by Abel, Regine
Struggling to keep my true feelings from showing, I scrambled for an excuse to keep my siblings out of his grasp.
“The young ones will suffer,” I argued. “I keep them on Umbra not only to hide them from the Queen, but because their lungs take longer to develop properly. You’ve lost many sons that way in the past.”
“And the fittest survived,” he countered, gesturing at me. “Bring them all. I have no use for weaklings. Best they be weeded out now. Prepare to meet the fleet in two days,” Khutu said, opening the ‘door’ to his quarters. He paused before entering and gave me a warning look over his shoulder. “And Bane, see that you do not disappoint me again.”
I don’t know how long I stared at the thick membrane that served as a door after it closed behind him. I no longer doubted that he knew. This was a test, my ultimate chance to choose right—to choose him—and his opportunity to secure even more hostages to keep me and my adult brothers in line.
I will choose, all right, you demented fuck. And it will never be you.
Chapter 1
Tabitha
I swallowed a sigh of relief and gave Myriam a grateful smile as she mind-spoke to me that she could handle the rest of the guided tour without my assistance. As the two most senior Veterans at the Vanguard HQ, it was our duty to receive the newbies—formally called Aspirants. Less than a week ago, they had successfully passed their qualification test on Earth. Now, one final month of intense training here on Khepri would determine whether they’d become our psychic sisters.
I envied their awe and innocence, remembering my own all too well when I’d first set foot on Khepri a little over eight years ago. How humbled I had felt standing in front of the tall building of the HQ framed by the ghostly arcs of the planet’s three rings gracing the clear blue sky above. This was the homeworld of the bioengineered Xian Warriors, guardians of our galaxy, and the heroes who had saved the human race from extinction at the hands of the Kryptid invaders.
Born and raised in a military family, there had never been any question I, too, would join the military. While the Vanguard had always been my ultimate goal, I literally wept when I scored a rank four in my psychic test, guaranteeing me a spot as an Aspirant. Of course, leaving Earth had been difficult as I came from a close-knit family. But the call of adventure, duty, and the ability to truly make a difference that would save lives was too great to ignore.
Myriam’s mind brushed mine as I exited the Aspirants Residence.
“Good job getting in touch with your softer side,” she telepathically said to me. “The newbies are commenting on how sweet you are.”
“Bite me,” I retorted with false aggression, although smiling at the laughter in her voice.
“Don’t get so caught up in your work you forget dinner. You wouldn’t want to deprive the newbs of a chance to fawn over you, AND Robert is making beef bourguignon tonight.”
“No worries, Mother Goose, I’ll be there,” I replied.
I heard Myriam’s laughter again as she disconnected from my mind.
As I hurried to the bubble transport, my gaze lingered on the Aspirants Residence’s three flame-shaped towers that seemed to dance on top of a turtle’s carapace. It was a woman’s dream home with the first tower containing individual luxury condos for each of the Aspirants—on the lower floors—and the higher ones occupied by many of us Veterans. The second tower contained a grocery store with pretty much any ingredients and spices you could possibly want, no matter how exotic, and then floors after floors of shops with the latest in human and alien fashions. The third tower had a medical center, a gym, a spa, a movie theater, a dance club, and every other form of entertainment you could want. It would even have included a theme park if it could have fit inside, although their holodeck-like virtual entertainment center pretty much compensated for it.
The best part? Absolutely everything was free: clothes, food, entertainment, you name it.
It had been another wondrous perk added to the mind-blowing experience of being part of the Vanguard. But I’d only enjoyed it for the first couple of months of my arrival on Khepri. Five weeks after first landing here, I’d completed my training and received my golden Vanguard insignia, which indicated I would join the Raiders division: the suicide squad. We were always first into battle, clearing the way for the others. I couldn’t have been prouder. A short while later, I found out that they had considered sending me to the Science and Engineering division who wore the blue insignia because of my strong analytic skills. I was in fact headed there now.
