Honor Above All Else chapter 6
#13 of The Great Balancing
Kitt's craft was belted out into the atmosphere of a dark and cloudy planet the hull shaking from heavy winds and biblical rain fall. Kitt stepped out onto the bridge, a long flowing black trench coat adorns his frame with black as night sunglasses for effect, his hair tied tightly back into a pony tail, he looked over his Alliance fleet crew. "Once I'm down, your orders are to get back into orbit and hide yourselves until you hear from me. Understood?"
The first officer nodded to him.
Kitt turned sharply his trench coat whipping around as he headed for the landing bay, his senses at the peek of his abilities plainly locked onto Alec's energy. He inhaled and growled deeply as the loading ramp opened, instantly hitting him with a fierce wall of wind and water. Within a moment Kitt dove out the back of the ship as it arced back up into orbit Kitt free fell for several kilometers before taking flight under his own power, skimming mere feet over the rocky terrain.
Rounding a rock face Kitt saw a large domed city cut into the very rock of the planet, inside Kitt could feel no other life forms but Alec. Kitt set himself down in front of one of the large loading doors and with his energy, forced it open then stormed in as if he owned the place.
Padding down the streets of the city, Kitt knew for a fact he and Alec weren't the only ones in the place. "Show yourselves!" Kitt howled out, his voice echoing along the tall buildings.
Suddenly two dress suit wearing Hyena stepped around the corner of an alley right into Kitt's path.
"Where's the rest of you?" Kitt asked.
Without answering they launched themselves at Kitt, whom slid back along the concrete dodging each blow, he'd fought others of this caliber and knew exactly what their limitations were. Kitt dug his foot into the concrete of the street and drew his arms back with two flat palmed strikes to each of their muzzles knocked the two hyenas flipping over onto themselves, both landing with a loud crunch as their necks shattered.
Sighing, Kitt straightened himself out and continued heading towards Alec's energy.
"We can sense you Kitt, but can you sense us?" a dark voice called out, seeming from every alley and building, sending Kitt turning and looking quickly; three more super soldiers flew down from the top of a building giving Kitt barely enough time to move out of the way. Kitt back flipped few meters away as he was engaged by the trio, Kitt spun out of the path of a kick which put a hole into the side of a brick building while in mid spin Kitt gripped a bus stop sign from the ground swinging it around and smashing it into a muzzle of one of the attackers. In perfect succession, Kitt continued his momentum, flinging the sign post with a kick into the chest of the second and lifting off his feet to send his opposite boot to the nose of the remaining solider. Coming to a rest, his trench coat gracefully fell around his ankles Kitt looked around the three attackers all pretty much dead.
A mighty blast sent an armored door tumbling off it's hinges, Kitt standing on the outside with his palm outstretched, the smoke and fire seeming to curl around him as he stepped into the long glass walled hallway. Kitt could see rows upon rows of embryos, cloned super soldiers to be.
At the end of the hall, Kitt could see Alec, restrained to a table, tubes and wires hooked into him, his vacant stare going right through Kitt. Snarling he vaulted the distance across the hall into the laboratory, only to be blind sided by a forearm that caught him right across the muzzle, snapping his sunglasses. Rolling to the ground Kitt shook his head and looked up seeing the all white tiger standing above him. "So glad you could join us Ascended one." he said as he picked up Kitt and pinned him against the wall.
"Uh! What the hell did you do to Alec!?" Kitt yelped out.
"You're mate here has agreed to under go our procedure." A cold gloomy voice said from the other side of the lab.
Kitt looked over, seeing a shorter five foot seven inch tall snow white fox in similar all white garb standing over computer console "Procedure?!"
"Yes, he was tired of you always getting the glory for the battles. Soon he will be able to exceed any of your pathetic abilities." the fox snickered.
Kitt inhaled deeply spiking his energy to the max about to ignite his ascended form.
