by Calista Skye
She had adrenalin and all kinds of stress hormones pumping through her veins, and her hands were shaking wildly in their gloves, sometimes confusing the exoskeleton and making it jerk her hands involuntarily. She irritably pulled the gloves off and put the helmet back on.
"Phantom broken," she said into the radio, using all her willpower to keep her voice flat and steady. That was strictly the code for having completely neutralized an Ethereal, and she seriously doubted that was what had happened. But she felt entitled, too. Everyone else had run and left her alone with him. That was standard procedure, of course, drilled into them: You spot an Ethereal, you retreat. Fast.
But still. She had faced that thing alone, and she had survived.
"Copy phantom broken," someone said into her ear. "Airlift in six."
Five seconds later, the armored hovercar was over her head, and she tossed her multigun inside and then jumped in herself in a move that only worked because they all had practiced it a thousand times.
She collapsed on a seat and took her helmet off, then looked up again and saw fifteen faces openly staring at her. But what she saw in the eyes and unusually pale faces of the soldiers of her Space Marine squad wasn't curiosity. They felt the same way she did: they were staring at her in horror.
"Yeah," she said, and this time she couldn't keep her voice from cracking. "So I guess we're about to go to war for real."
No one replied, and she looked down on the battlefield of the remote planet where they had decided to give serious battle to the Vlon. That war would fade into total insignificance if the Ethereals were about to come back.
Stars, he was terrible. It had been like looking at death itself, and now both her hands and her legs were trembling.
But he hadn't harmed her. He had seemed puzzled, more than anything else.
Those eyes... they had looked at her and they had seen her.
She wished he would have told her his name.
3
One sergeant's privilege was that she had a bathroom and shower all to herself, and after a battle or an exercise, she would always go there first. But this time she'd been curtly ordered straight to the medical bay on the Space Marine ship Copernicus, named after a scientist from the old days and also a planet where the Space Marines had done their part and then some when defending a colony from belligerent aliens. There had been a lot or war in space since Earth finally took the first step into interstellar space, helped by the friendly aliens from Brax.
"This can't be your blood," the medic said and indicated her tangled and stiff hair on the left side of her head. "There's no wound."
"Sure there is," Dani said. "Vlon shot a damn spear through me. See this helmet?"
She held it up, showing the very tiny little hole from the alien's spear and the blood stains inside it.
"I see it," the medic said, "but I don't see a puncture. Nowhere on the head. Or anywhere else. Weirdest thing."
"There goes your Purple Heart," another soldier said from two beds over. "Just bleeding ain't enough. Got to have the actual injury, too."
He laughed uproariously, like soldiers tended to do after a battle when the chemistry of their bloodstreams was an intoxicating mixture of stress hormones and reward compounds because the stress was gone.
"I'll try to go on without it," she said and got to her feet. "Purple isn't really my color."
She gingerly touched the side of her head. It didn't sting or ache anymore. That Ethereal had touched the wound. Had he healed it, too?
She left the medical bay and hoped she'd have time for a shower before the debriefing. She just knew it would be a long and tough after-battle conference this time, and she would be right at the center of it.
No such luck.
"Sergeant Smith!" someone said behind her, and as always it took her a second to realize that he was talking to her.
She turned. "Sir."
Lieutenant Veierland had a pad in his hand, and he was thumping it with his index finger. "Sergeant, you're wanted in the debriefing room."
She sighed. "Any time for a shower?"
The lieutenant shook his head. He was one of the better officers she knew. "No way. It's brass central up there now. I think I saw a couple of stars, too. Better get going."
Shit. A two-star general? On the humble Copernicus? That guy must have travelled fast.
"Yes, sir," she said, because there was nothing else to do.
There was indeed a two-star general. Space Force was taking this very seriously.
Dani had been debriefed before, but usually it was a very short affair because her helmet would have recorded everything. This time, it had stopped working right before the Ethereal appeared, so the rest of it she had to do from memory.
