Chapter 12: Drak

“Is there anything new or different we need to know about?” Jason asked while in the planning room of the Spectral Revenge fifteen minutes from Drak the core Ghoul planet and Gresh the capital.

“There is absolutely nothing new or different,” said Lisirra.

“We keep to our plan. Ixal if you deviate for one second you die. I have yet to trust you. I am watching you and will do so every step along the way. Your mother betrayed us, and we suffered, I will not let you do the same. Watch your head I want no excuses you also banged your head.”

“I will not betray this group. The Ghouls were made by Jason’s people and I am loyal to him. We are his people,” said Ixal.

“What do you mean made by Jason’s people?” Lisirra asked.

“I mean exactly that. Jason was of the ancients that made us. They were called the Uzliumbax.We worked with them and were friends with them. Jason has descended.”

“I am not sure that I believe that descent garbage,” said Lisirra. “It is fantasy spread by the Grork and their ilk.”

“So how do you explain the ancient DNA he has that is increasing within him and he was recognized on Gromelikine?” Ixal asked.

“That wasn’t on my presentation, but I heard about it,” said Lisirra. “I still have to make up my own mind and I am slow to convince.”

“I still find everything that is happening confusing and I have been living it for nearly a year. I am not surprised you are not convinced and you’ve only been with us a few days. Even I am not convinced. Andrea said I am of the Uzliumbax. I will confirm this with the ship when I have the opportunity. Ladies and gentlemen you need to get yourselves ready and down to the hangar,” said Jason.

“Be careful guys down there. This is a very dangerous mission and I want you all back. Jason don’t take unnecessary risks,” said Linda hugging Jason. The fleet here is cloaked as is your assault frigate. Remember you need to get out quickly, the assault frigate door can be seen from the ground when it opens. Open the door at the last moment and evacuate immediately,” ordered Linda.

“What are the Gromelix doing? They seemed preoccupied?” Jason asked her.

“They were looking at the door of the frigate to see if they could do anything with it,” said Linda, “now get a move on!”

“Good luck you guys, may the universal consciousness be with you,” said Andrea, “they are ready for you in the hangar.”

Jason greeted the waiting Gromelix who were grinning and showing more sharp teeth than usual.

“Hail Jason!” Corvus greeted him. Corvus and his fellow Gromelix looked huge.

“You guys seem to be very cheerful. What have you been up to?” Jason asked as they walked together up the large loading ramp into the frigate, closely followed by the team. They were all wearing armor. The Gromelix were acutely aware of where the people stood and were very careful not to crush anyone.

Jason heard the ramp lifting and closing. The trip to the planet would only take ten minutes.

“Jason, we were working with the engineers and we solved the cloaking problem when the loading ramp and door is opened. Instead of forming a ramp which we don’t need, the rear door will open while the frigate will remain front down to the planet. When the door opens it will slide up along the ship and be cloaked. The only vulnerable time is one tenth of a second as the door begins to open, but there will be nothing that will see us from above. We will take off vertically as we always do. Our wings are only used for gliding. We use our powers to fly. We practiced the maneuver several times in the hangar. Both Lisirra and Ixal bonded with Gromelix very well. You don’t need to be concerned about either of them, they are both very fine beings,” said Corvus.

“How did you enjoy your time on Remza?” Asked Jason telepathically.

“We enjoyed flying around the planet. The Azayal appear to like us very much and we get on very well them. We have a clear affinity with them. Most of the time we spent looking at plans for this operation and working in the simulators. Being able to operate in a smaller size is of enormous help. We also found when we are smaller we are able to enjoy vegetables and fruit. In our Dragon form we are strictly carnivores. We do enjoy the variety of simulations the Azayal provided for us,” said Corvus.

“How do you guys rate in the simulations?” Jason asked.

“We surprised everyone. We all managed to survive your first pirate attack. We all used the communications satellites as missiles and being dragons even in our smaller size we did terrible damage to the attackers on the bridge. We did have the advantage of our powers and in our small size our powers are not diminished. We can also carry heavier weapons. They tell us we are right up there with the best of the best,” said Corvus grinning and showing his huge teeth.

