by Martin Durst
‘My Father is well known here,’ Matheus said proudly. ‘I’ll arrange for us to ride a trading boat that’s leaving for the city in the morning. We’re welcome to stay the night,’ he added grinning. ‘They’re having a feast to celebrate a good harvest and will expect us to attend!’
‘What if we were followed,’ Stone asked. ‘The last thing we want to do is bring harm to these people.’
‘We’re safer among friends. –And these people can defend themselves. Looters are a constant problem.’
Tr’al could tell Stone wasn’t convinced, but Matheus had a point. ‘He’s right. If we were followed, then there is safety in numbers.’
‘Ok,’ he conceded. ‘Lead on. Even a straw bed in a hut sounds better than sleeping in the jungle.’
By early afternoon, Tr’al had been able to clean up and bathe. Some of the village woman had swarmed her as soon as the village Elder had walked off. Before she knew it, they’d heated water and provided a private area for her to bathe. Before she’d finished, a clean tunic or wrap of sorts had been brought to her. As she struggled to don the garment, she heard a giggle. Startled, she clutched the cloth to her bosom. A young village girl had entered the hut.
‘It seem dat you have troubles wit tha clothes, yes?’
‘You speak English?’ she asked.
‘I do,’ she smiled, ‘but not as well as you! Dat tis amazing dat you speak so fluid!’
‘Uh, yeah. We’re kind of talented that way. –So, uh, you know how this thing goes on? –I’m sorry what is your name?’
‘Lily. Come here’s. Let me show how dis ting works.’ She helped her put the wrapped clothing on correctly then brushed her long white hair to a full shine. Tr’al felt clean for the first time in a long time.
At the center of the village, a large fire was lit as the sun began to set. She walked with Lily to an area that she said was reserved for her as the honored guest. Matheus and Stone were already there talking to Elder Accius. As she approached, she was acutely aware of Matheus staring at her. She suddenly felt self-conscious of what she was wearing.
‘You look – Amazing,’ he finally stuttered.
‘Thanks,’ she said somewhat embarrassed. ‘I see you cleaned up also.’
‘Yea,’ he said rubbing the white cotton shirt he’d changed into. ‘Turns out Elder Accius’s son and I are about the same size!’
‘Well, if you too are done goggling over each other,’ Stone sighed rolling his eyes, ‘they’re ready for us to eat.’
Matheus grabbed her hand and escorted her to the tables that were set near the fire. They shared a table with Elder Accius and ate ravenously. After the meal, several dances were performed in her honor. She even tried some of them but ended up breaking down in a fit of laughter as she stumbled through the moves. All the while, she just stayed close to Matheus enjoying his company. She’d remembered what her father had said, but at the moment, all that seemed so far away. She knew Matheus felt the same about her. She wasn’t going to ruin the magic of the evening.
Stone was happy that Tr’al was enjoying herself. So much tragedy had been happening to her lately. He smiled wistfully at her obvious flirtation with Matheus. They seemed to really like each other. As he watched her dance, he could see the similarities between her and her sister. The thought of Shi’la brought back feelings he hadn’t realized he’d had. And now that he was here, all he could think about was whether or not she was ok.
The celebration finally wound down as the night got late and everyone began retiring for the evening. Matheus silently walked Tr’al to her hut. As they approached, they stood looking sheepishly at each other; neither of them wanting to say goodnight. ‘Elder Accius’s daughter and her family live here. They’ve prepared a place for you to stay. Stone and I will be right over there,’ he said nodding to the hut behind him.
‘Ok,’ was all she said.
An awkward moment passed as he held both her hands. ‘Tr’al, I – That is, I had a gre –
Before he could finish, she quickly stood on her toes and kissed him. He wrapped his arms gently around her waist and pulled her close. She felt dizzy and excited at the same time. His kiss seemed to last for an eternity. It took a few seconds before she realized that he’d stopped kissing her. He grinned at her waiting for a response.
‘I didn’t think I was that good a kisser!’ he chided. ‘Or was it so terrible you just don’t know what to say!’
