by Greg Dragon
Rafian looked behind her at the tough men and women that stood looking around for surprises, their guns drawn and their eyes wide. They were about forty in number, but about twenty more lay on a tank that was rolling slowly with them. It looked like a funeral procession and compared to the victorious rally that they had made at Soreble, he knew that Val’s heart would be broken if he saw them.
“Listen up, Marines. Val Tracker is okay. We pulled him out after he and one of our Phasers got ambushed in the streets.”
“We came too late to join the Colonel,” Hera said, sounding disappointed and wounded at her admission. “Climbing through the sewer to gain the streets was tougher than we thought. By the time we got here, the Colonel was surrounded and then he just vanished. Are you saying that you have him? Is he with the Phasers?”
“Yeah, one of our girls rescued him and pretty soon we’ll have you out of here, too.”
Hera Kane was about to object when a loud explosion brought her around. The cruiser that Rafian and Marian had flown in crashed into a building, the top of it sliding off at where it had split and toppling into the next. Marian hoped that the people had been evacuated from that area of the city.
Tayden and over 150 Phasers took to the streets and the Crak-Ti were forced to take on fighters that were more skilled than the soldiers and civilians they’d been cutting up throughout the day. A number of Phasers fell, but the Geralos elite were being pushed back. In the skies, Camille and her pilots began to shoot down their dropships and even though their fighters countered, the golden chameleon was too much for them to handle.
“Hellgate,” one civilian said, as she watched the lead ship of Camille YAN run the Geralos aces into buildings and outmaneuver them at every turn.
“Hellgate,” another Meluvian said, as eyes turned to the sky to watch as the deadly Phasers cleaned up the Geralos one by one through a variety of skilled maneuvers.
Before long, there was a loud procession of citizens chanting the name Hellgate. It was Helga “Hellgate” ATE that had come to their aid a few decades ago in a situation as dire as this. Camille and Rafian had looked up to the same Hellgate as an icon during their training, so hearing the name being chanted in cadence to Camille’s destructive run made Rafian smile with pride.
The Marines picked up the chant, as well and Tayden pushed the Phasers harder. She was every bit the commando, with lasers burns across her green 3B suit and blood streaked across her freckled nose. As the host of Phasers clashed with the rallying Crak-Ti, all she could see was smoke and the bright white edges of las-swords slashing this way and that. There were men and women flanking the melee with starguns blazing at any Crak-Ti foolish enough to give them an opening. On the other side of the city, Yuth Varience and a few other Phasers were helping the citizens to escape the city.
Tayden’s comm lit up and it was Rafian who looked as if he were running somewhere. “Tayden, you said Dott fought the big Geralos in the sewers, right? Did she tell you where he made off to?”
“No Raf, she barely got out alive. But she said that Laern had shot him and he fell into the toxic lake below the city. He’s probably dead, Commander. What do you want with him?”
“I don’t think he’s dead but we can talk about it later.”
The Phasers surprise attack on the unsuspecting Crak-Ti forced them to beat a hasty retreat into the few drop ships that remained. Before long the city was quiet with the exception of the sound of people dying. They had done what they had set out to do and Dystalis, the premier city for the Meluvian elite, was now a mixture of smoke, ruins and dead bodies. The Phaser recruits began to canvas the city, looking for any Crak-Ti that had not escaped, or who lay in wait for innocent victims. Tayden took a hover bike to where Rafian and Marian were and she was surprised to find that they were unmarked, as if they hadn’t been in a fight just minutes ago.
“I see you two made it out okay.”
Rafian nodded and Marian walked over to her and gave her a hug. Tayden’s 3B Suit had taken heavy damage and it made Rafian wonder if many of the recruits had been killed.
“How did they come at you Tay?” he asked.
She understood the question more by the way he looked at her than the words he had uttered.
“We lost a few of them Raf…non-cloned permanents, too. Phaser recruits that hadn’t tested yet, but like you said, they were no strangers to war.”
