The Fifth Reich: Beyond The Stars

by J Palliser

  "Come on," Lilana said, nudging her arm. "You've been here over a week. Other than you shooting them down in the sims, the rest of squad's barely seen you. Now that we have a team roster, you're running out of excuses." Weis was about to dig her feet in when Lilana clapped her hands together. "How about just our flight? Us, your wing, mine?"

  Weis sighed. What was it about this blonde ball of energy that always made her feel so tired? "I'd really rather not."

  Lilana sighed and threw up her hands. "Okay. I give up. I am hereby ordering you to have fun."

  "We're the same rank," Weis said dryly. "But you're newly commissioned. Technically, I have seniority." Lilana's grin was still amiable, but there was a determination in her violet eyes. "Plus, Syrrha and Sonya will agree with me."

  Weis ground her teeth, her eyes narrowing to slits as she came to a halt. First, the suggestion of seniority was ... technically true. And only really because Lilana held the position of Flight Leader. Either way, this was ridiculous. A complete and utter, ridiculous waste of time.

  But... is it really worth fighting her on this? Weis glanced at the Sungari, and saw the stubborn set of her chin, the look that said there was no way she was letting up until Weis said yes.

  "... fine," she sighed, holding up her hands. "But just our flight. I'm really not in the mood for a crowd right now." "Perfect!" Lilana beamed, whipping out a small smartpad as she dragged a very resigned-looking Weis down the corridor.

  *** The cantina was dimly lit, probably to hide the fact that it hadn't been scrubbed down in years. Bright neon lights flickered and blinked from the sign decorating the front, mixing with the low glow from the hologame tables, shadows on the patrons' faces moving as game pieces and holocards danced across the many tables. The poor lighting and brief flashes made it nearly impossible to see as Lilana guided her to the back of the cantina. The din was as oppressive as the lack of light – the room was filled with a dozen conversations, half of them in languages she couldn't even name, matched by the smells of as many sweating species and distilled liquids as they could cram into the small corner of the base. It's the last sort of place I ever expected to find myself.

  Weis followed Lilana, half-blind, until they came to a booth near the wall. Trying not to wonder why the table was sticky, she sat on the outer edge of the booth, loathe to find herself trapped by bodies in a place like this. Watching the room, she didn't even notice the other Lieutenant was speaking until Lilana tapped her shoulder.

  Looking up, she saw the blonde's mouth move, the sound swallowed by the racket.

  "Sorry?" she asked.

  "... do you want to drink?" Lilana half-shouted, taking it all in stride. Sighing, Weis mumbled something about sun-fruit liquor, and Lilana vanished back into the crowd. Alone, Weis was keenly aware of how many bodies were piled into the room

  – especially the non-humans.

  She made a conscious decision to ask Lilana if there was anywhere else on base to get a drink. This many people in this small a space made her nervous, but at least everyone seemed to be ignoring the white-haired pilot sitting alone. Small favors, I suppose.

  A grinning blonde head popped back out of the crowd, and Weis found herself sighing with relief. If nothing else, Lilana seemed to know the place, which meant Weis could take her cues from the other woman. Hopefully, she'd manage to make it out without jamming her foot too far into her mouth.

  Two figures struggled out of the crowd behind Lilana – Bindi, the dark-haired Katharian from the briefing, and Weis' own wing, looking nervous and excited and much, much too raw.

  Weis made no sign of moving, so the two others slid in on the other side of the booth, shuffling around until Rylana sat beside the former imperial, with Bindi beside her and Lilana on the end, balancing drinks and laying them out before the rest of them.

  "Centauri ale for the two of you," she grinned and slid the glass across the table. "And sun-fruit for the princess." Glaring at the nickname, Weis sipped her drink and was surprised to find it clean. On the whole... it actually wasn't bad. She supposed even a dive like this had to have a bartender who knew what he was doing.

  Flopping down on the end, Lilana raised her tumbler. "You sure you don't want some, Rylana? Taste of home." Her voice trailed up at the end, trying to entice the younger girl.

  Rylana rolled her eyes and shook her head, wrapping both her hands around her ale. "You're both Sungari?" Weis asked. Lilana's accent was unmistakable, but she hadn't heard the other girl speak. She shouldn't be surprised really – a large number of Sungari expatriates had joined the Kriegsmarines.

