Chapter 34: Concourse to War — Part 4
Shadow paced anxiously, waiting impatiently for the Chran to land and meet with her. Earth felt wonderful under her feet, as if it wanted her to stay forever. She could feel its wounds as if they were her own, and she also felt within the planet, a deep, powerful truth, and one she had been blind to for most of her life. Whatever the symbiont was, it was also a part of Earth. The network of microscopic organisms gave the world a voice that Shadow found she could hear quite well. She knew she would return, with her crew, when the time was right, and make Earth her home. Why the Chran had chosen Earth as a meeting place was beyond her. It was the source of all known evil, as taught to her in the stories of her upbringing. Despite her prejudices and teachings, the planet felt pure to her feet. Badly injured, but pure. If it were human, she would have considered giving it a hug, in hopes of making it feel better.
Xeti stood by her left side; Didi hung off of her right arm. Behind her, Ferret, Roxy, and David stood ready for trouble. She had chosen to meet the Chran in formal wear, ready for trouble. Her crew wore the traditional garb of the Storm Clan, rather than the uniforms of a smuggler, or in the comfortable nudity so prevalent among the Antansi. Shadow’s casual hat was replaced with a battle helmet. Her boots were covered in well-buffed wax, satin finished, their armor reinforced toes and heals flexible from years of training. Her body sat at the core of a suit of dull black armor. A pistol hung heavy on one hip, her sword on the other, and a dagger was strapped to the outside of each boot. Her crew was no different. Their armor, less bulky than her own, denoted rank within the Clan, but it was armor just the same. The weapons of the Storm Clan were polished, their handles glistening in the sun. The phased metal sizzled with an aura of almost unnoticeable color, seemingly impatient to be either in battle or at peace, but not at that tense point between the two. The Chran, should they turn on her, would know the true and fullest power of the last of the Storm Clan. Shadow might not leave the planet alive, but few if any of the Chran would leave the planet at all, should they choose to attack.
The Chran ship, a goliath vessel, bulbous and economically designed, landed but a few hundred yards from the Mercy. The Mercy was small enough to fit inside the Chran’s cargo bay, and Shadow knew the ship could blister and explode, spouting out thousands of troops of called to do so. Within a few minutes, the ship stopped making noise, its engines cooling as it relaxed. The hatch opened, revealing only one person. The Chran Queen, a nearly metal woman, her parts polished to a near chrome sheen, walked down the ship’s exit hatch toward Shadow. Her eyes were mechanical and yet as human as they could be, fluorescing vibrantly in response to the sun’s rays. The Queen’s Ambassador emerged a scant few steps behind her, as did her bodyguard. Both were female, and both watched Shadow with a caution that would prove quite necessary should Shadow feel threatened.
She stopped ten paces from Shadow. “Thank you for having the courtesy to meet with me.” The Queen said.
Shadow nodded. “We’re enemies, at this time. You’ve destroyed everything precious to me. I’m only here because I want peace in my life.”
The Queen nodded in understanding. “You are Nemesis, Shadow of the Clan of Storm, greatest individual threat to our Emperor’s plans, most dangerous person alive. All but you fell to us, all of your clan fell, all who have opposed our troops have either fallen or run from our advance. Even as we hunted you, as was our duty, you proved yourself a worthy and compelling statistical anomaly. But times have changed, truths have changed, and our duty, though the same, expresses itself differently. Our needs remain the same, but our needs remain denied. Our world exists in the heart of a plasma cloud; we live only by using the most advanced technology available. Our people need a new home, where we aren’t ravaged by radiation and forced to work with deadly toxins. Emperor Grison refuses us a healthy world, and now speaks of the Chran in reference of antiquity, as if we are to be allowed to diminish into extinction. We would like you to be our mother, as we can no longer care fore ourselves. We would like you to arrange us a home, and free us from extinction.”
