The Teristaque Chronicles

by Aaron Frale

  Hayden didn’t waste time covering his tracks. He burst out the room and into the hallway. A man in a lab coat tried to stop him, but saw the power armor and stepped out of the way. They would know that he has the data, and would now try to stop him at all cost. There was no galactic network access out here on the frontier. He needed an escape plan. The villagers would be friendly to him because he had saved that woman and the elder. He would never make it back to Tek on foot, but a Nigramotoian could. They knew the woods. They could travel for days without being seen. The best chance of his data making it out to the world would be by contacting the village.

  First, he needed to make it off the base. He got to the side door of the operations building where he had entered. Hayden was lucky that there happened to be no soldiers in the building that day. Hayden poked his head out and saw a squad double-timing it to the front entrance. Another group followed somewhat behind.

  Hayden waited until he was sure no one was looking and darted from the building. Hayden hadn’t seen Spider coming from the opposite direction. His adversary had already been heading to operations to investigate the usage of certain personal codes.

  The base was in chaos. Workers and soldiers were running in various directions. They had no clue what they were dealing with yet, so Hayden could still move freely. A sergeant ran up to Hayden, screamed orders, and then ran to the next soldier. Hayden made a show of compliance and ducked away at the first opportunity.

  He was almost clear of the camp and close to the woods when he realized he wasn’t alone. His intuition saved him as he sidestepped at the last possible moment. A supercharged plasma ball burned a hole in the ground where he had stopped. Hayden glanced back and saw Spider standing on a floating disc and holding a plasma rifle.

  “You’re gonna die, babyface!” Spider jeered as another ball missed Hayden and a dead tree burst into flames.

  Hayden hit the accelerators on his armor and charged into the woods for cover. Spider hit the boost on his disc and screamed toward him. A round of molten plasma cut holes through the trees as Hayden ran into the woods.

  Hayden sprinted through the woods while plasma rained from Spider’s weapon from above. He dodged through trees as the crazed soldier blanketed the canopy with the burning liquid. Fires started in several locations. They flared with intensity and began to spread. Hayden needed a way to lose his pursuer, though the task was proving to be more difficult than he thought. Since the trees were protecting Hayden from a direct line of sight assault, Spider must have changed his optics to heat or motion sensor. Either way, Spider was right on top of him during his dash through the forest.

  Hayden knew he wouldn’t be able to lose Spider on foot, not while Spider still had the floating disc, so Hayden needed to fight back. He doubled back towards some of the burning woods. The blaze was much bigger now. The fire was wild and jumped from tree to tree. It was an inferno, and Hayden began to sweat even though he was in a climate-controlled suit.

  The aerial assault halted as soon as Hayden got close to the fire. As predicted, Spider was using a heat sensor to track him, and the flames blotted out any chance at seeing a human. Spider would change to a motion detector next, but Hayden had already stopped moving. The fire crept closer. The wood groaned and crackled. A large burning tree branch crashed to the ground at Hayden’s feet. He could feel the temperature in his suit build to an uncomfortable level. If Spider didn’t descend to investigate soon, Hayden would suffocate in his armor.

  Just as Hayden was about to move away from the flames, he heard the hum of Spider’s floating disc. He turned his head up towards the sky and saw Spider descending through the smoke. Hayden pulled out his rifle and took aim.

  All it took was one well-placed projectile bullet. The bullet hit Spider’s disc. The electronics sparked, and it sent him into a spin towards the ground. He jumped from the disc and dropped into the trees. The disc spun, slammed into the ground, and exploded. Hayden ran towards where he had seen Spider fall.

  There was a cascade of broken branches and tree limbs. Spider’s body lay twisted and mangled on the ground. Hayden ran up to the man. Spider’s bones were shattered in several places. Even parts of the armor were smashed where it hit the ground. Hayden tapped a few buttons on Spider’s armor, and the helmet opened. His nose and teeth were crushed, and he spat up blood.

  “We could have been the best of friends,” Spider managed to say with a raspy voice.

