by L. E. Thomas
Ravi put his hands on his hips. “This is a space ship. Yes. Of course we have a suit.” He gestured to Austin’s arm. “You feel better now?”
“Let’s get this over with,” Austin grumbled, wondering if the spacewalk that was about to happen would be the last thing he ever did.
*****
“What is that?” Austin asked.
A hissing sound filled his space suit. It didn’t sound like the spacesuits he had ever used.
“Nothing to worry about,” Ravi said through the short range gamma wave. “Nope. Nothing to worry about.”
Austin felt Ravi’s fingers on his back, pressing and probing the suit. The inside of the suit itself smelled better than the ship. A stale metallic air with a whiff of dirty socks rushed through the helmet, but it was better than smelling the Dapar Leaves and Blaine’s cooking.
“Now we get you into the airlock. Yes.”
Before Austin could respond, Blaine lifted Austin over his shoulder and lumbered toward the airlock. The monstrous man picked up Austin without even grunting.
“Wait,” Austin said, “I thought you said the airlock didn’t work.”
“Yes. It doesn’t really work. But we will seal off the rest of the ship. We will be fine. Yes.”
Austin stared up at the ceiling as Blaine carried him, wondering for the twentieth time in the past minute if he was going to die. “I’m glad you’ll be safe, Ravi. What about me?”
“You?” Ravi asked, his voice rising even higher in pitch. “Why you worried about you? You’ll be fine. Yes.”
Blaine dropped him into the airlock and turned Austin toward the outer door. The big man knelt down on one knee and smiled, revealing all his rotten teeth. With his right hand, Blaine pointed toward the outer door and punched Austin in the shoulder.
“Sucks,” he barked and slapped Austin’s shoulder again. “Sucks!”
“Yeah, yeah, okay.” Austin shook his head as Blaine waddled out of the airlock. Dim yellow lights blinked and twirled as the inner door clanged shut.
Okay, he thought. Here we go. If there’s a hole in the suit or Ravi’s airlock doesn’t open properly, Austin could be sucked out into the vacuum of space and tumble into orbit. He would either burn in the atmosphere or drift endlessly through the depths of space.
Fun times.
He inhaled one long breath of the metallic air and closed his eyes.
“You ready, Connor?” Ravi asked.
“Yes. Do it.”
“Safe travels. Yes.”
Wheezing surrounded him. It grew louder, increasing in intensity until it sounded like Austin stood on the edge of the ocean in the middle of a storm. As quickly as it had started, the sounds ceased. He heard the soft hum of his suit and nothing else.
“Go ahead now,” Ravi said, his voice rising. “Yes.”
“Yes,” Austin said, looking down at his gloved hands. The spacesuit had scrapes and tears they had repaired many times. It didn’t look pretty, but it seemed to be working.
In other words, he wasn’t dead.
Yet.
Austin stood and shuffled toward the outer door. He pushed back the rusty hatch, revealing the open space beyond the ship. Twenty yards away floated the Taliford One. No markings or any other identification symbols covered the ship. Just a steel gray ship floating in orbit above the golden planet of Ashia.
He turned around, saw Blaine’s massive head poking through the porthole on the inner door of the airlock. The mammoth man didn’t have a microphone, but Austin could see he still said the word, “sucks.” Turning back, Austin stood and lingered at the edge of the airlock outer door.
The planet stretched out below him. Every fiber of his being told him he would fall out and burn up in the planet’s atmosphere. He knew it wouldn’t happen—that he was in zero gravity, and he would be able to float, but he couldn’t shake the fear from his mind. He had never been scared of heights until this moment. If he pushed off toward the other ship and missed his mark, they would certainly come back to get him.
Right?
Easy now, he thought. Make your way one step at a time.
As he took another deep breath and stood at the edge of the airlock, the side of Taliford One slid open. Austin squinted, trying to make out the strange shapes inside the ship. A three-pronged grappling hook extended from the hatch of the strange ship and came toward him.
