Dakiti: Ziva Payvan Book 1

by EJ Fisch

  “Two minutes,” Zinni replied. “Are these people Tantali like we thought?”

  “Definitely of the Tantali royal house,” Ziva confirmed. She glanced over at the young man, who was tending to his friend while Skeet and Aroska cleared the area. “We’ll keep you posted.”

  She took a couple of cautious steps toward him. He looked shocked when he saw her coming and reached for the pistol he had dropped when Aroska grabbed him. Ziva’s rifle was back to her shoulder in a flash, her finger hovering over the trigger. “I don’t want to shoot you, kid,” she said in flawless Tantali, “but I will if I have to.”

  “Put the gun down!” Skeet ordered as he and Aroska came around behind him.

  Breathing heavily, he reluctantly did as he was told, though he didn’t seem convinced of their intentions. He looked to be in his early twenties, had neatly trimmed blonde hair, and was dressed like a prince. His bright blue eyes were intelligent yet terrified, but he still seemed ready to use his pistol – and use it well.

  “Who are you people?” he stammered, his gaze flitting back and forth between the three of them. He was sucking in shallow, raspy breaths and rubbing his chest.

  Ziva kept her rifle trained on him but motioned for Skeet and Aroska to lower theirs. “Lieutenant Payvan, Sergeant Duvo, and Lieutenant Tarbic, Haphezian Special Police,” she replied quickly. “And who might you be?”

  “My name is Jayden Saiffe,” he wheezed.

  “Saiffe?” Skeet said. “As in Governor Enrik Saiffe?”

  Jayden nodded. “He’s my father. We’re on a diplomatic tour of the planet, and we were on our way from Haphor to Noro when our convoy was attacked.” He paused a moment and took a look around at the dead insurgents. “They took my father.”

  So that’s what the shuttle had been for. “Solaris took him?” Ziva asked, looking around as well.

  “Solaris,” Jayden repeated as if he didn’t understand.

  “They’re a local terror group,” Aroska explained. “They specialize, if you will, in attacks on diplomacy.”

  “Any idea what Solaris would want with your father?” Ziva asked, cutting Aroska off before he could open his mouth again.

  Jayden shook his head. “We stopped here in the clearing because we thought there was something wrong with one of the cars. I guess the man who was supposed to be guiding us was one of them. We were attacked as soon as we stopped, and that shuttle touched down in just a few seconds. They took him before we could do anything.” He paused as if he were in pain and clutched his chest. “Please, I can’t breathe.”

  “There’s less oxygen in our atmosphere than what you’re used to,” Aroska said, taking Jayden by the shoulders. “You’ve just had a bit of excitement. Try to slow your breathing.”

  “Does your atmosphere stink, too?”

  Ziva’s eyebrows dropped into a scowl. “Excuse me?” But she didn’t need her sensitive Haphezian nose to recognize the scent he had indicated. She looked around at the dead bodies surrounding her; they’d released their cha’sen, the chemical secreted by all Haphezians from a gland behind their ears. HSP trained its operatives how to control the release of cha’sen in combat situations, and Ziva realized she was subconsciously holding hers in at that very moment. To her people, it was simply a musty body odor, but many other races – particularly humans – had often described it as the stench of a decaying animal.

  “You probably smell cha’sen,” Aroska explained as Jayden gagged. “It’s a chemical we produce in response to emotions like fear and anxiety. It all discharges at once when we die.”

  “Look kid,” Skeet said, “we need to get you out of here. There’s no way of knowing whether they left you on purpose or whether they left in a hurry when they saw us coming.”

  Ziva was about to agree when she heard more cars approaching form the direction of Noro. “HSP unit, stand down,” a voice commanded over the comm channel in their earpieces. “This is medical dispatch. I repeat, stand down.”

  The three of them complied and moved aside to make way for the emergency vehicles as they flew into the clearing. They began to walk briskly back down the road to where their own car was parked.

  “What about the survivors?” Jayden protested, looking back over his shoulder.

  “The medical unit will transport them back to the city,” Skeet explained, retrieving a small oxygen tank from one of the response vehicles and fitting the mask over Jayden’s face. “Don’t worry about it. They’re in good hands.”

