Guardians (Æthyrium Rising - Guardians Book 1)

by Zachariah Dracoulis

“They made a special concession for me,” he joked as he finally got his hand returned to him, “but yes, you’re right, and I do. They’re building them as we speak.”

  “Them?” Mouse asked, “Not just the one?”

  Vyard shook his head, “No, two more, both similarly equipped to the Valkyrie, and I get to name them. It’s going to take some time before they’re battle-ready though. So, shall I take you to your quarters?”

  I chuckled and looked around, “I’m sure we can still find our way Commodore. Not exactly unfamiliar territory.”

  Vyard’s happy face turned to one of slight embarrassment, “They didn’t tell you, did they?”

  Mouse, Tyr, and I all shared an equally confused expression, “Tell us what?”

  He gave a heavy sigh and looked between the three of us, “We’re going to have to have you separated from the rest of the crew, just in terms of quarters.”

  “Why?” I asked, making no attempt to hide my irritation.

  “It’s not because of how you look, if that’s what you’re asking. It’s just that you’re… heh, you’re Guardians. You’re high priority and we can’t have people sharing your activities. I trust everyone on this ship, don’t get me wrong, but the XEC says ‘Jump.’ and I ask ‘From which bridge?’”

  I was hurt, but I understood. As far as everyone was concerned we were nukes, and people would slowly find out that the Federation had us, but that didn’t mean they had to know everything.

  “So where are we gonna be staying?” Tyr asked in a hopeful pitch.

  “Lower part of the ship,” Vyard said as he gestured for us to pick up our things and started walking, “we’ve arranged suitable accommodation for each of you, meaning you’ll be the only people on the ship that don’t have to share a room.”

  “Lower part…” Tyr trailed off, “Loading bay or engineering?”

  Neither of those sounded particularly appealing, but I hoped it was the fore loading bay.

  “Fore loading bay,” Vyard said, making it almost impossible for me to give a happy cheer, “not too far from the RAC meaning you’ll be able to train to your heart’s content.”

  “With the others?” Mouse asked, “Because, and I love that I get to say this, I think there’s a bit of height advantage on our side.”

  “Of course with the others, though most will probably agree that you three play on your own team, or at least split up evenly among the others.”

  I laughed internally at the idea of all of us against all the pledges and cadets. It’d be a paint bath.

  We got to our quarters, which I’m pretty sure were just hastily furnished shipping containers put in the back of the loading bay, and Vyard left us to get used to the new environment.

  They were nice enough, each having a bunk large enough for a single Guardian, a footlocker with a few uniforms, and a bedside table with a lamp. I put my crate under my bunk, as I’m sure the others did, and decided to have myself a little nap.

  It felt good to be home.

  Gods and Freaks

  Turns out when you leave your fellow soldiers for a few weeks after everyone thought you died in a Commonwealth bombing run and then come back all white with black eyes they freak out and don’t want to be anywhere near you.

  Weird, right?

  For the first few days we were basically told that it’d be best for us to spend as little time with the rest of the crew as possible, but eventually we started to build ourselves back up on the social ladder.

  That girl Tyr liked? They ended up dating, it was adorable.

  Paintball? Mouse continued to dominate, especially with her improved eyesight.

  That girl Tyr was dating? That ended. It was far less adorable.

  Point is we really started to fit in again, and when it finally came time for us to do our first mission we had more support than I’d ever had in my life.

  “It’s a small op,” Commodore Vyard said as we stood around the digital table in the Valkyrie's control centre, “a group of Commonwealth friendly rebels hiding out in an old house on the outskirts of the city Belif. We have reason to believe that they may be planning an attack on Belif.”

  “Why not send in the local police?” I asked, “Seems like a bit of a waste of resources sending in Guardians for something so small scale.”

  “Normally I’d agree, but it’s in our path and I think you could use some field time before… doesn’t matter.” he said, piquing my curiosity yet again with the mission we simply couldn’t talk about, “The locals also think that if they get too close these people will panic, set off whatever they have early.”

