by Trey Deibel
“Although joining the ARW wasn’t exactly a pay raise, I admit… you did surprise me when you left to become a soldier. I figured you cared more about jemns. After all, isn’t that what you used care about - jemns?” she questioned.
He took a moment to think about that. “Sort of… at first. After a few years, I had enough jemns saved. Even though the pay is far less as an ARW soldier than a mercenary, I saw an opportunity to create a more respectable name for myself. The ARW was that opportunity.” He finished another turn.
“Well, I always welcome more jemns,” she informed him.
“Could you write that on a sign and entitle it Shivf I Already Know?” I quipped.
We had a long bout of laughter. A bout that meant more to Shadow-Walker, Valiic, and me than others could comprehend. It lifted away some of the guilt off our shoulders. In that moment of laughter, I felt like we could overcome any hardship as a team.
After recovering from our laughter, Valiic spoke to Erryn, “Erryn, I’d like to ask you something.”
“Shoot.”
“Do you truly care for nothing other than jemns?”
“Jemns give me all the purpose and happiness I need,” she answered.
“Doesn’t sound like much of a life to me.”
“It’s a great way to stay alive though.”
“What about settling down, Erryn? Raising a family?” he pushed.
Erryn let out a wry laugh. “That’s undoubtedly a maelkii way of thinking. But you… you don’t understand how omelic society works, do you? Tell me, Valiic, maelkii women have seasons, do they not?”
“You’re correct,” he answered.
“And it's common practice to marry early and raise children together?”
“More like doctrine. The majority of maelkii society is based around companionship.”
“Well, take that livelihood and spin that bitch on its head… that's omelic society. Omelic men take what they want, and our society allows them to. Women are more like objects than citizens. We produce a child, and the father takes it away as his… to do whatever he wants with.” Valiic’s eyes flared a bit, and he looked away from her.
“What makes you the exception?” I asked.
She let out a wry laugh. “Disgust. Early on, I saw the tragedy of that life, and I took the first chance I got to get the hell out.”
“That’s pretty badass,” Shadow-Walker concluded. “I didn’t know about that side of your life.”
“We never really worked together, Shadow,” she added.
“True.” He had a flicker of regret in his tone.
“To hear that some societies still act under such uncultured, barbaric guidelines is a true tragedy. This is what the ARW is against. If the bonies win, we’ll only see more of this in the galaxy,” Valiic preached.
Erryn disagreed. “I wouldn’t say that about your enemy. Dytirc culture may be male-dominated, but they still accept females as citizens in their culture. With them, it’s all about belonging to a tribe… where everyone fills a role. It’s not family or blood; its co-dependency. The ARW offers freedom, yes, but the Wersillian Legion offers safety and belonging.”
“I must say, I don’t believe that sounds like you to me,” Valiic said.
She nodded. “There’s a lot you wouldn’t understand about me. Anyway… I’ve made myself clear… I’m on the side of the jemns. Right now, that’s you guys.”
“Let’s hope it stays that way,” Shadow-Walker insisted.
“Your turn, Valiic. What do you plan to do later in life?” Erryn asked him.
“Raise the next generation with my cohinla,” he replied.
“And you, James?”
“Never thought about it. I’m a live-mission-by-mission kind of man. Whatever my next assignment is, I get it done. My missions are as routine as my next meal.”
“It seems like you’ve given that assignment to yourself this time,” she pointed out.
“It’s personal. Someone I… we care about is in danger. Have you ever had that, Erryn?”
“Can’t say that I’ve had the displeasure,” she answered.
Shadow-Walker chimed in. “Did you ever hear about the name trials?” he asked Erryn as he made his next turn.
“Is that how dor’o get their names?”
