Ominian System

  Automated Border Outpost 1D-25

  1,893 light-years from Earth

  June 13th, 2176 A.D.

  Ambassadorial Suite 5-B-Neo-Commonwealth Section

  0317 station time

  Ambassador Irt’hol slowly opened his eyes, almost letting go of his roosting perch as the harsh sound of the door chime startled him again. He sedately turned his head towards the Ma’lit time clock over the door to see what time it was.

  ????0

  He automatically flipped the numbers in his mind, used to it after a lifetime of experience viewing things upside down while roosting. 0317. The door chime rang again, infuriating him as he wondered who dared to have the audacity to disturb him at such an hour.

  Unfurling his wings, he let go of the perch and flapped his wings once to right himself in the air before landing softly on his feet and hands. Drawing himself up to his full 2.5-meter height, he walked over to the door and stretched out his right wing, placing the tip of his forefinger onto the scanner to open it.

  The armored door slid open, revealing a Farian standing outside in the corridor. Irt’hol glared down at him as he recognized the Farian as one of Ambassador Skarl’s staff members, having seen him accompanying the ambassador around the Ma’lit outpost.

  “Why are you disturbing me at such an hour, Farian? This is highly irregular and extremely rude, I might add!” Irt’hol screeched in Zikali, not bothering to hide his true anger as he had learned to do after many years of carefully cultivating the neutral persona required to be a successful ambassador.

  The Farian craned his head to stare up at Irt’hol with a strange look in his eyes as the translator he was wearing converted the Zikali words into Farian. The strangeness of the eyes disappeared, and the Farian bowed deeply before rising back up and speaking quietly.

  “I beg your pardon, Ambassador Irt’hol, for disturbing you so. I was sent by Ambassador Skarl to inform you of a terrible evil being committed on our world by the humans of the Republic embassy.” The Farian glance down both sides of the corridor, as if afraid of being seen and heard by others before lowering his voice even more and leaning slightly closer.

  “May I enter your quarters, Ambassador? What I am to inform you of is extremely disturbing and must not be discussed publicly. Ambassador Skarl wishes only those who are to be informed in secret to hear the terrible truth, not others with prying ears.”

  Irt’hol eyed the Farian with distaste, extremely fed up with the Kingdom of Faria after their abhorrent behavior during the talks and their refusal to confirm their intent to contribute to the defense of the quadrant.

  “Why are you here and not Ambassador Skarl, then? Why is it that you wish to whisper such secrets instead of bringing them to light for all to see, Farian? Why should I believe anything you have to say after the deplorable conduct of the Kingdom of Faria these last few solar days?” Irt’hol replied vehemently, purposefully raising his voice to make the Farian uncomfortable.

  The strangeness returned to the Farian’s eyes, and now it smiled widely at him, looking positively psychotic. Sensing something was seriously wrong with the Farian, Irt’hol stepped back one pace and stretched out his right wing for the scanner to trigger the door shut.

  The Farian’s hand shot out quicker than a Dirna snake and intercepted his arm before it reached the scanner. He didn’t even have time to start screeching from the agonizing pain of his hollow bones being crushed when the Farian suddenly leapt up, grabbing his throat with the other hand in a vise that cut off his air.

  Irt’hol was yanked down as the Farian landed back on the floor, the hard fingers still gripping Irt’hol’s throat. Blackness crept around the edges of his vision as the insane Farian pushed him into the quarters with seemingly no effort and forced him to the ground before straddling him.

  The grip on his trachea lessened slightly, just enough for precious air to be pulled into his burning lungs, but it was not nearly enough, and he weakly struggled for more as a lifetime of research and minimal physical activity finally betrayed him.

  The Farian’s skin became heavily mottled, and Irt’hol stared in horror as the mad creature on top of him seemed to swell up before his very eyes. The Farian looked down at him and smiled, the psychotic grin seeming to stretch far wider than possible. The eyes changed again, and the Farian began whispering almost reverently as he stared at Irt’hol with pure hatred.

