Chapter Four

Fuck, my everything hurts. I rubbed the back of my neck as I made my way to the mess hall. Zafir had left a message for me the previous night, detailing how he wanted me to be a ‘role model’ for the other survivors. Apparently, that meant being social and actually joining them for breakfast instead of hiding away in my room. Yaaay.

“Morning, Elara,” Zafir greeted me with a smile when he spotted me. “I must say, I expected you to look like you’d been in a train wreck.”

“Close enough.” I shrugged, walking over to his table when he beckoned me. Sarah, another woman I didn’t recognize, and three groggy looking men were already there.

“You made the news already,” Zafir remarked, motioning to a nearby screen. The news channel in question was playing clips of me fighting the monster, as well as my escape up the side of a building. “The military will continue pretending they wish to arrest you for a while yet, while media outlets and the public lean on them to allow you to keep doing what you do.”

“No word on where the monster came from?” I frowned, turning fully to watch the clips.

“The surveillance footage was tampered with. It’s merely an empty park, then suddenly the monster is there,” Zafir answered. “From all angles. We tried to question the Syldrari, but they’re being understandably stubborn. They are quite angry about the military pointing guns at you and are therefore refusing to cooperate.”

“Mm…” I tilted my head, examining the footage as it panned over the crowd of Syldrari onlookers.

“What is it?”

I glanced back at Zafir. “They’re all not in human disguise. Did they get into trouble?”

“Ah…no. I advised the higher ups to make an exception, as this was clearly a shocking and traumatizing experience for all involved.” Zafir adopted an obnoxiously formal tone and continued, “It would behoove us to appear lenient, lest our citizens think us merciless monsters. If we show pity to the Syldrari, it will make them look all the worse when they turn on us.”

“Speak like that again and I’ll do to you what I did to the beast.” I shot Zafir a cold smile before taking a seat across from him at the table.

“It may be disgusting, but it works wonders with our ‘bosses,’” Zafir countered with a charming smile. “If I spoke without a filter the way you do, I would be shipped off to the nearest brothel and all of you would be stressing over who your new caretaker might be.”

“…yeah, let him keep the filter.” Sarah grimaced.

“Zafir in a brothel?” I murmured thoughtfully. “Huh. Can’t say I can picture that…”

“One of life’s small mercies,” Zafir groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Let’s not contemplate how they would have me reprogrammed, alright?”

That isn’t exactly what I was thinking…but that’s interesting too… I kept the thought to myself, for his sake of course.

“He might look cute in a dress though,” the girl I didn’t know spoke up in a surprising soft voice.

“…anyway…” Zafir shot her an unamused look. “Formal introductions are in order. Diana, Calder, Nikolai, Maelor, this is Elara—codename Lethe. She will be giving you your combat training, as well as teaching you how to control your feral.”

“Because the government wants us to be able to do…that?” Diana glanced at the TV, then at Zafir. “There’s more to it.”

“That information is classified.” Zafir shook his head. “Your options will be presented to you once you complete your training and can control the feral. It is my duty to give you a safe place to work on both.”

Is it now? I wondered, eyeing Zafir briefly before turning my attention back to the TV. “When am I going on patrol?”

“After breakfast. The uniform will cover your bruises.” Zafir handed me a plate. “There were things I wanted to discuss, but it can wait until our briefing tonight.”

“Assuming there’s no more interruptions?” I scoffed.

“A briefing huh?” Sarah raised an eyebrow.

“What about our training?” Calder one interjected, a fierce look in his eyes. “You can’t just introduce her as this badass and then not give us any time with her whatsoever!”

“Your training begins tomorrow,” Zafir answered in a placating tone. “Ideally, she needs more time to heal after the beating she took last night. The damage reports were rather concerning…it is a good thing we acquired healing technology from some of the more friendly alien species.”

“‘Friendly’ or ‘susceptible to manipulation?’” I snorted.

