by Alex Guerra
“Great, just don’t think it’s going to be easy,” she warned.
“I wasn’t counting on it.”
We rounded the corner and entered the training room.
*****
“I know you warned me and all, but you just about killed my ass in there,” I said walking with stiff legs down the hall.
“Well, we’re finished. Now we can ‘chill out’ as you say,” she mocked.
“You know despite my awesome physique, this isn’t necessarily my real body, right?” I explained.
“I have no idea what you mean by that,” she said, taking a swig of water from a bottle.
“Okay, it is my real body, but not really. Dotty enhanced it via the ship. Have you had any enhancements done by chance? No offense, I was only wondering is all,” I said, realizing how that could be taken the wrong way.
“None taken, but no, I have not. I do get that question a lot with the conglomerate troopers. Consider yourself lucky to have one of the best mentors in the galaxy,” Seya said with a large grin.
“I thought you would have learned a bit more humility having been a princess and all…” I said dryly.
“That was sarcasm…” she replied. “It’s all a matter of dedication, in all aspects of life. Considering your size, I am sure that once you actually see your ‘new’ body as your own, then you will become stronger. Maybe even stronger than me—maybe,” she joked.
Later that evening, after Dotty and I set up the entertainment system, Seya gave me first pick of the movie from the tens of thousands of movies available in its library. Watching a movie with an entire cast of aliens was a lot to take in. It was probably better starting off with something easier to follow, like a romantic comedy—if there was such an equivalent—but following the finer details with my insufficient knowledge of the species’ traits and customs was concerning.
“Does this sound good?” I asked, showing Seya my selection, a movie called Moro: Hard Kill.
She rolled her eyes at me and sighed.
“We don’t need to watch this one, I mean it doesn’t make much difference to me,” I admitted.
“It’s okay, I don’t typically watch movies anyway,” she said, as she adjusted the hot plate of food in front of her.
“Okay, we can try it out then,” I said and selected the movie. I sat near her at the table and messed with my own plate of food, a dish that looked like noodles of some sort and meat that tasted like lamb. Overall, I’d give it a seven out of ten from new things I was trying so far.
The story started out as a slow slice of life film, but it ramped up quickly into a classic revenge flick. The main character was this tough looking, bluish-green alien that had his entire family killed off by some bad guys. I didn’t know if they were the mob or something, but he starts hunting down all these bad guys one at a time trying to get closer to finding the boss and in many ways, playing off the bad guys’ weaknesses.
The action was a bit over the top and honestly gorier than I expected something like this to be. Apparently, in this species’ culture, the bloodier something got, the more the person deserved it. I didn’t understand it, but I can only imagine most of their films ending in bloodbaths. The movie was rather short, taking a little over an hour to finish. I turned to Seya a few times throughout the movie who was either busy eating and not paying attention, or just sitting there with pursed lips and a more enduring look rather than an entertained one.
“That was interesting at least, right?” I probed while the credits rolled. It felt eerie that a movie was similar to something I would watch back home. I guess there was little to improve on with film structure other than acting, props, the cinematography and such.
“Huh? Oh right, yes. It was…okay,” she tried to hold up a facade which was disappearing quickly, “I’m sorry, like I said, I don’t watch these things often.”
“Alright, so movies aren’t your thing. That’s okay, so what do you generally do for fun that isn’t some form of training then?” I asked, pushing my empty plate aside.
“I’m afraid that I am just too focused on other things to ever think about spending time doing something like this,” she sulked a little.
“Hey, that’s alright. You’re just a serious person, I get it. You are goal-oriented and worried about a huge war, while I’m just trying not to lose my mind over everything happening in the past few weeks,” I resigned.
It did feel a little good to finally get that off my chest. “I’ll admit, I have moments of self-doubt, about my role in all this. I’m just a guy who got lucky and now has access to a fancy ship, a smart A.I., and is friends with a strong warrior princess in the middle of a huge war. You see how this sounds a bit ridiculous, right?” I said, reaching for my drink.
I studied her face for a moment, which luckily had a hint of understanding to it. Good, so I’m not completely crazy for thinking this, I thought with a sense of relief.
“You gave it a try anyway, so thank you for allowing me that much,” I added.
“Of course, I am true to my word, and a deal is a deal after all,” she said, pausing for a moment. “I like to listen to music by the way,” she added.
I chuckled at the sudden remark, tacked onto the end of her worry or perhaps her innocence, in a childish manner. “I’m worried about running into someone that doesn’t like music. I would ask what kind, but I wouldn’t know what you were talking about. Can you show me?” I asked, tossing her the remote to the entertainment system. “This thing must have something you like in it, right?”
She caught the device and eyed it curiously. She turned to the screen, scanned, and flipped through a barrage of menus before eventually making her selection. I waited for whatever was coming, making sure to steel myself against the unknown.
