The Fredorian Destiny: Book 2 of the Evaran Chronicles Read online

  Dr. Snowden noticed Andia tilting her head as if in contemplation. He figured she was now beginning to realize that Evaran might just be able to find the lost Arkaron crystals.

  “Is there something else there we should be worried about?” asked Andia.

  The broker’s smile wound down, and his eyes sparkled. He looked at Evaran. “Possibly.”

  “Well, aren’t you going to tell us?” asked Andia as she circled a hand in front of her.

  The broker shook his head. “I can’t.”

  Andia jerked her head back. “Why not?”

  “His rules,” said the broker, pointing to Evaran.

  Andia creased her eyebrows and looked at Evaran. “You understanding any of this?”

  Evaran nodded and faced the broker. “I do. We appreciate the information. Come, let us go.” He turned and walked back toward the chamber they came down in, with Dr. Snowden, Emily, and Andia in tow.

  The door to the chamber was open, and as they were about to enter it, the broker called out to them. “Wait!” He ran up to Dr. Snowden. “Can I see the chip in your pocket?”

  Dr. Snowden glanced at Evaran, who nodded. “Not sure how you know about that, but sure, why not?” He reached into his front right pants pocket and pulled out a device that looked like a poker chip. He handed it to the broker.

  The broker grabbed it and bounded over to one of his tables. He pulled out a scalpel-looking device and shot a few lasers from it at the chip. He bounded back to Dr. Snowden and handed it to him. “There you go. I silenced the output for you.”

  Dr. Snowden put the chip back in his pocket. “Okay … why’d you do that?”

  The broker smiled. “My gift to you.” The broker’s smile wound down, and he swallowed hard. He walked over to Emily and hugged her waist. “And thank you.”

  Emily glanced at Evaran, whose eyes were narrowed. She chuckled and looked at the broker as he stepped back. “Thanks, I think.”

  The broker nodded and waved them away. “Go. Adventure awaits you.” He bounded to the far side of the room and sat at a console.

  They walked into the chamber. The door slid shut, and the chamber began to rise.

  “What an interesting character,” said Dr. Snowden.

  Emily giggled. “I kinda liked him. He’s adorable.”

  The male hologram appeared. “I can still hear you.”

  Evaran smiled. “You have been helpful.”

  The hologram nodded, then dissipated. The chamber came to a stop. The door to the outside slid open, and they exited the chamber. Dr. Snowden walked over to the guardrail on the platform and looked out. The smell of the station was now familiar to him, and he took in a deep breath and then exhaled. He was still coming to grips about where he was and what he had seen. Emily and Andia joined him by the walkway. He turned his head to look at Evaran.

  Evaran had his utility handle pulled out and extended into a baton. He pointed ahead. “We are not alone.”

  Dr. Snowden thought his eyes were playing tricks on him, as he could see the faint outline of a humanoid by the disturbances of light swirling around the edges where Evaran was pointing. On the ground next to the disturbance was a crumpled robotic body with a hole in its chest and its head a few feet away. He reached back and tapped Andia and Emily. “Hey, you two.”

  The light disturbances faded, and a large reptilian male humanoid came into view. The reptilian had on medium-gray light armor packed with pouches and small devices ringing his belt. He had a large, oddly shaped weapon pointing at Evaran. He hissed in a deep voice. “Gotcha.” He shot a red beam at Evaran, who had raised his forearm shield.

  Dr. Snowden’s eyes popped open when he saw the beam cut through Evaran’s shield.

  The beam enveloped Evaran, causing him to stumble. The reptilian shot another blast. Evaran fell to the ground and stopped moving.

  Dr. Snowden’s heartbeat ramped up as a chill went through him. He had never seen Evaran hurt before, much less knocked out, or maybe it was worse than that. He gritted his teeth and ran toward Evaran while glaring at the reptilian. “Hey!”

  The reptilian flicked a few switches on his weapon and then pointed it at Dr. Snowden, who stopped in his tracks.

  “Get back!” said Andia as she stepped to the side of Dr. Snowden with her sidearm raised. She fired at the reptilian. Her beam dissipated upon hitting a shield of some type.

  Dr. Snowden almost forgot about using his PSD as a stun weapon. He reached into his pants pocket to retrieve it.

