*tzz* 'Sophie!' *tzz*
"What's happening?" I brought a finger to my ear, listening closely through my comm unit as someone tried to contact me.
"Sophie, it's me!" My friend Beth's voice sounded loud and clear in my eardrum. I frowned slightly at the half panicked tone to their voice. "You need to come to HQ- I've found something you have to see. Now!"
"Alright." I replied, swiftly rising from where I'd been sorting through a bag in my room on Alliance Base 17, which was currently orbiting around the planet Staphas in the Tiberius galactic sector. As I crossed to the door, it sprung open and I entered my team's common room, where my team member and best friend Mickey, an alien from the planet Ranigrous, sat, eyes moving from his tablet screen to survey me as I hurried towards the opposite door. He must have sensed purpose in my stride, because he quickly jumped up and joined me.
"Where're you going? What's happening?" He asked, a quizzical look crossing his features as he walked alongside me out into the corridor.
I gave my shoulders the slightest shrug. "I don't know. Beth called me and said they had to show me something. They sounded worried."
A shadow flickered briefly across his eyes. "You don't think-"
"It's about Robyn? Nah. Beth would've told me." I answered briefly.
Finally Mickey and I reached the entrance to HQ. After passing through the doors, we barely had time to catch a glimpse through the massive window which showed outside space or look at the flickering monitors that agents were sitting at before a hand grabbed at my arm and I was dragged over to a screen to my right.
"Thank hell you're here. So I was sorting through the flagged incident reports, right, and there was this really weird one, from sector 6F where they've had on this surveillance on- Oh, hi Mickey!" Beth said brightly as he moved in beside us, looking with concern at the screen.
It showed footage of a room in that place she'd mentioned, alongside the report. I skimmed everything quickly, and saw weird phrases. Enhanced individual. Overpowered all authorities. Not affected by defensive measures. Species unknown
"This crazy strong lady was apparently trying to gather support for some cause, mercenaries, ships, so on, and from what I read, she sounds like what you told us about, about the Staarus system," I froze as Beth scrolled through the footage, showing an image of the individual and every fear inside me took over my brain as I saw, for the first time in years, a Weraynian. Built, vaguely humanoid, and with unnatural features from a lifetime of experimentation, I recognised her as a member of one of the races from the Staarus system.
You see, before I'd joined the Alliance I'd spent most of my teenage years using a teleport watch to search the universe for a spaceship that had disappeared, with my dad on board. On one of those teleport trips I had arrived in the Staarus system on the planet Flauraan. There were three planets which held life there, and one of these was a planet called Werayne. When the people from Flauraan and the other planet, Halapatov, which I've also been to, made contact with them and established system wide communication and stuff, the Weraynians quickly became jealous because the other races had powers and they didn't. It was probably more complex than that and I find it hard to believe that the Halapatovians and Paladanians didn't do anything wrong in their treatment of the Weraynians, but anyway the Weraynians started experiments on themselves, to enhance their bodies and minds, and once they'd been altered enough they started a war. The only way to end it had been to trap the whole planet of Werayne in a force field, and ever since the whole system had been filled with the fear that the Weraynians would one day escape and the war would start again. That one time I'd been on Flauraan had been during a plot by the Weraynians to escape, which me and my most wonderful friend in the world Abigail had helped stop. But the whole system had been planning for war ever since, knowing the Weraynians were close to escaping, and over the years that worry had been in the back of my mind. I'd mentioned my worries to the Alliance section which oversaw relations with the Staarus system, hoping that we'd be able to go help if something happened. And here it was. Proof that the Weraynians had escaped the force field, and war had started.
I heard Mickey through my terror. "Sophie, is it...?"
"Yeah." I responded stiffly. "It's a Weraynian."
"What should we do?" Mickey asked, sounding concerned.
"Well I'll inform the board and we can-" Beth started rattling off protocol but my head was spinning with my own answers to his question. What should I do? What was happening right now? How long had it been since the Weraynians had left? How many other Weraynians were out here trying to get people to support them? What should I do? I wished I had Abi here to help me, to encourage me, to make me feel like everything would be okay.
