THERE was no need to chime the door when Lucin arrived, in Estall's form, at the Councilman's home; he was already waiting for him. Licoure opened the door and allowed him in. No need for introductions, they knew each other all too well. Licoure was already a part of Lucin's assimilated slaves.
"You have it, then?" asked Licoure as he motioned to the object Lucin was carrying wrapped in a black cloth.
"Of course, Councilman. After all, I'm a friend of the family and trusted," Lucin said deviously through his form as the human Estall.
"Then let's proceed."
Lucin removed the cloth to reveal a Barudii blade of particular ownership.
"This action should provide enough doubt among the Castillians and Horva to allow us to remove Tiet from the equation and gain the boy," said Lucin.
"The boy is most valuable. He will provide a fitting body for you, master."
Lucin nodded and then raised the blade to set his mark and drove it straight into the chest of the councilman. The Vorn man jerked and cried out from the pain, then fell dead to the floor; his life blood pouring through the wound and out on to the floor around his body. Lucin left the blade inside the man and walked back out the door.
There were no guards present at the time. Licoure had given them some time off, telling them he had a meeting planned with the King. Everything was progressing perfectly and soon he would have the boy and complete conquest of this planet would be his.
TIET didn't even bother to return home after the trials at Nagon-Toth. He had a little time to shop in Baeth Periege at the downtown district before getting to his meeting with Licoure. The councilman probably wanted to threaten him again concerning his willingness to keep associations with the Horva. Doubtless the councilman was aware of the trials having been held at Grod's compound and was fuming about it.
He left his transport in the basement garage of the tower complex where Licoure had his residence and ascended in the lift to the councilman's private floor. When the lift doors opened Tiet was met by armed Vorn soldiers.
"So you've returned to the scene of the crime! Guard him, men," said Councilman Teman.
The soldiers trained there weapons on the King.
"What's going on!?" asked Tiet urgently as the group of soldiers encircled him with looks of hatred on their faces. Men that he had trained and fought with suddenly looked like they would enjoy pulling the trigger on him.
"You have killed the chairmen of the high council and you dare to come back here and feign ignorance? Maybe you've returned for this!" said Teman as he pointed back to Estall who was behind him holding a very familiar item; his own father's Barudii blade. The weapon was covered in the coagulated blood of Licoure. Tiet couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"Was the councilman's request of you so harsh that you had to kill him?" asked Estall with astonishment on his face.
"Surely you don't think I did this!"
But the look on his face was not reassuring.
"It is your blade and you were scheduled for a meeting with the councilman today, which you're an hour late for…"
"I'm not late; the meeting was set to begin in another ten minutes."
"Not according to Licoure's schedule!" said Estall. "Do you happen to have a transcript of the message Licoure sent to you concerning your meeting?"
"No, why would I bother to-"
"Perhaps you would have us believe the chairman gave you a different time and then he conveniently crept into your secure residence and stole your own weapon so that he could creep back here and drive it through his own chest to kill himself!" said Councilman Teman with as much malice in his tone as he could muster.
"Councilman, honestly I don't know what's going on here, please just allow me to prove my innocence."
"You may do that in our court of law; that is, if you are willing to surrender yourself to our authority?"
Tiet was about to answer when Estall interrupted. "I'm sure, Councilman, that the king would be all too willing to cooperate in this matter-after all, an innocent man has nothing to fear from the law."
It wasn't exactly what he was thinking to say, especially with public Vorn opinion going against his leadership right now. He might very well end up as a scapegoat in such a situation, and who but the Castillians would oppose it with a Vorn councilman dead and Tiet's own blade apparently the murder weapon. But with Estall and Teman staring at him waiting for his response, what else could he do?
If he resisted, he would only worsen his public image by putting himself above the law and with these armed soldiers around it would be a fight to leave anyway. He could probably get away from them, even unarmed, but at what cost? Civil war would certainly erupt and it would only be the grace of God that would prevent it now anyway. "Of course I will comply with the law, Councilman; I only ask a fair hearing."
"You will have what the law provides, as with any other suspect. Men, arrest this man."
Two of the armed Vorn men moved to place restraints on him while the others stood their ground with their rifles still trained on him. Tiet did not offer any resistance to their efforts. Lucin, in the form of Estall, watched without suspicion as he was led away by the soldiers.
A secure facility was already awaiting his arrival. Lucin had taken great care to see that every possible measure was in place to secure him. He looked at Teman as Tiet was escorted off of the floor by way of the lift.
Teman was not of his mind, at least not yet. But he was a willing participant nonetheless; even if he didn't realize that the prisoner was actually innocent of the crime. He was all too ready to believe that the king was capable of such a crime and was poised to make the most of the entire situation.
