Prime Alpha (Planetary Powers Book 1)

by Joshua Boring

  “You think the Yew will try another surprise attack?”

  A lethal glare bolted behind Gordon’s eyes, and his fingers gently probed across the polished surfaced of the golden Alliance peace medallions emblazoned on his gun.

  “They will,” he said. “I know they will.”

  Nathen sighed, closing his eyes. “Seems like the galaxy just got a little more dangerous.”

  A morbid chuckle arose from the Captain, causing Nathen to open his eyes and arch an eyebrow.

  “Of course it did,” said Gordon. “The ESCs are back.”

  ***

  Three hours later, the dome was empty of personnel. All was quiet. Haven Alpha sat, like a sleeping dragon in her lair, but still a commanding presence. Then, unseen and unheard from within the bridge of the magnificent starship, the launch order was issued.

  The hollow shell of the dome suddenly lit up as the mobile headquarters began to awaken. A hum filled the stillness of the docking dome, reverberating off the walls. As the ship powered up, several loud clangs broke through the hum of the ship’s drives, and then a long crack appeared in the dome’s frame. The dome split into halves, yawning aside and exposing the docking bay to the planet’s surface. Methane and carbon monoxide rushed in, filling the dome with the sound of the whipping wind. Haven Alpha continued to power up, until finally it was ready, crouching on the pad with pent-up energy.

  Then the mobile headquarters activated its repulsors. Tapping into the planet’s gravity, the massive ship lifted into the air like a feather, gently and carefully. When the ship was hovering fifteen feet in the air, it began backing out. With the fixed half of the curved dome to its nose, Haven Alpha had no option but to back out. Maneuvering with repulsors and gravjets, the ship edged out into the sunlight of the planet, engines first, then the crew decks, then finally the twin rail guns that took up a third of the ship’s length. And then Haven Alpha was gleaming, stem to stern, in the shimmering light as it turned about.

  The massive ship pirouetted in the air with breathtaking grace, until it was facing the horizon, and then the starship opened up a tiny percentage of its main engines. The ship smoothly eased forward, accelerating faster and faster away from the starport. As it built speed, the mobile headquarters nosed up, toward the stars, piling on the acceleration until it was going hundreds of kilometers per hour. Within minutes, the ship slid out of the atmosphere and into the void of space.

  The ESC’s were on their way.

  Chapter 13

  Nathen waited, leaning against the corridor wall, arms folded across his chest. It would be a few more hours until the ship hit hyperspace range. For traffic reasons, light jumps were not permitted except along pre-determined routes. That meant Haven Alpha would have to follow a leap frog path, performing tight, short range light jumps followed by stretches of sublight crawls until the ship reached the outer edge of the system, where gravitational masses wouldn't interfere with an interstellar hyperspace leap.

  In other words, there was time to kill.

  Nathen looked down toward his feet at the suitcase. A part of him wanted to delay this. Hold off on the initiation until he got a better feel for his new speaker. But, as much as he hated to admit it, he couldn't afford that delay. They'd be in the Menturion System in a day, maybe two, and then they'd be on the ground. It really wasn't fair, what he was about to ask of this girl. It took time to get used to the suits; time they didn't have. Team Alpha had been training for eight months in preparation for this day: Reactivation. Now he was going to throw this girl in on two day's training.

  He'd just have to push her harder, then.

  Down to his left, along the curved corridor of Haven Alpha's living quarters, a door hissed aside. Nathen looked up, and after a few seconds Calico Trast came into view. She was still dressed in her infantry uniform—beret and all—though it looked to Nathen like she'd changed into her spare outfit. She was still trying to make an impression, but she didn't know how to do it with Nathen as her commander. Nathen pushed off the wall before she reached him and turned to greet her.

  “Get any rest?”

  Calico paused, then shook her head, causing her short red bangs to twitch.

  “I couldn't relax,” she said.

  Nathen knelt and picked up the suitcase at his feet.

  “Well, you'll sleep tonight, I can swear to that.”

