Returning to the courtyard Theo saw the footprints first then the burn marks. The blown out gate suggested that the individuals had been inside the courtyard when the school went on lockdown. Theo closed his eyes and tried to scan the last couple hours. Usually it wasn't that difficult but this time it took all his strength and all he got was a couple glimpses. He saw a flash of a fight then a glimpse of a blur. There was a minute where he couldn't see anything then he got an image of a boy covered in blue flames. It had to be Kiyan. Looking at the burn marks he discovered that they had been made with intense cold not by heat. Sort of like a freeze burn. The gate metal was altered somehow. A metal bender? Theo didn’t know how long the boys could have been trapped in this timeline. It was possible that they had picked up some new skills.
Casting his mind out Theo felt an alien mind near his. He wondered if whoever it was knew anything about the events. It was then that he realized that the individual was cloaked. Scanning the area he saw a slight distortion of light that betrayed the alien. He telepathically compelled everyone to leave the room so he could question the stranger in peace. Theo wasn't completely prepared for the rapid attack that followed. Spinning and blocking without an opportunity to land any strikes of his own they danced around the courtyard. Not being able to see his opponent very well didn't help. Finally landing a strike of his own the cloak malfunctioned long enough for Theo to recognize Ray.
“Stop, it’s me!” Theo shouted before Ray came back in for another strike.
Ray paused for a moment before he saw through the disguise. “That explains how you found me. Where are the others?”
“I thought you would be with them.” The possibility that the group had been separated was not very promising.
“You have no idea what I have gone through finding looking for them.” Ray laughed before continuing. “I landed in Africa six years ago. From there I went to America and searched through facial recognition databases. I finally found Jeremy just before the bombs fell. If you hear any stories of a radioactive dragon just ignore them. After that everything was chaos and all the survivors fled. I tracked Jeremy here but only knew that the boat he was on landed here. As for the Kiyan I have no idea. He hasn’t left a trace.”
“Fred is here also and the three of them were involved in this thing at the school. At least I'm pretty sure that they were. What I do know is that one of them was on fire and unless there are some other elementals here then it has to be them.” Theo was glad that he had Ray to help him. “I think that they would have tried to get as far as they could from here. If they have been here for six years then that would explain why Kiyan isn't able to connect with me.”
“I agree, if they have remembered who they are then our search could be harder.” Ray though for a moment. “I believe that Kiyan would have tried to keep a low profile so he may have headed interior where there are less people. The other option is that he may have decided to risk escaping the mainland and hiding on an island nearby. My guess is the second.”
Theo opened a com channel to the Odyssey. Atlas responded. “Can you make a search for human life signs near here that are in groups of three ages thirteen to twenty?”
Of course commander. Atlas was silent for a moment before continuing. “There are 211 sets on the continent. 34 near you. If I expand the parameters offshore there is one set moving out in the open ocean.”
“I'm going to go with the offshore ones, thanks Atlas.” Theo began moving out of the school complex. Ray was cloaked again and followed him. They found an area that didn’t have prying eyes in order to teleport.
Once clear Theo contacted Atlas again and asked for an update. “The life signs have moved into a high radiation area and I would have to decloak in order to scan through it. I can give you a projected position though.” Theo agreed and Atlas activated the transport procedure.
They found themselves floating in the ocean without any thing in sight. Ray shifted and was soon airborne. “Ah the air under my wings. It has been too long since I last flew.” Theo shifted and launched himself into the air also. Theo’s form was similar to Ray’s but larger.
“You speak the truth. Nothing quite matches the joy of flying.” Theo made a couple rolls before striking out in the direction the group had been moving.
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Kiyan’s water bubble was effortless to maintain. He and Jeremy were moving at a rapid speed over the waves. Fred had figured out how to do something like magnetic levitation and was not having difficulty keeping up. Kiyan sensed strange energy buildups as they proceeded but nothing dangerous. They hoped to find an abandoned island where they could plan their next move. Kiyan had telepathically connected them while they traveled and the ideas were flying back and forth. One of the options was to hide until they were found. Another option had been to build a drop ship from the detailed plans in Kiyan’s memory banks. The third option was to construct a beacon but they were afraid that it might call the drakken. Sighting an island in the horizon they soon came to a stop on the sandy beach. They looked around at the desolate landscape around them. There were signs that the island had once teemed with life but now all that remained was the blackened dead plants.
“Well I doubt that anyone else is here.” Jeremy glumly announced.
“I think you are right.” Kiyan made a scan and didn’t detect any life. Kiyan paused for a moment when he thought he sensed a signal but couldn't tell. “We need to get underground. That would be the best way to find materials.” Fred took the hint and began bending a tunnel. They were soon busy working. A short time later they broke into the empty magma chamber of an old volcano. The magma had long since drained away and the chamber was cold.
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Theo was making scans as he flew and was beginning to think that they would have to search the entire pacific before they found the missing boys. Just before they decided to turn and widen their search area along the path they had taken Atlas informed them that the drones he had sent down had found an island a little farther on. It seemed to be the only one in that region. It took the dragons a few more minutes before the island came into sight. Landing on the island they shifted back to humanoid forms.
