She would not kill a sentient except in honorable combat. She would fight if it came to that, but she was no fool. She was outnumbered. The humans would react with deadly force as soon as they saw her. It was better to whittle them down using her fog and fear-shadows.
When the warriors were gone, she would face the Mystics. The ungifted humans could be pardoned, but the Mystics had entered the Astral Plane. They had touched the Ancients’ artifacts. That was unforgivable.
The next human came into sight. Hardly a curtain of fog existed between the soldier and her companions, but it was enough. Khiann focused her energy on the female. She slowed as the wall of fog closed in, disoriented and surrounded by fearful shapes. The soldier stopped and turned in place, eyes wide. Then she started walking again, hurrying to catch up to her companions, but she bumped into the wall.
She opened her mouth to call out. Khiann clasped her hand over the human’s mouth, her arm cutting off the woman’s air. She struggled, but she couldn’t find purchase on the floor or on Khiann’s arm. She soon went as limp as boiled leaves.
Khiann left her on the floor like the other warrior and hurried after her next victim.
***
When the group dispersed, it didn’t worry Cor so much. He stuck close to Jack and tried to keep up with the crewmen silhouetted in front of him.
“Summers,” he called, but the figures in front of him didn’t slow. He tried to pick up speed, but he only fell further behind.
“What is it?” Jack asked.
“Something doesn’t feel right. I feel like everyone’s in danger.” He stopped.
“We should keep moving,” Jack said, but he stopped as well. Then he frowned and looked around them. “Where is everyone?”
Coraolis tried to reach out with his abilities. He didn’t expect them to work after the fog had smothered him outside. Yet, in this place, he could sense the lives of every member of the team. Summers, Davis, Santiago…each of them was far behind…and very still.
“We’ve been chasing phantoms. Everyone is behind us. I think they’re incapacitated.”
Jack looked alarmed. “What? Which way?”
Cor reached out with his senses, seeking the right path. Finally, he felt sure of his direction. He put his hand to the cool stone wall and began walking, gripping Jack’s sleeve so he wouldn’t leave his friend behind.
It felt wrong, but he could no longer trust his instincts. He was getting close to the crewmen, and that was enough to tell him he was on the right path.
Then, the corridor ended in a huge dome-shaped room he didn’t recognize. The black walls of the corridor transitioned into smooth silver panels shaped like honeycomb. The fog thinned, and he spied a stone dais in the center of the room. Twin serpents twisted out of its base, creating a figure eight with their bodies before turning back to face the center of the dais. Even from where he stood, Coraolis could see the menace in their eyes.
His gaze lit on the object at the center of the dais. It seemed to be the target of the serpents’ attention, a pearl-white cylinder about the length and width of his forearm, made of sections divided by golden rings. A jet black circle was set into its center. He couldn’t make out much detail at this distance, but everything in him wanted to move closer, to take it in hand.
“I think this is what they wanted,” Jack said. He’d already taken several steps toward the artifact.
Coraolis hurried to keep up. The object had a gravity of its own, and the closer the Mystics came to it, the more they were pulled in. No doubt that was caused by their dragons’ wills. No matter where it came from, Coraolis didn’t like it. He’d gladly help the dragon he’d made a pact with, but did the dragon understand the consequences of certain actions in the material plane, like those that affected his mortality?
The urges faded as soon as Jack picked up the artifact. It didn’t look like much compared to the other things they’d seen. It had one glyph, and that was traced onto the black circle.
Cor wondered what would happen if he touched it. As soon as the thought was complete, a terrible wave of dread and guilt landed on his shoulders. He went to his knees, gasping for breath.
“Cor? What’s wrong?” Jack took his arm and helped him up.
“I’m fine. Just don’t mess with that thing. Don’t touch it…don’t even think about it.”
Jack turned the object over in his hand, frowning. “Okay, I won’t. Why, you weren’t going to push the button, were you? Didn’t we have a talk about that?”
