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Earth, The Blue Venture
Val snapped her air screen closed, attracting the attention of the rest of the crew, all gathered in the Blue Venture's lounge. "Tessa and Magnus are on their way."
"Is good," Tamar said. "More guns means greater chance of success."
Rakan crossed his arms, a scowl furrowing his features. "Much good that will do us if we can't find the buggers. They've murdered five people now, and no one has so much as caught a glimpse."
"Which means they are fast and cunning. But not invincible. And while I don't want them killing anyone else, I don't think that's their primary goal, either," Val said.
"True," Alex said. "If this is the HDL–"
"Most likely suspect," Rakan muttered.
"If it is, then we know what they want," Alex continued. "Destroy Gaia, even if they have to destroy Earth to do it."
"As horrific as the murders are, killing people in such small numbers won't get them closer to that goal," Val said.
"Which is meaning what?" Tamar asked.
"That the killings are a distraction," Dash said. "Or a lure. Either way, there is likely a larger plan in play. One they are trying to hide."
"That can't be good." Rakan uncrossed his arms and leaned forward.
"No, so we need to stop them before they can put whatever it is into action." Val lifted her coffee to her lips and grimaced when she found it cold.
"There is no guarantee we can destroy them, even if we catch them," Dash pointed out.
"They aren't HiveZ," Alex said. "Like Val said, hard to kill, maybe, but not impossible."
"So, what is the first step?" Val asked. No one answered, and she went on. "Find them."
"How do we do that?" Rakan asked. "It's a damn big planet, in case you haven't noticed."
"Actually–" Val began.
"Incoming message from Maeve," Stanley, the ship's DEVA, said over the intercom. "Leader of the Fae community of Erinbaile."
Val looked up. "Put her through."
"Erm, the message isn't live."
"Then read it to us," Val said impatiently.
"Affirmative. To the captain of the Blue Venture, from–"
"Skip the intro, what is the message?" Val said.
"As you wish. It says: 'You and your crew will leave Earth immediately or be indicted for the murder of five Earth citizens, each of which carries a death sentence when convicted. We will hold you responsible for any additional deaths which occur due to your reckless importation of dangerous alien technology.
If you do not obey these instructions, we will impound and destroy your ship. Your crew will be taken into custody, tried, and when convicted, executed.
Please respond with your intentions immediately.' That is the end of the message," Stanley finished. "Do you wish me to repeat it, or respond?"
Val stood and dropped her nearly full cup into the recycler. "Neither. I'll take care of this myself."
"Right behind you, Captain." Rakan and Alex spoke in unison, then looked at each other with grim smiles.
"That's fine," Val responded. "Tamar, you are in command until I get back. Keep the Venture safe. Dash, you'll give her a hand if needed, otherwise monitor communications. I want to know immediately when Tessa and Magnus drop into orbit."
Tamar nodded and slipped out of the lounge with Dash at her side.
Stalking through the heavily forested terrain, Val breathed in the crisp air and wondered what the area used to be called before the evacuation. Afterward, big cities all over the world were abandoned, the territory slowly reclaimed by nature.
Without humans in the way, vampires and fae had taken over as apex species, and despite their unique cultures, they appeared to get along well. The two groups lived in scattered settlements all over Earth, none larger than a small village would have been prior to the evacuation.
Woodland surrounded the hilltop where the Red Nest made their home. A narrow path led between the trees, through a series of hills, and then down into a valley. A river wound through the area, the water clear and unpolluted. Val led the way along the track toward the fae village.
Based on her Earth History classes, it seemed that the world was far better off without humans than it had been with them.
What right do we have to come in and upset that balance? Val wondered silently. Maybe we should leave. But not before we destroy the reapers. We brought them here. We'll get rid of them. Whether this Maeve person likes it or not.
They crested the top of a low hill and looked down into the valley below. Here and there, thin columns of smoke rose lazily into the air. "Cooking fires?" Val said.
"Maybe," Alex replied. "But I can't see the houses for the trees, so..." He shrugged.
"Come on."
The trio trudged down the hillside, making for the closest smoke spiral they saw. As they got closer, small cottages appeared. Stone and wood were the main building materials, with thatch roofs and small gardens. Goats and the occasional cow stared at them as they passed.
Dirt tracks crisscrossed, winding between the houses to connect with a wider central road.
Overhead, a crow sat on a branch, his head tilted to train one beady eye on the group as they walked down the path. Spreading its wings, it launched into the air with a squawk.
An eerie quiet settled over the area, undergirded by a jumbled murmur coming from somewhere up ahead.
Rounding a curve in the main road, they stopped where it split in two. Cradled between the two roads stood a round, wooden structure, windowless, with a massive set of double doors enclosed in an ornately carved, arched frame. Rather than thatch, rectangles of a shiny, black material covered the roof. Vines grew up the walls, hiding them behind lacy green leaves and brilliantly colored flowers.
The grumble of a crowd drifted to them from behind the doors.
"Well, looks like we found the villagers," Rakan said. "What now?"
Val squared her shoulders. "Let's go introduce ourselves."
