Phasers of Anstractor

by Greg Dragon

  “Only if you and Marika are with me. You have a mission, Marian, and I have no doubt that you will do it well. What I aim to do now is to fly back to Tyhera, set up a proper refuge for our brothers and sisters there, and then wait for you after you’ve pulled the trigger. Rhee, you do know that once you do this, we cannot easily return?”

  “I have given that a lot of thought, Rafian, but it’s a sacrifice I am willing to, make,” she told him. “Tomorrow, men that have caused Luca to be in turmoil will be wiped out by Anstractor’s finest. We will finish the mission and then I will be with you to return to the war against the Geralos. Raf, you cannot understand what this means to me, to have you here on the eve of my most important day. I love you more than life itself.”

  “I’ll always be there for you, Rhee. Now get to your preparations and I will see you in a day or two.”

  Memory 8

  It was early in the morning when Camille YAN slid through the doorway of Dott’s bedroom and threw her 3B suit at her. Dott woke up with a start. She fumbled for her pistol, placed an arm over her eyes to shield the light, and then went into a barrage of expletives before realizing that it was Camille.

  “Commander, what’s this about?”

  “We have Geralos problems, sister. We need to move!”

  “The lizards are here?”

  “Get your ass up!” Camille barked. “They are not here, no, but they are lighting up the Helysian and several other battleships in deep space. We have had a breech in intelligence and the enemy now knows where our ships are hiding. Dott, they have destroyed two hubs! We need to help these people, sister. Get up!”

  Dott jumped up and pulled on her 3B suit and gear. The action only took a few minutes and before long she was running next to Camille as they made their way into the hangar.

  “Where is Rafian and Tayden?” Dott asked as she sprinted effortlessly. She was saddened at the loss of life that two destroyed hubs meant but excited that Camille had come for her to do a mission. “What’s our plan, Commander?”

  Camille seemed annoyed at the questioning and pressed forward until they could see the fleet of phantoms, ready to take off. Hers was primed and ready at the front.

  “You ride with me, rookie. Now hold your thyping tongue and stay frosty. I need you at my side when I do this and after our little dance for your promotion, you are the only one I trust right now to understand how I move.”

  They hopped into the floating fighter vessel, with Dott sitting behind Camille as she hurriedly buckled in. A glass materialized above them and cool, artificial oxygen took over the cockpit. Camille did not hesitate in her actions as she barked orders at the other fifty Phasers who had been waiting on her. The phantom fighters lifted up in cadence and shot through a crystal fissure that had opened up into an area of space.

  Dott sat in awe of the way that Camille carried herself. The fissure closed behind them and soon they were flying through the emptiness of space, heading towards a myriad of lights. She could make out the debris of what used to be a satellite hub and a number of Geralos zip-ships were flying around the area, taking out any escape pods they could find. Camille and her fighters flew directly at them, with their ships forming the shape of a diamond. As they broke the ranks of the Geralos squadron, the phantoms made easy prey of their enemy, destroying them with precise hits and doubling up on their aces whenever they managed to escape the attacks.

  “Ready, Dott?” Camille asked. Before the rookie could reply, Camille put her thrust into overdrive and shot past the other fighters towards a tiny, blue dot that sat out in deep space. As they grew near, Dott could see that there was a war going on between three Geralos destroyers and two Vestalian battleships. She recognized them as the Helysian and the mighty Aqnaqak. She wondered how it was that Helysian was surviving the amount of damage the ships were dishing out, but the Aqnaqak had a reputation and was proving it by keeping the attackers on the defensive. Helysian was also a breeding ground for space aces; their procedures for teaching pilots were the most hardcore in the entire galaxy so the ships that flew around picking off the Geralos were almost as good as any of her Phaser phantoms.

  As they neared the chaos, Camille felt her chest swell with pride. It was on Helysian that she and Rafian had learned how to fly, had become aces and had fallen in love. Helysian was home and a symbol of what they fought for, so the breach in security was a violation and one that she personally wanted to see fixed and rectified.

