Chapter 20

  M.V.P.O. Lieutenant Max J?ger, 7th district (formerly known as Venlil Prime), Human-Arxur Republic, New Terran Calendar 32-Huitzilopochtli-36 (Old Human Calendar: November 7th 2048)

  [99 balloons

  on their way to the horizon

  People think they're UFOs from space

  so a general sent up a fighter squadron after them

  Sound the alarm if it's so but there on the horizon

  were only 99 balloons.]

  Nena’s music flows through my ears, while I fly across the Venlil Prime countryside on a motorcycle. The panorama is as dull as I remember from my academy’s days. Endless stretches of fields of local and Earth crops, dusty Venlil villages, a few towns here and there and herds of both human and Arxur cattle species. This last one being the only significant difference from the past I can spot, one has to admire both the work of the scientists that brought them back from extinction and the species themselves. I don’t know if I find more impressive the Aksott, which looks like the lovechild of a pterodactyl and an ostrich with a beaver tail, or the Skínfaxi, a tiny Brontosaurus with a spiked neck.

  As I get close to the base I get stopped at a military checkpoint. After a quick look at my credentials, they wave me through. A few minutes later, I reach the complex and after a way more thorough check of both me and my vehicle, I’m directed inside and get told to wait. The room looks unremarkable, aside from the cagey armed guard at the entrance and the exterminator emblem still on the wall. Probably kept as a memento of both the past and the present.

  Despite my annoyance at having been dragged here, a part of me looks forward to this. Ten-year-old me would be ecstatic, I think with a hint of amusement. While the government always denied even their existence, ghosts have always been the stuff of legends, folk heroes for us born in the early days of the Republic. A door opens, and a short redheaded woman walks in. She introduces herself as Sinéad O'Brien, the commander of ghost unit 7, and shakes my hand with an iron grip. I follow her outside, and we enter a smaller building. In a small room, around a table displaying the area of space around the possible repeater, there are two Arxur, a female with the insignia of a medic and a taller male, and a kangaroo?! Wait, not a ‘roo, a Yotul! I heard about them, but still, what are they doing here?

  They look at me, thump their tail on the ground and walk toward me. As they approach, I look closer at them. It’s an odd spectacle to say the least, a marsupial whose ears are covered with tiny gold earrings, wearing what looks like a black Victorian jacket with some red embroidery and, on his left eye, sporting a large monocle. At their side dangles a curved sword with a golden grip.

  They bow slightly and say: “Minn of Nabon, might Rachi’s light bless our meeting”.

  “He's here as part of the uplift, we were skeptical at first, but he proved a formidable warrior”, I hear the male Arxur growl behind me,

  “Still licking your wounds from when he won against you in a duel, Harkness?”

  “He was just lucky, that’s all”

  “I am always ready for a rematch”

  “Enough of that, we have work to do. This is Lieutenant Max J?ger, and we are tasked with assisting him in the zone. Lieutenant, this is Shara, our medic, Harkness, the best Arxur tracker you’ll ever meet and unfortunately with an ego to match, and Minn, who has recently joined our unit in collaboration with Ralchi’s thunder monastery. Now, if you would enlighten us with the details you are allowed to share, we could start planning our raid”. I nod and start explaining what we are looking for and the disposition of the Feds' forces in the area. The discussion stretches for hours, as we discuss the pros and cons of the various options and how to deal with an eventual trap.

  At the end, we decide on a possible course of action, before heading to dinner, where the Yotul grills me with questions about the various planets I have been to and various types of technologies. I think he would have liked to discuss more with my boss. After all, I have only been to Earth, Wriss, and here. Even during my military service, I was stuck in comms on a listening station. And as for technology, my constant repetition of 'it’s classified' was boring, even to me. I must say I’m really impressed by him, I have rarely seen an herbivore looking me in the eye and never with such composure, a sort of warrior-to-warrior respect.

  After dinner, Harkness really challenges Minn to a rematch. I see them put on their armatures, the braided fibre one of the Yotul making a strong contrast with the shiny steel of the Arxur, and grab two wooden training swords. The match is held in a tiny gym, with the Republic and Yotul Aristocracy flags on the wall. They walk into the ring and, after a quick bow, the fight begins. The Arxur runs forward so fast that he becomes a grey spot, but before I have even time to think, the marsupial jumps to the side at the last second before swinging back, putting all his weight on his tail. The Arxur quickly rotates halfway, pushing his opponent away with his tail while, with his sword, he barely manages to break one of Minn’s gems. Under my amazed watch, the marsupial uses his tail to make Harkness stumble and tries to destroy all his gems with one quick hit. He manages to destroy two, but he gets violently pushed back by the reptile that hits him with the back of his sword, destroying a gem in turn. Minn manages to bounce back, putting all his weight again on his tail while the Arxur, still on the ground, rolls aside before being hit by a kangaroo kick. Harkness manages to get up and tries to destroy the last Yotul crystal by pushing the marsupial sideways toward him with a tail hit as a distraction, but the Yotul anticipates him and jumps forward, destroying the lizard's last gem with the tip of his scimitar. I can’t believe it, the marsupial beat an Arxur more than twice his size.

