Chapter 1
The Shay descended on Earth and chaos followed. They came not in a single ship but by the hundreds, the thousands. Massive carrier crafts that blotted out the sun accompanied by smaller fighters shaped like beetles with a fat bodies and two pincers came forward from the bow.
Emma was rooted to her spot. There had been no warning, no time to contact the Alliance or even the Academy. Yes, they were sure to come, but right now, it was up to her to take action.
Laser blasts peppered the city of Los Angeles around her. Screams, car horns, explosions, and more mixed into a white noise encompassing Emma. She had never heard what death sounded like before, but this must be it.
It’s on you, Emma told herself. It’s on you. It’s always been on you. This is it. This is your time. This is what you’ve been training for.
A beam shone in the street in front of Emma’s house. A moment later, a large reptilian creature with wings appeared in front of her. The creature was tall and broad-shouldered. Emma recognized the alien as a Shay. Not only was the alien in front of her a member of the Shay race, it was a Shay Emma had spoken with before.
“I told you I’d be back, human.” Countess Rule shrugged her boulder-like shoulders, which bulged from her black uniform. Her reptilian jaw opened, revealing rows of sharp teeth. “You should have taken my offer that night on the beach.”
“You mean the night the Light chose me as the Arilion Knight of Earth?” Emma stepped off her porch clenching her fists. Purple energy raced up and down her arms, courtesy of her vambraces. “I don’t think so.”
“Well, well, well.” Countess Rule’s leathery wings fluttered on either side of her back. “The child has become a warrior. Too bad that will do you no good in the fight to come. You’re hopelessly outnumbered. The full force of the Shay Empire is at your doorstep. Not you, your academy, or even the alliance you belong to will be enough to stop my family’s might.”
“You’re testing me,” Emma said as a light bulb went off in her head. A moment of clarity revealed to her she was in a dream; no, a nightmare. A familiar feeling she had before touched her mind. “You’re reaching out to me through my dreams again. I’m not telling you anything.”
The countess shrugged as if everything Emma was saying was inconsequential to her. Moving to her left, the Shay began to circle Emma. Her long, green scaled tail swayed behind her like a metronome keeping a perfect beat.
“You’ve already told me everything I need to know.” The countess’ tongue snaked out thin and red. “You still think you have a chance in all of this? You caught us off guard once. How were we supposed to know that after millennia of silence, the Arilion would return and that the vambraces would choose a human on Earth? We were admittedly unprepared. There was no way we could have known what was coming. We are prepared now, not just with a single craft, but with the bulk of our militia numbering in the millions.”
“Why?” Emma shook her head, trying to get as much information as she could out of this meeting. “Why would you waste so many of your own resources on Earth? I thought your race probed planets for weak civilizations.”
“Hmmmm.” The countess narrowed her yellow eyes. “How much do I tell you? I am having fun playing with you, so I imagine just a bit more. We’re making an example of Earth. That’s all you need to know. You and everyone you love will roast in the fires of your own making. You should have submitted when you had the chance. Now your only option is a painful death beside the planet you hold so dearly.”
Even though Emma understood she was in a dream being invaded by the countess, she still wanted to fight. The warrior spirit she had known and come to love rose inside of her like a maelstrom of power. Over her jeans and hoodie, a violet armored suit encased her from head to toe.
Her purple translucent construct was one she had become used to. Frank Wolffe had told her to practice, practice, and when she was tired, to practice again. She had taken his words to heart. Her armor clung close to her body, thin but durable. The helmet she wore was likewise slender. A mirror visor gave her all the vision she could ask for while the grate at her mouth reminded her of an ancient knight’s helm.
A purple bow appeared in her left hand, an arrow in her right with a broad tip created for one purpose: to cause as much damage as possible.
“You’ve been busy.” Countess Rule didn’t reach for any weapon of her own. “You said yourself you understand this is only a visit in your dreams. We can’t hurt one another, not really.”
“I get that.” Emma strung her bow. Standing with her side exposed to the countess, she placed her left arm straight in front of her. She notched the arrow to her bow and pulled back until the fingers on her right hand touched her right cheek. “But I still want you to feel the fear you’re going to experience when you come to my planet. When you arrive, I’ll be waiting with an arrow for you just like this. But then, it won’t be a dream. It’s going to be real. Come for my planet. It will be the last thing the Shay do before they’re wiped from the universe.”
Countess Rule furrowed her brow in malice, clearly not expecting this talk from Emma.
Honestly, Emma was half surprised herself. Five months ago, she was a stuttering mess screaming in fear of her nightmares, friendless and bullied. Today, she was standing toe to toe with an alien twice her size and spitting words that would have made Frank Wolffe and Jace Hunter proud.
