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

“What are you suggesting, Rafian?” Marian asked as she took his hand and turned him to face her.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I can’t allow the citizens to return here after what they’ve seen. The rumors they will spread will make things hard for us, so I propose that they be made to live with us in Zallus. I want the marines to be made into Phasers. The Vestalian military cannot be allowed to know anything about the crystals. The survivors are to be considered dead from that explosion, dead to their contacts on the various battleships, and dead to their commanding officers.

“Once they have been given the dark education of our order, I want the books closed on all recruiting. We are at a time where we need to develop elite Phasers. We can’t afford to keep Tayden Lark on the ground, training newbies instead of running missions. We are to go back into the shadows, striking at the targets that the general military cannot reach. Look, Geral is under attack now by the concert effort of the entire galaxy of Anstractor. They don’t need us to play soldier with them; they need us to stop
schtill
like this from ever happening again.”

“We fully understand, Commander,” the two Phasers said to him and he opened a portal back to Zallus.

A
RI GROATRATH held up the tiny crystal and examined it with a mixture of fear and admiration. It was the Phaser’s power, an item of mysterious properties that allowed the humans to teleport, live multiple lives, and access new technologies. But what he held in front of him looked no different than a piece of glass. He had tried everything to make it do its magic but nothing had happened.

“Siern!” he screamed across the command room to his main aide. The bent, dark-green Geralos ran over to him, pulling up at the last minute before colliding into him.

“High Minister!” Siern addressed him, but in a voice that seemed to be stuck in a whisper, and Ari regarded him through the corner of his eye while he still examined the crystal.

“Remind me, how did you come by this thing?” Ari asked the grinning man. He tried to squeeze it to see if that would produce any results.

“Virulia, Minister. There was an explosion and we were sent in to investigate what caused it. General Krylat Par wanted to know if the Alliance had destroyed one of our satellites, but what we found were the ruins of some sort of structure.”

“What kind of structure?”

“An old temple, built up to worship something that we couldn’t figure out. The area was clear of any other buildings, and it looked as if the temple sat alone, deep in the valley of the Virulian wilderness. The planet is unfriendly to the humans and Meluvians, so we assumed that it was not an Alliance setup.”

“You assumed wrong,” Ari said flatly. He stood up quickly while tucking the crystal away in one of his pockets. “What you describe is very similar to the target that we’ve found on Vestalia. Tucked away, recessed in the wilderness. Remote from the prying eyes of any of their own people and almost invisible to the likes of us. Were it not for the genius of Maes Van Senthyn, their base would still be invisible to us, Siern. How long was that temple on Virulia? Long enough to let us know that we need to be taking this seriously.”

Siern backed away from the minister and seemed to think. Then his face lit up and he clapped his hands. “Minister. The temple. I brought you back a number of items. That piece of glass and the wall of markings. Were we able to get anything from my find?”

Ari Groatrath looked over at him and nodded his head. “I want to see these ruins myself. The wall was gibberish. Human writing about gods and chosen ones. The same dogmatic religion that primitive races look to in order to make their miserable lives seem reasonable. It looked as if that piece had been one of many that decorated this temple. The humans went there to conduct their worship of their deity, and considering the locale and the lack of civilization, I would think it was regarded as an extremely holy place.”

“That doesn’t explain the connection with our target on Vestalia,” Siern said, puzzled.

“Oh yes it does. See, the humans that call themselves Phasers are the practitioners of this strange religion. If I was to wager a guess, I would say that their methods are shunned by their society. They probably employ rituals that would make our stomachs turn. Regardless, this religion has given them powers, unscientific powers that defy all logic, and I want to study the old ruins in order to see if I can learn more about their practice.”

“I can get a detail together to get you to Virulia as soon as possible, Minister,” Siern said, inching closer in hopes of gaining the Minister’s gratitude.

“You’re a good soldier,” Ari said finally, resting his palm on the man’s head. Siern shivered with appreciation and turned to get started on his mission.

“Should I alert high command, minister?” he stopped to ask.

“No. In fact, prepare a skiff with FTL capabilities. I want this to remain between the two of us, and I want to travel to Virulia alone.”

