Among Bright Stars... (5 page)

Skatha didn't die so easily.

Triumphant, Arshira entered the central
command hub of the Iksar’rang base, followed by Valküri Swans, and
Kulcarin's Skatha. Holograms and readouts lined the walls, some
still displayed locations of Falcanian forces, and Arshira could
discern that her people were outside cleaning up the rest of the
battle. “Send a message to ISG Kra, success!” To herself she
murmured. “Perhaps next he’d like for us to storm the walls of
Valhalla?”

Assured that her bidding would be done,
Arshira went and found the administrator's office. Heavily she
collapsed into the comfortable chair behind a large black desk,
unlatched her helmet, took it off and placed it on the desktop
exhausted. Her honey colored hair loosely fell in curls down her
back. Somehow the exhilaration of the conflict only enhanced her
beauty, though she wore no makeup this day, her heart-shaped face
seemed to glow with an angelic vibrancy. Yet a clear hint of the
battle rage glimmered in her emerald cat eyes.

Arshira scanned the decorations on the base
administrator’s desk. A human by the name of Malcolm Acker, who
only that morning had been killed in defense of his outpost. She
noticed a hologram, of what she took to be his wife and son.
Sighed, thought it all so wasteful.

“May I enter my Rani?” The words were spoken
in a dry accent, one that said
I am superior in all that I
do.
The speaker wrapped his tongue around every syllable.

Startled, Arshira gazed up at the doorway.
“Come in.”

The Skatha Commander entered, and gave
Arshira the Claw-On-Fist salute.

“Quite a performance up there.” Arshira
meant of course the Skatha’s recent elimination of the Imperium
pilot a few hours previously. Indeed, it seemed to Arshira he had
done it as much for show, as for efficient killing, which kind of
bothered her.

“Yess, yess” He seemed to take pleasure in
the sound of his own vocalizations. “I rather enjoyed it.” An
uncomfortably pleasant smile crossed Kulcarin’s Eurasian face.
“These humans make such easy sport.” He sneered.

That she didn’t like. Kulcarin’s disdain for
humanity, it touched something dangerous hardwired into her own
soul. Arshira wondered how Sitara could lately stand her mate?
Certainly Sharr could be given to bouts of ego, but Kulcarin had
grown callous and arrogant. Not only had he become more
overbearing, Aranskrai noticeably had gotten larger, and muscular.
He claimed it to be the result of enhancements his Skatha
developed. A regime of vitamins and growth supplements,
requirements of their training program. The Skatha kept their
secrets, and were allowed to, for they proved very effective in
what they did, killing. Frederika believed they had too much
autonomy.

“I’ve come to bring you the nuke codes.”
Kulcarin explained. “As well as to tell you that we’ve secured the
nanovirus, along with those who developed it.” Kulcarin
nonchalantly handed her a small locked box.

Arshira glanced at the inverted thunderbolt
insignia on the Skatha Lord’s left shoulder, part of his oil-black
carapace. A bone like ridge ran from the insignia to conduct energy
down to a retractable clawed gauntlet. The emblem appeared to take
form within the organic armor as a kind of digital creation. Sadly
Arshira took charge of the box that contained the codes for the
nuclear devices which the Skatha Brigade had strategically placed
weeks ago. These were meant to be insurance against the Imperium,
lest they retaliate.

“For a female,” Kulcarin sneered. “Who just
won a great victory, you look rather unhappy Arshira.” The Skatha
Lord pressed in an attempt to barb her.

Kulcarin's presumption irked Arshira a great
deal.

“Do you know what the people call you?”
Continued Kulcarin rhetorically.

Arshira knew very well the names her fellow
Falcanians bestowed onto her.

“Katar-J’hiin ‘Sword of Doom’, or ‘Sharr’s
Blade’, and my favorite,” laughed Aranskrai. “‘Rani of
Destruction’.” He grinned. “Many fear seeing you,” continued the
Lord of Skatha. “Knowing that in your wake blood shall flow and
cities will burn.” He laughed a hearty deep bellow. Personally
Aranskrai enjoyed the image of the Bloody Goddess. “You are the
fateful lightening,” he snarled. “That brings complete destruction
in its wake.”

