Kali's Children (Kali Trilogy Book 1)

by Craig Allen

  “LZ in three mikes,” the pilot said.

  Cody leaned forward and peered toward the cockpit. Memories of the hopper spinning out of control flooded back to him.

  Bodin and Sonja had remained behind. Sonja wanted to come with them, but had been denied. Cody was grateful. Sonja had told Cody she had never actually watched the recording they were about to show the toads. It was probably why the admiral himself had denied her request. Cody didn’t even know why she’d asked to come in the first place.

  Cody pulled up a hopper external optic on his HUD. They passed over a crater, and from the scorched area, it had obviously been created recently. The meeting spot was a few hundred kilometers from one of the toads’ technology caches. A toad village wasn’t too far from the location. They couldn’t have missed the blast. As a result, they would either fear humans or hate them. Cody suspected the latter. He couldn’t imagine that the toads were afraid of anything.

  The hopper slowed then landed smoothly on an open plain. Half the marines poured out the back door. After a few seconds, one of the marines outside yelled, “Clear!”

  The other half stood and opened lockers in the wall. They pulled out tubes of varying lengths and exited the hopper. Outside, each marine pressed a button along a tube, and it opened into a tripod. They set the tripods on the ground about ten meters from the hopper. The tubes automatically extended to a length of four meters into the air. In half a minute, they were assembled and set up. A flash arced across the length of the tripod as the inertia fence came alive.

  “Stay inside.” The admiral’s voice didn’t lose any command presence even through the suit comm system. “You can see it all from here.” The admiral strolled off the hopper and onto the planet as if it were his.

  Cody stood and went to the edge of the hopper bay, stopping just shy of the exit. A windstorm had kicked up, blotting out the yellow sky. The inertia fences blocked most of the wind and dust, causing it to sail over the immediate area. Through gaps in the storm, the red reeds were visible around thirty meters in the distance.

  “Detecting movement,” a voice on the comm said. “Bearing two one five, a hundred meters off the deck and dropping.”

  The admiral glanced upward. “Stand down. They’re with us.”

  A shadow passed over the landing area behind the hopper—the LZ, as one of the marines had called it. Cody recognized the silhouette of a flier. A few seconds later, it glided in just outside the fenced area. A marine touched a part of the fence. There was a flash as that section went down, then the flier walked through. The marine turned the fence on again, causing the flier to quiver and shake its head. It approached the admiral. The marines readied their weapons, but the admiral waved them off.

  A message appeared on Cody’s HUD, sent from the viewer in the flier’s claw.

  We are here as asked. Friends above are watching.

  “Very good,” the admiral said. “We also have our people up there.”

  Yes we know. They are loud.

  The flier turned and hopped toward Cody. He waved at it, and it waved back with one of its wings. When it reached him, it tapped out another message that appeared on Cody’s HUD.

  They will come and try to capture us and you.

  Cody shook his head. “They won’t succeed.”

  The flier fluttered its wings and danced in place.

  “More movement,” a voice said. “Bearing two zero and closing.”

  His HUD picked it up, almost due north. It was directly behind the rear door of the hopper. From out of the dust cloud, a gathering of beetles emerged. They danced in circles but steered clear of the fence. They could, no doubt, pick up on the energy field that interacted with the surrounding environment. Some approached the fence, only to have the marines train their coil rifles on them. They backed away immediately. No one trusted the beetles any longer.

  They will try to move through the loud trees to get to you.

  “We’ll see.” Cody was certain the inertia fence would keep them out. But Matthew had been certain the toads couldn’t break open the crash pods, and they had managed to learn to build and fly spaceships in such a short time.

  “Is everything in order?” the admiral asked.

  “Yes, sir,” a marine said. “Just in time, sir. Here they are.”

  Cody’s suit picked up movement dead ahead, hidden within the clouds, only a few meters ahead. The flier shivered.

  We see from above what approaches. It is them who are coming as asked and they are led by Provider.

  Provider appeared first. Then the others came out of the windstorm like ghosts, moving slowly as if they had plenty of time. Each had its primary arm on top. But Provider kept his central arm under him. The toads gathered in formations behind him. Provider hopped forward, and the others hobbled behind him in that odd gait that was both awkward and smooth.

  Some beetles got in Provider’s way. He didn’t think twice about crushing them. The admiral didn’t move an inch, even as Provider stopped a few meters away. It hovered over everything, human and local alike. The creature’s massive head twisted back and forth in front of the admiral, as if judging him. He towered over the admiral by a meter. Every marine had his or her rifle pointed at Provider, but he didn’t acknowledge any of them. He focused his attention solely on the admiral.

  It happened so quickly that Cody didn’t react until it was over. Provider lunged at the admiral. Something so big couldn’t possibly move that quickly, and yet he did. One second, he was still, and a split second later, he crashed into the invisible barrier created by the inertia fence. Alarms sounded all along the perimeter as the wall of gravity knocked Provider back a good three meters. The admiral didn’t even flinch.

