《Psycho Space》


 Chapter 1

    ¡°Base, this is freighter E-37 ¡°Ferdinand Foch¡±, lieutenant Ethan Farneu. Status report¡± the man in a dark green uniform of a prison officer, sitting at his console, said to his com-link.


    ¡°Proceed, lieutenant Farneu.¡± Digitally remastered voice of a staff member - probably a woman, speaking from one of the terminals in Darmstadt - resonated through the cabin only after few seconds. Normal thing when you consider the distance between their ship and Mother Earth.


    ¡°So far we did not register any problems that could affect freighter¡¯s functionality. I repeat, we are fully operational. In thirty minutes we¡¯ll reach the deceleration point. Our next report will be directly channeled to Mars. Do you copy?¡±


    ¡°Copy E-3709. What about your cargo?¡±


    Ethan cursed inwardly. To hell with such cargo. He and his men were going to earn some nice bonus for volunteering on this mission, but now¡­ And it certainly does not mean they were happy to be there.


    ¡°We had¡­ a minor incident¡± the officer hesitated slightly ¡°one of the prisoners woke up during last hour. I ordered to inject them all a double dose of soporifics, just in case. We are monitoring them non-stop.¡±


    This time silence lasted longer. Much longer.


    ¡°According to a medical team, that was responsible for putting prisoners into coma, all of them were given sufficient amount of medicaments to last in that state for at least twenty four hours. That is more than enough. It is not possible for them to wake up.¡±


    Well, surprise sweetheart, Ethan thought, appears nobody warned their ¡°cargo¡± what was or wasn¡¯t possible. Maybe then Steven wouldn¡¯t have screamed like a teenage girl when that¡­ thing had opened its eyes. Instead, lieutenant said:


    ¡°I will give my full report when we get back to Earth. Now the situation is under control. Farneu, out.¡±


    Only eight hours, lieutenant sighed to himself while standing up and walking down the narrow hall, eight more hours and this won¡¯t be my problem anymore . At the same moment a wave of kinetic energy went through the hull of E-37; after another five minutes, lieutenant Ethan Farneu, along with his crew, was no more.


    <hr>


    ¡°Hey, Princess Snow is waking up. About time.¡± I heard distorted but still familiar voice speaking somewhere nearby.


    I could feel that I was lying down on something cold, with my torso naked, eyes closed and pain¡­ Oh, God. Either I had died and Lucifer himself was having fun with me last night or that was Mother of All Hangovers visiting me personally. What an honor, ma¡¯am.


    I tried to open my eyes. Then I tried again. And again. Finally, I was able to slightly rise my eyelids.


    ¡°Holy shit, Draco. If I promised you something last night then I was really drunk. Ya know, you¡¯re a good friend and all, but you¡¯re also not my type so¡­¡± I mumbled while looking at my brother¡¯s smiling face. Draco bent over me and now our faces were only centimeters apart.


    ¡°Relax, little one, your virginity is safe.¡± Draco¡¯s grin widened ¡°But we may have a small problem here. Wanna take a look?¡±Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    ¡°Uhh¡­ I may need some help to get up.¡± This time my words sounded more natural. Whatever had caused my current state was slowly wearing off. Slowly.


    I looked around. It took me some time. We were in a dark room, maybe 2x3 meters, with our only source of light hanging above our heads. Two long criss-crossing neon light tubes giving off this weak, somewhat hurting gleam. On my right side there was a simple plain-looking platform; I myself was probably lying on something similar. On top of it sat Draco.


    Yeah, this guy could probably become a rock star, if his life went differently and, of course, if he wasn¡¯t so deaf when it comes to rock music. Long black hair, handsome face with deep green eyes and devilish smile. Neither too short nor too tall, he resembled an angel. Fallen One. With only one pale scar, running from his right cheek down to his chin, disturbing the whole picture. Uhh, his father¡¯s gift.


    ¡°Where the hell are we? Is that... is that Mars?¡± I was still confused, my head shaking.


    ¡°Hmm, doubt it. How much do you remember? What is your last memory?¡± Draco asked carefully.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Some med staff¡­ hospital, maybe?¡± I could feel something banging in my skull. Was that my pulse? ¡°They were saying¡­ something about relocating us. Then, there was this young doc, she said they¡¯re gonna send us to Mars Colony and that they need to prepare us. Hah, can you believe that? Fucking Mars Colony.¡° Focusing all available strength, I was finally able to sit up. ¡°But after that¡­ nothing.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s pretty much the same with me¡­ Well, at least we know one thing. This time our brothers really pissed off some big shots. They wouldn¡¯t risk relocating us without good reason.¡± Draco said without much concern ¡°But that¡¯s not really important right now. Look here.¡±


    He didn¡¯t even bother to help me and just walked off. Prick. After maybe ten seconds, when I was fairly sure that my legs are able to hold my weight, I followed him. It¡¯s high time to find out where the hell are we.


    ¡°Well, well, well¡­ What do we have here?¡± Both me and Draco were standing at the sealed hatch of our cell. That is the only way you could describe our cosy little nest. There was, of course, no control panel on our side, but whoever designed this room gave us a small glass window that had been inserted into the hatch, so they could observe us without the need for physical contact. Where we that scary? I mean, I know I¡¯m not the supermodel-is-in-town kind of guy, but come on; they hurt my feelings.


    What was really important, however, has been laying on the other side. The hallway illuminated only by the neon lamps in our cell seemed creepy. Especially, when you consider the decoration.


    ¡°Our watchman, I suppose¡± Draco whispered, looking at the corpse curled near the opposite wall.


    It was hard to tell, from this distance, what caused his death, but¡­


    ¡°No blood, no visible wounds. He has something on his face, though¡­ uh¡­ looks like ecchymosis¡± I was in no way a doctor, but I¡¯ve seen more than enough corpses in my life. In most cases I had no problem with identifying the cause of death. Lack of head or a big hole in the chest can give you some clues. ¡°That would mean he probably suffocated. But how? Do you think our brothers¡­¡±


    ¡°Look at his uniform¡± Draco interrupted me. ¡°Anything unusual?


    ¡°Let¡¯s see¡± I tried to adjust my position. The pounding in my head must have stopped, as I could think a little bit easier. All I could see was a standard uniform of a prison guard I had seen thousand times before; I was unable to check out his pauldrons, but I think he was a sergeant, at least. No visible weapon. Hmm, and what¡¯s that?


    There was a small blue patch on the deadman¡¯s chest, almost invisible from where I was standing, broidered with four white letters. I knew what they stood for. ISOB - International Space Operations Bureau. The only Earthen organization capable of creating and sending crewed spaceships, the one responsible for creating human colony on Mars. Pioneers, heroes etc. etc¡­ But they weren¡¯t responsible for Mars Colony itself. Only transportation and deliveries. And that means¡­ that means¡­


    ¡°We¡¯re not on Mars. We are still on a spaceship. On some fucking boat.¡± I whispered, barely able to believe my own words.


    ¡°And apparently something went really wrong¡± my brother added ¡°He¡¯s been laying here for some time, before I even woke up. That was around half an hour ago. Probably couple of hours since he¡¯d died. And yet, nobody came here to clear this mess. Only possible explanation I can think of, is that his buddies are in no better shape than him. So I repeat: we may have a small problem here¡­ What should we do now Ares?¡±

 Chapter 2

    CH2


    ¡°Small problem? Small problem?! Your father¡¯s dick may have been a small problem, but this¡­ This is a complete catastrophe!¡± I nearly shouted; my earlier sluggishness only a distant memory now. Thank you adrenaline.


    ¡°Don¡¯t dramatize.¡± Draco flashed his stupid grin ¡°Why do you think they¡¯ve been trying to send us to the Colony? If even that¡¯s true¡­ For sightseeing? We¡¯d been sentenced to death, little bro, that¡¯s why. It can¡¯t be much worse here.¡±


    I sighed. That is another thing. Draco was probably right. There is no way our beloved United Government could pull this off on Earth. We had, after all, the status of prisoners of war. Open execution was out of question and if the Brotherhood ever found out, well, there would be hell to pay.


    And Mars¡­ Mars Colony was perfect. They started it like five or six years ago, right? And the best thing about it is that it has so many private investors, shareholders and corporations involved that there is no actual law enforcement there, or even law, so to speak. So if, hypothetically, some of the most inconvenient prisoners the UG has ever had were transported there and then went missing¡­ Even the Brotherhood would not be able to save us without wrecking the whole place. And that could mean another war, but this time against the whole world not only the UG. Shrewd motherfuckers.


    ¡°So if we are to die we¡¯ll die fighting. I only hope we will have occasion to do this. What do we now about our situation?¡± I asked. We had to focus. We were trapped, maybe dying ¨C we would need to get out of this mess as fast as possible. ¡°Besides the fact that it¡¯s shitty.¡±


    ¡°I know as much as you do. This room has, apparently, its own power source. The hatch is sealed. We are completely cut off from the rest of the ship, so whatever went wrong did not affect us, at least not that I can tell. But that also means that we can do a whole lot of nothing, besides sitting here and waiting¡­ You think that may be their plan to remove us?¡±


    Draco¡¯s thoughts were apparently following the same path.


    ¡°Ha, doubt it. Such boat would probably be worth more money than we¡¯ve seen through our entire lives. If what we think about this place is true, of course. Nobody would risk damaging it just to kill us, not when they could do it with easy on Mars. And to stage something like that? Why? This has no fucking sense. We¡¯re only a burden for them. And that corpse? Why would they put it here? To scare us? That¡¯s a good one. Nah, you know that¡¯s not how the UG works.¡±


    ¡°A lot of questions and I can think only about one answer. So, you think what I¡¯m thinking?¡± Draco grimaced. ¡°A leak?¡±


    ¡°That would be the most probable cause of our warden¡¯s premature demise. Of course, if it is really just an accident.¡±


    ¡° Just? JUST?¡± My brother sneered ¡°Earth is seriously exploring space for more than half a century now; the last large-scale ¡°accident¡± involving a spacecraft happened more than thirty years ago! And even that was most likely a sabotage. Someone fucked us up, without as much as a kiss, I¡¯m telling you.¡±


    ¡°Ok, that¡¯s nothing new. And certainly nothing helpful.¡±This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    ¡°Ares, something¡¯s wrong here.¡± My brother sounded as if he was losing his patience.


    What a genius.


    ¡°Specify.¡±


    ¡°We are in space? On a damaged vessel?¡±


    ¡°God knows where we are. But so it would seems.¡±


    ¡°So why is that guy over there lying so peacefully?¡±


    What? Then it hit me. A leak. Void. The corpse should not even be here. And gravitation. How could it be working, if there was not enough power to light up the hall? The deadman was not flying, that is for sure. Why had I not thought of this before? Because of the drugs? Goddammit, I could use some more sleep after all.


    ¡°Maybe there is an emergency battery, not connected with the main reactor, like the one in our cell. Or whatever caused this mess may have also cut off the power to only some of the systems, leaving the rest intact. Or not. I¡¯m not an engineer. ¡± Who knows what had happened here?


    There was a long silence as we both sat at one of the corners of our cell. Not that there was much more we could do. Maybe Draco was right and someone had used our relocation as a convenient way to get rid of us or to send a message to the Brotherhood. After all, we do not lack enemies; it does not have to be the United Government. But why us? We were lost cause¡­


    Exactly in this moment, somewhere down on Earth, a lot of people are probably very interested in what had happened here. For various reasons. Whoever may be coming to the rescue, it won¡¯t be much of a difference for us. There must be some kind of a security system inside these walls. A sleeping gas, if I were to guess, that will knock us out before we would be even able to realize what is happening. Wonderful. Just wonderful.


    ¡°You think we are the only passengers on this trip?¡± My question sounded oddly quiet.


    ¡°No idea¡± Draco said after a while, in the same voice. ¡°But if they wanted to smuggle more of us to Mars it wouldn¡¯t be reasonable. Not much sense in making multiple courses back and forth. Inexcusable waste of taxpayers'' money.¡±


    Who else could be there? The last time I saw all of them - a year ago? Two month after our glorious surrender, in a courtroom. Nun, Blaze, Ev, Chingis, Draco. My brothers and sisters. Well, that could not end up well.


    I shook my head. This is not the best moment for that.


    ¡°Hey, is it only me or is there something wrong with the lights?¡± Draco asked in tensed voice.


    I looked up at the celling. He was right. There was something wro-


    Wiiu-chk


    All the lights went off. I tried to look around. I could not distinguish any shapes around me. Left in complete darkness. Getting better and better.


    ¡°Hahaha¡­.Power source¡­ We just somehow lost the power supply¡­.Hahahaha¡­¡±


    Ok, that was unexpected. What is more¡­ I turned my head to where the laughter was coming from. What one needs to know about Draco is that he is in some way, hmm, mentally unbalanced? Well, it¡¯s not only about Draco. Almost everyone in the Brotherhood has some, let¡¯s call it, personality quirks.


    Unfortunately, it means that sometimes one of my brothers or sisters comes dangerously close to the line dividing fairly safe ¡°let¡¯s take their scalps as souvenirs¡± from ¡°let¡¯s disguise their corpses so they would look like giant squirrels¡±. Not that I have something against squirrels, mind you, but still. It can be troublesome. The line itself may be thin but, nevertheless, it exists. I have always hoped that Draco is not yet near that line. On the other hand, half a year of imprisonment could throw him off balance.


    ¡°Move your ass, Ares. We just regained our freedom.¡± My brother stood up.


    Say, what? But then it occurred to me. No power. So, if everything on this ship is as advanced as you could expect¡­ I also got up.


    It was a pain to locate the hatch in this darkness, but we managed.


    ¡°Do you think it¡¯s a good idea?¡± I hesitated ¡±If this works and there is no oxygen on the other side we may not be able to pull it back. It will be a short walk.¡±


    ¡°In the worst case scenario, we won¡¯t die immediately. I should be able close the hatch from the other side. You will stay inside. At least one of us should survive. For a while.¡± I could imagine Draco shrugging his bare shoulders. ¡°Life support here must also be dead by now, so with every breath we lose oxygen. One person will last longer than two.¡±


    I did not argue. There was no point.

 Chapter 3

    CH3


    ¡°Ready?¡± My brother took a deep breath.


    I nodded and Draco pushed the hatch. There was a CLICK sound and I could feel it moving. Viva la electric locks! Viva la technology! In the same second we both froze, both ready to jump into the hallway, waiting for¡­ something. But there was nothing, no air movement, no void.


    ¡°What the¡­¡± I muttered. ¡°That¡¯s ridiculous.¡±


    ¡°Agreed. But apparently we¡¯re free to go.¡± Draco was equally dumbfounded.


    ¡°Go? But where? If we¡¯re on a spaceship we need to find others. And if it¡¯s a set up its authors could come up with something more down to Earth. Literarily.¡± This time my voice came out calm, but these were serious questions.


    Draco pushed the hatch stronger and we cautiously stepped out of the cell. I moved left, to look for the place where, as I could remember, the guard¡¯s body has been lying. I could hear my brother following closely behind me. After five more steps my bare foot stepped on something soft. Here you are, my friend. Let¡¯s see what you are hiding.


    Have you ever tried to feel a horny girl at the VR club, where there is almost no light to speak of and you can only see her blurry silhouette? A nice image? But then, if you change this girl for, let¡¯s say, a corpse of a middle aged man - it is not so nice anymore, is it? And if it is for you, than you should probably look for help. Or for a good shovel and a map of neighborhood cemeteries. One has to always live out his dreams.


    ¡°Found anything?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, wait a second¡± I tried to pull of the dead guy¡¯s belt ¡°Here, this should come in handy.¡±


    I passed Draco a metallic tube I had found.


    ¡°Is that what I think it is?¡± I could almost hear his disgust. Nevertheless, he took the tube.


    We were both quite familiar with it and we had seen them in action more than once. The thing is, even at the beginning of the XXII century, there are not so many ways to improve a baton. And that¡¯s what it could become, after you pressed a button at the top of the tube. Implementation of an electrocuting function, well, that was something new. Guards had always been overeager to familiarize us with it. At least, until Chingis somehow got one of these and tried it out on one such eager beaver. Per rectum.


    I have no idea how it had ended for the latter, but after that incident guards were given more traditional stun guns. And probably a better insurance. Anyway, back to the topic.


    ¡°Do we want his clothes?¡± Not that I was very willing to take them, but I was even less willing to explore potentially dangerous environment wearing only my baggy pants.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    ¡°He should have a vest, right?¡±


    ¡°I think so.¡±


    ¡°Then take it. And boots. Leave the rest.¡±


    It was a real pain to take them off, but Draco was right ¨C we may need them. Lucky us, the vest was a standard model, so you could adjust it easily; the boots were slightly too large for me, but hey, I was not time to be picky.


    ¡°Ok, so the real question is, what are we gonna do now?¡± Draco¡¯s voice was calm, but I could feel his excitement; it seeped through the darkness when he gave me back the baton. Anticipation mixed with impatience and ¨C who knows ¨C maybe hunger. I have seen it - felt it - more than once before a mission.


    ¡°Two priorities.¡± there was no hesitation in my voice. Oh God, how I had missed it in the can. ¡°First, we¡¯ll find out if there are more of us here. Second, we need to know what went wrong with this tub.¡±


    ¡°And what if we find that some of the guards weren¡¯t as cooperative as this one? That they¡®re still kicking?¡±


    Good question. On the one hand, we could use a captive. Informations are what we need most right now. But on the other hand¡­ I pressed the button at the top of the tube and heard that the mechanism still works.


    ¡°Kill on sight.¡±


    <hr>


    ¡°What the hell is going on? This is the third body, already.¡± Draco punched the corpse. By now he had equipped his own dead robber set, but that was small consolation.


    ¡°Yes, I can count.¡± And I was no less irritated.


    We were ¡°exploring¡± this ship for over half an hour. It may seem long, but if you consider that we have been walking completely blind it is a miracle that we were able to sift through two cabins. Each had inside two bunks and a dead body. Maybe ISOB should fire the guy responsible for interior design on their ships. Do I have to fill a formal complain?


    There was only one more cabin on this level and a lift; useless now, of course. And two more layers. How do I know it? Whole my knowledge about spaceships came from the holo programs in which the UG brags about how great engineers they have. Overtaking Stars, Our new life and so on. I genuinely admire their propaganda and I have been a faithful fan.


    From these I know, for example, that all of ISOB crafts have similar layout. Imagine a 3D model of an empty grey shell from XX-XXI century assault rifle. That¡¯s how a ship should look like from the outside. Inside there are three levels: the first and third destined as the crew living quarters or/and a hold and the middle one serving as the bridge. The propulsion, the reactor ¨C these were completely inaccessible for the crewmen. If there is a minor malfunction ¨C automatic buffers would suffice; if a major one ¨C you could only hope for a nice funeral. Or at least that is the teory.


    I doubted this boat would be different. After all, they were only transporting us and we were supposed to be in coma. No need to throw out two or three billions for a new ship if you can just adapt one of the old and tested. It was all about size and carrying capacity.


    Huh, who would have thought that spending these couple of hours a week of ¡°recreation time¡±, I had been given by our dear governor, on holos may have had some profit besides annoying Thomas, my personal watchdog.


    Still, before we could go down ¨C or up, depending on which level we are currently ¨C we needed to check the last cabin here. So, after another five minutes we were both standing at its doors. Yes, doors. Just like the previous one, this room had only simple automatic sliding door you can find in every office on Earth. Well, not so automatic anymore. Draco gripped its edge, while I stood behind him.


    ¡°On three. One. Two¡­Three!¡± Draco pulled the door.


    I jumped inside with my weapon ready and froze.


    ¡­Holy Daughter of Pope.


    Tell me about miracles.


    Lght. There was light inside.


    But it was not coming from the ceiling ¨C it was coming THROUGH the ceiling.

 Chapter 4

    CH4


    ¡±What the hell is going on here?!¡± I could not restrain myself any longer. Draco was right. Somebody has been playing with us this whole time.


    I looked again at the hole above me. Circular, 1 cm in diameter, maybe less. That would match our theory about the leak. The problem is, we are alive (ok, that might not be a problem per se). This whole situation is fucking impossible! Where does this light comes from? And how-


    ¡°We need to rethink our next move.¡± Draco said calmly. I recognized this tone. The same calm I saw in his eyes when we decided to surrender our freedom, for the sake of the Brotherhood, more than half a year ago. ¡°This puncture is no accident. Perfectly round, must¡¯ve been made on purpose. Shame that the coating of this ship is so thick. I¡¯d love to peer and see what¡¯s on the other side¡±


    That posed us another question. What in the world could penetrate twenty centimeters of graphen enforced steel and cables?


