Chapter 7

The Cogian soldier walked silently down the hall, his hands all behind his back as he answered the summons given him. It was an odd summons for someone of his position. He worked in surveillance, he wasn’t a prison guard. Nonetheless, he was on his way to the cell blocks for an undisclosed assignment. As he walked in the door, he saluted Croka, who greeted the salute with a cynical nod of his head. The superior officer gestured for his subordinate to enter one of the cells. The soldier was confused by this order, but he wouldn’t refuse under threat of punishment. Obediently, he walked into the cell and it was closed behind him.

“Give the scientist your arm.”

Turning, the soldier noticed a scientist had followed him in with a syringe in his hand. Nodding a little, he held his arm out to the scientist, who proceeded to inject the soldier. At first, nothing happened, but after a moment, he screamed and gripped his head, falling to his knees. He writhed and seized, his head feeling as though it would explode any moment. Croka stood by watching with a sadistic sneer on his reptilian lips, enjoying every moment of the soldier’s agony. While the scientist was concerned, not only for the well-being of the subject, but for the fact that this was something they had never attempted. Something that had been forbidden for as long as they remembered. Somehow Croka had received permission to try it just this once. If it didn’t work, it would be reversed immediately, but who could say that it could be reversed? The pain eased and the soldier lay there, shaking as he sat on his hands and knees, staring at the floor before slowly lifting his head.

“Where...”

He froze as his eyes met his hands. All four of them. Horrified, he lifted his head and looked up at Croka, who just laughed and dismissed the scientist, recognizing that his old ‘friend’ Xander had returned to them. With a reluctant glance at their test subject, the scientist turned and walked out the door. Croka crouched and smirked at Xander as everything came back to the once human man.

“You see, Xander, we have the power to take everything away from you whenever we want to. The next time we make you a soldier, you may not return. Any offspring you may have will lose their father. Your mate will turn to another to continue spawning and your offspring will grow up with no memory of you.”

Xander listened silently, still on his hands and knees. His eyes closed as Croka played the family card, threatening to make his family go on without him. Thoughts of Aaron, Jade, and Cain rolled through his mind. Croka was doing everything, pulling out every stopper to try and force Xander to give up his information. But he just couldn’t bring himself to betray the people of his galaxy. Lifting his head, he glared up at Croka, who once again had made a big mistake in trying to provoke the human.

“You don’t know who my family are. You’ll never find them. They and all the other refugees are in a place where you’ll never find them. Threaten me all you want, do everything you want to me, but you will never get what you want out of me.”

There was a low growl in his voice as he spoke. It was an odd feeling, but Xander didn’t care. He knew his family was safe so long as they were on the refugee planet. He knew that no matter what these people did to him, Aaron and the children would be just fine. A small, satisfied smile answered Croka’s angry growl. Of course, this wasn’t about medical information anymore. This had become a vendetta.

Croka was determined to break the human now that he had resisted every kind of pain, every threat, even truth serums. Xander had just prattled on and on about inappropriate things and insults towards his captors. His main goal had been to be so loud that he couldn’t hear the questions and be forced to answer. That was generally how any “truth serum” worked as far as he knew. So he’d kept his voice as loud as he possibly could. But now, they’d changed him into a monster and back again. Croka reached in through the bars, grabbing Xander by the neck as he snarled angrily.

“You will tell me what I want to know! You will tell me or I swear I will track your family down and make you kill them the way you killed that blue rodent you shared a cell with!”

Xander gasped for breath as his upper hands clawed at Croka’s arms. His lower hands grabbed at everything around him, trying to pull himself away from Croka’s grip. Croka snarled and gripped tighter until it was obvious that Xander was nearly passed out. He released Xander and spoke with a low growl in his voice.

“Now listen to me, you piece of rancid meat. You will tell me everything I want to know, or the next time you have your human mind returned to you, you will be witnessing the destruction of your mate, your offspring, and that entire wretched planet the Gyirks call home! Now TELL ME!”

