Syn-En: Registration (27 page)

The engines hummed to life under Bei’s feet and the ground slowly receded. “Nell?”

His wife swiped at the sparkle on her cheeks with her fists. “First we register, then we kick some alien butt. For the others and Elvis.”

Chapter 30

Bei finished securing the body armor over his wife.

She swayed with each adjustment. “I’ll be fine. Really.”

His sensors indicated that she was functioning normally, but Neodynamic armor had never replaced biological organs, or tissue before. Yet Nell had incorporated the NDA fully and ten minutes later, only her fatigue remained.

He kissed her hard before pulling back. If she died now, it would be over his dead body. Literally. “Remember to stay between us. We don’t know how your armor will react.”

She adjusted his collar. “I promise to be the good little filling in the Syn-En sandwich.”

The shuttle bucked as it touched down in the public square before the Consortium.

“Ready?” Standing in the
Icarus
crew compartment, Bei glanced at his Security Chief.

“Willing and able.” Rome kissed the sub-machine gun Trunch-69. “Let’s hope everything else doesn’t go this easy.”

“We haven’t registered yet.” Bei’s hands skimmed the Torp-SK7 hanging on his hip, the rows of throwing stars adorning his formal Syn-En uniform, then adjusted the strap of the Destroyer-PSK12. The shotgun style weapon hummed against his back.

A thud sounded from the crew quarters in the deck above.

Keyes slid down the ladder and landed with a soft thump behind him. “The ship is programmed to relocate if we encounter any resistance. Our passengers should be safe. For a while.”

If Humans didn’t register, their civilian passengers wouldn’t be safe for long.

“Armor up.” Bei locked his armor, but kept the spines flat. He needed to look like a normal Human. A very pissed off Human. He checked the charge on his Torp. Full, with two extra charge packs in the pockets of his uniform pants.

Reaching around her back, Keyes shifted her Destroyer into her arms and set her finger on the trigger. “They know we’re here. Scraptor vessels are moving to intercept.”

“Let’s not disappoint the ugly bastards.” Rome gripped a Trunch-P69 in each hand. Extra clips of armor piercing bullets hung from the straps, criss-crossing his chest.

Bei pulled his wife to her feet, resisted the urge to pull her into his arms then his body to keep her safe. “Stay—”

“Between you. Got it the first time.” Nell tucked the rest of her energy bar into her mouth. Pushing off the left bench running the crew compartment’s length, she swayed on her feet. “I’m ready.”

He cupped her elbow to steady her. “Perhaps you should stay and rest.”

“I’m going.” She smoothed one of Bei’s old shirts over her hips before picking up the electronic pad. “They’ll accept this letter for Skaperian sponsorship, even if I have to shove it down their throats.”

Bei lowered the
Icarus
ramp.

With a soft hum, the back of the ship dropped. Sunshine and shadow slipped into the opening. Thistle-shaped spires, soaring towers of glass, and floating palaces of marble filled the skyline. The capital of the planet had been designed to impress. 

He only saw the corruption behind a pretty facade, targets waiting to be destroyed.

“Showtime.” Nell eased behind him, tucked her hand into his waistband.

Rome closed ranks on Bei’s right, Keyes on his left. They marched in lock-step across the compartment and down the ramp.  Angling their bodies, his men positioned themselves to provide a three-hundred-sixty degree line of sight.

ETs filled the gaps between the drooping trees lining the paved square. Rich, jewel-toned fabrics identified the registered sentients. They whispered as they caught sight of Bei’s group. A few ETs paled. Humanoid servants in crow-black livery juggled baskets of fruit, lumpy bundles and glittering, string-tied boxes.

Thirteen Humans dropped their burdens and stepped forward.

Red armored Scraptors shoved through the crowd. Snapping their claws, they beat the Humans back into the throng but didn’t advance.

Bei’s insides twitched. He encoded each Bug-ugly onto his memory chip.

Rome raised his weapons. “Where’s the line in the sand, Admiral?”

“Until we register, we’re not supposed to attack.” Nell gripped Bei’s waistband tighter. “The only caveat is if they physically block our entrance into the Consortium.”

“Looks like they’re blocking.” Bei rested his hand on the Torp’s grip. He wouldn’t pull it. Yet.

