Malachi

by Ashley West

  “I don’t know,” he replied. “I don’t think it’s anything good.”

  “You worry too much.”

  “It’s the Alva,” Malachi pointed out. “I don’t think it’s possible to worry too much when it comes to them.”

  She inclined her head, conceding that point, and two servants swung open the heavy double doors that led to the General’s chambers.

  In the outer room was the General, one of the Brains from the tech core and two warriors that Malachi recognized as Tibur and Shinan, the two who had been chosen to lead the expedition. Their faces looked tired and worn, and Malachi frowned.

  When they caught sight of him, both of them inclined their heads. “Champion.”

  He nodded back to them and then bowed his own head before saluting to the General in respect.

  “Champion,” the General said. “Marena Thyrra. Thank you for coming.”

  “Of course, sir. What’s happening?”

  The General gestured at Shinan to explain.

  From the look on Shinan's face, Malachi could tell something was happening that he wasn't going to like. Whatever they had found was either disturbing or disheartening, and in the few seconds it took before Shinan began to talk, Malachi entertained all sorts of wild ideas about what could be wrong. Maybe the Alva were preparing for war. Maybe they had an army. Maybe they'd made a deal with some other race and were planning to wipe the Randoran and anyone else they protected off the face of Dorn.

  "The Alva have disappeared," Shinan said.

  Well. That was definitely not what Malachi had been expecting him to say.

  "What do you mean gone?" he asked, exchanging a glance with Thyrra, who looked just as confused as he felt.

  "Gone," Shinan repeated. "The warriors, anyway. We found a good number of women and children left behind, some of the elders, as well, but they wouldn't tell us anything about where they'd gone. In fact, they seemed to be protecting the secret. And...we weren't prepared to force the issue."

  The General nodded. They were warriors, and defending their people was priority, but bullying those who could not defend themselves had never been a part of that.

  "You did right," the General said. "Can they be tracked?"

  The Brain in the room cleared her throat. "I believe so, sir. Their ships are so large they leave a trail. I don't think they've been gone so long that we can't track them."

  "Even if they used one of the hyper stars to get somewhere else?"

  She considered that and then nodded. "I believe it should still be possible."

  "Do so, then. I want to know where they are and what they're planning."

  That seemed to be the end of it, and they filed out in a quiet line, each of them preoccupied with their own thoughts. Malachi paused on his way out, turning his head to look at the General curiously.

  "Do you think they've made an alliance with another planet, sir?" he asked.

  The General sighed, dragging fingers through his dark hair. "I do not know what to think," he said. "If they have, we'll be ready for them."

  He had to say that, Malachi understood how it worked. As General, he had to make them think that they stood a fighting chance in this. He had to inspire their loyalty and their confidence so they would fight. It was similar to how Malachi had to be in battle as Champion.

  He didn't ask anything else, just nodded to the General and let himself out.

  As easy as the Brain had made it sound, it took a while to track down where the Alva had gone to. Giant ships couldn't just disappear. Even if they had cloaking mechanisms, the ship itself would leave a trail through space, and it should have been possible to track it.

  "This is delicate work," the Brains said when they were asked what was taking so long. "First we have to isolate the trail that belongs to the Alva's ships. And then we have to analyze it to see which of their trails are the newest. There's much crossing of trails and these calculations have to be done by hand."

  It gave Malachi a headache just thinking about it, so he left them to it and tried not to fret himself to death.

  He was concerned, of course he was. Anyone who had seen the Alva's destruction would be concerned. Whether they had gone to get back up or were off terrorizing another planet, this wasn't going to end well.

  But he tried to keep himself occupied with other things. Malachi had his weapons maintained, he had a few inches cut off of his hair, he visited his family and trained new recruits and sparred with everyone in his squadron, it felt like.

  He never had been good at waiting.

  “You never have been good at waiting.”

  Malachi looked up from where he was wiping down his armor with a cloth to see his younger brother standing there with a smirk on his face.

  Mordecai was nothing like him when it came to the warrior’s fight, because he didn’t have that desire. Instead he worked on tech, using his smarts to help the fight where he could while he kept away from it. Malachi respected him for knowing what he wanted to do and knowing what he wasn’t good at. Too many recruits didn’t make it through training because they didn’t want to fight or actually be a warrior, but had joined because it was something they thought they were supposed to do to be a good Randoran.

  His brother had never had that problem, and he fit in well with the tech people. The two of them were very obviously related. Same eyes, same straight noses, same stubborn mouths. Mordecai’s hair was lighter than Malachi’s, and he wasn’t as tall or as broad, but they were clearly brothers, and the affection that lingered between the two of them, even now that they were adults, was more proof of that.

  There wasn't any point in lying to Mordecai, really, and Malachi actually didn't want to. Having someone who knew him well to talk to about this could only help, in his opinion.

  "This is maddening," he said, sighing and setting his armor down. "They could be anywhere, doing anything, and all we can do is sit here and wait."

