Celestial Incursion

by Eddie R. Hicks

“I’ll have the captain remain in orbit,” Queenea offered.

  Odelea frowned at the news. Their arrival at Earth was supposed to jump-start their return back home, not delay it even further. If she hadn’t been so tired, another outburst might have erupted as her patience in the matter had all but dwindled.

  “I shall observe from the bridge,” Crimei said, and took his leave.

  “Very well,” Queenea replied, then faced Odelea and her fatigued face. “And you, go get some rest, I don’t care how many stims you’ve acquired.”

  “I was on my way to my quarters in fact,” Odelea said.

  “Good, keep that mind sharp, we’re going to need it soon,” Queenea spat.

  Silent sliding doors gave Odelea access to her second place of sanctuary on the ship, a small and restricting room that offered only a bed attached to the wall and a bathing pool small enough to fit one person. They were typical universal visitor quarters, and it made her miss the species-specific ones the Abyssal Explorer and other Radiance vessels built and operated had during that era. Odelea stripped away the lab coat and attire that clung to her tiny frame and dipped into the hot waters of the pool, cleansing her body, and washing away the cosmetics applied to her neck and shoulder scales. A face she had not readjusted to seeing reflected back at her as she looked down at the soothing waves that splashed against her breasts. The wrinkles on her face, grey hair, and withering body, were all gone.

  She finished bathing and slipped into sleeping attire, crawling onto one of the more rugged beds she’d slept on. She used her HNI to create a small projection that hovered above her face as her head hit the pillow. The contents of the projection listed everything she had discovered about the invaders thus far as well as Tolukei’s dossier.

  The bluish glow of the projection became the only source of light within her quarters when the lights shut off, while the flowing waves of her bathing pool created pleasing sounds in the background. Darkness surrounded her when her implants detected her mind had slipped away into sleep, automatically shutting off the reading material displayed on the projection.

  Abyssal Comet

  Earth orbit, Sol system

  August 9, 2118, 17:43 SST (Sol Standard Time)

  Odelea didn’t sleep long. It was a difficult task when one went to sleep thinking about Tolukei.

  Springing up from her bed, she accessed a new holographic projection listing notes, data, pictures, and firsthand reports the first human explorers that ventured to Sirius had made; the explorers that brought Tolukei with them.

  Her brain raced around pulling up fact after fact, linking them together. Odelea was a prodigy when it came to understanding languages, she was able to speak the thousands of different languages humans had spoken, in addition to the six languages spoken within Radiance, the Hashmedai language, and deciphered the Lyonria language, before moving onto the Poniga, Qirak, and Undine languages, once that information was made available.

  Being able to speak, read, and write in the thousands of languages that originated from various civilizations across the stars, allowed Odelea to notice patterns others couldn’t. Every language, regardless of its origins, had faint similarities, patterns she was able to effortlessly detect, understand, then translate. She never was able to explain how the process in her mind worked to others and wrote it off as one of life’s mysteries that would never be solved. She was a gifted woman, one that was in possession of a brilliant brain no other Aryile . . . or person in the galaxy for that matter, had. The more she listened to an unknown language, the closer she got to cracking its code, and working on a means to translate it. The process, to her, was like wiping moisture buildup off a window and peering through it to see what was inside.

  The invader she encountered on the elevator was chanting to a deity of some sort and issuing a stern warning that others who worshiped said deity would be united and fight with them. Tolukei’s dossier reminded Odelea of the alleged reason why he, while aboard the Carl Sagan, vanished from Sirius. The Abyssal Sword, a Radiance battle cruiser that some believed had been boarded by the cult of the Celestial Order, members of Radiance that had a twisted view and worship practices of the three Gods. It drifted into the system, prompting the Carl Sagan to investigate its appearance, and then the two ships vanished.

  The deity the invader worshiped must have been the same the Celestial Order heretics did. It would explain how the Carl Sagan ended up in the hands of the invaders and their fleet.

