Sk'lar Read online

  The biggest member of my crew was Tyehn. A big, burly Valorni, he had to cut the sleeves off his skinsuit to accommodate his size.

  I silently considered if I should speak to someone about him; I swore he kept getting bigger each time I saw him. Tyehn held his salute crisply, perhaps because his laughter had been the most boisterous when I came below deck.

  Jalok stood two inches shorter than Tyehn, but one look at his stone-cold expression and you realized that he was the one you should be afraid of.

  Jalok was an expert at close-quarter combat, though he was pretty accurate with munitions as well, and those Skotan scales were a helpful defense.

  Finally, Cazak gave me his version of a salute, which was limp and casual. He wasn’t the most intimidating being in a fight, but he had a true knack for maintaining and repairing field equipment. Cazak was the only member of my team I had requested by name, but to be honest, it hadn’t been hard to get him. His attitude rubbed a lot of commanders the wrong way, to use a human phrase.

  “At ease.” They relaxed somewhat, and Cazak gave me a little smirk I chose to ignore, even though it hit me right in my confidence. “As I’m sure you’ve noticed, we’ve made an unscheduled landing. There’s a human settlement that’s not supposed to be here, and we are going to make contact.”

  “Finally, some action.” Tyehn reached for a two-handed pulse rifle, but I held up my hand and shook my head.

  “Not so fast. You’re a bit too threatening in appearance. Head up front and assist our pilot in any way he wishes.”

  His face crinkled with disappointment.

  “But he’s only a corporal.”

  “In any way he wishes, Tyehn.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  With a sigh of resignation, he headed up to the front. I turned my attention to the other two.

  “Small sidearms only. We don’t want to alarm them.”

  With Jalok and Cazak in tow, I pressed the panel which lowered the exit ramp. The crowd of humans had gathered a short distance away. When they first caught sight of us in our skinsuits, they started booing.

  Jalok tensed up next to me. I whispered surreptitiously in his ear.

  “Easy, Jalok. We’re not here to fight.”

  “Try telling that to them.” Still, his fingers uncurled from around the grip of his side-arm.

  I approached the throng with purpose, refusing to show any sign of weakness while still trying to appear non-threatening.

  An older human male stepped forward, a slapdash projectile weapon clutched in one hand. At least the barrels were pointed at the ground—for now.

  “Salutations.” I offered a small bow of my head, and my soldiers followed suit. “I am Commander Sk’lar of the K’ver Central Command,” a small lie. “Who speaks for you?”

  In response, one of the humans spat a wad of white froth at my feet. Jalok’s eyes narrowed, but he held his place.

  The older human grinned at the display and stepped right up in front of me.

  “I speak for us. And if you can’t tell, you obsidian-skinned droid-spawn aren’t welcome here.”

  “We come in peace. Your settlement isn’t registered and we were simply investigating if you needed any assistance.”

  A young child shouted out from the throng. “You can assist by going the hell away.”

  A ripple of laughter rose into the warm air.

  “We don’t need anything from a bunch of aliens. Now beat it, and tell the rest of your inky brethren not to come back.”

  “Humans are not native to this planet.” I grimaced at Cazak’s smarmy grin. “That kind of makes us ALL aliens here.”

  The sound of weapons powering up in the crowd had me thinking this could go bad fast. Ignoring Cazak, I bowed my head to the lead human.

  “Then we go in peace.”

  I turned on my heel and walk back toward the ship, Cazak and Jalok falling in behind me. As soon as our backs were turned, a wave of open threats and insults was hurled at us.

  A soft-bodied fruit smashed between my shoulder blades, setting juice running down my skinsuit, but I didn’t even slow my stride.

  “Sir?” Jalok looked at me with widened eyes, as if unbelieving that I didn’t react to the hurled vegetation.

  “As you are, Jalok.” We got back inside the ship and the ramp raised up flush with the hull. I relayed the order to the pilot to take us up posthaste.