  I fully expected the arxur ghost to be furious, but aside an annoyed growl he takes it with sport, and after a quick bow, starts exchanging verbal quips with Nimm like old friends. They decide to close the day with a cup of broth, and while they chat, I think that I really need to find a way to visit Leirn. I’m starting to believe that all the incredible things I have been told about that primitive planet might be true, a place where herbivores aren’t either cowards or weirdly obsessed with us. Where there is progress under the zeppelin-filled skies. Something we need to protect and strengthen at all costs.

  [flash forward a few hours]

  I wake up tired, the never-ending dusk and this planet's excessive gravity are already taking their toll on my bones. I really need to exercise more often, especially now that I actually work in the field, I think with a groan. We won’t leave for our raid until tomorrow, so I head to a nearby town where I’ll meet an old friend from my Academy days here on the planet.

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  Entering the town, I surpass the usual line of Venlil waiting at the checkpoint, they are banned from living in the cities, at least for now. I heard that times are changing, that the local government wants to ease up some restrictions. I’m conflicted about it, there haven’t been incidents in years, but making the sheep’s life easier of all species leaves a bad taste in my mouth, besides the risk of the federation finding out they aren’t all dead as we claimed… not that they had any chance to reclaim this planet nowadays. I think with a grin.

  The town is called New Riga, at least now, the few remaining native buildings speak of a time when this place had another name. It must be inhabited by refugees. The Baltic region was particularly devastated during The Fall, between the wide use of chemical weapons and the brutal radioactive fallout, wide swaths of the region are still classified as red regions, where it is prohibited to enter and life is impossible. Few survived in those parts, but there were a few miracles. I still remember when I was little, a group of weirdos that fancied themselves as stalkers managed to find ten survivors

  still living in the ruins of Saint Petersburg and believed to be humanity's last survivors. They even did a movie about this story, how was it called Last Station Humanity or something?

  Still lost in my musings, I spot the café with the neon insignia of an angry cat and a name that confirms my suspicions about the town: . He is already sitting at a table, lost in reading something on a holopad, his curly hair covering his face. His minute size appears even smaller under the crepuscular light, the mark of youth in a high-g planet.

  “Hi, Marcellus”

  “Hi, Max. I can only wonder what brings you here,” he says with a wink while I sit,

  “I have no idea what you're talking about. I’m here on a trip”.

  “Right. In New Riga. For the honey cake, I’m sure. It’s not like you detest this planet,” and then he adds with a lower voice, “Or it’s for something else, pretty much anyone has a base around here, even the Skull Crackers do”.

  The last bit surprises me, but before I can ask, a very nervous Venlil waitress appears. We order two slices of honey cake and tea, and she scurries away.

  With a low voice, I enquire about them, after all, there hasn’t been any resistance on this planet in fifteen years, since we cleared the last exterminator burrow.

  “It’s a compromise. Many aren’t happy that some Venlil are about to be promoted to type B citizenship and allowed back into towns. But if you ask me, it risks creating more conflict where there is none, especially if some official jumps the gun and calls them without reason. That’s why we are increasing surveillance, we don’t need either Venlil nostalgic for the federation or some old dominionist of either species starting shit”.

  I nod in agreement. The district is still the Republic's breadbasket and, as anybody who grew up under rationing knows, the planet needs to be kept at peace. The fact that the skulls are here, like it were a Gojid tributary planet, is a problem for many reasons. Last but not least, being under civilian administration, it should be our hunting ground, not the military.

  The conversation then moves to a more chill pace. I ask about his girlfriend Antxis and in turn, he enquires about my partner Hans. I tell him that he would like to have kids, but I don’t feel ready yet and I worry about having a family with my work. He nods along and says that he understands perfectly, they are also waiting for her to have a more stable assignment in the Space Force.

  “We know that it’s important, and we feel guilty about it, but right now we both agree on two things: it’s too early and that if we ever have a boy we will call him Isif”

  “Why that name?” I say smiling,

  “It runs in her family, she says it’s a lucky name”.

  Soon after our conversation, it’s interrupted by some noise, a fight between a Venlil and a Gojid fruit seller has erupted and is turning violent when a Venlil in uniform with a taser intervenes. What the hell?!

  Marc must have seen my astonished look and just says: “”,

  “Sorry?”

  “It started years ago, our district chief had the idea to train some Venlil abandoned or thrown out of their home due to their lovable parents being convinced they were predator diseased.”

  “What?!”

  “Yeah, some of the new generation seem to have grown up with a spine somehow, rumor has it that some of the most successful ‘cadets’ have been sent to the other side of the fence, so to speak”.

  I’m shocked, really, I thought that Vilna was more of a you use what you have kind of situation, but others? And now just pawns?

  While I wonder what other surprises this trip would bring, I stare at an Harchen helping a beaten-up Venlil to walk. And the little lizard stares back at me, right in the eyes.

