by J. N. Chaney
I nodded. I looked down at my once white scale armor, now bloody from the battle and stained with dirt. My helmet clipped onto my waistband freed my hands.
“You think she’s going to make it?” I asked. “I mean Arun.”
“I think she has a strong chance,” Jezra answered. “There is no telling what the Legion virus will or will not be able to do when introduced to an Eternal. Dean, I came up here to tell you something important.”
There was something in Jezra’s voice that made me look up. I gave her my full attention. Her eyes were huge, her face etched in stone with hard wrinkles carved by time.
“The second prophecy I received, the one that woke me from my hyper sleep.” Jezra said each word slowly as if she were having a hard time pushing the words past her thin lips. “You need to know.”
“I really don’t want to by the sound of it,” I said with a sigh. “What is it?”
“Dean, I was wrong. The Orion—the Orion will be overrun,” Jezra said, swallowing hard. “For a second time, the Orion will fall.”
Continue reading for ORION PROTECTED.
1
“It’s been a month since we broke the hold Legion had around the Orion encampment. In that time, we’ve emptied the stockpiles of weapons and supplies from Jezra’s installation,” I complained to Stacy, running a hand through my beard, which, of late, I had noticed was shot through with threads of gray. Probably the stress of this new life I was leading making itself known. “But he’s still out there. I can feel him staring at us. Just within the tree line. He’s there watching, building his ranks and waiting to make his move.”
We stood close to one another. Almost, but not quite touching, though I wanted to. In the month since we’d made the run from Jezra’s Cerberus facility back to the Orion, our relationship had bloomed, and I was pretty sure she felt the same way I did, but it wasn’t there yet.
“Comforting thoughts to tuck you in at night,” Stacy said with a grimace and slight note of anxiousness in her voice. She followed my gaze out over the wall toward the thick trees of the jungle. “What do you think Legion is waiting for?”
I shrugged and let out a heavy exhale. Since I was a gladiator turned mechanic turned Chosen One, not a military strategist, I could only guess, and I wasn’t willing to put my morbid thoughts on Stacy. She had enough to deal with.
The morning mist was beginning to dissipate. The intense heat of the twin suns that rose to give our new home planet warmth burnt the faint tendrils of fog away until none remained.
Our planet, I thought to myself. Our planet. Have I really accepted this is home now? Will we ever make it off this rock?
The hard truth was that once we crash landed, there’d been no time to even try to leave Genesis. Every time we turned around, we found ourselves fighting to survive. From aliens to giant creatures and viruses, they all wanted us dead, each for their own reasons, although it wasn’t always clear what those were.
“We have enough firepower to kill Legion ten times over,” Stacy said, gripping the strap over her shoulder that held her own rifle. “That’s probably why he’s not coming to us.”
“Maybe,” I said with yet another shrug. “But then what happens?”
“What do you mean?” Stacy asked.
“I mean, what happens if he doesn’t come back? What happens if Legion remains content picking off creatures on the planet or the Rung or our own survivors that could still be out there?” I asked. “There have to be more survivors scattered across Genesis. This can’t be all of us. It’s a good-sized planet, and some of the escape pods could have landed on the other side. Legion might move to investigate that possibility.”
“Well, then we go in before that happens,” Stacy said with a grim nod. She reached out tentatively with her right hand and gave my own a squeeze. “Then we’ll figure out a way to go after him.”
Her hand felt cold. At the same time, the contact of her skin on mine brought a swell of hope and comfort.
There wasn’t any title on it yet. I think we both knew it was too fragile and new for that. Still, there was something there that went beyond friendship. It was as though if we mentioned it out loud, this piece of comfort would evaporate around us like the disappearing morning mist.
I felt a strange sense of peace with the relationship. There was no guilt. I knew in my heart of hearts that my wife would have wanted me to be happy. She would have wanted me to move on from her death, probably much sooner than I actually had, and this move felt right. I felt that I had her stamp of approval now and was slowly getting over the feeling of being unfaithful.