  “We’re taking you into protective custody until we get all of this figured out,” Ziva said.

  They reached the car and she opened the door. Jayden paused, taking one last look toward the scene as if he still wasn’t sure who he could trust. Heaving a sigh, he climbed in and shut the door.

  “Let’s go,” Ziva said.

  -8-

  East Sun

  Noro System

  Enrik Saiffe was jarred awake when the landing gear of the craft he was in suddenly struck metal. He blinked and rolled over, vaguely aware that his hands were bound behind his back. He was on the floor, surrounded by boots and a strange, salty scent. Rough hands seized him and hauled him to his feet. The floor of the ship tilted under him and Enrik shook his head as he was shoved down the landing ramp. Judging by what he could see through his swimming vision, they were in what appeared to be the docking hangar of a large space cruiser. The two Haphezians who held him forced him to his knees at the feet of a man who waited at the bottom of the ramp.

  “Welcome, Governor,” the man said in a smooth accent. He squatted down to eye level, examining the governor’s face. “I trust your trip was comfortable?”

  “Who are you?” Enrik muttered. “Where am I?”

  “Ah, how rude of me,” the man replied, rising back to a standing position and motioning for Enrik’s captors to let him do the same. Aside from the accent, he had leathery bluish-gray skin and eerie reptilian eyes. A sleeveless shirt revealed toned, wiry arms, and it didn’t appear that there was a single hair on his body. A Sardon.

  “My name is Dane Bothum. Welcome aboard my flagship, the East Sun.”

  Enrik’s heart collapsed into his stomach. That was it. Once they got whatever they wanted from him, he knew they’d most likely kill him. People didn’t usually share their name or location if they planned on letting their hostages go. Enrik swallowed. “What do you want from me?”

  Bothum waved the two Haphezians away and freed Enrik’s hands, leading him out of the docking bay and into a narrow corridor. “I just have a few questions, which you will answer honestly and thoroughly. Then you may be on your way.”

  Enrik chuckled, hoping he sounded more confident than he felt. “And how am I supposed to believe that?”

  “Come now, Governor,” Bothum replied with a smirk. “I think you’ll find that I’m a man of my word. I have no reason to kill you unless you give me one.”

  They reached a small, dark control room where several more Sardon workers were maintaining what appeared to be the ship’s communications grid. Bothum led Enrik to the main control panel and motioned for him to place his palm against a small scanner. Eyeing the Sardon warily, he reluctantly complied. The scanner immediately read his prints and the Tantali royal database appeared up on the massive monitor above them.

  “What is this?” Enrik exclaimed, yanking his hand away. “How did you get this? What do you want from me?”

  “I said I would be the one asking the questions, Governor,” Bothum said, selecting one of the database files. A prompt asking for another palm scan appeared. “It seems that your office has recently intercepted a transmission regarding a research facility. You have to understand that I’d rather not have that information floating into the wrong hands, so if you wouldn’t mind deleting it—”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Enrik said quickly.

  Bothum smiled gently and wagged his head from side to side. “Now Governor, you’re obviously an intelligent man. It’s ri
ght there on the screen.”

  “I don’t know what that is!” Enrik repeated, staring in confusion at the entry Bothum had indicated. “I don’t remember seeing anything about a research facility.”

  “Then why don’t you access the file and refresh your memory,” Bothum snarled, flashing a set of yellow, incisor-like teeth that turned inward toward each other. He strode over and pressed Enrik’s hand back onto the scanner.

  The machine read his handprint again, but this time the screen flashed red. ACCESS DENIED. PROPER IDENTIFICATION REQUIRED.

  Enrik wasn’t sure whether he should be relieved just yet. He and Bothum both stared at the screen, mystified.

  “What does that mean?” Bothum cried, pushing Enrik’s hand harder against the scanner.

  “It means I’m not the one who authorized the interception of your precious transmission. And if I didn’t intercept it, I can’t delete it.”

  Bothum stepped in front of him, arms crossed. “Who else has authorization?”

