“Change of plans,” Kaya said stepping back onto the bridge about twenty minutes later.
“What? What’s going on?” Jaysen asked spinning around to glance at her.
“Put this damn thing in autonav and give control of that body back to Lexa. She and I are going to have a long talk,” Kaya demanded glaring at the symbiote. I half expected her to tap her foot on the ground and begin counting down, but she never did either of those things. “Once we retrieve our supplies our destination will be a short stop into Old Scottsdale City from there we’ll be headed to compound Het’ma.”
What reason could she possibly have for sending us off to compound Het’ma? I’d spent most of my youth in that damn place and the idea of returning wasn’t very appealing. Then again willingly going to any slave compound didn’t sound all that fun either. There was my sister to consider… there was a chance she might still be there and I think I would do just about anything if it meant seeing her again.
Khala turned away from her tapping my fingers against the control panel. “It is done,” she said closing my eyes.
I let out a long sigh as I resumed control of my body, “Kaya, what’s this all about?”
“Just… follow me. The doctor and I, we’ll explain everything,” she shook her head and motioned for me to follow as she turned away.
I complied, following her out of the bridge, down a short hallway and into a small room that looked to be the crew quarters. The doctor was waiting inside, and he cocked his head to the side as Kaya and I entered the room.
“Vakrexid is most unsure that this is a good idea,” the doctor tooted.
“Lexa and you are the only pe–” she stopped abruptly glancing at the doctor. “–beings I can trust. Strave, Farris, and Jaysen all knew the location of our base which means any one of them could have betrayed us.”
“And the doctor?” I asked.
Kaya sighed. “Mara trusted the doctor with information that would have been devastating to us if the Qharr had caught wind of it.”
“Devastating? What’s to say the doctor didn’t–”
Kaya cut me short. “No, the nature of this information wouldn’t have led to the Qharr finding our bases. This involves the salvation of Earth. ”
“What how?” I shook my head.
“There is much Vakrexid has been asked to hold back, but it pertains to the biometric key and what it gives you access to. Kaya asked me to give you these coordinates should either her or I die,” he replied flapping his arms up and down.
“Me? Why?” I asked folding my arms across my chest.
Kaya pursed her lips. “Because I want you to be my second.”
“Your second? You can’t be serious? Why on Earth would you pick me? You can’t honestly believe that I actually have any idea how to lead?”
“You’re the only person I can trust and besides you know how to be in charge,” she planted her hands on her hips. “You used to run a kitchen, remember?”
“Running a kitchen and leading people into battle is completely different Kai, you know that as well as I do!”
“Obviously, but I already know you can keep your head in a fight and you do know how to give orders,” she replied.
“You know what? It doesn’t matter because you’re not going to die!”
Kaya rolled her eyes and sighed. “God, if I would be so lucky. I’ve watched so many of my friends die, and I’ve always known there was a good possibility that I could too. I have to be prepared for that eventuality, Lexa.”
I nodded. “So then what’s next?”
“Well, we have your uncle’s biometric key. The next step is to find your sister,” Kaya said folding her arms across her chest.
“The question I keep asking myself is why didn’t Mara make contact with Becca once she realized I couldn’t use the key?” I asked.
“We’ve managed to keep an eye on her from a distance, but every time one of our agents tried to make contact they disappeared. We think her husband might have gotten to them. He’s an enforcer for the compound’s head Corrector, Taevok Typel. ”
“Husband?” I blinked. That was a surprise, Becca had always been quite adamant that she’d never get married and to an enforcer, of all people. What could my sister have been thinking?
“Someone named, Jerem Anders, do you know him?”
“Shit! She married Jerem? Holy hell that asshole used to make our lives miserable!” I cursed. “There’s no way Becca would willingly marry him, but God if he’s enforcer now she might not have had any choice. He always had a thing for Becca, but she hated him! The Qharr would have to go and make that damned bully an enforcer, wouldn’t they?”
“That’s why we need you. You might be able to reach your sister where no one else has been able to and you’re special abilities will help you take care of her husband should he cause you any trouble,” she folded her arms across her chest.
“What are we waiting for? We’ve gotta be coming up on that supply cache of yours!” I said putting my hands on my hips then whirled around, burst through the doors and bolted down the hallway toward the bridge.
“We’re close,” Kaya assured us as she led us down yet another mountain path.
“Fuck, I hope so,” Farris cursed.
We’d been hiking up the nearly overgrown mountain path for almost an hour and despite Kaya’s repeated assurances that we were close I couldn’t escape the feeling that we had become completely lost. As someone who had spent nearly the entirety of his… her life within the slave compounds I did not feel at all at home outside at. Still, it was better than living under the thumbs of the Qharr.
“It feels good to be outdoors,” Khala remarked suddenly, and then shrugged. “It is in the nature of every being to seek to create for themselves a safe environment. The wilderness is a wild unpredictable place, but I think at least in some small way most intelligent beings crave to return to a more primal and animalistic state.”
“Isn’t there a reason why most intelligent beings build cities to escape the wilderness? And why do you like it so much? Weren’t the K’teth made artificially?”
