Hero

by Reagan Woods

  This damned barbarian planet was getting old, Silex fumed in silence as he piloted the hover platform over the scraggly brush toward the meeting point.

  Initial scans had found the Earth an irradiated wasteland. In several places, the land was as toxic as if a massive asteroid had struck. There was no way anything should have survived.

  Against all odds, the scientists had detected evidence of alien life on the planet. When the CGA armada arrived, they’d found the natives had poisoned their own habitat and wiped out ninety percent of the population.

  Their own history painted an ugly picture of Earthers. It had to be a cosmic joke that the place was teeming with mateable females and enough ore to make the High Council salivate.

  Now, after months of remote study and analysis - and the slowest invasion known to Warriorkind, there were whispered conversations that the females had proved reproductively compatible with Corians and Doranos. Supposedly, there were space-folding ships speeding toward the homeworlds laden with pregnant Earthers even now. Their Protector Warriors feared losing the females and their progeny to another VENTIX attack, and so sent them home to gestate in peace.

  Had anyone stopped to think about the repercussions of breeding with these barbarians? That was a no. Telling males who had been without hope of companionship not to pursue sexual relationships with willing females – females that oozed sensuality and were built for pleasure – was laughable.

  He brought the platform to an abrupt stop, eyes narrowed on the assembled Warriors. Calyx, ever the eager youth, disembarked with alacrity. “I see some Warriors I know. I’m going to see if they’re up on what’s happening.”

  Silex was slower to join the gathering. Skylan had made it sound like they were checking into a minor issue, but the assembled group of Warriors belied that.

  Domik, the hulking weapons genius, stood some distance off, eyes hidden behind shades like the ones Silex preferred. Yixl, a shipmate of Calyx’s, and the small cadre of Warriors he often associated with were present as well as several other Warriors who were widely considered the best among the Track Teams. In all, there were more than a hundred Warriors awaiting Skylan’s instructions.

  Slowly, Silex checked his gear and climbed down to join them. A bad feeling swirled in his gut – and that was saying something as he’d been living with an ulcer since the first moment he put eyes on Francesca, the crafty and opportunistic Earther.

  Without preamble, Skylan began to speak, “Approximately two hours ago, the perimeter alarm sounded and indicated a breach in this sector. As you can see, there is no indication anything is amiss.” He gestured to the barely visible dome of energy that arced over the camp. “But Warrior Domik has found an interesting set of footprints in the dust leading out to the east. They cut off abruptly about a half-mile away.”

  “They’re probably his own footprints,” a voice called out mockingly, Silex craned his neck to ascertain which Warrior made the comment. One of Yixl’s posse, he wasn’t someone Silex knew – but they’d be meeting soon. The others around him chuckled appreciatively, spurring him to continue, “The idiot has difficulty with the basics.”

  “That why he’s with Team One?” Calyx purred. He was closer to the disrespectful Warriors than Silex. In a casual show of aggression, his rangy partner punched the speaker with enough force to snap the other Warrior’s head back. Blood exploded from the Warrior’s nose as he surged toward Calyx.

  “Enough!” Skylan’s voice cut through the angry exchange. The tightly leashed violence in the newly promoted Commander Skylan’s eyes promised mayhem if he wasn’t obeyed forthwith. They were all under a lot of stress, but now was not the time to fracture.

  Calyx turned his back on Yixl and his Warriors and gave Skylan his full attention in a show of dismissal that had Silex sighing and pushing closer to his partner. Sometimes Calyx’s balls were bigger than his brain. That was one of Francesca’s favorite insults/observations and it seemed to fit the situation.

  “Domik is an exemplary Warrior. Let it be known,” Skylan ground out. “Now, spread out. We’re doing a grid search heading in that direction first.” He pointed toward where Domik waited impassively. “Comms on and mouths shut unless you find something,” he snapped with a warning look.

  To his surprise, Skylan joined the line between him and Calyx as the assembly began taking measured strides forward. The Commander smirked approval at Calyx before turning his attention to the search.