"I suppose you will need to assume control of the council in Licoure's absence, Sir," suggested Lucin with devious intent.
"It's unfortunate that this has all happened, but I'm ready to do my duty to the Council as the alternate for the chair," said Teman.
"If it's all right, Mr. Chairman, I will accompany the prisoner to our detention facility and see that he is secured properly."
"I know you and Tiet have been good friends, Estall. I hope you realize that he must stand trial; I want to know you won't attempt to help him escape the law. It would cause a civil war."
"Sir, I assure you, I couldn't have any thought further from my mind."
Teman looked pleased by the response and Lucin, in his guise as the man Estall, turned to go into the lift. A sly smile crossed his lips at the thought of trying to let Tiet go after all the effort to frame him. After years and years of covertly assimilating a large portion of the population in the twelve cities, the time had finally come. The populous was his to command; an angel severed from the gates of heaven, but still commanding his own destiny.
There wouldn't be enough time to have any sort of legal proceedings. Everyone would soon be under his control and come to be joined within the symbyte collective as the Baruk once had been. With the king out of the way, and the boy within his grasp, the time to act was now. The lift doors closed in behind him as Licoure's body was being removed from his residence; all according to plan.
EMIL steadied himself as he awaited the attack. Kale stood across the large training room that doubled for his bedroom. From a rack of weapons, he picked up a vest with spicors stuffed in it and put it on as he looked at Emil, who stood with only a wooden bow to fight with. The spicors were not armed of course, as that would certainly bring his parents screaming into his bedroom if any were to go off.
Kale started toward Emil with his array of weaponry located all over his uniform.
"Now concentrate, Emil. Remember to let go of your physical senses to some extent and allow them to be heightened and helped by the kinesis."
"Sometimes if I concentrate too hard I lose it altogether."
"Just try to let it flow naturally. You'll get that feeling of being inside and part of an energy field, as though it were an extension of your own body and mind; transmitting information to you and obeying your commands. Don't fight it. Embrace it. After all, you have the ability; you just need to hone it."
"My father will be so excited when we surprise everybody; I can't wait until we get back from the outing!"
"Well let's get to work so you can really show him something."
Kale brought up a handful of spicors and began to hurl them at Emil. He dodged the first which was meant to bring him into the path of the second. He brought his bow to bear as the disc embedded into the wood in front of his face. The remaining discs came quickly as he dodged about, allowing some to pass into the wall behind him and deflecting others away as he brought the bow spinning elegantly around himself.
"Very good."
Kale pulled his sticks from their magnetic clips and extended the emitter posts. He flew into an attack against the youth, who brought the bow staff into play to counter the strikes. Emil quickly moved to the offensive and spun down low with his body underneath Kale's strikes, swinging the whirling bow at his friend's lower legs. He very nearly caught him with the effort, but Kale flipped forward over him instead and returned an extended kemstick back at Emil as he landed.
The boy was already there with his staff to block the strike and moved again to try and push back at Kale. In mid-swing Kale ignited the kemsticks and one of them cut right through the middle of Emil's wooden bow staff. He quickly threw the pieces at Kale as he searched with his senses for another weapon.
He found them on his attacker's legs. As Kale deflected the bow staff pieces thrown at him he felt his other pair of kemsticks leaping to Emil's waiting hands. They ignited and he traded blows with Kale.
They had made the discovery of his power two years before while Kale was training under Wynn. While practicing various exercises in his bedroom training room with Emil, the young Horva had followed him through one of the mental exercises and actually produced some result. With more experimentation, they had discovered his power and Kale had taken it upon himself to pass on everything Wynn was teaching him; but secretly.
They had no idea how he could have come to have the kinesis in the first place, until the two had heard from Tiet, whilst he was in a reminiscing mood, about how Grod had once been his enemy and captured him for the purpose of using his DNA for an experiment to rejuvenate his own chromosomes with the Barudii power. But the experiment had failed to produce any such power in Grod, and was never dwelt on further by either of them. The boys assumed that what had not manifested in Grod was now showing up in his son.
The boys traded further blows playfully as Emil used the kinesis to carry his body elegantly through dodges and flips as the two fought. The power was a wonderful feeling. So much freedom and his mind and senses had never felt so alive. He thought of how proud his father would be when he learned what he had unknowingly passed on to his son.
Suddenly Kale felt something else; something besides their sparring. He stopped his attack and dodged away leaving Emil looking puzzled by his friend's sudden withdrawal.
"What is it?"
"Something's wrong. Something is approaching."
LUCIN'S intercom link beeped to life. "Yes?"
