“Aren’t the Krillux supposed to be trained fighters?” I ask, annoyed. Dad’s brow furrows.
“That’s what I was told,” he says tensely, “But apparently there was a miscommunication with the Krillux. We can discuss that later, though. Get your gear together and head down to combat.”
I want to stay and try to argue my case, but I know that, at this point, it’s not worth it. It’s hard to get my dad to do anything, honestly. He has an iron will that’s as hard as his jawline. I begrudgingly gather my list of trainees and leave in a huff. I know I’m being immature, but people don’t realize just how much work it is to train combat around here. Your group has to be sharp, calculated, and precise. As I take the lift down to the combat sector, I wonder just how sharp my roster of Krillux was about to be.
The door of the training room opens, and the new recruits shuffle in. These ones are a little leaner, as if they’ve never actually been in a fight before. Still, they don’t look as nearly inexperienced as I thought they would look. I recognize a few of the species in the group. There are the cat-like features of a Devri male and female; their fur similar in color. There are several Proxi with their insect-like shells and frantic eyes that rotate around in endless patterns, like a chameleon; and the curled tentacles of a group of Wend, a tribal group of people that prefer swampier planets.
At the back of the line there’s a nervous-looking male with deep green skin, a species I can’t quite identify. He’s very muscular, though the muscles are more natural looking, as if he’s achieved his strength from labor rather than purposefully building them up like most of the guys on this ship. He has broad shoulders, wrapped carefully in layers of brown woven fabric. Great bone structure, though I try not to stare. His hair is shaved on the sides, the longer remains of it hanging over one side of his scalp in a relaxed Mohawk.
I watch him until he blends in with the rest of the group, hiding somewhere in the back. Awkwardly, they turn their attention to me at the front of the room, waiting for my first command as their instructor. I clear my throat and step forward. Here goes nothing I guess.
“Greetings, Recruits,” I say in the most commanding voice I can muster. I usually just try to sound like how my dad bosses people around, and that seems to work best. “Today we’re going to cover the most basic parts of combat,” I explain to them. “I am your instructor, McKinley, but you will refer to me as ‘Instructor’. While you’re all here, I’m going to show you, basically, how to stay alive. There’s no use in trying to fight if you’re only going to die during the first few seconds on the field.” I can tell that they already look nervous. It’s never easy having to talk about the possibility of dying. “You’re also going to learn how to look out for each other,” I continue, giving them the usual speech of how to have a partner in battle, and to always know where your partner is for general support.
I’m eventually interrupted by one of the Proxi; the smallest of her group.
“Excuse me, Instructor… if this mission’s purpose is to gather resources, just how much fighting are we expected to do?” she asks. The rest of the group chatters amongst themselves in agreement.
I wasn’t quite prepared for a question like this. Why were we bothering to train the Krillux army, again? Aren’t they just supposed to be our backup on this mission? I decide to shelf the question until I can speak to Dad about it later.
“Regardless of the mission, one should always be prepared to survive in any situation, combat being a crucial part of staying alive,” I say to the group. I then address the Proxi that asked the question. “In the meantime, I think it’s best for you not to interrupt a commanding officer,” I tell her harshly. “Especially if you’re in the middle of a training session.” She shrinks back, embarrassed, as I usher them into the first stages of training.
I decide that it’s time to see how capable the recruits are. Grabbing a staff as a sparring weapon, I look for someone to be for my first victim. I decide that the Proxi that spoke out of turn will be the first one; to set an example for the rest of the group. She steps forward, unsure as she takes the other staff from the ground. I show them the basics of weapon training, letting the Proxi girl try her luck at fighting, before I easily take her down, revealing the mistakes that she and the others should avoid. I feel like an ass, sometimes, especially when I do this, but I’ve learned from my dad that tough love often has to be exhibited at times such as these.
I test each one of them, pitting them against each other, sometimes stepping in to provide guidance. They’re all under practiced; most of them improvising with clumsy fighting you’d typically see in a bar or in the street. Still, I am determined to make them as sharp as the Cordelia’s military, if not sharper, in the hope that I’d never have to train another group of recruits like this again.
After splitting them up, I realize that I am missing one; the unfamiliar man who was hiding in the back.
“Hey,” I call out, “Hold on recruit. I haven’t dealt with you yet.” He turns around, trying to shrink back into another group that is doing an exercise in the corner. “I won’t let anyone in this room leave without first sparring with me,” I tell him, pointing at the floor in front of me. He looks at me blankly, and at first I wonder if he can understand me. I walk up to him, and by the look on his face I realize that he’s blatantly ignoring me, something I am definitely not a fan of.
“Recruit,” I say, putting my most stern voice, “are you defying a direct order from your instructor? I command you to take that spot and fight.”
The group watches us, their eyes worried as they all wonder what will happen next. I stare into the male’s eyes, determined. They’re a luminescent yellow, almost glowing in the grungy light of the training room. He scowls at me, but I’m willing to wait all day if I have to. Finally, after some hesitation, he steps into the center of the room and picks up the staff from the floor. I take my place and begin sparring. Only, he stays firmly in place, not moving at all, refusing to block any of my attacks. My staff hits his arm to no effect, then his leg. Nothing. He just scowls at me, his jaw tightened.
