by Greg Dragon
A thought crossed her mind that she knew was mad, but considering the low odds of anything that was available to her at the time, she reasoned she had little choice in the matter.
“Yuth, stick to the plan,” she commanded. “Klemise, break off of Camille and join Yuth in the middle. If I don’t see you all on the other side then I will be in the cloner, and if the cloner fails, then on another plane,” she said.
“Quit the morbid schtill and finish the mission, Phaser!” Rafian screamed at her, and she blinked out a tear as the emotion overtook her amidst her increasingly smoking ship.
“These shields have always been questionably weak,” she lamented as she maxed out the thrust on her boosters until the computer was screaming at her. The mothership loomed close as she spiraled towards it, and several ships came up behind her, peppering her already damaged tail with even more fire. “See you on the ground, Raf. Give them hell,” she said, and as her phantom became completely engulfed in flames, she pulled off her helmet, grabbed the necklace around her neck, and squeezed the crystal that hung from it.
The explosion from Tayden’s phantom was unlike anything anyone had ever seen or heard before. It wiped out anything that was close to it, and the ship seemed to evaporate instead of falling apart like it should have. This was when he knew that something was wrong. White crystal light emerged from the wreckage and consumed them all, and no ship was spared from it.
When Tayden grabbed her crystal, she had intended to make a blind jump on to the mothership. She wanted to escape her phantom, teleport onboard their ship, and kill every lizard that occupied its interior. But the explosion had caught the crystal mid-transit.
No one would be able to explain what happened in that explosion or why the crystal particles did what they did. The Geralos, for the most part, disintegrated. With no training in the crystals they became like ship parts and were blown to bits. A few made it to the ground inside the city walls, bloody and dying but determined to take as many humans with them as possible.
As to the Phasers, Rafian VCA vanished into thin air. For many months following the incident, the Phasers would speculate as to what really happened to him but he was gone and no one knew where.
Tayden Lark's plan ultimately failed and sealed the fate of a number of her Phasers. The crystal didn't jump her onto the Geralos ship and she didn't die. Instead, she found herself wet and partially buried on the beach near Zallus, with the cold water licking at her face. Camille found herself on the dock of Helysian, which was the last place she would want to be.
Yuth's entire ship was teleported a few feet above the ocean where he tread water and went below before reacting to the change in location. Klemise, who had flown behind Camille, was thrown from his ship and struck by fragments of a Geralos zip ship as he fell to his demise. The other two recruits were not close enough to the explosion to be affected but had seen the strange white light that threw their teachers and killed one of their friends.
For anyone outside of a bunker, the debris, like raining metal chunks from hell, put a strain on the shield surrounding the city. It would have been enough to destroy Zallus if not for Dott Toga's quick command to power it on before the explosion. It would be a day the Phasers would never forget.
* * *
By the time Tayden made it back to Zallus, there were Phasers running all around looking for the missing pilots. A rush of panic struck her as she neared the gates, and though the guard recognized her and let her in she stood frozen thinking about the battle and what had happened up there. “Please be alive,” she whispered to no one in particular, and then stepped inside where one of the men handed her a bike.
“Thanks, Corporal,” she said in a flat voice, and then mounted it quickly to get back to the base. There were so many citizens standing around looking up at the sky that it made the mood even more forlorn for Tayden. Her mind was on Rafian, and she wondered if he was back at the base since her comm had been lost back inside the explosion.
When she arrived at the agency she parked the bike and slid off of it smoothly to enter the command center. Inside were Dott and Marian, talking frantically, and she avoided their eye contact and ran to the comm to try and call her fellow Phasers. She reached Yuth and the recruits that had made it out alive, and when she learned of the random teleporting that her crystal had caused, her heart sank with fright.
