by Calista Skye
Ator'aq said it with such ease so evenly that the Star Marshal went visibly pale.
“O-of course I didn't mean to indicate that you have been less than truthful, General. But it would help if you could tell us more about your previous encounters with the Ethereals. I mean, anything. So that we know what to expect and how you will fight them.”
“I'm not sure it would help me or you if you knew that. The way I see this is that you put your forces, such as they are, at my disposal. I may use them or I may not.”
General Wilhelmsen cleared her voice. “We feel that Earth forces should be under Earth authority. I'm sure we'll consult with you about how to best use them, but we will ultimately decide.”
Ator'aq took a deep breath of the cool, pristine air. “The formalities of this are less important to me. As long as you use them the way I command. What concerns me the most is that they don't get in my way. Of course I know the size of your forces. And I ask myself, what is the use of ten thousand primitive space marines, no matter how well motivated, if they are confined to either their planet or the little space station you have? I know you can deploy a few of them on your Moon, but there seems no reason to, now that your colony there was destroyed. You have weapons for war in space, such as they are, but first you have to get your marines into space in the first place. Or onto any one planet the Ethereals may pick to fight you on.”
It was cold on the summit of the mountain. It was like the edge of a knife, a long summit that stretched for hundreds of feet northwards. On both sides it fell away at almost vertical drops.
Olivia felt dizzy. If a gust of wind blew her off balance, she'd fall. And she'd fall far. Space marine training did involve lots of heights, to prepare them for fighting a war in the zero gravity of space. Somehow, she thought that fighting in space would be less scary than balancing on a rocky knife edge five thousand feet up.
Ator'aq took a deep breath of the clean, sharp mountain air. “I like this place. I grew up among mountains like these.”
The peak they were on was the tallest for hundreds of miles in any direction, and the view was beyond spectacular.
He glanced at Olivia. “And you? Is this peak to your liking?”
“I am a space marine, General.”
He only smirked. “That's what you say when there's something you don't like. It is your way of protesting. They have trained you well, taught you how to restrain your personal feelings. I approve. Self-discipline is the most valuable quality any sentient can have.”
“Is that how the Ethereals usually fight? On planets?” Wilhelmsen would not let the topic go.
Ator'aq ignored the intelligence chief.
Olivia was struck by the desperation in the higher officers. They would not let go of the questions. She wished that they would be cooler about it, retain some dignity. The Braxian already knew what they wanted, and he knew what he could do for them. If he wanted to answer their questions, he would. They could let him enjoy this hike and trust him to help them as much as he could. Instead, they were nagging like toddlers wanting a lollipop.
On the other hand, Ator'aq was being kind of a jerk about the whole thing. He knew that all they wanted was to defend their home world, and that they depended completely on everything he could tell them. There was really no reason to hold anything back from them, as far as she could see.
She both saw and felt that Star Marshal Hoffner and Intel Chief Wilhelmsen were starting to doubt whether he could contribute anything of value. They had really been knocked out by his admission that he only commanded ten men apart from himself. The fancy shuttle he had was not enough to weigh up for that.
His arrogance was not helping. Sure, seen from his point of view, they were maybe primitive. But was he really that advanced himself? None of them were carrying a sword like he was. How useful would that be in space? Sure, he was a champ with iron rods and probably swords, too. But so what? Did that have any value at all?
“Well, here we are at the top of the mountain, General Ator'aq.” Hoffner was calm, but his curt voice betrayed that he was obviously boiling under the surface. He had been dragged on this strenuous hike, and once on the top, Ator'aq was in no hurry to make it worth his time and effort.
He was still looking out, turning slowly, taking in the view.
“It's a pretty planet, this. It has an innocence to it, a newness that I always missed on Brax. It was going stale, I felt. Still, not so stale that we didn't attract the attention of the Ethereals. We – or I should say they, those who were in power at the time – didn't realize the danger as quickly as you Earthlings did. The Ethereal treated us like equals, and it was flattering because they were plainly more advanced. And when our rulers understood the danger, they thought they'd be smart and trick the Ethereals, make them feel safe and trusted. And then we'd attack them and take their wonderful ships and their technology and their weapons. It couldn't work, but no one knew that.”
Olivia looked at the alien. He was serious for a change, almost solemn as he thought back. The wind was picking up, and her fatigues had been soaked with sweat from before. She shivered.
“Well, when they realized what our plan was, they retaliated. We had colonized our whole solar system. Any rock that could support life after some tinkering had settlements. Some planets had cities and self-rule. We had just about filled our own solar system and were about to spread to other solar systems. The future looked good. Nothing could wipe out the Braxian civilization. The major risks that follow any civilization until it leaves its home planet were not a threat anymore. We had made it.”
He looked out on the October landscape, sparkling in yellow and orange and red.
“So of course the Ethereals destroyed all our colonies. Everyone who was not on the surface of Brax itself died within seconds. They used a weapon we had never seen before, far more powerful than any nuclear bomb. And twenty billion people died. Instantly. Our civilization was set back centuries. Only the five million people left on Brax itself remained. And they were not our best people.”
His lips formed a melancholic smile.
