Symphonies of Valor Read online

  “Remember, anything can be a Mimic,” Meomi said.

  Whisper hushed everyone. “Did you guys hear that?”

  Meomi dropped to one knee. “I see nothing.”

  “Nume, any Mimics nearby?” Whisper asked.

  “Only humans and Kalick.”

  The ground trembled softly.

  “Earthquake…” Ori said. “No, wait… Moonquake!”

  “Something isn’t right…” Whisper allowed her words to trail.

  “I agree.” Meomi quickly swept the horizon from left to right. “Maybe we should get Nume back to the ship?”

  “What?” Ori snapped. “No. We’ve come this far!”

  The wall behind them suddenly collapsed. Before the dust settled, red beams of light reflected against the particles in the air.

  Meomi followed the light to its source. She shook her head and yelled, “SPIDER!”

  Exiting the cloud of debris was a giant, gunmetal gray monster, 12 meters tall, 28 meters wide. Each of its eight legs was the size of one Centurion droid. Hundreds of eyes on its head looked down at Meomi and the rest of the team, leaving no place to run or hide from its view.

  “Please tell me that’s a friendly…” Ori asked nervously.

  “Why would you think that’s a friendly?” Whisper asked.

  “It’s inside a Fleet facility…”

  A whirring sound filled the air as the mechanical spider leaned forward and a plate in its back pulled open.

  “LASER CANNON!” Ori shouted.

  The spider’s eyes flashed a bright red.

  “RUN!” Meomi screamed.

  19

  The moment before the giant metallic spider fired its laser cannon, there was a stillness around Meomi. Sound swirled away from the world. She witnessed her teammates moving in slow motion while flecks of lunar dust eddied around their legs. Ribbons of ruby light streamed from the defiant Centurions as they held their ground. Behind Meomi, a grunt pierced the veil of silence, shattering her illusion of calm.

  She turned around to see Nume on one knee. “No…” Meomi stared up at the massive cannon aimed at Nume.

  “Keep running!” Nume screamed into voice comm.

  Meomi didn’t hear the words. Instincts took over. The mission, the hope of saving Earth rested with Nume. She leaped on top of the Entrent, shielding Nume with her body. Every muscle in Meomi’s body tensed, waiting for the devastating blow that would most likely end her life.

  Seconds passed.

  Death never came.

  “What…” Meomi said as she exhaled. She looked back to see the spider’s cannon pointing directly at her less than ten meters away. “Why didn’t it fire?” Meomi asked herself.

  Ori blinked in front of Nume. He lifted her in his arms and blinked away.

  Whisper streaked in from behind and picked Meomi up by the waist. They ran behind a cargo container.

  Laser fire from the Centurions bounced off the polished metallic legs of the spider.

  “We can’t penetrate its skin!” Meomi shouted at Whisper.

  “It looks very similar to the Arachnae tank armor,” Whisper said. “Some upgraded model I’ve never seen before.”

  “I’ve never seen any Fleet armor like that.” Meomi raised her eyebrows. “Are you saying Fleet is the one attacking us?”

  The spider rotated its massive cannon toward the Centurions.

  “I don’t think Fleet is behind this attack,” Whisper said. “My suit can’t interface with the Arachnae computers.”

  The metal spider fired a massive pulse of energy at the Centurions. The blast decimated six of the ten droids, melting them into piles of metal alloy. The remaining four uncovered their rocket turrets and unleashed their entire arsenal at the spider monster. After the smoke cleared, the beast showed scorch marks but was otherwise uninjured.

  “Tell the droids to fire at the legs,” Meomi yelled. “Get it on its belly so we can take down the cannon.”

  “I’ve never seen a weapon that could melt Centurions like that before,” Whisper said. “I’m certain now... It’s not Fleet. Or at least, not Fleet technology.”

  “Doesn’t matter where it came from, it’s a problem here and now,” Meomi said.

  Ori blinked in next to Whisper. “I was hoping you had taken care of this little problem by the time I found a safe place for Nume.”

  “Where is she?” Whisper asked.

  “Safe. Hidden,” he said. “That’s all you need to know.”