The door of the transport bubble opened as it detected my approach. I stepped inside and selected the HQ on the interface, snubbing the comfortable bench that circled the circumference of the glass sphere. I’d reach my destination in seconds anyway.
Receiving my insignia hadn’t just given me the right to serve the Vanguard, it had also come with Rage—the Xian Warrior whose soul had been put in my care. He was so incredibly beautiful. All the Warriors were, but he had moved me to the core with his golden skin and scales, big, black, alien eyes, his boyish smile and cleft chin. And let’s not talk about that body, hard, firm, with bulging muscles. For Rage and me, it had truly been love at first sight. Within a month of our pairing, I’d left my fancy condo in the Residence and moved in with him.
In retrospect, I’d been stupid. Rage had been honest with me from the get-go that as beautiful as my aura was to him, and as drawn as he felt, I was not his soulmate. Foolish girl that I was, I’d convinced myself that I’d be fine with just an affair with him. But over the four years that followed, our bond just grew stronger and stronger. While Rage loved me—and I know he did—his mating glands never swelled for me. As it didn’t systematically happen with all the Warriors, I kept deluding myself that in time it would happen for us. And then his glands awakened, a little over three years ago, the day he met Violet upon her arrival with the latest batch of Aspirants.
The sphere dropped from its high speed to come to a smooth stop right outside the HQ. I stepped out on the left side of the massive plaza where alien dignitaries mingled near the giant Gomenzi Dragon statue gracing the plaza. The golden beast—the color Xian Warriors had inherited—whose head pointed at the sky with his wings spread wide, stood facing the three buildings constituting the HQ. The one on the left served as Conference Center and dignitaries’ residence, and the one of the right sheltered the medical research lab.
I nodded at the Xian Warriors and Veterans along the way as I headed to the third floor of the HQ which housed the Intelligence and Communications services. The number of friendly smiles I received brought Myriam’s words back to mind. I had indeed been in touch with my softer side for a while now... and it felt good.
It still shamed me to think back on how Rage breaking up with me had not only nearly destroyed me, but turned me into a bitter, nasty bitch. For three years thereafter, people had mostly avoided me, fearing a tongue lashing at the drop of a dime. I isolated myself and kept everyone at arm’s length—everyone but Myriam who had been my rock. To see her going through the same pain I did when Legion cast her aside upon finding his soulmate Ayana had felt like Rage ditching me all over again. How I had hated his poor mate despite how classy and respectful she’d been of Myriam throughout the whole ordeal.
I couldn’t quite say when I started letting go of my hurt and anger. My gut said it had been watching Myriam’s poise and quiet acceptance of what had been inevitable. Like with me, Legion had been honest with her that anything between them would never go beyond a fling as she wasn’t his soulmate. In truth, I’d been shocked he’d even consented to any kind of intimacy with her as she’d obviously been in love with him. But he had understood her better than I’d given him credit for and had known she would be able to handle it, as proven by history. Watching Ayana change the face of the Vanguard and putting herself in danger to save our people also made me look with new eyes, first at her, and then at her relationship with Legion. They were truly soulmates. No one had the right
to stand in the way of such perfect love.
Unlike Myriam, I’d made quite a spectacle of myself and made Violet’s life pure hell for three years. Over the recent months, forcing myself to also look at her and Rage’s relationship with new eyes hurt, but turned out to be greatly healing as well.
I made a beeline to the workstation I’d started using of late. I had a small closed office for the times when peace and quiet was required but having a bit of company didn’t feel so bad anymore. Except all the other stations were empty. It took me a moment to remember they’d scheduled a meeting about some system upgrades Jenna—the head of department—wanted to do, preferably with everyone onboard. For a second, I considered joining them. But since they were already halfway through the discussion, jumping in at this point didn’t make much sense.
