The Survivors | Book 16 | New Lies

by Hystad, Nathan

  Swan jotted a note onto his tablet. “They pity you?”

  “Do you always have to talk in questions?”

  He smiled widely. “It’s the best approach to get answers.”

  “Ever since I was a kid, people looked at me like I was different. The little girl… Dean Parker’s daughter, with glowing green eyes and the ability to float around. Finally, after years of working with them, they treated me as an equal. It’s almost ironic.”

  “What is?”

  “Now that I’m normal, they pity me again. I can see it in their eyes. The way they try to take certain loads off my back.” Jules sank into the seat.

  “And you don’t think that your friends might be just helping you? That they care about you and want the best for someone they love?” Doctor Swan made her see things from an outsider’s perspective. It was working again today.

  “I guess you’re probably right. Maybe I’m reading too much into things.”

  “Don’t let me persuade your thoughts. I’m here to listen and ask you the tough and direct questions. It’s up to you to decide what matters and how you can improve your situation, mentally and otherwise.” He pushed his finger on the tablet. “Please come again for your next appointment. On schedule.”

  Jules felt like they were finally getting somewhere, but her time was over for the impromptu meeting. She should be grateful he’d made the effort at all. “Will do. Thanks for the talk.”

  She left him in the office, typing on his tablet. What she wouldn’t give to read her file, but that wasn’t for her.

  The sun was bright red, casting a heavy glow across the Institute grounds. Squad Nine would be starting soon, and Jules decided to break a sweat before heading to the simulators for her administrative duties. She greeted various recruits on the way to the far edge of the field. The grass had come in patchy, and a few groundskeeping drones hovered over a dry region, seeding, fertilizing, and watering.

  “Jules!” Dean called from near the simulator building. The letters S-I-1 hung over the entrance in bold green. She waved at him. “See you soon?”

  Jules nodded, pointing at her squad, and he understood. She practiced more days than she skipped, and even Dean thought she overdid it. Her uniform was white and crisp, and she regretted wearing it.

  “Good morning, Ambassador Parker.” Raron was a massive Keppe warrior, borrowed from Lord Crul’s personal guard. He took special interest in Jules’ Squadron Nine, and was half of the reason she kept returning for workouts and training segments.

  There were times when Jules was inside the air-conditioned rooms, working on bureaucratic file work, when she’d stare out the window, wishing she was a recruit instead. It was grueling, but the trainees were nearing the halfway point of their duration, and were so much stronger than when they’d begun.

  “Good morning, Sergeant Raron,” she told him, snapping off a salute. “What’s on the agenda today?”

  He smiled, sweat sheening on his black armored skin. “We’re going to run the course.”

  Jules got into line with the other recruits. Out of the fourteen originals, two had dropped out, returning home, and another three had been cut. The Institute was open to all people across the Alliance partner worlds, but that didn’t mean any position was a sure thing. With the addition of the Gretiol, they were back up to fourteen, not counting Jules, who wasn’t there in an official capacity.

  She spotted two of the Gretiol in line and smiled. They were fitting in. Sergeant Raron let them chat before the course run, and one of the newcomers was laughing with a young Bhlat woman. The other Gretiol was tall, with broad shoulders and a frown on his face.

  It took her a moment, but when he looked her in the eye, she saw the familiarity. “Malir?” she asked him.

  He didn’t smile. “That’s my name.”

  “I… we didn’t know you were staying,” she told the Emperor’s son. What was he doing in Squad Nine?

  Malir was in the regular blue uniform, stretching his legs. He looked out of place without his formal attire and matching cape. “I wasn’t planning on it, but when I had the tour, I decided to give it a try.”

  Give it a try? She almost laughed but stopped herself. “You’re going to join the course run today?”

  “That’s what the sergeant tells me.” Malir rose from the grass, dusting his pants off. “Are you okay with that, Ambassador Parker?” The way he said her name made her wary. Was there a power struggle she didn’t know about?

