by Frank Carey
"Damn, Gus, how about you cut a guy some slack?" Krazney said as his shoulder hunched over in defeat.
"No can do, Buddy. I'm on the clock."
Two facility security types appeared and took Kraz by the arms and dragged him over. Once seated, they emptied his pockets and found dozens of rings, watches, necklaces, wallets and assorted other valuables. "Kraz is what you'd call a lifter, aren't you, Buddy?"
Kraz just grimaced.
"Wait a minute," Sheila said. She examined Kraz's face closely. "You waited our table that night."
"Kraz, was that you?" Gus asked while retrieving the statue from its nook.
"I want a lawyer," was the alleged pickpocket's reply.
"No matter. I think this is yours Dr. Minty," Gus said as he handed the antiquity to the woman.
She ran a scanner over it. "Yep. How the hell did you know it was in there?"
Gus nodded toward Kraz. "I saw him when we came in. This is his type of work. I once saw him make a stuffed polar bear disappear. Kraz, you should have gone into show business."
Kraz remained silent. With the statue in one hand and Gus in the other, Sheila walked out of the establishment, leaving security to deal with the paperwork.
###
Around them, hundreds of priceless paintings hung from the walls, protected by hidden force fields and armored glass. Works of art from around the League told stories long forgotten except for those whose life was spent remembering such things. As a museum, the establishment was one of the finest, but as a bar, the drinks were masterful, their prices reasonable.
"Wow. I didn't know the Sokuhl were so into old art," Gus noted as he pushed his plate away. "I mean really, a bar with an art collection worth millions of credits?"
"Yeah, and they make a smokin’ Unicorn Fart. Go figure. Yes, the past holds a certain fascination for us. Something about the Great Question."
"And that is?"
"Hmmm?"
"What's the Great Question?"
"What if?"
He gave her a quizzical look.
"What if this had happened instead of that? What if you had ordered steak and I had ordered fish? What if this had happened instead of that? What if the Sokuhl hadn't come up with the idea of forming the League? Get it? What if?"
"I thought the Orta and the Corans had something to do with forming the League."
"Posers! They just cut the checks. We did all the work."
"I see. Well, we lessor races thank you for your forethought and hard work." Gus waited for the waitress to clear the table and take their drink orders before continuing. "So how did a nice girl like you end up working for both the Sokuhl Intelligence Service and the League Office of Security? Isn't there some rivalry there?"
Sheila sighed. "If I did work for both fine organizations, it would be due to a happy happenstance."
"They caught you doing nefarious deeds for the other side?"
"I never get caught."
"Right."
"How about you? Not too many finders out there."
"I got into it when other career choices fell through. You know, you go to school, get a job, then it goes to hell. A sob story heard a thousand times at a thousand honky tonks across the verse."
"Interesting. You said all that yet told me absolutely nothing. You're good, Gus, real good." She saw something glinting around his neck. Reaching over, she gently pulled a small pendant out from under his shirt. It was a silver cameo of an owl. "Why would a Storen be wearing an Earth bird around his neck?"
He took it from her and brought it up to eye level. "Athena's owl, companion of the Olympian goddess of reason. On Earth, they also knew her as Minerva, who along with her friend, this nameless owl, guided mankind into a new age. I couldn't do this job without their help." He put the object back under his shirt.
"You make them sound like they're going to suddenly appear."
"Sorry, I get caught up in the moment." Neither of them noticed the pulse of light from the pendant.
"Gus! Finally! You really need to keep your comm on," a tall, raven-haired woman said as she walked up and sat down next to him. She was wearing an owl broach on her left shoulder.
Gus choked. The woman reached over and patted him on the back. "He can hold his breath for half an hour, yet drinking without inhaling is a mystery to him. Hi, I'm Minnie, Gus's assistant."
"Love the broach," Sheila said.
"Ah, my little Horus. I never go anywhere without him. Boss, your meeting with Boss Meister?"
"Shit, I forgot." He flagged the waiter over and paid him along with a good tip. "Dr. Minty, it's been a pleasure. I assume you'll want a copy of the report?"
