Project Faith

Faith was experiencing dizziness, abdominal pains were getting worse as well as her headaches. Her symptoms weren’t painful just uncomfortable, she hated this feeling, but she wasn’t ill or sick.

“You really don’t like flying?” Lydia asked as she approached the planet Liber.

Faith had a death grip on her armrest. “I haven’t done much flying.”

“Don’t worry. After we enter the atmosphere, it will be a smoother ride.” Lydia’s hand quickly covered her mouth so Faith wouldn’t see the smirk on her face.

“Really?” Faith’s breathing became steady and slowed. Her body sagged into the chair. Her grip eased off the armrest.

“No, it gets worse.” Lydia looked and Faith and started to laugh. Then she flashed Faith a pretty smile.

Faith’s body immediately tensed back up. “If I wasn’t petrified with fear,” she said. “I would get out of this chair and snap your neck like a twig.” Faith smiled and winked, letting Lydia know the threat wasn’t serious.

Lydia was a skilled pilot, maybe one of the best. Her father, Captain Ridley Carson, taught her everything she needed to know about flying. She flew small crafts like shuttles and fighters but could handle the bigger craft as well. They were flying in a stealth shuttle. These shuttles were usually used in espionage missions. They were lightly armored and had minimum firepower, but they a fast and maneuverable, designed to get in and out quickly and undetected.

Lydia preferred to stay on the Hannibal, then going on missions. She was more of a scientist than a soldier. Lydia studied at some of Earth finest universities and earned several doctorates in diverse fields from psychology, mathematics and computer science. A gifted code-cracker and hacker, there were no computer or security system she couldn’t break. At the young age of twenty, SINDRI recruited her. She informed her father that she wasn’t joining Star Force. He wasn’t happy about her decision and it was a source of conflict for years. Her father wanted her to follow his footsteps, but she wasn’t a follower, she had to create her own path. Her father thought Lydia joined a research firm called Wyner Corporation, which was her cover story. Wyner Corporation existed only on paper. It was one of many corporations that SINDRI created. Lydia had made great strides in SINDRI. In ten years, she rose to the rank of second in command. Being thirty, she was the youngest to hold that rank.

As Lydia promised, the ride got bumpier as they entered the atmosphere. The stealth technology and the skills of its pilot kept the ship from being detected by any planetary scans. Liber was an Earth-like planet with an atmosphere that wasn’t breathable to humans. Sixty percent of the planet’s landmass was jungle terrain. The planet had millions of native species. Only one was known to be intelligent and hostile, Khrelari, a race of living plants. They considered humanity to be an inferior form of life. Luckily for Faith and Alessio, there were no Khrelari structures around his compound. The plant creature usually lived on the far north end of the continent.

Lydia landed about three kilometers from Alessio’s base. She gave Faith a quick mission briefing and some gear. The body armor was made from a ballistic fabric. It provided protection from small to medium firearms. It was black in color and fit tightly against the warrior body. It was flexible and sturdy, but Faith should still avoid getting hit. It also had a bodycam, so Amulius and the others could view Faith’s work. Her helmet would provide life-support when she was on the surface. It would also allow Faith to communicate with Lydia. Faith was also given a carpus, a multipurpose diagnostic tool worn on the wrist. It assisted the user with decryption, hacking and surveillance. Lydia would also hack the compound computers as a backup. As Amulius requested, Faith wasn’t given any weapons. Faith entered the loading bay of the shuttle, which sealed from the cockpit. The doors opened and Faith was on her way.

Faith moved through the mist of the jungle. The leaves and branches of the tree whipped at her armor as she ran by. She avoided several small disc-like sensors on the ground by jumping and flipping with the strength, speed, and skills that the top gymnasts could only fantasize about. Faith was always a fast runner, but with AMPED, she could run as fast as seventy-eight kilometers per hour.

“You have to enter the base through the loading dock,” Lydia’s voice rang in Faith’s ear. “It on the far west side of the base.”

“Acknowledge,” Faith responded. She speeded around the trees, making her way to the far west side of the base. When she got there, she noticed the loading dock doors were ajar. “The door is open. Is that normal?”

