Alien Apocalypse: The Complete Series (Parts I-IV)

by JC Andrijeski

  In any case, she’d already been warned that her face and body might be “borrowed” in virtual form, to lend drama to elements of the Retribution they had planned.

  According to Laksri, they would draw out the match as long as they feasibly could, no matter what the condition of the “contestant” in the end.

  The ratings still mattered, even here.

  The Retribution would be televised.

  Unlike the regular Rings matches back home, the skags living at the fringes of Nirreth society would not be allowed to witness any of it, however...nor would the humans living in settlements within the Green Zones be allowed to watch it, either.

  Jet remembered getting flickering images of exactly one, true Retribution match while she lived as a skag with her mother and brother. They’d happened upon the pirated signal somehow, and watched just enough that Jet knew something different was happening than what they normally broadcast for the Rings.

  For one thing, the whole thing happened in silence. The contestant had been Nirreth, but even back then, when her opinion of the Nirreth had hardly been positive, the violence of the run had shocked her. Then, after they’d watched for a few minutes, it made her sick.

  Jet had grown up gutting animals, burying friends, shooting raiders and hacking up predators with her sword, but it still made her sick enough to look away.

  Within only a few minutes, the Nirreth must have discovered their pirated signal and shut it down. Jet watched the Nirreth contestant scream as another Nirreth, one that looked younger than him, got ripped apart and eaten by four horse-sized lions.

  Then nothing. The screen simply went dark.

  Why they bothered to block the Retribution from human eyes, when they showed them the Rings week after week, Jet could only guess. From Laksri, she sensed that the Nirreth saw Retribution as more of an internal matter, not fit to share with the species they colonized.

  For the Nirreth themselves, however, Retributions were must-see events.

  The fact that their new rising star in the Rings, Jet Tetsuo, as well as the First Son of the Royals were directly involved only added to the excitement.

  Preshow for the Retribution started three weeks earlier, so right around when Jet and Laksri’s ship lifted off from Earth. According to Laksri, that event, the First Son leaving Earth, signaled the official kickoff for the event, although commentary started shortly before.

  Nirreth television-viewers spent the last three weeks watching dramatic recreations of Anaze’s childhood, documentaries on the skag pits and speculations about Anaze and Jet’s possible relationship before they came to live in Green Zone Hezeret. They played and replayed footage of the attack against Laksri by Anaze, as well as other public recordings showing the two of them fighting over Jet’s affections and interviews of servants and other witnesses from the compound of the Royals about the tensions between the two of them.

  They even spent some time on various histories of the human race, showing their proclivities to violence, presumably to provide “context” for Anaze’s actions or maybe just to stir up controversy about Nirreth-human relations.

  Commentary by various “experts” peppered the droning of the narrators, as well rehashes of where and how they’d found Jet, where and how Laksri had been identified for who and what he was and how the two of them met. They showed footage of her and Laksri together during public appearances, cuts from Jet’s Rings matches and Laksri’s reactions to her near-misses, as well as Jet and Laksri working together in the training arenas between runs. They even aired a short piece on Richter, as the trader who caught and sold Jet to the Royal family.

  They showed and picked apart the evidence around the death of Ogli’s parents, the bomb attack on Green Zone, along with evidence and speculation around Anaze’s possible involvement in either or both.

  Jet only saw snippets of the spectacle, both on the ship and once they arrived on Astet, but what she’d seen had been more than enough.

  She’d only seen Richter once since they landed.

  He seemed to take the measure of her within seconds of their coming face to face.

  She’d nearly walked right into him, entering the common area belonging to the residency compartments she and Laksri had requisitioned. How Richter managed to get a bed in the Royal compartments, Jet didn’t think to wonder about until later. She nearly flinched as she saw him, coming to a dead halt right before Richter’s eyes narrowed, traveling deliberately down the length of her before returning to her face. His expression hardened somewhere in that, right before he glanced at Laksri, who’d been entering the room behind her.

  “I see you and big blue made up,” Richter said. His eyes grew cold as ice, despite the lightness behind his words. “How nice for you both.”

