Carbon Life

by HR Ringer

  Traynor very nearly stood up, ready to pound this condescending bastard into a pile of paste on the floor… Xiùlán placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently. “Just listen, Sà mǐ. He has no idea what we just experienced… doesn’t even know who we are or where we went. Sit tight. We’re learning what we need to know to survive out there.”

  Traynor looked at her lover for a moment before turning back towards their ‘instructor’. She slowly tilted her head to the right as she watched him, keeping her attention focused solely on his main pair of eyes; it took Creg’falak less than a minute to notice her, as everyone else held their heads straight or tilted slightly left as they listened to him. Xiùlán noticed Sam’s posture at the same time and whispered a warning, “Sà MǏ… ”

  Creg’falak was silent for a moment before addressing Traynor. “It would appear you don’t like me, Ms… ?”

  “Traynor. And no, I don’t like you, Mister Creg’falak.”

  Creg’falak smiled. “I won’t ask you why, Ms Traynor. The majority of the humans I have encountered seem to dislike me… not unexpected; as a race, we do seem to be our own worst enemy. The batarians you have been exposed to are not the average citizens of my homeworld. I suspect you… ” he glanced briefly at Xiùlán, “… and your friend recently encountered, what?… pirates?… or slavers, perhaps?”

  “Slavers,” Traynor replied as she looked around at the others in the room. All eyes were riveted on her; most appeared to be amazed at the effrontery she displayed. “Hades Gamma system. Barely got away with our lives. They did not leave with theirs.”

  “I see. So, for you, the score or so of slavers you encountered somehow makes all of us… ” Dhevile placed a hand in the middle of his chest for emphasis, “… suspect, eh?”

  Had Traynor’s eyes been lasers, Creg’falak would have been dead where he stood. “Yes!”

  “Well, I suspect it’s a good thing for me the Systems Alliance has guaranteed my safety while I am teaching here.” Dhevile tilted his own head to the right as he continued, “I believe I would not enjoy meeting you outside the classroom environment.”

  Traynor’s brown eyes were molten, in total contrast to the ice in her response, “You probably would not survive the encounter, Sir.”

  * * *

  Xiùlán waited outside the section commander’s office while she met with a thoroughly pissed-off Samantha Traynor. The batarian instructor, Dhevile Creg’falak, had reported her disrespectful and threatening attitude as soon as he’d left the classroom. Xiùlán had tried to reason with Sam, but she was beyond even listening to her lover. Now, she’d be lucky if she wasn’t washed out of the program. Despite her natural gifts when it came to electronics, her willingness to say exactly what she was thinking had finally come around to bite her in the ass.

  The inner door opened to reveal a somber-faced Traynor; she was followed out of the office by Major Rebecca Stern, who apparently wanted to add a few more words. “Serviceman Traynor, you are so very close to finishing, with honors I might add. Please don’t allow your apparent hatred of batarians to ruin your future with the Alliance.”

  Sam turned back to the woman and replied, “Thank you, Ma’am. I’ll certainly think about everything you told me.”

  Major Stern noticed Yuán and nodded in her direction. “Serviceman Yuán, I’d like you to keep an eye on Traynor for me. The death or injury on this base of that miserable batarian now, after Traynor as much as promised him he was dead meat, in front of witnesses no less, would cause more problems for us than I can imagine. Please don’t let her do anything to jeopardize the already fragile peace we have with the Hegemony.”

  Before Xiùlán could respond, Sam turned back and responded, “Don’t worry, Major. Any batarians dying by my hand will be righteous kills, sanctioned by the Alliance.”

  The major’s frown intensified, but she said nothing more as she turned on her heel to return to her office. Yuán got the distinct impression a bottle of hooch was hidden in a desk drawer, a bottle whose siren call Major Stern was going to answer as soon as the door closed behind her.

  “Come on, Sammy… let’s head back to our quarters. Oh, and thanks,” Yuán snarked.

  “For… ?”

  “For making sure I need to have you in my sights anytime we’re out. You must realize everyone will come looking for you if Dhevile Creg’falak winds up dead, no matter what the cause,” Xiùlán said solemnly, as she led Sam out into the passageway.