“Righto. At a young age, dor’o are sent inside the Name Caves for two days. It’s nothing crazy dangerous or anything. It’s the air… in there, dor’o are forced to see things that aren’t there. And… it’s what we do with those hallucinations that matters. For those days, our actions are watched using hidden video systems. Whatever we do, whether it’s helping a wounded animal, hiding in the shadows, or tracking prey, we’re recorded. Billions of possibilities lie inside, and what we choose to do becomes what we’re called.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“I understand that omelics hold their names and titles in high regard, just like dor’o. Am I right?”
“Mostly. Being born to an important family helps, of course.”
“Then you understand how important a name is for someone like me and someone like you.”
“Of course.” She wasn’t sure where he was going with this.
“Now imagine your name dragged in the dirt, ripped away from you, along with your reputation. That’s what it feels like for us to lose our captain. Do you understand?”
Her expression showed it. “We’ll get her back,” she concluded.
The next second, her cyberwatch lit up and blinked red. She got up and proceeded to the control room. As she walked off, she turned her head back. “We’re here. James, I need somebody intimidating at my side, so you’re coming with me.”
“You sure you don’t want Narrisa and Valiic instead? They fit that bill better than I do.”
“Oh, sure,” she said sarcastically. “By all means, let me take two individuals of the one of the largest and most noticeable species into a town of people who want me dead.”
I held up my hands. “Alright. You’ve made yourself clear.”
After she landed the starship, Erryn joined me inside the storage bay of the Striking Star. I stood near the hatch, ready to disembark. “What’s the plan?” I asked. Erryn started sifting through one of her storage crates before pulling out damn near a wardrobe - one full of gunslinger gear.
She walked over to me and sized me up. “Strip.”
I gazed at her as if she’d just jumped into a pool of stupidity. “Excuse me?”
“You can’t waltz right in that place with your ARW gear. So, strip.”
“Fine. Hand me the gear, and be on your way.”
“There isn’t time. Just strip.”
Begrudgingly, I quickly removed all my gear and tossed off all my clothes, leaving myself a thin cloth of boxers over my waist. Despite her presence, I felt no shame or embarrassment.
I held out me hand. “Gear.” Her eyes drifted from my head to my toes, taking their time midway down. “Hurry up. Your words were we are short on time.”
She looked back up, a grin on her purple cheeks. “I lied.” She tossed me the clothes.
I caught them, rolling my eyes. “I hope you found pleasure at my expense.” I couldn’t hold back a small laugh.
She giggled. “I very much did.”
After I was dressed in this tight-fitting gunslinger outfit, I asked, “Now what’s the plan?”
She took off her hat and put on a trench coat. “Simple, really. I parked the ship close to the side where they keep the archive library. That’s where we’re headed. I just need you to stay out of sight and follow me. Got it? Good.” She didn’t let me even answer.
Erryn Wolph and I stepped out of the Striking Star and onto sand, sinking a bit with each step. Fierce winds slammed currents of sand into our faces as we trekked through the desert. I used my hands the best I could to block the sandstorm, squinting to keep the sand from entering my eyes. I couldn’t see further than my reach.
“What is this ball-crunching place, s
and-hell? I’ve got sand playing tug-of-war in my pants, and it doesn’t tickle!” I yelled over the sandstorm.
“Don’t be a bitch, James. It’s like this to keep the town hidden,” Erryn hollered back.
Erryn, a step ahead of me, led the way. In the blink of the eye, she disappeared. After just another step, I pushed through some kind of field. I looked up and noticed we’d entered the city, shielded from the sandstorm by a dome made from the same technology used in atmospheric doors, only scaled up tenfold. My gazed drifted back down, and I could see a long line of wooden buildings straight out of an old western movie. But this wasn’t made from any wood I’d ever seen before; it looked as sturdy as steel.
Erryn jerked me to the side from my covered position behind a bush to the building, next to where I previously stood. She was peering around the corner of the small building, signaling for me to take a peek. I obliged. Just around the corner was another, tighter line of buildings crowded by some conspicuous individuals of multiple species. Many were gang members, while some were mercenaries.
