Cries of the Wolf

by C. S. Harte

  “As I said before, we’re inside my memories. Events won’t change here.” Inoke took Meomi’s hand. As they touched, the world spun like they were inside the eye of a tornado, blurring into streaks of primary colors before vanishing altogether.

  “You two took your time,” said Thorne who was still seated across from Meomi.

  She rubbed her eyes, taking a moment to find her bearings. “We’re on the Cerberus again…”

  Thorne bobbed his head. “You never left.”

  Meomi looked at her arms and saw them unrestrained. She jumped and scratched herself all over her body. “Those Mimics… They make my skin crawl…”

  “I can see why,” Thorne said while facing Inoke.

  Her expression changed. She curled her fingers into fists. “I told you I didn’t want to talk about Gosi Prime.” She snarled and gritted her teeth — a tiger waiting to pounce.

  Thorne reacted by standing.

  Meomi rushed him, intending to strike a blow to his jaw.

  He dodged with lightning quickness.

  “Quickness neuromod… that won’t…” She reached for him as she spoke.

  “Captain Hana!” Thorne’s voice boomed. “This is unbecoming of a Fleet Captain!”

  Inoke touched Meomi’s forehead.

  Instantly, the overflowing rage within her receded. Murderous red vision replaced with a calming blue. She scratched the back of her neck unsure of who the person she was a moment ago.

  “Have a seat, Captain. Please.”

  “I need answers! I need them now!” Meomi crossed her arms, demanding.

  Thorne cleared his throat. “I realize it was uncomfortable for you to revisit your time on Gosi Prime, more specifically, returning to the horrors of the Battle of Falling Midnight and reliving the deaths of your comrades. But…” He turned his back to her. “It was necessary. You needed to see and experience the events as we did in order to arrive at the same conclusions.”

  “What conclusion is that?” Meomi scoffed. “That you’re both insane?”

  Thorne sighed. “It is imperative you keep your mind open, no matter how impossible or fictitious the truth may seem.” He sat down in front of Meomi. “The black cube. We believe it to be a First League artifact.”

  “Am I supposed to know what that means or who they are?” she said through the side of her lips.

  “No, on the contrary. Very few people know of their existence. Who they were is not important to our immediate objectives.” Thorne ran his fingers through his hair, fixing a stray strand. “The First League was a very prominent and powerful alliance of alien races. Powerful in both the sense of the size of their civilization and in their technology. They created and experienced things mankind is not yet capable of comprehending.”

  “What does the cube artifact do?”

  “We don’t know.” He shook his head. “We have theories but…”

  “Just get off my ship.” Meomi scowled. “You’re wasting my time. There is a war to save humanity, and you’re actively preventing me and my ship from defending the Commonwealth. Some might argue this could be treason.”

  “Captain Hana.” Thorne held up both his hands. “I understand your frustration. Let us please continue our discussion in a calm manner. I promise you will understand everything if we are allowed to continue.”

  Meomi sighed. “You need to get to a point. Quick.”

  Thorne glanced at Inoke. “We came here for you and by extension, your crew and ship. We need a warp-capable vessel that can go undetected on a covert mission.”

  “What mission?” She raised her eyebrows. “What could you possibly want with me?”

  Thorne rapped the table with his fingers before answering as if deciding his next words carefully. “There is a shortage of trustworthy people within Fleet. Inoke believes you to be one of the precious few.”

  “That’s…” She glanced at Inoke. “nice… but…”

  “From Inoke’s memories, you saw how the swarm of Mimics stopped in their tracks as soon as they neared him.”

  She nodded. “Go on.”

  “The Mimics didn’t stop attacking you.”

  “Why did they freeze like that then?” Meomi narrowed her eyes.

  “Captain Hana, do you ever wonder why you cannot remember the Hashan church and the Excog vault with the cube artifact? Inoke’s memories clearly placed you there. These are hours of your life, gone.”

  “If I say no, will you get off my ship?” She shrugged.

  “According to your sealed reports…”

  “How do you have access to that?” Meomi jerked her head up. "There was a reason Fleet High Command sealed the reports.”

