by Greg Dragon
“Okay, calm down, we can’t both be raging. When’s the last time you heard from Raf?” As soon as he asked this the comm lit up and the face of Marika Tsuno appeared. She looked tired and distracted as she spoke in a hushed tone. “I caught the piece of schtill, but you better get here quick before I slip and kill him.”
* * *
By the time the sun descended below the horizon and the lights of the village were turned on, Rafian and Jinay had consummated their unrae several times over. She lay in his arms peacefully on top of a circular cot bordered by tall curtains that sat in the center of a room on the fourth floor of the brothel.
Though Rafian found his mind drifting to his responsibilities back home on Vestalia, he did enjoy feeling Jinay’s supple body snuggled up against his.
“You are going to get me in trouble,” he said after what seemed like hours of silence.
“I won’t, my Rafian. You were very gentle and loving. I have never met a soldier like you.”
“Jinay, we’re past the point of flattery, don’t you think?”
“Not flattery, it is the truth. What is truly your business here, Rafian? Perhaps I can help you. I know everyone in this city.”
“What I told you wasn’t a lie, Jinay. I know that my strange behavior is giving you cause to ask. But must you know, or can you allow me to keep my secrets?”
“You can keep your secrets, belari. But don’t throw your life away. You are a good man.”
“Not as good as you think,” Rafian mumbled under his breath.
Jinay implored him to stay the night but Rafian would be lying if he said he felt safe there. Pressing some of the money that he stole into her palms—three times the amount she was expecting for their time—he kissed her one last time and then made to exit the room.
Her eyes looked down at the money and then at him as if to say that he should keep it and whisk her away instead, and for a second he considered it. “May I see you again?” he asked, and her melancholy features were replaced with a hopeful smile as she nodded affirmatively.
They had had a wonderful time together the day before, and though Rafian had learned a lot about the city, their customs, and the rich guests that frequented the desert, he would be lying if he said that Jinay had not moved him. The consummation came easily after drinks and conversation that was both deep and stimulating in an academic sense.
Jinay seemed out of place: a woman who could have been a professor to the highly educated, or an archeologist if she had been steered correctly, but had chosen a prostitute’s life due to a lack of self-esteem and the patriarchal structure of Traxis itself. He wondered if he sent for her once the dust had cleared if she would she be willing to relocate to Zallus. He did not want to pursue anything romantic with her, even though the conversation and sex they had shared had been both mind-blowing and satisfying.
He just disliked seeing a person’s potential wasted, and Jinay had remarked on how surprised she was that he liked talking anthropology and history with her since most johns told her to shut up. The irony was that their conversation was what had made her irresistible to him and he had wanted, no, needed to have her as soon as he was able.
The guilt he felt for doing it was far outweighed by the pleasant memories he had of her voice, her touch, and the memory of the way she looked once he was able to peel her out of all the robes and adornments she wore. He was staring at her, and she looked away, embarrassed, as if she knew that he was already working out a plan to get her off of the planet sometime in the future.
He spun away from her and left the room and worked his way down to the streets. There were far less people out now at this hour, and most of the vendors had packed up and left. The night air felt good on his skin and it was slightly different, as if something had changed in him since being with Jinay. He felt light on his feet, as if he could float away, and his mood became pleasant and unassuming.
When he found the docks where the yachts were parked there were now men patrolling the grounds, unlike before. He noticed that the one he’d broken into had left the premises and had probably made quite a ruckus over being the victim of Traxian thieves. The image of a pampered pervert stomping his feet brought a smile to his face, and he leaned against a building as he thought about his next move.
The patrols would need to switch after a couple of hours, he thought, and I can slip one of those ships out before they realize that it’s missing.
11 | Harsh Words
THE ROOM was cold, and the wound in his leg throbbed with more pain than he had ever experienced in his long life. Maes Van Senthyn loathed the body he was forced to use in order to stay among the living. It wasn’t because of its physique or hardiness. Laern Cobo had been a Phaser and you would be loath to find a Phaser who wasn’t the embodiment of physical ability.
What he didn’t like was the familiarity that flashed across the humans’ eyes whenever they looked at him. Long years as a Geralos made him love the fear that would sit behind the eyes of an Alliance soldier as he forced himself to be strong. With this new body the look would be one of pity, then betrayal, and then ultimately anger at the man they knew as Laern. He knew that logic decreed that the ire was with the suit of flesh he wore and not with him personally, but he couldn’t stand it, and this above all else bothered him.
“We can’t lock him up. He’ll just corrupt someone else into breaking him out,” Marika said as Val moved up next to her in order to observe the man she had captured.
She had put her las-sword through Laern’s thigh and left it in so that it pinned him to the wall of the barracks building that she had managed to chase him into in order to trap him. She had gagged his mouth and bound his hands and was standing a few feet behind him with her plasma pistol pointed at his head.
Maes silently uttered the words of transcendence to his ancestors and calmly awaited the death blow. When he had fought the Phasers’ leader the man had denied him the last rites, but now with this angry Casanian, he saw his chances of passing on with honor.
