Project Faith

The Enigma exited the jump stream, the sub-light engines and the weapon systems went back online. Simona lowered the screens and engaged the stealth system. The ship arrived in the Charisma System, a three planetary system and only one planet, Uma, was able to sustain life. The planet gave off a beautiful green aura due to its rich vegetation. Vlad approached the planet and entered standard orbit.

Simona scanned the orbit and detected no starships in the area. She focused her sensors on the planet surface and reported hundreds of large settlements. But with the stealth system engaged, there was a minimal chance that Enigma would be detected.

Lydia walked onto the bridge with Faith. The bridge crew stared at the dark hair darling. They heard about her and some of the things that she could do, but never laid eyes on her. Again, people were surprised to see how short she was. They were expecting a massive towering figure of destruction, but they got a cute petite young lady with pretty blue eyes.

Simona commented first to Faith. “That isn’t appropriate attire for the bridge young lady,” she barked. Faith wearing a short white tank top that exposed her stomach and a pair of shorts that went down to her upper thighs, showing her muscular legs.

Vlad turned his head got a first look of Faith. “I think we should that a vote on what is appropriate attire.”

“Keep your eyes on the monitor, Vlad,” Lydia said. She then addressed Simona’s concerns. “This is not Star Force, Simona. AMPED keeps Faith’s body temperature evaluated. Just be happy she didn’t show up on the bridge butt ass naked.”

Vlad took another look. “That is appropriate attire I can support,” he added, followed by a soft smile.

A reddish hue came across Faith’s cheeks. She received lustful looks on the Hanniable, which rubbed her wrong, but Vlad seemed harmless and sweet, in an annoying way. Faith’s head looked down, but her eyes crept up and returned a smile.

“Focus team,” Lydia said.

“Yes, Ma’ma,” Simona said.

“Will do,” Vlad said and looked back at his monitor.

Lydia gave Vlad the coordinates of the base. He approached it slowly and carefully. The stealth system only masked the energy and heat signature of the ship. So, the ship was invisible on sensors but quite visible to the naked eye. The ship broke from the orbit and descended through the atmosphere as it raced towards the surface of the planet. Passing through the clouds until some of the settlement were visible by the naked eye.

Lydia walked up to Vlad and placed her hand on his shoulder. “Find a clearing about a couple of kilometers from the base.”

“No problem,” he replied. “It’s a piece of cake.”

“I made a cake from scratch.” Zain booming voice heard throughout the bridge. “Not as easy as you think.”

Vlad chuckled. “Don’t worry. I got this.” He flew the ship closer to the surface. The tall trees made it harder for Vlad to land the ship, but the trees would provide excellent cover. After several minutes searching, he was able to locate a clearing big enough to land the Enigma, but small enough to cover it. He landed the ship. “As I said,” he added, “a piece of cake. How about a kiss for a great landing?”

“Fine,” Lydia said. “Zain, go ahead and kiss him.”

Zain puckered his lips and got up from his chair. He knew Lydia was joking, but he wanted to mess with Vlad.

Vlad’s hands went up as Zain approached him. “Never mind,” Vlad responded. “I guess I have to do something astonishing, to get a kiss from you, Lydia?”

“Borderline godlike,” Lydia jested.

Zain blew him a kiss and sat back at his station.

“Ma’am,” Simona said. She was the only person of the ship that addressed her as ma’am. “It about three hundred kelvins out there with ninety-five percent humidity.”

“Great,” Vlad said. “Mushrooms are going to grow under my armpits.”

“Keep an eye out, Piet,” Lydia said. “If you see or hear anything, let us know. Vlad, make sure nothing happens to my ship. Zain, you are in charge until I return.”

“I’ll make sure that Vlad doesn’t do anything stupid,” Zain said. He smiled at the pilot.

“You can trust me,” said Vlad to Lydia. “I’m not going to do anything too crazy.”

“Just keep my ship in one piece,” Lydia said. “It’s a long walk to the Hannibal.”

Simona led Lydia and Faith to the ship armory. The team wore light body armor, like the one the Faith had on Liber. Simona issued each of them, automatic pistol with three, five hundred round clips and an automatic assault rifle with three, four thousand round clips. The rounds were eight-millimeter pellets made from a dense material called carbite. It caused damage when fired at high velocity and can penetrate some light body armor.