  “Yes, there was.” Thorne scoffed. “The Battle of Fallen Midnight was a massive defeat — an embarrassment they wanted to hide from the public at all costs.” He held up his index finger. “How I obtained access is not important. According to your sealed reports, you woke on an escape shuttle — the last one off the planet, in fact — before Fleet cruisers firebombed the entire surface.”

  Thorne’s words triggered a harsh reality for Meomi. She was one of three members of Wolf Company to survive the Battle of Falling Midnight with Inoke, the only civilian survivor. She vividly recalled looking out the shuttle windows and witnessing massive plumes of flames — hundreds of twisting towers of smoke — blanketing the planet in an ocean of fire. While impossible and irrational to believe, Meomi swore she heard the collective screams of all the colonists on the planet as the blaze melted away their flesh.

  “Defend the city of Silverhold,” Meomi murmured to herself. She felt a lump in her throat threatening to suffocate her with guilt every time her mind replayed her Gosi Prime.

  “It is not my intention to bring up a sore matter for you,” Thorne said with a kind voice. “From the evidence gathered on Gosi Prime, there is proof of a puppet master — a grand architect of this Mimic invasion. I have reason to believe this someone we’re looking for — this someone masterminding this war, either alone or with a cabal — is a high-ranking member of Fleet High Command.”

  Meomi’s eyes darted from Thorne to Inoke and back. She rubbed her chin then scoffed. “You got all that from some bugs standing still?” Her nostrils flared. “And then what? You want me to join you in your little crusade to expose — what words did you use?… Expose the Puppet Master?” She snorted. “You’re crazier than I thought, Captain Thorne. And you know what? I will not let you drag my crew and the Cerberus into this. Perhaps I should send my own message to Fleet High Command and personally verify the validity of your… mission,” she said the last word with a hiss.

  Thorne dragged his hand down his face. “If that’s what you want to do, then so be it. You’re wasting your time. We both want the same thing, Captain,” he said in an exasperated voice.

  “I’m having my doubts, Captain Thorne. About you, about everything you’re saying.”

  “We want to protect the Commonwealth and all of mankind from extinction at the hands of the Mimics. But this can only be accomplished by understanding the true faces of our enemies.”

  Meomi rose from her chair. Her eyes settled on Inoke. “What about you? Why aren’t you talking? What did you mean earlier when you said you could trust me?”

  Inoke looked away.

  “He doesn’t like to talk. At least not with his voice.” Thorne said. “Inoke said he saw something unique in you. He saw a purity — a light — that he’s yet to find in anyone else.”

  “If you thought you can win me over by flattering me…” Meomi laughed.

  “We can prove everything to you.” He fixed his eyes on Meomi as he spoke.

  “If you’re so confident in thinking there’s a traitor within High Command, why don’t you bring this up with Fleet Internal Investigations? They have the authority and mandate to deal with enemies within, unlike, say…” She snubbed her nose at Thorne. “… Fleet Special Operations.”

  “Captain, I already have. Do you have any notion how slow
the wheels on Internal Investigations grind? While we wait, the Mimics advance well past our doorsteps. They already have footholds deep within Commonwealth space. Humanity has months, not decades like initially thought.”

  She crossed her arms. “What are you proposing?”

  “As I said earlier, I can prove everything.”

  “I’m listening.” Meomi held her chin up.

  “We can take you to one of these hidden Mimic bases. My mission is to gather intelligence — fortifications, troop size, weaknesses, and anything else of import. Again, I want to work with you, rather than against you.”

  Meomi tapped her foot and stared at Inoke who did not look away this time. His eyes changed to a brilliant ocean color. There was some logic to what Thorne was saying. Part of the reason why they failed at Gosi Prime was due to underestimating their enemy. She always believed Mimics were smarter than they should be for being a pile of black goo. The 5th Navy could easily spare a 70-year-old ship with no one noticing. “Fine…” she sighed. “I have one condition.”

  “Name it.”

  “Restore my command of the Cerberus. My crew prefers their captain be part of the action instead of isolated in her quarters.”

