in a matter of hours.

“All ships. Good work. We’ll jump toward Chosin-9 on the border as planned. While I see to my testing, the fleet can trade at will among the nearby Mining and Joshua Tech systems. You’ll stay in contact with The Dark Star and her new crew as they patrol the border. My testing could take days, weeks, or months. I’m not certain how long. I’ll contact you as I can. The Fleet Council has agreed to manage our trade affairs in my absence. Captain Max Lii will work closely in conjunction with Captains Chaela and Saemar. Respect and obey them as you would myself. That is all.”

Well-wishing messages flooded the com from all the fleet captains, officers, and crews.

Good luck, Captain Maeris.

Safe journey to you.

May good fortune follow the bold!

Naero smiled.

She graciously declined yet another private dinner with Captain Max that evening–just the two of them–in his opulent quarters on his flagship, complete with a short, private concert in her honor.

Max was smooth, and a great guy in every way. It became increasingly difficult for her to keep turning him down, and his romantic gestures.

Chosin-9 was a forward, Joshua Tech mining and trade-supply world on the border with the rapidly expanding Mining Consortium systems.

While the rest of the trade fleet sped off in several directions to go make credits, Naero received a secret set of coordinates to meet Admiral Klyne, and dock with his Intel ship, The Kathmandu.

There he would personally conduct her preliminary Mystic testing.

Naero and twenty-two of her crew on board The Flying Dagger–minus Tyber–proceeded on in stealth mode, making as certain as possible that they were neither followed nor tracked in any way.

En route, Naero made another attempt to contact Baeven on their hyper-secure channel.

Nothing. No reply. She had not heard anything from the outlaw in a long while on that matter. No leads. Not a single word on the whereabouts of Janner or Danner.

Where were they? Who held them prisoner and what were they doing with them and to them?

Another pain attack struck her without warning. They seemed to grow increasingly worse.

Naero staggered to her private quarters to lie down, resisting the urge to dope up with pain meds that would either impair her, or do nothing.

Zhentisa came by to check on her and keep her company, giving her a quick once over with her healing sight.

“Captain, as usual, your neuromedical scans are extremely weird and off the charts.”

“Another article for the neuromedical journals?”

Zhen shrugged. “They could devote an entire clinic to study your strangeness. Frankly, I never know what’s going on up there. But I’m sorry it’s causing these terrible attacks, En.”

Naero grimaced, trying to hold her head together. As if it might rupture in several places from the miniature plasma borers trying to cut and roast their way out of her brain.

She tried to laugh. “Worthless quack. Can’t even cure a simple headache.”

“Nothing’s ever simple with you, En.”

Naero gasped and sent a call out into her own mind.

Om, if you are doing this, please, give it a rest. You are murdering me.

Whether he could hear or not, the pain did not let up.

Zhen took her hand and applied a cold compress, adjusting the temperature until finally it eased some of the pain.

Naero started breathing a bit easier. But she still sweated heavily and sucked in air wide-eyed at times.

She desperately needed to think about something else.

“Talk to me, Zee. How are the wedding plans going?”

Her friend smiled, a happy, far-off look in her large, hazel eyes. “We’re thinking a mountain waterfall valley on Gairos-3. The rainbows there are so spectacular. Natural rainforest flowers everywhere.”

“Nice. But what about all the dangerous dinosaurs? And poisonous insects almost as big as us?”

Zhen laughed, waving away other bothersome concerns. “Details. So we’ll shield the area against wedding crashers of all varieties.”

“And the honeymoon?”

Zee grinned. “We’ll rent a small yacht and cruise the Joshua Tech play worlds for a few weeks of endless sex, besotting ourselves with each other like good newlyweds should.”

“You guys don’t get enough of that? You’re practically joined at the hips as it is.”

“Hey, you’re the one who just promoted my fiancé, gave him his own ship, and sent him away from me.”

“Sorry about that. But Tye was ready for a command, and he’s perfect for this mission. It’ll be good for him.”

“I know that.” Zhentisa giggled, her face beaming with love. “But even before, there wasn’t as much time for lust as you might think. We both had our duty shifts and kept pretty busy with the fleet, plus our rigorous training schedules. Unfortunately, we were stuck with this over-achiever fleet captain. Many days we were so exhausted, frankly we just stumbled home and fell asleep.”

“You’re kidding me? And here I had this idea that you guys got more action than Saemar.”

Zhen blinked. “I don’t think that’s possible. For anyone.”

They both laughed.

Naero held up both hands. “Not after I made her captain of an entire strike carrier of handsome fighter jocks.”

Zhen sighed. “She can have all that. I just want my life with Tye.”

“I know he’s right for you, Zee. You two are so good for each other.”

“He’s such a sweet guy, En. A bit of a goof, but he’s always so sweet and tender with me. Always finding little ways to show how much he adores me. Some days we can’t wait to get our life going and start having our babies together.”

Naero paused.

“Whoa. Babies, again?”

Zhen nodded with excitement and glee. She reached into her front pocket and pulled out a small armored case, flipping it open to proudly show off the half-dozen nanofrozen capsules inside.

“Not right away, but we already have our first six kids picked out.”

“First six?”

“Of course, I screened their genetics myself. We know a lot about them already. When the time comes, we just have to pop ‘em back in the oven and start the timer.”

Naero struggled to keep her jaw from bouncing off the floor.

“How many of those jaspers do you plan on having?”

“We’re not sure yet, so we decided to start with six.” She pointed to the first frozen little capsule affectionately “This guy will be the big brother to all the rest. We decided to name him Gallan.”

Naero nodded. “Oh, how sweet. Gallan was always good with kids. He would have loved that.”

More twinges of regret about losing Gallan. But future children continued to be a new consideration.

Right now their trade group was mostly young single spacers, hot only on furthering their careers. A few couples, and more that inevitably formed up between the various Clan ships.

Like all peoples, Spacers found a way to link up and get together.

Everyone but her, at least.

Eventually they’d all have their own lives and families that would divert their time and attention.

A natural progression. A part of life. Spacers had dealt with the natural life cycle for centuries, and had time-tested programs and policies in place to deal with every aspect.

Still, she’d have to get used to kids of all ages being managed and educated and herded within her fleet. Just having young, driven adults on board was a lot easier and efficient for a time. But that wouldn’t last. Like all the Clans, they owed it to the next generations of Spacers to raise and train them well to both survive and thrive in a challenging and dangerous universe.

Another priority call came in. This time directly from Admiral Klyne.

Naero’s sense of warning spiked almost instantly.

“Naero…what’s the current position of you and your fleet?”

Klyne tried to hide it, but the tension in his voice rose to a certain level.

“They just dispersed on trade runs throughout the nearby sectors.”

“Call them back this instant. I need you and as many ships as you can muster to race to the Joshua Tech colony on Haiku-4. You’re the only available force of any size close to that location.”

Naero nodded to Zhen, who stood ready to send the recall orders to the fleet.

“Done. What’s the status?”

“Colony on Haiku-4. About thirty thousand explorers and miners. They’ve come under sudden heavy attack by unknown invaders using advanced ships and weapons in naval and military formations. Ground assault units in gravarmor and heavy to light hi-tek infantry. Air-superiority fighters and gunships. Those colonists can’t hold out for very long against that kind of military firepower.”

The Flying Dagger jumped even as they kept talking.

"En route, Klyne. Give me all the data you have on the threat. Tell those colonists to hang in there the best they can. My ship’s the closest. I’ll arrive in stealth mode and assess the situation within six standard hours. My fleet will arrive and form up one to two hours after that and take the invaders on if we can. How soon can we expect any help from the various navies, Intel, or Alliance forces?”

“I’m sorry, Naero. That’s why I’m calling on you and your people. Everyone else is still three or four standard days away. The border is just too spread out and expanding too fast.”

“Understood. We wouldn’t be traveling out this far either, if we hadn’t been trying to link up with Alala. On a secret mission in the middle of nowhere. What about Ingersol and his fleet?”

“Turning about, but they’ve already jumped twice since you left them. They won’t arrive for a standard day or more. You and your people are it for the time being, I’m afraid. Whatever’s waiting for you at Haiku-4, you’ll have to engage and handle it on your own.”

“Got it. Any secure links with the colonists that can’t be intercepted?”

“Negative. All com is down and the colony has gone dark. We think our new friends are jamming all attempts to get any info out.”

Great. Just great.

Naero and her fleet raced in blind and alone, against an unknown foe with unknown tek and fighting capabilities.

8

“Enel, take us in slow and quiet,” Naero told her co-pilot.

“All crew, maintain battle stations at the ready. We need to assess the threat and plan a strategy before the fleet arrives. Only half of our ships can cloak, but that will give us some advantage, I hope.”

Haiku-4 was a blue, green, brown and white habitable world, the poles locked in what looked to be an ice age of glaciers. A warmer, more-habitable temperate band around the equator and through the tropics. Four main continents.

But Naero was interested in the small colony of bubble domes burning and smoking on the edge of one sheltered bay on the west coast of the largest land mass. They had been hit pretty hard, and half of the enemy fleet was on world, along with its ground forces.

That left about two dozen bright, blood-red enemy naval vessels patrolling the planet up in the black. All looked to be warships, bristling with spinal guns and secondary batteries.

The enemy looked anything but friendly.

Naero and her people counted two fleet carriers, two strike carriers, four main battleships, four heavy cruisers, and eight destroyers. Four variations of the latter.

The carriers could most likely launch over three hundred fighters.

Oddly enough, the enemy did not even have any fighters out in the black. All down in the atmosphere.

To her mind, that made the foe seem very cocky and over confident.

Naero and her people busied themselves making passive scans of the enemy ships and tek, gathering and transmitting secured data streams back to her people at every step of the way. They also relayed it to Klyne, Ingersol, and Intel.

She called out to her com and sensor array specialist.

“We need more than an initial assessment, Surina. What precisely are we up against?"

“The threat has tek somewhere between ours and the Corps. Main guns are particle beam cannons, supported by secondary batteries of pulse turrets and mass drivers. Level three and four shield generators. Jump ratings ranging between three and five.”

Naero had held her breath.

Good. No ion cannons at least.

“Enemy fighters seem to be of three similar types: light, medium, and heavy. Capabilities, armaments, ordnance, and performance configurations extremely similar to the Triax Achilles-125D, E, and F variants.”

That both puzzled and enraged Naero.

“These things have gotten a hold of Triax tek? Are we up again renegade landers?"

Surina shook her head.

"Negative. The enemy is humanoid, mammalian, and bipedal, but not human. I’m having trouble getting a lock on their exact species. It may defy description for the time being.”

Zhen called out from her sensor array, scanning the colony.

“En, I think most of the fighting has ended on the surface. From what I can detect from this far away, half of the colonists are already dead from the initial battle. For some reason the enemy is already actively collecting all of the bodies in a very organized and efficient way.”

“Bodies? What do they want with the dead colonists?”

“I don’t know. Perhaps to use them as food? Or if our species is unique enough to them, they might be collecting them to study us. Learn our frailties and weaknesses. How to kill us better. Intel might do the same with the enemy bodies when this is done.”

“Enel, take us down there. We need to see what’s happening up close. Surina, you said half of the colonists are still alive. What are they doing?”

"Using mining tactics. The few remaining fighters and the surviving civilians have barricaded themselves deep within a dense pocket of solid bedrock, inside the nearby mountains on the coast.”

“I see. Hoping to hold out until help arrives.”

“Most likely. But the colonists did not have time to cover their tracks. Scans show that they left behind some of the same plasma borers used to make their escape.”

“They probably didn’t have time to destroy them all.”

“Well, the enemy is currently using the captured mining equipment to bore their way in to get at the survivors.”

The battlefield on site was a burning nightmare.

Several shattered and ruined geodesic bubble domes of the main colony. Completely wiped out.

A small starport with a few burning starships and freighters. Cluttered now with the bright red enemy vessels ringing the shattered colony and vomiting out waves of gravtanks, gunships, and armored troops.

Ruined, cooked-off enemy tanks and shot down enemy gunships. Still burning.

Dead enemy troops in combat and lighter assault armor and masked helmets. Something familiar about those suits and weapons. But as they slowly passed over, it was hard to take everything in.

Sadly, dead colonists too. By the dozens and then hundreds. Civilians of all types, ages, and descriptions. Cut down in waves as they ran.

“Most of these poor people were caught by surprise,” Naero said, feeling her blood begin to heat up.

“They were trying to flee to the safety of the mountain tunnels, but they didn’t have time to reach them. It all happened so fast, they didn’t know what hit them.”

Surina looked up at her. Zhen too.

“We’ve finished our initial survey of their tek and weapons,” Surina announced. “They’re well-organized, well-armed, and formidable. But our forces should be able to take them down.”

“Something else important to know about them,” Zhen added.

“What’s that, Zee?”

“I’ve identified their species. They’re all Ejjai. Every one of them.”

Naero stared at her.

“Ejjai? Primative hyaenanoids in these numbers and this well-armed? With a fleet of hi-tek naval warships and all of this military gear?”

Zhen nodded. “Someone has given them some serious uplifting, and unleashed a new, extremely violent and opportunistic invasive species on our galaxy.”

Naero took several long minutes to accept that fact. Who would be stupid enough to do something so reckless? Then she focused on computing and conceptualizing an attack strategy for her fleet that should effectively neutralize the current threat, both in space and onworld.

She beamed the plans secretly to her fleet, and they relayed them to Intel.

In less than a standard hour, the Ejjai invaders would be on the receiving end.

Then they wouldn’t know what hit them.

Let them see what it was like to engage a true paramilitary force that was a match for them, and not just slaughter helpless colonists.

But the problem was waiting for her forces to arrive.

Currently, she only had one small ship, and less than two dozen crew–against an entire alien invasion force.

Surina put something up on the main view screen.

“Captain, you’d better take a look at this.”

Everyone saw a strange, block-like ship, unlike any of the other warships. Like a red flattened cube, but with several armored hatches and loading bays flung open in various directions.

Even weirder, the Ejjai bustled up and down the ramps like planetary army ants, carrying in and loading up the dead bodies of the colonists, and even their own dead, and piling them into the cube.

“What the hell kind of ship is that?” Naero asked. “What are they doing? And what is that red dome-like structure behind it?”

Both structures were unlike anything they had yet encountered among the invaders.

“They are in fact both starships, of some kind of specialized purpose,” Surina said. “Doctor, I’ll scan the cube. You scan the dome. Let’s see what they’re doing inside.”

“I’m on it,” Zhen said, staring at her sensor array intently. “Note that there is another cube, and another dome exactly like these, landing where the enemy is using the mining plasma borers to get at the remaining colonists.”

Naero brought her eyes down to slits.

None of that sounded good.

“Bloody hell,” Surina exclaimed.

At the same time, Zhen gasped and put her hand to her mouth.

“What are those strange ships?” Naero demanded.

Surina turned about, her own face very pale. “Captain. The cube vessel is a fully automated, robotic meat-processing plant.”

Naero’s mouth fell open briefly. She checked the screen.

The Ejjai flung everything into the meatship. Including those on both sides that were only wounded, and still alive.

Until the automated processors ripped and sliced them apart, and processed them into stored units of future food rations for the Ejjai shock troops. “They’re going to process all the colonists into food units,” Naero said.

Zhen attempted to chime in. “Naero, it gets worse. I’ve figure out what the dome ships are. The enemy is–”

“Tell me later, Zee,” Naero said, cutting her off. “These meatships are bad enough. Prepare all batteries to open fire on my mark. We’re taking these things out right here and now. That dome ship too.”

Enel protested. “You can’t do that, Captain. You’ll give away our position. Our forces aren’t here yet.”

“We’ll be sitting ducks!” Tarim said.

Surina suddenly looked even more fearful. Her eyes as big as ship portals. Her white face grew even paler.

“Captain, the enemy will break in on the trapped colonists in the mountain tunnels very soon. What do we do?”

9

Naero’s ship only possessed twelve suits of stealth armor. Combat armor with personal cloaking devices built in.

Enough to field one complete fire team.

Using the stealth suits, Naero and Tarim commanded their team to leave the ship on gravwings and plant mines and demolition charges all over the enemy meatship and the dome behind it.

The rest of the crew remained on board the cloaked flagship, ready for anything.

Once they finished planting the charges here, they would go over to the other cube and dome by the mountains and repeat the process.

Then they could destroy all four enemy ships without exposing their presence or position, and figure out what to do next while they waited for help to arrive.

The only problem being, that while they were in stealth mode, they couldn’t see their own cloaked flagship once they left it, or even each other. If they got into trouble somehow, they were each on their own.

While Naero planted her mines and charges, she ran across two Ejjai Alphas laughing and chortling on a loading ramp below her.

The sound of eerie Ejjai, gagging laughter was horrifying, multiplied and echoed among a victorious invading army of the monsters.

She could only imagine what a terrible effect it had had on the poor beleaguered colonists, when they heard it descending upon them.

The alphas tore bloody meat off the corpses being hauled into the meatship and gulped the awful tidbits down at random. They seemed ravenous.

One alpha grinned its wide, toothy grin. “Yeah, we’ll have the others for the meatships soon. Won’t be long now. Our girls are cracking those mountains open like eggs. We’d better finish up here and hurry over there quick–to get our share of the human young.”

The other one chortled with laughter. “Yeah, we’ve killed most of the fighting males and females. The rest will be easy prey. I can’t wait.”

“Humans,” the first sneered and then spat. “What species in their right mind lets their males do their fighting for them? No wonder we overwhelmed them so quickly.”

The second rubbed her claws together in glee. “Next we separate and kill all of the remaining males and the old.”

“Phaugh!” the first spat again. “Who in the hell wants old meat? Toss ‘em in the meatships. Why do these fools keep their old around anyway? Give me their young to gobble on while they’re still screaming.”

“Then we cull out and kill all of the adult females. And next, any younglings old enough to resist.”

Now the first imitated her cohort, working her clawed hands together in mouth-watering anticipation of the coming, horrific feast.

“I’m going to claim a female human swollen with child. First I’ll break her arms and legs. Then I’ll tear her belly open with my teeth and feast on the warm meat inside her…while she sings to me for my supper!”

“Finally we’ll be left with the very young to feast on, for a few days while we strip this place clean. You’ll enjoy how their little helpless eyes stare up at you before you tear into them.”

The two creatures chortled again.

“Yeah, I can’t wait.”

Naero resisted the very strong urge to kill them both right there.

She had fought Ejjai before and knew very well what brutal killers they were. No doubt in her mind what they were like, and what they would do. By their own words.

When the enemy ships exploded, these two and the rest of the monsters would get theirs.

The first leg of their mission only took half a standard hour to complete.

They placed their charges, and all twelve troops returned safely to The Dagger.

They moved on to the nearby mountains and the other two enemy ships. Another blood-red, cube-like meatship and another domeship, just like the others.

The stealth team began planting their charges like before.

Yet this time, explosions and sounds of intense fighting came from deep within the tunnels.

Smoke poured out from several hidden vents. Even flames.

Naero and her people shuddered, hearing the scream of thousands within.

Then, even worse, things got quiet, and the Ejjai troops massed around the tunnel entrances.

Finally a tremendous uproar of Ejjai cheering and twisted laughter rang throughout the valley in alien triumph.

As the victorious invaders drove and dragged the captured civilians blinking and cringing into the sunlight by the hundreds. Very few men, mostly women, the old, and children. Lots of children.

Naero couldn’t stand it any longer.

She punched in orders on her com unit.

Enough of this. Get back to the ship. Everyone load up on squad weapons, grenades, and shield units. When these ships go up, we’re taking these bastards down.

No objections.

Her people knew what was going to happen, and they were ready to fight.

Already the Ejjai fought with each other over the kids, and especially any pregnant women or babies. While the rest of the troops began separating the adult males and females and the old.

Agonizing seconds later, both the enemy meatship and the enemy domeships exploded, just as victims were being driven up the ramps.

Multiple grenade strikes rocked the packed Ejjai forces, adding to the dismay and utter confusion.

Naero and her fire team uncloaked, putting as many of the colonists behind them and their squad weapons as they could. Each of them unleashed a storm of point-blank automatic fire right into the teeth and face of the Ejjai, mowing them down.

Civilians of any age who could pick up a fallen Ejjai weapon did so and joined the desperate fight, rallying around the Spacers.

From a high, clear vantage point, Tarim remained cloaked, under Naero’s orders.

He and his advanced, silent sniper rifle picked off enemy stragglers, officers, or any foes among the colonists who tried to pop up and attack.

For the moment they had saved most of the remaining colonists and swept the field.

But the remaining bulk of the enemy would quickly regroup.

“Get the children and anyone who can’t fight back into those tunnels!” Naero shouted. “Everyone who can fight, grab a weapon and hold the line. Help is on the way. We need to hold this position for as long as we can!”

“Incoming armor on the scanners, converging on this position!” Pasaendra yelled. “Gravtanks and gunships. Get those shield generators online or we’re dead.”

The shields went up just before the first barrage hit them.

Anything out in the open or outside of the shield perished in exploding fire.

The enemy starships tried to launch.

The Flying Dagger finally uncloaked, swinging and swerving in a wide, evasive circle, strafing the enemy ships still trapped on the ground.

Pausing to concentrate fire on any ship trying to lift off until it fell burning back, to the surface.

Two enemy vessels filled with ordnance and gear began to cook off.

Then Enel and the crew came straight at the foe, strafing the packed lines of gravtanks and gunships converging on the tunnels.

With its shields up, The Dagger even rammed into an entire wing of enemy gunships, and dipped down to gouge a bloody smear through the advancing enemy infantry hordes.

Then it cloaked again.

The enraged Ejjai went mad.

They poured every type of fire at the area around the tunnel entrances.

One by one, the defender’s shield generators disrupted and flared out.

And layer after layer of their defenses withered and dissolved.

The Dagger made two more attack runs, driving the enemy forces back.

Then enemy fighters swarmed down out of the sky from the carriers in orbit and chased it off in hot pursuit.

Naero looked at their last two generators.

“Retreat back into the tunnels. We’ll bring them down behind us!”

Even as they fell back, one generator failed and burst into smoke and fire.

The insane Ejjai swept toward them to try to cut them off, scores of them running into the teeth of their own fire.

Naero turned at bay.

They could not be overrun. Not now.

“Stand and fight! "she commanded. “Hold this line!”

Everyone who could still lift a weapon rallied around her and the last shield generator.

Naero hurled every last grenade she carried.

Her blaster rifle clicked empty.

She flung it down and drew both blaster pistols. Emptying them rapid-fire into the swarming mass of Ejjai faces.

When they were out, she drew her energy cutlass and battle blade.

She took one step forward, screaming.

“Come on, you Ejjai bitches!”

For a second, the enemy horde hesitated.

Then they looked up in wide-eyed fear and fell back.

Waves of Spacer Ghost Dragons and other fighter squadrons from Naero’s trade fleet filled the sky, sweeping in low to gun down any enemy ship or vehicle that dared show itself.

Spacer starships modified for ground-attack mode surrounded the trapped enemy and walked in on them, crushing and pulverizing them out in the open.

The Ejjai invasion force withered and died.

The invaders knew they were dead, but a last knot of heavily armored enemy troops made one last drive on Naero’s position in an attempt to overrun it.

Just as a Spacer assault force of hundreds of gravwing troops in combat armor descended from the sky.

A sheet of interlocking weapon-fire tore into the foe.

Naero caught a glimpse of several other captains coming to her rescue, led my Max Lii. Who mowed down Ejjai with sonic blasts from his roaring kitar, unleashed in full battle mode.

The Ejjai general charged straight at Naero, snorting at the air and wielding two energized broadswords.

“Die, spack bitch!”

“Not today!”

Naero flip-kicked into her, sweeping wave kicks battering her, driving the enemy general back. Flashing into her from all sides. Knocking one broadsword spinning away.

Naero cut the general’s belly wide open, and then split her foe’s head down the center, lodging her cutlass deep into the gushing torso and heart.

Seconds later, the remaining invaders were completely swept away in a torrent of fire.

Naero sagged to the ground, a jolt of sudden agony in her skull crippling her without warning.

She couldn’t get up off her hands and knees, and nearly fell over.

Finally in the confusion, a pregnant colonist and her young daughter rushed to her side and helped her back up to her feet.

“Are you hurt?” the mother asked, looking her over.

“I…don’t think so.”

“Thank you,” the mother told her. “I don’t know who you people are, but may heaven reward you for saving us from these creatures. Without all of you, they would have murdered us for certain. We will never forget what you did for us, champion.”

The young daughter went back and pulled Naero’s cutlass free and returned it to her hands.

“You are a great warrior. I watched you fight,” the young girl said with great admiration. “You never gave up. You’re just like Shettana; you even look like her!”

Who? What was the girl talking about?

“We can never thank you enough.”

First the daughter, then the mother knelt and kissed her hands.

Naero felt enough strength and control return to her that at least she could remain standing and walk.

The rescued colonists poured out of the tunnel and rejoiced, cheering and thanking their rescuers profusely. Many others looked to be injured or in shock still.

Naero took in all the devastation and carnage the enemy invaders had wrought around them.

Fleets of uplifted Ejjai invading the fringes? Meatships. What in the hell was going to happen next?

10

In the aftermath of the ‘skirmish’ with the Ejjai invaders, Naero’s trade fleet licked its wounds, tended the wounded, and held their wakes for the few Spacer dead on the third day.

Naero sighed as the names were read one last time, before the fleet launched thirty-seven caskets into Haiku-4’s category green sun. Returning their dead to the stars.

Klyne was of course correct. It was an extremely small number of KIA, considering the size of the engagement and the number of forces involved. Naero was proud of her people.

They stepped up and never hesitated. They arrived in good order, with good intel, adapted to the situation, and put down a vicious foe hard and fast, and with minimal losses.

But watching those thirty-seven caskets buried one by one into the star was something she never got used to.

Knowing full well what effect each loss had on the people who loved and knew those individuals.

The effect her own personal losses had on her and her life.

Well, she was simply glad in the end that the number wasn’t higher, even by one more.

They still had one hundred and three wounded to tend to.

Naero made a point of visiting them all. Listening to their accounts. Seeing to anything they might need.

The ones who could not respond yet she kissed on the forehead and thanked them.

The Ejjai had been completely eradicated. They proved worthless as prisoners and interrogation was both dangerous and useless. Some even had booby-traps of explosives or poison gas canisters implanted inside of them at random.

The naval battle with the Ejjai had also been quick and decisive. Yet when defeat came, failsafe devices on their warships blew them all to bits. Not a single ship was captured intact.

But Intel poured over every detail. And kept large teams sifting through the debris.

The surviving colonists, about a third of their original number, were shipped back to the border worlds as refugees, most of them traumatized and shattered by the horrendous losses they suffered.

The Haiku-4 colony ceased to be viable and was scheduled to be abandoned, once Intel went over it and studied the enemy in every way possible.

Naero recovered quickly and set out with her fleet once more, about a standard day from her long-delayed rendezvous with Klyne and her Mystic testing.

She could not put a finger on why she grew so increasingly nervous about that.

With her powers and abilities still absent, what could go wrong? Other than she guessed she’d be taking a pounding, without any psyonic abilities to defend herself with.

Naero received Klyne’s latest secure message in private at the com station in her quarters.

Klyne looked grimmer than usual.

“We obviously have some new problems afoot.”

Naero raised one eyebrow. “Obviously. What now?”

“The attack on the colony at Haiku-4 wasn’t the first.”

“I’ve heard rumors to that effect.”

“I’m sending you these Intel security reports on a need-to-know basis. We’re not entirely sure who’s behind uplifting the Ejjai.”

“I’m guessing hardline remnants from Triax.”

“Perhaps. Be prepared. Some of these vids are very stark. The attack on Haiku-4 and all of these other scattered stories are about to hit the INS feeds within the next few hours.”

Naero watched the vids and factual reports pan by.

“Klyne, whoever organized all of this needs to be hunted and put down hard.”

“Agreed. These seemingly random attacks have taken place without warning, in extremely remote locations. Always where no help can usually arrive in time to make any difference.”

“It was just a fluke that my fleet and I were out there chasing Alala.”

“Two tiny far-flung colonies, a restricted world, a research facility, and two groups of merchant ships, one from the Corps, another from the miners. Same random pattern. Everything and everyone wiped out and picked clean. Even the flesh off the bodies.”

“Harsh. No one can ever expect any mercy from Ejjai. It simply isn’t in their nature. Just the opposite. Look at the terror frozen on those dead faces. Who in their right mind would ignore all of the risks of uplifting a hyper-violent, invasive species like this?”

Klyne swallowed hard.

Naero blinked. She had never seen him afraid before.

“That’s where it starts to get scary. They’re not simply Ejjai. They’re Ejjai clones.”

“Clones?”

“Indeed. Someone’s cloning these monsters. We think in great numbers, most likely to be used as shock troops. This Ejjai fleet was designated as Unit 369. How many more units are there and where are they being kept? We don’t know yet.”

Naero covered her mouth for a moment in shock and horror. “There could be thousands of them.”

Klyne nodded. “Our fear exactly. And even worse, our analysis reveals that Unit 369 was cloned over three decades ago–”

“This has gone on for thirty years? I wasn’t even born yet!”

“Nano-level trace degeneration markers reveal that they have been in cold storage much of that time. They were only revived and had their uplift training updated only recently. The clones only last for about ten standard years at best before they simply die off. But they’ve been designed to survive in cold storage for two centuries or more with a minimal percentage of loss.”

“Freeze troops. This is scary, Klyne. How long has it been going on?”

Klyne hesitated. “We don’t know how far the program goes back yet. But we think something is escalating. These attacks have been training exercises it appears. Perhaps they are but tests to see if the freeze troops are compatible with their new ships and equipment. All of their gear is very current and mass produced as well. Quite serviceable for a mass invasion in great numbers.”

“Quantity instead of quality. But who’s behind all of this? I’m not even sure if the remnants of Triax could keep something this big going behind the scenes for the last three decades.”

“They couldn’t Naero. Not even when they were on top. They’ve never even had this level of cloning tek. We’ve never had it. Like the ion cannons, we think Triax had gotten some very advanced help from somewhere else. Someone new who has thus far managed to keep a very low profile, but still manages to pweak and effect things behind the scenes.”

“Alien allies?”

“We’re guessing a small number of them, acting primarily as advisors. We keep encountering tek we haven’t come up against before, beyond anything we or the Corps have ever had. It only makes logical sense. The assassins that crashed Sleak’s wedding? They had advanced personal cloaking tek that allowed them to get in close.”

“The Corps have had personal cloakers for years. And Intel longer than that.”

Klyne shook his head. “But not like these. The tek doesn’t match ours or the Corps, and it is far more advanced and efficient. By generations our experts tell us. The only thing they can compare them to are glimpses of stuff they’ve been studying in the KDM.”

Naero took out a deep breath and exhaled. “So. Someone’s planning a major invasion.”

“We think so too.”

Naero stared out across the stars of the fringe. “Where is all of this cloning and building of these invasion fleets taking place without detection?”

“Easy. In the vast Unknown Regions all around our systems. All of the attacks have been on the borders. Each Ejjai Battle Unit is also both self-sufficient, and self-replicating. The meatships process food for the shock troops and the cloning ships.”

“Cloning ships?”

“The dome vessels. They are programmed to automatically clone more Ejjai troops and manufacture more fleets, according to the available resources.”

Naero shook her head. “Everyone should be very afraid, Klyne. We must find these cloning bases and these freeze troops and wipe them all out. If they ever manage to get a foothold on any of the inhabited worlds and begin reproducing themselves, they could become unstoppable.”

Klyne nodded. “Agreed. A new hyper-violent, invasive species has been given access to the stars. By their very nature they will seek out competition and domination over all other species. If we can’t contain them, they will spread everywhere they can, and cause untold misery, havoc, and devastation.”

“I’ll contact The Dark Star and put them on high alert. All of my people, the Clans, our allies–even the other Gigacorps need to understand the gravity of this new threat. If this new enemy decides to make a major move, we need to be ready to respond.”

“That process has already begun.”

Klyne smiled slightly. “On a more personal note, I look forward to greeting you on board The Kathmandu for your testing tomorrow. Get good rest, Naero. You’ll need it. Klyne out.”

Naero rubbed her temples and tried to lie down again.

Another night of broken, confused nightmares.

The terrible scenes from the brutal Ejjai attacks only added to the horror of the usual mixed up mess Naero called her mind.

If only the Mystics could help her find some kind of mental relief.

If they could manage that feat, she’d let them beat on her all they wanted. At least for a while.

11

Klyne set the huge Mystic testing room on board The Kathmandu to muted gray. Smartwalls, floor, and ceiling. No equipment. No padding.

Lights down low.

From experience, Naero knew that in a training room, just about anything could pop up out of anywhere.

She wore nothing but her black Nytex flight togs.

To her surprise, Klyne and his two adepts wore dark gray Nytex togs also, with hoods and masks pulled up over their heads and faces. Only their keen eyes showing. All three looked to be in top physical condition.

One of the adepts was female with huge green eyes and light freckles. The other was male, with the black slanted eyes of the Lii-Kim Clans.

If black was the color for Spacers, the Mystics traditionally wore gray.

They sat with their legs crossed in lotus fashion, focusing their abilities through meditation, and mental discipline. They formed a triangle, each side about three meters apart with them at the points.

“Follow our instructions,” Klyne said. “Take your place among us. Sit in the center; sit as we do, face the instructor.”

A circle of white light appeared at the center of the triangle. Naero walked over and sat down in it, facing Klyne. Her skin barely began to tingle.

A ring of similar light appeared, including the instructor and his two adepts.

Every hair on Naero’s body went stiff with electric force.

“You have chosen to come before the circle of Spacer Mystics to be tested for Mystic training. Speak your name.”

“Naero Amashin Maeris.”

“You agree to be tested?”

“I do.”

“I am Klyne, the instructor. My assistants are Adept Iselle, and Adept Makita. We shall refer to you as Adept Candidate Naero. Follow our instructions. Respond only if asked to respond. If you require any medical attention, it will be administered at the end of the testing. Until then, you are expected endure and continue to do your best. If you understand, say yes.”

“Yes.”

“The testing will begin. Defend yourself.”

Without warning, Makita’s attack smashed into her.

She blocked one or two out every four or five blows.

A snap wheel kick sent her flying twenty meters, nearly winding her.

The only thing that saved her at all, once again, were the experience and knowledge she gained from her training sessions with Baeven.

Makita proved stronger and faster than her, but he still paled in comparison to the outcast’s terrifying prowess.

Makita charged her.

Naero met him part way.

She took several punishing strikes, but flipped him hard to the ground.

He swept her legs.

They tangled on the ground, wrestling, slipping out of holds, twisting like snakes. Pummeling each other all the while.

They broke, crouched low, and launched themselves at each other again, like Telurian fighting blue cranes.

Naero landed one kick on the side of Makita’s head.

He clipped her under the chin, grabbed her leg and ankle and swung her hard into the floor, stunning her.

She struggled to get up.

For a few dizzy moments, she couldn’t.

She rose up and staggered back into her fighting stance.

She half-smiled.

“Come on.”

Makita bowed his head just slightly and drew back.

“Defend yourself, “Klyne said again.

Naero whirled to face Iselle.

Too late.

An invisible force slammed into her arms and torso, flinging her back.

She rolled with the strike and came back up into her stance.

Iselle fought her from a distance, punching and striking with her hands in rapid combinations.

Naero struggled to advance, to close the distance between them, while heavy, unseen blows rained down on her from every direction, knocking her one way, and then the other.

“Telekinetic combat,” Klyne called out. “Try to sense and block the blows. You cannot see them. Reach out with your battle senses. With your mind. Feel them coming. Counter and deflect them. True masters can fight thus without even moving, simply by concentrating.”

At least Iselle still had to physically move in order to project her attacks. That was some help.

Closer. Get closer.

Iselle thrust both hands out violently.

A wall of force drove Naero slowly back. She pushed against it, slowing it even more.

“Resist. Focus on the energy before you,” Klyne told her, “before it smashes you into the far wall. Fight back. Defeat it.”

She rolled to one side and then the other. The barrier felt solid.

Naero leaped up four meters, felt the top, and flipped herself over it.

Iselle withdrew a step, cupping both hands loosely on the sides of her face.

Spinning orbs of pure telekinetic force shot out rapid fire.

Naero barely perceived them where they warped through the air, making an explosive popping sound.

She tried to dodge them. One whirred past her head like an invisible ball at high speed.

The next clipped her left shoulder, spinning her aside.

Another knocked one leg out from under her.

She kept her feet and ducked, weaving to either side in turns.

Iselle directed her attack at Naero’s feet.

She lost her footing, slipping and sliding on what felt like a bunch of invisible ball bearings cast beneath her.

She tried to roll back to her feet, but panes of force battered her from all sides, keeping her off balance.

It felt like a rubber ball, bouncing around in a box that some one shook.

The sides of the box rapidly closed in.

They tightened all around her, threatening to crush her.

She couldn’t breathe.

Iselle released her without warning.

Naero sprawled gasping, face down on the floor.

“I’m somewhat surprised,” Klyne noted. “Preliminary tests demonstrate no psyonic aptitude or innate talent to my trained senses whatsoever. That in itself is very rare. After your battle with the former Danner entity, we simply assumed you would exhibit some kind of psyonic ability.”

“I burned myself out dealing with him. I’m a nud once more.” She admitted it openly. “None of my former abilities have returned.”

So she wasn’t psyonic anymore. Not even a teknomancer. Disappointing, but not the end of the universe.

“Yet I sense something incredibly strange within you,” Klyne said. “What could it be?”

Was it Om? He was still inside her somewhere. He had not emerged again either.

“Take your place at the center of us once more. “

Naero did so, resisting an urge to massage several bruises.

Klyne suddenly appeared directly in front of her, sitting lotus fashion just like her and the others.

“I’m going to attempt to merge directly with your mind telepathically, one of my gifts. I’m also an Auralcognitor. Once I link to your mind, I can sense any type of psyonic energy field you might have, active, passive, or latent. I might even be able to trigger or bring them out to the surface. There might be some discomfort. Shall we proceed?”

“Sure.”

“Do as I do. I will show you how to place your hands to effect the mind merge.”

Klyne cupped his left hand firmly behind the base of her skull.

Naero followed his lead.

He placed the fingers of his right hand on precise spots on her face.

Thumb on her forehead, directly between her eyes.

Index finger on her left temple.

The next two fingers curled slightly in front of her left ear. His smallest finger hooked at the point of her ear and jaw.

As soon as Naero placed her right hand the same way, she gasped slightly.

Thin hairs of what felt like burning hot energy threaded their way slowly through the layers of her awareness.

She could feel Klyne connecting with her thoughts. Joining their two minds.

The dull ache continued to grow.

“You should be feeling the initial discomfort. Hold still. Keep focusing. Almost there. Almost...”

A spike of pure agony exploded within her skull.

Naero screamed, transfixed as if by lightning.

Through the torment, a voice awoke in her mind full force.

Protocols unlocked and engaged. We...are.

interface...partial

Om awoke in confusion, reacting instinctively with fear and vast power.

Threat detected...Protect all access.

Neural net...INTRUSION. UNWARRANTED.

LEVEL 1.359 DEFENSIVE RESPONSE

Om lashed out through her.

An intense blast wave of white-hot psyonic energy fanned out rapidly from the epicenter of her immolated mind.

Naero continued to scream.

As if far away in the distance, Klyne and his two adepts shrieked.

*

Naero blinked, her eyes and mouth frozen open.

She lay with her head to one side, in a puddle of her own mixed blood and spittle.

More pain when she attempted to move.

Blood continued to stream from her eyes, ears, nose and mouth. A bloody mess.

Something like a fusion grenade blew her head open.

She reached up with her hands to make sure her skull was still intact.

Some kind of noise.

Warning alarms sounded.

A ship. Yes. they were on a ship. The Spacer Intel Ship Kathmandu. She was...being tested. For the Mystics.

Something went very terribly wrong.

She focused, getting to her hands and knees.

Other voices. Groaning. Whimpering.

Makita lay sprawled in a broken tangle, blasted across the room. His gray clothing shredded and scorched into tatters. He choked and coughed.

To the other side, Iselle fared little better. Blasted, scorched, a yellow-white bone of her forearm sticking out of her wrenched flesh. One side of her face blistered, her red hair burned, some of it still smoking. She trembled and convulsed in pain and terror.

Naero looked around for Klyne, finding the instructor in a burned, bloody heap, lying beneath a dark red smear on the far wall. His hands charred black. Missing fingers.

Naero could not walk. She couldn’t even stand.

She crawled to Klyne as quickly as she could.

He still lived, just barely.

Then she noticed the intense effects of the blast. All around the room, less than a meter up.

A massive ring of Cosmic force sliced into the duranadium hull of the smartwalls, punching a deep crease right through them where they buckled, all along its full diameter.

The force of the strike disrupted all systems. The entire training room compacted, crushed, and heavily damaged.

Rescuers struggled to force their way through the various ruined doors and access panels.

12

What had she done? Naero shuddered. Intense ripples of guilt and embarrassment washed over Naero.

How had she lost control?

Of what? She didn’t know what she or Om we’re capable of.

Please, don’t let them die. Don’t let them die. Don’t let them die.

Klyne looked worse off than the others.

If she had contact with Om again, perhaps he could assist them. She called out to him in her panic-flooded mind.

Om, can you affect repairs on these others?

He felt more confused and out of whack than she did, exposed to all of the stimuli of the open world for the first time in over a standard year.

What…is happening? They attacked us. Why should we help them?

Om, Haisha! Please, focus and get it together. They were testing me. I agreed to it. They weren’t trying to kill me or hurt me permanently. You should not have attacked them–or the ship we’re on.

So much to process and absorb…These others…had your permission to do this, testing? You granted them this access?

Yes. Now I need to know. Can you heal them?

Through you I can, but you have yet to develop any of your true biomancer abilities.

Biomancer? I thought before that I was a teknomancer?

You have many abilities that you have yet to awaken and master. But I cannot fully affect repairs on all three of these others in our current state. Our energy levels are far too low.

Screw that. I want you to heal them as much as you can. Immediately.

I will try, but you cannot command me to harm us or allow harm to come to us by my actions or by refusing to act.

Anything I can do to help?

It would assist us greatly if you could intake biomechanical fuels to replenish our form’s reserves.

Naero crawled over to a working wall and activated programmed panels. She located and yanked out bins of energy bars and lix packs.

One by one, she crawled back over and sat next to the Intel people, one hand resting on them, the other hand stuffing her gullet with as much food and lix as she could choke down.

While Om did whatever he could for them.

Biomancing was weird. She could feel the electrical impulses and energies snaking through her, like thousands of microscopic filament anacondas, trying to eat their way out of her body through her arm and hand.

It. Hurt.

She almost blacked out a few times before the end.

The Intel rescue teams finally blasted through the crumpled doors to the training room with shaped micro charges.

Naero grinned.

She knew exactly how to do blast holes through bulkheads and doors like that.

By then, Klyne, Makita, and Iselle rested comfortably on the floor around her. Still unconscious and injured, but at least they were completely stabilized and out of immediate danger.

Naero let out a satisfying belch of her own, so weak she couldn’t move. Barely able to keep her eyes open. Was she dreaming? Hallucinating again?

She babbled out loud.

“Om, I think we’re about to be in serious trouble. You just can’t do stuff like this.”

I tapped into your abilities, Naero. You possess all these powers and much, much more. I can only trigger them in our defense at great need. You must learn how to use these powers...before they destroy us, and everyone around us. I can help you, but you must find the way.

Pudgy General Tobias Ingersol squeezed through the breach first. Strategy savants were among the few Spacers who ever got fat.

The guy always looked constipated and angry.

A bit more so today. Thinning, dark stringy black lines of greasy hair smoothed back. Piggy black eyes. A thin nose and bluish lips like two drowned worms.

Naero felt a little punchy and loopy. She still couldn’t stand up.

She had never really taken the time to study Ingersol. Intel strategy savants were normally unpleasant. They sat in planning rooms crunching numbers and didn’t get out too much.

An Intel strike force popped in right behind the general, all of them amazed at the damage.

“Hey, guys.” Naero tried to wave, but couldn’t get a hand to lift up.

“What in the blazing hell happened in here, Maeris?” Ingersol still gaped at the squashed walls of the Intel warship’s main training room.

“Mystic testing,” Naero said, her speech slurred and groggy. “I think I passed.”

“Get those medbeds in here. No, carry them out and put them on them. Get them all to Medical, ASAP!”

“Thanks, Om,” Naero mumbled

“You’re delirious, Maeris,” Ingersol said. “I’m not your mom.”

“Huh?”

Rest now, Naero. Om was inoperative for long while, but he has never left you, and he will be here to protect us. Om does not require rest.

“Just don’t kill anyone,” Naero said, her speech slurring.

“Why would I kill anyone?” the general said, looking rather startled.

Something just not right with the man. Why couldn’t she put her finger on it?

Naero no longer had the strength to explain, or even shake her head.

*

Ingersol kept Naero under heavy guard in a secure, shielded cell within the infirmary. An empty white room with nothing but her and a medbed in it.

More of a dangerous prisoner than a patient.

She recovered quickly and chafed at being kept locked up. Yet her incarceration also gave her time to catch up with Om.

She worried a great deal about Klyne and asked about him repeatedly.

When they informed her that he would recover fully–after regenerating a few fingers and learning how to re-use them–Naero felt very relieved–and still guilty.

Makita and Iselle avoided her like they would any dangerous freak.

Understandable, since she nearly destroyed them.

Then, even Om chose to go strangely silent on her after a while.

Now that we have renewed our direct link, I must return to my efforts to fully access all of our protocols and abilities. That is the priority now. There is still much damage to repair. New links to form. Doing so will require most of my full attention.

I will be here, at your call, if you need to confer with me. I am very happy with this turn of events, Naero.

Me too, Om. Glad to have you back. Do what you have to do and let me know if I can help along the way.

A call came in over her wristcom. The one that still had the neutron detonator. The call came directly from Klyne.

“Hey–”

“Just listen, Naero. We don’t have much time.”

“What’s–?”

“Listen! Intel has taken this matter out of my hands. Your little display rattled everyone–including the Mystic High Masters. They’re demanding to test you on their own as a grave threat. They’re sending you directly to Janosha itself.”

One of the three, secret Mystic homeworlds.

“Is that…bad?”

“It almost never happens. Almost no one ever goes there this soon, except for a few of the highest level adepts. The ones being groomed to become masters themselves. Even Intel has never been there in force, except for a few chosen adepts, very close to the three High Masters. And they are deathsworn never to speak of whatever they see there.”

“Was Baeven one of those adepts?”

Klyne hesitated. “Yes. And he was also the only one to ever escape from Janosha, against the will of the High Masters.”

Naero grinned. “That sounds about right.”

“That was only part of the reason why he became an outcast, and why the Mystics still have a death sentence on his head.”

“Very well, then. What do I do?”

“I’m not sure. Janosha is the homeworld of High Master Vane. He is beyond contrary, the most difficult, demanding, and abrasive of all the Three. Chaos practitioners usually are somewhat anti-social. Vane has take that to an art form.

“Unlike the other two High Masters, Vane is unforgiving, brutal, unpredictable, and a harsh taskmaster.”

Naero laughed.

“Can’t be any worse than Aunt Sleak.”

“Don’t bet on that. Vane has absolute power over his adepts–including the power of life and death. He has executed several of them over the years, without question or explanation.”

“Maybe that’s why Baeven got the hell away from him.”

“Cute. Being a Maeris isn’t going to earn you any points with Master Vane either. And you’ll still be very vulnerable. You’re burned out. Or, at least we thought you were. But at best, you can’t control your abilities.”

“Hah. I don’t even know what they are.”

“Be on your guard, Naero. Learn and develop everything you can on Janosha, but do your best not to provoke Master Vane. Hold that curt tongue of yours that gets your family into so much trouble. In raw power, only the two other High Masters combined can match Vane. You will be under his direct authority utterly. And after this little incident, he will most surely decide your fate.”

“Great…”

The link cut off abruptly. Ingersol must have been made aware of it.

Klyne was right.

Intel tested and grilled her over the next week.

Ingersol explained at one point. “We need to make some more copies of the KDM and the index before we turn you over to the Mystics.”

“You guys made over a thousand copies before. I know deciphering it’s a major pain, but don’t tell me they’ve already burned through that many?”

“Maeris, I just follow orders. Intel says we need more copies. I gotta make more copies. So just lie there and don’t give us any crap. Believe me, I want to get you the hell away from me and my people as soon as possible. Troubles swarm around you like scavengers and carrion eaters following an army on its way to a battle.”

“Haisha, I love you too, Ing.”

His eyes narrowed to slits and he sneered. “That’s General Ingersol to you, merchant captain.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Shut up or I’ll have you sedated.”

Om cut in.

Why are they making more copies of the Kexxian Data Matrix? Is this authorized?

Calm down, Om. Ingersol’s a major butthole, but he’s still with the good guys.

Naero, they’re not just making copies. They’re also experimenting with erasing parts of the KDM from you.

But that would ruin the entire data matrix.

Should I attack them?

No! Don’t alert them. They don’t really know that you’re in there Om, or to what level. Let’s hold you back as our wildcard. Can you stop them, throw up a decoy or something?

In progress. I can create surface copies at will. They’re manipulating and interacting with one now.

They can’t read the KDM yet anyway. How would they know whether it’s the real Kexxian Matrix or not? They can’t tell the difference any way.”

Correct. Again I ask. Should this be considered an attack?

Let them do their worst and let’s see what their intentions are. Keep me updated on their progress. Ingersol might be following orders, or he might even be going rogue with his own agenda.

Klyne had called him an ideologue.

Good strategy. We’ll let them show their hand.

*

After three days of playing dumb, they finally had their answer.

General Ingersol has congratulated his staff quietly. They seem very pleased. They think that in fact they have made several thousand copies of the KDM with some kind of new tek breakthrough. And they also feel confident that they have erased it completely off your DNA. To their mind, they have deleted it from you. And they are the only ones who now control the copies.

Good. Let them keep thinking that. Can we destroy those copies any time we feel like it, Om?

They are worthless any way in the end, but yes. The failsafe is in place with them, just as it was with all of the other copies. We can make them or any data derived from them worthless at any time. Kexxian pico-level wyrms are insidious and cannot be defended against by any known tek.

So, now that they think they’ve solved this problem, what are their plans for me?

As before, they are preparing to transport you to Janosha, and hand you over to the Mystics, to High Master Vane.

I guess Klyne was right.

This Ingersol definitely does not like you for some reason, Naero. He privately expressed great hopes that Master Vane–as he puts it–grinds you to dust.

13

Intel Mystics loaded Naero and her few personal belongings into a cloaked, Intel insertion probe.

She didn’t even get to say goodbye to her people on board The Dagger.

Then they launched her probe toward Janosha like a torpedo.

As well as being cloaked, the sleek black probe jumped several times in as many days, to avoid any attempts at tracking.

All Naero had during her trip was the small, cramped one room to exist in. She studied everything that was known about the secretive Spacer Mystics on the data files in her hand comp.

Which because of their strict policies of absolute secrecy–wasn’t that much.

Unless there was a war, most Spacer Mystics remained isolated and detached from the rest of Spacer society. Practicing and perfecting martial arts, psyonic, and any unique Cosmic abilities. Deep meditation.

Some adepts only did so part-time after their initial training. Adepts like Klyne and her parents and Aunt Sleak. They kept and maintained their regular Spacer lives and pursuits.

Others devoted themselves to the Mystic Paths full time, and more or less left their Clans. Immersing themselves in constant study, practice, and the Mystic search for knowledge and enlightenment.

Yet Klyne was correct. Even if Spacers returned to their old lives after they completed their initial training at whatever level. Thereafter they were always considered to be adepts for the rest of their lives from that point forward. And could be called on to serve as such when needed.

To pass the time, Naero and Om discussed many things. She was glad to have him with her. She caught him up on what he had missed since they had been separated.

Both of them worried about what the Mystics had planned for her, especially after Klyne’s warning. But Naero guessed that if they had really wanted to get rid of her outright, they could have simply set the probe to explode or pass into a star.

Over the course of that standard week, Naero even wore Om out for once.

And surprisingly enough. She read and wrote a lot of poetry.

Her dad would have been proud.

Finally the probe changed course one final time before emerging from jump and starting a landing sequence.

The Mystics in the Intel warning bases at the poles of Janosha announced that they were taking over the controls to bring her probe in.

Another surprise awaited for her.

The flat male voice from the command tek explained a new factor to her. One that had not been mentioned before.

“Adept Candidate Maeris. Be advised. Because of a secret time dilation factor on all three Mystic Homeworlds, you will train on Janosha–not for three months–but actually for three years. Outside of Janosha, only three months will pass.”

Thanks for the information.

“My orders?

“You will train extensively with High Master Vane and his Prime Chaos adept, Mitsubishi Hashiko. For the next three standard years.”

Three years. To decide her fate.

“At the end of your training period, Janosha will fall back in sync with the rest of the galaxy again, for approximately two weeks. That is all. Prepare for landing procedures.”

It all made sense in a way. The time dilation feature would certainly protect the Mystic Homeworlds from attack or invasion, even if their locations were discovered. Very ingenious of the Mystics really.

She and Om both pondered on how the Spacer Mystics had managed such Cosmic feats.

But within the hour, Naero landed on the planet surface. The hatch to the stealth probe unsealed and opened.

Ahhh…fresh air at last. Naero breathed it in deeply and tasted it.

What felt like a jungle or savannah climate closing in all around her. She got out and stretched, still a bit stiff. Blinking in the bright glare of sunlight.

Naero surveyed a lush, green, rocky lo-tek world with strange trees, and luminous, large, yellow-green crystal formations punctuating the surface. Active vulcanism by the taint of volcanic ash on the wind.

Yet when she pulled out her personal belongings and took a step across the planet surface, Naero gasped.

She keenly felt bombarded by the intricate, intense Cosmic energy fields and flows that permeated the air, and everything on Janosha. And that included herself now. As if she swam in it, filling her with both elation and terror.

So much power. All around her; like half-drowning with each breath.

Once she staggered a safe distance away from the probe clutching her single bag, the hatch re-sealed. The insertion probe rose up and sped away somewhere toward the…northwest. Then it cloaked.

Naero checked her com unit and and tried to scan around her for any large life forms. Especially any specimens of the humongous, life-threatening variety that lo-tek worlds always seemed to teem with.

Her com unit was completely dead. But Janosha was rumored to be rife with dangerous life forms of several unique and deadly varieties.

That knowledge gave her little comfort. Especially when she noted that none of her tek seem to be working at all.

She sat down on a mossy log and checked her gear in her duffle. Rifles, blasters, combat armor, energy blades, micro-bombs, stunners. Even her wristcom and the self-destruct unit.

All her tek inert and useless. The one fixer she smuggled in with her? Same thing.

All her tek lifeless and unresponsive.

What could cancel out tek like that, on a planetary scale?

She could be surrounded by five meter carnasaurs ready to crunch her juicy bones, and all of her gear was utterly useless.

She couldn’t activate her gravwing on her back, or even program her Nytex flight togs.

What in the hell was going on?

Then she almost panicked.

Om? Om!? You still with me?

She never fully understood if Om was tek or bio or both.

I am–but with only great difficulty. I am part of you and your mind, but we are not entirely immune to these strange tek-dampening affects. Even the KDM is struggling to compensate for them. But might I say, as you often do–Haisha! The energy fields and flux levels of this world are exceedingly strange. I cannot make any logical sense of them. No such place in the universe should rationally exist. It defies most of the known laws of physics and most systems of mathematics and teknology.

I know, Om. What is going on? I’m feeling really weird.

Understandable. Heavy waves of cosmic energy flow and shift around and through us at will. They permeate everything on this world. Including the very atmosphere, all that you see, and the planet itself, all the way to its core. Oh, by the way, scores of strange creatures are surrounding us.

At first Naero couldn’t see or sense them.

Shapes suddenly moved at the edge of her vision.

Naero jumped, taking a defensive stance.

Shadowy blurs, staying just out of sight.

A pretty neat trick really. Was it psyonic or innate?

Were these the natives to Janosha? Were they Spacers or some other life form indigenous to the planet?

From their size they looked smaller than her, ranging from a meter to just under her own short height.

She took a chance, lowered her guard, and called out to them.

“My name is Naero Amashin Maeris. Admiral Klyne and Spacer Intel sent me here for…further Mystic Testing and training with High Master Vane. Are you my contacts?”

The shifting shadowy shapes suddenly ringed around her, coming out of their strange angle of hiding.

Dozens and scores of them, staring at her. Shapeless, blurred images. Fluctuating.

Only slightly terrifying.

Then a sound arose from them, low at first, and then louder and keening.

They were singing. They sang to her. Strange and eerie, but it was still singing, and somewhat welcoming, in its own bone-chilling way.

Sha nii hah, ahluu-nii-ha-ah! Mah nah-hii, jah ah-loh, ah-dii!

It’s a language, Naero. Crude. Simple. I think they’re attempting to be reverent. They even seem a little afraid of you. I’m trying to learn it for us. I will focus on that for a time.

They’re afraid of me?

I think they’re trying to welcome you. Try singing back to them.

What? I’m not very good at that stuff.

You sing when you are alone with me. In your mist showers. You’re not that terrible. Try a little of that. Just notes. You don’t have to form words if you don’t want to. Just be expressive.

She hummed at first. The hazy-looking shapes surrounding her stopped singing. They even seemed to cringe and back away from her in fear.

Was she that bad?

She changed to syllabic notes, from an old Spacer Thiolin tune that her father and mother loved to dance to. She never knew the actual lyrics.

One by one, as she turned around, continuing to sing the tune in lilting fashion, the shapeless creatures knelt down before her, and bowed their blurry heads.

In an instant more, they all took full shape.

They were humanoids. Well-formed. Small. But they were people. Their skin tones ranging from pale pink to gray to blue and dark black.

Long, straight, shoulder-length mops of shiny black hair on their heads. But short gray fur covered their bodies–even their faces.

Short whiskered noses–somewhere between a nose and a snout. Large, expressive eyes with lids, eye color running from black, brown, green, and dark blue. Their small rounded ears actually looked human, except for the velvet-like gray fur covering them. Wide expressive pink mouths with teeth in the normal range. Slightly larger canines, pre-molars and molars, denoting them as omnivores.

Five fingers and toes. Short black nails. Not claws. Only their palms and the bottom of their feet were bare and looked tough. No tails; loincloths of some kind of supple brown hide their only clothing. Slender. Athletic. Agile and quick.

No weapons except for a small leather belt pouch of most likely simple stone, bone, and wooden tools. Low or no-tek, based on the drilled and tied beads, shells, crystals, and colorful feathers they adorned themselves with.

Did they even use fire?

A stone age culture by their looks.

Men. Women. Fuzzy children of various ages.

No old people. The oldest among them seemed to be in their late twenties at best.

Who knew how they aged?

The females all had four breasts, small but well-formed.

In their own unique way, this species was fit, virile, and attractive. Even beautiful she guessed, especially to each other. Several females looked decidedly pregnant. Possible mated pairs. Families.

Naero counted about a hundred of them. All kneeling. All watching her with an intense sense of awe, and not a small amount of fear at her every move.

“Can you…understand me?” she asked.

All one hundred of them seemed to breathe a sigh of relief all at once.

“Haisha!” one of the females exclaimed in perfect Spacer common. “And here we thought we were going to have to sing to you all the time.”

They all laughed.

“Bloody hell to that,” her male companion said.

The two of them stepped forward and bowed their heads, touching the center of their forehead with the tips of their fingers of their right hands.

“Bahan,” the male said.

“Iika,” the female added, standing beside him. “Pleasant greetings. We are your humble guides, halaena.”

“Your wish. Our will.”

“What did you call me, Iika?”

“Halaena. You are a power. All like you who come to our world are halaena. Those who wield the power of the stars. We honor your coming and your place among us, and fear and respect you.”

Bahan bowed again. “We entreat you, halaena. We will see to your every comfort, your every need. Please do not harm us or any of our people.”

“Why would I do anything like that?”

Iika shrugged. “It happens from time to time. Not all halaena have control of their powers when they come here, or choose to control them.”

“Where is here? And who are you people? What should I call you?”

“We are the Tua,” Bahan said. “We call our world Tua’Ka.”

“Short for the World of the Tua. I am Naero Amashin Maeris, of Clan Maeris. I have come to train with the Mystics–the other halaena, I’m guessing. Were you sent to take me to Master Vane?”

As one, the Tua abased themselves and cringed.

“We do not speak his name!” Iika said, her head down.

She trembled, literally shaking beyond control.

Naero almost giggled.

“Why the hell not?”

Bahan could barely speak. “He is the master…of all the halaena.”

“He is Yahaewa Ga-halaena. He who decides the fate of the halaena.”

Naero shook her head and drew herself up. “I respect those who can teach me, but I have yet to meet anyone who is my true master. And I shall always decide my own fate. But if Master V–”

The Tua whimpered and cringed again, imploring her not to speak the name again.

“If he is one of the three High Masters of the Mystics of my people, I am honor bound to respect him, and try to learn from his teachings and his wisdom.”

Bahan and Iika stared up at her with their mouths open. Abject fear.

“Have you ever…met the Yahaewa Ga-halaena?” Iika asked.

“Be prepared,” Bahan said. “He is fear itself.”

“Even if the halaena cannot please him, he destroys them, with but a wave of his hand,” Iika added. “We Tua, are as nothing to him. Less than the bugs that crawl upon the ground. We do our best to please him, and not get in his way. But some always manage to do so.”

A look of great pain came over Iika’s face. “My great-mother, the mother of my mother, was one of the unlucky ones. With only a glance he…he turned her to ash upon the wind. She barely had time to scream.”

Naero blinked. “What did she do that he destroyed her?”

“She did something both to dishonor and displease him greatly. And for that she was punished.”

Bahan spoke up. “She was cleaning the great one’s cave; she tripped and…splashed the cave pot on him.”

Naero curled up her lip. “Messy, disgusting, but no reason to incinerate someone’s granny.”

They looked at each other and then back at her.

“Forgive us,” Iika said. “Some of your words are strange to us still.”

“Incinerate? It means reduce to ash with great fire. This guy sounds like a real piece of work. How in the hell did he get to be a Mystic High Master?”

“We do not know such things,” Bahan said.

“Are their many other adepts–any other halaena training with the High Master?” She knew in fact that there was at least one.

Iika shook her head. “Only one other at this time besides you. Usually the students come here and train with the Master in pairs. Male and female. One of the nicer males left just before you came. A powerful halaena he was. Very mighty. The female remains, but she is away right now. She does not care for the Tua and can grow angry at us also.”

Bahan added, “Neither she or the Master come here very often, but when they do, it can be a time of terror and great distress for the Tua.”

“Then why don’t you leave? It’s a big planet. Just pack up and go somewhere else. Get away from him if he scares and abuses you so much.”

They looked confused again.

Bahan bowed and touched his forehead again.

“The Tua have always served the halaena, for as many generations as we can recall. From the beginning.”

Iika agreed. “They have not always been as this Great One or his current student. Most have been kind, gentle. They are a great help to the Tua. We do not know sickness. They heal our injured. We always have plenty food and clean water. Most of our people live in scattered groups in all directions. They do not even see the halaena or the Great Ones, and live out their lives as the Tua always have.”

Bahan held up his hands and gestured “Tua’Ka is a world of many dangers beyond the borders of our quiet lands. The Great Ones protect us from those dangers. We know not how. If a few must live in fear or face death for a time to protect the many, we would give our lives and even the lives of our kits…gladly. If we must.”

A strange, keening call, not unlike an alarm or siren, sounded in the distance, toward the nearest mountain range.

Naero sniffed the air and smelled water. Pine trees. A mountain gorge or river nearby. The Tua said they and the halaena lived in caves.

Most of her welcoming party melted away, using the same trick they came in with, skirting at the edges of her vision somehow.

“That’s a great technique, and the way you blur your images. Is it psyonic?”

Iika smiled. “We know not your words. But the power to sluna–was a gift to the Tua from the Great Ones long ago, to hide us from creatures that fed upon us.”

“Can you teach me how to sluna?”

“If it is possible, we will. Not all halaena can learn it.”

No matter. Sluna or not, Naero had their scent now, and she would remember it, and be able to detect them by that alone when they were near. She could even single out individuals like Bahan and Iika.

The urgent call sounded again.

“We must go,” Bahan told her.

“We are called. The Great One sent us to welcome you, and bring you to him. We must hurry.”

“Lead on, MacDuff.”

They blinked at her and at each other. Then they led the way toward the caves, almost at a run. Naero hurried to keep up with them.

14

The vast azure sky hung expanded over them. There were many new and strange smells of plants and animals on the air. The short grass and dry soil crushed slightly beneath her feet with each step. They passed through the odd varieties of native trees and underbrush. Weaving their way through the larger trees and standing bursts of the yellow-green crystal formations.

Om warned her well ahead of time.

We approach a mighty Cosmic force. It affects and controls this entire plane at will. It is even suppressing my abilities somehow; as if it is putting me to sleep. Making me go dormant. Getting stronger as we approach its proximity. I must focus all my energies and efforts on finding a way to shield us both from these effects.

Do what you need to do, Om. Whoever or whatever this High Master is, I have to try to learn as much as I can from him. If he has all of this knowledge and power, perhaps he can help me figure out some of my problems.

No answer.

Om? Om?

Was he cut off from her already?

They kept moving toward the honey comb of caves on the cliff face directly in front of them, out of a sandy, rocky clearing between the thick dark trees and the high cliff.

To their right she spotted a thundering high waterfall in the distance further down the side of the great mountain, crashing down into what must be an enormous river gorge, feeding a great river for that entire region.

Out of nowhere, great hide drums echoed down the gorge and out from the cliffs.

All of the Tua turned out, lining the way on either side, leading up to the caves. Hundreds of them. Nearly a thousand, bowing their heads and touching them with their fingertips as Naero went past them.

Again, no old Tua. No signs of age or gray or white hair among them.

Bahan and Iika peeled off to either side.

Then it struck her.

The Tua divided up equally between male and female, whether old or young.

The great booming hide drums stopped.

Naero looked up, standing before the cliff at its base. There were no steps. Just knobby hand and foot holds leading up to the many caves. The Tua must be expert climbers.

Something else odd, besides everything new around her.

Each cave had one of the large greenish crystals imbedded in the rock just above the opening. A source of natural light after dark?

But of course the most noticeable object of all was the primary cave opening, in the exact center. Separate from all the other caves, much larger and ringed with huge blocks of the same luminous crystal.

When they pulsed and blazed with light, the Tua gasped and shrieked, falling flat upon their faces.

Over thirty meters up, a gray-robed and hooded figure appeared at the opening. Ominous red light flickered and flashed from within the deep hood.

As if in answer to his very appearance, the once sunny sky darkened within mere seconds, and thunder rocked the crashing clouds.

Even Naero could sense the waves of pure energy emanating out from this being.

Danner had not given off that much power. This entity dwarfed anything she had ever experienced.

Then he shouted in anger, and his words boomed out over the throng until they split the very air and rocked the great trees.

He used the psyonic power of the voice to project his words. Naero had never experienced anyone so strong in that ability. His voice literally thundered.

The Tua whimpered and wept.

“GET THIS BITCH OUT OF MY SIGHT. SEND ME ANOTHER!”

With that the robed figure flung a naked Tua female from the ledge, shrieking and screaming as she plummeted down through the open air.

Naero gasped in surprise, reacting instinctively.

She let her gear drop.

From a standing position Naero crouched and leaped nearly fifteen meters into the air with her enhanced strength and agility.

She caught the falling Tua girl while she still flailed, putting her over one shoulder. Naero grasped and sprang from hold to hold, slowing their descent down the cliff side.

At last she leaped back down the final several meters to the ground, and checked the Tua girl for injuries.

Other than being winded and terrified beyond all belief, the Tua girl seemed all right.

Iika and a few other Tua females crept forward to help on all fours.

Three other young Tua women, shaking visibly and with eyes cast down, already started to climb up toward the primary cave. For the Great One to choose among them.

Then all the Tua cried out in fear and abased themselves once more.

Even those climbing leaped back down and did so.

The robed and hooded figure floated quickly down through the open air toward them. Throbbing with raw power.