  Nathen lifted the case and held it out to the new ESC. Calico looked at the case and slowly reached out to take it by both sides.

  “What's in there?” she asked, turning the case over to examine it. Nathen nodded an invitation.

  “Open it.”

  Calico rested the case flat and popped the latches. Nathen had disengaged the kill switches, so the case's self destruct mechanism was inert. Calico cracked the case open and looked inside. Frowning in puzzlement, she reached into the case and felt the folded shape. Nathen saw the black material shimmer under her touch, and Calico retracted her hand instinctively. The black square settled in the case again. The girl looked up, curiously.

  “What is this thing?”

  Nathen stepped back and crossed his arms.

  “Your new uniform,” he said, “Your only uniform.”

  Calico blinked and looked down at herself, dressed in her pressed infantry uniform. When she looked back up, Nathen jerked his head down the hallway.

  “Let's go put it on.”

  Nathen turned, and Calico followed, after closing the case once more. A minute later, they were in front of the sealed doors marked “Armory”. Nathen pulled out his keycard, swiped it, and punched in his access code. The door slid aside. The contrast between the brightly-lit corridor and the dark-lit interior of the armory threw the new girl off. Nathen glanced over at Calico, who was peering into the room, holding the suitcase in one hand. Nathen stepped aside and motioned with one arm.

  “After you.”

  Calico cast a glance at her commander, then stepped inside, posture erect. Nathen followed, and as soon as they were inside, he closed the door, which slid shut with a muffled thud.

  The armory was dark, but not pitch black. From the doorway of the semi-circular room one could perceive eight large glass cases; four on each side of the rounded room. Though the cases appeared to be glass, they were all dark, so the insides were impossible to make out. Calico walked to the center of the room and turned around, squinting at the dark cases. As she looked, Nathen took several steps inside the room.

  “Trast,” he said, grabbing her attention. “Do you know why we're going to war?”

  Calico looked up. She paused, thought about it, and shrugged, timidly.

  “Because the Yew Alliance attacked us.”

  “But do you know why?”

  Calico frowned, glancing at the floor. “I always assumed it was because they didn't like us much.”

  Nathen closed his eyes and sighed. “Wrong.”

  Calico just stared, quietly waiting for her commander to continue. Nathen took a deep breath and let it out, opening his eyes.

  “The Yew Alliance attacked us after we refused to let them commit genocide.”

  Calico said nothing. Nathen went on.

  “The truth is that this war is all because a single ship of refugees crossed into our territory seeking asylum. The Yew came after them with a kill fleet. Kill fleets don't take prisoners. It wasn't our war. It wasn't our business. But that day, we made it our business. When they came to wipe out ten million refugees on one massive unarmed ship, we dared to stand in their way. The Yew could not forgive that.”

  Calico just blinked, taking the information in. After a second, she looked right at Nathen.

  “Who did we save from the Alliance?”

  Nathen turned his sharp gaze and looked past Calico.

  “Their forefathers.”

  Calico saw Nathen's gaze and turned. When she did, she uttered a slight gasp and took a step back. At the far end of the room, wrapped in shadows, was a small, bipedal form, sitting on a small mat with
its head bowed. Its head was larger relative to its body, which was smaller than either of the Humans, and a crested crown curved along its carapace. Its eyes were closed, shielded behind smooth, graceful lids, and it had a thin, narrow lower face.

  It was a Splinter.

  Slowly, its eyelids opened revealing a pair of multi-layered eyes, like shimmering spheres of shifting stained glass. Even in the dim room, the eyes seemed to hold the warmth of a candle flame. The Splinter stood, moving with ease and grace that suited its small body. When it stood, its full body robes hung off its arms and shoulders. It took its strides fluidly but quickly, approaching the Humans at the center of the room. When it reached them, the four foot alien had to look up even to meet Calico's eyes. It reached up and slowly drew a circle across its head and crest with a frail four-fingered hand.

  “Hello,” he said, formally. “I have been expecting you.”

