KAHARI

by Dean Kutzler

  Unlike her mother, living amid the stars hadn’t hardened her into a perfect UFWA fighting machine with nothing but win in her sights. Space travel only served to heighten Elyria’s sense of awe and wonderment about the mysterious vastness of the universe; yet, it didn’t go without saying she could indeed hold her own against the best of them. Elyria was number one in hand-to-hand combat, tactical ops, and weapons training when she graduated UFWA Fleet Academy, which is partly the reason her mother had chosen her for the reconnaissance mission.

  Life to Elyria was far more than just battles and command. As a little girl, she always waited patiently in her mother’s quarters for her return from the High Council of Mission Delegation when the Federation was the muscle of the known galaxies. Elyria would cheer when her mother's missions revolved around a more exploratory nature. UFWA’s primary objective was protecting the planets under the Federation as well as seeking out new members as they explore uncharted space.

  The reconnaissance mission she was returning from was precisely the sort of thing Elyria craved. Most of her life was spent hiding from the Scarab. The days of exploratory missions since the Federation’s decommission were long over. The only exploration the Avenger went on for the last few decades was the corundum crystal runs. Her mother had stored the power source away like a hermit. The problem with fossil fuels was how quickly they burned.

  Elyria’s mission was to follow up on a lead about the exact coordinates of the Scarab homeworld. One of the underground planets sworn to her mother’s revolution, Nexus-8, had informed them of the Scarab catching their fifth moon mining corundum. When the modification vessel landed, a rebel faction on the moon’s surface escaped capture and formed a team, immediately moving into place. They waited in hiding until the Scarab unloaded the Terra-Disrupter Unit before they boarded the vessel and set about commandeering another unit.

  Much to the team’s surprise, the modification vessel was empty!

  The fifth moon was the last stop before the ship returned to the Scarab homeworld for restocking. In a desperate attempt to make the best of a hopeless situation before the Scarab blasted the planet from space, the rebel team searched the ship for anything that might help the revolution.

  The tides turned for the revolution that day when they found the ship’s destination log open on the computer.

  The rebel team barely had time to sneak off the modification vessel and send a radio communication with the location of the Scarab’s homeworld to the first moon before the aliens boarded the ship and activated the unit, destroying the fifth moon.

  Saren’s contact told her after reviewing visual reports from the remaining satellite the first moon was still intact, but all communication with them was silent since the Scarab destroyed the fifth moon. The contact suspected that the first moon feared constant monitoring by the Scarab since the destruction of the fifth.

  Elyria’s mission was to get down to the first moon and acquire the coordinates of the Scarab homeworld—never guessing the outcome.

  Shuttle bay four’s door rose, pulling Elyria from the memory of her mission. She waited for the shield indicator light encircling the bay’s outer edge to go dark before navigating the shuttle inside and gently setting it down.

  She powered the shuttle down, unlatching her harness as the outer door closed and waited for the atmosphere light to flash green. Once it was clear, Elyria opened the rear hatch of the shuttle and walked down the ramp, tapping her wristcom.

  A large hovertrans loaded with boxes labeled corundum crystals floated down the ramp, hovering in front of her. She tapped the wristcom again and sent the hovertrans on its way to the engineering hold. She left the shuttle bay and headed towards the war room.

  A debriefing was the last thing Elyria wanted—peeling off the ass-hugging body armor and taking a long, hot enviroshower would be more ideal, but the commander wouldn’t wait. She loved her mother, but when the Scarab’s reign began when Elyria was little, her mother had gradually become more and more of a hard-ass and less of a diplomatic commander.

  The obsession over the revolution had taken a toll on her mother, and it was becoming concerning, especially among the other crew members. Commander Thorn rarely gave way to differing opinions to the point where eventually everyone stopped offering them because it was pointless.

  Elyria reached the war room and stood just outside of the door’s sensor so it would remain closed. She took a deep breath to calm herself and think things through. She would try reasoning with her mother and her plan one last time.

