Breakdown of Reality

                Toshon lead the group down the corridor towards the Captain’s Quarters. A contingent of pirates surrounded Nykyos, Rambler, Omni, Flyboy, and Zari. Rambler, Flyboy, and Zari looked worried, but Nykyos was strolling along casually with his hands in his pockets and Omni looked unconcerned. He looked like he was about to start whistling. Rambler sidled quietly up next to him.

                “This is bad boss,” he said under his breath.

                Nykyos shrugged.

                “You remember Gethorn?” he asked.

                “The planet with the Amazons?” Rambler asked, “Sure I remember that. Seem to remember something about a sacrificial pit and you strung up by your ankles.”

                “That was worse than this,” Nykyos said.

                “Sure, that was bad,” Rambler said, “But the crew is back dealing with pirates attacking the ship, so what are we going to do?”

                Nykyos looked around him casually.

                “The entire crew?” Nykyos asked, a sly grin on his face.

                “Yeah, you sent Reader back with the hostages, right?” Rambler asked.

                “Let’s just say I read the situation correctly,” Nykyos said, glancing at the air conditioning vents.

                Rambler stared at the vents for a few seconds before a look of enlightenment crossed his face.

                “Ah,” he said, “Got you.”

                Nykyos put a finger to his lips. Rambler nodded and fell back in line with the others. Flyboy and Zari shot him a questioning look and Rambler just nodded, shooting Nykyos a sly look. Flyboy and Zari grinned.

                Finally the made it to the Captain’s Quarters. Toshon stopped in front of the door, waving at his men. The pirates took the Rejects’ weapons from them. One of them picked up one of Rambler’s miniguns and nearly dropped it on his foot. The pirate stared at Rambler in awe. Rambler just grinned.

                “Yup,” he said, “They’re pretty heavy.”

                The pirate shook his head as the Rejects were patted down for extra weapons. When they were satisfied that they were clean they took up positions around the door. Toshon, Dirce, and the Rejects went into the Captain’s Quarters alone.

                Toshon stopped in the center and stretched out his arms, as if showing off the quarters, he then proceeded to slowly turn around and face Nykyos.

                “Well Captain?” he asked, “What do you think?”

                Nykyos slowly ran his eyes over the cabin. There were pretentious pieces of artwork hanging on the wall. The stereo system in the room was playing some music he’d never heard of, and had no desire to ever hear again. It sounded like Pelshorian Monks humming about nothing at all. A large picture of Toshon was the centerpiece. He brought his eyes back to the pirate leader and raised one eyebrow.

                “What do I think?” Nykyos asked, “I think this proves something I suspected when I took the job.”

                “That I am the epitome of awesome?” Toshon asked.

                Nykyos chuckled and shook his head.

                “It proves that you’re a giant penis,” Nykyos said.

                “What does my massive member have to do with anything?” Toshon asked.

                Nykyos rolled his eyes.

                “Shouldn’t be surprised that that went over your head,” he said, “Not that you have a giant penis. That you are a giant penis, you know, a dick.”

                Toshon’s eyes narrowed as he began to slowly realize that he’d been insulted.

                “What do you mean?” he asked.

                “Well, first off, you’re a pirate,” he said, “Which means that you’re attempting to buck against some imagined authority figure. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not too fond of those myself, but I don’t have to be a giant twat about it. Me and my crew travel the stars and help people out.”

                “Go on…” Toshon said, crossing his arms.

                “Then there’s this room,” Nykyos continued, “I mean, it couldn’t scream pretentious asshole more if you tried. The artwork, this garbage music, and of course, the giant pretentious picture of yourself.”

                He waved his hand dismissively at the picture.

                “Then there’s the men you lead,” Nykyos said, “They’re not very good at their job, are they?”

                “What do you mean by that?” Toshon asked.

                “Well, if you’re going to search someone for weapons,” Nykyos said, “It’s usually a sign your bad at your job when you miss some.”

                With that a pair of revolvers slid from his sleeves and into his hands. Toshon snarled and brought his rifle up to bear on Nykyos. Dirce brought a pistol up as well. Nykyos had his revolvers trained on both of their heads.

                “You really think you can get out of this alive?” Toshon asked.

                “Eh, who knows,” Nykyos said dismissively as a vent cover quietly slipped off, “At least I can die with knowledge of having rid the world of a giant prick.”

                Reader slowly slid out of the vent, camouflage system activating. Nykyos kept his eyes trained on Toshon. He started making dramatic gestures with his hands.

                “Oh yeah,” he said, “There’s one other thing that proves that your one of the most retarded people in the solar system.”

                “What’s that?” Toshon asked, anger rising in his voice.

                “You got this stupid little ponce to work for you,” Nykyos said, “And he really didn’t do a good job keeping you abreast of the situation.”

                “What do you mean?” Toshon asked.

                “Well,” Nykyos said, “There’s one very important lesson that I’ve learned over the years of leading a roving band of adventurers, and that’s to always maintain situational awareness.”

                “Explain.” Toshon said.

                “Make sure you know where all your enemies are,” Nykyos explained, “You always have to keep account of everyone and everything.”

                “He did,” Toshon said, confident, “I know where all your crew is.”

                “Really?” Nykyos said, a grin creeping across his face.

                As he said that Toshon grunted as Reader’s camouflage system deactivated and the sticking through Toshon’s chest appeared. Nykyos shot Dirce in the forehead before he could react. Reader pulled the sword out of the pirate leader’s chest and started cleaning it. Nykyos slowly and casually walked up to the dying pirate leader.

                “See,” he said, “Always know where your enemy is, even if he’s pretending to help you out. You really think I didn’t see Dirce’s betrayal coming from a mile away?”

                He rolled his eyes.

                “Please,” he said, “This is what I do.”

                Toshon tried to say something but couldn’t, and instead just died.

