by Greg Dragon
They were winning, but the lizards had countered by attacking the cities on their planets. Louine reported the battleship Dharja floating in orbit for a while, and the Geralos began to launch warheads that found a way through their planetary shield. Yuth Varience had gone to help them and was now in a fight to save his people.
Meluvia had always seen fighting but it had been random, small-scaled attacks. Now the Geralos that had hidden inside of their borders began to strike back from within. This forced the Meluvian military to leave the frontlines on Geral. They flew back to play defense and it was still not enough to slow the destruction. Traxis, Casan, even smaller planets like Seryac, saw attacks. It was beginning to seem hopeless, as if the Geralos were everywhere, and when Rafian finally got a call from his wife, he was hoping for some good news.
“Rhee. Words cannot describe how good it feels to hear your voice. Are you alright? What’s your status? Is the Crak-Ti still there?”
“Raf. Come home. We need you back. We can catch up later. The cloners are offline. They need your bio-signature and there’s a lot of Phasers dead.”
“Offline? Are you serious? How long have they been offline?”
“For a few months now, soon after you vanished. Raf, I’m sorry, but Aurora was shot, and Val … you need to come home to us, baby.”
Rafian felt numb as he thought about his sister, the one person besides Marian that he had sworn to protect. He had been intending to crush Geral, hoping that they would be able to handle things back on Vestalia, but the thought of losing his family and best friend made it hard for him to focus. “Aury?” he whispered, the emotion consuming his whole being.
“She was brave, Raf—”
“I DON’T CARE!” he barked and then apologized immediately. “Rhee, I’m sorry for everything. Thype everything else, I am coming back. We’re in trouble on all fronts, babe. The galaxy is in turmoil, and the one place where we have a foothold is here in Geral. I stayed to help communication but now you’re telling me that my people are dying. I’m coming, Rhee. Please do what you can, and keep yourself safe above everything else. If I lose you…” he started to say, then hung up his comm when she made to object.
He pulled out a crystal from his pouch. It had been a long time since he used one, and held it close to his chest and jumped to the agency. Running to the cloner room, he saw Crak-Ti breaking in, and he quickly dispatched them with his las-sword before touching the panel and letting himself in. Quickly, he punched a series of codes into the interface, then slipped his hand into the reader where numerous needles pierced his flesh. Almost instantly the machine hummed and the rows of pods powered on, pulling in the data from its database. He withdrew his hand and ran to the readout screen and looked at the names that appeared there.
Tayden Lark and Frank OTA appeared on the screen. He waited for Dott but she didn’t appear and then he remembered that she was wounded. Where’s Laern, he thought to himself, and typed in queries to see if his file had become corrupt. Laern’s cloning information was still intact, but the soul to occupy the body was not present to make it happen.
A feeling of panic took over and he thought about losing Laern forever. The Phaser recruit body count was astronomical from the ambush, and the innocents inside of the city had been butchered savagely by the Geralos. The recruits had joined them with hopes of making it to the rank of Ace. It was an aspiration that they had given up their lives for, to join the mysterious Phasers, who were the galaxy’s only hope. For a man like Laern to have joined and become an Ace, only to die while healing under their care … it sent a message that they weren’t who they claimed to be.
It went beyond that. It was deep guilt. He had not been nice to Laern for many years, and now the man was dead after committing an act of bravery in order to save Meluvian lives. Laern had grown into the man that he had wanted him to be and he had allowed him to die within their walls. All of this happened before his apology and now the cloner was telling him that he would never get the chance.
How had it gone so bad in so short of a time? All while he was playing lover on Traxian soil. Now his friends were dying, and there was the chance that he would lose one permanently to the Geralos. He thought about Laern and his time as Supreme Leader and he realized that he had been a failure at his job.
“They were always waiting for me,” he whispered. “I was chosen to save my people.” He walked to the door and sealed it shut, then turned off the lights and sealed the shutters. He then removed his tattered uniform and found a 3B suit hanging in the closet. Pulling it on, he let it adjust to his shape, then recovered his items from his old clothes and strapped them on.