A soft cadence of drums faded in, their beat slowly crescendos into a steady pulse. Stringed instruments trickled into the forefront, leading the staff in a melancholic melody. At first, a female voice spoke up, entering the first verse of the song. The song reminded me of something I heard from native tribes in documentaries of the Amazon, mixed with traditional Southeast Asian leads. Dotty was projecting subtitles onto the screen as the Darkkon vocals began.
Galdo cries out, the sky sheds tears.
Not for Galdo or his kin, clouds have one purpose.
At his feet lie his children slain, not by [man], but Ilo’s bane.
No warrior was strong enough, to defeat which can’t be seen.
A male voice answered and the two went back and forth for a time. It was a recounting of a real plague that ravaged the planet of Ilo. It almost drove the Darkkon people to extinction before disappearing as quickly as it had shown up. It was horrifically morbid. I looked at Seya who was watching tentatively and awaiting my verdict.
“Wow…that was beautiful. A bit of a strange choice to start off on something so sad though,” I said honestly.
“It is a traditional song of my people, but it is a bit sad. In my defense, it was the first song I saw of the type of music I was looking for. It seems this system’s library is a bit dated though, most of this music is from a few decades ago,” she said, as she scanned through more of the available selections.
“Well, it’s not exactly something I would work out to, maybe if I were quietly studying,” I chuckled.
“If you wanted to know what I listen to for training, then try this,” she said, finding another song.
It sounded like a taiko drum ensemble. She was a warrior through-and-through. At least I could get behind this music more than a story of everyone dying of a plague.
“Feel free to play this during our next training session if you like. It’s pretty good,” I said with a smirk.
She turned down the music to a whisper. “So, we do have a common interest. Very well, I’ll do that tomorrow,” she beamed.
We continued talking into the early hours before resigning to our rooms, exhausted from the day’s work. I laid in bed and stared at the ceiling. I suppose thi
ngs could have been worse—much worse. I was thankful to have someone else besides Dotty to speak to, there’s a stigma about people who have entire conversations with themselves, after all.
Seya was something else. It was easy to see that she truly believed in the conglomerate’s cause—enough to turn her back on her people after being near the very top. It was a hell of a sacrifice, but just like that, she became a symbol for the conglomerate. I was glad to have her along.
My mind drifted to Afghanistan, back to the mantra I followed when things started to look overwhelming. While Dotty reminded me of the mantra while we were still on Tudok, there was still more to the phrase: take it one day at a time, concentrate on what you can do for the moment instead of what you cannot. I would have to maintain that mantra in the near future as we continued to stay grounded. I closed my eyes and found sleep easily.
TWELVE
The following morning consisted of a similar routine of the previous day. I awoke early enough to join Seya for breakfast. We continued afterward with a brief meditation in the observation room. Today’s exercise involved moving energy into certain parts of the body. We concluded with martial arts and weapons training, accompanied by a music selection made by Seya.
We needed to cut today’s session short, as we were arriving at the planet of Vallus in the evening. I took this time to freshen up and do a bit of studying of the Codari people we would interact with Planetside. I wanted to learn their customs and courtesies ahead of time, but I would leave the finer details to Seya and Dotty. My role would be more of a supportive one until we established contact with the planet’s council.
According to the archives, the Codari people were mammalian with a bright yellow appearance. They possessed large pointed ears, and eyes that were completely black. Other noticeable physical traits were lack of hair on the scalp or body, with small and soft patterns along their ridged areas. The average adult height would range from 4’6” to 5’5”. A very small percentage of the population possessed primordial remnants of webbed skin located between fingers, toes or underarms, suggesting the species having evolved from aquatic lifeforms.
The Codari originate from the planet Alcon, 9.4 light-years from Vallus. The species explored a dozen planets thus far and began the colonization of at least half of them. The Codari colonized Vallus nearly two hundred years ago and was primarily using it as an outpost and refueling station.
Now the empire was using it as a foothold on the region, its forces stacking up in greater number than even the growing population of Codari settlers.
While the empire took hold of the majority of resources on Vallus, they did not make the planet or its people an annex, but rather a recognized independent state. This was based on the condition that the Codari people provide infrastructure and hospitality to the empire, while they occupied the planet. The Darkkon Empire—under the orders from the Vael, who loomed over them—would not subjugate the Codari people or conscript them into their army so long as they honored the conditions laid out. This had been something the empire’s personnel and officials often took advantage of as the people cannot protest without possibly breaking the treaty.
What scumbags, I thought.
Settlers decided to move again, either back to Alcon or another developing planet to start over from scratch. They were the ones lucky enough or still had the means to do so. Most families spent a majority of their savings just to reach Vallus and would not be able to move again so soon. Those that stayed, now had several generations of children born and raised on the planet, all while the empire occupied the planet for the last one-hundred-eighty years.
One-hundred-eighty years! I thought. Just how long had this conflict been going on now? Despite its claim of acknowledging the Codari civilization as an independent state, it was plain to see that the Darkkon Empire had complete control.
When the time came, Seya and I awaited our exit from the starlane on the ship’s bridge. A minute before we entered the Vallus system, Dotty activated the cloak, turning The Pillar invisible as the empire had a significant presence in the system. Many defense platforms were positioned near the exit and entrance points of the starlanes, of which this system had three. The defense platforms were scanning frantically when the star lane opened but did not reveal any ship.