                “Nice work Reader,” he said, “Situation back at this ship?”

                “Tense but it sounds like Maze has it under control,” Reader said.

                Nykyos tapped his coms.

                “Writer, how’s it going with the defenses?” he asked.

                “We got it under control boss man,” Writer said, “I think we’ve only got a few more waves of pirates left. You guys ok?”

                “We’re fine,” Nykyos said, slowly moving towards the door, Reader took up position on the opposite side, “About to get our weapons back, the pirate leader is dead.”

                “Roger that boss man,” Writer responded, “See you back on the ship in a few.”

                Nykyos opened up the door and Reader sprung through. She sliced up a few pirates and Nykyos took the rest out with his revolvers. Zari, Flyboy, and Rambler collected their weapons and they moved on.

                When they got to the hanger they opened it to find a wasteland. Maze was standing above the last living pirate, her pistol trained on his head. The pirate stared up at her and went to grab his rifle. Maze shot him then brought his pistol to the door. She dropped it when she saw who it was.

                “Boss,” she said, “Good to see you. We done here?”

                “Yup,” Nykyos said, “Lets dust off.”

                With that the group headed back into the ship. Maze went off to her engines, Zari headed to the med bay, Rambler went to find a drink, Omni went back to his work bench, Flyboy headed to the cockpit, Reader slunk off to some dark corner, and Nykyos shut the loading bay, staring with contentment.

                They’d offload the rescued passengers at TWC Station, their favored port in the storm. Rambler could get blitzed, Reader could find a new sword to play with, Flyboy could find some pretty girls to flirt with, and the rest could do as they pleased. Then move on to the next mission. Nykyos grinned; it was good to be an adventurer some days.

7: Defensive Positions

               “Maze?” Writer asked over the coms.

               Maze looked up from the turret that she had she finished emplacing and hit the coms button.

               “Yeah Writer?” Maze asked.

               “We’ve got incoming,” Writer said.

               Maze stepped back and took a look at the defensive wall she’s made. The entrance to the bay was lined with explosives from Rambler that detonated when she wanted them too. Six turrets faced lined the corridor leading to the entrance of the ship. A metal blockade would provide cover to fire from.

               “Defenses will be as good as they get,” Maze said to Writer, “We find anyone capable of helping me fight?”

               “We’ve got two,” Writer said, “They’re on their way down to you now.”

               “Roger that,” Maze said, “We get a hold of the boss man yet?”

               “Negative,” Writer said, “He’s out of communication, Reader says they got caught though.”

               Maze sighed.

               “Again?” she asked.

               “Yeah, again,” Writer said, “You know him though; he’ll figure a way out.”

               Maze nodded, a grin on her face.

               “He always does,” she said.

               “That’s why he’s the boss man,” Writer said, “He’s probably already got a plan in motion.”

               The two former hostages, a man and a woman, made it to the barricade. Maze nodded at a small arsenal of weapons lying at the base of the ramp.

               “Pick your poison,” she said, “I’ve got these.”

               She showed the two hostages her pistols.

               “I’ll also be doing any repairs I might need to do as the fight goes,” she said, “Make sure I’m covered.”

               The pair nodded and grabbed their weapons. The man picked up an assault rifle and the woman grabbed a sniper rifle.

               “I’m Maze, by the way,” she said, introducing herself, “And you are?”

               “I’m Steve,” the man said, handling the rifle nervously.

               “I’m Ariana,” the woman said, handling her sniper rifle like a pro.

               “Good to meet you Ariana and Steve,” Maze said, “Now, who’s up for killing some pirates? I know I am.”

               “That’s good,” Writer said, “Because you’ve got incoming in five.”

               “Steve, Ariana, take cover,” she said, pointing at the barricade, “We’ve got company coming.”

               She took up position behind a large steel crate near the turrets. She heard the doors to the cargo bay open, counted to ten, and hit the switch. The explosive went off with a loud bang. She grinned and took a look around the crate to check the damage.

               The door was smoking and a large number of pirates were decorating the walls of the cargo bay. She frowned at the amount left. The frowned turned to a grin as Ariana took one down with her sniper rifle. She whipped the pistol up and fired a few shots, dropping pirates as they stormed the door. She ducked behind the crate again as they started firing back.

               And came into range of the turrets. She smiled sweetly as the turrets hummed to life and started firing on the pirates. They started cursing and firing at the turrets. She watched her equipment monitor, turret two was taking damage.

               “Cover me!” she shouted as she dashed from the crate she was behind to another across the way, this one closer to the damaged turret. Steve started laying down covering fire and Ariana managed to snipe a few which allowed Maze to make it across the corridor safely. She made her way to where she could see the turret while still being in cover from the Pirates.

               She took a deep breath and dove to the turret. She felt a few bullets whiz past her but Ariana took that pirate out with a well-placed shot. She took out a repair kit and quickly made a few repairs to the turret, getting its stability up to acceptable levels. She jumped up, whipped out her pistols, took down a few pirates, and ducked back behind cover.

               She was sweating lightly from the tension and exertion. Repairing turrets in a combat situation wasn’t easy. After a few minutes of this exchange the pirates fell back behind the door. Maze took this moment to fix the turrets. She walked back to the barricade where Steve and Ariana were sitting with their backs against it.

               “You two ok?” she asked.

               Steve and Ariana nodded, looking at her slightly amazed.

               “Good, you guys did good,” she said, looking at the door, “But I get the feeling that they’ll be back. Get ready.”

               Steve and Ariana nodded and prepared themselves for the next wave.

               Rambler and Flyboy were playing rock, paper, scissors for the privilege of explaining to Nykyos what happened when he, Omni, and Dirce walked into the room. The door opened and Nykyos stood there, surveying the damage, tapping his foot with his arms crossed. He sighed a deep and tired sigh.

               “Right then,” he said, “What happened?”

