Patterns of Chaos: Book One - The First War
Chapter 23

The Psi-Omegan Emperor, Paul Stragdoc, strode through the facility as his people scrambled to gather what they could before fleeing to the Chancel. No one dared cross his path as he marched to the infirmary. There, he found John Parsyns awaiting his arrival. He looked terrified as Stragdoc marched past him into his wife’s room. He was in there less than 30 seconds before coming back out to face the first man to complete a faster-than-light trip.

“S-sir, I-I-I….” Parsyns stammered repeatedly, unsure of how to face his master.

“How was your trip, John? Educational I trust?” the calm voice sounded around him. “Did you enjoy seeing the furthest reaches of our solar system?”

Parsyns found his voice still locked up, not able to respond.

“I hope you did. Believe it or not, I really do.” Stragdoc smiled at him.

It was not a pleasant smile.

“Because when I gave control of this facility to you, it was with an understanding that infiltration by outside forces would not be tolerated under any circumstances.”

Parsyns looked even more panicked. The fear radiated off him like a halo.

“And what do you do? You let someone with a flimsy, under the best of circumstances, disguise in, and allow her to work on the prototype vessel, all but allow her to attempt an assassination of my wife, and then allow that same individual to fly off with that prototype, alerting the entire world to our presence here.”

The smell of urine hit the air as Parsyns wet himself in terror.

“Now tell me John...do you have any excuse for this? Any reason I should not tear your heart from your chest with my bare hands? I don’t care how flimsy it is, I want to hear it so stop your stuttering and speak up you damn coward!” The Emperor had him by the shirtfront, his face an inch from Parsyns’, spittle spraying over the engineer’s face.

“We…we distracted, the records show she arrived the day of your wedding, it was a state event, everyone was watching, she must have altered the records when she got here and-” Parsyns let out in a rush.

“And did you even think to double check her assignment here when you didn’t recognize her??” Stragdoc’s eyes held the terrified man’s in their unblinking gaze. “Hm? Didn’t think to call the Chancel to say ‘Hey, there’s this woman, Jane Tessier, records say she’s supposed to be here, but I don’t remember getting a file on her, is she actually one of ours?’ you brain-dead moron.”

Parsyns’ feet left the floor, the only sound in the room being the dripping of liquid from his leg to the pool beneath him.

“And because of that laziness, that indescribable stupidity on your part, not only has my wife been injured, but this entire facility and everyone in it is in danger of being ashes within a few hours.” Parsyns now felt enormous pressure on the sides of his head. The Emperor had released his shirtfront, he was now being telekinetically held aloft. Remembering the tales of what Stragdoc had done to that one guard in London increased his terror.

“I-I can make this right, I know I can please let me make it right oh god please don’t sir it hurts so much!” He heard the sounds of his skull breaking.

“Does it? When my own skull was fractured when I was a child, I do not remember any pain. But then again, I am not the one doing anything to you right now. Am I, my love?” Parsyns eyes rolled and saw Calixta standing in the doorway of her room, eyes blazing as fiercely as her husband’s, mouth locked in a snarl.

He could only scream as she began breaking every bone in his body, bottom to top, even the three small bones of his inner ear.

It took minutes before she was done. He fell to the floor, mewling in pain. The Emperor stood over him. “Does it still hurt?”

The broken man was unable to form words.

“Then I release you from your pain.” With that, Stragdoc drove his foot through what remained of Parsyns’ skull, splattering his brain over the floor. Kicking the remains to the side, he walked over and held Calixta. “Are you all right?”

She nodded. “He was weak. Pathetic.”

“What did you see? I know you had a vision.”

“It’s a blur mostly. Her. I saw her. A series of numbers. Fire. Explosions. Pain.” Calixta shook her head and regretted instantly, her headache magnifying.

“Come, my love. I think it’s time to truly show the humans what I can do when I’m faced with more than simple guards.” Stragdoc led her outside, near where the shuttle waited.

Most of the Psi-Omegan shuttles had evacuated while the Alliance forces had arrived en masse, troops disembarking from transports. The forces were quick to spot the self-appointed Emperor, an arm around the young woman next to him.

“FREEZE! Drop any weapons you are carrying, on your knees and hands behind your heads, NOW!” Guns trained upon the two of them.

Strangely obedient, Stragdoc unholstered his sidearm, casting it at the feet of the unit commander who had given the orders.

“Knees! Now!”

Stragdoc merely smiled. “I kneel to no man.” A full dozen men had him and Calixta surrounded. “Shall we discuss terms of your surrender?”

Several of the soldiers glanced nervously at each other.

“Hands behind your heads!! NOW!” The unit commander was obviously nervous.

Stragdoc raised one hand. “Now, you’ll notice there is nothing up my sleeve…”

Then, things went to hell.

The pistol on the ground began firing wildly, spinning in place, triggered via telekinetic command. Taken by surprise, soldiers fell, grasping their destroyed lower extremities, howling in pain.

Next to Stragdoc, Calixta was using her own mental abilities to snap the necks of the fallen men and women. The now grinning lunatic waggled a finger at the gun, causing it to fly neatly back into his hand.

“There!” Calixta shouted, pointing at an approaching pair of transports. Stragdoc holstered his weapon, took a breath, and mentally flung the grounded transport at the two incoming.

The explosion was most satisfactory.

Not to be outdone, Calixta grasped one of the fallen soldiers and threw it at an approaching fighter, landing it neatly into an air intake. She smirked at her husband as the fighter crashed.

Laughing uproariously, Stragdoc kissed her passionately, mentally signaling Dalth to retrieve them. Another transport was incoming, Stragdoc merely grasped it in his terrifying mind and dashed it to the ground.

“Let’s not push our luck.” He laughed, leading his bride to Dalth’s approaching ship.

Once aboard, Calixta felt amazing. Twice now, her love had come to her rescue. But this time she had helped him in her own small way. Alone, he was a primal force of nature; together they were unstoppable.

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