* * *

The area in front of the Phasers’ barracks began to shimmer as if an invisible thruster was emitting fuel into the air. The shimmering grew violent and became a vertical seam which tore a frightening void into reality.

From out of this portal fell a number of Meluvians, all survivors from the fallen city of Dystalis.  Over one hundred people emerged from the light and most stood looking around, confused. Finally the marines and Phasers were coming through, and as soon as the last one was through the portal, the shimmering stopped and it was as if the portal had been a figment of their imagination.

As soon as the crowd began to panic over the “jump,” another shimmering occurred above them and three Phasers fell, landing easily as if they had done it a hundred times.

Rafian, Marian, and Yuth Varience now faced the former citizens of Dystalis. As the noise from their questions threatened to drown everything out, Rafian raised his hand to silence them all before stepping forward.

“Questions later; you all need to get to the bunkers. What’s coming will make the Crak-Ti invasion seem like a friendly dance competition. This is the planet Vestalia that you’re standing on, and this is Zallus, the first Phaser city. Now, I apologize for throwing all of this at you so soon after the hell you just survived, but I promise you that we will get rid of these invaders and allow you to set up a home here.”

Some of the Meluvians made to question him then, but Yuth Varience took charge and began to lead them away to the nearest bunker. When they were gone, Rafian turned to Marian. “Where are my Phasers? I thought that Tayden would have them here, ready to fight,” he said.

Marian touched his shoulder and pointed to the sky where a fleet of red ships were lifting skyward from a hangar. “Tayden’s a pilot before anything else. If she’s going to strike at the Geralos, she’s going to do it from the skies,” she said.

Rafian watched the ships and felt a pang of jealousy. It was he who had cleared this country of the Geralos and it was he who had marked the area where their city now stood—from the cockpit of his ship. Shouldn’t he be up in the air helping Tayden and Camille instead of playing rescue dog to the refugees of Meluvia?

Marian saw him brooding and jabbed his arm, and he broke his trance to regard her. “Sorry,” he remarked and she nodded at him—

The sound of feet brought them both around as Dott Toga and Frank OTA approached them wearing full battle armor. A Phaser's armor was a 3B suit, a skintight bodysuit made from alien material, reinforced by a personal shield and armored bracers.

“Commander, good to see you again,” Dott said, and then grinned at Marian with admiration. “Marian VCA, in the flesh,” she said, and stepped forward to hug the tall woman tightly.

Frank and Rafian hugged in their own way, and then Dott turned and embraced her Supreme Leader. This hug between Rafian and the younger Phaser was longer and seemed so intimate that it gave Marian pause. When the two separated she shot him a glance, but Rafian shook his head slightly to let her know that her assumptions were wrong.

Dott saw the exchange and felt a wave of embarrassment. “I’m sorry for the extra-long hug on the Supreme Leader, ma’am, it’s just that he is—” Her tanned brown face went pale with horror as she tried to find the words to replace what she meant to say. “My hero,” she surrendered, just letting it out. “I still find it strange that I am able to touch him, let alone have the honor of being a Phaser.”

Marian felt stupid and embarrassed for her jealousy. She looked over at Rafian, her eyes begging him to say something, anything to break the awkward air.

“Dott, you honor me, you really do,” he said, “but don’t sell yourself short like that. You are one of our finest aces. Everything you have, you have more than earned. So what’s the situation? Can you bring us up to speed? Those ships haven’t moved since the last time I was down here.”

“Commander, Tayden left us to wait for the arrival of the other Phasers. She and Camille have taken to the sky with Erlaine, Rentrout, and Lieutenant Klemise. They aim to provoke the Geralos into a firefight so that we can get more time down here to prepare.”

“Well, that’s probably the worst idea I’ve heard in a while,” Rafian said, and stepped away from them to pull up his comm. “Dott, the recruits went with Yuth to the barracks. One of you should go and collect them now. We need every Phaser ready for this attack.”

Frank volunteered and jogged away while Marian and Dott continued to watch him.

“I’m going up there to join Tayden. When Yuth returns we’re going to need him to be inside of a ship, as well. Where are my other aces, Marika and Laern?” he asked.

Dott replied, “Laern is still in a healing tank and I think Marika has been making up for lost time with Val.”

