Chapter 33 – Arthros

  Psychosomatic Output: 10,000 Bio-Units

  Synaptic Rank: Unbound

  Arthros had been staring at the monitor when Graito’s signature suddenly vanished. At first, he thought it was an issue with the system, but a brief diagnostics check from Zero told him the system was fine.

  It was the distress call flashing on his monitor that filled his heart with ice. The same message that was now flashing for the others, written in bright red letters, as if they were written in blood.

  Randrea’s scream of rage exploded from communication speaker, drowning out the low grind of his teeth.

  “Clear comms.” He said, rereading the distress message. ‘GRAITO - H3 – EMP – BS - SOS.’”

  His command did little to lessen the mess of indiscernible chatter. No one was listening to him.

  He slammed his fists in the armrests of his chair, “Clear comms!”

  For a moment they listened, then Randrea’s voice, “I saw them, towing Graito’s ship away.

  “Saw who?”

  She was speaking through deep breaths, “It was two ships, I- I don’t know how I could have- I tried to go after them-”

  “What two ships, Randrea.”

  She paused and even through the speakers he could tell she was speaking through gritted teeth, “A Reloculan cruiser, and-, well it looked identical to the Shadari scout ship that was destroyed outside along the Storm’s edge.”

  His blood turned to ice, “you saw a shadari ship. Are you sure?”

  “It’s pretty bloody difficult to confuse any other ship with that ugly mess, I’m sure.”

  “And Graito’s Novawolf? Was it intact?” His heart felt like it was pounding out of his chest.

  “The Reloculan cruiser had docked itself on top of the Novawolf, but both were motionless, it was the Shadari ship that was moving, like it was towing both of ‘em.”

  Arthros clenched his fist and stared daggers into the front console as he thought about that reality. If they were being towed, then it meant Graito and Jericho were unresponsive.

  “So, they were breached,” Arthros tapped the tips of his together, trying to imagine what had happened, Jericho and Graito could handle a couple Reloculan raiders, but a Shadari warrior? “How did they get away from you?”

  Randrea broke down, “I tried to get to them, I had a lock-on but out of nowhere they vanished.”

  “Vanished, what do you mean?”

  “Like poof, not there, gone, completely erased, my scanners had nothing.”

  “Graito’s HWND signature?”

  “Non-existent, it was in storage, so the EMP probably fried it.”

  He clawed at the soft padding of his armrests; this was bad, really bad.

  “Before they disappeared did you get a read on where they were heading, any particular direction.” If they at least knew where the ship was headed, they could reach them in time.

  If they weren’t already dead that was.

  “My targeting computer had them mapped out for Reloculan, which would make sense with the snakes. But after they disappeared, who knows.”

  He let out a groan of frustration, making sure to keep himself muted so Randrea and the others couldn’t hear his anguish. He had to remain calm for their sake and project as much confidence as he could.

  They still had a mission to complete, and if they diverted from their objective, it could mean serious consequences. If he told them to ignore the impending doom of their comrades, they would, and if he told them to abandon the mission in pursuit of their friends… well, they would.

  “Fydither, I need you to go back to Hokku and grab Jericho’s HWND. When you return head straight for Reloculan. Stay in orbit, laneway T7.

  “That’s a shipping lane-” Fydither started.

  “It doesn’t matter what it is, just do it.”

  “Commander, I don’t think the HWND is ready,” Sto'ram said.

  “It’s not,” Arthros said simply, Jericho would have to make do without whatever was complete.

  Sto'ram murmured a ‘yes commander’ and Fydither’s Novawolf rotated in space and made for the export Shielondiel.

  “Sto'ram and Randrea, I want you here in Orbit. If the Shadari on Kleth’altho manages to escape, I need you to be ready.”

  “Are we confirmed for combat?”

  “We are but we need to follow him, my gut is telling me that he will lead us to where Graito and Jericho were taken.”

  They both responded with a sharp, ‘yes Commander.’

  “Scor, Fluxor, You’re with me. Mission objective comes first.” He stared out at the swirling green clouds of Kelth’altho’s atmosphere. Who would have thought he would be back here so soon.

  “Sarath Astata Narvoth.” He spoke the traditional words calmy into the microphone.

  They all responded in unison, “Sarath Astata Narvoth.”

  ***

  He hurtled across the surface of Kleth’altho, the purple terrain a blur in the viewport as his Novawolf flew at a prohibited velocity.

  It didn’t take long to find the Union ship’s signature.

  “Zero take the controls, I’m suiting up.”

