Chapter 8

Corika walked down the hall, confused, but confident. Croka had told him to report to one of the interrogation rooms, reassuring the young soldier that he wasn’t in any trouble. In fact, there was a very special surprise there for him. Looking up at the numbers on the doors, Corika touched the one he needed and stepped inside. His eyes widened in delighted shock as he saw what the surprise was. The room was mostly empty, sporting only a table and a chair as furniture. But upon the table was something Corika had been dying to taste: A live Danoo. He licked his teeth in anticipation and slowly moved over to her, looking around uncertainly at first to make sure this was real. The wall in front of him flickered and an image of Croka appeared on the screen.

“Welcome Corika. I have a very special gift for you. This creature was the very first Danoo to be captured. I have been saving her just for you. Now Jasu, I want you to take a look at Corika. Take a good long look. I think you know him from somewhere, don’t you?”

Jasu strained against the chains on the table, screaming through the muzzle over her beak. When told to look up at Corika, she stared for a moment, not sure why she would know this Cogian, but she froze as she realized. She did know him. She’d seen him step out of her cell not one week before. Tears welled up in her eyes and she just lay there, giving up. If he was here to consume her, then all was lost for her. Fighting was useless. The Cogian sat at the chair and bared his teeth in excitement. He wanted to hear the creature’s screams as he ate it, so he ripped the muzzle off her beak as she whined in terror. He dug his claws into her stomach, slowly cutting her skin to expose her organs. Her shrill scream rang through the room and he grinned maniacally, ripping off a piece of her flesh and placing it on his tongue, closing his eyes in ecstasy. He had heard that Danoos were exquisite, but he’d never imagined how wonderful they could be.

Most birds had a slightly salty taste, but this Danoo tasted sweet on top of the saltiness. Sweet like a fine sea crustacean. It was a combination he’d never heard described in any creature the Empire had found. The sensation of the sweet-salty flesh rolled over him, causing his eyes to roll back into his head with pleasure. He would delight in every single bite he would have from this small creature.

As he looked down at her, grinning, he expected to see terror on her face, but he frowned as all he saw was peace. She looked up at him with such a calm expression that he didn’t know how to react. But then she spoke.

“Jasu... forgives... Xander... Human...”

Corika didn’t know how to react to this. What was this Xander Human it spoke of? He blinked a little in thought for a moment, then shook his head and plunged his claws into her flesh once more, listening in excitement to her screams.

“JASU!!!”

Xander sat up in his bunk, panting heavily as he swallowed and looked around the room. It was times like this that he was glad Croka had taken such an interest in him. He had been given a private bunk and an officer’s position in security.

He didn’t know why Croka was doing this. Maybe he wanted to make sure he knew exactly where his new pet project was at every perceivable moment. All personnel were monitored at every moment of every day, and since there were so few officers in relation to soldiers, it was nearly impossible for them to sneak anywhere without somebody noticing.

Closing his eyes, Xander turned and rested his clawed feet on the floor as his upper hands came up to rub his eyes, his lower hands supporting his weight on the edge of the bunk. His tail hung heavily over the side of the bed, ticking on the metal with every movement he made.

Sighing, he stood and walked over to the water dispenser. It produced a cup filled with ice cold water, which he took and splashed on his face, rubbing the scales between his horns a little, as though he were trying to rub the nightmare from his memory. His time as a complete Cogian soldier had been slowly returning to him for days, torturing him at night, showing him the creatures he’d murdered, the Consortium beings he’d tortured, everything he had done to cause pain. The memories haunted his dreams. But the worst had come just that day, the memory of devouring a still living Jasu.

He lifted his head and stared into his reflection on the metal wall, reaching up and touching his scaled muzzle. The thing staring back at him was so alien. He could hardly believe it was his own reflection. Sighing, he knocked his hand on the wall and turned, placing the cup back on the dispenser. The glass disappeared into a chute to be cleaned. It would reappear again the next time he needed it, sparkling clean.