“That is excellent, I am delighted to hear of your talents. You are clearly not just a pretty face,” said Jason laughing. The Gromelix all laughed with him leading to some vibration in the ship.

“We have entered the atmosphere and will be in position over Drak in five minutes. Load up, saddle up and get ready,” said the pilot who then switched on a hologram, so they could see their position and target position. They could also see a blinking arrow indicating the palace in Gresh the capital.

Jason lifted his trans-dim backpack onto his shoulders and it firmly attached and fitted itself to him. He lifted his assault rifle from the rack and put it around his shoulders. He used his armor’s maneuvering ability to place him on Corvus’s back. The saddle held him firmly. He felt the bond intensify to Corvus and then felt himself attaching to each and every one of his group and all the Gromelix. It was an extraordinary experience and became more intense and clear each time he experienced it. It was also a very pleasing experience. He felt the mind of Lisirra for the first time and found himself being pulled in. The mind was very ordered, but he was careful not to wander around unless invited. At the same time, he let her into his mind. He could feel the power of her mind, but he didn’t know how he knew. He felt very much reassured by how she felt, and he let her wander around his mind at will. Then felt himself enter Ixal and had a very similar positive reassuring experience. He felt the familiar minds of the others that he knew so well and the other Gromelix with whom he was becoming acquainted.

“Sixty seconds to evacuation. Best of luck with your mission. You will not feel me angling the craft downward. The gravity will shift ninety degrees when you leave the ship,” said the pilot.

They watched the countdown and as they reached zero they observed the ship turning to face the ground and then the door opened and they could see it disappear. They could see stars above. The second the door was fully open and the light turned blue, Corvus launched out, very closely followed by the others. They could all see the palace in the heads-up display. Gresh was a city of thirty million below. The visuals while wearing the armor were extraordinary. The above ground part of the city could be seen as if the city was in daylight in full-color. Jason could see the many colors of Corvus’s head, but he could see few colors in the city. It looked gray and bleak. There. Were several large missile craters.

“Jason, it used to be joyful and colorful, but as we lost power we concentrated only on the priorities of survival,” said Ixal sadly. “It is a reflection of what we became because of my mother.”

The tall buildings were different from any others Jason had seen. They were frequently hexagonal or octagonal and several had another building placed through the original at an angle. There was little activity in the streets. The air was dry and crisp, but the flight despite the tension was exhilarating. Jason enjoyed every second of it and he could feel similar feelings in the others. Their flight was silent and ended all too quickly.

“Jason, you need to come and fly with me every day. It should become part of your routine. I fly, and I meditate and it clears my mind for the day. We can talk about this after the mission. We are going over the palace grounds before landing.”

Jason lifted his electro-EMP Azayal pistol out of its holster. There were guard towers scattered randomly on the walls. Silently Gromelix and eight other pairs others approached each of the open towers from above and simultaneously on Corvus’ signal, blasted their electrical impulses into the towers. Corvus hit a guard and his electricity mysteriously danced to strike two others. Jason aimed and shot the last. The four guards in each tower were down according to his AI. Other Gromelix moved over the wall and swept the ground incapacitating the guards before they all landed following the secure to land signal from the sergeant. Jason and the others jumped from their saddles and followed Ixal as she made her way over to a wall. The Gromelix changed to their smaller sizes and loaded their assault weapons from the packs attached to the saddles and followed behind covering each other.

“Here is the entrance to the tunnel. I used it often in my younger days. Like many old palaces it has secret tunnels and passages. Ixal keyed in a number which opened the gate. Sorry guys we have a problem with the surveillance. The security system does not recognize me. Either it is missing an identifier from my previous chassis or they changed the security to exclude me which is much less likely as I was able to open the gate. I hope this doesn’t increase our difficulties. She pulled out her Empire stunner from her holster and fired several times around the passage entry. She walked in. “You can follow me now. There are only sensors at the entrance. We have already passed through two layers of security. We flew over the outer walls and took out defenses on the inner walls. The outer walls are half a mile away from us. Between the walls we used to have wonderful gardens, similar to those on our home planet. I used to love the gardens,” said Ixal - she closed and locked the gate behind them. “We have half an hour to get to my mother, before they discover what has happened to the guards in the turrets and in the gardens. They will not notice the outer sensor dysfunction as they often die and they don’t set off an alarm.”