  The combination of his adrenaline and his anticipation to pilot his HWND made his skin feel like it was on fire. The closer he got to the locker the faster his heart started to beat until Zero had to check and make sure he was okay.

  He shook his head in frustration at his own instability.

  The locker door slid open, and his eyes tightened to see the entrance to his HWND. It called to him, practically sang to him. If he climbed in, all his problems would go away.

  His brain made the link to the rig in an instant. He was the HWND and the HWND was him.

  “We will arrive at the destination in five… four… three… two…”

  He released the clamps on his HWND.

  “One.”

  He plummeted through the sky, briefly activating his thrusters to slow his descent before landing heavy in a cloud of violet dust. Zero sent the trace of the Union ship’s signature, and he could see it’s outline through the dust obscuring his vision.

  He heard Scor and Fluxor land their ships behind him as he strode with booming steps towards the ship’s outline. When the dust cleared, he realized that ship was docked behind a collection of boulders, arranged in such a way that they created a natural shelter.

  Judging by the door, windows, and a chiseled-out chimney, the shelter was in fact a residence.

  He stopped in front of the dwelling, his massive metal frame towering over the outcrop of stones. The adrenaline twisted his judgement, and he had to restrain himself from obliterating the stone dwelling.

  “Destroy the structure and be done with it.” Zero whispered.

  Zero’s urging was almost too much resist. It would be so easy to pluck her from the cave and pop her head between his mechanical forefinger and thumb. It would be as easy as pulling a weed, though significantly more satisfying.

  But he couldn’t, not yet. Graito and Jericho were missing, and Cyprus might know why they were taken. Better yet, she would know where the Shadari invader was hiding.

  The twins flanked them in their HWNDs, and the golden visors stared up at him as they awaited orders.

  “Cyprus Atik,” He bellowed, his voice amplified by the mech’s vocal system. “Do not make me raze this structure to the ground.”

  “The Shadari could be in there.” Scor muttered, crouching in a battle-ready stance.

  In response, Flux unsheathed the two-handed sword from the compartment on his back. It hummed with amplified power, and the faint sheen of gold illuminated his chest as he held it front of him.

  Arthros didn’t think so. The stone hut was too small to house any creature large than a Myrd.

  “Zero, scan.” He commanded.

  Her response was instant, “Four biologicals, race unknown, collective psychosomatic output: 1,294 Bio-units.”

  The Shadari wasn’t in there, but four other biologicals were. That discovery irritated him more than it should, since when did he care about collateral damage?

  “Scor, Flux, form a perimeter and see if you’re A.I. can scan the Shadari’s life signal. If you find it, do not engage.”

  The twins said nothing, nodded, and split off in opposite directions to circle around the boulders. He turned his attention back to the dwelling and he gave his head a frustrated shake. Would her cowardice really bring the loss of three other lives?

  He couldn’t worry about that, Graito and Jericho were depending on him. The fate of the star system was depending on him. The death of citizens was something to be expected when the stakes were so high.

  “This is your choice, Atik.” He spat out her name like it was venom and stomped up to the little home.

  The hammering of multiple heartbeats was just barely audible through his amplified hearing. He could hear the scrabbling of footsteps as they scurried around like trapped mice.

  This was her choice.

  With a surge of effort, he shot his hands down onto the stone roof and felt it’s surface crumble to gravel beneath his metal fingertips. He bent his knees and repositioned his grip to gain better leverage.

  Then he started to lift.

  Even in his HWND the boulder was incredibly heavy, and the muscles in his legs and back strained under its weight as the mech worked. Inch by inch the massive stone raised in the air and with a final shout of exertion he threw it to the side.

  It felt with a rumbling crash, sending a plume of dust that drifted across the newly made opening. Through the haze he saw the four biologicals crouching in his shadow. Cyprus Atik clutching a younger woman, an Ordanian curled into a tight ball of natural armor, and an elderly Myrd staring up at him in defiance.

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  “How dare you do this to my home!” The Myrd screeched, “Do they not teach manners on Hokku? Go back to your world and leave these poor young women alone, what have they done to you?”

  Arthros couldn’t help but admire the senior’s courage, “More than you must be aware of. Now go, I have no desire to see you be crushed in this rubble.”

  The Myrd faltered, “I won’t, this is my home, I’m not leaving.”

  “It’s okay,” Cyprus spoke up, “I’ll leave, thank you for your kindness.” She turned up at Arthros, “please don’t hurt them.”

  Arthros gripped the stone wall he was peering over, and the slate crumbled in his hands, “What did I just say. I have no desire to see them dead.”