  Elyria stepped forward, and the door swished aside. Her mother was sitting at the head of the war table with Lieutenant Juan Vasquez at her side.

  “Welcome home, Lieutenant Thorn,” Juan said, standing to greet her. “Good to have you back aboard the Avenger, Elyria.”

  “At ease, lieutenant,” she joked, giving him a wink and pulling a seat out from under the table. “It was only six months.”

  Once Elyria took her seat, Lieutenant Vasquez sat back down next to the commander.

  Saren leaned forward in her chair, her battle armor sticking to the leather. “I have to admit; I was beginning to get concerned. I knew it wouldn’t be easy with the Scarab keeping close-watch on Nexus-8’s remaining moons, but six months is a long time, especially for your talents. What were you doing in all that time?”

  Elyria slightly bristled at the compliment but kept her face solid. She was her mother’s daughter, not a fool. On the rare occasion was her mother ever genuinely a charmer, but Elyria suspected the comment had more to do with today’s topic. The commander was eager to take down the Scarab six months ago, and now, finally, she would know how close the plan was at hand.

  “We’ve never taken a shuttle so far out into the galaxy using corundum crystals. Apparently, the anti-matter drive running the shuttle uses the corundum energy less efficiently than our ship’s VS drive or propulsion systems. It burns a lot hotter.”

  “I noticed the condition of the shuttle.” Lieutenant Vasquez stared at her, a deep wrinkle forming between his eyes. “Were you captured?”

  Elyria’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “No, but close—of course, the Scarab was monitoring the moons as your contact informed,” she said, nodding at her mother. “But I was able to keep the cloak engaged until I reached the asteroid debris of the fifth moon. Still amazes me how our cloaks hide us from them—not always—but thank the powers-that-be they did that day.”

  Elyria shifted in her seat and continued. “I felt like a heel, scavenging the corundum crystals from the wreckage of the fifth moon, descending to the planet. I had no choice. It was a lucky break, I guess. The shuttle used most of the fuel just getting to the Primex Galaxy cloaked. There weren't enough crystals left once I got there to use the matter relocator both to and from the planet, and I obviously couldn’t land the shuttle. I had to take the exploratory pod to get to the surface.

  “When I got back up to the shuttle, it was dead—floating in space. The damage you saw is from it banging around the wreckage. I was lucky nothing important got damaged, and at least it stayed hidden among the debris. If the Scarab did spot the shuttle, they probably just thought it was part of the wreckage when their scans came up negative for life-signs.”

  “You used an EXPOD to get to the moon’s surface?” Saren’s face twisted in confusion. “They’re only designed for ship repairs or close-range space exploration. How did you stop it from burning up on entry into the atmosphere?”

  “I modified a SAFELD using a whole corundum crystal to reinforce the shielding. The unit’s range was just enough to sustain the force field around the EXPOD.”

  “You’re kidding? You used a handheld force field generator, and that worked?” Saren shook her head in disbelief. No one but her daughter would think to use a Safe-Field unit (SAFELD) as ship’s shielding for an exploratory pod.

  And no one braver—not to mention Elyria just solved how we’re going to deliver the terra-disruptor unit to the Scarab homew
orld.

  “I’ll admit. Things were gettin’ a little hot in there on the way down.” Elyria fanned herself, smiling and running a finger under the collar of her battle armor. “If I hadn’t used the EXPOD’s core ventilation system to redirect the heat I just may have ended up space toast.”

  “You had no idea that would work. You could’ve been fried, Elyria.” Juan shook his head along with Saren. “The oxygen containment unit could’ve ignited from the intense heat! Your ingenuity and fearlessness are both your best and worst qualities.”

  “What? I’m not an idiot! I smothered it in fire-retardant gel from the emergency kit,” she said, shrugging. “It was like slathering vaseline on a baby’s bottom.”

  “What happened to the people of the first moon?” Saren asked, redirecting the conversation.

