The Purification: Book 3 of the Evaran Chronicles (5 page)

After thirty minutes, the crew had reassembled in the command area, decked out in gear. John did a final check on his crew. Miles had on his shielded heavy black armor with oversized gauntlets. He liked to charge into enemies and initiate close-quarters combat. Dizz and Cantol had on their sleek black-and-silver light armor. Their energy blade hilts rested on their backs, and their faces were covered by segmented helmets with raised areas around the eyes. Small weapons were strapped to their thighs. Shandra had on her brown stretch outfit. It was able to stay with her when she transformed.

John chuckled. All he had on was some light armor and a dizzying array of small weapons, both ranged and melee. “Hermes, where we at?”

“Almost there. I located Evaran’s ship—well, where it should be. Scanners aren’t detecting it, but Brills’s information says it’s at docking bay extension 42.”

“All right then. Once we’re in, head there.”

“Got it.”

Their ship flew through the light-blue shield and headed to a docking bay extension. Once docked, everyone except Hermes disembarked.

John noticed the Torvatta nearby with clamps on it and a bubble shield encircling it. “Hermes, once Brills has shut down the system, you will need to override that clamp and shield.”

“Piece of cake,” said Hermes over the group’s communication channel.

John and the others walked up to a large rectangular door. John pulled a disc-shaped device with a U-shaped handle on top of it from a backpack and put it on a console. “Hermes, the overrider’s in place.”

After a moment, the door slid up into the wall.

“Link is established. Brills’s codes actually work. I’m surprised. I’ve disabled the alarm system so you shouldn’t have any guards tripping it. I’ll unlock each door as you get to it. If you need me to swoop in and save the day, just let me know,” said Hermes.

“Good work, Hermes,” said John with a snort. He looked at the group. “Let’s move.”

They headed into an empty hallway. After several turns, they reached the corner to a hallway. Two heavily armored guards in segmented silver armor with weapons resting on their backs stood at the end.

John slapped Miles’s armored chest. “Do your thing.”

Miles bobbed his head. He turned the corner and charged toward the guards. The startled guards pulled their weapons and opened fire. Their laser beams lit up Miles’s shielded armor. Miles crashed into the first guard, slamming him into the wall. The second guard pulled out an energy sword, which glowed blue, and approached Miles. He lunged forward at Miles’s exposed back. Dizz flew in and sliced the guard’s arm off. The guard screamed in agony. With a quick movement, Dizz decapitated the guard.

Miles turned around from the guard he crushed. “Hah!”

Dizz smiled. “One, one.”

John, Shandra, and Cantol caught up to them.

John placed a hand on Dizz’s shoulder. “Don’t get cocky. There’s exterminators around here somewhere.”

“Door opening,” said Hermes.

After the door was open, they proceeded to the next area. It was a large dining room with various Purifier personnel eating and several guards stationed around the room.

John chewed his bottom lip.

Miles looked at John. “You know what they did to our friends.”

John sighed. “Yeah … but some of them are probably innocents.”

Shandra snorted. “Innocents? They support the purifying killing machine. More importantly, they’re in our way, and that’s the fastest way to the command center.” She put a hand on John’s shoulder. “Look, I know you don’t like killing civilians, so I’ll put them to sleep. Remember, though, if even one of them gets loose and notifies the exterminators, we could fail this mission.”

John nodded. He appreciated Shandra’s ability to prick people with her poisonous vines that put them to sleep. “You’re right. Mission first. Miles, draw the guards’ fire. Shandra, follow Miles in and tree up in the center. Dizz, you take the left. Cantol, take the side room to the right. I’ll provide cover from the back. Hermes, seal the doors when we go in. Everyone ready?”

They all nodded.

John pointed two fingers forward.
“Go!”

Miles charged into the room. Some of the startled civilians fell out of their chairs. Others put their heads down on the table. The guards in the room lurched forward, shooting. Shandra hurtled to the center of the room and transformed into a large tree, with vines flying out from her rapidly expanding branches. Civilians passed out as her vines pricked them. Miles had knocked one guard down and was taking fire from another. Dizz ran along the wall and jumped at the guard shooting at Miles. With a quick flip and forward strike, he impaled the guard’s chest with his blade.

Cantol ran to the right into a side room. He came flying back out and almost knocked John down. John helped Cantol back up. They both froze. A gold-plated and heavily armored exterminator stepped out with oversized forearms, autotracking shoulder-mounted lasers, and a visor that could unleash a wide laser. The shoulder-mounted lasers fired at John and Cantol, who dove out of the way.

“Miles!” said John.

Miles turned and screamed as he charged the exterminator. John waved to Dizz and Cantol to take the remaining guards. Miles ran headfirst into the exterminator, which held its ground. Its shoulder lasers were firing on Miles’s shield, and the exterminator’s visor began to glow. Miles head butted the visor, crimping it. The exterminator grabbed Miles’s arm and swung him into the wall, then the ground, and finally into the wall again. John rolled behind the exterminator and pulled out two glowing daggers. He searched for a weak point, and when he found a small crease in the neck armor, he stabbed it.

The exterminator roared as Dizz, Cantol, and Shandra hurried over. Shandra reached out with her vines and grappled the exterminator’s arms, holding them out. Dizz and Cantol leaped forward, and each sliced an arm off. Miles smashed the exterminator’s helmet, knocking it away. With a quick pistol draw, John shot and hit the exterminator between the eyes. The exterminator crashed to the ground.

Miles shook his head. “So much for them not knowing we’re here.”

John looked down at the severed arms. “So they’re human. I believe you just lost a bet, Miles. Hermes has already shut off the alarm systems, so we should be okay.”

