Chapter 32 - Jericho

  Psychosomatic Output: 1,182 Bio-Units

  Synaptic Rank: Unbound

  The hangar was filled with seven Novalwolf M-42s, each one identical to the next. Graito’s ship was the one closest to where Jericho stood now, only a few dozen yards away from the interior entrance. He looked around for the Myrd, but the only biological life in the hangar were the workers busy prepping the ship.

  Jericho was about to ask the worker pushing a crate up the loading ramp, when the unmistakable roar of pulse engines shook the hangar.

  He looked in the direction of the noise, and watched a massive mech swing down into the hangar, one hand grasping the lip of the entrance. With an acrobatic flip the mech twisted, engines sputtered to keep balance and dropped to floor with a bang that sent tremors across the floor. The HWND was significantly smaller than Arthros’ and it had four arms. A perfect metal copy of Graito’s biological form.

  Regardless of his feelings for the alien, he couldn’t deny that the rig was an impressive sight. It dropped onto four legs, showing off its flexibility as it mimicked Graito’s centaur-like form. Even the armor seemed different than Arthros’. Lighter, but more flexible and expertly built to mimic the Pilot’s unique musculature and physiology.

  The mech walked towards the ship and ducked underneath the lifted rear hull. Jericho heard the unmistakable clang of locks as the mech must have climbed into the ship’s built in HWND locker. A few moments later, Graito appeared on the landing ramp.

  “I hope you’re ready, because we’re leaving now.” Graito snapped.

  I’m not ready to deal with you, that’s for sure.

  Jericho hurried up the ramp and walked onto the flight deck. It was almost identical to Arthros ship, though there were a couple personalized differences. The hide of some unknown beast lined the steel floor like a furry rug. Along the right wall beside the console were a few traditional looking weapons strapped in place. They were too ornate for practical use, most likely family heirlooms.

  Graito was already seated in the navigator’s chair and didn’t acknowledge Jericho’s presence. He muttered to himself as his four arms worked with diligent precision over the buttons and switches on the console.

  A beat later the ship’s engines powered on.

  Jericho opened his mouth to remind the Myrd of the technicians still loading the ship with fuel and other cargo but thought better of it. If he was going to make it through this mission in one piece, not angering Graito would be the first step.

  He watched as the grumpy Myrd removed the silver ring from a stubby finger. He placed the device in a slot in the console, and immediately, a hologram of Kleth’altho appeared. Jericho leaned closer to see a flashing red dot on the planet’s surface.

  It was a region that he recognized instantly. It was home.

  The cockpit seemed to shrink in on itself, and Jericho had to take a deep breath to get control of his pulse. He wasn’t expecting to return home so quickly, and despite the emotional healing his AI provided, his heart still ached at the though of Kyrin’s passing.

  How would he be able to focus on the mission with the knowledge of her grave so close by? If she even had a grave.

  That sudden realization made the sudden grief even worse. There were not a lot of people in Kyrin’s life who cared to offer her any type of burial. Any strangers would take one look at her appearance and attribute her death to an overdose.

  Her body would be disposed in the government trenches, or a scavenger would snatch it away to consume for later.

  “What are you doing?” Graito’s bark interrupted his thoughts.

  He couldn’t tell the Myrd the truth, so he lied. “I’m just preparing myself for the flight, this is only my second space flight.”

  And I’m drowning in my own grief, I can’t go home, I can’t do this mission.

  The Myrd eyed him with a disgruntled frown, “You better not puke on my ship, I’ll seriously gut you for that.”

  Jericho shook his head, “I won’t don’t worry.

  He tried to find something to change the topic and noticed the Myrd manually controlling his ship. When he was on the Reckless, Arthros had used his AI for nearly every task imaginable, including flight control. Now that he thought about it, he couldn’t hear Graito’s AI speaking like Zero had, though to be fair he could hardly communicate with his.

  It was as if his AI was locked behind a glass cage. He was aware of its presence but even touching it seemed impossible. He was still trying to figure out Randrea’s instructions to activate the ring.

  “Do you not let your AI control the ship?”

  Graito gave him a sideways glance and snorted, “no.”

  Jericho furrowed his brow and tried to remember a time when he heard the others speak out loud to their AI. There wasn’t one, in fact he didn’t think there was even a time when the others referred to their AI.

  “Well, why not?” Jericho pressed.