  The hundreds of feet of baked, cracked dirt was an ideal place to approach the camp if someone didn’t want to leave footprints. Scraggly plants pushed up between the cracks here and there, but there wasn’t much of interest in Silex’s three-foot-wide path. Dirt here, dust there and a half-dead scrub bush up a bit further made up the extent of his search.

  “Anything?” Skylan prompted over the comm when a Warrior several paces away bent low to study the ground.

  “Looks like animal footprints,” came the reply.

  Skylan jerked his head to the right indicating Silex should check it out.

  Travelling at a jog, his eye picked out the prints before he was upon them. “That’s one big fucking animal,” he observed, turning to survey the ground behind the line of Warriors. Most of them weighed between three and four hundred pounds, but they’d barely left a mark in the hard earth. Whatever this clawed creature was, the ground had crumbled beneath its weight. “How did we miss an animal this big?”

  Silex squatted over the clearest print. “This imprint is almost the size of my hand. Anyone know when it rained last in these parts?”

  “It’s been months since they had anything more than a light mist fall from the sky here,” Skylan reported a few moments later, looking up from his hand-held screen.

  “Do the drones fly out here during daylight hours?” Yixl asked, studying the sky.

  “I have people on the surveillance feeds,” Skylan replied in a clipped voice.

  It was that point the day went from simply shitty to out and out clusterfuckery.

  From ahead, Domik shouted, “Behind you!”

  The emergency sirens within the camp began to wail – something that hadn’t happened during the suspected breach. Over the comm, a panicked Warrior broadcast, “Warrior Vertik here! We’re in the Earther yard and we need help! The civilians, the Doranos, are absconding with the females. We can’t stop them all. Send back up!”

  Silex slowly stood, shocked eyes following Domik’s finger to see multiple marauders - armed shuttles used for short stealth missions – rising into the evening sky on the other side of the glowing energy dome.

  “I don’t think we’ve drilled for this.” Calyx looked to Skylan, with wide eyes. “Tara is in there!”

  So was Francesca. Rage and worry started grappling for supremacy in his mind. There was no question: he would kill anyone who threatened the obnoxious and sexy little Earther.

  Silex was on his feet in moments, racing for his hover platform. He had to get to her. Skylan was on his heels barking commands over the comm. “Dammit, take down the field in section 4N!”

  A tall, thin triangle opened in the energy field and Silex veered toward it. “Silex, you’re piloting the hov. We’re going around.”

  He wanted to protest, but there was no time. The best way to help Francesca was to stop anyone who might be trying to take her from the camp. If she were already in one of the shuttles… that didn’t bear thinking about. The deadly anti-spacecraft cannons were sure to bring the marauders down quickly.

  Skylan continued issuing orders on the fly. “Domik! Keep half these Warriors here and stay ready. Calyx! Take Yixl and company and assist Vertik’s team. Stay on task. Don’t let the females come to harm.”

  “Go! Go! Go!” He yelled, jumping up next to Silex on the hov and slapping the windscreen to punctuate each “go!”.

  Silex was already moving. “Hold on.” He executed a sharp turn and pushed to maximum speed. They still moved much slower than he would have liked as they rounded
the vast camp.

  More of the bizarre situation became clear the further westward they circled. A smattering of people poured from a rift in the energy field. Earthers of every gender, size and color were running screaming from Doranos and Corian alike. Doranos males singled out individuals like predators culling the herd, carrying off females by whatever means they could. Corian Warriors were trying to prevent the Earthers from escaping the camp while simultaneously attempting to wrest the females from their abductors without harming them. It was a complete clusterfuck.

  Part of him felt removed from the situation – like he was watching events unfold in slow motion. That inner spectator knew with a certainty, a sick kind of dread, that Francesca was in harm’s way and he was going to be too late.

  With every second that ticked past, every foot travelled in the hov, the ominous feeling ballooned. He wasn’t surprised – it was more panicked dismay - when he picked her lithe frame out of the melee at a distance. Garbed all in black, she stood out against the pearl gray clothing of her would-be abductor. Her long braid whipped from side to side as she railed against the huge Doranos that had her slung over his shoulder.