Faith decided to take her katrat on this mission. It had been a while, but she was looking forward to using it if a fight broke out. She made a makeshift sleeve with a strap and tossed it around her shoulder. Faith looked at Simona. “Is this appropriate attire?” Faith asked with her arms out.

“Yes, it is,” Simona said. “I will make you a proper soldier by the end of this mission.”

Faith supported a crooked smile. “I’m a warrior, not a soldier. Warriors fight, soldiers, take orders.”

“We can’t have an undisciplined madwoman tearing people apart,” Simona commented.

Faith laughed. “I’m not mad.”

“Focus team,” Lydia said. “I hope this does not become my standard catchphrase for this assignment.”

The loading bay door hissed open and the team departed from the ship. They had their rifles at low ready and pistols on their hips. Faith decided to scout ahead since she moved three times faster than the others. She came within a hundred meters of the base and made a horrifying discovery, three mutilated corpses of male Shavili. Their purplish blood covered their bodies. Faith called the team over to investigate.

“I thought they were an all-female species?” Simona asked.

“No,” Lydia answered. “They are a matriarchy species. Males are second class citizens. They can’t hold any position of power. They can’t vote or own property. They can do manual labor and take care of the children. This is why they aren’t part of the Association.”

“So, they’re slaves?” Faith sighed to signal her disapproval.

“Not really,” Lydia said. “They are free to leave anytime, but they usually don’t have the means.” Lydia leaned in to get a closer look at the bodies. “There is no evidence of them being shot. They have just ripped apart.”

“The Drilli,” Faith said. Her hands tightened onto her rifle. If she grabbed any harder, it would break in half.

“We shouldn’t jump to conclusions,” Lydia said. “But, yes it looks like the work of Drilli.”

“Why would the Drilli be out here?” Simona asked. “We are nowhere near Drilli’s space.”

“Maybe the same reasons we are here.” Faith looked at Lydia waiting for an answer.

“Let’s have this discussion later.” Lydia wanted this conversation to end. “Let’s move out.”

When the team moved in closer, they discovered more dead bodies. Faith felt the blood rushing to her head. Her jaw tightened and her eyes narrowed. She knew this was the Drilli’s dirty work, having witnessed the slaughter of hundreds of people at New Hope. Faith had flashbacks of her father. His arms being ripped off his body and the sound of tearing flesh, his screams, and cries. She closed her eyes to block it out, but it was hard. It wasn’t just the screams of her father, but all the colonists at New Hope. She let out several deep breaths. Her heart rate slowed and the tension left her body. She focused back on the mission.

The team came to the base, the front doors were blown off. Their weapons were ready as they walked inside. They found more bodies. All males, the females were nowhere to be found. The main differences with these bodies were they were shot, not mauled. The team continued to search the building. They needed to find the lab with the main computer. They had trouble locating it because their datapad couldn’t download the schematic of the base.

While sweeping the first floor, they came across a small locked door. Lydia noticed the lock. She thought it was strange that a small door would have a lock of this kind. It was more for a safe, not a room. Lydia took out her carpus attempting to hack the lock. Within a few minutes, the door popped open.

The team looked in the corner of the small room and saw a female Shavili, she had a youthful appearance, looked to be twenty-five by human standards. The alien showed no fear in her bright yellow eyes, but a sense of confusion. She yelled at the team in her native tongue. The team didn’t understand what the purple creature was saying.

Lydia ordered the team to shoulder their rifles, so they wouldn’t appear as a threat. Lydia didn’t calibrate their communicator to translate Shavili. Lydia linked her carpus to the team’s communicator adjust the translation settings. Within a few moments, the team was able to understand the shavili.

“Who are you?” the Shavili asked. “Why are you here?” Her fists clenched and the muscles in her face tighten. The team didn’t need a translator to know that she was upset.

“We aren’t going to hurt you,” Lydia said.

The Shavili looked baffled. “I don’t understand you.”

Lydia looked at her team. “She needs a communicator to understand us. Simona, give her your communicator.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Simona took out her earpiece and slowly approached the Shavili.

The Shavili quickly backed off. “What are you doing?”

“Put it in front of her on the ground,” Lydia ordered.

