Heart of a Traitor

by Aaron Lee Yeager

  “Yeah, go Hachikou!” Michi cheered, raising her fist in the air. “Claw his face off!”

  The demon grabbed the little robot and threw it to the ground, shattering it into thousands of little pieces.

  “Awwww, Hachikou.” Michi mourned.

  The two demons placed their watery hands together. Black spheres of fire formed and grew, the air sizzling.

  “I’m empty,” Nariko announced, holstering her pistol.

  “Same here,” Ami stated.

  “I can’t hold this open much longer,” Sakurako warned, sweat beading on her brow.

  The black spheres grew larger and the demons lifted their hands over their heads, ready to release the sorcerous powers.

  “Stand aside, coming through,” Taka announced as she swooped down behind the two demons, the third in close pursuit. Taka deftly tucked her wings in and zipped in between the two before reopening her wings and soaring skywards once more. The demon in pursuit realized too late its mistake and crashed into its companions, knocking them forward into the circle.

  The air was filled with a horrible inhuman wail as a column of silver fire came up from the circle and reached skywards. The demons came apart atom by atom, dissolving before everyone’s eyes. Nariko felt the darkness inside her twist and writhe in pain. She dropped her sword and grabbed the sides of her head in pain. She could feel her skin being torn apart. Her muscles, her bones, everything felt like it was being pulled to pieces.

  I...I can feel their pain.

  The circle evaporated, leaving no trace of itself or the demons that had been inside. The final demon released a gurgling roar and leapt onto Sakurako, grabbing her neck with armored claws. Shiro squad clubbed and hit the demon with all of their remaining weapons, but none of them could injure its demonic body as it raised a kicking and choking Sakurako higher and higher above its head.

  Suddenly the water to the east bulged up and seven figures broke through its surface. They were wearing full rebreathers and camouflaged gilly suits.

  They aimed their bizarre looking weapons and hit the demon with some kind of energized nets that flung it to the ground and held it fast. Sakurako broke free of its grasp and was pulled away by Keiko and Ami.

  It took a few moments for the realization to set in. The soldiers in the wet suits wore the insignia of the Daughters of Drak’Nal, Seventh Division Kuroi squad.

  One of the Senshi took off her rebreathers and facemask, while her companions began dragging the bound demon toward a spot of higher ground.

  “Watanabe Heicho Rini,” she introduced herself formally, bowing deeply.

  “We were told we would be the only squad here and that this world was uninhabited,” Nariko asserted.

  Rini shook her head clearly.

  “The Archfiend of Tauros has a research facility somewhere on the northern continent. It’s pretty well hidden. We were ordered to follow you and wait for them to attempt an ambush.”

  “We were nothing but bait? That is so demeaning.” Taka complained.

  “I really hate it when they don’t tell us what is going on,” Keiko intoned wearily.

  “This is unthinkable,” Nariko complained. “Why were we not told of the true nature of this mission?”

  Rini took out her water pouch to take a drink.

  “Inami felt that your squad would make a more enticing target for them if you were not aware of the danger.”

  Ianmi is shaming my squad and me on purpose.

  Besides,” said their Gunsho, taking off her rebreather mask, “watching you guys fight over those sticky buns was the most fun we’ve had all year.”

  What Reika lacked in physical stature she made up for in presence. Her jade feline eyes met their gazes without fear and without shame. She had a confidence and energy about her that was absolutely infectious.

  “It’s been a long time, Nari-chan,” Reika teased.

  Nariko stared at her for a second, her brow furrowed. “Have we met before?”

  Reika’s feline ears twitched back and forth in amusement and then she and Rina looked at each other and chuckled knowingly.

  “Oh yes, you and I have met before,” Reika affirmed. “By the way, you have rice in your hair.”

  Nariko grabbed her ponytail and examined it. Just like Reika said, there were grains of rice stuck to the platinum blonde strands of hair.

  “It must have gotten in there when our table got blown up,” Nariko said picking the grains out. “You know, when you guys were sitting around watching.”