Thank the Lord. They are going to guide me to the ship.
The grappling hook stopped a few feet from Ravi’s ship. Austin reached out, ignoring the planet revolving below them, and snatched the hook.
“I got it,” he said.
The grappling hook reeled him in like a caught fish toward the Taliford One. As Austin moved toward the new vessel, he got his first look at Ravi’s ship. He immediately wished he hadn’t.
Plumes of gasses trailed from three individual places on the oval-shaped ship. Pieces of metal formed a cloud of debris around the vessel, following the craft in orbit. Four different types of metal formed the hull, from what looked like cargo shipping containers to sheet metal. Austin closed his eyes, thankful he had made it all.
The Taliford One reeled him into the ship. The airlock door slid shut, leaving him in complete darkness. A light flickered to life and filled the airlock with a fluorescent glow. The atmosphere normalized, surrounding Austin with a steady rush of gasses. Artificial gravity pressed down on him. He felt the weight of the suit. He let go of the hook and sat in the center of the airlock, allowing the outcome of his first solo spacewalk to register with his mind. After a moment, the hissing sound ceased, and the inner airlock door opened.
Two men dressed in black tunics stepped through the door. Both had closely cropped hair and clean shaven faces. The first one, a well-built, dark-skinned man, knelt down in front of Austin and removed the jury-rigged helmet.
“You stink,” the man said in a deep voice. He smiled, revealing a full set of white teeth. “Lieutenant Stone, welcome aboard the Taliford One. I’m Major Tanner. This here’s Major Vakar.”
Austin sighed, allowing a sense of relief to flow over him. He leaned back on his hands. “Thank you, Major. Good to see you, sir.”
“Is this a joke?” Vakar asked, standing behind Austin.
“Sir?”
Vakar probed Austin’s back, pulling something sticky from his back. When he stepped back around in front of Austin, he held a purple wad of goo in his hands. “This was stopping up a tear in your suit.”
Austin closed his eyes, shaking his head slowly. “Ravi.”
“That’s the plan, and we have to move quickly,” Major Tanner said with a nod.
Austin stared at the cold, steel table in the dining area of Taliford One. He still wore the tan coveralls and reeked from his stay on Ravi’s ship. If he turned his head the right way, he smelled the odor of Blaine’s leaves on his clothes. But at the moment, he didn’t care.
Major Tanner and Major Vakar had not provided their first names, had not provided any details of their position with the Legion, and had been standoffish when Austin had inquired for any personal details. Getting right to the point, Tanner had just finished laying it all on the line including what Austin was expected to do.
“So you want me to break into a secure Zahlian facility and steal the Wraith? Without a strike team or insertion team? Are you serious?” He shook his head, thinking of the hundreds of hours he secretly spent locked in simulations on board the Formidable. “I knew the sim training on the Zahlian Interceptor meant I would be flying the Wraith, sure. Braddock didn’t have any more details, but I thought there’d be a team involved. You know, like SEALs?”
Tanner blinked. “SEALs?”
He sighed. “You know, like a team would deliver me to a location or something. But I have to move in and steal it? Myself?”
Tanner’s eyes narrowed. “Of course, Lieutenant. I have one correction, though.”
“Yes?”
“You don’t have to break into anything. An entire tea
m has been prepared to help smuggle you in.”
Austin scoffed. “I’m still the one who’s going to have to fly that thing out of a Zahlian installation.”
Ignoring him, Tanner gestured to the tattoos on Austin’s arms. “Those aren’t just for decoration.”
Austin stared at the tattooed circles on his arms. “What are they?”
“Your second cover.” He glanced back at Major Vakar. “The Major’s going to ensure you make it to Claria on the first leg of your journey. Security on the entire planet is tight. You’ll be traveling under an alias, of course, hence the tattoos. We did this just in case your “death” wasn’t as effective with Zahlian Intelligence Agents as we had hoped. And you’ll receive several other … alterations.”
“Wonderful.” He couldn’t wait to find out what that meant.
