Dark Universe & Forbidden Love (57 page)

Kalan was having a video
conference with the leaders of the other eight species to discuss the Hylocan
matter. It seemed like Kalan was representing Glycan, but he couldn’t make any
call. He was just a messenger delivering decisions from Joint Commanders of
Staff. Kalan knew why they picked him to do this, because he was Klizan’s son
and they hoped that connection would serve as some sort of a deterrence.

The
leaders didn’t care whether Jason was dead or not, because while Jason was in
Listan for more than three months, no Hylocan showed up. Iteiten from Estian
and Au Ithei, the president of Oireitan, both argued that counting on a Human
to lead them to Hylocan was a stupid strategy in the first place. The leader of
Uainanese believed that they should had tortured Jason. In that case they could
at least obtain some information. Kalan also gave up on Jason and that was why
he told Klaycon to kill him. Other five species didn’t really have the chance
to voice their opinions.

Kalan
was just sitting there and waiting, while Estian, Oireitan and Uainanese were
arguing what to do next. After a while, they all got tired. Iteiten turned to
Kalan and said, “Oh, we almost forgot General Kalan was here, would you like to
shed some light on this matter?” “What? Do I look like a star?” Kalan sneered.

“If
Hylocan is out there, what are they waiting for?” R-Isgie, the leader of
Uainanese, said.

Nobody
had any clue and they started blaming each other. The meeting dragged another
hour and ended with nothing.

Kalan
went back to his cabin. Before he could sit down, Neiteo rushed in nervously
and said, “You want to see this.” He handed Kalan a crystal.

Kalan
inserted the crystal in the slot on the table. A beam of light passed through
the crystal and formed an image right in front of Kalan. It was the analysis
report of the brown stuff they found in Cruiser General Klizan.

“Superace?”
Kalan murmured in surprise.

“Yes. I
couldn’t believe it either. I mean the nine species slaughtered every single
one of them and confirmed every kill.” Neiteo said hastily.

“There
must be some mistake. Let them redo the test.”

“This is
the second run.”

“Then do
it the third time with a different team.” Kalan said impatiently.

“I am
quite sure it will return with the same result.”

“You
don’t know that. Keep me posted.” Kalan said tiredly.

Neiteo
nodded and left. Klaycon let out a sigh and started to think about superace and
what nine species did to them. If superace were still out there, he really hope
he could apologize to them for Glycan.

The war between Dolanz and
Oepttese had entered into the seesaw stage. Battles ensued on both planets and
space. The same place exchanged hands again and again. Dolanz recently
recaptured part of the mining center on planet NTE1423, but Human and Oepttese
curbed Dolanz’s offensive.

Jason
never went to see Jenny again. After the last call he made, he was more and
more worried about Gloria’s well-being. All possible scenarios cycled in his
head day and night and drove him crazy. He turned to alcohol to ease the pain
and recently he hung out with Kiel a lot. They had something in common. They
both came from Earth and Kiel was also in the preselection institution and he
was 12 years senior than Jason. However, he didn’t make it to Guardian Fleet.
Also they both lost their mothers when they were still kids.

It was a
long day for Kiel’s squadron. They just finished a night-long airstrike as the
infantry forces pushed for the mining center.

Jason
and other pilots gathered together near a table. He was sitting on the edge of
a bed and listening the dirty jokes thrown around by others. Several whiskey
bottles scattered on the table. They were passing around another whiskey bottle
and drank directly from it.

A pilot
handed Jason the bottle and Jason took a deep dive. It was strong, but he took
it like a man.

“That is
what I am talking about!” Rew yelled. Other pilots cheered.

“Come
on! Jason, now it is your turn.” Riodin said happily.

“Alright,
here we go. So why did we invent whiskey?” Jason asked in a mysterious voice
and looked around at others.

They all
shook their heads.

“So that
ugly guys like us can have a chance for sex.” Jason shouted.

“Yea.”

“Yea.”
Everyone shouted out of their lungs.