  Lilana grinned. "You wanna tell her or should I?" Weis followed the blonde's gaze to her wing-mate, rubbing her hands nervously over her drink. Rylana met Weis eyes and grimaced.

  "She means ' home' home." When Weis blinked, she scratched at the back of her neck and smiled sheepishly. "She's my sister."

  "Oh." Weis kept her voice flat. That explained how they knew each other at least. And why she was on Weis' wing. It put Rylana in the same flight as her sister – close enough for the blonde to keep an eye on, and just far enough to avoid smothering her.

  "And now that's out of the way," Lilana grinned and glanced over at her own wing-mate. "It's obvious Sylvania is from 'Tungari Prime'." Weis shuddered at the horrendous imitation of a Korsica dialect and shot the other lieutenant a glare. Lilana didn't seem to notice.

  "Anyway, since the roster doesn't really count for introductions – Weis, this is Bindi. Bindi, Weis." Resigned, she met the Katharian's emerald eyes and nodded a greeting. The cat-like alien nodded back, her stare piercing, weighing the white-haired pilot as she looked her over. Weis felt herself start to scowl – she didn't like being examined.

  "You all here to celebrate?" Weis looked up to see where the voice had come from. Wolf Six... Arch, I think... stared back at her, smiling awkwardly and holding a half-empty glass of ale. Shit, Weis thought. I thought Rylana looked fresh from the academy. Did the Commander pluck him right off the farm?

  "Commiserate, actually." The taller lieutenant bumped Weis' shoulder with her own. "Tungari Imperials finally got around to giving Weis her death mark."

  The scowl Weis shot Lilana could have melted cocrete, but the blonde only shrugged. "What? You defected. They were gonna do it eventually."

  "Is that serious?" Jaun asked, eyes wide. Before Weis could object, he grabbed a spare chair and pulled it over. And there goes 'just our flight.' Thanks, Lilana.

  If Lilana noticed Weis' annoyance, she didn't show it. "Not really. The Empire's put a bunch on 'insurgents' over the years. Defecting to the Reich is definitely enough to get you on the list. For Condor Legion, you get one just for joining the team."

  Raising her drink, Lilana took a sip, swallowed, and sighed. "With Sylvania, that means every senior officer in the unit has one, plus a few of you younger pilots."

  "Really?" Jaun said, wide-eyed. "What'd you get them for?" "Well, Sonya got hers after flying at Knorr. For some reason, the Empire doesn't like people blowing up their toys."

  Weis couldn't help but snort. Thatwas an understatement. Even going off of Tungari Imperial estimates (which were certainly doctored) the "Planetary Ore Extractor" above Knorr's moon had cost the Empire trillions of credits. Even if it wasn't a military action by an armed resistance, helping cause that kind of damage would land you on most wanted lists anywhere in the civilized galaxy.

  "Same with you and Syrrha?" Bindi asked quietly, running her fingers around the lip of her glass. "Nah, Syrrha got hers a year later, and I was too junior at Knorr to get anything more than a few cannon shots sent my way. Plus, I had mine before joining the Kriegsmarines."

  Weis' brow furrowed. Knowing Lilana, whatever she'd done was either destructive, insulting, or both. "Let me guess: you blew something up."

  Seeing the look in her eyes, Lilana grinned. "I'm ' demolitions' for a reason. When I was younger, I worked with a local resistance group. Small stuff. We disrupted supply chains, did some sli
cing, a bit of vandalism. Anyway, when I left to join the Kriegsmarines, I left the local Tungari Imperial base a going-away present."

  Rylana laughed, the red streaks in her hair shifting as she moved. "Sorry. Lilana's 'present' was a pile of explosives. She blew the depot sky-high."

  "What? It's not my fault they stored their munitions improperly." Lilana shrugged, trying and failing to keep the smug smile from her face. "Anyway, I decided to go out with a bang and broadcast the fireworks show as far as I could... after my friends carted away all the weapons they could get their hands on."

  "And the younger ones?" Jaun asked. "The ones who aren't officers?" "Well, talking about it is really up to them, although it's public record in Imperial systems," Lilana said. "For the Kriegsmarines, getting one from the Tungari Imperials is more a mark of pride."