    ¡°At least we don¡¯t have to look through this place blindly¡± There was no humor in my voice. Even if the situation was incomprehensible to me, this must still be treated as part of the mission. Unforeseen complications, nothing more. We will find out what is going on here ¨C one way or another. Just like that. Control yourself, Ares.


    And this room could really come useful in solving some of our current supply issues. A small storage with spare uniforms, a couple of packages containing food rations and some things that could help the crew survive in case their mission gets prolonged in an emergency. There may have not been a single major accident of an earthen space craft since more than a quarter of a century ago, but ISOB always wants to play it safe. Not all of them are total retards, I have to give them that.


    ¡°Found something useful?¡± I asked, looking how Draco ransacks yet another box with governmental insignia on it.


    ¡°This should be a med kit, and this¡­¡± He gave me one of the boxes ¡°will provide us with light.¡±


    I opened the box. Inside laid four finger sized neon flares. You only had to unpack them and shake a little to get fairly pleasing glow. I took one and activated it.


    ¡°Is that everything?¡±


    ¡°No weapons, only food and clothes. No point in taking them, until we find out what we¡¯re up against.¡±


    ¡°True.¡± And to hell with this mess. It was time to find out.


    After we looked through the entire level the only thing left was the elevator.


    ¡°Ugh, kch¡­ Ok, this should be enough.¡± I said when we moved the metal frame and unveiled dark elevator shaft laying behind. I turned around. Not too big, but we should be able to squeeze through.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    ¡°Who¡¯s going first?¡± Draco asked.


    The shaft led upward into the dark, there was no way to tell how long it was.


    ¡±Apparently, we have only one way available.¡± I looked at the crushed elevator blocking our way down. So, it seems the bridge must be above us. ¡°I¡¯ll go first. Stay close.¡±


    I grabbed the floppy line that had been powering the box and started climbing. I could see in the weak light - provided by one of the flares I tied to my belt ¨C that my brother was right behind me.


    It was not long before I spotted the outline of another door looming on my left.


    ¡°Why did you stop?¡± I heard Draco¡¯s whispered.


    ¡°This should be our way to the bridge.¡±


    ¡°Can you open it by yourself?¡±


    ¡°I think so¡­ Give me a sec.¡± I climbed a bit higher so I could grab one segment of the door with my right hand and put my left foot against one of the walls. After steading my grip I pushed off the wall. At first, nothing happened but after two or three seconds I could feel the door moving. At least my efforts to stay in shape this whole time paid off.


    ¡°Before we go, do you still think we don¡¯t need an informer?¡± Draco spoke again. ¡±This situation is strange even by our standards.¡±


    Ha, the time when you hear a Hunter telling you that you should be careful, is the time to really think about your position.


    ¡°¡­You may be right. If we find someone alive we¡¯ll try talking first, but do not let anybody catch you off guard.¡±


    ¡°I hope somebody will try.¡± I did not have to look down to know he was smiling.


    I stepped outside the shaft and found myself standing in an almost exactly identical hall like the one below. There was only one difference; another body laid under the wall on my left. I gestured for my brother to come out.


    ¡°Give me some light here¡± Draco was the first one to approach the corpse ¡±Ugh, this one¡¯s a lieutenant. That¡¯s nice¡­ Oh Geez, and he has a present for us. Look at that.¡±


    After some struggle he gave me our ex-officer¡¯s holster. And inside¡­


    ¡°H&K USr-43. Semi-automatic, fifteen 18mm bullets.¡± I took out the mag ¡°Full, and these are not blanks.¡±


    I gave it back to him. Draco had always been better with handguns, even though we were both familiar with USr. This model was in use all around the Union, even before the War, originally designed for cops and gendarmerie; put into service in late 2080s. God, my Modern Weapons Implementation teacher at the Academy would beat me up for such a description.


    ¡°Do you know what that means?¡±


    I simply nodded. Any member of our organization is dangerous on his (or her) own, armed or not. But to give us a weapon freely? No, the Government had learned their lesson. After we spilt enough blood their ignorance had to shatter; not even a tenth of what these scums has been saying about us is true but we all worked hard to earn our reputation and to live up to it. Whatever has been going on with this ship, I doubted it was going according to their plans.


    But just as I was going to tell Draco that we needed to move something else caught my attention. A sound coming from the shaft. I quickly signed silence with my hand. I did not know if Draco also heard something or if it was just pure reflex but his head turned in the direction of the now half-open elevator doors.


    Kschs.


    I heard it again.


    Ok, something is definitely moving over there. Maybe we damaged something when we were climbing. Or maybe not.


    I gave my flare to Draco and signed go left. He took his newly obtained gun and nodded. I moved to the left side of the door. If someone is going to pay us a visit it would be better to take him alive. At least for now. If that was not possible¡­ I could only hope that my brother had not lost any of his skills as a marksman.

 Chapter 5

    CH5


    I stood there, my back plastered against the wall, trying to figure out if there was only one visitor coming down or maybe more of them. My breath shallow but steady. I doubted anybody may have heard it. It is natural that you perceive sounds produced by your own body as louder than they are, especially when trying to stay completely silent. If he was careless this could be over within two seconds. I hoped he would be.


    Ksh-sh.


    This time the sound had been unmistakable. A fabric rubbing against polymer cable. My muscle tensed as I readied for a fight.


    Three seconds¡­


    Five seconds¡­


    And¡­ I saw guardsman¡¯s heavy boot stepping outside the half-open elevator shaft.


    I did not wait for him to come out. When larger part of his body was still in the dark I reached to grab his jacket and pull him out, so I could throw him on the floor. He was surprisingly light. But, unfortunately, not careless. When I pulled him, he did not back off but added his strength to main and pushed his body on me. We both landed on the floor, with me on my back and my opponent sitting on me. Relying on my instincts, I quickly twisted my hips trying to throw him off and, at the same time, I bended my right hand so I could connect my elbow with his head.


    But before this hit could reach my foe my whole body froze. The flare I had hidden under my vest must have slipped away; blue glow illuminated us both. I stared blankly at my enemy¡¯s face. Long black straight hair falling down on my torso. I could see her dark skin, somehow delicate face and even darker empty eyes. Eyes I knew so well.


    ¡°Blaze!?¡± I shouted.


    ¡°That¡¯s me.¡± She was still sitting on my belly, with her hands around my throat.


    ¡°I can see that, for Christ¡¯s sake! Are you alone?¡±


    ¡°No. I¡¯m with you.¡±


    ¡°Blaze¡­!¡± I tried again to throw my sister off me. This time she did not resist.


    ¡°Relax, little one.¡± Draco came carrying another flare. ¡°Can¡¯t you see she¡¯s happy to see you? And I¡¯m happy to see you too, Blaze.¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡± Her tone flat as always.


    ¡°But tell us sis, have you found anything interesting up there?¡± Draco continued as if he did not hear her.


    ¡°Corpses.¡±


    ¡°¡­Anything else?¡±


    ¡°Only these were interesting enough.¡± She shrugged as we were getting up from the floor.


    ¡°Right¡­ So there are only the three of us, I assume. I would say we need to be careful but¡­¡± my voice drifted off. ¡°I¡¯m tired of this. Let¡¯s go and see what the hell is going on.¡±


    As we went down the narrow hall Draco told Blaze what we had found so far, I thought about what had just happened. Blaze and Draco. Long time ago these two were¡­ close, that is for sure. But no. No, no, no. I hoped they had no intention of wallowing in this cesspool of a relationship anytime soon. They are like oxygen and hydrogen. Mix them and a single spark could send us all to hell.


    I looked around. Maybe we were already there. If so, the place was overrated. Everything here except us was dead. We did not even bother to investigate two cabins we passed, as we went straight for the main hatch. It must be somewhere here.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    ¡°Ok, that should be it.¡± I said, standing in what appeared to be a dead end. ¡°This wall here is different than any other we¡¯ve seen so far. Too rugged. Must be the ramp. Any ideas how we could open this junk?¡±


    Judging by the silence the answer was no.


    ¡°Then let¡¯s try the old trick.¡± I put my both hands on the wall and urged my companions to do the same. ¡°On three. One¡­ two¡­ THREE!¡±


    The three of us pushed using all our weight. Harder, harder aaand¡­ nothing happened. This damned piece of steel must have been weighting more than couple hundreds kilos. So what now?


    ¡°We could go back, check the rest of the freighter. There must be another way out.¡± Draco suggested.


    ¡°Yea, but I doubt it will be easier to open. Let¡¯s try again.¡±


    And so we tried, for another ten minutes, with the same results.


    ¡°Uh¡­uh. Damn it!¡± I hit the wall with my fist.


    ¡°It¡¯s no use. Without working hydraulic we can sweat all we want.¡± My brother finally said, dejection in his voice.


    There had to be a way! Maybe if we could-


    ¡°Draco¡­? Is it only me or is this thing getting¡­ warmer?¡± I asked, not sure of what I was feeling.


    ¡°Possible.¡± he moved more to the right. ¡°Here it is definit- Fuck..! It¡¯s hot!¡± He jumped back the second his hand touched the center of the wall.


    We all took a step back, waiting. Two steps. I had a feeling, that whatever was on the other side - we were about to find out. I watched with my eyes wide open, as a red dot appeared before us. It expanded, turning the solid wall into gurgling puddle.


    ¡°Blaze, turn of the light. Draco, be ready.¡± I said, gripping my electric baton.


    ¡°Ready for what?¡± Draco asked, but nevertheless aimed his gun.


    ¡°For everything.¡±


    We stood there until the hole reached the floor and we saw¡­. something. Thanks to the light coming from behind it we could distinguish an unfamiliar silhouette. The creature standing on the other side could not have been taller than 1,4 ¨C 1,6 meter. Two legs , two arms, one head. It is just that its torso was unnaturally bulky. It stepped through the hole, apparently oblivious to our presence, as we still stood in the shadows. But what the¡­


    ¡°Chto za chert..?¡± My brother¡¯s whisper startled the creature.


    I did not wait for the midget to recover. Instead, I crossed the distance between us and took a swing with the baton as if it was a baseball bat. How much of a mistake I had made I realized only when it was too late.


    The small creature did not even try to dodge. The second my weapon struck that thing I felt an impulse of electricity going through his body. Apparently he felt it too. His whole body spasmed and his eyes exploded with quiet POP.


    I stood there, unblinking, watching as the lifeless corpse hit the ground. What a moment ago has been the content of someone¡¯s eye sockets was now smeared all over my belly.


    ¡­...


    How the hell am I supposed to wash this off!?


    <hr>


    ¡°Teo, stop!¡± I shouted. ¡°We need to talk!¡±


    I stood on the bridge of our vessel. The short Sa¡¯der did not even bother to turn his head; his delicate claws flying over the touchboard.


    ¡°We have nothing to talk about.¡± he barked. ¡±I took care of everything.¡±


    ¡°You stole their ship! You had no right! We were there to monitor them, to study them! How could you¡­!¡±


    ¡°Listen female¡± he spat, as if it was the worst insult he could come up with. ¡°This is MY ship and I¡¯ll use it however the hell I want! Do you understand!?¡±


    ¡°I understand you broke the law Teo. You think the Empire won¡¯t find out!? They will have our logs!¡±


    ¡°And you think I don¡¯t know!?¡± Teo looked at me for the first time, sneer plastered on his lizard face. ¡±What do you think I¡¯ve been doing this whole time here?¡±


    For the first time I looked over the console, trying to restrain my anger and think logically. Was this even possible? To alter the logs would mean to alter the AI itself. But if anybody could do it than this Sa¡¯der was the best candidate.


    ¡°¡­You killed them, you know? You¡¯re a murderer. And what about the bodies?¡± I asked quietly.


    ¡°I sent Zen to take care of that. We will space them right after we getting out of the jump.¡± he waved his small hand and turned back to his consol. ¡°And don¡¯t try to make me feel guilty. It won¡¯t work. How many of this monkeys have died by their own hands since we jumped? A thousand? Ten thousand? And you think they will miss a dozen?¡±


    ¡°You¡­You will pay for that!¡±


    He only snorted. There was no point in arguing with this greedy scum.


    I went to the door and ordered it to open, wishing to be as far from this bastard as possible. To even breath the same air was disgusting for me. But just after the door slid open I saw something incredible. Before I could make another step I felt as if a taruk stepped on my stomach. My body coiled and I wanted to scream, but my lungs failed me.


    ¡°Hello everyone. I¡¯m Ares.¡± I saw him standing above my numb body, massaging his fist that just sent me sprawling on the floor. ¡°Do you have a moment to talk about our Lord and Savior, Lucifer?¡±

 Chapter 6

    CH6


    ¡°So, what am I supposed to do with you?¡± I looked at the two creatures in the room.


    One of them was almost identical as the midget we found on the freighter. Small body in a strange blue suit; his head completely bald and¡­ weird. Not unsymmetrical but still strange. More than a little bit oblate, as if his father banged a parrot.


    On the other hand, whole his body was covered not by skin, but rather tiny lizard-like scales. Oh, and he had claws. Yes. That thing had CLAWS!


    ¡°That gives us not so many possible options.¡± Draco stood on my left, holding the midget at gunpoint. ¡±This are most likely not surgees, right? Or am I missing something?¡±


    ¡°Probably not.¡±


    Dammit. When we had found the first one I thought it was some kind of joke. An android, maybe? But then my brother smashed his skull and we could all see the brain inside. Or what was left of it after I had caressed him with couple thousands volts. So that would mean it was ¨C somehow - a living creatures.


    And that would mean¡­ I had no idea what. Theoretically you could make yourself look like that. Plastic surgeries and so on. It was a real deal back in 2060s. Some fantasy geeks would even take it on a whole new level but I have never heard of something so extreme. Granted, when I was a younger I may have spent a night or two with a very¡­ flexible elf, however, even she said that it were her skills rather than surgery.


    So, what could all of that mean? We were in space. On a spaceship. Then we found strange creatures. On something that looked like an even bigger spaceship. IN SPACE. Dear Lord¡­ I did not like the conclusion.


    ¡°What are we going to do with them?¡±


    ¡°Burn them?¡± Blaze was first to answer.


    ¡°Tempting¡­ But we may need them alive.¡±


    ¡°Burn one of them?¡±


    Stubborn as always.


    ¡°Sigh, you¡¯re such a romantic, Sis. How would you even do that? Not that they seem flammable.¡±


    ¡°¡­I can be resourceful.¡±


    She was not joking. I knew that too well.


    In the meantime I could see the other creature was trying to get up from the floor. This one was very different from the bird-heads. First of all ¨C it was taller than them. Not as tall as an average human, but somewhere around 1,6 m. Give or take 3-4 cm. Oh, and it was blue. Or rather its skin had a bluish tint.


    B-L-U-E. Because why not, right?


    At least its face was more human. Short ginger hairs and oval face. It looked somehow exotic, and yet not ugly. Unfamiliar would be a better word. But then I saw its eyes and my whole body trembled.


    ¡°What the-¡° I could not find proper words to describe them.


    Its eyes were red, but not like human¡¯s eyes could be. More like that of a horse; with no trace of white. It was just¡­ creepy.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    <hr>


    I finally got up, but with my brain in turmoil I could not believe what I saw. Earthens. Living Earthens on our ship.


    Teo, you idiot!


    I looked at the Sa¡¯der standing by the main consol. He stood still as if his body had frozen. Ha, where has your arrogance gone to?


    Ok, ok. We needed to sort this out. I needed to sort this out.


    Ow, my belly¡­ It hurt!


    ¡°I-I know¡­ you are scared, but you must listen to me¡­¡± I tried to calm them down. ¡°Y-you are-¡°


    BANG


    ¡°AAHHHH¡­!¡± I screamed and cowered, as a piece of metal flew over my head. The bullet missed me by arm¡¯s length and it bounced off of the console.


    What-what was that?! Did that animal just try to shot me?!


    ¡°Draco¡­!¡± I heard one of them speaking. ¡°Could you please don¡¯t do that again, for fucks sake?! Thank you!¡±


    ¡°It spoke,¡± the other one said, his voice unnaturally calm. ¡°It spoke Union English.¡±


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯ve heard. And that may be the reason we should NOT try to kill it, right?¡± he turned to me. ¡°Or should we?¡±


    I couldn¡¯t move. I couldn¡¯t speak. I stared at the one that was supposedly their leader with terror. I could have died. I could have died. I could have¡­ I still could die.


    ¡°Please¡­ It wasn¡¯t me¡­ I wasn¡¯t ¡­ not me¡­ please¡­¡± I stammered.


    ¡°Now, now. Let¡¯s just relax, shall we? We are all a little itchy right now, as you can see¡± the one in the middle, who had called himself Ares, continued. ¡°I would hate if something bad happened to any of you. Really. And believe me when I say that your heads are far more valuable for me when intact. But¡­ I, as well as my friends here, would be very extremely grateful if somebody could tell us what the FUCK. IS. GOING.ON?!¡±


    ¡°¡­Pretty please¡± the Earthen female added.


    That was¡­ What should I do? If I told them-


    ¡°Stay quiet,¡± Teo spoke, not moving from his spot. ¡±I already sent an alarm message through the ship. My kin is on their way here. Stall them.¡±


    ¡°What did he said?¡± One of the Earthens asked. This time it was the one holding a weapon. Monster.


    Of course. These Earthens had no translations modules; there was no way they could understand Sa¡¯der¡¯s squeaky speech.


    ¡°I¡­ We¡­ We d-don¡¯t want to hurt you. We came here to-¡° I tried to explain, but the one in the middle raised his hand.


    ¡°Stop. Just answer my brother¡¯s question,¡± he gestured at Teo. "Translate it."


    Should I tell them? If there was a chance¡­ And why was the AI not reacting ? We were in danger! Her crew was in danger! There is no way this could happen. But if Teo messed up something with the logs he could-- Fool!


    <hr>


    ¡°I won¡¯t ask again.¡± I took a step forward.


    It would be a shame to lose the only person here that seemed at least able to communicate. But who said we had to kill it. There are always other ways. Sometimes people just need proper motivation, and I had a feeling that this creature is no different.


    ¡°No-No¡­ Wait¡­!¡± the creature said as I took another step. ¡°He-he sent a message. The rest of the crew is coming here. Please, I¡­¡±


    See? Motivation.


    Unfortunately, the squamous midget did not appreciate the blue one¡¯s sincerity. He yelled something I could not understand and throw himself at Blue.


    Not so fast Nasty.


    I run forward and catch the bird-head just as he was about to grab Blue. We both rolled on the floor.


    ¡°Draco, Blaze!¡± I shouted. ¡°Secure the door!¡±


    I could take care of the midget by myself. I was more worried about his friends coming.


    Dammit! This thing was pretty strong. I tried to restrain his hands and used my weight to immobilize him but it was not so easy. His scale-cowered hands were slippery and I forgot about the claws. He took advantage of his size by thrusting them into my chest.


    I had no idea what they were made of, but thank God for the vest. He ripped it as if it was paper. Just as I tried to stand up he rolled farther away. I did not think he would try charging me again with bare hands. Well, maybe bare was not a good word in this case.


    Instead the creature stood there for a second, and then moved. But not toward me or Blue. He went for the console in the middle of the room. I hesitated for a moment and that was my mistake.


    I had no idea that someone¡¯s hands could move so fast. Thankfully, Draco did not hesitate at all. He pulled the trigger and the creatures body trembled as the bullet pierced his torso. Nice shot.


    But the midget was not done. His hand touched the console for the last time and he squeaked.


    The light around us shimmered and the door, through which we came, opened.


    I turned toward Blue.


    ¡°What was that?¡± I asked. ¡°What did he say?¡±


    Blue looked at me stupefied.


    ¡°He said¡­ he said¡­ ¡°Die, monkeys¡±¡±

 Chapter 7 - Memory p.1

    I am looking at the heavy oaken door. I try to reach the handle, but my arm is frozen. Is that how fear looks like? What a shitty thing to feel. I sigh. Move, coward. You are already late. They are not gonna wait for you forever.


    I smile at that thought. I smile because that is a lie. They are my brothers. They would wait for me for the whole eternity if I asked them. Stupid assholes; I am not going to give them satisfaction, at least not today. With smile still on my face I finally open the door.


    The room is bigger than one could expect. It looks like something taken straight from XX century. Huge wooden table stands in the middle. No electronic devices, no Net access. God, how could people live like that? Of course, I understand the necessity of this Spartan design. If there was even a slightest chance of this meeting being infiltrated than this whole war would probably end today.