I directed Dotty to lower the blast shields, so I could see the system and platforms for myself. While the screens provided some visual feedback for anything going on outside the ship, it would not satiate my human curiosity. Dotty assured me that the platforms would not be able to see us when the blast shields lowered, as the cloaking field acted as a one-way mirror. This was true, as I was still able to see the bow of the ship at certain angles from the bridge, while the rest appeared to be the starfield slipping by behind the ship.
The defense platforms were these hulking monstrosities of slick metal with a large cannon placed atop its floating foundation. As we coasted alongside the weapon, I noted smaller tubes protruding in all directions and could only guess that they were either for missiles, countermeasures or thrusters of some kind. I didn’t know what the cannon fired, but if it was anything other than a laser, something ballistic would knock it out of position.
The platforms quickly disappeared aft of the ship and out of the view from the bridge. We were relatively safe for the moment. According to Dotty, we would need to travel at a slower speed with the cloak up to reduce our signature while in the system. It also informed me that The Pillar would be unable to stay in an orbit of any kind during our stay on the planet.
The A.I. moved us into a trajectory that would place us into a partially high orbit above our destination. At that point, we would descend the rest of the way aboard Dagger to the coordinates given to us by Commander Nura, which would bring us to the northwest side of the smaller continent. Dotty would then pilot the larger ship out of the system once more, to wait in secret until we sent a signal that it was time to leave. Considering the timetable of such a maneuver, I surmised that we would be staying longer than a few days with the conglomerate forces.
Since we would have a few more hours before our descent onto the planet, I loaded the dropship with a few weapons I had grown fond of, as well as some additional rations I enjoyed over the last few days. There was no telling how long we would be down there and what they would have available to us. The operation had supposedly been much larger than the one in Gwei-yon, but it was pure speculation as to what we would encounter until we got there, since Seya had never been to this planet before either.
We had just enough information to find the general whereabouts of the conglomerate base and a signal to send out when we were approaching the area. This would lower the chance of exposing the Vallus operation, should someone capture and interrogate us ahead of our arrival on the planet. A wise decision, I thought.
Seya added her preferential baggage onto Dagger as I did, handing me the hilt of a collapsible sword. “We didn’t use these last time, but always carry one on you. It would be a shame to go through the training and not have it available to you when you needed it,” she gave me the look a teacher gives a forgetful student. I took the hilt and clipped it onto the shoulder strap of my armor, pulling the cape back over it.
She seemed tense, yet focused. I had to remember that she brought the prestige of a Darkkon princess. One that turned her back on her family, and the empire, to join the conglomerate. I couldn’t imagine the hardships she faced or obstacles she passed, for the conglomerate to accept her in such high regard. Because of that, I knew I would be able to trust her with my life too.
Dotty informed us of having reached the keyhole in Vallus’s orbit. We engaged the cloak on the dropship, its nose cone becoming transparent and the flooring of the bay came into view without obstruction. Dotty released the docking clamps as Dagger slid gracefully out and away from The Pillar’s hanger bay. When peering out of the cockpit, the hanger was still evident until the dropship fell past the cloaking field of the larger ship. The bay looked t
o have completely disappeared suddenly, while Dotty accelerated the large ship and broke orbit with a slingshot effect off to one of the starlanes. We would be without The Pillar from here on out.
We nosed Dagger down slightly and began our descent for the next 20 minutes until we reached the re-entry point. The cockpit’s blast shields were engaged, and we nosed up, making use of the heat shields on the underside of the fuselage. Besides some rumbling we encountered once we sank further into the atmosphere, there was a sense of eerie calm, as if I could close my eyes and possibly sleep through this.
I thought back to the brave men and women of Earth who did this exact maneuver manually, with thousands of parts made by the lowest bidder surrounding them that could fail at any moment and result in catastrophe. Through sweaty palms, a gut sinking feeling, and adrenaline no doubt coursing through their veins, despite the countless hours they spent in a simulator doing this exact move.
I craned my neck to look over at Seya, who was closing her eyes and relaxing her body. I suppose human astronauts may do the same, if they were praying or at least thinking of something pleasant, should death have its way during their descent.
Fortunately for myself, I had an incredibly advanced A.I. taking the stick and a tried and true space-worthy vessel I could rely on—or at least that's what I told myself. I had no frame of reference as to what kind of ship I was actually inside of. For all I know, I could be putting my trust in an ancient jalopy with only a few redeeming factors. Ultimately—like the many beat up vehicles I owned in my lifetime—it was my jalopy now, and I would place my trust in it for better or worse.
I felt the ship level out, and the rumbling was no longer persistent. The blast shields lowered as we looked out over the skies of the green planet. We flew through the wispy cirrus clouds, continuing our descent. Seya had Dotty transmit the encrypted signal Commander Nura and his team gave us. As it was processing, it pinged for a few minutes before establishing a connection.
