Kimtra’s eyes were wide. “Flakes? I’ve seen this. Worlds covered in ice, white ice constantly falling on the ground.”
“Back where I’m from, we played in the snow when we were children. We’d sled down hills of snow, ski and snowboard down mountains. We’d make snowmen, have snowball fights, and it was my favorite time of the year. Compared to our hot summers, the weather changes were not-so-subtle reminders of Mother Nature each time they came around,” I said.
I doubted they knew what Mother Nature meant to us, or what a snowman was, but they nodded along. “If this isn’t hot to you, what are your hot times like?” I asked, not sure I wanted to set foot on their world when we got there. I knew I had to, to get to the portals, but in my current overheated state, I was dreading it.
Hectal took this one. “We have to stay indoors if possible. It’s probably twice as hot as this, right, Kimtra?” She nodded, and he continued. “It lasts for one tenth of our year, and we spend it with family, reforming our bonds. If we’re there. I haven’t been home for it in a few years. The three of us are aboard Starbound most of the time.”
“Does Admiral Yope spend much time on board these days?” I asked, curious to learn more about their military leader.
“It was his ship for years. I think part of him is bitter he was promoted. He loved leading the charge into the stars. He named the ship. While everyone else was naming their vessels Duty, Destroyer, Seeker, Yope named his Starbound. He wanted to discover worlds, space anomalies, and spend his days among the stars.
“He did this and made contact with so many races, but after a war, we were left with a hole in our hierarchy. Yope was forced to give up his ship and take over things.” Kimtra looked sullen as she told us a little about their admiral.
“Is he married? Children?” Slate asked.
Kimtra shook her head. “No. He said his love was for the stars, and he couldn’t share it.” She looked away, and I read more meaning in her words than the others did. If I was reading it correctly, she and the admiral had been an item at one point in their lives.
“It’s a hard balance. I want to help here right now, but half of my mind is back on Starbound with my wife and newborn,” I said, and Kimtra nodded.
“What was the war about?” Slate asked, and the Keppe finally started to relax. They each found a spot in the surrounding area to sit and take a load off. Hectal grunted as he let his heavy packs down to the soft ground.
“The Motrill were in a skirmish over a colony world. Some faraway planet, a few years’ travel by hyperdrive,” Hectal said, and I realized they didn’t know about the portals. “This was before the wormhole drives were around.”
From my experience, few on each world knew about them. Earth had been ignorant that, for thousands of years, one had sat in Egypt; when a planet had awareness of the portal, only select patrons realized it. Bazarn Five had some traffic from theirs, but only the most wealthy and influential from the universe would be able to travel there by the portals. Otherwise, they were traveling there via space vessel like everyone else.
Kimtra continued the story, taking over from Hectal, as she did when any science was involved. “According to the Motrill, whom you know we have close ties to, the world was fertile, and a ninety-five-percent match for our genetics to colonize. We could grow our crops, farm our livestock, and breathe the air. Finding a ninety-five or up is near impossible, and they’d done it. The world remained nameless and was in its infancy stages. Life was only starting there, so the colony impact wouldn’t be intruding on existing environments.”
“Sounds like a winner for the Motrill,” I said.
“It was. And for us. We were each on the lookout for a colony world to share. It had been a long time since our treaty was formed once again, and we were going to start a community together in good faith. Our people made a marriage pact, the one Polvertan’s going to honor when we find him,” Kimtra said.
“How long ago was this?” Slate asked.
“Before Polvertan was born. Before his future spouse, Brina Crul, was born.”
“So the impact of this colony was a big one. What happened?” I asked, amazed two races would promise a marriage to bring the worlds together before the children were even born. To be those kids, growing up never having a choice, and knowing the whole time that you were forced into a marriage? It had happened on Earth for countless years in many cultures, sometimes with good results, others quite terrible.
