Spacer Clans Adventure 3: Naero's Fury (49 page)

“
For example–among other things, that dagger appears to be both psyonic and somehow self-aware. It is clearly not an AI or any kind of a biomechanical entity. Yet it gives off tons of powerful psyonic readings; it even seems to have a will of its own. I’m worried it’s going to start talking to me at some point. How will I respond? How is any of this even possible? How can an such inanimate object be psyonic?”

“
Calm down, Z. I don’t know what to do, either. But I’m pretty sure we have to take that dagger out of him, before it kills him.”

She looked to Khai, not a little bewildered herself.
“Right? We have to find a way to take the dagger out without killing you?”

Khai nodded. He looked weak and
covered in sweat. Did Oden even sweat? Yet Khai was half-Spacer. How did that affect things?

Naero took a breath and tried to calm herself.

First she place her hands on him and tried to understand his physiology with biomancy.

She gasped. Pretty amazing really. So much detail. So many levels
of complexity. Very similar in some ways to when she tried to read and comprehend Shalaen with her sight. The sheer amount of detail and information were staggering and threatened to overwhelm her mind.

She had to pull away and lean
against the hull for a moment.

“
Now you begin to see the problem,” Zhen said, folding her arms in front of herself. “When I use my sight, it overwhelms me too. It’s giving me a migraine. There’s simply too much to attempt to comprehend.”

Naero looked at Khai. Somehow he seemed to be getting weaker. She could sense that. His energies continued to fade.

And like him–Yii–his soulsword, had even lost its sheen and faded to a dull gray. Usually the damn thing was blinding.

Now just a little bit of
brilliance glittered around its edges.

She knelt down by Khai and put her hand on his
where he clutched Yii close to him. She felt his forehead with her other hand.

She
remembered their time inside the star together and smiled sadly.

He felt like he was still in shock and going colder.

Then she touched the tip of the ur-metal dagger, still protruding from the front of his chest.

Naero gasped and felt the pain he was feeling, as the dagger severed his hold on all of his energies and everything that made him Khai. The dagger was filled with a fierce malice, driven
by a single purpose. The Darkforce tainted that dagger and strove to destroy and drain everything of will and life force.

The dagger attacked
Khai on every level.

Not just the physical.

The strange blade pierced her palm and would have gone all the way through if she let it.

When at last she pulled away and tried to seal off and heal the small wound, it
actually resisted her Spacer smartblood, and direct biomancy healing.

In fact
, that small puncture threatened to grow larger and spread.

Somehow it linked with the remnants of her Cosmic disease, causing
it to flare up again.

Naero clutched her wrist.
“Help me, Zhen. Help me heal this cut before it takes off my entire hand!”

Almost in a panic, they both bent all of their biomancing skill to close the wound and heal the tissues around it.

But even together, they could barely keep it from spreading.

Naero finally perc
eived the Cosmic natures of the injury and bathed it in a rush of positive Cosmic force–Harmony and the Lifespark.

She fought the wound as if she would fight
off the Dark Beast that lurked within herself.

They were
all akin somehow, requiring the same equation to be balanced and restored.

Destruction–n
egative energy incarnate.

That was it. The dagger was
n’t just Ur-metal. If Yii was charged with positive energies and dazzling Cosmic light forces, this dagger was just the opposite.

This dagger was charged with negative forces
of annihilation. It contained Darkforce energies, like the ones the G’lothc and their hellish devices generated, that always seem tainted and poisoned.

The
enemy dagger fought with Khai directly on several levels. It fought with anyone who touched it. It warred with the universe and all things, and any will that sought to control it.

She looked Khai right in the eye.

The Enforcer actually had pretty nice, golden eyes to tell the truth. Despite the fact that he was currently being slowly drained and killed.

“
Khai. This dagger is just the opposite of Yii. Isn’t it? The enemy made this weapon to use against you specifically–or anyone like you.”

He nodded, and tried to open his mouth to speak, with great effort.