"I was going to say, let's try not to get arrested, but sure. Introducing ourselves is good." Alex checked his blaster and pulled his jacket down to cover the grip.
Val strode forward. The doors swung open easily at her touch and the crowd inside fell silent. Peripherally, she saw that the fae were seated on several tiers of curved wooden benches. Every head turned to watch her stalk in, but Val didn't stop or acknowledge the stares. She walked toward a tall, red-haired woman with pointed ears and searing green eyes standing in the open center of the room. The woman watched Val's approach in silence.
Val took a long look at the seated villagers before addressing the woman.
"Are you Maeve? I got a message from her and I wanted to respond in person." She gave a mocking half bow. "Captain Valeria Demyanov, at your service."
Whispers of 'murderers' and 'pirates' raced around the room. Val ignored them, but Rakan and Alex rested their hands casually on their blasters.
"I am Maeve of Erinbaile," the woman said. "If you got my message, then you know you should not be here. What is your purpose?"
"To let you know that we are neither murderers, as your message implied, nor pirates, as your people seem to think. We are cargo transporters. Nothing more or less."
"And yet three of our people are dead, along with one in the dwarf community a mile to the south, and a vampire in the Red Nest. We have had no murders here in the last three years, yet within hours of your arrival there are five dead. How do you explain this?"
Val bowed her head for a moment, acknowledging the tragedy of lives lost. When she lifted it, there was fire in her eyes. "We accepted a contract to deliver a nourichef to Elder Vincent Margrave. We inspected the shipment before taking the contract and found everything in order. When Elder Margrave refused the shipment because he had not ordered it, we opened the crate, only to find a jumble of spare parts. Those are the facts." Val looked around the room before facing Maeve again.
"Are you trying to claim that a nourichef is responsible for the deaths among our people?" Maeve's nostrils flared, a dull flush rising into her cheeks.
"I didn't say that," Val shot back, an answered anger in her eyes. "There are other factors which lead us to believe that someone switched the crate before we loaded it."
"Oh? And why would someone do that?"
"We suspect the goal is to wreak havoc on Earth, then destroy it, killing Gaia in the process."
A gasp rippled through the crowd, and suddenly, everyone was talking at once. Val and Maeve stood silent in the center, staring at one another, neither willing to back down.
Finally, Maeve raised her hand, calling for quiet. Once the room was quiet again, she spoke.
"So, you expect us to believe that someone is trying to kill Gaia by murdering a few of her people?" She gave a short, rough bark of laughter. "That is foolishness."
"No more so than thinking complete strangers came thousands of light years just to murder innocent people." Val eyed the Fae woman for a moment. "But even that misses the point."
Maeve arched an eyebrow. "Does it? What is the point, then?"
"That someone used us to get reapers to Earth. It can't be many of them, the crate is too small to hold more than four. But they know how to build others. We have to stop them before that happens."
"And before they build something worse than reapers," Alex added.
"Reapers? What are those?" Maeve's frown shifted from open hostility to thoughtful worry.
Good. She ought to be concerned. Val offered a brief history of how the reapers had come to be, and then how HiveZ had used them against human colonies on other planets.
Finally, Maeve shook her head. "You said HiveZ targeted only humans, and that they were destroyed."
"Yes, and we thought we rounded up all the reapers too, but some were stolen. We think a group called the HDL may have sent them here to–"
"To what? Kill a few of us? What good does that do them?" Maeve asked sharply.
"We aren't sure. The HDL wants Gaia destroyed, and they haven't shown any concern over collateral damage." Val ran her fingers over her throat as memory nudged her. "We don't know how well they understand Simoi physiology. They sent a pair of them to Elara to attack Gaia personally."
Maeve's pale features took on a green tinge. "No. Is Gaia... Is she all right?"
"She is, so far as I know," Val said. "But the attack suggests that the HDL thinks killing Gaia is no more difficult that murdering any other person. They are wrong, of course, but they could take out a lot of people trying to get to her before they figure that out."
Maeve squared her shoulders, her color slowly returning to normal. "And why should we believe you?"
Val shrugged. "Because if you don't, you put your people in unnecessary danger." She took a half step closer to the Fae leader. "Half the battle is knowing your enemy, and we. Are. Not. Them."
She stepped back, Alex and Rakan moving with her. "Believe me or don't, your call. But know this. We aren't leaving until we’ve nullified the threat. We could use your help doing that, but not having it won't stop us."
She turned and stalked away, refusing to look behind her. Alex and Rakan followed, blasters out, guarding her back.
No one stopped them, and once past the last few houses, Alex stepped up to walk beside her.
"That went well," he said.
"I'm not sure if it went well, or if I even care."
"It's a big planet, Val. We can't cover all of it by ourselves. We need their help," he said.
"Do we have any of Sirius' blasters left?"
"The ones we used on Josan?" Rakan spoke from behind them, still keeping watch on their surroundings. "I think we got a crate of them in the weapons magazine. You thinking of doing a little hunting?"
"I'm thinking of doing a lot of hunting," Val replied.
