Rajani Chronicles I Page 3

  “My name is James Dempsey,” the black guy was telling them. “I’ll give you people a few minutes to let the effects of your long naps wear off. But it’s imperative you prepare yourselves for what I’m about to tell you.”

  Dempsey, Gianni thought. Why did the name sound so familiar? Then it hit him: the man was a cop. In fact, the man lived on the top floor of Gianni’s apartment building. I knew I should have moved.

  Interlude

  A press conference was underway inside the police headquarters building in downtown Detroit. A man in a rumpled suit and ugly tie was addressing a large crowd of reporters, who were packed into the tiny room. Steve Montgomery was standing next to him. The man in the rumpled suit happened to be the Chief of Police, and no one would comment on how aesthetically God-awful his wife’s choice in neckwear was—at least not to his face.

  “We regret that, due to his disappearance,” the chief droned on, “Lieutenant James Dempsey has been pulled off the so-called ‘Infinity Killer’ case.” The chief smiled and motioned to the man standing next to him as he introduced him. “His replacement is Detective Steven Montgomery, a veteran officer with twelve years on the force, who was already working hand in hand with Lieutenant Dempsey before his disappearance.”

  The chief motioned to Steve to come over and stand right next to him, and he placed his hand on Steve’s back, as if holding him in that position. Steve knew this was a sell job to the press, and the chief wanted to make sure it looked good for the viewers at home. Unlike his missing partner, James, Steve was willing to play the game. He’d even shaved off his prized mustache for the occasion.

  “I have every confidence Detective Montgomery will bring this case to a close, both quickly and efficiently,” the chief continued. “All of our considerable resources are his to command. We’ll answer any questions you may have now.”

  All of the reporters’ hands shot up at the last statement. The chief pointed to one. “Yes, Ted?”

  The reporter stood up. He looked like he’d been around the block a time or two, hence the first-name basis with the chief. The chief also knew Ted well enough to know he wasn’t one to throw out controversial questions at a press conference. He’d save those for later, hoping for an exclusive. “Does Lieutenant Dempsey’s disappearance have anything to do with the Infinity Killer?” the reporter asked.

  “There’s no evidence of a link of any sort, but we’re still investigating that angle,” the chief answered. “If anything new turns up on that front, we’ll let you know. Next question, please.”

  Another reporter, this one unknown to the chief, quickly raised a hand. “What will happen to Lieutenant Dempsey once he’s found?”

  The chief paused for a moment before answering. “All we can hope for at this point is Lieutenant Dempsey is safe. There’s no use speculating on his future in this force until we know for sure what his status and whereabouts are. Now, if you don’t have any actual questions about this particular case, I have better things to do.”

  He walked quickly from the stage, to the stunned reaction of the assembled reporters. The public relations guy quickly began speaking, assuring them the chief was late for another important meeting, but would be available again soon. Like hell, Steve thought, though he kept his face impassive. He knew how much the chief hated talking to reporters. Besides, it was his job now to speak to the expectant faces gathered before him. He’d always kind of envied James for his ability to speak coolly and calmly with the mass of microphone-toting imbeciles, some of them from the local news, but many from all the major alphabet networks. It was something he’d have to learn. He put on his best fake smile and began to answer questions.

  Chapter Two

  Rauph waited on the bridge of the ship while Officer Dempsey went to wake his fellow Humans. He’d sent Bhakat along to assist, as his Pledge had a good deal of medical training; he had been a doctor, in fact, before becoming Rauph’s Pledge. Bhakat would turn off the sleeping gas still flowing from the medibot through the masks the Humans wore over their faces. It would allow the Humans to wake up fairly quickly. Bhakat had unhooked them all from the various medical paraphernalia before turning off Officer Dempsey’s sleeping gas.

  The discussion he’d had with the Human had brought up memories of the events of the past Standard month. Rauph once again saw the carnage in his mind as he remembered the last time he’d seen Rajan.