               Rambler and Flyboy stopped moving with their hands both in rock position. Zari shook her head and shot Nykyos an apologetic look.

               “Rambler hit that console over there,” she said, pointing to the damaged console, “We’re not sure what it does.”

               Nykyos looked at Omni and jerked his head towards the console. Omni nodded and moved over to sit in front of it. He pulled out a diagnostic scanner and looked the console over. He stared at the diagnostic screen for a few seconds then glared at Rambler. He shook his head and looked at Nykyos.

               “Life control system, boss,” Omni said, “It’s pretty destroyed, but I think I can jury rig something to get it functional enough for our purposes.”

               “Good,” Nykyos said, nodding, “Do it.”

               He turned to face Dirce.

               “Right,” he said, “Now, where’s the boss pirate?”

               Dirce looked around nervously then checked his watch. A wicked grin crossed his face and he looked up at Nykyos.

               “He’ll be here about…” Dirce said, pausing, “Now.”

               With that the doors opened and twenty pirates streamed into the control room. Nykyos, Rambler, Flyboy, and Zari all went for their weapons but the pirates had the drop on them. Slowly and reluctantly they raised their hands. Rambler shot Dirce a venomous look.

               “You dirty cunt,” he said, anger in his voice, “You betrayed us to a bunch of scumbag pirates.”

               Dirce shrugged.

               “They accepted me,” he said, “Didn’t bully me and call me names. They were willing to work with me.”

               Flyboy rolled his eyes.

               “They’re just using you man,” Flyboy said, “They’ll toss you away quicker than you can blink.”

               “You shut up!” Dirce screamed, “You don’t know anything.”

               With that the door opened and a tall, muscular looking man wearing banded leather armor walked into the room. He grinned at Nykyos, nodding at Dirce, his eyes never leaving Nykyos’ though.

               “Indeed they don’t, Jacob,” he said, humor playing in his voice, “Indeed they don’t.”

               Nykyos studied the man coldly.

               “You’re the boss then?” he asked, his voice cold and flat.

               “Indeed I am,” the man replied, “Toshon Keller, at your service. The pleasure is of course all yours.”

               “Well, you’ve caught us,” Nykyos said, nodding, “What happens now?”

               “Now we move to more comfortable quarters,” Toshon said, “My new quarters I think. Are you done fixing the life support, what was it, Omni?”

               Omni nodded.

               “Should be good for now,” Omni said, putting his tools down.

               Toshon nodded and turned, walking towards the exit. The other pirates herded the Rejects out of the room. As they hit the door Toshon turned and grinned at Nykyos.

               “Large contingents of my men are heading to your ship,” he said, “So that the rest of your crew can join us.”

               “This is it men,” Sergeant Brothers said, “It ends here, and it ends now.”

               His men thumped their chest pieces and let out a resounding hua.

               “We’ve pushed them back as far as we can push,” he continued, “They’ve cast a shadow on this planet for too long. We’re at the heart of their territory; the machine is in our reach. Adams, you got the explosives?”

               “Hua Sergeant,” Adams responded, “Ready for action.”

               “Right then,” Brothers continued, “Then this is it, this is our moment. When people look back on this day, it will either be as the defeat of hope for humanity or the day that the Avengers took back the sun.”

               The men let out calls of hua, Avengers, and other things.

               “Right then,” Brothers said, “Gear up. We roll out in twenty.”

               The men started gearing up, grabbing rifles, shotguns, and other equipment. Brothers watched them with a glint in his eyes. For so long they’d been in a hopeless situation. Humanity had been in a hopeless situation, and today they had a chance to end it.

               After the men geared up and loaded into their vehicles Brothers walked to his. He climbed in and they headed out. They reached about forty clicks before they met with resistance. Tall metallic power suits that few people had seen inside of. The gunners knew where to fire now and they took out the suits with little problem.

               A gunship flew in and took out when of the trucks. They’d mourn the men later. They had a mission to accomplish now. One of the rocket turrets fired and brought the gunship down. The trucks kept moving. Over the horizon a giant structure with a beam shooting out of the top came into sight. The beam reached out with a dark black light and covered the sun, hiding it from view.

               Resistance grew stronger as they neared the structure, but the men knew what to do. Suits and ships fell and dropped to the ground, sure they lost trucks, lost men, but they were punching through. Finally they got to the building and swung the trucks around to give the entrance cover.

               “Adams!” Brothers yelled, “Get in there, take this thing down!”

               “Roger Sergeant,” Adams responded, “Moving!”

               With that he and his demolitions team moved into the building. The suits and ships kept coming, but the gunners took care of them. They just have to give Adams and his men enough time.

               “Sergeant,” Adams said over the coms, “We’ve got an issue.”

               “What is it Adams?” Brothers asked.

               “We’ve got a squad of suits coming in,” Adams said, “We can set the charges and hold them off. But we aren’t going to be getting out of here in time.”

               Brothers was silent for a few moments before he made the hard call.

               “It needs to be done Adams,” he said, “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”

               “Understood,” Adams said, “And don’t be Sergeant. We knew it was a possibility. It was an honor serving with you.”

               “You too,” Brother said.

               The firefight kept going until the building exploded. The beam disappeared. The light fried the circuits in the suits and gunships and they stopped working. Brothers and his men got out, and stared up at the sun, then around at each other.

               It had been a long, hard, dark night. But the dawn had finally come.

               “Bravo team,” Sergeant McDuff said over his com unit, “Head east.”

               “Roger that Sergeant,” Corporal Stevenson said, “Moving out.”

               McDuff looked around him, scanning the skies. No signs of activity yet, but they were expecting a drop any minute now. He checked his combat rifle, locked, loaded, and ready to roll. He scanned his interface, checking on all of his men.

               “Michels,” he said, to one of his privates, “You aren’t locked why is that?”

