Spacer Clans Adventure 3: Naero's Fury (34 page)

Did they all have
a Dark Beast within them?

Why didn’t
everyone?

The damaged G
’lothc spirit coiled within its astral form, like some evil jellyfish, poisoning an egg from within, snarling and cackling as Baeven’s multi-bladed hands tore into it, ripping and scything into the evil thing lurking within.

Ullogk
laughed even more.

“So, a
nother filthy Spack vermin who has dabbled in the power Cosmic? We shall deal with your kind soon enough, upstart. Go ahead and slay this form. Do what you will. It is too late. Both myself and your Driathan whore are already doomed.

Now it was Baeven
who began to laugh, as one gone mad. He grappled with the vile thing and hammered it to the ground, smashing and mutilating it.

“
You’re not going to die, you filthy wretched thing. I know how to deal with your kind, scum. Slay you? Don’t make me laugh. If she dies, you’re only going to
wish
that I had killed you.”

Baeven
’s blades–his entire body covered with them–flashed and sliced in blinding motions.

Naero could hardly believe it.

Baeven tore the G’lothc spirit out of its host’s dissolving, astral form, and somehow–he either absorbed or consumed it.

Within himself.

Then, even more terrifying, Naero thought that she could detect the faint psyonic screams of the G’lothc–as Baeven tormented and tortured it unmercifully within the fierce depths of his own indomitable mind.

Baeven unleashed and
enraged could be a pretty terrifying force of nature to witness.

Meanwhile, Om struggled to save Jia somehow.

Naero. I don’t know how to heal a dying Driathan astral form–a soul essence. The complex structure of her mind is nothing like ours. I don’t know what to do to fend of this level of attack. Help me.

Om
’s urgency brought her back to one of their other, current predicaments.

Jia was still nurtured within
Naero’s own mind and soul essence that she shared with her, and yet Jia still faded and continued to wither and perish. Her great force of will and strength of power, Jia’s very essence had been severely damage and failed so rapidly, despite Om’s best efforts to bolster her in every way.

What had the G
’lothc done to them all? Some kind of psyonic and Cosmic attack and soul-poisoning, all rolled up in one.

Very scary
, that such things could even exist.

Jia. Save Jia.
Just as something else continued to go very wrong with Baeven. As Jia faded, he seemed to lose control more and more.

He once said that Jia joining with him
had saved him from his own self-destruction. Possibly from his own Cosmic disease from the ancient artifact that he encountered?

Yet now, with Jia dying, Baeven was losing control of himself
all over again. His Dark Beast continued to struggle to break free.

Bae
…no, my beloved…do not give in to the Darkforce. Whatever happens to me. Find a way to help him, Naero. He struggles with the same affliction to the Power Cosmic as you. He must retain control. I can’t help calm him any longer. I am so weak.

Her instincts had been correct.

Naero, the attack was, in fact, some kind of actual psyonic poison. We must isolate and neutralize it.

How, Om? I ca
n barely detect it. How in the hell do we do counter-act something like this?

Concentrate with me
, Naero. I will show you.

Naero closed her eyes. With Om
’s guidance, she saw Jia’s soul, again like a small shining star or will-o-the wisp. But it was as if an amoeba of shifting darkness attacked and tore away at Jia’s soul essence, trying to absorb and destroy it, all the while feeding on its energies and growing stronger, while Jia grew weaker.

This was a Darkforce
psyonic poison, virulent, active, and malignant.

Naero recognized that shifting darkness
almost instantly–a psyonic, astral form of Darkforce. The devouring thing from her nightmares. Did it exist on every level or reality? Was there no escape from it forceful devastation?

Initial a
nalysis complete. This is a psyonic form of negative energy Darkforce venom. Expel Jia’s soul, but keep it contained within an astral shield sphere. Then incinerate the psyonic Darkforce poison attacking her Burn it away before it destroys her.

With what, Om? The Darkforce is almost invulnerable to direct attack. It instinctively absorbs and takes over other forms of energy.

I thought you discovered a way to either balance or cancel it out?

Only in part. It’s not perfect.