After plenty of hits with no response, I soften up and call it a day, sending them all out. It would be pointless to make him fight me any more, and further embarrass myself in front of all the new recruits. As the group leaves he looks over his shoulder at me. This time there’s something else in his face, a look of deep sorrow and anger, and I feel a shudder down my spine. Something about this look tells me there’s something hidden under his tough guise.
CHAPTER 2: LONESOME
RAEDEN
It’s been years since I’ve been away from home. I never thought I’d be this close to it again. Our ship remains connected to the Cordelia, where we can still see the humans wandering through their countless ship’s decks, like insects in a hive. We probably all look the same to them. Through the other window in the barracks, I can see the soft glimmering green of Ventra; her glittery atmosphere encasing her like a fragile shell. I look around at the others that have made the journey here, and wonder what their stories are. Children separated from their families, prisoners from wars they didn’t want to fight in. And here they are again, fighting for something they don’t want to. It’s all part of being a Krillux.
A large Wend wrestles with a crab-like companion on the floor, while the rest of them circle around, placing bets and pouring their drinks on the floor, trying to douse them with poorly-made alcohol. The men’s barracks are always this boisterous, with everyone making messes they’re too lazy to clean up. The pair bash into the corner of my bed, jostling me against the wall. Everyone laughs loudly, and I curse under my breath that we have to be locked in our rooms during sleeping hours. Of course, how could anybody expect to sleep in a place like this?
I step off my bed and walk to a less crowded corner of the room, where the quieter ones usually sit. I feel most at home in this corner, surrounded by the promise of more intellectual topics, and stories about home. If you’re a captive like
me, it’s hard to remember what home is like. It’s easy to latch onto other’s stories of where they came from, and you can pretend as if it were your home too.
It’s still bizarre to me how close I am to my home now, and I long to step on the surface once again and breathe in all the familiar smells of where I was my happiest. I feel a knot in my chest thinking about our mission, and feel horrible that I have to return in such unwanted circumstances. I recognize one of the other men, Rex, from training today in that horribly cramped room full of noise and violence, not too different from this room. Rex smiles at me knowingly as he makes a space for me to sit.
“How long do you plan on keeping up the act, Raeden?” He laughs. I shake my head at him. “As long as I have to,” I say. I can’t stand fighting. It’s pointless and always angry, and it feels like it doesn’t get anybody closer to success. I’ve seen how fighting tears apart people, families, and entire planets.
“That woman had some fire in her, wouldn’t you say?” Rex prods. He’s trying to get me roped into another discussion about women again. Sometimes I don’t mind them, but it’s a little embarrassing when you’re not that…experienced, I guess you would say.
“I think she’s too harsh on us,” I reply. I’ve met plenty of people while I have been a part of the Krillux; plenty of beautiful women, too. Sure, I’ve been interested in some, but I like to try to get to know them first before giving myself to them. Unfortunately in this line of work it’s difficult to even spend more than a few hours with someone at a time.
“Still,” Rex muses. “Pretty beautiful. Great body for sure.” I nod awkwardly, hoping this is enough for him to accept, so we can move onto other, more important discussions.
“It’ll be nice to get my hands on some Ventric mineral once this is all over,” a man says.
“You fool, none of us are getting any of the mineral,” someone contradicts him. “You’re paid with a bed, daily rations, and the clothes on your back.”
“I was told that we’d be given the planet to settle on, once the extraction was complete,” another says.
Rex looks at a cup of strange sludge in his hands, thinking. “It would make sense for us to settle somewhere,” he says taking a sip of his drink, “I’ve been here during the prime formation of the Krillux. We haven’t settled for a long time. This could finally be our opportunity.”
The men discuss possibilities amongst themselves, their deepest hopes and dreams in disguise. It’s not surprising when these tales emerge. Most of it is just gossip, circulating the barracks. Our main role, according to our original briefing, is to create a safe area on the planet Ventra for the humans to mine. We’ve made an agreement that, as long as we’re able to fulfill our duties correctly, we’ll be awarded a portion of the materials that are to be mined to use on weapons. More fighting … just what we need. However, the Krillux are supposed to be a feared army throughout the galaxy, so this alliance between humans and aliens makes sense.
The fight has finally ended near my bed, and I step over the defeated Wend to see why everyone is staring out the window.
“Tryna get a look for yourself, little mouse?” A giant man says to me. Mouse is an unfortunate nickname for me, certainly not because of my size, but because I seem to be the quietest one in here. I wedge myself through the group of men crowding at the glass, and am immediately shocked.
We have a clear view, right in the window of that rude instructor from earlier, the one who barked at me to fight her. McKinley, I think her name was. You can’t see too much from here, but it’s still close enough for me to recognize her. She has another human with her in the room, a male. As she leans over to kiss him, the barracks go wild, as the men ogle at her. My face grows warm and tingly, and I try to avert my gaze, but something keeps drawing it back to the window.
“Take it off!” Someone shouts over the crowd, and the rest of us wait to see what happens next. As if she can hear us, McKinley removes her top, making the men practically roll over, howling with delight.