The passageway was made of bricks which rose to an arch which supported the roof. The bricks looked ancient and fragile and were dusty. Jason could see Ixal’s footsteps on the powdery dirt covering the worn floor. There were high-pitched noises from the floor and he was startled by a large rodent that ran out of a hole in front of him, and scuttled several yards further ahead before it dived into a hole in the bricks.

“We will walk for ten minutes until we reach a door. I have the code for that door. When I opened the outside door that was one of the highest risk times of this mission. When we reach the door there will be guards nearby. We will then climb two flights of stairs before we enter a secret passageway. I know we have been through all of this, but I want to remind you every step along the way,” said Ixal telepathically.

“When we get to the door, I will stand with you,” said Lisirra, “I am able to sense through the door and the walls what is around us. I will project a map and a hologram as I do so. Ixal are there any cameras in the passageway?”

“Yes, there are several as we move along. I have a device from the Azayal that will blind the cameras to us. Several of the Gromelix also carry similar devices. When I open the door the Gromelix need to be ready to strike,” said Ixal.

“You don’t need to worry, if I am next to you I will be able to strike all of them simultaneously even through the door within a range of forty feet. I will strike them before we open the door,” said Lisirra.

“I know what you’re thinking Jason, you are surprised. We ancients developed lots of powers and have had many years to hone them further. I knew the Safion and we were of a similar level of power and development. Both we and they were shattered after the Apocalypse. Those foul Grork were worse than your worst nightmare. They were more advanced than we and far more malicious and evil than we could’ve ever imagined. I can understand why the Safion chose to chase after them to destroy every last one of them. The one great advantage of the war was it forced us to accelerate our research and development to catch up and pass the enemy. As we became more effective they became increasingly dirty and underhanded. They used poisons, they used plagues, they destroyed suns and planets and caused devastation. On the surface, the Grork seemed pleasant and convivial, but as we got to know them they became our enemies as we discovered their purpose was to feed off others and to subjugate as many as they could. If I had the chance I would destroy every one of them. We found they were kidnapping our people. That was when we and the Safion fell out with them. We are much older as a people than are your Collective or the Parzool,” said Ixal.

“We are close to the door, I can feel Ghoul minds nearby. I shall move forward to walk with Ixal, now I have felt your mind we will talk further.”

Lisirra walked quickly ahead to catch up with Ixal and two Gromelix who were leading the way. When they reached the door Ixal unlocked it. Jason saw a large hologram form behind Lisirra. He could see guards walking in the passageway. He could even see the floor above. The vision appeared to extend at least 100 yards from where they were. He could see the stairway with a guard walking down, twenty feet from the door. Lisirra put up her hand. Five seconds later Jason saw all the nearby guards collapse. Ixal and Lisirra moved back. The Gromelix quickly opened the door and dived into the passageway to secure it, followed by Lisirra and Ixal. Jason could see lightning flashing past the door. The sergeant signaled the passageway clear. Lisirra pointed towards the stairs - “Ixal I can see the control security room twenty-five yards away on this floor. I strongly suggest we take it out as it will help us protect our backs. There are twenty Ghouls in that room. I can do it from outside. I just need a few people to cover me,” said Lisirra. Ixal nodded. Lisirra led the way with two Gromelix following her. She stood outside the doorway. Thirty seconds later she was back. “All done, let’s move up the stairs,” said Lisirra. As she spoke a pair of guards walked around the corner. They looked horrified as they saw the Gromelix turned to run but were shocked into unconsciousness.

“They tried to call for help, but we blocked them,” said Ixal. “We need to move up the stairs quickly.”

She led the way up the stairs with Lisirra walking slightly behind her. As Ixal reached the top, Lisirra restrained her - “I knocked out another five,” said Lisirra, “we are clear to move to the hidden passageway.”

