by J A Stone
Warfell bounced her blues wide, and then slammed them shut when Snowflake’s lighting popped back on and the vents began to circulate warm air.
“Get off me,” she pushed Tom’s head out of her lap.
“Wha? Oh, sorry,” Snowflake’s pilot snapped to, poorly feigning stupidity—when in fact he just spent three hours admiring her perfect thigh, wondering if a woman like that could ever love a guy like…
“Flight crew to the bridge, we’re here everybody,” said Brey over the com and Snowman bolted like a rabbit.
“I knew you were awake dipshit!” Danica added to his back—blind to his smile as he to hers.
Moon Occia, high orbit
Mighty Ana possessed nearly a hundred moons ranging in size from big rocks to planetoids. Three of them were quite large—Aleutha, Tibor and Occia in ascending order. All three rocky satellites had liquid metal cores in states of convection, offering internal heat sources, magnetic fields and enough mass to hold and sustain atmospheres so far from the Sun—all critical factors for biotic existence. Ana herself generated significant heat for her many moons, but it was not enough without the molten nickel and iron cores within the three habitable planetoids of the gas giant’s own subsystem.
Occia was in a tidal lock orbit, meaning it no longer rotated, with the same side always facing Ana—so close was the largest of the children to its mother, so intense the gravitational hold.
The atmosphere was breathable, teeming with oxygen from the prevailing plant life. There were no oceans on this massive moon, rather millions of lakes pockmarked the surface. Occia was completely covered in deciduous rain forests and tropical jungles. Beneath the granite crust, huge rivers of water flowed subcutaneously, dispersing the precious fluid planet wide and creating a separate ecosphere beneath the surface.
Occia was a world ruled by the exoskeleton—Insects dominated all terrestrial fauna. Because exterior plating limits the size creatures can evolve, most were small, but there were several prominent exceptions, predatory carnivores beyond belief. And they demonstrated signs of developmental intelligence.
If there were a Mammal or Vertebrate presence on the moon, Biologists from Tibor and Aleutha could not find any. But then, few researchers could stay there for long, let alone study the wildlife in the intense heat with trillions upon trillions of violent creatures seeking an easy kill. Occia was a hostile environ, human eyes now witnessing the landscape only through exploration drones with cameras.
The largest Insect known to man was a predatory biological abomination, the Kalia Dragon, named so after Tibor’s most infamous criminal—Tomika Kalia, a tyrant who nearly conquered that moon three hundred years past.
“There are several mountain ranges, where it is cold enough and wide open. An abandoned research dome is located here,” Brey pointed.
“They’d look there first thing,” Tawnee added.
“True—what about here?” she outlined a smaller range near the equator. “Given the heat below, the mountains should be free of bugs where it’s chilly,” Brey looked up for approval from her team, a trait Warfell always liked.
“Why is the dome abandoned?” said Bigfoot from the Navcom.
“Money, pure and simple. Aleutha cut funding over twenty years back as did Tibor. The only other option was igniting the atmosphere,” Brey moved to enter her calculations for landing protocol. “The insect life cannot be overcome. Occia is wealthy with rare elements and resources, but nothing can be mined effectively.”
“Because of the bugs?” Danica asked.
“Yup!”
“So kill everything,” said James, from behind.
“Basically, but as you can see they chose otherwise and here Green Occia lies untouched by human hands,” Brey moved her eyes to the cockpit walls and rose to a stand as the green globe stretched out beneath them.
Warfell could see the small strips of mountain amid the lakes of green. White clouds covered significant portions of the landscape and Danica realized it must rain there constantly.
“Okay Tom, bring him down in stages, keep using the surfboard, I don’t want anything to even see us coming in.”
“Aye Captain, this will take a minute.”
Brey nodded, motioning for the girls to follow.
“Stay in the suits, pack heavy and remain that way. James, I have a small armory below, check it out. Iris, do you shoot guns? Stab knives?”
“Just meh hands boss, and these,” the last Arenthian opened her mouth and peeled back her lips revealing the insane fangs and incisors.
