This choice: Midnight mission fails and Valez and Zelav are captured • Go Back...Chapter #5Midnight mission fails and Valez and Zelav are ... by: The Random   Zelav adjusted the view of her night-vision goggles, focusing in on the enemy camp. “Yep those are military grade cargo ships.” She muttered before turning to look at the task force. The dozen being gathered behind and beside her were some of the best units in the United Federation of Planets military, though only three of them, besides Zelav and Valez, really stood out. First off there was Yivra, a Tiragg, a red skinned black haired near-human species. Though Tiraggs were by nature pack beings, Yivra had stayed to herself occasionally speaking to others in a generally downward tone; at least until Zelav saved her life during the Naiga Campaign. After that she and Zelav became quite good friends. Then there was Vassk, a seven foot tall bipedal lizard-like Drashian. Vassk was one of the UFP’s best units, his ability to see in the infra-red spectrum and discern an enemy’s species by their scent, as well as being a cunning and ruthless warrior, made him an invaluable asset to the war effort. And lastly there was Nera; the only other clone besides Valez, except Nera wasn’t fortunate, or unfortunate, to have a similar accident. And unlike Valez, Nera’s template, another human woman named Aren, wasn’t alive anymore. Such brought some sadness to Zelav; Aren had been her mentor through her years of training before becoming a field soldier.
“Vassk, what’ve you got?” Zelav asked looking to her left.
“[It is difficult,]” Vassk replied in his growling dialect, his vocal chords unable to make the right sounds for Universal, “[I smell the natives, like the ones in the attack yesterday, but the other scent… Wait, by the nearest transport. It is a Zex.]”
“What?” Zelav said refocusing her goggles to the spot Vassk mentioned. To her deepest fears, it was indeed a Zex.
The Zexs were considered the stuff of nightmares. No one could tell what kind of being they were, whether mammal, crustacean, insect, plant, or whatever; in fact they seemed to be a bit of all. They looked like humans, except for their green skin, armor-like shells growing over their lower arms and legs, insect-like wings, and their tendril-like hair that some could move and grow at will. But the real thing that made the Zexs the terror of the galaxy was that they would assimilate “worthy” beings and brainwash or enslave, or simply kill the rest. The Zexs were infamous for their merciless advance from a secret and mysterious homeworld, and their hive-mind efficiency and behavior while still able to think and act as individuals.
{Author’s note: Zex appearance based on this picture, it is not mine: http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/0... }
“Well, if the Zexs are here, that means we’ve got to win this planet all the faster.” Yivra said from Zelav’s right. Zelav knew why Yivra was so eager: long before joining the UFP’s military Yivra’s homeworld of Tinagg, a Tiragg colony, had been overrun and assimilated by the Zexs in a few short days. Leaving Yivra an orphan as she escaped with other survivors.
“Well then, let’s go.” Valez whispered behind the group.
“[Wait. I smell…]” Vassk started to say before Valez suddenly screamed in pain.
Zelav saw a few sparks from a powerful stunner-shock arcing across Valez’s skin before Nera cried out “Ambush!” and the squad opened fire.
“Damn! It’s a trap!” Zelav heard Yivra shout before another stunner-shock rendered her unconscious.
Zelav moaned as she awoke, the lingering tingle of the stun-shock still coursing through her body.
“Morning sunshine.” Yivra said from Zelav’s right.
Zelav slowly turned to look. She and Yivra were bound by their wrists and ankles in an old stone cell by heavy iron chains. The Zexs are quite nostalgic Zelav thought before asking aloud, “What happened?”
“Well, as you can guess the transports were fakes. The whole thing was a trap to lure some of our best soldiers into this trap the Zexs set up. I hate to admit it, but it worked quite well.” Yivra replied, bitterly thinking of her failure and that of the squad.
“Where are the others?” Zelav asked, realizing as the stunner’s effects wore off that it was only her and Yivra in the cell.
“Vassk and the others were taken for “re-education”. I even saw them putting a brain-worm in Noven, not a pretty sight. But I think they may have decided to assimilate Nera. Which is likely…” Yivra answered.
“Which is likely why we’re here.” Zelav finished. Unbidden, memories of stories of Zex assimilation from her childhood forced their way into her mind; none of the stories were pleasant.
It was almost an hour later when a Zex guard entered the cell. “You have a visitor.” It purred before steeping to the side. Two more Zex guards stepped forward, dressed in finer armor than the first, then they too stepped aside. From between the pair of guards in stepped…
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