“They can
thype
later; this isn’t the time,” Rafian whispered under his breath. “We need her here to lead some of these troops.  Marika’s never this irresponsible, I refuse to believe it. She’s more than likely on one of those Geralos ships, cutting them to ribbons from the inside. Anyway, enough orders, I’ll use my comm. You two are the line if they make it to the ground. We’re going to put so much fire on them that they will have to make a hard decision.”

He touched them both on their shoulders and bowed slightly, then pulled Marian in and kissed her lips. “Protect our cloners; they will get heavy use today,” he said and the Lucan beauty nodded silently. He then turned and jogged towards the hangar, where his Phantom stood waiting like a dragon awoken.

“Tayden Lark,” he announced into his comm as he picked up speed with his run.

“Thank the Maker you made it!” Tayden exclaimed, and he could hear several other voices echo the sentiment. “Did we win? Is Dystalis liberated?” she asked, and Rafian paused to consider his answer.

“The people are safe, Tay. We have them here, but I need you to stand down until Yuth and I are up there to help.”

“Fine by me, Commander. It’s pretty bad up here — a ton of drones and remotely operated fighters, just sitting and waiting for some lizard’s command.”

“Drones, you say? Are any of them actually manned? This won’t be any fun if we’re only playing with machinery,” Rafian said.

“Raf, this is Camille, can you hear me?” He heard the voice but his mind wouldn’t allow him to answer it. “Raf, you there?” she inquired, and her voice was like a thin stream of honey pouring hotly into his ears.

“I’m here, Cammy,” he said, trying to sound composed. “Didn’t mean to worry you all.”

He knew that Camille heard the pain in his voice. She always did, no matter how much he tried to hide it. He wondered if the other Phasers could hear it, too, particularly Tayden, who had secretly shared his bed for so many years. This realization saddened him and he suddenly felt weary. Why had Marian taken him back when he had literally slept with every woman who let him?

This feeling of guilt shook the clouds from his head as he reached for the ladder that led up to the cockpit of his phantom. It had been too long since he’d flown in combat against a worthwhile foe. He felt butterflies in his stomach as he touched the panel, flipping switches beneath the deck to pump collected
Eordin
crystal reserves into the ship’s compressor.

The engines purred as the chemicals erupted within its belly, and the phantom hummed and farted blue fire from the downward-facing thrusters at the base of its wings. The ship hovered slightly above the ground, the force too much for gravity’s hold. He grabbed the control and tilted it forward while depressing a pedal with his right foot. The ship lifted into the air, picking up speed as the crystal’s reaction forced the ground away from it.

Rafian switched off the interior lights, activated armor and shields, then donned his helmet to synch his mind to the controls. He forgot Camille and focused on the task at hand. Geralos ships were threatening their haven. It was all thanks to a spy that had snuck on board one of their battleships to learn of their location. That same lizard had made his way into Zallus, got within their grounds, and mortally wounded a Phaser or two. Rafian had jumped in and crossed blades with this saboteur and sent his soul back to his ancestors.

The death of the spy had come at little cost to the Geralos, since he’d transmitted their location before the time of his passing. Rafian had cursed himself for letting his guard down, but then he had to deal with the Crak-Ti on Meluvia. Now it was their turn to be invaded, but he wasn’t going to allow them to get near his city.

“Rafian, wait!” Dott Toga screamed over the comm, and he slowed his ascent by stopping the fuel from being pumped into the combustion chamber. The Phantom stalled and threatened to fall, but he masterfully depressed the pedal and locked it into a temporary state of hovering.

“What’s going on, Dott?” he inquired patiently.

“The city’s shields are still up. If you keep going you’ll damage your ship—”

“Thanks for the heads up, Dott! Take it down for now so that I can get out. When Yuth and I are in the atmosphere, you can bring it back up and arm the big guns.”

“Got it, sir. Good luck up there,” she said.

“Thanks Dott, but there’s no need. The only ones needing luck today will be the families of the Geralos.”

* * *

Aurora SYN looked up at the sky every day since arriving in Zallus. As a woman who had spent her entire life on a ship, it was hard to accept the reality of living on an actual planet. She would wake up to her screaming baby boy, feed him—if that was what he needed—and take him outside to examine the skies and the complex patterns of violets, pinks, and purples that came with dawn.