  Irt’hol’s translator activated as he tried to use his left hand to pry the impossibly strong fingers from his throat. “I return to you, Masters. I have brought your mandate to this inferior, and I await my prize in the Paradise you have promised.”

  The Farian’s bloating increased beyond the elasticity of the skin to accommodate, and the flesh began to rupture in large fissures that shot out blood and chunks of tissue that splattered Irt'hol and the foyer walls in a macabre spray of violet droplets.

  The death grip on his throat suddenly ceased as the smile disappeared, and a haunting moan of agony came from the Farian before it collapsed on top of Irt’hol. He felt the warm blood of his attacker soaking into his chest fur as the Farian twitched spasmodically and continued to mewl.

  Desperately gasping for air, he struggled weakly, his broken right wing preventing Irt’hol from being able to get out from under the now limp, heavy body. The Farian, his head lolling on Irt’hol’s shoulder, began to murmur haltingly; his noticeably different voice filled with a heartrending despair that Irt'hol had never heard in his life before.

  “Can’t stop...it. Not... me. Please...forgive.”

  Something in the way the suffering Farian uttered those words resonated deep inside of Irt’hol, making him stop struggling. We are both going to die, he realized in a flash of insight as all the actions currently happening clicked in his mind. His long years of training in logic and research presented only one possible conclusion: this was a suicide attack, and the real Farian that just spoke was as much of a victim as he was.

  Trying to quell his fear of dying, Irt’hol began to prepare himself to meet the Divine Maker. I will not pass into the afterlife with fear and hate in my heart. A passage from the Sacred Tome came into his mind, and he whispered it to give himself courage for the journey into the next life. ‘Those who forgive and love their enemies shall know me and see my face. Those who come before me with hate in their hearts will see nothing; they will be cast into the Cave of Perdition forever.’

  I must grant him the mercy of my forgiveness before he dies, Irt’hol decided as he wrapped his left wing around the dying Farian. Leaning his head closer to the poor creature's bleeding ear, he spoke quietly into it. “I forgive you, Farian. I will pray for us both.”

  The translator converted his words, and the Farian sobbed at the absolution he had just received, clutching weakly at Irt’hol’s chest fur with his trembling hands as he muttered incoherently. Irt’hol covered both their heads with his patagium and began to pray for them as the Farian suddenly went still and exhaled his last breath.

  “I commend our spirits to you, Divine Maker. Forgive us our sins, and please watch over my pups.”

  The face of his long-departed mate appeared in his inner sight, smiling at him beatifically. A sereneness came over Irt’hol, his heart aching with love as he smiled back and whispered to her. “Shi’ra, I am coming to you. We will be together again soon, as promised.”

  The catalyst finished merging with the chemicals in the Farian’s bloodstream, the newly created compounds reacting to the oxygen within the hemoglobin and igniting. The Farian became a bomb and exploded catastrophically, ending Irt’hol’s bereavement and hastening him towards his long-awaited reunion with his love.

  Ambassadorial Suite 5-C-Neo-Commonwealth Section

  Verixa finished the last stretch pose of the Wirloti, forcing herself to complete the movement properly despite the distraction of the annoying door chimes that finally ceased just a few solar seconds ago.

  She was already extremely flustered from being late to the gym, and the unexpected visitor at such an hour made her even more anxious as she rushed through the Wirloti poses to complete them and meet her waiting father for the sparring session.

  The insistent door chimes almost broke her concentration, but she resisted the impulse to see who it was, not wanting to restart the whole thing all over again and be even more late. Exhaling slowly, she bent down and picked up the towel on the floor, using it to wipe off the sheen of sweat that covered her skin from the difficult stretching regimen.

  Walking over to the door, she tapped on the control panel next to it to see who had the temerity to come to their quarters uninvited at such an early hour. Whoever it was, they were extremely lucky her father had already left, or they would have experienced the fearsome and well-known Nekuli rage firsthand.

  The control panel displayed the visitor, and she narrowed her eyes in disgust when she saw that it was a Farian. “Consider yourself blessed, amphibian, that my father was not here.” She said quietly, glowering at the screen as she watched the rude Farian finally leave after pressing the door chime control incessantly.