He had to leave soon, he was on a schedule. He had to check in at the surveillance office before he was reported for being late. The Cogians tended to take breaks in schedule very seriously.  He’d seen more than one punishment taken out on a soldier just for being a minute late. Punishment for the Cogians was never pretty. Ripping out scales in sensitive areas was considered a light punishment. He shuddered to think of some of the worst ones he’d seen. One soldier had been partially skinned just for holding his rifle wrong during inspection.

Xander shook his head a little and set his mind to what he’d started calling ‘Cogian Mode’. He let the knowledge of the Cogian slip into his mind, feeding him the proper behavior of an officer of his rank. He held himself high, his back straight, his tail held high, the spiked mace hovering behind his neck just below shoulder height, his upper arms crossed over his chest, and his lower arms supporting his rifle in the exact proper manner for his rank.

The Cogians were mostly consumed by two things: Power, and showing off that power. While Xander’s new identity was high in the ranks, he wasn’t exactly their equivalent of a General. He had his own security team, though they mostly patrolled the darker and duller parts of the station where they would maybe encounter the occasional maintenance worker. Usually an as-yet unranked officer still undergoing Purification.

It had taken him some time to get used to the sight of half-formed Cogians walking the halls. He was still able to recognize some of the Consortium species, such as the Risous, in spite of the initial changes in their physiology. But the closer a creature was to becoming full Cogian, the harder it was to tell their original species.

Closing his eyes for a moment, he cleared his thoughts, then turned and walked into the security office, saluting the officer that had relieved him while he rested.

“Cerjit Cikica, you are relieved of duty.”

The Cogian language still felt strange coming from his mouth, even though his mouth was now designed for it. He found it strange trying to speak any language he knew through the Cogian’s mouth. It just didn’t feel right. The scaly lips had difficulty forming the exact vowels he used when he tried speaking English. The tongue wasn’t quite as flexible either, though he managed somehow to form the sounds he wanted.

But it wasn’t just the languages. His head always felt too front heavy, though his medical training told him it was all psychological, adapting to a new body. He didn’t have anything to make a perfect comparison, but he could imagine it was much like the phantom pain amputees felt in their missing limbs. The brain was simply taking time to adjust to the new situation. His fellow officer examined the clock, then the schedule. Satisfied that Corika was on time, the officer nodded, saluted, and left.

Xander walked to the center of the room, standing so he could see nearly every screen in the room. From here he could issue and receive orders all day and miss nothing. Not long after he entered, the communications screen flickered to life, and the face of his superior officer appeared before him. Xander saluted, and the officer spoke.

“Cerjit Corika, I have orders here to reassign you and your team. We have many new prisoners arriving soon and we need as many security teams as we can spare to escort them all to the holding cells. You and your team have been assigned to handle the Danoo. You are to escort them to the livestock area.”

It was all Xander could do to contain his surprise and worry. He had heard rumors that somebody had found the planet of refugees and had sent many ships to capture the fugitives there. He had hoped they were nothing but rumors, but if they needed this many escort teams, then he knew that it was true. The Cogians had his family.

Xander nodded silently to accept the assignment, then glanced at the security monitor. He could see many creatures being forced inside from the capture ships. Most of them were Consortium creatures, but there were many Gyirks being brought in as well. As he watched, he saw something that chilled him to the bone. Emiaj and Darjan in a cage being offloaded from one of the ships, surrounded by their own small army of soldiers. If those two were in this shipment, Jade and Cain had to be coming in at the same time.

Desperate, he racked his brain for the answers to his questions. Would they kill the children and eat them? Would they allow them to grow up to be turned into soldiers when grown? He concentrated hard on the memories of the Cogian, but no information came. He knew that information should be there, but he just couldn’t find it. What was going on?

He had little time to ponder this, as his team turned their attention to him, confused by his silence. His look of concentration and confusion must have looked much like anger, as when they followed Xander’s line of sight, one noticed Emiaj on the screen, and smirked.