  “So we go in and get blown to bits? Sounds like a great idea.” Mouse had reached a new point with her confidence, constant use of sarcasm, but at that time it kind of fit.

  Vyard gave her a surprised look, “In that Raethir armour of yours? Unlikely. And you won’t be going in from the ground either. There’s a Sparrow waiting in the hanger that will get you in position above the house and from there you’ll drop in.”

  Tyr chuckled, “And the Omega hammer falls.”

  I appreciated Tyr’s joke, but I was far more interested in the Sparrow, “Why a Sparrow? Those things are built for stealth missions that don’t leave a trace. Why not use a transport shuttle?”

  Vyard pointed at a picture on the table’s screen, “They’ve got a dish on the roof. We don’t know if that’s for radio or radar, but we don’t want to take any chances.”

  I hated the idea of flying in a Sparrow, there was something like a one in twenty chance that they degraded and combusted before the occupants had a chance to get out, but as Vyard had said, we had Raethir. Still though, being on fire didn’t sound like the start of a healthy lifestyle.

  “We’ll reach high orbit in an hour, after that you’ve got fifteen to be mobile. Dismissed.”

  I wasn’t surprised at the lack of discussion, but it would’ve been nice. We gave the Commodore his salute then left the room, “Anyone else starving?”

  “Yes!” Tyr practically moaned.

  “Me too.” Mouse said flatly letting me know immediately that there was something wrong.

  “You alright Mouse? What’s up?”

  “Nothing, it’s just… This mission. There’s small ops, then there’s nothing ops, and this seems to be the latter. Just makes me think that maybe there’s more that Vyard’s not telling us.”

  “Or that the XEC aren’t telling him.” Tyr said, getting shocked looks from both Mouse and me, “Oh come on, you can’t tell me that you haven’t thought it as well. The XEC are obviously the ones that own our arses, Aillo said it himself that we worked for them, and I reckon that’s why everyone has such a hard time around us. Sure we’re these big, white, demon-looking things, but we’re also pretty much just mercs.”

  I hadn’t thought of that, just assumed it was based on our looks, but I thought that Tyr may have been on to something, “So… what? You think that means we’re in for more than what Vyard’s telling us?”

  “I’m sure of it. No reason otherwise.”

  Mouse seemed to be on board with Tyr’s theory, and I wanted it to be true, but it all just seemed a bit too outlandish and conspiracy theory-y to me to be believable. It wasn’t my place to shut them down though, my place was being their leader which, to me, meant letting them have thoughts of their own outside of battle, and letting me be their decision maker on the ground.

  That school of thought had never led me astray, and it’d been my favourite way of being taught since I was still just learning how to fire a weapon and use a knife.

  Probably would’ve saved me a whole lotta trouble if I’d just spoke my mind then though.

  Mission Mishap

  “Hook up!” I barked through my helmet’s comms as the Sparrow drew close to the drop point.

  Tyr and Mouse didn’t need to be told though, they’d already done each other up, tugged on their lines, and been sucked up to the roof by the time I’d checked and re-checked our coordinates.<
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  “Not anxious, are you Frey?” Tyr asked mockingly, even with the distortion from the helmet I could tell he was smiling.

  “Course I am,” I said as I hooked the dangling bit of wire to my lower back, tugged on it, and let it pull me up, the roof encapsulating me in an almost loving grip next to the others, “jumping out of a ship that’s gonna burst into flames almost the second we’re out? Hurtling towards a planet without so much as a parachute into a Commonwealth bomb lab without anything other than this?” I said as I tapped the pistol that was strapped to my thigh.

  Tyr chuckled, “Yeah, that’s why we’ve got the suits though.”

  “Oh yeah,” I said sarcastically, “I also get to find out if I can fly today.”

  “Grow a pair!” Mouse said excitedly, “This is going to be amazing!”

  I smiled, “I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I wish I had your enthusiastic confidence.”

  Then, after a second of flashing red, I was no longer in the Sparrow. I was falling.