  Weis just barely caught Lilana's glance over at the Katharian. If she hadn't been paying attention, she never would have seen it, or the small nod Bindi gave her.

  "Well, Yatshi's been open about his, so I guess it's okay. He has one for throwing two imperial officers off a building. Self-defense – it's a long story – and Bindi here had one before coming to the Reich."

  "Really? What'd you get it for?" Rylana asked. "I-if it's okay, I mean." Bindi gave her a very level look. "Before the Reich took Korsica, Tungari Intelligence started sending Shock trooper squads into AOZ – it's the civilian name for their Alien Zone." The bite to her voice left little doubt what she thought of the area.

  Weis nodded. Anyone who'd lived on Korsica, knew about the Zone. Knew and didn't talk about it. Born out of some Tungari planning office, was officially meant as a way to provide alien species with an area of their own. Practically, it served to corral the non-humans away, out of sight for much of the rest of the city-planet.

  She'd never been there herself – no reason to – but the area was rarely mentioned without the word 'raid'inthe same breath. A few of the more daring citizens would slum there, enjoying the sense of danger with the reassurances of the occasional passing trooper, but the idea had never had any appeal to her.

  Raising her glass, Bindi down the rest of her ale. "That wasn't anything new, but normally, they'd just harass anyone who wasn't human and looked at them cross-eyed. Or find someone to arrest and fill their quota. All of a sudden, they started 'extracting' groups of one or two species at a time

  – not their regular suppression tactics. They'd take a dozen Saurians, then ten Sulinas, or a few families of Gargons. They were-"

  "Test subjects," Weis finished, her throat suddenly tight. The Krylos Plague had been well-documented after the Kriegsmarines took the planet. A 'gift' left behind by the former Director of Tungari Imperial Intelligence, the plague ravaged its victims, putting them in extreme pain before finally killing them, there'd been millions of victims who couldn't, or wouldn't, get to the plague centers in time for treatment.

  Bindi nodded. "We didn't know that at the time, but a couple of us took offense to them kidnapping friends and family. So, while the Waffen-SS were running around, trying to take down the planet shields, a bunch of us decided to return the favor. Shock troopers started 'vanishing' before they made it twenty feet into AOZ."

  The rest of the table grew silent. "That's how'd you got your mark?" Rylana said, as quietly as she could in the crowded room.

  "No. It didn't stop them. So, the next time they sent a squad, we captured them. When they couldn't tell us anything," Bindi trailed off and glanced down at her drink, looking annoyed to find it empty.

  "Someone decided we needed to make a statement. We set up a comm-recorder and tapped into the feeds for the city. We tried to tell as many people as we could about the raids, but our tap wasn't that good. Halfway through the broadcast, two squads stormed our hideout. We fought back. Most of us didn't make it. None of them did."

  Bindi looked down and saw Lilana sliding her own drink into her hand. Nodding thanks, she knocked it back and grimaced. "Short version? I shot the ranking Tungari commander in the head during the live broadcast."

  44

  Forty-Three

  Training Day...

  2355 hours... They didn't talk much after that. Jaun mumbled something about extra practice and stumbled away, ashen-faced. Rylana tried to get some sort of conversation going, but after a few minutes, Bindi rose to leave. Weis took the excuse to escape. She'd had more than enough 'socializing' for one night.

  The next morning, at oh-six-hundred galactic time, she reported to one of the gyms to find Lilana grinning as the trainees filed in, dressed for exercise and looking confused when they found the room empty. The weight machines and running platforms had been moved aside, leaving a large, flat area in the center of the room covered in pads.

  "You're our unarmed combat trainer?" Weis asked as she came into the room. She looked skeptical. "I thought Captain Niles was the close-quarters expert." "I can hold my own," Lilana said, faking offense. "And Syrrha has better things to do today than throw a bunch of wet-behind-the-ears pilot candidates around."

  Lilana smile turned wolfish as the rest of the new pilots funneled in. Scowling, Weis moved around to where Lilana stood, taking advantage of rank while the others milled about, uncertain.

