Starblood: A Military Space Opera Series (War Undying Book 1)

by N. D. Redding

  “If this isn’t the weirdest fucking day of my life,” Layla said as she walked beside me with her hammer on her shoulder.

  “A bloody Ka, huh? I never thought I’d see one, Boss. Nobody will believe me when I tell them,” Leo added. We walked in silence for several seconds before I shook my head.

  “No one is going to hear about this, Private. Do you think humanity is ready to hear that a Ka appeared before us?”

  “She got no one other than the two of us to tell it to anyway,” Leo muttered.

  “Hey!” Layla protested at the jab. “You little punk!”

  She went silent knowing that Leo was right. The poor woman had no one in her life but for us, and yet if I truly thought about it, neither had I. Who knew when I’d see my parents again? Persei Prime might as well be in another galaxy at this point. And my sister? Well, she was on Earth and a simple sergeant could hardly get permission to visit Earth nowadays. Besides, considering where we were headed now it would be a damn miracle if we saw Detera ever again. The saying where there’s always a bigger fish in the sea had a counterpart in my book. It was very simple and went like this: there’s always a bigger hellhole to get stuck in.

  It didn’t take long for us to be transported back to Alpha Station. The entire facility had been renovated and now looked like no Templar had ever set foot on it. When I remembered our first visit, I could hardly accept I was in the same place. There were still thousands of soldiers of all races scurrying through the giant hallways burnished with Federation banners. Drones and raw-rats buzzed around carrying equipment and giant Orros soldiers escorting their Imminy masters, but no bodies were being torn apart by explosions and heads flying off Nas-swords. It almost looked nice in a way. Sterile but nice.

  We didn’t even spend a day at the station as Knez’un was already waiting for us. Soon we docked with the asteroid-sized transport arc that would take us to Zaria VIII over the next week. I decided to relax for a change. We’d have no drills, no more holo-fights, no nothing. All I’d be doing was sipping on black reindeer and visiting Lilian’s quarters if she’d let me. There was little time for improvement in the holo-battles and after having fought the Aloi forces on Detera, the simulated versions could hardly chip my stats.

  I went to Lilian’s engineering room on the first day. Since our little squabble on Detera, our relationship had somewhat improved. If you could even call it a relationship. She welcomed me by jumping into my arms and pressing her body against mine.

  “You are one crazy son of a gun, Richard Stavos,” she laughed while looking into my eyes. “I was there when Qualt messaged Winters with your plan. He almost pulled his hair out.”

  “And now he’s a brigadier general thanks to me,” I chuckled and shook my head lightly. This was no joke though, as people like Winters held grudges for the longest of times.

  “Yes, he is,” she said ominously. “Do you think he’s still angry with you?”

  “Fuck Winters,” I muttered. “He’s always angry with someone or something. If it hadn’t been me, it would have been someone else, and if it hadn’t been today, it would have been in a week or two.”

  “Be careful, Rick. That’s all I’m saying.”

  “Let’s not evoke Winters’ ugly face now, all right?” I pleaded. Lilian nodded, and we embraced again. I then whispered, “I missed you out there, you know?”

  “Oh? How much?”

  “So much that it hurt inside when I thought I’d never see you again.”

  “You’re so full of shit.” She laughed and pushed off me. “But that’s what I love about you. You always try to please others even if it would tarnish your reputation of being a hardass.”

  We spent a good part of the day fooling around in engineering. It felt otherworldly after the long campaign. Well, it hadn’t been long, but it was brutal for sure. After all these days of war, death, and destruction, Lilian’s touch healed me better than any of Leo’s Rejuvenations ever could.

  Sometime later I checked on my status screen and had a look at what creds would get me now that I had accumulated some serious cash. As I scrolled through the options, my eyes stopped on a very peculiar upgrade which unlocked at Master Tier for every single class. It was called Nanite Integration.

