Untold Stories of a Galaxy - Kysaek: The Beginning
New Sounds - Ceasefire - 2

However, in the quieter corridors of the government tower, near a lift, someone was still waiting for their chance to talk. ’Excuse me,’ said Galaen. In a corridor surrounded by glass windows through which the lights of the city and moons shone, the Palan caught up with the new hero . ‘Wait, please.’

‘Troop Supervisor Akaro,’ Kysaek replied wearily. For a second, it seemed to her that Galaen’s approaching body was being obscured by a local shadow that had to come from somewhere. But when Kysaek looked towards the windows and the city, there was nothing there. Kysaek’s exhausted eyes had probably played a trick on her, but she remained relaxed. ’You’re in quite a hurry. Do you have a new mission for me?’

Galaen took the joke too seriously. ’Mission? What makes you think that?’

’Well, we’re alone again and when we’ve met so far, it’s always been about missions. So I’ve always been a tool for you.’

‘If I’ve given you that impression again, I apologise,’ Galaen said sincerely, almost embarrassed. ‘Unfortunately, my social skills are not quite on a par with my military ones.’

‘Just relax, I was only joking.’

‘Oh. Well then, could you consider treating this disgraceful start as never having happened?’

‘I will, if you tell me what I can do for you.’

‘Well, I haven’t had the opportunity yet, but I wanted to pay my respects and confess my doubts.’

’Your doubts? About what?’

‘Of you,’ Galaen emphasised demurely as she walked past Kysaek and took in the view of the vibrant lights of Vinovae. ’When General Akaro explained his plan to me, I was extremely sceptical that you had the necessary skills, and to be honest, I had already prejudged you to some extent before the investigation was complete. That was very unseemly of me.’

‘So you want to apologise for not trusting me straight away?’

‘You could put it like that, yes.’

‘I don’t want to offend you, but that’s stupid.’

‘Stupid?’ Galaen replied, tightening her dress uniform with the pistol holster attached. ‘I consider it more of a courtesy and a concession, which you deserve.’

‘You proved that to me long ago,’ Kysaek said. Galaen had always been fair to her, so she returned the favour to the Palanian. ’It was only natural that you didn’t immediately trust my people and me. Your duty alone demands it. Nevertheless, you treated us fairly like no other and we were rightfully released. I see that as polite and as an admission that you were wrong and as for doubting my abilities - it happens.’

‘Happens?’ Galaen repeated slowly and suspiciously. The Palanian woman had clearly not expected such a reaction.

’Yes. You’re certainly not the first person to doubt me, but you’re part of a big club now. Welcome, I am Elaine Kysaek, the very first member of the Doubt.’

‘So my apology means nothing to you?’

’No, that’s not what I’m saying. I appreciate the gesture and I certainly don’t want to offend you by rejecting your sincere apology. I just wanted to say that I don’t see it too narrowly.’

‘So you’re saying my debt to you isn’t that serious?’

’You could say that. Everything is fine between us.’

‘A very generous attitude,’ said Galaen, as her pointed fingers scraped gently and thoughtfully over the window glass. ‘It’s quite unusual the way you do things.’

’Unusual? I don’t know what I do differently from anyone else.’

‘If that were the case, you would have failed,’ the Palanian said more softly and wistfully. ‘Just like all the soldiers and me.’

So this wasn’t just an apology, Kysaek now realised. ‘You feel guilty about the riot?’

’I couldn’t control myself. It should never have come to this, an outsider sorting out our problems and our quarrels. At a crucial moment, I failed as an officer.’

‘You and your father were insulted,’ Kysaek defended sympathetically. However, she had not forgotten that there had been talk of an outcast general during the riots. But Kysaek didn’t question what that meant and why it had made the Palanian woman angry. ‘In that situation, I would have thrown a punch, at least.’

’That sort of thing has no place in an army. Problems are solved differently. Discipline and order prevail. If it hadn’t been for you...’

‘Do you know what Rila calls that?’ Kysaek asked rhetorically, feeling sorry for the Palanian woman, who seemed to be blaming herself more than she was showing her. ‘Coincidence.’

‘Impossible,’ Galaen replied, puzzled but not angry. ‘Our eldest is wise and such things are no coincidence.’

