The Seryys Chronicles: Of Nightmares Read online

  Widwar’s arm had been reset and was in a plastic cast while a doctor was shining a light into his eyes. The infirmary was brightly lit with sterile white walls and medical equipment everywhere. Main power had been restored and they received word from Seryys that another ship was about to be dispatched to help affect repairs and provide cover if some unknown hostiles arrived looking for trouble.

  Instantly, Widwar began struggling against his restraints, cursing and spitting. He was acting like a man possessed. Khai looked over at the poor boy that Widwar nearly killed. He was in a drug-induced coma until the swelling on his brain went down. Otherwise, he was on the mend. After Widwar berated the doctor and the nurse, tried to bite at his restraints and started screaming at the unconscious Vyysarri, Khai had had enough. He loomed over the man and literally slapped him across the face. The man recoiled a bit, but that seething anger remained.

  “Act like a man,” said Khai in a booming voice.

  “You think you’re safe ’cause I’m restrained?”

  “No, but you’re not, either,” Khai pointed out.

  Realization struck Widwar’s face just as hard as Khai’s slap. “You’re using me as bait!” It wasn’t a question.

  “You got it,” Khai said casually. “No matter the outcome, I win. They either get to you without us catching them, and you’re dead. I catch them in the act of killing you, you’re dead. The only way you’re walking away from this is if you give up all your conspirators. I know someone tampered with the ship’s coolant, what is so important that you would take your own lives?”

  “Segregation!”

  “From what, the Vyysarri?” Khai snapped.

  “Yes!” Widwar hissed. “We will never work with those abominations!”

  “‘We?’ Who’s we?” Khai demanded. “How many are involved?”

  “You know, Khai,” Widwar said, instantly calm. “I’m gonna grant you your wish.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Widwar started retching and gagging until he vomited. Within the vomit was a small, white pill. Khai saw it immediately; a small porcelain pill strong enough to resist stomach acid but fragile enough to be broken by teeth. Khai stuck his fingers into the man’s mouth, but it was too late. He had already bitten down on the thing. Instantly, foam came running from his mouth and he started convulsing. Before the doctor could even react, Widwar was dead and so was their only lead.

  There could’ve been five or five hundred conspirators! Widwar was the only person to implicate the others. Or was he?

  “Doctor Amorar,” Khai called out.

  “Sir?” She looked up at Khai, her soft blue eyes lit upon him, betraying wisdom beyond her thirty years. She brushed a lock of brown hair away behind her ears.

  “A word with you in your office, please.”

  “Of course.” She and the Khai entered the office and closed the door. “What else can I do for you, General?”

  “I will be implementing a ship-wide physical examination. I want every crewmember screened for those pills. If it means you have to stick a camera down the throats of every single person on this ship, do it. We’ll start with me, and then I will handpick ten security people to be tested. Once they’re cleared, they will provide security for the rest. As they’re cleared, we will move them to the other ship that’s en route. Those that have the pill in their stomachs will be cleared to the leave the infirmary but will be directed to their quarters where cleared security guards will be waiting to incapacitate them and take them into custody.”

  “Aye, sir. May I also suggest that we clear more doctors first, starting with me? It’ll streamline things.”

  “Agreed. Also, I’ll need two or three of those doctors at the brig to remove the pills while they’re incapacitated.”

  In the isolation ward of the infirmary, Khai had another doctor perform the examination with him there. Amorar was cleared as not having a pill swishing in her stomach and then the other doctor was cleared as well. As the third doctor entered the room and nervously sat down on the med bed, Khai stood vigilant watch. The camera went down the throat and there it was—a little, white pill. Khai was about to detain him, when Amorar grabbed his wrist. Khai trusted her judgment and waited to see what she was about to do.

  From a table, Amorar grabbed the wand to the Intra-Body Scanner. She waved it over the stomach and a little warning displayed on the screen above the bed. It read: FOREIGN OBJECT DETECTED. Instantly the young doctor began retching and gagging. This time, Khai was ready. He simply wrapped his massive hand around the doctor’s throat so he couldn’t regurgitate the pill. With his other massive hand, he pummeled the guy and knocked him out cold.

