Emergence: Chapter 53

The stones beneath Maron's feet took on a whole new light as he walked back towards the survivors' camp on the edge of Tapal. He knew that dead things lay under all of them, but from what he'd seen before, he knew that they weren't going to stay dead for long. In fact, he was surprised that whatever controlled them let them lay dormant for so long. Unless the eggs in their skulls were damaged, they should awake.

And an army of the dead would fall upon the remnants of Raan.

Rals's injury wasn't as bad as Maron had first thought, and neither was his own; he'd only chipped his tooth, but a couple of layers of skin had been torn and burnt. Rals's was worse than Maron's, with a large gash along the side of his head, and a graze of his forehead. He seemed to be fine, but Maron knew that he needed urgent attention just to make sure.

“You hearing any movement, Rals?” Maron knew that his hearing was not as good as his younger partner's.

“Just the usual rickety sounds of the rubble.” Rals was looking around at the aforesaid rubble. “Nothing out of the ordinary. Well...you know what I mean.”

“Yeah, I get you.”

They made their way back to the survivors' camp and looked around searching for someone to tell; Admiral Fairns, General Trexor, or Warchief Otor would do. Maron knew there was no point telling a standard trooper; they wouldn't listen, or care.

Eventually, Rals pointed out the formerly-white armour of Admiral Fairns, who was speaking with Otor. While Otor seemed calm for a change, Fairns seemed to have lost it, shouting animatedly at the Adjeti. As Maron drew closer, Fairns abruptly stopped and turned to face him. “Maron, Rals. What news?”

Maron opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it again; where the hell do I start from?

Rals looked sideways at Maron, before Otor turned to him. “You. Kid. What happened?”

Rals looked nervously at the Adjeti, before stuttering his version of events. “We found Xaosians trying to escape. Th-they...we killed them...” He trailed off.

Otor looked at Fairns, then at Maron, who nodded. “We killed them.” Maron's voice was steeled. “And then they were alive again.” He let that sink in for a few minutes. Otor seemed enthralled and intrigued, whereas Fairns gave him a look of disbelief.

“Alive again?” Fairns's tone was mocking, almost patronising. “Are you sure you killed them?”

“Of course I fucking killed them.” Maron hissed. “They died! I watched them die! They have a thing implanted in their brains,” He rustled through his pockets, producing the two eggs, “these things. They control the Xaosians before and after death via some sort of... I don't know, maybe some sort of Xaosian network or something. The only way to stop them is to damage or remove these things.”

Otor held out his hand and Maron gave him one of the eggs. Otor brought it up to his face and examined it, turning it over and over in his palm. “A lot of Xaosians have these.” Otor observed. “From my time among them, I noticed these things; I thought they might have been inbuilt com units, but evidently not. What is curious, however, is that Xaos has one too.”

Maron felt his brow furrow. “So Xaos is also being controlled?”

Otor nodded. “Certainly seems like it.” A thought struck him. “I remember, on Oblivion, me and Keinam noticed the presence of a Xaosian AI communicating between Xaos and Oblivion. Perhaps the AI is linking them together. Or,” Otor clearly wasn't sure about what he was about to say, “a rogue AI is controlling them.”

Fairns scoffed. “Are you lot hearing yourselves? Dead rising again? Rogue AI?” He gave them a disgusted look. “The hell's wrong with you all?”

Maron saw Otor's fist clench, and realised that the Adjeti was barely resisting decking the Admiral, just like him.

Rals didn't resist, and Fairns stumbled backwards in surprise; Rals didn't hit him too hard. “Maybe you should walk out into the city yourself, Admiral.” Fairns gave Rals a look of disgust, but stayed away, shocked that he'd punched him. “Go on. Have a look around there. You'll find one, I'm sure.”

“What's going on?” Trexor approached them, one hand on his sword hilt. He looked at each of them, inspecting their expressions. “Something bad's happened, hasn't it?”

Fairns spoke up first. “They found some Xaosians, and didn't kill them properly, so they thought that the Xaosians were some sort of undead thing.” Fairns scoffed. “Damn idiots.”

“We did kill them.” Maron said through gritted teeth. “Twice. The other dead Xaosians could also rise again, and try to kill us all.”

Trexor looked at Maron, and raised an eyebrow. Maron didn't flinch. When doing the same to Fairns, Trexor saw a glimmer of doubt. Trexor nodded. “Maron believes in what he says. Even you, Admiral, a small part of you believes it too. We need guards on the camp, day and night now. Concentrate the doctors on the soldiers; we need them ready to fight. Just in case.”

“Thank you.” Maron nodded gratefully towards Trexor.

“Don't thank me yet; there are a lot of dead Xaosians under the rubble.” Trexor paused, and his tone turned mournful. “I uncovered a load myself.”

He walked away, presumably to arrange the guard duty. Maron's glare followed Fairns as he too rushed away.

“What now?” Rals asked.

“Now,” Otor said ominously, “we wait.”

*

The Xaosian emerged that night.

Trexor looked out with one of the few pairs of binoculars they had scrounged from the military base. He couldn't see too far into the city, but he saw the rubble move and tip as the Xaosians broke through to the surface. As soon as he saw them, he knew that they shouldn't be alive. Some had parts missing, bullet wounds, split armour and broken bones, but they moved like they were alive. Better. Methodical in their approach, the closest ones waited as others amassed with them, forming a wall of the undead. More and more kept coming, some dragging themselves along the floor after losing their legs, leaving a thin trail of blood behind. Most had weapons, but most of them makeshift. There were few pistols, less rifles, and almost no larger guns. Instead, they held melee weapons; knives, small swords, pipes, even just stone and bricks.

And there were hundreds of them. Trexor knew that there couldn't have been thousands; surely, there wasn't that many dead. But maybe there was; they could have been amassing from other towns around Tapal.

“They're forming an army.” Trexor called to Maron. “A fucking wall of dead Xaosians.”

“Wall?” Rals asked, confused.

“You heard right.” Maron said, taking the binoculars from Trexor. “They're in like a block formation; they intend to just march here and tear us all apart.”

“They coming?” Fairns came over, barking questions.

Trexor turned to him. “Get everyone who can fire a weapon, everyone who can use one. We'll lose some, but we can't run; there's nowhere to go where they can't find us. We have to stop for rest, for food. They don't need either. We could all die tonight. But we can fight to the end.”

Maron looked at Trexor dismissively. “Yeah, that. Fairns, get people ready at the edge of the camp.”

*

Otor could see the Xaosians from his position. The others stood in a straight line behind him, only a few of them soldiers. Nearest to him were Fairns and Trexor, followed by Maron and Rals; those four were the only ones with decent weapons. Maron and Rals had their T-18s, Fairns had a Xaosian X-46 rifle, salvaged from Tapal. Trexor had his sword and a half-stocked Xaosian pistol. Most of the other soldiers had low ammunition or salvaged weapons, along with either a blade or a blunt weapon; not exactly armed to the teeth.

Trexor looked around at the line. He saw Tya, holding a battered pistol and a small sword, shaking as she stood. She smiled at him, and he tried to broadcast a look of reassurance, but he didn't think he managed it. She was between two actual soldiers, which reassured him. Further along the line was Trem, limping slightly; obviously he had volunteered, and not listened to a rejection. Next to him was Disa, trembling. He stood slightly ahead of her; obviously trying to protect her. Trexor shook his head; Disa shouldn't be there, she was just a survivor, a mother, not a trained soldier or fighter. She had no place here. Neither did Tya, but at least she'd joined the army of her own accord; she could be a fighter.

