Chapter 1
The sight of the demonic, serpentine ship slithering through the expanse beyond was enough to take anyone’s breath away. We all stood in horrified silence as we watched the image of the Karaak ship get closer and closer to the Fermentum Colony, and the Lilacrons’ safe haven that didn’t seem all too safe anymore thanks to the murderous aliens’ arrival.
Somehow, the creatures had hunted the Lilacrons down. The Karaak had destroyed the Lilacron homeworld and forced the survivors to flee to their farming colony on the other side of the galaxy, but even that distance wasn’t far enough to escape the Karaak’s reach. The Karaak were brutal and thorough, and they were here to finish the job they had started.
I glanced at Rayne, my green-eyed companion, and she looked just as stunned and horrified as the rest of the Lilcrons in the room did. Even Bob, the little robot that traveled with us, looked nervous, and his yellow body hid behind a chair at the sight of the ship. We’d had more run-ins with the Karaak than I would have liked, and I knew I wasn’t the only one who had been hoping that we would never have to see them again.
It appeared that our wishes hadn’t been granted.
For a moment, nobody moved. Some of the Lilacrons had their long-fingered hands over their mouths, and their almost translucent skin was now even paler. The purple veins that crisscrossed their bodies like lightning burns seemed to pulse as the horror of the Karaak’s arrival sunk in.
A few of the Lilacrons clutched one another, while others sat down to stop their knees from buckling underneath them. But all of the aliens had their eyes glued to the screen as the eel-like, bionic ship swam ever closer to the colony.
And then suddenly, as though a switch had been flipped, everyone burst into adrenaline-fueled action.
Anyone who wasn’t considered essential personnel started to leave the room in an organized but frantic fashion. They bundled through the doorway and disappeared down the long corridors beyond the room in order to get to their assigned station, or for the lucky ones, to reunite with their family members one last time.
In a few moments, the leaders of the colony were the only Lilacrons that were left in the room, and all of them were able to shelve their blind panic long enough that they didn’t run around the main room like decapitated chickens. However, the nervous energy that descended on us like a suffocating smog was practically palpable, and everyone’s eyes were wide as we began to discuss how we might be able to survive round two against the Karaak. We gathered around the large conference table in the middle of the room with serious expressions and a sense of impending doom creeping up on us like an icy hand on our backs.
“Seeing it this close, is something I will never get used to,” I said in reference to the Karaak’s half-organic, half-metallic ship.
“I had hoped we would never see it again,” General Occana, the Lilacron soldier that had met us at my ship, replied.
“Can’t we just fire at it?” Rayne asked.
“It’s out of our range,” one of the Lilcaron leaders said. “That image has been enlarged so that we could see if it was the Karaak or not. That’s how we saw your ship coming.”
“And this is also a farming colony,” another one of them snapped. “It’s not exactly equipped for battle. We have only very basic defensive weapons available, so our military capabilities are low.”
“William Ryder, what can you tell us about the Karaak?” Occana asked. “You have come up against them more times than we have, and you have lived through your encounters.”
“Barely,” I replied honestly. “I went to Lilacron to find you all, and when we got there, we saw the destruction that was done to your homeworld. I truly am sorry for all that you’ve lost.”
“Thank you,” one of the leaders said. “I wish you could have seen it in all its beautiful glory before it was destroyed.”
“At least most of us were not conscious for the attack,” another said, and they all nodded.
I had almost forgotten that most Lilacrons had been in stasis during the attack, since Lilacrons’ advanced AI managed the planet. I knew how smart the AI was because it had been a Lilacron AI, that I had dubbed Francine after my first truck, that had helped me build the spaceship that had launched my space adventure. But even all that AI hadn’t been able to stop the Karaak from wiping out the planet.
At least most of the Lilacrons hadn’t had to witness the total destruction of their world, but the loss and grief of being forced off their planet wouldn’t have felt lessened by any means. Every survivor in the room knew someone who had died in the attack, and it was awful to think that Earth would suffer the same fate if the Karaak managed to get there.
“Of course, we didn’t stick around for too long to chat when the Karaak came after us,” I said. “But we have learned a few things about them. First of all, both their ships and the Karaak themselves are made up of a sort of combination of organic and machine parts. You can see that the ship used to be a creature of some kind, but they have since added a lot of bionic parts in order to make it stronger and more deadly. I’m not even sure if the creature is alive anymore.”
Some of the Lilacrons shuddered at the thought of it.
“The Karaak themselves are just a mess,” Rayne said.
“How so?” Occana asked.
“We found a dead one on Lilacron,” she explained. “The tech that was on the body was destroyed by some sort of self-destruct mechanism, but we did get a look at the organic part. Its face had bits of its skin missing and in place of certain muscles and bones were bits of metal and robot parts. It looked to us like the Karaak decided to upgrade themselves as well. I dread to think how much that hurt.”