‘No!’ she giggled covering her mouth. ‘I mean yes, you’re a good kisser! –I guess. That was my first!’
‘Thanks. –I think.’ He gently hugged her. ‘Goodnight. We’d better get some rest. It’s going to be a long day tomorrow.’
‘I know,’ she sighed. ‘I’m pretty tired anyway.’
She pecked him on the lips one more time then quietly entered the hut. Shutting the door behind her, she tip-toed to the bed that was obviously prepared for her. She was grateful for a lamp that burned low on a table. She didn’t know what tomorrow would bring, but as she covered and snuggled under the blankets, she knew that her dreams would be beautiful. Smiling with her eyes closed, she drifted to sleep.
Tr’al woke to the screams of ‘fire!’ Elder Accius was rushing from the hut and she could hear shouts and people running towards the fire. She jumped from her bed and quickly dressed. Running outside, she almost collided into Matheus. ‘What’s happening,’ she almost yelled.
‘There’s a hut on fire! Wait here. Stone and I are going to help put it out!’
She started to protest, but he’d already sprinted away. She stood there for a moment not knowing what to do, then decided that she was going to help. Before she could move, she felt something cold and hard in her back.
‘No little princess! You’re coming with me!’
She slowly turned around to the cold calculated stare of Carolina Escobar. She had a crazed look that scared her.
‘You –You started that fire! –Didn’t you!’
‘It provided a distraction. Now, shut up and walk!’
She pushed her as they walked to the edge of the water. As they approached, she could see a man cutting the tie line to one of the boats.
‘Get in,’ he said.
As they drifted quietly downstream, she watched the light from the fire slowly fade. She stifled a sob even though she was terrified. God, was this the end? Were they going to finally kill her?
‘Don’t look so forlorn,’ Carolina teased waving her heat pistol at her. ‘I’m not going to kill you. –Not yet anyway. We need you as an incentive to make your sister to behave. She either delivers what we want, or she’ll get to watch me kill you. –And I’m very good at what I do.’
Carolina pulled a device from her pack. ‘-Godforsaken place. –Can’t even chip a signal out here!’ She powered it up and punched a code.
Some kind of communication device, Tr’al observed.
‘Alright, our ride should be here in about thirty minutes. Our Pod back at the Settlement is on the move. Find a partial clearing on the shoreline and beach this thing, Prevost.’
He oared the boat closer to the shoreline and within a few minutes found a suitable landing.
‘Get out,’ she ordered. ‘I don’t appreciate having to tramp through this damn jungle, so try to run away and give me reason to maim you right here.’
Tr’al stood quietly trying not to shiver in the cool night air. This close to the river it was breezy.
‘That’s a good looking Beau you’ve had following you around! What’s his name?’ Carolina sneered loudly. ‘Maybe I’ll take him off your hands! He’s a cutie!’
‘Wait … that was you wasn’t it? In the Jungle!’ Tr’al new that she’d hit a chord by the way Carolina’s complexion changed. But she decided to push her further. Maybe it would buy time for Matheus to find her. ‘I thought I felt someone watching me! It was you!’
‘My, you’re a smart one! Yes, I’ve been watching you for quite some time. Now, you’re going to make yourself useful.’<
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They waited for the Pod for what seemed like an eternity. She fervently prayed that Lieutenant Stone or Matheus would find her, but she was having no such luck. Then her heart sank as lights appeared on the horizon. A few minutes later, a Negrav Pod landed on the shore. A woman disembarked and walked over to them.
‘Hello Tr’al. –Let’s go say hi to your sister.’
She’d narrowly escaped destruction, and for the first time for as long as she could remember, she felt fear. The massive cannon blast from the surface of the planet was unexpected. The weapon system hadn’t existed before. All her ships, including her only harvester, were now destroyed. Thousands of her brood were dead. And to complicate matters, there’d be food shortages to deal with once she returned home.
She put her ship in a hold status once she was beyond sensor range. Damaged systems alerted her to just how narrowly she’d escaped. Her hull integrity was questionable, but it should hold together long enough for her to at least return home.
