by J. N. Chaney
“The first order of business is to know that the First, as you call them, are going to arrive sooner. We intercepted a communique from Makin.”
Riva’s feathers went rigid.
“Calm yourself, young one. I understand your ire. Save it, and use it when the time is right. Now is the time to prepare.”
The rebel leader calmed instantly, the feathers ruffling once more before settling into place. “Thank you, Elder. My... personal involvement with Makin has caused some stress.”
“Of course. That is to be expected in your situation.”
Riva didn’t speak again, prompting Elder #2 to walk to the wall decorated in miniature cubes. He reached out to one and it glowed for a moment, then slid out of the wall to fall into his hand. Elder #2 moved back to the wall of video feeds and pressed the cube into the flat surface. I couldn’t make out any kind of panel or groove, but when he pulled his hand away, the cube seemed to meld into the wall as though it had been there all along.
The individual feeds went blank, then became one.
Elder #1 spoke. “It has been translated for convenience. You would not understand the First’s dialect in any case.”
A line began to move zigzag across the screen, and I recognized it as an audio file at once.
The first voice was familiar—Makin. “My lord, I believe the humans are going to be a problem.”
“We are aware. This cannot be tolerated.” The answering voice came out in a dry, raspy tone that made me think of a heavy tobacco user. “You are expected to deal with them before our arrival.”
“Of course. I am confident we can deal with the... annoyance within the next few months. I don’t expect the humans will be able to do more than cause some minor inconveniences.”
“Incorrect. You have one month.”
“What?” Makin sputtered. “I don’t understand. That’s not the schedule.”
Makin’s superior let out a hiss. “Do not forget yourself, Makin. You enjoy a certain amount of autonomy as we see fit. So far, you have proven useful. That can change at any time.”
I couldn’t see him, but I was pretty sure Makin gulped. “My apologies. It’s just that the humans have brought warriors. They have a ship. I don’t know how to—“
“Then I suggest you figure it out. If you can’t, we’ll take out the entire planet before the final culling instead of after. With you on it.”
The transmission ended.
The room fell quiet while we digested the newest bomb.
I could feel something stirring inside me. This was the first tangible evidence we had of the First’s plans. While Riva had explained that they came back to collect a crop of mind slaves every two decades, it was an assumption.
“That wasn’t the First, was it?” I put in, breaking into the silence with as much propriety as possible.
The Elder tilted his head slightly, then gave a nod. “You are clever, Chief Kent. And this is important for you to know. Our people are not the only mind slaves. The First travel the galaxy in search of warriors they can bend to their will for use in battle. Easy to sacrifice soldiers that aren’t yours. No one, not even the Elders, know the First’s true form.”
“Great,” Tara muttered.
“However,” Elder #2 continued without sparing her a glance. “That does not change our circumstances. There is still a war coming. And now we know the First plan to destroy our planet.”
I noticed that Riva wasn’t reacting to the news. “Did you know about this already?”
“No, but I suspected something might be different. The attacks have slowed in the last year. Makin doesn’t know about the bunker, so to him, our numbers have dwindled to almost nothing. Bakir’s people are too elusive and dangerous to make going after them worth the effort. We had hoped they might leave us alone after a time, but it never happened, so we kept fighting.”
“This raises another issue,” said Tara. “If the First are true to their word, and we aren’t dealt with by the time they get here, they’re just going to kill everyone. Ergo, if we take out Makin and his mountain of cronies, the First will just nuke the place and leave without ever getting their hands dirty.”
“Could we not escape in your ship?” Riva’s question was aimed at me.
“No. The Ark isn’t fit for space travel.”
“Chief Kent is correct,” Elder #1 announced. “We must make our final stand here.”
Her feathers drooped a little, but it didn’t last long. “Then that is what we will do.”
I regarded the three Elder Volcuri. “Does that mean my people can count on yours as allies, even after the battle?”
Elder #1 didn’t look surprised at the question. “You can. Negotiations can be made with the various leaders once the Mind Thieves are no longer a threat. Of course, you will be our point of contact for all of your people.”
It wasn’t a question, but I hesitated before answering. While Director Wright had tasked me with ensuring the Volcuri remained our friends and allowed us to stay on their planet, he was still in charge.
“I am, as of right now, the liaison for that matter,” I agreed. “However, my primary objective is the safety and security of my people. Leadership of the future colony will be in the hands of my direct superior.”
Elder #3 made a sound deep in his throat, almost like a cough. “Chief Kent, if you are not the primary leader, why are they not here instead?”
“A proxy,” I explained. “Most of our people are on the ship. My team is here with me while I take care of security matters.”
The three Elders stepped away to murmur amongst themselves. When they stepped back, it was Elder #2 who spoke for them. “You have shown great aptitude for battle. Your leader trusts you enough to send you in his stead, so this is acceptable, as long as you are involved in all future proceedings.”
“Fair enough,” I said, reasonably sure I could swing that with Wright. “Now we just need to figure out how to beat them.”
“We must consider our Turned family,” Riva put in.
For the first time since coming into the room, each of the Elders looked weary. “Saving them may not be possible. You must consider them already lost. Our focus is the survival and continuation of the Volcuri race.”
