Chapter 5: Taking it to Go
Paulie watched as Jakiikii acquiesced to his previous comment, opening the door to let in a tall and lanky alien with skin the color of a pink rose and two long swept-back horns growing from her skull.
Aril swept into the room with the inhuman grace characteristic of her people, her feet scarcely seemed to touch the floor as she glided into the center of the room and then did a quick glance around as if to assure herself they were all there. She was wearing her uniform, the dark blue shirt was marked with gold chevrons for her rank and she nodded to him with her dark red eyes as she crossed her arms under her breasts.
“I am glad to see you are awake. I was sent to gather you.” She said simply.
Paulie leaned forward on the stool. “Gather me for what? Did Mack find something new?” He asked a little more excitedly than he meant to. His cabin fever was starting to get the better of him. He wanted to do something, anything, to help out.
He was already standing up as the nerivith woman replied, “Mack wanted to talk to you and Jakiikii, securely. Not over a communications link.”
“Did he find something new?” Jakiikii butted in.
Sergeant Aril’s sinuous tail flicked in annoyance at the interruption but she nodded her horned head. “Yes as far as I know, but I am not to discuss any details here, despite me knowing nothing. Are you coming?” She stood ramrod straight, arms behind her back as if she were standing at attention in a military parade. Her serious demeanour at odds with her almost succubine features.
Paulie smiled and nodded. “Yes, of course. Just give me a second to put on my gear..” he paused and then gestured at his remaining burrito. “Uh, are you hungry? I made breakfast.”
Aril’s face cracked into a tiny smile, her scarred features scrunching in an almost unpleasant manner as she replied, “I am certain your meal would be quite indigestible to me. I get the feeling if I were to try and eat that it would land me on a one-way trip to the infirmary. I swear you have the internal constitution of a riiken, do your people make a habit of eating plassteel bearings?”
It took him a second to understand she was joking, and when he did he laughed. “Hah! No, but there was this guy I read about that ate a whole airplane, pretty sure it was aluminum though. Not steel.” And he turned to the foot of his bed where his discarded greatcoat and armour were. As he did so he thought he heard a scoff, but it was quiet.
Taking a moment to pull on the heavy gear, he heard a whisper from the other two aliens and then pulled on the greatcoat. Turning to face them he grabbed his boots and pulled them on.
“Okay, ready now.” He took a step towards them and then stopped. Glancing at his unfinished meal he reached into one of the pockets of his coat and pulled out a small plastic bag he kept in case of situations like this. He plopped the uneaten food into it and then put it back into an inner pocket as Aril frowned and her brows lowered.
“What are you doing that for?”
He shrugged. “In case I get hungry again later.”
The rosy skinned alien shook her head again and muttered under her breath, only just loudly enough for Paulie to pick up. “Damned apocalypsers.” After a second she spread out her long fingered hands and asked, “Okay, now good?” He nodded. She gestured towards the door. “Okay, let’s move out. I have an escort, we are not taking any chances with you two.”
Paulie just shrugged. It was whatever at this point to him, he was just glad to finally be getting out of the house so to speak. Jakiikii and he followed the severe woman out of the apartment, the door clicking closed behind them softly as they stepped out onto the plush carpeting of the hall. It took him a second to realise that the far end of the hall was filled with a mass of armour and weapons. It looked like his mendagoonian guards had come up to escort him directly.
He nodded towards the one he understood was Mursk as they drew near.
“Hey man, what’s going on today?”
The insectoid alien tapped its helmet as if to say that they were in another call but gave him the hand signal for everything’s okay. He gestured to the royal guard standing next to him who opened a case they were holding and offered it to Paulie. Inside was a familiar and deadly shape that made his eyes light up the instant he saw it.
“Nemesis!” He said with a bright smile before reaching out and grabbing the hand cannon from the case. “Thanks, er.. are we expecting resistance?”
“No. And you had better not flash that around where people can see it. We already have a hard enough time keeping the giant alien apocalypser hidden from the general populace. Even after your hero ceremony, there are many that would not react calmly to somebody of your stature. Imagine how hard it would be if you started running around waving that cannon in the air as well.” Sergeant Aril snorted, tossing her head and making her cropped red hair bounce.
Paulie frowned and tucked the gun into its holster before securing it around his waist. Nodding to the medagoonian guard, the alien closed the case after handing him a few spare quickloads.
“I don’t have any plans to shoot anyone today, if that is what you are insinuating.” he grumbled under his breath. Jakiikii patted his back in a comforting manner.
Paulie followed their escort as they made their way down the stairwell and out into the main atrium of the building. To his mild pleasure he didn’t see Officer Visk anywhere, just a few adjudicators that he didn’t recognise. They were led out of the front and immediately to an armoured car, there were two military vehicles from the local planetary defense force there as well as some soldiers in dark tactical gear.
“What is with all the firepower?” he asked Aril.
She turned halfway towards him. “You didn’t hear?”
Paulie and Jakiikii shared a look. “Hear what?” The termaxxi asked for him.
Sergeant Aril responded in her normal deadpan manner though there was a hint of a growl in it. “There was a major terrorist attack again last night, twenty-seven dead. Dozens more wounded. The city has issued a general alert, nonessential traffic is grounded and people have been advised to stay inside for the time being.”