“Not sure,” Lydia answered. “I’m not aware of Alessio’s protocol, so process with caution.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Faith said. She entered the docking bay. There were no ships or packages in the room, just a podium in the center of the room and a door on the other side.

“You must close the dock doors and pressurized the room,” Lydia said. “There should be a control nearby.”

Faith located the control panel which was on the podium. “Found it.”

“Don’t do anything yet,” Lydia ordered. “You might set off an alarm. Let me see what I can do.” This was the area the Lydia excelled. Her fingers moved with the speed and the efficiency of a concert pianist. She was able to disable the alarm system and the security cameras of the base. “You are clear.”

“Why don’t you close the docking doors and pressurized the room,” Faith joked.

“This is your test,” Lydia said, “not mine. I’m activating your bodycam.” With the cam on, Lydia could better assist Faith.

Faith was able to close the door with no problem. The room sealed and pressurized. “I guess it is time to kick some ass.” Even though Faith never met the man, she already had a hatred for him. Sex slaves were a big underworld business in Drillis’s society. The male Drilli always had a strange obsession with human females. No one understood the reason, but they did. Faith despised the practice. Alessio, who was human, sold out his own people. She would have no problem killing him.

“Be careful.”

“Sounds like you care.” Faith blushed as Lydia expressed some concern.

“On with the mission.” Lydia tried to keep Faith focus on the task at hand.

Faith walked to the door. It opened and there were two guards on each side. She kicked one of the guards in the knee breaking his leg and forearmed the other in his neck crushing his throat and killing him. She grabbed the other guard’s head before he had a chance to hit the floor. With a fast and strong twist, snapped his neck.

Two down and hundred and ninety-eight to go, Faith thought. She went room to room. Most of the staff at the base weren’t armed and made quick work of them, a single strike to vital pressure points or a fast neck break. One room and there were four armed guards. They noticed her and opened fire. Dodging their attacks with the flexibility and the quickness they never have seen before. Faith ran toward the guards, jumped and somersaulted in the air landing knees first on one of the guards’ shoulders. With a strong and quick twist of her legs, she snapped his neck. She jumped off his dead body and performed a flying roundhouse kick hitting the soldier next to him. The hit was so hard that it killed him. She high kicked the other one in the face. The kick jammed part of his skull into his brain. She grabbed the last guard by the throat and ripped out his larynx, making the room rain with blood, took great joy and pleasure in killing armed guards. Her body count was adding up, but she still had a lot of work to do.

Lydia impressed with Faith’s skills. Faith tallied ninety kills since entering the base five minutes ago. Then Lydia got a call from Captain Jackson the comm.

“We are watching the video,” the captain said. “She is making a bloody mess. That is the type of message we wanted to send.”

“Thank you, Captain?” Lydia replied.

“It looks too easy for her. Make it interesting.”

“How?”

“You have access to their security system?”

“Yes,” a confused Lydia answered.

“Trip the alarm,” the captain ordered. “I want the whole base to go after her.”

“That’s crazy! Why would I do anything that stupid? I’m not one of your lackeys. I don’t have to take orders from you.”

“But you do from me, Lydia,” Amulius interrupted. “Do as the captain said, trip the alarm.”

“Yes, sir,” Lydia said with some reservation. She wasn’t happy about the decision but she had her orders. Sometimes she hated the way Amulius treated people like projects and test subjects. But Lydia did the same thing at times. It was a quality that she didn’t like about herself. Aware of this shortcoming, but made no effort to change it. She did as he ordered and tripped the alarm.

Faith heard the alarm ringing throughout the base. “What the hell is going on, Lydia?”

“You probably tripped the alarm.” Lydia’s tone was no panic in her voice.

“You told me you turn them off!” Faith got irritated with Lydia’s calm demeanor

“Nobody’s perfect. Stick to the plan.” Lydia blew off Faith’s concerns.

Faith fists clenched and her jaw tighten. “Yes, ma’am.” She continued her sweep of the base.

A voice was heard throughout the base. “Initiate Golden Slumber.” Faith didn’t know what that was, but it couldn’t be good.

“What’s Golden Slumber?” Faith asked.

“Don’t know,” Lydia answered. “But it can’t be good. Do what you need to do to survive.”