Eventually she was able to reach Camille, who told her that she would be back on the planet within a month. Her mood was lifting and she made to try Rafian again when—
“Where’s Rafian?” Marian asked suddenly. She had been standing back and watching Tayden panic as she called up all the Phasers to learn of their whereabouts. When she had tried reaching Rafian it didn’t seem as if anyone answered. Marian had noticed this and the stars inside of her pupils had become bright, white fire. “Tayden, where is my husband?” she asked again, and the tiny woman turned slowly and stared up at her as if she were fighting the urge to fall to her knees and beg.
“I’m … I’m sorry, Rhee. He’s not picking up,” she whispered.
“He’s not dead!” Marian yelled at her. “We can’t fall apart just because he’s not here.”
Dott looked at them as if she was stuck in a vid, unable to participate or affect change on the outcome. Tayden was only one step below the Supreme Leader, yet she was acting as if she were the grieving widow, while Marian was commanding her to get up off the ground and take command. Bizarre just did not cut it with what she was witnessing and it dawned on her that this was Marian at her most frightening.
“Dott, please run a scan on our cloners to see if any new data has been processed,” the tall, dark woman commanded and then stepped forward, past Tayden, to pick up the comm.
While Marian tried to reach her husband, Dott Toga scanned the systems for new data and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that there was none. If Rafian had died the systems would have been going crazy, rebuilding him and looking for what would be the leader’s life force to guide it back into a new body.
“Nothing, Commander, he's alright. I know the Supreme Leader, he doesn't go down, and he doesn't falter, ever.”
You didn't see him a few months ago when he was in my arms lying comatose, Marian thought, but Dott's words inspired her, and she knew that she was right. “Let's get a checkup going on our territory, and work on getting those stranded Phasers back home,” Marian said.
Dott walked up and stood next to her at the console, and even though Marian’s fingers were typing rapidly, she placed her hand on her forearm. This contact was all it took to break Marian, and she turned and embraced the young woman tightly and bawled into her shoulder. Tayden saw this and got to her feet, but instead of joining them she walked outside and cast her eyes to the sky.
Clenching her fists and standing defiantly, she reached into the nothingness of her mind and willed herself to connect with Rafian, an exercise she had only been able to do once before.
“I hope you can hear me, Raf, it’s your ru—your rurit, your Tayden. I did a foolish thing trying to jump, and it would kill me if we lost you because of it. Please hear me, Raf. You’re my oldest Jumper brother and bunkmate. It isn’t time for you to leave yet.”
She tightened her muscles and held her breath, but there was no feeling, no response, just the sound of laser fire in the background, along with a number of explosions. If Tayden had been herself and not a desperate woman tugging at straws to find her friend, she would have realized there was fighting going on within the city. The telltale noises were mild annoyances to her mental reaching, however, and she clenched her muscles even tighter and squeezed her eyes even more.
“Damn it, Rafian! I was able to pull you back when we lost you before and I’ll be damned if I can’t pull you back again,” she said as she probed with her mind looking for a sign.
When nothing came to Tayden Lark, she decided that it was time to get herself acclimated with the present tense. There were Geralos in the city, and the few Phas
er recruits were fighting them with no help. She moved to run back inside to collect her las-sword but then Aurora hopped down from the top of the stairs and landed in front of her.
“Everything okay, Tay? We saw the light, but you’re crying and I heard Marian shouting downstairs.”
“We’re okay, Aury, but things are a mess. I’m crying because it’s all my fault, and Marian is yelling because she’s trying to make sure that everyone is okay.”
Aurora hissed through her teeth and crossed her arms. “Look, I know that I come off as some sort of bubbly, innocent cheerleader for my brother, but I was a decorated intelligence officer of the Helysian. I can spot a lie a mile away, and I’ve sent hundreds of little bratty cadets to the brig for trying me. You’re lying to me and it’s unnecessary. Rafian can’t die. You guys do that cloning thing … so where the hell is he?”
Tayden shook her head and forced a smile. Aurora was the best at catching people off guard when they underestimated her. She knew what the woman was capable of, but she needed to get downstairs to grab her sword, and Aurora was in the way.
