Star Force: Essence (Star Force Universe Book 51) Read online

  Finding Ariel wasn’t difficult with her homing beacon active, and Paul was able to pick up her telepathic presence from several miles away even without it. The four Archons swam using their armor’s systems in conjunction with their Lachka, giving them the maximum speed possible through the water, though the two trailblazers had to slow a bit to not lose their apprentices.

  Hello Ariel, Dina said telepathically when they got within sight of one another.

  Hello, sister. Follow me, Ariel said, immediately twisting over in the water and swimming straight down faster than the Archons could match.

  “She’s in a hurry,” Veeron-938221 said over the Archon’s private comms.

  “She’s rattled,” Paul told his apprentice. “Otherwise we’d be catching up first. Try to keep up.”

  “I am trying,” the Neo 2380 Archon insisted as he continued to create Lachka ripples around his armor and push them backwards to add propulsion to that his shields and armor jets were also producing. “She’s too damn fast.”

  “Catch up when you can,” Paul smirked, then began to pull away from the two apprentices as he and Dina chased after Ariel.

  “We’re still the newbs,” Nathan-1300433 noted as he fell in behind Veeron to catch his slipstream and make sure he didn’t fall behind any further. “And they’re reminding us of that fact.”

  “I didn’t realize they were that fast.”

  “They’re getting their ass kicked by Ariel, so expect them to find a little more than normal.”

  “Why are you drafting off of me?”

  “Why waste it?”

  “Jerk…”

  Up ahead Dina and Paul were doing the same thing, with Dina in the lead and Paul linked to her in battlemeld with a Bataf conduit between them so Paul could add his speed differential to Dina’s body, pushing her along a little bit in exchange for the draft relief she was giving him. Together they had left their apprentices behind, but Ariel was still playing with them, staying out of reach and occasionally weaving back and forth as the race to the seafloor seemed to break her serious mood a bit.

  “Feel like cheating?” Paul asked.

  “What do you mean…oh, right,” Dina said, sensing his thoughts through the link. “Yeah, let’s try.”

  The pair’s speed slowed considerably, but Dina stretched out a bioshield in front of her, thinning it into a needle and stretching it out as far ahead of her as she could. That didn’t do much to change their movement through the water, for she’d been using one this entire time, but now Dina stretched it out to maximum ahead of her as she made sure they were heading straight down towards the planet, taking them a little out of alignment with Ariel.

  Then they used their Cerden, with Paul’s power being added through the battlemeld psionic to increase the strength and range…then when the needle pushed out further it stopped dragging water along the inside, with the Archons simultaneously using their Nemsa to double up their Lachka and create a plate inside the needle that stopped the water from moving forward with them. It started in the tip, creating a small vacuum that pulled all the way up through it, further stressing their shields to hold back the weight of the ocean water and forcing them to shrink them, but when the plug came up on Dina she and Paul released it and let themselves drop along with the water around them down through the bioshield conduit that now had no water or air in it.

  The pair stayed together, linked by their Bataf conduit, and dropped some 28 meters before they hit the bottom of their own shields with the water crashing down behind them. They deactivated the shields and let the current push them further down, then Dina extended the needle out again and they repeated the tactic, gaining ground on Ariel each time.

  You cheat the water, Ariel’s voice echoed in their minds rather than coming through the comm which she also possessed in her armor.

  That’s the idea, Paul confirmed, only to see her increase speed and shoot ahead of them again.

  It is not enough.

  “Damn it,” Dina said where Ariel couldn’t hear them. “We’re going to have to pull out the big guns.”

  “The water’s too dense to fly through, unless you can…”

  “No I can’t,” Dina confirmed, referring to the ripple technique in her bioshields and Lachka that was too intense to use the same time as her Yen’mer. The overlap was too confusing, and the deeper they went the worse it got with the density of the water. “We gotta blast it.”