Clearing an area on the floor, he knelt, then sat in the seiza position. He cleared his mind and drifted into the deep Mera-Ku sleep and the world as he knew fell away from him. When he awoke he was on a white plain that appeared as if snow stretched on towards the horizon. The sky, too, was white, but a flatter, more nondescript shade, and a misty substance floated up from the ground, making it difficult to see where he roamed.
He walked along it with no direction, and then he probed around, trying to find if anyone else was there. This went on for some time and his mind wandered, giving him flashbacks of events that had occurred throughout his life. There was Marian back on Luca, where she was dressed in the Felitian uniform of her station. This morphed into Vallen, young and angry, having come back from a deployment when he lost all of his troops.
One by one he started to see memories of the people that he loved more than life itself. He saw them the way he had first seen them when they came into his life. Aurora on the ship, where she was lost to the world, and Camille cleaning her Vestalian Classic inside of the hangar on Helysian.
Once he got past seeing them this way he began to see them dying. Val was on a beach, smiling, his soul having gone, and Tayden lay charred on a pile of Crak-Ti corpses. Camille was on the psych ship, old and withered on an operation chair.
Aurora, for some reason, he saw in a fighter, floating aimlessly into deep space. She looked so lost, staring at her dashboard, as if she didn’t have anyone to call and no one would care. It moved on to Lady Hellgate flying along, destroying Geralos, and then he saw one of her Nighthawks come up on her flank and shoot her down unexpectedly.
The visions went on with everyone dying, including Laern, who was killed by Val. Then he found himself walking on the white misty plains and the world became cold and lonely all of a sudden. Then he had a vision of Marian as a Felitian once more, but this time they fought inside of her home. She circled him with a knife and he waited for her attack, and then he broke her arm and disarmed the weapon. She shouted at him, her fury alive, and he pulled his sword and cut her across the face. This last vision shocked him and it quickly shifted away to the misty plains where a green-haired child sat waiting off in the distance.
Rafian ran towards the child when he saw him there and pulled up short when he saw who it was. A young Laern sat playing around with his feet, and he only looked up when Rafian was standing in front of him. “Time to come back, kid,” he said to the boy and waited for him to answer. But the boy didn’t seem to recognize him and went back to playing with his feet.
“You are Laern Cobo. You were a great Meluvian fighter and a hero to your people on Meluvia. You were forced out of your body prematurely by a Geralos rogue, and I am here to bring you back to the people who love you.”
“What is your name?” the boy asked. He looked no older that nine years of age.
“I am Rafian, your Supreme Leader. I taught you how to fight the Phaser way, and I hoped that you would reach your full potential.”
“Why are you lying, Rafian, Supreme Leader?” the boy asked, looking up at him through eyes that seemed old and out of place.
“Lying? What makes you say that?” he asked.
“Nobody liked me, especially you, and you didn’t come to help us when we were in the sewer.”
“I was in a lot of trouble at the time, Laern, f
ighting to keep my mind. It wasn’t because I valued you any less than myself. You fought bravely and stopped a dangerous enemy. We—”
“You keep lying, Rafian, Supreme Leader. YOU did not care whether I lived or died.”
“Why am I the one that matters to you, Laern? Why is it me? How about Dott, Yuth, and your family back home?”
“You don’t get it,” the boy shouted. “You never could get it. We fought for you, and you could care less. Now you ask me to return to a reality where all I know is disappointment. A reality where we are merely tools for you and your girls.”
This comment stung and Rafian struggled to find a way to prove the boy wrong. Laern had been recruited early and had gotten himself distracted. He chose to chase after women instead of sticking to the training that would make him a master of their Phaser arts. Now when he looked at it, the young man was trying to be like him, since his womanizing was unfortunately known throughout the Alliance military. This distraction he had used against Laern whenever he would fail, and had gone as far as threatening to expel him if he continued to falter on the path.
