Legacy Of Korr (20 page)

April 10, 2031

Mara rocketed forward in the air ten meters off the ground. She followed the silver guardians which tracked one of the two remaining aliens to a reserve near San Luis Obispo—a small coastal town halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Guardians were versatile machine. Korrans used them as support in battles for extra firepower. They used them as physical defensive shields to absorb attacks and to protect valuable targets. The guardians were also invaluable tracking devices.

Once they have the biological build of the target or the energy signature of a machine, they’d follow it anywhere. Shara had collected enough to track one of the two Manakaris.

The guardian slowed down, signaling the target was somewhere in the quiet reserve that stood between Mara and the sea. She slowed down and sharpened her senses in anticipation. If that was the high-ranking commander, she’d have a fight on her hands. The guardian stopped and descended to the ground until it landed on between the long, green trees.

Mara exited her ship and hovered down until she floated a meter above the ground and followed the guardian. The reserve was dark. Mara relied on her other senses to detect the guardian’s erratic path. When her guardian stopped near the edge of the reserve, Mara pulled out her gun and landed on the ground.

“Show yourself, or I’ll level this forest on your head.”

A metal door opened in the ground a few meters from her. A Manakari soldier jumped out.

Before she had a good look at him, he fired two weapons above his wrists. He alternated between them. Multiple missiles, the size of her hand, flew toward her.

Mara eluded the missiles around the trees. They exploded. The trees burned around her, temperature rose, and smoke filled the area. She warped to the right to avoid a falling tree. She lifted her hand and retaliated with a power wave.

He leaped out of harm’s way at an incredible speed. She sent more waves, chasing his body. Every time he moved out of the way and fired his weapons. His missiles pursued her. Even with her speed and reflexes, she struggled to evade them. He was a seasoned soldier.

Mara darted to his location. She warped left to avoid a missile. Another was inches away from her head. Mara dropped to the ground and rolled forward. She stopped a step away from the soldier. He fired another missile from his right-hand weapon.

She pushed his weapon-carrying hand up. The missile exploded in the air. Mara punched him in the face, and as his body flew in the air, she sent a power wave with her left hand. The wave knocked him back against a tree. It broke, and his body fell to the ground.

Mara moved to his location. He twisted in pain on the ground. She fired a green energy shot from her gun that destroyed his exoskeletal shell and suit of armor.

He fainted.

Mara bent down and pulled his arm to carry his limp body. She hovered toward her ship. His body dangled from her right hand.

Then a missile hit.

It exploded against her back with an earsplitting bang. Her body collided against a tree. The armor contained most of the explosion energy, but the rest made her gasp in pain. Mara got to her feet.

Another missile. Mara hit a tree. Another. A third before her body stopped and fell to the ground. Mara resisted the pain and grabbed the tree to stand up and swung around to see the source.

The Commander stood behind her, far between the trees. A seven-foot, towering giant in thick, black armor—a royalty, no doubt. He removed his helmet, and she saw his face. He reminded her of someone.

“I know you.”

He raised his right arm and aimed his missile launcher at her. “I doubt it.”

“I killed your brother.”

His blue eyes widened. “Not face to face, I suppose.”

“Careful, Commander, I learned to fight before your grandfather learned to walk.”

The Commander lowered his missile launcher. “On this planet, pride is a sin.” He tossed his helmet aside and paced toward her. “Time has come to put you out of your misery, Princess of Korr.”

Mara landed on the grass. “Many tried, yet here I am.”

He picked up speed. He was preparing for Kadin—an ancient war tradition on Krath, in which two soldiers collide at high speed and try to crush each other. That was how her mother defeated the giant leader of the Manakaris and introduced the tradition to Korr.

She strode.

They ran toward each other, like two race cars on an inevitable collision course. With all her might, Mara jumped shoulder first to crash against his chest. The high-pitched clash of their metal armor, rubbing against each other filled her ears. His layers of armor dug into her suit.

The impact was powerful. Her heart fell to her knees, and his immense weight crushed her shoulder. When she came to her senses, she was on her knees, panting. She got to her feet, but she felt a sharp pain in her chest. Mara reached under her armor with her hand. She felt something wet and warm.