  The city of Melaanse sprawled along the eastern coast of Rajan’s largest ocean. The city itself was about fifty Standard miles long, and its western edge bordered the Desert of Ambraa, a large expanse of sand covering most of the continent. Outlying areas to the north and south of the city were owned by a select number of Elders, and consisted of mostly farmland and orchards, with some animal ranches as well.

  Melaanse was not only the largest city, it was the only city, and where most of the population of Rajan was located. It was filled with ancient spires, bridges, and skyscrapers interspersed with open grass parks and glittering freshwater lakes. Most of the buildings had been constructed hundreds of years before. It wasn’t unusual to see marine drans flying over the city and roosting in various nooks of the buildings; their distinctive calls rising above the noise of city life below.

  Rauph had enjoyed taking walks along the streets of the city as well as the sandy beach. Sometimes these walks were alone, and sometimes with another Elder or Pledge who wished to speak about some facet of the Kha. His estate to the north of the city was expansive, and had housed many Sekani and Jirina workers. He would always take the time to speak with them as they worked in the fields, orchards, and various manufacturing facilities he owned. Most of it was destroyed now, he knew.

  In his memory, he saw small Krahn ships attacking the city; firing missiles into buildings. He was never close enough to see the Krahn ground troops, but he imagined they must be hideously ugly creatures. There were explosions and fire and the bloodied bodies of Rajani, Sekani, and Jirina lying on the ground where they’d fallen. Spaceships had screamed from the sky, firing bolts of energy and more primitive projectiles at everything in their paths on the surface of Rajan. Males, females, young and old, all were gunned down by the ships as they attempted to flee. There was no shelter to be found.

  It had been early evening, and Rauph and Bhakat were returning from a trip to the city’s central computer, which was housed in downtown Melaanse. He’d been preparing to take the Tukuli on a supply run to a nearby trading station, and having the ship prepped probably saved them enough time to escape. As he and his Pledge reached the city limits, they heard the sounds of gunfire and explosions coming from behind them. They’d turned to see the smoke of hundreds of fires and noticed the strange ships flying above the buildings, firing at the ground below.

  It was night now, as his memory feverishly jumped from one event to the next. Rauph, Bhakat, and Janan’kela were boarding the Tukuli. Bhakat was carrying Janan, who was unconscious, his head bandaged and bloody. They had found the Sekani pilot lying near the remains of his family’s dwellings.

  All of the Sekani dwellings were completely destroyed, as were most of the buildings on Rauph’s estate, as it turned out. Janan must have been on the Tukuli when the Krahn attacked, or he would have died with the others.

  The Tukuli was housed a few Standard miles north of the estate, and Rauph had prayed the entire time it took to make their way in the darkness toward the launch pad. He’d been afraid they would find it destroyed, as everything else was, but it was whole and still prepped for takeoff. Either the Krahn had missed its location or they had purposely left it intact, confident they could salvage it later.

  The Tukuli, now in space, was being pursued and fired upon by two Krahn ships. It was a credit to Bhakat’s skill in piloting the ship that they had evaded the main blockade. If only Janan’kala had been conscious, Rauph thought, we may have escaped without sustaining as much damage. He didn’t blame Bhakat in the slightest for his inability to outmaneuver the other ships. Normally, the
Tukuli had a crew of at least three Sekani pilots and several other crew members for various tasks required aboard his ship.

  Rauph remembered Bhakat turning to him after a few days and solemnly breaking the news they could no longer use the nulldrive of the ship or it could be permanently damaged. They needed to switch to the Tukuli’s powerful auxiliary engines and let the mechanibots repair what they could. He’d reluctantly agreed with Bhakat’s assessment. He’d watched the viewscreen as it displayed the outside of the Tukuli, seeing the small robotic mechanisms crawl over the hull, repairing the damage caused by the Krahn weapons. He knew that without the nulldrive, it would take more than a lifetime to reach the galactic core.

