Barracuda's Requiem

"Naphthien says all WARBLER Centers have been destroyed," Rahim told Isrina and the others in the runner.

"Man, Fanghui wants us dead that badly," Niode pat his unconscious daughter's head.

"Unfortunate turn of events," Oreic twitched his Vulpi ears. "But at least we get to fight another day."

"Thankfully, Mom got the stealth mode working before that shark thing destroyed us," Nashura smiled.

Naphthien winked, holding two fingers in a peace sign. Rahim took out a protein bar to eat as Isrina and Tetsuyin hugged their only children tightly. Isrina leaned her head on Shien's, stroking his face. Tetsuyin hummed a hymn, wiping Mivangeline's face from dust as she adjusted her hair.

"How much stealth do we have left?" Rahim turned to Naphthien.

She gestured with sign language.

"61.7?" Rahim nodded. "Good. Still enough to keep us hidden from those chimaeras."

"Well, that's a relief," Oreic looked out the windows to see the shark-shaped warships swarming through the skies.

"Anyone got in touch with Cecilius?" Niode asked.

Rahim shook his head. "None of our UICA phones work."

He threw the protein bar wrapper at Lansen. The trash buddy jumped up, opening its beak to devour the garbage.

"Yum! Yum!" Lansen flapped his wings.

"But non-UICA products work!" Niode noted. "Does anyone have something non-UICA?

"Perhaps, my flip phone?" Oreic flicked a small device from his robe onto his hand. "We Vultau masters appreciate the classic."

The gang waited to hear Cecilius's voice as Oreic placed the phone on speaker.

"Hey, Cecilius?"

"Oh! Hi, is that you Oreic?" A girl's voice replied.

"Dorian!" Nashura shouted. "Hullo!"

"Hey, Nash. Glad to hear you and Oreic are safe."

"Dorian, how are you?" Isrina asked.

"Isrina! I'm okay! Did you find Shien?"

"Yes! I'm with the Murhavs, the Shuruukos, and Master Oreic. We're trying to escape from the droid army. Chimaeras are everywhere. Are you still with Saitori?"

"Yes, I'm with Saitori, Arius, and Magnus."

"Where's Cecilius?" Rahim questioned.

No answer.

"Dorian?" Isrina worried.

Everyone heard Dorian weep.

"Dorian? What's wrong?"

"It's okay, Dorian. I can talk to them," A familiar voice took over the phone. "Hi, Isrina. You there?"

"Saitori!" Isrina recognized the voice. "What happened?"

The General took a deep breath. "C-Cecilius is gone."

Everyone gasped at the horrid news.

"No," Isrina shook her head. "No. Cecilius can't be dead!"

"How can that be?" Rahim shouted. "Cecilius is a good man! He shouldn't die. What happened to him?"

Saitori gulped. "Z-Zentroid killed him."

The name made Isrina, Rahim, and Oreic shudder.

Rahim's hands shook. "D-don't tell me. Wasn't he that damned computer on the train?"

"Zentroid is alive?" Oreic stammered. "And now he's here? In America?"

Naphthien frantically glanced back with a hand signal.

"I know, Naphthien! I thought we killed him during the Niang Chronicles!" Rahim remembered. "If Zentroid Crucifyzoa is here in America, it's going to be a meat grind for all of us!"

Isrina wiped her tears. "Saitori, what are we going to do now?"

The General sighed, knowing Cecilius trusted her as the new leader. "Cecilius told me about a secret base before he died. Dorian will send coordinates to Niode's runner. Keep this a secret."

"Okay, but we are in Naphthien's runner though."

"Alright, shouldn't be a problem. Dorian is sending them to Naphthien."

Rahim ran up to the cockpit beside his wife. The two looked at the central control screen. Sets of letters and numbers lit up on the screen. Naphthien gave a thumbs up.

"We got it!" Rahim reported.

"Good," Saitori replied. "May God help us! All of you stay safe."

"You too, Saitori!" Everyone said before the General hung up.

"Naphthien," Rahim looked at the control panel. "How does it look?"

Naphthien used sign language to communicate with Rahim. They took a moment to examine the map.

"Choro Emplexion? What's that?" Rahim questioned.

Naphthien signaled that she didn't know. Niode, Isrina, and Rahim analyzed the coordinates. Tetsuyin, Oreic, and Nashura chatted as they watched over Shien and Mivangeline.