Blood.

Mara swung around to face him again. His body lay on the ground. Lifeless, with a hole in his suit. A hole in his armor. A hole in his chest.

He was dead. It was unfortunate, but given how powerful her enemy had been, it could’ve been worse. She could’ve been the one lying on the ground. Mara walked toward the first wounded pilot. He was recovering. She sent him back to darkness with a quick power wave and signaled the extraction teams. Agents arrived to the reserve. They sealed the area shut and surrounded the open latch.

Mara jumped into the bunker, a large, well-lit open space with two beds and multiple tables with tablets, communication devices, and heavy weapons. One specific device caught her eye. Her body tensed up as she picked up the weapon and examined it.

Impossible! An antimatter launcher—a weapon devised by Shara and Korr’s military researchers a decade ago. A weapon that couldn’t have existed two hundred years ago. Not in the Manakaris possession.

“What is it?” An agent asked.

“Antimatter launcher. It destroys anything it touches, erasing it from existence.”

The agent’s face became pale. He stared at the launcher as if it was the ghost of death.

Why didn’t the Commander use it against her? Did he think he could take her without it – did he want to keep it hidden?

This launcher’s impact radius was only a few meters, but its efficacy was absolute. Larger versions could be a standard weapon on every Manakari ship.

They needed to reconsider everything they knew about their enemy. The way they infiltrated Korr, and how they kept her and her people in the dark as Krath reached new levels of power and technology until they took Korr by surprise. Not this time, she wouldn’t be fooled again. Humans had to step up their efforts to defeat the Manakaris, and she’d make sure they would.

“Bring everything back to the base,” Mara said, and hovered to her ship.

*****

An hour later, Mara stormed into a small meeting room in Area 51 where the Secretary of State, Jessica White, waited for her.

Mara’s glowing eyes, pressed lips, and flushed faced probably gave away her anger. But anger was only on the surface. It covered determination that burned in her core and poured into her veins.

“I’m afraid I have bad news,” Mara said and stretched her hands forward to shake the lady’s hand.

Jessica’s eyes narrowed. A scowl overshadowed the wrinkled forehead and told Mara that she had her attention.

“What is it?”

“You need to do more.”

“Pardon me.”

Mara focused her will to calm her core. Anger was a sure-fire way to alienate Jessica, and Mara needed her help.

“What we’re doing isn’t enough to stop the invasion.”

Jessica brushed aside some stray hairs and tucked them behind her ear. “What do you mean?”

Mara lifted the weapon in front of her. “This is an antimatter launcher. A weapon we developed on Korr a decade ago. We deemed it too dangerous to develop on larger scale for our warships. Only our Command Center had it, and only as an emergency protocol.”

A brief look of curiosity and concern appeared in Jessica’s widened eyes as she glanced at the weapon. “I don’t understand, I thought your weapons were more devastating.”

Mara stared at her, confused. How did she think any weapon was more devastating than an antimatter launcher? Other weapons—destructive as they were—deformed, damaged, or transformed the target. Antimatter erased anything and everything it touched from existence.

“Follow me,” Mara said, and without waiting for an answer, she navigated her way out of the room and into the weapon testing hall.

Mara adjusted the effect radius, aimed at a large wooden box in the middle of the hall and fired the weapon.

A loud whooshing sound, and for a split second, nothing happened, then the box, part of the ground underneath, and air around the box vanished. A pitch-dark space of chilling void replaced them for a moment before the atmospheric pressure forced air into the void with a loud bang. An aftershock pressure knocked Jessica’s body back. She lost balance, but she reached for the wall and stabilized herself.

Two Secret Service agents rushed into the room.

“It’s fine,” Jessica said, and motioned them to leave.

The agents glanced at the destroyed area before they left the room.

Jessica faced Mara, a puzzled look—not a fearful one—on her face. “Very destructive, but I don’t understand the reason for your panic.”