  “Give him something to make sure he stays that way for a while and keep him out of view of the others.”

  “And what do I say if people start asking questions?”

  “Make something up that sounds medical-ish,” Khai said with a shrug.

  After a few hours, the ten security guards had been screened and, to Khai’s surprise, were clean. From there they did the rest of the medical staff and found no more.

  “All right, doctor,” Khai said. “I leave this in your capable hands. The Hellfire should be arriving any minute. I would like to be on the bridge when she emerges from black space.”

  “I have this under control. And if not, you’ll know.”

  “Thank you, doctor.”

  Khai was sitting on the bridge when the Hellfire slowly floated from the black hole. As punctual as ever, a voice came over the communication channel.

  “Well Khai, it would appear that you require some assistance,” a grave and resonate, but oddly playful voice said. “Yeah,” another familiar voice chimed in. “I think they fire you for breaking your ship on her maiden voyage.”

  “It wasn’t my fault…” Khai feigned hurt, but then a devilish grin crept across his face. “This time.”

  “Well, you demonstrated your ability for mass destruction on Oh Bee Twelve,” he countered.

  “Again, not my fault,” Khai shot back. “You should brush up on your Seryysan history before you go accusing old soldiers of ‘mass destruction.’”

  “My apologies, Khai. I shall endeavor to ‘brush up’ on my old enemies’ history.”

  “It’s okay, Sibrex. I’ll let it slide this time, but Puar, you have no excuse!”

  Sibrex was an older Vyysarri man who helped Khai save Prime Minister Puar from captivity. As a way of saying “thanks,” Prime Minister Puar had made Sibrex the captain of a vessel. Although Prime Minister Puar’s little brother, Pual’Brenan Puar, wasn’t a pilot in the Navy, a few pulled strings and a natural knack for it—as he had done some piloting during his earlier years in the Seryys City Police Department—had turned him into one of the best pilots in the fleet. He contributed it to hours upon hours of virtual console playing.

  “Yeah, I just think it’s funny to throw you under the shuttle,” Puar said.

  “What about the Star Splitter and the Honorifical Office?” Sibrex asked.

  “That wasn’t—okay, that was my fault. But it was for a good cause. Besides, the Prime Minister had the ship rebuilt as a gift. She’s sitting in the hangar right now.” Khai’s mood sobered almost instantly. “Well, all joking aside, I would like to see you both right away. There has been a, uh, development that I need to share with you.”

  To make a grand entrance, and kill Minister of Planetary Affairs Tran’Ri Trall, Khai had crashed his ship into the Honorifical Office. After Prime Minister Puar was rescued, he had the Star Splitter rebuilt from bow to stern. At that point, Khai asked for some major renovations. He had the main hold, which was the living area with a kitchen, sitting area and sensor control console doubled in width and the overall length of the ship increased. Now the ship boasted a main hold on the starboard side where the main cargo hold was located. The port side was Khai’s living quarters complete with kitchenette, bathroom, sleeping area and auxiliary flight controls if the cockpit were to be compromised. The s
leeping area in the aft of the ship was removed and exclusively dedicated to engineering. From behind the cockpit, the three-foot corridor forked to either side right after the sensor console. From the outside, rather than a flat-bottomed cylinder shape that it used to have, now it looked more like an over-pregnant shark. There were other upgrades as well.

  “Hey, we’ll be there quicker than you can say ‘Khai’Xander Khail: the hero of Seryys Four, Seryys City and the Vyysarri!’”

  Khai impatiently paced the polished floor of the hangar awaiting the arrival of two of his most trusted friends and allies. He couldn’t suppress a smile as the shuttle pierced the force field and landed on the designated spot in the hangar. The door finally slid open and four men strode down the ramp to greet Khai. Two were big, muscle-bound guards preceding the not-so-diminutive frame of Sibrex and the slender, yet still fit, frame of Puar.

