by Chogan Swan
ShwydH stepped to the side and motioned for his bodyguards to move ahead until the last one came up beside him. He took a scrap of paper from his pocket and showed it to the guard at the end of the line. She read it and shook her head, eyes wide. ShwydH detected no deceit, so he clapped her on the arm, imitating a comradely gesture humans used. ShwydH moved to the next guard, and repeated the process until he was once again behind the leader—who still hadn’t registered anything happening behind him.
ShwydH had been studying human leadership techniques and the lead guard, though nominally in charge, was a disaster. The man inspired fear instead of loyalty. He used his authority and position to bully and sexually assault the men and women he commanded.
ShwydH pursed his lips with amusement; if he weren’t so stupid, the man would have made an ideal niiaH.
ShwydH had put a stop to his actions recently, pretending he’d only just discovered the behavior. ShwydH needed allies among the humans to pull off this coup, so he gave them something DuGwaedH would not.
Hope.
It would not be difficult to pin the blame of their enslavement on DuGwaedH, but ShwydH knew they would have to trust him. He hoped he’d planted the seeds in their minds well, but he didn’t know. Alliance with humans was still an untested theory for him. He had to rely on them being desperate enough to trust him despite their doubts.
The stairs reached the ground level and ShwydH halted the guards. While they waited, he reached into his front pocket and palmed the vial. He opened the inner closure of the pocket to gain access to his penis and popped the lid off the container. Beneath his loose-cut pants, ShwydH positioned the tip of his penis at the opening, released the amount of semen needed to fill the vial then recapped it. He sealed the inner closure then motioned the leader through the door.
They entered the ground-floor rotunda. DuGwaedH waited for them, surrounded by twice the number of guards ze allowed ShwydH.
“Place the sample in the carrying case,” said DuGwaedH in niiaH, motioning to the metal container on the table nearby with a flick of hir finger.
ShwydH dropped the plastic vial into the case and stepped back. He bowed. “Will there be anything else?” he said in English.
A flicker of annoyance passed over DuGwaedH's face. Ze had returned hir features to the niiaH norm fifty years ago; a dark, blood-colored hue, sharp features and a large nose. ShwydH knew ze did it to proclaim hir superiority to humans and maintain an aura of alien power.
“Why do you address me in the tongue of the slaves?” DuGwaedH demanded.
ShwydH, keeping his features expressionless, shrugged—another human mannerism. “I need to practice my disguise, maintaining it for when I am required to go among them…. After our victory over the nii,” ShwydH replied blandly in niiaH, keeping scent and all emotional markers under strict control. “Please let me know if the sample meets your needs,” he said, planting a seed of doubt against the assumption that it would be a good sample.
ShwydH couldn’t risk DuGwaedH thinking ze already possessed everything ze needed from him. Now ze would want to check the sample, and ShwydH would have his window of opportunity. DuGwaedH signaled agreement with a finger and turned to hurry toward hir laboratory.
ShwydH kept his control over his emotions as solid as stone.
When DuGwaedH stepped into the laboratory, leaving hir guards at the door, ShwydH boosted his pheromone output. His guards—except for the team leader—were all female—a slow change on ShwydH’s part. He’d been experimenting with pheromones to create a connection to the females. And, though the practice was forbidden, he’d also tapped into their nerve clusters and boosted their pleasure while taking small doses of blood and fat from them. This had all but removed his need to kill and feed from his own humans. ShwydH could easily restrict killing to those who agreed to spy for DuGwaedH. There were certainly enough of those. He pulled out the paper again, took the male team leader by the arm and held the note in front of his face.
Are you spying on me for DuGwaedH?
The guard’s face went white, and ShwydH’s other hand struck like a snake, paralyzing the team leader’s larynx and gripping him by the throat. The emotions of his other guards spiked. ShwydH, having a thought, turned to them. This one had antagonized the other guards, but the reactions to his now imminent death were mixed. Not all of them were thirsty for his blood.