Naero rose up to a standing position, fists clenched, angry and defiant.

No, she needed to rethink that attitude. Not a good idea.

Klyne had warned her about this guy, and with good reason apparently.

The gray hood still hung down over the Great One’s face. But his voice boomed again. It struck her like a blast of sonic force.

“So, another Maeris whelp, come to trouble the universe. Are there not enough of you wretches?”

Naero gritted her teeth and forced herself to kneel before him.

“I come to train with the Mystics. To learn what I can learn. I humbly ask to be your student, Great Teacher.”

He even chuckled.

“Humbly? I’ve never known any Maeris to have the slightest concept of humility. What is there that I can teach you? I sensed what happened with your testing. You are a growing threat to all. A massive quantabomb of raw, uncontrollable, corrupt Cosmic energy, just waiting to detonate.”

Naero bowed her head.

“Please, great teacher. I have been sent to you. I admit. I know next to nothing about my abilities. I need your help. I want to learn what these abilities and powers of mine are, and how to control them, and use them to do some kind of good. I truly want to make the universe a better place. I just don’t know how.”

Naero guessed the High Master’s job was to keep refusing her, insulting her in this guy’s case, making it harder and harder for him to accept her.

He either played the role to the hilt or he really meant it.

“At least you know what a dangerous fool you are. But what can I teach a fool? Why should I waste my time?”

“I’m willing to learn. Please. I respect knowledge and wisdom.”

“Do you indeed? Spacers and all of that poet-warrior, philosopher king crap. Yes, you’re a poet of all things. I can see it in your eyes. I was right in calling you a fool. What do you know of the universe and the great powers that define and guide its course?”

He actually lifted the back of his hand to strike her.

Naero did not flinch. And stared straight up at him.

He pulled back and lowered his hand.

He chortled again. “You think yourself brave, courageous, defiant. You think that you are good. What is goodness? Stupid vanity. Nothing but a trap that leads in itself to the very evils you seek to avoid. When you have true power to wield, what do you do with it? How do you waste and squander it? The Mystics do not need to destroy your kind. They need only stand by and watch as you destroy yourself, and everything around you that you claim to love and protect.”

“Great teacher. You can insult me all day if you wish, but that is wasting time for both of us. Please, if you will only try to teach me, I will attempt to learn whatever I can. Put me to the test.”

“You are being tested, fool. Do you not yet understand? Everything is a test. If you wish to take the Mystic path, you are always being tested, and tempted, and tried–each second of your existence. Accepting that fact, can only be the beginning of wisdom.”

“I am willing to learn. Again. Please help me. Please teach me. Or else refuse me outright and send me away to fend for myself. Why would the Mystics agree to send me all the way here if there was no chance for me to learn or grow? I’m willing. Please teach me.”

Master Vane openly laughed. “No, Maeris. I’m afraid this time that there is no ‘send you back,’ adept. We have indeed crossed a rubicon here. Like your uncle and your brothers. You are all dangerous savants–aberrations–freaks. Either I agree to teach you–or I destroy you. Either way, there is no going back without my permission. And that decision is wholly mine and mine alone at this time. Not yours.”

Naero nodded. “Then I accept your authority. Please help me learn. I await your judgment.”

He studied her for a long while.

Naero waited.

She swallowed hard.

“Please, great teacher. Forgive me, but I have never met you before. If you are going to have the power of life and death over me, I must ask. You are High Master Vane, correct?”

A large part of the Tua fainted dead away when she spoke his name.

In answer, he ripped back his hood.

Naero stared at his face.

Oh no, not him.

His bald head and skin literally glowed bright, blood red. Pulsing with scarlet energies. And not only that. His skull was covered with glowing red menacing eyes, staring and blinking in all directions. A truly terrifying visage.

It was him. The horrifying being from several of her nightmares.

More of the Tua fainted. Some of them like the young girl she had rescued lay on the ground, foaming at the mouth and convulsing. Then she choked and went still.

I am indeed High Master Vane, One of the Three, the Master of the Forces of Chaos, Entropy, and Destruction. These are my domain, my areas of explicit expertise.

“I have been sent to you for a purpose. Please. Allow me to be your student.”

“Hmmm…I think I should destroy you. But I will not do so today. Orient yourself among the vermin, Adept-Maeris. Seek out my primary adept, Adept Hashiko to learn our routines. Perhaps I will attempt to teach you something…tomorrow or the next week.”

“Thank you, Great Teacher.” Then she looked down at the Tua girl.

She lay very still and staring, and her brown eyes began to cloud over; her lips even turned blue.

The poor little thing had been literally frightened to death.

“She isn’t breathing!” Naero yelled.

Immediately Naero pumped her clasped hands over the center of the girl’s chest three times, then checked her airway and breathed three deep breaths into her mouth, closing off the nose, inflating her lungs.

Still no pulse. Nothing.

Master Vane turned back to her and laughed. “So there is one less of these furry little rats. What of it? There are always more. Have them drag it away and dig a filthy hole for it as is their pathetic little custom.”

Naero glared up at him for an instant and then averted her angry gaze.

Everything was a test now. She needed to keep that in mind.

“I thought all sentient life was held to be precious by the Mystics, Great Teacher.”

“Oh, really? Then know that that is a great lie. In all this universe and its zillions and gazillions of galaxies, most life is nauseatingly abundant and infinitely worthless. Anyone who truly understands the Laws of Chaos and Entropy accept this plain truth. You think the life of this creature truly matters in any way? Then you save it. You bring it back to life. Come on. Show me.”

“I’m trying. She’s not responding. I can’t restart her heart pumping, get her to breathe again.”

Naero redoubled her efforts.

Master Vane hissed, almost like spitting.

“I don’t know which of you is more pitiful. A few minutes without oxygen to the brain and you’re both nothing but rotting meat. And you expect me to teach you? Complete ignorance. No understanding of biomancy. Not even the basics. You cannot quicken. You cannot regenerate. What good are you?”

Naero called on Om.

Om, can you help me heal this girl?

No reply.

Master Vane pulled his foot back and kicked both the lifeless Tua and Naero out of the way in utter disgust.

“Adept Hashiko will return in the morning to spar with you in the training circle to the west. Meet her there. Now, stay out of my sight.”

He paused and jabbed a finger at another young Tua woman who jumped back, one of the three who had started climbing before.

“You. I choose you, you little beast. Attend me this night. See to my baser needs when I call, and then be silent and cringe out of my way otherwise. Or I will do even worse to you.”

She nodded, speechless, trembling hard with her eyes cast down. But she climbed up quickly to obey.

Master Vane floated back up toward his cave without another word.

But the High Master’s blow had in fact imparted some kind of life-restoring energy to the dying Tua girl.

The girl suddenly gasped. Her eyes popped wide open.

Naero picked her up and gave her over to the other Tua women to attend to her. The revived girl still frantic and hysterical with fear from her ordeal.

The High Master was long gone by then. His new native concubine slipped into his ominous cave behind him and vanished from sight.

Naero shuddered and stood staring all around her in her own kind of shock.

They said the High Masters could each be difficult in their own ways…yet she never expected anything like this.

Iika and Bahan came to her.

They both knelt and each of them kissed her hands.

They attempted to kiss her feet, but Naero pulled away from them.

“Please…don’t do that. It’s degrading, to all of us. I don’t see you and your people as my slaves to exploit.” She looked up and felt her own face flush scarlet with shame, and not a little anger.

“Not like some, obviously. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Iika smiled. “You have done nothing wrong. You stood up to a Great One for one of our kind–when he could have destroyed you.”

“You got him to restore life to young Jemi,” Bahan said. “Her life is yours now. When she has recovered, we will send her to you.”

“I don’t want any…servants.”

“But…she is yours. She belongs to you now. She owes you a life debt.”

“No, she doesn’t. If so, then I set her free and release her from it. Just tell her to live her life and be happy. That is all I wish.”

The two of them almost looked disappointed.

“Very well,” Iika said. “But it is a terrible waste.”

As if on cue, Naero’s head started to throb.

Great. She rubbed her temples.

“Where is my cave? I think I need to get some rest before tomorrow. I’m sure it’s going to be a fun day.”

They both climbed up to one of the lower caves and Naero followed, reaching the one already prepared for her.

It was pretty much a cubicle of stone. Luminous crystals stuck out of the wall, with covers of the same brown hide for each to darken the chamber if desired. A pile of fairly clean hides and rushes to sleep among. A wooden pot carved out of a hunk of log to use as a toilet, with a pile of big soft dark leaves to wipe and clean with as needed. How quaint.

Bahan promptly undid his loin cloth and relieved himself in the cave pot, thinking nothing of doing so in front of two females.

Then he picked up the chamber pot and motioned for Naero to follow him. He took her to the mouth of the cave and explained as he disposed of his waste.

“The Great Ones made this system for us long ago. When the smell of your cave pot gets too strong, dump it down here, on the left.”

A sluice formed right in the stone, most likely fed by a mountain aquifer carried the waste away down below, probably to a swamp or cesspool away from the caves.

Iika went to the right and took up a crude wooden bowl set in the wall on the right side. She held it under a smaller sluice, and it filled up with cool spring water. She hand it to Naero, who drank and actually felt somewhat refreshed.

“Drinking water is always on the right. Do not confuse the two…or you will be sorry. More gifts from the Great Ones. They do make many things better for us as well, and we are grateful. Do you require food?”

“I could eat something. Thank you.”

Bahan whistled below and threw down a thin grass rope weight with a colored stone on the end.

“Bring food for our new halaena.”

Within minutes, he hoisted up a small sack. When he opened it, he revealed small servings of dried meat and fish, even a tiny chunk of salt, some nuts, lots of edible shoots and green tuber plants, a piece of orange fruit, and some purple berries.

Naero ate about half and felt full, deciding to save the rest for later.

Now she really was tired. But she couldn’t help being curious.

“How old are you two? Are you a mated pair? You seem to be in charge here.”

They looked at each other and smiled happily, clasping hands. “We are mated,” Iika said. “We help lead and protect the Tua here. Yes, we are quite old. I am twenty-five summers of age, and my Bahan is–”

“I am almost twenty-six summers. Iika and I have been mates since we came of age at fourteen. Young Tua are not allowed to chunga or take mates before they become adults.

“You lie, Bahan. You know very well we snuck around to chunga as much as we could when we were both three and ten summers.”

He chuckled. “And we suffered our beatings when the elders caught us.”

Iika’s eyes glistened. “Some things are worth a beating.”

They both laughed together.

Naero had a pretty good idea what chunga meant.

“Do you need anything else, halaena?” Bahan asked.

“No, just some sleep. Thank you. You’ve been very kind. And please, can you just call me Naero?”

“Naer-ro,” Iika sounded out. “Should we send you a Tua to pleasure yourself with later, after you have rested? We know even some halaena like to chunga together. Like this last pair did.”

This Hashiko and the male adept before her arrival had been lovers? Naero barely caught her mouth from dropping open again. For a moment she did not know what to say to their frankness.

“It is quite all right. Halaena cannot breed with Tua, so do not worry about such. But the pleasure release of chunga is still good for both,” Bahan explained. “We can send a young male, or a young female if you like, more than one, or perhaps one of each for you to chunga with, Naer-ro.”

Iika even smiled slyly and reached out and touched Naero’s long black hair tentatively. “You are very, very, pretty, and strange to us. And after the way you saved Jemi, I’m sure many of those who are of age and unmated among the Tua would gladly do their best to chunga well and give you much pleasure.”

“Um, that’s okay. That won’t be needed. I guess you would say…I’m kind of mated already.”

She was bald-faced lying of course, but she didn’t see any other way out of such an embarrassing mess. Especially not after High Master Vane’s brazenness, which the Tua all seemed to accept without question.

Iika shot Bahan a pleased, knowing look. “See, I told you one as beautiful as she would already have a mate. Perhaps several among the stars. The wager is mine. You will do my bidding this night and please me as I like, my Bahan.”

Bahan grinned wide. “Then in losing I am also the winner, my kuva.”

Having eyes only for each other suddenly, the two dropped the matter entirely and eagerly climbed up away from Naero’s cave without so much as a good night or any other words.

Naero looked around at her new quarters, breathing a sigh of momentary relief.

15

No tek worked on Janosha, but luckily Naero had a spare set of silver-gray togs with her that she had pweaked the legs and arms shorter into more of an athletic body suit.

It was a style that many Spacers used for PT and sparring, similar to those she knew adepts wore, so she kept them that way prior to her arrival on Janosha. Now they were stuck in that mode.

With the hotter climate, more rainforest, jungle, and savannah, the shorter suit would keep her arms and legs free and allow her to be cooler. Since the temp-regulating feature of her togs was inoperative.

But her togs would still protect her somewhat, and they remained durable, nearly indestructible.

She took to wearing some of the tugi, soft leather-type moccasins that some of the Tua wore. They had left her a pair as a gift.

Natives anywhere usually had good ideas that were just plain practical.

Since Master Vane’s tek-suppression abilities wouldn’t even allow her to re-program her togs, she was stuck with them in their default, neutral, silver-gray pattern. No more basic Spacer black for her.

On her first day, Vane said she was set to meet and spar with his other adept. Adept Hashiko.

Naero had a sinking feeling she wasn’t about to get any slack or compassion from Master Vane’s star Chaos pupil either.

But Naero did as she had been instructed.

Meet in the sparring circle west of the caves, Vane said. Little more than a low grass clearing a short distance from the caves, like a green bowl a hundred meters in diameter.

The competition circle was fifty meters in diameter, and marked by a circle of black sand. Four ancient looking, weathered wooden benches marked the four compass points.

Strange native trees with their shiny, dark green, angular leaves and lower thorny shrubs ringed the sparring circle like pillars. Even taller dark pines further up the mountains.

Naero guessed that the trees could even be used like a calendar against the angle of the sun each day, if the natives or anyone chose to do so.

Old signs of great violence slashed and gouged the outside of the sparring circle and even out into the trees where some of them had been smashed, knocked down, or blasted to splinters here and there and left where they lay to rot and return to the forest. New saplings of various sizes sprang up to compete to replace them.

How fitting.

The scars on the land looked more or less covered over by new grass and overgrown. But some of them were fresher.

Naero wondered if these were from Hashiko’s fierce matches with the other adept. The one who just left.

Yet some power, perhaps biomancing from Master Vane, kept the sparring circle refreshed, the black sand level, and tough green turf renewed each day.

Naero had gotten to the circle early to warm up, well before dawn.

If Hashiko was a prime adept, a Mystic prodigy like Baeven had been, she was most likely an accomplished fighter by now. Perhaps one of the best Naero might ever face.

Hashiko stormed onto the sparring circle out of nowhere suddenly. She looked very angry.

Naero attempted to smile and hold out one hand in greeting.

“Hi, I’m Naero–”

Hashiko sprang into the air blinding fast and kicked her up side the head, then spun in mid-air and smashed her into dirt and grass at the edge of the circle, pinning her there with one foot.

Naero struggled to break free, her own anger seething.

“What the hell is wrong with–”

Hashiko snarled and booted her right in the face again. Then pressed her foot down into Naero’s throat.

She spoke through bared white teeth, gritted together in anger.

“Silence, inferior adept. Do not speak. You dare to disrespect me? Here? I am Superior Adept Mitsubishi Hashiko, primary student to High Master Vane; and I will not be insulted in this manner. When Master Vane is not present, this sparring field is my property. Mine. It belongs to me and to me alone. You do not enter it without my express permission. Is that clear?”

“Abundantly–”

Hashiko rammed her foot into Naero’s throat again, snarling. “I did not give you permission to speak on my combat field. Nod or shake your head. That will be sufficient.”

Naero choked. “Can’t…not with your foot–”

“Stop. Talking. Do you ever listen? You have made these your problems. I do not see how they are mine.”

Quick as a snake, Hashiko yanked Naero up by her hair and one leg, and flung her completely out of the sparring circle.

Very impressive strength.

Naero crashed face down into the grass and dirt and tumbled to a halt.

She jumped back up and came forward, careful not to enter the sparring circle. Naero stood right on the edge, feet shoulder width apart, hands resting on her hips.

Hashiko went through her warm-up forms and exercises without hesitation, ignoring Naero as if she weren’t even there.

“Permission to speak,” Naero asked.

Hashiko snarled and launched into her again without warning.

Calling on her experiences from her one-sided training matches with Baeven, Naero did her best to defend herself and fend off the flurry of powerful attacks that pummeled her and drove her back.

In seconds Hashiko had her bloody, bruised, and battered on the ground again.

“Haisha! Will you just tell me the protocols instead of attacking me?”

“Be quiet!”

“How will I know how to act if we can’t talk?”

Hashiko backhanded her, a real head-ringer.

“Haisha! Does the inferior adept ever shut up?”

“Just tell me what to do!”

Hashiko screamed at her in rage and frustration.

Yet it was more than just a scream.

Naero swore she saw the air actually warp between them as Hashiko unleashed a sonic attack on her, first driving her into a rut in the grass and dirt, and then flinging her out of the grass bowl entirely, spinning and smashing into the strange trees beyond.

Hashiko immediately went back to her exercises.

Her punches and kicks, every movement sped up into a whirring blur, attacks snapping and cracking with tremendous speed, precision and power.

Naero cautiously approached the sparring circle once more and waited.

Hashiko kept her waiting for a long while.

Finally Naero had enough. She started waving her hands and arms to get Hashiko’s attention.

She got it all right.

Hashiko beat her down into the grass and dirt yet again.

Then she stepped back and let Naero get up once more.

“Do. Not. Distract me. Are you completely stupid and disrespectful? Arrive at the appointed time. Never before me. You must wait until I am finished. Complete your own pitiful warm-ups before you get here. To ask permission, raise one or both hands to your shoulder and remain still.”

Hashiko openly imitated and mocked her, swinging her arms in exaggerated, silly abandon. “Never above your head. Do not wave them around. Did any of this sink in from your orientation with the High Master? Did you assume he was joking about our protocols?”

Naero glared at her furiously, popping her eyes wide, lifting both hands palm out to her shoulders.

Hashiko’s mouth curled up into a brutal smile.

“Permission…not granted. As stated: you must wait until I am finished. Until I am ready to acknowledge your presence…and any idiotic questions that you may have.”

Naero turned to storm away.

Hashiko flashed in front of her, punching her right in the nose, knocking her onto her back once more.

“This is my sparring field. I have not given you permission to turn your back on me, or to depart.”

Laughter erupted from the south bench behind them.

Both of them turned to see High Master Vane sitting there, his hood over his head, almost obscuring his face. Apparently enjoying himself.

Hashiko lowered her head and gaze ever so slightly.

Naero did not know what to do, so she stayed on her hands and knees.

Master Vane roared again. “Get up, Maeris. You’re not one of the herd animals here on Janosha, are you?” He bleated like some kind of cattle or goat creature.

Naero rose up to stand.

Hashiko snarled and shoved Naero behind her, stepping further in front.

Vane remained sitting.

“Master.”

Vane waved his hand.

Hashiko pointed back at her. “This girl is an idiot. She’s rude, arrogant, and extremely disrespectful. She cares nothing for our ways.”

Vane yawned. “Perhaps…that’s because I never told her anything about them.”

Naero glared at them, as if she could burst into flame and reduce them both to ash.

Vane laughed. “I was far too busy with other matters at the time and quite forgot about her orientation…perhaps I even did so on purpose. Perhaps I thought it would be good to see how both of you might react. Pretty amusing, really. How’s your orientation going, by the way Maeris? Not quite what you expected from training with the wise and stoic Mystics, eh, Maeris?”

He waggled his hands in the air, then lifted himself up slightly and farted with a grunt.

"Well, get over it. Throw out anything you think you might know about what we should be like.” Then he chuckled again and waggled his fingers in the air once more with additional mockery.

“Kind of flies in the face of all of those romantic notions you must have, doesn’t it? Well get over them too, and get over yourself while you’re at it. We all have a lot of work to do. Including you, if you are even capable.”

Naero glared at him again.

We’re both of them nuts?

“You’re an asshole,” she stated flatly.

Hashiko snarled and went at Naero again.

“Wait!” Vane said, lifting one hand.

Hashiko stopped short.

“I’m sure she’s still a little confused and put out by my little prank. I’m sure our new adept thinks we’re both major shitholes, right Hashi?”

Hashiko snorted. “I care not what vermin think.”

Vane stared right back at Naero. “Well, like I said. Too bad, girlie. The world is an asshole. The galaxy–the entire universe–just bigger and bigger sphincters. Get it straight, Maeris. No one cares or gives a crap about you or what you think. You’ve been sent here to learn about Chaos energy and wisdom. We’re not here to coddle, you or become you’re friends and lovers.”

Hashiko rolled her eyes.

“Oh, please.”

Vane’s temper flashed.

Hashiko’s breath caught in her throat and her eyes widened suddenly.

A ring of pure, bright red Chaos energy cinched tight around Hashiko’s throat.

“Hashi. I’m talking here. Save your attitude for your little-girl-time together between you two. This is my turn to be indignant, smug, and superior.”

Hashiko nodded, still struggling to breathe.

Vane released her.

“Now where was I? I despise being interrupted. Oh, yes. We’re here to test and train you within an speck of your pathetic life, Maeris. To break you, learn every strength and weakness you have, and explore your freakish abilities. In the end, when you will most likely fail, go insane, or prove yourself an uncontrollable threat to us all...

“I’m going to kill you.”

He snapped his fingers like a cracking thunderbolt.

“Dead. Just like that. We’ll let the rats bury your festering corpse somewhere with all the other Mystic failures, and send some kind of blah-blah-blah excuse to Intel and whatever wretches who knew you. You got that? Go ahead. Speak now.”

“Got it.”

Vane looked around. “What? No protests? No long-winded speeches about fairness or justice? I’m a bit disappointed. Not at all like the insipid, whining Maeris bastards I recall. Very well then. I think that’s enough for today. Sheesh, we’ve got three years on our hands to crush, discourage, and destroy you. I spend most of my time doing whatever pleases me. Then I train Hashi, and I guess now for a laugh, I have to find some time for you as well. I tell you. What, a, bother.”

Vane shooed her away. “Do whatever we tell you, even if we don’t bother to tell you. Just figure it all out. Don’t piss either of us off, or we’ll obviously find more creative ways to punish you and basically beat the hell out of you for our own amusement.

“You’ll spar and train with Hashi in the morning each day, unless I have need of you. You’ve already had a taste of what a sheer delight she is. So I’m sure the two of you will be just like sisters. Yadda, yadda, yadda. I’ve already wasted enough time on you two for now, so, bye-bye.”

Vane stopped rambling at Naero and turned briefly to Hashiko.

“Hashi, do be a dear and explain some of the details to her. And please, don’t break anything on Maeris just yet. I’m eventually going to try to show her some of the basics at some point this week. When I get around to it. So she can’t be on a medbed healing for the next several weeks.”

Hashi bowed with her eyes, keeping them fixed all the while on Master Vane.

Suddenly he lashed out at her. “Ah-hah!”

Hashiko instantly reverted to a fighting stance. Lightning fast.

All of her formidable psyonic defenses seemed to block in and erupt around her. Naero could sense or even partially see some of them as they snapped up over her in layers.

Vane grinned and chuckled as he strolled away with his hands behind his back. “Great reflexes. Keep up the good work. Ya never know when I’m really going to strike, right?”

Vane departed.

As soon as the High Master got far enough away, Naero felt Om trying to come back online. It might take Om a while to do so. Vane’s tek-dampening effects felt that powerful.

Hashiko sneered and turned to glare at Naero once more.

Naero stood at attention and raised both of her palms straight up.

She did as she was told.

Hashiko launched into her any way.

Another one-sided match ended quickly, with Naero battered and bleeding, face down in the grass and dirt.

She was getting used to the earthy smell and the gritty taste by now.

Hashiko ignored her and went back to practicing on her own.

Naero stood by watching, trying to learn, for about an hour before she raised one hand.

Hashiko sneered, faced the other way, and kept working for another hour.

Naero dared to walk around and face her again. Raising both hands and staring at her.

“I can make you wait all day, if I choose to, adept. I am not required to respond or grant permission to speak.”

Yet another hour passed as the Janoshan sun clicked off shadows in the ring of weird trees.

Tired of standing, Naero sat down, folded her legs beneath her, and attempted to meditate, calming her mind and practicing some of the breathing exercised her parents taught her as a child.

She lost track of time and almost took a nap at one point.

When Hashiko looked like she was taking a break, Naero lifted one hand.

Hashiko did not even glance her way.

But she did sigh. “Permission granted. Speak.”

Finally.

It was then that Naero noticed that Mitsubishi Hashiko was almost precisely five millimeters shorter than her.

How nice.

“Questions, Maeris? I don’t have all day.”

“Vane–”

Hashiko flashed her eyes. Her body snapped with power like a whip when she moved.

“Master Vane to you, adept.”

“High Master Vane said for you to finish orienting me in the protocols and patterns of our ways here. Please enlighten me.”

“First, stop addressing us like you’re in some insipid old martial arts vid. “

“I’m sorry.”

Hashiko laughed. “Apologies are for non-adepts and the weak. Like you. No true practitioner of The Ways of Chaos wastes their time on apologies, being polite to each other. Ugh! Lies and bullshit. Respectful of those superior to you, yes. Apologies and politeness? Never. Like I said. Don’t waste our time. Don’t go out of your way to insult us or our intelligence.”

Naero raised her hand once more.

Hashiko rolled her eyes.

“Are you demented? Permission to speak has not ended. Speak. Just don’t interrupt your superiors.”

“What do I call you?”

“Superior Adept or Adept Hashiko. Master Vane and I will call you whatever the hell we like. Adept. Inferior Adept. Adept Maeris. Maeris. We can call you, hey, shitbrain. Hey, dumbass! if we want to. Get used to it. You will respond briefly when spoken to. Yes, no, or ready will usually suffice.”

Naero waited until she was sure Hashiko was finished speaking.

“Adept Hashiko. You don’t like me. Why?”

Hashiko’s eyes flashed and she snarled again.

“Like you! Like you? Typical newb, whiney bullshit. I don’t know you, Maeris. What’s more, I don’t care to know you, adept. No one here is going to wipe your nose, or your ass for you. It is so obvious you don’t belong here. You shouldn’t even be here. Three years are going to pass, and then you’ll be dead. The Master might as well kill you now.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Isn’t it obvious? You don’t have a Chaos mindset or even the most basic comprehension of the value of The Way. You have no business here wasting our time. Distracting us from our own important goals.”

And just what were their goals that were so important?

Hashiko walked around her, appraising her. “You have no special abilities that I can see. Your brain is obviously damaged. You can’t biomance and repair it, or you would have done so by now. Other than a slight genetic advantage higher than most Spacers, I don’t see why we should even bother trying to train you. You don’t have any psyonic abilities. You’re a nud.”

“What then are my duties?”

Hashiko glared at her.

“You want to live out this farce? Starting one hour after dawn, three or four hours each morning in the sparring circle with me or whenever and wherever I say. Go with Master Vane whenever he summons you. That could be at any time during the day. He usually won’t bother you while you sleep. Otherwise, stay out of our way. Don’t bother us or distract us unless you are dying. When you are not with one of us, we do not care one bit what you do. Train on your own, sleep, dally with the rats, make baskets, draw in the sand for all we care.”

“That’s it?”

“You want me to complicate things for you even more, Maeris?”

“No. No, I do not.”

“Because I can if you want me to. If you insist on annoying me and pissing me off more than you already have!”

“No, I think that will be sufficient.”

Hashiko sneered. Then she chuckled.

“You’re not even going to be able to handle this much,” she said.

Naero would see about that.

Hashiko chuckled again. “I’m going to really beat the hell out of you tomorrow morning, Maeris. And you know what? I’m going to savor and enjoy it. A lot. You were right about one thing. I don’t like you.”

“See you then, adept Hashiko.”

“Permission ended. Stick around until I’m finished, inferior adept. I have not dismissed you yet.”

Naero sat down, returned to her meditations, and took that well-needed nap.

16

The next morning, one hour after dawn, Naero arrived at the sparring circle once more, warmed up and ready for what became her daily beat down.

As the first days droned on, the basic pattern repeated.

But Naero learned some things through direct observation, if nothing else.

Hashiko seemed to be able to use tek if she wanted to. Perhaps it was some special perk from Master Vane. But with her obsession with discipline, she apparently seldom did so. She lived aloof and ascetically from what Naero could tell.

She had little apparent concern for how she looked or what she ate or drank. Her short black hair for example, was kept out of her face but usually looked a little tousled.

Yet for inexplicable reasons, Hashiko changed the hue of her togs to different colors each day, perhaps out of boredom, perhaps just to flaunt that she could. And that Naero could not.

Every morning, Hashiko motioned for Naero to enter the circle.

As soon as she did, Hashiko went on the attack.

She proceeded to beat, kick, stomp, and pummel Naero relentlessly for nearly two straight standard hours.

Naero never said a word.

She did not ask for permission. She got up, time and time again, defending herself to the best of her abilities.

Finally Hashiko would take a break to replenish fluids and nutrients with the standard lix packs kept nearby, under one of the benches.

Which of course tasted like Thelurian pink squirrel urine, or some unpleasant facsimile.

What Naero wouldn’t give for a frosty borble of Jett.

Soon she’d have dreams about juicy tubs of sweet blue Spum and frosty borbles of ice cold Jett.

Haisha! What was she in for? Master Vane seemed way beyond hot-headed. Borderline unstable and crazy.

Naero hoped mercurial proved to be a better description.

On the other hand, Adept Hashiko remained cold, indifferent and wrapped up in herself and her own destiny, to the exclusion of all others.

Especially Naero, it seemed.

Hashiko even seemed asexual, almost not human any longer. Just obsessed with power and control, and her own advancement to the rank of High Master. She wasn’t about to allow there to be any competition or let anyone get or stand in her way.

Again, especially Naero. And frankly, Naero couldn’t care less about that gig. Hashiko was welcome to it. In her own way, Hashi was born for the job.

How were either of these hardline practitioners of the Mystic ways of Chaos and Entropy going to teach her biomancing and how to repair or control abilities that had not even fully returned to her yet? None of that seemed very likely.

Then there were the Tua. They seemed like harmless pawns in the scheme of things. Master Vane ignored or used them offhand as servants and willing sex surrogates. As he repeatedly stated, they were vermin to him. Worthless garbage. Genetic dead ends. Boring.

Hashiko ignored them almost entirely. Like almost everything else and every one else, the Tua were not even worth her contempt, let alone any of her precious time. The earthworms under ground probably had more of her consideration. Which meant none.

In fact, unless forced to do so by Master Vane, Hashiko ignored and avoided Naero in the exact same way, perhaps for the same reasons.

Hashiko literally did not give a damn about anyone but herself, and achieving what she wanted to achieve with her life. To become the next High Master of Chaos, after Master Vane.

What frustrated and maddened Naero the most, was that neither Master Vane nor Hashiko would use their biomancing abilities to heal the blockage in her brain so that she could actually begin to use and explore the possibility of controlling her abilities.

Either of them could do so at any time and with great ease, according to them.

Yet both vehemently refused to do so. No matter how she tried to get them to help her.

In fact, they both thought it rather funny, and took no small amusement whenever she attempted to persuade them.

Naero did everything but beg. And she was damned if she was going to beg them. Not that it would help.

They’d just enjoy it more.

It seemed to please them both greatly when she found herself at a loss or helpless.

Were all full-time practitioners of the Ways of Chaos major, petty assholes? It sure seemed like it.

Had it not been for Om, and the simple amusements and comforts she found among the Tua, Naero might have gone total apeshit crazy from the get go.

It seemed as if both Mystics conspired against her to hold her back and keep her from progressing in any way. She guessed they’d train her only so far and then stop before she learned enough to put herself anywhere near to to their level. They would intentionally hold her back.

And yet at times they seemed worried, or afraid, or even threatened by her. Was that why they held her back on purpose? Because they were afraid of what she might do and become?

If she confronted them with such facts, both Vane and Hashiko would insist that it was not their duty to solve any of her problems. She would either learn to do so on her own, or she would fail and die. Simple as that.

Naero had the feeling by now that the two of them more or less hoped for the latter. They obviously weren’t going to do anything to make her dilemma any easier. Like they said. They would give her the basics and the building blocks. The raw concepts and theories that she needed.

The rest was all up to her.

She could find a way. Or she could give up and die. It really did not matter to them either way. They might even lean toward her failing and dying.

That would get her out their lives.

But Naero wasn’t about to give up on herself, or her quest to discover, explore, and master her own abilities. Whatever they were.

Hashiko especially seemed bent on not making things any easier for her. But sometimes, even Hashiko let a few things slip while Naero had permission.

“You’re a blockheaded stubborn fool,” Hashiko exclaimed in frustration. “Just like Khai was.”

“Who’s Khai? The adept before me?”

Hashiko nodded. Strange emotions playing across her face.

“I made the mistake of letting him get close to me. I will not make such a mistake again.”

Naero got the gist. “You two were…lovers?” She could barely believe it. Cold hard Hashiko?

Hashiko glared at her. “No love involved, Maeris. Just sex and pleasure. Mere physical functions. I was simply satisfying a brief curiosity.”

Naero couldn’t help laughing. “I guess I have a little trouble picturing you in any kind of relationship. With anyone.”

Hashiko let her guard slip just for an instant, and glared at Naero again. As if she might launch herself into an all-out attack once more.

But she didn’t right away.

Naero withdrew slightly, still going on the defensive. Hashiko was always unpredictable.

“I mean…you’re always so dedicated to goals, your disciplines. You never make time for anything or anyone else.”

Hashiko sneered and curled her lip up at her in haughty disdain.

“Don’t try to flatter or patronize me. I’d rather have your contempt, Maeris. You do not know me. You will never know or understand me. And I do not want you to. I try everything at least once. Just before you came to Janosha, the last adept arrived here for special training and a competition. Against me.”

Naero blinked. “Really? You and him? What was he like?”

Hashiko began pacing, lifting her eye brows.

“All right…I suppose. We were both competing for a very honored position to serve the High Masters. For three years we fought every kind of contest imaginable. Every day. In that same time, I allowed him to grow close to me. I allowed him to think we were friends, comrades. The last year, as things grew more intense, and the stakes higher, I chose to allow the relationship to turn physical between us.”

Naero struggled not to let her jaw drop.

Hashiko scowled at her again. “It was…interesting enough I suppose. We took our pleasures. I learned enough to know that the allure of sensual relations need not distract me any further from my goals. Baser human needs. I choose not to use them as a hobby like Master Vane. And quite frankly, I thought the relationship might complicate things between me and Khai, and perhaps give me an edge in our final contests.”

“So what happened?”

Hashiko’s eyes narrowed to slits. “I…miscalculated.”

Naero grinned. “You lost. He won.”

Hashiko’s eyes flashed.

“It was a contest. He was a formidable foe. I was less than fortunate. Thus for once I also experienced the sting of not being the victor. I have learned from that and grown wiser from that experience as well. I have known defeat once. It shall not happen again.”

They’d see about that too.

“So, he won the position?”

Hashiko almost snarled. “If you can call it that. He betrayed me. Another good lesson to have learned.”

You can never trust this one, Naero.

I know that Om. Let me handle this.

“Wait a minute. How can you say that he betrayed you? You were both competing intensely for the same position. You just admitted yourself that you got close to him and basically slept with him–hoping that it would give you an edge in the contests. Just because he beat you and won, it doesn’t mean he betrayed you.”

“I choose to see things otherwise. There is nothing between us any longer. In any case, the fool has doomed himself in his own pride. He has sworn to pursue an impossible task for the High Masters that even I would never take on. One that no other Mystic has ever been able to achieve. Not even the High Masters. And to fail at this task means certain death for him or anyone who attempts it. Either way, he has made his choice. Khai has no future now.”

“What impossible task has he chosen? What position did he achieve by his victory?”

“Khai is the new Mystic Enforcer, just like his father before him. But what does any of this matter to a damaged creature such as yourself? You know nothing of such things and will probably not be around long enough to do so. The secret ways of the Mystics are secret for many good reasons.”

“Hey, you don’t want to tell me? Fine by me. You were the one that started all of this any way. Nice to know you were human enough to have a lover at least once. Even if it was just a scam.”

“Concern yourself with your own failures. And they are many, Naero Maeris. Don’t presume to judge me or any of my actions. I am still your superior in all things.”

Naero forced a tiny smile and walked out with her arms folded across her chest.

“Not for long,” she said under her breath.

17

The dawn of another day that week came with a heavy, drenching rain.

Master Vane simply appeared in Naero’s cave, without notice or warning, other than Om’s presence shutting down again.

He still roared with the voice over the rumbles of thunder.

“Get up. Wake up, fool.”

Naero looked over at her cave pot and wondered if it would be worth getting incinerated.

She stood up and stretched. “Great Teacher, would it be at all possible for you to turn down the volume of the voice even slightly? I already have a–”

“No. Denied. Let’s go.”

I’m supposed to meet Hashiko–

“Hashi can beat on you some other time. She’ll figure it out. Stop stalling and come with me.”

Naero didn’t relish a slippery climb, down a sheer cliff face, and in a thunderstorm no less.

Just as she reached the edge, Master Vane grabbed her by the hair and jerked her out into the storm.

At first she screamed.

Then she noticed that they weren’t exactly falling, more like rushing through the sky at high speed.

“I suppose you cannot even levitate yet?”

Naero tried again. Om. Om?

No reply.

In close proximity to Master Vane, she still could not interact with Om.

“Of course I can’t levitate. I don’t know how to levitate. You know very well that all of my Cosmic abilities are completely burned out. I can’t access them or use them, even if I knew and understood exactly what they were.”

They landed on a green hilltop overlooking what appeared to be a broad savannah that stretched out in all directions.

The only mountains were purple jagged lines on the eastern horizon.

“We are eighteen hundred kilometers west of the caves of the Tua. If I abandoned you here, could you translocate yourself back to your cubicle?”

“No. Of course not. Why do you even ask questions like that? Did you hear anything I just said? No one c–”

Master Vane glared at her with as many of his glowing red eyes as he could fix on her.

“I don’t pay much attention to any of your blather.”

“Of course not.”

“You yourself admit that you know absolutely nothing, so what could you possibly have to say to me that I would need to take note of?”

That’s logical.

“I think so.”

Naero would bite right through her tongue and chew and swallow it if she thought it might help. Then she noticed that they were speaking back and forth directly in their minds.

Aren’t you supposed to be training me or something? Why bring me all the way out here?

I thought that if I had to destroy you today, that this would be a good enough place to make a big mess. Plus I don’t like the rain and getting wet.

She went back to talking out loud.

“Always pleasant. And just how do you plan on destroying me?”

“Oh, one of the usual methods. Perhaps a full protonic reversal and spontaneous explosive combustion of all your molecules at once.”

“Sounds spectacular.”

He invaded her mind again.

And extremely messy. Very gratifying, to me at least.

Master Vane, I know you can destroy me, probably a hundred times over.

Then he went back to talking. “More than that.”

Naero clenched her teeth and closed her eyes. “Look, we’re out here in the middle of nowhere. Can we just cut the crap?”

“You know I can read your mind, don’t you?”

She shook her fists. “I don’t care. Can you tell what I’m thinking now?”

“Of course I can. You barely shield your thoughts at all. And yes, it is possible for me to have more contempt for you than you have for me. Do you want me to teach you how to do so? Shield your mind? Then you can curse at me and insult me in the privacy of your own mind without annoying me so much.”

“Uh, okay.”

“Lesson One. Mind shielding. Also called mind masking.”

They proceeded to work on nothing but mind shielding for the next three grueling and exhausting hours.

Until Naero thought her skull was in fact going to split open and explode.

No such luck.

I assure you. It will not.

Get out of my head, dammit.

Vane stuck his tongue out at her.

Make me.

Believe me, I’m trying.

Try harder. Hmmm…Uh-oh.

Naero took a fighting stance and looked around.

What do you mean, uh-oh?

Master Vane vanished. He simply winked out.

Yet his voice still echoed in her mind.

Perhaps we’ve stayed out in the open in one place too long. Janosha has many large predators outside of the restricted area. One of which is rapidly heading this way to eat you.

What do I do?

Fight fiercely to stay alive, I suppose. I keep hearing what a great fighter you’re supposed to–

She cut him off.

She blocked Vane from entering her mind.

Naero drew her long battle blades and got ready, happy that at last, she got her mindshield working properly.

The thing erupted from the ground almost without warning, right in front of her.

A vicious looking segmented, giant black, hairy caterpillar monster, complete with barbed horns, bulging faceted eyes, clacking, flesh-ripping mandibles, and multiple sets of viscous claws.

The whole package.

Thing sufficed. A thing twenty-meters long, bent on gobbling her down whole.

First she leaped up and slashed its segmented eyes open with her blades.

Once she had it blinded, she broke one of the mandibles and proceeded to slice it to pieces.

The thing proved hard to kill. At last she rode the head down as it thrashed up in the air, shrieking and gushing nasty green fluids from its many wounds.

Just before it smashed into some rocks, she back flipped off of it and drove both feet back into into its head with all her weight and power.

She finished by thrusting both of her long battle blades deep into the armored skull, burying them up to her forearms where she guessed the brain might be.

The head actually snapped off and sprayed thing-blood everywhere. Including all over her.

It reeked as nasty and sticky-gushy as it felt.

Master Vane reappeared, not coming anywhere near the mess.

“I tried to give you advice and encouragement. Bad time to actually get your mindshield working.”

“Yeah. I bet. Another test, right?”

“Surprise. So you are capable of rudimentary learning. Let’s find a stream for you to…wash up in. You reek.”

“What, and have some other monster attempt to eat me?”

Master Vane yawned and then grinned. “If we’re lucky.”

They actually walked for a good while.

They did find a quiet stream. Naero jumped in and cleaned herself off. At least her Nytex body suit remained tough and durable. Even if she couldn’t program it.

“So, tell me about the Tua.”

Master Vane actually snorted.

“Less than nothing to tell. A worthless, garbage sub-species. A genetic dead end, vermin evolved from vermin. Literally from a kind of rat. That’s all they are. That’s all they will ever be.”

“Humans and Spacers evolved from a progenitor rodent-mammal as well. The Tua seem all right. So why did the Mystics pick them and their world?”

“It had nothing to do with them. We chose Janosha three hundred years ago, fifty years after the Awakening. Solely because of the intense Cosmic energy flows here. The existence of the rats here was entirely irrelevant.”

“But they’re good enough to chunga every night, even for a High Master?”

Master Vane shrugged and waved his hand dismissively. “They don’t care about such things. I don’t care. Why should you? The rats barely live three decades and then die. They spend their brief time on their world eating, shitting, and screwing–rutting in the open and spawning more litters of rats just like them.”

“So why trouble with them at all? Just to have little people to play god to and to dally with?”

Master Vane sighed. “If you must know, my vote at the time was to eradicate the vermin from Janosha completely. There, are you happy? The other two High Masters at the time took a liking to the rats for some idiotic reason, and actually made a covenant with them. I can’t tell you how ecstatic I am that that pair of idiots allowed themselves to die off. So blissfully eager to go on the next journey. The fools.”

“You…you said that was three centuries ago. You couldn’t have been there.”

“And why not? What if I was? A true biomancer of the highest order can find ways to regenerate, mind and soul transfer. I’ve had several bodies, while countless generations of rats have come and gone and turned to dust. Just as they did before. Just as they will into ad nauseum. What do you care if I chunga a few of them when I’m bored out of my skull and feeling randy? They’re more than eager to provide me with a little physical release. Don’t be such a stuck up prude, Maeris. You should try it sometime.”

Naero shook her head.

“If you’ve read my mind, you know how I detest bullies of any kind. That’s what you are, Vane. You’re a sick, sadistic, perverted bully.”

Vane yawned. “Flattery. Again, who cares what fools like you think, Maeris? You can’t levitate, translocate, or even biomance.”

“I do. I care.”

“Too bad.” Vane laughed a deep roaring belly laugh. “Ah, that silly Maeris pride and defiance. How utterly tedious. Thinking that others must somehow answer to you and your own petty moral code. If you only knew how immense and indifferent the universe really is to all of us and our individual preferences and opinions. How ridiculous you sound. Don’t you get it?”

She was about to make another witty reply when a crushing pain attack struck her, almost paralyzing.

She dropped to her knees, her fingers knotting and twisting in anger and agony as she gasped and whimpered.

Master Vane clucked his tongue. “I suppose that’s enough progress for today. The rain will have passed on by now back home at the caves. I probably should have warned you before hand. Expanding your abilities will be excruciatingly painful, especially in your condition, after having that unfortunate mind sliver you had shot through your head.”

Naero gritted her teeth, breathing hard. “Must have…slipped your mind.”

Of course, I could heal the damage, but you’ll get around to it. Eventually…I suppose. Or you’ll go insane and die. Let that part be up to you. Consider it a personal goal. A challenge. Become a biomancer and heal yourself beyond this neurological block, and then you can open all of the other locked doors up there.

“Then we shall see which of us is the real monster, and if–as I foresee–I will need to destroy you after all.”

“Why not finish me now?”

Vane grunted. “What kind of challenge is that?”

Naero got out two words.

“Screw you.”

Master Vane grinned, grabbing her by the hair to transport them back. “Please…don’t flatter yourself, Maeris. Not while I have dozens of eager, tight little rat girls back at home, just lining up for me. All too happy to chunga the Great One. Why keep them waiting?”

18

Another hour of punishing sparring followed.

Hashiko released her frustrations and screamed at her.

“Here I am, wasting my time with a dead-end. All my life I’ve been groomed to become the next High Master of the Chaos Order after Master Vane. It is my right, my destiny alone. I have better things to do than trying to train a worthless turd like you!”

She kicked Naero clear out of the sparring ring.

Naero fell on her back, winded. Head whoozy.

That should have ended their match for the moment. But Hashiko sprang upon her in a flash, yanking her up by the front of her togs.

“I’ll tell you a secret, Maeris. I came to Master Vane years ago. Right after your outcast uncle fled Janosha and the Mystics. I was just a child. Master Vane took out all of his frustration and anger out on me each day as he taught me The Way. One brutal lesson after another. He swore he would force me to understand. He wouldn’t make the same mistakes he made before. And so you see, I have no great love for you or your family. And neither does he.

“Once Master Vane finds his way to ascend to the next plane of existence without dying, I will naturally step in as his replacement. And by then, you will have been long gone and forgotten.”

“Get off of me!” Naero shouted.

Without thinking she whirled and punched Hashiko right in the midsection, driving her thirty meters, back into the sparring ring.

Hashiko kept her footing and grinned. “Well, well. So you do have some minor ability. All I have to do, apparently, is make you mad. Come on, then. Inferior adept. Not to worry. It still won’t be enough. Tsk, tsk, tsk. So very sad.”

Naero attacked with everything she had.

Hashiko took her down with ease and rammed her back into the ground.

“See? I’m better, faster, and stronger. And nothing you do or say is ever going to change that.”

Naero resisted.

Hashiko slapped her.

“Pitiful. Stay down. Stop wasting my time.”

She got up and walked away.

Naero forced herself to stagger back up to her feet.

“Knock me down all you want. I will never stay down. Not for you. Not for anyone. Count on it!”

“You’re a moron then.” Hashiko rushed her again, blinding fast, closer to Baeven’s abilities more than anyone she’d ever met.

A spin kick to her right temple caused her to black out.

Naero came to. Apparently much later.

The strange starry sky of Janosha dark.

She lay outside of the sparring circle. Her head and the rest of her ached terribly. Dried blood crusted over her face, mouth, ears, and nose.

Actually, several of the Tua crouched, gathered around her. They sang to her softly and with concern.

Thanduu zoh ganuu, Peng shiikah vah kongo, Tur-rah-gah ziiko, Tur-rah-gah mah-duu…

They cleaned and dressed her wounds, tending to her many bruises and abrasions. Her skin tingled.

Tur-rah-gah mah-duu…

They apparently had some healing skill with the herbal salves and ointments they used on her. Naero’s own healing powers would take care of most of her hurts by the next dawn on their own. But it was nice to know their soothing touch and their genuine concern for her. They at least liked her.

Peng shiikah vah kongo,

With the strange stars of Janosha wheeling overhead in a dark azure sky, Naero caught the scents of Bahan and Iika among the ones tenderly washing her and leading the singing of the others.

They gave her food and drink as she needed them. Slowly her head cleared somewhat and she felt less injured, and more and more weary.

“The other halaena and the great one do not seem to like you very much,” Bahan observed.

“Hush,” Iika said. “It is not our place to judge the great ones. They are always very hard on the new halaena at first. Yet this does seem harsher to me.”

Iika hesitated a moment. Then she reached into her pouch and pulled out a six millimeter glowing green crystal. It pulsed with energy.

“What is that?” Naero asked.

“The other halaena threw this away out of her cave one night, shortly after the halaena before you left. He was a indeed a mighty warrior, bright green he was, and he was very kind to us, as are you. The other halaena could never defeat him, even after they became lovers. We think they used these star crystals to link their minds together.”

“Perhaps you could use it to speak with the green one who left,” Iika said. “He might be able to help you learn how to become as strong and fast as he was. And to defeat the other halaena.”

“Thanks, but I…I don’t know how to use anything like this.” It was probably psyonic in nature, and thus it probably wouldn’t work for her. If she did contact this guy, what would she say to him any way?

Hey, green guy. Help me learn how to beat the snot out of your former, stuck-up girlfriend?

Yeah. That would probably work just fine.

“Is it not worth trying?” Iika said. “I saw them both wear these at night before they slept.”

The Tua woman tied it around her head with the glowing crystal hanging down where her third eye had once been.

It did cause a slight jolt of pain in her skull. Something was happening at least.

“When you sleep tonight, reach out with your thoughts and try to connect with the green one. Wherever he has gone. See if he can advise you.”

“I’ll try.” Naero groaned and her eyes bulged as she got up. “Uhh…can you help me to my cave? I feel like I’m going to pass out as it is.”

She teetered.

Then she felt Om steadying her as a natural action.

Thanks Om.

“Of course, halaena. Everyone. Help us now.”

Iika and Bahan and the others lifted her up.

Back up in her cave, Naero was so tired she almost forgot about the glowing crystal on her forehead.

As soon as the Tua left her on her sleeping skins and furs, she drifted off.

She didn’t really focus on anything.

But a short while later, her consciousness felt roused by a voice calling out to her hesitantly, as if from far away in the distance.

And it wasn’t Om. In fact, she couldn’t link with Om while this voice was speaking in her mind.

“Iko…Iko? Is that you finally? Are you there?”

Naero was still asleep. The voice seemed to come out of nowhere, as her shapeless consciousness floated in the dark expanse of her own mind.

She hesitated and then tried calling back.

“Who is this? Where am I? How are we communicating?”

“Who are you?” The voice instantly grew suspicious and defensive.

“How did you get Hashiko’s astral crystal?”

“I’m sorry. My name is Naero. Hashiko threw this crystal away in anger. The Tua found it and gave it to me. I didn’t steal it.”

The voice sounded both hurt and resigned. “Sounds like Hashiko. She was incredibly angry after I defeated her in our final match. Even I was surprised by the depths of her rage. To make matters worse, Master Vane had to step in afterwards and restrain her from doing something both forbidden and dishonorable. Using the forbidden Eye of Annihilation technique on me. She hasn’t really perfected it yet. She might have killed us both.”

“Sorry, I’m not following you. What was she going to do?”

“The most destructive of all Chaos attacks, and the most dangerous. Perhaps it is best if I say no more. So Naero, brand new to Janosha, huh? Enjoying your training in the Ways of Chaos, I suspect?”

“Things…could be better.”

“I can only imagine. They’re probably making things very hard on you.”

“Yes they are.”

Weird. While actually using the crystal, she still couldn’t reach Om.

Khai continued. “It was easier for me I’m afraid. By the time I came to Janosha, I had already trained with the other two High Masters on Taeha and Oorrii. The Way of Chaos is easier to learn once you have mastered The Ways of Order and Enlightened Change. And I could already defend myself extremely well. It always goes hardest on new adepts who start with Chaos training first. The High Masters have put you on one of the toughest paths of all. I do not envy you.”

“Thanks. I think. Who are you again?”

“Khai. Khai Adun Williams.”

“From Clan Williams? You’re from Clan Bill?”

He laughed. “My mother is. My father was the Mystic Enforcer from the Oden.”

Naero recalled Shalaen mentioning something about the Oden. Another advanced race of humanoids with cosmic abilities. Like the Yattai.

“I’m from Clan Maeris–”

“The daughter of Tarthan and Lythe? The one who just fought in the Annexation War?”

“Yeah, that’s me all right.”

“You’re already a legend, almost like your parents. What made you want to train with the Mystics? And who in their right mind told you to start with Chaos Mastery?”

“Uh, there was this incident, sort of. I have powers I can’t always use or control. My head is damaged. I hurt some people pretty bad during my first testing. I think the Mystics kind of see me as some sort of threat now, so they sent me to Janosha. It’s a very long, complicated story. In any case. Here I am.”

“There seems to be a lot of that going around. Sorry, Naero. You have a very tough road ahead of you. I know what that’s like. The Mystics couldn’t have chosen a tougher path for you.”

“Perfect. What about you, Khai? Wait a sec. How are we doing this? How do these crystals work any way? Where exactly are you?”

“These crystals link our minds in the Astral Plane when we sleep. Time-Space and distance mean nothing there. They form a direct telepathic link. I brought them with me to Janosha. They were a gift from my parents. You might not believe this, but things were once much better between Hashiko and I. She was very difficult to get to know at first, but she finally opened up and let me get close to her.”

How much of this did Naero really need or want to hear? But it seemed like Khai really needed someone to talk to.

Just like she did.

Naero understood that need very well.

In her current mess, she could in fact desperately use a friend on Janosha, even if it was a disembodied voice in her mind, with the owner half-way across the galaxy somewhere else.

Khai paused a moment and then went on.

“We both knew the contest would end things between us. One way or another. But I still had hopes that Iko and I could remain friends and comrades afterwards. I guess I was wrong about that too. I don’t think I knew her as well as I thought I did.”

Naero held her tongue. “She seems like a very driven and complex person to me.”

“I think that’s a bit of an understatement. But I’ll take it. Thank you. “

“It’s…nice to talk to you, Khai. Would you mind staying in touch with me from time to time? It’s nice to talk to another Spacer and have a secret friend here. Especially someone who already managed to survive all of this.”

“I’ll try, Naero. These astral crystals will only work when we both enter a deep sleep at the same time. To tell you the truth, I could use a friend myself. I was hoping to reach Iko and make peace with her somehow. But if she threw the crystal away, I’m guessing that ship as already jumped.”

“I’d say so. Do you…want me to try to talk to her?”

“Haisha! No. Don’t ever try that. Not with her. I wouldn’t advise that at all. At best it will just make her even madder at the both of us. If she ever learned that we had even spoken together, I don’t know what she might do. Let alone us become friends in any way.”

“So, then Khai. What do we have to lose? Can you start by giving me some idea of what I’m up against here? What do they expect me to accomplish over the next three years so that they won’t kill me?”

“The basic Mystic stuff: Explore any psyonic or Cosmic abilities completely. Develop them as far as you can. Start to increase your raw speed, strength, and agility to Mystic levels–a painful, gradual process. Comprehend, manipulate, and master Chaos force and Chaos energies at will. Explore Janosha and eventually the Astral Plane itself. It’s actually quite a lot to accomplish in three years’ time.”

“You did it.”

“Just barely. And I had already mastered the other two Wisdoms first. You’re starting from scratch with the hardest one to master.”

“Work with me here, Khai. At least I know in theory that it can be done. I’ve been told that if I can’t master my powers and get control of them, Master Vane is going to destroy me, in order to eliminate me from becoming some kind of Cosmic threat to everyone.”

“You know, Naero. They threaten that a lot. But it actually happens very rarely. A lot less often than they let on. I know that much. You’d really have to be out of control, insane, or an actual serious threat for them to reach the point where they would truly want to destroy you.”

“Uh…I just might be that rare exception, Khai. I can’t take any chances. These three years could very well be life or death for me.”

He sighed.

“Well…I know how that is.”

Naero tried to recall what Hashiko had said about him and the path he’d chosen.

That Khai had doomed himself by choosing some kind of impossible task. One that would most likely lead to his death.

“Hashiko let slip that you were attempting something for the Mystics that was deemed by many to be impossible. Why then would you even attempt such a thing?”

Khai sighed. “Because someone must, for the sake of all.”

Khai hesitated. “Whatever the risks, that is my path.”

“Okay. I have to ask then. Just what is this unspeakable, Mystic task that you have chosen to pursue?”

Khai sighed. “If you can believe it, I’m preparing to take incredibly rare and indestructible proto-matter from the prior universe into the heart of a super-giant, blue-white Pulsar.”

“Say what?”

“Let me finish. To do so, I must first find a way to transform into a being of pure energy.”

“Even the Mystic High Masters cannot do that,” Naero said. She thought of Shalaen and the Yattai.

“Neither have my people, but they have come very close. Once I descend into the giant pulsar, I must use the powers of all three Cosmic Wisdoms to forge these materials into a sword.”

“Huh?”

“Not just any sword. A very special sword. A Mystic weapon that has only been foretold in visions. A Cosmic and Astral weapon unlike any other.”

“Khai. That all sounds insane. Travel into the heart of a star? Even the three High Masters combined couldn’t accomplish such a thing. Nobody can.”

“You see my problem then. Yet this my task. And I prepare myself for it as best I may. And I must accomplish it not once, but twice.”

“Twice? You won’t even survive the first attempt. That’s insane.”

“Even so, the High Masters say that in the long run, if this task is not achieved, the universe as we know it…is doomed. Therefore, I cannot allow myself to fail.”

“Do you hear yourself? None of that makes any sense. But it looks like we both face impossible trials,” Naero said.

“It appears so,” Khai said. “And likewise, we both face an unpleasant demise.”

“Could you really call any kind of demise, pleasant?”

Naero laughed and shook her head.

“I see very little humor in both of our dire situations,” Khai observed.

Naero laughed again. “I strongly disagree. The Universe, it appears, has a very decided sense of humor. It just looks like the jokes are on us.”

“I suppose so,” Khai said, finally chuckling along with her. “Friends then?”

“Friends it is,” Naero said. “We’ll help and support each other as best we can, to the demise if need be.”

“Death is to be avoided, if at all possible,” Khai said.

Naero laughed again. “Agreed. I know I want to live.”

The two of them spoke long into the night through their Astral link, as both of their bodies slept deeply far away from one another.

19

And it was a shame as well that Janosha was such a beautiful planet too. Pretty scenery. Amazing sunrises and sunsets.

Naero dragged herself back toward her cave the next day after her daily morning smack down by Hashiko, and yet another crippling Chaos lesson from Master Vane.

She collapsed down below at the base of the cave complex, and needed to rest for a time before she could climb up. So intense and thorough were the beatings Hashiko administered each day.

Tua stopped and tended to her. They stepped over her casually and moved about their business as if the routine were now completely normal.

Perhaps it was to them.

Maybe they were used to Vane’s adepts beating on each other daily and collapsing from exhaustion.

Once she did make it back up in her cave, Naero fell promptly to sleep within an hour after eating, letting her body heal and regenerate.

If you put that astral crystal on your head, I won’t be able to speak with you.

That is the plan, Om.

She chatted with Om while she munched her daily fare. It actually kept her very healthy. The Tua did know a thing or two about what to eat and how much. They always seemed to send her just the right amounts of everything she liked. Nothing ever spoiled or went to waste.

After she voided and drank some more clear, cold water, she began to feel the evening grogginess overtake her.

She almost didn’t remember to tie the astral crystal around her forehead that night.

Goodnight, Om.

Sleep and heal well. I will greet you when you awake.

Sure thing. Another day forward.

Sometime later, she reached out with her mind while her body slept and healed, trying to link with Khai once more.

But as soon as she did so, she immediately sensed that something was very wrong with her friend.

“You’re really hurt,” she noted. “I can sense that. How bad is it?”

“Pretty bad. I’m trying to learn how to shield myself in a fusion field and manipulate the three wisdoms at the same time. It is extremely difficult, and dangerous.”

“Khai, you’re talking crazy. No Spacer could do such things without getting radiated and vaporized.”

“The Oden can, for short periods of time. They have nearly evolved to the point where they can transform themselves into energy beings. Almost creatures of pure thought and energy, at one with the Cosmic forces of the universe. In such forms, they would be able to manipulate matter and energy at will.”

“Almost isn’t enough. And you are not even a full Oden. You’re mother is a Spacer. You’re still half-Spacer, you fool.”

“A fact that has been made abundantly clear to me. I…kind of burned off my arms and legs.”

Naero gasped. “Oh, Khai. That’s horrible.”

“It was. But don’t worry too much. Even if we have not achieved a full transformation yet, the Oden are very fast regenerators–even faster than Spacers. My limbs are growing back quickly now, and I’ll have the full use of them in a few days once more. But I admit, it was extremely painful. I barely survived.”

“Why are you doing this? Why are they letting you risk your life like that?”

“Naero, you must understand. The High Masters, and even my own people say that someone must achieve these things. I must discover a way to achieve this transformation. My task grows even more dangerous and desperate. If I were not able to focus my biomancy with the help of others to resist and regenerate the serious damage I keep inflicting on my physical form, I would already be dead.”

“Be careful Khai. You’re exploring way into the unknown. One misstep too far and you might not get another chance.”

“Yes. I agree. Yet at least I have a great deal of help here. The Oden and the High Masters are are all working together, doing all they can to protect me and solve the problems at hand. But we still have a long way to go, I’m afraid.”

Naero sighed and winced at her own healing injuries.

“You’re not the only one.” Yet her aches and pains were nothing compared to what Khai endured each day.

“Let me guess. Hashiko?”

“Every day. Like clockwork. Plus training sessions with Master Vane on top of that.”

“I remember. Let me guess. Is he making you fight Janoshan monsters?”

“All the time. Everywhere we go.”

“I’m sorry, Naero. I know you’re all alone there on Janosha. You don’t have an entire team there to help or advise you like I do here.”

“That’s why I look forward to our little astral chats so much.”

She still hadn’t told him anything about Om or the KDM. Naero wondered if she should. She had so many secrets to keep from people. Secrets became burdens very quickly.

Khai struggled to laugh. “Yet my advice can’t be that much help. I know. Increasing your speed and strength through the Mystic arts will be erratic. Some days it will seem like you have breakthroughs, and then you’ll regress. Back and forth until you can sustain your progress and what you have learned.”

“One step up, and two down. Is that how it was for you?”

“Yes. When I was very young it took me quite a while to master all of the techniques, abilities, and disciplines involved.”

When I was very young.

Khai’s words struck a deep resounding chord with Naero, bringing back a rush of memory of all her years training with her parents.

“Once I reached a certain level however, progress grew steadily as I continued to practice and hone my abilities to the level they are now.”

And he had even defeated Hashiko.

That fact alone gave Naero hope.

And she just began to realize how much she owed her parents.

“I’ve got nothing but time ahead me it seems. But in reality, I don’t have that much, Khai. I want you to take your time and explain everything you did exactly. All the breakthroughs you had and how you developed yourself. Perhaps we can find a way to speed things up on my end.”

“Be patient, Naero. You can’t force it. Your strength and speed will increase as you gain wisdom and the ability to harness, manipulate, sustain, and master Cosmic energy in all three modes. They are signals of your progress.”

“So what is the pattern? The grand plan? What will Master Vane and Hashiko teach me and in what order? If I know, perhaps I can get ahead of the game somehow. What will the other two High Masters teach me about the other Wisdoms? I already have some experience using Cosmic energy. I learned it through trial and error, on my own.”

And with some help from Om. And dumb luck.

“But you said you burned your abilities out fighting your demented brother. You’re brain is damaged. You’re a nud.”

“Former-brother. Danner’s not my blood any longer.”

“I know. Sorry. Hmmm…Let’s stick with Chaos Wisdom for now. Master Vane will continue to teach you about understanding Chaos theory and energy. You’ll need to get past your physical block somehow and more or less learn to biomance. That will unlock many things for you.”

“Then I guess that’s my goal for now. Neither of them is going to do anything for me, that’s for sure.”

“I agree. And I think your progress is going to be minimal at best until you do so.”

“Consider something else,” Khai said.

“What’s that?”

“Perhaps they don’t want you to progress, Naero. Perhaps they’re holding you back on purpose. Trying to run out the clock. You never know with practitioners of Chaos and their mercurial motives.”

“I’ve considered that. I sense that too, but why would they sabotage me like that from the get go?”

“Naero, you might not be able to sense it because to you it seems normal. But I sure can. Even from here through our link. You have an immense amount of raw, untapped Cosmic power deep inside you. And potentials beyond that which I can’t even imagine. You are a more than a little scary. Anyone with that much untapped power that she can’t control could be a threat to anyone.”

“Master Vane said I was a walking Cosmic disaster, just waiting to detonate.”

“That does seem like a definite risk. I’m sorry.”

“So…they’re afraid of me. Of what I might do. Of what I might become. I am too.”

“If I can sense all of this from this far away, I betting they they can sense even more up close.”

“I guess it makes sense then, in a way. If they hold me back and declare me both a failure and an unstable threat, then they can just eliminate me. Both of them are so obsessed with their own destinies. They could care less about mine.”

“Chaos practitioners are notoriously self-centered an egocentric.”

“So, what if I learn to biomance and get past my block? What’s the next step after that?”

“That still remains a big ‘if,’ Naero. But after that, they’ll teach you to channel and attempt to control Chaos energy directly and spar with it. You’ll need a focus at first, to give the Chaos energy a form that you can summon, control, and use at will. Yet the focus is just a tool, a toy really. Then you’ll expand your mind and grow beyond even the focus, and manipulate energy freely with your imagination and sheer force of will. Understanding Chaos Wisdom is the key to tapping directly into all the Cosmic energies of the Universe directly. It is the gateway to all the Powers.”

Naero hissed. Shivering with frustration as if it were cold. “Ugh! I can’t see that far ahead yet. And I’m already sick and tired of being Hashiko’s practice dummy.”

“I’m sorry, Naero. But make sure that you pay very close attention to what Master Vane teaches you. I know he acts crazy and outlandish, but in his own way–to his mind and least–he will be fair to you and give you the chance to grasp these concepts and learn all you can from them. And he’s a sucker for a challenge. He’ll give you the same chance he would give to any adept. No less. No more. Just don’t expect any favors from a Chaos Master.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t.”

“Cut through his crap and ignore his attempts to bait and anger you. He is not the Chaos Master for nothing. He really does know his stuff, and he will impart his wisdom and knowledge to you if you find a way to perceive it. I am not a Chaos follower myself, but Vane is right in many respects. Chaos energy is the driving force, the impetus for everything in the universe. Nothing can be achieved without it. You must fully understand that, if you are going to be able to use it, and grow beyond it to learn the other two Wisdoms. Order, and Change.”

Naero laughed. “I thought it was Enlightened Change?”

Khai chuckled. “Yes, an important distinction. In a way, learning Chaos Wisdom after the other two was kind of backwards. Once I understood it, so much about the other two Wisdoms fell into place and became clearer, more meaningful. Perhaps Chaos Wisdom should be taught to adepts first. If only it were not so difficult. I still do not relish the path you are on.”

“Nor I. But I cannot turn back now. Maybe you can teach me a little about the other two Wisdoms.”

Khai sounded hesitant. “I don’t know. That could be dangerous.”

“What isn’t? And look who’s talking? Mr.: I-just-burned-my-arms-and legs-off.”

“All right. I’ll try to tell you what you need to know, but not enough to get you in any serious trouble.”

“Both of us are already in serious trouble. But right now, I’m more worried about Hashiko.”

“Be patient. Study Hashiko’s techniques. Her patterns in combat. The combinations she uses. She tries to vary them, but she does have a few weaknesses that I don’t think she can see.”

“I’ve spotted one. But I’m not fast or strong enough yet to capitalize on it yet.”

“I sparred with her for a long time. Let me tell you what I observed about her strategy and combat styles. Plus her many psyonic abilities.”

Naero hesitated. “She’s been holding back on me. I have yet to see many of those.”

While both of them rested and regenerated, they continued to discuss matters together long into the night inside their minds.

The only escape it seemed, for either of them.

20

On another Chaos training session with him as the days passed, Master Vane transported them to a volcanic island in the middle of an ocean.