“Hopefully, a great deal,” one of the leaders said.
“They also have these mouths…” I said and grimaced at the memory of them. “Their skin is almost elastic. There are four flaps that come from each side. I peeled them back, and inside its mouth were rows and rows of sharp teeth, and its tongue… It was extremely long and very strong, I assume so it can wrap around its victims. Their jaws dislocate so they can fit their mouths around anything, maybe even a skull.”
“And their eyes are bright orange,” Rayne added. “It was like looking into a fire.”
A silence descended over the room again as each of them thought about the formidable enemy that we were all up against. I could tell that our description of the Karaak hadn’t exactly eased their nerves. If anything, it had heightened them. Still, it was better to be honest and give them all the information than to leave the scary bits out to try and make them feel better. That wasn’t going to help anyone.
“They have very good weapons at their disposal,” I continued. “They have guns on their ships, of course, but they have two different types of weapons. The first were these huge boulders the size of small moons made up of organic waste and asteroids all mashed together that they drop from the ships from great heights. That was what destroyed most of the surface on Lilacron. They also have this substance that they shoot from the ships. It almost got through my shields and damaged the ship, but luckily I got rid of it.”
“What is it?” they asked.
“It’s this acidic substance that sticks to whatever it lands on,” I explained. “And then it starts to burn through, even metal. So, watch out for that. The shields held up for a while, but it managed to eat through that when we didn’t neutralize it quickly enough.”
They all nodded.
“Make sure our shields are operating at full capacity,” Occana said into a device on his wrist.
“Of course, Rayne and I are at your disposal,” I said. “Anything we can do to help protect the colony, we will do.”
“Thank you, William Ryder,” one of the Lilacrons said.
“Please, call me Will,” I said. “Now, what do you guys want to do about this ship?”
I pointed at the image of it again, and it felt like a heavy weight had landed on all of our shoulders.
“What do you mean?” one of them asked.
“Well…” I said as I looked around at all of their drawn, anxious faces. “Do you wanna stay and fight, or do you wanna evacuate?”
“Will we have time to evacuate?” one asked.
“We can’t leave again,” another said. “Where would we go?”
“I’m sure there are plenty of uninhabited planets that you could go to,” I said. “But the first question is, are you fighting, or are you running? I support whichever decision you make, but by the looks of things, you need to make a choice fast.”
“Because the Karaak are, unfortunately, here,” one of the Lilacrons, who had a deep frown on his pale face, said with a pointed look at me.
“Your tone is suggesting it’s somehow our fault,” Rayne retorted, and I gave her a nudge to ask her to rein it in a bit.
It was a stressful situation for everyone involved, and we didn’t need any animosity between us, although the sour-faced Lilacron seemed determined to put more fuel on the fire. He rounded on both me and Rayne and stormed toward us like an angry bull entering a matador’s ring. His face flushed purple as his blood rushed into his cheeks, and he bared his teeth at us as he looked down at me from his nearly seven-foot height.
I felt my muscles tense even though I wasn’t sure if he really intended to fight us. My hands balled into fists as Bob beeped in a warning tone to the Lilacron, who looked down at the robot and sneered. I saw Rayne fold her arms across her chest and glower at the alien as well, but the Lilacron remained unimpressed.
“Well, if we’re going to be discussing who’s at fault here,” he growled through his gritted teeth. “I think it’s obvious to anyone with half a brain that you two led the Karaak straight to us!”
There was a murmur of surprise combined with agreement that rippled through the other Lilacron leaders.
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that they’ve turned up just a few minutes after your arrival, do you?” he continued. “It may have been an accident that you led these murderers straight to us, but how can we be so sure? How do we know whose side you’re really on?”
“We literally brought some of your people to you,” I countered.
“As your ticket to get inside?” he pressed.
“Look, I would never use your people as a Trojan horse--” I began.
“No offense, William Ryder, but I don’t know you,” he hissed as the tall alien towered over me. “And therefore, I don’t trust you. You led the Karaak to our safe haven. What’s left of our race is here. My family sleeps here. And you have led the Karaak here to kill us all!”
As I scanned the room, I noticed that some of the Lilacrons seemed to have sided with the mouthy guy in front of me, but most looked unsure. I couldn’t get angry with the aliens, though, and I had to admit that the guy in front of me had made some solid points. But surely Rayne, Bob, and I had proven our loyalty to them by bringing the Lilacrons still in stasis to the Fermentum Colony. It seemed unfair of them to assume we had ill intent when we had risked life and limb multiple times to get their kin here.
“Yes, the AI that you built picked me, a known Karaak sympathizer, to risk my life and Rayne’s in order to bring some of your people to you,” I said without trying to filter out my sarcasm. “That makes sense.”