Indeed, Sharr Khan had done what Oberon
failed to do. The Shotar unleashed Arshira’s innate violence. Her
love for him compelled her to action. “Have you ever considered
Kulcarin that perhaps though we fight a noble war,” Arshira
defiantly stood to face the Skatha Commander, fists clenched at her
sides. “That this preemptive strike could be the cause of our own
downfall? We shed blood indiscriminately, und become the aggressors
we seek to displace. One must wonder if the Falcanian tri-claw is
any less oppressive than the Imperium’s boot?”

The sudden ethical question took Aranskrai
by surprise; he stroked his forked goatee and contemplated what to
say. “That sounds like doubt Arshira.” The Skatha almost accused
her of being a traitor, might as well have, given the scorn he now
displayed.

“I am simply asking a question, I even have
asked these things of our Shotar.” Arshira had no problem
challenging Sharr’s choices if she ever thought them unwise. At the
moment, the aggressive stance remained popular among the Falcanian
people, it fit their nature, she knew though that as history had
proven such aggressive action could backfire, even if it arose from
out of a just cause.

“If you truly have moral qualms about our
mission, then come with me to the laboratory where we found the
nanotechnology virus.” He dryly remarked. “There you shall see the
worthiness of the blood we’ve shed.”

Blood, sticky droplets trickled down a
nearby wall, its metallic iron smell licked at her highly attuned
nostrils. The source of the sanguine liquid became clear the minute
Arshira stepped into the lab. Below the blood lay a broken, highly
mangled body. What had occurred became more than obvious to
Arshira. One of the technicians had chosen to play the hero and his
Skatha captors were not about to tolerate that.

The Skatha’s carnage of the technician
though wasn't what almost caused Arshira to vomit. Across the room,
her emerald eyes fell upon three large glass tubes. Suspended
within a clear fluid were Falcanians, two males and a female. Wires
and tubes were jammed into their barely alive bodies. Muscle and
bone exposed. The skull of the female could be plainly seen, which
created a hideous contrast of flesh and bone with the beautiful
girl’s face.

Too horrific for Arshira to witness, she
felt her control start to slip, a killing urge built inside
her.

“They're our brothers and sisters who went
missing during the Iraq campaign, in search of the golden disc.”
Aranskrai stated. He intently watched the rage muster in Arshira,
anger in her emerald eyes became sparks of fury.

Unleashed terror, Arshira grabbed a lab
technician, dragged her across a table, and shattered sterile glass
tubes and beakers. For what seemed to be an eon of heartbeats,
Arshira glared feral at the woman, a girl not that much older than
herself. She pulled her vajra, lit the blade and placed it close to
the girl’s neck. How easy it would be to kill her.

Behind Arshira, Kulcarin waited, almost like
he fed off the looming threat of violence. The blood fever bristled
inside him; and he waited for the inevitable killing strike. To
Aranskrai, Arshira did her killing too neatly, to kindly. Only the
fact that they needed lab techs to question had the Skatha
permitted any to live when he and his men entered.

“What have you been doing here?” Demanded
Arshira.

The girl stuttered. “We were testing the
weapon,” She admitted to Arshira. “Studied your biology...”

“Can they be saved?” Asked the Rihav, and
glanced at the three encapsulated Falcanians.

Unsteadily the lab tech’s head shook, not
able to speak, she understood her response would likely become her
end. What reason would this Falcanian have to let her live?

Lightening-blade raised for the death
strike, Arshira stopped inches from the girl’s neck. Instead she
tossed the lab assistant aside, who with a solid thud thumped
against a blood soaked wall.

Kulcarin scowled.

[IFV Arshira's Ascension: Near Earth]

Aria stomped her well-shod foot, let out an
audible, disgusted sigh. The click, click, click of her heels
echoed on the deck plates. All such displays were very normal when
Aria didn’t get her way or thought herself wronged. “I can't help
it if I'm not 'Miss Perfect' .”

“I didn't mean that,” said Sharr.

“Of course you did.” Hands on hips, Aria
declared in undisguised sarcasm. “What woman could compare to Nadia
Korelia, brilliant robotess, 'Eve of a new race'. Before her, I am
lacking in your eyes. The fires just not in you to love me.” And
the sick thing, in another life that's just what Aria would have
wanted, Sharr to find a new preoccupation, a woman to care for
rather than her. Yet as it turned out, now that he did exactly
that, Aria craved his exclusive attention. Too bad she lived in the
shadow of more accomplished, magnificent women, like Nadia and
Frederika, who hardly needed to try to get Sharr Khan's love.