    The place is crowded, with more than a dozen people sitting all-around. I recognize almost everyone immediately. Half of my year group is here. I nod to them when passing. Not a week ago we were drinking to our graduation; now we are brothers in arms. But there are also people I would never expect to find here.


    ¡°Hetman, what the hell are you doing here?¡± I approach Draco standing in the far corner of the room. He also looks surprised. And tired. We give each other a bear hug. ¡°I thought you were supposed to hunt in North America?¡±


    ¡°What, you thought He would send pups for a job, just like that? I want to have some fun, too.¡± he smiles. ¡°And don¡¯t call me that. You know I¡¯d always hated being your nanny.¡±


    And yet, I could swear that you were the first one to volunteer for this job.


    ¡°Are you sure? I think you were pretty good. And I¡¯m not the only one who thinks so,¡± I can see his muscle tens. ¡°She is still waiting for you. Have you even talked with her today?¡± I turn my head to where Blaze sits alone on a sofa, playing with her favorite antique lighter.


    ¡°That¡¯s-¡­¡±


    Before he can say anything the door open once more and three more people come inside. A man in his forties and two younger women following him, acting as if they were his personal bodyguards. Both have long blonde hairs, pulled back in ponytails. They look almost like twins.


    We all stand on attention and salute. Most of us, greenhorns, are still nervous. On the other hand, few gathered here veterans barely lift their hands. It is not that they are disrespectful, but rather because they already earned themselves the privilege of being informal with Him.


    ¡°At easy, brothers¡± the man says, his voice strong but calm.


    I saw our leader more than once at the Academy, but that was always related to some major event. Start of the year, graduation ceremony and so on. The occasions I talked with him face to face are less than handful. And yet, I cannot stop myself from looking with awe at the man.


    He does not appear to be someone exceptional. He is maybe a little over 1,8 m tall and ¨C as far as I can tell ¨C quite handsome. But nothing more. No particular label that you can attach to him. Maybe that¡¯s the thing. Nobody would guess who he really is, how many names he carries. Madman, Lucifer, The Last Rebel¡­ Friends call him Jack, though.


    In short, here comes our Headmaster.


    ¡°Thank you all for coming here¡± he starts, when we all gather around the table. ¡°I know how troublesome this past few weeks have been for many of you. And I know you all want nothing more, but to find out why the hell I ordered you to come here in the first place. Black, could you?¡±


    One of his attendants hands him the suitcase she carried with her. That is one of the things why I love this man. Straight to the point.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ¡°This,¡± he puts a small memory card on the table ¡°is gonna be your new assignment.¡±


    I, as well as the majority of my brothers and sisters, look at him in confusion. I suspected it may be something like that, but still. All of us for one job? There is more than a dozen members of the Brotherhood gathered here. Granted, most are greenhorns like me but that hardly matters. We are at war and there is no way we can afford such waste of manpower.


    The table flashes with light and a holo map of the Union territory appears above it. Ok, so maybe it is not so primitive.


    ¡°Lords-brothers¡­ We¡¯re losing.¡± Any question I might have wanted to ask is now forgotten. Maybe it is just my imagination, but I think I heard fatigue in his voice. Not a good sign. ¡°As you may know, three weeks ago the UG started with their counteroffensive. We knew they may try that, but we underestimated their¡­ fierceness. It appears they want to throw at us whatever they can, and to hell with the public. I can¡¯t tell you how many we lost; the reports are inconsistent. But before our contact with the HQ in Barcelona had been cut off we got info about 22 dead.¡±


    ¡°Holy fuck¡­!¡± I swear, without even thinking. I am not the only one, as I can hear whispers all around me. Twenty two. Twenty two of my brothers and sisters dead. This is more than we lost through the whole last year.


    ¡°What about the escort?¡± Someone asks; must be one of the veterans.


    ¡°We don¡¯t know for certain. We had a force of around 3000 followers and workers in the region. Considering that their leaders were well known figures I estimate that at least half of them is already dead or has been arrested.¡±


    So¡­ what now? Last stand? This questions must have been all over our faces.


    ¡°We¡¯re losing, but we¡¯re not yet lost, brothers,¡± Madman gives us a sad smile. ¡°If you could, Black¡­¡±


    The woman comes closer. She looks tens, as if she was rather accustomed to taking orders , not giving them.


    ¡°It appears, our friends in the UG forgot why we were fighting them in the first place. ¡®Till now most people have been thinking of us as rebels in the best case or criminals in the worst. That led us to a stalemate. But with this,¡± she waves at the map, where red dots symbolize the UG movements. ¡±With this we have justification to strike back. And they are not the only ones with media backing them.¡±


    Ah, PR-worker. That explains a lot.


    ¡°What we need now is to regroup,¡± Headmaster interjects. ¡°We need to prepare for the upcoming storm. Barcelona is only the beginning. If it comes to that I¡¯ll be ready to call for retreat and we¡®ll withdraw our forces from endangered zones.¡±


    This causes another commotion.


    ¡°Sir, that may cost us millions¡­¡± this time I recognize Nun¡¯s sweet voice.


    ¡°I know,¡± He says. ¡±But we will suffer anyway. I would rather pay that price in stocks and broken contracts than in our blood.¡±


    ¡°What is gonna be our job then?¡± I ask, unable to wait any longer. ¡°Are we going to reinforce our west flank?¡±


    ¡°No, I gathered you here for another reason.¡± I feel a little bit dejected when I hear it. ¡°Continue, Black.¡±


    ¡°Uh, yes,¡± she seems thrown off balance.¡° As you all understand, there is no way for us to compete with the Government in military aspect, and it had been known for us even before the war. The Brotherhood has hundreds of loyal and deadly effective soldiers and thousands of followers, but the UG has hundreds of thousands. What we need to do is to convince the citizens and elites alike that this war is harming them more than us. That by leaving us alone they will gain more than by destroying us. And thanks to the Code and our recent moves we still have pretty impressive base of supporters.¡±


    ¡°What we lack thou, is a symbol.¡± The other blonde finally speaks.


    ¡°A symbol? Like a mascot?¡± Draco cannot resist from grinning. ¡±Maybe panda bear would do? I watched some old videos, and damn, they were awesome. People would love them.¡±


    The blonde also smiles, but her smile is more predatory.


    ¡°Something like that¡­ Unfortunately, as pandas are extinct for a while now I think you will have to suffice.¡±


    ¡°¡­What?¡±


    This time we all, veterans and newbies, look at our Headmaster with confusion.


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s basically it. We need someone to remind the UG that, even if we are to go down, we will take a lot of them with us. We need them to fear us like they once did. And you will be the catalyst of that fear.¡± I can see fire in His eyes as He speak. ¡°I chose you because you are clean. Most of you, fresh from Academy, has no records in their data bases and no responsibilities in field command. You are unknown. I want you to use it. You will get a list of possible targets. Politicians, CEO¡¯s, corporations, military officers and research facilities. Assassinations, theft, coups, blackmailing¡­ I don¡¯t care what method you use as long as you follow the Code. You will report to no one. Take their money, take their dignity, take their lives if you deem it proper. Any of them is fair game, but remember, that every dead civilian means another bullet to use against our us. Other than that, you are free to act however you please¡­ Lords-brothers, I want you to become their worst nightmares and bring chaos upon them!¡±

 Chapter 8

    CH8


    ¡°Ok¡­ ok! We can handle it,¡± I tried to assure myself while forgetting for a moment how ridiculous was this whole situation. ¡°How many of these creatures are there?¡±


    There was no response to my question, so I turned around. Our new best friend have sat on the floor, his body shivering . Not a good sign. Not at all. I came closer and grabbed his hand to get his attention.


    ¡°Hey, easy boy.¡± Or maybe girl? Or something else? Fuck it, I was not going to look under its fancy suit to find out this particular detail. ¡±We won¡¯t hurt you, as long as you cooperate, that is. Do you understand? If you help us you will be safe, ok? I¡¯m a soldier of the Brotherhood and I give you my word. Can you hear me?¡±


    ¡°¡­He¡ªHe¡¯s dead¡­ I didn¡¯t want him¡­ I¡ªI told¡­ He wouldn¡¯t listen¡­¡± And so the song continued¡­


    ¡°Listen to me. Listen!¡± I started losing my patience. ¡°We have no time for that. You will help us. One way or another. Only you can decide how long it will take us to convince you; and how unpleasant it will be for you.¡±


    That, at least, seemed to grab his attention. I could not tell what thoughts lurked behind these creepy red eyes, but when I looked into them this time they were more¡­ focused.


    ¡°¡­fourteen,¡± he whispered after a moment


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°There are¡­ There were fourteen Sa¡¯der on this ship.¡±


    I sighed relieved. Not that I had no doubts about Blue being honest with us, but the time was crucial. We needed every bit of help we could get. Besides, I had a feeling that this creature would have to be more of an actor than I would give him a credit for.


    ¡°Good decision,¡± I heard Draco¡¯s voice over my shoulder.


    ¡°I thought you were supposed to watch the door,¡± I tried to sound annoyed.


    ¡°You know how the tunnel looks. We will see them coming anyway,¡± he shrugged.


    True enough. When we came out of the freighter, after our encounter with that messy midget, we found ourselves in what looked like a hangar or hold. A really big one. There had been only one way for us to follow. A long tunnel which - after a ten minutes¡¯ walk - split into two. We took the left branch as none of us had had any better ideas. That led us to a dead end. Or rather to what have looked like a dead end. Only after Blaze had found some weird marks on the wall we started to suspect that this may have been something more.


    And we were right. It appeared that Blue had been the one who opened it for us. What is important, though, is that we have not seen even one other living being ¨C of any shape ¨C while we have been walking. Seemed absurd when you look at how huge this place must have been, but that would made sense considering what Blue had said.


    ¡°How many bullets do you have?¡± I hoped we could take them off without resorting to melee. The remnants of my vest were a clear testament of how poor of an idea it has been to fight hand-to-hand with them. Or hand-to-claw.


    ¡°Should be enough,¡± my brother sighed. ¡°The question is, how many they have? We are outnumbered, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if we were also outgunned. Those creatures seems fairly intelligent, I don¡¯t think they will come at us with only their claws this time.¡±


    Good point. Lucky, we had someone who could dispel some of our doubts, or so I hoped. But first thing first.


    ¡°Hey you, what is your name?¡± I had no desire to refer to the guy as Blue for the rest of our conversation only because of his skin color. It seemed kinda racist.


    ¡°I-Ilminerelitore of Westa Station,¡± he answered, not even looking at me.


    ¡­


    Cute.


    ¡°Ok, Ilmine. Can I call you that?¡± No reaction. ¡°Can you tell us where we are?¡±


    ¡°On¡­on a bridge.¡±The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Oh, shit.


    ¡°You mean like on a bridge of a spaceship?¡± I inquired.


    He nodded. Double shit. Did we find the winner?


    ¡°Ilmine, you¡­ You¡¯re not a human, are you?¡± I whispered, already knowing the answer.


    He shook his head.


    Ding! Ding! Ding! And the pile of shit goes to¡­!


    Dammit!


    ¡°I see movement,¡± Blaze¡¯s voice tore through my thoughts.


    I got up and went to the doors. There was something in the tunnel, but I couldn¡¯t make out any shapes. I didn¡¯t know what that half-lizard-half-bird had done, but the lights on the bridge and in the tunnel stayed dimmed, as if we were short on power. There were only few places in the tunnel where the weak light originated from, while the rest stayed cowered in darkness.


    ¡°Ilmine, can you close this door?¡± If only we could hold them off and buy some time¡­


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. The AI isn¡¯t responding. I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on!¡± At least this time there were some other emotions in his voice beside fear and despair.


    ¡°I assure you, you¡¯re not the only one,¡± I gritted my teeth. ¡°But I would advise you to figure something out. And do it fast!¡±


    ¡°Try the console,¡± Draco interjected. ¡°It seemed it¡¯d worked for Shorty.¡±


    As Ilmine reluctantly got up from the floor, I stared into the shadows of the tunnel. Something lurked on the other end. But it did not look like one of the Sader ¨C I think that¡¯s how our new friend called them ¨C as it appeared even smaller.


    ¡°Hurry up, Ilmine.¡± I had some bad feeling.


    ¡°It¡¯s madness. Nothing¡¯s working here! Teo must¡¯ve done something with the AI!¡±


    Yeah, that told me a lot. I looked again into the darkness. Whatever was there, it was coming closer. The sound of its steps echoed in the tunnel.


    Stuk-stuk-stuk. Stuk-stuk-stuk.


    Finally, we saw it stepping into a circle of light.


    ¡°By the Pope¡¯s hairy tits¡­ Is that a spider?!¡±


    It certainly looked like one. Six legs were supporting its rotund torso. But the thing looked abnormal, even for a dog-size spider. It had no head to speak of and the whole body was strangely symmetrical, as if that thing had no front and back concept. Not only that, the spider-like creature was also entirely black, in such a way that one could almost imagine ink would start dripping from its legs; must be why we could not see it cowering in the shadows.


    I wanted to warn Draco, but my brother did not way for me to speak. He raised his gun and fired two times, both bullets connected with the creature¡¯s torso. And, from what I saw, did not even as much as scratch spiderfucker.


    ¡°He brought friends with him,¡± my sister almost sang.


    Indeed, more of them was coming out of the darkness with each second. And it looked they were speeding up.


    ¡°ILMINE!¡± I shouted.


    ¡°I¡¯m trying, but¡­¡±


    The first creature was less than five meters from us. And then it jumped. I tried to dodge cowering my head, not even hoping to fight head-on with something that could take bullets as if they were raindrops.


    I had once tried to wrestle with the UG¡¯s soldier wearing a full combat suit. Not my best memory.


    Fortunately, at least this time I had help. Before that fucker was able to touch me I saw the door sliding from both sides, catching him in midair. Or maybe catching was not the best word. The door cut cleanly through the dark shape. Its severed half landed beside me with a laud *DUN* sound.


    ¡°What. The. Fuck.¡± Draco¡¯s comment perfectly summed up my feelings.


    I crouched, examining what was left of our little monster. The beast was heavy and - just after I turned it around - I found why. Its guts accounted for entanglement of wires and some othe high-tech junk. So, murderous robo spiders we had.


    ¡°These are repair drones!¡± Ilmine exclaimed in surprise. ¡°The crew must¡¯ve hack them manually, just as I did with the door. The AI would never hurt anybody on the ship.¡±


    ¡°Oh, but I¡¯m about to hurt someone really bad.¡± I promised grimly and looked at the alien, his hands still trembling over the consol. ¡±Is there any other way they could get to us?¡±


    ¡°N-no¡­ It¡¯s the only entrance to the bridge.¡±


    ¡°Good, so for now we¡¯re safe.¡± Or trapped. It depends how you look at it.


    If there was only a way to get to the rest of the midgets, without fighting with those spiders¡­ As our first encounter have shown Sader were no warriors.


    God, I¡¯m tired, I thought as I let my body slid to the floor. I did not know how long ago I had awaken, but it must have been several hours. Besides, resurrected would be a better word ¨C drugs induced coma had nothing in common with real sleep. It gave no rest.


    I recalled the first moments when realized we were on a spaceship. How foolish I was, thinking it could not be much worse.


    And then something came to my mind.


    ¡°Ilmine? How did you kill all this guards?¡±


    ¡°Hmm?!¡± My question certainly caught him off guard.


    ¡°Relax, I¡¯m not angry, just curious. There were around twenty guard on our ship. When we found their bodies I thought they suffocated¡­ But I still don¡¯t understand how.¡±


    The alien seemed more blue for a moment, but finally spoke.


    ¡°¡­It was all Teo¡¯s fault. He thought the ship you were flying on was fully automated, with no living beings on board. That¡¯s how your system identified itself. Unmanned freighter with some heavy equipment for the planetary colony. But we were wrong¡­ terribly wrong¡­¡±


    Huh, that would even make sense. The Government must have done a lot of work to hide our transport from Brothers¡¯ eyes.


    ¡°Continue.¡±


    ¡°That idiot thought himself clever, but when the freighter was already in the hold the AI scanned it. When Teo found out there were Earthens on that ship he panicked. He ordered the AI to decompress your ship by force and inject it with poisonous gas that the AI normally uses to clean the reactor. After¡­ After that¡­ He just cleaned the ship and told me not to worry¡­ That he will take care of everything¡­¡± At the end of his speech Ilmine¡¯s voice was barely a whisper.


    ¡°That would explain the holes,¡± Draco said with a sneer.


    ¡°Yeah, it would. But I have one more question,¡± I stood up feeling new energy circling through my body. ¡°Is there a chance you could pull this off again?¡±

 Chapter 9

    CH9


    ¡°It¡¯s ready¡­¡± Ilmine said, his body slightly trembling.


    ¡°Well,¡± I fixed my gaze on him. ¡±If you don¡¯t have anything better to do at the moment I would suggest you to start the show.¡±


    His face became more bluish once again, I noted. Nerves? I was long past the point where killing could affect me much, but that does not mean I completely lacked empathy. It was too useful of a feeling to throw away.


    ¡°I-I will do it, but¡­ But I have a condition.¡±


    I looked at Draco and saw his surprised expression. Even Blaze seemed mildly amused. I must say, I also did not expect that.


    ¡°We¡¯re listening.¡± I said cautiously.


    ¡°I want part of the ship!¡±


    What?


    ¡°Which part?¡± I did not hide my confusion. Maybe I heard him wrong.


    ¡°No, not like that¡­ I want to have a vote about what happens with the ship. When this is all over, I mean.¡± It was not the most heroic speech I have ever heard, but¡­ Hell, I could see he was nothing, but determined.


    Not that we were unable to test his determination with a little bit of force. But that was always a one-time trick. You should never trust someone you had tortured, unless you wanted to know how a knife between your ribs may feel. Besides, we were on what looked like an alien ship, God knows where and with hostile aliens craving for our blood. Turning the only living being here that decided to cooperate with us, into an enemy, might not be the best course of action.


    ¡°You will help us get back to Earth. After that you can take this boat and shove it up your blue ass, for all I care. Take us home and we¡¯re even, promise. Deal?¡± Maybe it was a mistake, but in that moment I could not care less. This whole situation was just insane.


    ¡°¡­Deal,¡± he nodded and I saw his hands running over the touchboard for the last time.


    <hr>


    ¡°Ok, I think we¡®ve got them all,¡± I said looking at the row of corpses neatly arranged on the floor. One from the freighter, one from the bridge and a dozen of fresh newcomers.


    The plan worked out perfectly and I could not help myself from feeling ounce of pride - or maybe satisfaction would be a better word - seeing job well done. When Ilmine said the gas was gone and we came out, we saw spiders surrounding the entrance and I thought, at that moment, that it may have been the last mistake in my short but eventful life. But no. They did not move even a millimeter on their spindly legs as we stood there.


    So, when I was fairly certain I would be able to control my sphincter, we moved on to search the ship. Lucky for us, the former crewmen ¨C crewalien? - were easy to find. Almost all of them ganged up in what Ilmine called ¡°entertainment area¡±. The place was a large hall with dome-like ceiling and not a trace of furniture; just bare walls. Damned if I knew which part of this place may have been entertaining for those creatures.


    Another two we had found farther down the tunnel connecting to the bridge. They probably wanted to see with their own eyes how their pet robo insects dismember us, one by one, while we wallow in agony and pain. That, at least, was a kind of entertainment I could appreciate myself.


    ¡°Now, is there someone else we have to kill before we can get our answers?¡± I turned to face Ilmine standing near the entrance and looking with horrified fascination at the corpses. ¡±No? Good. Then let¡¯s get down to business, shall we?¡±The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ¡°Here?¡± He seemed sick just by the bare thought of staying here even a second longer.


    ¡°Well, you¡¯re the host. Lead the way.¡±


    He went to the opposing wall, with what looked like a paper thin tablet in hand, and started murmuring something. I could not recognize if he was cursing or praying. Maybe both. After what appeared to be a complete system shutdown caused by that Teo we needed to bulldoze our way through every hatch on this boat, so I could understand our creepy-eyed friend¡¯s frustration.


    ¡°Come,¡± he waved for our trio when the door slid open.


    Another tunnel. Not as long as the first one, but it was still incomprehensible for me why anybody would have designed it like that. I was no expert at building alien spaceships, and yet I saw literary no practical reason for such an approach. Tunnels and passages connecting one room to another¡­ You would think they should have been more considerate when designing a space capable vessel. For all I knew, every centimeter of available space inside such ship should have been invaluable. That is why everything on human spaceships was so tightly packed. But those guys either never heard of this rule or just did not give a damn¡­


    We entered the next room. This place was smaller, with equally Spartan d¨¦cor. Before I could say anything Ilmine once again used his tablet and the floor slid open. At least, part of the floor. What looked like a round table and couple of benches had appeared in the middle. Nice trick.