  “No, don’t go that way!” Skylan bellowed as Silex instinctively bore down on the struggling pair. “Over there!” Skylan directed, pointing emphatically. “Head south to the breach!”

  Though it went against everything inside, he slowed. Her head snapped up, wide eyes spotting him just as he turned off. He peeked over his shoulder in time to see her pull a contraband knife from the mass of her braid and stab the Doranos through the neck.

  The sight of her blood covered face was the one he would take into this battle – for battle it would be. She’d more than demonstrated her ability to take care of herself, and that was a small comfort. He wouldn’t underestimate her again.

  Now, it was time to stop this nonsense once and for all.

  Chapter 19

  It was eerily quiet as Calyx and his Warriors approached the center of camp. He’d always thought his first foray as a leader would be a glorious moment. Instead, he felt mildly ill. The rush of battle adrenaline through his body couldn’t mask the terror of not knowing where Tara was or if she was alright.

  Despite his worry, he did the job. He’d left ten of his fifty-odd Warriors to systematically clear the administration buildings and another team to clear the Warrior barracks. By doing so, he ensured he wasn’t leading his entire team into a trap without leaving backup on the outside. Hopefully, the sweep would also prevent any threats from coming up behind them or from engaging Domik’s Warriors on the perimeter without warning.

  “There’s no one here,” Yixl’s voice came over the internal comm system. “It’s almost eerily quiet.” He was perched somewhere above. Despite the earlier altercation, Yixl and his males were Warriors first and behaved accordingly.

  Calyx tried to reach Commander Skylan, but his comm didn’t connect. The comms were designed to keep Warriors connected and in sync during battle situations.

  Something about the situation had changed, but they didn’t know what. That was a serious problem. “Try to raise Vertik on the comm, Yixl.”

  “Affirmative.”

  They’d spread out to approach the common building in a rough semi-circle. Half his remaining forty Warriors were with Yixl atop the eastern Earther barracks scanning for threats, slowly working from rooftop to rooftop toward the northern and southern barracks. The remainder were, like himself, bellying through the scrabbled yard as they approached the site of Vertik’s distress call. “Keble, take Harrow and two more, secure the building. Comm when it’s clear. Everyone else, keep pushing forward.”

  Impotent frustration filled Calyx as he tried not to think about what Keble and Harrow’s small team would find. Either Tara was still inside the common – or she wasn’t. If she was still there, she might be hurt or worse, but he had to trust his training. While he wanted to track her down and shelter her, that wasn’t an option – not at the expense of other lives.

  “Keble, keep an eye out for my Tara,” he sent on a private channel.

  “I’ll let you know when we clear the kitchen area.” That had to be enough for now.

  “Yixl, any luck?”

  “Negative on Vertik. There’s a cloud of dust to the west and I think I see the energy field flickering over there,” he reported.

  “We will move that direction. Have your males clear the barracks. Let’s leave nothing to chance,” Calyx ordered grimly. “Keep trying to raise Vertik.”

  “I’m on it,” Yixl acknowledged his instructions.

  Night was falling fast as the ten of them jogged through the open and alarmingly deserted gate between the western Earther barracks and the administration offices. Darkness meant the risk of missing someone or something in their rushed sweep increased exponentially.

  “Everyone stay alert,” he cautioned his small group. “The sweeping teams won’t have made it this far around the compound and we’re going to be out of range for Yixl’s team to cover us.”

  Calyx knew his Warriors wanted to sprint toward the conflict and join in the fight, but that wasn’t their purpose. As much as they all wanted to join the fray, it was more important that they proceed with caution and gather information – especially since they were effectively cut off from the front. “Domik, you out there?” He sent on a private channel.

  “I hear you, Calyx, but you’re garbled,” came the staticky response.

  “Same. Can you reach Skylan or Silex?”

  After a few minutes during which Calyx’s cadre stealthily crossed the Warrior’s yard, Domik came back, “I can’t reach the Commander or Silex.”