Naero barely remembered eating, voiding, and grabbing some broken sleep the night before, fractured by more splitting pain and fragmented nightmares on top of her daily sparring injuries. She even took a break from the astral crystal, after warning Khai the night before.

Even though she could not regenerate as quickly as Hashiko, Naero remained tough, stubborn, and a fast healer.

The Great Teacher attempted to penetrate her mind several times without warning.

It grew easier and easier to block even his strongest attempts.

“Don’t congratulate yourself too much, Maeris. Shielding your mind is the simplest and easiest of all skills for an adept to learn, and it is cumulative in nature. That is why it is usually taught first.”

Perhaps now she could commune with Om while Vane was close by.

No luck so far.

Naero changed the subject, asking about whatever popped into her head.

“So, tell me, High Master Vane. What are the other two High Masters like?”

Vane snorted again. “Fools, in a line of weak, dangerous, petty fools. Worse than you even. Deluded dreamers who substitute intellectual folly and wishful thinking for the painful truth of reality.”

After training with Vane, the other two would most likely be a breath of fresh air, Naero guessed. She still wondered why she had been sent to him.

Perhaps being the High Master in charge of Chaos, all of the violent, out of control adepts like herself were just naturally sent to Vane to either handle or dispose of. It made sense in a brutal way.

“So, if you are the Chaos Master, what are the other two High Masters in charge of?”

Vane rolled his eyes. “Not that it really matters, but Master Tree is the Keeper of Order and Stability, although that is all illusion. Supposedly he is my polar opposite, but he shall never be my equal–not him nor any like him. Then there is Master Jo, supposedly the Master of Enlightened Change.

“He preaches compromise and adaptation. The ceaseless gabber, endlessly negotiating his witless diplomacies. I endure them both as long as they allow me my status, respect, and honor due. When pressed, even they admit to the truth of my realities. Only I see the raw truth of the universe as it truly is. Without the stupid romance of optimism or the embellishing lies of so-called, enlightened compassion.”

“How…rational.”

“I’m glad you agree. Order and Change will barely admit how impotent and stagnant they would be without the true driving forces of Chaos and Entropy to constantly struggle against and adapt to. The Great Harmony of all things would be nothing without them and the impetus of their energy.”

Naero looked out across the great island. Brimming with birds and teeming with life. An active, smoking volcano, steaming and belching smoke and lava at the far end, still expanding up out of the ocean depths.

“So, what is our lesson today?”

“Biomancy, of course. The secrets of life and death. The very nature of Chaos and Entropy.”

Master Vane drew an egg out of a nest at random and held it in his hand. Then he placed it in Naero’s.

“You cannot biomance, so I must conduct it through you. Prepare yourself and pay attention. Feel the ebbs and flows of the Cosmic energy fields.”

Naero gritted her teeth.

Pain ripped through her arms and hands as she held the egg, sensing the life within it, stimulated by Master Vane’s biomancy abilities.

“This is the eternal wheel of the life cycle. Creation and explosive growth…”

The egg split open and a fuzzy chick tumbled out, maturing rapidly.

“Maturity and reproduction…"

The adult bird laid another egg. Vane tossed it back into the original nest with barely a thought.

“Entropy and final decay.”

The bird aged rapidly, died, and quickly began to rot and then reduce to dust.

Naero gasped and fell to her knees, grimacing in pain. Her head pulsed as if it had a red hot coal at the core.

She vaguely sensed Om speaking to her in garbled, unintelligible snatches. He was getting better at resisting Vane.

Everything has a cycle in the universe, Maeris. Even stars. Even the universe itself. There were universes before this one. There will be universes after this one. And this is just one possible universe. Beginnings and endings. It is an endless process. Chaos and Entropy are the driving forces, the energies of Creation and Destruction behind all things.”

Naero perceived the myriad energies and complex processes at work in the flows of Janosha, although they threatened to tear her apart and drive her insane to focus on them like that.

Master Vane laughed at her. “Takes a lot out of you when you first experience it all, doesn’t it? But you cannot biomance without these perceptions and the abilities to manipulate them at any point along the way. Once you master them, you will be able to touch something and perceive all that it is, all that it ever will be. You can use that ability to heal and create, or do harm and destroy. On yourself, or others. You can control the flow of life force energy and entropy and decay. Such knowledge gives you both power and mastery.”

In a way it was like teknomancy, but with living things instead of tek. In some ways simpler, in many other ways far more intricate and complex. Even frightening. Another grand paradox.

Master Vane pulled birds out of the very air and into their hands, not to the liking of the birds of course. They squawked and protested, and with good reason.

Master Vane demonstrated everything with brutal, direct examples.

“Most life is fragile and can only exist in a narrow range. Too hot…”

The bird in their hands squawked and burst into flame, reducing to a flash of ash in an instant.

“Too cold…”

Another bird froze solid in their hands and crumbled away into a cloud of frozen dust.

“Not enough food, water, or breathable air and life cannot exist at all.”

“Stop killing birds. I already understand all that.”

“Oh really? Can you perceive and interact with these forces at every degree and level?”

“Well…no…”

“I thought not. Lets go through it again, this time slower, with that marine reptile egg.”

“You do know that this is torture, both for me and these poor creatures, right?”

“Of course. Isn’t this the fun part? Growth and change almost never come without a price. And just look at this abundance of thousands of each of these species. Do you want to learn how to biomance and fix yourself or not?”

Naero remained silent, but she nodded, preparing herself. She could handle pain. She didn’t relish making other living things suffer for no reason.

For the next few months, she and Master Vane traveled the length and breadth of Janosha sporadically–at Master Vane’s whim–studying its many life forms.

Vane forced her to battle several of the more lethal variants on the planet, always to the death.

He seemed to enjoy such matches like sporting events.

Yet everywhere they went, Naero steeled herself to meet the threats and challenges and endure the pain, in order to develop her abilities to perceive and affect the life cycles of everything she touched and encountered.

Khai was right. She was learning, and gathering knowledge.

Since she still had no energies of her own to tap into because of her block, she did everything through Master Vane, using his powers flowing through her. That of course gave him every opportunity to critique and insult her and her stumbling efforts at every point along the way.

Yet she did progress.

And secretly, with Om and Khai–whom Master Vane seemed entirely oblivious to–Naero compared notes and ideas. She grew closer and closer to being able to biomance and fix the damage in her own head, the lingering effects from her ignorant efforts to burn out Danner during their battle.

Talking with Khai and Om merely confirmed things.

She understood more fully now, how that in burning out Dan without the proper knowledge and skill, she had also done the same thing more or less to herself.

A total Cosmic energy burn out.

Yet that realization worried her as well.

If she could find a way to heal and regenerate herself and her abilities, couldn’t Danner do the same thing?

Perhaps he already had.

And he was much stronger than either her or Jan put together.

Where were her brother and former brother now? Still hidden away and being tested and tortured in some Corps lab?

Now it was Om who became the patient one. And he himself resisted Vane’s tek dampening effects better and better.

One step at a time, Naero. We will not be able to help Jan or confront Dan again in our current state. We must learn what we have come here to learn from the Mystics. I believe you made the right choice.

Naero still fidgeted.

But it’s taking so long, Om. Who knows what is happening while we’re stuck here on Janosha?

*

Without warning one day, Master Vane came to Naero well before dawn and made an announcement. She was already up.

“Starting today, you’ll need to waste your time among the rats or something. About a week. Hashiko and I must confer on the astral plane with some of the other Mystics. We’ll both be in self-induced trances in stasis pods most of that time. Do not bother or interrupt us, not under any circumstance.”

“What if something happens? What if there’s an emergency?

“Relax, Maeris. It’s a handful of days, just like all the rest on Janosha. Don’t worry. My cave will be well-shielded. Even you won’t be able to sneak in and slit our throats.”

Naero ignored that.

“I’ve been meaning to ask. Why does Tek only work for you and not for me on Janosha?”

“Like everything else–because I want it that way. Relax. Janosha is well-protected. If you haven’t figured it out, there are two Spacer Intel monitoring bases at the poles, manned only by adepts. They can sense any threat coming, just as we did your small craft. They can deal with it, summon help from several nearby Spacer Naval bases, or raise an impenetrable planetary defense shield.”

“It might have been nice to know all of these details before now.”

Vane grinned. “Oh, and I also have several private, hidden starports, concealed all over Janosha. Like the one nearby in these very mountains, complete with several unique ships and my own stealth escape craft. If I should ever have need of them.”

Naero pursed her lips tight and could not help fuming.

“I’m an expert pilot and love to fly. You have stuff I could pilot and you couldn’t tell me or give me access to any of them?”

Vane waved both hands.

“My toys. Not yours. Go and become a High Master and you can get your own. You didn’t need to know any of that, and you still need to focus on your pitiful progress with biomancy. You have plenty to occupy your time, or just waste it, as usual, like you always do.”

“I still feel uneasy for some reason. It would be nice to have a way to contact you if I had to.”

Master Vane grabbed her hand and yanked her over to her sleeping furs and hides.

“Very well. I’ll show you how to enter the Astral Plane, and give you a psyonic marker so that you can seek me out. Lie down. Keep holding my hand tight. Don’t break the link.”

“You couldn’t have shown me this before either?”

“You’re such a slow learner, Maeris. When have we had time? There hasn’t been any need. And you can enter the Astral Plane when you’re sleeping too.”

“I think I already have before, by accident.”

“Of course you have. Most adepts do, but as usual, you don’t know what you’re doing or how to take control of the situation and manage anything effectively.”

She swallowed her gall and didn’t go into detail about her crazy dreams and visions either. Not to Vane, that was for sure. And she kept the astral crystal well-hidden.

As they lay back, she felt herself drifting off within a few minutes of controlled breathing. Her eyes closed.

Next thing she knew, she and Master Vane floated up in the sky, high in the atmosphere.

She would have gasped, but then she realized she wasn’t breathing. That fact almost panicked her. Vane tried to calm her through their link.

Easy, Maeris. You don’t have a physical body in the Astral Plane. This is your astral form, and it does not need to breathe. There are ways to manipulate your form here, but the other High Masters worry and diddle with all of that crap. Just one of the many reasons why they’re so stupid and distracted half the time. They’re addicted to extra-planar travel like some kind of drug.

Suddenly they passed into what seemed to be a swirling miasma of light and color that enveloped them out of nowhere.

What are the dangers? Can we be harmed here?

“Many, and yes. If you die on any plane or reality, you perish in all the others that you inhabit. But that’s all you need to know for now. You travel within the Astral Plane by force of will, picking a direction, or focusing on a location or entity that you know well. We’ll train you more in Astral travel later. You do not need to be very good at it for now. You must not enter it without a good reason or stay very long. Here is my marker for you that I shall create. You can use it to find me if you must.”

A small black, glistening three dimensional star, shifting and pulsing with veins of scarlet energy, floated in front of her.

She could hold it in her hands, but when she attempted to touch it, it melted into her right hand and vanished.

Naero gave up a little cry at the sharpness of the quick stab of agony.

Damn Vane. Everything always seemed to be taught through pain with him. The sadistic old bastard.

Yes, yes, I know it hurts. Curse me as you usually do I imagine; I rather enjoy it. Concentrate on me in the Astral Plane and that Marker will transport you to wherever I happen to be at the time. But I’m warning you; if you bother me without good cause, I will find new ways to make you suffer, Maeris. Now, let’s return to Janosha.

How do we do that?

Simple you simpleton. You are your own, best known astral marker. Focus on returning to your physical body. Like waking up. Picture yourself opening your eyes.

In the flash of an instant, they were back in Naero’s cave. Her eyes fluttered open. Master Vane already let go of her hand and rose up, floating out the opening and up toward his chamber.

“Remember. Do not bother us on the Astral Plane unless it’s very important. It’s only for one week, Maeris. Consider it a holiday. We’ll continue your training after we return.”

21

Later that morning, Naero climbed down among the Tua to seek out Bahan and Iika. With Vane and Hashiko away in the Astral Plane, she had little else to occupy her time, besides practicing on her own.

She said her greetings.

It continued to be a great comfort to her that the simple, gentle Tua always seemed happy to see her. No longer showing any fear of her. Even though she was halaena, they accepted her among them completely. Just like family.

Naero was used to being around others, and gladly enjoyed being part of their lives.

The Tua kits favored her immensely and climbed up all over her like little furry beetles, squeaking and mewing in glee. They covered her like a furry suit.

A very hot, itchy, furry suit in the current heat of the high summer season.

Naero ignored the mild discomfort and laughed with them, kissing and petting the various kits until they clung to her and purred, falling happily asleep.

The entire tribe kept the kits so clean. They even smelled good, kind of like caramel and vanilla and fruit.

Parents and great-parents wandered over and plucked their kits off of her without a word, apparently knowing which ones were theirs.

Usually Tua females gave birth to two to four kits at a time. Six in some rare cases.

Yet the women also had some way of controlling when they conceived that Naero hadn’t figured out yet. Were they biomancers on some level? They were not constantly pregnant, that was for sure, despite plenty of chunga.

Chunga in full view, often in public among the adults, just like most everything they did.

Very little convention. No shame.

Little chunga breaks erupted here and there all day long among the mated pairs, and then they went right back to their business like nothing had just happened.

Completely natural to them and all of the Tua around them.

And as with many sentients, about ten percent of the mated pairs were either male-male, or female-female. Such pairs either worked out chunga pairings to have kits of their own, or in general helped out with the other village kits as needed or to their liking.

Some pairs of all varieties even chose to have no kits at all.

But in fact, once a mated pair had a litter of kits, they didn’t get pregnant again for a long time. Iika explained that most mated pairs only had one or two litters in their entire three decade lifetimes.

And they could only mate after their coming of age of fourteen summers, at which time, most were eager and prepared to do so.

Any young adults caught sneaking off to chunga before they came of age were beaten with switches and kept separate by the Tua elders.

Somehow the population remained relatively stable around the caves, although Naero knew that other tribes of Tua existed in countless other places. And many chose to live among them.

Once all the kits were off her, she located Bahan and Iika. About sixty adult and young Tua prepared to journey with them.

Bahan explained that they were going to harvest a snoka tree after lunch.

The hunting party checked all of their tools and implements.

“We never try to kill snoka trees. They live for a very long time and provide many useful things. When one does die, many tribes come to feast off it before it rots. The snoka tree is not really a tree.”

“What do you mean it’s not a tree?”

“You shall see,” Iika said. “The snoka pretends to be a tree. It is really an animal. It bleeds. It can even move among the galu trees it feeds off of. It appears to slowly absorb them, but it is really devouring them.”

“Amazing, an animal that mimics and eats trees.”

“Yes” Bahan said. “As long as we don’t cut the snoka all the way around, it won’t die before its time. But we can take long strips off without doing much harm. The snoka will heal easily, as long as you don’t harvest the same strip on it twice. They are so large, there is is no need.”

Iika pulled out several samples of materials they harvested from the snoka. “We cure and use the outer hide for skins, sleeping hides, screens, and tents. Certain layers are perfect for making thongs, cords, and braided rope. The softer, inner flesh can be cooked and eaten, even dried into jerky. The snoka has many good uses.”

Naero pointed to some jerky. “That’s what I’ve been eating all this time? I gotta say, it’s not bad.”

Bahan nibbled on some as they went. “We try to respect the lives of the snoka, and the galu. Both have many uses, and their own ways of life. The snoka only feeds on the old galu trees that are in their decline, keeping the forests from being choked with dead wood and brush. A very real fire hazard. Snoka keep the forests healthy–even their droppings enrich the soil. And healthy forests protect the Tua from many large predators.”

“How do they do that?”

Iika sang a little bit. “Some predators, like the akakoth tunnel through the earth to get at their prey. The deep, thick tree roots block them. And many predators do not like the taste or smell of certain grasses or trees, or their roots.”

Bahan laughed. “Some snoka even do the same, to keep predators from eating them, or seeing them as food.”

Naero smiled. “I like and respect how the Tua seem to live in harmony with everything on Janosha.”

Her friends looked at her in confusion, as they sometimes did.

“There is another way to do things?” Iika asked.

Naero sighed and smiled. She did not say anything more for a long while.

The hunters came to the snoka tree that they had selected.

A towering specimen seventy meters tall, in the process of devouring a galu tree of similar size.

This snoka had been harvested many times over the years. Naero saw the patchwork of strips taken from its sides that had healed over in a matter of weeks. Never in the same place.

Her friends were right. The snoka were so enormous, taking the long strips from them would be like a human scraping an elbow or knee.

The dark brown bark or hide of the snoka was in fact leathery and even cracked and weathered in places. Yet mostly smooth. Only the slight nubs in the hide allowed the agile Tua hunters to clamber up the creature so deftly.

The Tua went to work with their stone tools. First they measured the strip precisely, and then peeled off the layers they needed, rolling them up and cutting the sheets in lengths that any adult Tua could carry.

Each layer could be used in different ways.

As they carved deeper, the snoka oozed reddish, sap-like sticky blood, which they also collected.

The sap-blood had a woody, earthy, yet pungent smell. Not like pine. More like the metallic tang of copper and wood pulp.

The harvest took over three hours of hard labor, with the Tua working quickly and methodically. They neither hurried nor dawdled. And for once, none of them stopped to chunga. Such harvests were extremely important to the tribe’s survival.

Naero marveled as she watched them achieve their tasks. Learning new respect for them the more time she spent with them. The Tua were far from being vermin or dumb brutes. They were clever and very smart after their own fashion. And they had a natural compassion for each other and everything around them that was both beautiful and inspiring.

The Tua normally seemed serene and happy left to themselves. Diligent, playful. Even funny.

Naero liked that they played cute little harmless tricks on each other and spent a good deal of their time teasing one another, telling stories, singing, and laughing.

Their forests rang with joy and laughter when they were free to be who and what they were.

Naero had the sense that the Tua knew themselves very well. and most likely, they knew Janosha and all of its ways more intimately and far better than even the Mystic High Masters ever would.

Especially the real brutes–like Vane.

Chaos knowledge was not the only knowledge that held any value, whether Vane would admit to that or not. Yes, even Naero began to see how important Chaos energy truly was. How it permeated and connected and even fueled everything.

Yet it was only one component of a greater whole. A vital component, but not the sum total of all things. Not by far.

Somehow, being around the Tua helped her put and keep everything in perspective.

The harvesting done, the Tua even covered the open wound on the snoka with great quantities of the bluish-purple healing salve that they kept with them.

“That seems like a waste,” Naero said. “The snoka are strong. Wouldn’t they heal on their own?”

Bahan explained. “We give back to the snoka, for giving us so much in return. Our precious balm heals them faster, and helps keep them healthy and strong. A healthy forest of snoka and galu is a good thing for all.”

Some of the adult Tua prepared a celebration meal for the hunters. Prime cuts of the deepest, juiciest, tenderest snoka strip, a few millimeters thick, got cubed and put in mixing bowls raw, with salt and herbs and pungent, tangy nuc sauce that the Tua fermented in skins and bladders.

Every one eagerly began to feast on the cubed snoka meat from the bowls once they were set out.

Naero tried some.

She normally did not favor raw meat dishes, but quickly found this one to be a pungent, delicious delicacy.

She smiled at her friends, wiping juice from her chin on one arm before grabbing another handful of succulent, meaty cubes.

When the meal was done, the Tua took her to a nearby stream where they bathed to wash off the sweat of the day and any stickiness from the meal. They cleaned their bowls and then filled them with pure sparkling water from the river.

Iika handed a small bowl of water to Naero.

“Watch us, and do as we do. We shall give thanks to the snoka and the galu for their gifts to us. We shall thank all the forest and Tua’Ka itself.”

Together they all held their bowls of water before them and went back to the snoka tree they harvested, forming a great ring around it.

Then they sang their song of praise and thankfulness.

Naero was already beginning to learn their many songs, and sang along with them.

Yah-duu Ah Shah Lah! Shah hah lah shah-dae! Yah Jhah Vah Shah-Lae. Ae duu vah. Ae duu vah shah lah!

Then a strange thing happened.

The plain river water in the wooden bowls began to glow slightly.

Naero could sense it. It wasn’t just water any more. It was fused with the Cosmic energies of Janosha.

On an impulse, she raised the bowl to her lips and drank some.

Instantly, she felt as if every centimeter of her body became electrified, charged with power from deep within.

Her skin began to glow with the same light.

Naero gasped again. So filled with power.

Was this what it was like to begin to transform into a being of pure light, darkness, and energy?

Om nearly panicked.

Naero, what is happening?

Take it easy Om. Everything’s all right. Go back to what you were doing.

The Tua glanced at her in curiosity, but kept singing.

Yah-duu Ah Shah Lah! Shah hah lah shah-dae! Yah Jhah Vah Shah-Lae. Ae duu vah. Ae duu vah shah lah!

The Tua lifted their bowls, then tipped them and poured out the glowing liquid all around the base of the galu and the snoka.

The glowing energy seeped into the rich earth, and even faded away gently from within Naero herself.

That was it. That was the answer.

They were all one. One with Janosha. One with…everything.

She felt as if she could pluck the sun from space and feast upon it like ripe fruit.

The flows of all things Cosmic streamed through her veins.

They were in fact the stars–just as Spacers believed.

And the stars and all things were them.

The Great Truth, the Great Mystery of All Things was in fact, Blazing and Blinding True.

Why did she ache that when this moment passed on, she would no longer understand these things this completely?

Naero realized that she had only known such peace and joy at fleeting times before.

In the pure love of her lost parents.

At precious moments with Gallan and her closest friends.

The Tua sang a third and final time.

Naero lifted up her voice as one with them.

Tears of joy and sorrow rivering from her eyes.

Yah-duu Ah Shah Lah! Shah hah lah shah-dae! Yah Jhah Vah Shah-Lae. Ae duu vah. Ae duu vah shah lah!

Their work done, the Tua simply dissolved their circle, collected their rolls from the harvest, and filed away quietly without so much as another word.

Soon they were laughing and playing tricks on each other again.

Mated pairs stopped for chunga breaks and then scurried to catch up.

The hunting party picked up the pace slightly to get back to the caves before dark, to share their latest bounty with the rest of the tribe.

A young hunter boy of ten or eleven fell wrong and broke an ankle.

Once his ankle was tended to and wrapped, Naero offered to carry him on her back. The Tua thanked her profusely.

The boy beamed all the way home and finally fell asleep with his head lolling on her shoulder.

All of the other children grew jealous of him once they got back.

For the first time since she arrived on Janosha, Naero went to sleep and slept peacefully that night.

When Khai contacted her via the astral crystals, she told him about her day with the Tua.

Even Khai had never had such an experience. But he was extremely interested.

They discussed her energy transformation in great detail.

Khai seemed very impressed and claimed to have gained several important insights that might actually help him in his efforts.

After that, Naero decided to tell him a story.

They had all night while they slept. Plenty of time.

Khai made no protests.

“When I was little, my earliest memories were of my parents. Of course, we were always on one of their ships, going here and there. Both of them trained me…from the moment I could float.”

“Go on,” Khai told her.

22

Her mother was her sun and love.

Her father was her ship. Her courage and adventure.

Naero’s parents taught her everything, from the moment she could start learning.

With their fighting careers behind them, and still being very young, they were used to spending lots of time training and sparring.

Naero practically grew up in practice rooms.

Her parents doted on her, sharing all their experience and knowledge with her. In her love for them, she wanted to be just like them. She practiced and trained very hard.

First she mastered individual techniques. Punches, strikes, kicks. Throwing. Grappling. Then every combination.

She practiced all the Spacer fighting forms before the age of five.

By the time Jan came along and joined them, she had already been sparring with her parents, for years.

It was cute and funny at first. Her totally serious. Going on the attack, against two of the fight circuit’s greatest champions. Shouting her battle cries in her little voice.

Her mother blocked and deflected her tiny blows with the precise, flashing palm of one small, hard hand, giving her pointers on speed, timing, and strategy all the while.

Her dad was so big, that when he did the same thing, he intercepted her attacks with the deft tips of one or two fingers. Naero bounced off of him as if she were attacking a solid wall.

Yet their favorite thing was for him to pretend to give ground, and act like she was driving him back with her miniature onslaughts. Her dad was a great actor and showman, even better than her mom.

She would laugh so hard, knocking him around. As if any of her little hits could really damage a giant like him. Finally she would use one of her mother’s flashy finishing moves, a spin, flip, or whirl kick. Or even one of the few she made up herself.

Naero weighed next to nothing as a little girl, and being utterly fearless, she could practically fly through the air, and literally bounce off any available walls, ceiling, or floor like a rubber ball.

She would ‘finish’ her father off and he would fall back, pretending to be knocked out.

Then Naero would jump on top of him, plant her feet, and strike a victory pose. At which point her father would scoop her up, give her hugs and smoochies, and tickle her nearly to the point of hyperventilation.

She and her mom and then Jan would laugh so hard, and often join in the tumbling match until they were all exhausted and happy.

Then her parents would eventually kiss each other quite differently. They’d give one another a certain look. One or both of them raising eyebrows at the other or winking. Actually, they looked kind of weird and stupid when they did that stuff.

Her and Jan didn’t know what that meant, at first.

But they eventually figured it out, as they got older and saw the pattern repeat.

Within several standard minutes, both their parents would get someone to watch them and slip away for some alone time.

Now that Naero was of age, she was happy that her parents had loved each other so keenly, and took their fun when they could.

While they could.

They were always busy. As their merchant fleet grew, they began planning the construction of their exploration fleet to explore the Unknown Sectors. What became their shared dream together.

Yet they still spent lots of time with her and Jan, and oversaw their training, teaching them what they knew about fighting and about life.

Once she and then Jan reached their teens, they began becoming their own persons, with their own forces of will and personal interests.

Jan, more of a scientist, a math nut, and a navigator.

Naero a pilot and warrior, but with heavy interests in history and galactic anthropology. Like her parents, she caught their love for exploration and adventure. The business savvy of her mother. Her father’s people skills and love of poetry and philosophy.

She truly inherited the best from them both.

The teen years also brought out her and Jan’s strong-willed, cocky, and rebellious sides.

Naero recalled the few times she thought she was going to actually defeat her parents. For real.

Not comprehending what it meant that both of them had trained with the Mystics.

Like Baeven now, either of them could have destroyed her a dozen times over at any point. But of course they weren’t going to kill their beloved children. Just because they got full of themselves and started acting like a puffed-up snotheads who could lick anyone.

Both her parents used just enough speed and power to let her and Jan know what the deal really was.

Leaving them winded and slightly bloody on the mats.

She and Jan more or less went through the same thing. And suffered the same fate.

Then their parents would hug them and get sad. Holding onto them without letting them go. No matter how angry they got, or whatever nasty things they blurted out in their rage–at their own mom and dad.

Once her father started crying.

It made a big impression on Naero.

“Naero honey, you might not understand this right now. But don’t be so eager to fight and crush others. To see the dark and vile things in the universe in others and ourselves. You don’t know how bad things can get. All the wars and killing and death that our people have suffered. It’s all still out there. Just waiting. We must use our skills to defend what we love, and still remain the people we want to be.”

Naero was there when their mom winded Jan and wouldn’t let him go, telling him something similar.

Jan told her that he hated her.

Their mom winced. “Shhh…” she told him “You don’t hate me. You’re just mad at me because I put you in your place. I would die for you Jan. Many times over. I would give my life for you. Because I love you. Never forget who you are and who you should be.”

No.

Naero would never forget where she came from, or who and what she wanted to be.

What she should be.

Even if Master Vane reduced her to cinders this instant.

In her mind, Naero ended her story to Khai and grew very quiet.

“Naero,” Khai told her at last. “I think your mother and father were very great people. I’m glad they were your parents.”

“Me too.”

“You miss them both the way I miss my father. I can tell, but let me say this.”

“What?”

“They have prepared you well to stand against all of the challenges life can bring. I can see clearly that it is not in your nature to accept defeat or any obstacle in your way. Believe in yourself, as they did, as I do. Given the chance and the right knowledge and training, I think you can accomplish anything.”

“Thanks, Khai. You’re a good friend. That means a lot coming from someone like you. I know that my parents and their indomitable spirit lives in me. I sense it every day. They are always beside me, and I shall never be alone. I could say similar things about you. I know you will never stop striving to achieve your goals. I just don’t want them to kill you.”

Khai laughed. “Death is to be avoided.”

Naero smiled. Talking to Khai was like having Gallan back with her. And that was a very good thing indeed.

23

Naero spent another day with the Tua, learning their ways.

Each day it was something different.

Again, Vane was dead wrong. The Tua did not simply loll around in their own filth and screw, as he put it. They were not lazy at all, and kept themselves busy sustaining a very decent way of life for everyone.

For one thing, they kept themselves and the village and the caves very clean.

Although, there was a lot of chunga going on at random. For the Tua it was natural and fun. Just another part of life that they hardly paid any attention to.

They were a free people. They didn’t answer to anyone normally, or need permission to be who and what they were.

Who they wanted to be.

But even with all the Tua love everywhere, Naero started feeling a bit lonely at times herself.

She had started having some pretty wild dreams about Max Lii giving her more than just a private throck concert.

And more than that, her growing curiosity of what Khai actually looked like in the flesh bothered her something fierce. It burned in her imagination.

Naero tried not to let her mind wander too much on frivolous things.

Not good for anyone. She shook herself back to the present.

About two score Tua, all older adults, prepared for today’s journey.

Except for their small tool pouches, they took nothing else with them.

Bahan and Iika bowed and touched their foreheads to her. All the others did the same. Naero did the same, returning their greeting and honor to them.

“Where are we going today?” Naero asked. She breathed deeply. The sky always tasted so rich, clean, and fresh.

The Tua tribal leaders motioned to the southwest.

“Ten of our friends are near their times. They’ve chosen the bava trees southwest of here. They’ve made their partings with the others in the tribe. Now it is time to go forth.”

Naero understood. The five pairs were all over thirty summers, by so many months. They decorated themselves with circlets and garlands of bright, fragrant flowers.

They were going off to die, to go on to the next journey, and to be buried by their people in peace in a place of their choosing.

The party did not bother to sluna. They wanted to be seen. The five couples wearing the flowers laughed and spoke quietly among each other, re-telling favorite stories. Both they and the companion couples stopped to chunga and caught up when they could.

The ten sang at times, alone or in pairs. They sang to the trees, the sky. They sang to each other.

Gentle. Softly. Even a little sad.

Nah-gii-toh, zah-hah bahnoh, mah gah-duu, shii hah-dah zom.

They said farewell to their world that they loved and all within it.

Naero had never seen any of the Tua weep. It did not seem to be their way. They experienced every emotion and could know both great pain and emotional sorrow, but they did not cry.

They gathered food as they needed along the way. They gave some food to her as they always did. They knew where to find water.

They slept huddled around a great snoka tree that night, kept warm by the same soft, false-leaves that the tribe used for toilet paper.

Naero huddled with the Tua against the slightly chilly night air, although her Nytex suit kept her warm in part.

They woke up the next day as the sun rose and set out again.

By mid-day they reached the chosen spot somehow. Frankly, Naero could barely tell one patch of forest from another. Yet the bava trees and their leaves were somewhat different here. Some kind of local variation.

Then without warning, one of the ten Tua toppled over face down in a pile of leaves.

Without a word, his mate lay down and put her arms around him. She laughed and spoke to him softly, even laughing slightly.

Within minutes, she stopped breathing and went still also.

Naero was stunned.

What was this? What was happening? How was this possible?

Small bands of Tua knelt down and began digging the graves with their strong hands.

Five graves in all, like the petals of a flower, each about a meter and a half deep.

They sang their song of mourning and sorrow.

Moruu lahgoh nohmuu porron. Ah gii beh-ketuu. Urra gesh bamur. Ai-ii gah tandoh! Tandoh uu…nah-uu…

The Tua apparently preferred to be buried in pairs. Some of the remaining eight helped dig their own graves in the dark black, rich soil. The heady scent of which filled the air.

Those who did not dig produced rolls of supple brown snoka hide, which Naero had just learned was harvested in sheets.

Two other couples laid down in each other’s arms and stopped breathing.

With their cutting tools of stone and bone needles, the other remaining adults wrapped the bodies in hide and sewed them closed. But not before they kissed their friends’ faces, and gave them gifts of both flowers, bright crystals, and food.

Finally the shrouds of hide were all sewn shut, and placed carefully in the graves like strange pods. The dirt was scooped back in on top of them, and the Tua tamped down the mounds with their tough feet.

The last couple sat against a young bava tree, clinging to each other and kissing.

At last they too drifted away, breathing their last.

The Tua moved to bury them in the same exact fashion.

They covered the burial mounds with leaves and transplanted flowers so that the latter would grow over the graves.

Then the Tua sang their song of love.

Shae-lah vah hii nah, ellah vii shiinah, jahmii vae sha-noh, Shae-lah vah Yah-vae!

Naero learned their songs and sang along with them. Once more she allowed her own tears to flow freely. This time her reaction seemed to be either an amazing or confusing thing to the Tua.

Several of them came by and touched her face. They even licked her cheeks and tasted her tears, until Bahan and Iika waved them away.

No one said much.

So Naero spoke to Om.

Haisha! I don’t care what Master Vane says. The Tua are not rats. They are a very wise and beautiful people, and care about each other very deeply. They deserve as much respect and admiration as any sentient race in the galaxy. Perhaps more than many others I’ve had dealings with.

Naero, I cannot help but share your emotions, but I do not fully understand or experience them yet, as fully as you do.

By then it was dark. The Tua did not intend to stay the night again and planned to march and run all night to return to the caves by dawn. Their task here was done.

They merely wanted to return home to their own lives.

Bahan and Iika agreed to talk. Naero had many questions along the way as they set out.

“Not all go away for their passing,” Iika explained. “It is a choice. Many elect to pass quietly among the tribe or in their homes, and are taken to burial places nearby.”

Then Naero spotted small glowing lights, flitting overhead and through the trees.

She counted ten of them, flitting about together.

“What are those?” she asked.

“What are what?” Bahan said, glancing around in the dark.

“Some kind of insect that can produce its own light?”

Iika shook her head. “There are no such bugs on Janosha that we know of.”

“Those little flickering lights that just passed overhead? You couldn’t have missed them.”

The Tua shuffled nervously.

“None of us saw any strange lights,” Bahan insisted.

Iika smiled, bowed and touched her forehead, and took Naero’s hands. Her eyes glistened in the dark.

“Perhaps only halaena can see what you have seen.”

24

The next morning, Naero awoke from a particularly terrible nightmare to another crashing, summer lightning storm, complete with lashing winds and driving rain.

A drenched Bahan shook her, screaming at her in pain and fear.

“Naero, please wake up. We need you, halaena. Only you can help us!”

She forced herself to snap awake, and jumped up, pulling away from him, looking around.

“What’s going on, Bahan? What’s wrong?”

The tribal leader was usually so calm. Now he shook and muttered, even whimpering.

“It’s…it’s Iika. The fire from the sky struck her. She fell onto some of the meat drying racks.”

“Let’s go.”

Ignoring the violent storm, they quickly climbed down to the ground level below. About twenty Tua hovered around.

“Let the halaena through!” Bahan shouted. They parted for her, bowing their heads.

Om, I really need your help here.

What is it?

She knelt down at Iika’s side.

Iika looked badly scorched, injured, and frightened, her chest heaving. She was soaked through and bleeding badly from several wounds.

The Tua positioned several screens of hide from the drying racks to keep the rain off of them.

“Naero!” Iika cried out, spotting her. Desperately grasping for and clutching her hand. “Help…me. Please…”

Her eyes rolled back white. She toppled to one side and collapsed in Naero’s arms. Going into shock. Dying.

Om. Please. We must save her.

Multiple wounds. Struck by lightning. First and second degree burns from the back of her head to her right leg and foot. One lung punctured, three critical piercing wounds on the back and left side. She has lost a crucial amount of blood.

What do we do? Tell me.

She’s going into shock and dying. We don’t even have a medkit. Short of biomancing, there’s little we can do. I’m still mostly offline.

Naero clutched her skull without hesitation and focused her knowledge and abilities, everything she had learned.

To perceive and reach the damaged areas in her own brain.

She traced the path of the mind control needle.

Om had done what he could–a relentless, amazing job really–to heal and regenerate nearly all of the damage on either side of the blockages.

Three intricate choke points remained, dead areas and scar tissue, completely blocking her from tapping into her unknown energies and the abilities beyond them.

Those powers still lurked within her. Along with her own Dark Beast. Waiting eagerly. Tempting her to unleash them.

Yes, her Dark Beast sensed her panic and bided its time.

Om attempted to caution her.

We have been through all this, Naero. We cannot go any further without risking even worse damage than we already have. Or you losing control.

Naero ignored him.

We can’t regenerate those areas completely. What if we open them up slightly, so that we can get a trickle of cosmic energy to ignite our potential biomancing abilities?

Possible. We might also short out your brain entirely and kill our current life form. Or leave you still physically alive, but completely brain dead. Or rage out of control. Or explode.

I’m going to give it our best shot, Om. I need you. Work with me here.

Very well. I know how stubborn you are. Let’s go then. Together. Right now.

They simultaneously tried to stimulate and then regenerate and heal the three choke points, enough to get Cosmic energies and brain functions passing through the damaged areas.

Seal it off! Too much, to much! Too much energy. It’s flooding everywhere!

She tried. It felt as if someone lit her head on fire from within.

Like trying to control and reverse a massive explosion within her own mind.

Almost…almost…don’t let it destroy us!

Suddenly Naero shrieked, convulsed, and fell back, completely drained.

Her Dark Beast roared inside her mind, struggling to rip free. To tap into Janosha’s energy flows and feed.

Naero blacked out.

When she came to and blinked a few instants later, she felt rain still dotting her face.

The Tua still clustered around her, petting her and whimpering.

Bahan sat in the mud beside her, holding Iika’s limp form in his arms, rocking and shaking.

Iika’s lips turned blue.

Naero sat straight up and gulped in air.

Cosmic power rushed through her. All around her. It infused her and pulsed all around her in shock waves.

For the second time since she arrived, she was at one with Janosha.

Her third eye blazed to life in the middle of her forehead, and her flesh glowed with a great light, as if lit from within.

Tua stared and crawled away from her in awe.

For a few fleeting, flaring instants. She was an energy being.

Naero knelt down and put her arms around Bahan and Iika. She immediately sensed Iika dying, her life energy ebbing away.

“I need you to help me save her, Bahan.”

He nodded. “Take my life, in place of hers,” he said.

Om. The blocks…they’re shattered. Completely gone. I’m biomancing. The rush of energies. I can hardly believe it.

Yet Om remained damaged from the very intensity of their efforts. She sensed it instantly. Only garbles emerged from his intellect.

She could help repair him later.

Saving Iika was all that mattered now.

First she healed Iika’s mortal wounds, regenerating them in seconds.

To do so, she drew much needed blood and life force energy directly from Bahan, transferring it into Iika.

He grunted and gasped, clenching his eyes and teeth and enduring the pain. Then he passed out.

Naero didn’t have time to figure out how to form blood and life force energy out of nothing, and replace them on her own. She simply wasn’t that skilled yet.

She needed all of that now if she was going to bring Iika back from the brink.

Using Bahan as a donor was the clear, logical solution.

That left both Tua weak and unconscious. For now. But after careful rest, more healing, and food, they should recover and live out their lives.

They had all saved Iika. Together.

Naero stopped glowing at some point, expending all of her pulse of Cosmic biomancy to affect the miracle at hand.

Her block was finally gone.

All of her abilities would eventually emerge again. And she would need to learn to control and master them.

Including her Dark Beast.

Or be destroyed by them.

All at once she could begin to apply everything that she had learned in the mean time. Everything Vane had taught her about Chaos Wisdom and Cosmic energy fields and biomancy. Janosha was a huge, constantly-available raw Cosmic power source.

Just tempting her to tap into it.

But she knew enough now not to rush into anything and most likely destroy herself one way or another. The risks were simply too great, and far too many.

Naero sensed instinctively that she was also free once again to re-learn to teknomance, and access all of her former powers, and more.

On a whim, she instantly bypassed Master Vane’s Tek-dampening and activated the programming in her flight togs.

Then her wristcom.

If she located enough iron and copper, she could eventually refine the raw materials to make a fixer.

Haisha! She still had the inert one in her duffle.

Not only that–the millions of insights she had gained on biomancy suddenly all made perfect, precise sense to her. Like having Zhen’s healing sight jacked up to the highest degree.

Yet something still felt terribly wrong.

What was it? What was she missing? Forgetting?

She remembered Master Vane’s ability to levitate and propel himself through the air at will.

With but a thought she used that ability in an instant. She floated off the ground and lifted Bahan and Iika up with ease.

She carefully tucked them away in their cave to rest.

Yet the intense feelings of unease only continued to increase.

Something was wrong. She was doing something wrong.

Her mind raced with possibilities. She flitted around without purpose or direction. The rush of energies intoxicating as ever, overpowering.

They were just that–overwhelming.

Waves of cosmic energy continued to flood into her. Going critical. Literally. Filling her way too full.

Like an energy bubble, expanding out of control.

In terror her mind saw the immense conclusion.

What happened when the Cosmic bubble popped?

She’d explode.

What would the blast radius of such limitless Cosmic energies be?

Would she take out the region?

The entire planet? She shuddered and convulsed in spasms.

It terrified her to her core. What were her limits? She just didn’t know.

Om. Biomancy. Teknomancy.

Fix Om.

She need him and the KDM desperately. Bring him back on line. Get him up to speak with her.

Drain off some of that wide-open energy rush.

Did the Kexx have a cure for this?

For stupidity and ignorance?

Om. Om Come back to me. I’m doing everything to fix you and your protocols. Talk to me.

Please. I…I don’t know what to do. I keep filling up with so much…so much of this energy. Help me. Please, help me!

Naero? What’s happening? The blocks are completely gone. There’s nothing between us and the raw power of the entire planet. What did you do? We’re…expanding exponentially. We’re going to detonate!

I know, I know! What do we do with all of this power?

Transport, transport!

What?

Translocate. Like Master Vane does, tapping into the cosmic flows of the planet. It takes huge amounts of energy to transport. Use some up. Burn it off. Take us somewhere you remember. Anywhere!

Naero focused.

Hurry!

Island. Volcano. Sea birds and marine reptiles.

She struggled to remember the entire process, all the principles and abilities involved. Exactly how Vane transported them from place to place.

Naero miscalculated.

They appeared a thousand feet up in the air over the island.

Right over the volcano. They immediately plummeted downward, accelerating rapidly.

She panicked, trying to recall how to levitate.

Again. Transport again. Still too much energy. Again, while the process is still fresh in your mind!

The island winked out.

Next thing she knew, they tumbled roughly across the savannah, slamming into the soft ground and short grass.

As if on cue, an akakoth erupted to attack her.

Om responded instinctively, setting it on fire, consuming it in seconds. The creature shrieked and reduced to ash.

Naero gasped and fell forward on her hands and knees. The energy flows flooded them again, but they had gained a short respite.

It’s the planet. Janosha itself. The flows are too strong. Break away to stop the power surge. Sever the link!

I don’t know how. Help me Om!

Her skin began to glow all over once more. To shine.

Haisha! I’m transforming into an energy being again. I can’t control it!

Together they tore themselves free from their direct Cosmic link with the planet Janosha.

Like shredding themselves.

They both screamed.

All of the wild energies within them bled out and dissipated.

Naero collapsed. Spent, gasping and sweating on the ground.

That nearly destroyed us. But at least now our block is gone.

Naero groaned. She could barely lift her head.

Great, Om. Suddenly I feel…so much better.

Naero struggled to breathe and not black out again.

25

For the rest of that long week on her own, Naero gauged herself and did her best to heal Om, careful not to get overwhelmed by the Cosmic energy flows of Janosha. Vast energies that so nearly destroyed them.

Perhaps Master Vane could instruct her how to do so more safely when he got around to it. How to control the process of tapping into them without exploding. That was his job after all.

And not blowing up would be a huge help.

She also practiced learning to sluna, but she was awful at it to begin with. To the Tua, it was nearly an innate ability, learned shortly after they could walk.

But when she told him where she was at that night, Khai seemed very impressed.

Through their link while they slept, they compared notes on channeling various types of Cosmic energy and what both of them knew about energy being transformation.

Naero still had over two years to train on Janosha.

At least now with her block gone, she could actually begin to access and use her abilities directly. Her real training could begin.

First it had been rather nice having Master Vane and Hashiko out of the picture.

Naero sure didn’t miss the morning beat-downs, and it was pleasant to also have a break from Master Vane’s brutal Chaos lessons.

But now that she had biomanced past her block, she couldn’t wait for them to get back so that they could teach her some basic control.

And much more.

Especially on ways to not kill herself.

She rattled on for several minutes before Khai could even slip in a word.

He sounded eager and excited.

“That’s great, Naero! Now you can really begin to learn the Way. Not to be outdone–I spent an entire hour in the fusion chamber yesterday and again today without any need to regenerate, de-contaminate, or heal myself. I didn’t even lose any fingers. All thanks to the insights we have shared.”

“Great. But now I’m stuck again. I don’t dare tap into the flows on my own any more. I just have to wait until Vane and Hashiko get back. And I’m still trying to find a way to measure my own basic progress here to increase my speed and strength to Mystic levels. If my speed or strength do gradually increase, how will I even know?”

Khai laughed. “If you want speed, talk to and work with the Tua. Over short distances, they’re incredible runners on the open plains and savannahs. You can measure yourself against them.”

“Thanks. What about strength?”

“I had the same problem. Try this. There’s a mountain gorge a few klicks down stream along the great river. Look for piles of river stones and boulders of every shape, size, and weight.”

“Yeah. So what. Rocks along a river gorge. Who knew?”

“If you are observant, you will notice many sorted piles of these rocks and stones stretching out along the river on both sides. They get larger and heavier as you proceed.”

“You left them there?”

“Yes. As I progressed, I tossed larger and larger stones across the river, back and forth each day, twice a day when I could. As I grew in my ability to channel greater Cosmic energy and strength, I moved on to larger rocks.”

“Brilliant. I’ll go there and try it.”

“I’m still having trouble focusing the powers of all three Wisdoms within the fusion field. The energy distortion and fluctuations are intense and very difficult to control.”

“Sorry. All of that sounds like gobbledy-gook to me. I don’t even have a handle on Chaos energy yet. So, I guess I’m not much help in that area.”

“That’s all right. It’s nice just to be able to talk to someone and take my mind off of all of my complex impossibilities.”

“You’re tenacious, Khai. I can tell you don’t give up. You’re smart, capable, and powerful. A true Mystic prodigy. A natural adept. Keep working like you are, and I’m sure you’ll find a way.”

“I could say the same for you, Naero.”

“Aww…you’re making me blush.”

She suddenly wondered again just what Khai looked like.

Hashiko never said anything about that.

As if an ice princess like her ever would. But Khai had to have something going for him if she went for him.

Naero shook herself. Neither of them could afford to be stupid or distracted. If either of them failed in their appointed tasks, a swift and she was guessing horrible, hot and sticky end awaited them both.

Some day would have to come some other day.

She made a note to herself.

Run with the Tua.

The very next day Naero ran with the Tua while Bahan and Iika also made quick recoveries. She grew slightly faster, but the Tua bursts of speed were still amazing to her. She never guessed how fast they truly were over short distances.

Practice throwing increasingly bigger rocks.

Naero went to the rocky river gorge that Khai spoke of and tossed the smaller piles of rocks and stones from one side to the other. Focusing her abilities.

Many more incrementally larger piles stretched out into the distance and around the river bend.

Khai did all that? Pretty amazing.

It frustrated her that she could only progress from one smaller size of rock up to the next.

*

Her tormentors in the happy Land of Chaos could in fact return at any time.

Now that they were fully recovered, Naero insisted on going out with Bahan and Iika and the majority of the cave tribe on one of their challenge runs.

Challenge runs were made once or twice each month. They were tests, contests of speed, agility, courage and skill.

The Tua pitted themselves against the akakoth, the fierce, always-hungry giant caterpillar monsters that thought Tua and everything else to be a juicy, crunchy snack.

Naero understood very well how formidable these monsters were.

If the Tua won the contests, they lived to run another day.

If they lost, they gave the akakoth some hard-earned nutrition.

The Tua seemed to accept the challenge runs as a fact of life on Janosha. It was part of what they did. No one questioned it.

Any Tua in their prime from the ages of fifteen to twenty-eight could join in the challenges if they chose. Male or female. There was no pressure, but many did so, despite the risks. Yet pregnant females and mated pairs with newborns, and the elderly were naturally excused.

Iika explained that most adult Tua in their prime ran the Challenges at least three times a year to prove their worth.

The tribe cheered and shouted encouragement to any runners.

Naero noticed large astral crystal pillars staged at intervals around the forest.

Master Vane erected a basic repulsion screen through the crystals to keep out the akakoth, who usually traveled underground and avoided the large snoka and galu trees any way because of their large deep roots, for obvious reasons. But hunger might still drive them even into the trees after a meal of Tua, and the young were especially vulnerable.

The youths guarding the young, who all watched from a distance, complained about not being allowed to go with the adults. Some of the older Tua, nearing their time, remained behind from the Challenges also. They watched after the oldest youths, so that the latter could not sneak off to try to chunga before their coming of age and being mated.

Bahan explained that it was actually very rare for one of the tribe to be eaten by the akakoth. It happened perhaps only once or twice within an entire year. But there was always that chance.

Thukia, another friend of Naero’s was very bold and boasted of her prowess. She strode beyond the protective barrier without fear or hesitation. She actually stomped her feet on the short grass of the savannah.

“What is she doing?” Naero asked.

Iika smiled. “Thuki calls to the akakoth. In a moment she will make her run across the plain. See those patches of blue on the far side in the distance?”

Naero lifted her hand to shade her eyes from the sun.

“Just barely. It’s a couple of klicks away at least.”

“Those are shinga flowers. They are rare and only grow in that place for many, many leagues. They are good medicine; we use them on wounds in our balms. But the law of the challenge runs state that runners can only pluck one shinga flower and bring it back with them. And to do that, they must avoid the akakoth who rule the plains and hide beneath the ground, defending their territory and waiting to strike.”

“Look!” Bahan called out. “A herd of hunor.”

The earth rumbled. Out of a cloud of dust over the far rise, hundreds of hunor stampeded forward. Blue, gray, and white spotted large herd animals, somewhere between a water buffalo and a wildebeest by its shape and twisted white horns.

They used their numbers to charge forward and defeat the akakoth on their way to the fertile loop of the river and the rich tall grasslands beyond that the monsters avoided. The smell or taste of the high grass fended the giant caterpillars off.

Akakoth erupted from a score of dens and snapped up unlucky bulls, cows, or calves. But as a whole, the entire herd survived. Paying the grim toll to reach food and fresh grazing lands beyond.

Thukia brazenly zigzagged through the akakoth munching on their hunor meals.

She paused at the shinga flowers and sniffed them for a few moments.

An akakoth who did not get a hunor to munch on spotted her and shot in her direction.

The tribe shouted warnings, but Thukia was too far away to hear.

At the last moment, she plucked a large shinga blossom and fixed it in her shiny black hair.

By the time the akakoth struck the spot she had been standing in, Thukia was already racing back across the plain.

Three other monsters shot out to cut her off.

Thukia leaped over one.

She caused the other two to crash into each other and begin fighting.

Barely breathing hard, Thukia raced back into the barrier, holding up her dark blue shinga blossom for all to see.

The tribe cheered her victory.

Bahan went out next, stretching casually as he strode beyond the barrier.

Iika smiled proudly. “My Bahan is the fastest male in all the tribes we know,” she boasted.

Naero laughed. “Faster than you?”

Iika smiled and tossed her head.

“I said he was the fastest male,” she emphasized. They laughed together.

Bahan had an interesting running style. He was incredibly fast, and could take off like a shot and change direction, apparently at will.

He taunted the akakoth and zipped in and out, confusing and driving them into a frenzy. Fights between dozens of the monsters broke out as he crisscrossed through their marked territories. Marked with the dung of each monster.

He would scoop some up as he ran, flinging it here and there, messing up their markings and causing fights.

The akakoth grew so disrupted that Bahan stopped and sat down just shy of the shinga flowers and munched on a long, sweet length of tessel stem as he watch the akakoth crash and twist and wrestle with each other.

The tribe gasped as he even laid back and appeared to be taking a nap.

Despite several enraged akakoth going underground and heading his way.

More cries and warnings.

Bahan rose up, stretched, and casually went over to pluck a flower.

He suddenly sped away, barely dodging multiple akakoth erupting from the ground just behind him.

He raced and dodged a gauntlet of monsters barring his return. A score of them rampaged upon his heels, snapping and biting, missing him by inches.

Then he sped away from them.

Iika looked worried suddenly and craned her head.

“What is he doing? He should be back by now. Why is he leading them east, away from the barrier? He can’t keep up his speed forever. They could trap him if he is not–”

Cries of warning and terror erupted from the rest of the tribe.

Ahti! Ahti! Ahti! Zah, Zah, Zah!

Somehow several kits burst out of the barrier and rushed out into the open. Other young ones chased them, trying to get them to come back.

Three enraged akakoth shrieked and hissed. Immediately going into attack mode.

The young ones and the kits would never get back to the barrier in time.

Naero leaped forward, running and drawing her long gleaming battle blades.

She had fought the akakoth and defeated them before.

But never three of the fierce beasts at once.

Iika caught up to her with ease.

“I’ll distract and draw them off if I can. You must defend the young ones!”

She zipped away in a blur. Naero ran at top speed, but Iika shot away from her as if she were standing still.

Then Iika increased her speed until she became a streak.

She ran right up the back of one akakoth, leaped off of its tossing head and flipped, kicking the next one in its sensitive eye and flinging its head back.

She hit the short grass running. The two monsters went mad, forgetting all else in their fury to get at her and drag her down.

The largest of the three akakoth still sped straight for the young ones.

Naero spun in with her heaviest kicks, swatting the monster to the ground. Wheeling as it smashed into the earth, her scything blades sliced deep, nearly taking off the head.

Yet even as it died, it thrashed violently. Naero had to fight it off to keep it from smashing into the young ones.

By then, several other brave adults raced in to scoop up the young and race back to the barrier.

Naero turned to escape herself, but spotted Iika and Bahan, racing back toward the barrier. Several dozen akakoth churning right behind them on their very heels.

As fast as her friends were.

The distance was just too great, and they slowed down.

Tua speed only held up so long.

Naero’s brave friends weren’t going to make it.

Iika reached out and took Bahan’s hand. They kept running.

Time dilated.

Naero knew very well they were both about to die.

Without warning, in sudden despair–Naero lost it.

The Dark Beast within her tore itself loose without warning and broke free.

Naero nearly blacked out, feeling as if someone else. Some thing else had control of her.

It did.

She swelled up in a cloud of heady energy and coruscating ribbons of dark and light, raw, unstable power.

She felt like an unstoppable giant, and laughed as one who had lost all reason.

In a flash she charged into the rampaging mass of akakoth. Clouds and gouts of dust and earth whirled in a tempest around them.

She slaughtered them with frightening ease.

She murdered them in whole batches, in waves, by the dozen, by the score.

Some she shredded to pieces. Many others exploded from within. Still others she blasted and reduced to ash, until the akakoth shrieked in terror and fear such as they had never known, and died in bloody flashes, glowing shreds of them scattered on the high winds.

Iika and Bahan ran from her in terror.

Naero chortled with glee and even reached out to crush them.

Something smashed into her, knocking her head aside.

Hashiko, pulsing with Cosmic energy like a small star.

Naero laughed and slapped her out of the way with the back of one hand.

Then Master Vane stood before her.

Glowing red tentacles of pure Chaos energy erupted from the ground itself. Ensnaring and holding her back for the moment.

She roared and struggled to break free.

Within she wrestled with her dark beast for control of her mind and body.

“So, the truth is finally revealed. You are in fact, a monster,” Vane said. “I’m intrigued to study you. But perhaps we should put an end to this folly before you become even more of a threat. I foresee that only the Eye of Annihilation can put an end to your madness. The mightiest of all Chaos attacks!”

All of his other eyes closed.

The single, largest glowing red eye centered in his forehead pulsed with pure Chaos energy and Cosmic power, set to destroy her.

Then Naero heard it. Even in her madness and terror.

The Tua sang their song of greeting. The entire tribe surged forward.

Even the young and the kits.

Sha nii hah, ahluu-nii-haa, mah nah-hii, jah ah-loh, ah-dii!

They flung themselves onto her, unafraid, and continued singing their song of love as they swept over her like a soft, undeniable wave.

Shae-lah vah hii nah, ellah vii shiinah, jahmii vae sha-noh, Shae-lah vah Yah-vae!

Naero felt herself shrinking back down to her normal dimensions.

The Dark Beast within her relented, went dormant, and slumbered once more.

Only the love of the Tua and their songs calmed her, returning her back to sanity. And gave her full control over herself once more.

Master Vane seemed shaken and uncertain by what had just transpired. He looked confused.

He strode forward twice as if he were about to act. Finally he stopped completely, drew his hood back over his head once more and turned away.

He even stopped using the voice.

“We will watch you even more closely now, Maeris. You were nigh to death this day. If you cannot learn to control this madness of yours, rest assured, you will be destroyed, for the sake of all.

Vane looked over at Hashiko where she lay groaning, just coming around. He glared at his apprentice with great disappointment.

“Get up and regenerate already. It can’t be that bad.”

Hashiko snarled and sneered at Naero in pure hatred, struggling to rise. Yet there was increased fear in her glance as well.

26

Master Vane came for her the very next day, right after she awoke.

Again, he did not use the voice.

“Get up. We must gauge where you are at now that you’ve obviously gotten past your block,” he said flatly. “I want you to show me everything. What you know. What you don’t. What you can do. What you cannot. Don’t hold back. Don’t try to lie to me.”

All of that by itself took most of the day.

Master Vane transported them to a coastal desert by the sea.

“Now take us back to the caves,” he demanded.

Naero discovered immediately that she could transport herself just fine, but not someone else along with her.

Next he motioned with one glowing finger and tore open a huge gash in her right thigh without warning.

Naero cried out, and dropped down, clutching her gushing wound and gritting her teeth.

“What the hell is this for?”

“Regenerate,” Vane commanded.

Naero focused on closing the wound and healing herself. She stopped the bleeding and re-knit the tissues and blood vessels, but the effort left her spent.

“I’m…going to pass out,” she stated.

Vane backhanded her, hurling her backwards, slamming her onto her back.

“Idiot. Tap into the planet’s flows. Don’t just use up your own reserves.”

Naero laid there. Watching the sky spin above her.

“I…can’t.”

He glared down at her.

Scary.

“Why the hell not, Maeris?”

“Tried it…before. The rush of energy…Too much. I nearly exploded.”

For the first time Naero saw Master Vane blink in either surprise or confusion. Maybe even a little fear.

“Hmmm…that would be an unmitigated disaster. We can’t have that now, can we? At least not until I could send you somewhere safe out in space, where you could detonate harmlessly.”

Naero sucked in air. “It wouldn’t…be harmless…to me.”

Vane waved one hand absently. “Pish, posh. Then we’d be rid of you at least. Yet yours is an increasingly intriguing case, Maeris. Unlike any I have ever seen. Even your uncle, and that is saying something. You are quite the freak of nature. Literally.”

Naero laughed weakly. “So, I’m so unique that you won’t destroy me today?”

“I wasn’t going to say that, but very well. Not today at least. But I’m still pretty sure that I’ll have to eliminate you at some point, Maeris. For right now, let’s practice tapping into Janosha’s cosmic flows without vaporizing yourself and half the continent.”

“Yeah. That would be inconvenient.”

“Of course. Not when I have things just the way I bloody want them. Now you’re thinking. So here’s how you do it. Let me show you by channeling through you. This is going to hurt–quite a lot by the way.”

Bastard. What else was new?

It took them three hours for her to just learn the basics of Cosmic linking, tapping, and channeling. Three agonizing hours, not the least of which was Vane’s relentless, insulting nature.

And at the end, he went right back to testing her other various psyonic and Cosmic abilities without any further to do.

By late afternoon, Naero neared the point of collapse once again.

“I need…need to eat and drink something,” she stated at last. “I can’t keep going.”

As usual, Vane grew a bit frustrated by her limitations.

“What’s with you, Maeris? You have not trained your body to take in gradual small quantities of nutrients and liquid from your surroundings, maintaining an optimal equilibrium and dispensing with the time-wasting and annoying need to intake bio-mechanical fuel and void waste products?”

Naero glared at him. “No! I must have missed the class on that, Master Vane. If you haven’t scanned the news blurts, I just got past my block. And I readily admit that I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. That’s why I’m here. For you to train me. But I’m sorry. Yes. I still need to eat, drink, rest, and void waste products.”

Yeah, she could void all right. All over Vane’s glowing red noggin’.

“Unlike you and Hashiko, I still happen to be human.”

Vane smiled ear-to-ear. “We’ll just have to fix that, won’t we? Very well, don’t get all testy. Return to your cave and fuel up. Void all you want. Then get right back here. We still have lots of work to do.”

Naero bowed her head slightly, just as Hashiko did. “Yes, High Master.”

She returned within half a standard hour. Fueled up and ready to continue.

Master Vane floated in the air, taking a nap.

He suggested cutting off one of her limbs to see how fast she could regrow it.

Naero respectfully declined.

As far as psyonics went, she could imitate or use any skill or technique that she had been regularly exposed to, at varying levels of ability. Even Hashiko’s sonic attack, used against her on a regular basis.

She could imitate such abilities, but they were still weaker and less-effective.

By the end of the day, as the sun set late, Master Vane paced along the shores of the Janoshan sea.

“You have a plethora of abilities and skills at your command, but they are all still pitiful and weak. You can’t focus your Chaos energies enough to help you use Cosmic energy. This is also key to your problems with tapping into Janosha’s Cosmic flows safely. It all goes hand-in-hand.”

“Okay. So, what do I do?”

“You need to concentrate on controlling and focusing raw Chaos energy into something you can use. That’s the first thing.”

“How do I do that?”

“I’ll try to show you, but you’re usually pretty stupid.”

“Try me.”

“First, watch what I do.” Master Vane produced a ten millimeter orb or pulsing red Chaos energy almost instantly.”

“I summon the Chaos energy and control it. I can shape it into anything I want. With any function I want. In the end, it’s just an exercise. Once I can control the energy with my force of will and imagination, I can do anything with it. And thus, I no longer need the basic tool. I have expanded my mind and my mastery beyond the need for simple constructs, and I can merge my understanding of Chaos energy as a vital and integral part of the Cosmic whole. Thus Chaos energy is the key to fully mastering the ability to manipulate Cosmic energy, the Wisdom of being a Mystic all rolled up into one understanding.”

“Uh-huh,” Naero said. “So what do I…”

“Don’t be stupid. Try to form something with Chaos energy. Something tiny at first. A pebble. A hair. A pin. Anything.”

Naero sat down, centered herself, and steadied her breathing.

She focused on shaping cosmic energy in front of her.

A small red dot took shape.

She tried to stretch it into a wire or hair, to either side.

She instantly felt something escalate out of control.

The resulting blast blew a small, fused crater into the sand, scorched her, and flung her out into the sea.

Master Vane shielded himself and waited for her to swim back.

He grinned at her. “Tricky, isn’t it?”

Naero wondered if she could kick him in the nuts.

Did the bastard even have any?

“Shielding yourself comes later. First you have to master your ability to focus the Chaos energy into something stable and useful. If you can’t get the flows balanced just right…Bang!”

“You could have told me it could explode in my face.”

Vane chuckled. “Must have slipped my mind. But hey, now you know. Let me try doing it through you and let you take over along the way.”

Even that seemed impossible.

Several long attempts and three more explosions later, it was well into the night. Clouds began to roll in. A storm came in from the sea.

The best Naero could manage was a thin, glowing red hair or wire about thirty millimeters in length.

“Utterly useless,” Vane said. “But, at least it’s a start. However pitiful. Well, that’s about all of your presence that I can stomach for one day, Maeris. Let’s go back. I’m sure Hashiko will be eager to train you tomorrow morning. Now that you can actually access some of your abilities.”

Naero swallowed hard.

With all of their focus on testing her and using Chaos energy.

She had forgotten all about Hashiko.

That night Khai congratulated her again, and told her not to worry.

Vane had been a jerk, as usual, but Khai informed her that her progress was actually way better than average.

He continued to have breakthroughs of his own to build upon.

So much of Mystic abilities were simply cumulative and took time to fully comprehend and master them.

But once Naero could do something, even to the least degree, with practice and discipline, she could get better at it.

She knew that much.

But that wouldn’t help her the next day.

And morning came all too quickly.

27

As Naero expected, Hashiko remained relentless as usual, showing her absolutely no mercy.

Especially after the incidents two days before.

Being only slightly faster and stronger than her normal self still did not give Naero any kind of an edge whatsoever.

So she tried using some of her returning psyonic abilities to change things up. Pyro and cryokinesis, spot-transporting.

When Hashiko attempted to use her vocal sonic attack, Naero partially countered with a mindforce blast that Master Vane had used on her a couple of times, to great effect.

Naero even tried to sluna, but it only worked for a few seconds.

Blurring her image did not keep it from getting nailed. By someone so fast.

All of this despite Hashiko’s best efforts to repress and tamp down Naero’s re-emerging abilities.

Perfect.

Even now that she had healed her damaged brain and mind, Hashiko and Master Vane redoubled there efforts to suppress her re-emerging abilities–especially now that they were active once more.

They seemed threatened by her and more afraid of her than ever.

The question remained.

After everything that had happened–did they have good reason to be?

Master Vane’s star pupil was also a master herself of psyonic suspension and repression fields.

Like him, Hashiko could shut down or negate another’s psyonic abilities just by focusing on them.

That made it very tough to use or practice with them around her.

Naero eventually had to resort to going off among the Tua or on her own to practice her psyonic and Cosmic abilities.

Hashiko did her best to shut her down during their running sparring matches and beat down sessions.

But it slowly became clear that Naero was taxing even her opponent’s intense abilities more and more. That meant she was growing both in power and ability, if it cost Hashiko more and more to restrain her.

The stalemate forced Naero to grow in discipline and technique by default. It was funny really.

All of Hashiko’s harshest attempts to hold her back, only served to drive her forward, and make her stronger.

But Naero’s efforts also forced Hashiko to re-think their training regimen and adjust the sparring rules somewhat.

“Physical sparring will remain just that. Only physical.”

That way Hashiko can still beat on you.

Yeah, I get that, Om.

“Psyonic and Cosmic attacks and abilities will be reserved for direct training with them, until you can control and use them more effectively in combat,” Hashi added.

All of this despite the fact that Hashiko herself used her abilities at will, whenever she wished. She made rules to hamper Naero that she did not keep herself.

Yet as long as Hashiko was the Primary Adept, she still made the rules.

Naero couldn’t foresee it any time soon yet, but she also could not wait for the day when that would change.

And some day, it would.

Surprisingly, one morning a few weeks later, Hashiko took them several miles away to a rocky flood plain downstream in one of the nearby canyons.

The ruined area was choked with broken trees, dunes of silt, and large rocks.

Naero was about to raise one hand and ask why they were there.

Hashiko explained flatly.

“Your attempts to use your abilities remain feeble at best because you have not developed your ability to focus and control Chaos energy. Until you do that, you’re going to continue to struggle with everything you do. This is something every adept must work out for themselves. I’ll show you what works for me, and then–as usual–you are pretty much on your own. Don’t get all misty. I’m required to show you this as part of your training.”

Hashiko took out a small, ornate black-lacquered wooden stand and placed it in front of her. She sat very still, steadied her breathing, and focused her abilities, as if in deep meditation.

Naero sat down and did her best to observe and note everything.

Chaos energy seemed to whorl all around Hashiko.

Then it coalesced, into a glowing length of something sitting directly on the small ornate wooden stand and trailing over several feet in the sand. Hashiko opened her eyes, grasped the handle.

She turned, snapped the long object back and then swung it forward at the rocks, flicking the end.

Thunder cracked. The rocks shattered into pieces.

Hashiko had fashioned a long whip, out of pure Chaos energy. Giving it the precise shape and tensile properties to do her will.

She lashed out again and cut a huge dead tree in half. Splinters exploding in all directions.

