Neko-laus 2 : Toy Tiger

Mack plodded along beside me as the computer, as Mother kept the floors lighting up in front of us. Well, me. At least it wasn’t offering me a pat on the head for being able to follow the colored light. Then it hit me. It was treating me not like an adult but like a child. A slow child. I stopped in my tracks. Mack carried on for a bit then realized I wasn’t with him.

I copied what Mack had done back in the mess hall. “Mother, I need to speak to the Groomer.”

The floor tile path dimmed. “Neko?” Mack turned on his heel and realized how far away from him I truly was.

“I have no doubt that everyone knows that I haven’t been right in the head…”

“Space sickness.”

“So maybe I should cut all of you some slack for thinking that I’m a little slow on the uptake but I’ve just realized something.” It’s in the little things that people do that makes it so easy to read. I doubt if Mack even knew that he stiffened his shoulders as if bracing himself for a physical attack. “Do Latents start out stupid or does their Mage do it to them?”

Mack blanched. Fuck. Fuck, fuckfuckfuck.

“What do you know about the Empire and the Military grade Latents?”

“There are non-military grade Latents?”

“Not for long.” His voice was low and it came out almost like a sigh.

“Why the hell am I here, Mack?”

“Each year the Empire spends billions on acquisitions.” I knew what acquisitions meant. Hell, I even had credits to have ‘acquisitions’ of my own. The gods only know where those shiny pieces of useless bauble were now. Grim had always counseled me to but some away for later but I knew the way of the world. Later came quicker and more unexpectedly than one wanted. Better to spend it and enjoy it while you had the breath in your body to do so. However, I think my version of acquisition was not what Mack was referring to.

“So, I’m an acquisition?”

“No, you’re a criminal. The Military picked you up for free.” Mack gave me a wry grin. “And so far they are getting what they paid for.”

“What the hell do you mean by that?”

“You are like a stray wildcat someone gave the Empire for free, you end up having to fix so many things that sometimes it costs more than a purebred.”

“I don’t need to be fixed and I’d rather be a wildcat than a neutered pet.”

“I’ve already picked that up, Neko. I’m talking about our King Tiger. Newmarket and I couldn’t get him to take his medication. We couldn’t get him to do anything he didn’t want to do. After Ellie, his last latent, died; he refused to even look at another one...”

A spike of pure jealously ripped through me. It was hot and hard and my energy spiked out of my control. The three square radius around me lit up harsh white then faded as I caught myself. Damn. He was a King Ass but apparently he was MY King Ass. I blinked focus back in and found Mack standing there with his eyes wide and his mouth open.

“Mack?”

“You’re not feeling weak? You’re not dizzy? Nauseous?”

“No. I didn’t do any magic and they stuck something in my ear so I shouldn’t be...”

“No, I mean you just lit up the corridor. That was magic.”

“It was a ebb and flow of present energies. I never created anything that wasn’t already here.”

“What was that then?”

“Don’t worry, it won’t happen again.” I was snarling more at myself than anything else.

If I was jealous then I claimed him. If I claimed him…I wanted him at a purely physical level which was were most of my talent lay. I needed to get back to the basics Mom had taught me if my talent was lashing out just with emotional upheaval. When was the last time I meditated? I couldn’t remember so that was bad. When I originally came into the shambles, I was hard and alert. I got soft when I took over the Skulls. I got complacent. It was a fact. Otherwise, how the hell could I have turned a blind eye to Darryl? I should have picked up a vibe that something was going on with him. The sex was great but it wasn’t that mind numbing. Now when Maggie….fuck, stop mooning over that King Ass. Pretty soon I’d be staining my cheeks red with some pollen and tossing a white veil over my head to play warlord’s bride.

“Neko?”

“WHAT?”

“You do this a lot?” Mack was regarding me with some concern. His hand had come up on it’s own but he refrained from touching me.

“Do what?”

“Have you had a full brain scan? You said that Magnus drew on you hard…”

“Oh for…”

“It’s just that this ‘zoning’ is a classic sign of mental deterioration for Latents.”

“Oh please.”

“I mean it, Neko. I am worried about your health.”

“Yes, this is normal. Yes I…zoning…when I’m kicking myself for doing something. Take this to heart, Mack, I might zoning a lot but when I come back I usually have a blade in my hand, so no touching.”

“But…”

“Mother, show me the way to the training area.”

“Follow the lighted path, Neko-laus.”

“Understood.”

“Neko!” I left Mack in the dust…if there was dust in this place.

I started off after the lighted squares. I haven’t had any down time. I haven’t honored my dead – my crew – my family. Darryl fucked me sideways. I cut him loose but he kept popping back in my thoughts so this means I haven’t cut him out of my heart as cleanly as I thought. This space sickness kicked my ass hard and it showed me that know matter how hard I tried to overcome it, there are things that can’t be taken on alone.