  As our craft climbed back into the sky, my mind was troubled. I had a feeling that this settlement was going to be a thorn in the side of anyone who wanted peace between the species.

  Phryne

  I frowned and checked the time on my wrist device for the third time since the briefing was supposed to officially start. Twenty minutes had passed and there was no sign of General Rouhr’s soldiers.

  Personally, I didn’t think we needed to wait for them. All meetings were carefully documented. The soldiers could catch themselves up whenever they deigned to make an appearance.

  “Should we send a search unit?” Vidia reached over to General Rouhr, who sat beside her, and squeezed his forearm. Concern flooded her expression. I tried not to frown.

  Vidia and General Rouhr made a great team. They worked well together politically, socially, and on every other level that mattered and quite a few that didn’t. However, I’d never approved of allowing emotions to show through in a professional setting. There was a job to do. Becoming consumed with fear or worry wasn’t going to help get that job done.

  “Do you think something’s gone wrong?” I asked.

  “None of the team I sent out is answering their comms.” General Rouhr’s frown remained prominently on his face. “Vidia’s right. Let’s send a small search drone to their last location.”

  General Rouhr was about to send the order, when a brilliant pale blue light appeared in the room.

  “Oh, hell no,” I muttered.

  Rift travel was a wonderful innovation that was slowly integrating itself into everyday operations. It was wildly convenient, if not uncomfortable to utilize.

  However, it was meant to be impossible to walk through a rift into high-security areas like this one without going through the proper clearance procedures.

  I knew the proper procedures hadn’t been performed in this case because I was the person who approved the damn requests. I locked eyes with Vidia, who looked apologetic.

  Yes, she technically was my boss but she knew how I was about this sort of thing. Control was key, especially in a tumultuous time such as this.

  I reached for the weapon strapped to my side in case it was indeed a threat coming through a rift into our base of operations. I was ready to pull it loose and fire right up until a dark bald head appeared in the blue light.

  A K’ver stepped through the rift portal. His expression was gravely serious. I took my hand off my weapon.

  Naturally, it would’ve been a K’ver that circumvented the security protocols. I eyed the glowing lines of complex circuitry that lined his arms and the left side of his neck.

  The light of the rift portal faded back into nothing and I was able to get a good look at the K’ver. His strong jaw was clenched. There was a somber expression in his solid obsidian eyes.

  Something strange flickered in my chest.

  My anger dimmed.

  Something about this K’ver, though I couldn’t put my finger on it, had caught my attention.

  Maybe he reminded me of an old childhood friend from the orphanage. No, that wasn’t it. Something else.

  I shook the thought away. Now wasn’t the time.

  “Apologies for disregarding protocol,” the K’ver said to me.

  Clearly, he knew who I was, meaning we must’ve met at one point or another. Perhaps this was what Vidia meant when she said I needed to work on my interpersonal relationships.

  “I expect you to tell me why you did so.” I lifted my chin and gave him a stern look. With the other aliens, the Valorni especially, it was important to physically demonstrate a lac
k of intimidation. Ordinarily, that wasn’t a problem for me, but suddenly thinking of my time at the orphanage had thrown me off.

  “Of course,” he nodded. “General Rouhr,” the K’ver turned away from me to address his general. “Our recon team was attacked at the old Vengeance landing site.”

  Even now, General Rouhr’s face darkened with a shadow of sadness. Vidia gave his forearm another squeeze. I didn’t understand the love the general had for his vessel, but then again, I’d never been assigned on a ship. Regardless, the loss of the Vengeance had deeply affected the general.

  “What happened, Sk’lar?” General Rouhr inquired, the sadness gone as quickly as it had appeared.

  “Anti-alien fanatics,” the K’ver, Sk’lar, said with a dismissive shake of his head. “No injuries, but considerable threats.”

  “Do you think there’s any substance to those threats?” I asked.

