Nova (52 page)

 “Keep at it, Lieutenant.” The Human encouraged.

“At it.” Z’arr increased her already frantic pace. The
security measures were definitively a significant step–up from standard Karukai
protocols.

Probably,
she mused sarcastically to herself,
because
we are attempting to break into systems located on a secret base in the middle
of Black Space.

Four minutes later, with a surge of triumph K’llan
announced, “I am in! Embedding the drafted communique to
Excalibur
in
both primary and junk feeds in case the Karukai capture the outgoing
transmission.”

“Well done.” Captain Serros complimented.

Just then, a
thud–thunk–bang
sounded against the
jimmied doors of the Control Core, causing K’llan to half jump out of her seat
before forcing herself to settle back into the chair and continue. “I need five
more minutes.”

“You’ll have it.” Avara answered, her voice steady as she
unclipped one of the last three K–Grenades that they possessed.

Ignoring the looming threat and effort of enemy entry
quickly became one of the most nerve–trying tasks she had ever set herself to,
but K’llan was determined to complete their mission.

Cocking her head and capturing some sound that K’llan did
not have the time to detect or analyze, Avara commented a few minutes later
“They’ve set charges.”

“Almost there.”

“Understood.” Though still maintaining her position behind
the control station’s more protected siding, Avara stood up, fists clenched and
arms half raised. Sparing a quick glance, K’llan noted the kobalt infused light
that gradually superimposed and then bled from Avara’s naturally night–blue
orbs.

“I hear a timer.” She announced through gritted teeth.

“A few more seconds!” K’llan proclaimed. Then, “Message
sent! It’s done, Avara!”

“
Get down
!” The Captain ordered just before a booming
explosion tore through the room’s doors and entryway.

Before the smoke and dust had even begun to dissipate, Avara
Serros pushed outward with both fists like a person executing free–weight lifts,
peeling her fingers to an open–palm position a second before dark, cerulean
light blasted forth and through the portal.

Panes of durexium from shorn walls shrieked in ear grinding
protest as the kobalt powered blast ripped them apart. The crystalline sound of
shattered glass rained throughout the now open doorway, only to continue down
the immediate and adjacent hallways. Cries of humanoid voices and the thudding
of flesh to metal and glass accompanied the sound of spinning crystal.

Half–shaking with the exertion but exhibiting no hesitation,
Serros then hand–launched the readied grenade down the same open path. The act
issued a second, blasting explosion followed by more cries from scorched
throats that were unceremoniously silenced in the almost eerily quiet
aftermath.

“It seems that you managed to maintain your ongoing habit of
glass obliteration after all, Avara.” K’llan finally remarked into the hush.

“Ah,” she replied with a slightly horse laugh. “So I did.
Wouldn’t want to disappoint you.”

“I will remember you said that.” K’llan responded dryly.

“I’m sure you will.” Avara returned as she retrieved rifle
to hand and her volcanic gaze speared the corridor beyond for signs of the
enemy. K’llan knew she was alternating her visual spectrum and acuity to peer
through dust and walls alike.

“Erase our presence and what you did.” Avara added a second
later, still scanning.

“Erasing.” K’llan replied as she bent back to work,
finishing the undertaking in short order. Yet half a dozen heartbeats in,
K’llan came upon something that tickled at her mind, like a forgotten memory
demanding acknowledgement.

Wait, what is this? Why…

“Avara! They… a coded command has been sent, following
standard procedure of an Alert Level Three, Infiltration Protocol. The Facility
Director, Dr. Y’sar… she plans to vent all prisoner cells!”

“Can you override?” Avara asked.

“No. An override can only be performed with the proper,
physical command card. Y’sar is currently sequestered in her Office.”

“Is it possible for you to release the cells?” The Shield
fired, mind desperately questing for a solution.

Shaking her head, the Vosaia answered “No, not from here.”

“How long?”

“Less than thirty seconds!”

“Okay,” Serros responded. “Is there anything you can do to
delay the action?”