Riva started to argue, then clamped her mouth shut and inclined her head. “I accept your guidance, but how can we defeat the Mind Thieves?”
“For that, we must go back to the beginning,” Elder #3 put in.
Elder #1 nodded. “Yes, to our heritage, even that which has been thought lost to time.”
Elder #2 went to the wall of cubes and selected another without any fuss.
The rest of what he said was lost when a shrill siren cut through the air. Out of my peripheral, I saw Tara go for her weapon before she remembered it had been taken by the caretakers. To my left, Riva went rigid. The three Elders didn’t look overly concerned, but I could tell they were on alert.
When Axil and Calin burst in, I already knew what they were going to say.
“The guard sent up the alarm!” informed Axil. “Intruders. I don’t know how they found us.”
I wished desperately for my weapon but would settle for information. “Makin and his people?”
Calin nodded. “The Turned have launched an attack. It was cleverly done. Coordinated hits on every patrol in the vicinity.”
Another two caretakers came inside. One spoke in Volcurian to the Elders while the other went to the wall with the data cubes and began to put them into a pack.
“They want to take the Elders to safety,” Riva explained. There are protocols in place for situations such as this.”
Elder #2 brushed off the fussing caretaker and locked eyes with Riva. “There is only time for this. What you seek lies in the mountain. The key to salvation lies in the past. Our people must fly again.”
A loud bang shook the chamber, stopping him from explaining more. “Elder, we must go,” urged Axil.
“You and Calin get our guests to saf
ety,” Elder#1 instructed. “They must live to fight our enemy.”
He passed something to Axil, then spoke in Volcuri. The caretaker nodded. “Understood, Elder.”
With that, the other caretakers swept the trio out of the room. When they were gone, Axil spoke in Volcuri again, this time into an unseen transmission device.
“We can help,” I said, referring to myself and Tara. “But you’ll need to give us our weapons back.” I wasn’t the leader here, but there was no mistaking the command in my voice.
Axil, to his credit, held his ground. “Your desire to help is commendable and appreciated. I’m afraid that’s not possible. The Elders have given their orders. You will get your weapons back, but they are near the exit you’ll be using.”
My emotional dampeners were, at the moment, a fond and distant memory. I wanted nothing more than to scream my frustration, even as logic and rationale won out.
“Fine, but don’t expect us not to shoot if we get the chance,” quipped Tara.
“I think that would be acceptable.” Calin sounded a little amused, or as much as he could given the situation. “Please, follow us.”
The pair led the way back out, but not to the elevator we’d used upon our arrival. Instead, we went in a new direction, past the area where we’d gone through the preparation and then past where we’d slept the night before.
The alarms continued to shriek, but I ignored them. Despite their earsplitting wails, the area was all but vacant. Not that it had been a hive of activity before, but there was an odd echo that gave the same feeling as an empty house.
The commotion was growing closer now, clearly having made its way inside. That knowledge made me itchy. It was coded into my DNA to run toward danger, not away from it. I got my wish less than a minute later.
Axil stopped at another false dead end and waited for a beat. A second later, the hidden door slipped open on a whisper to admit us entry. Instead of another room, I found myself looking at a staircase that spiraled up and out of view.
Just inside was all of our gear, neatly arranged. The sounds of fighting grew closer, prompting us to action. Riva was the first inside and started pulling on her gear rather than grabbing it and running for it. I ushered Tara in, then followed right behind her, but Axil started to shut the door behind us.
“What are you doing?!” Riva demanded. “The Elders must be protected!”
Calin took up a defensive position outside the room, giving Axil a few seconds to talk. “Riva, you do not give orders here. I understand your urge to protect our Elders, but we are more than up to the task. Your place is with the Rebellion, not here. You must go.”
If the rebel leader had had less dignity, she might have stomped her foot. Her claws clenched and unclenched around the energy sword, but she didn’t try to get past Axil. “Get them out,” was all she said before turning back to us.
“You have my word,” he promised.
Leaving us to escape, the caretaker activated the door once more, closing us off from the fracas.
No one spoke as we climbed the staircase. By my assumption, we were at least four floors below the surface. I couldn’t say where we might come out, but I was ready, spoiling even, for a fight.
There hadn’t been time to do more than strap on my weapons, and even then not very efficiently. We still wore the ceremonial robes, and I didn’t look forward to maneuvering in them.
We bounded up, and it didn’t take us long to reach the top. I realized that Axil had never explained how to operate the doors, but it didn’t matter. As soon as we hit the final platform, an entry presented itself.
It opened to a mostly empty room. One of the abandoned buildings. I’d been in abandoned buildings back on Earth, but they didn’t look as clean as what I was seeing now. Similarly designed to the bunker we’d just vacated, the entire level was done in white and deep gray.
As we moved through it, beeps emitted from forgotten tech. A wall screen here, something like a personal data pad there, though slimmer. Lights winked on, then off when we moved out range, their glow following us through what had to be a living space.
I had the offhanded thought that we were light years away from Earth, and yet life had evolved here that could have mirrored humanity. Sure, the layout was a little different, but I caught sleeping quarters, a living space, and a place to eat. Nothing so familiar as a table, couches, or a bed stuck out, but I figured anything practical had been moved out long ago.