“He’s not picking up his comm; that’s the big panic,” Tayden said. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to central command to take the lead in defending our city.”
“THE LIZARDS ARE HERE?” Aurora asked and looked around frantically.
“Yes, so get upstairs, soldier,” Tayden mocked. “You may be an officer, but you’re a new mom, and that baby needs you safely out of the way of the brain-biters.”
Once Aurora was gone, Tayden got on her comm and summoned Marika Tsuno. The assassin had been extremely quiet since returning from Luca with Marian, but she assumed that it was due to her spending time with Val Tracker. She asked the Phaser to meet her in the command center and then trotted down the stairs to where Marian, Frank, and Dott were looking over a map of the city.
“Reports are saying that a number of the lizards have died due to the atmosphere,” Frank said to her as soon as she entered. She smiled at him and he returned it, a rare gift that he only reserved for the woman that held his heart.
“I don’t know why you two continue with the façade,” Marian said under her breath, and Tayden turned a bright shade of red and stopped in her tracks. “We’ve known you two were together since the day we took that trip to meet with the leaders on Meluvia. Frank, Tay, this isn’t the military. Phasers are expected to be with Phasers, so stop with the thyping act and just come out in the open with it.”
Realizing that in her grief Marian was trying to pick a fight, Tayden tried to remain quiet but as the air grew more uncomfortable she couldn’t help herself. “It’s not easy for me, okay?” she said quickly, cutting off Frank, who was moving in to deny everything. “I know that you guys know, but military protocol has been embedded in my DNA. It’s not something that is easy to get past. I love Frank, and I am his, yes … but kissing him in public, holding hands, that sort of thing – it just, it just feels odd!”
“Well, you two make a beautiful couple,” Dott offered, hoping that Tayden would not scream at her for being in her business.
“Thanks Dott, that means a lot,” she said. She strolled forward to peer at the map and quickly move past the discussion. “Any word on how we’re going to get our Phasers home?”
“Camille has a crystal but she wants to hang out on Helysian for a day to see if they are okay there,” Dott said. “Yuth is taking some time and will fly back here as soon as he is needed.”
“What about Rafian? Have we heard anything?” Tayden asked, and the three Phasers shook their heads negatively. Tayden felt a lump grow in the back of her throat and she swallowed hard against it. “What about the kids, Erlaine and the other two?”
“Klemise died,” Marian said quietly. “I’ve made arrangements to have his name added to the memorial wall, and I set up a time to notify his family.”
“I’ll take care of it, Rhee, if there’s no chance at cloning him. I thyping blew us up, so it should be me to make that call.”
Marian shrugged solemnly and continued, “The others are helping to patrol Zallus. We have them running the grid, looking for any lizards that are sneaking around.”
Tayden turned away from the map and faced them. She looked as if she had aged ten years since the incident. “I’m going to find Rafian and bring him home, Marian, I realize that my words don’t mean squat. I just want you to know that I’m on it, and nothing will take me away from that mission.”
Marian stared at her stoically. Her eyes revealed the pain that she fought against, but her body stood stiff, her hands on her hips as if she were ready to defend herself.
Tayden said, “Marika and Val will be meeting us down here. It sounds like they have a big announcement that they want to share with the rest of us.”
Upon hearing this, Marian smiled and tried to hide it, but Frank saw it and raised an eyebrow. “Marian knows something and she isn’t sharing,” he teased, and Marian looked over at him with her eyes wide.
“I might, Frank OTA, but I’m not sharing, schtill!” she barked at him, but kept her smile to let him know that she was still teasing. He looked at her as if her beauty intoxicated him, then he forced his eyes over to Tayden in order to break the spell.
“This will be nice,” Tayden said. “It will be good to finally have most of our Phasers back here inside of the command center. It is the way I imagined this place would be, back when we had it built, but we have all had so many issues to deal with that we got scattered all over the galaxy. Now I’ve gone and added to our separation, and a young Phaser has lost his life in the mix.”