“The Motrill found the world and left behind a base camp. This camp was only a hundred Motrill. They would be responsible to start building shelters, surveying the world with drone mapping. Crops would be planted, and the basic livestock carried aboard the colony-searching vessel would be acclimated to their new world. The journey is long, but they have communication capable of traveling the distance with only a few days’ delay. Things were great at the start; messages came through as the vessel headed back for Motrill to get the second phase of supplies and colonists.” Kimtra stopped, took a drink of water, and looked down to the ground.
Rulo took over. “The attack came in the middle of the night. One hundred colonists burned away while they slept. One escaped, made it to the communication tower, and sent a message. The invaders landed after dropping a bomb on the village, and found Trem alone in the tower. He saw the invaders and relayed the message, which the ship got on their way back home. It had been a year since the Motrill landed.”
I was on the edge of the log, almost slipping off as I listened with intent. “Who were they?” I asked, the words a whisper off my lips.
“His last words were this: ‘They’re here, the Kraski are here’.”
TWELVE
I remembered the look on Admiral Yope’s face when I told them I’d seen a Kraski. It was fleeting: the flickering anger of a man who was used to hiding his true emotions. It had been enough for me to catch. Now I knew why.
I was standing but didn’t remember getting onto my feet. “The Kraski killed the colony?”
“They did.” Hectal walked over to me. “You know of them?” He looked ready to attack me, like I had a connection to their enemy.
I looked to Rulo, who’d been with us in the room when I told the others about seeing a Kraski on Sterona, right before being rescued. “You didn’t tell them about my history with the Kraski?”
Rulo stood, set a hand on Hectal’s shoulder, and whispered something to him. He sat back down, seething. “What history?” he asked.
I wasn’t sure if I had the energy to get into the Event. “How much time do you have?”
“We can talk and walk,” Rulo said and picked up her gear. “Yope told me a little, but not much. I know you’ve had a run-in with the Kraski before, and now you don’t live on Earth. I’d also heard a rumor they were dead, but I figured the Bhlat had something to do with that.”
It was almost funny, because the results were accurate, but the details weren’t.
We moved toward the lake, and I crouched by it as Kimtra dipped a sensor probe into the calm waters. I scanned the water’s surface, looking for signs of life that would undoubtedly be in there on this lush island. I saw air bubbles break the surface in a few spots, and shuddered as my imagination pictured a huge creature thrashing below the calm face.
I slipped my water bottle into a pouch on the side of my pack. “Tell me what happened with you first.”
“What’s to tell? The Kraski killed the Motrill’s colony. They took the world as their own. When we learned what occurred, we sent a fleet after them. We didn’t expect five of their warships there, thousands of Kraski vessels in total. The battle didn’t last long, but both sides had far too many casualties. In the end, the Kraski kept the world. We pulled out,” Rulo said.
I tried to piece it together. This couldn’t have been more than twenty years ago, probably less. Everything I’d heard said the Kraski took over worlds, while enslaving some and murdering the rest, like they’d done with the Deltra. Then the Bhlat came in, a bigger, m
ore powerful race, and forced them to evacuate their home system.
“The Kraski came for Earth, our homeworld. We’re infants in the space race. We didn’t have the technology to travel FTL. We held no colonies, and though there was always talk of trying, it would have been an epic endeavor that would most likely have ended in disaster. They beamed nearly everyone off the planet and stuck us in the very vessels they’d intended to bring themselves to Earth in. The Bhlat had won their war.
“They limped in, a small number of them now. The Deltra, an enslaved race of theirs, outsmarted them. They’d placed a Shield, the Kalentrek, on Earth centuries earlier. They had a plan to free themselves that took that long to come to fruition.” We were walking along the water’s edge, and everyone was listening with rapt attention at the tale I told.
“I’ve heard of the Deltra,” Kimtra said solemnly.
I nodded. “Now I know more about the whole picture. The Kraski used what we call a hybrid, a being created out of human and Kraski DNA. It was the only way they could get the beings to survive, a technology I’ve since learned was created by Lom of Pleva.”