“Both.” Zafir shook his head, then gave me an amused smile. “I’m not your enemy, you know.”

“For now.” I crossed my arms. “It’s not anything personal. I’m just naturally cautious, and I think you already know what put me on further edge.”

“Indeed.” Zafir relaxed back in his seat and smiled. “I take no offense. I appreciate your questioning nature. It’s quite refreshing after coming from a workplace where everyone mindlessly obeyed their superiors.”

“Are you saying you’re superior to us?!” Maelor demanded.

“He’s our boss. Synonym: Our superior.” I gave the fiery man an agitated look. “Flip the waffles onto the floor and I’ll strangle you with your own intestines.”

“Y-yes ma’am, sorry ma’am.” He promptly sat, turning red to his ears.

“Now then, the rest of you will spend the day—” Zafir was cut off by the door to the mess hall slamming open, and a woman rushed in, panicked.

“Sir! We have a problem related to last night’s incident! A big one!” She waved him over frantically, then spotted me. “You! You should come too, it’s seriously bad, bad, bad! Name’s Amara, by the way. Come on!”

“You may bring your waffles.” Zafir shot me a smile and patted my head as he walked past me.

…that obvious, huh? I scooped up my plate and a drink, then followed Zafir and Amara through several corridors and into a room full of security screens and numerous other computers.

“What’s the problem, Amara? Zafir’s voice took on a surprisingly smooth, soothing quality. In an instant, the woman calmed down…a little. If she was running at a ten before, she was now a six.

“Right. So, not all cameras in Cascade Park were tampered with.” Amara sat down and swiveled her chair to begin navigating through menus. “There were some hidden cameras scattered around by someone unaffiliated with the military or media…and they’re selling the footage of how the monster got there. I uh…snatched it up before anyone else could, since they were selling it on a supposedly exclusive license. You guys need to see this. Seriously. I don’t know what we should do about it.”

Zafir released a faint sigh when Amara handed him what I assumed to be a receipt. I doubted it came cheap.

Amara hit a button on her keyboard, and a video feed of three imperial soldiers walking into the park sprung to life on the screen. After scouring the area and then picking a clearing, the man who appeared to be in the lead pulled out a device and pressed a button. Over the next several seconds, the monster I’d fought materialized in full, having been transported from elsewhere.

The creature showed no reaction at first, but then the three soldiers began antagonizing it, prodding it into a rampage. It chased them throughout the park, and eventually off-camera. The screaming and crunching a short while later made it clear what had happened, and the beast shambled back to the area where it had been summoned.

“What…” Zafir grasped the back of Amara’s chair to steady himself. “The military? But…if they were planning such an operation, I should have been informed.”

“Go back to the beast chasing them. One of the men slid close to the camera. Freeze with his face in frame, if you can,” I ordered, and Amara swiftly did as she was told. I’d thought something was off about their body language, it didn’t seem quite right.

A freeze frame of one of their terrified faces gave me the reason why. Those eyes didn’t lie.

“A Syldrari…?” Zafir breathed. “Syldrari dressing up as imperial soldiers and attacking their own kind? Are they attempting to start a war? The R’selkti have never gone this far…”

The R’selkti, huh… I frowned, thinking back on what I’d learned of the Syldrari thus far. “We can’t be sure it’s the R’selkti unless we have a Syldrari confirm who those men’s ties are to. From what I understand, they have some form of official bond to their clan that is invisible to the human eye.”

“…then go see if your friend at the cafe can identify them.” Zafir turned to narrow his eyes at me. “Amara may have broken the budget acquiring this footage, but the Syldrari need to know it was their own who attacked them. We can’t guarantee this footage won’t get sold to other buyers.

“Worst case, the Syldrari give us no helpful information or can’t help with this matter. Best case, they may handle the problem for us.”

“Mkay, I’ll make a copy real quick that she can take to have analyzed,” Amara declared as she began typing.

“Really? You’re going to let me show them this?” I raised an eyebrow at Zafir. “What happened to the whole ‘Syldrari are our enemies’ thing?”

