Supreme Leader of Anstractor: A Sci-Fantasy Space Adventure (The New Phase Book 3) (9 page)

T
HERE IS SOMETHING about motion that comes with sleeping on a high bunk near the bulkhead that separated the
Rendron’s
female cadet dormitory from the male.
Rendron
had no cadets currently, so the dorms were vacant. The destroyer’s ongoing battles since the war on Meruda had made it impossible to bring children onboard.

Constance and Phimanila had been a part of the last graduating class onboard the
Rendron
and although there were plans to renew the program, the cadet area had been left abandoned and unsupervised. So Constance ITO began to sneak out of the officer’s quarters to sleep in her old bunk bed whenever she felt haunted.

There had been so many battles, so many arguments throughout her career, and the memories seemed to only show up whenever she wanted to sleep. She was her own worst enemy, and there was nothing that she didn’t retrace over and over in her head. Constance was never good enough for Constance and her insecurity had begun to get the better of her. But inside the dorm room was peace; she could be little Connie again. Bright-eyed, loved by all of the senior officers, and popular with the other cadets, even though she offered little in the way of conversation.

She awoke with a start after what seemed like an entire lifetime of dreams and felt around beneath her pillow for her wrist watch. When she touched its underside the screen lit up and the time hovered above its surface in the form of floating lights.

“That can’t be right,” she said when she saw the glowing dots. It was indicating that she had slept an hour past the time that she was expected on the bridge. She couldn’t believe her misfortune; there was no way she could have slept through her alarm.

Angry and confused, she swung her legs off the side of the bunk and dropped to the floor with a practiced ease. She touched a panel near the door and the pitch black room became illuminated by the tubes of light that ran along the ceiling.

Why haven’t they called me?
she asked herself as she pulled on her uniform. Then she scrambled to a mirror to fix her hair.

Deep amber eyes stared back at her through a round, pretty face littered with tiny freckles and lined with worry. “Keep it up, Connie, and you will be air locked. How stupid could you be to sleep through your alarm?” she muttered before spinning on her heels and storming out of the dorm.

All eyes were on the XO when she walked on to the bridge. Cilas “Rend” MEC was in the center, looking over the galaxy map, and the rest were either whispering questions about Constance or averting their gaze whenever she looked at them. Phimanila shook her head as a warning when their eyes finally met. It was a sign that made Constance’s heart drop to her feet.

“Welcome to the bridge, Connie,” Rend said. “Did you get enough rest from the battle?”

As Constance began to explain herself, Rend put up his forefinger to let her know to remain quiet. His features were soft, calm, and relaxed, but Phimanila’s warning was sound; he was not in a good mood. He walked up to Constance, leaned in, and spoke so quietly that only she could hear. “Go back to sleep, Connie. When you've gotten an ample amount of rest and feel the need to resume your duties, contact Janessa to schedule a meeting. We are on red alert with the lizards, and every officer here is running on fumes. You are in that uniform because you are meant to lead. You haven’t been convincing as a leader as of late, have you?”

Constance felt her face get hot and then a painful lump was present in her throat. She glanced past him to Phimanila who stood frozen in fright as she in turn read her face. Constance bowed deeply and then turned around to leave the bridge. She needed to get to a place where she could scream, but that was a journey that would take her down several hallways littered with people.
Why does there have to be so many hallways?
she lamented.
Why does the bridge have to be so far away from my quarters?

She quickened her pace and steeled her nerves against the pain. She had done enough to her reputation; it wouldn't do to have stories circulating about how Rend had sent his weak XO to her room, crying.

Weak XO
… the phrase echoed inside her head and she hated it. Weak XO was not what she knew herself to be. She had seen tours on Meruda, raided several Geralos frigates, and rose through the ranks on the toughest military ship in the Alliance. Not since Hellgate had a female of her rank been onboard
Rendron
. Yes, weak was not a fair assessment.

Should I ask for a transfer
? she wondered.
Will Rend approve it, or will he call me a coward and force me to stay?
Never in her life had she anticipated being in this position.

A weak XO would be inside of her bedroom crying into a pillow
, she thought and got up to wash her face. She thought about her history with Rend, how he had pinned the medals on her chest not even a year ago Vestalian time. He was the one who had chosen her out of a large group of soldiers, each with a resume that bordered on legendary. He had seen something in her; this she knew because he had said as much.

