by Calista Skye
“But still you have some dark moments, right? Anything else wouldn't be natural.”
The huge warrior with the impossible strength looked silently out into space. “Yes, of course there are dark moments, times when I ask myself if it's worth it. But I'm tenacious. And I feel guilty.”
Olivia frowned. “Guilty? Survivor's guilt, you mean?”
“Partly, I'm sure. But there's more. I told you about the Ethereals and their attack on our colonies. The whole thing could have been handled much better by the people in charge. And the man in charge was the king. My father. He didn't do his duty to his people. He ignored obvious warning signs until it was too late, and then he acted foolishly. I feel very deeply that my father was at least partly responsible for the fate of the Braxians. And as his son and the heir to the throne, a great deal of that responsibility is passed on to me.”
Olivia thought for a moment. “I don't think any guilt attaches to you. None at all. If your father was sometimes irresponsible, you are obviously completely different.”
The young king glanced at her. “You sound like my mother, the queen. She also always told me that I shouldn't think I was anything like the king. She was the one who suggested I take up fencing, in fact. My father liked shooting, but I never had any talent for it. She may have laid the foundation for us being able to fight the Ethereals. I sometimes wonder if she had the ability to see the future.”
They walked in silence for a couple of minutes. Again Olivia was touched that he was opening up to her. “You said that you had fifty men to start with. Now you have eleven, including yourself. Let me know if it's none of my business, but did some of them kill themselves?”
“Some did. They were all good men. But when you strap a hundred pounds of explosives to your body and run into a group of Ethereals and blow yourself up among them, taking them with you, you're not being a warrior anymore. You're being suicidal, no matter how many enemies you take with you. I sought to discourage that, but I wasn't always successful. It's understandable.”
“Do they ever think of starting over? I mean, that they could settle in another solar system with a nice woman from another civilization?”
That topic was a little too close to home, but Olivia's head was still swimming a little from the liquor, and she was feeling brave. And she felt like she had been accepted by the Braxians and that Ator'aq wouldn't mind being asked that question.
They had reached another window in the wall, much smaller than in the Braxian section. Ator'aq stopped and looked out.
“Yes, of course,” he sighed. “They want that. I want that. But first, the alien menace must go. If not, we could never rest. We would always worry about them coming back and finishing the job. We must finish our job and defeat them. It's do or die for us. My men have become acquainted with many Earth women on this station, and they're enjoying that. But they all know that we must go on with the mission.”
“They have, huh? I seem to recall you flirting like crazy at the bar just a couple of days ago. But not with me.”
The alien general smirked. “Oh, any man likes to flirt a little. You'll recall that I left on my own, even if the opportunities were ample. I can't have superficial relationships. I never could. I'm all or nothing. And the reason I went to that bar was the hope that-”
He cut off his sentence and his smile faded as his radiant eyes pierced Olivia again. She saw something in there. Longing.
She longed for his touch, too. His lips were full and sensual, and before she knew it, she had placed one palm on his hard chest and was looking up at him with her own lips separated. If felt like a dream when the gorgeous alien king bent his neck and brushed his lips against hers.
She looked into his impossibly clear eyes and saw the same lust there that she felt pooling at her own core. For a moment, everything was forgotten – the Ethereals, the Space Marines, General Wilhelmsen and her orders.
Ator'aq placed a large, callused hand at the back of her neck, pulling her into the kiss.
Then her reverie was broken by the sound of a sharp gasp behind her. She reluctantly disengaged from the kiss and turned around, annoyed at having this moment ruined.
Then her eyes widened. It was Tessa, her sister, and she had never seen her looking more hurt.
They looked into each other's eyes for three heartbeats, and Olivia's heart broke when she saw the eyes of her baby sister fill with tears.
Then Tessa turned on her heel and walked away, very fast, unsteadily and obviously hurt.
“Wait, Tessa!” Olivia yelled uselessly and ran after her. Of course Tessa would be hurt and jealous. She had thought that Ator'aq's flirting in that bar had been real, and she had probably developed a crush on the alien general. Her sister started half-running to, and Olivia stopped. This was not the time. She would explain it later.
Explain what? she thought, seeing her sister turn a corner in the corridor. That she had kissed him and that she had a serious crush of her own?
It didn't matter. She was under strict orders to not get too close, whatever that meant. But kissing the guy and seriously wanting some more of him was definitely too close.
She turned around to tell Ator'aq that she had to go, but the alien general wasn't looking at her. He was looking intently out the little window, and his face was tense.
“Olivia,” he said urgently. “Alert your superiors. The enemy is here.”
13
He hadn't even finished his sentence when the alarm sounded throughout the whole station, a wailing klaxon that could wake the dead.
They locked eyes for a second. Ator'aq straightened and his hand went to his belt, as if searching for his sword. It wasn't there.
“This could be bad news, Olivia. This kind of attack is out of character for the Ethereals. They must want something specific. Get to your battle station. I will get my sword and organize my men. We're the only chance your species has right now.”