  “We had our orders,” Reika shrugged, her long tail swishing back and forth happily. “We came here to capture one of these things alive.”

  Rina pulled the helmet off the demon’s armor so they could get a better look. The occupant had a head of boneless green flesh, flat and nearly featureless, with a bisected, flattened nose and deep-set dark eyes without pupils. Its form was semi-translucent, so that you could actually see through the thinner parts of it.

  “Ewwww, he looks like he is made of mint jelly,” Ami observed.

  “Just be glad that the Archfiend hasn’t perfected the process yet, or even your witch wouldn’t have been able to bring it down,” Rini explained.

  Reika stooped down next to the creature and poked a stick at its flesh. The stick passed right into it, the material of the creature only offering minor resistance, like poking through thick mud. When Reika removed the stick the flesh stirred, but was otherwise unharmed.

  “Somehow the Archfiend of Tauros got a hold of something he shouldn’t have and is using something really nasty to breed himself an army. This thing, my friends, is half-demon,” Reika explained.

  Everyone present grew silent at the dark portent. An army of such beasts, impervious to conventional weaponry, would be all but unstoppable.

  “A while back Inami paid him a king’s ransom to make a clone of one of the Luminari from some hair samples she had acquired, so that we could get his blood out of the clone. But, the Archfiend took the payment and reneged on our agreement,” Michi explained. “He could be using those samples as part of the process to create these.”

  “I never heard. Did the archfiend ever make the clone?” Sorano asked.

  “Oh, he made it all right, just to spite us I think, but the cloning lab is on Bael’Eth.”

  “Wait, this all seems really familiar,” Nariko spoke up. “When I was in the Second, I heard rumors about all this, but in the version I heard it was Heinreich Verräter’s elite guard that had reneged on you.”

  Michi sighed and everyone present began acting self-conscious.

  “No, that happened too. We developed a new kind of power cabling for their armor. Took us three standard years. They took the cables, but didn’t give us the payment.”

  Nariko lowered her face into her hand. “I don’t even know why I bother being disappointed anymore.”

  “So, this guy is a half-demon, eh?” Sorano asked, poking its face with the tip of her boot. “So that would make it like our cousin or something.”

  “Or Sakurako’s second cousin,” Taka added.

  “Shut up, Taka,” Nariko barked.

  Breaking her silence, Sakurako picked herself up and ran over to the creature, her hands bathed in summoned blue fire.

  “It is an abomination,” she cried. “We must destroy it.” Sakurako moved to banish the demon but Reika caught her and held her fast.

  “We will destroy it, but first we are going to study it and then we are going to use it.”

  “Use it for what?” Nariko asked.

  Reika smiled broadly, revealing her fangs. “Inami is going to use this demon to start a civil war.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Intersections

  You seek the truth because you imagine it to be somehow superior. If you knew the terrifying veracities of the great void, you would beg me to end your life before you heard the half of it. Cherish the peace your lies give you, for it is the only solace to be found amongst the stars.

 
-Anchetă Keagull, Confederate Marshals Second Circle 6001-6236rl

  As the boarding ramp came down, Nariko was presented with a most unusual sight. Dargner was standing there to greet her, a slanted smile on his face.

  “Welcome back to the Onikano,” he said, doing his best to imitate a Correllian formal greeting.

  “Didn’t expect to see you again,” Nariko said cautiously, handing him her mission reports. His complexion looked healthier than before, and his prosthetics had been replaced with more advanced versions with synthetic skin.

  “Inami was nice enough to give some of us jobs until we make it back to confederate space. Isn’t that nice?” Dargner said as he pulled out a cable from the data slate and plugged it into the interface on the back of his neck.

  “I guess it beats sitting in a cell,” Nariko opined.

  “Listen,” Dargner said, leaning in close. “I wanted to thank you for not cutting my head off and I, ah, you know, wanted to apologize to you about the whole...you know...cutting your head off...thing.”