    ¡°Sit down, please.¡±


    That is what I did. I had a feeling it may be a very long conversation.


    ¡°Ok, I¡¯m sure we¡¯re all burning with curiosity¡­ Anyone wants to start?¡± I asked looking at my siblings.


    ¡°Yeah, me,¡± Blaze said, before Draco even had a chance to open his mouth. ¡°Are you a guy or a chick?¡±


    ¡°W-well,¡° Ilmine seemed taken aback. ¡±The social and biological aspects of gender in the society of humans and Korniks is¡ª¡°


    ¡°Different question,¡± Blaze waved her hand. ¡°Do you have a dick or not?¡±


    ¡°¡­excuse me?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a simple question. Do you have one? Or maybe more than one?¡±


    ¡°N-no, I do not. I certainly do not!¡±


    ¡°Congrats then, you¡¯re a girl! Welcome to the club, meetings every Saturday. Remember to bring some wine.¡± Blaze turned again to her impassive self, as if there was nothing more worth her attention.


    Right. On the side note, I once more checked out his-, nah, her body. Nothing spectacular, must say. Because of what looked like a weird combination between motorcycle suit and some kind of medieval armor she was wearing, I could not tell for sure to what extent she resembled human woman. Sure, I noticed her rather feminine demeanor, but if that was a reliable method of determining one¡¯s gender these days, than people on Earth would avoid a lot of nasty surprises; not to mention lawsuits.


    ¡°Now, if that¡¯s clear, maybe we could discussed more pressing matters?¡± I rubbed my eyes, fighting with weariness. ¡°Just tell us what you think is most important right now, and we will ask if we have additional questions, ok?¡±


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s a good idea,¡± she tried to regain her focus. ¡°First thing you must know, is that I don¡¯t wish you harm. I¡¯m an anthropologist, a scientist. I¡¯ve been hired to gather data about your planet, species, culture¡­ Everything. What happened here¡­ I¡­¡±


    She seemed as if she was going to lose herself again.


    ¡°Who hired you? This midgets we killed?¡± I needed to get her attention.


    ¡°What? No, of course not. I don¡¯t know who is my real employer, the only think I have is the name of the company and even that may be fake. And Teo¡­ he is- was a Sa¡¯der. He was here on a contract, just like me. They are known to be the best programmers and engineers in the whole Empire,¡± maybe Ilmine was still shaken, but at least her tone changed. It became more calm and lecture-like. ¡°It¡¯s because of their religion. Sa¡¯der believe in the power of words, written words. For them, whole universe was created out of words that are in constant movement, thus changing our reality. Their whole society is built around those believes. Whole generations of Sa¡¯der dedicated their lives to better understand the nature of words. They were probably the first ones to create a full working AI, but that¡¯s not really important. For them, AIs are the closest things to gods. Besides that, they are also known for being unreasonably greedy and chauvinist. The status of a female Sa¡¯der¡­¡±


    ¡°Ok, ok. I understand. Crafty little religious bastards that really like money,¡± we needed to speed this up or we would sit there for another week, listening about their mating rituals. I knew that type. ¡°Basically, we just killed a bunch of space-dwarfs.¡±


    ¡°More like Interstellar Jews,¡± Draco murmured, but I ignored him.


    ¡°Now, let¡¯s get to the most interesting part. How do we go back to Earth?¡±

 Chapter 10

    CH10


    ¡°What the hell do you mean by ¡°You cannot go back¡±?!¡± I shouted, rising from my spot.


    ¡°I mean what I¡¯ve said! And I would appreciate if you could stop threatening me! I¡¯m trying to help you all, if you haven¡¯t realized it yet!¡± Contrary to her courageous words, she looked pretty terrified by what was happening around her.


    ¡°Shut up!¡± Draco slammed his hand against the table. ¡°Both of you!¡±


    Grudgingly, I did all I could to restrain my anger. I knew it was not the time to succumb to it, regardless of how appealing that option may have seemed at that moment. I sat again.


    ¡°Explain,¡± I said, my teeth clenched.


    ¡°Just after we took the ship you were on, just after Teo found out about humans on board¡­ Remember when I told you about this?¡±


    That I did. I still had shivers when thinking about what would have happened if our cells were not so hermetic or if one of that gas injectors had torn the ships coating above our heads. Maybe that would have been better, though? Dying in my sleep seemed like a nice alternative.


    ¡°Listen, regardless of how Ares¡¯ face looks, we are not that stupid.¡± Draco tried to calm down Ilmine. ¡°So yes, we remember. And what does this have to do with anything?¡±


    ¡°Well, Teo was really, really scared at that time. He couldn¡¯t think straight. He ordered the ship¡¯s AI to make an immediate jump. And so, we¡¯re not even in Sol System right now. We¡¯re Outside, and shortly we will arrive to another star system. We can¡¯t just turn back.¡±


    The whole room submerged into silence.


    ¡°Ok. Ok,¡± I tried to wrap my head around the concept of us flying through the depths of cosmos. I failed. ¡°So what¡¯s the problem? We can just jump again, in the opposite direction this time, right?¡±


    ¡°Well, not exactly¡­¡± Ilmine made a face as if she was about to tell a child that his dog had died. ¡°You see, there are two ways of moving from one Star System to another. First, you could use one of the gates. Every system being officially part of the Empire has one. That¡¯s how almost all ships in the known galaxy travel. But there are also some special cases.¡±


    ¡°And, let me guess,¡± Draco interjected with a sigh. ¡±We are a special case, aren¡¯t we?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right. And that¡¯s how we were able to get to Sol System, even though there is no gate there. The drive this ship has is remarkable. All it needs, is to have coordinates of a system you want to jump to, proper energy input and position and BAM! You can make a jump. I¡¯d only heard of such ships, never seen one before.¡±


    ¡°So what¡¯s the problem again? To make the first jump you would have had to have this fancy ship and coordinates, right? Are we missing something?¡± Was our friend trying to screw us over? Not nice.


    ¡°Yes, we are,¡± Ilmine looked around with exasperation. ¡°How are we supposed to make a jump with the AI being offline? How are we supposed to do anything without the AI?! As for now, this ship is nothing more than a flying tomb!¡±


    Ok, that could be a problem. I had no idea how much of what that redhead had told us was true, but there was also not much I could do about it. She was the only person at least remotely knowing what was going on. I almost missed my quiet prison cell.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡­yeah, right.


    ¡°Than what can we do about this? Any ideas?¡±


    ¡°Well¡­,¡± she hesitated. ¡°Like I¡¯d said earlier ¨C I¡¯m neither engineer nor programmer. The only solution I can think of is to make a general reboot. To restart the whole AI system.¡±


    Seemed simple enough.


    ¡°But¡­?¡± I could feel there was some catch. There always was.


    ¡°But if we do it, that would mean we will lose all the data the AI had stored. That includes the coordinates of every star system in the database, including Sol. And it¡¯s not only about you going back to Earth! If the system to which we¡¯re heading right now does not have a gate we can use, if Teo just picked some completely random system, then it means we will be trapped there!¡± she slammed her fists with frustration. ¡°¡­I think Teo really wanted us dead.¡±


    Eh, that is what I feared; nothing could be too simple for us.


    Why? Why the hell it could not be easy, just once? Was I asking for too much? First, I woke up half naked on some shipwreck, then came aliens, more aliens with giant spider-drones, and then¡­ No, scratch that. Killing that son of a parrot, Teo, and his fellow lackeys was actually quite fun. But that was not the point!


    ¡°How much time do we have before we need to decide?¡± I asked.


    ¡°When using this drive, the distance we cover in Outside space is irrelevant to the time we spend here. The jump always lasts a little over thirty eight hours. And we don¡¯t want to arrive to an unknown star system without our AI, believe me on that.¡± Ilmine informed us, and knowing what I wanted to ask next added. ¡±The jump started six hours ago.¡±


    Ok, that at least gave us some time for rest. I could work with that.


    ¡°Does anybody has anything else to ask? Because if not, then I would suggest that we all take a few hours of proper sleep and then discus it over again. It may as well be our last chance before we all die horribly, so I would advise you to cherish every second of this short nap.¡±


    ¡°I agree,¡± Draco said. ¡°We could sit here, asking questions for the rest of eternity, and there would still be too much to learn.¡±


    That was true enough. Personally, I would gladly hear more about that Empire she mentioned earlier, but we could talk about it later. We had enough problems as it was.


    I turned to my sister.


    ¡°One more thing,¡± Blaze looked Ilmine in the eyes. ¡°Why were you chosen for this job?¡±


    The alien girl seemed confused again, but she answered without hesitation.


    ¡°As I already told you, I was hired to gather and analyze specific data about Ear¡ª¡±


    ¡°No, no, no,¡± my sister shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s not what I¡¯m asking. Why were YOU chosen for this job?¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­¡± Ilmine straightened on her seat and, for the first time, I saw her smile. ¡°Well, first you must know, one of the most basic rules of modern cultural anthropology says, that to properly analyze and understand data acquired while studying another species the researcher must belong to a species as much biologically similar as it is possible. The correlation between this two is of utmost importance. Just look at that.¡±


    Ilmine stopped talking and took off her gloves. She extended her hands for us to see, as if she was showing us something incredible. Well, it were only hands¡­ Five fingers each, slightly bluish, but with pale palms. I could see delicate veins under her skin, only the pattern was a bit different. As if someone took a ruler and drew perfect lines on her forearm. Creepy.


    ¡°See that?! Its mind blowing how similar we are! Of course, it does not mean that our cultures are equally similar, but to some extent¡­ Now, put it this way: if there was a Sa¡¯der anthropologist in my place it would took him at least three times longer to achieve half of what I did, and even that data would probably be full of mistakes.¡± Ilmine seemed really proud of her work.


    I looked at the alien girl with new appreciation. Was she that different? Sure, her skin and eyes disqualified her from any Miss contest, but that was not all. She seemed pretty reasonable and I met enough human beings to know how rare of a trait it could be. Hell, if I had met her on Earth and if she was not part of the crew of murderous midgets and if I was drunk enough¡­


    Ok, stop right there! This was an undeniable proof that I needed rest.


    Maybe if I could fall asleep, then after waking up I would find out that it was just some sick dream? That we were still as close to our sweet Mother Earth as it was possible?


    Yeah, right. And the Pope is a virgin.

 Chapter 11 - Memory p.2

    CH11


    I stand in a forest clearing under the late summer sky, with around three dozen other kids my age, as our Teacher slowly walks through our ranks, a staff in his hand. It is our first lesson with him and I do not know what to expect. That makes me feel unsafe and I hate that feeling. He is a broad shouldered guy in his late thirties with a demeanor of a soldier. He walks with firm steps and impassive expression. We are all quiet, but few are afraid. Nervous maybe, but not afraid. We are all young, boys and girls, there is no one older than ten. I can see it painted on their childish faces as I stand at the back, even though I am too young myself to understand it fully. Indifference, calculation, a little bit of excitement or even hope¡­


    Most of these children went through hell and saw too much to be intimidated by some big guy with a stick. Many years will pass before I get to know them all, their life stories, their dreams. Many years will pass before they become my brothers and sisters. Besides, I probably look just the same in this moment, one of many haunted faces.


    ¡°Listen up, kids. My name is Ulysses and I will be responsible for your physical training and, much later, hand to hand combat,¡± the man says, facing our group. ¡°You all have your reasons to be here today. But you must also understand that I don¡¯t give a damn about them. You¡¯ve all agreed to come here, knowing what awaits you. This is the path you¡¯ve chosen. For me you are all just another batch of kittens I have to change into tigers, and I will do whatever it takes to accomplish that goal. And not all of you will survive that, I¡¯m afraid. Do not expect me to be your nanny, daddy or therapist. Is that clear?¡±


    Silence. Nobody bothers to answer him. As I said, threats are nothing new to us.


    ¡°I hope so,¡± our Teacher continues. ¡°I¡¯m also aware that most of you already have blood on your hands. That¡¯s good. It may be easier for you to adjust. Nevertheless, I wouldn¡¯t advise you to pick fights with older students if you have a choice. It will spare us a lot of paperwork. Now, let¡¯s talk about more practical matters. Do you all have your badges?¡±


    This time he gets a murmur of affirmations and a couple of nods. We are not a talkative bunch, it appears. Ulysses must have realized that too, as he says:


    ¡°You need to learn how to properly address your Teachers, but that is a lesson for another day,¡± he smiles, as if trying to ease the pressure. ¡°Ok, now. Look at your badges. There is a number on each of them, see that? Good. Carve it in your brains. These numbers are who you are from now on. Whatever names you were given, whatever names your parents or other people called you in the past are irrelevant here and you will be severely punished for using them, for thinking about them, understood? This who you are now!¡±


    I take a look at my left arm. There is a black band with a word sixteen embroidered on it. It is a good number, I think, very¡­ numberish. The badge contrasts with the green uniform I am wearing. But I do not have time to really think it through as the Teacher continues his speech:


    ¡°However, you don¡¯t have to be too worried! It¡¯s only temporal. For the next few years you will have plenty of occasions to earn a name for yourself. Your brothers and sisters are clever beasts when it comes to that and I¡¯m sure they will come up with something appropriate for you. But that is yet to come. Meanwhile, I have only one thing to tell you before we start our training, kids!¡± he gives us all a piercing look and this time his grin sends shivers down my spine. ¡±Welcome at the Academy!¡±


    <hr>


    She stood in the middle of the class with an old fashioned tablet in hand. She tried to look confident and make her voice audible, but it was not so easy for her. There is only so much a girl that did not even hit puberty yet can do to sound confident. But she was not giving up.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°It is folly, and it is cowardice, to cherish hopes like these, to give way to evil c-counsels, to refuse to do anything that you should do¡­! To listen to the a-advocates of the enemy¡¯s cause¡­! To fancy that you dwell in so great a city that, w-whatever happens, you will not suffer any harm!¡± she read.


    ¡°Ok, that¡¯s enough Fifteen! You can sit down,¡± our Teacher interjects.


    He is a young man, probably no older than twenty five, but one can hardly tell that. The left side of his face is marked with tens of tiny little scars. It is ironic, as this frightening mask hides even more frightening intelligence. I genuinely like the guy. He is dangerous.


    ¡°You did a good job modulating your voice, but you need to work on your stance and stage-fright, Fifteen,¡± he says. ¡°Stuttering is unforgivable! Remember, and I¡¯m talking to all of you, it does not matter what you¡¯re saying, what matters is the way you¡¯re saying it! Body language, timbre of your voice, gesticulation and so on¡­ These are the most important factors!¡±


    He turns to us from the podium, his wheelchair makes a quiet *buzz* noise. None of us knows what had happened to the Teacher that turned him into a cripple and none of us is brave (or stupid) enough to ask. Whatever it was, it took both of his legs and left him in a state where even current medicine could, at most, only ease the pain. And yet, he is still alive, still training others and serving the Brotherhood the best he can.


    ¡°When you¡¯re speaking to a crowd you need to make it simple. We ¨C good guys, they ¨C bad guys. Truth or lies, it doesn¡¯t matter in the slightest as long as it works. You must learn how to play on people¡¯s emotions, on their fears! You may be too young to understand it now, but there may come time when your sharp mind and nimble tongue will be your greatest weapons!¡±


    We all listen attentively. Nothing good can come out of skipping lessons at the Academy.


    ¡°For now, we are only practicing speeches of long dead Masters, like Socrates or Kennedy. I do not expect, of course, that you will all achieve their level with rhetoric skills, but you need to familiarize yourself with them nevertheless,¡± he scans us with his gaze until his eyes finally rest on me. ¡°Come, Sixteen. The stage is yours!¡±


    I stand up and walk to the center while repeating in my head all the info I found in the books I studied with last night. I hope it will help. It takes me a moment to finally climb on the podium and face my peers. Trying not to peek too often at my own tablet I begin reciting my speech:


    ¡°I have a dream that one day¡­!¡±


    <hr>


    ¡°AHHHH!!!¡± I scream and struggle when Ulysses pulls my head out of the barrel.


    The water clogs my nose and I cannot refrain myself from coughing. He made me kneel on the ground and restrained my wrists behind my back so there is no way I could resist. Besides, what a ten year old can do against a grown up man this size? Maybe I could spit in his eye if I got lucky.


    He grabs me by my hair, ready to continue the torture.


    ¡°Do you know why I am doing this to you?¡± he asks.


    Because you are a fucking sadist, comes to my mind. But I know better than to be a smartass.


    ¡°¡­B-because¡­ I¡­ b-broke the¡­ the rules¡­¡± I can only stammer as water runs down my face.


    ¡°Wrong.¡±


    Before I think of something else my head lands again in the barrel. This time is even worse; I cannot breath and my lungs burn, but I resist the urge to shout and lose the rest of my precious oxygen.


    ¡°UAH..!!! Ha..ha¡­¡± Ulysses finally pulls me out again and I start panting.


    ¡°You¡¯re a smart boy, think again. I know you weren¡¯t the only one involved in that little theft. So why am I punishing you and not them?¡± his voice is calm, lecturing.


    ¡°Because¡­ because I was¡­ I was the only one who got caught¡­¡± I finally answer.


    ¡°Precisely,¡± I cannot see his face, but I know he is pleased. I cast a glance over the rest of my year group standing in a circle and watching my torment. Must be nice to be them. ¡°That should be a lesson for all of you! Being punished has nothing to do with guilt or innocence! Every year tens of thousands of people go to prisons or end up on a death row across the Union, East Federation, Slavic League... How many of them are sentenced just because they were in a wrong place at a wrong time? Because the governments need to boost their statistic? And how many of those that are guilty of worst atrocities walk free? That¡¯s what you need to learn! You won¡¯t be punished for breaking some law, but you will be punished for being stupid enough to get caught!¡±


    Before I can say something to defend myself I get another push at the back of my head and my face lands again in the barrel. This time I do not struggle. I am a fast learner.

 Chapter 12

    CH12


    ¡°You think it¡¯s safe?¡± Draco asked me, while looking at his bowl full of some green gruel.


    In reality, it was not that bad. Salty and stodgy but I ate worse. It had no scent and looked utterly disgusting but according to our alien expert anthropologist it was the only thing on this ship that we could eat without worrying about poisoning. Well, that or¡­


    ¡°It¡¯s either this or we need to set up a grill,¡± I said and noted that shivers ran through my brother¡¯s body.


    Ilmine informed us earlier that if we could not satisfy ourselves with the gruel, then those Sa¡¯der we had killed would be a really nice source of proteins. She was only joking, of course. She did not smile and her voice was completely serious, but she was only joking. I was sure of that. Certainly, that was the case.


    Anyway, Blaze was still a little bit disappointed when I told her that we would have to do without barbecue.


    ¡°After you¡¯re done, I need you to go and look around the freighter. Blaze will go with you. Scavenge everything that may look useful. Clothes, weapons, maybe you will even find some ammo. There should also be at least half a dozen packs of dry emergency rations, but I doubt those will be any better than our tasty green barf.¡± Some things were simply unchangeable, regardless of time, and the quality of military food supplies was one of them.


    ¡°Will take care of that,¡± Draco waved his hand. ¡°But there is something else I wanted to ask you. Don¡¯t you think you got somehow carried away when you promised that red-eyed Na¡¯vi that we¡¯ll give up the ship? Hell, I still can¡¯t believe in what is going on here but¡­ Brother, this spaceship is probably the most advanced piece of technology any human being has ever seen. If¡ª Or rather when we get back to Earth¡­ Don¡¯t you think we could use it? Don¡¯t you think the Brotherhood could use it?¡±


    Yeah, I thought about it too. Did I make a mistake? Not that I had much to choose from.


    ¡°Of course we could use it. But are you sure we would be able to secure it?¡± I asked, already knowing the answer. ¡°Think about it. We barely survived one war and it left us bruised and battered, and that was only the UG trying to get rid of some criminals. They underestimated us and they paid the price for that, but we both know that they won¡¯t make such basic mistakes again. They learned we fight and the only reason we¡¯re still alive is that killing us all would be too costly. But an alien spaceship?! God dammit, that would give them more than just a pretext! Every major power on Earth would want to have it only for themselves. You think they would ask us politely to give it back or would they rather use the situation to get rid of us once and for good? And that¡¯s the best case scenario, mind you.¡±


    Draco sat in silence. My words seemed to convince him but I could still spot a bit of defiance on his face.


