Earth Force (Relict Legacy Book 1)

by Shemer Kuznits

  “That shit looks like the Batmobile on steroids,” D’Angelo said. “I’d’ve been king of my old hood if I was driving this bad motherfucker.”

  “Watch your language, man,” Bulco said. “There are ladies here.”

  “He’s right,” Nori said distractedly, moving her fingers across the smooth surface. “It’s offensive to compare this baby to the Batmobile.” She opened the door and entered the driver’s seat.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Bulco demanded.

  She flashed him a crooked smile. “I’m taking this bad motherfucker for a test drive!”

  The large Engineer barely managed to jump into the passenger seat before Nori fired up the light console and pushed the pedal to the floor. The Hummer’s wheels sprayed a shower of gravel behind them, and then they were off.

  Nori expertly maneuvered the heavy vehicle between piles of debris and wrecked cars as they sped through the broken streets.

  “Holy shit, kid, are you trying to get us killed?” the large man demanded, his fingers locked on the door grip.

  “It’s better to make sure it can withstand local conditions before taking it out into space,” Nori answered philosophically as she steered onto a short ramp of discarded debris. The engine roared and the car flew over the ramp and into the air, covering more than twenty meters before landing flawlessly into a tight turn, surprising a level four Warped in the process.

  The heavy vehicle rammed into and over the barbed-tailed monster, flattening and crushing its body beneath its giant wheels. Nori hit the brakes and the Hummer came to a screeching halt. The man and woman exchanged glances, then turned to look through the back window. The mangled form of the Warped remained unmoving, flattened against the broken road.

  “It’s not healing,” Nori pointed out after a few moments.

  Bulco nodded. “I think I know why.” He opened a second light console in front of him and punched the keys. “That’s what I thought. The sealing kit did a whole lot more than just make the car spaceworthy. The alien technology meshed with our own, giving it the most efficient design it could.”

  “So the Warped …” Nori frowned.

  “It’s like what I did with the ammo. The entire car is Infused with Tec, so when it ran over the creature it injured it permanently.”

  Nori grinned, patting the steering wheel lovingly. “Bad motherfucker.”

  She put the car in reverse and drove backwards.

  “What are you doing?” Bulco asked.

  “No sense in letting it go to waste.”

  She opened the side door with the Zapper leading and shot the downed creature in the head. The energy beam sliced through flesh and metal easily.

  With the kill confirmed, Nori extended one leg out and lightly tapped the creature.

  Extracted 0.6 Tec,

  piTec: 600

  The soft glow that emanated from the body washed over the two passengers.

  “Nice.” The man flashed her a smile full of white teeth.

  “I think that’s enough for now,” Nori agreed. “Too bad about the front bumper though.”

  “Don’t worry about it. I can easily fix the dent.”

  They drove back to the freighter and loaded the vehicle into the cargo hold.

  “Keep your eyes open. We ran over a Warped a few blocks away,” Bulco advised his men.

  “We always do, boss,” Lucas said. “But we’ve been seeing fewer of them lately.”

  “That’s because most of the ugly bastards have holed up together,” the large man said darkly. “Make sure everyone’s ready when we return. We’re going to light them up.”

  “I’ve been itching for some action, boss,” D’Angelo said. “I love the smell of roasted Warped in the morning.”

  Nori rolled her eyes. “Just make sure not to die while we’re gone. We are going to need everyone when we get back.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” the man answered.

  They closed the hanger door and returned to the bridge. Nathan had reconnected to the weird setup and Lana was deeply immersed in a holographic screen in front of her.

  Nori went to the quarters and retrieved the spacesuit they’d found. She fumbled with it a bit before realizing she didn't have to. All it took was to press the futuristic alien design to her chest and it opened on its own, snugly wrapping her body.

  “Nice,” she muttered to herself and returned to the bridge. “We’re ready to take off,” she declared. “I’m going to set a course to the space station.”