  A combat droid squad marched out of the facility and formed a perimeter around the Arachnae. The droids were similar in appearance to Centurions but were slightly larger and had an extra mini-gun attached to their left shoulders.

  The Arachnae recharged its cannon and fired at the container where Meomi and the team were hiding.

  Ori hugged Meomi, squeezing her tightly around her ribs, and blinked away to another cargo container.

  “Thanks,” Meomi said under her breath.

  “No thanks necessary, beautiful.” Ori winked. “I told you, I’m getting used to playing the hero.”

  Whisper streaked in behind them. “We need to retreat.”

  “What about Kalick?” Ori asked.

  “Live to fight another day,” Whisper said.

  The enemy droids outnumbered the remaining Centurions twelve to one. In a furious onslaught, they shredded the allied droids.

  “So much for the small army of Centurions we brought…” Meomi said.

  “You know what, I don’t feel like retreating.” Ori vanished as he finished his sentence. He reappeared behind an enemy droid and unloaded his hand cannons into the back of its head. “One down!” Another fell just as quickly. Then a third and a fourth.

  “He’s moving so fast,” Meomi said, trying to keep up with Ori’s movements.

  By the time he reached the eighth, the droids adapted. His shots were met with a shield that nullified his attacks.

  “Well, that’s new…” Ori said in an uncertain tone.

  The eighth droid turned its head 180 degrees. Then its torso did the same, followed by its legs.

  Ori tried to blink away. For a moment his suit distorted as it normally would during a blink. But he never teleported. “What the…” Ori’s eyes opened wide as he looked up.

  The droid delivered a massive strike to Ori’s chest, sending him flying into the facility walls 50 meters away. His body went limp as it crashed against the solid metal wall, sliding down ragged and lifeless.

  “ORI!” Meomi shouted.

  “He’s not dead,” Whisper quickly added. “Look at his vitals on your HUD. It’s weak, but still there.”

  The Arachnae fired another round at Meomi and Whisper. Dazed from witnessing their teammate’s near death, they were too slow to escape the blast. The explosion sent them flying into the air before landing with a bone-breaking thud.

  Loud ringing sounded in Meomi’s ears. She tried to push herself up but lost her balance as her arms gave way. The ground rumbled as shadowy figures approached her. In her shocked state, the figures looked like Mimic Wraiths. Her heart wanted to beat through her chest. When her vision finally refocused, the Wraiths vanished, replaced by enemy droids.

  A new figure in an all black exo suit and silver visor approached Whisper. Without hesitation, he delivered a hard kick to Whisper’s midsection, then stomped on her face. “Stand down. You’ve lost,” said a male, heavily synthesized voice.

  “Raven…” Whisper sneered. “I was told you were dead.” She tried to reach for her utility belt. “It’s a shame…”

  He fired a shot into her stomach. “Next time, my gun will be on maximum settings.”

  Whisper growled but ultimately did nothing.

  Raven turned to a soldier next to him. “Secure them. Put them inside furnace one.”

  Six men blinked onto the scene. They bounded Whisper and Meomi’s limbs and dragged them, along with Ori, into a giant furnace inside the shipyard used for smelting metal ore.

 
“You won’t need these,” one of the men said as they ripped off their helmets. They left without another word, slamming the bulky blast furnace doors closed and leaving the team in complete darkness.

  “Well this mission could not have gone any worse,” Meomi said.

  “We’re alive... and Nume is still out there,” Whisper said in between raspy breaths. “So is Alyana and Jonas.”

  “Jonas…” Meomi scoffed. Not wanting to rehash an old argument, she asked, “How is Ori doing?”

  “He’s breathing.” Whisper leaned against Ori’s face. “Beyond that, I can’t tell much with my hands bound.”

  “This Raven guy, you know him?” Meomi asked.

  “I know of him,” Whisper answered. “I would say Jonas and Nume know him better, unfortunately for them.”

  “That sounds ominous.”

  “Raven has a habit of showing up in the most inopportune times to kidnap and torture members of our group. He interrogated Jonas using masunog worms. Just one of the many unspeakable things he does.”