  Before Hayden could say anything in response, he saw Spider pulling out his sidearm. Hayden pushed the weapon away at the last moment, and the blast took off a branch of a tree. Hayden grunted, and they struggled for control of the side arm. Even though their suits were doing most of the heavy lifting, they still were locked into a contest of strength, and Spider was winning. The gun moved slowly towards Hayden’s face.

  Hayden cried out for one last breath, and then the tide turned. He flipped the gun back towards Spider’s open faceplate. Hayden cried out, and with a large push, he pulled the trigger when it was square on his adversary’s face. The bullet tore through Spider’s skull and killed him instantly. Hayden rolled off the body and breathed deeply.

  He didn’t have time to collect his thoughts. Even if Spider didn’t call for backup, someone would have noticed the blaze by now. Hayden ran into the woods and didn’t look back.

  6

  Hayden waited to enter the village of the Nigramotoians and watched from the woods. He was far enough away to be out of the sightlines of the various forms of ocular enhancement built into the power suits, but not so far that he couldn’t see what was happening in the town.

  The villagers were sitting in a semi-circle around the house of the woman Spider had raped. They sang a long, slow chanting song. The translator never translated music unless the user was looking to understand the words rather than hear the sounds. It was the first time Hayden had paid attention to the native tongue of the people of Nigramoto. It was a harsh language with hard sounds, which was a contrast to their peaceful nature.

  Sha was not among the people, but Hayden was sure that he was there. His squad dropped into the town from transports. They tore through the buildings but didn’t find anyone. Tomahawk and Firestorm stood guard over the villagers while Sarge looked out over the hills. A few of the soldiers were ransacking the houses, and Sarge scolded them. Sarge reported back to the base, and they all jumped into the transport. The people continued to sing.

  Once Sarge and his group were clear from the village, Hayden came out from his hiding spot and made his way to the town. The villagers continued to sing as Hayden approached. He looked for Sha and noticed one of the villagers wearing a hood and looking down. When Hayden got closer to the man, he saw his friend singing with the rest. Hayden flipped open his helmet, and Sha faltered in his song.

  “Taktuku?” Sha said. “It is you! I never thought I would meet a benevolent Teristaque.”

  “We aren’t all bad,” Hayden said.

  “The worst atrocities are committed by those who are just following orders.”

  “That’s why I need your help. I have a data drive with all the information needed to save your world.”

  “My place is here in my village,” Sha said. The villagers continued to sing. They did not even acknowledge his presence. “We are singing the long song of mourning and loss.”

  “You mean… she?”

  “The Teristaque took her this morning. I tried to protect her, like you. That is why I was imprisoned.”

  “Then don’t let her loss be for nothing. Not all of my people are bad. We just need to get this data into the hands of the people at Tek.”

  “That is your mission. You were chosen for it.”

  “I killed one of my own. They will never stop hunting me. They have near unlimited resources to hunt me down. You at least have a chance to make it back to Tek.”

  “A difficult task but you did receive survival training, did you not?”

  “But they will murder you and everyone
in this village! I’ve seen it happen. I have proof!”

  “If I must die, then I will bleed on the ground of my ancestors.”

  “At least come with me.”

  “My place is here, taktuku.” He sat back down in the semi-circle. “I must continue the chant.” Without a second glance or another word, Sha jumped back into the song. The entire town had no idea what was coming. The only reason they were alive was by the virtue of the fact that the colonel knew Hayden would probably return to the village. Hayden cursed when he heard the transports returning. Hayden wanted to scream at the villagers and tell them to run, but they just sat there, chanting and singing to their deaths. Men, women, and children were locked in their suicidal ritual.

  The only way Hayden knew their death would be remembered was if he survived, so he ran into the hills. He ran as fast as he could, but he knew it wouldn’t be fast enough. The colonel would have planned a trap. He would send Sarge into the village, and have another unit watch them. Sarge probably didn’t even know the colonel’s plan. It would look better if they did a thorough job of looking for him. Then, while he spoke with the elder, they would surround the area. That didn’t prevent Hayden from running anyway. Maybe they tipped their hand early and sent the transport before the other troops were in place. What surprised him was that the squad waiting to ambush him during his escape was Sarge, Tomahawk, and the rest of the gang. His squad would be the one to capture him.