Four ETs stood on the arched bridge leading to the steps of the Consortium. Bei’s software identified the stinky green one as Mopus and the Scraptor as Groat. On Groat’s right stood a bird-like creature so thin he needed a grain of rice to have substance. On Groat’s left, a scaly lizard creature stood on four of its eight limbs and stroked its diamond encrusted robes.

Nell jerked on his waistband. “There’s another in the water.”

The last representative of the Founding Five heaved itself out of the moat surrounding the post and lentil building. Whiskers twitched in its pointy nose. Water cascaded off its ghostly white rolls of flubber.

Bei stopped short of the bridge. If the aqua-ETs planned to attack, it wouldn’t be where they had the tactical advantage. “On behalf of the peoples of Earth and her territories, I am here to register the Human race, in all her incarnations,—”

“And her companions.” Nell’s warm breath swirled over his cheek.

“And her companion species as sentient.”

Mopus flicked his pale green hair over his shoulders. After glancing at his associates, the humanoid glided down the bridge. “I do not see a sponsor.”

Nell pushed against Bei’s shoulder. “You need to let me out.”

His stomach knotted. He should just hand the damn electronic tablet over, keep her protected. Unfortunately, this was her fight, too, and she was the one the ruling body on Terra Dos had voted to do the honors. Olfactory alarms blazed in his head. The stink was on. Obviously Greenie still thought he could control Humans with his pheromones.

Bei’s cerebral interface could protect him, but his wife’s may not. “You know—”

A wicked smile curved her lips. “Yep, and I know how to deal with his elfin mojo.”

Bei eased forward. His men followed suit, opening the circle but not compromising their defensive position.

Squeezing through, Nell swept her hand across his back, keeping in contact to the last moment. She took two steps then covered her nose and mouth with her free hand. “Oh, good God, someone needs to clean those canals. They reek.”

Bei swallowed a laugh.

Keyes’s shoulders shook.

Rome coughed.
Your wife is my all-time favorite civilian.

Mopus colored a deep emerald. His nostrils flared but he extended a hand. “Your proof.”

Nell placed the electronic tablet in his hand. “Ugu, Head of the Paladins’ Witan, signed it herself.”

Mopus pursed his lips and scanned the document. “Skaperian sponsors. Everything seems in order.”

“Nell.” Bei spoke softly. Her job was done; she should return.

Admiral, more Bug-uglies are joining the party.
His cerebral interface began to map out the square.
Get your wife back in formation.

He would love to. Bei took his eyes off his wife to look up. Tubular transports deposited enough Scraptors to line the roof tops of every building around the plaza. The shuttle ramp closed.

“Nell.”

“Everything is in order.” She poked Mopus’s shoulder. “You will cease and desist your exploitation of humanity and its friends.”

With a sniff, she turned on her heel and stomped toward the Syn-En.

The skin between Bei’s shoulder blades itched.
Faster, love.

Over his wife’s shoulder, he watched Mopus drop the tablet. “Oops.”

Nell stopped.

A shadow drifted over the square.

The flubber ET near the canal scooped it up in a flipper before oozing back into the water.

Shit! Bei lunged for her.

Every Scraptor rifle aimed at him and his men.

She took a step toward Mopus. “What do you mean oops?”

ET dusted his green hands. “The documents are obviously forged. The Skaperian race died out over a hundred solar cycles ago.”

“It is not forged, and you know it.” Nell’s hands fisted at her side.

Damn it woman, get back here.
Bei shouted through their cerebral connection.

Nell flinched.

“Even if we could believe that pathetic ship,” Mopus laughed. “Could have traveled from Earth. Humanity has no sponsor. Request for sentience denied. Take these obviously escaped workers and return them to their owners.”

“Go to Hell!” Nell spat.

The moisture clung to Mopus’s cheek before slipping down. He raised a hand to touch it.

Pride warred with fear. Pride won. No matter what happened. Today would be remembered.
Get ready to fire.

Nell’s back shimmered. Silver spread in lines from her back over her body. His shirt shrunk, molded to her body. The extra fabric stretched down her legs. In the blink of an eye, she shifted into gleaming silver. Hands and feet lengthened and narrowed into sharp blades.

“NDA can do that?” Keyes whispered.

“Why the hell can’t we do that?” Rome growled. “I want to do that.”

