Wraithkin (The Kin Wars Saga Book 1)

by Jason Cordova

  His child.

  He was an Imperfect. He was not supposed to have children, forbidden by surgery and law. He couldn’t think of any time in the past where an Imperfect had borne any children after discovery of their condition. He thought back to that day and frowned. He was supposed to be chemically castrated once his condition was confirmed, but had it ever happened? No, and he and Sophie later had… He assumed they had done the surgery during his time at Wraith Tech, but could not remember when the procedure had happened.

  What if he were more defective than he thought? What if he had not been chemically castrated, like he was supposed to? The thought terrified him.

  “Sophie,” he said, his voice as low as he could make it through the suit’s external speakers. “Do they know?”

  “They’ll never know,” she said. “Unless you say otherwise.”

  Gabriel nodded. “I’m fine with that.” The little girl deserved to have as normal life as she could manage, though he wondered about that. The Deebs would be very interested in seeing what had happened to the girl, and how the Abassi forced her to grow up so quickly. Genetic engineering was frowned upon within the Dominion, though there was still great interest in it.

  “Good,” Sophie smiled a little brighter, unaware of his thoughts. “In the meantime, I’d like for you to meet Aurelia Verona Cardenes.”

  “Hello,” Gabriel whispered. The little girl buried her face into Sophie’s neck.

  “Aurelia, this is Mommy’s very special friend, Gabriel,” Sophie whispered into her daughter’s ear. “Can you say ‘hi’?”

  Aurelia shook her head. Gabriel smiled.

  “It’s okay, Sophie,” he said. “Why don’t you guys go inside and get warm. We’ll have some time aboard the Eye to talk things over. I can meet Aurelia then, outside of my suit.”

  “I’m glad it was you,” Sophie said. She kissed her fingertips and pressed them against his faceplate. She stared deep into his eyes. “No regrets.”

  #

  The night passed quickly for Gabriel, who remained on guard outside the cave’s entrance. The storm had moved on, taking his visual overhead coverage with it as it moved to the southeast. While the clear sky was beautiful, it had also caused the temperatures to drop even further. The cave was warm enough for the colonists hiding inside, but if it became any colder he was going to have to use some of the energy from his suit to keep them alive.

  He checked his screen again and sighed. His scanners were set to passive search so he wouldn’t tip off any Seeker drones the aliens might have up and searching, while he continued looking for the Abassi or an early arrival of the Eye. He was hoping for the latter, though fully expecting the former, even with the deaths of Joshua and Markus covering their escape.

  “Doos,” Twist said as he approached. “All the civilians are asleep. Sunrise is in an hour. The Eye should be here soon after.”

  “Good,” Gabriel said.

  “How’re you doing?” Twist asked.

  “What do you mean?” Gabriel turned and looked at the shorter man, hidden deep within the confines of his Wraith suit.

  “Esau’s not here,” Twist said with a shrug of his shoulders. “So I figured you would talk to me. Or Beeker.”

  “Okay…” Gabriel’s tone was soft.

  “What’s up, doos? You’ve been weirder than normal.”

  “The little girl? The one Sophie was carrying around?”

  “Looks just like her,” Twist acknowledged. “Her daughter?”

  “Ours,” Gabriel corrected.

  “Oh, shit,” Twist breathed. “Doos, that’s impossible.”

  “I’ve been thinking,” Gabriel said as he looked away, back at the clear skies. “You know I was discovered late, right? My first genetic test when I was young was negative, but my second one, before I was to get married? That was a positive result. So they scheduled my procedure – you know which one – and I was supposed to have it done once I arrived here, at Ptolemy. But we had sex before then, on the night that I was diagnosed. Then a month later I was supposed to come here and get it done. Only...”

  “You never made it here,” Twist finished. “The attack, then you joined the Wraiths.”

  “I never thought about it before,” Gabriel admitted. He looked back at Twist. “I’m a goddamn father, and I can never let her know.”

  Twist was silent for a few minutes before he asked a strange question. “So?”

  “What?”

  “So what?” Twist asked. “Doos, you’re a dead man when we get back. Public execution on Trono del Terra. They’ll hang you, and publicly flog us. So, wouldn’t it be better if the girl didn’t know who her father was? There’s no shame in not knowing who your father is, especially if he is an Imperfect.”

