“I repeat: All personnel are to remain in their assigned residence until further notice. This crisis will be resolved shortly. That is all.”
Oliver only half listened to Commander Stone's announcement, most of his focus still on the group of officers waiting nearby- not that he expected resistance from most of them. Or any of them, except for maybe Cindus. While he doubted that even she would try something, he could practically see her mind calculating options and plans.
If she thought it was necessary, she wouldn't hesitate. Hopefully she was smart enough to just let him leave... It would be a shame to have to kill her.
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“Load up the spools of wire first, then move on to the metal sheets. If there is still space left, we'll move on to engine parts and tools. Get to it!”
His trusty FAL still in hand, Oliver stood near the Koman equivalent of a large pickup truck. His 'request' for a large vehicle capable of transporting heavy loads- his 'spoils of war', as he liked to think of it- was surprisingly easy to meet for the Commander. It honestly reminded him of any number of military trucks he had seen back on Earth, except for the lack of steering wheel. For whatever reason, the Koman vehicle was controlled by a series of levers and pedals.
While it looked a bit awkward, it worked. And that was good enough for him. Especially since he didn't plan to keep it long. Just long enough to drive it on to the shuttle and leave. He was pretty sure it would fit, at least.
What was slightly harder to accomplish... was getting the officers to load the damn thing. One idiot in particular thought to suggest 'letting out a few soldiers to do the grunt work'... Thankfully, he was smart enough not to suggest anything else after being glared at by Oliver and the Commander.
Everyone else had already learned not to antagonize the 'alien', much to Oliver's amusement.
Oliver was pulled from his musing when Cindus approached him cautiously- for whatever reason, all of the Koman males insisted that she shouldn't help with loading the vehicle. Whether that was their idea of chivalry, or they were trying to give her an opportunity to act against him, Oliver didn't know. And didn't really care; though he would be a bit annoyed with all of them if that was the case.
“Can I ask you some questions?”
Despite everything that had happened, Cindus still lacked the fearful and beaten down expression that most of the other officers now wore. While her and the Commander were cautious in how they dealt with him, neither was truly cowed by his presence.
While he didn't particularly care about either of them, or even like their people as a whole, he could respect the resilience the pair showed.
“You can ask. Whether or not I answer depends on the question.”
Cindus seemed to consider that statement for a moment before she shrugged. “That's fair, I guess. My first question is... How did you do it?”
“We had guards and patrols, but none of them noticed anything until the planes started exploding. How did you manage to get past them, tamper with the planes, and trap our soldiers... all without anyone even noticing? It doesn't make sense...”
Oliver snorted in amusement. “Because you were arrogant.”
His answer elicited a furious glare at her, but he simply waved it off before she could speak. “I'm not calling out you in particular, but your people as a whole. But the officers and your Commander deserve a little more blame in this situation.”
The emerald green scales on her face darkened with an angry blush, and she spoke through gritted teeth. “What is that supposed to mean?”
Oliver fought to contain his smile; she may have been one of the smarter Koman he had seen, but she was also incredibly naive. It was actually kind of adorable. “Look at your people's recent history: You won a major war, drove off your enemies... Then you met some aliens, killed them all, and stole some scraps of their technology for yourselves.”
“Then you attacked me and my friends, blew a hole in our shuttle, and chased them off... Once again reaffirming, at least in your own minds, that you are superior. I mean, if an alien ship runs away when you attack, that must mean you're powerful. Right?”
He watched as her anger faded slowly, that bright mind of hers working to figure out what point he was trying to make.
“So, with only a single alien running loose on your worlds, you decided that a few squads of guards and patrols was enough... Even though I had survived being attacked by your planes and avoided your soldiers as they searched for me."
He could see the embarrassment written clearly on her face- and the Commander's face, who was listening in while he worked.
“A dozen men guarded the entrance... and four patrols throughout a base this size. Avoiding them was actually very easy. None of you considered me a threat. I bet you all went to bed feeling proud of yourselves.” Disdain dripped from his words as all of the officers had paused to listen. With a quick glare, they all hurried back to work.
“That...” Cindus sighed softly, her shoulders slumping. “That's fair, actually.”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
For just a moment, Oliver could see the vulnerable girl hidden within the fiery officer... Before it was quickly hidden away again. Straightening her shoulders, Cindus returned to glaring at him as if nothing had changed. “That doesn't really tell me how you did it though.”
Oliver couldn't help but chuckle at that. Shaking his head slowly, a small smirk flashed across his face. “No, it didn't. I can't just give away all my secrets, now can I?”
Cindus huffed in annoyance, but didn't push for an answer. With a shake of her head, she moved on. “Whatever. Next question: Why do you want all this stuff? Are you planning to use it to fix the hole our pilots put in your ship?”
Her head tilted in thought for a second before she spoke again. “That would mean your people are alive somewhere... Did they set down somewhere else on the planet? How are you in contact with them?”
