Kareivis: Warrior

CHAPTER 12: VARETU

Muhali found great comfort in her heart as she realised just how well the people, she was close to knew her character. She ordered everyone to get some rest as they would be implementing their plan at first light in the morning. Because Rehsa knew her way around Pirmas she volunteered to show the young Masters around so that Muhali could rest. She explained to the young masters that the Pirmas had been built in a place called South Africa in the continent of Africa. She explained that the people of that place were allies with Muhali and they would never turn her over to the Channidae. She further explained that it was an underground facility that had been built underneath a prison that had been shut down. After the tour of Pirmas Rehsa showed the young Masters to their arehful and she proceeded to go to her own arehful so she could also rest. In the morning the young masters met Muhali, Rehsa, Farisei and two of the royal guards at the Kamara (departure jumper bay). They were also joined by one more person, a guard from the Antrinis facility. The guard was also the courier who ran errands for most of the engineers at the Antrinis facility. Muhali had asked the guard to assist the young Masters to navigate their way around earth without being detected or calling any attention to themselves. As soon as the young Masters departed, Muhali also boarded a ship which went deep underwater and it launched her and Farisei into the ocean. A safe distance from Pirmas was a jump gate that was built for emergencies. The Jump gate allowed them to make a jump that landed them near the Antrinis facility. When they got off the ship Muhali instructed the ship to go back to the ocean so that it would remain undetected and so they would be able to summon it back for their departure. She gave Farisei a wrist band similar to hers but different in that it could only allow him to access stealth mode of his armour and a shield against the Channidae weapons. She explained to him that she knew how Lukos escaped. She had built emergency entry and exit points on the Antrinis site which were not in the original schematics. She had done this so that if there was an emergency and for some reason the people could not use the normal exit points they would be able to reach safety through the emergency exits. She also explained that finding the entrance would be difficult as once initiated they were constantly changing. It would require her to use her abilities to find them quickly. Once this was done the Channidae would know of her arrival in the Antrinis facility. Farisei did not agree with the strategy of Muhali using herself as bait to give the young masters enough time to find Lukos. But Muhali could not be persuaded into changing her mind. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, when she opened them-they had changed into a bright blue colour. An entrance opened on the ground near the outer wall that surrounded the Antrinis facility. Antrinis was disguised as a tech research lab. And under the guise of a supposed contamination, the U.S government had placed military soldiers all over the premises. The entrance led them into a tunnel that allowed them to reach level twenty of the Antrinis facility. As soon as they entered the central control of the Antrinis Muhali gave Farisei instructions to move all the remaining technology into the ship. She showed him how to use his wrist band to move everything. When Muhali used her power to gain access to Antrinis the weapons the humans were using immediately alerted the humans of the presence of an intruder. The humans become alert. Their commanding officer Lieutenant Cordell Matthews headed to the bunker to communicate with his superiors about the new developments. And as soon as he had finished reporting to them, he got the sudden urge to go to the outer wall. He ordered his second in command to attempt to penetrate the eighth level of the enemy's facility. Muhali and Farisei could see the commotion that was taking place on the facility grounds as well as the sixth level of Antrinis. Although the humans had taken over what seemed like a surveillance station, they were unaware that it was only a precautionary measure taken to ensure that no suspicion was aroused. The real surveillance conduit was in the twentieth level which was Yuda's main core. Muhali and Farisei searched and searched but they could not find the component that would activate Yuda. And without Yudah herself helping them search, their task would be much more difficult to perform. Yudah was the A.I in-charge of Antrinis. Muhali ordered Farisei to activate stealth mode on his protective armour while she would lower the shield of levels fifteen through twenty. She could see the humans on the monitors attempting to break through the barrier that was keeping them out of level eight. She smiled in a cheeky and confident manner knowing that they would never be able to break through on their own. Confident as she was, to her surprise she saw one of the soldiers entering through the back entrance of the outer wall that she had used her powers to open. It was as if the soldier knew where he was going because there were multiple tunnels that led to multiple points of entry and exit. She contacted