  Meomi shivered. As part of her combat training, she watched videos of masunog worms burrowing into the abdomen of its host. While inside, they slowly chew on the internal organs of its host, secreting toxins as it defecates, causing a constant burning, itching pain in its victims. “Jonas survived a masunog worm interrogation?” Meomi asked in a high-pitched voice.

  Whisper nodded. “That’s not even the worst thing Raven has done.”

  “What else did he do?”

  “He kidnapped Nume and forcibly injected her with Guardian Essence which altered Nume in ways we don’t fully understand yet. If we’re captured, it’ll only be a matter of time before Nume is in his possession. Who knows what he’ll do to her next...”

  It was unbelievable to Meomi that beings of such evil could exist in this universe. “We don’t need monsters like Mimics to destroy ourselves.” Her body shook. “We have our own monsters among us.”

  “Raven was supposed to be dead. We thought he died when his ship exploded.” Whisper scoffed. “But he’s proven himself rather resilient.”

  “Why does he want Nume so badly? Is he part of Fleet? Or someone else?”

  “We don’t know.” Whisper shrugged. “At first we thought he was with the Alliance of Faith. He used Alliance ships and technology in kidnapping Nume. But that never made sense.”

  “I agree, that doesn’t make sense. Isn’t genetic engineering considered a first order sin according to their sacred texts?”

  “Yes, that is correct. They have neither the expertize nor the drive to fuse Guardian Essence to an Entrent.”

  The screeching sound of metal scraping metal reverberated around the furnace as the door opened.

  Meomi squinted her eyes closed as light rapidly filled the room.

  Heavy, booted footsteps entered and approached Whisper. “Where is Nume?” Raven asked.

  “Dead,” Whisper said bluntly. “You killed Nume when you injected her with the Guardian Essence. Remember?”

  “I see.” Raven sighed. He pulled out his gun and pointed it at Ori.

  “NO! Don’t…” Before Meomi could finish her sentence, Raven fired a shot into Ori’s abdomen.

  Ori grunted as the projectile hit his suit. No hole, no blood.

  Obscura suits were tougher than Meomi expected. “Don’t shoot the only person who knows where Nume currently is,” she pleaded.

  Whisper gave Meomi a sideways glare.

  “The target is around here somewhere,” Raven said to his troops. “Spread out and find her. Now!”

  His soldiers blinked from sight as they followed Raven’s orders.

  “How did you survive your ship exploding in the Cygni system?” Whisper asked.

  “I didn’t,” Raven said matter-of-factly.

  “What?” Meomi narrowed her eyes.

  Whisper tilted her head up as she studied Raven’s face. “You’re a clone...”

  Raven removed his silver helmet to reveal a short-haired, baby-faced man in his early twenties. His skin was ashen and in some parts, almost translucent. His eyes were pink, his irises devoid of pigment. “It took you long enough,” he smiled and added, “sister.”

  Meomi’s mouth gaped open. “Sister? You two are related?”

  “No,” Whisper said, shaking her head. “Not in that sense.”

  “You wound me, sister.” Raven snickered.

  “We’re clones,” Whisper said. “All clones start with the same genetic template. They can be implanted with specific memories at birth. It looks like he took on the memories of his predecessor. He is part of the Nemean Project, a failed template that was never meant to go into production.”

  “How careless and arbitrary do humans define the boundaries of life!” Raven said. “With the stroke of a pen, all Nemeans shall die, but all Whispers may live? My brothers and I deserve to live just like any other creation under the stars.”

  “Seems like they made the right choice.” Meomi scoffed. “You’re a monster!”

  “Monster?” Raven spat on the ground. “You are irrelevant to me. We will find Nume with or without your help. I offer you two choices. Give me Nume now, and I will make your death quick. Otherwise, you will cook inside this furnace. How you die doesn't matter to me.”

  “Wait,” Meomi said. “If you’re a clone, that makes you human. Why won’t you help us fight Mimics? Voids! Humans, our species, are on the verge of annihilation!”

  “What makes you think I consider myself human?” Raven sneered. “I would never associate myself with such a lowly, inferior and imperfect species.”