               He watched NCO indicator for his man switch from amber to red, indicating that the soldier was now red for combat.

               “Sorry,” Michels said over the com, “Locked now Sergeant.”

               “Don’t apologize,” McDuff said, “Just make sure it doesn’t happen again. Never know when they’ll drop, and you want to be ready for when they do.”

               “Roger Sergeant,” Michels said.

               The warning indicator on McDuff’s Heads Up Display flashed red. He looked up. Large burning objects were plummeting to the ground, leaving a long smoke trail behind them.

               “Incoming Sergeant,” command said over the coms.

               “Visual contact established,” McDuff responded, “Moving to engage.”

               “Bravo team,” he said over the coms, “Move in from the rear, Alpha will engage from the front.”

               “Roger that Sergeant,” the Bravo Team Leader said over the coms, “Moving.”

               “Alpha team,” McDuff said, “Move out.”

               They all brought their rifles close as they began dashing towards the Landing Zones. They were about six hundred meters out when the crafts crash landed. McDuff threw up his fist, indicating a halt order; the rest of the squad mimicked his hand gesture and stopped.

               “This is it guys,” McDuff said, “This is what separates the men from the boys.”

               With that he smacked his combat visor for good luck, hefted his combat rifle and moved in. His team followed suit. They were about three hundred meters out when they came into sight. Large pale blue creatures that stood at nine feet with spindly arms and legs, insect like natural body armor, and hulking plasma cannons, the Catorians made quite a sight. They’d begun landing on earth about three months ago, ending all the human infighting as mankind turned its focus on them.

               McDuff and his team took cover two hundred meters from the crash zone. He waited until his team was in position, took a second to breathe, say a quick prayer, nod, and then was out of cover, firing at the Catorians. His first burst was lucky, catching a Catorian in its weak point, the neck. It grabbed its neck and went down.

               One of the Catorians got a shot off with its massive plasma cannon, hitting about fifty meters from the cover point. It hit with a large explosion, kicking up dirt, obscuring the view. He motioned for his men to take cover positions on his flank. No use all of them getting taken out by a lucky plasma shot. He quickly rose out of cover, switched his rifle to full auto and started laying cover fire. His men moved.

               “Bravo team,” he said over coms, “You almost in position?”

               Another plasma shot landed and he watched Michels’ indicator go from green to black. Damn it, he was just kid, fresh out of basic. He rose out of cover, got the Catorian that fired in sights and took him down.

               “Roger Sergeant,” Bravo Team Leader said, “In position now.”

               “Good,” McDuff said, “Marking position now.”

               He switched from external to Team coms.

               “Alpha Team,” he said, “Cover me while I paint the area for Bravo.”

               “Roger that Sergeant,” the team said through coms.

               He quickly switched his rifle for the laser painter, stood as his team took up combined fire, distracting the Catorians, and fired the laser in the center of the LZ, where his team had managed to contain the aliens. He gritted his teeth as the Catorians got a few shots off, taking out more of his men. Then, he saw them, flying overhead. A pair of Thor Mk2 Ballistic Tactical Missiles. Laser guided, high explosive yield, self-containing shield. McDuff and his men were far enough away, but all the Catorians and their ships were in the blast zone, thanks to McDuff’s time painting the target site. He put the laser painter up on his shoulder and grinned viciously as they struck, wiping out all the insectoid aliens and their ships.

               “Command,” he said over coms, “This is Alpha Team. Target eliminated, tell the hospital they’re safe for now.”

               “Roger that Alpha Team,” command said, “LACE report?”

               He checked his load outs on his coms unit.

               “Good on liquids, ammo, and equipment,” he said, pausing, “Three men KIA.”

               “Sorry to hear that,” command said, “Everyone in the hospital appreciates their sacrifice, and will do their best to honor it.”

               “Roger that command,” he said, “Alpha out.”

               The coms disconnected and he stared out at the battle zone. The rest of his men were gathering up Michels’ and the other’s bodies, to be transported back to base. The cost was high, but each man gave willingly.

               Nykyos stared at the computer screen, leaning back on his chair, reading the details of the job offer. The intergalactic space liner Caslia had been taken over by a group of pirates and it needed rescuing. He took the cigar out of his mouth, sucking on his teeth, and contemplating the job. He hit the coms button on his desk.

               “Omni, get up here,” he said, which was automatically broadcast through the ship, “Need to go over something with you.”

               As Nykyos waited for his second and command to make his way to his room he studied the details for the job. Apparently the cruise liner had been taken by a group of space pirates a few days ago, just outside of the Cerulian Nebula. There were estimated to be somewhere between sixty and a hundred pirates on board. They had a small destroyer as their base ship and maybe a few fighter ships. They wanted another, larger, destroyer for the ship to be returned and the hostages released. Apparently these pirates had been making a nuisance of themselves for quite some time though, and no one really wanted to increase their fighting capability.

               Omni walked into the room, the door sliding open with a low whine as it opened and closed behind him.

               “What is it boss?” he asked.

               Nykyos nodded at him and tapped the console screen.

               “Got a possible job here,” he said, “Wanted to get your opinion on it.”

               Omni nodded and moved over to the other side of the desk, staring on the console screen over Nykyos’ shoulder. After a few seconds he nodded.

               “Looks alright,” he said, “Pretty sure we can handle it. Want me to round the crew up?”

               “Yeah,” Nykyos answered, “Get them in the kitchen in fifteen.”

               Omni left the office, heading to the various other parts of the ship that the other crew members would be at. Nykyos stood and looked in the mirror. His dark brown eyes had circles around them to match. He ran his hand through his close cropped black hair. He sighed and exited his room.