  Provider rose and pushed aside another toad that had gotten too close. He stalked toward the edge of the fence. He stood on his back legs. Bits of dust on the ground shook, and metallic dust particles in the air seemed to cling to the metal plates on his head. The magnetic readings on Cody’s suit soared.

  Provider dug all five claws into the ground, churning it. The admiral let Provider flex his muscles for a moment before pointing to one of the posts, where a viewer sat, showing a holographic interface similar to the interface on the viewers.

  The admiral’s question was simple. “Who is in charge?”

  Provider simply stared at the admiral for a moment. Finally, he reached out with one of his fore claws and entered keystrokes on the viewer.

  You are small and are not strong like us like I AM. I will take every one of you after you give me what I want.

  The admiral simply gestured at the marine to his left. The marine nodded at the rest of the fire team. They took aim with their coil rifles.

  Provider, the leader of the planet’s most fearsome predators, cowered.

  The marines squeezed their triggers. For a good two seconds, they poured dozens of rounds into Provider, tearing his massive frame to pieces. Provider’s innards bounced off the grav-fence and splattered the ground. The other toads backed away from the barrage as their leader disintegrated.

  When it was done, the toads didn’t dare move forward. They simply focused on what little was left of Provider.

  The admiral let the event sink in for a moment before speaking. “I’m going to ask one more time. Who is in charge?”

  After a moment, one toad moved forward. It had flipped over, placing its fifth arm under itself, and crouched low to the ground. It flinched when the marines trained their coil rifles on it. Every toad had flipped itself over in the same manner. The perfect formations of toads had broken into a chaotic gathering of creatures attempting to hide behind one another.

  The single toad crawled toward the viewer. It stood up as much as it dared, stretching for the viewer with one smaller fore-claw. It tapped in a message.

  You are.

  “That’s right,” the admiral said. “We are in charge. We are in control. And you will do what we say.”

  The toad gave a quick nod with its bod
y.

  “I want the location of every piece of technology you have. I want it brought to us. If it’s too big to move, you will tell us where it is, and we will deal with it. Cooperate and you can do as you wish. We really don’t care what you do to each other. Kill each other all you like. But if you harm any of our kind…”

  The admiral activated the controls on his suit. An image came to life on the holographic viewer set up on the fence. It showed a blue world sitting in the void of space. The scene was peaceful for about ten seconds, long enough for all the toads to gather around. A few seconds later, a bright flash illuminated the far side of the world. It was bright enough to emerge around the edges of the planet. The flash engulfed the entire planet for a few seconds. When it faded, there was fire. Atmosphere burned away into space in a wave that covered the planet. The power of the ASEB consumed the planet like a matchstick head. In less than a minute, the blue world turned into a black rock floating in space. It was the first of a dozen worlds to die that way.

  Though Cody had seen it before, it still filled him with a combination of sadness and rage. He was glad Sonja wasn’t there. The world that had been obliterated was her home world, and her husband had been there when it had happened.

  The admiral paused the recording. The toads gathered around the image of the dead world regarded each other when it was over. Then they focused on the admiral, giving him their undivided attention.

  “We can turn everything you see—everything you have ever seen—into that.” He pointed at the dead world on the viewer. “If you’re going to be a problem for us, we’ll burn everything you see, including you. There are many other worlds. Losing one is nothing to us.”

  Cody was sure the admiral was bluffing, but all that mattered was that the toads believed him.

  The admiral turned and gestured at the flier standing next to the hopper door. “These people are under our protection. You will cease hunting them. Any who are in your captivity will be released immediately.”

  Every toad did a head bob, nodding.

  The admiral turned to leave then stopped. “One other thing.” He faced them. “There is a better way, a way to live that we have used for a long time. We have plenty of food, and we survive easily. We don’t live in fear.”

  The toads lifted their bodies and twisted from side to side as the admiral spoke.

  “Our way of life has allowed us to create what you see around us.” The admiral gestured toward the fence and the hopper behind him. “We won’t show you how to build technology. You may well figure that out on your own one day, as we did. What we can show is a better way to live.”

  The toads gathered around the fence. They no longer seemed menacing.

  “If you have the courage and strength to learn,” the admiral said, “then we will show you.”

  With that, the admiral turned and boarded the hopper. The flier nodded once at Cody, and Cody waved at it. The creature took to the air, easily gaining altitude and disappearing into the sky.

  The marines stayed behind at first, some gesturing at the toads with their rifles while others dismantled the fence. The toads backed away, leaving them unmolested. When the marines finished, they boarded the hopper. The toads remained frozen the whole time, and though Cody couldn’t quite gauge their body language accurately, he could’ve sworn they stared at the marines with awe, or perhaps fear.

  As soon as the door secured itself, the hopper engines came online. A green light appeared above them. The admiral broke the seal on his suit and pulled off his helmet. Cody did the same. Both he and the admiral sat next to each other. The artificial gravity kept them from feeling the force of the hopper’s massive acceleration as it bounced back into space.

  Cody faced the admiral. “What would the brass say if they knew you brought me down here?”

  The admiral pointed to the insignia on his suit. “I am the brass.” He shrugged. “But even I answer to people. Still, I’m old enough to not give a damn what people think anymore.”

