Gingerbread Man: 2109, Chapter 2, Feih Desslat
This story is intended for those 18 years or more older,
2: Feih Desslat
Corporal Matthew Thorn was stunned when the dragon-like mammal opened her mouth and, in language that was similar to the growls and hisses he had heard back at the scene of the ambush spoke to him; "If you shoot me my relatives will treat you no better than they did our mutual enemies."
With the memory of that massacre still very fresh in his mind he held his fire and looked past the flashing T.A.L. ten warning over his left eye and the dragon headed translator icon that indicated that she had spoken in Kroon standard for any sign of an impending attack. What he saw was that her suit was similar to the ones that the other Dorzeli wore except that it had a thick belt-like band that encircled her upper waist and that the area between it and her groin seemed to be somewhat loose-fitting compared with how well she filled out its upper half (he assumed she would need a forty-eight double D bra if she were the size of a human, slightly larger than the other female he had observed). He also saw an irregular pattern of circular discolorations across her ample chest and abdomen that resembled burn marks. "It was her!" he concluded and looked back up into her almost human like brown eyes, like his, instead of Freerah's blue.
The return of her smile broke his concentration and he suppressed his panic when he realized that he had lowered the barrel of his rifle so that it pointed at the ground and not her. He held its position in the hope that she would take this involuntary action of his as a sign that he would not fire on her.
"I'll assume from your choice not to put your weapon down is a result of your fear of me?" She did not wait for him to answer. "I can understand your decision after you've seen my people in action so I'll introduce myself from here instead of giving you my people's traditional greeting." She placed the palm of her right, sharp clawed; five fingered hand onto her upper chest. "I'm Feih Desslat of the Jareken Dorzeli-Ki." She looked to him for a response.
He pointed to himself with his free hand and spoke slowly so as not to stutter and cause his translator to accidentally insult her or seize; "Corporal Matthew Thorn of the Second Terran Expeditionary Force, Third Division."
"...Under the command of Jason Monroe-Talbot, Supreme Commander of all Earth's Space Forces."
Stunned by her knowledge of the Alliances and its command structure old habits from when he was young resurfaced when he responded; "How could you know that if your people have been exiled on this to this planet by the Kroon Empire for the past twenty years?"
She continued to smile, but the twitch he saw from her tails betrayed to him a possible sense of unease on her part. This caused him to become somewhat pleased that what little information he had on her people, which had been given to all of the teams by the Mendall, had caught her off guard as much as hers had with him.
Her tails stilled and she appeared to recompose herself before she said, "My name is pronounced Fa-eh, but you're close enough; and to answer your question: in an attempt to save themselves some of the Soriss we captured provided us with information that they thought we could use without betraying their race." She cocked her head to one side. "So you think you know something of my people's condition?"
"Only what we received in our briefing before we left our ship" he truthfully replied, barely keeping his growing unease over what happened to those soldiers out of his voice.
"Good." She pointed at his weapon. "Then you should know that I won't attack you without provocation."
"Like that soldier your people slaughtered back at the clearing?" He immediately regretted uttering those words when he saw her become angry. Instead of an attack, she opened her mouth, took three deep breaths and appeared to calm down.
She growled, "His species is our common enemy and my people's rightful prey." She calmed down, her ears drooped and she dipped her snout low. "I'm truly sorry that we arrived too late to save your comrades."
Her words caused him to think, "Is she actually having regrets at not being able to help, or at being caught?"
"But, if you still don't trust me I have something that should prove my sincerity." He watched her slowly open a hidden sealed pocket that was the loose fitting area below her "belt", remove a round object and toss it in his direction. It hit the ground and rolled to a stop at his feet. The moment he recognized it as Captain Johnson's Mark Five Enhanced Cyber Helmet and saw blood stains on its internal lining his fear was replaced with anger. He upped his weapon to full power, pointed it at her and shouted, "What did you do to him?"
Her response to his outburst was slow and measured. "He was already dead and I took it off as carefully as I could." She pointed at the helmet. "Now please examine its data recorder before you do something that we'll both regret."
Stunned again by her knowledge of terrestrial technology he stuttered, "H-how did you know about that?"
"The soldiers of the Kroon Empire also use similar technology." She exposed her upper canines. "Now I insist that you review its recordings."
The data on his display mirrored what he was thinking, "Even if I'm lucky enough to get her with my first shot if she springs, her forward momentum will be enough to let her body fall on and crush me."
He decided that it was best for him to follow her request; without taking his eyes from her he kneeled down and retrieved the helmet. Once it in his grasp he ordered up a wireless connection between it and his own and skipped ahead to the time index when he believed the ambush began.