ShwydH turned to the one whose reaction was the most conflicted. “Kate, this trash has harmed you more than anyone else here. Do you want to kill him?”
“If you order me to, I will, sir, but even though I hate his guts, I don’t want to kill him when he’s defenseless. If he were a threat at the moment, I’d do it in a heartbeat.”
ShwydH considered. It was interesting how much he’d learned about humans once he tried thinking of them as possible allies. He’d read about this reluctance to kill even an enemy from their own literature, but this was the first time he’d experienced the reality.
ShwydH nodded. “Is that what the rest of you choose as well?”
Three of them nodded; two more hesitated for a moment before agreeing.
The last one, Sharon, frowned, shaking with anger. “He’ll just do it again when he gets the chance,” she grated.
ShwydH considered. “You are right,” he said. “I can’t give him that chance. You all saw what was on the note. I will ask none of you to do this when it is my responsibility."
He snapped the guard’s neck but held him up as though he were still alive and standing. “Though you guard my life, I have to protect you from some things. But we need to protect ourselves from someone else today. The one whose name was on the note I showed you.”
ShwydH held up his hand as a warning. “I mean the one whose name spoken aloud would draw the attention of microphone security surveillance. It is time for us to fight for freedom. This will be our only chance. In a few minutes, ze will try to kill all of us.”
ShwydH looked around the circle at them. “Will you fight along with me?”
Their hearts beat faster and their respiration increased. He wasn’t ordering them, but they all nodded agreement; determination and hope poured off their skin.
ShwydH took his cell phone from a pocket, entered the text ‘NOW’ and tapped the icon to send it.
The cyber-attack on DuGwaedH’s electronic defenses showed active on the screen. The added firewalls around ShwydH’s own resources glowed at full-strength.
“Stay close,” he told his guards. I need to get everyone out of the building who might get in the way.
ShwydH dropped the dead bodyguard and tapped his phone to connect with the building’s public address and spoke into the phone. “Attention all personnel,” he said. “We have just received intelligence that a rogue faction of the United States military has targeted this building with guided missiles. Everyone evacuate the building. Do not go home. If you have family call them and instruct them to meet you at a neutral location. Do not return here. You may be contacted later for new assignments. Missiles will arrive in less than two minutes. You need to be at least a block away by then. This is no drill.”
All over the lobby, humans were reacting to the announcement. Some froze, looking around in panic, but most were running for the exits. ShwydH raised his voice, letting it carry to all parts of the rotunda, “Go! Everyone get out now!”
Conditioned to obey his orders, everyone in sight ran for the exit. ShwydH turned to the laboratory door. DuGwaedH’s three guards still blocked it, not following his orders. They’d drawn their weapons and were scanning the lobby for hostile moves, but the commotion was distracting them. ShwydH drew his handgun and fired three quick rounds, taking them all down with headshots.
“Stay out of the line of fire from the door,” he snapped to his guards and ran there himself, taking a curving path. At the door, ShwydH slapped a directed explosive charge below the latch and pulled the pin. He stepped to the side and covered his ears. The charge detonated with a loud WHUMP, c
ausing screams from already terrified humans, and blowing the door out of its frame.
“Evasive entry, go!” he shouted to his guards. Kate, nearest the door, spun into the room. The next followed, darting the other way. No shots—
“No targets,” Kate shouted.
ShwydH held up his hand to halt the rest and peeked into the room, snapping his head back to process for an instant.
No targets.
ShwydH stepped into the room. There were two other exits, both doors open. Gleaming sample cases with glass doors circled the room. ShwydH pointed to two guards and motioned for them to check the corridors. Both obeyed, sticking their heads out for a brief instant. Both made negative hand signals.
No targets.
DuGwaedH had moved to a stronger position. ShwydH hissed in frustration. He’d needed to risk the bomb scare to create chaos, but it had given DuGwaedH enough warning to run. As usual, DuGwaedH avoided risk as long as possible. ShwydH pulled out his phone to send a message to his kill teams at the exits, both the secret ones and the public.
There was no signal. He stared at his phone,
Jammed!
