Allies and Enemies Duology - Dust Shadow Insurgence #5 & Allies From Dust #6
DSI: Containment

DSI Chapter 2 Reaching for the stars

They landed at Epoch Research Industries just as the military arrived... Daisy handed her tablet to Davin as they walked toward General Taylor, Admiral Abernathy, Senator Colton and several others. The scan showed the senator and her aide had high levels of dark energy contamination. Daisy knew Mrs. Colton used to work closely with Damien Neimad and was not surprised by the reading.

“We need to contain them,” she advised in a low voice.

“Lab 11,” Davin responded quietly. Ezra only nodded.

In his best showman voice, Davin loudly greeted the gathering of global security committee members, “Welcome! Gentlemen and ladies, please follow me to our secure conference room and I will show you our latest developments, which includes this lovely ship you see behind us.” He led them inside.

Daisy and Ezra lingered behind. They pulled General Taylor and Admiral Abernathy aside. A tall, muscular marine stood nearby.

“Hey, Samuel. How’s your family?” Daisy asked.

“Good. You still making trouble, Lil’ Miss?” the large Samoan asked.

“The worst kind, of course,” she answered, grinning.

Taylor didn’t smile, instead he groaned, “What now?”

“The senator and her aide are under the influence of inter-dimensional aliens,” Ezra said plainly to them.

Taylor rolled his eyes, retorting, “I know she is arrogant, but under alien influence?”

Daisy looked him in the eye, and answered, “Yes, just like Damien Neimad.”

Abernathy looked shocked, “Neimad was under alien influence?”

“Actually, he was an alien-human mix who was under the influence of another far more dangerous race of inter-dimensional beings, ones who seek to destroy our world. And we are about to prove it is as real a problem today as it was 10,000 years ago during the last ice age. They are a threat to us, and our only allies on Aetheria. Our peoples need each other,” Daisy assured him.

“I can’t tell you how glad I am that you are back from the dead, Daisy,” Taylor responded sarcastically.

She smirked. “I missed you too, Ty.” sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ FɪndNøvel.ɴᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

She looked past them to see Meara leading Vole into the building and out of sight. The tall blond guardsmen needed to change out of his uniform and into something less conspicuous. She wondered if Taylor had noticed her ears yet, but there was no time for her to enjoy the thought of his surprise. Davin was in the underground Lab 11 with two beings who could easily kill all of the humans with him.

“Are you ready gentlemen?” She asked coldly. “Because the enemy is downstairs, and we are late.”

“I got your back, Lil’ Miss.” Sam smiled and patted his sidearm. It was just like old times, Daisy found trouble, and he helped fix it. Sam was glad the rumors she was dead proved as false, as were the accusations that she was a terrorist. His whole unit, from his earlier years in spec-ops, owed her their lives. None of them had forgotten, and Sam especially hadn’t forgotten the lengths she had gone to in order to introduce him to Marianne, his wife. When he was done here today, he had some calls to make.

Daisy led them into the underground high security labs. Meara was serving refreshments, Vole now looked like another college intern working late. As they entered the room, Senator Colton scowled and rose to confront her

“Dr. Cane, you should be in prison,” she accused.

“Senator Tillary Colton, how unpleasant. Hasn’t the ethics committee indicted you on corruption and coercion charges for all the dirty work you did for Neimad?” Daisy accused in rebuttal, eyes narrow. “Or did you use all the money he bought you with to bribe them too?”

The women glared at each other. Their animosity was palpable. The senator was one of the people who got her declared a terrorist and locked up in an institution for the criminally insane after Damien murdered her family and all the people in Jonstown.

“I didn’t have anything to do with the alleged corruption charged against Mr. Neimad,” the senator insisted.

“Alleged corruption charged against Mr. Neimad!?” Daisy scoffed, “Why don’t you just call him Lord Damien? That was what he preferred his pets to call him.”

“Ladies, Neimad is long gone. We are just here to show our visitors our new tech,” Davin interrupted. He steered Daisy over to the seat next to his. “Calm down, what the freak are you doing?” he whispered.

“Sorry, I can’t help it,” Daisy could feel the pulsing of the oracle stone against her skin and the evil in the senator and her aide was making her angry and irrational. She knew she needed to calm down, but all she wanted to do was pull out Adamos’ sword and fight the darkness standing at the other end of the table. “Just start already, Vole is going to adjust the lights to a spectrum that will help us.”