  Sam’s mouth fell open in amazement. “You actually think I’m capable of murdering someone in cold blood? Honestly?” Sam got ahead of Xiùlán, turned and stepped backwards for several paces with a hand on Yuán’s shoulder until she stopped. Shaking her head, she continued, “Xiùlán, I know I’ve talked a mean streak about wanting to end Marianna Walsh and Darius Holden for what they did to Heather, but seriously, I’m not about to kill some random batarian just because he doesn’t respect me… I’m not a cold-blooded killer, Luv!”

  Xiùlán grabbed Sam’s hand as it was withdrawn from her shoulder. “Sà mǐ, you are my lover! Anything I could say in your defense would be heard with a critical ear, especially since I have trained you so well in hand-to-hand combat. No one I know is your equal, Sà mǐ… no one… ”

  Sam interrupted with, “… except you, Ai [愛 - Love (Sam’s meaning is ‘luv’)]”

  Xiùlán started walking again as she answered thoughtfully, “I’m not all that sure I could take you any longer, darling. I certainly wouldn’t want to personally test your abilities.”

  “Xiùlán!” Sam exclaimed. “Don’t you dare think… not even for a second!… that I would go up against you on the mat! I couldn’t… I wouldn’t do it!”

  By this time the pair had reached the entrance to their quarters. Traynor waved her activated omni-tool past the lock interface, which promptly turned green to admit them. Once inside, with the hatch closed and sealed, Sam kept her Omni-tool activated; changing its function, she walked around their quarters, using the tool to search high and low for monitoring devices.

  Xiùlán took notice as she sat at her desk and activated her terminal. “Sàmǐ, what the… ’

  Sam held up her free hand as she finished the main living and dining area. With a finger pressed against her lips, Sam went into their sleeping and bath area. “Xiùlán!” Sam waited until Xiùlán entered the room; directing her gaze at a spot next to an overhead light, she entered a command into her omni-tool. This resulted in a miniature flash as the small camera Sam had discovered overloaded and exploded; debris from this was contained in a miniature Mass Effect bubble Sam created to contain the camera’s contents. Using her omni-tool as a remote pilot, she directed the bubble back out into their living area. Here, she set it down on her desk, then dissolved the bubble, allowing its contents to fall onto her desk with metallic and glass-like tinkles of sound.

  “Gǎo shénme guǐ… ?” [搞什麼鬼… ？- What the hell… ?] Xiùlán came around the desk to look closely at the shattered device. “A camera… ? In our goddamned bedroom? How long has that been there!?” Yuán was slowly reaching her boiling point as she looked at the pieces of the shattered device.

  Traynor was using the microscope function on her omni-tool to minutely inspect the pieces of metal. “Looks like human manufacture, Luv… L.S.P. - Light Shadow Pictures.” She entered the model number and ‘LSP’ into an ExtraNet search; after several seconds her tool trilled with a response. “LSP appears to be a shell company, owned by Cerberus, so this camera was probably placed by a Cerberus agent. We were gone plenty long enough for someone to get in here and plant this.”

  Sam straightened up and rolled her head around in an effort to work the kinks from the muscles. “Guess they felt they needed to put us on the ExtraNet, since they were going to the trouble to watch us nude and rude. I do know it wasn’t in here before we traveled to Hades Gamma.”

  Xiùlán eyed her skeptically. “How can you be so sure?”

  Traynor chuckled as she
responded, “Because I’ve been scanning our quarters every night before we go to bed… before we even get undressed for bed, ever since… Heather’s murder.” Sam’s expression turned grim. “This is our first night ‘home’ from Hades Gamma. I have a feeling someone has informed Cerberus how serious we are about finding Walsh and Holden’s handlers. Has to be more sleeper agents on this base than just those two, Luv. They want what’s in the Prothean archives.”

  “Prothean?”

