A Normal Day in Hokanuka Central

A Normal Day at Hokanuka Central is a story serial set in the Altronia Continuity.

Part One
Yaltrax strode purposefully through the dark hallways in the Altronia-based Hokanuka tunnel network. He had a lot on his mind, which was a nice change. His thoughts were of defense and strategy and keeping secrets, ones that Zalkatrex, his employer, was ever so nice to share with Yaltrax.

He was thinking these thoughts because of reports of a Chilas breach in one of the tunnels. The ape-like creatures liked to dig and they dug either tunnels in rock or in the sediment to make their burrows. The problem was that sometimes their colonies were too populous, and they had to dig more and more to accommodate their increasing numbers. This was only an issue if one of their colonies was near a Hokanuka tunnel. Then the beasts would bore through and start pouring through into the open space, claiming it as their own. The Hokanuka, like Yaltrax, being territorial by nature, didn't take kindly to this, and would quickly drive the beasts out and plug the hole, if they didn't first kill every single Chilas in the colony first.

The idea this time, however, was to get rid of the beasts quickly. Yaltrax knew why, and he was going to put all the more effort into it. ''If the Altronians find her, they'll try to take her in for study, but that's what we're doing. They must not know anything we don't,'' he thought dutifully.

He continued his slightly rushed pace, anticipating a battle. Oddly, it was tough to get Yaltrax to run, but his loyalty to the Hokanuka and especially Zalkatrex was his driving motivation. They shared views and he appreciated that. Also, when Yaltrax anticipated a battle, he usually was pretty confident. He just had to defend a stasis tube in the heart of the Hokanuka's laboratory sector, keeping it from being broken and keeping the room it was in in good shape. This would only be difficult if there were multiple Chilas by now. Slaryka had reported that he had only seen one, and he had driven it back up the tunnel, but they all knew that Chilas, and Hokanuka, were too stubborn to leave it at that.

Yaltrax rounded the last bend and found that this, indeed, would be difficult. He had no doubt he could survive this fight, and was practically guaranteed to, but he was to defend the stasis tube, which made it harder. One Chilas was easy to keep tabs on, but several were a major issue. He just really had to act fast and only pummel each a little at a time, so he wasn't distracted from one for too long. There was only one visible, but Yaltrax could hear at least four more coming down the tunnel.

Better end this quick, then, he thought, as he charged. He slammed his horns into the first Chilas, sending it flying. He then ran down the hall, picked it up by its head, and dragged it back to the lab door. He then shifted his grip lower on the animal and drove its head through the door with one hand. That'll keep it still. More piled into the hole after their brother's defeat. Yaltrax hit two simultaneously, one with his tail club, another with the back of his right hand. As another poked it head in to look around, Yaltrax grabbed its head with his hands and squeezed. It didn't take long for the creature to go.

Now Yaltrax got a reprieve. The mangled Chilas was blocking the hole, stopping more Chilas from coming in. The two he had smashed aside were trying to help their brother. They succeeded in getting its head out of the lab door, then they started working at it with their claws, trying to enlarge the hole to gain access. They could smell stasis fluid and didn't like the smell. They wanted to kill whatever was making that smell, and this door was in the way. Yaltrax smashed into the thick of them, and batted one aside. The other two ducked under his swiping claws and around the back of him. As one was claimed by his sweeping tail club, the other jumped on his back, trying to take him down. Smiling as best he was able with his strange mouth, Yaltrax fell backward, allowing the venomous spikes on his back to work their magic. The creature would never rise again.

The other two Chilas were still at work on that door. The door was quite wide, so Yaltrax had some room to smash two more heads through different spots on the door, which he did. The two Chilas were trapped, but not gone. Yaltrax changed that by slamming open the lab door as hard as he could. The Chilas were almost completely flattened, and what wasn't flattened was stuck in the wall.

Now two more Chilas managed to remove their brother's corpse from the hole and drop through. Yaltrax had more difficulty now, since the door was stuck open. He had to swat the beasts back, trying to block the door as best he could. With the agility of the beasts, this was no easy matter. Finally, another overly brutal idea came to Yaltrax's dim mind. He grabbed one of the beasts as it tried to rush him, and thew it headlong at its partner, who was also rushing the door, hitting with the combined force of the rushing beasts. Both Chilas were down, but not out, so Yaltrax now prepared to make them and their brothers stop being a problem altogether. He shoved them back up the hole, and, taking dirt and plugging the hole with it, he pressed a horn-generated force field into the ceiling by jumping, compacting the earth and sealing the hole for good.

There! he thought. That's all of them. Or was it? There was one more, the second one to be struck with his tail. He hadn't done that one in completely. ''Lame! Very, very lame,'' he shouted to himself.

As Yaltrax scanned the hallway looking for the primate, he heard a crash and tinkle of crystal from the other room. The stasis tube was no more. The Chilas would be immediately slain, but he wasn't sure what to do about the stasis tube's contents. Before the Chilas could eat the little blue figure kept in the tube, Yaltrax rushed into the lab, grabbed it and ran out. Still holding the beast, pulled a shelf into the doorway to block it, and threw the Chilas with all his might down the hallway. It instantly disappeared from sight, and Yaltrax heard a satisfying smash of metal on the far end of the hall.

The hall was filled with the stench of prolonged stasis, leaking into the hall from the lab. It was a smell Yaltrax was not supposed to have smelled, but he was, and he would have to report his failure right to the Big Cheese himself. Yaltrax was hoping those tales of Zalkatrex's temper were false, for, even though he wouldn't admit it, Zalkatrex was perhaps the only foe Yaltrax wasn't sure he could beat.