“Everyone born on Brax for the past centuries had only one goal: to leave. Anyone who could leave did, and almost everyone could. It was a rich civilization. Those who stayed were those who didn't want to go or had some deficiency that made it impossible for them to contribute to the colonies. Life was in the colonies, not on Brax. There was nothing more of value on Brax itself. The planet had been mined for millennia, and its resources were completely used up, the earth unable to yield a harvest. Everything needed by its inhabitants came from the colonies in the form of charitable donations.
“And there they were. The colonies were suddenly gone. Getting into space again from Brax would not be possible. There were no materials for it. The planet was empty. It had nothing more to give. Not even a primitive rocket could be built, the fuel for it could not be found, no engineers existed that could build it, no crew to man it. Braxians were starting again, but on a barren planet. It was like a fruit that had been squeezed empty, and then left to dry in the sun. Only the peelings were left. And they had been burned to ashes.”
Olivia and the two superior officers were listening in tactful silence.
“Our civilization was doomed to die. It could not be helped. There was no way around it. It would take hundreds of years, but finally the last Braxians would die on a barren planet. Well, they are dying as we speak.”
“But you are here,” Olivia said. “They didn't get you.”
“That's right. The Ethereals made a mistake. They didn't see me. We, that is I and my fifty-five men, were readying the spaceship that was going to take our glorious kingdom out of the solar system. It had been built, and all that remained was to finish loading it up. Most of the men were military engineers, and I was their supervisor. One day we saw every planet surrounded by a sickening, yellow sheen of light. Except Brax. It was not harmed. There was no need. It was dying anyway.
“Well, we finished
the ship and navigated it to Brax. But we couldn't land. If you've seen our ship, you'll see that it can only function in empty space, not in an atmosphere. It's not designed for flying in air. It also didn't have landing craft. They were still under construction. We saw that there was nothing we could do there. We checked on some of the colonies we had seen get destroyed. Nothing left. Nothing at all. Planets that had slowly been made habitable were again bare rock. A planet that had been the thriving home to nine billion people had no sign that there had ever been activity.
“We decided then that the one mistake the Ethereals had made would be the one mistake that would seal their fate: They had left us alive. We would hunt them down and eradicate them, clean the universe of their presence. We knew where they had gone, because they made no secret of it. And we followed. We attacked them when we could, killed as many as we could, and we lost men ourselves. As the time passed, and we fought them several times, we started to figure them out. Now we know a lot about them. We have pieced together the puzzle that is the Ethereals. We know their weaknesses and we know how to defeat them. They're running from me now. They know I'm their death.”
The alien general was silent for long minutes, and Olivia could only see his back. She wanted to embrace his broad back and lean into it.
“What else can you tell us, General?” Wilhelmsen said softly. She realized that Ator'aq had trouble talking about this.
“There's a good reason why they haven't left your solar system. Journeying between the stars takes a long time, and even though they may be immortal, they need resources. Earth is their only source for what they need to go on. They can't continue until they refill their stocks. But they're afraid of me. I ruined their plans here. They're in a fix right now. They're trapped.”
“What do they need, General?” Olivia said.
“They need food. That's all. They have everything else. Now, Ethereals don't eat much. But their food must be of only the highest quality.”
“Delicacies, huh?” Hoffner suggested, brightening. “Lobster, tender beef, oysters, things like that? We can probably give them what they need and send them on their way! Now this is excellent intel.”
Ator'aq glanced at Olivia and rolled his eyes slightly. “You misunderstand, Marshal. They only eat one thing: Sentient apex species. In this solar system, only humans fit that description. And they'll only eat the freshest, youngest and tenderest meat. Adolescents and young adults. But most importantly: The food has to be alive. And screaming.”
The descent from the mountaintop was quiet. Ator'aq seemed not to want to say any more about the aliens or about his own forces, and the Space Force officers were too shocked by his information to be talkative.
And it was a difficult route, with only rocks and boulders to climb on and over, with sheer drops on each side. They released little avalanches of gravel with each step, and Olivia found it hard to stay on her feet. Even if she had been helped by the exoskeleton, the session with the iron bar had taken its toll on her leg muscles, too.
The air was cold and the moisture was starting to freeze on the rocks. Ator'aq walked in front of Olivia, with Hoffner in front and Wilhelmsen behind her.
The Braxian's back was broad, and he didn't seem to bothered by the cold at all, wearing only a teeshirt and a jacket that was open in the front. His pants were tight and his butt round and muscular as it flexed with every step he took, displaying the very male indentations on the side of every cheek.
Olivia couldn't help daydreaming a little. How would those firm globes feel to the touch-
Suddenly she slipped on a patch of ice and lost her balance just as she was getting down from the top of a huge boulder. She squealed, waving her arms to stay upright, and for one split second she was fighting gravity to keep her balance. She lost the battle, and her squeal turned into a scream of genuine mortal fear as the saw the abyss open under her and she knew she would fall. There was nothing under her feet, the rock was suddenly too far away for her to reach, her angle was awkward and she was out of reach of General Wilhelmsen.
She fell, screaming in anguish.