  Nariko stood there staring at him for a moment. “That is the weirdest apology I’ve ever heard.”

  “Sorry,” he stumbled, pulling out a little notebook and thumbing through it. “I wanted to apologize to you in your native tongue, but I couldn’t find a translation program that worked.”

  “‘I’m sorry for cutting your head off’ would be ‘anata no atama o katto suru tame mōshiwake arimasen,’” Ami answered as she skipped by happily, carrying duffle bags.

  “Ana...no...Atama...” Dargner began.

  “Please don’t try,” Nariko requested.

  “Okay, I won’t,” Dargner chuckled. “Still, I am sorry.”

  Nariko could feel her anger rising within her. She didn’t like to think about how much she lost the last time she died, she didn’t want to think about it. The sensation of being used like a puppet still left her in a cold sweat whenever she thought about it. She wished Dargner would just walk away, but instead he stood there sappily waiting for her response. Nariko slowly unballed her fists and forced herself to breathe slowly as she collected her thoughts.

  “Look,” Nariko said softly, trying to hide her anger. “The person I used to be could have forgiven you right away, but it’s harder for me now. I’ve changed so much. I have so much...hate in my heart now. Someday I might be able to forgive you, but not today. Let’s just leave it at that for now, okay?”

  “I think I can live with that,” Dargner said with a smile.

  Nariko forced herself to smile weakly.

  “Oh,” Dargner added. “I’m not sure who I’m supposed to talk to about this, but there are these little bowls of dry chips in all of the restrooms.”

  “Dry chips?”

  “Yes, I’ve been eating them, but a lot of them are getting really, really stale; you might want to have someone replace them at some point.”

  “Hey genius, those aren’t chips, that is potpourri,” Sorano said as she passed by, wheeling the restrained half-demon toward the brig.

  “Pou...pou what?” Dargner asked, his young face twisted in confusion.

  “Don’t worry about it, just keep eating,” Nariko reassured him with a slap on the shoulder.

  “Hey Gunsho, where do we unload the surds?” Taka asked as she fluttered out of the shuttle and landed next to them.

  “By the Source, you can fly,” Dargner exclaimed, eyes wide.

  “You are very observant young one, you’ll go far in life,” Taka praised.

  “Nori said she’ll be sending up some special holding tanks with barriers, so just leave them where they are for now,” Nariko ordered.

  “How are you able to fly with such small wings?” Dargner asked inquisitively, his right eye expanding into optics to allow him to examine her more closely.

  “Who said they were small?” Taka defended, spreading her blue butterfly wings out as far as she could.

  “Are your bones hollow?” Dargner asked, reaching out to grab the tip of her wing.

  “I don’t know,” Taka said, slapping his hand away. “Why would you ask that?”

  “Well, birds have hollow bones to keep their body weight down,” Dargner said, pulling out a little scanning device. “They also have a simplified digestive system.”

  “That would explain a lot,” Michi mentioned as she walked by, wheeling a crate. “On our trip she touched a widdle frog and her poor widdle tummy couldn’t handle it.”

  “That was an extremely toxic toad, not a ‘widdle fwog!’” Taka snapped back.

  “Wow, the women from your world are very pretty,” Dargner said out loud as he watched Michi pass by.

  “You be quiet,” Michi quipped. “Men without money don’t get to flirt with me.”

  Dargner scratched his head in confusion, then just shrugged and went back to running the scanning device up and down over Taka. “We need to get you in a wind tunnel, I want to see how much thrust your wings create when you fly.”

  “Why do you even care?” Taka asked, snatching the scanner out of his hand and snapping it in half.

  “Because mysteries are fascinating,” Dargner answered frankly as she handed the broken pieces back to him.

  “Do you really, really want to know the secret?” Taka intoned gravely.

  Dargner nodded, eyes alight.

  “I’ll tell you, but you have to swear never to tell anyone else,” Taka whispered, leaning in close.

  “I promise,” Dargner said excitedly.