  He had abruptly stood and left the bridge before beginning to cry silently, not knowing what to do or where to go for help. It was the lowest point of his life, not counting the day his mate had died. His only choice was to go and plead to the Galactic Alliance for help. The Rajani were still technically members, so he would at least be heard. He’d composed himself and returned to the bridge, telling Bhakat where they needed to go.

  As Bhakat programmed their course into the ship’s central computer, he and Rauph had spoken at great length about how they could best help their species. Neither of them wanted the Rajani to return to their war-like ways, but they had to help free their planet from the Krahn Horde.

  Now, in Rauph’s memory, he was sitting on the bridge of the Tukuli, along with Bhakat and Janan’kela, watching the viewscreen once again. Janan had recovered sufficiently from his head injury to pilot the ship, though he had no memory of events of the Krahn attack. On the screen was a transmission from a planet called ‘Earth’ by its inhabitants. A picture of James Dempsey appeared on the screen as the news program featured a story on the Infinity Killer, a Human who had been terrorizing the city with the random killing of young females of the same species, a crime almost unimaginable to the Rajani.

  They had been moving slowly away from the Rajani solar system for a few weeks when they had discovered the planet called Earth. As they studied the various electronic signals from the planet, they saw the civilization was involved with a multitude of armed conflicts, much like what he imagined his own ancestors had fought before the coming of Ruvedalin, founder of the Kha. They were also astounded to find the sheer numbers of Humans living on the planet. The Rajani, Sekani, and Jirina only numbered in the hundreds of thousands, at most, due to the restricted amount of habitable land on Rajan.

  Besides being an Elder of the Rajani, Rauph also held the distinguished post of Keeper of the Stones. In this role, he was tasked with safeguarding the Johar Stones, both from other species and his own. This role also provided him access to what little history was known of the Rajani species. He worked closely with the Keeper of the Past, so he knew of the violent history of the Rajani like few others on his planet. Thousands of years earlier, the Rajani had been conquerors; ruthless killing machines encased in almost impenetrable energy armor. It was not a past he wanted his species to revisit.

  As Rauph watched the footage of wars in deserts, jungles, and cities from Earth, an idea had crept into his mind, and he knew what needed to be done.

  Later, Bhakat had stood, hands palm down on a table in one of the ship’s meeting rooms, facing Rauph. “No! You cannot mean this! You’d free the Rajani by bringing yet another warrior species to our planet? You’ve seen what these Humans are capable of—”

  “Be quiet,” Rauph had almost hissed at his Pledge. He’d had enough of Bhakat’s insolence for the day.

  “But—” Bhakat had begun, shocked at Rauph’s fury, before Rauph cut him off once again.

  “No,” Rauph had told him. “Listen to me. We need these Humans. You know as well as I. I have prayed for days, trying to come up with a better solution to our situation, but there really is no other option. Do as I say.”

  That night, he had felt regret for losing his temper, but at the time, he’d been too tired to care. They were all under a great deal of stress, but he’d made sure he apologized to his Pledge for his angry words after waking the next day. Afterward, they had set events in motion that had culminated in bringing the Humans aboard the Tukuli. He thought the initial meeting with Officer Dempsey had gone as well as could be expected. He sat on the bridge, waiting for the remaining Humans to wake, and hoped he’d made the correct choice.

  #

  James tried his best to keep things calm as he woke up the others. The large alien known as Bhakat had come back with him to the room where he’d woken up and had taken off their masks. Bhakat had pushed a few buttons on the large medical machine in the middle of the room before leaving once again. James knew the others were feeling disoriented and probably pretty scared, but not as scared as they would have been had they awoken to a seven-foot-tall alien standing over them. They were still in the circular white room, sitting up on the beds. James saw they were all similarly confused about the black Rajani robes they were wearing.

  “Okay, now that you’re awake, I think we should start off simple,” he began. “Like I said, my name is James Dempsey. I was woken up not more than an hour before you, so I don’t have a whole lot of information to give, but what I do know is we have all been brought aboard an extraterrestrial spaceship.”

  “What?” the white female asked. “Did you say spaceship? Like from outer space?” She was pale, and James couldn’t tell if her pallor was normal for her or if she was going into shock.

