by Cher Hollis
ALIEN FORCES OF AFFINITY: EPISODE ONE
(Alien Forces Series)
CHER HOLLIS
Contents
Untitled
Prologue
Event One: Ramon (Bonded)
Event Two: Balice (Alien Nexus)
Event Three: Bo (Variant Mission)
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About the Author
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to any persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales, is entirely coincidental.
No part of this book maybe be reproduced, scanned, or printed in any printed or electronic form without permission from the author. Please do not participate or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights.
All rights reserved. Written by Cher Hollis at [email protected]
Purchase only authorized editions. Copyright © 2017 by Cher Hollis
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Prologue
CASSIE (LEGACY)
“Do you believe them, Mikhail?” Ela Cassandra De La Fluenta asked, as she paced the floor in front of him.
She was extremely upset as anyone would be, but Mikhail could tell that Ela Cassandra, who liked to be called Cassie, was trying to hold her emotions in check. She stopped her random movements to look at him, waiting for an answer, and her gaze was so piercing, he had to look away.
He’d called her his daughter or doch'ka for many years, and he watched as she swayed and sought the support of a wing chair, then fell limply into it. She sighed with resignation, as she smoothed the strands of her long black hair away from her face, before she leaned her head back.
Her voice was tormented. “Will it never end for me, this terrible legacy that haunts my every move? Why, after twenty years, Mikhail? Why would they wait until now to tell me my father is alive?”
Mikhail watched her dark brown eyes grow more haunted. He'd painfully witnessed so many times when her father's legacy had borne down on Cassie. It never happened kindly, always unmercifully. In the past, he'd been able to soften the blows—many times barely in time to save her.
This time he was at a loss. Ramon De La Fluenta had gone too far. This time Earth's destiny was at stake. Mikhail could see no other choice; Cassie would have to surrender to the military, who searched for her. Too many lives were at risk for her to do otherwise.
Cassie held back tears of helplessness and she squeezed her eyes closed, as frustration gripped her. She clenched her fists with an effort to fight off her emotions, but she felt so close to losing the battle. She knew Mikhail wouldn’t lie to her. He’d been her cherished and trusted friend all these years. More than that, he was the father figure she'd never had.
She could see his gray eyes were dimmed with pain for her, because once again destiny was going to invade and destroy her hopes of having a peaceful life. A life of harsh realities, that had scarcely allowed her to breathe in the past, was going to fling her back into its unbearable clutches—the world of Dr. Ramon De La Fluenta.
Her father.
“Once again, I let myself think I could have a quiet and peaceful future,” she said dejectedly.
It had been five years since the last time her father's legacy had taken her life, and then plunged it into agonizing hell. Since then, with Mikhail's help, she’d finally come out of the desperate aftermath. Mikhail had used part of her inherited wealth to find her a home, a place that was secluded and secure, where she could live in anonymity while she found work to do through the internetworks.
She’d needed that work to keep her mind occupied, and she never had to leave the security of her home. There she worked through private MD-tap communications with her employers, known only by the alias of “Cassie.”
She’d poured herself into her work, and she tried to forget the horrors of the past—tried to become respected in her fields of expertise. It had given her a sense of pride and had allowed her to feel safe in her own little world.
That all exploded when Mikhail had summoned her. Until Mikhail's summons, and his unbelievable news, she’d believed her father was dead. Death by suicide, twenty years before. But now, United Earth Defense was telling her that he was alive.
That in all that time—twenty years—he'd been living on a planet in the far reaches of space. The worst part of those new revelations was her firm belief that they weren’t telling her the entire story. Secrets. Governments and their militaries always had secret agendas. Her past was proof of that.
What they had told her was incredible, even for the egotistical Dr. De La Fluenta. They believed he was involved in the alien attack, which had thrown Earth into its most deadly war ever. The aliens had come out of nowhere, months before when they’d first attacked Earth’s colonies.
The planet was in worldwide panic, and had been scrambling to defend itself. At that moment, while she faced her fateful decision, a terrible battle raged in space. Hundreds and thousands of human lives were being lost every day.
No one knew why the aliens had attacked the human race. Yet the aliens seemed to hold fierce and powerful determination to destroy everything in their path.
Mikhail watched Cassie thoughtfully. He and Ramon had been close to the same age. Yet he was more of a father to Cassie, than Ramon had been. It was a year since Mikhail had seen her in person. Although, they were in daily MD communication.
Cassie preferred her self-imposed seclusion. It was an understandable seclusion, and at thirty-five, underneath countless years of being overshadowed by her father and countless penitence's she'd paid because of him, she had still come gracefully into her mother's beauty.
Cassie had always carried her Latin heritage lightly, her accent was soft-tinted, her eyes dark brown, and her skin glowed like honey.
She was a beauty, but her beauty couldn’t save her from the sins of her father, Mikhail thought, as he shook his head. She should have been happily married with a houseful of children by then. He'd wished that for her, but his fanciful thoughts had to be put aside.