“I feel terrible for that, Tayden. It was my order.” He rubbed his head and walked around aimlessly, thinking about what had transpired and what he could say or do to make it better. “How many, exactly?”
“I don’t know yet. When we get the official count and the names of the fallen, I will get it to you as soon as possible, Commander.”
“This whole thing seemed like a ploy to pull us in and distract us, doesn’t it?”
“I’m afraid so. A part of me has that sinking feeling about the repercussions of today.”
“Tell you what. We better get the Phasers back to base and patched up immediately, Tayden. Get home and rest up and heal. I am going back into the sewers to see if I can track the Geralos that attacked Dott.”
~*~*~*~
Val Tracker had been through hell a few hundred times in his life, but nothing compared to the pain he felt before they put his body in the recovery tank. It felt odd; he could feel the pressure of the machine that worked at fixing the damaged tissue, but he couldn’t feel it. The worst of it all was the helplessness he felt. He knew that Rafian had called all of his soldiers to fight for Dystalis, but he didn’t know if his Marines had still been alive to help. Marika was on a classified mission. She had learned about his condition and had sent him back a message. It was harsh but tender, the way she always was and by her command, he was not to die without her. Where has she been all my life, he thought, grinning at the thought of her and anxious for her to return so that they could enjoy one another’s company in a variety of ways.
As he looked around the room at other men and women in similar tanks, he realized that he was the only one awake. One of the tanks held Laern Cobo, but he was fully immersed and the cloned arm that they had crafted specifically from his DNA was already attached. A number of other things were being done to him that he couldn’t comprehend. The fluid in their tanks was a different shade than the other sleeping inhabitants. Laern and Val’s was an olive color instead of the pretty aqua shade of the other twelve. Val knew it was due to the toxins of the sewage being drawn out, and it gave him hope that he would be back to form after a few days.
He was looking around at each patient, trying to imagine what their story was, when he saw the eyes through the doorway. They weren’t human, but not quite Geralos, either. All he could make out was that they glowed and it took everything within him not to panic at the vulnerable position he was in. Could a Geralos get through the cloaked force field of the city to walk around freely in the Phaser base? It was possible; the Phasers were on Meluvia and the long months of peace had convinced the leadership that Zallus was invisible to Geralos intelligence. He slatted his eyes to pretend he was asleep, but he kept watch on the glowing eyes as they stared at him intently, without moving. What a position to be in, where you couldn’t even call for help.
He tried to move his limbs, but the induced paralysis was not having any of it. What could he do to alert the Phasers? What would stop the infiltrator from coming in and disabling all of the healing tanks? He was still going over it when he realized that Dott was not in one of the tanks. He hoped she was okay and that she was fighting with the Phasers away from the base. The eyes kept looking at him but they eventually moved off to the side, out of his view. It became a nerve-wracking bout of patience as he waited to see if they would emerge. A Geralos in the city; it was unheard of! What a time to be injured and out of fighting form, he thought. There had to be a way to alert Rafian.
Maes walked out of the medical bay and back to the recruit’s hover-bike that he had commandeered. There was
still blood on the seat, but he didn’t mind it one bit. The fact that he had managed to find the elusive Phaser Headquarters was enough to win back his honor with the military of Geral. He wasn’t sure on his next move. He had followed the tracker that he placed on the girl, Dott, back on Dystalis and had stumbled upon the hidden city within the valley. He was impressed that the humans could hide so well, but now that he was there, he did not know what to do. The Phasers—at least the ones that could challenge him properly—had fallen into his trap and would be distracted for days. He could go from house to house, killing the inhabitants, but what would that earn him, outside of a reputation for being ruthless? The Phaser base itself seemed impregnable. None of the locks were easy to crack and the only one that was left open was the hospital. If his goal was terror, he could empty the tanks and slaughter their sick, but to what end? He could reveal the location to the local branch of Geralos military, but they would take his intel and come rushing in, paying little attention to the fact that he and he alone had been the one to discover it.