  Nori looked around. Bulco was nowhere in sight, and her other two companions weren’t paying her much attention. “No respect for the pilot,” she grunted and called for the flight console.

  The ship started hovering off the ground. It turned in place, its nose pointing upward, then it launched forward like a bullet out of a gun.

  “Alright, guys!” Nori called out loudly several minutes later, pressing a button to project her voice to the rest of the ship. “We’re at the cloud level, it’s time for you to hole up in the quarters.”

  Lana blinked and stood up reluctantly, giving her console a longing look. Bulco stepped onto the bridge, coming from the engine room.

  “Alright, Nathan, time to go,” the dark-haired woman said.

  There was no response.

  “Kid!” Bulco said loudly.

  There was still no response.

  Lana frowned and moved next to her friend, reaching toward his shoulder.

  A column of energy became visible at her touch, surrounding the young man. “Nathan?” Lana asked uncertainty.

  “I don’t think he can hear you,” Nori said. “I’m ready to take us up to the thermosphere, and the ship’s already leaking.”

  “It’s alright, we can leave him here,” Bulco says. “It says on my display that it’s a type-3 force field and it’s more than capable of containing the atmosphere within. Nathan will be fine.”

  “I wish I knew how he did it, then I wouldn’t have to wear this stupid thing,” Nori said distractedly as she continued to fly the ship.

  Lana still seemed unconvinced, but she followed the Engineer to the quarters and they closed the door behind them. With a single thought, Nori’s suit formed a helmet around her head, and she guided the freighter even higher.

  Earth’s atmosphere gave way to the blackness of space, and violent drafts filled the bridge as the air was forcibly sucked out through the cracks in the hull into the void of space.

  Nori turned to one of the smaller consoles on her left and passed her palm over it. “Alzigo, this is Nori, we’re coming in with the freighter. Should we dock inside the hangar?”

  A moment later the space station owner’s voice came through the comms. “Greetings, Nori. Your ship is too large for the hangar, please use docking bay one instead. Sending you the coordinates.”

  A dotted red line appeared on one of her secondary holo monitors.

  “I got it. See you it a bit.”

  Nori followed the path. It led her to a section of the docking tube close to the main deck. She gently guided the ship closer and a metal walkaway extended outward, clamping over the cargo hold’s exit.

  Alzigo’s voice carried over the comms again. “I’m detecting multiple hull fractures on your ship, activating containment protocols before opening docking bay door.”

  Another monitor flickered to life, showing a small picture of the freighter surrounded by a transparent blue bubble. A moment later streams of air filled the bridge as the ship’s life support system kicked in and pressurized the interior. Once it was done, Nori ordered her chair to recline, and she removed her suit’s helmet. “You can come out now!” she called through the internal comms and glanced at Nathan. The young man sat in the exact same position, seeming completely unaware of his surroundings.

  The door to the quarters opened, and Bulco and Lana stepped out. “Are we there yet?” the younger woman asked cheerfully.

  Nori nodded. “Yes.”

  Leaving Nathan to
himself, they opened the cargo hold’s outer door, revealing the attached station seal. They walked forward, entering the main docking tube, next to the entrance to the main deck. Alzigo was waiting for them with an anti-grav carrier.

  “Greetings, Earth Force,” he said. “I have the rest of your equipment ready. Shall I bring it aboard your ship?”

  “Yes, please,” Lana replied.

  Nori held up her hand, and a terminal pole extended from the floor, unfolding to reveal several holo monitors. She ordered the device to scan the ship and a few seconds later the results appeared on the screen.

  Hull fractures detected. Fix: 5,600 piTec

  Life Support: cascading overload detected. Fix: 12,000 piTec

  Structural integrity compromised. Fix: 35,000 piTec

  Null Tunnel drive unit severely damaged. Fix: N/A.

  “Crap,” Nori muttered.

  “What’s wrong?” Bulco came to stand next to her.

  “Take a look.”