Riva didn’t even blink, just led the way out. The place was on ground level, allowing us access to the outside relatively fast. She stopped at the exit and placed her ear to the ground. As she did, I heard an urgent beep coming from my gear bag, followed by my name.
“Kent,” AMI repeated, tone urgent. “Do you copy? This is AMI, please respond!”
I dug into the pack and produced the wrist unit. Once it was free, the holo feature activated and AMI’s scaled down form materialized.
“I’m here, AMI. About to go into a hostile situation. What’s going on?”
“What’s going on?!” she demanded with fervor, tugging on her hair in obvious frustration. “You went radio silent last night without warning. I’ve been trying to reach you for hours. Director Wright was ready to send in a drop team to blow that compound you’re in to hell and back.”
“Someone’s worked up.”
I shot Tara a glance that had her buttoning it, but the AI had heard it already. “Maybe you don’t understand protocol, Miss Perez, but Kent here certainly does.” She slapped the words out, and Tara’s lips thinned in annoyance.
“Shut up, both of you,” I ordered. “AMI, stand down. There must have been shielding capabilities in the bunker we went to. You’re right, I didn’t think about it. That’s on me. Tell Wright I’ll send a transmission as soon as we’re out of this mess. We’re under—“
“Attack, I know,” she said, cutting me off smoothly. The ice in her voice had thawed some, and she addressed me with her hands clasped behind her back. “That’s why I was trying to reach you so urgently. You don’t have a visor, but if you wear the ear comm I can help guide you.”
I didn’t waste any time with the small piece of tech.
“Chief Kent, I’m going to exit the building,” Riva announced. “I’m sorry, but my people are fighting out there.”
“Didn’t they tell us to get away?” asked Tara. “I’m all for helping, but your Elders were pretty clear.”
“I still plan on following orders,” Riva returned. “But as soon as we step foot out there, the Turned will know it. I can’t run while the guards are fighting. What’s more, I can’t take a chance that the enemy follows us, and you know as well as I do that they’ll try. So, either way things are going to get bloody.”
Tara grinned and held up her rifle. “Better get started then.”
I slung the pack straps over my shoulder again so it wouldn’t get in my way. “We’ve got your back, Riva. Let’s move out.”
She sent us a grateful nod, then activated the door using a panel to the side. No need for subterfuge here.
The morning was still early enough that some fog hung around and the air felt crisp. On another day it would have been peaceful. Today, a battle waged.
The Elite Guard that Riva had spoken of the night before stood out starkly from their enslaved peers. They still wore the same style clothing that we’d seen on the Volcuri in the bunker, but over top of that they had armor. The overall design wasn’t far off from the Turned, but it had clearly been upgraded. The armor extended to cover more areas, and they wore fitted helmets which only left their beaks exposed. The energy shielding was still present, offering even more protection. Lastly, the cloth was a different color. Royal blue, with dark slashes of black and red accents.
The effect was far from that of the caretakers, who had exuded calm and peace.
More than a few bodies from both sides had already fallen and stained the ground red with their mortal ichor.
Makin’s fo
rces, though I had previously judged them as inept and too uniform, fought well. The formation style attack they’d used on us worked well in a large group too. Until the Elder guards attacked, anyway.
Their attack started with one. The fighter had an unfamiliar weapon in hand, but it was close enough to something like a flare gun. He aimed it at the tight group of Turned soldiers and released a can and a half of whoop ass in the form of a large blue energy sphere on them.
It hit with a resounding clap of thunder. It should have knocked all of us back, but somehow the energy kept going forward. It bowled through the Turned, splitting the group down the middle and sending bodies flying.
The guards used the resulting time to make their move. With the Turned’s formation irreparably broken, chaos ensued. The clearing in the middle of what used to be a street or thoroughfare became a tangle of fighting—war cries, screams of pain, and weapons clashing.
Riva let out a bellow of her own and leapt forward.
“Stay with her,” I barked at Tara.
Together, we jumped into the fight behind our ally. I did my best to keep her in view, but the Turned were all around. I hadn’t realized just how many of them there were due to how they’d been formed up.
The guards had earned their reputation. Any remaining correlation to the caretakers was dispelled quickly once I saw them fight. Long bladed weapons whipped through the air in complicated flourishes. Anyone else might have thought them superfluous, but I knew better.
The erratic motion was meant to distract and draw the eye. It worked, for the most part, and a Turned Volcuri hit the ground, sans his head.
My focus went to the nearest enemy, but I was still aware of what happened around me, always prepared for an attack from any side. My rifle had been slung over my shoulder as soon as the blue energy orb hit the Turned, and I attacked with my machete instead. It didn’t have the same energy properties as the Volcuri’s weapon, but it was plenty sharp and I knew how to use it.
The first Turned to meet my blade was gutted. They still tried to fight, but their attempts were slow and uncoordinated.
From there, I went into focus mode. Besides the few skirmishes we had the last time I landed on Kainos, this was my first real fight since the First tried to take over the Ark. Even then things had been far different.