"Sir, the squads are positioned outside the king's residence and Commander Gareth's."
"Very good, Lieutenant. I will contact you momentarily with an order to secure the premises and capture everyone on the grounds at the king's residence. Wynn Gareth, I want killed on sight; understood?"
"Understood, Sir. We're standing by."
Lucin watched as the containment field charged up around Tiet inside the special chamber that was prepared to hold him. The last of the guards left the chamber as Lucin entered in the form of Estall and faced Tiet.
"Estall, you know I couldn't have done this, don't you?"
"I am very confident you did not."
"But can you help me to prove it?"
At that, Lucin began to pace around the bubble of the containment field.
"I don't think that would be possible."
"I don't want you to break the law, just see that I receive a fair trial," said Tiet
Lucin stopped his pacing and chuckled at the comment. "I don't think a trial is in your future."
"What do you mean?" asked Tiet with a puzzled look on his face.
Lucin faced him and stared into his eyes. "It is no longer necessary to prolong this charade. You have walked into a trap and you will die here in this room before long."
"Estall, what are you talking about!? What's going on?" Tiet asked as he noticed a look on Estall's face he had never seen on him before. "Who are you?"
"Did you really think you could destroy me by wiping out the Baruk?"
Realization washed over Tiet like a wave of doom. Estall was dead; the same creature that had held control of the Baruk was inside him now. "Why imprison me, if you're so powerful why not face me openly?!"
"Do you think revenge on you is my plan? You are vain. It is complete control I will soon have; and a new young body to rule with." He laughed, "God may have cursed me to these physical forms and favored man, but I'm not through fighting yet."
Tiet was trying to take in what he was hearing, but it wasn't all registering.
Lucin spoke into his intercom link. "Lieutenant…"
"Yes, Sir."
"Sweep the residence and be sure the boy is kept alive. Kill Commander Gareth."
"Yes, Sir. It will be done."
"Kale?!"
"Oh, yes, old friend. Your son will make a fitting body for me to rule this planet and those that will follow."
"I'll kill you!"
"That would be a neat trick. This bubble was engineered by your own scientists to hold even a Barudii."
Tiet was fuming with rage, but the containment field prevented him from using his power to break free or affect anything beyond it.
"Enjoy your stay Tiet; I have a meeting with your son."
"Take me instead…wait!!"
But the possessed body of Estall did not wait. He turned with a devilish grin on his face and left the chamber. Tiet pounded a fist into the containment field which repelled him, but his rage kept him from collapsing. He felt like exploding, but he knew it would be useless. He needed to get out of here and quickly. That creature would kill everyone he cared about if he didn't do something; but he had no idea what.
The containment field kept his powers nullified and the chamber looked extremely dense and capable of keeping him from breaking out even with the use of his kinesis. What could he do, but wait. Wait for them to come to kill him; wait while his family was taken the way that thing had taken Estall and possessed his body. He wanted to scream, to cry out but he could only sit on the ground and pray as Orin had taught him to do in times of seeming helplessness; just to sit and think and pray God would give him an answer to the dilemma. It was all he could do.
WYNN sat at his table eating dinner. He was still feeling tired from the trials. He finished the plate of food, and felt…a disturbance, as he got up. Someone was here. It was not the same as Vorn or human. Something else vaguely familiar but he couldn't place it. They were coming now, he could sense it. He moved toward the main room where he kept his weapons mounted on the walls.
The entire side wall exploded inward, covering him with rubble. He thought he might have lost consciousness for a moment. When he opened his eyes he could see and sense soldiers all around walking across the wreckage they had made of his house. They were looking for him.
He remained as motionless beneath the wreckage as possible. He concentrated, his mind taking in the entire area. The soldiers were mostly Vorn, yet they weren't. Something was alien about them and the Castillian soldiers with them. It was like the body was proper but the mind controlling them was joined one to another like one mind controlling them all in a way.
Then it hit him. It was the same sense he had of the Baruk. The creatures that inhabited them were still alive. He felt for a weapon and found one two feet away under some of the wreckage. Time to act.
With his mind he raised the entire room full of wreckage, in a massive burst of motion, along with the soldiers standing on top of it. Wynn stood up as he called the kemstick to his hand and ignited the extended post.
The soldiers were returning to the ground along with the rubble as he began to whirl through the rainstorm of dust and debris cutting through the symbyte possessed soldiers. Others were approaching fast from outside of his demolished home. He deflected several blasts, then retreated into another portion of the home that was still standing. The symbyte soldiers pursued him hard, like hounds on the hunt. They reached the innermost portion of the room as he escaped through a window. He returned a mental command that blew out the supports that remained and dropped the rest of the house on his pursuers; more were on the way.
