“Fuckers,” Ivy hissed behind her. The Icarus woman leapt from the ledge and tackled another soldier.
Selene didn’t have time to watch how Ivy fared, as a second soldier leapt for Selene. Adrenaline poured through her veins as she spun from reach. She sliced through the suit of the first, earning a hiss of pain.
Battle cries rose around her as the other Icarus joined the fight. She spied Rikkard standing on the ledge, his eyebrows furrowed as he assessed the situation.
A fist slammed into her ribs, and air burst from her lungs. She winced as pain tightened her abdomen, but she didn’t allow them another chance to grab her.
Selene twisted away, crouching low. Using her momentum, she spun, flashing out her heel to sweep the soldier off his feet. The second leapt over his comrade, but she sliced up through the fabric plating guarding his abdomen. He howled as blood misted the air.
“Watch out!” Rikkard called.
Selene barely had a moment to slip away before two more soldiers were on her. She moved swiftly between her comrades, coming around behind the two soldiers who had approached her. She drove her heel into the back of the first’s knee, sending him to the floor. She took out the second with a quick strike of her elbow.
“Stop!” someone cried.
She didn’t listen.
Selene leapt on the back of the soldier grappling with Ivy, giving the Icarus a chance to breathe while Selene drove her knife into his shoulder.
“I said, stop!”
Selene blinked slowly. She knew that voice. She looked up to find Flik standing on the ledge next to Rikkard, Sav, and Rem. The rest of the crew were piling out the hatch in the side of the ship.
The soldier she clung to clawed at her hands, trying to grab her wrists and throw her off. She pressed her heels into his abdomen, and he doubled over, wheezing.
“Selene, they’re not the enemy!” Flik yelled.
Selene scowled and glared at the alien. What the hell was he talking about? They were dressed exactly like the Aldar soldiers she’d encountered so many times. They were the very definition of the enemy. Could he be siding with them?
“They’re the Zahkx!” Flik tried again when she didn’t release the struggling soldier. “The actual Zahkx!”
Selene’s eyes widened. While the soldier continued to claw at her hands, she wrenched his helmet off, then yanked down the fabric covering his mouth. He looked just like any other Zahkx, or Aldar she’d ever seen with brightly colored skin, slightly buggy eyes, and protruding cheekbones.
How was she supposed to tell who was foe and who was friendly? They were all the same, weren’t they?
The alien ground out something in a heavy accent. She had no idea what he was saying, but she had to assume it was something like get the hell off of me.
“Selene, I promise they’re not the enemy!” Flik said. He held his hands up in a placating gesture, the skin on his forehead cinched.
In one swift movement, Selene dropped from the alien’s back and slammed her foot into his spine. He toppled to the ground, but not before she’d ripped her knife from his shoulder.
Her breaths came quickly as she turned to face her Icarus comrades, who were slowly halting fights of their own.
“Who the hell are you people?” Selene snapped.
The whoosh of air marked the entry of someone new from a door at the back of the hangar. He cleared his throat to gain their attention. He spoke, but all that came out of his mouth was a garbled alien tongue.
“Flik, what the hell is he saying?” Selene asked. She didn’t look away from the soldiers around her. Flik might think they were the Zahkx, but that didn’t mean they were friendly.
Flik looked between her and the newcomer before he began translating. “If you’d stop attacking our soldiers, the captain would appreciate it.”
“And how do we know you won’t imprison us the moment we let our guard down?” Selene questioned, motioning at him with her knife.
Flik translated for her.
The alien newcomer laughed and shook his head. He spoke at the same time Flik did. “You don’t, but we won’t take your weapons—not unless you try to harm one of us again. I’ve been asked to lead you to the control room. You’re the first vessel we’ve happened upon since we received an urgent message for aid from planet Earth—a planet we thought held nothing but death for the last three hundred years. All will be explained if you follow me.”
Selene took a tentative step back. She didn’t trust this man, or anyone else not part of her crew. “Flik? What do you think?”