That's when it hit me. That's what I would do first. I'd go find Abi! I felt more hopeful just thinking about her, even if I would be going into a war. I'd figure out what to do next when I was with her. Mind made up, I interrupted Beth's continued nervous suggestions and set everything in motion.
"I'm going to go there."
Beth and Mickey started in confusion and hastened to follow me as I strode off back the way I came.
"What!?" Beth asked incredulously. "To the, uh... Staarus system? How? It would take ages to get clearance to use an Alliance ship and if it's a battle zone then-"
"The teleport watch is in special storage here. I'll just use that." I remembered, smiling nostalgically. Is that even a word? Anyway, it had been years since I'd travelled that way, and I was excited to experience it again. Nonetheless I was jittering with worry. This wouldn't be some fun trip. "But I'm not really much help on my own. The Earth-Staarus treaty doesn't have that much to it, but I'm pretty sure Earth promised to help if this happened so surely we can organise to send a team over after. But that will take longer, with all the bureaucratic or whatever stuff. If I get that stuff started, can you guys see it through? I don't even know how that works. We'll need to find volunteers probably..."
"It's okay Sophie. Mickey and I can organise a reinforcement team." Beth was one of my closest friends, and super good at organising things. I was so grateful to know they were willing to help.
"Are you sure?" I asked, biting the inside of my cheek to try to stop myself freaking out.
"Of course we can." Mickey said, and put a hand on my shoulder. I knew he could tell I was scared. He was such a caring guy, always looking out for others. I mean, he was a medic. That's kind of their thing. "It'll be okay Sophie. We're here for you."
"Thank you." I said, voice small, and then I pulled them both into a hug. Okay, so my friend's people and entire system was engaged in a war with a race of super strong enhanced soldiers, but I could do something, and my friends were helping me. I started to breathe a little slower, and then I moved into action.
I got the forms and stuff started for the others to figure out backup to come after me, and I talked to one of the high ups and went to retrieve my watch. Beth sent me the full report about the Weraynian encounter and I played it, soaking in all the details while I got myself ready to go. This whole situation was kinda weird, not gonna lie. For five years I had lived life hopping from planet to planet doing research, trying to find my dads lost ship. I hadn't really stayed anywhere for an extended time, I'd constantly had the teleport watch on my wrist and the only stuff I had was in my backpack. But since I found out what happened to my dad (his ship got intercepted and he died) and I joined the Alliance, I'd gotten used to staying in the same place. I mean, my job took me to all sorts of space stations and planets, as my team was a relief team and helped out when interspecies situations happened in various places, but at the end of the day I had my own room to come back to. Yet here I was packing up the necessary bits of my life into one bag to go back to the Staarus system. If it wasn't for the fact that I would be seeing Abi soon I would probably have gone nuts. Oh well, time for that later.
I finished getting ready, and Beth and Mickey came to a teleport safe part of the base to see me off, looking only slightly distracted by the task ahead of them. I said goodbye only a little bit sadly, knowing I would see them soon, and pressed the buttons that would take me to Flauraan.
To Abigail.
In a thrill of cross-spatial transmission I was blasted to my destination, moving at speeds in the astral dimension beyond anything i'd experienced in a long while.
When I finally reached the Staarus System, I felt the once familiar tug which meant I had been intercepted and then I appeared with a buzz in a locked room with clear walls, standing there disheveled and stared at by numerous soldiers on the other side of the glass.
"Ah, I see you've learnt your lesson." I said good-naturedly, forcing myself to be okay with the detour.
One of the people behind the glass spoke in an authoritative tone. "This is a time of war, Mz...?".
"Lestari, my name is Sophia Lestari. You can scan me and know I'm on the right side. I'm an Alliance agent, Earth, presentee of the Staarus-Earth treaty following the Weraynian scare on Flauraan. I'm here to help."
"That's nice to hear." the same person said rather stiffly. It was kind of hard to tell but I think it was a woman. Not that it matters."I think I've heard that name before, but no matter who you are, you need to wait for full security clearance before we let you go."