Ixal moved to a panel on the wall. She tapped it on different sections and it opened - “Quickly come through.” She walked through as the others followed close behind her and then closed the panel behind them. Dim lights came on in the passageway. It appeared to be lined with the same bricks, but it had a flat ceiling. The floor had even more layers of dust, though there were areas where small paw-prints could be seen. There was no obvious source of the light.

“The density of guards goes up considerably from now on. When we get out of this passageway we will be twenty feet from the door to my mother’s room. Her door is armored and sealed. At this time of day my mother will be working at her desk. There are at least eight guards in front of her door. There are another twenty guards nearby, a hundred within a thousand feet and within five minutes there are thousands. As soon as we get through the door and deal with the guards assemble barriers and shields to block to passage. My mother has no exit from her room. Jason are you ready to do your thing?” Ixal asked.

“Yes of course Ixal. Lisirra could you make yourself available to help deal with the queen if needed?”

“Yes, of course a Ghoul should be easy. I would be delighted to help. I can feel the guards ahead, let me get to the door. The closer the better. All of you get ready. Five seconds after I get to the door it will all be over. Nope ... half of them are immune to my power, it’s going to be a firefight!” said Lisirra yanking open the panel and quickly firing her EMP device at the startled guards who were looking for a threat down the passageway. The Gromelix followed as did Ixal and between them they incapacitated the remaining guards. They could hear shouting close to them as they assembled the barriers and the shield.

“Jason do your thing, and Leptonix please blow open the door, the guards implemented the emergency lock,” Ixal ordered. Leptonix moved towards the door.

“I will cut the door, Lisirra try and whack her from here if you can, while I get it open,” said Jason. “Leptonix stand back.”

Jason moved in front of the door and using his penetrating beam he began cutting the hinges and then the lock. He winced as he heard firing behind him. Ixal stood near the door.

“I can feel two in the room,” said Jason, “I am almost done. Be careful behind me they will fire through the door” - Jason froze the door then blasted a large ice block towards the door, which shattered and fell inwards.

Jason dived to the side as a green reptulox beam from an assault rifle from inside narrowly missed him and exploded against the back of the shield. Jason then sent fireballs through as he moved in an arc, while the Gromelix team sent lightning and threw grenades into the room.

Jason felt a powerful psychic wave hit him and knocked him to his knees. He saw his whole team was affected. He fought back and then felt Lisirra projecting telepathic images of Gromelix above and small Gromelix seeking Ghouls in the streets, shocking them and inserting eggs. It was a horrifying picture.

Jason felt the attack lessen as Lisirra moved to help him counter the powerful psychic attack. His head burned and felt as if it was in a clamp. Jason staggered to his feet and he and Ixal entered the smoking ruin of a study. Jason saw the disheveled queen behind a shield. A soldier with his head several feet away lay at her feet. Another soldier lay on her desk his head damage and abdomen burned open.

Jason sent a beam at the queen, but it bounced off her faint blue tinged shield. She sent fireballs at him and he deflected them to explode along the walls. Two Gromelix entered the room and sent electricity and fired the EMP pistols towards her but they bounced off the shield. Jason saw the Gromelix keel over vomiting and holding their heads. Blood poured from their noses. Jason felt her powerful mind try to enter his. He fought back and moved towards her with his sword in his hand. Jason’s headache became worse and he felt nauseated. He pushed her out of his head. He felt her renew her attack and drew a pair of swords. Two more Gromelix entered the room firing assault weapons, but her shield collapsed. She incapacitated the Gromelix before lunging quickly at Jason, who parried her blades and struck back at her also shooting fire from the sword. Jason saw Ixal move behind her a long knife in one hand and a sword in the other.

“Get behind me Ixal, I will save you but if I fall you must run. I am so happy you are alive, you look well,” said the Queen smiling fleetingly.

Ixal hung her head before moving behind her mother. Jason felt the attack bring him to his knees and he felt blood running out of his nose and his eyes dripping. He had the metallic taste of blood in his mouth. He fought back with determination but felt as if he was losing consciousness. He heard the sounds of pitched battle outside and the firing of personal missiles. Suddenly he felt Lisirra at his side supporting him and attacking the Queen. The weight lifted from him and he renewed his assault.