Fuck. I owed King Ass, big time.

The light faded and I glanced up to see a door slowly slide back. I had worked out a couple of times on the Mage floor with familiar looking machinery designed to work a body to it’s maximum potential before the space sickness cut my legs out from under me. They had a mage arena where they cast spells at each other working on attack and defense strategies.

Well enough away from the rarified air of the Battle Mages were the regular soldiers. They had a shooting range and armed and unarmed training complex. They had all stopped and stared when I showed up in my Mage black uniform, armor and blades. Being the object of attention was something I had grown used to so I just went through my katas warming up until I could get to the real workout. I showed off a little. I had worked hard to be proficient with all my blades. I never truly trusted magic. I doubted the science of the rifle but my two hands…well until I was sick they have always served me well. After I returned back to Magnus’ quarters, I was called to command central by Newmarket and was informed that I had broken protocol by going to the soldier’s area but due to the fact that the Mage facility did not meet my training requirement that I was hereby given special access. At the time I just nodded. I was going to go back there whether I had special access or not.

I think I had a fleeting thought about the Latent floor but it was in and out of my head in the blink of an eye.

Now, I think I know why. If this was the Latent training arena…

I was a wolf among lambs. Mother had lead me to a playroom rather than a military exercise ground. The floor was carpeted with the same soft grays and whites of the rest of the floor. Soft furniture was clustered in different areas. There were a few pylons set around the room with a tri-colored light in the top. Everything was calm and soothing. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end.

There were eighteen Mages on board. There were seven grey uniformed Latents with accompanying Groomers with about nine more Groomers lounging around in the soft ball like chairs talking in soft gentle tones. There was nothing hard in this place.

It was a nursery.

One of the Latents, a man maybe a few years older than me placed his hands on the pylon. His groomer whispered something over his shoulder. The Latent closed his eyes and there was a dull glow from the green light. To me it looked like the last lingering strength of a dying battery. The groomer pat his head and the Latent broke out into a wide smile and quivered with joy at the praise he had gotten.

My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach. My eyes flicked to the other Latents. They were about my age or younger but they were all adults – physically. I watched numbly as another Latent and Groomer rolled a white ball back and forth. The Latent missed it more than half the time. Her reaction time was slow.

“Neko-laus…”

“What the hell am I looking at, Mack?”

“This is what happens to battle tested Latents over a period of…”

“How many battles?”

“Pardon?”

“The one who can’t catch. How many battles did she survive?”

“Her name is Sharon. She is the Latent of Mark IV Mage, Karis. She has been in fifteen battles with her mage.”

“She didn’t start out like that.”

“No, Neko-laus. She did not. She also wasn’t a Mark IV Latent.” Mack moved to stand beside me. “To make it off the battlefield is a great achievement.”

I didn’t think that was much of an achievement. Mom had always said that when she had to come out and show her abilities it was because all other options had been exhausted and then the situation was us or them. Leaving part of yourself out on the battlefield wasn’t the goal. You walked off whole or it wasn’t a win.

There was a soft ding and the lights dimmed in the room. All stopped what they were doing and turned to look at Mack and me.

“Latents, this is Neko-laus. He belongs to King Tiger Magnus.” Mother’s electronic voice grated on my nerves.

Belongs to…grrrrrr. I grit my teeth.

I don’t know what everyone expected but the Latents just sat or stood were they were and stared over at me with soft innocent wide eyes. I was the only color, or maybe it would be better to say, lack of color in this place. The power jump in the room was palatable or it should have been to everyone. It was as if all the Latents reached out to me with their power at once. Individually they radiated minor fluctuations but collectively, it was magnified. I was ready for it the moment the power started to swell but not for the magnitude. It was as if they were trying to give me a boost. I staggered slightly then cast my vision into the spectrum and searched for an outlet. I couldn’t handle all this excess. It would be like sticking the wrong wattage light into a high power socket. If I didn’t get rid of this, I could be in danger of burning out.

Each Latent glowed with their own frequency even if they seemed to be in the light palate Pinks, roses, lavendars, soft blues, mint greens yet when their energies intermixed it turned white and poured into me like a fast flowing stream. I found the power grid working through the floor and walls. The quickest route was one of the lighted pylons. I lurched toward it as if I had drunk far to much.

“Neko!” I felt a hand on my forearm. I knocked it off easily and continued forward to my goal.

My hands were shaking as I lay them on either side of the pylon just below the clear plastic that encased the lights. I opened myself to the grid and let the combined power surge into it. The lights within the clear dome began to glow brighter and brighter. How could they do this? They will filling me up as quickly as I emptied the power through my hands into the ships’ grid.