“We were engineered true, but I’ve long suspected the Phyrr Lesch harvested genetic code from other species in order to create us,” she replied absently then turned to me and let out a sigh. “This place is beautiful, but it doesn’t compare to the beauty of Tel’c. It makes me feel a little homesick just thinking about it.”
“Tel’c as in the Qharr homeworld?” I scrunched my nose up and glared at her finding an image of a harsh yet strangely beautiful wilderness with brightly-colored carnivorous plant-life and fierce creatures with armored hides and massive clawed paws. The vision was a bit too vivid to have come from my imagination and I realized that it must have originated from Khala’s memories. The realization was disturbing, but it wasn’t the first time something from my symbiote’s mind had popped in my head and I doubted it would be the last. “I suppose it is appealing in a dangerous and strange sort of way, but I hardly think it comes close to Earth. If I were you I’d forget how beautiful it is ’cause there isn’t a chance in hell you’ll ever going back.”
“We’re here!” Kaya pronounced coming to an abrupt halt in front of a large boulder.
“Where?” Strave asked looking around and absently scratching at his beard.
She rolled her eyes then knelt down next to the boulder and pressed her hand against the side. There was a click and a panel popped free to reveal a control interface. “You have thirty seconds to enter the correct passcode,” a female voice intoned.
“Now let’s see,” Kaya muttered her hands trace across the screen as she inputted different characters. Finally, she finished mashing her thumb against the bottom of the screen.
“Passcode accepted,” the panel intoned again and the entire side of the boulder swung open with a loud hiss.
“Niiice!” Strave said eagerly reaching into the now open cavity to pull out a phase pistol. “It l
ooks new!”
“Alright, everyone grab as much as you can hopefully we can get it all in one trip,” she said reaching inside to pull a large white bag free.
“Damn I forgot how heavy some of this shit was,” she grunted flinging it over her shoulder.
“Give it to me,” I said suddenly lifting it from her arms and throwing it over my shoulder with about as much effort as it took to lift a bag of feathers.
“That is so damned unfair,” she grumbled grabbing a second sack which I promptly snatched out of her hand.
I grabbed a third sack from her hands then waited for the others to load up. Farris and Strave took the largest loads next to me, of course, and Kaya took the last two bags, which were relatively small.
“Let’s get back to the ship, before the good doctor starts to wonder if we’re coming back at all,” Kaya said and without another word we made our way back to the ship.
Upon arriving back at the ship, we went through the supplies. The bulk of it was weapons, ranging from phase pistols to explosives but there appeared to be a small selection of other things including food, medical supplies, and clothing.
“God damn, what’s this all for?” I said rifling through the clothes.
Kaya shrugged, “Disguises. They’re actually the main reason I chose this cache. If we’re going to sneak into the compound, we’re going to need a disguise for you. We have what we need to make hair dye. Let’s face it, that blue hair is just too fucking conspicuous.”
“And my eyes?” I asked.
Kaya pursed her lips, “Well… I was hoping the symbiote could help with that she changed your eyes once maybe she can do it again.”
“I’ll help,” said appearing beside me. “On one condition.”
“You pick now to start making demands?” I grimaced then shook my head; I really didn’t want to get drawn into an argument with her. “Just tell me what it is.”
“You help me find a host for my offspring,” she replied.
“What?! No, I’m not going to let you infest any other humans with more like you!” I protested fighting the sudden urge to swing my fist at Khala’s illusory form.
Kaya glanced at me with wide eyes, but she didn’t say a word as I glared at Khala.
“My kind were created so that we would be extremely limited in how often we can produce offspring. I happen to be in a very important phase of my reproduction cycle. The infant symbiote that is growing within us is another H’ra. If my child does not find a host she will die and it will be many, many years before I am able to spawn another Queen. Please, I am begging you. The future of both our races is riding on this!” she pleaded a single tear running down her face.
“Cut the waterworks. You don’t have any damned tear-ducts so don’t pretend you do!” I yelled then grabbed at the sides of my head as I tried to think of some other alternative.
If the K’teth to other humans what would become of humanity? What if we gained freedom from the Qharr only to turn around and find ourselves enslaved to the K’teth? But was it slavery? The K’teth were extremely limited in what they could do. Khala had been able to change me physically, but she couldn’t take away my freedom of will away and I was almost certain by that point that she could only gain control of my body if I let her. I was stronger and capable of much greater physical feats than an ordinary human, but I’d lost far too much to make it worth it. Despite all that I knew what I had to do.
“Shit!” I cursed finally. “I guess I have no choice, but I have a condition of my own. I don’t want you putting a symbiote into anyone unless they are willing.”
“If that is what it takes then I swear it. To the fullest of my abilities I will ensure that no offspring of mine shall be joined with a human against their will,” Khala nodded locking gazes with me.
“It’s agreed… God, I think I just made a deal with the damned devil. Change me… do it before I reconsider!” I yelled and clenched my eyes shut waiting for the symbiote to begin the transformation. I waited for what had to be a good thirty seconds then opened my eyes again. I opened my mouth to speak and that’s when it happened. A very familiar bright white light flooded my vision and I gasped as my eyes burned with intense pain.