"Do any of you know what that is?" Isrina asked.

Everyone shook their heads.

Rahim placed his hand on his chin. "Only if I can understand the directions. Is this a GPS? I don't recognize this format. I don't see a clear path to the location. The points are all over the place!"

"Wait a second. Not quite. I think I understand how Dorian did this," Niode pointed. "You see the coordinate axes are latitude and longitude, right?"

"Yes."

"Dorian lined the straight path with scrambles of altitude as if the grid was 3D instead of just 2D latitude and longitude," Niode slid his fingers across the messy clusters of red points in a straight line to Choro Emplexion. "We programmers use this format to build the Syanic Earth! Atta girl, Dorian!"

Rahim gasped at how easily Niode understood the incomprehensible map.

"Niode," Isrina patted his back. "You're a genius!"

"Aw, you're making me blush! Now, off to Choro Emplexion!"

They were interrupted when Naphthien swerved the runner right, sending everyone flying across the vehicle.

"What the? Naphthien?" Rahim felt Lansen land on his head.

Naphthien slid the vehicle under a ruined building, making an abrupt stop in the lobby's parking lot full of damaged cars.

"Mom! What happened?" Nashura hit her head on the seat.

Naphthien frantically showed the group sign language as if she were trying to portray a big machine.

"You heard a barracuda hovertank?" Rahim exclaimed.

"Is that bad?" Niode blinked.

"Very," Isrina hugged the unconscious Shien.

The group heard gritty electronic horns echoing from afar.

"It's coming!" Oreic felt his Vulpi ears twitch in rhythm to the eerie noises becoming louder. "We need to be quiet!"

"Someone tell me what that sound was!" Niode panicked as Naphthien turned off the lights and power.

"Shhh!" Rahim demanded. "We need to be quiet. Naphthien quickly hid us here so the tank wouldn't find us."

"But we have stealth, right? We can't be seen."

"It doesn't matter for the barracuda," Isrina whispered. "It uses echolocation."

"What's that?"

"Like dolphins and bats, the tank can detect objects based on the reflection of sound. With the rubble around us, we have a chance to hide from the barracuda."

"Guys," Oreic placed a finger on his mouth.

The gang stopped talking, listening to the booming vibration that irritated their ears. They looked through the windows to see an enormous floating tank with two large wings armed with rotating ball turrets. As the flying tank hovered across the street, its huge warhead launcher and double-barreled tank cannon emitted a discord of trilling anodic modulation. The hovertank shrieked electronic howls with bending pitches as it scanned the area.

"I hate this," Tetsuyin covered her ears. "Make it stop."

"We will make it, Tetsuyin," Nashura assured her.

Tetsuyin shook her aching head from the pain, trying to hold herself from moaning. Meanwhile, Lansen saw a protein bar fall off Rahim's coat pocket.

"More yum yum for Lansen!" Lansen blurted out, waddling towards the bar.

"Lansen, shhh," Niode grabbed Lansen, covering his beak.

Everyone glared at the bird-shaped trash can as Niode convinced Lansen to ignore the bar. The group noticed the barracuda make an abrupt stop.

"Great, your trash buddy caught its attention," Rahim took his protein bar back.

The tank bellowed deafening buzzes.

"Get on the floor," Isrina whispered. "Away from the windows. It has 20 eyes. Don't let it see you."

"20 eyes?" Niode sweated.

Isrina helped Tetsuyin sit Shien and Mivangeline on the floor. Glaring red lights shone through their windows as they held their breath.

"Stop this," Tetsuyin curled in a ball. "It hurts. I hate it."

"What's wrong with her?" Rahim quietly asked. "She's going to lead the tank here."

"Oh, no," Niode hugged his wife. "Tetsuyin is a praise team leader. She has musician's ears. She's sensitive to certain sounds."

"Just hang in there," Oreic held Tetsuyin by the shoulder.

Tetsuyin squirmed in agony as the red lights flickered in rhythm with the mechanical grinding that approached closer to their location.

Rahim covered her mouth. "So sorry you had to go through this."

The group huddled together as the entire vehicle rumbled along with the barracuda's vicious clamor. Niode whispered the Lord's Prayer to everyone.

Oreic prayed along. "Rhu Makiyu Eta, you are holy. Please deliver us from evil."