  Whatever he’d intended with his jab, his words only managed to snap her out of her post-venom haze. She gave him a hard smile, folding her arms.

  “Where’ve you been, Richter?” she said, quirking an eyebrow. “Skulking around with the other reptiles? I almost didn’t see you there, standing under all those bright lights...”

  He gave a low snort, but the humor didn’t touch his eyes.

  “That’s cute,” he said.

  Jet started to speak again, but Richter cut her off before she could.

  “...Nice diversion, too,” he added. His eyes remained hard on her body, looking her over like Jet was an animal in one of the Nirreth zoos. “I guess you’re pretty stoned now, aren’t you, kitten? Don’t suppose there’s much use in insulting you...much less trying to have a real conversation. After all, you’re just a pretty trinket here, am I right?”

  His eyes didn’t so much as flicker as they met hers. He gave a disgusted grunt.

  “God. I should have known better than to recruit a woman. Much less a damned virgin.”

  Jet’s back stiffened. She didn’t avert her gaze though, and managed to hold the smile on her lips with an effort.

  “Suitably tacky,” she said after a beat. “But I have to say, a bit heavy-handed even for you, Richter. Usually you’re better at this.”

  She hadn’t meant it as a dig about the implant Laksri had removed, but she saw Richter’s eyes dart to her neck, anyway. Her face warmed, right before his gaze flickered back to hers. He frowned at her, but she saw the real anger there that time.

  “You have a good time at the ball, kitten,” Richter said. “Maybe I’ll see you around. For now, if you’ll excuse me...I’ve got work to do with the grownups.”

  Giving her a mock bow, he stepped back, presumably to allow her and Laksri to pass.

  “You must love it here, Richter,” she said as she passed, giving him a flat look. “So few humans around to remind you what you are.” Walking by him slowly, she turned to add, “...So many rocks to hide under.”

  He surprised her, chuckling at her words.

  “Oh, and you’d know all about hiding in dark holes, wouldn’t you, girl?” His coffee-colored eyes darted to Laksri as he passed. “I imagine Laks here must like that about you. Must be just like being with a girl from home, eh Laks? Minus the blue skin and the nasty habit of trying to kill their mates after they consummate...” Seeing Jet’s eyes widen, right before she glanced back at Laksri, Richter grinned wider. That time, it touched his eyes. “You must have wondered, pet, why so many Nirreth males tend to go after otherworlders?”

  Jet had wondered, but she didn’t feel the need to confirm Richter’s words.

  Richter must have seen something on her face, though. His smile grew harder.

  “Didn’t he tell you, kitten?” he jeered. “Female Nirreth are pretty much immune to venom after the first sting, from a particular male anyway. Their own venom is more powerful, too. A lot of the time the males end up being the submissive ones in their little get-togethers.” His smile grew acidic. “It’s not so easy to make a female Nirreth your full-time bitch. Unlike the females of some other species I could mention...”

  Laksri gave a low hiss, his tail lashing war
ningly in Richter’s direction.

  Shrugging, Richter went on as if he didn’t notice.

  “Really, female Nirreth have got a pretty low tolerance for the males of their species at all,” he added, giving Laksri a portion of that smile. “Once they get what they want from them, the female Nirreth generally kick their asses out. Oh, sure...they might remain visibly together for political alliances or whatever else, but that’s all just for show. The females tend to do their own thing until they want to breed. Once they have their babies, they go back to pretending the males are little more than the occasional nuisance...”

  Richter gave Jet a direct look, lifting his eyebrow.

  “No where near as easy to get sex out of them,” he added. “Much less all of that intoxicating trust and adoration. I hear it’s like a drug, getting that, after generations of nothing but scorn from the females of their own species. Is that true, Laks?”

  The growl in Laksri’s throat deepened, turning into an open threat.

  Richter chuckled, glancing at him, but Jet felt most of his attention still on her. She could feel him looking for a reaction, so she just stared at him, refusing to give him one.

  Still, his words echoed somewhere in her mind.