  After warm embraces, Khai led them straight to the brig where Khai’s own muscle-bound security stood watch. Khai punched in the code and the door opened. Inside were more security guards and four dozen crewmembers, all unconscious, lying in cells wherever they would fit. There was also one lying in gurney with a doctor using some tool to extract something from his stomach.

  “What is the meaning of this?!” Sibrex demanded in disgust.

  “This,” Khai said and held up a tiny, white pill.

  “Is that a paralix pill?” Puar asked.

  “Yeah, it is,” Khai said. “Removed it from a young lieutenant this morning. All these people had one, including a colonel who nearly beat a young Vyysarri to death. Poor kid’s still recovering in the infirmary. The colonel died from the poison.”

  “Do you believe this has something to do with the damage to your ship?” Sibrex asked.

  “Yes. We seem to be finding more and more of these conspirators on board. It leads me to believe that if they’re on my ship of hand-picked officers, soldiers, doctors and engineers, distinguished by their records as being faithful and devout, they could be on your ship, too.”

  “I see your concern. I will start screening my people upon our return,” Sibrex said gravely.

  “We’re in deep,” Puar remarked.

  “Indeed,” Sibrex agreed.

  “You should return to your ship immediately,” Khai suggested. “There’s no telling what the conspirators are–”

  Khai was cut off by yet another loud explosion and instant groaning of the ship’s hull.

  “Bridge! What the hell is going on?” Khai snapped into his com unit.

  “The Hellfire is attacking us! She caught us completely off guard. Our shields were down and they struck the shield generator!”

  Khai looked at Sibrex. “Not my order,” was all he said.

  “Sir!”

  Shit! “What now, Rand’Son?”

  “We’re firing back!”

  “What?!” Shitshitshit! “How is that possible?”

  “I don’t know, sir. She’s not answering the helm! Someone on the ship must have overridden the systems. There’s only two places you can do that, sir—your quarters and engineering!”

  “I’m on my way to engineering now. Sibrex, Puar, with me!”

  They followed without question as he was both their commanding officer and closest friend. They raced down the hallway toward the lift to take down to the engineering level. Another salvo of laser fire rocked the ship and knocked the three of them to their knees. As they struggled to get up, the ship rocked again and they went back down. Khai grimaced as he grabbed hold of the railing that lined the corridor and pulled himself to his feet. Puar and Sibrex did the same. They started to run again. Khai could feel the thrum of his canon batteries firing back at the Hellfire. Another barrage rocked the ship hard to starboard; the lights flickered and went out.

  “Main power’s back down, again, sir!”

  “I’m aware of that, Rand’Son. Stop reporting and start fixing!”

  “Y-yes, sir!”

  With only emergency lighting, they clambered their way through the hall toward the lift. A great rumble shook the girders of the ship, and the bulkhead just to the right of their heads exploded. Darkness took Khai. The last thing he saw was Sibrex crashing face first into the floor followed by Puar.

  Chapter Three

  The first thing Khai felt was pain, excruciating pain coming from all over. As his head cleared, he could pinpoint the pain to both his ribs and right shoulder blade. He groped blindly at his back until he found the piece of shrapnel protruding from the spot. That was when he realized that he was either blind or power had completely failed. He stumbled to his feet.

  “Bridge!” he called. “Bridge, come in!”

  “It… ugh… would appear communications-ugh!-are down as well as power.”

  “Sibrex, you’re still alive!”

  “Yeah, I’m fine, too,” Puar growled. “What the hell was that?”

  “I don’t know. But we need to get out of here, get to the bridge and figure out what the hell is happening!”

  “Agreed,” Sibrex said, closer. “Can you assist me in prying open this door, Khai?”

  “Yeah, I’ll be right there.”