“Shhh…don’t try to talk. Conserve your strength. I know you’re fighting it. But it’s slowly killing you, isn’t it?”

He nodded again.

“We have to find a way of taking the dagger out without killing him. But look at all the trouble we had with that little scratch I took from it?”

Zhen nodded.
“You see my problem. A terrible wound like this? Will we even be able to seal it off in time? Let alone rid him of it before it kills him.”

Om cut in.

This dagger is a very complex device, just like Khai’s sword. He is the master of Yii, and it is part of him and shares his life force and does his will. To keep this dagger from killing him, Naero, you must take control of it and force it to do your will. Make it a part of you. Then it will cease to harm him. There is no other way. And there is not much time left.

Naero turned back to Zhen.

“I have to take control of the dagger and make its will my own. Then we can remove the dagger, close the wound, and heal him. If I’m not mistaken, Khai and Yii will be able to regenerate and heal themselves faster than we can, given time.”

“
And how do you come to know all of this?”

“
I just kind of figured it out, through a combination of teknomancy and biomancy.” She was fibbing somewhat, but at the moment, she didn’t want to have to explain all about Om.

“
Then you’d better get to it. Do your voodoo or whatever it is you need to do. Let’s just get this damn thing out of our green patient here.”

“
Okay. I’m not sure how easy this is going to be.”

“
Not at all, I’m guessing. But as with most other things, I’m also guessing that if anyone can pull this off…it’s going to be you, N.”

Naero placed both of her hands on the dagger.

She gasped again.

The
Darkforce within the dagger itself, the negative energy imperative to destroy everything living, lashed out at her and struck her full force within the battlefield of her mind.

Naero closed her eyes, summoned her third eye, and closed that too.

Within the depths of her mind she saw Khai, wounded in many places and trying to fight the Darkforce as it slowly drained and wore him down.

Naero placed herself directly in front of Khai, interceding between him and the
Darkforce.

She felt the agony as it
rushed through her, cutting and ripping at her from within the destroying dagger.

It sliced her open until it uncovered her own
Dark Beast, lurking within the shadowy recesses of herself.

And it bargained with her with eager hunger and surety.

“Ahhh…you are like us. You are strong. Let us join our strength together and kill and destroy. Everything around us. Serve us. Give yourself to us and serve our will and purpose. All must be destroyed!”

In answer her own
Dark Beast rose up. And Naero bent her will through it.

“
My will is my own,” she snarled through her beast. “I will never serve that of another. None shall ever make me their slave. You shall do my bidding. I command you not to harm this one any further. Release him!”

Light and darkness swirled within her mind, warring together.

A flash and she pulled back, the Ur-metal dagger clutched in her hand as she yanked it out of Khai.

She blinked and gazed at it, feeling the sting of its touch fading, and the strength returning to her hand that held it.

Deep within her mind, the will of the Darkforce within it wailed and faded as her own beast devoured it and made it part of itself–part of her and them together–conquering the weapon completely.

To her surprise, the flat gray metal shifted to being jet black and seemingly filled with bright stars. Strange and eerie
–wholly unnatural. A frightening, maddening thing to behold. No such blade or weapon should rationally exist.

Yet it was part of her now. And more importantly
–she and her Dark Beast were a part of it.

She quickly teknomanced a scabbard for it on her Nytex togs and sheathed it at her right side
, along with her other battle blades.

But she felt its unnerving
, Cosmic energies pulsing and shifting.

Then she realized and thought of Master Vane for an instant.

Chaos. The dagger was raw Chaos itself, and Chaos was always linked to the Darkforce.

A
ll of that understanding swept through her awareness.

Meanwhile
, Khai gasped and threw himself out of the medbed screaming. Even Z was shocked and taken aback.

“
Are you insane?” Zhen yelled. She sprang upon Khai and struggled to heal him with biomancy. “What did you do, N? The wound won’t close. I can’t get it to close.”

Naero pulled her aside.

“Let me do it. The wound will obey me. I’ll make it go away.”