Her alien comrade exchanged a quick look with her. “I think we should do what they say. They have far more soldiers on this ship than we could ever fight, Selene. The fact that they’re still playing nice even after you all attacked them is saying a lot.”
Selene glanced from Flik to Rikkard, Rem, and the rest of her comrades standing on the ledge. Each one of them looked unsure. But what other choice did they have?
“All right,” Selene said. “We’ll go. But no funny business.”
Flik reiterated her words in his alien language. Their escort only nodded in response before he stepped back and motioned for them to follow.
Carefully picking her way around injured soldiers, Selene led the way to the door at the back of the hangar. Whether they be friend or foe, they were going to have one hell of a fight on their hands if they tried anything. Selene was in no mood to play nice—not after she’d watched her home planet blown to smithereens.
On their way to the control room their escort, Navi, returned power to their earpieces and even to Rem’s phone, though he didn’t extend his generosity to their guns. Selene narrowed her eyes at his back as they walked. Her little tech friend walked alongside Navi, Flik on his other side.
Flik translated for Rem, while Rem rattled off some nonsense about translators. Apparently, most aliens had translators in their earpieces so they could understand one another without having to learn their languages. The earpieces automatically translated alien words into their native tongue, and Rem was going to set it up for them.
By the time Navi stopped outside two large sliding doors, she could understand every word out of Navi’s mouth. Her earpiece translated his words as he spoke. It was a bit disorienting at first, hearing alien words in one ear, and English in the other.
Her eyebrows furrowed as she inspected the pale blue skin of the alien’s face. He had swirling silver tattoos up either side of his face, much like Sarah had so long ago. Her heart squeezed. She missed her best friend. It felt like so long since she’d thought about her.
“Here we are,” Navi said. He swiped his hand over a sensor next to the door, and they whooshed open.
The control room was much like every other: lots of metal and flashing lights. It reminded her of the one in their cargo ship with two levels, a captain’s chair at the center, and a navigation cubby on the center of the lower floor. Come to think of it, had Earth’s ships been designed after their alien counterparts?
She blinked in surprise, never having thought about it before. It’d make sense considering this type of technology only came around after the aliens “saved” Earth.
“Ah, there you are,” a deep male voice boomed from inside.
Selene winced as she stepped over the threshold.
The captain stood from his chair, a wide grin on his face. His skin was dark violet, and his hair a shock of white. It was a startling, beautiful combination. His black eyes flashed with amusement as he scanned their group. When his eyes finally landed on her, his grin only grew.
“You’re the one who incited that little riot, aren’t you?” the captain asked.
Selene raised an eyebrow. He must have been watching from a surveillance system. “I might be.”
The captain chuckled. “You’re lucky my men had their guns set to stun.”
Selene scoffed. “You’re lucky your men are still alive.”
The captain raised the skin of his forehead in surprise. “My, my, you d
on’t know how to play nice, do you?”
Selene narrowed her eyes, but said nothing.
Navi cleared his throat as he stepped away from the smugglers to join his captain. “Everyone, this is Captain Eon Shard of the Zahkx Alliance, Commander of the Hydrac.”
“Very impressive,” Selene said sarcastically. She barely resisted rolling her eyes. “So you received our message along with everyone else in the galaxy?”
Captain Shard and Navi exchanged a look. “You were the one to send that message from Saegon’s beacon?”
She nodded and motioned at the rest of her crew. “We all were.”
Again, the aliens exchanged a wide-eyed look. “I’m surprised we had the good fortune to pick you up,” Captain Shard said. “I hope we arrived in time.”
Selene’s body went cold. Her heart squeezed as she recalled the last time she’d seen Earth. Debris from the moon had hailed down upon the planet, destroying everything from the ground, to the ocean, to the sky now cast with smoke and debris. Earth wouldn’t be inhabitable for a long, long time. Her planet was dead, and they wanted to know if they were here on time?