  She palmed the door open and leaned her head out, glancing to the left first and then to the right. The corridor was empty of people and androids, as was normal for the small hours during the night cycle of the Ma’lit outpost.

  Only when she looked to the left again, which was the direction the Farian had taken after she didn’t answer, did she finally notice the light of an open doorway being cast upon the black granite tiles in front of it.

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  It was coming from the quarters next to theirs, currently occupied by Ambassador Irt’hol. The open doorway and lack of any sounds of talking unnerved her for some reason, and she closed her eyes before opening her ear canals to their maximum size as she strained to hear.

  She became aware of the faintest sounds of heavy breathing, followed by slight grunting that triggered her warrior instincts. She was already in the corridor and halfway to the open door before she consciously made the decision to intervene, stealthily creeping closer on the balls of her bare feet as she pressed her body against the smooth alloy wall.

  Right before she reached the open doorway, she heard whispering, barely able to make it out over the sound of her heart slamming forcefully in her ears. Pausing, she strained to hear more, unsure if she was doing the right thing. Other sounds came, loud gasping and moaning as if someone was in great pain, followed by more murmuring.

  She could not make out what was being said, but it was in Galactic Standard, and then she heard the synthesized voice of a translator a second later speaking in Farian, followed by grunting sounds that sounded like grieving.

  Her adrenaline surged, and she crouched low before taking three quick, deep breaths to control the fighting chemicals flooding through her body and priming her for combat. She sprinted the last two galactic meters to the open doorway and charged in, only to come to a halt at the shocking scene that greeted her.

  There were pools of dark purple blood on the floor and splattered on the walls of the foyer, and right beyond the threshold to the main room, the ambassador was lying on the floor, his wing pulled over both him and a large mass on top of him. A leg was sticking out from the side of the wing, and she saw it was the webbed foot of a Farian.

  She became enraged at the sight and surged forward to save the ambassador, only managing to take one step before a blinding light and blistering heat enveloped her.

  Health Center, Level 5, Section 7

  Sarix lunged at the fighting droid, hitting it twice with his sparring sticks before rolling under its counterattack. He was now behind it, but facing the wrong direction, and he felt pain as the cursed droid kicked him square in his back and sent him stumbling into the padded wall.

  "Jirlika hren’kot!" He screamed in frustration, his blood boiling at the insult inflicted on him by the fighting droid. In truth, he was deeply embarrassed by his miscalculation and the decline in his physical fitness since becoming the head of the Neo-Commonwealth government.

  He whirled around and crouched low, just in time for one of the droid’s foot pads to kick him right in his solar plexus with a crippling blow that left him curled up on the floor and desperately gasping for air.

  The droid went into a defensive stance and spoke in Galactic Standard, its friendly, synthesized voice grating on Sarix’s ears. ~ Apologies, Master Sarix. I warned you to start at a lower difficulty level, but you chose to disregard my recommendation. Are you damaged, Master Sarix? ~

  Sarix grunted in reply as he stared at the droid with a combination of anger and grudging respect. The damned thing did warn him, and he chose to ignore its suggestion. Thank the Ancestors my daughter is late; it would not do to have her see her father being tossed about like a hatchling by a droid.

  Seeing the droid scanning him with its cameras as it maintained its defensive stance made Sarix realize just how arrogant he had been, and he bared his fangs in true happiness at it as he stretched a hand out. “You did warn me, and I yield to your superior abilities with no shame. Please help me up before my clutch daughter arrives.”

  The droid straightened up from its defensive stance and pivoted at its midsection to lean down and offer one of its six fingered hands for Sarix to take. He heard the door sliding open behind the droid, and he quickly grasped the proffered hand and used it to pull himself up, grateful the droid’s body was blocking him from being seen by Verixa.

  “You are late, my daughter.” He called out, the droid still blocking him with its large body as he quickly fixed his fighting robe. He felt a slight tremor passing through the soft padding under his bare feet, followed by the sound of a massive explosion a second later that seemed very close, possibly on the same level.

