by Greg Dragon
It was the most devastating attack on civilian life that anyone had ever seen. For the members of the Alliance it was the best day of their lives, but for the Geralos it was literally hell on earth. Fighting ceased across the galaxy as the panicked Geralos scrambled for some direction. Many of them had families that lived on Quin, and others were under orders from the council there.
With this one blow Rafian had snapped their spine, and the Alliance military took full advantage by increasing their efforts.
As for the Supreme Leader who caused the explosion, he was back on Helysian in his old room. Big Black lay nested in a ring of pillows, but it was now a milky white and radiated no power like before. Rafian sat on the ground near the wall of his room, holding his head to try and normalize the situation. His body felt numb but his toes tingled, and he felt as if the blood had been drained from his body.
He remembered his first mission to Geral, when he was enlightened that the Geralos were people just like Vestalians and Meluvians. They had children, husbands and wives. They were intelligent and seemed to love life. Then he thought of the time when he invaded the Geralos leader’s mind. He had seen their motivations, their love of the arts, and had concluded that their violence stemmed from a handful of religious fanatics.
These priests lived in the capital and were at the top of the political pyramid, so the Geralos military, Special Forces, and everything within belonged to them. He had reasoned for weeks on how to kill the few in order to broker peace with the regular people, but the Neeraki Sentients did not want it that way. Total decimation, they had told him. The Geralos must be brought to heel.
It wasn’t his choice, but it was what they wanted, and he had been their instrument of destruction. Now the guilt tore at him, and he scratched at his head with his fingers, trying to worm it out. His comm was on fire with everyone calling, but he didn’t have his voice so how could he answer?
When the Serylusk was near the force field, he had grabbed Big Black, then activated a baseball-sized crystal to perform a blind jump. He didn’t know where he was going to land, but knew that it would be somewhere familiar that was near friends. His biggest fear had been the off chance that he’d end up in the forests of Geral where the flames would melt him and send him to the cloner.
The world had gone white with the portal pulling him behind life’s canvas, and where he emerged was back in his and Camille’s room on Helysian. The surroundings made him feel like a boy again, and the photos of Camille made him sad. This sadness, coupled with the reality of what he had done, had brought on a weight that he had to find the ground to support.
There was activity everywhere. He could hear it out in the halls and the reporters on all planets were calling him a martyr for giving up his life for his beloved Vestalia. Hero was bandied around; they had given him that title, but he didn’t feel like a hero after wiping out so many people. A noise forced him to look up, and he saw the rippling of the portal. Tayden Lark stepped through and ran over to take him into her arms.
Rafian closed his eyes and tried his best to push down the guilt and depression that was taking him, but Tayden knew him and held him close, kissing his forehead gently. “I don’t know what that cost you mentally and physically, Raf, but I want to be the first person to say thank you.” She was crying now and rocking him steadily as she repeated the words “thank you,” several times. “They’re standing down; can you believe it? The rest of those thypes have ceased their attacks. You did it Raf, you cut off their heads. We’re finally free, we’re finally free.”
Free. The word penetrated his mind and he thought about what it meant. The retaking of Vestalia by the political forces on the ships, and the return of trade between the planets. Wars, if any came about, would be small ones fought on planets, and the Alliance would grow into a large, governing structure. The remaining Geralos soldiers would be put to death and the planet would be placed under close supervision. He thought about this and came to the conclusion that maybe, just maybe, this prospect of freedom was worth all of the lives that had paid dearly for it.
No longer would children have to become cadets whose only future was to pick up a gun to fight the Geralos. People would have choices just like on Marian’s Tyhera. He looked up for the first time in what felt like an eternity and thanked Tayden silently with a kiss. “How did you find me?” he asked her when they separated from the awkward intimacy that brought back memories of a time when they couldn’t get enough of one another.
Tayden chuckled. “Big Black has a signature we encoded a long time ago, remember? Back when we were paranoid that someone would steal it.”
