The foretelling

As soon as the tea filled the porcelain cup the butler set the pot down on the silver tray. Picking up the saucer and walking the cup to the back of an oversized chair. “Your afternoon tea, sir” the butler spoke as he approached the chair.

“James, I told you not to stay.” The chair spun around to reveal a burly middle aged man. “You know he is expected to come today.”

“One man cannot get past all the guards I have setup here. This mansion is a virtual fortress.”

“Damnit! I sent everyone home!” The chair went crashing into the wall as the man leapt from it slamming his hands into the desk. James had remained calm not spilling a drop of tea while his employer continued ranting and pacing back and forth from behind his desk. “They’re all dead. We’re dead. Why didn’t anyone listen to me?”

“Please”, James pleaded, then clearing his throat. “Sir, if he were to even approach this place there would be some warning; at least from the gunfire, even if he could get through the 40 guards there would be no way he could reach you before you had time to leave. You must relax”. Extending his hand to offer the tea, once again.

“James, you don’t understand. Keeping everyone here will just get them killed. I wish you would have followed my orders.”

Feeling rejected James withdrew the tea and walked back over to the tray to set the cup down. “Sir, if he was coming he should have been here by now. No alarms have sounded, there has been no gunfire. No one is dead.”

As James was finishing his sentence, a figure emerged from the shadows in the corner of the room. “Well, no one in this room is dead. I cannot say the same for everyone else. I foretold of my coming and I am never late.” Turning to James the stranger added, “James, you should have listened to Basil Vidales, that is still the name you are going by now isn’t it?”

Basil nodded the affirmative, “Look, James shouldn’t be here.  He doesn’t have to die.”  Suddenly, Basil’s face paled and mouth hung upon he began to shake as he looked toward James.  James was pointing a very long bent, and somewhat twisted looking finger into the side of the stranger’s neck.  

“Oh, Basil you managed to hire a Sewon.  I’m quite surprised.  The look on your face is equally surprising.  I suspect you didn’t know what you had in your butler and still don’t fully grasp it.”

“The name is Nerírtr, not James.” Agitated, Nerírtr’s tone grows stern as he asks, “If you know I am Sewon, then you should also know that by putting my grýkn in your neck it is pumping poison into your blood stream.  Why are you so calm?”

The stranger grinned and looked toward Basil who was still frozen behind his desk.  “I am a Nyght.” Before the stranger could say another word Nerírtr quickly removed the grýkn.  The grýkn was severed in half before Nerírtr could pull it back to his side.  Basil fell forward, his head slamming into the desk and the weight of his dead body rolling him off to the floor.

Nerírtr went sailing against the far wall where he lay slumped against the corner.  The stranger walked over to Nerírtr.  “Yes, a Nyght.  I am immune to your poison.” Looking down at Nerírtr he almost looked pathetic.  Shivering, tears streaming down his cheeks, half his grýkn ripped off.  Scared. Humiliated.  Yes, humiliated indeed.  “You Sewonians have far too much pride in your grýkn.  I think I just might let you live.” Sneered the Nyght.  “If you remain here too long, the local authorities will catch you and assume you did all this because you are alien.  Earth people tend to fear what they don’t know and jump to conclusions to justify the ill they deliver to what it is they fear.  However if you do get out and make it home, you’ll be a disgrace and laughed at the rest of your life. Maybe you can set an example for the rest of your kind to not mess in affairs they don’t understand.”  

As sirens filled the air the Nyght rendered Nerírtr unconscious.  "Good luck" the Nyght proffered, "you're gonna need it."

The door swings open and four men come rushing into the room to see a lifeless body behind a desk.  Each man bore their own grýkn.  Ornately decorated with jewelry and some much more so than others.  When they spot Nerírtr they rush to his side.

Three of the men wore purple clothing with yellow bands that weaved in such a way that they shimmered in and out of view with movement.  Decorated with various emblems signifying past battles.  Each bearing a set of rings on their grýkn that signified rank.  One Sewon bore a ring of three intertwining vines.  Three to signify his medical expertise.  He was the first to kneel over Nerírtr and was examining him when a Sewon, not wearing the distinctive military dress, drew a pistol and aimed it straight at Nerírtr.

“Aeto, if you fire that weapon, I will have you branded as a traitor.  I am still in charge of this campaign you are only here because your wife, who sits with the alliance, wants someone to try and find fault so she can remove our funding.”
The medic interrupting the feud, “He’s alive! We need to get him to the shuttle in order to proceed.”  The two remaining Sewon stooped down to help the medic pick up Nerírtr.

