Kalysta's Choice: Chapter Three
#3 of Kalysta
Jessie Halen took a swig from a coffee thermace and sat down at a booth in Station 5's mess hall. It was mostly empty at this time. save for a few other operators, everyone else would be sleeping. He hung his head low, trying to shake a failed mission out of his mind.
Cancelled? They cancelled his mission?
High command had tried to contact his pod while he was taking his coffee break, and of course reprimanded him for not being on duty for a mission. Shortly after he was back in his pod (his pride put back in place) they had contacted him that plan B had been a success and he was therefore removed from active duty on this mission.
He was pissed, but what could he do. High command had spoken and he couldnt buck that, not without getting himself court marshalled. Or worse.
Jessie finished his thermace and walked out, back to his quarters. He was slipping out of his jumpsuit to go back to sleep when suddenly another communication flew into his PDA.
>>>HIGH ALERT >>PRIORITY MESSAGE >SNR-OPR. HALEN
>>>OPERATION CALL: PROVIDE COVERING SUPPORT FOR TARGET [118-3] EXTRACTION TEAM//GRID 1B-6G [MOVEMENE NORTHBOUND]//EXTRACTION TEAM MARKED BY UV STROBES//ANY SIGNATURES NOT MARKED CONSIDERED ENEMY//HIGH REBEL ACTIVITY IN AREA//USE EXTREME CAUTION//[TEAM EXPENDABLE IN EVENT OF IMMINENT TARGET CAPTURE] >>AUTO-AQUISITION-UNITY >END
Jessie sighed, they had given him a redeeming mission. Even though it would be a black mark on his record, the failed mission could be recovered and High Command had given him a chance. He rezipped his suit and flew down the hallway.
Trent hung his head low while an armed squad of canines escorted him, handcuffed, through the jungle. His insticts told him they were moving northbound, back to where he had first been hunted (by likely the same squad). Suddenly a PDA beeped nearby. Trent looked up and saw a wolf (the leader of the group most likely) pull out a small device with a screen. He read the incoming file and spoke in hushed voices to a black lab nearby. The black lab nodded and pulled out a small bag of metal devices from his back pack. He then went around and clipped them on to the squads backpacks, also securing one to Trent's front pocket.
UV strobes. An ARON was covering them.
Trent sighed. Escape might actually be impossible now. He'd seen what ARON platforms could do, in fact, hed come in contact with one himself. He had avoided a shell before, but just barely, and he couldnt do that for long.
The squad and Trent continued to walk on for several hours (on top of the hours before) when suddenly a high pitched whistle pierced the night air. What insued was chaos.
A bright orange light suddenly pierced through the dense foliage on either side of the foot path and a bolt of amber energy impacted on to wolf captains chest, setting his sternum alight and knocking him backward into the mud. The squad was confused, the hyenas dancing around, firing random shots into the treeline in their pitiful attempt at "suppressing fire" while the black labs took kneeling positions and sprayed the jungle with gunfire.
When the smoke cleared, Trent realized the ruse. The air around him rippled as several stealthed figures passed him and moved towards the canines from behind. Suddenly a black lab's head snapped and continued moving clockwise eerily while the rest watched. Trent heard metal slide through flesh and watched as each of the canines writhed and danced as they were killed by some invisible enemy. After the last hyena had stopped moving, the invisible assailents appeared before him.
"No! There's an ARON watching us! We need to go now!" He said to them, hoping they would listen.
The figures were covered in cloakes of several colors, each with flowing neon designs covering its surface organically. One approached him, its birght white cloak laced with neon green, and nodded to the others. Two other strangers approached him, one removed the UV clip from his coat while the other unbound his chains using some sort of energy tool (as he could judge from the heat). Suddenly the white cloaked one turned and violently spread its arms, causing the rest of the group to scatter.
Then Trent saw the light in the sky. A missile was shooting through the clouds, its orange glow burning through the sky as it hurtled down at them. The white cloaked figure looked up at it and, waiting a few more seconds until it was just reaching the treetops, flung its hand at the approaching projectile, extending one long digit towards it.
Like magic, the missile slowed down to a crawl, its flame slowing down as well. It was almost as if time had been thwarted inside a bubble around the missile. Suddenly the white cloaked one violently extended its other arm, making a crushing motion with its fist (Trent now noticed it had claws) causing the missile to erupt in a ball of flame, several flaming flares firing off in seperate directions.
When the ordeal had ended, the group returned to Trent, pushing him through the jungle quickly, off the beaten path and into a thick grove of trees. Trent was afraid that the ARON might terget them again, but a figure in a black cloak with a deep vibrant blue as its detail appreached him and laid its paw on him, making his body invisible. The rest of the group members quickly disappreared, leaving Trent wondering what was going on. Suddenly he felt hands all over his body as he was stripped of his still very visible clothing and felt a heavy fabric layed ontop of him. The fabric must have been invisible because he couldnt see it.
They kept moving for several hours like this. All he could see was the jungle moving past him, and occassional ripples of air as the cloaked figures moved through it. Someone was holding his hand, guiding him along with the rest of the group. He wondered how they could stay in formation if they couldnt see eachother.
Trent was about to start asking questions when the hand guiding him let go, leaving him standing under a particularily large bushy tree, hopefully providing enough cover from the ARON that would be searching for them.
He watched as the hooded creatures uncloaked around him, royally creeping him out as he could still not see their faces. The white cloaked one approached him again, finally pulling back its hood.
A pair of feline eyes met his as he realized who he was dealing with. The felines, the Felines Magistate. Ever since the Reptilian Alliance had heard of their kind, they had been rooted in magic. They were the only known creatures in the galaxy capable of accurately controlling magic. The other races were barely scratching the surface of the magic world (each government poures millions of credits into projects dabling in magic that usually lead to "a freak accident" that engulfes the research station in an explosion).