Farisei who was on the seventeenth level to find out if he had finished tagging all the remaining assets, so they could teleport them aboard the ship that that had transported them to Antrinis. In response Farisei told her that he was only left with the assets on level eight, and he would require that she lower the shield of level eight but that she should leave the barrier intact. Muhali did exactly as Farisei asked but she also realised that at the rate at which the soldier was moving he could reach her position at any moment. She quickly removed Antrinis-Yuda's main conduit and put it in the board she had on Pirmas. Then she attached the board to her armour on her back. She knelt and looked to the ground with her right hand on the floor, as she lifted her head to look forward the colour of her eyes changed. They became a bright blue colour, and her armour began to thicken and a covering for her face began to spread from behind her ear leaving only her eyes exposed. Her senses became heightened as she attempted to search for Antrinis-Yuda's main core. She could hear the soldier closing in on her position and she could hear the A.I on his weapon tracking her. She saw the core on the eleventh level. She notified Farisei who in turn told her that he had finished tagging the remaining assets. Muhali paused for a few moments, just long enough for the soldier to catch a glimpse of her. Immediately after he saw her, she ran out through the exit and into the corridor. The soldier ran after her, but he could not reach up to her because she was too fast. Muhali contacted Farisei and she instructed him to meet her at level eleven, in the vault. The vault was where they kept all information pertaining to new technology they had developed. There were only three individuals including Muhali who had access to that room. Just as she arrived, she quickly used her access cube to unlock the secret panel where Antrinis-Yuda's main core had been hidden. Farisei was still in stealth mode and the soldier’s weapons had not picked up his presence so he could easily sneak into the vault without being noticed. The soldier entered the vault just after Farisei did and he immediately pointed his weapon at Muhali. She lifted her left hand as if she was surrendering while her right hand went behind her back as she whispered: “Farisei, ant mano nugaros (on my back).” Farisei quickly went behind her and he detached the glowing board from her armour and he also took Antrinis-Yuda’s core from her hand. He then attached both to his armour and they turned invisible as his shield covered them. He attempted to put his right hand on her shoulder in order to cover her as well but she shrugged him off and said: “Ne! (No!) Eiti be manęs (go without me).” She could still feel Farisei’s presence in the room and she shouted: “Eiti! (Go!) Tagad! (Now)” The human that was pointing his weapon at her kept shouting: “both hands… let me see both hands…” but when he heard her shout it was as if the language was familiar to him. He messaged the other soldiers that there was more than one hostile and he had apprehended one, so they needed to be on the lookout for the others. He also informed them that he managed to find another entry to the levels they could not penetrate. On hearing this Muhali looked back to enforce the order she had given to Farisei. When Farisei saw the look on Muhali’s face he reluctantly turned around and left. Seeing that Farisei had left; Muhali turned her attention to the soldier as she wondered how he could have known that she was addressing someone else other than him. She did not have time to process that question because she noticed that the soldier had become distracted. In an instant she grabbed the weapon away from the soldier and she dismantled it using her pure energy. She opened her hand and placed it on the chest of the soldier who went flying through the glass panel that had divided the vault and its entrance. The soldier un-phased by the jolt quickly got up and turned his head side to side as though he was unknotting his muscles. He clinched his fist as his knuckles and body began to make a popping sound like that of popcorn in the microwave. The soldier put up his defence guard as though to challenge Muhali in hand-to-hand combat. Muhali accepted his challenge by changing the position of her feet, but she did not put up her defence guard. The soldier finding her behaviour arrogant said to her: “I know you are supposed to be an alien and everything but I really don’t care. So, you might want to not underestimate me, or you will be sorry.” After this the soldier attacked Muhali and even though she was just stalling she realised that the soldier’s combat acumen was far above that which she expected. He was fast and attentive to her movements. With each blow she deflected he adjusted his attack strategy. Muhali had not expected to face such a gifted adversary. Even though she knew she was on a mission she could not help but enjoy herself. It had been a long time since she sparred with someone who possessed such combat skills, someone who made her want to unleash all her power. Lost in her thought Muhali settled into a fighting style she only ever displayed with one individual. And as he deflected her attack, she became alert and