I buried myself in work. Between missions, all the women of the Vanguard contributed to the war effort in some form or other. As an analyst, my job was to sift through the various reports from our allies and scouts patrolling both peaceful areas and hotspots to attempt to detect any anomalies that could hint at an ongoing or impending invasion.
It had been some time since my previous mission, and I couldn’t deny feeling the itch to be in the field again. It made me feel so alive: the adrenaline rush, the knowing that any minute could be our last, but also protecting our Warriors from the enemies and sheltering their souls when they’d fallen. However, above all, it was the face of the people we’d saved that truly drove me. Growing up, I’d seen recordings of the Battle for Earth and the look on people’s faces as they gazed upon the Xian Warriors who’d just pushed back an attack on their city. I’d wanted to bring that kind of joy to people.
When that whole mess had gone down on Earth, I’d barely been three and couldn’t remember the war itself. My earliest memories of the Vanguard were videos that played non-stop in the years that followed, encouraging people—mainly women—to join the psychic program. Initially, taking the alien enzyme that helped develop psychic abilities had been optional. But in the five years that followed Earth’s liberation, it had become compulsory worldwide, with the enzyme being added to our water and food sources. Joining the psychic training program remained voluntary, but the schools then—and still today—couldn’t manage the overwhelming numbers of volunteers.
Thinking back on the three-year-old I’d been, watching those videos featuring Legion and Chaos—the faces of the Vanguard—it still struck me as odd that, thirty years later, I would now be Chaos’s Soulcatcher.
Slumping back against my chair, I sighed in annoyance, glaring at my monitor as if it was to blame for me failing to find anything juicy to sink my teeth into. The biggest excitement we’d had—okay, make that the biggest shit storm that had truly terrified me—dated back eight months ago during that mess on Janaur. Since then, the General had remained fairly quiet, with the usual small invasion here and there, or random kidnappings of unusual and mostly peaceful species.
Something didn’t add up. Or rather, all this pointed to the fact that Khutu was up to no good. Whatever it was, it would hit us hard once it did. And that was the scary part. The twisted way in which he genetically manipulated other species to turn them into war machines spoke volumes about the extent of his insanity. I couldn’t even begin to fathom how he came up with such demented ideas, which made it difficult to anticipate his next move.
Still, I held the record for the highest number of accurate predictions and being able to find patterns others failed to see. I intended to further increase my lead.
The soft swish of the door opening in the otherwise deafening silence of the room startled me. My head jerked up to find Violet standing in the doorway, staring at me like a deer in headlights. Her blueish-purple eyes—which had no doubt inspired her name—flicked around the room as if looking for protection. I couldn’t actually recall us ever being alone together, so her fear didn’t surprise me.
“Hello, Violet,” I said in a courteous voice, sensing her about to flee. “Can I help you with something?”
I waited in vain for the old anger to come, feeling both relieved and proud when it didn’t. That didn’t suddenly make us bosom buddies—we probably never would be—but it confirmed I was finally getting a grip and moving on.
She slightly recoiled, visibly taken aback by the absence of aggression in my voice or demeanor, then approached my station with hesitant steps.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know everyone would be out. I just wanted an analysis done before we leave on our mission,” Violet said with a nervous laughter.
“Jenna has them locked up in a meeting,” I said with a shrug. “I would have been dragged in it, too, if not for the newbie guided tour. I can take a stab at it if you’d like,” I offered, pointing with my chin at the data key in her hand.
She looked at it and then back at me as if I’d grown a second head. That made me chuckle, which had her eyes widening further.
“That… that would be very kind of you,” she said, extending the key towards me. “It contains the scan reports and communications from our allies in the Stromland region. There has been some Kryptid activity there, but we just want to make sure we’re not walking into something bigger since we’re only going with a small team.”
“Gotcha. When do you need it by?”
She scrunched her doll-like, pretty face, with high cheekbones and slightly puffy cheeks that had never fully lost their baby fat. “Yesterday?” she said apologetically while nervously flicking her long, dark-brown hair over her shoulder.