  I spun in the air to face the ship as it quickly and spectacularly disintegrated behind Mouse and Tyr.

  “Weee!” Mouse cried through the comms as I turned back around.

  “Hold back.” I said to the still whooping Mouse and Tyr, “Activating flares now.”

  My armour heard the keyword and I felt a flare pop up in my lower back.

  I went to grab it and stopped, “Wings activate.”

  The two handles popped on my thighs, the one on the right pushing past the holster. I grabbed the flare and cracked it a bit too close to my visor, the helmets automatic adjustment kicking in just a second too late.

  It didn’t matter though, after a few quick blinks the residual glow that had imprinted on my retinas was gone. I hooked my elbows to the Raethir’s wingsuit clips by my waist and, after some minor one-handed juggling, managed to grab the handles and push the red buttons.

  In an instant a gust grabbed at the sails under my arms and in between my legs, but I managed to keep them closed enough that I wasn’t pulled up into the air.

  “Turn on thermal tracking.”

  “Got you locked.” Tyr responded calmly.

  It was weird hearing it, how composed he was and thinking about how I must’ve sounded to them. I often found myself wondering how we just snapped into work-mode without a second thought. I was convinced it was something that the XEC had mixed in with the chemicals that they’d pumped into us.

  Well, I was convinced, until I remembered Mouse who was still screaming “Weee!”

  I got the confirmation that the two of them were locked onto my path.

  “I’m not gonna tell you to calm down Mouse, because I love that you’re loving this, but, if you wouldn’t mind?”

  “Of course.” she said before deactivating her comms, and undoubtedly returned to her excited ‘Wee-ing’. I will admit I chuckled a bit when I thought about that phrasing.

  I broke through the cloud cover and looked over the small city, the early morning sun glistening off the dozens of skyscrapers.

  But they weren’t our target.

  My suit was already trying to track the house we were heading for when a warning flashed up on my visor. I spread out my arms just enough to slow me down, and didn’t so much as gasp as a civilian shuttlecraft’s wing practically grazed my face.

  I wanted to yell out ‘Did you guys see that?’ but a red circular crosshair popping up over a house stopped me.

  “That’s the target.” I said coolly, to which Tyr and Mouse sent me a green flashing dot next to their names in my HUD.

  I was so ready for what we were about to do, but at the same time I was so incredibly worried that I’d mess it all up. That all went away though as I adjusted my position to more of a pencil dive and, when I was barely a hundred metres from the house, smiled.

  I let enough air catch under my wings to slow my descent before calmly saying “Wings deactivate.” and having the suit swallow them back up right as I crashed through the house’s roof and came for a hard landing in what appeared to be someone’s living room, smashing the ground with my fist before slowly standing and looking around the room.

  Five targets, one armed with a “Pocket knife? Really? Where’re the rebels?” I asked the four terrified faces around me.

  “There aren’t any rebels here, ju-”

  “Matthew Linn?” I asked as my suit ID’d him, “Yeah, there are.” I said disappointedly as I looked at and scanned each of the four targets that we’d been told about. “Just… just put your hands up.”

  It was at that moment that Mouse and Tyr landed in a similar fashion to me before looking up and seeing the men who’d all surrendered, “What’s this bullshit?” Tyr snapped.

  “Matthew Linn, Greg Fip, Daniel Moore, and Frior Yoilk,” I said, pointing each of them out as I went, “these are the guys they sent us to kill or grab.”

  Mouse shook her head and started talking, but nothing came out.

  “Your comms Mouse, you’ve gotta turn your comms back on.”

  There was a connection pop followed by Mouse quickly rattling something off that I didn’t fully understand, the words ‘no way’, ‘bullshit’, and ‘we’re supposed to be super soldiers’ were used.

  “I know, I know. Let’s just get this over with.”

  That’s right about the time Tyr started to get mad, “You!” he growled, pointing angrily at the one with the knife, “You gonna put that down or what?”

  The one he was talking to, Daniel, was surprisingly still holding the knife, “Wha-? What are you still doing with that? Put it down.”

