Rajani Chronicles I

by Brian S. Converse

  Bhakat looked over at his Master, seeing that Rauphangelaa had fallen asleep in his seat. He’d walked over the entire breadth of the farm, determining what would be planted where, and inspecting the state of various fruit trees in the large orchard adjacent to it. Bhakat could tell it was something he loved to do, and looked forward to doing every year. Now it was growing late, and it would be dark before they arrived at Rauphangelaa’s estate to the north of the city.

  Suddenly, Bhakat saw a string of black dots descending from the darkening sky. He couldn’t see them clearly, but he knew what they were: ships. Who would be coming to Rajan in such large numbers? He turned around in his seat and saw more dots appear in the sky above Melaanse. Then his heart sank as he saw the ships begin to fire at the ground below.

  “Rauphangelaa!” he shouted. “Wake up! Rauphangelaa!”

  His Master finally stirred, opening his eyes and sitting up straight in his seat. “Bhakat, what is it?” he asked, still bleary-eyed from sleep.

  “Melaanse is under attack. Look!” Bhakat said, pointing with one hand toward the windshield of the transport vehicle.

  “What?” Rauphangelaa asked, wide awake now. He looked in the direction Bhakat was pointing. “Who are they? Can you tell?”

  “No,” Bhakat answered. He steadily began applying pressure to the accelerator of the vehicle, but it was a simple hydrogen-fueled transport, and its top speed wasn’t fast, compared to some of the other Elders’ vehicles. Rauphangelaa was not one for using the most modern technology.

  “Head for the estate,” Rauphangelaa said. “They must be warned.”

  Bhakat nodded, hoping they weren’t already too late. They both watched as more ships appeared in the sky, firing at the city. They could see black smoke columns rising from various sections as it began to burn. They finally made it to the estate, but knew by then nothing could be done. Many of the buildings were in flames by that point. They could see some smoldering bodies lying on the ground around the engulfed structures.

  “No,” Rauphangelaa said softly. “No, no, NO!” he said, his voice growing louder every time he said it.

  “Rauphangelaa, we must escape,” Bhakat urged, dodging past the body of a Sekani with a large hole in his chest. Bhakat could see that it was Nebreni’kela, Rauphangelaa’s chief estate gardener.

  Rauphangelaa broke out of the state of shock he’d been in. “Yes,” he said. “Head for the Tukuli. We have to escape. Find help, somewhere.”

  Bhakat saw a body lying in the path of the transport. It was a Sekani male partially covered in rubble.

  “Why are you stopping?” Rauphangelaa asked, wide-eyed, as Bhakat stopped the vehicle.

  “It’s Janan’kela,” Bhakat replied, opening his door.

  “Leave him; he’s dead,” Rauphangelaa said, grabbing his arm. “We must escape.”

  “I have to make sure,” Bhakat insisted, looking down at Rauphangelaa’s hand on his arm. His Master let go, reluctantly. Bhakat got out of the transport and ran the short distance to his friend’s body. He could see the blood streaming down the Sekani’s face from a head wound. As Bhakat knelt next to him, he could see his friend was breathing. Just unconscious, he thought. He hoisted the little Sekani in his arms and ran back to the transport. He laid Janan’kela gently down in the back of the vehicle and returned to the driver’s seat. He pressed on the accelerator and turned in the direction of the Tukuli, praying they would find it in one piece. It was not easily seen from the air, or so he hoped.

  “Bhakat, are you well?” Janan asked from the back seat.

  Wait, Bhakat thought. Janan was unconscious until after we flew through the blockade of Krahn ships above Rajan. He didn’t wake up until the next day.

  “Bhakat?” Janan asked again.

  Bhakat opened his eyes. He’d dozed off, lost in his memories of the day they’d been attacked. Janan was standing next to his chair, smiling at him. He’d entered Bhakat’s room without Bhakat even knowing he was there.

  Looking at his friend, he was suddenly happy he’d gone against his Master’s orders and saved him. “Yes,” he told the Sekani pilot. “Yes, I’m well.”