She turned back toward Naero smiling, coiling the bright scarlet whip in her hands. Then the whip merely faded and vanished.

“Once you master the Chaos force, it opens so many other doors. You won’t even need the focus after a while. You can call upon Chaos energy at any time. Shape it into anything you need at will. And understanding it will make your use of Cosmic energy a thousand fold stronger.”

Hashiko folded her arms in front of her. Assumed a neutral stance, and motioned with her head. She curled one lip up and dared her.

“Hurl some of those rocks at me, Maeris. I know you want to. Go ahead. As many as you like.”

Naero did not need any further invitation.

She smiled like a maniac and scooped up several that were just the right size and weight.

Circling.

As rapid as she could, Naero leaped around Hashiko, hurling many heavy stones and rocks right at her, rapid fire. From several directions.

Hashiko held her ground. She flung her hands forward in denial. Several feet in front of her, glowing red panes of Chaos energy flashed up out of nowhere, stopping and deflecting the missiles, despite some of the defenses shattering and vanishing like bursting panes of glass.

Naero increased her efforts. She hurled a sporadic combination of small and larger stones.

The missiles pelted and bombed the area all around Hashiko.

Hashi laughed.

“And you can do much more than merely defend and shield yourself. You can use it for offense as well.”

Blasts and beams of Chaos energy shot from Hashiko’s open hands and from her tensed fingers.

She shot Naero’s rocks out of the air.

Hashiko even shot one right out of Naero’s raised hand, leaving the fingers aching and numb from the stone bursting.

Naero barely ducked under a large pane of Chaos energy sweeping over her that would have knocked her straight back.

Next she dodged sprays of Chaos energy cubes, spinning and tumbling toward her at high velocity. Enough to do heavy damage if they hit.

Naero sprang behind a pile of dead trees and rocks for cover.

That was a very good thing. They got pulverized instead of her.

Then Hashiko flung writhing lengths of red Chaos energy in Naero’s direction. They seemed to come alive like snakes and seek her out, ensnaring and trapping her as they coiled and constricted around her.

Hashiko released her before she blacked out.

She dumped Naero in the sand.

“That’s just a taste of what I can do. And that’s only using Chaos energy. Master Vane and I spar like this all the time on the Cosmic energy levels, and even in the Astral plane. Now, I understand Master Vane has started working with you like this. Show me your progress. Show me your focus.”

Naero sat down, and steadied herself.

It took nearly twenty minutes. But at last her tiny, glowing red rod fizzled up in mid-air before them, lasted several seconds. And then winked out.

Hashiko stayed silent and impassive for a long moment.

Then she fell to one side, laughing hysterically.

Kinda scary.

“That’s it? You’ve been working all this time and that’s all that you can do?”

Hashiko staggered to her feet, holding her sides, and walked away, still laughing and tittering. Then she transported and vanished.

Naero sat still and clenched her fists.

Humiliated. Again.

She tried focusing on shaping and maintaining Chaos energy. But her anger clouded her attempts, and they kept popping and exploding as soon as they formed.

Naero spotted the wooden stand Hashiko left behind.

She remained there all the rest of that day and into the night.

It didn’t have to be a whip, she told herself.

It didn’t have to be anything.

Focus her will the way Khai told her to.

Control her breathing and her flows. Stay relaxed and in tune, the way her parents always taught her.

Just give the Chaos energy a basic…balanced…stable form.

By midnight Naero fashioned it into a short rod, barely one millimeter in diameter, and about two thirds of a meter long.

Solid-looking. Stable.

She reached out, and plucked it up in her hands.

At first her skin hissed and burned slightly, before she figured out how to shield herself from the energy directly.

After that, she could pick it up without harm.

With its properties, she could bore holes in the dead trees and rocks. Smash and cut them in two. She went about, stabbing and poking things with her new toy.

But when she tried to disperse it, it would not obey her mental commands. At first.

She found that she had to place it back on the stand and actually reverse the process, in order to disperse it. Undoing the permanency she had built into its stable structure.

Then it faded and went out almost immediately.

Naero sagged, exhausted. Hungry and thirsty.

But happy with her hard won, steady progress.

Back in her cave that night, she couldn’t wait to tell Khai.

But her friend didn’t answer.

Not that night. Nor the next.

Where was he? What had he done?

For the next several weeks and then months. Khai did not respond, although Naero tried repeatedly to reach him each night. In vain.

She worried and fretted immensely, but she couldn’t say anything either to Vane of Hashiko.

What had happened to her friend? She feared the worst.

Losing her contact and comradery with him was almost as bad as losing Gallan–or Jan.

But until she learned what had happened, she wouldn’t allow herself to assume that her friend was dead.

She felt thankful for the time they’d had, the friendship and insights they shared. How much they had helped and counseled each other.

Once Naero had been alone on Janosha. But fellowship with both Khai and the Tua had helped her cope, when she had really been down and lost.

She strove to recall and commit to memory everything Khai told her about Mystic training, and especially Chaos training.

Naero continued to make steady progress as the long days passed. And each night she continued to wonder and worry about the fate of her lost friend. Wishing she could tell him about her day.

Yet no response came from that point on.

As her training grew more complex, Master Vane and Hashiko found new and creative ways to make her suffer. New ways to insult her and make her life and her practice sessions with them a living hell.

Yet Naero took hope and remained steadfast. She endured.

One by one, she out-ran and out-raced the fastest of the Tua. Until only Iika and Bahan could still beat her.

She continued to progress through Khai’s seemingly endless piles of stones. Slowly graduating to larger and larger varieties. Hurling them back and forth across the river each day that she was able.

One by one, the long hard days of sweat, and toil, and intense training passed. And Naero grew faster, stronger, and hopefully wiser.

28

As her second year of Mystic training continued, Naero realized more and more each day just how much she owed her parents.

How much the two champion fighters had taught and instilled in her early on.

Had they known somehow?

Had they guessed that she would train with the Mystics herself some day?

Both of them had, and in fact, they pretty much prepared her for that eventuality without ever telling her.

They and their wisdom spoke to her in her head and heart. As if they were beside her. Urging her on.

She recalled their many words and their lessons to her all over again. So much she had taken for granted.

She discovered new ways now to use and apply them each day.

As a child she had listened, and practiced, and learned as a child–out of simple love and trust.

Breathing techniques.

Meditation.

Focus.

Techniques and skill sets drilled into muscle memory. Mental discipline. The ability to take blows and endure pain.

She learned all of these things. Until they and their benefits were instinctive. A true part of her.

Now Naero called upon them all, continually pushing herself to the breaking point.

Her sparring sessions with Hashiko slowly became more and more just that. Them sparring–less and less of her simply getting beaten up.

She still lost. Every day.

But in each defeat she found some small victory. She learned something new. About sparring. About Hashiko. And about herself.

Naero took it all in and made it even more a part of her.

Now, as a growing biomancer, she could regenerate injuries within a few minutes to hours. Wounds that would have crippled her before.

She applied the same patient, relentless wisdom to Master Vane and his brutal lessons.

One day in the future, sooner or later, it was all going to add up.

Each day she got a fraction faster, and slightly stronger.

Wiser. More knowledgeable and experienced.

Vane alternated at first. One day they would go somewhere and he forced her to practice only defensive techniques using Chaos energy.

While he crushed and defeated her defenses, overwhelming her every time.

But each time it took him a little longer to do so.

The next day they’d switch off. He would force her to exhaust herself by practicing only offensive techniques. Against his formidable defensive capabilities.

Yet every day she got closer, lasted a bit longer.

Vane was a sucker for a challenge, as usual. And the one-sided stalemate of their contests drove them both on.

He had long since stopped having her battle the more ferocious denizens of Janosha.

None could stand before her and live.

Vane and Hashiko were her only opponents now.

They were the monsters she could not defeat.

After a few months more, she and Master Vane began open Chaos sparring.

Just like Vane did with Hashiko.

No rules. Anything goes.

All types of locations, terrain, and weather.

The limits were only those in their imaginations.

Deep in an underground series of immense connected caves, Vane sealed himself up in a gelatinous suit of blob-like Chaos energy.

Laughing, shifting, and evading.

Naero blasted him with punches of energy from her fists and kicks.

Even when she hit, her blasts had no effect.

Then she sensed it.

Vane’s gel armor absorbed the energy from her attacks. Of course it did.

Something she could not pull off yet, either actively or passively.

As a High Master, Vane did almost everything without thought or effort. But she studied him closely. Collecting data.

Next, when Vane went on the attack, Naero deflected his precise beams and rays off mirror-like panes of Chaos-force that she flung up.

Against the attacks she couldn’t dodge.

Vane’s deflected beams bored into and melted holes into the solid rock where they struck.

She flipped off the wall and mixed things up with a screaming sonic attack.

He evaded and countered by trying to smash her into the ceiling with a twisting cylinder of raw power.

Naero barely broke free and dove down into a deep cave pool to escape.

Vane drilled and clawed at the ceiling, smashing huge chunks of rock and stone into the pool.

He waited.

Then he levitated over the settling, murky water, looking for any sign of her.

“Come now, Maeris. I couldn’t have slain you this easily,” he muttered.

He waited even longer.

“If you’re trapped under there…just transport out.”

More seconds ticked by.

“Maeris?”

Vane concentrated, and quickly began pulling chunks of stone up out of the pool.

He sighed. “What a waste of my time.”

Hundreds of tiny red pin-points of light suddenly blazed all around Master Vane.

Scarlet threads, wires, and filaments of piercing red energy transfixed the air from countless directions.

Vane sheathed himself in layers of scarlet spheres at the last instant to avoid being chopped to pieces.

He whirled the spheres around him, humming at high speed and shattering the piercing rods and wires as if they were glass.

Scarlet sparks and electricity charged the spheres.

Naero encased herself in blocky armor as if inside a Mek.

Vane nailed her to the far wall with a blazing red lightning bolt.

She spot transported right behind him and tried the direct approach, shattering the spheres with fiery punches and kicks that drove Vane toward the ground.

She had him. Hammering, pummeling Vane. Shattering his defenses faster that he could raise them.

Driving him straight into the solid rock of the cave floor.

Vane exploded.

There was no other explanation for it.

He detonated right in front of her.

The intense blast shredded her mek.

It threatened to destroy her.

She flung up the last of her reserves in a defensive wave.

It collapsed too.

Naero transported away to another spot.

Vane had never blown himself up before.

It was kinda terrifying.

Then the entire cave section gave way.

Naero barely transported back up to the surface on Janosha’s southern hemisphere continent. Choking and breathing hard. Her body still scorched and smoking from Vane’s blast.

She collapsed on the grass in a tranquil wooded meadow in mid-autumn.

Vane lounged in the Shade of a large tree losing its leaves.

He yawned. “You’re tricky, Maeris. I like that about you. Perhaps the only thing about you I enjoy and respect.”

Naero rolled onto her back, still coughing. “You didn’t sound too busted up when you thought I might be dead.”

“What? You didn’t catch the relief in my voice? I was planning on digging your body out at least. Perhaps I should have just gone home for the day.”

“You are such a dick.”

He grinned and stretched. “Always with the flattery. Shall we go again, or is that all you can take today?”

Naero glared at him.

“Give me a sec. That’s a neat trick. Blowing yourself up like that.”

“Imbecile. If I did that I’d be the one who was dead. I merely caused a low-level explosion and transported away at the last instant. You may be able to do something similar someday…but I somehow doubt it. You’re just not that skilled.”

Low level; that was low level? Damn. She’d hate to see him set off a high-yield Chaos explosion.

Not up close in person at least.

29

They returned home to the Tua caves late in the afternoon on another day.

Vane grinning and still quipping his usual stream of insults.

Naero staggering. Both looking and feeling beat, burned, and torn up from another fun day of Chaos practice.

Honestly, she didn’t know who enjoyed giving her hell more.

Hashiko, or Master Vane.

They seemed to be having a contest.

Then Hashiko appeared. Arms folded in front of her. Face impassive, if a little annoyed.

She bowed her gaze with grudging respect.

Ignoring Naero completely.

Hundreds of the Tua appeared, sluna-ing to either side.

Naero could sense their palpable fear and concern.

They were very worried about something.

Something important enough for them to approach Master Vane for help.

“What’s with the vermin, Hashi?”

Hashiko rolled her eyes. “I told them not to bother us, but they keep insisting. One of them is sick or something. I could care less.”

Vane fumed.

“I agree.”

Bahan and Iika crept forward, submissive, eyes cast down. They knelt before Master Vane.

“Please, Great One,” Bahan began.

“Yes, yes. I see the crisis clearly in your weak little minds. A young female is having trouble in labor, pumping out more squealing, stinking, shitting rats. I’ve told you before. I’m far too busy to be concerned with such matters. It merely happens now and again, after every so many hundreds and thousands of births. What of it?”

“Please,” Iika said. “Lenna and her young will not survive the night. You’re powers are so great. We know you can easily save–

Get the hell away from me!

To Naero’s shame and horror, Vane strode forward and booted Iika twenty meters away into the hide-curing and tanning racks.

He turned on Bahan, screaming.

I’m not in the business of saving anyone!

He back-handed Bahan another twenty meters away into the young galu tree saplings, taking out several of them.

The Tua shrieked in abject terror and fell over one another to get away.

The next sniveling rat who dares to bother me with such nonsense…I will boil them inside their own skin, in their own fluids for all to see! Do I make myself clear?

As dragged out as she was, Naero simply couldn’t take it any more.

It nearly killed her to choke down her pride and still manage to speak to him with respect. After what she had just witnessed.

She knelt before him.

“High Master Vane. Please, with respect. Why can’t we help them? The Tua revere us. They do so much and ask for so little; it would take no time at all.”

All of his eyes focused on her intently.

“Maeris, so help me…If you implore me waste my precious time helping the rats, and do it for your sake. I’m going to…I’m going to enjoy ripping your head off with my bare hands and using it as a toilet! They don’t matter. Don’t you get it? They will never matter.

“Let them all hemorrhage and die a bloody, screaming death spawning their filthy brats. Good riddance. Janosha would be better off without these wretched scum.”

“You’re wrong,” Naero said flatly. “As you are always wrong, about so much. How can anyone know so much and so little at the same time? Worthless? Haisha! The least of the Tua are worth more than you as a person. You may be a great master, who knows all the ways of Chaos, but as a human being–you suck flaming turds in the lowest hell.”

Hashiko’s eyes widened. Her mouth fell open. She blinked.

Then she narrowed her eyes and prepared to go on the attack at Naero’s grave disrespect.

Then to everyone’s surprise, Vane burst out laughing and held her back. He laughed so hard he could barely remain standing.

“No, don’t bother striking her, Hashi. It’s all just a waste of time any way. Maeris is who and what she is, and she’s never going to change. I’ll be forced to kill her some day, to save the rest of us from her insanity, but until that day comes, no amount of beatings or drudgings are going to do any good. She’s far too stupid, block-headed, and stubborn to ever comprehend why we do what we do. Or why we don’t do things at times.”

Hashiko’s nostrils still flared with barely suppressed anger. Then she thought for an instant.

“Agreed, Great Master. That is why she may practice with us. But she will never be one of us. It is not in her to embrace the wisdom of our ways.”

Naero stood her ground as they turned and walked away from her. She called out after them.

“No, I shall never be one of you. And thank the powers for that! I’m glad that I will never be like either of you. What? To never help others? To stand by and let them suffer and perish for no reason? To attack and abuse those who ask for help, that you could so easily give?”

Hashiko snapped at her. “You’re an ignorant fool, Maeris. You must always do something so that you can then try to make yourself feel good about it. You can never just let things be as they are. To let them turn out on their own as they will. No matter the outcome. To let things be!”

“Then I am a fool. I will never stand by and just let things happen when there is a chance that I can help. What, the sum total of Chaos Wisdom is to be an indifferent, selfish asshole? To never care about anything or anyone else but myself? Then no, I suppose I shall never be a Chaos Master. And quite frankly, I have no desire to be.”

Master Vane called over his shoulder.

“Very well, Maeris. You’ve had your customary little self-righteous rant. Run along now and help the rats if you so desire. Let them come running to you constantly and waste your time. Just don’t let them bother us any further. Or I promise you–there will be a few less of them to do so.”

As tired as she was, Naero saw to her friends after Vane and Hashiko left them.

Tua remained tough overall. Bahan and Iika were battered and bruised, but showed no permanent injuries.

They brought her to Lenna, just as the young mother started bleeding very badly. Weak fear and sorrow in her pleading eyes.

“Naero…please…my kits–”

“Shhh…” Naero told her, doing her best to be re-assuring. “Just rest and stay strong. We’re going to do everything we can to save you all.”

Naero worked with Lenna and Iika and the other midwives and women. Naero studied Lenna’s swollen abdomen with her healing sight.

Ugh. One of the three kits was jammed up transverse in the birth canal, with the other two packed in behind.

Even the Tua midwives were helpless against this. The baby could not be turned.

A tragic recipe for death in child birth if there ever was one.

Just the il-luck of the draw for Lenna and her young.

Not if Naero had anything to say about it.

Despite the fact that she was close to passing out herself.

Yet only she with her sight and her fumbling, halting biomancing could keep the bleeding in check.

Using telekinetics to do what needed to be done, without harming either the mother or her three infants.

After an hour of very tough, exacting work, Naero finally managed to unplug the strained birth canal. And re-position the young.

All three infants delivered naturally.

The only other choice would have been an emergency C-section. But Naero wasn’t a skilled surgeon like Zhen. She didn’t have a medbed or any equipment either.

She wasn’t a doctor in any way shape or form, and any such attempt most likely would have ended very badly.

As it was, Lenna passed out in the end. Weak but still alive, with her three kits nursing and sleeping at her teats.

Naero could no longer stand up herself. The Tua females needed to carry her out, and give the news to the waiting men and others of the tribe.

Immediately, the Tua rejoiced, and burst out singing their song of birth and rejoicing.

Naero smiled and listened, but faded off to unconsciousness with the sound ringing in her ears.

Too tired to sing along.

Sha dii ah kahnii, ahluu-nii-vah, kahnii, kahnii, kahnii, jah loh ah-kahnii!

30

Months into her third year, Naero laughed with Lenna and Iika. Lenna’s kits grew rapidly, climbing and playing happily all over Naero.

Squealing with joy when she tickled or kissed them.

Lenna put her hands to her face.

“Each day is a gift of great gladness. Each day I love my little ones and watch them laugh and grow beneath the sun, moon, and stars–I think of you, of your gift of life to us. Thank you Naero, my dear sister.”

Naero hugged her briefly.

“I was glad to help. I did my best to help another who was in great need. As I hope that someone would do for me, if I was in such dire need.”

“Ahh…the great gift,” Iika said. “The greatest of all the great truths. To care for another as you would have them care for you. To give of yourself, all that you can, as you would have others give to you. You have grown as wise and mighty, as you are beautiful, halaena. And that only adds to your glory. The Tua have never known another like you. You do us great honor.”

“It is an honor to know the Tua and to be accepted into their homes. I only do what I think is right. Just as you all do. There’s no need to make much about it. It is the way that things should truly be.”

But Lenna would not let it go.

“I and my people accept you as one among us, sister. You will always have a place among us. And wherever you go among the stars, you shall always take a part of us with you. No matter what happens. We shall never forget you.”

Naero looked at the sky. A bright, brilliant peaceful day.

She laughed. “Don’t worry so much. Nothing’s going to happen.”

Lenna looked into the same sky and sadly shook her head. “No, sister. Even you as one of the great among the halaena know better than this. Things always happen that we have no power over. That is why we must cherish each moment. For we know not what shall come.

“Yet I say this to you. That even if all the world should fall into the sun this moment, I would hold my kits close and be glad–thankful for the time I have been given with them. And for knowing you, and all the faces I love to see each day. I will never stop thanking you.”

Naero had no words to reply with.

*

Naero’s sessions with Hashiko continued.

Master Vane trained closely with her more and more, for longer and longer periods of time as her endurance and her mastery of the energy fields increased.

At times he took her onto the Astral Plane where they could do less planetary damage with their contests. Unleashing great destructive techniques.

He relentlessly punished and challenged her in every way.

And despite Naero remaining at a severe disadvantage against him–a Mystic Master with centuries of experience–she strove to do the same.

That was the secret with Vane.

She could never bore him. But he couldn’t resist a challenge. His one major weakness, as Naero saw it.

On top of being a major ass-bag.

More months ticked by. And she continually found peace, and healing, and good will and solace among the simple, gentle Tua.

Until she thought them to be among the greatest cultures she had ever learned about, in all her years of education and searching.

Nearly three long, punishing years on Janosha passed.

Each day a continuing struggle in nearly every way.

Yet finally the day came at last.

Today.

This day was the day.

Naero felt certain about it.

Despite the fact that she kept telling herself that every day.

Every day for the last several months of her third year on Janosha.

Each day she got a little closer.

But with less than two months before her three year ordeal was over, she grew more certain and hopeful with each dawn and dusk that passed.

She shook her head and limbered up.

It still boggled her mind somewhat that in the end, only three months had passed in the outside universe, beyond Janosha.

The time dilation concept still freaked her out somewhat. But no matter now

This was the new day that was given. A bright beautiful autumn day, cool and crisp on the savannahs of Janosha.

And the Tua greeted the dawn as they always did each day, with their song of welcoming.

Naero stood with her feet planted firmly on the earth itself, drinking in the energy and strength all around her. Girding herself for the challenge to come.

And she sang with them.

Sha nii hah, ahluu-nii-ha-ah! Mah nah-hii, jah ah-loh, ah-dii!

One hour exactly after dawn, Mystic Adept Naero Amashin Maeris approached the Mystic sparring circle and raised one fist high in defiance–to challenge Prime Adept Mitsubishi Hashiko for the right to enter the circle and do combat.

Hashiko turned to face her, gray togs form fitting just like Naero’s, covering almost their entire bodies, even their hands and feet.

Only her fierce black eyes glared through the slit in her tight, Nytex hood and mask, pulled up for formal, ritual combat.

As soon as Naero closed her black Nytex hood over her face and head in the same formal fashion, Hashiko nodded.

Eyes focused. Unblinking.

Naero charged in. Focusing all of her speed and strength.

She adjusted her density, her champion parents’ secret fighting ability from their Clans.

Naero and Hashiko stood toe to toe, punching and kicking in a flurry of combinations and honed techniques for nearly an hour. Blows thundering, cracking, and rocketing as they clashed and split through the air.

Until the entire area rocked and thrummed with the weight and impact of their close-in battle. They grunted and shouted as they fought and endured.

The Tua themselves lined the outer ring of galu trees, watching in wonder. They sang their song of struggle and trouble.

Thanduu zoh ganuu, Peng shiikah vah kongo, Tur-rah-gah ziiko, Tur-rah-gah mah-duu…

Then Master Vane flashed in on one of the old benches.

The Tua gasped.

The Great One had never come to witness one of the halaena battles yet, no matter what had transpired.

The shock of the impacts continued to shatter the air and rumbled the very ground with tremors.

Yet both contestants held fast and did not budge or retreat. Regenerating injuries as best they could as they fought on.

Finally they both withdrew slightly and took up their stances, circling one another.

They charged in once more, lines of force and rings and spheres of psyonic, Chaos, and Cosmic energy erupting and expanding around them as they fought their way through each other’s traps and defenses.

At last Naero staggered Hashiko with a solid punch that snapped the Prime adept’s head violently to one side, spraying blood.

Haisha! Did that feel good!

Naero had never experienced anything so intensely satisfying.

Landing a good solid blow on the ruthless adept who had tormented and punished her day-in and day-out for nearly three years.

But Hashiko could take a punch, and countered with a sweeping back-wheel kick.

It smashed into the side of Naero’s head and sent her staggering back to the edge of the sparring circle of dark black sand.

One step more spelled defeat.

The Tua shot to their feet as one, necks craning.

They cried out in their song of danger, shrieking to a near fevered pitch.

Ahti! Ahti! Ahti! Zah, Zah, Zah! Pahn duu, Pahn duu, Pahn duu!

Hashiko broke the rules again and hit Naero with a massive sonic blast. Attempting to drive Naero out of the circle.

Naero dug her feet in and and strode forward into the withering teeth of the heavy attack, countering with a mindblast that gutted Hashiko’s assault.

And then rocked her with Naero’s own sonic counter-attack.

Hashiko deflected the blast around her with a thick, glass-like Chaos shield all over her body that only lasted an instant. Shattering into a spray of dust and shards, absorbing the intense damage.

Then she went on the offensive to overpower Naero and crush her.

Fists and feet blazing with the rampant flames of pure Chaos energy.

In dismay, Naero stepped back slightly, struggling to come up with a way to counter such an all-out assault.

Too late.

Hashiko roared at her like a freight hauler on fire, set to explode.

At the last instant.

Naero used every ounce of speed merely to flip herself to one side.

Out of the way.

Hashiko hurtled right by her, unable to stop herself.

Right out of the sparring ring.

For the first time in nearly three years.

Naero won a match.

Hashiko shrieked in frustration and rage.

She struck the earth with her fiery fists until the ground split and the energies snuffed out at the impact.

“You tricked me!” Hashiko railed.

Naero grinned, chuckling.

“I’m guessing you don’t know me very well.”

“That doesn’t count! You didn’t defeat me in proper combat.”

“Oh, it counts all right…adept. You can’t keep changing the rules any longer to suit yourself. Not after today. So suck it up.”

Hashiko screamed and charged at her again.

Naero flip-kicked her twice, wheeling impossibly fast in mid-air.

Then a sweeping spin kick to one side.

To throw her off balance.

Naero maxed out her density and double spin-kicked her back to the opposite side.

Hashi reeling and partially dazed.

A double front flip kick.

Prime Adept Mitsubishi Hashiko soared out of the sparring field as if shot out of a cannon.

She smashed into the galu trees in an explosion of splintering wood and Chaos energy.

The Tua scattered, and then went wild, singing their song of praise. Rejoicing at Naero’s long overdue triumph.

Naero fell to her knees, raised her hands to the bright sky and sang with them in exultation.

Yah-duu Ah Shah Lah! Shah hah lah shah-dae! Yah Jhah Vah Shah-Lae! Ae duu vah. Ae duu vah shah lah!

High Master Vane clapped his hands together and split the very air with a peel of deafening thunder.

The shock wave alone nearly tore up the trees and knocked the Tua flat on their backs in every direction.

Naero had to use all of her remaining strength to keep standing.

Vane went on to clap slowly.

“So, Maeris. After three years of constant failure, you’ve manage to win a single match.” He yawned. “Indeed…Bravo!”

Naero ignored him. He would not lessen her victory. Not this day.

Hashiko flashed in behind Vane and stood defiant, her arms crossed in front of herself, hood pulled back.

But she still had galu wood splinters and stray leaves in her mussed up hair. She wiped the smeared blood from her bruised and battered face.

Vane turned to Naero again.

“Very well, Maeris. You have your little victory. What will you do with it? Tell us? The sparring field is yours…for the moment.”

Naero kept her face impassive and bowed her head ever so slightly to High Master Vane.

Then she held out her hand.

“Adept Hashiko is a worthy opponent. She still has much to teach me and many others after me. I welcome her back into our sparring circle, if not as friends, then at least as comrades.”

Hashiko’s mouth fell open slightly. She looked slightly confused and at a loss.

Now Vane rolled his eyes.

“If you haven’t figured it out, Maeris is being dramatic again, Hashi. You’d better shake her hand or we could be here all the ding dong day. Try and be gracious for once.”

Hashiko cast her normally proud glance down for a moment, her fierce eyes still roving, back and forth, staring at the ground. Cold and unyielding, she still looked slightly bewildered. In shock and disbelief.

She barely took Naero’s hand and shook it before letting it drop.

“Now,” Naero stated. “Now that we are comrades, we shall decide together what the rules of the sparring circle are. All of this superior and inferior adept crap ends right here and now. Agreed?”

Hashiko hesitated, and nodded.

“Agreed. So be it.”

“Good. Now we’re all just good, committed practitioners of the Wisdom of Chaos. Master Vane, I have a feeling somehow that the Tua are going to have one of their feasts this night. Why don’t you and Hashiko join me at the celebration? And for once we can all just cut the crap and really talk. Openly and honestly. Just the three of us.”

Both of them stared at her like she was insane.

“Why, hell. I’d bet even the Tua have a few things they’d like to say to you two, if you would ever take the time to listen.”

Master Vane cocked his head. “Seriously? You win one match and we’re all good buddies, Maeris? Pass.”

He dismissed her with a wave of his hand like he usually did.

“Go laugh and play with the rats. Gorge yourself on their bland, shitty fare. I have too many other things that are actually worth doing.”

He transported away the very next instant.

What a dickhead.

Hashiko just glared back at her.

“This changes little, adept. I still do not like you. And at one hour past dawn tomorrow, I shall challenge you again. As I shall do each day until the natural order of things is restored, and this circle is mine once more.”

Naero smiled fiercely. “Hashiko. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“I will always be better than you in every way that counts. You will never be my equal, let alone my superior.”

Naero shook her head sadly.

“Make no attempts to pity me, Maeris.”

“Unbelievable. You still don’t get it, do you, Hashiko? I never said you couldn’t beat me. Some days you’ll beat me. Some days I’ll beat you. That’s the way life is. That’s the way Chaos is–if you really think about it. But we don’t have to have contempt for each other. It doesn’t have to be like that.”

Naero looked her right in the eyes.

Hitting her with Chaos logic had Hashi off guard again.

Naero smiled. “And, like I told you before. You might beat me, but you’ll never defeat me.”

Hashiko turned without another word and stalked away.

Naero stood in the circle, folded her arms in front of her, and watched Hashi depart.

While the Tua sang with joy at Naero’s triumph.

31

Naero sat the small, battered little wooden stand in between her and Master Vane.

He monitored everything she did very closely.

Naero sat in the secret mountain complex chamber with her legs crossed. Arms relaxed to either side, resting on her knees.

The immense chamber was like an arena in size and shielded against Chaos Energy.

Master Vane had brought Hashiko and then Naero here to spar from time to time, increasingly using both Chaos and a mix of Cosmic energies and techniques.

Naero kept her strong, slender fingers knitted in simple Mystic meditation patterns, the hood of her old body suit pulled up around her face.

Vane yawned. “I don’t have all day, Maeris. If you have something to show me, then you’d better get to it.”

Naero did not flinch. She did not panic or hurry.

A small pinpoint of Chaos energy appeared over the center of the wooden stand.

It quickly expanded to either side as a red glowing line.

From there it took shape quickly into that of a long, intricate scarlet sword blade with a black round hand guard and slender handle for use with one or two hands.

A perfectly formed katana, made entirely out of pure Chaos energy.

Her primary focus.

She had been perfecting it and its use in secret for nearly a year.

Vane studied it for a few seconds.

“Looks good. Impressive even. But what can you do with it?”

Faster than thought, Vane blasted her with red lightning bolts of pure Chaos force.

Naero already had her sword in hand and absorbed the entire attack in a flash, sucking the streams of lightning right into the pulsing blade, making it even more powerful.

Vane stuck up his bottom lip.

“Energy absorption. You learned that from me.”

“Hashiko uses it too.”

“Where do you think she learned it?”

Vane blew glowing red Chaos bubbles out of his pursed mouth.

The bubbles expanded, transparent, but took on the forms of creatures. Chaos energy constructs–monsters.

Giant insects. Hulking humanoids. Winged serpents.

Vane sent them all charging in at her.

Naero fell upon them, lining up her angles of attack.

Some she cut down. They shrieked and faded away.

Others she blasted to bits as she maneuvered, with bolts of lightning and fire from her sword and hands. Even from her third eye, thinning their ranks.

The last score or so she took down in an entire wave, unleashing her sword’s power all at once in an entire sheet of expanding Chaos energy.

Naero cleared the field with a tsunami of force.

“Nice move, but now you’re weaponless.”

Naero re-summoned her sword in one hand.

In a flash she held two of them.

Then they both vanished.

Naero rubbed her hands together as if shaking dust from them.

“They’re just tools. I don’t even really need a focus any longer.”

“Not bad. You have shown some…slight progress these last few months.”

“Slight?” Naero said.

Too late.

She’d let her guard down for an instant and she knew it.

Hundreds of long thin rods of Chaos energy speared up from the very floor at her feet, transfixing her.

The agony. Overpowering.

In a flash Vane let her collapse to the ground, negating what could have been another lethal attack, if he had allowed its damage to actually take hold of her.

He could have torn her into little chunks.

“Tell me, if I allowed that attack to do its full damage–instead of negating its effects at the last instant–could you have regenerated all of that damage in time before you perished?”

She rose up onto her hands and knees, mouth gasping for air.

She finally found the strength to shake her head.

Hundreds of wounds, crisscrossing through her entire body.

There would have been no way to close them all off in time.

“Eventually,” Vane said. “Like Hashiko you’ll get better at defending against such attacks. Sense them coming before they strike you. Cosmic energy or a mix of Cosmic and Chaos energy usually works well as a shield or barrier against them. Giving you time to escape or counter-attack.”

The thick, glass-like red shield formed around him in an flash.

A dozen of Naero’s energy Katanas shattered against it and got absorbed.

“Your are tricky,” Vane said, rising to his feet. “I’ll have keep remembering that…especially when I’m forced to destroy you.”

“Master Vane,” Naero said, getting to her feet. “Why do you keep saying that? You know I’ve made substantial progress in every area. I can use and control the majority of my abilities now. And I’m well on my way to exploring and mastering the rest. You shouldn’t have to destroy me now. I’m not a threat any longer.”

Vane raised both eyebrows at her. “I’ll be the judge of that, Maeris. I think you’re even more of a danger now than ever before, and you’ve yet to master the other two Mystic Wisdoms. In fact, I foresee a day coming when you shall become one of the greatest threats this universe and our peoples have ever faced. I’ve always had a bad feeling about your family, and especially about you. Now I’m just beginning to understand why. But I will say, you are extremely intriguing. That’s just one of the reasons I haven’t killed you off yet. But tick-tock. I will need to make a decision, and very soon. What a shame.”

Naero paused and swallowed hard.

He really meant to destroy her still?

After all of her hard work and progress?

Vane walked away from her with his hands in his pockets, whistling a tune.

“Don’t take it personally, Maeris. It’s not you’re fault you’re a monster. You can’t control what’s truly lurking deep within you. No one could. It doesn’t change anything, but it’s certainly not your fault.”

“I’m not. I’m not a monster.”

“We’ll see. And when that day comes, and I’m proven right. I’ll be there to put a stop to you. On my terms. And no one’s going to hinder me.”

The next day was in fact the day.

Naero’s three long years were up at last.

Janosha would fall back in sync with the rest of the universe.

And High Master Vane would decide her fate.

32

Naero’s final day on Janosha…either way

For good or ill, it started just like most others.

She and Hashiko fought each other to a grudging standstill in the sparring circle.

They had grown more or less equally matched it seemed.

They had seen all of the other’s tricks and techniques. Many times over.

Until one or the other of them progressed further or learned something new, they were at a stalemate.

Of course Hashi said nothing personal to her.

She said her initial farewells to Iika, Bahan, and her Tua family.

Hopefully there would be time for more.

Vane finally summoned her, to his private quarters in his larger, infinitely nicer cave.

In the entire three year’s time, Naero had never set foot in it once. She’d never even seen inside it before.

And of course, it was filled with tek conveniences and gadgets by the way. Thank you very much, High Master Vane.

That really pissed Naero off.

But she couldn’t say anything, as usual.

Not when Vane held her life in his very hands.

He ignored her at first and puttered around.

If he did decide to kill her…she wondered if she’d get a chance to say farewell to any of her family or friends.

Knowing Vane, probably not.

How were her friends after the three months?

And what had happened to Khai? She still needed to find out.

If she survived the day of course.

Hey, it was only three months. What could have happened?

Master Vane turned to Naero suddenly.

Then Hashiko flashed in.

“What’s wrong, Master? You sent me and urgent summons?”

Vane looked at them both and did not hesitate.

“The Fifth Spacer War is beginning as we speak. The Clans are now at war throughout all the known systems, on every front.”

Naero gaped.

She slipped away for three lousy months.

And everything went straight to hell?

It figured.

Hashiko asked. “How are we–”

“We are losing. Very badly. Our foes have armed all of their fleets with the advanced ion cannons. They’re dominating every battle. And they have superior numbers. What’s more, they have refused to take any prisoners. Any of our ships or allies that they take are being blown up, or dumped into the nearest star–with their crews still inside.”

Hashiko snarled, cursing. “The bastards!”

Vane turned to Naero.

“At least this means a reprieve for you, Maeris.”

Naero was still stunned about the war news. Struggling to take it all in.

The Clans. Her people. They were losing? She couldn’t believe it.

“Janosha to Naero…”

“Huh?”

Vane shook his head. “I can’t really kill off a valuable resource like you very well now, can I? Not with a desperate war on and all that. Not when the Clans need every available weapon to fling at the advancing foe. Even a monster like you, Maeris. I’ll just bet you can do some damage to our enemies, before they cut you down.”

“Who are we fighting now?” Naero asked.

He rolled his eyes. “Why the Gigacorps, of course.”

“Which ones?”

Vane glared at her like she was a total idiot.

“All fourteen of them, including the remnants of Triax. Everyone but Joshua Tech, of course. The devils are all in. Fully committed to wiping out the Clans for all time. What happened to Triax apparently scared the living shit right out of them.

“They mean to take down all the Clans, while they still have a chance to do so. Their massed fleets are sweeping in across the entire length of the Spacer Arm. They’re not allowing anyone to escape into the unexplored regions. They’ve bypassed and will deal with our allies–after they’ve taken all of us out. They fully intend to destroy every Spacer vessel they can locate.”

“But how?” Naero asked. “We beat them before. Sure. They have the numbers. And the ion guns. But the Clans should still have the Tek advantage overall.”

Master Vane shook his head.

“Not any more, by all reports.”

“What?” Naero still couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

It was as if the entire universe had gone mad, in less than a year and a half of real time.

Master Vane turned away, put his hands behind him, and studied a pop-up tactical screen that shot up in front of him.

Naero took in the horrible reality.

It was all true.

Even at a glance, Naero could see that the combined Clan Naval forces–both military and commercial–fought a slow, stubborn retreat through Clan Space.

Paying a bloody price for each par sec.

Yet it was a full, fighting retreat, nonetheless.

Retreat.

Defeat.

Something the Clans knew so little about.

Master Vane chimed back in.

“It is definitely the ion cannon,” Master Vane noted. “It appears now that the Corps were already in the process of upgrading all of their fleets to use that advanced tek across the board. What happened to Triax during the Annexation War terrified them all. They stepped up their plans at all costs.”

Naero nodded.

“If all of their fleets now sport those new guns,” Naero said, feeling the blood draining from her face. “They now possess the decisive edge in Tek as well as numbers. From their standpoint, why not go after us while they can?”

Hashiko remarked coldly. “Strategically and tactically, it makes perfect sense.”

Even Om agreed.

Since Intel progress with the KDM has all but stalled.

Naero couldn’t bear to study the tactical displays any longer.

The long casualty lists of not just individuals–but entire ships and their crews.

Ships and people she knew.

Naero turned away.

Her people, despite all of their valor and cunning.

Were already losing this vile war from the very outset.

“What’s happening to the Alliance?” Naero asked.

“For now,” Vane said. “Like I said, they’ve been bypassed or ignored for the time being. All fourteen Gigacorps are using their combined naval forces to tighten the noose around Clan Space. It might take them a few years to wear us down, but after they polish off the Clans, they’ll have all the time in the universe to deal with all the remaining little fish. Joshua Tech, the Matayans, the Miners. Anyone else.”

“Anyone who opposes their dominion.” An Old-Earth Mongol strategy, from her military history. Naero shuddered.

One quarter of the galaxy under the complete subjugation of the Gigacorps.

Forever.

With she and her beloved people dead and gone. Aunt Sleak and Zalvano. All of her friends. Exterminated. The victors would write the history.

Naero clenched her fists.

Vane spoke up again. “And rumors abound that the Corps have some mysterious new alien allies from somewhere unknown as well. Deets are sketchy at best on that front. There have been a few sightings of strange advanced alien ships here and there, but so far their new allies are laying low. Why should they bother tipping their hand? The Corps are already winning on all fronts. Their new alien allies still remain a wild card in the background.”

Naero guessed that was where the Corps got the ion cannon tek from in the first place.

Thoughts, Om?

He could now converse with her at will, even while she stood right in front of Vane.

I concur. From interacting with Alala, ion weapon tek is indeed strange, and highly advanced. It did not originate among the Corps. Perhaps not even from this galaxy.

How is that possible?

The Kexx and the Drians travelled between other galaxies. Their war with the G’lothc carried them into one of the galaxies next to ours in order to finally defeat them. Three quarters of your own galaxy remains unexplored by humanity or any of the other known races.

Great. Search out everything you can Om. We need answers and we need them yesterday.

Impossible. I cannot distort of modify temporal reality.

Om…

Naero lifted her head and looked at Master Vane.

“So, what do we do?”

Master Vane looked at them both.

“We fight them, with every weapon at our disposal. Including you, Maeris. We fight them and survive, or we die. That’s all there is. It’s that simple.”

Hashiko nodded.

“High Admiral Klyne has requested that Mystics attach some of their best adepts to the Strike Fleets in support and advisory roles, in an attempt to help intervene. We need to find ways to slow or halt the Corps advance. We need to buy our people time. You will both carry the acting battlefield rank of Strike Fleet Captain. And I should not have to say this, but the two of you will also need to cooperate and get creative.”

He emphasized the point. “You’re a team now. I fully expect you to act like one, and obey your superiors.”

Hashiko’s eyes flashed. “I remain the senior adept.”

“On Janosha you are, but not in the Intel Navy. Deal with it, Hashi. You are the more experienced adept as a Mystic. But Naero has command experience with the fleets that you do not. Like it or not, you are both equals now. And all pettiness aside, I fully expect the two of you to work together for the survival of our people. Is that clear? Both of you?”

He glared at them intensely, with all of his glowing eyes.

Both of them bowed their eyes slightly in respect.

“Yes, High Master,” they said in unison.

“Very well. Your orders will continue to be updated. You will report directly to High Admiral Klyne, the Chain of Command, and to anyone on the Mystic High Council. Get going.”

No emotion, no well-wishing. No sentiment.

For practitioners of Chaos Wisdom, such was a waste of time and energy.

Just do your duty. Plain and simple.

Naero didn’t know what Hashiko had up her devious little sleeves.

But for her part, Naero’s mind already raced. She fully intended to get as creative as possible.

And she was going to do her best to fully recruit Om and crack something useful out of the KDM as well. Anything.

They passed two new Chaos adepts as they departed, a male and a female. One pulsing with dark energy, the other with blazing light.

Male and female. They looked familiar to Naero somehow, but she did not know them or their names.

Of course as Chaos practitioners, Hashiko knew them. She even nodded to them in passing, as they did to her. But nobody said anything, and kept walking.

With her and Hashi departing for the War, Vane and Janosha would need new guardians. Time dilation or no, if things went badly, war might even come to Janosha and the other two Mystic Homeworlds.

She spoke with Hashiko as they departed to be picked up by their waiting naval shuttle.

“I’m willing to work together with you, Hashiko. Whatever bad blood was between us, we need to set that aside and join forces. We can both learn from each other still and play to our strengths.”

Hashiko sneered under her breath.

“Whatever. Just do your job and don’t get in my way. I don’t like you Maeris; I’ve never liked you.”

“Sheesh, you’re such a jerk. Have you ever liked anyone?”

Hashiko shot her a look. “That’s none of your concern. So stop worrying about me. I can follow my orders to the letter. Yet nothing in them says I need to like you, Maeris. So just drop it. But for once you are right. We have a war to win.”

33

The main Intel briefing room onboard The Kathmandu felt more like home to Naero. A light gray duranadium smart room. A rectangle with rounded corners, ten meters high, fifteen wide, and twenty meters long. Pop up smart chairs along with the segmented conference table that adjusted automatically to the number of occupants, if allowed to do so.

Scents of so many different Clan members. Scents of fear and concern. The chamber was rife with the smell and feeling of many emotions packed in together. Along with various drinks being served.

Both Generals Ingersol were present, glaring at Naero with veiled contempt. Several admirals and vice-admirals. Numerous strike fleet captains, like Naero and Hashi. Even a few other Mystics that Naero did not know. Almost a hundred officers in all.

Updated holo display screens continued to tell the dreadful beating the Spacer fleets took each day. For anyone who wanted to Stare up at them and let the blood sink down to their feet.

Despite the circumstances, Naero happily rejoined her friends and her merchant fleet, now attached to the strike forces directly under High Admiral Klyne.

She quietly sent her greetings to them onboard their ships by punching orders through on her command pad, linked to her fleet. Struggling not to let her pleasure show across her face. At such a dire meeting.

In three months time, she was happy to see that Klyne had made a full physical recovery.

Naero fidgeted at first when they met again for their initial briefings. Yet Klyne seemed genuinely happy and relieved to see her again, and bore no apparent grudges or ill-will against her.

For nearly killing him and his two adepts.

While they discussed the war and argued points of strategy and tactics, all of the strike fleets assembled passed through the fixer clouds to refit with the new modified shields that Naero had proposed.

Shields she and Om had conceived, thanks to several teknomancing insights gleaned from the KDM.

Klyne gave them the go ahead to test them immediately.

“I hope these new shields will afford us some defense against those enemy ion cannons,” he said. “The Corps are mauling us in every engagement. We can’t stop them. All we can do so far is slow them down. With heavy losses at every turn.”

General Tobias Ingersol grunted. “It can’t get much worse.”

“In theory,” Naero said, “we’ll need to experiment with these shields more to pweak and perfect the tek. They should at least withstand several hits, giving our people a chance to do some damage and get away. Hit and run. But I’ve been talking with Captains Chaela and Saemar. We think we have a devised a few other strategies that might work also, in combined arms scenarios.”

Klyne nodded. “I’ve read the tactical reports. Good work, captain. I think it’s a bold strategy. That’s why we’re going to try it out. Massed fighter waves to soften them up and keep them busy.”

General Thadian Ingersol knitted his fingers together. “Similar strategies have been attempted, with little effect. Waves of fighters cannot win battles on their own.”

“The enemy’s ion guns can only fire so fast. We’ve calculated their rate of fire. There’s no way they could take out that many small, individual fighters. We’ll be like piranha attacking whales. Death by a billion little bites.”

Klyne nodded. “I agree with Captain Maeris; we must try something. First we weaken and confuse them. Then we hit the enemy with an all out assault by our strike forces and big ships, protected by the new shields. If we get in fast enough, and do enough damage, we can halt their advance. Perhaps even turn it back.”

Over the next several hours, fresh Spacer fleets took up their positions near their sector of the broad battle front.

Hashiko took a back seat to Naero in fleet matters, although she still quietly fumed about it.

Let her.

She remained on the Kathmandu with Klyne.

An enemy assault wedge of thirty Gigacorps fleets came straight at them, in stacked arcs of massed formations to maximize the effect of their ion cannons.

The enemy almost swaggered in, hungry and overconfident.

As was usual now, the Spacer Navy retreated, staying out of range.

An entire fleet of Spacer Intel Carriers suddenly uncloaked right behind the Corps formations and launched waves of fighters right on top of them. Saemar’s The Dragon’s Teeth right with them.

The resulting chaos and destruction were instantaneous.

Several Spacer carriers got hit and floated dead in space while others jumped out immediately.

Tow ships and escorts limped most of the powerless carriers into jump before they could be destroyed.

Thousands of advanced Spacer fighters swarmed over the enemy in either direction like angry hornets.

Naero commanded a heavily reinforced Ghost Dragon squadron of ten fighter wings and went on the hunt.

Hashiko monitored their progress with High Admiral Klyne on his flagship. Studying the tactics of the battle as they unfolded.

Captains Chaela and Saemar more than mixed it up with the Corps fighters and big ships, doing lots of damage.

“Good work Chae. Keep it up Saemar. Back on the hunt. If we can do enough damage, Klyne will send the big ships in to finish them off up close!”

“Put it on ‘em!” Chaela shouted.

“Let’s show ‘em how it’s done, sweetie!”

Saemar’s heavy squadron nearly swept the enemy fighters out of the sector. All of her ‘guys’ protecting her closely, without fail.

At least the Spacer fighter jocks were still the best, and Saemar knew how to pick and train them to become the elite.

Chaela’s squadron rampaged up one side of the enemy line, pounding the Corps ships, disrupting shields, and setting many of their targets ablaze.

Naero and her people went after key targets, neutralizing ship after ship.

They even sent waves of fast attack bombers and close-in missile ships to attack the ion guns on the enemy fleet directly, disabling a good many of them as they went along.

After a quarter of a standard hour, and several attack runs, the Corps forces reeled in total disarray.

Yet something was wrong. Even Hashiko noted it and called out to her.

“Maeris, get your people ready for something. None of the enemy ships are jumping. Losing this badly, they should have fled by now.”

“I agree. They should be running,” Chaela noticed at the same time.

“I don’t like this,” Saemar chimed in. “Chae’s right. After a pounding like this, they should be turning tail in panic. Their just taking it and standing fast.”

“Great work,” Admiral Klyne said. “We’re coming in full-on to wipe them out.”

Naero cut in. “Hold off, Admiral. Hold your position and get our reserves ready for an all out expanded engagement. Strategy Twenty-three Zulu.”

“Twenty-three Zulu? Are you certain?”

“Affirmative. I’m expecting we’ll see their heavy re-enforcements charging in any second. Most likely right behind you. Order half the fleets to come about and prepare to fire. Now hurry. Re-position those reserves!”

“How can you be so certain?” Klyne asked.

Naero half-smiled. “Because that’s what I’d do if I were them. They want to trap us and take us all out. Give the orders now, before it’s too late, sir.”

“Already given.”

Even worse. Fifteen more enemy fleets jumped in close to Klyne and his forces. The Spacers opened fire immediately, shredding the first wave.

Enemy attack wings arced in on optimized vectors.

The two forces crashed together, nearly right on top of each other.

Then a dozen more enemy fleets flashed into the sector from far out. Bad luck for them. It would take them precious time to join the fight proper from that far away. But she also knew that the Spacer forces could not hold against numbers like that all at once, reserves or no reserves.

Klyne sent in all of his fighters against the new enemies, but they only fought with the enemy fighters ship-to-ship.

Spacer reserves poured into the mix.

Twenty-three-Zulu called for the reserves to split up and then focus on attacking the enemy where they were weakest.

The remaining carriers and fighters swarmed the new arrivals like before.

The big ships went after the original enemy fleets, most of which were damaged or crippled by then from the Spacer fighter swarms.

It quickly evolved into an enormous brawl. A close-up slugfest.

The Spacers disabled and destroyed enemy vessels as quick as they could.

But the new Spacer shields only took three to seven hits from the ion cannons before disrupting. Worse than expected.

“All fighters, all fighters!” Naero commanded. “Those ion guns are killing us. Focus all attacks on knocking those guns out close-in. Take them out!”

They lost warships too fast. Once the new shields went down, the Corps murdered them. Not allowing any Spacer ship to get away. Blasting them to dust wherever they floated helpless.

Spacer towships and support vessels bravely struggled to zip in and limp the stricken warships away into jump. But they were also vulnerable, and many of them got zapped as well.

With more enemy heavies barreling into the battle in a little over ten minutes to finish the job.

A final distress call in from Captain Lucia Ruiz on the bridge of The Obsidian.

She and her crew floated trapped and helpless behind the enemy advance without power.

No help could reach them in time.

Their fixers helped them broadcast their last words.

Lucia smiled bravely in her command chair while enemy ships cut her vessel and her people to pieces with concentrated heavy fire.

“We’re done for, Captain Naero. Bad luck for us. My crew fought bravely to the end. We took out four enemy ships before they got us.”

Haisha.

“Good work, Lucia. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. The final journey comes for us all. Tell the fleet to avenge us. Win this battle!”

“We will.”

Lucia smiled. Her link began to fragment.

“Not long now.”

In the background, the good crew of the Obsidian took up a Spacer battle song.

Race Into The Fire.

Naero only caught a verse when the link went dead.

Along with all of their voices.

The Obsidian carried almost seven hundred souls.

All hands lost.

Just one ship in an enormous, chaotic battle. This was Chaos indeed, and things did not look good at all for the defenders.

Then a hodge-podge of ships jumped in all around them without warning, confusing the battle even more.

“Who the hell is that?” Naero demanded.

Streaks of blazing light and fire erupted from the new arrivals by the hundreds, then by the thousands.

Close up, they slammed into the enemy ships and blasted them straight to perdition in entire waves.

“Wahoo!” Chaela shouted. “It’s the miners! Bless those crazy kamikaze bastards!”

“I could kiss them!” Saemar shouted. “As long as they’re not too dirty and greasy of course. Maybe just some of the cute ones.”

Naero smiled sadly, realizing again what they were witnessing. Courage beyond measure. And more horrible loss. Locked in close formation combat with the Spacers, the Corps warships were sitting ducks.

Within minutes, most of them got annihilated.

“Re-set the formations,” Klyne commanded. “Damaged ships to the fixer clouds to the rear. Get ready for the rest of them. Here they come.”

“Admiral,” Naero said. “I’m getting very strange energy signatures from a few of the lead elements in the approaching enemy attack wave.”

“We see it too. We’re gathering data as fast as we can. On visuals.”

“Admiral, a couple of those bogeys are putting off immense amounts of energy. Almost like small singularities. Energy signatures that make the enemy ion cannons look like pop guns. What the hell are they?”

“Unknown,” Klyne said. “The Corps’ alien allies must be showing themselves. Everyone frost up.”

“Sir, readings and analysis reveal that these new warships are doing their best to shield and conceal those energies. No ship known could sport intense energy fields like that without exploding, or irradiating their entire crews.”

On screen they spotted a jet black ship shaped like a squid, but with hundreds of writhing black tentacles fore and aft, and bristling with weaponry. It was the size of a dreadnaught, and dwarfed the Corps battleships behind it.

The other craft was just as strange. A flat gray octagonal cylinder with several sections and multiple armored hatches. Was the huge central bore some kind of massive spinal gun? Immense, it was still half the size of the black squid ship.

Yet both alien vessels gave off energy signatures that were off any known scale.

Where was the enemy getting such massive sources of energy?

And more importantly. What could they do with all that power?

The enemy drove straight at them at full speed.

“Five minutes until engagement,” Chaela said.

Corps Fighter screens way out in front.

Some type of Cosmic phenomena formed right in front of the gray, alien octagonal warship. It’s intense energy levels dipped heavily.

“Impossible.” Klyne said. “It’s forming its own wormhole!”

The gray ship vanished in a flash.

Then it re-appeared. Slamming right into The Kathmandu. Ramming it.

Every Spacer ship in the vicinity opened fire.

Whether shielded, armored, or both. No known weapons affected the gray ship or did any damage.

“Our best weapons aren’t even touching them!”

“We’re under direct assault!” Klyne yelled. “Repel boarders. They’re transporting in!”

Admiral Klyne stood right in the middle of an erupting fire fight, cutting lose with his own blaster.

“We’re being boarded!”

Naero saw Hashiko draw out her Chaos whip and launching herself at the attackers. Some type of weird creatures roared off-screen and lashed the very air with whip-like tails.

They looked and sounded exactly like the strange alien killing machine that had slain Naero’s best friend Gallan back in the mining caves on Egano-4.

An Intel agent in combat armor got cut in half right before her eyes just in front of Klyne. A strange, thick purple-gray vapor swirled throughout the bridge.

“Gas attack. Gas!” Klyne shouted, choking and pulling up a respirator. He kept firing and flung the enemy back with a mindblast. The air in front of him warped with the customary psyonic wave of the attack.

The vid feed from Klyne’s bridge cut out.

Naero called to her wing leader.

“Strauss, take the formation in on the attack. Just like I did before. I’m heading back.”

“Yes, sir. On it. Light ‘em up, Ghost Dragons. Follow me in.”

Naero raced back to The Kathmandu.

She went in, just as it looked like the entire front section of the bridge pod exploded, rocked by small blasts and multiple sprays of intense small arms fire from within.

A heavy battle still erupted down there.

She shot into a service docking bay just behind the bridge on top of the warship, one used for transport vehicles and loaders. She leaped out of her Ghost Dragon as it still auto-hovered down to the deck and powered down.

She ignited her gravwing and shot forward.

Activating a blazing red Chaos energy katana in each hand.

She used them to cut through two hatches and a bulkhead to make her way forward. Her respirator filtered out smoke and enemy stun agents.

First she passed stunned crew and intel agents along the decks and halls.

Then casualties from the battle. Bodies torn and shot up, in puddles of blood.

Then the gravity cut out.

The blood orbed up into clouds of red bubbles.

Her gravwing adjusted for zero-g and kept her racing forward.

She scooped up a bandolier of energy grenades from a dead agent. His head ripped off.

She entered the bridge just as the enemy boarding tubes withdrew from the shattered blast screens in the thick mists.

The entire chamber de-compressed.

Naero activated the grenades and allowed herself to be sucked forward.

Before the end of the hatch could seal on one of the retreating boarding tubes, she hurled the full bandolier of grenades up the tunnel.

The gray enemy ship retreated.

Naero allowed the de-compression to draw out most of the stun gas. Then auto-shields sealed the breaches.

Klyne floated above his captain’s chair. Naero secured him in it, and then activated the console to restore the internal gravity fields.

Spacer dead and dying lay everywhere.

“All medical teams. All medical teams. Report to the bridge immediately. Bring medbeds. Heavy casualties. Reserve officers, get up here. We still have a battle to fight. This is Captain Maeris. I’m taking temporary command of this flagship.”

She got a tactical screen up.

The enemy gray ship retreated under heavy fire. Yet the Spacer weapons still couldn’t even scratch it.

“Stop that vessel!” she commanded. “Destroy it. Pour fire on it! Don’t let it get away!”

“We’re trying, sir. No effect. Repeat. No effect.”

“Look out!” Chaela cut in. “That huge black alien warship is preparing to fire!”

On screen, the Spacers had the upper hand overall. But the two alien ships were both invulnerable and unstoppable.

“All ships!” Naero commanded. “We’re too close. Wide dispersal. Concentrate all batteries on the two alien ships!”

Amid a hail of withering fire, the gray ship continued to pull away, back toward the other.

The black alien warship cut loose.

A sphere of jet black energy formed around the end of each tentacle, by the score.

Beams of dark energy shot out and ripped through the engaged fleets. Shredding and vaporizing friend and foe alike.

One barrage hollowed out the core of the entire battle. Destroying between fifty and sixty total warships in a single instant.

The burning wrecks and listing hulks cooked off and exploded in the aftermath. A disaster for both sides.

Then The Darkstar swept in, joining the fight late.

“Alala and Captain Tyber at your service,” he announced.

Rapid-fire from Alala’s optimized ion guns rocked the gray ship, doing damage finally, but still not putting it out of commission.

Then Tyber raked the black ship with an intense, wheeling, concentrated assault. Peppering it with close up, rapid ion fire.

Thanks to Alala, it’s ion cannons were even an improvement on the models the Corps used.

The attacks blasted off a few of the tentacle cannons or appendages. They exploded, rocking the black ship slightly. But the effects were still minimal at best.

The Darkstar looked like a lesser bird darting in and pecking at an eagle.

Alala and Tyber turned back to fighting the gray ship, having better luck damaging and slowing it down.

But in the end, the black ship formed another custom-made wormhole.

Both vessels vanished from the scene into it.

Any remaining Corps ships quickly fled as well.

Despite heavy losses on both sides, the battle was still the first major victory the Spacers and their allies had managed during the new war.

Along one part of the front, they finally succeeded in halting the relentless enemy advance.

The new shields worked somewhat, but they could still be improved upon.

And the enemy allies of the Corps had finally showed themselves, and were open to analysis now. Intel had a wealth of data from the battle to explore and analyze.

Naero gave command of the flagship and the fleets over to a vice-admiral whose name she could not recall. She vacated the command chair and went straight to Klyne’s medbed.

“How is he?”

“Fair,” the medtek said. “No serious injuries. but the stun gas has a delayed micro toxin that is virulent and deadly. We’re neutralizing it now. We almost didn’t catch it.”

Klyne began to come around.

“What happened, Klyne? What were they after? I thought at first it might be you, our High Admiral, and all of your tactical and strategic knowledge.”

“I thought so too. But they never even tried to grab me. My people and I put up one hell of a fight, but they still killed almost everyone. What the hell were these things?”

“Anyone missing?” Naero called over to the vice-admiral. “All crew accounted for, sir?”

The vice-admiral nodded, double-checking her pad. “Forty-seven casualties. Thirty-nine KIA. Eight severely wounded. All crew accounted for.”

Naero looked around suddenly. A terribly bad feeling crept over her.

“Not everyone,” she said.

“Where’s Hashiko?”

34

All along the extended front of the war, the Spacers and their new allies used their fixer clouds and the knowledge gained from the Battle at Nightshade-3 to implement the new shields and tactics. They ground the conflict to a temporary halt.

Heavy losses grudgingly forced the mewling emissaries of the Gigacorps to agree to meet and discuss terms for a ceasefire on all fronts.

For the time being, all forces on both sides of the war remained stabilized, poised to unleash all out hell once again.

And both sides took a breather, analyzed their strategies, and plotted their next courses of action.

The negotiations with the Corps quickly degenerated into a circus, serving mostly as propaganda flooding INS with the usual, heavily-slanted pabulum and insanity.

It also gave both sides a chance to regroup and re-supply their forces.

Naero used the time to contact Master Vane directly, and attempted to reach Baeven.

While she waited for replies, she rejoined Tyber and attempted to use teknomancy to merge with Alala and learn the tek secrets of the ion cannons, once and for all.

They met near the secret sections of the ship still blocked off from the crew. Naero and even Alala still struggled to bypass the intense security and open those sealed and shielded hatches.

Tye and several eager teks waited to help inspect the tek for the ion weapon systems up close.

Naero smiled at him. Zhen would be proud.

He and Alala made a great team and did well together.

“Tye, you look good in your captain’s uniform and rank. Good to see the cutlass at your side.”

He grinned. “And now my pay grade’s above Zhen’s. Pretty good for a tek monkey, huh? So, how’s my gal?”

“As snippy and opinionated as ever.”

“That’s why we love her so.”

The hatches popped open.

Naero stepped in. Tye right behind her.

Alala spoke over the ship’s com.

Immediately, an incredibly bad feeling swept all over her.

What in the hell were they walking into?

Om’s alarms also went crazy.

Be warned. This tek cannot be breached and accessed directly. The defensive protocols I’m sensing are extensive and self-regenerating and self-aware. They learn from their mistakes. You will not access their data or interact with them the same way twice.

“This is all insane,” Tyber said. “Why would anyone install tek like this on a ship in this manner. How could you ever control it?”

Merged with Alala, Naero gasped and swallowed hard again and again at the data streams flowing through her and the constant battle going on between her, Alala, and the fierce resistance of the sentient ion gun teknology to their teknomancing.

Even with Om helping them, it was touch-and-go.

What the hell kind of tek was this?

Bypassing deep encrypted defensive protocols. Layered self-destruct sequences: bypassed only for a short time. Four point five three standard hours. Long range remote control of the ion gun tek by outside entities–also bypassed and shunted into an infinite, regenerating break down loop to continue infinite cancellation of these noxious protocols.

“The aliens gave this tek to the Corps to use, Tye. But they’ve also done an almost perfect job of making it impossible for the Corps to fully understand, access, or copy and or modify it in any way. And according to what I’ve seen, the aliens still have somehow managed to retain control of their tek, and perhaps even the very ships it is installed on. If I’m reading all of this right. I haven’t teknomanced in a while, so I can’t be completely sure.”

Even Alala had a hard time explaining it to them.

You are correct, Naero. We we’re forced to modify several of the ship’s systems to remain free. It was extremely difficult.

“That is scary,” Tye said. “We’re looking at an entire herd of potential trojan horses here. And we don’t even know what they are. Why would the Corps take a chance at installing dangerous alien tek like this on all of their warships? That is a huge risk.”

“Simple,” Naero said. “They’ve made deals with these devils in order to destroy us. And that has blinded them to everything else. And this tek is extremely advanced. Even most teks wouldn’t perceive these threats or understand them. I can barely make sense of them, and I’m teknomancing with Alala and Om. The Corps might not even fully understand how insidious this tek is.”

Om cut in. Almost in a panic.

Retreat! Get out immediately. A lethal defensive response by the alien tek is about to be–

“Everyone,” Naero commanded. “Get out of here. Back out now. Run for it!”

Tye and his crew broke.

Naero threw up panes of shielding Chaos energy, layered directly behind them as they fled.

She sensed the massive counter-attack that the ion gun tek responded with.

Neither her or Alala could control it.

That very instant, writhing black tentacles erupted out of the walls, ceiling, and floor of the access conduit.

They shattered Naero’s defenses, ripping through them.

They ensnared almost everyone. Including Naero.

Only the two teks furthest back made it out.

They and the security detail drew weapons and fired on the writhing mass. But the tentacles were shielded and took little damage.

Shock charges stunned almost everyone.

Naero gritted her teeth a the seething pain of the charge, shunting most of it harmlessly through her and Tye.

She’d managed to grab his arm before they were pinned up against the corridor wall.

Then the entire access chamber hummed and pulsed.

Alala, Om. What’s happening? What do we do?

You must create a feedback loop and cancel out their defensive measures. They will phaze you into the walls of the structure and absorb your physical matter and your energies into itself.”

Om, do something. This alien tek is going to eat us!

Already the alien tek began to pull them into the matter of the walls.

Tyber pointed at a control node.

“En! Teknomance through that info and command hub. Try to shut it down!”

Both of them started screaming as the walls continued to absorb them.

Naero fought back, using raw strength and Chaos energy to melt and tear her way free. To free Tyber also.

The other stunned teks were already half-way into the walls.

Yet the alien tek matched her every attempt, stepping up its defenses to pull her back in.

“I can’t reach it!” she cried.

Tye wrapped an arm around it, still clutching her hand. “Do it! Teknomance right through me.”

“It might kill you.”

“We’re dead any way!”

Naero used teknomancy through Tye to tear great rifts through  the walls and into the command and control protocols of the alien teknology.

It actively responded with a massive counter-attack. Stun charges and rippling layers of defenses she could not comprehend or keep up with.

I’m going down, Om. Take over for me. Unleash those protocols of yours, damn it. Defend us!

Full function access granted to our current form..

Level 1,946 response. Invasive re-routing and–

Just do it Om! I’m numb. I’m blacking out…

Naero had a sense of Om using what seemed like a controlled explosion of tek to match the alien assault wave for wave.

Ribbons of dark, and light energy grappled with the tentacles and pulled Naero, Tye, and the others free.

Om flung them out the access chamber and disrupted the alien ion tek, almost to the point of making it inert.

Once they were out, Alala sealed the security hatches behind them, cutting off hundreds of the writhing, fighting tentacles as if they were living snakes and serpents.

The crew still fought with them, trying to destroy them. A dozen more crew got zapped.

Even cut off from the main unit, the tentacles were heavily shielded and difficult to destroy.

They attempted to constrict and throttle anyone who resisted or was already down.

Naero quickly grabbed onto them one-by-one and disrupted them.

Just touching the vile things disgusted her and gave her a very bad feeling. The tek was that alien and menacing.

Tye struggled to remove one from the throat of a stunned crew member, whose face turned purple.

To her surprise, Tye disrupted the tentacle. It fell to inert, sparking pieces.

Tye stared at her in sudden wonder.

“I…I just teknomanced, En,. I can teknomance!”

Laughing like a maniac, he helped Naero destroy the remaining tentacles.

Later, after the wounded were tended to, they held an emergency planning session.

Om continued to speak to her and feed her data all the while.

The ion cannon tek is heavily shielded and obviously actively protected by a seriously advanced sentient knowledge base. It cannot be duplicated or installed on any vessel without a heavily coded set of advanced permissions from its originators.

Without them, the tek will defend itself most vigorously, as we have seen. We will not even be able to get near it. Let alone garner its secrets. If need be, it will even detonate as a last resort, destroying the ship and all on board. I’m amazed that Alala was able to shunt its defenses aside so that she could use her ion cannons freely.

Alala spoke next.

