Chapter 22 – Unwanted Guests

The Aurora dropped out of subspace, between the second planet of Proper, and the Flint Asteroid Field. Its sleek white and silver body glinted from the bright lights of the binary star cluster at the center of the system. The Aurora turned and began heading toward the asteroids.

“Scanners show no immediate ships in the vicinity; we’ve come in silent,” Casey said. She added a smile.

Mavina nodded.

“Course charted, we should be on our way shortly,” Liana said.

“Course received,” Diane said. “Moving onto the Flint Asteroid Field. If we stay near the edge of the belt, I doubt we’ll be spotted.

“I guarantee we won’t,” Casey shouted.

“Anything else?” Mavina asked. No one objected. “Commander Roland, please take the bridge. I’ll be heading to Proper right away.”

“Yes ma’am,” Roland answered. He tipped his cap for her.

Mavina stood up from her chair and quickly made her way off the bridge. She had her data pad with her and carefully checked it over and over. Everything looked fine. She had been constantly trying to monitor traffic in and out of the system but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Mavina reached the hangar where she found Colonel Donavan and a contingency of guards waiting to see her off. Even though it wasn’t needed, the Colonel believed in tradition. She obliged him with a nod and smile. But Mavina wasn’t going to Proper alone. Lily and Reece were both standing at each side of the transport ship that Mavina would use to head to the planet. Lily was dressed in her all black armored suit and carried various small packs and belts. Reece was also dressed in her all black suit which she had used as a pilot’s uniform. There were pads and armored plates attached to it for greater protection. Lily carried a submachine gun on her back and her Raptor at her side, while Reece carried two heavy pistols and knives. They both gave rigid salutes. Though, Lily had her arm over her chest while Reece bowed.

Standing at the ready, were two large cores. One was colored coded red, carrying a missile pack over its shoulder, an energy dagger at its side, and an automatic core-sized rifle behind its back. It was Arthur’s Red 1. The other core was sleek, bright red and white, and had the shape of a woman. Kali waited inside her Valkyrie which was designated Green 1. She watched Mavina move into the ship along with three other men. Lily and Reece were the last to board the ship.

Red 1 and Green 1 were the first to launch. They hovered off the deck, using their jets, and then shot off toward the flicking stars of space. The pilot aboard the transport raised the ship and then trailed after them. When the shuttle had cleared the bay, Colonel Donavan gave a final salute. He then waved to his men to return to their posts.

Elli had her hands on her hips with her flight suit tied around her waist. Her tags hung from her neck over her tight navy blue tank top. “Why did I have to lose that coin toss,” she muttered. “I should have been the one to go.”

“N-Not to worry,” Coral said enthusiastically. Though, her voice was still a mouse’s squeak.

“That’s what I like about you!” Elli shouted. She held up an arm as Coral tried to duck away. But Elli’s arm wrapped around her head and dragged her to her side. She smacked a loud kiss against Coral’s cheek and squeezed her neck. “The ever bright optimistic!”

“S-St…hayaaa…” Coral faintly giggled. Her face turned beet red.

Elli saw Meige and gave him a wave. She then let go of Coral. “Meige! You just missed them!”

“Hey Elli,” he muttered. He saw Coral and weakly waved his hand. “Hey Coral, how are you two doing?”

“You d-don’t look so good,” Coral whimpered. “Maybe you should go to the Med Quarters.”

“I’m fine Coral,” he moaned. “I’m just a little depressed.”

“About Kali and Mavina not taking you along for the ride?” Elli sneered. She smiled and hit Meige hard in the shoulder to show it was just a joke.

“Don’t feel bad,” Coral added. “We got stuck here too.” She looked over to where Jet and Scopes were. Scopes was sitting on a vent smoking a cigarette with Chief Agger. Jet was lying down on a crate reading a magazine.

“But it doesn’t feel right,” Meige growled. Coral let out a yelp as Elli stared in surprise. “They won’t talk to me or anything. Ever since we left Cenara it’s been like this. It’s like they’re scared of me.”

“The Major isn’t scared of anything,” Elli laughed.

Meige groaned and grabbed his sword. “If they can keep secrets, I can too,” he spat. “Who said I was the same person they left behind in that research lab?” He pulled his sword out as his wrists and ankles glowed faintly. He twisted his body and grinned sadistically. Elli twitched her mouth in a smile as Coral fell backward and hit the ground. She looked up with fright.

“Aw, look at what you did,” Elli tsked.

Meige looked down and sheathed his sword. “I’m sorry Coral; I didn’t mean to scare you like that.”