  I thought for a minute about the pros and cons of taking another bot or getting the new passive skill. Before making any decision, I looked over the bot modules. A fun one was Warp-Ball for Bucky, Double Minigun for Beast, and Swarm Bombers for Buzzard. All of them were tickling my fancy in equal measure, but I kept returning to Nanite Integration again and again.

  I remembered the feeling of being plowed into concrete by a Templar, of running for my life as Silkfire barrages landed around me, of having to push Raintroopers off me as my nanites depleted. I didn’t want those things to ever happen again. No matter how much you tried to keep your distance, in war the enemy would sooner or later curl their fingers around your throat.

  I hit the accept button and a drawer popped open, one I hadn’t seen for a very long time. I looked at Lilian who raised an eyebrow when she realized what I had chosen, but all she did was give me a smirk as I installed the module through the port in my chest, and the sensation of gaining a new ability briefly excited my whole body.

  I felt the nanites within my body shift and turn along with a slight sense of discomfort which was then followed by extreme nausea and pain. This must have been way more intense than it let on, and if it hadn’t been for Urgon’s chip, who knew how much this procedure would actually hurt. Even Lilian was surprised by how minor my reaction was.

  Nanite Integration was a passive ability that allowed the fusion of your nanites with muscle tissue. It was like a magic potion that gave you inhuman strength, defenses, movement, and reaction speed. This wasn’t something temporary though; it lasted forever.

  “How’re you feeling?” Lilian asked with a curious stare.

  I clenched my fists and grinned as the sensation evaporated.

  “I feel like I could tear this wall down with my bare hands,” I replied and grinned at her. I felt so rejuvenated, so fresh and new. It was to die for.

  “Alright, Hercules, take it easy.”

  I grabbed her by the hips and raised her into the air. She didn’t feel heavier than a pillow would, though that didn’t mean much as the woman was rail-thin. I put her down again and kissed her.

  “I should have done this years ago,” I whispered. “Shit, nothing can compare with this kind of boost, not even a new bot or modules.”

  “Not many Technomancers pick that module. Most pick modules that help them keep the enemy at a distance.”

  I frowned for a moment and immediately regretted my choice, but only for an instant. Maybe she was right, though. Maybe I should have picked something that fit my class better, but as I’d been shown many times over, we Technomancers ended up getting into melee brawls almost as often.

  “Do you think that I made a mistake?”

  She shook her head slowly and gave me that warm smile of hers that I loved and held so dearly. Even during the most trying of times, it could make all my worries go away.

  “You are Richard Stavos, right? You don’t mind getting your hands dirty.”

  I hoped she was right. Despite my newfound strength, I couldn’t help but feel like a fool. I shook the thought away as there was no use crying over spilled milk. Next, I pulled up my INAS to check what had happened to me after the integration.

  I was back. This was it. The level of power I had had before my untimely death on Pelerin was somewhat around these numbers. No two Technomancers were alike and never was one the same after death. It took me much longer to reach these numbers back in my twenties but not a single battle was as intense as they had been on Detera. At least not the ones I managed to survive.

  All pretense aside, I was truly proud of myself and I knew that no matter how tough Zaria VIII would be, I’d be ready for it and so would Layla and Leo. More or less. It wasn’t always just about the physi
cal, quite often it was the mental state that worried me.

  Captain Tailor called me over the INAS to his office and I was immediately ready to go. I had a lot of questions for him and hoped he’d give me some answers at least. When I entered his office, he was standing at his virtual window lost in thought and staring out into space.

  “Captain, you called for me,” I said formally, but there was still anger in my tone which I, consciously or not, didn’t try to hide. He turned around and nodded to a recliner for me to sit down.

  “Richard, you’ve done a hell of a job out there,” he said in his usual military-man style.

  “Thank you, sir.”

  “I knew I could count on you,” he added, folding his arms in front of his chest.

  I tried to keep myself composed but that sentence pissed me off endlessly so my façade broke. “Can’t say the same about you, Captain.”

  A tense moment of silence broke between us as Tailor stared me down, but I didn’t flinch. I kept eye contact knowing I was digging deeper for trouble by the second.

