Arkapeligo- Rising

by Ma West

  Finally, bright lights activated from the shuttle craft, illuminating the commodore as he began to square off with Aragmell and Aramethel. Yet the commodore only used the distraction to his advantage as he quickly charged at the young apprentice. Aramethel dodged the attack but was sent flying back off balance. Aragmell lunged forward but had his own momentum used against him, and he was sent flying across the room.

  The commodore squared off and faced his two human prisoners. First the right foot thrusted off the ground and then the left, and as the commodore raised his weapon to kill Prisoner 00, he felt a strong blow push him sideways.

  While not strong enough to injure, it was enough to sidestep the commodore’s attack. Spinning around, the commodore now came face-to-face with a well-toned, if not petite, black girl.

  Sasha held her baton firmly. Her body twitched in energetic and nervous bounces. The fog blurred her opponent. His size was massive, his speed dangerous, and his strength dominating. Sasha felt no fear, no worries, and no remorse, for she had the fog. This was what Sasha was made for. This was her calling. She was made for demon slaying.

  Sasha charged the fog. It had cleared around her enemy’s waist, and as it did, she saw his counter. She ducked low and jumped high. She extended her body as long as it would go, and she cleared the commodore’s blow easily as he struck low. Sasha’s foot hit the ground, and with a single step, she jumped up against the bulkhead and flew once again over the commodore, who now slung with his baton at her feet as he turned around.

  The running-man maneuver worked, and as Sasha landed, she thrust her baton forward and struck the commodore hard on his left buttock. The sparks crackled, and the smell of burning flesh filled the room. But the commodore was an experienced fighter, and absorbing the pain, he flew his body backward and crashed down on top of Sasha.

  The air left her body as her back hit flat against the ground. The commodore was on her in an instant. His heavy body weighed down forcefully on hers, staying locked in place. His strength bent Sasha to his will.

  Aramethel had now regained his control and had to divert his baton in order to avoid killing Sasha as she was raised up like a shield. The commodore followed Aramethel as he stumbled forward, smashing Sasha down onto the young apprentice’s back, and then kicked the two of them hard into the wall.

  Aragmell now came forward, his body no longer the towering presence it once was. A fatigue slumped his shoulders, a delay in his reactions spelled disaster, and a sense of failure clouded over him. He moved patiently, defensively, and purposefully. The commodore struck with hard, powerful blows. Aragmell’s counterattacks lacked the energy and power of before.

  The two circled each other. Fatigue, sweat, and determination poured from their bodies. There would only be enough for one round of attacks, and each side was at its limit. It was commodore’s mind that moved first. He struck at Aragmell’s waist, but the move was a fake, and as the guardian moved to intercept, the commodore struck with his full weight and power.

  The baton struck powerfully, deep into the guardian’s side. His flesh burned, and his body wailed. The strike didn’t cut the guardian in half like the commodore had hoped, but it still might have been a fatal blow. With the last of his enemies vanquished, the commodore surveyed his surroundings and focused on his prey, his objective, and just maybe his redemption in the eyes of the emperor.

  Chapter 45

  Rise of Captain Zeros

  Prisoner 00 stood in fear, unable to move as the commodore charged with great speed, each thrust of the legs pushing him forward like a gazelle. Yet with each stride came a grimace. Each motion proved more and more cumbersome, and while the gap was closing swiftly, it still felt like a mile. The commodore raised his baton and took aim as he closed the distance. Prisoner 00 wanted to close his eyes but was locked in place.

  The commodore was meters away when he bounded into a last lunge. Prisoner 00 made no big motion, no effort to dodge the attack, but the baton flew clear off to the right, and instead, the commodore’s enormous body came crashing down on top of him.

  The two collided with force, their limbs and bodies tussling about as they slid across the floor. The commodore’s heavy, labored breaths spewed across Prisoner 00’s face, but there was nothing more. With the shock of the moment now past, his body remembered with great difficulty and protest how to move. The commodore was alive, but his condition was not good, and if it was fatigue, time was critical, as fatigue wouldn’t last long.

