Galactic Satori Chronicles: Book 1 - Earth

by Nick Braker

  “Let go of me,” Alara said. “The General is coming through the door.”

  They both turned as the man entered. He stood just a bit over five feet. His thin, wiry frame and pale skin made him look sickly. He was dressed in French military clothing which was pressed and clean.

  “You killed my men but it is of no concern to me. I have what I want and you of course are completely out of ammo. I love it.”

  He picked up Warren’s shotgun.

  Damn and he’s insane too.

  Magnus let her go. The man breathed in deeply, making a show of it.

  “I have my gun and your last shell. This feels so good. I like winning. No, I love winning.”

  What?

  Magnus stepped over the couch toward the center of the aisle between them. He inched along hoping not to alarm the man into firing. He needed time.

  Keep your focus on me, you piece of shit.

  “How about I offer you a better deal?” Magnus asked.

  “Is your race entirely inept and stupid? I have everything. You have nothing to offer me. I win.”

  The man’s smile splayed across his face, wearing an aura of confidence and arrogance.

  “Wouldn’t you rather beat the hell out of me? Us?”

  “Interesting. I guess you do have something to offer. Yes, yes I would. This will be fun.”

  He lowered the shotgun and blasted Alara. She was already moving but too late. It spun her around like a rag doll in mid-dive and she fell, landing behind the sofa.

  “One down. Two to go. Yes, that is right. The one on my left can’t walk, the one on the far side of the room is unconscious, the woman is dead and you two are all that is left. So tell me, how does your arm feel? The one with a hole in it,” he asked.

  What the hell?

  “Feels good, actually. I will probably use it last to smash your head in,” Magnus said.

  The smile faded, replaced with a manic stare.

  “This feels so good. I look forward to your world’s destruction but, if it is of any consolation to you, I will miss it. Time to die.”

  The General rushed him, swinging. Magnus dropped his head, dodging the blow easily. His fist was already coming up when the man used his other hand to land a shot to the side of his neck.

  Shit, he pulled me into that. He’s smart and fast.

  Magnus went with the blow, rolling away from the General and back to his feet. He staggered, nearly falling.

  That hurt. How the hell can he be that strong?

  Warren was in midair, feet first, when the General ducked forward and Warren sailed past him. Ignoring Warren, he stepped in with a kick. It connected to Magnus’ gut. Magnus struck out anyway, ignoring the pain and hitting the man’s leg. It cracked but didn’t break. The General didn’t even flinch from the blow.

  “You’ll pay for that,” the General said.

  Magnus stepped back, bringing his arms up fast, trying to counter the man’s blows. He was able to keep his defense up as long as he kept backing away.

  Tom did the same to me before.

  Magnus snapped his hand out and smacked the General. The blows stopped as he stood there touching his face, anger building in him. The man’s face was red where Magnus smacked him.

  “Want some more, little man?” Magnus taunted.

  “Oh yes, tête merde,” he shrieked.

  He lunged at Magnus but was only able to grab his wrist. Magnus twisted his wrist away and slapped the General to the back of his head.

  Tom would be proud.

  He shrieked again, blinded with anger. Warren was there again and swung. The General swatted Warren with the back of his hand sending him into the wall. Warren slumped, falling forward onto his face.

  “Yes,” the General cried out gleefully. “More.”

  “Right here. Come get more,” Magnus taunted.

  Again, the General flailed at Magnus blindly. Magnus dodged him easily and was able to smack him again. Something inside the General snapped and he lunged trying to get his hands around Magnus’ throat.

  There we go. Wide open.

  Magnus brought his right arm down on the man’s forearms, knocking them away. He swung his left fist down to the top of the General’s head. The blow crushed his skull and neck. The man fell. Magnus took the gun from him, keeping it pointed at the man’s midsection.