  There was a connection. It was all the more reason why she must be the one to carry out this research, who else in the Union, or the galaxy for that matter, would be smart enough to think and make the connections she did? Her perception of the universe was vastly different from everyone else and it was that gift that allowed life in the galaxy to be where it was today.

  News reports from the knowledge network beamed into her head via her implants. Reports of invaders that had been encountered on Aervounis claimed that rangers and psionics had eliminated them all. Aervounis and the Luminous system was 100 percent free of all invader activity, Radiance killed off any chance of her learning more of their language. Knowing the Empire, they probably did the same, not that she would be allowed to enter their space or access their knowledge network. There was one place left in the galaxy where Odelea could find living invaders that could speak.

  Earth.

  And the humans were aggressively fighting and killing them with each passing hour.

  It was unlikely human soldiers would attempt to capture an invader. Even if they did, they would hand it to their intelligence agency, EISS, and keep whatever they learned to themselves. Human brains weren’t as developed as hers. They wouldn’t be able to make the connections she did, and it was unlikely they would decipher and discover a means to translate the invader language, not quickly, at least. Odelea was able to translate all human languages into Radiance, just by listening to it repeatedly, carefully analyzing its written form, and discovering the patterns.

  Odelea leapt out of bed, got dressed, and established a connection with Queenea using her HNI. Her holographic likeness appeared over Odelea’s eyes.

  “Odelea, shouldn’t you be sleeping?” Queenea said.

  “There’s something on my mind keeping me awake,” Odelea said.

  Queenea sighed “What is it now?”

  “What are the chances we can travel to the surface of Earth?”

  “This can’t be what’s keeping you awake . . .”

  “I assure you, it is.”

  “Look, the humans won’t like the idea of us roaming around on their world uninvited, especially given what’s happened. We don’t have any control over their government like we did seventy years ago and staying in orbit as long as we have is making them suspicious of us. Unless they request our presence on the surface, we’re not allowed. Tolukei was different, Crimei was already there and put in a request to have him extradited back to Aervounis.”

  Extradited, my Gods, she speaks as if he committed crimes then fled, which is hardly the case.

  Then again, being born a Muodiry was viewed as sacrilegious to many within the Union. And, at one point, Odelea was one of those many, until her scientific mind raised questions about the origins of the Javnis race.

  “Thank you for your time,” Odelea said, and Queenea’s holographic presence on the bridge vanished.

  She stepped over to a shelf that held the magnetic pistol she was given during her escape from Veromacon. Her hands hovered above it in hesitation, causing her heart to race fast and breathing become erratic. Flashbacks to the Aryile soldier that lost his life flooded her mind, a death that could have been prevented if she had just pulled the trigger.

  She closed her eyes and forced herself to take hold of the weapon. She marched to the brig, doing everything she could to convince herself she didn’t touch it, and wiped away the tears whenever she failed to do so. Tolukei was alone, sitting miserably within his force-field-protected cell. She wasn’t surprised given what
he was, most Radiance members couldn’t stand being in the presence of an individual who was walking, breathing proof that the religious texts about the Gods might have been incorrect. That and all armed personnel aboard the Comet were being paid by Souyila, rather than ordered by military personnel. Good help was hard to find, regardless of what planet you were from.

  Odelea’s fingers tapped in a code on a wall holographic interface. The force field flashed off and Tolukei looked up at her with confusion as her delicate hands safely removed the slave collar, giving his psionic abilities back, and removing the threat of the bomb inside of it from exploding.

  “Your actions are most puzzling,” Tolukei said, standing up.

  Her head shifted up past the cybernetics on his chest, making eye contact with him. “I need your help.”

  “What do you wish from me?” His deep monotone voice said.

  “Please . . . I . . . I need you to take me to the surface.”

  “The surface?”

  “We are still in orbit of Earth; the invaders are attacking one of their cities. I need to capture one, alive; I need you to help me do that.”

