by Zara Zenia
She laughed at the terror in my expression. Her voice held a shrill pitch that raised the hairs on my neck.
The wind rushed past us, stinging my face and eyes as we headed south, along the LCC Industrial Campus. Finally, we began to descend, aiming directly for the low corner building at the end of the campus. The Engineering and Development Experimentation Nook, EDEN for short.
Security was normally high, as the building was where we kept all our experimental and potentially dangerous assets, but the fire had drawn almost everyone out. I tried to scream to warn the guard rushing out to confront us, but Tadisha fired her gun at him, and I watched in horror as his lifeless body fell to the ground.
As we got closer, I realized we weren’t slowing. Instead, she flew past the entrance a good ten feet off the ground and dropped me, sending me into a painful roll.
I clutched at what felt like a dislocated left shoulder and started to stand, when I felt the hard prod of her firearm against my back.
“Alone at last! Should we paint our nails first or braid each other’s hair?” She snickered, pushing me forward, into the building.
I winced in pain but limped on. “So, it’s true then. You’re the real monster,” I said, feeling my bitterness rise.
“Baby doll, your little boyfriend probably hasn’t even told you the half of it.” She laughed as she grabbed my hair and kept the weapon at my back, guiding me through the halls of offices and into the honeycomb of labs.
“I could have killed you a hundred times, and you cannot even begin to guess how badly I wanted to. But, instead, thanks to your meddling dragon bastard, I had to make do with Albert. I wanted to gut him slowly, after all the time I had to spend pretending to be his pathetic lackey.”
“Albert is dead?” I heard myself ask.
“Well, unless he knows of a way to survive without his intestines or heart, I’d say he is pretty dead,” she said, gleefully enjoying my shock. “You know, if he were an Infernian, I might have enjoyed all the times I sucked his little dick off. He was quite the sadistic freak, little Albert. But don’t worry, I’ve got some friends who will make sure you don’t feel left out.”
We wound through different labs, and she seemed to be grabbing things as we went. Finally, Tadisha pushed me into a large open hangar attached to the labs, full of experimental aircraft.
“All right, I’ve got places to be and Dragselians to fuck up.” She pointed the weapon directly at my head. “You’re going to prep one of these and pilot it off Vaxivia, or I’m going to peel all that pretty skin right off your face and shove it down your Dragselian-cock-sucking throat. So, unless you want to join dearly departed Albert, let’s get moving, shall we?”
Looking up at her, I swallowed my disgust and gave her the reaction she wanted. I let tears cloud my eyes as I pretended to cower, bringing a sick smile to her leathery face.
My mind raced as I scraped together a plan. I looked around the room, quickly running through the specs of each vehicle until I found my prize. I limped toward the close-range fighter ship we had named the Malus T93.
It was sleek, handled well, and, most importantly, featured a self-destruct mechanism that allowed for pilot ejection. It was a spy vehicle concept that had originated during the struggles of previous occupation attempts.
I didn’t know if she was familiar with the vehicle, so I tried to distract her attention while we climbed in and I started turning systems on.
“Where are you taking me?” I asked her, making my voice as meek as possible.
A look of joy spread across her face. “You’ll see… or maybe you won’t. We’ll see how long you last. It’s going to be glorious. We’re joining the Infernian fleet. It’s magnificent, there has never been anything like it, thanks to your father.”
My heart stopped.
“He was easy to manipulate and confuse once we infected him with the nanites. Oh! Silly me, did I forget to mention that?”
Rage burned my cheeks. “You? You’re the reason he’s dying?”
“I realize your pathetic little brain has a hard time keeping up, but if you’re going to survive as an Infernian slave, you’ll need to do better than that. LCC has access to some of the largest mines of iridium in the galaxy. Thanks to LCC’s mining operation and Albert’s financial maneuvering, we built an armada of spacecraft right under everyone’s noses, and it’s ready to obliterate Dragselia.”
“Albert was a part of this?”
“To a certain extent. Of course, no one knew who I was,” she said, smiling proudly, “not even those filthy Dragselians. Pathetic idiots. They’re not fit to rule our homeland.”
My mind was reeling. I didn’t realize she had walked forward to the panel. Looking down, she took stock of the controls and turned on me.
Grabbing me by the throat, her sharp talons biting into my neck, she hissed at me, “Why you littlebitch! I’d say you’re going to regret that, but you won’t live long enough.”
She raised her other hand, the sharp claws sprawled, ready to strike at me, but the sound of ripping metal startled us both.
Looking out through the glass of the cockpit, we both watched as Ragal came thundering in through a giant opening, where he had ripped off most of the sheet metal wall. He seemed to smell the air, scanning for something and letting out a deafening roar. Tadisha dropped me and scrambled out of the vehicle.
“I’ll play with you later, baby doll,” she said, her voice dripping with menace.
Ragal took notice of her immediately, and roared again.
“Come to join the fun, have you? Good. I was hoping I would get to tear one of you apart before I left.”
They squared off, Ragal rising up and beating his massive, sprawling wings. Tadisha quickly flitted this way and that.