She gave an accurate account and braced herself for the questions.
"He touched your wound?" the general said. "And it seemed to heal?"
"Yes, ma'am. He touched it briefly, just barely came close. And later the medic said there was nothing. Only blood."
"So I see," the general said and stroked a hank of black hair behind her ear. "We just didn't know they could do that. Of course we know hardly anything about the Ethereals. And this very definitely was an Ethereal, as all the recordings show. You faced him on your own, Sergeant. And you lived to tell the tale. Well done. Of course the 'Phantom Broken' phrase is only to be used under specific circumstances, as I'm sure you know."
"Yes, Ma'am."
"I think we'll let that pass this once. Then all that remains is to inform you that Space Force is bringing disciplinary charges against you. It seems you were discourteous to Colonel Abeni." The general indicated one of the three colonels in the room. Dani didn't recognize him, because they had both been wearing battle suits. But that might have been the man whose life she had saved a couple of times in ten seconds.
"Yes, ma'am."
The general raised her eyebrows. "You have nothing else to say?"
"The recording speaks for itself, ma'am."
"It does indeed. The details about the Ethereal is to be kept secret until further notice. You are dismissed, sergeant."
Dani straightened to attention and then left the room. Most of her squad was waiting outside the room, so curious they were about to burst.
"That was an Ethereal, right?"
"Did he say anything?"
"What the heck was that in his hand?"
"Did he take a damn bite out of that Vlon?"
"My dancing stars, I only saw him from a click away, but that was one drop-dead gorgeous man!"
Dani waved her hand in the air. "Sorry. Can't talk about it. Military secret."
They groaned and dispersed, knowing that there was no information to be gained from their sergeant and that she had very clearly defined limits for when she'd blow up.
"Figures," Kelson said and fell into step beside her. "Anything actually interesting happens, and there comes the blanket of silence. Well, I happened to see how he took care of that Vlon. Looked like he stabbed it with that pole thing he had and then just tossed the whole monster into the air. Had to weigh twelve tons, at least."
"I can't comment," Dani said, starting to feel the after-battle elation herself. "Better people than me have decided that none of this is to be known by the proles." She stopped outside the door to her cabin. "And that includes you, corporal. But tell the squad I'll buy them all beer in the Dump later. And one bottle of champagne."
Kelson frowned. "A champ? You being disciplined?"
"Damn right. I told a colonel to go fuck himself. Or something like that. I forget. See ya."
She closed the door to her quarters and took a deep breath. Her hands were still trembling, just a little. She was glad her father wasn't there to see it. Or maybe that would have been better, end this charade once and for all.
It was not unusual to feel some excitement after a successful battle, but this was ridiculous. She was tempted to open the door again, drag Kelson into her cabin, tear his battle suit off, ride
him good and then toss him out, but that kind of contact between her and anyone in her own squad was insanely unwise. And anyone else... well, she'd see later that evening. If she picked someone up, it would be a first for her since she was promoted to sergeant eight months earlier.
She stripped and got into the shower, feeling the recycled water wash the sweat and blood away. At times like these, she missed someone to help her release the tension and then cuddle with.
It wasn't that she didn't want a boyfriend, it was just that it was damn hard to find one here that wouldn't give her all kinds of problems. Every non-alien within six light years was Space Force, and pretty much all of them belonged to her own division. Getting too heavily involved with one of them just had problems written all over it.
Kelson could have handled it, she knew. He was by no means the hottest male in the division, but he had a good head on him, he was streetwise and always cool. And a great deadpan comedian, as she had discovered soon after she got her own squad.
No, he was too good. She might actually develop some feelings there, and that was the one thing she had been warned against. It would raise so many issues that every head in Space Force would spin. Because Dani wasn't just an ordinary sergeant. And her name most certainly wasn't 'Smith'.
4
The three-dee image came to life, and despite the hundreds of light years that separated them, the distortion was minimal.