“Come on, Tayden, quit with the self-pity, schtill,” Frank said. “It’s countering your intent and you’re not making it easier. We know that you’ll do what is needed to get everyone back.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I can’t shake this guilt. But you know what? Once we destroy the Geralos I’m dictating vacation. You all can fight me on it, but its happening, one way or another.”
“I know you want us here, Tay, but when that day comes, I’m dragging my husband back to Luca away from this schtill. This place is nothing but trouble for him and he can’t get a break. Our vacation will be in a cottage deep within the forests of Tyhera, where we’ll thype our brains out and stay drunk on Talalulan wine.”
The thought of this seemed to lighten Marian’s mood, and Tayden felt more encouraged to bring the Phaser home.
05 | Second Chances
MAES VAN SENTHYN opened his eyes expecting to see the lush fields of Zeron, the afterlife, but what he saw instead was a distorted reality filled with wires, tubes, and bubbles that escaped from his mouth when he tried to speak. He gathered that he was in some sort of tank, but couldn’t understand how it was that he was still alive, and why the humans would have preserved his body instead of incinerating it.
He made to try for the glass, and realized that he could not move. He looked down and the sight of the mangled piece of meat that was his body frightened him like he had never been frightened before. He had only glanced, but the glance was enough to let him know that he could not look at it, not for any amount of time; the sight of it had hurt him.
It would have hurt anyone, especially after a lifetime of training and careful maintenance that was meant to put him above all enemies. When he had been discovered and beaten to the point of disability he had taken to outfitting his body parts with cybernetic enhancements. He hadn’t allowed himself to lament the loss of his body then, but now it came to him like a hot wave, and though the tears he shed only added to the liquid that he was submerged in, he could feel the burn of them, regardless.
A knock on the glass snapped him to attention, and from what he could make out there was someone standing by the tank staring in at him. Could that be a Geralos? he thought, and the greenish palms that were placed against the glass confirmed it. One of his kind must have slipped in, found his near-corpse, and thrown him into one of the recovery tanks the humans used for their
warriors.
He didn’t know whether to feel angry or elated at the second chance. Rafian VCA had dealt him a series of deadly cuts, and though he denied him the il ad ach tchi (warrior’s death) and expected him to suffer in a dishonorable passing, it was a death from a greater warrior, nonetheless.
Maes was annoyed. He had been an unmatched sword master before Rafian, and now that he lived, the chances of another superior warrior finding him to kill him was a dream. He sneered at his savior but then he could hear her voice coming through some sort of speaker on the tank.
“Great one, you are still with us,” she said. “Do not try to speak, your mouth has been damaged.”
Maes nodded his head and tried to get a better look at her. What would she expect me to do with no body and a missing jaw? Give council about the Phasers? he thought. He saw her move away from the glass to touch a panel. She began to move her hands around rapidly on the screen.
“Great one, I am going to ask you to perform the schlain ritual. I am sorry, it is the only way,” she said, looking back at him with what he read as regret in her eyes.
The schlain ritual, she said, the forbidden act of giving over one’s mind to that of another vessel. It was a skill learned and mastered by only the top priests of the temple, high level royalty, wealthy politicians, and, of course, spies, of which he was the greatest. She was asking him to become an abomination.
“There are no bodies here that will take your powerful mind, lord, but … but there is a human in stasis here. I know that it is a disgusting thought but he is in recovery, vacant, and would easily be taken if you would have another chance at revenge.”
The woman stopped her gesturing and walked over to the glass. She looked him in the eye and kept the stare even though Maes knew it would have been difficult given the amount of respect she had for him. He considered his choices. He could stay in the tank and slowly heal until one of the Phasers found him and finished the job of killing him, or he could do as she said and become one of them. It would be the ultimate disguise for a spy, a true takeover without the fear of the skin rotting, the accent changing, or suspicion.
