by C. S. Harte
“Bast, you must have some fancy toy we haven’t seen yet,” Rayfin said.
“Perhaps.” He approached the force field. “Please stand back.” Bast held out his right arm. Pinpricks of light formed around his limb, multiplying in number and growing in size. In a flash, the light solidified into a one-and-a-half meter long cannon which rested in both his hands.
“I can’t believe you’ve been hiding that!” Rayfin shouted.
“It took most of my power reserves to generate this laser gun,” Bast said. “I only have enough energy left for one shot.”
Everyone moved to the farthest corner of the room away from Bast.
After counting down from three, Bast fired into the center of the barrier. The force field resisted the intense laser fire initially, turning orange, then red, and finally black before a hole formed, collapsing the force field.
Cheers erupted from the group.
Rayfin slapped Bast hard across his back. “You did it!”
Suddenly, the lights went out followed by the silencing of the alarms. An eerie quiet replaced the cheers.
Meomi and the others stood still in the darkness, waiting to see if anyone or anything was heading their way. She half expected the voices to reappear in her head, but the hush remained undisturbed. “Night vision,” she said after a few seconds. “We need to get going.”
The team exited the room the same way the two captains did and entered a long, narrow hallway.
“Which way out, Bast?” Meomi asked.
He opened his palm and projected a three-dimensional layout of the facility. “We can presume the entrance is overrun with Calfars. There is a large rectangular room 50 meters to our right. It is the largest room on this floor and the only one registering a faint energy signature. I suspect we may find Captain Dova and Massi there.”
“Weapons hot,” Meomi said as they made their way to the room.
“It’s locked,” Rayfin said trying to open the door.
Thorne aimed his weapon at the controls. “Stand back.” He fired into the console.
Rayfin and Bast pushed against the door, sliding it to the side.
“This looks like a communications room,” Meomi said peering from left to right at the array of screens and terminals.
“It does,” Thorne said. “But the captains aren’t here.”
“You think they left the building?” Rayfin asked.
“That would be a grave mistake,” Bast said.
“Can you guys get the comms to work? Maybe there are other humans on this planet or…” Meomi’s voice trailed.
“Or communicate with our universe,” Thorne said, finishing her thought.
“I’ll try, Captain,” Rayfin said. “Some of this stuff looks like Fleet tech. The other terminals, I’ve never seen those symbols before. I don’t know what alien species they belong to.”
“Bast, do you recognize those markings?” Thorne asked.
“I do not,” he replied.
“Do your best, Ensign,” Meomi said. “Bast help him.”
“We need to find Captain Dova and Massi,” Thorne said to Meomi. “They know more than they’re letting on.”
“We will have to force them to be truthful.” Meomi snarled, tired of the lies.
“Wait. Are we splitting up?” Rayfin jerked his head up as he asked.
“It’s fine, Rayfin,” she said. “We won’t be long. Get comms to work. Whatever it takes.”
Meomi followed Thorne out of the comm room in search of their hosts in the powerless, pitch black building with only their exo suit lights to guide them. Her external mic picked up the sound of footsteps running toward her. When she turned around, she found nothing but empty hallways.
“It’s your nerves,” Thorne said. “You’ve been through a lot. Focus on the task at hand, and it’ll help you remove all distractions.”
“I’ve been on recon missions before,” Meomi said with an edge in her voice. “Something isn’t right here, but I can’t…”
A blood-curdling screech blared in front of them.
They quickly shined their helmet light forward to see a lone Calfar standing at the end of the intersection.
After a moment of shock, Meomi managed to whisper the word, “Run…”
The Calfar ran after Thorne and Meomi rapidly gaining ground as it transitioned to galloping on all fours. Once it neared Meomi, it leaped and latched onto her ankle, pulling her to the ground.
Thorne emptied his clip into the head of the beast until it released its claws from Meomi’s leg. He helped Meomi to her feet. “You, OK?”
She nodded.
“Good. We have to keep moving.”
