Chapter 45.1: Comakk Reacts
The courtyard was in unadulterated chaos. The alarm had been confounding enough, bringing all efforts to a halt and throwing Kikka into a rage at everyone in sight. But now the introduction of human attackers had turned all Kikka’s innumerable death threats into a sudden and disjointed reality. Any krewe members who weren’t running found themselves at the wrong end of various human-made weapons as the bandits cut their way through the hectic crowd.
After passing through the courtyard on a warpath to find the cause of the alarm, Kikka had entered the command building and stayed there, leaving Comakk to handle the crowd outside. Despite the budding catastrophe, that hadn’t changed. And until she saw fit to join him again, it was up to him to gain control of the krewe and mount a defense—damn her.
He spotted a pair of armed guards working their way toward the conflict, against the flow of their fleeing comrades. “You!” he screamed, getting their attention. “Yes, you! This cart takes priority over everything.” He pointed at the wagon of golemites.
Demonstrating more wherewithal than anyone else he’d encountered, the two nodded, changing courses and ducking to defensive positions on either side of the wagon. There were still too many asura between them and the humans to see any of their targets, but they took aim in the direction of the assault.
“Engage opportunistically, not directly,” Comakk instructed, “and aim to kill. Hold this location, or you know perfectly well it will be your heads!”
One nodded again, smugly sighting up his rifle. The other wore more uncertainty: likely the smarter of the two. Not that it mattered. If the humans got this close to the wagon, those two wouldn’t survive on their own. They’d take a few with them, though.
Comakk gritted his teeth, at those Alchemy-accursed bookahs, at Kikka—at all of it. Oh, he’d known something like this would happen. From the moment Kikka had taken Veritas and his miscreants prisoner, Comakk had known they would be trouble beyond their worth. Kikka had refused to believe him, of course, distrusting anyone but herself, but Comakk had known, sensing this coming from miles away. And not just the trouble of the human leader. No. He’d fully expected a volatile chemistry between the bookah’s hubris and Kikka’s. Damn them both to whatever falsified hell the human’s deities provided.
Engineers, assistants, and other site staff ran in all directions, to anything that resembled cover. Somewhere between him and the humans just north of the confused crowd, Comakk just made out the sound of a charging energy cannon and the deadpan voice of a golem instructing the humans to “Desist.” It was followed by a volley of gunshots, clanging steel, and a small explosion where the golem’s shot must have landed.
A cadre of screaming engineers rushed past Comakk. He grabbed one of the ninnies by the collar, yanking her nearly off her feet, then reached to snag a second in similar manner. He spun them around and glared. “Where are you stationed?” he demanded.
They mumbled something, eyes darting to and away from him.
“Point!”
They each fumbled hands to and fro until slowly, surely, they were both pointing westward. Comakk grimaced, but he nodded.
“Do you know the armory locations nearest your labs?”
The pair mumbled another response.
“Get weapons and golems and return to this position.” He pointed. “To this cart! Do you comprehend me?”
They nodded again, and he flung them in the direction they’d pointed.
“Go! And if you find other members of your teams, drag them back out here too. We do not lose this shipment!”
The two scampered off toward the command complex, now as seemingly afraid of Comakk as they were of the descending human attack.
Without a thought, Comakk continued, darting through the madness to issue commands at anyone and everyone he could get his hands on. He sent several other krewe members on similar assignments as the first pair, stealing glances back at the shrinking distance between the wagon of golemites and the humans. Alchemy, it shouldn’t have been this hard, and it wouldn’t be if all the imbeciles he’d sent for weapons would just start returning. With some bodies, a few energy rifles, and a handful of golems, any self-respecting asura could fend off these dimwitted humans, and Kikka’s plan could safely…
Comakk paused. His gritting turned to grinding, he could feel the scrape of enamel between his sharp teeth. All this, and he was still protecting Kikka’s interests above all else. The realization stung like it never had before. The first of his wayward engineers returned, followed by a tall, dome-topped, D-series golem, and Comakk held his course, directing the pair back toward the wagon. Comakk had been near enough to all Kikka’s planning to know full well what the golemites in those crates were capable of. Regardless of her, he had to keep them from falling into the hands of any opponent, especially one who possibly knew a means of wielding those capabilities. After this upheaval, Comakk was determined to find a way out from under Kikka’s thumb, but for today, he was better off playing her game. They all were.
As though he’d summoned her with his very thoughts, Kikka’s voice cut through the cacophony. “Comakk, you had better have an answer for exactly what in the Eternal Alchemy is happening here!”
He snapped around, grabbing her by the hand and tugging her around behind the wagon, out of the sight of the attackers. Two more guards followed, pulled along in the wake of her movement. They must have come with her from the command building. She’d taken her precious time, but at least she’d brought reinforcements.
Comakk bit off his words, barely controlling his tone. “Mistress, those bookahs of yours must have triggered the fire alarm as a diversion. They’re on a clear trajectory toward the golemites.”
“Diversion?” she scoffed. “How would sending the entire krewe toward their objective be a diversion?”
He all but snarled. “Regardless, Mistress, they’re closing the distance this way. Veritas knows what’s on this wagon.”
Kikka’s scowl morphed into a cold grin. “And what is that doddering moron going to do with that knowledge? His magic has been siphoned, harnessed, and shielded inside the containment units of these golemites. Alchemy, you idiot. Even if he does reach them, he and his band of imbecilic miscreants have no recourse. None. None at all. If our machinations didn’t require the use of every one of those golemites, I would…” A thought stopped her, and Kikka’s eyes darted eastward, past the edge of the wagon and past the scattering, screaming, and fleeing krewe members. Her attention seemed to settle somewhere deep inside the walls of the eastern complex.
“Kik— er, Mistress?” Comakk felt his temperature rise. What in the Alchemy was she scheming now?
Her smile rose higher, revealing pointed teeth, and she snapped at the guards at either shoulder, pointing them toward the eastern complex. “You two, keep with me,” she directed. “I have a prototype to test.”
Comakk immediately understood her meaning. Damn her, it was always about her projects, even now. “Mistress,” Comakk argued, “this isn’t remotely the time to test anything. The time it will require to reach, activate, and return— Mistress, we need to defend the work here and—”
She spun, barking at him, “You, Comakk, need to fend off that insignificant human rabble; that is your task. Are you intelligent enough to understand that? My task is to eradicate them.” She was already moving away to the east, clearly toward lab delta, with both the guards on her heels, guards that Comakk could have used in defending her cargo.
He knew what she was doing, where she was going. She’d seen in this chaos an opportunity to test her enforcer, that absurdly hulking golem made only for her, and to hell with the rest of them. That overreaching, arrogant female—he’d admired her for so long, but she would use an attack on her people to field-test her own, personal equipment, even as they defended her real prize.
“Yes, mistress,” he hissed, already turning back to the approaching conflict. He was turning alright.