Simona placed the communicator about a meter away from the Shavili.

Lydia gestured to the Shavili to pick up the communicator and put it in her ear.

The Shavili appeared to understand the gestures because she did exactly what Lydia wanted.

“Do you understand?” Lydia asked.

“Yes,” the Shavili replied.

“What happened here?” Lydia queried.

“The Drilli,” the Shavili answered. “They slaughtered our males. They captured and raped my sisters. A couple of the scientists placed me in this safe to hide me from them.”

“Why?” Lydia asked.

“I’m valuable.” The shavili had some questions for the team. “Why are you here? No one knows about this base, not even our government. Who are you? Who do you work for?”

“I’m Lydia.” She pointed to her team. “This is Faith and Simona. We are here to investigate the attack on the lab.” That was the most honest that Lydia was going to be with her at this time.

The Shavili looked at the team weapons. “Sisters in arms,” she said. “It is nice to see in humans. My name is Ezi. I’m one of the scientists here.” Ezi was beautiful, her purple skin was flawless, her bright yellow eyes were striking. The full curves of her body couldn’t be contained by her form-fitting pants and a tight long sleeves crop top. No wonder humans found them attractive. “You answered our distress call?”

“Yes.” Lydia was always good at lying when she has all the information.

“Liar!” Ezi yelled. “We never send a distress call.” Ezi rushed Lydia, but Faith countered and blocked the Ezi into the wall and knocked the Shavili to the floor. Simona drew her rifle and pointed at Ezi.

“Stand down,” Lydia ordered.

Simona put her rifle away and Faith backed off.

Ezi rubbed her arm where Faith bumped into her. “You’re strong, little one.” She got back up. “But your leader didn’t explain how she knew about this base?”

“Right now,” Lydia said. “You aren’t in the position to make demands. But in the spirit of cooperation, I will let you know. We are a part of an organization that is in the business of knowing information. We discovered that your base has knowledge that we desire. We didn’t attack your base, but we plan to take advantage of the situation.” Lydia was good in manipulating people, even when she was telling the truth.

“I found your honesty disturbing,” Ezi replied. “But you did rescue me from my lockdown tomb. If you help me rescue my sisters, I will assist you in getting the knowledge that you want.”

“Deal,” Lydia said.

“I know that you are a scientist,” Faith said. “Are you a warrior as well?”

“My sisters are always warriors,” Ezi explained. “Being a scientist is my secondary skill.”

Faith threw her rifle at the Shavili. Ezi caught it.

“We are fighting Drilli,” Faith said. “We’re not going to reason them to death.”

“There is something about you I like, little one,” Ezi said. She gave the rifle a good once over and checked out the barrel and the stock. She liked the way it felt in her hands. “Follow me.” She led the team through the base. They came across dead Shavili. She wasn’t concern about them since they were males. She focused on getting to her sisters. The base didn’t have an elevator, so the team had to go by foot through the building.

When the team made it to the second floor, they came across eight Drilli soldiers wearing light body armor and no helmets carrying assault rifles like the ones the team was carrying. They had five Shavili female prisoners with them. The prisoners had their hands tied behind their backs. One of the prisoners stripped and beaten. Even though she had purple skin, her bruises were still visible. The violet blood dripped from her mouth and nose and several deep lacerations, like claw marks, on her body.

Faith recognized those signs and knew what the Drilli were doing. She remembered what they did to her mother. The claw marks tore into Faith’s mother flesh. The grunting and the laughing, she would never forget their loud and haunting laugh. The screams and the sounds coming out of her mother weren’t human. It sounded more like an animal being tortured. Faith closed her eyes and blocked out the image. When they raped her mother, Faith couldn’t stop them. Now, she has the power to tear them apart. She took out her katrat. Roat-At-Tat always told her that speed and balance was the key when fighting with this cruel weapon. She informed the team to cover her.

Lydia grabbed Faith’s arm. “We need a plan,” she tried to explain.

Faith looked at Lydia. “I am the plan.” She ran towards the squad with her katrat ready.