The remaining guards rushed into the hallway looking to see what was happening. The guards broke into several squads to cover more area, which was better for Faith. She slowed down her pace, so she could keep better tabs on them. She didn’t want to get into a situation that she might get flank by two groups. She targeted one squad at a time. Her tactics changed, instead of attacking with speed and raw power, she used stealth techniques. Hiding in the shadows, which made her more dangerous because they never saw what hit them. Picking off guards one by one leaving dead bodies in her wake. Somethings she showed mercy, by performing a fast neck break, other times harsh brutality by kicking in their skulls. In a few minutes, the guards noticed their numbers shrunk from over a hundred to a mere five.

The last squad found the dead bodies of their comrades with broken limbs and necks and crushed skulls. They thought a Drillus got into the base. The Drilli were known for their brutality. The squad had trouble holding on to their guns. Everything that moved or made a sound, scared them. They searched room by room. So far, there were no signs of life, just death. Blood stains were all over the walls. They walked up the stairs to the second floor. Bodies filled the stairway. The team had to be careful; not to slip on the blood dripping off the stairs. The squad entered the room and saw one of the staff members leaning on the computer terminal. They called out to him, but he didn’t answer. Then his body fell dead to the ground.

“It’s a trap!” one of the guards yelled.

Faith jumped from the ceiling and landed in front of the squad. She side kicked one of them in the chest sending him back crashing into the wall, leg swept another one sending him head first to the floor, grabbed another guard arm and dislocated his shoulder. Then threw him into another guard knocking both of them out. Moving so fast that the last guard couldn’t keep tabs on her. He attempted to block her roundhouse kick with his rifle but wasn’t fast enough. The kick hit him right on the side of his ribs, cracking several of them. He fell down to the floor. She grabbed him by the neck and slammed his back to the wall and asked him one question.

“How do you want to die?”

The guard cried and couldn’t get the words out. He stared at Faith. The blood of his slaughtered colleagues covered her suit and helmet.

Faith grabbed his face and bashed the back of his head against the wall. Pounding it until his skull cracked open. Faith showed them no mercy as she walked up to the guards that were unconscious and stomped on their heads. Blood flew as high as the ceiling. There was nothing left of their head except smashed in faces.

“That’s all of them.” A satisfied smile came across Faith’s face. Her work wasn’t pretty, but she was the best at what she did.

Lydia sat speechless, she didn’t expect this type of brutality. She collected her thoughts and opened a line to Faith. “You need to find Alessio.”

“No problem,” Faith answered. “He’s next on my list.” She ran through the base looking for the man. After several minutes, she came along a locked door. “Lydia, can you unlock it?” Faith focused her bodycam on the locking panel.

“It’s a manual lock,” Lydia said, “and it’s not on the network. Open it the old fashion way.”

Faith smiled and elbowed the panel breaking it open. She placed her hands on the door and forced it open, a strong smell of musk exited the room.

“This must be the slave’s quarters,” Faith murmured.

“I know what you are thinking, Faith,” Lydia said. “We don’t have time for a rescue mission.”

“We can contact Star Force to pick them up.”

“Fine, but we got to get Alessio.”

Faith walked into the room to inform the slaves that they will be rescued, but she was too late. “Oh my god!”

Their skins had a yellowish golden hue, even the purple skin Shavili. Their eyes bulged out of their sockets. Some had their hands around their throats, others around their mouths, a sad attempt to save themselves. Faith came across a young human female. The victim couldn’t be any older than eleven. Faith kneeled and caressed the dead girl’s face, it was still warm. All the slaves were dead.

This could’ve been me, Faith thought. They all could’ve been me. Her eyes scanned the room, there were over three hundred bodies ranging from ages ten to fifty.

Lydia looked at the bodies through Faith’s bodycam. “It’s Frautfom poisoning. They died in seconds. One of the signs is the golden color to the skin.”

“Golden Slumber.” Faith’s body tensed up as she realized the connection.

“It’s illegal, even the Drilli outlawed Frautfom.”

Amulius and Captain Jackson heard the conversation and muted the mike.

“Frautfom,” the captain said with a smile on his face. “That can be useful.”

“No one in known space has the formula for Frautfom,” Amulius said. “Maybe Alessio has the formula or knows someone that does. He could be valuable.”