He took two long steps towards her, embraced her hard and kissed her on the lips once more.
“Many things will be determined tonight. Boniar said so, but I didn't think it would entail an attack from the enemy. Fight valiantly! If it's death for you, go to it with pride. You are a warrior.”
Then he disengaged and ran towards the Braxian section to get his men and his sword.
Olivia turned and ran the other way, a feeling of dread settling in the pit of her stomach. She would face the enemy, sure. But she was not in uniform. And her weapon was in her quarters, pretty far away. She didn't even have her exoskeleton.
Fuck.
She ran towards the Space Marine quarters, hoping the would have time to at least get her gun. On the way she met many confused personnel, and she yelled “Ethereals are here!” as she ran.
The space marines were less confused than the other personnel on the base, probably because they were usually never told anything anyway. All they had to do was obey orders, and since no order had been given, they were just getting into their battle gear as fast as they could.
Some of them saw Olivia come running. “What's up, Lieutenant?”
“Ethereals,” Olivia said, keeping her voice calm. “That's all I know. Better suit up.”
“Drill?”
“I don't think so.”
She dived into her quarters, got her gun, stripped off her civilian clothes, put on the exoskeleton as fast as she could and pulled on her battle uniform, visor and all.
Seeing the readout display showing her the level of ammunition in her gun and her own heart rate calmed her down immediately, like always. She was ready.
In the corridor, other officers were running to their designated battle stations. Olivia's was still the MP office, as far as she knew, and she made her way there as fast as she could.
Captain Duval was in charge of the MPs, and peered skeptically at Olivia. “I don't think you belong here anymore, Cooper.”
“Still my battle station,” Olivia said, keeping her voice calm.
“Ri
ght,” Duval said. “I don't mind having you here. Any idea?”
“Ethereals,” Olivia said. At the same moment, the alarm went silent and only left a ringing sensation in her ears.
Duval's eyes narrowed. “Ethereals? Here?”
“As far as I know, sir.”
The captain just stared at her for one second, then turned around to address to other MPs. “Doesn't look like a drill, guys.”
Olivia almost cringed at that unprofessional comment. But he was not a space marine.
He was busy with his communication device for a moment, and Olivia remembered that as an officer, she now had the right to contact Central Command directly at any time.
“Central, Second Lieutenant Cooper, Space Marines. Any orders?”
“Stand by, Lieutenant.”
She looked around the room. There were forty Military Police there, most of them space marines that had arrived early at the station and had been given crowd control duties. Devon was there, Maryah, Thomas, Jon... but not Tessa.
Olivia felt a ball of ice settle in her stomach. This was Tessa's battle station. But she was nowhere to be seen, and she'd had a head start on Olivia. If she wasn't here, and the Ethereals were attacking the base...
“Lieutenant Cooper,” Central said into her ear, the operator's voice tight. “This is Central. Orders from General Wilhelmsen coming through. Coded, visual only. Acknowledge.”
“Copy visual orders coming through from General Wilhelmsen.”
“No comms from you will be accepted by Central from now on, Lieutenant. Per aspera ad astra. Central out.”
The display in her helmet showed a screen full of garbled text, which was gradually decoded by the computer in her visor and rendered as readable text.
Enemies on base. This is a good time for you to stick to that one guy you know. Ignore ALL other orders. I suspect this is worse than we think. Too weird. W
Okay, that was clear enough. Stick to Ator'aq. She wouldn't mind that. But she'd also want to fight alongside other space marines, especially since this might turn into the first time they were under attack together. Well, it wasn't her choice anymore.
“Captain, I have new orders,” she said. “Good luck to you.” The turned to her fellow marines. “Per aspera ad astra!”
They replied with the same motto as one voice, yelling so loud Olivia's teeth were clattering. Captain Duval was so startled he dropped his stylus.
Olivia grinned and ran off, heading for the Braxian section. If this would get as bad as General Wilhelmsen obviously thought, then she hoped Ator'aq knew a trick or two. Because she didn't know if even space marines were ready to face the Ethereals.
14
The lighting on the station had been turned completely off. By the enemy or by Central Command, Olivia didn't know. Her visor gave her a good view of her surroundings anyway, so it didn't bother her. The corridors were empty now. Everyone on the base were where they were supposed to be. Except maybe Tessa.
She felt another pang of worry. Of all the times to hurt her sister's feelings... They had never been in competition for any guy, because of the three year age gap between them and because they were usually drawn to different types of men. But Ator'aq would appeal to any woman.
She felt her own breath in her ears as she ran along the long and deserted corridors. Was it wise to run so noisily through a base where there might be Ethereals? If they were as bad as Ator'aq said, getting captured alive would probably be worse than being killed in combat.
She clutched the gun in her hand. She would give them a good fight, whatever happened.
The whole station jerked and the floor seemed to disappear underneath her. There was a tremendous clang that seemed to set the whole structure trembling. Olivia was knocked off her feet and fell to the floor.
She got up, and saw that her visor had acquired a target at the far end of the corridor. Hostile!