Aeto turned to the woman who spoke, “What Ani? Are you crazy! That thing is despicable!” with a slight gag Aeto continued, “Are you so blind to have not noticed the grýkn is torn.  He’ll be laughed at and scorned.  Forced to live in seclusion.  It would be a justice to end his life.  How can you justify this cruelty Ani?  This is why my wife wants an observer in your midst.”

Ani snapped her heels together with such force it startled Aeto.  “That’s right.” Ani forced a fake smile. “An observer.  An observer is someone who watches and reports.  Not someone who takes action.”

As the soldiers began to move out with Nerírtr, Ani followed and Aeto quickly gathered himself and began to follow; grabbing Ani by the arm and pulling her back through gritted teeth he breathed, “This isn’t over.”

Ani glanced down and then back up to Aeto who didn’t get the message the first time so she repeated her glance down and Aeto followed her gaze to the blade in her hand aimed at his groin.  “Next time you grab a soldier by the arm from behind, don’t be surprised if you find yourself dead.  You have no idea what is going on here and you just barge in assuming this was a failure. Not sorry to disappoint you.  The fact is Nerírtr may be a hero. Since your son loves to worship the heroes, I hope he doesn’t decide to have his grýkn amputated in Nerírtr’s honor.”

Aeto’s mouth fell open, “A hero? How? His grýkn didn’t even work! You owe me an explanation!”

Ani sheethed her knife and walked over to Basil, setting his lifeless body on fire.  “Wouldn’t want the humans to know there were aliens here.  That would be a mistake. I suggest you accompany us to the shuttle where I’ll tell you what I can of this mission.  Not because I owe you but because I am going to enjoy watching you squirm with worry that Nerírtr’s act of heroism just might cause your foolish son to harm his grýkn.”  

A loud squeal filled the air followed by, “This is the police, come out with your hands up!”

“I plan to port over to the shuttle, I’d suggest you hurry through the aureola before it collapses and you are discovered by the humans.”

Aeto took off on a dead run to the back of the house trying to reach the aureola, which was a radiance of luminous cloud that only a Sewon can perceive.  To anyone else, whoever is in the aurela is not only invisible but unreachable.

Ani laughed as the man ran off, the yellow shimmer in her coat gradually widening and swirling around until the purple was nearly gone except on the very fringes of the garment and in a quick flash Ani ported from the room to the shuttle.  “Get ready team, Aeto should be here soon.  Just for fun, collapse the aureola as he nears the end to make him think he barely got here on time.”

Laughing the crew nodded and made the request happen.   Aeto, just in the shuttle gasping for breath as the door closed behind him.

“Come on Aeto, let’s have a little chat and let you in on the details of our mission.  I so want you to tell your wife how the alliance’s money is being well spent.  Of course, you could try to keep it a secret for the sake of your son, but eventually it’ll come out and that’d just cause greater risks to your family.”

“Sir, I don’t think that’s necessary... I… Yes sir, I will do so right away so I can finish my report with you.” Nateph snapped the communicator off and then slammed his fist on the console. “Of all the ridiculous things”, Nateph mumbled to himself.

Nateph stood up and walked past a small window that glimpsed stars flying past as his ship was heading far away from Earth. Nateph stopped at a cylinder tube and he glanced it up and down as he shook his head and stepped inside. Pressing a couple buttons Nateph shut his eyes as the cylinder closed and for a brief moment the tube flashed a bright white light.

“Dr. Ahte, here. To whom do I have the pleasure of treating today?”

“Nateph, 7th rank Nyght and you are not treating me. My commander requested I have my mission checkup before debriefing him on the mission.” Nateph could barely catch glimpses of the Dr. Ahte from inside the tube the holographic image she portrayed flickered and was out of view too much for Nateph to comfortably communicate with since he couldn’t make any eye contact. He felt these exams were too impersonal.

“What was your mission, Nateph?” Dr. Ahte asked as she tried to examine the holographic image his med-tube provided to her.  She could only see a holographic image of the Nyght and he was still fully clothed and as such couldn’t determine if he had any medical concerns.

“That’s not your business. You just need to tell me I look good and I can go back to my job”, Nateph was clearly agitated. Nateph’s knee wobbled and he fell against the side of the tube, “Hey, what the heck was that?”

“I was just testing your knee reflexes.” Nateph interrupted the doctor, “They work fine. How about a warning next time so I don’t bang my head against this ridiculous med-tube?”

