A Daniel X Fanfic

by Sakura Martinez


Disclaimer:

I do not own Daniel X, or the characters in that story. James Patterson own the rights for them. What I do own is the idea for the fanfic and this fanfic itself.


Summary:

The final battle has begun and it begun with the loss of a life. Daniel, with Khadagh's knowledge and power, and with the rest of the drang must do everything in their power to put an end to the number one alien on The List before everyone that they care about is lost and before The Prayer puts his evil schemes into action. The battle for the universe and between good and evil culminates as The Prayer finally figures out a way to defeat, and ultimately kill, our hero. The road is tough, but Daniel and his drang are ready.


Daniel X: Armageddon

Chapter Six

Deep Blue


The Azras gathered around us on the huge domed stadium that was made entirely of some form of glass. It made me feel like I was in an aquarium filled with blue, humanoid-shaped people and the feeling worsen because we were hiding on the large beams that supported the ceiling. There was a hum of murmur in the air and the whole stadium had this electrifying energy with it you'd though we were waiting for a concert to begin or for a match of gladiatorial proportions. Neither was the case, what we were all waiting for were the three council members that made up the leadership of Azra.

We had been in Azra for a week and, although it made us (with the exception of Emma) feel a bit sick of water and of having to swim to get to one place then another, it also made us see how dire their situation really was. Even their young had taken up arms against the impending Aviantine attack. It was kind of strange seeing these blue-scaled women of all ages carrying javelins, guns, electro-magnetic tridents, and all sorts of weapons that only they could use (and believe me that statement is true, even Willy whose supposed to be able to use any and all kinds of weapons can't wield their weapons. It was a mystery to him why he couldn't do so).

Though some of the Azras that were close enough for us to hear spoke in their native tongue, which was almost like listening to a seal and a blender, there were some who could speak in the "universal tongue"—English. There were various ideas on why a grand assembly was suddenly called and, I suppose, that was what the other Azras were talking about regardless if they were speaking in English or if they were speaking Azran.

"Maybe they had finally come up with a genocide plan for the Aviantines," one Azran said.

"Perhaps it has nothing to do with the Aviantines," another one quipped.

"I do not understand why the Aviantines would wage war on us again, we defeated them before and we will do so again. Besides, it's not like they can inhabit our world. Those foul, winged bastards just want to ruin our lives!" an Azran farther in the crowd bellowed.

There were a lot more discussions about what that whole gathering was about, but mostly they revolved under the same topic: the Aviantines. Though I may know a thing or two about them, I really didn't know what sparked the animosity between the two alien races. Even The List was pretty vague on that and Joe doesn't want to take out his Symbiote for us to use.

We waited for a while, none of us in the mood to talk nor was it safe for us to talk. As we were waiting, I was faced with a strange feeling that whatever the council was going to say, it was going to be something big—for the Azran civilization, at least.

The sound of a horn, like a giant conch shell was blown, erupted, silencing the crowd and snapping all of us from our reverie. A second later, everyone had their attention on the stage in the middle of the stadium where a lone podium stood. Another second later, the three council members arrived, swimming their way to the middle of the assemblage. Unlike the other Azrans, these councilors had different colored scales. One of them, the one that was at the left flank had a red, almost crimson, scale with black spotted patterns. The one in the middle had moss green-colored scales. And, the one flanking the right had silvery-colored scales that glinted when light touches her. They wore the same kind of wet suit as the other Azrans but, where the others were made for battle, theirs looked regal...well, as far as wet suits were concerned. They wore no armor. Instead, they wore robes over their wet suits and those robes were red in color with a sash of white draped sideways.

The way the council members swam showed off how well they do so and how important they seem to feel about themselves. I couldn't help but cross my arms. Were they liking the attention? Basking in it and in the anticipation that they know the crowd's already feeling, waiting for what they have to say? If it's so important, why the need for all of this?

I didn't have answers to my question, though and I knew voicing that out would get us into trouble, and would probably get S'Loni in trouble as well. After all, we weren't really invited in on this assembly. This was supposed to be an "Azran-only" event. But, S'Loni didn't think it would be a bad idea to smuggle us in and that was why we were sitting on the large beam so high and far from the Azras...though that doesn't necessarily mean that they wouldn't see us or their security won't be able to get to us when they do see us and decide to throw us out of the stadium.

it was dead quiet when one of the council members—the crimson one—started the gathering off with what, I guess, is a ritualistic prayer...or chant.

"To the gods of the indestructible Azure whose waves push us to forth to our destinies," the crimson council member started.

In reply, the hundreds—if not, thousands—of Azure, in reply, said, "Guide us to the sea of infinite spirits."

I had no idea what that prayer—if that was, indeed, one—was about. I made a mental note to ask S'Loni or Emma later about it, when we could actually talk without fear of being heard and, therefore, caught.