  “The race of people, vanished without a trace… or almost without a trace, 50,000 years or so ago. That’s what the dig site is all about. The experts… the archeologists… believe those archives hold the key to understanding the why of their disappearance. Learning that would go a long way towards discovering the how.” Traynor shook her head as she added, “Damn! I need to strengthen the encryption on our entrance door and double down on checking for monitoring devices, especially now I know what to look for.”

  Xiùlán had a chilling thought. “Sam, if there are Cerberus sleeper agents amongst us, then you aren’t the only human on this base that dislikes batarians… they could make an attempt on Dhevile Creg’falak’s life, pin the blame on you. Shit!” Activating her terminal, she placed a call to Base Security, explained what they knew, what they feared and requested an urgent security check on Dhevile Creg’falak in the guest instructor’s quarters. Closing the connection, she whispered, “I hope they’re not too late.”

  * * *

  Dhevile Creg’falak was returning to his quarters from dinner. The passageway lighting in this area suited him immensely… it was bright enough for him to see his way clearly while being dim enough for the comfort of his upper pair of eyes.

  He was almost to the entry hatch when he caught a hint of motion ahead. Slowing his forward progress, he surreptitiously reached behind his back and pulled a knife from its hidden sheath. If that disrespectful little human bitch Traynor thought she was going to kill him from behind the cloak of a shield, she was in for a real surprise.

  He sensed rather than heard the movement behind him; instantly recognizing his error, he whirled around and planted the 25 Cm blade in the middle of the unknown assailant’s chest at the same time he kicked for barely visible legs. The attacker coughed in surprise and fell back, giving Dhevile enough time to spin back around to catch the first assassin in the face with a closed fist as he grabbed for the weapon whose outline he could see… a light pistol, silencer equipped. Turning the weapon on its former owner, he pulled the trigger twice. Turning back to the man in whom he’d planted his knife, he fired two shots at the shadowy center of mass. The second shot disabled the shield generator, revealing a human male, heavy-set, bearded, with pale blue eyes that gazed in pained amazement at Dhevile for a second that seemed like an eternity before he crumpled to the floor.

  Creg’falak turned back again to find the second man on his knees, shield generator disabled, staring at the blood on his hands, before he too fell face first onto the floor, his last breath forming a red froth on his lips as he died.

  “Hands where we can see them!” Creg’falak looked down the passageway to see three humans in security uniforms trotting towards his location. He held his hands out from his sides, allowing the pistol to hang upside down, his finger in the circular trigger guard. The fellow in the center calmly walked up to him and eased the pistol from his finger as he spoke, “Looks like these guys were overmatched, Mr Creg’falak.”

  “How did you know there was trouble?” Dhevile asked.

  “Got a tip… two of your students from earlier today. Seems they were concerned about your safety. Can’t imagine why that would be, can you?”

  Creg’falak replied, almost to himself, “No. No, I can’t imagine any reason for their concern.”

  * * *

  Walking to their second day of instruction on the batarian race, Yuán and Traynor were surprised to find their instructor, Dhevile Creg’falak, standing outside the entrance, greeting the students as they entered. He looked intently at each of them as they approached, then surprised Traynor by holding up a hand and asking her to hang back for a moment. When it looked as if Xiùlán was going to pause as well, he smiled and waved her into the room.

  After everyone else was inside, Dhevile leaned against the bulkhead and addressed Traynor, who stood in front of him, just out of reach but on the balls of her feet, ready for whatever was going to happen. “I wanted to thank you for alerting base security last night. They arrived just as I finished dealing with the two assassins sent by… ”

  “… Cerberus,” Traynor finished for him. “The security team contacted Yuán and myself afterwards. Bastards planted a camera and listening device in our sleeping area while we were in the Hades Gamma cluster. I found and destroyed it. That’s why we called security.”

  “What made you think I was in danger, Ms Traynor?”

  “Perfect setup. I told you I didn’t like you, and any meeting outside of class would not end well for you.” Traynor tilted her head ever-so-slightly to her left and smiled, though it did not reach her eyes. “You were lucky… they sent amateurs. The plan was for them to kill you and leave evidence behind that would point back to me.”

