Emergence: Chapter 39

Engines roared as Keinam's Wing-Ship entered New Orbus's atmosphere. Scores of ships flew past him, both Adjeti and human. United in victory, none of the human craft fired upon the Adjeti's, which surprised Keinam; from what he remembered of the humans, they were a violent and primitive race. Evidently their desperation to win the battle had outweighed their aggressive natures. Keinam was glad that a couple of centuries had furthered their evolution.

He pulled the Wing-Ship down past the flaming city. As he rushed past, he could see fallen buildings and pillars of smoke, his Adjeti forces storming the streets and taking down the remaining Xaosians. From his perspective, it didn't look like there were many left, but the amount of Xaosian corpses was far less than civilian corpses. Keinam briefly considered mourning, before realising that no-one, none of them, would have ever mourned the Adjeti's loss. He may have saved them, but they would probably still persecute them. Otor's idea of peace with the humans here sounded nice, but it was just a fantasy; Keinam didn't trust them.

Ignoring the city for now, he steered his ship down to the surface and underneath New Orbus, landing on the firm stone of Orbus itself; as far as knew, no-one had been here since it was incinerated by the World-Burner. Keinam cursed under his breath; the Pyrkagia had used the Adjeti's weapon against Orbus, and everyone, understandably, assumed that it was the Adjeti. But no-one would listen to the Warchiefs' words, and the humans used the World-Burner against its creators. Or so they had thought.

Keinam smiled at the trickery he had orchestrated in order to save his world, his race. Yes, many died, and the uprisings on Oblivion were brutal and unnecessary, but were thousands died, millions remained; he had won. He hadn't yet lost a battle; he had been close many times, but he had always pulled through.

He exited his ship and put his ear to the ground, knocking on the stone. Not noticing out of the ordinary, he moved on a few standards, before repeating. This time, he noticed a different sound to the knuckles-on-stone; more like knuckles-on-metal. He moved a standard to the left, and knocked again: stone. Two standards right and he found a louder knock of metal, camouflaged as stone.

Smiling to himself, he donned his exoskeleton, feeling the warmth of the liquid bone flow over his body before solidifying. Both his actual bones and exoskeleton cracked as he twisted his hand into a blade form. It hurt at first, but when the blade was fully formed, the pain subsided. He plunged the blade into the metal beneath, a high-pitched scratch piercing his ears. He ignored it and persevered, cutting a hole in the camouflaged metal large enough for him to drop down.

He gripped the sides, and lowered himself in, then dropped. Feet hit the ground with a thud after a brief fall. Looking around, he saw wires lining the walls and he knew he was on track. He followed the wires as they grew ever-denser, letting him know he was on the right track.

Moving through the caves, he soon began to hear movement and a strange bubbling sound; could it be that someone had got here before him? The narrow caves began to grown wider, until it opened into a large room. The first thing he saw was an Orban at a computer, and he thought he recognised it.

“Ha'kuun?” Keinam asked.

The Orban turned around, showing no surprise to Keinam. “Ah, Warchief...Keinam, was it?”

Keinam had never really got used to the Orban voices when they entered his head. “Yeah, I'm Keinam. What happened here? How are alive?”

Ha'kuun seemed confused by the question. “Your back-up project. Do you not remember?”

“I know that much.” Keinam remembered the back-up project; a cloning chamber with a mind transferring system. After discovering that the brain communicated via electricity, the logistics of storing it briefly inside a server seemed possible. This bunker was preserved beneath the ground; in case of disaster, a few Orbans could shelter and be reborn after their original bodies died. “But how did you awaken from your tubes?”

“Her.” Ha'kuun pointed to a dark-haired young human female. “She accidentally awakened us again when her ship crashed here.”

Keinam nodded, before rounding on the woman. “Who are you?”

“My name is Ilisa, and I'm from Raan.” Ilisa seemed terrified at the sight of Keinam.

Keinam shed his exoskeleton, allowing it to drain back inside his chest. “Are you the only human here?”

“No.” Ha'kuun answered. “Her partner is in the tube.”

Keinam took a deep breath; stay calm. “What is he doing in the tube?”

“Being revived of course.” Another Orban interjected. “His body was dead, but his mind was sound. Ilisa awakened us, it seemed fair to repay her actions.”

Keinam considered it, and eventually conceded. “Fine.” He turned to Ilisa. “You stay here until your partner wakes. I need one of the Orbans.”

“I'd planned to stay.” Ilisa's voice was loud and defiant.

“Why do you need an Orban?” Ha'kuun asked.

Keinam smiled. “You have no idea what's happened over the last couple of centuries, do you?”

Ha'kuun shook his head. “All I know is that our world is mostly dead, aside from that new city the humans built.”

“My race was blamed for your planet's death, and persecuted. We had to hide beyond the Oblivion Gate, and to save Oblivion, we were trapped there for all this time. Long story short, anyway.”

“Hang on,” Ilisa spoke up, “You're an Adjeti?”

Keinam forced a smile. “Well done, dear. Yes I am.” Keinam turned and walked away, beckoning Ha'kuun to come with him. It was a shame that Keinam couldn't see Ilisa's expression; he imagined that it was shocked, angered and perplexed in one hideous combination.

“Why do you need me?” Ha'kuun asked.

“To prove our innocence.” Keinam walked ahead of Ha'kuun, looking over his shoulder to ensure that the Orban was still following. “We have footage proving our innocence, but footage can be doctored. But your testimony and existence cannot be faked.”

“We will take down the Pyrkagia.” Ha'kuun's voice took on an vicious tone. “Shame we couldn't stop them before,” he gestured to everything around him, “this.”

“We tried. We couldn't get there in time.” Keinam had never counted that in his battle losses; there had been no battle, as they were too late. “I killed the Primary earlier; that was a sweet victory. They should be in disarray now.”

“Revenge will be sweet.”

“It will.”