“Afraid not,” said Hermes. “I’m seeing chatter independent of the station. Seems the exterminators use their own internal communication system. You need to get to the command center.
Now.
”

John sighed. This was only one exterminator, and it took the whole group to take it down. There were probably seven or so more on the station. Things were not looking good. He waved forward. “Let’s go.”

They handled the few guards on the way to the command center. Hermes informed them that the exterminator units were closing in on them. When they got to the command center, they burst into a room full of surprised Purifiers. They wore one-piece plastic-like suits and scattered to the ground. Shandra ran to the exit, turned into a tree, and pricked each one that Miles tossed at her. Ring Commander Sheel’s eyes popped open as he drew his pistol.

One of the Purifiers morphed into a human male wearing a black trench coat and a bandanna mask over his mouth. He fired and hit Sheel point-blank in the face. Sheel slumped to the ground.

“Brills!” said John.

“Took you long enough,” said Brills. “What an uncomfortable form. I’ll have to shower for a week to get it out of my mind.”

John looked around at the pile of unconscious Purifiers. “At least we spared the noncombatants.”

“Yeah … but heard over the communication channel that you ran into an exterminator,” said Brills. “Sheel was alerted by his encrypted communicator and was starting to organize a retaliation. I created some confusion from my console, but that didn’t seem to help. Couldn’t really do much with Sheel around anyways. The exterminators know we’re here. Give me a moment to disable the lock on Evaran’s ship and the cells.” He sat down at a desk. His hands flew around the console. After a few moments, he nodded. “Good to go. We need to hurry and get them and ourselves outta here.”

John sighed and gestured at the door across the room from them. “Let’s get outta here.”

03

D
r. Snowden flinched when Emily gasped. The shielding on the cells had dropped, and the lights had dimmed. He rubbed his eyes and looked around.

The anger flash from before still poked around in his head. It was the second time in a few days that his anger had slipped out of control, but this was the first time there was physical pain. What the heck was going on? Hopefully it was the nanobots and could be fixed. He knew he always had a short temper, but nothing that would cause him to fly into a blind rage. It was embarrassing for it to happen in front of Evaran, whose cool and calm demeanor he sought to emulate.

He stood and waved his hand through the door. “What’s happening?”

“I do not know, but we will take advantage of the situation. We need to go,” said Evaran.

They exited the cell.

“You know how to get back to the Torvatta?” asked Emily.

“Yes, I memorized the path. Although it took us an hour to get here, I suspect we can do it in forty-five minutes. Set your PSDs to stun.”

Dr. Snowden and Emily complied.

Dr. Snowden had come to view his personal support device as an invaluable tool. His PSD had a slim pen-like shape and the ability to perform many functions, from augmented reality scans to the more powerful stun beam, which had proven its usefulness. His favorite aspect of it was the morphable metal that could extend and form a variety of handy tools. He was unsure of how the morphable metal was stored but suspected dimensional mechanics was involved.

As they turned into a hallway, two guards at the other end rushed around the corner.

“Stop where you are!” said one of the guards.

Evaran activated his shield and extended his utility handle into a baton. The end glowed light blue. “We do not have time for this foolishness.”

The guards opened fire. Evaran angled his shield and redirected their weapon fire back at them, causing their weapons to explode. The guards crumpled to the ground.

Dr. Snowden remembered the shield could reflect beams. He saw it on the Krotovore ship when Jay, another person Evaran had saved, had his arm blown off from a stray reflected beam. The accuracy and agility required to aim the beam back at a specific angle impressed him.

They hustled through various hallways and, after thirty minutes, came upon a large, open room.

Dr. Snowden tried to make sense of what he was seeing. Purifier guards were fighting another group. The group was what caught his attention. One member had black armor and was charging around the room like a bull, knocking guards left and right. Two others were dancing around the room with glowing swords, slicing and dicing any guard unlucky enough to be in their path. A tree stood in the center of the room with vines reaching everywhere and branches hitting away guards who got too close. Another was changing forms as he fought. One moment he was a human male, the next a bird, and the next a big cat. Finally, near the corner, an individual with black light armor over black leather was dual-wielding pistols and taking shots at various guards.

“What in the world … ,” said Dr. Snowden.

“That guy has changed shape like three times!” said Emily, pointing at the shape-shifter.

Evaran nodded. “Yes. He is an Outsider.” He pointed to each individual in turn. “The person in the back and the two moving around with energy swords are Daedrould, vampire strain. The tree shifter is an Outsider, similar to the shape changer. The big guy running around is Wildborn. I believe his ability is brute strength and resiliency.”

Dr. Snowden smiled. “Wish I could see energy signatures instead of just knowing they aren’t human.”

“Me too,” said Emily.

Evaran half smiled.

Dr. Snowden had learned a lot about nonhumans and how they came to be from traveling with Evaran. The thought that exotic energy could alter a human into something so different still amazed him. He wondered if the process could be reversed. Another question to ask Evaran about later. He had learned about Daedrould energy, and how it was the source of their alteration. Wild energy created the Wildborn, who were unique one-off alterations. Those that came from other realities inside the universe were called Outsiders, like the pantheons and shifters. There were even more, with subdivisions among the big ones. It boggled his mind that there were so many. Although he could not see the energy signature auras like Evaran could, he had begun to understand the movement and abilities enough to determine what major energy group they came from. Usually, anyways.

The group had mopped all but one guard that was barreling toward Evaran. The guard opened fire and fell when the reflected beam from Evaran’s shield hit him.

The group approached Evaran. The dual-wielding pistol user stepped in front, with the others lining up behind him. The tree transformed into a woman with a tight-fitting brown suit, and the shape-shifter had turned into a human male with a black trench coat and a bandanna over his mouth.