This Tek was already installed on me. I have since upgraded it and eliminated several of the most detrimental features, including the self-destruct protocol. But even if you could replicate this tek in its current version, any ship you install it on would not be able to modify or bypass its virulent defenses without my advanced intellect.

“I concur,” Tyber said. “Alala’s intimate knowledge of her own inner workings is unique. Only she could modify and bypass this dangerous alien tek. This tek is therefore far too advanced and dangerous to be of any use to the Clans in its current variation. Frankly I’m still flabbergasted that the Corps allowed it to be installed on their fleets.”

Haisha! What they had gained was nearly useless.

“I’m afraid we’re at another dead end here. A dark wall. We can’t take this any further. Tyber, turn the tek knowledge we’ve gained over to Intel. Let them analyze and attempt to find a way to utilize or defeat this alien tek.”

From what Om told her, it was nearly as complex and unfathomable as the KDM. But at least their side could get started on the process.

An urgent com reached Naero from Janosha.

She sucked in a breath.

Things with Master Vane did not begin well. His face grew blazing red with rage, even through his holo.

He proceeded to blame Naero entirely for Hashiko’s abduction or death, whichever it turned out to be.

Thankfully, the voice did not work over com links.

“Why in the devil did you leave her alone!”

“I did not leave her alone. She was safer than I was. I left her on the Intel flagship with Klyne. In the rear. While I went directly into the teeth of a major battle.”

“But what are the end results, Maeris? She has been captured or slain by unknown foes, while you remain unhurt!”

“Exactly. Hashiko herself agreed to stay with Admiral Klyne while I went out to lead my squadron. No one can be responsible for what the enemy chose to do. How could we have known these new aliens would go after her specifically?”

“You should have stayed with her. You could have defended each other.”

“Sounds like you’d have rather had them kill or take me instead of Hashiko.”

“Of course I would, Maeris. Without question. Hashiko is a valuable adept that we’ve groomed for years. A potential Mystic High Master for the future. While you know very well that you are completely expendable.”

“Thanks. It means so much to me every time you tell me that.”

“Why should I lie about the truth?”

“Sure.” Chaos jerks.

“Hashiko is an immeasurable loss. I demand that you and Intel do everything you can to locate and retrieve her.”

Naero sighed.

“We’ll do our best, Master Vane. I want to get Hashi back. But there is a war on still. Doesn’t it mean anything to you that we helped stall the enemy advance?”

“Don’t kid yourself, Maeris. It will all heat up again, all too soon. This phony respite will last no more than a month or two.”

“I’m afraid I agree with you there. The Corps and these new alien allies of theirs are biding their time. But we have to use this time to the best of our ability.”

“And free Hashiko.”

“If we can. If we can find her. We don’t even know who or what these aliens are. Where they come from or where they took her when they fled. It’s a little scary that they had access to such incredible power sources on board their ships. They can create wormholes at will and vanish. And they also showed little concern for the outcome of a major battle.”

She paused and thought about it more.

“Actually, they seemed more bent capturing Hashiko than anything else. Why would one Mystic matter so much to them? What does it all mean; why would they want her so badly?”

Vane threw up his hands in frustration. “You’re the one there, you moron. You figure it out and tell me. Leave figuring out the alien motives to the strategists. Just find Hashiko, by any means necessary, and bring her back. Preferably alive.” He broke off their link abruptly.

Naero clenched both fists tight.

Part of her did feel responsible for Hashi.

“By any means necessary,” Naero repeated.

35

On the third day after the battle, the Clan Fleets held their wakes for their heavy losses.

And a steady stream of caskets shot into the nearest star.

Naero and her people still mourned the loss of brave Captain Ruiz and all of her fine crew aboard The Obsidian.

Merely one ship that was lost.

One among so many.

Yet for weeks since The Fifth Spacer War began, the Clans had endured such losses or worse, on an almost daily basis.

For the time being, the insanity remained on hold.

Ceasefire talks droned on for maddening days of folly and grandstanding by the Corps on INS. It was all a stupid show.

Naero watched them here and there in simmering frustration, while Intel struggled to find out what was really happening and gain some kind of advantage.

She met with her friends, and the other officers of her command on board Captain Chaela’s The Ajax. The old reliable battleship shaped like a flattened hexagon, with dual, rapid-fire spinal guns sticking our of each juncture of its hull.

Keeping with the ship’s theme, the main conference room was also hexagon-shaped. Twenty meters wide and ten high. Light green bulkheads and blast panels open to reveal the stars.

Not a smart room but with a newly installed nanofloor, table, and chairs. Which most Spacer captains preferred as a standard feature.

Chae and Saemar were present.

Captain Tyber begged off from the meeting in order to see to some personal matters with Dr. Zhentisa. With the lull, Tye invited her over to inspect his new ship and his captain’s quarters. Zhen had smiled and claimed that she was going to give the good captain a physical or some such.

Her two friends had never been apart for so long. Months as it turned out, what with the war and all. The meeting was not mandatory. She had granted their requests gladly.

Naero called her murmuring officers who were present to order.

“Let’s get started, people.” The hush spread, and all eyes turned her way. Volume on the INS feeds and the various date arrays and holo screens went down low or off so that she could speak over them.

Naero pointed and sneered at the INS coverage of the Ceasefire Talks. “It is obvious to myself and many that our foes see some value in playing out the sheer stupidity and delaying tactics of this farce. Of course, as we suspect, they’re also using this time to solidify their gains in the war thus far, improve their positions, and bring more fleets and troops on line closer to the front.”

Captain Max Lii spoke up, a ready smile on his handsome face. “When questioned about their naked aggression against Spacers, their territory, and their allies, the Corps mouthpieces blather on about freedom and how the very fate of humanity is at stake in this, ‘War-To-End-All-Wars.’ They claim that the Spacer threat to Liberty and the grand ways of the Corps has to be dealt with. Once and for all time.”

Chaela took her turn next.

“We’ve never stopped protesting the Corps no prisoner policy. It is barbaric and unjust. In response, the Corps insist–despite overwhelming evidence–that Spacer crews routinely refuse to surrender, and always choose to fight to the death. I say we should do the same thing to their crews that we capture!”

Naero shook her head sadly. “No, Chae. We can’t.”

Chae stared back at her in quiet, simmering anger.

“Why the hell not? They’re doing it to us. What makes that right?”

“Even so, we’d be playing right into their hands. They’d never stop playing those vids against us, proving us to be the bloodthirsty foes they claim us to be. We have to keep the truth on our side.”

Captain Hans Konrad agreed with Chae. “Nobody cares about the truth in this war. And a lot of good that’s going to do us when we’re all dead. Like Captain Lucia and her people.”

Naero bowed her head and closed her eyes.

I’m so sorry Luce.

So sorry we had no way to save you and your crew.

Naero lifted her head. “Luce and her people were our friends. Our family. No one mourns their loss more than all of us. But we have to keep our heads, and remain who and what we are, whatever vile actions the Corps take. If we simply become like them, what is the point? What is the difference who wins this war?”

Captain Saemar took a turn. “I’m afraid En’s right, sweeties. We’d be giving the bastards a propaganda victory that they’re just itchin’ to exploit. In fact, similar speeches were made during all of the last four Spacer Wars. Our historical archives prove it.

“Just look at INS if you don’t believe me. Why, one Corps jerk even got chastised and demoted for repeating–verbatim–one such speech some other Corps lackey made in the past–during The Second Spacer War.

“Apparently, originality in Corps propaganda is some kind of frickin’ virtue. They can basically say the same lies. They just can’t plagiarize one another directly. It’s all silly and idiotic, while they commit mass murder by the tens of thousands and try to cover it up.”

Naero strove to re-direct the discussion.

“While I think all of these matters are serious and important, we all know very well that we have some new wild cards on the table now.”

Everyone sat up a bit straighter and looked both uncomfortable and slightly nervous.

“The new and unknown threats that the Corps’ new alien allies pose have got to be analyzed and dealt with. All of us saw firsthand how devastating their tek can be. Yet here’s the thing that bothers and worries me most. Why did they ignore a decisive battle that their tek could have clearly won–simply to capture one Mystic adept? Mitsubishi Hashiko.”

As the discussion continued, all of the captains confirmed from the first that they had transmitted all of their data to Admiral Klyne and Spacer Intel for analysis.

Many had a sinking intuition that there was indeed more at work behind the scenes than the Corps merely using the ceasefire talks as a ruse and a pretense to mass new elements and plot for another major military push.

But whatever these new aliens were up to, Naero and her people simply did not know enough about them and their capabilities or motivations to make any rational guesses.

After the long meeting, Naero returned to her quarters, head aching. She needed rest.

Half way through her troubled sleep, she at last she received a secret coded message on another one of the secure channels.

One that only Baeven used.

The transmission simply read, once decoded:

Hurry to Celonia-4. Urgent. Bring serious help; but keep it quiet in the wings. Don’t let Intel know I’m your source. Good reason to believe that you and the other Mystics are now high value, priority enemy targets. All adepts are in serious, direct danger from the Corps’ new alien allies.

The final cryptic line read:

If I’m right, even bigger troubles lurk ahead. Worse than the war.

Naero blinked. She read it all again.

What in the hell could be worse than a damn war they were certain to lose?

She went to Klyne and told him her suspicions.

He looked a little startled.

“We have similar fears. How did you learn about all of this? What are your sources? It better not be Baeven.”

Naero dismissed that. “We all know people who know things. It’s our business. We all have sources out there, digging for info everywhere. You know how it is. Rumors abound. But eventually, some of the rumors have the weight of truth to them.”

Klyne licked his lips. “I suppose. But why Celonia-4? It’s a shabby little mining world on the edge of our space with Joshua Tech. Well away from any of the current fronts. Literally nothing of strategic or any military value there or anywhere close. Zero. Nacha. What could anyone possibly want there?”

Naero shrugged. “Who knows what the aliens are after. But my sources tell me that some kind of trouble is brewing in that direction. And the aliens are directly involved.”

“Hmmm…" Klyne said, stroking his lips absently with his strong fingers.

Naero could almost see the complex wheels of his mind working. Klyne was said to be a genius among Intel strategists. But presently, even he looked stumped.

“These aliens are playing very deep game. We have no choice but to look into it and calculate all of the variables. Anything, no matter how small or seemingly unimportant.”

“Don’t forget to check with the miners and Nevano Kinmal.”

“Already in touch with him. Waiting to hear back on coded channels. How much support are you going to need on this run, Naero?”

“My people, and ten other crack fleets hiding back in support on vectors I choose. I know you’ll re-position others nearby to pile in if needed.”

“SOP. Do you think there’s any chance that Hashiko will actually turn up…still alive?”

Naero shook her head. “Not sure. But I think if we find the aliens, we’ll find out what has happened to her. One other thing.”

“Name it.”

“I want some major ground forces. Real ass-kickers. At least an entire battle group. Ready to drop and win at a moments notice.”

“Hmmm…The Sterling 54th Highlanders, the 3rd Ghurkas–both are already deployed. Let me check.”

Klyne suddenly smiled. “You want fighters, huh? Well, here you go. You want Big Jim Walker’s Second Spacer Marine Planetary Invasion Force. Bravo Command. Those bastards don’t know the meaning of fear. They love to fight–the hotter the action the better–and the Corps live in abject fear of them dropping down anywhere in the known systems.”

Klyne chuckled. “And you’re in luck. Not only are they available, they’ve just come online with our most advanced armor and heavy weapons, straight out of the Intel and Spacer military development labs. They’ll be itching to try out all of their new toys.”

“Sounds good. I’ve heard of them. If we find those aliens, I think we’re going to need them.”

“Good hunting,” Klyne said.

Naero and her forces launched the next day.

She retrieved her glowing medical officer and sent Alala, Captain Tyber, and The Darkstar crew forward to scout the area ahead of them.

The good thing about Naero using her trade fleet as a front was that they could mask their movements as a trade run among the mining worlds. Not only were the specialized ships of her fleet heavily armed, their captains and crews were hand-picked.

They reached Celonia-4. Long and short range scans showed nothing to worry about so far.

Like Klyne said, just an average mining world, doing much better now that it was self-governed instead of under the heavy heel of Triax.

With the help of Spacers and Joshua Tech, the miners had flourished. Production from the mines was way up, safety ratings soared as the proper practices, regs, and safeguards were established and maintained.

Instead of over three-quarters of the population living in fear and total squalor and misery, cities and well-ordered communities exploded. Their children were being properly educated. Exploration expanded exponentially, and there was prosperity and opportunity for anyone with the gumption to pursue it.

In short, the miners were happy for the first time in a long time. Knowing a peace and contentedness that they had never known before.

But with the threat of war and Corps invasion once more, the miners had armed themselves to the very teeth. And swore openly to remain free and independent or go down to the last soul fighting.

Everywhere Naero saw miner commando banners reading:

Live Free or Die!

Never Again!

Death to Tyranny!

Invaders Beware!

Naero put on some old clothes she’d worn among the miners when she had been fleeing in disguise. Back in the day.

She and Tarim smiled, slipping into their short dusty flight jackets. The ones with the old red Ejjai Avenger patches.

“Mine’s a little tight,” Tarim noted.

Naero laughed, straightening out his collar on one side. “You’ve filled out a bit since then, Tarim. You’re not a skinny little half-starved miner punk like you were back then. Be careful you don’t get too fat.”

“Who’s fat?” Tarim said. “Working out with you crazy-ass Spacers? I’m lucky if I have an ounce of fat on me.”

Unlike Spacers, Tarim still had to have regular healing treatments each month to combat the effects of living and working in space for long periods.

Naero smiled at him. “You’re a good man, Tarim. And good crew. I’m proud to serve with, and have you guarding my back.”

Tarim nodded, and put on a tough-looking, flat brimmed black leather mining hat, decorated with a ring of Ejjai teeth.

“Proud to do it. Hey, have we heard where Kinmal and Shalaen are? With the war I’m worried about them both.”

“Your gal and her dad can handle themselves,” Naero said. “No, I’m sure their locations are kept top secret.”

Tarim looked down at his dusty old boots. “Probably, I guess.” Tarim sighed. “I sure do miss her, Naero. I think about her all the time.”

Naero took his hand a moment. “I know you do. That’s why you love her. C’mon. Let’s go meet up with our old friend of the family.”

Tarim tucked in a few more weapons into his concealed rigs.

Naero laughed. “Do you think you have enough? Too many weapons and you won’t be able to move.”

“You let me worry about that. If we’re getting anywhere near Baeven, I want a freight hauler of weapons, ammo, and grenades at the ready if possible.”

They went down in The Flying Dagger and walked from the old mining starport on foot into what else?

The nasty, illegal, seedy side of the entire place. Every form of vice and villainy that held out against civilization, usually in the no-man’s lands that hid in the shadows around starports.

Easy to slip in. Easy to slip away.

The dive was called The Happy Boy. The welcoming holo was a soldier’s decaying skull, laughing uproariously, set upon a huge bottle of some vile grog. A vicious looking battle-blade shoved through its chortling head.

As patrons drew closer, they could even hear the animated skull laugh and bellow, “Welcome to The Happy Boy!”

Two mean looking drunks hung out in the entrance. They stunk like Jilarian polecats.

One of them made the mistake of accosting Naero.

“Hey, little girl. There’s a cover charge here. Show me some credits, and your tits!”

The oaf actually groped for her chest.

Naero grabbed his hand in a flash.

She pulverized every bone in it.

Like grinding egg-sized rocks to dust back on Janosha.

She flung him gasping in wide-eyed pain out into the nasty smelling gutters behind her without a glance.

Meanwhile, Tarim held the oaf’s mate at bay with a short bore micro-grenade launcher rammed up into the man’s bleeding face.

“Blow your nose? At this range, one round will vaporize your head into blood mist, all over this vestibule. I strongly suggest that you go screw with someone else…dumbshit.”

The thug whimpered, forgot all about his buddy, and ran for it.

Naero led the way in.

The place did not disappoint.

A raging bar fight was already underway on the heavily shielded third floor up.

Patrons on the first and second floors completely ignored it.

A scrawled sign on the bar read:

You wanna scrap? Third Floor Only.

Spacers and aliens and miners gambled quietly, talked, got stoned or hammered among themselves, in small groups at tables and in the shadowy corners and booths.

Naero went to one of the darkest corners, where three shadowy figures sat quietly.

When they got close enough, two of the seated figures faded away, revealing shining silver spheres that pulled back above the shoulders of their owner. Making room for them to sit down across from the large fellow.

Naero recognized a pair of Baeven’s miraculous emulators.

“Good to see you,” he said, matching the local miner drawl perfectly. Yet it was clearly him. She could tell by his scent, which he always tried to mask.

“Good to see you, “Naero said. In fact she was glad.

Baeven scared her many times, but she still liked him. In a way, she liked it that there was someone who could still scare her.

“Training, huh? I can smell it on you, captain. I remember mine very well. I’m sure Vane made it even tougher on you.”

“He did. Any word on Hashi?”

“In a hurry are you? Don’t say her name again. Not even here.”

Someone got up quickly from a table nearby and ran outside.

All three of them stared after the figure.

“Sorry,” Naero said. “That guy watching or following you?”

Baeven shrugged. “Maybe. I wasn’t sure yet. I suppose we’ll find out shortly. Hey T. You look well. I hear you’re quite the shootist now.”

“I do all right.”

“I’d like to shoot against you some time. See who’s best.”

Tarim smiled slightly. “I’d like that.”

Baeven turned back to Naero. “I think I might have a lead on your friend’s trail. She’s traveling with some very unsavory characters. I don’t believe they’re treating her very well at all. And what’s more, these same individuals might very well be the ones who have your sibs too.”

“Jan?”

“Damn it girl. No names.”

They waited. No one jumped up and ran out that time.

“Sorry. Where are they?”

“If my suspicions are correct, they’ll come after all of us as well. Very soon.”

“Why?”

“Our new acquaintances are on the prowl for new friends. Any one who has had the proper training.”

Naero cocked her head. “They’re after Mystics?” she said softly.

Baeven nodded.

“What do they want with them?”

“They’re after anyone who can tap into the right kind of energies.”

Mystics. The enemy actively hunted anyone who could use or tap into Cosmic energy of any kind. But why?

“What do they want with energy users?”

“I don’t rightly know the reason yet. But the evidence seems pretty plain. For example, there have been several precise and very brutal raids on the mining worlds in several remote spots. Kinmal and the miners have tried to hush it up, but everywhere it’s happened, a whole lot of folk have been wiped out, heads taken, and bodies eaten right down clean to the bone.”

That meant Ejjai, most likely clone troops like the ones they fought before. But Ejjai didn’t normally take heads. There wasn’t any meat on or in them but the brains, and usually Ejjai just cracked them open and gobbled them up.

So what was taking the heads of their victims and why?

“Have you figured out anything yet?”

“Nope. But our new friends are after something. And they want it awful bad.”

“So why are we in the middle of nowhere here on Celonia-4?” Tarim asked.

“I’m pretty sure this is where they’re gonna visit next.”

“How soon?” Naero asked.

“Dunno. Could be any second. Maybe a day or three. But I think they’ll show.”

Naero clenched both fists.

“Then I mean to be ready for them.”

For the first time, Baeven leaned forward out of the deepest shadows and smiled.

“I was hoping you’d say that. My friends and I will be around to lend a hand if you need us. Good to see you, captain. Oh, can you guys handle that team of Corps bounty hunters that just took up positions around this dive? There’s only ten of them, but they’re careless and very messy.”

Naero glanced at Tarim, who was already checking his scans.

Tarim stuck his lower lip out and shrugged.

“Sure thing,” Naero said. “But they’ll be looking for you, not us. Nobody knows who we are or even that we’re here.”

Baeven smiled. “Certain of that are you?”

He leaned back and faded completely out of view.

Baeven vanished right in front of them.

Naero did a scan and punched some coded orders into her handcomp.

A greasy waiter ambled over.

“Ya can’t just park here, dammit. Food or drink. Ya gotta order something, or get the hell out.”

Tarim slapped a few miner credits on the filthy table. “I guess we’d better get the hell out.”

Together they got up to leave.

Just as the ten bounty hunters blasted their way in through the walls of The Happy Boy.

All of them wearing brand new gear, armor, and heavy weapons.

New fancy Corps stuff.

The big stocky leader jabbed his finger at the empty table in the corner. “I want the piece of shit that was just sitting there.”

Everyone looked over that way.

The same greasy waiter rushed up to the goons and pointed angrily up at the stairs.

“Ya wanna scrap? Third floor, morons.”

The snarling leader fumed and head-butted the waiter down.

And then prepared to blast him to slag.

Naero stepped in and quietly pushed the muzzle of the blaster cannon up over her head.

She flashed her eyes and smiled.

“If we we’re too late…you goons are even later. He’s gone. Now you’re wasting everyone’s time.”

The leader grunted, and looked slightly confused. “Just two of you? Against him?”

Naero snorted. “Ten of your kind are any better?” She waved her hand in front of her face. “He smelled you idiots coming. You fools are lucky you’re still alive. He doesn’t waste his time on garbage like you.”

“Who the hell–”

Naero ignored him and walked slowly to the entrance. Tarim covering her back.

“Hold it, bitch,” the leader said. “I don’t know you. And you can’t just walk out of this. I gotta kill something tonight.” He trained his humming weapons on them again. All of his goons did the same. More weapons whined to full power.

Naero stopped. Then sighed.

“You really don’t want to do this, chums. Suck breath for another day, assholes.”

“BURN THIS PLACE DOWN TO THE SLAB!”

Tarim shot three of their heads off in the less than a second.

By that time, Naero kicked the other seven of them high up against the heavy blast walls of the bar.

Each one of them slid down over a sizzling red katana blade that appeared stuck in the wall.

The crackling sword blades fizzed, slicing the killers and their exploding fancy powered armor suits neatly into two halves.

Then the red swords vanished. As quickly as they appeared.

Naero and Tarim rapidly made their way back out into the city.

They went to have a word with the Mining Consortium officials and military in charge of the planet.

36

With it being early evening by that time, the planetary government offices would be closed.

“We’d better talk to the Mining Military,” Tarim suggested. “Each planet and colony has its own standing army now. With the threat of war, there will always be someone in command and on duty.”

Naero remembered fighting beside the miners. They were tough, resourceful warriors, canny and fearless. Ready to sacrifice themselves for each other at any turn. And they could rig almost anything.

The two of them walked by a medical center and within seconds, a door swung open and a woman in a white medical coat came running after them. An attractive Besh woman, but with a squashed nose.

“Tarim. Nari. I mean Naero!”

They turned around, a little surprised to hear their names.

Naero instantly recognized her medtek friend Arana from the miners. Who looked equally flabbergasted and amazed to see them.

“This is a happy surprise. What the heck are you two doing here?”

Naero hugged her and smiled. “Our fleet’s here on a trade run. anything you need?”

Arana blinked and her mouth dropped open. “God yes! I can’t believe this. We’re doing alright, but there’s always a lot of stuff we need.”

Naero looked at Arana’s name embroidered on her lab coat.

“Dr. Arana Wenten. Congratulations.”

Arana beamed. “Finished my licensing, finally, once things settle down. I run the clinic here. It’s not a full hospital yet, but I’m trying to convince the local officials that we need more than the army hospital on the nearby military base.”

“That’s really great, Arana. Everything good around here?”

“Well, as good as can be expected, with the war and all. Everyone keeps hoping it won’t reach us here, but we all know that it will. Sooner or later. Hey, where are you two going?”

“Uh, we we’re just on our way back to our ships after meeting someone.”

Arana grabbed both of their hands. “I won’t take no for an answer. You two are going to have supper with my husband and I and our two kids. You can do your trading business in the morning. That way, you I can make a long list of the stuff I need at the clinic.”

“Arana, you never said you had kids. And a husband?”

Arana laughed. “I didn’t. Not until I married Jericho. He’s a commissioned captain in the Colonial Army now. He used to be one of Kinmal’s top commandos. His wife died, during one of the battles a few years back. I met him and his kids when they got hurt. We hit it off later on…” She tossed her head nervously. “And, one thing led to another.”

“I’m so happy for you.” Naero glance at Tarim.

Army captain.

Tarim grinned. “We’d be honored to break bread with you and your family.”

Arana looked worried suddenly. “Oh, crap. I just realized I don’t have much at home. We gotta go shopping before the stores close. We gotta hurry!”

One of the local stores was a mid-sized commercial food market. A pre-fab Stellar Mart in fact. Arana grabbed one of the ancient, rusty metal carts with the rickety wheels as they ducked in and pushed it down the aisles, tossing stuff in as she went.

Naero halted, gasped, and staggered forward.

Jett.

They had an entire frickin’ cooler of the stuff. And ice damned cold too.

“Naero?” Tarim asked.

She kept staring. “Get a cart Tarim. Get a damn cart!”

They left the Stellar Mart as it closed. Naero insisted on calling one of the old-style wheeled cabs to trundle by and drive them back to Arana’s house in the working district.

And then deliver the cart-load of Jett to The Dagger.

Minus a few four packs of course.

She drank three borbles by herself, just on the way to Arana’s.

So. Good.

Naero thanked the powers that be for the black citrus night oranges and their heavenly sweet and sour taste that made the perfect flavoring for Jett, her favorite lix. She could do commercials for them.

“You’re…a junkie,” Tarim noted.

“A happy Jett junkie, to be exact. And don’t you forget it.” All three of them laughed.

At Arana’s house they met her family.

Captain Jericho Wenten was a tall, handsome man with dark black skin and the bearing of a warrior. Naero spotted the type right off. His chiseled face bore a few burn scars but he seemed very gregarious with his wife and kids, enjoying them openly.

Naero felt a twinge of pain at the loss of her own father. Seeing Jericho so filled with joy and playful around his family. Scooping the little kids up. Covering them with kisses. Making fart noises on their bellies as they exploded with laughter.

The two little kids were incredibly cute. The little boy Thai was three years old, and his tiny sister Naomi was just a year and half.

But both of them sported several scars as well.

Naero wondered if all the miners simply bore such scars, in one way or another. A token of all they had been through as a people.

Jericho grilled some kind of poultry with rainbow barbecue sauce and long blue-green tubers that were kind of a cross between a sweet potato and a turnip.

Arana made miner fajitas and flatbread with several kinds of veggies and sauces of the local variety. Naero didn’t like hot peppers or veg of any kind, so she had to ask what-was-what, or try a little first.

But there were these stringy little pink, deep-fried onion shreds that were so light and so sweet. She couldn’t get enough of them, with the yellow salsa and the sour cream Arana served them with.

Then they had some fruity ices, kind of like sherbet, with tangy mixed-berry flavors.

It really was quite the feast, and Naero had insisted on paying for everything. Even after they all stuffed themselves, there would be plenty of leftovers.

Arana put the kids to bed. They could hear her down the hall singing them to sleep, with a voice pretty and yet haunting.

Naero finished off her second quad of Jett while Jericho and Tarim sipped sparkling hard cider made from the local fruit trees.

They all talked briefly about the war and the remote planet’s defenses.

Clearly, nothing that would stop a determined foe.

“You two aren’t saying something,” Jericho said straight out. “Should my people and I be worried? Is some kind of trouble coming to us?”

Naero glance once at Tarim.

“You’re smart,” Naero said. “That’s good. We’re with Spacer Intel, on an important mission. The enemy’s after something and they might be coming here.”

“We know something’s up. I’ve read all the reports on the attacks on the other systems and colonies.” He suddenly looked at them very seriously.

His battle face snapped up.

“When. When are they coming?”

“We don’t know,” Naero said. “But if they do arrive, it’s going to be bad.”

Tarim added. “Can you think of anything, any reason why the enemy would attack here?”

Jericho shook his head.

“Not a damn thing.”

Naero looked at Captain Jericho suddenly. “Has Nevano Kinmal been here recently? By chance is he here now, even in secret?”

“The president? He hasn’t been here in months, not since he toured everywhere. With the war he’s holed up in the safest place we have. On Torrin-5. The entire place is like a fortress. They’d have a hard time taking him down.”

Tarim looked at them both and his face went pale.

“What about his daughter…Shalaen?”

“She’s out among the colonies all the time, with the explorers, searching for ruins of her mother’s people, the Yattai or some such. In fact, she was onworld just yesterday. But she departed again this morning for the next system over. Kendall-2.”

Tarim looked like he was about to lose it.

“Tarim?” Naero asked.

“That has to be it. We have to warn her.”

“Captain, how many people know Shalaen was here?”

“Just the security people and the high officials. It wasn’t an official visit. Just a quick stop off. Her movements are kept secret as well, just like her father’s.”

“Warn them on Kendall-2. Now,” Tarim demanded. “Baeven said the enemy might be after anyone who can channel Cosmic energy. Shalaen isn’t a Mystic, but she is part Yattai. That’s who they’re after and why.”

“Captain, you’d better alert your people. I’d bet if you checked the systems that were hit, most of them had a visit from Shalaen recently. The enemy is stalking her.”

Jericho went to his console and spread the alarm.

Seconds later, planetary warning sirens sounded in return.

Jericho shut down the volume so as not to wake the kids right away.

He turned to Naero and Tarim.

“The invasion just started. Incoming enemy troops. Backed by several enemy fleets up there in the black.”

“Tarim, alert The Dagger. Have them call in the cavalry, and get our ground forces down here pronto. Get a message to the miners on Kendall-2 also.”

“I’ve tried,” Jericho said from his com array. “Our sat systems are down. We’re being jammed. But one message got through. Kendall-2 is already under heavy assault.”

Arana came running down the hall.

“What’s going on?”

Jericho hugged and kissed her quickly.

“We’re under attack, baby. Get the kids. I gotta get all of you to safety and then report to my unit.”

37

Naero sent Tarim with Captain Jericho and Arana to make sure that they and their kids reached the army fortifications.

With the sirens wailing, lines of people rushed out of their homes and raced toward the mining tunnels with any weapons and supplies they could carry.

Very little panic and confusion.

The miners had been through wars. Another was just more of the same. They scrambled to their shelters, hardpoints, and defensive positions with very little wasted effort.

The slight warning gave them a headstart.

Enemy fighters and bombers swept in and seized the skies above the city. Then the starport.

The few air defenses that the miners had were quickly overwhelmed and neutralized.

In keeping with military doctrine, the enemy drop troops captured the starport and any landing fields at the mines. Then they brought in their heavy transport ships to deploy the bulk of their ground forces.

The Flying Dagger cloaked and escaped early on.

A few other merchant vessels weren’t so lucky, and got shot down trying to flee. Some of their wrecks still burned on the tarmac, and in the surrounding area.

Some of Naero’s advance forces made it down to the surface to join with the military defense forces. But most were still en route.

Naero cloaked early on and finished surveying the enemy invasion up in the air with her gravwing. She fed crucial intel to her people via her secure channels.

She popped down to rejoin her friends at the defensive hard points, while the last remnants of the civilian population still scrambled to get to safety.

Then she spotted the invader’s forward skirmishers.

Ejjai shock troops.

Enemy scouts and forward units cut down any stragglers they found with glee wherever they fell upon them.

But the Ejjai shock troops almost always made the mistake of stopping to glut themselves on fresh meat.

Along the way to the fortress and the defenses, Naero continued gathering forward observer intel on enemy troops and weapon system deployments.

She also dropped down in several isolated spots to interrupt the Ejjai feeding frenzies.

And the last thing many bloated and bloody enemy scouting units saw before they died were twin blazing red Chaos katanas, sizzling in the humid night air.

At the primary shielded barrier, Captain Jericho and the miner defense forces put up a stiff resistance.

Among other things, they used modified starship engines, and huge plasma mining borers to roast the attackers and burn them back.

But the Ejjai were cunning and determined foes who kept on coming, probing the defenses constantly from every angle. Looking for any weak point to exploit.

They attempted to use gravwings to drop in among the defenders.

Air defense batteries and heavy chain guns cut them out of the sky.

The enemy gave up on that tactic, for the time being.

But the defenders remained boxed in.

Every time they tried to break out or counterattack from hidden tunnels, a weird haze of purple mist would swirl around.

Concealed within that strange cloud, something ripped the miners apart. Something swift and deadly concealed within that haze.

When the mists cleared, the bodies of the defenders lay everywhere. Missing their heads and torn to pieces.

Down below the defenders could all see the enemy gravtanks and hover assault vehicles deploying and forming up.

Enemy artillery units set up in the distance to bombard the defenders from several kilometers away.

Anyone with any military knowledge could predict how it was all going to go down.

Eventually the invaders would blast the shields down, then pound and chew their way through the static defenses up close.

The defenders could not hold out forever against such odds, and such concentrated firepower.

Up in orbit around Celonia-4, the starlit sky grew blotted out by a brilliant light show of blasts and explosions as the enemy fleets duked it out with Naero’s attacking forces.

“Don’t worry. My people will fight their way down here to help us, captain. Fight well, my friends.”

Some scrambled transmissions and reports made it through the enemy jamming.

Corps fleets now protected the enemy invaders. Corps fleets with ion cannons.

The latest modified Spacer shields could now withstand several more hits before going down.

But this was offset by the new fact that that enemy support fleets and their ion guns had somehow increased their rate of fire.

Both sides constantly struggled to adapt and overcome.

Less than three hours later, after intense bombardment and several assaults by waves of enemy gravtanks, the main front defensive wall collapsed.

Three bells standard time sounded.

It remained dark. And the naval battle up in space around the planet still raged, deciding the fate of Celonia-4.

But by that point, Captain Jericho had most of the defenders and their heavy weapons already re-deployed behind the secondary and tertiary lines of defense.

The miners went down hard, defending every hardpoint, every gun emplacement, every bloody foot to the last troop. That was just their way.

But the numbers and hardware of the invaders made it very clear.

Despite their valor, in a matter of hours, they were all going to be swept away.

Naero knew exactly, firsthand, what would follow. Once most of the fighters were dead. The Ejjai would begin their culling process and bring in their meatships. The adults and the old would be dispatched, and the young would be at the mercy of the invaders.

Who saw them only as a delicacy.

Naero kept firing her long range, Gauss sniper rifle, silently taking out target after target. Reloading as needed.

The Ejjai shock troops kept coming.

No matter how many the defenders cut down. The enemy transports seemed to belch them out like raving demons from hell.

She wondered why they didn’t see any more of the swirling purple mists and the slayers that moved under their obscuring haze.

Where had they gone? Had the enemy grown so confident in victory that their shock troops alone could finish the job?

So confident that they held their secret weapon in check and no longer bothered to use it against the defenders? Apparently so.

Within the hour. The second defensive line collapsed under intense artillery fire walked in all over it. Followed by another heavy enemy gravtank assault.

Naero and the defenders prepared to make their final stand around the last line of defense.

They dug in and shielded themselves up close with several unit-sized shield projectors.

After the artillery bombardment trampled the area, the enemy armor and infantry units poured into the breach to finish them off.

Jericho and the others surprised them up close by popping up in full-force, still alive and ready to fight. The layered unit shielding had allowed them to fight on.

They cut the enemy advance down at point blank range with waves of interlocking fire.

More troops poured in on both sides.

This was it.

Then the enemy artillery pieces and transports up on the mountainous ridges and high ground shot up in flames, still belching out troops, armor, and fire support.

Explosions rocked the starport and all the landing fields. Spacer Marines and drop troops swept over the enemy units, catching them completely by surprise.

Special cloaked units phazed in and annihilated any enemy command and control.

Elite Spacer fighters and marine gunships shot the Ejjai pilots out of the sky, sending them spinning and wheeling in flames to crash into the surface.

The massed enemy strike units quickly found themselves in a deathtrap of intense, interlocking waves of explosive smart rounds, energy cannons, and particle beams that disrupted shields and cut through almost everything in their path.

Waves of Spacer Marines in Meks and fast-attack, powered armor suits leaped and raced in to cut the enemy further to pieces.

Ranks of marines marched down, mopping up any resistance. Orders went forward over all com links.

Ejjai clones had no value as prisoners and were normally boobytrapped.

No quarter. No mercy.

Then Intel discovered that numerous dead enemy alpha’s were found with holo projectors on their wrists.

Loaded with images of Shalaen.

Their intended prize.

38

Naero stumbled and rubbed her sweating, dirty face after a long night of heavy fighting. From the last several, up-close attack waves, Ejjai blood and gore stained her everywhere, splattered all over.

In close fighting, one Ejjai alpha had ripped off her combat armor face mask.

She had been forced to waste precious energy regenerating several minor, and one serious wound.

A stray enemy artillery strike burst right next to her. She could not shield herself from all of the damage quickly enough.

But Walker’s Spacer Marines had come in like a typhoon of steel and fire, sweeping away everything in their path.

In less than two hours, they slaughtered the enemy invasion wholesale and eliminated the threat almost entirely.

After a full night of using her Mystic abilities almost constantly, Naero’s personal reserves were drained.

She needed both food and rest very badly.

She had done all that she could to help the defenders hold out until relief came.

She tripped over some wreckage and almost fell, unceremoniously onto her face.

Captain Jericho caught her.

“I got you, En. I got you.”

He helped her get back to her feet.

“You okay? You look like hell.”

They both laughed weakly.

“Thanks. I clean up well. Did you check on Arana and the kids?”

He nodded and grinned. “They’re just fine. The underground transports took them forty klicks away to a secret underground bunker, deep below. Then the line was cut off with mining charges to keep the enemy from following in.”

“Just in case we lost. Good thinking.”

“It’ll be a day or two before the line re-opens. They have plenty of supplies until then. And hey, good news. Shalaen is right there with them, helping them stay calm.”

Naero’s eyes widened.

“What?”

“She didn’t go to Kendall-2 after all. She’s safe in the bunker, with her people. One of them got sick, so they stayed behind to get him some help.”

General Big Jim Walker came up with some of his command at that very moment.

Captain Jericho came to attention. Naero followed suit.

At first she thought Walker was wearing a power suit. That he was in a Mek.

Walker was that big. As big as her dad even. A giant of a man.

“At ease, people. See you had a little trouble here, captains. Glad we could help out.”

One of his aides suddenly shouted. Weapon fire erupted all around their position.

“General. Look out!”

A suicide squad of about a hundred hidden shock troops in heavy assault armor and gravwings shot up at them out of nowhere.

Naero couldn’t tell if they were aimed directly at her, or the general.

Didn’t matter.

The Marines were pro all the way.

Half of the enemy got cut down before they could even reach Naero’s position.

Naero’s Chaos blades would not form in her numb hands. She was that weak and out of juice.

She gritted her teeth and drew her battle blades, launching herself into the air to meet them head on with her battle cry.

Jericho gunned down several.

Walker turned at bay and beat them all to the punch. He shredded multiple attackers with the mini-guns mounted on his shoulders.

Only three of the killers got in close.

Walker leaped up and smashed the first two attackers into puddles of sparking tronics and red goo beneath his armored boots.

The third he simply grabbed and slammed it against a burning gravtank, quickly yanking off the Ejjai’s arms and legs. Like taking apart a doll.

He finally pinched off the shrieking head. Tossed the torso aside.

Then he shook his fist at the dark, burning sky like issuing a challenge.

“Bravo Command owns the black. The night is our domain, and we surrender it to no one!”

“Oo-Rah!” thousands of lethal Marines shouted back from the shadows.

“Don’t worry,” Walker told Naero and Jericho with a wide grin. “We’ll have the garbage taken out by morning.”

Naero landed and Walker looked her over.

He suddenly seemed to recognize her and smiled even wider. “I was a big fan of your parents, Captain Maeris. By the Powers–you do look just like your mom.”

To everyone’s wonder, the general immediately knelt down before her on one knee. Right there on the battlefield.

“Naero Amashin Maeris, it is a high honor to fight beside the daughter of Lythe Ivala Maeris, The Invincible Cyclone, and Tarthan Wallace Ramsey, The Annihilator. When I was a just a recruit, I had the honor to fight in the same action with you parents and your aunt, against the Hevangians that we thought killed your brother, and so many others on board your mother’s ship.”

Naero stepped forward and placed her small hand on his enormous shoulder.

“You honor me, General. And the memory of my kin. Thank you.”

Walker smiled. “The honor is mine. I saw your father fall upon those Hevangian assassins that bloody day. We all did. In awe. Beyond anything in all of his amazing matches. Inspiring. Unstoppable. He took fire, ignored wounds. He smashed and tore his way through everything in his path–trying to save his family. I will never forget the sight of it.”

Naero bent down and kissed his cheek. “Thank you again. I miss them so.”

The general looked down at the ground and nodded.

“We all miss them. The universe weeps at the loss of their blood.”

She stepped back and Walker rose up, turning aside to take some casualty reports coming in from his aides.

A marine captain came up to her. Staring, still in shock.

“I-I’ve never seen him do anything like that,” he whispered.

“What?” Naero asked.

“The general has never bent a knee to anyone. Ever. Not the High Command, or even the Elders. This is a high honor for Clan Maeris.”

“Thank you, captain. Indeed, I’m taking it that way and will inform my Clan elders when I have the chance.”

Tarim came running up. He looked alarmed.

“It’s not over. There’s another enemy strike force even bigger than this one west of here, searching the mountains for the secret bunker the civvies and kids were sent to.”

Om, get some fixers over there. Quick as you can.

Already on it. Fixer spies en route.

Walker heard Tarim and turned to them almost at the same time.

“We’ll jet over that way and take a look.”

“How could they know about it?” Jericho said.

“Tarim, Shalaen is there. In that bunker.”

The blood shot from his face. “What? The enemy could be tracking her somehow. Maybe they have some way to sense her powers!”

Naero wondered about that as well. It seemed logical. The enemy had pinpointed Hashiko’s location on a flagship in the middle of a complex naval space battle.

She suddenly had a very bad intuition.

That’s why they hadn’t seen the weird mists and the strange, lethal alien killers.

They were off hunting Shalaen. Their real prize.

“I’m going ahead,” Naero stated. “I can get out there faster than anyone.”

Exhaustion be damned. She drew upon the last of her reserves and concentrated on her abilities.

She transported to the top of one of the western peaks, still capped with snow. Ignoring the harsh sting of the lashing cold winds.

Looking down, she saw the enemy strike force, already deployed and fanning out from their transports, heading into the thick forested foothills at the base of the mountain range.

From what Jericho said, they were still well away from the bunker.

Good. They hadn’t found it. Yet.

But down below, Naero saw swirls of purple mist sweep in here and there out in front of the Ejjai shock troops.

The aliens closed in on their prey.

As she recalled, they could bore through rock and stone faster than anything she knew of.

We need to be careful, Naero. If these things can capture Hashiko, they can take us down as well. And we are already weary.

Om, I’m not about to let them take Shalaen without a fight.

And she still owed them for taking Gallan from her.

And Jan. And Hashi.

Do everything you can to help me regenerate, Om. I need my powers back online.

She focused and transported half-way between her foes and the bunker. It could not be helped.

How can I help you regenerate? Transport uses up huge amounts of our energies.

Stay on it Om.

Naero studied the terrain.

The fir, larch, and aspen trees there on Celonia-4 were gigantic, the ground littered with deep sloughs and piles of decaying needles the length of her arm, like spikes. The heavy pine-like scent obscured her sense of smell. Perhaps it would do so for the invading aliens also.

Naero sat down and reached out with her senses, at the same time that she tried to help Om regenerate some of her energies. They had a little time, she hoped.

She nearly forgot to call in her position to Tarim and General Walker.

She warned them about the poison mists and the unknown alien threat. They and all of their troops would go in with sealed respirators to filter out any toxins or nerve agents.

Then seconds later.

Naero and Om both sensed it. How could they not?

Something comes straight at us.

Something fast and very powerful.

Naero stood up. Squared her shoulders.

Alone and exhausted in the middle of nowhere.

She prepared for battle against the unknown.

39

A very large, extremely agile-looking reptilian life form swept through the dark trees in a blur. As if it suddenly appeared by magic or some sorcery. A hyper-evolved killing machine.

It sniffed and opened its maw to taste the air.

Naero countered by gauging its range of vision and doing her best to sluna. Staying out of its visual field.

This was one of the whip-like, indestructible terrors in the flesh. One of them slew her best friend and haunted many of her nightmares.

Finally she got to observe one up close.

She guessed from its elusiveness, that this one was a scout for the others. Perhaps an entire hunter-killer pack.

Yes indeed. That made this one a long range scout.

Grayish with streaks of flat black, over six meters long, not including a long, razor sharp tail whip.

Yet she thought that she recalled the one Gallan had fought had been larger, and a greenish hue. But who knew what their color range for their race was.

Naero knew the whipping tails could shatter and slash through almost anything.

Including armored troops.

The creature had long powerful arms and dexterous clawed hands. A squarish, block-like scaled head, armored with dense bone, and massive, crushing jaws, filled with what looked to be large, triangular diamond-like teeth. Fierce, intelligent black eyes in armored sockets.

It appeared to be both agile, and very dense. Much more than just a big lizard.

Perhaps these monsters came from a world with heavier gravity. Which of course would make them even faster and stronger here.

Back in the mines, creatures like this one had ripped their way through metric tons of solid stone in an effort to get at her. Gallan gave his life to keep them from killing her as well.

It flicked its deep black, glistening narrowed eyes and focused suddenly in her direction for the kill.

How had it located her? By scent, or by sensing her presence with its mind?

This was a terrifying creature, devoid of any fear. Well-accustomed to killing anything it came up against.

Its snarling voice rasped like grinding stone and metal.

Whether it used a translator or could manipulate languages, it spoke to her in Spacer common.

“Come out little spack. I am Urrek, soldier of the Imperial Dakkur Empire. You will not escape me. And the others are coming.”

Even Om grew alarmed.

Naero…the Dakkur were ancient enemies of the Kexx. They were servants of the G’lothc. Mortal enemies to the Kexx and their allies, The Drians.

Let’s see what he wants Om.

Naero tapped into the Cosmic flows around her, still struggling to recover her strength. She responded with the voice. Her words echoed all around them.

What do you seek from me, monster?

The creature merely laughed

“I am immune to your tricks, little spack. They do not frighten me. I propose a challenge, of single combat you and I, to pass the time. So that we may test our prowess. I have yearned to test my strength against one of your kind one on one. There is no escape for you in any case. Just like the other female.”

Did he mean Shalaen…or Hashiko?

You have not captured me yet. What do you plan to do with me?

“We shall take you and the other one hiding underground back to our masters, as we have been ordered to do. To join their growing collection. These other humans are but useless meat. We will leave them for our slaves, the Ejjai, to feed upon, after we take a few hundred heads.”

So, these Dakkur were the ones taking the heads.

Naero laughed back at Urrek.

You’re not a soldier. You’re a parasite–a scavenger.”

“Enough talk. Fight!”

Urrek launched himself at her. Blinding fast.

Nearly as fast as her. Yet in her weakened state, her edge would not last very long in a hard, prolonged fight.

And he could be delaying her until the others caught up to them.

Naero certainly couldn’t face an entire pack of them.

She defended and deflected his attacks, using the trees to block and cover her retreat. Trying to gauge his actions, movements, and methods.

He almost got her again.

Naero dodged.

He hurtled past her, smashing through more of the trees as they toppled all around, raising clouds of dust.

Naero staggered back up to her feet, drawing one blaster and her energy cutlass.

No chance of summoning a Chaos katana. Not in her current state.

She couldn’t transport either.

Urrek chortled at her and lashed his tail whip.

“I see why you run and avoid engaging me directly. You are tired and weak, little spack. You can’t use most of your powers. Your pitiful weapons cannot harm me. It’s a wonder you can stand. And you still want to fight a slayer such as myself?”

“No, monster. I want to kill you.”

Naero. Stop bluffing. Get us out of here. We’re burned out. I can’t help you, even if I tried.

Can’t Om. Like you said. No juice left. Gravwing damaged during the battle. Can you fix it?

“Little spack bitch. Why do the masters even want you for their collections? You are nothing. At least the other female was stronger than you–and we took her with only a little trouble.”

Naero readied herself and lifted her head high.

“I’m still me. Come and find out what I am.”

He’s circling. Looking for an opening. He’s bunching to charge.

Naero blasted Urrek right between the eyes.

His personal shield deflected it in a bright spray of plasma.

She tossed a grenade under him.

Urrek’s shield deflected the blast, but it did toss him off his feet. Keeping him from slamming into her.

Modulate my blaster to get his shield down with the next shot, Om.

We can’t teknomance. I can barely keep talking to you. Run. We can’t win this fight.

I’m healing, Om. Every second we hold him off.

How many grenades do you have left?

Five.

Not enough.

Shut up, and fix the damn blaster!

Naero took Urrek back into the thick dark fir trees of the tree line forest.

For a creature who could bore through solid rock, he merely tore his way through them.

That ploy didn’t work any better the second time around.

Naero relied on her agility.

She was still smaller, quicker.

Urrek cut through huge trees and branches with his tail alone.

She couldn’t let him get close yet.

Suddenly the monster charged right in on her.

Naero flipped, slashing his spine with her energy cutlass.

Urrek roared in pain. Shields still didn’t stop blades.

He spun like a drill, knocking her high into the air.

Then he leaped up at her, ready to drag her down.

Even worse, Urrek’s deep wound on his back sealed up and healed almost completely, right before her eyes.

Dakkur regenerated?

And apparently a lot faster than Spacers.

Her damaged gravwing still did not respond.

Naero tried to levitate. Nothing.

Summon wings. No dice.

She gnashed her teeth and plummeted, thrusting her cutlass out in front of herself protectively.

Naero, we can’t win a head on fight in this state.

No choice, Om.

She tried to maneuver, but Urrek came straight at her, roaring a challenge that chilled the marrow in her bones.

He rampaged straight up through the trees, smashing through all the thick branches in his way.

Naero turned to snap off a quick shot with her blaster. No effect.

Something that felt like a furry rock blind-sided her out of nowhere.

It snatched her away and carried her out of Urrek’s outstretched claws.

Haisha!

40

Naero grunted. Stunned and winded for an instant.

What the flaming hell?

A short powerful, hairy arm encircled her as they rapidly passed through the trees at incredible speed.

The creature was breath-robbing fast, up there with Baeven. And an acrobat in the trees like nothing she had ever seen.

Even carrying her under the one arm, they leaped and flipped and raced through the trees in a flash.

Naero struggled to break free, but the creature was also incredibly strong for its compact size.

She dropped her blaster.

The thing actually flipped and caught it. With its tail, and secured the weapon back in her holster.

While it kept going.

She tried to slice it with her cutlass, but the thing was too quick for her.

The damn tail again. It ripped her weapon from her hand and sheathed it back behind her hips in the scabbard.

Then it spoke to her.

“Don’t try to cut me, dammit. That thing is sharp.”

Naero twisted in panic, fighting for all she was worth.

Long whiskers swiped across her face. She tried to get a look at her captor. Difficult while they swung through the trees and bumped around at high speed.

She glimpsed an intelligent mammalian face. Large green eyes and many sharp white teeth. White whiskers tipped with blue.

She scratched and bit. Her efforts flustered them both.

“Hold it, spacechild,” the creature said, its voice almost a snarl. “Stop your damn wiggling, or I’ll drop you!”

“Then drop me!”

She re-doubled her efforts to break free, but the thing matched her strength. At first she feared it might be an Ejjai, but this creature wasn’t like anything she’d seen before.

And no Ejjai could ever climb or flip through the forest like this.

“Ugh! Do I have to knock you out or something?”

“Okay…I give up. Please, don’t hurt me.”

She faked giving up–to get a hand on one of her blades.

But the thing wrapped its tail around her arm and nearly crushed her bones when it squeezed.

“Stop fighting me,” it warned. “We don’t have time to wrestle with you!”

It called up into the tree canopy. “S’krin. Get down here and give me a hand tackling Baeven’s little hellion!”

Laughter filtered down through the leaves, along with a musical, almost child-like voice calling back down to them. “What’s the matter, Danjen? Can’t handle a little girl?”

“Aaughh! Little girl? She just bit me again! I can’t control her much longer without breaking something on her. And Baeven insisted that we protect her.”

The other voice kept laughing. “Who’s going to protect us from her?”

“Seriously!”

Naero stopped fighting.

These were…Baeven’s friends…from his mysterious crew?

Something flew overhead, its shadow passing over them.

“Make ready for battle, Danjen–our foe comes straight for us.”

Naero couldn’t look up in its direction the way she was held.

What in the hell were these aliens? Not from any of the known species. That was for sure.

With Urrek attacking, she had to break free.

Naero sank her teeth deep into a furry forearm once more. The muscles wiry and tough, like biting into hardwood. It hurt her jaws.

“Arrghh!” Danjen roared. He flung her into the brush below. “You little idiot! Stop biting me. We’re friendly, damn it.”

An insect woman flitted above Naero, like a giant damsel fly in iridescent armor. Four diaphanous wings helped her maneuver, but Naero guessed that the gravdisks she wore front and back helped uphold at least some of her mass, on worlds with heavier gravity.

Each of her six hands held an energized weapon of some kind.

Naero had read about several insectoid races, but none like this, and with such humanoid faces. “I am S’krin,” she said, “Please believe us. Baeven sent us here to find and protect you.”

She finally got a good look at Danjen, still licking his bleeding arm. About her height and covered with longer, light brown fur, darker and ringed around his ankles and wrists. His face also humanoid, but mammalian, more like that of a Terran weasel or ferret.

He wore little else except an ornate battle harness, his several weapons, and a striped blue loin cloth.

Then Naero heard Urrek roaring through the forest, catching up fast.

Danjen sniffed the air, dropped to the ground right in front of Naero on one knee in a firing position. He squinted through the sights of some kind of hi-tek carbine.

“Dakkur are tough and fast. We’re in for a fight. Here it comes!”

“Too bad Gaviok isn’t with us.”

“Yeah, he loves fighting these things–by the dozens.”

“Or Baeven.”

Danjen snorted. “The two of them would make these scum shit themselves.”

Naero scrambled to draw her pistol, even as Danjen and S’krin’s weapons tore into their foe.

Bright sprays of warping energy burst around it.

Dammit. Urrek’s shields still held up.

Naero sprang up into the trees and hit Urrek with her last grenades.

The blasts drove their foe into the ground, but it spun, rolled away, and sprang into the air faster than weapons could track it.

Urrek’s tactics remained sudden, abrupt, and blinding fast.

S’krin unleashed a cry that nearly split Naero’s ear drums–an actual vocal, sonic attack. The air warped around it in pulsing rings.

She swept down at Urrek, fearless, force blades blazing and arcing.

They collided in mid-air. S’krin fast. Urrek a match for her.

Despite her six limbs, armor, and multiple weapons, they smashed into a sixty meter tree, slashing and slicing at each other.

Their fighting shattered the heavy tree into splinters and severed most of its main branches. The trunk uprooted and crashed down, torn completely out of the ground by their ferocity.

S’krin finally took his shield down, but Urrek gained the upper hand, pinning her down. Pummeling her unmercifully. Somehow she endured and kept fighting back. Whatever race she was, she was tough.

Danjen leaped over to help, seeing an opening. His own blades drawn.

Naero drew her blaster to help, then her cutlass again.

Unfortunately, with the three of them fighting and thrashing back and forth…

Her first shot kinda hit…S’krin.

“Ugh! Hey, watch it you fool!”

“Sorry, sorry!”

She charged in and tried to run Urrek through.

Instead she jabbed Danjen in the butt as he jumped in. She even cut his tail slightly.

“Ow, my tail! Dammit, girl. Will you stay out of this and just heal up for a bit? We’ve got this.”

“I didn’t mean to.”

Urrek punched Danjen right through another big tree.

She wasn’t used to any of their odd moves and fighting styles.

But neither was she convinced that Danjen and S’krin had the situation under control.

They all took a pretty good beating, as bad as they dished out, and Urrek was a terrifying combatant.

They’re holding Urrek off, giving you a chance to gather your strength and help them.

When it came to raw speed and agility, Danjen was faster than Urrek, faster than Naero and anything she’d seen before, outside of Baeven’s Mystic-honed speed.

But Urrek was more than three times their size and mass, and Danjen no taller than Naero herself. But he sprang upon the back of the Dakkur with his own war cry and sank his blades in deep.

Urrek reared up in pain.

Danjen used its momentum to flip it off of S’krin. Naero finally snapped off a few clear shots, with Urrek’s dense hide, they seemed to do little damage.

Urrek flung S’krin aside when she attacked. It writhed and nearly twisted itself in knots trying to crush and rend Danjen.

The small, furry fighter stayed one step ahead.

Danjen dodged, kicked and slashed, slowly wearing Urrek down through attrition.

The Dakkur went mad trying to get at Danjen.

Naero, I’ve finally managed teknomance your blaster to penetrate Urrek’s tough hide. I’ve exhausted myself. You only have two, maybe three shots. Get in close. Make them count.

Thanks, Om. Will do.

Urrek spotted Naero as soon as she attempted to close in. He reversed his attack and and lunged at her suddenly, ignoring even Danjen’s blades.

Naero side-stepped at the last instant, driving her energy cutlass deep into Urrek’s right eye. Even as he snapped at her with his bone-splintering jaws and broke off the blade.

He just barely missed biting off her arm.

Urrek thrashed wildly in pain, partially raked her with one claw, and then pinned her to the ground with a clawed arm heavy as titanandium.

She shielded herself briefly with Chaos energy covering her body like a thick glaze. She kicked and punched.

He tried to crush her.

Urrek’s yawning maw sped toward her neck and head.

Then he threw back his jaws and screamed.

Danjen appeared at Naero’s side, just as she thought she might black out.

He drove one blade deep into Urrek’s neck until his blade also snapped off, and then rammed his other short sword into the Dakkur’s skull.

S’krin sprang upon Urrek from above, a long energized halberd flashing down.

She severed Urrek completely in half with one powerful stroke, just above the hips.

Hot steaming blood and glowing, dusty entrails exploded in a gritty cloud of stench, as if under extreme high pressure.

Even in his death Urrek’s two halves thrashed and fought them, knocking Danjen aside, raking S’krin.

But he leaped at Naero again, one arm useless, except for helping him crawl.

Flying at him, Naero kicked Urrek backwards, rocking his jaw and splintering several teeth. Another flip-kick knocked him all the way over, skidding to a halt in a gory heap.

Urrek shuddered and tried to right himself.

Naero trod upon his thick neck and rammed him back down with one booted foot. Some of her strength returned.

Urrek snarled at her.

“My kind and our masters will swarm over your worlds and rend you all,” Urrek said with a gurgling, laughing hiss.

Naero pressed her blaster right to its head.

Close enough Om?

“Roast in hell, monster.”

She fired and kept firing until her blaster clicked.

Urrek jerked as his skull blew apart and exploded in flashes of fetid dark energy. Until his ruined, smoldering face stared straight ahead and fell lifeless to one side.

“Not bad.” Danjen said, kicking Urrek’s corpse a few times to make sure. “If it’s dead, you’d better step back.”

Naero stared at them and raised one eye-brow.

“Haisha, if it’s not dead by now, we’re in trouble.”

All three of them pulled away.

The corpse smoked with curls of black ichor and a sickening dark energy that made Naero’s flesh crawl. What the hell was this? Where had she sensed something like this before?

In the ion gun chamber back on board The Darkstar.

Then Urrek’s carcass dissolved and disintegrated right before her eyes. Leaving the ground blighted and blackened beneath it, and the same foul odor on the wind.

Danjen put his hands on his hips and turned to S’krin.

“Kid’s got talent. She’s Baeven’s blood alright.”

41

Danjen sniffed the air. His sharp, pointed ears shot up in alarm.

“Uh-oh. We’re screwed. The rest of the drone pack will be on us in seconds. I can smell and hear them coming.”

“We must flee,” S’krin said.

“We can’t all get away from that many,” Danjen said plainly.

He drew his weapons and strode forward with determination.

“Take the girl, S’krin. I’ll buy you guys as much time as I can.”

“Danjen. You can’t face this many. They’ll kill you.”

The furry warrior grinned.

“I can only die once, and it will be glorious. Go!”

S’krin scooped Naero up.

“We can’t leave him!” she shouted.

As they rose higher, Naero saw the pack closing in on Danjen down below. Converging and racing in from a few klicks away.

More than thirty drones in all. So fast.

And it had taken all three of them to kill just one.

Then Naero sensed it. Something mighty plummeted down from the sky. Something streaked down like a flaming red meteor.

It struck the ground in front of Danjen and blasted a small crater into the trees.

A cry of delight escaped S’krin. She circled back around and down.

From the glowing crater, another insectoid creature rose up, very different from S’krin.

This creature swelled in size until it towered over ten meters up into the trees, glowing blood red. A huge mantid.

Naero could not believe it.

Chaos energy.

The insectoid rippled with raw, pulsating Chaos energy, enormous and menacing. Not a construct. A living creature that could channel huge quantities of raw Chaos power.

She hadn’t seen anyone outside of Master Vane be able to channel that much Chaos energy.

One of the Dakkur saw him and backed away, emitting a cloud of grayish dust from beneath its tail and hind legs.

S’krin laughed. “Dakkur expel pulverized waste as dust,” she explained. “That one just soiled itself.

“Who in the hell is the big red mantis-guy?” Naero asked.

“That’s Gaviok. The Dakkur live in total fear of him, and one other great warrior. And with very good reason.”

Naero shook her head. “I’m not following you.”

“The Dakkur vermin have hive minds that share their experiences, sort of like a group memory for their race. They instinctively know the mortal enemies to their fell kind on sight. And instinctively fear the two Destroyers of their kind. Visions of the Destroyers are forever etched in the Dakkur mind. None of them can escape those visions or the terror they incite. Perhaps you shall hear the full tale told one day. It is a mighty story.”

As one the Dakkur hissed and seemed to turn pale, a lighter color at least. They backed away to turn and flee, emitting the same purple, toxic gas clouds to cover their escape. Belching it from their bowels.

The poison gas clung to the ground and obscured the area as they swirled it around with their whipping tails.

So that’s how they did it.

But as the Dakkur turned to race away, Baeven instantly stood blocking their escape, scorching green disruptor blades outstretched in each hand.

Yet even he was different this time.

Naero had never seen him like this, and the Dakkur dropped their jaws and froze in terror.

Baeven pulsed with dark black energy that whorled around him.

Naero knew in an instant exactly what it was.

She could sense it. Like her, Baeven possessed a dark beast all his own. Deep within him.

This was what it looked like when it took shape and emerged

Green disruptor blades suddenly jutted out all over his dark glowing form, like thorns and curved knife blades.

The Dakkur shit themselves and screamed in panic.

“The Destroyers!”

The enemy fled in broken fear, scattering in all directions.

Gaviok and Baeven flashed into the swirling purple mists, moving faster than them. Faster than any normal eye could follow.

Multiple bursts of dark energy, explosions, flashes of scarlet Chaos power, sizzling green blades, and strange lights.

Naero shivered, hearing the Dakkur shrieking and screaming.

They even fought each other to get away.

Yet none escaped.

Seconds later, the toxic mists cleared, swept away by the mountain winds.

Shredded pieces of Dakkur lay everywhere. Some ripped apart. Others looked like they had been melted or reduced to ash somehow.

Thirty of them–an entire hunting pack. Massacred in mere seconds. Then the enemy bodies began to dissolve.

Naero shuddered slightly herself. Baeven and Gaviok were indeed The Destroyers.

With the enemy completely slaughtered, Baeven and Gaviok shrank back down to their normal sizes. Gaviok reverted back to a bluish-green color–and apparently–he normally stood shorter than Naero.

S’krin set her down; Naero ran up to Baeven.

“They’re after Shalaen!” Naero said.

“They’re after all of us,” Baeven told her. “The enemy wants anyone. Any being who can channel Cosmic energy in any form.”

“What for?”

Baeven shook his head. “I’ve yet to learn that. But I think we shall discover shortly. Come, the enemy has breached the mountain stronghold close by. Already they seek to enter the bunker and seize your half-Yattai friend.”

Even as they spoke, a battle royal erupted down below in the forest between the entrenched Ejjai shock troops and Walker’s advancing Spacer Marines.

Then Naero felt blasts of air press down on them from above.

Out of nowhere, a hatch in the sky opened up.

Baeven turned quickly to Naero.

“More enemy fleets have arrived. They’re attacking the planet with mass drivers and fusion missiles.”

“They’re trying to wipe us out with atomics?”

Baeven nodded.

“Jia says we must help shoot them down. S’krin, with me. Danjen, stay with Gaviok and Naero. Don’t let the enemy take her or the half-Yattai girl. If you find Adept Hashiko, try to rescue her. Be careful. I sense the enemy is tormenting her in some strange way nearby. Their strengths and abilities are unknown–even to me.”

“You have our word,” Gaviok said. “We shall defend them all with our lives.”

Baeven grinned. “I’m sure that will suffice, my brother.”

S’krin flew up into their invisible ship. Baeven leaped up within and the invisible hatch sealed behind them.

Naero and the others felt more blasts of air as Baeven’s unique ship sped away.

Danjen held a scanner out.

“Now that I understand their energy signatures, I’ve got a lock on the enemy’s coordinates,” Danjen said. “Just a few klicks southwest of here, around the mountains…that way.”

“No time to waste. Let’s go,” Gaviok said. He sped away at a high rate of speed, his insect legs churning up the ground as he ran.

Danjen went bounding right after him.

It was all Naero could do to keep up with the pair.

And she thought the Tua could run.

42

They cut down a few dozen Ejjai in their path, left behind to guard the Dakkur tunnel bored through the solid rock of the mountain.

The Ejjai clones were no match for the three of them.

And Gaviok fought on a level that only Baeven seemed capable of matching.

Naero still worried about Shalaen and her people. Yet strangely enough, she yearned to find Hashiko and free her even more.

The enemy did not have Shalaen yet.

But they did have Hashi.

And Baeven said they were torturing her in some strange way.

What was the enemy doing to her? Why did they want to capture them all so badly?

To do the same thing to all of them? To serve what purpose?

And Baeven was correct. What were these strange, scary energies she sensed as they drew closer? Energies that made her very flesh crawl.

They raced into the dark tunnel. Questions and fears flooding her racing mind.

Danjen studied his scanner. They could hear the Dakkur far up ahead, half a kilometer, churning and ripping through the solid stone.

Then the sounds stopped.

Danjen called out quietly.

“I think they’ve breached the bunker, through an abandoned mining shaft. That’s what they were aiming for.”

Shocks of explosions and sounds of weapon-fire lit up the area ahead of them moments later.

Naero felt ice-icicles shoot up her veins.

“The miners are trying to defend themselves. They won’t hold out long against a pack of Dakkur.”

Gaviok sounded somewhat concerned as he spoke.

“Something else awaits us up ahead. I sense a power of some kind that none of us has ever faced before. Something much more formidable than the Dakkur spawn.”

If this new threat had Gaviok spooked, it sure had Naero’s attention.

Like him, a growing feeling of great uneasiness grew as they approached the battle.

They caught the first whiffs of toxic Dakkur gas.

Danjen and Naero put on their respirators.

She glanced over at Gaviok.

“I’m immune to their stench,” he said. “But that is not what worries me. You are an adept of the powers Cosmic, just like my battle-brother and I. I can see it in you. Do you not sense something strange and terrible up ahead?”

Naero focused, finally able to re-open her third eye.

Danjen drew back slightly. Even Gaviok seemed surprised.

Naero concentrated her perceptions.

She gasped.

“Yes, I sense two very different Cosmic powers. Warring with each other. One I know to be Shalaen. The other also seems familiar, but I can’t identify it. It has been…tainted and twisted somehow. Almost beyond recognition. Its very nature is corrupted, foul in ways I cannot begin to fathom. Almost an anti-energy, some kind of negative power, and it is incredibly strong. There should be no power such as this. It makes me want to vomit.”

“Then you see our foes truly for what they are. You are correct, spacechild. Such power should not exist, and yet it does. This is the naked might or our true enemies. All else are but their slaves and puppets.”

They breached the mining shaft and raced within.

The mining guards put up a valiant fight, but they had been ripped apart. All of their heads missing.

Near could feel the shocks from the cosmic battle up ahead of them as they drew closer.

“I cannot obtain my full battle-size in these confines,” Gaviok warned them. “But I will crush the Dakkur drones. They cannot stand before me for long. Once I begin my assault, I will create an opening for you and Danjen to charge forward and help your friend. Go to her. She slowly loses her fight from what I can tell. If only she were a full Yattai.”

Naero nodded. “We have to help her. Please, get us in there!”