  Graito’s bulbous lips twitched, “are you going to ask stupid questions the entire trip?”

  “Just that one.”

  The Myrd glared at him for a moment and then sighed, “Even if it were possible, why would I?”

  The alien yanked on the controls with his second pair of arms and the ship rose in the air. With his first set of arms, he manipulated the floating hologram of Kleth’altho to pinpoint their exact route.

  Jericho shrugged, “I only ask because Arthros had Zero do most of the flying, actually the computer did all the work on the ship.” Jericho thought back to how spoke out loud to the computer, her affectionate words and their strange interactions. “Honestly, if he could bang the thing, I’m pretty sure he would, what is up with that-”

  Graito cut him off, his face tight with discomfort, “there’s one thing you need to understand,” he folded his top pair of arms across his chest, “Arthros is… different. That might seem obvious to you, but there’s more to it. Arthros was not born like me and you. He was created by the Sovereignty, hand crafted so to speak. His embryo was a donation to the cause, and scientists…” Graito hesitated, “They genetically built him piece by piece for the HWND program. He’s never experienced life without Zero, she was implanted from the moment his cells took on life. His AI can do things practically incomprehensible, and his attachment to it is… well it’s strange. Trust me, we’re all a little uncomfortable by their relationship.”

  Jericho’s head was spinning with so many questions, and he struggled to find a place to start. “Wait, so- “

  “No more questions,” Graito growled.

  If Jericho was being honest, he was surprised the Myrd gave him such a long-winded answer to begin with. Not wishing to press his luck, he ignored the incessant string of questions floating in his head and kept his mouth shut. Graito seemed to appreciate his silence, and his four arms went to work on the controls.

  Sudden acceleration almost knocked him to the floor, and he grabbed hold of the passenger’s chair to keep him upright. Graito expertly maneuvered the ship in an acrobatic twist that flipped the contents of Jericho’s stomach. When the ship righted itself, he could see an object through the viewport, a massive ring anchored in the void.

  “Woah, what is that?”

  An overdramatic groan was Graito’s response as he waved a dismissive hand in his face. “For Tril’s sake do you ever stop talking?” Bulbous lips smacked loudly, “It’s a Shielondiel station.” The alien gave him a sideways look, “Hokkonian for ‘light speed travel.’”

  The Shielondiel station had to have been twice the size of the ship, though it was bare boned. Most of the structure was made up of long curved beams that formed the skeleton of a sphere. Four metal beams extended to the sphere’s core to form an unmistakable docking station.

  Graito flew the spacecraft towards the station and carefully lowered the Novawolf onto the docking platform. Now, they were surrounded by the hollow sphere’s skeleton.

  "Okay, now what?" Jericho stared up through the viewport, marveling at the station’s strange architecture.

  Graito didn't answer, instead he swung himself over to a monitor on the left and hunched over it. He muttered various landing codes as he scrolled the screen, ignoring Jericho who was craning his neck to sneak a peak. After a few minutes of pondering, the Myrd straightened himself in the navigator's chair and swung his salamander like head to stare at Jericho.

  For a moment the Pilot said nothing, and the discomfort of his stare overcame Jericho's will to win the contest.

  Jericho looked away, "What are you doing."

  "Maritarou," Graito’s voice was strangely quiet.

  "Oh," Jericho said as if the answer was obvious and the word made complete sense. "I don't think I remember what that is."

  "You wouldn't," Graito’s upper arms folded across his chest as his bottom pair straightened the arm rests, "It's a Myrd tradition."

  “Oh, wow, well I'm honored, what uh-what does it- I mean what did you do. I don't really get it.”

  The Myrd blew a breath through his teeth, "It's time to be quiet now.”

  Without warning the ship accelerated at a rate that was impossible for any pulse engine. The force of their speed threatened to render him unconscious, even with the G-force countermeasures present. He strained the muscles in his neck and his legs went numb. After a few minutes, the ship slowed and eventually came to a crawl. A small sphere in the distance was visible through the viewport.

  "What- wait a minute," vomit rose in his throat "what just happened?"

  Graito growled and massaged the sides of his head with his flat stubby fingers, "Shielondiel, we just travelled faster than the speed of light."

  The sphere grew a little larger, it's purple and green hue slightly more visible.

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  "Is that Kleth’altho? Wait a minute, why didn't Arthros and I do that on our way here?”

  "Because all Shielondiel stations are monitored," Graito shook his head, "He doesn't like being watched."