“Remind me never to try racing those boys.” Ray flexed as the last scales disappeared.
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“We could build a spaceship that is warp capable in just under fifteen years by my calculations. The longest part would be isolating exotic matter for the warp drive.” Kiyan was a little depressed by the calculations. “On the other hand a beacon would take just under two months but could bring the drakken.” Kiyan paused as he thought he sensed another signal. Closing his eyes he stretched his senses out. There were two people on the beach that had been lifeless only a short time earlier. It took a moment to recognize Ray. Opening his mind Kiyan sensed Theo's presence also. Forgetting to tell his companions the good news Kiyan bent the roof open and propelled himself up onto the beach.
“Wow, I turn around and you grow up.” Theo joked after recovering from the surprise of the side of the mountain exploding and Kiyan flying out.
Kiyan looked at himself for a minute. He discovered that his memories of being in the Avenger and the last six years needed to be reconciled. He had the memories of a thirteen year old fresh in his memories yet he had the memories of growing up on earth as a "normal" human. He was in the body of a nineteen year old. The reunion completed they returned to the ship. A time jump later and they were back to the Avenger.
Chapter Twelve: Doubts
The first glimmers of consciousness began to wake Drovak from sleep. The memory imprints were the first to present themselves to his thoughts. The flood of training, information about directives and skills necessary to operate a ship passed through his mind. A sense of loyalty and pride to the empire was the last thing to be forced into his thoughts. Finally able to use his mind for himself he discovered the other memories. The ones that were from his previous clones. The false memories melted when he remem
bered having died many times over. He thought back to the first life he had memories of, a base level bridge officer. His last memories were as a second in command of a frigate. His gut twisted as he remembered Grolar firing a blaster round into his chest for delivering his food cold. He had been under Grolar for his last ten lives and had died at Grolar's hands nine of those times.
Drovak shouldn't have memories from past clones. Each clone was supposed to be a clean slate imprinted with the memories needed for it to perform a duty. Some genetic profiles worked better at different duties so each time that they died a new clone would be grown from a genetic code unique to that clone line. Drovak was an aberrant to the norm. He was more intelligent than most of the other clone lines. Sometime a long time ago the dark one had instructed his disciples in gene manipulation and they had attempted to make a better clone. An immortal clone line. They had created a biological sub telepathic neural encoder. The code for this device was spliced into Drovak's DNA and was supposed to transmit the neural patterns of a clone to its unwoken replacement clones. In the event of death the clone would wake up in a new body with only a short pause. Immortality of a kind. After trying for some time without any effects the dark lords gave up and forgot about the experiment. It took a few more clone generations before more than vague memories carried through but Drovak didn't tell anyone.
“Wake up piece of filth.” The snarls of a drakken broke Drovak's revelry. “The dark lords have seen fit to make you captain of a ship.”
“What of Grolar?” A drakken clone being promoted to take command was nearly unheard of.
“What do you care, must not have got the updated imprint.” The drakken appeared indifferent but continued in a minute after disconnecting several tubes and wires from Drovak. “The word is that the dark lords caught him taking riches that were rightfully theirs. His clone line has been discontinued. Your new ship should be coming through the portal within the day. Too bad those pathetic energy beings managed to close the old portal. Your orders are to lead an elite strike force and destroy a lone protectorate vessel.”
Drovak thought for a few moments without answering. The old portal had been safe for organic matter to pass through but the new one had far too much radiation. Any organic matter was destroyed by the crossing. Ships would be sent over and manned by drakken cloned on this side. He also thought about the time he had been sacrificed to the dark one and the insatiable hunger he had felt as his life energy was drained away. Then there was the time he had been sent on an assassination mission and met an ascended face to face. He had not survived the encounter yet the pity on the face of the woman had been burned into his memory. His was to obey the orders of the dark lords as they spoke the will of the dark one on his quest for power. But there was a chance all be it a slim chance. To fail meant the end but if he succeeded he might be free. The plan began to form.
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Dreams. Strange dreams. Dreams of loss and failure. An all pervasive sense of hopelessness. A glimmer of hope but too faint to notice. Life and death and life again, an unending cycle of fear and rage. A choice. Orders are given, resistance is useless. A choice between freedom or servitude, resistance is useless. The final death would free me from them. I don't want to die, I want to fight them. A star in a sea of darkness, one two three stars glimmer. One is drowned by the flood and two remain. Hope remains. There is a chance, if only they knew. Resistance is useless. Darkness comes like a river but one is not. When the star dies where the ocean is in a drop.
Kiyan woke gasping for breath with the taste of bile in his throat. The strangling sensation of the dream faded as he remembered where he was. Something was wrong but Kiyan wasn't sure what. Some of his dreams were little more than dreams but some were cryptic warnings about things that could happen. Connecting with Alec for an update on the progress of the survey Kiyan climbed out of bed and prepared for the day. He thought about telling Theo about the dream but decided that it could wait for later.