The Shotar shook his head, darkly amused and
thought Nadia probably didn't see matters Aria's way. All he'd done
was make an offhand remark about Nadia's absolute-recall regarding
the routine of the Imperial Court (after all, she was his queen...)
and Aria went into a caustic tirade accusing him of not genuinely
loving her.

Sharr Khan pondered: Exactly what had he
ever seen in Aria – Not this facsimile, but the real Aria? He'd
discovered true love in Nadia Korelia, who by any measure was an
extraordinary being...

“
Thanks for the shoes!”

“
No problem Bright Eyes,” said Sharr as he
glanced warily at his plate of food selected from the casino's
buffet, impressed by the quantity Nadia piled onto her own plate.
“You earned them. Besides they go with the dress. Nice strappy
leather things.” Acknowledged her finesse at the card table. “Quite
the savvy blackjack player that you are.”

“
Let's just say,” Nadia laughed. “I'm good
at numbers.”

Delicately as he could, Sharr asked. “You
eat? I mean, I've seen you consume food. But how does that figure
into having polymer muscles?”

“
We could've taken dinner in our room.”
Nadia sidestepped his question, at least for the moment. “I know
you're not very keen about eating in public.”

“
The buffet has a larger menu. And you
wanted to get out of our room. If we hadn't, we wouldn't have hit
the jackpot.” Sharr glanced suspiciously sideward. And they sure
hit the jackpot. Nadia tripled his money at the twenty-one table.
On top of her card winnings, the slot machine incident...

“
My body, like yours needs to replenish
and rebuild itself. I'm carbon based, sorta. Silicon carbide at
least.” Nadia grinned. “Charcoal and tree bark could probably serve
me in a pinch, but animal, and plant matter are just as good for
the task, if not better. Certainly more digestible. Animal flesh is
especially suitable for replenishment of my systems.”

Again he glanced sideways, Sharr had the
distinct feeling he was being watched.

Nadia shifted her eyesight, could see by his
biorhythms her boyfriend teetered on edge, his body driven to its
limits. Yet intercourse wasn't exhausting him, more he had his way
with her, the more Sharr came to desire her. She should be mindful
of his heart defect. Though he wasn't going to give up an
opportunity to fuck her. Just then it registered. Every sexually
fit male and a few females were sneaking stares at her. Nadia
realized that Sharr picked up on this, which caused him to become
tense. Though she understood she looked gorgeous, dressed in a
clingy low cut blue dress that matched her eyes, Nadia wasn't the
only attractive woman worth looking at in the room. Yet she exuded
a sexual aura no other female could summon.

Before they'd left the room for dinner,
Nadia made an attempt to retrieve her glasses. Sharr had no plans
however on returning them. At least for the weekend. It ended up in
a loving tussle on one of the hotel rooms armchairs, where she
whispered: “Be rougher, I'm built to take it.” Which ultimately
resulted in sex that culminated in an orgasm on the floor.

It’s not that she forgot, Nadia wasn't
able to forget much anything. But the glasses and pheromone levels
which that encounter produced were shoved into a less critical
sector of her mind. During the kissing, while seated on his lap,
she'd ticked her pheromones to maximum, chemicals which were
assertive. Like no secretions animals manufactured, they were a
genuine potion of lust, if not love. People tended to do what Nadia
suggested. The Morningstar girl blinked, her heads-up display told
her the answer.
Oops!
Let's dial those
back.

“
That little trick with the slot
machine... You knew it would hit the grand prize.” Sharr stated,
providing Nadia little room to squirm out a denial. After they'd
left the blackjack table Nadia chose a slot, insisted he feed it a
hundred dollar bill and bet the limit. He recalled she made a point
to keep her fingertips on the machine. At the time he assumed it
was no more than her unusual superstitious tendencies. Yet now that
he recalled, her eyes seemed to flicker. Much to his shock, the
reels landed on a three thousand dollar progressive
jackpot.

“
I didn't manipulate it – Yet, you're
right, I knew it was ready to payout.”

“
How?”

“
My brain is very compatible with these
simple microprocessors.”