Month 2020 Volume 10 No 12
Songs of the Leviathans
by
Jharice S. Blake
Earth was millions of light years and memories away from this cold, distant corner of the universe where the Leviathans liked to roam and Founder devices floated silent and dark. Melody was even further away, escorting one pregnant Leviathan that had decided to split off from the main herd and was now wandering her merry way to…?
“I’m just saying that the term ‘herd’ doesn’t really fit. A group of Leviathans should be called a pod.” Rosa’s voice crackled through the group transmission they shared.
“But they’re not whales.” Zuva’s deep, smooth voice was like velvet, and on long, lonely nights she often sang to them and the Leviathans.
They weren’t whales, not really. Melody flipped her small ship around to get a better look at C-377 (fondly called Swallowtail for the gold and black markings along her fins). The long and serpentine silvery-grey bodies did make them look a bit like water dragons of old Earth mythology. At the same time the large head with its gaping maw was more whale-like, and certainly the graceful, rainbow colored fins that ran down the length of their bodies and ended in a spray of ethereal colors brought to mind flowers and faery wings.
They were beautiful, the way they flew through space as easily as birds flew through the air and dolphins spun through the water. It was a shame that their bodies were so valuable. The bones were made up of extremely rare and expensive minerals and the skin could be turned into a lightweight and incredibly tough fabric that was useful for ships. But the real value lay in the strange silver fluid that Leviathans used as blood. It could be repurposed as a form of potent fuel that could power starships and space stations. Leviathans had given humans the means to reach the stars and further, but at the cost of their own lives. Now the species was nearing extinction and humanity was having to find new sources of energy. Alternative energy sources were available, like the neuro-fusion core that the Stingers used, but they were far more expensive.
Too bad most people don’t care about completely eradicating one of the few, exclusively space-dwelling species we’ve seen, just as long as they get that exclusive flight to Mars for shopping for cheap. Melody flew closer to Swallowtail’s luminous ‘eyes.’ They weren’t really eyes, just two massive, glowing clusters of bioluminescence on the head that appeared to serve more as a way of communication. Leviathans used the forest of tendrils and tentacles covering their mouths and the undersides of their heads for navigation and sensory perception. The black market used the head fronds as a supposed aphrodisiac, though Melody was certain that everyone knew it was a crock.
“Make up new name for many Leviathans.” Tiki’s strange, warbling voice made it sound as if the Alaran was trying to speak and swallow water all at once. Given that she was an amphibious lifeform from Aran, it was entirely possible.
Melody frowned, tipping her Stinger closer toward Swallowtail’s eyes. “What’s wrong with just calling them a herd?” she said, even as she maneuvered her small, agile ship toward the cluster of barnacles that were starting to cover up part of one eye.
“It is boring,” Keiko said in her strange, clipped voice. The odd accent marked her as one of Section 8’s victims, children who had been raised and molded to be tools of the government. Keiko was one of the few who had managed to break the programming. “You are getting pretty close, Mel -- what do you see?”
“Swallowtail got some barnacles on one eye. I’m gonna scrape them off if she’ll let me.”
LEaP, (Leviathan Escort and Protection) had designed the Wasp class fighter ships (Stingers) to not only protect but also care for their Leviathans. Care of one’s Leviathan included scraping barnacles. They weren’t truly barnacles, but some sort of space equivalent: a creature that attached itself to the Leviathans’ skin and could cause potential problems if enough gathered in one spot. Leviathans didn’t use their eyes like planetary creatures did, but they didn’t like having barnacles grow on them either. Melody activated her scraper, basically a miner laser, and slowly moved closer to Swallowtail’s eye while flashing a sequence of purple and blue lights from the front of her Stinger.
The pale gold eye dimmed slightly, then the gold bled to lavender with blue flashing spots. Swallowtail was smart and old; she knew that they were there to protect and help her. There was a row of tendrils along the underside of her eye like long, multicolored eyelashes. Melody waited until the tendrils curled away before flying close enough to begin lasering off the barnacles. She kept a close watch on the color and light of Swallowtail’s eye -- a flash of red and white usually indicated pain or discomfort and that would result in an eye tendril slapping her Stinger away.