  Pushing with all his remaining strength, Prisoner 00 rolled the commodore’s body off of him. He stood and placed his hand on his hips, raised his foot high, and slammed it down onto the commodore.

  “Power and the powerful are irrelevant. Only those with something greater can survive in all times.” Prisoner 00 bent over, grabbed the commodore by the towers of his mantle, and brought him eye to eye. “You, you don’t have that something.” Then he shoved the commodore’s face down and stomped his foot on him once more.

  It took a while for the realization of what had happened to sink in. The doctors were tending to Sasha and Aramethel, while Aragmell restrained the commodore. Yet the rest gathered in awe as they exited from their hiding place inside the ship. There were more aliens inside than expected. The baroness was the first to clap, and although the others may not have seen the gesture before, they quickly understood and emulated, and the group was soon in full applause.

  Prisoner 00 just stood there, dumbfounded and embarrassed, secretly enjoying it a bit too much, until the baroness came beside him and gave him a hug.

  Lady Imric made a surprising move, kneeling next to Prisoner 00. “I pledge my loyalty to you, Captain Zeros and Lady Baroness.” Then, one by one, the entire room went down to a knee.

  The baroness pulled on his shirt and whispered into his ear. “Now is when you give your little speech, not before, now.” She kissed him on the cheek and stood back.

  Suddenly the joy of the situation had been taken out of it. All attention was on him, even if some of their eyes were not. A shiver of nervous energy ran down his spine, and with a twitch, he started. “Thank you, all. Never at any point in my life did I imagine that I would be in this position, in this place, or be this relevant.” He had no idea what he wanted to say, no idea what to say, but he felt relaxed and spoke the words as they came to him. “Yet no matter how low I, us, we, have fallen, we can find renewal. We can find redemption. We can find a way forward. So please stand up and feel the spirit of renewal wash upon us.

  “We are a community now, a fellowship of brethren. Our covenant will not be to each other, to our community, or to ourselves. This community now only serves one purpose, one goal, and one shared destiny. Together we must find a way to protect and raise a child. A child coveted by the powerful, targeted by the evil, and as someone once said to me, a child who is a hope for the future.

  “Without all of you, I am nothing, but with you, I am something. Something so great even the empire’s prized commodore can’t stop. This I say to you, we will not only find our destiny—we are going to kick its ass! So come now, let’s finish what has begun, and let’s take this ship as our own!”

  The group stood up and gave a quick cheer. The baroness spoke to Aragmell, who broke out into barking commands loud enough to organize and assemble teams and objectives. Within a few chaotic minutes, the group was amassed, reordered, and sent out with orders to secure the empire’s new weapons for themselves.

  Only a select few stayed behind: the doctors, who had assembled a triage station; their patients, including the young fighter, Sasha; and the Xendorian team leader.

  As the room finally started to settle, a beautiful young Asian girl escorted in a blind army officer in a wheelchair. When they came to a rest, the girl placed her hand on the man’s shoulder and whispered something into his ear. “That was a fine speech there, Captain. Only wish I could have seen it for myself.”

  “These new alien docs are quite the outfit. Can’t they give you your s
ight back?” Being in a position of authority was unfamiliar and unsettling to the new captain, and he was feeling awkward with every interaction.

  “No, I’m afraid that even technology can’t eliminate the need for miracles. New eyes wouldn’t do me any good without a brain that can see. Speaking of miracles, by the way, that is what I have to offer you. You have witnessed Sasha save your life once. Best to keep someone like that around, wouldn’t you say? What we ask for in return is a safe place to stay, food, and water while I work with my doctors, who I am told are around here somewhere.”

  “Yes, sir, the doctors are still tending to Sasha now. Looks like she took quite a blow.” Emilia’s voice sang in the captain’s ears, and he felt a strange mix of both parental and sensual emotions toward her.

  “What? You didn’t say she was hurt. Take me to her.” Captain Drexter was very much in love with Sasha, like any parent, and the gut reaction to the news was unmaskable to Captain 00.