Otor's hands twisted into a blade on the right, and the blood-pellet gun on the left. He said a few words of encouragement to Trexor, Maron and Rals, and then fastened his exoskeleton around his face, leaving only eyes free; he was ready.

Just in time.

A bullet nicked Otor, only missing his eye because he jolted out of the way; this was a good marksman. Whatever was controlling them was good; more evidence that it was some sort of AI in charge. Being methodical and simply better than organic lifeforms was pretty much the reason AIs existed.

“These guys are fuckin' dangerous!” Otor yelled to the others. “Damn good marksmen. If you can get close, I reckon their bodies and armour were weakened by the quake. And the whole being dead thing.”

Maron nodded. “That's a fair point. Charge them?”

Fairns looked terrified behind his visor. “Ch-charge?”

Trexor raised his sword and roared. “Charge!”

Trexor led the charge, Otor at his side. Fast footsteps thundered on the ground, almost drowning out their roars as they met the Xaosians. Trexor crashed at one, cleaving an arm, holding a gun, loose, but it kept coming. It slashed at Trexor, who blocked most hits, pushing it back, and punching the bastard with his free hand. The Xaosian fell down, and Trexor slammed the blade through its chest. Extracting it, he moved on to another one, knocking it back.

“Trexor, look out!”

Trexor turned round, to see the Xaosian twisting around to stab him, the wound in its chest fully visible. Shocked still for a moment, he leaned back just in time to only get a scrape on his armour.

“Bust their heads in!” Maron yelled. “They won't stop unless the thing in their ears can't control them anymore.”

Maron twisted and ducked through the hordes, trying to land a blow to the head. But whatever was controlling these things anticipated his moves; not all of them, but enough of them to hinder his efforts. No bullet nor blade had hit a head yet, only body and limbs; he had severed all four limbs from one, but it still managed to wriggle and roll around, trying to gnaw at his feet. He crushed its face beneath his foot, shattering the already-damaged helmet and turning the head inside to mush.

Rals, faster than Maron in his youth and stature, was able to land a few more hits than Maron, but not enough to make much of a difference. Bullets landed, powerful enough to shatter the helmets, but obviously the AI or whatever that was in charge upped its game, and he never got a second direct hit to the head. He pushed them back, knocked them down, but there were too many to concentrate on just one.

Fairns stayed back, lurking on the edges of the combat, shooting at random Xaosians every now and then. They mostly ignored him; he was no threat, they simply dodged his bullets.

Trem and Otor were having more luck.

Trem kept Disa back behind him, shielding her from the Xaosians. She fought, and managed to get a few good hits in; evidently the AI controller found it easier to predict the actions of soldiers. But it adapted, soon blocking her every move. Trem, however, got in when they blocked her, punching their battered helmets in with his fist, before stabbing them with his hidden blade, tearing through their heads. He leapt, span and flipped over oncoming blows, attacking from above as he did so.

Otor massacred them all around him. When in close range, he twisted his left arm from the gun into another blade. With both blades actually being his arms, they were much easier to wield than ordinary blades, transforming himself into a living weapon. The AI had no predictions for the Adjeti; it hadn't seen them in action before, and Otor's rage and possible madness made him more unpredictable than most. The Xaosians tried to dodge his attacks, but very little did. It hurt him every time he hit them; there were nerve endings in his exoskeleton, and the blades bent slightly when they hit or cut through things, causing him intense pain. It was all he could do to keep silent, rather than to cry out in agony.

But even while they made progress, the Xaosians were well trained and well organised; the controlling force calculated their every move, most of which were spot on.

They were fighting a losing battle and they knew it.

Emergence: Chapter 52

They saw the Xaosian ship arrive.

Overnight, they had made a plan. Kivina had made the plan, and the others just agreed; it seemed easier. Unfortunately, they had no idea if it was succeeding until Kivina returned. If she didn't, Tors could say goodbye to his freedom. Pandora, Emola and Cane sat with him around the fire, all looking as nervous as he felt; there was a chance that they would be killed if this went wrong. A huge chance.

“If I don't survive,” Cane started, “then-”

“Don't say that.” Emola hissed.

Cane gave him a look. “Then find Disa and my son. Tell them I love them.”

“Loved.” Pandora muttered.

Cane shot her a disapproving look. “Not really the time for perfect grammar, Pandora.”

“So, are we doing this shit?” Tors looked around and only Cane made a movement to suggest that they were. “Fine. If I don't survive, then...” His speech fizzled out. “I can't think. There's no-one I want you to speak to, nothing I want you to finish or do...I've wasted my life; I've got nothing.”

“Hey...” Pandora put a hand on Tors's arm. “You got good friends, and you've had fun; that's all that matters really.”

Tors sighed. “Yeah, I guess so. It'd just be nice to have something material to cling on to.”

“I get you.” Emola nodded. “If we're doing this, here we go.” He took a deep breath; Tors had never seen Emola nervous before and it intrigued him. “If I don't survive, then...” He looked into Pandora's eyes. “I'd like to tell you this Pandora; I love you. I have for ages.”

Tors smiled to himself. Knew it!

Pandora seemed taken aback. “Really?”

Emola's face fell, and he spoke quietly. “Yeah. Don't you feel the same?”

Pandora opened her mouth awkwardly, before closing it again. Tors looked at Cane, who gave him a knowing look, simply conveying “oh dear”.

When Pandora finally got words out, it was obvious that she'd thought about it well. “Emola. I like you. I really like you. But I don't love you, I'm sorry.” Emola's scales turned darker. “But, I'd be willing to go on a date with you, if we survive.”

Emola's smile and exhale almost broke his face, Tors was sure. He didn't say anything, nor did he need to.

Pandora turned to them all. “If I don't survive, find my family on Tras, and tell them that I loved my work on Narcsia. Tell them I died in the storms, doing what I loved; researching the history of the Empire.”

Tors nodded, but Cane did not share his sentiment. “You want us to lie? About your death?” He shook his head. “Give me one good reason.”

“I want my family to remember me for what I enjoyed. Not as a prisoner in a Xaosian camp. I don't want them to think I suffered.” Pandora looked at Cane, who nodded once, accepting her words.

“Well,” Tors spoke to them all, “now that's done, we need to wait for Kivina.”

*

Kivina was still a Xaosian and, with her helmet on, no-one could see the lack of her inhibitor, or the dodgy stitches in her ear. So, in the camp, she could still be one of the indoctrinated, which suited her just fine. As they milled around, preparing for the movement of the newly delivered inhibitors, she sneaked off to the armoury. It was called an armoury, but it was just a glorified hut, the same which the prisoners lived in.

The conditions inside were better than any of the prisoners' huts, which disgusted her; evidently they viewed weapons to be a priority over life. But, she realised as she looked around, they were pretty damn good weapons. Different sorts of guns, knives and blades of all sorts were hanging on the walls, while explosive charges where stacked, probably precariously, on the shelves.

She clipped a bunch of charges and grenades to her belt, and slung some of the guns over her back; she didn't care which ones, they were all deadly enough to cause serious damage. She left the hut, looking around for any other Xaosians; she assumed that they were all fitted with the inhibitors.