Xander coughed as he knelt on the floor, holding his neck in pain. Taking a few shaky, painful breaths, he looked up at Croka, glaring at him. This creature was so utterly dense that Xander was shocked he even knew how to breathe. When all else failed, use brute force, and when brute force failed, use even more brute force.  If only he knew how many times Xander had come to cracking, but then he always made the mistake of trying to bait Xander with his family. All that did was strengthen Xander’s resolve. If he gave away the secrets he knew, he would surely sign their death certificates. So he slowly got to his feet, standing tall and proud before walking to the bars and glaring out at Croka, a low growl emanating from his throat.

“Make me back into your little drone, Croka. Do whatever you want to me. I told you once and I’ll tell you again. Nothing you can do to me will make me talk.”

Xander was so close to Croka now, in a body that could hold its own no less. All it would take was one swift swing of the tail and Croka’s head could be caved in. The only problem was, Xander had no idea how to work the tail. When he tried to move it, it only twitched and maybe moved a few inches. So back into the monster’s mind he would be sent. With no notion of how long he would be there or even if he would ever come back out. It was a risk he would have to take for his people.

The continued resistance by Xander was stretching Croka’s nerves thin. This creature was the most frustrating being he had ever come across and even now, when he’d been changed into a Cogian soldier and back, he defied all reason. With a roar, Croka grabbed Xander’s snout and slammed his head against the bars. His tail shot out and hit the intercom button on the wall, practically destroying it.

“Scientist! Return with the nanites! NOW!”

Croka stood back as the scientist returned, wielding a new syringe. Xander held his head as he started laughing. Croka roared angrily and turned, storming from the room. With a small smile, Xander held his arm out to the scientist, who reluctantly injected the nanites. Closing his eyes, Xander was fully prepared to just let the Cogian mind take over, but confusion quickly replaced his calm as something strange happened. He could feel the Cogian return to his mind. All the knowledge, all the behavior, everything. Yet Xander was still there. As conscious and in control as though nothing had changed.

After a moment, he knew the scientist would get suspicious if nothing happened, so he drew on the knowledge of the Cogian mind and lifted his head, assuming the demeanor of a soldier. Standing, he waited for the scientist to open the door and give him orders as they usually did. The door opened, and the scientist stepped aside.

“Report to your quarters and wait for further orders.”

With a nod and a salute, Xander exited the cell, then walked down the halls, heading towards the quarters set aside for him. As he went into the room, his thoughts began to churn. What was going on? Why was he conscious within a Cogian body? He should be gone by now. Lost forever. Instead, he was almost completely free to roam about the ship. A smile slowly spread across his lips. This was perfect. He could use this to the advantage of the Consortium. He could get them information, tell them Cogian ship positions, troop census, firepower, everything. All he had to do... was contact the outpost and convince them he wasn’t trying to trap them. Sighing, he put his head in his hands, then lay down. This was going to take a lot of thought.

...

Aaron stood silently over their most recent acquisition, the only Cogian to survive their latest raid. Most of the other Cogians had either died in the attack or committed suicide rather than be captured. Those were being autopsied and tested at this moment and any findings they recorded were to be tested on this live specimen. It was quite the victory for the resistance, but all Aaron could think about was the fact that this could very well be Xander he was staring at. This one or one of the dead ones in the lab. How many were going to die before all this was over? How many people were going to lose their loved ones without even knowing it?

His thoughts were interrupted by a tug on his sleeve and he looked down to see a Danoo standing there with a holo-tablet in its hand. Shaking his head a little, he cleared his head and took the tablet, looking over the information listed on it. It was a list of the tests that had been done on the few Cogians they’d captured alive. All had shown evidence of DNA from the creature they had been originally. None of them were full blooded Cogian, if such a thing existed anymore. Thinking for a moment, he turned to the Danoo before speaking.

“What about the attempts to change them back? Any success?”

The Danoo shook its head a little and looked up at Aaron.

“We have been running numerous tests to try and change cells back, but we just can’t break down their formula. Some of the chemicals are your basic universal ingredients, but a good portion of them are foreign to us. The Gyirks don’t even recognize some of them Without all of the necessary elements, we just don’t have any chance of reversing the transformation. And that’s just the physical change.”