“Yes, we did, and I was not going to.”
“That is correct,” came an exotic voice. “You will return the treasure to its place, and then you will die.”
A stranger emerged from the fog. She wore matte black armor that covered her from the high mesh collar to her sharp-toed boots. She had large eyes slit like a cat’s, and pale luminescent skin, unlike anything he’d seen in a human, even if her sharp ears and inhuman proportions didn’t give her away as an alien.
“That’s not how it works. This is supposed to be where you offer to let us live if we put the toy down. You should offer to let us go if we give it up,” Jack told her helpfully.
She sneered. Her lips moved out of sync with her words, her voice too harmonic to be real. “You forfeited your life the moment you stepped foot on this planet, human. It is too late for bargains.”
“Wait, what do you mean by that?” Cor asked.
Her answer was to charge forward, slicing through the air at throat level. Jack danced backward, holding the artifact like a shield. She surged at them again. Jack threw himself to the side and vanished from sight. She turned with a hiss.
Coraolis pushed himself to act. He gathered his power and threw lightning into her side. She was knocked off her feet and rolled, coming upright with the grace of a gymnast.
The stranger threw herself at Coraolis, a long blade held out to the side. He flung more lightning, but her movements were liquid. She dodged without breaking stride. Then, she tripped on nothing and fell. Her knife skittered in one direction, she in the other.
She rose to her feet with some dark fluid trickling from the corner of her mouth.
“Humans have no honor,” she spat.
“You were about to gut my friend,” came Jack’s disembodied voice. “I had to do something.”
The alien’s hands moved in a blur, and Jack reappeared with a hilt buried in his shoulder. He sagged against the wall behind him, looking pale.
“Hide again, Jack! I’ll deal with her.” Coraolis moved to stand between his friend and the alien, calming his nerves. “You attacked us with no provocation, attacked our companions, and threatened our lives. From my point of view, you’re the one with no honor. Leave him, and fight me.”
“You would challenge me?” The disbelief in her voice verged on hilarity, though she stopped advancing on Jack. “Very well. I accept. The loser forfeits their life and goods.”
“The winner leaves the planet in peace. The loser goes their own way. No more attacks,” Coraolis snapped.
“So it is, so it will be. What is your battleground of choice?”
He looked around, wondering if he could say ‘Earth’ just to put this off. But no, that was without honor. She could kill him easily and wouldn’t let him evade the inevitable. He wasn’t sure how he could fight her in this world. She’d moved like the blade was an extension of her hand. She’d easily dodged his lightning. Coraolis didn’t stand a chance against her.
Not in this world, anyway.
“I choose the Astral Plane.”
He expected her to question, or maybe protest it, but she nodded thoughtfully. She selected a place on the floor opposite Coraolis and sat with her legs crossed.
“It is well,” she agreed.
His heart sank. She was a capable warrior; he’d assumed that meant she wasn’t a Mystic. He should have known better, but at least now he’d be on an even playing field.
“Cor, don’t do this,” Jack whispered.
&nbs
p; “I have to. Find the others. I’ll catch up.”
“Cor.”
“Go.”
He heard Jack shuffling his feet and moving away. The alien’s eyes followed the sound, but she remained seated.
“So now what? Do you choose the weapon?”
She shook her head. “Your only weapon is your will, regardless of the shape it takes.”
Khiann bowed her head, and Coraolis realized she’d left her body. He was surprised she trusted him that much. An untrustworthy person would take advantage of that, maybe tie her up and walk away without a fair fight, but he couldn’t bring himself to do that. Honor. It’s what he had told Earth Fleet to justify his actions. It’s what he told Julia. It was who he was.
He left his body and found her waiting, holding a blade like the one she’d wielded in the physical world. She waited a beat, giving him a chance to get his bearings, then attacked.
