Star Alliance (11 page)

“What the—” Zack began and stopped.

Somehow a large group of the silent hunters had closed in on their position. The scarring on their heads looked even more horrifying than before. Oozing pink skin was sewn together along the mutants’ scalps. Their clawed hands dripped with a bright greenish liquid, and their blazing orange eyes burned with a primal savagery that froze Zack in place.

The lead hunter raced forward, with the others howling as they came. Zack flinched and stumbled to the side as Etanu pushed him away. An ear-piercing siren sent a lance of pain through Zack’s head. He collapsed to his knees while holding his hands to his ears in a feeble attempt to block the sound. He forced his eyes open and saw that the mutants were suffering as he was. The siren stopped and the mutants backed away from them. A large doorway opened from the wall, and Xiiginn guards poured out. They held some type of short rifle and leveled the sights on the mutants, along with Zack and Etanu. Zack held up his hands. The mutants cowered low to the ground as they backed away from the Xiiginns, submitting to their jailers without so much as a challenge.

The guards came over to Zack, seized him by the arms and dragged him away. He glanced at Etanu, but there was nothing the Nershal could do. The Xiiginns shoved Zack to the ground, and when he moved to get up the guards pointed their rifles at him, so he stayed on his knees.

A deep, sultry laugh came from the dark opening in the wall. Zack watched as a female Xiiginn sauntered over. Thin black clothing reminiscent of leather stretched over her skin, leaving nothing to the imagination.
 

“I see you’ve experienced some of our hospitality,” Kandra Rene said.

Zack glanced at the Xiiginn guards. They wore dark mesh armor with helmets, so he couldn’t see their faces.

“If that’s what you want to call it,” Zack said.

Kandra Rene came over to him and ran her smooth fingertips along Zack’s face. Her claws were smaller than the ones he’d seen on other Xiiginns, but Zack believed that had she wanted to, she could have killed him right then and there.

Kandra Rene squatted down, her pale skin showing in stark contrast against her clothing. Zack saw flecks of purple in her eyes. Her long platinum hair draped like a shimmering curtain. She seemed different than she had moments before. It was as if her face had become a combination of human and alien qualities.

“Things could be so much easier for you,” Kandra Rene said.

“You could let me and my friend go,” Zack replied.

“I could also leave you to them,” Kandra Rene said, and glanced over at the prostrating mutants that had been moments from killing them before.

Zack looked over at the hunters. Their submissiveness made him clench his teeth. “You’re a monster,” Zack said.

Kandra Rene narrowed her gaze, losing the soft quality she’d had before. “Do you not have animals on your home world? Your species could never advance without becoming masters of your own environment.”

Zack’s lips lifted in a half snarl. “Is that what you call this? They’re not animals. They were once Nershals.”

“And what is the life of a Nershal to you?” Kandra Rene asked.

“What the hell kind of question is that?” Zack said while rising to his feet.

Kandra Rene waved the guards back and waited for Zack to speak.

“No species should be treated like this—rounded up, stuck in a pit and treated like animals,” Zack said, clenching his teeth at the last word.

“We’re doing scientific research here. Their sacrifice will benefit many more,” Kandra Rene said.

“You’ll have to forgive me if I don’t take your word for it,” Zack said.

“Tell me about your home world. Where is it?”

“I’d rather not,” Zack said.

Kandra Rene’s eyes narrowed in anger, and Zack felt as if something were pressing in on his mind.

Zack squinted his eyes against the pain. “You’ve tried this before. What makes you think it’s going to work now?”

Kandra Rene spun, her tail taking out Zack’s feet. She was on him in an instant, her claws at his throat. “Because it
has
worked,” she said.

Zack’s arms were pinned down, and he felt a trickle of warm liquid drip across his neck. This was it. She was going to rip his throat out. Kandra Rene screamed, and Zack waited for his inevitable demise.

The Xiiginn pushed herself off of him and regained her composure. “I see you need more time in the pit,” Kandra Rene said, and glanced over at Etanu. “We’ll take this one with us for questioning.”

The Xiiginn guards rushed over to Etanu. Zack opened his mouth to speak, but Etanu shook his head.
 

The Xiiginns retreated back through the door, and Kandra Rene lingered there for a moment, watching Zack.

“I’ll give you a head start. It should make it more sporting for the very creatures you believe are still intelligent,” Kandra Rene said, and gestured with her chin behind him.

Zack turned around and saw that the hunters had risen from the ground. All the submissiveness from earlier was gone, and in its place was what he’d seen before. He had to run. Zack blew out a breath, and without another thought he sprinted for the trees, running as fast as he could.
 

C
HAPTER
E
LEVEN

I
T
HAD
BEEN
an entire cycle since the Athena had left them. Not wanting to draw attention to the Human ship, Kladomaor hadn’t sent any communication. The fact that they hadn’t pursued the Human ship should be communication enough for them. At least they had Gaarokk there to guide them. But the fact that Ezerah had also joined the Humans had surprised him.
 

 
Ma’jasalax filled him in on the details now that he agreed with this foolish plan. Kladomaor frowned. “Agreed” was too strong a word. Now that he had calmed down, he could see the wisdom in Ma’jasalax’s actions. If anything, the Mardoxian priestess had greater insight into dealing with the Humans than he did. The Humans were stubborn—all of them. Like most of the intelligent races he’d come across, they needed to learn some of the harsher truths about the galaxy for themselves. He just hoped they could avoid some of the painful lessons the Boxans had learned about the Xiiginns—lessons that had left their home planet, Sethion, in chaos. The star system defenses kept Sethion in quarantine until they could come up with a permanent solution. At least their secret colony hadn’t become compromised. Neither the Xiiginns nor the Confederation knew where it was, and it had given them some much needed breathing room to recover.