"Sure, why not. Thank you for lunch, by the way," she yelled to a retreating back. "She named her broach? Really?" Sheila walked out of the establishment, shaking her head while flagging down a conveyance.
###
Sitting at the kitchen table, Sheila watched her boyfriend fix dinner. It was something that never grew old for Dr. Kellen Matu Hardy was not your typical boyfriend.
Physiologically, Sokuhl were human-like in many respects. They had two arms, two legs, joints in the right places, and no tails, at least most Sokuhl, like Sheila, didn't have tails.
"So, did the statue work out for you?" Kel asked from the kitchen, his question accompanied by the sound of clinking dishes. She watched as he walked by the door, all two meters of him, not including the tail, complete with a spade-shaped blade at the end.
"It worked wonderfully. It was instrumental in catching the bad guys."
"Excellent," he replied. This was followed by the sound of large, leathery wings giving a quick flap.
"Kel, what do you know about human or Olympian ancient history?"
"Oh, the usual. Lots of immortal gods with an assortment of companions. Very heroic. What would you like to know."
"What can you tell me about the names Minnie and Horus? I've got a thought rattling around my head that I can't put my finger on. All I know is it's from some story I heard in xenohistory class."
"Minnie? Ah, yes, the diminutive form of the name Minerva, the Roman goddess who was the analog to the Greek goddess Athena, one of the gods of the Olympians that crash landed on Earth millennia ago. The Olympians played the deity game for a while—probably just an extension of their own belief system—before leaving, thus creating the whole Olympian god mythos which helped humans become what they are today."
"A goddess? What about Horus?"
"A god of Earth's ancient Egypt. Notably, the god of the sky and hunting."
"Two gods from different parts of a world. Kel, are you religious?"
"I believe in a Creator. I don't believe in organized religion."
"Oh. Is it possible that these Olympian gods could have existed?"
"Sure. Why not? An advanced, long-lived race coming in contact with a more primitive, short lived race could be mistaken for gods."
"Yes, why not? Where's dinner? I'm starved."
"Right here," Kel said as he walked in with a plate of food in each hand. His long black hair was worn elf-style between two long pointed ears. He was built like a wrestler, but with two large, leathery wings. He gently placed a plate in front of Sheila, then kissed the top of her head before sitting down across from her. "Let's eat!"
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The Nest battle cruiser Heart of Flame orbited Cerberus unseen by the dozen other ships as it sat underneath a state-of-the-art Sokuhl battle cruiser sent by the Patriarch to monitor the situation. To the naked eye, the space above Cerberus was empty except for the occasional meteor. With the right equipment, most of the ships could be detected, but not the NBC Heart of Flame; its advanced cloaking technology rendered it invisible to all except another Nest Cruiser.
"I wonder if the Matriarch told Zor yet that his fleet has been augmented by over a dozen cruisers?" Zeta, the Heart's first officer asked.
"She'll wait until the proper moment is at hand," Captain Treena replied as she scan
ned the consoles surrounding her command chair. "Until then, we stay cloaked. Anyway, with all these ships stacked in orbit around us, our sudden appearance could cause a pile-up of stellar proportions.”
"Agreed," Zeta noted as she looked at the holoprojection of the ships around them. Unlike the others, the Heart could see all the other cloaked ships as if their stealth systems were turned off.
Alarms went off. "Report!" Zeta ordered.
"Unknown energy signature near the expedition site, ma'am," the sensor officer said. "It's diffuse, approximately from an area ten meters wide."
"Run it through the database Dr. Hardy and his group obtained from the Tegan."
"Working... Ma'am, it's a samsar."
"Science?"
"Confirmed, Captain. The signature matches."
"Ma'am, we have six life signs... And an EPIRB. Ma'am, it's EMEF Team One. They are under attack by the samsar."
"Dammit! Response from the Ventosian cruiser?"
"None, ma'am."
"Again, dammit! We can't let those Marines die, now can we, Zeta?"
"No, ma'am. After our court martial, care to join me in running a coffee shop on Arctillus?"
"Works for me. Comm, ship-wide."
"Aye, ma'am. You are go."