  Kron - Mental Infusion Chamber

  The screen showing Sania’s visual input was working perfectly. Katerra was monitoring her progress on Earth. She watched as Sania directed the human soldiers to attack. The leaders of the other humans that raided their compound were now in the same room with that Aliri sympathizer, Alara.

  Kill them, Sania, kill them all.

  Sania’s troops threw a grenade in to start and then rushed in immediately afterward. Several shots were fired. Silence.

  The screen showed Sania entering the room. She bent down and picked up one of the human weapons.

  What is she doing? Is she gloating? Is she compromised? The human emotions are affecting her decisions.

  The human male stepped toward Sania. It was unarmed and facing her like it had a chance. It even smiled at Sania.

  That smile. That’s the human Satirra saw right before I pulled her back.

  The monitor showed Sania’s heart rate had increased. Sania took a couple of calming breaths and her heart rate returned to normal.

  Good. At least she’s still controlling her host’s body well enough.

  Sania shot the Aliri puppet. There were only two left now.

  Finish this Sania, this must be done quickly.

  She was now fighting two humans at the same time with what seemed to be relative ease. The human male, named Magnus, fell for the fake and went tumbling to the ground. She stepped forward letting the momentum of the second human carry itself past her. She kicked the human in the gut but it was still able to strike her in the leg. It came back to its feet only for Sania to start striking out at it in a flurry of blows.

  She has the human now. All it can do is block.

  The human slapped her. She stopped, stunned. Sania was holding her face.

  He slapped her? What kind of attack is that?

  She renewed her attack on it. The human slapped her again.

  These humans are stupid. Why waste an attack that does not damage?

  Sania turned, blocking a blow from the second human and backhanded it. The human slumped over to the floor.

  Good. Only one of the creatures remain. This will be easy for Sania.

  The larger human was still trying to talk to Sania. She went in for the kill.

  “What happened?” Katerra demanded.

  The screen showed only a view of the floor. Sania wasn’t moving.

  “Get her out now,” Katerra ordered.

  “I have already started the extraction sequence, my queen.” Commander Tainn said.

  Seconds ticked off slowly. There were feet in view on the screen now. A few of the humans had regained consciousness and were standing around Sania. Two loud shots rang out through the room, resonating several times. Agneta was beside Sania within moments. No one spoke. Agneta looked up at Katerra shaking her head.

  “She didn’t make it, my queen,” Agneta told her.

  Earth - Paris, France

  “Grep, Brock, Warren. Are you three okay?” Magnus asked.

  Brock joined them, hopping on one leg. He held the other leg gingerly. It was soaked in blood.

  “I’m good, dude. Going to live through this one. Damn, never thought it would hurt this bad,” Brock said.

  Grep got up slowly, rubbing the back of his neck. He had to steady himself several times but managed to join them.

  “Our first alien. When that thing comes out, it dies or it gives up,” Magnus said.

  “There is no alien in that one,” Alara said, still lying on the other side of the couch, out of sight. “Not the way you think anyway. In fact, it’s already leaving and there is nothing we can do about it unless you
put a bullet in its head quickly.”

  Why do I trust her? Has she compromised me?

  He grabbed the General’s gun and shot him twice to the back of his head.

  “I’m sure you killed it. It takes time to extract their essence once they take control,” she said.

  Magnus couldn’t see her so he threw the gun to Grep.

  “Guard him, just in case,” Magnus ordered.

  He walked around the sofa and found her still on the floor. She looked up at him as he approached, still on her back.

  “Are you hurt?” he asked.

  “Would you assess the damage?” she asked.

  Magnus nodded, bending down to examine her. She watched him with a grin on her face. There were no visible wounds. Magnus even slid her dress up above her knees thinking she might have been shot in the legs. Nothing.

  “So, no alien is going to crawl out of it?” Warren asked, not knowing what Magnus was doing.

  “Welcome back to consciousness,” Grep said.

  Warren nodded.

  “Correct,” she answered.