The bigger, yellow-haired human whose eyes seemed to have a magnetic attraction to the Casanian was now in front of him, staring at him intently. Maes refused to avert his gaze, not wanting to show any weakness to this lesser race of food creature. The man stood watching him and he noticed that the familiarity did not break for the typical gaze of disappointment. What was reflected in Val’s eyes was more akin to curiosity as he kept on staring, as if he could read the thoughts inside of Maes’s head.
“You’re right on one thing, Rika. That’s not our boy inside of there. This thing is looking at me with more hate than I have ever seen, and I’ve killed enough lizards up close to know what I’m talking about.”
Maes screamed at him, an attempt at a hiss that came out instead as a low guttural roar. It was an involuntary reaction, borne of frustration and anger at the man’s admittance that he was a killer of his people.
The Phasers had become a problem to the Geralos but due to their low number and limited attacks on anything that they deemed important, they were seen as only a nuisance. But on the front lines there were soldiers that were considered dangerous: leaders who took over moons, commandeered their equipment, and racked up kills in the hundreds. Maes knew from the man’s demeanor that he wasn’t a Phaser and this made him assume that he was one of the killers.
There were large bounties placed on the heads of men like Vallen Tracker. Bounties that would see a warrior elevated to the highest station where any sins of his ancestors would be forgiven, and a seat would be prepared for him in the afterlife.
“Whoa, how’s that for interrogation? All I had to do was look at this cruta and he tries to hiss at me. Did you hear that?” Val said and looked up at Marika to see her acknowledge that she did. He grabbed Laern’s face and held it steady, then whispered, “Hey, lizard, you ever hear of the Vestalian Vin’yn? Yeah, you have. How’s it feel having him touching you and you can’t do schtill?”
Maes pulled away from him and threw hi
s body at him violently, damaging his leg even more from the razor-sharp las-sword. He screamed out loud from the frustration and closed his eyes to force himself to settle down. That was when the big man hit him and even though he expected it, the blow was quick, and his face felt as if it had been smashed by a rigged trash compactor.
His vision had gone beyond blurry and he could hear Marika laughing like a mad woman. “Hit him again,” he heard her say and then another blow was delivered which affected his hearing. The pain and the humiliation was a weight to bear, but Maes settled into his hate and hoped that the next blow would break his human host’s neck.
The next blow never came as a new set of footsteps came into the room, and the sadistic couple mumbled some words and left. The steps were light but not as light as the assassin woman who had caught him. They approached him and then a smaller figure was close, leaning into him while twisting the sword which shot pain through his body, forcing him back into immediate consciousness.
“Comfy?” the female voice whispered. “I hope so, because we’re going to freeze this room and put you in stasis until our commander is back to properly interrogate you.” She made an involuntary noise that Maes assumed was laughter and then he felt her take his chin as she forced him to look into her eyes. “The cloners are almost back on line, you piece of schtill. That isn’t good news for you.”
Maes wanted to spit in her face, to show that despite his position, he was still a warrior, but there was something curious about the eyes that he could see, even in his daze. They twinkled like stars, and held a depth that he had never seen before in a human. It excited him sexually in a way that he couldn’t comprehend and suddenly all he wanted—no, needed—to do was to bite into her head and consume her.
* * *
Constance ITO scanned the panel of her ship and pulled up the radar to get a good 360º view of her squad’s position as they sat above Vestalia awaiting orders. It had been a long time since she had flown, and she had forgotten how therapeutic it was to be inside of a fighter with the only sound being that of thrusters vibrating through the seat.
The planet looked so beautiful that she wished she could exit her ship and float around above it untethered for a few minutes. She had only known the surface of moons and foreign planets like Meluvia during her life, but here was Vestalia, the mother planet, the place where they all belonged. She would be on its surface in less than a day if she was lucky, and the prospect excited her to the point where the sides of her face hurt from smiling.
I wish that Phimanila could have come with me, she thought. It would have been nice to have a friend along to experience contact with the Phasers, but this was a mission and she would be the sole officer. She touched a few panels above her head and the lights inside of the cockpit went dark. She then brought up the blue hologram of the globe and touched the blinking orange light that indicated Zallus. This caused the HUD to light up with renewed purpose.
Soon the eight ships were breaking through the atmosphere like fiery comets, accelerating past the point of safety to where, from the ground, it looked as if a starship was sending lasers down towards the city.
Constance didn’t want the Geralos to intercept their entry and slow her approach so she pushed the pilots to follow her reckless descent and they splashed into the ocean with the sound of an enormous explosion. All throughout the city people were panicking, wondering what had exploded and whether or not they were being invaded.
The eight vessels floated to the surface while Constance ITO made a call to their command.
“Phaser agency, this is Constance ITO from the Rendron. Could you please lower your shields and allow my team to enter so that we can secure our ships?”
Tayden Lark, who had been watching the ships since their time in orbit, grabbed the mouthpiece of her comm and whispered into it harshly. “Hey, Constance, what the hell was that? It took everything within me not to trace you fools from out of the sky. Wouldn’t it make sense to warn your host that you’re visiting?”