  “Look,” Emilia sounded natural before her long hesitation, “she is breathing into some sort of bag right now. She is fine.” The sad drop in the girl’s voice seemed very revealing to Captain 00, but his head hurt too much to figure out what it meant.

  What the hell was he supposed to do, anyway? Offer them food, water, and shelter? Oh, the realization that he might just be able to do that was confounding. He looked around. The baroness held on to him but looked examiningly at the man in the wheelchair and a woman who was now bound to him. He took another moment to look further around, and again he was astounded to find that he held a role in this place. An alien swore to protect him was issuing orders to other aliens. A high-ranking enemy commander lay at his feet, and a spaceship at his command, while not more than just a few days ago, he was nothing more than a loser john, Mr. “No Tip.” While he wasn’t sure exactly how or why it had happened, he had changed too. He no longer feared a repeat of his past failure. Instead he felt renewed, reborn, and forgiven.

  He said, “Well, sir, I will say that you do have quite the fighter in your corner, and the more fighters the better. Yet before you sign on, I want to know something.”

  “What’s that?”

  “You ever touch her?”

  What did this son of a bitch just say? The words only materialized in Captain Drexter’s brain, as his were lips too stunned to move and his anger too great to speak. If he’d had the ability to see, he surely would have laid this bastard out. Who the hell was this guy to accuse him of mistreating his own daughter? His anger finally burned out enough for his brain to process it.

  “Look, mister, I don’t know who the hell you think you are, but I am a good man, and if I could see you, you never would have been brave enough to ask that question.” The reminder that he was actually blind and handicapped hit home hard. Anger morphed into pity, pity into self-doubt, and self-doubt into self-loathing. The fact that he could no longer follow through like he once could have wasn’t going to be easy to live with.

  “A middle-aged man shows up with two teenage girls, where there is obviously an emotional attachment. So yeah, I’m the one asking the question because if you’re going to serve in this community, we won’t be having it.”

  Anger again overtook his pity, and Captain Drexter was torn between hatred and admiration for this Captain 00. A long moment passed as Captain Drexter waited to see if he would say more. When he didn’t, Captain Drexter simply said, “I’m a father, nothing more, nothing less.”

  This time, it was Captain 00’s turn to ease back and absorb. “Yes, I do believe I agree. Now, sir, will you please tell me some more about your daughters? How would you like to be addressed? As you are the last soldier in the universe, I am uncertain what assumption to take in regard to your rank.”

  Nothing could improve his mood more than praising his own child, so despite his own mournful outlook, Captain Drexter’s spirits rose as he spoke about Sasha. “Sasha is the greatest athlete, the most agile and dexterous person you will ever meet. Her brain can process information faster, smoother, and more correctly than anyone else. She was designed, trained, and made to be only one thing, an assassin. As for me, well I’m the caretaker of the most powerful weapon ever created by man. Call me Father Drex.”

  “Well her skill set was on display a few minutes ago. Does your other daughter possess the same skills?”

  “Um, Emilia is under my care, or maybe rather reversed now. Emilia is . . . pure joy, but she lacks the superhuman abilities of Sasha. I am to take it we have a deal, Captain Zeros, is it?”

  The baroness reached out, grabbed Emilia’s hand, and moved in closer. “My dear, you have the mostly striking features. You are a natural beauty, has anyone ever told you that?”

  Emilia blushed and gently shook the baroness’s hand. Unconsciously, the baroness stroked Emilia’s forearm, taking her hand away only to move the hair from Emilia’s face. “Emilia, is it? Why don’t we take the captain over to the doctors and Sasha? I’m sure Captain Zeros has a mission to finish.” Then the baroness sent the captain over next to Aragmell, who was issuing orders via a wrist communicator, while the rest walked over to the doctors and Sasha. A tarp had been laid over the Xendorian team leader, and the commodore was bound and jumbled in his restraints.

  When the three neared the others, Emilia placed her hand on the captain’s shoulder and whispered something into his ear.

