Their oval earthen shield sped through space, rolling and bouncing like a beach ball on top of an avalanche in the wake of the rapidly expanding ionized atmosphere and propelled debris of Kyon Shi’s Dreadnaught. Random flying shrapnel struck the outer globe and intensified the glow intermittently, eating into Sen’s Free Essence.
Physical Health Status:
10742/15000
Spherical Cultivation units
Free Essence:
40500/34,768 → 14,386 → 13,944 → 13,257 → 10,735
Spherical Cultivation units
As they continued to hurtle and spin, Josh adjusted his earthen shield with an opening for Sen to join him and Alysa before closing it. Josh wanted to fuse the two shields together but feared what might happen if they lost Sen’s outer shield too soon.
It was hard not to be impressed with the strength of the earthen shield. His science mind sent the uncared for data that there was no question the initial blast had been in the thousands of megatons. It figuratively and near-literally blew his mind that it only took twenty-thousand Essence to divert an explosion like that.
But Josh’s whole being was focused on what was going on in Alysa and Sophie’s soul space. He had moved to join them a dozen times, but the cold and detached reasoning of the fledgling warrior gripping his heart in an iron hold had kept him from running to them with inescapable logic.
Priorities Joshy! Being with them wouldn’t help them a bit if you, Sen, and Alysa’s bodies are destroyed in the Nukes’ shockwaves.
Too true…But I just might go insane doing nothing while I stare at Alysa dying…
Maybe she had died?! Things had happened way too fast since Kyon Shi had dropped his hold on her. But Josh would have sworn that he had seen Alsya’s core dim and gutter out right before the blast. After the initial impact Josh had thought he had been mistaken about that. Seeing the space marine’s shared core with Sophie still active and Essence rhythmically, if sluggishly pumping through her meridians… But it wasn’t normal and his gut told him that she needed help.
And as much as Josh could tell, Sen’s report of diminishing Essence cost per collision indicated the detonation’s energy was waning. Josh’s science brain told him the thermal and blast damages were of secondary import compared to the radiation exposure from nuclear explosions while in space with no atmospheric particles to absorb it.. Radiation from nuclear explosions in the void was eighteen times greater than the same nuclear explosions within a planet’s atmosphere.
Nonetheless, the explosion had been tremendously powerful. Occurring in Kyon Shi’s metropolis-sized Dreadnaught, there was the atmosphere of a miniplanet to factor in. Shaking his head, Josh gave up with too many variables to be sure how much if any or none of the bast factors caused the damage that had hurt Alysa. It ultimately didn’t matter. Without a doubt, she had likely suffered much more before the blast’s concussions had hit their shields. The forces had come from multiple directions at virtually the same time. Josh had done his best to place himself between her and the force walls of debris, but he had only been partially successful. Her armored head had definitely hit the side walls two or three times. Her EVA helmet was bent, and her forehead was bleeding. The face shield had been deactivated when this had started, and Josh had no idea if it would function if they ran out of Essence to keep their shields up.
His next concern was the ongoing radiation exposure. The earthen shield skill called itself a microenvironment. He and Sen had no idea if that meant it could shield Alysa from radiation or not. He had no illusions the rads from those blasts would have killed any normal human not wearing lead long johns and a matching diving bell.
Still, presently, Alysa was cycling her Essence. Her Mind Aura production was low and steady, indicating deep unconsciousness. The most likely scenario was a severe coma. Josh needed to enter her consciousness and see if he could do anything from there, but his already accepted logic had him waiting for the Megaton of Fun Nuclear Coaster to reach relative stability. For now, all he could do was feed her Essence so her natural healing could continue.
Josh looked up through the transparent shield to the endless void all around. Dense but thinning fields of debris from Kyon Shi’s shattered dreadnought, many the size of city blocks, still spun and roiled about them. Since the blasts, about two minutes ago, they had rolled and tumbled at unknown speeds and directions. But it had been five seconds since a new collision. He soothed his growing fears that when this number reached thirty seconds, he was going into her mind. No ifs ands or buts.