“
What? That doesn’t make any sense, N. How can you do that?”

Naero calmly
hoisted Khai up, and placed him back on the medbed.

Yes. For the moment he was
unconscious and fading toward death.

Naero placed her hands upon the wound, feeling his energies and
life force leaking out of him.

Then she simply stopped it
, balancing the equation with the Lifespark and the Harmony. She took control of the wound just as she did with the alien blade.

The wound closed in an instant and
even vanished, leaving Khai weak and spent, but alive.

Y
ii slowly began to regain its light, still clutched in Khai’s hands where Naero placed it.

“
He’ll be all right now. We just have to give him time to regenerate.”

Zhen gaped and stammered.
“What did you just do? That was a mortal wound. Even biomancy wouldn’t heal it. And suddenly, you just touch him and it’s gone? Am I going completely nuts?”

Naero grinned
, forced to sit down herself by the energies she had spent. She put her head between her legs and caught her breath.

“
No more than usual, you quack. Can’t heal a simple little scratch like this, huh? Don’t worry–I took care of it for you. Maybe you should get some rest, have your eyes checked, or something.”

Zhen went pale and shot her fists down at her sides.

“My eyes are just fine. I know what I just saw. I just want to understand it.”

Naero yawned and stretched and laid down on an empty medbed.
“Sleepy. That was all very taxing. Gotta take a nap now. Don’t do any unnecessary surgery on me while I’m out.”

The blood drained from Zhen
’s face. “Why you infuriating…You’ll be lucky if you don’t wake up with several new boobs of all shapes and sizes covering your front and back, damn you! That’s what I oughta–”

Naero chuckled, dozing off already.
“That should make me popular with the guys. They’ll sure notice me coming and going. Keep me abreast of any such new developments, Z.”

Zhen laughed and tore at her long brown hair.
“Aaughh! After all we’ve been through today? And you still find a way to drive me crazy!”

44

Naero
woke up later that evening.

She woke t
o Khai staring at her, looking extremely torn and troubled–the way he did when he thought she wasn’t looking.

This time s
he blinked and stared back.

Why did
he look at her that way?

Khai was a
pparently a very complex guy. She sensed that from her very first interactions with him–not to mention their canoodling inside a star.

There was that, of course.

Naero felt certain that he probably had a lot on his mind right now. And no small part of it was probably wrapped up around her.

Most likely, he was dwelling on
what he should do about his duty to capture her and bring her back.

On the one hand, they had dangerous enemies on the loose, plotting who knew what
ever terrible things against just about everyone in their galaxy.

No one was safe.
No one.

Yet on the other hand,
Khai was still honor bound to either bring her in as his prisoner…or kill her outright.

Knowing Khai, she was pretty sure what he would eventually decide.

Once he fully realized that she was looking back, his troubled face returned to its impassive mask.

“
You could have let me die or killed me outright,” he said.

Naero knitted her brow.

“What?”

“
It never occurred to you, did it? Even your doctor friend wouldn’t have known. You could have let the dagger kill me slowly, or finished me off yourself. Nobody would have ever been the wiser. Yet instead, you saved me, Naero. You saved my life.”

Naero pursed her lips.

“It doesn’t matter if anyone else knew or not. I would have known. You fought bravely beside us, Khai–as any comrade would.”

He shook his head.
“Yet, we are not comrades, Naero. You know very well what my primary mission is. With me dead, I wouldn’t be hunting you and attacking you any longer, trying to capture…or slay you.”

“
Nor would we have you here to help us. We need you to fight beside us against these foes, Khai. Everything else can wait. I’ve tried to make you see that. You know what we’re up against. Our foes nearly killed all of us. They don’t care about our petty squabbles.”

She looked over at the Driathan Blank
lying on the medbed. That used to be Jia’s brother Govae. “They murdered a nearly indestructible, immortal Driathan. Something none of us would have ever thought possible.”

“
They could not destroy his self-regenerating body.”

