Supreme Leader of Anstractor: A Sci-Fantasy Space Adventure (The New Phase Book 3) (15 page)

“Nothing yet. Tayden seems to think that he’s the only one who can power on the cloners.”

“This is us at our worst, Val. I hope you don’t think that we’re as weak and worthless as we’re looking.”

“You recruited Yuth Varience. He wouldn’t stay with a weak and worthless unit. Don’t worry about my impressions, Red. I’m staying with you, Phaser or not. Now, how long do you have to lay here before I can take you home?”

“Miss me?” she teased, and he responded by brushing his lips gently against her cheek.

“I would let you into this bed if I wasn’t in pain. I just want you to know that, Val.”

“What if I go slowly?” he asked.

She made to laugh but stopped herself, which made the pain even worse. “No jokes. Don’t make me laugh – this
schtill
hurts like hell.”

I
T WASN’T EASY to impress a man like Ari Groatrath, but those who managed to impress him were placed in the company of Ky Ortas—Geral’s first warlord—and Symion Tyge, an uncle who’d lost his hand deflecting a commanding officer’s las-sword before biting him in the face and taking his station.

Most Geralos were disappointments in Ari’s eyes, and the lesser races were just food. Well, that wasn’t completely true. Ari did find himself impressed by one of the lesser races, the man who was called Rafian VCA. He knew that Rafian was a mere human, but this was one human who had somehow managed to outwit the Geralos at every turn.

He looked around at his comrades and they regarded him with a look that went past respect and admiration. They feared him, and for good reason. The mere suggestion of having second thoughts or objections to Ari’s orders would get a person’s head removed. Ari believed that chain of command required soldiers to listen and obey with little to no thought. Questioning orders led to hesitation, and hesitation was the reason why there were humans living on Vestalia, the planet that was supposed to be theirs.

Ari paced the room as the ninety Geralos warriors awaited his commands. Near his location stood the yellow costumes that they would wear as uniforms, but a slender woman was pouring fuel on them with more concentration than the exercise required.

“Two hours ago I received word that our Gamma team of shock troopers had been eradicated,” he said, his voice commanding and deep, as if he held the souls of a hundred baritone opera singers deep inside his throat. “Geralos ELITE troopers. Eradicated!” he whispered, then stood silently to gauge their responses.

“All the monkeys in our temples that are tapping into their heads and plotting feasts on human brains. They could not save us from what is happening right now. The galaxy has united against us, and now we stand, one tiny wall against a multitude of steel wrecking balls.”

The Geralos stood at attention. None of them dared to move, but Ari saw a few eyelids dip in shock at what he was saying, and a few flitted left and right, nervously. It wasn’t often that someone referred to a high priest as a monkey, let alone the entire order.

“We are a race of greedy, privileged zealots. This is why we are in this situation. We have allowed the humans to hide and plot against us. Can you believe that one of them has developed powers which makes it possible for him to break into our own minds?”

A few murmurs of disbelief came up from the rear of the crowd where he couldn’t see but Ari did not bother to remind them of their place. “Some of them are now able to travel without ships, and Rafian, the leader of these mysterious humans, has killed our brother, Maes Van Senthyn.”

This last bit caused the rancor to rise all the way to the soldiers in front of him. Maes was one of the best, and the Geralos government had lied that he died as a martyr on Meluvia. Now they were hearing that Maes was undone by one man. A human man, at that. Surely Lord Ari was joking, many thought, but Ari Groatrath had no time for jokes, and they could see this as he stood seething on the raised platform.

“I think that you all heard me, and your reaction does not disappoint. It is time to be quiet now, Crak-Ti. It is time to listen and to learn about our new enemy. Our best has been bested, and now we are under threat of losing Vestalia, Meluvia, and”—he stopped to laugh for a bit—“and now they are here on Geral. Louine, a coward’s planet that has always stayed out of our affairs, they are on our planet. Meluvia’s strike was thwarted, Vestalia is in trouble, and our space naval fleet is spread thin throughout Anstractor.”

He stopped at attention and looked over at his wife, who was standing by the mountain of uniforms waiting for his command. When she saw him look at her, she flicked her eyes in a way that made it hard for him to stay cold. They were still in love, despite twenty hard years of war, separation due to duty, and service. The flawless olive green of her skin aroused him, and he looked away before it got the better of him.