When she remembered how she had attained her position all thoughts of running departed from her mind. She took a deep breath and put back on her uniform, then left her room to find the office of Cilas “Rend” MEC.

When she got to Rend’s office, she expected to see other officers waiting to talk to him but the only person inside of the waiting area was Cilas’s yeoman, Janessa.

Constance marched over to her desk and forced a smile on her face. She wondered if Janessa knew about the incident on the bridge or the fact that Rend was upset with her. The Casanian woman looked up at her with a smile but her facial expression revealed the fact that she was preparing for some sort of confrontation. Outside of well trained professionals like the Phaser’s Marika Tsuno, Casanians had a hard time concealing their emotions due to their large black eyes and smooth skin. Constance read Janessa like a brilliant, flashing sign, so the question of whether or not the woman knew was immediately answered.

“Hello, Miss ITO,” Janessa said as she got to her feet, “are you looking for the commander?”

“Hi, Janessa. I told you to call me Connie. We all grew up here so uniform or no uniform, we don’t have to play at the formalities. And, yes I am here to see Rend, if he’s available. If he’s not I don’t mind waiting. However long it will take, I will wait for him.”

Janessa’s features softened and she checked her computer to scan Rend’s schedule. “I’m sorry, Connie, he’s not due back for quite some time. We’re talking four hours from now, 0200 Vestalian time. If you want, I can send you a chime at 0130 so that you can come back, but—”

“Thanks, Janessa, but I will wait,” Constance said. Four hours would be just enough time to rehearse the talk that she would need to have with Rend to broker a second chance from him. She still saw her offenses as being trivial compared to the great accomplishments she had made throughout her career, but Rend was a man who demanded perfection at every level and she had proven herself to be too human.

The time passed quickly, the way it always seemed to do when facing a tough conversation that has to happen. Officers came in and out of the waiting room to schedule meetings with Rend, and most of them stopped to give Constance their support. It was good to know that so many people still respected her, and it strengthened her resolve while she waited.

When Rend finally appeared it was as if he sucked all of the oxygen out of the room. Janessa’s shoulders tensed up and the few soldiers seated near Constance stopped talking in order to regard him. The big man looked at them all and nodded but he seemed pleasantly surprised that Constance was there.

He crossed the room to enter his office, but stopped to whisper something to Janessa before entering. Constance watched him as he went, noticing for the first time that he was dressed in the old red uniform of the
Rendron
Special Forces.

“Miss ITO, the commander will see you now,” Janessa announced, and Constance rose and walked briskly towards the room. When she got inside, Rend was already into a bottle of brandy as he sat on the corner of his desk, looking through a tablet of records.

Rend’s door slid shut with a click but inside of her head it sounded like the loud booming of a heavy oak door slamming shut. This caused her to flinch visibly and upon seeing her do this, Rend put his glass down and crossed his arms. “What’s been going on with you, Connie?” he asked, and it was as if the glass of formality and misunderstanding shattered when she heard him say “Connie” and not, “Miss ITO”.

“Captain, I’ve disappointed you and I am sorry. I want to prove to you that you made the right choice in allowing me to share the bridge, and I can only do that if you allow me to retake my station,” she said.

“Done. That’s what I wanted to hear. Listen to me, Connie; you should be attentive and sharp out there because that is why I chose you above all of the others. Phimanila is a good soldier, but she is not my executive officer, you are. Whatever competition you women have going on, I don’t want to know about it or feel the impact of it when we’re locking horns with the Geralos. You do not second guess my directives, you do not pull rank and insult a fellow officer, and you do not freeze up and fade into the background when things heat up. Do you understand me? This is why I ran you off of my bridge.”

Constance froze when she heard this and thought about the events that had happened during the fight with the Geralos battleship. She had gotten caught up with her feelings about Phimanila and had forgotten that she was still on probation in her new position. “Captain, I want you to know that it will not happen again. Phimanila and I are old friends and that was uncharacteristic of me in terms of—”

“You won’t be returning to the bridge just yet, Connie,” Rend began.