“Who s-s-scared?” she cried. Meige bent down to help her up, but she nervously shook her head.

“Take my hand,” he said.

“I c-can’t,” she said with a red face.

“You shouldn’t…” Elli slowly smiled.

“Come on,” Meige begged. He bent down and grabbed her arm. Coral twitched and anxiously moved around as he tried to pull her up. She fell left and right with wobbly legs until he was forced to grab her and with both arms. “Coral what’s wrong; no, don’t do that…here, hold my arm.”

Elli giggled as Coral continued to move awkwardly. Meige squeezed her tightly and then stood still. She budged and then also stood still. Hidden in his shirt, Coral’s face had taken a new shade of red. She stopped shaking as her mind almost went blank with embarrassment. Meige slowly backed away and let go. She stared at him with a dumb smile.

“There,” he said happily. He brushed her shoulders and sighed. “You need to work on people skills.”

“I’m sorry, I’ll get on it right away,” she hummed, in her own little dream world.

“That’s a new one,” Elli said. She saw Coral’s flushed face but wasn’t sure what to make of it. Meige was oblivious to it but looked preoccupied with other thoughts. He let out a groan and sunk.

“I’m going to bed,” he said. He began walking away but muttered to himself. Elli waved goodbye while Coral giggled anxiously.

“Nice job Coral, I’ve never seen you get that close to a guy before,” Elli said. Coral whimpered. “You know, guys aren’t so bad, you should give them a try once in a while. I’m your friend, but there’s certain things I can’t give you.” Elli giggled, hoping Coral would get her innuendo.

Coral came back to her senses. But to Elli’s surprise, she frowned. “Men are disgusting,” she said in a cross voice. She turned to Elli and glared. She then briskly walked away, rubbing her cybernetic limb.

“Coral?” Elli asked. “Wait, I didn’t mean it!” But Coral ignored her and walked faster. Elli stared with a confused face, not sure what happened.

Jet came around from the side and looked at Elli and then Coral. “A fight with your subordinate?” he asked.

Elli shook her head. “Jet, do you remember back when the Major and the Captain first showed their Proto Anthion forms?”

“Sure I do, how can I forget?” he answered. “We lost a nice chunk of our crew. We had to get a lot of replacements.”

“And Coral was one of them,” Elli continued. “She was really young; didn’t even look like she was out of the academy. But she managed to get in anyway.”

“Yeah, that was kind of odd.”

“Not kind of,” Elli muttered. “Jet, just how much do you know about her?”

“Me?” he said, pointing to himself. “She’s your lieutenant, shouldn’t you know?”

“Yeah…but I don’t.” They looked at each other but Jet shrugged. Elli looked back to the large stationary core that was Blue 2. She rubbed the back of her head and stared down. She never questioned Coral’s intentions before, but then again, she never questioned the Cenaran Federation’s intentions either. She was loyal to the Federation, but above else, loyal to Battle Major Cestra. Elli wondered where Coral’s loyalties lied.

The pilot of the transport carrying Mavina looked over his shoulder to glance out the rectangular window. The planet was dull green with large forests. There were rivers out in the distance, but looked thin and coiled. They had entered the atmosphere of Proper after failing to find any kind of security checks. Kali and Arthur had both fanned out ahead, but their scanners weren’t picking up any immediate threats. The transport slowed its speed to change its angle of trajectory. In the back, Mavina waited patiently. Lily was checking her gun and pistol while Reece sat quietly staring forward.

“Sunset Tower this is Blue Angel, over,” the pilot hailed. “Sunset Tower, do you copy, requesting clearance to land, over.” Static answered back, but not in the form of any communication. It was just an empty frequency. The pilot turned his head. “Blue Angel to Green Leader.”

“This is Green Leader,” Kali answered. “What’s your status?”

“Blue Leader is flying clean,” he replied. “But I can’t reach Sunset.”

“Copy that,” Kali answered. She flipped her comm. to a different channel. “Green Leader to Sunset Tower, is anyone there? Requesting confirmation of any kind, please respond.” Kali waited a minute but heard nothing. “Blue Angel, I can’t get anyone either. Slow down speed, I’ll get Red 1 to investigate.”

“Appreciate Red Leader’s help,” the pilot said. “Holding back.” He cut the engines by a small percent and leveled the transport. He glanced at the small rectangular corner window again and slowly banked the ship. Something blinked.

A beam of light ripped through the air, drilling harshly into Blue Angel’s rear left booster. It exploded and jostled the ship in the opposite direction. The transport dipped down and turned. The pilot saw his scanner turn red and pushed down on the flight stick. Blue Angel went into a dive as two more high-powered lasers shot into the air, attempting to finish off the ship. One of them grazed the cockpit.

