“Shit,” Slate pronounces grimly. It’s the first thing I’ve heard him say.
The two soldiers have positioned themselves in front of both the scientists and myself, but we are still open to the aliens on too many sides. Darwin is still talking about the Velor plant and how it will save humanity, rambling on and on.
“Don’t think that’s helping,” Vince says, and I have to agree. The soldiers draw their guns, and the scientists draw theirs in turn, though they do not hold them with the same skill and steadiness. Darwin’s hand is trembling so hard I fear he will drop his weapon altogether.
Just as I am about to pull my own weapon from my holster, the tallest alien, the one who I take as the leader, steps forward and holds out a flimsy paper bag instead of a gun. Darwin’s sigh of relief is probably audible all the way back in the marketplace.
The soldiers move forward first, together, on their guard with their eyes trained on the aliens. They are watching their hands, I realize, ready to respond should they make an obvious grab for their weapons.
Slate’s hand is perhaps a millimeter from the bag when a second set of arms shoots out from beneath the creatures’ coats, these ones holding weapons.
It happens so fast, the soldiers have no chance to respond. I see Slate fly backward, knocked out cold by the stunning ray. Vince manages to pull the trigger on his blaster, but the shot goes wide as the aliens move forward. Vince falls next, the frontmost alien taking advantage of his missed shot to send him to the ground along with Slate. In the space of seconds, our only competent fighters are out of the game.
I panic at the sound of blaster fire, knowing I’ll surely be shot within seconds. I drop to the ground just as the scientists begin to fire their guns in return. The dumpster is close enough that I can easily crawl beneath it without so much as bumping my head. Cole and Richards drop immediately; I see no blood and assume they have been stunned in the same manner as the soldiers. Miraculously, Darwin lasts the longest, though only because he breaks away from the aliens and begins to sprint toward the opening of the alley. I pull out my own blaster just as Darwin is dropped, but it’s impossible to get a good shot off from my current vantage point. Hitting the aliens in the ankle with my blaster on stun will likely only piss them off, and even with the settings turned to kill, the best I could manage is blasting off a foot.
I’ve effectively boxed myself into a corner. There’s no way I can wriggle back out and run without notice, but at least they seem to have forgotten me for the moment. The three aliens begin to search the pockets of my fallen team members. Most of them come up empty, but the third, the furthest from me, pulls out a set of keys and jingles them triumphantly. They must want the Federation spacecraft for some reason. Perhaps I can reach Paulson on my comm device and warn him to move the ship before they reach it.
Just as the aliens turn to leave, and just as I press the button at my wrist, the sound of a gun firing reaches my ears. It is different from our standard issue blasters; whatever it is, it fires into the center of the group of aliens and sends them all flying. They don’t move when they hit the ground, but I can see the chest of the closest one moving, and I assume they are merely stunned as well. I scan the area once before crawling out, making certain that there are no more hostile aliens waiting for my exit.
I nearly scream when a blue hand falls into my vision. My pounding heart calms when I realize it is extended in invitation to help. I place my hand in the much larger one, and allow myself to be pulled up from my awkward position on the ground. Brushing dirt from my clothing, I look up at the alien who has apparently come to our rescue.
A nervous laugh tries to escape when I am able to recognize him as Velorian, based solely on my experience with Kaylee’s dating sim. I’ll have to tell the girl it proved useful. He is a good seven foot tall, meaning I have to crane my neck a bit to get a good look at him. His skin is strangely textured and looks much tougher than my own human hide. He has a tail, I realize when he turns, and that seems to be the strangest thing about him. Despite this, I cannot stop myself from thinking, however inappropriate in my current situation, of how handsome he is.
“The Xzerg should not bother you further,” he says, inclining his head toward the aliens he stunned. He kneels over the men from my ship. “They’ll be fine,” he tells me. “No major injuries that I can see, though that one,” he nods to Darwin, “may have hurt his head.”
“That’s a relief,” I say, and the alien tilts his head quizzically. “His head was already a lost cause.”
The alien blows out a short huff of air that I take to be a reserved laugh. It lasts only a second before he is back to business. “I will help you transport them back to your ship. I’ll need you to lead the way.”
“Thanks heaps,” I begin, and start forward, meaning to help him with at least one of the men—surely he can’t carry them all. I can at least attempt to drag one of the skinnier scientists.
Before I can make it there one of the Xzerg moves, his hand reaching for a blaster on the ground perhaps a foot in front of him, fingers inching forward. It seems to happen in slow motion. His fingers reach the gun, turning the dial away from stun and toward something decidedly more deadly. Clearly, they didn’t want to risk killing Federation employees, but my rescuer appears to be a different story.
I lift my gun and fire, heart hammering, just as the Velorian assisting me turns and notices the trouble. The blast hits the hostile alien in the chest, causing him to fall backward into one of the many piles of trash scattered throughout the alley. I’m still holding the gun out as the Velorian circles to walk in front of me. I panic, worried he’ll think I’m aiming at him, and let it drop to the ground.