Wow, you’re a bad mamma jamma now. Emma internally grinned at her words. I’m a bad mamma jamma.
Countess Rule recovered a moment later, chuckling to herself. She lifted her head high into the sky, revealing her neck. The alien crafts still flew overhead, the sounds of destruction only too real.
“Wake up now, Emma Jackson, and disregard your false bravado. It will do you no good when the killing and dying starts.” Countess Rule redirected her narrow yellow eyes at Emma. “Wake up!”
Emma opened her eyes. She had fallen asleep on the living room couch. The TV they had owned for the last ten years was on, showing some idiot adult struggling to put toilet paper on the roll. The infomercial then moved to a smiling woman placing some kind of plastic contraption on the toilet roll holder that was supposed to help make the task somehow easier.
Emma wiped the drool from her mouth. She sat up. Memories of her nightmare came back to her at once. A smile twitched at the corner of her lips but only for a moment. She was proud of herself for not backing down. She was only just beginning to realize how far she’d actually come, not only in her training, but in her growth as a person.
This all took a backseat to the real issue at hand when she remembered the countess’ warning. The Shay were going to come again, and this time, they were bringing an army.
Emma’s head swam with the possibilities of what the event could mean. A rogue idea that it was only her own imagination and fear playing a trick on her caressed her thoughts. Or perhaps the countess had in fact invaded her dreams again, but maybe she was lying about everything altogether. Maybe the ploy was to plant the seed in Emma’s mind and make her go crazy worrying about it. Either way, Emma needed to report what she knew to the Alliance.
At that moment, the front door opened. Hushed whispers carried through the dark kitchen and the family room, where Emma sat on the couch. She remained motionless with a smile on her lips.
The sounds of her mother and father reached her ears. Their whispers were like a balm to her heart. Little by little, her father was opening up to talking to her mother. It had been nearly three months since her father was given the whole truth, that her mother was an alien, that she had lied to him and left.
He had been angry at first and had every right to be, in Emma’s opinion. However, he was slowly spending more and more time with her, talking as if he were getting to know her for the first time.
Emma’s mother was nothing like the warrior Emma had known her to be, at least not around her father. Around her ex-husband, Emma’s mother was happy, shy, almost another person altogether.
It was the strangest thing Emma had seen to date, and Emma had seen some pretty wild stuff, including aliens that looked like wolves, a Marine able to construct a golem, and a giant with perfume that smelled like meat.
“Shhh, do you think she’s asleep?” Emma’s father’s voice traveled through the kitchen and to Emma in a hushed whisper.
“Maybe we should be quiet,” Emma’s mother whispered back. “She’s been training harder than ever at the Academy. It’s been a heavy burden to bear upholding the mantle of an Arilion Knight as well as keeping up with her own studies.”
Emma heard the legs of the kitchen table’s chairs move ever so slightly over the wooden floor as her parents took a seat at the table. She remained motionless. She didn’t want to eavesdrop on their conversation, but she knew if she let them know she was awake, their attention would turn to her. It was nice listening to her parents talk. For the moment, she slouched in the couch and just let them be.
“I wish—I wish there was something I could do to help.” Emma’s father sighed. “She has so much pressure on her day in and day out. It shouldn’t be like this for her. She’s a kid. She should be allowed to goof off and have fun.”
“I can speak with Slain,” Emma’s mother said. “Perhaps he can give her a lighter work load this week or even offer her a weekend off. But there is a fire in her. I’m sure you’ve seen that by now. It’s no mistake she was chosen as Earth’s Arilion Knight. She rises to every occasion. A primal joy touches her eyes when she spars in the danger room.”
“I’ve seen it,” Emma’s father agreed. In a playful voice, he teased, “She gets that from you, by the way.”
“Oh, please, Richard.” Emma’s mother almost laughed out loud. “She gets it from both of us. I’ve seen the madness in your eyes before.”
“No way, not me.”
“Yes you.”
“When?”
“Oh, let me see. It’s been a while, but I should be able to remember a few instances.” Emma’s mother paused. “When we were at the movies and there were people talking.”
“Everyone gets angry at that,” Emma’s father said.
“Traffic,” Emma’s mother listed off. “Or the time that company wouldn’t take you off their call list and the telemarketers kept on you for months on end.”
“I can’t believe I ever lived in an age without caller ID.” Emma’s father laughed then muffled the noise with his hand. “We should really try and be quieter. Em could use the rest.”
“You’re right, but—”
Emma’s mother didn’t get the opportunity to finish her thought. The holo bands both she and Emma wore went off simultaneously.
Emma was forced from her act of playing possum. She stirred, looking at the message coming to her from the device on her left wrist.