  “This is Commander Camille YAN of the Phaser agency, requesting permission to board the Helysian,” she said into the comm as they came closer to the massive battleship. Its shields flickered like a dying light bulb as the shots bounced off them.

  “The Helysian welcomes back a true daughter of Vestalia,” the deep voice on the other end of the comm replied.

  Almost instantly, a tractor beam pulled them inside the ship as several Helysian fighters flew near to guard them as they made their entry into the vulnerable dock. The hatch opened and they flew in. It closed immediately as a number of zip-ships crashed into the hull, trying to follow but missing the opportunity. Camille landed gently within the enormous hangar and they hopped out onto the floor with Dott pulling her pistols and looking around for trouble.

  “You can secure those. We’re safe,” Camille said, but she smiled to herself at how much of a soldier Dott was, and a welcome partner for what she intended to do. “We’re here to talk to the commander, take care of the traitors, and then see about putting those three Geralos mosquitos out of their misery.”

  Dott was impressed at the way Camille was in this instance. She had always heard stories about how the “golden chameleon” turned to ice during fights, but had only seen the civilian version of her except for when they had fought during Dott’s “promotion.” Now she looked at a woman who was all focus, her white 3B suit a defiant choice to let her enemies see her as a leader, and her pupils that were so light that from a distance she appeared to have none whatsoever. The red hair that she had kept for so long was gone and she was back to her platinum blonde. It was short and unkempt—from where the helmet had been in place—but she was like an all-white laser, seeking out a target to burn into oblivion.

  As they ran through the halls of the Helysian, she could see the frightened civilians and cadets as they scanned the many vid screens for the situation outside. They cheered for the aces they knew and relied on to keep them safe. She began to feel anxious and wanted to be out there helping the Marines, but Camille ran with purpose and it took everything within her to keep up.

  “What’s going on, Commander? Who are we going after?” Dott asked.

  “There’s a breach from somewhere on the bridge,” Camille said. “I highly doubt that it’s Commander Abe RUS, so I want us to nab the XO. Yuth got a tip that she is a Geralos spy.”

  “How does he know it’s her?” Dott asked.

  “One of the recruits from Helysian told him. Says his boyfriend works on the bridge and overheard stuff. In any event, if it is her, we can prevent further damage. If it isn’t and that little schtill is lying, then we will act as if it was a ruse to draw out the real spy. Either way, the culprit will know that we are on to them. Just keep your eyes open and watch my six.”

  “CAMILLE!” Someone yelled at them as they passed the apartments on board but Camille did not slow down. They had been running for thirty minutes and had made it to the center of the ship, where the bridge was chaotic. Camille finally looked over to find Aurora out of breath, who had been running alongside them. They had not seen each other in years, so Camille slowed her pace to a quick walk and they hugged and exchanged greetings.

  “Cammy, I am so glad to see you. How did we get found out? Rafian warned me to get off the ship and we stayed. Now my son… he’s missing! Have you seen Raf? We want to come to Vestalia. I want to find my son and prevent him from being in this sort of danger.”

  “Oh no!” Dott exclaimed at the thought of a child being hurt. “W
hat is being done to find him?”

  “My husband and I were looking. Someone said that Sako, an ensign, got him to safety when all of this happened. We were looking for Sako when I saw you two. You going to see Abe? What’s going on?”

  Camille, who had picked back up her run, grabbed Aurora by the hand and shouted at her. “Aurora, go find your boy, then meet us at the hangar. Stay near the white phantom and don’t move. It will be a tight fit, sister, but Rafian would want you off here. Do it quietly and do not let anyone see you. I can only take the two of you, since the phantom can only hold at most, three people. You can send for your husband when things settle down. If he’s Vestalian, he will understand. I’m sorry Aury, but we have to go!”