’Yes, well, Rila said a little more. I was the right person, at the right time-’

‘In the right place, doing the right thing.’

‘Familiar wisdom?’

‘My fat-,’ Galaen cleared her throat. She pulled out a memory and was briefly joyful. ’I mean, General Akaro has told me that many times. He has always endeavoured to broaden my horizons, but I clearly still have a lot to learn. It still makes me sad that I wasn’t the right one, in this place and at this time.’

’Everyone has to learn. It would be pretty boring if you got everything in life for nothing,’ said Kysaek, giving the Palan a smile. ‘Wouldn’t it?’

The friendly gesture had an effect. ‘Indeed, learning,’ Galaen agreed and her melancholy faded, although she was still worried. ’Learning never ends. Even General Akaro couldn’t understand who the traitor was, with all his years of experience. He and I had limited ourselves too much to exclusively human options, because the truth is absolutely illogical. A Calanian general helping Neo Solaris? How does that fit together? And why would he do that? What does he have to gain by harming the Consulate? It seems so pointless.’

Kysaek hadn’t heard anything about it and didn’t elaborate. In her view, that would only have reinforced Galaen’s self-reproach. ’A Calanian, eh? At least he’s stopped, isn’t he? The rest will have to be clarified by an investigation and, from my point of view, you should take care of that. You’re a good investigator.’

’I appreciate your advocacy, but after the incident at the Neo Solaris base, it shouldn’t be the General’s daughter investigating this matter. It will be a lot of work anyway, but the truth is always worth the effort,’ Galaen said, thinking of her imminent departure. ‘And I assume you’ll be leaving after questioning the PGI prisoners?’

’I will, yes. No matter what comes out - my group and I have to move on somewhere.’

’Regrettable, but understandable. I would have liked to continue working with you, but that would require you to join our forces.’

‘I’m not cut out for any army and I’m a pain in the arse,’ Kysaek replied in a friendly, dismissive manner. ’However, if I had it to do over again, the Consulate would be a viable choice. You’re all a decent bunch.’ She didn’t want to miss a handshake at the end to show her respect for the Palanian soldier.

Straightening her posture and imitating General Akaro, Galaen placed an arm on her back and grasped her hand respectfully. ‘Shaking hands - one of the better things that humans have brought to the galaxy,’ the Palanian woman whispered jokingly, though not entirely free of her strict demeanour.

‘And new perspectives, like the hairdressing profession,’ Kysaek replied with amusement. ’Someone has to trim the hair on our heads. No other species has really needed that yet.’

There was an awkward silence. The joke must have been incredibly bad, because Galaen tried, but she couldn’t really laugh or even enjoy it. Her handshake even slowed down and froze, matching her horrified expression. Her rather rigid expression, head and body were suddenly covered by a dark shadow and she immediately yanked her guest towards her as window glass shattered.

Kysaek was let go and flung some distance away as she saw everything half out of the corner of her eye.

Galaen tried to rush straight after her, but the Palanian had no chance and was slashed across the back by several blades.

The soldier went down injured, all because of him. ‘Ky-saek,’ murmured the PGI monster, alive and kicking. However, it had shrunk to about Dorvan’s body size and instead of being black, its skin was almost sickeningly pale and it no longer moved as agilely as it once did, but at a snail’s pace, but it had metal blades on its fingers.

‘Galaen!’ Kysaek cried out in horror. She didn’t even wonder how this could be, but her worried look at the wounded woman made her vulnerable. Her opponent swung his hands at her and she stumbled back awkwardly in her evening dress until she hit the wall with her back and was pierced in the shoulder by a blade. The pain was hellish and her end was coming, in the form of the second occupied blade hand. ‘Nraahhh!’ shrieked Kysaek. Her eyes widened and in the heat of the moment, flushed with agony, fear and adrenaline, she summoned all her prismatic powers. With their help, she stopped the deadly blades right in front of her cheek and eyes. She trembled violently and barely held on against the pressure of her hunter. However, when he opened his mouth and was about to use his pointed tentacle tongue, Kysaek overcame her limits by far and created an enormous, prismatic shockwave with her entire body. The universal force shattered the blades on her blood-covered shoulder and catapulted her enemy through a wall, into some office space.

