Ell Evan

Hidden garden Space Station, CIC

“I knew things were going too well!” I mumbled.

Here I was, in armor looking at a representation of the PX2458 solar system with lot of red dots approaching the goldilocks zone where the gas giant orbit. Qualia is a moon almost the same size as Earth is, it is 40% water and the rest is just landmass with desert and jungles, great lakes could be seen too. Wish we could have gone there to relax, I always wanted to go camping.

“Do not despair, concentrate on the task given to you.” Fenicia advised her.

The Amazon’s eyes focused on the map, controlling the satellites all around the system to analyze the ships advancing toward the station. We could already tell thanks to the scans that by their size and form that they are all warships. We could even already devise their role in their formation; the heavy hitter’s, two dreadnoughts and three frigates are at the back with auxiliary ships charged with supplying and repair work. The vanguard consisting of fighters, scout and heavy scout ship is at the foremost position of the flotilla formation.

“You say that, but I don’t see how we are going to make it!” I screamed.

I tucked a bit of my blond hair behind my left ear, looking at the calm and imposing woman facing me. She has blue hair with a streak of white in them, Fenicia gold eyes looked with laser focus at the map. She made a serious face that was strangely attractive compared to the crazy look she often showed. The statuesque Alien female is donned in black power armor and frankly looked terribly beautiful and lethal. Her eyes focused on me after my outburst, a cunning and dangerous smile appeared slowly on Fenicia’s face. The hint of craziness was back in the golden orbs peering at me.

“We have 50/50 chance of blowing them up or getting blown up along with the station.” She said still smiling.

Fenicia went around the holo-table to face me, I watched her has she stood there looking at me as if she was judging me. She crossed her arms under her breastplate and nodded.

“Things may look bad but at least if you die today, you will live free. Isn’t that the most important thing, after everything you have undergone?”

That stopped my pathetic whining. Fenicia was right. If I died today, I would do it while I was my own person!

“Nobody can give you Freedom if you are a woman, YOU TAKE IT.” Fenicia said with gusto.

“Couldn’t have said it better myself, my dear!” A voice said from behind us.

I turned toward the door of the room that slid with a “whoosh” behind Idunn who walked with confidence to us. Her usual tight fitting white bodysuit covered her lithe and petite form. There was a black belt on her waist, heavy with equipments and a lightweight black pistol in an ornate black holster decorated with wavy silver lines.

“I see that you have everything in hand.”

“Idunn, I thought that we agreed that you need to be in the shuttle?” Said Fenicia with a dangerous tone and she tapped her foot against the floor, her irritation bleeding into her otherwise calm demeanour.

I looked at her and her blank face belied the simmering anger, now boiling rage that I felt under Fenicia's skin. Placing myself between them to avoid an altercation I interrupted. “She must have a good reason, Idunn doesn’t strike me as a frivolous person.”

The relationship between those two has always been weird ever since I’ve known them. Fenicia, even if she is sometimes uncaring, blunt and focused has begun to change her behaviour while around Idunn. Her attitude thaw out, becoming warmer towards Idunn and it feels like she needs some form of physical contact, but refrains from asking for it, or giving it herself.. I know it’s not romance or sex, but more like something between parents and child. Fenicia seems at a loss about what to do. I'm missing something, but I'm sure I'll pick it up later. Fenicia’s gaze seemed to bore through me, not even caring about what I said. That female alien is intense sometimes. I turned, only to see Idunn smiling, she strutted sexily toward me, pushing me out of the way, and faced the tall Amazon. I don’t know what she did, but Fenicia let go of her anger and returned to the holo-table with Idunn behind her.

I felt unimportant suddenly, like a third wheel.

My eyes found Idunn who was seated at the communication-console very close to the holo-table.

*Forgot you are a psionic…*

And I heard her laugh maniacally in my head.

Mental speak has always been a weird experience for me, not everyone possess natural mental barriers. Telepath often have unrestricted access to unguarded minds, and not a lot of people can afford the training to shield themselves. I heard that people can become psionics though, with a good gene splicing operation in V. I. space, but it’s not cheap. Money make the galaxy goes round, maybe if I survive all this bullshit I will be able to get a good splicing for heavy worlds and psionics abilities. Splicing genes has become the norm in the human sphere, anyone can look the way they want to, be tall, short, muscular, even have a different skin color. Those are the changes that are less costly. But splicing genes for mental acuity, memory or complex multitasking becomes astronomical. Then splicing for psionics has become rather pricey.

*That would be grand, Director!*

I don’t know why she is spoiling me this much, but why say no? Who could say no to free augments by an Assurian genius scientist? Not me.

Fenicia’s mood suddenly plummeted, from my vantage point I could see her face distorting in a sneer. Her fist hit on the holo-table, I thought she was about to destroy it but it absorbed the shock and didn’t even budge. Idunn, didn’t seem surprised by her outburst and stayed seated in comfort.

