Naero's War: The Citation Series 3: Naero's Trial (21 page)

She jumped out of the water and headed toward the door.

Khai laughed and called after her. “Uh, N… Clothes? I mean–I don’t mind, if your crew doesn’t.”

Naero laughed, teknomancing nano clothing for them both. “No, I don’t think my crew is quite ready for that. Although I’ve heard of a few merchant ships that basically do serve on board naked, with nothing but a nanobelt, just in case.”

Ra followed them out to the galley, where Eugene Blooding now ran the kitchen. His former boss, Culinary Chief Specialist First Class Tolen Kothari was now Master Chef on board
The Holy Ghost
, her flagship.

Eugene and his assistant, Ketumi Negawa from Clan Kothari, kept their small staff busy.

They hugged Naero and Khai and greeted Ra warmly. Naero’s mantid bodyguard was still new to her crew and wasn’t exactly seen as huggable yet by everyone, except Naero.

The admiral took over the mess kitchen, but Eugene and his people assisted.

First she got some red yamtatoes frying, hash brown style. Then she slow cooked a big pan of Spum strips and Huradian thick bacon strips, turning them as needed until they were just the right kind of crispy. Then big Phoradi goose eggs that were as big as her fist and green inside. Khai would enjoy eating food the same color as he was.

She fried those big, glorious eggs over easy and got the bright green yolks just right, transferring them in batches to the warmers. Eugene and Ketumi made a couple of loaves of Laraldan sourdough bread into toast, with Veluvian butter cream spread. They had Churtan blue milk and whiteberry juice from Govania-5.

The last batch of Spum and bacon were finally ready, along with the yamtatoes.

Time to eat.

They had enough for about fifteen people. Eugene and Ketumi ate with them first, and then went into the kitchen to make another larger batch of those same menu items for the rest of the crew for brunch.

Naero and Khai stuffed themselves. Ra did his best to eat as much as them and still hold back. He probably could have eaten everything edible in the galley if they let him.

Enel Maeris and Surina Marshall quickly joined them, and soon they were all feasting and laughing.

Rina was absolutely radiant, with her hyperglam, vidstar looks, her hand and arm looped in with handsome Enel’s. Enel had the look of a very satisfied and happy man.

The couple wanted to announce their engagement to Naero, before they told the rest of the crew. Everyone else probably wondered why it all took so long, since the two of them had been inseparable and so besotted with each other for so long. Congrats went back and forth, and soon everyone was in the know.

Then Rendar Nelson, and Passaendra Wild, Piper Fae, Kimbel Allen, Lakara Donovan and Trudi Cheyenne joined the brunch party. Captain Tyber arrived, and brought little Gallan with him. The dark-haired infant was just starting to be a toddler now.

Aunt Naero got him from Ty and did not let go, keeping Gallan happily on her lap while she and Khai laughed and played with him and fed him whatever he wanted. He really liked Spum and the yamtatoes. They got him a straw that he could sip whiteberry juice out of. The kid had an appetite, just like his namesake.

Naero kept feeling twinges of sadness about her and Khai’s missing child. Yet this was a happy time, even though Naero kept feeling guilty and those sad twinges of loss and uncertainty. Only Khai seemed to guess her true feelings, and gave her a comforting squeeze every now and then.

The first shift went back to work. Everyone hugged Naero, Ty, and Khai, and squeezed little Gallan’s cheeks, toes, and hands until they were pink. That little doll was a bigger hit than their beloved captain…er, admiral.

To them she’d always be their captain, and she did not stop them from calling her that. Despite her major promotion.

Naero-12 came in to eat with the second shift, the replicant assigned to
The Flying Dagger
. She sported bright pink hair half the length of Naero’s and put up in a different style. But she still wore her togs and gear the same as the original.

When they hugged, Naero couldn’t help absorbing all of Naero-12’s experiences with her old crew.

They accepted her and even liked her, but they still didn’t treat her with the same admiration they had for the original. But Naero-12 seemed all right with all of that.

In fact, to her mind it was easier, because she was still highly skilled and capable of so many things, and yet there was no pressure on her to be ‘the Legend.’ Not as much was expected of her, so whatever she did was amazing.

Actually, Naero’s life felt richer now, every time she re-linked with one of her copies. Her life experiences were just that much more interesting, sharing in their experiences and memories, and they sharing in hers.