"I wouldn't do that in here, this is very sensitive equipment. By our instruments your power level stands at roughly eighty million. Ascending would only destroy the lab and certainly kill your beloved while he's still on life support." The fox explained. "That's the problem with you and Tarn, all that power and you have no control over it, you can't even fight to your limits without destroying half a planet. We of the Omega breed, and soon Alec won't need waste such precious energy on flashy effects and auras."
The tigers dropped Kitt and walked away, taking stance beside the fox.
Kitt climbed back to his feet and looked at Alec then at the tiger and fox, baring his teeth.
"Where's the third? I was told there were three of you...Omegas." Kitt asked.
"Oh Tyron, he's off visiting the Alpha at this moment, I wouldn't worry too much. It'll be quick." the fox chuckled.
Kitt balled up his fists.
"Excellent the process is complete." The fox said tapping a few keys on the console, the table Alec was attached to moved up into a vertical position, Alec blinked coming back into consciousness.
"Alec? Can you hear me?" Kitt whispered.
"Oh I hear you Kitt." Alec responded his fur seeming to drain of all it's color turning pure white, his eyes clouding over with a murky white color, he broke the restraints without effort and punched Kitt right across the chest, knocking him through the lab wall and out into the clone chamber crashing through several canisters.
Kitt coughed and turned himself up right rubbing his chest, seeing Alec floating out through the hole in the wall right down in front of him.
"What are you doing Alec?!" Kitt yelled out as he is forced to go into an outpour of lightning fast blocks, countering Alec's strikes as quickly as he could.
"You said you couldn't trust me anymore...well a relationship is based on trust. So I guess it's over between us." Alec shouted out back flipping, catching Kitt on the muzzle with his boots sending him flying through several more of the clone stasis chambers.
Alec knelt down over Kitt gripping him by the trench coat. Kitt's eyebrow rose when he saw Alec wink at him before Alec tossed Kitt upwards towards the ceiling. Kitt growled and threw his arms out to his sides forcing himself into his ascended form, his golden aura blasting a huge gapping hole into the steel of the lab complex and out onto street level.
Kitt barely had time to breath before the fox and tiger were on him, Kitt did his best to block and dodge their assaults, but even in his supercharged form he was no match. Kitt swung his arms out slicing right through their bodies but hitting nothing but an image of themselves. The fox smashed his foot across Kitt's back skipping him along the asphalt of the street. The battered wolf struggled to push himself to his feet but could barely manage the strength, his power level dropping rapidly causing him to shift back to normal.
Kitt saw the fox, the tiger and Alec standing above him all grinning "Ascended wolf, ha!" Alec laughed out.
"Indeed Alec, Kitt, we aren't going to kill you yet. It wasn't a challenge, you weren't ready. We'll give you 2 months to prepare then we'll set the stage, oh and if your Alpha is still alive when you get back to your home world, bring him too; until then, tootles." The fox mockingly laughed before they disappeared.
Kitt awoke from a terrible nightmare, looking around he saw a military infirmary setup, from the rumble around him he figured it was on a ship. Kitt forced himself out of bed, throwing on a shirt and track pants that were left beside his bed and headed into the hallway, only to be met by a barrage of doctors and high ranking officers all asking questions right off the bat.
Kitt growled. "Enough! Just tell me what's going on!" he snapped.
"Colonel, the Lupine Home world is in shambles, the Dominion hit it with one of these Omega soldiers, the Alpha is in critical condition. The whole of the Dominion military is on the move, they're fighting back hard." One of the generals finally filled Kitt in.
"How long have I been out?" Kitt asked.
"Two weeks Colonel."
"Fuck...we've only got six left. General, get me online with Alliance command ASAP, I need to talk to them. Who's in charge of the Lupine government?" Kitt barked.
"No one at the moment, they are resorting to pack rule for the moment." The General continued. "And command is already to go they wanted to speak to you as soon as you recovered."
"Good, show me the way."
Kitt stood in front of the large monitor in the conference room, in his track suit. "Sorry your Excellency for my appearance, but we don't have a lot of time."