“I will be happy to warn you about my proceedings, as long as you quit being arrogant and presume that you can tell me what to do.” Nateph started to speak but Dr. Ahte talked over him, “Now, did you have any kind of interactions on your mission that would have sustained any harm, even a minor scratch?”

“No, nothing.” After a short pause Nateph added, “Needless people died. None of them even knew it was coming. Just the target. He died without touching me as well. There was even a Sewon who thought he could prick me with his grýkn. That would have been the only thing.”

“Show me the place this Sewon touched you.”

“It’s not important, a Nyght is immune to their poison.”

“Show me”, Ahte retorted.

Nateph turned his head to expose the side of his neck which had a swelling lump where the Sewon pricked him.

Ahte, then enquired “If you are immune to their poison, why is there a swollen lump on the side of your neck?”

Nateph’s hand quickly went up to his neck and felt the lump. “I don’t understand”, he exclaimed.

“Well, Nateph, 7th rank Nyght, I think you should come in for a personal visit. Sooner, for your sake.”

“Yeah, I’ll come straight away doctor.”, concern dripping from the Nyght’s voice.

Nateph faded from Dr. Ahte’s view as he stepped out of the med-tube. While she quickly made some notes in Nateph’s chart she also growled out some commands to her assistant to prepare for Nateph’s arrival.

The disgraced warrior lay vertically in a healing chamber located in the medical ward of the Sewon battleship Avernyon going through the disastrous events that unfolded mere hours earlier. Nerirtr had successfully completed a number of infiltration missions across a dozen worlds, had extricated himself from a handful of situations where death seemed imminent; this unparalleled failure gnawed deep.
The loss of the humans guarding the late Basil Vidales was expected due to the Nyght’s superior methods of stealth and brute force, but Vidales’ death severed a key alliance between the Sewons’ and an influential Terran faction.
Beyond this however, beyond the failure to preserve a flow of human wealth and fodder to dwindle the hated Nyght forces was the mutilation of his grykn. The dread and horror which flowed through the proud Nerirtr’s body as his precious weapon was severed so brutally hit him like a shockwave whose reverberations were still being felt.
“Why didn’t it work, why wasn’t the Nyght not at least incapacitated?” he said to no one in particular.
As he began his lament the door to the main corridor slid open; Ati walked past a group of medics to stand behind Neriritr’s chamber, “Hello my old friend,” said the concerned Sewon, eyeing the apparatus holding the grykn straight out from his body, “How are you feeling?”
The disgraced warrior grimaced, “Surgeon Welliah hasn’t updated me, but I don’t feel too confident.”
Ati placed her three fingered hand on his shoulder, careful to keep her own grykn sheathed. “Regardless of the diagnosis, you should be proud of what you accomplished on Sol-Three.”
“Proud?” snarled Neriritr,”I’ve lost everything!” He closed his eyes. “Please, just go.”
“Neriritr, look at me,” she said as gently as she could, “All is going according to plan.”
“I don’t understand” he said tiredly.
“Did you break the Nyght’s skin?”
His tone was defensive, “Yes, of course. I may not have engaged with more than a handful of the devils, but I know where to strike for maximum damage.”
Ati smiled,”Let me tell you about the Deneb Protocol.
Neriritr waved her away with his good hand,”Is this a joke? The Protocol is just a farce! Some “super-weapon” designed to give us the upper hand against the Nyght. We all know the Alliance makes promises they can’t keep.”
“You’re wrong my friend,” she said with confidence, “What if I were to tell you the mission you were on was a ruse to strike a decisive blow against the enemy?”
“What in the Seven Galaxies do you mean?” he blurted out.