“You’re very quick to point fingers,” Rayne said. “How do we know that you weren’t the one who told the Karaak where the colony is?”
“Because I would never do that,” he scoffed.
“And neither would we,” I said.
“But we don’t know that,” he hissed. “We just let you into our new home without a thought as to who could have been behind you.”
I heard the door behind me open, but I ignored it because I didn’t want to be the first one to break eye contact with this guy. I understood that they were under immense stress and were also dealing with the grief of losing billions of their people to the Karaak, but at that moment, I decided that I preferred the Lilacrons when they were asleep rather than up and talking.
“We were very careful about being followed,” I said. “We came through a dust cloud, and I am certain the Karaak weren’t behind us.”
“Oh, well, if the almighty William Ryder is ‘certain’, then we’re saved!” he exclaimed.
“We shouldn’t even be talking about this right now!” I said as I looked around for any support. “We have a Karaak ship in the vicinity. Shouldn’t that be our focus?”
“Don’t try and change the subject!” the Lilacron leader shouted. “You can’t--”
“Stop this at once!” General Occana said.
The leader turned to Occana, surprised that the military man had spoken like that to a superior. But, in matters of life and death, who cared about hierarchy?
I noticed a smaller, weedier Lilacron beside the general, and I assumed that was the person that had snuck in through the door behind me while the argument was underway. I could see that the newcomer was nervous to be in a room with all of the appointed leaders of what was left of his species as he fiddled with the sleeve of his gray suit with his long, white fingers.
“What is it?” the loud-mouthed Lilacron I’d been pitted against snapped.
“Hemphy,” the General said and looked expectantly at the smaller alien beside him. “Tell them what you have just told me.”
“Um,” Hemphy said and cleared his throat. “I’m an analyst--”
“Good for you,” the rude Lilacron said. “As I was saying--”
“Let him finish, Doron,” Occana said.
“How dare you--” Doron began.
“Let him speak,” one of the other, more reasonable, Lilacron leaders ordered him.
Doron clamped his mouth shut and glared at me like I’d been the one to tell him to shut up.
“I’m an analyst,” Hemphy continued. “I took a closer look at the Karaak ship that’s coming toward us.”
“And?” one of the other leaders asked. “What have you found out? Please tell us if there’s something useful in your findings.”
“I believe there is,” the analyst said. “We have a record of what we now know to be a Karaak ship flying just above Lilacron’s airspace just one day before the attack on our planet. After comparing the image of that ship to the ship that has just been detected, I can confirm that the two ships are identical.”
“So, what’re you saying?” Rayne asked.
“I am saying that I believe that this isn’t a battleship,” Hemphy said. “I do not believe that this is the Karaak coming to attack us, nor do I believe that this ship followed anyone here.”
The analyst glanced at me, and in turn, I gave Doron a pointed glance. The civilian leader rolled his eyes and said nothing, but the look on his face was satisfying enough.
“So, why is the ship here, then?” one leader asked.
“I think that this is a scout ship,” the analyst said. “We are fairly certain that the Karaak possess folding engines, so I would assume that the motherships are somewhere one jump away. They have most likely sent out scout ships to try to find us, and once they do, they will go back to their mothership with the news.”
“But they can’t jump back right away until the folding engine has time to recharge,” I said.
“Precisely,” the analyst replied.
“So, if we can get to that ship and stop it before they get back to the mothership, then the Karaak won’t know we’re here,” I said. “That would at least buy you some time to work out what to do next.”
Everyone’s eyes widened at the thought as they realized there was a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. We had a chance.
“Will and I can go after them,” Rayne said. “Our ship can keep up with them.”
“The ships we flew to the colony wouldn’t stand a chance of matching their pace,” Occana admitted. “They were only made for transport.”
“We can take a couple of you with us, but it might be a bit of a squeeze,” I said.
“I will accompany you,” Occana said.
“Alright,” I said.
“Are we seriously going to ignore the fact that this ‘Will Ryder’ might be on the Karaak’s side?” Doron blustered indignantly.
“Oh, shut up, Doron,” another leader said. “We’ve heard enough from you to last us until next week.”
Doron gawked at this and stormed out of the room.
“Good riddance,” Occana muttered under his breath, which made me chuckle.
It might be fun to have Occana onboard, I thought to myself, especially since we seemed to have similar opinions on certain people.
“Hemphy, you said that the scout ship was spotted one day before the attack on Lilacron?” I asked.
“Yes,” he replied.
“Okay,” I said. “That means we have to catch up with that ship in less than a day. If we don’t, we run the risk that it will return to the mothership with the location of the colony.”
“Let me guess, we’re rushing off to save the colony?” Rayne said.
“Yep,” I replied as I started to jog toward the exit.
“Great,” she sighed. “And there I was hoping to get a nap in before all the chaos started up again.”