Sk'lar

by Elin Wyn

  Heads nodded, and Navat let out a loud whoop that I took for an assent.

  “Aaah!” I doubled over suddenly, hands on my head. There was a loud buzzing that seemed to be coming from inside my skull. Then my comm implant activated and I heard a synthesized voice.

  The Children do not heed my call. I sought to renew. They destroy.

  “What's wrong, Commander?”

  I waved off Rouhr's ministrations.

  “Nothing. I think the Puppet Master has patched himself—itself—into my comm implant, but what he's saying doesn't make any sense.”

  “Try to understand, Commander. It's probably important. The Puppet Master has contacted me in the past. He is contacting you now. I believe it’s important to know why.”

  “Right.” I cleared my throat. “Ah, Puppet Master, are you there?”

  A foolish name created by a singular entity. I am vines. Vines are I. Sought to restore that which was lost. The Children are angry. They will not heed.

  “So, ah, do you want us to help? And shouldn’t you contact the general?”

  You all are unique to me. But in times of stress, I reach out to the closest of you that I can.

  A few seconds of silence, then— Also, yes. Assistance is appreciated.

  “Corporal, take us down between this melee and the Aurora.”

  “Sir?”

  “Just do it.” I turned to my team. “This is it. Tyehn, Navat, you're on point. Make those trees hurt. Rokul, Takar, and Jalok, you take left flank. Cazak, Zarik, and I will take right. General, would you be so good as to guard our six?”

  “It's your rodeo, Sk'lar.”

  “Sir?”

  “A Terran expression. I'm ready to fight.”

  The craft settled hard on the ground, bouncing us about a bit, but we were up and ready to move down the ramp within seconds.

  Tyehn and Navat wielded automatic belt-fed rail guns. The projectiles were slivers of metal, but when they stepped out into the forest and pulled their respective triggers, what looked like pulses of light shot from the barrels.

  A nearby sorvuc exploded into gooey kindling. My point men cleared a semi-circle around the ramp while the rest of us disembarked.

  I could hear weapons firing from behind me, and I hoped Rokul and his team were able to keep their side clear. Cazak and Zarik were paired with me. Implants in my torso increased the production of stress hormone, increasing my reaction speed and accuracy, but at the expense of raising my blood pressure to moderately high levels. I lined up a shot with my automatic slug thrower. The explosive bullets it fired were ideal for taking down kodanos and the nasty little winged talusians that dwelled within them.

  Cochlear implants deadened the nerves in my ear drum, so I didn't go deaf from all the weapons fire. Slowly but surely, we tore a swath through the living and hostile forest.

  Alright, the forest here was always hostile, but this was up to new levels.

  It was next to impossible not to hit the Puppet Master's vines, but I noticed that my team was at least trying to limit their fire to the trees.

  Jalok took a burst of green venom from a sorvuc tree on the arm and went down. His scales and light armor should take care of the toxins, but he was still vulnerable.

  I reached down and snagged his good arm, then half dragged him with one hand while firing wildly with my other. Fortunately, explosive ammo meant that I could shoot at the ground and still hit our enemies.

  We finally sundered the last of the walking trees, and I did a quick check on my team. Except for Jalok, no one had been injured.

  “That's the last of them, General. What's our next move?”

  His eyes narrowed, and he looked off over the battlefield toward the village.

  “Now we go see Fen and hope that she finally has some answers for us.”

  Phryne

  Usually when I walked to work, my head was filled with plans and tasks that needed to be completed that today. Today, my thoughts were only of Sk’lar.

  Could he be any more perfect?

  He was off on a mission, and while a tiny part of me was worried, I knew he’d be fine. He was a kick-ass, hot as hell, alien warrior. Of course he’d be fine.

  The fact that thoughts of him were flitting through my head in the first place spoke volumes.

  He’d given me my first taste of what true intimacy was supposed to feel like.

  And I liked it. I liked him.