Oh man, Emma thought to herself. Whatever this is can’t be good. Both my mom and I being messaged this late at night.
Emma was right. The message that popped up like a hologram from her holo band was from Director Trueart, the leader of the alien Alliance that oversaw the Academy. All it said was, “Meet at the Academy at once. Urgent news of the Shay has called our attention.”
Chapter 2
Emma’s nightmare played back in her mind over and over again as she waited for the meeting at the Academy to take place. Once she and her mother arrived, they had immediately been shown to Dean Slain Extile’s office while they waited for the others to assemble.
Emma wore the black and purple uniform given to her by the Academy. Her mother wore the same with the exception of a long robe and insignia that looked like a pair of swords crossed behind a black landscape. The symbol designated her office as the head of security at the Academy.
The dean’s office was like two rooms cut in half and smashed together. Half of it was a step down from the rest. A seating area like Emma would expect to find in a cozy family house had couches and stuffed chairs, a worn wooden table, and various pieces of decoration placed strategically about like a tall circular table with the bust of an alien creature on top.
The second half of the room was more of a traditional office one would expect to see in a principal’s chamber. There were bookcases lining the walls with a heavy desk and chairs set about. The ceiling to the room was nonexistent and reached as far as the eye could see. It mirrored the time of day on whatever planet one was from. For Emma, the ceiling showed a starry night full of planets and suns.
“You have that look on your face,” Emma’s mother said to her as she walked over to the sofa and took a seat. “That look you get when you’re trying to decide to tell me something or not.”
“I don’t get a look.” Emma denied the idea. “You have that look that says you’re happy. I’m still getting used to seeing that on you.”
“I knew your breathing pattern was a bit too quick. You weren’t asleep at all while I was speaking with your father, were you?” Tistan already knew the answer, but she asked anyway.
“Nope, you two make a cute couple, by the way,” Emma added, shaking her head free of her nightmares and giving her mother her full attention. “You have my blessing. He’s happy with you. Just don’t hurt him again.”
Tistan’s mother had been an alien spy. She had infiltrated Earth with a pair of others. While she was there, she fell in love with Emma’s father. The two were married and Emma came along a year later. Tistan had been recalled from her mission and forced to leave Emma and her father without an explanation. It was only seventeen years later when the Earth was in peril she had returned to right her wrongs.
“I’ve been meaning to have a serious conversation about that.” Tistan’s orange eyes grew solemn. “How are you dealing with me courting your father again? I know it’s a lot to have in your life at once.”
“Well, when you call it ‘courting,’ that’s super weird. Nobody uses that word anymore.” Emma tried to keep a straight face as the mother she was still getting to know asked if she could date her father. It was something she had dreamed about ever since she could remember. “And yes, you have my blessing. But if you hurt him again…”
Emma allowed her voice to trail off. She was only half joking on the matter. On one hand, it was impossible to imagine her mother leaving her and her father a second time, not after the promises she had made. On the other hand, Emma didn’t want to see her father hurt again. She wouldn’t let anyone hurt the man that meant everything to her—not now, not ever.
“I won’t, I promise you. I’m here to stay and I know those are just words, but you will see the weight they hold in truth as the months and years pass.” Tistan smiled at her daughter. It was something new for her. The hardened warrior that was Tistan Duel did not grin easily. “I’ll prove that to him too. However long it takes.”
“Good. I’m glad to hear it.” Emma grinned down at her vambraces. The purple light from her celestial armor glowed with a brilliant light. “I’d hate to have to show you how far I’ve come in my training.”
“Please.” Tistan rolled her eyes. “I’ve been trained in a dozen arts of war, as an insurgent and assassin. I’ve killed hundreds.”
“But never an Arilion Knight.” Emma wiggled her eyebrows playfully. “What do you say, Mom? Think you can take me?”
The two woman stood in silence. It was the first time Emma had ever referred to Tistan as her mother either in her own head or out loud. It was still too new to her, or was it?
Emma was saved from her embarrassment as the doors to Slain’s office opened and in walked the leaders that made up the Alliance council. Dean Slain Extile led the way, followed by Director Trueart, Commander Kull, General Fox, and a dark brown Were Emma didn’t recognize.
The Were was a good six and a half feet tall with a wolf-like snout and ears that stuck up on her head like tiny triangles. She wore brown and grey armor across her ample chest. Despite the layer of fur over her body, Emma could see the tight muscular physique below. Her furry brown tail swayed as she walked.
Her yellow eyes caught Emma’s as she entered. She nodded low as a sign of respect to Emma and her station as an Arilion Knight.