These thoughts entered my mind as we stood on the catwalk looking out into the jungle. Then the sound of hurried feet behind us slapping the floor of the steel catwalk with an odd clanging noise made me turn.
Jezra was a member of the Remboshi race. As such, she looked like a large gecko that walked on two lizard-like feet. She wore a tight-fitting synth suit around her slender frame and a long coat.
I was used to seeing the alien creature now. Both Jezra and Tong walked freely within the Orion walls. I wondered if they felt the same near-familiarity and had stopped viewing us as the actual aliens that we were. Having been identified as the Chosen One, although I still was not completely sure what that entailed, probably didn’t hurt their acceptance of us.
Even those that survived the crash and made it to the safety of our walls were getting used to them. There were still plenty of stares, and some were a bit afraid of the odd-looking creatures, but all in all, we coexisted with no major problems. It had helped that the two aliens learned our language and could communicate with everyone.
“Chosen One,” Jezra said urgently, coming to me with a glass data pad in her hand.
“Stop calling me that,” I told her for the hundredth time, slightly annoyed and maybe just a little flattered. “Dean, just Dean.”
“Right, Just Dean.” Jezra’s head bobbed. She looked down at where Stacy and I still held hands, raising her eyebrows, or where eyebrows would be if she had them. She pulled her gaze back to our faces. Her expression held a hint of worry in it, if geckos could worry, and I figured there was some pressing issue that needed our attention.
Stacy and I both released the grip we had on one another at the same time. I did so reluctantly and fleetingly hoped she felt the same. I shook my head a bit to clear it of these thoughts so I could focus on the issue at hand.
“Is there something we can help you with, Jezra?” Stacy asked, clearing her throat.
The alien brought her data pad over to us, turning it around so we could see an image of the mountains to our east.
“Our low-flying satellite has picked up images of a confrontation between Legion and the Rung,” Jezra said, zooming in on the scene so we could see.
I looked more closely. The event seemed to be on the east side of the mountains. The furthest we had ever traveled east was to the foot of these mountains, where we had our first run-in with the Rung. This was an interesting development, especially since I was still speculating that there might be survivors in other areas of Genesis.
The Rung were a violent rival faction of the Remboshi race. Centuries ago, they had broken off from the Remboshi culture, deciding to enhance their bodies with machines and technology.
Our first meeting with the Rung had not gone well. Ricky had been gravely wounded when we were attacked. We almost lost him, but he had since recovered, fortunately.
I remembered all of this as I studied the images in front of us. Bodies littered the mountain slopes. The two sides were easy to pick out. Gecko-like beings with robes and metal adornments fixed to their bodies lay dead. Along with them, a combination of what looked like humans and alien animals all carrying the same black veins and eyes set them apart as infected.
Legion was an insidious virus that spread from host to host. It was a single intelligent symbiotic entity that controlled a host of creatures. Many of the survivors of the Orion had been lost to Legi
on since we landed. Our priority was to stop this from happening anymore.
Jezra ran through the grisly images of the area. The battle had been massive with many casualties. I guessed there were at least a hundred dead infected with twice that number of Rung.
“That’s horrible,” Stacy said, shaking her head from side to side in a mix of sympathy and horror. “When did this happen?”
“Had to have been last night,” Jezra said. “That would be my guess at least. I have the low-flying satellite maintaining a strict patrol around the Orion. My guess is that Legion is making a move on the Rung. That’s why we haven’t seen him for so long.”
“Good,” I said, feeling no compunction that the hostile alien faction was getting their butts handed to them. “They shot Ricky and killed the exploration group that went that way searching for the section of the Orion that held the communications device. We still don’t even know if we can get it operational again. Doctor Wong’s been working on it ever since we brought it back.”