  “What if they fire you?” Cody asked. “Or maybe I should say, what if they kick you out of the Navy?”

  The admiral shook his head. “They won’t. Maybe I’ll get a reprimand. I’ve taken a lot of liberties during this op, but they’ll go along.” He took a deep breath. “I don’t want my last act in life to be destroying an entire planet, if I can help it.”

  “Think it’ll work?”

  The admiral nodded. “I hope so. They aren’t used to having another species being in charge. They’ve always run everything. They’ll push back, and when they do, we’ll have to punish them for it.”

  “Strength is all that matters to them,” Cody said, repeating what the admiral had told him earlier. “I hope they can learn beyond that.”

  “They seem to learn quickly. If they can learn to fly a spaceship, they can learn anything. The question is do they have the will and if they have the right teachers.” He raised an eyebrow. “Know any?”

  Cody smiled. “I might.”

  “Glad you feel that way, doctor,” the admiral said. “This solution was a good idea. You should be proud.”

  Cody nodded his thanks. “I would be proud, admiral, if it were a permanent solution.”

  The admiral gave him a half-smile. “You’re right. This is temporary. Now the real work begins. If they can learn, they may not be a threat to us. If not, we simply watch them and make sure they don’t have any more technology.”

  “And let them kill each other,” Cody said.

  The admiral shrugged. “That’s their choice. As long as they don’t extend their violence to us, we’ll let them be.”

  “And if they do?” Cody asked. “What if they have some hidden cache of ships somewhere that we didn’t know about?”

  “I hope that’s not true, Doctor,” the admiral said. “Because if that’s true, I’ll be back with more ships. And when I’m done, not even bacteria will be left alive.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  On the giant view screen, coffins carrying the dead glided through space. Cody stood with the others in the cargo bay, watching. Every marine was in full dress uniform. They watched until the dead disappeared in the blackness of space.

  Cody normally hated funerals. He never knew what to say to those who had lost their loved ones. This time was different, though. Cody knew the dead. He’d fought beside them. He had only known them for a few days, but he had known them well enough to miss them.

  Every time the admiral called out a name, something shifted through the whole crowd. Marines would never show it, but he could have sworn they were ready to cry. Bodin even shook his head a few times, pushing the emotions back. Whatever he kept locked up inside of him was coming out. Sonja wouldn’t stop biting her lip the whole time. When the tears came, everyone ignored them out of respect.

  These were a hard people, and yet they cared for each other intensely, more so than anyone he had ever known. Cody wondered if he would ever truly understand them.

  ~~~

  Cody stood in the mess deck, surrounded by marines. He glanced around absently for Sonja while he told his story. She was a little late.

  “So I’m hanging off the outside of the ring. George’s hanging with me—he was my drop buddy. I’m staring down at the Pacific Ocean, checking my gear. Then I remember I don’t have the coordinates for the drop. I’d be lucky to hit the island, much less the target.”

  Everyone laughed.

  “So I turn around to ask George if he has the coordinates loaded into his suit, but he’s not there.”

  They laughed again.

  “Neither is the ring. It’s a hundred meters behind me. I’d dropped and didn’t even know it.”

  They laughed louder than ever then waited for Cody to go on.

  “I figured I’d end up in the drink, but what else was I going to do?” Cody waited for the chuckles to die down before continuing. “I managed to do some calculations in my head. Distance to the horizon, the air pressure as I dropped, and a bunch of
other things. In the end, I made it to Honolulu… within five meters of the target.”

  Everyone smiled as Cody told his story. When he was done, they clapped, and a few patted him on the back. He’d told that story more times than he could count and had gotten sick of it long ago. But there in the mess deck, he enjoyed telling it for the first time in years. After that, Cody took a few pictures with people and signed autographs—just as he used to long ago. It was the least he could do for them.

  Someone behind him spoke. “Get an autograph?”

  “Sure, I…” Cody turned to see Bodin smiling. He couldn’t help but laugh. “Thought you didn’t like me?”

  “What’s not to like?” Bodin nodded at him. “I hear you’re sticking around.”

  “Yeah, that’s right. They’re setting up a civilian contingent here and looking for instructors.”

  “No shit?” Bodin caught himself. “Sorry, Doc. Didn’t mean to offend.”

  Cody shrugged. “No problem.” Cody was getting used to it. “They want educators and such. They want to show the locals how we do things and see if they can learn.”

  “Like the admiral said.”

  “Yeah.” Cody glanced around again. “That’s probably why Sonja wanted to meet me.”

  “Come again?”

  “Well, Sonja said she wanted to see me, so we’re meeting up here,” Cody said. “Hey, do you think she’ll stay, too?”

  Bodin laughed like a maniac. “Clueman, you know a lot, but there’s a lot you don’t know.” He gestured behind Cody.

  Cody turned. Sonja walked across the mess deck. She had on her uniform, but he wondered if it was regulation. It was more revealing than what she usually wore, and Cody couldn’t help but stare at her. And was that makeup she was wearing? Was that regulation?

  “I’ll let you guys be.” Bodin patted Cody on the shoulder and left.