Kaya looked like she wanted to scream, but instead she swallowed hard and slowly nodded. “You’re right, Jellfree.”
I kissed her lightly on the forehead then whispered in her ear. “Come on, we’ve got work to do.”
Kaya’s sleeping form was sprawled on the bed-pad beside me and I stared down at her in amazement that such a beautiful woman would want anything to do with me. She deserved better, not just from me, but from life. She would never know anything but the life of a slave, yet I couldn’t escape the feeling that she was meant for so much more. Before I’d met her I had pretty much given hope of ever being free, but her free spirit had started to rub off on me and I’d begun to let myself hope again.
It seemed ridiculous, I know. What was there to hope for, really? The Qharr had slaughtered billions of our kind and there were more of them living on earth than humans . Our masters seemed perfectly content for humans to exist as a slave race and I doubted that they’d ever let our species die out, but there had to be more to live for than just serving Duvak! It hadn’t been too long ago that man had roamed the stars. Perhaps someday we’d transverse the cosmos again.
Kaya had a passion for life that I’d never seen in another slave, it was why I loved her so much, but it was also why I feared for her. It was relatively easy to hide things from the Qharr. They showed their emotions with complex body gestures and few of them cared to learn human facial expressions well enough to understand what they meant. Even so, they weren’t stupid, and Kaya wasn’t very good at hiding her emotions. There would come a day when her defiant attitude would come back to bite her in the ass, and I would probably be caught in the crossfire. Even so, I wouldn’t trade my time with her for all the world.
“Good morning,” Kaya muttered softly her eyes fluttered open as she let out a loud yawn.
“Morning.”
We’d spent dozens of nights together, but each night was as precious to me as the last.
“We probably ought to get down to the kitchen,” Kaya said suddenly sitting up and letting out a long sigh.
Duvak was considered quite lenient for a Qharr Corrector, but if either of us were late for our duties we would be severely punished, particularly if we were late on such an important day. I let out a sigh of my own and lumbered out of bed. We both dressed and shared a brief kiss before separating to make our way to the showers.
“Jeck, is the spotted g’tck dripping?” I called out over my shoulder.
He let out a loud yelp and I winced as a loud high-pitched wail filled the kitchen. “Not yet!”
I hated preparing g’tck of any sort, but spotted g’tck were particularly troublesome as they were harder than hell to kill. And I didn’t particularly like that in order to properly prepare g’tck you had to boil one alive. It was a cruel way to kill the creatures, but if you killed them any other way they’d release their stench pouches and make their meat all but inedible. Well really, only the Qharr could eat the stuff, it was toxic to humans. When a g’tck started to leak it meant the poor thing was dead and its stench pouch was properly boiled out.
I turned my back and went back to whisking the large vat of murr cream and did my best to block out the foul smell. I wasn’t particularly fond of Qharr cuisine, but according to Duvak I had a talent for preparing their food that few humans shared. Most human cooks tried to make the food more palatable to human tongues, I just cooked it the way I knew the Qharr would like it. I boiled the cream until it turned a sickly bluish-brown then switched the burner off and moved to check on the next dish which happened to be dog meat marinated in jum’kar juices.
I spent the better part of the morning dashing around the kitchen, and trying to get everything ready for the Overseer’s visit. By the time it was all prepared to my satisfaction I was both mentally and physically exhausted, but my day was far from over. After a second trip to the showers, I got dressed and made my way to the meeting hall where Duvak along with a select group of slaves and Qharr would await the coming of the Overseer
Chapter Two
“Kaya,” I whispered between gritted teeth and tugged at her arm. “Who is this guy? What happened to Jeck?”
He certainly looked harmless enough, standing there holding a tray of food peering off into the distance with a look of disinterest. He was short, shorter even than most women, and my first impression was that he was only a teenager, but on closer inspection I realized he must have been at least in his mid twenties. He had dark circles under his eyes, a goatee growing from out his chin like a little bush, and despite his appearance his presence set me on edge.