Josh continued counting.
The seconds ticked by.
After a few false starts including a run in with a dozen out of control plunge ships rotating on their axis like jacks tossed by a playing child’s hand, he reached thirty and he jumped into action.
~It’s been thirty seconds since our last collision! How is your Essence holding out on our outer shield? I’m going in and see if I can do anything from inside the mindscape. ~
~I’m at seven thousand five hundred sixty-four free Essence and holding. I can top off with some of her Mind Aura if needed.~
~Okay. See if you can reach Intelligence to get Ishan and Lobo to come to find us... assuming they survived and are still here. I’m going in. Come get me if your Essence gets down to twenty-five hundred.~
~Agreed!~
Josh was already touching her, so his mere Intent to enter her mind had him instantly there.
Kyon Shi’s cloud of death was gone along with the emptiness he had glimpsed in those last hurried seconds on the dreadnought. All replaced by the pastoral meadow Sen had first shown him through their Bond. Once again, giant, white, pink, and coral-colored clouds floated in an azure sky. Lush green grass covered the ground under his feet as babbling brooks flowed and dense forests stood in the distances.
But, the birdsong was gone and instead of ranging like they had before, all of the animals were in ranks of surrounding encirclement, down on all fours with their heads sitting on their front paws. As if they all meditated to support Sophie’s ministrations to Alysa.
In their center, Josh’s four year old lay with her tiny body covering Alysa’s wounded form. She held one hand over Alysa’s Core and the other reached through the visor of the broken EVA helmet to press her childlike fingers against the woman’s forehead.
He hadn’t had time to react to seeing Sophie in his broken glimpse on the Dreadnaught. Now his hands and arms fidgeted on instincts of their own to reach out and hold her, but there was no time for how he felt at seeing what was going on. Still, it was Sophie who got down to business first as he gaped with an open mouth and wide, watering eyes.
“Daddy! You finally made it! Alla’s really hurt! I’m cycling our Essence, but I can’t keep her here much longer. I…We need to be stronger! Give us the present you brought us!”
Josh was pulled out of his reverie and immediately poleaxed. …He didn’t have any ‘presents’ for them. This wasn’t even a physical space. What could he possibly give them?
He stammered as much. “Soph! Honey! Wha-what present? I... I... I don’t have any presents for you!?” His eyebrows and hands shot up in confused helplessness. “Maybe I can give you both my Essence?”
Sophie took a calming breath, narrowed her brows, as she tucked her chin into her chest. For a solid second, he saw Miranda, her mother, getting ready to tell him in no uncertain terms that he was wrong and that he’d better get about what she had asked, and right quick. Anything else and he was going to start racking up bills he could never hope to pay!
Sophie’s mouth made a straight line and she spoke stern words at him for the first time in her short four years. “Don’t you be silly, Daddy! You’ve been carrying it in your big bag since you left your big spaceship. Alla’s daddy gave it to you. You still have it. I can see it!” She said eyeing Josh’s black bag somehow still looped over his shoulder even in this soul space. Josh looked down at it as Sophie continued. “Bring it over here. It’s time for me and Alla to grow!”
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This time emotions attached to the new realizations were a sledgehammer that hit him right between his eyes. But he had never moved so fast as he pulled the seismic earth Attunement crystal Symbal had given them for Alysa back on the Hegemon-4 from his aspect focus and held it to Sophie with shaking hands.
“...Here, honey!”
Sophie sighed as if dealing with a well-loved but particularly dense child. “Daddy. Alla’s sleeping. She needs you to help her like you helped Uncle Sen’ak when the ugly badman hurt him. Now, please hurry!”
As she said the last, Josh could tell Alysa and Sophie were running out of Essence. Sophie’s... presence was definitely starting to fade and the golden glow she was giving off had become translucent. Josh could almost see through her as she turned her head to look down at Alysa.