"Hi, mom," she said and sat down on her narrow bunk, sipping water through a straw. "Been a while."
The image of her mother shook a little with hyperspatial distortion, but the lag was less than if Dani had made a transmission down to the surface of the planet beneath the Copernicus.
She had aged very gracefully, and she still wasn't fifty. Her curvy shape was still much the same as when she had become a Space Force hero, before Dani was born, and Dani admired how good she looked. So feminine. For her own part, Dani knew she took after her mother from the waist down, and after her father from the waist up. It wasn't a good look.
"Oh, sweetie, it has. I'm so sorry. It's these damn Vlon. They're just coming at us from every angle now, and... no, wait. Let's not talk shop right off the bat. How are you, my heart?"
Her mother's sometimes inventive terms of affection had annoyed Dani a lot when she was a teen, but now she knew that they were just her mother's outlet for the intense love she felt for her children.
"I'm fine. You hear from dad?"
"Every day," her mother said and smiled, like she always did when she thought about her husband. "He's helping us a lot. And he's reached some huge goals back home. I tell you, the energy of that man..."
Dani took another sip and nodded. "Is pretty sensational, I know. If I only had half of that, I'd be captain by now. But mom, we have to talk some shop today. Did you hear?"
Her mother sighed and the stars twinkled. "Of course. I've done nothing else today than hearing about that. I'm so sorry you had to deal with that."
"Think there's a meaning there? That he sought out me, of all people?"
"There might. There might not. The consensus among those who know is that the coincidence would be just far too improbable. We have to imagine that there is a meaning."
"Which means that I can be used as bait."
Her mother's face stiffened, and she took a while to answer. "I will tell you this," she said slowly, and Dani heard the steel in her that had made her a legendary warrior, "the day I dangle any kid of my own or that of any other human in front of those... monsters is the day I've lost my mind. No. No. That will not be one of our plans."
"All right. By the way, who was that general who debriefed me?"
Her mother frowned. "You don't know? If for once you'd take just the slightest interest in Space Force business, you'd know that that was General Tanh, Chief of Intelligence. For heaven's sake, you met her once before! Before you joined up."
"Oh yes. That garden party, right?"
"Right."
"Did you hear about the questions he asked me?"
"Uh-huh. An Ethereal going through an existential crisis? 'Why do you do things?' I don't know, Dai. And he seems to have been different from the ones we met before. They're analyzing the blood he left on your machete. Nothing weird has come up so far, and if that isn't the weirdest thing ever I don't know what is. They say it's just like human blood. But the analysis isn't complete."
"And the eyes and the voice. Oh shit, there's something I didn't tell that general!"
"General Tanh, yes. What was it?"
"When you met those Ethereals back at the dawn of time... did they smell of anything? I don't remember hearing that they did."
"No," the other woman said slowly, thinking hard. "They had no odor at all. How about yours? I mean, the one you encountered?"
"He actually smelled great. Spicy. Exotic."
"Oh my spirits. You actually got close enough to smell him?" Her mother's face radiated worry, and Dani sighed.
"Mom, it's okay. I survived fine. Thanks to him."
Her mother dabbed at her eyes with a white tissue. "I'm afraid for you, my sweet baby girl. Say the word and I'll get you the hell away from there in a heartbeat. People can say what they want. No one else has had their daughter accosted by a damn Ethereal."
"He didn't accost me, mom," Dani pointed out mildly. "He saved my life and then healed my wound."
Her mother sniffed. "Well, it was the least he could do. After all the terrible things they did to us and to your father..."
"Yeah, so, do we really know that this particular Ethereal was there back then?"
Her mom blinked with red-rimmed eyes. "Maybe not. But they're bad news. They always have been."
"Like the Vlon," Dani said innocently. "I can't help but notice that we just threw ourselves into that war without talking to them at all."
Her mother shrugged. "How do you talk to a Vlon? They attacked us first. We responded with overwhelming shock and awe. That's doctrine and always has been. Am I right in thinking that you are now suggesting we talk to the Ethereals?"