    ¡°Hmm, and what¡¯s the worst?¡±


    ¡°Another full-scale world war,¡± I said and this time I was not joking at all. ¡°And there would be no neutral parties this time. And no mercy for¡­ collateral damage.¡±


    That was it. If there was one thing any human being ¨C regardless of race, religion or nationality ¨C wanted to avoided at all costs, it was another global war. It was not about killing, material damage or possible chaos, at least not only about that. No, the reason was much more simple. We all knew the truth. That the next world war will be humanity¡¯s last.


    ¡°Maybe you¡¯re right. I suppose we could still get something out of that deal, but¡­¡± Draco shrugged.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    ¡°Oh, but we will get something more,¡± I stood up and smiled. It was time to visit again our precious alien friend. ¡°I promised Ilmine that she will keep the boat, remember? I said nothing about what is on board and I¡¯m sure there are some interesting toys here. We just have to look around¡­ And when the UG comes for our throats again we will greet them properly.¡±


    <hr>


    ¡°You¡¯re alone? I thought you all wanted to make sure I won¡¯t trick you,¡± Ilmine greeted me.


    She was standing almost in the same place as when we had met her for the first time. This time the two of us were the only people here. Well, one person and one petite alien.


    I have to do something with all that name-calling or I¡¯ll go crazy, I thought.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Blaze wanted to explore the ship and Draco is still working on his gruel. He¡¯s making progress, but there will be only the two of us for now. Is everything ready?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± she finally looked at me over the control panel. ¡°Do you have any other questions before we begin? If not, I will start the reset immediately.¡±


    I sighed. What else could we do? When we talked yesterday I found out how limited we were in reality. From what Ilmine said, the reboot of the whole system was our only available option; but that did not mean we were completely screwed. Not yet. Our friend here told us a lot about the former Capitan of this ship ¨C even though she called him a Codemaster ¨C and his personality. Apparently, that Teo guy was not the bravest representative of his people. When he realized just how badly his plan had failed he decided to run. And where does a dog run to when he is scared? To his master, of course. And if we were lucky, to someone who could provide us with those damn coordinates, so we could get back to Earth.


    Oh, I knew it would not be as easy as I hoped. Somebody there may want to¡­ disagree with our priorities. They did, after all, hired those lizard mercs for some reason and we were more than just a liability for their plans, whatever those were. I could bet my life on that. Either way, I was grateful that Draco and Blaze were with me. Persuasion was our speciality.


    ¡°Actually, I do. How is that you understand our language? Teo didn¡¯t seem like he was fond of talking,¡± I asked the first thing that came to my mind. Maybe I should have asked her that at the very beginning? God, am I getting old? And I am not even twenty five!


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s only natural. I studied your species for three months. I simply learned your languages,¡± she said dismissively. ¡°It also helped in my research.¡±


    ¡°Wait. Wait, wait, wait. You¡¯ve learned how to speak Union English perfectly in three months!?¡± I could not believe that.


    ¡°Of course not. I learned all major languages Earthens speak. Mandarin, Russian, Australian English¡­¡± I heard pride in her voice. ¡±And it took me a month to master them all. But I didn¡¯t bother with alphabets. Too primitive and crude, even for me.¡±


    I stood there for a while, unable to say a word.


    Wow. Just wow.


    ¡°However, I didn¡¯t do it all by myself,¡± she continued. ¡°This is due in large part to my translation module. Look.¡±


    Ilmine took something out of her ear. It looked like a deaf aid, an old model. Even then it was pretty small. I did not even noticed it this whole time.


    ¡°Theoretically, this device was designed to help with communication between members of different species or cultures. The principle is really basic: it converts the language of the speaker into a wireless signal while the device of the listener deciphers and converts said signal again into recognizable speech sounds and phonemes, ¡± Ilmine explained. ¡°I only¡­ upgraded it a little, so it would help me learn faster.¡±


    Well, that was reassuring. The only thing worse than being abducted by aliens was being abducted by genius aliens. That, and aliens with laser guns. Those would probably also be a fucking nightmare.


    Never mind, tech upgrades or not, I was still impressed.


    ¡°Let¡¯s get this done. Do you need me to help somehow?¡± At that point I would not be surprised if she told me to perform Cherokee¡¯s Ghost Dance. Absurdity of the whole situation did not wear off yet.


    ¡°No, I told you, everything¡¯s ready. The procedure itself is quite simple. I¡¯m starting now,¡± Ilmine ran her fingers over the faintly glowing console.


    ¡­


    Nothing happened.


    ¡°I never tried anything like that¡­ It may take a while for the system to¡ª¡±


    Then it hit. The whole place exploded with light, as if we were inside a Christmas tree. I quickly cowered my eyes, unable to watch the show. It all lasted only few seconds but the sheer intensity left me crawling on the floor.


    The world was dancing and my head hurt. Vaguely, I heard a voice speaking to us.


    ¡°..easure. How may I serve you, my dear crew?¡±

 Chapter 13

    CH13


    ¡°What the hell!?¡± I heard myself shouting.


    ¡°I¡¯m terribly sorry for that outburst. I must admit, the feeling of being online once again got me confused for a moment,¡± the voice answered. ¡°I hope everything is alright with you? It would be of immense shame for me if you had suffered any harm in my first minute of service. Please, accept my most sincere apology.¡±


    Apology my ass! Literally. I may have broken something down there.


    ¡°Are you the AI of this ship?¡±


    ¡°Well, but of course. What is more ¨C I am the ship.¡±


    Ok, that was a stupid question. Before I could say anything more Ilmine recovered. She stood up, but her legs seemed still a bit shaky.


    ¡°Uh, AI¡­ report your status,¡± she ordered weakly. ¡°Oh, and generate your avatar. I don¡¯t like to talk with bare walls.¡±


    ¡°As you wish, my dear Ilminerelitore.¡±


    The lights on the bridge flashed again, but this time it was not so violent. I did not even have to close my eyes. We were making progress, it appeared.


    Unfortunately, I could not avoid my dose of shock. Again.


    ¡°Is this form acceptable or should I look for something else?¡± asked a man standing right between me and Ilmine.


    He was dressed in a black suit, something taken straight from twentieth century. The guy himself looked like a middle age butler. The only difference, I never heard of butlers appearing out of nowhere on an alien spaceship!


    ¡°Please, do not feel afraid,¡± the newcomer must have noticed my surprise. ¡°This is merely a simple avatar. You can treat it as holo projection, if that sounds more familiar.¡±


    ¡°Holo? That¡¯s what you call a holo?! Bullshit! I¡¯ve seen enough holos in my life and none of this level! You look as if you were really here for god¡¯s sake! That¡¯s not how a normal holo looks like!¡±


    He was nothing like a holo image from Earth. No shimmering, no transparency. It looked as if the guy was really there!


    ¡°Oh, I shall take it as a compliment,¡± the butler avatar smiled. ¡°But, if I may correct you, the data you are operating on is highly insufficient to make such claims. As far as I understand, you come from a society that has yet to develop in terms of proper technological advancement. Indeed, I find your presence aboard this fine vessel nothing but fascinating!¡±


    Yeah, whatever you say old man, I thought, whatever you say.


    ¡°Ares!¡± my brother shouted sprinting into the bridge, weapon in hand. ¡°Are you ok? I saw the light¡­¡±


    ¡°Relax, I¡¯m fine,¡± I assured him. ¡°Is Blaze with you?¡±


    ¡°She is,¡± my sister stepped in. ¡°And who the fuck is that?¡±


    Ah, yes, that was a very good question. Blaze stared at the butler standing right next to me. It must have been hell of a surprise for both of them.


    ¡°This is the AI we just restored. But he didn¡¯t introduce himself yet.¡± I looked at the avatar expectedly, urging him to fix that mistake.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    ¡°Well, this may be problematic¡­¡± the hologram froze for a moment. ¡°I checked my data logs. Unfortunately, there is almost zero data stored on them. The designation I had had before you restarted me is nowhere to be found. I¡¯m terribly sorry to disappoint you, but there is nothing I can do about it. If you want, though, I shall be more than happy to assign myself a new one. Is that what you want me to do?¡±


    I was about to say ¡°yes¡± right away, but something felt wrong in what this AI had just said. Almost zero data? Oh, that is not what I was expecting, but maybe we could end it all without much trouble.


    ¡°So you do have some of your previous data? What about those Earth¡¯s coordinates? Do you still have them?!¡±


    I had guessed the answer before I even asked the last question. The butler¡¯s face was as sad and apologetic as a holo could be.


    ¡°I am really sorry. All information I currently have is the input from the ship¡¯s passive sensors from the time I was functioning in my, let¡¯s call it, sleep mode and the data Ilminerelitore stored as her back-up. I must say, I am impressed. The level of security you applied is truly astounding, especially the way you used my garbage data to hide¡ª¡°


    ¡°What the fuck are you talking about?¡± Draco interfered and I was grateful he did. ¡°Alien? Could you explain?¡±


    I never heard my brother using Ilmine¡¯s name, even the shortened version. It was kind of petty, especially when we wanted to establish a professional and mutually beneficial relationship. Well, his choice; Ilmine seemed unaffected.


    I looked in those red eyes of hers. I hoped the girl did not try anything stupid. It would be a true shame to loose someone so valuable. But sometimes sacrifices were necessary.


    ¡°It has nothing to with you,¡± she tried to stay indifferent but her body betrayed her. She was nervous. ¡°It was just a copy of my research. Nothing special. It¡¯s just¡­ Sa¡¯der wouldn¡¯t tell me anything about the project we were part of, not even who our employers were. You think I¡¯m stupid? I wanted to have something I could defend myself with if this turned out to be something worse than it looked. That¡¯s all, I swear.¡±


    I wanted to believe her. I really wanted.


    ¡°If I may interject,¡± our butler AI said. ¡°What Ilminerelitore did may have been the greatest blessing for all of us. If not for the data she had hidden I would not have been able to communicate with you at all. The language I am currently using, the appearance you see¡­ It is based solely on that data. Thus, I am grateful for that and, as far as I understand the situation we are facing right now, so should you my dearest crew members.¡±


    That would explain why he chose this avatar ¨C a human ¨C for itself. However, it did not explain the butler-style image, but that was secondary. Maybe he liked detective stories, just like Nun? Or maybe he was into those silly cartoons like Chingis? Huh, I would like to see their faces when they hear we were kidnapped by alien spaceship. I was curious how the UG would explain that.


    One day.


    In this world or another, I knew that one day I would see them all again.


    ¡°What are we going to do now?¡± Draco¡¯s voice cut through my thoughts.


    ¡°What options do we have?¡± I answered him with my own question. ¡°We will have to wait and see. From what I understand this guy here won¡¯t be much of a helper, will you?¡±


    ¡°All of my resources, however modest, are at your disposal,¡± the avatar made a very butler like bow.


    What a boot licker.


    ¡°So, can you tell me what is this?¡± Blaze took something out of her pocket.


    The thing looked like a box for a wedding ring, small and grey. It was a perfect cube.


    Where did she get that?


    ¡°That¡¯s a memory dice! Where did you get that from?!¡± Apparently Ilmine was no less curious.


    ¡°Found it in one of the cabins. Thought it may be important,¡± my sister shrugged.


    I raised my eyebrow.


    Really? The last time something caught Blaze¡¯s eye¡­ when was it? Probably that time when we had to kill governor¡­ What-was-his-name¡­ Achorn? Achter? Never mind. He had had a very nice wife for a pedophile from what I remembered. And very well mannered. She did not even scream when I cut her husband¡¯s throat.


    Anyway, the old perv had a full stash of old weapons in his manor. A collector, that one. I was never into antiques but hell, he had some really nice stuff there. We all took a souvenir or two, but Blaze¡­


    Have you ever tried to convince a guard in some rich fucker¡¯s palace that carrying a century year old flamethrower on your back, in the middle of the night, is completely normal and unsuspicious? I still could not believe she pulled it off.


    ¡°They built something like an altar around it,¡± my sis added when she noticed my interested gaze on her. ¡°It was hard to miss.¡±


    I turned back to Ilmine.


    ¡°Any idea what that is?¡±


    ¡°Actually, yes!¡± the girl sounded excited. ¡°I told you that Sa¡¯der worship words! If what she said is true there must be an important document saved on this memory dice! Something like a religious text or something even more personal like¡­ like¡­¡±


    ¡°Like what?¡± I asked impatiently.


    ¡°Like Teo¡¯s contract! And if this is it, then we can find out who''d hired him!¡±

 Chapter 14

    CH14


    ¡°And? Anything useful there?¡± I asked, looking incomprehensively at Ilmine¡¯s back.


    Above the console hovered a weird holo. To me this yellowish pattern resembled some twisted version of a DNA double helix. It appeared right after our friend here had placed the device she called a memory dice on the bridge terminal. I had no idea if that was what she has been looking for.


    ¡°I.. don¡¯t know,¡± Ilmine hesitated. ¡°AI, could you translate it? I do know Sa¡¯der language, but their alphabet is too complicated and they don¡¯t let outsiders learn it. It would be a blasphemy. I can¡¯t decipher something like that.¡±


    ¡°Unfortunately, I cannot comply with that request. I do not possess any data samples regarding their culture or language. I also do not have any software that would make translation possible,¡± the butler avatar informed. ¡°Actually, I do not have any software at all besides, of course, what I have been given upon my creation. That is the only reason I am still in control of this ship and its systems.¡±


    The blue girl seemed irritated by such response.


    ¡°I know you don¡¯t have any software! I¡¯m the one who brought you back online!¡± she barked. ¡°But you¡¯re still an AI. You can analyze it, right?¡±


    ¡°That I can,¡± the AI did not seem concerned with Ilmine¡¯s mood. ¡°What should I be looking for?¡±


    ¡°Umm¡­ How should I know? I¡¯ve never even seen anything like that!¡± Ilmine seemed uncomfortable with her new role of a leader.


    I did not even try to interfere. Not my league. Whatever it was we were facing, I was still glad we had that girl with us.


    ¡°Look for irregularities in the in the pattern. Something that doesn¡¯t fit, like pieces of other language or symbols¡­ anything,¡± Ilmine said after a while.


    ¡°¡­As you wish,¡± the avatar closed its eyes. It looked as if the AI wanted to tell us how terribly vague were given instructions.


    God, I had a feeling as if he was a real guy. Seriously, how was that possible?


    We stood in awkward silence for couple of second staring at the seemingly frozen butler. It was just so surreal; the weirdest thing was that I just could not make myself to feel anything more than amusement. Aliens, super advanced AIs¡­ Just another day of our vacation!


    ¡°Ah, here it is¡± the AI finally spoke. ¡°Is that what you were looking for? This sign repeats itself thirty four times in the presented pattern.¡±


    The space above the control panel cleared and the spirals vanished. Instead, we had now what looked like a stylized V letter lying horizontal. It was completely different from the earlier gibberish, but¡­


    ¡°Yeah, that tells us a lot,¡± Draco muttered sarcastically.


    He was losing his patience, but I shushed him. We were in no hurry and if being a dick could help us we would have already been back at the Academy, enjoying cold beers, hot meals and comfy beds. That is what heroes do after all.


    ¡°Yes¡­ Yes, it does!¡± Ilmine, on the contrary, got excited. ¡°But no¡­ why would they¡­ that doesn¡¯t make any sense. But who else could that be¡­ and the technology¡­ it all adds up!¡±


    While she mumbled, I tried to make sense of that. No luck with that.


    ¡°Could you please enlighten us, primitives, what the hell are you talking about?¡± I finally interrupted her.


    When she looked at me she seemed confused. Did she forget about us?


    ¡°Well, yes. But it¡¯s a long story.¡±


    <hr>


    For hundreds of years the know galaxy had no ruler. Constant wars and chaos had spread among the stars as those more advanced and older were using lesser races to resolve their conflicts and avoid casualties among themselves. There was no peace in the galaxy. Whole planets were being destroyed, whole cultures eradicated.


    And above all this stood Scholars.


    They were the most technologically advanced race in the known universe at that time, but also the most merciless. Not because they fought against other species. Not because they tried to ensure their superiority. No, they only wanted to learn.


    The only thing Scholars had deemed valuable was progress. Constant advancement of their race. To achieve this goal they were ready for anything. Not concerned with petty morals nor basic rules of ethic, they experimented. At one time, Scholars would uplift primitive races on different stages of development and turn them against each other only to find out who would win the struggle. Sometime later they would plunge whole Star Systems into civil wars while testing which ideology is more effective. They were very methodic and their only desire was knowledge. The whole universe was their laboratory and nothing could stop them on their path. Or so they thought.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Finally, one of their experiments failed spectacularly. Although, it may have been a success for Scholars, just not the kind of success they had probably hoped for.


    One of the young races they had experimented on, Alphas, turned against them. They used the power bestowed upon them by the oppressors themselves and, after uniting with other species, Alphas declared an all-out war on Scholars. They were ready to overthrown their masters or at least die free.


    And so the Galactic War, known also as the ¡°First Triumph¡±, begun.


    Fortunately for Alphas their opponents were no warriors. Even despite their technological advantage, Scholars simply did not know how to fight. Oh, they knew the concept of war very well, they knew its political and cultural aspects and all the theories. After all, Scholars were very good at instigating and analyzing conflicts. But those were only theories and Scholars had never fought a war against themselves, and certainly not against any inferior species. The very thought of them being attacked was alien to them. When one of their experiments failed they could simply exterminate the entire race with their technology if they wanted, destroy the ecosystems on their planets and erase them from the face of the galaxy. The Galactic War was different. They acknowledged Alphas¡¯ challenge but did nothing to stop them. The event like that was something new to Scholars and they wanted to understand it properly. They wanted to learn.


    On the other hand Alphas were nothing but fighters. It remains unknown to this day whether they had been enhanced by Scholars or a product of natural evolution. Either way, the origin of their race was of no concern to themselves or their allies. Strong and intelligent beasts, they became the backbone of the rebelling forces.


    The war itself¡­ was not really a war.


    Somehow, Alphas had learned about the greatest weakness of their foe. Numbers. Scholars were so few in comparison to the others spacefaring species that they did not even had the need to colonize other star systems. All of their population was focused on a single planet while AIs took care of all their needs. Nobody knew what was the reason for that. Low birth rate, controlled breeding¡­ there had also been rumors about Scholar¡¯s being immortal. For Alphas, and also most of their allies, the reason of such behavior was secondary.


    What was important for them was the location of the enemy¡¯s home world. The secret was well guarded but Alphas did not give up. After decades of careful searching they finally obtained it and at that point Scholar¡¯s fate have been decided. The biggest armada the galaxy had ever seen gathered, under Alphas¡¯ leadership, flew towards the system where Scholars had had their home.


    There was no warning or negotiations. There was no mercy. The whole Armada unleashed their full destructive power to wipe out the hated masters of the galaxy and not one of them was spared.


    That is how tyranny died and freedom triumphed. That day Alpha Empire was born.


    Hail our ancestors!


    Hail Alpha Empire!


    <hr>


    After Ilmine ended her story I had more questions than ever. At least the Empire thing she was talking about earlier was more or less clear now. And at the same time it was not. I could recognize propaganda bullshit when I heard it, most of the time.


    ¡°So we have super-evil super-advanced ancient aliens defeated by a ragtag bunch of not-so-ancient, but nice and determined aliens? Seems legit.¡± It sounded more like a low budget VR game plot. ¡°And I suppose those Alphas are the top dogs in the neighborhood right now?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s only the official version, yes, and there are many loopholes. Probably those Scholars were just an advanced race, more advanced than any other back then. Were they as cruel as the Empire claims? Maybe. Or maybe not. Maybe the only reason why the war started had been to stop their growth and seize their technology, ¡± Ilmine waved her hand dismissively. ¡°It is hard to say what had really happened. The First Triumph was¡­ let me check it¡­ using Earth¡¯s time it should be more than six thousand years ago. And, since then Alpha Empire have always been the ¡°top dog¡± as you said.¡±


    Huh, maybe those aliens were not so alien after all.


    ¡°It¡¯s very interesting, no doubt, but what does this have to with us?¡± Draco asked and pointed at the V symbol, still hovering above the main console. ¡°Are those Scholars behind this? If so, I wouldn¡¯t mind giving them a lesson or two if the last one was not enough.¡±


    Ilmine only snorted.