  When Richter didn’t break her stare after a few more seconds, Jet eventually looked away, shifting her gaze to the large window to her right even as she used it as an excuse to walk away from him. A few paces later, standing in front of the glass, she let her eyes drift up, taking in that dramatic green and red sky, realizing again just how dead it looked.

  She didn’t move until she heard Richter walk away.

  She only glanced over her shoulder a beat later, just in time to watch him approach another cluster of entering Nirreth. He said something jokingly to one of them in Nargili before slapping the same Nirreth on the back.

  Laksri came up beside her. Asking a silent question with his hand on her arm, he’d coiled his tail around her waist once she answered, guiding her past Richter and his schmoozing and deeper into the common room’s football-field-sized lounge.

  When Jet glanced back over her shoulder, minutes later, Richter had gone.

  Remembering their exchange now, Jet frowned.

  It struck her, not for the first time, that Richter seemed to feel betrayed by her.

  Given what he’d done to her, pretty much from the first moment she’d first met him––much less all those years before, when he stole food and equipment from the skag pits, gouged them on medicines and infiltrated her with his own son––the thought should have been laughable.

  It should have been, but somehow, Jet couldn’t find the humor in it.

  She also couldn’t help wondering how he felt about Anaze.

  Laksri told her once that Richter cared what happened to her, too. That he felt responsible for her. That he genuinely wanted to help his people, even if his methods left a lot to be desired. Race loyalty warred with her already confused feelings about Laksri himself, as well as the alliance he had with Richter’s son, Anaze.

  Shoving the whole confused mess from her mind, Jet let her eyes shift back to the same dead-looking sky, looking at it above the arena this time, instead of through the windows of the residency common room. She studied the dark greens and reds streaking the underside of low clouds, trying to make sense of the shadows and light. Unlike the indoor arena of the Rings back home, this stadium didn’t have a roof, so she could see mountains in the distance, just below those low-hanging clouds.

  The sky was real, according to Laksri...not one of those artificial domes, like the Green Zone on Earth. Even so, even the Nirreth didn’t really go outside.

  Some of that had to do with the atmosphere. Some of it had to do with the giant lizards that still lived on this side of the world. They hunted in packs, according to Laksri, and went after the Nirreth even when they rode in motorized vehicles.

  Jet had been specifically warned against leaving the Royal residence for any reason, and not only because of lethal lizards and the low oxygen count. There might be fewer Nirreth on Astet as compared to the Green Zones on Earth, but according to Laksri, the Nirreth who remained had a slightly less multi-cultural outlook. She’d been warned that most hadn’t seen many humans, at least not in the flesh. Since that meant they’d only seen humans on television, and those images were often hyper-sexualized, their perceptions were pretty distorted.

  Jet’s long hair would intensify that response.

  Even when they weren’t being sexualized in whatever way, the news stations and even Nirreth movies often showed humans as either criminals or terrorists, which didn’t exactly help the non-Earth Nirreth’s overall understanding of human nature.

  Jet’s celebrity status in the Rings pretty much guaranteed that her presence would cause a stir, given how rarely they got to meet celebrities of any kind out here. The combination of the above factors meant Jet would likely be touched, stroked, prodded, stared at, followed around and probably stung, if anyone got close enough to do any one of those things.

  Laksri told her outright that she’d likely be raped, if any males caught her alone.

  Despite his words, Laksri tried to make her comfortable in her quasi-house arrest.

  He upped the oxygen levels in their shared rooms, even though he grumbled that it made him feel half-drunk. He also gave her a box of those blood-enhancement pills, in case she needed them and he wasn’t around. Jet pocketed the box, unable to hide her gratitude. Truthfully, the idea of not having enough air scared her. Since that first day when she’d nearly passed out in the glass elevator, she hadn’t left their quarters without that box shoved deep in one of her pockets.

  For that and a multitude of other reasons, she didn’t feel safe here.

  It had occurred to her already that they might have been lured out here...as much as Anaze and Laksri thought they’d arranged for the Retribution to take place, others might have decided to capitalize on their being here, as well. Given the reality of Nirreth politics, this whole thing might just be an excuse to assassinate them all.