  “Worth a try,” Paul said as Dina signaled him to take the lead as she slipped in behind him, losing time to Ariel who was still pulling away. “But we’re gonna have to pull on Essence to move enough.”

  “Fine with me. Do it before she gets away.”

  “Alright, here goes,” Paul said, extending his Essence out from his body slightly and intermixing it with Dina’s. The two didn’t completely mesh, as if they were slightly different colors, but they were both Human and both Archons, so there wasn’t much of an incompatibility, and in order to upgrade their Jumatran with it they had to pool together as one to match the battlemeld ability draw.

  Paul reached his arms out in front of him inside the bioshield needle he was swimming behind, then his propulsion stopped entirely along with Dina’s and they drifted down a moment before a thin Jumat blast shot out ahead of Paul, punching into the dense water and forcing it away from the column. A second shot followed less than .3 seconds later, traveling through the short lived vacuum and adding to it. More continued and the pair followed through the gap as the water behind them pushed them forward.

  The two trailblazers maintained the rapid fire rhythm and punched it up to maximum, seeing that they were gaining on Ariel slightly, but not enough. That was when they added their Essence to their Jumat cells, enhancing their output with a bang…literally…as the concussive nature of the Jumat energy increased significantly, pushing more water out of the way to the sides and ahead of them, cutting off some of the pinching action of the water acting laterally on them and allowing them to shoot straight down with gravity pulling them in addition to the push of the water behind.

  It took several seconds to smooth it out, for they’d never tried this before with anyone else, let alone each other, but the Archons adapted fast and soon shot straight by Ariel with them giving her a telepathic raspberry as they passed her.

  The Elarioni was shocked and confused as to what was happening, then she got hit with the shockwave and bounced around a bit as she began swimming as fast as she possibly could, trying to catch back up with them. She engaged her armor’s maximum propulsion in addition to her own tail flips, but it wasn’t quite enough. Somehow they’d actually managed to outswim her, and despite the fact that she was losing it brought a smile to her face.

  A few minutes later she got to the seafloor where they were waiting for her, though the other two Archons were far behind and descending at a much slower pace.

  How did you do that? she asked them.

  We pushed the water out of the way with Jumat, enhanced with Essence, Dina answered. Worked better than I thought it would.

  Indeed it did. That’s the first time you’ve ever beat me. I’m impressed.

  It was 2v1, Paul pointed out. How are you doing?

  The memory is disturbing, but I’ve assimilated the Essence and dispersed most of it, though some is still remaining. My natural level is elevated even after pushing myself to exhaustion. I do not know if it is permanent or temporary.

  May I? Dina asked, holding her hand out to Ariel

  Of course, the Elarioni said, interlocking armored fingers with the Archons and pushing her Essence through them to meet the trailblazer’s. When they mixed it wasn’t quite a telepathic connection, but more of a taste test as to the person’s character rather than their thoughts. It was like a fingerprint, but one that could change somewhat over time, and it also reflected one’s current state, with her realizing just how much that cheat of theirs had cost them.

  You’re exhausted, Ariel noted.

  We reall
y wanted to beat you, Dina admitted as she let Paul sneak a peek through their battlemeld link. But we’re not even trying on the way up. You’ve grown considerably since we last met. How much of that is you?

  Very little, Ariel said with a touch of worry. I didn’t know Essence contact permanently altered someone.

  It doesn’t that we know of, Paul said, but it has been known to grant someone experience they haven’t earned. Once the body and mind experience the higher levels you try to mimic it and your own advancement skips forward in some ways.

  Once you increase your Essence, we don’t know of any way to shrink it back down, Dina added. It’s possible you got such a surge that it opened you up, hopefully in a beneficial way. You feel like you’re glowing.

  How so? Ariel asked. You have far more Essence than me.

  The newness has a different flavor to it, and it’s a way you can tell if someone is old or recently upgraded. Think of it as a growth mark, and you’re glowing in it.

  Do you see a problem?