He had to do something major, something that they couldn’t take away from him in the history books. The mechanical enhancements that he had made to himself on Helysian made it impossible for him to wear the human skin and blend in with them. He was also unable to jump into a mind to corrupt them due to the trauma that it had done to his brain with the girl on Helysian. Whatever he decided, he would have to do it as himself. It would have to be fast, since the others would be back soon, but it would take some thought, and it was for this reason that he decided to return to his ship. There would be a reckoning, but it would be planned and executed professionally. He would think on it for the night and by morning he would know what needed to be done.
~*~*~*~
There was something about the soup at Helene’s of Zallus that kept calling Dott back. She was supposed to be resting; it was required that after a day in the tank, a patient needed over ten hours of sleep. But the city was jumping and with parties happening all over the place, the young Phaser wanted to let her hair down and relax after coming so close to death.
“Having the usual, Deetee?” Helene asked as she leaned over the bar to look at Dott.
It made her feel good when Helene used her nickname, it made her feel normal, like an average Vestalian citizen of Zallus. “Yes! But can you hold the Rolli buns this time, please? I’m not supposed to be ingesting spice while I’m on recovery.”
“Recovery? From what, hon?”
“Oh, it’s classified as usual, Helene, but I was injured in a fight trying to save some soldiers.”
“Look at you, the hero,” Helene said. She was a blunt, Amazonian woman with an unconventional beauty that Dott couldn’t understand. She was always quick with the tongue, but it always came from a place of love. So when she said these words Dott didn’t take them as sarcasm, just Helene responding as she always did, with a little bit of spice.
“Your leader give you a medal or anything for risking your neck, girl?”
“No, not yet. We don’t really do the medal thing…”
Well, that’s a shame. You deserve a medal.” She pulled out a stool and stood on top of it and whistled loudly for the mingling patrons to pay attention to her. She was all legs and curly black hair as they looked up at her, and she made sure that they all gave her their undivided attention. “Listen up, Zallus. Deetee here is in recovery from rescuing soldiers while fighting for our freedom to drink my wine. What say we show her some appreciation, eh?”
The crowd erupted in cheers that ended in a loud singing of an old Vestalian battle song to honor her achievement. Dott went through a few emotions that started with embarrassment and ended in pride and when they finished singing and had come over to thank, hug and pat her on the back, she felt as if her heart would burst from pride.
“Gee, thanks, Helene. I have never felt so loved and appreciated…”
“Well, you’re family, hun. You will always get a hero’s welcome here at Helene’s.”
The soup came out soon after and before long Dott’s brain was drifting away on a flavor highway. Helene’s soup always reverted her back to childhood. She didn’t even realize that she was kicking her legs on the stool, much like she’d done as a little girl, as she ate bite after bite of the chunky goodness. She was on her tenth spoonful when an explosion brought her to her feet. It shook the earth and sounded like it had come from the direction of the Phaser base. She was out the door in a matter of seconds and as she rode up the hill towards the base, she called Camille on her comm.
“Dott, what’s up?” Camille asked nonchalantly on the comm.
“Hey, Commander, I just heard a loud explosion coming from the Phaser base. Do you know of anything going on there?”
“No, there shouldn’t be anything going on there. The Phasers and the Marines are off fighting in Dystalis. Have you talked to Frank? He’s supposed to be on watch for the night. Perhaps it’s him.”
“Haven’t tried him yet, Commander—”
“Cammy, Dott. When you became an Ace, you earned the right to drop the formalities. Call me Cammy. I’m in Soreble right now, looking into some strange activity that was going on here. I can be back by you within the hour. Be careful; we are supposed to be invisible to the lizards but we could have been infiltrated. Finger on the trigger at all times, Dott. You may be alone if Frank is hurt. I need you to hold it down until I get there.”
“You know I will, Cammy. See you in a few.”