  The Engineer peered at the console and his expression darkened. “Damn. Looks like the freighter took a heavier beating than I’d first thought.”

  “How come you didn’t notice it before?” Nori frowned.

  Bulco rubbed his neck. “I’m not sure. Maybe my Engineering score isn’t high enough, or maybe the freighter’s internal sensors are not suited for self-diagnostic.”

  “We have a bit more than nine thousand piTec, that’s not enough to fix everything,” Nori said.

  Alzigo returned with the empty carrier in time to catch her words. “If you’d like, I’d be more than happy to extend your loan to cover the extra cost.”

  “No, wait a minute,” Bulco said. He manipulated the console and chuckled. “There we go. All it needed was an Engineer’s touch.”

  Nori looked at the monitor. The displayed text had changed.

  Life Support systems. Status: 33%

  Structural integrity compromised. Status: 67%

  “What does it mean?” she asked with a frown.

  “The structural integrity isn’t that bad, the ship can hold it together for a while, as long as we don’t crash land it again. Life support is in more critical shape, but it should hold until we return to Earth’s atmosphere. That means we can ignore those two issues for now and just fix the hull.”

  Nori shrugged. “I’ll take your word for it.” She selected hull repairs and deposited the crystallized piTec into the console’s slot.

  Completion Time: 34 minutes.

  Through the corridor window, they saw large robotic arms detach from the space station and circle the ship, peeling off burned chunks and welding fractures shut.

  “It looks like you have some time to spare,” the tall alien said politely. “May I invite you back to my quarters for a light snack?”

  “That’s not a bad idea,” Nori said. “I had some time to think, and there are a few more things I wanted to ask you about.”

  They followed their host to the main deck and into his clutter-filled apartment.

  Alzigo brought a large tray and laid it on a raised pedestal before the humans. “Please, sample the Auja fruit. Don’t worry; the biosensors indicate that it’s compatible with human physiology.”

  Nori gaped at the alien fruits, and Bulco rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

  Lana, however, had a different reaction. “I knew it!” she exclaimed. “I just knew it.”

  “Knew what, Miss?” the alien asked politely.

  Lana pointed at the fruits. “These are artichokes. I always thought they looked alien. The weird green and purple colors ... those spiky fleshy leaves …. The weird fleshy fibers at the center … I always said they must have been brought in by aliens and I was right!” She turned triumphantly to her friends.

  Bulco furrowed his brow, but Nori simply shrugged. “With everything else that’s happened lately, that’s the least of our concerns.” She picked up a large artichoke, plucked the heart out and chewed on it. “Hmm ... not bad.”

  “Thank you. The secret is to steam-boil them until the stem has softened and then sprinkle some sodium chloride.” The tall alien brought one of the artichokes to his mouth and his two opposite jaws snapped shut on it, leaves and all.

  “Sodium chloride?” Nori frowned at the piece of artichoke she was holding.

  “Salt,” Lana answered shortly.

  “So you have more questions for me?” Alzigo looked at Nori while his jaws kept crunching his leafy meal.

  “Yes. I’m trying to piece together everything we know about the sudden appearance of aliens. You mentioned something about a galactic law that prohibits interference with the non-Infused planets, right?”

  “That’s right.”

  “But still, according to our findings, many ships came here all at once to spread piTec over the Earth. Then one of them, who apparently tried to embezzle some of the moola, got shot down. This all feels a little too … orchestrated. Someone had clearly gone to great lengths to infuse our planet and I want to know why.”

  Alzigo shook his head. “As I said before, it’s a complete mystery. The amount of piTec required to infuse an entire planet is simply staggering.”

  “So how did you know to come here?”

  He blinked at her. “What do you mean?”