‘Galaen!’ Kysaek groaned, bracing her feet and hands against the wall as hard as she could. It hurt her terribly, but she pushed herself away from the trailing, stuck blades. ‘Are you alright?!’ She checked the Palanian and heard and felt that she was still breathing. However, the officer’s bright orange blood was still flowing.

In the office, the pursuer picked himself up and trotted back.

‘What’s going on here?’ asked two guards who rushed over.

Kysaek tried to warn them. ‘Careful!’ she said, in vain.

Mercilessly, the PGI creature drove its still intact blades through the back of one soldier’s head and his comrade immediately opened fire with a plasma rifle. The terrifying creature was briefly held back by the force of the blow until it grabbed the guard and shattered his head.

Faced with this sheer violence and the unstoppable will of her pursuer, Kysaek cowardly abandoned the wounded Palan in a moment of weakness and retreated to the lift. It was her only chance to escape. Her opponent would only be with her before he arrived, and apart from her prismatics, she had nothing to defend herself with.

‘Da-I won’t let you do that!’ Galaen breathed, blood pouring from her mouth. Despite the nasty cuts on her back, the officer managed to get into a half-kneeling position and defended the Consulate’s new heroine by drawing her pistol and firing at the monster. This earned her the full focus of the intruder.

Kysaek couldn’t believe that the Palan still defended herself and protected her despite her wounds. After the officer had saved her from the sneaky jump attack, she was about to sacrifice herself again and Kysaek was disgusted with herself. ‘How pathetic of me!’ she mumbled angrily. She tore open the slits of her dress further for more mobility and ran off, driven by self-loathing. It wasn’t like hitting the wall, but her fist glowed white with energy and the following punch caught her nemesis cold from the side, thundering him far enough away.

‘Leave me there!’ Galaen murmured weakly, sinking back into herself. ‘I can hardly move.’

But I can! Come on!’ Kysaek replied. She ignored her own wound as best she could and supported the officer before grabbing her pistol, which had an automatic mode. This meant that instead of firing a shot, Kysaek could use bursts to deal with the slow creature. It hindered the unruly, slow pursuer more than enough until the lift arrived and she was safely on her way down with the Palanian. ‘Don’t give me a hard time now!’

‘I-I’m trying,’ Galaen said quietly, but even at that moment, she kept a reasonably clear mind. ’But we can’t do it alone. Use the intercom to call for help.’

Kysaek immediately used the cabin’s intercom function. ‘Hello, hello?!’ she said excitedly. ‘Can anyone hear me?’

‘This is Tower Security!’ replied a typically deep Davoc male voice. ’Who’s there?! Go ahead!’

’Elaine Kysaek! There is an extremely dangerous intruder in the tower on level one hundred and three,’ she explained, before a heavy thud hit the lift and a vibration went through the cabin. ‘On our lift!’

‘Where are you going?’

‘Eh,’ Kysaek hesitated. She had pressed randomly before. ’We’re about to reach level 85! Send us as much firepower and medical help as you can! I’ve got a seriously wounded woman here!’

’Understood! Help is on the way!’ the man said, but would that be enough? The ceiling was made of sturdy metal, but it wasn’t a thick wall and the pursuer kept hammering away at it.

Dents formed and Kysaek had to duck as the monster drove its blades through the ceiling at various points. ‘Can’t you just give up?’ she cursed and fired upwards at random.

It was no use, however, and soon the spitting, hot plasma breath of the beast could be heard and the roof began to glow a reddish colour. On the now weakened material, one blow was enough for the pursuer to make a proper hole and plunge its arm into the cabin.

The limb flailed wildly but aimlessly, but Kysaek had to be careful not to get hit. She was therefore safest in the corner with Galaen until her pursuer melted further into the ceiling.

Meanwhile, the lift reached the selected level before the hole became too big and the passengers were met by half a dozen guards. ‘Come to us!’

‘Help her and give me Retro Adrenalin!’ Kysaek ordered sternly. She handed Galaen over to one of the guards and was given a dose of adrenaline, which she injected into her punctured shoulder. ’And let’s get out of here! There are too few of us for this creature! Get out of here and keep your distance and only attack from a distance if necessary!’

‘Creature!?’

‘Just do as I say!’

The guards didn’t quite understand, which was hardly surprising. As if they knew what it was about, so they had to see it first.