“
No, they wanted to keep that for themselves, simply to use as a host. But the miraculous being that was Govae is now gone forever–a terrible loss that we will never even comprehend. They destroyed his mind, his essence, his very soul–everything that he was and ever would be.”

“
At least we kept them from using his incredible android body as one of their accursed hosts.”

“Yeah, that’s true.”
Naero sat up and struck the edge of her medbed with her fist in frustration. “I’ve fought these devils, their lackeys, and their self-aware, Darkforce energy generators. Those things by themselves are horrific weapons.”

Naero took a deep breath.
“Khai, the G’lothc fought both the Kexx and the Drians to a standstill. Who knows what advanced tek they have to hurl against us? And I saw Janner’s twin–my own former brother Danner–that insane freak. He was actually working
with
them willingly, inside a larger version of one of those vile generator machines. He’s generating Darkforce energy for them, and they used that power to help destroy Govae. They got Danner from their allies in the Gigacorps. They tormented my brother Jan the same way, in one of those generators. I won’t stop hunting these evil bastards until I find them and take them all out. After that, you and the Mystics can do whatever you want with me.”

Khai knitted his brows.

“I’m truly sorry about what happened to your brothers, Naero. But justice among the Clans and our Mystics does not work that way. You don’t get a pass on crime and murder, so that you can pursue your own personal vendettas–even if they are against our mutual enemies.”

“
I’m not going to surrender myself to the authorities while these enemies of ours are on the loose, Khai. They will answer to me and my vengeance, by the weight of my hands, my allies, and all that I can do.”

“
Like Baeven, you cannot control your Cosmic powers, Naero. Look at what nearly happened? You two are as great a threat to everyone as the G’lothc in your current state. You simply won’t admit that.”

“
I’ll admit some of that, in part. But that’s still not going to stop me from completing my objectives, whatever happens to me.”

Khai tried to sit up.
Yii flickered weakly, still in his hands.

With great effort and gritting her teeth herself, stiff and incredibly sore, Naero slipped off her medbed and pushed him back down with
both hands.

But she did so, as
gently as she could.

“
Hey…hey. Let’s stop arguing. Lay back down. Both of us just barely survived a major battle against impossible odds and impossible foes. Both of us need to heal and get back up to speed before we do anything.”

“
I hate to admit it, Naero. But at least you are right about that.”

Naero held out her hand to him.
“Keep our original truce going then? At least until we’re both not flat on our backs? I respect you Khai. I know you have to do what you have to do for your own reasons. I am the same way.”

Khai took her hand, and measured her strength and determination.

“Our truce remains intact, until we both have healed, or we return to the Alpha Quadrant.”

They both let go.

Khai sighed. “You know, in the mean time, I could teach you some further breathing and meditation techniques. They will aid in healing, and perhaps they will assist in helping you learn to control your negative energy side.”

Naero snorted.

“What do you know about such? You’ve never had to struggle against anything like this?”

Khai raised his eyebrows.
“That is not true. All Mystics struggle against the negative energies within themselves, even if they don’t have actual Dark Beasts inside of them. The greater our powers, the greater the struggle. We face that struggle each day of our existence. That is why we must either continue to grow in enlightenment or destroy ourselves. Didn’t you know that? Even the High Masters face these choices and struggles, every second of each day.”

Naero gaped and then covered her mouth with one hand.

“I didn’t know that. I just thought Baeven and I were the only ones cursed like this.”

“
That is the great danger of Mystic Training. Some destroy themselves. Others end up needing to be destroyed.”

“
So, Master Vane wasn’t joking about all that? I thought he was just being and ass.”

Khai smiled sadly.
“He was a major ass. Most Masters of Chaos Wisdom usually are…difficult to be around on a personal level. They’re also the most likely to destroy themselves. Yet someone must focus on and teach others how to comprehend Chaos forces and energies, and how to understand and utilize them. Most of our Mystic abilities would not even be possible–without the Chaos elements of the equation.”

