Star Force: Persistent Ravage (Wayward Trilogy Book 3) Read online

  “What does that mean?” she said, shrugging in a twitch as the gravity reduced the motion.

  “I have Da’nu and Va’do. Da’nu allows me to create a bubble around which telekinesis won’t work, including mine. Pefbar is the sight that allows us to use Lachka, which is the telekinesis. By blinding the Pefbar in the bubble, we can’t control our invisible touch.”

  “So they can see the bubble with the…Pefbar?”

  “Let me show you,” he said, retracting the gauntlet on the Commando armor and exposing his hand in a way that she didn’t even know was possible, then he touched two fingers to her forehead. “Close your eyes, then see through mine.”

  Esna did as told, and as soon as she did Tyrenk’s vision came into her mind. It was like looking through a camera, only much more vivid…and she looked only half as rough as she felt inside seeing herself through the Archon’s eyes.

  “This is Pefbar,” he said, with a spike of pain shooting into her head as she was distorted, but after a few seconds she realized it had been an overload, for she’d suddenly picked up an entirely new sense. She could ‘see’ everything within 20 meters or so in all directions simultaneously. She could even see below ground, but there was no color. Everything was grainy but she could see inside the trees and rocks in a way that her mind wasn’t wanting to adjust to, but she could feel Tyrenk in her head holding her wits together in order for her to process the Archon power.

  “Now see my range,” he said, with a thought coming through that sort of drew a line around him for about 5 or 6 meters. “That’s the limit of my Da’nu. If we get in a fight, you have to stay within this bubble or I can’t protect you. I can force it larger,” he said, with the hazy bubble extending out even further than his Pefbar had been, but she saw it extended further too and her head hurt even more with all the information flowing into it.

  Tyrenk pulled that back, easing her stress a bit but held it long enough to make the point as the Da’nu field shrunk back to normal.

  “…but I can’t maintain it that large for long. You have to stay beside me. This is very important. If they get close to you they will be able to kill you with a thought. Inside my Da’nu they can’t. It’ll work like the countermeasures in your armor did.”

  Suddenly the super senses disappeared and all was dark until Esna opened her eyes, but the Archon’s fingers were still on her forehead as it grew very cold. When he released her the heat of the jungle began to return, along with a tingle present throughout her body.

  “What did you do to me?”

  “You’re starting to feel the ambrosia. You’ll need another dose in a few hours, but it will give you more energy and strength to help you fight the gravity and stay beside me. We have to get away from the Kat’vo so I can use my Va’do without them knowing where we are. If I can, we can move around the jungle wherever we want so long as we don’t get close to them. Problem is, I won’t feel them coming either, so we’ll have to use our eyes. But none of this will work if you don’t stay with me. One moment outside my Va’do and they will be able to spot your mind like it was a beacon saying ‘come here and kill me.’”

  “I can’t keep up with you.”

  “I know. I’m an Archon. That’s to be expected. What you have to do is move fast enough to get us out of range before they come in closer looking for where we’ve gone. When your mind disappears from their long range view, that’s when they’ll know something is up.”

  “If they can sense me from where they are now, why can’t they kill me?”

  “Their Ikrid has a longer range than their Lachka or Pefbar, a lot longer. They can’t read your mind because of your natural block, but Hati’s they can, and if they’re strong enough they can take control of his body too, so he’s worse off than you despite the shield generator he’s wearing. That’s why both of you have to stay close to me. If not, you don’t stand a chance and they could make him shoot you then shoot himself, in theory. Kat’vo usually aren’t that mentally strong, but even being able to distract you could be lethal if you walked off a cliff or into something sharp.”

  Esna gulped, not liking any part of what she was hearing aside from the fact that he could cover for both of them. “Ok, so we stay with you at all times. Got it.”

  “And within my Da’nu range. Otherwise they could fly in and crush your heart in a second if they’re strong enough.”

  “Wow,” Esna said distractedly, looking down at her hands. “This feels…incredible.”

  “Now use it,” Tyrenk said, levitating the now collapsed tent over to himself where he grabbed it and slung it over his shoulder along with a lot of other gear. Hati also picked up some, but most of their supplies they had to leave behind…though they were not here anyway.

  “I hid them,” Tyrenk said with a shrug of his armored shoulders. “With Pefbar they’re easy to find, but hopefully they won’t spot them all if we need to come back.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “Losing ourselves in the jungle for now. Give me your pistol. I don’t want you carrying anything that will slow you down.”

  Esna held it up for him, then felt an invisible grip take it out of her hand. It flew around to the back of his armor where it lodged itself in all the gear he was carrying, with Esna marveling at how he was able to work his magic. Star Force called them Psionics, but magic was a more accurate description as far as she was concerned.

  “Now, I need you to set as fast a pace as you can handle. I’ll follow a step behind you and direct where needed, so you lead and Hati will be behind me.”

  “Which way,” she said, sensing the urgency. Once they disappeared from the mental view of the Kat’vo they would be on the clock.