“Earth is dead,” Selene said. Her fists shook. “So no, you’re not here on time.”
Silence fell in the control room. Even the soft click of men and women typing away on their keyboards stopped.
“I’m sorry,” Captain Shard said. “When we got your distress signal, we left as soon as we could. We had no idea anything had happened to Earth.”
Selene took a step closer, sizing up the captain. He was taller than her by a good few inches, and fairly broad, but the amount of fury boiling inside of her made her forget all about that. “Something didn’t just happen to Earth. The Aldar Dominion happened to us. They destroyed our planet once with solar storms, then a second time with clones and boosters. Now they’ve finished Earth for good.”
Captain Shard’s eyes widened. “The Aldar Dominion? What do they have to do with this?”
Selene tilted her head back and laughed. “They have everything to do with this. They’ve been playing the long game since the Saegon set out for Earth.”
Flik stepped forward, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder. “She’s telling the truth.”
The captain looked from her to Flik, and again his eyes widened. “Commander Flik? H-How? You’re still alive?”
Flik smiled ruefully. “Yeah. I was stuck in cryo for a lot longer than I had planned.”
“I’d say,” Captain Shard said. He paused like he was calculating exactly how many years that was. “What happened?”
Flik explained briefly what he could: what they’d learned about the Aldar Dominion, why they’d done it, and what had happened to the rest of the Zahkx who had been aboard the Saegon. By the time he finished, Captain Shard and Navi were aghast, as was the rest of Hydrac’s crew.
“I can’t believe this,” Captain Shard said. “We didn’t know.”
“I know,” Flik said. “We can deal with the Aldar Dominion when we return home.”
Selene started. “Home? You mean Planet Zahkx?”
She wasn’t sure how she felt about travelling to an alien planet. She had no idea what she wanted anymore. Earth was dead, and everything she’d ever hoped for in the future was gone.
Flik nodded. “I’d like to return home, at least for awhile.”
“I’m so sorry,” Captain Shard said. “I’m… just so sorry.”
Selene avoided his gaze. She couldn’t take the pity in his eyes.
“Captain, we should contact the Council of Eight immediately,” Navi said. The man had already pulled a holopad-looking device out from under his arm, and was typing with one hand on the screen.
“Council of Eight?” Rem asked.
“The council is run by the Galactic Syndicate, which is the organization that runs the eight largest corporations in space,” Flik explained.
Selene bit her tongue on a groan. Her brain was starting to hurt with all of this new information. She was again reminded how little she knew of the universe. How was she ever supposed to find a place in it if she didn’t even understand how it worked?
“Would you give me a moment?” Captain Shard asked. “Navi is right, we need to get this information back to the council.”
Flik nodded, and the two Zahkx shuffled off to the side, allowing Selene and the others some space.
“What do we do now?” Ivy whispered.
Selene’s eyebrows furrowed. “I have no idea.”
Ivy’s lips pressed in a firm, thin line.
As Selene gazed around at the others, she realized they all had similar looks of “what now?” She shook her head and looked away. She couldn’t deal with everyone else’s feelings right now. She couldn’t even get a handle on her own.
Selene wrapped her arms around herself and gazed around the control room. The rest of the Zahkx crew were moving between staring, exchanging looks with one another, and whispering. She didn’t like it one bit.
A nasty scowl from one alien woman in particular had Selene glaring back. “What the hell is her problem?”
Flik followed her gaze. Before he could say a word, Selene stepped forward. The woman was whispering to another alien, and now they were both scowling.
“What is your problem?” Selene demanded.
The whispering stopped.
The woman stood up, raising her chin to look down her nose at Selene. “You’re all Lairen, aren’t you?”
A what now?
Selene raised an eyebrow. She had no idea what this woman was talking about. “We’re human,” she said.
The woman scanned Selene from head to toe. “You’re a Lairen if I ever saw one.”