“Damn, that hurt a lot more than I remembered,” I exclaimed shaking my head as my vision cleared then turned to Kaya. “So… how do I look?”
Kaya pursed her lips. “Are you going to tell me what that was all about?”
“The symbiote and I made a deal. She helps me in exchange… I help her find a willing human to act as host for her offspring.”
“Fuck! You actually agre–”
“Don’t Kai… I know I’ll probably live to regret it, but if we stand any hope of being successful I’m going to need Khala’s cooperation,” I interrupted her.
Kaya bit her lip then titled her head so she could look into my eyes. “Those eyes… they’re so much like the ones you had before you were changed,” she muttered absently tracing her hand across my cheek.
“The ones that belonged to the man I loved,” she said with a slight shudder before quickly snatching her hand away.
“So…” she said averting her eyes and quickly changed the subject. “What about the hair? Like I said we could dye it, but it might be easier if Khala just changed it.”
Khala rolled her eyes, “Your hair is composed of dead cells and I can only bond with living tissue. I can’t change its color once it has grown, but if you really want I can make it fall out, like I did before, and regrow it.”
“Do it, just this time maybe don’t make it so long… like maybe ten or eleven centimeters,” I replied reaching up to touch the top of my scalp and run my hand through it.
Khala’s granted me an illusory smirk then just as it had before when my hand moved across my scalp my hair fell out. Once it was all shed away, I picked up a strand and held it up in front of my face and dropped it with a loud yelp as new sharp pain flared across the top of my head. I felt my eyes widen and I gritted my teeth then gripped the side of my head as fresh hair sprouted atop it.
“Damn, I know some people who would kill to be able to do that,” Kaya said with a lopsided grin.
“Yeah, well they should count themselves lucky that they can’t.” I shook my head.
“So how’s the hair look?” I ask grabbing a lock and holding it out in front of my face.
“It’s a pretty big change, but I think it suits you. The black is a definite improvement… I mean anything would be better than blue… Don’t get me wrong you’re beautiful no matter what color your hair is, but that blue really makes you stand out!”
Khala folded her arms across her chest and glared at Kaya, “What’s wrong with blue?”
I let out what I intended to be a chuckle but wound up sounding like a girlish giggle as I looked from Kaya to the symbiote and back again.
“What?” they both asked in unison.
I cleared my throat and quickly changed the subject. “Are we done here? Suddenly I’m just starving.”
Kaya rolled her eyes and grabbed a shiny-reflective box from the stack of supplies and tossed it to me. “Here, we can’t be far away now. You can eat on the bridge.”
“Hey, what the hell does freeze dried mean?” I asked furrowing my brows as I read the label on the box, but when I looked up Kaya was gone.
Chapter Three
“I said empty your damn pockets, Farris!” Strave screamed holding a weapon trained on the other rebel.
“Would someone please explain what the hell is going on?” Kaya pronounced as the two of us stepped onto the bridge.
“Yeah, Strave’s gone fucking nuts!” Farris yelled frantically.
Jaysen stepped in folding his arms across his chest. “Well, Strave and I came in and we found Farris fiddling with something. I didn’t get a good look at it, but Strave thinks it might be Qharr tech. Farris stuffed whatever it was in his pocket and insists it was nothing.”
“Oh for hell sakes
!” Kaya cried stepping between Strave and Farris. “Would you two just calm down?”
Strave holstered his weapon then folded his arms across his chest and glared at Farris who turned to look at Kaya. “Look,” he said his eyes darting back and forth between Kaya and Strave.
“I found this thing in my pocket, but I swear to God I have no idea how it got there. Someone must have planted it on me,” he said turning to glare at me as he produced a small black cube that was about four centimeters square.
“When Strave and Jaysen walked in on me I panicked and tried to hide it, but, hell Kaya, you’ve got to believe me… It’s not mine!” Farris protested wiping sweat from his brow.
Kaya snatched the cube from his hands and held it out to Jaysen. “What do you think?”
“It’s definitely Qharr tech. Looks like one of those personal communicators the Inquisitors like to carry around, but sized for a human. Let’s see if I’m right there should be a slight indent in the side there that should open it,” he said absently as he gently plucked the device from her hands then turned it over and over in his hands as he held it up to the light.
“WAIT!” Kaya said flinging her hand out and clenching it around Jaysen’s. “Is that such a good idea? Opening it I mean.”
Jaysen shrugged, “Well, it’s really the only way to confirm that it’s a communicator. If you’re worried about the Qharr using it to track us. I don’t really think that’s how it works otherwise they’d probably already know where we are.”
Kaya nodded. “Do it.”
Jaysen pressed his finger into a small indent on the side of the cube and there was the faintest click as the device opened to reveal a small screen. “Damn, looks like I was right,” he muttered with sad shake of his head.
Kaya didn’t wait for a reply, she grabbed the communicator back out of Jaysen’s hand threw it up in the air, snatched the phase pistol from Strave then blew the damn thing to smithereens. “That takes care of that. Now, we just got to decide what to do with you!” she rounded on Farris, her teeth clenched as she pressed the barrel of the gun against the left side of his jaw.
Battle For Earth Page 17