“Listen, Tay, I won’t be back for a while. I’m taking Marian away from everything in order to clear my head.”
“What about the questions from the Alliance? The state of Zallus? There’s a lot to do now that the Geralos are done,” she said.
“It can all wait, can’t it? I need to be right before I make any more decisions that will impact people’s lives. There is a favor I have to ask you, though. Something I need done while I am away.”
Tayden put her hands on her hips and threw back her hair so that it fell behind her shoulders and out of her face. “Anything, Raf. What do you need me to do?”
“Several things actually but I’ll make it brief. There is a Traxian woman by the name of Jinay who is a refugee on Aqnaqak. She’s living comfortably but she has no friends. I would like for us to set up a Phaser location on Traxis in the village of Copl. It’s the one near the ship graveyard; you can’t miss it. Send Phasers to remove anyone playing mayor or whatever in that city and offer her the palace that is already there. It is her choice whether she wants to rule there as our host, but regardless of her choice that town belongs to us.”
“We’re taking territory now, Raf? What happened to vanishing into the wind?”
“Our ranks are gutted. We lost most of our recruits. In the rebuilding of Vestalia there will be greedy, ambitious types who will use the opportunity to exploit the innocent. Phasers are going to be needed now more than ever, and we cannot watch the galaxy from one location alone. Tell Yuth to set up an agency in Louine, and to invite Rend. I want the old man comfortable in his last years. Constance ITO and Phimanila Dawn are to be given permanent residence in Zallus near the beach.”
“What about us, Raf, your Phasers? Do we rebuild Zallus or do you have something specific in mind?”
“Mandatory time off for the next few months. Tayden, let your thyping hair out, rurit. You’re a beautiful woman. Go somewhere with Frank and let him experience you out of uniform. Maker, you both deserve it. Come back married. Even more important, come back happy. Cammy knows how to relax so I have no worries that she will be okay.”
“What about Dott and—”
“You decide. You’re the commander of the Phaser agency and my only directive is that they enjoy this new age where the Geralos are done. When I return I will meet with the Alliance, discuss the future, and see about healing Big Black so that my wife can visit her home.”
* * *
It was months later when Rafian woke up inside of a hut on an undisclosed island. The sun was out and bright enough to wake him, and he rolled over, shifting away the satin sheets to see if Marian was still there. His eyes found the clock and saw that it was 1:11 p.m., and he realized that he had been asleep for almost 12 hours.
He struggled off the bed and drank the water on the bedside table, then scanned the room inside of the bamboo hut for anything that was out of place. Satisfied that paradise was still his reality, he walked through the living area that was still in disarray from the night before. He smiled with the memory of him and Marian, recreating the first time they had fought one another. This time, however, they were both drunk and lusty, so the fighting had resulted in something much more wild and intimate.
Rafian walked over to one of the pillows, lifted it up to his face, and smelled it. The scent of her perfumed hair was still embedded within it, and he cherished the
scent, trying to remember everything they had done. There were breads, jams, and cheeses on the table along with a note from Marian, letting him know that she had left it for his breakfast.
Grabbing a bit of the bread, he dipped it into the jam, then bit into it and walked outside to see what was going on. The bright sunlight made the sand glow white, and the beautiful blue beach lapped noisily off in the distance. The scene was broken only by the lone beach chair that sat below a gigantic umbrella.
He descended the steps and crossed the sand on bare feet. The grains were warm and complemented the heat that bore down on his naked torso. His pants were tattered cargo remnants that had come with the hut as part of the apparel.
Marian was seated on the chair, her legs long and mahogany in color, and her nails were painted white to match the flawless beach. She was in a frilly lime-green bikini with a scarf to match, and she was rubbing her stomach slowly as she stared out at the waters.
“Had a lot to eat, huh? Or is the coconut not sitting well?” he asked as he sat on the edge of the chair and took one of her hands and kissed it.