angered and she began to shout: “Who taught you how to do that? Who are you?” the soldier, almost out of breath laughed at her and he replied: “Oh, so now you speak English. I told you not to underestimate me.” Muhali had a human friend whom she had trained with while she was still being trained on Zeme by her majesty Queen Miera of Inthia. She had insisted on coming to Zeme so that she could be reunited with her friend whom she had called draugas which on Inthia meant friend. As the soldier continued laughing Muhali became extremely angry at the thought of her friend being tortured and used as a science experiment to enhance the abilities of the human soldiers. Her eyes blazed with the colour blue which is the symbol of a pure blood of Inthia. She raised her hand toward the soldier and a surge of pure energy wrapped itself around the soldier as if to cut him into a million tiny pieces. This attack was of a torturous nature and would inflict great pain on the one it was directed toward. And while the energy whip was slowly retracting the soldier started to whisper something “…I feel no pain. Pain is but a state of mind. I feel no fear; fear is an inhibitor of power. My body is a vessel of power. In the presence of my power all things fade away. All things come to naught and all that remains is the purity in my heart. All things fade away. All things come to naught and all that remains…” Muhali knew the mantra that he was reciting. Queen Miera had taught it to them in training; its purpose was to help deflect their minds from significant amounts of pain. Enraged by the events that were unfolding before her she released the soldier from her grip. Muhali had already released great amounts of energy, even the shields that were up were being maintained by her energy and she was getting tired. The shield that was keeping all the other soldiers out was weakening to such an extent that some of the soldiers had breached the entrance in the outer wall. Muhali wanted to unleash the energy whip once more to acquire information pertaining to her human friend. “What have you done with him? Where is he? You evil power hungry, contemptible excuse for a living being…” Muhali roared but before she could finish yelling at the human he got up and put on his defensive guard again. And as he was doing this Muhali noticed the tattoo on his hand and realised that it is twin to the one she had on her chest. They had been given the tattoos to solidify their friendship when they were children. She had not seen him in four cycles and time on Zeme moved faster than time on Inthia. Could it be possible that the soldier she was fighting would be her friend? “Sustoti (stop)…” a shaken up Muhali whispered. But the human kept attacking and she could not fight back out of the fear of harming her friend. “…Varetu, tai man (it is me) …” Muhali continued while she defended herself against the attacks of the human. “Varetu! Jums parodyti (you show off). Look at me!” She screamed in an annoyed tone. The name and words she used to address him struck a nerve with the human. He lowered his attack stance and said: “How would you know to call me that? Who are you?” Muhali’s mask retracted behind her ears. The short bob transformed into her real long and silky hair that comfortably rested on her shoulder, overlapping on her chest, cascading down her back and showing off one long braid. The blazing blue colour of her eyes died down and showed off the amber shade that haunted him as a teenager. She lifted her hand up above the floor and the pieces of the weapon gathered to her, immediately assembling the weapon. In an instant he recognised her as the girl from his dreams as a teenager. “You are real…” he said as he was about to walk over to give her a hug. She shook her head: “Don’t…” she released a heavy sigh of relief and continued saying: ”We don’t have time. Your friends will be here any moment now. You and your people have been deceived; you must not trust the Channidae. I will explain in greater detail at a later stage. For now, you must capture me, and it must be authentic. You must shoot me with this weapon, do not worry it will not harm me.” “But…” he protested. While she was handing the weapon over to Cordell the other soldiers arrived on level fifteen. But they could not get past yet another shield put up by Muhali. Cordell could not bring himself to harm this person he felt like had great significance in his life, but Muhali reassured him and said: “Shoot! Please I do not know how much longer I can keep the shields up.” The soldiers on the other side of the shields were shooting at them and they were weakening. Farisei and the Young masters could see what was happening with Muhali. Asmenu could also see Muhali’s predicament and he felt helpless since she was unaware of his presence. Seeing how reluctant Cordell was to shoot her, she used her ability to manipulate technology and she pulled the trigger. As soon as the blast of energy penetrated her armour all the barriers evaporated, and the soldiers were able to enter the inaccessible levels. The lights also started turning off starting with the ones on level twenty in descending order. She moved closer to him and she held his hand, she gazed deeply into his eyes and then she collapsed into his arms.