Time was running out and there was only one certainty in Josh’s mind. There was no freaking way in this iteration that he was going to find out what happened if she totally faded away!
He set the crystal in Alysa’s palm, and Sophie instinctively moved her hand to the top of the crystal. Josh’s hands shook as he placed them on both sides of Alysa’s cheeks and used his newly discovered skill to demand she absorb it.
There was less resistance with her than with Sen, whether it was due to the lower level of her Cultivation, his familiarity with the skill, Sophie’s assistance—or all three, but it didn’t matter. Her Meridians started to absorb the Attunement.
He continued to cycle his Essence through her and to the crystal until he was sure the process would continue without him. Sophie had entwined her fingers with Alysa’s other hand and laid beside her. The cut on Alysa’s forehead had healed, and they both began snoring quietly. His last impression before letting go was of the two of them lifting high and magnificent into a blue sky, holding hands above a vast field of summer flowers, bushes, and trees.
He looked back at them with a dumb smile that he couldn’t wipe off his face for anything. They were taking their first major step of Cultivation. He thanked God, all the lesser gods, the Fates, Karma, and Reality—anyone who would listen to him, for his good fortune at having a—well... two daughters who were going to be alright.
How long he sat there, he didn’t know. Did time even pass in their soul space? Far too soon he became aware of Sen reaching for him through their Bond and he had to go and help his brother.
He leaned down, kissed both their foreheads, told Sophie he loved her to the moon around two times, and back again... and then he was back within the spreading remains of the Dreadnaught.
Sen’s face was literally two inches from his own. Josh didn’t jump. It was like having his hand in front of his face. Sen was smiling and Josh still had his stupid grin plastered all over his face too.
Sen nodded. ~You saw her, didn’t you?~
~You know I did. They’re going to be alright! Thank Karma that my daughter is smarter than I’ll ever be.~
~I will, every day, and three times at the Ka nexus rotation celebration!~
They laughed out loud as they sat in their smallish oblong earth shield, still vectoring through the void.
Sen had opened the valve to the back-mounted O2 generating unit on Alysa’s EVA. Not that they had needed it… yet, but it wasn’t a bad idea. Cultivation countered many mortal dependencies, but not all of them and not completely. Due to that truth, Alysa was going to need less in the immediate future as well. Through their Bond, Sen informed Josh that Intelligence had reached out to Ishan and Lobo. Both were coming to them to bring them back to the Brigantine.
The detonations had been a much closer call for Ishan than Lobo. Ishan had been pushed out of the ship by Kyon Shi and Lobo had already been disengaging from the battle when the plunge ships had all simultaneously launched. The Wolf Affin had managed to get into a position to shelter behind the mass of the Brigantine from the debris wave of the destroyed plunge vessels when they had been detonated—which saved Lobo from the subsequent wash of highly charged radiation from the destruction of the Dreadnaught, though Ishan hadn’t quite managed to shelter behind the bulk of the Brigantine and had somehow managed to survive. Still, they would both need treatment for their radiation exposure, and as Josh thought—it was only going to be a couple of pills. Josh had no idea how they worked. Whatever the medicine was, it far exceeded Earth’s knowledge of radiation treatment.
The bigger question for Josh, and through their Bond—Sen, was how Ishan had survived being that close to the blast. The very capable senior chief had some ’splainin to do! That was for sure.
When they arrived back at the Brigantine, even Josh could tell it was somewhat worse for wear given the many plunge ships sticking out askew from it like bristles on a sea urchin. Several of its central towers were venting air as they lopsidedly tilted. Some had even collapsed from the battle and its ending explosions. But what took up most of his attention was that the city-sized ship was docked with and dwarfed by a ship he estimated to be as large as California. Its dimensions were five or six times longer than it was wide and many thousands of times larger than the Brigantine.