  “That is acceptable.” Thorne held out his hand. “So long as I have operational command of the mission.”

  Meomi nodded as they shook. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but let’s go find a Mimic base…”

  8

  Commander Rhyne assisted his Captain into her Tempest suit while she read the mission briefs on her datapad. He locked her boots to her leg armor, careful to check the seal between the different sections. “Captain, may I once again remind you it is Fleet regulation for the First Officer of the ship to lead planetary away missions.”

  Meomi rested her hand on his shoulder. “Keven, that has never once stopped me from going on away missions. You knew this about me from the first day we met.”

  “Indeed, Captain.” He sighed. “Your non-conformity to Fleet protocols has been a challenging adjustment for me.”

  “Non-conformity? Me?" She feigned disbelief. "Why, whatever do you mean?”

  “I can give specific examples if you like, Captain.”

  “Of course you could…” Meomi patted his shoulder.

  “Our very first mission, rescuing Governor Pere's daughter on New Certa from kidnappers.”

  “This story again...” She groaned.

  “It bears repeating, Captain,” he said with a neutral face. “You went into their stronghold without first surveying the structure and without adequate offensive support in place.”

  “You went with me!” She smirked. “What more support did I need?” Her words came out louder than she expected.

  “I could not leave my Captain alone.” Rhyne slipped the torso piece over Meomi’s head and fastened it to her leggings. “I would be negligent in my duty if I did.”

  “We rescued the little girl and accomplished the mission, didn’t we?” She grinned. “That’s what matters at the end of the day.”

  “Need I remind you we defied the probability of success by doing so.”

  “Wouldn’t life be too boring if it wasn’t challenging?” The arm sleeves were next to join Meomi.

  “My preference is for simplicity and overall efficiency.”

  “You would have made a great marine, Keven." She scrunched her brow. "Well, the officers would have liked you, but the other grunts would’ve disliked you intensely. I can see you advanced through the ranks like a shooting star. The marine corp loves promoting rigid, stuck-up types like you.” She snickered.

  “I’m perfectly content as a Fleet Officer, Captain.” After the arm sleeves, Rhyne held up gauntlets for Meomi to slide her hands into.

  “I know, Keven. You’ve been a pain in my ass, but we’ve been through a lot together in a short two years.” She placed the helmet on herself.

  “I must again ask to join you on this mission. The likelihood of success would increase significantly if…”

  “There is no one I trust more to take care of the Cerberus in my absence.” She paused for a moment to take in the smallest details of his face — the wrinkles around his eyes, the mole on his left cheek and the scar from a cut above his right eyebrow. “For all your warts, the crew will follow you… if anything happens to me.”

  The background hum of the lights changed to a softer tune.

  “Captain Hana,” Rayfin’s voice sounded from the room speakers. “We’ve dropped out of warp and will soon enter orbit over Dressa on the opposite side of the planet from the suspected Mimic base.”

  “Acknowledged, Ensign,” Meomi replied using suit comm. “I’ll meet you in the aft hangar.” She patted her first officer’s back. He turned around to give her a look of concern she was unaccustomed to receiving. Many times Meomi wondered if Keven was capable of facial expressions at all. His lips arched downward into a frown. There was a tension underneath his face. She looked away as she said, “Always forward, my friend.”

  They walked together in silence to the hangar bay.

  Meomi entered first to see Rayfin in his Tempest suit. He was standing next to Thorne’s ship, inspecting the hull and checking its flight readiness. Captain Thorne and Inoke were near the bow next to three Centurias droids. Both he and Inoke had on sleeker, lighter weight Obscura exo suits. Their blue and white armoring easily stood out from the soot-black exteriors of their Tempest counterparts.

  Thorne broke his conversation with Inoke as Meomi approached him. “Captain Hana, we’re ready to leave when you are.”

  “Are you sure you only want to bring three Centurias?” Meomi asked.

  “Our mission is reconnaissance, Captain. Not to engage them in a fight. Having a small army of droids would make it difficult to approach with stealth.”