  "Well," Mordecai said, stepping into the armory and glancing around. "If it bothers you so much you could get a shuttle and go look for them yourself. It'd take twice as long as this. If you're lucky. But then at least you'd have something to do."

  Malachi made a face at his brother. "Your mockery is not appreciated."

  "I'm not mocking you, Mal. I'm only saying that there's no way to speed this up."

  He sighed and rubbed at his face, feeling like he wanted to argue, but knowing that would be pointless because Mordecai was right. They had to be patient. If the Alva were off making a mess, then they would clean it up. It was the only option.

  "I just feel like I'm going to go mad with the waiting. And I didn't realize how much of my time was taken up with fighting the Alva. With them gone, there's not much to do."

  Mordecai inclined his head, acknowledging that. "What do fighters do when there's no one to fight," he murmured. "Tell me, Mal, have you given no thought to your future?"

  "My future?"

  He nodded. "Yes. I mean, you can't be a warrior forever, can you? You're the Champion now, but someone else will be chosen eventually, right? You'll get old, or you could get hurt. What's your plan for when you can't do this anymore?"

  It wasn't a question asked often of warriors. Most of them knew that there was a very large chance they would die in battle, and they accepted that risk. Some even preferred it. They dedicated their lives to this cause, and so it was only fitting that they died for it.

  Malachi didn't think about it much, if he was honest. Dwelling on the future wouldn't make things better in the present, and he wasn't someone who planned ahead for things outside of battle. If he died, then he would die fighting, and if he got too old to fight, or too injured to fight...

  Well, maybe he'd rather be dead than have that happen.

  His silence obviously answered the question, and Mordecai nodded. "I didn't think you had. Anyway, I'm not here to give you a crisis."

  "Then why are you here?"

  His brother grinned, teeth flashing white in h
is tanned face. "The General wants to see you. We found the Alva."

  Malachi stared at his brother for a few seconds and then erupted into swearing. "You couldn't have mentioned that first?" he demanded, getting up and putting his armor away as quickly as he could.

  "I got distracted," Mordecai said, still grinning.

  "You didn't. You just like to wind me up. Always have. Little brat."

  "Oi, that's rude."

  "Deal with it."

  The bickering lasted all the way to the fortress, and then Mordecai stepped back. "I'm not invited to this meeting, so. Have fun."

  "Hardly think that's possible," Malachi said. He clasped his brother's arm for a moment and then stepped into the fortress, making his way to the General's chambers.

  This gathering was even smaller than the first one.

  The General stood in the center of the room with one of the Brains off to the side, and that was it. Even Abalin wasn't present, and Malachi stepped in, looking confused.

  "You wanted to see me, sir?" he asked.

  The General nodded. "Yes, Champion. We've located the Alva." He gestured to the holo screen that was projected onto the back wall. On the screen was a lot of darkness, and in the middle a blue and green planet that was vaguely familiar looking.

  "That's where they are?" Malachi wanted to know.

  "Yes." The General's face looked grim. "Do you know where that is?"

  Malachi shook his head.

  "That is Earth."

  Chapter Two: Saviors

  Earth. Well, that was a logistical nightmare. It was outside of their jurisdiction by a long shot, and so far away that it was hardly feasible to mount a rescue.

  They knew about humans, of course, the creatures who called the Earth home, and they knew about how they lived. Humans thought they were alone in the universe, which was dangerous thinking for a number of reasons. If they managed to create something powerful enough to get them all the way out to the further reaches of space, they would run into other intelligent life, and who knew what would happen.

  With the humans' habit of fighting amongst themselves, Malachi was willing to bet it wouldn't be anything good.

  And now the Alva were there. It would have been a surprise attack, and there would have been casualties. The humans probably put up a fight with their weapons, but Malachi highly doubted that they'd ever seen anything like the Alva before. People were probably dead and scared, and he closed his eyes for a moment, trying to get the image out of his head.

  "What are they doing there?" he murmured.

  "Could be anything," the Brain replied. "The Earth is far, but it's rich with resources. The Alva wouldn't see the humans as a threat at all, and it's far enough away that they probably don't think we would come after them."

  "They should think again," the General said.

  "Sir?"

  "We're going after them."

  Malachi had already known he was going to say that, but he still felt the need to speak up. "Are you sure, sir? This is...going to be difficult."

  "When has that ever stopped us before?" the General demanded, his deep voice booming in the room. "We have sworn ourselves against the Alva. Their relocating doesn't change that."

  “This is...slightly different, sir,” the Brain spoke up, clearly wary of questioning the General.

  “In what way?”

  “We’ve protected other races from the Alva, that’s true, but they’ve asked for our help. The humans have not.”

  “They probably don’t know there’s anyone to ask,” Malachi pointed out. “Most of them don’t believe there’s anything out here other than rock and empty planets.

  They knew better now, he guessed, but that still didn't mean they had a clue what else was out there. "Even if they do know about other races now, they don't know how to get help."

  "And even with all their weapons and destruction, they are no match for the Alva," the General said. "We will not abandon them."

  That was clearly his final word on the subject, and neither of them was foolish enough to contradict the word of the General, so they both nodded.