  A flicker of movement made her glance to the side. A thin man she hadn't seen stepped forward from the back of the room. He was slender, but beneath the workout clothes, Weis saw the taut, hard muscles of someone who cared more about function that appearance. He was a wiry human, with dark skin and red hair. She might had thought him a normal human except for the thin band covering his eyes. Her first thought was that it was some kind of stunt, but he didn't move like a blinded man. There was no hesitation in the way he moved, no questioning if someone had put something in his way. Either he knew this room inside and out, or he could see under that blindfold.

  "This," Lilana said, seeming pleased with herself. "Is Petty Officer Fox. Sonya insisted you all take some extra hand-to-hand training, and Fox is gonna handle it." Her grin shifted, looking almost wolfish. "He's also one of the engineers for your fighters, so if you don't want your ship ending up on the bottom of the repair docket and your seat padding replaced with rocks, I suggest you listen to him."

  A quick murmur went around the room, stopping as the petty officer glanced at them. "Who has unarmed combat training?" Fox asked softly, his voice calm and sure. "Real training. More than just a few courses in basic?"

  Weis saw Ren and Bindi raise their hands. Not surprising

  – both of them were the squad's intrusion experts. It made sense they'd have some training.

  The quiet man with the covered eyes cocked his head at them, then nodded.

  "Alright. Those of you who don't, come on up. I want to see what they manage to drill into you in flight school."

  "Can he see?" Weis asked softly as Arch stepped up to the map. "Fox? Kinda." Lilana shrugged. "He's a Miraluk. Don't have eyes – it's why they wear bands like that. Or glasses. The sockets creep people out."

  "Then how-" A massive thud resounded off the bare walls, followed by desperate gasps. Weis looked back to find Arch lying on the floor, hand clutched to his chest, the wind knocked out of him.

  "I see through my precognitive senses, Lieutenant," Fox said, never moving his eyes... where his eyes would be, from Jaun. "All of my people have some small bit of it. It's like seeing a silhouette. Basic body shape, movement, size, that I can see. Fine features, colors, those are out. It also," a ghost of a smile twitched at his lips. "Gives me fairly good hearing."

  Weis' military training was the only thing that kept her face from turning a bright red. Lilana's chuckling didn't help. Scowling, Weis pulled off the light jacket she wore and stepped onto the mats.

  Later that night, Weis slipped into her quarters, closed the door behind her, and moaned. After she and the others showed their limited skills to the petty officer, he'd paired them up with their wing-mates. In groups, he ran them through drill after drill – punches, kicks, holds, correcting
even Lilana when her stance slipped once or twice. In all, Weis thought she'd learned more in a day than in her last several months of duty, even with her occasional practice rounds with other Imperial, and then Kriegsmarine personnel.

  Then he'd had them spar. Splitting them by four-person flights, he kept them with their wing-mates, half of each wing dueling the other half. With the Commander and Captain Niles absent, he'd paired Arch and Velvet together, taking on Sage and Yatshi, the Saurian, on his own. Even Fox couldn't quite bully a Saurian into submission, but with Yatshi unable to even touch him, the renowned Saurian strength wasn't much help.

  Meanwhile, she and Rylana had sparred against Lilana and Bindi. That had not been a fair fight. Not in the least. Lilana was immovable. She wasn't quite as nimble as Ren, and didn't have anywhere near Fox's speed, but she still managed to block or dodge half of what Weis threw at her. When she actually put the effort in. The rest of the time, she let their blows land, or blocked them just enough to deflect the blow before crashing into her opponent, using her height and size to her advantage. She had a boxer's strength and Weis was grateful the blonde had aimed for soft, padded targets – she wouldn't want one of those fists aimed at her head.

  And Bindi... Bindi moved like shadow. She didn't have the controlled perfection Fox did, but she still moved with a grace and speed Weis envied. Too many times she tried to block a blow only to have Bindi whip around her, catching her wherever her guard was weakest. It was one thing to have Lilana tackle her or toss her down – it was aggravating, but at least most of the blonde's focus had been on giving Rylana pointers. It was another to have the dark-haired woman pin her to the mat, completely helpless beneath the dark shadow lying atop her, pressing into her. With Lilana, it was just annoying, especially with the damn grin she always wore. With Bindi...

  She shook her head. Maybe being a Katharian helps, she wondered, peeling out of her flight-suit and collapsing onto a chair. That, or just the training she's already had.