               He walked along the corridors of his ship, the Reject’s Corner, running his hand along the walls. The corridors were all a little dim, a little shabby, and more than a little dirty. He wouldn’t have had it any other way. It wasn’t the best ship, but it had a lot of power behind it. And it was immensely hide able. They’d be able to drop in on the cruise liner in stealth mode and neither the cruise liner nor the pirate destroyer would be able to detect it. He was sure about that.

               He finally made it to the kitchen and stood in front of the door. It slid open and he walked through. Writer and Flyboy were already there. He was just waiting for Omni, Reader, Maze, Rambler, and Zari then. Flyboy was currently in what appeared to be an intense discussion with Writer, and neither had noticed the door opening. Nykyos stepped into the room quietly and leaned against the wall, crossing his arms.

               Nykyos quickly realized that Flyboy and Writer wasn’t discussing anything too important, he was just mildly flirting with her, as he did all women. Flyboy had made a move on Reader once and she’s punched him, in the jaw, breaking it. Omni had also proceeded to miss up his personal console with a nasty virus that continually called him a ponce. Zari had fixed him up, no problem, and after a bit of coercion from Nykyos Omni had removed the virus, but Flyboy kept his distance from Reader after that. Nykyos didn’t discourage fraternization between his crew members, they were grown people, and he didn’t force his will on anyone.

               The door leading down to the engine room opened up and Maze stepped through. She quietly made her way to the table, nodding at Nykyos, he nodded back. Writer and Flyboy looked at her briefly and then went back to their conversation.

               The door opened up and Rambler stumbled through.

               “Right you bastards,” he said as Flyboy and Writer looked up from their discussion, “What’s this all about? I was gettin’ it on with a nice bottle of whisky when Omni came and got me.”

               “Got a job,” Nykyos said, “Possibly.”

               Writer and Flyboy looked at him in surprise, having not realized he entered the room, the looked at each other guiltily, wondering how long he’d been standing there. Nykyos shook his head, amused.

               “Right then,” Rambler said, “That’s brilliant that is, my reserves were getting a little low.”

               Rambler walked over to the table and grabbed one of the chairs. He pulled it out and dropped into it, pulling out a flash when he did so. He knocked it back, gave a loud, satisfied sigh, and put it back away. As he was doing this the door opened and Reader walked in.

               Reader was wearing a tight spandex workout outfit and had a slight sheen of sweat.

               “This better be important,” she said as she walked into the kitchen, “I was in the middle of a workout.”

               “Turns out the boss might have found us a job,” Rambler said, “We’re probably going to discuss it or something. He likes to do that a lot, you know, discuss things.”

               Reader nodded and moved to sit down at the table. Her movements were practiced and precise, not a single step more or less than what was required to accomplish the task. She nodded as she sat down.

               “That is good,” she said, “Had my eye on a nice blade I saw at the bazaar on that last planet we stopped off on last, I think it would make a perfect addition to my collection.”

               Writer nodded, touching a few buttons on her wrist device. A small holographic projection appeared and she typed a few more keys in the wrist device and the bazaar information popped up.

               “Do you remember the name of the vender?” she asked Reader, “I could give him a call and have him put it aside for you.”

               Reader frowned and stared off into space for a few seconds, attempting to remember those details.

               “He was a Femorian,” she said, “Named Kel, his shop was called Kel’s blades.”

               As Writer tapped the relevant info into the wrist device Omni and Zari walked into the room. Nykyos nodded at the pair and then moved to the head of the table, standing.

               “Right then,” he said, “We’re all here.”

               He then proceeded to go into the details of the job, outlining what each of them would be doing.

               Omni was his right hand man and resident tech expert. He had a small arsenal of high-tech gadgets that could get just about any job that you could think up done, and quite a few just plain nasty surprises as well. He was one of the first people that’d joined up with the Rejects and Nykyos trusted him in a firefight.

               Reader was the other oldest member of his crew and quite possibly the scariest. She was their stealth member, and an expert in martial arts and bladed weapons. There were very few places she couldn’t get in undetected, as she’d made a point of proving in her many years as a cat burglar before joining the Rejects, and she was especially deadly in a fight. She was quick enough to duck laser blasts, her swords were always sharp, and her punch had been enough to break Flyboy’s jaw.

               Flyboy was one of the newer members to the crew. He was a pretty little boy, from Omni and Rambler’s home planet, and the two of them always let him know it. He was a tad over excitable and he flirted with just about everything he could, but he knew his way around a flight terminal and hadn’t given Nykyos any reason to doubt him yet.

               Zari was quite possibly the glue that held the crew together, both as a doctor and the unofficial ship’s councilor. She had a warm smile for everyone, a kind word most the time, and she patched everyone up. She’d also listen to you bitch and moan about how much you hated space and then tell you how to deal with it. Nykyos had even gone and seen her himself a few times. The life of a traveling space adventurer wasn’t necessarily an easy one.

               Rambler was their heavy weapons and explosives expert. Nykyos had watched him mow down an entire element of opponents if four seconds flat. He was familiar with all sorts of different explosives, knew what was needed for each different type of explosion, which different type of explosion was needed to get a job done, and how to get a hold of the explosives. He was also a drunk, fat, and a bit of a bastard.

               Writer was the youngest of the crew, just able to sign up for duty on the Reject’s Corner on her home planet. She was a communications expert and their negotiator. Nykyos could talk his way out of a corner, but Writer was able to do just about anything with a communicator and a few words. She’d gotten the Rejects on a few planets that they probably wouldn’t have been able to other wise, and helped keep the ship afloat by getting them the parts they needed at reasonable rates.

               Maze was another one of the new crew members. They’d lost their mechanic a month or so ago and Maze  had shown up at port, asking to take his spot. Nykyos had had her give him a quick run through on the ship’s engines and been convinced she knew what she was talking about. He hadn’t had cause to doubt her yet. She was a bit shy and quiet, with a tendency not to talk unless spoken to.