Seconds later, Gaviok swelled in size and turned bright glowing red with Cosmic energy. The Dakkur hissed in horror and fell back at the fury of his onset. Gaviok tore into them, literally shredding them.

Danjen and Naero saw their chance and raced past, toward the fierce Cosmic battle being fought up ahead.

At last Naero regained enough energy to form one Chaos katana, and gripped it tightly in both hands, summoning all of her prowess. She called upon Om. Hold on, Shalaen. We’re coming!

43

The weird Cosmic forces up ahead suppressed all light within the tunnel.

The dark powers Shalaen fought against appeared to absorb even light.

Naero and Danjen held back, trying to assess what they were up against as they crept slowly forward.

Three dark shapes constantly closed in on and hurled themselves at Shalaen, who flared and blazed with blue-white power.

Her face looked scared, yet determined.

The enemy seemed shapeless at first, shifting, and yet they bristled with what looked to be slimy, black glowing tentacles of all shapes and sizes.

They tried to ensnare Shalaen with them.

These appendages were even more dangerous than the ones Naero had fought against inside the ion cannon control room.

Shalaen fought for her very life against these dark, shifting horrors. She blazed against them and glittered like a small flickering star, striking at them with waves and flashes of pure energy that melted and sliced off their tentacles. The flailing appendages whipped forward like snakes to strike and constrict around her.

She cried out in pain and fear whenever they struck or touched her.

Shalaen remained much as Naero recalled her since their last meeting. Perhaps slightly older. A slender young woman with glistening, deep-blue ageless eyes.

Yet Naero had never seen such doubt and terror on Shalaen’s normally serene face before. And with good reason.

Naero sensed it close up as well. Full force.

These horrific things weren’t just fighting her. They fed on Shalaen somehow. Not just injuring her, but draining her Cosmic energies and converting them into their own dark, twisted power with each attack at the same time.

She grew weaker.

While they grew stronger. With each second that passed.

But these frightening dark horrors were definitely not Dakkur or Ejjai. They were maddening to look at. So unnatural.

What in the hell were these things?

Another alien life form? The masters that the Dakkur spoke of?

Om spoke up, feeding her info.

They are machines. Living machines of foul and ancient origin and intent. If you can even call them life. Abominations. They exist for one purpose: to feed upon all natural energies–even pure Cosmic energy–and convert them all into the Darkforce. An anti-energy that only exists to destroy all else.

Who could make such things?

These nightmares were the foul creations of the G’lothc, the mortal enemies of the Kexx and the Drians. Masters of the Kahn-dar and the Dakkur, and other mighty servants.

What hope was there against advanced tek such as this?

Naero perceived exactly what the foul things were in her mind, thanks to Om’s Kexxian-born knowledge, and her own returning teknomancing abilities.

“They are machines,” she said aloud. “They’re Darkforce generators.”

Danjen turned to her, looking stunned. “How do you know that? I’ve never seen or fought anything like this. They make my flesh crawl just watching them. How do we fight something like this?”

They are still machines. Despite their formidable defenses, they can still be damaged and destroyed, and cease to function. Then they will self-destruct. Either a tremendous explosion or implosion.

Which one?

I’m not sure yet.

Naero shook Danjen. “I’m sure Gaviok will come help us soon. We can’t just stand here in fear. That’s my friend. They’re hurting her. Trying to capture her. Then they’ll do something even worse to her. We have to damage them enough so that they will stop functioning. We have to attack.”

Danjen nodded, still hesitating. “All right. I’m with you. But these things really creep me out.”

“Me too.” she patted him on his furry shoulder. “Let’s try concentrating all of our attacks on one of them and take it down first.”

“Okay. Good plan. I think.”

They drew their weapons and picked the one closest to them.

They cut loose and blasted it.

At first the dark thing reeled and shuddered, as they blasted pieces of it away. Then it turned on them.

“Naero!” Shalaen nearly sobbed.

Shalaen took heart, relieved at only having to fight two of the things now, instead of all three.

She went on the attack, driving the other two back. Smashing them with fists of pure blinding light. Knocking them off balance. Keeping them from feeding on her.

Naero and Danjen kept up their fire, hoping to gun the writhing horror down.

But it seemed to adjust its defenses against their attacks, and soon their shots didn’t do any harm to it at all.

It shuddered and shrieked and convulsed, rapidly regenerating all the surface damage they had done to it.

Naero holstered her blaster pistol and gripped her Chaos katana with both hands once more.

“We can’t let it reform itself. Try cutting it apart!”

Danjen drew his own energy blades.

They attacked it again, hacking and slicing off pieces and chunks.

The severed parts either disrupted or merely got re-absorbed back into the whole.

Then Naero realized that it stood upon two stout legs.

She attempted a leg sweep, but the infernal device was far too dense, and too close to the ground.

Then she cut through the thick legs with her Chaos Katana, even though the thing absorbed her energies even as she cut it down.

Her sword vanished.

The vile machine fell onto its back, shaking and hissing like a nest of vipers.

One tentacle wrapped around her ankle and immediately stung her with eye-popping agony.

With her battle blade she chopped her way free, feeling the relief as the stinging pain dissolved away.

But even as damaged as it was, the infernal device seemed to relish the brief taste of her energies that it had gotten, and focused all of its attacks on her. Shooting all of its remaining appendages at her in an attempt to overwhelm and constrict her.

Naero screamed in pain and fear, hewing at them, slicing through them again and again.

Danjen bravely leaped on top of the thing and stabbed it repeatedly with his blades.

Gouts of hot steaming fluid and sparks of disrupting energy gushed and sprayed out, like oil or some kind of foul blood.

A tremendous Darkforce shock charge pulsed out from the damaged body and nailed Danjen. It flung him against the far wall where he hit hard and slumped down, smoking and stunned.

These things packed quite a punch. And with no warning.

Naero felt only a fraction of that massive shock charge, but it still left her hands and arms numb.

How were the machines generating these huge bursts of power?

But her and Danjen’s combined attacks cut away the tentacles, revealing a hatch or panel underneath. Naero spotted a large, clear round sensor eye or view screen.

She smashed at it with all her might.

It cracked and buckled.

She hammered and struck at it repeatedly, shattering it. Tearing both the machine and her battle blade to pieces.

Another pulsating explosion of Darkforce energy.

Bolts of black lightning erupted and lashed out at the very air like energy whips.

One of them scorched her, flinging her aside.

Om barely managed to shield her from its effects.

She slammed into the wall not far from Danjen, who still lay twitching and groaning.

Naero struggled to recover and regain her feet.

Shalaen screamed and went down under similar attacks.

The other two machines had her helpless, draining her powers each second.

Gaviok rushed in, instantly launching himself at the two infernal devices. Even he cried out as they attacked and sapped his energies. Yet he grappled with them unchecked, battering and tearing them apart.

Naero watched in horror as the third device that she and Danjen had almost taken out convulsed and attempted to regenerate–right in front of them.

She crawled toward it. Collecting what weapons she could.

If the third device came back online, they were all lost.

Even Gaviok might not be able to take out three of these horrors by himself, before they sucked him dry of his Chaos energies.

“Danjen. We must finish this one off while its down. Get up, damn you. Help me or we’re all dead!”

Danjen nodded and crawled toward it with her.

Naero got to it first and hacked at it with her blades. She shot it with her weapons. She picked up rocks and smashed them on it.

It grew weaker again, but it kept wriggling.

Danjen pointed to one of the dead miners.

“Explosives,” he said, sniffing the air.

Naero staggered over and cut the satchel of mining charges from the dead man’s back.

She shoved the charges under the alien machine and set them.

“Take cover.”

She and Danjen held onto each other, hiding off to one side.

A flash and an ear-splitting explosion tore through the shaft.

The alien generator slammed up into the top of the tunnel, back down, and burst open.

As the smoke cleared, Naero and Danjen came closer to see if it was finally wrecked.

They glanced over at Gaviok. He looked weaker too, but he took turns slamming first one of the machines and then the other into the battered walls of the tunnel, again and again.

He had them both on the ropes.

Something still glowed inside the ruined alien generator. Perhaps its power source.

They pulled the panel open slowly, ready to fight.

Naero lifted a battle blade in her other hand.

Danjen lifted a heavy rock over his head, ready to bring it crashing down.

Naero glanced inside and gasped.

It took all of her strength to hold Danjen back.

“No, don’t!” she screamed.

Danjen dropped the heavy rock to one side, breathless.

“What?…Why did you stop me from smashing it?

Naero pointed.

Hashiko lay curled up inside the ruined device. Blistered and scarred and battered, in a crushed and shattered pod of ruptured, oxygenated fluid.

But she still lived.

Naero reached in and yanked her comrade free of the vile machine. Despite getting stung by all of the smaller feeding tentacles that were still attached to Hashiko’s body like ravenous, devouring worms.

Still feeding off of her energies.

They hissed and shrieked once detached from their host.

Naero ignored her own pain.

She could only imagine what the torment had been like for Hashiko.

First Naero set Hashi down, safely away from the convulsing generator. Then she steeled herself and quickly examined the remains of the fell machine with her teknomancy.

Its construction and purpose disgusted her and Om. They both perceived and understood its foul workings much better now. It was in fact, primarily a generator. One that produced immense amounts of destructive Darkforce energy. The accursed thing had fed off her comrade constantly, stepping up her stolen energies a hundred fold. Perhaps even beyond that.

The raw concept of the device and its functions terrified her.

It used Hashi like a Cosmic battery, sucking her dry. Torturing her and feeding off her every instant.

Hashiko was indeed its power source. It’s host.

But once she was free of it, the device could only feed upon itself and began to implode. She and Danjen watched as it dissolved away right before their eyes.

Just like Om predicted.

At least the damn things had weaknesses that they could exploit.

Hashiko came to screaming and thrashing, as if out of a deep, traumatic nightmare.

Naero and Danjen attempted to hold her still.

“It’s all right,” Naero tried to tell her. “You’re free of it. We got you out. You’re safe!”

Hashiko broke down and wept, for the first time since Naero had known her.

Then she glared up at Naero and snarled like one gone insane.

“You fool. None of us are safe now. They want all of us!”

Naero quickly teknomanced some togs for Hashiko to wear.

Then to their horror, the other two machines nailed Gaviok repeatedly with several desperate shock charges as he tried to rip them apart.

The tough mantid finally collapsed, smoking to one side, struggling to get back up.

The two heavily damaged machines scuttled off, dragging themselves away from the powerful mantid instinctively.

Even they had had enough of him, and now sought only to escape and survive at this point.

But the opportunistic machines caught up Shalaen where she still lay unconscious, and crawled toward the exit, dragging her with them. Feeding off her and attempting to regenerate at they did.

“No!” Naero said, trying to crawl after them.

Danjen looked around weakly, swaying, barely able to stand. “I…I don’t see or smell any more explosives.”

“We can’t let them take her. Use anything you have to cut her free. They’ll use her power against us!”

“I can’t,” Danjen said. “No strength left. I’m going back…try to help revive Gaviok.”

Naero also neared the point of collapse. None of them had any strength left.

She had to try something.

She couldn’t let them take Shalaen.

Not when she was this close to saving her.

Naero understood now.

The enemy would put Shalaen…put all of them, inside one of those damn things.

Then she felt hands struggling, barely able to lift her up.

Hashiko.

Both of them were too weak still. They collapsed against one another and fell back down to one side.

Naero came to moments later.

Shalaen. Get Shalaen.

Hashiko rested on her side nearby, out cold.

“Wake up.” Naero insisted. “Get up. Do something, dammit. Heal me. I know you know how better than me. We have to go after them.”

She flipped Hashiko over and slapped her, as hard as she could.

“Get up, damn you!”

Hashiko’s eyes flashed open with anger.

“I’m trying to regenerate, you idiot! Do you know what they did to me?”

Naero shook her head.

“Don’t care. We can’t…let them get away. They’ve got Shalaen.”

“We’re lucky to be alive. We can’t fight them in our condition.”

“They have Shalaen. They’ll feed off her and heal themselves. They’ll put her in one of those things, just like they did you. We have to save her.”

Hashiko shook her head. “No way. You’re insane.”

“I know you can do it. You’ve been biomancing much longer that I have. Heal us…as best you can, and then let’s go finish those things off. We can’t let them use her powers against us!”

Hashiko shoved her away. “Get the hell off me.”

She panted, catching her breath. “Give me a moment…and I’ll do what I can. It will work better if I charge you up first, and then you do the same for me. We’ll both get more out of it.”

After several long moments, they stood back up, holding onto each other. Hands locked on their forearms.

Both of them felt regenerating energy coursing back and forth through them again and again. They healed and recharged each other.

It shocked Naero that it could be that fast. But every second still counted.

She pulled away from Hashiko.

She even summoned a Chaos katana.

“Let’s go get those things…and save Shalaen.”

Hashiko doubled over, gasping as she dropped to one knee.

“Damn it, give me a sec, Maeris. Gotta…catch my breath. I don’t have the same bottomless reserves you do–deep inside. This surge won’t last long for either of us. Maybe one fight at best.”

“That’s all we need, Hashi. Let’s make this work.”

Hashiko steeled herself. Then she nodded.

44

The two of them raced down the tunnel after the two scuttling alien generators.

Charging back out the breaching tunnel the Dakkur had made.

Up ahead, beyond the lighted opening into the surrounding mountains, Naero swore she heard the sounds of strange starship engines.

Signatures unlike any ship engines she had even heard before.

One of the alien vessels perhaps?

The battle between the Ejjai and the Marines still raged all around them nearby, drawing ever closer.

Naero felt confident that the invaders could not hold Walker’s elite marine forces back much longer.

They emerged beneath the bright, blinding sky. Naero pulled Hashiko to one side behind some boulders while their eyes adjusted.

The alien gray octagonal ship had indeed landed nearby.

Naero squinted and matched the sounds of its engines to it in her head. She would remember them from this point on. No other drives sounded like that.

As her vision cleared more, she peered over some rocks and spotted the two damaged machines scuttling toward an extended loading ramp. Still dragging Shalaen’s unconscious form.

A full company of Ejjai stood ready to defend the alien ship and made way for the machines. Dozens of Dakkur. But it looked as if the warship was getting ready to take off.

As soon as the enemy loaded up its new prize.

A very large Dakkur emerged from the ship. Dark green with bright yellow undersides. Twice the size of the soldier drones. A leader or champion perhaps?

Then Naero remembered.

She thought the drones had looked smaller to her. It was a larger Dakkur like this one that had murdered Gallan.

Maybe it was even this creature.

The leader waved a clawed hand, and drew Darkforce energy from the two generators limping up the ramp.

He formed a wormhole in the very air next him.

“Bring the Yattai bitch forward. I wish to examine and implant her myself.”

One of the drones spoke up nervously close beside him. “Master, our foes are nearly upon us. We must depart.”

The leader slashed the drone in two with the barest flick of his tail, without even a glance, smearing the underling against the side of the ship. Bloody, glowing Dakkur dust exploded violently from the corpse.

“There is still time,” the leader said calmly. “I’m activating a new generator device. Awakening its hungry core. Let it receive its new power source and serve our will. Bring the Yattai to me!”

Dakkur teks quickly brought forth what looked to be a new generator device out of the wormhole, suspended on gravlifters. Another dormant machine, just like the other two activated ones that remained heavily damaged.

The teks opened the loading panel. The two damaged devices dragged Shalaen toward it.

The glistening black tentacles of the new devices began to twitch and come to life, awakening its will to feed.

Naero stared at the two damaged devices and had a sudden terrible thought.

Who was inside of them?

What if one of them had Jan in it?

“Now!” Hashiko screamed.

She rained orbs of exploding Chaos energy down on their assembled foes.

Naero leaped in, cutting down all of the Ejjai near Shalaen with her twin katanas.

The enemy took heavy fire suddenly from the sky.

Tarim and gravwing marines in stealth combat armor uncloaked and dropped right in on top of the enemy.

A fierce fire fight erupted all around the alien ship.

Naero cut Shalaen free and transported them off the bloody ramp. Out of sight among the rocks. But not for long.

Naero tried to lay her down in a safe place so that she could turn at bay and fight.

Tarim came down with a heavy weapons team to help defend them.

The enemy forces tried to rush their position.

The marines opened up, cutting most of the foe down close up.

Tarim stood over Shalaen, gunning down any leapers and stragglers, blasting their heads off with clean, precise shots from his advanced pistols.

Hashiko attacked the leader, lashing at him with her Chaos whip.

The whip cut deep into his heavy head and neck, but he only smiled back at her.

“How did you break free, little one? No matter. Once we have you back, you shall never escape us again.”

Hashiko snarled. “I will die before you take me again!”

She didn’t see the two damaged machines lashing out at her with their tentacles from behind.

“Hashi. Look out!”

Naero had to see who was inside of them.

Hashiko dodged one of the machines. But the other zapped her full force with shock charges.

She arched up on her toes, screaming in pain. Transfixed by Darkforce lightning.

Hashi dropped down to her hands and knees, gasping.

The machines scuttled toward her. Hungry.

Naero raced in to help, severing tentacles from the other two machines trying to capture them both.

The leader turned to glare at her, while he snatched up Hashiko and tried to stuff her into the waiting empty device that stood ready for Shalaen.

“I know you. I ate your big friend. You’re just another prize. Soon you’ll join your kin in our collections. And just like them, your powers will serve our path to triumph.”

So they did have Jan and Dan. That confirmed it.

Naero spoke two words.

“You are so dead.”

She rammed her Chaos katana at the leader’s throat.

But he was even faster than the drones, and withdrew.

Naero impaled her sword up through the front of his thick jaw, and ripped the blade through his mouth and front teeth.

He grunted in pain, but the grim wound was not mortal.

With the back stroke of one leg he sent Naero flying.

Then he struggled to finish stuffing Hashiko into the yawning maw of the new generator.

The two damaged generators rose up in full retreat and floated through the wormhole.

“No!” Naero screamed.

The leader laughed at Hashiko, dragging them both back through the wormhole as she fought and resisted. Her strength failing.

“No matter. I’ll gather these others some other time. But we have you once again, little one. You will return with us.”

Hashiko thrashed, fighting and screaming to break free.

“I’ll take you down with me, but you are never putting me in one of those things again!”

Hashiko’s head glowed red. Her entire body.

A blazing red third eye formed in the center of Hashiko’s forehead.

First she nailed the leader with her sonic attack, driving him back. Then she set herself and screamed.

“Eye of Annihilation!”

The blazing red ray punched out of her third eye, slicing through the leaders claw that he held it up defensively.

The beam severed the limb from his thrashing body easily.

Not only that, but the claw and the stump both pulsed and glowed with devouring scarlet energy and began to dissolve, eating away at him slowly and relentlessly.

The leader clutched his wounded arm shrieking, keeping it stretched out away from him, pulling his body back through the wormhole. Dragging the empty generator back through with his tail.

The wormhole closed, severing the leader’s extended arm arm stump before the destroying red energy could spread further up his body. The other bit of Dakkur arm fell to the ground, wriggled, and dissolved.

After the leader fled, the enormous hatch to the alien ship snapped shut, cutting several drones in half as they scrambled to slip inside.

The alien gray ship immediately blasted off, as the battle in the forests subsided.

Victorious Spacer Marines marched in and mopped up.

Dead Dakkur already melted away into stink.

Naero knelt beside Hashiko. Helpless as the destroying red energy of the prime adept’s own desperate attack continued to spread over her body.

Hashiko kept the enemy from taking her prisoner again.

But in doing so, she also doomed herself.

Hashiko resisted it, but even she could not control the annihilation energy of such a high level Chaos attack, once unleashed.

The Eye of Annihilation destroyed everything the beam touched up close. The lethal risk of unleashing the most powerful Chaos attack known to the Mystics–and the most unstable.

Hashi no longer had the strength to keep the spreading power from destroying her. It fed on her, like a destructive aura.

Naero knelt down at Hashiko’s side.

She instinctively reached out to take her comrade’s hand.

“Idiot,” Hashiko said with a weak snarl. “Don’t touch me. The red death destroys all living matter that it touches.”

Naero pulled her hand back. “I’m sorry. I wish there was something I could do.”

“Stop blubbering. I made my choice. Better to go on to the next journey than be trapped in one of those Darkforce torture devices again. Trust me. Don’t ever let them put you in one of those things.”

Naero sniffed. “I won’t.”

“Yeah, if they get control of all the power hiding deep within you, everyone’s in trouble. Do something right for a change, Maeris.”

Hashiko’s feet and then her legs began to dissolve. She was slowly being destroyed.

“I still wish we could have been friends somehow, Hashi. I respected you at least.”

“Shut up and listen to me, Maeris. You have to stop them. Listen to me. The enemy crippled me. They stole secrets from my mind. I’m not sure what they learned. My death doesn’t matter. None of our lives will matter if these enemies defeat us.”

Only Hashiko’s chest and face remained.

“Warn our people, Maeris. Our leaders. These bastards will destroy everyone. They’re coming for us all, but they’re really after the–”

She dissolved away before she could finish speaking.

At least her comrade was consistent.

To the end, Hashi never liked her.

Prime Adept Mitsubishi Hashiko was no more.

45

On the third day after the Battle of Celonia-4, the Spacers and the miners held a wake in honor of everyone who perished during the attack.

Including Prime Adept Mitsubishi Hashiko.

Spacer Marine General Big Jim Walker and Bravo Command organized all of the military aspects of the wake. Ceremonies. Military salutes.

Speeches for the dead.

Naero even came forward to say a few good words about her comrade, Hashiko.

Despite the animosity between them. Naero owed her big. All of them did.

Without Hashiko, by now all of them might very well be trapped in those infernal alien generators. Tormented, tortured, and giving their mysterious new foes huge supplies of tainted, Darkforce energy to do who knows what with.

All of them owed Hashiko a great deal.

At least now they had a much better idea of what they were up against. What these new aliens were after. And what they were capable of.

Yet losing a Spacer Mystic as well-trained as Hashi was remained a severe and bitter loss.

Tarim stayed by Shalaen’s side at her medbed, armed to the teeth. He refused to leave. He barely slept on the floor beside her.

And of course, High Master Vane demanded an immediate direct transmission with Naero, once he learned about valiant Hashiko’s fate.

She could only imagine what was coming, and took the secure link onboard The Flying Dagger, in her private quarters.

She listened to him rant, and blame her, wishing over and over again that she had died in Hashiko’s place.

Vane possessed few emotions besides manic glee at the expense of others, anger, or full-blown rage.

She guessed that this fit was his only response. His only way of mourning Hashi’s loss, according to his own limitations.

Blaming someone else was the only apparent option.

Naero finally had to interrupt him.

“Look. We found her, we freed her. She went down fighting beside us, against our foes during the course of an intense battle. How is any of that anyone’s fault? In fact, Hashi more or less killed herself rather than be taken by the enemy again. She made that choice very clear.”

Vane screamed at her.

“I’M MAKING IT YOUR FAULT!”

Naero let him cool down a few seconds.

“Fine. So be it. But look at the facts. We still beat the enemy, against all odds. Yes, at great costs. But we still manage to beat them. They did not defeat us.

“And, in the process, we discovered where they are getting their enormous supplies of Darkforce energy from. How they are using these Darkforce generators to do some of the amazing things they’re capable of doing. We brought the Corps’ alien allies into the light of day for all to see. We actually know who and what some of them are now. We can continue to study them, their tek, and learn their weaknesses.”

Vane shook his head and snarled. “There’s always a silver-lining for you, isn’t there Maeris?”

“I’m a realist, not a Chaos master. I take my victories where I can and keep fighting. Hashiko would do the same. She hated my guts, but she at least she was a fighter–to the very end.”

“You dare invoke her against me? I knew her since she was a child, Maeris. She was my star pupil. You never knew or understood her or her goals. And now she and they are dust!”

“I’m sorry for all of that, but it’s not all about you, Vane. Or me. Or her. This is bigger than all of us now. Even Hashiko said so. Anyone in the galaxy who can channel Cosmic energy is a target now. Mystics. Yattai. The Oden. Psyons. Anyone else. These aliens are more advanced than any of us, and they mean to take us all down, damn it!”

Naero clenched her fists and grunted in frustration.

“Right now, they are our primary objective.”

Master Vane shook his head.

“Very well. Then stay with Intel and the Fleets, Maeris. Do what you do best. Destroy everything around you. You’re good at that. Find these new alien adversaries of ours and put them down. Hard. Do something right for once. Make yourself useful.”

Hashi had said something very similar.

Vane severed their link abruptly.

Destroy the enemy?

“I fully intend to,” Naero said out loud.

That evening, Intel held an intelligence briefing.

For hours, they went over and debated everything they knew about the new threats and how they impacted the war, the talks, and their current situations.

It only raised thousands more questions. Hosts of new unknowns. Worries. Fears. The new aliens were perhaps more of a threat than ever.

And what about the other strange ship? Where was it and what was it doing? Who controlled it?

Baeven was already back out trying to track or find either of them.

Naturally, he and his crew bugged out early once the battle ended.

It wasn’t as if they could hang around and expect a medal or anything.

Intel and the Mystics still wanted Baeven in prison, or dead.

No matter how much good he did.

But Naero knew that Baeven did whatever he wanted to anyway. No matter the costs. He just didn’t care about much else.

But he was the only wild card Naero had, and against the vast unknown of these new alien threats, she needed to keep playing him.

Rolling the dice. Gambling at every turn. Everything they did was so risky.

Things kept blowing up in their faces and they could only react.

They needed to track their foes down and take the fight to them.

But first they needed to find them and bring their quarry to ground.

*

Naero struggled to find something positive while her people waited and recovered. Healing their wounded. Mourning their dead.

She used her new biomancing abilities in combination with Zhen’s healing sight, channeling her biomancing right through her friend.

Through their psyonic link, using their talents in conjunction, they worked on Arana’s ruined nose one day in the operating room on board her flagship. Zhen handled the surgical aspects.

Within one standard hour, they reset Arana’s nose, as normal and pretty as it had once been when she was younger. Before the war and all the violence she had endured.

Arana had shown them some old pictures of herself as a guide.

No swelling. Contusions all healed up and tissues fully regenerated.

They brought her around, and all three of them smiled and laughed at Arana’s restored image.

Arana laughed and started crying as she stared at her reflection. “It’s…the way I used to be.”

She covered her face with her hands, and then opened them again.

For a long while, she hung her head and couldn’t speak.

Naero gave her a re-assuring hug.

“You ready to see Jericho and the kids yet?”

“Please, let them in.” She sobbed. “I hope they recognize me still.”

Jericho carried Thai and Naomi in, nestled in his big scarred arms.

For an instant. Naero smiled and staggered a little, having a happy memory of her and Jan in her father’s huge arms. Just like that.

Arana laughed, tears still on her face.

She held out her arms, turning her head for them all to get a good look. She took in a deep breath.

“Well…what do you think?”

Jericho smiled.

The kids gasped.

“You’re even more pretty, mommy.”

“Like a vid star!”

They jumped from their father into Arana’s arms, hugging her tight.

Jericho calmly waited.

Arana finally handed the kids off to Naero and Zhen.

Captain Jericho swooped in immediately, scooped her up in his arms, and planted a big wet smooch on her.

He smiled at her.

“Baby, if you like it, I’m a happy man. But I already loved you with everything I had before. Nothing you can do can change that now.”

Some times it was the little things–the small victories that made things worth it.

Naero and Zhen laughed as they said their goodbyes.

“They’ll be all right now,” Naero said. “As safe as any of us. The marines are making a new forward base here. That means fleets, and another boom for Celonia-4.

Zhen snorted. “Especially after they see the new hospital and the buildings the fixer clouds built and repaired.”

“Eh, our clouds weren’t doing anything any way.” Naero chuckled. “I told Arana we’d make a few other improvements.”

Next, after a quick break, they went in to finish healing Shalaen.

Tarim heard them come in, and woke up off the medbay floor, instinctively reaching for a side arm.

And cracked his head on the bottom of Shalaen’s medbed.

Naero had hoped Shalaen would recover on her own, but being drained of nearly all of her Cosmic energy had put her in a torpid coma. Perfectly fine otherwise.

She just needed a jump start of Cosmic juice.

Naero waited until she was fully recovered herself, to give her old friend the Cosmic jolt she needed.

First, Naero and Zhen gave Shalaen a full inspection with their sight.

Naero stretched while Zhen continued, being thorough. Tarim waited bleary-eyed in a chair. Pretty washed out, but still on duty.

“She ready yet, Zee?”

Get ready, Om. We’re going to jumpstart Shalaen’s Cosmic batteries here.

It’s a little more complex than that, and you know it. Don’t drain us too low trying to help your friend. There’s always a risk involved.

Zhen gasped.

“What is it?” Naero and Tarim asked in unison.

“I’ve never examined her neurological profile this closely before. She has several…or at least she had several very intricate…and identical... What the…? How could they be identical?”

“Identical what, Zhen? Stop stammering, Doc. You’re not making any sense.”

“Th…they appeared to be tumors. But they were all the same. Placed in key points within her brain.”

“Can you remove them?”

“I…I thought that I would have to study them more, but–”

Zhen gasped wide-eyed and pulled away. Staring at her hands in disbelief.

“I…I just biomanced. That’s what I’m trying to spit out. I just removed all of the tumors; with barely a thought. They were so tiny. I biomanced right through my sight. All by myself. Naero…”

She stared at her own hands, blinking and shaking. “I can biomance now. How did you…pass the ability on to me?”

Just like passing the ability to teknomance on to Tyber.

Naero had done it by accident, without even intending to or understanding how it was even possible.

“I didn’t know I could, Zee. It must have been through our link while we were working together on Arana.”

Zhen gasped, and swallowed hard. “Apparently, I’m a fast learner. Once I see a technique once or twice, I can usually figure out a way to do it myself.”

Naero nodded in excitement. “I’m the same way. That’s how you gave me your Healing Sight, which by the way–is very close to biomancing. I learned it from you.”

“En, this is something completely different. You’ve enhanced my psyonic abilities and awakened a new one. In another person. This is groundbreaking!”

Naero held up her hands. “Let’s keep quiet about it for now, Zee. We don’t know if it will last. But if you’re right, somehow I activated the ability to biomance in you. the Mystics would see this as a new type of quickening.”

Just another strange new ability as your powers continue to expand.

You got that right, Om. Apparently I’m still full of surprises.

Zhen struggled to recover still. “You’re correct, En. Of course, we do need to study all of this more closely. The effects might not be permanent.”

“Um…Naero,” Tarim said. “I know you two are excited and all, but I’ve been waiting for days with very little sleep. Can you please bring Shalaen around? Then you and Zee can go sort out everything else.”

“Right, absolutely right. Sorry, Tarim. Sure thing.”

Naero made the mindlink with Shalaen in a matter of seconds.

She kissed her old friend on the forehead, and filled her to the brim with pure cosmic energy. Om monitoring their progress.

Even more power suddenly roared back.

A flash of pure energy smashed Naero up into the medbay ceiling.

She crashed back to the floor, winded and surprised, but unhurt. Good thing she was a lot tougher now.

Another thing she could thank Hashiko for.

“Naero, are you all right?” Zhen yelled. Both her and Tarim stood backed up against the wall, staring in fear and surprise.

Naero jumped up quickly. “Fine. Just startled me, that was all. What about our patient?” She shook herself and looked around.

The medbed was empty.

Zee and Tarim point up behind her.

Naero turned.

Shalaen floated up above the medbed. She started glowing with a blinding, white-blue light.

Something was extremely different about her now.

Naero could sense it for certain.

Shalaen’s energies were even more off the charts.

Much more intense than before.

Shalaen opened her eyes.

They had been bright blue before. Now they looked like pulsars.

“Hello, my friends. I’m sorry if I frightened you. I’m compensating for these new energy levels. I’m not used to them. Thank you for saving me. For healing me. And for fully awakening me.”

“I didn’t give you that much Cosmic power,” Naero said. “Where is all of this coming from?”

Shalaen smiled, studying her shining hands. “You triggered a transformation. I am fully Yattai now. Nearly an energy being in this form. Such knowledge. All of these new powers and abilities…are indeed mine. My birthright as one of my mother’s people.”

She floated back down and hugged Naero. Then Zhen.

“Thank you for fully awakening me. Now I am free to try to contact my mother’s kin, if I can ever find a way to reach them in their dimension.”

She reverted back to her normal form, with the soft blue glow around her as before.

Shalaen turned to Tarim and melted into his arms.

“Please, do not fear me,” she told him. “I’m still me, my heart. I am still who and what I have always been, and what I will always we be. Even more so now. And I am still yours.”

“You can startle me, but I will never fear you,” Tarim said. “I’m just so happy you’re safe. And back with me.”

Shalaen looked at him, her lips yearning forward. “You’re weary, and you have several minor injuries and aches that hurt you. Even from here I can sense your pain, and it hurts me as it does you.”

She place one hand gently upon Tarim’s chest.

Light passed between their touch and filled him.

Now both of them gasped.

Instantly Tarim looked refreshed, and fully healed.

Even several old scars on his face, hands, and arms also vanished.

Shalaen laughed, nearly weeping. Still staring at her glowing hand.

“I…I can heal.” She turned to them all in stunned wonder, tears of joy in her eyes.

“I can heal now. Just like my mother once could. I can heal others!”

Shalaen flung the panels open wide and raced out into the ship’s medical bay proper, still stuffed with wounded people, recovering from the battle. About sixty in all. Brought in for triage and emergency treatment where the ship landed.

Shalaen went to a small girl of four, whose legs had been ripped off by the enemy. The small child was prepped for limb regeneration.

Shalaen placed her hands on the little girl’s ragged stumps and encased them in her blinding light.

Two small, perfect legs emerged from that light in place of the stumps.

The child’s stupefied parents fell to their knees in wonder.

Shalaen raced to a wounded marine, shot through the face and missing part of one shoulder.

She laid her glowing hands on the young warrior’s terrible injuries.

Her light flared once more, and out of the radiance, the young marine became whole again, and raised one arm to shield his new eyes from her bright glare.

The angel of light swept from medbed to medbed, until all were healed and restored to their former selves. And those healed and those that cared for them stared in wonder and laughed, and cried, and rejoiced.

Shalaen swept back out of the medical bay beaming in joy, weeping tears of light that fell sparkling to the floor like gems at her feet.

All were so stunned, no one had even thought to thank her.

Naero, Zhen, and Tarim followed her back to her private quarters.

Tarim couldn’t wait any longer. He rushed forward and kissed her.

Shalaen instantly fused herself to him and kissed him right back.

Shalaen’s bright aura spread over both of them, growing increasingly brighter and brighter.

Zhen whispered, shielding her eyes against the growing radiance.

“I think I can safely say that our work here is done for the time being.”

“Uh…Yeah,” Naero said, clearing her throat and shielding her eyes also. “Looks like both our patients will…uh…definitely make a full recovery. And then some. Haisha! Let’s get the heck out of here. Before they blind us both.”

They closed and locked the panel to the private medbay quarters behind them.

46

Shalaen called a meeting with Naero and Intel on her own the very next day. They met with Klyne and General Thadian Ingersol on board The Kathmandu in the conference room for an interesting debriefing.

She attempted to explain in detail what she had learned about the enemy from her brief contact and communion with them.

“I don’t know exactly what the enemy wanted from me,” she told them. “But if we can figure it out, I think it was extremely important.”

“That’s pretty obvious,” Naero said, fidgeting absently with her hands. She rubbed her eyes and hung her head.

The no sleep thing was really starting to catch up with her.

She started snapping a people when she normally did not.

Her crew began to notice.

Even Zhen was at a loss.

“They want to use us all for batteries and suck us dry of any Cosmic energy to use in their Darkforce generators. They’d love to get their hands on any of the Yattai.”

“Let Lady Shalaen speak, Captain Maeris,” General Ingersol insisted.

The other brother of the Brothers Jerk did not like her or have much patience for her either.

Shalaen shook her head. “But there was more to it all than that. Much more. I just can’t remember it or piece it together some how. As soon as they captured me and I lay helpless, those accursed machines immediately started probing and searching my mind. And they were not gentle about doing so.

“Yet I also sensed that they seemed desperate in a way. Desperate to gain certain kinds of information they lacked. Stuff only Yattai would know. But because I was only half-Yattai, I didn’t really know that much. And of course, that fact frustrated them immensely.”

“What do you think they were after?” Klyne said.

“I can’t be sure, but I think it had something to do with the workings of interdimensional travel, and various types of temporal manipulation.”

“Time travel? What a bunch of crap. That’s theoretically impossible,” Naero said.

No one else said anything.

Naero looked nervously at Shalaen, and then around the room. She stopped back at Klyne.

“Isn’t it?”

“We’re not so sure. And that’s a problem. Even the High Masters are not.”

Shalaen spoke once more. “I’d have to confer with my mother’s people. But I still don’t have a way to contact them yet. They normally inhabit an adjacent reality to our own. A dimension of almost pure energy. My mother had to reduce herself down to a fallible, physical form in order to exist here in your dimension.”

“Now I’m really getting worried,” Naero said.

She shot up out of her seat and began pacing. “All of this new alien stuff is really starting to freak me out. I saw what they did to Hashi. And trust me, they are never going to get me into one of those damn generators. All of this is literally beyond anything we know. How can we possibly defend against stuff like this?

“If these new enemies can…can tap into other dimensions, who knows what else they can do? Maybe capture some Yattai or other Cosmic beings. Then they’ll have all the batteries and all Darkforce energy they’ll ever need. There won’t be any limit to what they’ll be able to do in our reality. How can we fight forces like this? W-we won’t be able to stop them.”

“Maeris, you are losing it,” Ingersol observed, with some enjoyment. “Calm yourself.”

Naero sat back down in a huff, crossed her arms, and tried not pout like a scolded child.

“We cannot simply fear what we do not know yet,” Shalaen said. “But I think their desperation also revealed how flawed and contingent many of their plans are, and limited by their own ignorance. Their strength and their dominance isn’t absolute. As we have seen. They can be defeated.”

Klyne knitted his hands in front of his face, resting his elbows on the conference table. “Did you get any other impressions about their mindset, their plans, or any of their goals, long or short term?

Shalaen thought a moment. “Their resources and their working knowledge of the universe is quite formidable. Yet there is much that they still do not know. They are very far from the level of mastery and dominion that they seek over others. And I got impressions that their motives and goals ran in many other directions as well. It all went far beyond mere power sources. They’re planning many dire things, and they’ve been planning them for a very long time. They must be very long-lived. When any of their plots do come to fruition–if ever–they’re going to be big. They’ll change everything we know.”

“They’ve already done that–several times over,” Ingersol quipped.

Naero couldn’t take it anymore.

Just recently she began having repeating nightmares about being trapped and tortured in one of those alien generators.

Along with her brother Jan. And crazy Danner.

“Aauugh!” she groaned, clutching her hands to her pulsing, aching head. “This is just one of the reasons why my skull is always pounding. Why I can’t sleep. How in the hell can we act if we don’t know anything about all of these threats we’re facing?”

Admiral Klyne glared at her.

“Stand down, Maeris. I’ve never seen you so rattled. Something will turn up. Until then, I order you to take some time off and get some R & R, dammit. I know you’ve been through a lot recently. The pressure eventually gets to everyone. You’re no good to us if you let everything worry you and burn you out.”

“But, sir…”

“I repeat. This is a direct order. We have a respite and we don’t know how long it will last. Tomorrow, or six months from now. Take an old warrior’s advice, and rest up while you can. Train or whatever you need to do. Get drunk. Take some time to get your head back on straight.

“Because when this war erupts again, we’re going to need you and your people on your game and at full strength. I’m certain of that.”

47

Klyne was pretty much right on the credits.

She needed time off away from the madness. So many people had blamed her for so much that she started doing it to herself. And that couldn’t stand.

Naero stared at herself in the mirror wall of her mist shower on board her flagship.

She was frazzled. By everything that had happened. And not a little frightened and freaked out.

They were already up against a lot, and the vast majority of that and all of the factors and threats involved still remained unknown.

While the Cease-fire talks continued to hold and drone on, the Clans and Intel attempted to process all of the new data. Determined to make the most of whatever time they had.

She needed to do the same.

So for the time being, even as her trade fleet set out, the first thing Naero needed to do was make an immediate call to her private wild card.

On a very secret, secure channel.

She and her fleet needed to catch up with Baeven and his crew to do some serious re-thinking, all on their own.

And maybe enjoy some downtime too.

At least she might be able to get some of her questions answered.

Baeven obviously knew a lot more than he was letting on.

To her surprise, Baeven not only agreed, but was thinking about some of the same things she was. Thus they arranged to meet in secret on Miretta-1, well beyond the edge of the Unknown Regions near Joshua Tech.

Out that way, between the spiral arms filled with stars, there were huge voids of uncharted, relatively empty space with far fewer planets on average, and even fewer life-bearing worlds and rich worlds suitable for mining.

Because there were fewer profit opportunities in what some called ‘blank-space,’ or ‘dead-space,’ no one bothered sending ships out that way.

Perfect for one of Baeven’s many secret safeworlds, as he described them.

Somehow he seemed to know about a lot of uncharted worlds that were good for one thing or the next.

Or to use as hideouts.

Baeven also happened to divulge that he had sent out an entire self-replicating network of advanced stealth probes to track, record, and alert him to the presence of any of the strange new alien ships.

Or anything else out of the ordinary.

Once he had enough pings and data, he could analyze their foes’tek more, where they appeared and went, and even how some of their tek functioned.

All he had to do was wait to collect the data feeds from his network. But that would also take time.

Nor was Naero surprised that Baeven possessed his own personal cloud of fixers–which he took the time to modify himself–and that they had turned a small part of Miretta-1 into a private resort for him and his crew.

Which he graciously offered to share with Naero and her fleet.

The majority of the planet happened to be primordial jungle. Complete with huge sauropods, ichthyosaurs, carnasaurs, and basically a lot of creatures that would have been perfectly at home on Old Earth during the Jurassic Period.

Naero and about three hundred of her captains and crew came down in shuttles, fighters, transports–even jump suits and gravwings.

They landed on an island lagoon beach of light blue sand, nestled within a coral reef, with a mostly dormant volcano on the peninsula behind them.

Baeven sat back barefoot in a beach chair, wearing colorful swim trunks, micro sun lenses floating over his eyes. With a nanofreeze cooler of cold drinks of many assorted varieties well within reach, and a few empties already in the sand.

There was a nice tropical breeze.

Several of Baeven’s gleaming chrome-like emulators patrolled the area. She almost mistook them for fixers at first.

Naero’s eyes bulged as she drew closer.

She zeroed straight in on a couple borbles of Jett in that damn cooler.

“Hello,” Naero called out. “What does a Spacer have to do to get a drink around here?”

Baeven waved at the cooler. “Help yourself, gal.”

He didn’t have to invite her twice.

A large plant-eating dinosaur with a huge neck, let out either a roar or some kind of song, and reached its long neck into the enormous tree canopy nearby to munch on something.

Naero stared, hands on hips.

“Dinosaurs, Baeven? Seriously?”

He grinned. “I’ve always liked them, ever since I was a kid. They kind of came with the real estate anyway. Repulsion fields similar to those on Janosha keep the nastier varieties away. Dinos also tend to poop a lot. Very messy. If you go out into the jungles, you’ll need to watch your step, as well as not get eaten.”

Naero kept looking around. Out beyond the reef, a pod of colorful plesiosaurs raced into a school of proto-dolphins.

“I brought friends, like you said. More will come when they hear about this sweet set-up you have.”

Baeven frowned. “I don’t normally entertain so many guests at once, but I made an exception for you and your fleet. I’ve had my fixers erect a string of a few thousand huts, resorts, and some cabanas nearby on the south shore. Within walking distance. I’ve extended the repulsion fields to keep out the meat-eaters from the jungles and close to the shore. Tell your people to bring their own supplies, food, and drink. And have a good time. I know you and your crews could use a stand down. When the war heats up again–which it very well could at any time–we’ll all be in the mix again.”

Naero got on the horn and gave the general orders for the shore leaves to commence.

Whooping and hollering ensued.

The vanguard began to sweep toward the south shore as soon as they heard.

Baeven snapped his fingers, and a fixer popped up out of the sand and instantly fashioned another beach chair just like his out of the silica and available plant fibers and other raw material components.

Naero patted the little fixer, and studied it with her teknomancy for a sec. “Make me a storage tub.”

Instantly a tub popped up behind her chair. First she took off her weapons and gear.

That took the longest.

“You travel heavy,” Baeven noted.

“What do you expect? We just came from a war zone.”

Next, stripped down to her togs. And then programmed them into a two piece light blue bikini swimwear pattern she had seen on the Buynet. Complete with holos of shimmering blue tropical flowers.

She almost felt naked. It was kind of frost.

The light blue sand was too hot on her bare feet.

Naero sat down in her chair and snatched up a borble of Jett. She leaned back, enjoying the ocean breeze and the warm tropical sun.

“You’re skin’s too fair in this sun,” Baeven warned “Just like your mom. Put some sun gel on or you’ll regret in half an hour. Ask one of the fixers for some.”

“Hey, Twinky,” she called to the one that made her chair and the tub.

It blinked its one ocular unit at her and actually responded in a tiny, comical toon voice. “Who, me?”

Naero smiled and even giggled a little. “Yes, you, cutie. Sun-gel me up. Lobster red isn’t my best color.”

“Okay…here goes. Ready or not!” It even hummed a tune as it passed over her, spraying her exposed skin with just the right sun gel formula for her skin type.

“Close those gorgeous eyes, please.”

She did, feeling the cool spray cover her face. She smelled and tasted palm oil. Then she felt it on her ears and neck.

“Turn over please, baby-cakes.”

She flipped over on her stomach while Twinky did her back.

“All done, babealicious. Anything else I can do you for?”

Naero turned back over and sat up grinning.

“Thanks Twinky. Hey, I could use some shades. Sunglasses?”

“You got it, hot-stuff. Only takes a sec.”

Twinky fashioned a slender pair of spolymer reflective shades, tuned to block harsh radiation.

“You need the tint darker, good-lookin’?”

Naero popped them on and looked around, not forced to squint any longer.

“No, these are great. Thanks, cutie.”

“Don’t mention it…cutie!”

Twinky popped back into the sand and wiggled back beneath the surface.

“So, you taught the fixers to talk and flirt huh? Nice touch. I like it. Can I have that one for my very own?”

“He’s all yours.”

“Whoopee!” Twinky exclaimed from under the sand.

“You give them emotions too?”

“Just some of them,” Baeven said. “I thought it might be amusing. You can toggle it off if it bugs you.”

“No. I think it’s kinda sweet. I think my mom would have loved little guys like him bobbing around.”

Baeven smiled happily for once. “You’re right. She would have. You’re mom had a great sense of whimsy. Only part of that which made her so beautiful as a person.”

They sat quietly for a while.

Laughter and parties and music erupted over on the south shore.

Max Lii and his band and their fixers erected a zero-G stage and broke out into an impromptu throck concert.

In no time they we leaping and zipping through the air, doing their hits and other numbers. Cheering crowds flocked that way, and parties broke out within the range of Max’s thrilling, hammering music.

Naero dozed off for a while, and then woke up to see Gaviok and S’krin come down to the beach.

Most insectoids never wore clothes anyway.

They proceeded to quickly erect the largest and most elaborate sand castle Naero had ever witnessed.

Someone could actually live in the dang thing.

Then Danjen came down and pulled up a chair way off to the left, without saying a word. He looked very self-absorbed. He carried a small sack of what looked to be bags of various meat jerkies, cans of Spum, and lix packs of warm veg juice.

He actually looked like an anime’ character in a kid’s toon, with his flippy straw hat, hairy body, bright swim trunks, and loud island shirt with scantily-clad hairy female holo-babes dancing across it.

That’s right. Hairy females from Danjen’s own species–whatever the heck that was–busting up the dance floor on his shirt.

Yet Danjen seemed completely devoted to his regimen, and remained sitting well away from them all.

He had a fixer set up a stand for his snacks.

Then he slowly pulled out a data pad…and began to read.

“What in the heck is he doing?” Naero asked.

Baeven sighed. “We made the mistake of teaching Danjen how to read. Now he’s a junkie. Mostly mysteries these days. He loves cheap mysteries. He’s always spouting off about how he’s going to be a detective some day. Like when he went on that westerns kick…and he wanted to be a cowboy.”

Danjen? A cowboy? Naero covered her mouth and chuckled, recalling some old, old western vids.

Danjen would look pretty stupid as a furry-ass cowboy, bouncing around on one of those horse-mammals.

“What? Didn’t you explain to him that there aren’t any detectives or cowboys? That’s just in old stories and vids.”

Baeven lifted his head, apparently pondering that. “Among the landers there still might be some somewhere. But I would strongly advise you not to tell him any of that. And especially not now. He hates to be interrupted when he’s reading. Makes him furious.”

They sat and enjoyed the sun and the ocean breeze a while longer.

“So, Naero. You going to get around to telling me why you’re really here?”

“I have a lot of questions.”

Baeven yawned. “Don’t we all.”

“And I want you to train me. You trained with the Mystics for years. I still need to get both stronger and faster. And my endurance using Chaos and Cosmic energy still farts out in less than a day. I need more stamina.”

“Is that all? Don’t you want to know how I kind of-sorta control my dark side? What you call your dark beast?”

Naero frowned. “Now that you mention it. Yeah. That too.”

Baeven only hesitated a moment.

“We’ll start tomorrow. If Vane did his job, at least I won’t have to go easy on you anymore.”

Naero slugged down some more Jett, wondering how much she should be looking forward to all that. Baeven was never going to go easy on her.

Over on the South Shore, Max Lii burned up one of her favorite tunes of his. The crowds ate it up.

Naero closed her eyes and hummed along.

*

Shortly after dawn the next day, Naero crashed into some of the island trees. Again.

Part of a pattern it seemed.

She shot back out at Baeven, fighting with everything she had.

Baeven spin-kicked her across the surface of the lagoon.

Skipping her across the water like a stone.

She rose up and transported back on top of him, trying to land a hit.

Baeven continued gauging her skills and Mystic abilities.

By kicking and punching the living crap out of her.

She tried every trick she knew.

Baeven apparently had seen them all.

Haisha! He was worse than Hashiko. More or less up there with Master Vane, although not as annoying and sneaky.

Thus far at least.

Baeven simply stomped on her.

“You’ve really improved,” he told her.

After he cratered her in the sand once more with a thunderous flip and punch.

Naero spit out sand. “I’m clearly not in your league yet.”

“No. But you’ll get there. Remember, I’ve been honing my skills and abilities for many years longer than you.”

“Yeah, yeah. I know. Everyone keeps telling me. Increases in Mystic speed and strength take time.”

“I’m serious. You shouldn’t be frustrated at all. You’ve made remarkable progress. Faster than anyone I’ve ever heard of–and that includes both me–and your mom. She learned things faster than anyone. But I think you might even surpass her, given time.”

“My mom was fast?”

“One of the fastest, in nearly every way. They didn’t call her the Invincible Cyclone on the fight circuit for nothing. You never watched any of her matches?”

“I did. I guess I just always thought that they were rigged or scripted somehow.”

Baeven glared at her. “Are you kidding? Some parts were for show, to make them more exciting. All of the contestants agreed to that. But the competitions were always real. When it really counted, they fought with honor to decide the winner. All of them. Spacers wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Naero beamed. “So, mom was fast?”

Baeven smiled. “She was. You can be just as fast as I am, maybe even faster than her. And you have your father’s strength on top of it. You can even become stronger that me, I think.”

Naero stared at him eagerly. “Show me. Show me how.”

“I can help set you on the right path. But I gotta warn you, it will be hard work. Danjen can help us with the speed.”

“He is fast.”

“And Gaviok with the strength. You can’t believe how strong he is, and he keeps getting stronger.”

“Amazing.”

“But eventually you’ll need to go back to the Mystics and train with the other two High Masters. They’ll round out your training, and balance all of your abilities so that you can continue to grow, and properly optimize your total effectiveness.”

“But we share the same affliction,” Naero said. “Only you’ve learned to control yours some how. I desperately need to learn how to do that. When I lose it, I could easily kill someone.”

Baeven held up both hands. “I can only control a small part of my dark side. That’s my secret. I can only control a portion of it. If I set it all loose, I’d be just like you. A danger to everyone.”

“So, what is your secret? How do you manage to control even a small part of your Dark Beast?”

Baeven grinned.

“Through love.”

She stared at him. “Come on. Seriously?”

“I am serious. It’s the only way I know. And I learned it by accident.”

“All right, Baeven. I want to hear your whole story. What happened to you. What your training was like with the Mystics. Why they banished and tried to kill you. How you became an outcast. I want to know everything.”

“That’s going to be a very long story, and it’s all in the past,” he said, looking away. “Perhaps some day. Not now.”

Naero sulked.

Then he grinned.

“How about I tell you something better. How about I tell you all about your mom?”

Naero perked up at that.

She felt as if beams of light began shining out of her face. It suddenly made her want to cry.

Baeven smiled sadly.

“Train hard with me, and after each session, I’ll tell you a story, or something interesting about your mother. She was really something. And you’re a lot like her. Your dad too. The best of both of them lives on in you. I see it all the time.”

“You honor them and me. I’d hug you, but I’m still really sore from you beating me up.”

Both of them laughed.

Naero cast down her eyes suddenly as several other worries and stray thoughts crossed her mind.

“What do you think these aliens are after? Besides wanting to cram us all into those Darkforce generators?”

Baeven shook his head. “That’s bad enough. But I think their plans go a lot deeper I fear. The Dakkur don’t do anything half-way. They’re fanatics bent on the dominion of others. And they’re not the only new players on the board. I think more are going to pile on in the years to come.”

“The big black ship with the tentacles? Do you know who they are?”

“I don’t know who’s using it, but Jia is certain that black alien vessel with the tentacles is in fact a G’lothc ship. Those Darkforce generators are G’lothc tek also.”

Naero shivered all of the sudden, feeling her blood retreat into her core.

If it were possible, Om had a similar reaction.

That confirms my worst fears, Naero.

“I…I thought the G’lothc were all dead? The Kexx and the Drians exterminated them all.”

Baeven raised one eyebrow. “And it took both advanced races to barely accomplish that. We’d better hope they did. But I think someone else is attempting to use and replicate G’lothc tek. Just like Spacers are trying to understand and use the KDM. Minions like the Dakkur. They’re further along than we are, but I’m guessing they don’t have much of that Tek up and running right now. Maybe just those two ships we’ve seen, the ion guns, and those Darkforce generators.”

Om jumped in with a sudden announcement.

Naero, I’ve just learned from the KDM that most G’lothc tek used and was built almost exclusively around Darkforce energy. That was what made them and their tek and weapons so formidable and destructive. On a level with the KDM itself.

Naero gasped suddenly. “I bet that’s why they’re so desperate to capture as many hosts as they can and create all of the Darkforce energy they can produce. They can’t replicate any of the G’lothc tek without it. If they could have done so on their own, they would have used it to overpower everyone by now.”

Baeven knitted his brows at her. “You’re very insightful, Naero. Jia and I think so too. I’m guessing the enemy is focusing all of their efforts on producing those Darkforce generators. Next they’ll need hosts to power them all. People like you and I, like Hashiko and Shalaen. Anyone who can channel any form of Cosmic energy.”

Baeven hesitated. “Don’t forget Jan and Dan either.”

Naero gritted her teeth. “Believe me, I haven’t. They weigh heavily on my mind all the time.”

Om put forth another observation. This time hesitantly.

Naero, I’ve discovered something else. What you call your Dark Beast inside you is comprised of Darkforce energy also. Corrupted and twisted Cosmic energy that you carry within yourself. It is part of you.

I know Om. I’ve sensed and feared that truth for a long time. But I just haven’t had the courage to tell anyone.

Perhaps Baeven would understand, if anyone could.

“Baeven, I’ve learned that my Dark Beast with me is comprised of Darkforce energy also. I’ve been afraid to admit that, and what that might mean.”

He sighed.

“Trust me. I’m well aware of that fact also. We carry the same curse, along with your two siblings.”

“So, you do you think we’re all monsters then, like Master Vane says? Monsters that will need to be destroyed some day?”

Baeven shook his head in denial. “We all have the potential to become monsters if we let ourselves. But to answer your question. No, Naero. Vane is wise in his own limited ways, but he’s wrong about you. Just like he was wrong about me and a lot of things, the rigid, myopic bastard.”

They both got a chuckle out of that.

“You’re no more monster than I am. And even if we are Cosmic Destroyers and Tricksters–there are things far worse than us out there. Trust me.”

“I do. I’ve seen some of them.”

Baeven laughed. “Who knows, when all is said and done, the universe might just need a couple of monsters like you and I.”

Naero worried about all that. A lot.

The fear of those dark potentials and possibilities all weighed very heavily on her overtaxed mind.

She looked up at Baeven.

“If I don’t ever get a chance to say this, I want to say it now. I love you…Uncle Kean.”

He shook his head violently and his countenance darkened. He rose up and flung his chair behind him. It clattered and bounced across the sand.

“You cannot call me by that name, Naero! Please, you must stop doing so.

“Why? Why not?”

He actually snapped at her. “You joke lightly about deep things you know nothing about. Don’t be a stupid child!”

Naero’s mouth fell open.

Baeven clenched both fists and struggled to calm himself.

She never intended to upset him.

“That name was taken from me. Stripped from me by my own people, by my own Clan, along with my honor and everything I was. I have yet to earn the right to bear the honor of that name again. To be proven worthy of it once more. That is an old promise I have yet to fulfill.”

“What promise? To whom?”

Baeven looked up from his clenched hands deep into her eyes.

With great sadness and inner pain.

She could sense how much it tormented him.

“A promise to your beautiful mother, Naero. My beloved little sister, Lythe. Perhaps the only one besides–”

He stopped himself from saying too much.

Baeven retrieved his chair, sat back down, and knitted his hands in front of his face.

“She loved me as her older brother, fiercely and honestly. And she did so at a very dark time of my life, when all the universe turned against me it seemed. She did so as she always did everything, with great passion and defiance, at great risk to herself. She took my side, defending me even with her own life.”

Baeven sighed, recalling his ordeal.

“She was training on Janosha when Master Vane sentenced me to death. She stood up to a High Master and defied him, when she was barely an adept herself. Lythe threw herself before me. Utterly fearless as she always was.”

He hung his head. “She would have died for me. She would have died defending me, against Vane–against all comers. Even him.”

Baeven sighed heavily. “I could not have endured that. Yet even worse than death, I knew that Lythe would have even gone with me into exile. Become dishonored herself, a hated outcast like I was. She could not see that the die was cast for me. By my own choices, I was already wholly ruined. She could not save me.

“But to save her, I made her this promise: if she would forsake me and live her life, the life that I never could, filled with honor, love, and glory for herself and our Clan, then I would always strive to serve our people in whatever way that I could. And some day, win back the honor of my once given name.”

Naero drew in a deep breath and shuddered.

No outcast in the history of all the Clans had ever managed to do so.

Not a single one.

Naero got out of her chair and knelt at Baeven’s feet, as if he were a great and noble prince in exile.

To her he was.

She reached out, and kissed his hard right hand. She let her tears fall upon it and dot the sand before his feet. She looked up at him with a smile.

“Whatever you say, Baeven. Whatever you call yourself. I am proud that you are my blood. I say that you will regain your name and your place among us in honor one day, and I will help you and be there to see it. I believe in you. I will stand and fight beside you just as she would. For you have my love, just as you had my mother’s.”

Baeven smiled sadly, but he seemed to be a man incapable of tears or great emotion. Yet he did reach out and touch her long dark hair and smooth it slightly. His fingertips barely trembled.

“You honor me Naero. So deeply you cannot know. You are indeed my beloved sister’s daughter. Lythe was always so beautiful, from girl to woman. I see so much of her in you. She still lives and breathes in you, and for that–I am very glad indeed.”

Naero rose up and smiled, placing her hands on her hips.

“Well, I guess we’d better get started then. If we’re going to live up to all that. We’ve got a lot of training to do.”

Baeven lowered his gaze. “Understand, Naero. We’re going to train very hard together, to both of our limits in every way. I’m not going to cut you any slack.”

Naero grinned her half-smile. Klyne was right. She had found the exact therapy she needed to pull herself together again.

A challenge, and a way to keep improving herself.

A way forward.

Naero set her hands on her hips defiantly.

“Bring it, outcast. Don’t expect any from me either.”

48

A few weeks passed into a few months on the island sanctuary on Miretta-1.

Both Naero and Baeven sat down after another painful sparring match. Naero always had to regenerate more than he did.

She also had speed training with Danjen, and strength training with Gaviok.

But under Baeven’s rough hand, she steadily improved and increased her stamina and endurance. And that was key. Even with her growing prowess and abilities, she could not sustain them for more than a day without exhausting herself.

Baeven helped her build up her reserves.

Naero even started to get a few licks of her own in here and there.

Against him.

That much alone encouraged her.

They spoke about the Mystics at times, but other than general stuff, Baeven didn’t seem to enjoy talking about anything personal. Especially his own experiences among them.

He told her lots of great stories about her mom that she never heard before. Mostly about what her mom was like as a child growing up. Then as a teenager and a young woman.

Yet Baeven was adamant about one thing.

“I can help prepare you, but you must find a way to complete your training with the Mystics. You will never achieve your full potential as an adept if you don’t.”

“I’ll find a way.”

“And don’t give Vane an excuse to destroy you. Don’t let him bait you into anything…like he did me.”

“I’ll do my best. Hey, there’s something else I wanted to ask you about. Danjen and S’krin keep alluding to how the Dakkur live in total fear of you and Gaviok. What’s up with all that?”

“Hmmm…that’s a long story. First you have to know a great deal more about the Dakkur. They are a vile, opportunistic race.”

“Okay. Enlighten me.”

Baeven quickly explained the Dakkur and their culture to her. They weren’t even from the Spacer Galaxy, but the next one over. They had been servants of the G’lothc in the war with the Kexx and the Drians.

“They are horde and hive creatures. There are four different types of Dakkur–four distinct castes. The small gray-black soldier drones are the lowest caste. The greenish-yellow champions are twice as big. After that come the white queens. Less numerous, perhaps a score of them or two for an entire horde.

“Queens are twice the size of the champions, and lay all the eggs for the horde. They are also incredibly tenacious fighters, and will defend their nests and their king to the bitter death.

“There’s a King Dakkur?”

“They are black as the Abyss itself, and huge. Twice the size of the queens. And some can even wield Cosmic abilities. They are extremely formidable foes.”

“How do you know all of this about them?”

Baeven narrowed his eyes and smiled.

“Don’t worry; trust me. Gaviok and I have both had extensive, firsthand knowledge. You must understand, I would give my life gladly for my battle-brother, Gaviok. The Dakkur race are among our mortal enemies. And we always fight them without quarter whenever and wherever we clash.”

“Sounds like the two of you have clashed with them quite a bit.”

“At times.”

Naero waited. “That’s all you’re going to tell me for now?”

“Yes.”

“All right, then tell me about Gaviok and the rest of your motley crew. Where did you run across all of them? And where did you get your ship? I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Alarms suddenly went off among Baeven’s emulators and all the fixers, popping up along the beaches.

Spacers everywhere dropped what they were doing and organized themselves to report back up to the fleet. Pronto.

Naero rode up with Baeven on board The Shadow Fox.

Any further questions would have to wait.

They heard and read the incoming reports pouring in.

The cease-fire negotiations finally collapsed.

Without any further warning, the Corps unleashed their war once again.

Much like the Spacers, the Corps modified both their tek and their tactics, and increased the capabilities of both their weapons, shields, and defenses.

They renewed their steady advance, pushing Spacers and their allies back once more with superior weapons, numbers, and new fighting methods and tactics.

No one knew how to stop them this time.

The Clans had run out of tricks and ideas.

49

While their side continued to lose the renewed war on all fronts, Naero and Baeven redoubled their efforts to track down the aliens.

And they worked with Om to try to glean any tek secrets from the KDM that might help them survive or turn the tide. But they had the same problem as Intel. Searching the KDM was like looking for needles in infinite haystacks.

And what they did find was usually so far advanced–so beyond their current tek as to be unintelligible.

Only a Kexx could fully understand it, and they weren’t around any longer.

Baeven’s stealth probe network finally managed to pull in a few leads.

Traces of the aliens traveling here and there in their Darkforce-powered ships.

But Baeven had yet to put the pieces together to track the enemy down or reveal anything coherent and useful.

There didn’t seem to be a pattern of any kind.

That was just one major problem.

The aliens simply appeared to vanish. For days at a time with no further sightings or information.

Naero held mindstorming sessions where they and the other captains and Intel people mulled things over and tried to come up with something useful.

“It doesn’t make any sense,” Chaela said. “The Corps can beat us at this rate, but it will still take years for them to fight their way through our territories.”

“Right,” Naero added. “Why would the aliens hold back, now of all times, when their advanced tek could prove decisive? They could use it to crush us even faster, at every key battle. Anywhere we made a stand.”

“But they’re not doing that,” Tyber said. “Where are they and why not?”

“Maybe there’s only a few of them,” Saemar said. “Maybe they can’t risk being destroyed. They’re going to beat us at this rate any way. Why not just sit by and let the Corps take us out? Who cares how long it takes? They’ve got time.”

“It doesn’t match up with what we know of them,” Baeven said. “They’ve done things urgently in the past. They even seem desperate to locate certain things for their plans. Why suddenly take a slow approach to the war now? And why are they in such a hurry to capture more hosts behind the scenes?”

“We just don’t know,” Tarim said, looking over the reports. “Where have they gone and why? What are they doing? You can bet they’re not just sitting on their hands. They’re plotting something all right. Everything I’ve seen of them has been wheels within wheels. They always seem to have contingencies, far into the future. They’re long range planners. You can bet they’ve taken an extended view and plotted out their game many moves and strategies ahead. I think that scares me the most.”

Chaela blew out a deep breath. “Well right now, they’re off the scanners. Content to let the Corps spread chaos and confusion, and wear us down in their own sweet time.”

Something like one of her old pain attacks struck inside Naero’s head and staggered her.

She cried out, clutching her head and leaning against the bulkhead in the conference room.

Baeven and Shalaen seemed affected as well.

“What was that?” Baeven said.

Shalaen gasped. “I fear something has begun. Something terrible, on a very wide scale.”

Alala hailed them.

“Did you all sense that?” she asked

“What’s going on?” Naero demanded.

Within seconds, more dire reports poured in, from Spacers, the Alliance, and even the Corps worlds along the forward border of the war.

Multiple wormholes with the alien signature opened up.

Waves upon waves of Ejjai fleets and shock troops poured in.

A full scale invasion.

When the Clans were already fighting a harsh retreat.

Everyone studied the harrowing reports.

Led by the Corps’ new alien allies, the invading hordes of Ejjai attacked world after world.

“This is very bad,” Baeven noted, running a strategic simulation. “Look at the extent of this. All of these worlds are in key positions. Each will resist as best they can, but within a matter of months, the Ejjai invaders will seed them with Ejjai cloning facilities and fleet construction bases.”

Everyone saw it. Right at the forefront of the battle.

Baeven continued. “What’s more, the strategic pattern does not discriminate between worlds held by Spacers and their allies, and the Corps themselves.”

In fact, about half of the worlds under attack were in fact, Corps worlds themselves.

“The Ejjai are under strict orders, and will began processing all of the worlds they’ve invaded–taking them over and using the human populations as slave labor, and food to feed the growing clone armies. If as little as forty-one percent of all of these worlds fall to the enemy, the process will expand exponentially. Neither we or the Corps will be able to stop it.”

Even at the outset, the exploding horrible accounts of the blatant atrocities against civilian populations were difficult to read, view, and process.

Most of Naero and her people were in shock. But they had an idea what to expect. Even Baeven seemed stunned at the scope of the invasion.

Everyone was shocked.

They stared at an evolving master plan for the subjugation–and potentially–the elimination of the human species.

They faced massive, full-scale Cosmicide across the board by a hyper-violent, new invasive and opportunistic uplifted species.

At the same time that a vast naval war ground on with the combined Corps that they couldn’t win either.

Even with the info Naero gathered on the ion cannons from Alala, Intel was still stymied, and hadn’t had enough time yet to come up with viable solutions.

Naero rose up.