  Those words made Meomi shudder inside. She never liked recon work where she had to sneak into the territory of well-armed soldiers. As a marine, she recalled several instances where her commanding officers believed they sent enough troops into a hotly contested zone only to lose countless soldiers. She believed in the doctrine of overwhelming force and preferred it to be used as often as possible, especially since they could be walking into a Mimic infestation.

  Commander Rhyne read a brief on his datapad. “Captain.”

  “Yes,” said Meomi and Thorne at the same time.

  “My apologies, I have information pertinent to both captains,” Rhyne said. “We finished our initial scan of the planet. There is an unusual energy surge on the opposite side of Dressa where the Mimic base is suspected to be. We have detected many life signs but cannot verify if they are Mimic or human.”

  “Why is that?” Meomi rubbed her chin.

  “Interference from the energy source is limiting our sensors and our distance from the base,” Rhyne answered.

  “We had to enter orbit on the opposite side of Dressa to avoid being detected.” Thorne tapped commands into his forearm keypad. “Fortunately, my ship has cloaking capabilities which should allow us to land on the planet undetected.” The outer layer of his ship flashed white for a moment before seamlessly camouflaging into the background of the hangar.

  “Whoa!” Rayfin jumped backward. “Did you see that? That was so amazing!” He ran next to Meomi. “Do you think we could requisition one for ourselves?”

  Captain Hana rolled her eyes.

  “You can have this one once the mission is over.” Thorne smiled at Rayfin and disabled the cloaking. The outer layer of the ship shimmered before it revealed itself.

  Rayfin beamed a smile at him. “This guy… I'm starting to like him.”

  Inoke and Thorne boarded the ship first.

  The Centurias droids followed.

  “Wow!” Rayfin cried as he boarded. “There are so many buttons and lights. Feels like a party in here. I wonder what this button does…” his voice trailed as he went inside.

  Meomi turned toward her First Officer. “Commander.”

  “Captain
.”

  “Take good care of the Cerberus and her crew until I get back.” She smiled at him. “And I will be back.” Meomi gave a thumbs up.

  Rhyne helped his captain run one last system check on her exo suit. “Always forward, Captain.”

  She nodded and joined the others in the shuttle. Meomi and Rayfin strapped themselves into the cargo area of the ship while Thorne and Inoke sat in the cockpit.

  The team began their descent onto the planet’s surface.

  “Did you feel the liftoff, Captain?” Rayfin asked Meomi.

  “No.”

  “Neither did I!” Rayfin looked as if he wanted to jump out of his seat. “This is the smoothest flying ship I’ve ever been on!”

  Meomi groaned. She needed to change the subject to keep him from blabbering. “Did you get a look from Doc before we left? Your neuromods still in good working order?”

  “Yes, Captain. Speed and quickness neuromods at 100% neural alignment. He loaded three combat stims into my bio-information panel. And you, Captain? You still boycotting neuromods?”

  “I have combat stims in my BIP, but my strength neuromods are still disabled. Don't need them.”

  “I wonder what Captain Thorne has for neuromods…”

  “Agility and strength,” Thorne’s voice came over the suit comms. “I try not to use them if I don’t have to.”

  The conversation quieted as the ship continued its descent.

  Rayfin snored through his suit comm, extending his habit of sleeping during short flights.

  Meomi watched her pulse rate climb as they neared the planet’s surface. With her eye movements, she brought up the mission brief on her visor’s HUD. She glossed over it several times before but stopped at a critical detail missed from previous viewings. “Who is this asset we’re meeting on Dressa, Thorne? You never mentioned him.”

  “Valric. A Katok.”

  “Oh…” Meomi wrinkled her forehead. Another alien. She swallowed her next breath.

  “Do you have a problem with Katoks?” Thorne asked after several seconds of silence.

  “Don’t know enough about them to have an opinion.” This was mostly true. Captain Hana knew little about Katoks. She had never met one, but she saw pictures of them and their blue, leathery skin, standing a meter or two taller than the average human. Their looks were never an issue for her. It was their inclusion into the Commonwealth that sparked the Colony Wars and several decades of fighting — a war that had yet to find an official end, existing in a state of perpetual cease-fire.