"We understand Kitt, I'll assume you've been brought up to speed?" the big lion president asked.
"Yes sir I have. Here's the run down. There are only three of these Omega soldiers for the moment. With Colonel Alec Drominaz working at them from the inside, they've given me a dead line to meet. I have now six weeks to prepare myself to face them again." Kitt barked off quickly.
The president hesitated for a moment. "Working at them from the inside? Colonel, I don't think you're fully up to date, Alec has been recorded on the news taking part in the attacks."
Kitt sighed and shook his head. "Sir, trust me. I know what I'm talking about. I have to get going Mr. President I have a lot of work to do."
"Leave? You can't leave, we need you to take command of the battle against the Dominion." the lion stammered out.
"Look, I'm going to be blunt here, I am the only one who's got even a chance at beating the Omega series soldiers and right now it's a very slim one. I have to get myself ready. I'm going away whether you like it or not." Kitt stated then quickly ended the transmission.
"Not many people get to talk to the president like that Colonel." a voice called from behind Kitt, who turned seeing his friend and direct commanding officer.
"He doesn't realize what's at stake here but he will, he'll get over it Ben." Kitt said to the otter admiral.
"True and he'll probably promote you as well. Where are you off to?" the otter inquired.
"The human primary planet of Earth, there's people there who can help me. Just do me a favor and hold down the fort until I get back." Kitt said.
"Don't I always?" Ben jokingly yipped.
Kitt padded up the tall staircase along the side of the mountain, up to an orangey red brick temple four cone shaped spires jut out into the sky on the corners of the grounds. Ancient worn cobble stones lined the path way at the top of the hill leading into a large open arch way which welcomed travelers. The wolf saw several brown robe wearing human monks milling about meditating doing repair jobs and gardening, one of them approaching Kitt. Smiling at the human Kitt gave him a friendly hug. "Master Kway, how are you?"
"Very well Kitt did not expect to see you again so soon. What brings you back?" the gray haired man asked.
"I need help..." Kitt replied quietly.
Kitt and Kway sit cross legged in a small room sipping tea as Kitt explains the war, Alec and the Omegas.
"I don't get it Kway, these synthetic fighters are stronger and faster than anything I've ever heard of, yet they don't exhibit any of the qualities of an ascended being there don't have the explosive discharges of ki when they extend their power." Kitt blurted out.
Kway simply gave the wolf a nod, contemplating for a moment. "Well from what you've told me about them, it seems some how these soldiers have found away to focus and control every aspect of the huge sums of energy they produce. The trick for you will be finding out how they do it and how to utilize it in six weeks."
"Great..." Kitt sighed, "Any ideas?"
"Not at the moment unfortunately, I've never encountered this before but I will consult the elders."
"Thanks...I think I'll go to the Redwolf room and meditate."
Sitting alone in the dimly lit room, Kitt glanced over the writings on the walls, depicting an intergalactic battle, entire planets being destroyed, trillions of deaths and Kitt Redwolf in the middle of it organizing the nations of the fur-verse into a force to repel their enemies.
It was almost funny how history repeats itself time and time again. Kitt closed his eyes envisioning what it was like, what would the Redwolf do. But it didn't help all Kitt could hear was the beating of his heart and the coursing of his energy emanating from his body.
What seemed like an eternity passed in the room as Kitt sat in silence, his mind drifted in and out of the temple; he could feel the sharp energy spikes from distant space fleet battles in Dominion territory. Kitt knew he had to hurry, but without the first step he was so lost.
He was about to give up when he slowly opened his eyes, it was so simple, why couldn't he see it before. Kitt stood sharply, quickly making his way out of the temple onto the huge concrete training square. The sun was descending over the horizon, a few students exercised along the sides of the square as Kitt strode right out into the center, raising his arms out to the blood red sky; howling out loudly, his fur shifting into a sharp shining gold color as his ascended lupine power surged to life. The students around the square all stopped what they were doing, staring at the wolf as he pushed his energy all the way to his limits, the concrete of the square buckled and cracked with Kitt's aura flaring out into the air.
