by Joe Crouch
“Captain Feghouli, I didn’t expect an inspection today, I must protest!” Farel floundered, mincing his words. From what he knew of Farel, and it was very little, the smallish Ioution was what on Earth people would call eccentric, his brown overalls were covered in slime and every other substance that might have ever existed. His eyes beamed red, they weren’t intimidating, but they always seemed to be in a state of excitement, darting about looking at instruments as they spoke to him. “Please, please! Do come this way,” Farel rejoiced as he kicked pieces of trash across the floor and waved for them to follow. They made their way towards the rear of engineering, where thankfully, it was marginally more orderly. Farel stood in front of a large terminal keying in commands. A small hologram beamed into life above a rounded projector that was positioned next to the console. It showed a ship slowly rotating, Fez strolled over and began to manipulate the light with his hands. It seemed intuitive enough, much like many portable devices back on Earth, he expanded the picture by pulling it out with two hands and rotated the display by ‘grabbing’ an area and moving it around at the desired speed.
“How is progress coming along with it?” Fez questioned, still fiddling with the display.
“Not long now, Captain, I think it will be ready within the month.” Nodding, Fez let the display flicker out of existence as he stepped back alongside Sean.
“Well…” Sean insinuated the obvious, “Aren’t you gonna tell me what it is?” Fez and Farel shared a knowing look before the captain spoke up.
“At the moment it isn’t much, but when it’s ready you’ll be the first to know, trust me.” Not satisfied with the answer, but knowing he would get nothing else, he let the matter drop. The two Ioutions briefly chatted before Fez motioned for Sean to follow and they left engineering, “Let’s go see the armoury, shall we,” He said knowing full well it was the part of ship Sean was most excited about.
The door popped open after a security challenge for them both to authorise their identities, and what greeted him was something he could have only have dreamt about. Racks upon racks of weapons lined the walls, small, big, fat and thin, every configuration of weapon was there – He had no idea what any of them did – but there they were, all ready to be lusted over, loved and treated just right. “This is intense,” he beamed, his head darting about absorbing all the sights, “No armour?” he asked. Grinning, Fez put his hand against a panel built in near the door, the ceiling hissed open and four large circular racks lowered themselves down into the middle of the room. Clicking into the floor, the devices extended arms outwards until there were rows of armour sitting there, all different sizes and colours. Lifting a luminous yellow jacket, he held it up to Fez, “This is yours I take it?” Not understanding the insinuation, Fez nodded. Giggling to himself, he ran his hand over all the various fabrics and metals which made up the plating of the different suits. He got to the end of one rack and noticed the glassy exterior of the circular device was clouded, obscuring his view.
“What’s in here?” he asked. Fez walked over and pushed a button on the side of the glass, demisting the view. What stood in front of them was enormous, “I have to get one of those.” Standing up straight was a suit of full body armour, dark green in colour, it’s surface reflecting Sean’s gleaming face. He walked around the outside, noticing the built-in weapons attached to its back and shoulders as well as what seemed like a set of repulsors. The suit was far too large for him and probably weighed more than he did, but it didn’t stop him fantasising about dropping into the middle of a group of Xuron and blasting them away. Pushing him aside, Fez misted the glass back up and walked towards the door.
“Want to fire something?” he quizzed. Sean’s eyes lit up, sparkling with excitement. He browsed through the different weapons, picking up each one, juggling it around trying to find one that had the correct feel and weight. He eventually made his way to a rifle, just like Baz used to have he thought. Picking it up, there was an instant connection, as if something, or someone, had guided him to it. He fumbled it around in his hands feeling the weight of it. Checking the sights, he knew this was one, he propped it up on his shoulder and walked towards Fez.
“This is it, I’d love to try this one,” the alien nodded, but a look of concern filled his features.
“That’s a pretty big weapon, are you sure you can handle it?” Sean held it out in front of him, the long barrel wobbled around as he tried to keep it steady. Placing it down on a bench, the pulsating red glow of the energy coursing through it illuminated the floor beneath.