Selene sighed and turned to Flik. “What is she talking about?”
Flik tensed. “It’s difficult to explain.”
“So? Explain it.” Selene narrowed her eyes. What was he hiding this time?
Captain Shard stepped away from Navi and returned to their group, pulling her attention away from Flik. “Apologies for our lack of hospitality. Navi will take you to the cafeteria so you can all get something to eat while we work on contacting the council.”
Selene stiffened. “No. We need to go back to Earth and search for survivors.”
The captain tilted his head thoughtfully. “That’s a good idea. We’ll head back to Earth, but in the mean time, you should all get some food, and rest. It’ll take us a little while to get there through the minefield of debris.”
“That’s why you came out of hyperspace so far from Earth,” Rem said, sounding awed as the realization hit him.
“It is,” the captain said, surprised Rem had put that together.
“You’ll let us know the moment we arrive?” Selene asked, raising her eyebrows meaningfully.
“You’ll be the first to know,” Captain Shard said.
Selene gave him one last long look, searching his face for signs of deceit. When she found none, she nodded and turned back to face the others.
“All right then, let’s head to the cafeteria!” Navi beamed. He sounded like a too-cheerful tour guide.
The blue alien shifted through the group of clones and Icarus, muttering apologies as he squeezed through their ranks. No one gave him any room, but eventually he made it to the other side.
“Follow me!” Navi called back, sounding out of breath.
Selene sighed and turned to follow, confusion and unease swirling through her as they left the control room and made their way deeper into the alien ship.
Once they were all seated in the cafeteria, which looked remarkably similar to the one on their cargo ship, Selene glared at Flik until he finally caved.
“All right, let me explain,” he said.
Selene leaned her cheek on the palm of her hand. “I’m waiting.”
Flik sucked in a deep breath before exhaling slowly. He was stalling. Whatever he was about to say, she wasn’t going to like it. “Earth isn’t where humans originated.”
She blinked at
him dumbly. “What?”
Of all the things he could have said, she hadn’t expected that.
“Humans were originally called Lairen. They were the ninth corporate entity part of the Galactic Syndicate, until…” he trailed off.
Selene stared with wide eyes at the alien, her heart racing. “Until what?”
“Are you seriously going to leave us hanging like that?” Darius growled.
Flik chuckled humorlessly. “Sorry.” He cleared his throat. “The Lairen were just another alien species until they got into genetic engineering.”
“You mean, clones?” Sav asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yes, clones and… other things,” Flik said.
“Like the Icarus?” Ivy asked.
Flik nodded. “Right. Genetic engineering of any kind, especially the creation of clones, is strictly against the laws of the Universal Accord, so the rest of the eight clans were forced to go to war with the Lairen.”
“Universal Accord?” Rikkard asked. He didn’t even looked phased by the news, while the rest of them were sweating and staring at Flik like he’d just told them everything they knew was a lie. Well, it kind of was.
“The universal government that we all obey,” Flik explained. “Well, usually obey. What the Aldar Dominion has been doing is strictly against our laws. They’ll have to be dealt with.”
“I don’t understand,” Selene said. “So we’re aliens? How did we get to Earth? And why has no one found us sooner?”
“Well, we originally found Earth because of a discovery that the Aldar made. They found a beacon floating through space with information on Earth’s location—only the beacon was hundreds of thousands of years old. It had been drifting through space since not long after the Lairen were fought back to the edges of the known universe.” Flik looked grave as he spoke. He shook his head and sighed. “Earth was beyond the edge of our universe—far beyond. That’s why no one had ever found the planet before then. I’d have to read the transmission to confirm, but I’m thinking that beacon was sent by a group of Lairen that must have crash-landed on Earth. However many there were, they must have devolved in the harsh terrain to survive after the rest of their technology was wiped out, then re-evolved through thousands of years of environmental factors.”
The Darri Commission: A Sci-Fi Dystopian Adventure (Dominion Rising Book 3) Page 28