The Danoo shook its head and looked up at the Cogian standing in the cage, growling at the two as they stood and discussed what was going on. The Danoo continued as it watched the creature.

“According to the Gyirks, this one used to be something they call a Kisena, a large mammal from a system near their original home world. They also say that the Kisena used to be a peaceful race, terrified of weapons. They barely had any tools to speak of. Now look at it.”

It needn’t say more as the Cogian roared angrily and slammed against the cage, screaming something about demanding to be released and threatening to kill them for this indignity. Closing his eyes, Aaron rubbed the back of his neck and thought silently. Science wasn’t his expertise, he didn’t know what to say. But even so, he had been the orchestrator of every victory they’d had so far. Because of that, he’d been catapulted to the top. He was commanding everything and he was starting to wear thin.

“Sir? Are you alright?”

A light hand on his arm broke him from his musings and he looked down at the Danoo as it looked up at him, concern on its alien face. He nodded and looked to the Cogian, thinking for a few moments before speaking again.

“There isn’t much we can do now. All we have to do is try to identify the elements in its blood. Try to find out how they interact at the very least. Maybe that can give us a clue.”

Only years of training kept his voice calm and collected. He had no idea what he was talking about, but he hoped it sounded right. Apparently it did, since the Danoo nodded and ran off into the tents. Turning back to the Cogian, Aaron took a step forward, just barely out of its reach, and stared at it for a few moments. There was a question he’d been burning to ask. A question he wasn’t even sure this one random Cogian could answer, but he had to try.

“Your ships captured a human on one of your first raids. Have you heard word of a captured human male with medical knowledge?”

The Cogian glared up at him, at first, refusing to answer. But then a slow, arrogant sneer crossed its face. As soon as it started speaking, it was clear that it was doing its best to rattle Aaron’s defenses.

“We have such a human. He has become quite the wonder to our people. Of all creatures we have ever allowed to live, he is the only one who has resisted our interrogations. Many have come from even remote outposts to attempt to break him. Last I heard, he had been given up on and made into one of us. You have no hope of finding him now, mammal.”

Aaron grit his teeth in anger, frustration, and grief all at the same time. Yes, he knew that after a month earth time it was more than likely that Xander had been changed into a Cogian. Knew that any one of the Cogians they killed or captured could be him, or he could be on the other side of the galaxy. Either way, he may as well be K.I.A.. Now he knew for sure, and as he strengthened his resolve to win, his heart hardened to stone, blocking out all compassion and mercy for these creatures.

The Cogian fell silent as it saw the look in Aaron’s eyes, more stupefied than frightened. It had never seen a look like that from a human. The Gyirks and some of the other aliens, certainly. But humans tended to be afraid, even if they were trying to hide it. But Aaron’s expression was close to murderous. As the man stood and turned, his hands balled into furious fists. On his way in, he started shouting orders, telling the Danoo to get the strongest weapons they could on every recon ship. It was time they went out more than ready for a fight.

...

“Good morning, Cain!”

“Hello, Cain!”

“On another errand, Cain?”

Calls came from all sides as the young human boy walked by, his old backpack strapped to his back. Since those on this planet had been forced to take shelter on this planet, regular classes had stopped and most of the children spent their days either running errands for those they lived near, or looking after herds of sheep-like creatures that were their main source of protein. Jade was off somewhere looking after one of them now while Cain ran his errands for Emiaj and the produce sellers. At the moment, he had several packages of some kind of cheese in his backpack and was hiking across the camp to deliver it to a family who were caring for those too old and weak to care for themselves. He looked up at a few of them as he walked, but he didn’t speak.

Cain was a quiet child, he laughed and played plenty in his own home, but he rarely spoke even then. Jade was his only confidant, the only one he regularly spoke to. But now they had very few moments to speak, since they were rarely alone. Even their bedroom wasn’t a haven, since they were sharing with Darjan. With this development, Emiaj had been encouraging a few friends to try and coax a few words out of the child, talking to him and asking him questions. But nothing had worked. The young man was as silent as ever.