  Somehow, he’d managed to do it without making me feel cornered or trapped, like most relationships had made me feel. Last night meant something, no question. Yet I didn’t feel any kind of pressure to define what we were.

  I cared about him. He cared about me. That was that.

  I could work with that.

  Unfortunately, I had to stop thinking about Sk’lar, Sk’lar’s body, and Sk’lar in bed.

  I approached my building.

  Out of habit, I glanced behind me. I didn’t expect to see anything, but today I saw an unusual number of people watching me.

  On a hunch, I walked past my building and kept going. Periodically checking over my shoulder, I saw that a handful of civilians were following me.

  But why?

  Something wasn’t right.

  I cut through an alley and made my way back to the front of my building. Some of my shadows picked up the pace to stay on my trail. Others anticipated my movements and returned to the front of my building before me. I wondered if my attacker was among them.

  “Lock the doors,” I instructed as soon as I entered the building. “Full lockdown. Something’s up.”

  “Ma’am.” Skit appeared at my side.

  “Get your partner. I want one of you patrolling the inside of this building for anything suspicious. You see something, you say something. The other needs to scramble a security unit to patrol the perimeter from a safe vantage point. I don’t care who does what. Get it done.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Skit sped off without hesitating.

  “Which strike team can be available immediately?” I called into my radio.

  “Strike Team Two standing by,” Karzin answered instantly.

  “Spread your team out through the levels. Be on high alert, but don’t look suspicious.”

  “Is something wrong?”

  “I think so. Do you have a good tech person on your team?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Get them into the mainframe. If they find anything unusual with the records from last night up until right now, have them contact me immediately.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Karzin clicked off. I walked briskly to the stairwell entrance. I wasn’t keen on getting into the elevators right now.

  When I was nearly to the second-floor landing, someone burst through the stairway entrance and barreled down the stairs, nearly knocking me over.

  “Don’t go up there!” She was crying. Her makeup ran down her face in murky tracks. “He’s got a gun! He’s going to kill someone.”

  I moved past the terrified woman. The second floor was filled with people crouched on the floor, trembling and trying to move under cover. An intern, barely old enough to grow a mustache, pointed towards Vidia’s office with a shaking hand. I nodded my thanks and drew my weapon.

  I heard nothing to suggest a fight. A stone of dread sank to the pit of my stomach as I approached Vidia’s office. I braced myself for the worst, for seeing her dead on the floor in a puddle of her own blood.

  I pressed my back against the wall beside her office door and listened, just in case.

  “Malkin, listen to me,” came Vidia’s voice. I froze. Malkin? He was on my alpha team. I’d hand selected him and trained him myself.

  “I’m done listening!” Malkin shouted.

  The door to Vidia’s office was closed, but not latched. I could bump it open without alerting Malkin, assuming his back was to the door. I moved slowly, moving the door open slowly with my foot.

  As I suspected, he had his back to me. Vidia stood
behind her desk with her hands up. Though I couldn’t see it for myself, I suspected Malkin had a weapon.

  Where the hell was General Rouhr?

  “My wife was torn to pieces in front of me when those bug-things attacked,” he said.

  “I know, Malkin,” Vidia replied. “Your wife, Lindette, was an amazing woman. I grieve for her, too.”

  “You have no idea what I’m going through!” Malkin shouted.

  “You’re right,” Vidia said quickly.

  If she noticed me, she didn’t give anything away.

  “Do you want to know how my daughter died?” Malkin asked.

  I felt a pang in my heart. Malkin was mad with grief. He didn’t wait for Vidia to answer.

  “She was crushed to death under a collapsing building when that plant attacked the city. She was only nineteen!”

  “I’m so sorry.” Tears welled up in Vidia’s eyes.

  “You’re sorry? If you’re so sorry, why are you partnering up with the monsters that took my family from me?” Malkin demanded.

  “We have to band together to undo the damage-”

  “Spare me that bullshit!” Malkin roared. “You’re climbing into bed with an abomination every night. You are an affront to humanity and I won’t let you stain our race any longer.”