  +++

  Minn of Nabon yotul warrior monk, somewhere in the zone, New Terran Calendar 33-Huitzilopochtli-36 (Old Human Calendar: November 8th 2048)

  While I play my lerniean violin, I look at my companions and reflect on the convoluted path that my life has had so far. I was barely out of my mother's pouch when I was given to the temple as an offering to the gods for my family's good fortune, as promised by my grandfather. It was quite an honour to be accepted, our kingdom has never been the most modern or the strongest, but we were always feared for our monks, who would travel to teach, learn and sometimes kill to protect our mountainous paradise. We would tutor industrialists and nobles, charm courts and stab courtiers to do our heavenly duties.

  But our world was changing, rival states were learning to use steam to build wonders and travel way faster than our sailing boats would ever carry us. And despite our best efforts, we were falling behind. And then they arrived, at first we thought they were gods coming down from the heavens, but we quickly learned that they were beings of flesh and blood like us, carrying with them both wonders of technology and stories of a distant war. And they claimed that they were on our planet to protect us from monsters that would kill our hensas and destroy our cultures.

  At first, we were very suspicious and we thought of opposing them. But with the drops of their technology they were giving us we were living longer, our harvests increased to unprecedented abundance and in turn we were building wonders, sometimes surprising even them. Like with the flying ships, a technology they abandoned after an accident, which we discovered through their movies and brought back to life. Their placid movement fills our skies and brings people and goods to places hard to reach by road or by boat. So we decided to learn instead of fighting.

  Only after they welcomed me into one of their secret warrior units, something I was only allowed thanks to my monastery’s well-known secrecy, did I truly understand the wisdom of such a choice. Had we turned against them, we would not have had any chance, they had suffered and seen too much to forgive. Hidden just below their skin and scales there is sorrow and rage.

  Human and Arxur are like two pieces that complete each other, one more angry and strategic, the other more patient and fierce. The team I’m in really shows that in full strength — from Sinéad, who leads our team with strength and wisdom, to Harkness' bravery, to Shara’s delicate attention. I must do my best to be at their level, my rings might prove my past successes, but I feel my hardest trials are in front of me.

  “So soon we will cross the zone, our objective is just outside in their territory. Due to the importance of our task, the Space Force has granted us a favour, they are going to mobilise the Old Navy in an exercise to distract them while we operate. We need to be fast and precise,” says Sinéad, breaking me from my reflections, and then adds, “Me, Minn and the lieutenant are going to operate on the repeater, if it’s indeed there, while you two [looking at the two Arxur] are going to stay on the ship to provide cover and a quick run if needed. Any questions?”

  “The Old Navy?” I ask.

  Harkness is the first to answer: “We keep the old Dominion Navy around with a skeleton crew, their task if there is trouble is to signal and stall the leaf-leakers until the real navy arrives, which we keep just outside the range of their sensors.”

  “We call it our shadow fleet,” adds Sinéad with a mischievous smile.

  The trip proceeds in silence, we are all mentally preparing. We wordlessly enter enemy territory until we stop. The sensors have found our target. The three of us wear our evac suits, and Sinéad carries me as tiny rockets push us from our vessel toward the strange metallic spinning top.

  Our mag boots ground us on the strange, tiny construction floating in the void. I spot the control panel and point it out to the other two. They open it cautiously, slowly, so as not to trigger any alarm or trap. I assist them while they quietly operate, and I soon notice their worry. They start talking animatedly among themselves, and I ask what the problem is. Apparently, the station has an anti-tampering mechanism that would call home if not disabled properly.

  They divide the tasks, the lieutenant will copy the data already present, while Sinéad would try to install a bug into the system. It’s not an easy task, we debate the options, and I use my limited insight to offer ideas. The minutes run quickly, it’s getting really hot inside these suits and soon our oxygen supply will run low. But we march on disabling trick after trick, and when we are close to the end, Harkness' voice adds more worries to our current predicament:

  “The navy can’t give us much more time, you have ten minutes max before we have to pull out, or they might find us if they run a patrol.”

  We redouble our effort, and after a few minutes, finally Sinéad shouts: “Done, I’m in. Let’s get the fuck away from here.”

  We rush back, and while we are coming out of our suits Harkness pilots the ship hard toward friendly territory.

  After we have settled in, our chief and the spook decide to test the bug and see what we can do with our access. While they debate, I look at the circles in my glass of water, and I have an idea. To my surprise, they decide to try, despite some scepticism, and when the results start to come in, they look at each other with their eyes wide open and one of them says: “Please tell me that it is what I think it is.That they are that stupid.”

  meant to be exterminators' exterminators, the name comes from one of their fighting techniques and from their propensity for collecting trophies. It's the Rupblic most dominionist unit.

  because I liked the contrast with the pacifist song and occupied VP, but also the lyrics are a reminder of how stupidly wars can start. In the case of the attack on Earth, the Venlil getting scared by the Olympics.

  Roadside Picnic.