This species was proving to be resourceful. And to her surprise, they had help. She sifted through her memories, which could match any artificial storage device in speed and accuracy, to find the answer she was looking for. She’d fed on them before. Many of her brood came from their extensive population size, and now they were allied here with this other species. This was alarming and would require a change of strategy. –A drastic measure to ensure her survival and victory. There would be sacrifices, and the brood would need to be thinned. But with strict rationing and a concentrated effort on building her industrial works, she could rebuild her ships and increase her brood within a few planetary cycles.
She closed her eyes and allowed her fatigue to consumer her while her ship jumped into FTL drive. After she’d rested, she’d begin her plans anew while her attendants busied themselves with feeding and grooming her. Yes, it was a good plan. Her ship hurled forward while she slept.
Lieutenant Stone stood in the cool breeze overlooking the New York Harbor while considering the implications of what had happened over the last six months. As soon as he was able to reach Earth Fleet in Brazil, he’d contacted his old Academy buddy, Jebidiah Stark. He needed to talk to someone he could trust.
He inhaled deeply. He loved living in New York. There used to be a night life to this city. Now, as he looked to the horizon, he realized how desperate things were getting. His city was mostly dark at night now. No longer were there any vendors selling their wares. Most people stayed indoors relying on their chips and the Teranet to keep them connected to each other. It was a virtual ghost town. –And New York wasn’t alone. Hundreds of cities were the same. Fear was taking root. Hope was fading.
Jebidiah was a friend that he could trust explicitly. Friends like him were far and few in between. They’d hit it off as cadets. Neither of them had much interest in being center stage, but worked hard at finding a career niche that Earth Fleet needed them to fill. He was always interested in intelligence work while Jeb had a stronger interest in logistics. Over the years, Jeb had risen within the ranks to eventually pass him. He’d made Commander over two years ago, but neither of them allowed it to fracture their friendship. In fact, the rule was: out of uniform, out of rank. And both of them followed the rule to the letter. No matter what, rank was not allowed to get between them when off the job. So, it was Jeb that received his call first when the whole world still thought he was dead.
After several minutes of convincing Jeb that he was indeed who he said he was, he gave him a full brief as to what had happened and where he’d been. Jeb agreed that someone high within Earth Fleet had to be involved. He immediately contacted Secretary Sadim who ordered a security team to pick him up in Brazil. Second, he sent a detail to Reykjavik, Iceland to arrest all parties involved. By the time he’d arrived back in New York, The Secretary had already informed him that nothing out of ordinary was going on at the facility. When he’d asked about Shi’la, he told him that there was no trace of her ever being there, or of any unauthorized activity. He wasn’t really surprised. Whoever was involved in Earth Fleet had cleaned up their tracks thoroughly. But he was persistent. He’d initiated plan B in the event that this might happen. He only hoped Matheus was up to the task and remembered that he had a tracking device.
He thought constantly of Shi’la. He missed her desperately. All his efforts to identify who had ordered their capture remained elusive. He had some suspicions, but with no proof and no leads, he was facing a dead end. To complicate matters, Tr’al was still missing, so he’d failed in his promise to Shi’la. At least he was spared the humiliation of telling her. He’d request transport and make a trip to the settlement soon to visit their parents. It was the least he could do.
‘Sir, the Secretary has issued a summons. You’re requested to attend.’
Stone turned to see a very young security officer who looked as cold as he felt. ‘What is it ensign?’
I don’t know, Sir. –Frankly it’s all above my grade. I was just sent to get you. We tried hailing your chip, but-
‘I turned it off.’
The ensign didn’t look to sure of how to respond, so he just stood silently waiting.
‘What? Are you going to hold my hand all the way there?’ Stone said irritably. ‘Run along, I’ll be there.’
Again the ensign paused, but only momentarily. He finally left quietly.
Stone considered not going. What he really wanted to do was find Shi’la, but duty finally won out. He’d attend; and really, it was his only hope of gathering some kind of intelligence about Shi’la.