“Once you are safely on Claria, Major Vakar will turn you over to our deep cover team. They will help you the rest of the way.”
Austin frowned. “And just how will they do that?”
Tanner glanced back at Vakar. “We don’t know.”
Austin blinked twice. “You don’t know?”
“We don’t know.”
“Why?”
“It’s classified. We only know our part of the plan, just as you know yours. Another team told us to rendezvous with that so-called ship to pick you up.”
“So you didn’t pick Ravi?” Austin asked.
“No.”
“Well, good for you. I have some words for whoever orchestrated that.”
Tanner smiled. “You have any other questions?”
Austin snorted. Of course, he had questions. Legion black ops wanted him to steal the Wraith. It was the most advanced fighter in the galaxy and under heavy guard. He had no idea how he was going to be smuggled onto the planet to do it, much less infiltrate the military base housing the fighter. But there was one question that kept coming to mind, one he felt to be of the utmost and urgent importance.
“Any chance I could take a shower on this ship?” he asked his nose wrinkling.
Tanner laughed. “Of course, Lieutenant. Vakar will show you. Then, we have to work on the next phase of your preparation.”
*****
“Are we sure this is really necessary?” Austin asked as Major Tanner made red lines on his face with a marker. “I thought the Zahlian government was under the impression I was dead.”
“They are or, rather, they should be,” Tanner said, making one last line over Austin’s cheek. “But they also have an extensive database that includes face recognition software.”
“They know my face?”
“We have to assume they do. They probably have all of your Legion files. When you died, it was probably deleted. Still, we aren’t taking any chances. The hack of the science station Ramelle was not an isolated incident. Legion systems have been hacked in numerous locations. All up and down the border near Claria, the Zahlian Navy has been very active. We have to assume Tulin is pulling the strings, trying to start a war by probing our weaknesses and gathering intelligence. It’s the reason he funded the Tyral Pirate attack on that backwater planet. He was hoping to destabilize the Legion from within while he made his moves.” Tanner stepped back and looked at his handiwork, crossing his bulky arms over his chest. “There we go.”
“You know I’m from that backwater planet.” Austin looked at the Major. “It’s called Earth.”
“Well, it was almost called nothing,” Tanner said quickly. “The Tyral Pirates would not have made the greatest caretakers.”
Austin opened his mouth but shut it. He wanted to tell the Major how he had been a part of the defense on Earth, been right in the middle of it. Then he remembered Braddock telling him no one cared what was going on backwater planets. Taking the time to brag to Tanner, a man who had obviously been around the Legion longer than Austin, would be immature and a waste of time.
“So,” Austin said, changing the subject, “what exactly are you going to do to me? Give me a facelift or something?”
“Reconstruct part of your DNA.”
Austin stared at him. “What?”
“That’s just part of the plan. We’re also going to implant translators into your ears. After all, we can’t have you walking around with visible translators.” Tanner pointed at his ears. “No one uses translators in the Zahl Empire—especially not ones you can see. When the Empire conquers a world, they expect all intelligent native populations to convert to the ways of the Zahl Empire. That includes learning the language.”
“I see.” Austin shook his head. “I don’t care about the translators. Let's go back to the part about reconstructing my DNA. I’d like to know what that means.”
Tanner grinned, shifting his hands to rest on his hips. “Vakar knows all about that.”
Vakar stepped forward and gave a sharp nod. “I will be assisting with your DNA reconstruction.”
“And how are you qualified?” Austin asked, an uneasy feeling settling into his core.
“I am from the Zahl Empire, and I spent time on Claria.”
“You’re Zahlian?”
“Yes.”
Austin glanced at Tanner. “I thought you guys were Legion.”
“We are.” Tanner eyed his counterpart. “Vakar’s a double agent.”
Vakar looked at Austin. The man had pale, wax-like skin and nearly colorless eyes. A thin black mustache crossed like a pencil line across his lip. He could have been a mannequin in a store back on Earth. When he spoke, his voice was emotionless to the point Austin wondered if he was even human.