Coraolis wasn’t much of a fighter in the physical world, but in the Astral Plane, few could match him. As soon as she committed to the strike, he flowed around her blade to reappear behind her. He slammed his palm between her shoulder blades and released a torrent of energy.
She yelped and flickered out of sight. He felt a twinge from his dragon and flew aside just in time, as a spear of light flashed by. Had he not moved, he would have been impaled.
He twisted and eluded several attacks. She left herself open, and he rained fireballs onto her. She cried out and was singed when she reappeared in front of him, weary resignation in her eyes.
“Do you want to concede?” he asked.
She charged, a spear of light clutched in both hands. He batted it aside with hardly a thought and counterattacked with a flash of lightning. The thunderclap that followed rippled through the Astral Plane. She cried out and vanished.
He waited, but she was gone. He’d won. He didn’t quite believe it; he’d seen her prowess in the physical world, but maybe she wasn’t as strong in the Astral Plane.
When he was sure she was gone, he returned to his body. Exhaustion slammed into him, but he pushed himself to his feet and staggered to where the alien lay on her side. She was unconscious, but breathing. He didn’t feel guilty about leaving her behind while he looked for the others. The stranger was on her own.
***
Khiann awoke in the dark. Every part of her felt like it was on fire, because for a moment her astral form had been burning. She had been completely overwhelmed. The human had too much power, likely because of his bargain with the vile dragons.
He’d been too much for her. She was lucky to have survived.
As it was, the humans were long gone, and she was on her own. She bowed her head, acknowledging her failure, and worse. She could no longer handle this alone. She would need to call on her kin.
CHAPTER TEN
By the time Coraolis found Jack, he had revived several of the crew. They woke up groggy, but alive. Jack helped the first of them outside while Coraolis saw to the rest. Their datapads were operational again, allowing them to find their way out of the city and back to the shuttle. Exhausted, they fell into their seats.
The auto-pilot flew them to the Charon. After landing, they left the shuttle without a word to each other. They were too tired, saving their energy for their verbal report.
Captain Wells listened, then declared they would take the scenic route home. This was the first alien attack on humans in decades; he wasn’t about to lead a strange race to their homeworld. It was standard procedure, but plenty of grumbles went up when the crew heard they weren’t headed straight back to Earth.
At first, Coraolis and Jack kept up their evening game sessions. Sometimes Jack came prepared, others he ran on the fly. Cor seemed to have a good time, but one by one, their audience melted away. Borrowed manuals were returned, and the crewmen who’d become neutral or even friendly stopped greeting them in the hallway. Then they stopped making eye contact. The only one who acknowledged their existence was the chief, and even that was no more than a brisk nod as they passed, each going their own way.
Without any real discussion, they started going to meals at the tail end of each shift to avoid the crowds. Jack didn’t have to see the hostile stares to know they were there. When they played games in the galley at night, he caught more than one crewman giving him and Cor hostile looks. It got to the point where it was uncomfortable to play in public at all.
“I get the feeling we’re getting the blame for this detour,” Jack murmured to Coraolis. They were two weeks past their planned date of return, and even Jack was feeling antsy. He didn’t miss being a guinea pig, but he wondered how Isabel was doing.
“They’ll get a little shore leave when we stop at Zeri Station. That should take the edge off.” Coraolis opened their cabin door and ushered Jack through first.
“We’re stopping? I didn’t think there were any Earth Fleet stations in this sector.” Jack dropped onto his bunk and lay back, using his arm as a pillow. “I’d like a little time off this boat myself.”
“It isn’t one of ours, it belongs to the Tiel, but they’ll trade us for supplies.”
“How do you even hear these things?”
“I’m the senior Mystic on the mission. It’s standard procedure to notify me. In fact, it’s our job to check it out and make sure it’s secure from the Astral side of things. So that’s our duty for tomorrow. Once we’re clear, we’ll dock.”
