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Everything was going fine until I happened upon a clearing.
And there were four strange Vakarrans staring straight at me. All four of them in heavy black combat gear and immediately, one of them lifted some sort of dart gun in my direction. Dark, foreign eyes glared down at me and when I heard the near silent click of the trigger, I saw something fly toward me.
Fuck.
The dart caught me in the thigh and I blinked, staring at the rear of it sticking out from my leg. I gasped and collapsed, my limbs quickly becoming numb and my eyes rolling back in my head. Try as I might, I couldn’t keep awake and my eyes closed. My vision wavered, flecks of gray edging in at the corners and I whimpered.
I knew no more. Only blackness.
Chapter Ten
Zac
I hated serving Nix. He
always made me feel young and untrained, despite the fact that I had far more experience on the battlefield than he did. His elitist personality made me want to deck him, more than once. Fucking rich bastard. Must be nice to not have to work to achieve power, to be born into money and gain power and riches just because you were friends with the right people. It made me sick.
I gritted my teeth as he commanded me to fill his whiskey glass once again.
He was talking with Roan, about some rumors he had heard while up on the ISS Starrider. Apparently, there was word that there might be a possible human resistance growing somewhere in the area and that it had the potential to involve some rogue Vakarrans as well. Some time ago, he mentioned the demise of the Second Battalion, but no one had confirmed their deaths. He muttered something about faulty equipment in their space pod, but that he was suspicious. I thought he had lost his mind.
I’d seen the explosion on our live satellite feed. No one could have survived that. My ears perked up though once I heard Nix utter the name “Alaina Stryke.”
I even saw Roan stiffen beside him, just a hair.
“There was another Stryke sister with them. I want to know if there are more. If she had anything to do with the explosion of that ship. I’ve been unable to get my hands on Kira; Zaavyr keeps her under lock and key. She’s one of the best-behaved humans on the damn ship, but I don’t believe it. I can’t even get close to her with the First Battalion around, and especially now with her carrying their sons. If I’ve learned anything from her, it’s to expect the unexpected and I don’t fucking believe the Second Battalion just died like that. They fucking disobeyed me, ignoring my orders to return immediately with Alaina, and I want to see them punished for it,” Nix demanded.
I stayed silent, listening for clues to what else I may learn.
“Why do you think there’s life in the city though? Just a suspicion wouldn’t bring you all the way here, Commander Nix,” Roan replied, his voice steady and calm. I’d always admired him for being able to keep his emotions at bay. If it were me, I would have punched Nix in the nose already. I grinned just thinking about it.
“Distinctive heat signatures on the streets here. There are humans there, I’m telling you and I want them captured. Ever since the explosion, I’ve been monitoring the area myself and picked up evidence that specifically suggests human body temperatures. I can’t say if Vakarrans are there, you know the tech doesn’t pick our signatures for whatever reason. Xandaar, you probably know, why is that again?”
I caught Xandaar rolling his eyes as he turned, well behind the commander.
“Our skin is twice the thickness as that of a human’s. The multiple layers function as a sort of shield and our heat-sensitive satellites have never been able to pick up on our movements,” Xandaar replied.
“I knew it was something to do with some boring scientific fact,” Nix replied and Xandaar glared at the back of his head.
“So, what do you want us to do?” Roan said, crossing his arms over his chest.
“As the highest-ranking battalion here, I want you to infiltrate the abandoned human city and find them. Bring whoever you need. I’ll call for reinforcements to arrive before the mission sets out,” Nix replied arrogantly.
“We’ll find them, Commander,” Roan replied, and I eyed the knife on the table. I yearned to slash the bastard’s throat and just be free of him, once and for all, but Taraik placed a hand on my shoulder, stopping me from completing my task.
Nix made me angry. Sometimes so much so that I found it hard to control.
I turned away, taking a step behind Taraik then. Killing Nix now wouldn’t solve anything, and it would cause more questions to crop up than ever. I told myself that even if I took him down, another just like him would just take his place. That’s just how it was.
The power structure in our Vakarran military was wrought with nepotism, unfair promotions, and greed. It was possible to rise through society with hard work and achievement, but it was becoming more and more rare. My comrades and I had proven ourselves in war and invasions, an integral part of the reason for conquering planets far outside the Earthen solar system. The First and Second Battalions had been like us. Comrades in battle.
We’d all risen based on our own hard-earned merit, unlike Nix.
I tried to ignore the rest of the conversation, which involved intense mission planning and evaluation of old street images they’d input into the network. I once again admired Roan for his ability to keep a level head. He was a hard-ass sometimes, but he was a good leader. I’d follow him anywhere.
Some sort of commotion sounded outside of the officer’s tent and I lifted my head, furrowing my brow in confusion. Some Vakarran I vaguely recalled as Taazar ran in with a grin on his face.
“Commander Nix,” he said with a bow, waiting for permission to speak.