Suddenly, she charged at him, moving so fast I could barely register the motion. In one instant, she was hovering above him, and in the next, she was on his back, tearing at his scales.
Ragal flipped over and crashed to the ground, catching Tadisha beneath him, but, to my horror, she weaseled out, seemingly unharmed.
I held my breath as I watched them collide in midair once more, knowing so many innocent lives hung in the balance of this battle.
Chapter 19
Ragal
As I hurtled my body at Tadisha, I felt Tasha’s eyes upon me. I couldn’t see her, but I clung to the hope that whatever injuries she had sustained were minor.
I had followed her scent, despite the heavy smell of char on the wind. Tracking her to the building at the end of the lot, I heard the engines of a spacecraft humming to life and, with all the strength in my dragon body, I gripped the metal sheeting of the takeoff door to the hangar and tore, ripping most of it off.
The little Infernian had emerged then and I confronted my enemy, finally, in her true form. She was smaller than the Infernians we had faced before and I readied myself for a quick battle.
When she dived at me, her speed astonished me. She was not only smaller but faster and nimbler than her comrades had been. Attempting to pin her beneath me, I crashed onto the concrete floor, but she rolled and escaped the brunt of the impact.
She flew up and smiled wickedly. “If the rest of your countrymen fight as poorly as you, it won’t take much for us to demolish them.”
I struck out with my tail, but she rolled with the impact. Recovering, she flew behind one of the small aircraft, out of my line of sight.
Her smaller form suited her in the enclosed space. She flitted between vehicles, refusing to face me head on. Frustrated at her avoidance, I roared in anger and let loose a stream of dragon fire.
Her voice taunted me as it echoed off the walls of the hangar. “Typical Dragselian. You think you’re so superior, that you know better than everyone else. You would call Infernians treacherous, vicious creatures, but at least we embrace who we are! You? You claim yourselves righteous and honorable, but look what you do to your own kin. You cast them out to starve and die in the wastelands of space.
“You, and all of your kind, are as cruel as an Infernian. Soon, we shall see who is the truly superior race. On that glorious day, we will walk through streets littered with the corpses of your women and children and we shall take back what is rightfully ours!”
She sprang down from above me, but I shifted just in time, causing her to miss and tumble to the ground. Shifting back, I charged at her.
She raised her arm and drew out a firearm, firing at me. I sprang up, rolling to avoid the shot, but felt the burning pain of acid on my tail. I flew to the other side of the hangar, avoiding a volley of shots that sizzled against the metal of the aircrafts.
As a Dragselian, I could recover quickly, but the acid was hyper concentrated and continued to eat at my flesh, inhibiting my body’s regeneration reflex.
I shifted, weaving in between aircraft, as she stalked me with her weapon.
“Come out, come out, little prince. We’re not done yet,” she said, sadistic pleasure in her voice.
I silently crept around a low, tank-like vehicle and caught sight of her large light green wings, fluttering even as she walked on foot.
Taking advantage of the surprise angle, I leaped out and tackled her, working an arm around her neck and cutting off her air supply. We tumbled to the hard ground and she threw her legs up, pushing off and sending me flipping backward, the impact just barely loosening my grip.
She snaked out and began slicing at me with a short, stubby blade that seemed to act as a magnet, drawing out my iron-rich blood as it cut.
“Looks like I got the better toys!” she sneered, looking delightfully surprised at the damage she was able to inflict, and wagging her weapons at me.
The LCC logo was visible on both. Like any true Infernian, she was determined to fight dirty.
“If you truly believe Infernians are superior, why do you employ weapons? Why don’t you prove the prowess and superiority of Infernians by fighting a clean fight? Do all Infernians rely on human weapons to win their battles, or just you?” I said, provoking her ire.
Her eyes full of rage, she charged at me, but I caught her at the waist and flipped her over my head. Spinning in the process, I kicked her, solidly connecting with her torso. I felt, more than heard, the crack of bones as my foot struck her, and she went crashing into a nearby space vehicle.
“Dragselians live with honor. We do not raid, we do not infiltrate and destabilize communities for our own power mongering, we do not steal, and we fight our battles with dignity. You and your kind blame us for your misfortunes, you call us self-righteous, you call us hypocrites, yet you are the ones who continue to raise this conflict, to seek this violence.
“We would live in peace, but you will not allow it to be so. The depths of your depravity are beyond redemption—by your own admission, you would delight in the murder of even our most vulnerable citizens. You are beasts of death and destruction and you are unfit to rule even yourselves.
“However, unlike you, Dragselians believe in justice. You will be held in custody and you will cooperate with us to prevent the murderous rampage your people would wreak upon thousands of innocents,” I demanded, coming up to her.
Feigning surrender, she lowered her head and stretched out her arms in submission. As I neared, she thrust back up to her feet and fired at me again with the acid weapon. I dove out of the way and rolled beneath a vehicle. When I heard her approach, I shifted, lifting the vehicle into the air and catching her off guard, sending it smashing into her.
She was remarkably fast, though, and managed to maneuver around it, firing back at me at the same time and catching me in the wing.
The acid sizzled as it sank into the flesh of my wing. I beat it, trying to climb into the air, but the wound had left a gaping hole and I couldn’t generate enough lift to rise.