While she was clearly a capable officer, her questioning lacked in any from of subtly- which Oliver actually appreciated. He preferred dealing with blunt, straight forward people. Of course, it was also possible her blunt approach was just a cover for her to dig for different information... Or maybe she was trying to read into him and his answers to gather information?
He didn't really care either way. Hopefully he would be off this planet soon... And, not long after that, he would be back on Earth.
Laughter danced in his eyes as he leaned a little closer to her- though he didn't bother to lower his voice. Let all of them listen in if they wanted... “For repairs, yes. Want to know a secret? Well, its more like two secrets. But they're connected, so whatever.”
Not waiting for her answer, he went on. “That wasn't our 'ship' that your pilots attacked. It was a shuttle.” Seeing the confusion in the group, he clarified with a chuckle. “The shuttle is only for going down to a planet. It flies out of the ship, down to the planet, and then returns.”
“The actual ship is big enough to land on this base and crush it... And holds a couple million people. I don't know the exact count, because that isn't my department and doesn't matter to me. And before you ask, yes they have better weapons than you. Those shuttles were designed to hold cargo.”
“For peaceful exploration.”
A ripple of shock passed through the group of officers, though Cindus hid it well.
“The only reason we came down to this planet is because we thought it was empty and would make a nice settlement... And, if you hadn't blindly attacked, it is likely we would have just talked to you. Maybe do a little trading... And then left. It would have been a major gain for your people, and at least some benefit for us. And you ruined it.”
“Like I said... Arrogant.”
At being called arrogant again, Cindus clenched her fists tightly and shook her head. “You're pretty arrogant yourself!”
“Yeah, that's true I guess. Anyway, what other questions you got for me?”
“Are all aliens so arrogant?”
Unable to resist, Oliver boomed with laughter. That was actually a pretty good question... Though, most of the Rach he met hadn't been arrogant at all. Maybe because they were all workers? Were their leaders the same?
He was actually having fun messing with Cindus... And there wasn't really a need to explain that the people in the ship were not the same race as him... Or that they were generally peaceful, even a touch cowardly...
Nah, better to let the Koman think a couple million assholes like him could be descending at any moment.
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“Omi, I don't know if you can hear this, but I need you to come pick me up. Just have the techs point you in the right area, I'll be near the river. I'm bringing gifts, at least!”
This was the riskiest part of Oliver's plan- it wasn't much of a plan, but throwing yourself out of a space shuttle to rescue someone, fighting through hostile aliens, and then figure out a way back was about all he managed to come up with on the fly. Thankfully, the Koman had something similar to the radios he was familiar with.
And hopefully the signal would reach the Ark in orbit. If it was still in orbit.
Oliver was doubly thankful for the System's translation function... and the fact that it affected him and not the people around him- at least judging by the looks of confusion on the face of the Koman.
He focused on talking to the Rach and, apparently, it changed his words to their language. If it had simply made him universally understood by others, he would be a lot more worried. Mainly because the radios were an open frequency, and he really didn't want the whole race to start looking in to the strange message he just sent.
“What did you just say? Was that your language? How do you know our language if you thought the planet was empty?”
'Thank you, Cindus, for confirming my theory.' Oliver thought as a small smile of relief flashed across his face. Her near constant barrage of questions had benefited him quite a bit.
“You don't need to know what I said. And I don't know your language; I just have an ability that lets me speak and understand any language.”
“An ability?”
“It's magic.”
“What is 'magic'? Is it a device your people created to translate for you?”
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Oliver sat on the hood of the truck, Cindus and Stone just a short ways off, as the shuttle quickly descended. He was actually a bit surprised that the Rach were willing to risk coming down again, but glad that they had. While he was sure the System would send him home at the end of the Bounties time limit... That was over a week away. And he still had Umi in the warehouse.
Pursing his lips, Oliver let out a piercing, high pitched whistle that made the Koman duo flinch. “Well, I guess this is goodbye. Unfortunately, you two will have to walk back to your base and let everyone out of their temporary imprisonment yourselves.”
“Part of your plan to keep us out of communication with the other bases until you leave, I'm sure.” Cindus grumbled. “And what the hell was that whistle for? Just wanted to annoy us before you left?”
A fluffy, pink furred tail batted Cindus in the face as a green-scaled blur leapt past her from behind. Landing on Oliver's shoulder, Henrietta turned to glare at the Koman and chittered angrily.
“Just calling my back up. Can't leave her behind, now can I? Also, Henrietta says that she 'doesn't like the big mean scalies'. I think she means your people...”
Seeing the strange creature, and the implication that the alien could communicate with it, left the duo stunned... Right until he drove the truck into the shuttle he had talked about.
As the shuttle hurriedly took off again, Cindus stomped angrily on the ground before turning to storm off. “I asked about his people... and I forgot to ask the alien what his name was! How am I supposed to put that in my report!?”