“So you’re just going to let the Rung and Legion wipe each other out?” Stacy asked, looking at me with a raised eyebrow. “Let the animals kill each other off, huh?”
“God willing,” I said, nodding. Maybe I should have felt a bit of remorse at the death of so many, but the simple fact was, I didn’t. “Hopefully, they’ll all kill each other. Then we can turn all our attention to rescuing any of our own still out there and getting off this planet.”
Stacy looked over to Jezra for support.
Jezra’s large yellow eyes behind her goggles winced as if she were having some kind of head pain.
“You okay?” I asked. “You look like you have a migraine or something.”
“That’s just what my face looks like when I am in intense concentration,” Jezra explained. “I have no love for the Rung. They have been the enemy of my people since I was in the egg. However, they may be able to be reasoned with. Legion exists only to spread and kill. One is bad while the other is pure evil.”
“What?” I asked, taken aback. “You want to side with the Rung now?”
“I didn’t say that,” Jezra denied. She reached a three-fingered green hand to my face and slapped me. At least I thought it was supposed to be a slap. She barely touched me, and her palm made contact with my face like she had never slapped anyone in her life, so I wasn’t sure. “Listen to me. We may be in a situation here where the enemy of our enemy is our friend.”
“Where have the Rung chosen to hide?” Stacy asked, trying not to laugh at the exchange. I rolled my eyes at her and clutched my face in an exaggerated manner when Jezra turned to her, pretending the slap had actually hurt. “Can you get a visual on their base from the satellite?”
“They seem to have gone underground,” Jezra said, taking back the data pad and pressing buttons on the smooth glass surface. “I have not been able to find the exact entrances to their underground bases, but I do believe they have multiple entry points. With the satellite patrolling this section of Genesis, I should pick up their activity and movement in the course of a few days and be able to find their location.”
“You’re not serious about this, are you?” I asked Stacy.
“What? I didn’t even say anything,” she answered defensively.
“You don’t have to,” I accused. “I know that look. You want to team up with the Rung to take out Legion.”
Stacy chewed on her lower lip, deep in thought. I wasn’t angry if that was indeed what she was thinking. Stacy carried a large responsibility as leader of our defenses and what remained of the Civil Authority. I didn’t envy her and I knew the toll it had taken on her, even if she wasn’t showing it like I was, with gray in her hair or wrinkles around her eyes and mouth.
“I’m keeping my options open,” she finally said. “We need to talk to Elon and—we need to talk to Elon about this.”
“Right,” I said, hearing everything Stacy wasn’t saying. Arun, Elon’s older sister, wasn’t herself these days. The Legion virus had infected her during our race to the walls with Jezra and the supplies. Thanks to her Eternal healing powers, the virus hadn’t totally taken over her body. It was like a war raged inside her around the clock. As such, she was always tired, sometimes delirious, calling out odd, random things about the crash of the Orion, Maksim, and others that no one could decipher. Elon was understandably very concerned about Arun, but there was no cure except to maybe let time take its course. The most we could hope for was that her healing powers would win out.
“I’ll call a meeting tonight,” Stacy said, motioning for Jezra to follow. “I’d like to take a closer look at those images you showed us. Maybe we can find out more if we study them further.”
Jezra nodded and moved to go with Stacy.
“Wait. If we take the fight to Legion with the help of the Rung, what happens to that second prophecy that woke you out of your hyper sleep?” I asked Jezra. “You said the Orion would fall.”
Jezra blinked at me a few times with those large reptilian eyes of hers. “And it still may. There are many things to be considered. The sands of time have not given us a free pass as of yet.”
With that less than helpful piece of mumbo jumbo, the pair turned and left.
I shook my head. I was liable to give myself a headache if I tried to figure out Jezra and her prophecies. Too many years awake on her own with no one to communicate with had made her a bit loopy in my opinion.