Meomi’s suit displayed a breech warning. The Calfar punched a hole through her armor. Blood streamed from her wound. The world around Meomi started to spin. “I feel dizzy,” she said as her legs wobbled.
“I have you, Meomi,” Thorne said. “Lean into me.”
“Trying…” she said, stumbling to keep up.
“Rayfin. Bast,” Thorne called over suit comm. “We need help!”
No response. Static then silence.
More Calfar screeches carried through the darkness. Dozens more.
Desperate, Thorne tried locked door after locked door until one finally opened. He laid Meomi against a wall. “Don’t fall asleep,” Thorne said shaking her head. “Use your stim packs if you have to!”
“No more left,” Meomi said in a half whisper. The words barely escaped her lips. Her eyelids felt like lead curtains.
The door shook. Something was smashing against it from the other side.
“Wake up! Wake up, Meomi!” Thorne yelled while bracing the door in place with his body.
Meomi’s eyes sealed shut. No matter how hard she fought, she couldn’t open them.
“Wake up!” Thorne continued to yell. His voice sounded soft as if coming from a distance. “Wake up…”
The itchiness returned, wrapping itself around her entire body like a blanket. Her skin exploded with a crawling sensation like someone had dumped a mound of ants on her chest. Meomi’s body was failing her. The agony of not being able to scratch was driving her mad. Death was a mercy compared to the torture.
Suddenly, an old voice returned to her ears. “Wake up,” it said.
“Inoke?” Meomi’s eyes burst open. “But you’re supposed to be dead…”
3
A pair of rainbow irises greeted Meomi as she woke. Entrent eyes.
“Inoke…” she breathed while consciousness slowly filtered into her mind. “No…” Small lips, doe-eyes, long, wavy snow-colored hair. Female. “You’re not Inoke.”
“No, Captain Hana. I’m not. It’s me, Roni!” said the teenage girl sitting beside Meomi’s hospital bed. She reached for Meomi’s forehead.
Meomi slapped Roni’s hand away and looked to her thigh for her handgun. “Wait… where am I?”
“Welcome back to reality, Captain Hana,” Roni said with a cheery smile. “It only took a couple days this time. You’re doing much better!”
“What… What happened to me?” Meomi grimaced as she forced her words out.
“The CMS Thames was captured before it could escape Jova sector.” Roni poured a glass of water and handed it to Meomi. “A raid and recovery team discovered you along with thousands of Fleet Officers when we liberated Dressa.”
“Dressa…” Meomi touched her lips. “So you were able to free all the prisoners?”
“We did!” Roni nodded enthusiastically. “Thanks to the intel you and your team gathered.”
Meomi took two healthy gulps of water. “Thank you.” She lowered the glass on a nearby table. “You’re an Entrent?”
“What gave it away?” She laughed.
“But why are you here? What’s wrong with me?” Meomi bit her lip. “Why don’t I remember anything?”
“Mimics have an interrogation technique we’ve never seen before.” Roni looked away as she spoke. “It does cruel things to the mind. The loss
of memories you’re experiencing is normal — at least normal in the sense that other captives are showing the same symptoms. Compromised long and short-term memories. Hearing voices. Seeing things that aren’t there.” She held Meomi’s hand. “You will have a hard time telling reality from illusion, Captain Hana.”
“You can fix me, right?” Meomi held her breath.
“I’ve been trying!” Roni squeezed her fingers. “You’re making a lot of progress. Faster than the others, I might add. We need soldiers like you if we’re going to win the war against Mimics!”
“The war… Where are we?” Meomi tried to jump out of bed before she realized her legs were strapped down. "What is this? Why am I restrained?” Every muscle in her body tensed.
"Hold on..." Roni began unwrapping the straps. “You have a habit of sleepwalking and punching people.” She smirked.
Feeling relieved to be free, Meomi sat at the edge of the bed. “What happened to the 5th Navy? Did they make it back to Earth?”
“Come with me to the window.” Roni helped Meomi out of bed. With a tap of a button, the entire exterior wall of the room became transparent revealing a nighttime cityscape saturated with phosphorous, multi-colored light. “Welcome to Shanghai!”