“Actually,
that is true.” Kiel’s voice struck the crowd.

Two new
pilots sprinted out of chairs and saluted Kiel. Others broke into laughter.

“Come
on, guys! Give them a break.” Kiel said in a joking tone as he picked up a
bottle on the table. He took a sip and said, “Listen. Life is short here and we
don’t need all those bullshit. Here we just enjoy lives while we still can.”

“Yea.”

“Yea.”
Everyone shouted.

Kiel
winked at Jason and then left the crowd. Jason hung around for another minute
and said, “Guys, I need to take a leak. Be right back.” He walked away and
found Kiel outside.

“You
want to make some money.” Kiel asked quietly.

“That
won’t hurt.” Jason said happily.

They
went to the hangar, took out their fighter jets and flew to the battlefield
where they bombarded before the dawn.

Dead
bodies were everywhere on the bleak field. Sporadic gunshots and explosions
still rolled from the distance. After a whole night fight, Human and Oepttese
seized most of the mining center. Jason and Kiel landed their jets near a big
gate at the front of the facility. Jason could see several Human soldiers
checking corpses at close range. Kiel and Jason got off their jets. Kiel handed
Jason a rifle and said, “Just in case someone wakes up.”

They
started to scout the field. Some corpses were still warm and some were still
bleeding. Jason checked pockets, hands and necks. To his surprise, many of them
had rings on their fingers. He got several necklaces also, but they were not
that great. These guys were just as poor as him.

Kiel had
much better luck than Jason. He mainly checked Oepttese and Dolanz and
collected all those weird things that Jason couldn’t even name.

Jason
rolled over an Oepttese and checked its front pockets. Just at this moment, the
Oepttese grabbed Jason’s hand and muttered, “Save me. Save me.”

Jason
quickly aimed the rifle at him, but the Opettese never made another sound.
Jason shut those lifeless eyes and said, “Just another poor guy.” Then he moved
on to the next one.

Kiel and
Jason spent about an hour on the battlefield and then returned to the carrier.
They gave a share to their mechanics and the hangar manager. Then they went to
the supply officer on the carrier and exchanged what they had for several
bottles of whiskey. Kiel took one bottle and gave the rest to Jason and said,
“So I hear you have a Glycan girlfriend.”

“Well,
right now I am not so sure about that.” Jason sighed.

“What do
you mean? You never mentioned anything to me.”

“Because
I don’t know whether she is alright or not.” Jason said sadly.

“You
tried to contact her?”

“Yea, I
did, but that didn’t work out.”

“Man,
you sound like you really love her.” Kiel said in surprise.

“I do.”

“So what
is your plan? I mean you will go to find her?”

“I am
thinking about it. Besides I can’t stay here forever anyway.”

“Where
are you going?”

“I don’t
know. Probably find a planet to settle down first and then I will find a way to
see her.”

“I feel
like you are planning on leaving.” Kiel said listlessly.

“You can
feel that?” Jason asked in surprise.

“You
know its better this way. Better than die on the battlefield.”

Later
they went back to the squadron living quarter and got drank with other pilots.

It had been two weeks since
Klaycon started hunting for Jason, but he didn’t get anything. Right now, he
was strolling back and forth in his room in the training center. Nissen was
sitting nervously on a sofa. Zier was polishing his fingernails next to Nissen.

Klaycon
looked at Nissen and Zier and shouted, “It has been two weeks!”

“Sorry,
we, we, we haven’t found anything yet. There are so many planets out there. He
could be hiding. I mean, I am quite sure he is hiding from you. But we will
find him.” Nissen stammered. 

“I see.”
Klaycon said as he threw a chair at Nissen.

Nissen
and Zier jumped away from the coach, barely missing the chair.

“Klaycon,
may I suggest an alternative?” Zier asked politely.

“What?”

“Maybe we
can ask Jason’s friends.” Zier said cautiously.

“Ask
them? I can’t believe you say something like this.” Nissen said disappointedly.

