Prime Enforcer

by Justin Sloan

  “There! We need to get over there!”

  Valerie spun to see more dark shadows looming in the murky sky, and for a moment thought it might be more sand snakes. They weren’t descending, though. The moving city!

  She wanted to yelp with joy, but realized that seeing it wouldn’t mean shit if she didn’t live long enough to make it there.

  “Remember earlier, with the explosion?” Valerie shouted into her comm.

  “No fucking way!”

  “You think we can outrun this thing? Think again.”

  “So what, then?” Robin’s voice sounded panicked. “We kick off from each other and are on each side. What about the others?”

  “Trust me,” Valerie replied. “We’re going to ride this bitch.”

  “I can’t believe I’m going to do this.” Robin turned toward her and Valerie smiled, almost excited at the moment of near-death.

  “NOW!”

  Together they leaped as the sand snake came up behind them. The shadow of it was already on them as they brought their feet together like they had when avoiding the missiles from the Pallicon. They connected and clasped hands, then let go and kicked backward with all their might. Valerie felt the rush of air as the sand snake flew past. They cleared it—barely—and landed on their backs.

  “Get up!” Valerie shouted, not checking to see if Robin obeyed. “Run toward me now.”

  The snake had started to sink back into the sand, but wasn’t completely submerged yet. Valerie and Robin jumped onto its back, holding hands and balancing on its highest point as the sand snake plowed forward.

  It accelerated in the direction of the moving city.

  “It’s got a new target,” Robin stated, voice full of worry.

  “The city?” Valerie asked, realizing that wasn’t it as soon as the words left her mouth. With her enhanced sight she saw a small form running toward one of the massive metallic legs, but not fast enough. “Oh, come on!”

  The sand snake dipped slightly, getting close to parallel with the ground, and Valerie debated what to do. She was about to tell Robin to let go when the sand snake leaped.

  “Holy shittttt!” Robin screamed, her grip nearly squeezing Valerie’s gloves right off.

  They soared high into the air, almost able to see the upper portion of the moving city. For a moment the sand and everything else was gone, and all that mattered were the two vampire women flying blissfully through the sky.

  Valerie let out a whoop of joy. “You don’t get to do this back on Earth,” she said triumphantly.

  “Are you fucking nuts?” Robin screamed. “You’re having fun right now? What the hell is wrong with you?”

  Valerie looked at her and gave a crazy, excited laugh.

  “We’re going down.” Robin laughed back. “Can you come back to reality for a moment and see how fucked we are?”

  Valerie squeezed Robin’s hands firmly. She stared at her through the helmet even though she couldn’t see her and said in her most confident voice, “Trust me. We’re strong; more powerful than you likely realize. Just...trust me.”

  No answer was forthcoming, just Robin’s heavy breathing.

  The ground came up fast, and Valerie could see that they were going to land on the figure down there. She couldn’t see how it could escape.

  But she had an idea.

  “Don’t let go,” she said, using one hand to reach for her sword.

  “What’re you doing?”

  “Just hold on to me!”

  Valerie slammed her blade into the left side of the sand snake, but it barely penetrated at all. Dammit. She extracted it, and this time pulled Robin close and said, “Hands around my waist, now!”

  Robin shrieked as Valerie pulled her other hand free, but the woman did as she was told. Using both hands, Valerie drove her sword into the sand snake’s side with everything she had.

  The sword bit deep and the creature shrieked and spasmed, curling around the wound and hitting the ground off-target. The figure was able to leap to safety. Valerie and Robin were thrown free, but at least Valerie held onto her sword.

  They rolled across the sand as the snake burrowed into the ground, but more mounds were moving toward them. Valerie leaped to her feet, ignoring the pain in her shoulder and hip since they’d be healed soon enough, and saw a female teenage Lavkin staring at them.

  “Get out of here,” Valerie shouted, drawing her pistol and opening fire on the oncoming sand snakes. Her shots disappeared into the ground to no effect.