Nykyos came from a small family that had enough to get by but was never rich. He’d spent his life deciding he didn’t want to do what his parents did and applied for his Adventurer’s License as soon as he could. After a few years doing jobs for other people he’d been able to put enough money together to buy the Rejects Corner. He’d never looked back, never regretted the decision. As the licensed adventurer of the crew he was their official liaison between employers, the one who decided the jobs, and also the mouthpiece to any bureaucratic official types the crew had to deal with.

               They were a weird lot, but they all got a long fine and got the job done more often than not. They all trusted each other and helped each other out. Nykyos was quite pleased with the crew he’d managed to put together.

               After he finished telling the crew about the job he stopped talking, to let them voice their opinions.

               “Well, I think it sounds brilliant,” Rambler said, “Gives me a chance to test out my new guns.”

               “Sounds good to me,” Maze said, “We can test the new cloaking system.”

               “You want me to get in contact with those offering the job?” Writer asked, “Let them know we’re on the case?”

               “My blades have been looking for a good chance to sing,” Reader said, “Maybe this will be their chance.”

               “Shouldn’t be too hard to hack into the ship’s central computer,” Omni said, “Guide us into the hanger bay nice and quietly.”

               “I guess I’d better go with you all,” Zari said, a small grin on her face, “Make sure you don’t bleed out from getting shot.”

               Nykyos nodded, good, they were all on board.

               “Right,” he said, “Writer get in contact with the new bosses, let them know we’re taking the job. Flyboy, set a course to the cruise liner’s location, engaged stealth systems when we’re about two light years away. The rest of you, get ready.”

               The crew scattered, going to their respective areas, getting ready for the job. Nykyos grinned, he had a feeling that this was going to be fun.

               Robert stood on the sidewalk, staring down the street. He was breathing slowly, attempting to be quiet, listening. He could swear he heard it, the rustling in the wind. That rustling that had been following him all night long. He looked around him though, and couldn’t see anything. He pulled his keys out of his pocket and hit the unlock button on the fob. His car doors unlocked and he opened them, sitting in the driver’s seat. He stuck the keys in the ignition and turned them, starting the car. He looked in his rear view mirror and saw it.

               A large dark, cloudy shape. It didn’t have a clear and definite definition but he could make out the general shape of a man. He turned his lights on and slammed on the gas pedal, speeding off. He watched his rearview mirror, watching the creature shrink and disappear as he put distance between it and himself.

               He got to his house a short while later and stepped out of the car. He took a few moments to look about himself, checking to see if the presence was there as well. It appeared to be gone for now. He walked up to the door and opened it. His wife Juliette was walking up the stairs to the kids’ area. She had a laundry basket in her arms, full of freshly washed and folded clothes. She flashed him a smile when he walked in.

               “Welcome home honey,” Juliette said, “Dinner will be ready in about fifteen minutes.”

               Robert nodded absent mindedly, listening for any indication that the presence was in the house. Juliette noticed his distant look.

               “Something wrong Robert?” Juliette asked.

               Robert jumped a little at the sound of his name. He flashed Juliette what he hoped would be a soothing smile, it wasn’t.

               “Of course Jules,” Robert said, “Just thinking about the car. The brakes felt a little weak, I’ll have to get them replaced soon.”

               “Ok hon,” Juliette replied, continuing to walk up the stairs to the kids’ room.

               Robert watched her walk up the stairs with a heavy heart. When she was out of sight he sighed. He walked into the kitchen. He shuffled through one of the cabinets, pulling out his special bottle of Single Barrel Jack Daniels. He poured himself a drink and put the bottle back in the cabinet. He walked back to the glass and grabbed it, running his finger around the rim.

               Then the rustling started again, and it was close. A chill ran down his spine. Suddenly it was in the room. The black presence. It started towards him.

               “No,” Robert said, “Not here.”

               It was agreed, the presence projected into his mind.

               “And them?” Robert asked.

               They will move on, as their kind often does, it said.

               Robert sighed and nodded. The presence rushed him, enveloping him. He felt the old pull, the old tug, and then felt his atoms being disassembled, painfully. His consciousness started screaming, but he had no physical body to project the scream.

               When Robert finally came to, he was standing on a small hill. Twin moons hung in the sky. A man dressed in a white robe was hurrying to meet him. When the man finally came to in front of Robert he bowed deeply.

               “Welcome home, doctor,” the man said, “We’ve all been waiting for the results of your experiment.”

               Robert sighed and though of his children.

               “They are suitable breeding stock,” Robert told his old assistant, Gregor, “We’re ready to move forward then?”

               “They invasion shall proceed as you originally planned, sir,” Gregor said, nodding, “We’re merely waiting for your go ahead.”

               “Consider this my go ahead,” Doctor Robert Cathalian, head researcher and Lord Scientist of the Cathalian people said, “I’ll need a short time to myself.”

               “Understood sir,” Gregor answered, “You will not be disturbed.”

               Robert watched Gregor run off across the horizon. He looked up at the twin moons of his home planet and sighed. He thought of Juliette and the kids. If this was home, why did his heart feel so heavy?

               Wulfgar stood at the base of the waterfall, looking up. He could feel the flow of the water behind him, crashing on the lake it fed into. There was four feet of clearance from the base of the cliff and the water itself, and Wulfgar stood on a small island in the space between them. He could see the small cave, about thirty feet up that was his goal.

               As he found the worn groves in the cliff base and began to make his ascent, he thought about the trial ahead of him. His tribe had always undertaken the trial; his father had gone throw it, as had his father and his father’s father. When a boy reached the age when he was ready to become a man, they traveled a week’s distance to Highfather Lake and climbed the waterfall to the cave. No man spoke of what they saw in the cave, except to say that it imparted wisdom.