  Nori shot him a piercing look. “You mentioned you came here as soon as you heard Earth was Infused, and you’ve also told us you’ve been up here for about five months. But the Tec infusion process started six months ago, presumably when the freighters first arrived. That means you made it here barely a month after the Calamity had started. You also mentioned that it took you some time to prepare for the journey here.” She gave him a pointed look. “Putting it all together, it seems like you knew what was going down pretty early on, maybe even in advance. So … how did you learn about Earth’s situation so quickly? You said you were told that humans had spaceflight capabilities, that implies someone knew us, studied us in advance. I want to know who that was.”

  Alzigo shrunk back in his seat. “Oh, that.”

  “Yes, that.”

  “I might have … exaggerated when I said I was told of your situation,” he said, lowering his head.

  Bulco crossed his arms over his chest. “I think we would all like a straight answer.”

  Lana fidgeted in her seat but didn’t intervene.

  Alzigo sighed. “Alright, I’ll tell you. As I mentioned before, my brother is the family’s favorite sibling. I’ve always lived in his shadow. I’d just finished delivering a shipment to another space station and sat down to relax at one of the bars when I overheard a couple of Inthidlon pilots. They were discussing a ‘mission’ on a planet that was going to be Infused. That drew my attention. As I told you, newly Infused planets have significant economic value, and at the time, it didn’t occur to me they might have meant they were going to actively infuse it. I simply saw this as an opportunity to improve my family standing.

  “One of the pilots was worried about the natives' planetary defenses systems, but the other assured him that though your species have spaceflight capabilities you pose no threat. After that, I guess they noticed my interest because they stopped talking and left.” Alzigo’s two jaws sagged a bit before he continued. “I realized that I’d stumbled on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You know the rest. I used up all my savings and connections to purchase this station and launch it here.”

  Nori stared hard at him. “What was his name?”

  “Whose?”

  “The one who hired those pilots.”

  “I do not know, they didn’t mention a name. Why is this important?”

  Nori started answering, but Bulco beat her to it. The Engineer leaned in, his face hardened. “We want to know the name of the asshole who brought on the Calamity. We have a score to settle. In blood.”

  Alzigo leaned back away from him. “I strongly advise against it. An individual rich enough to fund such an endeavor would be extremely powerful. Maybe as powerful as a system lord. It’s a bad ide
a to anger one of them.”

  “We don’t care.” Nori leaned forward. “What’s the name of the place you overheard them?”

  “It … was a large space station called Hammerhead.”

  “It fits,” Lana said. “That’s the name of the place our freighter came from.”

  Nori leaned back. “We’ll have to pay them a visit eventually.”

  “Why?” Lana said anxiously. “You heard what Alzigo said, it’s dangerous. What does it matter now? Whatever we find, it won’t undo the Calamity.”

  Bulco shook his head. “Nori’s right, kid. We gotta show the aliens that they can’t mess with humans. Make an example of the fucker who did this to us.”

  “That’s one way of looking at it,” Nori said. “But more importantly, someone went to great lengths to land us in this situation. They have a plan for us—and something tells me it’s not to shower us with candy. If we don’t get on top of things, they’ll play us like pawns. Once we take care of the Broodmother, we’ll fix the rest of the ship and head out to that station to investigate.”

  Alzigo bowed his head. “I apologize for not revealing this to you before, but I honestly didn’t realize the full implications. As a token of my sympathy, you may use my name to arrive at agreeable terms with Hammerhead’s owner.”

  Lana frowned. “Why would your name matter to him?”

  “Isn’t it obvious?” Nori said. “He’s Alzigo’s brother.”

  “Yes,” the alien admitted. “I will lose face asking for his help, but I owe you this much at least.”

  “That’s something. Thank you,” Nori said coolly. “Now, what can you tell us about the Kordlin? They were the ones who downed the freighter and stole the piTec container from it. There must be a connection there that we can follow.”

  “The Kordlin are a difficult race,” their host said in resignation. “They are commonly thought of as thieves and smugglers. They are strong but not too cunning and often hire themselves out, mostly to handle shady deals.”

  “Shady deals like attacking a freighter full of piTec, killing its pilot, and stealing its cargo?” Nori raised an eyebrow.