  The reptilian laughed, then fired a wide blue beam. Dr. Snowden felt a surge of electricity shoot through him as he fell to the ground. He trembled uncontrollably as he saw Andia crumple and turned to see Emily had been laid out. He clenched his jaw as he bore a gaze through the reptilian. He then tried to crawl over to Emily.

  The reptilian walked over to Dr. Snowden with a device in his hand. He kicked Dr. Snowden in the stomach and then rolled him over onto his back. Dr. Snowden squinted and grunted through pain as the reptilian put a foot on his chest.

  “Impressive. You should be down. You’re tough for a soft skin, I’ll give you that,” said the reptilian, grinning and revealing a mouth of sharp teeth.

  Dr. Snowden shuddered as the reptilian jabbed him with the device. His eyes dulled, and then he passed out.

  Dr. Snowden grunted as he heard Emily speaking. He shook his head. He thought he could hear that music from Duzuul’s Crater pounding away in his head. He exhaled through his nose and tried to move and then noticed he was sitting in something with his ankles and hands bound by metal-like bands. The taste of blood was on his tongue as he rolled it around in his mouth. He wriggled a bit and then looked around. To his right was Emily, who appeared to be in the same structure as he was. He turned his head as far right as he could and saw Evaran and Andia also in the same structures, but facing the opposite direction. It was like chairs built on a platform of some type, and it was moving. The tunnel they were in was dimly lit, but he was still able to focus on the grinning reptilian pushing the platform they were on.

  The reptilian smirked. “You’re awake. Surprising.”

  “What the hell is going on?”

  The reptilian half smiled. “Krikus Det’s the name. You’re being transported to my ship. Once I get you to where you need to be, I get paid. That’s what the hell is going on.” He laughed.

  Dr. Snowden looked over at Emily, who was squinting while shaking her head. He cleared his throat. “Emily, you okay?”

  “Yeah … just a little dizzy,” said Emily.

  “You should be. You got hit by a Cetarkan stun beam. Really surprised the old man didn’t go down the first shot,” said Krikus.

  Dr. Snowden narrowed his eyes as he turned to look at Krikus. He heard Andia rustling behind him.

  “This bounty must be worth something for you to take this risk,” said Andia with a gravelly voice.

  Before Krikus could respond, Evaran piped in. “Five million for me, Dr. Snowden, and Emily.”

  Krikus smiled, again displaying a row of sharp teeth. “Yes, but there is a bounty on Andia for two hundred and fifty thousand.”

  “From who?” asked Andia.

  “Not who, where. You’re going to Tokara.”

  “And that is?”

  Krikus laughed. “Ice moon. One way in to the underwater base under the ice, one way out. I don’t understand why soft skins would pay for you, but the important aspect is they do. You’re the prime ambassador of Fredoria. There will be quite a few interested based on your list price.”

  “Pay for me? To do what?” asked Andia.

  “If you have ever had any enemies, they will be notified. For a small sum, they can have some time with you alone. Pleasure, torture, who knows what they have in mind. Once you have outlived your usefulness, or no one pays for you, you die.”

  “That’s quite sickening,” said Andia.

  “I’ve heard stories from there. You soft skins can be quite depraved.”

  Dr. Snow
den imagined Andia did not think this trip would go this way. The chip in his pocket kept rubbing into his leg, causing him to look down at his right front pocket. When he leaned toward the side, the communication chip briefly flashed light blue. Leaning hard enough that the device was pressed squarely against the chair he was in caused it to glow with a steady blue light. He wondered if Jala was contacted and the blue light meant she was listening. The information broker mentioned he had silenced the output. Did he know this was going to happen? Maybe Jala could help. He cleared his throat. “So, Krikus Det, you’re a bounty hunter who has captured us and is now taking us to your ship, then you will take us to some place to get paid.”

  Krikus growled. “I already told you that. You better not be damaged.”

  “No, not at all. Just wanted to make sure it was clear what’s going on,” said Dr. Snowden.

  “There was a robotic body nearby when you captured us. It appears you had some competition. Did he get any of your crew?” asked Evaran.