ShwydH switched it to the scrambled radio frequency.
Nothing!
How was that possible?
At the secret outlets, they shouldn’t need his order to shoot. Hopefully, ShwydH had found all the exits DuGwaedH had been hiding. ShwydH had uncovered three, but DuGwaedH was cautious. Who knew how many there were.
ShwydH hadn’t considered any major plans that included losing communications. DuGwaedH had never shown the skills to do that. ShwydH would have to improvise. The nearest doorway had no fresh odor from DuGwaedH. On the way to the other door, the high-pitched warble of the independent alarm sounded, announcing unauthorized entry to the building.
Now what!
ShwydH went back and stepped around the still smoking door he had entered by.
A strike force in body armor and black tactical garb had taken control of the rotunda. They’d established a beachhead in the lobby, preventing the panicking humans he’d ordered to evacuate from leaving.
Convinced that missiles were coming any second, humans were throwing themselves at the barricade. Strangely, the men who held the line had not yet opened fire. The air pouring in the open doors also held the taint of… nii.
ShwydH’s head spun. Surely he was about to die, so why did exhilaration course through him? What did he know that he wasn’t aware of yet?
Go with your first impulse.
“With me,” he ordered his guards. “Lay down arms here. We are crawling into the lobby and surrendering. Lay face down when I talk to them.”
ShwydH grabbed a white lab coat and raised it overhead. He laid his pistol down and crawled through the door. His flexible shoulder joint allowed keeping the truce flag high. In his most penetrating tone, ShwydH shouted above the din in the lobby. “The airstrike has been aborted. Everyone surrender. Lay down any weapons. Lie down and put your hands behind your heads.” He went on calling out, “Airstrike aborted. Surrender. Lay down arms.”
Luckily, there weren’t many more people pouring into the lobby. Most must have already escaped the building, convinced it was a deathtrap.
The lobby quieted, and ShwydH stopped shouting. It wasn’t surprising how willing they were to comply once they’d been assured the missiles weren’t coming. His guards’ rapid breathing slowed too, though they were still nervous.
The odor of nii—female—grew stronger, but he couldn’t tell where it was coming from until her boots landed in front of his face. The custom-cut combat boots rose to just below her knee-length kilt. Above she wore a black tactical jacket over body armor. A helmet covered her head.
“I surrender,” he said in his native tongue. “My name is ShwydH.”
“You surrender? That would make you the first in all the history of this war,” she answered in a nii-accented dialect.
“No one knows the truth of any history but their own,” ShwydH said. “I have had time to consider the way of things. You interrupted my attempt to destroy our common threat, DuGwaedH, now a hermaphrodite with the ability to reproduce. Surely, you can still detect hir scent. I can help you find hir. Ze has a plan to revive the empire, and will not stop.”
The nii female turned to look at his guards. “What do you seven have to say?” she said, switching to English. “Was this one truly trying to kill the other? The one he calls DuGwaedH?”
“Yes, he was,” Kate’s voice answered from behind him.
“What about this one though?” said the nii, waving at ShwydH. “Is he evil? Has he not hurt you? Kept you as slaves?”
Kate shrugged. “It’s true we’ve been under his power, but he’s protected us and has never hurt me personally. When you arrived, we were fighting against the other who holds more power here and that one is escaping now while you talk. It would be better if the one getting away was dead.”
“What about the rest of you? Would you vouch for this one?” said someone else. ShwydH craned his neck to see a slimmer nii female who smelled so much like the first he’d not even noticed her arrival.
“Well here’s the thing,” Sharon said. “I can’t say he’s a saint, but he couldn’t show weakness to DuGwaedH. It could be the shit he’s done has been about that. He has an inside track here, and could be an asset for getting DuGwaedH. He’s had a plan in place and I think he has other people working for him trying to make that happen.”
The other guards voiced agreement.