  Hayden put down his rifle. He could have put up a fight, but that would have gotten the people he had grown to trust and like killed. Spider had deserved his fate. The others were just pawns in a game. He couldn’t expect them to follow the same path as him, but he had to try.

  “You don’t know what you’re doing,” Hayden said. “Do you know what’s going on here?”

  Sarge looked at the group and nodded at Tomahawk. The others put their weapons down, and Tomahawk ordered them to leave. As soon as the squad was out of earshot, Sarge stared daggers at Hayden. “You think you know everything. A hotshot offworlder who’s going to fix all the problems of this whole damn planet in one rash move.”

  “They are killing these people!”

  “Everyone who’s been here has killed a Nigramotoian or two.”

  “I know you are better than that, sir.”

  “Why? I’ve just admitted to you that I’m a killer.”

  “That’s exactly it. You used the word killer.”

  “So?”

  “Everyone else would say they are doing their job or following orders.”

  Sarge laughed, “You think this is one of those moments in a god damn eBook where you convince the conflicted man to do the right thing?” Hayden didn’t know how to respond. Sarge was always a mysterious figure, but he felt as if he was about to find out a truth that was much stranger than fiction. Sarge continued, “There are things out in the universe far worse than anything that this hunk of rock can cook up, believe you me.”

  “The Shusharshian Collective…”

  “I’m not talking about the Shusharshian Collective. They are just another government like the UPE. Those things come and go. Species come and go. You think humans are the first thing to crawl out of their caves and explore the god damn universe?”

  “I…”

  “I’ll tell you what. You’ll never make it back to Tek by yourself that’s for sure. I have some people who can hide you, but you’ll need to lose all your tech.”

  “But I have valuable information.”

  “Let’s hide your data drive out here in the woods. I’ll come back when it cools down and make sure it goes to the right people. There are plenty of alien rights groups patrolling the streets of Tek, who’d love to see stuff off the sanctioned tour.”

  “Why are you doing this?”

  “I’ve been working too hard to let you screw up my plans.”

  “For what?”

  “Never you mind about that, now are you going to give me the data drive?”

  Sarge held out his hand. Hayden didn’t know what to think. He didn’t entirely trust the man, but he didn’t have any other options. If one of the colonel’s men had captured Hayden, the drive would be wiped, and Hayden would be shipped to prison anyway. At least Sarge offered a chance that the news would be broken to the other planets of the UPE. Hayden handed the drive over. Sarge dug a hole in the ground and dumped the hard drive into it. He kicked some dirt over it and marked the tree with his weapon.

  Once he was satisfied, he turned back to Hayden. “Good, now lose the suit. You can’t have any tech on you or the scanners will detect-”

  Before Sarge could get out another word, the colonel jumped from a clearing with Tomahawk at his side. A bolt of electricity burst from the colonel’s rifle. It was on a wide angle setting and took down both Sarge and Hayden. Unlike the burst from Spider’s cronies, Colonel Dodgery’s burst was perfectly calibrated to lock up the suit but leave the man conscious inside.

  Hayden was trapped in the armor, but he could still see and hear. His body could do nothing but wiggle. Tomahawk walked up to them and pulled out an energy blade. Before he thrust it into Sarge’s throat, the colonel said, “Wait, I have a better plan for these two.”

  _______

  The official account was that Sarge, Spider, and Hayden gunned down the entire village by themselves. There was just enough massacre footage released to corroborate the lie. When Hayden was caught, Sarge and Spider had helped Hayden escape. Spider felt guilty, so he was killed to protect their secret. There was even a forged confession to support the story. Afterward, Sarge joined his squad like nothing had happened. It wasn’t until Sarge ordered his squad away after Hayden’s surrender when Tomahawk claimed to notice something was wrong. The betrayal on Sarge’s face was visible when Tomahawk took the stand.