"Okay." I said good-naturedly, and then stood there and waited for a really long time. I started fidgeting and the weirdness of this situation, of being observed, swirled around my mind, mixing with my fear, which I tried to push down and distract myself from. I could see the figures of soldiers checking systems, lights blinking and people leaving and entering the room. I smiled.
Finally, there was a hiss as the exit to this glass prison unlocked and a voice crackled
"So your scans have shown up all clear, Miss Lester. You have a very interesting history. I've contacted up top and it seems they want to talk to you."
"Ah, cool. Good little chat." I said cheerily and exited the room, looking around at the people and machines that I could now see much clearer.
The person who had been talking to me before approached me and extended an official greeting. "I'm General Thross. I'm in charge of security on this station. We are in orbit around Halapatov and monitoring Staarus ships which are currently in blockade around the planet Werayne, trying to prevent any movement of Weraynians beyond this part of space. I've been informed of your history with us. However you mentioned an organisation, the... Alliance? What is that?"
"The Alliance is the organisation that maintains the connections with our people's allies. Including the Staarus system, which is how I found out the war had begun, so I'm here on their behalf. Actually, I didn't see any Halapatovians at the last Alliance ball." I shook my head, tutting teasingly. "Shame on you, not maintaining your connections.
The young soldier on the control desk blinked in bewilderment at this, and glanced up at his commanding officer at a loss. The general gave me a tired look.
"We've been a bit busy." she replied tersely.
"Well, I can see that." I answered, moving forward with my hands in my pockets and looking around the room. Then I fixed the general with a solemn stare. "There's a Weraynian in our sector of space. At least one ship has escaped your blockade, and is out there recruiting. Our people were barely able to face her, and she's already sent off bands of thugs and scavengers to assist the Weraynians here, remnants of a crime ring that the Alliance shut down a few years back. She's offered them power and redemption I assume; the Weraynian powers and enhancements would probably appeal to them an awful lot. So there's that to watch out for."
General Thross bit her lip. "We did know about the ship that escaped. We are certain there was only one. We would've sent scouts after it but we didn't want to create more of an opening. There's too much at stake."
"Yeah." I tried to contain the nervousness that her words sent through me as it hit me that the Weraynian war was real and happening now, here right now. "Everything is."
I didn't get much time to dwell on that thought as another soldier person arrived in the room, apparently to take me to a group of Halapatovian and Paladanian leaders. I followed him through corridors and past secure doors until finally I was ushered into a meeting room with like ten fancy but solemn looking people. I assumed these were the high ups.
"Welcome Miss Lestari. Before you is the board of directors overseeing Paladanian, Halapatovian and Aandriggian forces and all ventures in this conflict. Please take a seat." a Halapatovian man gestured to the table as the others observed me. I felt weird at the formality of this all. Miss Lestari, pffft. Nonetheless I sat, and put on my most disarming smile.
"So, what did you guys want to chat about?"
I could see the contempt for me that most of the leaders felt, barely able to hide their thinning mouths and furrowed eyebrows. It didn't bother me too much. I wasn't much of a sucker for hierarchy, I'd experienced too much for that. If they had something to say to me, I wanted it plain and simple. I'd probably have to fight for that the whole time I was here.
"Well," After some serious looks with the others, a Paladanian guy took charge and decided to humour me. "As you know, after many centuries of containment and brutal experimentation on themselves and attempts to assert supremacy on us, the Weraynians have finally managed to disrupt the force field in place to keep our system safe long enough to launch a massive assault, with the clear intent of conquering and overcoming all of this system and, based on our understanding of their motivation, conforming everyone to their rule and killing or experimenting on those who don't comply. Already many of our people have been captured and are being kept on Werayne, and we have come up against many weapons and technology that we do not have satisfying responses to. For the past few months we have been able to sufficiently halt Weraynian progress beyond the area around their planet, but we have many experienced many losses, and the whole system is feeling the strain of this war. We are doing all we can to eliminate this threat."
I nodded my head along to this, unable to truly process what was being described, but wondering where this was going. What did they want me for?