In reality he was a hypocrite and a poor teacher to the Phaser recruit, and after finding a mentor in Val Tracker, he had gone on to prove himself in defending Meluvia. This was acknowledged by Rafian to the rest of the Phasers but Laern, being hurt and missing an arm, was unconscious in a stasis pool while it grew back his limb and healed his wounds. There was never a chance for him to have the talk, and then Maes Van Senthyn had forced him out of that body.
A long time had passed and Laern was near the end of his path. He would revert back to a baby and then join the life stream to be reborn as someone or something else. Rafian wondered if anything he said would work to bring back the Phaser.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “You are absolutely right. I have been a selfish child living inside the body of a respected man. Even today as the Crak-Ti tore up our city, I chose to stay on Geral because it gave us a tactical advantage. I have grown cold, with questionable motives, and I haven’t taken enough time to look at those who love and trust me.”
“You seem genuine, though your words come from a place of selfishness. Again I ask, why should I return instead of rejoining the stream and gaining my peace?”
“Because we need you, Laern. You represent hope. Meluvia honors your name only second to that of Helga ‘Hellgate’ ATE. The Phasers need you because you’re our brother. You have trained with us, grown with us, and ascended to be a leader within our ranks. Everyone is dying, Laern, and most are coming back. To win we all need you. It isn’t something that I can do myself.”
“Remember when I failed the tower mission, the first time we visited Geral?”
“You came with Yuth Varience and Dott Toga for that one,” Rafian said.
“I was corrupted then and made to attack my fellow Phasers. You reminded me of this often and that you wasted a clone on me to have another chance. Then my mind was once again taken when I was in stasis. You were probably not surprised since you saw me as weak. Why, Rafian, Supreme Leader, would you bring me back into the world, when I could do so much damage if my mind is invaded once again?”
“You’re not weak, Laern. We don’t recruit weak people. You were alone and in pain, but we were too blind to give you the love that you needed. I see this now, and I have learned from it. With the Phasers you no longer have to be alone. We can destroy the Geralos, together.”
Laern Cobo seemed to grow older as he stared into Rafian’s eyes intently. He rose to his feet and placed his hands on his hips. “You aren’t lying, are you?” he asked quietly. “You do intend to stick to your words and treat me with respect? It is a hard choice, Rafian, Supreme Leader—”
“Phaser Aces call me, Raf. I am Supreme Leader in title only, but not to friends and family. Come back with me, Laern, and don the red and black. Our friends are dying to the lizards and the galaxy is losing hope. I am not promising you that life will be easy—actually, it will be much harder than you remember it—but we will be together again, and I will greet you as my equal.”
Laern smiled slyly and extended his hand, and Rafian took it quickly, glad that he had made some progress with the young Phaser. The boy aged a bit, becoming the way he was when they first met, a handsome young Meluvian man with his hair styled into a plaited Mohawk. Then he transformed into the man he was when he was sent away to fight with Val Tracker. The world shimmered and grew dark around them, and then everything was gone, including Laern.
Rafian opened his eyes and climbed to his feet, wondering how long he had been in the ether. His legs felt weak, his muscles ached, and his stomach felt a deep pain from not eating for days. He hadn’t eaten on Geral and was too preoccupied to notice it, and his last bit of sustenance had come from a bar that Yuth Varience had given him.
He stumbled over to the screen and looked at the readout. Tayden Lark was in recovery along with Frank, and Dott Toga, Marika Tsuno, and Val Tracker were in a stasis tank, recovering. He scrolled down further and the screen froze and scrolled up automatically. The entry of Laern Cobo appeared above the rest. “Welcome back, Phaser,” he whispered through dry, chapped lips.