“Well, I suppose that’s why I have to practice,” he admitted, running his hand along the body, its smooth exterior becoming apparent. Fez grabbed the weapon and swung it over his back, walking out of the armoury. Taking this as a hint, he gave chase.
They turned the corner and stepped into what appeared to be an empty room. “Sari, load the training simulation,” Fez barked, a double beep confirming his command. With no hesitation, the room itself changed appearance, as if everything in there, even the walls, were holograms. The simulation loaded piece by piece, starting from behind them the room changed like a wave over their heads and continued until the entire area was enveloped. A dirt, martin looking floor filled the ground with dark green skies above. Down range, there were various barriers, hiding spots for whatever they were about to shoot. Everything had an off feel about it, it looked real enough, but there were none of the typical feelings or senses the body would detect.
Sean knelt, placing his weapon on a small stone wall that had materialised in front of them, aiming it down range. Fez stood back in the corner of the room, watching, seeing how his Human friend dealt with an easy target. “Sari, load two Gurwami Eaters and make them aggressive.” He turned his head back slightly to see Fez smiling. Out of nowhere, a creature appeared. It was about the same height as him as it stood on its six legs. It's purple skin had large scales all over and two antennae extruded from its head. It began to charge towards him, snarling as it did, revealing a mouth full of hundreds of sharp teeth, before he could do anything, a second appeared just behind. The simulation might not have imparted any sensations on him, but he could almost feel the animals hot, humid breath washing against his neck.
Without panicking, he stabilised his weapon, looking down the sights and tracking the beast, it’s range and projected path of motion were displayed as a faint line across the weapon’s display. Letting out a slow breath, he pressed the trigger, a large crackling blue bolt spewed out from the barrel as he did. The force of the projectile pushed him onto his back, kicking his weapon away as it slammed into the rear wall. He heard Fez’s laughter from behind him, but he pushed himself up, ignoring his audience. Quickly glancing to where the beast was, it had been obliterated into a small pile of ash, smoulders of the flesh still faintly glowing.
Before he could react, the second Gurwami had pounced, knocking him back to the floor and retreating back, the animal took up an offensive posture. Defenceless, he laid there watching as the beast decided to charge towards him at full speed, it leapt through the air with its strong hind legs. As it went airborne he rolled out the way, picking up his weapon that leant against the wall as he did. This time with a firmer grip and a stronger stance, he fired off a second round, it impacted the Gurwami centrally and in a flash of light it turned into a pile of ash. Breathing heavily, he looked up to Fez and smiled.
“I’m impressed, Human, you did much better than I would have expected.” Standing up straight clutching his weapon, he couldn’t help but punch the air and do a dance on the spot.
“You underestimate me, large one,” he quipped, a touch of sarcasm in his voice. Fez was about to open his mouth to reply but was interrupted by a blaring siren coming from all around them. Grabbing his communicator, he spoke.
“Report,” Fez instructed, “What’s going on?” There were a few moments of silence.
“Emergency signal Captain,” the officer replied, “A covert presence has been detected on Ass
ira, we’ve been asked to respond…”
Chapter 7
“Officer Cyril, open a channel to Assira command, use Ioution fleet authorisation codes.” The bridge was electric with work; everyone went about their business in responding to the new threat as quickly as possible. Sean looked around, it was bigger than he had remembered, banks of terminals lined the walls either side of the oval shaped area, the main computer raised off the ground that sat centrally. Fez sat himself down, instructing the crew on what needed to be done. “Navigation, plot a course using the best speed to our destination and pass it over to flight.” He stood at the back of the room ensuring he was in no one’s way, observing the action that was taking place. It was rare he got the chance to visit a bridge, even on his Terran post, the rules were strict on who could and could not enter. Taking a seat, he felt the entire ship slide onto a new course, it felt as if its stern was kicking out – A dangerous manoeuvre while in slip space, or so he had been told. Even without being present and hearing the orders being dished out to increase speed, the feeling aboard was different, not sure if it was just his body having phantom feelings or if he could actually feel the speed increase, he ignored them.