  “So you are working for Mimics?” Meomi asked. “That’s exactly the rhetoric of a Mimic sycophant.”

  “Your small human mind is so limited,” Raven laughed. “The reason you are in this situation is that you failed to grasp the stakes of what you live for.”

  “Sir,” said one of his soldiers running into the furnace. “We have her. We have the Entrent.”

  “Excellent.” Raven smiled. “It would appear that your time is up. I have rescinded my offer of a quick death.” He left the furnace without another word.

  The locks on the furnace door echoed as they clicked into place.

  20

  Raven’s soldiers located and captured Nume just outside the abandoned Fleet shipyard on Lunar. They immediately shot her with a sedative after she mind controlled one soldier into attacking another. Nume took down three of Raven’s men before the tranquilizers kicked in. Once unconscious, they placed a restraining collar on her neck limiting her telepathic abilities. With their objective accomplished, Raven and his men left Lunar, accelerating toward the asteroid belt.

  “Time to wake.” Raven injected Nume with a combat stim inside the med bay.

  Nume’s eyes fluttered open. “Where… What…” She turned her head to the side. Her hands struggled against the straps tying her down. “No…” She recoiled at the face of the man who kidnapped and tortured her.

  “We don’t have time,” Raven said. “Do you know who I am and what I’m capable of?” He removed the bindings on her limbs and the collar from her neck.

  Nume sat up on the exam table and nodded. “Where are we?” She craned her neck to scan the room. “It looks like the med bay of the Endurance. Are we…” Her eyes turned dark green. “How did you survive?”

  “This is not the Endurance,” he said with a snarl. “I erased that ship from history. We are on the CMS Equinox.”

  “Something is not right.” Nume narrowed her eyes. “You are not Raven. But your voice and your mind are so similar… How?”

  “Hold steady.” Raven forcibly grabbed her left hand and drew a few drops of blood from her finger.

  “What are you going to do with my blood?” Nume pulled away after Raven finished. “And why is there no memory of the Cygni system in your head?” She tilted her head. “No memories of kidnapping me and injecting me with the Guardian Essence…”

  Raven ignored her as he walked to a
DNA sequencer and emptied her blood into the machine. “99.9998% match. I can see why they chose you.”

  “Match to what?” Nume crossed her arms. “Whatever you are planning, I will not cooperate.”

  “You will!” Raven turned around and glared at Nume. “You will do exactly as I say when the time comes because that is what you’ve been programmed to do.”

  “Programmed to?” She held her chin up and crossed her arms. “I am not some common droid!”

  Raven flipped through the medical terminal screens as the blood analysis results appeared. “One more dose.” He picked up a hyper syringe and a glowing purple vial of liquid.

  “Absolutely not!” Nume jumped off the exam table. “I will not be experimented on!”

  Raven brought the hyper syringe closer to his eyes as he adjusted the settings on the device.

  “I will hurt you if you come near me.” Nume held out her hands. “Do not test my resolve!”

  “Good, I can feel you trying to control my mind.” Raven's lips curled into a slight smile. “The sedatives have fully worn off.”

  “How are you able to resist…” Nume’s eyes widened. “You’re not human. There’s another part to you…”

  “Sir, we’re 50,000 kilometers from the asset,” said a voice over the med bay speakers.

  “Acknowledged,” Raven replied. His attention returned to Nume. “Can you hear anything? Any other voices besides those on this ship?”

  Nume stared at him with narrowed eyes. “Hear what?”

  “No matter,” Raven said. He readied the hyper syringe.

  “Wait…” She held her arms out. “I do not hear other voices, but I feel a new presence.”

  “What is it?” Raven raised his eyebrows.

  “Something lonely.” Nume covered her heart. “Something innocent. Like a child. And…” She held her stomach. “Pain.”

  “What sort of pain?”

  “Hunger.” She shook. “Insatiable.”

  “It’s working,” Raven smiled. “Sit. We haven’t much time.”

  “I told you, I will not…” She gasped and looked at her legs. They were moving against her will toward the exam table. “How are you controlling me? Are you an Entrent too?”