23 | Tying Up Loose Ends
THE LEADERS of Zallus city held a memorial party to honor the fallen of the Crak-Ti attack on their city. Val Tracker was awarded the Hero’s badge but he was too injured to receive it. By the strong suggestion of Marian VCA, a large memorial building was generated in honor of the dead. The construction program used blueprints from old Vestalia, and within a week the machines had it all built, towering above everything else.
This was where the party commenced and the citizens were getting drunk and dancing while the friends and family of the deceased went up to a podium to tell lighthearted stories. Periodically someone would break down but they would be consoled and given a drink. To onlookers it would not seem to be a memorial but the largest party of the year. But this was Vestalian tradition, borne from decades of tragedy.
Rafian sat with his wife at a table near the rear of the memorial in a special designated area. Unlike the citizens, he wasn't drinking, but Marian was sipping on tea. “You okay?” she asked and reached over and squeezed his hand.
“Actually, Rhee, no. We got our butts kicked and I can't help but blame myself for it.”
“Well you shouldn't. What could you do? You were teleported to another planet. This was just an unfortunate turn. We knew the risks when we settled here.”
He looked over at her, then raised her hand and kissed it. “Listen, things are going to be even more tragic in the next few months of the war. I spoke to the council and asked the leaders to return to their planets to fight the Geralos there.”
Marian suddenly seemed confused and said, “What about Geral?”
“I am going to destroy it. I am going to commit the most important and immoral act that a living being can commit in his lifetime. There will be questions afterwards as to whether I am a good person or a dangerous tyrant with too much power. They will question your being with me, and they will try to blame your Tyheran race. We, the Phasers, will need to disappear, disassociate ourselves with the Alliance.”
“You are our leader, Rafian. We go with you no matter what. You look so tired and worn through, my love. I think that you're carrying a needless weight over this.”
Rafian nodded and forced a smile on his face, then kissed her hand again. “War and rage have been my reality for so many weeks leading up to this,” he said. “I've missed you and now I don't have any real time to spend with you. I have to see about our cloned and wounded, then meet with Val’s commander to explain why he's in critical condition.” He sighed. “It's just going to be a lot and I have to do it.”
“So do it,” Marian said. “You don't have to explain the responsibilities of your office to me. I will just cherish the time I have with you and we will make it work.”
Rafian examined the veins that lined the top of Marian’s hands and traced them with his forefinger p
layfully. The veins were a telltale sign of the strength that Marian had. She is wanted on her home world for killing a tyrant, he thought. Of course she understands my plight.
“Hey, Rhee, listen. There will be a time when we can truly take a break. The lizards will be running and the Alliance will finally be able to take the reins. When it happens I want us to ditch our comms and vanish into the Vestalian countryside. I want to relax and learn to be a good husband to you. To regain the type of connection we had when we were in Luca.”
Marian quickly sipped her tea and removed her hand from his to grab a napkin and dab her eyes. “I would like that, Raf, but it isn't necessary. After losing you for so long, I am just glad that you're back. We all fought bravely; you would be proud. That Geralos, man, he was the stuff of nightmares. He fought four of us at the same time and we couldn't get any advantage. I was sure that I was going to die once I saw Dott and Frank go down.”
“He was the leader of the Crak-Ti. You were fighting THE Geralos. I'm sure he thought that his skills would allow him to walk in and take the city. Val didn't need a sword to squeeze the pulp out of him, though.”
“When Val recovers I don't know what I will do, but he's going to understand how much we appreciate his service,” Marian said.
They continued to watch the drunken people dance as fireworks began to burst. The sun was setting and four Phasers flew patterns in the sky. It was a beautiful scene for such a tragic occasion, but they wanted to believe that the dead were appreciative of it.
* * *
The next day Rafian went back to the agency to check on his wounded friends. He touched the panel on the door and stepped inside slowly. The bed in the center of the room showed the impressions of someone having been in it but there was no one in sight. He looked around and checked the readouts, and it indicated that someone had been there an hour before.
He exited and crossed to the larger room that held the healing tanks and pods meant for cloning, steeling himself for what he would see there.