Then she felt her left arm caught in an iron vise and the fall stopped so fast she got the wind knocked out of her. She was dangling in the air, held by Ator'aq' strong arm.
She could hardly believe her eyes – he was holding her full weight his hand, his arm straight and steady as a crane, the way a father might hold a small toddler by one hand for fun. But she was not a toddler – she was a voluptuous girl with the muscles of a space marine.
He hoisted her back on safe ground and looked her over with a sharp eye. “Were you pushed?” He scowled at General Wilhelmsen.
“No, no,” Olivia gasped, regaining her breath and the use of her voice. “I slipped on the ice.”
She took a deep breath. Her heart was beating like a jackhammer.
“Are you all right, Lieutenant?” Wilhelmsen said behind her. “That could have ended very badly. If General Ator'aq hadn't caught you...”
Olivia's shoulder felt like it was burning, and it must have been close to getting dislocated when the joint suddenly took the full force of her falling weight. Without the exoskeleton, she would undoubtedly have sustained worse injuries.
“I'm okay, General,” she said, trying to keep the trembling out of her voice. “Thank you, sir,” she said, glancing up at the immensely strong alien. Perhaps his swordplay wasn't as outdated as she thought, if it gave him strength like that.
He was his old, smirking self again. “My pleasure, Olivia. It's not my first time in the mountains.”
They continued down the mountain to the shuttle, Olivia on knees that were trembling.
The alien general had saved her life, no doubt about it. Could he also save Earth?
Ator'aq relieved the Braxian pilot, took the controls himself and piloted them safely back to the station. No one spoke.
Olivia discreetly put on her combat visor. It showed Ator'aq as Neutral. She adjusted it to show him as a Friendly in bright green.
11
Water was a luxury on the Space Force Base, formerly International Space City. The shower was a tightly enclosed cabin and the water used would get immediately cleaned and sent back through the shower head, with lots of nitrogen mixed in to make it feel like more water than it really was.
But it was okay, Olivia thought. At least it was hot, and that was all she needed.
Her limbs were sore, she couldn't ball her hands up into fists and she had trouble straightening her knees.
But that was one good thing about being a space marine – however much pain she found, she had always had worse during training. Many times.
The hot water gave her back her body temperature after the excursion to the mountains. The only thing left from her almost-fall was the soreness in the shoulder and the memory of Ator'aq's unyielding strength as he held her up on a straight arm as if she was just a bundle of carrots. She was not used to men being able to handle her weight so easily.
He had made an impression on her. One that she felt all through her. Whenever he had looked at her, it had been in a way that was invasive, but somehow didn't make her feel uncomfortable at all – only sexy. It was a mix of being the only person who was as close to him as she was, his total sexiness and his cocky, arrogant confidence that hid what she thought had to be a sensitive soul. The way he had talked about his own world... and the way he had reacted like a rattlesnake when she had almost fallen to her death... Well, he had to care a little, at least.
He was a very attractive man. Strong, sexy, with piercing eyes and a face that would not be out of place in a fashion catalog. The warrior aura vibrated around him, and he almost seemed like a figure from Earth's own past – a warlord.
The water flowed over her and she closed her eyes. Now she was an officer and had her own quarters, she would get little luxuries like that once in a while. Private quarters also made other things possible...
What would it be like to make love to that hunk who
apparently could manhandle her like a rag doll? Would he be gentle with her, safe in the knowledge that she knew only too well that if he wished, he could snap her spine with one hand? Or would he be demanding, taking from her everything that he wanted?
She wasn't sure which she would prefer – but it made no sense thinking about it. She may be promoted, but he was so far above her that any romance between them would be both difficult and doomed. She would enjoy his company while it lasted, feel good about being able to spend some time alone with him once in a while and maybe enjoy feeling that he was a little more friendly with her than with anyone else from the Space Force. Fine, so she had a crush on him. She would not let that develop into something more. If she could help it.
The 'I'm your fate' thing was always in the background. He had been so intense when he said it, too, almost scaring her. It almost felt as if that had been the only important thing he'd said to her since they first met. And she couldn't quite let the thought go. Or the hope – did it mean that he was open to something more?
Her hand, slick with soap, slid down her abdomen and skirted around her slit, just teasing. If that alien came in here right now, she'd just jump him.
Well, it made no sense to think more about it. She was under orders not to get too close. It looked like the fight with the Ethereals would be hard and long. She shuddered, despite the hot water cascading over her. Eating people alive, kids even... They were total monsters, worse than anyone had known.
She had never seen a live Ethereal, only on pictures and on video. They were extremely beautiful, but they were always just a little blurry around the edges, a little luminous, a little translucent. When she was in boot camp and they had first made contact, she had thought that they looked like ghosts. Others had compared them to fairies, because they seemed supernatural and gifted, elevated and above humans.
She rinsed the shampoo out of her hair. At least they had been seen for what they really were before everything was lost. There was still hope. And with Ator'aq on their side, even if he had only eleven men, their hope was probably much better than Olivia's superior officers seemed to think. They were obsessed with armies and strength in numbers, but Ator'aq seemed not to value those things at all.