“Just wait for my signal--” she started to whisper, then raised her tone suddenly, “--now!”
She tugged me along. I shoved her arm off me and continued to follow her, hugging the wall of buildings but easily visible to the onlookers – only they weren’t gazing in our direction at the moment. We were exposed for only a few seconds before Erryn pulled open the wooden door to the building we were hiding behind. We slipped inside, and she shut the door behind us, latching it locked. The smell overtook my lungs, and I quickly covered my nose. We were in an outhouse.
“What the-- do you need to take a piss break?” I asked, half-joking.
“Looks can be deceiving.”
“Can you be less encrypted?” I quipped.
“This isn’t an outhouse; it’s the entrance to a tunnel.”
“Are you sure? It smells like moth balls and sewer rats in here.”
“Wouldn’t be very convincing if it didn’t.”
She reached her hand and pulled at a hidden latch below the slat on which the toilet sat. As she lifted it, none other than a ladder leading into a murky tunnel was suddenly revealed. She slid down first, with me right behind. Thank all the luck and mercy in the galaxy there wasn’t any piss or shivf below the toilet.
The tunnel was thin and shaped like a pipe; too small to stand in. Taking the lead, Erryn crouch-walked down the tunnel. I followed.
“After all this trouble, you better get what you came for,” I said.
“The Immortals are nothing if not organized… it’s one of the reasons they’re as strong as they are. This tunnel leads to an archive library, where I’ll find the information I’m looking for.”
“One plot convenience after another,” I jested.
“What do you mean?”
“First the tunnel, and now this library of convenient knowledge.”
“This library, as well as this town, is one of many scattered along the galaxy by the Immortals. I used to know a member assigned to this particular town who was once imprisoned at the Grando Military Prison. He escaped, obviously, and a record of his reports, along with any useful info on the place, will be here. It’s all about knowing the right people and right places to look. Besides, would you rather your captain rot in that prison?”
“The hell kind of question is that?”
“Then accept the opportunities given to you. It’s an important lesson in my line of work.”
Now at the end of the short tunnel, Erryn shifted over a slat of wood blocking us in. She inched out, looking down one way. I followed out of the tunnel, stepping out of an empty bookcase; or rather, it was made to look like an empty bookcase.
She covered the tunnel and led me down the halls of bookshelves. Lights dim, no windows, concrete walls; we were in a basement.
“How deep does this library go?”
“We’re only on the first basement level out of dozens.”
“Jesus. And you know where you’re going?”
“Enough.”
Somehow, those words brought little confidence to me.
We dipped past hundreds of old books, reports, folders; you name it, it was there. Shelved next to each other, all the contents of the bookshelves had their own personality, their own character. They were blasts of information filled with hundreds of stories and juicy bits of information told through countless eyes. It was a gold mine of information for mercenaries like Erryn and anyone lucky enough to gain access to it.
She finally stopped at a section that rounded a corner. This section was particularly dark, and just past us was a set of stairs leading to the floor below us; even darker than our level. Erryn shifted through multiple folders and papers while I kept watch. As time went on, she would rip some excerpts from their confines and stuff them in a leather bag she’d brought along. More than thirty minutes passed.
As she continued the process, I spotted a box of interest to me. It read, “Brotherhood of Relics.” I swear, I’d heard that before. I slid out the box and pulled out the only paper inside.
“Known information: Originated from the Tolkran Kingdom.” That was all that was written.
“What’s the Brotherhood of Relics?”
“They’re a myth… a legend. If they exist, I’ve never heard anything about or seen them. Then again… there’s always some truth to legends.”
“And what about this… Tolkran Kingdom?”
Erryn froze in place for a moment before shaking it off as if nothing happened. “They’re just a worthless kingdom on my home planet.”
I went back to standing guard.
Twenty more minutes passed. “Anything interesting yet?” I asked.
“You have no idea,” she whispered back.
“Fill my brain with some.”