  Enrik immediately regretted saying anything. His racing mind was still trying desperately to think of a response when the door of the room opened.

  “We have a problem,” said a low female voice. Enrik turned to find the speaker but couldn’t see the woman’s face – she was silhouetted against the light streaming in from the corridor. She was tall though, and spoke with a Haphezian accent. “HSP was tipped off about the ambush. I lost the rest of my men in the forest.”

  Bothum showed little interest in what she was saying. “Find out who else has access to the Tantali royal database,” he growled. “Our dear governor seems somewhat reluctant to share this information.”

  All Enrik saw was Bothum’s fist swoop through the air toward his head before everything went dark.

  -9-

  HSP Headquarters

  Noro, Haphez

  The headquarters of the Haphezian Special Police was certainly a spectacle. Intricate architecture and a very professional atmosphere both intimidated Jayden and made him feel invincible. He was ushered across the special operations squad floor by Lieutenant Tarbic toward what the agents had called the “situation room.” Aroska had by far been the kindest to him upon arriving at HSP, though he still made Jayden rather nervous. He was more slightly built than some of the other Haphezian men, but just as tall. His black hair was slicked back into a tiny ponytail at the base of his skull, and he wore an impeccably groomed goatee. The small patterns of dotted tattoos on his face were the same color as his strange amber eyes. Judging by what Jayden had seen so far, he seemed to have some internal conflict with the other members of the team, or at least with Lieutenant Payvan.

  They entered the situation room and found Payvan and Sergeant Duvo waiting with a smaller woman with radiant blue eyes whom Jayden didn’t recognize. She stood upon seeing them and approached, hand extended.

  “Jayden Saiffe, meet head Intelligence Officer Zinnarana Vax,” Aroska introduced.

  “Call me Zinni,” Officer Vax said, giving his hand a firm squeeze. “If I could get you to sit down, we can get started.”

  Jayden nodded and made his way toward the long table where the others were waiting. Skeet moved aside to give him some space. He was tall like Aroska, standing a bit over two meters, but he was thicker-bodied. His spiky orange hair seemed to lack the traditional Haphezian stripes, an abnormality that he could have been banished for, unless Jayden was mistaken. Everyone else had colored stripes running through their hair that properly matched the color of their eyes and facial tattoos. The fact that they exiled people when this was not the case had always bewildered Jayden. The sergeant’s eyes were the same color as the wild mane on his head, possibly the reason he’d never been sent away. He seemed less open than Aroska, but was still willing to help – at least more so than Lieutenant Payvan.

  Ziva had barely spoken since the incident in the forest, except for barking occasional orders at those around her. She seemed rather uptight, but other than Aroska, no one seemed to mind. Jayden watched her as she loomed over Zinni, directing her through the holographic satellite recording of the clearing. She was big, nearly as tall as either of the men, and maintained a hardened facial expression. Jayden had asked Aroska about her, but he’d seemed reluctant to share his thoughts.

  “The craft that landed in the clearing was using some sort of cloaking technology,” Zinni was saying as she watched the hologram. “We can physically see the ship on the recording, but my scanner couldn’t get a reading on its identification code or pick up any of its transmissions. I’m surprised our own comms were still functional.”

  Ziva crossed her arms and stared Jayden down for a moment, her striking red eyes unsympathetic. “Start from the beginning. I want to hear the whole story, every single detail. If I think you’re leaving something out, you will have one last chance to get it right. Understand?”

  Jayden swallowed and looked up at Aroska, who nodded gently. Ziva obviously wasn’t joking around, nor did she seem like someone who would tolerate joking around. “Like I said, my father and I are… were on a diplomatic tour of the planet,” he began. “We left Haphor early this morning and were scheduled to spend today and tomorrow here in Noro. The Haphezian man who was serving as our guide stopped in the clearing to check out what he said was a problem with the convoy’s lead car. That’s when Solaris attacked.”

  “Did this guy have any distinguishing markings, something abnormal?” Aroska asked.

  Jayden paused thoughtfully for a moment. “He had a tattoo on his arm, something that looked like a star. I’ve seen a lot of tattoos since I’ve been here, but never anything like that.”