The monster burst through the ceiling of the lift and was immediately greeted with a mixture of plasma and magnetic fire, which Kysaek was forced to join with her pistol. Unsuccessfully, the monster tried to get out of the lift, but the force of the magnetic weapons alone kept pushing it back and eventually it simply fell over.

Everyone stopped firing. ‘Threat neutralised!’ said a Calanian guard.

Unfortunately, Kysaek knew better and this knowledge remained the truth. Her nemesis stirred weakly, taking notice. The creature’s wounds were barely healing, just as its broken blades had not reformed, and with its limited speed and pale skin, Kysaek deduced that the toxic fuel was still working. ‘Please, trust me!’ she demanded, ’Fall back and regroup, with more people! I’ll lure the thing outside where there’s no escape!’

‘I can’t move the troop supervisor out of here!’ the makeshift medic remarked. ‘Her wounds are too critical!’

‘It only wants me, don’t worry!’ said Kysaek, or at least she hoped the enemy wasn’t mad at the rest now. On the other hand, it was a good opportunity to test her theory. ’All of you - go, now! I can handle this!’

Although the guards had to leave their wounded officer and the medic behind, they listened to the heroine’s word. ‘Understood!’ the guards nodded. ’Retreat! Retreat!’

Kysaek took the plasma blade from the medic. ‘I’ll borrow this for a moment,’ she said and hid in the shadows of a side corridor. ’Lure him to you! Then keep still!’

Only now did the creature get back to its feet and its eyes immediately turned to its obvious prey. Only on its right arm were the sharp swords still attached to its fingers and the medic’s shots did not stop it. However, the creature paid the price for the intended blade thrust at the healer and Galaen.

Kysaek leapt out of the shadows and severed the enemy’s entire right arm. She shattered one of the large glass windows and the chopped-off limb fell into the nightly abyss.

The monster immediately went into a frenzy and everything else was forgotten. ‘Ky-saek!’ it growled. A stump formed on its wound and it was safe to call it an arm. But the monster wasn’t finished yet and took up the pursuit of its running target, completely ignoring Galaen and the silent medic.

However, Kysaek had imagined her plan to be easier. Even injured, with one and a half arms and marching at an easy trot, her pursuer was a persistent, serious threat and the luring out dragged on. He drove her mainly through empty, dark offices. Partition walls were trampled down and chairs, tables and work materials flew around and broke. But all the flying and flying objects weren’t just bad for Kysaek. Her prismatics allowed her to use all the equipment itself as projectiles, making her nemesis even angrier with each hit. Her hits to his head in particular made him really aggressive. Kysaek topped it off by sending a piled-up heap of office supplies crashing across the floor like a flat, powerful tidal wave, knocking her pursuer off his feet. ‘And now imagine what it would be like on a level playing field!’ However, it was not to be a direct duel and Kysaek took advantage of the moment to find her way out of the small maze of offices and finally discovered one of the leaf-shaped areas on the outside.

It was extremely draughty and cool at these lofty heights, especially on Kysaek’s legs, where her dress was getting a good blowing. ‘Okay, come to me,’ she said quietly to herself. A wish she didn’t exactly like to make, but it worked.

Far from any manners, the monster broke through part of the façade instead of taking the door. ‘Ky-saek’

‘We’ve known each other for so long,’ the woman replied defiantly. ‘What can I call you?’ Her opponent had no interest in such small talk, however, and he drove her further onto the large outdoor platform, which offered enough space to dodge.

The stump of the pursuer’s arm became a hand again, to which a red dot of light suddenly attached itself and the beast noticed this immediately. Snarling, it turned round and immediately had dozens more red dots of light on its body.

Forty to fifty soldiers had lined up on the platform and at the upper rows of windows. ‘Freeze!’ echoed from one of the higher floors.

‘It’s no use!’ shouted Kysaek firmly and took cover behind a step. ’Shoot him! Wipe him out! Don’t leave anything left so that this is finally over!’

It was an unnecessary call, because the creature lunged aggressively at the soldiers, even though it was far too far away from the defenders. At this distance, reduced in size and considerably weakened, the beast perished mercilessly in the incoming firestorm and when some of the soldiers used rocket projectiles, it disappeared in a flaming cloud of black smoke.