Part 2
Slaryka was sure this would be a bad day. Yes, veeerrry bad indeed, he said to himself. Yaltrax had done his job, but, in classic Yaltrax style, had created a bigger problem while solving one. He had driven off the Chilas invasion and killed all the invaders, but had endangered the rest of the base by blocking the doorway of the lab with a shelf. The test subject had the ability to absorb impact and use the energy to grow, like a Kraawa. And, last I checked, the primary response to a shelf being in one's way was to bash it repeatedly with one's shoulder until it gave.

The sound of huge impact against protosteel confirmed this theory. Slaryka increased the speed of his dash to make it to the doorway in time to restrain her, hoping he wasn't too late. Their subject had a name, they were sure, but they had not asked her of it, seeing as she was in stasis. Using her powers as an inspiration, they called her Absorber to have something to refer to her by. Due to her being in stasis, she actually wasn't aware she had the nickname.

Another crash ended Slaryka's musings. The shelf had changed somewhat, having a big dent in the center. To the side of the dent was a hole that revealed the contents of the room. From what Slaryka could see, Absorber had smashed almost everything in the room looking for another exit. Finding none, she had decided to punch her way out. Slaryka could also see what size she had reached, and he estimated that she was about two feet taller than Yaltrax. That was bad. That made it harder to stun her, and if she got much bigger, she could defeat Slaryka with one hit. He would have to find some way to contain her. Still, Slaryka had had some extremely tough challenges in his time, some tougher than this, which, under pain of what Zalkatrex would do to him, he had to succeed at. There has to be a solution.

"What!?"

"Yes, Zalkatrex, I actually failed." Yaltrax's eyes were cast down at his feet ten feet below his head. Zalkatrex looked up to see his face, but his expression was still condescending.

"So, my newest recruit has failed me, and one of my oldest operatives has made off to fix your problem. There is no doubt Absorber has gotten much larger, quite likely past the volume of your hulking brainless mass," Zalkatrex lectured. "You have left Slaryka to deal with it and come back to report your failure to me."

Yaltrax grimaced. If he didn't fear Zalkatrex, the Hokanuka elder would be long gone.

"That is your mistake. Not failing. Many of my minions fail, but are not punished for it. Want to know why? They tried again. They fixed their own problems. They stopped what they could not prevent."

Yaltrax looked up, intrigued. Zalkatrex smiled a sly grin, almost revolting on his animalistic face. "What I wanted them to do was succeed, no matter how hard they have to try. If they come back to report failure, then they did not try their hardest, putting everything on the line. It means they wasted an opportunity to undo their failure just to waddle back here and tell me, in effect, that they were too spineless and lazy to truly complete their mission before giving up."

Yaltrax winced. Giving up. The way Zalkatrex said these words was almost as if he had uttered an obscenity. He had practically spat the words out as if his tongue had been burned. That is the true mistake, then. Not failing, giving up. Zalkatrex was right. Yaltrax could have contained the creature had he tried. He could maybe even found a spare stasis tube to power up. He wondered if there had been one to find if he had looked for it. Too late now. Absorber probably destroyed it by now. We'll have to do it the hard way.

Yaltrax's eyes narrowed in resolve and determination. "I will aid my brother. I will undo my failure," he said to Zalkatrex. "And I will never, ever give up again."

Zalkatex's smile broadened. "That's it. Most of my operatives do not have the luxury of learning this from me. I want you to be at top of your potential. Now go show me some of that potential."

Slaryka had to come up with something quick, or Absorber would pound her way free, leading to a quick and possibly lethal trampling being given to Slaryka. That would be bad, so the Hokanuka had to find a way to prevent it as soon as possible. Absorber stopped momentarily, noticing Slaryka and stopping briefly to meet his eyes through the tear in the metal. Slaryka lifted his sword and pointed it at Absorber. She mirrored to gesture, thinking it to be a declaration of animosity. The truth was revealed to be much different and more deadly as a metal dart flew our of Slaryka's sword and lodged in the inside of Absorber's elbow, injuring the organic tissue. To Slaryka's curiosity, the reptilian female did not grow larger from the impact, but simply cried out in pain and pulled the dart out of her arm. Intrigued, the Hokanuka assassin aimed another dart, this time at her armor. It struck dead-on, and, bouncing off, caused a small increase in his opponent's size.

So, it's the armor, he realized. Her little growing trick only works if her armor is struck. That didn't help much. He still had to contain her, but he could perhaps do it in a way that was different than Zalkatrex expected. ''She's not an animal. She's an intelligent being, and I need to treat her like one.''

He focused the power of his Kanohi Jutlin, the Mask of Corruption. He aimed it not on the floor beneath her feet, as he might do if he could see the floor, but at the metal shelf. Rust began to form on the metal and cracks formed in the structure. Once the shelf was badly weakened, Slaryka casually kicked the structure and shattered it.

Absorber looked puzzled. "Why did you free me?" she asked, cocking her head to the side.

Slaryka was glad she didn't charge, only stood there, which allowed him to continue with his plan. "Because I want to have a discussion about your immediate and more distant future, and that is difficult from behind a battered wall."

"If it involves me captured or killed, get out of my way if you want your head pounded into your shoulders."

"The former, but not the latter. If you'll agree to my terms, you can be freed."