  A mental urge, almost like a way point entered her mind. She couldn’t see anything, for it was more like a sound coming from a certain direction, though it was impossible to describe. Esna trusted in it and started walking towards the tree indicated and found her legs still heavy as crap, but her muscles had somehow gotten stronger as she picked up the pace to a fast walk all the way to the tree…then she got a prompt to go right for a few meters, then a sharp left that had them going downhill slightly.

  Esna managed a slow jog on the descent, marveling at how the ambrosia was working. No wonder Archons took the stuff daily, and if this is how the Kiritas techs felt on their version of it, that partially explained their hyperactive work schedule.

  “How am I doing?” she asked, having to switch back to a fast walk at the bottom of a shallow valley as Tyrenk turned her to follow the muddy creek bed that had her feet sinking in a couple inches with each step.

  “We’ll find out soon. I’m blind to them right now too. From now on don’t speak unless needed. I can talk with Hati telepathically, but I can’t with you, so just stay quiet.”

  “I can hear you in my head,” she whispered, walking on as he directed her up and out of the mud, then had them turn around completely and go the opposite way on the drier ground further up the slope.

  I can’t sense your thoughts without touching you, he said telepathically, going silent himself.

  Esna was going to respond, but took the cue and didn’t say anything. Moving was hard enough, and she wasn’t going to try and use hand signals or anything. She’d just have to trust in his telepathic steering and hope the ambrosia held up long enough to get them away from the Kat’vo.

  Realizing that she was really slowing down the other two, Esna committed herself to being the least slow she could for the following minutes as they moved through the forest without any sign of the flying V’kit’no’sat, and every further step that Esna took felt like a victory. Not just in escaping the Kat’vo, but in her constant fight against this stupid planet. Her body was still a wreck, but at least she was winning a few small victories now.

  Rammak would have been proud of that, she knew, but it wouldn’t matter if they got caught and she and Hati pinned Tyrenk down to a single spot defending them. If he stayed on the move like he’d done
before, Esna doubted the Kat’vo could kill him, but if he had to stay within a few steps of the other two survivors…

  Yeah, he was risking making himself target practice to keep them safe, so it didn’t matter what Rammak would have thought now. All that mattered was whether Esna moved fast enough to keep her Archon safe. Do or do not. There was no reward for improvement in a situation like this.

  The last thought Esna had before fully committing herself to this hike was that was what Rammak would have thought…not what he would have told her, but what he would have thought himself. Apparently the Calavari had rubbed off on her more than she’d realized. She just hoped she’d picked up enough mental strength from her time with him, otherwise two more people might die because of her.

  Esna couldn’t change the past, but there was no way in the galaxy that she was going to put Tyrenk or Hati in that position without giving them every ounce of speed she and the ambrosia could wring out of her pathetic body, so when they hit another incline she dug in with her hands and climbed on all fours, then came over the top and managed another jog going down.

  Like it or not, ready or not, she had to be a warrior now and their immediate survival depended on what she could or could not do. Thankfully cross country treks were not something new to her, and she mentally dug into those previously learned long sustained efforts and forced it as much as she could without losing her rhythm as the brush ahead of her kept bending out of her way before she could touch it to keep from slowing her down even more.

  4

  August 26, 4812

  Chawik System (Devastation Zone)

  Darlek

  “This will do,” Tyrenk said, with Esna dropping to her knees and hands in relief as they stood before a small cave in the side of a valley. “Even if they find us, they’ll have to come low to fire in the entrance.”

  “If they don’t have any Zen’zat left,” Hati added.

  “Yeah. I’m going to find out.”

  Esna looked up, her head hanging heavily but the thought of losing the protection of the Archon being enough to snap it up in alarm. “You’re leaving us here?”

  “I’m going to scout this area first to make sure, but the best way to keep you safe is for you to disappear. When I find them and attack, they’ll be tracking me. Not you.”

  “And what if they follow our trail?” the Kiritas asked.

  “I’m going to linger here a while in case they do, then I’m going hunting.”

  “What about the rest of our supplies?”

  “If I bring any straight back here I could give away your position,” he said, setting down the load of cargo he’d been carrying single handedly the past two days, then he floated Esna’s pistol back over to her. “So I won’t go after it immediately. We’ve got enough with us to last a couple weeks.”

  “Understood.”

  “I don’t,” Esna protested, sitting down as she grabbed her pistol and it nearly fell to the ground in her grip. “Why come with us all this way then split? Why didn’t you leave before?”

  “I wasn’t going to risk losing you.”

  “So why now?”

  “There’s no way of knowing how long we’ll be here. And if there’s going to be a fight, better to get it over with before they use up all of their supplies and better to initiate the attack on my terms rather than defend against theirs.”

  “Do what you need to,” Esna said, having a hard time just sitting up after two days of high gravity hiking, but she’d managed to keep moving at a snail’s pace throughout save for the rest breaks Tyrenk made them take every few hours. “Thanks for keeping us alive.”

  “That’s half my job.”

  “What’s the other half?”

  “Killing V’kit’no’sat. Don’t go far from the cave, and set up camp inside. I don’t know how long I’ll be. Wait here until I come back and rest. Hati…”

  “Yes?”