“I have my own thoughts on the matter.” Zafir gave me a mysterious smile. “My priority is reducing the number of crimes for citizens to fall victim to, and the people in the Syldrari Sector are still citizens.”

“Uh huh…” I gave him an unimpressed look. “What am I supposed to use as a cover story, exactly? If I’m skipping patrol to go straight to asking a Syldrari for help…”

Zafir stroked his chin. “Avoid questions regarding ‘Lethe.’ You can vaguely suggest she might be an unknown Resonance Incident survivor, if you must. Say that your bosses picked you because you already have connections in the sector. That we felt it would be ill-advised to send an unfamiliar soldier when tensions are already high.”

With that, Amara gave me a copy of the footage, I got dressed in a uniform suitable for a patrolling soldier, and Zafir had a craft take me to the Syldrari Sector. I kept my helmet off so people could recognize me, and the lack of a weapon seemed to put them further at ease. Most of them were still standoffish when they saw me, but they seemed less likely to confront me thanks to my prior visits.

“Well, if it isn’t my favorite human—and this time in uniform.” Rel cocked his head. “A bit early for lunch, isn’t it?”

“I was hoping to have a word with you, privately, but I can wait for you to finish with those orders.” I glanced at the stove, then back to him. “Might be lunchtime by the time we’re done, too.”

Someone cleared their throat, and I looked over to see a rather bruised man. He sighed heavily before speaking up, “This have something to do with that weird human that killed that damned monster last night? It’s been rough. I’m a R’selkti deserter, you see. Some folks in the sector have the idea that it’s the R’selkti’s fault for the beast showin’ up…”

“A deserter, huh?” I raised an eyebrow. “I’m afraid I may not be the best when it comes to accepting R’selkti, former or otherwise, but…I’ll make an attempt.”

“Ah, you’re the Resonance survivor Rel was talking about?” The man grimaced and shook his head. “It was after that damned attack that I left. The young master killed his father, took over the clan, and had the weapon destroyed, but—”

“Wait, what?” I demanded, turning to face him fully. “There’s been seven other incidents since the first! Are you saying—”

“What? We’ve only ever heard of the one.” His eyes widened, and he promptly shook his head. “Clan R’selkti abandoned that project when the young master took over. His focus has been on finding the queen, not—”

The entire cafe went silent as the man clamped both hands over his mouth. I raised an eyebrow—they really weren’t aware? Well, they sure are now. My job just got more difficult, didn’t it?

“The what? I wasn’t aware Syldrari had royalty…” I did my best to play dumb without telling an outright lie.

“A queen?” The whispers started. “Here? On this planet? She’ll need to be found quickly…”

“Dyorsol, I suggest reporting to the elders with what you know. They will be able to offer you protection as well,” Rel stated calmly, then turned to glance my direction. “‘Queen’ is the closest translation into your tongue, but it is not a title of royalty. It is a personal matter of the Syldrari, so I hope you can forgive me if I don’t elaborate.”

“Of course.” I shook my head. “My job is to keep the peace, not pry.”

“You said you wished to talk privately?” Rel took off his apron, hung it up, then motioned for me to follow him. “I live upstairs. We can speak there.”

“Mhm.” I followed him up three flights of steps and kept my mouth shut as I did so. I’d never noticed since he was always behind the counter, but he had a really nice ass and legs.

“Do you mind if I shift back?” Rel paused at a door, his skin and hair already halfway between human and his Syldrari coloration.

“Not at all. I’m actually more comfortable when you’re not using a human disguise.” I shook my head slightly, closing the door behind us as we walked into his living room. “Now, as for—”

I fell silent as Rel disappeared then reappeared behind me, a dagger to my throat. Despite the weapon, I didn’t sense any malicious intent from him. Briefly, I wondered if I should have acted panicked…but it was a little too late for that.