"This is the captain. I'm about to violate orders...again. You know the drill. It has been an honor to serve with all of you. You've got one minute to voice your displeasure. Treena out."
Zeta watched the comm readouts. "One minute... Mark! No takers, ma'am, though three did reenlist."
"God love you all. Prepare to..."
"Ma'am, something's happening down there..." the sensor officer reported.
"Specify," the first officer ordered.
"A non-standard EPIRB just lit off. Its pattern matches one in the Tegan database. Specifically, it's marked as a samsar recall code."
"Shit, some fool is lighting-off a lure."
"Yes, ma'am. The samsar is moving off toward the EPIRB."
"What about Team One?"
"The Zephyr just materialized above the team's location."
"That makes no sense. The Zephyr is on a mission to rescue the Expedition."
"This makes no sense, ma'am. Someone just englobed part of the samsar in a forcefield... I'm picking up a number of life signs around the captured. All but one is Tegan."
"And the non-Tegan?" Zeta asked.
"One, pregnant female Sokuhl!"
The captain looked at the first officer. "You said part of the samsar. What about the rest of the damn thing?"
"It's surrounding the Tegans, ma'am."
"Those brain-dead imbeciles... Battle stations, Zeta. All weapons hot. Helm! On my mark, get us down there yesterday!"
"Ma'am! Inbound life sign. Altitude one thousand feet. Speed, Mach 0.25. Configuration is Basili, male. Vitals indicate extreme anger."
"Kellen Matu Hardy makes an appearance," the captain noted. "Helm, can we get there before him?"
"No, ma'am. Too much of a head start."
"Copy that."
"Ma'am, all stations read battle stations set," the first officer said.
"Operations officer, uncloak the ship," the captain ordered. "Helm! Mark!"
"Surprise!" Zeta said as the mighty Heart of Fire suddenly appeared out of empty space.
###
Proximity alarms went off on the other orbiting ships. Crews scrambled to bring the other ships to battle stations as the Heart of Flame dropped stealth and dove toward the surface. Comm traffic erupted as the other ships demanded answers from the Heart's captain, but Treena ignored them. "They have the same intel that we do, so let them figure it out," she muttered. "Sensors, how is Dr. Hardy doing?"
"He's arrived at the EPIRB location. He's destroyed the EPIRB... By the gods!"
"What is it, Clara?" Zeta asked.
"He's initiated an amplified repeat of the lure. He's broadcasting at a level one hundred times as powerful as the EPIRB. It's attacking him while ignoring everything else."
"That love-sick... Helm, ETA?"
"Thirty seconds."
"Sensors?"
"I... I..."
"Clara!"
"Ma'am, the samsar is dying."
"What? What about Dr. Hardy?" the captain demanded.
"Still angry and still breathing. I have no explanation."
"Clara, get me a visual, now!"
"Aye, Captain!"
The main viewer shimmered to life as an image formed. The captain stood up and watched as Kel hovered over the center of the plaza, incinerating tendril after tendril with great streamers of fire breath. But that wasn't what was killing the weapon. "Science, am I seeing this right?"
The science officer stared at her console. "Confirmed. The thing dies when it comes in contact with him. His life energy must be incompatible with its own, so much so that he's antilife to it."
"Weapons, can we modify our shields to mimic his life force?"
"Yes, ma'am, but it will take a few minutes."
"Make it happen, Chief. Zeta, brief flights one and two. I want them deployed to help the good doctor."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Sensors, status of the Liberty?"
"Taking off. She's broadcasting an S.O.S. on League channels. She's also squawking the ID of one Captain Dashiell MacFarland and EMEF Major Nayla Hardy."
"And the Zephyr?"
"Heading to orbit. She's squawking EMEF Team One's ID."
"Ma'am, Flight One and Flight Two signal ready."
"Launch flights and take position outside the plaza, five hundred feet altitude. People, let's give Dr. Hardy a hand."