  “That won’t work!” the teen shouted, motioning to them. “Come this way!”

  Valerie hesitated, but those bastards were moving in fast. She and Robin followed the girl, who led them to a lever at the base of the closest metal leg of the moving city. The leg had secured itself to the ground with large spikes, and more cables shot out to anchor it at the sight of the oncoming sand snakes. A door opened and an adult Lavkin stood there with hand outstretched.

  “Only the young female,” the adult Lavkin shouted, pulling a curved gun on them.

  “No,” she shouted, pointing at the sand snake as it vanished into the ground. “They saved me. I’m not leaving them down here with those things!”

  The adult cursed and glanced at Valerie and Robin, then lowered the gun and said, “Hurry, then!”

  All three piled in with him, and at the push of a button they sped up an old rickety elevator through the leg. A blow shook the leg, then another, and Valerie and Robin froze, waiting for the whole thing to collapse.

  “It’ll hold,” the girl told them. She motioned to her face, then pointed to theirs. “Hiding something?”

  Valerie was the first to remove her helmet, then Robin.

  “Not sure we’re around friendlies yet,” Valerie said with a curious look at the adult. “Are we?”

  “Depends on you, and what you’re doing here,” he replied.

  “I’m Valerie, and this is Robin.” Valerie gave him a nod, as they’d done with Wokana. The male cocked his head, then bowed back.

  “I’m Strop, and this is my daughter Lerra. Thank you for saving her.”

  “It was crazy,” Lerra started excitedly. “They were riding one of them!”

  “One of what?”

  She lowered her voice now, as if saying something horrific. “Eran. Or one of the Eran.”

  Strop gazed at them with awe and terror, then dropped to one knee. “You…you have conquered them?”

  “What?” Valerie shook her head. “We were simply surviving. That...that happened, but no, not conquered. Rode them, yes. Conquered, no.”

  He tilted his head, then stood again. “How? It-it’s not possible, unless you are from the legends of old.”

  “Oh shit,” Robin said, rolling her eyes. “Here we go with more religious mumbo-jumbo. Prophecies and all that.”

  “Robin!” Valerie chided.

  “No, no,” Strop said, holding up his hands to show that no harm had been meant. “There are plenty of unbelievers here, so no offense taken. I myself am...undecided.”

  “But you were riding it. I saw you!” Lerra protested.

  “My daughter is one of the more fervent believers,” Strop said with a smile.

  “And why not?” She turned to him, angry. “There has to be a life better than this. Always on the move, always at war with our own kind.”

  Strop bowed his head and the elevator clinked and clanged its way upward until it came to a stop. The doors opened and Strop let his daughter go first, then hesitated.

  “What brings you here?”

  “We need answers,” Valerie replied. “About a certain Lavkin who goes by the name of ‘Lolack.’”

  The Lavkin’s eyes widened, then he smiled. “I know Lolack very well. Have you found him?”

  “He’s not here then?” Robin asked.

  Strop shook his head. “He was raised here. Came back to visit not long ago, actually. Now? We might be able to find some clues in his office, but that’s all I can promise.”
<
br />   “Office?” Valerie glanced at Robin, hopeful. “He has an office here?”

  “Yes. He set it up but only stayed for a couple of days before running off. He was excited about something or other, but as far as I’ve been able to gather, he didn’t tell anyone more than that.”

  “We’d like to take a look.”

  Strop motioned for them to follow and led them into a metallic city with tall walls, guns mounted around the sides, and several Lavkins going about their business. The arrival of newcomers brought stares but Strop continued walking, guiding Valerie and Robin to a short tower at one end.

  “In here, and be quick,” he said. “You might not have much time.”

  “Will you get in trouble?” Valerie asked.

  “They’ll have questions, but we’re all equals here. They are not my parents, after all, and we have no high priestess in this place.”

  “Thank you,” Robin told him as she followed Valerie inside.