  “Sounds like he was definitely with Solaris then,” Tarbic said. “That star is their trademark. They started using it about six months ago.”

  “You said they took your father,” Skeet brought up.

  “Yes,” Jayden replied, suddenly angered by the thought. “Are you going to do something about it?”

  “Keep going, kid,” Ziva said.

  He took a deep breath, bothered that no one seemed to care about anything but his story. “Everything was chaos after that. We were scrambling to react and lost at least half our men in the first several seconds. I didn’t even see that shuttle until it was right on top of us. I thought for a moment that it might be some help, but the next thing I knew, a couple of them had my father and were dragging him up the ramp. He was unconscious. That’s when you people showed up.” He glanced up at Ziva. “You’re lucky Lieutenant Tarbic grabbed me when he did. I would have killed you.”

  For a moment, Jayden wasn’t sure if she was going to hit him or laugh out loud at what he’d just said. “So, what does Solaris want with the governor?” she asked, pacing back and forth in front of the table.

  Jayden wasn’t sure whether to respond to what seemed like a rhetorical question. His answer came when Ziva leaned across the table, slamming her palms down on the surface. Her tattoo-adorned upper arms bulged as she waited for a reply, and it immediately made him regret hesitating.

  “Look, Jayden. You want us to find your father? You’d better keep talking. What would Solaris want with him?”

  “Sorry,” he said, rubbing his hands across his face. “As you can imagine, I’m having a hard time trusting Haphezians right now.”

  “Well you should start,” Skeet put in, moving around to stand beside Ziva. He crossed his arms, adding to the intimidating air that was already radiating from his superior. “We’re on your good side now, but you’ve got to help us if you want it to stay that way.”

  “I don’t know why they’re after him,” Jayden exclaimed, leaping to his feet. All four of them immediately tensed and Aroska placed a firm, warning hand on his shoulder. He took a deep breath and sat back down. “You said Solaris is known for attacks on diplomacy. We were on a diplomatic tour. Does that answer your question?”

  “It helps, but it doesn’t give us the whole story,” Aroska replied, perching on the edge of the table beside him. He tur
ned slightly, addressing Zinni, Skeet, and Ziva. “Solaris has never attacked without a legitimate reason. They dig deep. They find the reasons for these diplomatic visits. They investigate alliance terms and exploit any weaknesses. There’s always a specific motive. We’re still missing something here.”

  The room was uncomfortably quiet for a moment while Ziva and Aroska stared each other down. There was obviously something going on between them, and Jayden was suddenly very curious about their story.

  “Then we need to find out what it is,” Ziva said.

  -10-

  Dakiti Medical Research Center

  Sardonis

  It was the white room again, with the same bright light, same cold table, and the same restraints pinning him down. He was vaguely aware of the medical bot somewhere off to his left, but so far it hadn’t spoken to him or touched him. There had been no visitors this time either, and no salty scent. The salty visitors had come on two occasions that he could remember, but all he’d ever been able to see were shadows. He was surprised that he’d even been aware of their presence. It was almost like the drugs or whatever they’d been pumping him full of were no longer serving their purpose. The injections were still quite painful, but he found that he was growing more conscious of his surroundings each time he was brought into this room. He tried to pick his head up and look around, though it seemed to weigh a ton. For a very brief second, after blinking several times, he saw a clear image of his naked torso, filthy pants, and even his bare feet at the end of the table. His vision became blurry again just as fast as it had cleared, fast enough to make him wonder if it had simply been his imagination.

  The cold, gray shadow of the bot passed in front of the light and he could feel its metallic claw force his head back to the table. “Lie down,” it commanded, securing his head with a strap.

  He began to feel microscopic pinching sensations all over his chest and stomach and remembered seeing tiny sensors adhered to his body during the moment of clear vision. A loud, urgent pattern of beeps was emitted from an unseen machine somewhere in the room. The bot leaned over him again, disappeared, and then returned in a panicked manner. Before he could register what was going on, he felt the all-too-familiar needle impale his throat. The light above began to swirl in a slow circle as he gasped for a breath, and then he slipped out of consciousness.