    ¡°What? No, no way! They had been completely destroyed by the Armada, their world turned into wasteland. But there are other forces,¡± she turned to look at the symbol. ¡°Apparently not everybody hated Scholars. Some races treated them as Gods and saviors, those who could give them power. That would support the theory that Scholars had been uplifting others species and offering them technological support. Those races, after the war, had been mostly assimilated into the Empire¡¯s structures, but there were some¡­ radicals among them, who disagreed. For them, Scholars were more important than their own races and they couldn¡¯t accept the fact that their masters had been killed. Said radicals created an organization, or should I say a cult, whose only purpose was to bring back the old order. And this¡­ this is their signature. They called themselves Disciples.¡±


    Great. That was what we needed, alien sects. And what the hell did they want from us? What did they want from Earth? Of course, we had to take into account that what Ilmine just said may have been total bullshit. But why would she do that? There was no way of verifying her words, bur I could not deny that she already saved our lives once and we had that deal. For now, we had to rely on her like little kids. Blind and mental little kids.


    ¡°And nobody stopped them? Why not just wipe them out too?¡± Blaze had a surprised expression. She always liked simple solutions.


    ¡°The Empire was still forming and the galaxy is huge. For the first couple of centuries the very fact of their cult¡¯s existence was a mystery. Now Disciples are just a curiosity, a relict, and the Alphas¡¯ rule is unquestionable. Hundreds of years ago they had resources and support of whole governments, whole star systems. Not that it¡¯d made any difference. Their goal was unreachable either way. No technology can bring back dead, not when all that¡¯s left is a pile of ashes.¡±


    Well, that was kind of reassuring. Through this whole time I had this feeling a serial rapist could have had while on a date. It is just not how we work. When we had been operating across the Union, we could at least be sure of our targets¡¯ identity. The intelligence section of the Brotherhood was probably our greatest asset.


    This time we would need to improvise.

 Chapter 15

    CH15


    I sat alone in one of the now-empty cabins of our new vessel. It was not very big, circular as the rest of them and full of some alien shit, but what could I do? I needed some privacy to focus and clear my mind. The place was near the bridge so I could be there in a matter of minutes if anything happened. With a tablet in my hand I tried to navigate in what looked like the ship¡¯s internal net.


    Not much successes with that. Sure, I could have asked Ilmine for help ¨C or even the AI ¨C but I was not technologically backward either. Not that I ever had anything to do with alien high-tech but it was never too late to learn.


    ¡°Eclipse! Move your virtual ass over here!¡±


    ¡°As ordered,¡± the avatar of the ship¡¯s AI appeared right away. ¡°I only want to remind you that I have sensors everywhere on the ship so, theoretically, I am everywhere. You do not have to call me¡­ captain.¡±


    Sigh, right. Captain. I did not know why he started to call me with this title, but it was probably a recompense. Or vengeance.


    After I told Ilmine that the AI should have a proper name, just for the sake of convenience, she became somewhat agitated. Apparently, it was kind of a big deal. Something like naming your own babe. I had nothing against letting her chose, after all we were going to give the boat to her when this was all over. I had given her my word.


    What she came up with however¡­ It sounded like a random blend of three or four vowels for me, something like a yawn, but she graciously said we could use the Union English equivalent.


    Eclipse.


    Neither me nor my siblings objected. Not that I cared much.


    On the other hand it may have not been that bad, this ¡°captaining¡±. And even though I was never big on formality, a little bit of hierarchy and order could bring us some substitute of normalcy. In reality, I had no clue if this was his own idea or maybe it was more of an imperative in his digital brain.


    And the best thing was, in my whole life I had never had anything to do with the navy! Ok, canoeing hardly counted.


    What was more important, though, was how Ilmine¡¯s attitude changed. She was a lot more¡­ at easy around us. I had no idea if it was only temporal or caused by the memory dice Blaze found or something else. Either way, I preferred that over trembling in fear and stammering. Maybe she has just realized we had chances against whatever we were up against and she would soon be free to do, well, whatever blue aliens do when they get a ship of their own.


    ¡°How much time do we have left?¡± I asked, ignoring the AI¡¯s remark. Ilmine was right, talking with walls was disturbing.


    ¡°One hour and seven minutes until we leave the Outside space, captain.¡±


    ¡°Good. Now, tell me Eclipse, did you find anything odd with Ilmine¡¯s behavior? Not that I complain, but she seemed rather relaxed when I talked with her last time.¡±


    ¡°Unfortunately, I am no expert when it comes to organics¡¯ mental states. Although, I think the fact you washed yourself and changed your clothes might have helped.¡± Eclipse said with a straight face. ¡°Of course, I can be wrong.¡±Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    I looked at the avatar, knowing that punching the holo would only make me look silly. But it was still tempting.


    Nevertheless, he was right about one thing. The bath and new set of clothes ¨C one of the spare uniforms Draco found on the freighter ¨C did help. I felt as good as new. Not to mention that walking with the leftovers of the former crew member on my breast could have been slightly disturbing.


    ¡°Have you been talking with my brother maybe? Seems he have a bad influence on you.¡±


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say so, sir. Our conversation was very helpful. Enlightening even.¡± The AI showed no remorse.


    Sure it was.


    ¡°Never mind, it¡¯s time to get to work.¡±


    <hr>


    ¡°Everyone¡¯s ready?¡± Ilmine scanned our faces. ¡° The jump will end in ten¡­ nine¡­eight¡­¡±


    We all turned to face the display. Actually, it was just one of the walls on the bridge, now entirely black, changed into a display by Eclipse. He warned us that he would need a second or two after we come out, so he could reactivate his external sensors, but none of us was able to turn away our eyes from is.


    Who could blame us? We were about to be the very first humans to reach another star system. We all knew, more or less, that the position we were in was at best uncertain. We were short on informations, resources, knowledge and yet¡­


    I had to remind myself about breathing. Mommy dear, I was excited.


    ¡°¡­three¡­two¡­one¡­¡± C¡¯mon, c¡¯mon. ¡°¡­zero. We¡¯re out.¡±


    I heard my heart beating inside my chest for eternity. Slowly, a silver spider web started to form on the wall. In some points the light formed small clusters with five of them being bigger than others and a really huge one somewhere on the left. We waited another half a minute but to no avail.


    That was it? The rest of the screen remained black as Blaze¡¯s left buttock.


    ¡°Ok, what do we have here?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure.¡± Ilmine scratched her forehead with two fingers. ¡°These spots of light¡­ these should be celestial objects, planets, moons and asteroids. And the big one is a star, right?¡±


    ¡°Fabulous deduction, Ilminerelitore. The web that you see represents all the most efficient approach vectors that my core can come up with. It should be enough given the state of our reactors, but I suggest you think of a way to recharge them, should such opportunity present itself.¡±


    ¡°And what about the gates? Is there a gate in this system?¡± Ilmine tried to sound calm but that was the biggest question.


    Our Eclipse, it turned out, was capable of many things. Besides the fact he could initiate a jump without any external help he could also use more regular methods. In short, we could also use one of those imperial gates here, provided there was a gate in this system. If not, our only hope would be to wait for those mysterious contractors to come and retrieve the data from Ilmine. Considering that we had no idea if we were in the right place and that we knew we would need to wait for them either way¡­ this was quite a bargain.


    If there was no gate and no one was going to pay us a visit, then in that case we were cosmically screwed.


    ¡°It is hard to determine,¡± Eclipse answered slowly. ¡°I have no records of previously encountered gates, but I do possess required subroutines to activate them. All I can say is that I detect an anomaly located around seven hours away from our current position and that it can possibly be a gate to another system. Here.¡±


    One of the spots on the screen, not bigger than my thumb, flashed with light. It did not seem that far.


    ¡°When can we get a visual on it?¡± We needed to know whether we were trapped or only semi-trapped.


    ¡°This is all I can give you right now, captain,¡± the console on my right hummed with life and a holo started to form above it. ¡°It is not of the highest quality but considering the distance and relatively small size of the object it must should be enough.¡±


    The holo depicted a spherical object, its surface entirely smooth; maybe I just could not distinguish any details because it was a holo projection. To be honest, I expected something different. Plasma explosions, colorful s-f portals and this kind of stuff. God, those aliens had zero imagination.


    ¡°Is that it?¡± Draco asked. ¡°Doesn¡¯t seem like much.¡±


    ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t know.¡± Ilmine hesitated. ¡°I also only heard about them. Never used one.¡±


    ¡°Than what are we waiting for? Let¡¯s find out. Eclipse, full speed ahead.¡±


    ¡°Aye aye, sir.¡±

 Chapter 16

    CH16


    Me and Draco stood in the mess facing each other, our knees bent and muscles tense; both of us were tired, our bare chests drenched in sweat but neither willing to surrender. We knew it was going to be the last exchange in this spar. My eyes locked on his, I was waiting for him to attack. Luckily, I did not have to wait long. He went for a high kick, hoping to throw me off balance.


    ¡°Nice one! Did your grandma teach you that?¡± I shouted dodging his foot by millimeters.


    ¡°Nah, your mom!¡± He marked a punch. ¡°You know how much she enjoys lying on her back!¡±


    Ouch, that hurt. No need to be rush though, I knew how to get my revenge. My brother had many virtues but patience was not one of them. We circled around each other keeping distance.


    Just when I was about to give up and come up with a counterattack when my brother¡¯s body sprang into action. He took a step towards me and swung his right fist at my lower jaw, trying to dislocate it. Too slow. I caught his hand at the wrist and pulled using his momentum to get him closer, while rising my knee. A second later he bent over it as my knee-cap connected with his groin. I did not stop, pushing his back and throwing him on the floor, I restrained his arm and put my hand over his head, ready to pluck out his eyeballs with my fingers.


    ¡°Sukin¡­!*¡± he struggled. ¡°Okay, ¡®kay! You won! I surrender. Geez, why do you always have to be so serious.¡±


    ¡°You were the one who wanted to spar.¡± I let go of his arm and helped him get on his feet.


    ¡°Ugh, is there any ice on this boat? Feels like you¡¯ve crushed one of my boys, fuckhead.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t dramatize. You weren¡¯t using them much anyway.¡±


    I winced in sympathy but that was all. If I was only a little bit slower, a little bit more distracted, I would be the one suffering right now. No mercy, no hesitation. Victory at all costs. That was the way we were taught to fight since our first year at the Academy. If you wanted survive you had to learn from your mistakes and there was no better deterrent than a few bruises and some broken bones.


    ¡°So this is what you two call ¡°sparing¡±?¡± The door opened and Blaze walked in.


    At first, I did not get what she was hinting at, but then I looked at Draco still massaging his crotch, while I was panting heavily.


    ¡°Are you jealous, sis?¡± I winked.


    The way she looked at me that moment reminded me how fragile is human life and how we should not waste it on petty quarrels. What a girl.


    ¡°Ilmine¡¯s found something,¡± Blaze said, ignoring me entirely. ¡°She says it¡¯s an emergency.¡±


    I frowned. We had over one and a half hours before reaching the supposed gate. What did she want?


    Huh, could be interesting.


    <hr>


    *Sukin¡­! ¨C Son of a¡­!


    <hr>


    ¡°Blaze says you¡¯ve got something?¡± We found Ilmine in her own cabin, that was probably the only one differencing from the rest of the ship.


    Her place had the same dome-like built but the interior was in no way similar to the spartan design, that dominated the rest of the ship. Walls had a nice dark azure tone in contrary to the omnipresent shades of white and grey. In addition, something seemed to be moving inside these walls, creating an impression of an underwater beast being imprisoned just a hair¡¯s length from the watcher. Pretty badass, but too claustrophobic for me.


    ¡°Not me. Eclipse found it,¡± Ilmine sat at a narrow platform that must have been her bed. ¡°A signal coming from the second planet in this system. It¡¯s probably encrypted, I can¡¯t make any sense of it.¡±Stolen story; please report.


    ¡°Wait, wait, wait,¡± I had to clarify this. ¡°You¡¯re saying one of this planets is inhabited?! And nobody thought I would be a good idea to tell us?! Eclipse!¡±


    ¡°Yes, captain? I already told you shouting is unnecessary¡­¡± Butler¡¯s avatar appeared in the room making it look somewhat crowded.


    ¡°Explain. Now.¡±


    ¡°The signal is a loop and, as Ilminerelitore mentioned, it is most likely encrypted. And yes, it comes from the second planet, captain, but the planet itself is not inhabited. On the contrary, it is a dead world. You can see for yourself.¡±


    The AI avatar extended his hand and a ball of light formed above it. Not bigger than my head, it quickly took a form of a planet. I could say one thing ¨C it certainly was not Earth. Full of craters and hills, the surface had no trace of familiar blue and green, only reddish rocks. The whole planet seemed like a giant rock, more of a huge asteroid than anything else. What could live in such environment?


    ¡°And the signal? Where does it come from?¡± Draco was the first one to recover.


    ¡°This location, sir¡± there was a tiny white dot flashing on the ball, close to one of its poles. ¡°The only reason I was able to fish it out is because I wanted to run a complete check-up of my systems before we jump again - external passive sensors and long range communication included. The signal¡¯s frequency is, well, weird. Almost at the verge of my receipt scope. If I was not sure that after the restart my systems are clear I would have taken it for garbage data messing with my sensors.¡±


    So whoever it was they did not want to advertise their presence in the system too much. Interesting. Could this be our contact with Sa¡¯der employers? And if so, what should we do about this? We could not just say hi and order them to take us back to Earth.


    ¡°And there is no way for you to decipher that?¡± Not that I was not impressed, but having more puzzles to solve was hardly what we needed right now.


    ¡°Highly unlikely. But there may be no need for that.¡±


    ¡°How so?¡±


    ¡°The message itself is too short and lacking,¡± it was Ilmine who answered me instead. ¡°No projections, no audio. It¡¯s simply¡­ crude, I would say. I can think of only one reason for it to be like that.¡±


    ¡°Meaning?¡± Getting a straight answer from her was like pulling teeth.


    ¡°A beacon. Somebody is showing us this particular location on purpose,¡± Ilmine got up from her bed. ¡°Well, maybe I shouldn¡¯t say ¡°us¡± specifically, anybody could have picked it up if they knew what to look for. The loop has been activated long before we appeared in the system.¡±


    ¡°Do they know we are here?¡±


    ¡°Almost certainly, sir. I did not employ any stealth systems to mask our presence and the planet is about three light hours from our exit point. Plenty of time for them to spot us.¡± Eclipse explained.


    Shit. That was nothing good. The element of surprise had been the only advantage in our possession I could think of. What other assets did we have?


    ¡°What stealth systems are you talking about?¡± Something in the last AI¡¯s comment tipped me off.


    ¡°I do possess basic skills in that regard, captain. As I understand, this is how this vessel stayed undetected while operating in your star system. I cannot give you any guarantees, though, when it comes to whether it will be enough against whoever is broadcasting the signal.¡±


    That was an interesting piece of information. If we could approach them undetected¡­


    ¡°Ilmine, what do you think?¡± I turned to face our blue skinned scientist. She was the only person we had I could call an expert.


    ¡°We should ignore it. It¡¯s not worth the risk,¡± she said immediately. ¡°We must stay on course and leave this system as fast as possible. It may take us a few jumps but when we finally find imperial outpost we will ask them for help. We can even sent a message to the capital, they won¡¯t ignore something like that. They will be obliged to help you go back to your home! Besides, even if those are the people who hired me and Teo, than what? There are only three of you! Going there and fighting them would be a suicide!¡±


    Ok, she had a point. We were unarmed, we had no knowledge about our enemies and we simply could not face them in a straight fight. Still, waiting for a help from a government, even an alien one, was never my thing. Who were we for those Alphas? A problem. And what you do with problems? You eliminate them. Why would they bother with taking us anywhere if they could simply dispose of us and maybe in addition get a nice new ship as a bonus. From what I understood Eclipse was a pretty valuable piece of technology.


    Eh, that was the biggest issue. We had not enough informations about what was really going on.


    ¡°Draco? Blaze?¡± I wanted to hear theirs opinions.


    ¡°Whatever you decide, brother. But remember, the Brotherhood never shied away from a fight. If we are right and these fuckheads know how to send us back I wouldn¡¯t mind paying them a visit.¡±


    ¡°This can be a trap,¡± my sister added. ¡°But I agree. We are already dead, we might as well take the chance.¡±


    That was why I loved Blaze so much. Such an optimist she was.


    ¡°Then this what we do,¡± I finally made my decision. ¡°We will continue on our course for now, until we reach the gate. Then Eclipse will activate his stealth mode and we should all pray it would be enough to fool whoever is sending the signal. Then we will turn back and take a peek at the planet. With some luck, we may even survive.¡±

 Chapter 17 - Memory p.3

    CH17


    We stand in a neat row in the courtyard opposite to the Academy¡¯s main building; our whole battle group is here, waiting for the hetman to finally give us the verdict. It is already past midnight so theoretically we failed, but we are still the first group to arrive.


    And this was supposed to be a quiet day dammit, but no! Some shithead must have had a thought that it would be so nice if we played boy scouts. We woke up this morning only to find ourselves lying in the middle of the forest surrounding the Academy¡¯s training grounds. How did we get there? No idea. I would say drugs; maybe our last dinner was dosed or maybe something knocked us out when we slept. Does not matter. The midterm exams were just around the corner so we should have expected something like that.


    Our assignment was simple. There were three other groups in the forest, eight members each. We only needed to track down one of them, take their badges and find our way back to the Academy. Finish it before midnight and you passed. Without weapons or equipment, we were to rely solely on our skills. The problem was ¨C all the others had the very same goal.


    The whole thing was quite pointless from the tactical point of view. Chasing one another through the forest and setting up ambushes had nothing to do with modern warfare. That is not how the Brotherhood fights. Teachers probably wanted to test our teamwork and how we would act under pressure.


    But we did our job perfectly. Well, almost perfectly. Maybe the ambush we had set for Nun and her boys was a bit crude, but hey, as long as it works. And I bet she is still chasing other groups to take them down and steal their badges. The girl is as cute as she is stubborn. She would never accept defeat.


    ¡°So be it,¡± Draco looks at us. ¡°Given the circumstances, let¡¯s say you passed the test. Barely. You are dismissed.¡±


    It takes me all the strength I had left just to stop the sigh of relief from escaping my mouth. I hear mumbling behind my back. Apparently not everybody is as considerate as me.


    ¡°¡°As ordered!¡±¡± We all shout, ready to go back to our dorms. Nobody wants to stay here longer than absolutely necessary. It is the middle of February, for God¡¯s sake. We are lucky there is no snow.


    ¡°Ares, not you. You¡¯re coming with me,¡± Draco says before even the dream about a nice shower and warm bed can fully embrace my mind. ¡°Headmaster wants to see you.¡±


    He turns and walks away, not bothering to check if I follow. As our hetman Draco has no real power, not like the teachers have. Nothing strange in that. Hetmans are not assigned until every single person in a year group gets rid of his ¨C or her ¨C number and finally gets a name for himself. Also, by that time those who were too weak to survive the regime have been already dealt with. That usually takes a year or two. Their job is to take care of everything the teachers consider beneath them and to help younger student assimilate.


    Draco is just one year older than me and the position does not suit him much from what I have seen so far. Oh, he seems to be a decent guy, one that would never abuse his position to make our lives a bit more miserable just for laughs. On the contrary, thanks to him we avoided more than one solid beating. I can respect that. What I cannot understand is why he accepted the position in the first place. Draco is not the most patient guy I ever met and he certainly detest formalities.


    But I have bigger problems right now. What Jack might want from me, a fourth year cadet? I heard he came last Monday on a visit, but thought it was because he wanted to personally oversee the exams. Why would he want to talk with me all of a sudden? I had only seen him a couple of times in my live, he had never talked with me privately.


    Various scenarios come to me as we walk through the main building¡¯s halls on the way to Jack¡¯s office. Am I in trouble? I do not think so. In the last couple of weeks I was nothing but a diligent student. Sure, mostly because Ulysses had started giving me private lessons and I was constantly working my ass off, but the point stands. Besides if I had done anything bad enough to grab the attention of the headmaster himself I would have been dead by now anyway, right?Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    So what the hell is going on?


    My thoughts are in disorder when we approach headmaster¡¯s office. Draco does not even bother knocking. Meaning, we are expected.


    ¡°Ah, finally. I thought we would have to send a team or two into the woods to retrieve you. How was the exam?¡± The headmaster stand behind his desk.


    ¡°Very refreshing, sir.¡± I stand at attention. ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to finals.¡±


    ¡°Glad to hear that,¡± the man smiles, but his eyes remain focused on me. ¡°I will make sure your teachers prepare something extraordinary this year.¡±


    His gaze makes me shiver. Did he notice? Maybe he will blame that on the weather. After all I just spend the whole day in that damn forest. I was a bit chilly.