Mara’s eyes narrowed, but glowed brighter. “The Manakaris developed this weapon two centuries ago. Two centuries. It has the potential to wipe Earth from existence. If they integrated it into their ships, no shield that can protect you from it.”

Jessica gasped. Her hand covered her mouth in an instinctive motion.

Mara continued and waved the launcher in her face. “If it exists, this weapon will annihilate it. Metal, armor, shields, flesh.”

Jessica couldn’t speak for a while. She stared at the weapon in Mara’s hands and moved her eyes to the area where Mara fired it.

“What do you need?”

“Their army is at least one-million strong. We need at least three million soldiers and large battleships armed with antimatter launchers ready in a year and half. We cannot lose this war.”

Jessica’s eyes widened. “That’s not realistic. Even if we shift our priorities, we can’t do that.”

“They are brutal,” Mara said, her voice firm and cold. “If you match their numbers, you’ll fight a losing battle. I can’t imagine what it would be like if you have less.”

“I wish I can commission thousands of ships and recruit millions of soldiers for this cause, but things don’t work this way. These decisions have to go through multiple channels, and we don’t have majority—”

“Spare me the politics,” Mara said. “In Cairo, you mentioned you’ll ask your allies for help if we need it.”

“The Canadians will help, and I suppose I can ask the European Union to contribute.”

“Every soldier will help.”

Jessica didn’t comment. She crossed her hands behind her back and paced around the room. Her shoes produced a loud, clicking sound. Then she stopped and faced Mara.

“You’re an experienced warrior. You trained for thousands of years and led armies beyond our imagination. What can you do to tip the scales in our favor?”

She’d expected Jessica might lash out in anger, deny the request and storm out, or even agree quietly. What Mara didn’t expect was Jessica using her own argument against her.

“What can you give me?”

Jessica thought for a while. Her lips moved as if she did a quick calculation in her head. “A million and half if our allies contribute.”

Mara hoped for more, but she could work with that. “I’ll devise a new strategy that improves our odds.”

“How?”

“More special forces, more infiltration, and our final emergency protocol. Your men will need more training—”

“Hold your horses. What’s this emergency protocol?”

“The second half of our survival plan is buried in Egypt. The Last of Korr.”

“Last of Korr?”

“A large Korran battleship.”

Jessica’s eyes flared. “Why didn’t you mention this before?”

“I don’t know where it is.”

“What?”

“My mother knows the location, but she is unconscious.”

Jessica sat down and held her head in her right hand. “You were with her. Don’t you remember the location?”

“No, I was young, and we visited many cities…” Mara turned her gaze to the open door. “Let me see if I can have her transferred here to help her recover.”

*****

April 13, 2031

Mara pushed the spin button on the colorful 3D slot machine. She took a sip of her rich, creamy beer and stared at the flashing patterns on the screen. The machine’s music blended with the live band, playing around the corner.

Another losing bet.

She searched around for a waitress to order another beer. But casino patrons blocked her view.

“This time, spank the waitress’s butt,” Nick said and pushed the yellow button on his machine.

She glared at him. “Nice try.”

A waitress walked by. Mara tapped her shoulder. “May I get another beer?” She glanced at Nick. “Please?”

The waitress smiled and leaned over to collect the empty bottle. “Sure thing.”

Mara gave her a sparkling smile and watched her leave before she turned to Nick.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Nick said.

Mara chuckled. “As you sleep for eight hours a day, I catch up on everything human. If you like her, why don’t you talk to her?”

“No, I have a girlfriend now,” Nick said, and glanced at the waitress who came back with Mara’s drink. “I’d make an exception for this one, though.”

The waitress handed Mara her beer and gave her a wink and a napkin with her number.

“Thank you,” Mara said and grabbed the beer before she turned to Nick, whose eyes were glued to the cute waitress’s butt, and waved the napkin in his face.

Nick glanced at the napkin before he turned away. “You got lucky.”

“How?” Mara asked and pointed to the machine where her fortune shrunk with every spin. “So, your girlfriend, is she a student?”

“Yeah, her name is Dana.”

“Very impressive, I had my doubts.”

Nick smiled and took another sip of his beer. “Many people had many doubts.”