  “Potentially,” Sk’lar nodded. “This group was more organized than others we’ve dealt with in the past. I wouldn’t take anything they say too lightly.”

  “I expect a full report detailing the exact words exchanged,” I said.

  Sk’lar tapped a device strapped to his wrist that connected right into the circuits on his skin.

  “Not a problem.”

  “Good.” I nod curtly.

  “I’d like that report sent to me, as well,” General Rouhr asked.

  “Obviously,” Sk’lar nodded.

  At that moment, a Valorni came through the door, out of breath and covered in a light sheen of sweat.

  “I came as soon as I could,” he panted. I’d met this one before, too, but his name escaped me.

  “Karzin, what took you so long?” The hint of a smirk appeared on Sk’lar’s mouth.

  “I went through the proper channels,” Karzin grumbled.

  “Which is appreciated,” I tossed in.

  “Did you tell her about the anti-alien jackasses?” Karzin asked Sk’lar.

  “You’re picking up the local lingo nicely, Karzin,” General Rouhr interjected. “Yes, we’ve been briefed on the situation.”

  “What are we going to do about it?” Karzin questioned.

  “We should focus on preventive measures,” Skit jumped in. “Completely suppressing them will only cause a stronger uprising.”

  I lifted a brow. Solid logic. Not bad, kid.

  “Declaw them instead of exterminate them,” Vidia said thoughtfully.

  “They’ll likely start acting out more as soon as election campaigns are underway,” I said. “Vidia, you’re the favorite among much of the population, but anti-alien groups aren’t going to want you in a position of power.”

  Vidia, the former mayor of Fraga, ran Nyheim while our world rebuilt itself after the Xathi attack. During the crisis and its aftermath, Vidia slowly found herself at the helm of human government.

  At the end of the Xathi war, the council invited her to carry on mayoral duties during the rebuilding period. She did so faithfully, rebuilding the city until it was ready for elections.

  Now that things had quieted down, other prominent people from the pre-Xathi government wanted to go back to an electoral system.

  Personally, I wished they’d leave it alone. Vidia had done a remarkable job keeping the planet on its feet after the Xathi invasion. She was clearly the best for the job, which is why I wasn’t worried about her ability to prove it in an election.

  However, I was worried about her safety, especially with all these anti-alien capsules popping up everywhere. I’d feel better if I had a headcount.

  “I want you two in the streets,” I said to Tona and Skit. “I want you in civilian clothes. Talk to anyone and everyone about the anti-alien bullshit. Keep a recording device and your GPS on at all times. I give you creative freedom, but we need an idea of how prominent these groups are within the city.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Skit nodded.

  “Where are we with the food inventory?” General Rouhr asked.

  Tona grabbed a datapad and pulled up a report.

  “Our numbers are steadily improving,” he informed us.

  “That sounds like there’s a ‘but’ at the end of that,” Vidia smiled sadly.

  “The Xathi destroyed so much. Valuable, fertile lands were destroyed and will take time to replenish. The land we can use is in good shape and the output is in the top percentile, but we won’t be off rations by the end of the year like we’d hoped.”

  “Anything we can do to boost crop output?” the general asked.

  “Not without using harmful agents.”

  “Can’t do that,” General Rouhr frowned. “The Puppet Master would be most displeased with us.”

  “Could we ask its permission?”

  “If someone walked up to you and asked if they could pour acid on your arm, would you agree to it?” Vidia prompted.

  “Point taken.”

  “What about the construction of new settlements?” General Rouhr moved on.

  “The eco-construction is going very well,” Tona reported. “That Puppet Master thing is an architectural genius.”

  “The fruits of the alliance are already showing,” the general grinned.

  “We could use that for the election,” I spoke up. “Vidia played an active role in forming our liaison with the Puppet Master, and there’s a clear link to a positive output.”

  “What matters is that the work gets done, not that I keep my power,” Vidia said kindly.