  “Why not ask your ship and crew? They are more than capable of doing that task.”

  “They will not listen, truth is, humans will resent us being there uninvited.”

  “And they won’t resent us?”

  “Not if they don’t know we’re there.” She breathed deeply and shook off the jittery feelings running through her arms. “I understand this request may seem sudden and controversial, but please understand I must be the one to study the language of the invaders. The ones on Aervounis are dead, I don’t know about the ones on Paryo, but knowing the Hashmedai they too are dead.” That, and the Hashmedai don’t take prisoners, and the few they take are executed days later.

  “The invaders on Earth are still alive . . . I see your predicament.”

  “They will not be for long, I’ve watched firsthand what humans will do to protect their homeworld. These invaders will not survive.”

  Tolukei stepped out of his cell facing her in a manner that caused her to experience anxious thoughts. Would he help? Or perhaps he really did belong in the cell with a slave collar. What happened next was going to be up to him.

  “I have no reason not to help you,” he said. “Please stand next to me, I will grant you your request.”

  Teleportation light removed the presence of the two off the ship.

  Mountain Peak

  Mount Hermon, Earth, Sol system

  August 9, 2118, 18:02 SST (Sol Standard Time)

  Odelea and Tolukei materialized on top of a mountain peak overlooking human forces engaged with invader forces at a city near the foot of the mountain. The cooler air from the high elevation sent shivers across Odelea’s arms, as her tropical-loving body was not prepared. She suspected Tolukei was suffering more since he had to have his chest and arms exposed for his cybernetics to operate correctly.

  “The humans battle the invaders below,” he said, pointing at a city with black smoke rising up and away from it. “This was my best guess as to where the enemy was, though, clearly, I have overshot.”

  “I appreciate you doing this,” Odelea said to him. “I suppose we could use this high ground to gain a better vantage point, before we teleport further.”

  Ignoring the cold, the two made their way across a path that led down a steep incline on the mountain to the war-torn human city. Teleportation light flashed, someone else had joined them behind.

  That was quick; she thought and moved to face the new company.

  Odelea’s plan was improvised. She knew it was only a matter of time before someone on the Comet figured out what she’d done and sent a psionic in pursuit of them. Though by her calculations, such a thing shouldn’t have occurred for another hour at least.

  Odelea gasped in fear and tugged on Tolukei’s arm, halting his trek on the path.

  The psionic that teleported behind them wasn’t from the Comet.

  Or the galaxy for that matter.

  The two faced three armored invader soldiers armed with their tachyon rifles, rifles that rose to take aim at them. Tolukei shoved Odelea, and her small body tumbled to the ground behind a boulder while he assembled a psionic shield around himself to draw their fire.

  “Remember, we need at least one alive and to able to speak clearly,” Odelea shouted to him as he unleashed his psionic wrath upon them.

  Unknown to her was the source of the invader’s teleportation. Last time she checked, invader soldiers lacked psionic powers. She peeked over the edge of the boulder, laying her eyes on a fourth hostile figure. It looked human or Linl and wore light armor, the reflective surface of the armor was designed to appear as if it were scales—

  High-pitched ringing noises shattered Odelea’s mind.

  Her HNI had gone haywire and took her brain along for the ride.

  24 Chevallier

  Residential Neighborhood

  Sidon, Earth, Sol system

  August 9, 2118, 18:17 SST (Sol Standard Time)

  Mathilda Chevallier’s idea of touring the Mediterranean and its coastal cities when she was in her twenties, before the uplifting of the human race, did not involve death and destruction at the hands of dragons from outer space. Then again, neither did her vision of Earth a hundred years into the future at that time.

  C'est la vie.

