Chapter Twelve: Intersection — Part 5
The soldier looked up from his fallen field rations and now dirty chopsticks, nonplused. His skin, an unnatural ashen gray was a solid match for his onyx black eyes. Those traits alone marked him either as a mutant or an experimental project. Within the Cynosure, he would have been terminated on sight. In the Fringe Worlds, as part of an army defending local planets from Grison’s attacks, he was relatively safe from the Pure Science enforcement of the Cynosure, and could have a somewhat normal life. Shadow’s concerns, however, lie away from such notions of politics and morality.
“Hello Citizen, can I help you?” He was polite, and not falsely so. Shadow liked him already.
“Yeah, you can.” Shadow put a hand on the battle unit. The metal sucked the heat from her hand, and she quickly pulled it away before frostbite could take a layer of skin off.
“You forgot to turn your displacers off, got to be putting one hell of a drain on your batteries.”
“Better to be safe than dead, I always say.”
“You got a name?”
“Xeti.”
The soldier clicked in a key command on his wrist, disabling the displacers. Shadow continued her inspection, looking for weaknesses she might be able to warn the Defense about – or use to her advantage should the need ever arise. It was really just a high tech suit of armor, and it was slow as hell in hand to hand. The Chran took advantage of that often enough to keep the Galactic Troops on the losing side of the equation. When Xeti started to get nervous with her presence and her silence, Shadow turned to him, her smile peaking out from beneath the brim of her hat. Her teeth shined white in the sun.
“Take me to First Sergeant Ashley, I want to have words with him.” She said.
Not knowing what else to do, the soldier signaled his com-sphere and sent a message to his supervisor.
“Uh, sir, I’ve a Citizen from Sector Nine demanding to see the first shirt.”
“Really? Wow, that is just wonderful. And you broke secure communications to tell me? Why?”
Shadow disliked the operator’s sarcasm.
“She really didn’t strike me as a woman who would take no for an answer.” Xeti said.
“Who is she, anyway?”
Xeti looked at her, not having bothered to ask her name. Shadow smiled. “Captain Storm.”
Xeti took an involuntary step back. “Uh sir, you heard that, right?”
“Get her to HQ, half the damn military has an eye out for her.”
The com-sphere returned to its battle unit, settling into its resting depression. He climbed into the cockpit, which seemed to completely absorb him as various piston driven hatches closed shut around his body. Within moments, an exterior hatch opened, exposing grip holds for hands and feet that Shadow was expected to use so she could hitch a ride back to the base.
“We’ll be ready to leave in just a second.” Xeti said, flipping a series of toggle switches.
The soldier left his food on the sand. Not pausing to see if she had a good grip, he set off at a sluggish forty miles an hour. In ten minutes, they were both standing in front of Head Quarters. It was something to admire, a massive, mobile battle station, and at least in theory, an impenetrable fortress. The Chran avoided direct combat with the main HQ or its sister bases, but they had managed to cripple a few, in rare skirmishes where they were presented with no alternative but to battle against the monstrous installations. When the secretary relieved him to return to his position in the field, the man practically ran back to his battle unit, moving out as fast as his suit would carry him.
“He was afraid of me.” Shadow said.
“You’re a dangerous woman, Captain Storm.” The Secretary said.
“I’m sure you are too.” Shadow countered.
The secretary half smiled at the compliment. She was pretty, youthful, and suddenly infatuated.
Shadow shivered at the thought of a liaison with somebody so young. There’s no way she could be eighteen.
Shadow instinctively followed the girl down a concrete hallway to a small room, and was left with First Sergeant Ashley. She took her hat off and sat down in a cushy leather chair that was a comfortable step up from the haphazard grips on the back of the battle unit. Her scars still ached from the jostling, but she could only blame herself. She had, after all, chosen to leave before she felt totally recovered.
“Tyson’s fuming. We were going to send a transport for you this morning, seeing as you’re still healing from your wounds.” Ashley said, serious and concerned.
“I’ll heal fine, once I get back to the Hub, get my ship, and get off this rock.”
“We could help you with a crew, if you should need one.”
“I’ll get my own crew.” Shadow said, trying to sound independent and respectful at once.
“If I might sound pushy in making a recommendation, my secretary has recently earned enough points to leave her position, and if you won’t take her, there are two specific troops who’ve volunteered to serve under you. They’re on this list. General Reeves will be in to talk to you about this in more detail shortly.”
“You were thinking that she might enjoy working for me.” Or under me, she thought sensuously, but did not say, “Anybody who wants to fly on my ship will need an interview.”
General Reeves interrupted the conversation with his entrance, not bothering with courtesies. “I’d hate to be rude, but I’m in a rush. If you could give me and the lady a moment alone.”
“Yes sir.” Ashley rose, saluted, and left.
The General sat down across from Shadow, half expecting her to rise, unsurprised when she didn’t. “What you did to those cyborgs was remarkable. We’ve learned of several new weak spots by studying the remains of that battle. First, allow me to compliment you on your heroics. How did you do it anyway? We’ve never caught the Chran off guard.”
“Thank you for the compliment, General Reeves. Like calls to like. The Chran, being highly mechanized, are very sensitive to machines. In fact, they can sense other machines a lot easier than they can sense a human whose plasma pistol is fully discharged.”
The General smiled appreciatively. “Amazing.” During a pause, his smile slipped away. “As for the trooper who punched you in the face. His file has been brought to my attention. He’s ‘volunteered’ to stay behind with us and defend Grid during the last wave. As you are not probably privy to top military intelligence, that is right, we are retreating from this planet’s surface. The Chran, having crushed Grid’s defenses will be targeting worlds closer to Earth next, and we are to fall back with them, and guard those closer worlds. Grison wants the Cynosure under his control, and we’re ordered to stop that at all costs. Grison has several worlds to conquer before he makes it to your home world, but I was hoping you would give the other Fringe Worlds a warning that Grison’s troops have conquered this system and will be moving on.” The General paused, trying to gage Shadow’s expression. “I can see by that look in your eye that you might be considering staying behind. I ask you now, please don’t do that.”