“You expect me to believe you’re not here for some nefarious plot?” Rel asked quietly, his voice making my skin prickle into goosebumps.

“I don’t expect you to trust me, but my superiors and I are trusting you with black market footage we acquired of the events in Cascade Park last night.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out a disc.

“What…” Rel’s dagger disappeared and he snatched the disc, giving me a brief, apologetic look. “Is that ‘Lethe’ woman tied to the military?”

“We think she’s a Resonance survivor from elsewhere, but after what that man downstairs said…” I murmured, crossing my arms. “All patrols have been told to keep an eye out for her and to arrest her on sight for illegal weapons usage. I told them they’re crazy if they think we can arrest someone capable of what she did.”

Rel frowned deeper. “You said this is black market footage? What happened to the military cameras?”

“All military cameras in the vicinity were tampered with. On our footage, the beast just appears out of thin air, as does the blood in the area.” I grimaced. “We’re estimating three humans and a single Syldrari from the amount of blood, but not enough was left in the beast’s stomach to be sure. It converted most of what it ate into energy before it died.”

“Tch, as they do…” Rel muttered with distaste. “Some species can’t help but tamper with the natural order…”

“Indeed. ‘Why wait for evolution when we can turn to experimentation and augmentation?’” I let out a heavy sigh, then shook my head. “If you don’t have a secure computer, I brought—”

“Sit. I’ll get you a drink.” Rel made a dismissive motion vaguely in the direction of a sofa. With that, he was off into some other part of his abode.

With no other viable option aside from ‘obey,’ I perched on the sofa and crossed one leg over the other. When Rel returned, it was with a drink and a jar of what looked like rock candy in the shape of stars.

Rel sat at a nearby desk before speaking up. “What am I meant to look for in this footage? It’s rather odd for the military to seek Syldrari assistance.”

“Well…we’re hoping you can identify clan bonds via camera footage,” I answered.

“Clan bonds…” Rel looked back at me, his eyes widened. “That…would depend on the cameras used.”

“Well, this footage is suspiciously clear for ‘hidden cameras,’ so I’m hopeful.” I shook my head slightly before twisting the top off the jar. “Regardless of what clan it is, it’s bad news.”

Rel fell silent aside from the occasional hiss, and what I guessed to be a few Syldran curses. He watched the footage several times before retrieving the disk and plopping down next to me on the sofa and holding it out to me. When I shook my head, he placed the disc on the table in front of us.

“‘Bad news’ was an understatement.” Rel slumped back in his seat. “They were of lesser clans, but all former R’selkti—the shadow of their old allegiance still hangs over them, so they would have recently changed affiliation. It is difficult to say that it isn’t the R’selkti pulling the strings, especially if they are searching for a queen, but it is hard to say for certain.”

“Why would a ‘queen’ make it more…reasonable? To assume they’re behind it?” I asked with a frown. “Is a queen not something to protect?”

“Clan R’selkti believes that bloodshed will please a queen and earn them her favor. As there is nothing on this planet to hunt…they will seek to incite conflict.” Rel shook his head slowly. “Every queen is different. Some demand blood, some pleasure, yet others wish for more simple things—such as a haven or protectors. They are…almost divine in their whims.”

“I see…so, the R’selkti are dangerous in their devotion,” I murmured.

“We all are,” Rel stated. “No matter the clan, queens are sacred. With all the stories and legends…every Syldrari grows up dreaming of being the one to discover a queen and become her friend and/or consort. It is the one thing that is consistent between all bloodlines and ranks.”

“Hmmm…I can see how that may be problematic.” I frowned, considering it. “Countless clans scouring the planet in search of one woman who, if they find and ally with her, it will bring them instant fame, power, and honor. Right?”

“Yes…the smaller clans may be especially desperate.” Rel nodded. “The issue is there are only so many places on your planet where a queen could be hiding. The Syldrari Sector, a handful of research outposts…if she isn’t in any of those places, she will be on one of the docked or orbiting ships already.”