“We, my doch'ka—you, must deal with this,” he said, and he put his hands on her shoulders, trying to give her comfort.
She turned to look up at him and her brown eyes held determination, while he wondered if he would see her again.
“Yes, Mikhail, I will surrender to UED for this desperate hope to save Earth and to save lives.” Sadness colored her face and voice. “But you and I both know that my father will never be influenced by me.”
“I know, doch'ka. He couldn’t have changed so much,” Mikhail said. “I will continue trying to find out what is really happening. But you have no other choices.” Of the two of them, he couldn't separate his sadness from hers. “I know your sense of honor too well, and for the moment this is your only choice.”
Mikhail tilted her chin up and looked into her eyes and their sadness mingled.
He bent and brushed her cheek with a kiss, then whispered, “I will always be with you, my little doch'ka.”
Event One: Ramon (Bonded)
Human beings were solid. Vytor had not expected that. To see any entity with a solid mass, that was not genetically reproduced as his race produced the Esa warriors, was a shock. Yet, the human Ramon was not equal to the Esa warriors. He was meager. He had dark filaments he called hair and fleshy skin covering his spindly mass, which appeared weathered and somehow fragile. He called it age. Seventy-five years. That was a twinkling in the Makkar life span, but Vytor was told older for a
human.
They could speak together and had talked for many cycles across spatial bands. First, utilizing symbols, but now Vytor could telepathically translate the human language and understand the extent of it. Still, he’d not expected a solid mass. He’d never thought to question it in all the time they had communicated together.
Yet all of Vytor’s hopes rested with the thought that this brilliant human could be the Makkars salvation
Because Vytor knew, to be a father, as the humans called it, would fulfill the entire millennium of his existence.
“Are you willing, Ramon?”
Vytor’s telepathic voice was inside Dr. Ramon De La Fluenta’s mind, while Ramon’s gaze swept across the area. He felt the urge to panic, and he hesitated. The magnitude of what he was about to do made his scientific mind uneasy. What happened next wouldn’t be within his control and he knew his body could easily disintegrate from the alien energy that would be flowing through him.
Ramon looked up at Vytor’s floating alien shape, and suddenly Ramon smiled and let his doubts fall away. He’d lived his life trying to satisfy an insatiable curiosity and he wouldn’t let any doubts stand in his way now.
“I am ready, Vytor, and honored.”
“Then we begin!” Vytor exclaimed telepathically.
Suddenly, it was as if an orchestra of sounds filled Ramon’s mind, while his eyes followed the amazing green-tinted vapors of alien energy that made up each individual Makkars floating body. They drifted into a circle around him, and then they seemed to expand the greenness of their gossamer shapes outward. Suddenly, they surged toward the center of the circle where he stood.
Their green energy covered him, and he gasped, but it wasn’t painful, as their energy began flowing through his body. Metallic flavors coated his tongue, while the intensity of the jade light blinded him. His skin and body were bathed with emerald energy and it rippled along his skin.
He began to glow.
“God!”
His cry of amazement wasn’t through his voice—but telepathic. Involuntarily, his head tilted back and his arms rose from his sides, while his body became free.
He levitated.
His body turned in slow circles, and a sigh ran through his mind, as all the Makkars embraced his inner human energy.
Then ... they found it compatible with theirs.
The Makkars began to accept and merge with him, and his spirit flowed into them. They brought him into their essences, as the past, the present, and the future began merging.
Then he recalled his first step onto the Makkars alien world.
It had been days before—
Ramon’s first thought when he’d stepped on the Makkars planet was that their world had extraordinary qualities and its extreme alienness had shocked him. There were no human ways to define it. Everywhere he’d looked had overwhelming greenness, and his extraterrestrial hosts were levitating creatures in the middle of that vibrancy.
They were remarkable entities—extraterrestrial beings that called themselves a name which sounded like “Makkar.” He’d discovered the Makkar race over a year before on a Disonic-banded radio frequency he had invented, while he’d been held captive, in separate laboratories, at the prison colony on the planet of Duvall.
The Makkars had greeted his efforts of communicating with them in friendship. Then a year later, they’d offered to meet.
“It would be my Circle brothers honor for you, Ramon, to become a link into our Circle Generations.”
Ramon remembered the exceptional experience of Vytor’s voice as it had entered his mind when he’d arrived on Vytor’s planet.
“To join with us and become a true Circle brother to the Makkar race.”
Because Ramon wasn’t able to shake Vytor’s hand, he’d bowed his head respectfully before his alien mentor and friend, acknowledging what their year of communication had gained them.
Back then, he and Vytor had been alone, inside what Ramon had thought of as a dome. The Makkar domes appeared opaque with no real physical dimensions. They seemed to rise and disappear whenever the aliens needed them.