  “As we suspected—all the moons were mining for corundum. Once they saw what happened to the fifth, they went underground. At least they were prepared—saved their lives. I was able to find the leader of the faction pretty easily.”

  “And the intel?” Saren asked, pushing to get to the point.

  Elyria looked at her mother’s eager face. Maybe she should’ve held back on how she found the leader so quickly. Once the Commander got what she wanted, Elyria would lose her attention altogether. There would be no room for argument, discussion or otherwise, and she couldn't be creative because mother always knew when she was lying. Stalling would only irritate her.

  So—direct to the point it was!

  “Before we discuss your plans, can we just revisit the conversation we all had before I left?”

  “Oh—please, we’re on this again? I thought I made my decision clear then? What do you think’s changed since?”

  “I was hoping in the six months I was gone, you would have a turnabout—guess I was mistaken.” Elyria thrust her back in the chair.

  “The Scarab are nothing but a scourge on humanity. Haven't they proven that? Are you going to deny it? They value nothing, let alone life, Elyria. Why are we even discussing this?”

  “Because I don’t understand why you can’t see destroying an entire world of possibly innocent people we know nothing about is becoming the same scourge as the Scarab themselves. I just think it's worth discussing a better plan first. We have everything we need, and we have the time. What we will be doing is setting the same precedence for life across the galaxy. Don't you see that, mother? If we’re going to make a move to take control back, we have to be better than them.”

  “Possibly innocent people?” Saren slammed her hand on the war table, turning it on. A schematic of the current galaxy dotted with thousands of red dots scattered across it filled the table.

  Saren tapped a few dots in front of her. “Do you see these red dots? Each one represents a homeworld the Scarab has destroyed with their death machines because the inhabitants were mining for fuel. This one in particular,” she said, reaching over and tapping a red dot.

  “Elyria. Do you know why this planet was mining for fuel? Since you think I know nothing about people, I’ll tell you. It was to warm their homes. Vylon is in the furthest reaches of their sun. It’s cold there, Elyria, really cold and they haven’t had enough time to develop a tree farm for firewood since it doesn’t support the best growing conditions. So, they were annihilated by the Scarab without question because they were—cold. Does that sound like a race that is innocent to you?”

  Saren turned toward Lieutenant Vasquez and nodded. “How about you, Juan? Does that sound like an innocent act carried out by innocent people?”

  Elyria looked over at Juan, whose face was reddening. “Don't let her ply you with politics. We all know the citizens and body of government are separate. Very few people ever know what's really going on within their government—only what they’re fed.

  “It's almost safe to compare the situation to a school and its children. If the leaders of your school decided to kill off another school and its entire student body, would you think you and the rest of your schoolmates were guilty of those murders?”

  Elyria reached over and shut off the war table. “No one is denying the anger we all feel over our losses. But if we, as a race, are ever going to move forward and set the peaceful precedent UFWA once stood for, we have to think first as if we were thinking of ourselves.”

  A slight smile crept up Juan’s face. Elyria always fought the good fight.

  Saren glared over the war table at the confident face of the daughter she taught never to back down, and the fire in Saren’s stare slowly faded. Her daughter would never know, but at the moment Saren could never have been more proud as a mother. She had a point, but it didn’t matter—not now.

  Saren wasn’t just a mother—she was a commander. Her duty was to protect the people including her daughter, which came above all else. If she failed to carry out her mission, the Scarab would continue destroying worlds and enslaving people.

  In a perfect world, she would have taken the sweet politically correct time, but the world her daughter sought was generations off and far removed. It had to begin somewhere, and Saren didn't have that kind of time. She needed to eradicate the Scarab for that ever to happen and she didn't know how to make her daughter understand that sometimes, the hard choices needed to be made.

  “As always, Elyria, I highly value each, and every, crew member’s suggestion,” she said coldly, locking eyes with her daughter. “I take careful considerations in my command of this ship and the crew serving beneath me. Do you have the coordinates for the Scarab homeworld or not?”