  Jericho gave him a questioning look, "He hates it that much-"

  An alarm sounded to cut him off. Graito stiffened for a fraction of an instant before his arms became a blur of movement as he checked every panel.

  The alarm was deafening and a red warning light flashed above them.

  "What does that noise mean?" Jericho had to shout.

  Graito didn’t answer, his lips were pulled back into a fearsome grimace as his eyes flicked across the screen.

  "Graito?"

  The Myrd suddenly shot out of the chair, shouldering Jericho out of the way as he practically threw himself on a console to the far left of the cockpit. The alarm continued its incessant scream, but nothing was being done to silence it.

  "We're being targeted," The Myrd shouted a guttural curse, "but I can't find them!"

  "Targeted? But who-"

  The warning suddenly stopped, and they both froze. Graito had his head tilted to one side as if he was trying to listen. He gave Jericho a sudden look, his six eyes wide.

  “They’re right on top of us.” The alien whispered.

  How is that possible?

  “How did the scanners not warn us?” Jericho whispered.

  The Myrd traced his gaze along the roof of the ship and for the first time, Jericho caught a flicker of fear on the alien’s face. “I don’t know.”

  Jericho felt his stomach drop and he started to search the many buttons and lights that blinked on the console, “Well we have to tell the others, send out a distress call or something- “

  “It’s too late, they’ll intercept any of our communications,” He activated the ring on his finger,

  “I have to get to my HWND.”

  An explosion rocked the entire ship, and then everything went dark.

  “No!” Graito was staring at his palm, the ring was dead.

  There was loud clang as something attached itself to the hull, followed by grinding noise that filled the cockpit with a high-pitched whine.

  Despite his lack of spaceflight experience, the sound was unmistakable, “They’re breaching! You have to do something! Activate your HWND! Have it run skeleton, I saw Arthros do that once, it can take-

  “I can’t” Graito’s yellow eyes glowed in the darkness, “That was an EMP, in an unpiloted state the HWNDs are susceptible to them. It’s fried.”

  Jericho swallowed back the rising dread, “Then what do we do?”

  The Myrd was silent for a moment, “We could fight, but they’ll fill the cabin with a breaching agent, some type of gas that will knock us out or kill us. There’s no point.”

  He gave the alien a dumbfounded look, “What do you mean there’s no point? We’re HWND Pilots, aren’t we? We can’t just give up without even trying!”

  “I’m the Pilot, not you. Our best chance is to try and survive the breaching agent. They’re trying to take us prisoner, other wise they would have blown the ship after the EMP.” Graito snapped.

  Jericho wanted to scream at his comrade’s infuriating mental state. Was this really all it took for the Myrd to give up?

  “So, you’re just going to sit there and wait for them to get us?”

  “There are no other options, human.” Graito hissed, “what would you have me do?”

  Jericho drew both his ARC blades, the armor-piercing steel glittering in the darkness, “I would have you fight! I want you to rip them to pieces for what they’ve done, to your ship… and to your HWND!”

  Graito snarled and turned his face away, “It’s not possible, if they sense resistance, they could blow the whole thing.”

  “Better death than in a coma on some alien planet, better death than life as a slave.” He clenched his teeth, “Is that what you want to be Graito?”

  The Myrd tensed, “watch it.”

  The squealing metal was getting louder, an indication that time was running out.

  “Are you your limits already Graito? Afraid of some ghosts? Defeated before the fight’s even started?”

  There was a guttural snarl and in an instant Graito’s hand was around this throat, pinning him against the wall.

  “You’re wrong,” Graito hissed.

  Jericho clawed at Graito’s hand and choked out, “then prove it.”

  For a moment the two of them maintained eye contact, though Graito’s grip weakened a little. Finally, he released Jericho with a frustrated snarl.

  “Fine Human, I’ll prove it to you,” He stalked over to other side of the cockpit and rummaged in a cabinet. “I’ll also prove how much of a fool you are when we’re both killed.”

  Jericho rubbed his throat but managed to have a weak smile. Was Graito right? Were they about to be killed by some pirates. It didn’t feel real, it didn’t feel right. They were supposed to be Pilots, feared by all who dared to impose a threat on Dromedar.

  He heard the rasp of metal on skin and turned to see Graito sliding metal gauntlets onto his four arms. When he was finished his fists shined with highly polished metal; each one studded with flesh tearing talons. Satisfied with the weapons, the Myrd ripped his jacket off, revealing a bare upper body. Graito flexed and his muscles rippled underneath his tan leather skin.