“Poor girl got eye boogers again,” Zuva crooned. “Always the right eye too.”
Melody gritted her teeth as she tried to maneuver the laser under one particularly stubborn barnacle. “I hate that you call them ‘eye boogers.’”
“That’s what my mom called them.” Rosa piped up. She shared many stories about her family, her mother and grandparents and numerous siblings and cousins, even though they had all been slaughtered during the Crel Invasion. Mel thought it strange to be so willing and forthcoming with memories that surely had to hurt.
The eye tendrils had started to move closer and red flickered in Swallowtail’s eye, indicating the end of her patience and this impromptu grooming session. Melody spun her Stinger around and moved away, grateful for the smooth, swift design that allowed Stingers to move so quick and agile. They needed that extra speed and agility when it came to defense. While the Stingers were equipped for battle, they were still small compared to the giant Titan class ships poachers liked to use. Zuva called the ships ‘Butchers,’ and that was what they were in all honesty. Massive, hulking monster ships designed for only one purpose; to hunt down and butcher Leviathans.
Alongside the group transmission was a channel for listening in on the inhuman frequencies of the Leviathans. Computers and communication tech translated the Leviathans’ songs into something more comprehendible for human and humanoid ears, but it was still startling to hear the strange, eerie moans emanating from the speakers. Melody couldn’t help but shiver as Swallowtail let out a particularly high-pitched moan, the red flashes in her eyes growing as her tendrils curled tight against her head. She was afraid.
“Look sharp,” Melody said as she activated shields and powered up weapons. “I think Butchers are incoming.”
Swallowtail had already started to pick up speed -- despite their great size and intimidating appearance Leviathans were not aggressive. They would keep trying to run away from the Butchers rather than fight. Swallowtail didn’t need to fight -- she had the Stingers to protect her. Melody smiled grimly as her sensors picked up one Butcher ship coming in fast. No doubt they could see the small cluster of ships around the Leviathan and thought they were no threat. It would be the last mistake these Butchers ever made.
“One ship, but it is big. T-7 upgraded Titan model.” Keiko began listing off specs. “Plasma cannons and laser cutters. Plus quantum torpedoes.”
“Hard to hit small fast targets with torpedoes,” Zuva said.
“No, but they might use them on Swallowtail, so we’ll need to knock those out,” Melody replied. “Zuva, Tiki, I want you to target the torpedo bays and then plasma cannons. Any torpedo that gets launched needs to be blown up fast. Lily and Belle, stay close to Swallowtail. Red and Mei are playing pests--keep them busy while Rosa and I cripple the ship. Keiko, give them the talk and keep an eye on their communications.”
“On it.” Keiko sounded distracted as she started to hack into the Butchers’ communication channel. “Attention poachers, you a
re violating Universal Coalition Code 36 Section C in the aggressive endangerment of a protected species. The Leviathan Escort and Protection service reserves the right to use deadly force if necessary.”
Melody tuned out the rest of Keiko’s words, a bunch of legal mumbo jumbo that LEaP liked them to use just to cover all their bases. It didn’t really matter - the UC had condoned the use of deadly force to protect the Leviathans, certainly the Butchers weren’t above using deadly force on anyone who stood in their way.
The Butchers would never leave a hunt anyway, despite the warnings; Melody had a better shot at activating a Founder device with her words than being able to talk the Butchers down . Already the Butchers had begun firing on them, sharp and deadly laser cannons spitting out bright blue streams of energy across the dark. Swallowtail’s high-pitched cries dropped to a low rumbling as she picked up speed, but Leviathans were slow moving creatures and humanity had developed engines and machines that could move far faster than any living creature. She couldn’t outrun the Butchers, but she didn’t need to.
Melody and her crew were here to protect her.