ShwydH turned to the slimmer nii, sensing she was in command though it was obvious her body was younger. ShwydH spoke in English, “For example, I can tell you of at least five secret exits, three that DuGwaedH tried to conceal from me that ze has never used. I have teams at all of them. Their orders are to kill DuGwaedH, but you jammed my communication, and I don’t know their status. If you want my help, you’d better use it while it’s still valuable. I’ve launched a cyber-attack on DuGwaedH’s financial assets that needs my attention to succeed. If I can limit hir funds, it will be easier to find hir.”
“Do you have any other arguments to offer on your behalf?” said the younger nii.
The flat tone in her voice said she was not convinced. She was ready to kill him.
ShwydH slumped in defeat. “You can sample my genetic code to witness my commitment to DuGwaedH’s destruction by sabotaging my genes, but while you do that ze will escape.”
“I’ll track it while you do that,” said the older one.
“Go,” said the younger.
“Ze will have laid traps,” shouted ShwydH. The older one was gone. ShwydH hoped she’d listened. A figure in a scent-blocking suit stepped closer to him. The barrel of a gun pushed against the back of his head. A knee pressed into his back and strong hands grasped his arms and pinned them behind him. Sharp teeth sunk into his neck, not gently. ShwydH felt suction then pressure as hands searched him, removing his phone from his pocket and the knives hidden in his clothes as well as his belt.
“I advise you not to try removing or disarming the compound I put in your blood. That will trigger it and you will die quickly,” said the younger nii. “I’ve used it against many niiaH and assure you from experience it works. Only I have the key. If I do not renew it daily, you will die. If you help us kill DuGwaedH, I give you time. What happens afterward we will decide later. If you tell me the frequency you need to contact your teams at the exits, I’ll stop jamming it.” The nii female’s hands loosed his arms, and the man in the scent-blocking suit lifted the gun barrel from his skull and stepped back. The man held ShwydH’s phone out to him, gun still pointing at his heart. He must be an agent who would be recognized by scent.
ShwydH rose to his knees, took the phone and gave the nii female the radio frequency.
In a few moments, she said, “You can call them now. We’ve already neutralized the exit from the Metro and the ones across the street and in your sub-basement. They are secure.”
ShwydH hi
t the radio call button on his phone. “All containment teams report.”
“Team one leader here, no activity to report, sir.”
“Team four, sir. DuGwaedH and his guards came out while we were under fire from an unknown element. DuGwaedH got away. We are still under fire and unable to pursue.” ShwydH could hear the noise of small arms fire in the transmission’s background.
“Where is team four? I’ll call off the team firing on them,” said the nii commander.
“Warehouse,” he said and gave her the coordinates.
“Team four," he said. "I’ve negotiated a cease fire with the party firing on you. Cease return fire and render assistance pursuing DuGwaedH. Do you copy?”
“We copy, sir. Wilco to rendering assistance.”
The nii commander behind him issued more commands to her teams and then a stream of speech in a language ShwydH had never encountered.
ShwydH knelt down, lowered his head to the floor and closed his eyes. The sense of his defeat washed over him. The unexpected element of the nii attack had resulted in DuGwaedH’s escape. Ze was gone. The pursuit would fail. DuGwaedH had doubtless layered hir escape with so many options and traps…. ShwydH would never see his enemy’s destruction. The kamikaze victory had failed.
“Kill me now,” he whispered, unsure if his plea was to the nii or the universe.
Chapter 29 (Strange Bedfellows)
Tiana touched her microphone, shutting off her broadcast to Symbiana, and went to each of the niiaH male’s bodyguard and questioned them to establish their sincerity. As she did that, Amber’s security team efficiently searched the women for concealed weapons.
Satisfied they were not lying, Tiana turned to the niiaH. ‘ShwydH’ he’d called himself.
ShwydH had been in a kneeling position, head on the ground, but when she stopped talking to the women, he lifted his head and glared at her.
“DuGwaedH will lead her into a funnel trap from which there is no escape,” he said. “Her genetic material, everything needed to revive the empire will be in hir control. You have doomed everything you fought for in an instant. It was one branch of DuGwaedH’s plans from the beginning.”