  I closed the space between me and Malkin. He didn’t realize I was there until the tip of my blaster pressed into the base of his head.

  “I won’t shoot if you won’t.”

  “Here to save the alien-lover, huh?” Malkin laughed dryly.

  “I’m here to stop you from becoming a murderer. Do you really want that on your conscience? I know you, Malkin. You’re better than this.”

  “My life is already over. I just want to do some good before I’m done.”

  “Then lower your weapon,” I urged.

  “And allow my planet to fall into the hands of someone who will sell us out to aliens in a heartbeat? Never.”

  His finger moved for the trigger. I lifted both hands and brought the butt of my blaster down hard on the tenderest point in his shoulder. The pain made him drop his blaster. I pulled him back and rushed forward in an attempt to kick the blaster out of reach, but he elbowed me in the stomach.

  I doubled over as the air rushed out of my lungs.

  “Vidia, get out of here,” I wheezed. “Get the general.”

  “The general isn’t here,” Malkin laughed. No wonder he’d chosen now to attack.

  Vidia made a dash to get by, but Malkin grabbed her around the waist. Vidia thrashed and landed a few well-placed kicks. Malkin slammed her onto her desk.

  “It doesn’t have to be this way!” she shouted.

  Malkin wrapped his hands around her throat. There was a crazed look in his eyes. There was no humanity left in him.

  I slammed into him from the side, but didn’t have enough force to make him release Vidia. I grabbed my blaster once more.

  “I will shoot you,” I warned him. It was like I hadn’t said anything at all. Vidia’s face was beet red.

  “Malkin, don’t make me kill you!” I shouted.

  Vidia writhed against him. His knuckles were white where he squeezed her throat.

  I didn’t remember pulling the trigger. I didn’t remember the sound it made as it fired the beam. I did remember Malkin slumping over on top of Vidia. I remembered Vidia taking in deep gasps of air.

  “Phryne,” she coughed.

  I snapped back into action. I yanked Malkin’s body off her and shoved it onto the floor.

  “You all right?” I asked.

  Vidia nodded as she massaged her throat gently.

  “Are you?”

  I didn’t know how to answer that.

  “Vidia!” Karzin burst into the office.

  “I’m fine,” she insisted, even though she was shaking all over.

  “Who is this?” he demanded.

  “Disgruntled employee,” I answered. “I think the anti-alien radicals got to him.”

  “If they got to one of our own, who knows how many more they’ve infected with their poisonous mindset,” Karzin growled. “I have half a mind to round all of the radicals up and execute them.”

  “That wouldn’t help anything,” Vidia replied.

  “I know. But it’d make me feel better,” Karzin grumbled.

  “Me, too,” I agreed. “I really didn’t want to kill him.”

  “You’d have rather spared him?”

  “I would’ve preferred to take him in for questioning. He could’ve given us names of others who shared his mindset. There could be other people in this building right now prepared to attempt what he just did.”

  “Was he acting out of the ordinary recently?” Karzin asked.

  “He’s been working with me for three years,” I said. “He didn’t show any signs of doing something like this.”

  “The anti-alien radicals must’ve gotten to him recently,” Karzin surmised.

  “Or he simply lost control of his grief,” Vidia offered.

  “The fact that we don’t know for certain is a problem,” I said. “We have to screen every employee now. Anyone with even the tiniest hint of suspicious activity has to go. We’re compromised.”

  “I think that’s the best course of action,” Karzin agreed. “We can’t take any more risks.”

  “I’ll get to work on a screening protocol and-”

  Shots rang out, followed by a smattering of screams.

  Radio chatter exploded in my earpiece. Karzin and I reached for our handsets at the same time.

  “What’s going on?” Karzin demanded, his voice roaring both beside me and through my earpiece.

  “We’re under attack,” One of Karzin’s team members shouted back. “Radicals are inside the building and they have us surrounded. All exit points are under radical control.”

