Phoenix Odyssey Book 1 (Battle Beyond Earth)

by Thomas, Nick S.

  “Then why don’t you?”

  “Because Taylor has shown me a better way. He showed us all. That day he joined Humanity and the Krys as one, and we have not fought one another since.”

  “What good is an alliance with the weak and pathetic?”

  “You believe Humans are weak, but you are one of them. You may have been bred and not born into this life, but you are still Human, and look at all you can and have achieved.”

  There was silence as he let CJ think about it. It was a thought that hung over him all the time. He felt as one with the Krys, and yet bore them no resemblance.

  “Maybe I am neither Human nor Krys. Maybe I am something different, something new?”

  “Perhaps you are. You certainly have the potential to be that. I know we have fought on opposing sides in the past, and we have no reason to like or talk to one another.”

  “You’re damn right. I’d rather kill you right here and now than see you leave alive.”

  “And yet for all our differences, we now do have one thing in common. We have an enemy, and having an enemy to fight is what made the Krys strong. You won’t know what led the Krys to be the people they were when you were created, because that history was long forgotten.”

  “A history lesson? Is that really what you came here to give me?”

  “Yes, so that you may understand what this fight is for. You have no purpose left in life, and I am going to show you that you may have one yet.”

  “I’m listening,” he groaned.

  “Bolormaa and the Morohtans. They are not a new enemy. Far from it, they are a very old one. Long since forgotten, even in Krys history. My ancestors knew of Bolormaa as a fairy tale, a nightmarish fairy tale to scare young warriors with. Only the Aranui live long enough that any of them remember the days of Bolormaa and the destructive path she cut across the universe.”

  “The Aranui? Why would you trust anything they have to say? They sided with Taylor against the Krys.”

  “Only because of the devastation they had faced at our hands. They had every right to fear and hate the Krys, for we brought them to near extinction.”

  “That is their problem, not ours. The strong will prevail, and the weak will die. That is the Krys way.”

  “Yes, it is, but I do not think our ancestors fully understood what strength was. For the war against the Humans proved there was more strength in Humanity than any other race we have ever encountered. They are small and weak, and seem pathetic to us. And yet they defeated us. They were hundreds, if not thousands of years behind us technologically, and still they defeated us.”

  “Because of traitors like you.”

  Jafar shook his head.

  “Humans showed me that there is more to life than the blind support of a leader who rules by the lash, and more to strength than your size and muscles. You are living proof of that. At a time of great need, it was the Krys who turned to cloning Humans to fight their war for them.”

  “Not because this body is strong.”

  “You’re wrong. It is time you opened your eyes to the world. All you have in you is hate. You hate Humans because you were programmed that way. You hate Taylor and I because we defeated your Lords. But I don’t think you have even stopped to think why you still hate all of those things to this day. To you, your previous life was just a few weeks ago, but for the rest of us it was hundreds of years.”

  “Not to Taylor.”

  “I agree, and there will come a day when you may confront Taylor for all the injuries you believe he has caused you, but right now, you are looking for someone to fight, and Taylor isn’t it. We have an enemy for you to fight. We have a cause for you to champion, in the name of the Krys people. Bolormaa isn’t just an enemy of Taylor and the Humans, she was our enemy long before we ever knew of the existence of Humanity.”

  CJ seemed to be thinking it over, but he did not reply.

  “The President of the Alliance came to me to resolve this scenario. I told him that fighting you was not the answer. I told him that either you fight with us, or we forget that you ever existed.”

  “Then perhaps you would do best to forget me.”

  “I do not believe that is the right course of action.”

  CJ’s breathing sped up as he felt the anger within him growing.

  “What is your decision?”

  “I hate you. I hate what you have done, and what you now are.”

  He reached for his pistol and his fingertips touched the grip as he thought about drawing, but he was conflicted, more so than ever before. Jafar was both his enemy and his de facto Lord all at the same time.

  “I will not kill you, but neither will I fight for you. Get off my planet!”

  Jafar sighed and looked into CJ’s eyes as if to try and find another answer. But finally he accepted it and turned to board his ship. As the door to the shuttle shut, the trees behind CJ rustled, and a squad led by Mirov rushed out in support. Ready to shoot and kill anything that threatened him.

  “What was that?” asked the Russian.

  The small craft was already lifting off by the time CJ could respond.

  “Nothing, and nobody.”

  Chapter 14

  “You still haven’t spoken about it?” said Mirov.

  CJ stared out into the forests as the first light of day could just be made out through the dense fog.

  “If I wanted to talk about it, don’t you think I would have?” he finally responded.

  “Not really. You don’t seem to want to talk about anything. I trust you, and I would follow you anywhere, but I have to ask. What is it that we are doing here? And what are we going to do when the Alliance loses this war?”

  “It’s not my problem.”

  “You fought hard in the war against Humanity, didn’t you?”

  “Damn right, I did.”

  “Why?”

  CJ was taken aback and waited for the Lieutenant to elaborate.

  “Why did you fight? Why did you care to fight that hard?”

  “Because it was my job. It was my duty.”

  “To who?”