Davin could see the tall Aetherian sitting at a computer with Ezra next to him, and Meara over his shoulder. Whatever they were doing, it looked benign, but he noticed the lights in the room slowly changing to a golden hue. He nodded and pulled up the presentation that they had planned to give to the government committees next week. Davin looked around the room, his eyes rested on Senator Colton and her aide. He almost shivered, she reminded him of Lady Eva and Mattilda Azoni. Both women lived and died to do Damien’s evil will.

Davin had read Daisy’s notes on all who belonged to Damien after their return from Aetheria. It had helped him immensely as he navigated the politics of a post-Damien world. There were still many in power who had once belonged to Karstien’s evil brother, who still lived and worked as if Damien was alive. Kaleth had told them how those who served Damien had caused problems for centuries on New Aetheria. Davin was once again glad that his people did not live that long. Semi-immortal enemies was a problem he wished to never have again, and he was grateful that Damien was dead.

He smiled when the senator looked up at him, “Can I offer you anything before we start Senator? Coffee, tea, soda?” ’Goblet of blood’, he thought. Her eyes narrowed and Davin wondered for a moment if she heard his thought.

“No, Dr. Jeong, just get on with it so we can shut your company down once and for all,” she hissed. She had the amazing ability to sound like a large reptile when she was angry.

“Oh, you won’t be doing that, I assure you,” Daisy declared in a cold voice, “When we are done today, your committee will welcome our work.”

Tillary snorted derisively, “There is nothing you can offer that will change my mind.”

Over the next hour, Davin presented all the tech advances for planet bound uses. Then Daisy rose and began the presentation on the space tech in Ezra’s place. The assembled military and civilian members of the security committee were impressed.

“And now ladies and gentlemen, and senator,” Daisy elaborated as she glared toward Tillary who was starting to squirm under the whitish-golden light, “This is what we simply call a Tower back on Aetheria, which is where I have lived since I left Terrearth. Yes, I left and lived on another planet and while there, assessed a new threat to us. These towers produce a deadly combination of sub-zero cold and toxic radiation. The sheets of ice cover the planets forcing the radiation to ‘age it’, for lack of a better term. The planets basically get super freezer burn. If left unstopped, this is what happens to the planets attacked.” She shows the images of an ice-covered world floating in a velvet black sky, slowly the world shudders and begins to come apart. “This world was called Thanios 4, it was the last habitable planet left of five. We were too late to save it.”

They watched amazed and horrified as the planet disintegrated.

Daisy almost shuddered at the memory, but she continued, “This would have been our world’s fate had we not discovered a way to move through time to stop it.”

“How could you move through time?” the Admiral asked amazed.

Davin answered, “We found an alien device that allowed us to move to certain points in the past. At one of those points we found this was happening to our world. The last ice age that started 12,000 years ago and stopped suddenly 10,000 years ago. It was not an odd phenomenon of nature. The enemy intended to harvest our world. We went back and destroyed the tower with the help of the ancient Aetherians living on our world after being forced to flee their own. Unfortunately, the time device burnt out getting us back.” Davin ended with a lie, he did not want anyone to know the time machine still existed, especially not the person who had once served Damien at the end of the table.

Daisy nodded, adding, “I didn’t travel the world as we told the press, I joined the Aetherians when they returned to their home-world. The Aetherians, from whom most of our tech has been evolved from, have been destroying the towers for centuries. We have found systems where all the habitable planets have been destroyed or harvested. Harvesting is a process where up to the top 20 to 100 meters have been peeled off the surface, in some cases multiple times, but now the enemy has started just taking the whole planet. Our enemy needs resources, so they just take them, feeding off the life of the worlds they destroy. They also send emissaries into the overworld, to recruit and, for lack of a better term, ‘possess’ people who will serve their goals. We have discovered several such traitors on Aetheria and a few here. Damien Neimad was one of those who would betray our world, and two more are in this room at this very moment.” Daisy concluded looking directly at the Senator and her aide.

The lights flashed and changed to a strange golden hue. The aide collapsed on the floor, writhing but Senator Colton pushed herself up from the table and clapped her hands slowly, strange black wisp of smoke were swirling around her body.

“So, you figured out our little secret, Oracle, but it won’t save anyone in this room,” she hissed, and her eyes turned glowing red. The civilians scrambled to get away from her.

Daisy stepped forward unafraid, pulling her amulet out from under her shirt, “I’ve killed enough of your kind to know your tricks. Davin, please take everyone out through the back.”