  “Good, because it’s time for your shift,” Janan said. “You’d better get to the bridge. Good night,” he said as he left the room.

  “Good night,” Bhakat said, standing up and stretching. He smiled at his friend as the Sekani walked away, happy he was alive.

  #

  The next morning, the team was training once again, as it had been every day since that first disastrous session almost three weeks before. Yvette, with a staff of yellow power, was trying to get past Gianni’s force field; he was yawning, his hand to his mouth, feigning boredom. David was a blur, running around the perimeter of the group. James was lifting heavy machinery, and Kieren was flying through hoops in an obstacle course.

  James found the hardest thing about having super strength was to not destroy the things he was lifting. Most of the training sessions he spent picking things up and putting them back down in an effort to not demolish them by grasping too hard or smashing them into the ground. It was harder than it looked. At this point in his training, he was afraid of what would happen if he ever had to catch a teammate or pick up an important piece of heavy technology without completely destroying it.

  The most difficult part of their training, though, appeared to be concentration. It took a while to use their powers without concentrating on them. Kieren had the most difficult time; her energy field would disappear if she was too distracted. James had done his best to come up with drills to reinforce their abilities to keep their fields up without much thought. It was sort of like building muscle memory.

  Bhakat and Janan were in the corner of the training room, watching. Bhakat had begun talking to James about fighting strategy and working out himself, but when the Humans were in full training, he tended to stay back so as not to be in their way.

  “Impressive,” Janan said, smiling.

  “Most,” Bhakat replied drily.

  Gianni walked up to Bhakat and Janan, smiling. “Hey Chewy and Yoda, watch this next trick.” He looked at the running blur of David, concentrating. A foot-high hurdle of red energy appeared in David’s path. David tripped and flew toward the wall, screaming. His energy field disappeared.

  Yvette quickly formed a slide with her arms that whisked him away from the wall. “I’ve got you.” She’d learned from training that she could form all sorts of shapes with her powers, not only lances of energy. She’d been practicing with other parts of her body as well. She dropped David straight in front of Gianni, who was bent over laughing.

  David pushed him. “You stupid jerk! I could’ve been killed!”

  Gianni put up a shield between them. “But you weren’t. C’mon, it was good for you. Good training.”

  “Put down your shield and we’ll see how good my training has been,” David said, pounding on the red energy shield between them.

  Janan came between them. “Come, Da-v-vid,” the small alien said. Do not let him ... get to you.”

  “You speak English?” David asked, incredulous. In all of the times they had spoken together in David’s room at night, Janan had never even attempted to speak English to him.

  “A small amount,” Janan replied. “We had been in orbit a short while before you were ... contacted. I had a head start learning the language, but did not want to speak it until I was better. English is the language of the Central Authority on your planet, is it not?” Janan asked him.

  Kieren was standing next to Bhakat. “Central Authority? Of what?”

  “The U.S.,” Yvette said, frowning. “He means the U.S.”

  Bhakat was nodding in agreement. “That’s correct,” he said in Talondarian Standard. He had been working out earlier, and wasn’t wearing the portable translating device.

  Gianni had his thumb cocked in Bhakat’s direction. “What’d he say?”

  “He said that James is right,” Kieren told them.

&nbs
p; “Couldn’t he nod his ugly head or something?” Gianni said with a sneer.

  “Why don’t you lay off, Gianni?” David asked, wearily.

  “He is only ... being a jerk,” Janan said. “It is clear.”

  Gianni grabbed his crotch. He was leering at the alien. “What did you say to me? I got your ‘jerk’ right here.”

  James had his hand over his eyes; the hopelessness he felt about ever getting these people ready was beginning to grow. “I think that’s enough training for today.”