“I agreed,” the captain said. “Faith needs to bring him in alive.”

Amulius contacted Lydia. “Change in plans. Inform Faith to bring Alessio alive.”

“What?” Lydia answered. “You have to be crazy.”

“He has a resource we want. Give Faith the order.”

“Yes, Amulius.” Lydia knew that Faith was not going to like the idea. “Faith, there is a change to the mission. I need you to bring Alessio in.”

“What?” Faith body tensed up. “He dies.”

Lydia tried to appeal to Faith’s moral code, but Lydia wasn’t sure if Faith had one. “He must face justice. We will turn him over to Star Force. These are serious crimes he must be punished.”

“Don’t worry,” Faith replied. “He will be punished.”

“Faith, you have an order. Bring him in alive. No exceptions.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Faith punched the wall on her way out of the room. She ran through the base looking for Alessio.

Faith thought, Why does Lydia want him alive? He’s a monster. Faith continued to search for him, but couldn’t find him. “Are you sure he is still on the base?”

“Yes,” Lydia answered. “I put the base on lockdown. He isn’t going anywhere. Remember Faith, there were no ships in the docking bay.”

“Maybe he isn’t here?”

“He is there. He has to be there. He would be the only one that would give the Golden Slumber order.”

Faith continued to search. She walked both floors of the base, checked every room and every corner to no prevail. After her third search, Faith noticed something, a slight breeze coming from the wall.

Faith called. “I found something.”

Lydia looked at the monitor. “It looks like a secret door,” she answered. “It is off the network. Find a way to open it.”

Faith looked around the door. There was no locking panel. She felt around the door hoping to find a switch or a button. Putting both hands on the door and pushed. The door moved. No human could move this door, but she was much stronger. The door opened. It led down a dark hallway.

Alessio must be in here, Faith thought. She walked to the end of the hall and came to a room. There were large monitors on the wall, but they were blank because of Lydia’s hack. A man was leaning back in a throne-like chair. His long dark hair came to his shoulders, a large scar across his face and wearing an eye patch over his right eye. Tailored made suit covered his medium frame, not dressed for a battle or any type of conflict. It was Alessio. Faith recognized his picture from the datapad.

“You cost me billions,” he said. His tone was calm. He sat perfectly still in his seat like he didn’t have a care in the world.

“I didn’t kill your slaves.” Faith’s fists clenched. She wanted to rip his head off, but she remembered Lydia’s order to bring him in alive.

He smiled. “Once you tripped the alarm. They become a liability.” His demeanor stayed the same. It was like he had no clue what he was facing, but he was aware of what she could do.

“You murdered over three hundred people.” Faith breathing increased and her fists clenched even tighter. She tried to stay focus, let out a couple of deep breaths. Bring him in alive, she kept saying to herself.

“You killed two hundred. The only difference is that it only took me six seconds. Are you going to hand me over to Star Force?” He leaned forward in his chair. “I won’t resist.”

Faith couldn’t hold back anymore. “Fuck Star Force!” She ran toward Alessio, but before she could reach him, a large object hit her from the side. The force knocked her helmet off and sent her flying across the room, bodycam went offline. Lydia attempted to contact Faith, but couldn’t. Faith looked up. It was huge. Covered with dark fur, it had a long snout and strong powerful jaws with sharp canine teeth. His close-set eyes glared at her. He was shirtless, but no shirt could contain his broad muscular chest. His pants clung to the lower part of his body. His arms and legs were massive. She never saw one before but heard about them from Roat-At-Tat. He was a Drillus Prime. Drillus Primes were bigger and stronger than the standard Drilli. Like all Drilli, he resembled a biped giant baboon. Drilli society held them in high regard. This puzzled Faith. Why would a Prime work for a human? She got to her feet.

“<Time to die, >” the Prime said in his native tongue.

“<You first,>” Faith replied.