“Commander MEC said that you gave us clearance, ma’am. I was under the impression you were under siege. The delta entry that I chose for us to make was to protect us as well as your city, so that we could come in and conduct rescue operations.”
Tayden sighed audibly and brushed back her hair. “Got it. But the threat in the air is gone. Come on in and get situated, then come and see me as soon as possible.”
Constance hung up the comm and put her face in her palms. If Tayden had shot down even one of her men, she would not have been able to live with herself since she had taken it upon herself to make the entry.
She looked around the ship at the vast ocean. It was a cobalt plain that stretched off into the horizon where it married the lighter blue sky with its rolling clouds and peacefully expansive demeanor. It was so much different from space, where beauty came from a much different makeup. She had a mission to do, but she didn’t know when again she would get a chance to see Vestalia.
“Take a quick ten,” she spoke in her comm so that the other pilots could hear, and she retracted the cover on her cockpit and removed her helmet to smell the air.
“Thype me,” she whispered as the fresh sea air invaded her nostrils and sent her mind into a whirlwind of emotions that brought tears to her eyes. “You thyping lizards stole this from us,” she whispered to herself. Then she unbuckled her seat, removed her gloves and climbed out of her vessel to stand on the wing.
The massive whyte rocked beneath her feet as if it would roll and douse her, but she didn’t care about that. This was Vestalia, their storied planet, and she needed to feel the ocean on her skin. She removed her boots and dipped her feet and then splashed some up on her hands. It was cold and exhilarating, and she recorded the feeling in the deepest confines of her mind.
After a minute had passed she looked around and saw that a number of the pilots were doing the same. One of the men had removed his clothes and was actually swimming through the waves. This made Constance panic, as she had read about the predators that lived in the sea. “Martinez, we have to go, get out of the water!” she yelled and then pulled on her gloves and boots to climb back into the cockpit.
It wasn’t long before the eight C-class whytes were skimming the water as they flew low towards the Phaser city of Zallus. The shield was down so they took the long way around, getting a good lay of the land before climbing into the sky, rolling out, and then swooping back in to land in the docking area of the Phasers’ barracks.
Constance hopped out of the ship and climbed down quickly where Tayden and Frank stood at attention, looking them over as if they were a nuisance.
“I knew you would be pretty. Didn’t I tell you she would be pretty, Frank? Do you know why I knew you would be pretty, Constance ITO?” Tayden said as she marched forward with her duster blowing in the wind like a gunslinger primed to unleash pain on her victim.
“I’m sorry?” Constance asked, appalled by Tayden’s words. She wondered if she outranked her, but realized quickly that they were beyond military protocol. This was a Phaser city, and she was in a Phaser barracks, answering to the most powerful woman in the Phaser operation.
Tayden continued, “Only a pretty ‘get anything that she wants because the boys and girls let her have it’ schtill of a leader would dare pull that stunt without considering that seven other people’s lives are at stake.” Tayden looked them over and her eyes settled on Martinez, who was still wet from his earlier swim. “So, you’re here to help us but you all took a dip first, eh? I wonder what Rend would think about your joke of a squad?”
Constance felt as if her legs would give out. She had expected to get a hero’s welcome from the Phasers but had managed to do everything necessary to anger the tiny women named Tayden Lark. “I accept full respons—”
“Shut up,” Tayden said and then fanned her off. “Frank, what do you think?”
“You all Rend’s Rangers?” he asked as he stepped forward and began looking over their uniforms c
arefully.
“Yes, sir,” they all responded in concert.
“Well how about that,” Frank remarked as he continued to pace in front of them. “Been a long time since I saw a ‘Dragoon Drop.’ You’re all out of your thyping minds. That was some damn impressive flying.” Constance glanced at him and tried to hide her shock, but he winked at her and spun around to face Tayden. “Next time, call first. Tayden’s right, Dragoon Drop or not, we could have blown you into oblivion.”
He took his place next to Tayden and she motioned to one of the Phaser recruits. A baby-faced boy sprinted over to them and saluted to Tayden and she returned it lazily before looking over at the rangers once more. “Reyn, take these soldiers over to barracks D and show them where to set up for their stay. Once they're settled in, bring Major ITO in to see me.”
“Yes, Commander,” the boy intoned and then turned to face Constance.
Tayden grabbed Frank by the arm, pulling him hard and leading him back to the building. When they were out of earshot of the rangers she turned to face him but Marian interrupted her thought. “Tay, we got him. He’s frozen in stasis, but we need your orders on what to do with him,” she said.
“I’ll deal with you later,” Tayden hissed at Frank, then followed Marian back down into the command center. “How bad is he? Did Marika hurt him?”
“She cut him where he could no longer run. Let me just leave it at that.”
12 | Shore Leave
A WEEK passed and Rafian found himself temporarily stuck in the village of Copl. He had tried stealing one of the ships but found out just in time that there was a hidden energy shield above the dock. When the ships came in to dock, the manifest android would record the pilot’s identity through a number of methods, tag the ship, and then send the owners on their way with confidence that no thieves would take their vessel.