She was a pretty specimen, whoever this feline was, with a long ponytail of bright red hair falling down her back and into her hood. She had bright yellow eyes that reflected easily in the dark, but even more easily in the moonlight he found. He stared at him cooly, not even a hint of emotion flickering across her face.
"State your name reptile." She ordered him, breaking the silence.
"Trent." He replied, not belaying any emotion himself, setting his eyes on hers and not breaking contact. Suddenly a fire broke through his brain, piercing through his skull and causing him to cry out in pain.
"Don't look me in the eyes Trent." She told him, pronouncing the "Trent" with contempt.
He obeyed, the pain in his head still echoing through his brain in a series of aftershocks.
"What do you want with me?" He asked, his head hung low, not daring to look.
The feline just stared at him, contemplating something, when she spoke,
"Our elder has spoken, you are to come back with us." She said, her gaze somehow actually made his skull hot.
"Where?" he asked carefully.
"Our home." He told him, "Ceous."
He held her words in his mind carefully. He had nothing on this planet anymore. His job, failed. His mission, gone. His heart, broken. Back on his home planet, he had no one, his money was gone, his home probably siezed by one of the local warlords.
"And what if I refuse?" He said, testingly.
As he dared a peek at her face, he saw that the feline smiled slightly, "We take you with us unconcious. Make your choice."
He thought for a moment, a wicked plan crossing his mind.
"Ok, I will come with you," Trent started, his plan forming more and more in his mind, "on one condition."
"And what might that be?" She asked him humorously.
Their eyes met briefly, "I need you to find someone for me."
Kalysta hacked at the thick underbrush, squinting through the trees and vines that surrounded her. She looked at her old paper map, trying to work out a solution to the predicament she was in. She tried to take a shortcut through a thick grove of trees and thought she would come out on the other side, but she had gotten turned around quite a bit and was now lost inside. He compass didnt work either.
"Canine piece of shit." She uttered as she tossed it on the soil and ground it in with her foot.
It was light now, the sun was just coming up, but the trees were so thick here that she couldnt even see the sunrise. She clawed at the tangle of loose vines and foliage as she attempted to escape the thicker forest.
She felt a shiver run down her back as she heard a twig snap. She spun around just in time to see a large reptile fist come flying at her, impacting her face and setting her tumbling backwards against a tree. She felt her world spinning, and blood seeped out of her nose, dripping into her black locks as she hung upside down, almost comically, with her head just supporting her body.
She felt a massive hand grab her by the ankles and hold her high. Then, just like that, it swung her hard against a treetrunk. She felt something crack inside her chest and she coughed up blood.
"Hello Kalysta." A familar voice greeted her. It sounded distant, but her mind was still reeling from the last hit.
"T-t-trent?" She asked, her voice stuttering as she rolled over on the ground. It couldnt be him, he was supposed to be under heavy guard, being transported back to a canine base for execution. He must have traveled all through the night to find him. Or he had help. Either way, he was here.
A boot came down on her face as she opened her eyes, the brunt of it falling on the left one. She felt it swelling shut, and it rolled around uselessly inside its socket.
"Please Trent," she pleaded, tears seeping from her good eye, "Im sorry! Money is money. They would have killed me!"
"Shut up!" She heard him scream at her, "You betrayed me! You betrayed me cold-heartedly!"
"It was my only choice Trent." She, coughed violently, spraying the air with blood, "It was my only choice."
"I wasnt joking Kalysta." Trents voice came across much more calm now, "I would have taken you with me, taken you home, we could have had a good life together, we could have escaped."
She felt herself drifting into unconciousness, but a swift kick to her already broken rib cleared her head, causing her to scream in pain.
"God Trent! Just let me go!" She screamed at him, tears pouring out of her good eye, a hot stinging in the other.
"No." he said, a deep growl in his throat. She looked up at him, their eyes met.
She saw not a flicker of remorse, not a spark of any form of emotion but rage.
He beat her mercilessly, kicking and punching her as she lay writhing on the ground. She passed out after five or six minutes, slipping into the cold embrace of death.
Trent cried that night. Smashing his fists against the wall of the ship in rage, in hate for himself. He had killed her. He had killed her, leaving nothing out. He gave every part of his being to the hateful and dark side of his being, and killed Kalysta, the girl he "loved".
He hated himself. Could anyone this angry be capable of anything more than killing? Could he be saved? He beat his head against the wall until his snout bled, trying to hurt himself in the way he had hurt her.
Could he ever forgive himself?
He heard the door to his quarters open. Looking over, his tearstained eyes spotted Lumen (previously the white cloaked feline) and felt her energy touch his mind.
"Sleep now." She said softly as he collapsed, his body sapped of its strength and his mind slowly shutting down.
Lumen watched as Trent collapsed, her magic working perfectly. She stood there for a few moments, uttering some spells to clear out the negative aura in the room, cleaning it as to not upset her magic. She walked over to him, a concerned look on her face.
She placed her paw on his forehead, feeling the negative energy radiating off of him. He was troubled, very troubled. She felt his mind close protectively as she reached inside. His will was strong, and she only managed to hear a few words from his thoughts.
_Kalysta.
Killed.
Love._
She didnt know what shes words meant, but she had an idea that they had something to do with what Trent asked. No one really knew the reason why Trent had them track a lone reptile moving through the forest, or why he had brutally killed her when he saw her. Many questions were unanswered. But she wished him well, using her magic to clear his mind, and went on her way, hoping the elders werent wrong about this creature.