Saya Cauar saw everything in one glance, and she wondered if he would be up for a romp. She rubbed the area of her neck where she could still feel his teeth marks from their last lovemaking session. She squeezed the trigger on her pistol. The shot sounded like a wine cork violently escaping the mouth of an aged, well-sealed vintage, and the incendiary round did its job. The clothes were lit and she holstered her weapon, walked to the edge of the stage, and stared out at the soldiers, smiling.

“Thank you, Saya,” Ari said. “As you can see from that flame, my Crak-Ti, I am burning our past and making preparations for our future. As of right now we are no longer members of the formal Geralos military. We are now ‘sons and daughters of Geral.’ What this means is that you answer to me and me alone, not to the politics of those fools that sit in their temple, praying to a Maker that doesn’t acknowledge them. If any of you have a problem with this, I invite you to step out now so that you can be dismissed.”

None of them dared move, but Ari waited for a while. If there were to be any Crak-Ti that would be doubtful or questioning of his command, he would rather murder them now than have them muck things up for later. But no-one moved and he began pacing anew.

“The Louine will defeat our people quickly, and this country will be theirs within the next three months. We will travel to the Gariland beach. The Alliance will miss it as a target; it is too small for them to notice. There I will begin our new training, to combat the humans with their strange power. Once we are ready, we will fly out to Vestalia and spread the training to the brothers and sisters stationed on that rock.”

The soldiers began chanting and he let them finish before dismissing them to carry out their duties. Ari walked back to the podium where the medallion that was connected to Maes’s life energy lay black and lifeless. He clutched it angrily and thought of all the memories he had made with his old lover and friend. Maes had given him the medallion back when they were younger spies, and when the lies had come out that Rafian had killed him, the medallion had kept him aware of the truth.

Now his old friend had managed to get himself killed and all hopes of him making it back to Geral to join their coup was scattered to the wind. It was a sobering thought, defending Geral without Maes, but if there was anyone who could match the Phasers, he knew that it was him.

* * *

Stacked in rows were whyte X311 fighters; sleek and black with the
Rendron
's insignia on their wings. Rafian watched as a large lift droid that slid along the magnetic floor picked up one of these vessels and brought it down, placing it neatly in an empty launch station. Next, a humanoid android walked a fuel line over to the port side of the whyte while another began a routine checkup of its munitions.

“Welcome to the
Aqnaqak
, Commander,” a young boy announced, and Rafian VCA glanced down with surprise, noticing him for the first time. He had the cadet stripes of a colonel yet he seemed to be no older than twelve years old.
A potential hero of tomorrow
, Rafian thought, and he walked forward and winked at the boy before returning his salute.

“Cadet Colonel, huh? Are you of the first grade?”

“Yes sir! I did my drop on the moon of Meruda, the same moon that you and Colonel Rend—”

“Yeah, I know, son. Congratulations on everything you’ve done. You have a bright future ahead of you. What is your name?”

“Jaden MAR, sir, thank you.” He bowed deeply to Rafian, who touched him on the shoulder to let him know that the gesture was unnecessary. Starships always brought back the most painful memories, and seeing young Jaden was like looking into a mirror that reflected a time when all he knew was pain and confusion.

He looked up to notice that a crowd of people had been standing behind a row of soldiers. From their clothing Rafian could tell that they were media, come to film and record the elusive Phaser. Mixed in with them were a handful of children, cadets that had snuck out of duty to see Rafian VCA in the flesh. The thought brought a smile to his face and he waved, then he turned to face the door and wait for Tim, Vessica, and Jinay to emerge.

“Your friends have been detained in order to remove a Traxian parasite, Commander,” the soldier next to the door whispered to him. Rafian frowned. Detainment was never less than 24 hours, Vestalian time, so he would have to spend a day on the ship just to say goodbye to them.

He walked forward and the crowd began to fire off questions as soon as he was within earshot. “What was your mission on Traxis?” “Is the Traxian woman a Phaser?” “Will Traxis be joining the Alliance to fight the Geralos?” “How many Geralos have you killed, Commander?”

This last question made him pause, annoyed, and he turned to face the person who asked it. “Not enough,” he said flatly and resumed his stroll out of the dock area.