  “Shit,” I swore. “Try to get someone to guard the armory. We don’t want the radicals gaining access to our weapons. Someone needs to sweep the floors and get all non-combat-trained personal somewhere safe.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  I bent down and retrieved Malkin’s blaster from beside his body.

  “Get to one of the safe rooms, Vidia,” I instructed.

  “Like hell, I will.” Vidia set her jaw.

  “I know you’re fully capable of kicking ass, but if something happens to you, the radicals win.”

  “She’s right,” Karzin agreed. “Get somewhere safe. We’ll take it from here. General Rouhr will skin me if anything happens to you.”

  “Fine,” Vidia reluctantly agreed. “Just don’t die, okay? Either of you.”

  “We’ll do our best.” I gave her a reassuring smile before nodding to Karzin.

  Together, we stepped out of Vidia’s office, ready for battle.

  I should’ve been coming up with attack plans, but only one thought was prominent in my head at the moment. Where the hell was Sk’lar?

  Sk’lar

  “Easy on the landing,” Cazak snarled at Tyehn as the shuttle came down to land.

  “Hey, don’t blame me for turbulence,” Tyehn snapped back in defense. “I don’t have control of the wind.”

  “Yeah, well, you should…”

  “Shut up, both of you,” I snapped at them as we touched down. “We’re all on edge because of the fight with the trees, but this is getting stupid. You know he can’t control turbulence, Cazak.”

  “You’re right,” he said before turning to Tyehn. “My apologies. I’m just,” he ran his hand over his head. “Boss is right, I’m a bit on edge.”

  “No worries,” Tyehn said.

  “Aww,” Navat started. “Now that you two ladies are done, we’re on the ground. Can we do this, already? The general’s getting antsy.”

  He wasn’t exactly right about that, because Rouhr looked amused by our interactions, but he was known for his ability to show calm in even the most stressful situations. He could be antsy, as Navat said, and just not showing it.

  �
�Navat’s right,” I said before Cazak or Tyehn could retaliate. “Let’s go. Fen’s waiting for us.” Tyehn pushed the button to open the bay door and we all squinted as the bright light shone into the shuttle. Rouhr led the way out the door. I brought up the rear, making sure Tyehn and Cazak weren’t acting like fools on the way out.

  Rouhr led us to Fen’s home, where she both worked and slept. Then again, I wasn’t sure if I had ever seen a Urai sleep. I actually wondered about it. I knew they were all locked up in stasis when the ship crashed here, so they were technically sleeping then, but I don’t know if I’ve ever seen any of them sleep since.

  To be honest, this would be the fourth time I’d been inside Fen’s home, and I didn’t remember ever seeing a bedroom. She had a small kitchen, and a bathroom—still a terrible name the humans had come up with for where to relieve yourself, but then again, humans were odd—as well as a sitting room where you could relax and enjoy yourself.

  She also had the office that seemed to take up most of the home, which had been made up of a combination of Aurora parts and native materials.

  “My friends,” Fen said as we entered her home, “thank you for coming. I know it was an inconvenience.”

  “A bit of one,” Rouhr said. “I would like to know why we weren’t allowed to use the rift.”

  “I understand,” Fen replied as she indicated the large table in the center of the room. “If you would all please sit, I will explain and show you something.”

  We all took seats around the table as two other Urai brought out a portable viewscreen and Fen did something with her computer. Once the viewscreen was connected to her computer, we watched as she clicked through some things before putting up what looked like four videos.

  “My friends,” Fen said as she moved to the view-screen. As she tapped the screen and made one of the videos take up the entirety of it, she turned to us. “There are some things that I wish to show you in order to better explain what I believe is happening with the humans of this planet, and why I would not open a rift for you.” She nodded at Rouhr as she said the last part. “Please watch carefully.”

  She played the video and we watched as a rift opened. It looked like a typical rift, bright yellow, orange, and white colors nearly blinding our eyes as we watched a Urai step through it to the other side, then step back through.