  “We’re nearly past the western Warrior barracks,” Calyx reported. “And there is definitely something happening over here.”

  The unmistakable sounds of conflict, screams – animal and human - and blaster fire, echoed off the buildings on either side of the gate as he and his team emerged into the cattle station situated along the western border of the energy field.

  A seizure-inducing blue-green pall danced erratically over the scene of the conflict. Masses of Earthers, female and male, pushed toward the flickering hole in the energy field while a thinning wall of Warriors attempted to hold them back. “Vertik!” He called through the comm.

  “He’s injured!” A disheveled Warrior yelled with a wave. “I’m Warrior Miknel; we need reinforcements! These idiots want out there.” He jerked his head toward the door-shaped hole in the field, barely catching a sneaky female as she attempted to dart past while he was distracted.

  Calyx motioned his ten Warriors to hold the gap and sprinted toward the malfunctioning energy field himself. Outside was pandemonium. Thick smoke hung in the air from at least one burned out marauder obscuring his vision as he searched. “Silex are you out here?” He tried. “Commander Skylan?”

  Neither answered his repeated pages, so he jogged onto the twilight battlefield to do a visual inspection. In the distance, Doranos males fought alongside Warriors against other Doranos males who were pushing Earth females into small ships. Some Earthers – male and female – appeared to be aiding those who would protect their brethren by forming a human barrier against anyone dragging females away. Others were fleeing into the surrounding landscape and yet more were fighting against the Warriors or Doranos individually.

  “Yixl, do you copy?” He tried. “Domik, report!” Nothing.

  Giving up his search, he circled back to the hole in the energy field. “Yixl?” He tried again, crossing back into the camp.

  “Calyx! We’ve got a situation here,” Yixl’s words came in short bursts that indicated the Warrior was actively engaging in combat. “We’ve found hundreds if not thousands of Earthers locked into the western section of their barracks. There are a lot of Doranos here with blasters – who the fuck armed these imbeciles, anyway? – claiming they’re protecting the Earthers.”

  “Well, offer your help, then,” Calyx advised, pulling a small tool kit fr
om a pocket. “We need to re-establish order in here. I’m going to shut the door, so to speak, on the conflict.”

  His last-ditch effort was to put a general comm out for support personnel or anyone who knew how to fix the comms or locate Commander Skylan. As expected, his request was met with silence.

  During the lull between his time with the Collection Team and Track Team, he’d been assigned to help build this camp. In fact, he’d installed parts of this energy field. He had no choice but to attempt to force a manual re-set of the field. Hopefully, it would re-align the crystals that generated the barrier without crashing the whole thing.

  “Domik?” Calyx prayed his transmission would go through as he dug into the hardpacked earth with his hands.

  “Ca-ssssppppshh-x?”

  “If you can hear me, stay clear of the field. I’m going to take this section down and put it back up – it might cause a surge. I can’t find Silex or Sky – and haven’t established contact with any support personnel - and this doorway is causing a riot.”

  “Spitshhhhh.” He was going to take that as a ‘yes, I hear you and agree with your brilliant plan.’ His fingernails scrapped along the sealed generator box and he fumbled for the small l-shaped tool that would unlock it.

  He shielded his eyes and opened the box before running the tool over the tips of the brilliant crystals until he found a loose crystal. “Miknel, how do you fare?”

  “Better now,” Miknel responded. “We’re slowly herding these Earthers into the Warrior’s yard. I still can’t figure out how they got all the way out here.”

  “The gates were open, and the bio scanners weren’t functioning,” he answered. “Let me know when you’ve got them safely through.”

  Minutes later, Miknel came back with, “We’re through.”

  “Barrier coming down in three, two, one.” He used the longer, pointed end of the tool to nudge the loose crystal out of alignment.

  Nothing happened. Calyx frowned, his hand dropping from his eyes as he squinted into the box. “Hello. How’d you get here?” He murmured, spots burning into his eyes as he pulled out a black crystal shoved in among the glowing white of the others.