  She wished she knew what Laksri, Anaze...and Richter...had planned.

  She wished she knew what Trazen was up to, too.

  She knew from Laksri that he and Anaze thought they had some means of getting Anaze out of this alive. She had no idea what that was, and couldn’t help being skeptical, given that Trazen was the one running the Retribution. If they’d made a deal with the Queen or one of her allies, Jet couldn’t really wrap her head around a plan that didn’t include Trazen being neutralized, if not killed outright.

  She still had trouble thinking about them murdering Trazen.

  She knew Laksri and Anaze were supposedly targeting specific Nirreth here, on Astet. Laksri hadn’t come out and said it, but fears around him being recognized at one of the prison camps had been part of the reason he’d ordered the entire party of the First Son to remain within their private enclave. Truthfully, she still didn’t really understand how at least one Nirreth hadn’t recognized Laksri already. They’d televised the official coronation. Even before then, he would have been on newscasts as one of Jet’s trainers. They should have already figured out who he was by now, and reported his past treason to the Royal family.

  At the thought, Jet swallowed, feeling her throat tighten.

  She still didn’t get it.

  She still felt gaps in what they’d told her and what they hadn’t.

  She found herself turning over Trazen’s words on the subject, what he’d said to her before he stung her, when he’d told he he’d been asked to act as architect for the Retribution. Had Richter, Laksri and Anaze lured Trazen out here to assassinate him?

  Clearly, Trazen himself seemed to think that was a possibility.

  Either way, Laksri seemed confident they would get Anaze out alive. Which could only mean they had something dramatic planned for the Retribution itself––presuming they hadn’t gotten Anaze out already, meaning prior to the run starting.

  No on
e survived Retribution...no one.

  Getting him out mid-run was the only thing left.

  Jet settled on that for a temporary explanation, knowing she still might be wrong. For now, it was the only thing that made sense. They would stage a big revolutionary hit with Laksri and Richter’s rebels, bust Anaze out of the cells or out of the arena, and in the process, they could kill a previously-ID’d list of Nirreth prisoners and guards who might be able to ID Laksri. Maybe they’d even free a few of Laksri’s old rebel buddies at the same time, give them a ride back to their comrades on the colony worlds.

  Either way, they’d probably try and kill Trazen, too.

  For some reason, nothing in the pictures Jet’s mind painted reassured her at all.

  Truthfully, it made her feel sick.

  Jet found herself struggling with the stress of just having to sit there, watching and waiting for this thing go down. She wasn’t used to playing the spectator.

  Her nerves worsened as the venom wore off.

  Around that time, more Nirreth began filing into the back end of the Royals’ secure booth, most of them stopping to stare and murmur about her, but none of them approaching her directly. They sat behind her instead, in rows separated by a glass partition that left her in near-silence, even with the door standing open between the two segments.

  Jet felt more eyes on her, too, ever-conscious of being under surveillance.

  With that first group of Nirreth came another human, one Jet didn’t know.

  Tall, maybe over 1.8 meters in height, she had long, blond hair, and looked to be in her early to mid-twenties. Unlike the giant woman Jet had seen training in the Green Zone back on Earth, this woman was slim, with wide, deer-shaped blue eyes and a perfectly-shaped oval face to go with an athletic but strategically curved figure.

  That wasn’t the main reason Jet stared, though.

  Truthfully, the woman didn’t look quite real.

  Her pale, perfect skin and light, round eyes reminded Jet again of those old films they used to show back at the skag settlement, of humans that looked more like living dolls than real people. This woman certainly didn’t look like any of the people Jet grew up with, who earned their muscles the hard way and never managed to scrounge enough protein to grow anywhere near to this woman’s height. Most skags had black hair and almond-shaped eyes, too...which made sense, as just about all came ethnically from roughly the same stock, a random mixture of Native American, Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Thai, African American, Latino and white that had morphed into an ethnicity of its own, but remained primarily Asian-looking, at least according to Jet’s mom.