Secretary Sadim stood looking through one of the enormous tinted glass windows of the main conference room of Earth Fleet HQ. The Carthaginian floated silently a few hundred feet above them. There was so much damage that Negrav support pads were erected underneath in the event that her systems failed. But even at that altitude, its massive size cast a shadow across the entire building. He carefully studied the unbelievable damage to her hull and weapon systems. It’s amazing that she held together.
A large portion of her aft hull was missing. Two deck levels could be seen through the gaping hole. How many men died when that hull ruptured? He wondered. The two giant turrets near her bow were mangled from Hiver ordinance. Deep dark scorch marks covered the entire ship giving its hull a charcoal-black appearance.
Humanity had narrowly escaped defeat –again.
He turned back to the assembly of men that waited for him to begin. Around a large conference table sat several Earth Fleet officers and prominent members of the Shu’kan nation. No one looked too pleased to be here.
‘From what I can gather based on your respective reports, we have an issue just as threatening, if not more so, than the Hiver’s. –And frankly, it concerns me that such a conspiracy exists.’ He stood rubbing the soreness from his neck wishing the problem would just go away. But he knew it would have to be dealt with.
‘Lieutenant Stone has enlightened me to a situation that needs the attention of everyone here.’ He paused and waved for Stone to stand. ‘Please brief those present on what you reported to me.’
Stone cleared his throat. ‘As you now know, the report of our death was false. Shi’la, the Shu’kan scientist I was assigned to as a liaison, and I were kidnapped shortly after leaving the airport bound for Iceland. We were taken to, what I believed was the Iceland research facility, where we were forced to begin research trials to develop a bioweapon against the Hivers.’
What you’re saying isn’t making sense,’ Admiral McConnel interjected. ‘Why would someone go through all the trouble to divert you from a task that you were already going to do for Prime Minister?’
‘Though I suspect you’ll be wasting your time trying to find out who orchestrated our little adventure,’ Stone replied, ‘I can say it was more than likely corporate-backed. Whoever this ‘Brianna’ and ‘Wilson’ were, they had considerable resources. –As for motive? I think we all can guess the answer. A substantial amount of money can be made if, for
example, a corporation could sell a bioweapon to the government that would defeat the Hiver’s. After all, why should the government corner a market that has the potential to yield the highest profits in history?
‘Lieutenant Stone,’ Leader Bro’na interrupted. ‘Where, then, are Shi’la and Tr’al? You said earlier that you were taken as … what did you say … insurance … to kidnap Tr’al as leverage to use against Shi’la? Were they not successful in escaping as well? He waited anxiously for a response. He was clearly upset and was hoping they were safe.
Stone leaned on his knuckles while standing at the table. He hung his head, ashamed, and answered without looking. ‘I was successful in escaping with Tr’al thanks to the help of a young man from the village near the Settlement, but just before we made it to the city in Brazil, our pursuers caught up with us and took us by surprise.’ He now looked up. His emotional struggle showed clearly on his face. ‘They set the village on fire killing three of the locals. By the time we got the fire under control, they were gone and Tr’al was missing.’
Secretary Sadim placed his hand on Lieutenant Stone’s shoulder. ‘I’m sure you did what you could, son. Sit down.’
‘Though it’s unfortunate that we still haven’t recovered our two Shu’kan comrades, it still doesn’t address our immediate concerns. Admirals McConnell and Cook are here to brief us on the status of our defenses and what their expectations are. –Gentlemen?’
‘Yes Sir,’ Admiral McConnell said standing to speak. ‘Thanks to the heroic efforts of Admiral Cook and the timely intervention of Leader Bro’na, I can conclusively report that the Hiver’s have been repulsed. The bad news is, we took severe casualties and lost all of the fleet we’d painstakingly replenished since the last attack. Once again, the Carthaginian managed to keep together, but she’ll be docked for a full refit as of tomorrow. As the only ship remaining, we’re putting everything we’ve got into her. Crews will be assigned around the clock until she’s re-commissioned for duty.’