Sokain Origins: Sokain Origins, #1

By Naci Warnke

A world at the brink of war. A soldier who no longer cares if he lives. A scientist looking for a breakthrough.

Captain Kelly O'Ceallaigh gave up on life when his squadron was killed on the day they were supposed to go home. Too stubborn to just die though, he was floating through the motions of life when a building fire threatened to end it all.  Until a Choice he didn't make came and intervened. 

Doctor Mary Choice had the science of her father who died before she was even born and just needed a way to make these powerful microcomputers sync with a human host.  But every attempt had ended in the worse way possible, until she found a captain with nothing to lose. 

Will he be the one to change history? Or will his stubborn refusal to live end her experiment? Or is it all too late to matter? 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Naci Warnke
• Release date: May 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9798986184425

Naci Warnke

Naci Krystine Warnke is a prolific writer who has written over a hundred books since she started writing in middle school. She has created a world full of stories that she loves to record so she can share these adventures with any willing to tread into another world. 

Book preview

Written By

Naci Warnke

Shape Description automatically generated

Secrets of Soka

SOKAIN ORIGINS: PART One © 2022 by Naci Warnke.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, contact the author by email at [e-mail].

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Secrets of Soka

PO Box 86081

Phoenix, AZ 85080

PRINT ISBN: 979-8-9861844-0-1

EBOOK ISBN: 979-8-9861844-2-5

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022907734

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

1 CAPTAIN O’CEALLAIGH

2 Life Support

3 Eperiment Ninety-Three

4 Waking Up

5 Paralyzed

6 An Escape

7 Kol

8 Maintaining Life

9 General Makowski

10 MRI

11 Surgery

12 A Secret

13 Shared Corruption

14 Special

15 The Differences

16 Wisgat Soka

17 Success

18 First Lieutenant Tristan Kringle

19 His Reason

20 Freaked Out

21 New Meat

22 Dead

23 Draining Kelly

24 In Charge

25 Failures

26 Point of Origin

27 Space Rocks

28 Communicating

29 Too Late

30 Escaping The Lab

31 Another Experiment

32 Worldwide

33 Power Drained

34 Twice

35 Secret Language

36  Hope Restored

37 Marry Me?

38 Temporary Escape

39 Activated Life

40 Next Generation

41 Crowned King

1

Captain O’Ceallaigh

K elly! The elated cry echoed from the dressing rooms in the department store. The few people who still bothered going into stores looked to the sound but moved on without thought.

A few moments later, a man emerged from the room in a new pair of jeans and a t-shirt. He stopped at the self-checkout and purchased the clothes before leaving the store without a word.

He stepped out onto the street and looked around. Life moved on around him as he picked a direction and started walking.

Captain O'Ceallaigh? A voice called out from behind him. He kept walking.

A petite blond with bright blue eyes stepped in front of him, stopping him in his tracks. She wore some wiry glasses and a clean, pressed suit, the kind with a skirt that few women actually wore anymore. In her hands was a folder. All he could see of it was O'Ceallaigh, CPT Kelly.

You are Captain Kelly O'Ceallaigh. It was a statement, not a question.

No, He refused anyway as he walked around her.

Captain O'Ceallaigh, She protested as she followed him. My name is Mary Choice. I have a proposition for you.

The man you’re looking for died overseas two years ago, He rejected without slowing.

I’ve read all the reports, Captain. You weren’t responsible, Mary insisted. It wasn’t your fault.

So they say, Kelly muttered.

Please, Captain. I think you can help me with a project that could save a lot of lives, She urged.

I don’t care, Kelly refused as he pushed open the doors of a bank and went inside. With a huff of annoyance, Mary didn’t follow him.

The bank manager smiled at him from where she spoke to one of her tellers. She nodded him to the back, so he went. Right to her office where he sat down in her chair and waited about five minutes until she came in with his envelope.

She was another of the few who still wore skirts. Of course, her choice in that fashion hadn’t begun until Kelly started visiting daily. She used to favor those pantsuits that mostly just irritated Kelly.  But he was one of the few that still thought there was a difference between men and women and didn’t care who knew it.

Ten minutes later, Kelly walked out of her office with his envelope. Inside was money from his account. The only thing anywhere that still had his name on it.  After ten years with the army, Kelly had been discharged and given a full pension.  It came out to eighty-three dollars and fifty-eight cents a day.  And that was what he lived on. 

Except for Sundays when the bank was closed.  Then he crashed at a local shelter. God seemed determined to keep him alive as much as the Army did. Might as well let Him foot the bill of it once a week too. 

Most days, he used that money for food and a room for the night. But most days, he didn’t have to think about the lives he cost two years ago, fighting a war he never could have won.  The day he lost five good people.  No, today was one of the bad days.  When he took those eighty-three dollars to the local grocery store and spent it all on the most expensive bottle of whiskey he could with that amount. 

Of course, spending his daily allowance on booze meant he didn’t have it for food or a room.  Food was rather irrelevant at that point.  The alcohol would give him the sugar he needed. As for a place to sleep, he knew of a couple that were safe enough for a night.

The easiest to access was an old building in the middle of a rundown neighborhood.  He drank down about half the bottle in the walk over there. Yet he was barely drunk as he walked inside.  A couple kids were playing downstairs.  They were homeless, by circumstance, not choice.  Kelly usually gave them his change, whatever he didn’t use in the day.

Hi, Kelly, One of them waved. 