  Because Hayden was a subordinate and only following orders, Hayden received a life without parole prison sentence at the Fendpaake Asteroid Mining Prison. Sarge received the death penalty, but since he was a citizen of the UPE, he was granted a three-year period to appeal the decision, not that anyone would give a mass murderer a second chance. Sarge made no such attempts to appeal and disappeared from the prison during Hayden’s first year. Hayden wasn’t sure if it was murder or escape. In the meantime, he found work as what passed as a prison cook until he saw another Nigramotoian. There was something different about her; she was much more than she knew.

  Part IV

  Kal’s Revenge

  1

  Kal tapped the light display on her forearm. The countdown displayed 4:53. The seconds seemed to tick down quicker when the cold vacuum of space threatened to devour her if the timing wasn’t perfect.

  “Damn it, Hayden. Where are you?” she yelled at the airlock door between her and the void.

  She stood on what would be considered the ceiling of a tiny airlock in the belly of a Tricore deep space mining vessel. However, ceiling was a relative term because she was in a microgravity zone. The low gravity was helpful because she was about to hand deliver several large crates that even a Teristaque Mech would struggle to carry. They were drifting in a carbon nanotube mesh sack that she had used to haul them to the airlock.

  The vessel, a Tricore class A0C1H7, was almost entirely automated. It would travel through the outermost reaches of space with a solar sail on one side collecting starlight to power the ship, and the other side of the sail collected space dust. Since almost every element floated through space from some long forgotten supernova explosion, the ship collected the raw materials that kept Tricore a leading supplier of the replicator cartridges essential for every space-faring culture.

  The space dust caught on the collection end of the solar sail would eventually make its way down to the center through micro vibrations created by the interstellar wind. It was a genius design. In the center of the craft, an automated refinery separated the material into its elemental components. Then they were packed into ready-to-be-used cartridges for small to medium sized spaceships. A near
by ship in desperate need of supplies would dock and purchase a cartridge for a price a dying man would pay a warlord for water, and the A01CH7 would generate gobs of money since it was one of the only deep space pit stops.

  The crew of the Tricore vessel was only seven people, and four of them were advanced robotic repair crews that kept the refinery going. The other three would keep the ship from breaking down, and repair the solar sail when the occasional asteroid would tear a hole in the thin material. They all acted as a flight crew. None of the men and women on board the long-term deep space vessel were responsible for security. In fact, there were no weapons on board. They had no reason for protection when they would never see the customers. A ship desperate enough to do business with a Tricore vessel wouldn’t even see the crew. The transaction was entirely automated. The customers would dock, pay a fee, and find an airlock full of goods minutes later. Kal had no intention of paying for her goods.

  It was an ideal target for robbery had Tricore not been a Teristaque owned and operated company. The Teristaque, who called themselves humans, were one of the most brutal races in the galaxy. They enforced swift and decisive punishment, especially for deep space thieves. A pirate looking to score some replicator materials from an unarmed vessel would be on the wanted list of one of the largest armadas in the galaxy. Only the suicidal and the stupid robbed a Tricore vessel, especially because every approaching ship was carefully logged. The logs were then transmitted to the Teristaque network in the event a pirate’s reach be longer than their wit.

  Six of the crates taking up most of the space in the airlock were Tricore Solution Number 3, a mix which supplied an average twenty-person vessel with replicator supplies for about a month per crate. Kal’s vessel would use about half that, so the crates surrounded by her carbon mesh netting would last about year or so. However, six crates from an A0C1H7 were small in comparison to what she could have scored from the vessel. A heist that could be misconstrued as inventory error was a much more desirable outcome than her vessel being tagged as an enemy of the Teristaque Empire, or as humans called themselves (because humans under exaggerated their terror), The United Planets of Earth. Six crates would be enough to refuel with the five-finger discount, but not enough to do any more than confuse a crew and maybe earn one of them a chewing out from a superior. It was that seventh crate that was too intriguing to leave it in the possession of the Teristaques.