Tiredly rising from his knees, Josh spoke to the group at large. “Looks like Daddy’s home. Anyone know who this is, or if they’re going to want to go into the championship rounds against us?”
Ishan replied. “That’s the Man of War, sir. An Orphan-class ship. Intelligence reports say it’s the flagship of Kotei Stuado, the Kaizuko king. Apparently, he’s arrived to take command of the battle area.” Ishan restarted casually licking his singed fur again.
Josh noticed a calculating look in the Tiger Affin’s eyes. At this point, beat-up, blown-up, and fresh out of escape vehicles, there was little any of them could do in regard to the Kaizuko king’s intentions, but Josh didn’t need the feedback from his mindscape to know Ishan wasn’t going to go down without a fight.
A quick look around revealed there were also several other capital ships, much larger than the Brigantine, patrolling the area. But too soon, Josh and Sen had other things to do and could only sightsee for a few seconds.
It turned out Alysa’s gambit with the Oganesson wafers had eliminated approximately 45 percent of the attacking plunge vessels. Be it from shrapnel, burning combustables, radiation, or just being knocked off-course. The ships, as rudimentary as they were, lacked retro-thrusters strong enough to get themselves back on course after being pushed out of pocket by the detonations. The remainder struck and penetrated, filling the Brigantine with a massive number of shambling and aimless undead.
The other, more significant effect of Alysa’s nuclear detonations was destroying the Dreadnaught and 20 percent of the capital ships positioned tightly around it. While blast and thermal damage from nukes in space were much less than from terrestrial exploded weapons, the debris from a ship as massive as the Dreadnaught created a considerable amount of high-velocity steel and other projectiles that were decidedly detrimental to keeping a capital ship operational.
With the death of all the leading Necrolons on the command ship and at least the TKO of Kyon Shi, for failing to get some type of defensive shield up in time, the reanimates injected into the Brigantine were much as they were when Josh had seen them on the Hegemon-4.
Pacified.
They made for easy target practice for the fire teams aboard the Brigantine, who were actively traversing deck by deck in EVAs and eliminated them with extreme prejudice.
Josh wasn’t sure if Kyon Shi had been killed or just handed a really bad day via nuclear knuckle-sandwich. The three of them had survived, sure. But they weren’t your average cultivators either, thanks to the Clone’s boons and Josh’s ability to master cultivation skills with one go at them while in a physical matter iteration. But still… The energy drainer was a quad-Attuned Cultivator. It was scary to Josh that he honestly believed it likely that someone who had advanced to the fourth Spherical Attunement might be tough enough to simply survive such a series of blasts even without promulgating an adequate defense, but he believed it nonetheless.
Upon their arrival, Josh and Sen were still guarding Alysa’s sleeping form. Albeit on a provided floating stretcher, guided by Ishan in the front and Lobo in the rear. They had been offered immediate medical attention from the Kaizuko physics. Josh had declined, knowing Alysa would be fine. Ishan and Lobo hadn’t even blinked at the offer, laser-focused on a job that was yet finished. Instead, they were taken to see the Kaizuko king. Kotei Stuado was a tall, broad-chested, and stocky-framed man with a shock of white hair. Ancient, copper-colored coins were tied into his gray beard and softly clinked as he moved.
He presented Kyon Shi to Josh and Sen by reaching behind himself and tossing the energy drainer out in front of him like a broken lawn chair. Kyon Shi was missing both legs. The right was totally gone, and the left was missing from just above the knee. Half of his left arm above the elbow was gone as well. Josh also noted that his white eyes had been charred out of his head.
A flat disk the size of a nickel was stuck to his forehead. Green and purple lights blinked in a seemingly random pattern on its surface.
~Don’t worry, brother.~ Sen reassured Josh. ~The blocking of his Essence flow by the inhibitor’s dissonance will more than suffice to prevent him from using his Cultivation.~ The warrior gestured at the crippled undead. ~Even for healing.~.~
Josh wanted to ask Sen some questions about that, but the shamed blush on his brother’s cheeks told Josh, as much as their Bond did, that Sen was still smarting from the failure with the Genocidal Harvester.