The young cadet colonel ran to get ahead of him and then began to walk backwards as he spoke. “Excuse me, Commander, but I was ordered to escort you to the captain’s quarters. I hope you don’t mind, but the captain would really like to speak to you.”

“Of course, young man, but just a moment. I don’t want to be rude to these patient people. I will answer five questions,” Rafian announced, and then turned to face the reporters.

“Rafian, do you know the situation on Geral? Is the Alliance winning, and when do you foresee us moving to retake Vestalia?” a pretty Meluvian woman asked.

“Interesting that you ask about Vestalia. The lizards are everywhere in Anstractor. We removed their Crak-Ti from a major Meluvian city, but they have satellites stationed above Casan. So please don’t assume that this push into their planet will be enough to stop them. We’ve been pushing on Vestalia for years now, but it is a small effort when compared to everything else. Don’t put a timeline on this. I know that hope can be intoxicating, but the lizards are dug in extremely deep.”

The crowd erupted with more questions and Rafian struggled to decipher their frenzied babble. “Rafian,” an older man announced loudly, “why hasn’t the Alliance allowed the civilians of ships like
Aqnaqak
to settle peacefully in the Vestalian country that the Phasers control?”

“Did you really say peacefully? That’s not our reality. Let me tell you the condition on Vestalia so that we can clear this up. Right now we live in a city mostly hidden due to a shield that we are forced to keep up the majority of the time. When the shield goes down, the Geralos slip in. They slip in physically, they slip in to the minds of our friends. And they routinely hurt us—from the inside—day after day, month after month. The citizens of Zallus, for the most part, are protected by us, as well as the Alliance military. But any night they could wake up with a Geralos las-sword at their throat.

“You are all citizens on the greatest warship of our entire fleet,” he continued. “The name
Aqnaqak
frightens the lizards. This vessel has cracked more hulls than any other two combined. If a citizen wants safety, why would they want off a ship like this? I understand, but we’re in the middle of a war, and your leader’s primary concern is your safety. I take offense to the notion that we’re sitting on Vestalia, sunning ourselves on the beach and enjoying life while you all stay up here in the perpetual blackness of space.

“We are down there, fighting, every one of us, and while you may be saying, ‘I would rather take my chances on my human planet,’ you have no idea the sort of hell that is going on down there. We moved into the enemy’s neighborhood and they are well aware that we are there. But there’s hope. We are winning, and in time you should be seeing opportunities to return to Vestalia.”

Another man cut everyone off and raised his hand with a shout. “Rafian, can you tell us something of your Phasers? Something to bring light to your organization?”

“The Geralos corrupt minds, but you all know this,” Rafian said. “They sneak into our heads, learn our secrets, and do what they can to hurt us badly. A Phaser’s mind is trained to avoid corruption, but it doesn’t work all the time. Keeping our organization secretive is one of the best weapons against the lizards. This is why we win when we fight them.”

“Could you tell us something that wouldn’t compromise your efforts?” the man asked, and Rafian had to think about it.

“We have members from all over the galaxy: Louines, Meluvians, Casanians, you name it, and we have normal lives besides all of the spy stuff. My wife, Marian, she loves animals. She’s also one of the best dancers that I know. At the same time, she’s a deadly fencer, unmatched in the art of the one-handed spike. We’re all complex, and when it comes to fighting, even more so. We live among the civilians, not in a dark temple like you assume, and our preferred weapon is a construct of the enemy, the edged las-sword, though some prefer more impactful ranged weapons.”

More questions came his way but he bowed to the crowd and then turned to the young cadet to let him know that he was ready to go. The boy took him to a transport and assumed the command seat. Rafian watched him as he manipulated the controls and they lifted up above the docks and into a dark hole which turned out to be an access tunnel.

“Commander, what would it take for me to become a Phaser like you?” the boy asked as they flew through the darkness, illuminated by the cobalt heads up display in front of them.

“Well, we only choose the top of the class, which you have managed quite well already. When we’re looking for recruits we tend to start there and in remote places where people have shown exceptional ability. I was selected because of my military record. I was an ace sniper, a master swordsman, and an officer. On top of all of that I was one of the best pilots on my ship. Back when I was selected it wasn’t a choice. When the Phasers came knocking, you had to answer or they would kill you.”