Mara chuckled. “Who?”

“Well, my brother, my parents, my friends, and for the last year or two, I did.”

Mara pushed the spin button to lose another dollar. The CIA was getting poorer by the second, or was it the army?

“It’s not hard.”

“Yeah? Where is your boyfriend?”

“Dead for 3,500 years,” Mara said and waved the napkin in his face again. “Long story. But things are turning around.”

“What’ve you been up to?” Nick asked, trying to change the subject.

“Training, fighting, holding the hands of tough guys and telling them it’s okay to wet their pants every training session.”

“Really?”

Mara shook her head. “Not the last part, but they have to be a lot tougher if they hope to hold their own against the Manakaris.”

“Are the they as tough as you?”

“Some of them,” Mara said, “but I can tell you that their weakest soldier can crush your toughest champion in seconds.”

“That’d be the Navy Seals.”

“Whatever you call them. We have one Manakari in Nevada and another in Australia. They chew the tough guys and spit them out.” She took a sip of her beer. “You know what the sad part is? One of them is a pilot, and the other is a foot soldier—not officers, commanders, or royalty.”

“Dang, nobody won?”

“Won? Only a handful survived a whole minute.”

“Sheesh!”

“They’ll get better with training, but I wish they wouldn’t complain so much.”

He put his bottle down next to the slot machine and spun around in his chair to face her. “You know I like you, but you’re hard-core. Take it easy with those guys. This is new to them, to me, to everyone. Months ago, everyone knew that we had the most powerful army on the planet. That the Navy Seals were the toughest special forces on Earth. Now, two brand new races showed up, and both are tougher than us. It’s a lot to take in.”

She chugged the rest of her beer and hit the spin button on the machine to lose another dollar. “Do you have any idea how frustrating it is to be on the verge of being defeated twice?”

Nick snorted. “Try eight. My team lost every match in the intramural soccer league this semester.”

“That’s pathetic.”

“Yeah,” Nick said and chuckled. “Especially when Dana comes to watch, but it’s still mad fun.”

“What’s mad fun about losing?”

“Nothing, that part sucks. But you know we go out for beers afterwards is fun.”

Mara rolled her eyes. “Believe me, I’d kill for a drink after training.”

“Everything is better with beer.”

“It’s difficult for me to smile, pat their backs, and tell them what a fine job they’ve been doing. They slack, thinking that being enhanced meant they don’t have to work hard. We don’t have the time, and I don’t have the patience.”

Nick smiled. “Try it.”

“Fine, but the next time one of the tough guys tells me ‘I never fought a girl before’, I’ll break his neck.”

“I told Dana she was tough for a girl right before I asked her out.”

Mara chuckled. “You’re worse than this machine.”

Training never bothered her. In fact, she enjoyed it. It was her outlet. What bothered her was her mother, and what that Manakari pilot told her about her mother.

“Hey, watch the eyes,” Nick said and waved his hand before her face.

Her eyes glowed as she thought of her mother. She calmed herself.

Nick looked around to make sure no one noticed before he watched her. “What’s bothering you?”

“I told you.”

“C’mon, I saw you after those jerk wads destroyed your world. You look worse.”

Mara ignored the slot machine and turned her chair around to face him. “I’m confused.”

“That’s a first.”

She gave him a stern look. “The alien I captured in the Philippines told me we’d started the war. He said my mother had launched a pre-emptive strike on his planet. He said that she chased down the survivors and killed them in cold blood.”

“Holy crap, you caused this? You’re the bad guys?”

“Could be.”

“That’s rough. The next beer is on me.”

“Dana is changing you,” Mara said with a faint smile. “We’re preparing to go to war with the Manakaris. I need every reason to hate them. A while back, I had plenty. Now, I’m struggling to find a reason to feed the hate and keep fighting.”

“And your mother is in a coma. She can’t confirm or deny.”

Mara nodded. “We couldn’t move her to the US.”

“What about the Manakaris you’ve faced?”

“They’re aggressive, but I can’t tell if they’ve always been this way, or if things changed after my mother invaded their world.”

“Is there a way to find out?”