  “Hey, lady,” Brock said. “You seem to know what the hell is going on around here, so are we safe? Are there more aliens or humans to kill?”

  “Yes, we are safe now. No, you killed all of them here.”

  She put her hand on Magnus’ shoulder.

  “I think I’m fine. I must be lucky. I guess I didn’t get hit at all. Must have hit my head on the floor.”

  Her smile was disarming and, for some reason, that didn’t bother him.

  “Help me up?” she asked.

  “Of course, but you know we have to take you into custody. I wouldn’t try anything stupid, like running.”

  “I won’t. We have to attend a debriefing in Washington. Alexandria will be waiting,” Alara told him.

  “Who?” Magnus lied.

  Her movements were graceful and deliberate. She walked toward the bed and lithely stepped up onto it and then twisted around, facing them. She sat at the foot of the bed, her legs crossed in front of her, relaxed. Grep kept the gun pointed at her.

  “It feels good to be around humans again. Well, at least normal ones,” Alara said. “They were all human except for the General. He is human but was controlled by an alien. They call themselves the Kron.”

  She kept watching him, unashamed she was staring at him.

  There is something different about this one.

  “Grep, cuff her,” Magnus said.

  “Finally, you’re thinking clearer,” Grep said, pulling her over to stand next to the General’s dead body as he put the cuffs on her.

  Magnus moved away from them, activating his EP device. The static was gone and the EP devices were again transmitting outside the church.

  “Tom here.”

  “I need a WSO intervention team. Stat. We have fifty plus dead humans, one compromised dead human and, according to another here, a human working for the Alpha aliens.”

  “I’ll have someone there in five minutes and the place secured in twenty. Magnus, your assessment?” Tom asked.

  “I don’t know,” he said, staring at Alara from the hallway. “She’s intriguing and absolutely a mystery. I just don’t know.”

  The four of them walked into her office. Relief washed over Alexandria. Grep was fine, suffering from a nasty bruise. Warren felt no ill effects from the grenade other than a headache. Brock’s wound was bandaged and would require some therapy. He had a deep graze across his leg from a bullet but not terribly serious. Magnus’ shoulder was healing quickly, though the reports from Grep and Warren indicated he had been compromised, perhaps like Warren did with Angelina.

  “Welcome back,” she said. “We’ll see the prisoner shortly but again, I want to thank each of you for a great job. I knew we would make progress if I sent you to France.”

  She was proud of them and relieved that her leap of faith was panning out.

  “Tom briefed me from your verbal reports,” she continued. “Alara is human but is working for one of the alien species, supposedly helping us. This is good news, if true. We need information.”

  Grep jumped out of his chair. His face was full of anger. She’d never seen him like this before.

  “Alexandria,” Grep said. “We don’t know anything. Her comment about the General being controlled by an alien could have been a lie designed to have us kill it for whatever purposes she needed. I could list a host of reasons but my point is we don’t know anything about her and Magnus trusted her implicitly. He took her at her word and ordered the rest of us to follow him blindly, probably because she has a nice set of--”

  “Grep,” Alexandria interrupted. “Enough.”

  “Enough? I’ll get to that in a bit. First, he put us all in jeopardy. Warren could have put her down but instead we have her within WSO itself. Did anyone think that was her plan? Have us bring her inside the most secure building in the world? What if one of us had died? Brock took a bullet. Warren was smacked around like a redheaded stepchild. This human knocked me out at the beginning of the fight and then faked an injury, staying completely out of it.”

  Magnus stood.

  “Grep, you’re losing it,” Magnus said, calmly.

  He was too calm. His words barely loud enough for them to hear. Alexandria knew Magnus was restraining himself. His fists and jaw were shaking with anger.

  “I lost it long ago watching you put us in danger because your libido is bigger than your brain. I’ve tried to teach you, show you what you should be doing but you still risk our lives on pretty faces. If this Alara had looked like a witch from hell, she’d be dead right now.”

