Star Force: Ysalamir (Star Force Universe Book 54) Read online

  1

  February 5, 128485

  Vianfra System (Hadarak Zone)

  Muon Ti Sedara

  Archi’sot had slammed himself halfway through the crowd scrambling to get onboard one of the Star Force dropships, pushing, punching, and kicking to try and get on before it lifted off, but he just missed the last slot and had a stun weapon nail him in the gut as he tried to rush the ramp as the ship began to lift off.

  He dropped uncontrollably to the ground, then was stepped on multiple times before the reptilian was left lying half-conscious and mostly numb on the paved street. It took forever before his body functioned enough for him to roll over onto his side and get his bloody snout off the ground, then he sat in place as the stun gradually wore off, searching the sky for the next dropship to arrive, and hoping that hadn’t been the last one.

  Where his brood was he didn’t know, and didn’t care. All 17 of them had run for their lives, leaving each other behind as soon as the first aliens had made their way into the city. Even a lot of the Vicon military had abandoned their posts and tried to get on the dropships. Archi’sot had even seen some shooting those in line ahead of them before the Star Force troops counterattacked them the same way they had him, not killing him, but making his body unwilling to function for a while. Though in this case, that was almost as good as dead, for the city was being swarmed with the aliens and even now he could hear their feral screams getting closer.

  He desperately scanned the sky, then saw another dropship coming down further to the west and away from the direction the aliens were. Archi’sot climbed to his feet, then stumbled and fell back down due to his numb legs. It took two more tries before he could hobble along, but there was no way he was going to make it to the dropship in time to grab a spot…yet he had no other choice but to try or stay here and die.

  The sounds behind him grew louder and louder, including some Vicon screams as the aliens caught and killed them. Archi’sot didn’t want to be one of them, but he knew that if he couldn’t run then there was no way he could get away. He didn’t dare look back as he tried to get his legs to function more with each step…then suddenly another Star Force ship roared past overhead lower than the building tops. It was a tiny one, passing by Archi’sot from front to back, then he heard weaponsfire and different screams from the aliens.

  He chanced a look back, and saw the Star Force ship hovering low to the ground and shooting the dozens of aliens that were right behind Archi’sot. He had no idea they were that close, and in his rejuvenated panic he stumbled and fell again, scrambling to get back up as the sun went out above and he felt himself pulled upward…then he smacked into something hard as the ground beneath him rushed away and the aliens swarmed past the spot he had just been pulled from.

  Archi’sot tried to twist his head to the side, only partly succeeding, but he could see the skyline of the city racing past beneath the wing of the Star Force ship that he was somehow stuck to the bottom of. A few moments later it nearly smashed him into the ground, stopping just short and releasing him from a drop of two meters.

  He hit snout first, smashing it and causing it to bleed some more, but he saw that another dropship was coming down near his location…no, not near, exactly on his spot. The other ship must have known and dropped him here on purpose!

  Before it could land a mass of reptilian legs surrounded him, stepping on him as the crowd gathered from nearby and swarmed the landing spot as the ship set down. Archi’sot tried to get to his feet and couldn’t, so instead he crawled when he could, ignoring the people stepping on him, then daylight broke through and an armored hand reached down and grabbed his wrist, pulling him up and over the good alien’s back, then he was carried onboard and dropped inside.

  He had finally made it!

  Another different alien that looked like a mass of tubes came over to him and told him in the Vicon language to move to another compartment. Archi’sot gladly did as he was told, pulling himself up to a wobbly stance then walking as the weird alien shielded him from the others rushing onboard with several of its stick-like limbs so he couldn’t get knocked down again. Then he was wedged in with others, standing so close it felt hard to breathe, and the strange stun feeling hit him again and he blacked out.

  When he woke he wasn’t onboard the dropship, but rather in orbit onboard a massive good alien ship. He was told so, along with the others, who were all waking up at the same time with no lingering numbness. He could actually move his body fully this time, and his snout was no longer bleeding. Actually, it wasn’t even broken or scratched. He rubbed his fingers over it dismay, but that and all his other injuries were gone and he was sitting on a bare deck along with thousands of others getting instructions.

  He didn’t have any room to move, but at least when he stood up they weren’t packed shoulder to shoulder, and when everyone started walking no one was kicking or shoving as they were narrowed down into a series of lines that passed through different arches one at a time. When he got close to one he saw wristbands being attached to each person’s arm, some of whom didn’t care for the item, but they were being made to regardless. When it came his turn he didn’t resist, getting a silver band clamped around his left wrist, but it was loose enough to let his skin breathe underneath.

  Then he heard a voice in his head…not through his ears. It told him that it was his wristband talking to him and that it would be his guide and answer his questions, but right now he needed to keep moving and get to his billet. Suddenly he saw flashing icons floating in the air, telling him where to go, with him following them along with the crowd that gradually thinned out, and the icons eventually led him to a wall with square doors on it three high.