The Drilli surprised to see a human at the base. The Drilli quickly fired at her. Faith dodged as the rounds hissed by her body. A loud pinging sound rang in her ears as she blocked some of the rounds with her katrat. She stabbed one of the Drilli in the stomach. His body armor provided little protection, but katrat ripped through his armor and his body. His blood gushed out of his wound as he fell to the floor. With her enhanced strength, she was able to hold her katrat with one hand and still be effective with it. She took out her pistol and shot three Drilli in the head with deadly accuracy. Since Faith had the Drilli distracted, the prisoners took advantage of the opportunity and escaped. The team also saw their chance and fired on the other four Drilli. When the smoke cleared, seven Drilli were dead. The one that Faith stabbed was still alive, but barely.

Lydia looked at the dead Drilli. She noticed the strange insignia on their armor. It was a twisted four-headed winged snake. It didn’t match anything that Lydia had on file. She walked to the wounded Drillus. “What unit are you with?”

He ignored her. He wasn’t going to say anything. He was going to stay loyal. Even with his life in the balance, he stayed silent.

Faith tapped him hard on the side of his head with the hilt of her katrat. “Answer her, dick.”

“Maybe he does not speak Terran,” Simona suggested.

Faith grabbed the Drillus by the collar. She threw him across the room. His body slammed against the wall. She ran over to him and placed her foot over his wound and applied pressure. The Drillus screamed out and growled at her.

“<Do you understand me now?>“Faith yelled at him in his native language.

Faith looked at the blood-covered insignia on his chest. “<You’re Svantevit?>”

“<How do you know about us, soft skin?>” Soft skin was the name the Drilli called humans. The name was meant as an insult.

Faith applied more pressure to his wound and the Drillus let out an even louder groan. “<Do I look soft to you? Who hired you?>

“<I don’t know.>” He coughed up some blood.

“<Where are the rest?>” She continued to apply pressure to his injury.

“<On the top floor?>”

“<How many?>”

“<Eight,>” he gasped. “<That’s all I know.>”

“<What about the prisoners?>”

“<Twelve.>”

Faith stepped back off of him. She looked at Ezi. “Do him a favor.”

Ezi aimed her barrel of the rifle at his head and pulled the trigger.

“Your methods are cruel,” Lydia said to Faith. “But effective.”

Faith looked over the bodies. “We might have a problem.”

“How do you mean?” Lydia asked.

“These guys are from a merc group called the Svantevit,” Faith said.

“Svantevit?” Lydia asked.

“Named after the Drilli’s God of War,” Faith explained. “They’re a Drillus only group. Known for results and brutality. They will work for anybody as long they get paid upfront and if there is a chance for torture and bloodshed. They are ex-military, so they are well trained. They are a small and tight group. They might only have about three hundred members or so.”

“I never heard of them,” Lydia said. “Would the Drillus government or military hire them?”

“No,” Faith answered. “They would not take the liability of those sadistic bastards.”

“Your understanding of the Drilli is intriguing,” Ezi said. “I would love to know your story.” She gave Faith a suggestive smile.

Lydia noticed that Ezi might be interested in Faith. This could cause problems. Lydia didn’t want to lose any influence over Faith. So, she was going to keep a closer eye on them. “We need to get to the top floor and put an end to this.” Lydia wanted Ezi attention off of Faith and on the mission.

“I agree,” Ezi said.

The team slowly moved up to the top floor. They didn’t see any Drilli. Ezi told the team that the lab was just around the corner. The team readied their weapons. Ezi took the lead, followed by Faith and Lydia. Simona brought up the rear. They approached the room and heard several Drilli talking and arguing.

“We need eyes in there,” Simona said.

“On it,” replied Lydia. She took out a surveillance probe, which was a three centimeters sphere, from her carpus. She rolled the probe in the room. It quickly ascended to the ceiling without being detected. She activated the camera in the probe and was able to pull the image of the room. A holographic screen appeared over her carpus. “There eight Drilli and twelve Shavili female hostages.” Lydia rotated the image to get a better look. “The Drilli are group together on the opposite side of the room from the hostages. They are wearing light body armor, so they gave up protection for flexibility.”

“Perfect,” Faith said. “I’ll be back.”