  The sight brough Jericho back to the Kleth’altho fighting pits, and the Myrd champions he used to watch in awe. Graito looked just as terrifying as the rest of them.

  Who would be stupid enough to breach a HWND ship?

  Graito looked at him, “There’s not a single piece of tech in Dromedar that could cloak a ship from a Hokkonian scanner, this is a stupid plan.”

  “You think they’re… Shadari?” Jericho eyes the ceiling.

  Graito shrugged, “That would make the most sense, which is why I would rather be captured then killed.”

  How many HWND pilots had been killed by the Shadari so far? Two, four? Was this how they did it?

  “We got this,” Jericho muttered.

  “I told you we’re screwed,” Graito licked his lips, “but I’m going to fight anyway, I’ll prove how much of an idiot you are. And to think, we could have lived.”

  The grinding halted and the ship fell quiet. The silence was eerie as they waited with bated breaths for the impending action. There was a loud clang as a piece of the ceiling clattered to the floor.

  From his position in the cockpit, he could see the shallow ramp on the right side that led to the upper deck.

  It also led to the source of the breach.

  Both Jericho and Graito crept carefully towards the ramp and into the corridor. It was wide enough that the two of them could fight comfortably side by side. On the floor at the opposite end of the corridor, was a circular cut out of the ceiling. Its edges were glowing white hot from whatever tool the breachers had used to cut through the metal.

  “What are they waiting for?” Jericho whispered.

  Graito rolled his shoulders and flexed his hands, the metal gauntlets glinting in the emergency lighting, “For our reaction, they’re going to smoke us, but they wanted to make sure we weren’t waiting under the breach point.” Yellow eyes narrowed, “If I were them, I would drop the smoke... now.”

  He vanished with lightning speed as he sprinted for the breach point. At the same time a metal sphere dropped from the hole in the ceiling. Graito managed to catch the grenade before it could detonate off the floor, and he whipped it back into the circular cut out.

  There was a loud bang as the breaching grenade exploded followed by the wisp of smoke leaking through the hole. A moment later the ceiling shook as the bodies of the unseen attackers collapsed from the unexpected backfiring of their breaching agent.

  For a moment all was quiet except for the hiss of smoke. Jericho watched Graito craned his neck to try and see into the breach.

  “Anything?” Jericho hissed.

  The Myrd didn’t reply as his eyes widened. He tried to move but was stopped dead in his tracks by a massive humanoid mech that leapt through the hole and landed between them. The armored body suit was built with military grade steel for the limbs, but it’s torso was completely transparent. To Jericho it looked like a giant glass egg with metal arms and legs.

  Even stranger was the creature that was encased inside the glass, a coiled snake whose head just barely stuck out the top of the glass. Its scales were pale yellow, and its body was thick, nearly a foot in diameter.

  The alien snake was floating in a translucent fluid while dozens of tubes and wires protruded from its scaly flesh and connected to the robotic limbs.

  Jericho’s history of Dromedar was hazy at best, but he recognized the individual from descriptions he had heard in stories and there was only one species that had been described as a snake. The inhabitants of Reloculan, known enemies of Hokku.

  He didn’t hesitate and charged the intruder with his blades drawn. Though, Graito didn’t need any help. The Myrd leapt at the cyborg and wrapped his legs and lower set of arms around the glass ovoid. The muscles in his back rippled as he squeezed, and the glass started to groan under the pressure of his strength. With his upper set of arms he slashed at the Reloc’s exposed head and the gauntlet’s flesh tearing studs tore jagged lacerations across the snake’s skull.

  The Reloc let out an agonized hiss and tried to pry Graito off, but the Myrd easily overpowered the snake’s mechanical arms. With grunt of exertion the glass shattered, and the womb-like fluid poured onto the steel floor. The bipedal mech stood for a moment and then collapsed in the fluid. The severed head of the Reloculan still impaled on the talons of Graito’s gauntlets.

  Jericho’s jaw hung open and he gave a whoop of excitement, “You did it- “

  A forceful shove knocked Jericho to the floor, and a heavy figure landed where Jericho had been standing, followed by two more. Jericho was still trying to catch his breath from the shock of the push and locked eyes with Graito who gave him the slightest nod.

  The Myrd had saved him.