Yes, the combined positive force of the Harmony and the Lifespark–the Cosmic polar opposite of the Darkforce

Naero pictured her efforts in her imagination in order to
shape them.

Jia was still in her mind. All of this was taking place in her mind.

Her mind.

Naero remembered something both Jia and Baeven had told her.

In your mind–you are god. Your imagination and your force of will is absolute. You control everything. Anything there, is at your mercy.

The energies sparked and spluttered in her hands at first, but after several attempts, at last she drew
Jia’s soul out of her open mouth, just as she pictured it.

She could see that Jia was
still under assault by the hideous, Darkforce poison, designed specifically to obliterate her kind.

Jia
’s soul tried to escape, but Naero’s protective Cosmic sphere contained it.

Actually, it
was
exactly
like the glowing soul orbs she had witnessed after the Tua burials back on Janosha.

Were all souls the same?

No time. Use the Lifespark.

Bright flashes of
harmless, harmonious Cosmic energy blasted the shadowy amoeba within, burning it away from Jia’s soul, which fortunately did not seem to sustain any permanent harm.

In fact, the harmonious energy healed and regenerated several slight burns on Naero’s hands.

Naero was the absolute master of her own mind.

Very g
ood, Naero. She’s stopped dying at least. Now, implant Jia’s soul within Baeven, in order to renew their special, symbiotic link and re-stabilize his…unique condition.

Naero rushed over and shoved Jia
’s essence into Baeven’s bizarre and dangerous new shifting form while he still wrestled with it.

He whirled and raised one of his bladed hands to lash out at her.

No, Bae. Stop! She is your blood, the daughter of your beloved sister. You will not harm her!

Baeven hesitated
and strained at the last second, shuddering where he stood. He blinked, his eyes shifting back and forth from red flame and their normal, dark, steel-gray color.

He staggered back upon his heels and shook himself, shrinking back down to his normal form.

Jia and he were one again.

33

Baeven pitched forward onto his face.

Naero rushed forward and barely caught him.

He and Jia were
both drained and barely conscious.

Naero even sensed the trapped spirit of the G
’lothc called Ullogk. It cowered in the recesses of Baeven’s mind, torn to shreds and barely existing. The thing was terrified, and frozen in stunned stasis, blind and dumb, stripped of nearly all its senses and energies.

Baeven had nearly destroyed it, yet
it still clung to its un-life–just barely.

They
’d definitely need to figure out what to do with that vile thing later, once Baeven and Jia fully recovered.

Naero barely h
ad the strength to haul Baeven out of the facility, but his huge size also made doing so awkward for her small frame.

She didn’t want to risk trying to either startap or transport in her own weakened state. No exploding, please.

Finally, once they were clear of the facility, there was still the contamination all around the area to guard against. She shielded Baeven and used some of their spyfixers to teknomance a cloaked and shielded medbed. Then she used that to tow Baeven back to the ship with her gravwing.

Baeven and Jia were barely coming to outside of the hidden Intel base
by the time they reached their ships. Their cloaked crews stood guard on their perimeter

Warning. Massive enemy assault p
reparing to strike this area in less than two standard minutes.

Naero called over her com to their ships and the guards outside.

“Bring it in people. Prepare to launch. We need to bug out of here.”

She thought of the words the G
’lothc entities had exchanged.

Ty c
alled back. “What’s up, N?”

“
We’ve got what we came for. I’m guessing that several Ejjai strike forces are going to pulverize this area any minute.”

The enemy would
eventually discover that their secrets on this world had been compromised. But to what degree, they still would not know.

She
strode forward a few more steps before the poisoned ground itself, back around the base, erupted and opened up.

Wave upon wave of thousands upon thousands of jump drones shot into the sky
and beyond, leaving the planet in sheets of launching fire.

Naero gasped
.

A massive a
ssault on humanity and all sentient life had just been launched.

Even at jump-7, t
he bio-weapon drones would take many weeks and possibly months to reach their coordinated targeting positions among the Corps, the Alliance, and the Spacer Extents. But eventually, they would take up their coordinated positions, and launch their lethal payloads

The
Spacer spyfixers were now part of them. The question remained. Would the fixers be able to complete their vital mission? Only time would tell.