  The small alien's voice was soft but not weak. The Splinter's words were spoken like a low song; not melodious but with a gentle rhythm. In the low light, Calico saw the Splinter's skin was a slight bronze hue, with a texture of sandstone. Nathen stepped up beside Calico and motioned to the alien before her.

  “This is Photos,” he introduced. “He's a-”

  “Splinter,” Calico said, regaining her composure. The girl switched the suitcase to her left hand and raised her right, performing the same circle across her head that Photos had done.

  “Alon,” she said, her voice pitching into the same soft tone the Splinter had used. “Aleyv uis, phuel kaal, lehj ohn wyyl.”

  Nathen was taken aback yet again, despite having witnessed Calico's skills twice already. He was not familiar with the Splinter language, but he was still impressed to hear it spoken with such confidence by a Human. He was still wondering at how young she was to have studied, much less learned, all these different languages. She even picked up on the postures, motions and body language that went with it. If she picked up on everything this quickly...

  Well, time would tell.

  Photos stood, staring blankly up at Calico. After a few seconds, Calico blushed and awkwardly ran a hand through her red hair.

  “Did... did I say that, right?” she asked.

  Photos paused, then blinked, tucking one arm behind him and lifting the other in assurance.

  “It was... admirable. I have not heard the traditional formal blessing in... quite some time.”

  Calico relaxed, glad she hadn't embarrassed herself. Nathen took this opportunity to fill in some details.

  “Photos is our representative of the Splinter race, both the liberated and the oppressed.”

  Calico looked from Nathen to Photos with contained awe. “I've heard so much about the Splinters from xenohistory books. You're the most advanced race in the known galaxy.”

  Photos stared, his face unreadable. “What you mean is that our race's technological achievements have surpassed others expectations. I might voice that this fact has done little for our species in recent history, except to make us a target.”

  Calico focused on the shorter, light-spoken alien. “I'll admit, I don't know much of your kind. We don't have an embassy from your race, there are no traders, no exchange projects. Just… stories, really.” Calico shuffled and reached up with her right hand, rubbing the base of her neck uncomfortably. “Actually, our races have had very little interaction, haven't we? Not since the Great Withdrawel, hundreds of years ago, anyway. I mean, I understand your homeworlds are very far from our systems, but...”

  “You know our language,” Photos said. “But you, like others, are deaf to our plight.”

  Calico frowned, wondering what she'd said wrong. Nathen stepped in.

  “We don't have time for a lengthy history lesson,” Nathen said. “I assume you know the Splinter's stance on violence.”

  Calico nodded. “They're pacifists. Attuned to the light of life.” A checking glance at Photos. “Or, so sources say.”

  Photos slowly blinked his large, smooth lids and said nothing.

  “That's right,” Nathen confirmed. “They do not believe in the taking of intelligent life. As a belief. They have never used their technology, or intelligence, for war.”

  Photos' face remained impassive, but there was an air of sadness to his next words.

  “Which means,” the Splinter said. “That we could not stop others from doing so for themselves.”

  Calico detected the sadness in Photos' tone. “I don't understand.”

  Nathen crossed his arms. “Where do you think the Yew Alliance got their race-enslaving fleet of first-class technology?”

  Nathen saw the connection click in the girl's green eyes.

  “They're, using your own technology... to destroy you?”

  Photos nodded, which was little more than a tip of his head crest. “What machines of war you see out there among the stars is merely a... what would be your word?”

  “Perversion,” Nathen said, with a slight, twitching sneer.

  “-of our peaceful accomplishments,” Photos finished. “And with that said... we are your greatest enemy.”

  Calico didn't know what to say. Nathen could tell by the look on her face that she'd never read anything like this in her books before.

  “Which is why,” Photos said, continuing suddenly. “We intend to atone for it.” The Splinter turned and motioned with one arm toward the glass cases. “With these.”

  At his motion—with no visible trigger or switch—the nearest glass case lit up. Calico turned, and gasped. In the case stood a glimmering, distorted white statue. The Human shape stared at them through the glass with a blank, alien pose, silent and still. Photos moved his head, turning his stained-glass eyes on the next dark case. The glass lit up, and an identical suit shone within as the light reflected off its violet alloy.