               Now it was Wulfgar’s turn to transition from boy to man and so he was at Highfather Lake, climbing the waterfall to the Cave of Wisdom. He wondered what it was in the cave that waited for him. Would Odin himself appear, imparting words of strength and courage? Would Loki test his resolve, attempting to trick him? Or would Thor tell some secret of conditioning, allowing him to commit acts of heroism that would forever place him in the annals of the tribe?

               He reached the mouth of the cave and pulled himself up into it. His arms burned, his legs were sore, the muscles tired from the exertion of climbing the cliff. Even with the worn groves from those that came before him, such a feat of climbing was not an easy task. He took a moment to catch his breath and looked down at the lake below him; it would be just as hard a task to climb back down.

               He heard a small chuckle emanate from the back of the cave. He looked in its direction, seeing a light. As he walked he studied the light, something looked off about it. This light wasn’t the light of a flame, which he was familiar with. The light from a flame flickered and danced, casting shadows about it. This light was steady and true. It was also brighter than any other light he had ever seen, other than the light of the sun.

               “You are an interesting lad,” the voice of a man said from behind a corner. As Wulfgar turned the corner he saw the source of the voice, and the chuckle from earlier. It was a man, a man who looked to be no older than twenty summers. He was dressed oddly, with pants that were made from no fabric that Wulfgar recognized. The breeches on Wulfgar’s own legs were woolen, coarse and rough. The man’s pants were smooth and fine, like silk. They weren’t silk though, they appeared to be much stronger than that. The shirt he wore seemed to be made of a similar fabric.

               The man watched Wulfgar watching him, and nodded, as if in approval.

               “You are an interesting lad indeed,” the man said. He took a seat in front of a strange device that seemed to be the source of the strong light, though Wulfgar could see no flame spouting from it. He waved at a seat across from him.

               “Please,” the man said, “Sit.”

               Wulfgar took the seat across from the man, and sat, waiting in silence for what to do next.

               The sat and looked at him for a few seconds, studying him, pursing his lips, both nodding and shaking his head at various points. He did however not talk, so the two sat in silence as he examined young Wulfgar.

               “So,” the man began finally, “You are Wulfgar, son of Thullen, of the Straaken Clan, from Tribe Boros, the mightiest tribe of the Viking people.”

               “That is so,” Wulfgar answered, nodding his head, “But how do you know who I am?”

               The man chuckled, leaning back in his seat, crossing his arms.

               “Well,” he answered, “You told me.”

               Wulfgar frowned at the man.

               “I did no such thing,” Wulfgar said, a little heated, “I spoke no word of identification.”

               “No,” the man said chuckling.

               “You didn’t tell me here,” he said, pointing to his mouth.

               “You told me here,” he said pointing to his forehead.

               Wulfgar’s eyes widened as he realized that the man had listened to his thoughts.

               “Ah, quick study you are,” he said, a grin crossing his face, “Though I already figured that from the way you wondered about the light.”

               He nodded to the device that was giving off light.

               “Indeed, for it is a wonder,” Wulfgar said, entranced by the light, forgetting for a second that the strange man could read his thoughts, “How does it work?”

               “Solar energy from the sun is collected during the day,” the man answered, “Panels up on the mountain. A complex series of wire connects the solar panel to my cave here, providing me with a rudimentary source of power. The solar output of your star doesn’t quite match the energy levels with which I’m used to, but it allows me to get through.”

               Wulfgar stared at the man, confused, understanding but a few of the words that the man had said.

               “But, you didn’t come here for a science lesson,” the man said, “You came here to learn a secret about the world, the way of being a man.”

               He sucked on his teeth for a second, running his tongue along them once before nodding.

               “Well…” he started, before Wulfgar interrupted him.

               “You said your star,” Wulfgar said suddenly, a realization breaking through to him.

               “What?” the man asked, a slightly puzzled look on his face.

               “When you were talking about your light,” Wulfgar explained, “And talking about the sun, you called it my star, indicating that it wasn’t your star.”

               The man looked at Wulfgar, a mildly shocked look on his face.

               “You know,” he said, “I did do that.”

               He studied Wulfgar a while in silence.

               “I wonder how often I’ve done that,” he said, “Making statements like that; you’re the first to pick up all the long years though.”

               “Long years?” Wulfgar asked, “But you hardly look older than me.”

               The man laughed.

               “Boy,” he said, humor in his voice, “I was here when your father conducted his trial, as I was for his father before him, and his father before him.”

               He shook his head, drawing in breath.

               “I was here when your tribe settled in the area,” he continued, “Making it their own.”

               “I am Melchor,” he said, finally identifying himself, “I am of the Triolos people, from the Gehron galaxy, of the Blue Star of Kashun.”

               Wulfgar was awed, putting together what the man had told him before, he came to the sudden and brief realization that this man was from the stars, from another plane entirely.

               “We call them planets actually,” Melchor said, “They usually orbit a star, such as your sun. And yes, I can read your mind.”

               “Why are you here?” Wulfgar asked him.

               “Well,” Melchor said, “My people go through a sort of… sabbatical phase. We take a portion of our lives and dedicate it to enlightening people that are less… wise then ourselves. I chose your planet.”

               “A portion?” Wulfgar asked, “But you’ve been here for so long, for so many lifetimes.”

               “And I’ll be here for many lifetimes more,” Melchor explained, “My people our extremely long lived, I will remain on this planet for another sixty summers.”

               Wulfgar nodded, understanding dawning on him.

               “And what would you teach me?” Wulfgar asked.

               A sly smile crossed Melchor’s face.

               “I taught your father tricks for irrigating the soil,” Melchor said, “Which increased his crop production tenfold.

               “I taught grandfather a muscle conditioning system that increased his strength tenfold.

               “I have taught men how to be excellent lovers, increasing their wives’ pleasure tenfold.

               “But you, I have taught you the greatest lesson of them all, already.”

               “What?” Wulfgar asked, surprised at the answer, “What is it you have taught me?”