“Fuck. I don’t know how they did it, but they disabled the minefield! They are passing unimpeded.”

Oh, we are fucked.

Suddenly an electronic chime resounded in the direction of Idunn, the communication console holo-interface glowed yellow. A sign that someone is hailing us.

“Ah just on time!” Idunn chirped in a singsong voice.

The petite woman touched the interface and the holo-screen appeared while elongating. The face of a black haired woman wearing dark goggles appeared, she had an air of authority, an austere atmosphere hung around her..

“This is the VIS Sundance, Owner code 01 protocol 66 execute 96.”

Acknowledged. Protocol 66 activated, lock down on all civilian and centurion access.

The screen shut off. Yep totally fucked.

“Mom! What did you do?!” Screamed Fenicia.

Oh, so that’s what was going on, now that I know this I can see the resemblance, the same crazy eyes and delicate face. But the difference in stature is really weird, Fenicia is a giant female Amazon and Idunn a curvy little woman.

Taking my tablet from my belt, I tried to access Sandra but I just had the basic functionality on it. The OS, entertainment, basic communication and some private app. And nothing else.

“Do you know who that was, Fenicia?” Idunn calmly asked her daughter while threading the fingers of her hands and supporting her head.

She looked expectantly at Fenicia.

“Our death.” The Amazon facepalmed.

Idunn looked like she was disappointed and her gaze found mine, my brain went into overdrive. I thought and thought. And it finally clicked why the Assurian woman was so calm. It made me laugh and laugh. Fenicia looked at me as if I was crazy. The look on her face was priceless.

I’ve seen the woman on the screen earlier. And I know now that we are not going to die, after having a good laugh I went to one of the consoles and sagged into one of the seats.

Sigh.

***

Kisora Suimei

Bridge of the VIS Sundance, PX2458, Year 456 of the unified Alliance

“The minefield has been deactivated, ma’am.” I reported to Vice-Sama.

Being a pilot and Special Agent attached to the security of the most important person in V. I. space has its perks. Free and Experimental Augments, adventures, fucking people up. I really like to fuck people up.

“What a nasty little trap, Idunn’s daughter is a rather devious person.” The Madame said matter of factly, she is seated on the command chair, looking straight ahead.

Rays of light come and go on the glasses of her Star Gazer, a Nano-built portable ocular interface. A similar device was incrusted in the arm of her black and green body suit.

“Indeed, ma’am.” Interjected Sharah Phis, the weapon specialist. “The sensor fortunately detected them and by seeing how the minefield is positioned for the likely route we are taking in the form of a cone the trap was about to get some of our ships destroyed.”

“Not all, but some.” Said Vice-Sama.

Vice-Sama smiled and sat in contemplation, she got the same look whenever she discover people with good talents. The poor being which caught her attention will undergo a gauntlet in the future. I turned myself toward the piloting console interface and leaned back in my dark seat. My twin sister was busy disarming the minefield, her hands blurred on the computer. This is how fast she was going, she used her neural interface and her body in complete synergy with the onboard AI Sundance. The person who mined the way to the station put the EMP mines first in our path to fry the shields of the ships, then the explosive and concussive ones and at the end the nuke mines would finish them off by converging on them. We would have lost 30% of our fleet this way.

“Done!” scream my sister in relief.

Kalan sagged in her seat, like me she has short bob of auburn hair, green slanted eyes and a stubborn streak. We are from the Asian Great Alliance (AGA) part of the human sphere. All humans love to body splice but we decided to keep a natural look, both of us chose to keep a petite curvaceous body. But it doesn’t mean we do not like exercises, it’s kinda part of the job to stay in shape.

“Was it that difficult, Lan?”

“Yes, Sora.”

“Explain.”

“The person, who trapped the route, wrote five codes activation for the different type of mines, so as to avoid what we just did to them. The mines would have converged to us in waves, they would saturate the shield with EMP and fucking puncture them permitting the explosive mines to enter and causing damage to the hull and keep us busy until the big nuke would destroy us. We are lucky that the code wasn’t adaptive.” Lan massaged her temple.

Her black body suit, adorned with pink highlights, was fortunately designed to absorb sweat. But it isn’t the case for her forehead. I took a tissue from my belt pack and gave it to her. Without looking at me she took it. We twins have to take care of each others. She nodded in thanks to me.

“Officer Jameson, Hail back the station and contact Idunn.” I heard the order.

The com officer is a shy guy who doesn’t like to banter and enjoy keeping to himself. He has shifty eyes, in my book he cannot be relied upon. But for some reason Vice-Sama keeps him on her staff, I don’t know why. The weird guy just nodded and held out his finger on a button.

A woman with shoulder length white hair, gold eyes and soft feature on her face appeared on screen. She looked inoffensive, the kind of nurturing woman you would think took care of their family or the rich lady who would raise funds for orphanage. But the light in her golden eyes bothered me. She gave me the creeps and I didn’t know why.