“If my mother remains ill, I’ll find out in two years, and by then, it’ll be too late.”

Nick scratched his stubble. “Then don’t make it about them.”

“What do you mean?”

“Ok, think about it this way. They will attack Earth, massacre us, and kill you and your family.”

Mara nodded.

“That’s it. Their hate and anger aren’t going away, and their plans won’t change. Figure out what you need to do to stop that from happening.”

“Fight until my core goes dark.”

“Then do that,” Nick said, “I haven’t told you this, but my dad, he’s a gambler, and my mother enables him. He lost a lot of money, and he’s always asking for my help.”

“You have no money.”

Nick glared at her. “I have some, but I’d like to spend it on school, beer, and dates. But they’re my family, so I help them. I look at my rich friends, I see their families handing them money, and I hate mine a little.”

“I would.”

Nick smiled. “You are.”

“What’s your point? I need to get over it?”

“No, I’m trying to say you’re not alone. All families are awful in a way. You need to find a way to forgive your mother if she started this.”

Mara said nothing. Korrans’ long lives came at a price. Hate, anger, and resentment lasted hundreds of years. In a way, humans were blessed.

Nick continued. “Also, not to state the obvious, but that pilot could be lying to get inside your head.”

“I suppose.”

“Another beer?” Nick asked.

“No, I’ll head to the base. I lost my money.”

*****

Mara returned to Area 51 and went straight to Shara’s room. The lights were on, so she knocked on the door.

“Come in,” Shara’s said.

Mara pushed the door open and entered. “What are you doing?”

“I’m analyzing the antimatter launcher.”

Mara glanced at what used to be a powerful weapon. Now, it was at least twenty small parts arranged on a metal table. “We won’t have enough soldiers to take the Manakaris in straight combat.”

“I figured as much,” Shara said, pointing at the launcher. “Judging by this, their technology is quite impressive.”

“That’s what I wanted to discuss with you. Do you think we can teleport humans with our warping devices?”

Shara’s eyes narrowed and dimmed. “To what end?”

“Between battleships and from Earth to battleships.”

“You’re insane. But I’ll look into it.”

“And see how far you can stretch the teleportation distance.”

Shara’s eyes dimmed more. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Tell me.”

Mara ambled around the room until she stopped between the bed and the window. “I spoke with Jessica, the Secretary of State, earlier today, and I realized I’m not giving it my all.”

“Whatever we before, we more than paid for it. But, I’ve grown fond of this planet, and I’m sure you have too. We can’t let the Manakaris destroy it.”

“Sometimes I forget how smart you are.”

Shara’s face flushed, and she tried to change the topic. “So what were you thinking for strategy?”

“Three-stage fight. A bomb, a main force, and a backup force. If you can warp humans, we’ll use infiltration teams in space and on Earth.”

“That’s dangerous. Not to mention we don’t know if our technology can teleport humans.”

“I’m sure you’ll figure something out. We must neutralize the Manakaris’ antimatter launchers.”

“We can’t use ours either.”

Mara shrugged. “Maybe, but we can use this strategy within the solar system without destroying Earth.”

“Can you train this many soldiers by yourself?”

“No, I’ll borrow enhanced soldiers from Australia to help me.”

“This planet is changing you. You never worked with us, and now you work with everyone.”

“Well, you’ve always been busy with your science, and Alissara—though a fine pilot—always preferred caring for flowers to fighting.”

“True, but remember our garden?”

Mara chuckled. “It was gorgeous. I’m surprised she hasn’t started a patch on the base.”

“She’s changed.”

Mara nodded. She was busy enhancing and training the soldiers, and Shara was busy building the battleships and drives, Alissara became withdrawn. On Korr, she would’ve never lasted this long by herself. Mara was too caught up in her own head, she’d forgotten her little sister. Besides, Alissara had always been the closest to her mother who lay unconscious in another country.

“When we get a chance, we’ll go to Egypt. She made a friend in there.”

Shara smiled. “She told me. A young Egyptian girl.”

“Well, I should rest. I’ll start the training early tomorrow.”

*****