As Kitt continued to force himself further and further a gale force wind rushes around, the students were barely able to keep their footing. Kitt bared his teeth and spread his stance, struggling to go beyond, his body lifting into the air.
"Kitt!" he heard Kway call out into his mind. "You have to stop this you're going to hurt yourself and everyone around you."
"I have to push on Kway. I know what I'm doing!" Kitt growled telepathically back.
"There's another way, just lower your energy a little please!"
Kitt panted heavily trying to bleed off the power but something was wrong. "Shit! Kway I can't, there's too much I can't change back."
"Kitt listen to me, you'll have to discharge the energy. Let it go into space." Kway suggested urgently.
Kitt extended his paws out straight to the sky, honing in on a portion of space that was empty then forces his power out through his palms, sending a near nuclear blast upwards, the shockwave ripping trees from their roots, projecting a blinding white light as the yellow four meter diameter stream of concentrated energy rocketed into space.
Huffing and panting Kitt floated back to the cracked concrete square, all of the students just staring in disbelief at what they just witnessed.
"Feel better?" Kway said calmly as he stepped up to Kitt, whom still is in his ascended form.
Slowly lowering his aura Kitt looked to the old human. "Not really, I thought I had it..."
"What were you trying to do?" Kway asked.
"I thought that if I could push myself beyond my limits, I would be able to control my energy. It worked when I first ascended." Kitt said quietly.
"But you're different now. How long on average do you spend as an ascended being?"
"Dunno, except for my fight with Tarn, which lasted an hour...maybe ten minutes max..." Kitt answered.
"Then how used to it are you really? Think about it, these Omegas, were genetically altered with these abilities, they don't turn them off when they don't need them like you. Maybe that's the key. It's the advice of the elders and I that you try living as an ascended for a week see what it does."
Kitt nodded "I hope I can have more restraint this time."
Kway smiled "Yeah that'd be nice. Don't know if we could afford to get the temple rebuilt."
Kitt wandered the halls of the temple, his muscles twinge as the energy pushed at his insides. His mind told him he had to fight, had to expel the excess of power. But Kitt struggled on, going about the daily routine of the temple and helping to reconstruct the damage he'd caused yesterday.
The days passed and it actually got easier his willpower over the ascended tendencies began to win over and actually Kitt feel the power grow. Kitt moved along the rebuilt training square, where the techniques before would have caused massive destruction, caused no more than gentle breezes to flow as Kitt swung his arms and legs out at lightning speed.
Kitt suddenly stopped and turned seeing Master Kway leading the jet black furred lupine Alpha, Tarn up to him.
"Glad to see you're feeling better." Kitt said ending his pattern.
"Thanks Kitt, so are you ready to go?" Tarn asked solemnly.
"Not yet, It's getting better, but can't control it perfectly yet."
"You'd better hurry, the Dominion has launched against the vulpine home world. They are winning with Alec's help." Tarn explained.
Kitt sighed and started his form again. "I know what it looks like but I'll bet you the causality rate is well below projections and Alec hasn't been recorded attacking anyone."
"I know, trust me Kitt. But the Alliance council doesn't know him." Tarn said beginning to follow Kitt through the movements.
"True...I've got two weeks left..."
Alec gazed on to the battle field watching as the armies of huge tanks and powered armor suits followed by foot soldiers collide, thousands of tracer rounds fly from on side to the other. The Dominion force slaughtering the Alliance army as they were lead by the super soldiers.
"Do you like what you see?" The Omega fox said standing beside Alec.
"It's unnecessary Caster and you know it..." Alec responded not looking away from the battle.
"True but it'll make the Alliance remember not to fuck with us next time."
Alec sighed and finally looked away, the sound of artillery and missiles exploding raging over the land.
"You'll get your chance to fight. Kitt only has a short time left." Caster grinned.
"I know I can't wait." Alec smirked and looked back momentarily, his pale white trench coat flowing around him in the breeze.