  “Why involve security?” Dhevile asked. “You could have easily turned your back on all this and been done with me, let them kill me, or… .” Dhevile smiled as he corrected himself, “… let them attempt to kill me.”

  Traynor’s countenance was grim. “I’m not a cold-blooded murderer… don’t plan on becoming one, directly or indirectly. Our call to base security wasn’t for your benefit, Mr Creg’falak… at least, not completely. If they had succeeded in their task, it’d have been my ass spinning in the wind.” She pointed a finger past Dhevile’s shoulder as she added, “Tells me there’s a Cerberus sleeper agent inside that room.”

  “What do you intend to do? As I understand, Cerberus doesn’t just give up.”

  “That’s becoming more evident as time goes on,” Traynor replied with a frown. “At this point, all I can do is remain vigilant, try to be ready for whatever happens.”

  Creg’falak motioned to the classroom as he said, “I should get started… there’ll be a lot of information in today’s class.” Pointing to his secondary eyes, he added with a grin that Traynor found a bit disturbing, “I will pay close attention to the rest of the students; try to discern if any appear to not belong.” Opening the door, he motioned for her to go before him as he said, “Shall we?”

  * * *

  * MASS RELAY – GEMINI SIGMA – HAN SYSTEM *

  2180/04/02

  The slow rotation of the ancient Relay’s containment rings gradually increased in velocity as the device accepted transit instructions from the relay in the Antaeus System. The glow from the eezo core within the coaxial rings grew in proportion to their rapidly increasing rotational speed; as they reached their maximum speed, a massive electrical arc flashed outward from what could be considered the ‘near’ side of the rings. The discharge stretched out over 1800 kilometers to envelope a salarian freighter that appeared in the distance and rapidly decelerated to its cruising speed as it came abreast of the relay.

  Once again running in ‘normal’ space, Captain Uzor Saelon entered new destination coordinates into the nav-comm – he was heading for Paravin, the planet closest to the system’s pale yellow sun. The MV Crystal Scarab responded briskly, accelerating as it changed course to intercept the planet coming around the sun on the far side of its orbit.

  “Nine to ten hours until planetfall.” The salarian answered the question Septivus Vulpez had been about to ask as he entered the bridge. “Planet’s on the far side of Han from our position.”

  “Have you swept the system for other ships?” Vulpez was always concerned when jumping into a ‘dead end’ system such as Han; its relay was only paired with the relay in Hades Gamma… that relay was paired with four others besides Gemini Sigma, which meant there were multiple places from which trouble, mainly in the form of pirates, could
ensue.

  Vulpez was searching for the writings and notes attributable to asari Matriarch Dilinaga. During the golden age of asari space exploration, Matriarch Dilinaga had visited many systems; her notes were prized as cultural treasures by the asari people. Vulpez had first discovered previously long-lost records of her presence within a beacon orbiting Porolan; that discovery had led him to Nonuel, a volcanic planet orbiting the blue star of Plutus in the cluster they’d just left. He had spent weeks sorting the clues into a coherent map that was a fairly accurate depiction of the Matriarch’s travels in the system; the search had been rewarding, as Matriarch Dilinaga had left records in three separate locations there.

  “Scans are negative for other ships in this system, Septivus Vulpez.” The salarian captain’s rapid-fire answer to his question brought Vulpez back to the business at hand.

  “Thank you, Captain Saelon. I’ll be in my quarters. Please call me when we’re one hour out.” Septivus turned on his heel and stalked back to his compartment, intending to sleep for several hours before grabbing a bite to eat.

  As the Crystal Scarab increased its velocity and disappeared into the blackness of interstellar space, the relay once again became active. As before, a massive electrical arc flashed outward from the rapidly revolving rings, enveloping a medium-size warship with faded paint in various shades of deep green; the paint appeared scored and marked by numerous close encounters with various ship-based weapons. The corvette changed course, setting off for Patatanlis, the fifth planet in the Han system. The batarian captain intended to orbit the planet at maximum distance, reasoning that the freighter he was following would have to return to this quadrant to use the relay. When that happened, Captain Kryllê Ghydgryz and the Black Slayer would be waiting…

  * * *