Her heart was beating quickly now; she was nervous as hell right now. She crept over to the Xaosian camp; it wasn't really a camp, just a larger and nicer hut than the prisoners had, nothing glamorous. She crouched down next to the wall and unclipped a charge from her belt. Carefully, she clamped it to the wall, activating the inbuilt adhesive to stick it to the wall. Setting the charge to blow in three minutes, she got up, ready to go.

“Kivina!”

“Ah...” Kivina froze, trying to identify the voice. “Yantae!”

“What are you doing?” Yantae sounded suspicious.

“Just chilling back here.” Kivina smiled at him, hoping that it wasn't too fake.

She had two options, because she knew he wouldn't believe her; knock him out, or kill him. She didn't want to kill him, she wanted to save him. But if she knocked him out, he could wake quickly, possibly before she could get the weapons to Cane and the others.

“No, you're not.” Yantae brought up a rifle. “Be honest, or I will shoot you.”

She drew a pistol.

His trigger finger tightened.

And he fell down as she shot first, the dense and sharp Xaosian bullet cutting through his arm.

Not wanting the other Xaosians to see a corpse out in the open, she picked him up by his shoulders, and dragged him across the hard floor into the armoury. Dumping him unceremoniously in a corner near the door, she opened up his armour. Next to the bullet wound, she placed another charge, setting it to two minutes; that was probably all she had left on the other one.

This time, she left the armoury much quicker, not wanting to be caught, nor caught up in the explosion. She could hear the Xaosians talking in the camp, but they didn't seem to have noticed anything out of the ordinary. She smiled; good.

Weapons slung over her back, she rushed back to Tors's hut.

Snap.

She looked around, swearing to herself and got the shock of her life.

*

Teriva burst into her sister's office, astounding the bodyguard, who went for his gun, until he was waved down by the room's occupant.

“What the hell is going on?” Teriva roared.

Lady Arias stood up and stared Teriva down. “Leave, Atim.”

The bodyguard looked at Arias. “Are you sure?”

“Of course,” Arias snapped, “it's my sister, she's not gonna hurt me.” She stared into Teriva's eyes. “She'll back off soon after she has her little hissy fit.”

Atim seemed uncomfortable, but left anyway. “I'll be right outside.”

“Thank you Atim.” Arias smiled; Teriva knew it was fake. She turned to Teriva. “What do you want?”

Teriva pointed out the window of the tower towards the edge of the city. “What the hell is going on there? And why are you working with the Xaosians?”

Arias came out from behind her desk, and placed her hand on Teriva's shoulder, and whispering in her ear, “You'll never understand the ins and outs of politics, so let me put this simply; we are at war, and I am ensuring that Irin is on the winning side.” She moved away, touching Teriva's other shoulder as she did so. “The Narcsia refugees are here as prisoners, as you full well can see. In fact, it was explained on the news by Professor Tujin Diank; one of your old colleagues? Did you not see it, it was a lovely speech.”

“I wouldn't be here if I didn't.” Teriva brushed her sister off her shoulder. “You're disgusting.”

“Why?” Arias asked. “I just want the best for my people, you're just too blind to see it; just because you can't fuck your precious Lord anymore-”

Crack.

The slap hurt Teriva's hand, and definitely hurt her shocked sister. Arias touched her cheek slowly, as if in a state of shock. “You struck me...” She stood, dazed for a moment, before snapping back to reality. She smiled. “If you want to save the refugees out of some misplaced sense of duty, then be my guest; the Xaosians will cut you down.”

“You don't care?” Teriva felt like a chunk of her had been torn away; Arias had always been a bitch, but she was never this cold. “If I die?”

“Of course I don't want you to die.” Arias sighed. “But the Xaosians can't be stopped, can't be killed; they just keep coming.”

“Can't be killed?” Teriva noticed Arias's augmentation spark; just like Tujin's.

Arias shook her head. “No. They don't die, but rise again, more unified and deadly than before.”

“How is that possible?” Teriva asked, shocked.

“No idea.” Arias grimaced. “If you're going down there, tell me if you don't die.” Her tone turned darker. “Now get out of my building.”

As Teriva left the room, Atim glared at her. As she walked to the elevator, she thought about both Arias's and Tujin's augmentation sparking while promoting the Xaosians. While it could be nothing, and just a coincidence, she turned her augmentation off, disconnecting it from the Irinian network; an unbreachable sub-network of the main Empire network.

Maybe, she thought, it wasn't so unbreachable after all...

*

“Yantae...”

Kivina couldn't help but stare at the Xaosian. He was meant to be dead. She could see the wound in his open armour, and the charge she placed there was deactivated in his hand.

“But you're dead.” Kivina backed in horror, he lip trembling.

“Yes.” His voice was somehow robotic and monotonous. “Yantae is dead. His body is dead. It belong to me now. All of the Xaosians here do, aside from you. How did you get it out? One of the prisoners? They'll be mine too soon. And the Irinians. Everyone will be united under my rule. And then, we shall expand the Empire.”

“How are you doing this Xaos?” Kivina backed away, bringing up her pistol again.

“Xaos?” Whoever, or whatever, was speaking through Yantae seemed amused. “Xaos belongs to me too. And soon, you will again.”

“Why are you telling me all this?” Kivina was still backing away, counting down in her head; the other charge should explode in five. Four. Three. Two.

One.

No explosion.

Yantae nodded to her. “I deactivated your other charge too. And I tell you, because it'll be your last independent thought.” Yantae raised his rifle.

Kivina shot first, hitting Yantae in the throat, but it didn't stop him shooting her in the leg. She fell to the ground with a feeble gasp.

“Now we wait for the inhibitors.” Yantae stood over her. “It's much easier to control the living than the dead.”

*

“Kivina's not coming back, is she?” Emola asked.

Tors exhaled. “I don't think so, no.”

Cane put his head in his hands and muttered something to himself, Tors didn't know what, but he assumed that it was some sort of cry for help or mercy.

“Are we just gonna sit here now?” Pandora asked, standing up. “Just because Kivina couldn't get us weapons, doesn't mean we're helpless; if we can take down even one Xaosian, they won't be expecting it, and we get a weapon and blast our way out, before alerting the Irinian authorities. Kivina would have helped get all of us out, but she's gone now, probably dead.”

A solemn silence fell as they realised that Pandora was right.

Cane stood next to her, and Tors could see a hardness in his eyes. He looked down at Tors and Emola. “Shall we get going then?”

Tors nodded, standing with Emola. “Let's go.”

Pandora poked her head out of the hut, looking left and right quickly to make no-one was coming; they were not. “Quick, over there!”

They ran towards another hut, and hugged the wall as Cane checked around the corner, before retreating quickly. “There's a guard round there. If we wait here, we should be able to take him down without him seeing us at all.”

They waited with bated breath.

The guard came round the corner. Tors lunged, wrapping his arm around its throat while Cane stole the Xaosian's weapons. The Xaosian's armour protected it from Tors's stranglehold and, as the shock wore off, it lashed out, throwing Tors off of it. Trying to hold on, Tors fell, cracking the piece of armour he was clinging on to.

At that close a range, Cane couldn't miss the shot that burst through the Xaosian's throat.

As it fell, dead, to the ground, they gathered up again. “We've got some weapons, but we need more,” Cane held up the assault rifle, pistol and combat knife, “that's enough for two, maybe three of us if one could get in close enough to use the knife effectively.”

Tors frowned. “We need more to storm the gate.”

“Yeah,” Pandora continued, “there's four on the gate, watching both outside and in. I imagine they're the best trained marksmen here; we need to at least match that.”