Kaya bit her lip as cast her eyes down to the floor. “He… uh got into an accident and broke his leg. I had to find someone to replace him at the last moment.”
I didn’t like it, I loved Kaya, but I knew when I was being lied to. I didn’t doubt Jeck had broken his leg, but I knew Kaya well enough to realize she was probably the one responsible for breaking it in the first place. The two had never really gotten along and if Jeck had provoked her she may have let her temper get the better of her. It wouldn’t have been the first time that she’d attacked him.
I sighed and shook my head. “Just makes sure this new guy knows what’s expected,” I said releasing my grip on her shoulder.
She smiled nervously and nodded. “Oh, he knows.”
I got the distinct impression that Kaya was keeping something from me, but I had no time to find out what it was. I doubt even had I known, I could have prevented what followed.
“He better, if he doesn’t he could get us all killed!”
When the Qharr had conquered Earth they’d re-purposed many human structures to suit their needs. The research compound in which we all worked was one such building, but standing there in the meeting hall I never would have guessed that the place had been built by my kind. Most of the compound clearly showed signs of human style architecture, but the meeting hall had been completely rebuilt to give it that distinctive organic look that the Qharr favored. The walls had no corners giving the room an almost egg-shape, and were coated with the sort of black hardened resin that our gray-skinned masters used in nearly all their constructions. Then there was the smell, it wasn’t one I could easily describe. Whenever I stepped inside the meeting hall my nostrils begin to tingle and I got whiff of something faintly spicy that reminded me of gilish grinds.
The doors to the chamber flew open and a quartet of barely-clothed female slaves appeared in the doorway, swaying into the room as if they were moving to some unheard melody. The slaves glided to a halt in the center of the chamber and spun around on the balls of their feet to face the doorway. In marched a tall Qharr woman who was trailed by a pair of guards who were each a good foot shorter than their charge. Gray-skin females tended to be taller than their male counterparts, but their bodies weren’t nearly as bulky and like human women they were on average physically weaker than their male counterparts. The alien woman that stepped into the room looked to be an exception to the rule. She was nearly eight feet tall and her stone-gray body was ripped with muscle.
Her blue hair marked her as a member of the Edant K’teth, an order of elite soldiers whose exploits were legendary among the Qharr. I’d never seen one before that day, but I’d heard the guards within the compound speak of them. Whenever the topic came up they spoke of the Edant K’teth in hushed tones filled with awe and reverence. I didn’t put much credence to any of the stories, but many claimed that members of the order had special powers that enabled them to do amazing feats some of which were said to defy the laws of physics.
“Duvak!” she bellowed with a deep guttural and almost masculine voice, that was typical of a gray skin woman.
The Corrector appeared from the opposite set of doors and walked quietly through the meeting hall before stopping in front of the newcomer. He tapped on his left elbow three times, then brought his right hand and placed an open palm against the flat of his neck. “Va
lk Bysk, Baend!”
The Qharr woman brushed at Duvak’s chest in amusement and let out several terse coughs. “Now there really is no reason to be so formal, Duvak. We have known each other far too long for that!”
“As you wish Jahal,” Duvak said with a loud cough of his own.
I looked over at Kaya and noted an all too familiar half-crazed look on her face that sent cold chills down my spine. The last time I’d seen that expression on her face she managed to enrage Duvak and nearly got us both killed. As if to affirm my fears, the whole chamber went dark, and everything went to hell.
Bright flashes of light pierced the darkness as a loud angry roar escaped from the throat of one of the Qharr guards. I dove to the ground when I realized what was happening. Someone had decided to fight against the gray skins and I’d been caught in the middle of it. I started crawling toward the door, but I’d only made it a few feet when I felt a hand on my shoulder. There was just enough light from the passing phase blasts that I was able to make out Kaya’s shadowy form kneeling next to me.