After that, the red Azra spoke something in Azran, her hand waved to where the silver Azra was. The silver Azran swam to the podium while the red one joined the moss green Azran. It wasn't hard to figure out that the Azran who would be giving some form of news to the rest of the Azran populace was going to be the silver one.

One thing that S'Loni should have guessed when she decided to smuggle us in was how useless it was going to be if we ended up not understanding what the Azras were saying. And, well, that was what exactly happened as the silver Azran council member spoke in the same way that the red one did: in their mother tongue.

I was frustrated not being able to understand a word the silver Azra was saying and, judging from the hushed groans that escaped my drang's mouths, they felt the same way I did. The only one who didn't seem to mind and who looked as if she was concentrating hard, was Emma. She shushed us as she edge further out of the beam, intent on catching every word that the silver one said.

I looked over at Dana who sat closely to me and asked, in a whisper that I was certain the Azras would not be able to hear, "Can she understand Azran?"

She shrugged, although, judging from the look of understanding that passed on her face, it wasn't hard to figure out the answer to my own question. I was surprised, of course, she never mentioned that she could do something like that.

On and on the silver Azra droned. Her voice rose on several occasions as he made her speech, as if she was rallying some sort of effort to be done. Once or twice she even threw her fist up and the other Azras who were listening to her mimicked her actions and made a loud cheer.

I wanted to ask Emma what was being said, but even if she could speak to us about it, her voice would have been drowned out by the rising voices of the spectators.

The silver Azra paused, letting the crowd settle down. I watched as she gazed at them, her head moving from left to right. The cheers and shouts slowly subsided to low murmurs of agreement before it finally died down and the Azra standing before the podium spoke again. All ears were on her as she spoke in their garbled speech.

I heard my name and the word 'drang' as well as Alpar Nok, but I wasn't sure what was being said. I also heard mention of The Prayer, the context of whatever the Azra was saying was also lost on me.

I looked over at Emma, just as Willy, Joe and Dana did. The look of concentration on her face was no longer there, instead it was replaced with a look of shock, her mouth was hanging open, her eyes wide. Whatever was said, even Emma wasn't expecting it.

"What's wrong?" Willy asked able to voice out the same question we have on our lips as he was sitting next to his sister.

"This is...This is bad," Emma managed to say, just barely loud enough for all of us to hear.

"Bad? Bad how? What is, Emma?" It was Joe who asked, though he forgot to lower his voice and Dana and I both had to shush him and remind him not to talk so loud.

"We should probably get out of here," Emma said, standing up and holding on to a piece of the metal beam. The silver Azra said something else and the crowd seemed to agree with whatever it was that was said. Once she had translated what the line was, Emma added, "Yeah, we really should get out of here. Find S'Loni if we can."

"Why?" Dana asked, standing up as well and swimming to where Emma was standing, ready to bolt. I followed Dana and halted right beside her. Joe and Willy followed suit.

"I'll explain, though I don't really have much in way of explanation, as soon as we get out of here." Emma said. After that, she swam out of the stadium, using the same hole in the dome that allowed us entrance.

We looked at each other, not really sure what just happened. The crowd was starting to get restless, chaotic. We knew it wouldn't do us any good to stay behind and so we followed Emma out. Emma swam as fast as she could and we had to keep up with her. No matter how many times Willy or Joe, or even Dana, asked her what was going on, why she looked frightened, Emma wouldn't answer them save for telling us that to just swim. So, that's what we did. We just kept on swimming, Emma leading us to S'Loni's house...

S'Loni's house, like all the other houses in Azure, was inside a cave. The same furniture that was on her room inside her ship was also available in her cave. Truth be told, it was more like a replica of the room rather than a full house and S'Loni didn't seem to mind.

"Alright, we're here, now spill it out Emma, what's up? Why did you want to bolt out of there like that?" I asked, I didn't want to wait a moment longer for her to explain what it was she managed to get from the silver Azra.

"I don't understand what's happening behind the scenes," Emma replied, and before we could call her in on her obvious lie, she added, "I understood what the Azra, S'Trovi, said but I don't know why he said it. Which was why I told you guys we should look for S'Loni."

"Alright then, so you don't understand what led up to it, but can you at least tell us why you told us to run...err, swim away?" Joe asked, his arms were already crossed.

Emma took a good look at us before she said, "The Azras are going to make a deal."

"A deal?" Willy asked, raising an eyebrow. "With whom?"

"The Prayer." was Emma's curt reply.


The deal, we later learned from S'Loni who was figuratively burning red with anger and embarrassment at what the council had done, was that Azure would be spared from war provided the Azras hand us over and break ties with what The Prayer had called "The Rebellion". S'Loni was pretty ranting as she told us what she knew, what she was told—which wasn't much. After all, they knew that she was Emma's mentor and that made her sympathetic to our cause.