  “Stavos, everyone in Skull Company is thankful you pulled them out, and nobody is more thankful for saving my company than I am, but don’t reach too far. This is the army, and if you don’t like your orders, take it up with HQ or go home.”

  Sure, I saw it coming miles away, this little army routine, but when shit came to shove I’d been the one to bail everyone out. Several times.

  “Why did you send me to the Hargaa Mountains?” I asked, trying to skip ahead.

  What had happened at the Sardok Mine, how Tailor allowed Winters to use us as cannon fodder, all these things were almost standard military procedure. They were disgusting acts, but they were far from isolated incidents. In the end, we truly were that: cannon fodder. It would always stay true whether it was for Winters, the Imminy, or the Ka themselves.

  “Radiation spikes, I told you.”

  “Don’t you want to know what happened down there?”

  “I read the reports, Stavos. I know what happened down there.”

  “So, will there be any explanation? What happened to me down there? Any reason why it had to be me? I’ve been having nightmares ever since and much more than that.”

  “Stavos,” he said, then looked around his room and back at me.

  I got the gist immediately: someone was listening in on us.

  “Yeah, sorry. It was just that.”

  “Exactly. You found radiation spikes, you encountered a small force of Aloi and then defeated them. You found that the radiation came from spaceship debris. Didn’t you write that down in your report?”

  No, it wasn’t. I handed in something entirely different to Tailor, but he had changed the whole damn thing. I played along though, not wanting to risk either of our lives. He’d come through with the supply drop in the end, so I could cut him some slack.

  “Yes, that’s what happened. And something similar happened in Instormia, I assume?”

  “I don’t know how you spent your time in Instormia as you were off duty, so it wasn’t my concern.”

  This was maddening. Would he evade every single question I had with the excuse that we were being watched? And why did I have to hide anyway? He was the one who sent me on those missions, and he was the one who told me to find Urgon Feyn. I hadn’t crossed a single rule or law that I knew of.

  “Captain,” I said almost threateningly, “you have to give me something.”

  His face looked like guilt washed over it and I could swear a flash of crimson spread across his cheeks.

  “Richard Stavos, you have been granted the rank of first lieutenant and Master Technomancer. You will take command of the Technomancer platoon within Skull Company. Congratulations.”

  I just sat there dumbfounded by this random piece of information. First lieutenant meant I skipped two ranks... and Master Technomancer? That was incredible news. I hadn’t met another Master Technomancer since the academy, and even those who were out of combat for so long, their title was more a scholarly success than anything. And why would there be a Technomancer platoon? Platoons were a mix of specialists within Skull Company, and lastly, I already was commanding the Technomancers. Informally, sure, but this was just putting a hat on a hat.

  “What? Why?”

  “Brigadier General’s orders, Lieutenant. He finally took a shine to you,” Tailor said with a deadly serious face.

  I had no idea how to react to all of that. I realized Tailor wouldn’t spill a single drop of information, so I stopped pressuring him as I didn’t want to make an enemy out of the only high-tier piece of brass I knew.

  “Thank you, Captain. I won’t let you down.”

  “And Lieutenant, here, take this.”

  Tailor handed me a bottle of Gardish whiskey. The thing cost a bloody fortune from what I knew and it only served to show that I was in his good graces.

  “Sir?”

  “That’s a little thank you for saving my company. You may want to read the label though, the process of making this stuff is incredible.”

  “Thank you, Captain,” I replied as something clicked in my mind. I stood up more confused than I had been during the battle for Sardok Mine, though I had a slight hint of what was to come.

  “Lieutenant, once you drink it, come back and tell me what you thought of the stuff.”

  “Yes, sir,” I replied and nodded, then turned and went for the door, realizing I had to wait for a better opportunity to talk to Tailor. Winters may have given me a promotion, but I knew he kept a keen eye on me. Tailor was absolutely right for avoiding the topics that I was itching to discuss.