  This is your billet. Only you can open it. Touch your wristband to the plate to unlock it. This is your personal space where you will sleep, the voice in his head said.

  Archi’sot did as told, touching the wristband to the metal plate, which then retracted into nothing leaving a narrow, bed-like slot in the wall that had no room to move around in. He would fit, but it was a sleeping place only.

  “Am I supposed to stay here all the time?” he asked out loud, and the voice answered in his mind again.

  Remain here until boarding is complete, then you will be able to travel to three locations. One being a place to get food. Another to relieve yourself of biological waste material and for cleaning. And a third for limited physical training. If you are not at one of those locations, you are to remain here in your billet or standing outside. Once full, the corridors will be crowded, so remain in your billet whenever the crowds become too claustrophobic for you.

  Archi’sot climbed inside his billet head first, then an icon indicated that the closing mechanism was a button on the wall. He hit it and the door resealed, blocking out all noise from outside as he laid down face up and stared at the ceiling only a few inches away.

  You have access to learning material here, with image changes to reduce the claustrophobia, the wristband said as the ceiling suddenly disappeared and the view of a clear sky with some distant clouds replaced it. He turned his head to the right, with a field of grass being seen to either side and cut low. Beyond it were rolling hills, and he instinctively tried to sit up to see further, only to hit his head on the invisible ceiling.

  It is an image only. Remain lying flat.

  “It looks real.”

  It is meant to. In order to evacuate the highest number of individuals possible, we must use available space wisely. It is recommended that you stay here as long as you can stand it, then move to the training area to exhaust yourself enough to want to return. We can also change the gravi
ty so you are standing. Would you like to do this now?

  “Yes,” he said, then the pressure on his back disappeared and he floated up into the ceiling gently before his feet were pulled down and he was now standing on the doorway as his view spun and the grass appeared beneath his feet.

  If you wish to alter it again ask me or use the controls on the wall, the wristband said as more icons showed through the fake scenery for a moment, then disappeared again.

  “What happened to my injuries?”

  They were healed while you slept. I am monitoring your current status and will alert a medic if needed. Please do not harm the other Vicon, and they are being advised not to harm you. Everyone must live in very close quarters during transit, so it is encouraged that if you have problems with the others to retreat to this billet where they cannot be seen, heard, or touched. Only you have access here, and you cannot access others. Please do not try to do so.

  “I will not,” Archi’sot promised. “How soon do we leave?” he asked, standing still and looking out over the very green and lush horizon. “Am I seeing where we will go?”

  We will leave as soon as the ship is full, in approximately 17 hours. The view you are seeing is not your next destination. This ship is moving to a transitional world where you will wait for transport far away from the Hadarak. It is at that final destination that you will find your new home. You must be patient until you arrive there. It will take several years.

  “Years?”

  We must get you far enough away from the Hadarak that you will not be in jeopardy again. To do so we must take you far away. This ship cannot travel there, and as soon as we unload you on the transitional world it will return to pick up more people from this planet or others.

  “Why can I smell the grass if it’s not real?”

  We modify the air inside to keep it fresh and also to add smells to match what you are viewing. Does the grass smell bother you?

  “No,” Archi’sot said, suffering through the downside spiral of paranoia wearing off. He was onboard an alien ship and having a conversation with a wristband that was somehow inside his head, but he was safe from the bad aliens that were still killing people on Muon Ti Sedara. He should be safe, but he couldn’t trust that, and had it not been for the very realistic images he was seeing he would have been going crazy locked into such a small space.

  But the image was too real, and he felt like he was standing on an empty planet all by himself…and that’s when he started shaking as the adrenaline began to wear off.

  Aftereffects of trauma. Your shaking is natural. It will wear off in time. You are safe here. Take time to rest or you can learn about Star Force, the Hadarak, or whatever else you wish. Do you wish to learn?

  “What is Star Force? Tell me who they are. Where they are from. Why are they helping us?”

  Star Force, the wristband said as holograms popped up on the landscape above the grass to show him maps, races, ships, weapons, armor, etc, is a galaxy-spanning empire dedicated to protecting those who come under attack from the Hadarak. They are evacuating tens of thousands of worlds prior to the Hadarak arrival in addition to rescuing those currently under attack. The Star Force empire is based out of the Home One Region, with its capitol in the Solar System. Star Force is led by a Human known as Director Davis…

  13 weeks later…

  Archi’sot and the other Vicon had adapted quickly to their cramped confines, with most of them staying inside their billets and virtually visiting many worlds. Some preferred to remain in the hallways and those that interfered with others were taken away by Star Force security to isolation cells for the length of the journey. That meant everyone settled down after the first few days, despite the fact that they were on an alien ship, eating alien food, and learning everything they could about the good and bad aliens as they fought off the boredom and fear that resulted from such a state.

