“It was nothing. I don’t have any feelings for him,” I muttered shaking my head.
“Really?” she replied and began to walk away.
She paused craning her neck around to look at me. “Then why’d you kiss him?” she asked just before she withdrew and left me alone to muddle over what she had said.
“Find cover!” Kaya yelled as a Qharr ship appeared just over the horizon.
I put on the speed and leapt at the nearest bush, a moment later I was joined by the others. “Damn,” Kaya panted. “That didn’t take them long. You told them, in the distress call; there was a reactor leak, right?”
“For the twentieth time, yes!” Jaysen hissed back.
“I don’t get it,” I whispered. “Why would you tell them there was a reactor leak?”
Kaya smiled mischievously, “The reactor fluid the Qharr use is incredibly unstable when exposed to air. Even the smallest spark can cause a massive explosion. The rescue ship will land a safe distance away. Once they send a team in to investigate the leak we blow the Phoenix up and they naturally assume it was a result of the reactor leak. While the Qharr inside of the ship have their attention on the blast we attack and take control of the ship.”
I shook my head and grinned back at her. “It’s freaking brilliant, but you do know it’s completely insane, right?”
Kaya rolled her eyes and shook her head. “All the best plans are.”
“Why don’t you hang back? The four of us should be able to take care of the Qharr inside the ship just fine,” I said suddenly on an impulse.
Kaya let out a long dramatic sigh. “What and miss out on all the fun?”
“Well, I thought because you…” I trailed off as she issued me a warning glance. No one else knew yet that she was pregnant and I guess she wanted to keep it that way.
“Fine,” I growled back. “Just don’t get killed!”
“Relax Lexa,” Strave said suddenly putting a hand on my shoulder. “Kaya knows what she is doing.”
I glared back at him, but bit my tongue to keep myself from saying anything I might regret.
“You know,” Khala said thoughtfully appearing at my side. “If you were closer when that ship exploded I could absorb a lot of power.”
‘You want me to get incinerated?’ I thought at her incredulously.
“Trust me. I’m not saying you should climb inside the ship even I can’t survive the brunt of a blast that powerful. Just get close enough for me to absorb some of the energy.”
‘How close?’
“Oh, about ten feet,” she grinned and winked at me.
“Ten feet?!” I hissed aloud. “You’ve got to be insane!”
Khala shook her head and let out a throaty laugh. “Remember that cluster of boulders on the oth–”
‘Forget it!’ I cut her short. ‘I’m not going to do it.’
“Oh very well.” She rolled her eyes then vanished with a puff of pretend smoke.
“Khala?” Kaya asked from nearby.
I nodded and let out a long sigh. “She wanted me to get closer to the blast so she could absorb some of its energy.”
“Jesus!” Jaysen cursed. “You told her no, right?”
“No! I told her I’d gladly let myself be blown up! Of course, I told her no!”
“Everyone be quiet!” Farris howled suddenly. “The ship is coming in for a landing!”
I looked up and watched as the Qharr K’tarth class repair ship extended its landing gear and slowly inched toward the ground and settled there with a loud groan. Unlike most, Qharr vessels, the repair ship was quite cumbersome in appearance and resembled an uppercase “B”, but like all Qharr craft it still had an organic almost insectine look to it.
We watched nervously as the ship rested there and nothing happened. Finally, there came a loud hiss as a ramp extended from out of the vessel’s side. A group of five Qharr, all hazardous materials suits, stepped off the ramp and made their way toward the wrecked Phoenix completely unaware that they were walking into a trap.
“How big a complement does a rescue ship like that generally have,” Kaya whispered looking over at Strave.
Straffen scratched his chin, then whispered back, “If memory serves a minimum crew would be eight, but max wouldn’t be any more than eleven or twelve.”
“Those aren’t bad odds. Especially if we catch them off guard,” Jaysen added.
“Fuck if we could be so lucky,” Farris added growling softly then turning to glare at me.