~If you say so, Sen...~
~Trust me, brother. He will not be escaping.~
Kotei Stuado then spoke to the kneeling and bowed Kaizuko who surrounded them, but mainly to Sen and Josh. “I have learned of the treasonous acts of my lessors—Dezain, Yabana, and Tojaku. They attempted to provoke the Hegemon-4 and her Lord Clone protector into destroying the Kaizuko. Please know that it was at the behest of this vile cur—” Kotei took a moment and viciously kicked Kyon Shi in the side.
The sound of several of his ribs cracking like kindling caused a full-toothed smile to show on his face as he continued, “And his Savoy handlers. The Kaizuko are not strong enough to defeat the Savoy on their own, but I will travel to the Hegemon-4 and offer my life to the Lord Clone, hoping he will forgive the Kaizuko and pardon them from the crimes of these three rogue agents. I also offer the remaining pathetic existence of this vampire, to be dealt with as you see fit.
“Consider it as a small token to the valiant warriors of the Hegemon-4 who stood between my clansmen”—he spread his hands wide and spun around, including all the Kaizuko and surrounding ships—“who stood between my family, and the undead storm that would have destroyed them.
“Please know that you will forever be welcome where the Kaizuko call home, and you are entitled to the support of arms in any just conflict where Kaizuko warriors can be found, through recognition of these medallions.”
One of his attendants passed out round, flat, bronze-colored disks on chains of the same material to each, stopping over Alysa and moving to place it on her chest when her arm shot up and grabbed it. She bounded off the stretcher and flexed her right fist around the chain, cracking all her knuckles.
“Earth!” She intoned.
“Yes!” Josh and Sen echoed.
She straightened up and bowed to the Kotei. “Kotei Stuado. We receive your gracious gifts on behalf of the Hegemon-4 and will escort you and your entourage there. I cannot assure you of a meeting with Lord Clone. He is a being who sets his own priorities. However, I can promise you that you will be well treated and provided what hospitality we have to offer for as long as you are with—”
The Kotei, his entire staff, and every Kaizuko present prostrated themselves as the Clone appeared in his never-ending cascade of involuting ultraviolet fractals.
“That will not be necessary.” His words resonated in a way that seemed to vibrate through Reality itself. “I have always been aware of the Savoy Corporation’s treachery, and I accept the spirit in which your offer is made. However, I have no plans to eradicate the Kaizuko at present. Know that should your actions ever deserve such treatment I will mete out your fate with no hesitation.” The Clone turned to Josh and Sen. “You have adequately accomplished the task I set you on. We will talk more on the Hegemon-4.”
Then, as if the thought had just struck him, he turned back to the Kotei. “For the inconvenience of my three retainers, Senyak Marztanak, Joshua Elias Tanner, and Lieutenant Junior Grade Alysa Nang, I will have you grant them status and rights appurtenant as privateers and be given command of the Brigantine.” He looked the vessel over and added, “After it is repaired. I expect delivery to the Hegemon-4 within the next two sept-gyro.”
Josh looked up to Sen. ~Sept-whatro?~
~It is a standard galactic work period used for tradesmen and other laborers with four working gyro and three non-working gyro for personal and family concerns.~
~So a sept-gyro, is basically a work week, and a gyro is like a day, got it. So the Clone is giving him two weeks to fix the ship?~
Sen shifted his eyes up in contemplation. ~Weeks. Yes, brother, that is a good way to think about it.~
The Kotei scrambled to a knee and bobbed his head up and down so fast he was in danger of whiplash. “It shall be done as you say! We are honored to have three such valiant heroes numbered among us!”
The Clone nodded silently once to the Kotei, acknowledging his pledge, and then they were gone.