Emma returned the nod, remembering what Jace, the Were Arilion that came to the Academy to train, told her of his kind. They were a brutal race with a clear elite and servant divide in their culture. The elites treated the lower half like slaves. Jace was one of those slaves until the vambraces chose him as an Arilion Knight. A deep anger boiled in him against those that had kept him and others like him under their heel. Emma guessed it was no coincidence that he was not attending the meeting.
Pleasantries were exchanged as those in attendance made a semi-circle around Slain’s desk, where he operated a holographic display. The display beamed with a dull blue light.
General Fox stood on Emma’s right. He smiled at her with a look one-half professionalism and one half pride. “How’re you holding up?”
“Oh, you know.” Emma rocked back on her feet from heel to toes. “Training with my vambraces, getting nightmare messages from the Shay. I can almost fly now; did I mention that?”
“You don’t say?” General Fox smiled to himself. “Frank still can’t fly. He’s going to be so pissed when he hears that.”
“Where is Frank?” Emma asked, fighting back what the major’s absence could mean. “Is he okay?”
“Frank’s a survivor like you, Emma,” General Fox said, easing her worry. “He’s more than okay. He’s been through the wringer recently dealing with an old friend, but he’s coming out of it stronger than ever. He’ll be here when we need him.”
“Good.” Emma breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s nice having another human that’s also an Arilion to talk to. Wow, I never thought I’d be saying those words.”
“I see you haven’t made up with the commander yet?” General Fox asked, lifting his eyebrows past Emma to the massive Ree on her left. “In dark times, we’ll be looking for each other in the night. It wouldn’t hurt to solidify those bonds before the sun sets on us.”
“Riiiiiiiight,” Emma said in a low voice as she snuck a peek at Commander Kull. The commander belonged to one of the three original Alliance races, the Ree. The Ree were a race of humanoid giants. She was eight feet tall, weighing an easy five hundred pounds, although Emma had never asked her to step on a scale to verify.
The last time Emma was this close to the Ree commander, a disagreement as to who was the better warrior had ensued. The dispute had been decided in the danger room where Emma constructed, then dropped a piano on Commander Kull’s head.
Commander Kull caught Emma looking over and glared at her.
Emma instantly turned back, ignoring the stare.
“I wish we had more time for introductions and pleasantries, however, the news I bring must be addressed sooner rather than later.” Director Trueart stepped forward. His short, stocky appearance contrasted Commander Kull’s. As a member of the Bracka race, he was shorter than Emma, with a thick arms and legs and a round torso. “I think everyone knows everyone here, with the exception of Emma and Alpha Browning.”
The Were female looked over to Emma with her golden eyes. “It is indeed an honor to meet an Arilion Knight of your stature. Any Arilion Knight at all, really.”
“I’ve heard of you from Jace,” Emma spoke coldly, reminded of everything he had told her about the ruling sect of Were on his planet. “I’m surprised he’s not here to great you.”
The Were alpha was taken aback for a moment.
Commander Kull actually chuckled.
“Emma,” Director Trueart tried to rein in the conversation, “Jace was sent on a short mission or else I’m sure he would be here right now to greet the emissary of his planet.”
“Of course,” Emma said, willing to drop the subject now that she had made it clear she wasn’t going to pretend she didn’t know exactly what Alpha Browning was. “Please, go ahead.”
“The Alliance has news of the Shay mobilizing their entire army.” Director Trueart looked at each of them in the eye. “The last time they did this, they attacked a coalition of planets and races wiping them from the universe.”
“That is in the Shay’s nature.” Commander Kull shook her massive head. “They are a warrior race. They have always been a warrior race. They conquer planet by planet. They are slow and methodical. Our Alliance has chosen to let them be as long as they stay away from us.”
“With their last attack on Earth a failure, they will target another planet,” Alpha Browning chimed in. “It’s what they’ve always done. They send in a small force to probe. If their force is met with an effective defense, strong enough to turn them back, then they move to an easier planet to dominate. They aren’t interested in expending their own forces unnecessarily.”
Emma was about to speak up. As much as she didn’t want to tell everyone about her nightmare, she knew she had to. She could already hear Commander Kull laughing at her for worrying over a dream. Still, she had to tell them.
Before Emma could get the words out, General Fox spoke up.
“Do we have any evidence to point to the target their army is mobilizing to attack?” he asked, rubbing his right hand over his jaw. “Anything at all that would suggest their move would be against the Alliance?”
“In fact we do,” Slain said to everyone’s surprise. He motioned to his table, where he pressed a few buttons on his holographic display. A moment later, a blue screen appeared over his desk. “We have a final report from a spy we have inserted on the Shay planet. I should warn you that what you are about to see is disturbing.”
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