“It would be an honor to be joined to your Circle, my friend,” Ramon said.
Ramon’s gaze tried to follow Vytor’s smoky form. It was a shadowy fog that was only defined by a grayish outline, which shape-shifted in a fluorescent-green matrix that pulsated. All of it levitated above the ground like a foggy green mist.
The Makkars didn’t have physical forms or facial features so that a human could study their character, mood, or intent. It was an uneasy experience knowing how they thought, as they projected into his mind, but at the same time not having a physical shape to judge.
Vytor’s willowy and telepathic voice had continued, while his matrix flashed jade colors, which Ramon learned showed Vytor’s excitement.
“Then we will share our true essences with you at the coming of the Tri-Star, my friend. If our joining succeeds, it will make my Circle Generations whole once again. Because our youngest Tryon was lost in the war, many cycles past, and it broke my Circle. This joining with you will be a meaningful healing for us.”
Ramon remembered his anticipation building at the thought of joining to an alien race, because he might gain redemption with an act so daring it was unimaginable.
“Vytor, I am honored to share with you. Our mutual knowledge will be an incredible thing.”
Ramon had learned the Tri-Star happened when the Makkars home planet reached an exact formation with the planets that surrounded it, allowing a spectacular view of three distant red planets.
When the day of the ceremony arrived, Vytor had drifted by his side, as Ramon entered an enormous opaque dome that had been especially made for the bonding event. Once inside, he’d seen there were four Makkars gathered, and he’d understood from Vytor, he was going to be the sixth and final being to complete their one Circle Generation.
As he’d watched, the different green nebulas of each Makkar had begun to shoot upward, and then they’d melded together to make an immense canopy overhead.
Electrified energy had started to surround him and he’d detected an unusual scent of tin in the air. He’d felt static charges raising the fine hairs on his arms, while he’d stood squarely in the center of the canopy. Vytor’s helix, of jade colored particles, had floated to face him—
Ramon’s memories returned to the present, and Ramon saw that Vytor displayed comforting green pulses, while the telepathy of all the Makkars intertwined inside Ramon’s head. They became a ringing sound, and it traveled from Makkar to Makkar, until they’d formed one single telepathic message.
We wish to share our history.
The sharing started at once, and it quickly overwhelmed Ramon with its force. He struggled to slow the huge amounts of knowledge. Then Vytor was beside him, and he taught Ramon to fluctuate the flow, until Ramon found the streams of information understandable.
The Makkar race had been carefree in the beginnings of their existence, and their curiosity had moved them to seek knowledge by exploration, which had eventually propelled them into space. They hadn’t been conquerors, just curiosity seekers—and during their explorations, they had picked up bits and pieces of the universe to bring back to their home planet for all Makkars to view and study.
Ramon’s mind flashed with enormous views of planets, stars, and the vast galaxies the Makkars had explored.
In the thousands of years that the Makkars had travelled the universe, they had never come across another extraterrestrial race evolved enough to be their equal. And if they had, trying to conquer other races was inconceivable to them. Their society of intimate bonding and being part of the Circle Generations never opened itself to violence.
So when their planet was first attacked, they were stunned. The idea that another race wanted what they possessed had never entered their communal thoughts.
Ramon physically felt the pain and confusion from that time in the Makkars history. He experienced the grisly details of
the initial slaughter as if it were a panoramic view in his mind’s eye.
The loss of Makkar life at the beginning of the war was staggering. However, the Makkars weren’t warriors, and even when faced with certain death, they couldn’t conceive of being that way. So it was with relief, and then hope, that the Makkars scientists had offered a solution.
They would create a new race with their higher technologies. They would evolve a new life form, which would fight, where the Makkars could not.
The Makkars called their warrior race “Esa” and they gave them every genetic advantage they could to enhance their warrior abilities.
Those extraordinary inventors had engineered the Esa and all their accoutrements to be as fundamentally recyclable as possible. Everything to do with the Esa was based on organic technologies, using highly sophisticated innovations.
But the Makkars had needed to control their Esa warriors—they’d needed a way to bind the Esa to their telepathic commands. So the Makkars had entered their warriors’ matrix and they’d searched out traits they could use to control them.
Talis was born from that effort.
Talis was a mental aphrodisiac that the Makkars could telepathically direct into an Esa. The Esa had quickly become addicted to it. If an individual Esa followed orders and fought fearlessly, they were entitled to receive certain amounts of Talis. Soon the Esa saved up their Talis markers, until they could receive the ultimate amount of Talis, which they called Talis Fire.
The Makkar scientists had produced fully-grown Esa by the hundreds, then thousands, and finally millions. And before the one-hundred year war had fought its last battle, over one billion Esa had found life and death.
By the end, there had been more than enough Esa to produce victory, because they’d overwhelmed their enemies with their inexhaustible Esa resources. They’d sent what small amounts of the enemy that had survived back to their origins on the other side of the universe.