  “Makeshift defenses when you get bored, but keep them concealed. If they fly high, don’t give them anything to attract attention…or a scout drone.”

  “I’ll tidy up. Vengeance be with you.”

  “That’s the plan,” the Archon said, then disappeared running into the jungle in his now very dirty white armor with only a few items attached on the back and in a bag slung over his shoulder, for Esna’s pack had long since been destroyed.

  “He’ll win,” Hati said as he knelt next to Esna and sat on his thick tail.

  “What can I do to help?”

  “Nothing. You have almost no energy left. Fortunately there is little to do and I can handle it. When I get the tent set up, crawl inside and stay there,” he said, seeing her wince, but not at what he’d said. “Are you hurting more than normal?”

  “Headache is getting bad.”

  “You’re low on ambrosia. I’ll get you another dose.”

  “Let it wear off. I’ll take some more when we move again.”

  “It’s not meant to be used that way. Your body gets used to it being there or not there. Transitioning back and forth causes additional stress for the experienced. In newbs, it causes havoc with both your body and mind. You need to keep taking it.”

  “Is that good for me?”

  “Very. It’s not poison. It’s a powerful asset, but like everything else, if not used appropriately it can cause problems. The headaches will tell you when you’re getting low. Learn to judge your ambrosia level by them.”

  “Do I get acclimated to it eventually?”

  “Your body will get used to it, but there is no addiction, if that’s what you are referring to. Ambrosia is a type of fuel, and in order to operate at your most powerful your body has to expect it to continually be there, otherwise your autonomic conservation protocols kick in and reduce your output. Do you know why?”

  “So I don’t work myself to death without realizing it.”

  “Mostly accurate. The ambrosia level needs to be as constant as possible, only then will your body accept it and allow the free flow of energy it can provide you…in addition to a few other things that I won’t get into.”

  “Why not?”

  “I have work and you have rest…after a shower, I suggest. The humidity makes you Humans leak profusely…then you reek.”

  “You don’t sweat?”

  “We do, but ours isn’t tainted with additional compounds. It’s simply water.”

  “You can drink your sweat?”

  “Theoretically yes, but we don’t produce it so fast as you do, so there are rarely any droplets visible. Now, stop asking questions and focus your mind on regeneration,” Hati said, moving off to the stack of gear Tyrenk had left, then into the short but deep cave where he was going to have to adjust the tent’s height.

  Seemingly glued to the ground, Esna waited until he finished then dragged herself into a stiff walk and got inside. She plopped down on the floor and undressed there, then crawled a step into the shower unit and let it rain down on her for a long time, during which Hati came in and gathered up her clothes. Kiritas, for what little time she’d known them, seemed to be addicted to work and went to great lengths to find even the smallest of things to do if they were out of tasks, so she let him clean her clothes for her without it making her feel more useless. At least she was giving him something to do to pass the time.

  When she finally decided to stop the falling water, there was a pile of clean clothes waiting for her within arm’s reach and she pulled them back on before drinking a bottle of water, eating a plate of food cubes, and sucking down the small ambrosia cup Hati had left for her. What he was up to now she didn’t know, but was so tired she could barely keep her brain functioning long enough to finish up, relieve herself, then crawl into the single sleeping sleeve they had been sharing, though at the moment it was all hers.

  Tyrenk ran through the jungle with his senses open and scanning, having already cleared the area around the Star Force camp, so he no longer needed to be stealthy. He was the hunter here, and he needed to know where the
V’kit’no’sat were, but so far he couldn’t sense any of them with his Ikrid. With his Leechas psionic he could sense further, for it was a range upgrade for Ikrid that put him well beyond the detection range of the Kat’vo, but if and when he did find them his own mental radar would alert them to his presence.

  The advantage was that when he turned it off he’d be out of their sensing range again, but he didn’t think that his Ikrid skills were so advanced that he’d be able to differentiate the slightest feedback bounces that enabled true masters to detect without being detected. He was an Archon Titan, which gave him many more psionics than the Zen’zat possessed, but his skill in them had to be developed over the course of millennia and he’d only lived through one so far. He wasn’t a newb, but there was so much higher end potential built into the psionics that some days he felt like one.

  If he stayed passive he might be able to pick up the Kat’vo at the edge of their detection range without being spotted himself, but there was far too much territory to cover that way and if the Kat’vo weren’t actively scanning themselves he could run right by them. No, he had to go active and search while running at a good enough pace to keep covering territory. The more time he spent away from Hati and Esna the greater the chance of them getting killed. He needed to find the Kat’vo and draw attention to himself, and the first place he was going to try was on a straight line back to the crashed ships…after a short detour jog so they couldn’t backtrack his line and find his two remaining compatriots.

  It took almost a full day until he came across one of them at the edge of his Ikrid range. It wasn’t flying though, rather sitting in the treetops on its four legs. The Kat’vo were flap fliers, meaning they didn’t have true wings but rather skin flaps that extended between their legs. They had enough power to fly and gain altitude, but most of their maneuvering ability was based on gliding.