  Krikus smirked. “GJ-45 stood no chance, and I work solo, as all good bounty hunters do. Why split the cost unnecessarily? He actually found you for me. Guess he thought he would ambush you, so probably didn’t expect to be dismissed like the scrub he was. Easy pickings from there. I almost got that information broker too. Been hunting that little shit for years, but he was gone when I went down to visit him. It’s like the bastard knew I was coming. He slipped out and took off in a ship. At least I got some information out of there. He won’t outrun me for much longer.”

  “Are you sure he will not double back?” asked Evaran.

  Krikus laughed. “And do what? Become my lunch?”

  “You underestimate him.”

  Dr. Snowden looked down and chuckled.

  Krikus focused on Dr. Snowden. “It is funny, isn’t it.”

  Dr. Snowden shook his head. “Not that. I was just remembering something someone told me a while back about being on the opposite side of Evaran.”

  Krikus emitted a low growl. “Yeah, and what’s that?”

  “To paraphrase, being on the wrong side of Evaran is foolish. It never ends well,” said Dr. Snowden.

  Krikus hissed. “And given your situation now, you don’t see how foolish that sounds?”

  Dr. Snowden smiled. “I guess we’ll find out.”

  “I guess we will. You humans are annoying. If there wasn’t a clause that you not be touched, I’d cut your tongues out and seal your mouths,” said Krikus.

  The hover platform approached a section of the tunnel that narrowed down. On each side of the narrowed section was a large window. Krikus stopped the cart and walked over to one of the windows. He pointed at his wrist and nodded. He then returned to the hover platform and began pushing it.

  As they passed the narrowed section, Dr. Snowden saw two men in dirty white uniforms watch them pass. He tilted his head at them as they smiled and sat back. After a few moments, they were past the narrowed section.

  Dr. Snowden snorted. “Well, glad they helped.”

  “Amazing what a bit of money can do in a shithole like this,” said Krikus, smirking.

  Andia sighed. “Corruption everywhere.”

  They approached the tunnel exit.

  Dr. Snowden craned his neck to peer out. He saw a wide walkway, much wider than the Torvatta’s width, extend from the tunnel to a landing pad, where a sole medium-sized ship sat in the middle of it.

  “Almost home,” said Krikus as he quickened his pace.

  Butterflies flew in Dr. Snowden’s stomach as he wondered how they were going to get out of this. He was still surprised how easily Evaran went down. Whatever that red beam was, it must have been very powerful.

  Krikus pushed the cart out onto the wide walkway.

  About halfway there, Dr. Snowden’s heart raced as he noticed something that looked like the tip of the Torvatta’s ramp sitting in the middle of the walkway. He looked at Emily, and slightly nodded toward the ramp.

  Emily circled her head while sneaking a glance ahead. Her eyes widened, and she smiled at Dr. Snowden.

  As they neared the ramp tip, a device flew past the hover platform and bounced behind Krikus before coming to a stop. Krikus turned to look at the device.

  Dr. Snowden felt a tug as the hover platform was pulled forward. He turned and saw a robotic hand pulling it. After a moment, the cart was at a stop on the ramp inside the Torvatta’s shield. Rakar and Jala stood next to V. Dr. Snowden chuckled. “What took you so long?”

  Rakar and Jala stepped in front of the cart.

  Jala turned her head a bit to the side. “It’s not over yet, honey.”

  Emily giggled.

  Krikus backed away from the device. The device lit up briefly, then detonated, emitting a pulse of energy. Krikus roared as he fell to the ground. Rakar and Jala rushed out and fired on Krikus. Krikus grunted as his shield began to fade and electrical arcs danced on him. He rolled to the side and reached for his weapon. As he brought it to bear on Rakar, Jala ran up to Krikus and stomped his head. Krikus stopped moving. Rakar nodded at Jala.

  Back on the ramp, V had placed Evaran’s UIC on the cart. Evaran flicked his fingers across his ARI, and the restraints popped. They got up out of the cart and stood.

  Dr. Snowden stretched his neck and saw Andia and Emily get up and stretch. He walked over to Evaran, who was using the chair to stand up. “You okay?”

  Evaran nodded and grimaced. “A bit weak.”

  Dr. Snowden put his arm around Evaran. “I’ll help you into the ship.”

  “In a bit. Is everyone okay?”

  Everyone nodded.