“Shhh!” Kaya urged suddenly. “They’re at the airlock!”
The Qharr team stood outside the Phoenix as the foremost manipulated the control panel. Then the entry hatch slid open and they each stepped inside.
“What are you waiting for? Press the button!” Farris urged as the entry hatch came shut behind them.
“Not yet,” Kaya whispered between clenched teeth.
“Press the damn button!” Farris growled and grabbed at her hand.
“Fucking hell Farris!” Kaya yelled pushing him away pulling her phase pistol out of its holster and pressed it against his head. “Try something like that again and I’ll blow your damned head off, got it?”
Farris gritted his teeth then nodded. “Got it.”
Kaya glared at Farris one final time them held the detonator in front of her face before pressing the button and the Phoenix exploded with enough force that the ground itself shook. I held my hands over my ears and gritted my teeth against the roar of the blast then glanced at Kaya as the sound began to subside. She nodded and without a word I took off running toward the rescue ship.
The others weren’t far behind and I slowed down to what felt like a crawl so they could keep up. We closed the distance to the rescue ship and I bound up the entry ramp in two quick leaps. I waited for the others to catch up then burst inside.
“Jaysen! Farris! You wait here! Don’t let any of the Qharr to get out!” Kaya called over her shoulder then along with Strave followed me down the right fork.
Judging from the sound of their feet on the base deck Strave and Kaya weren’t far behind as I made my way through the ship. It didn’t take me long to find what served as a control center and when I stepped through the door frame I didn’t stop to think I just acted. Two Qharr, a tall slender female who was missing an eye and an older male who only had half of his right hand, rose to their feet as I planted a fist into the head of a third, a male whose body was riddled with scars.
The blow proved effective and the soldier collapsed face-forward out of his seat unconscious. Kaya appeared in the doorway toting her big-ass phase rifle and opened fire on the nearest of the two remaining Qharr and Strave took out the final with a single phase blast to the chest.
“That went better than I could have expected,” Kaya said looking around the bridge with an appraising eye then stepped back into the hallway. “Come on, we need to look over the rest of the ship.”
“What a clunker!” Jaysen groaned planting both his hands on his hips as he looked around the bridge.
“Well the Qharr don’t exactly see rescue ships as the most glorious of rides. Most soldiers that get assigned to them are maimed so badly that they’re almost no good in a fight which probably explains how we took them out so easily,” Strave replied stroking his chin.
“We were lucky it was such a small ship. If the crew compliment had been any bigger it wouldn’t have been so easy to take them out,” Kaya added swinging around on her seat to meet his gaze.
“Jaysen,” she added suddenly. “How long till you can get the ship underway?”
Jaysen shrugged. “Well, I don’t know five, ten minutes maybe. It really depends on how fast I can find the transponder and shut it off. This ship has a completely different layout than the Phoenix and since I have almost no experience with this class of ship I can only guess at where it might be.”
“Well, I can help with that!” Khala pronounced suddenly fro
m my side. “Until about thirty years ago these G’tarth class ships served as light cruisers in the Qharr armada. Only a few of them are still in service and they have all been retro fitted to act as repair craft like this one. Pled K’dem, one of my previous hosts, commanded a G’tarth class cruiser back when they were still very new. She knew everything there was to know about them and she shared quite a bit of that knowledge with me.”
“Thank you so much for the life story,” I replied dryly before turning to Jaysen. “Khala says she can help find the transponder. She has some experience with this class of ship.”
“Perfect!” Jaysen responded with an enthusiastic smile.
Farris glowered at me, but with a warning glance from Kaya he gritted his teeth and didn’t say a word.
“Great while those two… three,” Kaya corrected glancing at me then back to Strave, “are working on that I want you and Farris to go retrieve the doctor from where we hid him.”
“Fuck, whatever you say your royal majesty!” Farris pronounced then traipsed out of the bridge without waiting for Strave.