Either way, there
now existed no other way of preventing the attacks from taking place.

Their only hope was
to neutralize and or modifying the fast acting alien bi-toxins, waiting to be dispensed on board.

A blazing green sphere like a comet zipped down through the atmosphere and
hovered just above the ground, opposite of their combined starships.

Danjen and S
’krin rushed up to Naero, armed for battle, but looking very worried.

“
It’s him.” Danjen said. “The new Mystic Enforcer. I don’t know how he’s tracked us down, but he’s here.”

He’s come after us, Naero.

I know that, Om.

“
From everything that we’ve heard–Baeven’s the only one who could possibly stand up to him,” S’krin added, looking over at Baeven lying on the medbed. “And he sure isn’t in any condition now for that kind of fight.”

“
Split the ships up. Load him and Jia in and get away. We’ll signal you and meet back up at one of the rendezvous points.”

Danjen
’s eyes widened. “Naero. You can’t face this guy. We can’t let him near Baeven, or you.”

“
Now that he has that damn sword, even Gaviok and Baeven couldn’t take him down,” S’krin said. “He’s indestructible. The best they might be able to do is fight the Enforcer to a draw.”

“
The Mystics still have a standing order to capture or kill Baeven,” Danjen said.

“
I’ll slow him down at least,” Naero told her friends. “You guys get away. I want to have little talk with the Enforcer, and then we’ll bug out afterwards.”

Danjen stared at S
’krin for a moment. They both broke and fled back toward
The Star Fox
, with Baeven and Jia in tow.

The bright green sphere shrank down and then dissolved, leaving a tall, powerful looking green-skinned warrior standing on the ground.
He rippled with athletic muscle, his chiseled face set. Stern golden eyes. Long flowing golden hair.

A shining sword slung over one shoulder.

Khai towered over Naero as he strode toward her–like a fierce, angry green god of vengeance.

He kept his arms
moving easily at his sides, and merely glared at her.

Naero grinned her best, characteristic half-
smile, and placed her hands on her slender hips defiantly.

“
Good to finally meet you in person, Khai. I still need to thank you for the friendship we shared, back while I was on Janosha.”

Khai nodded stoically. Naero took in a breath. He was
definitely an impressive specimen. Tall, of course–about 1.98 meters. Almost the same height as Baeven.

“I thank you for yours, as well, Naero. I would not be here today without the assistance and insight you gave me, and your comradery. Yet
, unfortunately, that is all behind us, now.”

Khai
’s face remained impassive.

“
Before we do this, tell me one thing, Khai. What happened? I tried reaching you for months–every night. I missed you. I was worried about you. What the heck happened?”

Khai did look away slightly at that.
“My apologies for that, Naero. It was but a stupid accident on my part. While recovering from some injuries, at one point, I broke my mind crystal–crushed it to dust and fragments. The Oden create and grow them out of the same master crystals. Once one of the mind crystals is broken, the link cannot be reformed. I greatly regretted that as well.”

“Oh
…okay.”

He looked at her sternly.
“Come. Enough chatter. You know very well why I am here. Why the Mystics watched the Astral Plane and traced you through it, and sent me here in direct pursuit. My business is with you this day.” He fixed his eyes solely upon her.

Naero lifted her head high and steeled herself. “Say what you have come to say to me, then.”

“Very well. High Adept Naero Amashin Maeris, of Clan Maeris. For your crimes against the Spacer Mystics, you are to be brought to justice to stand trial and judgment for the crime of murder–the murder of a High Master. Please come along quietly, with what honor you have left, and face the fate you have brought down upon yourself. From our past association, I bear you no ill-will. I have no wish to harm you, so I warn you. Do not attempt to resist.”

Naero struggled to grin weakly.
“And if I do…what then, big guy?”

Khai spoke plainly, showing no emotion
or reaction.

“
Then I shall use force to return you to justice. Naero, I warn you again. Do not provoke my hand. You will regret it.”

Naero chuckled.
“What…you’re gonna beat up on a poor little helpless girl like me?”

“
You are far from helpless, Naero. Just like your outcast uncle, you disobeyed your superiors and absorbed part of that alien artifact. Then you used the powers you gained from it to murder a High Master. You were unstable and dangerous even before all that.”