Captain Johnson was one of the first to go down; he fell so that his camera's view was from a ninety degree angle. As the shooting stopped two Soriss soldiers appeared from behind what appeared to be some type of cloaking screen and approached the Captain's body. One of them shouted a warning that came too late for the other; a familiar set of claws impaled the nearest soldier while another grabbed and lifted the other into the air. Like the Soriss in the clearing this one's scream ended abruptly and was followed by a loud crunch that told Matt the soldier's ultimate fate, which was confirmed when the lower half of the soldier's body fell to the ground.
As the shouts and screams from the other Soriss died down a large brown foot stomped onto the remains of the second soldier and the camera was turned skyward. He saw Feih's face; copious amounts of blood dripped from her mouth, but her expression was one of profound sadness instead of anger. He was startled when the captain's hand came into view and he heard him gasp out, "So close..." His unit's leader's hand and the camera dropped back to the ground as his life readings went flat. Matt's reaction to what he had seen and the mystery behind Captain Johnson's last words caused him to hesitate one second too long.
Feih lunged forward and effortlessly pushed him backward onto the soft ground while the claws of her other hand sliced through his weapon's shoulder strap and removed it from his grip without tearing his right hand off.
Pinned with one of her claws at his throat and her still smiling face near his he closed his eyes and gave up any hope of ever seeing Earth and his family again a strange calmness came over him. He turned his head to expose right side of his neck and spoke the last words he believed he would ever utter in this life, "Please, make it quick." But, instead of her teeth he felt the blunt front end of her snout rub onto his exposed right cheek.
His fear all but disappeared when a familiar sensation, one that he had not felt in over seventeen years, washed over his being, one of peace and contentment. Then the words that Freerah had spoken to him almost became clear to him, but it faded the second Feih pulled away.
He reopened his eyes, turned his head to face her and saw that she also seemed to have been affected by their brief contact: her mouth was partially open and her eyes were opened wider than he thought possible. She also seemed unsure of what to do next. Then her smile returned.
"You said to 'make it quick' and I did." She saw that her statement had confused him and explained that, "The formal greeting I just gave you usually lasts a little longer than that." Her smile disappeared when he looked down and saw that her claws were on the verge of puncturing his uniform. She removed her hand then used it to scoop him up into a standing position, backed away and, to his surprise apologized. "I'm sorry for doing that to you, but I couldn't take the chance that you might have accidentally shot me."
He was also surprised at his lack of injury and that he could stand without collapsing from a fear that a few moments ago would have had any sane individual curled into a fetal position.
"Are you all right?" she asked with what he thought was genuine concern for his well being after almost a minute of silence from him.
"I think so." He shook his right wrist. "I don't think it's sprained."
"Good." She presented his rifle to him with its barrel pointed away from her, so that only its control pad was exposed. "Please disarm this."
He was reluctant but he obeyed her order and keyed in the proper code. Two of its three ready lights dimmed and went out. Feih looked at it, frowned and looked back at him.
"That's the indicator for the power pack" he hurriedly explained. "It won't go out unless it's removed."
"Are you sure?" she asked with a hint of a growl in her voice.
His earlier fear returned and he answered, "Yes" then reached out to it. "Here, let me remove it."
She pulled it away from him. "That won't be necessary." She reared up, reopened the large pocket, deposited his weapon and the Captain's helmet into it and asked, "Any side arms?" When he indicated that he only had a knife she said, "You can keep that" resealed the pouch, brought her full attention back to him and grinned.
He took a tentative step backward. "W-what are you going to do with me?"
"I am not going to eat you if that is what you are thinking. We reserve that fate for our enemies." Her smile grew and, in a much friendlier voice, said, "Anything else is up to you."
Her last words baffled him, but he decided that the hint of suggestion he thought he heard in them was a result of a bug in his translator's matrix.
"Where were you going if you weren't going to stay and enjoy my family's hospitality?"
He assumed that it would be in his best interest to tell her everything; "I was going to rendezvous with the ship that was to pick up my squad in two days." The memory of all his murdered comrades saddened him to the point that he paused and looked away from her.
"I'll help you get there." He looked up at her with a faint glimmer of hope was in his eyes until she said, "If you promise to ask your people to aid mine in the fight against our common enemy."
He did not know if, despite her being of a subspecies that was related to Freerah, the Alliance would give military aid to a member of the Kroon Empire that had an infamous reputation, but in the belief that agreeing to such a promise might be his only hope of getting off the planet alive, especially if word got to the fleet's Supreme Commander, he agreed to her terms; "I'll ask, but I can't guarantee anything."
Feih seemed pleased to him when she bowed to him then said, "That's all I could hope for. Thank you." She stood and announced, "I'll guide you along the fastest route."
He asked, "But what about other Soriss patrols?" and looked at her waist. He was amazed that he could not see the outline of his weapon or the helmet. "I can't face them unarmed."
"As of now there aren't any left in this area." A smile of satisfaction exposed some of her sharp front teeth.
He thought, "At least it was worth a try."
She turned with a grace that belied her size and moved off in the direction that he had been heading before she intercepted him, but, after taking two steps she stopped, turned her head one hundred and eighty degrees around and saw that he had not moved.