  Between the two of them, injured as they were, they got door open. It was the lift shaft. They started climbing up toward the top level where the bridge was located. They got to the junction and the emergency hatch was sealed shut. Khai punched in his override code and the panel buzzed.

  “It’s not letting me override the door,” Khai growled. “Let me try something else.” He punched in the master system override and he was about to press the CONFIRM button when Sibrex grabbed his wrist and kept him from finalizing the code. “What?” Khai asked, not hiding the annoyance in his voice.

  “Move aside,” he said, climbing up past Khai to the hatch. Sibrex put his ear against the hatch, first off it was cold, very cold to the touch and when he knocked on the hatch, there was no echo from the other side.

  “The other side is open to space. We will have to find an alternate route.”

  “Where to, then?” Puar asked.

  “Hangar,” Khai said. “We can use the Star Splitter as a lifeboat. Maybe we can even rescue other survivors. Maybe some people made it to escape pods. We can’t just give up.”

  “Agreed.”

  The climb down to level five was far easier than they expected. Upon exiting the lift shaft, they were greeted by carnage. Although there was air and relative heat in the corridor now, it was painfully, sadly obvious that at one point there had not been. All the people in the hallway showed telltale signs of explosive decompression.

  “The hangar must have been compromised and the doors didn’t close quickly enough. This is going to complicate matters. If the hangar doors are compromised, there will be no atmosphere in there.”

  “More good news!” Puar shouted sarcastically.

  “As long as my ship wasn’t moved during decompression, and assuming gravity is still active in there, I can make it to my ship.”

  “You will have maybe a minute before you lose consciousness,” Sibrex pointed out.

  “I’m aware of that, Sibrex. But if you have a better suggestion—or if you’re willing to do it yourself, I’m willing to entertain it.”

  After a pause, Sibrex held out his hand. “Good luck,” was all he said.

  Khai took his hand and said dryly. “Thanks.”

  “We will wait in the lift shaft. If you do not com us in thirty seconds, I will come to assist you,” Sibrex said.

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  They got into the shaft and sealed the door.

  “Khai, do you read me?”

  “Loud and clear.” Khai punched in the master override code. His finger hovered apprehensively over the confirm button blinking to open the door. Taking several deep breaths to oxygenate his blood, he said, “Blowing seal now,” and hit the button. There was a moment of sheer terror and the remaining air in that portion of the corridor blew out into the vacuum of space. Then it hit him: th
e most biting deep freeze he had ever felt. He’d spent his entire second tour on a planet where the crust was comprised of nothing but solid ice. The ice was so thick that even its molten core couldn’t cut through to the surface; this was a billion times colder than that place was on its coldest day of the year. It almost stole his breath, but he was able to keep himself in check. Also, instantly, his vision began to narrow. He had to keep his eyes closed, only sparing brief glances, any longer than that and his eyes might have actually frozen open.

  From the brief glimpse, he saw that his ship was exactly where he left it. He blindly sprinted to the ship thanking the Founders that gravity was still intact in the hangar. He spared a single thought about the fact that he couldn’t hear anything, not his footsteps, not even his own grunts as he tripped over debris. He took another quick glimpse and saw he was a few bounds away. He only stopped when he actually ran into the ship at full stride. The impact knocked him on his backside, and he let out a bit of breath. His head spun and he could swear his eyes were about to pop right out of his head.

  Without opening his eyes, he groped about the entryway and found the door panel. He placed his shivering hand on the palm reader and the door whooshed open spraying his face with delightfully warm air. He stumbled up the ramp, through the mail hold and into the pilot’s chair. He knew the ship like the back of his hand and worked the console with ease. An instant later, the door shut and the atmosphere pumped back into the cabin, Khai took a gasping breath. After a moment of composing himself, he was able to respond to Sibrex’s concerned voice coming over his com unit.

  “…coming out to get you!”

  “No! I’m okay. I just made it.” Khai started up the ship, and moved it over to the door where he had come out. “I have put the hatch right up to the door. The air flow should bring you right to the ship.”