  Aurora nodded rapidly and then stopped to watch the two Phaser women sprint towards the bridge. She envied them in their strength and confidence to fight the Geralos and not feel the sort of fear that she and the other people onboard the Helysian were feeling. She felt stupid for not listening to Rafian when he had come to see her those few months back, and she felt even worse now that it was under duress that she and Ian would be squeezing into a fighter vessel to escape their endangered home.

  “Thank you, Camille,” she said under her breath as she steeled herself for the conversation that she was going to have with her husband before leaving for the dock.

  When she got back to the area where she had left Velman to look for Sako, she found her husband with Ian and the ensign waiting for her. “Oh, thank the maker for you, Sako!” she said and then gave the Geralos spy a warm embrace and a kiss on the cheek.

  The move repulsed him, but he kept his composure and nodded, pretending to care about Aurora’s family and worried for their lives due to the attack.

  “How did they ever find us?” Aurora asked as they moved towards an area of escape pods where Velman intended for them to wait, just in case the Helysian got into critical condition. When Aurora saw his intent, she pulled them up short and then asked Sako to wait as she spoke with her husband privately.

  The Geralos watched them walk off to talk and he turned to look through the large bay windows at the exciting dogfights happening outside. The Geralos command had approved his request to hit Helysian without an argument. He knew that all he had to do was mention the fact that the Phaser leader had been there, and that he had a sister onboard the giant vessel. If risking a destroyer was all they had to do to capture the man that had cost them so many lives, it was a small price to pay, though Maes had not counted on the Aqnaqak showing up to help the other ship. The Geralos destroyer had to call in help from two other ships and now their focus was on survival, as the superior Aqnaqak was enough to take on any ship that the Geralos threw at her.

  He watched the fighting and the explosions and thought of his plans blowing up with them. If the Helysian survived and Rafian did not come, he would kill the girl Aurora, her husband and their drooling child. He wondered what they spoke about since Aurora seemed insistent and the husband agitated. They came back to where he stood and she bore a false smile on her face.

  “Sako, I am going to take Ian to the rear of the ship to a relative,” she lied. “I am not sure when next we will see them, so I want to make my farewell.”

  “I will come with you then, Aurora. You don’t know; these lizards can be nasty. There could be a few onboard putting people in danger.”

  “You’re a sweetheart but I must do this alone. No worries, we have Phaser help onboard—“

  “Phasers! Where, onboard?” Maes panicked. If there were Phasers onboard then they would lose the fight and all of his plans would have failed. Even more devastating than that, the Geralos command would blame the deaths of the people on the three destroyers on him. His family would be disgraced and executed. He could not do that to them so he had to think fast.

  “I know how much you love the Phasers, Sako but this isn’t the time. My s—“

  Before she could finish her sentence, Maes took off running for the bridge. If Phasers were onboard, they had found out that there was a traitor. This meant that they would question the soldiers on the bridge and they would point to him as the “strange fellow that came off of the old Missio-tral.” There was a good chance that one of the Phasers knew enough about the Missio-tral to see the flaw in his tale. They would seek him out and then kill him. He had to get to them first and be one of the people there who could sway their investigation. He quickened his pace and whispered a prayer to his gods.

  It is too late in the game for failure, he kept telling himself.

  ~*~*~*~

  Camille and Dott walked onto the bridge of the Helysian as Commander Abe RUS barked orders at his staff to do a variety of things to defend the ship. When he saw the two women and noticed their cloaks, he ran over to them and thanked them for coming aboard to assist.

  “Thank the Maker; we’ve got Phasers on board!” he said triumphantly. His booming voice made sure that everyone who was at a machine turned around to acknowledge the women standing confidently before him.

  “I am Commander Abe RUS. Permit me to welcome you aboard the starship, Helysian.”

  Camille stepped forward and touched him on his shoulder before saluting. She leaned close and whispered something into his ear that made him rock back on his heels, stunned.

  “A spy, you say? One of our own?”

  “Yes, a corrupted Geralos plant. It is not his or hers fault; the lizards select their targets randomly.”