"I cannot believe how the council would agree with The Prayer's demands," S'Loni had said, throwing her hands in the air in frustration. "Do they not see that The Prayer will not follow through with their promise? Do they not realize that what The Prayer is asking is for us to abandon our little arkesh and her friends? The Prayer will easily flay us as soon as we give in to their demands." S'Loni took a deep breath before she went on, "Besides, you have all shown us that you are, indeed, good friends, great allies, of ours after you saved my fleet. The Azras do not simply hand over heroes of our kind like that!"

"Maybe there's more to it than that," Dana suggested, she was biting her nails, a nervous habit I didn't know she has.

"Perhaps, S'Trovi had never been a fan of your people. She had been against bringing Emma here to be trained since the beginning." S'Loni muttered, still pacing around her cave. "Still, I am loathed to admit that I may have placed all of your lives in danger. Azure is no longer a safe haven for you and your drang, Daniel X. In asking for help in this war, I believe I may have, instead, placed you in deeper danger than if there were a war."

"That can't be helped and we can't stay here for much longer, S'Loni." I said, shaking my head. Even though it really can't be helped, I couldn't keep the feeling of disgust from filling my heart. I could still hear the thunderous agreement of the crowd—their agreement to have us shipped to The Prayer without a moment's thought.

"Yes, I agree. We have to get out of here before S'Trovi and her people storm in my house."

"We?" Emma asked, there was a hopeful note in the way she asked. "You mean, you're going to come with us?"

S'Loni nodded, "Of course, I am going to come with you. You are my arkesh. Your training is yet to be complete and I am also a friend. What The Prayer had done to smear the name of the council and make them think that way cannot be left unpunished. I will make sure that he rues the day he had come up with such an underhanded tactic. My fleet will also be with you, they know what it was you had done for our sake."

That was great news. An Azran fleet was much better than no fleet at all.

"I cannot smuggle you out of Azure, however," added S'Loni. "The other Azras supporting S'Trovi will be sure to check my fleet."

"No need to worry," I said, giving S'Loni a smile and pounding my left fist to my right palm. "Leave that to me."


It wasn't hard "finding" a ship we could use. What was a bit harder was making sure no one found us suspicious as we tried to "blend in" with the crowd of Azras that have suddenly pooled out of the stadium. All of them had the look of determination in their eyes it was like they all agree with the decree of giving us up in exchange for "peace". Apart from S'Loni and her crew, we were out of friends in Azure.

We tried to mimic the way the Azras moved as we went to where S'Loni had agreed to meet with us—something we agreed to do before we left. They didn't look at us twice, not while Dana and I were working together to conceal our presence behind an illusion that showed them we were Azras as well. Even so, we were all worried that we would be found out, after all, an illusion can only conceal our true forms but not our movements.

The walk from S'Loni's house to the shipyard was a lot longer than anyone can think possible for a five-minute walk to be. It felt like an eternity before we got there and all of us exhaled a sigh of relief when we saw that no one, apart from S'Loni, was there. Even though no one else was around, one look at my drang told me that they would appreciate it if I didn't drop the illusion. I nodded, I felt the same way they did. We needed to be cautious.

"I trust you guys made it here without any problems?" S'Loni asked, her voice hushed, her words quick.

I nodded, "It seems they really have made a decision about us."

"They are pashena! Idiots!" Hissed S'Loni, "The fleet is ready to depart, but we cannot be seen going in the same direction as you. The most we can do is to try and make them think we are leaving because all of you are onboard my ship."

"Isn't that dangerous?" Emma asked, she didn't bother to hide the worry that she was feeling. "Wouldn't you and your fleet get in trouble for helping us?"

"No, they won't. They will find that their suspicions of you boarding our ships were unfounded. Sure, they will be angry, but they will be none-the-wiser as to where you five are." S'Loni replied, there was tenderness and assurance in the way she spoke. "They will leave us with nothing but questions as to where you people could possibly be. Once we're clear, I'll send word for you all to meet with us. If, within weeks you do not hear from me, do not try to find us. That would only mean that we are not yet clear from their suspicions."

I gave S'Loni another nod.

Joe then instructed S'Loni, saying, "Have the messages encrypted in the highest form of encryption you can manage. Put something in the encryption that only we can take notice of and I'll easily be able to decrypt it. That way, we won't risk our communications being...tampered with and we don't have to worry about them falling into the wrong hands."

It was S'Loni's turn to nod her head.

Silence then filled the shipyard as she looked from one of us to another, her eyes resting longer on Emma. She then took a step backward, giving me room to create an Azran ship which I had learned how to build from the memory of the ship plans S'Loni had in her house. With the ship made and with us ready to board and depart, there wasn't any reason to linger much longer. Saying our goodbyes to S'Loni, we boarded the ship, waited for her to board her own and for her fleet to fly, before we made our escape from the deep blue planet of Azure.