  “Erdogan and the Krys people.”

  “You would follow him, but you would not follow Jafar. How are they any different?”

  “Erdogan was the rightful leader. A true Lord of the Krys, and the strongest warrior I have ever known.”

  “And yet he was defeated in battle, wasn’t he?”

  “Yes,” he groaned, “Where are you going with this?”

  Mirov was already on his feet and walking away as if content that he had made his point.

  “We all have to choose how we want to lead this life, and just because we follow others it does not make us slaves. You knew that once,” he replied before passing out of sight.

  That resonated with CJ as the sun rose and the day went on. He sat there all day, dwelling on the ideas that Jafar and Mirov had put in his head, but no matter how much he thought about it; he could not bring himself to support the Alliance. His hatred was ingrained too deeply. He had lost himself in his own thoughts, and by the time he had come out of it, the sun was once again going down.

  He got up and leapt off the ship to once again to run off his woes. He ran for two hours when he finally circled around to head back to the ship. As he drew nearer, he noticed a glimmer of light from something on the side of the hull and stopped to check what it was. He quickly saw that it was moving, and it was climbing up the side of the hull. It had four legs, and yet a Humanoid like upper torso. It wore armour with a rifle in its two arms. They were like nothing he had ever seen before.

  “What the fuck?” he whispered to himself.

  He spotted two others further along the hull.

  “This is CJ. We have a situation. Someone come in,” he said on his comms.

  There was no response.

  “Somebody? Anybody? Mirov? Kaner?”

  Still nothing came back, and yet he could see two of Mirov’s platoon on the edge of the Tempest’s hull just chatt
ing away.

  Comms are down, or jammed. Come on, look down, and use your eyes.

  A flash of light came from a weapon on one of the soldiers climbing the ship, and a second one followed it. They each struck the two of Mirov’s platoon who were deep in conversation and oblivious to what was going on until they were already hit. There were no sounds from the guns at all, as if they were completely silenced. Both dropped dead from their wounds, and CJ could only shake his head in disbelief. One collapsed over the side and fell from the ship, landing hard on the ground at the base of the vessel.

  He looked back up and noticed the silhouette of three creatures on the top of the cliff top well above the vessel. They seemed to make no attempt to climb down. They just watched as if they were orchestrating the whole thing. CJ had no means of communicating with anyone, and yet they were under siege. All he could think to do was run head long into it.

  He reached back for his rifle, only to realise that he hadn’t been carrying it, and neither was he in armour. All he had on him were his pistol and his Assegai. He heard something rustle beside him and stopped to listen. It was on a path running almost parallel with him. He edged closer and watched three of the soldiers creep along the path. He ducked in for cover as the tail end one stopped, as if it had noticed he was there. He hugged the foliage and blended in as best he could. The creature panned right past him, but seemed not to notice.

  The other two went onwards towards the Tempest. The curious one came towards him. It seemed unwilling to accept that there was nothing there.

  Son of a bitch!

  The creature came ever closer, but could clearly not pinpoint him yet. It stood almost a metre taller than he did and looked well armoured. It dropped down in a ditch in front of him, looking around for some sign of movement. Just as it looked away, he took his chance. He jumped and landed on its back. In doing so, he drove the Assegai deep into its collar and up to the hilt. The creature reared up and collapsed dead on top of him.

  CJ prised the body off and pushed it aside before crawling out. He gasped for air as he looked back to the other two soldiers. They had carried on as if oblivious to the loss of their own.

  “Fuckers,” he said quietly.

  He watched as a fighter bay door was opened from the inside, and the two soldiers climbed inside. They had overrun the ship, but he’d heard neither gunfire nor resistance. This was a covert operation in a way that he wasn’t used to fighting. It was always him who was infiltrating an enemy location. Never could he have conceived the possibility of those same tactics being used against him.

  He crept along the route the enemy had taken when he froze. One of them had stayed on guard at the entrance to the fighter bay. He ducked down low and watched the creature. There was so little light, only the faintest glimmer that bounced from the still surface of the lake. Whoever they were, they could see no better at night than he could. He reached around to find a rock and found one about the size of a hand grenade.

  CJ launched it up and over to the far side of the creature. It soon rushed over to investigate as the rock hit a number of boulders by the side of the water, making a lot more of a racket than he had intended. There the creature was in plain sight with its back to him. There were also fifteen metres of open ground between him and the beast, and he had no idea who or what else was around.

  There was no more time to waste.

  It’s now or never!

  He drew his Assegai and left his pistol holstered. He couldn’t risk making any noise any more than he could. He wanted to alert the others, but if he made any sound now, he’d never survive what would come next. He sprinted across the open space as quickly and quietly as he could, reaching within two metres when the soldier spun around as if it had known he was coming.

  The barrel of its gun swung around to engage him, but he cut it down and thrust his Assegai through the receiver. It snapped in half, leaving the beast empty-handed, but it smashed its fist into his face, and he felt the impact like a freight train. He recoiled back and dropped his Assegai. Neither of them could risk going for their sidearms as neither wanted to make any noise. Instead, it drew out a sword blade from its back that was over a metre long.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” he said, as he leapt forward to grab the hilt before it could take a swing at him. He held on tight, but the beast punched him again, and he was launched back onto the boulders by the lakeside. He was sprawled out on his back. The impact on his spine caused him to lock out, and he was unable to move for a moment.