Across from Meomi stood a massive skyscraper made entirely of different sized cubes, haphazardly stacked together with some smaller cubes on the bottom supporting larger ones. Every side of the building displayed a different video message — commercials for companies Meomi had never seen before. High above the ground, weaving through the city was a road made of a brilliant white light. Sections of it flashed blue whenever it carried a transport vehicle across its rails. Rain wet the ground beneath Meomi, creating a mirror effect, adding immense depth to the city and its symphony of lights.
“Is this Earth?” Meomi’s mouth fell open.
“You’ve never been on Earth before?” Roni teased. She squeezed her eyes shut for a second. “Oh, you haven’t been on Earth before. I can’t find one memory of you being here.”
“No,” she said while shaking her head. “And don't probe my head again without my permission." Meomi bared her teeth before calming. "It was asteroid colonies then Fleet. I’ve been on countless exoplanets, but never Earth.”
“My, aren’t you the avid adventurer!” Roni giggled.
“The fact that we’re here…” Meomi stiffened her posture. “Does that mean…”
Roni shook her head. “We lost every ship of the 5th Navy and most of the sailors.” She paused and took a deep breath before continuing. “A lot of my friends…”
Meomi lowered her chin. “But Earth is still here. We’re still alive. Why hasn’t the Mimic invasion force attacked us?”
“The 5th Navy sacrificed themselves so that our engineers on Earth could implement Katok-enhanced shields around many of the major population centers. Shanghai being one of them.”
“Shields?” Meomi raised her eyebrows. “Around an entire city?”
“Look.” Roni pointed to red and orange flares in the city’s horizon. They were easy to miss in the orchestra of pulsating lights from the city below. “Mimics have been trying to find a way in for weeks, sending one sphereship after another. Bombing. Blasting. Or whatever those ships can do.”
“I need to sit,” Meomi said as a wave of nausea swelled. This new reality of an under siege Earth by a relentless, merciless alien species was a timeline she never thought possible. Meomi remembered parts of her childhood when she was homeless and feeding off scraps in the streets. She had life and death problems at the time, but they paled in comparison to the struggle now, with the survival of mankind at stake.
Roni turned her head. “Someone is outside, hesitant to come in.” She gracefully spun around and sauntered toward the door. “Hello there! It would delight Captain Hana to see you.”
Rayfin slowly stepped into the room wearing his Tempest exo suit, holding his helmet. His eyes rushed to find Meomi. “Captain,” he said showing forehead wrinkles.
“Ray…” Meomi met him in the center of the room. “You’re here too!”
“You remember me, Captain!” He nearly jumped in excitement.
“Of course, I remember you,” Meomi smiled. “I remember everything up to the destruction of the Harbinger.” Her eyes gazed down. “Not much after that, I’m afraid.” She touched his shoulder.
“It’s just… I heard your screams every night after they brought us to Dressa.” Rayfin drooped his posture. “I told those gooey bastards to interrogate me instead.”
“It’s all right, Ensign.” Meomi patted his shoulder. “I can’t remember anything, anyway.” She turned to the window.
“You didn’t break, Captain. That’s why they kept questioning you day after day.”
“That depends on your definition of breaking.” Meomi sighed. “Earth being invaded by Mimic forces. I have a hard time believing this is real.”
A knock came from the door.
“Can I come in?” asked the newly reinstated Captain Jonas Barick.
“Of course, Captain Barick,” said Roni in her usual cheery voice.
Meomi instantly recognized his face. Every Fleet Captain did. Jonas Barick, former captain of the CMS Endurance. Traitor to the Commonwealth. Responsible for the deaths of his entire crew. She wondered if Rayfin and Roni knew of his treachery. If they did, they didn't seem alarmed.
Jonas entered the room and locked eyes with Meomi. “Captain. Good to see you up and about.”
“I see that death stare, Captain Hana.” Rayfin laughed. “It’s OK. He was framed. There’s proof and stuff. All sins are forgiven. We're good now.”
Jonas coughed and talked through the side of his mouth at Rayfin. “That wasn’t necessary, but thanks.”