“Going somewhere, Jellfree?” she whispered staring down at me with that all too familiar manic look on her face. She was holding something in her hands and I had to do a double take when I realized that it was a phase pistol.
All the pieces fell into place as I let in a sharp intake of breath. “You’re a rebel!?”
She nodded and held the weapon out to me. “The way I figure it, Jellfree, you’re either with us or against us.”
It was insane! Kaya a rebel? There hadn’t been a resistance group large enough to post a serious threat to the Qharr in almost ten years! And yet… even with Kaya holding a gun in front of me I still loved her. It sounds nuts I know, but love had made men do some pretty crazy things before. Defy my masters? Just a few hours ago the very thought of it would have been inconceivable to me. Don’t get me wrong, I hated the Qharr, but defying them was a pretty sure way to get yourself killed.
“Jellfree!” she yelled dropping the pistol as she spun around and extracting a second and much smaller weapon from her shirt sleeve and began firing into the darkness.
I reached out to grab the gun, not to use it. Not really. I didn’t know what I planned to do with the damned thing. The lights flicked back on and Kaya dove to the ground just as a bolt of energy fizzled past where her head had been. I felt my jaw drop as I looked around at all the corpses scattered throughout the room most of them were Qharr, but there were quite a few humans among them. A group of about ten rebels stood in a circle surrounding Duvak and the Overseer, the only surviving gray-skins, and they all had phase pistols trained on their opponents.
“So, this is how it’s going to be, Jellfree?” Duvak called from across the room.
I clenched my hands around the pistol and let out a long string of curses under my breath. A lump formed in my throat and I fought down the urge to scream. There wasn’t any going back, Duvak thought I was with the rebels and once the Corrector made up his mind nothing would convince him to change it. Even if he were killed there would be an investigation once the Qharr Ascendancy caught wind of Kaya’s little rebellion. So that was it, I really only had two choices as shitty as they happened to be. I could either join the rebels or wait around for the Qharr to come and kill me.
“Yeah, it’s how it fucking is. I’m done being your spineless slave!” I spat glaring at Duvak.
Damn, that felt good. All my life I’d been holding myself back, keeping myself from saying anything that would get me killed and now to finally be able to speak my mind… It was liberating!
“I-I think it’s time we get out of here, isn’t it?” A soft, yet masculine voice said from my side. It belonged to Jeck’s replacement, Jaysen.
“Not without our dear friend Jahal here,” Kaya said with grim smile as she raised her pistol.
The Overseer let out a long booming cough then she leapt high up into the air. Kaya cursed raising her pistol and traced the path of the Qharr female’s ascent, but didn’t shoot. The other rebels didn’t show the same restraint and opened fire pelleting her path with phase bursts. “Stop firing! We need her alive, dammit!”
“Fools! You have no idea of what I’m capable of!” The Overseer’s voice boomed through the chamber just before she leapt back to the ground and landed with a loud thud that shook the whole chamber.
Someone screamed out in sudden pain and I turned to watch as Duvak slammed into the nearest of the rebels. I was tempted to raise my gun and fire, but I’d never used a phase pistol in my life and I knew I had almost no chance of hitting my former master. I didn’t dare fire for fear of hitting one of my new allies. Not that I was particularly overjoyed with them, but if I stood any chance of getting out of that predicament alive, I’d need their help.
Duvak leapt at another rebel even as gun fire whizzed all around him and the rest of the chamber. After finishing his second opponent, the Corrector’s eyes locked on mine and I fought down my panic as he came tearing across the chamber toward me.
Still grappling to fight down my terror I raised my gun and swallowed hard then fired. Duvak leapt out of the way and the phase bolt splashed harmlessly against the wall. Before I could fire another shot, he leapt in front of me. His gigantic hand wrapped around my throat and he lifted me from the ground. My mind flashed back to my father’s death and in a very strange way it seemed fitting that I should die the same way and by the very same hands.