  The four-legged soldier leapt onto the rocks and raised its blade over its head as if to cherish the hilt, but before it could cut down with the blade, a tentacle burst out from the waterside and wrapped around its torso. The whole creature was wrenched off the rock face. CJ turned over just in time to see it enter the jaws of the beast that had almost eaten Mirov. He smiled as he watched it bite down and crush the creature’s spine before vanishing beneath the surface again.

  “And they said, this world would be the death of us. Thanks,” he whispered.

  He turned over and dropped down from the boulder to find his Assegai, but there was no sign of it. He noticed the gleaming sword that had almost killed him lying at the base, and he picked it up. Its grip was long enough to be wielded in two hands, and yet it was agile enough to be wielded in one. It had a shallow curved blade and a flared tip so that it almost resembled an axe head, and had no guard to speak off.

  It was a razor sharp and efficient slashing blade that he had no doubt could dismember even the strongest of foes. He rushed over to the body of Mirov’s man who had fallen from the top. His rifle and Assegai were smashed, but his armour was intact. He took the exo-suit off the man and stepped into it, standing tall with his sword in hand. He may have no love for Humans, but these were his friends and his comrades. He was ready for blood. He was ready for payback.

  He took the helmet off the wounded man. It was cracked in two where it had landed against he rock face. He tossed it aside and went onwards. It would only stifle him in the heat anyway. He jumped up onto the fighter bay ramp where the enemy had gotten in and strode through the corridors of the ship as if a man on a mission.

  It wasn’t long before he spotted the first of the enemy soldiers. He took a run at it, and it noticed his footsteps only in the last moment. As it turned to face him, it was impaled on the blade. CJ drew out the sword and cut down against its armoured head. The blade pierced the helmet as if with almost no resistance at all and cleaved down to its neck. It collapsed dead. He looked at the blade in amazement. It was far more than just a sharp piece of steel. It cut through armour like their Assegais penetrated it.

  Gunfire rang out along the corridor ahead, and more off to his left side. He listened for where it was the most severe and headed that way. It wasn’t long before he caught sight of two enemy warriors, but they had not spotted him. They were too busy fighting CJ’s people off to one side. CJ rushed at them and swung the sword. It cleaved one of them in two and cut down against the arms of the next. The blade dismembered both the soldier’s arms before it was hit by a burst of gunfire.

  “Captain, are you okay?” Mirov asked, rushing to his side with two others.

  “I’m fine, but who the hell are these clowns?”

  “Morohtan warriors.”

  “Ah, shit, what the hell do they want with us?”

  “No idea. But they aren’t known for being friendly to any living creatures.”

  “They didn’t just stumble into us. This is no accident. This is a targeted and covert operation.”

  Mirov nodded in agreement. “Comms are down.”

  “They must be jamming them. Just like we used to do.”

  “We?”

  “The Krys,” he snapped.

  “If this is targeted. What are they even doing here? The Morohtans are rarely this subtle.”

  “They want something, and we need to figure out what, sharpish.”

  Gunfire rang out, and they ducked for
the cover of the girder supports of the corridor as flashes past them. They weren’t silencing their weapons anymore. It was an all out battle now, and they could hear the echo of gunfire all around as each man and woman fought for their own survival.

  “Stay here and keep fighting,” ordered CJ.

  “Where are you going?”

  “Someone is calling the shots down here, and I intend to find out who. I am going topside. Sweep and clear. Do not stop until you have killed every one of these bastards!”

  He rushed onwards through the next corridor to find another of the warriors. He decapitated it as he ran past without even breaking stride. There was a furious anger brewing inside him.

  This crew, this team of convicts, they are as close to family to me now than anyone has been, and those trying to hurt them are going to pay!

  CJ hit a stairway running, and there was the air lock ahead of him, but he heard a scream of pain coming from somewhere further along on the same floor. He thought about ignoring it, but he couldn’t. He rushed along and found King on the floor. One of the creatures stood over her, trying to drive a blade deep into her. An Assegai was stuck through its body, and it was pouring blood out over the floor and her. She held onto its rifle for dear life, and the hand that held a blade in its other. She wasn’t going to be able to hold out for much longer.

  “Hey, get off of her!” he boomed.

  The soldier looked up at him with disgust and intrigue. It leapt up from the Lieutenant and rushed at him with a furious charge. He spun out and cut one of its lower limbs from its body. It went into a tumble and crashed into the side wall. He went after it, but the Morohtan was back on its feet in no time. It drew out a blade into one hand while it wielded a dagger in the other.

  It charged at him as if with no care for its own life at all. It cut and thrust at him, and he backed off as he barely parried the flurry of attacks before being pushed back first into a wall. The dagger blade was driven into his arm. He let out a cry of pain before smashing the pommel of his sword into the soldier’s face, and then cutting down into its collar as it stumbled back.