It was a unique, and very special relationship and bonding that they all shared. Each time two of more of them met–especially with the original–they were going to share something new and exciting with each other.

Keldo Ramsey, Chandra Adams, Spenser Gordon, Sying Lii, and Harra Ahmed came in and sat down to eat, catch up, and share stories.

Next came Tommis Barrett, Kayleen Flynn, Prentiss Fox, Fenton James, Juan Keller, and Jima Ortega. It was definitely a full-blown, brunch party by then.

When Chaela and Saemar came over, things went really nuts. The Viking Valkyrie looked like she had swallowed a WebBall, and not just Remy’s love child. Fleet Captain Saemar left her all-male bodyguards behind, because she complained she wasn’t getting any sleep, from having her body guarded too closely.

“Seriously, sweeties,” Saemar said. “Do you think I could borrow one of your empty bunks and just grab a nap for a bit? I’m bushed.”

Naero finally gave up little Gallan, and the other two aunties proceeded to spoil that little kid rotten.

Naero had never laughed so hard in so long. Being with her mates brought out the old her. Before the afternoon was finished, she had used the sight to check on Chaela’s very healthy boy inside her, and listened to tales of Saemar’s latest conquests. Ty started talking shop with her about the implementation of all the new upgrades and possible pweaks to some of their spytek.

By the fourth hour the shindig broke up. Everyone but Naero and Khai and Ra had to face facts and get back to work.

Naero wrapped herself around Khai’s big arm and smiled up at him. “I’m still recovering. I think you’d better carry me off and put me down for my afternoon siesta for my own good, Mr. Enforcer.”

Khai could be such a dolt at times. He actually looked at her with concern. “Sure, let’s go. I didn’t know you were still feeling tired.”

She bulged her eyes at him. “No, you big green goon. I’m
not
tired…at least not yet. But I will be, when you’re through with me. Got it?”

“Oh…” Khai said.

Naero nodded. “Yeah, now you’ve got the plan. It’s a good thing you’re so cute, buddy.”

“And we can have some more Jett!”

“Aww,” Naero said. “I loved your great gift. You really must love me.”

“I honestly do, my heart.”

Naero looked him straight in the eye. “Then prove it, mister.”

Khai grinned, scooping her up. “You know how I love a challenge.”

24

Naero felt infinitely better the next day, as if she were recharged and ready for anything. She made eight more replicants and sent them over to
The Black Spot
. Eventually, she wanted an entire crew of them backing up her brother Jan and keeping him and his two new wives safe.

If Jan was happy, that was all that mattered. And he did seem happy. His choices were his own, and he wasn’t a boy any longer. He was an accomplished adult–a man now. A fully trained Mystic, and a ship Captain working for her Task Force and for Spacer Intel.

Although if things were really going to get hot, Jan asked both of his wives to either go with Baeven, or stay on the flagship.

Naero asked her brother if she could do a mindlink with him. That way, she could see if he had any Mystic skills that she could quicken or boost.

She also explained that she wanted to study the Cosmic energy patterns and levels in his mind, and compare them to her own to see what the differences were.

She also asked Jan about his own Dark Beast within him. He explained that since it had never broken free, he had managed to keep it suppressed and dormant, avoiding all of those troubles entirely. That was also a huge difference between the two of them.

Naero had no idea if that all had anything to do with Jan being a twin with their insane brother Dan, who was still working with and for the enemy, apparently. Who knew what the hell was going on with all of that?

Baeven had fought Danner most recently, and detailed how whacked out Danner was, but still able to fight his uncle and try to escape with Naero-3.

Then there was the enemy. Everything always came back to them. From what Naero and the Allies had learned from the bits and pieces of data stripped from the enemy lab, even the enemy was stumped about what to do with Naero’s unborn child. Thus far, the foe’s top minds could only contain those massive energies and siphon some of them off. But that wasn’t nearly enough and the enemy was frustrated and enraged. They hungered to crack those secrets and take control of this strange power for their own purposes.

As usual, they wanted to transform it into a weapon. That was all that the enemy masterminds could think of. Whether the child or Naero-3 survived all of these dangerous experiments was utterly of no concern. They were mere things to be exploited.

Naero was finally as ready as she would ever be at this point to go another round with the powers guarding the KDM deep within herself.

Her first few attempts had been humiliating and humbling. Even when she had been given the knowledge to implement the Kexxian cure for the G’lothc possession wyrm plague, it had very nearly destroyed her.