  The tremble in Cyprus’ voice was evident, “Okay, I just had to make sure, I’m going to leave now.”

  “She’s stalling, kill them all, they were harboring a terrorist!” Zero heeded.

  Arthros knew that she was right, and yet he couldn’t bring himself to eliminate the other aliens. His own restraint infuriated him, what was happening to him?

  The other human threw herself in Cyprus, pleading for her not to leave the space. Cyprus began to reassuringly whisper to the woman, completely ignoring Arthros. With a snarl he activated the pulse cannon on his arm and aimed it at the space. From this close of range, the entire structure would be obliterated along with the aliens inside.

  “Now.” He commanded.

  With a grimace Cyprus peeled the other human off her and made her way slowly to the door that led to Arthros legs. He watched her carefully, and in his peripheral checked for the Twins. He could see the blue blur of a HWND to the right. They were patrolling an even wider area now, which must have meant they hadn’t found any trace of the Shadari.

  Cyprus was now standing at his legs, her chin lifted with a defiant glare, “You can kill me, but it won’t change anything.”

  “I seriously doubt that” He pointed the plasma cannon directly at her face and she shied away from barrel’s glowing heat, “You are a poison that needs to be dealt with before you foolishly condemn the rest of star system. You should have let me kill the invader when I had the chance.”

  He noticed the flicker of recognition on her face when she realized exactly who he was, and he caught the brief look of regret that seemed to deepen the despair in her eyes.

  “There’s still time, tell me where the Shadari is.”

  Resolve visibly crumbled, and her voice dropped to a whisper, “No, I can’t.”

  “Do you understand what you’ve done? Can you comprehend the gravity of the situation that you’ve started? Billions will die for this, Dromedar as we know it will fall to the hands of conquerors. You think the Shadari are better than the Sovereignty? They’ll turn on you the moment Hokku brings up the shields. Tell. Me. Now.”

  It would be so easy to discharge the canon and disintegrate every molecule of her being. She was so small, so insignificant and yet she had facilitated the start of Armageddon. Because of her, HWND Pilots lost their lives, and countless others would die. Because of her Jericho and Graito had been ambushed and lost.

  He should step on her and be done with it. Yet, the Shadari was still missing.

  “Then billions will die for a greater future, one without your kind in it.” Cyprus said finally.

  Arthros let out an agonized growl, “You stupid human! You think Hokku will fall? Our shields are impenetrable! My kind will fortify itself and wait out the resultant chaos and destructive that you brought! The Shadari will slaughter you all! No world will be safe!”

  Cyprus swallowed, “You’re wrong.”

  Enough was enough, he readied a charge of the plasma cannon. The heat drove Cyprus several paces back until she was pressed into the structure’s stone wall.

  “Where is the Shadari?” He bellowed.

  She shielded herself from the weapon’s radiant heat with a single arm, “I can’t tell you.”

  Useless.

  “Goodbye Cyprus Atik, I pray your ignorance won’t result in the extinction of your species.”

  Before he could discharge the blast, the old Ordanian flew in between Cyprus and the weapon, “Wait!”

  The Myrd called after him, “Matto, come back!”

  The Ordanian wouldn’t listen, “You’re a HWND Pilot, you’re supposed to protect us, not kill us.” He rasped, “Whatever this woman has done, it can be resolved.”

  Cyprus looked at him with horror, “No, don’t!”

  “Matto, that’s enough you old fool, come back here.” The Myrd barked.

  The Ordanian didn’t listen, “What is it that you’re looking for? We can help you.”

  That pragmatic side of Arthros was the only thing that prevented him from blasting both Cyprus and the Ordanian away.

  “I’m looking for the reptilian alien, it’s a very large, predatory species. It’s imperative that I find this creature.” Arthros said, plasma cannon still aimed and ready.

  Cyprus was pale faced and stricken by the Ordanian’s intervention. Was she afraid the little alien actually knew where the Shadari was?

  The Ordanian hesitated, “Will you let this woman go?”

  “No, don’t.” Cyprus rasped.

  Arthros brought his metal face close the little flying Ordanian, “Yes, I’ll let her live.”

  “He’s lying!” The human girl screamed. “You can’t trust him, don’t tell him anything!”

  The Ordanian ignored and took a deep breath, “He’s right over there-“

  Something streaked across the air, fast as a whip. Arthros lunged forward to try and protect the alien, but when his fist closed around the body, he knew it was too late. The Ordanian’s life force was no longer registered by the HWND.

  “Flux! Scor!” He shouted as he readied himself for another attack.