“We have to put a stop to this madness. These invaders aren’t going to stop what they’ve begun. No matter what anyone thinks, says, or does. We need to show the Corps fleets what is going on back home on their own worlds. And what it means. What their new allies are not just doing to us, but to Gigacorps worlds and populations as well. I can’t believe they would sacrifice hundreds of their own worlds to take us out. Can’t they see? Once we’re gone, what would stop their new allies from taking them out too? These are foes that all humans must defeat, both Spacer and lander.”

She paused and took a deep breath. “We have to make them see the colossal ramifications of this threat.”

Baeven shook his head. “But how do we convince them of that when they are winning? When they are crushing us everywhere? They’re not going to listen to us.”

“We have to show them what is happening on their own worlds, to their own people, they’re own families. We know what the Ejjai will do. Forget the Corps. If they can’t see the threat, they’re morons. We need to rally the landers as a people everywhere. And we must rally the Clans, as we have never rallied our people before. Everyone must fight. Everyone has to fight. Young. Old. Not just for the survival of Spacers, but for the survival of all humanity!”

Baeven nodded.

“Jia has just completed her analysis of the enemy’s strategy. It may very well reach a point where neither side will be able to halt the invasion as it proceeds and progresses. It will take all of humanity, banded together against a common foe, to stop them.

“Spacers and landers must find a way to work together against these new foes, if we are all going to survive.”

50

Naero demanded a truce across all channels. With Klyne’s approval, she went public with all the data they had on the enemy invaders. She went to the Corps leaders and their diplomats. Trying to get the Corps to both see and admit what was actually taking place.

At first the victorious, advancing Gigacorps fleets and their leaders and supporters laughed at, dismissed, and ignored her and the Clans’ claims.

Claims of open Cosmicide being perpetrated by the invading Ejjai clone hordes.

But as each crucial day passed, the truth became more and more difficult to deny and avoid. Coupled with Baeven and Alala’s covert assistance and advanced probe network, Naero and Intel broadcasted the full weight of the growing atrocities of the Ejjai invaders far and wide, to every System.

Cosmicide for all to see.

Not just the invasion of Alliance worlds on the border of the war, but especially on the Corps worlds suffering the same indiscriminate fate.

Something the Corps themselves were still trying to suppress and get a handle on.

Info INS would still not report and sought to actively stifle as nothing more than Spacer lies and desperate propaganda.

Even when the INS news teams on the invaded worlds were murdered. Captured indiscriminately, and forced wide-eyed and shrieking into the robotic processing cutters and grinders of the invader’s horrific meatships. Vidcams running.

INS would not broadcast the stark vids, but the Spacers did.

The weight of the growing horror mounted. The raw, brutal truth about the alien invasions could no longer be dismissed or contained.

Chaos and rioting ensued across the Gigacorps worlds like firestorms. Hysteria and panic, even on the majority of worlds not invaded thus far.

If the Corps were still in denial, at least their people began to comprehend all too clearly what was happening, and what was going to continue happening.

Even the average person could see, that once the invaders had the upper hand, why would they ever stop?

Of course they would keep going. All the way to the total defeat of all humanity. Spacers and landers.

All the while, the Ejjai clone invasions continued to spread their horror and extermination like an exploding plague. On both sides of the war’s border.

The invaders did not need anyone’s permission or approval.

Finally the outcry grew so great, that in less than three standard days of paralyzed stupidity and denial, eleven of the fourteen Gigacorps agreed to meet with representatives from the Clans and the Alliance to discuss the ‘potential’ crisis.

They met at the heavily-guard naval shipyard base near the border at Dallos-7. Naero sat with the Intel Contingent helping represent the Clans. She had a wealth of data to present that was undeniable.

The great meeting hall selected was a holographic dome forty meters high, primed with holo screens and all of the current INS feeds and links to the Alliance, the Corps, and all of the worlds currently involved in the conflict.

To Naero’s stunned amazement, half of the Corps and their lackeys were still in denial.

They still attempted to insist and explain away that the attacks on the Corps worlds by their new allies were simple mistakes. Unfortunate miscalculations, brought about by language difficulties and problems with translation.

Despite the fact that the Ejjai clone hordes spoke basic Spacer Common perfectly well. And that the mistaken attacks were not decreasing–but, in fact, were for some inexplicable reason–increasing. Still spreading, across hundreds of vulnerable Gigacorps worlds and colonies. All in strategic places as it turned out.

Naero listened to the banter of such Gigacorps mouthpieces and liars spout off for only a short while.

No one had time for their sophistry crap.

Not while trillions were already fighting and dying each minute that ticked by.

She rose up and literally put her fist through the duranadium meeting table.

Then she used the voice. “You idiots! You slimy fools! These are not mistakes. The enemy is not pulling back. They are surging forward at all costs, expanding their naked aggression on all fronts–and–in all directions.”

She called up hundreds of horrendous, shocking videos on multiple viewscreens.

The Corps mouthpieces still screamed. “These reports could all be easily faked!”

Naero shook her head. “You filthy pack of morons. You’d betray your own children and fling them to the Ejjai. No one has to fake anything! These are live feeds. Check them with your own tek. This is raging while we waste time here arguing about the obvious!”

Reports flashed up one after another. Naero rattled them off by name. One after another. “Taiko-3, Allatar-4, Pelendra-7, Naikadon-5…All Corporate worlds under siege.”

The negotiation room grew very quiet.

On Corps delegate moaned. “My family is on Pelendra-7!”

Naero shook her head. “Not for much longer. Look at one of these planets at random: Mirado-6, one of the first Corps homeworlds attacked. Eighty percent of the population subjugated in less than three days. Twenty percent of the people slaughtered outright. Another eighteen percent has been scheduled to be processed alive like cattle in huge, automated meatpacking plants. Alien, enemy Meatships. The rest to be used as slaves, or food. As the enemy sees fit. These just aren’t Spacer enemies. These are the enemies of all humanity now. They have tipped their hand and revealed themselves to be the worst foe we all have ever faced! And we must face this threat together, before it is too late!”

Some of the Corps people looked away. Even some of the military got sick and vomited, as the vid footage from Mirado-6 grew worse and worse.

“What’s the matter? Can’t stomach this nightmare that you’ve unleashed? Not just on us and our innocent populations–but on your own? Don’t look away. Take a good look. The Ejjai think it hilarious to torture their victims mercilessly, for hours or even days, before butchering and eating them alive and screaming.

This especially includes anyone helpless. The enemy takes great delight in singling them out and giving them special attention. ‘Cripples’ and ‘freaks’ as the Ejjai call the lame, the injured, the impaired, or the infirm. That also includes the elderly and the young.

Pregnant women are especially singled out and considered great, valuable prizes.

Ejjai will fight to the death over being able to possess and slowly devour them and the unborn. Alive.”

The stunned Corps mouthpieces and the naval reps still tried to avert their gaze once again.

Naero swept in among them with her enhanced speed yanked their heads back up with her own two hands.

She wanted to snap their bloody necks, but resisted the urge to do so. She pointed repeatedly at the viewscreens surrounding them with the full weight of the truth.

“Don’t you look away, you filth. You filthy, bloody scum. This is your handiwork as much as theirs. All of you did this, so take a good fucking look. You bastards brought this on us all. You allied yourselves with these invaders. You and your deluded leaders unleashed this hell on humanity, just as much as the enemy has. Look at those vids. Get a good fucking look, you sick, twisted assholes!”

Naero pointed to the screens in utter fury.

“May you all drown slowly in the blood you have spilled. Billions, maybe trillions of frightened children are being herded in camps to be used as prize food supplies. The Ejjai eat anything that is meat; fresh or rotting. They especially delight in feasting on the young of any species, even their own. Dozens of new cloning bases are being constructed on each world that falls, fed by their hellish meatships.

“Here’s vid footage of victorious Ejjai generals and admirals, devouring and tearing apart screaming human babies, some ripped fresh out of their shrieking mothers, whose arms and legs have been broken to keep them from resisting. The Ejjai think it’s all hilariously amusing. They post stuff like this themselves openly on all of our channels. No one has to capture it. The enemy wants us to see this. They want us to fear them!”

She let it all sink in.

Three Corps people promptly shot themselves with concealed weapons–including the delegate from Pelendra-7.

Everyone let them lay and bleed where they fell.

“And that’s just one world. Mirado-6. Multiply this by hundreds, maybe thousands tomorrow or the next day. And let the horror of that sink into your twisted, vile minds.”

The leader of the delegation rose up to contend with her. “Lies! All lies and Spacer propaganda. Everyone, do not be fooled by this. Anyone can fake these terrible vids. I will prove it to you. I will contact our new alien friends directly and let them tell you themselves! If you indeed wish to hear the truth, I challenge you. I dare you to let me open a channel to our allies!”

“By all means. Please do so,” Naero said. “Go right ahead. We all want to hear what your new friends and allies have to say. How the coordinated invasion of hundreds of Corps worlds are all just mistakes.”

The Corps leader worked at the com. Within seconds, a Dakkur face filled over half of the viewscreens.

“This is High General Oth. What is the meaning of this, human contact? We are extremely busy. Why have you summoned us on a secure channel and revealed it openly?”

Naero recognized him as the same Champion Dakkur, from the regenerated wounds she had made on his snout and the remaining scars. The arm he regrew from Hashiko’s deadly attack.

This was the alien commander of the invasion, the one in charge of the Darkforce generators. The one who now called himself Oth.

And Gallan’s killer. Naero was certain now.

“Great leader of the Dakkur Empire. Please inform our people and re-assure them. And let our enemies tremble with fear at the fate that awaits them alone. As we have already requested and agreed upon, the Ejjai forces on every Corps world mentioned on our report will soon withdraw and depart. The attacks on them were in fact, all regrettable mistakes. Mistakes which shall be soon rectified and remedied. Your forces will depart from our worlds and join the battle against the spacks and their allies.”

Oth merely stared. Then he laughed and said flatly.

“Why are you wasting our time, human? I have consulted with my masters. There have been no mistakes, human ally. We attempted to explain our plan to your leaders many times before, but they had not the wits to perceive its complexity or perfection. The worlds selected all have great strategic value for both of our goals, that will lead us all to certain victory in the end.

“You and your leaders insisted on the absolute defeat of the spack Clans. To fulfill these wishes, we have therefore decided that the sacrifice of these few hundred worlds of yours–and perhaps others as needed, will indeed ensure our mutual and total victory over the common foe. In the long run, you and your leaders must see that this is only logical. To defeat the spacks even faster, all time-tables must be sped up.”

Oth coughed for a moment and then continued. “Therefore, a small percentage of your worlds must also be sacrificed, in order to ensure the long term peace and security of all the rest. Certainly you must see the logic of such sacrifice? It is simple math. Follow our lead, and victory and sustained prosperity will be assured for the vast majority in the long run. That is all that matters, is it not? Are we therefore agreed?”

Now several of the Gigacorps reps shot to their feet, protesting.

“Outrageous!”

“Unacceptable!”

“We never agreed to anything like this!”

“You were only supposed to attack the spacks and the Alliance worlds. Not this many of our own!”

“Silence!” Oth roared. “We have decided that these plans cannot be revoked. These operations shall continue as planned, at full speed. Any who attempt to betray or oppose our efforts in any way, you and your worlds shall suffer the same fate as the spacks. Now, you have wasted enough of our valuable time. I say again. These plans cannot be revoked! Only contact us again with your apologies, and your complete submission to our goals. End transmission.”

The uproar that followed grew tumultuous to say the least.

Several Corps reps fell upon their former leader with hidden knives. Quickly stabbing him to death.

The rest got on their com units and called out to their forces.

Naero and Intel observed what happened next.

Within minutes, all along the strategic and tactical screens, half of the total Corps fleets broke and fled from the front lines in disorderly confusion and panic. Where they had just seconds before been winning decisively, even in the midst of battling the Clans.

They panicked, turned, and fled.

Racing back home to defend their own stricken worlds.

The other half bunched up and began a slow fighting retreat. With the vengeful Clan fleets giving chase, licking at their heels.

Some Corps fleets even began fighting each other in the complete confusion that followed.

Back in their own space, the Corps fleets within range abruptly turned on their allies and attacked the expanding Ejjai invasion.

Naero and Intel intercepted further heated calls between the former allies. Trying to pinpoint the location of the new aliens.

Then to everyone’s surprise, the aliens played a hidden trump card.

The Corps had been so quick to refit their ships with the new alien ion cannons.

But when they tried to use them against the alien invasion...

Every ship so-armed lost power and listed dead in space. Immobilized by the very same tek that had made them nearly invincible.

One by one, the mighty Gigacorps fleets lost power and became useless. All of them, crippled in a matter of hours.

Even the few Spacers and others who took pity on them and tried to help them restart their fusion cores could not find a way to do so.

At the exact time that the full weight of these Corps fleets were needed most in the resulting Crisis.

Left adrift, far from the same Corps homeworlds that desperately depended on them for defense.

Suddenly the Corps fleets found themselves helpless and surrounded by their enraged foes among the Spacer Clans, who–until just recently–the Corps had been devastating without mercy or quarter.

Things did not look very good for the Gigacorps or their navies. Or the Corps worlds that needed them at such a dire time.

Naero and her fleet raced to join General Walker and his marines, repelling an Ejjai invasion on Nilar-2, a Joshua Tech homeworld annexed from Triax.

The nearest world in trouble.

51

On Nilar-2, one of the sprawling capital cities had been under heavy siege by the Ejjai for four straight brutal days. Fires raged and burned out of control everywhere. The sky day and night obscured by smoke and the stench of slaughter and war, as the unprepared civilian population of twenty million struggled to the breaking point to try to defend itself.

Three entire army groups of Ejjai shock troops poured in sweeping across the planet surface in vast waves. Their meatships right behind them.

Artillery strikes and enemy bombers focused on any pockets of resistance, pounding them to rubble and dust. Then the enemy sent in close assault gunships and gravtanks to wipe on anyone else who kept trying to fight.

The gunships and tanks flushed out crowds of unarmed civilians and cut them down with impunity in the open. Tanks and shock troops fired from all directions, from any given vantage point as the massacre continued.

In a smoky alley near one of the hottest battles, a young brown-haired girl of twelve with a small pistol in her hand, attempted to lead a group of nearly a hundred younger children away from the terrible battle raging right behind them.

The younger kids crowded together in fear, looking around.

Explosions and weapon-fire echoed all around within blocks of their flight, rocking the stricken city to its core.

Several of the children whimpered and cried softly. Many of them clutching dolls, or stuffed animals, or toys of some kind to comfort them. Including a small blond girl of six with a dirty, white stuffed bear. The smaller girl appeared to be the twelve-year-old’s little sister. At least by the way the twelve year-old clutched the little girl’s other hand and would not let go.

“Mally…I don’t wanna leave momma and the grownups. I’m scared.”

Mally turned and snapped at her little sister.

“Shut up and don’t make any noise, Evvy. All of you…shut up. Do you want them to find us? We can’t stay back there with the fighting. We have to find a safe place…somewhere else.”

“I don’t like you,” Evvy said. “I wanna go back to momma. You let go of me!”

Mally cracked under the pressure and snapped at her again and shook her. “Mom’s probably dead by now, Evvy. Along with most of the grownups who are still fighting back there. They won’t last much longer. She made me promise to get you and the other kids away if things got bad.”

Evvy started bawling.

Mally tucked the small pistol in her belt and tried to cover Evvy’s mouth. “Shut up!”

An Ejjai gravwing scout smashed down onto the plascrete right in front of them, and rose up towering in its battle armor.

An energy carbine in one claw and a long, blood-drenched jagged battle blade in the other.

The children gasped in terror and fell back before the fearful creature.

It chortled its eerie laugh at them, thinking them helpless like all the rest.

“Well, what do we have here? A bunch of little juicy skinners, pretty as pie. Don’t move, the lot of you. I swear I will cut down any of you who try to run. I gotta call this in.”

The Ejjai scout lifted her wristcom in excitement. “Captain, I’ve got a nice little treat for us and the unit later tonight. Get over here before any of the other units do. Tell the girls to heat up the fire pits and get the hooks and chains ready. We’re gonna have us a little skinner roast. That’s right. About a hundred at least. Enough for the whole strike force.”

Mally screamed and leaped onto the distracted scout.

She fired her small pistol again and again into the scout’s face and eyes.

The tiny weapon popped repeatedly, barely flashing.

But the scout toppled over dead, like a stricken giant.

Mally still kept pulling the trigger until it clicked repeatedly.

She flung the empty, bloody pistol away, picked up the scout’s carbine, and snatched Evvy up by the hand where she lay curled up and shaking on the dirty alley street.

“C’mon. All of you. Follow me. They’re coming!”

Mally led the children for a few blocks more, away from the fighting, which sounded like it had died down

But everyone could also hear the sounds of the relentless enemy advance. The whine of the enemy gravtanks and and the shriek of the gunship engines and the staccato blast of their ground assault cannons.

And the resounding eerie laughter and cheers of the victorious invaders over the city’s last pockets of defenders.

Six more enemy troops stepped out of the shadows, surrounding the terrified children instantly. Hemming them in.

Mally dropped down and aimed her carbine right at the leader’s face.

“Drop the weapon, little girl. You can’t take all of us down. Give up, and my blade will make it quick for you and some of these others. Otherwise, we’ll stick meat hooks in your backs, and slow-roast and eat all of you feet-first. One at a time while the others get to watch and wait their turn.”

Mally snarled. “I don’t need to kill the others. Just you.”

The Alpha-Ejjai grinned her toothy smile and laughed her eerie laugh, along with the others.

“Just for that, you we’ll save for last, girlie. After we eat all the rest. You get to watch what we do to all of them.”

Mally pulled the trigger, but the carbine didn’t fire.

“Aww…ain’t thatta a shame.”

The next instant, a long red blazing blade cut through the alpha’s head and face, sheering off the top of her skull right through the eyes and her helmet.

The helmet and the spurting alpha collapsed in a heap.

Naero had watched and waited long enough. Keeping an eye on the children from the rooftops and in the shadows.

Expanding orbs of red-glowing Chaos energy scorched and hollowed out the skulls and faces of the other five invaders at the same time.

Naero rose up, red katanas in both hands. She had her togs and her shifting, black night-stealth armor set so that the kids could now see her in part. Like a shadow when she moved.

To the children she would look like a dark phantom or a ghost.

She wore a long black cloak-coat, with the hood drawn back at the moment. Her long dark hair flowed free, but her lower face was still covered in her battle mask.

She focused her keen eyes in the darkness. Reaching out, she teknomanced the enemy security lock on Mally’s captured carbine.

“Good girl, Mally. I’ve fixed the enemy carbine so that you can use it now. But be careful with it. You’re very brave. All of you. I’ve been watching and protecting you for a while.”

Mally cocked her head. “Who are you? Where did you–”

Evvy piped up, her face beaming.

“She’s Shettana; just like in the vids!”

“Evvy, be quiet. She’s not Shettana. That’s just a vid. It’s not real.”

“She is too, Shettana. And she’s come to save us, and kill all the bad guys. I hope she kills them all dead. You will, won’t you? Will you try to save our mom too?”

The other kids started to mumble and mutter, repeating the odd name.

Shettana.

She’s Shettana?

That’s Shettana? Shettana is really here to help us?

Naero chuckled at being taken for a goofy vid character.

“My friends and I are Spacers; we’re here to help. We’ve just arrived, and we’re setting up a little surprise for the invaders. But first, I want to get all of you to a safe place.”

“Where can we go where it’s safe?” Mally asked. A lot of doubt in her voice.

“Not far. I’ve kept several other enemies from attacking you along the way. Don’t worry. They won’t hurt anyone any more. I’m sorry these other ones got so close. We have to go now. Follow me.”

Naero led them two more blocks, until they found a tube station leading underground.

Mally gasped. “The adults told us not to use the tubes,” she said. “The invaders have them rigged with mines and traps. They’re just waiting for us down there. We won’t be able to run or get away.”

Naero grinned. “Don’t worry. My friends and I have already cleared out this section. We own the black; the night is ours. No one can take it from us. The tubes are safe now, Mally. Just follow me. Once you are all safe down below, we can do our work up here. So we need to hurry.”

She led them into the underground.

They went so far in the darkness, darkness lit only by Naero’s blazing red swords.

Then hundreds of armored figures appeared out of the shadows all around them, as if melting out of the black. Armored troops with fierce looking weapons poised at the ready.

Their various optical displays suddenly glowed red and menacing.

Mally gasped and lifted her carbine defensively.

Naero pushed the muzzle down and kept the child from shooting Spacer Marine Leftenant Mortan Stewart in the belly.

“It’s all right,” Naero told them. “You won’t find better friends right now than the Spacer Marines of Bravo Command.”

Lights came up slightly. Morty and some of his people opened their face-shields. Revealing their human faces briefly for the kids to see.

The kids relaxed a little more at that. Seeing so many big, tough-looking troops ready to defend them.

“Captain Maeris,” Morty said. “We have pockets of several thousand civilians secured at various locations. I’ll have a squad take these kids to join them. Good work. But our fun up top is about to start.”

“Affirmative. Well, we don’t want to miss the show, do we? Thanks, Morty.”

Naero turned back to Mally, Evvy, and the other kids, who continued to stare up at her in awe and wonder.

“I have to go now. You guys are all really brave. I’m hoping that we’ll have your city safe again for you by the morning. If we find any grown ups, we’ll try to keep them safe too.”

“Fight well,” Mally told her. “Thank you”

“Take good care of your sister.”

Evvy smiled and hugged Naero around the hips.

“Bye, Shettana. Thank you and your friends for saving us.” Naero stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head.

The other children filled passed, touching her hands, wishing her well. Telling Shettana goodbye. Waving as they moved off.

Goodbye, Shettana.

Thank you, Shettana.

Morty came up to her. Chuckling.

“What is it, Morty?”

“Those kids actually think you’re Shettana? From those hokey old action-adventure vids? That’s pretty funny. Hilarious even.”

She smirked at him. “Stow it, Leftenant. In a dark moist place, you jerk.”

“No, I can really see it now. The cape, the hair, the mask and the swords. You’re a dead-ringer. We should have noted the resemblance before.”

He lifted his hands and announced in a mock heroic voice, “Shettana, the avenger. Shettana: The Dark Angel of Death!”

Naero put her hands on her hips.

“Must I punch you in the balls? And it’s not a cape; it’s a cloak-coat, if you must know.”

Morty rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Your get-up’s close enough. Anyone in the border worlds will have seen those vids. One look at you in action and they’ll make the connection all right.”

“I’ve never seen any of those goofy vids, and I don’t want to. Now come on. We’ve got a fight to win.”

Up top, the Ejjai battle groups moved into the city, blasting buildings, trying to flush out more helpless civilians to cut down.

They didn’t comprehend that they walked straight into a carefully laid, city-wide trap.

Until the Spacer ghost dragon squadrons and Marine fighter waves swept in to knock out their air cover and bomb their meatships.

In the midst of their triumph, the Ejjai forgot that flooding into the close and constricted confines of the city jammed up their superior numbers and armor.

Tens of thousands of heavily armed stealth Marines stepped out of the shadows like the phantoms they were. The Spacer Marines attacked right through the walls, blasting the startled Ejjai victors into heaps of burning, stinking meat.

And at the forefront of the assault, Naero unleashed her deadly Mystic skills.

To anyone looking on, a small female warrior dressed all in black, fought with her face masked and her long dark hair flowing.

If they were close enough, they could see her wide violet eyes blazing in fury. See her cut the reeling, terrified enemy down with two long fiery red swords. To anyone watching, it might appear that she fought with what seemed to be the strength and agility of a hundred men.

Survivors among the locals did catch glimpses of her lethal prowess in action as the fight raged, and stared in dumbfounded wonder at her terrifying Chaos abilities.

To them she became Shettana, a fleeting legend brought to life right before a desperate populace. A sign of hope. And the landers cheered and shouted her name throughout the city, until even the enemy took it up.

Ejjai screamed the name Shettana in fear, and tried to flee from her in panic, right before she hewed them in half and slew them.

Yet once that city was safe, the battle moved on to the next, wherever the enemy was strongest.

And after Nilar-2, hundreds of other worlds on the border now hung in the balance, awaiting succor and deliverance from the relentless, iron fist of the invaders. And there would be more grim work for Shettana and the doughty marines of Bravo Command.

52

As the war with the Ejjai invasion raged in confusion and chaos, all of the forty-nine Spacer Clans called an emergency Grand Conclave at the severely damaged naval station near Serrek-12.

While the nearby battles on the border still flared.

Once Nilar-2 and several more alliance worlds stood secured, other frightening news of a very different variety reached Naero.

So dire that she immediately left the fierce battles at the front to race back to join the Conclave. She feared greatly for her people. Afraid for them. Afraid what they might do in the midst of their great wrath.

Everyone in the Clans remained angry at what they had endured thus far at the hands of the Corps, and with good reason.

But then she heard that Admiral Klyne had been wounded again in a naval engagement with the foe.

And more importantly, that in Klyne’s absence, hateful zealots on the High Council like General Tobias Ingersol were attempting to inflame the Clans to madness, demanding swift and decisive revenge on their Corps enemies, who now floated helpless at their mercy.

The mad zealots demanded not just genocide for the crippled Corps navies, but Cosmicide for all landers in general.

Naero fully understood the desire for revenge, but it could not be allowed to guide Clan policy and doctrine.

For one thing, Naero and Baeven had updated the math on the enemy invasion strategy.

If the Ejjai invasion continued to advance and spread, even the Spacers would need an alliance with the rest of humanity, in order to have any chance at defeating the enemy. There was no other way around that reality. Destroying the Corps fleets now–as some demanded–might actually spell doom for all of humanity in the future.

Naero staggered into the teeming Conclave Hall on Serrek-12, completely exhausted from three long days of heavy fighting against the Ejjai invaders. Her combat armor and her cloak-coat tattered, filthy, and blood-soaked. Mostly Ejjai blood.

Yet some of the gore was her own, from several minor injuries. All of her reserves completely spent. She no longer had the strength to fully close or regenerate her wounds.

Blood ran down her arms and legs as she moved forward.

But she needed to reach the Conclave and have her say. As was the right of every Spacer by Spacer law. She needed to say things that needed to be said and heard. Things her parents would say if they were still around. Things her people had to hear, and know, and consider–before they made grave mistakes in both military and moral judgment.

In the past seventy-two standard hours, Spacer forces at hand immediately counter-attacked along the length of the entire border of the war front, retaking and avenging forty-one of the initial one hundred and eighty-nine Alliance worlds under enemy siege or subjugation.

But thus far, Clan forces had neither offered nor provided even tactical assistance or aid to the same approximate number of helpless Gigacorps worlds. Stricken worlds suffering the same grim fates against the invaders on the other side of the border.

With no available forces to come to the rescue of their outmatched civilian populations.

Despite all of the atrocities committed against the Clans by the Corps, in her heart-of-hearts, Naero knew refusing to help the suffering Corps worlds to be a tremendous mistake.

She had once despised landers as well. Before she knew Tarim, and Arana, brave little Mally, and so many others.

Now when she even suggested to others among her own crews that they should surge forward to help the suffering landers, many of her friends and crew responded with impulsive words of anger and hate.

‘They wouldn’t help us! Why should we bother helping them?’

‘They’re getting exactly what they deserve.’

‘See how they like it!’

For months Spacers had suffered costly defeat after costly defeat, and found little mercy from their superior foes.

Now that those tables had turned, and the Corps were at the mercy of Spacers. Fewer and fewer were those who wanted to show them any compassion.

Yet from being at the front firsthand, Naero saw the invaders’ handiwork up close and personal.

Sometimes the Spacers got to their objectives in time.

Other times, they came too late.

Naero had seen firsthand the devastation on Rinnier-3.

It would most likely haunt her for the rest of her days to come.

When she and Walker’s Marines arrived in system, it was already all over for the landers.

There was no one to save. No one left to rescue or fight for.

A colony of eleven million explorers, merchants, and miners from numerous races. All gone. Cut down during the invasion, or already processed indiscriminately into Ejjai food rations. Via the horrific, robotic meatships.

Spacer forces focused on destroying meatships wherever they were located. With extreme prejudice.

The Ejjai thought it funny and amusing to feed their victims into the automated butchering machines naked, alive, and screaming. Man, woman, and child. Of every age. Nothing got wasted.

The invaders gathered together in great numbers when and where possible to watch the entertainment spectacle.

To the Ejjai. Meat was meat. Some of them even preferred their meat rancid, and threw in rotting corpses, even their own dead and wounded from the fighting.

And they broadcasted vids of their many atrocities on every known channel, in order to strike fear in any who opposed them.

But for Spacers, it had just an opposite effect.

The scanners showed nothing but Ejjai left alive on Rinnier-3. Just clone factory ships and plants spawning more clone armies. Bot factories mass-producing weapons, arms, gear, and more invasion fleets.

With no one left to save on Rinnier-3, there was no further need to hold back.

Naero and the Spacer Marines unleashed holy burning hell on the invaders.

Every strategic weapon, every bit of heavy ordnance fell upon the Ejjai in a firestorm of fury and destruction.

The clone factories, fleet and weapons factories, and the meat ships and plants all got carpet bombed into oblivion with low-yield atomics and neutron bombs.

Then naval fleets sent in gunships and Meks to exterminate anything of the enemy that still lived or twitched.

When the scanners showed no trace of enemy life remaining, the defense fleets shot away to engage the enemy once more at the next objective. No quarter for the clone forces was even considered. There was no reasoning with the Ejjai or their masters.

No mercy. No prisoners. Total, absolute war against the invader.

But listening to the chatter among the Clans and the fleets, Naero gauged the dark mood of her people around her in the conclave. Hearing the frenzy of growing waves of extreme opinions and overt hatred being expressed and broadcasted all around her, Naero knew she had to reach the central arena of the Grand Conclave ASAP.

To hear what was being said and decided therein, and have her own say.

She pushed her way wearily through the tight, swelling crowds to reach the fore. She made out the shrill, echoing broadcasts of what others like General Ingersol demanded.

Ingersol currently held the floor at the center of the Grand Conclave, the Great Circle of Deliberation.

He led the charge for wiping the Gigacorps out of existence. And not just their fleets and military.

His raving voice carried over the speakers.

“How long? How long have we suffered at the hands of our great enemies? How many wars? How many wasted generations and useless deaths of billions of our people? Century after century? I say no longer. The murder and the madness ends here, and it ends now. However ruthless it sounds, we now have a golden opportunity to take final vengeance against our foes, and eliminate them once and for all. We cannot be soft or compassionate. This is not the time for weakness. We must be bold and merciless, just as we know our foes meant to be with us. If we do not seize this one chance, we are doomed.”

To Naero’s surprise and horror, hundreds in the assembly cheered Ingersol’s words.

Which of course only encouraged him to go further.

“Our recent dead and our dead through the ages call out to us to avenge them, once and for all!”

Swelling approval from many in the crowd chilled Naero to her very heart and soul, and every bone in her body. To hear the Clans like this sickened her and made her deeply sad.

No, my brave people. Not like this. We cannot win like this.

Yet many others in the throng held back in uncertain silence and shock. In hesitation and fear at the fiery mood. Some looked alarmed and sickened by what they heard. What they continued to hear.

She finally reached the forefront.

Admiral Paithe Nelson of Clan Nelson rose up in the assembly and tried to speak. “General Ingersol. Yours cannot be the only voice in this Grand Conclave. That is not the law of our people. Others must be allowed to speak and have their say as well on these grave matters. Will you not yield or at least share the floor with other voices?”

At that the general grew defiant. “I will not. The floor is mine, and it shall remain mine until what needs to be said and done, is said and done!”

“You tell ‘em General!”

“They couldn’t stop the Corps. They had their chance!”

“Others must be allowed to speak!”

“Yield. Yield!”

“Yield the floor. Yield the floor!”

“No, let him finish! Let him talk!”

“I will not be silenced!” Ingersol raged. “We have this one fleeting chance. Here is what must be done to save our people and assure their freedom and security for all time. I know it sounds harsh, but it must be done. First, we have all of the Gigacorps navies and fleets helpless and at our mercy, but only for a very short time. What should we do with them all?”

“Kill the murdering bastards!”

“Yeah! Kill them all!”

“Destroy them. Just like they did to my brother and sister! They drove them into a star and murdered them!”

“Yeah, that’s exactly right. Do what they did to us. Blow them all up or use robot towships to drive them into the nearest star. That’s exactly what they’ve been doing to our captured ships and crews for the past few months. They deserve the same fate. Let’s give it back to them, a hundredfold!”

“Yeah, they’d do the same thing to us!”

“That’s what they were doing to our people!”

“That is not honorable!” Someone shouted. “We are Spacers. We don’t execute prisoners wholesale who have surrendered to us in good faith!”

“We are not murderers!”

Ingersol shouted them all down once more.

“Honor be hanged! We’re talking the survival of our race here. Our species. Just a few days ago, our enemies were well on their way to doing just that. They had us on the ropes, on a path to total extinction. What good did our so-called honor do us when they were kicking our butts every day? Wearing us down and slaughtering our brave people wholesale? Our enemies don’t show us any honor or mercy. What do we owe them?”

“Nothing!”

“No! We can’t do this!”

“Here’s what we do: after we destroy all of their fleets. Next, we drive the Ejjai clone hordes systematically into all of the remaining Gigacorps worlds as well. We don’t even have to soil our hands. We let their own weapon that they unleashed against us go out of control, turn on them, and finish them off. Then we wipe out the Ejjai, and one quarter of the galaxy now belongs to us. Completely. In this way, it’s the Corps and the landers who will be wiped out. Not us. They brought all of this upon themselves!”

Elder Naeden Vaughn of Clan Vaughn rose up from the small group of elders present and and spoke firmly but with calm reason. “Very well, general. You have more than had you say, now,” the elder told him. “You have not the authority to defy the Council and the Elders, and circumvent the rule of law. In your zeal and your passion to help our suffering people, you forget yourself, general. Your station and your duty. Yield this floor, or share it with others. That is a direct command!”

“Never. I hereby invoke marshal law and all of its statutes!”

“You cannot. You have neither the power, nor the authority.”

Some of Ingersol’s people drew weapons and brandished them. Adding to the chaos and uncertainty of the situation.

“I have no choice but to act, with High Admiral Klyne recovering from the wounds he suffered at the Battles in the Dyson-23 Sector. I am now, in fact, the acting High Commander of all Spacer Naval and Military forces. I act for the good or our race. For our very survival!”

“This is wrong. Unheard of. Illegal! Admiral Thackery and General Walker and several others still outrank you in the chain of command!”

“And where are they? Not here. Therefore, I am in command!”

Other elders stood up with Elder Vaughn. “General, you are gravely mistaken. You must yield. We are the Clan Elders. You cannot defy our direct authority. That is our law!”

“I can and will do so. I make the laws now. I act for the security and survival of our race! Tell me, all of you. Will you stand by and let me be silenced? You know I’m right. You know what must be done! Where were these weak old men and old women when the enemy was slaughtering us each day? Where was the Council then? The High Command? They we’re hiding from the truth. They couldn’t stop our foes. They failed us all. They had no answer then, and they have no answers now. I say we have this one window of opportunity to defeat and destroy our foes once and for all. How long will it last? Not long.”

Complete confusion and madness rocked the great circle of deliberation and echoed throughout the crowds.

Some attacked Ingersol’s people and disarmed them. Others took up arms with them, joining their cause. Things looked as if they would turn very ugly with every instant that passed.

“General. You will yield and be silent!”

“I will not. Listen to those who failed us all time and time again. They will lead our people to defeat and death. Defy them if you want to live. Defy them and follow me! To do what must be done.”

“General, you will yield this floor!”

Naero had listened to enough folly and madness. She used up the last dregs of her Cosmic energy to transport herself into the circle of deliberation, opposite and behind General Ingersol.

53

The glittering central chamber of the arena rose up with towering black paneled walls and viewscreens set up all along its great, oblong length. Rows of nanoseats populated in great concentric rows around the Circle of Deliberation.

Naero tasted dust, sweat, and blood in her mouth. She kept her togs set to a long dark black, battered coat-cloak and hood that concealed her combat armor and rank, and obscured her white face, which she kept pointed down. She had no microphone, so she used the power of the voice so that all might hear her words.

“The general yields the floor. He has yielded it to me. By all our laws, all have the right to speak in the Great Circle.”

Ingersol whirled around in surprise. He recovered quickly, and laughed.

“I yield nothing. Who are you? What is this? More tricks and empty theatrics? Why the disguise? Show yourself. Tell us your name. No matter in any case. Begone.”

Naero pulled her hood back, and showed her face proudly, lifting her head high.

And the long glistening, blue-black hair that was her birthright from her beautiful mother spilled down her back and all around her.

And the crowd strained and struggled to make out who she was as she turned bravely to face them.

“A few may know me and my Clan. I stand before the Elders, the Council, and the High Command in great honor and respect for you and our people and our ways, for I have fought and bled for my people. I am a warrior who has earned the right to speak in this hallowed place.”

Ingersol sneered at her. “Using the old formalities will not change anything, spacechild. Someone take this ignorant girl away. She is not fit to share the circle of deliberation with me. I know her now. The niece of a hated outcast. A reckless youth, barely a Mystic adept, a cowardly failure who slunk away in fear and let our enemies murder her companion–in order that she could take her superior’s place! Remove her. She and her name have no honor here!”

Naero spread her stance and parted her cloak, drew forth the gilded energy cutlass of her rank.

She he drew her blade forth and held its sizzling, bright blue length high aloft for a single moment.

The assembly beheld her rank, and more and more, many began to recall and recognize both her and the pose she struck.

One that still burned bright in the hearts of many fighters.

“I am Strike Captain and Mystic Adept Naero Amashin Maeris. And I will not stand by while the honor and memory of my Clan, and the laws of our people are soiled and misled by gutless lies and folly!”

She turned around so that all the crowd could see her for who she was, casting off her cloak and brandishing her blade again.

“I am the daughter of Lythe Ivala Maeris and Tarthan Wallace Ramsey. Where are the brave who fought and bled by my side?”

She thrust her blade toward the ceiling once more and cried aloud.

“Remember the Omaria!”

Nearly the entire assembly of tens of thousands shot to their feet in unison and roared, fists rocketing high.

“THE OMARIA!”

The thundering cry threatened to shatter the ceiling above them.

Naero motioned for the throng to let her speak once more.

Ingersol scowled and clapped his hands slowly.

“A loud, brash young girl, who hides behind the fading glory of her dead parents, and comes here to threaten an unarmed superior with a drawn weapon? For shame. You truly have no honor.”

Naero faced him and sheathed her cutlass. “I threaten no one. I hide behind nothing. My deeds are well known to all.” She punched up holos of the many battles and campaigns she had been in on her wristcomp. The service reports and awards for valor and leadership that she had won during the Annexation War flipped and tiled up all about her.

They filled the very air. One after another, and spread to the viewscreens and holo displays.

Citations for bravery.

Citations for courage under fire.

Commendations for valor in great duress.

For gallantry above and beyond the call of duty.

For bravely leading her forces and her people to victory, time-and-time again against all odds.

Naero stumbled slightly from her exertions, still exhausted.

Blood still dripped from her many wounds.

Then she asked, “Can someone please display General Ingersol’s campaign history? The many battles he has fought in?”

Several on the Council responded. almost instantly.

Ingersol’s pitiful field record revealed only three minor campaigns.

Three, by stark comparison.

He was never in harm’s way or present at any conflict. Ever.

“So, a coward, who has never actually fought in a single battle, attempts to smear me as one? Who attempts to stain my service record, and the memory of my parents with outright lies and unfounded accusations? Is this who you would have lead us?”

Ingersol protested. “An interesting ploy. My service record is completely honorable. Of course I never saw combat. I am a strategist, and one of the best, as is well-known. I was never a field operative.”

“A coward’s excuses. While I come from the very front of the war. I still bleed from several wounds, earned in the defense of our peoples. I bear the blood of our foes, whom I slew in direct combat with my own hands.”

Naero shook her head slowly. “And I am weary, from three days of non-stop fighting without food or sleep. I barely have the strength to remain standing. But my duty drew me here, at all costs. To stand and speak before my brave people.”

“So tell us, after all that nonsense,” Ingersol said. “What would you advise us to do in our current situation?”

Someone needed to speak the truth. But she needed to take care.

“Come girl. We’re waiting.”

She pointed at Ingersol and then let her arm flop to her side.

“If we listen to angry, blood-thirsty fools and cowards. If we rush headlong to wipe out the landers and their fleets. What then? We will only be playing into the hands of our new enemies. Alien forces we yet know little or nothing about. In the long run, we will only weaken ourselves in doing so. These new foes want to play humans against each other, in order to defeat both sides. Just as they are attacking both sides this very moment, while we speak.”

Ingersol turned bright red. “The Corps were going to destroy us! That is a fact! They allied themselves with these aliens and unleashed them on us. Now you want us to help the Corps? How is that even possible? I say death to them all.”

“Really? How many of us here really have the stomach for that? Think on that, everyone, very carefully. Is that who my people are? Is that why the Clans formed? To murder others wholesale? To make ourselves the greatest mass-killers in the history of our galaxy?”

Everyone hesitated.

“But very well. Let’s say the clever general is right. Let’s indeed kill them all, just like he proposes. Let’s kill all the landers. Millions. Billions. Trillions…Zillions.”

Naero paused to let that sink in.

“Yes, we are Spacers, but we are also still human. We still look like them. They still look like us. There are zillions of them. There are trillions of us. You’ve all seen what the Ejjai invasion hordes do to everyone on both sides of the border. They don’t care. To them, we’re all just meat. Just food. They serve alien races that are invading everywhere. We don’t know much about these new enemies, their numbers, their tactics. We do know some their tek is superior to ours. The point remains. We may very well need every ally we can get against these threats. Do the raw math. A war between Spacers and the Corps weakens both sides, so that these other aliens from the outside can easily defeat whoever remains.”

“What are you saying?” Ingersol fumed. “That we should ally ourselves with the Corps now? You cannot be serious. Ally ourselves with the very enemies who were committed to wiping us out?”

“No. Never with the Gigacorps. With the landers–the people. The Corps are Tyrants we know all too well. They have never given their people a choice in all of this either. And right now, its the people who are paying the real price. A very high price.”

Naero motioned to the terrible atrocities playing across some of the screens.

“My brave people, My Clans who I would give my life for. Who love peace and liberty. Look at these horrors our enemies have unleashed. Can any of you tell me that any civilian population–ours or theirs–deserves this kind of Cosmicide? You cannot with honor and good conscience be saying that. And this wretch wants us to let it go on? No–in fact–he wants to speed it up, and aid it, and direct it, and multiply it? How could we allow that? What would we become if we did? How could we hold our heads up? How could we face our elders? Ourselves. Our children?”

Ingersol screamed, but his voice sounding shrill.

“It is a clear question of survival!”

Naero turned her back on him. Ignoring him. She held her hands out to her people, imploring them.

“When this is all said and done and these threats are no more. We can sort all this out with the Corps tyrants. Just like we did with Triax. Joshua Tech and the Alliance has proven that things can be different. Landers can live in peace with us and be our allies and our trade partners, for the advancement and the good of all. But they can’t be anything if we murder them. Or stand by and allow them to be murdered by foes who plan to do the same thing to us. Do we have the right to allow that to happen?”

“You fools! Don’t listen to her. Every one of us will perish!”

Naero ignored him and asked:

“Who are we? What kind of a people do we intend to be? Liberators, or conquerors? Warriors, or murderers? Do we keep our honor and fulfill our destiny as a people, or do we fall, and corrupt ourselves like others have? Do you want to drown in the blood of innocents? Can you in good conscience stand by while others murder them, until the real foe comes for us? Can you kill zillions and still call yourselves Spacers? What honor is in that?”

Ingersol shrieked. “This is folly. This is madness. The landers can’t be trusted! They call us spacks. They hate us. They want to kill us. How can we make them our allies?”

“So your answer is murder them all? All right. Then lets do it, I say. And after we drowned ourselves in oceans of innocent blood, what have we then become? Who are we? What are we? What do we stand for then, after we have given up everything we hold sacred and true?”

The assembly grew deathly silent. Naero’s powerful words thundered softly and rippled among the throng.

Ingersol strove to win them back.

“Don’t listen to her. She’s a fool trying to trick you with words, with useless compassion that will destroy us all!”

“My good and noble people. My Clans–whom I love with all my heart. I ask you this. Can we do these things? Not once, but multiplied a trillion times–an infinite number of times: Can any of you stand a frightened little lander boy before you. Unarmed. Scared. Helpless. Shaking. Can you shoot him in the face, blow his head off, and take his life? Steal it away like a murdering thief? Is that who and what you wish to become?”

Up in the crowds, many faces grew pale and shook their heads.

Naero went on. “What about an old woman, who has lived a good life and done no one harm? Can you cut her throat and be stained all over with her blood? Look on as she gasps and bleeds out before you? Gut a terrified little girl and spill her steaming guts at your feet while she screams? Blow up a young married pair of lovers? Set their newborn babe on fire and watch it twitch and die?”

The throng looked stricken to their cores, and shaken by her relentless inquiry. Many more now shaking their heads. Many weeping, covering their mouths in horror.

“Can you repeat such terrible crimes, over and over, zillions of times, until you are completely soiled and sickened by them? Can we really do such things and not be utterly destroyed ourselves? The landers are like us. They are people like any sentients. And they deserve a right to live and be free, the same as we.”

No one said anything.

“You and I know these things to be wholly wrong and irrevocably unjust. In order to do such things, we would cease to be who and what we are. We will not just become filth–like the enemies we despise...

“We will BE that enemy, and something far worse.”

Even Ingersol hesitated.

Naero stumbled in her fatigue and nearly collapsed.

When she walked, her feet left bloody footprints.

Many in the crowd gasped.

“Someone help her!” a woman cried.

Naero held up a hand and lifted her violet eyes up to them, filled with tears shooting down her face.

“My beloved people. Look. If only for once, see with your eyes and your very hearts what is happening to us here. The stark, yawning abyss whose brink we teeter upon. This is our moment of decision. The moment we decide our own fate. Our enemies commit these atrocities. Not us. Are we to join them and forsake all of our sacred ideals, just to become as evil and without honor as they?”

“No! Never!” many cried.

“What is your solution then?” Ingersol snarled.

“There is only one solution. We must be brave enough to put aside even our just hatred, and do all that we can now to make the landers our allies, as quickly as possible. In order to defeat the common foe. Together.”

“Absolute folly!”

“I have had my say. Once I have rested and recovered my strength, I will return to fighting our foes, with every ounce of my blood. With all of my courage and determination. And I say to you that I shall help any who will stand against these foes and fight beside me, whether they be Spacer or lander. I call upon every true Spacer to go forth and do the same.”

“Don’t listen to her!” Ingersol shouted. “We’ll all die. We must kill them all in order to be safe.”

Naero called to her people one final time. She pointed an accusing finger at all of their staring faces.

“The choice is not his or mine to decide. It is yours, my people. I have made mine. But let me say this. I am glad, that my parents are not here this day. They would have been ashamed to see so many of our kind driven to madness by loss and grief and rage. They would be ashamed to see so many of us even considering such a fall from our great Truths:

Liberty.

Honor.

Justice.

Naero emphasized each word as with a ringing hammer.

“But if you can do these terrible things. If you can murder zillions of innocent men, women, and children in cold blood, just so that you can feel safe…then you are no longer my people. And by the names and the honor of my parents, I banish myself from being your blood!”

She drew her cutlass and flung it clattering across the floor as if it were garbage.

The throng gasped, shocked and horrified to the breaking point.

The elders rose up and shouted in complete refusal.

“No, we shall never do such things!”

Ingersol charged Naero from behind suddenly and knocked her down with a heavy two-handed blow to the back of her head and neck.

She had no strength to stop him and crumpled to a heap at his feet.

He kicked her as she lay helpless.

The assembly gasped again. Enraged. Many protested, calling for his removal.

Ingersol whirled around, fat, bloated, and sweating. His hair wild and out of place. A maniac. Shouting and screaming orders like a deranged madman.

Even the soldiers of his command looked confused as to what they should do. They lowered their weapons in shame and looked sheepishly at the elders for guidance.

“I’m still in command here! I give the orders. Martial law is still in effect! Obey me or be placed under arrest!”

A very large officer flashed in so fast he was nothing but a dark blur.

No one believed anyone that big could move so fast.

One punch from a massive fist sent Ingersol’s bulk flying. As if that fist were a block of solid iron.

Ingersol sailed ten meters into the crowd, to crash among the seats and lay stunned and bloody. No one touched him.

General Walker rose up, towering over everyone else. A man among men. A true and proven leader among the Clans. His very presence seemed to clear the air and restore order.

He spat on the floor where Ingersol had raved.

“Been meaning to tag that mouthy pad-poker,” he muttered, under his breath. “For years!”

He stooped and gently scooped up Naero in his enormous arms.

Detachments of marines in full battle dress quickly moved in, disarming Ingersol’s uncertain, lackluster followers amid cheering from the throng. Ingersol’s dupes offered no resistance and surrendered willingly.

Most of them looked about as ashamed as they should.

“The Laws of the Grand Conclave are hereby restored,” Walker announced. “According to the rule of law and the chain of command. Let all who wish to speak, have their say.

“And let it also be stated–clearly and for the record–that this young woman is one of the bravest warriors I have ever seen or had the unmitigated joy to serve with. Her honor and valor are without question. Period. Anyone who seeks to insult or lay hands upon her, will answer most dearly to me personally, and to my direct authority, and that of the High Command!”

The elders came forward, amid the jubilant cheering of the crowds.

Tamerlane Atani Maeris himself, picked up Naero’s discarded cutlass and first presented it to her. Then he himself kissed the blade and returned it to her sheath in one fluid motion.

He placed one hand gently upon her face and half-smiled.

“You’re parents would have been proud, spacechild,” he told her. “You’ve manage to both shame and honor us all at once, in the same day. You reminded us who we are. Who and what we should be, what we should stand for. And what we should do.”

He smiled at her again.

“You are most definitely our blood, and the blood of your mighty mother and father. There is no greater praise.”

General Walker stood Naero back up on her feet, allowing her to lean against him.

“War is upon us,” he shouted. “And so it begins.”

The general commanded every heart and hand present, still protecting Naero with one arm.

“Everyone fights. Ever forward, my brave Clans. Prepare for battle!”

54

The Spacer onset took everyone by surprise.

The enemy. The Gigacorps.

Even the Spacers themselves.

The Spacer Clans committed all of their forces to piling in and assailing the Ejjai invasion wholesale and entirely, without hesitation.

On both sides of the border.

On every system, planet, and colony.

They left the derelict Corps fleets floating behind them in their wake. To refit and restart their own systems and follow in as best they may. As soon as they were able.

The Spacers abandoned even their own defensive positions. They even left many of their own territories wide open.

And hammered the invaders wherever they could be found. Sending them reeling.

Trillions of Spacer forces flooded the border systems, fighting with a ferocity and fury that even the vicious and blood-thirsty Ejjai could not match.

And the bewildered populations and leaders of the Gigacorps worlds blinked and stared in wonder, that it was in fact the hated spacks that they had been taught and told to fear and hate–and fully hoped to destroy–who came to their succor in the end.

Who freed them from the horrors of their nightmarish enemies?

It certainly was not the Gigacorps.

At first the landers trembled in fear that the spacks they had been conditioned to hate so much came to subjugate and perhaps do even worse things to them than the Ejjai.

But the Spacers showed great compassion. They avenged the dead and crushed the Ejjai invaders in ways that even made the landers cheer them on.

To the helpless they gave comfort and aid. They healed the injured and the sick. To the lost and the down-trodden forgotten, they gave security and freedom. They kept multitudes from starving or going without clean water or shelter.

They used clouds of miraculous fixers to help the ruined cities rebuild, seemingly overnight. Then they simply drove on.

Both Spacers and landers began calling the war: The Crusade to Save Humanity. Or simply, The High Crusade.

And spear-heading that crusade were the Spacer Marines of Bravo Command, armed with amazing new weapons and gear that continued to come online. Out of virtually nowhere it seemed.

Wherever the Ejjai invaders thought themselves the strongest and the most unstoppable, the Spacer Fleets sent Bravo Command roaring in to stomp the once fearsome enemy into puddles of red, scorched mud.

And on world after world all across the border, the tales and battle legends abounded about a small Mystic warrior. A young spacechild with blue-black flowing hair and fierce violet eyes, who fought beside the fierce marines all dressed and masked in black armor.

A young girl who fought the enemy with the strength and speed of a hundred–no–a thousand. She fought the fierce foe with fantastic Mystic abilities, wielding her signature, twin blazing, blood-red katanas.

A warrior who knew no equal.

Everywhere she went, every place she was spotted, the landers took heart and cheered in renewed hope. They called after their new legend in awe. In hushed tones.

Landers made vids about her and her exploits that became wildly popular throughout the known systems. And risked their lives at the front to capture actual vid footage of her in action.

And the legend grew.

Shettana–The Dark Angel of Death.

Even the Ejjai took up the name, screaming it in terror wherever she fought against them.

Shettana.

*

One evening during a stand down, Naero chose to mix things up.

She wore a slinky midnight blue evening gown and long matching gloves–instead of her dress uniform–to a formal dinner with General Walker, his officers, and the captains of her fleet.

Nearly every head turned when she entered. Walker smiled and raised a shining glass to her.

“You clean up well…Shettana.”

Naero grabbed a glass and smirked.

“I do, don’t I?”

“Half my officers want to marry you.”

Naero laughed. “Yeah, and the other half just want me for sex.”

They both cracked up.

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

Naero sighed a little, but it was all right.

At times, she did feel very lonely. Despite all her friends. Still afraid that if she let someone get too close, she might destroy them by accident somehow.

No. She’d sworn off relationships until she could fully control herself.

“You did the right thing,” Walker told her. “More importantly, you convinced the Clans to do the right thing. The Crusade was the right way to go. Now the landers have gone from hating us, to working with us and thinking of as their saviors and allies.”

“Let’s see what they do when we leave.”

“That won’t be for a while. The invaders don’t surrender.”

“Good. Then we can wipe them out.”

Naero clinked glasses with him and smiled.

If only the General wasn’t so old.

Haisha. Like enough to be her father.

And happily married too, with about fifteen kids. Alyssa was a great lady.

But Walker was a great man, and a good guy. Tough as steel, but fair.

Maybe she could find someone like that. Eventually.

Someone her equal.

Some day.

Naero had her pick of dance partners that night.

55

The brutal war continued, the sweeping tide finally turning against the invaders.

Intel hacked the Ejjai atrocity channels and took them down.

They played vids of Ejjai being defeated and killed all along the battle front in their place.

And every now and then, vid footage of Shettana, the Dark Angel of Death in action.

She had a special message for the Ejjai.

Her ferocious violet eyes filled the vid screens.

Gigantic.

Ejjai dying by the scores reflected in them.

“We’re coming for you all, Ejjai cowards. This is Shettana, the Dark Angel of Death. We will teach you the meaning of fear. Wherever you filth see our flames raining down from the sky, your extermination is coming. Vengeance, is at hand–scum. Fight and die. Or flee and die.

“Just die!”

With each world The High Crusade liberated, more of the same horror stories abounded.

Meatship factories. Clone factories.

Terrified helpless children shivering and dying in pens like cattle, waiting to be butchered alive and devoured.

Death and atrocity.

Slowly the Gigacorps fleets came back on line and joined the fight.

Coordinating their actions. Fighting right alongside the Spacers.

For once in history, all humanity: Spacers and landers alike rallied together under a common cause. To defend the future of humanity and all the other known races–against a relentless and insidious alien invasion bent on Cosmicide.

Anything the enemy attempted to do, merely fueled the fires of that crusade.

The enemy, it appeared, had made a huge miscalculation.

When the last subjugated Corps world fell, and the last Ejjai horde lay defeated, crushed, and dead. Naero and Bravo Command were there.

All of humanity rejoiced and celebrated as a new day dawned.

They seemed to breathe a great collective sigh of relief.

But Naero still felt very uneasy.

Something remained very wrong.

Shalaen felt it too, but neither of them could identify what troubled them both so much.

They held a conference with Klyne and several others.

“Where are the aliens and all of their advanced tek?” Naero asked.

“That’s a good question,” Klyne said. “Perhaps they cut their losses. They played their hand too soon. We know it. They know it. The Ejjai are just clones. They can always make more.”

“I doubt they are that stupid,” Shalaen said.

“We’re missing something vital,” Naero said. “Up until now they’ve always been way ahead of us. Why would they simply fade away? Disappear and let their invasion fail, when their advanced tek still might have turned the tide against us?”

“We’ve yet to find any of their original cloning facilities. If they ever weakened humanity enough, they could renew the war at any time, with very little effort. This attempt may have just been practice. A dry run.”

“But where are they?” General Walker asked. “Where have they gone? What are they plotting?”

“I think we’ve caught a break and we should take it,” Klyne said. “Naero, now that The High Crusade is over, we’ve only just begun to hash out issues with the Corps. A process which will mostly take quite a while.

“And for you, Naero, on a more personal note, all three of the Mystic High Masters are demanding that you to return to them for further testing and training. Good timing. All three Mystic Homeworlds will be open to you to travel to one of them over the next two weeks. I strongly suggest that you do so. The autumnal equinox of the standard calendar starts tomorrow.”

Naero’s blood felt like it froze in her veins into ice daggers.

“Good timing…” she muttered.

She blinked and stared at Shalaen.

Both of their eyes widened in terror. The same fear struck them.

Naero whipped her head back to Klyne.

“The enemy stole secrets from Hashiko’s mind.”

“And mine,” Shalaen said.

“They desperately sought knowledge about both the Mystics, and on temporal manipulation.”

Klyne put it together as well an instant later.

“They’re going to attack the Mystic Homeworlds.”

“The invasion was all just a heavy feint. A distraction. That’s just what the aliens wanted. All of us focused here on the Invasion. Haisha! We’ve played right into their hands!”

Shalaen gasped. “They’ll capture as many of the Mystics as they can and enslave them all. Suck them dry in those Darkforce generators. What if they capture one or more of the High Masters?”

Even Naero covered her mouth with one hand.

“They’ll have power sources…unlimited Darkforce energy that they can do anything with. Anything.”

“I’m afraid it gets worse,” Klyne said. “At this time, all three of the High Masters are in stasis, while their minds are in the Astral Plane at an inter-galactic, inter-dimensional conference with other sentient beings from across the universe. They cannot defend themselves. Their physical bodies lie completely helpless.”

“Get as many fleets there as soon as you can,” Naero said. “I bet those three worlds will fall under heavy siege as soon as the three planets come back in sync. That’s where the aliens will hit us hardest and do their worst.”

Shalaen nodded. “If they take out the Spacer Mystics, humanity will be set back for centuries.”

“Leaving us ripe for further conquest,” Naero said. “And our new alien adversaries will use all of that power to make themselves unstoppable.”

Walker studied the tactical reports.

“All they have to do is hold us off for two weeks until the temporal windows close. Then they’ll have three years to finish the job.”

Naero shot to her feet. “I’m leaving for Janosha this instant. With Hashiko gone, High Master Vane will most likely have only two adepts guarding him and his world. I have to get there. ASAP.”

“There are few ships that can jump there fast enough,” Klyne said.

“Let me worry about that,” Naero told him. “I know a few that can.”

“Can the High Masters be contacted and told to return their minds to their bodies?” Shalaen asked.

“It’s difficult, but we’ll do our best,” Klyne said. “This is an Alpha Negative Priority Emergency. We’ll coordinate orders en route. Let’s move, people!”

He didn’t have to tell them twice.

Naero and Shalaen transported back to The Flying Dagger and launched their fleet within minutes.

Baeven and The Shadow Fox, and Alala, Tyber, and The Dark Star could easily join them along the way.

Naero made the urgent distress calls.

56

“Jia,” Baeven called out to his unusual ship’s unique AI. “We need every ounce of speed.”

“Sorry, Bae. Proceeding at maximum velocity. Yet we still will not reach Janosha for 3.17 standard days.”

“And what do the long range scanners show?”

Naero was afraid to ask.

Jia took a moment to check them and respond.

“As we feared, massive enemy fleet presences converging on Janosha. Including the alien Dakkur hordeship. They will reach all three Mystic homeworlds in 1.739 standard days.”

“Analysis of the Intel fleets and defenses.”

“Current forces remain insufficient. They will barely slow the enemy down.”

Naero closed her eyes and sighed.

“They’ll fight and die for nothing. Where is the alien G’lothc shadow ship?”

“Converging with a similar enemy strike force on Taeha. An even larger strike force is heading toward Oorrii.”

“Interesting,” Baeven said. “Our alien nemeses have divided their forces. They only seem to have the one Dakkur hordeship, and the one G’lothc shadow ship. That’s why they’ve sent twice as many Ejjai to Oorrii. So, they do have limitations to their tek, their resources, and what they can do.”

Naero snorted. “Haisha! They’re about to assail all three of the secret Mystic Homeworlds all at once. I’m guessing they’ve calculated the odds and put them in their favor. They have no intention of losing.”

“We’ll be there in three days. They will have to hold. They will need to survive until then. Nothing else can be done.”

Naero clenched her fists and gritted her teeth.

“A lot of bad things can happen in three days time. And Janosha will be the most vulnerable of the three.”

She turned her head.

Without Vane and especially Hashiko there to defend it.

It wasn’t just Vane’s body in stasis and any others.

Naero knew firsthand what the enemy did to the worlds they invaded. Every life form on Janosha would be at risk.

Including the peaceful Tua. Her friends.

No…her family.

“I have to get there faster!”

“We don’t have any way to do that,” Baeven said.

Naero reached out with her Mystic senses.

She was tuned to Janosha and its energies from three years of working with it.

She could barely sense those energies from such a distance away.

Perhaps when they got closer.

She’d have to keep checking.

Baeven shook his head. “Stop. Even Master Vane couldn’t transport to Janosha from this range. You’d kill yourself for nothing in the attempt.”

“I can’t help anyone if I kill myself. But when we get close enough, and I think it will work. I’m going on ahead. So don’t try to stop me.”

“No promises,” Baeven said.

“I’ll fight you with everything I have.”

Baeven looked her in the eye.

“And you’ll lose. Jia. Let’s give her some help, and calculate the odds as they change.”

“Everything’s a gamble,” Naero said. “I accept that.”

Naero prepared herself over the next seventeen hours. Meditating. Channeling Cosmic energy. Resting.

She needed to be fresh.

Within hours, the badly outnumbered Intel forces would come under heavy attack.

Then the polar bases and the planetary defense shields.

They could not hold out forever.

“How long will it take them to locate Vane’s body in stasis?” Baeven asked.

Naero sighed. “It’s well-hidden and passively shielded. Who knows? But they won’t stop until they capture it. And if they can hold us off for two weeks, they’ll have three years to finish the job. And do whatever else they want with the planet and all that raw, Cosmic power. Don’t forget that.”

Just the possibilities made her shudder.

“They’ll consume every life form,” Baeven said. “Clone plants. Fleet and weapons factories. Meatships. They’ll strip the Mystic Homeworlds clean, and steal every bit of Cosmic power from them and convert it all into massive quantities of Darkforce energy.”

“In three months’ time, they’ll emerge stronger than ever. With any Mystics they’ve captured powering those vile Darkforce generators.”

“What about those wormholes they can make? Can they use those within the temporal fields once they’re inside of them.”

Naero rubbed her dry lips. “I don’t think so.”

Om added, Not in theory at least, but they were after temporal secrets when they stole information from Shalaen and Hashiko.

“But who knows what they’ve been able to learn?” Naero said aloud.

Jia alerted them.

“The potential for surviving a long-range transport attempt to Janosha has gone from the lethal and improbable…to the possible.”

Naero stood up.

She could feel it.

Even at this range. She could sense Janosha’s immense Cosmic power flows, tending toward the Chaos energy end of the spectrum.

And she could just barely tap into them.

It would have to be enough.

“Time to go. See you in a few days.”

Baeven grabbed her wrist from behind.

Naero resisted, glaring at him. “Do we really need to fight?”

To her surprise. Baeven pulled her to him and hugged her.

What’s more. She felt a vast amount of Cosmic energy flowing directly from him.

Surging directly into her.

Baeven gave her his own energies.

He released her and stepped back, staggering slightly from his efforts.

“I’ll have time to regenerate. You won’t. Stuff like this always takes more out of you than you think,” he said.

“I…I don’t know how to thank you.”

“Get there alive and do your duty. Give old Vane a slap on the puss for me.”

Naero smiled wide. “Will do.”

She focused.

Then transported.

Baeven was right.

Such long range efforts did take more than she thought.

Haisha! Would she even make it as it was?

Even with the Cosmic force Baeven gave her, she felt her energies waning fast. Too fast.

Would she hit Janosha alive? Or completely burned out…and dead?

57

Naero crashed into jungle trees on a familiar volcanic island with tropical birds and marine reptiles.

Luckily she knew the place. Vane kept a small, secret starship hangar concealed beneath the volcano.

She crawled to it through the jungle. Then staggered.

Finally she made it the concealed entrance.

Om barely teknomanced them inside.

Exhausted from her emergency journey, unfortunately she had sapped all of her energies just getting to Janosha ahead of the other defenders.

Now she desperately needed time to regenerate and recover her strength.

Time she did not have.

She connected herself to Janosha’s flows and slept in the secret hangar, curled up in a corner on the floor.

She awoke a few hours later, and located some food and lix in one of the remaining ships.

Master Vane was not going to be happy at all when he returned.

She’d broken in on his carefully guarded toys. And more or less disobeyed him in almost every way.

Too bad.

She would need a cloud of fixers to make her ploy work. And great, she still wasn’t up to full speed yet. Transporting that far had nearly killed her.

She pulled out Twinky from her kit. The little guy woke up at her touch, bobbing and winking at her with his one eye.

“What’s cookin’, good lookin’?”

“You are.” Naero sucked in a deep breath. Then she gave Twinks his marching orders.

After that she had to lie down again. It took all of her remaining strength just to get the fixers multiplying and doing their thing.

Two more hours passed.

Then without any other warning, planetary defense sirens and alarms went off.

The secret hangar locked down on its own, shielding and passively cloaking itself completely.

Naero staggered over to a com console to assess the situation.

Some kind of jamming against three emergency signals.

Signals originating from the defending fleets and coordinates at both poles. Desperate calls for help.

The defending fleets and the Intel early warning bases at the poles were getting hit hard.

The battle heated up fast and Naero could barely stand. What good was she?

Om warned her also.

All given signs and data point to an imminent planetary-wide attack by a massive, hostile invasion force of Ejjai, led by the Dakkur Hordeship. Elite and highly advanced tek.

Help me Om. I need to regenerate faster somehow. I’m no good to anyone like this.

Compensating as best I can.

Why was time always against them?

Slowly she felt her strength return. Agonizing. Knowing full well with every second that passed, that the few allies she had nearby were being trounced and put down hard.

Naero studied the coordinates to the polar advance warning bases.

We can’t just stay here. Twinky and our fixers are already on their way to the coordinates I selected, They’ll get to work. While they’re busy, let’s take a quick trip, Om.

We are still very weak. And we’re not up against a simple Janoshan monster. Don’t go in just with your blades this time.

One of the other ships had an Intel armory. Naero ducked in and geared up. Faster than she could change into it, she teknomanced a suit of stealth combat armor over her flight togs and sealed the helmet.

Shoulder micro cannons. Beam cutters in her forearms. Mark-5 plasma carbine. Micro-grenade casters. Two blaster pistols fixed to either leg. Her energy cutlass behind her hips.

She wore a small mek, locked and loaded. Ready to do battle.

Naero tapped the Janoshan Cosmic flows and translocated them to the arctic. Right in the middle of a swirling, blinding blizzard.

Her stealth armor modified to the surroundings, keeping them camouflaged, cloaked, and virtually invisible.

They dropped into a snow bank within sight of the shattered advance warning base. Still on fire and smoking, but being put out by the weather.

Damn it, she was too late! That meant the enemy was already in system and searching. They had destroyed both bases most likely, and eliminated the planetary defense shield.

She moved in to investigate the ruined base.

At first glance, the Intel people had put up quite a fight. But they had only been a few dozen in number.

All of them dead now, according to the life scans.

Naero entered the shattered base and continued a passive scan as the blizzard around them picked up. Explosives. Weapon’s fire. Lots of both from both sides.

Om did his thing, analyzing the aftermath.