“Let’s see,
let’s see
…” K’llan muttered, tearing
through ideas and console information alike. “I can initiate a maintenance
cycle of the ventilation system, which should automatically postpone the air–retraction
progression!” Moving her fingers across the sienna colored holo–keyboard at a
pace lightning would admire, K’llan began her attempt even before Avara had acknowledged
the suggestion.

“Got it! We now have ten minutes before the maintenance cycle
is complete and the venting protocol kicks in.”

“Superb! And our presence?”

“Wiped.” K’llan confirmed. “And while I was at it, I set the
system–controls to lock in several Karukai quarters. It should slow down
hostile engagement.”

“Well done again, K’llan.” Avara stated fervently, then
added, “Lieutenant, I need you to make it to Director Y’sar’s office. Get that
Command Card and free the prisoners.”

Captured by Avara’s intense gaze, the Vosaia whispered: “You
are going to go after the Cloning Tanks.”

“Yes. I will help get you most of the way, then I’m going to
leave it up to you to make sure that the test subjects leave here alive; that
all
of you
make it out.”

K’llan could
feel
Avara’s intent, radiating off of
her with the force of a supernova. Not only was Serros determined that the
mission would succeed, but she was equally resolute to make sure that K’llan
survived, even if she herself did not.

“No.” K’llan said,
nya
shrieking with refusal to
accept Avara’s proposition. “We will succeed together, at both objectives.”

“We have to guarantee word will reach the Quorum, K’llan. It’s
the best way to ensure success, and the only way to immediately save over
thirty lives. Or are you content to just leave the prisoners to their fate? ”
Avara grated out, brutally wielding the truth. Worse, K’llan knew that the
Human, her
Nyeria
, understood her well enough to recognize that ordering
K’llan would not be enough; she had to convince her of where her duty lay.
“We’re running out of time, K’llan.”

“We will split and I will ensure the escape of the slaves,
then I will rejoin and aid you.” Seeing that Avara was about to continue the
argument, K’llan added “We
are
running out of time, Captain. Nine
minutes until the maintenance cycle is complete.”

“Very well.” Serros growled, mouth an angry slash and those
marvelous eyes aflame with frustration and for now, tempered acquiescence.

Just as K’llan held no secrets from Avara in the face of
their bond, the same was true in reverse. K’llan fully understood that the Quorum
Shield Operative intended to complete the mission
before
K’llan reunited
with her, even as the Vosaia was equally determined to negate the possibility.

“Time to go.” The Captain announced as they caught the sound
of pounding footsteps.

Nodding in response, the two activated their Physical
Dexterity, Speed, and Agility Enhancements and
swooshed
out of the
Control Room and through the debris filled hallways at breakneck speed.

CHAPTER 27

Without pause or lessening her pace in the least, Avara
snaked her left arm around the startled guard she and K’llan had just stumbled
upon while rounding a corner. Using her momentum, Serros carried the Karukai
for the space of an eye–blink before twisting the guard’s neck one–hundred and
eighty degrees around, leaving her lifeless corpse behind. At her right, Z’arr
finished off a second guard in like fashion.

With Arca speed unleashed, the two became heralds of death,
their blurred forms resembling wraiths bent on revenge as they devoured
distance and tore through each Karukai who dared to block their path. They had
almost reached the midway–point between the entrance to the underground Cloning
Lab and the Outpost Director’s Office when the two came upon the first
organized resistance since leaving the Comm and Sys Core behind.

Avara and K’llan half–skidded across the slick flooring to
take refuge behind one of the facility’s  security–station desks, avoiding the
ripping streams of rifle–fire by a hair. The sprays of rocketing bullets
mercilessly shredded into the confines of their cover, causing shards of
durexium, wood–silicate, and paint chips to spew forth in all directions from
the battered station. The seemingly ceaseless cacophony made Avara feel like
her ears were going to bleed with the strain.

Picturing the enemy’s location in her mind, Serros grimly
thumbed the activation switch on her second to last K–Grenade and sent is
sailing overhead in an arcing, backward toss. As they caught the cries of “
Grenade!
”
and “
Move!
,” Avara and K’llan hugged the ground and took sight with
their riffles. One by one, they began to methodically take out the fifteen or
so evading Karukai.