Breakfast was a testament to Alec's culinary skill. The foods that Kiyan remembered from his time on earth had been reproduced and tasted better than they had ever tasted. Kiyan thought about the state of earth when he had left it to rejoin the war. The protectorate had been winning every battle but was losing the war. There was simply too many drakken agents infiltrating the time line. The ascended couldn't try repairing the timeline as long as there was reinforcements coming in an unending flow. After the drakken foothold in this universe was taken care of then and only then would they be able to focus on repair. Kiyan acknowledged the alert on his HUD when Savos entered the dining hall.
“How has your training been going?” Kiyan beckoned Savos over after he had gotten some food.
“The bio neural interconnect is incredible. I have learned more in a week than I could have in years. Draxos has been teaching me more earthbending through the simulator from his ship. Ray is going to be teaching us some advanced self-defense techniques.” Savos appeared to be enjoying his time on the Avenger.
“I think you might be ready for bridge duty soon at this rate.” Kiyan finished his toast with a bite while he watched Savos' face. The look of surprise mingled with fear made Kiyan laugh. “Don't worry, Alec will be there to handle anything you can't.”
“Since you're speaking of me, I have a report for you commander.” Alec's hologram made Savos jump when it flashed into the room beside their table. “There is a system nearby surrounded with a dense asteroid field. I detected a planet but can't classify it. The Avenger isn't able to pass through without disturbing the field and some sort of radiation is disrupting scans and remote drone control.”
“So what you are saying is that if we want a full scan someone needed to pilot a drop ship into the system manually.” Kiyan picked up his dishes and took them back to the kitchen.
“In essence. My long range scans were unable to detect any sign of drakken but that doesn't mean that there aren't any. This planet could be uninhabitable or terra formable. Perhaps even a hiding place in an emergency.” Alec offered a couple of the crew onboard as possible candidates.
“Why don't you just pilot the drop ship in one of your androids?” Kiyan was thinking about alternatives.
“I would not have bothered you if I could do it with certainty of success. The radiation has a detrimental effect on my data link and higher quantum functions. If I go offline I need an organic to be able to complete the mission.” Alec seemed as embarrassed as an AI could get about admitting a deficiency.
“I will do it.” Kiyan was getting tired of staying on the ship going over scan data and was looking forward to some change of scenery.
“Commander! I highly recommend that you stay on board the Avenger. There is a chance that the drop ship could be damaged by an asteroid and be stranded.” Alec made his objections very clear.
“Do you honestly think that I would let one of my crew become exposed to danger that I won't?” Kiyan smiled at Alec with a mischievous grin. “Besides what is the chance something could go wrong?”
“0.07% chance of threat.” There are other factors I might have missed in my calculations. Alec grudgingly let Kiyan aboard the drop ship when he was unable to convince him to stay but decided to send four repair drones just in case something went wrong.
“I will meet you up with you along the scan route when I finish here. You will get a subspace message if I need help. Besides you will have one of your androids with me the whole time. What could go wrong?” Kiyan was looking forward to the trip. Unexplored alien worlds awaited.
Leaving the Avenger went uneventfully. Looking back at the massive ship Kiyan was still surprised at its size. Watching the Avenger return to warp he piloted a course through the asteroid field. Raising shields and activating point defense systems took care of any rouge meteors. Emerging on the other side of the asteroid belt they saw a dwarf star orbited by a single planet. Closer examination revealed a cratered planet. Flying over the surface of the planet they made scans and determined tha
t the planet was in the safe zone and was terraform able but an asteroid lattice would need to be constructed before the surface would be safe to inhabit. Closer scans detected large deposits of raw materials but no trace of life forms on the surface. Finding a relatively flat plain, Kiyan landed to take samples. Alec was operating intermittently so Kiyan donned the environmental suit and proceeded to take some samples. Bathed in the bluish light of the sun the landscape was something from a dream. Looking up Kiyan felt insignificant under the jet black canopy broken only by the dwarf star. A sea of darkness. It must be the asteroid belt blocking the stars out. Kiyan stood searching the darkness for a single point of light to break the dark expanse.
A broken transmission from Alec recalled him to the present. The best that Kiyan was able to make out was some sort of warning. Kiyan wondered for a moment what it could be before he sensed the hail of meteors approaching. A glance told him that the drop ship was too far away to reach before the hail struck. The first meteor exploded some distance away throwing up a plume of dust that floated back to the ground. The next one was closer. The environmental suit made movement on any level of speed difficult. Kiyan's HUD showed a green line around the drop ship where he would be safe. Sensing another rock flying at him, Kiyan instinctively bent it safely away. Only a few feet more before Alec would extend the ship's shield around him. Sensing a large meteor closing in on his position he bent everything he could at it but only succeeded in splintering it into a dozen pieces.
Kiyan braced as the ground around him erupted on impact, flying with the shrapnel Kiyan landed a couple hundred feet away. Catching his breath all he could see was dust. When everything settled he realized that there was nothing between his face and a vacuum. A quick mental query indicated that his cybernetic environmental system had a 99% charge remaining. The oxygen scrubbers indicated full operation. Deciding that the environmental suit was worthless Kiyan tore it off and sprinted to the safe zone. A flicker and the next meteor exploded harmlessly against the shield.