  “And Lieutenant, do read the label. You’ll need the knowledge if you want to make that stuff out there. We’ll be far from Earth, after all,” Tailor added seriously and I was sure what he’d meant by it. I couldn’t wait to get back to my room and finally satiate some of my thirst for knowledge.

  24

  The only whiskey I’d ever tried was a do-it-yourself concoction the waiter of the Lousy Scrag brewed in his basement. It sufficed to say that I had a hangover for two days during which I had lost my sense of taste and smell. The real thing was a luxurious rarity that was reserved for those lucky few who could afford authentic Earth products. I wasn’t among them, obviously, and neither did I care too much. You couldn’t miss what you never had.

  One could see how I was skeptical toward Tailor’s gift. Especially when I realized the bottle he gave me had a broken seal. The first sip I took tasted horrible. Not much different than the stuff from the Lousy Scrag. I couldn’t understand how Earthers could drink this shit. I guess it was an acquired taste after all.

  I was dragging it all out, staring intently at the label of the bottle for some reason. I wanted answers more than anything else but now that they were so close, I was reluctant. It felt as if knowing the truth behind what happened in the mountains would destroy the comfortable spot I had built for myself. Nevertheless, I turned the bottle and read Tailor’s clandestine message. At the top of the message, it said destroy after reading. Below that, printed in a font that perfectly aligned with the design of the bottle, there was a much longer message.

  Subject 8: Doomguard Templar

  Acquisition: Wiar II

  Status: Alive, heavily narcotized, restrained

  Subject 8 doesn’t show signs of aggression. On the contrary, Subject 8 displays very high intelligence and a willingness to communicate. However, it refuses to interact with any other Federation race but humans, and even with our best xenolinguists working on the translation, we had many problems processing the meaning behind the subject’s words. Under these circumstances, we haven’t contacted the Commonwealth Federation Science Division and won’t do so in agreement with the subject as long as it provides information. All data will, however, be sent to the authorities upon finishing the scientific evaluation of the subject.

  These are the findings of Dr. Alexander Mayevski after nine days of intense interrogation.

  Day
1-3

  Subject 8 described itself as “True Aloi” and refused to accept its current location as being held prisoner within the Federation vessel Tesla III. Iinstead it claimed its location to be Arra. According to him, it was an unidentified planet set deep within Aloi territory. Upon my further questioning, the subject refused to give up the exact location of the alleged planet.

  Day 4-6

  Subject 8 displayed agitation and fear when the Ka were mentioned. It refused to discuss anything regarding the Ka race. The subject continuously mentioned a location on Detera called the Hargaa Mountain. Our inquiries showed no points of interest in that location, but further investigation would be necessary. The subject kept repeating the phrase “human alone” in conjunction with Hargaa Mountain. One of the interpretations our team had come up with was that the subject wished for humans to investigate that place without interference from other races. The reason for that motive was unknown.

  Day 7-8

  Subject 8 seemed to drop in and out of conscious, intelligent behavior. It had long intervals of highly aggressive behavior and several times it tried to initiate its Godblood ability. It was only by the quick reactions of our doctors that we stopped the suicidal ability with extremely high doses of Vaptium tranquilizer. In the brief intervals of true consciousness, the subject kept urging us to “learn of the skald” and “eons of darkness.” We made no progress in determining the meaning of either phrase.

  Day 9

  As the science vessel Tesla III entered the transport arc Uro’za and left the Shanah solar system, Subject 8 had completely lost all signs of conscious, intelligent behavior. It became extremely violent and was eventually put down to study the brain tissue further.

  Day 13

  There were no findings that set the subject apart from any other Templar. We sent the reports of our findings to the Commonwealth Federation Science Division and have remained waiting in great eagerness eager to hear their reply.

  It was a damn strange message, no, it was a science report from Tesla III. I took another sip of whiskey and I realized my tastebuds grew slowly accustomed to the scorching sensation. It felt like licking a burning tree, but for some strange reason, I began to enjoy that feeling.