  Tom moved to get between them.

  “Guys, enough.”

  “Tom,” Magnus said. “Grep is on my team, I’ll handle him.”

  Grep snorted.

  “I’d stick around and argue my point but I’m wasting my breath.” Grep said. “I won’t be commenting on the enough either. I’m out. I’ve had enough.”

  Grep walked out.

  “Tom,” Alexandria said. “Go talk with him.”

  “I said I would handle him,” Magnus told them.

  Tom nodded, following Grep out. She waited until he closed the door.

  “Magnus, stand down. That is an order. We’ll get Grep calmed down. In the meantime, it’s time you and I questioned the prisoner,” she said.

  Magnus relented and they followed her to the level B2. The floor was designed to house high profile and extremely dangerous people. Five armed security personnel stood alert along one of the dead end hallways from the elevator. There were four hallways in total. The door at the end of this one was solid metal with upgraded security systems. Alexandria placed her eye over the scanner. The door’s locking mechanism disengaged. Inside was WSO’s typical interrogation room with a solid metal table dead center and two chairs on opposite sides of the table, all three secured to the floor. Alara sat in one chair, chained to the floor by her wrists and ankles. Magnus noted with wry amusement that he was on the receiving end of a table just like that when this all started.

  Alara’s eyes met Alexandria’s as she walked in but they switched to him as soon as he entered. She lingered on him, completely ignoring Brock and Warren. Alexandria took the other chair and began the questioning. Magnus, Warren and Brock stood along the wall behind her.

  “My name is Alexandria Thompson, Director of WSO, and your name is Alara Sharma? East Indian, right?”

  “Yes and yes. I do not remember my real parents, though.”

  “Why?” Alexandria asked.

  “The aliens, who call themselves Aliri, took me from them at birth. Before you ask, my name is rooted in their species name, given to me by my new father who raised me.”

  “Your father’s name?” Alexandria asked.

  “He has asked that it not be revealed at this time.”

  “Are your father and his people responsible for helping us?” Alexandria asked.

  “Yes but there is more. You will not li
ke what I’m going to tell you but you must hear it and believe what I’m saying.”

  Magnus eased forward. She wore standard issue prison garments, an orange jumpsuit and padded cloth shoes. The jumpsuit was clean and creased from the shelf where it had probably sat for months. Even within the jumpsuit he could see the physical beauty she possessed. The aliens augmented Alara like the rest of them but they had her since birth. Could Alara be even more enhanced because of it? He was certain there was no other human being alive as perfect as she. Confidence surrounded her and the depth of her intelligence was only confirmed the more she spoke. He was right about one thing, she had everything he wanted in a woman. Did that explain his reaction in Paris? Did he make the right call?

  Alexandria continued but her tone had changed. It had an edge of harshness now.

  “Leave the viability of your story to us,” she leaned back. “Do tell.”

  Alara nodded.

  “I’m here as an ambassador for the Aliri. They are a race of beings focused on creating a Utopian existence for themselves and all species. Their methods will be revealed as inhumane and certainly an act of war in the traditional sense but they are effective. I must admit I find it difficult to accept but they have been consistently right. They have helped thousands of species according to my historical research. I’m certain there are many more than that.”

  She paused, watching their reactions.

  “There are only two species involved in Earth’s affairs right now. The Kron and the Aliri. The Kron see Earth as a threat to them in the future and are taking action now to destroy you.”

  Magnus interrupted.

  “Wait. They see us as a threat in the future? Do they have time travel?”

  “No, but they have computer systems similar but not as advanced as the Aliri. These systems predict timelines and they are acting on those predications in an effort to prevent their species’ destruction. Earth will ultimately destroy them and they simply want to make a preemptive strike. As a result, the Aliri have stepped in to help your species. Without their efforts, you would be doomed to destruction as the Kron are very effective.”

  “How will they try to destroy us?” Alexandria asked.