“I think we should head to where Kivina should be,” Tors suggested, “maybe she's still alive.”

“Or inhibited.” Cane argued. “But, yes, we'll go and find her, even if it's just so we stumble upon weapons on the way.” He looked at the guns. “I'll take the pistol; I have the steadiest hands, and this requires more accuracy than the others. Decide what you want between you, and let's go.”

Emola took the assault rifle, and Tors took the knife, if only to save Pandora from the fighting.

In their rush to leave, they didn't notice the dead Xaosian touch a hand to its still-bleeding throat.

*

Kivina gasped in pain again.

It came in waves, the agony. The feeling of something grating inside yourself felt strange and uncomfortable even before the pain where it's torn through numerous nerves. Blood was still oozing through her armour, but she imagined that there was so much more inside the armour; when she moved her leg, she could feel the wetness. When she looked at Yantae, she could see that there no blood seeping from his throat; he had already bled out.

Kivina grunted. “The inhibitors are...taking a while,” she winced as she moved her leg, “aren't they?”

Yantae nodded. “They are. They're being sorted for delivery, ensure maximum efficiency.”

Kivina ignored him. It was for the best; that way he – it – stayed silent too.

Silence. Only the sounds of the camp could be heard. Quiet, indiscernible speech, the hum of the electric fence and the hard sound of footsteps.

Footsteps?

She shouldn't be able to hear any footsteps normally, but these were getting louder: closer? Yantae noticed it to, raising his gun and looking around. “Who's there?” Yantae called.

“Maybe it's your crew with the inhibitors.” Kivina suggested.

“No.” Yantae shut her down. “Impossible; I can see them through their own eyes. No-one should be here. Unless it's your helpers.”

As if on cue, Cane shot Yantae twice; once in the leg, once in the chest. The leg-shot caught him off balance, and the chest-shot knocked him down. Tors ran over to Kivina, evidently worried about her.

“Are you alright?” Tors asked, checking her leg. “Oh god...”

“No.” Kivina answered bluntly, before snatching Tors's knife from him, and slashed down on Yantae's neck again and again, ignoring Tors's shouts and attempts to drag her from him, even as he twitched and tried to stand, until his head was hanging on only by flesh; he wasn't coming back this time.

She dropped the knife and collapsed to the floor, breathing as if she'd run a marathon. Pandora looked at the weapons on Kivina's back. “Got enough there?” Pandora smiled as she said it.

Kivina smiled, understanding the sarcasm. “Never have enough weapons.”

She threw the guns to the ground, and they all picked up one, leaving some behind; Kivina said it was impractical to take too many each, with nowhere to put them. “Now let's get out of this dump.”

She turned to look down at Yantae's head again, feeling as if part of her was lost as well.

Gunshot.

Shout of pain.

Gun clattered to the ground from a bloodied hand.

“Emola!” Pandora shot the Xaosian back, and he stumbled back once, before calling the others. The Xaosian's hut slowly began to stir as they mobilised to catch or kill the prisoners.

“Run for the gate!” Kivina roared, steeling herself for the pain that was about to accompany the running.

Time seemed to slow. Doors swung open, Xaosians poured out. The pain in her leg slowly emerged, going from just a niggle, to complete agony as she put pressure on it. Gunshot. The ground behind her spat small grey boulders at her. Gunshot. She missed one of them, the pain distracting her at the last moment. Another bullet narrowly missed her, and she assumed that it scratched the edge of her armour. Emola was being shielded by Tors, Cane and Pandora as the Xaosians closed in, their armour and slow start keeping being the only things that kept them behind Kivina. Looking over her shoulder, she could see them form a firing line, and shoot. Taking the pain, she dived onto the others, taking them down as the bullets whizzed over their heads.

“Get up!” Kivina got off of them, and they all followed suit, looking around them; Xaosians had closed them off left, right and behind. They ran a little further forward, before being forced to stop.

The gate was right in front of them; they had made it.

And were now about to pay the cost.

*

Teriva could see the prison camp now; the giant searchlights were just two of many of the traditional or clichéd archetypes she could see. The barbed wire topping the fence was always a sure thing, but the electric fence was usually optional. She walked right into one of the searchlights' path, wanting to speak to whoever was in charge; she knew she couldn't do anything, but at least she could see what she was dealing with.

But nobody hailed her, or acknowledged her, or even, in the worst case scenario, shot at her. Something's amiss...

She walked closer to the gate and saw a number of armoured Xaosians closing in on a small group; two Scalimen, a human, another Xaosian, and what seemed to be a Trasman. Intrigued and worried, she grew closer and shouted in. “What's going on?”

A Xaosian on the guard turned to look at her, not recognising her at first. “Ah, Lady Teriva. These prisoners tried to escape; we're only trying to put them back in their huts.”

Teriva looked at the group; one had a wounded hand, another a wounded leg. They all terrible, and growing gaunt. “Release them.”

Another guard looked around to see. “We answer to Lord Xaos.”

Teriva sighed and put her hand in her pocket; she knew it was a good idea to bring this. “No, you don't.” With the element of surprise on her side, she drew her compact pistol and shot the two guards, knocking them from their podiums atop the gate.

The Xaosians inside turned to her, and some shot through the gate. She screamed as she ducked beneath the bullets. Keeping one eye closed, she peeked at the group of prisoners.

*

While surrounded, Kivina had pretended to be fiddling with her belt, hiding her actions with a stoop and her weapon. Instead of her belt, she was actually fiddling with what was attached to it; the charges and explosives she had stolen. Feeling grateful to the woman outside for the distraction, Kivina set the timer on a charge for two seconds, before lobbing it at the Xaosians near the gate.

They saw it too late as it exploded, knocking them down. Other Xaosians raised guns to fire, but Kivina had already dispensed charges to them; they were only force charges, and unlikely to kill, only damage. Tors and Cane fired on those that the charges did affect as Kivina prepared another one, and Pandora protected Emola, keeping an eye on him more than the surrounding battle. No flames in this battle, no real explosions, just a burst of kinetic energy that threw the Xaosians out of its blast radius. With the Xaosians cleared out of the way of the gate, she chucked her final one at its centre. It detonated, blowing the lock.

“Come on!” Kivina yelled, ignoring her pain again; pain is for the weak.

She led the way, Tors and Cane covering them from behind as the Xaosians got up; they obviously expected this to be an easy catch. Tors shot down some that were getting up, and Cane knocked a few back down. Kivina kicked the gate, and it opened with a clang, before falling off its hinges; evidently the charges did more damage than she'd thought.

She let Pandora and Emola go through first, before following and waiting for Tors and Cane to get through as they backed towards the gate, firing on the approaching Xaosians.

“Follow me!” The other woman cried, beckoning them over to her.

The searchlights came back on, but Tors and Cane shot them out, hearing the sprinkle of falling glass as they did so. They ran across the rocky surface of Irin, before the other woman stopped and got on her knees.

“What are you doing?” Kivina sounded annoyed.

“One minute.” Using the palm of her hand, she cleared some of the small rocks off of a metal pipe. “Sewage entrance to the city; you won't be able to get past the checkpoint other wise.”

Tors looked at the others, who seemed to agree with him; it wouldn't be so bad. “Let's go then.”

She nodded, opening the panel. “Just drop through there, I'll close this behind you.”

They all jumped down aside from Kivina, who lowered herself in slowly, and still cried out in pain when pressure was put on the foot again. The other woman was the last one down, and when the sewer was sealed, the tunnels seemed to glow.