Hello, Sally. Harry, Kelly offered as he gave them what little change that he had left.  They smiled and ran off to buy something with it.  He continued on to a back corner of the building where he wouldn’t be bothered. 

Over the next hour, he managed to finish off that bottle and fell asleep. The alcohol pulled him into a drunken stupor deep enough to keep him from his dreams. 

The evening passed along without his notice until suddenly screams of terror broke into his brain. He startled awake, thinking it was just his memories, but the screams didn’t stop once he had opened his eyes. And there was smoke in the air.

His first thought was the kids. He pushed up to his feet and sought the two out.  They were curled in a corner, clinging to each other, staring at the door to the stairs. Both jumped up and ran to him when they saw him. 

Kelly! Kelly! They both chanted his name as they crowded around him.

Kelly’s attention, however, was on the door.  Smoke was pouring in at the top as flames licked the bottom.  Problem was that this death trap was abandoned for a reason. A fire a decade ago had destroyed the other ways downstairs.  The only way down was those stairs.

What do we do?  Sally looked up at him. 

Kelly looked around and picked up a rod. It was the support bar for something, but it would serve his purpose.  Get down, He ordered the two, pointing around a corner. And behind there.

The kids nodded and got out of the way.  Kelly stepped closer and rammed the door with the rod, forcing it open.  The flames exploded through the doorway.  He covered his head as the fire filled the room.

Okay, you two. Stay close, Kelly ordered the children. 

Kelly cleared a path down the stairs, finding the safest place to step to get the children down the burned stairs.  He had to jump them down over a couple places not near safe enough for them.  By some miracle, he got them to the bottom step before the entire staircase fell out of under him. 

Go! Kelly ordered the children, pointing them to the door. 

Harry and Sally ran for the door as the ground dropped out of under Kelly. He went all the way down to the basement with the debris. The last thing he saw was firefighters collect the kids and get them safely away.

2

Life Support

Dr. Mary Choice walked into the hospital and found her goal in the intensive care unit.  The doctor in charge came closer and said, If that’s the one you’re looking for, you might want to pick someone else. He’s not going to survive the night.

What happened?  Mary asked as she looked at the man. 

Third degree burns over forty percent of his body. C1 and C2 vertebrae are both cracked. We had to ventilate him when he was first brought in, and he hasn’t held his own at all since, The doctor shared.  Unless he starts to show some improvement in the next couple hours, state procedure says it’s time to cut the support before it costs the hospital any more money.

Thank you, Mary dismissed the doctor as she stepped into the room.

She went to the bed and looked at Kelly. Half his face was covered in gauze. The rest was covered with the medical equipment keeping him alive.  She almost couldn’t believe it had been a week since she watched him walk down the street and into that bank.  But he was still the one she wanted, so she took her phone from her pocket.

Find him? Her partner asked over the phone.

Yes. I found him.  Physically damaged, but that doesn’t matter much, Mary said. I still think he’s the one we need.

Status? 

Life support is about to be shut off. He’ll be dead tonight if we don’t take over, Mary shared. 

Send him over.

Mary got fast to work. About the moment the doctor was prepared to pull the plug, Mary had control over his future.  An hour later, she had him on a medical transport to her labs in the South Pole. 

The plane landed in their hanger, and Mary followed the team off.  Her partner met her at the door, where she plucked the file off the bed as the team brought Kelly inside. 

Physically damaged?  Kitera Sayaka shook her head as she checked the file. 

That part won’t matter, Mary dismissed. 

Good thing...at least he won’t need the numbing, Kitera snapped the file shut. 

Mary followed Kitera to the operating room where their physician was prepared for the procedure.  He lifted the sheet from Kelly’s damaged body and looked up at the women.

Are you sure you want to waste the attempt on this one?  Dr. Thomas Strudwick asked.

His injuries are irrelevant, Kitera waved and walked away.

Bodies can be mended, Mary insisted. He’s got something else I need.

Whatever you say, Dr. Choice, Strudwick shrugged as he called in his medical team.

Mary stayed to watch as they rolled Kelly onto his chest. They ignored his broken bones and burnt skin entirely as they stripped away the gauze to reveal his damaged body.  Strudwick’s only concern was the end of his spine.

Are we using the lidocaine, Dr. Strudwick?  The nurse asked. 

Strudwick checked the file and said, No point. Spinal damage means he won’t feel it even if we don’t.

Is it going to work if his spine is damaged?  She questioned.

Strudwick looked to Mary, who said, The procedure ought to mend that.

The staff moved on, cutting into Kelly’s lower back.  They split open his spinal cord right at the base, right where his tail bone was.  Kelly didn’t move at all, proving the lack of feeling.  But the staff kept working, attaching Mary and Kitera’s science to his spine.  The silver addition housed some tiny computers dubbed nanobots that would soon flood his veins from the long extension. 

And that was when they reached a standstill.  Every check to make sure they worked required some response from the patient.  Strudwick looked up at Mary.

What now, Dr. Choice?  Strudwick inquired. 

Move him to observation, Mary ordered. 

You heard her, Strudwick accepted.

Mary oversaw the movement until Kelly was settled into one of the rooms next to observation.  Strudwick looked over the notes from the other doctors as Mary touched their addition.  The metal was cold and lifeless.  This was their ninety third experiment.  If it failed too, they were going to lose funding. She was betting a lot on this. 

You sure chose an odd one, Choice, Strudwick commented as he looked over the file. This man ought to be dead. 

So I heard, Mary agreed. 

"At least he won’t feel