  “Sasha, attention!” Captain Drexter barked the command more out of habit than enthusiasm and let a moment pass, and the awkwardness again reinforced his blindness. “Report!” He tried to sound the same, but he wasn’t. He couldn’t even tell if she was at attention or lying down.

  Sasha stood at attention, but the look on her face was mournful. “I engaged the alien attacker but was defeated. Aragmell and Aramethel came to my aid, but again we were defeated. I am unable to report how Captain Zeros was able to defeat the alien. I was too incapacitated at the time to recon, sir.”

  Captain Drexter’s lip quivered, betraying the emotion behind his words, and he no longer sounded like an army officer but like the man he truly was, a father. “Sasha . . . I’m just so glad you are ok.” He wanted so desperately to give her a hug, but he couldn’t speak the words, and he couldn’t move toward her. It was heartbreaking.

  Emilia’s hand landed on top of his shoulder, and he used the distraction to try to calm himself. As she walked around him, she brought up her other hand and embraced, hugging him from behind. Sure, they had hugged before, but this had a different level of emotion attached to it, and James Drexter no longer cared to hold back the tears.

  It wasn’t fair. The vapor both burned and soothed as Sasha’s new doctors administered some sort of medicine to heal her lungs, they said. It just wasn’t fair. These crazy alien doctors seemed able to cure anything that happened to her, so why couldn’t they fix him? It just wasn’t fair.

  Her father was unconscious when she learned the news. Two officers—Chip and the rookie—had found them as her father lay half dead at the bottom of a stairwell, the building crumbling down around them, but they did it wrong. “Stupid assholes, just grabbed and pulled him. You don’t just grab and pull a spinally injured person. Fucking idiot!” Her thoughts tortured her, yet her conscious mind kept them at bay, trying to bat them away each time they came back.

  Sasha’s mood changed color but not intensity as she saw them coming. Guilt and sorrow took over her brain as she cursed herself for not doing more. Why hadn’t she been the one to save him? Why did she have to be the one to let him down? Why did it always have to be her fault when something bad happened?

  Her guilt intensified when she saw Emilia, as beautiful as ever. Sasha found it hard to look at her. Would she eventually fail her too? She felt a wall rise up around her heart as they neared. Her father barked the orders as he always did, but she could feel the currents of his emotions washing over her with his words: “Sasha, report.” The training had taken over, and Sasha was able to conduct herself appropriately.

  It wasn’
t the first time Sasha had to report a failure, and had she allowed herself to feel the emotion with it, she surely would have cried. Yet the wall held, and her heart was safely secure. Even the quivering in his voice couldn’t break down Sasha’s voice, and she did what she thought she should: she stayed at attention.

  Emilia, however, had different plans, and as she moved to engage Sasha, Sasha felt her wall come tumbling down. It was more than just her raw beauty. It was the gracefulness of her eyes, the calming balm of her aura, and her enormous heart that gave control of Sasha over to Emilia. As Emilia grabbed Sasha’s hand, the wall was taken down, and together the three of them embraced like a family. Sasha cried like she never had before, and once again her purpose was clarified. She wasn’t an assassin. She was a guardian, and she wouldn’t fail again.

  Aragmell led the way for Captain 00 and the baroness, followed by some small dog-like creatures who sparked as they walked, a crazy multi-eyed man-sized fly, a couple of walking cornstalks, and a herd of small, black robots. A few scattered corpses of alien crew members littered the way. The baroness walked up close to Captain 00, and she felt his presence carry over onto her.

  The baroness’s mind spun, as so much had just happened. Was she really pregnant? Was all this actually some part of a dream? Was she still living the same life? Compared to where she was only a few days ago, her new existence was unimaginable. Only one thing had transferred over from her old life to her new one, and it was him. She ran her eyes up and down him again, bringing his attention and his hand onto her.

  Never would she have chosen this, being pregnant and trapped with him. Yet now that it had happened, it didn’t feel quite so bad. He wasn’t a remarkable man, nor was he a skilled man, but he had something that she couldn’t identify. It was what her high school coach would have simply called “it,” what her mother would have called “predestination,” but to the baroness, it was simply comforting.