“I can’t wait.” Jack reached for a book as Coraolis sat on the floor to meditate. His eyes skimmed over the descriptions of monsters and fantasy creatures but didn’t take any of it in. He felt a little like a kid on Christmas Eve, not just because of the shore leave, but because come morning, they’d finally have something useful to do.
***
Zeri Station was shaped like a donut, with its power source spinning like a city-sized top at its center. It passed the Mystics’ inspection in the Astral Plane, and soon Charon was docked. While Wells negotiated for supplies, crewmembers were given leave in shifts. Jack and Cor flipped a coin to decide who got leave first, and Jack was the lucky winner.
The moment he stepped into the station, Jack was nearly overwhelmed by the loud music, alien voices, and bright lights. There were two large entryways with alien lettering splashed above them. Banners next to the entryways had translations of the marquee in several different languages. He thought one of them might be French, so he ran it through the datapad to find out what it said: Tonight Only, Bava Inga Sings the Blues.
He ran the Yeti version through the translator and came up with the same result. He wandered inside, curious about what the alien version of the blues would be, and found himself in a bar any human would feel at home in. Booths lined the wall, and round tables clustered near a stage.
A Yeti in a shiny red jumpsuit stood at the microphone, crooning in an unmistakable rhythm while his companions plunked at a bass guitar and piano. While the words weren’t in English, the tune was exactly right. The musicians were easily eight feet tall, with shaggy white hair and tusks that gave them their human name. Jack had met Yetis before, but he’d had no idea they could sing.
He slid into an empty chair and listened. When a server bot came around with a menu, he ordered a beer without even thinking. The beverage that turned up at his table was carbonated and a bright shade of red, but it tasted like a good IPA.
The song came to an end, and he stood to applaud. All three Yetis turned to look at him, their whiskers bristling. His clapping slowed as he realized the rest of the audience was staring in silence. Maybe he’d misstepped. Maybe clapping was rude in Yeti culture.
He sat down. When he nearly missed the chair, he realized the beer had affected him a little more than he’d expected. He righted himself and took another sip, waiting for the moment to blow over so he could make a quiet exit.
He wasn’t quite sure what to do when the Yeti singer pulled up a seat opposite him.
“Hey,” he said.
The Yeti nodded.
&nb
sp; “I liked your music.” He raised his glass in a salute. “It felt like being home.”
The Yeti made a purr-like sound and removed a black cylinder from one of its jumpsuit pockets. A robotic voice emanated from the device as the Yeti growled softly.
“You are a human. You enjoyed this?” he asked.
“So much! It took me back to college, man. My first date with my first serious girlfriend. She took me to a blues club. It was so loud I couldn’t understand the words at all, but I got the feel of it, you know?” Jack put a hand over his heart, then let it drop to the table. “Where’d you hear about this music?”
“The McNuggen brought us Blues. She taught us of human culture. My brothers and I are fans. Do you know the McNuggen?” the Yeti asked.
“Yeah, actually we’re pretty good friends. My name’s Jack, by the way. What should I call you?”
“Bava. My brothers are Inga.”
“Both of them?” Jack reached across the table. His hand was enveloped by a large, furry paw with rough pads at the tips of the fingers.
“Yes. I am eldest,” Bava said as if that explained everything.
Jack nodded wisely and flagged down the server bot. “I want to buy Bava a drink. Bring him something good,” he instructed the robot.
Bava purred. “I accept your proposal of friendship, Human Jack. Clan Inga will be your ally.”
“Good to hear it.” Jack grinned and toasted the singer again. “I can always use more friends.”
“Yes, if you are to survive. You may join my band if you like. Do you know drums? We need a percussionist.”
“Huh?” Jack put his drink down. Either that made no sense, or he’d had too much to really follow. “Survive what?”
“I own this bar which is close to the docks, and so I was given warning. The human vessel will be held until such time as the Pirr arrive.” The Yeti’s drink arrived, a foamy concoction with three small red balls floating at its center.
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