She shook her head slowly and tilted it with a grin. “Did you sleep well, love?” she asked and removed her sun goggles. Big, brown starry eyes stared up at him with the lids resting low, as if she were ready for a nap.
“Slept well until I started missing you, so I woke up to come and find you. How long have you been out here, watching the waves?”
“Oh, a few hours. I started reading a book, but the sun put me back to sleep. Then I had a craving for a coconut, so I used my las-sword and climbed that tree to get me one.”
“Good to see Phaser equipment being put to good use out here. Any word from back home?” he asked, not really wanting to talk about it.
“Marika and Val are getting serious. That girl calls me every week to give me the details. I won’t say much, but she has a new tattoo. Something about a Vin’yn and an exploding planet.” She rolled her eyes when she said the word planet, then looked over at him to gauge his reaction. “Oh, Maker, you won’t ask me, will you? Yes, my love, Val Tracker has agreed to become a Phaser and is starting his training with Laern, of all people.”
“Seriously, Laern? That’s amazing,” Rafian said. “By the time we get back, he’ll be a full-blown recruit.”
“There’s some other news,” she said, her hands finding her stomach again. “I had a little visitor this morning.”
“This island is remote. Who the hell is here?” Rafian said, looking around suspiciously.
“Well, this visitor was sneaky and a bit of a mystery, because like you said this island is pretty remote. By the way, you never told me what happened to you after the explosion. Did anything change, Raf?” She stared at him intently and he wondered what she meant.
Rafian glanced out at the water in contemplation, still wondering who the visitor was that came to Marian. Was it one of the Neeraki Sentients? Would they have spoken to her? The thought of it frightened him and he looked down at her. She was still waiting for an answer. “I was taken for a ride by the visitors, Rhee. The same ones from Virulia; do you remember them? Those tall, floating aliens that took me into their ship—”
“Yes, who could forget? They were so beautiful and frightening. So, they took you from the explosion and did things to you?”
“What makes you think that they did anything to me, babe? Who was this visitor? Was it one of them?”
“No, not one of the Sentients. Someone much smaller than that,” she said, giggling.
“Stop playing with me, Rhee. No one came by here this morning. We’re on a remote island off the shore of an empty country, on a planet with a sparse population. Is it some animal? Maybe a monkey or jungle cat. Come on, what was it? I give up.”
“I’m pregnant,” she said suddenly. She studied his face, which became a mask of wonder at what she just said.
“P-pregnant? How?” he said quietly, touching her stomach. She placed a slender hand over his and arched her back slightly.
“Somehow, Rafy, you got me pregnant. I’m definitely carrying your child.” She waited for their eyes to meet and then she nodded affirmatively. She gave him a smile and laughed. “Look at your face,” she said and touched his cheek, then rose up on an elbow to kiss him.
“But I’m supposed to be sterile. This makes no sense,” he said.
“None of that means anything anymore, my love. I am pregnant. I can feel her growing. I thought it was a mistake until I woke up sick this morning.”
“You feel her growing? How do you know that she’s a she?”
“It’s a Tyheran thing. We always know what our babies are going to be.”
Rafian seemed speechless and he turned around to look up at the sun, wondering if this was an elaborate dream. “I love you more than life itself, Marian. How lucky is our daughter to be born into a time of such tremendous rebirth? She will know nothing but happiness and love, and she will be born on a planet, not a floating fortress like every other human I know.”
“Our miracle baby. We should give her a name,” Marian said.
“Let’s name her Calypso,” Rafian said, his eyes staring up into the sky. “After the seeker woman who was my mother.”
About The Author
GREG DRAGON brings a fresh perspective to fiction by telling human stories of life, love and relationships in a science fiction setting. This unconventional author spins his celestial scenes from an imagination nurtured from being an avid reader himself. His exposure to multiple cultures, multiple religions, martial arts, and travel lends a unique dynamic to his stories.
See Greg’s author page at gregdragon.com or keep up with his latest books and appearances through email.