“You see truth, Corika. The ‘great’ Emiaj has finally been apprehended. The one who freed her people. She is a hero to them, yet strangely she does not desire the power she should have been offered for such a daring escape. Do you know what the great Gyirk hero does to earn her living? She ferments wine.”

The soldier let out a few short, barking laughs. To keep up appearances, Xander gave a couple laughs of his own, turning his confused frown into what he hoped was an amused smirk as he responded.

“Foolish Gyirk. They should be proud to be purified into beings such as ourselves. Yet they hide and ferment fruit. What way is that for a creature to live?”

Xander and his subordinates shared a few more laughs, then Xander told one of his subordinates to take over so he could carry out the mission himself. It was the best way he had to get to the cages.

First he had to set his squad on their assignment, then find an excuse to leave them. His thoughts churned as he walked, barely noticing when he reached his assigned station. He was brought back to reality by his second in command addressing him. He blinked and looked over at her, then looked at the others in the squad.

“Alright soldiers, we’re escorting livestock. This way.”

He turned and gestured for the soldiers to follow, narrowing his eyes a bit as he walked, just to look that much more menacing. Soldiers parted before his squad, watching as their superiors passed, wondering where Corika could be going. He had achieved a good status for himself, but he wasn’t so important that he’d be escorting prisoners with any real importance. Still, he had proven many times that he wasn’t afraid to shove subordinates aside using his spikes. A trait that Croka praised in his new hobby.

Xander glanced back at his squad as he walked, examining his second in command for a few moments before reasserting his gaze ahead of him. He knew what he would do now. He’d just tell the truth. He trusted his squad to get the job done. He hadn’t been told to stay with them the entire time, after all, so he could just use that excuse to get away. And he would tell his squad he was going to mock the great Gyirk ‘hero’ in her cage. He was sure many more soldiers were going to do the same thing when they got the chance.

Turning a corner, they arrived at the hangar. The area was filled to the brim with creatures running to and fro. Most of them were refugees, but the Cogians were equal in number, though superior in strength. Xander made his way carefully through the commotion, looking at each ship very carefully to find the one they were supposed to meet at. He looked up and turned, spotting the ship and turning towards it, though as they did, alarms sounded and the crowds began to part. Xander looked around in confusion as he followed suit, standing on the very edge of the crowd, interested in what was going on.

A procession started down the center of the part, led by Chrak, her head and tail held high, her wings opened wide to make those in the room spread further apart in front of her. Xander frowned in confusion as he saw this. Chrak shouldn’t be flaunting high status like this. Last he’d heard, she was disgraced for not breaking him. Still, he bowed with the rest as she passed and looked up as the rest of the procession continued by. Then he saw why Chrak was gloating. Following in chains, completely surrounded by a contingent of guards, was Emiaj. Behind them, the refugee children carried in large cages. Each and every one of them a valuable prize.

The procession passed slowly and he stared up at the children, huddled in terror as they were carried through the crowd. He wanted nothing more than to reach out and hold them, tell them it was alright, but he was doomed to watch, knowing that any comfort he tried to give would only cause them to fear more. As the procession slowly left the room, the cargo bay returned to its regular bustle, the noise of the Cogians and the prisoners rising to a cacophony yet again. Xander closed his eyes and composed himself before turning to his squad, a malicious grin on his face.

“Rejoice tonight, team. For the criminal Emiaj has finally been taken!”

He joined them in a roar of triumph, pounding their spiked tails on the floor once to symbolize victory. Xander turned, grinning, and started along again, heading to their designated ship to gather the Danoo. The creatures were tied together along several ropes, their hands tethered to the lead. Xander ordered each of his squad to grab a lead, then took one himself, and started their own tiny procession to the livestock area. He held his head high and grit his teeth as he heard their whimpers and cries for mercy. He would love more than anything to free the Danoo as well as all the other prisoners that had been brought in, but that would only result in more deaths than there already were.