  “I did,” James answered. “Look, I think it would be better if we all introduced ourselves. I figure we’ll all be more comfortable with this situation if we know each other’s names, and maybe you can tell us a sentence or two about yourselves.” He was pretty good with names, given his job, and knew he could learn about these people both by what they told him, and what they didn’t.

  “Okay,” the white girl answered. “My name is Kieren Gray. I’ve only been living in Detroit about a year. Before that I lived in Colorado Springs, Colorado.” She smiled at the people around her, but James could see she was still very nervous. He guessed she was in her early to mid-twenties, and her blonde hair was cut short, not quite touching her neck.

  “Hi, Kieren,” he said, smiling to make her feel more comfortable. He looked at the other woman, who was a little older. Her long black hair hung down past her shoulders, and her complexion was darker than Kieren’s.

  “Yvette Manidoo,” the woman said, frowning. James thought the name probably meant something, but didn’t think it was the time to ask. He waited a moment, but that was all she said.

  “Gianni Moretti,” one of the men said. He looked like he was in his early thirties, with straight black hair almost as long as the Gray woman’s. “I find it a little hard to believe I’ve somehow been kidnapped by little green men. I mean, c’mon, man, stop messing with us. Is this some type of sting operation?”

  “Mr. Moretti,” James said. “I have better things to do than mess with you. You can choose to not believe me, but it doesn’t change the situation in any way.”

  “And what is our situation?” Gianni asked.

  “Like I said before,” James answered, “we’ve been brought aboard a spaceship, and are currently orbiting Mars. There are three of them, and they are asking for our help. That’s all I know.”

  “Our help?” Gianni asked. “What, did they get lost and need directions to the nearest gas station?”

  James was getting tired of the antagonistic tone of the conversation. “I think it’s best if we let them explain why they brought us here. It’s not like we can leave, regardless.”

  “So you’re saying we can’t go back home?” Kieren asked. James thought she still looked almost as scared as he felt. “We’re stuck here?”

  “Honestly?” James told her. “I don’t know. All I know is what they’ve told me, which wasn’t much.” He turned to the last person, a fairly young man with short brown hair. He looked awfully young to have been chosen to come along, but he could have been older than he ap
peared. Maybe I’m just getting old, James thought. The kid didn’t look old enough to shave, but there must have been something that led the Rajani to pick him.

  “Oh, uh, David Morris,” the kid mumbled. “Hi,” he said to everyone with a nervous smile. “I’m in B2B marketing. That’s, uh, business to business. Anyways, I grew up in Detroit, and I can safely say this is the farthest I’ve ever been from home.”

  At least he doesn’t look like a small-time punk like Johnny Moretti. James thought the older of the two men looked like every perp he’d ever chased down a dark alleyway. Moretti also had an almost continuous smirk on his face, like he thought this was all a big joke someone was playing on him. James remembered seeing the guy around the building once or twice, and his ‘cop radar’ had gone off every time. There was something about him, but this was not the time or place to start an investigation.

  Yvette was smiling now, realizing he was telling the truth. She seemed more excited than scared. The fact that she was beautiful registered in the back of his mind somewhere. “When do we get to meet them?” she asked.

  The mechanical voice of Rauph answered her from the overhead intercom, and the doorway to the room opened with a whoosh. “At anytime, Yvette Manidoo. If you are ready now, we can proceed.”

  They all walked the short distance from the room to the bridge of the ship. Within a few moments they stood in the room with Rauph, Bhakat, and Janan, who had all turned to look at them.

  “Holy shit, he was telling the truth,” Moretti said, looking at the three aliens. His smirk had disappeared, and his eyes were wide with surprise. It was James’s turn to smirk at him, having been proven right.

  Rauph stood and bowed slightly to them. “Please, be at ease. My name is Rauph.” He pointed toward the others on the bridge. “This is Bhakat, and this Janan’kela. Officer Dempsey was kind enough to tell you a little of our story. I will now tell you the rest.”