I snorted and shook my head. “What else is new? I’ll get on it right away and try to get it back to you ASAP. I’ll poke you when it’s ready,” I said with a smile.
She gaped at me, no doubt waiting for the other shoe to drop. In that instant, an odd sense of peace settled over me.
“I’m over it, Violet,” I said in a voice devoid of the hard edge that had almost become standard for me since my heartbreak. “It’s taken me long enough to accept reality and move on. You no longer need to avoid me or fear my wrath. This woman has finally gotten over getting scorned.”
Violet’s eyes misted. I didn’t quite know if relief, guilt, or something else had triggered it. “I’m sorry,” she said in a slightly trembling voice.
“For what? Finding your soulmate? That’s silly,” I said in a teasing tone, shocking myself by the apparent ease with which I was indeed letting go after all this time.
“No, never for that,” she said with a conviction that commanded respect. “I’m sorry for the insensitive way I handled the whole thing. I was a stupid kid and a spoiled brat, too self-centered to realize or care about the harm I was causing. I’ve wanted to apologize for a long time, but I didn’t think you’d welcome it.”
“I wouldn’t have. Not then,” I conceded. “But I do now.”
She gave me a smile laced with guilt and relief and opened her mouth to say something else. But the doors opening plus the sound of animated voices silenced her. Those conversations died seconds later when they noticed Violet standing in front of my workstation, and me sitting with my back resting against the backrest of my chair. Eyes flicking between Violet and me, the Intelligence and Communications team stiffened, their tension thick enough to cut with a knife as they wondered what they’d just barged in on.
“Thanks for everything,” Violet said with a friendly smile. “I’ll wait to hear back from you about the key.”
“You got it. Have a nice day,” I said, being extra cordial just to fuck with their heads.
Suppressing a smile, I plugged the key into my computer and began analyzing the data while they continued to gape at Violet’s receding back.
Yep, it was good to let go of the past.
* * *
Frantically pacing the large meeting room, I waited for the last of the warriors to arrive. With its dark walls and dark furniture accented with gold, you’d expect it to feel oppressive. However, the Xian Warriors had mastered the art of decorating rooms with
the black and gold of the Vanguard while still making it breathe. The large windows letting daylight flood in didn’t hurt either.
I felt guilty about my excitement at discovering yet another pattern that had eluded everyone else. And this one was juicy. If my analysis was right—and it usually was—this could give the General a devastating blow. Chaos and Wrath looked at me with amused yet intrigued smiles. They knew me well enough by now to know I wouldn’t spill the beans until everyone was here. Moments later, Legion, Rage, and Raven entered.
I nodded at the three men in greeting, giving an especially warm smile to Raven. He and I had always gotten along well before, but becoming best friends with his mate Liena had also brought us closer. Rage looked at me warily as he settled into the chair on the opposite side of the long conference table from me that occupied the right side of the rectangular room.
“Now that you’re all here,” I said, not wasting time with pointless preambles. “I’d like to bring up some interesting anomalies I’ve picked up while analyzing the data Violet gave me two days ago regarding Rage’s upcoming mission. Initially, everything looked good; same old boring scouting round with the greatest excitement being cruising by some random asteroid. But then, I noticed that a few of our scouts had mentioned a strange whisper in their coms. They all dismissed it as a random glitch, and as was I, until one thing struck me.”
Using the remote, I turned on the giant screen on the wall onto which I displayed a previously uploaded simulation map. It covered a large region of the Kryptid space and bordering Coalition space of Surnog. The Warriors all stared at it before giving me an inquisitive look.
“All the whispers were received at the exact same time by each ship or nearby base, even though they were all light-years away from each other. While that had piqued my curiosity, it’s this next bit that convinced me this was no coincidence,” I said, gesturing at the screen. I pressed on the remote control and white dots appeared in a straight line with large gaps between them in the Kryptid space. “According to the data, this is where the electromagnetic pulse that created those whispers originated.”