Naero lost her composure for moment and looked down in shame.

“I–I didn’t mean to, Khai. You need to understand that. Vane was trying to destroy me. I acted instinctively, only trying to defend myself. I did not mean to kill him. I merely reflected his own attack back at him. I didn’t want that to happen. He left me no choice. All of the High Masters knew that I couldn’t control my abilities yet.”

“
All the more reason to return. You were thought to be very honorable once, Naero. Return with me now, and prove it to be so. Face justice for your actions. Nor do all hold Master Vane blameless in this affair. Yet the life of a High Master was taken–by you. A very grave crime that must be answered for. Return with me and make your defense; your case is not beyond hope.”

“
I can’t, Khai. I can’t go back right now. I have pending threats from our enemies to pursue that will not wait.”

Naero plucked a
spyfixer out of the air and tossed it to Khai, who deftly caught it.

“Relay the data in that spyfixer
to Intel and the Mystics. The proof of what I say is contained therein. Renegade or not, I still pursue the foes of our people. There are grave new enemy threats out there and on this world and others, that we’re only just learning about. I can’t go back with you, Khai. Not now, not yet.”

Khai
sighed heavily and looked down.

“I regret this, Naero. You are forcing my hand
against you.”

She c
huckled a little. “So, what are you going to do, Khai? Kill me right here in cold blood?”

He shuddered slightly. “
Only if I must. You are wanted to face justice. I am the Mystic Enforcer. All use of force–including and up to lethal force in apprehending you–has been granted.”

Several
ion cannon attacks from
The Darkstar
struck Khai all at once, driving him back.

Naero
’s people poured it at him with the ion guns.

“
Don’t kill him!” Naero shrieked.

She could not be the cause of another
Mystic’s death–not even to save herself.

Tarim
shouted over their open link. “Don’t worry about that, En. We’ve hit him with everything we’ve got. Nothing’s touching him!”

It was true.
Khai regained his feet, his green shield around him once more. He walked through their intense barrage as if it were but wind. Beams and blasts glanced off of him.

Haisha! He’s
even immune to the ion cannons, Om!

Enemy assault units converging on us as well, Naero.

The Darkstar
kept up its intense fire, all to no effect.

“Retreat!” Naero
shouted.

They fell back out of range, just as an Ejjai battle group swept in, blasting the entire area, backed up by a Dakkur hunter-killer unit.

Dust and smoke quickly obscured the scene of the erupting battle.

“What’s happening in there, Om?

Then she felt it. An intense Cosmic energy spike–like a pillar of Cosmic flame–a beacon.

He has drawn that sword of his, Naero. Astonishing…he’s moving
swiftly among them. Khai’s slaughtering them each second.

Even from a distance,
obscured by the haze of battle, Naero detected the cries of the dying, the energies being unleashed, and the multiple explosions of warships and vehicles.

A slaughter took place
.

Khai took on an entire army and annihilated it
–in a matter of seconds.

Naero had not heard the Dakkur shriek like that since the time she saw Baeven and Gaviok fall upon them.

The Ejjai battle group has been completely wiped out, Naero. The Dakkur attempted to flee. All of them have been crushed or blasted to death. Khai just beheaded the last Dakkur Champion.

In the flash of an instant, Khai’s verdant, protective sphere shot over to where they were and faded. Khai emerged, stalking slowly toward Naero, his glowing sword in his right hand–warping the very air and every field and flow around him.

Yii, one of the fabled Cosmic swords of the Spacer Mystics, forged in the heart of a hyper-dense, massive star. It was fashioned from a great quantity of equally hyper-dense Ur-metal. Its powers? Nearly limitless, as it just demonstrated.

“
So, Naero,” Khai remarked. “You have not lost all of your honor, I see. You still choose to face me alone, so that no others of your crew are needlessly injured or worse. Quite admirable; even brave–but futile.”

Naero bowed.
“I retain all of my honor. And I thank you, Khai, for not taking their lives outright. I know that you could. Their allegiance and great friendship is mine; they would gladly give their lives for me. But I will not let them do so needlessly.”