Paulie looked around again, really looked this time. It was true that the street was much less populated than it might have normally been at a time such as this. It was just after breakfast, normally there would have been a healthy bustle of colorful aliens going to and fro. But as he observed the road he saw only a few worried looking residents passing by, their heads down and their various eyes, ears and antennae twitching in apprehension.
Several glanced their way, but upon seeing all the armed troops seemed to think better of getting curious and hurried on their way.
He felt the anger stir in his gut again, his fists clenching of their own accord. These damn cowards, terrorist bastards. They got nothing out of killing innocents, nothing but their own disgusting self satisfaction. He hated them, he didn’t even know them and he hated them.
His breathing had deepened and Jakiikii reached for him, taking his hand and applying gentle mental pressure like a warm blanket around his mind. He slowed his breathing and closed his eyes before taking one last look around.
Through gritted teeth he asked, “When do we get to actually be useful again?”
This time it was not Aril that answered, but Mursk. The lanky insectoid walked to them on his six spindly legs before speaking in a language he could not understand. Mursk’s autotranslator buzzed as it converted the speech into two languages at once. English for him and the common tongue for the rest.
“I am afraid I cannot allow you to be placed in such danger. The monarch herself has forbidden it.”
“ Thbbft .” Paulie spluttered, waving a hand dismissively. “I am not as fragile as she seems to think.” He paused as he noticed everyone was staring at him, some with annoyance and some less so. “What?” he asked.
Aril shook her head, passing a hand over her horns even as she pulled open the door on the back of the transport. “Just get in before I decide that it would be simpler to knock you out and drag you there unconscious.”
He wasn’t sure if the severe alien was joking or not, it was hard to tell with her sometimes. But he would not have put it past her to try. She wasn’t exactly the most diplomatic person he had ever met. So he complied quickly, hopping into the rear of the armoured van as Jakiikii and Mursk settled inside too. Aril jumped in, followed by two of the army troopers. One was a tall heechian and the other was one of those small wooly centauroids that he had heard referred to as baxxziun.
He looked across the small space at Jakiikii as the vehicle lurched into motion.
“What do you think Mack needs to tell us that he can’t say over a communication link?”
Sergeant Aril gave them a pointed look but didn’t tell him to stop talking. Jakiikii’s eyes roamed around the compartment before settling on his face. She leaned forward and spoke as soft as she was able, her grumbling voice a husky rumble.
“I don’t know. I must have something to do with his special investigation though. The one that he wasn’t talking about.” She seemed to pout slightly.
“Could it have something to do with those people we saved from Ooounoo’s..” He didn’t get the chance to finish before Aril shushed them.
She shook her head, bright red eyes flicking towards the army troopers at the rear even as she spoke, “Be careful what you say. Not everything is for casual listening.” She paused as Jakiikii’s eyes widened slightly. “And no, I do not think it is related. As far as I am aware, and I am aware, none of those so rescued have awoken yet. Including your counterpart, Jakiikii.” She said with a nod at her.
Jakiikii’s face fell, her eyes crinkling in dejection as she nodded.
Paulie felt a lump in his throat as Sergeant Aril mentioned her long lost sister, he longed to reach out and comfort her. But before he had the chance too the vehicle lurched again and slowed to a stop.
He looked around. “Are we at the complex already?”
Aril checked her wrist commie and replied, “No. We are not, we are at an alternate secure location.” She turned to Mursk. “Were we followed?”
The mendagoonian cocked his helmeted head. Clicking sounded over his outer intercom and was translated, “It is hard to be certain. Hauxsu and Mennt saw suspicious activity but they did not follow it all the way when it turned course. Be certain, there is more activity afoot than may at first seem. Or these terrorists would not keep catching the city unawares.” Mursk spoke with a slight hiss and then muted his speaker. Presumably to coordinate with his own men again.
Paulie leaned forward as the rear doors opened and the two troopers hopped out, weapons held low and ready to face any possible threats. He lingered though, reaching across the space to touch Jakiikii’s suited knee.
She glanced at him with her flexible eye stalks, her head remaining still as she sucked in a breath. “Paulie?” She muttered.
He just patted her knee and gave her a warm smile as if to tell her he was there if she needed support. She returned the smile and then stood and moved out of the vehicle leaving him temporarily alone with Aril.
He moved to leave but found himself stopped by the nerivithian female, one of her hands on his shoulder. Surprisingly strong, far too strong he realised as it actually managed to stop him in his tracks.
“Uh, yeah?” he asked as he looked at her face. She didn’t speak, instead just scrutinised him for an uncomfortable length of time till he started to get antsy. Finally she nodded.
“I was just checking to see if you really care, I can see that you do. Your love for her is written all over your face as plain as the rank on my shoulder.” Paulie blushed slightly at being called out so blatantly. He had made no secret of his love for Jakiikii, and he had never taken the nerivith as being overly protective of her before now. Was there some deeper connection between the two of them than he knew?
He would have to ask Jakiikii about it some time maybe, there was more to the interaction than might seem on the surface.
He nodded his head silently though, not saying anything to give away his line of internal questions. It was something to be discovered later, for the time being he had other things to worry about and so he just smiled at her as she released his shoulder.
Paulie exited the armoured vehicle to stand out in the pale morning light under a turquoise sky. The pale shape of Trellan IX hanging low in the dawn's light, it really was quite beautiful and he grinned. A view he might never tire of.