She shot again, and I tried to roll out of the way, but another shot connected and struck my leg. I needed to act quickly, the hits were adding up.
I roared, releasing a stream of dragon fire that ignited and demolished the rounds she tried to fire at me as I charged. Catching her, I bit down on her leg, eliciting a deafening shriek that reverberated through the hangar.
We rolled as she took her blade out and began striking at my neck, drawing streams of magnetized blood as she did so. I felt my body go weak from blood loss, and I released her leg, falling back as I did.
She cackled, delighting in the wounds she had inflicted. She flew up into the open air and smiled down at me.
“You’re right. We won’t let things rest in peace. The fury of our vengeance will never rest. But you’re not going to live long enough to see all that,” she said, raising her weapon to my neck.
I knew it would be a deathblow—
The hangar filled with the din of gunfire, and Tadisha’s body shook with the impacts.
Tasha, still at the controls of the spacecraft, had taken advantage of a clean line of fire.
Tadisha fell, her body riddled with wounds. With the little strength I had left, I lifted a claw into the air and took her head off with one quick strike.
Shifting, I collapsed back against a nearby vehicle. My vision was blurring, my body was singing with pain from the acid shots and the deep gashes, but when I saw Tasha come running at me, I felt all of it melt away.
Stumbling into her arms, we embraced and I reveled in the fact that I could once more hold her like this.
“Ragal! Oh my god, I thought you were going to die!” she said, showering my face in kisses as I inhaled the smell of her.
“It wasn’t even close,” I said, teasing her. She looked at me dubiously, and as I gazed into her eyes, I realized how much more I had to live for now.
“I love you,” I said. “I need you to know that. I know I was wrong, that I hurt you. I should have never lied to you and I’m sorry, but there was nothing false about the connection we felt, about the way I still feel about you.”
She smiled, tears in her eyes. “I love you, too, and I’m sorry, too. I shouldn’t have let my anger cloud my judgment. I should have given you the benefit of the doubt, allowed you to explain yourself, but I was afraid and angry and I just ran. I won’t ever run from you again.”
“And I won’t keep secrets from you again.” I kissed her softly. “Now, in the interest of open communication, I should mention that I might need to sit down soon,” I said, feeling a little woozy.
“Oh, oh god!” She took stock of my injuries. She ran to the lab and gathered a neutralizing agent for the burns and bandages for the cuts, staunching much of the bleeding and pain almost instantly.
With all the chaos and danger out of the way, at least momentarily, it felt so good just to hold her again. By the time my brothers and the emergency personnel made their way to the building, we had made good use of the cockpit of the spacecraft.
Epilogue
Tasha
Two weeks had passed by the time the ship was finally nearing completion. Ragal and his brothers had salvaged a good deal of the wreckage and I sent a team to continue recovery. Fortunately, because of the properties of the alloy used for the ship’s body, the acidic waters of the swamp had left it mostly intact and we worked tirelessly to piece it back together.
There had been a certain degree of public fallout and shock when footage of Ragal and his brothers racing to and from the burning hangar in the full splendor of their dragon forms hit the media. But with the backing of Charles Janeway, militia approval, and the endorsement of the LCC brand, most of the fears about an alien presence on Vaxivia were allayed.
There would always be some who could not accept aliens, but the imagery of Dragselians rescuing human workers from a massive inferno put to rest the notion of hostile intentions.
We relocated the construction to another hangar, and, while we assisted in the rebuild, Ragal introduced me to the technology of their ship. Their stasis pods had the potential to drastically revolutionize our medical technology.
With so many of Vaxivia’s settlements space
d at great distances in the wilderness, if injuries couldn’t be treated locally at the small community-led clinics, they were generally fatal. Though Steel City had top-of-the-line medical facilities, the chances of outliers making it to the city with severe injuries were slim at best.
It was an exciting time for Vaxivia and LCC, between the hydro-harvesting program and the aerospace and medical tech that Ragal and his brothers openly shared with us. The future was bright.
One point of darkness remained, though. When I confronted my father with the accusations Tadisha had made, that he had been complicit in selling mining rights within the Vaxivian-controlled asteroid field that we harvested from, he was shocked, having no recollection of it. Part of me wanted to believe him, but the seeds that Tadisha had planted had taken root and I wasn’t sure what to believe.
When I revealed his backdoor deal with the Infernians, I was met with less of a reaction than I had expected from the group.
It was four days after the attack and we had been overseeing construction progress for the day. Convening in a workspace to look at projections for completion and travel speed, it was only myself, Ragal, his brothers, and Andie and Jennifer. After the treachery in my own office, I was in the process of thoroughly vetting all my employees.
As the meeting wound down, I finally brought it up.
“I have something to tell you all, something I probably should have brought up right away, but I wanted to see if there was any truth to Tadisha’s words before I raised the alarm.”
Everyone’s attention was riveted on me, and I felt my cheeks flush.
Ragal put his hand over mine to assure me. “It’s okay, just tell us now. I’m the last person who will judge you for hesitating to reveal something,” he said with a small smile.