The smaller, faster Stingers dodged lasers and shot down torpedoes. Melody spun her Stinger around and over the larger ship, focusing on trying to disable the engines and ultimately power down the Butcher ship. A streak of laser fire passed by out of the corner of her eye, barely missing her ship as she stabbed at the controls and sent the Stinger into an inverted spiral. Down, down and down as close as she dared to the other ship, with Rosa close behind. The shields were up, preventing them from getting their target. But those powerful shields would prove to be the Butcher’s downfall.
“Found it,” Rosa said. “Right near the fourth thruster, starboard side.”
“Start targeting,” Melody replied, zoning in on weak spot that Rosa had found.
Butcher ships used a dual shield system, with double and occasionally triple shields cycling over their ship. However, there was always an overlap where the multiple shields met, usually around the thrusters, to prevent overloading the system where the energy fields met. Almost like fault lines on land, two massive land masses pressed up against each other created cracks at a point where one could press deeper and trigger an earthquake--or break through with repeated firing at the weak point. Rosa had already started firing on the gap, her tiny ship weaving in and out between laser fire while spitting out photon bolts--highly powerful explosives that had a short range with a massive kick.
Melody joined in, her targeting screen already lighting up the shield gap point with red. “How long till it breaks?”
Rosa sounded grim. “It’s a double shield, so this will take longer. I wish more Butchers were dumb enough to keep with the triple shields.”
“Or like that one ship with four,” Melody said. Laser fire streaked by close enough to set off alarms, the shrill noise making her grit her teeth as it drilled straight through her skull. Without looking away from the screen, she flipped the alarms off with one hand, while continuing to blast at the weak point.
“Considering how spectacularly that Butcher ship exploded, I do not think many others will try,” Keiko said. “They are ignoring Red and Mei and targeting Swallowtail.”
“Mei, help us break the shield, we can’t disable weapons till we get it down. Everyone else keep Swallowtail safe. Initiate Star-net maneuver.”
There was a chorus of affirmatives as the rest of the Stingers began to weave a complicated pattern around Swallowtail, using ships and photon bolts to create a sort of net around the Leviathan. Not to contain, but to protect, preventing the torpedoes from reaching her. Melody focused on trying to take down the shields, the words and voices of her team becoming background noise as all she could hear was the shuddering whomph-whomph of the photon blasts and the bright flare of light from the shields every time they hit.
But she didn’t miss Red’s Stinger getting hit. She could hear the sudden fizzle and pop of Red’s comm overloading with the electrical surge from damaged systems. She could see out of the corner of her eye the bright point representing Red’s Stinger suddenly veering off, flaring red as emergency systems were activated.
“Mei, help your partner,” Melody said. “We’re almost through.”
“I got her.” Mei’s soft voice was nearly lost in the cacophony of alarms and battle noise, but Melody knew that she would take care of Red.
A few more blasts and then there was a bright starburst of light filling the viewscreen as the shields overloaded and failed. The Butcher ship frantically began firing faster, filling the dark with sharp streaks of laser fire and golden bursts of exploding torpedoes, but once the shields were down it was the end game for them. The Stingers maneuvered quickly and efficiently, reflexes and skill honed by countless battles. Torpedo bays and laser cannons were destroyed and the engines were knocked out, leaving the massive ship operating on emergency power and bare minimum life support. Melody could see the gigantic ship listing to one side, lights going dim as it powered down and tried to conserve what little energy it had left.
Swallowtail was safe, for now.
Keiko set up an emergency beacon as they conducted emergency repairs on Red’s Stinger (she was fine, just a little bruised) and they left the Butcher behind. If the poachers were smart, they would be gone before the UC sent anyone to help. Most poachers managed to escape; despite their warnings LEaP didn’t like using lethal force unless necessary. Melody couldn’t help but think it would make their job a lot easier if they simply killed them all anyway. The poachers would be back. They always came back. There was too much money at stake to let a few crazy women stand in their way.
“Yes!” Tiki’s voice was gleeful. “We destroy the penis-heads.”