She zoomed in and clung to the wall to try to be out of sight.
It was one person, a human. It didn't look like a Braxian, and it wasn't a space marine. A civilian?
It was a male, she could see that. He walked easily towards her, and his hands were empty. She zoomed in on his face. There weren't supposed to be any civilians left on the station, but she supposed there might be a few still. Even so, he walked with great confidence in the darkness, even if he appeared to not be wearing any kind of visor or glasses. The corridor had to appear as pitch black to him, and still he looked most of all like he was strolling along a busy street.
She raised her gun and took aim. The automatic aiming system had trouble locking on to the man, but that wasn't much of a problem. He was only about thirty yards distant, and she could aim easily enough.
What now? Should she shoot him? Fire a warning shot? Call to him and ask him to identify himself? Dammit, this particular situation had never occurred to her.
She had to do something, and if nothing else, her sergeant's training had given her a pretty powerful voice. She took a deep breath.
“Space marines! Stop right where you are and put your hands up!”
The man lifted his hands to show them empty, but he didn't stop. He seemed to have a wide grin on his face.
Shit, that was not good.
“Stop right there or I'll shoot!” She didn't know if she would do it. She was pretty sure she wouldn't. And were her eyes deceiving her, or was he suddenly much closer than before? The visor confirmed it. In the blink of an eye, he had halved the distance between them.
That settled it. That was very probably an Ethereal she was looking at. She aimed slightly to the side and fired.
The gun jumped in her hand and she saw the impact from the ray gun grazing the floor in front of the approaching man, sending a shower of sparks up from the floor.
Still he kept coming.
She aimed for his torso and pulled the trigger. The gun jumped again. And the man was gone.
“Olivia,” she heard a voice saying right into her ear, and she jumped so suddenly into the air that the exoskeleton gave her a hard push, and her head hit the ceiling hard.
She rolled with it and instinctively wanted to get away from where she had been, so she tried to move further down the corridor before she landed.
The exoskeleton let her land softly, and she aimed the gun at the man before she had touched down.
Still he stood there, holding his hands up with their palms out.
“Olivia,” he said before she could shoot. “I'm not here to harm you particularly. You have been tricked.”
She held her fire. She wasn't sure she had it in her to just shoot an unarmed civilian in cold blood.
“Are you an Ethereal?” she made herself say.
“Yes,” the man confessed, grinning with teeth so white they seemed to give off light. “I am. And I came here to give you a message.”
Again the alarm started wailing, but was shut off after a second.
“I'm not a messenger,” she said. “Say what you have to and then get the hell out.”
“You have been tricked,” the Ethereal repeated.
One part of Olivia's brain noticed that he was ridiculously beautiful, with just the most perfect face and a smirk so mischievous it made Ator'aq's pale in comparison. His hair was dark and wavy, his body slender and athletic. He was wearing a business suit without any tie, and he probably looked better in it than any man ever had. He was breathtaking, even when looking at him through a visor that had to compensate for the lack of light and only showed an image with very pale colors.
She chose not to reply.
“I must know that you're listening, Olivia,” he said in a voice so smooth and velvety she almost wanted not to have to shoot him. The universe would be worse off without that voice in it.
“Fine.”
“Good girl,” he said. “You have been tricked into something that you don't understand. Something big, something that you can't control.”
“Okay, thanks. I guess this is where you tell me
that you Ethereals aren't that bad after all. Sorry, I don't buy it. Also, goodbye.”
She tightened her finger around the trigger.
The Ethereal just chuckled. “Oh, I would never say that. We are pretty bad. From your perspective. And from our own, I suppose. No, we really are the enemies of Earth. But we're not necessarily your enemies, Olivia.”
“I disagree.” Again her finger tightened. This was too spooky. She felt like she was being tricked just standing here and listening to him. She really didn't want to kill him. But it was her duty now.
The Ethereal leaned into the wall, standing there without a care in the world. “Why do you think that you, a sergeant with a paltry three years duty behind her, were chosen as a liaison to the Braxians? Did it not cross your mind that if those aliens were as important to Earth's survival as everyone thought, they would have a much more experienced officer in charge from the very beginning? Why do you think they promoted you and then made you liaison officer? Even on Earth, between allied armies, that's a job for an experienced officer, not a fresh second lieutenant. And here and now, when the whole fate of your pitiful civilization depends on the favor of the crude Braxians? That's a job for a hardened colonel in his fifties, with extensive diplomatic experience as both a liaison and at embassies. Or even a general. And here, of all places, they picked little brown Olivia Cooper? The most important job in the Star Force? So secretly only the very top brass know?”
She said nothing. She hadn't thought that much about it. But now that he mentioned it...
The Ethereal looked like he was stifling a yawn. “The real liaison officer, whose name is General Tarrant, is not happy with this at all. He only met the Braxians a single time before he was told to stand down.” The Ethereal laughed, a sound like a pristine creek in the mountains. “No, he was not happy. Not at all. No one was. Except you. And probably Wilhelmsen. She was always a disruptive bitch.”