Strave shrugged then shook his head and followed Farris out of the bridge.
“Right then,” Jaysen said. “Why don’t we get started?”
Chapter Two
“Where the fuck are we supposed to go?!” Farris demanded pounding his fist against the console. “We don’t even know how the Qharr found us or whether or not we were betrayed and who’s to say if they found one base they didn’t find more!”
“I am aware of this!” Kaya replied coldly glaring back at him.
“Can you get this piece of shit in the air, already?!” she snapped glaring at me.
“Sorry,” she said with a wince. “Farris must be really getting to me. Just, please get the ship in the air. I have a contact in Scottsdale who should be able to clear some things up for us.”
I nodded, then closed my eyes and gave control over to Khala who promptly converged on the navigation panel. “Where should I set the course?”
“Set us for a general course toward the Rocky Mountains. Mara and I setup a cache of supplies there a few years back,” Kaya replied.
“Isn’t that a bit risky?” Jaysen asked. “If the Qharr found our hideout what’s to say they haven’t found the cache too?”
Kaya shook her head, “Mara and I were the only ones who knew about it. Unless you think either Mara or I were traitors there shouldn’t be any reason to worry.”
“Pain!” A strange voice suddenly proclaimed. “There is much of it!”
“Doctor!” Kaya said scrambling to her feet. “God, you had us worried.”
“Indeed? What has transpired?” he tooted his hands moving across his broken and bent face tubes.
Kaya repeated back what had happened since the attack and the doctor sat there silently and listened. When she finished the doctor threw his head back and let out a long high pitched wail.
“Vakrexid is deeply saddened by the loss of Mara. She took me in when no other would. She shall be missed as shall the others,” he quivered then suddenly reached up to grasp hold of his center broken face tube and promptly broke it off.
“Good Lord!” Jaysen gasped. “Doesn’t that hurt?!”
“No, the tubes themselves do not have any pain receptors. They are similar to your fingernails in many respects and Vakrexid has been meaning to trim them for some time. Although I did not wish them to be quite so short as it makes feeding slightly more difficult,” he tooted grabbing at his third undamaged tube and broke it off. “Uniform length is most important. It would be very helpful to Vakrexid if I had a proper pair of tube trimmers. Unfortunately, Vakrexid have been unable to procure any in many—”
“Doctor all that is just fascinating and all, but in case you haven’t noticed things are looking pretty dire,” Kaya said suddenly cutting him short.
Vakrexid blinked. “Of that I am well aware, but there is little we can do at the moment.”
“Don’t you feel… anything? I mean Mara was your friend.” Kaya said blinking away tears.
“Indeed, I feel her loss as keenly as if she were one of my hatch-mates,” the doctor said reaching up to absently trace his hands across his broken face tubes. “My kind… we are not as you. We feel our emotions as keenly as any human, but visible displays… they do not come easily to us. We were designed in such a way that we would not be hindered by emotions.”
“Your race was designed?” Khala gasped suddenly turning away from the control panel to stare slack-jawed at the doctor.
“Indeed, by our gods, the Phyrr Lesch,” the doctor cocked his head.
“The Phyrr Lesch are no gods,” Khala said narrowing my eyes then looked away.
“What would you know of it, K’teth?” the doctor shot back.
Khala slowly shook my head, “I have memories passed onto me be the first H’ra. They were flesh and blood just like you.”
“Genetic memory, most fascinating,” the doctor mused. “How is it that this first H’ra came to meet the Phyrr Lesch?”
“The Phyrr Lesch were the creators of our kind. They made us so that we could further enhance their peacekeeping force, the Qharr,” she replied quietly. “They disappeared shortly after creating us.”
“Dear god!” Strave proclaimed. “But that would mean…”
“That the Qharr and the Dexagarmetrax share a common history and perhaps even common ancestry,” Kaya muttered with a shake of her head.