  The reality of the danger finally took root, and Jericho jumped to his feet to prepare for round two. Graito dispatched of the first with ease, but the alien Pilot was also a Synaptic Rank: Eight. The same could not be said for Jericho.

  Three Reloculan mech suits were standing shoulder to shoulder in the hallway. Two of them descended on Graito. The third, a snake with blood red scales, attacked Jericho.

  Dodging the mech’s brutish swipes were easy enough, it wasn’t like they were slow, but they were nowhere close to the speed of Sto'ram’s quarter staff.

  He ducked under one swipe and slashed at the glass torso with a blade. The ribbed steel squealed as it scored the glass, leaving a visible mark but nowhere deep enough to cause real damage.

  The snake hissed and abandoned any hope of defeating Jericho in close quarters. It lifted both arms and pulse cannons built into the robotic limbs whirred to life.

  The attacker wouldn’t dare fire a plasma round inside of a spaceship, would they?

  Before the snake could doom them all to the cold vacuum of space, Jericho leapt close to close the distance between them. The snake tried to aim but Jericho was faster, and he lashed out with both his blades. The first skidded off the rounded exterior, but the second found its mark.

  The blade penetrated the glass tank with a loud crack, driving so far into the container of fluid that the tip pierced the Reloc’s suspended body.

  The snake let out a strangled screech and stumbled backward. Jericho wrenched the blade back and pulled it free of its intrusive entry.

  Unidentified fluid came pouring out through the jagged hole, soaking his feet as it splashed onto the floor. It had a strange smell, like stale medicine, and he wrinkled his nose as he readied another attack.

  However, the snake made no move to retaliate as its mech suit started to power down. A beat later it collapsed to the floor like a cracked egg.

  Jericho leapt over the mech and the writhing snake inside it, to help Graito, who was still trying to defeat his opponents. They had their backs turned, but he could see that they were both starting to power up their plasma cannons. He ran at the closest one, leaping off the wall to gain a little extra height and stabbed down at an exposed head. The ARC blade penetrated the snake’s thin metal helmet like it was paper, sinking into the skull with a sickening thunk.

  The alien dropped, and it’s mech suit careened into its neighbor who was grappling with a very angry Myrd.

  Graito and the dead weight of their comrade was too much for the remaining Reloc. Within seconds they succumbed to the Myrd’s feral onslaught.

  Jericho was breathing heavily as he swept his gaze across the upper deck. The mystery fluid was trickling down the hallway, mixing with reptilian blood in a sickening concoction of viscosity.

  “Is that all of them?” Jericho panted, trying to catch his breath as the adrenaline ran its course.

  Graito’s chest also heaved, and a wild look burned in his eyes, “I think so.”

  A very loud and bloodthirsty snarl from the hole above disagreed with him. A voice dripping with malice sounded from out of view.

  “Worthlesssss fools.”

  A massive lizard-like monster dropped from the hole, and the entire upper deck shook when he landed. He was the same size as the Relocs in their mech suits and was covered in hard corded muscle from head to toe. The monster had a massive head, with an elongated snout and bulging jaw muscles. Two long horns grew out back of its jawbone and curved underneath. There was no denying the identity of the new enemy.

  It was a Shadari.

  Jericho was frozen for a moment as he stared at the great beast, but Graito didn’t hesitate. He leapt at the monster, but the Shadari anticipated the attack and caught the Myrd around the throat with one arm. With a great heave he threw the Pilot directly at Jericho, and the collision knocked him over.

  They rolled down the shallow sloping ramp, their clothes soaking in the Reloc’s womb-like fluid. Graito scrambled to his feet but slipped again in the liquid, landing heavily on Jericho who also struggling to rise.

  The Shadari let out a rasping chuckle, “Go to sssleeep.”

  In its hand was another smoke grenade, the same one that the Reloc’s had tried to use earlier. It bit down hard on the metal sphere, causing it to explode. A massive cloud of smoke engulfed the Shadari and started its ominous crawl towards Jericho and Graito.

  The Shadari took a heavy step towards them, its face materializing out of the white cloud. It began to laugh, and smoke poured from its gaping jaws. The rasping laughter continued as the smoke grew so dense that he became invisible once more.

  Jericho’s heart fluttered, and he felt his limbs go heavy. His vision started to darken as mind cleared of any thought. He drifted off to sleep as the Shadari’s mocking chuckle filled his ears.

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