Chapter 1: The 13th

Standing impatiently by one of the most precious pieces of equipment on her ship, her thoughts were unreadable. The machine teased her; Kizi mused. It rarely takes this long. Another thought crossed his mind, wondering if one guy had been messing with the inner workings of the machine. Playing a prank, of course. It must have been Angelo and his bunch, he thought as he waited. The machine finally let out a flat beep, signaling the end of its crucial purpose. A stream of steaming dark brown fluid filled her purple mug. A strong smell of cinnamon, mint and a trace of citrus filled the war room. Kizi waited patiently for her to finish her brew routine. She didn't have too many quirks; this was one of them. The war-room was a place the crew met to create action plans, debrief, and sometimes simply just hang out, pass the time. Sweeping up the cup as if it was the most precious thing in the cosmos.

"You were saying Kizi", she turned on her heel, sharing an imaginary salute.

"Please carry on, you have my undivided attention now," looking down at the brew then back up at him, shrugging her shoulders.

"I believe we were discussing the concerns of the new intel we have just received,"

"Oh that, does that worry you, Kizi? I wouldn't be too worried about it," taking a loud sip.

"It's my job to worry ma'am, These Garmainians will be a problem. We don't have anyone who has never faced them before, hell until a couple of hours ago I thought they were a myth." an uncomfortable chuckle escaped him.

"To scale please," the computer, reading his tone, followed his command.

The room darkened, while the holo-table produced a hologram of a Garmanian on cue.

"Most beings are biologically predictable, but these things,"

"Being," she corrected

"Of course, this being,", correcting himself.

"Is just a different story," not missing a beat from the interruption.

"A standard Garmanian stands around six meters, weighing in at around four tons,"

He walked around the massive being taking in its unbelievable details, amused by his worry she leaned back against the wall crossing her arms, before taking another long drag of her brew, her dark eyes like black pearls suspended within her clear milky white sclera are watching him closely.

"It's not their size that makes them unique or causes me to lose sleep at night."

"Show action sequence number one,"

The image flicked from a still hologram to a vid that shows three heavily armed Garmainians attacking what looked like a heavily armed military complex. It was like watching three small hills converge on a complex. One of the Garmanians laid down suppressive fire as the other two attacked the complex rushed in. The effect was impressive. Buildings fell, walls blew apart like a child kicking down a stack of blocks.

"As you can see, these two don't even bother to use any projectile weapons," rubbing his temples with his eyes closed, trying to fight off the tension that was building from within.

"No, they have the nerve to use a fucking type of ax and what looks like a club."

He turned to look at Asukari. Her demeanor hasn't changed at all. She was still in the same position, casually leaning on the wall and looking at him. Those eyes always seemed to look deep into his DNA. It unnerved him. Not every time, mind you, but times like this. Those eyes watched him like what he imagined a god would look at its creation. Making sure everything was working right with it. Kizi had secretly come to grips long ago that she wasn't human, even though all the tests show she was.

"Of course, we have weapons to put down most beings,"

"Of course." She added.

"The issues with the Garmaininians are their ability to control their bodies' mass and density," pushing his earlier thoughts aside, working to stay on task.

"I foresee the major challenge will be to determine which weapon will give the desired effect. I don't think we have anyone on the roster, even with power armor that will go toe to toe with just one of these. Let alone ten."

Taping her cup softly, Kizi could tell this had caught her attention.

"Ten Garmaininians Huh?"

"So, you're saying we shouldn't accept the assignment?"

Kizi blinked at the response, not sure how to take the question.

"That's not my choice to make, commander,"

"I understand that Kizi, if you were in command would you have taken this assignment?"

No longer leaning on the wall, casually making her way towards the brew maker, a slight hand gesture gave the computer a command to mute the sound of the vid. The onslaught of the facility by three Garmaininians continued in an eerie silence.

Kizi paused to exam the question carefully. Knowing she wasn't trying to make him look bad, that wasn't her way of doing things. He had the feeling that he was being pushed towards something. A direction or purpose which only she knew.

A Test he thought, but why?

It wasn't making any sense to him. His thoughts raced, trying to put it all together, as she made it to her machine, humming a tune he was unfamiliar with. Something deep down, something instinctive, warned he needed to produce an answer before she finished filling her cup.

Her tone had been plain and nonconfrontational.

So why am I taking it as a confrontation, and what would happen if he didn't answer the question until after she picked up the cup and turn towards him?