“
I always found that fascinating,” Naero said. “While I trained with him on Janosha, Vane was always trying to beat that fact into my head. He expounded all the time on how important Chaos was to everything–even to the Great Harmony of the universe itself.”

Khai tried to make his own philo
sophy known. “Chaos is a great engine, a constant driving force behind both Creation and Change. Entropy and Destruction also create opportunities for new things to develop in response to change. But power and change without rational limit or control only destroys without logic or reason or purpose. For anything to be sustained, there must also be Order and Enlightened Change–guided by purpose and direction of all energies and potentials. Therein we find balance and Harmony, wisdom and enlightenment.”

Naero knitted her hands together and stared at
him. “The very reasons that the Spacer Mystics exist: to study and gain mastery and understanding over all of these forces–for the good of all.”

Khai chuckled.
“Chaos is indeed vital. Yet it must be properly understood and kept in constant balance by the forces of Order and Change. The Harmony of the Universe is sustained by the balance of the Three Powers.”

“
And the three acts of wisdom,” Naero added, thinking suddenly of Shalaen. “Compassion, Justice, and Mercy.”

“
They comprise what we know and think of…as Love,” Khai said.

The Enforcer gazed
into her eyes a little too long, then turned away.

Naero smiled. Let him fall for her a little bit. What if he did?

She could do worse than a thick-headed champion like Khai.

And a little affection for her on his part just might help her cause
, if push came to shove.

Haisha, was she turning into Hashiko, now?

In the days that followed, they continued to hunt for and pursue the enemy. But the trail went cold.

No one knew what the enemy
’s next move was, and in any case, they were all stuck out in the middle of nowhere still, until they could get the leap drives operating properly.

Generating another unstable
, Cosmic wormhole would be a last resort, considering the first attempt that nearly killed them all.

And the potential for popping back in to their space completely
disrupted and dead in the water, among potential enemies would leave them desperate, and far too vulnerable.

Not a good plan
at all.

All of them healed up from their injuries. Zhen and
Ty seemed about as happy as Jia and Baeven, getting sufficiently besotted with themselves.

Naero and Baeven
continued to train every day together, both as individuals and in teams with other members of all three crews, exploring all of their strengths and weaknesses.

Baeven and Khai avoid
ed each other, for the most part, and with good reason. They were like oil and water and did not mix, did not get along. They remained complete opposites. Baeven was Chaos, whether he liked it or admitted it, or not. Khai, of course, was Order.

But Naero went back and forth
between the two of them, training with both and learning as much as she could. Each of them had vital insights and knowledge to share that the other did not. And that was incredibly useful to Naero, who always felt torn and stuck in the middle of everything anyway.

Khai seemed to have his act together and
never needed much help. Hell, the guy was pretty much just a step below being a High Master himself, without the title. That was why he held the position as the Mystic Enforcer.

But much of what Naero learned from Khai on several important levels was very
vital to her in many other ways, and she passed on as much of that wisdom as she could, back to Baeven. She did so in ways that he could grasp and make use of it for himself. Whether he admitted it or not, her uncle needed to learn many of those things himself–some of them even more than her.

Running with Khai
during their truce turned out to be very valuable for both of the renegades. Naero and Baeven achieved several breakthroughs, and gained greater control over themselves, and further understanding of their abilities and powers, almost daily.

They still could
n’t enter their full, Dark Beast modes without losing all sanity and self-control, but they could keep them on better leashes and begin to understand them further. And their partial Beast modes grew more and more powerful.

Perhaps that would lead to great
er, overall control at some point in the future.

Naero herself seemed driven
beyond obsession, to one day gain total mastery of herself and all of her abilities.

It frustrated herself to no end that she could not grasp or attain such control
, simply by force of will alone.

Khai shook his head and tried to counsel her during one of their sparring sessions. The guy was a brick
–as bad as Baeven. They beat on each other relentlessly and he never seemed to take a scratch. While she felt battered and sore and secretly had to heal herself and regenerate, every chance she got.

“
Do you always try to force your way through everything?” Khai asked her.

“
Works for me.”