“Jason, you had better hurry its getting really tough out here,” Razza communicated.

Jason was again brought to his knees and he saw Lisirra bleeding from her mouth and nose. He could see the Queen was tiring but he was weak and exhausted. Lisirra looked shattered.

“Come on Ixal, it is time, do it!” Jason ordered. Ixal looked indecisive.

The Queen lunged at him. He managed to block her, but his counter attack was weak. She moved forward again.

Suddenly the pressure lifted. Jason saw the Queen collapse and as she fell she turned and looked accusingly at Ixal who then cut off her head with one sweep of her sword.

“Jason, they are not responding to me. There is a missing identifier in this chassis as I said at the entrance. We are done for. I cannot stop this. We are going to have to call in the reserves and get out of here,” said Ixal.

Jason was feeling weak and could hardly think. He desperately tried to clear his mind. He knew what to do but could not remember. His AI prompted him. He still could not think and make sense of his mind. His AI and crystal asked if they could go ahead. He agreed and lost consciousness.

He regained consciousness with his head on Ixal’s lap. She was sobbing. Razza and Julia were looking worried. “The attack on us has stopped, Jason, should we let down the shield?” The sergeant asked. “There are Ghouls out there politely asking to speak to the Emperor.

Jason felt better despite a splitting headache.

“How is Lisirra?” Jason asked. “She looked to be in a bad way. Without her the Queen would have killed me.”

“We asked Ixal what to do. We assumed she was in control of the Ghouls, but she said you are,” said Razza, “can we let down the shield and barriers. It is all quiet. More Ghouls are asking to speak to the Emperor.”

“I have a splitting headache and my brain feels frazzled. Let me sit up and think. How is Lisirra?”

“She is unconscious, but is close to coming around,” said Julia.

“Now I remember, my AI and Crystal sent the Imperial switch off codes after the Empress was killed and Ixal told me she was unable to gain control as her consciousness was in a different chassis. There must be some kind of check code hardwired into each Ghoul. You can start disassembling the barriers and the shield. If it has gone quiet, I have been successful. Now I ensure I am in control and validate Ixal, so I can hand her people over to her. I don’t want to run this place.

“Razza I would like Corvus to join us and a couple of his people. We need to be careful. Ixal if you find anyone about whom you have doubts, tell Corvus and we will discharge them and take them away for questioning. Julia please communicate with the ship and let Andrea and Linda know what is happening. I am as psychically drained as I was destroying a fleet. The power of the Queen was greater than any being I have yet encountered. I felt I was being crushed by her. I could barely function. I have to improve my psychic battle techniques. This battle well and truly frightened me. It took three of us to beat her. We need to pack her up and take her to Porquenta. Razza please put her in your capture ring,” asked Jason.

Corvus brought through Biqalak Kabilal, secretary to the Queen, to see Jason.

“Emperor, I am so sorry you had to clean up our mess. We could not disobey the Queen while she was alive, and we have all gone down a disgusting slippery path. Ixal, I am so pleased to see you alive,” said Biqalak warmly. “We all believed you were killed by the Azayal or that fearsome Lord Kargo. You look wonderful and fully charged. You feel different, ah yes, you are in a different body. That is why we could not follow your command.

“That is easily fixed. I will ask one of the technicians to come up to provide you with your appropriate identification.

“He is terrified of leaving his building and refuses to budge as he is fears the Gromelix,” said Biqalak.

“Please tell him the Gromelix are with me and he is safe to come here. I know nothing of the identifier. Was it inserted at the factory? Biqalak this chassis is wonderful, and they are making me an even better body, so I can have my own children. The ancients are truly wonderful and some of the people you will meet are extraordinary people. There are more advanced AIs than we are. It is a new world of opportunities. We will once again be able to participate and hold our heads up high. Who else is waiting out there?” Ixal asked.

“We have general Nordox Belandrimus and we have senior admiral Grylish Yemenesh,” said Biqalak.