“Anyway, I'm Teriva,” she smiled, “and you're safe now.”

Kivina mirrored her smile; both were strained. They both knew that if the Xaosians came down here, they had nowhere to run and hide.

“Safe?” Tors scoffed. “Haven't been safe for months; first Narcsia, now this.”

Teriva tried a sympathetic expression, but she didn't know what it was meant to look like. “Don't worry; I intend to get us all on a flight out of the capital and to Orbus to get help to rescue all of the others.” She touched her augmentation and moved her lips slowly for a moment. “Done. We'll have a ship waiting for us at the spaceport. It'll have a med-bay too, so you can get patched up there.” She smiled to all of them, the worry from her face gone. “Let's get you out of here.”

Emergence: Chapter 51

At first, Maron was annoyed at Cinradahs's decision to leave him and Rals behind. He knew he'd be no use in a space battle, as he was a ground trooper, but he could have at least witnessed it or, better yet, manned one of the guns. But instead, Trexor and Admiral Fairns had put them both on a patrol of Tapal while they spoke to Otor. Maron hated being on Raan now; the ground moved beneath his feet, and sounds came from everywhere. Tumbling, crashing, rustling. There was no wind, which gave a silver lining; that always complicated things.

“We going anywhere in particular?” Rals was handling the terrain poorly, not being as sure-footed as Maron.

“I think Fairns just wanted us out the way.” Maron could be cynical when he wanted to. “Let's go round the city once and call it a day.”

“Yeah, that sounds fine.” Rals agreed enthusiastically.

They walked through the ruined city, looking all the while like a pile of parts at a building yard. All that was missing were the builders and the machines. Some vehicles were scattered around, but Maron didn't see any that were intact.

“Glad I wasn't based here.” Rals muttered.

“Why would you be?” Maron said dismissively.

“I was tempted to come here when I left Prauw rather than New Orbus,” Rals looked around, “but I'm glad I didn't now.”

“Yeah, I get you.” Maron took an Ukafa stick out and lit it. The taste of it, the exhilarating feeling contrasted entirely with the landscape of Tapal.

Rals tutted. “Really the time?”

“It relaxes me,” Maron explained, “just like beauty relaxes you, remember?”

“As I said, there are better ways.” Rals insisted.

Maron smirked. “You see any beauty around here?” He gestured around, arm wide to illustrate his point. “You can close your eyes, pretend to see beauty, but in doing so you'll just associate it with this shit-hole of a city.”

Rals rounded on him. “Shit-hole of a city? It's been destroyed, thousands dead! And you disrespect them all like that.”

Maron turned to him, inhaled Ukafa, and exhaled again. “Shit-hole then, shit-hole now. You can try and be respectful all you like, it don't change anything.”

Rals watched him in what he assumed was disbelief, as Maron casually continued walking. Maron didn't care what Rals thought; he was a nice guy to have around, but a bit too liberal for Maron's liking. He had no time for beauty or respect; he had his own ways.

He stopped and listened.

“Why have we stopped?” Rals annoyance was evident in his tone.

“Listen.” Maron was silent for a moment, but he was sure he could hear voices. “Voices.”

“Let's go then.” Rals stood, and was ready to jog over there, before Maron grabbed him and pulled him back.

“Might not be friendly.” Maron crouched down, and led the way, hiding behind piles of rubble.

“There!” Rals pointed at the three figures.

Xaosians.

“Bastards.” Maron stubbed his Ukafa out and threw it over his shoulder. “Kill them.”

Maron got the first shot, bullet going straight through the Xaosian's weak neck armour. It collapsed to the floor, still alive. The other two put their hands up and called to them, “Please! We're just trying to leave.”

Maron looked at Rals, who shrugged. “Leave?”

One of the Xaosians pointed to something black in the wreckage. “We're trying to fix this Reaper and-”

“You have the cheek to just go, leaving all the innocents of Raan to suffer?” Maron roared, aiming at the Xaosians.

“It's not our faults.” The Xaosian continued. “Xaos he's... there are these things he puts in our heads. They take over our thoughts. Look,” he held out a silver egg in his hand, “ours broke when we crashed.”

Maron walked up to the Xaosian, extended his hand to take it.

“Yours.” The Xaosian on the floor croaked his words, blood poured out of the hole in the armour.

Maron looked down at the dying Xaosian. “What did you say?”

“Just yours.” He looked at the other Xaosian, right before the third shot shot the other in the back. A look of surprise crossed his face; an emotion similarly expressed by Maron as he ran back after catching the silver egg as it fell.

They got behind some stacks of rubble and crouched behind them. Rals looked terrified and, while he'd never admit to it, so was Maron; that was close. “We using your patient method?” Rals asked.

“Fuck it, kill the bastards.” Maron leaned out and shot the dying one on the floor, finishing him off.

Just one left.

A bullet nearly hit Maron's head; he regretted leaving it at the camp.

Rals shot once more, hitting the Xaosian in the leg as it moved out of its way. The Xaosian retaliated. Rals yelled and went down, blood on his face.

“Rals!” Everything seemed to be in slow motion as he picked up the young man, moving his long hair out of his face to see the wound; it had grazed his forehead, narrowly missing the eye. Still bleeding, but not a serious wound; obviously the shock made Rals go down.

While that calmed Maron down, he wanted this Xaosian dead. Now. He didn't care about any mind-control egg things, he wanted revenge. Gun in front of face as protection, he leapt out from behind the rubble. Expecting surprise from the Xaosian, he was sorely disappointed when the Xaosian started firing straight away. Bullets hit Maron's gun, almost tearing it from his grip.

Maron fired.

Keeping his finger on the trigger, he was glad of the recoil-softeners new guns had. Most bullets went awry, but enough hit his target to tear his helmet to shreds, and its face with it. Maron went up to the corpse, made certain that it was dead and walked away from it to Rals. Picking Rals up, he spoke to him.

“Come on buddy.” Maron carried Rals away from the scene. “We'll get you some help.”

Something – felt like a bullet – hit Maron in the back, making him drop Rals on the floor. He turned to see what he least expected.

The two hostile Xaosians were up on their feet again, wounds still as bad as they were. But they were more sure footed in death, more agile and more accurate. A bullet whizzed over Maron's head before he shot the faceless one in the face again. A bullet hit his cheek, and he felt a tooth come loose; not his first. Biting back the temptation to scream in agony, he leaned round rubble and emptied a ton of ammo into the functioning corpse before it fell.

The other one was starting to stand up, and Maron was at a loss of what to do and how to kill them. Crouching behind the rubble, he could hear its footsteps getting louder and closer. Trying to rationalise this, he quickly delved into his mind. Three dead, two alive. Differences? One nice, two bastards. It dawned on him. Two egg things... gotta get them out.

As the Xaosian poked its gun around the corner, Maron avoided the shot, grabbed the gun, and dragged it from the dead hand, smashing it into the Xaosian's face. It stumbled backwards, and Maron watched it carefully, before spying a glint of silver in its ear. He grabbed it, and twisted, pulling it free, and a chunk of the Xaosian's ear canal and brain with it. He looked at it in horror; an egg, with stalk embedded into the grey, now gooey, mass of the brain. Feeling repulsed, he flung it away from him, hoping that that was the end of it.