Dani finished her water and put the can aside. "You know, mom, I think it's time we start to talk to some aliens and not just kill them all until there's no one left to talk to, which is the way we're going now. Or so it seems to me."
Olivia shook her head. "You sometimes have the weirdest thoughts, my baby Dai. Always did. So unlike your brother."
"Yeah, how is Ter'Umion?"
"He's happy. He takes after his father. And you-"
"And I don't take after any of you," Dani said casually. "Did you hear they're bringing me up on disciplinary charges?"
"Yes."
"'Yes?' Did you see the recordings? Dude practically committed suicide by alien!"
Her mom shrugged. "The colonel acted with breathtaking incompetence, and you saved his life. You also told him to 'stay the hell down'."
"He was trying to get up and pretty much offer himself to that damn Vlon!"
"He was, but would it have killed you to add a little 'sir' at the end there? Seriously, Dai, we've been through this before. Just one little word prevents all kinds of trouble. You're a Space Marine, for crying out loud."
The six golden stars on each of her shoulders glittered as Star Marshal Olivia Cooper DamAtor'aq, Supreme Commander of Space Force, turned around to say something to someone behind her.
Then she turned back. "I'm sorry, sweet baby Dai of mine, I have to cut this short. It seems there's been an attack on one of our colonies in Eta Cassiopeia. Casualties in the thousands."
Dani stiffened. It was rare for civilian colonies to be attacked by aliens. "Who was behind it?"
The Supreme Commander's face was grim. "Vlon again."
5
"Yep," Sergeant Dinon said and stroked Bella's furry cheek with one finger. "That will get you some attention. A damn Ethereal singles you out for a chat? Shit, I'm surprised they only sent one general."
Bella turned her head and hopped down from her lap, then fr
oze and coiled up as if she had spotted an alien mouse under Dani's bunk. Her one remaining ear twitched like a radar dish trying to locate a signal.
"I had the same thought," Dani sighed and curled up on the bunk. "It's the kind of attention you don't really want. I mean, it has to look weird, right? Will they think that I've been in cahoots with those things for a long time? Or will they now make sure I'm in the frontline for any encounter with them? Since they seem not to harm me?"
Nichole Dinon leaned back and took a sip of her beer. "Nah, they can't think you knew him from before. But I guess it is pretty weird that your helmet stopped recording right before he showed up."
Dani nodded. "Tell me about it. I so wish it hadn't. Because now they have to trust me about the things he said."
Nichole looked at the fake window on one wall of the cramped sergeant's quarters. It showed a live image of the interior of The Dump, the only semi-privately owned bar on the ship. It was slowly filling up with people.
Not even Nichole knew who Dani really was, because no one did. Only General Tanh knew, and she was not usually aboard the Copernicus. "They have no reason not to trust you. Everything you said checks out. Even the helmet thing. Electronics just go haywire whenever they appear."
Nichole had been very close by with her own squad when the Ethereal showed up, and her recording of the incident was the one that gave the best images. But it had recorded no sound from the encounter, and the image wasn't clear enough to do reliable lip reading.
Despite the General's orders to keep it all secret, Dani had decided to confide in Nichole, at least. No one could expect her to keep a thing like that completely quiet, and Nichole knew most of what had happened anyway.
"Sure," Dani said, feeling better already. "But I wish it had never happened." She pointed to the screen with her bottle. The Dump was more than half full. "Anyway. You want to get going? If we leave now, we might actually get a table."
Nichole drained her bottle in one long gulp. "All right. I tell you though, that Ethereal of yours was one hot guy. From where I was standing, anyway. And the confidence of that guy! So damn audacious, just appearing in the middle of a huge battle and then everyone just freezes and tiptoes home. Even the Vlon did. Shit, I've never seen anyone with such presence! I could feel it, too. You know, down below. Gods, what a male! Fuck, just thinking about him puts me in serious danger of sliding right off this chair."