  The sea wyrm they rode in on may have suffered a fatal heart attack, but its crew of invaders, along with their wyverns, continued to be a threat to the UNE forces that engaged in a dicey battle with them. The streets of Sidon became a deadly stage of urban warfare as gunfire exchange between Marines and invader soldiers blazed endlessly. Robotic mechs and Marines sporting heavy exosuits tackled the large tank-like drakes, literally. Fighters danced with the screeching cybernetically wired wyverns in the skies in a desperate act to keep their talons away from Marines, mechs, and of course, the EDF team Chevallier had unofficially become a part of. Though she questioned how long that would last given her recent actions.

  Her HUD flashed bringing to her attention that her recently recharged shields had already dropped to 88 percent. As much as she wanted to rise up from her cover and allow her shields to keep her alive while her rifle took as many invader lives as possible, she needed to hold back on unnecessary risks. Maxwell and LeBoeuf didn’t get much rest for their psionic minds, and their ability to top up shields was off the menu until the fighting was over.

  Slow and steady wins this race, she thought, and waited for the sound of tachyon rifles to cease, before guiding her rifle back out into the battle from her cover behind an overturned truck. Two invader soldiers fell over backwards with steaming hot blood gushing out from holes in their chest and backs, Chevallier took a moment to admire her work.

  The neighborhood was officially secure, for now. The four performed a quick perimeter check to confirm that they had indeed downed the last known invaders in the area. LeBoeuf stopped suddenly as her fingers pressed against the side of her left temple.

  “Maxwell, you feel that?” LeBoeuf said to him.

  “What remains of my migraine? Oh, yeah, I totally feel that.”

  “No, someone teleported into the region,” LeBoeuf said.

  “I’d imagine our forces would be teleporting in and out, no?” Chevallier said.

  “They are, but this one is different,” LeBoeuf said as her face slowly looked up toward Mount Hermon in the east. “They landed way the fuck up there, two different ports.”

  Boyd lowered his rifle, his gaze followed LeBoeuf’s. “Nobody mentioned anything on comms about activity in the mountains.”

  Some psionics had the ability to detect incoming or outgoing teleports, assuming their mind was scanning the area where the teleporting had occurred. If human psionics part of the UNE military were teleporting in and out of the city, then a psionic, rather, psionics not part of the UNE had been operating in the mountains.

  And if that’s the case, they mig
ht be working for the invaders . . . or someone else. “We should check it out,” Chevallier said.

  “Whoa, whoa, you still think you’re in charge?” Maxwell said to her.

  Chevallier retorted. “Are we seriously going to have this debate?”

  Boyd stepped in between the two with his large imposing body. “Chevallier, you’re lucky right now that—”

  “File charges against me once the fighting is over,” Chevallier interjected assertively. “Don’t worry; my mom isn’t here to protect me anymore. But if you guys don’t know anything about not one, but two teleports into the mountains, then I’d say we make that our priority before things get out of hand.” She looked up at Boyd’s face and added with a smirk. “Sir.”

  “Did you undermine McDowell as well?” Boyd grunted.

  “He undermined himself,” Chevallier said, walking away.

  “You two going to get married now?” Maxwell said. “Or are we going to make a decision?”

  “I’ll let command know we’re going in,” Boyd said. “Either of you two good for a small site-to-site teleport?”

  “I’d rather we conserve our power in case we run into problems,” LeBoeuf said. “And remember, I haven’t spent enough time on Earth to safely do that.”

  “Right, we don’t want to end up inside a mountain,” Chevallier said. “Maxwell?”

  “I’m a ravager class, you don’t want me teleporting anywhere.”

  “I’ll call for a transport,” Boyd said. “Let’s try not to crash it like we usually do.”

  Chevallier looked at the skies and the circling, soaring wyverns dogfighting with fighters. With those things still flying, crashing the transport is exactly what we’re going to do.

  Boyd led them to an open clearing in the streets where a transport lowered, scattering dust in circles from its landing jets. Chevallier took one last glance up at the skies as they boarded and began their ascent. She took a deep breath and hoped the wyverns saw them as a lesser threat as the transport became level with them, especially the ones that flew circles around the summit of Mount Hermon.