It would have destroyed her, if Jan had not stepped in to share the agony and those energies with her. The fact that she could not have survived it on her own was not lost upon Naero. The knowledge of the Kexxian Data Matrix was currently beyond her own fledgling Cosmic abilities to fully understand or control.

But against such foes as they now faced, Naero knew in her heart that the deep wisdom and knowledge of the Kexx and the KDM were going to be crucial, and perhaps, their only hope.

Even if she perished in the attempt, she had to crack that knowledge and pass that wisdom onto her own people and their allies to use in the fierce battles to come.

Naero meditated and focused as her parents had taught her from a child, trying to center herself as much as possible, to find the true balance and harmony within. All despite what a messed-up wreck she was.

She had always been able to hide that well. Hide the Chaos, and the pain, and make it seem like order and control. She could pweak things at the last instant to make it all appear as if everything was working seamlessly. But things changed, and shifted, and fluctuated within her on a near constant level. And she still did not fully comprehend, understand, or know a way to control it all.

So she kept faking it. That was the best she could do.

Perhaps that was a wisdom in itself.

Maybe that was all that anyone could ever do.

Naero shook her head. She wished she and her mind were more like Jan’s. From studying Jan’s mind, now that he had completed his Mystic training, his mind was a picture of order and stability, almost an opposite of the façade she put up. That worked perfectly for her brother, but was almost useless to her in her situation.

Still, his mind was balanced. The Cosmic flows were in harmony, the energy levels at equilibrium.

That was all something that Naero had never been able to accomplish since her enlightening.

As she always did, if she could not find that harmony within herself, at least she could attempt to mimic it.

Without warning, Naero blinked and stood before the vast barrier of the KDM. She stared eye to eye, nearly nose to snout with her Kexxian counterpart or liaison–whatever she was.

The enigmatic Orean. Was the Kexx as tall as her now? Before she had been slightly shorter. What did this change mean? Did it signify anything?

“I know,” Naero said aloud, or psyonically, or whatever, in flawless Kexxian. “We’re still in my stupid head, so why should anything here make sense, right?”

Orean simply smirked her toothy grin.

“What, no questions this time? No booming insults from the great voice of thunders?” Naero waggled her hands for emphasis.

“A fool does not need to be insulted,” Orean said.

“Ah-hah! So, I’m right, aren’t I? You’re not just speaking in questions anymore, are you?”

Orean sighed heavily and rolled her eyes. “You are the one babbling in questions. What an idiot. Now that you have all the answers within you, you’re no closer to knowing the right questions to ask. Hopeless. I might as well leave.”

Orean turned to go.

“Wait!” Naero called out desperately. “Who…what are the G’lothc? How can they be defeated?”

Orean faced Naero again, but they were still separated.

“You know as well as I, N. The G’lothc are a Cosmic disease, an infection of the entire universe–a dark plague of destruction.”

“Aren’t they a near perfection of the Dark force,” Naero added out loud, “of Destruction itself given the force of will?”

Orean stepped closer, waiting patiently, her face now impassive.

Naero grasped for another point, another question. “What…who are the…were…the Drians?”

“You’re stalling,” Orean told her. “You won’t find what it is that you need that way.”

“Weren’t the Drians the perfection of the Machine?” Naero asked.

“And they left untold gifts to the universe in their passing, which have yet to be known and fulfilled. Come now, you can do better than all that. That is not your primary concern.”

Orean stayed where she was, neither advancing nor retreating.

Naero wracked her mind trying to come up with the key–the proper inquiry.

“What happened to the Kexx? Where did they go and why?”

Orean smiled at her for the first time that day and inched forward. “You’re so close, but you still don’t have it. Cramming three big questions together won’t get you there. You’re trying to leap ahead. You must know much more than you do now, before you can answer them.”

“The Kexx, they…uh,” Haisha! Why couldn’t she figure it out?

Orean surprised her by stepping forward and taking Naero’s hands. “You’re such a paradox, Naero. So full of Love and Hate–the will to create and destroy. The power to choose and not choose. You dance your life upon the razor’s edge and still find a way to prevail. Trickster. You even manage to trick yourself. How radiant and terrifying you are.”

The Kexx reached up and touched Naero’s Face.

Naero gasped wide-eyed, as if transfixed by a thunderbolt.