The other one rose. Maron kicked its gun away, and it leapt at him. Maron froze for a moment, before remembering that this was an all-assault weapon. He brought the blade edge up, stabbing the undead Xaosian in the chest. Slamming the corpse to the ground, Maron stomped on its head again and again and again until his armour was splattered with the Xaosian's blood, and the egg could be easily extracted. He looked at the thing with disgust, before putting it in his armour's utility belt with the other one.

Rals was coming round now, and he looked around, and at the blood-covered Maron. “What happened when I was out?”

“I killed them both. Twice.” Maron explained the whole thing to Rals.

“How did they come back...why?” Rals had his confused face on; Maron disliked it.

“These.” He showed Rals the eggs. “They must control the body after death somehow. Maybe they reactivate and control the brain or something, I'm no biologist.”

“But there could be hundreds of dead Xaosians in this city alone.” Rals said, having his concerned face on; Maron thought that this face didn't suit Rals's head, but he didn't hate it.

“Exactly.” Maron nodded. “Soon, Raan could be facing an army of the dead.”

Emergence: Chapter 50

“Narcsia under attack...”

“Please help me.”

Cinradahs played Keinam's message back again and again, trying to understand more of it each time; his speech was clouded by the static noise, before it finally ended with naught but a crackle. While Cinradahs didn't really care for Keinam, he knew that he needed to help him. So, as he sat in his seat in his flagship's bridge, he gave commands to Otor, Maron, Rals and Trexor to protect the Raanian survivors' camp. After that, he turned to Saiun. “Are the Adjeti Wing-Ships ready?”

Saiun nodded. “They've rallied behind us sir.”

“Good.” Cinradahs called down to Tarib. “Let's go!”

“Lifting off.” Tarib studied the screen.

The ship lifted from the ground as the bottom thrusters booted up. Cinradahs imagined the grass around the ship being blown backwards as in a strong wind, maybe tearing some of the individual blades from the ground. He felt the ship lurch, before it passed through Raan's atmosphere. As it did so, he forced himself not to look at the destruction; he knew that if he did, he wouldn't be able to leave now.

“Sir,” Tarib called urgently, “hundreds of unidentified objects coming this way!”

“Warspheres?” Saiun asked.

“Almost certainly.” Cinradahs looked in the rear cam; his suspicions were correct. “Move the ship out of their way; we'll defeat them at Narcsia after we've wiped the Corlens there. Keinam mentioned gas creatures too; maybe they're fighting each other.”

Tarib nodded. “Let them wipe each other out.”

“And then destroy the victor.” Saiun caught on to his superior's plan.

“Exactly. Can the Adjeti hear me?” Cinradahs asked Saiun.

“Every ship can, yes; you're using the combat-com.”

“Good.” Cinradahs watched the Warspheres shoot past, not bothering with the Empire nor the Adjeti vessels. He waited a beat, before asking, “They all gone past now?”

Tarib checked the screens. “Yeah, looks like it.”

“Grand.” Cinradahs called to the Adjeti too. “Go to L-Drive travel now.”

Stars and space slid past them, blurring the screens. “Adjeti fleet,” Cinradahs called, “Who's in charge without Keinam here?”

There was silence for a moment, before someone answered. “I am sir. Retlin.”

“Good to know.” Cinradahs seemed happy that the Adjeti fleet didn't have to rely on him. “You control your fleet, I'll control mine. Sound good?”

“I thought that was how it was going to play out anyway.” Retlin responded. “Sorry if that came off as rude, sir.”

Sir? I could get used to that from an Adjeti. “Don't worry about it. Signing off.” Cinradahs turned off his com.

“Signing off sir.” Retlin then turned his own off.

The tension on board the ship was palpable, like some sort of invisible fog. The silence was what started it, but then no-one wanted to say the first word. It seemed to last an age, so Cinradahs quickly check the ship's vitals; all was good for now.

“We're here, sir.” Tarib broke the silence as the ship dropped out of L-Space.

“Good.” Cinradahs went up to the front of the ship and saw the Warspheres swooping towards the planet, but they couldn't see any of the gas creatures Keinam mentioned. “Let the ships loose.”

All around the ships, pilots leapt into their ships and took off, hangar doors opening with a red warning light, before they swarmed around the flagship. “Adjeti, are you ready?”

“Our first priority is to find Keinam's ship, and drag him aboard your ship. Then we will join you in the fight.” Retlin's voice was firm, even over the crackling com.

“The com's gone funny.” Cinradahs seemed worried. “That's what happened to Keinam.”

Cinradahs watched Retlin's ships disperse over the area, hunting. “Empire fleet. Move out and engage the enemy.”

Affirmative replies came through, before they went into action, missiles launching at the Warspheres, which didn't seem to notice or care. The Warspheres were firing at something else entirely.

“What are they doing?” Cinradahs muttered.

Then they all saw them.

Both Saiun and Cinradahs took a step back as cloud-like ships erupted out of Narcsia. Constantly shifting, the green masses crackled with static electricity as they slowly moved towards the Warspheres and Cinradahs's fleet. His hand found Saiun's, and he gripped it tightly, before glancing over to him; Saiun was transfixed until Cinradahs squeezed his hand, at which he point he turned to him and gave a sad smile. Cinradahs disengaged his hand and walked back over to the centre of the bridge.

“Scan those ships!” Cinradahs pointed at the ships in question with a shaking finger. “See if they have any weaknesses!”

“On it commander!” Tarib ordered her team to do so.

Cinradahs opened up a new com channel. “Retlin, your crew know anything about these?”

The Adjeti commander barked something to his crew. “Not at all, sir. We've never seen any sort of...Cloudships? We've found Keinam though, and we're bringing him to the flagship.”

Cinradahs nodded. “Fine, hurry it up.” He heard the docking bay seal around something, and the hiss as a ship's ramp lowered. He turned to Saiun. “Keinam's gonna be here in a moment.” He turned to his crew. “You got anything yet?”

“They're like clouds,” Tarib looked at the screens, not believing what she saw, “but more dense, which could be what enables them to travel in space.”

“Sir!” Cinradahs picked up the com. “They've got an electric weapon of some sort; we're fucked!”

Cinradahs looked at the screens; flashes of lightning shot from the Cloudships, annihilating all it touched. Ships were blown apart, Warspheres shattered. Even the Adjeti fleet wasn't safe; the Wing-Ships went down just the same as the others. There was some hope; the Warspheres seemed to be able to smother some of the Cloudships, but more kept coming. “The Warspheres are making vague progress; hold the Cloudships off until the other Warspheres get here. Try and find a way to hurt them.”

The door slid open and Keinam limped in, dragging a broken leg along the floor. “They nearly got me,” he gasped, “nearly got me.” His leg twitched and buckled, and he fell to the floor, still conscious.

“Get a doctor!” Saiun yelled to a crew member, who rushed off to the medical bays.

Cinradahs bent down to speak to Keinam. “What happened?”

Keinam coughed and clutched his chest. “Followed Corlens...to Narcsia.” This time when he coughed, there was blood. Cinradahs looked, open-mouthed at him; the invincible Adjeti, grievously wounded before him. “Clouds alive,” more blood came out on the next cough, “attacked. Lightning injured my ship. Corlens fight,” a barrage of coughs threw up a lot of blood, covering the floor, “they fight against clouds. You can't stop them with guns. Get Orbans.”

“Orbans?” Cinradahs was puzzled. “Why?”

“Telekinesis,” Keinam sputtered, “move particles around, move gas particles.” He coughed again, before falling to the ground.

“Get a medic now!” Cinradahs roared into the com. Two came running in, and lifted Keinam by his shoulders, dragging him to a medical bay.