  #

  Dinner that night was like something out of an old sci-fi movie. Except for the fact the alien was sitting down to dinner with them, instead of attempting to have them for dinner. The team and Janan were seated around a large, round table they had moved to the common room. Rauph was in his room for the night, and Bhakat was on duty aboard the bridge. There was food, though their supply from Earth had run out, so it was mostly from the supplies they’d acquired from Zazzil on the space port, along with bottles of water and a darker liquid.

  Janan was smiling and talking to Yvette. She took a sip of the dark liquid from her glass, which Janan had poured for her. She made a face, as if it was the worst thing she’d ever tasted, which it might have been. “Oh, this stuff is awful!”

  Janan and David laughed, remembering David’s first impression of the strong, heady liquid called fernta.

  Gianni and Kieren, who were sitting side by side, were doing their best to ignore each other.

  James stood and addressed the group.

  “I know we’ve had our problems on this trip. Throwing together a group this diverse would pose problems for anyone, let alone people kidnapped by aliens. No offense, Janan. The hardest part of our journey is still in front of us. We’ve all made great strides in learning how to use our individual powers, and in integrating our talents into a team. I want to say that I’m proud of all of you-even Gianni.” He waited as most of them at least acknowledged that he was joking before continuing.

  “All kidding aside, though,” he said, growing more serious, “when we get to Rajan, I want all of you to remember something: we’re here to help them, but my first priority is your well-being. It’s still not too late to change your minds. There are escape pods on this ship stocked with enough supplies to last several months. You could always be left on the nearest inhabitable planet, and we’ll pick you up on the way home.”

  David waved away the suggestion. “Robinson Crusoe in space? No, thanks.”

  “I’m afraid it’s the only option left to us at this point,” James continued. “Any takers?” He paused a moment before he continued. “Didn’t think there would be, but I had to ask one last time. I have faith in all of you and your ability to get the job done. We all know what needs to happen. Rauph tells me we have only a couple of days until we come out of ...”

  “Nullspace,” Kieren interjected.

  “Nullspace,” James said. “Thank you.”

  Kieren stuck her tongue out at Gianni.

  “We’re sitting ducks until we can get to the planet’s surface,” James continued, not noticing the interaction going on between the two. “Once we do, we contact any resistance and assess the situation from there. Any questions?”

  “What if there isn’t any resistance?” Yvette asked.

  “Why wouldn’t there be?” David asked back.

  “That’s the reason we’re here, isn’t it?” Yvette answered. “This ‘Kha’ of theirs forbids them from fighting.”

  “It is true,” Janan said. “Most Rajani males are devout in their faith.”

  “Which means they won’t resist,” Kieren said. “Or at least won’t fight, right?”

  “Wonderful,” Gianni said, rolling his eyes. “So what do we do, sit around and sing Kumbaya with the Krahn?”

  James’s face was deadly serious. “No, I’m afraid not. Not this time. This is going to be war, people. From this point on, the gloves are off. That means no more showboating in training, Gianni.”

  Gianni shrugged in reply. David face said he’d believe it when he saw it.

  “With that, I wish you goodnight,” James said. “We all need our rest, so I suggest you do your best to get some.”

  #

  On the bridge of the ship, Rauph was seated, with Bhakat in his customary spot, standing behind his Master. Rauph had found that he was unable to sleep, and he was also curious about what the Humans would talk about at their meal. He’d been invited, but had declined. They were both listening to a portable handheld tablet. James’s voice came from the tablet, which was tuned to the communication system for that particular room. “... the gloves are off.”

  “Master,” Bhakat began, almost hesitantly. “They must be told.”

  Rauph turned to Bhakat. “Must they?” he asked, rhetorically. “There will be much anger in them.” He turned off the tablet and set it down on the small table next to his chair. “They may wish to return to their home planet. Can we risk that, all for the lives of so few?”

  Bhakat gently placed his hand on Rauph’s shoulder. “There is only one way to tell. They must see it was necessary.”

  “Ah, my Pledge.” Rauph smiled. “Always so sure. I’m afraid this time, I cannot share the sentiment. They place as much importance on a Human life as we do on our own.” Rauph stood up. “But I believe you’re right. They must be told, eventually. I’m afraid tonight, though, I am too tired to deal with it. Good night, Bhakat.”