I clutched at my throat and gasped for breath clawing at Duvak’s flesh as I fought to free myself from his iron grip, but my efforts were in vain. As my life slowly drained away my thoughts turned to my sister, Becca. Was she still alive? It had been almost ten years since I’d seen her and yet in that moment the pain of separation was as deep as it had been when they’d forced us apart. Anger swelled inside of me and as my consciousness began to fade away I remembered the phase pistol that by some miracle was still gripped in my hand. My strength had been almost completely drained away, but I fought against my weariness and managed to raise my hand and pull the trigger.
The resulting flash was so brilliant it temporarily blinded me, but it seemed to have done its job because I collapsed to my knees. Air flooded back into my lungs and once my vision cleared I was able to make out Duvak’s inert form beside me. I didn’t know enough about Qharr physiology to check for signs of life so with I tired sigh I climbed back onto my feet and staggered away and back into the fight.
While I’d been busy with Duvak the Overseer had killed four rebels and left another to die. She went from crawling across the ceiling to leaping all over the damn place. She moved fast and gravity appeared to have no hold on her as she scurried about the walls and ceiling, and worse still the phase fire of the panicked rebels seemed to have no effect on her. Shit, maybe the stories about the Edant K’teth were true after all…
“We need her alive!” Kaya screamed repeating her previous protests with growing futility.
Since the phase fire from the others didn’t seem to be doing much of anything I tucked the pistol into my waistband and spun around looking for something I could use for a weapon. If the Overseer couldn’t be killed with phase weapons maybe a low-tech solution was the answer or at least that’s what I told myself. I didn’t care about Kaya’s plans. I just wanted to get out of this mess in one piece. I found a splintered leg from one of the buffet tables on the floor a few feet away and snatch it from the ground as the screams of another rebel filled the chamber.
I spun around with makeshift spear in hand, adrenaline rushing through me, and caught sight of Overseer who was speeding across the chamber toward Kaya. My fatigued was all but forgotten as I let out a blood-curdling scream and went peeling across the chamber in a mad rush to intercept the gray-skin. The Overseer was nearly on top of her by the time I arrived and I did the only thing I could think to do, I slammed into Kaya and flung her out of the way. I held the table leg out in front of me, clenched my teeth and waited for her to come barreling
into me.
Chapter Three
The Overseer flew at me with terrifying speed, but just as she was almost on me she coughed, her nostrils flared and I knew that I’d caught her off guard. I think she must have scrambled backward, but she already had built up an incredible amount of forward momentum and she just slid across the floor and kept on coming. I thrust my weapon at her chest and closed my eyes as she went soaring into it. I tried to resist the sudden urge to fling myself aside, but it really didn’t matter, the overseer was on me too fast to do anything but stand there and take the full brunt of her attack. She hit me with so much force that I was thrown back into the wall then collapsed under the weight of her body.
I opened my eyes and groaned. Everything was dark, I couldn’t see a damned thing and my whole body was throbbing. My chest burst with sudden a nd brilliant pain, but it faded away so quickly that it left my wondering whether or not it had been real. Light flooded my vision and it felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from me and I realized that’s exactly what had happened. I watched a group of rebel’s lift the Overseer and cast her dead body aside. Kaya’s face appeared seemingly as if from nowhere and I thought it must have been the most beautiful sight in the world.
“Holy Hanna!” I exclaimed latching onto Kaya’s hand and staring up at her panting heavily.
“Jellfree? Shit, are you okay?”
“I hurt like hell.”
I was no stranger to pain, having been beaten by Qharr guards on several occasions, for reasons real or imagined, but it had been a long time since I’d been so badly injured. My head was pounding and, there was this odd feeling in my chest as if thousands of tiny insects were crawling around under my skin . It wasn’t painful exactly, but it certainly wasn’t a pleasant sensation. It was almost strong enough to keep my mind off the pain… almost.
Battle For Earth Page 2