“Captain, I—”

“Are you going to listen?” Rend said and Constance stopped talking and closed her eyes to accept her fate. “There’s a situation on Vestalia that I want you to look into for me. As you know the Phaser headquarters is there and apparently the lizards know this, too. This is a big problem—
big
problem—but the Phasers’ Supreme Commander is not the type of man to ask for help.”

Constance felt her knees go weak when she thought of the Geralos reclaiming the Alliance’s only territory on what was supposed to be the human planet. When Rafian VCA flew his Phantom solo into Geralos-occupied Vestalia, it had been one of the greatest victories in the galactic war. Now she was hearing that the Geralos were working to snuff out the one beacon of hope that they had.

“What’s their situation currently?” she asked, trying to sound calm despite her anxiety over the Vestalian situation.

“I know it’s disturbing, and it is highly classified so take what I am about to tell you and swallow it where it won’t get regurgitated later on. The lizards are desperate; we have them in a position they are not used to, so they naturally want to hurt us. They want to crush our hope so that we feel like our situation is hopeless, as well as our allies. I have no doubt that the Phasers are holding their own, but my intel came from my niece, Chit. She’s a citizen there but they hustled her to a bunker and she can’t know the situation currently. Hell, she can’t even get a call up to me, now that I think about it.”

“How am I to get past the Geralos to make it down there, Captain?” Constance asked.

“You were considered an ace when you flew for Lieutenant GYT, right?” he asked and she nodded affirmatively. “Well, dust the rust off, Connie. You’re going to have to do this the hard way and drop in on our friends from above.”

T
RAXIS was a lush, tropical planet whose inhabitants managed to weave stunning architecture onto its surface. From orbit, the planet favored a ball of swirling, pink cotton candy, but this was all in the atmosphere as the planet itself was very green.

Rafian VCA stepped out of the gardens that had brought him to the village of Copl—a tourist’s hangout that was one of the main entry points for outsiders. Copl was a tiny dot of civilization in a country savage and untamed. Adventurous visitors and foolhardy tourists that ventured from the perimeter of the city met with death at the jaws of any number of beasts that lived out in the wilderness.

There were a number of luxury ships parked near the area where he stood, and as he took in the situation, Rafian surmised that the security was as lax as it seemed. There were no patrolling flobots taking video, and there were no security androids to make sure thieves stayed at bay. This struck him as odd considering the cost of a yacht, but when he looked at the shining spires of the village, it made him realize that this was one of the secret pleasure hubs that the rich would frequent to get away from the war.

A part of this realization disgusted Rafian, who had only known war his entire young life. He knew about the richer Vestalians who had become parasites of the refugees. They had kept their lust for commerce and toys even though they had lost their planet and had a military that could desperately use supplies. These rich parasites suckled on the pleasure hubs provided for them all over the galaxy.

Rich men had illegitimate children born of prostitutes on Casan, Louine, Traxis, and especially Meluvia. There were even rumors that a pleasure palace had been set up on Geral where the perverted could lay with Geralos women and surrender their brains for biting. Rafian’s only experience with the rich had been during his time as a cadet. His first love, Vani, had parents that qualified, and many of his peers at the time had well-off parents who gave them up to become marines in order to help win back Vestalia.

Now he stood again as a dirty peasant outside the gates of a place where the rich could wear masks and pretend that the world was wonderful. He eyed the yachts and his anger overtook him. He decided that they owed all of their belongings to the war and therefore his taking them was his right as a soldier.

Rafian slipped below the closest vessel and unlocked the latch that led to its engine. He fiddled around and cut a few wires, then attached a few others before sealing it again. When he got to his feet he scanned the area to make sure no one was coming, and then he used his fingers to pry open the back door. He pulled it open with much effort. The once automatic door cracked enough for him to slip in, and once inside he ran to the cockpit, powered down all of the lights, and grabbed a flashlight.

He showered, applied salve to the cuts that the flying cats had given him, and then groomed himself as best he could. His hair had begun to grow out so he shaved it clean, clipped his nails, and wiped on scented oils before finding the wardrobe. He found a black vest, hose, boots, and belt to his liking, then completed the look with a spectacular cape made from a crimson material.

Zallus was still in trouble, and here he was, stuck without a crystal necessary to teleport back. He would have to find a way to steal a ship and fly out discreetly, but until then he would blend in and try to learn more about the village.