  “I see nothing wrong with you taking part, but be careful. These challenges aren’t for the faint of heart.” Jules caught the uptick of his lips and was glad he took the joke.

  “How about we make this interesting, Ambassador?” he asked.

  Jules squeezed her knee into her chest, stretching her hamstring. “What are you thinking?”

  “You have a room in the main residence. If I beat your time, you get me into that building,” he said.

  “Someone would see to your needs if you told them who you were. Why do you need me to help?” Jules asked.

  Malir smirked. “I figured this would be more fun.”

  “Okay. And if I win?”

  “I will stay for the full year and really sell the Institute to my father. He’s already mentioned adding a training facility back home but isn’t convinced of your Alliance quite yet. One word from me, and he’d begin the construction tomorrow.” It was a good offer, and to Jules, there wasn’t much of a downside.

  “Okay. It’s a deal.” They shook on it, and Sergeant Raron clapped his palms together.

  “Recruits, we are being put to the test today. This is no longer a personal endurance test. We’re running the course and adding our times up. The squad with the lowest overall score will be the first on board the real training warship, Outpost.”

  Jules glanced around, feeling the squad’s enthusiasm. “Too bad our scores don’t count.”

  “No, but if we win, how about we include Ambassador Parker and Imperial Highness Malir on our prize trek?” Raron received a murmuring of support from the squad. They’d grown used to having Jules around, and they seemed to want her to stay.

  “Okay, everyone in position!” Raron barked, and they all stood at attention, including Malir. He picked up quickly. They jogged after their sergeant, moving for the course. Jules almost forgot about her uniform. She stopped at the edge of the field and grabbed a spare jumpsuit, changing behind the outbuilding. She unzipped, folding the Ambassador whites, and pulled the new outfit over her black shorts and a tank top.

  A minute later, she was at the course, and cursed the weather as dark clouds rolled in, bringing heavy rain to the east of their position. It was heading directly for them. Five squads would race the track at the same time, linking their digital watches to the scoring system.

  The course consisted of climbing ropes, giant flat wooden walls for scaling, target practice, as well as rock hurdling, sprinting, and a swimming segment. The Alliance Institute was training people into well-honed machines, even if they were destined for an officer’s seat or a boardroom. Everyone had the same treatment.

  She glanced over the line of nervous recruits, each of them wanting to do their team justice. The idea of a trip in space on the first Alliance warship Outpost was all the motivation they needed. Jules had toured the vessel while it was grounded near Terran Five, but not since it had been cleared as fully operational. This was big for the squad.

  “You still think you can beat me?” Malir asked, nudging her in the arm with his elbow. He stood a foot taller than her and probably outweighed her by seventy pounds. She would use that to her advantage.

  “I hope you’re used to sharing spaces. You’re going to be with them for a year.” Jules grinned as the clock counted down. The moment the alarm chimed, notifying the racers to begin, the first raindrop struck her forehead.

  Six

  After somehow sleeping for an entire fourteen hours, I cleaned myself up and took over the pilot’s seat while Sergo re
sted. Now we were nearing Exerli Two, the only inhabitable planet in-system. The world had a portal, but nothing listed in the Gatekeepers’ database, which posed a giant risk. But I couldn’t bring these people to a known slave-trading world at Mount Carve.

  Sergo was hesitant to return after stealing precious information from the Shimmal man partnering with his previous employer, but he was confident he’d be able to disguise himself. I hoped he was right, because both of us were going to need aliases. This was far from the borders of Alliance-owned space, but I was sure the gangsters at Mount Carve had heard of Dean Parker before.

  I’d had to use an alias before with Magnus as we trudged across Europe together. That had ended up being our final mission together, and I’d never forget that moment of my life. In the end, we’d thwarted Frasier and his order’s destruction of Earth. I could only hope for a positive outcome to this tireless mission as well.

  “Probes deployed,” Sergo said.