One, a person Avara assumed to be the Karukai Captain based
on the orders she was issuing, tossed two K–Grenades at Serros and Z’arr’s
position. Avara countered by neatly shooting each of the slow–sailing grenades,
causing them to explode mid–way between their position and the enemy’s.

The result was the issuance of yet another shower of glass
from all surrounding sides as the detonation reverberated throughout the
passageway. The Captain then made it her goal to take out the skilled Karukai
commander, issuing a relentless spray of rifle–fire. Yet the shorter statured woman
was able to evade the bullets and take cover behind the wall of the junction’s
left corridor.

For an instant, it appeared that Avara and K’llan’s efforts were
going to be stymied, with both the remaining Karukai forces and the Nova Squad
members dug–in and pinned down in their respective cover–points. In answer to
the quandary, Serros gave the Lieutenant a very specific signal and as one, they
sheathed their bodies in the dark–azure shroud of a K–Shield. Like avenging
specters, the two flew across the separating span and directly engaged the
Karukai.

Outpacing the rapidity of a hummingbird and moving with the
fluidity of falling water, Avara used her borrowed Karukai pistol to crack off
two shots directly into the throat of a half–risen Karukai soldier whose mind
had only barely registered her peril. Flesh tore and blood gushed free from the
fatal would. The liquid blended with the crimson tone of the pale skinned
woman’s armor as she dropped back to the ground in what resembled a staged free–fall
in a Vid.

The Human Quorum Shield was already twisting to face her
next three opponents, including the one she’d identified earlier as the unit’s
commanding officer. One soldier, a tall Karukai woman with long, arcing
cinnamon hued marks on her left cheek, managed to raise her own pistol and
begin shooting.

To Avara’s enhanced vision and speed, the bullets resembled
long, silvery buttons languidly working through thick honey. With almost casual
ease, Serros shifted her head to the left to avoid the slow–crawling threat and
then fired her own shots, squarely tagging the Karukai’s left shoulder. As the enemy
fell back from the slashing injury, Captain Serros then rocket–launched an open
palm to the chin of the second soldier, cracking her head back with life–rending
force, leaving only she and the final officer behind.

Out of the corner of her eye, Serros spied K’llan engaged
with the last three Karukai on her side of the corridor cross–roads.

The Karukai officer, revealing the unsuspected ownership of
an Arca DSA herself, capitalized on the Human’s distraction by raining rifle–fire
all along Serros’s body. Avara could feel the power of each slug, yet the K–Shield
absorbed every bruising impact and then reflected the bullet–fire more or less
back to its origin.

The rebounding slugs shredded into the Karukai commander and
the still whimpering soldier whom Avara had previously taken down.

Hostiles defeated, Avara turned to find that K’llan had
similarly finished off her own adversaries and with thoughts bent towards conservation,
the duo dropped their shields. The rich–blue faded to mere wisps before
disappearing altogether within moments.

Moving quickly, Captain Serros scooped up several K–Grenades
that were either still attached to Karukai harnesses or rolling loose–leaf on
the glass–sheeted floor. She also snagged and mag–clipped a second pistol as
well as several CDs. K’llan did the same, though by unspoken agreement she gave
the majority of the grenades she retrieved to Avara, who still had the task of
taking out an entire army of tanked Greys.

After mere seconds had been spent in retrieval and preparation,
it was time for the two to separate and address their distinct objectives. Despite
her certainty that as laid out, the course they had decided upon represented
the best chance for success and survival, Avara found it hard to bid her
companion goodbye.

Especially knowing that realistically, this moment could very
well represent their final parting.

Though showered with dust and debris, face faintly flushed
from exertion and her lustrous, sapphire–hued hair having slipped free of all
restraint, in that moment, teetering between life and death, Avara was pierced
by the Vosaia’s extraordinary beauty. Captured by the complexities of K’llan’s
glittering, lilac colored eyes, more than ever, Avara felt the splendor of this
woman’s soul.