  The third case lit up, displaying a massive seven-foot tall blue statue that barely fit into its case. Then the next glass lit up, revealing a rigid, forest-brown sentry within, posing in mock attention. The rest of the cases lit up in succession, revealing the contents that were formerly kept in shadow. A floral green statue, smooth helmet gazing calmly ahead. A sinister black figure, glimmering in the case light like a starless night sky with its helmet bowed in a low glare. A sleek, sturdy sentinel tinted with gunmetal gray.

  Nathen glanced around as Calico did a complete turn around the room. Seven shining suits of armor hung suspended in their protective glass display cases, each with a distinctive color. With surfaces rounded and smooth as glass, each section of armor was, in and of itself, a craftsman's masterpiece. There were no clasps or bolts or even seams; just solid, clean armor. And though each suit bore the basic likeness of a Human, one had only to look twice to know that these had not come from any Human hand. Nathen calmly walked up to the nearest case—the one with the pearly white armor—and leaned a flat hand against its surface.

  “These are the Genesis suits,” he said. “Armor designed for Humans, by Splinters. The only ones of their kind. A form of nanotechnology we've only dreamed of achieving.” Nathen tapped the glass, indicating the shimmering armor. “Zen Alloy. This metal, if it can even be called that, is more potent than our best starship battle armor. Yew Omnium can't touch this with a ten kilometer pole.”

  Nathen stepped back and turned to Calico, looking down and rolling back his jacket sleeve. Under his thick jacket material was a thin, almost unnoticeable layer of black, textured film. The same material that was in the case in Calico's hand. Nathen spread his hand out and curled his fingers in and out several times, showing off how the material flexed... or rather, didn't. Wherever he moved his hand, the material flowed flawlessly with him, showing not a single crease or wrinkle that would indicate it was anything other than his own natural-born skin.

  “The dermasuit,” Nathen explained. “Nano-skin. This stuff is weak on its own, but when applied to a host, it takes on the durable elastic quality of our skin and multiplies it tenfold. You will never even notice you're wearing i
t... Until you take damage, in which case-”

  Without warning, Nathen reached under his arm and pulled out his pistol. Calico frowned, then quickly backed away with wide eyes as Nathen pointed the gun into his own hand and pulled the trigger.

  The gunshots exploded in the quiet room, echoing off the smooth walls and leaving a ringing in everyone's ears. Calico issued a startled squeak as three successive blasts fired into her commander's open hand. The last shell casing hit the floor with a hollow ping and Nathen cringed, wrapping his fingers in tight toward his forehead. He took his finger off the trigger, feeling his fist howl in pain. Then, calmly looking over at Calico's shocked expression, Nathen turned his hand over and spread his fingers wide.

  Three degrading lumps of lead fell to the floor.

  Calico watched them fall, then curiously and cautiously, she moved in to examine what she was sure would be bullet holes in her commander's hand. Nathen held his hand steady for her to see. The formerly flawless dermasuit was marred by three impact patterns from the point-blank shots. But, as the seconds ticked by, the palm of the dermasuit puckered, twitched, and then the damaged cells disintegrated, flaking off his hand like grainy ashes, leaving behind the flawless, seamless nano skin as if it had never been changed.

  “It hurts like a sonuvabitch,” he said, flexing his hand a few times like he'd just slammed his fingers in the door. “But it will stop just about anything that comes your way.”

  Calico started to reach out, stopped, and pulled her hand back. Nathen held his arm out, pulling his jacket sleeve back even farther, showing how much more nano-skin he was wearing underneath. All the way up past his elbow, the alien surface had taken claim. Calico touched it, looking fascinated.

  “It just...” she said, oddly. “Looks so thin. How can it be that strong? How could something this flexible be stronger than our hardest body armor?”

  “Human skin is already a better natural defense than you might think,” Nathen said, reaching up and tugging slightly at the skin on his neck. “It’s flexible, layered, tough, and can absorb much more shock than people realize.”