Kali spotted the origin of the laser, but Arthur was already bolting toward it. His core’s boosters had turned to flamethrowers. Kali pulled back to defend Blue Angel. Another beam shot toward it, but Kali summoned a thick green shield. The beam slammed into her, forcing her down while it veered upward. Kali could immediately tell the weapon was from powerful anti-air artillery. She saw the tracers of shells and puffs of smoke below and then saw an explosion. Two more explosions popped up and Arthur’s voice responded.

“Threat eliminated. Mobile energy towers from the looks of it. I’d say they were Sellan in origin,” he explained.

“Sellan?” Kali answered. “Way out here? But how?”

Her Object Sphere began pulsing with contacts. Other beams of light reached high above her head. They were coming from other batteries situated at the ground. Her missile warnings buzzed showing locks on her core. She dropped lower and quickly called Arthur back for defensive measures. The two cores pulled alongside the falling Blue Angel and quickly descended in altitude. The beam weaponry had missed them horribly, but had been effective in notifying them of hostile anti-air conditions. They had to get to the ground as quickly as possible.

“Arthur, pull a sweep, make sure the DZ’s not hot,” Kali ordered.

“Roger that Major,” Arthur complied. He changed his systems to multiple target locks and readied his missiles. He kept a careful eye for hover tanks and hidden batteries but nothing came up on his sensors. And since his core was equipped with double the standard sensor equipment, he was absolutely sure nothing was down there.

“Sensor sweeps show nothing.”

“Blue Angel, how are you holding up?” Kali asked.

“Doing alright,” he groaned. “Occupants are fine too, where do you want us?”

“Head to the town south of Sunset; it’s pretty small and I doubt it’s big enough to hide anything dangerous.”

“Heading south of Sunset,” the pilot of Blue Angel repeated.

The transport slowed and skimmed across a large forest. The town that Kali had mentioned looked abandoned. It had a ghostly appearance to it while its small buildings and large grey houses were spread out across wide roads. Smoke continued to trail behind the transport, but it kept enough lift to keep from completely crashing. The damaged booster exploded and the ship began spinning sideways across the ground. The pilot struggled against the shift in forces. The transport slowed and then skidded with a slight spin. It finally stopped after digging its legs deep into a parking lot while crushing two or three small cars.

The Valkyrie touched down on a street adjacent to the lot while Arthur hovered in the air for a few minutes. His computers and sensors still came up blank. He hailed Kali again saying everything was clear before touching down in an empty spot in the lot. He walked toward the transport as its doors opened. Lily jumped out with two other men; they jogged a dozen meters away. One of them had a sniper rifle. She threw a hand up to him which he returned with a confused nod. He reluctantly held the weapon up and crouched down.

Mavina was helped out by another man in armor. He helped down another soldier and she in turn lowered Reece. The small assassin was the last out of the ship. The pilot stumbled out of his cockpit door, a little jarred. His arm and shoulder were bleeding while his visor appeared webbed with cracks. He flipped up the shield over his eyes and walked toward them with a shrug.

“Thank you Scott,” Mavina said. “We’d be dead without you.”

“Just doing my job Ma’am,” the pilot answered.

“Captain,” Kali’s voice hailed. “We’ve confirmed hostiles to be present in the area, but have confirmed something more disturbing.”

“What is it Kali?” Mavina asked informally.

“They appear to be Sellan,” she answered. “Arthur destroyed the laser battery, but also identified them.”

“This is strange,” Mavina said with confusion. “Proper is a border world. I don’t remember there being any significant reason for it to turn into contested territory. It doesn’t have much value.”

“Sellans attacked us?” Reece asked.

Mavina looked at her shiny black helmet and nodded. “It seems so, Princess.”

“But Sella isn’t supposed to be here, we decided the Bose system was too far out of our way to mean anything. If we stationed anyone here it would be stretching our troops thin.” Mavina stared with a procuring smile. Reece held up her hands defensively. “I just mean when I was with the Ardessa, I heard Uncle Herman saying stuff like that.”

“We should secure the area,” Lily interrupted.

“Agreed,” Mavina said. She directed Scott, the pilot, to get back into the downed transport to try and get communications established with something. He saluted and walked away. Mavina shook a finger and told one of the medics to tend to him first. She then ordered Kali and Arthur to set up scouting positions toward the north and south. One to make sure no one from Sunset had hostile intentions while the other was to make sure no one passing through would catch them by surprise.

