Ri'kai's Children

by Seven


Disclaimer:  Earth: Final Conflict and its characters are copyrighted by Tribune Entertainment Company.  All rights reserved.



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Several thousand years ago....

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Ri'kai held her laser weapon at the ready, her white-shimmering body turned an odd greenish hue with fear and determination. A Taelon briskly strode by, his face etched with distaste as he scanned the area. Ri'kai touched the object strapped to her waist; it still shielded her from the scans.

She had arrived several hours ago on the Kimera homeworld in her tiny shuttle, after visiting her children and mate on the colony known as Hi'ya'r'il. Her shuttle had been shot at by planetary defenses, and she had barely made it alive, jumping from the shuttle to a rooftop at the last possible minutes.

Now she was hunted by the Taelons like an animal.

For a moment, she cursed her own race for their compassion. Then she banished the thought as unworthy.

Many Kimera had embraced the void in the last few hours. She had felt it as she approached the homeworld, but had simply thought that there was a fire. She winced as she heard the dying screams of her mentor and dear friend, Ti'lal, who had brought her in as administrator of her home colony. *Run! Run, child.... run from them! Never trust what they say!* Ri'kai breathed deeply as she slipped behind a pillar.

There was an odd clumping noise. Ri'kai eased sideways around the pillar she was hiding behind and slammed straight into a huge implant, a Akorian clad in their ceremonial battle armor. His gray, scaled face creaked into a smile as he reached for her throat.

She held up her hands and her shakarava flashed brightly, enhanced by her fear and anger. The blast hit the Akorian in the midsection. His eyes, laced on either side with Taelon organic implants, went wide as he slammed against the wall. Akorians, she thought, were possibly the worst implants the Taelons had employed, stupid and clumsy.

The high-pitched squealing of Akorian voices reached Ri'kai. She turned and ran for the comm bunker.

****

The area was deserted, save for the occasional implant or Taelon. She calmly killed or incapacitated them, trying to disconnect her essence from the necessity of the job. She would never leave Kimera now, but her mate and children would survive.

She waved the datastream into view, hearing the thudding of Akorian feet in the hallway. She locked the doors, but it was only a matter of time until they broke through. Quickly she called the colony, and the shimmering white face of her beloved appeared on the screen. "Ri'kai?" Ta'miv asked her. "What has happened? Why are you calling us so early?"

Ri'kai stared intently at the face of her mate, memorizing every detail. She smiled a little, her love for him rushing along their link. "The Taelons have invaded," she said. After Ta'miv's shocked reaction, she said quietly, "I will not survive, *a'lem viro'shai*, but you and our children can. Leave the colonies quickly, and do not come back."

The pounding at the door became louder.

Ta'miv looked at her sadly for a moment, then called to the children, Ma'reo and Sa'van. The children looked at their mother for a long moment, then uttered sobbed goodbyes. Ri'kai whispered lovingly to her children, then looked into the eyes of her mate. "I love you, *y'hrushua*," she whispered.

"I love you," he said back.

The door broke down, and Ri'kai turned to face her opponents fearlessly. Amid the dozen hulking Akorians was a tall, slender Taelon with an intense stare and a disdainful expression on his ethereal face. "Kill her," he said.

Ri'kai raised her hands and blasted the Taelon one time. His life-energy streaming away was the last thing she saw before the energy rifles hit her. She slowly slumped against the wall, her life ebbing into the void.

****

Seventeen colony ships were escaping from the planet, shining like silver thorns. Suddenly one of the huge energy ships that the Taelons sometimes called their "motherships" appeared around the second moon of the planet. A single strike destroyed the first ship, and the cries of Ri'kai's children echoed throughout the Commonality...