  “You’re right,” Gabriel nodded. “I thought of that, but...you saying it, it just makes sense.”

  “Omelet, I’m picking up something on my scanners,” Beeker interrupted them. “Looks like a Seeker drone.”

  “Coming our way?” Gabriel asked. He wasn’t picking it up on his scanner, so he patched the feed from Beeker’s suit to his own. The drone suddenly appeared, circling almost a mile overhead. “Crap. Think it has us?”

  “Yes,” Beeker said in a calm voice. “I see a bunch of Abassi infantry coming up the hill. I’d say they were about thirty minutes out.”

  “No Sharks?” Gabriel asked as he changed his scanner from passive to active. He spotted the infantry but could see no sign of the dreaded vehicles.

  “Markus must have got ‘em all,” Twist said. He motioned at the makeshift wall he had built with the rocks. “Guess that was a good idea.”

  “Those infantry are just going to die tired,” Beeker promised. “We should stick to the cave, though, just to be sure. Funnels the access to the civilians for the Seekers, which lets us kill them easier, as well limits how the Abassi can attack us.”

  “They’ll have scythes,” Gabriel reminded him. “They get into the cave, we’re dead.”

  “If they’ve managed to get that close, we’re dead anyway,” Beeker said.

  “Right,” Gabriel nodded. “Let’s secure the cave.”

  Gabriel and Twist moved back to the cave, while Beeker bounded down from higher up the mountain, which had given him the extra vantage point. He landed next to Gabriel at the entrance of the cave.

  “I picked up a few more drones inbound,” Beeker announced.

  “Yeah, saw them on your feed,” Gabriel said. “They’re about five minutes out.”

  “What do you think the Seekers will do?” Twist asked as he positioned himself near the entrance of the cave. Gabriel shrugged.

  “What they always do. Explode. Beeker, tell the colonists to stay as far back in the hole as they can. I know it’s not very deep but maybe we’ll get lucky. Let them know we have company,” Gabriel said. “Don’t get them worried. We just need to hold off the attack for a little bit before the Eye arrives.”

  “Got it,” Beeker said and walked back to the deepest part of the cave.

  “I’m out of HEAVY rounds, just so you know,” Twist said. “I’m also low on regular ammo.”

  “How’d that happen?” Gabriel asked, surprised.

  “When we shot up the camp, I used a lot of it blowing stuff up,” Twist explained.

  “Ah, crap.”

  “Gets better. Beeker’s in the same boat I am.”

  “Well, I’m full up on HEAVY, and looking good on regular ammo as well,” Gabriel said as Beeker reappeared. “So we should be okay. Don’t forget your bangers, as well as your phosphorous.”

  “That’s the whole ‘if we’re using liquid phosphorous, then we’re screwed’ argument again,” Twist reminded him. “The bangers might come in handy, though. Especially if they cluster.”

  A figure moved towards them from the back of the cave. Gabriel glanced over and spotted Sophie.

  “Hey, we’re about to get attacked,” he said. “You should get to the back with the others.”

&
nbsp; “I know, I–”

  An explosion rocked the entrance of the cave, knocking all four to the ground. Gabriel felt multiple impacts from the shrapnel striking his suit and bouncing away. He swore and picked himself up, annoyed he had forgotten about the Seeker overhead. It only made sense that the Abassi, once they had been spotted, would ramp up their attack.

  “Well, that sucked,” Gabriel muttered. He looked at Twist and Beeker. “Everyone okay?”

  “Loud,” Twist complained.

  “Gabe...?” Sophie said in a tiny voice.

  Gabriel turned around and gasped. She was on the ground, clutching her stomach. Blood flowed from a jagged tear beneath her hands, darkening her gray shirt and pants. Her eyes were clenched shut from the pain. Her breathing was shallow.

  “Sophie!” He cried. He knelt down and started to reach for her, but stopped when he remembered there was little he could do for her from inside his suit. He swore loudly.

  “Get her to the back of the cave,” Beeker said. Gabriel nodded and carefully picked her up. She groaned in pain as he lifted her. Slowly and carefully he moved to the back of the cave, where the rest of the survivors were huddled together.