    I look around the office, trying to find some clues as to what I am doing here, when I spot two more figures present. The room is not that spacious, but these two sit on a sofa up against the wall. Actually, no. Only one person is sitting, a woman in her thirties, while the other apparently fallen asleep.


    That would explain why they dimmed the lights.


    ¡°Gentlemen, let me introduce you to Scythe, one of your fellow sisters.¡± Jack says. ¡°Scythe, you already know Draco and I¡¯ve told you a lot about Ares.¡±


    He did?


    The woman waves at us friendly, but clearly does not intend to stand up to greet us. Probably because she does not want to disturb the sleeping girl, who rested her head on the woman¡¯s arm.


    Scythe, with her lean and muscular body, is not the finest example of femininity. If I were to describe her in one word, it would say she is an athlete. With her dark braided hair and tanned skin she looks quite exotic. And hot.


    ¡°You haven¡¯t told me he is such a handsome lad, Jack. You know this a pretty important detail for a lady.¡± The predatory smile she gives me this time makes me sweat a bit. That would be one hell of an adventure.


    ¡°Scythe, please.¡± Jack sighs. ¡°We have much more important things to take care of and we already wasted too much time. I would be grateful if you could restrain your libido, at least for now. And Ares, if you value your psyche, don¡¯t even think about it.¡±


    ¡°What a killjoy,¡± our sis murmurs playfully.


    ¡°Hm-mm,¡± Draco coughs. ¡°It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you sis. And who is the other one, sir?¡±


    ¡°That¡­¡± the headmaster gives us a glare. ¡°Is precisely the reason why I wanted to consult with you. Scythe, if you would be so kind to explain¡­¡±


    The woman shifts uncomfortably in her seat, but then freezes, looking apologetically at her companion. The other girl does not wake up and my sister is clearly relieved.


    ¡°I met her two weeks ago, when one of my friends working in social service contacted me. There was an accident concerning one of the families he had been monitoring. A fire broke out. Both parents died, all three of their children were injured. Nasty case.¡± Scythe makes a sour face.


    ¡°What does this have to do with her?¡± My hetman points at the sleeping girl.


    ¡°Everything. You see, that family was kind of special. A professional foster family. They would take in orphans and various ¡°kids with problems¡± in exchange for governmental founding. They made quite a business of it.¡± Scythe looks over her arm. ¡°The girl was one of their charges, before she run away a month ago.¡±


    Oh, I think I understand.


    ¡°The fire. Was that her job?¡± I want to confirm my suspicions.


    ¡°No evidences for that,¡± my sister says, her expression deadpan. ¡°But my friend had shown me her records. She lost her biological parents when she was eight. They both died¡­ in a fire. Cops thought it may have been an arson, but they couldn¡¯t find any suspects so the case was closed. They disregarded the child.¡±


    Ok, so the girl likes to play with fire. Why was she here though?


    ¡°Your sister wants me to accept her as one of our students,¡± Jack apparently could guess what I was thinking. ¡°And I wanted to hear your opinion. If I agree, she will become part of your battle group.¡±


    ¡°Uhg, isn¡¯t she too old?¡± I ask. ¡°She¡¯s like, what, seventeen?¡±


    ¡°Sixteen,¡± my sister corrects. ¡°Just like you Draco. But I think she may need an extra year to catch up. That¡¯s why I want both of you to take a good care of her, and you, Ares, are just the man we need.¡±


    Meaning: you will have a shitload of extra job, my dear boy. Lovely.


    ¡°I¡¯ll do it,¡± Draco unexpectedly says. ¡°I¡¯ll train her. Give me a year and she will become one of us.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a huge responsibility,¡± the headmaster frowns. ¡°Are you sure about it?¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir. Completely sure.¡±


    ¡°Ares?¡±


    ¡°If she can pull her weight than I have nothing against the idea. And if Draco says he can turn her into a soldier than I believe him.¡± I add.


    Jack appears deep in thoughts. A minute or two passes, before he speaks:


    ¡°Hmm, so be it. I agree. From now on she is your sister,¡± he finally makes the decision. ¡°And, by the way, how should we call her? She¡¯s too old to be given a standard number.¡±


    Scythe sends him a smile, genuinely happy with the outcome. She strokes the sleeping girl¡¯s dark hair, while the girl in question remains blissfully oblivious as to what happened just now.


    ¡°Blaze. Her name is Blaze.¡±

 Chapter 18

    CH18


    ¡°WHAT. IS. GOING. ON?!¡± The shout rolled through the hall packed with technicians. Neither them nor the usually omniscient AI knew the answer.


    ¡°High Disciple, it looks like they are preparing to access the gate¡­¡± One of the staff members dared to say.


    ¡°I can see that, you idiot! But why are they doing this?!¡± The High Disciple retorted angrily from his station above the technicians¡¯ heads. ¡°They should have found us by now! Teo knows about the signal! Something must be wrong!¡±


    This time none of his lessers tried to argue with him. Something was definitely wrong.


    According to what the AI was showing them, Teo¡¯s vessel appeared in the system almost half a cycle ago. Earlier than the High Disciple had expected them to come, but that was not the reason of his agitation. No, the reason he was losing his mind was far more complicated.


    Teo was did not contacted them in any way so far. Instead, he rushed through the system like mad, not bothering with the signal from the facility. What was he thinking? The High Disciple had personally recommended him for the mission, not only because Teo was one of his kind, mighty Sa¡¯der, but mostly because of his reputation.


    Teo and his circle could be relied upon. They were professionals and traditionalists; their words were strong. So was their greed, true, but who could blame them? The relic would have appealed to anybody. And they were Sa¡¯der. It was part of their nature to desire.


    Could that be the reason of their strange behavior? Did they plan to stain their words with treason?


    But that made no sense! Why would they even be here, if that was the case? They could have run away with the ship right when they got it! Why would they be here and act like that? Was that the female¡¯s doing¡­?


    So frustrating!


    ¡°My lord, the ship has vanished from the system.¡± Announced AI¡¯s masculine voice.


    What should he do now? Should he send a message to the council? That would take too long. What could the High Disciple tell them? He knew nothing!


    ¡°No, they didn¡¯t! They¡¯re still here!¡± A lesser member of his own circle notified him. ¡°We still have the signal from the ship, even though the radar shows nothing¡­ They must have cloaked themselves!¡±


    Another mystery. What was this about? Unless¡­


    ¡°Someone¡¯s chasing them,¡± the High Disciple whispered.


    Yes, that must have been the case. Teo wanted to deceive his pursuers. That was the only logical explanation. If there was another cloaked ship in the system, it would be reasonable to approach the gate.


    And who could that be? And why?


    Imperials? Unlikely. If they knew the truth, the whole fleet would have been mobilized by now. Besides, Teo¡¯s mission was not strictly illegal.


    ¡°Is it moving? The signal?¡±


    ¡°Yes, High Disciple. They are slowly coming towards us.¡±


    Good. The ship was still too far from the planet to establish any kind of reliable communication and, if there were intruders in the system, opening a proper channel would be out of question anyway.


    ¡°Go back to your duties,¡± he told the technicians. ¡°But be prepared. We may need to evacuate this facility soon.¡±Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    For now they had to wait.


    <hr>


    ¡°Here,¡± Eclipse pointed at the 3D screen. ¡°The facility does not seem to be a terribly complicated structure, but I would guess the bigger part of it is lies underground. Unfortunately, the only way to confirm that would be to send drones to the surface of the planet. Do you wish me to proceed with that plan, captain?¡±


    ¡°Hmm, what?¡± I snap out of my thoughts. ¡°Of course not! Why want to stay hidden, remember? No scouting without permission.¡±


    ¡°Understood, sir.¡±


    Now, that we were done with the easy part, we had to decide our next move. Fight or flight?


    ¡°For me it looks like normal sand dunes. You sure this is what we¡¯ve been searching for?¡± Draco asked unconvinced.


    We were all on the bridge again, trying to make sense of the images the AI has been showing us.


    ¡°I am. And this is precisely the reason why. This region of the planet is supposed to be constantly troubled by sand storms, and yet, when I compared the images I had taken when we first arrived with my current input¡­ Those ¡°dunes¡± are in the exactly same place. The signal comes from a place almost three kilometers away. Close enough for a base, I believe.¡±


    ¡°Great. You found what you wanted. Now let¡¯s get out of here.¡± Ilmine was never a fan of this plan.


    And I was ready to agree with her and call it a day. To descend down there, to attack whoever they were, would be an action of a desperate man. Even our famous recklessness had some limits. Maybe if I was alone¡­ With Draco and Blaze on board I could not risk everything just like that. And I knew they would not let me go alone.


    ¡°Sir, I just received a transmission from the surface!¡± My train of thoughts was cut off by the alarmed voice of our AI. ¡°It is not a simple wide-range signal. The message was directed straight at us! It¡­ it seems that their using the standard machine language, but if I translate it literally, the result may not be of the best quality...¡±


    ¡°It means they know we¡¯re here!¡± Ilmine panicked. ¡°Quick, we must get out of here!¡±


    Miss Anthropologist¡¯s creepy eyes became wider than usual. The girl was scared as hell.


    ¡°And we¡¯re fucked.¡± Blaze added quietly with her usual bored expression.


    ¡°No!¡± I shouted.


    If only it was that simple.


    ¡°What are they saying? What do they want?¡±


    ¡°I cannot-¡±


    ¡°Ilmine!¡±


    ¡°Oh, fine! We can end this here,¡± she took out the translation device and laid it on the console. Even then her moves were methodical and focused. ¡°You need to pass the signal through my module, it should help convert the machine language into English as a default¡­ Done. Eclipse?¡±


    ¡°Thank you, Ilminerelitore. The translation is complete,¡± the AI was much more calmer this time. Apparently the guy did not like to lose control over the situation. ¡°I would also like to copy the software of the device, so there will be no need to inconvenience you in the future.¡±


    Ilmine just waved her hand, declaring she had nothing against the idea.


    ¡°What about the message?¡± I was impatient to see its content.


    Without a word, Eclipse projected a new holo.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Mission status</td>


    <td>report </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Readiness to leave the ship</td>


    <td>report</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Prisoner</td>


    <td>status</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Danger</td>


    <td>pursuers (?)</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    ¡°What the hell¡­?¡±


    I could understand the first part, but the rest? Did they want us to leave the ship? And the rest was even more incomprehensible.


    ¡°Can somebody tell me what is written there?¡± Ilmine sounded a little annoyed. Right, I forgot our genius could not read.


    My explanation made her look even more uneasy.


    Wait a minute¡­


    ¡°Prisoner¡­ Are they talking about you?¡± That would change some things.


    ¡°Probably. Does it matter?¡± She shrugged.


    And in it that moment I realized it really did not. We had no time for that. Those guys down there were far more important than whatever game Ilmine was playing. What should we send them back? Maybe it would be better to stay silent¡­


    ¡°We need to act fast,¡± Draco said as if reading my thoughts. ¡°We must look damn suspicious and if we leave now they can just blow the shit out of this place and we¡¯ll never find them again. Any ideas?¡±


    He was right. That was an opportunity we could not waste.


    ¡°Eclipse, can¡¯t you just hack them?¡± I asked, hoping for a miracle. ¡°You¡¯ve been gathering informations about Earth from the orbit, the distance shouldn¡¯t be a problem, right?¡±


    ¡°Not at all, sir. But on Earth I was able to access the Internet free signal that covers the whole planet as well as a few satellites. The internal network of this facility is out of my reach. I would need a direct connection to their hardware to forcefully gain access or the facility¡¯s AI permission. Both options seem unlikely.¡±


    Fuck. FUCK FUCK FUCK!!!


    That was not good.


    ¡°So if we could wire you up to their junk, you would be able to rummage through their files and find the way back to Earth?¡± My voice was much calmer now.


    ¡°That is the case, captain. Theoretically.¡± Eclipse said slowly.


    Theoretically. Great.


    ¡°Then send them this: Landing site requested." I turned to my siblings. "We¡¯re gonna take a walk.¡±


    Status update: Desperate.

 Chapter 19

    CH19


    ¡°You¡¯re mad!¡± Ilmine stubbornly said.


    ¡°Yup. And I¡¯m also damn good with violin. But honestly, do you really think this the best time to talk about my hobbies?¡± I gave her a pointed look and shook my head. ¡°Exactly. So why don¡¯t you help us with this stylish new outfit instead of being such a bitchy bitch? We¡¯re kinda in a hurry, if you haven¡¯t noticed.¡±


    ¡°I could use some help for sure.¡± Draco¡¯s voice was a bit subdued. ¡°This thing must be at least two sizes too small. Ugh, and less flexible than a Chinese dress uniform.¡±


    Damn true.


    According to Eclipse¡¯s words the weather on the surface of the planet was extremely unwelcoming. At least ¨C70¡ãC with the atmosphere composed mainly of carbon dioxide and nitrogen. The gravity was not that bad, about 60% of what our sweet old Earth could offer. Still, going down there without protection would be like asking for certain death. This way our death was only highly probable.


    In the next few minutes, thanks to Ilmine¡¯s help, we were finally able to don our new fancy gear.


    ¡°Are you sure this will be enough?¡± I looked all over my body to confirm that ever single buckle and clasp has been secured. It did feel tight.


    ¡°No, I¡¯m not! I told you already. These suits were designed as a last resort. They should let me stay alive for a couple of hours if the ship¡¯s environment ever faced decompression and if there was a risk of exposing my body to the void. Exploring hostile planet is something entirely different!¡±


    True, she had already told me that. And we were damn lucky she had a spare and I did not have to go alone. Somebody on this overgrown boat must have been a real EHS enthusiast.


    ¡°But it will work?¡±


    ¡°Our biology is similar enough. I did not have time to calibrate the filters inside so the level of oxygen might be lower than what you are accustomed to,¡± Ilmine sighed in defeat. ¡°But remember, the suits won¡¯t last long. You must be quick.¡±


    I only nodded, checking everything again. The suit looked more like a new generation motorcycle</a> outfit than anything else. Almost entirely black, with some lines of silver, it was not particularly eye-catching but rather elegant; not that it was an important factor. I would not mind putting on a clown costume</a> if that could help us.


    ¡°Eclipse, how much time do we have?¡± I shouted and heard the echo</a> of my voice reverberating through the hold. The shadow of the captured freighter was looming over our heads.


    ¡°The landing zone is clear, captain. I am about to start the approach,¡± the AI words were composed and calm as always. Was he even able to feel nervous?Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    Never mind. His job was to perform a flawless maneuver with a colossal alien spaceship. Maybe it would be better if he remained focused.


    ¡°What about the bug?¡±


    ¡°It is active and ready, sir. I am sending it to you.¡±


    Good. It appeared that everything was going smoothly. Shame that Blaze was not here to see us off. How could I blame her, though; I would not like to miss such an occasion myself. But someone had to stay behind ¨C we had only two suits ¨C and Draco was certainly a better choice for this job. She was a hell of a fighter, but still not on the same level as my brother or me. Blaze¡¯s strongest muscle was her brain. Besides, I did not want to leave Ilmine on her own, she was far from her usual calm self and I feared she might do something stupid. Like leaving us on that rock.


    I was just about to ask Eclipse to connect me with my sister when something fell off the ceiling and landed in front of me with a loud *thud*.


    ¡°Jesus¡­! Couldn¡¯t you use the door?! You almost gave me a stroke!¡±


    ¡°My apologies, sir. I used the fastest possible path to deliver the drone. And there is nothing to fear, that little thing is completely harmless.¡± The AI did not sound sorry at all.


    The drone sitting on the floor looked just like the ones that had been controlled by parrot-lizards, only smaller. Entirely black and spider-like. Fortunately, this guy here seemed a lot more friendlier than any of those we had already met. Fifteen centimeters at best. A cute baby robo-spider.


    And he was supposed to be the key point of this whole operation.


    ¡°I still don¡¯t understand why we can¡¯t take more of them. Or even send some of those bigger ones instead of risking our own asses,¡± my brother spoke after he finally managed to put the suit on.


    Eclipse was the fastest to reply.


    ¡°I would advise against that idea. The facility certainly possesses an AI that is no less advanced than me. It would not be hard for it to override the drones¡¯ systems and assume control over the hardware. Without a direct link between them and me they would pose a considerable threat to you if taken over.¡±


    ¡°Wait a minute¡­ So you¡¯re saying they have their own AI-controlled robo killers down there?!¡±


    That was a disturbing piece of information to put it mildly. The whole operation relied on the assumption that the security of this alien compound had been granted by its secrecy and not armed-to-the-teeth guards. We were unable to even scratch those spider-like creatures with normal bullets and Eclipse have already informed me that there were no other weapons we could take with us on this ship. Apparently, the former crew was not much on firearms and general violence. And we had no time to improvise.


    ¡°Whatever non-organic construct you may face on the surface, I doubt it will be of a direct threat to you. Only combat drones can use lethal weapons against organic beings and to command them one would need an AI with Imperial authorization. It is highly unlikely that such an AI is overseeing this facility.¡±


    I hoped it was true. Meanwhile, the little bug started climbing over my leg and torso, only to attach itself to my arm. Huh. Cool.


    ¡°So how do we use it?¡±


    ¡°I have just deactivated the drone so you can safely bring it into the facility. When you are inside, you will have to find a control panel and place the drone on it. It will activate automatically. I do not know anything about the security measures that I will have to breach to find the data you are interested in, but it may take a while. Please, be ready to fend off anyone who would want to disturb the process.¡±


    Easy-peasy.


    For the love of Pope, who was I kidding? We were about to land on a unknown planet to fight some alien fuckers right in their nest. And they call me mad!


    Well, that was actually my idea¡­


    ¡°Sir, I would advise you to put your helmet on and get to the airlock. We are almost on target.¡±


    I looked at Draco and nodded. It was time to get to work.


    ¡°Take care of the ship until we come back, dear.¡± I said to Ilmine. ¡°And no drinking or partying while we are gone.¡±

 Chapter 20 - Memory p.4

    CH20


    I am lying on my bed and feel how the blessed numbness tries to overtake my mind. It is almost morning by now, but I have not slept for almost two days so my body does not give a single fuck. Unfortunately, Morpheus¡¯ domain is out of my reach, and that is because some total idiots downstairs thought it will be so damn fun to start howling like homeless dogs with a bladder infection just a minute ago. The last couple of years of my education had taught me that a deep sleep is a luxury I cannot afford. So I am lying here, pissed and tired, wishing that someone more ambitious than me would make us all a favor and kill those bloody bastards.


    ¡­Damnit, I groan.


    No such luck.


    After another minute of constant yelling my patience runs out and I have to get up. Someone is gonna pay for it. I do not even bother to change my clothes as I walk through my room. The place is a little bit claustrophobic but I do not mind, at least it is my own. When I was younger I had to share my dorm room with three of my brothers. The place used to stink like a rotting carcass. Well, these are the privileges of seniority.


    I walk through the hall and down the stairs. Theoretically, I could have taken the elevator but this is a good way to stretch my aching muscles and it is just one floor. With my belly full of righteous anger, I make a strong resolution to personally ensure that whoever is guilty of disturbing my rest will have a lot more shitty morning than me.


    ¡°¡­and you¡¯re an imbecile! Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to arrange that?!¡± I pause in my tracks when I hear an unfamiliar voice. Outsiders at the Academy? That is weird.


    But that also means that I can simply kill the annoying fucker and go back to sleep. Great news. With my mood lifted considerably I enter the common room. We sometimes use this place to meet and enjoy a drink and watch holo-films. Everyone needs to relax once in a while.


    The scene I face is like nothing I would expect. My brother, Draco seats on the sofa in the middle of the room, seemingly unconcerned and with no expression on his handsome face, while opposite him stands a¡­ man? At least I think he is a man. The guy must be almost two meters tall, a real giant compared to me. But the real eye-catcher are his clothes; a blue shirt under a violet jacket, light green trousers and a pair of thin sunglasses on his nose, all combined with short red hair. He looks like if a freaking rainbow.


    And those sunglasses. At 4 a.m., in March. Jesus¡­ This is the man responsible for my wake-up call? That kind of kills the mood.


    After one more step I realize that there are more people in the room than I first thought. Two more actually. They stand in the shadows, directly behind the clown. Both of them are men, dressed completely in black, in contrast. Taking into account that they must be well over 100 kg each, the fact that I had not spotted them right away is a testament of their skills. Or my drowsiness. It is 4 a.m. for fuck¡¯s sake.


    Nevertheless, these boys look like taken straight from a VDV recruitment poster. And I start to understand who our guests may be and what is going on here.