Turning his gaze back to the ground ahead of him, he thought about what was going on. So much had happened in the past month or so that it was all a little hard to process now and then. The biggest thing he had trouble processing was the fact that neither Aaron or Xander were there for him. Aside from Jade, the presence of his fathers had been the one constant for him. Now, he didn’t have his fathers and he barely had Jade. He was feeling something he’d never felt before, not with his twin sister at his side his whole life. He was lonely. Such a strange feeling it was for him, almost a dull ache in his heart, something he couldn’t just wish away. Closing his eyes, he took a steady breath, then looked up to see where he was. It wasn’t long before he would reach the shelter, so he picked up the pace a little, heading towards the large tent up ahead.

Once inside, he looked around and watched a few of the carers making their rounds, checking on everyone in the tent and making sure they were healthy. One of the young Risous lifted his head as he caught the scent of the cheese in the backpack. He nodded to Cain, saying without words that he would be there shortly to take the delivery. Cain nodded back and set the bag on a table, opening it and starting to pull the medium sized wheels of cheese out. As he did, he marveled at how soft it was. He put barely any pressure on the surface and he still left deep dents in it. He could only guess on the kinds of foods they made for these people, possibly protein mixes mostly.

Someone approached Cain and the boy looked up, expecting the Risous, but it was a Yevien. This one knelt beside the human child, a soft look in its eyes. This one knew how to deal with frightened or upset children, especially ones as withdrawn as Cain. It could see right through their facade even without its powers. So as they stood for a few moments, just staring at each other, Cain bit his lip, then moved in and wrapped his arms around the Yevien’s neck. It closed its eyes and held the frightened child gently as it bathed him in a gentle glow of calmness.

For the first time in weeks, Cain felt safe. This creature wouldn’t allow anything to happen to him. Nothing could hurt him so long as he was in its arms, so as he buried his head in the soft, lustrous, yellow fur, he let tears roll down his cheeks. He wanted his family back. He wanted everything back the way it was. He didn’t care if they were back on the ship, he just wanted to be happy again. The Empath sensed this and made soft, gentle crooning sounds to let Cain know he wasn’t alone. There were people in this universe who still cared for him.

Time lost all sense of motion as they stood there, Cain simply crying his fears and sadness into the Yevien’s fur. Everyone there worked around the two, knowing this was just as important as anything else being done in the tent. Once Cain had finally run out of tears, the Yevien sat back and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder as it spoke.

“Child go home. Rest and become better. Camp will continue without child.”

Cain wiped the tears from his cheeks and nodded a little, knowing that this wasn’t a request. Picking up his bag, he turned and started back. Before long, he was entering the tent and setting his bag down, heading into their room to rest. After crying for who knows how long, he was tired and desperately needed rest. His head hit the pillow and he was instantly asleep, curled up with the blanket pulled over him as he drifted off into pleasant dreams of the past. But all that came to the camp that day would be fear and sadness, as a tear opened in space behind the planet’s moon and a fleet of menacing ships flew swiftly and silently out of the rift to White Space.

...

Chrak stood silently in her room, all four hands behind her back. As she stared silently out of the view port, her thoughts turned to her new assignment. Croka had made sure she knew that this assignment would mean life or death for her. She had disgraced herself in failing to break the human. But even worse, she had lost control of herself and nearly killed the creature. Croka sent her in for punishment, making sure that she would never make this mistake again. There had been fire, broken bones, pokers, swords, claws, even death more than one time. But each time she was restored to health. This continued for months until Croka ordered that she be released for this mission. But she wasn’t released unscathed.

As this crossed her mind, she tucked her wings close to her back to hide the scars burned into the membrane, marks of shame. She would wear those marks until she proved that she didn’t deserve to be shamed anymore. Then she would be given the cleansing and be restored to her position. This mission was vital to her career. This was the one thing she could not mishandle. She vowed to herself that she would keep her temper in check and bring these traitors back to the glory of the Cogian Empire. Her communication device beeped, and a voice came over the line.

“Team Leader Chrak, report to the shuttle bay.”