Dott thought about the explosion and what could have caused it. Frank would not be blowing things up at that time of night, and the entire building would have been on lockdown. She pulled up to the fence that separated the barracks from the Phaser Academy and she could see that something was on fire outside the city. She pushed her bike towards the area and unclipped the rifle that was under her thigh and swung it around to her back. Finger on the trigger at all times. She repeated Camille’s words in her head as she pulled her sidearm and did just that. As she grew closer to it she could see that it was a Geralos dropship. Someone had blown a large hole into its hull and it was now a black husk as the flames roared hungrily all around it.
There was activity in the smoke. Dott could make out the white edges of las-swords swinging this way and that as two figures fought near the ship. She crept closer, making sure to keep her eyes out for any other Geralos, and as she cleared the smoke to climb a hill about fifty yards from the fighting, she knelt and placed the scope of the rifle to her right eye.
The shock of seeing Maes fighting with Frank almost made her pull the trigger prematurely. Why was he on Vestalia and more importantly, how had he escaped from the ship? She saw that Frank was struggling, but he fought with the ferocity of a lion. There was no time for sword code, honor, or any of the things that warriors held close in a fight like the one Frank was having. If the Geralos killed a leader of the Phasers, he could bring in friends, empower them to fight like he did, and before long Zallus would be lost and the Phasers would be on the run and off the planet. I need you to hold it down until I get there, she remembered Camille saying, so she aimed at Maes’s torso—
As she got ready to deliver the kill shot, her comm came alive and Rafian’s face appeared on it. She answered quickly and rolled to her back where she could be out of sight and still talk to him.
“Gimme a sitrep, Dott,” he ordered, looking this way and that as if he was still under attack.
“Commander, Zallus has been breached!” she whispered. His blood-speckled face grimaced in fury as he nodded at her. “It’s only one Geralos but he’s part machine—” She tried to explain after seeing the annoyance reflected on his features.
“Wait. Is it the Geralos that was here on Meluvia?” Rafian asked and Dott nodded slowly. “So he followed you? I’ll be right there; I don’t want any of you to engage it!”
“Too late for that, Commander. He’s fighting with Frank,” she said with sadness in her voice.
“Dro
p a crystal now; I’m coming in to handle him.”
She hated that she had disappointed the Supreme Leader in allowing Maes to track her but she promised herself that she would make up for it later. She opened a pouch and collected a crystal, then threw it to the side where a tear opened up in the atmosphere.
When Rafian came in through the tear, he immediately ran towards the area where Frank was struggling against Maes Van Senthyn. They were clashing blades in a frenzy, but Rafian could see that Frank was seconds away from losing his life.
“Pull apart,” Rafian announced as he slowed his run to a walk. He moved towards Maes, who turned to look at him with surprise.
“Rafian VCA,” the Geralos announced, and then mocked him with a bow as he slowed his heavy breathing to calm himself.
Frank made to rush him when he let his guard down, but Rafian put up his hand to tell him to stop.
“You’re hurt, brother. Stand clear and let me finish him. Dott is over yonder. Both of you need to get to the hospital and take care of your wounds immediately. This lizard has caused a lot of problems in Dystalis and we will need you war-ready if things don’t pan out for us there.”
“Yes sir!” Frank said. He saluted Rafian, then took off towards Dott, holding his side where Maes had cut him.
“That’s a good boy. Run when your master tells you,” Maes mocked. He hunched over like a piece of broken machinery and followed Frank with his head.
“You did a whole lot of damage to meet me, didn’t you, you twisted piece of schtill!” Rafian spat at Maes who regarded him with what could have been mistaken as respect. The Geralos shrugged off the insult and stared at him, then began to speak with the gargling accent that Rafian hated.
“The Phaser that can corrupt minds. It is an honor, VCA. You strike fear in the heart of my people, the true rulers of the galaxy. In time they will learn you, find you, and bite you!” He began to laugh hysterically when he said this, and Rafian noticed that Maes left his guard open.