  The commander and the Phasers spoke in hushed tones, but out of the corner of her eye, Dott could see that Abe’s executive officer was inching closer to eavesdrop on what it was that they were saying. She suspected the woman could be their target and feared that she would learn that she was in danger and alert the Geralos ships. She had to get her away from Camille, so she acted quickly—improvising as she went along.

  “Are you the Helysian’s XO, Colonel LOB?”

  “That would be me, yes.”

  “Can we have a talk? My commander is talking to yours about some high-level operations and I need to prep the ship for it as soon as possible.”

  “Tell me. What’s going on?”

  Dott took the colonel’s arm and walked her over to the navigation panel to get her away from Camille so that Alline LOB would not hear of their plans to detain her. She was a husky woman who wore her medals proudly on her jacket, as if she needed them to reinforce her position. She had her brown hair pulled back into a bun that looked uncomfortable and at her waist hung a vilo-sword, the alliance’s answer to the Geralos lastech blade. As they neared the console, Abe RUS called to them. When Alline turned to see what her commander wanted, Camille YAN shot her in the forehead with her sidearm. The bridge erupted into a flurry of screams, shouts and movement, as the confused soldiers bore down on the Phasers, ready to protect their commander.

  “Keep calm, soldiers. Alline is okay.” Abe said calmly, his deep voice penetrating the noise in a commanding way that he had mastered after years of leadership. “She used a stun shot and our beloved XO is in stasis. She has been corrupted by one of those damned lizards and this has caused her to reveal our position, along with give up several pilots that we assumed were missing in action. I know that it is hard to see someone so loved and trusted be reduced to this, but it is the war we fight. These Phasers—Camille, a daughter of the Helysian and her subordinate, Dott Toga—have investigated Alline’s crimes. They came aboard during the most dangerous of times for our ship and took out the person responsible for it. Alline and I go back to our days as cadets and I truly hope that the Phasers can remove her corruption and allow her to keep her life. She has four children who love her, a surviving father, and a bridge full of us that want her back whole, to lead, laugh and be with us once again. Could you promise me that, Camille?”

  Camille scanned the room and saw that every soldier was hanging on the words of their commander and looking to her to decide the fate of one they had considered a leader. It made her sick
to her stomach that they would want someone who had done so much damage and caused so much death, to be alive. She bit down hard and took a breath through her nostrils in order to calm her nerves before speaking. Before she could get a word out, Maes burst onto the bridge and Camille turned with her gun pointing. She immediately noticed something peculiar about him.

  “Commander, do you see what I see?” Dott said under her breath.

  “Abe, we have made a dreadful mistake,” Camille said calmly as she laid the sleeping body of the XO on the ground. She removed her cloak to cover her. “If you want retribution for this mistake, the fault is my own. Just know that Rafian and the Phaser agency mean no ill intent to the Alliance of Anstractor. Bear with me, old friend, and play your part for a time.”

  The ship’s commander, confused by Camille’s sudden change, let his eyes follow theirs to where Maes stood. He noticed that a section of the young man’s face was drooping and the green from his real skin was beginning to show.

  “Is everything okay? What are they doing to Colonel LOB?” Maes asked, trying his best to seem as concerned and genuine as a real Vestalian would have been at seeing a commanding officer injured.

  He had not taken his shot in a week. He had used up all of his serum and he had no way of replenishing it without visiting Geral. Those shots were supposed to last a week, but with the sprint that he had made to make it to the bridge and the drop in temperature of the ship, his artificial skin was falling apart and without a mirror, he was not aware of it. Camille and Dott knew what he was, so they had to carry on an act in order to get the jump on him. A Geralos that could breathe their air, dress and talk like them, and embed himself on the bridge? This spy was dangerous and they didn’t want to take any chances.

  Camille lowered her gun and looked around at the soldiers that were eying her angrily. They had not noticed Maes face and were still upset with her for shooting the XO. She brushed off her 3B suit and then addressed them, as if Maes had never shown up.