               “I’ve taught you that the world is not necessarily what you thought it was,” Melchor answered, “So you will never look at it with the same assurance that you did before. You will question, you will wonder, and you will discover.

               “And your knowledge of the world will increase tenfold on tenfold.”

               He nodded at Wulfgar, apparently very pleased with himself. Wulfgar understood that the meeting was at an end and walked to the cave entrance once more. He climbed down the cliff, musing over what it was that Melchor had taught him.

               On the walk home he began to think of everything in the world that he had taken for granted. And began to wonder if it necessarily had to be that way after all.

               Sean leaned back in his loveseat, staring at the open expanse of sky above him. As he took a long drag off the cigarette in his mouth he could almost believe that everything was alright in the world. He put the cigarette out in the ashtray on the small table in front of him and looked around him. Yeah, you could almost believe that everything was alright with the world until you saw the Dragunov rifle leaning against the short white washed wall overlooking the street, with the spear gun and wench system set up on the wall next to it.

               He sighed, he’d checked his food storage when he woke up, he had about a week of untainted meat left, which meant that the meat in the other fridge would be good by now. It was time to catch him some of the fresh stuff. He slapped his hands on the knees of his jeans and stood up. He rolled his head back and forth and popped his knuckles, getting himself ready for the work ahead of him.

               He walked over to the wall and looked down, and once again felt sadness at the scene below him. If you looked far enough in the distance you could see the clear blue water, green forests, and the world looked perfect. But that’s because the mist was just transparent enough to be invisible at that distance. When Sean looked down the mist was definitely there.

               Along with the things that walked in the mist.

               No one was really sure where the mist came from, Sean had heard many theories over the years, had met many people who’d attempted to find out where the mist came from. But they were all dead. Sean didn’t really give a damn. And he was still alive.

               He grimaced as one of the side effects of the miss stumbled into sight. Grotesquely formed with long, bulky arms nearly dragging on the ground, contorted face, and a neck that seemed to bend the wrong way, they were enough to turn most stomachs. The worst part was that they weren’t some creatures born in the mist’s home dimension that stumbled through with it, no, they were human once.

              The mist changed everything alive that it touched, mutating, twisting, and altering it. It robbed everything it touched of its intelligence and took away its free will. They became hulking beasts, incapable of anything except death and destruction.         

              Sean grabbed the Dragunov rifle and aimed at the creature. He sighted it, inhaled slowly, and squeezed the trigger. The sharp crack of the rifle and the creature dropped, dead. He put the rifle down and moved over to the spear gun. He lined up his sights with the dead body of the creature and fired. The spear went through the body with a thunk. He then began pulling it up with the wench.

              Food got scarce fast, especially when you can’t leave the roof of your building. He’d set up this system to sustain himself, wait out the mist, and just hope that it went away. He’d discovered that if you kept the meat of the creatures frozen for a week, they were fine for consumption after that. His floor was safe from the mist and still had running water. He wasn’t necessarily completely pleased with his food situation, after all these things had been people once, this was as close to cannibalism as he ever wanted to get.

              But hey, a man’s gotta eat, right?

               Christopher didn’t usually attend events, at least not recently, not since… the incident. But this was Beth-Amber’s wedding, little Beth-Amber his cousin, who he had such fond memories of playing with as a child, in the before times. His doctors weren’t sure he was ready for, trained for it, but he needed this, so reluctantly they let him go. So he wrapped himself in his strongest shields, not nearly strong enough his doctors warned him, and set off to see little Beth-Amber get married.

               His parents were ecstatic at the idea of seeing him again; they hadn’t since that man in the suit had come to their house and told them that Christopher was Special. It’d been months since they’d all gotten together. So here he was, in a nice suit and tie, his jaw length, dirty blonde hair combed and set back, sitting at his family’s table.

               He was fidgeting. He could feel them, outside his shield, their thoughts. Pounding at his shields, demanding to get in. He blocked them as best he could but already he knew it was inevitable. He’d made it through the ceremony, and what a beautiful ceremony it was.

              Beth-Allen was just as pretty as he’d remembered, long, straight, platinum blonde hair, petite sized with a gym toned figure, big beautiful blue eyes. Richard, her new husband, was tall, athletic, chiseled jaw, and commanding brown eyes.

               It was a tear jerking ceremony, but always Christopher couldn’t forget. Always the thoughts were there. Always they were pounding against his shields.

               It was when Richard’s best man, some frat brother that Christopher couldn’t remember the name of, got up to give his toast that it happened. The shields began to fall. It wasn’t much at first, a thought here and a thought there.

               Isn’t she just beautiful?

               Why can’t my girl find a guy like that?

               But as the speech continued the cracks grew and the shields fell, and then… and then Christopher had no protection.

               Christopher stared shocked at his father as he listened to him think about his dalliance with a young boy in the neighborhood. Then gasped softly as he heard his mother’s affair with the same boy. His brother kept thinking how he hoped that their parents wouldn’t realize how high he was. His sister wondered if she was pregnant.

               The best man sat down and Christopher caught a glimpse of the orgy that happened at the bachelor party, hookers, booze, and drugs abounding.

               He caught the look and the thought as Richard eyed one of the bridesmaids. He had plans and hopes for tonight.

               Beth-Amber hoped Richard would get the promotion so that they’d be more financially secure. And maybe he’d be too busy to catch onto the affair she’d been having with a local biker.

               Everywhere secrets, everywhere tragedies waiting to happen, Christopher saw it all.

               He stood up hurriedly; his parents looked at him quizzically. He shot them an apologetic and pained look as he rushed away, phone already out, calling his doctors.

               He couldn’t help but catch their last thought as he left.

               Of course, no surprise there, disappointing as always.

               Whatever, he thought, haven’t you people ever heard of closing a goddamn mind.

———————-

Bonus points if you can guess the song that inspired this!