  “Having you in power is what’s allowing the work to get done,” I corrected. “It’s in the best interest of everyone that you officially take the reins of the capital and keep our progress as a planet flourishing.”

  “If you weren’t so damn brilliant with the security team, I’d have you writing my speeches,” Vidia joked.

  “I don’t think I have the interpersonal skills for that.” Vidia was one of the few people I openly joked with. I had a skill for keeping my professional life and work life separated, but I considered Vidia a friend.

  “Fair enough,” Vidia chuckled. “Besides, I’d rather have you there to keep me alive.”

  “Which is something we should discuss in further detail.” I steered the conversation back to the issues at hand. “I’m confident Skit and Tona will find evidence of anti-alien factions growing bolder within the city, as well as within the settlements. I want to impose extra security measures here so we’re prepared.”

  “What do you suggest?” Vidia asked.

  “One of the trends I’ve noticed is that no matter how rowdy an anti-alien faction member is, they’re hesitant to directly engage in combat. Correct?” I looked to Sk’lar for confirmation. He nodded.

  “The anti-alien radicals understand that they are physically outmatched against General Rouhr’s forces. We should allocate a defense team specifically for Vidia during the election period,” I suggested.

  “I think that’s an excellent idea,” General Rouhr agreed. “Sk’lar, what do you have your team working on lately?”

  Sk’lar hesitated, which I found surprising. He didn’t look like the type to hesitate.

  “Routine patrols focusing on the old Vengeance site and the Aurora, sir,” Sk’lar replied.

  “I’m going to reassign your strike team. You’ll be working with Phryne to ensure Vidia’s safety at all times.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Sk’lar

  “I didn’t blast my way through the crystal carcasses of Xathi excrement to be put on babysitting duty.”

  I glanced over at Tyehn as he fumed at my side. The overhead lights made his green skin shine as if wet. He was accompanying me part of the way to my meeting with the human commander Phryne Manka at the Nyheim central government building. His destination was the armory, where I hoped to acquire some smaller weaponry more apropos to guard duty.

  “At ease, Tyehn.” My tone belied the fact that I actually agreed with him. “Protecting an important woman like Vidia is a totally valid assignment.”

&nb
sp; His jaw worked silently, but he didn’t offer further argument. The truth was, I felt much the same way.

  Normally, guard duty was hardly the way to establish yourself to the high command. But ever since we’d crashed on this planet, everything was different. Vidia was our commanding officer’s mate, after all.

  And no matter what, a command was a command.

  We parted at the armory and I continued deeper into the winding hallways on my journey to Phryne Manka’s office. When I arrived, I expected to find a receptionist, but instead found her door standing open.

  At first she didn’t notice me. Her wide eyes were fixed upon a multitude of datapads spread out on her otherwise pristine desk. There was something rather formidable about this woman, something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Though she only weighed half of what I did, my instincts told me she would be a canny and dangerous opponent.

  I cleared my throat, a human gesture I had picked up. Manka glanced up from her datapads and waved me inside informally.

  “Commander…Sk’lar, was it?”

  “Commander Sk’lar it is.” I offered a crisp salute.

  “Well, Sk’lar-it-is, have a seat. I’ll be with you in just a moment.”

  I sat down, frowning at her jibe, but she didn’t notice. A moment stretched into minutes, and soon I grew bored with the wait. To amuse myself, I took in the sight of her red hair. We K’ver lacked such bodily adornments, and I was a bit fascinated with the way it swished about when she moved her head side to side to peer at her various documents.

  Just when I was settling in for a good wait, she put down her datapad and fixed me with a stoic gaze. I returned it, look for look. When it was obvious that neither of us was going to give ground, she spoke.

  “Your CO speaks highly of you, Commander.”

  “I’m pleased to hear that, ma’am.”

  “Oh for god’s sake—just call me Phryne.” She waved away my formality. “I can’t stand getting all tripped up on protocol.”