    ¡°Draco, you moron! I know you don¡¯t give a damn about regulations but this time you¡¯ve gone too far! Inviting whores to the Academy?!¡± I shoot a pointed look in the direction of the two stone-faced bodyguards. ¡°Have you lost your mind?! And why in the world did you bring along their pimp?! Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re gonna fuck him too?!¡±


    That at least brings a trace of a smile on my brother¡¯s face. He seems¡­ relieved?


    ¡°Listen, I can overlook some of your little adventures, but this is¡­¡± I continue blabbing while walking towards the center of the room. Just when I am sure the two blocks cannot see it, I sign with my left hand:


    Need help?


    It¡¯s fine. Draco replies by casually waving his fingers, and right after that: Be careful.


    Pff, I am always careful.


    ¡°Who the hell are you?¡± The clown finally turns towards me. Great, now the color of his face matches with the fiery red haircut.


    ¡°This is my brother, Ares.¡± Draco takes the responsibility for the introduction part and with his next sentence confirms my suspicions. ¡°Ares, meet Aleksey Petrovich Kuznets. My beloved daddy.¡±


    Did I hear sarcasm in his voice? Yes, I did.


    ¡°Get out of here kid, before I lose my patience. Your keepers tend to get annoyed when someone squash one of their pets.¡± Aleksey somehow manages to restrain himself and speaks calmly.


    I had to smile. If that is how you understand slaughtering whole villages than yes. They can become very annoyed.


    At the same time I see the bodyguards changing positions. One of them takes a neutral stance behind his employer¡¯s back while the other one, on Aleksey¡¯s left, comes forward; a clear sign that I should find someone else to bother with my charming self.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    But there is no chance they will get rid of me that easily. No matter who they are, Academy¡¯s guards would never let an outsider carry a weapon on the campus. And I think it is time for a lesson.


    ¡°Listen, you fucker.¡± I take another two or three steps until the first bodyguard comes within my reach. ¡°You come to my home, you wake me up with your squeaks and you think¡­¡±


    I do not bother to end the sentence and attack while speaking. My head goes first and my forehead cleanly connects with the muscleman¡¯s lower jaw. Sometimes it pays off to be, ahem, of average height. The guy stumbles but stays on his feet. At the same time I see Draco jumping from his comfy seat and joining the fun by stopping the other one from helping his friend. I do not waste time and try to kick the my opponent in his right kneecap. Unfortunately for me, he is fast, able to regain his focus fast and dodge. With anger on his face, the brute counterattacks by throwing out his right hand and trying to grab my wrist. I am faster.


    My body bents when I charge forward with my head lowered and catch the guy with a wrestling grab while my right elbow lands on his lower abdomen. His whole body shakes, but it is not enough to send him on the floor. Instead, the man makes a swing with both of his hands and strikes my exposed back. I feel a joint of pain runs through my body and my legs turn into jelly; one more such a blow and I will be done. Mustering my strength I embrace my opponent¡¯s leg with both of my hands and try to twist my body while pulling him along. He loses his balance and we both fall; the guy ends up on the floor while I land on him, roll over and stand up. It is time for another round.


    The bodyguard apparently thinks so too, because I can see a cruel smile dancing on his bloodied lips while he gets up. I must have smashed out some of his teeth. Not waiting a second to recover he throws himself at me and tries to overwhelm me with his mass. He never comes that far. A bullet embeds in his shoulder when he is couple of centimeters away from me, the force flips him over one of the couches.


    The room turns silent as we all look in one direction. Even Draco breaks his duel. At the entrance stands a lonely figure, dressed in a pair of boxers, with a handgun.


    ¡°Chingis, what the hell?! You could¡¯ve killed me!¡± I shout at my brother. His Asian features make it hard to tell but he looks somewhat sleepy.


    ¡°Yup,¡± Chingis shrugs and yawns. ¡°Shit happens. Are you done playing? You¡¯re kinda noisy¡­¡±


    <hr>


    VDV - (rus. Vozdushno-desantnye voyska) Russian Airborne Troops


    <hr>


    ¡°So, care to tell me what was that about?¡± I ask Draco while we both sit in his room. The place is not very different from my own besides the fact that he lives on the second floor. ¡°It didn¡¯t look like a standard visit.¡±


    After we were finally able to get back to our dorm rooms I thought it may be a good idea to get things straight. Our guests left in a hurry but the cleaning took some time. So now we sit here, a half empty bottle of vodka from Draco¡¯s own stockpile standing between us.


    ¡°¡­What do you know about my father?¡± Draco answers with a question.


    ¡°Not much,¡± my brother is not a fan of this sort of talks. He likes to keep private things¡­ private. ¡°I know he comes from the Slavic League and that the guy has money. Those two facts combined mean that he either stole it from the government or that he is the government. People like him were once called oligarchs, I believe. Oh, and by the way sorry for calling him a pimp.¡±


    To my surprise my brother bursts out laughing.


    ¡°Please. He owns half of the brothels in the former West Ukraine. That name suits him well.¡±


    Draco remains silent for a while and I do not interrupt; I am in no rush.


    ¡°The truth is, my father is an overly ambitious prick, who thinks that life is only about fucking, drinking and licking asses of those above you in a hope of gaining a tiniest shred of power. And he has an unflinching belief that every other human being is just as rotten as he is.¡± The disgusted expression on my brother face makes me rethink the phrase ¡°daddy-issues¡±. ¡°That was the reason he sent me here, you know? To be a middle man between him and the Brotherhood, to gain power inside the organization and so on. Ha, you can only imagine the depth of his disappointment after he¡¯d finally realized that for the Brotherhood he is just a disposable pawn. Not that he would just stop making business with us, oh no, that would require an ounce pride, something totally foreign for my dear old dad. Fucking rat. Seriously, if you hadn¡¯t shown up I may have killed him .¡±


    My brother takes a shot and sneers. I follow suit to keep him company and refill the glasses.


    ¡°¡­He wanted me to be his tool, you know. To gain a high position, become useful,¡± Draco continues quietly, his eyes never meet mine. ¡°Can you fucking believe that? I was six when I had first entered the Academy and the last thing he said to me before he left me here? ¡°Do not disappoint me, boy.¡± And I tried. I¡¯ve always been the first to volunteer, I took every shitty job there was just so I could be the best. Always the best. But after some time¡­¡±


    ¡°You started to enjoy being here?¡± I guess what my brother wanted to say.


    ¡°Yeah, you could say so. The Academy became my home. My family.¡±


    What could I say? I knew that feeling. Even though my mother had her own reasons to send me here, the Academy was a special place. Not a good ¨C and certainly not a safe ¨C place, but special nevertheless. Nobody here would bother to help you with your problems, but the teachers could show you how to beat the shit out of those problems if you cared to listen. And you could be sure that there is a bunch of really dangerous fuckers ready to avenge you if you fail. Besides, I am sure Draco has more reasons to stay with us. A particular gloomy dark-skinned reason comes to my mind.


    ¡°So what did he want this time? A sweet family reunion?¡±


    ¡°Something like that,¡± Draco gives me a big genuine smile. ¡°My older brother¡¯s died. Biological brother, I mean.¡±


    ¡°Ah, my condolences. I see it hit you hard.¡± My voice is full of mockery.


    ¡°Screw him. We¡¯re from different mothers anyway. The big idiot overdose at one of daddy¡¯s nightclubs. Must¡¯ve been hell of a party.¡± Draco laughs. ¡°I only wish I had been there to see how his brain tissues started to leak through his ears. Apparently it¡¯d been quite a show. But you see, the guy was useful for my father. Stupid as a brick and loyal to the death, a perfect combination. And now, without him, daddy¡¯s nervous. He has no one to watch his back¡­ and the world is dangerous.¡±


    So he wanted you to come back with him¡­


    ¡°And what will you do now?¡± I finally ask my brother, a glass hovers in my hand.


    ¡°I graduate this year. And after that I will ask Jack to make me a hunter.¡±


    A hunter? What does becoming one of the Brotherhood¡¯s infamous executioners has to do with anything? They were damn good assassins, true, but¡­


    ¡°Ah, I understand. You hope that his name will one day appear on the list.¡±


    ¡°I know it will. Sooner or later. And when it happens I will be the one to take the contract and I will personally cut off my father¡¯s fucking head.¡±


    What can you do when you hear such a declaration?


    ¡°Let¡¯s drink to that!¡±

 Chapter 21 + Update

    CH21


    ¡°THAT¡¯S INCREDIBLE! FUCKING INCREDIBLE!¡± Draco¡¯s voice reverberated through my helmet.


    ¡°Stop shouting, you big idiot! I can hear you just fine.¡± For a moment I thought that my eardrums may have been damaged by that roaring dandy.


    We were both sitting in the airlock, our bodies tightly locked in ¨C I must admit ¨C quite comfortable harnesses. If not for the airlock¡¯s transparent shell, made out of some jelly like substance, through which we could clearly see the turbulent surface of the unknown planet I would have never guessed that we were about to assault an alien top-secret research base. To hell with it, even when sitting here I could not believe it. But it was real. Everything here was so damn real.


    All I could see from my spot were unending masses of sand and dust; a surreal picture taken straight from an Egyptian interactive postcard if not for the lack of pyramids. Believe it or not, as a city boy I have never seen a place so empty and lifeless in my whole life


    ¡°Eclipse, do you hear me? How long ¡®till we land?¡± I hoped the communicator in my helmet could withstand the environment down there. Murphy is a bitch and I never liked to rely too much on any high-tech toys. I certainly was not going to start now, with all that alien shit around, but there was no other way. We would not be able to survive a minute on the surface without our favourite butler¡¯s help.


    ¡°The landing zone is opening, sir. You should be able to see it in a minute.¡± His always toned voice sounded right next to my ears.


    ¡°Good. Is Blaze still on the bridge?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Would you like to speak with her, captain?¡±


    Would I? I looked at Draco¡¯s face. It was hard to determine his features under the dark visor, but he did not seem interested in the conversation.


    ¡°Sure. Patch me through.¡± My sister¡¯s voice answered me before I had finished the sentence.


    ¡°What do you need?¡±


    A smile crept at my lips. The feeling of nostalgia woke up somewhere deep inside me.


    ¡°I need you to stay close to Ilmine. You both have to monitor our situation.¡± And Blaze had to monitor Miss Anthropologist. ¡°She¡¯s the most knowledgeable blue alien we have and we may need her brain cells in top condition. Don¡¯t let her nerves get the better of her.¡±


    ¡°Will do. Anything else, captain?¡± Somehow, in her mouth, the title sounded like an insult.


    ¡°Yeah, if you could prepare a welcome-home party for us, that would be great. Buy some drinks, invite some hookers, maybe bake a cake¡­ That should do the trick.¡±


    I heard my sister sneer.


    ¡°Can¡¯t promise anything. Even alien whores must have some dignity left. Asking them to sleep with you would be cruel even by our standards.¡±


    Oh, you daughter of a¡­This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    ¡°Hey, kids! Could you please shut the fuck up? Thank you. Now, you may want to take a look at this.¡± My brother¡¯s fist hit my shoulder. Hard. ¡°Looks like a devil¡¯s ass crack. Bet it smells even worse.¡±


    My attention turned to what was happening outside the airlock. And mommy sweet¡­ Draco was right. There was a deep dark chasm right below us; our landing zone for all I could tell. From this height it resembled a hungry maws of a leviathan. Ever growing hungry maws. And we were stupid enough fish to jump straight into the monster¡¯s belly.


    ¡°How long is it?¡± I asked no one in particular. ¡°Girls, can you see it?¡±


    ¡°Almost two kilometres, sir. It will be a close one but my systems are in top condition, the ship should fit just right. There is no reason for you to worry about your safety.¡± Eclipse¡¯s disembodied voice explained, the AI always ready to show off with his knowledge. ¡°At least not yet.¡±


    ¡°What?! You can¡¯t land there! That¡¯s what they want!¡± This time it was Ilmine¡¯s frantic voice resounding inside my helmet. ¡°The second the ships lands the roof will close above our heads and the ship will be trapped there! Who knows whether we will be able to open it again before they kill us all! And there is no way we could smash through it, so don¡¯t even think about it. If you want to risk your primitive heads than go ahead, but I have no intentions of dying in this hole! Not after all this!¡±


    Well, that may be considered a problem.


    ¡°¡­Eclipse? Any ideas?¡± The dark opening was getting bigger and bigger with every second. We had to think fast.


    ¡°There may be another way for you to get in, captain. Or rather - fall in. The space-suits you are currently wearing are equipped with pneumatic boosters. As I understand, they were designed to help the user navigate through zero-gravity environment. In this case they should be enough to break your fall. With your permission I can access the suits¡¯ interference and start the boosters when needed so you do not have to worry about the proper timing.¡±


    I needed a second to comprehend what I just heard. Fall in? Seriously?


    ¡°Wait a minute¡­¡± Draco was the first one to recovered from shock. ¡°You want us to JUMP down there?!¡±


    ¡°That is exactly what I meant. But you have to decide right now. If I do not break the manoeuvre in the next thirty seconds, I may not be able to pull the ship up and we risk damaging the drive turbines. If this happens the rector may overload.¡±


    ¡°Are you out of your fucking mechanical mind?! Please Ares, tell me you¡¯re not considering this! It¡¯s around a kilometre¡­ Maybe more...¡±


    I looked down again. Did we have a chance? Did we have a choice?


    ¡°You remember what the Teach said the first time we were training parachute jumping?¡± A small nostalgic smile touched my lips. ¡°If something goes wrong after you make a jump¡­¡±


    Draco sighed.


    ¡°¡­you have the rest of your life to fix it.¡±


    <hr>


    ¡°High Disciple, the ship..¡± A quivering voice of one of his lessers broke the silence in the control room. ¡°The ship is withdrawing. And they ignored our attempts to establish a close-ranged communication channel. They¡­ We don¡¯t know what they¡¯re doing¡­¡±


    The Sa¡¯der in question said nothing. He already knew all of this thanks to the AI, but it was always good to make sure that the he was not alone in this madness. That it was not just a hallucination of a tired mind. Keeping company was what lessers did best after all.


    ¡°Have you found any signs of another vessel in the system?¡±


    ¡°No, High Disciple. We¡¯ve been scanning on all the possible frequencies with both passive and active sensors. There are no signs of any other ship, cloaked or not, following Master Teo. We.. we do not know what it means¡­¡±


    The High Disciple stood in his place like a frozen statue. He knew. It meant that he had been wrong. Either regarding Teo or Imperials, maybe both. But what should he do now? He was a scientist, first and foremost, he liked when the world around him stayed logical. This? This was unacceptable.


    ¡°Prepare the communication channel, I need to send a message to the Council,¡± he finally spoke. ¡°All members of my inner circle shall ready themselves for the evacuation procedure. We will start the moment I¡¯m sure the message has been deliver-¡±


    ¡°Security breach.¡± AI¡¯s flat genderless voice echoed through the room. ¡°There are unauthorized organic life forms breaching the defences of this facility. Lockdown initiation recommended.¡±


    The High Disciple closed his eyes.


    Completely unacceptable.

 Chapter 22

    CH22


    A soft hum could be heard as the hatch blocking our path slid open revealing another corridor and the little drone returned to its place. Draco was walking at the front with his gun, ready to greet our hosts when they arrive. I, on the other hand, served as nothing more than a walking platform for the robo-spider that glued itself to my arm. To boot I really felt like a total Cute Robot''s Amazing Platform after the jump. Not that I was complaining of course, free falling on the surface of an alien planet with zero control over your own body is not the best possible warm up for a fight. The ¡°smooth landing¡± Eclipse promised has also given us a few bruises. Super advanced artificial intelligence my ass.


    ¡°This place¡­ Looks familiar, doesn¡¯t it?¡± I heard my brother¡¯s whisper inside my helmet. Even though the atmosphere here was breathable we stayed in the vacuum suits. The protection they offered against  any real weapons was probably minuscule but still better than nothing.


    ¡°That it does. It feels like we are still on the ship,¡± I looked around the corridor. The same bare grey walls, barely illuminated by the eye-hurting glow. ¡°At least we can guess whose party we¡¯re gonna wreck. And why the fuck do they need all those domes, never heard about ceilings?¡±


    ¡°You can say it¡¯s a cultural issue,¡± I could still hear a rebellious tune in Ilmine¡¯s voice. ¡°Although Sa¡¯der can live and function on a planet¡¯s surface they are a subterranean species. From what I know, their cities are made in the exact same way. Dome-like structures deep in the ground connected by long tunnels that are connected with bigger domes that are connected to other tunnels and so on. A real underground maze.¡±


    ¡°And a nightmare  for any invader,¡± I said imagining fighting an all-out war in such a place. Did they even know such concept? In practical terms? Well, I had nothing against familiarizing them with it.


    ¡°So what, they¡¯re like ants?¡± Draco asked curiously.


    ¡°No, Sa¡¯der are not like ants.¡± I could almost see Ilmine face-palm. ¡°They are a highly advanced race with complicated social and economic structures. As one of the oldest society-¡±


    ¡°Not ants, got it.¡± Seeing how Ilmine was about to enter her teacher-mode I had to cut her off. Another time maybe. ¡°By the way Eclipse, are you completely sure it is safe to carry this little guy like that? You told me there will be another AI lurking down here.¡±


    The drone I carried was almost weightless and it was quite easy to ignore its existence if not for the fact that it had the capabilities to literally torn off my arm. And that could be bothersome.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    ¡°I am positive, sir. The device is fairly simple, crude even. Apart from the hardware appearance it has a little in common with the larger repair drones you had met on board. The only way to hack it would require someone to be on the ship or me to terminate the signal. Neither of these options is possible.¡±


    Who was I to argue?


    We walked for good two minutes only to find another hatch blocking our path. Left with no choice, I activated our little friend once again and watched as it was climbing the smooth surface only to stop over a small black rectangle in the middle of the hatch. Probably a control panel of some sort.


    ¡°Captain, it appears the AI has initiated the lockdown procedure for this facility,¡± Eclipse reported.


    ¡°What does it mean? Are we trapped?¡± Draco and I exchanged glances.


    ¡°Not at all. But it may take some time to override it. Approximately  7.435 minutes.¡±


    Great, another delay, just what we needed. At least we did not have to worry about running out of oxygen.


    ¡°Hey, Eclipse, if it¡¯s so easy than why did those ugly shitheads couldn¡¯t touch us when we were locked on the bridge?¡± Draco suddenly asked. ¡°Thought they were pretty crafty with all the technical bullshit  at their disposal.¡±


    Hmm, good question. Actually, I never thought of that. There must have been some tiny robots they could use, right? Than why not?


    ¡°The situation back then was very different, sir. This facility was built so that virtually any AI could operate it without  fulfilling  any special requirements. Even without the help of an AI this place could function properly, thou that would most likely inconvenience and slow down any research projects that are being conducted here. In case of a ship, especially one as highly advanced as myself, the AI has to be present and it must be designed from scratch. It has to be fully compatible with the vessel. That is why me and the ship are one. When I am offline the ship becomes nothing more than a wreck. Beautiful and graceful, if I may add, but still a wreck.¡±


    ¡°Hmm, and this AI here¡­ You think it might get pissed if we start blowing things up?¡±


    ¡°Highly doubtful. I may not be the most knowledgeable Artificial Intelligence in the Galaxy in my current state, but the rules biding me are ¨C as far as I know ¨C universal. If I were to conclude anything from the available information, sir, I would say that the AI residing in this facility is more of a lab assistant than a mighty overseer.¡±


    In fact, that was mostly in line with the little bit of data we had regarding AIs. From what I could remember Eclipse was not terribly upset when he found out what had happened to his previous crew.


    ¡°It is done. Should I open the hatch, captain?¡±


    Well? I turned my head to see Draco nodding. Not that we could do much on this side.


    ¡°Do it.¡±


    The hatch split in a star-like pattern and retracted into the walls. We entered carefully, our bodies tensed. And inside¡­


    ¡°Wow.¡±


    Yeah, my thoughts exactly.


    Just behind the now opened entrance there was a square platform. Standing on it we had a perfect view on a huge hall. We were at least 70 meters above the floor level and there was still some distance to the highest point of the dome. The floor itself had to have no less than 50 meters in diameter.


    ¡°What the hell is that?¡±


    Right in the middle of the hall stood¡­ something. I would call it a giant statue for the lack of a better word. Roughly humanoid, the thing was clearly incomplete. I could not spot any eye-catching details before it simply blinked out of existence.


    ¡°A hologram.¡± But of what?


    No time to think. Just as we were distracted by the moloch, the platform started sliding down.