Chrak sent an acknowledgement, and left her room, arriving shortly at the shuttle bay where her team waited. She was handed a tablet with the results of their initial scans of the planet. There, the largest concentration of life was on a small continent - barely a continent, almost an island - several miles off the shore of the largest continent. This brought a fang-filled smile to her face. The planet was filled with simple life, mostly creatures on the very threshold of something resembling intelligence. That was what made it safe. The Cogians didn’t care about planets like this, there were plenty more planets in the galaxy with intelligent life to purify.

She pulled up the details of the mission ahead. There were uniform shapes on the island, the technicians theorizing that they were tents that the refugees were living in. She allowed a slight chuckle as she looked over her team. Whoever had planned this had gone away from the obvious choice of the mainland and opted for a less obvious island as shelter. That would be their undoing. Her team snapped to attention at her gaze.

“We are the first wave. Orders are to target all satellites and observation centers first. Blind them, then return to formation for further orders.”

Her team boarded and joined nine other ships, which broke formation and surrounded the planet, destroying every satellite with precision bursts. Three targeted the planet and dove into the atmosphere, strafing the observation centers, leaving them in cinders, and returning to the fleet. Once the ships were back to formation behind the mothership, a strong Electromagnetic Pulse burst forth from the ship, knocking out every single earpiece on the planet. The creatures would be in chaos, unable to communicate with their superiors, even if they could understand the language.

With all communication destroyed, the fleet was ordered to attack. They would destroy as many escape ships as they could, avoiding as many deaths as possible. Every creature down there had the potential in them toof use to the Cogian empire. Be it as soldiers or as food. The surface of the planet lit up with flashes of weapons fire and burning buildings, the radio lit up with the sounds of screaming and panic as the non military creatures tried to escape the coming doom.

She crossed all arms over her chest and watched as ships landed, sending out probes to send data back to the mothership. She took a breath to brace herself, and ordered her team to land. They would be part of the main wave to take in those creatures marked by the probes. Blue for food, green for Genetic Purification, yellow for execution on sight, and red for undetermined. Those marked red would be taken as prisoners until someone decided what to do with them.

She narrowed her eyes in concentration as she followed the directions from the probes, firing upon her targets. The troops hit the camp from four sides, shredding any buildings and tents they crossed. The militia had limited time to capture the refugees on this planet before the Consortium forces arrived.

The battle proceeded well, there were many cowardly Gyirks here, perfect additions to the Cogian ranks. The small blue creatures, the Danoo, had so far proven to be a new delicacy among the ranks, so they hardly even needed a tag. Especially the wounded ones, who were seized before the probe could even give them an order. The troops would feast on their way home tonight. But what to do with the children? They would grow into strong beings that could serve the cogian empire, but who knows how long many of them would take to mature? The information she remembered from the other medical creatures told her that the humans especially grew very slowly, they took more than thirty Cogian years to grow to full adulthood. Was that truly worth waiting for? Without a solid answer, they were marked as red.

Suddenly, she noticed someone nearby, someone that could very well catapult her to the high council! It was Emiaj! THE Emiaj! The one who started this infernal war! The most wanted Gyirk in the galaxy, and Chrak had her in her sights! She pulled her team together, and had them encircle the Gyirk in an impenetrable wall of leather and claws. Chrak allowed herself a delighted laugh as they ripped Emiaj away from her son, who was marked green. He was one that they could certainly wait to purify. He was almost as important as his mother, if only to amuse the troops when his Purification was finally performed.

She paused for a moment to pull up the population count from each probe, wanting to see how close they were to victory. Croka had sent them to the camp armed with the population count their hackers had stolen from the Gyirk computers. As limited as the information on the captured ships was, there was plenty in them to tell the Cogians where the refugees had been sent, as well as the limited protection that had been sent. This left the planet ripe for the taking.

By the total count on the probes, they had captured nearly 3/4 of the total Refugee population. Her lips drew back in a snarling smile. There was no way the Consortium creatures could arrive in time to rescue these refugees now. But she wasn’t going to relax, not when victory was in her grasp. She urged her team to get Emiaj into the most secure cell at their disposal. There was no way she was letting this prize slip through her grasp.

Once on the ship, she watched as the counters on the screens finally added up to match the population listed in the Gyirk computers and all Cogians present gave a triumphant roar. The refugees were theirs.