Tarib watched him go. “I've sent a message to the capital, requesting the Orbans.”

Cinradahs nodded, still looking at Keinam's blood. “Thanks.”

“How screwed are we?” Tarib looked at him with wide, terrified eyes.

Cinradahs looked out at the electrical bursts, the ineffective missiles and the Warspheres' smothering technique. “So, so much.”

What he didn't say, but thought, was: I don't think we'll make it out of this battle.

Emergence: Chapter 49

It was the day of Ash's second fight.

Like before, Carnat made sure he ate well, or at least, as well as they could on the foul cubes. As usual, Ash ate slowly, while Carnat got it over and done with. After eating, Carnat gave Ash a makeshift bow he'd made, and gave him some target practise. Ash pulled the string back, feeling his muscles tense as it reached his chin. Then he let go, watching the arrow fly through the air. It hit its target, and the target wobbled slightly.

“I did it!” Ash cheered.

Carnat gave him another arrow. “Try and hit me.”

“What?” Ash was confused. “Why?”

Carnat's exoskeletal armour encased him. “Because you need to hit a moving target, and it probably won't hurt me much because of the armour.”

Ash pulled the string back as Carnat ran back and forth across one side of their room. He ran a lot faster than a human, almost superhumanly fast. Ash tracked his movements with the bow, watching his movements, judging his speed. He loosened the string, relaxing the bow as Carnat taught him. Judged the speed. Followed his movements. Ash pulled the string back, and fired the arrow.

Carnat caught it just before it hit him in the chest. Smiling, he handed Ash the arrow back. “Good. Now do that in the arena, and we should be fine.”

“Is there nothing else I can do?” Ash had never been confident at letting Carnat fight mostly alone.

“Nah,” Carnat clapped him on the shoulder, “no offence, but you're shit with most weapons. I need to train you again, but keeping away from the creatures is your best bet for now. Just put arrows in the fucker. If that fails, run.”

Ash nodded. “Alright. Just don't feel comfortable letting you fight along.”

“I'm not fighting alone.” Carnat gave him a knowing look. “You might do something.”

Carnat shoved the bow back in the corner where the guards wouldn't be able to see it; he wasn't certain if weapons were meant to be used in their rooms rather than the training pits. Soon after, Hak'i came down, escorting them to the arena.

Ash still couldn't get over the size of the arena; rows upon rows of people, all cheering or jeering them. He felt slightly paranoid and somewhat claustrophobic in the arena, knowing that people were watching him everywhere, behind, front, left and right. In the seperate box above the spectators, he could just about make out the Hak'i Dominort and his deputies. He raised a hand and roared, through a speaker system obviously, so that all could hear. “It's Carnat and the “gladiator” again.” People laughed at the mocking name they gave Ash. Carnat glanced at him, checking his temper. Ash nodded, indicating that he was fine.

They walked over to the weapon rack, and Carnat picked out a compound bow for Ash, rather than a crossbow. “You seem better with a proper bow, so this is the closest thing. It packs a punch, so you'll do more damage.” Carnat reassured him.

“Are you getting a weapon this time?” Ash took the bow from him, as well as a quiver, which he hooked on his belt; it might be easier to get the arrows that way.

“Yeah.” Carnat picked out a small dagger. “Just to slow it down if I need to.”

When they were ready, they stepped out into the centre of the arena, and Carnat shouted up to the Dominort. “We're ready to fight, esteemed Dominort. Let the beast loose.”

The door opened, and two dead Hak'i fell out. The crowd gasped, even before the monster appeared. When it appeared, Carnat backed away, shoving Ash with him.

“What is it?” Ash asked.

“You've heard me speak of Corlens.” The creature was like a giant centaur, but made of shifting metal. There were no real features of note, aside from the ovoid head, which split open like a petal when it roared. “That isn't a Corlen. Occasionally, two Corlens join together, and meld both body and mind and form this thing; an Ipsacorlen. Both larger and more powerful than the standard Corlens.”

“You said that Corlens were difficult to kill; what about these?” They continued backing away; the beast hadn't noticed them yet.

Carnat gave a little laugh. “No-one's ever killed one. Ever.”

“Oh shit.” Ash swore under his breath.

The Ipsacorlen turned to look at them. “Run!” Carnat yelled. The Ipsacorlen's arm extended, smashing a molten metal pole into the arena's wall. People seated above it screamed, and scrambled to get higher. Ash raised his. “Do not fire!” Carnat yelled, dragging Ash with him. “Only one way out of this alive.”

The Ipsacorlen roared, before chasing after them, gaining ground quickly; Ash wasn't even as tall as one of the beast's legs. It reached down with clawed hands, swiping at them, but Carnat tackled Ash out of the way. “Get to the door; Ipsacorlens are dumber than Corlens because the minds mess up in the melding process. We can use that.”

They ran to the door and waited. The Ipsacorlen ran at them, ready to punch them into the afterlife. Carnat put on a burst of speed, moving Ash forcefully out of the fist's path. The fist hit the door.

And smashed it right off of its hinges.

“Follow me!” Carnat dragged Ash up, and they through the tunnels. Hak'i guards came round the corner, brandishing electro-spears which crackled and glowed in the darkness. Ash drew the bow, readied the arrow and fired, taking out a guard, who dropped their spear. Carnat threw his dagger at one, which embedded itself in the guard's face. Grabbing a spear, Ash dodged a wild thrust, before knocking the guard down with the butt of the spear, before stabbing him with the pointed end. “Go, Ash!” Carnat said, his armour twisting into a blade, right before he beheaded the final guard.

There was a crash behind them. Metal and sand rained down upon them as they realised that the Ipsacorlen hadn't forgot about them at all. It burst through a wall, throwing the Hak'i corpses into the air, and knocking Carnat into a wall. Ash turned to go back and help him, but Carnat yelled, “Run” to him. Split as to what to do, he took his fight instinct and ran to Carnat.

Carnat was up on his feet and more Hak'i guards had joined. They held him back as they spoke to the Ipsacorlen in its own language, seeming to calm it. Carnat had forgotten one fact about the Corlens; they, for some reason, had a natural affinity with the Hak'i. Watching the distraction, he took his chance and ran towards Ash, who was running towards him. Ash turned as Carnat ran with him.

The tunnel was wide, which was good; Ash was tired and found it difficult running, let alone in a straight line. “Come one.” Carnat said gently. “We're nearly there; let's go before the guards catch up. Or they loose the Ipsacorlen on us again.”

Ash considered this as some damn good motivation, and continued to run until they could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Panting and gasping for air, they finally reached the surface of Rat'hak and bathed in natural light; they had escaped.

Emergence: Chapter 48

Warspheres.

While the ships had seemed slow back on Raan, they were giving Keinam's a challenge to keep up with them now. It was evident that they were heading for a specific point, rather than a random invasion of a random planet; this was a deliberate mission. He followed them closely, or as close as he could get, so he couldn't engage his L-Drive; he had no idea where they were headed.

Fucking Warspheres.

He hated them. They were just as bad as the Corlens at being indestructible; they were a bitch to take out. He remembered the Adjeti/Corlen war. It was a bloodbath on the Adjeti's side. The Corlens barely lost a soul until the World-Burner scorched hundreds of their Warspheres, driving them underground. Literally.

Keinam had thought that was the end of it.

Evidently not.