  Not right now. Show me the memory.

  Ariel cringed, then dug it out of her mind and telepathically transmitted it to both trailblazers as she released Dina’s hand. Both of them were silent for several seconds, then Paul swam over and put a hand on Ariel’s hip, pulling her into an armor on armor hug.

  Thank you for enduring that.

  I didn’t have a choice, but you’re welcome.

  I think I’m going to be sick, Dina said, fighting her own gag reflex as she tried to dull out the memory.

  I’ve felt this before, with the lizards, Paul explained his resilience. When so many die at once, and you feel it, it hits you in a way you’re not prepared for.

  Why could I feel it after this long of a time? Ariel asked.

  That’s a very good question. I don’t know. Essence should dissipate without a Core to hold it in place. We have to cheat that with our Materia weapons, but even then it won’t last forever. I have never seen Essence that cloys like this. It normally seeks out any other Essence to bond with or just fades away. What you experienced is like a capsule where the Essence bonds to itself and resists other Essence.

  That’s why you couldn’t find it earlier, Dina explained. You had to physically touch it before it bled into you. How close are we to the location?

  2.4 miles. I didn’t want to come down on it in case there was more left, she said as the two Archon apprentices finally caught up and swung their feet down below their heads as they drifted over towards Paul.

  “You’re late,” he admonished them. “Drop and give me 2,000.”

  “Funny,” Veeron said, breathing heavily.

  “Hello, Ariel,” Nathan said, waving a hand. “My name is Nathan-1300433.”

  “Hello,” she answered using her comm, which came through as a computer translation, for the aquatic Elarioni did not have the vocal capability to speak English. “And you are?”

  “Veeron-938221.”

  “Follow me and sense the area with your Essence. I do not know if any pockets remain, but you will be able to find them sooner than I can,” Ariel said, lightly swimming in place in a circle before heading across the seafloor towards a point she now marked on the battlemap so all four Archons could see it.

  “We’ll take the wings,” Dina said, with her and Paul moving to the outside of their 5 person formation. “Boys, stretch out as wide as you can around Ariel and we’ll take it from there. Keep a little cushion so we don’t miss anything.”

  “Got it,” Nathan said as he felt Ariel’s ‘wings’ fan out. He overlapped his own Essence aura with hers slightly, then stretched out his range as he swam to the side. When he got to maximum Dina connected with him outside that and made up the end of a 5 person chain that was scanning the rocks in the seafloor dozens of meters below them as they slowly swam forward.

  The trailblazers’ depth was far more, but it didn’t take long until they started picking up faint traces of the old Essence. The sucked it in like a vacuum, getting a feel for it but not gaining any valuable information. Other trailblazers had been here before, and they could confirm it felt the same as their reports indicated, but they weren’t picking up on anything the size of which Ariel had encountered.

  “Here,” Ariel said over the comm. “This is where it happened.”

  “Hold up,” Paul said. “I can feel it.”

  Ariel frowned. “I cannot.”

  “Neither can I,” Veeron admitted. “My field is empty.”

  “So is mine,” Paul admitted. “A little too empty.”

  “I feel it now,” Dina added.

  “I don’t,” Nathan said, checking again. “There’s nothing here.”

  “My Essence isn’t steady, it’s being drained over there,” Paul said, pointing to a spot ahead of Dina. “It’s not much, but there is a light sucking over there.”

  “Ariel, stay back,” Dina warned. “No need for you to go through this twice.”

  The Elarioni gladly swam backwards a bit, then spun around to watch what happened as Paul moved towards he spot and extended a hand down…then Ariel jerked as a telepathic something hit her. It had come from Paul and didn’t last more than a split second, but it made her entire body go numb like a Fornax blast, yet it was somehow more than that.

  “Paul?” Dina asked.

  “Don’t connect to it,” he warned. “Siphon it off.”

  “What is it?”

  “Some sort of a containment orb.”

