Chapter 2
Nahash coiled in the deepest shadows of the cargo-hold, more comfortable there than out among the crew. They were more comfortable with him hiding away as well, fearing him and visibly disgusted by the sight of him.
Their opinion of his physical appearance didn’t bother him as much as his own frustration with the changes that had been made to his body. When he’d volunteered to undergo a second meta, he’d known that the scientists planned to splice alien DNA into his imaginal discs, altering the redevelopment of his nervous system in order to give him an ability they could not replicate in any other way.
The experiment had worked. On him and him alone. The other fifteen candidates had died at various points in the process, giving even the scientists pause when it came to replicating the experiment. They were now attempting to breed hybrids using further gene manipulation on Nahash’s new DNA, but had thus far been unsuccessful in creating viable offspring.
He would never have been allowed out of the lab and onto the ship if it hadn’t been for the oprimo’s order that Nahash test his abilities in a real combat situation. The science team wanted to protect their one successful asset, but no one disobeyed the first emperor, except for Secundo, and he had other concerns right now as the leader of their intelligence community.
Oprimo’s decision to put Nahash to use so soon probably arose out of desperation. Their enemies were aware of Nahash’s existence, thanks to a traitor, and though he’d been moved before the Akrellian warships that had come for him could bombard the facility where he’d been kept, he would not be safe until he could use his new ability to its fullest capacity to protect himself from further threats of orbital bombardment. The threat from the traitors to the empire had also not yet been neutralized, so Nahash had to be ready to protect himself.
His training hadn’t taken him to that point yet, but the upcoming mission would push him to use his psionic electromagnetic manipulation while under pressures that didn’t exist in a laboratory setting. The target colony was a sore on the backside of the Iriduan Empire anyway, a pirate enclave known for dealing in smuggled goods, drugs, and slaves—all of which were forbidden in imperial space.
Because the colonists had somehow acquired anti-aircraft weapons that only the Lusians usually possessed, the colony hadn’t already been dug out like a festering infection. Nahash had no idea how or where the colony had procured the weapons, as Lusians obsessively protected their technological advantage.
Nahash had to disable the colony’s AA guns and shield generators so the war cruisers could move close enough to bombard the colony, wiping it off the map. Unfortunately, he hadn’t learned to use his abilities at the range he needed in order to use his psionics from the ship. He’d be dropped into the colony with a small strike team, using a stealth shuttle that even the colony’s defensive scanners shouldn’t be able to detect. Even if the scanners became a threat, Nahash could shut them down while on the shuttle, as soon as it came within their detection range.
He felt the vibration of footsteps heading towards his hiding place, and lifted his head and upper body off his coiled tail, stretching his arms as he turned to face the oncoming crewmember. His thermal sensors pinpointed the other male only moments before Nahash’s flicking tongue tasting the air identified him as Captain Irisek.
The captain’s tense body language revealed his discomfort as he paused near Nahash’s hiding place, his facial features cast into shadow by the stacked crates. “Nahash?”
“Captain.” He had no idea why the other male had sought him out. Certainly not for the company. His disinterest in socializing with the other soldiers mirrored their own towards socializing with him.
Irisek took a half step back before catching himself and recalling that he captained the ship, though he clearly struggled with where Nahash fell in the military hierarchy, given his special status as a test subject—which had no official rank.
“We’re approaching your drop-off point,” Irisek said. “You should head towards the shuttle bay.”
Nahash’s eye ridges lifted as he studied the other man, seeing his thermal signature better than he could his features in the shadows. “It should have taken ten more hours to reach our drop zone.”
“You’re not the only experimental project on this ship.” The captain’s voice held a smug tone Nahash didn’t like, but it didn’t pass too far into disrespectful, so he chose not to respond to it.
He debated unshielding his psionics to see if he could detect the massive energy their experimental engine must be using, but decided against that.
His shields had taken him nearly a year to develop, and during that time, the noise of EM fields emitted by all the technology that surrounded him had nearly driven him mad. It was little wonder the Great Serpent had crawled out of her cavern deep below the earth and attacked their fledgling colony on Ridose. The noise of their electronic vehicles, weapons, and devices had to have been too much for her. They’d almost been too much for him before he’d learned how to block off that part of his brain that “listened” on those wavelengths. Other subjects in the experiment had not been so successful with their shields, and their minds had been torn asunder by the noise.
The fact that the military kept their secrets from him didn’t surprise him. Once his abilities reached their full potential, he would be unstoppable using technological attacks, since he was capable of disrupting energy fields even from great distances. Certain species—like the Ultimen and the Lusians—relied almost exclusively on technology to hold their dominant position in galactic politics. Nahash—and the others the Iriduans hoped to create like him—held a critical place in their plans to shift that power dynamic.
The captain waited for him to speak with nervous impatience, and though Nahash admitted it was petty, he let the captain sweat, watching his temperature increase in his thermal view as Irisek’s wings twitched. Finally, just when he figured Irisek had worked up the nerve to insist he head towards the shuttle bay, Nahash uncoiled his lower body, rising up on his tail until he towered over the captain, who rapidly backed up—not attempting to hide his retreat this time.
Without another word to him, Nahash undulated his tail, using the irregularities in the cargo-hold’s floor to push his body forward past the captain, who failed to conceal his shudder.
He hated moving in the sight of other Iriduans, aware that he had once been just like them, equipped with a functional set of wings and two strong legs, just like theirs. Now, he was cursed with the tail of a serpent that began at his waist. He’d lost his wings, and his body was now covered in scales. The transformation had also robbed him of his long hair—a sign of attractiveness and virility among the Iriduans.
The crew tried not to stare openly as he slithered through the hold towards the shuttle bay, but he felt their gazes touch on him before darting away. He sensed the vibration of their retreat from him through the floor beneath his body.
All of his senses had been improved beyond that of an Iriduan ground soldier—which he’d been before the second meta. Though he’d been genetically modified even back then to have faster reflexes and sharper senses, it had been nothing compared to his new modifications. He could destroy tech with his mind, and his body was equipped to crush his enemies if they came at him on foot. He’d been told that he was the deadliest single soldier in the Iriduan military, though he didn’t feel as if he were part of it anymore, despite the patriotic speeches he’d been given by the commander of the research facility where he’d been changed.
The scientists and Command had attempted to make him feel better about the changes, to recapture the sense of duty and honor he’d had when he’d fought for the survival of their civilization against an entire galactic community that seemed bent on seeing the Iriduan Empire collapse. He’d tried to cling to those basic tenets of his life. Yet, it seemed more difficult to remember what he was fighting for with each passing day.
Since he was the last one notified that they were nearing the drop zone, the remainder of the team already waited in the shuttle when he entered the bay. They studiously avoided looking in his direction as he pulled himself up to the shuttle, where his tail once again caught purchase on the ramp, allowing him to slide smoothly into the vehicle.
The rest of the team wore combat armor just like what covered Nahash’s upper body, but he was unable to wear anything to protect his lower body while still maintaining his mobility. He wasn’t concerned. The pirates in the colony relied primarily on electronically-assisted weaponry, except when they wanted to be particularly brutal with melee weapons, which Nahash felt more than equipped to handle.
He knew his orders, and had already gone through the mission brief with this team, so he didn’t bother to speak to them, and they looked away from him as he coiled his body into the corner of the shuttle farthest from their occupied seats. He took up a great deal more room than they did, so they’d left one entire side of the drop shuttle empty for him. He doubted it was to do him any favors.