The insect and bird-like aliens fled. Groat lowered his head.

Mopus stumbled back. “What are you?”

“Your worst nightmare.”

Chapter 31

Bei detected movement in his peripheral vision. Damn, ET surrounded him on the roofs and on the ground. Rappel lines dropped from the sky. Soon three Syn-En and one Nell would face off against hundreds of Scraptors.

Mopus and Groat really wanted him and his men dead.

The ETs would have to earn it.

Two meters ahead of him, Nell’s body gleamed like quicksilver. With hands stretched into swords, she lunged for Mopus.

The stinky green ET leapt back.

Damn, but his wife was amazing.

“Stand still so I can show you how I feel about oopses!” Nell sliced through his emerald robe.

A soft hiss echoed around him. The ETs were rappelling down.

We gonna let your wife have all the fun?
With a Trunch-P69 in each hand, Rome covered Bei’s back and aimed at the Scraptors on the roof.

Keyes covered the left.
Let’s help a few of these Bug-uglies on the chariot to Hell.

Fire!
Bei pulled his Torp-SK7 from its holster. He raised the gun in one hand and reached for his Destroyer PSK12 with the other. Both weapons fizzled when he pulled the trigger. “Son of a—”

Rome’s and Keyes’s guns also malfunctioned.

The Scraptors ringing the square advanced.

Tossing his Trunches to the ground, Rome shook his arms. Spines grew down his limbs. “We’ll do this the fun way.”

Slashing the air, Nell advanced on Mopus, forcing him across the bridge. “You are such a coward. Stand still!”

Stinky’s green skin darkened. He raised the hem of his robe and raced up the bridge over the moat to shout in Groat’s face. “Do something! We only tolerate your stupid species because of your brute strength.”

Groat’s mandibles spread open and his teeth parted. His attention remained fixed over their heads.

Nell stabbed at Mopus’s head, shaved off a lock of hair.

ET ducked behind his armored friend. “Attack! Attack!”

Dropping his weapons, Bei called up his own spines then charged his armor to a lethal dose.

The Scraptors on the ground picked up speed.

A wall of black materialized in front of the Bug-uglies. The Syn-En insignia blazed across the backs of ebony uniforms.

Bei practically short circuited. His men were here. But how? Nell. She must have gotten through.

More of his soldiers rappelled down the black cables. The ones forming the boundary raised their arms.

Blue light arced from their hands to the Scraptors’ chests and the Bug-uglies collapsed.

That took care of the ones on the ground. What about the ones on the rooftops? Bei looked up.

A ship’s hull filled his vision and obscured the rooftop snipers’ line of sight.

Syn-Ens lined up at the open bay door, waiting for their turn to join the fight. Amarooks leapt from their carrier’s arms when they were two meters from the ground. Snapping and snarling, they prowled the square behind his men.

Wave upon wave of Syn-Ens and Amarooks filled the square.

“You know. This planet just isn’t any fun.” Rome smoothed his spines away.

Bei shook his head. “I better save Nell.”

His wife would be upset if she killed someone. She still had nightmares over her last death match.

Mopus ducked behind a column lining the facade of the consortium.

Nell rushed up the steps after him. “Do you have any idea how ridiculous you look?”

“I say let her finish him off. It’s not like he doesn’t deserve it.” Keyes matched his strides.

Wardens crawled out of the cargo bays. Gripping the rappel lines, they zipped down to the plaza. The tops of their boxy bodies slid open.

Groat shook himself. His bubble eyes blinked, then he turned and raced inside the Consortium.

Cupping his hands around his mouth, Bei stepped onto the bridge. “Nell, I think you should leave him be.”

“Why? I bet he tastes like shish-kabobed chicken.” She smacked the flat side of her blade against the column.

Mopus jumped. “Barbarous inferior.”

The carved wooden doors of the Consortium swung open. ETs of all shapes, sizes and colors walked out.

In the lead, a gray humanoid with oversized ears raised its arms. A thin layer of skin connected the supple limbs to its massive torso and abdomen.

The procession halted. 

“What is the meaning of this?” The humanoid’s deep baritone rang out over the square. His two antennae uncurled from the top of his bald head and stood straight up.

Nell froze. Her swords shortened and reformed as hands.

Bei quickly closed the distance between them.