The Velorian’s facial expressions seem blessedly familiar to human ones, and I can tell that he is wearing a look of stunned surprise.
He steps closer, head angled downward a bit to meet my eyes. I feel a flutter of something in my chest, probably more nervousness, that I resolve to ignore.
“I am called Vohx,” the Velorian says. “What is your name?”
“Stacy,” I say, doing my best not to look away from the sheer intensity of his gaze.
Vohx drops into a low bow, his knees nearly touching the ground as he presses his right hand over his heart, or where I assume his heart would lie.
I continue to stare. Whatever’s happening, I hope it goes well.
4
Vohx
The human men are finally waking. The medbay is small, but well stocked, and Stacy seems to have everything she needs as she tends to the men as they rouse, helping them sit up on the various surfaces they’re lying on. They have already proven slower than any Velorian at recovering from a stunning, much less an actual wound, and I have no doubt that they would be too easy to break by accident.
I wait out of sight, pressed against one wall in the hallway outside, only able to see what it is occurring thanks to my truly excellent peripheral vision.
Stacy’s voice is cheerful as she tells the lead scientist, Darwin, to drink some water, carefully placing the glass in his hand. I don’t understand why this one is their leader; a leader should never run when his comrades lie injured behind him. But I don’t pretend to understand to customs of a society so different from my own.
The two human soldiers stand first, looking less than pleased, but not nearly so woozy as the scientists when they get to their feet.
“The effects can linger for a good while,” Stacy says brightly. “If you start to feel sick or dizzy at all, it’s better to sit down than to fall down.”
“Not my first time,” one of the soldiers says. “But noted.”
“We’re fine,” a scientist says, shooting a look of annoyance at Stacy rather than his situation. Stacy pointed out who was who as we were bringing them back to the ship, but even without her help, I would be able to discern the scientists from the soldiers and the pilot. The pilot, while not a fighter, moves about the ship with a confidence that says it is his home.
Stacy snorts, cutting her eyes toward me as though I can sympathize without context. “Now we need a plan.”
She is a strange looking being, as are most humans, but she seems completely unthreatening aside from the daggers her eyes can throw. She smells nice as well: different but intriguing. I have never before been intrigued by the presence of someone who wasn’t of my own species, and I find it odd but not unpleasant. This isn’t relevant. My plan, as it stands now, is to repay my life-debt to her and return to business as usual for a Velorian mercenary. It likely will not take long to find an opportunity to save her life in turn; these humans seem like the sort that are adept at attracting trouble.
The scientists are still strangely quiet.
“One question first,” the soldier who spoke a moment ago says. He has dark skin and darker hair, a relatively thin frame, lacking the muscle one might expect on a soldier. Stacy called him Vince and said he was ‘tolerable’, which was higher praise than she gave the others. “How the hell did you get us back here by yourself? I remember seeing a very blurry alien, but not much else.”
Stacy bites her lip. “He’s on the ship,” she begins, and though I’m still cataloging human facial expressions as I learn them, none of their faces look accepting.
I’m considering whether I should step into the room and out of the shadows to aid her in her explanation, when one of the scientists does something that alarms me. He moves toward Stacy, anger that exceeds the merits of the situation visible in every line of his body. “What the hell were you thinking, letting him stay here?”
“Hey, Richards. Calm down,” the second soldier, Slate says. “We haven’t even left the landing zone yet.”
“Yeah,” Vince throws in. “You do see Paulson standing here and not in the cockpit, right?”
The words don’t calm the man, and he takes another, threatening step forward. I step into the doorway, moving to stand behind Stacy, a threatening noise not unlike a growl beginning to emanate from my throat. Humans are easily frightened by those that look different. I recognize that I am likely more intimidating than most things they’ve encountered. The men retreat, panicked at the sight of a potentially dangerous warrior boxing them into such a small space. I must look to them like some fearsome shadow cast behind her.
“Whoa,” Stacy says. “Let’s all calm down.”
Richards has backed far away from her at this point, and though his anger now has an edge of fear, it’s still there as he speaks. “I think your friend is the one who needs to calm down.”
I do my best to look a bit less frightening, crossing my arms over my chest and moving to stand beside Stacy rather than behind her.
Stacy merely shrugs in answer. “It’s not that strange a reaction when you understand the context.”
“Alright,” Vince says. “I’ll bite. What’s the context?” I note that he and the other soldier seem to have recovered from the fright far quicker than the scientists, who still look rattled. They have obviously seen at least a bit of combat, and I am glad that the group isn’t completely incompetent. Hopefully the next firefight will turn out better than the last.
Stacy looks uncomfortable, unsure of how to begin. “Well,” she says. “He sort of pledged his life to me—it’s a whole thing.” She took it in stride when I explained it to her as we moved the men back to the ship, asking only a few confused questions before she shrugged, apparently not willing to attempt to talk me out of it. Perhaps the determination on my face dissuaded her. “I don’t know how to get him to go away, so we’re just going to have to deal with having him here for now.”