Ma’jasalax came onto the bridge and walked over to his side. “The Athena is nearing their final approach to Nerva.”

“You’ve been in contact with them?” Kladomaor asked.

“Not directly. I’ve been monitoring their progress,” Ma’jasalax answered.

Kladomaor arched a brow. “The likelihood that the Mardoxian chamber is still intact on Nerva is remote at best.”

“I think the odds are better than that,” Ma’jasalax said.

“Time will tell,” Kladomaor said.

“Indeed it will,” Ma’jasalax said. “I know you still have reservations about this whole endeavor, but showing our support will go a long way toward earning cooperation from the Humans.”

“I’m well aware of why we’re doing this. One thing I don’t understand is how a Mardoxian chamber came to be built on Nerva. We already tested the Nershals to see if the Mardoxian potential was present, and there were no indications that it was,” Kladomaor said.
 

“That is correct. The standard tests did not reveal that the Nershals had the Mardoxian potential. However, nothing we did with the Nershals was standard. We kept them secret from the Confederation in hopes that they would become our allies. They were the only species that could resist the Xiiginn influence. Direct control from a Xiiginn wasn’t possible with the Nershals,” Ma’jasalax said.

“And yet they allied with the Xiiginns anyway. At least now some of the Nershals are challenging that alliance, but this doesn’t explain how a chamber was built on Nerva,” Kladomaor said.
 

“Like the other species, the Nershals felt betrayed by us and the use of the Star Shroud on their star system. A small group of Boxans from the Mardoxian sect—some of the more open-minded scientists, such as Gaarokk and myself—built a test chamber on Nerva. Since the Nershals could resist the Xiiginn influence, we thought we’d try and cultivate the Mardoxian potential in their species,” Ma’jasalax said.

“How? I thought the potential was either there or it wasn’t at all,” Kladomaor said.

“We mapped their genetic markers and looked for similarities with ours. No changes were made to their genetics. The Nershals were quite adamant about that, and we wouldn’t have done anything without their knowledge or consent regardless. We invited some of the Nershals to observe connections within the chamber,” Ma’jasalax said.

Kladomaor frowned. “I thought that was forbidden, that it was too dangerous because of the amplified connection the chamber helps create for traversing the higher planes?”

Ma’jasalax eyed him for a moment. “I had no idea you knew so much about the chambers,” she said.

“I’ve considered every potential asset in our war with the Xiiginns,” Kladomaor said.

“I have no doubt you have, and so have we, which is why we built the chamber on Nerva in the first place,” Ma’jasalax said.

“Were you successful?” Kladomaor asked.

Ma’jasalax shook her head. “The Nershals we tested could only detect faint traces of the energies and connections the chamber was capable of. Nothing like the Humans. Kaylan was able to use the Mardoxian chamber on her own the first time she tried,” Ma’jasalax said.

“That’s what makes the Humans different. Even though Kaylan and the others assert that what Kaylan is able to do is rare among Humans, the potential exists. This makes them both valuable and dangerous,” Kladomaor said.

“The Human potential goes beyond whether they can use the Mardoxian chamber. I’ve reviewed some of the data their AI construct gathered on our listening station from their star system,” Ma’jasalax said.

“It’s our artificial intelligence construct they copied,” Kladomaor said.

“Perhaps at one time, but they’ve adapted it to their ship. The AI is loyal to them, just as it would be to us. I believe Zack is largely responsible for that,” Ma’jasalax said.

“He is quite clever, that one, but even if they do find him, he will never be the same. You know what the Xiiginns will do to him,” Kladomaor said.

“Based on your report, the Humans are also resistant to the Xiiginn influence,” Ma’jasalax said.

“I believe I said it is highly probable that some of the Humans can resist the compulsion of the Xiiginn. I didn’t actually see any of the Xiiginns attempt to control one of the Humans. We were too busy staying alive and rescuing you,” Kladomaor said.

“For which I’m grateful. Even if they are only partially resistant, they can make a much better stand against the Xiiginns than we can alone,” Ma’jasalax said.

“We’ve fought the Xiiginns long enough to know they have other ways of making species do as they command. They are ruthless,” Kladomaor said.

“Don’t you see? That’s why even if Zack becomes lost to the Humans, they must learn what is at stake so they can take that lesson back to their home,” Ma’jasalax said.

“Their planet will need more than just the account of nine Humans to invoke change. They don’t even have a unified global government,” Kladomaor said.

“We must do everything in our power to ensure the Humans survive here. They will be as a pebble cast into a pond that will evoke a time of great change for their species,” Ma’jasalax said.

A silent alarm flashed on the main holoscreen. They were running in stealth mode, and given what they were about to do, they couldn’t risk their alarms being overheard by the enemy.
 

“One of the Xiiginn warships broke off from the rest to investigate our decoy,” Triflan said.

“Acknowledged,” Kladomaor said. “Stand by for the other decoys to engage.”

Kladomaor had wondered if he could entice one of the warships to break formation. He had raced their ship to the outer star system, leveraging the strength of his ship, which was in speed and stealth. He would loiter and coordinate their decoys to distract the Xiiginn warships for a while. By now they must have received a report of the Boxan presence in the Nershal star system. He would entice them to give chase, and the Xiiginns would be restricted in their response to the threat he represented. They were in an occupied star system and couldn’t exactly unleash the full measure of their arsenal here, but the Xiiginn’s alliance with the Nershals was growing more fragile. If it came to open conflict, Kladomaor had given Udonzari a way to send communication to the Boxan fleet.

“Are you just deploying decoys?” Ma’jasalax asked.

“You mean there’s something you aren’t able to foresee?” Kladomaor said, baiting Ma’jasalax. “The decoys we’ve deployed will put their warships on a path of our choosing, forcing them to fly through whatever we have lying in wait for them.”