  The droid’s blue lighting turned yellow, and its upper body spun around completely at its midsection joint before it went into a defensive stance. Sarix crouched instinctively behind it and leaned his head out to see if Verixa was okay as a blast of air entered through the now-open door to the health center.

  It was not Verixa, but two Farians that had entered the gym, and Sarix stared in shock at the state of the amphibians. Their skins were heavily mottled, and they had dead fish eyes as they headed directly towards Sarix and the droid with smiles that seemed far too wide for their faces.

  Sarix tried to go to the obviously wounded Farians to render assistance, but the droid put out one of its arms and pushed him back violently against the padded wall as its yellow lights turned red and shrill alarms erupted from the gym intercom. "Jerlika!" he screamed again, this time in surprised pain from the violent shove by the droid.

  ~ Stay behind me, Master Sarix. ~ The droid ordered, its previously friendly synthetic voice now imperious and devoid of any emotion. It quickly reconfigured itself into a different fighting shape with edged blades where its hands used to be before its speakers blared loudly again, startling Sarix with the deafening noise.

  ~ Halt. Do not proceed any closer, or I will be forced to defend my master. ~

  Sarix bent down and picked up the two fighting sticks on the floor, adrenaline surging through his body as he wondered where Verixa was and what the explosion was from. The droid issued its ultimatum again and then surged forward a second later, its arms a blur of motion as it veered to the right towards the nearest Farian.

  The droid closed the distance rapidly and launched itself into the air, coming down on top of its target with a downward stroke of a bladed arm aimed for the head of the Farian it was attacking. Sarix stared in disbelief at what the droid was doing; the programming restrictions should not have allowed it to harm any biologicals, much less try to kill one.

  The Farian’s hand shot up and knocked the blow aside, the droid’s blade clanging loudly against what sounded like metal instead of a hand of flesh and bone. The Farian moved with a speed that was not possible and ducked beneath another blow from the droid before the Farian’s other hand shot out and tore out some of the exposed cables within its chassis.

  Sarix remained against the wall and was now crouched in a fighting stance, his sticks up in front of him as the other Farian continued to walk directly for him, the psychotic smile still plastered on its face. Sarix slid along the wall away from the second Farian, keeping the droid and the other Farian in his view as he created more distance. What in the three hells is going on here!?

  Two of the droid’s arms had been disabled by the other Farian ripping out the cables, but it still pressed its attack with its remaining four arms, its opponent continuing to move at impossible speeds and deflecting its blows.

  The second Farian suddenly charged at Sarix, closing the four galactic meters separating them faster than Sarix expected. He barely managed to dive away from the Farian, tucking himself into a roll before launching himself back onto his feet as his attacker slammed into the padded wall where Sarix had just been with a loud thud.

  Determined to defend himself, Sarix launched an attack on the second Farian before it could turn back around, striking the top of the Farian’s head with a killing blow as he put his entire body into the swing. Instead of crushing the skull as he expected, a spurt of purple blood shot out from the skin splitting before the Xenxin Stonewood stick broke cleanly in half.

  Sarix froze momentarily, stunned by what had just happened as the Farian’s leg shot out without even looking and kicked him right in his chest, sending him flying over ten meters as a crippling pain shot through his chest from the now broken sternum. Sarix landed on his side first, feeling his left arm snap as he landed on it wrong and continued to tumble from the incredible power of the Farian’s kick. He grunted from the incredible pain, unable to scream as his busted chest prevented him from breathing properly.

  He finally came to a stop on his back, gasping in agony as he took rapid, shallow breaths and fought off the dizziness that made the gym spin uncontrollably. Too stunned to do anything but lie there, he tried to focus his eyes on his attacker as a wave of nausea and panic gripped him.

  The Farian was still smiling, its face covered with the purple blood streaming from the gash where Sarix had broken his fighting stick over his head. The insane Farian started walking towards him at a leisurely pace, as if he had all the time in the world. He couldn’t move, and it seemed as if the Farian was getting fatter by the second as it drew closer to him.

