by Alex Guerra
“The conglomerate needs help that bad that you are looking at gangs to bolster your ranks?” I asked. Mercenaries have always been around, even in ancient times on Earth, I guess it was not that different out here.
“At least in this region of the galaxy, yes. It is only a matter of time before the empire expands again. We don't have enough ships or strongholds to hold the line,” she explained.
“And what happened to your friend? You said you weren’t alone.” I asked and took a drink.
Not lifting her eyes up, she continued, “The gangs took the payment we offered without a problem. It wasn't long before they were fighting each other over their shares. I realized it was a longshot from the beginning, but we had to try. At worst, they would take the payment and not hold up their end of the deal. I suppose I was partially right…what else should I have expected from people like that? Slavers and murderers. Kidnappers and rapists.” Raising up her head, it was as if her eyes stared through me. “Then they looked at us, like a meal ticket. A source of income they hadn’t had before. How much would our lives be to the conglomerate? We tried to escape, and that’s when they killed my friend and blew up my ship.”
“I’m sorry about your friend,” I said, after a moment, never being good at these conversations. “They stranded you then?”
“Yes. I was a prisoner for two weeks before I managed to escape…there were others there as well. All slaves—either stolen from their homes as children, debtors, or those captured from rival gangs,” she said.
“How did you escape?” I clinked a finger against the cup.
“They were terrible people.” She shook her head. “The things they did to me and others…even to each other. I knew I needed to escape. I managed to slip a drug into their drinks while I served them. Many of them partook, and once they had begun to rest, I killed them all. I freed myself and the others that night. I hope they were as fortunate as me afterward,” she said, recounting the painful memory.
“Goddamn—I’m so sorry to hear that you had to go through something like that. How come no one from the conglomerate came looking for you after you had been gone for so long?” I asked. If what Seya said was true, then there was more to her than I thought.
“The conglomerate is very busy. Seeing the tracking beacon from the ship destroyed, I would assume they thought I was dead. The conglomerate can’t afford wasting resources looking for two people, unfortunately,” she said.
There was another pause between us. “That means when I found you—”
“I had been salvaging scrap long enough to try and get a ship off world and go back to the conglomerate. What a waste of time,” she scoffed.
“I’m sorry,” I tried my best to console her.
“Thank you, I am glad it’s over with,” she said, giving a half-smile to me. “So, Art, ‘the human from Earth who is not supposed to be here’, why are you here then?”
“Pure luck, wrong place at the right time,” I said in a blunt manner.
“Luck isn't real—only destiny. Look at the peculiar situation the universe has placed you. You are exactly where you need to be. Or do you think all this was the same result as a coin flip?”
“Yes…?” I shrugged. “There are a million better candidates that could excel in this situation. Someone with more tactical expertise or political background. Hell, even a spiritual leader could offer more from the beginning.”
“Yet they are not here,” said Seya. “What did you do before you found yourself here?”
“I was a mechanic—working on vehicles. I am also a former Marine, a soldier or the warrior caste,” I tried to explain so that the translator could convey the term. I hated when people called me a soldier, though—an old Marine pet peeve. I would let it slide in this case. “I’ve seen combat before too. In a nation residing in the desert, not too different from Harkloon, I guess.” I drew my mouth into a tight line. “Two tours—er, that means being deployed on a mission, each one a year long. The second one was much worse than the first. Much scarier. I had a small leadership position during that one. I led my group through all the battles without any severe injuries. I got everyone home, but others—some close to me—weren’t so lucky. There were a lot of close calls, as the enemy started ramping up their fighting. A lot of the times resorting to ambush attacks and hidden explosives. Saw a lot of bad stuff, but I did my part.”
“I’m sorry to hear you lost friends in war, but you have to admit that you have a good skill set to use out here, don't you think? Or do you think spiritual negotiations would work better with the Patrassi and others like them?” she gave me a light shove.
“No, I suppose not,” I said with a chuckle “I doubt I can fix anything over here, though, it’s a bit out of my scope of expertise.”
“That might be a little difficult, sure, but at least you can fight. Speaking of fighting, I would like to spend time in the training room. Would you care to join me?” she offered, giving me a pat on the back. She got up from the table to dispose of her dish.
“Yeah, alright,” I said, following suit.
*****
We went through a series of drills with the weaponry available.
“If we continue like this every day, we will be some of the fastest guns in the galaxy,” I said, while loading a fresh magazine into the rifle and aiming, taking down three targets in rapid succession.
The simple design of the rifle had a familiar bullpup design, with the magazine located at the rear of the weapon. While it didn’t look or feel like anything I had encountered on Earth, the weapon was comfortable and very light. While I could’ve sworn I would have encountered laser rifles or something more futuristic, I was surprised to see that was not the case. Similar to the blaster, the rifle carried in its magazine stacked charges. We could shoot three rounds of smaller charges before it ejected out of the chamber. A magazine could hold up to twelve charges, giving the user thirty-six shots before needing to reload.