“Five years ago the Alliance’s top techno-sci’s were alarmed to find certain high-ranking Nyght’s were suddenly immune to our poison.” She sat down on a chair to his left. “This revelation was kept from our peoples as not to lower morale - the panic would have been catastrophic.”
“Wait, you’re saying the one edge we had against them is null?” Neriritr asked incredulously. “We’re doomed...”
“That’s what the Conclave thought at first too, however the Techno-Scis’ captured one of these immune Nyghts and studied every aspect of her. Somehow the Nyghts altered these soldiers to reject our grykn.” She rocked forward putting her hands on his upper arms,”With funding from the Alliance however, we found a way to counteract these alterations!” her eyes gleamed,”Not only that, but our solution had an unintended effect... I’m getting carried away. Too many eyes and ears around.” Ati leaned in close to her companion, “When you’re out of this contraption I’ll send you the files that detail the Deneb Protocol in full.”
Neriritr looked at her in horror,”That’s breaching several official laws. Both of us will be killed!”
Ati studied him with amusement.
“I am protected by various members of the Alliance due to my family’s influence and financial backing. True, even I have my limits, yet for a hero such as yourself I think exceptions should be made.”
“A hero? No.” He shook his head,”What are you holding from me? How am I involved?” he asked, morbid curiosity getting the best of him.
“Certain *changes* were made to your genes, allowing the solution to be bonded to your poison sacs,” there was a triumphant note in her voice.
Neriritr stiffened in the chamber,”Changes? How...”
“We discretely added the genes during your last checkup.”
“Without my knowledge? This can’t be happening.” He was aghast.
“Relax, there was no chance of harm to your system, and the surgeons knew if they asked you, you would have said no.” She laughed.
“I can’t be the only one then.”
“No, by now there are dozens spread throughout the Sol system, but you’re the *first* to make direct contact with an immune Nyght! I’d love to see the look on their faces when they realize what we’ve done.”
“Yet at what cost?” He could barely hold back his tears,”The meaning of my existence has been ripped from me; what will I do now? How many will shun me as a Lesser, want me to be exiled or executed?”
Ati’s exuberance wavered as she thought of Aeto and others like him who would gladly debase the maimed Sewon, or kill him with their bare hands. “I won’t lie to you: with your battle against the Nyght making its way around the ship, there are plenty of your peers who feel pity for your condition and wish to send you off into oblivion.”
“With Aeto leading the charge no doubt.”
“You let me worry about him. He’ll do you no harm - I promise.”
Neriritr was struck by a thought: “Why can’t we just tell the crew of this breakthrough? Keep them from seeing me as a wretch to be snuffed out? Then at least I’d be able to go through the wreckage of my life with at least a drop of pride.”
The female warrior sighed, “Not all Sewons are honorable and become spies for the enemy. Some succumb to greed, or are lured by the Nyght hierarchy with promises of power.” She stood up. “We want the element of surprise to remain intact until we can infect multiple Nyght at once.”
“I see...”
The two of them were quiet for long moments while the surgical staff made their rounds.
Finally Ati spoke, “Once you get the Protocol files you’ll understand just how important you’re mission was. If I get my way with the Alliance, you’ll be remembered for generations as the ultimate Sewon hero,” she added emphasis to the word ,”whose sacrifice was the catalyst for dominion over the Nyght and paving the way to the resources of the human planet.”
With this triumphant declaration, Ani gave Neriritr another consoling pat and left as the Surgeon came to update the Sewon on his status...