He wove through the crowd with his small, sick parade, taking his catch to the slaughter. Since he had taken his role of Cerjit, he had been offered Danoo meat often by his peers. Not wanting to arouse suspicion, he took the meat each time, pretending it was the most delicious thing he had ever tasted, but the taste in his mouth was always sour, nauseating. Even more so now that he remembered what he had done to Jasu.

They were joined by a few other squads bringing in the rest of the Danoo, many of them joking and laughing uproariously about nipping a couple of the Danoo for snacks. Xander looked around at them and laughed at the jokes, making sure he sounded hearty and excited. He looked back at the Danoo he was leading and let out a ferocious growl, tugging them along, just hard enough to make them trip, but not hard enough to hurt them. Always just enough to keep up appearances. He’d never become known for being the most ferocious officer in the species, but it was what he wanted. If he did any more, he was sure he could never forgive himself.

Turning another corner, they arrived at the area that held the livestock aliens. As he walked into the section, he looked around at the floor to ceiling cages, all filled with small creatures of different species. Many held bird species, all perched in various places around the cage, though these weren’t fighting to get out like most of the new Consortium species were. These species stood and stared out into space, their eyes vacant, waiting for the slaughter.

He grit his teeth, keeping his composure and continuing on to the Danoo section, which was easily the loudest of the new species, with each Danoo screeching as loud as it could and slamming themselves against the bars. Xander closed his eyes, trying to block the sound out as he shoved his line into the cage. The rest of the soldiers followed suit and he led the way out.

“Continue to gather Danoo, soldiers, I will return shortly.”

He turned a corner and started away from the livestock cages. As he walked, he glanced around at the soldiers around him, his mind working furiously to find a solution. He had to get some kind of note to Emiaj, something to tell her who he really was. There had to be something he could say, a single word, or even two words, that could let her know he was her friend. After a moment, he grinned and took a turn, starting towards the maximum security cells.

After a few more twists and turns, he approached the brig, walking slowly and deliberately into the room. Emiaj hung in the center of the room, her arms held aloft by chains. Emiaj hung in her chains, her head lowered sadly as she took the calls and prods from the soldiers. She saw no way out of this. She was captured, her child was gone, and there seemed to be no way her friends could find her here. Any fight she’d had during the raid was completely gone. Xander stopped for a moment, averting his gaze. It was so hard to see his friend like this, even harder knowing that he couldn’t free her here and now. At the very least, he could show her she wasn’t alone.

There were several soldiers with them in the room, laughing and prodding at Emiaj with their spiked tails. As much as they wanted to, they couldn’t actually hurt her beyond their orders. She was Chrak’s prize, after all. He took a few steps forward and looked down at his friend, knowing she would see nothing more than another evil soldier. He leaned in close, grabbing her chin and turning her head so her ear was close to his mouth, angling his head so nobody could see, even the cameras. He whispered into her ear, making sure only she could hear.

“Listen to me very, very carefully. Liren, Ronir, Julne, the perfect ingredients for the perfect wine.”

He pulled back a little, searching her eyes for recognition. She looked up at him, her eyes bleary as she thought, trying to figure out what he meant. After a moment, her eyes widened a little as it occurred to her. There were few people who knew what she put in her wine, only two she’d told recently. Of the two, only one could be here. She kept silent, knowing better than to speak. But if Xander was here, and he knew who he was, then there was hope. They could escape.

Xander made an ever so slight nod as he stood. As Emiaj looked up at him, her expression turned to horror, the prisoner putting on an act for her captor. Xander chuckled and turned, walking out the door. He would find a way to get them out of there. He would find a way to talk to the Consortium. And if he had Emiaj beside him to agree that this was, indeed, Xander, then at the very least they wouldn’t be blown to stardust.

...

Aaron stood silently with the other officers as they watched recordings of the aftermath on the refugee planet. He closed his eyes and turned away. There were no bodies left behind, only ruined tents and blood, but Aaron could picture the battle vividly. Soldiers storming the area, the few Consortium soldiers firing wildly at the invaders, trying desperately to buy time for the others to escape, but to no avail.