Faith moved into the room. She jumped high into the air and used one of the Drilli to break her fall, stabbing him in the back. He didn’t know what hit him. The Drilli were grouped too close together to open fire on her. Faith preyed on that and ripped her katrat out of the dead Drillus and sliced the throat of another. She jumped on the shoulders of another Drilli, and held her katrat to his neck. With a strong pulled, she decapitated him. Blood gushed out of his stump like a fountain baptizing her in his life providing liquid. It didn’t slow her down.

Faith backflipped, pulled out her pistol and shot another Drilli in the head. She killed four Drilli in a matter of seconds. The Drilli were stronger than her, but they couldn’t match her speed. The others open fire on her, but she was able to block most of the rounds with her katrat. But few of the rounds did strike her. Lucky, her body armor was able to absorb most of the impact, but it did sting. The katrat flew out of Faith’s hand and into the chest of one of the Drilli. It pierced his armor and flesh with no problem. She performed a flying high kick and hit one in the head, right on his temple. He fell to the ground and she finished him off with a shot to the head. Six downed and only two left. Rest of the team rushed into the room with weapons focus on the Drilli.

“No need for anyone else to die,” Lydia yelled at the Drilli.

They didn’t understand what Lydia said, but they got a general idea with four guns pointed at their heads. They dropped their weapons.

“<Hands up,>” Faith ordered. “<Move to the corner.>” The Drilli did what they were told. Faith hurled insults at them. “<For a group of highly trained merc, you guys suck. Let me guess, recruiting mission?>”

One of the Drilli answered with silence, but the other one growled at Faith.

“<Just fucking babies,>” Faith said.

“<We are Drilli,>” the one yelled.

“<You are a bitch.>” The meaning was a strong insult in Drillus culture.

Ezi checked on the hostages. Their hands bonded behind their back and their heads down. She observed something unsettling. All the hostages were dead. They all had their throat slit. Ezi’s purple skin turned a deeper shade. She screamed and ran over to the Drilli, she raised her rifle and shot them both in the head. Their brains, blood, and pieces of skull plastered the wall.

“Dammit,” Lydia shouted at Ezi. “We’ll never know who hired them.” She looked over to the hostages and realized why Ezi was upset. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry about your sisters.” Her anger tone changed to concern.

“I shouldn’t have lost my temper,” Ezi said in an apologetic tone. “Your team did give me the opportunity to save them and I’m grateful for it.” Ezi walked Lydia to the main computer. “Download whatever you want. I will give you the password.”

“Thank you.” Lydia linked her carpus to the computer and downloaded everything about the Shavili’s biotech programs and other intelligence information. Lydia didn’t understand all the knowledge on the hard drive, but she could study it later.

Ezi walked up to Faith. “You are amazing. I never met anyone like you before. I hope our paths will cross again.” She reached her hand out in friendship. “I believe this gesture is customary.”

“It is,” Faith shook Ezi’s hand. “It was my pleasure. Maybe you could join us? I know you don’t have any love for the Drilli.”

“I’ll be honored to accompany you and your friends,” Ezi said.

“What about your responsibility here?” Lydia asked.

“It stopped once the Drilli attacked,” Ezi answered. “It is time to get some payback.”

Lydia doesn’t trust Ezi, but the team could use all the help that they can get. “Welcome aboard, Ezi.”

An elder female Shavili walked up to the team. She looked like one of the hostages that they rescued. She glared at Ezi. She wanted to talk to young Shavile in private. The two moved away from the group.

“You’re going with them? What about your duties, Ezi? You don’t own these humans anything.”

“How could you say that?” Ezi snapped back. “They saved your life and mine too. If they didn’t come along, we would all be dead.”

The elder Shavili’s face tensed and wrinkles appeared. Her yellow eyes focused on Ezi. The elder tightened her jaw to prevent her from shouting. “I’m grateful for that, but your loyalty is to the Shavili, not the humans.”

“I will always be loyal to my sisters,” Ezi said. “These humans plan to strike a blow to the Drilli. Their actions could protect us from future attacks.”

“I don’t want you to go,” the Shavili said, “but I can’t stop you.”

Ezi gave the Shavili a hug. “Thank you for understanding.”

A tear ran down the elder face. “You were always stubborn. Be careful.”

“Thank you.” Ezi walked back to the team.

“One doesn’t need a translator to see that was a tense conversation,” Faith said to Ezi.

“Most conversation between mother and daughter are tense.”