As if reading my mind, another Paladanian interjected and directed my attention to a holographic presentation, which seemed to be on some secret project. "As part of our efforts to achieve this, we have a team working on a powerful new technology to help give us an advantage. We have all the scientists and technical support needed for it, but this project is of great importance and we need a field team of people with... unique skills to assist us in the execution. We already have a list of names we were soon to consolidate and round up, but your arrival here today has prompted us to start acting now. General Thross informed us that you believe your organisation is sending reinforcements to support us and we are very grateful. You will, of course, be involved when they arrive, but for the moment we would like you to assist us in forming our field team, being one of its members yourself."
Honestly I had no idea what the implications of any of this was. I looked thoughtful as I tried to calm my racing brain. "Wow... That sounds like a big deal. How big is this team? Who is in it?"
"Ah yes." a Halapatovian swiped through the presentation to find a collection of biodata. I squinted to try and read it. "We have four other members in mind, one of which I'm sure you're quite familiar with."
Fondness thrilled through me as I stared at Abi's profile. "We've been observing Miss Abigail, and her abilities would be extremely useful for our cause. Also, we have Rojjel, a Halapatovian prodigy in mechanical and technical engineering. You two would work well together, if your skills are as impressive as your file says."
I shrugged. "I'm alright you know."
"Hmm. Among your teammates we also have Jayken." The Halapatovian flicked his hand and I tensed as the profile of a Weraynian appeared on the screen, basically the same as how I'd felt earlier back at the Alliance base when Beth had shown me a Weraynian. Was this dude seriously saying a Weraynian was on the team? Maybe I was super paranoid and it was just an Aandrigian... They'd come from the same planet as Werayne after all. Nah but the profile definitely said Weraynian. I squinted some more, and the presenting guy tried to explain to me. "Now, I know you haven't been around in recent times, but while Jayken is a Weraynian, he's not dangerous. He was involved in an accident that placated his Weraynian enhancements, transported through a spatial anomaly to Halapatov. He has been thoroughly examined and under our watch for over a year." Oh yeah, I did remember Abi mentioning something like this. "Part of the reason we want him to join the team is for continued observation. Also a girl in the Aandriggian family that took him in was also affected by the event which altered him and has displayed evidence of prognostication." I had barely opened my mouth and he quickly said, "Ability to tell the future. It's unclear exactly the extent of it, but the ability seems similar to that of the Paladanian leader Reeina, who I'm told you've interacted with. And you would be the final member of the team."
"Uh huh." I sat there, taking everything in. Honestly this 'team' they were forming sounded like a bomb about to go off, a bunch of powerful people, and idiots like me, gathered in one place to do... what? Also from the sounds of it we were all young people. Hmm... "Sounds like a fun and fresh time. So what exactly is this 'team' going to get up to?"
The Paladanian from before leaned forward, probably probing my expression for whatever it is they wanted to know about me. With pursed lips she told me something probably secret in a low voice. "The technology we have in development needs to be integrated into existing systems in various strategic points, including space stations around Werayne. A lot of your work will involve surveying and infiltrating these environments, some of which are under Weraynian control, in order to situate the devices, as well as being involved in some data analysis. And obviously you are the point person for the Alliance reinforcement if and when it comes."
"Oof, lots of trust there, but okay." I interjected.
I think she almost rolled her eyes at me. Classic. "Ahem. But first of all, as most of the potential team members are at their respective homes, besides Rojjel who has been here working on one of our bases for a few weeks now, we would like you to go inform Abigail, Alexa and Jayken of our invitation to this project, and if they accept, to transport them here. We will give your teleport watch clearance for the trip, as that saves us considerable resources that otherwise would be needed to get them here."
So I guess I was going to see Abigail anyway. No matter what else nonsense was going on here, that was still my goal. "Alright. I can do that."
I wasn't sure what I expected the situation to be like when I got here, but it was interesting that they had already devised a role for me, on the off-chance that I would come. I wanted to learn more about this mysterious technology also. I couldn't wait to get to Abigail and talk to her about these things, and try to figure out what we're doing.
So I was equipped with all the info I needed and ushered out of the meeting room and taken to a special spot to teleport from. And then, I was off, to get Abi.