“For one, I found us blueprints of the Grando Military Prison, albeit hand-drawn by the guy I knew. I also found some old maps of the region surrounding the Grando, along with current trade routes to veer away from, and yada-yada stuff you wouldn’t care to know. But-- hah,” she chuckled, “you won’t like this.”
“And what is it I’m not going to like?”
“The thing is: The guy I knew who got in and out of the prison… he didn’t do it by himself. He had outside help - a source he mentioned here.” She pointed to a page in the folder.
“Still not sure what’s not to like about that.”
“This source, we’re going to need him, too. He’s an enemy of your enemy,” she said with a smirk.
“If you don’t stop dragging this out--”
“The source is a dytirc named Larno.”
Taking my eyes off the stairs and shifting them to her, I nearly yelled, but I managed to hold my voice to a tall whisper. “Why in the holy hell would you suggest we met with a dytirc? They’re our enemies!”
“When you’re at constant war with their species, that’s all you see. But the dytircs are more complicated than that. Remember, the dytircs were once a species of many tribes. What do you think happened to those tribes?”
“They all merged.”
“Not all of them. There are a few tribes that didn’t merge into the army you see today. This contact is from one of the only remaining rebel tribes. He’ll be the key to saving your friend.”
“That’s not going to go over well with my crew,” I muttered.
“It’s going to have to. You can figure out how to explain the situation as we head out. I’ve got what I need.”
And with that, we made our way back to Erryn’s ship.
Chapter 16: The Galactic Hotel
October 10, 2111
Malcolm Richardson
Given an hour, Malcolm can mold a target’s weaknesses to his advantage. Given a day, those same weaknesses become crippling. And now, almost a week after taking the mission to capture James Stone and his squad, Malcolm thinks he’s found that perfect scenario - a scenario that would all but render James a cripple under the weight of his own recklessness.
Unfortunately, it isn’t that simple. James isn’t alone; he has his unit. And the more variables, the more complex the solution. To find this solution, Malcolm’s next destination is the Galactic Hotel.
“There it is - the Galactic Hotel. Pure neutrality on an asteroid. A favorite gathering area for diplomats and vacationers all over the galaxy,” Malcolm gleamed.
Although most of the Galactic Hotel was buried in the mountainous asteroid, some of the high points leaked above the surface. Malcolm smiled like a little child as the ship descended past the atmospheric field that led into the hangar. He could hardly wait.
Ready to disembark, they all stepped out of the ship and headed for the lobby doors. Vaal and Malcolm were dressed in civilian clothes, while Brad had his power armor on, as usual. Vaal noticed, and Malcolm could see her annoyance.
“Brad. Why do you feel the need to bring an armory with you?” Vaal queried.
“Payz tah be prepared,” he answered through the helmet.
“This is a neutral paradise! You’ll just draw unwanted attention to us.”
Vaal was fuming, but Brad just responded with a smug snicker as they proceeded into the lobby, passing through an atmospheric door.
A yuerr woman waited on them at a reception desk. The yuerr inhabit the planet Yuerr-Olo, which is orbited by the asteroid on which the Galactic Hotel resides. Both Yuerr-Olo and the Galactic Hotel reside in the Ju-Sana System.
“Welcome to the Galactic Hotel, where peace of mind and neutrality are guaranteed. How may I assist you today?” the yuerr woman greeted the hunters with a nod.
Malcolm leaned in. “How much to gain entrance to your… basement floors?”
“Sir?” She played dumb, but that wouldn’t work on Malcolm. He could see she knew exactly what he was talking about.
Malcolm looked her directly in the eyes. “You and I both know what this place really is… when you take away all the marketing and PR. This place--” Malcolm gestured around him “--is nothing more than a way for the gang known as the Immortals to launder money through.”
“Sir, I--” Malcolm put up his hand to interrupt the yuerr woman.
“Trust me when I say, I’ve done my research. And… that kind of research could really put a bad stain on this place.”