  He scanned the terrain in an instant but there wasn’t a trace of the Shadari, not even a heat signature. Arthros slowly uncurled his fingers, and the Ordanian’s lifeless body rolled out.

  The elderly Myrd let out a strangled wail and scrambled through the doorway to collapse beside the winged corpse. Cyprus was stiff, eyes glued to the puncture wound in the alien’s chest. Whatever had killed it, was strong enough to pierce the stone-like armor.

  “You killed him! He was trying to help, and you killed him!” The young human shrieked.

  Arthros looked up at the girl, and when he saw her face twisted in hysterical rage, he recognized her immediately. Jericho’s life partner, the young woman he had forced him to leave behind.

  The one he had claimed was dead.

  Her presence shook him more than the instantaneous death of the Ordanian. He never expected to see the woman again, and yet here she was, standing side by side with Cyprus Atik. What would Jericho do if he learned she was alive? That Arthros had lied to him from the start?

  Because of his compassion for the young human unconscious the ship, he had let the human woman live. It was his compassion that would unravel everything.

  He couldn’t make the same mistake again.

  “You’re a monster! He was innocent!” She picked some rocks from the ground and hurled them. They bounced harmlessly off his metal face. “I’m going to kill you! I’m going to kill you for what you’ve done. You took him from me! You took my Jericho! I’ll kill you!”

  She had to die.

  Arthros lifted the plasma cannon at the human and fired. At the same time, he felt something pierce his shoulder, and pain lanced across his body.

  The strike caused his arm to jerk and the plasma round exploded at her feet, obliterating the stone structure and sending her body flying in a shower debris.

  He recoiled from the pain unable to dodge the great force that plowed into his chest. His mech toppled over, landing hard on its back with the attacker’s weight pinning him down. In the haze of dust, he could see the dripping fangs of the Shadari invader snapping at his throat.

  With his good arm he clubbed the alien in the head, the reinforced blow sent the Shadari flying off his chest. Using them mini thrusters built in the armor of his back, he flipped back onto his feet.

  The stone structure was gone, replaced by rubble and dust. A broken slab of stone was lying where the Ordanian had been laying, and a Myrd arm was poking out from underneath it. Cyprus, however, was no where to be seen.

  Hopefully, she too lay crushed beneath the stone.

  He turned his attention back to the Shadari, subconciously ducking at the same time. Something whizzed over his head with impossible speed, the same thing that had killed the Ordanian earlier.

  The Shadari was standing in the dust cloud, broad shoulders heaving as he drank in large breaths. His eyes were gleaming with predatory excitement, and his tail, the unmistakable weapon that had nearly skewered Arthros’ face, was poised for another strike.

  “Arthros!” Zero warned him.

  She didn’t need to, he knew to be careful. This Shadari was responsible for the deaths of four HWNDs, and it was no doubt that he had the capability to puncture Hokkonian steel. Probably with its tail.

  If that was the case, he would just have to remove it.

  “I’ve been waiting a long time for this.” The alien hissed, forked tongue hanging loosely between razor-sharp teeth.

  Behind him, Cyprus was stumbling through the wreckage of the house, coughing and crying out for the girl. Arthros felt a flicker of disappointment that she survived.

  “Flux, Scor, don’t let Atik escape!” He shouted into the comms.

  An instant later, the union ship exploded in a giant fiery column. The Shadari leapt at him a beat later. Even in his HWND the massive alien’s speed was almost too much to keep up with, and it drove him back several steps. It took everything he had to keep the tail away from the vital spots.

  The barbed tail stabbed at his chest, in the same spot where Arthros’ biological head was resting. He dodged the first time and countered with a blast from his plasma cannon. The discharged round missed the Shadari and arced through the air, humming its deadly song. The plasma projectile tore a circular hole through a boulder, completely melting through the stone.

  The tail struck again, but this time he was ready. He caught the scaly skin just below the barbed point and squeezed hard enough to crush the bones inside. The Shadari screeched in pain and tried to pull away, but Arthros grip was too tight.

  The reptile thrashed and lashed out with thick talons. Arthros ducked underneath a swipe, and with the tail still clamped in his left hand, he fired discharged another plasma round directly into the belly of the monster.

  The force of the blast sent the Shadari flying backward, free its from Arthros’ mechanical grip. The lizard hit the ground hard, where it lay in a mess of scaled limbs, partially obscured by the dust and smoke that rose from its body.

  Arthros checked the Shadari’s vitals and relaxed at the negative reading. He would have been surprised if the alien was able to survive a gut shot from a plasma cannon, though you could never be too careful.

  Scor and Flux landed beside him, “We destroyed the cruiser.”