  They wound their way up a staircase that emerged into what was no doubt the aforementioned office. It was a mess, complete with scribbles on the walls and various screens that Valerie guessed were attached to some sort of computer. She tried turning one on, but no luck.

  “He went mad?” Valerie asked, shaking her head at all this.

  “Over here,” Robin called from the other side of the room. She knelt in the corner, tracing lines with her fingers. “I’ve always been fascinated by maps, and studied them when I could. This might be one.”

  Valerie couldn’t see it at first, but then realized there was a pattern. Large circles had been drawn at specific points, squiggly lines at others.

  “Was he…” Valerie followed the marks around the room, noticing that some of the squiggly lines were larger than others. “Yes, he was tracking the movement of the city relative to the locations of the sand snakes. There’s a pattern to them!”

  “Why would he care so much? To avoid them?”

  “Maybe, but I’m not sure.” Valerie focused on one particular area with the circles drawn over themselves several times, right by a large square filled with squiggly lines. She ran to the stairs and hissed, “Strop, can you join us?”

  A moment later he appeared, but he looked worried. “They want you out.”

  “Yes, fine,” Valerie replied, pointing to the square. “The city, it’s been here many times, no? Right here?”

  He frowned. “I don’t understand.”

  “Is there an area especially populated by the sand snakes? Erans?”

  “Actually, yes. When Lolack was with us, we passed that particular area quite often. He kept going out, even though we warned him it was dangerous. But he always returned.” He froze, looking confused. “Come to think of it, we hadn’t gone very far the day he vanished. We were passing the scrapyards where we get parts to fix up the city. It might have been around there, though I can’t understand why.”

  “Can you point us in the right direction?”

  It was clear from Robin’s expression that she didn’t like the idea of traveling to a field of sand snakes, but she kept her mouth shut.

  “If it means being rid of the two of you,” Strop said, “the sooner the better. No offense meant.”

  “None taken,” Valerie replied, beaming. They had made progress…or so she hoped.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Nearly one hundred Lavkins looked at Kalan, awaiting his instructions. They had gathered on the island for the training Kalan had promised to give them.

  “Any idea what you’re doing?” Bob asked him quietly.

  “None at all.” He cleared his throat and spoke loudly to the group. “Thank you all for coming. We’re going to go over a few moves that might come in handy in the fight against the Wandarby cult. We don’t have a lot of time so obviously I won’t be able to cover anything too complicated, but if you do get into a hand-to-hand combat situation, there are a few things that are easy to learn and could save your life. Could I have two volunteers? Two people who feel pretty good about their hand-to-hand skills?”

  After a bit of conversation and back and forth among the group, two males stepped forward. Both were above average height, and had a confident gleam in their eyes.

  Kalan’s plan was to use this time mostly to encourage them. He’d seen even during the gun fight on Flamebird’s observation deck that many of the Lavkins were more timid than he would have liked to see. They prided themselves on their skills as pilots and marksmen, but became a bit nervous when things got up close and personal.

  “Okay,” he said when the two men stood in the cleared space in front of him. “I’d like you to spar. Your goal is to take the other person down. There are a lot of ways to kill an enemy once you get him on the ground, so let’s start with learning how to get them there. When you’re ready.”

  The two Lavkins circled each other, their eyes intent. One reached out with a long arm, but the other batted it away. One took a step forward, and the other took a step back. One gave a half-hearted kick, which the other easily dodged.

  Kalan felt sick to his stomach watching them spar. This was going to be more difficult than he’d imagined. “Stop, please, before I fall asleep.”

  A light chuckle ran through the crowd.

  Kalan thought a moment. “Let’s do something different. Bob, Jilla, would you come up here and demonstrate, please?”

  They immediately stepped forward and faced each other.

  Bob smiled and said quietly. “Now that I know you have a crush on me, I’ll take it easy on you.”

  Jilla’s lips curled back in a snarl.

  “Probably not a wise idea to provoke her,” Kalan whispered. Then, loudly enough for the group to hear, “When you’re ready.”