“This is getting too strange for me,” Kimtra said.
“It gets better. The Kraski planted these hybrids, only they couldn’t shut down the device that would kill anything matching their DNA without succumbing to its power themselves. So they sent them to infiltrate us. I was married to one.” I averted my eyes when Rulo stopped and turned to me. “Magnus and his wife were there too, as well as Mary. Janine, my wife at the time, had been dead for a few years when it happened. The Deltra had turned her, and she set out a plan to have us not only keep the shield on, but to kill all the Kraski in space in the process, setting the Deltra free.” I hadn’t told the story in a while, and it felt good to go over it, especially now that I knew there were ties to my current situation. Everything was connecting. Lines were slowly being drawn over the random dots, and a picture was emerging.
“You fought the Kraski? And won?” This from Hectal.
“We tricked them, but we did win,” I said.
“What about you?” Hectal nodded to Slate.
Slate looked at the ground. “I was one of the unlucky humans beamed up. Tried my best to help up there, but I’m ashamed to say I didn’t make a big difference.”
“I’d be dead without Slate, about ten times over, so he’s a real hero. Believe me,” I said, and he met my gaze, standing up straighter. “We brought the Shield up in a Kraski ship. Boarded the warship and turned it on. They disintegrated from the inside out.” I paused as Hectal let out a strange whooping noise.
“I knew there was something special about you, little man,” Hectal said.
I didn’t love the term he gave me, but compared to Magnus and Slate, I guessed I would seem like a small human. “Once they were gone, the Deltra thought they had us. They could leave our ships to fly into our star, snuffing our world’s population in quick order, and take Earth for themselves.”
We were standing still again, everyone too wrapped up in the conversation to move.
“What did you do?” Kimtra asked.
“Mary came on board and kicked some ass. We escaped and blew a few ships up in the process of it all. Then we had to convince the brainwashed hybrids to do the right thing and work with us. A lot of people died that day. A lot,” I said.
“We are brothers, then,” Hectal said. “Both our people have suffered loss at the hands of the Kraski. We will seek revenge.”
“Truthfully, I’d rather leave them alone and have peace.”
“Peace? We’re in a universe with no peace. Believe me. The Keppe are an old race. We have seen many civilizations rise and fall, just the same. Tell me, did you have peace on this world of yours? Internally?” Rulo asked.
I got her point. “No.” I didn’t elaborate.
“You impress me, nonetheless,” Rulo said. “A planet-locked race fought off not one but two invaders and lived to tell the story.”
“Three,” Slate said.
“Three what?” Kimtra asked.
“We fought off three, if you count the Bhlat,” he said.
“The Bhlat?” all three Keppe members of our entourage echoed together.
“We didn’t fight them off,” I said, hating the attention. “It wasn’t like that. We lost Earth that day.”
“But we turned them into an ally,” Slate said.
“You’re in a treaty with the Bhlat?” Hectal asked. “I’ve never heard of that happening before.”
“Are they really as terrible as everyone says?” I asked, hoping the Keppe didn’t take my relationship with the Empress as a negative connotation.
“We’ve been blessed to have stayed clear of them, but many haven’t been so lucky. They’re powerful. If they want something, they get it. Looks like you made a deal, but they still got what they wanted out of it, didn’t they?” Rulo asked.
“They did. But we live.” I started to walk, the group following behind.
“You live, and that’s what impresses me,” Rulo added. “Come, let’s not waste any more time.”
The sunlight was waning as we pressed on, and I judged it would be dark in another hour. I really didn’t want to be out in the open, easy prey for whatever creatures were lurking behind the trees or under the water.
We kept moving, and I answered a few more questions, then diverted a few more, before letting them know I was done talking about the Kraski and Bhlat for the time being. Hectal looked admonished.
“Look ahead,” Rulo said, swiping her minigun from her back holster. Her strong arms flexed as she held the heavy gun and swung it around, looking for a target.