"Priority message commander", the computer voice echoed through the chamber.

She gave another hand gesture, barely perceivable. Silence again filled the room. The fluid again fell out of the machine, filling his cup. Kizi felt like it was a reverse hourglass. Instead of an event happening with the loss of sand, he felt that when her cup was full, something would indeed happen.

"Yes commander, I would have taken the assignment."

"Even now, knowing about the Garmaininians?"

"Yes, Commander,"

"Please spare me with all the commander shit Kizi, it's just you and me in here," waving her hand like clearing a smoke-filled room, dismissing the formality of the title.

Picking up the cup, taking a sip. Kizi thought he saw a tease of a smile run across her full lips before the cup covered her mouth.

"I want us to be on the same page Kizi, that is very important to me."

"It is to me also comm-, Asukari," quickly correcting himself.

"Ok, now let us get back to business, shall we?"

Just like that, the tension evaporated from the room. He often left him puzzled by her interesting ways he often called it. It seems like her mind is always processing multiple streams of information at once. Much like the computer that ran the ship, her memory seemed as vast as the galaxy. Her potential surpassed any living being he has ever seen. She was probably the dangerous being in the Galaxy. He just didn't believe that she knew it yet. If she did, he thanked Allah she allowed him to be by her side.

"Show me the target ship, Kizi."

"Of course, target ship computer,"

"Target vessel one zero, one, one, for mission G-force." The computer declared.

"As I was saying earlier, the Garmainains are the biggest threat. My battle plan is to materialize from slip space and send our long-range lasers to slag the area where the Garmainains area of the ship. Simultaneously, we would take out all their defensive weapons and send the boarding parties."

She stood next to him, studying the schematics of the massive cargo ship. She nodded slowly while he continued his tactical plan. The tension from earlier slightly eased the tight grip it had on him, but not totally, but now he was in his element the tactics. Tactics are where the success or the failure of an operation originates. It's the Alpha and the Omega, a good action plan you can achieve your objective. With a great action plan, you can achieve your objective, and everyone gets back safe while causing maximum damage to the enemy. A poor plan, well that's just unacceptable in his mind. He has been a part of all three levels of plans: the good, bad, and the ugly. He has the scars as reminders of the ugly ones, losing some good friends, and losing whole worlds. Preferring to stay on the good side of things, plans crafted with care, and by the book. He had a talent for knowing his team's abilities and placing them in a position of strength.

"Angelo's team would enter the spine of the ship that runs to the Command center of the ship and take it."

"Angelo is a good choice for that," she confirmed

"Our latest data shows the location of the target should be on the fifty-first deck in the brig. I will lead the extraction team."

"Sounds good Kizi, I will have to change a couple of things."

"Oh?" Looking at her quizzingly

"Did I miss something?"

"No, I just received another mission objective"

"Just now?"

"A while ago," she admitted.

He recalled the computer message to her. He assumed her hand gesture was to pause the message for later. Like all members of the 13th, she had sensors nodes embedded within her. With these nodes, the computer and other shipmates could stream data to the receiver. Nodes placed on the zygomatic bones of the skull received audible information. The vibrations would travel the bone directly to the cochlea. The photoreceptor nodes injected, millions of nanobots flood the bloodstream and attach to the occipital nerves where a being can see the information. Like a computer in your head. It takes some getting used to, but most can master it within a couple of hours. For most beings, it would have been obvious they had taken a message, let alone going through streams of complex data. He knew she had been streaming through the message, listening to him, processing the plan, making corrections to the plan with the new information, all the while drinking and enjoying her brew.

"Hmmm, this mission just got a lot more interesting Kizi"

"Looks like I will come with you." She said with a wolfish grin.

Kizi's face twisted in frustration.

"Wah," he couldn't contain his shock.

"When we emerge, take out their defensives, we are not to slag the Garmainains, turns out they are our responsibility now,"

"You got to be shitting me," rubbing his head again,

She slapped him on the back with a smile.

"Don't worry Kizi, I will lead a team to deal with the Garmainains."

"I will make the changes and upload the data, prepare the teams."

"Yes, of course"

"Oh, and Kizi." She paused at the door.

"I'm kind of hurt that you didn't think I've dealt with the Garmainains before. We go way back."

Vanishing through the corridor, leaving Kizi in the command room, rubbing his temples.