  We watched the readouts as the devices entered Exerli’s atmosphere, shooting apart as they sent thousands of sensors across the planet. The entire operation took forty-two minutes, and soon the data began rolling in.

  “Air is sufficient for the inputted physiology, though Othus from the planet Farez might struggle if he’s exposed too many hours.” Sergo rose and crossed the bridge, magnetically snapping a pulse pistol onto his belt.

  “We won’t waste time. Let’s pinpoint the portal.” I set to work, finding the region the crystal power source was operating from. The sensors were programmed to discover the source of the vibrations the crystals released, and the program worked, a light on the map indicating its location. The planet was broken into three major continents, with smaller island worlds throughout a vast body of water, but the portal wasn’t on any such island. It was smack dab in the middle of the largest section of land in the southern hemisphere.

  “Hopefully, we can land near the entrance,” I whispered. These missions always appeared easy on paper, until you descended to unforeseen issues, slowing your plans.

  “Easy. In and out.” Sergo seemed confident, but I wasn’t so sure.

  Is there anything I can assist you with? Kallig asked. He’d been a great help leading the other captives, and I was mulling over his offer to pretend to be the real Sager for the sake of our rescue operation. I wasn’t willing to let this Toquil be sacrificed in order to save Regnig. My old friend would never want that either.

  “We’ll need you to stay on board, run interference if anything goes wrong,” Sergo told Kallig.

  I’d be happy to, he replied.

  Our ship descended toward the surface, and I kept it at a high altitude, watching the curvature of the world from above. “There are so many portal worlds we haven’t explored.”

  “Even after the Gatekeepers’ Academy,” Sergo added.

  “True, but Sarlun assures me we’re progressing. And we’ve encountered five new races that we’ve been in Alliance discussions with.” Clouds grew thick under us, and I started the descent to our final destination a thousand kilometers away.

  “Are you surprised at how much work it takes to bring them into the fold?” Sergo buzzed from the seat next to mine.

  “Not really. Can you imagine newcomers arriving on Padlog before you had intergalactic space travel, or even after, and suggesting you join with them?” It was a simple question but was laced with so many hidden facets.

  “I’d probably think we were being threatened. Join us or else.” Sergo turned his attention to a blip on the radar.

  “That’s the issue. We look like we’re strongarming them when that’s not what we’re trying to do. The problem is, Mary isn’t always available to make contact, so we’re depending on these kids who’ve recently finished the Academy to convey our intentions. We’re working on it.” There was no such thing as utopia. After the Event, we’d gone to New Spero, and that in itself had huge challenges. Now we were running Haven, helping with the Gatekeepers’ Academy, and starting the Alliance Institute, as well as keeping peace on the Board. Mary and I were confident these were the proper steps to succeed long-term, but they were exhausting.

  Especially when I had to attend to personal matters, leaving my duties for months at a time. Between the threats to Haven and Earth, the loss of Magnus, and the dire situation we’d recently seen Slate through, it was never-ending.

  Sergo’s radar chimed again.

  “What does that mean?” I glanced at the ping, and Sergo shrugged.

  “We’re too far away, but it appears to be a transponder sending communication,” Sergo said.

  Shouldn’t we investigate it? Kallig asked.

  I watched the map. The transponder was four hundred kilometers from our destination, and I really wanted to unload the rescued people and bring them to safety before I did anything else.

  “He’s right, Parker.” Sergo zoomed on the map and moved it to the corner of our viewscreen. “It shouldn’t take long. We can do a fly-by, see what the message says. Chances are it’s some ancient beacon no one turned off.”

  With a sigh of acceptance, I altered our trajectory, lowering below the clouds. The landscape reminded me of northern California, with tall trees rising from the surface in a dense forest. The ground was hilly, but there were no real mountains in the area. The computer sensors showed various animals below, probably grazing the forest bed for their dinner.

  The detour took ten minutes, and I slowed as we neared the transponder, letting Sergo analyze the findings. “You have to be kidding me,” he muttered.

  “What?”

  “It’s in Kraski.” Sergo glanced over, seeking my response.