He could head right into them and try to kill as many as possible or try to escape and reach Tiet's home. These things would certainly be on the attack at the king's residence if they were going all out here.
His estate was near the airway and overlooked it to the east. He ran for it as the soldiers began to come beyond the wreckage of his home after him. The hill had a wall across it that prevented someone from falling over the edge into the airway lanes below. He jumped up to it and down on the narrow ledge on the other side as laser fire blasted into the wall near his position. Below him, shuttles and transports of every sort sped along the airway lanes in two directions.
The chances of successfully landing on one of the small transports without serious injury were not very good. Then he spotted a large bus transport. It was still moving pretty fast but the margin for error was more acceptable. Laser fire was eating away at the wall as the soldiers approached; they weren't taking any chances. Wynn leapt away and guided himself over to the bus. The transport's speed jerked his feet out from under him and he rolled backward and landed hard, but he was still on board.
The soldiers came to the top of the wall looking for him, but he wasn't sure whether or not they actually spotted him on top of the transport. It was going the right direction to get him to Tiet's home, but it would take about ten minutes. He hoped it would get him there in time to help them.
"WHAT is it?" asked Emil.
"Don't you feel it?"
"No."
"Don't worry, that will come in time. Grab some real weapons and follow me."
Kale headed for the main room of the house with Emil in tow close behind.
Mirah went to the door to answer the chime. When she opened it soldiers were all over the place. They raised their weapons as she turned to run for cover. The blasts caught her full force and sent her flying across the floor under her own momentum. The soldiers at the door poured into the room after her.
"How is she?" asked one of the soldiers as another knelt to check her.
"She's alive."
"Alright. Let's retrieve the boy. All weapons on stun, men. The boy is not to be harmed."
The soldier kneeling beside Mirah stood to his feet again and went to raise his weapon. A flash of light severed half of the rifle from the rest and took off his head. Kale was a blur. His thoughts brought the door slamming shut on the soldier standing in the doorway. He slumped down the wall with cracked ribs and sternum as the door released him again. Soldiers from behind kicked it back open and rushed in with their rifles blazing. They ran into the room but couldn't find anyone.
Kale looked down on them from his suspended position against the ceiling. He dropped right into the middle of them with twin sticks blazing. He cut down several before they could fire a shot. But more were rushing in as they saw him engage the others. They fired their rifles right into the crowd taking down their own men in an attempt to get him. He used the soldiers still standing around him as a shield to get away.
More soldiers began to file through the door. Then a number of live spicors flew at them from Emil's hand on another side of the main room. The discs exploded, cutting down most of the soldiers coming through the doorway.
Kale used Emil's attack to take the opportunity to scoop up his mother. He hoisted her to his shoulder and headed back toward his own training room with Emil coming through the room to follow. They shut the door behind them.
"What's going on? Those are our soldiers out there."
"I don't know. Something doesn't feel right about them. Maybe the Vorn council has decided to stage a coupe against Father."
"Too bad he's not here now."
"Maybe there's a reason for that. Right now we better get Mother out of here. I think they've only stunned her; they must mean to capture us."
"The transport!"
"Let's go. You drive."
"Right."
They headed out of the other side of the room into a garage area that housed the transports. Emil raised the canopy on the transport they had planned on using to go on their post-trial outing.
"Hey, look," said Emil pointing to another ship across the hangar.
"The Whiplash! We'll take that instead."
"Do you have access codes for your father's ship?"
"Are you kidding? Father had me flying this thing as soon as I could reach all of the controls."
Kale opened up a hatch behind the navigation area of the two man cockpit and slid his mother inside. The compartment was used to carry a wounded person and have them better protected beneath the ship's thicker armor plates. He closed the compartment and keyed in the code to raise the canopy. He and Emil jumped inside.
"I'll fly this one," said Kale."
"I thought you might say that."
"You take the weapons console up front."
"Aye, Captain."
The canopy came back down again as Kale fired up the engines and other systems came on line. Emil placed the targeting lens on his head and adjusted it to his eye. The targeting icon blinked to life as the forward cannons began to track his head movements.
"Here they come," said Kale looking toward the access door from the house.
Soldiers began to file through it with their weapons trained on the ship.
Emil activated one of the wing turrets which immediately tracked with the lens toward the soldiers. The cannon blazed to life with fast repeating laser blasts from the rotating barrel assembly, cutting the soldiers down in a moment.
"Let's get out of here," said Kale as he raised the ship off of the platform and began to move it toward the hangar opening ahead. A Vorn troop transport came into view ahead of them, trying to come into the garage bay.
"Shred it!"