  The moment the words left his mouth Jilla charged, driving her shoulder into Bob’s stomach and wrapping him up with her arms.

  Bob responded just as quickly, bringing a sharp elbow down on her back, but Jilla didn’t let go. She held him tightly, driving with her feet to push him backwards.

  He almost fell over, but he grabbed her around the waist and lifted, then turned her upside down. Before he could slam her to the ground, she twisted and wrapped her legs around his neck. She unleashed three quick punches to his face, and he fell backward into the dirt.

  As soon as his back touched the ground the match was over, so Jilla hopped off him and offered him her hand. She helped him up and patted him on the back. “Not bad, Bob.”

  Bob rubbed the red spot under his left eye where she’d hit him. “Thanks. You didn’t do so bad yourself.”

  Kalan looked at the Lavkins, who were staring in shocked fascination, rattled by the unexpected ferocity of the sparring session.

  “That’s how you spar,” he said. “You train that hard, you’ll be used to putting yourself in the right mental state for a real fight. The Wandarby cultists think we are literally out to destroy the galaxy. Do you think they’ll hold back in a fight? Now, give me two more volunteers to demonstrate a real sparring match.”

  No one responded; they just stared at him open-mouthed.

  “I’ll spar.” It was Commander Larence. Kalan was impressed. The guy saw that his people needed someone to take the lead, so he was doing it.

  “Excellent. We need one more volunteer.”

  “Actually,” Larence said, “I was hoping I could spar with you, Kalan.”

  A murmur went through the crowd.

  Now Kalan was really impressed. “All right. I’d be happy to spar with you.”

  The commander joined Kalan in the clearing. “Don’t hold back,” he said. “I won’t.”

  The comment brought a smile to Kalan’s face. “Fair enough. When you’re ready.”

  Larence wasted no time in throwing a punch at Kalan’s face. Kalan deflected it, but suddenly realized this fight was going to be more difficult than he’d thought. The Lavkin had at least four inches on him, and while he wasn’t as powerful as Kalan, there was a kind of wiry strength behind that blow. He was
fast, too.

  Kalan needed to get in close. He feigned a left jab and then dipped right, ducking around the commander’s defenses. Once in close, he threw a quick punch into Larence’s stomach.

  The air rushed out of the Lavkin, but he quickly regained it and snarled in anger. He drove a knee upward, catching Kalan in the stomach and driving him backward.

  Larence attacked with his right hand next, but it was unlike any punch Kalan had ever seen. Instead of driving the fist forward with his shoulders and hips, Larence sort of flicked it at him. The long flexible arm reacted like a whip, unfurling and slapping Kalan hard in the face.

  The commander snapped another right at him, then a left. Then another right. The blows were coming so quickly now and the Lavkin’s reach was so impossibly long that Kalan couldn’t get out of their way. He raised his arms to block and the left hand curled past them, catching him in the face.

  He was reeling now, in real danger of toppling over. He needed to end this fast. Gathering his feet beneath him, he lunged forward and slammed into the Lavkin, wrapping him in his arms as Jilla had done to Bob. Kalan weighed twice as much as Jilla, though, and Larence was unable to stay upright. He tumbled to the ground.

  The commander lay there for a moment panting, then a look of horror screwed up his face. “Holy hell. Kalan, I’m so sorry. I lost my temper. I never meant to—”

  “Are you kidding me?” Kalan asked with a grin. “That was perfect.” He held out a hand and helped the commander to his feet.

  Larence brushed himself off. “That was... That was fun, actually.”

  “Feels good to cut loose now and again, doesn’t it?” Kalan looked at the crowd, and was pleased to see that their looks of shock had been replaced with expressions of delight. “Let’s hear it for Commander Larence. He’s got one hell of a left hook.”

  The crowd erupted in cheers.

  “You could have let Larence win,” Bob whispered. “Might have boosted their spirits.”