Dotty explained that traditional kinetic weapons were still the easiest weapon to fabricate. The size of a proper laser rifle would be too large and unwieldy for any person to carry. Only larger vehicles or ships possessed those sorts of weapons. These kinds of rounds were still effective as ever. They didn’t require energy, were quickly and easily made, and delivered the amount of damage needed to neutralize soft targets.
“It’s not enough to shoot straight and fast, it’s about technique in unconventional ways as well,” she countered, as she reloaded the blaster. The spent energy pack disappeared in a digital cloud after striking the deck plates.
I lowered my weapon and looked over to her. “What do you mean unconventional?”
“Well, you won't always have your choice of weapon. You need to learn how to use many kinds of weapons and in different combinations. Also, using your surroundings and being unpredictable will allow you to win more often," she explained, setting the weapon to safe and placing the blaster on the table.
“Such as?”
“Well, say you ran out of ammo with that rifle and someone is coming towards you, what do you do?” she swept her bangs away from her face.
“Use it as a club most likely,” I shrugged.
“Right, but if that someone is a five-hundred-pound Fanor? They will knock that aside like nothing,” she waved a hand away as if batting at a plaything.
“I’m sorry, but I don't know what a Fanor is. Are they that common?” I asked, seeing the reality of fighting aliens.
“Depends on where you are, but let’s say you see this hulking enemy coming towards you. They have razors along their arms and backs. Claws, two-feet in length, sticking out of their knuckles. What do you do?” she said, measuring out the claw length with her hands.
“Well, I guess if I don't have any ammo and the club won't work…I’m not sure,” I said, resigning with a shrug.
“Fanor have poor eyesight. They have zero peripheral vision. Most of their attacks are in straight lines,” she gestured with her hands. �
�You need to use the weapon as a distraction and move to one of its sides.”
I nodded, although I still didn’t know what she was talking about. I made a mental note to check the archives for information on additional species in the region.
“Okay, I can see this is a lot for you to get right now. Let’s try working on something different for the time being,” she said. She strode over to the wall and keyed a few commands into the console. The shooting range disappeared, and the entire floor turned into a softer gel.
Even though the ship was ancient, she didn’t need Dotty’s help to figure it out. She seemed to have her own way of deciphering the commands.
She grabbed a pair of hilts from the wall, tossing one to me which I caught and immediately began to examine. It had a comfortable grip, royal blue in color with a silver, retractable guard and a golden tassel attached to the pommel.
“Your species uses weaponry like this, right?”
“Not recently…” I said.
“Here, this is a common weapon to see around, besides knives, that is. Some consider it even deadlier than a firearm, when in the right hands.” She pressed a button on the hilt, allowing two-inch sections of the blade to begin unfolding. In less than a second, it extended to its full length.
I followed her lead and found the button on the hilt. The sword unfolded with a swift tink-tink-tink. Although it was very light, it also felt sturdy. I looked back at Seya, waiting for instructions.
“Watch,” she said, walking out into the center of the room and taking a starting stance. She went through a series of moves, making sure to pause at the end of each step so that I could observe the position.
When she finished, she ended in the starting position once again. I walked out onto the mat and joined her. I observed her positioning and tried to mimic it as best as possible. Throughout the instruction, she would make corrections. She changed my posture, foot placement, and weight distribution. Only then, would she move onto the next step. We did this for the better part of two hours before I remembered the steps enough to do them on my own. She continued observing and correcting mistakes as I went through.
“This is nice and all, but I don't see how I would be using this in combat,” I said, as I continued working through the steps.
“Nonsense, how are you going to know how to swing the blade if you don’t know the proper technique? You would swing it around like a brute and use more energy than needed, with less to show for it. I don’t expect you to master it anytime soon, but this is a useful skill to have, and it may save your life one day,” she lectured.
“I’ll keep working on it,” I said, beginning the move set again.
A few hours later, I had managed to break a good sweat and believed it was time to pause for lunch.
As we spoke about the basics of bladed combat over lunch, Dotty interrupted us.
“Captain, one of the coordinates Seya has given me will be our next stop. The jump will take two days to complete. Additionally, there is also a faint signal of a power core coming from these coordinates,” Dotty announced.
I looked over to Seya, clapping my hands. “That’s what I’m talking about; that’s some good luck right there!”
“Destiny,” said Seya, correcting me.
“Alright Dotty, proceed with the route changes,” I instructed
Arthur, I have also made progress on the recording. I will send the findings to your quarters for review later. I recommend you look at the data.
I wondered why Dotty hadn’t said anything out loud. Did it not trust Seya as much as I did? Gotcha, I beamed back in acknowledgement.
I looked at my drink and held it up in a toast, “To destiny then.”
She returned the gesture.
We resumed our practice for the afternoon as there would not be much else to do in the meantime. There wasn’t a T.V. or any news reports that I would understand, even if there was one. The information Dotty withheld from Seya had me wondering what it found. And why it didn't want to share in front of her.
Seya had taught me some moves when sparring and things to watch out for when facing an opponent with a blade. Using simulated swords, the blades would pass through us, leaving a bright red slash indicating a hit. This allowed us to attack each other will full strength without injury.