“Jason, they are both fine. They are nearly all that is left of the senior leadership,” said Ixal sadly. “Biqalak was my greatest friend and ally. My mother treated her as badly as she treated me if not worse. Biqalak managed to moderate my mother. Nordox and Grylish are very fine people. Here they come now,” said Ixal excitedly. “Welcome Nordox and Grylish, I am so pleased to see you are still alive. These have been terrible times for our people,” said Ixal.

“Ixal, you look fantastic, but I heard you are missing your identifiers. I can see why. That is a magnificent body, you look even better than you did when we were thriving,” said Grylish warmly. He moved over to hug Ixal. He had tears in his eyes. He then turned to Jason.

“Emperor, I am very pleased to see you still live. You look much younger than I remember you. I last saw you when I was but a youth, I am so pleased you have returned to us and saved us from the Queen. If I may be so bold as to say it was a mistake to give the Queen all the control power and still be able to retain it if she became damaged. We knew she was damaged and some of us even saw her injured on the bridge, but we had no choice but to follow her and try and moderate her behavior. Things have gotten so bad with us. We are now pitiful, ugly creatures. We miss so many of our friends. How are the people?” Grylish asked.

“That is a very long story for another time. We have much to do. Ixal, have you seen my pack?”

Ixal handed Jason his pack. He took out his cube. “Is the Queen’s AI operational? If it is not I need to connect in to the planetary network,” Jason asked.

Grylish handed Jason his cube. Jason connected his AI directly into Grylish’s cube and broadcast the counter virus that Sheila had manufactured for him.

“This is absolutely incredible,” said Nordox pulling up his tunic and opening his power port. He looked at the wall and plugged himself in. “I will continue talking to you while I charge myself if you don’t mind. I was almost at the end of my power. Grylish, there is another charge point next to the wall. Don’t just stand there, give yourself an infusion, it feels absolutely blissful. I already have more charge than I’ve had for the last hundred years.”

“Emperor please excuse me, I am almost out of power. Do you mind if I am rude and charge myself while I talk to you?” Grylish asked.

“Neither of you needs to feel embarrassed. I assume the same is happening throughout the city and on all the planets. Tonight, we will have a celebration of a new era of freedom for the Ghouls. I want Ixal to take charge. You can all decide on your future destiny,” said Jason.

Corvus led in a nervous technician who looked terrified.

“No harm will come to you from the Gromelix. They are with me,” said Jason.

“Emperor, I thank you for saving us. May you live a long life,” said the technician as he moved towards Ixal who smiled at him. “Melonius Furfur, I have not seen you for centuries. I hope it is not so long next time,” said Ixal.

“Ixal, it must be at least a thousand years. You look absolutely wonderful. I can see you have a new body and you look beautiful. We all have become so disgusting. Look at my skin, it is full of lesions and my color is terrible. We are all so weak. I am so pleased you have returned to save us. When the Emperor sent us the appropriate codes he also sent the pictures of what happened. We all know about the Queen and your heroic act. I knew her before her damage and she was truly a great queen. I know she has been grooming you to follow her. You will have big boots to fill. I hope we can leave this awful episode behind us and return to work with the Emperor. Emperor I have not seen you for a very long time. You opened my first factory to make the greatest AIs that had ever been created. You look so young and well. At that time, you were tired and drawn with the responsibilities of the war.

“We have fallen so far behind. Now that you are back we will be delighted to work with you again and to do even better work than we have ever done,” said Melonius Furfur enthusiastically. “Emperor I hope you don’t mind if I use that charge port while I work on Ixal?”

“Please do, I understand how a starving man feels,” said Jason.

Melonius moved over to the wall and plugged himself into the fourth of the five ports, next to Biqalak who was standing next to him with a rapturous expression on her face - “That feels absolutely fantastic. I would not have lasted longer than another few months. Ixal we had to place a further five million into stasis since you went to the Azayal. We are in desperate straits. Emperor we do thank you for helping save us. All of us instantly recognized you. Had we not been so terrified of the Gromelix we would’ve all been rejoicing once we charged ourselves up a bit. This is a joyous day. I am so excited I feel like I would like to dance in the streets.