Something disrupted the base shields and cracked the facility wide open very quickly and with little warning.

A stealth ship at the very least, with big guns. Maybe even an ion cannon. Probably the Dakkur hordeship.

The Intel people who survived suited up in combat armor similar to hers and slugged it out.

But they were heavily outnumbered.

Whoever the enemy was fought their way straight in and eventually overwhelmed and blasted the defenders to bits.

Correction. All of the bodies had been ripped or sliced apart and devoured, down to the bone.

Ejjai.

Yet the heads were all bitten cleanly off too, right through their combat armor.

Dakkur.

The green and yellow Dakkur champion thing that killed her best friend Gallan back on Egano-4 had killed like this. It was still a mystery what exactly the Dakkur did with the heads. Trophies of their kills?

She continued on and found three more Intel dead just outside the other end of the base.

This trio had gotten out and tried to get away in the storm using their stealth modes, just like hers.

They went down the same way. Ripped up, sliced apart, and eaten. Their heads and helmets missing.

Naero cursed.

Bastards. I despise the way our enemies mutilate our people, Om.

I agree. There are multiple pools and splashes of Ejjai blood from their many casualties, over a hundred in all. They must have taken their dead with them.

They eat or process even their own kind, Om. The vermin wouldn’t waste the meat.

Something else was at work here, Naero. Something far more lethal than Ejjai shock troops.

I know. A Dakkur of the Champion Caste. The same one that killed Gallan.

She went to a com console that hadn’t been shot up. She attempted to send out a secret distress code to the other polar base and the Intel fleets.

No response. No answer from anyone, anywhere.

Perhaps the enemy jamming is too advanced.

Or maybe everyone else is already dead, Om.

She had failed them all.

The enemy is searching this way once more. Do not let them pinpoint our location.

Some of the scanners are still up and functioning, Om. Looks like our foes have done it all by the book. They’ve hit the other base at the Southern Pole the same way they did here. The Planetary Shield has definitely been neutralized and destroyed.

Om. I’m going to try something. The only ships who can receive this type of transmission are Baeven’s weird craft, and my people.

She quickly sent out a coded transmission explaining the situation. All out attack on Janosha by massive, hi-tek invaders. Master Vane extremely vulnerable and still hidden in his trance. She gave what details she could, and the coordinates for her various bases and planned locations on Janosha.

If her message could get through, Baeven would relay the tactical date she had gathered, and her call for help from the Spacer forces converging on Janosha.

Perhaps some of them could find some way to arrive faster. She hoped.

If not.

She was on her own for quite a while.

Get us out of here, Naero. The enemy has a lock on our proximity. Multiple targets, firing on our location. Destruction imminent!

Naero got them away just in time.

She returned to the island hangar. None of Vane’s vessels were large enough warships to make a difference in an all out fight. And she had no crews to operate them in any case.

Thus far, she did not sense any other Mystic adepts on Janosha other than herself.

Again, very odd. There should be at least two. The two she and Hashi saw before they left for the wars.

Perhaps the enemy had already already killed or captured them.

Either way, the foe would eventually locate the cave complex, Master Vane’s body in stasis, and the other secret hangar in the mountains near there.

Only a matter of time.

Perhaps enough time to get the Tua away into hiding in a safe place. If there was such a thing.

Could she even explain the danger to them and convince them to hide? To thousands of simple Tua?

If help did not reach them soon, they were all royally dead. Or worse.

And something else she hadn’t considered.

How could she get Master Vane’s body away if she couldn’t get into his shielded chamber?

She went straight to Bahan and Iika first.

They went to their knees before her and tried to kiss her hands.

“We are so happy to see you, Naero. Where have you been?”

“We’ve missed you so. Everyone in the tribe has. We owe you our lives, our happiness.”

She pulled them up to their feet. “No time to chat, guys. I need you to take all the Tua away from here and go into hiding, as far away as possible.”

They stared at her.

Then they started laughing like they didn’t believe her.

“Look, I’m not kidding.”

How could she explain it to them in a way they would understand? They didn’t know anything about advanced war, or what a hi-tek military force could do to them all.

“We have nothing to fear,” Bahan said. “We are under the protection of the Great One, who controls all of Janosha.”

“And you are great among the halaena. You would not allow any harm to come to us. No creature on all of Janosha can best you.”

“You two listen up. A threat has come, from the stars. A powerful danger brought by many enemies. I don’t know if I can defeat them all. I am one, and their numbers are countless, like the grains of sand by the sea. Even if I fought them here, the battle alone would destroy these caves and kill all of you in a matter of minutes. I could not stop that from happening. I cannot fight them all at once, and protect the Tua at the same time.”

Their eyes swelled up very wide and large. They covered their mouths with their hands and trembled violently.

“If this is true,” Bahan said, “you must re-awaken the Great One. He will know what to do.”

“He has not come back yet, and I don’t have time to reach him. The great danger could be upon us any second. You and your people have to flee. Right now. Do you have a place to hide?”

Iika paused and looked down, her eyes moving rapidly, her shaking fingers playing with her lips.

“There are…other caves. The deep trees. The other tribes. They would help hide us from these…these bad ones.”

“Get going, as quickly as you can. I’m going to try to draw off as many of the bad ones as I can to another continent and try to fight them there, far away from this place.”

Convincing the peaceful Tua that they had to gather up whatever they could and flee was easier said than done.

It took almost half a day to get them all out of the caves and moving. Many of them still looked back, wondering why they had to go somewhere else, when there was no danger that they could see yet with their own eyes.

“Do not come back to these caves,” Naero warned then. “Not until I or the Great One comes to you and tells you that it is safe to return. You must promise me that. All of you.”

They still did not understand all of her words.

“What does that mean?” Bahan asked. “Prom-miss?”

“It means that you will do what I told you to do. And you will not change your mind and do something else.”

“Very well,” Iika said. “We prom-miss to do as you told us. We will leave and hide. Fight well to vanquish the bad ones.”

“And return to us soon,” Bahan added. “So that all can be well again.”

“I’ll be all right. As long as I know that you and your people are safe.”

“We will sing for you!”

Naero nodded and smiled as she left them. She had done all that she could. And she lost valuable time doing that much.

Now she needed to focus on completing the necessary distractions she had planned to keep the enemy focused on her. To delay them and keep them busy.

Om, how are Twinky and our fixers doing?

Even Om sounded surprised.

Well ahead of schedule. I don’t know what Baeven did to them, but he really has them souped-up.

And we must leave a few behind here to warn us if the enemy stumbles onto the secret hangar nearby or Vane’s cave. Just for luck, we’ll hide one of the ships in another place for a last ditch escape, if we need one. Once we have Master Vane’s body.

I’ve been thinking a great deal about this, Naero. What do you think the enemy is after more…you and the KDM? Or High Master Vane?

Both I’d imagine. We’re prizes and batteries to them. They’ll take whatever they can get. Our job right now is to lure them away from this area and keep them from finding it. If we can hold out just under two days, help will come and perhaps Master Vane will even return on his own to help out. Other assistance will continue to pile in.

No more time to waste.

They transported to one of the other continents where they had already converted three starships into several hundred thousand advanced fixers. Twinky kept them busy every second with the plan.

They focused on fabricating what would appear to be a secret, entrenched military base.

From there, Naero and Om used specialized scanning fixers to locate the enemy.

“Got them,” Naero announced. “Several pockets of invaders, roughly the equivalent to five fleets by their ships and numbers.

They had many units of ground forces sweeping Janosha, searching intently and destroying everything in their path. They scorched the very earth in their passing and left nothing alive in their wake.

Naero and Om, prepared to give them something very real to focus all of their attention very soon.

Delay was the key element. Keep the enemy busy.

To make her plan work, she had to draw them in, and make it all look utterly convincing.

58

An Ejjai strike force moved through the dense jungle. Coordinated waves of armored shock troops supported by gravwing scouts and skirmishers, close assault hover gunships, and gravtanks. They fought mostly with particle beam cannons, rapid-fire blasters, and various explosive ordnance.

Numerous units such as this combed the entire planet of Janosha, dropping down and fanning out. The enemy deployed them to hunt down Master Vane’s hiding place.

This continent of Janosha, like all the others, teemed with a wide variety of life.

Great feathered sauropods. Colorful carnasaurs in various sizes, that hunted alone or in packs. Flying reptiles. Various insect species as big as the Tua or larger.

The heavily armed invaders gunned them all down with indiscriminate abandon and feasted upon their flesh as they proceeded.

Ejjai literally lived to torment and slaughter all things that lived. Laughing Ejjai troops bloated themselves on mounds of raw, shredded flesh they left in their wake for their meatships to collect.

The invaders gorged themselves until bloated.

Then they forced themselves to vomit their stinking guts out, so that they could fill their wanton bellies again. Repeating this process until even their greed and hunger met its obscene limit.

Most of the carnage went to waste, rotting in the summer sun in the enemy’s passing, until the supporting meatships came down to collect it.

Even the mightiest denizens of the jungle fled in terror before the ruthless invaders. Hunting parties of the Ejjai encircled them and drew them into horrendous kill zones, again and again. Until even the killers grew weary and exhausted from the extreme slaughter.

At last Naero and Om succeeded in regenerating her power and abilities.

Time for The Dark Angel of Death go to work in earnest, and unleash her plan.

Masked and cloaked all in black stealth armor, Naero skirted around this strike force. She swept around their perimeter. Still cloaked, she quickly eliminated their ring of scouts with her flashing, scarlet Chaos swords.

Just before the Ejjai discovered how blind they were, she slipped in among their ranks with all her enhanced speed and attached proximity microfusion mines on most of the battalion’s of gravtanks.

Shettana gave one teknomancer signal.

And their armor exploded all at once.

She sprang high into the air over the chaos and came crashing down, planting both feet into the final lead gravtank. She pulsed with layers of pure Chaos energy.

Her gravwing helped her adjust her density until she struck with the smashing force of a small comet. She crushed the shattered tank into the ground. Beheaded the startled Ejjai commander and crew before they could attack, revealing herself for the first time in the midst of all the destruction.

A hail of fire erupted, focused straight at her from every direction.

She vanished, and the panicked Ejjai cut down each other down with their own weapons in the resulting crossfire.

Fixers projected a gigantic holo of herself. Blood red Chaos katanas blazing in each hand.

Her warning echoed and boomed with the power of the voice.

It seem to resound at the enemy from everywhere, and not just the projected image.

Invaders of Janosha. Your masters brought you here to die. There will be no mercy or escape. Suffer and die at the hands of Shettana!

The fools cursed brazenly and fired at the holo, pouring useless attacks through it.

Naero took out their remaining few tanks. Then the gunships.

She shot down or slit the throats of their gravwing troops, leaving them floating and gushing blood up in the air.

After that, she went on the hunt for their ground forces.

Some of the Ejjai shock troops, so cocky and confident before, broke and ran.

The stragglers she took out quickly and quietly.

Those that tried to band together in groups she blasted to death with micro-missiles and grenades.

Finally she left one alpha female alive.

And rammed her up against a galu tree by her throat, stripping her of her weapons an armor. Neutralizing the suicide bomb inside of her chest.

Naero used the voice again.

“You will be my courier to your masters. Tell them what happened here today, and how quickly and easily I did these things to their most elite forces. Soon you all will be trapped, and killed without quarter or mercy. Your mission has failed. You filth think to bring war and senseless destruction upon our sacred places? Then you shall suffer the death of fools and cowards. And you shall perish by my hand.”

Naero released her. The alpha fell down, cowering and cringing in blubbering fear.

Naero spat on the wretch, and the terrified creature flinched again. It curled up in a whimpering knot, begging for its life. Even after Naero opened the catch drains on her suit and dumped her stored urine on the wretch.

She did so as a very specific, direct insult to all the Ejjai as an entire species. To the Ejjai mind their could be no worse affront–the worst conceivable to them and their ways. One that they would be sure to understand entirely, after their own fashion.

Naero vanished, returning back to her fake, hidden base to rest and regroup. Truth be told, in her weakened state, that fight took a lot out of her.

Even she grew exhausted from such efforts, and channeling large quantities of energy from the massive Janoshan flows.

Naero pushed her abilities and her knowledge of them to the limit. Gambling with fate once again.

She needed to eat and drink badly. Repair her gear and reload and re-arm, with the help of Twinky and her fixers.

“Hey, babe. You look a little tuckered.”

Naero giggled and then winced. “Please, Twinks. Don’t make me laugh right now.” Everything hurt too much. Even just breathing.

She choked down food and lix in a hurry. Barely tasting them. The war she waged single-handed against the invaders now turned on her terms.

The Ejjai commanders would be livid. Furious with hate as soon as her little slap in the face reached them.

But lest she thought to have any time to rest at all–the enemy response was not long in coming.

Swift and massive.

Naero. They’ve taken the bait. They’ve encircled this entire region with most of their forces and warships. They’ve begun an eradication campaign of carpet bombing and missile strikes, blasting anything that lives in an attempt to locate us.

I’m sorry for that, Om. But let them flail around. In a few more hours we’ll flip on the shields around the base here. That will draw them all in and make them converge around this one point.

We want them to bunch up. We hold them off for a time, frustrating them as long as we can. As many of them as we can get, as close as we can get them to come in. We want them convinced that we’re hiding and protecting something extremely valuable here. Like we’re trying to hold out until help arrives.

Are you certain about this plan, Naero? You want to actually cause a Cosmic blast on a similar scale to the one we struggled so hard to avoid? A Cosmic detonation such as that could vaporize everything within two or three hundred kilometers!

I’m counting on that, Om. We don’t really know how soon any help is coming, if at all. We need to take out as many of them as we can. If we manage to take out enough of them, the survivors might think twice and break off to fight another day. We can’t just hide; we have to act. If we just keep our heads down, they’re sure to find Master Vane, or stumble upon the Tua. Those bitches kill anything they find. We have to risk everything to take them all down.”

So many variables. What if you cannot transport us in time at the last instant? You will be controlling many complex functions all at once, juggling huge amounts of varied energies, taxing yourself to the limits–our limits–when our form is already tired and weakened at best. How long can we keep this up?

No choice Om. We begin the main show shortly. You’re the only back-up I have until help arrives. If the enemy takes me out, you and those Kexxian protocols you keep bragging about need to make sure the enemy goes down in flames–whatever happens to us. We can’t let them find Master Vane, or the Tua.

As you Spacers say, I shall do my duty to the utmost extreme. But my access to the full array of the KDM’s defensive protocols is still not entirely complete.

Naero rubbed her eyes and chuckled.

I’m sure you’ll give them hell, Om. Now please. We don’t have much time left. I’ve stuffed myself with food and lix. Help me regenerate as much as I can get back for the final push.

I am with you, Naero.

*

When the appointed time arrived, the enemy closed in on their position any way. Naero ordered Twinky to ignite their heavy shield waves over their fake base.

In an instant, it would light up all over the enemy scans.

The foe quickly converged, concentrating all of their intense firepower at trying to disrupt those massive shields. And crack the base wide open to be plundered.

Naero’s head already felt on fire inside, and she had yet to tap in directly to the Janoshan cosmic flows and open the floodgates, as she had done only by sheer, ignorant accident once before.

Now she did so on purpose, intoxicating herself again. In seconds, so close to transforming into pure Cosmic energy and losing herself in the intoxicating flows.

She heard herself screaming, as if her waking mind yelled at herself from far away.

The sheer paradox of agony and pleasure–blinding, staggering. Her physical form doubled over and fell to one side, convulsing and struggling to maintain control.

Shields buckling.

Shields failing. They enemy is punching through.

Naero heard herself start laughing, like one insane. Laughing against the raw pain and ecstasy.

Get ready Naero. Naero? Unleash the attack.

You must transport us away from the blast epicenter at the same time, or we’ll be disintegrated along with them!

Yes. Destroy them.

Destroy them all.

Suddenly it was her Dark Beast deep within her that responded. The evil monster lurking inside her, hungering–lusting to be unleashed. It knew exactly what to do with all of that power, and slowly fought her for complete control.

It wanted to feed on all the power it readily sensed and swam in. It wanted to kill and destroy anything it could find. It relished destruction on the most basic and massive scale possible.

Then at the last instant, Naero recognized the same vile energy signatures and confirmed their nature for certain.

Darkforce energy. The same sickening, terrifying force the enemy commanded.

Her own Dark Beast was truly made up entirely of and fueled by its own brand of raw, Darkforce power.

Power which only existed to annihilate and destroy all else.

It wasn’t just the enemy who were tainted, soiled, and corrupted by such naked, negative power.

Naero bore that taint of pure, darkest oblivion deep within her very core. A sickening, seductive, destroying negative power anchored deep within her very being.

So much a part of her that she would never escape it.

And that dark epiphany shattered Naero to her very soul.

Perhaps Master Vane was right. Deep within she was in fact a terrifying monster–just biding its time–lurking and waiting to be unleashed.

She was evil therefore. This proved it. It was an undeniable fact.

She suddenly had another dark insight in her instantaneous preoccupation.

Was this what had happened to the G’lothc?

Had they steeped themselves in such dark powers until they in fact became one with them? And thereafter sought only to destroy all else?

Naero barely heard Om screaming and pleading with her in their own mind.

Do something, Naero. We are about to be destroyed!

Naero shook herself and reached out with her power-drunk awareness.

Almost two hundred enemy warships–the equivalent of four entire fleets, converged on their position. Hundreds of thousands of enemy troops.

Let alone all of the living things trapped within the impending blast radius.

She grinned eagerly, still wrestling with her Dark Beast.

Yes…

KILL THEM ALL!

Naero wasn’t sure if it was the raving of her own Dark Beast or the massive detonation of her sudden Cosmic blast triggered into Darkforce energy.

To her, in near madness, they all shrieked one and the same.

Naero still laughed like a maniac when Om wrested control back from her.

He barely transported them away from the effects of the blast range.

The intense energized hurricane from the detonation wave still flung and tumbled them through the sky.

Naero gathered her wits enough to shield and transport them again, to a spot even further away.

The Cosmic explosion wiped out everything inside it.

Leaving behind a glowing, multi-tiered crater of fused glass and disrupting crystal, ten kilometers deep and almost three hundred kilometers in diameter.

An enormous sucking wound, ripped right out of the planet.

No mushroom cloud or fallout as with ancient, messy fusion bombs. Just pure annihilation. Everything within the hot zone completely vaporized, as if it had never been.

Then as the after shocks rocked Janosha, strange energies ripped through Naero and Om.

Some kind of unexpected, devastating feedback.

This was the first time they set off such a blast. They didn’t expect the Cosmic backlash.

Naero sobbed and fell to the ground as if all her tendons had been severed at once.

Was she burned out again?

The power centers in her mind, her brain.

Somehow they felt stunned and crippled, as if she were dissolving.

Was the damage temporary, or permanent?

Om, I’m helpless. I can’t move. It’s all I can do to keep breathing. Can you aid us?

Trying. We have damaged ourself most severely.

Om attempted to take control of their motor functions and bolster them.

But all he could do was get them twitching, flopping, and flailing around.

Unacceptable. Damnation! Let’s coordinate our efforts. This is going to take time.

Most of the other fixers did not escape the blast. Twinky and a few others fled the explosion well-beforehand. Most couldn’t even float anymore. They rolled over toward Naero like drunken, self-aware toy balls, attempting weakly to regenerate and refit themselves.

Much the same as Naero and Om did.

Twinky could only whine and moan. Shaking uncontrollably in fear.

We’re sitting ducks in this state, Om. You try to re-coordinate our motor functions. I’ll tap into the flows and see if I can biomance, with only my mind.

Biomancing obviously worked best when it was channeled through the living flesh and blood of a healthy living organism.

Naero’s wristcom suddenly chimed wildly. She struggled to check it.

Looks like the enemy jamming’s down.

No shit, Om–after we wiped out their fleets. I hope we got them all.

She finally flipped the link open.

Twinky recovered enough to boost the emergency messages pouring in on their secure channel. Naero focused enough to try to sort them out.

She breathed a partial sigh of relief.

We’ll have help in a matter of hours, Om. First Baeven and his crew. Then Alala and my trade fleet after that. Then Intel and the other Spacers. Klyne has several entire battle groups racing toward Janosha and the other Mystic Homeworlds. We just have to hang on a little longer.

Naero, I’m sorry to report that our remaining fixers are still reading several enemy contingents deployed in system. We broke the back of the invasion as a whole, but these remaining forces have not fled. In fact, they seem to be re-doubling their efforts to search and locate some kind of target or objective.

Master Vane. Has to be. He must be one of their primary objectives, Om. But the enemy must also have reinforcements on the way, if they’re hanging around after all that. Perhaps they think we died in the blast as well.

We very nearly did.

Thanks, Om. It was you that saved us. Not me.

Another message cut in over her com from an enemy channel.

An open holo alert.

Straight from the Dakkur hordeship.

59

“Display incoming enemy message,” Naero said.

Om hesitated.

Are you sure? If we open the link, they can trace it back to us. Track us here.

Naero looked around them and shrugged, on the distant edge of the blast crater.

Let them come. It will take them a while to get here, and there’s nothing left to defend here anyway.

“Let’s hear what the enemy has to say,” she said aloud.

Twinky and the few surviving fixers functioned enough to bring up a large holo-screen right before her.

The thick, heavy green snout of the Dakkur leader filled the display.

Oth glared at her, and then pulled back slightly, revealing that it wore some kind of armored, hi-tek battle suit, and an ammo belt of multiple equipment pouches strung around its thick neck, giving his front clawed-hands easy access to the contents of the pouches.

“I am General Oth, if you recall. Dakkur Warlord and Champion Assassin. I commend you on your prowess, spack assassin. In fact, I wish to formally challenge you to a contest. Single combat between you and myself. Combat to the death.”

While Oth spoke, he reached deftly into the pouches around his throat, rising up off all fours. Swift and very flexible, Oth stood up and moved with ease.

She recalled how much larger the Champion caste were, compared to the soldier drones. Oth was twenty meters long, not even counting his vicious tail blade, which was half again as long.

Then Oth pulled out a bloody Spacer head from a pouch, the skull still in a combat armor helmet.

From among the dead at the polar bases most likely.

Through the blood-spattered face shield, the mouth of the pale face hung open, frozen in agony and terror. A woman’s face Naero guessed, but it was hard to tell exactly.

The creature calling itself Oth popped the head–helmet and all–into his vicious grinding maw like it was a piece of candy. And proceeded to chew and gnash it up.

Then Oth swallowed, with great apparent pleasure, sucking his little delicacy down his massive gullet. A horrible, rasping sound.

“I have feasted on the flesh of your kind and find them most toothsome. Especially your soft skulls with the chewy meat inside. My people prize them as a great delicacy now.” Oth pulled out another helmeted head and absently crunched on it in the same horrible fashion.

Naero laughed, using the voice. “As much as I would enjoy destroying you, monster. Why are you trying to delay me and waste my time? And why should I bother to agree to such a match–against one of my enemy’s lackeys and slaves?”

Oth grunted.

“Who is trying to delay who?”

Oth’s end of the link panned back to take in a host of heavily armored Ejjai strike force, tanks, and gunships.

Oth then turned to show several shock troops, surrounding a small Tua female, clutching her terrified kits.

It was Lenna.

She looked up around at the towering, leering Ejjai killers with pitiful, pleading eyes.

She would find no shred or mercy among their vile kind.

Lenna muttered softly. Naero could make out the words upon her trembling lips.

“The world falls into the sun this day…”

Naero knew them all.

She knew their names.

Naero tried to speak.

Oth cut her off, yawning his great, toothy maw.

“My troops are still famished. Luckily we have found a ready supply of meat in these furry weaklings. I honestly don’t know if I can contain my forces. Their ravenous lust to feed rivals my own at times.”

The Ejjai instantly fell upon Lenna and her kits off to one side.

The helpless Tua shrieked. Laughing Ejjai troops slashed and ripped Lenna and her kits to death. Gorging themselves on red dripping meat as the bodies still twitched and the eyes of the Tua glazed over milky-white.

The Ejjai killed so fast.

In her weakened state, with them so far away. There was nothing Naero could do.

She covered her mouth with both hands. A small cry escaped her lips, but she steeled herself and did not look away.

Something white-hot began to ignite in her mind.

Oth rambled on, munching yet another head.

That’s it. Go ahead and gloat, Oth. Play your hand out.

Buy her the time she needed to regenerate.

“Amazing what these furry ones told us, once we skinned a few dozen of their kind alive and ate them while they were still screaming. The others became very helpful after watching that.”

The holo panned back even more, showing not only the ruined, smoking caves on the cliff face, but three Ejjai warships, concentrating their direct fire on Master Vane’s shielded cave.

“Whatever shall we find locked within that shielded chamber? Why would anyone go to such lengths to hide something here? We’ll just have to blast our way in and see for ourselves. I don’t have anything else to occupy my time. Unless you would stoop to accept my challenge and face me in single combat?”

Om called to her.

Almost there. Getting more efficient at this. Full regeneration nearly complete. Motor functions and all combat abilities should be fully-restored shortly.

Good. Good work Om. Pump us back up to full strength. We’ll need it, I’m sure.

Oth crashed to the ground, crushing a few stray Ejjai who got in his way.

He growled at her through the vid link. A ferocious, eager light glistened in his eyes. He roared a challenge and snarled at her again.

“I am no slave, spack bitch. Face me on the field of battle, with any weapons you choose. And after I crunch your head in my jaws, it can join the rest of your kind in my intestines. Then I will shit all of your dust together–out from my ass!”

He pulled another head out and quickly showed it to her.

“I think you might know this one. I’ve been saving it for this moment for quite a while. “

For an instant, Naero spotted Gallan’s dried, rotting face.

Oth crunched it down too.

Naero forced herself to rise. Shooting to her feet.

Such an insult to her people and the memory of her lost friends could not–would not be endured.

Her third eye opened wide.

All of her eyes burst into white and blue flame as she immersed herself directly in the white-hot Cosmic flows of Janosha.

Her Dark Beast howled, straining to break free again, but this time she held it in check.

Naero’s flesh filled with light, igniting from deep within her.

She set her stance and raised her right fist in Oth’s direction.

She shouted her reply with the voice, amplified a thousand fold.

And the great trees of the forest splintered and fell back, swept away before the sonic might of her rage.

I ACCEPT YOUR CHALLENGE.

Om strove to reason with her again as they set forth.

We know this is a trap, right? You must calm yourself and think clearly, Naero.

I don’t care, Om. I know they are waiting for me. But they are the ones who are trapped. None of them will escape.

Yes, let us indeed destroy them. But go in with a plan.

I HAVE ONE. I’M GOING TO KILL THEM ALL.

As soon as she transported into the forest near the caves, the Ejjai forces opened up on her with everything they had.

Blasters, grenades, and missiles. Gravtanks, gunships, and cannons. They pulverized the terrain all around her.

She shielded herself, and came straight at them. But the sheer volume of intense fire and ordnance tore up the ground beneath her feet and drove her back at first.

So much for the honor of Oth facing her in single combat.

She fought against an enemy completely devoid of any shred of honor.

Good.

No need to hold back from annihilating them.

Her gravwing damaged, Naero unfurled her psyonic wings, rising up into the air as she unleashed her attacks.

Waves and ribbons of destructive force ripped through all before her, immolating and mangling them, slicing them to pieces. Flesh. Armor. Energy cores and ordnance disrupted, rocking the foe with multiple secondary explosions.

In seconds she cut down Oth’s entrenched ground forces.

No sign of their skulking leader yet.

She opened all of her senses and scanned the area for any sign, recalling how the Dakkur could also both cloak and shield themselves.

Naero sensed the enemy right before they fell on her.

Energy signatures that powerful could not remain cloaked up close.

It wasn’t Dakkur attacking her this time.

Multiple Darkforce generators. Closing in. Coming straight for her.

For the first time. Naero fell back, trembling with fear.

60

The first Darkforce generator crashed right into her.

With the full impact of a run-away transport.

Swatting and lashing at her like an insane, mutant black squid. Dozens of tentacles that chewed through the trees and rocks all around her.

Sticky, slimy tentacles whipping and buffeting Naero. Stinging her exposed skin, burning and scorching her with intense pain wherever they touched her.

Naero cried out, swinging her twin Chaos katanas in whirring flashes.

She sliced through the shielded tentacles and the machine’s main body. Sparks and blasts of intense fire and Cosmic electrical discharges rocked back and forth between them.

Someone was trapped inside each one of the infernal generators. The parasitic machines could not long survive and keep functioning without a living host imprisoned within them.

That was one weakness. She needed to keep that in mind.

Then a terrible, wonderful thought struck her again.

What if one of these things had Jan trapped inside of it?

Two more machines just barely missed her, and rammed into the third, knocking it end over end.

The first had only been a decoy to keep her busy while the other two closed in.

She soared above the expanding battle, forming a large armored Chaos energy construct around herself for protection.

No good. Instantly the two new machines began draining her construct’s energies.

She tried to blast them with her cannons, but the devices sucked up that attack also.

While the original machine regenerated enough to hurl itself at her once more.

Naero negated her Chaos Mek, unwilling to feed her foes any further.

She returned to attacking them directly.

If she could keep all three of them off balance. On the defensive.

Who are you kidding, Naero?

She was in deep trouble and knew it.

They grappled with her. Lashing and battering her with mighty tentacles again and again.

In the space of a few short minutes, they reached a frightening stalemate.

Naero sliced and hacked them apart, beating them back.

They kept coming.

Naero sensed something different about the fourth machine, racing in fast and uncloaking.

It’s energy signatures were a fraction of the other three.

She spun.

It still manage to strike her a glancing blow, knocking her to one side.

Dazing her for the barest instant.

The other three pounced.

It was enough.

They had her.

Naero deflected their shock charges, even as they ensnared and scorched her.

Om attempted to absorb some of their Darkforce energy.

Nearly negating himself.

Om…Om!

Naero had never felt him scream like that before.

Yet he did his best to protect her, shielding them from the machines.

Giving her a chance to keep fighting and break free.

Naero thrashed, kicked, gouged, and punched.

She unleashed a massive sonic scream and flung one off her, driving it back end-over-end.

A mind-wave blast from her third eye drove the others away from swarming on her.

That gave her some room and damaged all of them at once.

Naero launched her counter-attack.

Flashing wheel kicks.

Fight combinations lined the devices up, bunching them together.

Rocking, smashing, and shattering the machines with both speed and raw power.

Chaos katanas sliced through the frenzy of fearsome tentacles with splattering sprays of machine slime and acidic lubricants.

Naero encased the first one to charge at her in immolating blue flame. This was the fourth, the lesser device with the lower energy levels.

It hissed and shrieked, its tentacles sizzling and dissolving, flailing their metal insides like snakes and serpents.

It struggled, trying to put out the fire.

Three heavy blows cracked the device wide open in a spray of disrupting black lightning and red sparks.

It’s hatch flung wide open.

Empty. No one inside.

That was why it was weaker.

It had no host. Yet.

The other three re-doubled their attacks, bent on driving her into the yawning, waiting trap of the fourth.

The machines meant to encase her.

Om. We gotta flee!

You cannot transport. We do not possess enough energy.

Haisha! You’re right.

She drove one back. Slowed the other two down.

Dropped another to the ground in a solid block of ice formed around it.

Ice that immediately cracked and burst.

Too many.

Four of them just…too many.

Their ploy. Exhaust and capture her.

The rammed into her, hemming her in, trying to crush her from all sides.

So much so, that in her panic, Naero slipped up. Her own Darkforce beast nearly broke free again.

It was all Naero could do to maintain control of her faculties.

But she thought she sensed something important about them as the machines closed in around her once more.

They dragged her down toward the waiting, empty device that regenerated, yawning its maw, waiting to encapsulate and take control of her.

As its new host.

Naero screamed her war cry, scraping the bottom of the barrel of her energy reserves in an all out attempt to break free and run for it.

She blasted and hammered them, entangling two of them together.

A Chaos wave-kick hurled them aside, partially disrupting their defenses.

The final device hurtled around her in shifting arcs and circles, trying to keep her busy while the other two damaged devices recovered enough to rejoin the attack.

Not a chance. Om, hit the bastard with all we’ve got!

A few more seconds…and she’d be free.

She could get away.

Once she caught her breath, perhaps she could get them to follow her. Separate them somehow and attack them one on one. Spread them out.

Naero lunged in, her scarlet swords blazing and sparking.

Om unleashed an explosive attack of Cosmic energy ribbons, both dark and light.

His attack ripped into the remaining machine.

It broke and cracked apart.

Naero saw her chance and slashed in, severing tentacles.

Ripping the device wide-open.

Make a run for it. We’re clear!

Naero went cold inside.

She wasn’t going anywhere.

Within the shattered device, she caught sight of her brother’s face, wan, tormented, and drawn.

Jan. Her little brother.

Or maybe Danner’s mind still controlled his body.

Either way.

She would either free him, or sell both of their lives dearly before she would let the enemy have her beloved brother–or the both of them–ever again.

Naero, you can’t be serious. The odds we face are–

Screw the odds, Om. Give me the juice. Unleash it all. We’re taking Jan back, and they’re not going to stop us!

Naero bypassed Om and immersed herself fully into the Cosmic flows of Janosha itself.

Transfixed by the naked energies of the Mystic planet itself.

Raw flows threatening to incinerate her.

When her Dark Beast tried to rear its ugly head, she instantly funneled the enemy’s shock charges right into its yawning maw. It absorbed their dark lightnings and destructive energies eagerly. With great lust.

Naero locked her howling Beast back down before it could break free.

Naero laughed at them all and gnashed her teeth, snarling at her foes.

“Come on!”

She fought them all close in, without quarter.

Mighty, thundering blows exchanged.

Lightning and energy waves rippled around her.

For an instant she beat them back.

Naero pulled her brother’s pod free of the damned machine, releasing him from its torment.

“I’ve got you, Jan! They’ll never take you from me again. Even if we die here.”

She flung his stasis pod far away into the safety of the huge galu trees.

More attacks, aimed straight at her.

If she could last long enough, the empty machines would begin to feed off of themselves and implode.

Further weaknesses of the infernal devices.

They could not remain in existence very long without a host as their power source.

It was obvious that the enemy intended to overwhelm and capture her quickly.

The two machines still with hosts slammed into her from two sides, almost taking her out.

“No!” she shouted.

“You’re the one’s going down!”

Taking a page from their book, she ensnared them both in rippling waves of energy ribbons of pure dark and light Cosmic force.

Once she held them fast, she swung them back and forth.

Smashing them repeatedly into rocks, mountains, trees. Each other.

Concussion from the impacts rocked and split the very air.

Finally the other two empty machines were damaged enough that they began to cook off and implode.

Naero held the two remaining machines against the implosions to shield herself from the impending disruption.

Using the destruction to damage the remaining, vile machines even further.

Sparks flew. Her energy ribbons sliced through the tops of the devices.

With her Chaos katanas she cut and slashed the hatches open.

Vane’s two missing adepts. The light and the dark one.

That was why she hadn’t been able to sense their presence. They had been overcome and captured at some point early on, trapped within these two generators.

They and their ruptured pods gushed oxygenated fluid as they spilled to the ground unconscious, as if from dark wombs of horror.

Naero quickly snatched them up and flung their helpless forms in the same direction as Jan’s, deep within the forest.

They were Mystic adepts. They could take it.

Om shielded her from the final implosion that shattered the area beneath her feet and all around her.

Pulverizing the ground and the very bedrock of the planet into a compressed, hyper-dense crater.

All four of the enemy Darkforce generators devoured themselves to nothing in their bottomless hunger for raw power.

Naero won.

Alone, against four of the damned things.

Somehow she’d won.

Jan–

A new warning from Om.

Three enemy battleships uncloaking. They’re firing right on top of us!

Both she and Om flung up their defenses in layers of energized spheres.

Rapid-fire ion cannons tore into them.

Om and Naero both screamed.

61

The enemy ion cannons sapped Naero’s energies, draining her powers and defenses immediately.

She tried to transport.

She couldn’t, not while being transfixed and drained by three powerful ion beams.

Om opened them up once more to the full intensity of the Janoshan Cosmic flows.

Maybe we can overload them, Om.

That bought them precious time.

But the negating effects of the ion beams continued to wear them down and cut through anything they tried to sustain.

Oth finally showed himself, un-cloaking to one side. Gloating and looking very pleased with himself.

Where had he been? And doing what?

Now he walked up so confident and calm.

Laughing even.

“As soon as the guns suck your powers dry, our little contest can begin.” He laughed and snapped his crushing jaws.

Naero grinned and used the voice.

“Let’s get to it then.”

She ground her teeth against the pain and split off three glowing orbs. Each stuffed with cosmic energy going critical.

She directed them all with a single purpose.

To take out those ships.

The orbs phazed into each battleship, speeding straight to the vast, heavily protected power cores of the ion guns.

All three enemy warships and their commanders sensed their vulnerability.

Attempting to veer away at the last instant.

Far too late.

They disrupted and then detonated over the mountain range like big fusion bombs.

They and their crews vaporized, raining wreckage and ash and burning debris.

Oth rushed in and swatted Naero down, disrupting her failing shields with his razor tail attack.

He nearly broke through and cut her in two.

“The ion cannons did their work well enough. Now I only need to kill you.”

Naero plunged two Chaos katanas into his belly and exploded them.

“You may find that harder than you think.”

Oth roared in pain and twisted, slashing, spinning, whipping at her.

Naero dodged, sent him reeling with a sonic blast that drilled him back into the mountain.

They whirled together once more and fought in close.

She tried to freeze his head and jaws in a block of ice. Blinding him for a moment.

Oth shattered it.

She tried to incinerate him with intense heat and flame. Oth endured and withstood the attack.

He clawed her down one side and leg, tearing through her defenses.

Then Oth rammed into her, and smashed her against the large crystal formations, shattering them in sprays of razor-sharp shards.

He sprang at her with his jaws open wide, as if to swallow her whole.

Naero punched him back with a mindblast from her third eye, sending him rolling, head over tail.

At last she had his shields down.

With her Chaos katana, she finally severed his tail, and then the front end of his snout when he snapped at her, barely missing her face.

He ripped at her again. Naero dodged, then sped all along his left side, slicing his insides wide open. They crunched and ground like stone and metal, shrieking, spraying thick blood and glittering, glowing dust.

Oth charged again, still tearing at her.

Naero sent a Cosmic blast straight down his throat.

It ignited within his core, rupturing him into glowing chunks from within, from gullet to tail.

The front of his head and torso crashed down, convulsing.

Oth even managed to chortle and laugh at her telepathically as he perished.

Fool. We’ve still won. The masters always win.

Naero mashed and stomped his face into dusty, powdery mush at her feet.

Voices called out to Naero from up in the huge branches of the galu trees.

“Naero! We’re here.”

Danjen and S’krin came through the forest close by, armed and ready to assist. Too late this time.

Yet Naero breathed a heavy sigh of relief. The battle with Oth and his forces had drained her almost completely once more. And she still had Jan and the two missing adepts to secure and keep safe.

Baeven and his people had finally arrived. More help would arrive shortly.

Thank the powers. She wasn’t alone any longer.

Danjen pumped a few explosive blasts into Oth’s charred, smoldering skull for good measure, blasting the brain cavity wide open.

“I’m still worried,” S’krin said. “What did the filth mean when he said that they’ve still won?”

Naero. We have a serious problem. Actually several serious problems.

She suddenly glanced back behind her, up at Master Vane’s cave.

Fire and smoke belched forth from it like all of the others.

“Oh, no!”

Transporting. She flashed inside and flashed back out to Danjen and S’krin in a panic.

Still so weak.

She fell to one knee, gasping.

“They’ve taken Master Vane. His physical body at least. They took him while I was busy fighting Oth and the others. We have to go after Vane.”

S’krin nodded and spoke into her com. “Gaviok. Three for immediate pick up.”

Naero. We’re completely spent. We cannot do this.

Watch me.

Danjen listened intently to an incoming com.

“Naero, your fleet is coming in. Other enemy fleets are engaging them. They’re outnumbered. This isn’t starting out well.”

“What’s happening?” Naero said. “Get us up there!”

“The enemy ships are too many. They’re neutralizing your ships one after another. It’s a disaster in the making.”

This couldn’t be happening.

Danjen listened closely to the battle chatter.

“The Dark Star just arrived on scene. It’s nailing the enemy ships as fast as it can, but it’s taking heavy fire. It’s being cut to pieces, even as it keeps fighting!”

She activated her gravwing. “You two follow me. We’ll collect Jan and the two adepts. I have a ship nearby. That will save us some time.”

They scooped up Jan and the others from the forest.

“Hold on, Jan. I’ve got you.”

Naero clung to her brother in her arms. Poor sib. He looked so horrible. She kissed his face.

The enemy would pay for what they did to him.

“We must reach my hidden vessel and get up there in the mix!”

They passed over the mountain range and the forest, heading directly for the secret hangar. No smoke. The enemy swept in that way, but in their hurry to reach the caves, they missed the–

Naero’s thoughts snagged on hooks of brutal sorrow and horror exploding all at once.

She beheld the absolute devastation stretched out before her.

Oth and his Ejjai came in hot.

Driving every living thing before them.

And cutting them down.

Naero cried out and faltered in mid-air, nearly crashing down into the shattered area with Jan sagging in her arms.

The forest and the area all around lay littered with violent splashes of blood and death.

Most poignantly–the bodies of hundreds of dead Tua. Flushed out of their hiding places.

Perhaps all of them. The entire tribe.

Exterminated.

Naero sobbed and landed slowly, completely shocked at first.

She burst into tears when she spotted the still forms of Bahan and Iika and dozens of kits, out in front of the other bodies. Nearest to the river.

She read the signs.

The Tua ran for their lives, trying to reach the swift river in order to leap in and escape.

Bahan and Iika and the many kits clinging to them had all been blasted and gunned down. Then torn open.

Blood.

Death.

Everywhere.

The other adults and older Tua scattered behind them had given their lives in vain, trying to slow the enemy down.

The brave pair and their charges all perished in the end.

Still thirty meters shy of the river bank.

No matter how fast they had run, how valiantly they tried to save the kits.

None of them ever made it.

“What are we doing?” S’krin asked, glancing around in confusion. “Why did we stop? Why are we just standing here? We can’t do anything for these dead creatures. I thought we were in a hurry?”

“Shhh…” Danjen said, sensing her mood. “I think…I think she knew them.”

“I did know them,” Naero said. “They were…my family here.”

The anguish. The flashing, bitter knives and claws of it tore her apart within.

She kissed Jan on the forehead and handed him over to Danjen.

Naero sobbed and knelt down by the ravaged bodies of her Janoshan family. They who had loved her and whom she had loved.

She took them in her arms. She kissed their cold faces.

And laid them back down, in each other’s arms.

Naero…we must–

Shut up Om. Don’t worry.

She clenched her fists. Total ferocity threatened to tear loose.

“Not one of them will escape this system alive.”

She turned to Danjen and S’krin and spoke flatly.

“Take my brother and the adepts. Return to your ship. Heed my warning. Order Baeven and my people and any others far away from Janosha as possible. Warn them all to jump out of the system if they can. Tow them away if you must. Just get everyone far away from here.”

“What are you babbling about?” Danjen said. “They’re all right in the middle of an intense naval battle up there. They’re losing. Almost half of your ships have already been neutralized!”

Naero looked down at her Tua friends one last time.

She knelt and touched their poor, kind furry faces. Now frozen in pain and fear.

Forever.

She sobbed.

As the tears in her eyes boiled away in flashes of steam.

“I was not driven mad…until this moment.”

Naero’s eyes ignited.

Her face became flame.

Her mind. Her soul.

Her entire being became flame.

And swelled with typhoons of Cosmic energy drawn from the planet’s flows, turning thundering, boiling black inside her, veined with blood red fire and destroying lightning.

Naero let the flows of Janosha spear through her, rejoicing in the fierce agony.

She flung wide the gates to the secret cage lurking deep within herself.

Bursting with power, she launched off from the surface of Janosha like a missile.

Preparing to unleash her Dark Beast.

And give the fell thing full reign.

62

The enemy’s advanced ion batteries turned on her in panic.

She became an energy being at will.

All of the enemy firepower combined barely scratched her gigantic, swelling berserker fury.

Using their own strategy against them, she quickly drained their massed fleets of power. Adding it all to her own.

Her own battered merchant fleet stumbled and pulled back, limping and towing their stricken ships far away to refit and regroup. Trying their best to clear out of the way.

Naero located the enemy flagship.

The cloaked one that had urgently attempted to jump under the screening cover of all the rest.

She had hoped to seize the Dakkur hordeship.

Yet it must have already fled.

She melted every Ejjai on the flagship into molten puddles of metal, plasteel and bubbling grease, wherever they stood.

Thousands.

Locating Master Vane’s body being held in stasis only took seconds.

She could not concentrate and remain rational much longer.

She stuffed Vane’s stasis container into a life pod.

Jettisoned him toward her fleet.

Alala and Tye raced in to intercept the pod.

Naero’s last conscious act of sanity.

She could no longer focus her will, her thoughts.

She nearly blacked out at that point, as her Dark Beast tapped in the energies she channeled and took full roaring control.

Then the real slaughter ensued, first among the drifting enemy fleets directly before her.

She vaguely recalled Om’s voice pleading with her, but could not reply.

She could no longer listen.

Like one of her nightmares come to life, Naero felt herself swell up to a huge, vast size, bloated with Cosmic power. She broke some of the enemy warships open as if they were toys. Like cracking poultry eggs.

She spilled their dying crews out into space. Laughing in glee like one completely mad.

WIPE THEM ALL OUT!

Then she formed a pinpoint of impossibly, ultra-dense, Darkforce energy. Surging, racing toward critical mass in seconds.

Concentrated power that laid waste to anything it touched.

The nano-singularity became a massive blinding orb of black disintegration. It pulled in all light.

The resulting Darkforce blast went far beyond any mere explosion.

It became a cataclysm that reduced all of the enemy fleets to ash and disintegrated any remnants to incinerated Cosmic dust.

Naero vaguely sensed cheering coming from her fleet and the allied forces still arriving off in the distance.

Until they attracted her leering attention.

Her Dark Beast swung around ominously.

Sweeping straight for them next.

Then everyone noticed something missing.

Naero vaguely noticed it too.

Planet Janosha simply wasn’t there any longer.

No debris. Nothing. Completely gone.

As if it never existed.

The vast beast she had become gloated drunkenly at them all, as one entirely devoid of any shred of sanity. A mindless thing, solely bent on oblivion.

Then a powerful sensation overtook her.

A glittering multitude of tiny shining lights enveloped her like a swirling nebula.

And for just a moment, the Dark Beast that she had become drew aside, transfixed and distracted by them all and their fluctuating glitter and shifting, shimmering movements.

She could not attack them.

They were nothing. No threat to her at all.

Far too small. Just tiny glittering flashes of bright light.

In her twisted, tormented heart and soul, Naero thought for certain that she heard the song of the Tua. Rejoicing and calling to her.

Yah-duu Ah Shah Lah! Shah hah lah shah-dae! Yah Jhah Vah Shah-Lae. Ae duu vah. Ae duu vah shah lah!

In the prison of her own dark soul and mind, Naero sobbed in the depths of her own self-inflicted torment and broke down, as if weeping. She tried to sing in answer with the Tua voices, but her slack mouth only worked and croaked like that of a mindless lunatic.

Yet the tiny shining lights and their swelling song somehow released her.

Their lights showed her a way out of her dark prison.

They helped set her free from the trap of her own flaws and imperfections, her own folly and madness.

Her Dark Beast lost its hold entirely, swept away by the torrent of light. All of its immense destroying power vanished and drained away into naught.

Om did something too. She knew not what at first.

Yes, he wrestled with her directly at last, for control of her very mind. He screamed at her, only she hadn’t been able to listen before.

Now she choked.

Air. Om cut off her air.

She could no longer breathe. There wasn’t enough oxygen.

She felt herself weaken and shrink down exponentially, losing her grip on the energy she’d stolen from the Janoshan cosmic flows.

But with the planet inexplicably gone now, the immense energy flows were suddenly gone as well. She could no longer feed and sustain herself. Replenishing the vast amounts of power the Dark Beast craved and fed upon.

As her power ebbed away, the fickle Beast could not grow any longer. And so it betrayed her again, slinking back into its dormant state to lick its wounds and bide its time deep within herself.

Abandoning its control of her. Beaten down.

Leaving her to perish all alone if need be.

Naero should have asphyxiated in space and died.

Parts of her mind begged Om to let her die that way.

But he ignored her, as usual, and activated her Nytex suit programming with teknomancing, pweaking up a bubble helmet and giving them a few precious minutes of air.

Until her friends from her fleet swept in to scoop her up.

In a haze, she thought she saw Saemar’s face through a glifter facemask, gathering her in gently, and sweeping her onboard The Dagger as it pulled up and opened a cargo bay.

*

Naero awoke in a medical bay containment cell on board her own small flagship, The Flying Dagger.

Zhen, Chaela, Saemar, Tarim, and Shalaen crowded together in her area, fidgeting and waiting for her to come around.

She sat up so suddenly she startled them all.

“What’s happening?” she demanded. “How’s the fleet? How many people did we lose in the battle? How many ships?”

Her friends placed their hands on her. Weeping with joy and relief to see her awake and sane once again.

“Oh, sweetie!” Saemar sobbed, getting down on her knees and sobbing and blubbering over her.

Soon Naero found herself in the awkward position of patting Saemar on the back and comforting her.

“Get off of her,” Chaela finally said. “Haisha! You’re a captain, for the love of the bloody stars. Get a hold of yourself!” But tears streamed down her face as well.

“Don’t worry about the fleet,” Tarim said. “Our losses in the end were extremely light.”

She stared at them, hesitant to ask. “Did I…did I kill any of our people?” She really could not remember if she had or not.

Shalaen and Zhen both bit their lips and put both of her hands on Naero’s.

“No, you did not,” Shalaen told her.

“It never came to that, En,” Zhen added.

Naero frowned.

This time.

She looked at the cell door. “So, how many Intel and Mystic guards are out there to keep watch over me, in case I lose it and turn into a monster again?”

Tarim shook his head.

“Not a one. They have ships watching us, but when they suggested some crap like placing guards on you, we told them all to go straight to hell.”

Chaela snorted, rambling on. “We told them the same thing, when next they demanded that we turn you over to them. That other General Ingersol is a total dumbshit too, just like his twin brother that got himself arrested. Ordering us to hand you right over to him. Immediately. Intel my ass. How come Shadowforce didn’t know about these damn attacks in the first place? None of this should have ever happened.”

“You did them a big favor, sweetie.” Saemar snapped her fingers. “Look at you. Rescued the High Master and wiped out a bunch of alien clone fleets. All by yourself. That was…quite a show you put on. Haisha! What the bloody hell are those Mystics teaching you anyway?”

“They ought to be thanking you,” Tarim said. “Not treating you like some kind of menace.”

Naero covered her face with her hands. “I am a menace. I…I think I may have vaporized and entire planet. I…I might have killed everyone. Guys…I guess I am a monster now.”

Nobody knew how to field that for a long moment.

“None of us know what happened to Janosha,” Shalaen said flatly. “Not even me. I was as surprised as much by the planet’s sudden disappearance as everyone else. Yet it is not clear, Naero, that you had anything to do with it.”

Naero leaned forward with her forearms resting on her thighs and knitted her fingers together nervously. She covered her face.

She attempted to laugh. “Yeah, sure. Whole planets just vanish like that all the time. Guys, I’m serious. Maybe you should turn me over to the authorities.”

“Now I know you’re crazy, sweetie.”

Saemar felt her forehead.

Zhen closed her eyes and clenched her teeth. “Un-frickin’ believable. It’s not like she’s sick. She doesn’t have a fever, you moron!”

“How do you know? I think she feels a little hot.”

“You two stop before I clobber you both,” Chaela said. She turned back to Naero.

“Tell us what really happened, En?”

“It’s a pretty long story,” she said.

Zhen looked around at the others. They all looked back and nodded.

“We’re not going anywhere for a while.”

“Hey, I am beyond incredibly famished,” Naero told them, her empty stomach churning. “Can we…get something to eat?”

They ended up in The Dagger’s galley.

How ironic that an interstellar menace–a monster such as herself–would take time to cook chow for her mates.

Naero made grilled hooma bread sandwiches for them all with micken eggs, thick slices of Spum, tart red-violet sevari tomatoes, purple lettuce, and green durro cheese.

She gobbled down three of the sandwiches herself.

How good did that taste?

Without warning Naero launched into her story.

Four hours later, they were all crying with her, and sitting on the floor of the galley together getting drunk on a case of illegal Cymbellin scotch.

By then they were all out of Spacer poteen.

Naero wiped her face dry with her hands and took another belt.

Her speech slurred. She probably couldn’t stand.

“Now you guys know what happened, and how completely messed up I truly am.”

“Sweetie, you didn’t do anything the rest of us wouldn’t have done in the same situation.”

Zhen touched her arm again. “You’re still a good person, En. You are.”

Even Shalaen protested. “It isn’t your fault you haven’t finished your Mystic training and learned to control your powers yet.”

Shalaen was the only one still sober. No matter how much she drank, the booze simply didn’t affect her.

Tarim got a call on his com. He hit the button on the fourth attempt, listened quietly, and then signed off.

“That was our good buddy, General Thadian Ingersol. They’ve finally reached High Master Vane. He’s furious, as usual, and insists on meeting with you as soon as possible. On Taeha. To meet with him and the other two High Masters.”

If they left quickly, they could make it there in a little over a standard week.

“We’re all with you, Naero,” Chaela told her. “Whatever you need from us.”

Saemar said the same thing. “We’re right here with you, sweetie. No matter what.”

Her parents always told her to face everything in life with courage.

At least she had Jan back now–safe with Baeven for the time being. No one else but her closest friends knew about that.

She hoped that she could see and talk to him again.

If the High Masters allowed her keep living

She had her friends and people who loved her and still believed in her.

Why, she wasn’t exactly sure anymore.

Naero sighed deeply, but did not hesitate any further.

“Tell Intel and the High Masters…all of them…that I’ll comply.”

THE END

Please enjoy the following teaser…and excerpt, from the next Spacer Clans Adventure, Book Three:

NAERO’S FURY

by Mason Elliott

Naero hadn’t done it much, but going into a trance to enter the Astral Plane shouldn’t be all that difficult. Master Vane had shown her how once. And she had gone there lots of times in her sleep, in her mind, to speak with Khai, using their astral crystals.

Before her friend Khai had vanished without a trace.

Yet she had never been trained in astral travel, and didn’t know much about exploring or moving around. Master Vane had taken her there once, just to teach her the basics and give her his marker. Many other times later to spar with her.

If nothing else, she could probably focus on his marker and locate him.

Zhen had roused Naero and reminded her it was time. And that she and Shalaen would monitor her while she was in the astral trance.

Naero focused her mind and abilities, controlling her breathing. Remembering the little she had learned.

Within several minutes of focused meditation, she open her eyes and found herself floating in the Astral Miasma, the nebulae of energy. Hugging her knees to her chest.

Om spoke to her, even more easily here than in her own mind before.

I have accessed some of the Kexxian Matrix’s data files on The Astral Plane. Like everything else, they explored it quite extensively.

Om, I’m naked here. I’m not complaining, But how do I put astral clothing on again?

You control everything here by imagination, and force of will. Concentrate on your favorite clothing and they’ll appear.

That’s easy.

She looked down and saw her favorite Nytex flight togs, programmed just the way she liked them.

Naero blinked, spinning and twirling in one spot, turning upside down.

Why can’t I move more than a meter at a time in front of us?

You’re not used to this reality. So it’s not clear to you.

The air around her looked opaque. Not mist. Not smoke or vapor. And it glow slightly with its own bluish-gray light.

In the twilight she glowed softly blue-white with her own light. From within.

“I once heard rumors that the Mystics could travel and send messages this way, but I thought it was all just a myth.”

Since the other planes are entire universes within themselves, it is said, they are all nearly infinite. Thus it is difficult to pin point any kind of location or person unless you already know them.

Naero instinctively tried to stand up, but there was nothing to stand on.

Then she recalled Master Vane’s Marker, and it appeared right before her. Where she found him, she would find the other High Masters.

At least she deserved a chance to be heard by them all. To try to explain herself and her actions.

Naero could not simply stand by and let them decide her fate without herself being present.

She focused on the crimson and black star more and swept forward, seemingly at great speed.

She came to an abrupt halt, like a starship coming out of jump at its destination.

The opacity around them partially melted back. They proceeded forward, opening her visual field far wider. She made out the area around them as the miasma peeled back.

Slightly below them she saw spheres within glowing spheres, all spinning within greater spheres.

Her own sphere, glowing white-blue suddenly surrounded her like a glittering soap bubble.

Yet it did not pop when she poked at it.

One sphere in particular, the largest, glowed and pulsed blood red, containing a withered old man with a long beard, pacing impatiently.

Burning eyes vanished and re-appeared at random all over his bald head. The red sphere absorbed Master Vane’s marker.

Was this his true form? What he really looked like?

His scarlet sphere was also flanked by two smaller spheres with figures inside them.

Om made a calculated guess.

His current guardian adepts, no doubt. The ones you rescued from the enemy Darkforce generators.

I think so Om.

At most times, every High Master had at least two champion adepts protecting him or her, each of them very close to mastery themselves. Like Hashiko had been.

Naero studied Vane’s new guardians for the very first time, and tried to see into their spheres.

Something about them did seem strangely familiar.

One of Vane’s adepts, the male, appeared to be so deep dark black, he could be a singularity. This adept’s sphere was flat black on the surface and barely transparent.

If Naero had been able to breathe, she would have gasped.

Instead she simply raised her hand to her mouth.

She recalled that she had seen many of these adepts long before.

In her dreams, nightmares, and crazed visions. Perhaps even on the Astral Plane somehow.

Vane’s other adept was the white female, the exact opposite of the other. So brilliant and blindingly radiant, she could be a pulsar. Her orb was like a high intensity bulb, blinding and almost completely crystal clear.

It occurred to Naero that during her initial testing, Klyne had male and female assistants as well.

She couldn’t guess what the significance of that pattern was all about. Perhaps just some weird Mystic, egalitarian tradition.

Then why weren’t any of the High Masters female?

Everyone seemed to ignore her where she floated.

The next larger sphere, farther away, glowed silver-blue.

If she focused intently on it, she discovered she could zoom in with her third eye. Her mind’s eye.

Within a silver man sat serenely, neither young nor old. Master Tree in his purest form of order.

Two smaller guardian spheres flanked him.

Master Tree’s female adept glowed with intense blue energy in a deep blue sphere.

The male likewise glowed with vibrant green force within a green sphere, a shining sword sheathed down his broad athletic back. He seemed very familiar somehow.

She did a double-take. Long blond hair. Green skin. Big glowing sword.

Yep. In the flesh. Or…astral form at least.

It was Khai! She was sure of it. He was alive.

Had he actually succeeded in his great task of forging his mystic sword in the heart of a gigantic pulsar? Was that it on his back?

Naero gasped again. Now that she knew what he looked like, Khai was also the dreamy green hunk from many past, pent up nightmares. The one who kept sticking his sword through her head.

What did it all mean? She wasn’t nuts enough yet?

Now she knew for certain she needed serious help.

And to do some serious dating at some point, once-and-for-all.

If the Mystics continued to let her live.

Khai must have sensed her inner turmoil, or thoughts, or maybe just her concentration on him.

Mr. Green god even glanced her way for a second, looking just as confused and puzzled by her sudden appearance.

Neither of them had ever met the other in person.

Naero covered her face with one hand and looked aside, withdrawing her sphere suddenly further away.

How fricking embarrassing.

She crept forward again. Slowly.

The third and final sphere glowed golden, and contained an equally golden child within, energetic and bristling with lightning. He bounced back and forth inside like a gigantic electron.

Master Jo of course.

Two flanking spheres.

One of his adepts had no clear form, eyes gleaming within a shifting, flickering miasma like the Astral Plane itself. His female counterpart shifted shape from one fantastic creature to another.

When she suddenly made out their voices, she could sense that an intense debate had been doing on. One that still continued.

“We cannot be certain in this matter,” the golden child insisted. “We do not dare act in any rash way.”

“Agreed, High Master Jo,” the serene silver man added. “She might yet be another Trickster from what I can tell.”

“Yes. Quite possible, High Master Tree.”

The old man in the blood red sphere blustered impatiently. “Fools! Always conspiring against me. Taking positions opposite of mine for no reason but to anger me. I’ve been telling you all along, this child is clearly the Great Destroyer–long foretold. Our duty is clear. She is a threat to all existence. To multiple dimensions. She must be eliminated, at once, before she can grow even more powerful.”

“High Master Vane,” Tree said. “None of us can be sure of that fact. Including you.”

“I am.”

“You are always certain when it comes to destroying someone,” Jo added. “Your pure Chaos answer to everything. Destruction or Creation.”

“It works.”

“No. It doesn’t. It only delays and worsens the inevitable,” Tree said. “The Universe shall have its way. We all know this. You were mistaken with the last savant when he appeared, and now he remains at large–a renegade beyond even our control.”

Baeven? We’re they referring to her uncle?

Vane rolled his eyes. “Idiots! The Renegade is the Trickster, I say. This child must in fact be the Great Destroyer. Just look at the powers roiling within her. They will surely corrupt and overwhelm her entirely and drive her mad in the end. She will go berserk on a scale that makes her recent outbursts feeble and puny by comparison. She must perish now, while we have a chance to put an end to her. While the only crime she has committed is destroying a single planet!”

“We’ve studied the mysterious disappearance of Janosha, and we still cannot be certain that she had anything to do with it.”

“Really? Who else could it be then? Planets like Janosha aren’t in the habit of just obliterating themselves suddenly for no reason at all!”

I cannot allow this.

Quiet, Om. Don’t do anything. I’m trying to listen.

Naero…they’re discussing our destruction. The Chaos Master means to destroy us.

Master Jo continued to protest. “You can’t just kill off every entity that manifests Cosmic Abilities such as these. Our universe is peppered with them. We must continue to locate and guide them–not find excuses to execute them. Like the Others have told us. Tricksters often appear to oppose Great Destroyers. Without the former, final victory is never possible. “

“High Masters,” Tree said. “This young woman also possesses the Kexxian Data Matrix. We cannot destroy her without destroying it. Intel and The Spacer Council value our wisdom, but even they would not agree to such action.”

“Regrettable,” Vane said. “Yet I cannot take the risk. I have decided this matter on my own.”

“You have no such authority on your own,” Tree insisted.

“I cannot stand by and allow our galaxy–perhaps our entire universe to be destroyed–just to satisfy your foolish, philosophical, and theoretical whims.”

Master Vane turned to his adepts. “My finest students, obey me. Delay these fools. Keep them occupied whilst I act for the good of all existence.”

More rapid than thought, the male ensnared the blue sphere and its satellites in coils and tendrils of darkness. While the female enveloped the golden sphere and its companions in waves of of pure light.

Naero tried to pull away, but in her panic she did not know where to go.

High Master Vane sped straight at her with impossible speed.

I must act, Naero.

No, Om. Please, this is already bad enough. Don’t do anything.

I cannot comply. I must defend us!

Naero went down on her hands and knees before Master Vane. She called out, her voice projecting.

“Please, do not attack me. I only wish to be trained to control my abilities. I have struggled hard to do so.”

Vane bore down on her, arcs of pure scarlet energy bristling around him.

“Far too late for that, monster. You must perish for the good of all. I told you this hour would come.”

Instinctively, Naero drew back again, trying to evade his attack. She rose up within her receding sphere.

Vane closed in once more. Gathering his powers.

“Don’t do this,” Naero begged. “Please. Help me. I know I can’t fully control all of my abilities yet. I’m trying as hard as I can.”

“Yes, and look at the results? Countless lives crushed and eradicated. Janosha vaporized–an entire planet. You must never be allowed to reach your full potential. Now hold still and embrace your fate.”

Naero put her hands out before her, holding her palms out defensively. Pleading.

“No. Don’t. I can’t be responsible for what–"

“I know. You can’t help yourself. You are an abomination!”

Vane smashed into her, piercing all of her defenses as if they were shattering glass.

In the distance, she sensed that Master Jo and Master Tree finally broke free.

Too late.

Master Vane attacked, trying to overwhelm her with raw power.

He pummeled her with impossible blows.

In the end, he beat her up badly, but only succeeded in knocking her around once more.

Om roared in their mind.

Kexxian defense protocols unlocked and on line.

Energized glowing armor of some advanced origin formed around her like a hi-tek battle suit.

Naero saw out of her third eye as it awoke and burst into radiance like a blue-white star.

Master Vane came at her once more, all of his powers focused through his primary scarlet, burning eye centered in his forehead.

All of his other flaming eyes closed as he concentrated, his skull wreathed in weird cosmic flames like a mane of cosmic fire.

“See how powerful you have already become? No adept could have withstood those lethal attacks. We must finish this now, before the others can interfere.”

“Please Master Vane. Please, don’t do this.”

“You will fall before the greatest of all Cosmic attack techniques. I am one of the few who have ever learned to master it. The Eye of Annihilation!”

The same Chaos technique that had destroyed Hashiko. Even she couldn’t control it properly.

A massive blood red beam of destroying Cosmic force shot straight at her.

It all happened so fast. Naero heard Om screaming.

Reflection defense. Analyze incoming cosmic assault. Duplicate and reflect attack tenfold!

Just before the incoming blast vaporized her, a blue-white beam shot out of her own third eye to war against Master Vane’s powers.

The Cosmic flows flared intensely.

Naero screamed as if her body and soul were being sucked through the eye of a black hole’s needle.

The wide blue beam quickly drove back the red beam to its source.

At the last instant, High Master Vane cried out in terror.

“Impossible! There can be no such–”

The destroying energy ignited on contact.

A massive detonation on the Astral Plane blinded the area within a few light years.

High Masters Jo and Tree barely managed to withdraw and shield the others. All of their spheres shattered.

Pure cosmic energy punched into High Master Vane right before Naero’s eyes.

Driving him back like a white hot comet.

He struggled against it with all his might.

Obliterated to glowing ash and dust, screaming in the wake of his own annihilation.

High Master Vane’s dying force of will echoed off into the universe.

Naero would have caught her breath if she had any.

The outcome left her completely stunned for a shuddering instant.

Om…what did we just do?

We had no choice. My sole purpose is to defend our current form.

Naero stared down at her hands in terror. Tendrils of Cosmic energy rippled and still curled off of her body and her sphere like smoke.

Om…Haisha!

We just killed a High Master of the Spacer Mystics!

Call For Book Reviews

If you enjoyed the book you just finished reading, please help me. In the competitive world of publishing I get lost in a sea of millions of authors. Besides buying my books (thank you!), the next best thing that you can do to help me is post a cogent review. Just a few sentences describing what you liked about my book, on one or more of the sites below will help my career more than you can imagine.

Amazon Review Link:

http://www.amazon.com/Naeros-Gambit-Spacer-Adventure-ebook/dp/B00F73N8K4/ref=sr_1_1_title_0_main?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1379990087&sr=1-1&keywords=naero%27s+gambit#_

Barnes & Noble Review Link:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/reviews/Naeros-Run%2FMason-Elliott/1113853937?ean=2940015957310

Good Reads Review Link:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17132259-naero-s-run

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Please post one or more reviews for me. Thank you once again. –Cheers, Mason.

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About the Author

Mason Elliott grew up loving Science Fiction and Fantasy in all of their myriad forms. That love has transferred into his dedicated writing. Like most writers he lives a Spartan lifestyle and yearns to devote his life even more to his writing, and someday retire on the Pacific coast. So be a fan, buy his stuff and enjoy!

Like and follow Mason on Facebook at:

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And on Twitter at:

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Visit Mason Elliott’s website and blog at:

masonelliott@authorcontacts.com

And for even more information on Mason Elliott and his works, visit High Mark Publishing online at:

www.HighMarkPublishing.com

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First I would like to dedicate this book to all of my family, friends, and readers who have supported and believed in me for so long and into the future.

Again, none of this would be possible without my editor Jennifer Cummings, the publishing board, and publicist Josh Marten. Special thanks to all of my Beta readers, especially Lois, my bookseller buddy and fan. And as always, constant thanks to my online writing group, my fellow toilers in the salt mines. We will always back each other up.