He could hear a note of worry in her translated voice when she asked "What's wrong?"
Her turning her head all the way around was not what bothered him, he had seen birds do that before. It was the question he felt he had to ask her, even if it meant joining his comrades in death. "What about the bodies of the rest of my unit?"
She turned the rest of her body around to face him; "I assure you that my family will not damage them any more than they have already been and will preserve them as best as they can until you can arrange to have them reclaimed." She saw that Matt was not convinced. "Please believe me when I say that despite what you saw today I can guarantee that they will not be eaten."
He remembered how they had left their bodies alone when they began to feed and decided to believe her, for now, but felt that he must ask her one more question, "How did you know where I was going?"
His translator was programmed with the entire Kroon language and all its inflections, so it came as no surprise that he was able to tell that she was beginning to lose her patience with him: the barely audible growl that he heard in her true voice also helped. "This way leads to the only area where a ship can land that is not under direct Soriss control. Satisfied?"
Corporal Thorn answered in the affirmative and followed her when she resumed walking. When he believed she was not watching he opened a concealed compartment in his cyber-uniform's wrist controller and entered his PIN into the keypad located there. His visor displayed his weapon's power pack and the spares in his back pack, and linked them together as one unit. This was followed by the appearance of a flashing countdown timer at a hold of thirty seconds. He cleared the display except for the timer, which had become transparent.
Done with this task he looked up and saw that she had gotten ahead of him. He jogged up to what he assumed was a safe distance from her of to her left and asked one of the many questions that were still nagging at him; "How long have you been following me?"
She seemed to ponder the question for a few seconds before she answered, "To be truthful, from just before the battle began, but as I said earlier I couldn't save the others; the rest of my family was too far behind me."
He tried his best to keep his anger down with his earlier suspicions now confirmed. "Why did you have to save me by knocking me out?"
"You were in my way." She gave him a side-glance. "What would you have done if I suddenly appeared and asked you to step aside so I could get to those Soriss?"
He noticed her frown and the deepening tone of annoyance in her voice and did not answer. "She's not used to having her actions questioned: definitely an alpha female."
She smirked, "I thought as much." She turned her attention back to the trail in front of them and dipped her snout downward. "I'm sorry about hitting you but I saw no other way."
It took him a few seconds to get over his astonishment at the tone of regret he thought he heard in her voice and what would have happened had he shot at her. "That's all right. I understand that you had no choice."
She seemed to cheer up when she said, "Thank you."
She continued to walk at a pace that was probably slow for her, but caused him to often pick up his pace in order to keep up. During this time he tried to formulate a plan of survival.
He could not outrun her and without his weapon there was no way he could stop her from attacking him and with the possible evidence that her suit was laser proof he wondered if it would have been any more effective against her than the Soriss' weapons had been. He was surprised a feeling of revulsion came over him at the thought of killing her. He studied her further and a smile came to his lips when the old memories came back to him; "She looks almost like Freerah, but she's still too much of a threat to me to lower my guard." He was so deep in thought that only Feih's warning alerted him to the hazard in front of them.
"Watch yourself."
He looked up and stopped short of a huge fallen tree that blocked their path. Feih easily stepped over it. Before he could find a way over or around its nearly one and a half meter diameter she wrapped her twin tails around it, leaned forward into a four footed stance and used her hips as a pivot to lift it to a height that was much greater than his one point nine meters.
She waved her hand for him to pass under it and he did so without hesitation; he ran forward until he was just past her face which happened to be almost at his eye level.
He tried to hide his nervousness at being so close to her mouth when he said, "Thank you."
She smiled and dropped the log which landed on the ground with a heavy thud. He looked at it and said, "That was very impressive" when he realized how heavy it must have been.
Her tone was a little more pleasant than before:" Thank you." She stood up to her full height; "Since we'll be together for some time and we've already formally introduced ourselves you may call me Feih, unless we meet with others of my kind."
Matt smiled. "And you can call me just Matt, unless we meet others of my kind." The hint of a smile on her snout caused him to realize that she understood his small joke.
"Could you do me a small favor, Matt?" She tapped the side of her head near her eyes. "My people value eye contact very much."
He was confused until he remembered the mirror effect of his visor. The moment he switched it off she stared into his eyes for a few seconds, said, "That's better," and walked past him.
His visor was not totally transparent so he wondered, "What was that all about? She couldn't have seen my displays, they were turned off." Then he thought about how lovely her near human brown eyes were. He stopped the smile that was about to come to his face when he remembered what his late commander had once said when questioned about being cut off from their forces: "Assume the worst and make your plans accordingly."
He thought back to the reasoning behind the self destruct program in his weapons system; it was to be used only as a last resort if escape was impossible; "If you feel that you are in a hopeless situation and are about to die take your enemy with you." He sighed and again had to jog to catch up with her.