“Mmm…and with Resonance Incidents continuing to happen…” I muttered.

“You said there have been seven others?” Rel asked gently.

“Mhm. Most of the survivors come from those, from what I understand.” I nodded before taking a sip of my rather sweet drink. “If that deserter is telling the truth and the R’selkti destroyed their resonance weapon, then either someone is attempting to frame them—or the imperial military is further along in their development than any of us were aware of. Or both?”

“Tell me…do you know this Lethe person?” Rel inquired, shifting in his seat so he was partially turned toward me.

“I’m under orders to neither confirm nor deny such queries.” I glanced at him sideways, watching his lips pull into an amused smile.

Rel shook his head. “A strange, magic-wielding human appears out of nowhere to save the poor, poor Syldrari from a monster attack—suspiciously soon after an odd human began befriending the Syldrari. The imperial military attempts to chase and capture the woman for illegal weapon usage.

“With slight modification, that black market footage would show mere human soldiers transporting the monster—framing that same military and likely starting a war.

“The most suspicious part of it all remains the magic-wielding human. Your kind has no natural ability, and even with magitech, feats like what I witnessed last night are unheard of from humans.”

“Thus why we think she must be a Resonance survivor. Some of the quarantined survivors exhibited elemental abilities.” I shook my head faintly as Rel continued to peer at me intently. “Some of us just seem to be lucky to have lived at all, but—”

“If you ‘run into’ Lethe, you can relay my appreciation to her,” Rel interrupted pointedly as he rose to his feet. “For now, I’m afraid I should be getting back to work. Intriguing as your company is, I do have customers waiting for me.”

I raised an eyebrow at him as I stood too. “What makes you think I’ll run into her?”

“I think you know why.” Rel chuckled and stopped me from placing the jar of candy back down. “Keep it. Perhaps some of your colleagues will find it to be an interesting treat as well.”

“Uh… thanks? But who says I’m going to share?” I tilted my head faintly. I ‘know why’ he thinks I’ll run into Lethe? What?

Rel shook his head at me. “If you eat them all yourself you’re liable to get sick.”

“Not if I spread it out over time.” I peered back at him as we left his apartment. Then, it occurred to me, and I sighed. “You should probably shift before we get downstairs, for both our sakes.”

“Hmm? Oh.” Rel grimaced. “You are certainly right about that. A soldier letting a Syldrari get away with being in his true form while in public…yes, I do get the impression that might be even worse for you than it would be for me. Will you be staying for lunch?”

“Mhm. My patrols were canceled in favor of sending me to show you that. They gave me leave to have lunch before coming back, though I was warned not to dawdle.”

Rel nodded in understanding. “I’ll make your lunch to go, then. Mind if I surprise you this time?”

“Sure?” I raised an eyebrow, and he grinned.

“Excellent. I think you will enjoy this immensely.” Rel cracked his knuckles as he headed behind the counter.

It wasn’t too long of a wait before I had my lunch in hand, said my goodbyes, and was on my way out of the Syldrari Sector. It wasn’t until I was in the craft speeding back to headquarters that it finally hit me.

…shit. Syldrari eyesight let him see something about ‘Lethe’ that links her to me, didn’t it? I gnawed nervously on my lower lip. I wasn’t sure how to pursue that line of questioning, especially when I didn’t know all the spectrums Syldrari could see. There were only so many ways I could potentially blow off similarities as a coincidence. Fuck. Or…was he bluffing to try and get an answer out of me? After all, he didn’t say or ask much of anything aside from saying to relay his appreciation…

“Ma’am, we’ve arrived.” Someone coughed. “Better get that food in you fast if you’re spacin’ out like that. …that is food, right?”

“Sorry about that—and thanks for the lift. And yes, it’s food. It’s surprisingly good.” I hurried off the craft and into HQ, making my way straight to the elevator and down to the basement levels where we lived. I needed to figure out how much to filter out of my report to Zafir—and quickly.

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