“<You speak Drilli?>”

“<Yes.>”

The Prime let out a loud roar with the intention to intimidate her. Faith got into her fighting stance, preparing to take on this massive beast. He grinned and charged at her. He swung. Faith ducked feeling the wind from his blow whistling by her head. The Drillus shunned to see a human moved so fast. The young fighter jumped over the Prime and landed behind him. She swept his legs. It was like hitting her shin against a tree trunk, but the Prime fell, crashing to the floor. She kicked him as hard as she could on the back of his head, a tender spot of Drilli. Only getting three good kicks before the Prime rolled over and grabbed her ankle and knocked her down. She flipped herself on her feet. The Prime stood up, standing slightly over three meters, he towered over Faith. He swung several times at her and she dipped and dodged his attacks. Faith struck him in the kidneys; it felt like hitting a brick wall, but her blows were effective. The Prime started to kneel over, brought him closer to her level. She high kicked him in the snout. He started to wobble, but it took all that she had to get him to this point. She punched him in the eyes, snout and the temple. Astonished what she achieved, cutting this bastard down to size. Then the Prime stopped the bombardment by catching one of her punches with his massive hand.

“Fuck!” Faith screamed.

He landed several shots to her stomach. The pain was unbearable, she coughed up blood. He kicked her in the head sending her flying back. She almost landed on her feet but had no sense of balance and fell. Her body armor provided her some protection, but not enough. Her head pounded. I’m going to die, Faith thought.

“<You fought well, >” the Prime said. “<I will give you an honorable death.>”

Faith looked around the room trying to find something. She looked for anything that would give her an advantage but failed. She looked at her executioner. “<Get it over with.>”

He walked over to her. He saw the sense of doom in her eyes. He reached for her neck.

Faith thought about the teaching of Roat-At-Tat. Never give up. Fight until you can’t fight no more. That statement ran in her head. She snapped out of her sense of self-pity and fought back. Before he grabbed her, Faith pulled her legs back and kicked him in the privates with both of her feet. He dropped to his knees and let out a loud moan. She jumped on the back of his neck and with a last ditch effort, jammed her fingers deep into his eyes blinding him. Blood ran out of the sockets. She jumped off of him and pushed him head first into the wall. Blinded and disoriented, he stumbled around the room. Even though she was at half speed, she was still fast enough to take advantage of the situation. She punched and kicked in him in his face, stomach, kidneys. Then she delivered a powerful kick to his larynx, which was almost a deathblow. The Prime grasped for air and fell down on all fours. She didn’t pity him, he was a warrior. She was going to give him a warrior’s death, grabbing his snout with one hand and placed her other hand on the back of his neck.

“<We fight so others can live in peace.>” Faith panted and gasped for air. “<Embrace death, my brother.>” She leaned on the beast to keep from falling down. She had enough strength to twist his neck. The loud snap of his vertebrae echoed in the room.

Alessio stood up from his chair. “What did you say to him?”

Faith limped over to him holding her stomach. Her head pounding, shooting pain coursed through her body. She felt that she could collapse at any moment. “I gave him a warrior’s prayer,” she explained. “He fought with honor. He deserved an honorable death.”

Alessio stared at her, noticing her bloodied face and the way she limped in his direction. “He did some damage on you. But you held your own. I never seen anyone fight the way you do.” Alessio realized that was no mere human. She was a force of nature, but nature couldn’t create anything that powerful and deadly. He felt she was righteous. He based this on the fact that she showed concerns about the slaves and providing his Prime an honorable death. “I’m unarmed.” He felt she wouldn’t kill a person that wasn’t a threat. “As I said before, I will not resist. Are you going to arrest me?”

Faith walked closer to him. She felt his fear radiating from his body, but he remained calm. Only one beam of sweat rolled down his face. Faith kicked him in the chest, sending him flying back to his chair.

“I think you broke some ribs.” He was holding his chest with his right arm. “I see you got some fight left in you.”

Faith coughed up some blood and spat it onto the floor. “I might not make it through the night.” She walked up to Alessio and straddled him in the chair.

“Woo,” he smiled. “One last ride before you put me away?”

Faith put her hands on his shoulders and focused her beautiful blue eyes onto him. “If I die tonight, I’m taking you to hell with me.” She leaned back and head-butted him, breaking his nose. She continued to head-butt him. Blood was flying everywhere. Bashing and cracking his skull until he was dead. She got off of him and looked at his bloody fractured head and spat on him. Her blue eyes were the only thing that pierced through her blood-covered face.

Faith attempted to walk to her helmet but fell to the flood. She used her hands, she dragged herself to the helmet and put it on.