“Yikes! You do that then,” Fovea then smiled. “I’d feel better if you had a shotgun though, try it, you’ll like it.”
“Aye,” said Iris.
“Tawnee, will you show them?”
“Ra ra,” Brey’s lover replied in a mock whisper.
“Warfell, wanna see the cool jungle-world up close?” Brey ginned.
“Nope.”
“Yes you dooooo,” the pixie breathed the words in singsong.
“No I dooooo not Danica shot right back.
“Pussy.”
“Now why’d you have to go and say that?” Warfell rose, knowing she had to do it now—principle man, principle!
Finding a leveled, rocky plateau to touch pads on safely was challenging. Tom hovered Snowflake silently along the side of a thin, tall range.
“There! Sixteen degrees loft, see it?” Brey entered the numbers and a level strip appeared, outlined in red on the green topography map.
“That looks stable, elevation?” said the Pilot.
“Five thousand feet, high oxygen levels, looks like a slate platform with mixed marble and mica, should hold us just fine,” Robert answered faithfully.
“Works for me, set him down Laddies,” she clicked on the com.
Below deck, James was outfitting twin pistols, several blades and rows of flares. Iris hefted a medium length automatic shotgun, as Tawnee showed her the cartridge, clip and firing mechanism.
Warfell found the Longsword with short quillon crossbars, and a bayonet-style boot dagger, adding them opposite the trusty Chesterborne on her hip. She pulled her cloak back from the Sword’s pommel—strange not wearing it on her back, but she rather liked it, approving of herself in the mirror-like reflection of a steel panel.
“Tawnee—so girl—will you be watching me on the feed?” James asked like a stupid schoolgirl, bouncing side to side on her heels.
“You know what? I gotta take a shi…” her response interrupted by the Captain’s announcement over the com feed.
Landing party to the bullpen.
“Go time,” Danica whispered to herself, taking the steps behind her crewmates.
Moments later Warfell set her boots down on another world—strange how her mind was so accepting, so calm. She walked to the edge of the slab of rock Snowman expertly parked the V-7 on and looked down over a teeming jungle bursting with life.
“Are you guys seeing this?” Danica marveled over the distant shrieks and chirps emanating from the planet-wide canopy below. The forest hummed.
There was a screeching sound followed by aggressive movement—tree branches rustled and the surrounding atmosphere darkened with small winged creatures. There were too many, too far away for Danica to distinguish what the individuals looked like, flocks of insects swarming in fractal waves, undulating in the sky.
The vibrant screeching came again, abrasive to the ears—Danica cringed.
“That would be one of the Kalia,” Brey came aside her partner. “We should not attract attention to ourselves.”
“The scream is chilling,” Warfell whispered, clearly disturbed.
“Don’t worry, they’re a mile away, and it’s not really a scream—they rub a hind leg against one of the wings to do that.”
One second of silence…
Warfell turned her face to Brey’s.
“They have wings, really? They have wings Brey?” said the tall platinum haired warrior as her calm flew before he
r face, shot her a tiny middle finger, and bolted for Snowflake—little shit biscuit.
“Relax,” spoken by the pixie as the clouds suddenly cleared and the dazzling light of the Sun hit Snowflake’s hull just right, shining a wide beam on the jungle below.
Three of them rose above the canopy.
Danica jumped back and then leaned forward, squinting, peering intently. The massive critters were so far away, she could barely make out the two pairs of bright red wings and the torsos of glimmering purple and blue.
“Cool man. They’re like big ass Aleuthian Dragonflies,” Brey was excited. None of them had any idea the Kalia could see them all quite clearly, see the color of their round eyes, the expressions on their strange, meaty faces.
Then hunger murdered curiosity—mechanical instinct driving the organisms like coordinated drones towards the sharp recognition of food. They flew in formation, two more rising above the foliage, joining their brothers without question.
“RUN!”
“YA THINK?”