Klaycon
slowly turned to Zier and asked, “You know anyone we can use?”

“Several
days ago, I sent out a message to his friends and most of them didn’t give a
damn except one. Lucis William.”

“That
doesn’t mean anything.” Nissen said. 

“Well,
it won’t hurt to give it a try and find out what he is thinking.” Zier said.

“Let’s
give it a try.” Klaycon said firmly.

“I will send
the message right away.” Zier said.

In the
second class species area, Erikon, Lucis, Titainein, Sayilin, Idi and Orizy
were checking their gears for the combat training.

“I am
wondering whether you guys got the message from a Glycan.” Orizy said carelessly
as he loaded his rifle.

“Surprised?”
Sayilin asked.

“Yea.”

“Same
here. It was the first time a first species sent me a message.” Sayilin said.

“Me
too.” Idi added.

“I can
tell who sent it.” Titainein said suddenly.

“Friends
of Klaycon?” Erikon guessed.

“But I
thought they didn’t know Jason was alive. I got that message too.” Idi said
innocently.

“It’s
just a matter of time.” Sayilin said sadly.

“Titainein,
how did you reply?” Orizy asked curiously.

“I said
fuck off.” Titainein said firmly.

“Me
too.” Erikon said.

“So did
I.” Idi added.

“I
thought I was the only rude one.” Sayilin said happily.

“The
moment I sent that, I really felt great.” Orizy said excitedly.

“Now you
are talking.” Titainein said happily.

“I am
proud of myself.” Sayilin said confidently.

“You are
always proud of yourself.” Erikon joked.

They all
smiled.

“Hey,
Lucis, you alright? Seems you are very busy with your watch.” Orizy asked.

“Get a
message from your girlfriend.” Sayilin joked.

“Very
funny.” Lucis said coldly as he removed the sticker from his forehead. He did
just check a message.

“Alright,
guys, are we ready?” Titainein shouted as she stepped into her armor.

“Lady
first!” Erikon said in a cheerful mood as he jumped into his armor.

Others
smiled and got into their own armors. ‘

“When it
comes to dinner, you never say lady first. You know that?” Titainein said to
Erikon.

Everyone
laughed loudly.

Lucis
couldn’t really focus on the combat training. He kept thinking about the
message sent by Zier. Unlike the previous message, this time it was an
invitation. After the training, Lucis went back to the dorm with Erikon. On the
way, Erikon still talked about how good he felt when he told the Glycan to fuck
off. Lucis got the first message as well and he didn’t reply. But when he got
the second message, he started to think it in a logic way, “Jason will be dead
anyway. His life and career are gone the moment he made those decisions. He
acted on his passion and didn’t even thought about it. There is nothing I can
do and I have helped him in numerous situations. I didn’t ask for anything for
return. I act as a friend and I finish my duties.”

“Hey,
man, are you alright? You look really lost today.” Erikon said caringly.

Lucis
smiled reluctantly and said, “You know, I am thinking about how to save Jason.
Right now I have no clue.”

“I
thought about it as well. It will be difficult, but we will work it out.”
Erikon said firmly.

“Yep.”

“You
know, if one day I have a girlfriend like Gloria, I hope I can act like Jason.”

“What?
Are you crazy? You have seen what he went through!” Lucis said in surprise.

“I know.
But you should follow your heart at least one time in your life. Just let it
go.”

“That is
stupid.” Lucis said firmly.

They
were all tired after the training. Erikon went to bed and fell into sleep right
away like a pig. Lucis couldn’t fall asleep. He was still pondering whether to
meet those Glycans or not. He was worried that they would abduct him and
torture him to find out where Jason was. He decided to stay put and forgot the
message.

Several
days later, Lucis received an official invitation from first class species to
visit the recently commissioned Glycan spacecraft carrier. Lucis was the only
trainee invited and others were teachers from second class species. This indeed
stirred quite a rumor. Lucis could tell the way trainees looked at him was
different. He enjoyed this feeling and looked forward to the tour.