‘Cease fire!’ came again from the upper floor.

A frosty breeze howled softly and quickly blew away the smoke that had shrouded the twitching remains of the monster. But this was no residual twitching. It was just a mutilated torso, with crippled legs, half a head and an arm, which nevertheless crawled pathetically across the ground and continued to kill.

So the soldiers prepared themselves. ‘Load up and get ready!’

‘Wait!’ said a voice. It came from the entrance to the platform.

There was no need to hurry and the soldiers rightly obeyed. Rila stepped outside and everyone made way for her. ‘So much cruelty,’ the eldest said mystically. ’So much evil. A destructive existence. I will cleanse our honourable halls and our peaceful city of this cancer.’ The Eporanian had not an ounce of fear in her and her entire body began to gently bristle with prismatic energy. Rila formed a large energy field in front of her from a distance, surrounding the wounded creature, and everything inside began to rise weightlessly into the air, especially the monster’s many scraps and scattered body parts. The massive Eporanian herself stepped onto her own field, standing firmly on the ground, but she seemed to be able to glide swiftly over the surface using the energy, even hovering, thus compensating for the disadvantage of her sluggish gait. ‘The light commands purity!’ she said as she caught each piece of the creature with her prismatic powers and squeezed it to a point. ’The light is the truth! You are nothing but a shadow that will perish in the face of the light. For you, there is no place, no corner, no angle in which you will continue to grow!’

To Kysaek, this sounded very religious, just as it was wondrous to behold. She witnessed how Rila barely moved her thick fingers or her body and yet worked forces of enormous proportions, almost sacredly radiant powers that compressed the roaring beast and its parts more with every second, as if in a merciless press.

‘Take care - all of you!’ the eldest warned gently. ’I am now eradicating this darkness from the galaxy. The backlash will be enormous!’ Of course, Rila didn’t rush things. She gave everyone enough time to retreat a little or, like Kysaek, to hide behind decent cover. Then, however, the Eporanian knew no stopping. With both hands, she wove her threads in the prismatic energy and brought her fingers closer and closer together.

She lifted the trapped disaster higher and higher, and every time the eldest increased the pressure, there was a powerful suction. With it, Rila squeezed the silenced creature so tightly that eventually all that remained was a fist-sized ball of pure, prismatic energy, but it was a powerful one. As the eldest relinquished control of the sphere, a blinding shockwave spread out in one fell swoop. It far outshone the explosion used by Kysaek during the lift and in impulsive desperation

While Rila’s body withstood the force unmoved, glass shattered on the facade, unwary soldiers landed on their backs and Kysaek’s hair was blown neatly even in her cover, but it was over.

The calm of the wind and the city nightlife took over and shiny flakes of residual energy trickled across the outside platform like the purest snow sprinkled by holy angels.

Everyone looked briefly at the sky and marvelled at the snowfall until at least the soldiers became active. ‘Fan out!’ shouted one of the officers. ’Form teams! The government tower will be sealed off and thoroughly searched!’

‘But don’t bother our guests,’ said Rila calmly. ’Inform them that everything is in order. We don’t want their peace to be disturbed again.’

’How are we supposed to do that? The shots weren’t exactly quiet and who knows if there isn’t an intruder among them.’

’I take responsibility and trust everyone in the tower. And as for the noise - be creative,’ Rila suggested. She wasn’t paraphrasing the lie in a devious or conspiratorial way at all. The elder just wanted her people to be safe. ’The city is celebrating. Noise is possible in any form.’

‘Yes,’ the officer nodded understandingly. ‘It will be dealt with, dear Elder.’

Kysaek didn’t care about any of this. She strode across the platform, flabbergasted, and playfully dropped the falling flakes into her outstretched hand. She pushed her arms wide apart and literally bathed without fear and with a sense of peace and freedom.

‘You look worn out,’ Rila said, alluding to the wound. ‘You’d better have a doctor look at that.’

’Yes ... Yes, yes, yes, yes. I’ll do that in a minute.’

‘Are you even listening to me?’ the Eporanian woman asked cautiously and worriedly. ‘Are you all right?’

Kysaek was, without a doubt. She was out of breath, but there was one thing she had to get off her chest. ‘What you’ve just done,’ she grinned, ’just great! I want to be able to do that one day!’

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