Melody smiled; Tiki had discovered that humans liked to use terms for genitalia as insults and she was thrilled with that. It didn’t help that her species had upwards to five genders, which most Alarans viewed as something close to a hermaphrodite. Calling Tiki ‘female’ wasn’t entirely accurate, but it was as close as one could get with an Alaran and Tiki didn’t mind. From what Melody understood, Tiki had been banished from her home-world, though she had never said what had led to her punishment.
“Dick-heads, sweetie,” Zuva said.
“Or cock-suckers. That’s a good one,” Rosa laughed. “El cabrón.”
“Stop it, we don’t need to corrupt her.” Melody dabbed at the sweat on her forehead and unbuckled her harness. Even though the battle had lasted less than half an hour, she felt as if she had been strapped to that chair for days.
She floated away from the cramped cockpit in easy, fluid movements, moving almost as gracefully in zero-g as Swallowtail did. The Stinger was small, just barely big enough for one person, but it was practically her home. Even the LEaP home base, Savanna, didn’t feel as comfortable and…safe as her Stinger felt. She called her Stinger Sojourner though she didn’t tell the others that. They were all free to name and customize their Stingers, but Melody didn’t want them to know that sentimental part of her that gave names to an inanimate object. That soft part, the fragile side that could break if she showed it.
“What difference dick or penis?” Tiki asked, spawning a huge debate over the various words for ‘penis’ and which ones were better.
Melody grabbed a squeeze pouch of water, the cool liquid refreshing and silken across her tongue. She wanted to join the celebration, but it was hard to celebrate when there was a larger problem looming on the horizon. Bigger than any Butcher, far more dangerous than all the poachers was the fact that Swallowtail was pregnant.
A Leviathan hadn’t given birth in nearly a century.
~~~
It was the ‘night’ shift. Stingers were on autopilot while the pilots slept in shifts. Melody always took the first and last shift as team leader. She preferred to stay awake anyway--too many dreams, too many nightmares. They always came late at night, while she was vulnerable and weak, not on guard to keep the memories at bay.
Some m
emories weren’t all bad. Like the ones of her childhood, her loving family, images and scenes of Earth where she grew up. Her teenage years, when she turned into the ‘beauty’ of the family. With her long slender legs, smooth silken dark brown skin and the delicate curve of her neck, she had many heads turning every time she walked into a room. Her face was perfect with large, liquid dark eyes and full lips. But it was her hair that had been her pride and joy: a shade of brown so dark it was nearly black, with crimson highlights that shone in the sun and tight springy curls that would wreathe her face like a cloud when she unbound it. She had kept it long in intricate braids, weaving ribbons and beads into it until she had a crown framing her oval face and beautiful features.
Her husband had loved her hair too.
Acid filled Melody’s throat and mouth at the thought, the memory, of her husband. Calling him ‘husband’ had been a kindness, a requirement that he had made of her. That he had demanded of her, one of his many demands, and none of them she had been able to refuse. A captive couldn’t refuse her captor. Captor…that was a better name. Prisoner, that was what she had been too. Not a wife. A prisoner.
Earth had expanded fast once faster than light travel had been achieved. Many planets had been colonized, growing rapidly in population. Humans grew and spread out across the universe like a fungus or a disease. Something that couldn’t be cured and could barely be contained. But one problem did slow down humanity’s spread: the imbalance of gender in the colonies.
Many colonies had far more men than women, despite the UC’s attempt to send as many people out as possible. Melody was sure it was men who thought up that…solution which led to her being kidnapped. Bound and taken to a distant planet she had never even heard of at the tender age of 18. Tied up and presented to her husband like a gift, an object that had no say or opinion in the matter.
She later heard that he had paid good money for a ‘pretty one.’ Not that the price mattered to her. What mattered was she was stranded in a distant place with no way to contact family or friends, surrounded by people who thought she should be happy of all things. Happy to be contributing to humanity’s great strides into the galaxy, happy to be using her womb like all women were supposed to, giving birth and creating more humans to keep the disease strong and virile.
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