  The hair on my arms rose. “What does it say?”

  Sergo ran it through the translator and read it out loud. “We’ve crashed. Please assist us. We have injured and seek medical attention at once.”

  “Doesn’t sound like the Kraski I’ve met,” I mumbled. “Do you see them?”

  We were above the forest, and Sergo shook his head. “Nothing visible on camera through the thick tree cover.”

  I tried to determine how a Kraski crew would have ended up in the middle of nowhere. They were nearly extinct as a race, with most of them dying during the initial Bhlat attack on their homeworld. Then Magnus and I had dragged the Kalentrek onto their mothership, killing the remaining group. Kinca had managed to kidnap me on Sterona, and Lom of Pleva had turned on his allies, blowing up their second-chance planet in its entirety. We rarely heard the name Kraski any longer.

  “What should we do?” Sergo asked, and I was still weighing options.

  “I’m obligated to respond.” My mind was made up. I couldn’t leave them on this planet with no means to survive, even if they were our enemy. At least, that was the lie I told myself as I lowered to a clearing. The truth was, I needed information. Where were the Kraski from? Who were they working with? The Arnap? This was the very reason we’d started the Alliance Institute, so we’d have a stable and effective Fleet to fend off enemies of their caliber. There would never be an Event-level assault on our soil again.

  “Kallig, let the others know we’re landing, and to stay on board while Sergo and I investigate.” I settled my Kraski vessel to the ground and stared at the darkening forest through the viewscreen. The star was creeping lower on the horizon, and I suspected we only had an hour of light remaining to this day.

  “We’re a kilometer from the transponder,” Sergo told me, pointing to his left. The forest was too dense to land any closer, so we’d travel on foot.

  “Let’s get locked and loaded.”

  Kallig was in the kitchen, talking to the ragtag group of rescues, while Sergo and I darted to the cargo hold, slipping into our armored suits. I checked the charge on my pulse rifle, making sure it was full, and we were ready.

  “We go quickly. Straight line for the transponder. Watch each other’s back,” I told him.

  “You don’t trust these guys?” Sergo asked.

  “I don’t trust an
yone involved with the Kraski.”

  Sergo slapped the ramp-release button, and we descended into the unknown.

  ____________

  Jules’s lungs burned with effort, and her legs were threatening to give out. The course had been set up by someone extremely sadistic. She’d finished the swimming section after the straight sprint region. The wall ahead was twenty feet high, a daunting monolith in the pouring rain.

  Malir was right behind her. Somehow, despite her full efforts, the Gretiol heir was directly on her trail. He had the nerve to grin at her as he bounded past, grabbing the slick rope in his grip. He began climbing, and Jules backed up, racing to the barrier. She kicked onto the wooden wall, barely reaching the rope dangling above.

  The next couple of minutes sapped her arm strength, but she made it to the top of the platform only a few seconds after her competitor. The two of them were in the lead over the entire five squads, and Jules was impressed. She was rarely the strongest or the smartest at the Academy, but having her abilities had been a failsafe, enhancing her strength when needed. That advantage was gone. All she had now was her tenacity, and a reputation at stake.

  Jules Parker was a winner, and she wasn’t going to let some monarch from another planet come to her Institute and show her up. Never.

  She jumped onto the springy net, careful to land on her back, and slid across it, landing her feet on the soggy grass. Malir ran for the next segment, a series of rocks blocking the raceway. He took to the first barrier, hurdling it by using his arm as a push off. Jules jumped as high as she could, sliding to the opposite side. She gained the lead by a hair.

  The finish line was close, and it felt like the entire Institute was on hand watching the end of their race. She’d been so caught up in the event, she hadn’t seen them arriving from every corner of Terran Thirty. Spotting the audience at the course almost caused her to falter.

  She leapt, sliding across the second rock, and spotted Dean in the distance, standing in the rain with his arms crossed. Magnus loomed beside him, and there was Patty beneath an umbrella.