  Then when they arrived at their transitional world, Archi’sot and the others were led out through doors that had been sealed shut for the length of their trip and back to the hangar bays where they loaded up into dropships peaceably. They were not stunned this time, nor were they packed together quite so close, but there was no room to move around as they all stood in rows while the dropships took them down to the surface.

  Archi’sot didn’t know any of the Vicon with him. He’d been separated from his brood and had no idea where they were now, or if they were even alive. His wristband allowed him to log his identity and upload it to the ship’s computer and share it with others, but either his brood was not onboard this ship or they had not done so. As far as Star Force was concerned he was Vicon-818219534. That was his identification that his wristband gave him, and he hadn’t removed it since the day it was put on him. Not that he could, and many others had tried and failed. It had no seams whatsoever. Just a clean, smooth piece of metal without any corners and too small to fit over his hand. It slid back and forth on his wrist easily, but there was no way to get it off.

  The wristband said that was necessary in order to keep track of everyone, and when the dropship doors opened up and the Vicon walked out in orderly rows being guided by their wristbands’ mental holographs, Archi’sot’s jaw dropped at the sight of huge buildings miles tall all around him…and he was on top of one with thousands of his people being deposited by a steady stream of hundreds of dropships.

  There was no landscape visible other than the building tops with gaps between them. Some were taller than others, and if they hadn’t been he couldn’t have seen anything. The building he was on was more than 15 miles wide, but he could see the tops of others ‘nearby’ that were actually tens of miles off, all at different heights, with some lower and out of view. The scale of it all was insane, but it wasn’t long before he was led down inside the building he was standing on and through a myriad of hallways that end in a familiar hall of square boxes.

  Archi’sot’s wristband instructed him to get inside a specific one, then informed him that his stay here would mimic that onboard the ship, but he would have access to additional training facilities and a chance to earn positions in the reforming Vicon civilization, for some people would be working rather than just sitting and waiting for transport.

  “I want to work,” he told the wristband. “Anything I can do. Let me do something.”

  The wristband scheduled a number of tests for him to take in another place, and thankfully he passed some of them, for he was given the choice of two jobs. One was moving cargo and the other was driving a vehicle. He chose ‘moving cargo’ and was assigned a trial period of work, which allowed him to leave the billet city for several hours a day and see more of the planet.

  His work consisted of moving crates from place to place, and his wristband told him that Star Force had machinery to do this, but by his and other’s doing it manually they could save the pieces of those machines and instead build more ships to evacuate more people. So by taking on this menial job he was helping to save others who were in the same position that he had been in.

  Archi’sot didn’t care about that. He just wanted something to do other than laying in that holographic billet day in and day out. Apparently he did a good enough job that he was assigned to the first wave of long-range transports 8 years later taking some of the Vicon out to the Galactic Rim. He had to endure a year and a half trip onboard another ship, but when he arrived at their new home called Sicarionet, he found that there were 12 different races here and another 3 yet to arrive in addition to the Vicon. They were all part of the Beacon Faction, as the Vicon were to become as well.

  They wouldn’t be independent anymore, but it had become clear to Archi’sot that the Vicon needed Star Force. They knew everything, and if his race was going to rebuild they had to have Star Force guidance and resources.

  His wristband traveled with him to his new billet, this time called ‘quarters’, and he was shocked when he found it to be an actual room.

  Take the silver rectangle on the table and touch it to
your wristband, the wristband told him.

  Archi’sot did as he was told, and suddenly the thing melted into and changed his wristband…then to his amazement his wristband fell off!

  “You are no longer an evacuee,” the wristband said aloud for the first time ever. “You are now a member of Star Force and this is your new wristband. You can take it off whenever you like, but I recommend you only do so in your quarters so you do not lose it. Wear it whenever you leave so I can continue to provide you with information and access codes.”

  “How do I put you back on?” he asked in English, which he and the others had learned well during their years of boredom.

  “Just touch me to your wrist, either one, and say or think the word ‘attach.’ When you want to take me off, say ‘detach’. You must say it. Only thinking can put me on. This is so you don’t accidentally take me off and lose me later. It is important that you do not lose me. It will be very hard to accomplish tasks without me. If for some reason you do lose me, contact the local handler and they will provide you with a replacement.”

  “Do I have a work assignment?”

  “Yes. You can wait until tomorrow to begin or I can schedule you one for today?”

  “Today please.”

  “Very well. I have one available in two hours and 36 minutes. Is this acceptable?”

  “It is.”

  “I am instructed to inform you that the work you will be doing will directly affect the growth of the new Vicon civilization. You will not be assisting the evacuation effort here. You will be building the homes for those that will be coming later.”

  “I don’t care. Just give me something to do,” Archi’sot said, picking up the now larger wristband and touching it to his left wrist. “Attach.”

  The thing melted around his wrist and reformed into a longer wristband, but one of the same thickness. He had lived with it on for so long that having it off just didn’t feel right.

  “Explain the items in this billet,” he ordered, then let the wristband guide him around every piece of his new home that seemed far too large to be real.