  “Hang on, Babe,” Gabriel whispered as he gently laid Sophie down next to a loose boulder. Carefully he brushed her hair from her face, his armored hands delicate as he touched her skin. She groaned and curled into a ball, hiding the wound. “It won’t be long until the Eye gets here. Please Babe, please stay strong. Stay here. Stay with me. Please. Please.”

  “I’m...okay,” she gasped, hands clutching her belly. “Go check on Aurelia.”

  “She’s fine,” Gabriel said after looking towards the clustered group of men and women in the back of the cave. “She’s with one of the other women. I don’t know her name, but she’s right there. You need to save your strength.”

  “They tell you...in the Academy to not get wounded in battle,” she coughed and groaned in pain. “Failed.”

  “Sophie, please, no more talking,” Gabriel begged. “Just try to relax. We’re out of here soon, very soon. Then we can go wherever you want. We can take Aurelia home, Babe. Our home. Our forever home. You, me, Aurelia. All of us. Just stay still, Babe. You’ll be okay. I promise, you’ll be okay.”

  “Okay,” she whispered.

  “Omelet!” Beeker voice came over his comm.

  Gabriel switched his link back to the squad and cut off his externals. “What?”

  “We got incoming!”

  Gabriel swore. “Set up a defense line. You two anchor the sides of the cave. I will hold the center. Nothing gets through. Do you hear me? Nothing.”

  “Got it,” Twist acknowledged. Beeker let out a war cry, which Gabriel took to be acknowledgement.

  Gabriel looked down at Sophie, where other prisoners had begun to treat her wound. “I’ll be right back, babe. I promise. I just need to kill some bad guys, and then we’re out of here. We’ll get you all patched up on the ship.”

  Gabriel stood and hurried to the mouth of the cave. Beeker and Twist were behind the makeshift barrier, taking single shots with their Lynx to conserve ammunition. He looked beyond them and saw the approaching wave of Abassi. He swore and took a position between the two. He tracked the aliens as they drew closer and took aim.

  Rock exploded into his face as the Abassi came into range with their rifles and returned fire. Gabriel opened fire, tracing the fully-automatic cannon across the open plateau and scything down any alien who hadn’t ducked behind cover the moment he began to shoot. Blood and body parts scattered upon the open field.

  “ETA on the Eye?” He called out as he launched a few HEAVY rounds into the alien’s midst.

  “Ten minutes!”

  “Keep them pinned down,” Gabriel ordered. “We’re going to have a hot LZ, and those pussies always bitch about that.”

  “Got it,” Twist said, “Bangers!”

  Gabriel turned and saw a small squad was attempting to sneak around the right, where Twist was. He watched as the Boer launched the combustible phosphorous grenades at them.

  “Beeker, how many HEAVY rounds do you have left?” Gabriel asked as he shifted his firing arc to cover the gap Twist had left when firing his bangers.

  “Two!”

  “Damn,” Gabriel growled.

  “Wraith Command, this is the Eye of Solomon,” the comm chimed. Gabriel let out a loud whoop.

  “Eye, this is Espinoza,” Gabriel replied as his eyes tracked upwards. “We are in position now. We have a hot LZ, but all the civilians are alive. One wounded, and she needs a medic or something.”

  “We’re sending down our trauma corpsman with the shuttle, Commander,” the Eye said. “We also have a surprise for you. Be ready for extraction, and watch the skies. Eye out.”

  “Grenade!” Beeker shouted the warning as a small gray ball bounced against the rock wall. Gabriel ducked just before the grenade’s explosion weakened the wall but otherwise leaving them unharmed. He popped back up and continued to fire at the advancing aliens.

  “Twist, start hosing the ground in your area with phosphorous,” Gabriel ordered. “As far as the dispenser will shoot it. Coat the ground.”

  “Why?” Twist asked.

  “You see those aliens wearing shoes?” Gabriel asked. “I don’t know if their feet react to the phosphorous like their skin does, but it never hurts to test it out.”

  “Contact!” Beeker called out. “I got a shuttle on scanner, coming down hot!” Gabriel looked up. Far in the distance he saw the distinctly boxy form of a shuttle.