I turned back to look over the wall. My head buzzed with the thoughts of joining forces with the Rung. It left a bad taste in my mouth. I didn’t even have a clue as to how we would accomplish such a thing if it were possible. Would the Rung want to team up with us in the first place? It occurred to me that this must be what Stacy had been thinking and regretted giving her flak about it.
“Help!” a scream rang out somewhere in the center of the compound. “Help! Someone help!”
I turned, looking down into the enclosed area of the Orion. Our wall made a large U shape around the exposed end of the colony seed ship. Inside was a city of tents where most of the colonists had chosen to live instead of trying to stay inside the ship that rested on its side.
“Someone help him!” the voice came again, sounding more frantic. It was a man’s voice, though not one I recognized.
Adrenaline lent aid to my movement and I grabbed the rifle, slinging it over my shoulder as I took off to investigate. My feet pounded down the catwalk and to the black stairs that led to the ground below.
I wove through our tent city rapidly as colonists emerged and looked to me for direction. Others followed the sounds of cries for help.
Rounding a final tent near the south wall, I found a figure hunched over on the ground. Mutt growled down at him.
It wasn’t the figure that was doing the yelling. Instead, one of the Orion survivors was pointing at Mutt apprehensively, yelling for help. He was clearly too frightened himself to try and intervene between the two beings.
Mutt was a genetically engineered canine. As such, he was perfect in every way. Massive in size and powerfully muscled from head to paw, the dog’s head came above my waist when he stood normally, and taller than me if he stood on his hind legs.
I’d only seen him act like this a handful of times before and it was always for good reason. The giant wolf dog’s hackles raised on his back and his ears were flattened against the sides of his head. Mutt would take a bite out of this guy if I didn’t intervene.
“Hey, easy, easy,” I said, grabbing Mutt by the extra skin at the scruff of his neck. “It’s okay, boy. I’m here.”
Mutt tensed under my hold. We were making a scene as more and more survivors from the Orion crash came to see what was causing the disturbance.
I still couldn’t clearly see who Mutt had cornered. Whoever it was wore a deep red coat that was stained from the elements.
“He’s not going to bite you,” I said to the hunched over and presumably terrified figure. “I’ve got a hold of him.”
Alarms
went off in my mind when the figure refused to respond or turn to show their face.
I shouldered my weapon and reached out with my free hand to grab a handful of the cloak of the figure in front of me. I pulled hard enough to have their head swing around and instantly recoiled, already going for my weapon again as my hand came back and they stood. It was a Remboshi in front of me. Not one like Tong and Jezra. This one was taller with a cybernetic eye and metal left hand. It wasn’t a Remboshi, but rather a member of the Rung.
His presence in our camp caught me off guard enough that I had missed the weapon in his hands. He lifted an arm and leveled the blaster at my face.
2
Dozens of questions crashed like waves through my mind. The foremost was, how had he gotten inside our walls undetected? My hand was on my rifle, but I wasn’t able to draw it, at least not before he’d get a shot off.
I could feel a deep rumbling coming from Mutt, vibrating his whole body. His muscles quivered under my hand. I could tell he was prepared to pounce on my go. Relief fluttered through me that the Rung had not shot him, and I wanted to keep it that way. I kept my hand on him, hoping he would stay calm and by my side.
Gasps and screams came from everyone around us as they called for help from the Civil Authority Officers working the wall. Over the last month, Stacy had taken it upon herself to train recruits and arm them with the latest and greatest Remboshi tech from the Cerberus Installation.
The Rung in front of me was skinnier than I was, but that didn’t mean he was any less deadly. His thick tail stuck straight up behind him. It was strong and muscular-looking, as if it could take out someone with a good swipe. He eyed me with his one green eye and his one cybernetic eye that shone red. He moved to look at Mutt, uncertain of his next actions.
My heart was racing a mile a minute. Still, one thing spoke to me above all others. He hadn’t killed me, yet. He had me dead to rights. Still, he had refused to pull the trigger. Something was up.