  “I am able to fly because I suck out the souls of people who ask me too many stupid questions and I use that energy to stay in the air.”

  Dargner stood there for a moment, his eyes darting back and forth.

  “I better get back to work,” he said, handing Nariko her data slate and scurrying off.

  Taka and Nariko chuckled to themselves.

  “You really shouldn’t lie like that, you’ll scare the boy to death,” Nariko suggested.

  Taka only stood there without responding.

  “That was a lie right?” Nariko asked, growing concerned.

  “I better get back to work, lots to unload,” Taka said, fluttering off.

  “Hey, you didn’t answer the question.”

  “Lots to do.”

  “Since when do you care about work, anyway?”

  “Hey, everybody, check out these new issues from our beloved Forgemaster,” Sorano exclaimed as she drove up alongside the shuttle in a skiff and opened a crate. What was passed around looked like a thicker version of their null-suits. At first it appeared completely black, but on closer inspection the outer material was actually clear with a black liquid suspended in between the layers.

  “What’s this null-suit made out of?” Nariko asked as she inspected it.

  Sorano took something out of the crate and tossed it to Nariko. It was a black crystal, seemingly unremarkable, but Nariko could feel that there was something wrong with its weight. It resisted being moved, like when you hold a spinning gyroscope in your hand.

  When Nariko looked up to ask about it, she saw that Sorano was pointing a plasma rifle directly at her face. Nariko leapt back in surprise, but it was too late. With a maniacal cackle, Sorano fired a beam of white-hot energy at Nariko, which arced away from her face and struck the crystal. The energy poured into the crystal, which lapped it up hungrily, its surface changing to a bright blue where the beam touched it.

  “By the Luminarch’s throne, what in the world do you think you’re doing?” Nariko shouted as she dropped the steaming crystal to the floor, “You could have taken my head off with that thing!”

  “Those crystals grow in the Uragan,” Sorano explained, ignoring the rebuke. “Nori grinds them up and creates a gel out of the dust. It doesn’t give much ballistic protection, but it can soak up energy weapons better than kerasteel. Kuroi squad has been testing it out for some time now and they say it’s really exciting.”

  “Does it come in any other colors?” Ami asked as she eyed her suit distasteful
ly.

  “Nori is working on a version that can be worn inside a Tsunami,” Sorano said, trembling with excitement.

  “Even after all this time, you still get so excited about blowing stuff up,” Taka commented as she landed carrying some sample tubes.

  Ami remembered something and ran over to her storage locker where she pulled out a bundle of blue silk scarves and began passing them out.

  “What are these for,” Taka asked as she handled the delicate material.

  “Well, since we are all part of the same squad, I was thinking that we should have a squad color,” Ami explained.

  “Why would we need to wear the same color?” Nariko asked.

  “Um, well,” Ami faltered, “to make it easier to recognize friend from foe during a battle?”

  “If Ami needs this to keep her from shooting the rest of us,” Taka said, holding up the scarf, “then I don’t think she should be going down with us anymore.”

  “Then you’d be off the active roster for sixty-five years now,” Sorano gnawed at Taka.

  “Shut up Sori-bear. It was your own fault and you know it.”

  “I have your mission briefings for our operation on Kall, please prepare your squad.” Mai stated, professional as always, as she handed Nariko a data slate.

  “Oh, how nice, does this one include details about being used as bait?”

  “No, your squad will be rearguard,” Mai responded curtly before turning and walking away.

  “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say Inami was going out of her way to embarrass me,” Nariko grumbled.

  Mai stopped and turned on her heel.

  “You’ve always struck me as a professional soldier,” Mai observed. “A true Senshi. Am I wrong in that assessment?”

  “No, of course not,” Nariko answered.

  How else could I answer?

  “A Senshi does not need to have the reason for her orders explained to her, she only needs to follow them, wouldn’t you agree?” Mai asked frankly.

  She got me.

  Mai nodded her head and walked away. Nariko could feel her anger rising dangerously high. The fact that what Mai said was true only made her all the angrier.