Lily took three men and went to the highest building they could find. She made sure the sniper was one of them. He reluctantly saluted to the little girl. Reece took the remaining two and offered to stay as Mavina’s bodyguard. Mavina entrusted Reece with their absolute command. The two men looked at each other and then also saluted.

“It’s not like anything is out of the ordinary,” one of them laughed.

“Hey, we’re both still alive, so something must be going right.”

“Cut the chatter,” Reece ordered. They both shut up but she giggled. “I’m sorry, go ahead, I just wanted to try that once.”

Both men sighed. Reece cleared her throat and asked stay by the Captain. She was going to search the nearby buildings. It was surprising that no one had come to see them, or was curious enough to see what happened and why it happened. Mavina was also thinking the same thing and allowed Reece to check the area. Reece tapped her head and looked down at her armored suit. It had been a while since she used them, but the thrusters in her suit should still be working. She looked at her hands and tapped her fingers. She felt the thruster packs on her feet and back pumping fluid. She bent down and then tapped her fingers into her palms. The jets made a light swishing sound and she began jumping. In space they were perfect for moving. With gravity they made excellent improvised jump jets. She hopped onto a truck and then pushed off. She landed and then jumped again until she reached a small store building.

She pushed open the door just wide enough to slip her pistol’s barrel through the crack. If anything were to attack her, the small automatic pistol could quickly decimate her target. She pushed open the door further and looked around. Two things caught her eye. The sight of shelves knocked over and various items littering the floor and the dead body lying in front of her. There was no blood or signs of a fierce battle, so she stepped over to the man and turned him. He had a ghastly expression on his face and his mouth hung open.

“Umm, Guy 1, can you hear me?” she asked after switching on her radio.

“It’s Lieutenant Chaplin,” her soldier answered. “What is it Princess?”

“Relay to the Captain; I’ve found a dead body.” Reece bent down and check the man again. She pulled apart his shirt and flicked his chest. She turned and saw another dead body slumped over the counter. “If I had to guess, they were killed with some kind of poison.”

Lieutenant Chaplin gave an aff. “Captain Cestra, Princess has just radioed in. She says she’s got casualties, looks like poison of some kind.”

“Tell her to come back, Arthur and Kali have found more bodies and it looks like everyone in this town is dead. They all suffocated.”

“Ma’am?” The other soldier beside her winced.

“Don’t worry; it seemed this place was gassed. The noxious fumes have dissipated by now, so we should be safe.”

As he sighed in relief, the lieutenant called Reece to come back. From the downed transport the pilot shouted for their attention. “Sorry Captain, it seems we’ve been jammed. I can’t get anything on the waves. Nothing is coming in and nothing is going out.”

“Thanks anyway Scott,” Mavina replied.

“Wait, ma’am, I’ve got another message from Battle Major Cestra,” he said. “Enemy contacts on approach from the south. They’re coming this way.”

From the Valkyrie, Kali carefully ducked behind a large brick building. She flipped a switch and her HUD zoomed on an empty highway. Hovering across the road was a contingency of hover tanks and armored jeeps. As the jeeps bounded over the small hills, one of them turned its missile launcher around and fired two warheads. The hover tank beside it moved away but also fired a silent shell. They moved down a hill and then came back together. Smoke trails appeared over the same hill. Two of the trailing missiles hit the tank. Its turret flashed bright red and then exploded. The jeep flipped sideways from the impact and rolled. As it slowed to a stop, another trail of linear smoke plowed into it, blowing it apart.

The other hover tanks fired back. Two of them were equipped with heavy 175mm cannons while a third had a gauss rifle. The slits of its barrel turned blue and then ejected a sparkling blast of blue energy. The tanks rolled down the hill and continued on. Leading the convoy of armor was a command vehicle; a large armored truck equipped with everything a battlefield commander would need to fight.

“What’s going on now?” Kali moaned. She heard a noise beside her and turned. Arthur’s core ducked down and knelt, waiting for further orders. It peeked around the building. Two more trails of thin smoke climbed and curved in the air. They dropped down but were quickly destroyed. One of the jeeps had a rotating pulse turret. Its fast tracking gave effective coverage against single missiles or couples.

Kali circled a finger across her HUD and zoomed again. Behind the retreating Sellan units, was a large more menacing convoy of tanks. They were also Sellan. Two heavy gun tanks slowed and adjusted their aim. Their triple rotating barrels lowered and fired a volley of shells. Kali imagined the whistle of the rounds as they exploded into the ground and trees. One of the tanks took a direct hit and was blown apart. It spun and then sank as its anti-gravity generators went offline. The tank plowed into the ground and then flipped over.