Danica watched in fascination as the creatures hovered like honeybees about the glass-like cockpit. Clearly, the things could see everyone inside and they wanted them. They lunged repeatedly, striking the transparent hull harmlessly. One landed, spreading two pairs of legs wide and lowering the hideous face.
“Buggers,” said Tom, eyes darting furiously up and down the strange segmented body. Brey sat at her screen, tapping…
“We’ll get some imagery to send back home,” she commented to no one.
“Always thinking about the science,” Tom confirmed, proud of his boss.
“For now anyway,” Brey said.
The Kalia Dragons were frightening critters. Much larger than a horse, the insect body design was greatly overshadowed by three prominent features: big forearms with claw-like fingers, the mouth, and the multiple sets of eyes.
The anterior pair of arms were strikingly human in function—not so much in appearance though. Here, the thick outer shell was absent, the carapace replaced by a slimy skin, crisscrossed with veins and vessels. And they had hands, with fingers ending in talons the length of throwing daggers.
The mouth was wide, filled top and bottom with thorn-like teeth or rather tines and spikes dripping a thick honey textured saliva. How the mouth closed was hard to believe, the jagged needles somehow fitting together.
And finally, the blinking orange eyes were downright nightmarish. Warfell counted four pairs, varying sizes.
“They don’t have compound eyes, more like the arachnids—convex lenses,” Brey observed.
“Uh, boss?” Bigfoot whispered.
“Go.”
“They’re searching for creases in the hull, systematically.”
“I see that.”
What Brey did not see was the solitary light blinking below the crew’s awestruck faces on the console. A large ship on a silent Tibor-glide was entering Occian aerospace from the northern hemisphere. The Vengeance just got lucky.
“Set down here,” Denali Warren pointed to a clearing on a riverbank. “Hail them.”
“Aye Sir.”
Snowflake’s crew jumped when Warren’s voice came over the speaker
Breana Constance Fovea, I need to speak with you face to face.
“Welcome to Occia, uh, come far?” Brey countered.
Listen, I’ve been talking to your Father and we have reached an agreement.
“Send him over then.”
Negative, he’s been gone for hours.
“How did you find us?”
He told us, remote drone imagery confirmed.
“Should I trust her partner?” Brey shot the browns upward. “Good looks only carry so far.”
“If she flinches, I’ll kill her myself,” Warfell offered.
I can hear you both.
“WE KNOW!” Warfell and Fovea yelled together, then Brey snapped a finger, pointing to Robert.
“Get a fix on her position.”
“Yes Ma’am.”
“Okay Colonel apple-ass, we are coming to you, don’t move,” Brey clicked off the com.
On the bridge of the Vengeance, Denali grinned and set her eyes on the benevolent Spirit, frozen helplessly in place, trapped.
“Don’t you move either buddy—not a goddamned misty muscle,” she roved the cunning blues to her Flight Chief. “Keep that Tibor-glide powered.” The man nodded back.
The Aequitas Caelum did not realize that the Tibor-glide electromagnetic system would trap him until it was too late. By sheer luck, he had never manifested aboard Snowflake during the glide’s effect. The field encompassed the Vengeance in a potent bubble of magnetic energy—he could go nowhere.
He tried to reason with the insane Colonel to no avail. Denali was shrewd and relentless, realizing her unwitting trap before the Spirit did and leaping on her strange prize. Likewise, the Spirit was unable to move matter within the disruptive field, much to his dismay he was truly helpless!
Occia was another lucky break, Denali was a thorough hunter, monitoring all frequencies and waves through the Vengeance’s massive computer, taking a chance on some unusual com chatter, leading to the fuzzy drone images of Snowflake—payday.
“You come and see me Fovea, you do that,” she whispered to herself, twisting her right fist over the grip of her pistol as if she were trying to snap it off. “Chief, alert my Men—Captain’s Quarters for debrief, ready for Ops right now.”
“Aye Colonel.”
“Why aren’t they swarmed?” Robert asked as Tom brought Snowflake in, hovering above the wide clearing; the masses of insect life surrounding the landed Badger-craft at a distance as if somehow repelled.