He pushed the tent door open and walked out into the fresh air, leaning against a stone column, and taking several deep breaths. Emiaj was gone, his children were gone, his husband was gone. The Cogians had taken everything from him. He balled his hand into a fist, knocking it against the stone as he shook. He couldn’t allow the Cogians to use their stolen technology to claim the universe. If it was the last thing he did, he was going to see the entire Cogian species destroyed once and for all.

Standing, he turned and started back to his tent. He had been studying information brought in by scout ships and agents with cloaking technology. They had been working day and night to discover the central hub of Cogian activity, the one area where the leaders met to decide strategy and rule their empire. There were several reports of stations either on or orbiting planets around the galaxy, but many of them just seemed like overgrown outposts.

However, he had been reading reports of one base that had promise. It seemed to be their main base for research and development, currently devoted to researching White Space. From what they could gather, this was the place the raid had launched from. Naturally, Aaron had to assume that this was where the raiding parties would return to. As he looked through the reports, he paused, remembering something about this particular station. Scanning back through the reports, he read through a few pages, frowning a little. This was where Xander was taken and interrogated for weeks on end. And the name of the female who had captured Emiaj... her name seemed far too familiar.

As thoughts raced through his mind, he typed in a few searches, cross-referencing the name of the female with the names of the interrogators listed in the computers. It was one of few files they’d managed to steal from the Cogians, and one of the more important files for Aaron. As he read the names, he sat back in silent surprise. Chrak, the one who caught Emiaj, was the first to interrogate Xander. He sat forward, reading through the details, smiling a little as he pictured Xander trying to provoke the enemy. From the look of this report, it hadn’t been too hard to elicit a reaction from her. If Chrak was this unstable, then she could easily be the weakest link in the chain. As he started to work through it, he started to formulate a plan.

He brought up a writing program, his hands flying furiously over the virtual keys, writing out his plan. The Gorix, a race of creatures who possessed highly advanced chameleon abilities, were perfect for this mission. They could easily mimic materials of all colors and textures, and they could stick to any surface they wanted, with their hands, their feet, even their abdomens if they chose. If they could find a way to sneak aboard Cogian vessels, return to the research station, and find out just what made this Chrak tick, then they could start to find a way to manipulate her.

Once finished, he sent the plan to his superiors for evaluation. Normally he would implement any plans he came up with immediately and notify them later, but this was an incredibly risky plan that could endanger the lives of creatures important to the army. Once sent, it was only a matter of waiting.

Closing his eyes, he sat back, ran his hand through his short cropped hair, and looked up, staring out the door to his tent. Standing, he walked to the entrance, and leaned against the pole in the doorway, staring pensively out at the hustle and bustle of the camp. The camp was filled with creatures of all shapes, sizes, colors, and languages. And yet they all understood each other perfectly. It was as close to a perfect community as ordinary creatures could get.

But there was a blemish in the middle of it all. Three of them to be exact. The Cogian prisoners sat silently in their cages in the middle of the camp, all glaring out at their captors with a hatred that would vaporize if given the power to do so. He noticed one thing in particular that held little surprise at all. Every Yevien that passed through the area never went within ten yards of the cages.

The first day after capturing the Cogian soldiers, they had tried standard interrogation protocols, which dictated that a Yevien be present to calm the subject and make them more susceptible to questioning. The first Yevien was the most practiced in this technique, having calmed even the most malicious creatures in the Milky Way to the point that they were almost childlike in their behavior.

Unfortunately, the Cogians turned out to be much stronger than anything ever encountered before. Even the oldest, wisest, most practiced Yevien in the camp was nearly knocked unconscious by the pure hatred and desire to kill or conquer those who were deemed impure. Every Yevien who tried gave the same description of the experience. They all said it was like looking into the mind of the most evil god they knew of, had they gone deeper than just the surface, they were certain they would have never come out.