  Evaran squinted at Krikus, then turned to Rakar. “Glad you showed up. How did you know we were captured?”

  Rakar gestured at V. “The information broker told V of the situation, so we got into the Torvatta, stealthed, then landed on the walkway and waited.” He then gestured at Jala. “Jala was already here looking around. She said Dr. Snowden contacted her, so she followed the communication chip’s location and waited outside the tunnel for him. We discovered we were here for the same reason. We put our heads together, and well, our plan worked, although Krikus was a bit tougher than I expected.”

  “V was contacted by the information broker?” asked Emily.

  Rakar nodded. “Silva went into a building to meet with someone. I stood outside and waited. When the information broker contacted V, it was through a screen on the side of a building. V decloaked, and we investigated. I informed Silva, who didn’t care, then we headed out here.”

  Emily smirked. “Well, I’m sorry we inconvenienced Silva.”

  “He was more upset that V had followed us,” said Rakar, smiling.

  “I am glad you came to help. Taking on Krikus was a bit risky. He is quite formidable,” said Evaran.

  Rakar exhaled from his nose. “Yeah. I had asked V to help, but he said there were restrictions preventing him from engaging in body mode, and that Krikus would be able to see through any hologram.”

  “I see. I may need to adjust that.”

  Dr. Snowden looked at V. “Speaking of the broker, where is that little fur ball?”

  “He is gone. He said his cover was blown here and he needed to leave. His notification to me was a farewell gift,” said V.

  Evaran nodded. “We will meet him again, I am sure.” He scanned Krikus with his ring. “He is unconscious, but I am unsure for how long. Rakar, can you take off Krikus’s armor? I cannot go near it until it is properly secured.”

  Rakar nodded and walked over to Krikus and began taking off pieces of his armor.

  “V, load Krikus on the cart when his armor is off, then take his armor and weapon to the research lab and secure it. I will then transport Krikus to his ship.”

  “Acknowledged.” V pushed the cart over to where Krikus was.

  Evaran turned toward Dr. Snowden, Emily, and Andia. “Dr. Snowden, I will need you to help me load Krikus onto his ship. I also need to do a few other things while I am there.” />
  Dr. Snowden nodded.

  “What about us?” asked Emily, pointing between her and Andia.

  “You two can help move the armor to the Torvatta when it is off Krikus.”

  Emily half smiled. “We’re on it.” She and Andia walked over to where Krikus was. They each picked up a piece of armor that Rakar had removed.

  It did not take long to get Krikus’s armor off. Krikus had on a red undergarment that covered a majority of his body. V picked up Krikus and put him in one of the chairs. Evaran walked over to the cart and interacted with his ARI. The restraints adjusted to the size of Krikus’s wrists and ankles, then clamped down.

  Evaran sat down next to Krikus and then waved at Dr. Snowden.

  Dr. Snowden walked behind the cart and pushed. He noticed it glided easily. Rakar, Andia, Emily, and V headed to the Torvatta with their arms packed with armor pieces.

  Jala walked beside Dr. Snowden. “I’m going with you.”

  Dr. Snowden half smiled. “Not a problem with me.” He looked at Evaran. “So what was that red beam? It cut through your shield without much effort.”

  “Palisin energy. It is extremely rare. I have never seen it in a quantity where it could be used in a weapon. I will need to formulate a counter for it when we get back to the Torvatta.”

  “I’ve never heard of Palisin energy.”

  Jala shook her head. “Me either.”

  “This is just another type of exotic energy that has some unusual properties. It does not affect normal matter much but has a very powerful impact on other exotic matter and energy, as you saw.”

  Dr. Snowden sighed. “Well, hopefully we don’t run into it again. I’d like to learn more about all that.”

  “There is a holo program on them you can check out later.”

  They had gone around the Torvatta and approached Krikus’s ship. Dr. Snowden noticed it had an aggressive profile that was studded with weaponry. It was shaped like a computer mouse, with the back of the ship sporting large metallic burners.

  When they reached the side door of the ship, Evaran stood up and grabbed his UIC off the hover cart. He walked over and placed it on a console near the door. The door opened, and a ramp extended to the ground. He motioned at Dr. Snowden, who pushed the cart up the ramp.