The skill gap between us was incredible. I never stood a chance and spent an equal amount of time lying on the mat as I did standing on it. She used a technique which swept her opponent's legs from under them. Once they were down, she dealt a finishing move while having the advantage. When I did manage to get a few non-lethal attacks off on her in an exchange, she would always have dealt a fatal blow. I hoped that I wouldn’t run into anyone of her caliber, as that would cut my trip very short.
We finished up for the afternoon and set out to wash up. Seya hit the showers first, while I went back to my quarters. I sat at the large glass table and keyed an overlay upon it. Dotty had left me an easy way to find the file with the data from the black box we had recovered. A window opened and started a video.
It was a wide shot of the bridge, showing all personnel working at their stations. I could shift through many of the camera angles, both inside and outside the ship. It allowed me to home in on certain aspects of the video.
“Bring us about. Prepare the torpedoes,” the captain clicked its mandibles in rapid succession. Whatever it was speaking, sounded nothing like words I could ever imitate.
Large, bipedal insects made up the crew. Their flesh, or carapace, was a well-tiered chitin, dotted with red or green splotches, with eyes that were a bit larger than that of a human’s and having a strange—and somewhat disturbing—appearance. Oddly enough, I felt a strange sense of humanity from the creatures.
“Yes, sir,” called out the controller.
“Target locked, torpedoes ready.”
“Fire!” shouted the captain, slamming a limb onto the arm of its chair.
A wash of seven blue torpedoes blasted away from the ship at a frightening speed towards an attacker. Without a camera fully centered on that area, it was difficult to trace what the target was. Three of the torpedoes looked to have found their target and splashed over it with blue and orange flames. The remaining four continued on a path into infinite space.
“One down, two more on the radar,” said one of the crew.
“Energy levels spiking from the target’s vicinity,” called out another.
“Prepare for evasive action,” said the captain. “Now!”
The shipped juked downward with great speed as the incoming fire went right over them.
Restraints pinned the crew into their seats. The maneuver sent anything not tied down into the ceiling of the bridge, before crashing to the floor in a mess.
“Full speed ahead towards the planet, we are going to engage jump engines on the far side and make our escape. Ready cannons to cover our rear,” ordered the captain.
“Captain, the shields will be ineffective if we divert too much energy to weapons and thrusters,” called out one of the crew members.
“The shields can’t save us from the enemy’s concentrated fire,” replied the captain. “Continue diverting energy to thrusters and weapons. Get us out of here!”
“Yes, sir, ahead full speed!” called out the controller.
The ship punched it and reached top speeds. It entered the gravity well of the planet I recognized as Harkloon. I knew how this was going to end, but Dotty wouldn’t have brought this to my attention only to see a ship crash.
Their speed accelerated with the slingshot effect of the planet’s gravity. On the far side of the planet, the pursuers presented themselves. Silhouetted against the red dunes of Harkloon, they were approaching with greater speed than that of the fleeing ship.
“Fire cannons!” the captain ordered. The ship’s dorsal cannons adjusting to track the incoming enemy ships. They unleashed a barrage of fire that peppered the space before them. They managed to graze one, which fell back but missed t
he other completely when it dodged.
“Time to warp?” asked the captain.
“Thirty seconds!” answered a crew member.
“Energy spike! We can’t evade in the upper atmosphere,” called out another.
“Release all countermeasures, brace for impact!” yelled the captain.
A plethora of very bright, charged flares and metal shards shot out from the ship in a tremendous array—similar in nature to a finale at a firework show.
The countermeasures deterred the incoming missiles and lasers—some by mere feet. While avoiding a direct hit, the missiles ignited from their proximity charges. The slag cut through the thin shielding afforded to the ship with its power diverted, peppering its stern and rupturing two of the engines. With their speed lowered to the equivalent of coasting, the enemy ships moved in for the kill at top speed, ready to catch their prey.
“Warp ready!” a crewmember called out.
“We won’t be able to move through. Everyone abandon ship. Get to the life pod now. That’s an order!” commanded the captain.
The crew scrambled out of their seats, towards the stern and into the lower deck of the ship. They piled into an escape pod where the captain secured everyone in. The life pod door began closing with the captain still outside. The crew called to their leader while it continued to tap away at a console.
“You must survive. Be well,” said the captain. It placed a chitin-segmented hand over a viewport, looking upon its crew one last time.
It hit the switch and a warp tunnel opened inside the ship, cutting the video of the interior off in a bright light. From outside the ship, the cameras showed the warp tunnel seared off the stern of the vessel in an instant. The enemy vessels zoomed by the wreckage as the remains of the ship drifted into a decaying orbit. Its hull turning orange with the friction of the air as it plummeted to the desert planet below.
As the video ended, I continued sitting there confused. Did I miss something? After a few brief seconds, Dotty brought the video back to the moment where the captain keyed in a command and started up the warp tunnel. Dotty then zoomed in on the console, showing the coordinates that the captain had punched in.