  “Whoa,” Dina said in a low voice. “Are you saying it’s a container…as in harvest container?”

  “I think so,” Paul said darkly. “There’s nobody in there, but the memories are fresh.”

  “Harvest,” Ariel said. “Is that possible?”

  “We can’t pull Essence out of someone,” Dina told her. “But maybe someone figured out how.”

  “They’d have to store it, or it’d bleed off into the planet,” Paul said, staring at the blank spot in the rock that appeared to the rest of his senses and psionics as nothing out of the ordinary. “I think this is a collection orb that was left behind.”

  “Can you see who it was?” Ariel asked.

  “Fragments, but it wasn’t the Hadarak. Something else just as big.”

  “Something the Hadarak hunt?” Nathan asked.

  “Are you sure we don’t want to keep this around?” Dina asked as she came right over the spot.

  “It’s stolen Essence laced with memories of their deaths. I’m surprised Ariel isn’t catatonic. Don’t let anyone else go through that. Drain the fucker,” Paul said angrily.

  “Are you alright?” she asked him.

  “No, but I’ll get a handle on it. Get rid of that abomination.”

  “Done,” Dina said, reaching out her hand and hardening her Essence so it wouldn’t easily merge with another, but could be used to corral it. She’d done it multiple times when charging Materia-class weapons fed by hundreds of Archons simultaneously so they wouldn’t have to waste time doing it one by one.

  She created a conduit the width of a baseball and stretching it upwards like a straw some 20 meters or so, then dipped it down towards the blank spot, holding off just above it as she sent out a warning notification via the battlemap, declaring the section of ocean directly over them as temporarily off limits. There were no signals up there, but the waring would also be sent out telepathically from mechanical repeaters so people without comms devices or armor would be able to pick it up. They also didn’t show on the battlemap in all locations, but she was fairly sure they were clear as her Ikrid wasn’t picking up anyone for several miles around them.

  “Might want to get back in case this bleeds wrong,” she said, with the other three swimming off as Nathan stayed.

  You want help?

  No, just get clear. If Paul’s having trouble with this I don’t want you anywhere near it. Shoo.

  Shooing, he said, swimming off and catching up with the others as they pulled away but kept low to the seafloor, knowing Dina w
as going to bleed this off straight up.

  “Here goes,” she said, lowering her Essence ‘straw’ down into the blank spot and feeling a tug. It drew it down then it hit something hard…at least that’s how it felt. The Essence passed through the physical rock as if it wasn’t there, but something in that quasi-physicality resisted her until she pressed harder.

  Then all hell broke loose as she penetrated the containment shell, however it worked, and she felt the bleed-off from around the base of the ‘straw’ as the huge plume of Essence shot up through it, headed skyward and bleeding off through the water like a giant mushroom cloud that she pushed upwards on to keep it from falling back down on the others even as she began to feel sick to her stomach as some of what Paul had experienced leached into her.

  3

  Above her the Essence spread out through the water, searching for a Core to attach to but finding none as Dina kept the barrier tight between herself and the flow. The invisible energy mushroomed out in a way that the five surrounding people could see, but only because they were all Essence sensitive. Anyone else watching, either in person or through a sensor, would have seen nothing at all, for neither the rock nor the water moved as the Essence passed through it and began to disappear as it spread out.

  Dina kept it from circling back on top of her, but the small bits leaking through her barrier were revolting. She tried to numb it out as best she could, but by the time the ‘orb’ had finished depleting itself she felt thoroughly sick to her stomach, though the trailblazer was far better off than Paul was. Yet as her Essence straw remained, now empty, she still felt the tug at the base of it.

  “The orb is still here,” she told the others, releasing her control on the straw and seeing part of it get sucked inside as it dissipated. “I can’t see what’s creating it.”

  “If it lingers, we should isolate this area for study,” Ariel suggested as Paul still struggled to purge himself of the foreign essence with erratic twitches that betrayed the inner fight he was going through.