“Lydia!” Faith called.

“Faith,” Lydia replied. “Thank God, you are still alive.”

“Lock on to my signal. I need an evac.” Faith eyes rolled up and all she saw was black.

Lydia using the shuttle computer, she was able to locate Faith. “I’ll be there in five. Please hang on.”

Faith finally opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was Lydia’s pretty smiling face.

“Welcome back,” Lydia said. “The last time you woke up from a long sleep, you tried to choke me. I’m glad this time was different.”

Faith looked around and noticed that she was in the medical bay of the Hannibal. She was once again hooked up to the Medscan. “How long was I out?”

“About two days,” Lydia said. Her smile tapered as she talked to Faith. “Your injuries were severe. You had a couple of broken ribs, a perforated liver, and spleen. There some bleeding around the lungs and your heart. Anyone else would have been dead. But you survived and will make a full recovery within the next day or so.”

“Really,” Faith said. She felt a heaviest on her chest and her head was still pounding, “Because I still feel like shit.”

“AMPED is doing amazing things to you. It’s healing you faster than expected.” Lydia used her fingers and moved Faith’s hair out of the young warrior’s face. “What happened down there?” Lydia was more curious than concern. “I mean there was a large Drillus in the room with you.”

“It was a Prime,” Faith answered. Her speech slowed and her chest hurt as she breathed and talked. “He was acting as Alessio’s bodyguard.”

Lydia’s eyebrows slightly rose. “How did he pull that off?”

Captain Jackson’s boots made a loud stomping sound as he entered the room. “We will never know,” he yelled, “thanks to you. All his secrets died with him.” His face was red, his nostrils flared and his jaws tightened. He pointed his large finger at Faith. “You were given an order to bring that son of a bitch alive.” He continued to scold her. “You defy that order.”

This was the first time the Faith met Captain Jackson. He was a big man, both in height and in size. He supported a gut, but he was more muscle than flab. He dressed in his blue Star Force uniform with some white trim. His jacket was white with three fasten buttons at the top. The jacket only covered the chest and the arms, leaving the midsection open. It was designed this way so that the jacket would not hinder the movement of the wearer. It had a cape with twin tails. Only officers in Star Force wore these uniforms, which gave them the nickname ‘tails’. Enlisted personnel would call officers by that name when officers weren’t around.

“He had to die.” Faith’s voice slowed, but her tone was strong.

“That’s not your fucking call.” His voice got louder and his face was turning into a deeper shade of red. He walked closer to Faith. He wasn’t going to be scared of this little girl.

Faith sat up. “I may be down, but to can still rip out your throat, Captain.”

The captain stepped back, just in case Faith was going to follow through on her threat. But the captain wasn’t done. He had more to say. “You stupid little bitch!”

Lydia shot up. “Captain Jackson!” she shouted. She wasn’t going to let the captain talk to Faith in that way. She didn’t like the fact that the captain called her a ‘stupid girl’ and she definitely didn’t like the captain calling Faith a ‘stupid little bitch.’ She stood toe to toe with the Captain. With an intense glare and a cold expression on her face, she addressed him. “This is a medical bay, not an interrogation room. If you talk to her like that again, you don’t have to worry about Faith killing you, because I will.”

“This isn’t over between you and me,” focusing his attention to Lydia as he returned the glare. “Not by a fucking long shot.” He stormed out of the room.

“I hate that guy,” Faith said.

“Join the club,” Lydia responded. “But I still have to work with that bastard.” Lydia let out a sign and her breathing slowed down. “I guess I have to face the wrath of Amulius and the captain, because of your actions.”

Faith’s mouth dropped a little and her eyes widened. “You understand why I did it?”

Lydia sat back down. “Yes, I do.” She placed her hand on top of Faith’s hand. “I’m not some cold-hearted monster. I do have some sense of code. It just has been challenging to maintain it. I know that SINDRI blurs the lines when it comes to ethics, code, and honor.” Lydia wanted to say more, but now, she decided not to. “Get some rest. I will check on you later.”

Lydia kept telling herself. This is an assignment. It was hard to keep her feelings out of it. A small piece of Lydia was starting to like Faith, maybe even care about her.