  “I saw.”

  “Is he dead?” Fluxor motioned to the lizard’s body.

  “It would appear so.” Arthros muttered, “what about Atik?”

  Scor shook his mechanical head, “gone, can’t find her.”

  Arthros took a deep breath, trying to calm his beating heart. “What about the other girl? It looked like she was paralyzed, did she crawl away?”

  “Dead probably,” Fluxor said.

  “Definitely dead, you hit her with a plasma round.”

  Arthros shook his head, “I missed.”

  He looked back to the ruins and his blood turned to ice.

  The Shadari’s body was gone.

  “Look out- “

  Fluxor let out strangled whimper as the Shadari’s barbed-tailed punched through the HWND’s steel-plated chest.

  Scor cried out and caught his brother’s mech as it tottered. Arthros looked in the direction of the strike, ready to catch the next one. Instead, the Shadari seemed to materialize out of thin air, appearing directly in front of him.

  His scaled belly was a mess from the plasma round. A large hole had been burned into the alien’s gut, and large chunks of skin hung in charred strips around the wound. The blast had cauterized the injury, leaving his insides smoking like meteorite’s crater.

  Arthros could hardly believe his eyes, and for the first time in his life, his courage faltered.

  There was a crazed light in the Shadari’s eyes, “You are not like the rest,” He cackled, “You’re the first to match me in speed.”

  Arthros set his feet in front of the twins. Fluxor was dying, and Scor was inconsolable. He had to protect them. “There is no one like me.”

  The alien bellowed a crazed laugh, and its tail darted through the air and shot towards him. He caught it with both hands, and with a slight grunt of exertion, he pulled the tail up past his face and above his head. Dragging the alien forward and up into the air.

  “Is that all you can do?” He snarled, straining against the mental pressure required to match the HWND’s physical exertion.

  The Shadari thrashed as Arthros held him up, unable to strike with his tail trapped in the mech’s hands.

  Arthros began to swing the Shadari around, rotating faster and faster until his vision was blurred. He pivoted on his other foot and with a violent growl, swung the Shadari up and over his shoulder. He slammed the lizard into the dirt with a enough force to split the ground.

  He didn’t’ wait for the dazed invader to recover, and he pounced. The alien’s head easily fit in the palm of his mechanical hand which he pressed into the sunbaked dirt

  “Where were my Pilots taken?”

  The Shadari wheezed out a chuckle, and Arthros pushed a little harder. He shouldn’t kill him, not yet. He might be the only way to Graito and Jericho. Yet despite that logical train of thought, cold black hatred crept into his heart like frostbite.

  “I’m going to crack open your skull if you don’t tell me where they are.”

  The reptile laughed even harder, a disgusting choking sound.

  He lifted the lizard’s head, ready to bash into the dirt. The Shadari’s tail snaked around his arm and pierced the back of his shoulder. It was a powerful shot, and it penetrated his armor easily. He screamed out in pain as the strike severed several nerve conductors, rendering his arm temporarily unusable.

  The lizard broke free, wriggling out from underneath the crushing weight of the HWND. Arthros tried to overcome his wounds, but even the strength of his rig wasn’t enough to subdue the thrashing creature. The tail lashed out again, punching a hole in his face. Due to the neural integration, he felt the damage to the mech as if it were his own. The pain was unlike anything he ever felt, and his vision darkened with the loss of an optic port.

  He completely released his grip and held his ruined face with both hands. Zero quickly eliminated the pain and transitioned all optical power to the single remaining port. With a quick manipulation, she was able to re-establish the appropriate depth perception he needed to remain operational. When he pulled is hands away, the Shadari was gone.

  He stumbled backward, “Scor! Fluxor! He’s gone!”

  Fluxor’s HWND sat slumped, blood leaking out of the shattered hole in the mech’s chest. Scor’s HWND was frozen, a metal stature erected in mourning. He tried to talk to them again, but they ignored his efforts.

  “Zero?” He didn’t want to hear her answer.

  She responded instantly, “He’s alive, but barely.”

  He let out a ragged, gasping sigh of relief, and returned his attention to the matter at hand. The alien could cloak itself, just like its ugly ship. So, he was hiding somewhere close by, hidden in the very folds of reality.

  Shamanistic magic.

  He waited for the tail strike, ready for it to manifest itself from the shadows.

  It never came.

  A sudden thought struck him, “He’s not here.”

  As if his words themselves ignited the engines, a brutish, box-shaped starship lifted from the ground nearly a mile away and shot away towards the stars. The Shadari had fled.

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