As the highly-respected Sewon finished her conversation with the patient, a medic pretending to be about his duties wrote notes quickly upon his holopad. He couldn’t believe the mighty Ati could stand to be alone with the Lesser much less have a conversation with it. Still, by eavesdropping he was sure Aeto would be very interested in learning about her revelations and how to use them for his gain...

Nateph’s tiny fighter ship slowly drifted into Siphres’ bay.  Siphres was one of the Nyght’s bases.  It functioned much like any other docking satellite except the Siphres, as with all the Nyght’s bases, could travel like a ship as well.  The location of the Nyght’s bases were always moving and always kept secret.  Ahte, worked on the Siphres.
Before exiting his ship, Nateph grabbed a large rag made of a soft material from Earth and laid it across his neck to help hide the large swelling spot that now has tendrils of blue and purple expanding outward. Once confident it was hidden from casual view Nateph exited his ship and headed for the nearest lift for the medical level, making sure to keep his neck under cover with everyone he passed along the way.
Nateph felt ashamed that he was struck like this it is unbecoming of a Nyght. He was furious with himself and with the Sewon. Why did he let the Sewon live? Why did he choose such an act when he could have killed him before he even knew he was in the room?  The events of that scene racked Nateph’s brain over and over and was filled with should haves and could haves but none of those came to existence.  This was his existence now, that of a failure.
As Nateph walked out of the lift onto the medical floor he found a young assistant calling out his name and approaching him. “Nateph, you are expected, follow me to Ahte.  Arrangements have already been made.” Nateph new the routine.  Nyght’s seldom had a reason to be on the medical floor and the medical staff preferred them to come and go as quickly as they could. Nyght’s instilled a terror that Nateph never fully understood. A Nyght is not just a fighter, right? He wanted to reach out to the assistant ask her name, create small talk, just anything to make him not always the warrior.
Corner after corner though he never spoke up until they began to approach Ahte and any thought of not being a warrior left Nateph’s mind. His posture snapped straight and his pace quickened as he made his way toward Ahte and the man standing at her side. They had their back toward Nateph and they were looking over some consoles. “Sir!”, Nateph spoke sharply. “What are you doing here?”
Nateph’s commander turned in unison with Ahte to see Nateph approach. Ahte attempted to greet Nateph but he ignored her as if she wasn’t there and began to address the commander once again, “Medical checkups are private affairs.”
The commander, displeased with Nateph’s behavior and managed to keep calm in his reply despite the slight over emphasis with each of his words, “Medical checkups are a routine that you choose to ignore, Nateph. Further, coming to the station for an emergency checkup is not routine. When that happens, a commander is required to attend to await the evaluation. You are genetically altered to be a warrior but you are not immune to everything. It is imperative we find out what is going on with you before you are relieved from medical confinement.”
Ahte motioned to her assistant Yalna, who held up a medical bracelet.  Nateph stared at it for a long while.  The medical bracelet went around an ankle and was a security lock that would cause a lot of pain should one leave the medical floor. It was, of course, possible for a Nyght to endure it and leave but it would hurt every second the Nyght was way and constantly send out an alarm and a tracking signal making it difficult for the Nyght to do any other duties. It would of course run out of power but a Nyght’s lifetime was shorter than the power supply on the bracelet.
Nateph snapped it out of Ahte’s hands then looking at his commander, “Commander Vuril, I need to brief you on the status of Earth.”
“Put the bracelet on the medical room where you will be staying for a while is secure for such discussions.”, Vuril replied. Squatting down Nateph put the bracelet on his ankle and once it clicked Vuril added, “Until Ahte tells me that you and her can get along without attitude you won’t be leaving the medical floor. It is important that you realize you are not a machine and that you need to follow all protocols.”
Ahte showed Vuril and Nateph to the room where Nateph would be staying. As Nateph entered the room he thought of it more like a prison cell and he just wanted to get back to his job. Maybe he really was just a warrior after all.
Ahte motioned for him to lay on the bed, “before you begin your talk, let me do a short medical check on what is happening to your neck and then you can talk while I start running an analysis through the systems.”
Nateph had already relinquished knowing cooperation would just get him out of this for a long time. Ahte started to examine him and jumped back at the feel of the rag around Nateph’s neck and then carefully felt it with her fingers. “The humans call it, silk.” Nateph said as he pulled it off his neck. Ahte was astonished at the feel and after examining the silk rag for a few moments realized her place and stuck the rag in her pocket and began her analysis on the wound on Nateph’s neck. The wound was swollen to the thickness of a finger and the veins around it were tinted a greenish shade while the skin was tinted a darker red than normal.  After running some preliminary scans and making notations about her visual discoveries she excused herself.
Nateph wasted no time in giving his report to Vuril.  “A Sewon was there and he left me this souvenir”, Nateph said while pointing to the swelling mark on his neck. “More importantly, Basil did not know a Sewon was present on his staff.  The Sewon was there of his own accord and kept himself hidden from Basil by working as a servant.”
Vuril began pacing the room, “This just does not add up.  Why would a Sewon subjugate himself. They have too much pride for such behavior. What was the Sewon after?”
“I am not sure. I didn’t want to risk staying longer any longer. Basil had found a colony of a few thousand Ayocuey hiding out on earth and managed to imprison them into forced labor. A few Ayocuey had escaped and were discovered by humans to be alien. It was how I was able to track Basil down. The whole thing was a mess to clean up and by the time I got to Basil’s the local authorities were also on their way. Until I can return to Earth, I will not have the answers you seek.”
Yalna opened the door to hear Nateph finish saying, “I did find the Ayocuey a safe place to live before reporting to you.”
“Sorry for interrupting”, Yalna said before continuing, “Ahte wants to speak to you commander.”
The commander left, but Yalna remained. “This is yours”, she said holding up the silk rag to hand it to Nateph. Nateph took it from her fingers and noticed her gaze was toward the floor despite her timidity she continued her talk, “it is most unusual and soft. Is it costly?”
Nateph couldn’t help but admire this woman who was braver than he was when moments ago he didn’t have the courage to speak to her. “It is from Earth”, Nateph answered her and then he reached it back out to her, “You may keep it if you like.”
For the first time she looked him in the eyes and while her face didn’t change there was a smile in her eyes as she timidly took the rag from Nateph and then abruptly pulled up a chair and sat at his bedside. “I am assigned to you. I hope you do not mind. I volunteered myself. I thought you needed someone to be by your side.” Yalna just crumpled the rag in her hands wondering why she just told him these things.