* * *

Rafian looked around at his surroundings and noticed that the buildings held a similar look to the early days of Vestalia. Everything was made of stone and glass. The rooftops of the Traxis homes were orbs with circular windows on all sides. Below these orbs were cylindrical towers that served as the main living areas. The buildings seemed as much a part of the garden as the trees, their earth-tone motif helping to complete the illusion.

“An oasis for the blind and greedy,” he mumbled as he began his ascent into the village via a cobbled pathway bordered by buildings.

Rafian took notice of the features of the Traxis people. They were humanoid, but pale with dark circles around their eyes. Their hair, beautiful and varied when revealed, was kept hidden within hoods and shawls, and their bodies were wrapped in robes adorned with exotic jewelry from head to toe.

The women wore a form of mascara that turned their dark eye area into a shade of color to match their garb. The men held sneers and unfriendly glances while the women smiled, looking on—sometimes staring. Rafian found them to be quite attractive, their lips being full and painted to contrast their eyes. They were friendly to outsiders—despite the men’s cold looks—and he found himself feeling welcome.

As he marched on admiring the beauty and taking in the atmosphere of the city, a thief ran by him and attempted to cut the underside of his pocket to snatch whatever he thought would fall from it. Rafian had felt him approaching from the time he began his ascent, so when the man made his move, he side-stepped effortlessly and tripped him before planting him on his back.

“Get up and run before I kill you,” he said in a very calm voice as he held what appeared to be a teenage Traxian down on the ground. The boy nodded quickly and Rafian released him, watching him take off into the crowd. The sun was beaming down on the village, and the colors brought the architecture to life, supplemented by the beautiful garments and jewelry being sold by vendors beneath each building.

“Salu’ih?” a sandaled, Traxian beauty announced to Rafian as he passed by one of the larger buildings in the city.

He looked around at the tower, which seemed to hold several bordered gardens and an abundance of people. “What is this place?” Rafian asked in the universal tongue.

“Why don’t you guess,” the woman said as she walked over to him and interlocked her slender arm into his. “Are you a Vestalian military man?”

“I guess you can say I am. What’s your name,
ceree
?”

“Oh, so you do speak Talak.
Zen f’t yun ar ceree chon
?”

“
Hana, thrax f’t yun, ceree
. But it has been a long time since I was in this part of the galaxy.”

“You know more than you let on, soldier. I can tell by the way you pronounce the words. Either you have spent a lot of time with a Traxian, or you pretend to know less that you truly do. Who are you, really?” she asked and then looked into his eyes as if waiting for his face to reveal more.

“My name is Rafian VCA, but my friends call me Raf.”

The woman walked him away from the street towards the tower. “I have heard your name before, but I cannot recall where. Are you in Copl for business or for pleasure?”

“There’s business here? Place looks like a fat Louine’s idea of paradise. I’m here for a few days … waiting on someone, but I am married so before I go wasting your time—”

“Your sort are always married,
sien toru tar
. I will escort you into the home of Lavys, the palace of pleasure. We can talk more there, and you can have a safe place to wait for as long as you need.”

“You’re too kind,
ceree
. What is your name?”

“I am Jinay. Come inside, buy me a few drinks, and I’ll teach you some of our native dialect.”

“How can I turn down exotic drinks and a chance at learning?”

With that, Jinay took Rafian inside of the large tower, where it opened up to reveal a layout that very much looked like that of a palace. There were large pools of water with women and men happily swimming in them. On the balconies of the four floors that he could see, there were more beautiful women and handsome men talking, kissing, and a number of other things that let Rafian know that privacy was not needed here.

Jinay removed the shawl from her head and stepped out of her sandals onto the shiny, marble floor. Her hair was thick, black and adorned with golden clips, and her feet were pedicured and tiny with thin golden chains running between her toes up to an ankle bracelet that rested below her athletic legs.

“Do you like what you see?” she said quietly to him as she unwrapped her hair and removed the clips.

I do, but find it interesting that women like you tend to find me no matter where I go
, he thought. “Of course I do,” he said and shook his head. “You’re a sane man’s poison, but I don’t have to tell you that.” She took his hand and walked him over to one of the many bars on the bottom floor. He realized that she had made herself look more human by wearing a flesh-colored mascara that was offset by hints of blue around her eyes.