  “We’re good, Babe! We’re going to get out of here!” Gabriel switched to externals for Sophie’s benefit as the shuttle descended, followed by four armed droneships. The shuttle began to brake as the droneships laid waste to the Abassi. Gabriel stared at them in wonder. The only ship which still had droneships on board was a Watcher, and the stealthy spy ship usually didn’t deploy them because it caused them to show up on sensors. He wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth, however strange it may be. The Abassi were continuing their attack, but the odds were now decidedly in the Wraith’s favor. Gabriel hurried back to where he had left Sophie in the hands of her fellow survivors. “Sophie? Did you hear me? We made it. We–”

  His mouth clopped shut as he stared down at her. Gabriel knelt down next to his love. He gently touched her cheek with his hand, looking upon her peaceful face, the pain no longer evident. The survivors around her were crying, and he could see one of the other women in the group covering Aurelia’s face. He looked back at Sophie. She did not respond to his touch; his suit reading her temperature showed him rescue had come too late.

  Sophie was dead.

  On a planet far away, in a valley home to two young lovers forever joined together in spirit and soul, silence fell.

  Gabriel’s world ended.

  He stood and turned away from Sophie, an iron manacle falling upon his heart. Hatred, dark and fiery, filled him. Far away he could hear voices calling, but they were not speaking to him, only at him. He was not worth anything, his life now meant nothing. Everything that had caused him to fight, to live, to struggle for a brighter day was now gone, yanked away by the cruel games played by the Fates. He was nothing more than an Imperfect, a blemish upon a society which he and Sophie had strived to survive within. He was also a Wraith, programmed to kill, created for nothing but death and destruction.

  He became Death.

  Vague faces and shrill cries swam at the edge of his consciousness. They did not matter to him, only the destruction of the blue-skinned aliens at the rendezvous point. He triggered his Lynx and proceeded to walk the rounds into them, the bright green tracers guiding him as he poured a relentless fire into the oncoming horde. Blood, coppery and hot, filled his senses as Death walked upon the forsaken world. More aliens appeared, and more died by his hand. He could hear the others in his squad shouting, firing, fighting. The civilians were screaming, but Gabriel no longer cared.

  His engine was u
nloosed.

  Fury consumed him.

  The galaxy would burn.

  The Abassi cowered behind large boulders, away from the incarnate machine which stalked them with no mercy. They fired at him on occasion, their rifles doing little to his heavy armor as they struggled to remain in cover and away from his gun. They thought they were hidden, protected from the wrath of one man – one psychotic, raging beast of a man.

  They were wrong; so very wrong.

  His throat was raw from screaming in fury and rage as he moved swiftly through the small clusters of hiding Abassi infantry, his Lynx blasting away at any and all. Gabriel knew he had fully and thoroughly lost it, yet he did not care. The outcome of the battle no longer mattered to him, only blood. Blood of the Abassi, colored purple as it splashed upon the rocky ground of the Valley of Song, was all he craved and desired. For the first time since that starry night on a hammock in his parent’s field two years before, he was free. Free from fear, from the restrictions put upon him, from his own restraint.

  He rapidly swiveled as a lone Abassi appeared from behind the cover of a boulder, carrying a scythe. The Abassi let loose an ear-splitting cry and launched itself through the air at Gabriel, scythe raised above its head to strike at the Wraith. The alien majestically arched through the air, an awe-inspiring sight. Time slowed for Gabriel as he watched the twin-pupils of the Abassi widen slightly as it drew closer. The Lynx swung up, seemingly of its own accord, tracking the Abassi through the air.

  The rounds tore the alien apart, bloody chunks of flesh and bone scattering across the valley floor. The carnage was palpable; neatly symbiotic with the hatred he felt in his heart.

  He was surprised to find himself no longer screaming, though his lungs and throat burned from his earlier exertions. He triggered a quick burst to keep the Abassi cowering behind cover. He rotated to the bangers and cried out his own defiant battle song as he unleashed fiery hell onto the Abassi who had retreated behind the massive rocks of the valley. Their cries, clearly heard throughout the battle-torn valley, brought a cold and homicidal sense of glee to his heart.