“She saved my life.” I say, and all the eyes in the room jerk toward the deep sound of my voice. “I can only leave once I have repaid her. It’s the honor code of an Ice Velorian.”
The scientists, soldiers, and the pilot merely stare for a moment.
“Velorian?” Paulson asks. “Are you from the planet Veloria?”
The name Veloria always makes my lips twitch. The planet’s true name is unpronounceable.
Darwin clears his throat, and manages to speak steadily for the first time since waking. “We’re here to collect a plant that grows only on that planet. It could cure a disease spreading across our planet.”
It doesn’t take me long to put the information together once I’ve been presented with it. The Xzerg must have heard about people who wanted a plant from Veloria and smelled a possible alliance between my own species and humans. If humanity gained their cure through the help of my home, such a huge favor might be rewarded with a place in the Federation. We have been on the outs with the rest of civilized society for so long that it doesn’t seem possible, however much we try to prove ourselves. But if I manage to pull this off, it just might work. My people have wanted to join the Federation for quite some time, but we don’t have the best of reputations. It has kept us from joining with other planets and nations for centuries.
If Veloria joins the Federation, we will have access to so much—not the least of which, powerful alien alliances against our enemies, the Xzerg. It makes sense that the Xzerg would do whatever they could to prevent something like this from happening.
Proving to humanity that anything to do with Veloria is dangerous? That’s a good way to keep us out of any alliances.
The humans are talking, continuing the conversation about me as though I’m not still standing in their midst.
“We can’t trust him,” Cole says.
“He saved all of your lives,” Stacy says back. “Aside from that, having an extra soldier won’t be a bad idea since two obviously isn’t enough.”
There’s no arguing with that. Even with my fairly limited understanding of humans, I know that there isn’t much of an argument.
“She’s got a point there,” Vince relents.
“Well,” Darwin says, in attempt to soothe hurt feelings all around. “He may prove useful, and ...” He looks to the scientists. “... he may just have the knowledge of Veloria that will help us locate the plant.”
The words don’t have the desired effect. I smell distrust, sharp and bitter, and anger, burning like flames in my nostrils, but no one says another word of dissent.
Richards stares at me for a long time after the others have left the medbay. I reveal my sharp canine teeth, and give my tail a flick. Cool energy tingles down the spines on my back, unseen. It isn’t a terribly threatening gesture among Velorians, but for a human, it is strange and discomforting enough to send him scampering from the medbay.
5
Stacy
No matter how hard I try to focus on the mission, my thoughts keep straying to the fact that I’m being followed by a giant, dragon-like ice guardian. It would be easier to forget if he wasn’t trailing after my every step. He sticks so close that, were he a human, his reflexes likely wouldn’t save him from bumping into me every time I stop abruptly.
I straighten the medbay up as best I can while Paulson takes us off planet. I envisioned spending a bit more time on X24, actually getting to explore it properly, to learn something about it other than the fact that it was dangerous. Then again, given what I saw of it earlier today, there are likely better planets to explore. Despite how things ended, I spent a long few minutes in serious fear for my life. It was an unfamiliar feeling, and every time I allow my mind to stray from my task more than a little, I look down to find my hands shaking.
I head to the communal living area briefly, interrupting the rest of the men where they’ve congregated, and follow up with Darwin regarding his head injury. The other two scientists narrow their eyes at me and at the Velorian following me, but that’s old news by now. Darwin claims he’s fine, and the swelling has already gone down thank
s to the medication I administered earlier. Really, we are incredibly lucky that his was the only real injury sustained during the disaster that was X24.
I manage to lose my new shadow only because Vince stops him to engage him in conversation. As I slip back into the hallway, I see him removing the military grade blaster from his hip and holding it out. It shouldn’t surprise me that two males are choosing to connect over weapons instead of something deeper, but I find myself smiling anyway. I head to my own small room at the end of the hallway that houses crew quarters. Paulson decided to take the ship straight to Veloria. Hopefully the lack of stops in between will amount to fewer chances for things to go belly-up a second time. This gives me plenty of time to rest up from the ordeal earlier in the day.
In my cabin, I head straight for the shower, hoping to wash off the smell of garbage still lingering in my hair from my dive beneath the dumpster. I strip off my clothing and leave it on my narrow bed, before walking into the bathroom, bare feet cold on the tiled floor. I give the water a moment to warm up before I step in, and when I do, my thoughts stray once again to Vohx, my mysterious guardian.
If he were human, he’d be the most gorgeous creature I’d ever seen. His face is drastically different from every man I have laid eyes on, but there is still something undeniably attractive about it. His muscular body is pleasing as well, and the fierceness of his gaze. Still, can I really be this attracted to something that has a tail? The more my thoughts linger on the idea, the more wrong it feels. I try hard to push those thoughts to the back of my mind.
Though I can’t banish him from my thoughts completely, I let my brain move on to something comparatively safer. It was both incredibly funny and incredibly satisfying to see how afraid the men were of him when he showed himself. It must have doubled the fright to be threatened by something so alien, like a wrathful guardian angel.
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