“They have their Tibor-glide engaged at medium power, strange, they shouldn’t need it on at all with pads on deck,” Brey answered her Navigator, her browns glistening to the neon screen.
“It’s keeping the bugs away, sounds like a good idea,” Warfell added.
“Still,” the small Captain began calculating furiously once again. “I will need several minutes. Take us in slowly Tom. Warfell, James and Robert with me in three, wait! Bigfoot stay, Iris you feeling skippy?”
“Always boss,” the pretty Arenthian replied.
Five minutes later, Brey joined the away team in the bullpen, whispering through the com at her pilot.
“Keep the coils warm. On my signal, do it. Tom, if things go sour don’t let them get Snowflake. You get my baby out of here.”
“Yes Ma’am,” Tom said over the com, mouthing the words ‘no-way’ to Tawnee and Bigfoot, shaking his head.
“Alright, open the channel and remember the plan, com silence from this point on,” Brey waited a moment, checked herself (the girl had boots pulled over the white suit and a cloak with no weapons visible), and touched her left ear.
“Colonel, are you there? Did I tell you we are best friends, apparently on every world?”
Fovea, you are a strange little woman, and yes you did.
“We are coming out. My crew has weapons trained. Meet us midway between the vessels, savvy?”
Fair enough.
Outside, the humming of the wildlife was deafening. Warfell took the steps gingerly. She was about to meet herself. The Aequitas Caelum told her that Denali was every bit the same, an identical clone; environment being the only difference. Any human can be raised to be hateful or loving, and life experiences would always be different for each individual.
Denali was not alone, at her side was a man wearing black, heavily armed. Brey, Danica, Iris and James approached.
“Like your ship, it’s big,” Snowflake’s Captain admired the Badger-craft—brilliant mind studying the weaponry, looking for weak spots…found one! Her thoughts screamed at a whisper as she extended a palm for peace.
“Thanks, so…” Warren and Warfell stepped forward, face to face. “You are good looking.” Denali held out a hand and Danica clasped it. This was really weird for both women.
Colonel Denali Warren was a fantastic actre
ss, pushing the shock and surprise down and spreading a warm smile over her beautiful face. Brey, James and Iris calmed, naturally accepting the heartfelt blues as Warren admired—herself.
Danica saw right through the subterfuge, this bitch was good. She gazed deeper into the pristine blue eyes until she saw it, the subtle, underlying glint of hatred; raw, unbridled animosity. There I am, she thought, smiling herself.
“I don’t know what to say—permission to come aboard?” Danica asked politely, acting embarrassed, shy.
Denali motioned, and the six of them walked towards the ramp.
“Welcome to the Vengeance,” Denali said proudly over her shoulder. “I’d give you a tour, but I would be committing treason,” she laughed. Brey took note.
“Meaning you have not yet.”
Warren stopped, her back to the guests. Bold, very bold.
“Correct, are you coming or not?” Denali knew the pixie was taking in everything she could. She knew Brey could not resist the challenge.
“After you,” said Brey, raising her eyebrows in appreciation. “It is a perfect apple,” she grinned at her partner and Danica snorted a laugh. Yes it is—too bad she was about to shove a four-foot Longsword in it.
Three decks aloft, several wide passageways with armed soldiers at every corner and finally, they were nearing the bridge of the impressive Badger.
“Seeing a real Spirit was an eye-opener,” Warren didn’t have to lie about that. They rounded the last threshold and gazed out over the massive flight command bridge.
“Having the thing fall in my lap was an unexpected surprise.”
Brey’s browns shot to her Father, frozen still, unable to move, clearly struggling.
“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?” Brey leaped forward and her team pulled their weapons to bear. From the walls, soldiers leveled their barrels. Denali stood still, speaking with a cold tone.
“Make a move, and we will increase the pulse to maximum. Apparently, the Tibor-glide distresses him greatly when we raise the power levels—a flight jump might destroy him. Drop those weapons, NOW!”