  Elyria’s eyes flicked toward Juan who was shaking his head slightly. She sighed and said, ”The Scarab homeworld is on a planet called AARU. It's in the galaxy MACS0647-JD.” She tapped her wristcom a few times, and the war table lit up with a blinking red dot.

  Juan sat up in his chair. “Saren, listen to reason, please—”

  She turned her head at his inappropriate use of her first name, and the dark, icy-stare in her eyes shut him up.

  Saren touched the red dot on the war table, and a star-chart appeared, filling the table and outlining the location of the Scarab homeworld of AARU. She looked up at her daughter, the red dot flashing in her eyes and said,” Thank you, lieutenant. That will be all. We’ll regroup in one hour to discuss the logistics of the plan of attack.”

  Elyria and Juan rose at the same time, and Saren shook her head. “Not you Lieutenant Vasquez, remain.”

  Elyria frowned as she stormed out of the war room.

  Juan began to sit back down, and Saren said, “Oh no, this won't take long. Remain standing.”

  A serious look came across Juan’s face, and he stood at attention. His mistake in using her name had just slipped out of his mouth. It was too late to do anything about it now.

  “You’re losing on both accounts, lieutenant.” She stared at the blinking dot.

  “I'm sorry, Commander?” He shifted on his feet.

  “If you think blatantly disrespecting me in front of my daughter because you agree with her is going to go unnoticed, you are clearly mistaken. And If your intentions are for honor, I will see to it you will never have her hand with my agreement. I would never allow any man to standby while his woman fought his battle.” She turned the chair towards him, staring him dead in the face. “Are we clear on this? And for the record, it isn’t open for discussion.”

  Juan stood taller and said, “Yes, ma'am! If that is all, I’d like to get back to my station, ma'am.”

  Saren thought to herself, at least he knows when to exit. “That will be all, Lieutenant Vasquez. And lieutenant?”

  “Yes, ma'am?”

  “Thank you.”

  He shook his head and left the war room.

  VOID STREAM LEGS

  ELYRIA charged out into the hallway quickly slowing her pace, trying to hear the conversation between Juan and her mother, but the damned door swished closed, so she continued down the corridor towards the bridge. She needed to check on the hovertrans at her station.
>
  Why did she keep Juan behind? Hopefully, he wasn't getting a load of shit for agreeing with the right course of action.

  Everyone hated the Scarab, of course, but even before they came, humanity had evolved past such aggressive violence. The old UFWA council would never have sanctioned her mother’s plan of destroying an entire planet without many months of thorough discussion and careful research. UFWA hadn’t been perfect back then, but at least they were on the right path, keeping peace across the universe.

  The people under her mother’s command were no longer obligated to serve in her revolution—yet they did. She used to be a very diplomatic commander, well known for her fairness and open-mindedness, not just her tactical success rate.

  Her mother used to have the highest percentage of graduating cadets request to serve under her command than any other commander in the entire history of UFWA Fleet Academy. It used to be an honor, getting chosen. Elyria wondered how those numbers faired nowadays.

  Elyria reached the bridge, and the door slid open. She strolled across the deck feeling all eyes on her and sat at her command station. For many months before she left for her mission, Elyria had been the liaison between the crew and her mother. They’d all missed her for sure, and she wondered how the atmosphere had suffered on the bridge without the buffer.

  “Welcome back, Lieutenant Thorn. It is good to have you home.” Lieutenant Kohn said from the captain’s chair.

  As a Delnorian, he was a brilliant science officer from an analytical race looking like human albinos except for their colorless eyes and hair. The Delnorian race was bald with a wide variety of different colored eyes, often in striking hues. Lieutenant Kohn had a beautiful pair in a vibrant shade of indigo.

  She turned toward him with a warm smile. “It's good to be back, Alva. And I'll bet you missed me. Any trouble in my absence?”

  “Oh, the usual I would say,” he replied, smiling back. “Any luck?”