I spotted what she’d seen: a shelter about a hundred yards from the waterline. It was tied to four bases of the tall trees and was very basic in nature. Polvertan hadn’t been looking for comfort; he’d been looking for lightweight and ease.
Rulo tapped her earpiece. “Starbound, we’ve found our target’s nest. Will proceed with caution and report back.” Her face scrunched up, and she looked to the darkening sky as she listened to the reply from the vessel in orbit. “How far away? Got it, thanks,” she said, and tapped the earpiece again.
“What is it?” Hectal was looking to the sky now too.
“Storm’s coming in. Looks huge from the radar. Should hit the island sooner than I’d like.” Rulo started for the sparse camp.
I didn’t like her lack of information. “What kind of storm, Rulo?”
“A big one. Winds already at ninety kilometers an hour.”
“A cyclone’s headed for us? Should we leave?” I asked.
“We’re here to find our target. Plus, we won’t be able to evacuate in time.” Rulo stepped to the shelter and lifted the canvas material. It was nearly empty inside. A bedroll sat on some sort of field generating from a small box to the left.
Slate saw it and nudged me with an elbow. “Boss, check out the inflatable mattress. That’s cool. How many times could we have used that?”
“Do we set up camp?” Hectal asked as the wind began. At first, it was a light breeze, a slight reprieve in the sweltering heat. Soon it was buffeting the trees, and one of the purple fruits fell beside me with a bang.
“No time. See that cliffside?” Kimtra pointed in the distance. “We go there, look for an entrance. Somewhere to take shelter.”
I wasn’t going to argue, and I turned my gaze upwards, making sure to not stand under one of the hard fruit clusters. I warned the others as well.
We walked fast, and when the water started pouring from above, we ran for the cliff in the distance. The skies darkened, and as the sun set, it became hard to make out the looming outline of our destination. We arrived in less than an hour, drenched and exhausted. Even Hectal seemed winded as he threw the packs down on the ground at the cliff wall. It cut the wind, but I was still worried something would fall down the mountainside and crush us.
“I’m concerned about rockslides.” I had to yell to be heard.
> “Over here.” Kimtra was heading back. She’d disappeared for a few minutes.
Rain still dropped on us in buckets. The sound of wind tearing at the trees was terrifying and powerful at the same time.
We ran along after her, and I expected to see an opening in the rock face. When we turned away from it, I saw the glowing device some twenty yards away. “What is that?” I asked.
“I saw the light a while ago. It’s a locator, used by hikers or explorers. They mark their position in case something bad happens to them. He had to be down there,” Rulo yelled into the wind.
“Down where?” I asked, and she pointed toward the wet ground. We were surrounded by thick palm-like trees, and another of the dense balls of fruit smashed into the ground beside me. It looked like we were on Polvertan’s track, and just in time. “Let’s go.”
THIRTEEN
The crevasse was only three yards wide and three feet tall, but we lowered into it one at a time, using a thick tree trunk as our anchor. I went second to last and stuck my flashlight into my belt as I climbed down the rope, carrying an extra pack. We were making sure Hectal didn’t weigh more than the maximum capacity of our thin rope. The locator device hummed, shooting a thin blue beam into the sky. It was hardly noticeable from most angles, and now I understood why we hadn’t seen it earlier.
It was wet under the opening, but otherwise, the ground was bone-dry around us. The rope hung twenty feet up, and I watched Rulo make quick work of the descent as soon as my feet touched down.
Tree roots stuck out of the ceiling before bending to go back underground. Moss clung to everything, and I spotted a few mushrooms growing along the far wall.
“We have no idea what’s down here. Slate, are you okay being here?” I asked him, remembering his recent mishap with the monsters on Sterona.
“I have to be,” was his answer.
“We’ll be home soon. Then your days of crawling around underground are over, I promise,” I said, hoping it was one I could keep.
Slate nodded and followed Rulo’s lead deeper inside.
The Survivors: Books 1-6 Page 115