Aaron turned a little as he heard a chime on his computer, walking over, he tapped the screen, reading the message. Not only had his plan been approved, but there were already a handful of volunteers, each of them holding the highest ranks and ratings available in the camp. Leaning over, he sent a simple message to two of the volunteers. He knew they had been briefed, they only needed one word. ‘Deploy’.

Instantly even more voices were added to those coursing through the channels on the Bud system, the Gorix he’d chosen making their arrangements, coordinating with the people that were needed to get them to the research station. The rest was up to them.

A small knock on the tent pole caught his attention and he turned to see a Danoo standing before him with a portable computer in its hand. He nodded and gestured for it to come in. The Danoo stepped forward and saluted him before speaking.

“Aaron-human Sir, we think we’ve made a breakthrough with the Cogians. This could lead to a way to bring them back to the way they were.”

Aaron blinked in surprise, but stepped forward, taking the computer offered to him. He ran his hand over the screen, scrolling through the information as the Danoo explained it to him, speaking slowly and precisely the way the Danoo did when they knew they needed as many words as possible to convey important information. It was difficult for them to speak so eloquently, so few ever even tried.

“This is a kind of genetic engineering, but it’s nothing we’ve ever seen before. However, we studied the physiology of their cells as well as the stolen recordings of transformations as they happened. This formula the Cogians have developed appears to behave in essence like a Retro-Virus. Like a Retro-Virus, it carries the genetic information into the body and begins the change. The only difference we can determine between this and any other Retro-Viruses we’ve encountered before is that they have found a way to pack enough information into it to rewrite the subject into an entirely different species, no matter what the subject started out as. If we continue to research along this line, we think we can come up with a viable cure that could possibly revert the subject to their original species.”

Aaron listened carefully, scanning through the data. The solution was elegant in its simplicity. Scientists had been tinkering with Retro-Viruses for centuries, and while they had found ways to repair significant damages and disorders in creatures of all races, nobody had been able to completely break the species barrier. It seemed the one who created the Cogians and the Gyirks managed to perfect this science. As he finished reading, he looked at the Danoo over the screen.

"Ok, that explains the body. What about the mind? How do they produce such perfect soldiers?"

The Danoo chirruped a little as it tapped an icon on the screen, progressing to the next section.

"We have found varying traces of nanotechnology in the brain matter of those we've autopsied. It varies from subject to subject, so we think the more there is in the brain, the more recent the transformation. It seems the nanites... for lack of a better word, reprogram the brain. Replacing the original knowledge and memories with what the Cogians want."

Aaron absorbed this information, pacing a little as he thought. He turned to the Danoo.

“If these nanites reprogram the brain... there has to be a way to reverse it. Even if we can't reverse the physical change. Alright. Tell me what you need. Anything that would help progress your research.”

The Danoo shifted nervously, a sign that he knew his request was going to be difficult, if not impossible, to carry out. Its speech reverted instantly to its usual pattern of speech, showing just how nervous it was.

“Vijus and team need larger samples of Cogian retro-virus and fresh nanites. Vijus knows it is large risk to gather samples, but Vijus and team need much more. If not, will be long time before Vijus and team can create Antidote.”

Aaron nodded silently, completely understanding now why Vijus would come to him with this report. They needed more help from the spies, if not the Gorix that were being deployed. He stood, pacing a little as he scanned through the report again, weighing their options. If larger amounts of nanites and the virus went missing all at once, the Cogians would suspect something. But if their operatives could spread out farther and take more samples from each storage unit in each laboratory across the galaxy, that could just be enough. He turned to Vijus, who was hopping from foot to foot with nervous energy.

“Alright, Vijus, we’ll get you your samples. It’ll take a while, but we can get however much you need, just let me know and I’ll pass it on.”

The Danoo nodded emphatically, almost hopping with excitement at the prospect of getting that much more of the formula. Aaron nodded, walking to his console.

“Inform your team that your request has been granted. I’ll update everyone as soon as you send me the numbers.”

Vijus squeaked a little, nodding, then ran out the door, anxious to relay the information to its team.