“Assurian.” Lan said between her teeth.

Ah no, not one of those crazy aliens!

“It has been some time my dark friend.” The Assurian woman said warmly.

“We spoke six month ago, Id.” Vice-Sama retorted.

“Oh! You know me, when I’m working I feel like I am in a temporal dilatation bubble!” The Assurian face reddened from embarrassment.

“I get you, Id. So you finally met your wayward daughter? She is impressive, for someone who was limited like she was. No augments, no warrior form, no psionics. She’s known in the underworld. It was a bitch to follow her path.”

The Assurian lady face softened even more and a satisfied grin showed her pearly white teeth.

“You have no idea, she is everything I always wanted in a child. She’s still working on accepting me though…”

“Give it time.” Vice-Sama said.

She seemed to have forgotten the type of situation we were in and entered gossip mode. It always happens with human with life extension. My sister typed furiously on her holo-board and stopped to pass me a file on my console.

The file was sizable, Fenicia Kranicar. Mercenary, assassin, freelancer, smuggler. A gorgeous woman with blue hair and golden eyes. The full holo of her body made me lick my lips in desire. That’s the kind of strong and hard woman I like to have in my bed. She looked human but was not. The golden eyes showed Assurian ancestry but her body type didn’t match the race. Assurians are as a rule,petite if they are female tall and lean bif they are male.

“Stop drooling.” Lan said.

I wiped my mouth with my sleeve and yes I drooled. Well ignoring this little incident I continued to skim read, the psychological profile and mission of that Fenicia girl. She is badass, patient, cold and efficient. She possesses a strategic mind and somewhat of a background for the military art. For her first year she was a smuggler on the Saint Patrick, an Irish owned freighter ship of the clan McLaughlin where she learned to speak English and Irish. Alastar McLaughlin took her under his wing and taught her how to use guns and give up on her Saryan warrior training.

“Oh. That’s why, she’s not totally Assurian.”

“Yep.” Lan acquiesced.

Getting back to the bio of the alien female, I see that her time with the McLaughlin clan was cut short when her father figure Alastar died in a bad deal with the Deneb Cartel in the Rim between Human and Saryan space. She single handedly wiped the whole organization out in anger. No one was left alive in that warehouse, she at least saved the sex slaves the boss kept. One year later she was seen leaving a planet where different political factions warred for dominance and the more radicals were eliminated in a rather brutal way. She was a suspect. Fenicia Kranicar then goes mercenary in Alliance space; killing her way through organizations, corrupt Paramilitary group, Traffickers. Her most know job is running Kamil Tarib through with a metal pipe straight in his heart. He was a dangerous anarchist, that laid waste to colonies of the known races. He worked hand in hand with the previous group that Kranicar destroyed. She was presumed dead when the Ares mercenary group betrayed her just after hiring her. It is believed they had ties to Kamil.

“You could make a novel with her whole story, right?” Asked Lan.

“Mhmm. That’s exciting, I want to have a drink with her!”

“I feel that there is an ulterior motive for that.” Lan said suspiciously.

And she was right, I want to get to know that being. She seemed awesome.

“Prepare for docking procedures.” Sharah ordered harshly across the coms at our ears.

Yep, forgot. No gossiping on duty, that woman is no fun to be around. She’s like old Earth’s Antarctica when on duty, cold, austere and cruel. Sharah is a Spartan person, and should just cool her jets. But I can agree that she is an efficient Centurion.

“Docking procedures engaged, Hidden Garden is opening the hangar.” Lan informed.

“I want the light ships to surround the station, the frigates and dreadnought to patrol the system.” Said Vice-Sama calmly. “If anyone enters the system you have my permission to destroy them without question.”

Jameson relayed the order to all the other ships with his nasal voice. Ugh, I hate him. The Sundance separated from the fleet accompanied by the scout ships that moved ahead of us surrounding the immense space station. It easily dwarfed the Sundance. At the mouth of the hangar we could see on screen the arresting fields slowing the nose of the ship. Further in we could see a light warship of an old design parked. Sundance’s AI scanned it to show how damaged it was, the only thing it showed is how beat up it was. The hull near the engine is completely gone, I could see trace of laser beams on the hull near the docking ring on the neck of the bird shaped ship.

“There are no life signs in the ship.” The A. I. informed us.

“Sharah prepare a company to look into that ship, if it’s a ruse kill everyone.” Vice-Sama ordered while looking at the screen.

Sharah Phis saluted with a fist on her breast and a loud “Yes ma’am” and departed the bridge.

“Something tells me, Kranicar did this.” Lan guessed.

“No shit, from her files it’s her style. She blew up the hyperdrive to force those guys on the ship to board the station. I think she wanted the ship intact. And then went on a killing spree?” I said.

Even more possible that she got help, but there are only three life signatures aboard the station.

“We will see, when Sharah is back.”

The ship finally docked under the savaged light warship, it was time to get answers with regards to what happened on that damn space station.