“What’s the best information we have about the situation on the ground,” asked Fez, now turning from a playful friend into a stoic commander, the operations officer turned to face his captain.
“We received an emergency encoded message from Assira command,” the officer paused, checking his facts, “They detected faint signatures in the atmosphere that could be interpreted as a stealth shuttle entering their stratosphere, their heading was towards a secret weapons research facility hidden in the northern tundra.” Fez looked around.
“So they have little actionable proof that there is an enemy presence?” he questioned.
“No Sir, it appears not.” Shaking his head, he returned to his terminal to continue going over the information which had been sent to them. He knew that while under Ioution protection worlds did become targets for the enemy and not just the Xuron, there was a heavy pirate presence that seemed to think because they had the protection they also claimed a large wealth. He also knew that these worlds often became jittery, sending out emergency beacons as soon as they detected a bird flying too high in the atmosphere – It had been a constant problem for the Ioutions. They had to respond regardless, there had been times when the threat was determined to be fantasy, then weeks later a regular patrol would see heavy orbital destruction.
“Course altered, Captain, we are thirty-seven hours from our destination.”
“Very good, I’ll be back soon, I have some issues to take care of.” Fez rose from his seat and nodded to his second in command to take control of the bridge, he waved Sean over as he was leaving. “We may need to see about extending your role on this vessel,” Fez admitted, more serious than he had even been. “We have no ground units stationed aboard, and our nearest barracks is over a week away, my crew are capable of light ground combat, but with all honesty, you seem to have more experience than the rest of us.” Sean’s face was emotionless, he knew what Fez was asking, and he knew that he was also probably right, he would have more real world experience than the flight crew stationed aboard. As much as he wanted to scream yes and help, he had to be cautious, his role was as an ambassador, getting the newcomer race involved in fighting back an enemy might put a target on his world.
“Fez,” he began, “I would be honoured to help, you know I would, but are you certain this is something I should be getting involved with?” Fez’s stance became more defensive as he crossed his arms and straightened his back. “If you think I can help, I will, if you can promise that my help won’t come back and bite Earth in the ass.” Fez, clearly confused by the translators attempt to decipher what he was saying eventually replied.
“Earth’s ass has already been bitten, now It’s time to step up and fight back against your would-be oppressors.” He was right, this was a real opportunity to go face-to-face with the enemy, judge their strengths, weaknesses, tactics and then report it all back to Earth, maybe he was trying to justify the mission to himself, but it was a relatively good justification.
“Alright, what do we need to do?” Delighted, Fez perked up and walked away from the bridge with Sean in tow. They headed towards the armoury, he already knew he was going to take the same weapon as before now he had gotten the hang of her kickback. Twisting and turning through the corridors they arrived, Fez stepped through the open door and strolled over towards a rack of weapons. It was filled with what looked to be primitive armaments, bladed weapons, bows and small darts. Picking up one of the bows, he placed it down on a bench alongside some type of sword, very similar looking to a scimitar from back on Earth. Sceptical of the weapons he had chosen, he scoffed as Fez picked up the bladed weapon, “A sword, really?” Sean groaned, Fez grinned in reply. Swinging it out in front of him, the edge of the blade began to glow a bright red, spurts of energy ejected out from the now luminous weapon and dissipated as they danced along the metallic floor. He gently placed the edge against a metallic bench, applying little to no force, the weapon slid through and cut the bench in half, the two halves glowed brightly from the energy that had been applied to them. Looking on in awe, his mouth wide open, Sean composed himself, “… And the bow?”