  The sound of a second powerful explosion came, followed by a more distant-sounding one almost immediately after the one preceding it as the tremors of the first one passed through the padded floor. We are under attack, he realized as he heard faint sounds of shouting in the corridor outside the open door.

  Where are you, Verixa?! He wondered anxiously as he looked back towards his approaching attacker. The Farian was almost upon him, ignoring all else but Sarix as it came to kill him. He feebly tried to use his legs to push himself away, but his body betrayed him when he needed it most and he remained where he was, unable to save himself.

  He stared at his attacker with hate-filled eyes as he bared his fangs, determined to rip the Farian’s throat out with his teeth as soon as his attacker came into range. He shifted slightly to brace himself and readied his right hand to grab and pull the Farian down to him to rip its throat out. Right before the Farian reached him, there was a blur of motion, and it was suddenly bowled over by a kick from the droid and tumbled several meters, smashing up against the padded wall with a sickening crack from the neck being broken before crumpling into a heap at the base of the padded wall.

  ~ Run, Master Sarix. ~ The droid blared at him as it tried to dislodge the first Farian from its back, the Farian hanging on with one hand and dodging the droid’s awkward stabs as he used the other hand to continue tearing out wires and components from the chassis. Sarix could barely think from the pain, not sure if the now greatly bloated Farian on the droid’s back was real or because of his blurry vision. The droid suddenly threw itself back, trying to crush the Farian between itself and the wall since it was unable to get its attacker off its back.

  The Farian shimmied off the droid’s back and onto the side of the chassis to avoid being crushed, almost making it before the right leg was pinned and turned into a bloody smear of flesh as almost a thousand pounds of droid pulverized it. The Farian merely grunted as it continued to tear out chunks of the internal components of the droid, acting as if it didn’t just suffer a grievous injury that should have rendered it incapable of continuing to fight.

  The droid’s lights flickered as it tried to swing its last functioning arm back to kill the Farian before there was a loud whine as it finally powered down and went still. In the terrible silence that followed, there was a grunting noise to the side where the second Farian had died. Sarix tilted his head towards the source, staring in sheer horror as the second Farian with the broken neck slowly started getting up off the floor, the head tilted at an unnatural angle.

  This one was now bloated too, and the demonic, almost sideways smile filled Sarix with terror as the Farian finally got back onto its feet and lunged towards him with its dead eyes filled with pure hatred. It got to less than a meter away from him when its head violently exploded, showering Sarix with hot blood as its now headless body fell on his legs, the neck spurting purple blood onto his thighs and soaking his fighting robe.

  There was shouting behind him in Republic Standard as the First Farian, still pinned to the wall by the droid’s body, finally pulled free by tearing away from the trapped leg at the hip joint and fell to the floor before looking directly at him and smiling evilly at him. The Farian began to use its arms and remaining leg to crawl quickly towards Sarix, screaming at him incoherently in a language he had never heard before. “Maker, protect me from this demon ghoul!” he yelled with pure dread as the evil creature continued to come for him.

  Seeming to balloon before his very eyes, the ghoul got to within two galactic meters when chunks of its flesh exploded as it was riddled by weapons fire that Sarix's warrior self instantly recognized as Republic sliver rounds by the shrill whistling noises they made as the slivers pierced through the air. He felt hands grabbing him roughly under his arms and dragging him away from the grossly swollen Farian as more frantic screaming in Republic Standard filled the gym. He was dragged for several galactic meters, the excruciating pain of his broken arm and chest almost making him black out before he was suddenly dropped.

  He screamed in raw agony as the heavy, armored body threw itself on top of him and hugged him tightly before he felt a strange, staticky feeling enveloping him. A second later, he felt himself being tossed like a kintay palm leaf in a tropical cyclone as both he and his savior were engulfed by a blast wave of fire and smashed into a solid surface that broke more of his already mangled body.

  The pain was too much for him to take, and he stopped fighting the darkness, grateful for the Maker and the ancestors intervening and ensuring his clutch daughter did not make it to the sparring session on time. Thank you for watching over my daughter, he thought to them gratefully as he faded away.