“This is most strange,” the doctor twittered. “Would you not have memory of my kind?”
“The first H’ra did not pass on such knowledge it is possible that she did encounter your early ancestors but chose not to pass on the memories. Qharr religion does, however speak of your kind. They name you the ‘forsaken ones’. The holy books don’t say much else, but there is a verse claiming that any Qharr who kills one of you will be corrupted by their blood.”
“Mara always suspected there was some tie between the Qharr and the Dexagarmetrax, but I doubt she would have ever guessed that it was something like this,” Kaya shook her head.
“I didn’t even know the Qharr had a religion,” Jaysen mused absently.
“There is much about the Qharr that has been kept secret. If they knew I had shared this much they would likely have me destroyed. Although my betrayal would already warrant a death sentence so it really is a moot point,” Khala replied.
“You know Doc,” Jaysen frowned. “If someone had just told me that the beings I worshiped weren’t gods I’d be pretty upset.”
Vakrexid blurped. “Even if what Khala says is true. They are still my creators. If they were mortal creatures does that make them any less worthy of my devotion?”
“Fuck, why the hHell should we give a damn?” Farris said suddenly folding his arms across his chest and scowling.
Strave let out a long sigh. “As much as I hate to admit it. The jackass does have a point. These revelations as strange and disturbing as they happen to be are not particularly relevant to our present undertaking.”
“Right,” Kaya muttered. “Khala how far are we away from our destination?”
“If the navigation array is correct, and I see no reason to suspect otherwise. We are approximately an hour away at full speed,” Khala replied back.
“Good, set a course for the following coordinates,” she said streaming off a string of seemingly random numbers. “That’s where we’ll find the supply cache.”
“Just a moment,” Khala said abruptly. “There’s an incoming transmission.”
“What? Who could be trying to contact us?” Kaya demanded.
Khala tapped the corner of the control panel. The screen flashed and a long scrolling list of characters appeared arrayed across it. “It looks like a general broadcast to all Qharr vessels. They’re warning them to be on the lookout for a rogue transport that has been commandeered by a group of human rebels.”
“Well, that took longer to get out than I would have guessed,” Kaya sighed.
“What?! The other is what?!” Farris demanded.
“The second is a list of possible places where they think we may try to hide. Including what the documents list as ‘fallen rebel strongholds’,” Khala said glancing at Farris irritably.
“What? Let me see!” Kaya said, leaping across the control room and pushed Khala out of the way.
“Fuck! There’s got to be at least twenty locations listed here. God, there’s our base in Idaho and the one in Texas! God dammit!” she cursed bowing her head as tears cascaded down her cheeks. “The rest of these… they have to have been ours too. Somehow they knew where they all were! There isn’t a single rebel who knows the location of all our bases! How the fucking hell did they find them!?”
“You’re jumping to conclusions!” Strave proclaimed. “There’s no way we can know that for sure! They could be sending out this information to try and bait us! We can’t–”
“Bait us?! That doesn’t make any sense!” Jaysen interrupted. “I think the only thing that message would do is drive us into hiding!”
“And that’s exactly what we have to do,” Kaya said raising her head and locking gazes with Jaysen. “Go into hiding. We need to give it some time so those bastards can grow complacent again. Any attempts to contact the movement and we could alert those gray-skinned bastards to our whereabouts.”
“No!” the doctor protested. “We must speak privately before you make such a decision.”
“Privately? Doctor–”
“There are things you must know. There is still hope. Mara prepared for this eventuality,” the doctor interrupted Kaya his hands quivering.
“Mara,” Kaya mused letting out a sound that seemed to be halfway between a sob and chuckle. “Is there anything she didn’t prepare for?”
“Khala keep the ship on course. The doctor and I, we’ll be back very shortly…” she trailed off then glanced at Vakrexid and added. “Most likely,” before stepping out of the bridge with towering alien in tow.
Battle For Earth Page 16