“Are we going to help them?” Arthur asked.

“Help who?” Kali answered. She switched her comm. channel and saw a picture of Scott with his head turned. “Blue Angel, come in.”

The man turned back to Kali. “Blue Angel here.” The pilot turned away again but then nodded. He climbed away as Kali nudged her head left and right to see what was going on. Mavina appeared and flashed a quick smile. “Blue Angel here, what’s going on?”

“Mavina,” Kali said in relief. “There are two Sellan forces…attacking each other. One is retreating toward the town while a larger force is pursuing.”

“Any idea of what’s going on?”

“Not a clue,” Kali muttered.

“Major!” Arthur shouted. “I’ve narrowed in on the command vehicle’s frequency!” He tapped his radio and switched its communications to let Kali and Mavina listen.

“Zzzssht--is SILeNt?” some asked. “Did thEY get dEs—zssht? Kzz-damn this JAmMing.”

“Sir Thomas, THey’re CatcHIng up,” someone else called. “ThEy’ve SpLiT into separate units—zzssh—aTteMpting to tAKe us out WIthoUT their HeavIer weAp—”

One of the jeeps blew up after taking a bright green laser through its body. Kali heard a distinctive curse and thought carefully. “Sir Thomas? Where have I heard that name...?”

“Kzzsht—can’t OutRUn theM,” the man complained. “Isis, Michelle, can’t you two—kzzsh—moRE Power or somEThinG?”

Kali’s eyes widened. “Arthur we’re going to help them,” she called.

“Help who?”

“The ones getting their asses kicked.” Kali moved her Valkyrie into the street and opened her missile launcher. She fired a spread into the air as Arthur moved out to the other street. He knelt down and raised his rifle. He squeezed off two shots after aiming at a light tank that was in the lead. The tank blew up and spun into the ground.

“More enEMy units!” someone shouted. “They’re…Cenaran?”

“What the HelL is the FedERation doiNg—zzsh—here?

“What should—kkzzsh?”

Kali’s missiles hit the ground behind the retreating units. She raised both her light machine guns and fired a sweep of bullets over their heads. Arthur fired another rifle shot and then two missiles. He switched targets and pulled the trigger again. The thin lasers of his rifle combined with the hail of bullets from Kali’s guns made an effective barrage.

“I think they’re retreating,” Arthur said. “They’re turning away.”

Kali looked at her object sphere. Beside her the armored CV hovered across the asphalt streets. A jeep and a large tank followed behind it. On Arthur’s side, another jeep and the gauss tank roared along. Arthur pumped two shots into one of the heavy tanks in the distance. He saw the beams tear into its triple rotating barrel and then blow up. He looked at the other identical armor and saw it lowering its guns for a shot. A green beam sliced into it and blew it apart. The tank bounced up and then flipped backward, tipping over. Arthur turned and saw Kali lower her Valkyrie’s hand. The green energy in its palm slowly disappeared.

“Now then, let’s find out if my hunch was right,” she said. She turned her core around and took a step forward. One of the tanks was aiming its cannon at her while the other aimed at Arthur. The CV turned around and slowly hovered back toward them. The two jeeps pulled alongside it.

“How do you like that,” Arthur laughed. “We save them and the point a gun at us. Should we tell them we’re not even with the Federation anymore?”

“Kali; Secondary Canton; what’s happened?” Mavina asked.

“We’re about to find out now ma’am,” Arthur answered.

Kali kept her eyes focused on the CV as it opened one of its doors. A tall man stepped out. His short black hair was surprisingly well formed considering the intensity of the battle. He had a dark blue vest, tan pants, and black boots. Sir Thomas looked up. Behind him, two young women climbed out. One had long green hair in a ponytail and large circular glasses stuck to her nose. The other had short dangling blonde hair. Kali immediately recognized them.

“Isis! Michelle!” Kali shouted. “Ah...umm, tell Reece we have a surprise for her.” But then she hesitated and paused. She frowned and felt her body go numb.

“If you say so,” Arthur said.

Kali swallowed away her guilt and took off the straps pulling her into the seat. She had tried her best to ignore what Reece had done, but it was too much. It was too strange. There was no way Reece could have possibly done that. Kali felt a twinge of guilt for hitting her. But she didn’t know what else to do. The fear and nausea that it left in her was something she wasn’t used to dealing with. But it was something that seemed to be happening more and more often. Kali climbed out of the hatch and gave a wave. Both Sir Thomas and Isis smiled. Michelle gave a hesitant smirk, but raised her hand in a wave. Kali grinned.