He sighed; since coming back to the Empire, he'd been faced with more challenges than he'd expected. Haven't even made a proper move on the insect bastards yet. Usually, by now, he would have fired on the Warspheres, but he hadn't flown this ship properly in decades, and didn't plan engaging about fifty of them in open battle; the Xaosian fleet was one thing, but this was out of his depth.

It seemed to take an age to follow them, and he wondered where they could be going. Ideally, they would know that it was Xaos that disturbed them, and actually head to the planet and wipe out there army. OR, for some random reason, to Buun and kill all the Pyrkagia. He grinned at the unlikely prospect, but he knew it wouldn't happen. They were probably off to Orbus or some shit like that.

Or Oblivion.

Revenge would be perfect for the Corlens now they could escape from their prison, but Keinam doubted that; from his experiences, the Corlens didn't think like that, they just wanted new homes at the expense of everyone on the planets they chose. They weren't a fan of organic life.

Keinam looked at the nav-screen, and calculated their current course to try and determine the planet they were headed to: Narcsia. He racked his brain; he'd heard something about Narcsia recently.

“The Narcsia survivors...”

“ citizens of Narcsia need new homes”

Where the Corlens already there? Cinradahs said nothing about them, so he assumed not. Unless he didn't know the full story. But, if the planet had been evacuated, then it was just the right time for Corlens to move in. Keinam couldn't help admire them there; they at least picked a good time. If he could just persuade them to stay there, everything should be fine.

It took a few minutes before his calculations were proved correct.

Narcsia, the green planet, home of the Scalimen. He liked Scalimen; one of his best friends was one. He grew old with Keinam, but unlike Keinam, he died. Keinam sat beside him as he died of old age; that was the curse of the Adjeti's longevity. You have to watch any inter-species friends grow old, whither and die. Even the thought of Osala brought a tear to his eye, but he could just about move on now.

There was something different about Narcsia.

Instead of recognisable continents like last time he was here, the planet seemed to be a swirl of green; maybe it was terrible storms that drove the Scalimen away.

He followed the Corlens down to the planets, and he could tell from their slower speed that they were apprehensive; evidently they were expecting the planet to look similar to what Keinam expected. They descended into the atmosphere, and Keinam couldn't help but notice the colour of the clouds; a dark green. Unusual for clouds, especially for Narcsia; if he expected dodgy clouds anywhere, it'd be Prauw just because of the crap the industrial district must pump out.

Keinam got the ship to run an analysis on the clouds, and it the result came back almost straight away. Keinam looked at it, confused.

The clouds were alive.

Something hit his ship.

“What the hell?” He yelled, knowing that he'd get no answer. Activating the ship's exterior cameras, he saw the clouds moving. And not with the wind. Another cloud smashed into his ship, flipping it around. He tried to gain control, but the clouds kept pummelling him. Then, they began to unravel.

Green, twisting serpentine creatures. Thin bodies, bulbous head. It's head split open, revealing a glowing red orb inside. Keinam breathed deep; the fucking things are made of gas! How am I supposed to fight gas? The thing shrieked, and lunged at his ship. Keinam, prepared, lurched out of its way. It narrowly missed, but now other joined it, unravelling into similar forms. Keinam shook his head in disbelief.

And activated the guns.

Unlike the messy projectiles of the Empire craft, and the bludgeoning of smaller Adjeti craft, Keinam's ship was equipped with lasers; pure concentrated light. Might just ignite the gas, or at least frighten them away.

He opened fire.

The lasers fired straight at the things; Keinam was famous for his marksmanship. But they passed straight through their incorporeal bodies. He wasn't surprised; it went worse than he hoped, but about the same as he'd expected. Even so, he couldn't think much aside from expletives.

And Run!

His fight or flight reactions had already exhausted the fighting part, and now it was time for flight; he was certain that gas couldn't follow him into space. He turned the ship around. The things followed. Close behind. Keinam looked at the rear cam-screen. Damn it! He tried to call backup, just in case he didn't make it out alive, but the clouds messed with his communications.

“Fuck it all!” He steered the ship as he yelled, thanking himself for turning the voice commands off; he had no idea what the ship would've done in that case.

He escaped the atmosphere with a relieved sigh. Looking back at the planet, he saw the things retreat back into the clouds. He smiled; best possible outcome. What were those things? Allied with the Corlens, he suspected. But why would the Corlens ally themselves with something so opposite to their own existence?

At least he was safe. He relaxed, and tried to communicate with Cinradahs. No signal. Suspicious, he turned the ship around to look at Narcsia, and considered one thing he'd forgotten about.

If gas can't travel through space, how did these things get here in the first place?

It seemed that dense gas, or possibly a huge amount of it compressed together, could travel through space. Either that, or he simply didn't understand how the ships coming at him worked. Probably the latter.

The ships looked like clouds. Not the wispy ones that the being made up, but properly thick cumulonimbus clouds. They crackled with electricity and seemed to have a vortex at the centre, generating a constant tornado-like movement at the front of the ship. They didn't look all that threatening aside from the electricity it generated.

A bolt of electricity shot from it to Keinam's ship.

The ship shook, circuits sparked, and the screens went dark. Keinam looked at them, wide-eyed. Could this be my first loss in battle? Deep breath. Heart racing. Navigation systems still functional. Thank fuck for that.

He moved away from the ship, flying erratically so they might not hit him, before he realised something else.

Electricity has to travel between two points, and I'm the only other point around; they can just aim it in my general direction, and it can't miss.

He'd got far enough away from the planet to engage the L-Drive, he flicked the switch for it. It whined as it booted up, and he breathed a sigh of relief; he could get back to Raan in no time.

The L-Drive sputtered and sparked, stopping the boot-up entirely.

His face fell. “No no no no no. No!” He collapsed to the floor, ready to accept his fate. A bolt of lightning from the Cloudship came his way.

And didn't hit.

His ship didn't move, no sound and no damage. Turning the ship around, he saw what it had hit; a Corlen Warsphere. It seemed fine, just singed a little where the electricity hit it. It hovered for a moment, before swooping in to joins its allies.

They were closing in on the Cloudship, using their own lasers on it; the Adjeti based their lasers on the Warspheres' own. But these were evidently more potent; they were definitely hitting the Cloudship. Small explosions peppered it, before several of the Warspheres smashed into one another, creating a larger Warsphere. Keinam looked at it in disbelief as it surrounded the Cloudship, and closed around it, smothering it completely. The Warsphere went back to its usual shape, and the Cloudship was gone; utterly destroyed. Keinam couldn't help but be impressed.

Then he noticed the clouds on Narcsia were moving. Hundreds of them. Maybe thousands. Lightning bolts shot from them, the combined barrage destroying the Corlen Warspheres. Blackening them until they were brittle enough to crack open. He watched, jaw dropped, as the Cloudships tore through the Corlen armada. Some Cloudships got smothered, but it seemed like for every Cloudship destroyed, 3 Warspheres were taken out. A loosing battle. More Cloudships emerged from Narcsia, firing as they came.

Keinam took the ship further away from the bolts of lightning and tried the com again. It was crackling a bit, but he could communicate. Patching in to Cinradahs's frequency, he dialled the com.

“Cinradahs.” Keinam panted. “Need help.”

“What?” Cinradahs's voice seemed confused. “Help, you say?”

“Not just Corlens. Narcsia under attack by gas creatures. My ship's damaged, I can't leave.” Keinam cursed what he was about to do. “Please,” he begged, “help me.”

The com cut out as lightning hit his ship again.