A wall opened revealing a second exit to the room. Davin rushed the other committee members out to safety and to witness what was about to come. Senator Tillary Colton was one of Damien’s dark creatures. The Oracle felt a shiver run up her spin, she had prayed that none of these abominations were on her home-world, her hopes proved false and now they had to contain the creature in this room. Her breathing remained oddly calm as she stepped toward her enemy.

“Surrender and will attempt to save you,” Daisy offered in a more benevolent tone than she felt..

“The darkness will return and devour you all, everything will be his,” the senator announced in the strange raspy voice, her body is contorting strangely.

“Damien is dead,” Daisy retorted with finality.

“You did not kill Lord Damien, Oracle, only his body died, but he will return more powerful,” the creature growled, the smoke spread out like a spider web around her.

Daisy stood between their retreat and the threat. Ezra stepped in behind them and handed Daisy a hooked sword. The door sealed them in with the creature that was once one of the most powerful women in the world

Meara and the blonde intern entered holding strange looking swords, they blocked the main door. Ezra and Davin’s sister-in-law Meara was holding the ruby sword Taylor has seen her wield before. The tall intern had a sword with an emerald crest that glows iridescent in the golden light. Suddenly, Taylor noticed the intern had the same ears and eyes as Kars. The young man’s silvery eyes also glowed the way Karstien’s did in battle.

Admiral Abernathy, General Taylor, and Sam stood behind Daisy, weapons drawn.

Ezra raised his weapon. “Put your sidearms away, sirs. Regular bullets have no effect on these creatures,” Ezra revealed. He was holding a high-powered assault rifle, “Taylor, do you remember those custom rounds Daisy made for Damien? They were a specialized metal, same as my ammunition is today. You have to use those to kill it.”

Taylor and Admiral Abernathy made no move to leave, neither did their escort. Ezra just shook his head again, he knew that they had no idea what they faced. Everyone was watching from outside the room.

Daisy had the ancient curved sword of Adamos held tightly as the Oracle stone began to shine Oracle light and her skin glowed with it. The smoke tentacles solidified and slashed at Meara and Vole, who blocked and dodged away. Ezra dropped to a knee and opened fire, but the floating ribbons close protectively around the being that was Senator Colton. Daisy struck, and lightning flashes. The tentacles flailed and destroyed the table, smashing chairs into the walls. Sam stepped up and opened fire, but the regular bullets went through the creature and cracked the containment glass behind her. Tillary laughed and struck at him, knocking him into a wall. She raised to strike again, but Daisy stepped between them and blocked with another blast of oracle light and lightning.

“Sam, get up,” Daisy snapped, as she pulled at his arm with her free hand, “And get the brass out of here.”

Meara sliced off two of the tentacles and Vole did the same, they fell into dust on the floor. Ezra was peppering the flailing cords with the specialized munitions, the rounds spark and sizzle inside the smoke. Daisy lunged forward striking again and a brilliant flash of white light filled the room. The group repeated the attack twice more in sequence and the creature was almost dead. Daisy took the lead, the light of the oracle stone glowing around her, protecting her. Davin watched the battle, but he also watched the committee members reactions too. Their shock and horror was real, they could no longer deny the nightmare in the room beyond was the stuff of science fiction. He glanced at the scans of those in the room, Meara, Daisy, and Vole were showing minor injuries, Sam is seriously injured. Ezra, Taylor, and Abernathy were unharmed, the senator’s creature is severely weakened.

Davin’s voice echoed in the room over the intercom, “She’s at 10%, Daisy. Get it freaking finished!”

“Behind me,” Daisy ordered.

Meara and Vole stood just behind her ready to attack again. The smoke tentacles had destroyed most of the furnishings and cracked several of the heavily fortified containment windows, but it would not escape them. The ribbon tentacle lash forward and to strike at Daisy, whose eyes glowed with the amulet’s power as she blocked. It hissed and growled like a giant serpent, red eyes glowing, black body contorting weirdly in the golden light.

The Oracle Daisy spoke coldly, “I am sorry Senator Colton, but I cannot allow any who served Damien’s darkness to threaten our world.” There was a blinding flash of white light, the once human woman rapidly withered to a nightmarish husk before collapsing, a pile of black dust was all that remained of the creature the senator had become.

“What the heck was that thing?!?” Abernathy exclaimed in shock.

“Our enemy,” Daisy answered tiredly, “Welcome to the war, gentlemen.”

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