My knees buckled and I dropped where I stood but my hands stayed connected. Soft searching hands held onto my shoulders, arms and back. Every single one of them was touching me.

“Neko-laus, the power grid is at 80 percent capacity. Cease your Latent activity.” Mother’s voice broke threw the power wrap I was getting lost in.

I shoved more into the grid, opening my channels wider. The other pylons in the room began to glow brightly. Now the Groomers were starting to panic. Grunts and cries of protest followed the pull and scratches as the Latents were physically removed from me. It wasn’t enough…this…this was rising over me. I was going to drown in it.

A forearm came across my shoulders and chest. Mack pressed himself up against me. The tide stopped rising but it was still there. He was drawing some of it away from me. “Stop what you’re doing!”

I didn’t have the extra concentration to waste on words. I had to break the connection the Latents had made with me. I couldn’t shield until I had them off me. There was only one way I could think of doing that. It was down to a me or them moment…and I was rooting for me. This floor’s power grid was almost a self contained unit. There was one switch that connected it to the rest of the ship.

“Neko-laus, the power grid is at 90 percent capacity. Cease your Latent activity.”

The ebb and flow responded easily to my will. I directed the extra power into the pylon slowing it down so it didn’t burn out the conduits then I stretched myself, pushed myself, flowed myself into the stream moving towards the switch. I needed to open it. Once I had a direct flow for the power to follow I could shake their connection.

“Nicky!” Mack screamed into my ear.

I had to do this at the same time. If I couldn’t flip the switch when I broke free I was going to be in the direct path of the surge. There wouldn’t be anything left of the stray wildcat but a charred carcass. I was in two places at once; spiritually; magically and physically. I could feel Mack holding me tight but I was there at the switch too.

“Neko-laus, the power grid is a 95 percent capacity. Cease your Latent activity immediately or I will be forced to invoke protocol three.”

“You have to stop this now, Nicky.”
This was as good as it was going to get. While I physically had no hands at the switch at the far end of room, I used the power as my limbs to shove the circuit closed connecting the Latent level with the rest of the ship then…then…

I tore the light apart.

I was stronger than them. Even combined I was still marginally stronger than them and that was the key. I took my personal color and flooded the source in a blast back down the energy trails that connected the Latents to me. The white light shattered and exploded like fireworks. All of the Latents were knocked ass backwards from it. The Groomers if they were touching were flung aside like cast off toys. Mack was slammed hard into my back and he rammed me face first into the pylon. Dimly I thought I heard a crack as my nose broke but there wasn’t time for the pain.

“Neko-laus, the power grid is at 99 percent capacity. Invoking protocol three.”

I had broken the link. The energy tank could be emptied now; if I could do it before Mother did whatever she was going to do. Mack was plastered heavily across shoulder, his head hanging on my bicep. He was out cold.

I poured the energy into the pylon at a steady rate. It was like trying to get water to swirl in the opposite direction down a drain. I kept stirring and pouring almost oblivious to what was going on around me. At its height, the energy had filled me so much it felt like my skin had been stretched from the inside out. My arms began to tremor from the physical exertion. Mack crumpled hard to the floor beside my leg.

“Neko-laus, the power grid is at 89 percent. Protocol three has been aborted. Repeat, protocol three has been aborted.”

The Empire called me a Latent. Grim called me a mage. All I did magically, something beyond the ebb and flow of energy was flick a switch. I was going to pass out. This wasn’t the energy the Latent’s shoved at me; it was because I flicked s stupid switch that could have been done physically with a pinkie. The circuit was open. The energy was flowing. I slumped over landing hard on Mack.

Blood was flowing freely down from my broken nose. It took more effort than it should have to get off of Mack and to turn over. Everyone was down. All the Latents. All the grooms. I was the last man standing, well, conscious. I basically got jumped here. If I couldn’t have directed that much energy, I would have been burned from the inside out.

“Power grid is falling back into acceptable levels. Neko-laus, you have been awarded seven de-merit points for your raucous behavior.”

I was drained. My limbs shook so it took longer to prop my back up against the pylon. The way my nose was bleeding when I pass out, if I fall over, I could choke to death. I stared at the yellow haired girl who couldn’t stop a rolled ball a few moments before the attack. Their minds might be lacking but their talent was strong. I physically ached. I’d been rolled and gang banged by my supposed fellow inmates and I sure as fuck wanted to know why. Where the hell was my candy? This wouldn’t be so bad if I had my candy. Hell, I’d settle for a shot of King Tiger right now but he’s fucking scared of the draw. I closed my eyes..and all the problems plaguing me just disappeared.

About fucking time…

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more in the works