  "How do we proceed, sir?" the Brain asked.

  "Call a meeting. I want every warrior and everyone in the core in one room. We need a plan of attack."

  It was very rare for the General to call a meeting with everyone involved. Usually he spoke with key members of each group, the Brains, the squad leaders, the Champion, trusting them to pass on the information to those below them. That he wanted to address everyone at once spoke to how seriously he was taking this and what a big deal it was.

  The meeting took place that night. It gave people time to come off of their patrols, and to finish whatever tasks they had to do during the day. Malachi left his home with a sigh, not eager for this.

  Earth was...a point of contention for many. Some people saw humans as little more than vermin, some thought that they didn't deserve the resources of their planet and that they should be taken by force. Still others wanted the Earth protected, set up like a sort of sanctuary since the planet was mostly out of range of any other interplanetary disputes.

  Malachi had never formed an opinion. He hadn't seen the point. Dorn was his home, and he had his hands full with making sure that he kept his home and his people safe. But now Earth was sheltering the Alva, or at least the Alva was using it for shelter, and that demanded that they act.

  A great number of the warriors and techs who gathered had no idea what was happening. That the Alva had hidden themselves on Earth had been kept largely a secret, or at least it hadn't been spread widely. So many of them looked confused as to why they were there at all. Thyrra didn't know, and when Malachi filed into the huge meeting room, built to accommodate all the people in their sector, she walked up to him.

  "Do you know what this is about?" she asked.

  Malachi sighed and looked around. Large screens were on three of the four walls, ready to transmit the General's message to other parts of the planet that were further away. This was a wide alert, and he could see that it was making some people nervous.

  "I do," he admitted because he'd never been able to lie to his second, and he didn't see the point in it now when the General was going to tell them all what was happening soon enough.

  "Is it bad?" Thyrra continued.

  He nodded. "In a way."

  Her brow furrowed. "It must be. I don't remember the last time you looked so serious."

  They found seats on the warrior side of the room, and Malachi kept his posture straight and his eyes forward, looking to the world like an attentive soldier, even though his mind was racing.

  Once everyone was gathered and the screens were connected, the General walked in.

  He was an older man, going silver at his temples already. Big, strong, and meaty, he wore the Randoran colors of deep purple and green. There was authority in every step he took, and when he reached the front of the room and the podium that had been set up there, every eye in the room was on him.

  "My people," he said, deep voice slow and steady. "As many of you might have noticed, it has been some time since we've suffered an attack by the dreaded Alva."

  The room erupted into cheers, and Malachi winced when it hit him that people were going to assume that they had been gathered here for a very different reason than the truth.

  "Drove them out!" someone called. "The stinking clighits!"

  Sand worms. It was an accurate description of the Alva, actually. The General lifted his hands, waiting for the room to fall silent again.

  "No," he said, and his voice rang out to every corner of the room. "That is not why I have called you here today. We have not won."

  That brought a hush over the gathered throng, and Malachi leaned forward a bit, waiting to see how the General was going to announce this news.

  "The Alva have gone," the General said, and this time no one dared to say anything until he was finished speaking. "But they are not neutralized. Instead they have spread their chaos
to another planet."

  "Isn't that good, though?" spoke up one of the warriors, someone Malachi recognized as being a squadron leader. "Good riddance to filth."

  "They are not gone," the General replied firmly. "They still yet live."

  "But not here," someone else chimed in.

  "And that makes them no longer our problem?" The question snapped out like a whip, and no one dared to answer it. In the silence, the General continued. "They have gone to another planet, a weaker planet, one that will be easy for them to consume. Who is to say they won't gather strength there and then come for us again? Who is to say they aren't planning something far away where we can't see them?"

  Again, this was met with silence, though this time it was speculative. Malachi could tell that people were mulling those words over.

  "Where have they gone?" asked someone on the screens, and the General turned his eyes to it.

  There were plenty of other races in the universe who were strong enough to wipe them out. Coupled with the Alva, they would be a force to be reckoned with. Malachi understood the apprehension, and he held in a sigh because he knew that whatever sense of urgency the people felt now, when they were unsure of what was really happening, would only be dampened when the truth came out.

  "To Earth."

  The answer fell into the pin drop silence, and for a moment no one reacted. It was as if they were all processing what the General had said, or as if they were waiting for him to say something more.

  When he didn't, people began murmuring to each other, clearly unimpressed.

  "Then they're gone," someone said. "Even if they come back from Earth, what's the worst they can do?"

  "Maybe they'll take a note from the humans and start killing each other," someone else laughed.

  The air of celebration was back, and Malachi sighed. Even though he was the Champion, it wasn't his place to speak in a meeting like this, but someone had to say something, and it seemed better for it to come from him.

  "And so we just condemn the humans to death, then?" he asked, letting the words come out strong from his mouth. He wasn't the General, but as Champion he was worthy of respect, and many people fell silent when he spoke. "The Alva will ruin them and their planet and then come back for us. Should we just accept that?"