###
Seeing Sheila in danger, Kel did the only thing he could do. He caught the samsar's attention and diverted it to him using the same routine the EPIRB had used, but only a hundred times greater in power. He watched as tendrils from around the plaza closed in on him at frightening speed. "Come and get it, thing, some nice, fresh Basili," he screamed. He pulled out his blaster and set it to full power before firing on the cloud tentacles. It had no effect. He watched as the tentacles closed on him. "Goodbye, my love," he said in a loud voice, defiant to the end.
Within moments, the tendrils were upon him. As he waited to die, a strange thing occurred. The parts of the samsar which came into contact with his flesh turned white and dropped away in a rainstorm of white sand. Unable to stop, more of the samsar attached and died, the corpses of billions of dead nanobots piling up in the plaza below. Wings, hands, arms, it didn't matter. The samsar died instantly upon contact with Kel.
Kel watched and realized that he was anathema to the weapon, so he bellowed a battle cry worthy of the Basili warriors of old. Flame shot from his mouth and impacted the weapon, igniting vast sections into clouds of flame.
"Dr. Hardy, would you mind if we joined you?"
Kel turned and beheld a dozen winged female Basili hovering around him. Like with him, the samsar died whenever it touched one of them. All twelve wore uniforms emblazoned with "Sokuhl Space Force."
"Colonel Kalesh of the SSF at your service."
"Please. Um, where did you come from?"
She pointed at the giant cruiser hovering above the plaza behind him. "She's the cruiser Heart of Flame commanded by Captain Treena," the colonel explained while her team decimated the samsar.
"Does Zor know about her? I thought I knew all the cruisers in the Sokuhl Space Navy."
"Yes, well I should let the Captain explain... Wait one..." she said while tapping her ear piece. "Teams! Time to dust off. Doctor, if you would turn off your scanner's beacon."
"What about the samsar?" Kel asked as he deactivated his gauntlet.
"The Heart will take over those duties. Please, follow us."
The thirteen Basili broke hover and headed to an open landing bay on the ventral side of the mighty ship.
"Welcome to the Heart of Flame, Dr. Hardy," the colonel said as they landed on the deck. Around them the crew took a moment to stop and survey Kel
.
"Where are the males?" Kel asked.
"There are over five hundred Basili aboard the Flame, all but one is female," Kalesh noted, "and that would be you."
"Interesting. May I assume this is an experiment in the methods used by pre-Sokuhl Basili, which was a matriarchy?"
"Yes, Command is always trying out different strategies. We have an all-male crewed cruiser, a mixed-gender crewed cruiser, we even have one crewed by a mixed gender crew all over the age of one hundred years."
"Fascinating," Kel said as he and the colonel entered a lift while the rest of the team headed off to other duties. "What about the samsar?"
"The captain had the comm officer broadcast the recall signal. The samsar thinks the Flame is one big recall beacon. Knowing the captain, she's having the weapons officer try different weapons out on the creature." She put her hand to her ear. "The Liberty and Zephyr have both landed aboard the Protector II, your mate is unharmed, but extremely angry. The Protector's captain is now informing her of your safe arrival aboard the Flame. Dr. Minty loves you deeply, does she not?"
Kel nodded. "And I her. I was prepared to die for her and our unborn child down on the planet. Tell me, Colonel, do you have children?"
"Yes, my mate—a physicist—and I have seven—four boys and three girls. The girls rule, of course."
"Then you know what I'm talking about?"
"Deeply. Most of the crew have mates and offspring and each would gladly die to protect them."
The lift came to a stop and the doors opened onto the Bridge.
"Doctor Hardy!" a tall Basili female wearing Captain's stripes said. "Captain Treena at your service."
Kel shook hands with the captain. "I must attend to my duties. With your permission, Captain?"
"Off course, Colonel." Kalesh entered the lift, leaving Kel with the captain and bridge crew. "What do you think of the Flame, Doctor?"
"Incredible. How did you keep the Sokuhl from finding out about it?"
"We have our ways. Zeta, status?" she asked the first officer.
"Ready, ma'am. Shields are ready to change modulation. The first one is Sokuhl."
"Do it. Doctor, we are mimicking various life energy signatures to see which are anathema to the samsar."
They watched as the samsar died by the millions as it came in contact with the remodulated shields.