“We were just like you…and we faced the same fears.”

“Who w-were the K-kexx?” Naero stammered, still trying to catch her breath. “What were they like?”

Orean laughed, kissed her on both cheeks, and embraced her. “The truths you seek are in the heart, as well as the mind and the soul. The perfect balance between the three. The Harmony of all things, the Great Mystery which makes us all one, and makes each of us whole as individuals.”

Naero embraced her Kexxian counterpart and began to weep. “I’m still ignorant…and unworthy.”

Orean pulled away from her and smiled once more. “All of us are, before the sheer might and the eternal majesty of the universe. All are exposed and laid bare, and found wanting. Yet we are also blessed with the eternal power and the freedom to change, to strive to make ourselves into what we need to be.”

Naero lifted her head and wiped her eyes.

Then her jaw really did drop as she looked before herself and kept walking.

In her haste and wonder, she stepped right through Orean as if she were but a holo. Then she looked all around her.

“The impassable barrier,” Naero said, breathless. “It’s gone. There is nothing in my way now.”

She beheld the shining wisdom and the knowledge of the Kexxian Data Matrix, laid out before her and organized like an immense library–the size of an entire gigacity.

“Where did the barrier go?” Naero demanded.

Orean passed through her and turned to face Naero again, clasping her hands in front of herself. “I told you before, Naero. There was no barrier; there never was one. It only existed in your own mind, just as myself and all of this does, because for some reason in your head, you needed such at a given time. In your mind, you create what you need, even if that works against you at times. Perhaps you did not trust yourself. Or fully know what it was that you should do.”

“I want to know…I want to understand.”

Orean smiled and stepped aside, waving her hand the shining city of knowledge.

Naero went to one of the many ornate building structures and walked right through the walls.

She quickly came out gasping for air again as if she had just broken the surface from being deep underwater.

“I glimpsed it, Orean.”

“You immersed yourself in knowledge.”

Naero had to sit down and place her head between her legs. “Medical knowledge–so much of it. The Kexx cured every disease, once, until the knowledge was lost. For millions of years, they eliminated all sickness. Yet they could not cure Death itself.”

“That is because Death is not a disease nor a sickness. Death is a gift to mortal, sentient beings. There would be new definitions of Chaos and horror if nothing or no one in the universe ever perished, died, or moved on.”

Naero tried to get up, but fell back to her hands and knees, shaking her head. “It was all so overwhelming, to be so immersed in such overwhelming knowledge. I felt as if I were drowning in it.”

Orean nodded. “I will be like that for a long while, yet. Proceed cautiously. Get used to it. Nothing about all of this shall be easy. You must be careful. There is always danger in knowledge. You could lose yourself in all of this and never find your way back. Ever.”

Naero felt herself pale and she shuddered. “To hell with that!” But she sensed how very real and possible that danger actually was.

“Haisha…where do I start?” Naero said.

“Start with something small,” Orean told her. “Start with something simple. I will be your reference point.” The Kexxian girl took her hand. “I will be your anchor. With me at your side, you will never be lost. I can always show you the way out of the Cosmic Labyrinth.”

“A labyrinth?”

“Yes, if you beheld the KDM from above, as it is now, you would see that it is a maze-like labyrinth.”

“I see, like a complex circuit. An enormous computer. But you know the way out, right?”

Orean nodded. “I do, and just as you found your way in, I will teach you how to find your way out. Here is the secret: The Labyrinth is a shifting mass of hyper-phazic, shifting giga-algorithms. It is never the same each time you enter it, and each time that you leave it. Just as you will be. You change it, and it changes you. It’s very nature is Change.”

“I don’t understand. If it’s always different, how do I get out?

Orean shook her head and laughed. “Because you always know where you are. And you know what’s outside. That makes you the constant.”

“Inside my big stupid head?”

The Kexx girl smiled at her.

Naero studied the gigacity of knowledge. “Hmmm…you said to start with something easy…something simple, right?”

She picked the smallest structure of them all to approach and enter within.

None of the structures had doors or windows.

Naero just passed through the walls.

Within she was immersed in an ocean of sound, waves and streams which flowed past, through, and around her.

It was music. She had entered a world of–no–a universe of music. She went forward, experiencing every form of music and sound that could be imagined throughout all of the possible galaxies combined.

How wonderful.

But then she began to feel the naked power of it all.