  “Good night, Master,” Bhakat said, sitting down in the seat his Master had relinquished.

  #

  A few days later, James and Yvette returned to his room from another dinner with the others in the common room. It had become a routine in the weeks since they had left the space port. The group would work out separately in the morning; some of them running, others lifting weights or performing aerobics in the training room. After breakfast they would meet in the training room and talk about strategy and the best ways to use their powers. Mostly it was a brainstorming session. After that, they would practice with their powers until lunch. They would return from lunch and practice using their powers together. After a few hours, they would break for the night.

  They had all started having dinner together early on in their trip, and had continued the tradition, even after spending so much time together for training during the day. After dinner, they would stay in the common room or return to their own quarters for the night. Sometimes Yvette or James would feel like being alone, and they’d say their good nights and go back to their own rooms. Most of the time, Yvette would come to James’s room, and they would talk or make love or go to sleep in each other’s arms, too exhausted to do more.

  James wasn’t sure if what he felt was love, but if it wasn’t, it was damn close. Neither of them had mentioned the ‘L’ word, though. James was afraid of what complications might arise if they did. He’d told her about his parents and brother and about being a US Marine. She’d told him about growing up as a politician’s daughter, about her mother’s murder at the hands of a mugger, and about law school. It wasn’t as if he was keeping a tally or keeping track of what each told the other, but he was mindful of not keeping secrets from her. It was still difficult to open up to someone after being alone for so long.

  There was only one subject he hadn’t talked about, and he still wasn’t sure he wanted to. Yvette would ask him about her eventually, he knew.

  “I could have used a beer or two with that dinner tonight,” James said, sitting down on the chair in his room. “There’s only so much of that fernta stuff I can handle.” They had eaten some type of pre-made meat and vegetable dish that had come from the ship’s new stock of supplies from the space port. He’d been afraid to ask what kind of meat it had been, but it had the texture of chicken and a very gamy flavor, like squirrel or opossum or something. The vegetables had been colorful, but almost tasteless in the overpowering sauce the contents were cooked in. The best part of the meal had been a dark bread that was heavy and moist
and came in small, individually packaged loaves.

  “I’ve never really cared for alcoholic drinks,” Yvette said after she sat down next to him, leaning her frame into his. “But I do crave a pop every now and then. Probably better for my teeth, though, that I’m not drinking any.”

  James had never consumed a lot of pop, not even as a child. Jenny had loved her Dr. Pepper. James couldn’t stand it. He looked up, realizing he’d been lost in thought for a few minutes.

  “You were gone again,” Yvette said, smiling.

  “Sorry,” he answered. “Thinking about the past. Guess I’m tired tonight.”

  “James,” Yvette began, “I know we’ve never really talked about her, but what was your wife like?”

  James thought for a minute.

  “You don’t have to answer that,” Yvette said. “I didn’t mean to pry.” She started to stand up.

  “No, you’re not prying,” James said, grabbing her hand and gently pulling her back down to the chair. “I’ve spent so long avoiding thinking about her, I mean really thinking about her—not only the things we did together or what happened to her—that it takes a few minutes to remember. It’s been a while.” He thought for another moment before continuing. “She was quiet, thoughtful. Practical would be a good word too. She knew how to have fun. She was very pretty. What I can remember the most is how ... how young she was. All of my memories of her ... all the time I knew her was a brief period when we were in our early twenties.” He stopped, knowing he was getting too emotional.

  “James, I’m sorry,” she said, looking down at her lap.

  “Shhh,” he murmured, pulling her into his arms. “It happened a long time ago. I guess it still hurts a little to think about.” He held her for a moment. “I think I’m going to hit the hay,” he said. “It really has been a long day.”

  “Okay,” she said. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

  “Yeah,” he said, walking her to his door. He felt bad for her, but needed to be alone for a while to work through his emotions.