For a second I feel something strange, a weird tingle of a thought that I’d never had before. I turn away from the window and lie down, thinking that I just don’t feel well after all the training and the traveling. The men make sounds of disapproval, which makes me think the woman must have caught them and finally closed the window-shade. But the thought still remains. Their imaginations will still run wild, picking up where she left them off.
I find myself doing the same. Who was that man with her? Is he a lover, or just a quick pleasure? My heart starts to pound, and my ears feel hot. What is happening to me? As I drift off to sleep, my mind fills in the gaps of the story; whatever’s left under her clothes, whatever she may be experiencing in her bed while I lie flatly on mine, alone. I try to brush these thoughts aside. I don’t even know this woman, nor am I even that fond of her, to be honest, especially with how she treated me today. Still, I can’t help but to wonder if she talks like that to everyone, in that fiery, fearsome tone. In a strange and crude way I might even say that I liked it.
I toss and turn in my sleep, my mind racing with thoughts of what’s to come, and what the next encounter will be like, in training tomorrow. I feel foolish for thinking about the instructor in this way, but I find myself puzzled with this strange feeling that won’t go away, that maybe I even liked her telling me what to do…and I certainly wouldn’t mind if she did it again.
CHAPTER 3: PARTNERS
ALEX
Dad places a sphere of an ice cube into a glass and fills it with hard liquor, a ritual I’ve often watched him perform over the years. I sit across from him, knees tightly together and hands in my lap. I still don’t know what to do with myself around him, but he doesn’t seem to mind my informalities as much.
“So,” he says, bringing the glass to his lips. “How did their first day go?” I sigh deeply, and I know I have to tell him the truth.
“They’re…undertrained,” I tell him.
“I’m not surprised,” he says as he glances casually out of the window at Ventra, glowing softly in the distance. “I’ve discovered that our allies are not exactly what they’ve advertised themselves to be,” he adds.
“What do you mean?” I inquire.
“When the Krillux offered their services to us, we thought they were sharp - a trained military. After reports from several training sessions similar to yours, we realized that this ‘army’ is actually an organization of traders,” he explains, a hint of annoyance in his voice. He never likes to feel as if he’s been tricked, and it’s sometimes a little scary when he does. My father has been known to lash out when things don’t go his way. His temper can even be extreme at times, but luckily it’s been a while since he’s done something rash. As I watch him take another sip of his drink, I study the wrinkles on his face; they ‘re a map, revealing the worn history of many battles and countless years of stress. It’s a glimpse of my future, and sometimes the thought of those wrinkles and the furrowed frown lines haunts me in my sleep. I can’t ever bring myself to live that way… forever unhappy, forever angry.
“I got most of them to cooperate yesterday,” I say, breaking the brief silence between us. “Except for one, a species I couldn’t recognize. He refused to fight. No matter how hard I tried, he wouldn’t budge. What am I supposed to do with that?” I ask.
Dad thinks for a moment, then leans forward, which I recognize as the posture he takes when he’s about to lay down some real talk. “Alex,” he says, “these people are never going to learn, and if they don’t want to, it honestly doesn’t matter. Most of the members of the Krillux are criminals, prisoners of war, and slaves a long ways from home.”
I wasn’t sure what he was getting at. He hands me another document - today’s briefing. “There are a few that are worth something, though, that we’ll try to keep. As for the others - I’ve seen enough reports to know where we’re wasting our time.”
I check my briefing papers. I’ve been moved back to my usual advanced combat
training. But something feels off about my dad’s tone. “What do you mean when you say we’ll try to keep? What’s going to happen to the others?” I ask him. He gives me a flat look, but I can sense something strange. That he’s hiding the answer behind his eyes.
After being dismissed, I take my usual walk through the endless halls of the ship to the lift station. I think about the look on Dad’s face, trying to unwrap the secrets he could be hiding from me. If there were a written agreement between the Krillux and the Cordelia, surely he wouldn’t do anything to break it. I start to form hundreds of questions in my mind. Aren’t we a government-funded extraction project? Is our alliance with the Krillux even authorized? Of course, these are all questions I could ask Cal the next time I get him alone. Being an assistant to the higher-ups means getting to hear all the gritty details.
The advanced combat room is made up to look sleek, sterile, and futuristic; not much room for distraction or interesting details. I notice the cluster of my peers waiting for the instructor. Amongst them are some new faces, a few of the Krillux; different species of them peppered amongst the humans. I feel myself tense as soon as I recognize one of them as the uncooperative male from yesterday. What the hell was he doing in a place like this when he wouldn’t even fight? I try to contain my rage, as I find a place in the room as far away from him as possible.
Training begins as usual. The instructor is harsh with all of us, screaming orders for us to fight him, demonstrating what we’ve been taught over the past few months. The Krillux get to skip this part since they’ve jumped on board so recently. Despite the hard work and harsh words, I’m glad to be treated like an equal here. Nobody tiptoes around me just because of my background. Eventually we split up into pairs.
Saving Ventra: Alien Romance (Lovers of Ventra Series) Page 2