  Daniel nervously shook his head and got into a sort of fighting stance.

  Tyr wasn’t in the mood to give an inch of leeway, and before I could ask what he was doing he’d punted the idiot into the wall behind him, “See? Why would someone like that, seeing people like us, keep holding a knife? I’m telling you Frey, there’s something going on here.”

  “Or he was in shock.” I said sympathetically, “Look, I’m sorry, but I don’t think there’s anything here.”

  “Scan.” he barked at his suit as he stared at the ground, “Aha! There’s piping right there! Explain that!” he practically screamed at Frior.

  “I-I-I-”

  “It’s a crappy house Tyr, it’s probably just a bad plumbing job.”

  My word wasn’t enough for my brother though who, using the strength of his cybernetic arm, smashed into the ground and, unsurprisingly, ripped out a chunk of plastic piping.

  A few seconds of judgemental staring from Mouse and I later and water started to pour out of the concrete hole and flood the house, “There you go Tyr,” I said disappointedly, “you found the Commonwealth’s secret weapon. Bad plumbing.”

  The In Crowd

  “How did this happen!?” the Commodore thundered from behind his desk as he paced, “You were supposed to drop in, take out the targets, then wait for extraction. How did you mess that up!?”

  “It was my fault sir,” I said from where I was standing, Mouse and Tyr on either side of me, “I believed that there may have been more to the mission and told my team to act as they did.”

  Vyard stopped in his tracks and looked me dead in the eyes, “Omega Two, Omega Three, get out.”

  The two looked at me and I gave a nod that they reflected before leaving, “I apologise si-”

  “Stow it Freyja, you can lie in front of them, but not me. I saw the footage from your team’s helmets and I know exactly what happened.” he paused and rubbed his brow, “You did well defending them, I can respect that, but you need to own your command over them. If that had been an actual mission and not just a…”

  “Just a what?” I asked almost angrily, something that shocked me.

  “It was a field test Freyja.” he said sternly, but before I could ask what he meant by that he pressed on, “The op was real of course, but we needed to see how you’d act in the battlefield now that you’re Guardians. Tyr overstepped his boundaries
, you failed to keep them in line, and Mouse… Mouse did well, but you shouldn’t have had to tell her to shut off her comms.”

  “She was excited,” I said bitterly, “and Tyr was sure that you wouldn’t waste our time with a nothing op. And we did more than expected from us, because we captured those rebels alive and your interrogation team was able to get the locations of a dozen such ‘labs’ in this quadrant.”

  Vyard gave me a serious look, clearly taken aback by my sudden decision to really defend my team instead of just lying for them, “You’re right, you did do well by bringing them back to us alive without causing any more damage than you had. The fact is though that we wanted to see if you’d be ready for…”

  “Oh for Gods’ sake! What’s this secret mission? Because if you want us to be prepared for it, we have to know.”

  I was overstepping my bounds as to how much Vyard would let me get away with, but at the same time I was confident with everything I was saying. At no point had I brought into question his ability to command or anything that could come across as a personal attack, and he seemed to appreciate that. I operated outside the traditional laws and regulations of the FNDC, and I had to start acting like it.

  Vyard wasn’t impressed, clearly, but after a good long glare he decided to open his mouth, “Go down to the loading bay, give the guards the password ‘Lilac’, and see what they’ve got down there ready to set up. That’s all I’m allowed to tell you. Just you though, don’t bring the rest of Omega, trust me when I say that it’s in everyone’s best interests that as few people as possible know. Dismissed.” and that was it, he sat down in his chair and it was clear that the conversation was over.

  Just in time too, because I was about five seconds from bolting as it was. I successfully stopped myself from bolting though, and instead gave a respectful salute, turned as was appropriate, and left his office to see Tyr and Mouse waiting eagerly.

  “You guys head over to the mess, I’ve gotta go check something out.”

  Tyr gestured to his armour, “In this? I doubt anyone’s gonna be comfortable with us walking in looking like space ninjas.”