"I'm on it!" said Emil as he activated the forward cannons.
Rapid laser fire filled the troop transport's cockpit causing it to burst outward. The transport dropped out of the way as Kale moved the Whiplash out of the garage bay and punched it-they sprang away from the area fast.
"Where do we go now?" asked Emil.
"We'll head for Wynn's and see if he knows where Father is and what's going on."
WYNN heard a familiar engine sound as the airbus continued to carry him toward the Soone home. He could see Tiet's ship blasting away from their home fast. The Whiplash came around hard and sailed by overhead as Wynn flailed his arms to flag them down. Apparently they did not see him.
The airbus brought him into view of the hill where the Soone home was and he could see smoke billowing off of a smoldering pile of wreckage just outside of the garage bay entrance. It appeared to be a troop transport or what was left of it. Must have got here too late, he thought.
It was likely that Tiet was coming to see if his home had come under attack as well. He needed to get back and meet up with him and find out if he knew what was going on.
Wynn sent a thought to open the bus door as he grabbed the ledge along the roof and swung down and inside. The driver looked surprised as Wynn adjusted his garments and produced a transit card to slide along the reader.
"Sir, this bus has been commandeered by the military," said the driver meekly.
"What?"
He turned to see a group of soldiers, both Vorn and Castillian, beginning to rise with their weapons drawn as they realized who he was.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding."
Laser flashes erupted between the soldiers and Wynn as he intercepted several blasts with his kemstick. With a thought he sent all of the soldiers crashing out through the airbus windows. They fell a hundred feet down to the pavement below the airway lanes; leaving only Wynn and the shocked bus driver on board.
"Alright sir, turn this bus around and head back to these coordinates," said Wynn punching them into the driver's navigation system.
"Y-yes sir."
Wynn sat down in one of the chairs as the driver brought the large vehicle around and headed back toward his home.
DAOOTH waited as the intercom chimed for Teman's reply to his message.
"Yes?"
"Councilman, I was informed something has happened to Councilman Licoure; what's going on?!"
"Your king killed him. I told you he was no good, but you wouldn't listen. We'll be lucky if he's not already organized the Horva against us."
"That's absurd!"
"And yet Licoure is dead; killed with Tiet's own blade."
"I can't believe it, there must be another explanation."
"Believe it, Daooth. Estall has arrested him and put him into a special containment chamber. He's not going anywhere until he is tried by the Council."
"When is that taking place?"
"The Council will be meeting in emergency session in several hours to decide what action to take."
"May I be present at that meeting, Sir?"
"If you want. But don't expect to sway our decision by your love for the man. We will have justice in the matter. Be at the council chamber in two hours; the meeting will be a closed session."
The transmission was cut by Teman before he could reply further. He immediately punched in the transmission code for Wynn's home. The screen returned a "No Reply" signal. That was odd. He knew that Wynn was supposed to be at home this evening and he hadn't said anything about Tiet's involvement in the murder when he had talked to him hours before. He tried the secure band that fed to Wynn's personal com-link.
On board the airbus, Wynn's com-link beeped at him from his collar pin.
"Wynn here."
"Wynn have you heard what's happened to Tiet?!"
"I know our troops have turned on us. I was just attacked by a full squad at my home."
"Councilman Teman told me that Tiet has killed High Councilman Licoure, but I don't believe it."
"Of course he didn't, but where is he now?"
"Teman said that Estall has arrested him and placed him in a special containment chamber of some sort, but I'm not sure where."
"I know where it is. But why did the council order the attack on me?"
"I'm not sure; Teman didn't mention anything about you at all. Something is happening, Wynn, something behind the scenes."
"When I was under attack I sensed what I believe was the presence of the symbiotic creature that inhabited the Baruk years ago. I wouldn't trust anyone at this point. Anyone associated with the council or Estall and the military should not be trusted; in fact I think we should meet up at Nagon-Toth until we can decide what to do."
"How could those things have survived? I thought we wiped out the Baruk?"
"I don't know; it just doesn't make any sense."
"I have a meeting with the Council in two hours; they say they're going to decide what to do with Tiet."
"Skip it. It's not safe to be around them now. It could be a trap. They know you are affiliated with Tiet. Just meet me at Grod's compound as soon as you can."
"Alright, Daooth out."
Wynn wasn't going to the detention facility now. He had no chance of breaking in or out of it with the military guarding Tiet and looking for him. He needed Grod's help. He had one device that could get them in and out without a problem.
"Driver, change course. I want you to head for the compound at Nagon-Toth."
"But that's where the Horva are!"
"It wasn't a request," said Wynn leaning to the ear of the driver.
"Yes, Sir."