“We will save that for another time.” Disappointed, he nodded and watched as the Ioution strolled over to a rack of armour and picked out a bulky chest piece and slid it over his head. “Come here, we need to find you something that fits.” Rails spread out across the middle of the room, “There’s a race very similar to yours, the armour may be a little loose, but it should do for now.” He grabbed a full suite of various pieces and laid them out. Grabbing the trousers, he slid into them and bent up and down to check how much they restricted his movement, to his surprise, they were well fitting.
“So, it looks like we’re sorted now, right? We have our weapons, armour, our dashing good looks,” he paused, looking his friend up and down, “Well, mine at least, I guess now we wait.” Drawing a scowl, he put the armour back on the rack and walked out the room. Fez stood there staring out the hatch, a few moments later the clueless Human strolled back, heading in the opposite direction, trying to hide his face in embarrassment.
Returning to his room, he sat on the edge of his bed and went over everything that had happened in the last day. It was an exciting time for him, he always enjoyed ground ops when he was with the planet landers, the eagerness he felt as they prepared, the nervousness when they were dropping and the pure focus while he was in action. It wasn’t often he got to engage in real operations within Terran space, they were living in a great time of relative peace – There was still the occasional minor riot or incursion they had to deal with, but it had been years since something real had happened. The peace was good for the race, it allowed them to advance their scientific knowledge in the century since the last major war, finally mastering space travel – Although it hardly turned out as expected.
Now, barely a week after everything had happened, the Terran race was at war, had made an alliance with another race of aliens and had a representative about to embark on a mission to a world far away from home, but if there was one thing Humans were good at, it was destruction. Sean wondered to himself just how he had wound up where he was, it all seemed like one big lucky accident, lucky for him at least, he had lost a lot of his friends along the way, had to abandon his family, his world, and had himself died once already. But why me he thought, why am I so special to warrant a place here. Not letting the doubt creep into his mind too much, he shook his head and stood up stretching, letting oxygen flood to his muscles. He stared out his window, again watching as the slip bubble wobbled around the ship’s hull, it created a wonderful cacophony of colours that flickered about as jet streams that bounced off the exterior. Yawning, he slipped out of his clothes and placed them over a chair and got into bed, letting his head sink into a pillow, within seconds he was asleep, drea
ming about what was to come.
* * *
With his eyes still stinging, Sean rolled out from the comfort of his bed and made his way to the briefing room. Entering, he saw a gathering of Ioutions, including Fez and Yumie, who sat around an oblong metallic table, its surface glinting from the high power lights above. Once he took his seat, Fez fiddled with his display, in an instant a holographic image was brought to life spanning the width of the table. “So, what’s the plan,” Sean asked, getting the briefing rolling.
“First, we assign ourselves into teams, one commander, one engineer and one specialist,” Sean nodded, already thinking about his preferred team. “Me, Sean and Farel will be squad one, you three,” Fez pointed to the remaining Ioutions sitting down, “You are squad two, each of us will have a pilot, Yumie will be ours, squad two has Par’Yus.” The captain stood and circled the table, he leant into the hologram and grabbed a small terminal, he loaded a representation of the world they were travelling to. Sparking into life, it grew from nothing until it sat there, slowly rotating above them all in its own pearlescent glory. The large white globe was covered in snow, mountains of beautiful clear ice tore out from the ground and reached towards the bright sky. The land was so rugged he struggled to find a flat piece of dirt where they could land. Fez held out his hands and pulled the image in opposite directions, it zoomed into the side of an ice mountain in the Northern Hemisphere. Keying his terminal, the image moved around to show a small facility.
“This is our destination, if there is a presence on this planet it looked as if it was heading here.” Swiping to his left made the image spin, he stopped it on a point that showed a red mark in a large crevice, not too far from where they were headed. “This is our infiltration point, we will fly through this ravine, land here and walk the rest.” Sean glanced around, everyone seemed to look distraught at the prospect of trudging through snow and ice to answer what was more than likely a false alarm. But he was relishing the fact he not only got to experience an alien world, but it seemed his physiology may be better suited to the conditions than the Ioutions. The display shut off without warning and an incoming holo-transmission was displayed in its place.