“It is a pleasure to accompany you on a part of this mission,” Vakar said with a shallow bow. “I am honored to work with a Star Runner.”
“Why are you doing this?” Austin asked. “I mean no offense, but I am curious since you’re Zahlian.”
Vakar held his gaze. “I have been doing this for years, and I continue to do so for all the worlds who have been caught behind the Zahlian lines, forced to live the way they want you to. It isn’t right. We may not be able to defeat the Zahl Empire, but I am going to do my part to weaken them.”
Austin sighed. He never considered the Zahl Empire dealt with insurgents. For some reason, he had always assumed the Zahl Empire was a solid force of unwavering power and might.
Austin thought of the conquered worlds and studied Vakar. “Did you lose your family on a conquered Zahlian world?”
Vakar broke eye contact and stared at the wall. “We have a lot of work to do,” he said, his voice softer than before.
“Okay,” Austin said, wondering if he had said too much. “How does this work?”
“People on Claria play with DNA all the time.” Vakar bowed his head. “It is a national obsession. Some do it for fashion. Others because they do not like their own appearance.”
Austin shook his head. “What kind of reconstruction?”
Vakar turned his hands upside down in front of him. “Anything. Some people give themselves spots like a leopard or stripes like a zebra. I once saw a woman who had eyes like a snake. Others change the color of their hair or skin to make themselves stand out at work.”
Austin nodded, unsure he wanted to know the answer to his next question. “And what do you plan on doing to me?”
Vakar smiled. “You are going to arrive on Claria as an outcast Originist missionary.”
“What’s that?”
“It is a cult that believes man originated from one planet in the galaxy.” Vakar waved his hand as if he brushed away a mosquito. “In addition to your implanted translators, your face will be altered to look like you were born with a skin deformity and your eyes will be changed to a bright purple. This will be enough to get you through the security on Claria. Once you arrive, the next team will have further plans for you.”
Austin swallowed, his hand touching the side of his face. “Are the alterations … reversible?”
“Of course.” Vakar glanced at Tanner. “Most of the time they are absolutely able to
be reversed. Yes, of course.”
“Oh, great,” Austin mumbled, thinking about what Ryker would say if she saw his face. “‘Most of the time.’ What then?”
Tanner stepped forward. “We are heading toward Claria now. We are dropping into one of the standard Zahlian space lanes, flying slow under a false ID. We shouldn’t be stopped until we reach port. That’s the easy part. The hard part will be getting on the shuttle to the planet’s surface. Even when there’s not a threat of war, security on a Zahlian planet is never a joy to deal with.”
Vakar suddenly straightened. “We do not have much time. Are you ready to begin?”
“Sure,” Austin said, trying to project a feeling of confidence. He didn’t see how he had much choice at this point. “Let’s ruin my face.”
“Oh … no. Please tell me you can turn this back.”
Lieutenant Austin Stone stared at the stranger in the mirror. His cheeks sagged, forming multiple folds. His eyebrows hung low, much lower and they would have prevented his vision. His eyes glowed purple.
When they first mentioned it, Austin thought they would be a dull color. The eyes they had given him looked battery powered in the low light of Taliford One. In fact, he wondered if they would glow in the dark.
“I think you look wonderful,” Vakar said, his smile full of pride. “Better than I could have hoped for. No one will recognize you.”
Austin snorted. “That’s for sure.”
Vakar handed him a tablet. “This contains your travel credentials and other personal information. You are an Originist Missionary named Elipia Bakrah.”
Austin frowned. “Eli … Elipia Bakrah?”
“Yes. Missionaries travel through Claria all the time and are expected. You have been listed as mute and have been born without the ability to speak.”
“That’s good cause I can barely pronounce the name.”
“Your translators will help you understand what is being said, but you shouldn’t have a need to converse with anyone. Should that happen, use your tablet to type and the words will instantly be transferred to Zahlian.”
“Surprised you guys didn’t want me to learn the language first.”