“This is
Tor-cha
, our native, fermented drink. You want to take your time drinking it, though it is very good. I don’t want you to pass out before we consummate our
unrae
.”

“What does unrae mean?”

“Don’t be alarmed, but it translates to short marriage in the basic tongue. While you are with me, paying for my time, I am your temporary wife. It is what makes sense in the eyes of the Maker. Do you understand?”

Rafian wondered what it was that he was getting himself into but he needed to buy time until a Phaser received his message. “Of course,
ceree
,” he lied, wondering if consummation would be the same as it was on Vestalia and Tyhera.

* * *

Vallen Tracker walked over to the woman leaning against a high-powered rifle on the roof of the Phaser agency. She was scanning the grounds for any activity but when she heard him approaching, she spun around with her sidearm pointed in his direction.

“Sorry, Dott, I thought you heard me approaching,” he said to her when she rolled her eyes and holstered the weapon in the small of her back.

“Not a problem, Colonel, though I wish that you were Laern. One shot to stop his corruption and we could get back to looking for the Supreme Leader.”

“You mean Rafian, right? He’s somehow missing? Nobody told me,” Val started in angrily and Dott raised her hands to try and calm him.

“It’s classified. We don’t want the Alliance to panic, but the commander vanished in the explosion a few days ago.”

“What the
thype
, girl, he’s my mate since childhood. Tayden or Marian couldn’t let me know? I mean, what the hell is going on around here?”

“Marian is in shock, being hard the way she does, y’know, and Tayden is dealing with it in the opposite way. I can’t say much but we’ve had to be more supportive than normal. I think that she’s assuming that the commander is dead.”

“Now we have a lizard inside of the Phaser that saved my life,” Val mumbled, and then walked up to Dott and placed his hands on the edge of the roof. “Can we save him? Laern, not the lizard. Is it possible to get that thing out and preserve the man whose mind he got into?”

“Cloning could do it. We kill Laern’s body and he comes back whole, but our cloners have all been disabled by you-know-who.”

“What?” Val said loudly, not believing his ears. “Why aren’t those machines tucked behind a million levels of security? I would think that cloning would be as important to a Phaser as your secrets and crystal fragments. Wow, this is big, Dott, we might be
thyped
. He took out the cloner and now he’s hidden. He will slowly but surely destroy this place, coming and going when we least expect it.”

“All of the Phasers are looking for him. I don’t think that he will be able to hide forever.”

“I hope you’re right,” the big man said, and then patted her shoulder before walking back to the door leading down.

He descended the elevator while keeping his eyes peeled, then found the command center where Tayden stood looking over a map of the city. She glanced at him as he descended the stairs and he could tell immediately that she hadn’t slept in days.

“What’s our situation?” he asked, and after a few seconds passed without a response he wondered if Tayden had heard him.

“We have a rogue agent and a leader missing, but other than that things are good,” she answered dryly. “On the positive end, our skies are clear of Geralos, and the people of the city are back in their homes, calling us heroes and enjoying their lives.”

“You don’t find it necessary to get them to safety with that lizard running about?” Val couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Vallen, I don’t, okay? I don’t think it’s necessary. I think that Marika will catch up to that piece of
schtill
and put him down before he does any more damage.”

“What’s going on with you right now, Tayden?” Val asked as he got in front of her to force her to pay attention to him. “‘Tayden Lark is as icy as any commander in the Alliance, you would be impressed, Val.’ This is what Rafian said to me when I asked him why you were the one he chose. Now I come in here and you’re falling to pieces. You need to get it together or Laern will murder every last one of those citizens you envy for being at home.”

Tayden stared at him as if her eyes could melt iron but Val stood his ground and wouldn’t budge. “Where’s Frank?” he asked. “Marian or Camille? Maybe you should get some sleep and let one of them take charge of finding your traitor. You have—”

“That’s enough, Vallen. This is Phaser business, and if we nee—”

“THE HELL IT IS,” he shouted at her, seeming to grow bigger. “My friend vanished in an explosion caused by you, and now you have a lizard running around unchecked. As far as I am concerned that is an Alliance problem and it goes way beyond Phasers and Tayden Lark. You have some nerve, do you know that? This isn’t about you. There are people’s lives at stake, you selfish
cruta
.”