“No problem, Captain Barick,” Rayfin said. “I’m just here checking in on a friend.”
“It’s fine, Lieutenant.” Jonas nodded at him.
“Lieutenant?” Meomi raised her eyebrows. “I must have really been asleep for a long time.”
“I am kind of a hero, you know, Captain. It was a big deal.” Rayfin smiled and laughed.
Roni joined in on the laughter for a moment but stopped abruptly. “What’s wrong, Captain Barick?”
Jonas scoffed. “I still can’t get used to you telepaths reading my mind all the time.”
“I wasn’t reading your mind, Captain.” Roni winked. “Your sourness is written plainly on your face.”
“Hopefully it’s nothing…” Jonas fixed his gaze out the window. “The shield generator in sector 4 is showing an energy fluctuation. Dragon Company was ordered to provide security for the eggheads diagnosing it.”
“Security?” Meomi asked. “From other humans? Who would attack the shield generators keeping them safe from Mimics?”
“You will find this hard to believe, Captain...” Rayfin said. “But some people still think the Mimic invasion isn’t real. That it’s some Fleet conspiracy to usurp power from the Commonwealth Parliament.”
Meomi moved to the window. She stared down on a group of teenage boys playing holoball in a nearby park. “That would explain the normalcy I’m seeing. People going about their daily lives — to school, to work, and then home. Even while annihilation is being held back by a thin membrane of electromagnetic energy.”
“Lieutenant Manalo, finish your conversation and meet the team downstairs,” Jonas ordered. “Our ride is waiting for us.”
“I'm coming too!” Meomi blurted out. “I can’t be in here. I need to shoot something.”
Jonas glanced at Rayfin who shook his head. “I don’t think that’s a good…”
“Captain Barick!” Roni interrupted. “I think it would be incredibly valuable for Captain Hana to go with you. Surrounding her with friends and her old life might just be the best way for her mind to heal itself.”
“That may be…” Jonas glared at Roni. “But it’s been a while since she has seen combat…”
Meomi scowled. “I’m in the room. I can handle
babysitting duties.”
“And! I’ll come with you,” Roni said. “To make sure everything goes smoothly.”
Jonas sighed.
“It should be pretty routine anyway, Captain Barick,” Rayfin said. “Trust me, nothing will happen.”
4
Meomi sat alone on a bench in the equipment room of the Dragon Company barracks. Her eyes focused on the skin of her half-naked body, scanning every inch of her arms and legs. They looked like they belonged to her. She recognized the moles and faint wrinkle lines, yet somehow her limbs felt alien. For a moment, she thought she glimpsed a faint glow in the pattern of Aorgarian tattoos crawling up her thigh. Their distinctive swirl within a swirl pattern was impossible for her to forget. Meomi closed her eyes. When she opened them again, the tattoos disappeared.
“You’re not ready?” Roni knocked then joined her. “The team is waiting for us outside.” She moved to a locker and pulled out a Tempest exo suit. “That Captain Barick — he’s cute and all, but I sense a suppressed rage. Let’s stay on his good side for this mission and be on time.” A helmet fell off its rack. Roni picked it up and handed it to Meomi.
“Is this a newer model Tempest?” Meomi didn’t recognize the design — sleeker, less-bulky, and a paler shade of gray. “Thanks,” Meomi said as she took the helmet from Roni. The visor had a mirror finish which Meomi couldn’t help but stare into. This was the first time she had seen herself in a very long time. Scratches and traces of scars covered her face. Her hair was buzzed short. Bruises lined her neck.
“These are the new Mark V’s,” Roni said. “They’re more resilient against the close-range piercing attacks of Mimic Reapers. You’ll also notice they’re lighter, more slim-fitting, with longer power life.” She helped Meomi into the torso piece before putting on her own gear.
Meomi’s skin tingled again followed by a strong urge to get out of her suit.
“Is there something wrong?” Roni asked, finished with her preparations.
“It’s nothing.” Meomi lowered her helmet onto her head. “I need a weapon too.”